POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



131 



Furinton, D. B. Christian Theism, its Claims 

 and Sanctions. New York and London : G. P. Put- 

 nam's Sons. Pp. 308. $1.75. 



Putnam, G. P.'s Sons. The Knickerbocker Press. 

 Pp 20. 



Richards, Mrs. Ellen H. Domestic Economy In 

 Public Education. New York College tor the Train- 

 ing 1 of Teachers, 9 University Place. " Educational 

 Monographs" Series. Bi-monthly. Pp. 30. $1 a 

 year. 



Smith, Roderick H. The Art of Speculation. 

 Pp. 43. Business Chart, showing the Course of 

 Business in the United States for the Last Thirty 

 Years. New York: American Mews Company. 



Smytbe, G. C, M. D., Greencastle, Ind. The 

 Hydro-Therapeutic Treatment of Typhoid Fever. 

 Pp. 11. Address before the Graduating Class of the 

 Central College of Physicians and Surgeons. Pp. IS. 



Stark, E. D. Bimetallism and the Royal Com- 

 mission. Cleveland. Ohio, "'Plain Dealer." Pp.53. 



Sumichra<t, F. C. Les Trois Mousquetaires, par 

 Alexandre Dumas. Edited and annotated fqr use 

 in Colleges and Schools. Boston : Ginn &. Co. Pp. 

 289. SO cents. 



Taylor, W. Edgar, Peru, Nebraska. Local Varia- 

 tions in the Color of Flying-Squirrels. Pp. 2. Ge- 

 ology in our Preparatory Schools. Pp. 6. Notes on 

 Nebraska Birds. Pp. 4. 



Terry, S. B , Independence, Mo. Natural Phi- 

 losophy of Social Economy. Pp. 24. 



Tuckerman, Frederick, M D., Amherst, Mass. 

 Development of the Taste-Organs in Man. Pp. 24. 



Ward, Prof. Lester F., Washington, D. C. Causes 

 of Belief in Immortality. Pp.9. 



White, Prof. Charles A. The North American 

 Mesozoic. Pp. 24. 



White, Frances Emily, M. D. The Evolution of 

 Morals. Pp. 20. 



Whittier, F. N., M. D., Brunswick, Me. Light 

 Gymnastics in Schools. Pp. 31. 



POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



Ancient Aboriginal Mining. Writing on 

 " Ancient Mining in North America," Prof. 

 Newberry speaks, in the "American Anti- 

 quarian," of the great antiquity of the abo- 

 riginal works. The ancient copper mines 

 on Lake Superior were abandoned not less 

 than four hundred years ago ; for the heaps 

 of rubbish around the pits made by the an- 

 cient miners were covered with forest trees 

 that had reached their largest size. The old 

 mica mines of North Carolina and the quar- 

 ries of serpentine in the Alleghanies showed 

 like evidences of antiquity. Some popula- 

 tion in the Mississippi Valley worked the 

 oil-fields in various places. The author, vis- 

 iting Titusville in 1860, when the first well 

 had been opened, noticed pits in the ground 

 which proved to be relics of the excavations 

 of primeval oil-gatherers. A citizen, digging 

 a well in one of the pits, had discovered and 

 followed an old well, which was cribbed up 

 with timber and contained a primitive lad- 

 der, like those which have been found in the 



old copper mines of Lake Superior. The 

 cribbing had been rudely done with sticks 

 from six to eight inches in diameter, which 

 had been cut or split by a very dull instru- 

 ment, " undoubtedly a stone hatchet." The 

 oil was probably gathered by being skimmed 

 from the water that collected in the bottom 

 of the pit. Traces of a similar well were 

 observed at Enniskillen, Canada; and de- 

 pressions in the surface like those on Oil 

 Creek were noticed at Mecca and Grafton, 

 Ohio. Ruins of an ancient lead mine exist 

 on the Morgan farm, near Lexington, Ky., 

 in the form, where they have not been dis- 

 turbed, of an open cut, from six to ten feet 

 wide, " of unknown depth, and now nearly 

 filled with rubbish. On either side of this 

 trench the material thrown out forms ridges 

 several feet in height, and these are every- 

 where overgrown by trees, many of which 

 are as large as any found in the forests of 

 that region." Galena has been found in 

 many of the ancient works in Ohio, but has 

 never been smelted, and appears to have 

 been valued merely for its brilliancy. Dr. 

 Newberry does not believe that the mound- 

 builders were of the present Indian stock. 



The Law's Neglect of Children. The 



defects of English law in regard to the 

 rights and claims of children are pointed out 

 by Mary C. Tabor in the " Contemporary 

 Review." According to Chief-Justice Cock- 

 burn, no legal obligation is imposed on the 

 father to maintain his children except under 

 the poor-laws, or unless his neglect shall 

 bring him under the criminal laws. Nor is 

 there any obligation upon him to make pro- 

 vision for them after his death ; but, on the 

 other hand, he can by the appointment of 

 guardians exercise almost as absolute a con- 

 trol over them in other respects as if he were 

 living. Responsibility for giving a certain 

 degree of instruction has been imposed by 

 the late Education Act, which the father 

 shares as to children born in wedlock, but 

 as to illegitimate children he is scot-free. 

 The mother of an illegitimate child may, it 

 is true, recover from the father a sum for 

 maintenance, but that obligation is in law 

 due to her only, and in no way to the child 

 itself, which "is shut out from even the 

 shadow of a right to a father's care." The 

 results of so defective a system are what 



