PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.

How to Spend a Month in Ireland, and What it will Cost. By Sir Cusack P. Roney. London : W. Smith and Sons; Dublin : M`Glashan and Cusack Roney has adopted the best and most practical

method of securin,, the fulfilment of his earnest desire that English-

men should visit Ireland, by the publication of the cheap, portable, and well-arranged guide-book. for Irish tourists which is now before us. He must excuse us if we do not put implicit confidence in his assertion that in Ireland imposition is scarcely ever practised towards strangers ; but we do not require his assurances that the country is, in many respects, well worth seeing. The information which he gives respecting the postal and travelling arrangements between England and Ireland is very complete and detailed; but we should like to be told something more about the comparative comfort and expense of

the. different hotels—a point which Sir Cusack uniformly neglects, thereby defrauding us of a very material portion of the aid which, by the title of his book, he has pled"ed himself to give. The work m accompanied by a clear map of Ireland ; which would, however, be far more useful if it were mounted on linen.

Lectures on the Epistle to the .Romans. By the Rev. Ralph Wardlaw, D.D. Edinburgh and London: Fullarton and Co. Sermons preached in the Chapel of Trinity College, Dublin. By George Salmon, D.D., Fellow and Tutor. Cambridge and London : Macmillan and Co.—

Collections of religious discourses are, by the very nature of their subject, removed from the province of mere literary criticism, unless, indeed, they chance to be distinguished by the possession of some feature of a more or less special and peculiar character. This is not the case with either of the volumes now before us ; so that we shall confine our notice of them.to a simple announcement of the fact of their publication. The subject of each work is, in either case, suffi- ciently indicated by its title. It is only necessary to add that the first forms one of the volumes of the collective edition of Dr. Wardlaw's posthumous works, now in course of publication by his son; and that the sermons contained in the second are, both as regards the choice and treatment of their subjects, specially adapted to the peculiar con- gregation to which they were addressed.

The Modern Confectioner : a Practical Guide to the Latest and most Improved Methods for making the various kinds of Confectionery. By

William Jeanes. London : J. C. Hotten.—Mr. Jeanes holds the respon- sible position of chief confectioner to Messrs. Gunter; a post the duties of which we should say,_j_udging from his work, he performs m =entirely satisfactory manner. He deplores the non-existence of any code of in- structions at all adequate to the requirements of the artist in the pre- sent advanced condition of his art ; the only treatises on confectionery hitherto procurable being either of French or Italian origin, containing many recipes which are now superannuated, and devoting much space to instruction in such subsidiary arts as wood- and steel-engraving, glass-spinning, and the making . of pasteboard and gold and silver paper. Now, however, the division of labour has simplified the con- fectioner's aims, and has enabled him to increase his resources by con- centrating his energies on his own special business : and, besides, " the

rapid development of the science of chemistry has been the means of explaining or simplifying many of the difficulties" by which he was

formerly beset. The time, therefor; has come for a new treatise on the art of confectionery; and Mr. Jeanes is the very man to supply the want. His book contains descriptions, illustrated by numerous engravings, of all the utensils required by the confectioner; and recipes for making rettynearly every sweet thing that it has ever entered into the heart of man to conceive. The reader may, perhaps, like to know that there are no less than nine "essential points or degrees in boiling sugar," which Mr. Gunter has declared to be "the mysteries of confec- tionery." They_are, beginning with that which is reached at the lowest

temperature, Small Thread, Large Thread, Little Pearl, Large Pearl, the Blow, the Feather, the Ball, the Crack, and the Caramel. The names of the first eight of these degrees are derived from the pheno- mena exhibited by the syrup when a small portion of it is removed from the pan with the end of the finger; while the ninth has a more

illustrious parentage, being called after "Count Albnfage Caramel, of Nismes, who discovered this stage of boiling." When the reader meets with such a direction as " boil to crack," he will not now, as otherwise it is possible he might have been, be puzzled to divine its meaning.

As English Grammar for Classical Schools. By It G. Latham, M.D., F.R.S., &c. Third Edition. London : Walton and Moberly ; Long- man and Co.—The merits of Dr. Latham's admirable little grammar are so widely known and so universally acknowledged, that it is quite unnecessary to do more than record the fact that it has reached a third edition.

Tabular View of the Primary Divisions of the Animal Kingdom. By It. E. Grant, M.D., F.R.S., &c., Professor of Comparative Anatomy and Zoology in the University College, London. London : Walton and Maberly.—This publication, which consists of a synopsis of Pro- fessor Grant's more extended course of lectures on Zoology, is intended to serve as an outline of the natural history of existing animals. The work is of a purely technical nature; and is designed for, and is likely to be very useful to, the practical student of the science. We may observe that it is dedicated to Mr. Darwin, as a mark of the author's "admiration and approval of his late successful attempt to throw fur- ther light on that involved and obscure question, the origin of species by natural law."

The _Hovering Plants of Great Britain. Parts L and II. London : Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.—The title of this cheap serial publication is in itself a sufficient index to the nature of its con- tents. The letter-press appears to be well and carefully executed, and each part contains five large illustrations, fully coloured. On Food and its _Digestion : being an Introduction to Dietetics. By W. Brinton, M.D., &c. Physician to, and Lecturer on Physiology in, St. Thomas's Hospital London: Longman and Co.—The object of this work is, Dr. Brinton tells us, to describe the process of digestion in its natural connexion with the food on which it operates, and with the purpose which that food, as thus elaborated, fulfils. The carrying out of this design involves not only a complete account both of the structure and function of the several organs of digestion, but also an examination of the composition and nutritive effects of the various kinds of food. Both these branches of his subject have been investi- gated by Dr. Brinton with great care and ability; but the chapters devoted to the latter are the portion of his work which will be most interesting to the general reader. Individuals with indifferent appe- tites will be somewhat dismayed to hear that in order to supply the daily waste of his system,. a healthy man must, according to Dr. Brinton's calculation, take in about six pounds of food and drink in the course of the twenty-four hours. Forays among Salmon and Deer. By James Conway. London : Chapman and Hall.—This volume is a reissue, with the addition of a new chapter, of a small book which was published a short time ago, under the title of " Letters from the Highlands; or, Two Months among the Salmon and Deer." These letters, which were written at the scene of action, originally appeared in the Field newspaper. At that time the author was, he tells us, a mere tyro both in salmon- fishing and deer-stalking; a fact which we should never have suspected, judging from the remarkably, successful results of his first campaign. He must, we fancy, be a heaven-born angler, for very early, in his career he displayed such skill as called forth expressions of unfeigned astonishment and approbation from the gillie by whom he was at- tended. He tells his story in a very pleasant and amusing manner ; and his book cannot fail to be welcome to all true lovers of the sports which it describes.

Social Life and Manners in Australia : being the Notes of Eight Years' Experience. By a Resident. London: Longman and Co.— The authoress of this volume was, only a few weeks after her marriage, equally surprised and disgusted by the information that it was neces- sary for her at once to accompany her husband to Melbourne. When she got there, however, she found everything so much better than she expected, that, being of an enthusiastic and impressionable disposition, she incontinently fell in love with the country and its inhabitants; and she has accordingly described it in terms so glowing as to excite our astonishment, not to say oar incredulity. Indeed, if her account of it be true, Australia must be an earthly paradise. There is, we believe, an impression prevalent throughout England that life at the diggings is a life of hardship and lawlessness, uncheered by any of the comforts and luxuries which are popularly supposed to belong exclusively to a more settled state of existence. Never was there a greater mistake. Our authoress tells us of diggers' tents fitted up with sofas, arm-chairs, grand pianos, dressing-tables, "cushions covered with worked tidies," and "vases with all kinds of pretty things." The diggers keep Sun- day at least as decorously as it is kept in England; and they give balls, to which, indeed, the ladies bring their babies, but which are most orderly, and "admirably got up." Life at Melbourne is one continued round of the most attractive gaieties. We are glad to say that our authoress was able to appear in Australian society with a splendour proportionate to her deserts ; for she had taken the pre- caution of bringing with her " her Paris trousseau from Madame —," so that she " had always the satisfaction of being dressed well and in good taste." What it was that took her and her husband to the diggings does not clearly appear ; for the weight of evidence goes to show that he did not employ himself in gold-hunting, but made money in the somewhat vague, though doubtless lucrative, process of " buying allotments for agricultural purposes." There is yet another point in which Australia has a very decided advantage over England : it is the most romantic country under the sun. Unlike Canning's knife-grinder, everybody has a story to tell, and tells it with an obliging readiness which is quite peculiar to the Antipodes. Many of these stories the "Resident" reproduces in her pages; and very wonderful they are, and told in a style which proves conclusively that their narrators must, at some time or other in their lives, have had a very extensive acquaintance with the circulating-library class of fiction. Wily, how- ever, does our authoress tell us, in connexion with the heroes of one of the most romantic of these tales, that " they sailed shortly after for England in the ill-fated ?" Is she bound by a solemn oath never to reveal the name of the vessel, or can it be that she has simply forgotten it P We have no doubt whatever that the " Resident" has conveyed an accurate idea of her own impressions; but we must respectfully decline to receive her account as anything at all an welt- ing to a faithful representation of Australian life. The Threshold of derides. By George F. Preston. London : Kent and Co.—This is an attempt to construct a tragedy on the old Greek model, the subject chosen being the abduction of Helen by Paris. Mr. Preston is by no means devoid of poetic fancy, and has a considerable command of language, and a faculty of writing smooth, and occasionally vigorous, blank verse. Despite all this, The Threshold _GI dtrides is but a feeble and colourless copy of the original model. Where suc- cess was impossible, however, it is no disgrace to have failed. We hope that Mr. Preston will, for the future, employ the powers which

i he undoubtedly possesses on some less hopelessly impracticable task. Fifteenth Report of the Commissioners in Lunacy to the Lord Chancellor. Printed by Order of the House of Commons, June 7th, 1861.—There are but few subjects of general interest treated of in this report, which consists mainly of a statement of the condition of all the lunatic esta- blishments which are within the jurisdiction of the commissioners. From this portion of the report we gather that there is a considerable difference between the public and private asylums on the point of general efficiency and good management; there being only one of the former (the Bethel Hospital at Norwich) of which the commissioners speak unfavourably, while there are several of the latter which they mention in terms of strong reprobation. The report affords some in. terestinkr information on the question whether lunacy is on the increase or no. During the last ten years, the number of pauper lunatics has increased enormously, while there has been no augmentation in that of the patients in private asylums during the same period. The com- missioners do not, however, attribute this large increase in the number of pauper lunatics to the greater prevalence of lunacy at the present day, but rather to the recent improvement in the arrangements for the relief of the insane, by which the number of cases brought under ob- servation, and of patients sent to asylums, has been considerably aug- mented, while the lives of the inmates of asylums have been materially prolonged.