_Small Accumulators, how Made and Used_, is the first of a series of popular scientific handbooks for students and engineers. The particular subject has been selected for beginning the series under the suggestion of a large number of requests for advice which the author, _Percival Marshall_, had received in his capacity as editor of the Model Engineer and Amateur Electrician. The work is intended to be an elementary handbook--"a practical and trustworthy guide"--for amateurs and students. The theory of the accumulator is explained, directions are given for making them, types of small accumulators are illustrated, the charging and use of accumulators are explained, and the applications are shown. Useful receipts and a glossary of technical terms are given. (The book is published by Spon & Chamberlain, New York. Price, 50 cents.) In his _Better World Philosophy--a Sociological Synthesis_ (Chicago: the Ward Waugh Company), _J. Howard Moore_ utters a protest against the egoism or selfishness of our day, and suggests an ideal scheme. The problem of life is defined as being the relation of each individual to the rest of the universe, and is peculiarized by the existence of the social problem involving relations of individuals to each other different from those sustained to the impersonal universe. There are in the nature of living beings the egoistic element, which impels action in behalf of self, and the altruistic element, which prompts or prevents movement out of consideration to others. At present the egoistic element predominates, with results that make a picture far from bright. In the social ideal the strong should supplement the weak as they would like to be supplemented if they were weak; individuals not unequal but diverse may mutualize their efforts to the advantage of all; and each individual should perform in the social economy that function for which he is best fitted, and should receive in return "a graceful equity in the means for satisfying his desires." Among the books announced for issue soon by Henry Holt & Co. are _The Book of Vertebrate Zoölogy_, by Prof. _J. S. Kingsley_, author of The Elements of Comparative Zoölogy, published by the same house, which can be used as a companion to McMurrich's Invertebrate Zoölogy; _Elementary Studies in Chemistry_, by Prof. _Joseph Torrey_, of Harvard, which, while it is characterized by the emphasis laid upon quantitative laboratory work in general chemistry, will be a comprehensive text-book on the whole subject; and _Moulds, Mildews, and Mushrooms_, a guide to the systematic study of the fungi and _Mycetozoa_ and their literature, by Prof. _Lucien Underwood_, of Columbia University.