852 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



What Moses saw and heard ; or, the 

 Idea of God in the Old Testament. 

 Bv A. 0. Butler. Chicago : R. R. Don- 

 nelley & Sons. Pp. 434. 



In this book a study is made of the char- 

 acter of the material surroundings in which 

 the authors of the Old Testament were placed, 

 and the nature of the impressions upon 

 them which the Church regards as revela- 

 tions from Deity, and which they describe 

 as the voice of God speaking to them, or as 

 appearances in a vision or a dream. It in- 

 volves also an inquiry into their psychologi- 

 cal condition. In the chapters on " The 

 Bible as it is" and "The Publication of 

 the Pentateuch," the author's conclusions 

 respecting the origin and dates of the books 

 agree in the main with those of the school 

 of criticism represented by Kuenen. The 

 inquiry is continued in chapters on " The 

 Idea of God in Creation," " What Moses 

 saw and heard," and " The Spirit of Inspira- 

 tion." It is held that Moses saw the pres- 

 ence of God in the lightning or the fire, 

 and heard his voice in the clouds ; and the 

 agency of God in the work of creation was 

 the divine spiritual fire which the author of 

 Genesis saw flashing in the clouds. Those 

 who reject this construction may still find 

 the interpretation of his expressions in the 

 motion which God by his word, or by some 

 power in himself, in the first instance com- 

 municated to matter. This suggests to the 

 author the inquiry whether the writer of the 

 first chapter of Genesis and the twentieth 

 chapter of Exodus did not know that light 

 was only a mode of motion. 



An Introduction to the Local Constitu- 

 tional History of the United States- 

 By George E. Howard. Vol. I. Devel. 

 opment of the Township, Hundred, and 

 Shire. Baltimore: Publication Agency 

 of the Johns Hopkins University. Pp. 

 626. 



This work forms an extra volume of the 

 " Johns Hopkins University Studies in His- 

 torical and Political Science." In it a sub- 

 ject is treated which, although it has been a 

 very important feature in the development of 

 the American colonies and the organization 

 of our States, has received but little system- 

 atic attention. It is only recently, in fact, 

 that the matter of local governmental organ- 

 izations has been formally considered by his- 



torians and political students. But, since 

 Freeman began publishing his historical 

 studies, the theory of an English local con- 

 stitution, coeval in origin with that of the 

 race, has become familiar ; and, as the in- 

 vestigation has been extended, such a con- 

 stitution has been found to have been a 

 characteristic feature of Aryan civilization. 

 Nowhere has local self-government played a 

 more important part than in the development 

 of our own American institutions, and it has 

 become common with publicists to assign to 

 it the origin of some of the most precious 

 features of our system of government. As 

 the author of this work remarks, in describ- 

 ing the New England town-meeting, " it is 

 difficult to see, without the township, how 

 the Englishman could have triumphed over 

 the Frenchman in the struggle for the con- 

 trol of the continent ; it is no less difficult 

 to understand how, without it, the English 

 race in America could have grown into an 

 independent nation." The development of 

 the various forms which local government 

 has assumed in the United States is traced 

 back to its beginning, and the modifications 

 they have undergone are followed. Their 

 origin lies far back in the history of the 

 race. In this light are described the evolu- 

 tion of the township, hundred, and shire or 

 county, with their various aspects, their di- 

 visions, and their combinations. The book 

 is intended simply as a general introduction 

 to the study of the subject, and leaves room 

 for special treatment in different localities. 

 But it points out " a rich field in which many 

 laborers may find profitable employment," 

 and which it would be well to have carefully 

 cultivated. 



Numbers Universalized, by David M. 

 Sensenig (Appletons' Mathematical Series : 

 D. Appleton & Co.), is intended as an ad- 

 vanced elementary algebra, which will be 

 made part first of a higher algebra soon to 

 be completed. It is thus bound separately 

 in order to meet the wants of such schools 

 as have arranged a higher course in algebra 

 than is outlined and treated in the author's 

 first book, " Numbers Symbolized," and yet 

 have not time enough devoted to this branch 

 to complete a full course in higher algebra. 

 It is especially adapted to schools preparing 

 students for college, and to advanced classes 



