244 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



the New York Aquarium, and contaius a 

 very readable and instructive account of 

 the natural objects that are to be seen at 

 that meritorious institution. It is profuse- 

 ly illustrated with capital cuts by Beard, 

 Church, Kelley, and others. It is Mr. Ward's 

 purpose to publish these parts from time to 

 time, as circumstances warrant, with the 

 hope that they will meet with such a de- 

 mand as will lead to a periodical issue a 

 hope which will soon be realized if his en- 

 deavor meets with the success it deserves. 



Essays on Political Economy. By Fre- 

 deric BiSTiAT. English translation re- 

 vised by David A. Wells. New York : 

 G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 291. Price, 



$1.25. 



Among the modern political writers who 

 have labored to vindicate liberty of trade 

 and to expose the fallacies and economical 

 failures of protection, Bastiat in many re- 

 spects stands unrivaled. Other men may 

 perhaps have gone deeper into the philoso- 

 phy of the subject, or contributed more 

 toward the establishment of political econ- 

 omy as a body of scientific principles, but 

 no man has done so much as Frederic 

 Bastiat to explain and illustrate its truths, 

 and enforce them upon the popular mind. 

 A thorough master not only of the subject 

 but of the art of lucid, attractive, and tell- 

 ing statement, his economical essays are 

 well worth reading, if only for their literary 

 effect. Many writers can make reading 

 pleasant if allowed to choose their themes. 

 Political economy has long been proverbial 

 for its dry, statistical repulsiveness has 

 long been known as " the dismal science ; " 

 but in the hands of Bastiat it is as far as 

 possible from being either dry or dismal. 

 Mr. Wells, the editor of the present work, 

 gives the following account of it in his 

 preface to the American edition : 



" This little volume is made np of a selection 

 from the essays of M. Bastiat, that have in a 

 high degree these popular and attractive charac- 

 teristics ; such as a presentation of the nature 

 of capital and interest, and the relation of the 

 two; a discussion, under the title, 'That 

 which is seen and that which is not seen,' of 

 the evils that always result from limiting con- 

 sideration of the effect of an economic law, tax, 

 or institution, to its immediate visible influence, 

 and ignoring its ultimate consequences, intro- 

 ducing, in so doing, the illustration which has 

 passed into many languages, of ' The Broken 



Window ; ' also the questions of ' What is Gov- 

 ernment?' 'What is Money?' and the nature, 

 object, and function of what is popularly and 

 generally termed ' the law,' without reference 

 to any particular code or statute. So accept- 

 able, indeed, have these short, selected essays 

 proved to the public, that repeated editions of 

 them have been published in France, Bel;,'ium, 

 Uermany, Italy, England, and the United States; 

 and all that the editor has had to do with the 

 present American edition has been to revise 

 the previous English translation, which was ex- 

 ceedingly imperfect, and in some instances ab- 

 solutely without meaning. Where the text 

 which was originally written to meet the con- 

 dition of aflairs in France at the time of the 

 overthrow of the monarchy and the establish- 

 ment of the republic in 1848 could be changed 

 verbally with advantage to meet the ditferent 

 condition of men, laws, and things, at present 

 existing in the United States, such changes have 

 been made, English names being substituted for 

 French ones, dollars and cents in place of francs 

 and sous, and the like. A few notes pertinent 

 to the subject-matter of the text, and drawn 

 mainly from the recent economic experience of 

 the United States, have also been added." 



The Effects of Cross and Self Fertiliza- 

 tion IN the Vegetable Kingdom. By 

 Charles Darwin, M. A., F. R. S. New 

 York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 482. 

 Price, $2. 



The name of the author upon this title- 

 page is an assurance that the book is a 

 solid contribution to the advance of that 

 branch of biology which may be named 

 philosophical botany. It is the result of a 

 long series of elaborate, painstaking in- 

 quiries into that curious and mysterious 

 field of organic activity, the process of fer- 

 tilization in plants. The inquiry is hardly 

 popular, and will only have its deepest in- 

 terest to those who know something of the 

 technicalities of botany. Yet Mr. Darwin 

 has prefixed to the volume an excellent 

 chapter of introductory remarks, which will 

 prove generally intelligible and instructive ; 

 and there are but few who will read this 

 chapter and not be lured forward by the at- 

 tractive and fascinating import of the dis- 

 cussion. The author also adds a very im- 

 portant chapter of general results, in which 

 he states the practical bearing of the in- 

 quiry as respects the art of the agriculturist 

 and horticulturist. Ilis discussion is at the 

 basis of the problem and the intelligent 

 practice of breeding. He furthermore 

 points out its great theoretical significance 

 to the scientific inquirer, who aims to go as 



