LITERARY NOTICES. 



273 



enough characterized as a fetich ; and 

 it is a fetich which has done and is 

 doing much harm in the educational 

 world. "We believe it is losing its hold 

 upon the minds of men very rapidly, 

 and that we have great reason to con- 

 gratulate ourselves upon this fact. Its 

 final destruction need not, and we do 

 not think it will, lead to the disappear- 

 ance of Greek from our courses of lib- 

 eral study, but it will deprive it of that 

 peculiar position of predominance which 

 it has held in Western education for the 

 last three hundred years a predomi- 

 nance which, however beneficial at 

 some stages of our modern era, is now 

 the source of far more injury than 

 benefit. 



ANNO UNCEMENT. 



The editor takes pleasure in an- 

 nouncing the commencement, in the 

 July number of "The Popular Science 

 Monthly," of a series of articles, by Da- 

 vid A. Wells, on the economic disturb- 

 ances commonly spoken of as " A De- 

 pression of Trade and Industry," which 

 have prevailed to a greater or less ex- 

 tent throughout the whole civilized 

 world since the years 1872-73 ; and, in 

 the opinion of not a few economists 

 and investigators of repute, are yet 

 very far from having come to an end. 

 The subject, considered either histori- 

 cally, or in view of its bearing on in- 

 dustrial progress, the accumulation and 

 distribution of wealth, and the rela- 

 tions of capital and labor in the fu- 

 ture, is one of the highest interest, 

 and has already engaged the atten- 

 tion of several national commissions 

 on both sides of the Atlantic. It is 

 almost unnecessary to state that the 

 author brings to its discussion which 

 necessarily involves the phenomena of 

 the so-called " over-production," the 

 discontent of labor, the depression of 

 prices, bimetalism, and the increasing 

 tendency among nations to impose ar- 

 tificial restrictions on trade and com- 

 vol. xxxi. 18 



merce the results of very thorough 

 study, as well as world-wide reputa- 

 tion for determining and popularly pre- 

 senting economic facts and conclusions. 

 Mr. Wells is known as a trained ob- 

 server, who looks at things with judi- 

 cial fairness, and has formed the habit 

 of arriving at his opinions independent- 

 ly of all prejudice, and of presenting 

 them with candor and precision. It 

 is, therefore, reasonable to anticipate 

 that his conclusions will command, as 

 they deserve, very general attention. 



LITERARY NOTICES. 



INTEENATIONAL EDUCATION 8EEIES. 



The Rise and Early Constitution op Uni- 

 versities, with a Survey of Medieval 

 Education. By S. S. Laurie, LL. D. 

 New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 31 

 + 293. Price, $1.50. 



The many teachers, parents, and others 

 who are forced to decide between conflicting 

 policies in higher education will be greatly 

 helped toward an intelligent decision by a 

 study of the methods which prevailed in 

 the early universities. It is the aim of the 

 third volume of the "International Educa- 

 tion Series " to present a general survey of 

 these methods. The author begins with a 

 sketch of the schools whose character was 

 determined by the union of Roman and Hel- 

 lenic culture in the time of Augustus, and 

 traces their decline after the Christianizing 

 of the empire, and the rise of Christian 

 schools in their stead. The influence of 

 Christianity at first was to discourage the 

 earlier culture, as tending to foster pagan- 

 ism, or, at best, as being a mere dissipa- 

 tion. All teaching in the Christian schools 

 was with a view to pious uses, and the cur- ' 

 riculum was generally restricted to arithme- 

 tic, reading the psalter, and music. These 

 schools had reached quite a promising condi- 

 tion in the sixth century, but retrograded in 

 the seventh and eighth, so that when Charle- 

 magne became Emperor of the West the 

 education of Europe was in a barbarous 

 state. This monarch made the improve- 

 ment and extension of the episcopal and 

 monastery schools an important part of his 

 policy. To his court at Aix he invited such 



