LITERARY NOTICES. 



417 



ingredients would most benefit the several 

 soils and crops ; and in the form of special 

 experiments of a more complicated charac- 

 ter, for the study of the feeding capacities 

 of some of the more common plants, with 

 special reference to the nitrogen supply. 

 The present report gives the results for 

 18S0. 



KEroRT of Professor Spencer F. Baird, 

 Secretary of the Smithsonian Insti- 

 tution, for the Year 1880. Washing- 

 ton: Government Priuting-Office. Pp. 

 83. 



Within the few pages of this publica- 

 tion are reviewed very briefly the transac- 

 tions of the Institution in connection with 

 numerous enterprises and interests bearing 

 upon the advancement of science. Among 

 them are the announcement of astronomical 

 discoveries by telegraph ; the exchange and 

 distribution of publications and specimens; 

 explorations in New Mexico, the West In- 

 dies, Arizona, Oregon, the Pacific coast, and 

 Alaska; the Howgate Arctic Expedition; 

 the publication of the twenty-second and the 

 near readiness of the twenty-third volumes 

 of " Contributions " ; the publication of the 

 sixteenth, seventeenth, eighteenth, and nine- 

 teenth volumes of "Miscellaneous Collec- 

 tions"; the transactions of the National 

 Museum and the growth of its collections ; 

 and the work of the United States Fish 

 Commission. 



A Short History of the Bible. Being a 

 Popular Account of the Formation and 

 Development of the Canon. By Bron- 

 son C. Keeler. Chicago : The Century 

 Publishing Company. Pp. 126. 



This is an inquiry into the origin and 

 development of the doctrine of divine reve- 

 lation, " beginning with a time when the 

 books composing the Bible were not consid- 

 ered inspired, and following the belief, in 

 the light of history and approved scholar- 

 ship, from its inception to the present day." 

 It aims to show who first affirmed the books 

 to be inspired, who compiled them into the 

 accepted volume, what changes have taken 

 place in the canon, and " who first affirmed 

 that we must believe the Bible or be damned." 

 The author says that he has no theory to 

 advocate, but he is evidently opposed to the 

 doctrine of inspiration. 

 vol. xx. 27 



The Spelling Keform. Circulars of Infor- 

 mation of the Bureau of Education, No. 

 7, 1880. Washington : Government 

 Printing-Office. Pp.86. 



The statement embraced in this publi- 

 cation was prepared at the recpiest of the 

 United States Commissioner of Education 

 by Professor F. A. March, of Lafayette 

 College, President of the American Spelling 

 Keform Association. It reviews the reasons 

 for the spelling-reform movement and its 

 history; explains the plan proposed by the 

 American Philological Association, in ac- 

 cordance with which a large part of the 

 essay is printed ; gives a list of special 

 words for which the Philological Society 

 of England has proposed a reformed spell- 

 ing, and catalogues the literature of the 

 subject. 



English History for Young Folks, b. c. 

 55 to a. d. 1880. By S. C. Gardiner, 

 Honorary Student of Christ Church, and 

 Professor of Modern History at King's 

 College, London. Edition revised for 

 American Students. New York : Henry 

 Holt & Co. Pp. 457. 



The subject is presented in an easy, 

 flowing style, designed to engage the atten- 

 tion and hold the interest of young readers. 

 With this purpose, important events have 

 been given in fuller detail than usual, 

 though no story has been told simply be- 

 cause it is interesting, and much has been 

 omitted that would be merely burdensome 

 to the memory. The character of the re- 

 vision that has been made for American 

 readers is not defined, nor is the necessity 

 for it explained. 



On Maximum Synchronous Glaciation. 

 By W. J. McGee, of Farley, Iowa. Pp. 

 65. 



This is the substance of a paper which 

 was read by the author at the Boston meet- 

 ing of the American Association reviewing 

 what is known as the " ice-cap theory." It 

 endeavors to show, from the mode of opera- 

 tion of the agencies which effect glaciation, 

 that precipitation over the central parts of 

 any extensive ice-field must be very slight 

 or even nil, and that there is no sufficient 

 reason for believing that the polar regions 

 were ever much more extensively glaciated 

 than at present ; and that the assumption 



