other poor qualities of the kerosene-oils used in the State, lie sought explanations from the wholesale dealers and agents of the oil companies, but could not get satisfactory ones; and it was not till he had begun to take measures for enforcing the laws against selling adulterated or inferior goods, that proper notice was taken of his remonstrances. Then the agent of the Standard Oil Company made a confession presenting almost the identical statement made by Professor Peckham, in the June number of the "Monthly," of the deteriorated character of the burning-oils in common use and its causes; and we refer our readers to Professor Peckham's article for more specific information on the subject.
The Azoic System and its Proposed Subdivisions. By J. D. Whitney and M. E. Wadsworth. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoölogy. Pp. 250.
The authors review the whole literature of their subject, beginning with the reports of the Canadian and other British-American surveys, and following with those of the New England and Atlantic seaboard States, Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, Michigan, and Wisconsin, and the Government surveys in the West, for the purpose of ascertaining the condition of the theory of the Azoic system. The reports examined concern the results of forty years of work. In a second part they give a resumé and general discussion of their review, the result of which is to lead them to the conclusion that "the geology of a large portion of this country, and especially that of Canada and New England, is in an almost hopeless state of confusion"; and "that our chances of having at some future time a clear understanding of the geological structure of Northeastern North America would be decidedly improved if all that has been written about it were struck out of existence." This condition of things is largely ascribed to the erroneous observations and theories of the Canada survey, "which to a large extent have been adopted and blindly followed on this side of the Dominion boundary." Finally, "the present director of the Canada survey appears to be sincerely endeavoring to base his work on better methods than those current under Logan's administration.
All who are interested in the solution of the difficult problems of Appalachian geology will sympathize with him in these efforts; for. . . that which is done in Canada will, if well done, be of great assistance to those working on the south side of the Dominion line."
The Grimké Sisters: Sarah and Angelina Grimké. The First American Women Advocates of Abolition and Women's Rights. By Catharine H. Birney. Boston: Lee & Shepard. Pp. 319. Price, $1.25.
The interesting characters to which this volume is devoted are now historic. The Grimké sisters have passed away, and the record of their remarkable careers will have a double interest: first, for those who knew, admired, and loved them; and, second, for all others who take interest in those great public events leading to the overthrow of slavery in this country, with which these ladies were early and long and intimately associated. Angelina and Sarah Grimké were gifted women of superior intellectual stamp and high moral aspirations, who gave their lives to the active promotion of various reforms with fearlessness, independence, and devoted purpose, to make the world better as far as lay in their power. They were both of a deeply religious cast of mind, and entered early into church relations in their native city of Charleston, South Carolina. But the perfunctory round of ordinary religious exercises could not satisfy them. Religion was in their blood, and the type of it was that of tragic earnestness. They were descended on the father's side from the Huguenots, and on that of the mother from the old Puritans, with whom religion was a stern reality. Possessing hearts sympathetic with the sufferings of their fellow-creatures, and heads endowed to discriminate the means of relief, they could not remain impassive in their Charleston environment. The subject of slavery, with which they had been, of course, long and painfully familiar, took hold of them as a matter of religious duty. They left the Episcopal Church because it seemed given over to worldliness, and was unmindful of its Christian obligations to the slave. Angelina joined the Presbyterians, in the hope of finding them more alive to their practical religious duties,
