LITERARY NOTICES. 



125 



and a ventilator, TTe used one of mod- 

 erate size, which, as tested by the ane- 

 mometer, gave from eight to ten thou- 

 sand cubic feet of air per hour in the 

 room, and thus secured excellent ven- 

 tilation. The difference between an 

 ordinary stove and this ventilating 

 stove in an occupied apartment was 

 most marked to all the inmates, while 

 to gain its advantages it is only needful 

 to incur the small outlay necessary for 

 bringing in the outer air. Fresh air is 

 happily very cheap, but it must have 

 a channel for introduction. If people 

 will not go to the small trouble and 

 expense required to give it entrance, 

 they should not complain of the diffi- 

 culties and imperfections of ventilation. 



TRE WORKS OF PROFESSOR YAUGHAy. 



We have received various communi- 

 cations from widely different and dis- 

 tant sources in relation to the reputa- 

 tion and works of the late Professor 

 Daniel Vaughan. Severe animadver- 

 sions have been passed upon the depre- 

 ciatory tone of comment that has been 

 indulged in with regard to his person- 

 ality and life ; and there has been in- 

 quiry as to -where his writings may be 

 obtained. Several suggestions have 

 been made respecting the publication 

 of an edition of the most important and 

 popular of his scientific contributions, 

 A correspondent of Salem, Massachu- 

 setts, suggests that a very attractive and 

 valuable volume could be made up by 

 his papers on "The Tides," "The Rings 

 of Saturn," "The Origin and End of 

 the World," " The Advent and Appear- 

 ance of New Stars," " The Nebular Hy- 

 pothesis," "The PluraHty of Worlds," 

 "The Primitive Earth," " The Ancient 

 Atmosphere," "Physics of the Internal 

 Earth," "Volcanoes," "The Moon," 

 "Revelations of Spectrum Analysis," 

 and " The Catastrophes in Celestial 

 Space." 



These are certainly interesting top- 

 ics, and they were handled by Professor 



Vaughan not only with the ability of 

 an able expositor, but with the fresh- 

 ness of an independent thinker, who 

 had formed his own opinions upon 

 many of the questions involved. Pro- 

 fessor Vaughan, as we, however, under- 

 stand, left no property to pay for the 

 publication of his works, and whether 

 such a volume can be issued will depend 

 upon how publishers regard the venture, 

 or whether he has any friends sufficient- 

 ly interested in his memory and pro- 

 ductions to cooperate in bringing out a 

 collection of his essays. 



LITERARY NOTICES. 



Ethics, or Science of Duty. By John 

 Bascom, author of " Principles of Psy- 

 chology," etc. New York : G. P. Put- 

 nam's Sons. Pp. 385. Price, $1.75. 

 Dr. Bascom has here given us a freshly- 

 reasoned and excellent manual of morals. 

 It is attractively written, and very judicious 

 as an exposition of practical duty. 



But the title chosen raises expectations, 

 at the present time, which the work seems 

 to us hardly to fulfill. The author recog- 

 nizes that the subject he is dealing with 

 belongs among the sciences, and is there- 

 fore a branch of improvable or progressive 

 knowledge. He, moreover, admits that 

 there is some force in the claim that ethics 

 requires both a new foundation and a 

 new method. The subject is therefore con- 

 fessedly in a state of transition, or is under- 

 going a development such as all sciences 

 experience from a less perfect to a more 

 perfect form. Dr. Bascom does not give 

 suflScient prominence to this fact and its 

 important implications. Had he confined 

 himself merely to summarizing the empirical 

 rules of morality as they have been arrived 

 at in social practice, this objection would 

 be less pertinent ; but he goes analytically 

 into the subject, works out its principles, 

 reviews ethical systems, discusses ethical 

 methods, and reasons his way to full con- 

 clusions respecting the right and wrong of 

 conduct, and the grounds of moral obliga- 

 tion. The whole subject being thus opened, 

 we think the author should have gone fur- 



