424 



LITERATURE, AMERICAN, IN 1891. 



on by the Government, with no attempt to dis- 

 cuss its merits or those of any other system; 

 George M. Coffin prepared a " Hand-book for 

 National Bank Shareholders," defining their legal 

 rights and liabilities, while a third edition with 

 important additions was made of his " Hand-book 

 for Bank Officers " in general. Three additional 

 chapters were annexed to Charles F. Dunbar's 

 " Chapters on the Theory and History of Bank- 

 ing," and Hon. John Wanamaker published an 

 argument in favor of " Postal Savings Banks." 

 G. M. Harcourt wrote a " Banking and Commer- 

 cial Guide " ; Mrs. Sallie Joy White, on " Business 

 Openings for Girls," eminently practical: while 

 " Type- writing and Type- writers," by Arthur 

 E. Moore, told also how to choose a machine. 

 The " Book of Legal Dictation," by Charles Cur- 

 rier Beale, and " Office Work in Short-hand " are 

 useful in their line, as is also a practical guide for 

 inventors by E. P. Thompson, entitled " How to 

 make Inventions." " How to make Money out 

 of Inventions" was told by A. Schemmel. D. 

 Walter Brown explained the " American Patent 

 System." " Stories of Industry " for young peo- 

 ple, by A. Chase and E. Clow, give an idea of the 

 trades and manufactures of the world ; only Vol. 

 I, however, was issued during the year. T. 

 O'Conor Sloane described " Rubber Hand- 

 stamps and the Manipulation of India Rubber." 

 Vol. II was published of the " Architectural and 

 Building Monthly." " The Domestic House 

 Planner " was anonymous. " A Move for Better 

 Roads " was the title given to prize essays on 

 the subject of the common roads of the United 

 States. F. Hodgman drew up a " Manual of Land 

 Surveying," and Francis Wyatt wrote on " The 

 Phosphates of America." " The Tannins," of 

 which Vol. I appeared, by Henry Trimble, leads 

 naturally to " Leather Manufacture," by John 

 W. Stevens, and thence to " That Uncomfortable 

 Shoe," a plain and practical treatise by Avard J. 

 Moore. " The Principles of Agriculture " were 

 set down for common schools by I. 0. Winslow, 

 and " Mushrooms " were exhaustively treated by 

 William Falconer. Mrs. Nettie Colburn May- 

 nard startled the public with the question " Was 

 Abraham Lincoln a Spiritualist ? " " The Tran- 

 sition Curve Field Book," by Conway R. How- 

 ard:; lt The Engine Runner's Catechism," by 

 Robert Grrioashaw ; " Constructive Steam-Engi- 

 neering," by Jay M. Whitham ; " The Corliss 

 Engine," by John T. Henthorn ; " Valve Gears," 

 by H. W. Spangler; Vol. IV of "Practical 

 Blacksraithiag," by M. T. Richardson ; " Strength 

 and Properties or Materials," by William G. 

 Kirkaldy ; " Architectural Iron and Steel," by 

 William H. Birkmire ; with " The Metal Work- 

 er," a series of essays on house-heating, edited by 

 A. O. Kittredge ; and " A Treatise upon Wire," 

 by J. Bueknall Smith, are pre-eminently suggest- 

 ive and valuable. " Hannibal," in the " Great 

 Captaia .Series," by Theodore Ayrault Dodge, 

 carries en his history of the art of war to the 

 battle of Pydna, 168* B. c. ; while "The Princi- 

 ples of Strategy " were illustrated mainly from 

 American campaigns by John Bigelow, Jr.. " A 

 Manual of Guard Duty," by L. W. V. 1 yion, 

 was published by the authority of the ^hera^ e " 

 pertinent, Washington, D. C.. and " DrillVg O u- 

 latione for Street Riot Duty " were drawnL j s by 

 Gen. Albert Ordway. VoL II of " Modern \ O f " 



was translated from the French of V. Derre- 

 cagaix, by C. W. Foster ; Henry Metcalf devoted 

 two volumes to " Ordnance and Gunnery " ; A. 

 C. Gould (Ralph Greenwood) wrote on " Modern 

 American Rifles " ; a second edition was made of 

 " Notes on Military Science and the Art of War," 

 by Joseph M. Califf, and William W. Dietz pre- 

 pared " The Soldier's First-aid Hand-book." 

 But perhaps the most important book of the year, 

 in this line, was " The New Infantry Drill Re- 

 gulations," which supersedes Upton's " Tactics." 

 " The Old Navy and the New " was the subject of 

 a timely volume by Rear-Admiral Daniel Am- 

 men, U. S. N., with an appendix of personal 

 letters from Gen. Grant ; and " Ocean Steam- 

 ships " was the title given to a series of articles 

 giving a popular account of construction, develop- 

 ment, management, and appliances which ap- 

 peared in " Scribner's Magazine," from the pens 

 of F. E. Chadwick, J. D. J. Kelley, Ridgely Hunt, 

 and others, collected into a handsome book. 



" Patterson's Illustrated Nautical Dictionary " 

 was edited by Howard Patterson ; William Gil- 



S'n proposed a scheme for " The Cosmopolitan 

 ailway " ; William R. Button described " The 

 Washington Bridge," known during its construc- 

 tion as the Harlem River Bridge and Manhattan 

 Bridge ; and Wolcott C. Foster wrote " A Trea- 

 tise on Wooden-trestle Bridges." "Weddings" 

 were treated by the author of " Cards," and the 

 work entitled " Gentlemen " gave hints necessary 

 on occasion. " Shall Girls propose ? " was asked 

 by a speculative bachelor, among other papers on 

 " Love and Marriage." " Health, Happiness, and 

 Longevity " were eulogized, and rules given for 

 their attainment by L. P. McCarty, and Eleanor 

 Kirk (E. M. Ames) told succinctly " The Woman's 

 Way to Health and Beauty." Agnes II. Mor- 

 ton's handy little volume on " Correspondence " 

 gave suggestions, precepts, and examples for the 

 constructing of letters, and a practical guide for 

 " copy " writers, by Alexander G. Nevins, was 

 entitled "The Blue Pencil and how to avoid 

 it." " The Press of North Carolina in the Eight- 

 eenth Century," by Stephen B. Weeks, was of 

 special interest to printers and publishers. " Na- 

 tional Flowers," by Fannie A. Dean, was sug- 

 gested by the discussion concerning the national 

 flower of America. A. Minott Wright contended 

 for the United States as the greatest country in 

 the world in " Three Months with the New York 

 Herald " ; while " The Britannica answered and 

 the South vindicated" was a defense of that 

 section against the aspersions of the " Encyclopae- 

 dia Britannica" and a criticism of the work by 

 T. K. Oglesby. " The American Catalogue," in 

 three parts (founded by F. Leypoldt in 1876, and 

 compiled under the editorial direction of R. R. 

 Bowker), covered the books from July 1, 1884, to 

 June 30, 1890, and other valuable works of refer- 

 ence were " United States Government Publica- 

 tions, July 1, 1884, to June 30, 1890," by R. R. 

 Bowker and J. H. Hickcox ; Vol. I of a " Com- 

 plete Index to Littell's Living Age," for which 

 we are indebted to Edward Roth ; and " The 

 Co-operative Index to Periodicals for 1890." 

 edited by William I. Fletcher. " The Scientific 

 American Cyclopaedia of Receipts, Notes, and 

 Queries," edited by Albert A. Hopkins, contains 

 upward of 12,000 recipes. L. P. McCarty issued 

 the " Annual Statistician and Economist," and 





