The number of books and periodicals supported on a given subject, is a good sign of its interest to the public. Following this indication we conclude that the public interest in sports and amusements is fully double what it was a year ago. A tabulated statement of the publications of 1884, compared with the books issued in 1883, gives the works on sports in the two years as twenty-two in 1883 to fifty-one in 1884. This suggestive comparison is but one of many signs that we are awakening to the absolute necessity of healthful exercise, if we would lead useful lives ourselves, and would propagate a sturdy race. * * * * * Every summer many ladies and gentlemen engaged in educational work make a vacation tour to the Old World. Those having such intentions for the coming summer will perhaps accept a few words of advice. In order to economize your time and derive the full benefit of your trip abroad, the best thing to be done is to join a party, the management of which is in the hands of an experienced traveler. The question naturally arises, Where is there a party formed in which we will find most advantages for the money expended? We do not hesitate in saying that we can recommend no better than Professor de Potter’s parties, organized each year in Albany, New York, and which have the reputation of being ably conducted. * * * * * There is going on in the newspapers just now a very suggestive contest over the spelling of a word. Shall it be dynami_teur_ or _ter_? Both forms have reliable followings, though no reasons have been advanced for either termination. The word is a good example of several interesting features of word-making. It illustrates how each new development in history requires a vocabulary, and how the vocabulary is formed from the facts involved. Further, the difference in the termination shows how each word must have its period of instability before usage selects the form which shall be permanent. This Irish agitation has, by the way, introduced several new words into the language. * * * * * We Americans believe very firmly in ourselves. But sometimes we can not help wondering if this vigorous, athletic government of ours, and these growing institutions, seem to others a success. It will be gratifying to read Mr. Matthew Arnold’s opinion of us: “A people homogeneous, a people which had to constitute itself in a modern age, an epoch of expansion, and which has given to itself institutions entirely fitted for such an age and epoch, and which suit it perfectly—a people not in danger of war from without, not in danger of revolution from within—such is the people of the United States. The political and social problem we must surely allow that they solve successfully.” * * * * *