say that he merely accepts it. He maintains that it is not irreligious, that it is not hostile to Christianity; but, on the contrary, is the highest and noblest view of the universe, that it exalts the Divine character, and is, in fact, a great revelation, which among its many grand effects must exert an elevating and ennobling influence upon religious thought. We print a portion of the bishop's argument, which bears upon this question, in the present number of the "Monthly."
Cottages; or, Hints on Economical Building. Compiled and edited by A. W. Brunner, Architect. New York: William T. Comstock. Pp. 54, with Twenty-three Plates.
The plans given in this book are intended to respond to a change which the author conceives to have come within the past few years over our conception of what a country home should be. "Simplicity, elegance, and refinement of design are demanded, and outward display, overloading with cheap ornamentation, is no longer in favor. . . . Now that English gables and dormers have spread so widely; now that we realize the beauty of our own colonial architecture, and that the Queen Anne craze is subsiding so that only its best features remain, the less ambitious dwellings must not be left to the mercy of those builders whose ideas of beauty are limited to scroll-saw brackets and French roofs." The designs are presented to show what can be done with modest means, and have been contributed by different New York architects. They are accompanied by a descriptive letterpress giving practical suggestions for cottage building, and are supplemented by a chapter on heating, ventilation, drainage, etc., by William Paul Gerhard.
Commentaries on Law. By Francis Wharton, LL. D. Philadelphia; Kay & Brother. Pp. 866.
Dr. Wharton, member of the Institute of International Law, is known as the author of several works on jurisprudence which have attained a high repute in the legal profession. The present treatise is a kind of introduction to the general subject of law and its authority, and embraces chapters on "The Nature, the Source, and the History of Law; on International Law, Public and Private; and on Constitutional and Statutory Law." It might be as well, while we are revising our courses of school and college instruction, to make some provision for teaching the people what law really is, and upon what it rests; for there seems to be nothing on which their minds are more at sea, and on which American citizens are more in need of sound instruction. Those who believe that it is anything that Legislatures may enact and interested parties try to evade—and there are apparently many such—will find new light shed upon the subject by the perusal of Dr. Wharton's book. Here the principle is asserted, and illustrated in discussion and citations, that "law as a rule of action is the product of the nation by which it is adopted," the nation not acting intermittingly and at particular times, but developing its statutes in the regular course of its life. "The laws which are really operative, and of which all efficient and enduring statutes are merely declaratory, are emanations rather than efforts; are the products and not the molders of custom; are the instinctive and unconscious outgrowth of the nation, and not the creatures either of a priori political speculation or of arbitrary sovereign decree"; and that not only must law both precede and define sovereignty, but "no law imposed by a sovereign can be permanently operative, unless it is declaratory of existing conditions."
Diseases of the Throat and Nose. By Morell Mackenzie, M. D. Vol. II. Philadelphia: P. Blakiston, Son & Co. Pp. 550. Price, $4.
Aside from the scientific value of its discussions and the adequacy of treatment, there is one feature of this book that deserves unalloyed commendation. "It is now twelve years," says the author, "since this work was commenced, and during that period there is scarcely a page that has not been written and rewritten several times." The treatise is intended to include affections of the pharynx, larynx, trachea, œsophagus, nose, and naso-pharynx. The present volume embraces diseases of the œsophagus, nose, and naso-pharynx, with an index of authors and formulas for topical remedies. Each kind of affection is taken up separately, and subjected to a full treatment in all
