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LITERATURE, AMERICAN, IN 1884. (SCIENCE.) 



of vers de societe, by Andrew Lang. There 

 was also a good collection of poems issued 

 under the attractive title of " Red-Letter Poems 

 by English Men and Women." The above 

 brief and meager record covers everything 

 worthy of even passing mention. 



General Literature. Edgar Evertson Saltns 

 was the author of a study of " Balzac," the 

 great French novelist, marked by nice insight 

 and thorough mastery of his subject, and pre- 

 senting a somewhat different view of the author 

 of the " Comedie Humaine " from that general- 

 ly held. Charles Godfrey Leland's volume of 

 American folk-lore, "Algonquin Legends of 

 New England," was not only attractively writ- 

 ten, but was a valuable addition to compara- 

 tive mythology. Oliver Bell Bunce's " My 

 House" was a graceful picture of an ideal 

 country home and its surroundings; and Don- 

 ald G. Mitchell's " Sheaf of Essays," bound to- 

 gether, showed this idol of a former genera- 

 tion in a light indicating that his hand had not 

 lost its old cunning. Mrs. Emerson's "In- 

 dian Myths " and Gatschet's " Legends of the 

 Creeks " were useful companion works to that 

 of Mr. Leland named above. To those inter- 

 ested in Indian studies, the "Iroquois Book of 

 Relics" and Dr. Brinton's "Aboriginal Amer- 

 ican Authors" also recommend themselves. 

 Baldwin's "Book Lover" was a pleasant little 

 volume, and Adams's " Hand- Book of Ameri- 

 can Authors " was a fit companion to his 

 " Hand-Book of British Authors," published 

 last year. McCallum's " Studies in High and 

 Low German Literature" made a very con- 

 venient hand-book for the literary student, and 

 a similar work was edited by Lafcodio Hearn 

 under the name of " Stray Leaves from Stray 

 Literatures." The closing volumes of the "Com- 

 plete works of William Cullen Bryant," edited 

 by Parke Godwin, included his prose writings, 

 which of course are far less significant in the 

 public mind than are his poems. 



In American reprints under this head, we 

 find nothing of special value except George 

 Eliot's " Essays and Leaves from a Note- 

 Book," a collection of articles originally pub- 

 lished in magazine form ; Philip Gilbert Ham- 

 erton's " Human Intercourse," a wise and 

 suggestive series of studies both genial and 

 searching; Bain's " Practical Essays "; "The 

 Enchiridion of Wit"; and Andrew Lang's 

 " Custom and Myth." 



Science. The literary contributions to 

 American science were not as many and no- 

 ticeable as in the preceding year. John Fiske's 

 "Excursions of an Evolutionist" was marked 

 by the author's well-known characteristics of 

 clear statement and suggestiveness. As indicated 

 by the title, the book is made up of essays. His 

 "Destiny of Man " was another publication in 

 some sense complementing the preceding one, 

 and entering into a study of the probabilities 

 of the future of the race. The subject of evo- 

 lution seems to have become the hinge on 

 which leading scientific speculation swings. 



Dr. Coues was the author of an original and 

 interesting speculation on life called " Biogen," 

 President Alexander Winchell produced a series 

 of intelligent and attractive papers well suited 

 to strike the popular taste in his " Geological 

 Excursions," and Prof. Shaler was responsible 

 for a new and excellent text-book on" Geology." 

 Meteorology was represented by Mr. Davis in 

 a work entitled " Whirlwinds, Cyclones, and 

 Tornadoes,"andBasmett's"Earthquakes"treat- 

 ed a topic of general interest to intelligent 

 readers, in the fact that such phenomena, 

 among all those dangers which threaten hu- 

 manity on the part of physical nature, are the 

 most startling and dramatic. There were sev- 

 eral books of what may be called familiar home 

 science, peculiarly useful in the hints they give 

 as to how easy it is to find matter of great in- 

 terest and instruction in the things nearest our 

 every-day life. These were Rev. Dr. McCook's 

 " Tenants of an Old Farm," Dening's " Byways 

 of Nature and Life," and "A Naturalist's Ram- 

 bles about Home," by Charles C. Abbott. The 

 latter two books were executed in a peculiar- 

 ly attractive vein, and well calculated to stimu- 

 late the minds and sharpen the eyes of readers. 

 Baldwin's " New England Orchids" and James's 

 " North American Mosses " collated important 

 observations in departments of botany in which 

 people would commonly be interested. Dr. 

 Elliot Coues published a new and revised edi- 

 tion of his "Key to North American Birds," 

 which is recognized as a standard authority in 

 ornithology. Among Government publications 

 of more than ordinary interest were the " An- 

 nual Report of the United States Fish Com- 

 mission " and the " Geological and Geographical 

 Survey of the Territories." The second of the 

 two parts of the latter gave a very full summary 

 of the wonders of the Yellowstone valley, and 

 both works issued were acknowledged by the 

 scientific world abroad as worthy of the warm- 

 est commendation. It may be noticed that U. 

 S. Government publications in science stand at 

 the head of official scientific reports throughout 

 the world for the thoroughness with which 

 they are executed and the valuable results at- 

 tained. Among scientific books, too, may be 

 classed the concluding volume of " Appletons' 

 Home-Books," published under the title of 

 " Health at Home." J. Leonard Corning, M. 

 D., was the author of an elaborate treatise on 

 " Brain Exhaustion, with some Preliminary 

 Considerations on Cerebral Dynamics." The re- 

 sults reached were drawn from direct clinical 

 observation and deductions derived from physi- 

 ology and experimental pathology. A valua- 

 ble compend by Prof. Nathan Sheppard called 

 "Darwinism as stated by Darwin Himself" 

 gives passages from the writings of the most 

 celebrated of modern naturalists, which by 

 systematic arrangement are made to present 

 in the clearest light the order and scope of 

 Darwin's argument as to the origin and evolu- 

 tion of animals and men. Not least valuable 

 among the issues of the year were the two 



