LITERARY NOTICES. 



119 



Mobius estimates that each oyster bom has 

 irriouTr of a chance of reaching maturity. 

 In the case of the American oyster, the 

 number of eggs being very much greater, 

 each one's chance of survival is very much 

 less. 



He shows, too, how extremely circum- 

 scribed are the beds upon which the oyster 

 thrives, and that it is a mistake to suppose 

 that the oysters are promiscuously scattered 

 on the shores of the bay. They can only 

 flourish on certain grounds, though the 

 young are widely scattered through these 

 waters, as the partial development of in- 

 dividuals everywhere attests. This Part 

 closes with another article by the same au- 

 thor, on " The Acquisition and Loss of a 

 Food-Yolk in Molluscan Eggs." 



Incomplete as our account of these pa- 

 pers must necessarily be, enough has been 

 said to show that they are the records of a 

 large amount of original thoroughgoing sci- 

 entific research, the results of which will 

 become increasingly valuable as they are 

 more generally known. But of the man- 

 ner in which these records have been brought 

 together we can not speak so favorably. 

 Several of the memoirs were first published 

 elsewhere, and in their collection the orisri- 

 nal paging and numbering of the plates 

 have been allowed to stand. The lack of 

 uniformity thus caused is very confusing, 

 and, as the high character of the work will 

 make it widely sought for purposes of ref- 

 erence, much future trouble may be ex- 

 pected from this defect in its make-up. 



The Irish Land Questiox. By Henry 

 George. New York : D. Appleton & Co. 

 1881. Pp. 85. Price, 25 cents. 



In this essay Mr. George applies to the 

 Irish land question the doctrine maintained 

 in his now well-known work " Progress and 

 Poverty," and appeals to the Land Leagues 

 to openly espouse the reform he advocates. 

 He insists that there is nothing special in 

 Irish distress ; that it is not due to English 

 oppression, but that it is the direct result of a 

 land system that prevails in every civilized 

 country. He points out that so far from Irish 

 land tenure being worse than that of other 

 countries, it is even more favorable to the ten- 

 ant, and that, as a matter of fact, the land of 

 Ireland is under-rented. He argues forcibly 



against the various schemes for a greater 

 subdivision of the land, showing that these 

 can benefit the tenant but to a limited ex- 

 tent, while to agricultural laborers and arti- 

 sans they can bring no relief whatever. He 

 therefore urges the reform he advocates, as 

 a final solution, not only of the land question 

 in Ireland, but in every other country, and 

 feels confident that, if the Irish trouble could 

 be adjusted on this basis, the extension of 

 the system to other countries would be but 

 a matter of time. At the very outset of any 

 proposal for the state to resume the owner- 

 ship of the land, the question of compensa- 

 tion to landholders must be met. In his 

 previous work Mr. George has argued that 

 the landholders ought to receive no compen- 

 sation, an opinion for which he has been 

 somewhat sharply criticised. In the present 

 essay he again takes up the question and 

 argues it at greater length. He denies that 

 the case is one to which the statute of limita- 

 tion can be made to apply, and claims that 

 the landholder is not deprived of what is 

 rightfully his, but simply estopped from 

 further enjoying the fruits of the labor of 

 others. 



The remainder of the essay is devoted to 

 an insistence upon the importance of the 

 right solution of the land question and the 

 benefits that would follow the one the author 

 proposes. 



Medical Hints on the Production and 

 Management of the Singing Voice. By 

 Lennox Browne, F. R. C. S., Edinburgh. 

 Eighth edition, revised, enlarged, and 

 illustrated. New York : M. L. Holbrook 

 & Co. Paper. Pp. 77. Price, 25 cents. 



This essay, which was first given in the 

 form of a paper before a Musical Associa- 

 tion, is intended to furnish the information 

 most necessary and desirable for singers to 

 possess, in a practical, untechnical shape. 

 It considers 1. The laws of musical sound 

 bearing on the question discussed ; 2. The 

 organs of the human voice regarded as parts 

 of a musical instrument, and their various 

 functions as such; 3. The management of 

 those parts under control of the vocalist 

 which may perfect the voice; 4. The de- 

 fects occasioned by mismanagement ; and, 

 5. Directions on the hygiene and medical 

 and dietetic management of the voice. The 

 last topic is treated in full. 



