i6 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XIV. No. 335 



— The opening article in the Politicul Science Quarterly for 

 June is by Albert Shaw, on " IVIunicipal Government in Great 

 Britain." It is not a history, but an account of the existing system 

 of municipal government, which differs in important respects from 

 that prevailing in the United States. The governing authority in Brit- 

 ish cities is the Common Council, the members of which are chosen 

 by districts, and which has the appointment of the mayor and other 

 administrative officers. The mayor is always a member of the 

 council, and holds office for only a short time, while the other ap- 

 pointive offices are held for life. Mr. Shaw thinks this system 

 greatly superior to the American, because it centres both power 

 and responsibility in what is really a committee of the citizens, 

 while in America responsibility is practically destroyed by the divis- 

 ion of power and the complicated system of checks and balances. 

 He also disapproves giving the mayor of a city such great power 

 as the mayor of New York now wields, and remarks that " the one- 

 man power is on the decline everywhere in this age." The article 

 ought to be read by every American who is interested in municipal 

 affairs. The next paper in the Qitarterly is by J. H. Dougherty, 

 on the " Constitutions of New York," the first part of which was 

 published in September of last year. It is purely historical, and 

 contains nothing specially new or striking. Another historical 

 paper is that of J. W. Jenks on " The Whiskey Trust." The 

 writer does not inquire into the legality of the trust nor into its 

 economic effects, but merely relates the circumstances of its for- 

 mation and development ; and those wishing for information on 

 these points will find it in this article. Mr. E. P. Cheyney discusses 

 the recent decisions of the courts in " Conspiracy and Boycott 

 Cases," and thinks that they have been too harsh against the labor- 

 unions. He believes the judges have been too much influenced by 

 legal precedent, and have not given sufficient attention to the 

 changed condition of industry and society. Mr. F. W. Whitridge 

 writes on " Rotation in Office," strongly conderhning the United 

 States law which provides that all officers appointed by the Presi- 

 dent and Senate shall hold office for only four years, which he 

 justly holds to be one of the main supports of the spoils system. 

 Besides these essays and a number of book reviews, the Quarterly 

 contains a " Record of Political Events " from October to May, 

 which is evidently the continuation of those formerly published in 

 the New Princeton Review, which has now been merged with the 

 Qtiarterly. 



— Professor W. G. Sumner is to contribute to the Popular Scie?ice 

 Monthly, as the opening article of the July number, a discussion of 

 the question, " What is civil liberty ? " in which he reviews the 

 ideas of liberty that have prevailed, and the relations that rights 

 and duties have borne to each other, in the past, and points out the 

 tendencies that threaten civil liberty in the present. " Christianity 

 and Agnosticism " is the title of a further reply to Professor Hux- 

 ley, by Rev. Dr. Henry Wace, which will be printed in the July 

 issue. In this paper Dr. Wace undertakes to show that his oppo- 

 nent's latest arguments are evasive and involve numerous fallacies ; 

 he also courteously criticises Mrs. Humphry Ward, whom Profes- 

 sor Hu.xley had cited with approval. What man has done and 

 may do to lessen or increase the abundance of those food-fishes 

 that have the wide ocean for their home, is told in an article on 

 " The Artificial Propagation of Sea-Fishes," which Professor W. 

 K. Brooks will contribute ; and the railway problem now before 

 the country will be treated by Mr. Benjamin Reece, under the title 

 "Railway Maladjustments." Mr. Reece maintains that our laws 

 favoring railroad-building have produced an excess of roads, which 

 must be either a loss to the investors or a burden to the public, 

 and that the Interstate Commerce Law is a clumsy expedient which 

 takes little note of the working of economic forces. 



— D. C. Heath & Co. will publish, July 20, " An Introduction to 

 the Study of Shakspeare," by Hiram Corson, professor of English 

 literature, Cornell University. It will be an attempt to indicate to 

 the student some lines of Shakspearian study which may serve to 

 introduce him to the study of the plays as plays. The commen- 

 taries presented on " Romeo and Juliet," " King John," " Much 

 Ado about Nothing," " Hamlet," " Macbeth," and " Antony and 

 Cleopatra," aim chiefly to present the points of view which are de- 

 manded for a proper appreciation of Shakspeare's general attitude 



toward things, and his resultant dramatic art. An attempt is made 

 to show the moral spirit with which he worked, as distinguished 

 from a moralizing spirit, which it seems all-important to appreciate. 

 Herein consists the transcendent educating value of the plays. To 

 come into the fullest possible sympathy with this moral proportion, 

 with this harmony and truthfulness, should be the highest aim of 

 Shakspearian culture. 



— P. Blakiston, Son, & Co., medical and scientific publishers, 

 booksellers and importers, 1012 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, have 

 just ready " The Cerebral Palsies of Children," a clinical study from 

 the Infirmary for Nervous Diseases, Philadelphia, by William Osier, 

 M.D., F.R.C.P., London; physician- in-chief Johns Hopkins Hospi- 

 tal, Baltimore ; late professor of clinical medicine. University of 

 Pennsylvania. 



— Messrs. Ginn & Co. of Boston have for some time been pub- 

 lishing a series of classics for children, with the object of intro- 

 ducing the young to a better class of literature than most of Ihem 

 now read. The different volumes of the series comprise stories of 

 various kinds, biographical and historical works, and any others 

 that seem suitable for young readers. The series has proved suc- 

 cessful in a mercantile sense, and already comprises more than 

 thirty volumes. The latest issue is entitled " The Two Great Re- 

 treats of History," and contains Grote's account of the retreat of 

 the ten thousand Greeks, and an abridgment of Segur's account of 

 Napoleon's retreat from Moscow. Count S^gur was an officer in 

 the French army and an eye-witness of the scenes he relates, and 

 his story of the great disaster in Russia has long been celebrated. 

 The two works together make an interesting volume, and can 

 hardly fail to hold the attention of all young people that can appre- 

 ciate historical events. 



— The Magazine of American History opens its July number — 

 the beginning of its twenty-second volume — with a " Story of the 

 Washington Centennial," illustrated from photographs by amateurs 

 and other artists, executed during the progress of the celebration. 

 It is safe to say that no great public event was ever before seized 

 in all its interesting particulars, and placed before the popular eye, 

 with such felicitous results. The truthful pictures of the scenes 

 are rendered doubly attractive and valuable through the portraits 

 of the distinguished characters in our national life of to-day ap- 

 pearing in them. The view of the assemblage on the steps of the 

 Sub-treasury Building in Wall Street is good, and every reader will be 

 able to recognize in the picture the distinguished men present whose 

 faces are best known. " The Discovery of the Mississippi " is the 

 second paper, an instructive study by Henry Lee Reynolds. 

 "Washington and William the Silent — a Parallel," is an article 

 by M. M. Baldwin. Judge Dykman contributes the second part of 

 his account of " The Last ^Twelve Days of Major Andre." Gen. 

 Alfred E. Lee writes a paper, entitled " Some Glimpses of Hol- 

 land," in which he gives us a general idea of the habits and cus- 

 toms of our Dutch ancestors, and a better knowledge of our Dutch 

 cousins in their homes. There is a sketch of Hon. Robert C. Win- 

 throp, by Daniel Godwin ; and a short paper on Col. William S. 

 Smith, the son-in-law of John Adams, by M. D. Raymond. There 

 are other short articles, and the notes furnish fresh and curious 

 data. , 



— Roberts Brothers published on the 25th, in two handsome 

 octavo volumes, " Rogers and his Contemporaries," by P. W. Clay- 

 den, containing hitherto unpublished letters from Lord Byron, 

 Wordsworth, Coleridge, Walter Scott, Everett, Daniel Webster, 

 Prescott, Ticknor, Irving, and Sumner, all of which furnish abun- 

 dant materials for forming a just estimate of Rogers's place in 

 English literature and social life; "By Leafy Ways," by F. A. 

 Knight, describing wild life in Old England in as interesting a 

 manner as John Burroughs does that of New England, with fine 

 illustrations by E. T. Compton ; the second part (July to Decem- 

 ber) of E. E. Hale's " Sunday-School Stories ; " and " Sunday- 

 School Stories for Little Children," by Lucretia P. Hale and Mrs. 

 Bernard Whitman. 



— Medical Classics for June includes articles on " The Care of 

 the Hands, Finger-Nails, and Nail-Brushes ; " " The Doctor in the 

 Kitchen ; " " Fruit as a Food ; " " Strawberries as Food and Medi- 

 cine ; " " Blond Hair ; " " Wakefulness ; " " Early Rising ; " " Vaca- 



