LITERATURE AND LITERARY PROGRESS IN 1870. 



443 





"Classical Stuclv; its Value illustrated by 

 KxtracH t'ntiii the \Vritins of Kmim-nt Sdiof- 

 il, with nn Introduction, by S. II. 

 . I.L. I), (the ablo head of Phillips 

 Andover, Mass., whoso sadden death, 

 write, is just reported by the press), as 

 it-t title indicates, is a vindication, for cl:i 

 studies, >f tlu- place they hold in the system of 

 liberal education. "The American Colleges 

 and the American Public," by Professor Noah 

 !, of Yale College, is on the same side of 

 that question, but also discusses, with a conser- 

 vative leaning, other questions of education, 

 nii'l the possibility and proper direction of im- 

 provement in our collegiate system and meth- 

 ods Prof. Porter unites the accomplishments 

 of liberal learning to the practical judgment of 

 a successful teacher, and has handled his theme 

 with a more complete grasp of his subject in 

 its various relations than is shown by many 

 who claim the public attention to their thoughts 

 upon it. " Proceedings of the Baptist National 

 Educational Convention," held in Brooklyn, in 

 April, while looking to the interests of the de- 

 nomination for which it was acting, include a 

 large amount of valuable suggestion and dis- 

 cussion on questions as broad as the range of 

 Christian education. 



The literature of the Temperance reform has 

 some noticeable accessions : " Rational Tem- 

 perance," by H. G. Spaulding (against prohi- 

 bition) ; "Arts of Intoxication," by J. T. Crane, 

 D. D., including the consideration of narcotics 

 as well as of alcoholic means of intoxication. 

 " Opium and the Opium Appetite ; with Notices 

 of Alcoholic Beverages, Tobacco, and Cocoa, 

 Ton, and Coffee, etc.," by Alonzo Calkins, M. D., 

 takes a still wider range. The " National Tem- 

 perance Society" has been doing much in the 

 way of issuing popular books, tales, and tracts 

 for general circulation, some of them having 

 considerable literary merit, including " The 

 Drinking Usages of Society," by Rt. Rev. 

 Alonzo Potter, D. D. To the same purpose is 

 " Intemperance, its Financial, Physical, Men- 

 tal, Social, and Moral Evils, and its Cause and 

 Remedy," by Thomas W. Deering, M. D. 



A controversy as to the admission or exclu- 

 sion of the Bible from use in the public schools 

 has been active, calling out, with a good deal 

 of newspaper and periodical writing, several 

 books, o. g. : " The Bible and the Common 

 Schools," by the author of " The Church, Rome 

 and Dissent ; " " The Question of the Hour;' ' 

 " The Bible, and the School Fund," by R. W. 

 Clark, D. D. ; " The Catholic View of the 

 Public School Question," by T. S. Preston; 

 " The Bible in the School Opinions of Indi- 

 viduals and of the Press, with Judicial Decis- 

 ions ; " "A Secular View of Religion in the 

 State, and the Bible in the Public Schools," 

 by E. P. Hurlbut. 



LAW. After the volumes of reported de- 

 cisions, mention should be made of "Criminal 

 Pleading and Practice, with Precedents," by 

 J. Bassett; "A Treatise on the Law of De- 



scent," by A. Bingham ; " On the Law relating 

 to Banks and Banking," by J. T. Mor.it-, Jr. ; 

 "Lectures introductory to the Study of the 

 l,:i\v," by George Sharswood ; "Leading 

 American Railway Cases, with Notes and < )pin- 

 ions," by Isaac Redfitld ; " Criminal 1'k-ading 

 and Practice," by J. Baasett; "A fluid*: lor 

 Administrators and Guardians in the Settle- 

 ment of Estates," by G. A. Clifford, enlarged 

 by J. Bassett; "Copyright and Patent Laws 

 of the United States, 17'JU to 1*70;" "Analy- 

 sis of American Law," by T. W. Powell ; "A 

 Treatise on Facts, as Subjects of Inquiry by a 

 Jury," by James Ram American edition with 

 additions ; " A Treatise on the Remedy by 

 Ejectment, and the Law of Adverse Enjoyment 

 in the United States," by Ransom II. Tyler ; 

 " A Treatise on the Law of the Domestic Rela- 

 tions," by James Schouler ; " The Lawyer's 

 Record Book," by William Aydelotte ; "Prac- 

 tice, Pleading, and Forms in Actions, both 

 Legal and Equitable," etc., specially adapted 

 to practice in California, Nevada, etc., by Mor- 

 ris M. Estee; "A Treatise on the Validity of 

 Verbal Agreements," by Montgomery H. 

 Throop ; " The Powers and Duties of Town 

 and Parish Officers," etc., in Massachusetts, by 

 W. A. Herrick; an excellent edition of " Black- 

 stone's Commentaries," by Prof. I. M. Cooley; 

 " A Selection of Cases on the Law of Contracts, 

 with Notes and Citations," by C. C. Lang- 

 dell ; besides improved editions of several well- 

 known and approved works. 



CLASSICAL AND OTHER TEXT-BOOKS. The 

 freedom with which systems of education are 

 canvassed, and new methods insisted upon, has 

 not sensibly weakened the hold of classical 

 studies, as instruments of culture, upon the 

 approving judgment of educators. On the 

 contrary, judging by the increasing merit of 

 the classical texts edited for the use of schools 

 and colleges, ancient literature was never more 

 earnestly studied. The tendency to a wider 

 survey of it is shown by the publication of such 

 a work as the " Captivi, Trinummus, and Ru- 

 dens," of Plautus, edited by Prof. C. S. Har- 

 rison, with judicious notes and other helps for 

 the student. Plautus is needed to a complete 

 course of Latinity if with the present ten- 

 dencies a complete course can be aimed at. A 

 more significant indication is the appearance 

 of an American edition of " An English-Greek 

 Lexicon," by C. D. Yonge, "with many New 

 Articles, an Appendix of Proper Names, and 

 Pillon's Greek Synonymes," and by way of 

 introduction " Au Essay on the Order of Words 

 in Attic Greek Prose," by Charles Short, LL. 

 D., Professor of Latin in Columbia College. 

 "Greek composition," says a notice of Prof. 

 Short's essay in the London Spectator in the 

 number that comes to hand as we are writing 

 " is almost struggling for its life in England, 

 and it is curious to see it receiving so hand- 

 some an acknowledgment from the very coun- 

 try whose utilitarianism seems most opposed 

 to snch studies." The " Greek Lexicon of the 



