lows his speech. The comparison here Red-line series) which was evidently regarded as suggested may be carried further at one's leis-a parlor ornament rather than an article of fam

ure.

ily use.

Pass from the manner of Cæsar's thought to She turned to the Rhyme of the Duchess May, the manner of its expression, his Latin style. and began reading to the two or three that linNo writer, not even Cicero, had a more perfect gered after the meal. The Theologue's ear is command of the Latin period, whose peculiar peculiarly sensitive, and when the poetess majesty is so unapproachable in our tongue attempted first to make "youth" rhyme with Can you not hear, in some of those chapters "month." and immediately afterward with which contain but one sentence, the very tread "smooth," with indifferent success in both of Cæsar's legions, or the sound of their picks cases, he was unable to endure the torture any and spades as they fortify the camp, or the calm longer; and waiting till the next appearance of tones of that voice which decrees slavery or toll slowly," he seized the opportunity to death to a whole tribe? In fact, this man and remark as politely as possible that Mrs. Brownthis subject seem exactly fitted to the genius ing's bad rhymes always seriously interfered and capacity of the Latin tongue, which Cole- with his enjoyment of her verse. This modest ridge describes as "reluctantly yielding to the heresy at once aroused a cry of indignation from flowery yoke of Horace, proved to the utmost the ladies. "What was a bad rhyme or two by Cicero, and by him found wanting." Casar when there was so much soul?" never finds it wanting, for his soul is in perfect accord with the soul of the language.

Let him who wishes to feel the force of the Roman mind, to imbibe the spirit of a noble race, to make the Latin language live again for

him, its structure gaining a vital hold upon his mind, read and re-read Casar's Commentaries on the Gallic War. The book is worthy of its origin and a fitting monument of the Roman glory.

Good-Night.

"Goodnight?"-No, love! the night is ill
Which severs those it should unite;
Let us remain together still,—

Then it will be good night.

How were the night without thee good,
Though thy sweet wishes wing its flight?
Be it not said, thought, understood,—-
Then it will be good night.

The hearts that on each other beat
From evening close to morning light,
Have nights as good as they are sweet,
But never say "good-night."

-Shelley.
The Theologue at the Breakfast Table.

BY A VERY DISTANT RELATIVE OF THE AUTOCRAT.

VII.

This morning one of the young ladies, a shiuing light of the "Eolian Literary Society," and an ardent admirer of Mrs. Browning's poetry, picked up from the table a 66c. volume, (of the

"They were no worse than some of Tennyson's," remarked Mlle. Blonde, knowing full well that the weapon was well aimed. The Theologue always cites the Poet Laureate as his model poet. Our Theologue, slightly nettled,

took up the volume which had been laid down,
and opening at random to the first page began
to read, making the lines rhyme by main force.
LUCIFER, alone.

REJOICE in the clefts of Gehenna,
My exiles, my host!

Earth has exiles as hopeless as whenna
Heaven's empire was lost.

Smoke up with your lurid revenges,

And darken the face

Of the white heavens, and taunt them with chenges
From glory and grace.

We, in falling, while destiny strangles,
Pull down with us all.

Let them look to the rest of their angles!

Here the Theologue tossed the book again on the table and offered to present every member of the family with a copy of Mrs. Browning (in the Red-line series) if anybody would find him such a rhyme in Tennyson as "strangles" and "angels." After which he went on sarcastically to remark that after all she was not so culpable in the present case, because having "strangles" she was reduced to the necessity of using jangles, wrangles, tangles, spangles or dangles, mangles or bangles-a mighty tough lot of

words to rhyme with. She'd have had to change For the heart of the nations is made as the strength of the title of the poem; anyway-how would

"Let them look to the rest of the bangles." sound? She had no business fooling with double rhymes at all; they should be left to somebody who has learned to use them-Swinburne or somebody. burne:

the springs of the sea.

They were fair in the grace of gold, they walked with delicate feet;

They were clothed with the cunning of old, and the

smell of their garments was sweet.

For the breaking of gold in their hair they halt as a man

made lame;

Listen to this from Swin-They are utterly naked and bare; their mouths are bitter with shame.

For the heart of the waters is cruel,
And the kisses are dire of their lips.
And their waves are as fire is to fuel

To the strength of the sea-faring ships.
Though the sea's eye gleam as a jewel
To the sun's eye back as he dips.

Wilt thou judge thy people now, O King, that wast found most wise?

Wilt thou lie any more, O thou whose mouth is emptied of lies?

Shall God make a pact with thee, till his hook is found in thy sides?

Wilt thou put back the time of the sea, or the place of the season of tides?

That

You may cast reflections on the moral character of the poet, but when it comes to the tech-Set nique of verse, it is a comfort to be able to view rhymes without a tendency to cross-eye-without having to look back and find out what a word is intended to rhyme with.

"Do you really think, then, that a poet like Swinburne, whose whole genius seems to consist in an ability to construct mazes of beautiful sounds, and raise luminous mists of gorgeous verbiage, is to be compared to a noble poet like Mrs. Browning, whose greatness consists in something infinitely higher: a wealth of mindtreasures, and a lofty benevolence of purpose?" The Theologue gazed at her sadly a few moments without speaking; then he began in a solemn and impressive measure,

A SONG IN TIME OF REVOLUTION.

The heart of the rulers is sick, and the high-priest covers his head,

For this is the song of the quick that is heard in the ears of the dead.

The poor and the halt and the blind are keen and mighty and fleet;

Like the noise of the blowing of wind is the sound of the noise of their feet.

The wind has the sound of a laugh in the clamor of days and of deeds:

The priests are scattered like chaff, and the rulers broken like reeds.

The high-priest sick from qualms, with his raiment bloodily dashed;

The thief with branded palms, an 1 the liar with cheeks

abashed.

They are smitten, they tremble greatly, they are pained, for their pleasant things:

a word in thy lips, to stand before God with a word in thy mouth;

"the rain shall return in the land, and the tender

dew after drouth.'

But the arm of the elders is broken, their strength is unbound and undone;

They wait for the sign of a token; they cry, and there
cometh none.

Their moan is in every place, and the cry of them filleth
the land;
There is shame in sight of their face, there is fear in the

thews of their hand.

They are girdled about the reins with a curse for the girdle thereon;

For the noise of the rending of chains, the face of their
color is gone.

For the sound of the shouting of men they are grievously
stricken at heart;
They are smitten asunder with pain, their bones are

smitten apart.

There is none of them all that is whole; their lips gape open for breath;

They are clothed with sickness of soul, and the shape of the shadow of death.

The wind is thwart in their feet; it is full of the shouting of mirth;

As one shaketh the sides of a sheet, so it shaketh the ends of the earth.

The sword, the sword is made keen; the iron has opened its mouth;

The corn is red that was green; it is bound for the sheaves of the south.

The sound of a word was shed, the sound of the wind as a breath,

In the ears of the souls that were dead, in the dust of Where the face of the moon is taken, the ways of the the deepness of death.

stars undone,

The light of the whole sky shaken, the light of the face

of the sun;

Where the waters are emptied and broken, the waves of the waters are stayed;

For the house of the priests made stately, and the Where God has bound for a token the darkness that might in the mouth of the kings.

maketh afraid:

They are grieved and greatly afraid; they are taken, Where the sword was covered and hidden, and dust they shall not flee;

had grown in its side,

A word came forth that was bidden, the crying of one these tendencies to a minimum, and produce some rethat cried; sults undeniably good?

The sides of the two-edged sword shall be bare, and its mouth shall be red,

For the breath of the face of the Lord that is felt in the bones of the dead.

The first point to be noted is that a fraternity loses the irresponsible character of a clique or club and has a reputation to make and maintain. The badge which each member wears fixes his responsibility, and to be There was silence for a moment. You don't less than a gentleman is to disgrace his badge and mean that Swinburne wrote that? How won-injure his fraternity. derfully fine it is! It has the awful force of College fraternities may be made very useful in colinvective and the supernatural fire that one lege discipline. There is a kind of brotherhood existing between its members. finds in the words of the old Hebrew seers. All are, to a certain extent, responsible for each, and each for all. College officers Yes, that is so. It is as rugged as anything have availed themselves of this relation for the good of Browning ever did and yet as beautiful as Poe. all concerned. Many times, when some member of a An imaginative poet who makes poetry his fraternity has been careless in conduct or study, a profession is really compelled to publish much quiet, confidental talk with a senior member of his that is not worthy of him. A poet's emotional chapter, dwelling on the injury to his fraternity resultcapital is sooner exhausted than his intellectual.ing from the connection of such members, has succeeded in reforming the delinquents when all other expedients It is far easier for Browning to turn his philos- have failed. ophy into verse at the rate of a volume a year, Fraternities are a great medium of social intercourse than for poet like Swinburne to produce a between colleges, and do much toward creating a comcorresponding amount of highly emotional lyr-mon interest and friendly feelings.

ics and ballads. So while it is heartily to be The recognition of these organizations by university regretted that a poet and his friends have not the discretion to keep that which is not good away from the public and commit it to the flames rather than reserve it for an inglorious post-mortem notoriety, it is manifestly unjust to judge him by these works.

authorities seems wise. The efforts of some American

Secret meet

institutions of learning to drive out the fraternities for
the evils of a few have generally proved futile. Badges
were worn beneath the students' coats.
ings were held and a system of equivocation adopted,
when questioned by the faculty, exceedingly injurious

to the students from a moral point of view. Chapters were restrained from intercourse with graduate memIf you had judged Tennyson by this method bers. The faculty could not use them as a means of he would never have attained the position of discipline. On the other hand, if each fraternity is poet laureate or his place in the peerage. Be-allowed to exist on its merits, any one thought by a cause while no poet of the century is more parcollege faculty to be injurious, can be driven out by ticular about finishing up his verses elegantly, giving a simple public statement of the reasons why no poet has left more bad poetry than he. young men should keep out of it.

College Fraternities.

The first argument against fraternities is that they are secret. Regarding this, their secrecy is rather

[A brief resume of Ex-President White's article in the nominal than real, generally consisting of nothing more

May Forum, 1887.]

points?

than keeping from the public the motto for which their letters stand and their literary work. How can any For half a Century the “Greek Letter Fraternities" of our colleges have been the object of attack and de-question be raised as to their right to reticence on these fence. The purpose of this article is to discuss the question whether they are mainly good or evil; and if, like most human organizations, they are productive of both good and evil, to find out how the good may be in

creased and the evil diminished.

"Man is a social being." Students thrown together in daily intercourse arrange themselves into parties, cliques and clubs in spite of the lament of college officers that they will not simply oscillate between their lodgings and lecture rooms. Human nature is too strong, and groups of some sort are inevitable. Now do not the fraternities reduce the evils arising out of

Again it is said they produce narrowness and cliquishness. These are individual characteristics which will betray themseves under any circumstances, and

fraternities tend rather to overcome them.

Objection is made to the expense. The money would be more useful applied to something else. The argument goes too far. It is equally good against eating a sweet potato or an oyster. Pictures, engravings, beautiful books, works of art, ministerial tea parties, alumni dinners and handsome church edifices come equally under the ban. "Why was not this ointment sold for

"Philosophical Classification, is nothing more than an attempt to express formally the facts and laws, of both Morphology and Physiology."

A failure to give the physiological element of species its proper place in Biological investigation, has led to an erroneous process of analogical reasoning in favor of the theory of derivation.

three hundred pence and given to the poor?" "Man classification, is to be distinguished from the term in its shall not live by bread alone." It is said that students true philosophical sense, as an Assemblage of individuhave been led into an outlay for social gatherings and als resembling each other more or less, and which are banquets which they could ill afford. Here is certainly capable of permanent interpropagation. a point where every fraternity should be on its guard. And finally it has been said that a number of the most venerated officers of American colleges have declared against fraternities; but it is quite as true that just as many venerated officers have declared against other things which have turned out to be blessings. Perhaps one trouble with some of these excellent men is that they are so venerable. All movements have The analogy relied upon, is that which is furnished their oppositions. The true question is, Are the frater-by morphological resemblance. For example, the lion, nities, as a fact, more powerful for evil than for good? the tiger and the leopard, species of the genus Felis, as The contention is that they reduce certain inevitable ordinarily classified, are similar to each other in their evils in college life to a minimum; that they produce general type of structure. The resemblance is as great, good in many ways and when properly dealt with as in some cases is that between varieties or races of the by college authorities they can be made to do still more same species. good.

CONTRIBUTED.

Specific Stability in Organic Nature.

**

The difference of opinion among naturalists, as to the stability of species, is no doubt chiefly to be accounted for, by the use of different tests to determine the distinction of species.

Most naturalists agree in the definition of species, as "The off-spring of a single primitive stock." But they differ in the tests to be used to determine community of descent. Some use structural resemblance as the sole criterion of species. Others while they retain this test, add to it a physiological test, namely, permanent interpropagability, as giving a more certain and accurate diagnosis.

The true definition of species in accordance with this combined test, is An assemblage of individuals, which resemble each other more or less, and which are capable of permanent interpropagation, or in other words of being continuously fertile inter se.

This was the idea of the celebrated John Hunter, who has been called the Father of Zoological Science. He says, "The true distinction of species must ultimately be determined by their capacity of propagating with each other, and of producing offspring capable of continuing itself."

Prof. Armand de Quatrefages, the French naturalist, says, "To decide whether individuals belong to the same species you must marry them."

Derivationists infer from this resemblance, that the species thus alike are derived by ordinary reproduction from a common parent.

The process of reasoning by which this conclusion is reached is unreliable.

The formula of the argument used in such cases, fully stated, runs thus:

1. We know from observation, that in certain cases, different species resemble each other in their type of structure, as much as in some cases do different varieties or races of the same species.

2. We know that the resemblance in the latter case is the effect of inheritance. Hence

3. We infer that the resemblance in the former case has its origin in a similar cause; that is, in inheritance by reproduction from a common progenitor, on the principle that "Similarity of effect indicates similarity of cause."

To determine the validity of this argument, we must take account of the fact, that to warrant the inference of "Similarity of cause from similarity of effect," the similarity of effect must extend to the whole effect. It must extend to physiological characteristics as well as to outward form and general structure.

The different species of carnivora we have named, are morphologically much alike; as closely so, as in some cases are varieties or races of the same species. If they are as much alike physiologically, the analogy is complete, and the principle applicable, that "Similarity of effect indicates similarity of cause."

But if the species compared are merely morphologically alike, there is only a one-sided analogy, and there

The true test of specific unity is permanent interprop- fore no basis for a conclusion as to descent from a comagability.

On account of the difficulty of applying the functional test of species, the Systematist uses only the morphological test, viz., Structural resemblance, in analyzing his specimens. But he understands, or should understand, that the term species, as used in ordinary

mon progenitor, near or remote.

All reasoning for derivation which rests merely upon structural characters, is an uncertain guide. Structural comparison serves the purpose of the ordinary systematist, in his classifications. "He arranges the groups which he recognizes in a lineal series."

But such lineal classifications are not genealogies. matter for them to inform the Bureau of vacancies in Based wholly upon morphological resemblances, they are their towns and use their influence to have the vacanall more or less artificial. The classification of thecies filied by Oberlin graduates. I hope to hear soon groups in such lineal arrangements is an unreliable that a Teacher's Bureau has been established, and I do guide as to community of origin. It cannot be used in not hesitate to give it as my opinion that it will be a evidence of descent from a common progenitor. The question of descent can be determined only by the test of permanent interpropagability.

success."

The college authorities have never done what they might in aiding graduates to get positions. It is a mistake to think that every man that is worthy of a good Oberlin position will get it without some influence.

Dr. Dawson, of the McGill University, Montreal, states the matter correctly when he styles the alleged analogy between ordinary reproduction, and the trans-graduates may well despair when they learn that Harmutation of species, a "threadbare, false analogy.' vard has established a Bureau to secure positions for the He styles it threadbare, because of the persistence of graduates of the different departments of the university. those who resort to it, after its fallacy has been a thousand times exposed.

Oberlin has long enjoyed the reputation of being the college for self-supporting students. But if she is to enjoy this blessing any longer, it will be necessary that some efforts be made to find positions for self-supporting students during the summer months.

Prof. Quatrefages, speaking of the theories of those who base their reasonings for transmutation upon structural characters alone, says, "Unfortunately their theories have all the same radical defect. They We notice that some colleges that are less depending agree with a certain number of important facts on self-supporting students than Oberlin have taken connected essentially with the morphology of beings; steps in this direction, and among the number is Harvard. but they are in direct contradiction with the fundamenIf the Faculty will take the matter in hand they will tal principles of general physiology, which are no less do much toward putting an end to such sad lamenting general and fixed than the former. This contradiction as the members of 87 are sending up over "the wasted is not evident at first sight. This is the reason the doc-years they spent in college."

trine has influenced not only the public at large, but even men of the highest intellect, whose sole error consists in their having allowed themselves to consider one side of the question only."

REVIEWS.

THE CENTURY.--The frontispiece of the June Century is a striking portrait of Count Leo Tolstoi, the Russian novelist. In Mrs. van Rensselaer's series of papers on the great English cathedrals, the account of Canterbury, which has been received with marked favor by the American and English press, is followed this month by

This defective method of reasoning for derivation, from morphological premises, and false analogies, runs through the writings of Darwin and Huxley, and the whole body of Evolutionists. "Physiology is the central principle of Organic Sci-a critical and descriptive study of Peterborough. The T. J. KEEP.

ence."

Oberlin.

The last number of the REVIEW Contains an editorial asking for a communication on the expediency of starting a Teacher's Bureau in connection with the college.

Judging from the number of Oberlin graduates who engage in teaching and the difficulty they meet in their efforts to secure positions, it will be taking a step to fill a long felt need. This bureau might be so extended as to include graduates who intend to engage in other occupations than teaching.

The following is from a graduate of Oberlin: "I know of no reason why a Teacher's Bureau would not prove to be of great service to the students of Oberlin in securing positions. I think Oberlin's many alumni would be glad to help carry on the work. It would be an easy

outdoor feeling of the season is appropriately appealed to by two articles: first, an illustrated paper, "College Boat-Racing," by Julian Hawthorne, having special reference to the New London course. The second paper, "Bat-Racing by Amateurs," is contributed by a Yale min, writing over the name of Henry Eckford. An illustrated paper of the widest popular bearing is the second of Prof. W. O. Atwater's articles on food, entitled "How Food Nourishes the Body." The Lincoln History makes marked progress toward the Presidential contest of 1869 by the consideration of events which form a background to a proper presentation of Lincoln's personality, events which are also necessary to an understanding of his personal career, A thoughtful and suggestive paper by the R v. T. T. Munger bears the title "Education and Social Progress." Mr. Stockton's serial, "The Hundredth Man," is continued; and Mrs. Elizabeth Stewart Phelps contributes a tragic and heartrending story entitled "Jack," which is illustrated by Irving R. Wiles and Mrs. Mary Hallock Foote.

ATLANTIC MONTHLY.--The number for June opens with a curious and interesting story by Josiah P, Quin