LITERARY NOTICES. 



129 



ceptions, and cunning artifices of wily 

 political managers. The illiterate classes 

 are indeed, to no small degree, pro- 

 tected by their very ignorance from the 

 most insidious forms of political impos- 

 ture. They are manipulated by coarse 

 methods, while the class of citizens who 

 are called intelligent, morally require 

 sharper practice to circumvent them. 

 It is a great mistake to suppose that 

 our demagogues are mere petty opei-- 

 ators, animated by low cunning, and 

 who find their chief prey among those 

 who can not read their ballots. They 

 are trained and accomplished men, sub- 

 tle of intellect, inventive in resources, 

 and well equipped with knowledge. 

 The great mass of the people have a 

 smattering of education, and the whole 

 system of demagogical art assumes it 

 and is adapted to it. The common 

 schools teach just enough to turn out 

 "powder and ball for demagogues." 

 Our " machine politics " is the bright 

 consummate flower of American dema- 

 gogism, but it never could have had so 

 vigorous a growth if the ignorance of 

 American voters had not been duly cul- 

 tivated. The more ignorant and stu- 

 pid men are, the greater is their fealty 

 to party, and the more easily they can 

 be counted on; but, as they begin to 

 think, the demagogue is thrown upon 

 his resources, so that the effect of the 

 schools is to cause him to perfect his 

 methods. Of course, ignorant voters 

 are everywhere " powder and ball for 

 demagogues " ; we only insist that there 

 shall be no demagogical narrowness in 

 defining the class of ignorant voters. 



LITERARY NOTICES. 



Two Worlds are Ours. By Rev. Hugh Mac- 

 MiLLAN, LL.D., F. R. S. E. New York: 

 Macmillan&Co. Pp.349. Price, $1. 75. 



To say that this book is by the author 

 of " Bible Teachings in Nature " and " First 

 Forms of Ve!i;etation," published several 

 years ago, will be a strong commendation 

 to many readers. Those books were full of 

 VOL. xviii. 9 



a peculiar interest derived from their au- 

 thor's special studies ; and the present work, 

 similar in character, well sustains the writ- 

 er's reputation. Dr. Macmillan combines, 

 in a somewhat marked degree, several traits 

 which give character to his productions. 

 He is first of all a devoutly religious man, 

 of strictly orthodox opinions, and profound- 

 ly impressed with the reality of the spir- 

 itual world ; and he writes to illustrate 

 and enforce the fundamental conceptions of 

 the Christian system. Then he is an enthu- 

 siastic student of nature, and well up in the 

 latest results of science especially in geol- 

 ogy, botany, and zoology, the objects of 

 which are so obtrusive in all the aspects of 

 nature. He is besides a clear and pleasing 

 writer, with a dash of poetic feeling which 

 gives life and vividness to his descriptions, 

 though sometimes betraying him into un- 

 due fervor and elaboration of style Though 

 his book is pervaded by the most literal or- 

 thodox beliefs stated in Scripture forms, yet 

 it is in no sense a polemic, nor is there any 

 attempt to establish his theological views by 

 the customary logical methods. He rather 

 aims to enforce their truth by showing in 

 what striking ways they harmonize with the 

 methods and operations of nature. His vir- 

 tual thesis is that the " Two Worlds," spir- 

 itual and material, are ever in agreement 

 when we get down to their deeper meanings, 

 and he gives many ingenious and interesting 

 exemplifications of this unity. The book is 

 written in excellent temper, and is free from 

 all asperity. Science is looked upon, not 

 as the enemy but as the handmaid of faith ; 

 and, although advanced views are accepted 

 as a matter of course, there is never a word 

 of disparagement of scientific men. The 

 moral inculcations of the volume are ele- 

 vated and impressive, and, with their fresh 

 and attractive illustrations, can not fail to 

 exert a wholesome and improving infiuence. 

 Of its twenty-one chapters, those entitled 

 "Grains of Sand," "Weeds," "Summer 

 Blossoms," " Mountain Peace," " Leaven," 

 " Snow," " Waste," and " The Days of a 

 Tree," have most interested us. 



A True Republic. By Albert Sticknet. 



New York : Harper & Brothers, 1879. 



Pp. 271. Price, $1. 



Mr. Sticknet here grapples with the 

 problem of the causes and the cure of the 



