One of the most timely articles in the February Century is the one written by Mr. C. C. Buel, the assistant editor of the magazine, which records the results of a personal investigation by him into the history, methods, and designs of a just now notorious institution. The title of the paper is "The Degradation of a State; or the Charitable Career of the Louisiana Lottery." Mr. Buel goes back to the time when the lottery interests of the country were centered in New York City, and shows that the Louisiana Lottery was established for the benefit of New York gamblers and lottery dealers. The article describes the people who have been the chief beneficiaries of this extensive gambling institution, and exposes the methods of bribery and political corruption by which the franchise was obtained, is maintained, and, as is now feared, is to be extended.

This number is also made notable by a posthumous story by Walcott Bolestier, who is the co-author with Mr. Kipling of "The Naulahka," "Reffey" is novel in plot and situation, the principal characters being a conductor on a far Western railroad, and two young women, one the manager of an eating-house, and the other a telegraph operator. Mr. Bolestier's friends consider this story a justification of the high hopes that were entertained for the future of this brilliant writer.

The famous "Bella," by Titian, engraved from the original by T. Cole, furnishes the frontispiece of this number of The Century, and calls attention anew to the fact that the Cole pictures are now at their most interesting point, having reached the most splendid period of Italian art. American art is interestingly represented by a full-page engraving of Brush's "Killing the Moose."

A notable paper by Edward Atkinson, on "The Australian Registry of Lord Titles will doubtless help forward a needed reform in this country.

In the same number "The Naulahka" is continued, also Dr. S. Weir Mitchell's "Characteristics," the text being enriched by some original poems, and there are short stories by Mrs. Burton Harrison, author of "The Anglomaniacs," and by the new Southern writer, Mrs. Virginia Frazer Boyle.