Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1883-12-15
SOME NOTES CONCERNING RECENT BOOKS

WHAT SHALL We Do WITH Our DAUGHnRs? SUPER
fLuops WOVEN, AND OrHRR LECTURES By Mary |
A. Livermore Boston: Lee & Shepard SacIa- |
mento W. A. s c. S. Houghton.
Mrs. Liyermore is no superficial thinker. |
She is woman of vigor of thought and ex.
preston. She has had wide experience in |
social studies, and to the woman question has |
during many years given much attention. |
The title of the book indicates its character.
We do not agree with the lady in all she hss
to say, but approve her general criticisms.
We may not enter upon any argument with
her here. and now. We shall content our
selves with calling attention to her book and
the trend of her thought, since the substance
of the volume has been before the public for
many years, and SIS most of the papers have
been delivered by her from the rostrum from
Maine to California. They treat of the
changed conditions of woman's life of physi.
cal education; of the need of practical train.
ing of industrial and technical training of
moral and religious training. and the causes
of celibacy, superHuous women, etc, In
brief, we may say that she holds that
womans cause is mans cause, and every
mans cause is every womans cause
that whosoever educstes a woman educates
a race that common sense is the best rule to
apply in the physical training of women,
which is so neglected as to threaten the seri.
GUS decline of our women as a class that
health is o means to an end-an investment
fpr he fnt hat Ia IL H.
every parent for every daughter to the fullest
extent of physical possibility. As to the
much debated higher education question, she
holds strongly in favor of co-education of the
sexes, and that it is, when wisely managed,
indispensable to the training of noble women
and men. She would have girls taught con-
corning the great questions that engage the
attention of the Government, and informed
fully on the social and educational move.
ments of the day, In short, she would have
all burden.bearers share all privileges. We
will not proceed further, as these notes will
indicate the direction of the arguments the &C.
complished lady maintains throughout, save
TO say that her idea of "woman's rights -
recognizes man as the head. and woman as
the heart man as wisdom, woman as love
the qualities of each supplementing each in
the other that without equality between
them, there can be no full development of
either; without perfect partnership of their
humanity, there can be no completeness of
life in either.
n .pg Efrrr d.
Ward Howe. Boston: Roberts Brothers Sac
ramentO: W. A. & c. S. HOughton. svo.; 81
Among the cultured women of her time,
none stood more prominent than Margaret
Fuller. Such scholars as James Freeman
Clarke, Ralph Waldo Emerson and William
Henry Charming have honored her memory
by recording personal impressions of this re-
markable woman. 1t may be supposed that
they had left very little for later biographers
to say concerning her. But such lives as hers
are exhsustless texts. The present biographer
has found material in plenty upon which to
dwell, and that the womau's life she considers
was so full of suggestion that it may not ell
be written by any one Intelligence. The
chief significance of the present biography is
the skill with which Mrs. Howe has inter.
woven with the life of her subject the most
marked considerations suggested by her lit
erary labors. The story of the life and labors
of this American authoress, and of her death
by shipwreck, her body being seized by the
sea which has never given it up, is through
out well told, and is given a new charm and
interest from the tenderness with which
another woman of special gifts has treated it.
HISTORICAL HANDBOOK OF ITALIAN SCULPTURE. By
Charles C. Perkins. New York Cnas Scribner's
Sons. Sacramento: ". 4. y c. S. Houghton.
Large octave; 81.
MIR. Perkins, IS corresponding member Of
the French Institute, and as a competent
student of art, was well qualified to under.
take the handsome work before US. It is
properly history drawn from the materials
of much larger work on the same subject,
supplemented by the common stock Of iu.
formation that has been given the world,
since the publication of the earlier book. The
volume is prefaced by a chapter on "pre-
revival sculpture in Italy, while The book
proper opens with the Revival" 1t will
serve TO indicate the character of work
which will be well received, we Judge, by art
students, to say that Mr.. Perkins uses the
word sculpture throughout, to comprehend,
in treatment, technical and esthetic training,
instead of stone carving, and which more
properly expresses the nature Of much Of the |
work he considers-simply, ss he puts it,
q" because it is a more convenient form of !
speech" and not as implying artistic excel.
lence in Italian works of the eleventh and |
twelfth centuries.
THR HONE PHYSICIAN. A summary of practical |
medicine and surgery for the use Of travellers and |
OF families al distance from physicians. By |
Luther NJ. Gilbert NJ. d. New York c. P Put |
MANS Sons san Francisco: A L. Bancroft Co.: |
small Svo; 81.
The words we have italicised in the title |
alone can save this book from condemnation. |
Not that it is not very concise, plain-spoken |
and definite boob-it certainly directs in |
plain English and no one should be excused !
for not understanding it-but because we |
doubt most seriously the usefulness of such |
works While it is all well enough TO say |
this is for use oHly when the physician is not |
within reach, both author and publisher |
know that the saving clause will not prevent !
It's uss by any one, under any circumstances.
Now, as this does not purport to instruct in
the discovery of ailments and the nature of |
manifest disease, it is obvious that the treat
nent and dispensation of medicines advised |
must be based on the Judgment of unskilled |
persons as to the time when and the proper
eases in which to administer. Medicine
s best not administered unless applied
n cases for which its dispersation is
specially provided. This diagnosing of ones
,wn case is always doubtful policy. So, too
t is dangerous to do so at any time by any
me not skilled by experience and study, for