BOOK REVIEWS
Civilization of the Old Northwest
1788-1812. By Beverley
W. Bond, Jr. (The Macmillan Company, New
York, 1934.
543p. $3.50.)
Dr. Bond, Professor of History in the
University of Cincin-
nati, has made a real contribution to
the history of Ohio and the
Old Northwest in this book in which he
presents a careful study
of the political, social and economic
history of this region between
1788 and 1812. The book is
divided into fourteen chapters deal-
ing with the basis for civilization, the
lure of western lands, gov-
ernment in the wilderness, the
beginnings of government in Ohio,
Indiana and Michigan, the conquest of
the Indians, pioneer agri-
culture, beginnings of communication,
the rise of trade and in-
dustry, cultural and social foundations,
religion and order, and
the vindication of the American Colonial
policy.
In his preface, Bond states that his aim
"has been to present
a composite view of the civilization
that arose in the formation of
the Old Northwest between the first
settlement at Marietta in
1788 and the outbreak of the War of
1812." Covering this pe-
riod the book shows the remarkable rate
at which American in-
stitutions were implanted in the
wilderness and traces the develop-
ment of a society that was learning for
the first time to think of
itself as American rather than
sectional. The author has drawn
extensively for his source material from
the early newspapers of
the Ohio Valley.
One critic writes that "it is
sound, it is authentic, it is tre-
mendously worthwhile."
Bond has delved heavily into the early
history of Ohio both
in America and in the Public Records
Office and the British Mu-
seum in England, and is recognized as an
authority in this field of
American history. This book is a
valuable contribution and a
distinct addition to the historical
literature of this region, and it
is expected that the author will make
further contributions to the
literature of this particular field.
(156) H. L.
BOOK REVIEWS 157
Ohio Poets; an Anthology of 90
Contemporaries. (Henry
Harrison, New York, 1934. 288p.
$2.00.)
In this anthology of contemporary Ohio
poets, the publisher
has made possible the presentation of
the work of ninety contrib-
utors. Not all poets of distinction are
represented but three pages
were permitted each poet so that all
contributors might have an
equal opportunity to reveal their
respective talents. Among those
represented are Frederick Herbert Adler,
Ronald Walker Barr,
Beulah Allyne Bell, Katherine Hunter
Coe, Jack Conroy, The-
ressa M. DeFosset, George Elliston,
Preston Paine Foster, Marie
Gilchrist, Halley W. Groesbeck, Clara
Keck Heflebower, Ruth
Peiter, Dorothy E. Reid, Blanche Waltrip
Rose, Royall Snow,
Tessa Sweazy Webb, Florence Ralston
Werum and B. Y. Wil-
liams.
The Foreword, written by George Elliston
of Cincinnati,
gives a brief history of poetry in Ohio
and of the societies and
periodicals in the State. The material
is presented under the name
of the author arranged alphabetically.
The publisher expresses
the hope that readers will be encouraged
to discover for them-
selves other poems of the poets
mentioned by reading their books
and looking for their work in
contemporary periodicals. And we
might add that it is hoped a reading of
their poems will inspire
others to make similar contributions to
Ohio's literature.
H. L.
The Pawnee Ghost Dance Hand Game. By Alexander Les-
ser. (Columbia University Press, New
York, 1933. 337p.
$4.00.)
The uprising of the Sioux of Dakota in
1890-91, resulting in
the death of Sitting Bull and the
massacre at Wounded Knee, was
a result of the Ghost Dance, which was a
ceremonial religious
dance connected with a messianic
doctrine originated by a young
Paiute Indian named Wovoka. The Ghost
Dance of the Pawnee
(of Indian Territory) was different in
some respects from that
of other Plains tribes, and the present
work by Lesser is the most
complete description of the movement
among the Pawnee that
has been published to date. The hand
game itself was a guessing
game with a wide distribution in the
United States, but used by
158
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
the Pawnee with some modification as a
part of the Ghost Dance
ritual.
The first chapter in this book, entitled
"The Pawnee in the
Nineteenth Century," should be read
by everyone interested in
that great tragedy of American history,
the displacement of the
Indian, for Lesser here describes the
Pawnee, a civilized and
intelligent people, at their wits end in
1892 before the onrush
of a different culture. To quote:
"In 1892, after the best efforts
of the Pawnee for over three generations
to adjust themselves
to living alongside the white man, the
tribe had come to a cultural
impasse, with nothing to look forward to
and nothing to live by."
This was fertile ground for the
messianic doctrines of the Ghost
Dance.
There is a bibliography, but no index.
E. F. G.
History of Virginia's Navy of the
Revolution. By Robert
Armistead Stewart. (Privately published
at Richmond, Virginia,
1933. 279p.)
Virginia's Navy of the Revolution was
the largest of all the
state navies and it never has received
due recognition for the
important part it played in the contest.
This history devotes sixteen chapters
covering one hundred
and thirty-six pages to a history of the
navy, followed by a
Roster of the Virginia Navy of the
Revolution covering one hun-
dred thirty-four pages, and an index of
seven pages.
The material has been gathered largely
from original sources,
official records and articles published
in the Virginia Gazette,
Virginia Historical Register and the Southern Literary Messenger
of 1857.
The author's aim has been to present the
story of Virginia's
Navy, its achievements and its failures,
as fully as extant records
would admit, and he has made a really
worth while contribution
to the history of the American
Revolution.
H. L.
BOOK REVIEWS 159
The Ohio State University College of
Medicine: A Collec-
tion of Source Material Covering a
Century of Medical Progress,
1834-1934. (Brown Publishing
Company, Blanchester, Ohio,
1934. 572p. $10.00.)
Dedicated to the late Dr. Ernest Scott,
who for thirty years was pro-
fessor of pathology in the College of
Medicine, Ohio State University,
and one of its predecessors, comes a
handsomely printed and bound volume
of 572 pages, entitled "The Ohio
State University College of Medicine."
It is published appropriately in the
centennial year of the founding of the
Willoughby Medical College, the first of
the factors in the making of the
present institution.
The Willoughby Medical College was moved
to Columbus in 1847
and was merged with the Starling Medical
College in 1848, which main-
tained a separate existence till 1914,
when it, together with the Columbus
Medical College and the Ohio Medical
University, the Pulte Medical Col-
lege and the Cleveland College of
Homeopathy, became the College of
Medicine of the Ohio State University.
This volume, which is the first of a set
comprising the history, is
essentially documentary, the narrative
and interpretive phases being left
to those that are to follow. The
important records of the several institu-
tions that entered into the making of
the present college were gathered
by Dr. Jonathan Forman and Iowa D. Smith
and were logically arranged
by Forman, Professor Carl Wittke and Dr.
Harlow Lindley, the actual work
of compiling, editing and authenticating
having been done by the last-
named.
The collection of material includes the
records of the founding of the
several institutions, the officers and
members of the faculties from the first
to the present, the full roster of
graduates, biographies of Lyne Starling,
William S. Sullivant, Dr. Starling
Loving and Joseph Sullivant; addresses
and reminiscences by Dr. Francis Carter,
Dr. Starling Loving, Dr. D. Tod
Gilliam and Dr. E. C. Mills, as well as
a number of addresses on medical
subjects marking the progress of the
science in the century covered. Dr.
George W. Rightmire, president of Ohio
State University, has an article
on "The Place of Medical Education
in a State University," and Dr.
Henry S. Houghton, one on "The
Challenge of the Future to Medical
Education."
Scattered through the pages are the
portraits of men prominent in
the development of medical instruction,
from the first till now. The book
is a credit to its makers and must be of
great interest to members of the
profession.
OSMAN C. HOOPER,
in Columbus Sunday Dispatch,
November 18, 1934.
160 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND
HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
The Irrepressible Conflict, 1850-65. By Arthur Charles Cole.
A History of American Life, Vol. VII. (The Macmillan Com-
pany, New York, 1934. 468p. $4.00.)
The editors of the series called A
History of American Life
propose to trace the development of
civilization in the United
States from the age of discovery to the
present, giving a con-
tinuous picture of the activities and
interests of the American
people. The writers of the various volumes
have proportioned
their treatment of the political,
constitutional and military his-
tory, which bulks so large in the older
histories, and they devote
a larger space to the social, economic
and institutional character-
istics of their respective periods.
Cole's book, which is the seventh volume
in the series, will
have unusual interest for readers who
have thought of the period
in terms of the slavery controversy and
the armed conflict. He
departs from the usual account of the
period and paints a picture
of life, North and South, in the
'fifties and reminds us that
"people courted and married, went
about their business, read and
wrote books, laughed, played and prayed,
unaware of the ap-
proach of the 'irrepressible
conflict.'"
In a chapter, "The Growing Pains of
Society," the author
informs us that "the well-to-do
abodes ordinarily possessed hot
and cold running water, bathrooms,
cook-stoves and perhaps even
hot-air furnaces." In a chapter on
"Health and Happiness" we
read, "personal habits failed to
reflect an adequate readjustment
to the somewhat leisurely life that
appeared with the recession
of the frontier and of frontier
conditions . . . 'young America
was a pale pasty-faced, narrow chested,
spindle-shanked, dwarfed
race. A mere walking manikin to
advertise the last cut of the
fashionable tailor.' "
As for the war itself, Cole leaves
strategy to the expert and
devotes his attention largely to life in
war-time. There is a
critical essay on authorities covering
forty-two pages and an ade-
quate index.
W. D. O.