LITERARY NOTICES. 



563 



safest, and most prosperous cities in the 

 world. This was accomplished while na- 

 tional politics were kept out of city affairs. 

 Then the people's party, under the pressure 

 of a great national emergency, adopted a 

 political resolution — and its usefulness was 

 gone. In this simple fact lies a plain and 

 impressive lesson, which is taught through- 

 out the history ; and for the sake of this 

 lesson, if for no other reason, the study is 

 a most valuable one. 



Science Sketches. By David Starr Jor- 

 dan. Chica£;o: A. C. McClurg & Co. 

 Pp. 276. Price, %\.m. 



PiiOFESsoR Jordan presents in this vol- 

 imie a collection of 6cienti6c essays, some 

 of which have appeared previously in " The 

 Popular Science Monthly" and elsewhere, 

 the others being addresses not before pub- 

 lished. A majority of the papers are on 

 fishes, the study of which has been the sci- 

 entific specialty of the author. Among 

 these are " The Story of a Salmon," " John- 

 ny Darters," and " The Dispersion of Fresh- 

 Water Fishes." There are also three sketches 

 of a biographical character on Darwin, " An 

 Eccentric Naturalist " (Rafinesque), and 

 " A Cuban Fisherman " (Poey). The other 

 papers comprise " The Nomenclature of 

 American Birds," " The Story of a Stone," 

 "An Ascent of the Matterhorn," and "The 

 Evolution of the College Curriculum." These 

 are all of a popular character, and written 

 in a pleasing style, though without sacrific- 

 ing scientific accuracy. A list of the au- 

 thor's scientific papers, numbering two hun- 

 dred and fourteen, is appended. 



Elements of Modern Chemistry. By 

 Adolphe Wdrtz. Third American from 

 the fifth French edition. Translated 

 and edited by William H. Greene, 

 M. D. With 132 Illustrations. Phila- 

 delphia : J. B. Lippincott Co. Pp. 770. 

 Price, $2.50. 



The most striking feature of this book 

 is its comprehensiveness. The natural oc- 

 currence and extraction or laboratory prep- 

 arations and the properties of the elements 

 and their compounds are described with 

 great fullness, and enough subjects are pre- 

 sented to occupy an academy or college 

 class for at least two years. Most of the 

 theoiet'C-al matter is included in the first 



fifty pages, but a few topics are inserted at 

 later points. Nearly half of the volume is 

 devoted to the compounds of carbon. In 

 choosing which facts of organic chemistry 

 to present, the author was guided by " the 

 historical importance and the theoretical 

 and practical interest of the compounds 

 described." In each of the three American 

 editions, the editor has rearranged and add- 

 ed to the matter in order to better adapt 

 the work for American use. " The present 

 edition contains additional matter embracing 

 the more important advances of chemistry 

 in the last three years. Among the addi- 

 tions may be mentioned the history of the 

 isolation of fluorine, the monoxide of sili- 

 con, the Castner sodium process, and the 

 electrical furnace. Wherever new investi- 

 gations have shown statements accepted 

 formerly to be erroneous, corresponding 

 corrections have been made." 



Decisive Battles sincb Waterloo. By 

 Thomas W. Knox. Illustrated. New 

 York and London : G. P. Putnam's 

 Sons. Pp. 477. Price, $2.50. 



This work is designed to cover the pe- 

 riod since 1815 in the same manner as 

 Professor Creasy's "Fifteen Decisive Bat- 

 tles of the World " covered the period " from 

 Marathon to Waterloo." The fact that 

 Mr. Knox finds twenty-five " decisive bat- 

 tles" in the annals of the past seventy 

 years, seems to indicate either that the 

 world is not really passing out of a military 

 into an industrial stage, as has been asserted, 

 or that our author has been more compre- 

 hensive than discriminating. Some ground 

 for the second alternative is given by the 

 statement in the preface that " the book 

 has, however, for its further purpose, the 

 idea of presenting an outline survey of 

 the history of the nineteenth century, con- 

 sidered from the point of view of its chief 

 military events." These words describe the 

 book better than its title, for each chapter 

 includes, besides the account of an impor- 

 tant battle, also a sketch of the whole cam- 

 paign in which the battle occurred, and in 

 several cases minor wars, which were marked 

 by no battle of a decisive character, are 

 touched upon in order to give continuity to 

 the record. The first battle described is 

 that of Ayacucho, in 1824, which terminated 



