THE FIELD OF DISEASE. A Book of PreVENTIVE MEDICINE. By Benjamin Ward Richardson, M.D., LL.D., F.R.S. Philadelphia: Henry C. Lea's Son & Co.

The reputation of Dr. Richardson as a writer on medical topics is so widely spread and so solidly founded, that anything issuing from his pen has indisputable weight. To extensive scientific acquirements in all branches of his profession he adds a certain common-sense and balance of judgment, which readers of articles and books from his pen have been quick to recognize. The book under notice possesses the above quality in an eminent degree. It is written, we are informed by the author, for the intelligent reading public, "who, without desiring to trench on the province of the physician and surgeon or to dabble in the science and art of the medical treatment of disease, wish to know the leading facts about the diseases of the human family, their causes and prevention. It is not to be assumed that any man would not avail himself of the best medical skill for himself and his family which he could obtain. But it is no less true that a knowledge of disease and its antecedents, such as any intelligent person can easily obtain from such a book as that before us, would often be of such use to him that it might save him the necessity of sending for the physician. Dr. Richardson avows himself an ardent advocate of the preventive school of medicine.

While

he expressly emphasizes the importance of the curative school of medicine as well, it is easy to see that his sympathy is with the former. He urges that the system of relieving mankind of its misery and burden of disease, can no longer rest on what is called curative skill, as

The

the steady effort must be not only to cure disease, but to cure cure." To accomplish this does not depend on the physician alone. intelligent public must be taught to recognize hygienic laws, and to learn enough of the conditions which bring about disease to have some clearly defined notions on such subjects for themselves. The author sums up his purpose in the following language: "I strive to trace the diseases from their actual representation as they exist before us, in their natural progress after their birth, back to their origin, and as far as I am able, I strive to seek the conditions out of which they spring. Thereupon I endeavor further to investigate the conditions, to seek how far they are removable, and how far they are avoidable." The first two divisions of the book are devoted to a concise and careful description of diseases, including even the minor troubles which flesh is heir to, with ob

servations drawn from the author's own experience. All this, however, is only preparatory to Book III., which contains a practical summary of the origins, causes, and preventions of disease. Of course Dr. Richardson enters largely into the hygienic conditions which should be followed, and this chapter, which is the last, will have most attraction for the general reader. The book is so full of important matter that it is not practicable within our brief space to give more than a very general summary of its plan and methods. It aims to fill a very useful function, and accomplishes this in a thorough manner. Technical terms are discarded as far as possible, and everything is stated in the plainest and simplest fashion. While members of the medical profession will welcome this ripe expression of experience and opinion from one of their leading lights, we fancy that the public at large will also take a deep interest in a work so level to the needs of, so easily within the grasp, of the average intelligent reader.

KADESH-BARNEA, ITS Importance and PROBABLE SITE. WITH THE STORY OF A HUNT FOR IT, INCLUDING STUDIES OF THE ROUTE OF THE EXODUS AND THE SOUTHERN BOUNDARY OF THE HOLY LAND. By H. Clay Trumbull, D.D. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.

To many people, even those who believe themselves passably well acquainted with the Old Testament, the title of this book will seem a puzzle. To such the author explains in his introduction that forty centuries since KadeshBarnea was a place of importance, and more than once the scene of events on which, for the time being, the history of the world was pivoting. For the last two thousand years the location has been a question of doubt among both Jewish and Christian scholars. Dr. Trumbull set himself to solve the problem with as much zeal as Dr. Schliemann set himself to the ardent task of discovering the exact location of "tower-crowned Ilium," whose wonderful story Homer sings. It was at Kadesh, that many of the most important events in the history of the Israelites prior to their entrance into the 'Promised Land" took place. It seems to be admitted among scholars, as the author states, that an agreement on the site of Kadesh-Barnea is essential to any fair understanding of the route and movements of the Israelites between Sinai and the Jordan. Yet, we are told, this essential preliminary has thus far been unattainable by Bible students generally. Dr. Trumbull thinks that he has sup

plied the missing link, by a thorough exploration of the Sinaitic desert and the borderland of ancient Canaan, and following up the clews found in the Old Testament and other works of ancient history, including the Egyptian and papyri. After a thorough examination of the views of modern scholars and travellers, our author locates the site at Ayn Qadees, an ancient ruin on the south-western border of ancient Canaan. In this he follows the lead of some previous explorers, but fortifies his statements with many fresh facts. To the majority of readers it is probable that the question, whether or no he has really discovered the location of Kadesh-Barnea will be of less interest than the vivid illustrations which in the course of his narrative he throws on general Old Testament history. Dr. Trumbull has certainly brought great research, labor and acumen to his task, and he plainly shows in his argument that he has exhausted the literature of the subject. The personal narrative is not picturesque or specially interesting. The value of the book is solely in the direction of history and sacred archæology. The author expresses the hope that in this volume will be found the material for determining the Route of the Exodus, the Main Outline of the Israelitish Wanderings, and every landmark on the line of the Southern Boundary of the Land of Promise.

THE CUMULATIVE METHOD FOR LEARNING GERMAN. Adapted to Schools or Home Instruction. By Adolphe Dreyspring. New York: D. Appleton & Co.

This system of language study is based on the theory that every available faculty should be brought into active service in the acquisition of a foreign language. For example, he makes the ear a valuable factor in determining the verbal changes, which the gender of the German has made so difficult, by availing himself of what are called "vocal cues," to which the subject noun in each case furnishes the keynote. The plan followed in the Cumulative Method is to pass in gradual stages from the simple terms to the more complex phrasing; and the student is slowly introduced to a limited but convenient vocabulary of about eight hundred words. All the idiomatic combinations of this word inventory are presented to the student in a great variety of combinations, which are calculated to bring out fully their individual and conventional meanings. Dreyspring recognizes one very important fact, to wit, that the student should be taught to think in German, not to translate bis thoughts into German. For this reason the explanatory parts are written in German whenever the stage of progress permits it, and every

Mr.

device is used to keep the German form in mind and abolish the English, except so far as it serves as the key-note. The vocabulary of lessons is made up of the disintegrated portions of a fairy tale entitled, "Schönkind und das Thier." The different elements are brought gradually before the student singly, and then in groups, conversational lessons, elementary exercises, letters, paragraphs, and stories. Nearly every word of the story appears a dozen or so times throughout the book. So that the ability to read and master it may be regarded as a good test of his application. The originator of this language system seems to have proceeded on the right theory, the nature theory, that is, the pupil must be considered as a child. All the indications, which can be derived from what is necessarily an imperfect examination, show that the plan is admirably carried out to the end.

THE LIFE AND TIMES OF SERGEANT S. PRENTISS. By Joseph D. Shields. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co.

Nowhere in the United States was society so picturesque and individual as in the South durLess complex and ing the old slavery epoch. artificial in its forms, the passions of men were far more unbridled than in the North, and a certain brilliant lawlessness reigned under the veneer even of those who affected social polish. The ardent temper of the people affected all their institutions, and a license of speech and action, not sanctioned in more staid communities, passed current side by side with what was called chivalry. The statesmen, lawyers, and public orators of the South reflected the general temperament, and a passionate and fervid rhetoric which held the imagination spellbound, took the place of those cool and temperate appeals to the reason which better suited the ideal of the men of the North. It was in such a community as this, where the duelling-pistol and the bowie-knife never failed to the arbiter of differences, which tongue and pen could not, or did not settle, that Sergeant S. Prentiss, a young man from Maine just entering on the practise of the law, selected a home some half a century since. Lame, physically a weakling, shy in his manner, he was the last man who would have been selected to cope with the brilliant men of the South in the field of wit and rhetoric, or to have met them on the so-called field of honor. But the insignificant young man possessed one of the most acute and powerful intellects of his age, and united to it fiery passions and lion-hearted courage. very short time he made himself equally feared, admired, and beloved, as he showed himself possessed of all those qualities which in Mississippi passed for the highest elements of man

In a

He

hood. The career of Prentiss was a veritable romance. He became, perhaps, the most successful and brilliant advocate in the State. passed successfully through several duels and street fights. He was equally admired, in spite of his personal insignificance, by men and women. He was elected several times to Congress purely in virtue of his personal power, eloquence, and magnetism, when no other man of his party could have succeeded. When argument failed, he had such lavish resources of invective and repartee as a popular orator, that no exigency at the hustings ever found him unprepared to turn temporary defeat into victory. The stories of Prentiss's wonderful command over all of his resources are innumerable, and became traditions in Mississippi, which old men still love to tell to the younkers.

Though Mr. Prentiss during his Congressional career never made his name associated with any great measures, nor impressed himself very forcibly on legislation, the same powers which had electrified courts and popular audiences at home made him a noteworthy figure in the more sober and judicial scenes on which he had entered. It is said that the stumping of his cane as he walked to his place to speak, never failed to send a thrill of expectation through his auditors.

Mr. Shields has a fascinating theme in delineating the career and surroundings of such a man, and it has been a labor of love with him though he has held himself in commendable reserve in refraining from using violently eulogistic language. He tells his story in an easy, vigorous, and unaffected manner, and nowhere do we find that most offensive element of socalled fine writing which disfigures more than one otherwise good biography. To give a more vivid notion of the mentality of Prentiss, Mr. Shields gives copious extracts from a number of his most able orations. From these we gather that Mr. Prentiss possessed a certain sledge-hammer logic which was covered, as it were, with flowers in a flow of brilliant rhetoric and imagery. Playful humor and the most biting sarcasm were equally at his control and seemed to come from himn spontaneously. It is evident in reading these speeches that the orator trusted entirely to extemporaneous effort, after having digested the substance of what he wished to say. They lack that compact fibre and closeness of tissue which preparation gives, but on the other hand they possess a fire and force of statement which, when given by the orator's own lips, must have been wonderfully effective.

Mr. Prentiss died while yet in the early prime of his greatness. It is impossible to tell what he might have become had he lived to take part in the discussion of those great prob

GEORGE WASHINGTON, 1732-1799. By John Habberton. Author of "Helen's Babies. New York: Henry Holt & Co.

This is the fourth volume in the "American Worthies" series, and like its predecessors, is written on a peculiar plan. While it does not seem to be the design to make the plan a comedy, or to fail to set forth all the essential facts of each life in their due relation to the times in which they lived, the authors seem to have had the thought ever before them to prick every bubble of pretence, and to strip off all the mummy-cloths of pomp and convention from the subjects treated. Mr. Habberton very happily states the prevalent notion of Washington in the following language: “George Washington is now a cold statue enshrouded in Fourth of July smoke; he is a tea-shop chromo and a character that seldom is dragged from unused histories except to be belittled by comparison with some smaller man of later days." It is to reinstate him as a warmblooded, clear-headed, clean-hearted man, a hard-working farmer, a conscientious employer, a loyal husband, a hearty friend, an unselfish soldier, an honest neighbor, a stout-hearted patriot, a jolly good fellow, and a consistent Christian," that Mr. Habberton uses his opportunity as biographer. It is not that people doubt in the least that he was all these, but the familiar notion derived from Jared Sparks, even from Washington Irving and other histo. rians, is that with all his great qualities he was a magnificent Turveydrop, and the Turveydropism generally overbalances the rest of the conception.

The present biographer has told his story in a plain, unconventional way, which does not hesitate to call a spade, a spade. If the salt of his style, which is pungent and sharp enough, is not always Attic, but is flavored with the slang of Newspaper Row and an occasional straining to say some preternaturally funny thing, we can pardon it all in view of the generally strong, quaint, homespun way he has of putting things. One gets a vivid notion of a really flesh-and-blood man in reading this serio-comic life of our pater patriæ, of a man who could swear and pray with equal earnestness and knew when to do each; who with a

profusion of great qualities well balanced, had yet plenty of weaknesses to make him human and lovable. The book is thoroughly readable, and has that sense of life-likeness, which you sometimes remark in a fine painting. You say, "That is a good portrait of the man" without ever having seen him. The biographer seems to have made a very thorough study of all the authorities, and his pictures of Washington's contemporaries and associates, though of course less elaborate, seem to have the same homely truth and directness. No better executed volume in the series has yet been printed. It is worthy of all commendation both for its humor and its general accuracy.

In

A LATTER-DAY SAINT. BEING THE STORY OF THE CONVERSION of Ethel JonES, RELATED BY HERSELF. New York: Henry Holt & Co. This is not a story of Mormon life, as the title would at first suggest to the reader. deed we think that Brigham Young or any of the Apostles of Salt Lake City would have been disgusted had they been brought into contact with the very remarkable heroine of this novel of American life. If she and her congeners are to be accepted as typical women of fashionable American society, it is not wonderful that foreigners, reading American novels and supplementing the notions thus received by the performances of fast young American girls abroad, get the loosest and most contemptuous ideas of American women. There are only two or three redeeming characters in the story. The general atmosphere is one of shoddyism, of brazen impudence, and of vulgar The ideals preextravagance and ostentation. sented are debased; the men are worthless for

the most part, and the women fast. It may be

answered that the novel is a realistic one. If this be so it can only be justified on the ground that it presents correct pictures of society. We do not believe this. Of course there are plenty of such people as Ethel Jones and the characters who revolve around her, but we deny that they truthfully symbolize even the herd of our rich parvenus.

Ethel Jones is a pretty, brazen-faced, shameless young social politician, who by dint of flattery, fawning, and impudence works herself up into a set higher than her own. Here she manœuvres herself into a marriage with a howling swell, richer in money than brains, and thenceforth leads her stupid Croesus entirely by the nose. She spends money with the most reckless profusion when she becomes Ethel Charter, flirts to the verge of sin, measures everything by glitter and sensuous enjoyment, commits the maddest freaks, and if her life is not fly-blown through and through with rottenness, it is only because her Creator hesi

tates about perfecting the ideal of his picture, which is evidently modelled after fashionable types in Imperial Paris under Napoleon III. Ex uno disce omnes. Yet this is not entirely true, for there are a few respectable personages painted in the group, to serve as foils for the fast men and women. After Ethel has run her course with headlong daring, she is suddenly betrayed into a shameless escapade, which she fears is too much even for her good-natured, easy-going spouse, who, by the way, is taking his fling at the same time. She reforms, settles down into a prudent fashionable woman of society, in other words becomes a " Latter-Day Saint.' The moral of all, if there be any moral, is that young women may go on doing all sorts of desperate skating over very thin ice (being rich and married) as long as they don't break through, and finally become staid ma

trons.

"

The novel is clearly and brightly written. There is a deft literary touch in the work, though the whole tone is hard, cynical, and cold. But we cannot accept the work in the artistic sense. From the standpoint of realism, we object that by implication it makes exceptional and accidental characters typical, and conveys an impression of American life totally false. Had there been one Ethel Jones in the book, set against a background of richly varied characters, it would have been unobjectionable. But vice and frivolity are monotonously prevalent throughout. This seems to be the artistic fault of a novel, which, however strong in parts, leaves a nasty taste in the mouth, as if one had been swallowing a nauseating thing. DREAM LIFE. By the Author of Reveries of a Bachelor. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.

Twenty-five years ago or more Donald G. Mitchell stood in the van of our fictionists. Several gentle sentimental poetic stories, notably" Dream Life" and "Reveries of a Bachelor," had appeared with peculiar charm to the younger generation, and not to have read these books was to confess one's self unsympathetic with the best literature of the day. Mr. Mitchell afterward essayed a more robust and powerful style in Dr. Johns," originally issued in the Atlantic Monthly in its palmiest days, but this seems to have failed to make a decided impression. 'Dream Life" is one of a complete set of Mr. Mitchell's novels, now being published seriatim. The age has probably outgrown the style and mould of the work for which the author's genius seems to have been peculiarly fitted; we doubt whether they can be rehabilitated as classics. But young readers may be pleased to know what pleased their fathers a generation since, and many an oldster will find pleasure in reviving the mem

ories of the day when he enjoyed such charming old-fashioned sentiment as was found in the works of this author.

FOREIGN LITERARY NOTES.

GORDON PASHA, who recently went to the Soudan on such a dangerous mission, it is said, is about to appear in, for him, a novel character. The manuscript of a work of a theological nature has been placed in the hands of his old friend Prebendary Barnes, and may be expected to see the light of day shortly.

IT is said that for every novel printed and published in England ten are written and rejected. This makes an average of three thousand novels which are written in that country every year.

MR. ROBERT BUCHANAN, the poet and novelist, is suffering from an attack of gastric fever. His illness has retarded the publication of his new volume of poems, which will contain the ripest and most recent work of his pen. It will be entitled "The Great Problem: or, Six Days and a Sabbath." It is now some years since Mr. Buchanan published a new volume, his last poetical work-" Ballads of Life, Love, and Humor"-consisting almost entirely of reprinted matter.

FOURTEEN English publishers desired to secure the English translation of "John Bull et Son Ile," but the third house to which it was offered immediately accepted Mr. Max O'Rell's terms, offering him a check in advance for the whole sum. During the first three weeks following its appearance the work sold at the rate of nearly a thousand copies a day. It is said that the first and second houses to which the book was offered tried to beat the author

be brought out in England as rapidly as they can be edited. The first volume, which has just appeared, is a very attractive one, reproducing as it does the best and most suggestive articles on manners and customs printed in the magazine between 1731 and 1868. Mr. George Lawrence Gomme, the editor, has added many instructive notes, and the series promises to be one especially interesting to the student and writer. Just ninety years ago there appeared in the Gentleman's Magazine a paragraph from the pen of Gibbon, in which he pointed out that if a proper choice and classification were made of the innumerable articles of real value which lay buried in what is now called "padding," but which the historian styled a heap of temporary rubbish," the result would be beneficial in more ways than one. The idea has never been properly carried out until now.

66

AN accomplished Italian scholar, and the author of a valuable "History of Italian Literature," is dead at Naples in Francesco de Sanctis, at the age of sixty-five. Sanctis's career had been eventful. When a young man he founded at Naples a school the memory of which is still famous there. During the Garibaldi dictatorship in Naples he governed the Abruzzo Ulteriore, and he had been several times a member of the Italian Cabinet.

IN London will soon be performed Samuel Taylor Coleridge's tragedy of Remorse, and the manager has communicated this fact to Lord Coleridge, who is a grand-nephew of the poet. Lord Coleridge's reply is as follows: "I cannot but be deeply interested in what you tell me of your kind intention to perform Remorse once more. It is full of noble poetry -whether it will act well is a question which I imagine very few men are skilful enough to answer without actual experiment. I am sure I wish every success to your scheme, and if it is given at a time or on a day when I can

with them in consequence.

66 CHARACTERIZED by high unbroken mediocrity" is the description which the Pall Mall Gazette gives of the literature of the past year. Works of genius, it says, have been less common in England of late years "than at any time for the last century." And yet the records show that 754 more volumes of new issues appeared in 1883 than in 1882, and that the largest actual increase was in belles-lettres and essays, which rose from 92 to 256, while with novels the increase was only 43 volumes. Only one branch showed a falling off. This was poetry and the drama, which stood at 158 in 1882 and fell to 145 in 1883.

A CLASSIFIED series of articles of real value from the venerable Gentleman's Magazine will

But I hope you will not ask me to sanction the use of my name in the way you propose."

a

"THE history of a line of poetry," says the Pall Mall Gazette" is sometimes curious. Apropos of the recent parody of a poem by Tennyson which appeared in this paper, correspondent informs us that in American editions The grand old gardener and his wife figure as the gardener Adam and his wife,' and he seems to imagine that some American publisher or pirate took upon himself the responsibility of making the change in order to assist the comprehension of the American reader. The facts of the case are, we believe, as follows: The line appeared in the first edi

tion as 'The gardener Adam' subsequently,

in deference, it is said, to the judgment of the