WITH OUR EXCHANGES. 



MCCUIRE S MAGAZINE. 



A very amusing little tale in the Febru- 

 ary number is called "The Wee Tay Ta- 

 ble," by Shan F. Bullock. It tells of the 

 many drawbacks that were undergone by 

 a certain Mrs. Breen, of Irish extraction, 

 in her efforts to pose as a leader of fashion 

 among the numerous Mrs. Flahertys, Ho- 

 gans and Dolans, by whom she was sur-" 

 rounded. The leading article is by Dr. 

 Fridtjof Nansen, the great explorer and 

 deals with the subject of "Future North 

 Polar Explorations," and contains many 

 illustrations from pictures taken expressly 

 for this magazine. "Some Great Portraits 

 of Lincoln," in this same issue, gives a 

 great number of portraits of this, to my 

 mind, greatest of all heroes, many of them 

 having never before been published. 



LITERARY DIGEST. 



In the Science and Invention Depart- 

 ment of Jan. 29, is an article giving the 

 conclusions of noted scientists as to wheth- 

 er or not- suicide is a contagious malady. 

 While it is not due to microbes and cannot 

 therefore be strictly called contagious, the 

 learned men say it is a moral contagion, 

 due to the imitative faculty inherent in the 

 human race. They base their conclusions 

 upon a table of figures showing the vast in- 

 crease of suicides in France, during sixty- 

 seven years. 



Another interesting thing in the same 

 department is an account of how deaf 

 mutes are taught to hear and speak, being 

 a translation from the French of an article 

 by Prof. E. Drouot of the National Deaf 

 Mute Institution of Paris. The training 

 of the deaf ear to hear is carried on by 

 means of a specially constructed phono- 

 graph. 



THE FORUM. 



The first article in the January number 



is "Our Coast Defences," certainly a very 

 pertinent topic at this time of "wars and 

 rumors of war." The writer, Nelson A. 

 Miles handles his subject in a very able 

 manner, taking the stand that, as Wash- 

 ington once said, "to be prepared for war 

 is one of the most effectual means of pre- 

 serving peace." G. G. Vest contributes his 

 views on the silver question under the 

 heading "The Future of Bimetallism." 

 Among the many other interesting articles 

 are "China and the Chinese Railway con- 

 cessions," ''Is it worth -while to take out a 

 Patent?" "The Incorporation of the 

 Working-class" and "Education in Ha- 

 waii." 



REVIEW OF REVIEWS. 



"Plans for Currency Keform" are d ; s- 

 cussed by Charles A. Conant in the Janu- 

 ary number. William Howe Tolman sums 

 up the progress of New York city under 

 the administration of Mayor Strong. 

 Count Tolstoi, who is a strong adherent of 

 Henry George's view of the single tax, 

 writes of the "Doctrine of Henry George." 

 In the review of the leadins articles of the 

 month those concerning the Hawaiian 

 question receive the most prominence. 



Some time ago we received a copy of the 

 Australian edition of the Review of Re- 

 views, which is published at Melbourne. 

 The editors are W. T. Stead, of England; 

 Albert Shaw, of America; and W. H. Fit- 

 chett, B. A., of Australia. It is arranged 

 on the plan of the American Edition, es- 

 pecial attention being given Colonial af- 

 fairs. 



Under the side-head "Unused Australia" 

 are given some rent figures which are so 

 small as to be amusing. For ipstance, the 

 rent paid for tracts of Crown land in New 

 South Wales is a little over ld per acre, 

 or about 6 cents per acre in American 



