422 



TEE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTELY. 



But if history be a setting forth of the past as 

 the past really was, he reasons, the aid of in- 

 ference and analogy can not be excluded. 

 An interesting picture is presented of times 

 of which not much is accurately known, for 

 the composing of which the authorities of 

 the chronicles and poems have been collated. 



The chronology of historical events, origi- 

 nally compiled by the late George P. Putnam, 

 and forming a part of his cyclopaedia on The 

 World's Progress, has been revised and 

 brought down to the present time by Lynds 

 E. Jones, and is issued in separate form by 

 G. P. Putnam's Sons as Tabular Vieivs of Uni- 

 versal History. The tables are arranged in 

 parallel columns, the headings of which 

 vary according to the charcteristics of the 

 succeeding ages, but which usually include 

 a column for each of the leading nations of 

 the time, one for the world elsewhere, often 

 one devoted to ecclesiastical affairs, and al- 

 ways one headed Progress of Society. For 

 ancient Egyptian events, the chronology of 

 Brugsch and Duncker, which puts the erec- 

 tion of the Great Pyramid at about 3700 b. c, 

 is adopted as a compromise between extremes. 

 The earliest Chaldean date is 2234 b. c, for 

 the earliest astronomical observations ; and 

 the first Israelite date is about 1055 b. c, 

 for the accession of Saul. 



An excellent Brief History of the Empire 

 State has been prepared for schools and 

 families by Welland Hendrick, and is pub- 

 lished by C. W. Bardeen, of Syracuse. The 

 author assumes as one of the reasons why 

 the history of New York deserves to be 

 studied, that the importance of the colony 

 in the making of America has been under- 

 rated. That it learned liberty under the 

 Dutch and held to it through a century of 

 English governors ; that, handicapped by 

 many disadvantages, it was among the first 

 of the colonies in the war for freedom, and 

 alone of the thirteen met every demand of 

 Congress ; and that with its canal it opened 

 the Northwest entitle it, he thinks, to 

 prominent consideration at least in its own 

 schools. There are also reasons, of a gen- 

 eral character, for which he regards the 

 study of State history as profitable. 



An Easy Method for Beginners in Latin 

 has been prepared by Prof. Albert Harhness, 

 and is published by the American Book Com- 

 pany, with the intention of introducing the 



learner to such a practical and working 

 knowledge of the Latin language as will 

 enable him to read Caesar or Nepos with 

 some degree of pleasure. It approaches 

 the subject on the practical side, introduc- 

 ing the student in the first lesson, without a 

 word of grammar, to the complete Latin 

 sentences, with verb, subject, and object. 



The Handbook of Latin Writing of Henry 

 Preble and Charles P. Parker grew, in the 

 first place, out of the necessities of class 

 work at Harvard College. The development 

 of Latin writing there and the fuller experi- 

 ence of the authors have suggested modifi- 

 cations, and a new revised edition has been 

 prepared and is published by Ginn & Co. 

 The essential principle of the first edition is 

 retained, but some of the exercises having 

 proved less useful than they were expected 

 to be, others have been substituted for 

 them. The authors, attributing ill-success in 

 Latin writing largely to the habit of trans- 

 lating the words rather than the thought, 

 have been at pains to insist on fastening 

 attention upon the thought, and have tried 

 to show the learner how to express in Latin 

 form the ideas which he has grasped from 

 the English words. 



The American Book Company publishes 

 an edition of the Satires of Juvenal, edited, 

 after several years of careful study, and a 

 comparison of the views of the best critical 

 editors, and annotated, by Tliamas B. Lind- 

 say, of Boston University. Thirteen of the 

 sixteen satires are given, and from these 

 such lines are omitted as seemed likely to 

 offend a rational delicacy a very proper 

 measure for a Juvenal that is to be read in 

 mixed classes. The notes are copious, and 

 the whole work is richly illustrated. The 

 author makes a comparison between Horace 

 and Juvenal as satirists, showing that Horace 

 wrote in a brilliant, hopeful age, and is 

 therefore lively and amusing ; while Juvenal, 

 writing in an age of decline, when vices 

 were rife, is contemptuous and bitter. 



The short exposition of the Roman 

 method made by Harry Thurston Peck in 

 his handbook on Latin Pronunciation is 

 principally intended for those persons inter- 

 ested in the study of Latin who have ac- 

 cepted the Roman method without acquaint- 

 ing themselves with the arguments on which 

 it is maintained. It has now received the 



