LITERARY NOTICES. 



561 



State and Federal. The idea that may be 

 derived from the resume of State Constitu- 

 tions here given is that much might yet be 

 done to bring some of these into a more 

 rational and business-like form. We are 

 strongly reminded how many things with us 

 are yet in the experimental stage, and the 

 thought is not very far in the background 

 that much of our experimenting has been 

 somewhat crudely done. 



Prof. Macy has abstained from all criti- 

 cism of institutions. Even in pointing out 

 the differences between British cabinet gov- 

 ernment and the system established here, he 

 does not venture on any hint as to which 

 on the whole is the better, or as to which is 

 the better even from any partial point of 

 view. He does not hesitate, however, to 

 condemn the " spoils system," giving in de- 

 tail his reasons for regarding it as one of 

 the plague-spots of our political life. We 

 think that perhaps a few words more than 

 he has actually given might have been de- 

 voted to the Civil-Service Bill at present in 

 force ; and it might not have been amiss to 

 show how difficult both political parties 

 seem to find it to carry out their pledges in 

 favor of civil-service reform. Take it all 

 in all, however, as a hand-book of the po- 

 litical institutions of the United States, Prof. 

 Macy's little work is deserving of high praise 

 for completeness, accuracy, and good sense. 

 We hope it will come into wide use. 



A Manual of Public Health. By A. Wtn- 

 ter Blyth, M. R. C. S., etc. London and 

 New York : Macmillan & Co. Pp. 653. 

 Price, $5.25. 



This work is a comprehensive and au- 

 thoritative text-book for officers of public 

 health departments. Its first section, of 

 three chapters, is devoted to vital statistics, 

 giving methods of recording the data, and of 

 calculating birth and death rates, life tables, 

 etc., and describing certain calculating ma- 

 chines. The next section deals with air, 

 ventilation, and warming, taking up the gen- 

 eral character of air, with methods of ana- 

 lyzing it, the principles and methods of ven- 

 tilating and warming, and including a chap- 

 ter on measuring cubic space and reporting 

 on ventilation. Two short chapters describe 

 the common instruments used for meteoro- 

 logical observations. A section on water 

 supply tells the usual sources of water, and 



VOL. XXXVIII. 38 



gives microscopical, biological, and both 

 qualitative and quantitative chemical pro- 

 cesses for water analysis. There is also a 

 chapter describing the supplies of the various 

 companies furnishing water in the city of 

 London. The section on sewerage describes 

 the construction of house drains and of sew- 

 ers, the arrangements for certain special 

 systems of sewerage, and various methods 

 for the disposal of sewage. The sewering 

 of London is also described, with a map. 

 Under the head of nuisances, the processes 

 employed in a large number of manufactures 

 yielding offensive waste products are given. 



The section on disinfecting contains ex- 

 perimental methods for testing the value of 

 a disinfectant, an account of various appa- 

 ratuses for disinfection by heat and of the 

 general process, and information concerning 

 chemical disinfectants, giving especial promi- 

 nence to the halogens. About two hundred 

 pages are devoted to zymotic diseases, in 

 which the modern general theory of micro- 

 parasites is first given, and then the special 

 character and course of each disease of this 

 class. Single chapters deal with the con- 

 struction of isolation hospitals, the general 

 principles of diet, and the duties of sanitary 

 officers aa prescribed by English statutes. 

 Inspection of food is the subject of the clos- 

 ing section, and this gives the characteristics 

 of unfit vegetable and animal foods, and de- 

 scribes diseases of animals which make their 

 flesh unwholesome. There are sixty-five cuts 

 and plates, and an index. 



English Fairy Tales. Collected by Jo- 

 seph Jacors, Editor of Folk-Lore. New 

 York : G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 253. 



" Who," the editor asks, " says that Eng- 

 lish folk have no fairy tales of their own ? 

 The present volume contains only a selection 

 out of some one hundred and forty, of which 

 I have found traces in this country [Eng- 

 land]. It is probable that many more ex- 

 ist." A quarter of the tales in the volume 

 have been collected during the last ten years 

 or so, and some of them have not been 

 hitherto published. The name Fairy Tales 

 is given to the collection, though few of 

 the stories speak of fairies. Yet they are 

 what the little ones mean when they call 

 for fairy tales. They do not call for " folk 

 tales " or " nursery tales," and this is the 

 only name we can give them. The terra 



