น ས་ ་་ ་་ ་་ 64 Pachymeningitis......... 66 ...Godey's. Marsh (Jane), Daughter of a Prophet.....(Dec. 1) Rev. Chrét. M'Glynn, Dr., and Methodist Preachers. Met. Rev. Medicine, Bacteriology in Colleges.. H. Conn-(Jan.6) Science. Clinical Syphilography.......J'l. Cut. & Gen. Ur. Dis. Curative Electricity.. .(Dec. 30) Teleg: Jour. Dermatology.. .........St. Louis Med. ....Dr. G. T. E.-J'l. Cut. & Gen. Dis. and Syphilography in England. Diseases of Eye and Ear.............St. Louis Med. Double Comedo... A.H.O.Dumesnil-St. Louis Med. Employment for Ladies..........A. T. Vanderbilt-Times. Genito-Urinary Diseases...... St. Louis Med. Infantile Broncho-Pneumonia.... Med. & Jour. Rep. Karyokinesis.......Dr. F. L. James-St. Louis Med. Lead in Brain............................A. W. Blyth―J. Mental Sci. Neurophatic Diathesis..............J. Mental Sci. ..J. Mental Sci. Peri-Cascal Inflammation.(Jan. 7) Med. & Surg. Rep. Prostatomy for Obstruction..J. Cut.& Gen. Ur. Dis. Removing Excressences by Electricity.... Elect. Rev. Rocky Mountains for Phtisis.... Med. & Surg. Rep. Roman Malaria........ .E. S. Morgan-Nat. Rev. Skull-Cap....... .C. Potter-(Jan. 9) Good Housek. Spirillum in Hepatized Lung-Tissue..Am. Micro. J. Therapeutics.... .......St. Louis Med. Treatment of Epithelioma...Jnl.Cut. & Gen.Ur.Dis. Treatment of Puerperal Insanity............./. Mental Sci. Tumor of Bladder.......Jnl. Cut. & Gen. Ur. Dis. Meisterschaft, in 3 Acts.... ......Mark Twain-Century. Melrose Hall (Long Island). .F. L. Perine-Am. Mag. Memory, Tricks of.......... Knowledge. Mendelssohn (Moses), as Reformer... H. S. Morais-Menorah. Men of Letters at Bordeaux in XVI. Century .Princeton Rev. Mesmerism, Early Experiments.... C. S. Weeks-Phren. Jour. Meteorology, Forests and Rainfall. H. Gannett-(Jan.6) Science. Norman Lockyer's Theory........ Contemp. Rev. Observations during Solar Eclipse..Am. Met. J. Snow and Polarization of Sky.(Dec. 22) Nature. Methodism, Episcopal Functions in..G. P. Mains-Meth. Rev. Foreign Episcopal Residences...........Methodist Rev. Mexico, Street-Sounds in City of.. Drake's Mag. " Tlaxcala..... ........E. M. Kangs-Quiet Hours. Microscope, Artificial Serum for Blood Corpuscles. St. Louis M. Double Refraction in Iceland Spar...Am. J. Sci. New Acinetan Infusorian.C.C.Nutting-Am. Nat. New Eyepiece.. ....(Dec.) J. Roy. Micro S. Parasites in Teredo Navalis...........Am. M. J Spirillum..........Dr. Th. Smith-Am. Micro. J. Staining Bacillus Tuberculosis......Am. Micro. J. Staining of Schizomycetes..........Am. Micro. J. Military, Andrew Jackson's acc. Baitle of Horseshoe M.A.Hist British Army.. Fortnightly Rev. Literature of Spain..... .(Dec. 15) Revista Contemp. Man at Arms. E. H. & E. M. Blashfield-Scribner's. 66 Shall we Pension our Soldiers?.......... .Am. Mag. Mimicry, in Afriɔa.........Prof. H. Drummond-Good Words. Minerals, History and Names of..D.. F. M. Endlich-Am, Nat. Ministers. Pay of........ .G. F. Pentecost-(Dec. 29) Indeped. Miracle-Plays, English... .......A. W. Pollard-Monthly Packet. Missions, Home.... .......................J. C. Koller-Luth, Q. to Muslims......Thos. P. P. Huges-Andover Rev. Missouri River, and Great Falls......E. V. Smalley-Century. Mivart, (Mr.) Answer to..... ....J. Stephen-AIX. Century. Mocking Bird, at Home..... .......Z. Cocke-Am. Mag. Modern Idealism................. A. H. Strong-Biblio, Sacra. Mohammedans, Missions to.......Thos. P. Hughes-Audover, Montreal, Christmas in....... .Mrs. C. Murray-Quiver. ..(Dec. 15) Mag. Pitt. .Knowledge. Tonic Sol-Fa System... Mythology, Anthropological....Prof. S. B. Platner-New Eng. Phrases in Old Testament. T.K.Cheyne-Expositor. Nairne (Caroline, Baroness)...I. F. Mayo-Girl's Own Paper. Napoleon Buonoparie............R. Heath-Boy's Own Paper. Ist, and Paul 1st..Tatistcheff-(Dec. 15) Nov. Revue. I, Signatures of...... .A. Th. Rice-Nat. Am. Rev. Natural History, New Acinetan Infusorian. ..Am. Nat. Origin of Rodent Dentition. ..Am. Nat. ....Knowledge. Commercial Marine.. H. K. Thurber-Drake's Mag. Ship-Building... W. G. Gordon-Leisure Hour. Signalling at Sea...Lieut. G. L. Dyer-(Dec. 30) Epoch. Wreck of the Derry Castle.. Chambers's. Negro, and Prohihition in Atlanta.......(Dec. 29) Independent. Newcastle, Cathedral of ... Rev. D. J. Mackey-Illustrations. Newman, Cardinal...... Men and Women. New York, Book Auctions...........J. Benton-Cosmopolitan. Equitable Building, E.T. Lander-Decorator and F. Home Life of Authors..G. P. Lathrop-Chautauq. Italians of..............V. Roseboro-Cosmopolitan. Note on Arms of State of. N. Y.Gen. & Biog. Record. Odd Races of........W. E. S. Fales-Drake's Mag. Register of Ref. Dutch Ch. N. Y. Gen. & Biog. Rec. Norway, Home Rule in....... .T. von Bunsen-XIX. Century. Norwich Castle........ Girl's Own Paper. Opera-Glasses. How to Select.... Municipal Finance..C.C.Hall-Scribner's. Natural Rate of Wages..(Dec.) Pol. Sci. Q. Profits under Modern Cond..... Pel. Sci. Q. Tariff....... .........H. Watterson-Harper's. ..Rev. Savage-Forum. .....Philos. for People. Politics, Admission of Utah.. American Customs.... Constitution in Reconstruction.....(Dec.) Pol. Sci. Q. French Chamber and President.......(Jan. 5) Nation. Race Theories and European.. State Autonomy vs. Sovereign'y.... New Englander. Sugar Bounties Conference.... ..(Dec. 24) Spectator. Tariff a Party Issue..... 66 64 Religion, Another Letter to Dr. Field............................. No. Am. Rev. Contributions of Christianity to Science... Pres. Rev. Early Buddhist Missionaries in China.....Academy. Early Christianity.. Archdeacon Farrar-Sunday M. Egyptian Doctrine of Future Life.......Unit. Rev. English Religious Drama....W. H. Hudson-Antiq. Gnosticism and Theology.. .(Jan. 5) Independent. Progress in Theology. Homiletic Rev. Search after Truth........G W. Julian-Unit Rev. Shall we call Him Master.. Prof J. P. Leslie-Forum. Relig., Theosophy and Socialism... ..(Dec. 15) Lucifer. ..W. Brehon-Path. 66 44 44 66 " 64 44 Bhagavad-Gita.. ...... Path. Emerson and Occultism...(Dec 15) Lucifer. Reply to Dr. Ingram.... W. E. Gladstone-Westminster Rev. Two Messages..........A Republican-No. Am. Rev. Unpunished Constitutional Crime...... No. Am. Rev. Utah Legisiation........... Poor Law, and Church. Pope and Civil Power.. ..(Jan. 5) Independent. .Rev. M. Fuller-Nat. Rev. XIX. Century. Ports Allegre, (Brazil), Visit to......(Feb) F. L. Sunday Mag. ..Chautauq. ...Geo. Kennan-Century. ..........Unit. Rev. ..........A. W. Paine-Lend a Hand. and Negro in Atlanta.. ....(Dec. 29) Indep. in Light of New Issues... Prof. Tucker-Andover. Mistake of...... .S. B. Pettengill-Andover. Saloon in Politics............. Successful Laws....... ............................(Jan. 12) Nation. Protection and Free Trade.....(Two Messages) No. Am. Rev. Fallacy..... ...... Nat. Rev. Psychology, Culture of Senses......I. Ingelow-Good Words. Idea of Numbers in Animals....(Dec. 30) Science. Public Speaking, Abuses in...........E. S. Norris-Nat. Rev. Puget Sound, Indians of...... ..M. Eels-Am. Antiq. Homiletic Rev. Sanitarium. Pulpit, How Counteract Seepticism?.. Race, and Language....... .H. Hale-Pop. Sci. Mo. Raft, Big and its Progenitors............ Wolf Hunting in. Saccharine...... ....Geo. Kennan-Century. ..E Zabel-Westermann's. .A. G. Nash-Boys' Own Paper. Salisbury's (Lord) Foreign Policy. Saloon, in Politics.... .........G. Elils-Time. Nat. Rev. ...Chautauq. Salvation, Scrip.ure Idea of...... .C. Mascol-Unit. Rev. Trade, Ireland and Home Rule........... 46 Malaise and its Causes.... ..........J. Mavor-Nat. Rev. Transvaal, Gold Fields...... ..........Welcome Hour. Savoy Mountains........... .K. Vogt-Westermann's. ...(Dec. 15) Lucifer. .......(Dec) Church Mag. ...Prof. E. Caird-Time. 46 Error of Dem'y.. H. W. Cherouny-Philos. for Peo. Indigent Idiots.. ..J. Mental Sci. Methodist Rev. ..(Dec.15) Rev. Deux M. Soteriology, Scripture Idea of Salvation. Sotheran (Henry)............. .........(Dec. 15) Rev. Contemp. Military Literature........ ..(Dec. 15) Rev. Contemp. Speech, Expressive Intonation... J, R. Scott-Voice. 44 Impediments among Children... A. MacLeod-Voice. Speyer, Diet of (1529).. .Rev. C. S. Albert-Luth. Q. .......................... F. L. Pop. Mo. Sport, Canadian National. Winter in English Country House. G. Sumner-Outing. Stafford (Sir) Northcote.........Lord Coleridge-Macmillan's. Stage, Engl. Relig. Drama ........... ..W. H. Hudson-Antiq. .........J. R. Towse-Century. London Xmas Pantomines..H. W, Jessup-St. Nicholas. State Autonomy vs. Sovereignty. Prof. R. Hudson-New Eng. Stephan (Dr. H. von)... Gartenlaube. Stewart. F. R. S. (Dr. Balfour)..P. G. Tait-(Dec. 29) Nature. St. Paul, Pastoral Epistles of... ..A. Godet-Expositor. Thoughts on Conversion of...S. G.-Monthly Packet. ...Dr. G. Gottheil-Menorah. ..(Feb) F. L. Sunday Mag. Mrs. Croly-Godey's. .(Dec. 24) Spectator. ........G. Ellis-Time. Surplus Revenue, Dangers of.. H. C. Adams-Princeton Rev. Surrey, Heary Howard, (Earl of).. W. Brailsford-Antiq. Sweden, Education in. G. Bonet-Maury-(Dec. 15) Rev. Pédag. Talmud, Charity in Times of... Lady Magnus-Nat. Rev. Tariff Question, a Party Issue.. .....Jeweler's Circ. in Japan......... .........................E. H. House-Princeton Rev. Pictures and Picture Buyers............(Jan. 5) Nation. The (Revenue only").........H. Watterson-Harper's Tarpon, Fishing in Gulf of Mexico... T. C. Felton-Outing. Taxation, Land and Labor....Prof. R. T. Ely-Jan. 5) Indep. Taxidermy, Practical Hints on..............Boys' Own Paper. Teachers, Schools in Sweden........ ...(Dec. 15) Rev. Pédag. Telegraphy, Western Union System......(Dec. 31) Elect. Rev. Telescope, Revelations of..A. V. Abbott-F. L. Sunday Mag. Tennyson, Dethroning.....A. C. Swinburne-XIX. Century. Textile Fabrics at So. Kensington Museum.... ..Art Jour. Thackeray, (W. M.)........ .....Andrew Lang-Good Words. 66 (W. M.) Letters.. ..W. Sichel-Time. Theology, Progress in........J. L. Withrow-Homiletic Rev. Theosophy, Occult Elements in Keramics...China Decorator. Thring (Edward).... Leisure Hour. Timber, Diseases of........H. M. Ward-(Dec. 22, 29) Nature. 44 Nova Scotia Raft and Progenitors. (Jan.14) Am. Arch. Times,(London) Hundreth Birthday of..(Dec. 31)—Athenæum. Tin, Land of (Cornwall)....... ...H. B. Wheatly-Antiq. Tirol, San Martino di Castrozza......L. Villari-Eng. Ill. Mag. Tobacco, Taxes on.... .(Jan. 12) Nation. Tolstol, and Modern Church........ E. M. Vittum-New Eng. Tools, Chest for Amateurs......A. Thorold-Amateur Work. Forms of....... ......... Amateur Work. Töpffer, Rudolf, Book on..........F. P.-(Dec. 1) Rev. Chret. Tornado, Force..... W. W. Anderson-(Dec. 30) Science. Torre del Greco, Italy. W. Kader-Ueber Land u. M. The Great Pyramid.........E. L. Wilson-Scribner's. Through Hudson's Strait.. Illustrations. .(Jan. 12) Nation. Scott-Church Work. Voyage in Northern Light..F. Haslewood-Murray's. Tricks of Memory... ....Knowledge. .(Jan. 12) Nation. Turkey, Ride across the Balkans. J. P. Hurst-Chautauquan. Type-Writing, Employment for Girls...............Atalanta. Unitarianism, Church-Extension.... .......Unit. Rev. ...(Dec.) Church Rev. ..Rev. M. J. Savage-Forum. .........................(Jan. 5) Independent. .. Prof. L. A. Fox-Luth. Q. .V. Lee-Contemp. Rev. Value of Individual.. Ch. Canivet (Dec. 15) Rev. Illust. BOOK CHAT VOL. 3, No. 2. I EDITORIAL FEBRUARY, 1888. NOTES. T is an incontestable truth, that, notwithstanding the daily improving facilities for education the knowledge of literature among the rising generation is growing daily more superficial, and that the interest in, and the admiration for the masterpieces of the great writers of the past is slowly turning into apathy. Where is the young man to be found who can recite Rienzi's speach, or boast as his grandfather did, that he knows his Shakespeare by heart? How many appreciate the Pilgrim's Progress, and can wax eloquent over the beauties of Paradise Lost? Cervantes' masterpiece is only regarded as a kind of Mother Goose-a nice wonder-book for children-but the real Don Quixote, with its masterly juxtaposition of the real and the ideal, is entirely unknown. The fact that the Knight of the Woeful Countenance is never ridiculed, though his ideals are, never occurs to the mind of those who think they know the story from childhood. The difference between the pitying smile for the idealist and at his hallucinations passes unnoticed. That Sancho Pansa alone, the incarnation of the low and common view of life, is the character at which its creator sneers and which arouses his ire, is not observed. Within the last few years there has been a great tendency among the writers for children, to adapt-mutilate would be the right expression -the productions of the master-minds of literature to the intellect of the nursery. The hidden meaning which makes each word of vital importance, the beauty of the language in which that meaning is couched, are ignored and destroyed. What do babies care for meaning and masterly style? What is the use of wasting precious time in trying to preserve either? children wouldn't appreciate it. That they could express the same deep thoughts much better, if they only wanted to, is probably a foregone conclusion with most of these "adapters." And so the wisdom which will astonish the A. SCHADE VAN WESTRUM, EDITOR. generations to come, the vital characteristic which makes these works what they are-objects of adoration for thinking men-are discarded for what is of only secondary importance, the scaffolding, from which their creators erected these monuments for themselves-the plot. The food of men is concocted into a weak potation to be served along with the bottle and the paregoric. Who knows them not, these Bunyans for the Nursery, and these Shakespeares in Words of One Syllable? Devoid of meaning, with nothing to make them preeminent above other children's books, these adaptations only create a sense of astonishment in the youthful mind, when it develops and begins to understand that these are the creations to which mankind reverendly looks up. But everybody says they are beautiful, and for children to say they cannot see it, looks stupid, and, a little later on, priggish-so they join in the chorus of ignorant praise, as their elders have done before. Cervantes has been travelling on a reputation for a long, long while. The Pilgrim's Progress is said to be a masterpiece, and Shakespeare will follow. Only a few days ago an edition of Dante's Paradise, adapted for children, was published in Florence, Italy, and, unless a counter-current set in very soon, the next few years will probably startle the world with Infant's Own Huxleys and Childhood Descents of Man. Though at a first glance this device for making children acquainted with great minds and their creations may seem to deserve praise and encouragement—on closer inspection it will be found that it only fosters that great evil of nineteenth century education-superficiality. Though the evil is great, it will vastly increase when the books are introduced-and they seem to have a good chance of being in the schools under the text-book system. Who, after wearily plodding for a whole year through a book of Homer, marking the feet with a lead-pencil, and grasping the meaning at a rate of, so to say, a spoonful every two hours, cares to pursue the study of the "Blind Singer" after he has left college? Who, after getting daily more disgusted at the liberties which that great Roman, Publius Ovidius Naso, takes with the natural length of syllables and his tendency to take a whole sentence and mix the words as much as possible, leaving it to the ingenuity of his victim to invent a subject for the predicate, rushes to his book-case, after entering into active life, eager to renew the acquaintance? With the exception of a few enthusiasts and scholars, who truly feel and appreciate the beauties of Ilion and Metamorphoses, Homer and Ovidius are travelling on a reputation with the public; those who read them at college consider it their duty to admire and praise though they never did understand. But in these cases, at least, the works were given as they were written in their glorious completeness. How much less, then, will the young man, who at school has been stealthily looking at his watch while wading painfully through the skeleton of, let us say, a Shakesperian playfor its soul is need be always killed by the admiring adapter-feel anxious to investigate for himself, and find the hidden beauties at which society-and a great many newspapers too, for that matter-so vaguely hints. After a short while he will find out that he knows just as much about the subject as others for their knowledge is derived from the same source as his-and freely join in the conversation. He remembers To be or not to be, Lead on Macduff— which he will invariably say when invited to "take something "-A horse, a horse and other quotations, and ends with thinking himself a well-informed young gentleman on literary topics. This is probably the true reason of the superficiality, the misty vagueness, and, sometimes, inane idiocy of the average conversation on literary topics to-day. Let an admirer of Shakespeare first read through such a book, and then turn to the introduction; and, if he be an earnest enthusiast, he will wax wroth; while, if he has a sense of humor, he will be amused, upon learning there from the adapter, that "this book has been written with the purpose of making the rising generation better acquainted with the beauties of Shakespeare." Wearisome, senseless and useless, these attemps at making wise children only tend to make superficial, ignorant men and women, indifferent to the pure enjoyment which the study of the classics affords. There is no reason for this mutilating the greatest products of the human mind, and making them seem little and of no value in the eyes of children. The vandal-act of defacing the figures which stand towering far above contemporaries and posterity, is unpardonable. The attempt of pigmies to drag these giants of the intellect down to their own level, and to shape their mighty form not only to suit their ownno easy task, forsooth-but to cut them down and crush them to fit the play-box, are needless, unsuccessful and unwarranted. With writers like Col. Knox, Hezekiah Butterworth and Jules Verne, to girdle the earth and show to the little ones its nations, products and wonders; with historians like Rev. Alfred Church, Charles Carlton Coffin and ErckmanChatrian, to tell them of ages and generations gone by, and last, but certainly not least, with Louise M. Alcott, Mrs. Ewing, and the authors of Hans Brinker and Little Lord Fauntleroy to charm and keep fresh the youthful mind, and to make it bright, cheery and hopeful, the need of adaptations, which only lead to misconceptions, is most certainly not apparent. A Thought on the Copyright Question. But the meaning of this amazing attitude of our country towards literary property is not yet exhausted. There is something still more marvellous about it. For it means that the United States is determined that, of all its own laboring classes, the intellectual class alone shall be forced to compete, not with the underpaid labor of Europe, but with labor which is absolutely not paid at all. First, it makes the foreign writer a pauper within its bounds, and then it says to the native writer, "You shall take your chance with this pauper; and if the bookseller can sell his works cheaper than yours, for all we care, you shall starve." There is not another country in the world which ventures to take such a position. It is equally absurd and shameful, unjust to others and suicidal to ourselves. And while Germany, and France, and England, and all the enlightened nations are waiting for us to recede from it, and conform to the moral sense of the civilized world, it seems to me the duty of every honest American to confess that literary piracy is an infraction of the commandment which says, "Thou shalt not steal," as well as of the commandment which says, "Thou shalt not covet anything that is thy neighbour's."HENRY VAN DYKE, D.D., in The National Sin of Literary Piracy. |