374 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



for it, attests the strong interest that is taken 

 in this aspect of the doctrine, and, as interest 

 is ever the first condition of active inquiry, 

 this deep concern about the religious im- 

 port of the theory is of great advantage, no 

 matter what the basis may be. Probably 

 nine-tenths of the opposition to the doc- 

 trine is theological in its inspiration and its 

 form, there being no end to the books which 

 have been issued during the last dozen years 

 to prove that it is anti-religious and athe- 

 istic. But the discussion has already led 

 to a reaction, or to a modification of ex- 

 treme views ; that is, it is admitted, even by 

 those who rank themselves as opponents of 

 the doctrine, that it is not necessarily either 

 atheistic or irreligious. But these assaults 

 upon Evolution have, moreover, called out 

 defenses of it on the part of the religious, 

 which have not only been useful in concen- 

 trating attention upon the subject, but have 

 been very valuable in their liberalizing in- 

 fluence, and the light they have thrown 

 upon the problem of religion itself. 



To those who care for the religious as- 

 pects of the question, whether as involving 

 the religious sentiments to which the doc- 

 trine is claimed to be favorable, or the influ- 

 ence it is exerting upon theological belief, 

 the present work may be decisively com- 

 mended. Its author is a liberal Unitarian 

 clergyman, who took up the subject in a 

 aeries of Sunday discourses, which were sub- 

 sequently revised for publication in their 

 present form. His treatment of the subject, 

 which is entirely in its theological relations, 

 is able and independent, and is presented 

 in a clear, spirited, and eminently readable 

 style. He aims to show that Evolution is 

 not destructive of the religious sentiment ; 

 that it favors the most exalted conception 

 of God ; that it brings Nature into harmony 

 with elevated religious feeling, aud must be 

 of great service to humanity in sweeping 

 away many superstitions that have grown 

 up in times of ignorance and become asso- 

 ciated and deeply involved with religious 

 emotions. Mr. Savage is at no pains to 

 conceal the fact that he is not orthodox, 

 and avails himself of many opportunities to 

 hit his theological opponents, but he can 

 hardly be expected to start new fashions 

 in the pulpit, and the 'opportunity of posi- 

 tion in the argument is too tempting to be 

 resisted. There are numerous passages in 



this volume that we should be glad to quote, 

 as where he treats of the practical charac 

 ter of the discussion, the immense influ 

 ence on the thought of Christendom of the 

 Mosaic cosmogony, and his chapter on the 

 "Evolution of Conscience," but our space 

 will not allow of quotations. We must re- 

 fer the reader to the volume, which he will 

 find fresh, piquant, and instructive. 



Public Libraries in the United States 

 of America: Their History, Condition, 

 and Management. Special Export. De- 

 partment of the Interior: Bureau of Ed- 

 ucation. Part I. Washington : Gov- 

 ernment Printing-Office. Pp. 1187. 



This huge volume, which is the expo- 

 nent of the public reading in this country, 

 is an extensive cyclopaedia on the subject 

 of libraries. The statistics which have 

 been published annually by the United 

 States Commissioner of Education have 

 been too limited to satisfy an inquisitive 

 public, which wanted to know everything 

 relating to books, from the arrangements 

 necessary for organization to*the best man- 

 ner of preventing the volumes from being 

 soiled. 



This centennial offering will give much 

 gratifying information to the true Ameri- 

 can, showing him that a great advancement 

 has been made in the intellectual as well as 

 in the material resources of the country. 

 Thus, in 1*776, there were twenty-nine pub- 

 lic libraries in the colonies, containing 

 45,623 volumes. Now there are reported 

 to be 3,682 libraries, numbering from 12,- 

 000,000 to 15,000,000 volumes, including 

 pamphlets. Started in connection with the 

 district-schools in New York and Massa- 

 chusetts, free public libraries in some form 

 have been established in the majority of 

 the States of the Union ; and it is believed 

 that in no other country do so many libra- 

 ries publish catalogues and reports. 



The report is occupied with giving, first, 

 the history of public libraries in the United 

 States ; second, their present condition and 

 extent; third, a discussion of the various 

 questions pertaining to library economy and 

 management; fourth, extended statistical 

 information of all classes of public libraries 

 Subjects comparatively new are introduced 

 such, for example, as the advisability of 

 establishing professorships of books and 



