May 4.-Mr. E. F. Ayres gave some account of the more recent methods of treating the geometry of the triangle, based upon the relations of the ortho-, in-, and circum-centers, and the median, symmedian and Brocard points. Mr. I. Fisher gave some propositions relating to systems of tangent circles, and exhibited a "Rowing Indicator" of his own invention for recording the work done by a rower in actual practice by a series of indicator diagrams on a ribbon of paper. These diagrams show the characteristic qualities, as well as the comparative efficiency of different rowers and of different varieties of stroke.

J. WILLARD GIBBS, Sec'y.

THE POLITICAL SCIENCE CLUB OF YALE
UNIVERSITY.

AT the opening of the School of Political Science in the graduate department of Yale University last fall it was proposed to form a Political Science Club. This club, resembling a German Seminar, and similar organizations in Johns Hopkins University and Columbia College, was to supplement the regular work of the graduate students in the lecture and recitation rooms. It was intended to offer opportunities for original research in the lines of History, Industrial, and Political Science, which opportunities were, of course, to a large extent lacking in the ordinary work of the department. Such work was very desirable and the benefit derived by the members from the meetings during the past college year has been very satisfactory to the originators of the Club. The Club was organized in October of last year, its membership comprising the Faculty and students of the School of Political Science. Fortnightly meetings were held in one of the college recitation rooms during term time, at which papers, prepared by the members, were read; and these were always followed by a general discussion of the subject, in which those present joined. A sketch of the papers read will best describe the scope of the work done by the Club. The subject of one paper was The Fiscal System of Vermont. The various sources of revenue were enumerated, the system of State taxation, the grand list, and the method of assessing and levying State taxes were fully discussed. The subject of another paper was the history of the

personnel of the United States Supreme Court. The writer examined the changes in the complexion of the federal Supreme Bench since the adoption of the Constitution, as brought about by Presidential appointments and their influence on the Court's decisions. Special reference was made to the Jackson and Van Buren appointments and the consequent decline of the Court's good character. Two meetings of the Club were given to a thorough discussion of Convict Labor and Industrial Schools. Then followed a paper on the career of Ferdinand Lassalle, the first labor agitator. Perhaps the most interesting and scholarly production of the year was a history of the Granger movement. The study of Railway Administration has proved a favorite one among the graduate students. Two papers were read, as the result of individual research in that direction; one on the distinct interests of Directors, Bond-holders, and Stock-holders of Railway Corporations; the other on the relation between Railway Capitalization and Rates. Ancient history was represented by an exhaustive thesis on State control of Industry in the 4th century. A num. ber of students in the Law School became interested in the work of the Club, and one contributed an essay on Public Rights in Private Property. Professor Sumner's lectures on the Constitutional History of the United States were the best attended in the graduate course of study and suggested several subjects for special investigation. Such was the case with the paper on the United States Supreme Court, and also with one on the Internal Improvements of Ohio, and another on the changes in State Constitutions of the Union. The last named paper treated particularly of the tendency toward an elective judiciary and of changes in legislation regarding suffrage.

The success of the Club during its first year's existence has been very gratifying. The work of the members in preparing their essays has been careful and exact, and all feel that, aside from the direct advantages of the School of Political Science, they have acquired great benefit not only from their individual researches, but also from association and discussion with members of the Faculty and their fellow-students. It is proposed to concontinue the Club next fall on the same plan as heretofore.

J. C. SCHWAB.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE CLASSICAL AND PHILOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF YALE COLLEGE.

Monday, November 29, 1886.--Professor Seymour presented a communication on Archæology in Greece, speaking of the national schools of Archæology at Athens, of learned societies of the Greeks; of the recent discoveries on the Athenian Acropolis, and throughout Greece.

Monday, January 17, 1887.

Communications were offered as follows:

By Mr. Roberts on the Lesbian dialect, Mr. Castle on the Thessalian dialect, Mr. Buck on the Baotian dialect, while Mr. Hunt discussed the characteristic differences and resemblances of the various Aeolic dialects.

Monday, February 7, 1887.--Mr. Waters presented a paper on Petronius, giving a somewhat detailed account of the Satyricon, and pointing out the differences between the work of Petronius and those of Lucilius, Horace, and Juvenal; showing that the Satyricon must not be included in the same category as the Menippeæ of Varro. The grammatical peculiarities of Petronius were briefly indicated, the detailed discussion of them being reserved for another time.

Mr. Bourne presented the latest archæological arguments for the European origin of the Indo-European family, based largely on Penka's treatise, "die Herkunft der Arier;" urging that the original Indo-European type was tall, dolichocephalous, and blonde, and that it seems to have spread from Scandinavia.

Monday, February 28.-Mr. Van Name spoke on the Romanizing of the Japanese language, giving a sketch of the Chinese alphabet and of its introduction to Japan, and of the Japanese syllabaries (Katakana and Hiragana). He mentioned the indications of a movement to substitute the Roman characters for the Chinese method of writing, and gave an account of the proposed form of the Roman alphabet.

Professor Ripley read a paper on the Sources of Goethe's Italienische Reise, calling attention to Goethe's principles of style as shown in the changes of form from the original letters to the published work.

Monday, April 4.--Professor Knapp discussed prothetic E in certain Romance languages, with reference to the influence of the old Celtic language.

The Secretary read extracts from recent Athenian journals, giving accounts of the laying of the corner stone of the new building of the American School of Classical Studies, and of recent archæological discoveries.

Monday, April 18.-Professor Peck criticised Müller's edition of Ennius, prefacing his criticism by remarks on the poet and his works, on his latinity, on Ennius in the judgment of the ancients, and on the time when his works disappeared. Müller's edition was pronounced valuable as taking cognizance of what has been done since 1854, for the criticism and interpretation of Ennius, but dissatisfaction was expressed with Müller's arbitrary treatment of the text, and warning was given that the book must be used with great caution.

Monday, May 9.-Professor Harper presented a paper on the ă-vowel in Semitic languages, discussing three points: (1) the changes in Hebrew, Arabic and Assyrian, through which the ǎ-vowel has passed; (2) the relative frequency of the ǎ-vowel and of those derived from it in those languages; and (3) the use and force of this vowel, as compared with the Ĭ and ŭ-vowels.

Monday, June 6.--Dr. R. F. Harper presented a paper on the Decipherment and Contents of the Assyrian Inscriptions.

THOMAS D. SEYMOUR.

CURRENT LITERATURE.

MOMMSEN'S PROVINCES OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE.*-No student of history will regret that Mommsen decided to resume his history of Rome, with a consideration of the political and social condition of the provinces during the first three centuries of the empire. The immediate continuation of his earlier volumes would have been welcome, and may still be hoped for; but such a continuation would not have been so valuable a contribution to existing knowledge. The collapse of the Republic, and the establishment of the Empire are well set forth in the Latin writers of the period, who have been preserved, and these events have been studied with zeal and intelligence by modern historians. But ancient and modern writers alike looked to Rome or from Rome; the provinces as social aggregates, as growing or decaying communities, literary or industrial centers received little attention. For a knowledge of their condition we must resort to the by-ways of literature, the provincial novel just making its appearance, the local, panegyric, private correspondence, coins and medals, public and private inscriptions, in short to every kind of ancient remains. These sources, of course, have to be examined in writing any other portion of the history of Rome, but in a view of the provinces these collateral materials become our main reliance.

For utilizing such materials Mommsen is extraordinarily well fitted; one might almost say his life has been spent in the study of them. At the age of twenty-six, in the year 1843, with the aid of the Berlin Academy of Sciences, he undertook an archæological tour in France and Italy to investigate the Roman inscriptions in those countries. Three years were spent at this. In 1851 he published his Corpus Inscriptionum Neapolitanarum, and the next year his Inscriptiones Regni Neapolitani Latinae. In the great Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum he has edited some seven volumes, embracing the inscriptions found in Asia, the Greek prov

*The Province of the Roman Empire from Cæsar to Diocletian. By THEODOR MOMMSEN; translated with the author's sanction and additions by WILLIAM P. DICKSON, D.D., LL.D., Professor of Divinity in the University of Glasgow. 2 vols., pp. xiv., 397, 396. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.