852 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



coherency and efficiency to the movement 

 was well presented by Mr. Francis E. Ab- 

 bott in his address, which contains the fol- 

 lowing passage : 



" The first and greatest need of all is 

 that of a commanding and systematic phi- 

 losophy of morals, of religion, and of life. 

 We have not got it yet. It is still to be 

 made. We have only hopes of it only 

 glimpses of it. The first serious task be- 

 fore us is to elaborate that philosophy. We 

 don't know yet the power of system. We 

 have been taught to despise system. We 

 have been taught that system runs to dog- 

 ma, that dogma runs to death, and that if 

 we are radicals, if we are free religionists, we 

 must steer clear of system above all. Why, 

 friends, is not the universe a system ? Is 

 not the solar system that part of the uni- 

 verse in which we live a system ? Is not 

 science a system, more and more, as it 

 obeys its own ideal ? Thought must be 

 systematic or it is powerless ; and free re- 

 ligion will be powerless until it has learned 

 the great lesson of nature, and become sys- 

 tematic. That is what philosophy means. 

 We must introduce order, harmony, unity, 

 sublimity into our thoughts, or we shall try 

 in vain to affect the world's life, from this 

 platform or from any other. First of all, 

 let us comprehend the one great need of 

 free religion, the need of intellectual unity, 

 order, and concentration in our thinking. 

 When we have got that, when we have re- 

 duced our principles to system, then we 

 shall have unsealed the fountain-head, as it 

 were, of all noble enthusiasm and all mighty 

 power in the world and not till then." 



Life and Work of Joseph Henry. By 

 Frank L. Pope, Vice-President of the 

 American Electrical Society, Member 

 of the Society of Telegraph Engineers, 

 etc., etc. New York : D. Van Nostrand. 

 Pp. 31. 



This pamphlet is reprinted from the 

 " Journal of the American Electrical Socie- 

 ty," and it is especially interesting and use- 

 ful as giving a clear account of Professor 

 Henry's electrical and electro-magnetic in- 

 vestigations. We want a more considerable 

 work in relation to the career and influence 

 of Professor Henry, but in the absence of 

 such a volume this paper will prove most 

 instructive. 



National Education in Italy, France, 

 Germany, England, and Wales, popu- 

 larly considered. By C. W. Bennett, 

 D. D., Professor of History, Syracuse 

 University. (Originally published in the 

 " Northern Christian Advocate.") Syra- 

 cuse, N. Y. Pp. 28. Price, 15 cents. 



To those who are unfamiliar with the 

 state of European education this little 

 monograph will be found worthy of atten- 

 tion. It is very brief, but gives a good 

 general view of the subject, and may serve 

 to dissipate some of the prejudices that 

 have grown up in many minds against for- 

 eign educational systems under the patriotic 

 notion that America leads the world in edu- 

 cation. 



Roman Catholicism in the United States. 

 New York : The Authors' Publishing 

 Co. 1879. Pp. 190. 



The Authors' Publishing Company, in 

 their announcement of this book, recom- 

 mend it as compact of " fact and logic, pure, 

 clear, and irresistible." The impartial read- 

 er, however, will find it in nothing different 

 from the average of works of its class. Its 

 dominant idea is that, unless we " do some- 

 thing," the Pope will soon be master of the 

 situation in America, and all our free insti- 

 tutions will be suppressed. The book does 

 not contain a single idea that has not been 

 proclaimed already ten thousand times from 

 the rostrum and in the anti-Popery press. 

 A less passionate survey of the situation 

 might have developed grounds for not de- 

 spairing of the commonwealth. There is a 

 spirit of skepticism abroad among the peo- 

 ple which will not permit the reestablish- 

 ment of ecclesiastical despotism, whether 

 Protestant or Papal. 



PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED. 



Etudes Synthetiques de Geologie experimen- 

 tale. Par A. Daubree. Premiere partie, pp. 478. 

 With numerous Illustrations. Paris: Dunod. 

 1879. 



The Theory of Political Economy. By W. S. 

 Jevons. Second edition, revised and enlarged. 

 London : Macmillan. 1879. Pp. 315. $3.50. 



Hypieneand Public Health. Edited by A. H. 

 Buck,M. D. Two vols. New York : W. Wood 

 & Co. 1879. Pp. 792 and 657. 



The Silk Goods of America: Recent Improve- 

 ments and Advances of Silk Manufacture in the 

 United States. By W. C. Wvckoff. New York : 

 Van Nostrand. 1879. Pp. 120. $1.50. 



Scientific Lectures. By Sir .Tohn Lubbock. 

 London : Macmillan. 1879. Pp. 19ti. $'-'.50. 



Preliminary Investigation of the Properties of 



