The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-11-01
More Interesting Than Fiction.

Mr.. ". ID. Howells is collecting his scat.
tered papers. In Literature and Life"
CHarpers) he presents us with a variegated
assortment of these of all kinds and deal
ing with all sorts of subjects. Some are
bits of reporting. and good reporting it
is; others literary dc,a or sociological
utterances, others again descriptions,
gimpses Of society comedy and so on.
In short, they are opinions Mr.. Howells
has expressed on things in general at vari-
Gus times and therefore interesting. whether
il is the Howels whom we all like that talks
or the Howells of the Respondent realism
days The essays make very enter
tanning miscellany.
SiRnor Adolfo Padovan has made a dis.
covery which he announces in The Sons
Of Glory. Studies in Genius. translated
by the Duchess Litta Niscont Arose and
published by the Funk & Wagnalls Com
pany. II is that the man of genius il
such from his birth" II came upon him,
a. he tells Us in his preface, lust after
the first fervor Of the honeymoon had
passed. and when we lived in hope and
fear Of coming birth" That surely is
time for enthusiasm. In Signor Padovans
case i, lad him to wish 70 demolsh the
Lombroso theory Of the cpileptic and epiep-
told origin of genius. In Italy. il seems,
they still take Lombroso and his pseudo
science seriously. Signor Padovan is elo-
quent, but, we fear, would hardly win over
any one who believed in epieptic genius.
for his methods are those Of his opponents,
The arguing from selected cases. assuming
facts and jumping at conclusions. We
should hn Glad ~, laarn ha
grounds. for stance. for this assumption.
But why is the nervous cellulc more per-
feet in the man Of genius'" The book
Is likely to be read by many people. for it
is written in the style of popular scientific
books and Processes to inform on a SUBJ
ject that seems pretty elusive. We are
glad that Signor Padovan intends to devote
his whole life 10 finding ont what genius
is and how il is made. He may know
more about it then. There is a delightful
naivetd that is perhaps meridional. in first
writing a book and then setting to work
to study the facts. Regardless of It's
scientific value Signor Padovan's book is
entertaining.
Half dozen little volumes of ESSAYS and
extracts from the works Of great scientific
writer's, interspers d with pieces bv others
l'ss known, ere publish d under the title,
Little Masterpieces of Science. edited by
George lbs, by Doubleday, Page 4 Co
Tn separate volumes are called "Tbc
Naturalist as Prophet and Seer" "Tnvcn-
ton and Discovery Mind" Health and
Healing, "1he Skies and the Earth" and
Explorers, Any attempt tn make ponu.
lar the words Of men who accomplished
great things IL prais aworthv.
Perhaps twenty years ago some tender
and graceful poems appeared Yer the pen
name "Owen lnnsly" and attracted much
attention, II was clear that the writer
was woman and in Boston she was COM
pared to Mrs. Browning, partly because Of
the intensity Of tn" love poems and partly
becaLs, Of the authors love OF Italy. After
a time il came out that "Owen Irnsly" wfs
Miss Lucy W. Jenn son, and soon after. II
We are not isiaksn, she died At any
rate, her poetry was no longer heard. We
are glad to So" that the Grafton Press pub
fishes love Songs and Other Poems by
Owen Innsly, in pretty little volume.
II is poetry Of great deal of merit, too
good to be lost so soon.
Several addresses delivered in recent
years by the Hon. Henry Cabot Lodge.