only to be regretted that his publishers have got the book up so abominably that the casual buyer will drop it on sight, and thus have made it unlikely that he will reap the substantial rewards that his work merits.

A. C.

FALLACIES OF THE LAW. By Henry S. Wilcox. 8vo, pp. 1-206. Cloth, $1. Legal Literature Co., Chicago.

Mr. Wilcox, in this last book of his series, deems himself strangely inspired to revise all the law and the prophets. He does not intend to be amusing. But it is amusing to look through the lines and see him storm:

"The criminal mills are continually grinding out a grist of convictions, and the government takes its share of the toll in the shape of fines. . . . The legislature does not attempt to fix the value of the offspring of the cow. How then can it consistently fix the produce of the money?" arguing that it permit usury. "It is remarkable that the constitution of the United States gave to Congress the unlimited power to declare war. It should have restricted the power to wars necessary for the common defense....” “The person so charged (with contempt) is denied all rights guaranteed by the constitution in ordinary criminal charges. There is no indictment, no jury trial allowed." A few pages later he opposes indictments, and juries too, grand or petit-"An important obstruction in the enforcement of the criminal law is the necessity of procuring an indictment. . . . The grand jury is certainly a useless appendage. . . ." And petit juries are "accountable for most of the other obstructions that clog the judicial machinery. . . ." Suffice it "to state in the summons or notice of suit the amount the plaintiff claims to be due him and the nature of that claim. If the defendant requires further light on the subject, why should he not ask the plaintiff by letter or otherwise" -so he would get rid of pleading. "But the Senate (U. S.) is clearly inconsistent with the idea of government deriving its just powers from the consent of the governed."

The fallacy of Mr. Wilcox seems to be that he fancies that laws could make peace, charity and righteousness; that imperfections in the law have unmade them; that all good is attainable through jurisprudence, and that all evil is attributable to defective jurisprudence. It is comforting to reflect that he has, unconsciously, so high an opinion of the dignity of the law, which otherwise he does not concede.

S. E.

WORRY, THE DISEASE OF THE AGE. By C. W. Saleeby, M.D., F.R.S. 12mo, pp. 301. Cloth, $1.35 net. Frederick A. Stokes Company, New York. The author argues that as our "being's end and aim" is happiness, and since worry and happiness are diametrically opposed, to worry is to miss the purpose of existence, aptly quoting "Paradise Lost":

The mind is it's own place, and in itself

Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven.

Dr. Saleeby shows the drain of worry upon vitality and power to resist disease, upon digestion and sleep, and upon mental and physical skill in certain occupations. He describes the mental and physical causes, its relation to

certain habits and to success in life, strongly advocating some kind of a hobby for every one. He says: "Let the man beware, then, who too thoughtlessly permits all his intellectual interests to atrophy, save those which are concerned with his work. . . . It is an imperative necessity for the average modern man, and is of the nature of an investment for coming years, that he shall persistently cultivate some other mental interest than that with which the worry of the struggle-for-existence is associated. Such mental interest, though apparently not utilitarian, and though not cultivated for any utilitarian purpose, will yet prove to be a valuable weapon in the struggle-forexistence itself."

The book is teeming with excellent advice upon a subject which is becoming more and more important from year to year. Every adult has his responsibilities. How best to contemplate them mentally in order to meet them most fully and with the minimum of care is a matter of universal interest. "Worry" contains guide-posts along the road to that end.

E. J. R.

WEBSTER'S INTERNATIONAL DICTIONARY. C. and G. Merriam Co., Springfield, Mass.

Having just had occasion to look up an odd bit of historical matter which, perhaps through haste, the reviewer failed to find in the encyclopædias and more common works of reference, we were rather surprised to find it at once in the new appendix of Webster's International. It seems that the present new edition of the work contains some 25,000 additional words, phrases, etc., and with its appendix is well equipped to compete with the newer lexicons.

S. E.

THE NUTRITION OF MAN. By Russell H. Chittenden, Ph.D., LL.D., Sc.D. 8vo, pp. 321. Illustrated. Cloth, $3 net. Frederick A. Stokes Company, New York.

This new volume from the pen of Professor Chittenden, director of the Sheffield Scientific School and Professor of Physiological Chemistry at Yale, contains the last word of the scientific world on the important subject of nutrition. Few mental workers in the press and bustle of the business day ever consider how directly their efficiency and capacity depend upon nutrition. Given proper nutrition and a cheerful mind and the human machine will stand a prodigious amount of hard mental work; given poor, ill-chosen food, faulty nutrition with consequent mental cloudiness and the hard brain worker is doomed to irritability, disappointment and disease. For these reasons the "Nutrition of Man" is worth the attention and perusal of the layman as well as the physiologist and chemist. The lawyer whose work is almost entirely mental is likewise concerned. The average man is careless as to his diet. He "follows his God-given instincts and plods peacefully along to his three square meals a day, consisting of anything he can find in the market, and just as much of it as he can afford, with a special preference for rich meats, fats and sugars." It may be that every reader may not care to follow the analysis of the parts performed by proteids, carbohydrates and fats, yet he

will assuredly be interested, as he is deeply concerned in the untechnical chapters and in the admirable advice on dietetics appearing throughout the work. Some of the principal subjects are: "The processes of the digestive tract, and the chemistry of assimilation; the combustion of food in the body, and its transformation into energy; the balance of nutrition, and the prevalence and results of overfeeding; accounts of experiments upon men and animals, showing the results of vegetable, meat and other diets."

Professor Chittenden points out that the usual standards of diet are not a safe guide and that the consumption of one half the proteid foods ordinarily taken would result in less strain upon the bodily processes and increased efficiency for work. He is not a vegetarian nor a fadist of any kind; he has simply shown the relation between the actual requirements of the body and the consumption of food, pointing out where the errors in common practice lie.

It is no longer eccentric to regard principles of health in daily life. We believe that this book authoritatively points out paths of reform and increased health. Consequently it will be read and appreciated by those desirous of living life intelligently and well. E. J. R. THE OTHER WISE MAN. (New Edition.) By Henry Van Dyke. "I do not know where it came from-out of the air, perhaps. One thing is certain, it is not written in any other book, nor is it to be found among the ancient lore of the East. And yet I have never felt as if it were my own. It was a gift. It was sent to me, and it has seemed as if I knew the Giver, though His name was not spoken."

Thus, in a new preface to his "Story of the Other Wise Man," does Henry Van Dyke lay a claim to divine inspiration more specific than any of the Bible writers, save possibly the apocalypt.

When Dr. Van Dyke went to Princeton University, after much solicitation, his coming was heralded with pride and delight among faculty and students. His brother, familiarly known as "Little Paul," was a general favorite. The litterateur and fisherman was promised equal favor. But the enthusiasm was frost-bitten, the idol was unworshiped except by the occupant of his shrine, and when he departed nobody sang Auld Lang Syne. Complacency was the cause; and 'tis amazing that the author of "A Lover of Music" could be personally small.

But this last is too sublimely ridiculous to laugh at. "It was sent to me, and it has seemed as if I knew the Giver, though His name was not spoken." This is too near taking the name of the Lord in vain, when asserted of no great work of literature. Dr. Van Dyke has written some gems, but his flights are short; he just misses being a figure in literature, for he is not mentally big enough. Somewhat after the fashion of the faultless painter, Andrea del Sarto, who could do nothing wrong but nothing commanding, because he had not the inspiration, the vigor and breadth of conception; so, in his lesser altitude, Dr. Van Dyke lacks that very divine afflatus that he pretends to now, with this assertion of a "gift" or commission from the Lord. As lawyers we are not likely to listen to proof of agency by the incompetent declarations of the self-asserted agent.

S. E.

REFUSED "JOHN SMITH" CHECK PAID OWNER'S FINE.

A shoeworker was in City Hall Police Court and a dark-eyed cashier said that he called her a "disrespectable woman."

"He came into the restaurant, where I work," she said, "and wanted a 'John Smith' check for $5 cashed. I told him I wouldn't take the 'John Smith' money. He said it was as good as other money, and called me a disrespectable woman."

"Why did you call her that?" asked Judge Tracy.

"Well, she dared me to come across the cashier's counter at the restaurant and kiss her."

"Five dollars," said the Judge.

He paid his fine with the "John Smith" check.

HIS BUSINESS.

A Boston lawyer, cross-examining the plaintiff in a divorce trial, brought

forth the following:

"You wish to divorce this woman because she drinks?"

"Yes, sir."

"Do you drink yourself?"

"That's my business!"

"Have you any other business? ”—Everybody's Magazine.

TORTS, MALICIOUS PROSECUTION.

Professor.-You say that this plaintiff succeeded in the former action in which he was defendant; now what was this action brought for? Student.-Malicious execution.

E. A. P.

DEATH "AT HANDS OF JUSTICE."

In Supreme Lodge Knights of Pythis v. Crenshaw, 58 S. E. Rep. 628, the Georgia Supreme Court holds that an exception in a life insurance policy of death "at the hands of justice" does not cover a case where a husband slays his wife's paramour.

A. GOB OF HISTORY.

Tarquin watched the sibyl burning her books.

66

Genuine corporation methods,” murmured he. "She evidently has the secret of money-making."

And he made haste to purchase the remaining volumes.—Louisville Courier-Journal.

DIVORCED FOR RIFLING POCKETS.

Because his wife persisted in going through his pockets at night, David Walker has been granted a divorce. Persistent and continued intrusion into the personal affairs-particularly the pockets-of the plaintiff, sustain, in the opinion of the court, the charge of "cruelty," said Judge Sanborn in granting the decree at Lawrence, Mass.

NAME RESTORED.

The following is a literal copy of the recorded judgment in a Kentucky divorce case:

"This cause having been submitted and same coming on for trial and the court being sufficiently advised from the pleadings and proof adjudges that the bonds of matrimony heretofore existing between the plaintiff and defendant are and the same is hereby dissolved and the plaintiff is divorced from the defendant and this cause is stricken from the docket, that the plaintiff is fully restored to his former (maiden) name and habits."