plan respecting the world. Beauty is more than an ornament; it is a moral quality, and a reflection of a spiritual ideal. With this in view he studies animals, races, crystals, art, life, both organic and inorganic, discovering the æsthetical spirit in operation every-where, and accomplishing by diversified forms and methods a specific moral and spiritual purpose. Professor Parker's psychology may not be acceptable to all scientists, but his philosopy of beauty is an antidote for the miserable materialism with which not a few cold-blooded speculatists have incrusted the beautiful in its physical, intellectual, and moral manifestations in nature and history. The book is an inspiration to healthy thinking.

Letters on Literature. By ANDREW LANG. Fcp. 8vo, pp. 200. London and New York: Lougmans, Green & Co. Price, cloth, $2.

Mr. Lang is a spicy writer, not so much on literature as on the producers of literature-authors. In a collection of letters, addressed to different persons who never existed, he freely speculates on authorship, both on its favorable and infirm side, taking Fielding, Longfellow, Keats, Virgil, Plotinus, Lucretius, and others as representatives of the different phases of experience in this sphere of life. He is brilliant, incisive, ironical, grave, and withal a strong critic of poets and prose writers. The reader will learn much of libraries, of the rise and fall of books, of the merits and defects of writers, and of the power and influence of the library spirit in the world. If a good student he will also learn the art of criticism as exhibited in Mr. Lang's literary work. He will discover the temper of authors, the purpose of criticism, and the relative value of prose and poetry. We cannot agree with the author in all his distinctions and judgments, but we prize his book for its chatty style, its literary abandon, its protest against the conceits of writers, and its quaint and cheerful acknowledgment of the worth of literature as a mighty force in civili

zation.

Shall We Teach Geology. A Discussion of the Proper Place of Geology in Modern Education. By ALEXANDER WINCHELL, A.M., LL. D., F.G.S.A. Professor of Geology and Paleontology in the University of Michigan; Vice-President of the Geological Society of America; Author of World Life, or, Comparative Geology, etc. 12mo, pp. 217. Chicago: S. C. Griggs & Co. Price, cloth, $1. Dr. Winchell is an acknowledged authority as a geologist, and a gentleman of eminent distinction in the world of letters. In this small volume he comes to the defense of his cherished science, maintaining not only that it should be taught in the public schools, but also that it conduces to a greater intellectual strength and development than the classics. It is, therefore, a contribution to the contest that has been raging for a short period between the two contestants, and is a forcible presentation of the superior value of scientific over classical study. While the conflict is not ours, and the classicists will have something to do to answer Dr. Winchell, we belong to the class who hold that there is in the curriculum no substitute for classical study if the mind is to be properly disciplined for a scholarly life.

The Order of Words in the Ancient Languages Compared with that of the Modern Languages. By HENRI WEIL. Translated, with Notes and Additions, by CHARLES W. SUPER, Ph.D., President of the Ohio University. 8vo, pp. 114. Boston: Ginn & Co. Price, cloth, $1.

Sentence building is both a science and an art. It is amenable to rules such as rhetoric, grammar, and logic impose. The ancient orator and writer no less than the modern thinker and speaker observed them. The opinion has prevailed that the order of words in Greek, Latin, and other ancient literature is different from the rule as followed in modern literature. This book corrects the error, and shows what the natural order is, and gives proof that all languages more or less observe it. In this respect it is most valuable, and every scholar should possess it.

HISTORY, BIOGRAPHY, AND TOPOGRAPHY.

The Lives of the Fathers. Sketches of Church History in Biography. By FREDERIC W. FARRAR, B.D., F.R.S., late Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, Archdeacon of Westminster, Chaplain in Ordinary to the Queen. In two volumes. Vol. I., 8vo, pp, 582. Vol. II, 8vo, pp. 556. Price, cloth, $2.50 per vol. Neander's method of writing Church history was to group the events of an epoch around some potential personality, and describe them, with all their lateral issues, in their relation to the inspiring figure, either as the producing cause or central influence of the same. Dr. Farrar writes biography so as in effect to produce the history of the Church during the first four centuries of the Christian era. For that history is inseparable from the fathers, who were the chief actors of every movement and the inspirers of all the progress that accrued to the Christian Church in that period. Thus, in this instance, biography and history are one, though the careful student will observe lacune on the historical side which he will be able to cover only by reference to a history strictly so called. If in its secondary character as history it is deserving of high commendation, considered as biography proper it must stand unrivaled among works on patristic literature, and displace all others on the shelves of one's library. With few exceptions it includes all the fathers who left any impression on the early Church, and whose influence survived to succeeding ages. In this respect it is comprehensive and well-nigh complete.

As to his biographical method, it is perhaps as efficient as any, for it is without special partisanship, and the author is so gifted with the historical sense that he finds it not difficult to consider the fathers from the new point of their own surroundings and times. He is not insensible to their deficiencies, but he avoids the dogmatic spirit, or that censorship of theological ideas which in pure biography would be a disqualification. His aim is to reproduce his subject, or victim, as he was in his own day, connecting him by natural ties to the movement or epoch with which his name is associated. The portraiture, therefore, is not forced but natural; not darkened or brightened to suit an historical position or to accommodate a dogmatic idea. The description is realistic, but the realism

almost dissolves in the rich, if not excessive, verbal representation of the facts. But Dr. Farrar cannot avoid an exaggeration of rhetoric, nor is it necessary that biography to be true should be as prosaic as a railroad time-table. Under this exuberance of linguistic foliage appears the ripe fruit of noble character and heroic deeds. In the first volume St. Ignatius, St. Polycarp, Tertullian, Origen, St. Athanasius, St. Gregory of Nazianzus, and others stand out like great pillars in the temple, strong, regulative, and representative of all the forces at work in their day, while in the second volume St. Basil, St. Jerome, St. Augustine, and St. Chrysostom are indicators of the triumph of scholarship and oratory in the Church. We have fulfilled our duty when, instead of adding more, we recommend these volumes to students of Church history as the most valuable that have appeared in these times, and to assure them that without a faithful use of the same they will be wanting in a proper equipment for future work.

History of Civilization. Being a Course of Lectures on the Origin and Development of the Main Institutions of Mankind. By EMIL REICH, Doctor Juris. With Illustrations. 8vo, pp. 554. Cincinnati, O.: Robert Clarke & Co. Price, cloth, $2.

It is questionable if civilization has as yet had a true interpreter, but it is refreshing and instructive to study new interpretations of the historic spirit in humanity. Evidently, Buckle misinterpreted history; nor did Comte offer an improved conception of it; nor did Vico, though more scientific and less metaphysical, succeed in discovering the genius of progress; nor are Neander, Carlyle, and others to be followed in their grouping of events around towering individualities; nor is Professor Draper a safe guide on this intricate subject; nor is Guizot a solver of the riddle, though he illuminates the horizon of thought with many rays of light. Dr. Reich is a satisfactory lecturer on the history of civilization, and contributes resources and enthusiasm to the exposition of the institutions of mankind; but because he confines himself to "institutions" he fails to include all the operating factors in civilization, and hence fails to solve the enigma of the scholars. However, this limitation does not detract from the value of his work, because he clearly exhibits those working forces that have resulted in the dominant political, social, and religious institutions of mankind. Within his sphere his work is masterly, and the conclusions are logical and trustworthy. He sifts China, India, Egypt, Greece, and Rome for institutions, and finds them to be the products of certain animating principles that abide in all lands and in all ages; but it must be kept in mind that he is a theorist, as were his predecessors, and he sifts and interprets according to his predilection, which may or may not be exactly the divine standard of history. In his freedom with Christianity he betrays the theoretic spirit, as when (p. 411) he declares that "the momentous historical character of Christianity consists in its ecclesiastical institutions." The purpose of the author is to magnify institutions, the product of civilization, and thus confound them with the

initiative and fundamental principles, or the genetic spirit, of history. The book excites thought and combativeness, and is evidently the fruit of much patient research and honest thinking. Time spent in its study will not be wasted.

The Story of Phenicia. By GEORGE RAWLINSON, M. A., Camden Professor of Ancient History in the University of Oxford; Author of The Five Great Monarchies of the Ancient Eastern World, etc. 12mo, pp. 356. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Price, cloth, $1.50.

The story of Phenicia is more enchanting than romance. It carries us back to pre-Homeric times, when the little country rose into importance and maintained its national attitude for nine hundred years, succumbing then only to the superior power of the Romans, which crushed and destroyed all in its progress to universal dominion in the earth. Professor Rawlinson, though an historian of rare gifts, is unusually felicitous in the combination of the materials respecting the primitive and progressive civilization of this interesting country. He reproduces the people in their early struggles for existence, and characterizes their ethnic traits with singular discrimination and excellence. Under his pilotage we see Tyre, Sidon, Berytus, Tripolis, Akko, and other cities grow into large proportions; we trace colonial settlements in Cilicia, Spain, Sicily, Carthage, Sardinia, and elsewhere; we learn of Phenician enterprise on the seas, and of mercantile success on the land; we become acquainted with Baal and Astarte, and of the spread of a corrupt religion among the people; we also study the various contests of Phenicia with Assyria and Babylon, and its subjugation by the Persians, Greeks, and Romans; we examine their architecture, manufactures, language, and literature, and accept the conclusion (p. 348) that the Phenician race was formed to excel, not in the field of speculation, or of thought, or of literary composition, or even of artistic perfection, but in the sphere of action and practical ingenuity." Phenicia was related to Palestine, and its people were related to the Hebrews. As a preliminary study in Semitic history we know of none in so brief a space so rich in contents and so valuable for its general information.

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Mexico: Picturesque; Political; Progressive. By MAY ELIZABETH BLAKE, Author of On the Wing, Poems, etc., and MARGARET F. SULLIVAN, Author of Ireland of To-day. 12mo, pp. 228. Boston: Lee & Shepard. New York: Charles T. Dillingham. Price, cloth, $1 25.

Mexico has not the reputation of furnishing the most picturesque scenery in the world, but the exquisite representation of its valleys and mountains, its cities and people, as given in the above volume, partly due to the eloquent appreciation of nature on the part of its writer, inclines us to believe that that ill-fated country has been too much neglected by the tourist and the student. The most interesting portion of the book, however, relates to the political history of the country, from the conquest to independence and the rise of the Government under a constitution, with the development of religion and education among the people. As this history is more important than mere description of scenery we think the

authors made a mistake in devoting more than three fourths of the book to picturesque Mexico and less than one fourth to its political affairs and institutions. It is readable, but a different arrangement would increase its value.

Henry the Fifth. By the Rev. A. J. CHURCH. 16mo, pp. 155. London and New York: Macmillan & Co. Price, cloth, 60 cents.

David Livingstone. 16mo, pp. 208. London and New York: Macmillan & Co. Price, cloth, 60 cents.

Henry the Fifth takes us back five hundred years; David Livingstone is one of the great heroes of the present century. Reading these two books at one time we are able to compare the social and political differences of the two periods, to discover the influence of environment on character, and to learn the peculiar individual force of the two men here presented. Of many English men of action which Macmillan & Co. are bringing before their readers, the career of none is more interesting than that of Henry V., and the history of none is more providential and pathetic than that of David Livingstone.

MISCELLANEOUS.

Annual Report of the Board of Education of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Issued January, 1889. Pp. 95. New York.

The reports of the connectional societies of the Methodist Episcopal Church are historical, statistical, biographical, and prophetical: historical in that they relate the origin and achievements of the societies: statistical in that a careful summary of receipts and expenditures from the beginning until now is given; biographical in that the chief instruments and agencies of progress have fitting recognition in their pages; and prophetical in that from their history and the adoption of improved plans of work larger results may be anticipated in the coming years; and thus these documents are inspiring and helpful to those who are interested in the benevolent enterprises of the Church. We cannot particularize in our allusions to these publications, as they are numerous, and space is limited; but we can say that, commencing with the Missionary Society, the Methodist should read every page of its report if he would have an adequate idea of our missionary operations, and of the stupendous responsibilities resting upon the secretaries; nor can he omit in this connection the remarkable achievements of the sisterhood of the Church in foreign lands and in this country, as detailed in their respective pamphlets; he should then study our work in the South, among the whites and the freedmen, as furnished in the carefully prepared report of the Freedmen's Aid Society; he should take another opportunity to acquaint himself with the work of the Sunday School-Union as given in its Yearbook; and, lastly, he will learn of the origin and meaning of "Children's Day," and of the work and scope of the Board of Education, if he will peruse its annual report now in circulation.