PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.

BOOKS.

Sakoontald, or the Lost Ring : an Indian Drama. Translated into Eng- lish Prose and Verse, from the Sanakiit of Kiliclima, by Monier Wil- liams, M.A., Professor of Sanskrit at the East India College, Halley- bury, formerly Boden Scholar in the University of Oxford.

The Aratmanurns ; or Notes of a Tour among the Indian Tribes of Southern Chili. By Esmond Reuel Smith, of the U.S.N. Astronomical Expedition in Chili.

.73knham; or What came of Troubling the Waters : a Story founded on Facts. By E. Elliott.

Letters to the People on Health and Happiness. By Catherine E. Beecher.

[Letters to the People is an American book, which may be broadly classed into two:divisions. One division describes the anatomy and physiology of the

human system ; and points out the necessity of air, exercise, clothing, ven-

tilation, and other hygienic observances, to attain "health and happiness." With all these matters Southwood Smith and Andrew Combe made the peo-

ple of this country acquainted upwards of twenty years ago ; and numerous writers have since repeated and extended the information. The second division of the book is fresher, being more strictly American. Accord- ing to the writer of these letters, the Americans, especially the women, are :physically deteriorating. On the part of the men, this deterioration arises from over-work, restless anxiety, improper diet, and insufficient ex- ercise. To these causes the women add tight lacing, social habits that tell more injuriously upon females than males, and, to speak shortly, affectation of delicacy and real laziness. The rising generation, it seems, promise still greater deterioration, from the increase of all these bad habits, and prema- ture or secret vices, which are rather alluded to than spoken of. Were not people prone to exaggerate a theory, it might be said that the prospect of the American "humans" was physically very bad indeed. However, there is doubtless something in the descriptions of the writer, for other Americans have dwelt upon the same topic to the same effect. Is the theory of the Abbe Raynal true, that man and animals degenerate in America ?]

Nedimval History. (Chambers's Educational Course.) Edited by W.

and B.. Chambers.

[A summary narrative of leading events'in European, Byzantine, and West- ern Mahometan history, from the fifth to the end of the fifteenth century, with equally summary reviews of feudal society, the progress of maritime discovery, and the art, science, and literature of the middle ages. In a compilation of this kind original research is not to be expected, nor is any such claim put forth ; but received authorities have been carefully ex- amined,.their facts digested and their pith extracted, though in no servile spirit. So large a subject dismissed in so small a space must of necessity be compendiously treated. There is less of omission than might have been sup- posed, owing to the manner in which the whole period has been grasped and its division into leading subjects arranged.]

The Crimean Enterprise What Should have been Done, and What Might have been Done : Predictions and Plans. By Captain Gleig, 92d Highlanders. [The reprint of a series of letters published in the Horning Herald from time to time. They consist of criticism on actual events, and suggestions

for other plans than those followed by the Allied commanders. Military cri- ticism on current affairs depends upon the authority of the critic: this in the present ease cannot be very great, as Captain Gleig admits he "never saw a shot fired" : he seems, moreover, to be influenced by party views of a Derby-Disraeli kind. In truth, however, late events have disposed of warlike theories, for the present.]

The Last of the Cars; or the Doom of Nicholas : a Romance founded on Russian History and Traditions. By W. B. Brame. Dedicated, with- out permission, to Alexander II.

IA sort of commentary on Russian history in general and the late Emperor in particular. It takes the form of Letters from the Dead and the Devil.

The ghost of Nicholas and Mephistophiles himself address epistles to Alex- ander the Second, descriptive of occurrences in a certain place. The idea is to be found in the descent of /Eneas into the infernal regions, and the sum- mary exhibition of Roman story. The execution is very indifferent.] Thought and Language : an Essay, having in view the Revival, Cor- rection, and exclusive Establishment of Locke's Philosophy. By B. H. Smart.

ghe conclusion of this essay, so far as we understand it, is that single words have a larger signification than when united into a sentence ; or, to put the notion in another way, a word standing alone has a signification as universal as the thing it expresses, but when used in a sentence it is limited by the particular intent or affirmation of that sentence. A sentence, or as the au-

thor calls it, a word—parts of speech not being words in his system—has moreover a meaning that the parts [words] singly do not convey. "Each, ' indeed, has a meaning while separate, • but the moment it joins the Other parts it merges its separate meaning in the one meaning of the word [sen- tence] it helps to form." Besides the object mentioned in the title, the "revival, correction, and establishment of Locke's Philosophy," the essay seems part of a new school of metaphysics, which Mr. Smart started more than twenty years ago.] Elvird : a Reminiscence of Paris. By John. Baker Hopkins, Author of "The Yogi's Daughter," &a.

IA tale of wild improbability, inflatedly told. The treatment and style are so French that one would have imagined the book a translation, but we see no statement to that effect.]

A Century of Acrostics, on the most eminent Names in Literature, Science, and Art, down to the present lime ; chronologically arranged.. [Acrostics on the names of eminent men of all nations, beginning with. Homer, though British worthies are the most numerous. The characters are well enough in their way, but the fetter of the initial letters cramps the composition.] Lizzie Leigh, and other Tales. By the Author of "Mary Barton; " Ruth, &c.

[A "cheap edition" of tales which were originally published in Household Words and other periodicals. The volume from Messrs. Chapman and Hall is of a more sightly kind than is always the case with cheap reprints.]