LITERARY NOTICES. 



503 



larizer of science addresses are more apt to 

 be perplexed by a non sequitur such aa this 

 than by mere verbal peculiarities." 



LITERARY NOTICES. 



Transactions ok toe Wisconsin Academy 

 of Sciences, Arts, and Letters (1870- 

 '72). Atwood & Culver : Madison, Wis. 



The State of Wisconsin is but just of age, 

 having emerged from its Territorial infancy 

 and entered upon its sovereignty only twenty- 

 two years ago. This is but a short period 

 in the lifetime of an independent political 

 community, yet much has been done within 

 that period to give the State an impulse in 

 the direction of civilized development. Tak- 

 ing journalism as a standard, the number 

 of newspapers and periodicals printed in 

 Wisconsin, in 1870, was no less than 174 

 of which 6 were monthly, 1 semi-monthly, 

 14 daily and weekly, and 153 weekly. In 

 1870, was organized, at Madison, the capi- 

 tal, the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, 

 Arts, and Letters, devoted to the material, 

 intellectual, and social advancement of the 

 State. This association numbers at present 

 55 annual members, 29 corresponding mem- 

 bers, and 12 life-members. The first vol- 

 ume of the proceedings, now before us, is a 

 very interesting document, the first part of 

 which is a report to the Legislature by Dr. 

 J. W. Hoyt, President of the Academy, 

 which gives an account of its establishment, 

 and a valuable inventory of the contribu- 

 tions to philosophy, political science, social 

 science, natural science, and the useful and 

 the fine arts, by distinguished citizens of 

 the State, within the last few years. The 

 remainder of the volume of proceedings is 

 filled with a series of original papers in the 

 several departments, many of which are 

 able and instructive. The plan of the in- 

 stitution is comprehensive, and if it is sus- 

 tained, as it ought to be, it cannot fail to 

 be of great service in promoting the higher 

 prosperity of the State. 



Physics and Politics ; or, Thoughts on 

 the Application of the Principles of 

 "Natural Selection" and "Inherit- 

 ance " to Political Society. By Walter 

 Bagehot, 1 Esq., author of " The Eng- 

 lish Constitution." D. Appleton & Co. 

 The second volume of the " Interna- 



1 Pronounced Ba-jote. 



tional Scientific Series" is now issued, and 

 it is but just to say that it ably sustains the 

 character of the enterprise. It was no easy 

 task to follow Prof. Tyndall, the clearest of 

 our scientific thinkers, and most elegant 

 and eloquent of our scientific writers ; and, 

 had a similar subject been chosen, we could 

 have hardly expected a monograph so fin- 

 ished as the " Forms of Water." But Mr. 

 Bagehot's theme is widely dissimilar from 

 that of Prof. Tyndall, and, although treat- 

 ing of a subject at the opposite pole of sci- 

 ence (if we may so speak), is not less at- 

 tractive, and is presented with great literary 

 skill, keenness of analysis, and originality 

 of view. The author is unknown in this 

 country, except through various essays in 

 the Economist, of which he is the editor, 

 and in the periodicals ; but he takes a high 

 rank among the thinkers of England. His 

 book on " The English Constitution," which 

 will shortly be republished here, is unques- 

 tionably the ablest work on the philosophy 

 of modern politics that has appeared in a 

 long time, and at once placed its author in 

 the front rank of writers upon the science 

 of government. 



The volume now issued is not only from 

 the latest point of view, and stamped with 

 all the freshness of recent inquiry, but it is 

 a pioneer discussion which clears a path of 

 investigation that is certain to be followed 

 up in the future with the most marked and 

 valuable results. 



If any one were asked to name that field 

 of thought which is at present most chaotic 

 and discordant, where there are the fewest 

 settled principles, and the most arbitrary 

 assumptions, in which everybody can dab- 

 ble with equal claims to attention, and 

 where scientific knowledge is utterly scout- 

 ed as of no manner of use or application 

 it would of course be that of politics. In * 

 almost every other field where the human 

 mind requires to be used, a certain amount 

 of knowledge is regarded as indispensable ; 

 but in politics the charlatan and the ignora- 

 mus put forth equal claims with the trained 

 and painstaking thinker. This state of 

 things cannot last. The advance of knowl- 

 edge is irresistible, and it will as certainly 

 produce a revolution in politics as it has 

 already produced revolutions in so many 

 other departments of thought. This pestifer- 



