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 J. Smith, 30 Vesey Street, New York, in a pamphlet entitled Is all well with us? assumes that we have not politically degenerated from any standard of our ancestors, but are quite as pure as they; and, admitting the existence and hold of the spoils system, maintains that it is a legitimate and direct fruit of the restrictions imposed in the Constitution of the United States upon freedom and elasticity of legislative action. He believes that, to get rid of it, our form of government must be so modified that the will of the people may find certain and immediate expression in law.

The Teacher's Outlook, edited by W. G. Todd (Des Moines, Iowa), is a monthly magazine, devoted to general literature, science, health, and industrial and national affairs. Its peculiar feature is a semi-coöperative plan of publication, under which teachers are invited to become stockholders under certain easy conditions; when they are enrolled on the list of contributors, and are entitled to send one article each year for publication (if it be found suitable), for which they receive another share of stock.

The American Workman, published for O. M. Dunham by Cassell & Co., is "an illustrated weekly magazine of practice and theory for all workmen, professional and amateur. Its purpose is to furnish articles, with designs, for various kinds of work, particularly such as an amateur might incline to undertake. The half-dozen numbers on our table contain, on their first pages, articles with views and diagrams on "A Cabinet in Fret-cutting," "A Drawing-room Overmantel," "A Cheap, Strong, and Tasteful Method of binding Pamphlets, Music, etc.," "Wood-Carving," "Saw Filing and Setting," "A Summer Fitment for the Fireplace," etc.; and the other pages are occupied with similar matter.

In The Story of William and Lucy Smith, edited by George S. Merriam (Houghton, Mifflin & Co.), are presented the life and thoughts of a literary man whose career was distinguished by creditable work through forty years, but who did not acquire fame. "He was a man of genius and rare fineness of nature; the associate in early years of Mill, Sterling, Maurice, and Lewes," of Samuel Warren, and of Grove, author of "The Correlation of Physical Forces." He became a contributor to "Blackwood's Magazine" in 1839, and was regularly represented in its pages—as literary reviewer, and in essays embodying philosophical thought—till his death in 1871. His contributions were mostly anonymous; no collection of his papers was made; and this book is published to exhibit his best work, in dramatic, critical, and philosophical writings. His best and best-known work was "Thomdale, or the Conflict of Opinions," published in 1857; after it was "Gravenhurst, or Thoughts on Good and Evil," 1862. Lucy Smith was his wife, and his mate in the best sense of the word. The book is divided into three parts, covering Mr. Smith's bachelor life, the joint married life of the couple, and Mrs. Smith's widowhood. It bears the character of a tribute of admiration, as well as of literary analysis, and its interest is literary and psychological.

 

Abbott, Charles C. Days Out of Doors. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 323. $1.50.

Andrews, Charles M. The River Towns of Connecticut. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University, Pp. 126. $1.

Baird, Spencer F. Annual Report of the Regents of the Smithsonian Institution, June 30, 1886. Washington: Government Printing-Office. Pp. 878.

Bamford, Mary E. Up and Down the Brooks. Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Pp. 222.

The Bancroft Company, San Francisco. A Popular History of California. Pp. 216.

Boone. Richard G. Education in the United States. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 402. $1.50.

Burroughs, John. Indoor Studies. Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Pp. 256. $1.25.

Carus, Dr. Paul. Fundamental Problems. The Method of Philosophy as a Systematic Arrangement of Knowledge. Chicago: Open Court Publishing Company. Pp. 207. $1.

Clark University, Worcester, Mass. First Official Announcement. Pp. 81.

Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art. Thirtieth Annual Report Pp. 63.

Cope, E. D. The Descent of Man. Boston: The New Ideal Publishing Company. Pp. 16. 10 cents.

Cremation, Opinions on. New York: United States Cremation Company (limited). Pp. 55.

Croll, James. Stellar Evolution and its Relations to Geological Time. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 118. $1.

Curtis, George William. Address prepared for the Annual Meeting of the New York Civil Service Reform Association, May 1, 1889. New York: Civil Service Reform Association. Pp. 15.

Davis, William Morris. Topographic Development of the Triassic Formation of the Connecticut Valley. Pp. 12.—The Faults in the Triassic Formation near Meriden, Conn. Pp. 16, with Five Plates.

Dawson, George M. Report on an Exploration in the Unknown District. N. W. T., and adjacent Northern Portion of British Columbia, 1887. 