Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 36.djvu/877

Rh the teaching of articulation to the deaf, are uses to which Prof, Bell's system is applicable.

References to the United States Constitution, by William E. Foster, is published as No. XXIX in the series issued by the Society for Political Education, 330 Pearl Street, New York. Mr. Foster, Librarian of the Providence Public Library, is one of the scholarly men who seek to make the collections of books committed to their care of the largest possible public benefit. This pamphlet is an object-lesson in reading with a purpose. It gives clear references by chapter and page to everything in print having a bearing on the Constitution of the United States. We are given a list of the works showing the antecedent influences in antiquity, in German and English institutions, and in American colonial history. The more immediate causes are traced in the records of the Annapolis Convention, 1786, and the Philadelphia Convention, 178*7. Next Mr. Foster analyzes the Constitution as framed and adopted, and shows the various sources of its articles. He then proceeds with Constitutional History since 1789, giving reference to all the leading expositions and commentaries on the Federal and State Governments, with notes on the various amendments, and on the comparisons of other governments with that of the United States. An appendix summarizes the decisions of the Supreme Court since 1865 on questions affecting national or State supremacy. Mr. Foster has performed his task with conscientious care and thoroughness. His References will save every student of the Constitution much unnecessary labor and bring before him much that he might never otherwise know. (Price, 25 cents.)

Prof. Simon N. Patten, of the University of Pennsylvania, in his pamphlet on The Rational Principles of Taxation, makes a debatable contribution to a difficult theme. He maintains that the wastes and burdens of competition in methods of distribution are increasing; the great cost of solicitation and advertisement in their manifold forms he holds to be the chief reason why science applied to industry has not enriched the nation as it should. His remedy for undue and wasteful competition is of a heroic kind; it is no other than an adaptation of the high-license plan in dealing with the retail liquor trade. Prof. Patten holds that while that plan deprives no patron of his desired beverages, effects no increase of prices, it results in notable economy to the community in extinguishing one half or more of the saloons, with their outlays for rent, attendants, and so on. He argues that a similar reduction of the ranks of all distributive classes by a high special tax would inure to a general promotion of prosperity in which these classes would perforce share.



Appleton, John Howard. Laboratory Tear-Book, 1890. Providence, R. I.: Gordon Roscoe &, Co. Pp. 81. 12 cents.

Arey. Albert L. Laboratory Manual of Experimental Physics. Syracuse, N. Y.: C. W. Bardeen. Pp. 200. 75 cents.

Astronomical Observatory of Harvard College. Annals.—Meteorological Observations made on the Summit of Pike's Peak, January, 1874. to June, 1888. Pp. 475.—Observations of the New England Meteorological Society in the Year 1888. Pp. 99, with Charts.—Monthly Bulletins of the New England Meteorological Society. Cambridge, Mass.: Edward C. Pickering, Director.

Blackmar, Frank W. History of State Aid to Higher Education in the United States. Washington: Government Printing-Office. Pp. 343.

Blake, William P., New Haven, Conn. Mineralogical Notes (Verde Valley, Ariz.). Pp. 3.

Bray, Henry Truro. The Evolution of a Life from the Bondage of Truth to the Freedom of Reason. Chicago: Holt Publishing Co. Pp. 486. $2.

Brinton, Daniel G. On Etruscan and Libyan Names. A Comparative Study. Pp. 16.

Canadian Institute. Annual Report for 1889. Toronto: Charles Carpmael, President of the Council. Pp. 118.

Chisolm, Julian J., Baltimore. Persistent Headaches and how to Treat them. Pp 12.

Clark, A. Arnold, Lansing. Mich. Germs, the Prevention of Consumption, etc. Pp. 16.

Clark, Kate Elizabeth. The Dominant Seventh. A Musical Story. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 164. 50 cents.

Coast and Geodetic Survey, United States. Tables for converting Customary and Metric Weights and Measures. Pp. 4.

Crawley, Edwin S. Elements of Plane and Spherical Trigonometry. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Company. Pp. 159. $1.

Crocker, Uriel H., Boston. Excess of Supply: its Cause and its Results. Pp. 8.

Crookshank, Edgar M. History and Pathology of Vaccination. Philadelphia: P. Blakiston, Son & Co. 2 vols. Pp. 460 and 610, with Plates.

Ethnology, United States Bureau of. J. W. Powell, Director. Report. 1888-'84. Pp. 564—Ibid. 1884-'85. Pp. 675, both with Maps and Plates.—The Circular. Square, and Octagonal Earthworks of Ohio. By Cyrus Thomas Pp. 36, with Plates.—Textile Fabrics of Ancient Peru. By William H. Holmes. Pp. 17. Washington: Government Printing-Office.

Dead Heart, Souvenir of the (Lyceum Theatre, London). New York: Cassell & Co. Pp. 51, with Plates.

Ebers. Georg. Joshua, a Story of Biblical Times. Translated by Mary Safford. New York: W. S. Gottsberger & Co. Pp. 371. 