ograph of permanent value. The first part 1 of the report deals with the geology of Leadville, and of the Mosquito Range, to which is appended an account of the petrography of the district. Part II deals with the mining industry, and is followed by appendices on the chemical constitution of the ores and other rocks, and on smelting operations.
Mineral Resources of the United States for 1886, prepared by David T. Day (United States Geological Survey, 50 cents), is the fourth volume of a series devoted to the statistics of the raining industries. It appears that there has been a notable increase in the value of mineral products over 1885, the chief item in this gain being pig-iron. The volume contains a paper, by E. R. L. Gould, presenting the leading provisions of the mining laws of States east of the Mississippi River.
In his Exercises in English Syntax (C. W. Bardeen, Syracuse, N. Y.), Mr. A. G. Bugbee seeks to furnish a manual which shall give a large amount of drill and test work, without introducing any examples of false syntax. The last he regards as object lessons in incorrect use, and of more than doubtful utility when employed in exercises for correction.
The Outline of Anglo-Saxon Grammar of Prof. W. M. Baskerville, of Vanderbilt University (A. S. Barnes & Co.), appears to be a well-composed work, clear and concise in its statements, and leaving no point without an intelligent endeavor to give it a satisfactory explanation—a thing which, in a language of the dark ages only, it is not always easy to do. A list of irregular verbs is added by Prof. James A. Harrison, of Washington and Lee University.
C. N. Caspar and H. H. Zahn, of Milwaukee, send us Volapük: An Easy Method of acquiring the Universal Language, constructed by Johann Martin Schleyer, prepared for English-speaking students by Klas August Linderfelt, Librarian of the Milwaukee Public Library (128 pages, 50 cents, paper; flexible cloth, 15 cents). Volapük is, so far as we know, the only serious extensive attempt that has been made to impose upon the public a language that has been deliberately manufactured in a scholar's study. Asa novel experiment, and as a matter that may possibly throw some light on the way languages come into being and grow, we shall watch its fate with much interest. It is satisfactory to learn from Mr, Linderfelt that Volapük is not regarded as yet perfect; that Prof. Kirchhoff, of Paris, has already made some acceptable and accepted improvements in it; and that there is an authorized Volapük academy for the suitable regulation of these matters. This work is composed on the basis of Alfred Kirchhoff's Hilfsbuch; it has a key to the exercises and vocabularies, and it bears the marks of being the work of a competent hand.
We have sometimes wondered, if a universal language had to be imposed on mankind, why Italian, which is living and ready made, could not be chosen. Though not perfect, it fulfills most of the requisitions of the American Philosophical Society. It is absolutely phonetic; its word-roots are familiar to all European languages; its vocabulary, while ample, is modest in its proportions; its pronunciation is musical, and its structure is simple. Most of these points appear in Mr. C. H. Grandgent's Italian Grammar, (D. C. Heath & Co., Boston), which is the "result of an attempt to put into convenient form and the smallest possible compass all the grammar that the ordinary student in Italian will need." It is all contained, vocabularies included, in. 124 pages; and the work is well done.
Prof. Edward S. Joyne's German Grammar for Schools and Colleges (Boston, D. C. Heath & Co.) is based on the "Public School German Grammar" of Prof. Meissner, of Queen's College, Belfast, which is very popular in the United Kingdom. Some extension has been given to the scope of the work, with a view of fitting it to the wants of students of every grade, up to the point where the demand arises for the higher study of historical and scientific grammar. A college professor, who has examined the' book carefully, describes it as characterized' by a fullness of light everywhere," and a fullness of matter that will in most cases suffice," and as demonstrating "how superior scientific methods are to the so-called practical methods."
Memoirs of an Arabian Princess, by Emily Reute (D. Appleton & Co., 75 cents),
