Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 23.djvu/585

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POPULAR MISCELLANY.
569

A Revision of the Genus Clematis is of the United States. By Joseph B\ James. Cincinnati. Pp. 19.

Manifesto of the Communists. By Karl Marx and Frederick. Engels. New York: Schærr & Frantz. Pp. 28. 5 cents.

The American Trotting-Horse. By Professor William H. Brewer. Pp. 28.

The Evolution of the American Trotting-Horse. By William H. Brewer. Pp. 6.

The Natural Cure of Consumption, Constipation, Bright's Disease, Neuralgia, Rheumatism. Colds, Fevers, etc. By C. E. Page, M.D. New York: Fowler & Wells. Pp. 274. $1.

Relations of Micro-Organisms to Disease. By William T. Belfield, M.D. Chicago, 111.: W. T. Keener. Pp. 131.

Conflict in Nature and Life. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 483. $2.

Bacteria and the Germ Theory of Disease. By Dr. H. Gradle. Chicago. Ill.: W. T. Keener. Pp. 219.

A Treatise on Insanity in its Medical Relations. By William A. Hammond, M.D. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 767. $5.

Life and Language of William Cobbett, with his Grammar. By Robert Waters. New York: James W. Pratt. Pp. 272. $1.75.

A Tragedy in the Imperial Harem at Constantinople. By Leila-Hanoum. Translated from the French by General R. E. Colster. New York: W. S. Gottsberger. Pp. 299.

Atomic Creation and other Poems. By Cornelius P. Schermerhorn. New York. Pp. 200.

God Out and Man In. Replies to Robert G. Ingersoll. By W. H. Piatt, D.D., LL.D. Rochester, N.Y.: Steele & Avery. Pp. 320. $1.50.

Hand-Saws, their Use, Care, and Abuse. By Frederick T. Hodgson. New York: The Industrial Publication Company. Pp. 96. $1.

Plant-Life. By Edward Step. New York: Henry Holt & Co. Pp. 218. $1.25.

Manual of Taxidermy. By C. J. Maynard. Boston: S. E. Cassino & Co. Pp. 111.

Report of the Chief Signal-Officer, 1881. Washington: Government Printing-Office. Pp. 1296, with 69 Charts.



POPULAR MISCELLANY.

Nationalities in New York City.—"The Impress of Nationalities on the City of New York" is the subject of a paper recently read by Mr. James W. Gerard before the New York Historical Society. The subject is a difficult one, for the impress is multiple and the population of the city is exceedingly heterogeneous. The characteristics of the old population were derived from the Dutch and the English. The Dutch brought with them the same spirit of independence that had characterized their forefathers and made them in Europe the pioneers of civil rights, and which had become national instincts. They also brought the spirit of toleration. During the English period the descendants of the Dutch settlers kept equal in the race with their English brethren in all matters of political and military action and enterprise. Their thrift and plodding industry and business sagacity have left their marks to this day. The French Huguenots, who came over during the period of the French persecutions, brought an improved cookery and a national gayety and courtesy that tended much to modify the habits and manners of our people. When we consider the principles and origin of the population thus formed, we can well imagine that the men were not afraid of the Revolution. "These were the descendants of the Dutch patriots, of Independents of the English fighting-stock under Cromwell, of French Huguenots, of banished Covenanters from Scotland, of soldiers of Monmouth's rebellion, and of men who had fought under the banner of both of the Pretenders." The Anglo-Saxon has, however, been the dominant type here, with which the Dutch and French have been absorbed by intermarriage; and the conditions of settlement and acclimatization, acting on the combined type, have produced a new, deviating race. To this may be added the infusion of the blood of the New-Englander, who is more conservative in character, more grave in temperament, and at the same time more enterprising and more persistent in action than the descendants of the Dutch and English settlers. This element, though Anglo-Saxon and formed into the local life, has still distinctive features. The deviation of the new race is apparent in its physical, mental, and perhaps in its moral attributes, and also in its lingual expression. Under the conditions of the new life, nerve-force and energy have been called upon, and have developed rapidly. The Irish and German nationalities, more recent acquisitions, have exercised great influence upon the city and its inhabitants. New York endures most of the evils and gets least of the advantages of immigration. The Irish, from their knowledge of our language, have exerted a stronger influence upon the city than the Germans, who keep more apart, and a greater proportion of whom travel westward or settle in districts of the city where they are separated from the rest of the population. But while the Dutch and the French have flowed into the general result, the Irish and Germans have been of too late introduction to have become factors in the formation of the general local character.