The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1893-02-08
dear to the American people. That is
why his books are read today.


Logic, by Prof Noah 4. Davis (New
York: Harper & Brothers; Portland:
LoringShort & Harmony is a treatise de-
signed as text book for undergradu-
ates, it will be found of use to all who
have need of compact statement of for
NAL logic, free from the.verbiage and diff
fuseness which mark too many of the
larger and more pretentious works. The
study of logic is excellent discipline,
aside from it's practical bearings. The
author says he has "tried to beaclear.
single and true" and no one who care
fully examines his treatise will dispute
his success. The chapter on 'sfallacies"
is particularly valuable, and ought to be
studied by some of our self-constituted
teachers in political economy.
A new novel by the author of Valerie
Alymer is pretty certain to be read,
whether good OF bad, by great many
people, and SO there is little need to say
more of A Comedy or Elopement (New
York: D. Appleton & Co.; Portland:
Loring, Short & HARMONY than that it is
by Christian Reid. Like the venerable
patriarch of Porteous she keeps the even
tenor of her way. All her stories bear
strong resemblance. The characters
have different names and live in different
places, or else they change their names
when they move from place to place,
we are not sure which. The place this
time is Venice, and his name is Kyrle
while hers is Aimee.
Hiram Colts Religion, or the Shoe
maker by the Grace of God New York:
E. P. Dutton & Company is a tract in
the form of story, and very likely will
be relished by those who like sugar in
their'n. 1t will be relished, too, by
those who like bright thoughts clothed
in good English. 1t is as interesting as
fine sermon delivered by young pull
pit orator who has the sense of humor;
and, like the sermon indicated, deserves
a large audience. The youthfulness of it
is one of it's charms. 1t does not seem
like the work of practical writer.
Professor Shaler is clear thinker, and
the fortunate possessor of a literary style
that is not only as lucid as his thought
but singularly attractive because of its
richness and flexibility So book by
him is of more than ordinary terest
His attempt to explain and reconcile
what he himself calls the Somewhat
strained relations between natural
science and religion (The Interpretation
of Nature. By Nathaniel Southgate
Shaler, Professor of Geology in Harvard
University. Boston; Houghton, Mif1in
& Co.; Portland: Loring, Short & Har-
mon. Price $1.25) is solid yet entertain
ing reading, and byyvery many will be
considered conclusive reasoning. The
volume contains, with slight modifica-
tions, the course of lectures delivered be
fore the students of Andover Theologi-
cal Seminary in 1891.
In his preface the author very frankly
says that his first contract with natural
science in youth and early manhood had
the not uncommon effect of leading him
far away from Christianity OF late
years a further insight into the truth of
nature haa gradually forced him once
again towards the ground from which he
had departed. Perhaps the chief merit
of the lectures, aside from their charm
of style, is that they meet and do away
with the difficulties of young men who
are wandering as he did in the days of
his youth, and point out to them the
path which leads to right thinking and
the dissipation of their doubts.
The ancient dominion of the Shereefs,
the Empire of Morocco, or, as it is called
by its inhabitants, Al Moghreb-al-Akaa,
"the extreme West,'' is just now the OBJ
ject of considerable interest. because the
European powers who seek the control
of the Mediterranean are reaching out
for it or rather for the fortress and sea-
port of Tangiers. The history of the
land, the succession of great dynasties,
is romantic, the country itself pictur-
esauefn its barbarlsm and squalor, and
its present condition exciting the atten-
ton of the curious. In Morocco AS 1t
Isl Stephen Bonsal il. gives graphic
and apparently trustworthy account of
the empire, prefaced by concise histori-
cal sketch, and followed up by shrewd
speculations as to its destiny. The book
Is very entertainingly written in vigorous
sometimes vehement, manner, and is
embellished by the multiplicity of illus
trations evincing various degrees of
merit. An account of Sir Charles Evan
Smiths recent mission to Fee, and an ex-
cellent map of Morocco add materially to
the value of the work. It is published
in a handsome volume of $50 pages by
Harper & Brothers: New York, and is
for sale in this city by Loring, Short 6
Harmon.
A new edition of the Tongue of Fire