POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



565 



characteristic mammal of the torrid, sandy, 

 desert region south of the Gila River, where 

 it lives in immense colonies in chambers ex- 

 cavated under the greasewood-roots. Such 

 sites seem to be selected for the sake of the 

 support afforded by the fine roots of the 

 greasewood for the domes of their habita- 

 tions. Without some such support the light 

 and loose soil would cave in at once. 

 Large, low mounds are formed over the bur- 

 rows in which many holes are provided for 

 ingress and egress. In some parts of Ari- 

 zona these mounds are frequently seen in 

 open, grassy places, and are usually large 

 and high. The animals are shy ; they sit up 

 erect at the entrance of their burrows, like 

 prairie-dogs, and like them dodge in at the 

 sight of a stranger. When surprised away 

 from home they try to skulk unobserved to 

 their holes, nervously glancing at the ob- 

 server. But they become less shy when ac- 

 customed to the neighborhood of man. Mr. 

 Mearns adds to his description in curiously 

 learned language which becomes expressive 

 when translated, that " although eminently 

 fossorial, this animal is endowed with latent 

 scansorial proclivities, which are brought 

 out by the sight of food in elevated situations. 

 In other words, they will climb for mesquite- 

 beans." 



The Circle of Civic Evolution.— The mod- 

 ern, civilized state is developed, in Mr. John 

 A. Taylor's view, as expressed in his address 

 on its Evolution, from the germ that lay dor- 

 mant in the rude elements of government 

 that existed in the past — as the Cologne Ca- 

 thedral, completed only a few years since, 

 has been built in exact fulfillment of the con- 

 ception of its unknown architect, six hundred 

 years ago. Our American commonwealth, 

 based on the idea of government by the 

 governed, expressed at its birth the highest 

 type to which the state had then evolved. 

 This evolution, from all the attempts at gov- 

 ernment in the past, has been inseparably 

 accompanied and verified by the continual 

 uplifting and expansion of manhood as a 

 type. Now we find that evils have been de- 

 veloped within our system which threaten its 

 existence, and appear to be dragging down 

 " manhood as a type " : they are most con- 

 spicuously manifested in the cities, but ex- 

 ist through the whole political body. They 



are very numerous, but may be generalized 

 under the terms corruption and bossism. 

 Public interests are made an affair of trade, 

 and are openly used for private advantage ; 

 and no measure, however important and 

 beneficial, can be secured unless it can be 

 made profitable to the ring of practical politi- 

 cians. Everything has fallen into the hands 

 of the leaders of the great political parties, 

 who manage the parties and the community 

 alike at their will, while the people appear 

 to look on helpless. If the people are com- 

 petent to govern, as our Constitution sup- 

 poses, why do they not right matters ? Mr. 

 Taylor's answer to this question is not wholly 

 confident ; but he suggests that the rapid 

 advance we have gone through in wealth and 

 invention, with our constantly changing en- 

 vironments, hav.e engendered problems of 

 which the framers of our Constitution never 

 dreamed ; and that, having delegated our 

 right of choice to the politicians, we have 

 reached an epoch in the evolution of the 

 state when the art and science of govern- 

 ment are left in abeyance, and the best 

 thought and effort of our time are given to 

 other pursuits. Yet he has hope for ofer gov- 

 ernment, and offers the suggestion that " at 

 some time, perhaps in the far-distant future, 

 the state will have evolved into an entity of 

 purely delegated as distinguished from rep- 

 resentative powers " — which will look much 

 like a return to monarchy and lords. 



Judge-made Law. — Mr. Rufus Sheldon, 

 in his paper on the Evolution of Law, argues 

 that so much of the law as is defined by the 

 decisions of the courts is made by judges. 

 " That judges make law," he says, " is not 

 explicitly stated in the text-books. In fact, 

 it is not generally admitted that they have 

 any part in law-making ; the theory being 

 that there is somewhere a store of ready- 

 made law, consisting of rules and precedents, 

 where the judges somehow find what they 

 want after the lawyers have searched for it 

 in vain, and then expound and apply it with 

 plenty of comment and obiter dicta, but no 

 addition." But it often occurs that, if any 

 determination of right or liability is made, 

 it must be made by the court ; as must hap- 

 pen in every instance where judgment is 

 given in a case different from any to be 

 found in the reports — and just in proportion 



