# Popular Science Monthly/Volume 29/October 1886/Literary Notices

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Outlines of the History of Ethics for English Readers. By Henry Sidgwick. London: Macmillan & Co. 1886. Pp. 271. Price, $1.50.
Leaving Herbert Spencer out of consideration, no living or recent writer has made an impression on ethical thought equal to that of Professor Sidgwick. Whatever he produces, then, might naturally be expected to be of value. Our anticipations are not disappointed in this little volume. As far as it goes, it is, without doubt, the most thoroughly admirable treatise upon the history of ethics extant. This praise is due for its conciseness, for its impartiality, and for its accuracy. It is an excellent college text-book, and also full enough to give the general student a better idea than he can elsewhere obtain of that portion of ethical history which it covers.
This book is by no means a mere chronology. It is full of the evidences of careful critical study. The essential features of the different ethical systems are grasped with certainty and presented with remarkable clearness. We get from this presentation many new ideas, both of the tenets ​of philosophers and their true relationship to each other. The points of agreement, for example, between Plato and Aristotle, as indicated by the author, are very impressive. The relations of pre-Socratic ethics to these latter are well shown. The translation of εὺδαιηοία by "well-being," instead of the usual "happiness," gives us quite a different conception of much of the Greek ethical philosophy. The contrasts between Stoicism and Epicureanism are sharply and truthfully drawn. The influence of the Roman jurisprudence upon ethical development is exhibited in a manner indicating the author's knowledge and appreciation of the work of scholars like Sir Henry Sumner Maine. Mediæval ethics and Christianity are treated without leaving the reader's mind in a state of hopeless confusion respecting the landmarks of progress and the work of individuals with whose names we are familiar, but of whose special value we can ordinarily learn but little from philosophical and religious histories. The chapter on modern English ethics is conspicuously free from controversial matter and from the animus of the partisan. All through, we find new ideas which reveal critical acumen, and compel us, if not to change, at least to reconsider our conclusions on many special points of historical fact. For instance, we are somewhat startled by the opinion that in the latter part of Plato's life, when he wrote the "Timæus," he did not believe in the immortality of the individual soul. Again, the average reader will probably be somewhat surprised to learn that Bishop Butler held self-love and conscience to be independent principles, and so far coordinate in authority that neither should be overruled by the other; if either were to give way, it must be conscience. Also, the importance of such works as Price's "Review of the Chief Questions and Difficulties of Morals" (1757), and Gay's "Essay," prefixed to Law's translation of King's "Origin of Evil" (1731), in the history of English ethics, is seldom considered and nowhere else saliently brought out.
All these considerations awaken regrets that the work before us is avowedly incomplete. The author says, by way of explanation, that, since the foundation of this book was an article written for the "Encyclopædia Britannica," after some hesitation he concluded to retain his original plan, and deal only with modern ethical systems as they relate to English moralists. We think this was decidedly a mistake. It detracts very considerably from the usefulness of the treatise. There is no utility, even for English readers, in presenting the ethical movements of Continental thought as an appendage to English ethics. The French and German systems have contributed powerfully to form the principles of morals, and very extensively to determine character and conduct. The French Revolution was primarily a political convulsion, but the ethical influences contributing to bring it about, and which it in turn generated, were very noticeable and important. They ought to be fully traced out in a history of ethics. So, too, the Kantian philosophy is surely worthy of a more thorough exposition and criticism than that of a half-dozen pages at the end of the volume. Again, the leading phases of Oriental ethical development are of the highest consequence in such a history. These defects could have been supplied, not, indeed, without enlarging the book; but we think the resultant advantage would have been ample justification for the addition.
Numbers Illustrated and Applied in Language, Drawing, and Reading-Lessons. By Andrew J. Rickoff and E. C. Davis. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 160. Price, 42 cents.
This is an arithmetic for primary schools, and is the first in the series of "Appletons' Standard Arithmetics." It is the fruit of many-years of careful preparation, combined with extended research as to the best methods now in use, and much experience in class-room work and school supervision. Its design is to familiarize the child with numbers and their combinations by some better and more lively method than the mechanical and rote repetition of the formulae of the addition and subtraction and other tables. Instead of this, it attempts to provoke observation of the things the numbers represent, and to lead the pupil to the utterance of the formula as a statement of his own experience. In the earlier lessons, in the first part of the book, the properties of numbers are illustrated by the aid of three series of pictures ​for each of the digital numbers. The pictures of the first series are designed for language-lessons, in which the particular number is brought in and visibly represented, and the immediate design of which is to excite thought and cultivate expression. The second series consists of slate exercises involving the numbers to be copied with changes; and these are afterward changed into diagrams, combining exercises in elementary drawing, into which the several numbers also enter. The third series of pictures, entitled "What can you tell?" presents combinations, with the numbers still the most prominent objects to be considered, which the child is invited to describe, or concerning which he may compose a story—exercises which call the imagination into play, and encourage independent and original expression. These lessons are followed by a series of reading lessons in number and dictation exercises, in combinations of from one to ten, with the pictorial element still employed. In the third part are given combinations in numbers from ten to twenty.
Geological Studies. By Alexander Winchell. Chicago: S. C. Griggs & Co. Pp. 513. Price, $3.
This book, representing a more advanced stage of the study of geology than is furnished in the author's "Geological Excursions," is intended to introduce the reader to the science by some natural and pleasant method; to help him to see things for himself, and draw his own conclusions from them. It is, therefore, designed to be a guide to the observation of Nature, and a synoptical record of the more important facts and doctrines of the science. It is divided into two parts: "Geology inductively presented," and "Geology treated systematically." Geology is the science which treats of the earth; the earth is under our feet; let us, therefore, the author says, "direct our attention to it, and see what facts may be observed. These will be geological facts. Every fact learned by observing the earth is part of the science; and the things observed near home are just as real science and just as important as those in distant lands, of which we may read in the books." The drift being nearly everywhere, the reader is invited to make that the special subject of his study. He will find in it representations of a great variety of geological phenomena and formations, minerals and fossils. He can make the facts he learns from it the basis of his more extended studies in excursions, or in books, after he has well traversed the field in which he is able to make excursions. The outcome of the first, or inductive, part of the book, in which the course is carried far enough to illustrate how to study fossils in a scientific way, "is a somewhat chaotic and undigested mass of facts and doctrines buried in a considerable volume of verbiage. It does not assuredly supply the means for a methodized apprehension of the elements of the subject, but it supplies many fundamental facts, many great principles, many impressions, many hints for personal observation, and many impulses to continue. Far better for the student to get so much than to leave school in total ignorance of a science which sustains so important relations to industries, to culture, and to civilization. Part II is the complement of this. Here the whole body of facts and principles is reduced to a methodical representation. . . . Here, too, the discussions of the several topics are completed, and the various portions are adjusted to a logical relation." The book treats principally of American geology, and in this all the recent additions, which have transformed the science so that "the subject has to be treated very much as if no elementary book had been written," have been made use of. The motto of the first part is, "How we may observe the facts, and learn their meaning." The successive chapters of the second part, which are divided into many special sections, treat of "lithological," "structural," and "dynamical" geology, the "progress of terrestrial life," and "formational" and "historical" geology.
Guide to the Recognition of the Principal Orders of Cryptogams, and the Commoner and more Easily Distinguished New England Genera. By Frederick Leroy Sargent. Cambridge (Mass.): Charles W. Sever. Pp. 78.
This book was prepared for the use of students in the summer course in botany at Harvard University, in which the author is ​a teacher. It is intended to present the distinctive characteristics of the genera of the family, which are not described in the usual text-books, with sufficient compactness for easy use in field-work. The attempt has, therefore, been made to bring together, in systematic form and a convenient shape, such information as would enable a student to learn to recognize a number of the more conspicuous genera. Half of the leaves are left blank for the convenience of students wishing to insert notes and sketches.
History of California. By Hubert Howe Bancroft. Vol. IV. San Francisco: A. L. Bancroft & Co. Pp. 186. Vol. V. San Francisco: The History Company. Pp. 184.
The fourth volume continues the history as to general affairs from 1836, and as to local affairs from 1840 to 1845. The story of the secularization of the missions is carried on. Among other topics of interest, the doings of foreigners, American occupation, the "Graham affair," the coming of Sutter, and the establishment of New Helvetia, are treated in a new light. The career and character of Sutter—whose story is closely connected with the awakening of the gold-fever and the occupation of the country by American miners—are reviewed in full. This man hardly appears here as the public-spirited citizen which many have been disposed to regard him, but as a reckless adventurer and speculator. The records of the several overland immigrant parties are given, beginning with the Batterson or Bidwell party, in 1841, and including the companies of Workman and Rowland in the same year; of Hastings, Chiles, and Walker, in 1843; of Fremont, Kelsey, and Stevens, or Murphy, in 1844; and of McMahon and Clyman, Swasey and Todd, Sublette, Grigsby, and Ide, Fremont and Walker, and Hastings and Semple, in 1845; also accounts of Commodore Jones's achievements in 1842, of the Russians who left California in 1841, the Hudson Bay Company's branch in San Francisco, the fur-hunters' operations in the interior, and the trading-caravans from New Mexico. Prominent among the topics of foreign relations are the schemes of France, England, and the United States, to gain possession of California; and particular attention is given to the plans and efforts of the United States and its agents, as shown in original correspondence, now given to the public for the first time; and the treatment of American immigrants down to 1845 is set forth.
The fifth volume comprises—from 1846 to 1848—the exciting period of the conquest of California by the United States, which is treated in all its phases. The policy of our Government and the doings of its agents are studied from documentary sources not hitherto brought to light. Hence the volume is likely to prove, as a narrative, more interesting and readable than any that have preceded it; and it can not fail to be important as a record, because it is founded largely on original testimony. Its contents embrace, first, the acts of Fremont in the country, which are set forth in an unfavorable light; next, the personal and sectional controversies that marked the last days of Mexican political annals. A following chapter is devoted to foreign relations, the policy of the United States and other nations, and the efforts of Colonel Larkin; another chapter to the causes of the settlers' revolt, wherein Fremont is again handled with severity; and four chapters to the detailed presentment of the "Bear Flag" revolt; after which begins the story of the conquest proper as part of the Mexican War. This having been told, the political controversies of Stockton, Kearney, and Fremont, next claim attention. The stories of the Mormon Battalion, the New York Volunteers, and the Artillery Company, are given; also the annals of immigration, including the tragic experiences of the Donner party and the coming of Sam Brannan's Mormon colony; the history of the ex-missions and of Indian affairs, with the annals of trade, and other incidents, going to complete the history. The pioneer list is completed, and includes in all some ten thousand names and biographical sketches. Our heading indicates a change in the name of the publishing house. A story is connected with the change. The whole establishment was burned down last April, with an inadequate insurance. Mr. H. H. Bancroft was the principal proprietor, and lost very heavily, not only through his share in the ​business, but also in the destruction of the plates of nine volumes of the history, and of the whole edition of the first volume of the "Oregon." In rebuilding and reorganizing the concern, it was necessary to dispose of a part of the business. Mr. Bancroft, having determined to devote his life to the history, resolved to sacrifice all to that. Hence the new concern is formed as "The History Company," and its peculiar work till that is done will be to bring out this "History."
Physical Training in American Colleges and Universities. By Edward Mussey Hartwell. Washington: Government Printing-Office. Pp. 183, with Plates.
This is one of the "Circulars of Information" of the Bureau of Education, and is published at the request of the commissioner. Dr. Hartwell makes a comprehensive and satisfactory presentation of the subject. He begins with a sketch of the "ideals of manly excellence" and a running history of gymnastic training down to the time of Fellenberg and the Hofwyl schools; then describes the "Introduction of Gymnastics into America," from the starting of the Fellenberg schools in 1824 and 1825; relates the development of the "New Gymnastics," and records the history of the building of gymnasia in colleges. The particular accounts of the principal college gymnasia and gymnasia of the Young Men's Christian Associations are illustrated with views and plans of buildings. Tables are given exhibiting the facts that twenty-six colleges in the United States have buildings exclusively devoted to gymnastic purposes, the cost of which, including fittings, is estimated at $750,000; and twenty other institutions have gymnasium or drill-halls. Nine theological schools also have gymnasia. During the year ending July 1, 1884, thirty-three officers of the army were detailed to duty at colleges, universities, and schools of superior instruction to young men, for giving military drill. College athletics have been most developed in the East, and particularly at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton. At most country colleges ample facilities in the way of grounds are furnished for the playing of base-ball, foot-ball, and tennis; and since track athletics, or walking, jumping, sprint and hurdle races, have become popular, very considerable sums have been spent on the grading and improvement of athletic fields. "Exhibitions and contests of every description which would not have been licensed or tolerated, much less pecuniarily supported, thirty years ago, now yield quick and large returns in popularity and cash to their promoters." On the subject of college athletics, the report draws largely upon the article of Professor Richards in "The Popular Science Monthly" for February and March, 1884, which is pronounced "the fairest and most intelligent paper elicited by the recent discussion of athleticism which has come under our notice," and one in which "the whole system is so well set forth, its advantages are so cogently argued, and the attacks of its critics so temperately met, that it seems best to quote copiously from it. Its exposition of the reciprocal relations of bodywork and brain-work should be grasped by every teacher." But professionalism, defined as "the purpose to win a game by any means, fair or foul," has come in to bring discredit upon college sports, and make recognition and regulation of them by faculties necessary; and what has been done and attempted in this direction is reviewed. "Women's schools and colleges are not, as a class, so well organized on the side of physical training as those for men, but something has been done in a few of them, and the Association of Collegiate Alumnae is laboring to awaken interest in the subject. A sketch of the condition of physical training in Germany forms an appendix to the report.
Report of a Commission appointed to consider a General System of Drainage for the Valleys of Mystic, Blackstone, and Charles Rivers, Massachusetts. Boston: Wright and Potter Printing Company. Pp. 243, with Plates and Maps.
The commission was appointed in 1884 to consider and report a general system of drainage for the relief of the valleys of the rivers named, and for the protection of the public water-supplies of the cities and towns situated within their basins; also to examine the various methods of disposal of sewage. And it was further authorized to consider and report upon the needs of any ​other part of the Commonwealth as to the disposal of sewage and the protection of the public water-supplies therein. Its report is a carefully matured and valuable document, in which the subject is viewed under its various aspects, and results are given that may aid in forming judicious conclusions wherever problems of sewage disposal may present themselves. The bulk of the volume is given to the report of the engineer of the commission, Mr. Clarke, who first defines the problem in its general and detailed features, gives an account of all the elements that contribute to stream pollution in each town, the manner and present expense of dealing with a part or all of the objectionable matters, and refers to what actions have been taken or what opinions have been held by the local authorities on the subject. In a second part of the report he presents the general conclusions arrived at, in England and elsewhere, as to the best methods of sewage disposal under conditions similar to those of Eastern Massachusetts. This part is illustrated with particular accounts of the operation of the methods by filtration, irrigation, precipitation, etc., which are used in various towns in England, and photographic views. In the third part the conclusions with reference to methods are applied to each particular locality in the district whose needs are to be provided for. Among the engineer's conclusions is the hopeful one that manufacturers, as a class, are very intelligent, and there is no limit to the ingenuity they have displayed in devising processes and machinery for accomplishing desired ends. This ingenuity hitherto has not been directed toward purifying their refuse, because such purification has not been considered necessary. The mechanical problems involved are not so difficult but that they probably can be solved, if only intelligent efforts and experiments are made in that direction. As an offset to this is the fact, not so encouraging, that "it is much easier to design a proper system of sewerage than to remedy the defects of one already constructed. Indeed, thoroughly to do the latter is wellnigh impossible. Unfortunately, the sewers in many towns of the State have been built piecemeal and without any system. First, a single drain is built, chiefly to remove surplus rain-water. It discharges little or no sewage, and the pollution of the outlet is thought to be unimportant. House-drains are afterward connected with it, so that it assumes the functions of a sewer. Then another branch sewer connecting with it is built, and from time to time more are added. So a network of pipes grows up, without system, and without adaptation of one pipe to the others. The sewers work badly, and the amount of sewage discharged at the outlet begins to make a nuisance. Then, perhaps, but not before, some expert in sewerage is called into consultation. It is, however, too late—the mischief has been done—and he rarely can suggest any but palliative measures, unless the town is willing to abandon all of the work already done, and begin again de novo. Many nuisances and much expense would be avoided if it were required in the future that no towns should be allowed to build sewers except such as formed parts of a well-digested scheme for the whole town; which scheme provided for the proper disposal of the present and prospective amounts of sewage, and had first been submitted to, and approved by, some experts appointed by the State. The same principle applies to manufactories."
The Science of Business. By Roderick H. Smith. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 182.
The author presents this essay as "a study of the principles controlling the laws of exchange." He believes that the course of business is governed by fixed natural laws, and that those laws correspond, as it were, with the law of motion, which goes along the line of least resistance, and is also subject to the law of rhythm. By the latter law, the ups and downs of business are regular in their recurrence, or periodical. No attempt to account for commercial fluctuations can be successful that loses sight of this. We may assign what particular causes may be most apparent for the stimulation of speculative movements or for the prevalence of failures. They may all have their influence; but that influence works in with the rhythmic movement, not against it or independently of it. The author calculates ​the period of the rhythmic wave to be about ten or eleven years; and according to his computations the period of depression in which we are now supposed to be sinking is to culminate in 1 887. Curiously enough, he predicts—it was a prediction when he wrote it—that "during the years of depression into which we are now entering—1885, 1886, 1887—we may expect numerous strikes, mobs, and troubles in our cities among laboring classes, incident to such times." While Mr. Smith's theory must be classed in the long list of hypotheses very much in need of proof, it is fair to say that he does not write like a wild visionary, but in the manner of a capable man who has thought long and earnestly upon the question he discusses.
The Fitting-Schools. By G. von Taube. New York: Gramercy Park School and Tool-House Association. Pp. 86.
The author is the originator and present director of the Gramercy Park Tool-House, and considers in this pamphlet the educational methods followed there—which attempt considerably more than simply to introduce the tools, or to train a future mechanic. From the statements of his theory of education we cite this about the primary work, or purpose, of the Kindergarten, which "is generally accomplished, notwithstanding the school. The early culture of perceptions goes ahead according to Nature's rules, even if the ABC remains unmastered. And facing the fact that a great deal of the very Kindergarten work is not wisely (we should say philosophically) arranged and conducted, we are obliged to come to the conclusion that the knowledge how to lose time wisely is the best maxim to be followed at an early age of the child. What has to be attended to is the discipline of habits, that of steady preoccupation, a concentration of attention leading to future thoroughness. Then the habit of neatness, that of sociability, the early sympathy toward a sufferer, a good, square, friendly acquaintance with Mother Nature's objective department. . . . Thus the creation of a good motive in children depends greatly upon careful early management, and the spontaneous activity of the little ones is made available to that effect." Arriving at the age of generalizations the study is directed toward new and wider subjects—a higher analysis of life and its conditions. In the conclusion—"Education, let us believe, is a specialty, is a serious study; not a personal opinion on a light subject, but a generalization, the inductions of which extend through centuries, whose truths call for testimony of most mixed sciences. Education, therefore, as a science, can no more be mixed up with emotional ventures and declamations than physics, chemistry, or astronomy. The future of a generation, embodying the dearest we possess on earth—our children—is too serious a matter to be settled off-hand, or to be indiscriminately and blindly deduced from a few principles, even if these should be of the highest kind."
Anthropophagy, Historic and Prehistoric. By General Charles W. Darling, Utica, N. Y. Privately printed. Pp. 47.
The author, in his readings relating to the origin and history of the human family, was impressed with the frequent allusions to man-eating among many of the peoples of the world, and was prompted to collate
I some of the references to the custom, in a connected form. In doing this, he has endeavored to be faithful to the facts as related by historians and travelers. His record begins with the Cyclopes of the Greeks, and ends with the distressing incidents of the Greely Expedition.
Proceedings of the Sixth Meeting of the Society for the Promotion of Agricultural Science. 1885. B. D. Halsted, Secretary, Ames, Iowa. Manhattan, Kansas: State Agricultural College. Pp. 59.
The society was organized in 1880, for the purpose of bringing together those who are interested in the applications of science to agriculture, discussing the methods and results of investigations, and providing for publications relating to the same. The present meeting was held at Ann Arbor, Michigan. Among the papers recorded in the report are—"The Vitality of Seeds buried in the Soil," by W. J. Beal; "The Demands made by Agriculture upon the Science of Botany," by Charles E. Bessey; "On Some Redeeming Traits of Alkali Soils," ​by E. W. Hilgard; "An Investigation of the Origin of the Dandelion," by E. L. Sturtevant; and an account of some experiments on "Variation in Cultivated Plants," by W. W. Tracy. In his observations on the last subject, Mr. Tracy finds many illustrations of variations of type which cultivators had been trying to produce for years, appearing in different localities and from different stocks at about the same time, so as to seem to indicate that variation is not an accident, but a progression of the species.
The Journal of Physiology. Edited by Michal Foster and others. Vol. VII, No. 1. Cambridge Scientific Instrument Company's Works, Cambridge, England. Pp. 80. Price, $5 a volume, of four numbers.
We notice this "Journal" at the beginning of its new volume, because it is one of the principal recognized mediums through which original investigators in physiology make known the results of their work. Research in this branch of science is now very active, and is distinguished by minute attention to details. It is the custom of the "Journal" to publish the particular accounts of the experiments and conclusions of investigators, with a fullness and excellence of pictorial illustration that leave nothing to be desired. Professor Foster, as editor of this publication, is assisted in England by Professor W. Rutherford, of Edinburgh, and Professor J. Burdon-Sanderson, of Oxford; and in America by Professor H. P. Bowditch, of Boston; Professor H. Newell Martin, of Baltimore, and Professor H. C. Wood, of Philadelphia. The present number is occupied with a paper by W. H. Gaskell, "On the Structure, Distribution, and Function of the Nerves which innervate the Visceral and Vascular Systems."
Science and the State. By R. W. Shufeldt. Pp. 10.
Dr. Shufeldt advocates patronage of science by the Government, and argues that it must be a good thing because the Government already fosters some dozen or more scientific bureaus at its seat, and they are all thriving. He would extend the scope of these bureaus, and the patronage of the Government, and would have organized at Washington a Department of Science, with buildings and a dozen sections, and a Cabinet officer the Secretary of Science—to preside over the whole. The "Monthly's" opinion of schemes of this kind and its reasons for holding it have been often enough and plainly enough expressed, and need not be repeated. Happily the author—although his reference is to officers of the army and navy already in Government employ having a taste for science overruling that for their real business—has made a very terse statement of the real attitude which the Government should occupy toward scientific students. It is that it "should offer the constant opportunity to such men to do the work for which they were born, molded, and designed, but allow them to do it in their own way, at their own times, and absolutely unhampered by any but the most necessary regulations." This maxim may apply to officers in time of peace, when the corps are kept up merely for the sake of having them on hand. Broadened, and with the addition of "at their own expense or that of their friends," it would make a most excellent rule of universal application, and would convey the true doctrine.
The Country Banker: his Clients, Cares, and Work. By George Rae, with an American Preface by Brayton Ives. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. Pp. 320. Price, $1.50.
This work, eminently practical in its teachings, presents the results of forty years' experience in banking. Its purpose "is not to formulate afresh the fundamental principles of banking, but rather to show those principles in operation; to exhibit, so to speak, the machinery of banking in motion; . . . less to advance special views of my own, than to exemplify, from fresh points of observation, the accustomed lines and recognized limits of prudent banking." The epistolary form is used—the author taking the position of a person writing instructions to the manager of the bank—because it gives scope to a more familiar treatment of the subject, with such success that Mr. Ives is able to say, in his preface to the American edition, that the book is a notable exception to the admitted rule that the average writer on financial subjects lacks the ability to treat them in an attractive manner. "Without being pedantic, or too ​technical, the author has written a book which is so admirable in style that it presents strong claims to public attention, viewed solely from a literary standpoint. . . . The author's experience of thirty-five years in a bank did not convert him into a machine, nor make him unmindful of everything except money-getting. Out of banking hours he must have read many good books, and thought carefully over their contents. We find everywhere signs of his keen knowledge of human nature. He recognizes and demonstrates the fact that successful bankers must have some, at least, of the cardinal virtues; that they must be courteous, honorable, prudent, and industrious."
Industrial and High Art Education in the United States. By I. Edwards Clarke. Washington: Government Printing-Office. Pp. 1100.
This volume is part of a report on the subject described in the title made by the author to the United States Commissioner of Education. The report complete will include four volumes. The particular branch of the subject here discussed is "Drawing in Public Schools." The object sought in the preparation of the report, as stated by the author, has been to place in the hands of educators and educational officers "the material not only for forming an intelligent judgment upon the advisability of introducing the study of drawing into the public schools, but also, as well, to furnish the facts needed for a like consideration of the questions arising in regard to establishing special schools of technical industrial art training, high art academies, public art museums, art libraries, and of making occasional public loan exhibitions." The volume is in two parts; the report and the appendices, besides an introductory chapter. The report also is in two parts. The first part consists of fourteen "original preliminary papers," occupying 258 pages, "suggesting the direct and indirect relations of art to education, to industry, and to national prosperity," which are grouped under the general heading of "The Democracy of Art." In the second part, of 411 pages, the subject is considered, historically, with respect to England and America (particularly Massachusetts), to the present position of drawing in several States of the Union, and to concurrent contemporary testimony concerning drawing in the public schools. The appendices contain papers relating to early efforts to introduce drawing as a branch of popular education, in the United States and in England; to the origin, development, and purpose of industrial art education; to the management of the Massachusetts State Normal Art School; to the Industrial Art-training Exhibits in the Centennial Exhibition; to Governmental Aid to Education in the Industrial and Fine Arts in Great Britain; to Industrial Education; and to the International Conference on Education, held in London, in August, 1884. The preparation of the report was begun in 1877, or of a part of it, as indicated in one of the statements, as far back as 1874. The work has since been added to several times, but not, apparently, revised; in fact, the author acknowledges that he considered the task of rewriting it a hopeless one, and adopted in preference, as a more feasible plan, "in adding the new matter to leave the history as previously completed, and under the head of 'addenda' to proceed with the subsequent statements." In several instances the "addenda" are far longer than the history to which they are attached. Thus, the report has come to answer, with unusual accuracy, to the author's own description of it as resembling "one of those vast, rambling, mediæval structures to which succeeding ages have builded additions as the needs or tastes of new generations impelled." It contains a great deal of valuable matter, that could have been put, in vastly better shape, in a fraction of the space the present volume occupies. Then we should have had a compact, manageable book, written to the point, which publishers would have competed for the privilege of putting on, the market. As it is, it is a striking re-enforcement of our argument against the Government going into the publishing business.
Annual Report on the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station for 1885. Middletown. Pp. 139.
The analysis of commercial fertilizers and work connected with the collection, examination, and valuation of samples have occupied the larger part of the time of the station's working force. One hundred and thirty-nine brands of fertilizers were legally ​sold in the State during the rear, and one hundred and seventeen other analyses of fertilizers of various kinds were made. Other analyses or tests were made of feeding-stuffs, seeds, milk, well-and spring-water, and soils, and cases of suspected poisoning of animals were inquired into. Four bulletins were published, and sent to the post-offices for distribution to agricultural societies and clubs, to newspapers, and, on application, to private addresses; and hektograph copies of analyses are liberally sent out as soon as the analyses are finished.
Old School Days. By Amanda B. Harris. Chicago and Boston: Interstate Publishing Company. Pp. 109, with Plates. Price, 60 cents.
This is a vivid reproduction, from memory, of days and scenes and customs that have passed away, and live only in the traditions of those who are now fathers and mothers. It brings before us the New England country school-house of forty or fifty years ago, with the children plainly dressed, and most of them barefooted. The story can not fail to be pleasing to those who would recall the days when they were children, and to those who would enjoy a representation of what their parents did and saw in the school.
The Great Conspiracy; its Origin and History. By John A. Logan. New York: A. E. Hart & Co. Pp. 810.
This book will attract attention on account of the author's prominence in the politics of the day, and will particularly interest those who recollect his activity as a soldier of the Union during the war of the rebellion. In preparing the book it has been his aim, he says, "to present in it, with historical accuracy, authentic facts; to be fair and impartial in grouping them; and to be true and just in the conclusions necessarily drawn from them. While thus striving to be accurate, fair, and just, he has not thought it his duty to mince words, nor to refrain from 'calling things by their right names'; neither has he sought to curry favor, in any quarter, by fulsome adulation on the one side, nor undue denunciation on the other, either of the living or of the dead"; in treating the subject, "he has conscientiously dealt with it, throughout, in the clear and penetrating light of the voluminous records so readily accessible at the seat of our national government. So far as was practicable, he has endeavored to allow the chief characters in that conspiracy, as well as the Union leaders, . . . to speak for themselves, and thus, while securing their own proper places in history, by a process of self-adjustment, as it were, themselves to write down that history in their own language." Nevertheless, the style of the book is warm; and many of the thoughts and expressions seem more appropriate to a period that survives only in history than to the present, when men's thoughts are running in other channels, and their controversies are on other questions than those that engaged exclusive attention twenty years ago.
Smithsonian Accounts of Progress in 1885. Washington: Government Printing-Office.
Geography. By J. King Goodrich. Pp. 36.—Mr. Goodrich has given a very readable account of the year's work in geography, which others than special students of the subject will be interested in. Beginning with "general notes" relating to the condition and growth of geographical knowledge as a whole, he arranges his review under the special headings of the several regions which have been fields of geographical research, with accounts of the work done in each.
Chemistry. By Professor H. Carrington Bolton. Pp. 50. This account, though short, gives the record of a busy year's work, in which, while no startling discoveries have been made, a great deal has been done in the study of important questions relative to the nature of the chemical radicals, their relations to one another, and their reactions.
Vulcanology and Seismology. By Charles G. Rockwood, Jr. Pp. 23.—The study of this branch is still devoted largely to individual manifestations, with much inquiry for laws and causes, but few definite general conclusions. It is given here as one of the conclusions of Verbeck's investigation of the great Krakatoa eruption, that that volcano lies at the intersection of three fissures of the earth's crust, and the earthquake of September 1, 1880, probably affected the Sunda fissure and facilitated the entrance of ​greater quantities of water to the volcanic furnace beneath. Hence the remote causes of the outburst of 1883.
Physics. By Professor George F. Barker. Pp. 60.—Besides the results in general physics, Professor Barker mentions the studies that have been made in the physics of liquids and gases, light, acoustics, and electricity, and special applications.
Mineralogy. By Professor E. S. Dana. Pp. 26.—The subject is considered under the headings of "General Works on Mineralogy," "Crystallography and Physical Mineralogy," "Chemical Mineralogy," "New Mineral Localities in the United States and elsewhere," and "New Minerals."
Anthropology. By Professor Otis T. Mason. Pp. 56.—This account includes considerable technical matter; but we find in it sections on the ethnology of the American aborigines, and on the glossology, comparative technology, sociology, and mythology and folk-lore of our tribes.
Astronomy. By William C. Winlock.—Mr. Winlock works as a substitute for Professor E. S. Holden, whose manuscript review, already prepared, was lost in removing his library. Faye's "Cosmological Theory," and G. H. Darwin's review of it, new discoveries of nebulæ, investigations of astronomical constants, recent star catalogues, studies in parallax, in variable, new, or temporary stars, in stellar spectra, proper motions, and photometry, astronomical photography, what has been done and said about comets, the studies of Langley and others on the sun, and of other astronomers on various planets, receive attention.
Zoolögy. By Professor Theodore Gill. Pp. 53.—The continued tendency toward the special study of embryology, and of animals from an embryological point of view, is remarked upon: At the same time systematic zoölogy has at least maintained its course. Particular mention is made of Dr. Boulenger's catalogue of the lacertilian reptiles in the British Museum, Professor Cope's "Tertiary Vertebrata," and Professor Marsh's "Dinocerata." The subject is reviewed according to the various groups of the animal kingdom in which memoirs have appeared.
North American Invertebrate Paleontology. By John Belknap Marcou. Pp. 47.—Mr. Marcou gives summaries of the various monographs that were published during the year, the whole furnishing a fair and tolerably full representation of what was accomplished. All of these reviews, except the "Geography" and the "Paleontology," which is itself a bibliography, add bibliographies of their subjects, and necrological notices. In Professor Gill's zoölogy the bibliographical notices are given in the text according to the groups to which the subjects belong.
The Interstate Readers. Primary, pp. 82; Intermediate, pp. 32. Price of each, 30 cents for ten numbers. Grammar-School, pp. 48. 15 cents a number. All monthly, and No. 1, September, 1886. Chicago and Boston: Interstate Publishing Company.
The Irish Question. By the Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. Pp. 57. 10 cents.
The Relation of Hospitals to Medical Education. By Charles Francis Withington, M. D. Boston: Cupples, Upham, & Co. Pp. 47.
Report of the Iowa Weather Service. 1883. By Dr. Gustavus Hinrichs, Director, Des Moines. Pp. 203.
Bulletin of the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences. Vol. V, No. 2. Pp. 52, with Plate.
Report of American Association Committee on Indexing Chemical Literature. Pp. 7.
Catalogue of Rutgers College, at New Brunswick, N. J. 1885-'86. Pp. 66.
Function: Its Evolution and Influence. By C. N. Pierce, D. D. S. Philadelphia. Pp. 7.
A New Philosophy of the Sun. By Henry Raymond Rogers, Jamestown, N. Y. Chautauqua Society of History and Natural Science. Pp. 27.
The Manifesto. August, 1886. Henry C. Blinn, editor, Shaker Village, N. H. Pp. 24.
The Silver Question. By E. J. Farmer, Cleveland, Ohio. Pp. 12.
Michigan State Board of Health. Report of Proceedings. July 13, 1886. Pp. 13.
The Botanical Gazette. John M. Coulter, Charles R. Barnes, and J. C. Arthur, editors. Monthly. Crawfordsville, Ind. Pp. 36.
Kupfer in den Vereinigten Staaten (Copper in the United States). By E. Reyer, Vienna, Austria. Pp. 10.
The Menorah. Monthly. Benjamin F. Peixotto, editor. New York: No. 39 Broadway. Pp. 48.
The Hygiene of Nature. By Dr. Romaine J. Curtiss, Joliet, Ill. Pp. 18.
Architecture. Heating, and Ventilation of Institutions for the Blind. By J. F. McElroy, Adrian, Mich. Pp. 21.
Edison's Incandescent Electric Lights for Street Illumination. By A. Hickenloper. Cincinnati: Robert Clarke & Co. Pp. 95. 50 cents.
Duffy's Wave-Motor as a Source of Power, etc. San Francisco: Terence Duffy. Pp. 15.
The Second Law of Thermodynamics. By Professor J. Burkitt Webb. Salem, Mass.: The Salem Press. Pp. 14.
The Heart of the Fish, compared with that of Menobranchus, with Special Reference to Reflex Inhibition and Independent Cardiac Rhythm. By T. Wesley Mills. Montreal. Pp. 11.
​C. V. Riley. Report of the Entomologist of the Agricultural Bureau for 165. Pp. 160, with Plate. The Mulberry Silk-Worm. Pp. 61, with Plate.
The Financial Problem: Its Relation to Labor Reform. By Alfred B. Westrup. Dallas, Texas. Pp. 32.
Ophthalmoscopic Examination of the Insane. By Louis J. Lauterbach, M.D. Philadelphia. Pp. 4.
Exploration of the Harriot Mound. Ohio, No. 1. By C. L. Metz and F. W. Putnam. Pp. 18.
Rutgers Scientific School, New Brunswick, N.J. Twenty-first Annual Report. Pp. 61.
List of Institutions in the United States receiving Publications of the Smithsonian Institution. Washington. Pp. 72.
Resultados del Observatorio Nacional Argentino (Results of the Argentine National Observatory). Juan M. Thome, Director. Buenes Ayres. Pp. 564.
Cassell's National Library. No. 28. Sir Roger de Coverley and the Spectator's Club. No. 29. Voyages and Travels of Marco Polo. No. 30. Merchant of Venice. By William Shakespeare. No. 31. Religio Medici. By Sir Thomas Browne, M.D. Pp. 192 each. 10 cents each.
Practical and Analytical Chemistry. By Henry Trimble. Philadelphia: P. Blakiston. Son, & Go. New York: E. R. Pelton. Pp. 110. $1.50.
The Optimism of Ralph Waldo Emerson. By William F. Dana. Boston: Cupples, Upham, & Co. Pp. 64. 50 cents.
Astronomy by Observation. By Eliza A. Bowen. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 90, with Plates. $1.
Aphrodite. By Ernst Eckstein. From the German by Mary J. Safford. New York: William S. Gottsberger. Pp. 239.
The Millennial Dawn. Vol. 1. The Plan of the Ages. By Charles T. Russell. Pittsburg: Zion's Watch Tower. Pp. 351.
First Lessons in Zoölogy. By A. S. Packard. New York: Henry Holt & Co. Pp. 290. $1.
The First Three Years of Childhood. By Bernard Perez. Chicago: A. N. Marquis & Co. Pp. 292. $1.25.
Hand-Book of Mineralogy. By T. C. Fove. New York: D. Van Nostrand. Pp. 180. 50 cents.
Selections for Written Reproduction. By Edwin R. Shaw. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 102. $1.
The Jugurthine War of C. Sallustius Crispus. Edited by Charles George Herbermann. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 272. $1.12.
The Earth's Annular System. By Isaac N. Vail. Cleveland, Ohio: Clark and Zangerle. Pp. 400. $2.
Numbers Applied: A Complete Arithmetic. By Andrew J. Rickoff. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 416. 75 cents.
Forest Commission of the State of New York. First Annual Report. 1885. Albany. Pp. 362.
United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries. Report for 1883. Pp. 1206, with Plates.
United States Entomological Commission. Fourth Report on the Cotton-Worm and Boll-Worm. By Charles V. Riley. Washington: Government Printing-Office. Pp. 147, with Plates.
Elements of the Comparative Anatomy of Vertebrates. Adapted from Robert Wiedersheim by Dr. W. Newton Parker. London and New York: Macmillan & Co. Pp. 345. $3.
The Logic of Introspection. By the Rev. J. B. Wentworth. New York: Phillips & Hunt. Pp. 446.
Report upon the Third International Geographical Congress and Exhibition at Venice. By Captain George M. Wheeler. Washington: Government Printing-Office. Pp. 586.