The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-01-12

sexes, adventure tales, and many other
kinds Of books were overdone. An intense
iealist he showed himself TO be. and, as
such he was in active touch with present
cay tendencies. For Kipling he had an
intense admiration, but for Kipling's dec
laration that one should not write for
posterity or future fame, he had little
sympathy.
Let posterity take care of itself" ex-
claimed Kipling recently, what 1 desire
to reach is the present-day public"
Our discussion resulted in little save
a general condemna ton, in which we more
or less agreed. We gave the historical novel
another year in which to run its course of
popularity, allowing perhaps a future run
on novels which would center about our
civil after the generation of 1868 had
passed away. The novel of present activi-
ties. however. was declared TO be the book
of the future. In years TO come condi-
tions may so change that a wider public
will clamor for the serious work of my
humor- producing friend, but may he be
taken with writer's cramp If he attempts
to be anything else than a second Lewis
Carroll, which he undoubtedly is, before
professor of mathematics and a deep think
er. and this man may be as great a disciple
of the philosophers as he wishes so long
as he follows CarrolIs example.
George AIDE is now in New York city
planning for the production and publica-
ton of a work of somewhat different char
acter from his modern fables Just what
his new book will be is not yet revealed
but he has lately been induging in comic
opera and, though it is reported that the
fables will end shortly, there is little fear
that Mr.. AIDE will venture into the serious
line of writing. His most recent volume
of fables, published last month, came too
late for the regular holiday trade, but the
impetus of a book-buying season is not
required for anything he turns out, and his
book will be none the less enjoyable dur
ing the rest of the winter.
A few years ago an enterprising editor
invented the term, human documents"
and the other day this same editor ex-
pressed his editorial policy. both for mag
azine articles and for books which he pub
fishes. For conciseness. force and brevity
the statement has never been equaled.
1.-The value of an article or book" he
said, depends entirely the amount of
human interest which it contains"
1t seems simple enough, but observe
what vigilance and Judgment is required
to carry it out successfully. 1t means
that his organization requires the enlist
ment of the foremost men the world over
it means that he must have attached to
him a corps of writers who shall be con-
tinually in touch with all the real progress
in every department of human activity
and who shall be ready at any time, or a
moments notice, if need be- to go to the
ends of the earth to secure the details
of every important discovery. BY such
means, however. and only by such means,
will the best books, not in the field of fic-
ton purely, be produced.
The recently announced discovery by Pro-
fessors Loeb and Matthews Chicago Uni
versity) of the secret of the nerves and
their force waves, will give peculiar timeli-
ness to volume just published by the for
mer on Physiology of the Brain The dis
covery of the secret of nerve and muscle
stimulus, if it is actually accomplished. is
the greatest event in the American scientific
field. 1t promises solution of the great
problem of life and death, and places Amer
lea at once upon an equal with Europe in
the field of pure and experimental science.
Not long ago we had an eminent example
in Professor Pupin, who, by mathematics
simply and solely. demonstrated the posi-
bilities of a telephone invention which
afterward brought him in over million
dollars. Now we have Professor Loeb who
though he may not acquire riches, will GER
tainly gain an undying fame. His recent
book is one of particular interest to those
who may wish to investigate the source of
the discovery, for in it Professor Loeb has
given in detail the experiments he made on
the low forms of animal life, which led to
| his later developments of the nerve secret
In THE Wreckers." by Robert Louis
Stevenson and Lloyd Osbourne, one of
the principal characters, Mr.. Pinkerton
was modelled on a well-known New York
publisher who was an intimate friend of
Stevenson. That fact indicated to those
who were acquainted with the circum-
stances that Mr.. Stevenson must have Gre
ated Pinkerton and written most of the
story in which Pinkerton figured. Mr. Bal
tours Life of Stevenson about which
there has been much controversy already
and a considerable diversity of opinion
goes TO show that Lloyd Osbourne is the
one responsible for Pinkerton Collabora-
ton has always been puzzle to readers,
and, i'm the light of this and other reve-
lations of a similar nature, it is a dan
gerous thing to try to solve the riddle OF
Joint authorship.
OF the twenty-nine best selling books of
1901 in America nineteen were written by
Americans, eight by English authors and
one each by a French and Canadian writ
err Twenty-one of the authors are men,
six are women and two are unknown. Nine
four are religious in their strain. Their
total sale amounted to almost two and a
half million copies. If one had the Bilious
tine editor to calculate on the figures he
would probably estimate that enough cloth
was used in binding these books to make
suits of clothes for all the enlisted men Of
our regular army, that enough paper was
used to cover $4,000 square miles, and had
the sheets been laid end to end they would
have gone around the world four times-but
we refrain from such comparisons
HERBERT BREWSTER
Our Language in the Orient.
Review of Reviews.
1t is the opinion of some of the best of
hot