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LITERARY NOTICES.
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tional or theoretical, and was founded by Newton; and the third is best described by the term physical and descriptive astronomy. A short sketch is given of the progress of the science during the eighteenth century, and the rapid advance during the nineteenth century is broadly outlined.

The book is divided into two parts. The first of these treats of the progress of astronomy during the first half of the nineteenth century, the second is devoted to the progress made in recent years. The chapters in Part I embrace the foundation of sidereal astronomy, progress of sidereal astronomy, progress of knowledge regarding the sun, planetary discoveries, comets, and instrumental advances.

Part II discusses, among other topics, the foundation of astronomical physics, solar observations and theories, recent solar eclipses, spectroscopic work on the sun, the temperature of the sun, planets, and satellites, recent comets, stars, and nebulae, and methods of research.

It has been the intention of the author to secure the materials needed from the original authorities whenever possible, and the large number of references given throughout the work will prove of great value and assistance to students.

Considerable attention has also been paid to the biography of the more eminent workers in this field, and the story of the life of many of these men strikingly enforces the lesson that great results may be reached even under the most discouraging circumstances by honest devotion to the work in hand, joined with tenacity of purpose.

Forests and Fruit-Growers. By Abbot Kinney, of Kinneyloa, San Gabriel, California. Pp. 5.

This is an address which was prepared and read at the California Fruit-Growers' Convention, by request of the State Board of Horticultural Commissioners. It presents the damage which has been produced in consequence of the destruction of the forests in different parts of the world. Accompanying his address, Mr. Kinney sends an article on "Floods and Fires," in which he gives the matter a local application, exhibiting the injury that has been wrought in the neighborhood of his own home by forest destruction, and shows that more of the same kind may be anticipated from continued progress in the wasting work.

Circulars of Information of the Bureau of Education, 1885. Nos. 3 and 4. Washington: Government Printing-office. Pp. 55 and 56.

Circular No. 3 is a review of the Reports of the British Royal Commissioners on Technical Instruction, with notes, by the late Charles O. Thompson, of the Rose Polytechnic Institute, Terre Haute, Indiana. No. 4 is an account of the organization and statistics of education in Japan.

United States Government Publications. Monthly Catalogue. Vol. I. No. 12. Washington, D. C.: J. H. Hickcox. Pp. (of the volume) 292. Price, $2 a year.

It is believed that, in the volume of the Catalogue now completed, no Government publication of the year has escaped notice. The number of publications mentioned is approximately given at three thousand. A copious index is provided. The Catalogue will be continued, though the subscriptions to it have not yet been flattering.

The Life and Genius of Goethe. Edited by F. B. Sanborn. Boston: Ticknor & Co. Pp. 404.

This volume is composed of the lectures on Goethe, or rather, those of them which were available for publication, which were delivered at the Concord School of Philosophy in July, 1885. The list includes lectures on Goethe's youth, by Professor H. S. White; his self-culture, by John Albee; his Titanism, by Thomas Davidson; Goethe and Schiller, by Rev. C. A. Bartol; Goethe's "Märchen," by Rev. F. H. Hedge; his relation to English literature, by F. B. Sanborn; "Goethe as a Playwright," by W. O. Partridge; "Das Ewig-weibliche," by Mr. E. D. Cheney; "The Elective Affinities," by S. H. Emery, Jr.; "Child-Life as portrayed by Goethe," by Mr. C. K. Sherman; "History of the Faust Poem," by D. S. Snider; "Goethe's Women," by Mrs. Julia Ward Howe; and "Goethe's Faust," by W. T. Harris. To these are added, as an introduction, an account of the Goethe Society and the Goethe Archives, and bibliography of Goethe's works, of works on Goethe, and of papers on Goethe, and two portraits of the poet.