SOME BOOKS OF THE WEEK.
[Under this heading we notice such Boob of the teeth as hare not been reserved for review in other forms.] The third of the new volumes of the Encyclopaedia Britannica (A. and C. Black) begins with an article on "Chicago." Turning back to the account of this city in the edition which is now being supplemented, we find some remarkable facts. In a period of twenty-six years the population has grown from 430,000 to 1,698,575; the dimensions of the city from 7 miles N.-S. x 5 E.-W.
to 26 miles x and .the municipal revenue from 5,123,903 dols. to 34,962,473. On the other hand, the average death-rate, which was 23.1 per 1,000 in 1870, has diminished to 16.2, the average in 1890 having. been 19.1. R is remarkable that the number of births barely exceeds that of deaths. Another notable circum- stance is that the foreign-born voters are more numerous than the native-born. The next article is "Chicago University." Here there is no comparison, for the institution is barely ten years old. It owes its existence to one of the munificent millionaires who are almost a speciality of the States, Mr. J:D. Rockefeller. That after something less than a decade it should be able to show 223 teachers, 3,183 students, and a revenue of more than .250,000 is a very striking achievement. Passing on from the beginning to nearly the end of the volume, we find an article on "Egypt," in which the system of plural authorship shows to much advantage. Major H. G. Lyons gives the "Geography and Statistics," from which it must suffice to quote the remarkable population figures, a growth from something under seven millions in 1682 to nearly ten millions in 1897. Sir J. L. Gorst writes on "Finance," and has very satisfactory figures to show, the only drawback being that the " dog-in-the-manger " attitude of the French Government hinders progress. It is calculated that their nan-possunius costs the country not less than a million and a half per annum. Tho "Political History" is furnished by Sir D. M. Wallace, the " Army " by Sir Evelyn Wood, and "Military Operations " by Sir G. S. Clarke, who carries us down to the abandonment of the Soudan, and Colonel R. H. Fetch, who has the more satisfactory task of continuing the story down to Lord Kitchener's conquest of the Soudan and Dongola in 1896-99. Never was a war better and more cheaply managed. It cost, including the railway expenditure, which remains as a permanent possession, little more than a million pounds. It is curious to read' the episode of Lord Kitchener's expedition to Fashocla, and compare it with an eminent Radical's dictum that it was an attempt "to pick a quarrel with France." The only things that an Englishman has to be ashamed of are the deplorable weak- ness of our Government, and the not less deplorable mistake of the military authorities in the Khartoum business. We have not, however, done with Egypt yet. Professor Flinders Petrie writes on "Egyptology," and begins with the statement, which no one could make with more authority, that since 1880 the appearance of almost every part of Egyptology has been changed. Much that seemed to be myth has now been found to be history, and the period that is beyond history is "better known than that of any, other country." No one has contributed to these results more than has Professor Petrie, and we are very glad to have this exposition of them from his hand. Of the other articles we may mention "The Christian Church," a sanguine, not to say optimistic, survey of the situation by the Bishop of Ripon; "Commercial Treaties," by Sir C. M. Kennedy (" prohibitions and discrimina- ting or differential treaties are injurious to trade ") ; "Copyright (American)," by Mr. G. H. Putnam, who will be remembered as one of the most indefatigable workers in the cause ; and "Charles Darwin," by Professor Poulton. Mr. William Archer writes about the Drama. We could find much to say upon his article, but forbear, suggesting only that the "unfortunate financial con- ditions" of which he complains might possibly be amended. There is "the necessity of appealing to an enormous public, or finding none at all." Is there, perchance, a public which does not like the cram be repetita of illicit love, and might be appealed to with success?
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