560 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



must defend themselves, and that war 

 is therefore a necessary evil, to be 

 avoided whenever possible, and always 

 mitigated to the utmost in its suffer- 

 ings and its horrible waste of life. And 

 yet when men go into it in cold blood 

 as a business, regardless of its justice, 

 and purely for the promotion of a self- 

 ish ambition, their conduct still meets 

 with unbounded applause. It is said 

 to be to the credit of the young Prince 

 that he generously offered his services 

 to England to fight the Zulus ; but what 

 business had this young Frenchman 

 with the Zulu war? What had these 

 distant Africans ever done, that he 

 should desire to join in the work of 

 killing them? He not only mixed up 

 with what was none of his concern, but 

 he espoused the cause of the wanton 

 aggressor, for a greater outrage was 

 never perpetrated than this British in- 

 vasion of the Zulu people. But it is in 

 accordance with military traditions and 

 usages for ambitious men to seize any 

 opportunity of making their mark. 

 The Count of Paris came over to have 

 a hand in our own glorious civil war, 

 took sides, and went into the business 

 of killing Southerners for the noble pur- 

 pose of acquiring military prestige that 

 might commend him to the French, and 

 thus increase his chances of being ac- 

 cepted for the throne of that nation. 

 The Prince Imperial "went to war" 

 for the same purpose, that he might 

 make a military name, and thus im- 

 prove his chances of getting control of 

 the French army at some future crisis, 

 and play the despot like his predeces- 

 sors. He followed a detestable prac- 

 tice for a villainous purpose, and got 

 his just reward. 



"AMERICA'S PLACE IH HISTORY." 



Under this title, Mr. John Fiske, 

 of Cambridge, Massachusetts, formerly 

 lecturer on Philosophy in Harvard 

 University, has prepared a course of 

 popular lectures which will be found 



worthy the attention of such associa- 

 tions as can appreciate first-rate intel- 

 lectual work. Mr. Fiske is author of 

 the " Cosmic Philosophy," and a thor- 

 ough student of the modern tenden- 

 cies of thought. He gave these lectures 

 in Boston not long ago, and they made 

 so excellent an impression that he was 

 called to repeat them in London, and 

 left early in June for that purpose. 

 Mr. Fiske is well prepared by his phil- 

 osophical and historical studies to give 

 to the problem he has taken up an ori- 

 ginal and independent treatment. Fa- 

 miliar with the principles of social evo- 

 lution, and having given much attention 

 to the study of races, and to ethno- 

 logical interactions in the progress of 

 modern society, he is well prepared to 

 handle the large and complex ques- 

 tions involved in the settlement of 

 America, the organization of colonial 

 institutions, the establishment of the 

 American Eepublic, and the develop- 

 ment of free government on this con- 

 tinent. The prospectus of this course 

 of lectures is before us, and it is rich 

 in topics that must deeply interest all 

 thoughtful Americans. These are the 

 sort of lectures that deserve encour- 

 agement and are worth working for. 



Tiie senior editor of this magazine 

 also proposes to betake hiimelf some- 

 what to his old business of lecturing 

 during the coming season. For par- 

 ticulars address E. L. Youmans, office 

 of "The Popular Science Monthly," 

 New York. 



LITERARY NOTICES. 



The International Scientific Series, No. 

 XXVII. The Human Species. By 

 A. De Quatrefages, Professor of An- 

 thropology in the Museum of Natural 

 History, Paris. New York : D. Apple- 

 ton & Co. Pp. 498. Price, $1.75. 



The accomplished French anthropolo- 

 gist has here produced a remarkably at- 

 tractive book. It is written with all that 

 clearness and vivacity of manner for which 



