complete, but certainly, in respect of volume and mass of information, the book before us is well ahead of its rivals. It includes nearly everything of interest, both as to Europe and America, relating to commerce, industry, agriculture, manufactures, finance, education, politics, and history. Elaborate tables, embodying the latest results, and in many cases comparative tables showing the aggregates of different years from a decade to a half-century, enable one to grasp the growth of each interest at a moment's glance. It may be said that in all such books it is not practicable to secure an orderly and systematic arrangement. Mr. McCarty has met the difficulty as well as possible by giving a very thorough index to the contents. The material seems to have been gathered with great care and industry, and presumably the citations of figures are trustworthy, except so far as errors have crept in through bad proof-reading. Mr. McCarty's plan appears to have been to make this a most exhaustive book of its class, and in the extent of the field he covers he has not fallen short of his aim. It is not easy to overrate the amount of labor essential in the compilation of such a work, and its value to the public is in direct ratio. About one half of the book is devoted to the United States. In addition to statistical matter proper there are about one hundred pages devoted to scientific, mechanical, and commercial facts and formulas.
Thoughts on Science, Theology and Ethics. By John Wilson, M. A. London: Trübner & Co., pp. 197.
"The object of this little book," says the preface, "is to give a correct sketch of the main lines of modern thought in small compass and in language simple enough to be easily understood." This object, it seems to us, has been attained with more than usual success. It is an excellent work to put into the hands of the young who are beginning to think and seeking to learn how to think. The distinction drawn between science and theology with respect to the meaning of the word "God" illustrates the theoretical doctrines of the author. "God," he says, is "the Omnipotent Power which exists behind the facts of the universe. Of this power science asserts the existence to be a necessary supposition, but the nature to be to us unknowable and inconceivable. Theology, on the other hand, asserts its nature to be known, and conceives it to be manlike." This is exceedingly well put. Proceeding from this declaration, the points of opposition between science and theology are made very clear. The necessity of a scientific foundation for ethics is set forth in the second part of the work. The first part treats, in successive chapters of "What is Science?" "What is the Use of Science?" and "The Methods of Science." Part second deals with "The Object and Scope of Ethics," "The Origin and Nature of the Moral Code," and "The Sanction of the Moral Code." We hope this meritorious book will be widely circulated.
VAN NOSTRAND'S SCIENCE SERIES.
No. 90.—Analysis of Rotary Motion, as applied to the Gyroscope. By Major J. G. Barnard, A. M. New York: D. Van Nostrand. Pp. 66. Price, 50 cents.
Major Barnard's analysis, which is here republished, is based on the works of Poison. The author shows first how the particular equations of the gyroscopic motion may be deduced from the general equations of rotary motion, and then points out that the analytical results arrived at contain within themselves the sole clew to the visible phenomenon, and dispel all that is mysterious and paradoxical.
No. 91.—Leveling; Barometric, Trigonometric, and Spirit. By Ira O. Baker, C. E. New York: D. Van Nostrand. Pp. 145. Price, 50 cents.
The matter in this treatise forms a part of the lectures on geodesy given by the author to his classes at the University of Illinois, and is published for the use of his own and other students. The author does not claim that there is anything new or original in the volume; but he has combined in a single book information that heretofore could only be found scattered through many. His object has been to give all that was necessary for a thorough comprehension of the principles involved, and an intelligent understanding of the method of applying them. The attempt has been made to point out all the sources of error, and to give accurate data showing the degree of
