LITERATURE, BRITISH, IN 1879. 



of which are laid in tho native land of tho 

 author, which she lately occupied as a new and 

 fruitful fiold for her delicious social pictures ; 

 "Tho Diary of a Woman," by the refined and 

 admired Octave Feuillet (T>. Appleton & Co.) ; 

 monde," by Andr6 Theuriut (D. Appleton 

 & Co.); "Jean Teterol's Idea," by the popular 

 Chorbuliez (D. Appleton & Co.); "L'Assom- 

 moir," u Nana," and other works by Emilo 

 Zola, tho leader of the French realists (T. B. 

 Peterson & Brothers); "At a High Price," 

 by E. Werner [E. Burstenbinder], published in 

 the "Cobweb Series" of Estes & Lauriat; 

 'Young Muugars," by Andrd Theuriet (D. 

 Apploton & Co.); "Castle Hohonwald," by 

 Adolph Strockfuss, translated by Mrs. Wister. 

 (J. B. Lippincott & Co.) ; E. Marlitt's [Eugenie 

 John's) "In the Schillingscourt," translated by 

 Mrs. Wister (J. B. Lippincott & Co.); "Mar- 

 kof, the Russian Violinist," another bright 

 novel from the French of Henry Greville (T. B. 

 Peterson & Brothers) ; and " Tales from the 

 German of Paul Heyse " (D. Appleton & Co.), 

 which acquaint the reader with the most agree- 

 able modern writer of short stories. 



LITERATURE, BRITISH, IN 1879. Not 

 more than a moiety of the literature required 

 for the intellectual nourishment of the people 

 of tho United States is the product of Ameri- 

 can pens. A nation of readers, the Americans 

 avail themselves of the labors of the numerous 

 profession of well-trained writers in England 

 to such an extent that the enumeration of the 

 products of American literature proper gives a 

 very incomplete idea of the literature actually 

 required and consumed. The widely separated 

 and politically divided English-speaking nations 

 are becoming reunited in taste, thought, and 

 feeling through reading the same literature. 

 They form more truly than formerly a single 

 reading public. The successful English author 

 is sure of an American public, and American 

 authors are read and admired in Great Britain. 

 The use of a common literature in these two 

 distant, populous, and progressive countries is 

 most salutary in preserving in its purity and 

 power a noble and expressive language, in cor- 

 recting false and erratic tendencies, and in in- 

 fusing new thought and stimulating intellectual 

 activity, now in the one nation, now in the other. 



Herbert Spencer's " Data of Ethics " (New 

 York, D. Appleton <fe Co.) is the first part of 

 the final and most important of the series of 

 works in which the author's system of philoso- 

 phy is unfolded. The profoundest expositor 

 of the synthetic principles and method which 

 form the ground work of present science, Spen- 

 cer has already attained a commanding position 

 as a guide and philosopher. If the evolntion 

 doctrines are to become the belief of the fu- 

 ture, this may prove a supremely epoch-making 

 book ; for the establishment of a basis of moral- 

 ity, a settled faith, though founded on science, 

 must lead to a revival of conscience, must erect 

 a fundamental sanction, and reawaken tho 

 springs and principles of moral, action which 



are relaxed in an age of drifting skepticism. 

 The " Problems of Life and Mind " of the ver- 

 satile and skillful author, George Henry Lewes, 

 are his maturest and most thoughtful work. 

 The first one of the third series, " The Study 

 of Psychology, its Object, Scope, and Method " 

 (Boston, Houghton, Osgood & Co.), was left 

 unfinished at his death, and is given to the 

 world by his widow, who supplied the neces- 

 sary work of editing and revision. " The Re- 

 alistic Assumptions of Modern Science Exam- 

 ined " is a controversial treatise by Thomas M. 

 Herbert (New York, Macmillan & Co.). Wil- 

 liam Hurrell Mallock's " Is Life Worth Living? " 

 is one of the cleverest of that author's volumes 

 of satirical, trifling, airy reflections on the 

 intellectual conflicts of the age, written with 

 the levity of a mind which seems neither to 

 possess a serious faith nor to be troubled by 

 serious doubts (New York, G. P. Putnam's 

 Sons). Maudsley's "Pathology of the Mind" 

 (D. Appleton & Co.) is a valuable addition to 

 physiological psychology. An admirable series 

 of elementary works on special scientific sub- 

 jects, " Text-Books of Science " (D. Appleton 

 & Co.), includes " The Elements of Mechanics," 

 by Professor T. M. Goodeve ; " Metals," by 0. 

 L. Bloxam; "Introduction to the Study of 

 Inorganic Chemistry," by Dr. W. A. Miller ; 

 " Theory of Heat," by the late Professor J. 

 0. Maxwell; "The Strength of Materials and 

 Structures," by J. Anderson ; " Electricity and 

 Magnetism, "by Professor F. Jenkins; "Work- 

 shop Appliances," by C. P. B. Shelley; " Prin- 

 ciples of Mechanics," by Professor Goodeve; 

 "Introduction to the Study of Organic Chem- 

 istry," by Professor H. E. Armstrong ; " The 

 Qualitative Chemical Analysis and Laboratory 

 Practice," by Professor T. E. Thorpe ; " Teleg- 

 raphy," by W. H. Preece and J. Sivewright; 

 " Railway Appliances," by J. W. Barry ; u The 

 Art of Electrometallurgy," by J. Gore ; " In- 

 troduction to the Study of Chemical Philos- 

 ophy," by W. A. Tilden; "The Elements of 

 Machine Design," by Professor W. C. Unwin ; 

 "Treatise on Photography," by De W. Ab- 

 ney; and "The Study of Rocks," by Frank 

 Rutly. Professor Grant Allen, in "The Color 

 Sense " (Houghton, Osgood & Co.), combats 

 the theory of Magnus and Gladstone that the 

 perception of colors is a faculty developed 

 in man through civilization. Of Roscoe and 

 Schorlemmer's "Treatise on Chemistry" (D. 

 Appleton & Co.), the second volume deals with 

 the metals in a very complete and compre- 

 hensive manner. Gegenbauer's " Elements of 

 Comparative Anatomy " (Macmillan & Co.) is 

 the standard work on zoology treated from the 

 standpoint of the evolutionist school, now for 

 the first time placed within the reach of Eng- 

 lish readers. 



Among the small, readable manuals for popu- 

 lar instruction, which have multiplied so great- 

 ly within the last few years, none will serve a 

 better purpose than the series of " Health 

 Primers " (D. Appleton & Co.), prepared by 



