LITERARY NOTICES. 



70S 



cms trees ; and not a lake or a swamp is to 

 be found in the entire region. The water is 

 pure and abundant, and sulphur and iron 

 springs are not rare. " One great benefit to 

 invalids of all classes lies in the purity of 

 the air, which the extraordinary forest- 

 growth does much to render equable in 

 temperature and moisture. Dust is un- 

 known. The electrical phenomena of the 

 summer storms are exceptional. . . . Not- 

 withstanding the utter disregard of the 

 laws of health by the inhabitants, they are 

 a long-lived race of people." 



Kant's Ethics: A Critical Exposition. 

 By Noah Porter. Chicago : S. C. Griggs 

 & Co. Pp. 249. Price, $1.25. 



This volume is the fifth of Griggs's series 

 of Philosophical Classics. President Porter 

 enforces the description implied in the title 

 that his treatise is both expository and criti- 

 cal. It proposes first to interpret and then 

 to criticise the principal features of Kant's 

 ethical system, and the one in order to ef- 

 fect the other. In performing his work, 

 the author has thought it best to state the 

 theory very largely in Kant's own language, 

 with such comments as might be required 

 to make it intelligible; and he has done 

 this, both in order that he might be en- 

 tirely just to Kant himself, and that he 

 might aid the unpracticed student in the 

 task of interpreting the German philoso- 

 pher. Besides a brief general introduction, 

 President Porter gives a summary or con- 

 densed review of the distinctive positions 

 taken by Kant upon the most important 

 topics as compared with those of other 

 writers, and strictures upon Kant by a few 

 German critics. 



The Economical Fact -Book and Free- 

 Trader's Guide. Edited by R. R. Bow- 

 ker. New York : The New York Free- 

 Trade Club. Pp. 151. 



This volume is in the main a statement 

 of facts, given in their most concise shape, 

 without varnish, with some statements of 

 opinion in which both sides are represented 

 for guidance in making up the mind on the 

 tariff issue. It is prepared for the further- 

 ance of free-trade principles, which the ed- 

 itor assumes in the introduction, are sup- 

 ported by the facts of history and of pres- 

 ent experience, as well as by the principles 



vol. xxix. 45 



of economics. In it are a short history of 

 the tariff, quotations from American lead- 

 ers and party utterances on revenue re- 

 form, "Protectionist Points and Free-Trade 

 Facts," and valuable tables. Free trade is 

 admitted to have several shades of mean- 

 ing. The free -trade cause is said to in- 

 clude the great body of men who oppose the 

 principle of trade-restriction called protec- 

 tion, and whose common aim is to get this 

 " mischievous element " out of the tariff and 

 confine taxes to the support of the Govern- 

 ment. This implies a "tariff for revenue 

 only. . . . The immediate steps to this end 

 are the freeing of crude materials from 

 duty at the bottom, and the reduction of 

 excessive duties at the top. All shades of 

 revenue reformers unite in these steps, and 

 are willing that their success should be the 

 test of further advances in freeing trade." 



Municipal Administration. By Robert 

 Mathews. Rochester, N. Y. Pp. 16. 



This pamphlet embodies the substance 

 of an address delivered before the Fort- 

 nightly Club of Rochester. After review- 

 ing the whole subject, the author reaches 

 the conclusions that the misgovernment of 

 cities is due to the imperfections of human 

 nature, imperfections of our election ma- 

 chinery, and mistaken ideas about the 

 proper functions of city government. The 

 reforms needed are proportional represeu- 

 tation, business administration, and that 

 elevation of humanity which is both a 

 cause and a consequence of good govern- 

 ment. 



Bulletin op the United States Geologi- 

 cal Survey. Nos. 15 to 26. Washing- 

 ton : Government Printing-Office. 



No. 15 is "On the Mesozoic and Ceno- 

 zoic Fauna of California," by Dr. C. A. 

 White. No. 16 is "On the Higher Devo- 

 nian Fauna of Ontario County, New York," 

 by J. M. Clarke. No. 17 is " On the Develop- 

 ment of Crystallization in the Igneous Rocks 

 of Washoe, Nevada," etc., by Arnold Hague 

 and J. P. Iddings. No. 18 is " On Marine 

 Eocene, Fresh -Water Miocene, and other 

 Fossil Mollusca of Western North Ameri- 

 ca," by Dr. C. A. White. No. 19 is " Notes 

 on the Stratigraphy of California," by 

 George F. Becker. No. 20 is " Contribu- 



