"The productions of the hen-yards of the United States, according to the census statistics, was, in 1879, 456,910,916 dozen eggs, and, if hens have now increased in the ratio of population, it is now 500,000,000 dozen, which at only ten cents a dozen, would exceed the value of the products of the silver mines. "It would be vastly more reasonable for Congress to order the compulsory purchase of two million dollars' worth of eggs per month," in order to sustain the hen products of the United States, "than it is to buy two million dollars' worth of silver; because the eggs could be used, or else would rot, while the silver cannot be used, and is expensive to store and to watch (pp. xvi-xvii)."--_Congregationalist_. * * * * * ILLITERACY AND MORMONISM. Of _Illiteracy and Mormonism_, a brochure from the pen of Doctor Henry Randall Waite, just published by D. Lothrop & Co., the _Boston Daily Transcript_ in an advance notice, says: "In view of the present great interest in the problems treated, and the value of the material which it offers as an aid to their solution, the book is especially timely. Doctor Waite, who was for some time editor of the _International Review_, and whose work is well-known to readers of the standard American periodicals, is one of the clearest-headed of our younger writers on politico-economic subjects, and his views as here set forth demand thoughtful consideration and respect. He brings to the treatment of the subjects included in the title the special knowledge gained in his important official position as statistician of the late census, in charge of some of the most important branches, including education, illiteracy and religious organizations." The Dover (N.H.) _Star_, says: "He makes the best argument for the Constitutionality of National Aid [to education] which we have yet seen. It will bear careful consideration by members of Congress." The _Boston Daily Herald_ refers to the author's views as follows: "One of the most original and valuable contributions yet made to the discussion of the project of extending federal aid to common school education in the States ... The moderation of its tone and the conservatism of its suggestions will commend it to all thoughtful students of this problem, while its statistics, many of which, in their arrangement and application, are substantially new, should have a direct influence in shaping the final action of Congress ... Mr. Waite has given long and careful study to this subject in all its bearings, and he writes with an equipment of information and reflection which has been palpably lacking in much of the Senatorial discussion of it." * * * * * ARCTIC EXPLORATIONS.