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POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



rency.* There are few important effects that do not flow from mixed 

 causes, and Mr. Schoenhof makes it plain that the fixing of prices for com- 

 modities is no exception. Besides the condition of the currency he names 

 wages, profit rates, expense of distribution, taxation, science and invention, 

 interest, transportation, and monopolies as affecting prices. His views, as 

 expressed in former writings, having been criticised severely, he has been 

 led to examine for this volume the prices of the period anterior to the dis- 

 covery of the American silver mines and to carry the comparison down to 

 the present time. He is thereby confirmed in the opinion that the quan- 

 tity of money in circulation has little influence on prices, but that its 

 quality is more important. Further, " that price increase brought about 

 by the issue of depreciated currency or other inflating causes has always 

 acted detrimentally to the interests of the working classes. " In the early 

 chapters he gives statistics of the output of gold and silver from the mines 

 of the world from 1492 to 1894, and the value ratios of gold to silver at 

 various times, showing that the latter were not affected by the relative 

 quantities of the two metals in existence. He maintains that silver has 

 become cheapened because it has been left behind as a money metal by 

 advancing civilization. The main part of the volume consists of a history 

 of prices in England, France, and Germany from the middle ages to the 

 present time, combined with which there is considerable history of Euro- 

 pean currency. Following this are four chapters in which the influence of 

 what the author regards as the true price-making factors is set forth in 

 some detail. Mr. Schoenhof is an expert in economic research, and his 

 positions are all supported by statistics and historical facts. 



GENERAL NOTICES. 



We venture to say that no writer has 

 made the Alps more attractive to thoughtful 

 persons than Prof. Tyndall has. His evident 

 enjoyment of the physical and mental exhila- 

 ration afforded by scaling the icy peaks, his 

 full appreciation of the beauties of the moun- 

 tains, of which his trained observation enabled 

 him to see more than the mere tourist, and 

 the simplicity and vividness of his style of 

 writing combine to give the accounts of his 

 climbs the fascination of tales of adventure. 

 His Glaciers of the Alps fwas first published 

 in 1860, and for many years past has been 

 out of print. It is divided into two parts : 

 the first, chiefly narrative, describes his 

 ascents and traverses of the mountains in 

 1856-59, which included two ascents of Mont 

 Blanc, two of Monte Rosa, one of the Fin- 



* A History of Money and Prices. By J. 

 Schoenhof. Pp. 352, 12mo. New York and Lon- 

 don: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Price, $1.50. 



t The Glaciers of the Alps. By John Tyndall. 

 Pp. 445, 12mo. London, New York, and Bombay: 

 Longmans, Green & Co. Price, 10s. M. ; $2.50. 



steraarhorn, a winter expedition to the Mer 

 de Glace, and many minor climbs ; the sec- 

 ond, chiefly scientific, contains his observa- 

 tions on the Alpine ice and his discussions 

 of the glacial theories current when they 

 were made. In the narrative part the human 

 element is delightfully conspicuous. Profs. 

 Huxley and Ramsay were his companions in 

 some expeditions, and to the reader who 

 knows both them and the author only as 

 prominent English scientists it is supremely 

 comic to read of Tyndall being buried in hay 

 by his guide for a night's rest in the loft of 

 a cheese-maker's cowhouse, or of Huxley 

 lighting and holding wax matches one after 

 another to furnish light for the others to get 

 an early breakfast by. These experiences, 

 too, are not without their spice of danger, 

 and the author makes it plain that the rocks 

 and ice are not to be trifled with. 



The second part of the book is introduced 

 by three chapters explaining the nature of 

 light and heat, after which the phenomena 

 of ice exhibited in glaciers are discussed at 



