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SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XV. No. 374 



lion, and by providing an inlroducfcion and a copious body of 

 notes, to enable any intelligent reader to draw protit and delight 

 from tbis masterpiece of poetical pbilosonhy. This volume will 

 furnish an admirable introduction to a general course in poetry, 

 •or to the poetry of the Elizabethan age in particular. As one of 

 the best specimens of the earlier Elizabethan prose, it will be use- 

 ful to the student of English prose in its historical development ; 

 and as the first annotated edition of the " Defence of Poesy," in a 

 critical text formed by the collation of the two earliest copies, it 

 will be indispensable to libraries, public and private. 



— George L. English, Edwin C. Atkinson, and William Niven, 

 ^dealers in minerals, having on April 1 entered into a partnership, 

 the business of each will be carried on by the new firm under the 

 name of George L. English & Co., at the old stands, 1513 Chest- 

 nut Street, Philadelphia, and 739 and 741 Broadway, New York. 

 With enlarged facilities and experience, they hope to give even 

 more careful attention to the wishes of customers in the future 

 than in the past. 



— Messrs. Ginn & Co. announce to be published in May, "Ref- 

 erence Handbook of English History for Readers, Students, and 

 Teachers," by W. II. Gurney. This work is intended as a con- 

 stant companion and assistant to the reader or student of English 

 history, affording him a rapid and easy method of placing his 

 persons and dates before him in accurate relationship to each 

 other, and helping him to draw them out of the maze of confu- 

 sion and contradiction in which we find them in nearly all our 

 great histories. It identifies enery prominent man from the time 

 of the Confessor to Victoria, giving the date of his death, to whom 

 married, and the number and names of his children. Unless the 

 student becomes thoroughly acquainted wilh the characters about 

 whom he is reading, the reading of history is apt to be confusing, 

 uninteresting, and conflicting. The materials for this work have 

 been drawn from Dugdale, Freeman, Palgrave, Longman, San- 

 ford, and Townsend, and many other valuable works, the whole 

 passed through a critical examination and comparison, in which 

 the impossible has been rejected and the reliable retained. It 

 saves the reader hours of study, and makes his work a pleasure. 



— The Appletons have published, in their series of History 

 Primers, the "History of Egypt," by F. C. H. Wendel. The 

 work gives evidence of careful and conscientious study, and it is 

 also plain in style. It has, however, the common fault of short 

 histories, —an excessive amount of detail ; the mass of petty facts 

 and of proper names making the work confusing. It has also a 

 more serious fault, in that it treats almost exclusively of the 

 kings and their doings, with hardly any reference to the people. 

 There is an account on pp. 100, 101, of a strike of laborers em- 

 ployed on certain government works, due to the non-payment of 

 their wages, and there are brief references here and thereto com- 

 mercial enterprises ; but in the main the condition and occupa- 

 tions of the people are ignored. The iniroductory chapter, which 

 treats of the hieroglyphic writing, the Egyptian religion, and 

 some other matters, is the most interesting and instructive part 

 of the book ; and it is a pity that the rest of it was not written 

 on a similar plan. 



—The corporation of Harvard University has authorized the 

 publication of two monographs, which it is hoped may form the 

 beginning of a series. The first number, to be ready in April, 

 will be " A History of the Veto Power in the United States," by 

 Edward Campbell Mason, A.B., instructor in political economy. 

 Mr. Mason's work will include a chapter on English and Colonial 

 vetoes, and a chapter on State vetoes. The body of the work is a 

 systematic discussion of all the presidential vetoes, arranged by 

 subject, and based on a study of the records of Congress. Then 

 follows an investigation of the constitutional questions which 

 have arisen out of the use of the veto power. An appendix con- 

 tains a chronological list of presidential vetoes, with complete 

 references to the journals of the two Houses, and a bibliography 

 of the subject. In an introduction the editor, Professor Hart, 

 will discuss the veto in modern constitutions. The second num- 

 ber of the series will be " An Introduction to the Study of Fed- 

 eral Governments," by Albert Bushnell Hart, Ph.D., assistant 

 professor of history. This monograph will contain an historical 



introduction, with brief sketches of the rise and institutions of 

 the principal federal governments which have existed from the 

 establishment of the Greek federations to the present day. To 

 each sketch will be appended a brief, critical bibliography. Then 

 will follow a parallel arrangement of the texts, in English, of the 

 four most important federal constitutions, — those of Canada, 

 Germany, Switzerland, and the United States. There will be an 

 appendix containing a list of special authorities on federal gov- 

 ernment, and of references to discussions in more general works. 

 The monographs will be published by Ginn & Co., Boston. 



— Our readers should remember that the only uniform edition 

 ever published of the complete works of Walter Bagehot, in five 

 volumes, 2,700 pages, is published by The Travelers Insurance 

 Company, Hartford, Conn , at ^5 for the set, all charges paid. 

 The publication is sujiposed to be an advertising scheme of tbe 

 insurance company, but how is not so evident to the layman. 

 Meanwhile it would be a good plan for all who value Bagebot's 

 •icritings to secure a set, as they are certainly cheap. There is 

 nothing objectionable in their make-up or appearance. 



— Volume VI. (1890) of The American Journal of Archceology 

 and of the History of the Fine Arts will contain among its arti- 

 cles of interest the following : " Hittite Sculptures " and " Orien- 

 tal Antiquities," by Dr. William Hayes Ward of New York ; 

 "Antiquities of Phrygia," by Professor William M. Ramsay of 

 Aberdeen, Scotland ; " Terra-cottas in American Collections," by 

 Salomon Reinach, Museum of Saint-Germain, France ; " Remi- 

 niscences of Egypt in Doric Arcbitectuie," by Professor Allan 

 Marquand of Princeton ; "Three Heads of Zeus, Hades, and Po- 

 seidon, of the Hellenistic Period," by Professor Adolph Michaelis 

 of Strassburg ; " Excavations and Discoveries made by the Ameri- 

 can School of Archaeology at Anthedon and Thisbe. in Boeotia, 

 Greece," by Professor F. B. Tarbell of Harvard University and 

 Dr. J. C. Rolfe of Columbia College ; " Greek Sculptured Crowns 

 and Crown-Inscriptions " and " Distribution of Hellenic Temples," 

 by Dr. George B. Hussey of Princeton ; ' Norms in Greek Archi- 

 tecture," by Professor Marquand and Dr. Hus ey ; " The Recent- 

 ly discovered Early Christian Palace under SS. Giovanni e Paolo, 

 at Rome," by Padre Germane of the Order of Passionisls ; " The 

 Lost Mosaics of Rome from the Fourth to the Ninth Century." by 

 Eugene Mlintz of the Beaux-Arts, Paris ; " Cistercian Monuments 

 as the Earliest Gothic Constructions in Italy," " Roman Artists of 

 tbe Middle Ages," "Christian Mosaics," and "Tombs of the 

 Popes at Viterbo," by Professor A. L. Frothingham, jun , of 

 Princeton. Being the organ of the Archasological Institute of 

 America, and the medium of direct communication from the 

 American School at Athens, this work has an increasing popular- 

 ity among general readers as well as specialists. 



— The United States Bureau of Education has issued two cir- 

 culars of information that may interest some of oirr readers. One 

 is "The History of Federal and State Aid to Higher Education in 

 the United States," by Frank W. Blackmar, giving an account of 

 the various gi-ants of money and other valuables in aid of univer- 

 sities and other higher institutions since the first settlement of the 

 country. The work bears the marks of careful study and prepa- 

 ration, and will be useful to educational specialists ; but the style 

 is so unattractive that we fear the book will not have many 

 readers. The other circular refeiTed to is the "Proceedings of 

 the Department of Superintendence of the National Educational 

 Association " in Washington last spring, aad contains much in- 

 teresting matter. One of the leading topics discussed was manual 

 training, both sides of the controversy being represented, and 

 some important points elucidated. Perhaps tbe ablest paper was 

 that of Dr. William T. Harris on " The Psychology of Manual 

 Training." The author expressed the wish not to take part on 

 either side of the pending controversy, but sought to ascertain 

 what manual training could and could not do for the develop- 

 ment of the mind. His conclusion was that though manual 

 work may to some extent train the band and the eye, yet 

 the essential part of intellectual education is the training of the 

 reflective faculties, to which manual work can contribute little 

 or nothing. Most of the speakers and essayists were in favor of 

 special industrial schools in places where there was sufiicient de- 



