270 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



GEINTERAL Is^OTICES. 



The author of Extemporaneoiis Ora- 

 tory for Professional and Amateur 

 Speakers * is himself one of the most 

 eflective orators, especially in debate, of 

 the time. He has embodied in this book 

 the results of ripened thought and suc- 

 cessful experience gained in a field in 

 which he is a master, for the instruc- 

 tion and help of those who would fol- 

 low what he regards as the greatest of 

 all arts, including the elements of all — 

 music in the intonations of the voice, 

 and painting and sculpture in the life, 

 attitudes, and expression of the speaker. 

 It is an art, too, which has wielded a 

 more general and important influence 

 than any other, which is almost uni- 

 versal in its appeals, and which any 

 one may at any time find useful, when 

 it will be of great advantage to him to 

 possess the ability " to speak distinctly 

 to the purpose, gracefully, with genu- 

 ine fire." Extemporaneous oratory con- 

 cerns the delivery, in form and lan- 

 guage suggested by the occasion, " of 

 ideas previously conceived and adopted 

 with more or less fullness and precision, 

 together with such thoughts and feel- 

 ings as may arise and obtain utter- 

 ance." It has many advantages over 

 other methods of oratory, all tending 

 to give the speaker greater power over 

 his audience, and particularly in the 

 fact that the extemporizer is at all 

 times ready to expound, defend, illus- 

 trate, and enforce his opinions. The ex- 

 temporaneous speaker must have a full 

 and fluent command of language, and 

 a full store of facts which he may at 

 any time have to bring to bear upon 

 the subject of his address and in the 

 vindication of his opinions. The first 

 place of importance is given to facts of 

 natural science, which are of increas- 

 ing utility. " To the educated and un- 

 educated alike, natural science is now 

 the most interesting of themes." Next 

 come the facts of history and biog- 

 raphy, those of the special branches 

 bearing on the speaker's theme and pur- 

 pose, and the great general conceptions 

 included in the thoughts of the learned; 



• E.Ktemporaneons Oratory for Professional 

 and Amateur Speakers. By James M. Buckley. 

 New York : Eaton & Mainp. Pp. 480. Price, 

 $1.50. 



and he must have settled opinions. At 

 the basis of Dr. Buckley's treatment of 

 this art and of his advice to those who 

 would perfect themselves in it is the 

 principle that extemporization is evo- 

 lution after involution. This advice, in 

 which the various phases of the subject 

 are commented upon under a great va- 

 riety of aspects, concerns the general 

 preparation for the address, the acqui- 

 sition of eflfective command of language, 

 the exercise and training of the voice, 

 the intellectual and physical elements 

 that enter into oratory, its accessories, 

 and the factor of the audience — all 

 plainly and practically presented, with 

 a facility of style that makes the read- 

 ing of the book a pleasure. 



Readers of the Popular Science 

 Monthly have already had an oppor- 

 tunity of perusing some of the narrative 

 and observations which Professor Heil- 

 prin has embodied in his Alaska and 

 the Klondike* In it he has attempted 

 to portray that remarkable region in its 

 true aspects. Professor Heilprin is well 

 able to do so, for he is a keen observer 

 and looks with a scientifie eye, and his 

 literary style is free and graphic. He 

 made a summer journey to the region 

 last year (1898), between the end of 

 July and the middle of October, with 

 the object of being " able to determine 

 between fact and fancy, and to obtain 

 a personal knowledge of the region and 

 its varied conditions." What he saw 

 and heard is here presented. While by 

 no means pretending to that degree of 

 accuracy and of proper insight which 

 can only come with more protracted 

 and intimate knowledge, the author be- 

 lieves that he has given a careful and 

 unprejudiced account. Persons whose 

 ideas of the regions about Dawson are 

 associated with visions of arctic se- 

 verity and sterility may be a little sur- 

 prised at reading of one's looking from 



* Alaska and the Klondike. A Jounicy to the 

 New Eldorado. Wi h Hints to the Traveler and 

 Observations on the Physical lliftory and Goolofjy 

 of the Gold Regions, the Condition.* and Methods 

 of working the Klondike Placers, nnd the Laws 

 governing and regiiinting Miiiinf; in the North- 

 west Territory of Canada. By Angelo IIeili)rin. 

 New York: D. Appleton and Company. Pp. 815. 

 Price, $1.75. 



