418 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



First Steps in Political Economy. By 

 Joseph Alden, D. D., LL. D. New York : 

 Baker, Pratt & Co. Syracuse, N. Y. : 

 Davis, Bardeen & Co. Pp.153. Price, 

 25 cents. 



In this little volume Dr. Alden has fur- 

 nished us with an invaluable common-school 

 manual, which can not too soon or too gen- 

 erally be put into the hands of American 

 youth. It is the best introduction to politi- 

 cal economy for beginners in primary schools 

 that we have seen, and its universal adoption 

 as a part of the course of elementary study 

 could not fail to result in ultimate wide- 

 spread benefit. The aim of the author has 

 been " to present simple elementary truths 

 connected with the business activities of 

 life," and this he has done with excellent 

 judgment as respects the subjects chosen and 

 with remarkable clearness and simplicity of 

 statement. There has been a good deal of 

 caviling recently as to whether there is or 

 is not such a science as political economy. 

 No doubt, the excess of modern controver- 

 sial literature over unsettled questions in 

 political economy has favored this skeptical 

 state of mind ; but any one who will look over 

 a little summary of elementary principles like 

 this of Dr. Alden's must be satisfied that 

 there is a broad basis of established truth on 

 which a strict economical science can se- 

 curely rest. 



Notes by a Naturalist on the Challenger : 

 being an Account of Various Observa- 

 tions made during the Voyage of H. M. 

 S. Challenger round the World, in the 

 Years 1872-"76. By H. N. Moseley, 

 F. R. S. With a Map, Two Colored 

 Plates, and numerous Woodcuts. New 

 York : Macmillan & Co. Pp. 620. Price, 

 $7.50. 



The opportunity afforded by a four years' 

 sea-saunter in a ship, and with a party 

 dedicated to scientific exploration, was well 

 improved by Mr. Moseley, as is evinced by 

 this goodly volume. Not by any means 

 that the book embodies the scientific results 

 of his extended observations, which when 

 finally worked up will appear in other 

 shapes, but it presents a great deal of in- 

 teresting scientific and semi-scientific mat- 

 ter in connection with a readable and varied 

 narrative of the experiences of the expedi- 

 tion. It is an especially well-executed book 

 of travels, by an intelligent and thoroughly- 



trained observer, laboring in circumstances 

 especially favorable for collecting interest- 

 ing information. The main portion of it 

 was prepared for family reading, written on 

 board the Challenger, and sent home in the 

 form of a journal from the various ports 

 touched at. The materials have been care- 

 fully revised, but they take the character of 

 a narrative describing the scenes, the aspects 

 of nature, the curiosities and novelties of 

 animal and vegetable life, and the charac- 

 ters, habits, and social conditions of the 

 different kinds of people encountered along 

 the route. The volume is written in a pleas- 

 ant, unambitious style, but often with hu- 

 morous touches and lively descriptions, 

 which increase the attractiveness of its con- 

 tents. The following passages express some 

 of the impressions of the author, after his 

 return, and are given at the close of his 

 book : 



After a voyage all over the world, there is 

 nothing which is so much impressed upon the 

 mind as the sniallness of the earth's surface. 

 We are apt to regard certain animals as fixed and 

 stationary, and to contrast strongly with their 

 condition that of forms possessing powers of 

 active locomotion. In reality we are as securely 

 fixed by the force of gravity as is the sea anem- 

 one by its base ; we can only revolve as it were 

 at the end of our stalk, which we can lengthen 

 or shorten only for a few miles' distance. We 

 live iu the depths of the atmosphere as deep-sea 

 animals live in the depths of the sea. We can, 

 like these, crawl up into the shallows, or we can 

 occasionally mount at peril in a balloon ; but the 

 utmost extent of our vertical range is a distance 

 no greater than that which we can walk in a 

 couple of hours horizontally on the earth's sur- 

 face. 



The Challenger traveled, on the voyage from 

 Portsmouth and back to the same port, 68,690 

 miles, and this distance, taking into considera- 

 tion the time consumed from port to port, was 

 traversed at the average pace of only four miles 

 an hour, or fast walking pace. In an express 

 train on land the entire distance could be con- 

 ceived of as being accomplished in eight weeks, 

 and, at the rate at which a swallow can fly, in 

 about half that time. 



The earth, considered as a comparatively in- 

 significant component particle of the universe, 

 may be justly compared to a small isolated island 

 on its own surface. As, in the course of ages, 

 such an island develops its own peculiar insular 

 fauna and flora, so probably on the surface of 

 the earth alone has the peculiarly complex de- 

 velopment of the element nitrogen occurred 

 which has resulted in the various forms of ani- 

 mal and vegetable life. 



On the theory of evolution, it is impossible 

 that plants or animals of any advanced complex- 



