EDITORIAL NOTES. 



159 



Prof. H. S. Peitchett, late of the U. S. 

 Naval Observatory, and now Astronomer at 

 Washington University, St. Louis, very en- 

 couragingly writes : " I can well understand 

 that you may sometimes feel discouraged 

 over the work you have been carrying on. 

 Yet, when you compare the Keview, both as 

 to number of subscribers and the character 

 of its articles, with the various other efforts 

 during the past ten years (chiefly in eastern 

 cities) you have every reason to feel proud 

 of it. I consider that you have done more 

 for the advancement of science in the West 

 since you started the Eeview than any oth- 

 er one man. You will find all friends of 

 science ready to admit thjs." 



ITEMS FEOM PEKIODICALS. 



Subscribers to the Eeview can be furnished 

 through this office with all the best magazines of 

 this Country and Europe, at a discount of from 

 15 to 20 per cent off the retail pfrice. 



To any person remitting to tis the annual sub- 

 scription price of any three of the prominent liter- 

 ary or scientific magazines of the United States, 

 ive will promptly furnish the same, and the Kansas 

 City Eeview, besides, ivithout additional cost, 

 for one year. 



We were much gratified to find the follow- 

 ing in the Popidar Science Monthly for June: 

 " With its May number the Kansas City 

 Eeview op Science and Industry begins 

 its eighth year. The Eeview is doing an 

 excellent work in stimulating an interest in 

 science in the rapidly growing country west 

 of the Mississippi. But very few of its arti- 

 cles are solely of local interest : a wide range 

 of sciences is represented in its pages, while 

 manufactures and the arts based upon science, 

 including education, are by no means neg- 

 lected." 



The immemorial institution of trial by 

 jury, which for centuries has been regarded 

 as one of the most essential rights of the cit- 

 izen, and one of the most effective barriers 

 against absolute power, is itself on trial to- 



day, and is required to show cause why it 

 should not be discarded and a more effectual 

 method of administering justice substituted 

 for it, or at least why it should not be re- 

 formed so as to yield more satisfactory re- 

 sults. Some suggestions for the improve- 

 ment of the existing jury system, presented 

 by Judge Eobert C. Pitman in the North 

 American Revieiv for July, under the title of 

 "Juries and Jurymen," should, in view of 

 recent notorious miscarriages of justice, re- 

 ceive the serious consideration of every 

 thoughtful citizen. "American Economics," 

 by Prof. VanBuren Denslow, is a lucid and 

 forcible exposition of the grounds upon which 

 the protection theory of national economy is 

 based. Judge Noah Davis writes of "Mar- 

 riage and Divorce;" Dr. P. Bender, whose 

 subject is "The Annexation of Canada," sets 

 forth the advantages likely to accrue to the 

 United Siates from the absorption of the 

 Canadian provinces ; Prof. D. McG. Means, 

 in an argument against "Government Tele- 

 graphy," subjects the management of the 

 Post Office to a most searching criticism ; 

 Charles T. Congdon writes of "Private Ven- 

 geance ;" and, finally, there is a symposium 

 on the ''Future of the Negro," by Senator Z. 

 B. Vance, Frederick Douglass, Joel Chand- 

 ler Harris, Senator John T. Morgan, Prof. 

 Eichard T. Greener, Gen. S. C. Armstrong, 

 Oliver Johnson, and others. 



For those of our readers who wish a most 

 valuable and exhaustive discussion and de- 

 scription of " Emblematic Mounds" we can 

 do no better than refer them to Eev. Dr. 

 Peet's articles in the American Antiquarian. 

 Dr. Peet has made these mounds a personal, 

 laborious and discriminative study, and is 

 probably one of tlie best American authori- 

 ties upon the subject. 



The Popidar Science Monthly presents the 

 following attractive table of contents for July: 

 The Great Political Superstition, by Herbert 

 Spencer ; Colorado for Invalids, by Samuel 

 A. Fisk, M. D.; The New Theology, by Eev. 

 George G. Lyon ; Our Debt to Insects, by 

 Grant Allen; The Fruits of Manual Train- 



