Society of American Authors. Monthly Bulletin. March, 1899. Pp. 16.
United States Commissioner of Education (W. T. Harris). Report for 1896-'97, Vol. II. Pp. 1245.
Veblen, Thorstein. The Theory of the Leisure Class. New York: The Macmillan Company. Pp. 400. $2.
Waddell, John. The Arithmetic of Chemistry. New York: The Macmillan Company. Pp. 137. 90 cents.
Wickersham, James. Major Powell's Inquiry, "Whence came the American Indians?" An Answer. Tacoma, Washington: Allen and Lamborn Printing Company. Pp. 28.
Writt, Henry. Some Observations on the Fundamental Principles of Nature. Chicago: P. O., Station N. Pp. 32. 25 cents.
Fragments of Science.
Death of Professor Marsh.—Othniel C. Marsh, professor of paleontology in Yale University, and curator of the geological collection of that institution, died of pneumonia at his home in New Haven, Connecticut, March 18th. He had not been in good health for several years, and succumbed to the effects of a cold which he had caught before wholly recovering from a previous cold. A sketch of his life up to that time, embracing the most active parts of his career as a geological explorer, in which he gained great renown, was given, with a portrait, in the Popular Science Monthly for September, 1878. During the period that has intervened he made studies of the results of his explorations and other geological work, and published papers of very high scientific value. About a year ago he transferred his extensive and famous collections at the Peabody Museum to the university. These collections were among the finest of their kind in the world, and were especially remarkable for their fossils of immense animals exhumed from the Western plains. They were greatly admired by Professor Gaudry, the eminent French geologist, who spoke of them in terms of high praise in the Revue des Deux Mondes of October 15, 1898. It was through his efforts that the funds were obtained from George Peabody, his uncle, for the construction of the Peabody Museum, a part of which has been built. His health having apparently improved for a few months previous to his death, he had been working with renewed activity at the museum, and had recently written articles on paleontological subjects. Having considerable means of his own, he served the university without salary, and carried on his explorations mostly at his own cost, paying large sums to assistants and for other items in the work. He left ten thousand dollars to the National Academy of Sciences, of which he was one of the founders and was for several years president, and all of the rest of his estate, estimated to be worth nearly one hundred thousand dollars, to Yale University.
Popular Co-operation in Health Work.—In a review of A Quarter Century of Public Health Work in Michigan, Mr. Theodore R. MacClure, chief clerk of the State Board of Health office, says that experience in the State has indicated that it is necessary to have the co-operation of the people if the dangerous communicable diseases are to be restricted and prevented. In order to accomplish this result, the State Board of Health has published leaflets relating to the modes of spreading and the best methods for the restriction and prevention of such diseases. These leaflets have been printed by tens of thousands, and whenever a dangerous disease is reported to the central office several copies of the leaflet relating to the disease in question are usually sent to the local health officer. He is requested to place one of these instructive publications with the family where the disease exists, and a copy with each neighbor of the infected premises. The instruction comes at a time when people are interested to know about the disease in question, and in this way their general co-operation is sought and secured. Citizens are thus educated and become familiar with their duties in the premises, are taught wherein the dangers lie and how to avoid them, and are prompted by the strongest considerations to do their part in the matter.