LITERARY NOTICES. 



135 



ograph of permanent value. The first part 1 

 of the report deals with the geology of 

 Leadville, and of the Mosquito Range, to 

 which is appended an account of the pe- 

 trography of the district. Part II deals 

 with the mining industry, and is followed 

 by appendices on the chemical constitution 

 of the ores and other rocks, and on smelt- 

 ing operations. 



Mineral Resources of the United States 

 for 1S86, prepared by David T. Day 

 (United States Geological Survey, 50 cents), 

 is the fourth volume of a series devoted to 

 the statistics of the raining industries. It 

 appears that there has been a notable in- 

 crease in the value of mineral products over 

 1885, the chief item in this gain being pig- 

 iron. The volume contains a paper, by E. 

 R. L. Gould, presenting the leading pro- 

 visions of the mining laws of States east of 

 the Mississippi River. 



In his Exercises in English Syntax (C. 

 W. Bardcen, Syracuse, N. Y.), Mr. A. G. 

 Bughee seeks to furnish a manual which 

 shall give a large amount of drill and test 

 work, without introducing any examples of 

 false syntax. The last he regards as object- 

 lessons in incorrect use, and of more than 

 doubtful utility when employed in exercises 

 for correction. 



Tlie Outline of Anglo-Saxon Grammar 

 of Prof. W. M. Baskcrville, of Vanderbilt 

 University (A. S. Barnes & Co.), appears to 

 be a well-composed work, clear and concise 

 in its statements, and leaving no point with- 

 out an intelligent endeavor to give it a satis- 

 factory explanation — a thing which, in a 

 language of the dark ages only, it is not 

 always easy to do. A list of irregular verbs 

 is added by Prof. James A. Ilarrison, of 

 Washington and Lee University. 



C. N. Caspar and H. H. Zahn, of Mil- 

 waukee, send us Volapuk : An Easy Method 

 of acquiring the Universal Language, con- 

 structed by Johann Martin Schleyer, pre- 

 pared for English-speaking students by Klas 

 August Linderfeli, Librarian of the Mil- 

 waukee Public Library (128 pages, 50 cents, 

 paper; flexible cloth, 15 cents). Volapuk 

 is, so far as we know, the only serious ex- 

 tensive attempt that has been made to im- 

 pose upon the public a language that has 

 been deliberately manufactured in a schol- 

 ar's study. Asa novel experiment, and as a 



matter that may possibly throw some light 

 on the way languages come into being and 

 grow, we shall watch its fate with much in- 

 terest. It is satisfactory to learn from Mr, 

 Linderfelt that Volapuk is not regarded as 

 yet perfect; that Prof. Kirchhoff, of Paris, 

 has already made some acceptable and ac- 

 cepted improvements in it ; and that ihei-e 

 is an authorized Volapiik academy for the 

 suitable regulation of these matters. This 

 work is composed on the basis of Alfred 

 Kirchhoff's Hilfsbuch ; it has a key to the 

 exercises and vocabularies, and it bears the 

 marks of being the work of a competent 

 hand. 



We have sometimes wondered, if a uni- 

 versal language had to be imposed on man- 

 kind, why Italian, which is living and ready 

 made, could not be chosen. Though not 

 perfect, it fulfills most of the requisitions of 

 the American Philosophical Society. It is 

 absolutely phonetic ; its word-roots are 

 familiar to all European languages ; its vo- 

 cabulary, while ample, is modest in its pro- 

 portions ; its pronunciation is musical, and 

 its structure is simple. Most of these points 

 appear in Mr. C. H. GrandgenVs Italian 

 Grammar, (D. C. Heath & Co., Boston), 

 which is the " result of an attempt to put 

 into convenient form and the smallest pos- 

 sible compass all the grammar that the 

 ordinary student in Italian will need.'' It 

 is all contained, vocabularies included, in. 

 124 pages; and the work is well done. 



Prof. Edward S. Joyne's German Gram- 

 mar for Schools and Colleges (Boston, D. 

 C. Heath & Co.) is based on the " Public- 

 School German Grammar " of Prof. Meiss-' 

 ner, of Queen's College, Belfast, which 

 is very popular in the United Kingdom. 

 Some extension has been given to the scope 

 of the work, with a view of fitting it to the 

 wants of students of every grade, up to the 

 point where the demand arises for the higher 

 study of historical and scientific grammar. 

 A college professor, who has examined the' 

 book carefully, describes it as characterized' 

 by a fullness of light everywhere, " and a 

 fullness of matter that will in most cases 

 suffice," and as demonstrating '• how supe- 

 rior scientific methods are to the so-called 

 practical methods." 



Memoirs of an Arabian Princess, by 

 Emily Rtute (D. Appleton & Co., 75 cents), 



