134 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



eral Waters of Henry, St. Clair, Johnson, and 

 Benton Counties, by A. E. Woodward. 



The sixteen-page monthly journal, for- 

 merly called The Naturalist, now comes as 

 Tlie Kansas City Scientist, and as the organ 

 of the Kansas City Academy of Sciences, 

 with R. B. Trouslot as chief editor. It 

 is filled with original papers, which in the 

 present number (January, 1891) relate to 

 owls those of Chester County, Pa., and 

 those of eastern Iowa geological observa- 

 tions in Colorado ; the movements of ani- 

 mals ; and other matters of personal obser- 

 vation. Price, $1 a year. 



The first of a series of three volumes 

 under the general title Epochs of American 

 History, has been published (Longmans, 

 $1.25). This volume deals with Tlie Colo- 

 nies : 1492 to 1750, and the author is Reuben 

 G. Thwaites, Secretary of the State Histori- 

 cal Society of Wisconsin. The editor of 

 the series, Dr. A. B. Hart, of Harvard Col- 

 lege, states that the purpose of these books 

 is to " show the main causes for the foun- 

 dation of the colonies, for the formation 

 of the Union, and for the triumph of that 

 Union over disintegrating tendencies. To 

 make clear the development of ideas and 

 institutions from epoch to epoch." Hence 

 no attempt is made to include all the facts 

 that would belong in a complete record. To 

 aid readers who may wish to go into the de- 

 tails of narrative and social history, each 

 chapter throughout the series is to be pro- 

 vided with a bibliography. Historical geog- 

 raphy will receive especial attention. The 

 present volume contains four maps, one 

 showing the physical features of the United 

 States, the other three showing how the 

 country was divided among England, France, 

 Spain, etc., at different periods. The au- 

 thor of the first volume, in mentioning some 

 of the topics he has treated, says : " The 

 social and economic condition of the people 

 is described, and attention is paid to the 

 political characteristics of the several colo- 

 nies, both in the conduct of their local af- 

 fairs and in their relations with each other 

 and the mother-country. . . . Attention is 

 called to the fact, generally overlooked, that 

 the thirteen mainland colonies which re- 

 volted in 1776 were not all of the English 

 colonial establishments in America; a chap- 

 ter is devoted to a description of the sev- 



eral outlying sister colonies, showing where- 

 in they differed from the thirteen, and why 

 they did not join in the revolt." The mat- 

 ter of the volume is conveniently arranged, 

 and is fully indexed. 



Eecogni2ing the interest which students 

 of American history and politics must take 

 in the study of federal government as being 

 in effect a study of the principles underly- 

 ing their own institutions, Prof. Albert Bush- 

 nell Hart has prepared for the series of 

 Harvard Historical Monographs (Ginn & Co.) 

 an Introduction to the Study of Federal Gov- 

 ernment. The development of the federal 

 system is noticed as having been one of the 

 most striking political tendencies of the 

 last century, and has been exemplified on a 

 considerable scale in Switzerland, Germany, 

 England and Us colonies and dependencies, 

 Canada, the South American states, and, 

 pre-eminently, the United States. The pres- 

 ent monograph gives, in its first part, an out- 

 line of the political history of the several 

 confederations, beginning with the ancient 

 Grecian and Italian leagues and closing with 

 those of Latin America ; and in the second 

 part a parallel view of the four leading fed- 

 eral constitutions now in operation, in 

 which each constitution is made to serve 

 as a practical commentary on the others. 

 In a chapter on The Theory of Federal 

 Government, the doctrine of sovereignty is 

 defined, certain new federal combinations 

 of states are described, the nature of fed 

 eral government is analyzed, federal govern- 

 ments are classified, and their political con- 

 ditions are considered. 



The French Invasion of Ireland in '&?, 

 an episode of the French Revolution that 

 has heretofore received little attention, has 

 been made the subject of a volume by Va- 

 lerian Gribayedoff (C. P. Somerby, New 

 York, $1.50). The story is told in a popu- 

 lar way, and is attractively illustrated. The 

 pictures include battle-scenes and portraits, 

 most of the latter being drawn by the au- 

 thor. The record is substantiated by fre- 

 quent reference to contemporary accounts, 

 and the appendix contains several letters 

 bearing on the events of the campaign. 



Political Americanisms (Longmans) is a 

 convenient and useful glossary of terms and 

 phrases current at different periods in 

 American politics, by Charles Ledyard Nor> 



