420 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



an early trait, and is marked throughout 

 her career. She was sympathetic with ad- 

 vanced ideas, and, although neither philo- 

 sophic nor hardly original in her bent of 

 mind, she had an intuitive sympathy with 

 the pioneers of liberal inquiry, and always 

 spoke of their work with cordial and hearty 

 appreciation. We congratulate the author 

 of the book on the admirable performance 

 of her agreeable task. 



Pr.oPERTY AND PROGRESS, or a Brief Inquiry 

 into Contemporary Social Agitation in 

 England. By W. H. Mallock. New 

 York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 248. 

 Price, $1. 



Whatever we may think of Mr. Mal- 

 lock as a philosopher aiming to get at the 

 valuation of Hfe, or as a constructor of so- 

 cial hypotheses, we must grant that at any 

 rate he is a brilliant critic and an effective 

 controversialist. In this volume he over- 

 hauls the peculiar socialistic doctrines of 

 Mr. Henry George and Mr. H. M. Hyndman, 

 exposing their fallacies and characterizing 

 their influence with much acuteness of rea- 

 soning and equal bluntness of speech. Those 

 interested in these subjects will find the book 

 more than readable. It consists of articles 

 first contributed to the " Quarterly Keview," 

 and reprinted without substantial alteration. 

 The writer's aim in the discussion is thus 

 stated : " One of the principal features by 

 which Continental politics have been, during 

 modern times, distinguished from those of 

 England, has, during the last few years, de- 

 veloped itself in England also. I refer to 

 the attempts being now made by extreme 

 radicals on the one hand, and avowed so- 

 cialists on the other, to identify politics in 

 the minds of the poorer classes with some 

 wholesale seizure, in their behalf, on the 

 property, or on part of the property of the 

 richer ; to represent the accomplishment of 

 such a seizure as the main task incumbent 

 on a really popular government, and to 

 madden the people with a conviction that, 

 until the seizure is made, they will be suf- 

 fering a chronic wrong. 



"When we consider the squalor and 

 misery that exist in the heart of our civili- 

 zation, it is not surprising that language of 

 this kind should sound to many like a new 

 social gospel. The aim of the present volume 

 is to examine, accurately and calmly, into 



the exact amount of truth underlying this 

 appeal to the sympathies, and to enable the 

 reader to judge whether our contemporary 

 social agitators are men of science, reveal- 

 ing to us new social possibilities, or merely 

 quacks beguiling us with new delusions — 

 whether, in other words, they are the best 

 friends of the people, or whether they are 

 practically their worst and their most insidi- 

 ous enemies." 



The Story op the Coup d'I^tat. By M. 

 DE Maupas. Translated by Albert D. 

 Vandam. New York : D. Appleton & 

 Co. Pp. 487. Price, $1.75. 



The history of the coup d^eiat^ the great 

 crime by which Louis Napoleon convert- 

 ed France from a republic into an empire, 

 will ever be of memorable interest, from 

 the character and consequences of the 

 event ; but the main interest of the present 

 volume is derived from the fact that it is 

 written by one who was not only himself in 

 the affair, but one of its master-spirits. M. 

 de Maupas was chief of the police in Paris, 

 and as such had control of the operations 

 by which the usurpation of Louis Napoleon 

 was carried out. It may be that there is 

 not much in the volume in the way of reve- 

 lation, or that was not more or less known 

 before, but it is an important contribution 

 to the historic literature of that period, 

 from its detailed, circumstantial, and sys- 

 tematic account of the transaction. 



The Ellipticon; an Exposition of the 

 Earth's Astronomy and the Equation 

 OF Time. By J. L. Naish, B. A. Two- 

 page Chart. New York : J. L. Naish, 

 43 East Twelfth Street. 



This chart is an attempt, by means of 

 graphic diagrams and an explanatory text, 

 to make clear the difficult astronomical 

 problem of the equation of time. It con- 

 tains on one side six representations of the 

 terrestrial and celestial sphere, intended to 

 illustrate the relations of the ecliptic and 

 the equator, motion in the ecliptic and in 

 the equator, and mean and apparent time ; 

 and on the other side a section-view of the 

 celestial sphere as regarded from the north 

 pole of the ecliptic — the ellipticon — on 

 which are given the position of the sun, the 

 equation of time, and other elements of the 

 problem, for each day of the year. 



