LITERARY NOTICES. 



"7 



Moths of New England, Fresh- Water Fishes, 

 and Frogs, Turtles, and Snakes (Whidden, 

 50 cents each). 



An introduction to the subject of Elec- 

 trical Measurements, by Edward Trevert 

 (Bubier Company, $1), is a neatly arranged 

 little book, of convenient size for the pocket. 

 For an amateur who is attempting practical 

 work the book ought to be a very handy 

 one. Its four chapters, Electrical Units, The 

 Measurement of Resistance, Current Meas- 

 urements, and Potential Measurements, oc- 

 cupy 117 16mo pages. There are numerous 

 illustrations. 



A condensed and convenient Handbook 

 of Practical Mechanics comes to us in the 

 shape of a 16mo from Charles H. Saunders, 

 of Hartford, its author and publisher. It is 

 intended for use in the shop and draught- 

 ing room, and contains rules and formula? 

 for the solution of practical problems. There 

 are numerous tables and illustrations where 

 necessary. The last few pages contain a col- 

 lection of " workshop receipts." 



In Robinson's New Intellectual Arithmetic 

 (American Book Company, 35 cents) we 

 have a carefully arranged system of meutal 

 arithmetic ; a science, the study of which is 

 of great value in developing the thinking 

 and reasoning powers, and which has a direct 

 utility for the business man. The general 

 divisions of the subject addition, subtrac- 

 tion, etc. are treated in the same order as 

 in an ordinary arithmetic, and the problems 

 are much the same, but more carefully 

 graded. 



Elementary Lessons in Algebra (Ameri- 

 can Book Company, 50 cents) is a series of 

 lessons inculcating a knowledge of algebraic 

 processes and giving facility in the use of 

 algebraic symbols. They set before the 

 learner the combinations of literal quantities 

 into sums, differences, products, and quo- 

 tients, with little reference to arithmetical 

 processes and without associating number 

 values to the letters often a source of con- 

 fusion to the beginner. The book is in- 

 tended for use in grammar schools. 



The puzzling problem of money is treated 

 by Arthur Kitson in A Scientific Solution of 

 the Money Question (Arena Publishing Com- 

 pany, cloth, $1.25 ; paper, 50 cents). Al- 

 though acknowledging important services 

 rendered to political economy by Jevons, the 



author criticises him and other economists 

 for confusing the subject of value. He fur- 

 ther maintains that there is no such thing 

 as an invariable unit of value, but that there 

 may be such a unit of purchasing power, and 

 undertakes to show how the latter may be ob- 

 tained. In his view the only proper kind of 

 money is one that is itself valueless and the 

 issuance of which is not made a monopoly 

 by law, He advocates the abolition of all 

 laws restricting the issue of currency, and 

 says that the result would be the rise of a 

 variety of competing systems the fittest of 

 which would survive. During the continu- 

 ance of the struggle for existence people 

 would have to depend on their own dis- 

 crimination to determine whose money it 

 was safe to take. 



The third of the Occasional Papers is- 

 sued by the trustees of the John F. Slater 

 Fund is an outline of the Education of the 

 Negroes since 1860, by J. L. M. Curry. It 

 tells of educational work done while the 

 civil war was yet in progress, sketches the 

 labors of the Freedmen's Bureau, and of va- 

 rious religious and benevolent associations, 

 and gives some account of the operations 

 under the Peabody and Slater Funds (Balti- 

 more : The Trustees). 



Mr. C. Osborne Ward, who is the author 

 of several books on the labor question, has 

 issued a volume in advocacy of communism, 

 under the title The Equilibration of Human 

 Aptitudes and Powers of Adaptation (Na- 

 tional Watchman Company, Washington, 

 $1.25). He maintains that the competitive 

 system is a failure, and points out its defects, 

 giving especial prominence to the piracy of 

 inventions and plagiarism of literary produc- 

 tions. He praises the trades unions for hav- 

 ing made important progress in the right 

 direction, and touches upon a multitude of 

 minor topics to illustrate or enforce his con- 

 tentions. In his last chapter he gives the 

 average longevity in a large number of oc- 

 cupations and comments upon the injustice 

 that allows quicksilver miners and brakemen 

 to die at the age of twenty-six, while the 

 rich of no occupation, farmers, judges, and 

 some others live till past sixty. The author 

 gives evidence of a wide reading, and ex- 

 presses himself clearly and vigorously. 



Several essays on The Nature of the State, 

 by Dr. Paul Cams, which first appeared as 



