LITERARY NOTICES. 



559 



personal narratives used in making the his- 

 tory, no two wholly agree ; " and yet, to the 

 careful student, with all the evidence be- 

 fore him, the truth is generally clear." The 

 leading features of the history of Oregon, 

 Sir. Bancroft points out, are not the pursuit 

 of conquest, but commercial enterprise and 

 agricultural industry, " the Fur Company, the 

 missionaries of different sects soon convert- 

 ed into rival traders, and the middle class 

 from the United States, all contributing of 

 their several characteristics to form a soci- 

 ety at once individual and independent. It 

 is in the missionary, rather than in the com- 

 mercial or agricultural elements, that I find 

 that romance which underlies all human en- 

 deavor before it becomes of interest suffi- 

 cient for permanent preservation in the 

 memory of mankind. A mountain-walled 

 plain, between the coast elevations and the 

 northern stretch of the great Andean range, 

 with a fertile soil, a genial climate, and 

 picturesque scenery, through a peculiar se- 

 quence of events, becomes the Western Uto- 

 pia of the American States, and kindles in 

 the breasts of those who here lay the foun- 

 dations of a commonwealth the fire of pa- 

 triotism, forever sacred even when fed by 

 fallacies. The silent conquest of this area 

 by men and women from the border, intent 

 on empire, is a turning-point in the desti- 

 nies of the country ; and it is to me no less 

 a pleasure than a duty to recognize the he- 

 roic in this conquest, and to present one 

 more example of the behavior of the Anglo- 

 Saxon race under the influence of American 

 institutions." We find these remarks to a 

 considerable extent verified as we turn over 

 the chapters devoted to the history of the 

 missions, which are replete with personal 

 adventure, and varied with incidents that 

 might serve as the framework of many ro- 

 mances. Mr. Bancroft is disposed to take 

 an optimistic view, which is nearly peculiar 

 to the frontier, of the fate of the Indians, 

 of which he says that, " aside from the 

 somewhat antiquated sentiments of eternal 

 justice and the rights of men as apart from 

 man's power to enforce his rights, the quick 

 extermination of the aborigines may be re- 

 garded as a blessing both to the red race 

 and to the white. . . . And this happy con- 

 summation — the swift and sharpest means 

 of sweeping from the earth every human in- 



cumbrance — the people of the United States 

 have never been backward about. . . . Ava- 

 rice, injustice, and inhumanity are often the 

 most important aids to civilization. In this 

 respect, with noble intentions and devout 

 aspirations far higher than ordinary, the 

 settlers of Oregon but followed their destiny. 

 They labored for the best, and quarreled not 

 with the inevitable." The story in the pres- 

 ent volume begins with the application of 

 the Flathead Indians to Mr. Clarke, Indian 

 agent at St. Louis, in 1832, for religious 

 men to be sent " to point their people the 

 way to heaven," and is continued till the 

 erection of a territorial government in 1848. 



A Treatise on the Practice of Medicine. 

 By Roberts Bartholow. Sixth edition, 

 revised and enlarged. New York : D. 

 Appleton & Co. Pp. 990. Price, $5. 



The first edition of this book appeared 

 in 1880, as a companion volume to the au- 

 thor's already published work on " Materia 

 Medica and Therapeutics." The edition of 

 three thousand copies was exhausted in less 

 than a month, anticipating the judgments of 

 the numerous medical journals of the coun- 

 try, and a new edition was called for, in 

 which the text was revised and two articles 

 of importance were added. Evidence of 

 continued giving of satisfaction to the needs 

 of many readers appeared in the steady, 

 rapid sale of the work, and a third edition 

 appeared in 18S2, again revised, and with 

 fifty pages added. A fifth edition followed 

 close upon a fourth, in the spring of 1S83, 

 and in it the bacillus tuberculosis was no- 

 ticed, and the increase of minute organisms 

 in pathogenic importance was recognized. 

 The book itself, in the beginning, was un- 

 dertaken while the author was Professor of 

 the Theory and Practice of Medicine and of 

 Clinical Medicine in the Medical College 

 of Ohio, on the urgency of students and 

 practitioners who attended his lectures, and 

 of many readers of his therapeutical trea- 

 tise. The author was more inclined to the 

 work, because the subject was one to which 

 he had devoted • all the years of his pro- 

 fessional life, and under the most varied 

 conditions, of army service before and dur- 

 ing the rebellion, and an extensive practice 

 of sixteen years at Cincinnati. With one 

 or two exceptions, he has had personal 



