PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.

A Glossary of twientiflc Terms for General Use. By Alexander Henry, M.D.—This book :professes to give "the etymologies and sig- nifications of such words as are peculiar to the various sciences, to- gether with those of common use having special meanings in science." To some extent it does this well enough, but the glossary is by no means so full as it ought to be, even for the use of the general reader ; and the significaticms, though passable on the whole, are sometimes far from sa- tisfactory. What, for instance, can be less so than the explanation given of the word " Polarity "—" The quality of a body by virtue of which peculiar properties reside in certain points of it." To a person altogether ignorant of science, these are words that explain nothing. "Anode" is ambiguously defined as "The way by which electricity enters sub- stances," whilst "Cathode" is said, with a nearer approach to accuracy, to be the surface at which electricity passes out of a body. The place would be better. Geology, medicine, and its allied sciences, are those most fully represented in the glossary, but even in these departments we have noticed some deficiencies. The Taliacotian Operation is explained, but neither the fearful nature nor the historic renown of the Ctesarean Operation has gained it a place in the book. " Idiosyncrasy " is most clumsily defined as being "An extreme susceptibility to the effect Of certain articles of food or medicine, consisting generally in the produc- tion of effects different from those which usually occur." What a strange jumble is this—a susceptibility consisting in the production of effects ! Very scanty gleanings are given from the vocabulary of many of the sciences. Nothing is said of the Pitch in music, of Counterpoint, or Thorough Bass. The word Coefficent is given, but not its specigl meaning in mathematics. Cycloid is in the glossary, but nothing is said about the curve of that name, or about the Catenary curve ; nor do we find the words Amplitude (in astronomy), Complementary Colours, Aerial Perspective (optics), Disport (in gunnery), Extension and Com- prehension (in logic), &c. A bad definition is given of Petitio Principii, and none at all of Ignoratio Elenchi, a sophism which is perhaps the commonest of all in use. A book in which such faults as these have been discovered upon a brief inspection, and which may fairly be sus- pected of containing not a few others, must receive great improvements before it can be recommended as adequate to the wants of those for whose use it is intended.

Modern Statesmen ; or Sketches from the Strangers' Gallery of the House of Commons. By J. Ewing Ritchic.—These sketches, reprinted, if we mistake not, from Cassell's Paper, have for their subjects twenty- eight living notables of the House of Commons, and one whom it has re- cently lost—Sir Charles Napier. They are neatly and agreeably writ- ten, temperate in tone, and probably may be regarded as reflecting with Substantial accuracy the opinions most in vogue among the professional frequenters of the galleries of the House. If this be so, Mr. Ritchie's little book has a special value, for it is an index of what is in process of becoming to more or less extent the opinions of the community, or of some of its various sections.

Bermuda ; its History, Geology, Climate, &c. By Theodore L. Godet, M.D.—A book for residents in Bermuda, and for those who are about to visit the colony, but having little claim upon the attention of other readers.

Over the Straits. A Visit to Victoria. By Louisa Anne Meredith.— Mrs. Meredith is the well-known and equally well liked authoress of Our Home in Tasmania, Notes and Sketches of New South Wales, be- sides other works on colonial life and on flowers, &c. Before her mar- riage, she was known by the English public as Miss Louisa Anne Twam- ley, the writer of some pretty poems. This lady is clever, cultivated, and accomplished—a wife and mother, and mistress of a household in Van Diemen's Land. She finds time to write pleasant books, full of things in general, about the people and the places on the other side of the globe. She tells just the sort of things which men who travel do not often think of telling—the trifles of habits and manners which indicate so much to minds capable of drawing an inference. Her books are all genuine things—written with knowledge, and understanding and liveli- ness—and decidedly more worth reading than books more solid, and in some respects much better. The present work contains an account of a journey made from Tasmania "over the Straits" to Victoria, by Mr. and Mrs. Meredith, and their little boy, Charley. Travellers of the com- fort-loving stay-at-home order, will very much prefer to have this jour- ney done for them* and to read this account ; doing it for themselves would require an immense amount of exertion, patience and contrivance. Mrs. Meredith has endeavoured to give a vivid account of her own im- pressions of what she saw and heard in the, to her, new country. There is nothing striking or very new in what is told; and the shortness of our space forbids quotation, but for a pleasant readable book, full of informa- tion, with little or no statistics, we recommend Mrs. Meredith's Over the Straits to all who are interested in Australia.

Not of the World; or Lady Mary. By the Reverend Charles B. Tay- ler.—This is a second edition of a religious novel which has been much approved by a large circle. Mr. Tayler is the author of some popular tracts published by the "Tract Society" against drunkenness, "The Fool's Pence," "The Beer Shop," &c.

iletusina. A new Arabian Night's Entertainment. By A. A. Paton. —This tale is neither new nor old. It is a rifacimento of the same materials that were used to make The Mamelukes, viz., a collection of anecdotes and records of adventures "picked up during the author's travels and residences in Egypt and Syria." The reason he assigns for altering the tale or tissue of tales is, that he lent his ear to the critical reviewers of The ifamellikes, published in 1551; and collating their dif- ferent opinions, tried to alter his tale so as to avoid the faults they com- plained of. He made the story in many respects unlike what it was be- fore, and so he has given it a new name, and published it as a new book. There is in it much stirring adventure in Egypt and Syria, the date being at the close of the last century, and the chief persons being Arabs and Franks of that and the adjacent countries. It is amusing and varied.

A Pictorial Handbook of Modern Geography. By H. G. Bohn.—Mr. Bohn has compiled a work on geography, physical and political, which will be found very useful to all persons who consult it ; but it will be especially valued by those who study "without a master." Besides fifty-one nice little maps, well and accurately engraved on steel, he gives • one hundred and fifty wood-cut pictures of remarkable places. The geo- graphy itself, with its accompanying array of statistical figures, is written in accordance with the latest authorities. The descriptive portions are excellent; and, on the whole, there is no work so good to be had. for twenty times the cost of this.

The Prince of Wales in Canada and the United States. By N. A. Woods, the Times special correspoadent.—Independently of its epheme- ral interest, there is quite enough permanent capital of human feeling and thought invested in the late visit of our young Prince to give Mr. Woods's book a sterling value in all discerning eyes, both here and in North America. Substantially, this book is the same as the series of letters published in the Times during the tour ; often we have the ipsis- sima verba, and could desire no better to describe events ; but a good deal of additional and some oarrective matter will be found in this vo- lume by the diligent Times reader. It is a very agreeable holiday book, written in good style, and in an amiable and gentlemanly spirit. He is candid and out-spoken, and, at the same time' can give offence to no sort or condition of Americans—unless it be the Orangemen, who are worse in Ulster than anywhere else, we believe, and the men who spit tobacco juice all over the Union. The book is dedicated to the Duke of New- castle.

Boyalty in the New World ; or, the Prince of Wales in America.— The author of this book dates from Boston. He does not state whether it is our own Lincolnshire Boston or her richer young cousin of the D. S. He does not put his name on the title-page, but he subscribes it to his preface. Those who are aware of Mr. Kinahan Cornwallis's power of depicting scenes he has not visited, will be glad to be informed that it is really a fact that he was in America and travelled over the same ground as the Royal party ; and at the same time. We infer from the preface that he did this in his capacity as correspondent of the New York Herald, and that in composing this book he has freely availed himself of the let- ters so published.

Gems and Jewels. By Madame de Barrera, Author of "Memoirs of Rachel."—In the remarks prefixed by way of introduction to the work by M. Babinct, that distinguished member of the French Institute ex- presses himself thus on the merits of this book on Gems and Jewel,— "The perusal has given ins great pleasure, and I may say that I have read it with no leas profit than pleasure. It is science, and science appro- priated to the society of the present day. It is a work of conscientious labour, devoted to that which ancient and modern times have unanimously held to be most precious in the world."

The testimony of this eminent mineralogist may be taken as evidence of the sterling value of the book. Its general range appears amply to fulfil the promises of the title-page. The history, the geography, the chemistry of precious stones, their properties and virtues (real or fanci- ful), are clearly related. The biographies of those jewels which have become historical, such as the pearl-shaped ruby in the British crown, which was brought by the Black Prince from Spain, and afterwards worn by Henry V. at the battle of Agincourt ; Charlemagne's emerald, containing a fragment of the true cross, which, after lying on his dead breast for nearly a thousand years, was presented by Napoleon I. to the mother of Napoleon III.; and, older still, the Koh-i-noor, whose history can be traced back for 3001 years! These detailed accounts form one of the great charms of the book, as they add the association of human inte- rests to mere rarity and monetary value. The cameo has a similar in- tensity of interest. Although the onyx, or sardonyx, on which it is carved, hardly ranks among precious stones, yet the skill of the artist lends a value beyond the intrinsic one. Pliny reports that the ring of Polycrates, which he had seen, was a sardonyx, but not engraved. It was subsequently placed in the Temple of Concord at Rome. The next in reputation among ancient rings was that of Pyrrhus, which represented the nine Muses, and Apollo with his lyre. Lorenzo de Medici was the first among moderns to Make a collection of graven stones. The ruby that belonged to Runject Singh (which weighed half an ounce) was graven with the names of several kings, its former possessors. Mr. A. S. Hope has an intaglio of Minerva, engraved on an Oriental ruby, weigh- ing 63 grains. A fine ruby, of such a weight, would probably be valued above a diamond of equal weight, though, in smaller stones, the worth of the ruby is one-fourth. "The art of engraving on stones was practised in Egypt forty centuries ago. It is probable that the graven gems that adorned the ephod and pec- toral of the high priest of the Hebrews were the work of Egyptian artists, who, escaping from the tyranny of Pharaoh, had followed Moses into the desert." [More probable that they were stones comprised among "the spoil of the Egyptians."]

The ring of Cheops, one of the builders of the Pyramids, is now in the British Museum. The indestructibility of gems, as well as their intrin- sic beauty, make them one of the most appropriate of memorials. The same quality would make them among the most interesting of revealers, if suddenly endowed with speech. What tales might be revealed by them, of their histories between the mine and the second-hand shop! Adventure, danger, skill, love, poverty, or crime, would probably clas- sify the different stages of their progress. Without pretending to such clairvoyant faculties, Madame de Barrara has done much to make the stone speak to the understanding and to memory.

Family Romance; or Episodes in the Domestic Annals of the Aristo- cracy. By Sir Bernard Burke, Ulster King-at-Arms. Third Edition.— Sir B. Burke is a popuhir writer, and the book before us is one of the most popular books. He tells in it many strange and marvellous facts and quasi-facts concerning noble families in Britain. But his first story is that of Lady Newborough, who claimed to be the eldest legitimate child of Egalite, on the ground that Louis Philippe had been exchanged for her at birth, because the Due D'Orleans had especial reason for de- siring to have a son at that time. The story, as Sir B. Burke tells it, looks very improbable ; but it is amusing and exciting to reflect on the consequences, if it were to be proved true. There could then be no Orleans party in France.

Egypt in its Biblical .Relations and Moral Aspects. By J. Foulkes Jones, B.A.—We always surmised that the massacre of the Mameluke Boys by Mehemet All was a very improper transaction, and now we know it ; for, says Mr. Jones, "The whole thing in fact was nothing but a diabolical outrage on the rights of God and man ; and if Mehemet All had been King of England, he would have been sent to the gallows for it." We learn from the same authority, that in our eating we follow the principles and practices of the Jews, for the dietary code given to them by Moses "has now been adopted more or less by all civilized nations, from which we may presume that it was also framed with a view to the general laws of health, and is thus superior, even on medical grounds, to any other that we are acquainted with." After all, then, it is to Moses we owe the delights of black-pudding, jugged hare, and roast pig. Mr. Jones says (p. 22.) "There can be no doubt that the Egyptians, contrary to the opinion that was once held, had an extensive literature "—not confined to the priests, mark you, for, he continues, "Like most of the Oriental nations, the Egyptians had also their sacred writings, in addition to their current literature." In the very next chapter, he flatly contradicts himself, de- claring that "The great sin of the Egyptian priests was that they pro- vided no literature for the people, whether secular or religious." These specimens which are all purely Jonesian, will perhaps suffice to show what pleasure or profit may be expected from the perusal of their author's dissertations at second hand. The volume is to a great extent made up of matter borrowed from Ilengstenberg, Wilkinson, and others, and not improved or adorned by the borrower.

BOOKS.

The Last Conquest of Ireland (Perhaps). By John Mitch el.

The Gastric Regions and Victualling Department. By an Old Militia Sur- geou.

The Loose Screw. In three volumes.

Instinct or Reason 7 By Lady Julia Lockwood. Illustrat ed.

Essays on Archceological Subjects. By Thomas Wright, volumes. M.A., &c. In two Social Aspects of the Italian Revolution. By Theodosia T The Island of the Saints ; a Pilgrimage through Ireland.

berg.

Handbook of Farm Labour. By Chalmers Morton.

Lectures on the History of England. By William Longman. Lecture Third.

Familiar Illustrations of Scottish Character. By the Rev. Charles Rogers, L L. D.

Geography Generalized. By Robert Sullivan, LL.D.

The Revelation of Jesus Christ by John. By Francis Bodfield Hooper. Two volumes.

The Dowie Dens o' Farrow. Illustrated.

Garibaldi; and other Poems. By M. E. Braddon.

The Newspaper Press Directory and Advertiser's Guide. By C. Mitchell and Co.

The London Catalogue of Periodicals, Newspapers, and Transactions of various Societies.

The Successful Treatment of Influenza, The Autobiography of Leigh Hunt. A new edition.

Half-hours with the Little Ones. By the Rev. N. T. Langridge.

Autobiography, Letters, and Literary Remains of Mrs. Piozzi (Thrale). By A. Hayward, Q.C.

The Forms, Complications. Causes, Prevention, and Treatment of Consumption

and Bronchitis. By James Copland, M.D.,

rollope.

By Julius Roden-