St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-08-03
BOOK REVIEWS.

having against things that are IS
eommendable only when the writer has
some remedy for the evils. ''Valmond,
the Crank" is book whose coarSeness
is inexeusable. 1t pretends to be a
book on socialism. The hero is mad
man who merely raves against society
as it is, without doing one thing to bet
ter it. He suggests DO remedy but total
humiliation. He has no theories, no
philosophy, no religion. He is incar-
nate chaos. The weak effort at Tolstoi
ism the book displays kills the little
literary merit it might originally have
had. and, without suiting it to the tastes
of lovers of the erOtIc or sensational,
makes it embarrassing to the people
who are really interested in socialism,
and not anarchy.
Il
"Waymarks of Two Eternities," by
DIR. William E. Jurden. Eau Claire,
Wis, is volume of SIS pages, with fifty
elegant engraviDgs,. and a handsome
book geographically. The name of the
author is not probably familiar to many
readers. but his book shows that he is a
man of great industry, and has COM
piled and presented in a popular man
ner mass of information that is a
library in itself on the subject treated.
Its scope is indicated in the title as a
history of the creation, origin and evo-
buttons of planets and their inhabitants;
creation, and history of the earth; orr
gin of life and the species. descent Of
man, pre-Adamic races, and the world
before the deluge. Then he passes
on to the future of man, of the
earth and of the sun; life and death,
the here and the hereafter. That is a
1atNI Ia rltICI raCr
about all the subjects reasonable curloS-
ity can have much concern about. The
central idea of the author is the evolu-
ton of planets, of which the earth is the
most important to his readers and its
inhabitants. As explained in the pref
ace, all known and attested facts are
utilized to evolve the philosophy of the
universe. All matter in the universe
has existed forever, but is in constant
activity, and the formations into which
it enters come and go. Worlds have
periods of growth, development and de-
cay. To know the evOlutionS in one
planet is to know the natural history Of
all planets. The stages OF their devel-
Opment correspond to the life eraS
of the human being. Taking the earth
as an illustration, it was origin
ally comet. That was the embryOtlc
stage. The several epOchS OF evolution
are described i'll the Bible as days. The
length OF these periods were lmmeaSur-
able. The eight planets of our solar
system are pictured in their present
stages of growth. 1t is sometimes as
sImed that the earth Is the most impor-
tant figure in the solar system, and the
other planets SubServient to Ii. But this
complacent view is not warranted by
this author. There are two out OF the
eight that are older than the earth.
The latter is in the seventh epoch, while
Venus Is in the eighth and Mercury IN
the ninth. 1t would seem that only one
world at time is started in the system.
as no two of the planets are III the
same stage. Neptune is the young
est, and has but a small nucleus
of solid matter. Mars is now in the
sixth stage, which is the one in which
the earth was equipped for the appear
ance OF man. The next, or eighth stage.
now held by Venus, realizes the high
est development of the race. 1t is the
Biblical era when the sword shall be
beaten into plOWShares, etc, and the
distance to the sun will be greatly re-
duced. 1t will be the millennium. In
the ninth era the earth will be too near
the sun for human or other life, as
Mercury now is, and at the termination
will fail into the sun. This catastrophe,
however, is rather too remote for imme-
date apprehension, as the author holds
that science proves and theBible teaches
that man has lived on the earth not
less than 100000 years. There have
been in that time four distinct
human epochs. separated by cOnyul-
sionS that devastated life. Each period
had an advance in human develop
ment. There have been sudden changes
in polar centerS. In single night
Siberia was changed from tropical
climate to its present one, and all the
elephants froze to death. This book is
a detailed history of our world and all
worlds, in short, as far as human reason
can go, full of novel and startling DEM
onstrations. 1t is stated that life Of
labor has been spent in the prepara-
ton of the work, the libraries Of the
world ransacked to make it an encyclo-
padia of sImplitied facts. Even our
favorite sage, Ignatius Donnelly, is
quoted in regard to comets. Those with
any interest in such subjects will be
amply rewarded by it's perusal.
BOOKS RECEIVED.
Her Sisters Rival: Albert Delpit. Laird &
Lee, Chicago.
valmend the Crank: Nero. H. j. Smith &
Co. Chicago.
Way Marks of Two Eternities: William E.
Jurden, Eau Claire Wis.
The Madonna of Pass Christian: George
F. Ormsby. Donahue, Henneberry d Co.,
Chicago.
was 1t the Woman's Fault? Savllle. Don
ahue, Henneberry Z Co., Chicago.
The American Girl in Paris: Alexander
Dumas Fills. Donahue, Henneberry & Co.,
Chicago.
Mieheline: Hector Malot. Donahue, Hen
neberry u Co., Chicago