LITERARY NOTICES. 



423 



mentary Mechanism " (including the crank 1 

 and connecting-rod, cams, the heart-wheel, 

 escapements, ratchet - wheels, wheels in 

 trains, the winch or crab, pulley-blocks, the 

 steelyard, lifting - jack, etc.); "Truth of 

 Surface, Strength of Materials, the Lathe " ; 

 and " Elementary Mechanics of Liquids and 

 Gases." 



Evolution. By Charles F. Deems, LL. D. 

 New York : John W. Lovell Company. 

 Pp. 108. Price, 20 cents. 



The author a well-known minister 

 whose training and mode of thought have 

 been largely theological, professes that in 

 his examination of the theory of evolution, 

 of which this essay is a part of the fruit, he 

 has endeavored to avoid all dogmatism and 

 special pleading. "His aim has been to 

 ascertain for himself just what is the post- 

 ure of the hypothesis at this time, without 

 much regard as to how it stood in the past, 

 or any regard to its possible future, or any 

 care for the effect which the result of his 

 honest study might have on any scientific, 

 philosophical, or theological opinion pre- 

 viously held by him." He assumes that 

 there is no religious reason for the accept- 

 ance or rejection of evolution, and there are 

 no valid sentimental objections to it ; but 

 the result of his investigation is the Scotch 

 verdict, " not proven." 



The Choice of Books, and other Literary 

 Pieces. By Frederic Harrison. Lon- 

 don and New York : Macmillan & Co. 

 Pp. 447. 



This volume consists of essays and lect- 

 ures, written by the author at various times 

 during the last twenty years, and which deal 

 solely with books, art, and history, as dis- 

 tinguished from politics, philosophy, or re- 

 ligion ; and which do not touch on any con- 

 troversy except " the perennial problems 

 presented to us by literature and the study 

 of the past." About one third of the mat- 

 ter is in print for the first time. We have 

 been interested in the essay which gives the 

 name to the volume, and find it pregnant 

 with valuable lessons. The burden of it is, 

 that in the present multiplication of books 

 it is impossible to master a fraction of those 

 which may be helpful to us ; then why 

 should we waste our time over reading of 

 any other kind ? A short review of all lit- 



erature, ancient and modern, follows, with 

 hints as to the lots from which we can make 

 the most judicious selections. Among the 

 other " pieces " are a dialogue on " Cult- 

 ure"; "The Life of George Eliot"; "His- 

 toric London"; "The ^Esthete"; "Ber- 

 nard of Clairvaux " ; "A Few Words " 

 about the eighteenth and about the nine- 

 teenth centuries ; and two articles on 

 Froude's " Life of Carlyle," and " Histories 

 of the French Revolution " which first ap- 

 peared in the " North American Review." 



Poetry as a Representative Art. By 

 George Lansing Raymond. New York : 

 G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 346. Price, 



The author of this essay is Professor of 

 Oratory and Esthetics in the College of 

 New Jersey. The work, while it is complete 

 in itself, in the sense that it develops from 

 beginning to end the whole subject of which 

 it treats, is in other senses only one of a 

 series of essays which Mr. Raymond has 

 written, respecting the various arts in their 

 functions of representation, of which he 

 gives a tolerably full list. He sustains the 

 conclusion that while poetry is not, in a 

 technical sense, a useful art, its forms have 

 their uses, and many uses and practical 

 ones, at the basis of which lies " the inter- 

 pretation of the meaning of nature, natural 

 and human, by those who have learned to 

 interpret it, while striving to have it convey 

 their own meanings." His points and prin- 

 ciples, as he deduces them in detail, are 

 copiously illustrated with citations from the 

 poets. 



The Fisheries and Fishing Industries of 

 the United States. By George Brown 

 Goode, and a Staff of Associates. Wash- 

 ington : Government Printing-Office. 

 Section 1, Text. Pp. 895. Section 2, 

 277 Plates. 



This elaborate report has been compiled 

 under an arrangement between the United 

 States Fish Commission and the Census 

 Bureau, to prepare as exhaustive an inves- 

 tigation of the objects of the work as pos- 

 sible. The scheme of the investigation as 

 drawn up by Mr. Goode embraced the nat- 

 ural history of marine products; the fish- 

 ing grounds ; the fishermen and fishing 

 towns; apparatus and modes of capture; 



