makes the whole world kin. There is one song, however, which cannot be passed without adverse criticism. Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean', should be dropped, or rather, restored to Britannia. One can see the poetry of the "Emerald Isle" or the "Pearl of the Artilles", or "that precious stone set in a silver sea", but from the point of view of poetry 'Columbia' is but a clumsy plagiarism. Polyhymnia'is more than a textbook of vocal music. A class of boys studying it with a sympathetic teacher will be educated not only in voice culture but in sentiment and poetic taste as well. (New York: Silver, Burdett, and Company.)

Just a quarter of a century ago a course of six lectures on light was given by Professor John Tyndall in Boston, New York, and other American cities. The volume containing these lectures has remained, even up to the present year, one of the most complete popular treatises on the subject available to English readers. The extension which has taken place in our knowledge of light during the last few years gives added interest to the volume containing six lectures on light delivered by Professor S. P. Thompson, during the Christmas holidays of 1896, before the Royal Institution of Great Britain. In these lectures now publishd under the title of 'Light, Visible and Invisible', Professor Thompson gives a clear and rather complete statement of our knowledge of light, while in the appendices to the lectures he presents theoretical and mathematical material of interest even to the advanced student of science. It is doubtful, however, if the appendices will be understood by or be of interest to other than students of science. The reader is introduced at once to the wave theory of light and the In apremainder of the book is its development. pendix I the principles of geometrical optics are thus developed. This method, however, is not so new as the author seems to believe. Lecture II treats of the visible spectrum, the physiology of the eye and the psychology of sight. We are pleased to see in the appendix a statement of Helmholtz's theory of dispersion and its application to anomalous dispersion but its full significance would have been better seen had it come after chapter five. Polarization of light It is robbed of all is treated in a very lucid manner. mystery. In fact we might fear that its processes have been stated too definitely. Lecture IV, dealing with the chemical properties of light, is completed with an interesting account of color photography and a description of the photochromoscope.

The reason for our including heat and electric waves in light, as defined by the author, is clearly given. Not accepting his definition, we ask the question-Are electric waves light or are light waves electric? The latter is affirmed by Hertz. pendix to Lecture V is an exceedingly interesting historical development of the electro-magnetic theory of light.

The ap

The last lecture deals with Cathode, Lenard, Röntgen, and Becquerel rays. To add to the interest shadowgraphs of the hands of Lord Kelvin, Professor Crookes, Sir Richard Webster, and others are given. This leads us to wonder if there will not, in the near future, grow up an art, akin to palmistry, by which the past, present and future of a person may be told from the skiograph of his hand! The reason for including Röntgen rays in the domain of light rests on a suggestion of Sir George Stokes that Röntgen light consists of solitary ripples in the other. author departs from the sure ground which he has been treading and ventures into the paths of probability.

Here the

Had the publication of this volume been delayed a month it should surely have contained an account of the Zeeman effect, as developed by Zeeman, Lodge, and

Michelson, with its very important bearing upon the whole question of radiation. On the whole the book is one which may be read with interest and profit. (New York: The Macmillan Company.)

Messrs. Silver, Burdett, and Company, New York, have published a neat little work on the 'Elements of Constructive Geometry', arranged by William H. Noetting, A. M., C. E., and based on the German of K. H. Stöcker. The book is designed for the use of children in primary schools. The subject is treated inductively and the arrangement gives evidence of careful pedagogical thought. Plane and solid figures are considered, and the child is led in a delightful way to recognize the fundamental properties of the simpler forms. The study of geometry really becomes a very pleasant exercise when introduced in this manner, and we know a little eight-year-old boy who, for this reason, has pronounced this volume, in his own vernacular, lovely.

Many of our best text-books of pure mathematics have been written for the use of students in technical colleges. Such are, among the later ones, Murray's 'Differential Equations', and Merriman and Woodward's 'Higher Mathematics'. From the general excel· lence of these works one might wish that more of our introductory books were written in the same spirit.

The Macmillan Company have now added to their long list of mathematical texts, 'Analytic Geometry for Technical Schools and Colleges', by P. A. Lambert, M. A., of Lehigh University. This work professes to give a thorough and natural introduction to Analytic Geometry (plane and solid) and fairly succeeds in doing so. Before the equation in co-ordinates is introduced, the author gives Quételet's geometrical demonstration of the fundamental (focal) property of the plane sections of the right circular cone. Thence he obtains the equations of the curves, but before proceeding to deduce the properties of the conic sections, he introduces two excellent chapters devoted to the plotting of algebraic and transcendental curves, and a third dealing with the method of polar co-ordinates.

The first eighty pages, forming more than one-third of the book, are thus used to lay a solid foundation before any attempt is made to deduce geometric properties from the equation. This part of the work is so well done, that the author is then in a position to proceed rapidly in unfolding the methods of analytic geometry, proving all the important elementary properties of the conic. The last fifty pages deal with geometry of three dimensions in an equally lucid manner, and we agree with the author that he has written "a natural but thorough introduction to the principles and applications of analytic geometry". (New York: The Macmillan Company.)

"More Beasts (for Worse Children)' is supplied with a very horrible "beast" on the cover, worse certainly than any bandersnatch, or Jabberwock, or apocalyp tic monster, or flying lizard, which ingenious scientific gentlemen would like to humbug us into believing once actually inhabited this earth.

The animals

within are not so terrifying and much more intelligent. But children do undoubtedly relish such hor rors. They sup full of them. The final moral on the microbe is most convincing and of wide application:"Oh! let us never, never doubt What nobody is sure about!"

(New York: Edward Arnold.)

One person in almost every family circle, having a faculty for verse making, is wont to record sentiments

concerning persons and places in lines which are received with great pleasure by "the critics on the hearth". Many such fugitive pieces are collected in "The Carnival of Venice and Other Poems', by Florence Danforth Newcomb.

Though the feeling for nature is strained, the writer shows genuine love for childhood and real delight in baby charms, while the most melodious poem in the volume, 'A Prayer', is marked by unaffected religious feeling. In externals the book is attractive. don and New York: F. Tennyson Neely.)

(Lon

No writer of the present day has more boy readers than "Harry Castlemon." In his last book, 'A Sailor in Spite of Himself,' he spares no pains to show the seamy side of life at sea; the ‘cat,' the belaying-pin, and the rope's-end appear in all their native horror, but the pages are absolutely clean. Any healthy boy will enjoy the unfolding of the highly improbable plot, yet we had much rather our boys did not indulge inordinately in literature of this type, not because the plot is impossible, for 'Alice in Wonderland' and Water-Babies are joys forever, but in them the plot is faithful to the truth of imagination, whereas Castlemon's books, purporting to show real life, are false to reality, representing all the characters either "very, very good" or uncompromisingly "horrid". But the wayfaring man, or boy, could not possibly err in the matter. A cloven hoof or a tail would be a superfluity; the villain needs no unmasking, for every one in town knows all about him. Nor is there any chance of a blunder as to the hero, whose praises are sung by all, except of course the villain and his accomplices, and to whom all virtuous doors are open.

Is it wise or just to let a boy form a picture of life in which blacks and whites are in sharp contrast, and leave him to find out by sad experience that there is much gray in the real drawing? (Philadelphia: Henry T. Coates and Co.)

The Macmillan Company's edition of Schiller's 'Wilhelm Tell' will be welcomed by the American student of German literature. Dr. Carruth, in preparing this edition, has trodden in the footsteps of Professor Hewett, whose most elaborate and scholarly edition of Uhland's poems is an achievement which requires no further comment. The editor breaks with the current tradition that scholarship is quite superfluous in text-books designed for secondary schools. The ordinary introduction and the meagre notes which characterize the average edition of French and German classics are replaced by something tangible, substantial, and reliable. The critical apparatus placed at the disposal of the student is invaluable. In the hands of an intelligent teacher the book may be made a stepping-stone to broader studies. The material presented is neither too profound for beginners nor too hackneyed for advanced students. From the preface we see that "the purpose of the Introduction is to furnish outside material not generally accessible, for the understanding and appreciation of this noble piece of literature; not to do the student's or the teacher's work for him. For this purpose suggestions are made of studies which the student may undertake for himself." We venture to say that the editor has proved himself equal to his task. notes are condensed, yet satisfactory, and the exhaustive bibliography at the end of the book is certainly not misplaced. While not everyone may share the editor's optimistic views on Schiller's art, the author of Tell' is in any case a poet who cannot and will not be forgotten.

The

With the Magazines.

Of chief interest in 'Harper's' for February is the first of a series of articles by George Du Maurier on the work to which, as he says, he devoted the best years of his life,-social pictorial satire. In the same magazine F. H. Skrine, making a study of the principal factors in the ferment which is stirring the Indian Empire, finds them to be the mischievous influence of the native press, Moslem jealousy of the Hindu, and fanatical meddling with Indian affairs on the part of "faddists" in England. Avery D. Andrews opens Scribner's' by telling of the work at police headquarters necessary to give New York one day of voting-work that assures a quiet election, an honest count, and quick returns. A chapter of Captain A. T. Mahan's forthcoming book is published in this number. It deals with the fighting on Lake Champlain during the Revolution and shows Benedict Arnold as a naval commander of energy, breadth of view, and great personal bravery. The writer may well say "It is not the least of the injuries done to his nation in after years, that he should have effaced this glorious record by so black an infamy." The 'Century' contains a brief note concerning an American writer, Professor Lounsbury, to whom Brander Matthews ascribes a scholarship as wide as it is deep, a sound common sense, and unfailing humor. James Manning Bruce tells pleasantly of Ruskin as an Oxford lecturer, calling up vividly the image of the slight figure in a professor's gown with a suggestion of picturesqueness due to his broad, blue satin necktie.

The

Theo. F. Wolfe continues in 'Lippincott's' his literary reminiscences of Manhattan, but these lack the Bohemian charm of the first; the literary world has become demure, respectable, even fashionable. most serious article in the 'Cosmopolitan' is by E. Benjamin Andrews on the selection of a life work: it contains some clear thinking, but is marred by careless writing. Such a sentence as "The great rubrics of the creeds are in process of rewriting" leads one to ask if Dr. Andrews knows what a rubric is. In the 'Atlantic' John Jay Chapman ascribes the strength of boss rule to commercialism, a disease to which our institutions are particularly liable. T. W. Higginson reviews his experience as a public speaker in an article chiefly interesting for its side-light on the early campaigning of the Mugwumps.

The 'Arena' opens with its customary set-to. The Hon. George W. Julian, reviewing the question of party leaders and the finances, declares that both great parties have dickered with silver until the only hope for the country lies in the concerted action of the business men. John Clark Ridpath makes rejoinder with more passion than argument and in a style which would be improved by the omission of such phrases as "goldite" and "auriferous" newspapers. The whole issue is marked by the combative spirit. The 'Forum' has an article by Sir Clements R. Markham who urges the importance of Antarctic exploration on the ground, apparently, that it is unworthy the "sons of the sons of the Norseman" to be in ignorance concerning any part of the planet we inhabit. Major John R. Powell propounds the perennial conundrum "Whence came the American Indians?" His conclusion is that the Indian has inhabited the New World through all the lost centuries of pre-historic time. The North American Review' has a summary of America's interests in China by General James H. Wilson, who argues that the Far-Eastern question having reached an acute stage, we, as China's nearest neighbors across the sea,

cannot regard the matter with indifference if we are to make our western sea-ports the seat of commerce with trans-Pacific countries.

In 'Blackwood's' J. M. Bulloch writes of the "Gay Gordons" who last year stormed Dargai. Their prestige is inherited, for it is an old saying "The Gordons have aye borne the bell." Temple Bar' contains "Chats with Walt Whitman," signed by Grace Gilchrist. They are of some interest, but we are rather amused to hear that Americans are very fond of a form of entertainment known as a "strawberry tea." We do not wonder that Whitman found them "very stupid things." There is a diffuse article in the 'Westminster' on Matthew Arnold as a political and social critic. The writer, B. N. Oakeshott, admits "that Mr. Arnold is a teacher, if not of truth, at least of some half truths of a very valuable kind," but maintains that in his desire to propagate Hellenism the underrates Hebraism, which with its belief in the law of God must lead, or if need be drive, to a higher moral level. Miss H. E. Harvey follows with her very different conclusion that science alone can find the remedy for the ills of society. She sagely remarks that if all men and women were supplied with useful work and sufficient pay we should need no reformatories; but somehow she fails to show how science is to bring this happy consummation.

Ford Madox Hueffer commenting in the Fortnightly' on the recent Millais and Rossetti exhibitions, draws some interesting conclusions. "The prime note the really important note of both pre-Raphaelism and æstheticism is honesty." Millais and "his brethren" cleared away from a whole side of life a mass of hideous shams. Virginia M. Crawford's readable study of Daudet appears in the 'Contemporary.' Daudet, she says, "never penetrated beyond the trivialities of life; his greatest gift was that of pleasing," " and "at his best he was so charming a The writer that he almost became a great one." 'Nineteenth Century' leads off with Swinburne's poem 'Barking Hall: A Year After,' which has the fine lines,

"Noon, dawn and evening thrill

With radiant change the immeasurable repose
Wherewith the woodland wilds lie blest,

And feel how storms and centuries rock them
still to rest."

The

Beside many papers on international and colonial matters, there is a delightful article by Michael MacDonagh on the quaint survivals in custom among the proceedings of Parliament. Count de Calonne is troubled that France is wholly given to officialism, which he considers a most active agent of social decomposition, in that it tends to keep down all initiative spirit and all independence of character.

In the 'Quarterly's' leading article on the Bayreuth idea Wagner is considered as the greatest of Germans, raised above Goethe by his sublime gift of music, and uniting Beethoven the artist to Faust the philosopher. A most readable article concerns George Villiers, second Duke of Buckingham, "that strange product of civil war, exile, and reaction against Puritanism who summed up the talents, whims, and vices of the time." We have a review, favorable, even enthusiastic, of Captain Mahan's Life of Nelson,' who is said to conceive "of Nelson and his work as the finely tempered instrument fashioned by a rare combination of genius with opportunity."

A most enlightening article on Indian frontier policy appears in the Edinburgh Review.' The writer differentiates clearly between the "Lawrence policy," which would avoid all unnecessary interference with the tribes, and Lord Roberts's "Forward policy," which would establish permanent control over the tribes,

hold the passes, and maintain a vigorous defence beyond them. The writer inclines to the latter policy. In this issue careful attention is given to two foreign views of Anglo-Saxon superiority: one that of Signor Ferrero, the other that of M. Demolins. The former declares that if the Saxon would maintain his su premacy he must foster the sense of duty to one's work. M. Demolins' treatise, characterized as "a masterpiece of brilliant writing and methodical ar rangement," calls on France to be up and doing ere the country of self-help and hard work snatch all the prizes. His conclusion that France is a "nation in process of being ruined by the thrift and prudence of its citizens," rings like an older paradox concerning saving life and losing it. Of great interest is a most careful review of the work of Mr. Rudyard Kipling who is credited with an "alertness of perception and vigor of descriptive power" unique in English liter ature. The opinion is held that Mr. Kipling may, if he will, have a permanent place in the world's library, but he must go seriously to work and "aim at giving us his best instead of being content to please and interest us for the moment." It is noticeable that no attention is given here to Mr. Kipling as "the poet of British Imperialism."

The 'Revue des Deux Mondes' has a most sympathetic appreciation of Sidney Lanier, Poet-musician, by Th. Bentzon (Mme. Blanc). She is deeply moved by "the noble life, itself a poem," which without fear or feebleness awaited the inevitable spear thrust. She thinks Lanier more a poet in the sense of seer and bard, missing the highest rank only because his genius burned with an intermittent, not a steady light.

AN INSCRIPTION AT WINDERMERE. Guest of this fair abode, before thee rise No summits vast, that icily remote Cannot forget their own magnificence Or once put off their kinghood; but withal A confraternity of stateliest brows, As Alp or Atlas noble, in port and mien; Old majesties, that on their secular seats Enthroned, are yet of affable access And easy audience, not too great for praise. Do homage to these suavely eminent; But privy to their bosoms wouldst thou be, There is a vale, whose seaward-parted lips Murmur eternally some half-divulged Reluctant secret, where thou may'st o'erhear The mountains interchange their confidences, Peak with his federate peak, that think aloud Their broad and lucent thoughts, in liberal day; Thither repair alone; the mountain heart Not two may enter; thence returning, tell What thou hast heard; and 'mid the immortal friends Of mortals, the selectest fellowship

Of poets divine, place shall be found for thee. William Watson, from 'The Hope of the World and Other Poems;' London and New York: John Lane.

Notes and Announcements.

A course of five free lectures on American history is now in progress at the Friends' Central School, Philadelphia. The themes and lectures are: (i) 'Political History of the First United States Bank', by Ernest A. Smith, February 18. (ii) "The Cause and the Occasion of the Civil War', Josiah T. Newcomb, February 25. (iii) 'Public Life During Jackson's Administration', Ernest D. Lewis, M. A., March 4. (iv) 'The Religious Element in the Making of America', William W. Birdsall, Principal of the Friends' Central School, March 11. (v) The West and the Union, 1778-1808', Edmund C. Burnett, Ph. D., March 18. The lectures begin at 8 p. m.

Beginning March 1 and continuing weekly, Professor John C. Van Dyke, L. H. D., of Rutgers College, will deliver a course of six illustrated lectures on old Italian painting in Association Hall, Philadelphia. The lectures are: March 1, 'Early Renaissance -The Florentines'; March 8, 'Early RenaissanceThe Umbrians'; March 15, 'High Renaissance-The Great Florentines'; March 22, 'High RenaissanceLeonardo, Andrea del Sarto'; March 29, 'Early Venetians-Bellini, Carpaccio'; April 5, 'Great VenetiansGiorgione, Titian'.'

GERMANTOWN CENTRE OF UNIVERSITY EXTENSION. The history of University Extension in Germantown is summarized in the recent circular of that centre from which the following extracts are made: "After seven years of extension lectures in Germantown, the executive committee of the Germantown centre feel that this method of popular education is no longer an experiment. The intellectual life of the community has responded in no slight degree to the stimulus of the learning, fresh thought, and humanitarian spirit of our lecturers. A new interest has been roused in the study of the past in its relation to the pressing social problems of to-day.

"Believing that University Extension is one of the great powers working for good, the committee earnestly call upon the public to aid in extending its

influence.

"From its inception, the movement has been selfsupporting. All expenses have been paid with money received from the sale of tickets. The attempt has always been made to place the price of tickets at the lowest point likely to yield an income sufficient to defray running expenses.

"At the close of the second year, the receipts having been less than the expenditures, a few gentlemen in Germantown subscribed to a guarantee fund, thus enabling the executive committee to continue the work with confidence that the centre would be able to meet its obligations. With improved conditions, no occasion occurred for making a demand upon the guarantors, and the guarantee fund was discontinued. "The executive committee desire to call attention to the fact that during the seasons of 1895-96 and 1896-97 the receipts from the sale of tickets-practically the only source of revenue-have greatly diminished. During the season just closed they amounted to less than one-half of the necessary expenditures.

"From an educational standpoint, the record of the Germantown centre has been second to none in Philadelphia. The movement is one, however, in which each individual should feel a personal interest, and recognize a share of responsibility. The executive committee are merely the agents of those who constitute the centre. Unless there is a generally expressed intention to support University Extension in Germantown, the committee are convinced that it will be not only unwise, but impracticable to continue the work."

It is interesting to note that the appeal of this centre resulted in a guarantee fund for the expenses of the current year. But it is likely that some changes in the operation of the centre will be made to obviate its normal deficits, and to encourage more general work among the students.

SOMERVILLE, N. J., CENTRE.

The inauguration of a centre in this place was due to the energy and enthusiasm of one person, Miss Amelia Porter, who canvassed the town, arranged all the details in preparation for the lectures, and took all the responsibility of the project. Miss Porter's active and intelligent interest in music led her to arrange for Mr. Surette's first course on the Great Composers. The lectures were held in the chapel of the church of which she is the organist, and at the close of the series there was a balance in the treasury. During the progress of this course, Mr. Surette's lecture on 'Parsifal' was arranged for by Miss Porter in aid of the church, and by this means $56 were added to the church funds.

At the close of the course a permanent organization was formed with a most representative committee and plans were made for Mr. Surette's second course on the Romantic Composers. This series is now in prog

ress.

A class had meantime been formed which met five times in the interval between the two courses, the attendance varying from fifteen to forty. Papers were read and discussions held on subjects related to the Romantic Movement in Germany and France. One evening was devoted to Beethoven's Romanticism at which the rector of the Episcopal church read a paper and gave interesting illustrations. Another evening was spent on Heine and Romantic Poetry, under the guidance of another clergyman, a staunch supporter of the centre. Some books were purchased, some were lent by the lecturer, and a most intelligent preparation was made for the work now going on. The representative character of the committee in this centre has been the strongest factor in making the work a success.

"The more your soul is set upon the ends of life, the more you use its means in independence. You use them as a workman uses his tools, taking them up in quick succession, casting them down one after the other, never falling in love with the tool because the work possesses him."-Phillips Brooks.