LITERARY NOTICES. 



375 



was opened by an eloquent and suggestive 

 address from the President, Dr. I. Hammond 

 Trumbull, who reminded the Association of 

 the urgent need of attentive study of the 

 structure of the languages of our American 

 Indians, a need all the more urgent as they 

 have no written language, and as year by 

 year they are passing away. The vexed 

 question as to a change in the present mode 

 of spelling in Enghsh was also considered, 

 and Dr. Trumbull avers that, while scholars 

 agree on the question of the desirability of 

 such a change, the main difficulty in the 

 way of reform is the want of agreement 

 among them as to the best -way of effecting 

 it. He says, " The objection that reform 

 would obscure etymology is not urged by 

 real etymologists ; " and the testimony of 

 Hadley and Max Mtiller is quoted, sustain- 

 ing this position. 



Again, the objection that words " when 

 decently spelled would lose their ' historic in- 

 terest ' is equally unfounded. The modern or- 

 thography is superlatively unhistorical. . . . 

 The only history it can be trusted to teach 

 begins with the publication of Johnson's 

 Dictionary." The important recommendation 

 is made that a list of words be prepared, 

 " exhibiting side by side the present and the 

 reformed spelling," such that prominent 

 scholars in England and America would rec- 

 ognize either form as allowable. 



This subject was referred to a com- 

 mittee of five eminent philologists, who will 

 report at the next annual meeting, and have 

 liberty in the mean time to prepare such a 

 list of words and cause them to be printed. 

 This action assumes an additional interest 

 from the fact that the State of Connecti- 

 cut has already in contemplation such a 

 >'bange of spelling in its official reports and 

 journals. 



Important papers were read by Prof. 

 Albert Harkness, Mr. A. C. Merriam, Prof. 

 F. A. March, Prof. Franklin Carter, and 

 others. 



Many of these are, of course, of quite a 

 special nature: among those of more gen- 

 eral interest may be mentioned Prof. March's 

 paper on " The Immaturity of Shakespeare 

 as shown in Hamlet." In the report of Prof. 

 March's paper in the "Proceedings," his 

 analysis of the play, from this point of view, 

 is brought into nine short propositions which 

 are comprised within the limits of an octavo 



page. This brevity rather amusingly recalls 

 Goethe's prolix analysis of the same play 

 in " Wilhclm Meister ; " it is by no means 

 certain that Prof. March's summary will not 

 help the puzzled reader of Hamlet quite as 

 much as Goethe's chapters. 



Another paper of interest was by Mr. 

 C. M. O'Keefe, of Brooklyn, " On the Proper 

 Names in the First Sentence of Caesar's 

 Commentaries." 



Annual Report of the Supervising Sur- 

 geon OF THE Marine Hospital Service 

 of the United States, for the Fiscal 

 Year 1874. By John M. Wood worth, 

 M.D. Washington, 1 875. Pp. 2.56. 



This report opens with a brief statement 

 of what the Marine Hospital Service of the 

 United States is; amount of collections and 

 expenditures during the year; number of 

 cases of disease and injury treated ; and a 

 comparison of the figures with those of pre- 

 vious years. Defects needing legislation ; 

 cost of the service to the government ; port 

 inspections and office dues ; government 

 hospitals ; and preventive medicine in the 

 service, are the subjects of succeeding sec- 

 tions. Then follow seventy pages of statis- 

 tics classified under two heads : first, finan- 

 cial and economic ; second, medical and 

 surgical. Eleven papers under the follow- 

 ing titles, and a copious index, occupy the 

 last one hundred and fifty pages of the book : 

 " The Hygiene of the Forecastle ; " " Ameri- 

 can Commerce and the Service ; " " Unsea- 

 wo"rthy Sailors ; " " Sailors and their Dis- 

 eases in Chelsea Hospital ; " " The Service 

 on Cape Cod ; " " The Freedman and the 

 Service on the Ohio ; " " Diseases of River 

 Men, their Causes and Prevention ; " " Pre- 

 ventable Diseases on the Great Lakes;" 

 " Syphilis : the Scourge of the Sailor and 

 the Public Health;" "Yellow Fever at 

 Pensacola in 1874;" "The Yellow Fever 

 Epidemic of 1873." These papers are by 

 different authors, and will be found of in- 

 terest by medical men. 



The Mechanic's Friend. By W. E. A. 

 Axon. New York : Van Nostrand. Pp 

 339. Price, $1.50. 



The articles contained in this volume 

 originally appeared in the English Mechanic, 

 a practical magazine of sterling merit. The 

 information may be relied on as trustworthy, 



