tating differences between the Standard Oil Company and the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. The new habit has made more progress in Paris than else where, and is under observation there by the guardians of the public health. The petroliques seem to begin their evil courses not because they are out of humor with alcohol, but because kerosene is the only stimu lant they can get. It produces an intoxication which, though a low-spirited affair, has its attractions for the experimenters. How unwholesome kerosene is in its effects, and whether it is worse than alcohol, has not yet been fully determined. Meanwhile alcohol is in no present danger of being crowded out of France. The number of wine-shops has increased twenty-five per cent in twenty-four years, and in the larger cities the consumption of wine varies from forty to sixty gal lons a head; besides more or less spirits and beer. Thirst like that must either be restrained or rated by home products. There is no prospect that any con siderable part of it will ever be allayed by kerosene. — E. S. Mart1n, in Harper's Weekly.
To those who have never considered the subject, it might appear that each letter is of equal importance in the formation of words; but the relative propor tions required in the English language are these : a, 85; b, 16; c, 30; d, 44; e, 120; f, 25; g, 17; h, 64; i, 80; j, 4; k, 8; 1, 40; m, 30; n, 80; o, 80; p, 17; q, 5; r, 62; s, 80; t, 90; u, 34; v, 12; w, 20; x, 4; y, 20; z, 2. It is this knowledge of how frequently one letter is used compared with others that enables cryptogram readers to unravel so many mysteries. LITERARY NOTES. The two important and timely subjects of Amer ican diplomacy and territorial expansion figure prom inently in the January number of the Amer1can Monthly Rev1ew of Rev1ews. The editor reviews the historicyear 1898 from the international view point and discusses pending national problems; Mr. Henry Macfarland, the Washington correspondent, contrib utes a study, based on intimate knowledge, of the diplomacy of the war, and Prof. Harry Pratt Judson, of the University of Chicago, writes an exhaustive paper on " Our Federal Constitution and the Govern ment of Tropical Territories." Mr. W. T. Stead gives an interesting estimate of the young Russian Czar: Miss Laura Carroll Dennis describes the career and work of the rising American sculptor, George Grey Barnard, and a sketch of the late General Garcia, the Cuban patriot, is contributed by Mr. George Reno. Margherita Arlina Hamm gives a suc cinct account of the Red Cross movement and the work of that organization in the late war.
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The Spanish War Series in The Century is proving a great success, and has very considerably increased the circulation of the magazine. In the February number General Shafter tells the story of the Santiago campaign, and Lieutenant Hobson follows his account of the sinking of the " Merrimac" with a narrative of his imprisonment in Morro Castle. Harper's Magaz1ne for February contains "The Spanish-America War," Part I. The Unsettled Question. By Hon. Henry Cabot Lodge; '•Lieu tenant-Colonel Forrest at Donelson," by John A. Wyeth, M.U., a chapter of a forthcoming book which will throw new light on the career of one of the most brilliant and dashing Confederate leaders of cavalry; "Ghosts in Jerusalem," by A. C. Wheeler (Nym Crinkle); "A Trekking Trip in South Africa," by A. C. Humbert, illustrated with views of South African life and sport; -'Anglo-Saxon Affinities," by Julian Ralph; " The Astronomical Outlook," by Pro fessor C. A. Young, a study of the future of the science as related to mechanical and instrumental improve ments. "Baldy," a story by Sarah Barnwell Elliott; "The Sick Child," a sketch of Indian life, by Henookmakhewe-kelenaka (Angel de Cora). The author, who is a pupil of Mr. Howard Pyle, illustrates her own story from drawings made under his tuition. ••His Nomination," a story, by Margaret Sutton Briscoe; "The United States as a War Power," a chapter of experience, by Professor Albert Bushnell Hart; and "Facing the North Star," by C. C. Abbott. WHAT SHALL WE READ? The IJfe of Henry A. Wise, the famous governor of Virginia, has been written by his grandson, Barton H. Wise of the Richmond Bar, and will be published in a few weeks by the Macmillan Company. It cov ers the period of Governor Wise's service in the American Congress from 1833-1844, his career as United States Minister to Brazil, from 1844-1 847, his services in the Virginia Constitutional Conven tion of 1850-51, and in the Virginia Convention of 1861, which last passed the ordinance of secession, his spirited campaign against the Knownothing party in 1855, the John Brown raid, and lastly his career as a brigadier general in the Confederate army. The author has had access to the private papers of Gov ernor Wise, which he has studied with great care, and has gathered an immense amount of data bear ing on his life and career, and the history of Virginia prior to the war between the States. The book con tains a great number of personal anecdotes concern ing its subject, as well as valuable material hitherto unpublished relative to the presentation of abolition petitions in Congress, the Graves-Cilley duel, the
