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272
THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

and to consequent agreement. We are here, however, speaking from the scientific point of view, in which agreement in truth is the supreme end; while Senator Hawley is speaking from the political point of view, in which the errors of difference for partisan purposes are the supreme end. Nor would he have the higher step taken which leads to agreement, for that would end partisanship, and, according to his logic, if parties should come to an understanding on political principles, it would be fatal to free government. "Free government," then, depends upon ignorance, and must be destroyed by the progress of knowledge. Senator Hawley is a politician, and with him partisan politics is the end, with its fruits of office and power. Elections and campaigns are his means, and his sole condition of success is to be able to arouse voters to hot political strife. So he wants differences, because men will fight over differences but never over agreements. Differences in politics there certainly are, and must long continue to be: what we object to in Senator Hawley's political philosophy is, he demands that this low partisanship which he so enjoys shall be eternal, and that it would be a "lamentable day" when it comes to an end.



LITERARY NOTICES.

A Text-Book of Nursing. For the Use of Training-Schools, Families, and Private Students. By Clara S. Weeks, Graduate of the New York Hospital Training-School; Superintendent of Training-School for Nurses, Paterson, New Jersey. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 396. Price, $1.

Miss Weeks's "Text-Book" will be recognized as a marked advance in the literature of the subject which it considers. Nursing as a practical art grounded in scientific principles, and an important adjunct of the medical profession with its own schools, belongs among the useful hygienic improvements of the last few years. In its early stages, as was most natural, its class-books were crude and imperfect. There has been a very valuable literature pertaining to nursing, but it has chiefly consisted of "Notes," "Essays," "Fragments," and imperfectly compiled rules and suggestions which, however useful and indispensable, have fallen much short of the requirements of systematic study. There was room here, and urgent need for something better, which the author of this book, moved by her own unsatisfactory experiences as a student, has now effectively supplied. She has given us a volume conformed to the established habits of school-study, complete in its treatment of the several subjects with which the intelligent nurse should be familiar, well illustrated, with copious questions for class-exercise and review, and a full glossary of technical terms. Her contribution is certain to prove helpful in the work of education, and she may be congratulated on having done an excellent service in helping on the progress of her profession.

But the usefulness of the "Text-Book" will not be confined to the limits of the Training-Schools for Nurses. It is of far wider application, and should find place in every family. It is full of information, to which every woman who cares for the vital interests of her household should have access. Clearly, popularly, and attractively written, it can be understood by everybody, and women who never expect to go into the nursing business professionally will be much better prepared to meet the emergencies and responsibilities of domestic life—to deal with the sickness that is at some time inevitable—by reading and familiarizing themselves with much of the instructive contents of this work. A good deal in it is, of course, only for the regular nurse; but there is enough of general application, and even of almost every-day utility in household experience, to justify us in commending it cordially to all thoughtful mothers as one of the books that they should have always at hand.

The Study of Political Economy: Hints to Students and Teachers. By J. Laurence Laughlin, Ph.D., Professor of Political Economy in Harvard University. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 153. Price, $1.

Professor Laughlin in this useful little book aims to present the claims of the sub-