Los Angeles herald., 1910-01-02
REVIEWS OF RECENT BOOKS

LII. D., f. r. s.. has added to current
scientific literature, presents cohclscly
and attractively the development 0i
this department of human knoWIedSe
from it's earliest observed studies IN
China, Greece and Rome to the present
day. Alchemy and the quest for the
philosophers stone are lmpartially in
cluded and the atomic theory, the BE-
ginnings of electro-c chemistry and the
many contributions to the modern
science receive separate chapters. Par
agraphs are devoted to the men whose
personalities have impressed, no less
than been nodded by the facts they in
vestigated and the theories they
formed.
History of Chemistry from the Earl
lest Times to the Middle of the Nine
teenth century. BY Sir Edward Thorpe.
New Yorl; and London: G. p. Putnam's $
Sons.
Friendship is God abroad in his
world is one Of the significant quota
tions from the language of a friend
made by President David starr Jordan
of Leland Stanford Junior university
in THE Religion of a Sensible Ameri-
can" The book itself is a tribute to a
friendship, for the author cites the
views of another, unnamed. with far
more authortativeness than he states
his own. IN a word. the purpose of the
volume might be described as an at
tempt to show the miraculous and the
scientific attitudes toward life as two
sides of the same glass, not antagonis-
tic but complementary There is much
in the volume with which men of all
creeds, or of no acknowledged creed,
viii agree The points of difference
may be readily surmised from a mo-
ments thought regarding the adroit
title, There are so many sensible
Americans! Indeed, there have been
many sensible religions, not all of
which survive. 1t is President Jordan's
sense of the basic unity of Christianity,
in whatever diversities defined, which
is the dominant chord in his harmony
of the universe. That view may tran
scend the sphere of the merely sensible
and practical, but it is idle to deny
that it is the common sense of an in
creasing body of Christians, else widely
separate.
The Religion of a Sensible American,
BY David Starr Jordan. Boston,
American Unitarian association.
Compact thought. rather than a true
lyric enthusiasm, is to be enjoyed in
the collected verse of George Lansing
Raymond, chief among which is pub
lished a siX-act, blank verse play,
Dante" An almost Shakespcarean
aptness of phrase occasionally burns
the poets ideas deep in the readers
mind, as Thoughts are children that
must play to grow and "Fancy is the
flower of thought" The portrait Of
Dante is strikingly drawn, and the
play sheds not little light upon the
period of history of which he was rath-
err a glorious incident than an eXpon-
ent or even Interpreter. The shorter
poems in the volume are decidedly
less valuable as such, although inter-
esting as illustrative of the versa
tility of the authors thought.
Dante and Collected Verse. BY
George Lansing Raymond. New York
and London: G. P. Putnam's Sons,
OF value to the political economist,
who is no longer an isolated professor
but a host, is the History of the
Great American Fortunes" by Gus
tavus Myers, which comes with the
new year. Absolute honesty and scru-
pulous care in gathering and collating
facts are the aims of the author. His
book should be of great assistance in
focalizing and directing the growing
popular conviction that the foundation
of many a vast entailed estate has
been built up on fraud and lawless
greed. Despite the temptation to de-
facts disclosed the author. with true
scientific reserve. lets them speak for
themselves, which they do most elo-
quently.
History of the Great American For
tunes. BY Gustavus Myers. Chicago:
Charles H. Kerr & Co.
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