LITERARY NOTICES. 



707 



United States is not an important item, be- 

 ing estimated at only $88,600 in 1887. The 

 production of salt shows a slight advance, 

 while that of mineral waters appears to have 

 been stationary. 



The chemist who would profit by A Cor- 

 relation Tlicory of Chemical Action and Af- 

 finity^ by Thomas Wright Hall, M. D. (Rem- 

 ington & Co., London, Ts. 6c?.), must first 

 learn a new dialect, for the author's strange 

 conceptions are made still harder to grasp 

 by his eccentric language. We are not cer- 

 tain that the present generation is prepared 

 to profit by this book, even if the language 

 were as clear as the " Dayshine," whose in- 

 fluence the author rates above all other 

 forces. " If you narrow and dwarf," says 

 he, " the Photothermal Force to heat and 

 light alone, or to cold and shade alone, or to 

 the petty needs and feelings of Man, or to 

 the ken of his workshops, of his pyrometers, 

 thermometers, photometers, then, indeed, is 

 the August Photothermal Force or Firemight 

 shorn of its true and boundless majesty and 

 value. Not so, however, if it dawn in Sci- 

 ence that the sidereal and the planetary 

 shine powers are the Giant Springs of the 

 Firemight which in oscillatory static balance 

 with each other in actual Ethero-molecular 

 matter, and in free Ether evolve the Quint- 

 essential Form and Photothermality of the 

 Earth — evolve the Dayshine and Nightshine 

 and the Shapes and colored Loveliness of 

 our Home, the Earth." The above sample 

 will show the character of the book better 

 than a long description. 



Mr. James E. Talmage's First Book of 

 Nature (The Contributor Company, Salt Lake 

 City) is a little volume embodying a brief 

 description of the animal, vegetable, and 

 mineral kingdoms and the heavens. The 

 doctrine of evolution is not referred to in 

 its pages. The complexion of the book has 

 been determined by the author's desire to 

 show that " Nature is but another name for 

 the will of God as expressed in his works." 

 The volume is illustrated, and is adapted to 

 the reading of young people. 



Although relating largely to the election 

 of 1888, True or False Finance (Putnam, 25 

 cents), in the " Questions of the Day Series," 

 presents the subject of taxing imports on a 

 basis which has a permanent interest — i. e., 



as a question of raising revenue. The au- 

 thor starts with the proposition that a true 

 system of finance will enable a government 

 to adjust its revenue to its expenditures 

 without the slightest difiiculty. He then 

 shows how the growth of commerce has 

 made former tarifi' exactions enormous at the 

 present time, and gives the ways proposed 

 by protectionists for getting rid of the sur- 

 plus now in our treasury. The Democratic 

 policy is next stated, the Mills Bill is de- 

 scribed, and the effects it would have on the 

 workman, the farmer, the wool-grower, and 

 the country at large arc told. 



No. 10 of ShoppelVs Modern Houses (Co- 

 operative Building Plan Association, New 

 York, 25 cents) has come to hand. It con- 

 tains designs for twenty-one dwellings and 

 a bank, giving in each case a perspective 

 view, floor-plans, and a brief description. 

 The cost of carrying out these designs is 

 stated in each case, and ranges from -$500 to 

 $15,000. Some general advice on building 

 is given and information concerning the 

 plans, specifications, estimates, etc., which 

 the " Association " is prepared to furnish to 

 those about to build. 



Miss Parloa's New CooJc-Book (Estes & 

 Lauriat) comes to us in the form of a large- 

 paged pamphlet, crowded with recipes, brief- 

 ly worded and in small type. A great varie- 

 ty of dishes is described in each of the 

 divisions of soups, fish, meats, vegetables, 

 pies and puddings, cake, dessert, etc. Miss 

 Parloa's name is sufficient guarantee for the 

 excellence of the book. 



A Code of Morals, by John 8. Hitlell 

 (The Bancroft Company), is a little didactic 

 treatise, modeled after the manuals of Epic- 

 tetus and Marcus Aurelius. "Standing on 

 the shoulders of the eminent men who wrote 

 those immortal books," says the author, 

 " making use of their labors, and striving to 

 appropriate the knowledge of our time and 

 to put myself in harmony with its spirit, I 

 have here tried to do for my age what they 

 did for theirs." The manual consists of 

 forty-five brief sections on separate topics, 

 grouped in five chapters, viz., on individual 

 duties, social, industrial, political, and relig- 

 ious duties. 



Die Gegenwart (The Present) is a Ger- 

 man monthly, twenty-four-page periodical, 

 for the people, devoted to the discussion of 



