LITERARY NOTICES. 



559 



events in onr country's history. He was a 

 Virginian by birth, of Scotch ancestry. That 

 the belligerent faculty which was afterward 

 so valuable to his country was early devel- 

 oped, is shown in an anecdote of young Scott 

 punishing a bully who was abusing the 

 youth's Quaker teacher. Young Scott en- 

 tered the legal profession, but in 1807 one 

 of the incidents that foreshadowed the War 

 of 1812 caused him to join a troop of militia 

 cavalry. When a more serious incident oc- 

 curred a year or two later, Scott received a 

 commission as captain. When war was ac- 

 tually declared, he was made a lieutenant 

 colonel, although being then only twenty-five 

 years of age. General Wright gives a de- 

 tailed account of the operations of this war, 

 in which Scott won an enviable record for 

 gallantry and a promotion to a generalship. 

 General Scott had gained some experience 

 in Indian fighting during the war with Eng- 

 land, and saw more of the same kind of 

 service in the troubles with the Sacs and 

 Foxes, the Seminoles, and the Cherokees. 

 He was sent to South Carolina at the nullifi- 

 cation time to act in case of an outbreak. 

 The chief part of General Scott's reputation 

 was made in the round of successes consti- 

 tuting the war with Mexico. The siege and 

 capture of Vera Cruz, the battle of Cerro 

 Gordo, and the operations around the capital 

 city ending in Scott's triumphal entry, are 

 described with gratifying fullness. The rest 

 of the volume is occupied with minor events, 

 including his nominations for the presidency, 

 his honors, travels, administration of various 

 military affairs, his retirement from the 

 chief command of the army at the beginning 

 of the civil war, etc. The various contro- 

 versies in which a strong will and somewhat 

 choleric disposition involved him are not 

 concealed, and a wealth of anecdote illus- 

 trates all sides of his character. A frontis- 

 piece, portrait, and several maps illustrate 

 the chronicle. 



Aphorisms from the Writings of Herbert 

 Spencer. Selected and arranged by 

 Julia Raymond Gingell. With Por- 

 trait. New York : D. Appleton & Co. 

 Pp. 166. Price, $1. 



" How to live ? that is the essential 

 question for us Not how to live in the mere 

 material sense only, but in the widest sense. 



The general problem which comprehends 

 every special problem is the right ruling of 

 conduct in all directions, under all circum- 

 stances." (Education, chap, i.) 



This is the first selection in the volume. 

 For many centuries man has been working 

 out the solution of the problem to which it 

 refers, and has made the best progress within 

 the past generation. Just as his empirical 

 knowledge of bodily hygiene has been greatly 

 extended by the discovery of micro-organ- 

 isms, so has his understanding of right con- 

 duct been broadened and systematized by 

 the doctrine of evolution. Miss Gingell has 

 made her book of extracts bear largely upon 

 the management of life. Mr. Spencer being 

 the chief exponent of evolution, the princi- 

 ples of conduct found in his writings are co- 

 ordinated and unified by that great luminous 

 truth which both lights up the past and en- 

 ables us to peer into the future. This col- 

 lection of aphorisms consists of brief, pithy 

 sentences and paragraphs culled from the 

 whole range of Mr. Spencer's writings and 

 grouped under such headings as education, 

 evolution, politics, justice, sympathy, happi- 

 ness, etc. It has never been any part of 

 Mr. Spencer's plan to prepare material that 

 could be used in this way. The units of his 

 writings are the chapters, and a passage 

 taken out from its context is apt to give a 

 misleading impression when standing alone. 

 Yet Miss Gingell has carried out her under- 

 taking with much tact, and the volume fur- 

 nishes a sample of Spencer's quality from 

 which readers may decide whether or not 

 they desire to read any of his connected 

 works. 



Materials for the Study of Variation, 

 treated with especial regard to dis- 

 CONTINUITY IN THE Origin of Species. By 

 W. Bateson, M. a. Cambridge. London : 

 Macmillan k Co., 1894. Pp. 598. Price, 

 $6.50. 



The first portion of the above title is 

 printed on the back of the book, and, con- 

 sidered under this title alone, Mr. Bateson 

 has made a most valuable contribution to the 

 study of variation. He has classified the 

 phenomena, so to speak, and given some new 

 and convenient terms to express the kinds of 

 variation. The phenomenon of the repeti- 

 tion of parts he terms merism ; numerical 

 and geometrical changes are called mcristic 



