LITERARY NOTICES. 



711 



and of similar passages in other writings, 

 while the remaining chapter takes up the 

 difference between natural morality and the 

 religious systems of ethics. The author's 

 estimate of Christianity is as follows : " The 

 Eastern world was fortunate in possessing 

 many great moral and religious teachers ; 

 and it was out of their doctrines, ever in- 

 creasing in perfection as time went on, that 

 was gradually and naturally built up the 

 most complete and beautiful religion of all. 

 Hence (we may say) it was necessary that, 

 in the process of evolution, this develop- 

 ment should be reached, and that Christi- 

 anity should come : yet this is no reason 

 why we need hesitate to add but blessed 

 be he through whom it came." Moreover, 

 he considers that the evidence brought for- 

 ward tends to show " that much of Christ's 

 doctrine was necessarily of only temporary 

 and local value ; but that the Church has 

 greatly hindered the progress of knowledge 

 and scientific morality by insisting that her 

 founder's teaching is final on all points," 

 and " that science is now proving the ori- 

 gin and nature of man to be entirely differ- 

 ent to those assumed by religious teachers, 

 and thereby contradicting much that is es- 

 sential to their doctrines." 



Eve's Daughters ; or, Common Sense for 

 Maid, Wife, and Mother. By Marion 

 Harland. New York : John R. Ander- 

 son and Henry S. Allen. Pp. 454. $2. 



A book of sound principles on the in- 

 struction and training of girls and women 

 with reference to the principal function of 

 their life. That it has met a large demand 

 and approval by the public is attested by 

 the fact that it is now in its twentieth 

 thousand. The subject of the book is the 

 training and treatment of woman, in re- 

 spect chiefly to her physical well-being and 

 moral culture, in every age and condition of 

 life as an infant, as a girl at play, as a 

 school-girl, "young lady," wife, and mother. 

 The infant is commended to the mother's per- 

 sonal nursing and care, and to an enlightened 

 regime, in order to give which the mother 

 must seek the necessary knowledge. For the 

 girl are claimed the freedom of action that 

 will secure to her the best development, and 

 the instruction and the sincerity of instruc- 

 tion that will best help her to make herself 

 a true and sound woman. As the school-life 



period approaches, and the critical period 

 of the woman's life with it, more attention 

 is required to secure a proper development 

 of the physical and mental functions than 

 even in infancy, and the subject receives 

 a correspondingly greater particularity of 

 treatment. The calling of the woman to be 

 a housekeeper and the trainer of a new fam- 

 ily and the bearing of her education to 

 those ends are given their proper promi- 

 nence. We have also chapters on what 

 women who have grown up to be young 

 ladies should do for their mothers, on dress, 

 on the cure of gossip, on the period of mar- 

 riage and the duties of the expectant moth- 

 er. The book is a woman's book on a 

 woman's subject, in which the plainest 

 truths are presented in the most forcible 

 manner, yet with the most fully refined 

 delicacy ; and it is a book that will help 

 women, and in helping them will help the 

 human race. 



Legal Provisions respecting the Exam- 

 ination and Licensing of Teachers. 

 Washington: Government Printing-of- 

 fice. Pp. 46. 



This pamphlet, published by the Bureau 

 of Education as one of its "Circulars of 

 Information," gives summaries of the rules 

 prevailing in the several States for ascer- 

 taining the qualifications of teachers pre- 

 paratory to giving them licenses. While 

 the Commissioner of Education has no de- 

 sire to call undue attention to examinations, 

 and deprecates the cramming and the dan- 

 ger of making them an end in education 

 w T hich it is likely to induce, he hopes to se- 

 cure a good purpose by showing how it has 

 seemed best to the people of the different 

 States to determine whether the teacher has 

 the qualifications required ; for which no 

 better general way seems to have been 

 found than some system of examination. 



Bacteria and the Germ Theory of Dis- 

 ease. By Dr. H. Gradle, Professor of 

 Pbysiology, Chicago Medical College. 

 Chicago:' W. T. Keener. Pp. 216. 

 Price, $2. 



Since this book consists of medical lec- 

 tures, the treatment of the subject is natu- 

 rally technical rather than popular. It is a 

 presentation of the results so far attained 

 in researches as to the nature of germs, and 

 their action as agents of disease. 



