LITERARY NOTICES. 



535 



periments when a very high temperature is 

 employed, and that it was absent from the 

 solar protuberances during the eclipse of 

 1875, although the other lines of hydrogen 

 were photographed. This line also is coin- 

 cident with the strongest line of indium as 

 already recorded by Thal^n, and may be 

 photographed by volatilizing indium in the 

 electric arc, whereas palladium charged with 

 hydrogen furnishes a photograph in which 

 none of the hydrogen lines ara visible. By 

 employing a very feeble spark at a very low 

 pressure the F line of hydrogen in the green 

 is obtained without the blue and red lines 

 which are seen when a stronger spark is 

 used, 80 that alterations undoubtedly take 

 place in the spectrum of hydrogen similar 

 to those observed in the case of calcium. 

 In concluding this portion of his paper Mr. 

 Lockyer states that he has obtained evidence 

 leading to the conclusion that the substance 

 giving the non reversed line in the chromo- 

 sphere, which has been termed helium^ and 

 not previously identified with any known 

 form of matter, and also the substance giv- 

 ing the 1,474 or coronal line, are reaJly other 

 forms of hydrogen, the one more simple 

 than that which gives the h line alone, the 

 other more complex than that which gives 

 the F line alone. 



There can be no question that the facts 

 brought forward by Mr. Lockyer are of the 

 highest importance and value, and that they 

 will have much influence on the further de- 

 velopment of spectrum analysis, to which 

 he has already so largely contributed. But 

 his arguments are of a character so totally 

 different from those ordinarily dealt with by 

 chemists that they will hesitate for the pres- 

 ent to regard them as proof of the decom- 

 position of the elements until either they 

 are assured by competent physicists that 

 they can not be explained by any other 

 equally simple and probable hypothesis, or 

 until what Mr. Lockyer has foreshadowed 

 as taking place to such an extent in other 

 worlds has been realized beyond question 

 or cavil in our own laboratories. 



LITERARY NOTICES. 



TiiE Commonwealth reconstructed. By 

 Charles C. P. Clark, M. D. New York : 

 A. S. Barnes & Co. 1878. Pp. 216. 

 Price, §1.50. 



This is a suggestive work on the phi- 

 losophy of American politics, made up of 

 two parts logically related but very dissimi- 

 lar in character. The first half of the book 



is devoted to au examination of the tenden- 

 cies of our political system, which are ar- 

 raigned as, in their working, a disappoint- 

 ment and a failure. This portion of the 

 work is important, as giving a large amount 

 of information on the morbid anatomy and 

 the diseased functions of the. body politic. 

 The facts are interesting and copious, but 

 we regret that Dr. Clark has not guarded 

 himself here against criticism by the more 

 full and more careful citation of his authori- 

 ties. For example, when he says, "Since 

 1870 more judges have been impeached, or 

 have resigned to avoid impeachment, than in 

 all our history before," or when he says, 

 " The British Parliament, though it unites the 

 powers and functions of all our separate 

 State Legislatures and constitutional conven- 

 tions, and manages half a hundred colonies 

 and a fourth part of the population of the 

 earth, does not pass as many laws annually 

 as the State of New Jersey," we should like 

 to be informed of the exact data on which 

 these assertions rest. More care in this di- 

 rection would have given to Dr. Clark's work 

 a higher and more permanent value. 



After pointing out, in his opening chap- 

 ters, the numerous indications of our politi- 

 cal degeneracy, the growing venality in pub- 

 lic life, the increase of official crime, the aug- 

 menting incompetency of public men, the 

 deeper corruption of parties, and the enor- 

 mous increase of taxes, resulting from scan- 

 dalous misgovernment — having, in fact, 

 made out a strong and dark indictment 

 against our political system. Dr. Clark then 

 takes up the various causes and remedies 

 that have been proposed for this bad state 

 of things. He thinks the fault is not to be 

 laid at the door of human nature, nor is the 

 democratic principle to be blamed. The 

 nation is not overgrown, our political evils 

 are not the " aftermath of the late civil war," 

 and our diflBculties are chargeable neither to 

 the Democratic nor the Republican party. 

 They are such, moreover, as can not be rec- 

 tified and removed by any of the usual ex- 

 pedients of reform, such as constitutional 

 amendments, minority representation, cumu- 

 lative voting, female suffrage, outlawry of 

 the lobby, commissions of investigation, non- 

 partisan organizations, religion, moral ren- 

 ovation, education, or civil-service reform. 

 The writer goes rapidly over this field, 

 showing the weak places and the general 



