632 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



concern among multitudes of thoughtful 

 people to acquire some clear aud correct 

 ideas upon the subject. Fierce controver- 

 sies have sprung up in relation to it, which 

 are liable so to vitiate the statements of con- 

 flicting parties, that many are at a loss to 

 know what representations they can trust, 

 and how to get at the unquestioned facts. 

 To all persons in this state of mind, Dr. 

 Nicholson's work will be especially welcome, 

 as it is a clear, succinct, and dispassionate 

 account of the present state of palaeonto- 

 logical knowledge, or of its descriptive parts 

 independent of the contested theories to 

 which it has given rise. His book is, more- 

 over, compendious in form, and moderate 

 in cost, to a degree that is quite unusual in 

 a work so profusely and elegantly illustrated. 

 Its preparation has involved great and care- 

 ful labor, and the artists have done it excel- 

 lent justice in the skill and fidelity of their 

 pictorial representations. We know of no 

 other volume that will so well meet the 

 wants of a large class of readers at the 

 present time. An excellent feature of the 

 book is its copious bibliography or litera- 

 ture of reference appended to the leading 

 chapters. In the appendix there is a tabular 

 view of the chief divisions of the animal 

 kingdom, followed by an ample glossary of 

 technical terms, and a very full index. 



An American Girl, and her Four Years in 

 a Boys' College. By Sola. New York : 

 D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 2G9. Price, 

 $1.50. 



This book records the experiences of a 

 young lady who got a craze to go to college, 

 and when a certain collegiate institution 

 took off" the embargo upon feminine oppor- 

 tunity, and admitted girls to the regular 

 course of study, she argued her mother into 

 consent, and entered the establishment. She 

 has adventures, mishaps, exploits, and a 

 lively time generally, both in doors and out. 

 The book is written with considerable spirit, 

 and conveys a very good idea of college- 

 life, in its feminine aspect. The writer is 

 somewhat critical of many things, but be- 

 lieves profoundly in women going to men's 

 colleges. In the sequel, she gets married to 

 one of the students, the circumstances of 

 love-making, while in college, being duly 

 presented ; but what possible or conceiv- 

 able bearing the course of study pursued 



had upon the prospective life of the woman, 

 who passed from the valedictory platform 

 to the hymeneal altar, appeareth not in this 

 book of " An American Girl." 



Monet. By Francis A. Walker. New 



York : Henry Holt & Co. Pp. 550. 



Price, $4. 



It is no disparagement to a book of this 

 kind to state that it covers no new ground : 

 efforts after originality in the treatment of 

 subjects of this class are seldom successful 

 or profitable. It is high, but in this case 

 well-deserved, praise to be able to say that 

 it is impartial in its statements, judicial in 

 its conclusions, and full, clear, and exact, in 

 its explanations the presentation, as a 

 whole, of the much-vexed question of money 

 being popular and comprehensible. 



The book will be a valuable one, be- 

 cause, among other reasons, the author has 

 allowed himself space in which to classify 

 his subject fully, and to elaborate details in 

 a way to bring out likenesses and differences 

 that the casual reader is likely to overlook. 



There are three general divisions : Part 

 I., " Metallic Money," under which head the 

 function and distribution of money, the pro- 

 duction of the precious metals, their coin- 

 age and circulation, are considered. Chapters 

 XII., " The Concurrent Circulation of Two 

 Metals," and XIII., " The Battle of the Stand- 

 ards," are of great present interest. They 

 constitute a full and exceedingly fair pres- 

 entation of the opposed views of the bi-met- 

 alists and the mono-metalists. The author 

 emphasizes the fact, often lost sight of, that 

 the question is one into which political con- 

 siderations enter so largely, that it will be dif- 

 ficult, if not impossible, to settle it on strict- 

 ly economic principles. Indeed, throughout 

 the book the important influence of legisla- 

 tion, habit, sentiment, and other the like 

 factors, upon economic affairs is more fully 

 recognized than is usual in such treatises. 

 Part II. is devoted to " Inconvertible Paper- 

 Money." Its theory is stated and historically 

 illustrated. The chief danger of its use is 

 seldom better stated than in the following 

 paragraph : " The danger of over-issue is 

 one which never ceases to threaten an incon- 

 vertible paper-money. The path winds even 

 along the verge of a precipice. Vigilance 

 must never be relaxed. The prudence and 

 self-restraint of years count for nothing, or 



