442 



LITERATUEE AND LITERAEY PEOGRESS IN" 1870. 



of exceptional interest. " Alaska and its Re- 

 sources," by 0. H. Dall, and "Tent Life in 

 Siberia," by George Kennan both fruits of an 

 unsuccessful, at any rate, unfinished enterprise 

 to connect us with the Eastern Continent by 

 a telegraph-line across Behring's Straits have 

 the attraction of unworn novelty and adven- 

 ture. The same regions are described in 

 " Overland through Asia," by Thomas W. 

 Knox. A deeper interest attaches to the pub- 

 lication of " Passages from the English Note- 

 Books of Nathaniel Hawthorne," in which the 

 writer is more to us than his topics, and the 

 objects he looked on serve us as mirrors in 

 which to study his image. A volume awaken- 

 ing melancholy associations is, " The Heart of 

 the Continent," by the late Fitzhugh Ludlow. 

 " The Seat of Empire," by 0. C. Coffin, to wit, 

 the Northwestern Territories, along and about 

 the course of the Northern Pacific Railway, 

 relates and tabulates facts that stimulate the 

 imagination, and seem to warrant the prophecy 

 of the title. To the voluminous literature of 

 the Union Pacific Railway is added " Kansas 

 and the Country Beyond," by Josiah Copley; 

 and " Letters from the Pacific Slope, or First 

 Impressions," by Harvey Rice. "Round the 

 "World," by Bishop Kingsley, of the Methodist 

 Episcopal Church, claims notice, and " Narra- 

 tive of a Journey to Musarda, the Capital of 

 the "Western Mandingoes," by Benjamin An- 

 derson. Some reprinted works of European 

 travellers will be noticed in another place. 



Works of description, rather than of narra- 

 tive, may conveniently be classified here ; such 

 as the new illustrated edition of " The "White 

 Hills," by the Rev. Thomas Starr King; Mr. 

 Benjamin G. "Willey's "History of the "White 

 Mountains ; " "Scenes of Wonder and Curiosity 

 in California," by J. M. Hutchings, a guide- 

 book to the Yosernite; Forwood's " Historical 

 and Descriptive Narrative of the Mammoth 

 Cave of Kentucky ; " Appletons' and Harper's 

 " Guide-books for Foreign and American Trav- 

 el," and similar works, of which every year 

 witnesses the issue of 'more and better than 

 their predecessors. 



SOCIAL SCIENCE AND REFORM. The activity 

 of the public mind, upon matters that may be 

 generally comprehended under this title, is 

 somewhat remarkable. We all remember a 

 time when the peace and prosperity of our 

 country, the restraints upon vice, and the 

 healthful elevation of public opinion, were 

 held up as the results of our " institutions." 

 Our statesmen and scholars, not less than 

 stump and Fourth-of-July orators, seemed to 

 think that the one true system of government 

 had at last been found, so perfect an instrument 

 of society that it might be called the method 

 of Nature. It is not that now people are coming 

 to a different opinion on the whole, but there 

 is a growing conviction that we are in exi- 

 gencies which the political machinery is not 

 adjusted to meet. Changes are proposed in 

 the representative system. Our revenue sys- 



tems, the civil service, the relation of corpora- 

 tions to the State, questions on pauperism, 

 prison reform, punishments, questions on every 

 thing that is questionable, come up for discus- 

 sion. They are to a great extent, as yet, in the 

 speculative stage. A beginning has been made 

 here and there toward changes, at least in the 

 way of experiment, notably in the amended 

 constitution of the State of Illinois. 



The American Association for the Promotion 

 of Social Science, though not attracting any 

 considerable public attention to its proceedings, 

 by its "Journal of Social Science," published 

 annually, brings under notice numerous topics 

 of great importance, and, by influence upon 

 minds able to influence others, has perceptibly 

 affected public opinion. 



Political economy would perhaps claim a 

 place under SCIENCE. But it can hardly be 

 called as yet an exact science. Her knights 

 claim to have repeatedly slain the dragon of 

 Protection, but the monster raises its head as 

 if little the worse for their onset. The protec- 

 tive policy is argued for by Mr. Horace Greeley, 

 in " Essays designed to elucidate the Science 

 of Political Economy," a volume which may 

 owe some of its cogency to a willingness to be 

 convinced, but even so it is good as a sign. Mr. 

 W. M. Grosvenor, on the other hand, in "Does 

 Protection Protect ? " examines in a lively and 

 forcible style the effects of different tariffs upon 

 industry. 



" The American System of Government," by 

 Ezra C. Seaman, discusses with much earnest- 

 ness, and with evidently full possession of the 

 facts regarding its practical working, the present 

 fashion of party government in comparison 

 with the system of government intended by 

 the framers of the Constitution. The defects 

 of the book are, the tendency to an indiscrim- 

 inate preference against whatever is new, and, 

 where a real abuse is deservedly denounced, a 

 failure to point out a remedy. The popular 

 discussion of "the woman question" has made 

 no perceptible advance. The conservative side 

 of the question is vigorously upheld in "Ecce 

 Foamina," by Carlos White. 



"Principles of Domestic Science," by Miss 

 Catherine E. Beecher and Mrs. H. B. Stowe, 

 is, for the most part, a reproduction, in another 

 form and title, of "The American Woman's 

 Home." But the amount of valuable thought 

 and suggestion contained in it makes it worth 

 serving up in different shapes, as it may reach 

 more readers. 



Mr. William O. Bourne's " History of the 

 Public School Society of the City of New 

 York " is an important contribution to the re- 

 corded experience to which there is always 

 fresh occasion for appealing in the never-com- 

 pleted discussion of systems and methods of 

 education. To that discussion some important 

 volumes have been given, especially on the 

 side of those who defend the hitherto generally 

 accepted methods of higher education, which 

 so many influences combine to disparage. 



