New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-04-08
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
AMERICAN AND BRITISH oRAroRY.

AMERICAN AND SlliSih
One OF the new ac.,1>es 10 which some coh'r'ou
lions have been msle : critics In German! !"
what may be called comparative orator!' i"e
ancient opinion that a great orator mus' heees-
sarily be a good man has been sadly shaNe' ~ Wv
experience OF modern parliamenfs ana pla'ioi''
Cynicism has suggested that the morsh'y Vi
Great orator consists not in being good himsei
hut In thinking everybody who disagrees WIN
him miserable scoundrcl The new science VIII
probably find between these extremes
Among the material for this new seiehce
distinguished place will surely be given 10 'he
late Professor Alexander Johnson's coilecuoh Oh
american Orations &C. p Putnam's Sons,' OF
which volumes second, third and fourth have
been re-edted with many notes by Professor James
Albert WOODBURY. Of Indiana University. Ne''he'
Professor Johnson Professor WOODRUFF nov"
ever thought Of comparative science. They
have looked upon the speeches which they selected
nc illustrative Of American history. Both sdes OF
all the great political controversies that at one
time or another agitated the Nation are presence
in addresses by men who were the ie"ueis %
their respective parties Historical lnuoouc'io"'
prena-e the way for understanding the speeeheS'
snd hrief biographical sketches reveal some chai-
acteristics OF the orators. The splenoor VI ti'e
spoken word Is. indeed. gone, or at least IL "''e'
only in a separate tradition. but there Is on an
sides OF every question presented In these Voiuhes
fervor OF conviction that is YER! pei'u"'NO
II there is any man in the whole hs' VINO S,e"eu
"a Tho majority Of his contemporaries vaciIatin2
man. guided by personal interests rather t'"" ~
National welbeing. 1t was stephen a. Dous'"s
But few will he able 10 read now cdiiIis 'S
famous defence Of the nsas-Nebraska Dill WIN
49,. .oa,,nr that the Little Giant" had thoroughly
CONVINCED himself that he acting as a heui-
ator between hostile sections ana angry par ~
Thero are other oratlons here which In their Tune
raised a storm but there is not one when "ou'u
be called the discourse of a sophist'
less ambitious collection is that of Leopold
Wagner. Modern Political Orations' piehfE no"
G. Coz comprising speeches In the Britsh rAiia
ment on various occasions in the last sM'! !e"i''
In both works the literary evidence points 10
decline in tho mere art of oratory since the carrier
wears Of the century But that may be que 10
.ba fact that the topics of public discussion nave
hecome on the whole. more prosalc Inc "'ii'
does not stir the blood like the slavery queSuon'
nor does Home Rule rouse. except IN lrlsn rama
roan,arians the feeling that accompanied the asl-
,tn, over ,bc Corn laws In neither book is there
n more extraordinary address, considering All tie
conditions than made in an thghSh Guy ~
ON American When brave orator and an un-
manageable audience are spoken or thihk Always
of Henry Ward Beecher at Liverpool.
1.-THE Method Of Darwin" Chicago: A - NC
Clure & Coz. by Frank Cramer IL an interest,".
ing study. the purpose Of which is almost Original
with the author. OF treatises on logic there are
MANY including Mills work on inductive processes
The student may get what help from these he can
Put neither from teachers nor from DOCKS mas lie
hitherto been favored with much direct instruction
on the actual living processes OF investigation
Authors usually omit to account for their results
IN the way that might make them models TO otheIS'
r)oru,n however was a marked exception iie
knew that the chain OF events which he nao o.
served or which he had himself brought ABOUT III
a biological inquiry was necessary par Vi -"
argument which mad convinced him or a gwen
truth and so he OWNED that the enumeration Of
,besA events must also convince his readers More
over he took delight in the processes OF lhVeSuEH
t,on for their sake and 1t is THIS that gives '"e
greatest charm 10 his writings. Above al ne was
endIesslv fertile in theories though In TINS par
ticular he himself gives the palm 10 Walace' co"-
,ec,ure incessant and minute observation, induc-
ton. deduction classification, the sitting OF eN-
dence. all are exempllhod in this little DOCK from
Darwin's varied studies. a rather curious Po''''
made at the suggestion OF friend by the au'ho''
&c that mentally there great likeness between
Darwin and President Lincoln, above all IN 'he
sowness with which both arrived al CONCLUSIONS III
thinking
Since Young and Newcomb last revised their
larger books on astronomy. four or five years ago
Hale has developed his new method OF getting
ntctures of solar promnences, Barnard mas us
covered the fifth satellite OF Jupiter ScmSpa'e''
has determined the rotation period OF Venus
Eeeler has measured the veocities with wh'ch inc
inner and outer edges Of Saturn's rings move
Chandler has figured out just how much the ear'h
wabbles on its axis, and some remarkable "ork
has been done in phOtographing the heavens ana
special celestial phenomena. Only BRIEF direct or
indirect illusions TO these achievements are 70 DC
found in the new candidate for favor IN inns class
NJ literature Elements Of Astronomy. by Her
har, A Howe Of Chamberin Observatory. Den
YER One could wish that he had gone into some
Of these matters a little more fully. However the
author is accurate far as he goes. and win
commendable caution adopts as his maxim the
proyerb that 1T Is better not TO know so much
,hon N know 60 many things that not So A
number OF portraits OF old astronomers and re-
productions Of recent photographs Of nebuae star
clusters and the like are among the special feat
ure. OF this volume, which Silver, Burdett G. Co
have just published.