LITERARY NOTICES. 



131 



unhealthy that the inhabitants are constant 

 sufferers from rheumatism, so that walking 

 would be paiuful to them. They would 

 call walking an evil. "But in this their 

 thought would be false. They would be 

 feeliug a good thing paiuful because they 

 did not understand their own condition. 

 And if it could be explained to them that 

 the cause of their pain was not anything 

 bad in walking, but only their own disease, 

 that itself would be a gain to them. . . . 

 Now, this is the idea I have tried to explain 

 in this little book ; namely, that things 

 which we have inevitably called evil may 

 yet be truly good, ily thought was that 

 all which we feel as painful is really giving 

 something that our fellows are better for, 

 even though we can not trace it ; and that 

 giving is not an evil thing, but good, a 

 natural delight and good of man ; and that 

 we feel it painful because our life is 

 marred." To quote from Dr. Nichols again, 

 the cure for pain which Dr. Ilinton sug- 

 gests " rests on a religious basis ; and 

 hence has no meaning or significance to 

 those destitute of religious faith." 



Observations on Volcanic Eruptions and 

 Earthquakes in Iceland within His- 

 toric Times. Translated and condensed 

 by George H. Boehmer. Washington : 

 Government Printing-Office. Pp. 46. 



This paper has been prepared in connec- 

 tion with the Smithsonian Report for 1885, 

 and is abridged from a larger paper by Th. 

 Thoroddsen. Although the volcanoes and 

 hot springs of Iceland are treated of in a 

 work written at about the middle of the 

 thirteenth century, in which some super- 

 stitious ideas are advanced as to their ori- 

 gin, and an eruption is recorded in the 

 present paper which took place about a. d. 

 900, the geology of Iceland was not thor- 

 oughly studied till the beginning of this 

 century, and is still little known. The 

 active volcanoes of Iceland are described 

 as in eight groups of from one to five vol- 

 canoes each. Within historic times, erup- 

 tions have occurred at about twenty differ- 

 ent places. Among the large volcanoes, 

 Ilecla occupies the first place, with twenty- 

 one eruptions; while others follow, with 

 twelve or thirteen, ten, six, and one each. 

 The largest numbers of eruptions took place 



in the fourteenth century (thirteen), and in 

 the eighteenth century (fourteen). The 

 earthquakes have been in direct connection 

 with the eruptions. A copious bibliography 

 is appended to the paper. 



Cassell's National Library. Edited by 

 Professor Henry Morley. New York : 

 Cassell & Co. Thirty-five weekly vol- 

 umes to date, averaging 192 pages each. 

 Price, 10 cents each. 



This library gives more for the money 

 — meaning by more, actual value rather 

 than quantity — than any other popular 

 series that is published. It gives in clear, 

 open type, suitable to all eyes that can 

 read at all, and in a shape convenient for 

 the pocket, selections from the best litera- 

 ture of all ages, and particularly from Eng- 

 lish literature, in works that are complete 

 in themselves. The books have all been 

 named in our monthly acknowledgments of 

 "Publications received," and it is hardly 

 necessary to say more of them particularly 

 than to refer to the titles and authors as 

 there given. In the list are represented 

 by their best works such writers as Silvio 

 Pellico, Lord Byron, Benjamin Franklin, 

 Izaak Walton, Plutarch, Herodotus, Lord 

 Bacon, Horace Walpole, Dean Swift, Sir 

 Walter Scott, Sheridan, Goldsmith, Sir 

 John de Manndeville, Shakespeare, and 

 other authors whose names are fixed in the 

 world's literature, but whose works are not 

 easily got in as accessible form as that in 

 which they are here presented. 



Historical Society of Southern Califor- 

 nia. Los Angeles, Januarv, 1886. Pp. 

 43. 



We do not find anywhere in this report 

 a line from which we may form a conception 

 of the age of the society. Lists of officers 

 for 1885 and 1886 are given, from which 

 we are assured that it is at least about two 

 years old; but it would be interesting to 

 know more exactly how long it has been 

 at work encouraging the study of the his- 

 tory of that district of romantic story in 

 which its peculiar field lies. The address 

 of the retiring president informs us that it 

 enjoys a credit balance which it is hoped 

 may be the beginning of a building fund, 

 and that its monthly meetings are regularly 

 held and attended with lively and interest- 



