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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



eral years, and have been generally com- 

 mended as carefully prepared and useful 

 manuals of instruction in the rights and du- 

 ties of citizenship. Their purpose is to 

 answer the continually recurring question, 

 What is the relation of the citizen of the 

 United States to the governments under 

 which he lives ? The first step in giving 

 the answer is to gain some knowledge of 

 the machinery of government, its organiza- 

 tion and manner of acting; together with 

 the methods of choosing the agents of State 

 action, and the more important points re- 

 garding official responsibility and the civil 

 service. These subjects are treated of in 

 the first part of the book, the original first 

 volume. In the second part are considered 

 the governmental duties of protection to 

 life and property, the particular functions 

 of the Federal and State governments, and 

 questions of State finances. 



History of the Appointing Power of the 

 President. Bv Lucy M. Salmon. New 

 York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 129. 

 Price, $1. 



This is one of the papers that were read 

 at the meeting of the American Historical 

 Association at Saratoga in September, 1885. 

 It considers the subject of the appointing 

 power of the President as presented in four 

 periods : First, in the theoretical stage, 1787- 

 1789, or the question in the Philadelphia 

 Convention and the first Congress ; second, 

 in the period from 1789 to 1829, or, as ex- 

 ercised by statesmen, both Federalist and 

 anti-Federalist ; third, in the spoils period, 

 1829-1861, including President Jackson's 

 interpretation of the Constitution and the 

 results of that interpretation ; and, fourth, 

 in the reform period, including the culmina- 

 tion of the spoils system and the attempts 

 to check the evil. In conclusion, though the 

 last period has indeed been one of reform, 

 though a practical civil-service bill has been 

 passed, political assessments done away, and 

 a temporary check given to the " courtesy 

 of the Senate," yet after all it has been but 

 an entering wedge. " The four years' limi- 

 tation law is still on the statute-books ; the 

 Pendleton bill applies to only one seventh 

 of our civil officers, and can be broken in 

 spirit if not in letter ; our consular service 

 is still a refuge for those who desire to 

 travel abroad at Government expense ; for- 



eign courts have rebuked our diplomatic 

 system by refusing to accept representa- 

 tives appointed for other reasons than that 

 of fitness for place ; ' offensive partisan- 

 ship,' when other pretexts fail, can be made 

 to cover a multitude of removals ; in our 

 State and local administrations scarcely an 

 attempt at reform has been made. A fourth 

 [fifth] period in the history of the appoint- 

 ing power is to come — a reformed period ; 

 when the chief Executive can boast like the 

 great Premier that his sole patronage is 

 the appointment of his private secretary . 

 when every legislator can say, with a lead- 

 ing member of the House of Commons, that 

 he is without power to influence in the 

 smallest degree the appointment of a cus- 

 tom-house officer or an exciseman ; when 

 both Executive and Congress, freed from 

 their duties of dispensing office, can turn 

 their attention to more important questions 

 of state ; when our civil service will be in 

 reality, and not in the idle jest of a politi- 

 cian, ' the best in the world.' " 



First Steps in Scientific Knowledge. By 

 Paul Bert. Translation by Madame 

 Paul Bert. Revised and corrected by 

 William H. Greene, D. D. Philadel- 

 phia: J. B. Lippincott Company. Pp. 

 about 400. Price, 60 cents. 

 The author of this manual was one of 

 the most eminent scientific men in France, 

 and for some years filled the post of Minis- 

 ter of Public Instruction under the repub- 

 lic. If we recollect aright our reading of 

 the French scientific journals of the time, he 

 took particular delight in the preparation of 

 the primers embodied in the volume, in 

 simplifying science, and making it attract- 

 ive to the children over whose educational 

 interests he was engaged to watch. The 

 " First Steps " are based on the principles 

 of object-lessons. They are prepared so 

 that they may be taught experimentally by 

 skilled teachers, or with the aid of the 

 objects themselves ; or, if that is not con- 

 venient, abundant illustrations are furnished, 

 through which the most important facts are 

 exemplified by accurate pictures. The work 

 is complete in seven parts, which are devoted 

 respectively to animals, plants, stones and 

 rocks, physics, chemistry, animal physiology, 

 and vegetable physiology. The American 

 editor has made only such changes and 

 additions in Madame Bert's translation as 



