knowledge of philosophic truth, and to work for the elevation of the mind from the sphere of the sensuous life into that of virtue and justice, etc. Its members, it will be discerned, are to a large extent students of the Platonic philosophy. The most important paper in the present number is by J. B. Turner, and is on "Differentiation of Energy as the Basis of Philosophy and Religion." Mr. D. A. Wasson discusses the possibility of teaching virtue by verbal precept, with a decided inclination to the negative view.
A Political Crime. By A. M. Gibson. New York: William S. Gottsberger. Pp. 402.
This book is further entitled "The History of the Great Fraud," by which is meant the "counting in" of Hayes and Wheeler as President and Vice-President of the United States in 1870, when half of the American people believed that the candidates on the opposing ticket had been fairly elected. Its fundamental proposition, embodied in its opening sentence, is that Tilden and Hendricks were elected, and "were deprived of their choice by illegal methods, bolstered by frauds, perjuries, and forgeries." The author adds, "The surprising thing is that within less than a decade an almost complete revulsion in the opinions of the minority [the Republicans] should have taken place." Mr. Tilden's case is presented in full. The proceedings of the Returning Boards are narrated in detail, and conspiracy is freely charged against many of the men who figured prominently in the transactions relative to the election. As no election is now pending, the book can not be regarded as a campaign document; and the author is entitled to the presumption that his purpose in preparing it is to preserve what he regards as important facts and materials for history.
Something about Natural Gas: Its Advantages, Use, Supply, and Economies. By George H. Thurston. Pp. 32.
A pamphlet which applies more particularly to the natural gas of Tarentum, near Pittsburg, and which also sets forth the advantage of that place as a manufacturing center.
A Mortal Antipathy: First Opening of the New Portfolio. By Oliver Wendell Holmes. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Pp. 307. Price, $1.50.
A new book by Dr. Holmes, redolent of his versatile genius and worthy of his fame. Happy are they who survive to enjoy this ripest product of the author's exquisite thought, for verily, this world has produced but one Dr. Holmes, and verily, verily, there will never be another, no matter how long it takes the solar system to run down! Great genius is never duplicated in the present economy of things, and the individuality of Dr. Holmes will forever stand alone in the history of creative literature. So let us all thank God for our good fortune in getting another of his charming and peerless books.
The contents of the new volume appeared as a serial in the "Atlantic Monthly" last year, under the title of "The New Portfolio." The scientific element which has been so striking and peculiar a characteristic of the former writings of Dr. Holmes here appears in the delineation of the career of a young man who, in infancy, had suffered a nervous disturbance so "sudden, overwhelming, unconquerable, appalling," from the carelessness of a pretty girl, that its effect remained in the system, so that afterward the sight of any young lady caused a repetition of the organic shock and deadly collapse. He was sent to a boys' school, and grew up to manhood the victim of this "mortal antipathy." The development of the story brings the young man, himself a physician of exquisite traits of mind and character, into such relations as, in the first place, to throw into a clear light all the physiological and medical aspects of the case, and then, with the most perfect art, the author relates the history of his restoration. The book is of absorbing interest, as well from its curious instructiveness as from the fascination of the story.
Milk Analysis and Infant Feeding. By Arthur W. Meigs, M. D. Philadelphia: P. Blakiston, Son & Co. Pp. 102. Price, $1.
Dr. Meigs publishes this little volume in the hope of contributing something toward the solution of the question of the composition of human milk, believing that, if some uniformity of opinion could be ar-
