LITERARY NOTICES. 



561 



volume of the series is an atlas of two hun- 

 dred and fifty-five plates. 



A Treatise on Co-operative Savings and 

 Loan Associations. By Seymour Dex- 

 ter. New York : D. Appleton & Co. 

 Pp. 299. 



The author has aimed, in preparing this 

 treatise, to furnish information concerning the 

 class of associations described in the title, in 

 a form in which it shall be accessible to all 

 desiring it ; to explain clearly the principles 

 on which the typical association is founded ; 

 to describe variation's from the type ; to fur- 

 nish a complete and safe guide to persons 

 wishing to engage in such associations; to 

 correct certain false notions concerning some 

 matters of financial management in them ; 

 and to publish the best statutes of the sev- 

 eral States concerning them, recommending 

 particularly the New York act of 1887 and 

 the laws of Massachusetts. While co-opera- 

 tion has existed under various forms and for 

 many purposes, the efforts in the special 

 shape considered in this book have been 

 more uniformly successful than in any other. 

 The associations formed for the purpose have 

 had various names — building and loan asso- 

 ciations, building associations, mutual sav- 

 ings and loan associations, homestead aid as- 

 sociations or co-operative banks. The name 

 given them by Mr. Dexter includes all the 

 others, and is believed to describe them more 

 accurately than any other name. The bene- 

 fits derived from them are all included under 

 the general description that they encourage 

 savings. This they do by affording a safe 

 place of deposit, convenient, but out of the 

 reach of pressing temptations to spend ; that 

 the ultimate object of the saving, to provide 

 a home, is made practicable through them ; 

 that through them an opening is offered for 

 the investment of small sums that might 

 otherwise be frittered away ; and that they 

 afford convenient facilities to their members 

 wishing to negotiate loans. A chapter is de- 

 voted to the delineation of the typical asso- 

 ciation ; another chapter to a sketch of the 

 growth and spread of the organizations and 

 accounts of their conditions in the several 

 States — which is imperfect as a history be- 

 cause it has been impossible as yet to get 

 full information on the subject. The devel- 

 opment of the scheme on which the associa- 



vol. xxxv. — 36 



tions are conducted is reviewed, with the 

 modifications it has undergone, and "the 

 best scheme" is determined; and this re- 

 view is followed by directions for the organi- 

 zation of an association under the New York 

 act of 1887, and also under that of 1851, 

 and by instructions in the keeping of the as- 

 sociation's accounts — this being, in fact, the 

 exposition of a particular system of book- 

 keeping. In the appendix are given the 

 laws of New York, Pennsylvania, Massachu- 

 setts, and Ohio respecting the associations, 

 and forms for a constitution and the papers 

 required in the transaction of their business. 

 The book supplies satisfactory information 

 on a subject in which there is wide-spread 

 interest, and answers well to the familiar de- 

 scription that it responds to a want of the 

 times. 



Annual Report of the Geological Survey 

 of Arkansas for 1888. Vol. I. By John 

 C. Branner, State Geologist. Little Rock : 

 Press Printing Company. 



Operations under the present survey 

 were begun in 1887. When the first report 

 was made, they had been carried on for so 

 short a time that only a meager statement 

 could be published ; hence the result of most 

 of the work that has been done from the be- 

 ginning will be given in the four volumes of 

 the current report. The present volume, 

 after a brief general account of the work 

 done during the year, is occupied with the 

 report of Dr. T. B. Comstock, assistant ge- 

 ologist, upon his preliminary examination of 

 the mineral resources of the western central 

 part of Arkansas, with especial reference to 

 the production of the precious metals. The 

 second volume will give the results of the 

 combined work of the United States Geo- 

 logical Survey, and the Geological Survey of 

 Arkansas, upon the Mesozoic geology of the 

 State. The third volume will relate to the 

 coal regions ; and the fourth volume will 

 contain miscellaneous and local reports. 

 Dr. Comstock's work, as described in the 

 present volume, relates to Pulaski, Saline, 

 Hot Spring, Garland, Montgomery, Polk, and 

 Scott Counties, and parts of Yell, Pike, How- 

 ard, Sevier, and Franklin Counties. The ob- 

 servations recorded were made in 1887 and 

 1888 in all the important places in the State 

 where mining or prospecting for gold and 



