LITERARY NOTICES. 



711 



Mrs. S. B. Schlesinger ; M. Bandelier's col- 

 lections from the Pueblos and from Cholula, 

 and Mr. Fred A. Obcr's collection of cop- 

 per implements from Oajaca, Mexico ; speci- 

 mens from English caves, and casts, by 

 Mr. Dawkins ; articles illustrating the mak- 

 ing of pottery by the Caribs of British 

 Guiana, from Professor H. A. Ward ; soap- 

 stone pots from Northern Italy, by Dr. Emil 

 Schmidt ; and a cast of the " Endicott 

 Rock" of New Hampshire. The curator 

 carried on field-work at Madisonville, Ohio, 

 and Indian Hill, Kentucky. More was done 

 to make the museum and its objects known 

 to the public, and more use was made of its 

 collections for instruction and research, than 

 in any previous year. 



Lectures on Art. Delivered in Support 

 of the Society for the Protection of An- 

 cient Buildings. London : Macmillan 

 & Co. Pp. 232. 



The six lectures are by five authors, 

 each of whom has devoted particular atten- 

 tion to the study of the subject he presents. 

 The lecturers and their subjects are Regi- 

 nald Stuart Poole, on " The Egyptian Tomb 

 and the Future State " ; Professor W. B. 

 Richmond, on " Monumental Painting " ; 

 Edward J. Poynter, R. A., on " Ancient 

 Decorative Art " ; J. T. Micklethwaite, on 

 "English Parish Churches"; and William 

 Morris, on " The History of Pattern Design- 

 ing," and " The Lesser Arts of Life." The 

 lectures are, one and all, interesting and in- 

 structive. 



The Factors of Civilization, Real and 

 Assumed : Considered in their Relation 

 to Vice, Misery, Happiness, Unhappi- 

 ness, and Progress. Vol. II. Atlanta, 

 Georgia : James P. Harrison & Co. 

 Pp. 359. 



The whole work is to be in three vol- 

 umes, of which the second precedes the first 

 in time of publication. It treats of the sub- 

 jects of more immediate and practical im- 

 portance than those to be discussed in the 

 first volume. The author maintains that 

 man naturally inclines to goodness, and that 

 all vice and misery arise from the operation 

 of theological causes, bad government, igno- 

 rance, and poverty ; or that the structure of 

 society is defective because of defective in- 

 stitutions. Man, he holds, has a vital im- 

 pulse to do implanted within him, which 



only requires that the institutions of society 

 shall permit of its development, to create a 

 growth "as grand in results as the mag- 

 nificent oak bears in comparison to the in- 

 significant acorn." The political econom- 

 ical factors of civilization arc considered in 

 this volume under the heads of " The Un- 

 happiness arising from Poverty " and " The 

 Unhappiness arising from Uncongenial Pur- 

 suits and Labor." The theological, govern- 

 mental, and educational factors will be con- 

 sidered in the first volume ; and the third 

 volume will be devoted to " The Analysis of 

 Happiness." 



American Hero-Myths. A Study in the 

 Native Religions of the Western Conti- 

 nent. By Daniel G. Brinton, M. D. 

 Philadelphia: H. C. Watts & Co. Pp. 

 251. Price, $1.75. 



This volume is an endeavor to present 

 in a critically correct fight some of the 

 fundamental conceptions which are found 

 in the native beliefs of the tribes of Amer- 

 ica. The author does not consider it cred- 

 itable that so little has been done in this 

 field, and is disposed to be severe, but hard- 

 ly too much so, on those who have had 

 opportunities to investigate the subject, and 

 have not used them. He rejects the idea 

 that the native myths are distorted histor- 

 ical reminiscences and exaggerated state- 

 ments respecting persons that ever really 

 existed, and has been guided by the princi- 

 ple that " when the same, and that a very 

 extraordinary, story is told by several tribes 

 wholly apart in language and location, then 

 the probabilities are enormous that it is not 

 a legend, but a myth, and must be explained 

 as such." The myths of the lower races, 

 he believes, " express, in image and in 

 cident, the opinions of these races on the 

 mightiest topics of human thought, on the 

 origin and destiny of man, his motives for 

 duty, and his grounds for hope, and the 

 source, history, and fate of all external 

 nature. Certainly, the sincere expressions 

 on these subjects of even humble members 

 of the human race deserve our most respect- 

 ful heed." With these views and in this 

 spirit, Dr. Brinton presents the results of 

 his studies, from the most authentic, ac- 

 cessible sources, of the hero-gods of the 

 Algonquins, the Iroquois, the Aztec tribes, 

 the Mayas, and the Quichas. 



