PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.
Boon. - •
An Inquiry into the Credibility of the Early Roman History. By the Right Honourable Sir George Cornwall Lewis. In two volumes. Essays on the Spirit of the _Inductive Philosophy, the Unity of Worlds, and the Philosophy of Creation. By the Reverend Baden Powell, MA., F.R.S., &c., Basilian Professor of Geometry in the University of Oxford.
Commentaries on the Productive Forces of Russia. By L. M. De Tego- borski, Privy Councillor and Member of the Council of the Russian Empire. In two volumes. Volume L A Memoir of Field-Marshal the Duke of Wellington, with interspersed Notices of his Principal Associates in Council and Companions and Opponents in Arms.
The Illustrated Book of French Songs. From the Sixteenth to the Nineteenth Century. Translated and edited by John Oxenford, Esq. Travels in Europe and the East; a Year in England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Austria, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Syria, Palestine, and Egypt. By Samuel Irensous Prime. In two volumes.
Principles of Agricultural Chemistry with special reference to the late J
Researches made in England. By Justus von Liebig.
What I Know of the late Emperor Nicholas and his Family. By Ed- ward Tracy Turnerelli, sixteen years resident in Russia, Author of "Kazan, the Ancient Capital of the Tartar Khans," &c.
Notes on the Management of Chronometers and the Measurement of Meridian Distances. By Captain Charles F. A. Shad well, R.N., C.B., &c., Author of "Tables for facilitating the Approximate Prediction of Occultations and Eclipses," &c.
[Observations by good chronometers, always valuable in determining longi- tudes at sea, have of late years become of more consequence, from the greater cheapness of the articles, and consequently the greater number that a ship is enabled to carry. The improved education of the officers both in the Royal and the mercantile marine, and especially in the steam-ships of the great steam companies, enables the chronometers to be turned to better account.
The object of this volume is to instruct the profession in the best mode of managing and using these instruments ; for where perfect accuracy is of so great importance, even such management as winding-up is of consequence. The book, as may be supposed, is of a technical nature ; but well adapted to answer its purposes,—that is, to instruct individual observers, and to esta- blish a uniform system of observation.] Geology, its Facts and Fictions; or the Modern Theories of Geologists contrasted with the Ancient Records of the Creation and the Deluge. By W. Elfe Tayler, Author of "Hippolytus," &c. [This book consists of two parts. The first gives a short account of the facts of geology ; the second is devoted to what the author calls its fictions. The objects of Mr. Tayler's argument are to prove the literal accuracy of the Mosaic account, and to trace to the Deluge all the changes discovered by geologists on the surface of the globe. The deposits, that must evidently have been gradual, took place,. he affirms, within the two thousand two hun- dred years between the Creation and the Deluge; sudden convulsions which geologists admit to be necessary to the explanation of many phenomena were all produced by the Deluge itself. Of course, in Mr. Tayler's opinion, the climate and productions of the antediluvian world were different from what they now are.] America and the Americans. By W. E. Baxter, Esq., M.P. [This eighteenpenny volume from Messrs. Routledge is in substance a series of lectures delivered last year at Dundee. The matter is derived from various tours at various times in the United States and Canada ; the form is
that of a general account deduced from a series of observations, rather than a narrative of a particular journey. This circumstance, with a tendency to
digression, gives an air of disquisition to much of the book. Many direct descriptions are contained in it, and some of them new,—as the dirty con- dition of the streets in American towns ; the habit of profane swearing and using coarse language, especially in the South and the newer States ; the gross corruption among the lower politicians, according to American accounts. There is also a good deal of information of various kinds, though some of it
will not be new to persons who are familiar with books on America. The tone is fair and moderate ; and the volume stands preeminent among cheap new books.]
Arnold's Patent Hinge-bound Account-Book. [In bookbinding, the line where the cover of the book is attached to the book itself is termed the joint. By the old mode of binding, this joint is formed of linen in addition to the leather or other external material. In
'" cheap" binding, the joint or its connexion often enough gives, way, and the book is soon separated from its cover. In the best binding, we doubt
whether this frequently takes place, even in account-books, which are opened
with a jerk, and used with a-continuous strain from the pressure of the arm in wilting. However, Mr. Arnold's " hinge-binding" effectually .prevents
that danger, by a series of united metal hinges, which form. the joint and work on a moveable pin. The improvement also gives a flatter surface, by throwing the book well open, so that the back is as readily reached by the pen as the middle of the page ; though this is to some degree an attribute of gond modern binding generally. Another and perhaps the most obvious feature is, that by drawing the moveable pin the cover is separated from the old and available for a new book. A circular from Messrs. Waterlow, who have secured Mr. Arnold's patent, states that the price of the patent book is no higher than that of the common aecount-book.] The Handbook of Villa Gardening : in a Series of Letters to a Friend. By William Paul, Author of " The Rose Garden." [The subject of this publication is intermediate between the extensive garden of the country house or " mansion " and the plot of land belonging to the town or suburban house in a street, or at the utmost " semi-detached." The letters are well adapted to their end ; being of a plain practical character, dealing rather with cultivation than the principles—botanical, chemical, and
many other als with which cultivation is directly or indirectly connected. Compared with some other books on gardening, there is an absence of dia- grams but as a " villa" requires a constant or occasional gardener, the
g out may properly be referred to his invention, subject to the ama- teur's control.] Re-collections of the Mess-Table and the Stage. By Henry Curling, Author of " The Soldier of Fortune," &o. [A series of stories, small adventures, and anecdotes extending into stories, from the author's own observation and experience, or the narratives of his friend the late Mr. Samuel Russell, familiarly called from his excellence in " Jerry Sneak " Jerry Russell. The reminiscences refer to the traditional time when George the Third was King ; and pleasantly enough present to the reader oldfashioned customs and manners, when Margate and Harrow- gate were substitutes for Paris and the Rhine, and when the stage was in its palmy state. The chief drawback to the Recollections is the want of matter in proportion to the words, especially in the various stories of Russell. They have all the characteristic of theatrical dialogue, without the manner of the living actor.] Balmoral; a Sketch. By Alexander Macalister. With an Introduc- tion and Notes by Archibald Hamilton, Es q. [Mr. Macalister and his introducing friend Mr. Hamilton took an autumnal trip to Balmoral ; of which Mr. Hamilton gives an account in prose, while Mr. Macalister concentrates his powers for a poetical sketch of Balmoral. Substantially, the verse is prose forced into the heroic line, and sometimes injured in the process.]
The following books are American importations. "The New Pastoral" exhibits melody and imagination, together with some crudity. "A Long Look Ahead " appears to be a didactic tale, written to point the moral of "in- dustry and idleness," at the same time that it exhibits two phases of Ameri- can manners, the homely respectable and the loosely fashionable. "Coma de Espana," and " You have Heard of Them," are both collections of perio- dical articles, and might as well have remained in their fugitive state. The " Cosas " is not altogether an account of a journey into Spain ; it is rather a series of Continental sketches, in which the writer and his opinions predo- minate over incident and description but, though egotistical and empty, the papers are brisk and clever. "You have Heard of Them" is a number of what are called "characters" of eminent or notorious contemporaries, in which the writer does not scruple to deal with private life, in a tone and manner unusual in England except in what are termed Sunday papers. The writer incidentally professes to be an Englishman, and to have been a thea- trical and musical reporter for the "London press" ; and he certainly or- hibits a good deal of the flashy reporter style.
The New Pastoral. By Thomas Buchanan Read.
A Long Look Ahead ; or the First Stroke and the Last. By A. B. Roe, Author of "James Montjoy ; or I've been Thinking," &c.
Coma de Espana; or Going to Madrid via Barcelona. You have Heard of Them. By Q.
Abbotsford and Sir Walter Scott. By the Author of "Hawthorndale Village." Second thousand.
Poems. By Bessie Rayner Parkes. Second edition.
French Pronunciation Made Easy, and adapted to the most ordinary capacity. By the Reverend J. B. Spencer, Master of Acton Vale Academy. Third edition.
Naw PERIODICAL.
Quarterly Journal of Public Health, and Record of Epidemics and Hy- giene; including the Transactions of the Epidemiological Society of London. Edited by Benjamin W. Richardson, M.D. No. L [The object of this new medical periodical is good. The Quarterly Journal of Public Health is intended to gtve an account of epidemic diseases ; to take a coup d'ceil of acts, public trials, and other events that bear upon sanitary questions ; to handle in particular articles particular topics that refer to the public health, or indeed to health in general.; and to furnish reviews of medi- cal publications, which rather treat, as we infer, of epidemic complaints or sanitary matters, than special diseases—say, as an example, inflammations. The transactions of the 'Epidemiological Society of London" will also be published in its pages, but so arranged as to bind separately. The matter may be divided into two classes : that which consists of a se- cord of facts, chiefly during the past quarter ; and that which assumes more the character of the essay or paper, in which conclusions and opinions are the substantial characteristic, though facts are by no means excluded. The annalistic portion is very well done. The more general papers are varied in subject, but the execution argues inexperience. There is not too much writing in the litterateur style of working-up an idea, but too many subordinate ideas are introduced. The closest and most practical paw— that which gives the most information, and from which the least could be taken away—is Dr. William F. Danieli's " Rules for the Preservation of Health in Western Africa and other Tropical Climates."]
Irxtrerearim Worms.
Water-Colour without a Master. By Thomas Hatton, Author of "Hints for Sketching from Nature in Water-Colours." Of this work, which is to be completed in six parts, we have received four. With the exception of a page of letterpress introduction, it consists simply of plates giving repeated instances of the same natural objects with variety of colour. As the author very truly says, it is a question, when one looks at an object in nature or in a picture, of what tints its colour is composed : a ques- tion to which it is Mr. Hatton's aim to furnish an answer. The very in- different execution of the plates is some drawback to their usefulness ; but, however well these might be done, the aim could never be more than approached in attainment. Mr. Hatton or any one else paay mark a certain combination of colours on a piece of paper, and tell you that they are yellow ochre and brown madder :'the difficulty remains of determining whether the particular colour which you see in nature is identical with that combination. This difficulty will last as long as Nature continues infinite in her subtiltieti_, and will only be overcome by the unwearied personal experiments of each real artist for himself. The practical application of thekamples will pro- bably be to "cram" a little the faster some who would not be artists either with or without their assistance.]
A Guide to Oil-Painting. Part II. Landscape from Nature. '13y Alfred Clint, Member of the Society of British Artists.
Handbook of Light and Shade, with especial reference to Model Draw- ing. By Mrs. Merrifield, Honorary Member of the Academy of Fine Arts at Bologna, Authoress of " Ancient Practice of Painting," &o, With numerous Illustrations.
A Guide to Painting on Glass. By H. Bielfeld. [Three of the technical publications of Messrs. Rowney, the artists' colour- men. 1. Mr. Clint's Guide possesses the authority of coming from one who can himself do cleverly what he preaches. It is addressed to entire novices in the art ; it deprecates the practice of what is commonly termed " sketch- ing," but recommends, as auxiliary to the paramount process of painting carefully from nature, the copying of good pictures and studies. 2. Mrs. Merrifield's Handbook is " limited to a concise explanation of the principles of light and shade as developed by common daylight, by sunshine, and by candle or artificial light, upon simple geometrical solids, and of the extent to which this light and shade is modified by reflection." The object appears to be fairly accomplished ; although the technical language is not always so precise as it might be, and the illustrations are inferior. 3. Mr. Bielfeld's Guide includes, besides glass-painting proper, directions as to the getting-up of astronomical diagrams, dissolving views, and the like ; and in partioular describes a new method of water-colour painting on glass, recently intro- duced by Messrs. Rowney, and said to possess divers advantages over the old oil process.]
Light from the Lanthorn of Diogenes. [Among the publications to which the example of Punch has given not many have lived so long as Diogenes has already done ; and his vi energy seems rather to increase than diminish. The shilling brochure before us consists of about a hundred of the "Diogenes" illustrations ; possessing a sufficiency of comic vie to extract a smile even from those who are familiar with the finer and more artistic humours of Leech or Doyle. The designers are, wholly or chiefly, Mr. M'Connell, Mr. Newman, Mr. Watts Phillips, and a gentleman who signs with the effigy of an owL In Mr. M'Connell, as we have before had occasion to remark, there is very genuine sprightliness and talent : his series of "Mrs. Marigold and her Marrying Daughters," here republished, vies with the best things of the sort for character and cleverness at sketching ; and it is a pity that it never went on to a conclusion. Mr. Newman was one of the earlier illustrators of Punch.]
Pexelnarre.
The Medical Service of the British Army. National Humiliation a Step towards Reprinted from the British and Foreign Amendment. A Sermon preached in the Medico- Chirurgieta Review. Parish Church of St. Anne, Dublin, on March 21,1855. By William Fitzgerald, D.D., Vicar of St. Anne's, Etc. Christian Thought on Life, in a Series of Discourses. By Henry Giles, Author of " Lectures and Essays."
The Substance of Lord Lyndhurst' s Speech, delivered in the House of Lords, 20th March 1865, on the Position and Po- licy of Prussia; with the Reply of the Earl of Clarendon.