Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science.
The projectors of the "Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science" offer a third series of their monthly monographs, which have proved so valuable and instructive, to be devoted to American institutions and economies. The series will include papers on "Local and Municipal Government," "State and National Institutions," and "American Socialism" and "Economies." The numbers may be obtained separately, or the series as a whole after it is completed, from N. Murray, publication agent, Baltimore.
One Hundred Years of Publishing, 1785-1885. Philadelphia: Lea Brothers & Co. Pp. 20.
This is a memorial volume commemorative of the hundredth year of the publishing house whose imprint it bears. The business of the house was founded by Matthew Carey, an Irish exile, who began a daily paper in 1785, to which he soon added a monthly magazine. He and his successors then published quarto Bibles the Douay and authorized versions—the Waverley Novels, the works of Fenimore Cooper, Washington Irving, and other early American authors, with some encyclopedic books which evinced considerable boldness of enterprise for their day, and introduced the American public to the genius of Charles Dickens. Gradually the business of the house tended to medical and scientific publications, to which, giving up literary and miscellaneous works, it has of late years been exclusively devoted. No member of the house has died in the business, but each one has in his turn withdrawn in season to enjoy the fruits of his industry.
The Mentor. By Alfred Ayres. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. Pp. 211.
This little book., by an author already well known by his "Orthoëpist," "Verbalist," etc., is intended "for the guidance of such men and boys as would appear to advantage in the society of persons of the better sort." As the author well says, not wealth, but moral worth, supplemented with education, and enough money to make one's self presentable, are the passport to the better circles of society In the body of the work are given common-sense principles respecting what constitutes a good personal appearance and good behavior—at the dinner-table, and in public, in conversation, in calls, and at cards, "odds and ends," and "What is a Gentleman?"
The Next Step of Progress: A Limitation of Wealth. By John H. Keyser, 115 Beekman Street, New York. Pp. 50. Price, 20 cents.
This document expounds the principles of a new party which has been formed, or is in the process of formation, of which the author appears as one of the active organizers. It proposes to "level up, not down," and to break monopoly by promoting a limitation of wealth. For this purpose, it would impose a graduated taxation on accumulating and accumulated fortunes, ranging, say, from one half of one per cent on estates of between $10,000 and $20,000, to fifty per cent on estates of $5,000,000 and upward.
School-Keeping, now to do it. By Hiram Orcutt. Boston: N. E. Publishing Company. Pp. 244. Price, $1.
This volume embodies to a great extent fruits of the author's experience; incidents that have happened during his school-keeping, and the thoughts and principles that have been suggested by them. Its design is to aid and encourage teachers who need and would profit by the experience of others; and to awaken an interest in the subjects treated, and lead to a more extensive reading and study of the works of standard authors on pedagogics, with a more careful preparation for the important duties of their position. It is a pleasant book, and contains good thoughts.
Diluvium: or, The End of the World. By George S. Pidgeon. St. Louis: Commercial Printing Company. Pp. 175, with Plates.
The author's purpose in publishing this book is to invite consideration of the possible consequences that may follow the execution of such a project as the French one for turning the waters of the ocean into the Desert of Sahara, and forming a great inland sea there. He apprehends that the sudden transfer of so large a mass of matter
