LITERARY NOTICES. 



567 



or has occasion to direct the reading of oth- 

 ers, can afford to be without " The Best 

 Reading." An explanation of the letters 

 and stars used to indicate the character of 

 books should have been inserted in this 

 volume. 



Winter : From the Jocrxal of Henry D- 

 Thoreau. Edited by 11. G. 0. Blake. 

 Boston : Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Pp. 

 439. Price, $1.50. 



This volume is made up of passages en- 

 tered by Thoreau in his journal during the 

 winter months from 1850 to 1860, with oc- 

 casional entries of earlier dates. The scenes 

 alluded to are along the Concord River and 

 about Lake Walden, with occasional visits 

 to other places. These pages reveal how 

 much of interest a lover of Nature can find 

 in the fields and waters during the season 

 when Nature is commonly said to be asleep, 

 and are interspersed with reflections sug- 

 gested by winter objects. 



Astronomical Revelations. Xew York : 

 Edward Dexter. Pp. 62. Half moroc- 

 co. Price, $2. 



This is a contribution to theoretical 

 astronomy, in which the author confidently 

 claims that " the true physical causes of the 

 precession of the equinoctial points, the 

 apparent secular acceleration of the moon's 

 mean motion, the decrease in the obliquity 

 of the ecliptic, the apparent aberration of 

 the stars, and the apparent nutation of the 

 earth's axis, are now for the first time made 

 known and explained." A theory of the 

 physical nature of the fixed stars is added, 

 which regards them as reflections from the 

 diversified surface of a solid shell inclosing 

 the solar system. 



Stories of our Country. Historical Se- 

 ries, Book HI, Part I. Compiled and 

 Arranged by James Johonnot. Hlus- 

 trated. Kew York : D. Appleton & Co. 

 Pp. 207. Price, 47 cents. 



The design of this book is clearly ex- 

 pressed in the preface : " By the use of this 

 little work, the pupil has all the aids to 

 reading which characterize ordinary reading- 

 books — lessons for practice, variety in style, 

 and all the necessities of elementary elocu- 

 tion. Besides these, he gets all the interest 

 that the story excites, the knowledge which 



it unfolds, and the sentiment which it im- 

 parts, and the reading-lesson becomes a 

 potent force in mental and moral develop- 

 ment." The selections relate to the early 

 explorations of America, to colonial times, 

 and the Revolution, with a few stories of 

 the War of 1812 and the Mexican War. 

 They have an intensely vivid character, 

 which is heightened by the spirited illustra- 

 tions. Such a book as this can not fail to 

 fascinate the pupils for whom it is prepared, 

 and turn the lesson which was a hated 

 drudgery with the old-fashioned reading- 

 books into a delightful exercise. 



Second Annual Report of the Forest Com- 

 mission OF THE State of New York. 

 1886, Albany. Pp. 177. 



The secretary of the commission, Mr. 

 A. L. Train, who prepared this report, states 

 in a prefatory note that as the commission 

 has not been supplied with funds for investi- 

 gations, experiments, surveys, etc., informa- 

 tion obtainable only by such means can not 

 be expected in the report. He has accord- 

 ingly presented an account of what work 

 the commission has been able to do since 

 its appointment, together with a compila- 

 tion of facts and opinions bearing on the 

 subject of forestry, which might enlist "the 

 aid of the people more earnestly in the im- 

 portant effort to maintain the remnant of 

 the forest area still left to them." The 

 commission has already secured the pay. 

 ment into the State treasury of $14,057.09 

 for trespasses, and for timber illegally cut 

 on State lands, and has stopped, probably 

 permanently, these illegal practices. An- 

 other result of its work is the suppression 

 of forest fires during the past year. 



Cottage Residences. By A. J. Downing. 

 Edited by George E. Harney. Illus- 

 trated. New York : John Wiley & Sons. 

 Pp. 261. 



The original wide scope, refined taste, 

 and practical character of this work made 

 it of lasting value, and its worth was in- 

 creased by the revision and enlargement 

 which were given to its fifth edition in 1873, 

 The guiding principle of the author was to 

 combine the beauty of sentiment and of 

 propriety with fitness, and with each design 

 is given a suggestion as to the character of 

 the natural surroundings to which it is best 



