of respect, but is made childish and repulsive even by the introduction and employment of a ram's heart to further Ameni's designs. This ram's heart is substituted by Pinem, the unclean opener of dead bodies in the process of embalming, for the human heart of a priest Rui. It was the Egyptian idea that the nobler organs must all be embalmed to secure the rest of the soul of the dead. Nebsecht, who has the scientist's longing for specimens, but can get no human heart to analyze, persuades Pinem the grandfather of the girl Uarda, who, injured by the chariot of Bent Anat has been restored to health by the scientific physician, to get a heart from a dead body as a return for his services to the injured girl. It is a fearful crime thus to rob the dead of eternal rest, and remorse for it destroys Pinem's peace and reason, and finally causes his death. When the substituted ram's heart is discovered by the higher embalmers, it is after much parade and consultation of the gods, declared that the heart of the sacred ram, Amon, which had been killed by wolves, had miraculously found refuge in the body of the holy priest. One wonders if this incident is intended to throw a slur on the Christian doctrine of the incarnation, and one is offended that so palpable a humbug should be fastened to the religion of the Egyptians, when everything else pertaining to them is so favorably pictured. Even if the incident were historical, it might better have been kept out of the story, or have received a different treatment. There is reason enough to fix the odium of the false miracle upon Ameni, the high priest, and it is implied in the final disposition of Ameni that the king censured the performance: yet if the deceit had not been exposed by Nebsecht, we are left to infer that it would have passed with all as a miracle.

It is not far to the thought that the scientific worker does by his arguments little good to the common people. Poor Pinem is not a bad type of the humble mind from which the scientific dogmatist has removed the odious "theological bias," and left only blank negations and a certain looking forward to helpless, hopeless misery.

And we can forgive the clap-trap about the heart, for the conversation between the timid parschites and the bewildering, authoritative Nebsecht, as we see how skillfully scientific power is wielded over the weak will to impel to the worst of sins, the robbing of a mummy of its human heart. Excellent, too, is the discussion on the same subject between Pentaur and Nebsecht, in

whom some modern science may find its irreverent prototype, while Pentaur makes the beauty of the universe answer to a moral order.

The story has many striking scenes, as for instance the appearance of Mesu, or Moses to Pentaur on the mountain, but no scene equal in beauty to that where Paul and Hermas in the later story hurl the discus at the palm. The nobleness of the royal house is made very apparent and the ending is satisfactory.

Two things preeminently mark Ebers' novels. One is the vividness with which beings of a very different age draw near to us and manifest the same passions that have quickened the race for thousands of years. Another is the clearness with which the laws of heredity are observed in families. In this story Pentaur is found to be the son of the dead Mohar, whom he so much in body and mind resembles, and Uarda by resemblance in part is proved to be the granddaughter of the Greek prince. But the gem does its share in confirming the discovery.

The translation, like that of " Homo Sum," is far from perfect. Sometimes there is a decided blunder, and sometimes one is puzzled, or would be without the original, to know the meaning of a sentence, as in the following: "It will be long asparagus not peas, said another looking over his shoulder and pretending to be flogging," but the narrative is in general smooth and intelligible.

ALONG THE WAY.* Many of these little poems-by the accomplished editress of St. Nicholas, Mary Mapes Dodge-which appear in this beautiful volume, will be recognized as favorite verses which have attracted from time to time more than a passing glance, as they have been read in the various magazines of the day. There is throughout this collection a freshness of thought, the evidence of a poetic insight, a quick sympathy with nature in all its moods, as well as an easy diction, which calls from the reader a ready response and awakens at once an interest in her themes.

THE PRE-HISTORIC WORLD.t-This is the first attempt, so far as we are aware, to present in a romance a picture of the life of pre*Along the Way. By MARY MAPES DODGE. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1879. 16mo. 136 pp. For sale by E. P. Judd, New Haven.

The Prehistoric World. By ÉLIE BERTHET. Translated from the French by MARY J. SAFFORD. Porter & Coates, Philadelphia. 310 pp., 12mo. For sale by E. P. Judd, New Haven.

historic man. Within the past few years paleontologists claim that they have found the weapons, the barbaric ornaments, the utensils, even the remains of the coarse food of the human beings who lived "myriads of years before historic man." They claim that from these remains can be determined the race to which he belonged, the surroundings amid which he lived, and from them can be deduced also his character, manners, and customs. In the first of the tales in this book, M. Élie Berthet has attempted to give a study of the people who, in the "Quaternary period"-the age of the cave-bears and the mammoths-inhabited the district where now is the city of Paris. They are supposed to have belonged to the Mongol race, and to have lived by families and in caves, given up to the fiercest passions and the most brutal instincts. The author claims that in the construction of his story, he has the authority of some scientist "for every sentence and for almost every line." In his first chapter he describes the scenery of the district where ages after the city of Paris was built and the mammoth animals which lived in its river, or roamed through the forests which covered the now familiar hills. In his next chapter, the reader is introduced to a human family who occupy one of the caves on the sides of what is now known as Montmartre. It is a wild story of love and blood and vengeance connected with this primitive family on which the interest of the tale turns. A second story illustrates life in a "lacustrian city" which belonged several thousands of years later to a race called the "dolmen nations," in the "age of polished stone." The third and last story illustrates, by means of an account of the foundation of Paris, the "age of metals."

The stories are all admirably told, and while the reader will admire the ingenuity of the author, he will also learn to appreciate more clearly than before the significance of the late discoveries of the geologists and paleontologists and the theories which are based upon them.

THE TRANSMISSION OF LIFE.*- When this work by Doctor Napheys first appeared, a few years ago, it was highly commended in the leading professional medical journals, and by many of the

* The Transmission of Life. Counsels on the nature and hygiene of the masculine function. By GEORGE II. NAPHEYS. New edition, with the final corrections and additions of the author, and with a biographical sketch. Boston, Mass. W. H. Thompson & Co., 32 Hawley St. 1879. 362 pp., 12mo.

most distinguished and best known of the educators of the country. The object of the author was to furnish, "in popular yet irreproachable language, such information respecting the hygiene, nature, uses, and abuses of the procreative function in the male as is necessary to protect the individual from the evil consequences of his own folly or ignorance." The teachings of the book are acknowledged to be sound by those best qualified to judge, and they are presented with a delicacy and an elevation of moral tone which have won for them the general commendation of which we have spoken. A new edition has just appeared, with the final corrections and additions of the author.

THE MERRY-GO-ROUND.*—One of the very best story books for children that it has ever been our fortune to meet, and one which is scarcely less interesting to those of a larger growth.

RECENT PUBLICATIONS.

Charles Scribner's Sons, New York City.

Chinese Immigration. By Professor S. Wells Williams, LL.D. A paper read before the Social Science Association at Saratoga, Sept. 10, 1879. 48 pp. Epochs of Ancient History. Early Rome. From the foundation of the City to its destruction by the Gauls. By W. Ihne, Ph.D., Professor at the University of Heidelberg, Author of History of Rome. With a map. 12mo, 213 pp. The Roman Triumvirates. By Charles Merivale, D.D., Dean of Ely. With a

map. 12mo, 241 pp.

G. P. Putnam's Sons,

New York City.

18mo, 103 pp.

Idylls and Poems. By Anna Maria Fay. Studies in German Literature. By Bayard Taylor. With an Introduction by George H. Boker. 8vo, 418 pp.

A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains. By Isabella L. Bird, author of "Six Months in the Sandwich Islands," etc. With illustrations.

296 pp.

Notes on Railroad Accidents. By Charles Francis Adams, Jr., author of "Railroads: their Origin and Problems." 12mo, 280 pp.

Consumption, and How to prevent it. the Luzerne County Medical Society, etc.

By Thomas J. Mays, M.D., Member of 16mo, 89 pp.

Labor-Making Machinery. An essay read before the Chicago Philosophical Society, April 12, 1879. By Fred Perry Powers. 39 pp.

D. Appleton & Co., New York City.

Solar Light and Heat: the Source and the Supply. Gravitation: with explana. tions of Planetary and Molecular Forces. By Zachariah Allen, Ph.D. 8vo, 241 pp. Library of American Fiction. A Gentle Belle. A Novel. By Christian Reid. 8vo, 142 pp. Paper covers.

*The Merry-go-round. Stories for boys and girls. By R. W. RAYMOND. New York: Fords, Howard & Hulbert. 12mo, pp. 217. For sale by E. P. Judd, New Haven.

THE

NEW ENGLANDER.

No. CLVI.

MAY, 1880.

ARTICLE I.—SPIRITUAL ECONOMICS.

THE daily bread of the world is the chief subject of Political Economy. If men were purely material, physical nourishment would suffice for them; but spiritual natures require spiritual nutriment. If what furnishes this nutriment were a purely immaterial thing, it would, as such, be removed from the domain of wealth, and thus from the field of economic science; but it is not so. It has, in fact, a material basis, and falls within the limits of the economist's studies; the students of this science have other than literal loaves to consider.

Not only is the consideration of forms of wealth which minister to spiritual wants necessary in order to properly complete the science of Political Economy, but it is more imperatively necessary in the interest of religion. Certain modern religious phenomena are inexplicable except in the light of economic principles; it is the economist who can, if he will, point out the chief danger that threatens the church.

In an earlier essay we have called attention to the wide range of application which current definitions of wealth must have if consistently adhered to. While wealth always has a material basis, that basis is not necessarily solid or durable. Vibrations of air may be shaped into artistic form by the violin or