No one who knows Dr. Buckley but expects good things from his pen, and he has given to young men a particularly useful volume in “Oats or Wild-Oats?”[R] Advice is as difficult a thing to prescribe judiciously as it is to take pleasantly. It is very liable to be insipid, preachy, to lack _verve_ qualities, which young men particularly abominate; it is very little of it readable. But these talks of Dr. Buckley’s abound in readable qualities. They are directly to the point, and full of clear-cut common sense. They advise young men in the practical matter of choosing a profession, and in making a success of it. The talks come from a man who, even if he “never worked a half day on a farm in his life,” has observed and conversed with hundreds of farmers; who knows from what he has heard and learned from their confessions to him just where they make their business, social, intellectual, and religious mistakes; and who is not afraid to express what he believes to be their dangers, and their strong points. As with farming, so with all the trades and professions. He knows his ground, and treats it in a tone a trifle blunt, perhaps, but nevertheless full of force and conviction. Mr. Marvin, an Englishman who for several years has lived in Russia, and is thoroughly acquainted with the character, the policy, and the wishes of that government, has, in writing “The Russians at the Gates of Herat,”[S] tried to impress more deeply upon the English people the necessity of immediate effort in order to secure themselves in the possession of the entrance to India. The steady advance of Russia for years past toward this empire has been carefully traced, and all the treacherous devices by which she has gained ground are exposed. The popular opinion that colossal mountain ranges lie between the Russian possessions and India has been shown to be an error; the new route over which they are passing is such that one could “drive all the way four-in-hand.” “No surrender,” must be the motto of every Englishman as regards Penjdeh, and “Hands off,” in respect to all places leading directly to Herat, says the author. A careful study of this book will give one a clear idea of this complicated movement.