Ll6 



THE POPULAR SCIEXCE MONTHLY, 



realize the most from their steam, and to 

 enable others to see where and liow they 

 should be used. The whole book is inter- 

 paged with blank leaves, on which students 

 can record their notes as they go along. 



Johns IIopkixs University Studies in His- 

 torical A.SD Political Science. Fifth 

 Series. No. VII. The Effect of the 

 War OF 1812 upon the Consolidation 

 OF THE Union. By N. M. Butler. 25 

 cents. No. VIII. Notes on the Lit- 

 erature OF Charities. By II. B. Ad- 

 ams. 25 cents. No. IX. The Predic- 

 tions of Hamilton and De Tocque- 

 TiLLE. By James Bkvce. 25 cents. 

 Baltimore : The University. 1887. 



These latest issues of this interesting 

 series treat a variety of topics. Professor 

 Butler's work is designed to show how the 

 War of 1812, by uniting the people for the 

 purpose of the common defense, and by 

 stimulating the sentiment of national pride, 

 contributed to produce a more truly na- 

 tional spirit than had prevailed in the coun- 

 try before. He shows how strong the sec- 

 tional spirit had been before that time, and 

 even during the war itself; and makes it 

 clear that the war was one of the most po- 

 tent agencies iu creating a better public 

 opinion. 



The pamphlet by Mr. Bryce is on a 

 more difficult theme, being a review of the 

 opinions expressed by Hamilton and De 

 Tocqueville, respectively, in regard to our 

 national Government and the perils attend- 

 ing its future. The chief dangers, in the 

 view of both writer.^, were the tendency 

 to sectionalism and disunion, and the ap- 

 prehended tyranny of the majority. That 

 there was ground for fearing the disruption 

 of the Union, we now know ; yet neither the 

 American nor the Frenchman saw that slav- 

 ery was the prime source of danger. Some 

 of their predictions have proved very far 

 from true ; but 5Ir. Bryce shows that thoy 

 were much wiser than the opponents of the 

 Constitution in 1788, whose objections 

 have all turned out to be groundless. On 

 the other hand, some of the evils that have 

 actually developed in our politics, and arc 

 most observable to-day, such as the abuse 

 of party machinery, the spoils doctrine, and 

 the corrupting influence of wealth, were not 

 foreseen by any one. Mr. Bryce himself 

 carefully abstains from prophesying, be- 



lieving that predictions iu morals and poll- 

 tics are of little value. 



The little work by Professor Adams, on 

 the literature relating to charity will doubt- 

 less be useful to special students of that 

 subject. It describes the publications of a 

 large number of charitable organizations, 

 together with many works in general litera- 

 ture bearing upon benevolence. 



On the Warrior Coal-Field. By Henry 

 JIcCalley. Montgomery, Ala. : Barrett 

 k Co., State Printers. Pp. 571. 



This volume is one of the reports of the 

 Geological Survey of Alabama, which is con- 

 ducted under the superintendency of Mr. 

 Eugene Allen Smith, State Geologist. It 

 contains descriptions, by counties, of all 

 that has yet been made visible to the sur- 

 veyor and miner of one of the thickest and 

 fullest coal-fields in the world, the quality 

 of the product of which is, moreover, not 

 excelled by that of any other. The coal 

 lands of Alabama, which belong to the 

 great Appalachian coal-field, comprise, 

 altogether, an area of 8,600 square miles, 

 but are divided up by anticlinal ridges into 

 three parts — the Warrior, the Cahaba, and 

 the Coosa coal-fields. Of these, the War- 

 rior field is very much the largest, for it 

 embraces an area of 7,810 square miles. It 

 is a broad, shallow, tray-shaped depres- 

 sion, sloping toward the southwest, with 

 its southwest end covered by a newer for- 

 mation, and its southeast side complicated 

 by folds and fractures. It has been con- 

 veniently divided into a plateau and basin 

 area, which gradually merge without any 

 distinct line of demarcation. The coal- 

 seams range in thickness from a few inches 

 to about fourteen feet, the thicker seams 

 always containing more or less slate or clay 

 as partings. There appear to be about 

 thirty-five of these seams eighteen inches 

 and more in thickness, of which fifteen are 

 of two feet six inches and over, and six 

 are four feet and over; but they thin 

 out toward the northeast. The q\iantity 

 of coal is estimated at 113,119,000,000 

 tons, of which 108,394,000,000 tons would 

 be available coal or contained in the seams 

 of eighteen inches or more in thickness — or 

 about three times as much as the estimated 

 available bituminous and semi-bituminous 



