LITERARY NOTICES. 



133 



calls attention to the fact that not even the 

 most careful chemical examination of the 

 functions of the stomach will put within our 

 grasp the divining-rod that will, as it were, 

 " magically call forth the fountain of knowl- 

 edge from the adamantine rocks of obscure 

 symptoms." 



The reputation that the American people 

 have of being a nation of dyspeptics is not 

 altogether without foundation; and where 

 gastric disorders are even moderately preva- 

 lent, such a work as this must be of value in 

 enabling all physicians to be well informed 

 regarding the latest methods of diagnosis 

 and treatment of gastric diseases. 



The third and concluding volume of Prof. 

 A. B. Harfs Epochs of American History 

 Division and Reunion brings down the nar- 

 rative from the accession of Jackson to the 

 end of President Cleveland's first administra- 

 tion. In the construction of the series each 

 author has kept his own point of view, and 

 no pains have been taken to harmonize 

 divergencies of judgment ; but it is believed 

 that all these substantially agree as to the 

 underlying causes of the growth of our coun- 

 try. The present volume is by Woodrow 

 Wilson, and is the work of a master. Only 

 a sketch in broad outline has been attempt- 

 ed not so much a compact narrative as a 

 synopsis, as rapid as possible, of the larger 

 features of public affairs in the sixty years 

 it covers. The story is told in four parts : 

 the period of critical change, when the spoils 

 system was introduced and sectional diver- 

 gence began to be disclosed ; the period of 

 the prominence of the slavery question ; the 

 period of secession and civil war ; and the 

 period of the rehabilitation of the Union. 



A paper on The Financial History of 

 Virginia from 1609 to 1776, published by 

 William Zcbrina Ripley in the Columbia Col- 

 lege Studies in History, Economics, and Pub- 

 lic Law, is a contribution to the effort to 

 trace the gradual development of systems 

 and theories in financial management. One 

 does not look, the author says, " to primi- 

 tive society and its institutions for well- 

 rounded principles and technical details ; for 

 to construct a science of finance where there 

 was none in fact, would be to pervert the 

 course of history. Theories do not arise 

 until experience has taught man the abuses 



attendant upon social life. Consequently 

 the financial history of this oldest American 

 Commonwealth for many years is merely the 

 story of the simple methods adopted by a 

 people too fully occupied in conquering a 

 wilderness to spin fiscal theories, who wanted 

 to support the incipient Government in the 

 easiest possible way." The institution of 

 slavery had a marked influence on the 

 course of development in Virginia, and was 

 the ultimate factor that distinguished this 

 colony from those of New England. The 

 fiscal systems of the two regions became 

 radically different, because the outward con- 

 ditions of climate, soil, and situation were 

 totally unlike ; and the history attests the 

 truth of the law that the direct environ- 

 ment is, after all, the most powerful factor in 

 shaping early social institutions. 



The study of Bankruptcy in the light of 

 comparative legislation, contributed by S. 

 Whitney Dunscomb, Jr., to the Columbia 

 College Series of Studies in History, Eco- 

 nomics, and Public Law, comprises a re- 

 view of the laws and processes of the Euro- 

 pean nations and the United States relative 

 to insolvency. In the first chapter the con- 

 ditions are stated which constitute bank- 

 ruptcy or insolvency under the laws of the 

 several States, and terms are defined. Then 

 the effects are described as to the person 

 and juristic status of the bankrupt, as to 

 his property, and as to the acts performed 

 by him ; the operations of bankruptcy ; the 

 closing of it, by composition relinquish- 

 ment of assets, and other methods ; the reha- 

 bilitation of the bankrupt ; and preventive 

 compositions or compositions before bank- 

 ruptcy. The second part of the essay relates 

 to Bankruptcy in the United States under 

 the National Bankrupt Law and the insolvent 

 laws of the several States. 



A book fitting the prominent feature of 

 the immediately present time is A Brief 

 History of Panics, "Englished" from the 

 French of Clement Juylar, and edited by De 

 Courcy W. Thorn, who has also furnished 

 an introductory essay setting forth the indi- 

 cations of approaching panic. The book 

 was written before the present disturbances 

 in the money market set in, the premonition 

 of which is spoken of as " a somewhat uneasy 

 feeling about silver," and when some of Mr. 

 Thorn's symptoms were already apparent; 



