BOOK NOTES.

Books and pamphlets sent to the Bureau of American Republics, and containing subject-matter bearing upon the countries of the International Union of American Republics, will be treated under this caption in the Monthly Bulletin.

A series of papers entitled What the People Read in South America has its initial article in the Review of Reviews for January, 1906. In that number the periodicals and newspapers of Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia are reviewed, while the February issue of the same magazine will deal with those of the Argentine Republic, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay. El Constitucional, the leading news organ of Venezuela, has a circulation of 16,000, and outside of Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Ayres is said to be the most influential journal in South America. Other dailies in Caracas are the Noticiero (News), Corresponsal (Correspondent), Diario Nacional (National Daily), Grito del Pueblo (Cry of the People), Combate (Struggle), Religion, Gaceta Oficial (Official Gazette), and Letras y Numeros. In Valencia, the second city of Venezuela, there are five dailies published -the Diario, the Discípulo (Disciple), the Centinela (Sentinel), the Cronista (Recorder), the Gaceta de Tribunales (Court Gazette). Maracaibo has five dailies--the Fonógrafo (Phonograph), the oldest daily newspaper in the country; the Ecos de Zulia (Echoes of the State), the Ciudadano (Citizen), the Arisador (Adviser), and the Agencia Maracaibo (Maracaibo Agent). There are four dailies published in Ciudad Bolivar. Merida has ten in all-but they are not extensively circulated. Forty-two dailies are published in the entire country. Venezuela ranks among the leading South American countries for artistically elaborate weeklies. The most important of these are the Semana (Week), and the Lira (Lyre), of Caracas. Immaculada is a Catholic illustrated weekly. The Voz de la Nacion publishes conservative essays on economics. Italians read the Patria. Other weeklies, chiefly commercial, are the Dominical, Anuncio, and Realidad. There are also several comic journals, the best known of which is Don Timoteo (Sir Timothy), of Valencia. The Cojo Ilustrado (Illustrated Cripple) is the most noted of the literary periodicals. It is a fortnightly, and its price is 50 cents in gold per copy. La Industria, devoted to commerce and industry, is the leading monthly of its class, and is really a credit to its country. Other bimonthlies are the Gaceta Medica, the Frac-Mason Venezolano (Venezuelan Freemason), and the Droguista Practico (Practical Druggist)---all of Caracas. In Colombia, a number of the dailies of Bogota have a wide circulation. and influence, and, moreover, are excellently edited. The principal dailies of the capital are the Nuevo Tiempo, the Correo Nacional, the

Colombiano, and the Blanco y Azul (White and Blue). The Nuevo Tiempo and the Correo Nacional are the most important publications of the Republic. The center of journalistic enterprise in Peru is Lima. Among the weeklies are the Actualidades, Noredades, Lucero, and Lima Illustrado. Lima has also a dignified illustrated monthly, the Revista Pan Americana, which is devoted to polities and diplomatic matters. It also publishes the Ateneo, an exclusively literary quarterly. In Cuzco there is an influential fortnightly, the Agricultor; and in Piura three weeklies-the Amigo del Pueblo, the Noticiero, and the Revista del Norte. The best-known Peruvian dailies are the Comercio, organ of the party in power, which is the oldest and the best established, and the Presna, organ of the opposition. The Heraldo, also governmental, was founded by the national Peruvian poet, Chocano. The Opinión Nacional is the independent organ. Outside of Lima, the noteworthy dailies and semiweeklies are-in Callao, the suburb and shipping port of Lima, the Reacción and the Callao, both dailies; in Arequipa, the Bolsa and the Deber, dailies; in Trujillo, the Razón and the Industria, dailies, and the Voz de Trujillo, every other day. In Mollendo there is an influential semiweekly, the Puerto. The chief publication center of Ecuador is the metropolis, Guayaquil. The principal dailies of this city, which are well patronized, are the Nación, the Telégrafo, the Tiempo, and the Grito del Pueblo. The Nación is the best-known journal of the country. The Grito del Pueblo has a well established circulation and influence. Outside the capital, the most important daily is the Patria, of Quito. The only noteworthy monthly published in the country is the Ilustración Ecuatoriana, of Guayaquil. Bolivia has a number of daily newspapers. The principal ones of the capital, La Paz, are the Comercio de Bolivia, the Diario, the Estado, the Comercio, and the Nacional. In the provinces the following are worthy of mention: Potosi, the Tiempo; Cochabamba, the Heraldo, and the Comercio; Santa Cruz, Estrella del Oriente; Tarija, the Estrella de Tarija, and the Pensamiento; Oruro, the Vapor.

The "Scientific American" for January 6, 1906, publishes an interesting paper concerning the new determination of the Quito arc of the meridian by the French Geodetic Commission of Ecuador, stating that the International Geodetic Association, at its meeting at Stuttgart in 1898 decided to carry out the project, because improved scientific methods and instruments of the present day permit the various elements from which the dimensions of the earth are deduced to be determined with greater accuracy than was possible in the eighteenth century. The United States offered to perform the work if France, to whom it properly belonged, should decline to undertake it. The French Republic, however, sent Captains MURAIN and LIACOMBE to

Eucador, who, in 1899, explored the Cordilleras from southern Colombia to northern Peru. In consequence of their favorable report the French Government equipped a scientific expedition under the command of Captains LALLEMAND and MAURAIN, which, on June 1, 1901, landed at Guayaquil with 20 tons of apparatus, the caravan reassembling a month later at Riobamba, the principal station. The work of the expedition was arranged in the following manner: First came the fundamental geodetic and astronomical operations, including the measurement of the base line, the determination of the latitudes of the stations at the center and the ends of the arc, and the measurement of certain differences of longitude, for example, between Riobamba and the observatory at Quito. The measurement of angles and bases of verification. was reserved for the following years (1902-1905). In addition, in order to obtain the exact altitudes of the stations, it was necessary to run a careful leveling survey from one of them to the sea. The programme of the expedition also included geological studies, the collection of topographical data for a reconnoissance map on a scale of 1 to 200,000, based upon very exact triangulation, and a study of the native tribes and the fauna and flora of Ecuador by Doctor RIVET. After a determination of the fundamental base at Riobamba, and the difference of longitude between Riobamba and Quito, the geodetic expedition separated into several sections. Captain LALLEMAND made a reconnoissance of the Carchi country, built a temporary observatory near Tulean, and selected the plateau of San Gabriel de Tusa for the location of a base, which he measured four times with the Jaderin wires, with the assistance of Captain PERRIER and Doctor RIVET. The construction of all the monuments of the northern section of the are was next undertaken, and also the determination of the latitudes of the two end stations, the southern at Paita, Peru, and the northern at Tulean, Ecuador, thus fixing the length of the arc of the meridian at 5° 53′ 33′′. Secondary geodetic observations were also made along the line from Tulean to Paita, passing through Riobamba and Cuenca.

The annual report of the Panama Railroad Company for the ten months ended October 31 last, submitted to the Congress of the United States, shows that after payment of all fixed charges and cost of operation for the period covered there remains $354,248, or somewhat in excess of 5 per cent on the capital stock. The total earnings of the road for the transportation of all kinds of traffic show an increase of $302,204, or 18.77 per cent, over the corresponding ten months of the previous year. Passenger earnings increased $43,691 and mail earnings decreased $2,434. The total revenue from freight traffic for the period of the report, including both merchandise and coal, was 406,840 tons, an increase of 26.73 per cent, and yielded a revenue of $1,306,145, an increase of 17.93 per cent. The total earnings of the steamship lines

of the company for the ten months were $1,165,058, an increase of 25.17 per cent over the corresponding period of the previous year. Freight traffic increased 33.29 per cent, the earnings therefrom increasing 23.28 per cent. The increase in total earnings for the railroad and the steamship line was $536,512. The quantity of cargo originating at European ports and brought to the terminals of the road by the foreign steamship lines has progressively increased, and it is said that there are strong indications that the Chilean and Peruvian Governments intend to establish or subsidize additional lines between their principal ports and Panama, so that by cooperation with the Panama Railroad Company more rapid and convenient communication may be maintained with the United States. The report says the company's dock at New York has become entirely inadequate to the business of its steamship line and that the addition of two large steamships to the line.

The series of letters in course of publication in the "Daily Trade and Consular Reports," issued by the Department of Commerce and Labor of the United States, embodying the observations and conclusions of Mr. CHARLES M. PEPPER in his capacity of special agent for the collection of data covering the industrial and commercial possibilities of the Mexican Republic, are practically the last words on the important subjects treated. The information furnished with regard to the State of Sonora is of especial interest to business men in the western and southwestern sections of the United States, the imports from the United States being received after transport over the railroads of that part of the country, and by steamer from San Francisco. From Chihuahua, Coahuila, and Durango, he reports a demand for mining machinery and tools of all kinds; also referring to the increase in railway building. From the City of Mexico come complaints of the failure of United States manufacturers and shippers to observe local requirements in the matter of packing and invoices, which is detrimental to a proper development of trade relations, while the Tehuantepec trade is considered as a natural tribute to American enterprise and capital.

Volume XXXVII of the "Special Consular Reports" issued by the Department of Commerce and Labor of the United States deals with "Insurance in Foreign Countries." In regard to the laws governing such institutions in the various countries of Latin America, it is stated that, so far as Mexico is concerned, the insurance laws are in a state of transition, a new code for their regulation being in process of preparation. In Central America insurance companies are considered in the same light as other business corporations, and are at liberty to proceed without regard to the various governments. No foreign companies operate in Venezuela, while in Peru the conditions precedent

to beginning business in this line is $50,000 in real estate and the same amount in other security invested in the country, in addition to which a 5 per cent tax must be paid on the profits. There are no requirements of any kind in Colombia, though the Argentine Republie, Chile, and Brazil require deposits, and there is a certain amount of government supervision in these countries. In Cuba there is no general law of life insurance and no government supervision, the same conditions being prevalent in Haiti.

An address delivered by Hon. THEODORE P. SHONTS, chairman of the Isthmian Canal Commission, before the American Hardware Manufacturers' Association, Washington, D. C., on November 9, 1905, is given place in the "National Geographic Magazine" for December, 1905, as an exposition of what has been accomplished by the United States toward building the Panama Canal. The three fundamental tasks before the contracting Government were, according to Mr. SHONTS, a thorough sanitation of the Isthmus, the provision of suitable dwellings for all classes of employees, and the supply of proper food at a reasonable cost. The efforts made for the development of this plan of action are detailed in the paper in reference, while a specific statement of the work of actual canal development is also made, the authority of the informant being beyond question.

A book on Cuba, prepared by Señor GONZALO DE QUESADA, Minister of Cuba to the United States of America, and approved by the Cuban Government, issued in November, 1905, must of necessity form a valuable source of the latest available information concerning the affairs in the Island Republic. Such requisites are fulfilled in the "Handbook of Cuba" issued by the International Bureau of the American Republics, following the line of arrangement and covering the data specialized in previous American handbooks. In addition to a thorough description of the physical, political, and historical characteristics of the country, a valuable bibliography, compiled by Mr. A. P. C. GRIFFIN, of the Library of Congress, Washington, and an appendix containing the Constitution of the Republic as promulgated subsequent to the ratification of the Treaty of Paris, December 10, 1898, are features of the new volume.

A new Argentine geography (Geografia Argentina), being an historical, physical, political, social, and economic study of the Argentine Republic, has been recently (1905) issued from the press of the Pinitenciaría Nacional of Buenos Ayres, prepared by Señores CARLOS M. URIEN and EZIO COLOMBO. Both are men of standing in the literary and scholastic life of the country, and, in giving their work to the public, the writers state that they are animated by a two-fold purpose: First, to add to the information of students in colleges and academies,