The Portland daily press., 1875-10-27
Magazine Notices.

The october number of the North American
RevieW contains five essays besides the articles
in the department of critical notices. The first
essay is by Simon Newcomb, who discusses the
Method and Province of Political Economy.
he defines the science of political economy as
the study of the mode of operation of those
causes which effect the production, distribution
and consumption of wealth, in so far as they
act through human vo!ition," and considers
this Limitation indispensably necessary to the
definition. He thinks political economy should
be considered and studied as an abstract science
and that the more general s2eculatious of So
ciality will not afford much help to an under.
standing of it. The essay is fine example of
close and compact reasoning. 1t is followed by
long and instructive paper by Professor j. d.
Whitney on Geological Surveys. This paper
is supplementary to the one by the same writer
in the last number on Geographical Surveys T.
s. Perry contributes an article entitled The Two
Amperes, ,Andre-Maria and Jeap-J acques. This
is followed by review of General Sherman's
Memoirs, by F. W. Palfrsy, written with ap.
probation and candor. The last of the essays
is concerning the state of the higher education
in this country. Charles Kendall Adams is
the writer, and it ig based upon the flcs
brought to light in Mr.. Ten Brooks's work on
American State universities The critical no.
tices fill 20 pages, and are, as usual, of excel
lent quality.
A handsomely printed brochure of forty
pages comes fiom the printing press of Stephen
Berry. aud is entitled "The Oatmeal Crusaders,
or Nine Days Wander, round up, and down
Uos ho,n O..
Poem. The author is Mr.. Henry Carpenter,
an alumnus of Brasenose College, Oxford Uni
versity, an English gentleman who Las been
passing the summer in this coun try, and who
has had the excellent taste to sojourn mu3h of
the time in the beautiful village Of Fryeblrg
There he organized an expedition to Mt Wash.
ington, and The Oatmeal Crusaders is a metri-
cal history of the jaunt. While not so full of
adventure as the wanderings of the Greek King
after Troy fell, the history of the nine days
frolic is sufficiently interesting to repay peru
sal. The verse is easy and flowing, aud Mr..
Carpenters stores of learning and his scholar
ly taste have been freely called iuto requisition
in matters of imagery and illustration. The
annexation is always instructive and not infre-
quently very entertaining. Of course the lines
are of more immediate interest to those ac-
quainte1 with the exploring party than to the
general reader but all will fud them very
readable.
Wide Aocdke for November is on hand, fairly
radiant with its profusion of pictures A no
ticeable feature of this new Boston juvenile, is
its many fine, fuli-page eD2ravings. Mrs. s
N. B. Piatt, the most popular among he
IF ha g..
nishes the opening poem, The Sad Story of a
Little Girl. Prof. Cheney, one of our arch@-
ologists, in An Afternoon with ao Indian
Princess, gives "reminiscences of visit with a
venerable Iroquois Sachem and his daughter,
who was friend of Washington ami of sevsral
OF the Presidents. There is cspita little
story Of animal life, by the editor, Mrs
Opossum and her Daughters. Miss Farmsn
also furnishes one of the serials, The Cooking
Club, story which is refreshingly original
and wholesome. The boys get their full share
in The Black Prince aud the Gray, and in
Toms Opinion, the English serial, which is
concluded in this number. The interesting
Japanese Papers are also concluded. The
serial Young Rick. by Miss Eastman, Is a
faithful transcript of child life; it has the wit
ouu uIiSutusoS We tAptcG IlOm tue dutuOr VI
Striking for the Right, $1,000 prize story.
There are other articles by Mrs. E. G Carter,
(Elsie Gorham), DR.. Tourjee, Geo. Macdo aid,
Auntie Kinne, Salome Adam Stwn, Mrs.
Edmonds. Mrs. E. s. Forman, and charming
poems by Mary e. Bradley, Clara Doty Bates {,
Margaret Eytinge &c., together with one, a
dainty conceit Why the Roses Fade, by the
editor, whose department. The Magic Carpet,
| is as entertaining as a story D. Lothrop 81
Co., Boston.
The Postal Guide is one of the most sensible
and useful of our official document, 1t con
tains almost if not quite, all that anybody can
want to know about the mails. L s "sugges-
tions to the public if needed would save an
endless amount of trouble in regard to letters
that 60 astray now through the negligence Of
their senders. There are full accounts Of the
organization of the departments, lists of the
agents, a complete roll of the post offices Of
the United States all the information needed
about postal rates. registration, money orders,
foreign postage and SO on. The last number,
October 1875, which is just out, has also an
exceedingly valuable new feature in plan by
DR.. j. M. Toner of Washington, D. c., to
designate where to find any county in state.
A plain square symbol attached TO the county
| name indicates that it occupies central
| position in the state; by the name of each
other county is this same square with short
pointer attached, marking its direction from
the center The idea is ingenious and very
useful, and is worth the attention of geograph-
ers and gazetteer makers. The Postal Guide
| is Indispensable to business houses and is one
r i
while, and especially when in a hurry 1t is
issued quarterly by Hurd and Houghton of the
Riverside Press, Cambridge. Mass, from
sheets PREF ared officially in Washington and
can be had for $3.50 a year or 80 cents a
number, by applying to the publishers or to
postmasters.