experience and training in the practical working of the rela tions of which he treats, gives his comments and criticisms a point and suggestiveness that might have been lacking if the the book were from the pen of a trained lawyer who was without this special experience.

Architects, builders and owners will find the book interesting and valuable as giving them the legal aspect of their relations; and lawyers who have to do with the subjectmatters treated of, will be thankful to find so many cases collected and clearly stated on matters not covered satisfactorily by any other treatise known to the writer.

One of the strongest evidences of practical wisdom in the writing of the book is shown by the author not attempting to give the mechanic's lien laws of the different states, which he speaks of as in "a constant state of transition,” a remark, the force of which particularly appeals to a Pennsylvania lawyer.

At the end of the volume are three forms of contracts between the builder and the owner, which are worthy of being consulted by any lawyer who has a contract of this kind to draw or pass upon, especially the third form.

An alphabetical list of cases cited, and a second list giving the cases of each state alphabetically, are given. The index is reasonably full, but seems to the writer not as well executed as the rest of the book. B. H. L.

A TREATISE ON DISPUTED HANDWRITING AND THE DeterMINATION OF GENUINE FROM FORGED SIGNATURES; THE CHARACTER AND COMPOSITION OF INKS, and their Deter. MINATION BY CHEMICAL TESTS; THE EFFECT OF AGE AS MANIFESTED IN THE APPEARANCE OF WRITTEN INSTRUMENTS AND DOCUMENTS. BY WILLIAM E. Hagan, Expert in Handwriting. (All rights reserved.) Albany, N. Y.: Banks & Brothers. 1894.

This book came to our hands for review after Prof. FRAZER'S work had been read, and has been read entirely through, with

the exception of some of the cases in the appendix. There are many things in this book which are valuable, but in our judgment the author places entirely too much stress upon his theory of muscular co-ordination and pen pressure as furnishing the means of identification of disputed writings. A very large portion, and, in our opinion, a very undue proportion of Mr. HAGAN's book is occupied in discussion of this theory. While this is a valuable means of investigation, it is only one of many, and in our experience not by any means the most valuable. In our opinion, Professor FRAZER has more correctly formulated the weight to be attributed to this method of investigation. On page 74 of his book, referring to this subject, he used the following language: "Within certain limitations it is an important object to study, and may give indications of value to corroborate or refute the hypotheses based upon other lines of study."

His statements in the chapter on chemical testing of inks and in his account of the Davis Will Case, are not always correct, and in this respect we do not regard the book as reliable. For instance, on page 247, the author states, referring to the test of the inks in the will in the Davis Will Case, that "the fact that it turned the ink red, and this would be the reaction it would have upon logwood ink, did not fully establish the identity of the latter, for according to the best chemical authority this same reaction would have occurred were it made from analyne [sic] black (sce Allen's Commercial Organic Analysis, edition of 1889, page 130)." Referring to the authority cited, we find the following: "Logwood ink marks are mostly reddened by oxalic acid, and alizarin marks become bluish, but aniline inks are unaffected. With hydrochloric acid, logwood ink marks turn reddish or reddish-grey, alizarin marks greenish, and aniline ink marks reddish or brownish-grey." The author, however, does not seem to have studied Mr. ALLEN's work with very great care, for if he had consulted page 252, he would have found the following: "Aniline black differs remarkably from most other aniline colors, in that it is wholly insoluble in water, alcohol, acids, soap-lye and alkaline solutions.

Hence the application of ready-formed aniline black is very limited, and it is usually produced in the fibre itself. It yields an extremely fast and pure black on cotton, but it is not well suited for dycing silk or wool." From this it appears that analine black, which by the way is improperly spelled by Mr. HAGAN, being insoluble in water cannot be used and is not used in making ink in which water is the only solvent used. It further appears on the same page of Allen that analine black is either wholly unchanged by acids or turned slightly greenish and not red.

We might criticise further his report of the Davis Will Casc, for we know from personal inspection of the document that many other statements therein contained are inaccurate and untrue. We will instance only one on page 249, where he states that the signature in question was plainly a traced signature. We state from personal inspection of the document that there was not the slightest evidence of tracing in or about it. In many other cases, the author assumes things as proved upon the trial upon which there was a very great conflict of testimony, The jury disagreed. The report as a whole is altogether biased and inaccurate.

Considering the involved style in which the book is written, that undue space is devoted to a pet theory, the accuracy of the chemical part of the work, and the manifest bias of the author in the statement of cases so far as we have examined it, we do not regard the book as an entirely accurate exposition of the science which it reports to treat.

The Kent Law School of Chicago.

M. D. EWELL.

A TREATISE ON THE LAW OF WILLS AND ADMINISTRATION. By ROBERT PRICHARD, of the Chattanooga Bar. Chattanooga: MacGowan & Cooke, Printers. 1894.

It is not often that one can read with interest a book avowedly devoted to the practice in the courts of one particular state, and when such a duty proves a pleasure instead of a dreary task it is a matter for congratulation. Such has proved

the case with Mr. PRICHARD's work. It is that rara avis in the world of scientific publications, an interesting treatise on a purely technical subject. The Law of Wills and Administration must, of necessity, be treated within somewhat narrow limitations. Since it has become so purely statutory, reference can be made to but one locality, and Mr. PRICHARD'S work, as he tells us, is "first of all a Tennessee book." The arrangement cannot be criticised. First, a general introduction. Then Part I, the Law of Wills, under which will be found titles relating to Testamentary Capacity, Execution of Wills, Probate and Construction of Wills. Part II, the Law of Administration, contains Appointment and Qualifications of Executors and Administrations, Assets and Inventory, Powers and Duties of Executors and Administrators, Distribution and Settlements, Real Assets and Insolvent Estates. There is a carefully prepared index of nearly one hundred pages, but no table of cases cited. Under every title the scheme adopted is carefully and logically worked out. Nothing is omitted upon which a question could arisc. Forms of practice are introduced under their appropriate chapters, which will, without doubt, prove most useful to local practitioners. The exceptional qualities of this work, however, will be found in the author's own peculiar province the text itself. Clear, concise and forcible, patient in explanation, yet not burdened with anecdotal extracts from decisions, it well fulfills the purpose for which it is intended. One thing is to be regretted, as it can only be accounted for as an author's hobby. With a desire to be aggressively modern and American the author has practically excluded English references and decisions. It is true that in actual practice the local jealousy of courts has effectually checked the citation of English cases in briefs, and in notes therefore intended merely for local briefing purposes they are no longer an important feature. But there can be for us no thoroughly scientific presentation of a legal topic that does not carry us back through the centuries of English influences and institutions. The law of decedent's estates in Tennessee did not spring, Minerva-like, from the heads of the county justices of Tennessee or North Carolina, the mother state. This point

would be a matter for serious quarrel with the author, did he not embody in his text the sound doctrines of English judges and chancellors with an invigorating freshness and strength that we dearly delight to claim as a national trait.

WM. H. LOYD, JR.

THE PRINCIPLES OF THE LAW OF REAL PROPERTY. Part I. The Estates at Law and in Equity. By CHRISTOPHER STUART PATTERSON. Philadelphia: Allen, Lane & Scott. 1894.

This modest little pamphlet, which contains an outline of the first year's course in the Law of Real Property in the Law School of the University of Pennsylvania, has, within it, more solid meat than is to be found in many a text-book of twice its size. It is not a text-book, as that word has now come to be understood in legal literature, but is, nevertheless, one in the real sense of the word-a scientific arrangement of the principles which govern its subject-matter, developed in logical order, with cases added to elucidate the application of those principles. While not a book that appeals to the practising lawyer, simply because it does not contain the mass of detail that is necessary for his purposes, it will, nevertheless, not be wholly a waste of his time to consult it as a book of reference, or to freshen the memory of those who are apt to forget principles in the mass of case law that each year pours forth inexhaustibly; and it is simply invaluable to the student, presenting, as it does, in a readily-accessible form, the information to acquire which he would otherwise be compelled to grope through an interminable labyrinth, with scarcely a ray of light to guide him.

X.

AMERICAN ELECTRICAL CASES. Edited by William W. MORRILL. Volume I. Albany, N. Y.: Matthew Bender. 1894

With the growing importance of electricity as a factor in