agitations of the torpid Spanish populations in Europe and America, is the constant presence and activity of ideas, shaping and shaped by events, hardened or fused by conflict, and preserving through all vicissitudes and convulsions the incomparable vitality of the nation. France, more than any other country, is to be studied as a living spirit, not as an inert mass, and in a study of this kind the mechanico-philosophical method will not carry us far. It does not appear to strike Professor Adams as singular that a nation "abandoned for the last eighty years to the domination of Siva, the fierce god of destruction," should have all this while been cutting a somewhat respectable figure in literature, science and the arts, and during most of that period paid its way in the solid and shining metal considered by our rulers to have merely a mythical significance. Or rather he seems to contend that civilization has in fact perished in France, that as "such a tendency to turbulence is destructive of all healthy national growth," the inevitable result has ensued. He admits that there are still some good scholars in France, but he proves--need we add, by statistics?--that the illiteracy of the masses is greater than it was under the _ancien regime_, if not in the reign of Clovis. The controlling influence of Paris is shown, of course, to have been a prime source of mischief, and we are asked to "imagine the United States withdrawing from all interest in political affairs, and saying to New York City, 'Govern us as you please: we do not care to interfere.'" The fact, as most people are aware, is not at all as here assumed; but that aside, is it possible that Professor Adams knows so little of the difference in the origin and structure of the two nations as not to perceive that the comparison is ridiculous? _Books Received_. Social Life in Greece, from Homer to Menander. By Rev. J.P. Mahaffy, M.A. London: MacMillan & Co. A Free Lance in the Field of Life and Letters. By William Cleaver Wilkinson. New York: Albert Mason. The Bewildered Querists and other Nonsense. By Francis Blake Crofton. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. A Practical Theory of Voussoir Arches. By Professor William Cain, C.E. New York: D. Van Nostrand. On Teaching: Its Ends and Means. By Henry Calderwood. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. The Influence of Music on Health and Life. By Dr. H. Chomet. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. The Man in the Moon, and Other People. By R.W. Raymond. New York: J.B. Ford & Co. Sowed by the Wind; or, The Poor Boy's Fortune. By Elijah Kellogg. Boston: Lee & Shepard. Religion and Modern Materialism. By James Martineau. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith. By Alfred P. Putnam. Boston: Roberts Brothers. Winter Homes for Invalids. By Joseph W. Howe, M.D. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. Helps to a Life of Prayer. By Rev. J.M. Manning, D.D. Boston: Lee & Shepard.