Page:American Historical Review, Volume 12.djvu/936

 926 Reviews oj Books dustry is its judicious combination of statistics with textual comment and explanation. The review is by countries ; and by reason of the difficulties inseparable from the inception of an enterprise, the reports from' South America are, in this number, fragfmentary, while those from Portugal, Central America, the West Indies, and parts of Africa, fail entirely. The review gains in variety and interest from the freedom allowed to each contributor in the method of marshalling his material and facts. The policy of the publication is to secure, as far as possible, reports on each country from its own citizens. For the United States Professor Emery, of New Haven, contributes, in the present volume, the general review, and the reports on economic policy, on the principal industries, and on export trade ; the reports on agriculture, and on labor and capital are, respectively, by Professors Taylor and Commons, of the University of Wisconsin ; while that on banking and exchange is by Professor A^orton of Yale University. The report for the British Empire with the- colonies, including a retrospect of earlier periods not given in the case of other countries, is contributed by Professor Hewins, of the Tariff Commission, London. No general summary of all coun- tries is attempted in this volume. A Conspectus of American Biography. Compiled by George Derby. (New York, James T. White and Company, 1906, pp. 752.) This vol- ume, though half its pages are filled with other matter, is primarily the index volume to the National Cyclopaedia of American Biography. The " other matter " is of various sorts, though chiefly consisting of official lists. Besides extensive lists of officials of the Federal government dur- ing its history, there are such lists as these : governors. United States senators, and chief justices of the several states, presidents of American colleges and universities; also officials of a great variety of organiza- tions. Indeed a glance at some of the pages would incline one to believe that no organization, convention, or conference had been omitted. A further examination, however, leads to the conclusion that there are sins of omission as well as of commission. Likewise in the list of pre- eminent Americans, there is some darkness surrounding the reason for inclusion and exclusion and classification. The selection of notable sayings and sentiments of famous Americans will, strike many persons as being haphazard, particularly as regards the proportions of space allotted to the respective worthies. Yet the volume will be found useful for reference. The volume of Professor Jameson's Original Narratives of Early American History (New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, pp. 411, 2 maps) devoted to the Spanish explorers in the southern portion of the United States, prior to 1543, is made up of the narrative of Cabeza de Vaca, the Gentleman of Elvas's account of De Soto's journey, and Castaiieda's history of the Coronado expedition. The translations are those with which students have long been familiar, although care has