LITERARY NOTICES. 



5 6 3 



subjects of inquiry. The book is most in- 

 teresting throughout, full of novel and acute 

 suggestions and practical conclusions of va- 

 ried applicability. The chapters upon " Va- 

 riety of Human Nature," " Anthropomor- 

 phic Registers," "Mental Imagery," "En- 

 thusiasm," " Influence of Man upon Race," 

 " Early and Late Marriages," and " The 

 History of Twins," may be mentioned as 

 of especial interest, although the whole 

 work richly deserves the critical attention 

 of all the scientific students of human na- 

 ture. 



Wealth-Creation. By Augustus Mongre- 

 die.\. With an Introduction, by Simon 

 Sterne. New York : Cassell, Petter, 

 Galpin & Co. Pp. 308. Price, 81.25. 



The author is well known as a writer of 

 unusual clearness on questions of political 

 economy ; as a practical business man pos- 

 sessing the happy faculty, which does not 

 always exist in men engaged in trade, of 

 considering these questions by reference to 

 their fundamental principles, and in the 

 light of a strictly correct reasoning. The 

 predominant ideas of his work are that the 

 abolition of war and the establishment of 

 unrestricted freedom of trade are the es- 

 sential conditions to the creation and even 

 diffusion of the largest wealth and prosper- 

 ity among nations. In Mr. Sterne's intro- 

 duction is given a review of the history of 

 tariff legislation in the United States, with 

 facts showing that our manufacturing in- 

 dustries and other interests have enjoyed 

 the greatest degree of relative prosperity 

 during the life of tariffs laid for revenue 

 only ; that while from 1850 to 1860, with 

 such a tariff, the capital invested in manu- 

 factures and the product of the manufacto- 

 ries doubled, from 18G0 to 1870, under the 

 war tariff, they did no more ; and from 1870 

 to 18S0, under the same tariff, they in- 

 creased only twenty-five per cent. 



Alcoholic Inebriety, from a Medical 

 Stand-point, with Cases from Clinical 

 Records. By Joseph Parrish, M. D. 

 Philadelphia : Blakiston, Son & Co. Pp. 

 185. Price, 1.25. 



Dr. Parrish has performed an excellent 

 and much-needed service in the preparation 

 of this volume. That both the moral and 

 political agencies have failed to do what 



was expected from them, in putting an end 

 to the evils of intemperance, is now but too 

 well known. Henceforth less sanguine ex- 

 pectations must be entertained as to what 

 can be really accomplished, and different 

 means resorted to for the purpose chief 

 among which will be the diffusion of sound 

 scientific information in regard to the sub- 

 ject of which this volume on alcoholic ine- 

 briety is an example. 



The point of view from which the work 

 is written is thus stated by the author : 

 " From the ordinary and popular outlook, 

 inebriety corrupts a wide range of both 

 public and private morals, and is so inter- 

 woven with the affairs of life, both domes- 

 tic and civil, that it is looked upon as the 

 chief factor of crime, of insanity and many 

 other diseases, and as a general disturber 

 of all that should be cherished as valuable 

 in the life of individuals and of the commu- 

 nity. Efforts have been put forth to arrest 

 its progress, if not to apply a radical rem- 

 edy for its evils, to which the pulpit, the 

 press, the platform, and the ballot, have all 

 contributed a share of influence, till the 

 land is covered with organizations having 

 for their standard the doctrine of abstinence 

 and prohibition. Taking half a century ago 

 as a starting-point, the growth of the tem- 

 perance sentiment of the country has been 

 marvelous, and to-day, simply as a sentiment, 

 it holds a prominent and commanding posi- 

 tion ; and yet we are confronted with the 

 discouraging statement that dram-drinking 

 and drunkenness are on the increase." 



" From another outlook, not so popular, 

 because not so familiar, another view may 

 be had, which, though more limited in its 

 scope, is none the less important, because it 

 reveals the causal beginnings from which 

 flow the results that are recognized as in- 

 toxication. As yet this new field has not 

 been explored as it might have been, and 

 as the gravity of the subject demand.-, 

 notwithstanding it discloses the remote 

 causes of inebriety, and indicates the re- 

 medial course to be followed in dealing 

 with it. This is doubtless partly due to the 

 fact that the new line of research is, in a 

 degree, technical and scientific, and the peo- 

 ple are not disposed to go behind what they 

 see in the inebriate and his surroundings, 

 to attempt to penetrate tissues, and search 



