Popular Science Monthly/Volume 26/February 1885/Literary Notices
Principles of Political Economy. By John Stuart Mill. Abridged, with Critical, Bibliographical, and Explanatory Notes, and a Sketch of the History of Political Economy, by J. Laurence Laughlin, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Political Economy in Harvard University. A Text-Book for Colleges. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 658. Price, $3.50.
Probably the ablest systematic work produced by the modern English school of political economy is the comprehensive treatise of John Stuart Mill. It has been a good deal used in the colleges, but is in several respects imperfect as a text-book. Its two volumes are inconvenient, and the treatment unsuited for class-room purposes. Besides, it was published more than thirty years ago, and the progress of the science within that time has been such that certain parts of Mill's work will bear considerable abridgment, while other parts require modification and further development. Professor Laughlin, of Harvard University, has accordingly undertaken the task of revising the work, reducing it to a single volume and making various additions to it, which give greater prominence to important questions of the present time. The author also exercised his discretion in introducing such illustrations as shall better fit it for the use of American students, and he has also enriched it with a bibliography that will give it a special value for educational purposes. As this edition of Mill's "Political Economy" is now beyond doubt the best college text-book upon the subject, it is desirable that we should indicate with some fullness of detail the nature of the modifications and additions that have been made.
On the "Wages Question," Mill's statement of the "Wages-Fund Theory" is supplemented by the results of the thinking started by Longe, Thornton, Walker, and Cairnes. The conclusion is still retained that the relation between numbers and that part of capital which is necessarily devoted to wages (although not absolutely fixed in amount) determines the average rate of wages, supposing that there is free competition among laborers. Then the adaptation of this theory to the facts of practical life, in which free competition does not exist between distinct occupations, is arrived at by introducing Mr. Cairnes's doctrine of non-competing groups in the discussion of the varying rates of wages in different employments. These additions are inserted so as to naturally supplement and closely connect with Mr. Mill's system, thus introducing the results of study in the generation since Mill wrote his two volumes. These parts are necessarily brief and condensed, but the reader is given references in foot-notes to the writers themselves, which he can consult as he goes on.
Mr. Mill included wages of superintendence under profits, and thereby gave some excuse for much of the wrong talk about a conflict of labor and capital. In this edition it is made apparent by Mill's own showing that wages of superintendence should be classed with other wages of labor, and so the high returns of managers are explained as arising from the same causes which influence the wages of other skilled laborers—the possession of a natural monopoly. This is only an extension of the doctrine of non-competing groups; and profit is then confined properly to interest for abstinence and insurance for risk.
Since Mr. Mill's day the modern form of socialism, whose essential doctrine is state help, has spread from France to Germany through the teachings of Marx and Lasalle, and pervaded our own country. A statement of their position is incorporated into the book, and Mr. Mill's later views on socialism, as expressed in his posthumous chapters (written in 1869), are printed in connection with his earlier views.
The chief weakness of Mr. Mill's book was undoubtedly his treatment of cost of production. The admirable study of Mr. Cairnes has cleared this ground, and the results of that work are given in this edition, so that the reader can get the right conception of this fundamental matter in connection with the remainder of the economic system. This in its turn then makes international trade, as expounded by Mr. Mill, more simple and more easily understood.
The whole lively discussion on bimetalism arose since Mill's day, although he touches somewhat on the double standard. His omission is filled by a considerable study on the experience of the United States since 1792. The history of that experience with gold and silver and the working of our legislation on this subject are stated and explained; and in the Appendix a bibliography of two pages for the subject in general is given.
Mr. Mill's book, of course, contained nothing treating of our own experiments in paper money, but much on English currency discussions. These latter have been omitted; and the experience of the province of Massachusetts, the issues of Continental currency, and the greenback issues from 1862 to resumption of specie payments in 1879, are considered with a view to the lessons that may be learned from this kind of currency.
International values presented unnecessary difficulties to the reader in the form it assumed under Mr. Mill's pen. This was largely omitted, and a very much simpler exposition given of the laws of reciprocal demand and supply, as a supplement to the previous exposition of value.
The connection of wages with prices and the doctrine of comparative cost as affecting foreign competition are added at some length in the chapter on foreign competition. The connection of wages with foreign competition had not risen in Mill's day to its present factitious importance in the vulgar mind.
Mr. Mill's (or rather Mrs. Mill's) chapter on the future of the laboring-classes was rambling and quite obsolete. An entirely new chapter was put in its place, pointing out the very considerable gain of the laboring-classes in wages during the last fifty years in England and America as disclosed by the statistics. Then the devices of cooperation for giving the laborers a share in the profits of capital and the wages of superintendence, either in the form of distributive or productive co-operation, industrial partnerships, and people's banks, are described, and also the effect of peasant proprietorships on small owners of land in giving them a share of the "unearned increment."
Mr. Mill's chapter on protection was almost out of date; moreover, his own views on protection to infant industries had been more fully expressed in a letter which was inserted by the editor. The arguments concerning wages and the tariff, diversity of industries, and the effect of a tariff on prices, have been added at this place.
The illustrations have been modified so as to apply directly to the United States as in case of the exchanges, international trade, etc. A marked feature of this edition is the striking use made of illustrative diagrams. The twenty-four maps or charts which bear especially on American conditions have been inserted in order the better to apply principles to the state of things directly about us. This method is of great importance. As many kinds of graphic representation as possible have been introduced. No other text-book on political economy exists which makes use of charts in this way. It both interests the pupil and makes statistics alive, and it stimulates a reader to a study of facts and to the verification of economic principles. The single chart No V is in itself an exposure of the folly of supposing that our railways are grasping monopolies; and chart No. X tells the whole story of the fluctuating value of silver at a glance. As a device in teaching, many small diagrams are used here and there, to show the abstract in the form of the concrete. For example, three concentric circles illustrate the relation between wealth, capital, and money. A good teacher will make others of his own.
Perhaps the most pressing practical difficulty to honest inquirers is a knowledge of books in this age of much publishing. An evident effort has been made throughout the whole work to meet this want by bibliographies. The editor seems to have been animated with an earnest purpose to unlock the results of study upon this subject to every reader, and to give him the knowledge of books which only a very laborious student in a large library could acquire. This was done first by supplying to the new edition the story of the growth of economic ideas and the existing body of laws, attended by the title and date of the books of each writer who figures in this story, so that not only past but living writers are classed in schools and their books given in that connection. Thus, any reader is able to select his additional reading with a clear idea of its tendency and position in regard to other systems. Then a brief list of the most important books in political economy, which would form a small but well-selected library for any teacher or student, has been given under the head of "Books for Consultation" (pp. 43-46). This list will be useful also while the reader is mastering his Mill.
But, after he has finished Mill's volume, bibliographies on various questions of the day are given, in order to furnish readers with the "tools for further and special study. For example, in Book IV, Chapter V, p. 6, a list of books treating of industrial partnership is given; and, in Appendix I, bibliographies on our tariff history, bimetalism, and American shipping are given in more detail. Moreover, throughout the work the reader is put in the way of finding publications devoted to other or opposing views from those given in the text. This, it is believed, is a feature not found in any other text-book, and teaches men to compare views for the sake of truth—in short, to think, and not merely to absorb an authority.
In Appendix II, examination-questions will aid both student and teacher in estimating the extent of knowledge necessary to good work. These have been taken from Harvard papers or those set in English universities.
It will thus be seen that this new edition of Mill's work is a contribution to more thorough methods of teaching political economy, and aims at a breadth and liberality of treatment which are now imperatively demanded in the pursuit of this comprehensive and important science. The purpose of the book is to insure a mastery of the subject. The reader who follows all the references given as he goes along will find several years of work in them; but, while gaining first a general knowledge of the system, he can then easily know where to go for more detailed study on special subjects. To an intelligent reader the work will then be both a manual and a guide.
A System of Psychology. By Daniel Greenleap Thompson. In two volumes. Vol. I, 613 pages; Vol. II, 589 pages. London: Longmans, Green & Co. Price, 30s.
The unobtrusive issue of this comprehensive work by an American writer will be a surprise to many. We confess to having been somewhat stunned at receiving and looking it over, and not more by its formidable proportions than by the evidences of scholarship, and mastery of the subject displayed in every page we examined. It is undoubtedly the most important contribution to psychological science that any American has yet produced; nor is there any foreign work, with which we are acquainted, that contains so exhaustive, so instructive, and well-presented a digest of the subject as this.
The work is written mainly from the point of view of an expositor. It is the object of the author to put his readers in possession of the present state of knowledge on a broad range of psychological subjects; but, while he makes no claims to any considerable discoveries, his pages betray many intimations of independent and original thought. The work is written throughout in the true spirit of science, which aims only at the establishment of truth, and in its philosophy it of course represents the latest school of psychological doctrine as it has been developed by English thinkers. In a brief preliminary note the author thus explains his relation to the minds that have mainly influenced his course of study. He says; "Besides the little I myself may have contributed, the reader is indebted for whatever science there is in this book chiefly to four other minds: to Julius H. Seelye, the personal teacher of my youth, who showed me that philosophy is possible and necessary for human welfare, and who inspired me with zeal for philosophizing; to John Stuart Mill, the ever-influencing though unseen friend of boyhood, youth, and manhood, who with the first named taught me to love truth above all things else; to Herbert Spencer and Alexander Bain, who with the second of the four have shown me the paths of true knowledge in the department of psychology."
As may be inferred from this statement, and as amply justified by an examination of it, Mr. Thompson's treatise is a systematic and symmetrical presentation of the most modern and authoritative system of psychology in which the views of Mill, Spencer, and Bain are reproduced in a connected and unified form so as to be more available for general students than in the elaborated works of those eminent authors. The task was a formidable one, but it has been thoroughly and successfully executed. The author is not a recluse professor who has been shut up in his library to spin a speculative system of his own, but he is a working lawyer, and a practical man capable of making a valuable and useful book for the public. We have been struck by the thoroughly popular nature of the exposition. The author has evidently been well trained in the important art of plain, direct, and effective statement. He is neither burdened with his learning nor the victim of its technicalities, but expresses himself with the ease and freedom of one who is master alike of his theme and the resources of skillful explanatory presentation. These characteristics adapt the treatise to popular wants, and will give it especial claims upon that large class of American readers who have neither time nor taste to conquer the formidable books on philosophy and psychology, the contents of which are here reduced to more available and attractive form.
The work, however, is large, and the field it covers is so extensive that it will be quite impossible to attempt here any representation of its general plan, any intimation of its distinctive doctrines, or any summary of the numerous problems it deals with.
But while the work is an honor to American scholarship, and the intrepid enterprise of an individual American thinker, we regret to say that it does no honor to American publishing. There is a London imprint upon its title-page, from which we may fairly infer that American publishers decline to undertake the work. Our publishing enterprise seems not to be up to the requirements of home authorship. And then the meanness of the American commercial system comes in to aggravate the difficulty. If a writer produces a work of great value for American circulation, he is driven abroad to have it printed, and then our enlightened Government forbids its entrance into the country until every copy has paid a tax, which heightens the cost and virtually embargoes its circulation.
The dedication of Mr. Thompson's book is especially interesting as a happy tribute to one of the greatest scientific minds which this country has ever produced. It reads as follows: "These volumes are inscribed by a kinsman of a later generation to the illustrious memory of Sir Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford, a philosopher, statesman, and benefactor of mankind, a great prophet, who, while living, was not without honor save in his own country, and upon whom dead that praise justly due to a merit almost unrivaled among American men of science has been but tardily and incompletely bestowed, both by his own family and his countrymen at large."
The Reality of Religion. By Henry J. Van Dyke, Jr., D. D. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. Pp. 146. Price, $1.
The contents of this book are neither so broad as its title, nor are they of the character which would be indicated by it. Religion is a very comprehensive term, of which all systems of religion must be regarded as but partial modifications. "The Reality of Religion," therefore, should involve an inquiry into the element of validity or truthfulness that is common to all religions. But Dr. Van Dyke enters into no such investigation. His book is an ardent pietistic defense of the importance of Christian theology. As a series of vivid and fervid appeals to poor sinners to awake and flee from the wrath to come, it will be appreciated by many, but it will not give much help to those who are grappling with the urgent religious problems of the times. When Dr. Van Dyke says of the dogmas of theology, "They are certainly as important as the dogmas of science," we hesitate, and should be better satisfied if he had indicated in what sense "important"; but, when he says of questions of ritual, "They are at least of equal consequence with the questions of social order," we have no hesitation in saying that he is entirely mistaken.
Thomas Carlyle: A History of his Like in London, 1834-1881. By James A. Froude, M. A. Two volumes in one. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. Pp. 392 and 417. Price, $1.50.
Mr. Froude's method of portraying the Carlyles has become widely known from his previous volumes. To quote from the present work, "In representing Carlyle's thoughts on men and things, I have confined myself as much as possible to his own words in his journals and letters." These characteristic impressions of John Mill, Landor, Dickens, Tennyson, and other celebrated writers and their works, abound in the letters herein presented. The story of the first three years is a record of discouragement and pecuniary anxiety. Better times began with Carlyle's appearance on the lecture platform in 1837. An interesting item for a history of Yankee "book-pirates" is that, within the next two years, Carlyle received a hundred and fifty pounds from the United States as royalty on his "French Revolution," when "not a penny had been realized in England" by the author, although the receipts of the booksellers had been over a thousand pounds. Carlyle often bewailed his own choice of occupation, and his advice, when consulted by young men, was of the following tenor: "Literature, as a profession, is what I would counsel no faithful man to be concerned with, except when absolutely forced into it, under penalty, as it were, of death. The pursuit of culture, too, is in the highest degree recommendable to every human soul, and may be successfully achieved in almost any honest employment that has wages paid for it." Mr. Froude says of his first meeting with Carlyle, when the latter was fifty-four years old: "I did not admire him the less because he treated me—I can not say unkindly, but shortly and sternly. I saw then what I saw ever after—that no one need look for conventional politeness from Carlyle—he would hear the exact truth from him, and nothing else." An occasional letter by Mrs. Carlyle appears in this work; especially interesting is her written report on the domestic finances, headed "Budget of a Femme Incomprise." In commenting upon the incident of the budget, the biographer says, "Both he and she were noble and generous, but his was the soft heart, and hers the stern one." The letters and extracts from Carlyle's journal concern his literary work, health, visitors, journeys to Scotland and also on the Continent, his religious belief, public policy, etc., etc. His letters to his wife are warmly affectionate, and the entry in his journal relating to her death is wonderfully tender. The criticisms on the "First Forty Years," and the "Letters and Memorials" were apparently the occasion of the introduction to this work, giving Mr. Fronde's view of his duty as Carlyle's chosen biographer, with a detailed account of the manner in which the material was put in his possession, and the directions given him in regard to its publication.
Women, Plumbers, and Doctors; or, Household Sanitation. By Mrs. H. M. Plunkett. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 248. Price, $1.25.
The author of this book is one of those who believe that woman's sphere should be extended; but the extension which she herein advocates is in the line of the usual duties performed by the mistress of the home. She sees no knowledge more befitting woman, no activity more worthy of her abilities, than that which serves to protect the family from disease and untimely death. After a few pages on sanitation in general, Mrs. Plunkett describes the dangers which lurk in wet house-sites and inadequate foundations, and then proceeds with the arrangement of the house for securing sufficient warmth, ventilation, and sunshine. The next chapter deals with lighting, and contains many facts in relation to dangerous burning oils that every housewife should thoroughly know. Various ways in which water may become unwholesome are told, with directions for tests and measures of protection. The requirements of a good system of plumbing are stated, examples of defective work are given, and some explanation of the nature of sewer-gas and disease-germs is added. As many eminent physicians have declared that cholera will certainly come to America in 1885, a memorandum of the New York State Board of Health relating to the prevention of the disease has been introduced, together with directions for home treatment, including recipes for medicines. These directions are quoted from Rev. Dr. Cyrus Hamlin, who has treated hundreds of cases in the four epidemics which he has seen in Constantinople. The necessity of enforcing public sanitation is urged, both on charitable grounds and because our neighbor's carelessness may often make our own precautions unavailing. The volume contains fifty cuts, showing unsanitary conditions in Washington and New York houses, and elsewhere; elaborate plumbing in the houses of S. J. Tilden and W. K. Vanderbilt; the filtration of water through earth, sewage fungi, etc. The writer has kept house both in the country and the city, and writes with knowledge of the conditions in both locations. The command of the subject which she has gained is a sufficient contradiction of any notion that preventive medicine is too difficult for woman's comprehension. The book, though aiming especially to interest women, is addressed to all readers who desire a popular and practical presentation of this important subject; quotations from the writings of able physicians and sanitarians have been freely used, and evidently care has been taken to make a useful and reliable book.
The American Psychological Journal, Quarterly. Volume I. Edited by Joseph Parrish, M. D. Philadelphia: P. Blakiston, Son & Co. $2 a year.
This magazine is issued by the National Association for the Protection of the Insane and Prevention of Insanity, and its scope is indicated by the name of the association. The first volume contained articles on both the medical and legal aspects of insanity; W. W. Godding, M. D., contributed a series of papers entitled "Our Insane Neighbor: his Rights and Ours"; T. D. Crothers, M. D., discussed some phases of insanity as related to inebriety; and many letters were published describing the treatment employed in various asylums, the lunacy laws of several States, and the courses of study on mental diseases provided in prominent medical colleges. A few of the other articles are "The Rights of the Insane, and their Enforcement"; "Are Suicides Lunatics?" "Employment as a Remedy for Insanity"; and "The Prevention of Insanity."
Tenants of an Old Farm. By Henry C. McCook, D. D. Illustrated from Nature. New York: Fords, Howard & Hulbert. Pp. 456. Price, $2.50.
At the solicitation of friends, the author has adopted a narrative form for these sketches of insect-life, and has introduced two characters, an uneducated woman servant and an old colored man, who are well versed in the superstitions concerning insects which are current among the ignorant. The book contains many original observations, especially upon the author's specialties, ants and spiders, and aims throughout to express the latest and best results of scientific research. The one hundred and forty illustrations have been prepared expressly for the work, and many of them are comical adaptations by Mr. Dan Beard. Mechanically, the volume is a handsome one, but contains a few typographical errors.
The Way Out. Suggestions for Social Reform. By Charles J. Bellamy, author of "The Breton Mills." A Novel. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 191.
Having written his novel, Mr. Bellamy proceeds to the trivial, task of solving all the problems of modern social life, by promulgating a grand policy of reform which shall prove to be "The Way Out" for all people who find themselves hemmed in by limitations of any sort, and especially the limitations of poverty. His case may be thus summed up: "This is a government by the people who are essentially omnipotent, and can do what they like. The instrument for cutting their way out of all their terrible poverty and misery is the ballot. There are immense accumulations of property, and what is wanted is redistribution. The greatest happiness would be secured by dividing up. The politicians who have got the most ballots are the parties to do this. What is needed is greatly to enlarge the sphere of government in the way of collecting and scattering money. There are abundant precedents for this, as may be readily shown." The author says:
acts of legislation, has established precedents, if we seek for justification of our theory, or to speak, I think, more correctly, prove that our theory of the functions of republican government has already been practically accepted, although not carried to its logical sequence. Government already interferes to repair the banks of navigable rivers, to improve harbors, to subsidize steamships and railroads, with a view to the ultimate good they may do the nation. The same national Government fits out expeditions of exploration, and makes costly experiments in agriculture and science for the benefit of the people. The State governments have gone much further. They have loaned money to railroads and canals expected to redound to the benefit of the people, provided large sums for education rendered compulsory, and for the care of the poor, and filled in marsh-lands. County, city, and town governments have carried the theory even further. These last-mentioned governments make free bridges and highways which they care for, establish free libraries and reading-rooms, spend the public money each successive year in some new way', even to appropriating the same for the observance of memorial days, or the celebration of Fourth of July. It certainly seems as if the principle must be acknowledged, after such numerous and varied illustrations, that it is the province of government to make a constant care of the material interests and development of the country, as well as the education and happiness
of the people.In the carrying out of this grand programme the politicians who have got the most votes should regulate all profits, cut down the hours of labor, and, incidentally, take possession of all the land, because, "for the greatest good of the greatest number," "there should be no individual property in land." Then will be found "The Way Out" of "society as now organized " into "the era of plenty."
Like the author's former novel, "The Way Out" is a work of the imagination: the author seems to be concerned about no other laws of the social state than those made by the politicians; and as for political economists they are merely "apologists for an iniquitous society."
The Philosophy of a Future State: A Brief Demonstration of the Untenability of Current Speculations. By C. Davis English. Philadelphia: Edward Stern & Co. Pp. 16. Price, 10 cents.
It has been long agreed that science can not demonstrate the doctrine of a future life or the immortality of the soul; but the writer of this pamphlet seems to be of the opinion that the untenability of current beliefs and speculations upon the subject can be demonstrated. Holding, furthermore, that truth is important, and that truth upon this subject is supremely important, he prints his views, which have, at least, the rare merit of being very brief. So wide is the range of this discussion, and so many big books have been written upon it, and so diverse are the theories maintained about it, that it was certainly no small exploit to put "The Philosophy of a Future State" in sixteen pages of large and readable type, but our author does not pretend to exhaust the subject. The argument is predominantly psychological, and, if not altogether original, is, at any rate, ingenious.
Elementary Text-Book on Physics, By Professor William A. Anthony and Professor Cyrus F. Brackett. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Pp, 246. Price, $1.50.
In the Introduction, the place of physics among the natural sciences is defined, its methods are stated, and the operation of measuring together with certain measuring instruments, are described. The section on mechanics includes, under "Mechanics of Fluids," the subject called hydraulics in the old books. Heat is treated chiefly in relation to mechanics. A second volume is to follow, treating of electricity and magnetism, acoustics and optics. By this arrangement the connection between light and sound, as being results of vibratory motions, is more emphasized than the connection between light and heat, and the laws of radiation are not presented in the chapters on heat. The book has been prepared for college classes, and is one which students can work hard over. It attacks the subject from the mathematical side, and requires no laboratory work. The knowledge of mathematics which it presumes includes plane trigonometry.
Young Folks' Ideas. By the author of "Young Folks' Whys and Wherefores." Illustrated, Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co. Pp. 243. Price, $2.
This book contains much scientific and technical information, ranging from bread-making and mining to the nature of money and the law of wills, joined by a thin thread of story. Children who care only for stories will not find it hard to skip the useful knowledge, but in following the narrative they will meet with a great many long words, and will have their attention drawn to the vicissitudes of Wall Street, and to that occupation known as "waiting for dead men's shoes." There are good stories which give considerable scientific information, and there are scientific books which are as interesting as any story, but this book belongs to neither class.
An Appeal to Cæsar. By Albion W, Tourgee. New York: Fords, Howard, & Hulbert, Pp. 422, Price, $1.
This is a warm plea for national education of the South. Its points are supported by vigorous arguments, and re-enforced with telling statistics and diagrammatical illustrations. The author begins by attempting to show that the difference in the structure of Northern and Southern society is fundamental—not a merely temporary affair to be wiped out in a few years after the war—but a matter which lay away back of the war, and was its cause; and that under the most favorable circumstances its removal must be the work of a very long time. The difficulty has not been simplified but rather complicated by emancipation, which has brought the two elements of black and white into irrepressible rivalry. This rivalry will not diminish, but will grow with the increase of the colored element, which has been going on, and will continue to go on, with amazing rapidity, while the growth of the white population will be stationary or retrograde. On this matter, while regarding the subject from an opposite point, and with an opposite bias from those of Professor Gilliam (Northern as opposed to Southern), the author quotes approvingly that gentleman's assertion in "The Popular Science Monthly" for February, 1883, that a fusion of the two races is impossible, saying that his conclusion is indisputable "during any period with regard to which speculation may be properly and reasonably extended. Certain it is that the influences now existent will render his words as true a hundred years from now as they are today. What change may possibly be wrought in the tone and sentiment of generations more remote and under circumstances which can not be foreseen, it is, of course, impossible to estimate. . . . We are compelled to indorse his views in this respect almost without the least modification"; and "it is not necessary that the conclusions of Professor Gilliam, in regard to the future of the African race, should be accepted as specifically true. These prognostications do not need to be expressly fulfilled in order to convince any thoughtful mind that the problem of the African race in the United States, instead of being a question that concerns the past alone, is really the most vital and important of all the questions that can possibly occupy the national attention for the present and the future." Judge Tourgee notices the various propositions that have been made of means to meet the evils threatened by this condition of things, and dismisses as impractical and ineffective, all except that of education—of whites and blacks alike—with its liberalizing effects in removing prejudice and promoting culture. He indicates the General Government as the most competent agent for performing the educational work; and his object in publishing this book is to urge that the powers of the Government be turned to this purpose. To make his idea more plain, he sketches a plan under which the administration of the trust shall be confided to a single officer, who shall deal directly with the teachers. The great importance of the subject is obvious. Judge Tourgee's ardent presentment of the case deserves the attention of every citizen.
Fichte's Science of Knowledge. By Charles C. Everett, D. D., Bussey Professor of Theology in Harvard University. Chicago: S. C. Griggs & Co. Pp. 287. Price, $1.25.
This little book, the third of their series of German philosophical classics which the publishers have so far issued, is not a translation, but is an exposition of Fichte's views as presented in his "Grundlage der gesammten Wissenschaftslehre." References are made also to his other writings, in order to show the relation of this work to his whole system. The first chapter gives such information about his life as is deemed helpful in comprehending his philosophy, his relation to Kant is next pointed out, and then the several main points of his philosophy are taken up. Professor Everett closes with a criticism of Fichte, and a comparison of him with Schopenhauer and with Hegel.
The Legal Control of Medical Practice by a State Examination. By John B. Roberts, M. D. Philadelphia. Pp. 4.
Modern Railway Facilities. By W. B. Le Van. Philadelphia. Pp. 3.
Relation between the Electromotive Force of a Daniell Cell and the Strength of the Zinc Sulphate Solution. By H. S. Carhart. Pp. 4.
A Method of measuring the Absolute Sensitiveness of Photographic Dry Plates. By William H. Pickering. Pp. 4.
The Educational Influence of the Farm. By William H. Brewer. Pp. 32.
Crossing the Pasture, an Etching. By J. A. S. Monk. New York: Cassell & Co., Limited.
Report of American Association Committee on indexing Chemical Literature. Pp. 3.
Lake Mœris and the Pyramids. By Cope Whitehouse. Pp. 4.
"The Platonist." Edited by Thomas M. Johnson. July, 1884. Orange, N. J. Pp. 16.
Bulletin of the New England Meteorological Society, November, 1884. Pp. 7.
Modern Languages as a College Discipline. By A. M. Elliott. Johns Hopkins University. Pp. 7.
Charts of Relative Storm Frequency for a Portion of the Northern Hemisphere. By John P. Finley. Washington City: Signal-Office. Thirteen charts.
Dominion of Canada. Telegraph and Signal Service Maps. Sir Hector Langevin, Minister of Public Works. Six Sections.
A Combined Visual and Astigmatic Test-Card. By Dr. William S. Little. Philadelphia. Pp. 8.
A Protestant converted to Catholicity by her Bible and Prayer-Book. By Mrs. Fanny Maria Pittar. Buffalo, N. Y.: Catholic Publication Company. Pp. 225.
Measurement of the Force of Gravity at Naha and Kagoshima. By S. Sakai and E. Yamaguchi. Tokio, Japan: Tokio Daigaku. Pp. 22.
Corcoran School of Arts, Columbian University, Washington. Address of Hon. J. W. Powell, LL. D. Pp. 20.
Notes on Ingersoll. By Rev. A. Lambert. Buffalo, N. Y.: Catholic Publication Company. Pp. 203. 25 cents.
List of the Ores and Minerals of Industrial Importance occurring in Alabama. By Eugene A Smith, State Geologist. Pp. 11.
Dearborn Observatory, Chicago. Annual Report of the Director. Pp. 14.
Transactions of the Vassar Brothers' Institute, and its Scientific Section. Poughkeepsie, N. Y., 1883–'84. Pp. 166.
Land Laws of Mining Districts. By Charles Howard Shinn. Baltimore: S. Murray. Pp. 90.
"Babyhood." Vol. I. No 1. December. 1884. Monthly. Pp. 32. 15 cents a number; $1.50 a year.
New York Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor. Report for 1884. Pp. 61.
"The Sun." Bi-monthly. Vol. I. No. 1. January and February, 1885. Kansas City, Mo.: C. T. Fowler. Pp. 28. 20 cents a number; $1 a year.
Baltimore Dispensary for Nervous Diseases. Report for 1883. Pp. 16.
The Rational Treatment of Chorea. By John Van Bibber. Baltimore. Pp. 8.
Notes on the Opium-Habit. By Asa P. Meylert, M. D. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 47.
The Extinct Mammalia of the Gulf of Mexico, and other Paleontological Papers; Synopsis of the Species of Oreodontidæ, etc. By Professor E. D. Cope. Philadelphia: A. E. Foote. Pp. 48 and 88. With Plates.
Degeneration the Law of Disease. By L. A. Merriam, M. D. Omaha, Neb.
"The Foreign Eclectic." Part I. French; Part II, German. Pp. 32, each part; monthly. Philadelphia: "Foreign Eclectic Company." 25 cents a part, $2.50 a year for single part, $4 for both parts.
Monsignor Capel's Rejoinder to the Reply of the Rev. J. H. Hopkins, D.D. New York and Cincinnati: F. Pustet & Co. Pp. 74. 25 cents.
Progress in Education. By Mrs. H. F. Wilson. Mobile, Ala. Pp. 12.
What we know of Cholera, etc. By Frank H. Hamilton, M.D. Pp. 27.
A Spectro-Photometric Study of Pigments. By Edward L. Niches, Ph.D. Pp. 7.
Osteology of Numenius Longirostris. By Dr. K. W. Shufeldt, U.S. Army. Pp. 32, with Plates.
Biographical Notice of Sir William Siemens. By George W. Maynard. Pp. 16.
Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute. Treasurer’s Report for 1884. Pp. 57.
Progress of Chemistry in 1883. By Professor H. Carrington Bolton. Washington: Government Printing-office. Pp. 31.
Addenda to the Bibliography of Hyper-Space and Non-Euclidean Geometry. By G. B. Halstead. Pp. 6.
Simple and Uniform Method of obtaining Taylor's, Cayley's, and Lagrange's Series. By J. C. Glashan. Ottawa, Canada. Pp. 15.
Allan Dare and Robert le Diable. By Admiral Porter. In Nine Parts. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. about 96. 25 cents each part.
Thermometer Exposure. By H. M. Paul. Detroit, Mich.: W. H. Burr & Co. Pp. 8.
Proposed Plan of a Sewerage System, etc., in Providence, R.I. By Samuel M. Gray. City Document. Pp. 140, with Plates.
Diceionario Tecnológico (Technolorical Dictionary), English-Spanish. By Nestor Ponce de Leon. No. 9. New York: N. Ponce do Leon. Pp. 64, Price 50 cents.
Bulletin de la Société Belge d'Électriciens (Bulletin of the Belgian Society of Electricians), Nos. 1, 2, 3. Brussels: C. Ed. Père. Pp. 131.
Contributions to the Tertiary Geology and Paleontology of the United States. By Angelo Heilprin. Philadelphia: The author. Pp. 117, with Map.
T Lucreti Carl de Berum Naturn. With Introduction and Notes by Francis W. Kelsey. Boston: John Allyn. Pp. 385. $1.75.
Elements of Chemistry. By Professor Sydney A. Norton. Cincinnati and New York: Van Antwerp, Bragg & Co. Pp. 504.
Prehistoric America. By the Marquis de Nadaillac. Translated by N. D'Anvers. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 566. $5.
"Van Nostrand's Eclectic Engineering Magazine." Vol. XXXI, pp. 524.
Book-keeping by Single and Double Entry. By a Book-keeper. New York: D. Appleton &, Co. Pp. 100.
A Text-Book of Hygiene. By George II. Rohé, M.D. Baltimore: Thomas Evans. Pp. 324.
The Ornithologist and Oölogist. Vol. IX, 1884. Pawtucket, R.I.: Frank B. Webster. Pp. 152.
Correspondence and Diaries of John Wilson Croker, F.R.S. Edited by Louis J. Jennings. Two volumes. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. Pp. 584 and 572, with Portrait. Price $5.
In the Lena Delta. By George W. Melville. U.S.N. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Pp. 497, with Maps and Illustrations. $2.50.
United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries Report, 1882. Washington: Government Printing-Offlce. Pp. 1101, with Plates.
Bureau of Ethnology, Second Annual Report, 1880-'81. By J. W. Powell, Director. Washington: Government Printing-Offlce. Pp. 477, with Plates.
Basic Pathology and Specific Treatment of Diphtheria, etc. By (George J. Ziegler. M.D. Philadelphia: G. J. Ziegler, M.D. Pp. 225. $2.
Science in Song. By William C. Richards. Boston: Lee & Shepard; New York: C. T. Dillingham. Pp. 131.
The Human Body. By H. Newell Martin and Henry Cary Martin. New York: Henry Holt & Co. Pp. 261. 90 cents.
Representative British Orations, with Introduction and Explanatory Notes. By Charles Kendall Adams. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, Three volumes. Pp. 318, 308, 376. $3.75.