LITERATURE, AMERICAN, IN 1884. (FICTION.) 



r perature of 213 0., and obtained liquid hy- 

 drogen. Contrary to the expectations founded 

 on the ordinary metallic behavior of hydrogen 

 that the liquid would present the appearance 

 of a molten metal like mercury, it exhibited 

 the mobile behavior and the transparency of 

 the hydrocarbons. 



Prof. James Dewar, of London, has pointed 

 out that he suggested the use of marsh-gas a 

 year before the experiments of M. Cailletet and 

 M. Wroblewski, having proposed it as a con- 

 venient substance for producing an exceeding- 

 ly low temperature, in a communication made 

 to the British Association meeting of 1883. 



Prof. Dewar has devised an apparatus for 

 producing liquefaction, which he recommends 

 as convenient for the purposes of lecture dem- 

 onstration, and as allowing the condensation 



435 



guished writers, both in England and the Unit- 

 ed States, have "gone over to the majority," 

 and eminent living authors have hardly shown 

 the same productiveness as in former years. 

 In the highest lines of intellectual work, sci- 

 ence and mental and moral philosophy, the 

 record is the least encouraging, though the 

 year was not without its notable productions. 

 Poetry is represented by a few names only 

 that the general reader will recognize. His- 

 tory and travel are represented by inferiority 

 both in amount and quality ; while in biography 

 and political and social science there was a 

 manifest advance not only in number of books 

 issued but in character, several of them having 

 been notably good and likely to prove perma- 

 nent additions to standard literature. The de- 

 partments in which America was specially pro- 



of comparatively large quantities of liquid oxy- litic were fiction, theology, law, medical science, 

 gen. It is shown in the engraving. The oxy- juvenile literature, and educational text-books. 



gen. it is snown in tne engraving, ine oxy 

 gen or air reservoir, C, is made of iron, and 

 may contain gas compressed to 150 atmos- 

 pheres. A is the stop-cock for regulating the 

 pressure of the gas in the glass tube F; the 

 copper tube which connects the gas-reservoir 

 C and the glass tube F is shown at I; while 

 D is the pressure-manometer. The air-pump 

 gauge is marked at J. H is the point of at- 

 atchinent leading to the air-pump. The glass 

 test-tube G, which contains the liquid ethy- 

 lene, solid carbonic acid, or liquid nitrous ox- 

 ide, which is to be boiled in vacuo, is placed 

 in the middle of a larger tube, and has holes, 

 shown at E, in the upper part, so that the cool 

 vapors in their course to the air-pump are 

 forced to pass around the outside of the vessel 

 and help to guard it from external radiation. 

 The lower part of the outer cylinder is covered 

 with pieces of chloride of calcium shown at K. 

 The stop-cock B is used for collecting the gas 

 yielded by the fluid and condensed vapor. The 

 tube F is five mm. in diameter and about three 

 ram. thick in the walls, and when filled with 

 fluid oxygen (for projection) holds at least 1*5 

 cubic centimetre, this is sufficient to show 

 the ebullition of the fluid at ordinary pressure, 

 and to demonstrate the great reduction of tem- 

 perature attendant on the change of state. The 

 liquefaction of oxygen may also be produced 

 by the use of solidified carbonic acid or lique- 

 fied nitrous oxide, substances which can be ob- 

 tained abundantly in their gaseous condition, 

 and are therefore more convenient in practice 

 than ethylene, which is troublesome to make 

 in quantity. 



LITERATURE, AMERICAN, IN 1884. The num- 

 ber of books published in the United States in 

 1884 shows a material increase over the aggre- 

 gate of 1883, which amounts to about 20 per 

 cent. In quality and value the product of dis- 

 tinctively American works is not such as to 

 inspire any marked degree of pride in any 

 increased activity or appearance of American 

 genius. The energy of the publisher has been 

 largely directed both to cheap reprints and new 

 editions of standard authors. Many distin- 



juvenile literature, and educational text-books. 

 It goes without saying that the bulk of the new 

 b.ooks of 1884, like that of preceding years, was 

 of ephemeral value. Activity was displayed 

 by publishers rather than by authors, if we 

 exclude from the latter class mere compilers 

 and editors and strictly professional men. 



We give the total number of books published 

 during the year 1884 in the United States, 

 classified and compared with those of 1883, in 

 the following summary taken from th$. u Pub- 

 lishers' Weekly," which probably closely ap- 

 proximates correctness. This list, it may be 

 added, includes reprints of foreign books, as well 

 as works by American authors, but an attempt 

 will be made to distinguish carefully between 

 these in the brief record and comment that 

 will be found in this article : 



It will be seen from this list that the increase 

 in number of books published was 607, the 

 only decrease being in the divisions of medical 

 science, hygiene, etc., in description and travel, 

 in history, and in humor and satire. 



Fiction. Among the novels of the year, per- 

 haps " Dr. Sevier," by G. W. Cable, may be 

 given a leading place. It is characterized by 

 the same quaint delineations of Creole life and 

 character that made his previous books so 

 noticeable. Two novels were written by F. 



