IN almost any work which treats of the art of disciplining the memory, it will be found that whatever method succeeds in presenting before the mind the desired fact in an interesting, lively manner is, on the whole, the most certain of successful operation. And so in history it is generally acknowledged that, after fixing firmly in the mind the main facts to be remembered, whatever serves to engage the attention or provoke the imagination changes what otherwise might be a dull chronicle, burdensome to the memory, into a pleasant reminiscence, almost personal in its character, which will never be forgotten.

Apropos of Mr. Winsor's succession to the position of Librarian, it may be well to call the attention of students to a little pamphlet published by him several years ago while in the Boston Library, entitled "Chronological Index of Historical Fiction, including Prose Fiction, Plays, and Poems." In the preface are numerous quotations from prominent authors, substantiating Mr. Winsor's views as to the value of fiction in supplementing historical studies of different periods. The different subjects treated are American, English, Scottish, Irish, French, Spanish and Portuguese, Germanic, Scandinavian, Sclavic, Turkish, Ancient Roman, Roman Imperial, Italian, Ancient Greek, Modern Greek, Asian, African, Australian History, and, last of all, Crusoe Literature. An extensive index at the end gives the men, place, subjects, events, etc., mentioned in the body of the book. Each subject is chronological, beginning, for instance, in American History, with the Northman discovery, ending with the Civil War of 1861. Nearly every work of fiction of any value is included, from Optic's "Frank on the Gunboat" to Lope de Vega's "Probeza no es Vileza." The popular character, fashionable life, provincial and peasant life, so far as possible, are represented; nor are university life, law life, sporting life, sea life, reforms, prison abuses, social changes, neglected. In fact, every work of fiction possessing any value seems to have come under the author's eye, and to have been assigned its proper place in this valuable compendium.

Of the service Mr. Winsor has done the reading world in making up this Index, I need not speak. One has only to examine to be convinced of its value. Nearly all the books mentioned are either in the Bates Hall or Lower Hall of the Boston Library on Boylston Street, and many of them are presumably in Gore Hall. The pamphlet may be procured at the Boston Library by any one, resident or non-resident in Boston. Its price is, I believe, twenty-five cents.

Here I may say that any one, whether holder of a card or not, may use the Boston Library by application for a green slip (not white), on which, by signing his name, the borrower promises to use the book only in the Library building. A white slip entitles one to take the book home. It is much to be regretted that Harvard students are not allowed the use of the second largest and certainly best library in America, - the Boston.

E. L. M.