Yenite, Amethyst, and Grossulare at Rhode Island; Egerane at Worcester; Amazon stone at Beverly; Asparagus stone at Billerica, &c.

Among other instances of an unpardonable inattention to the progress of the science, we may notice the description of Humite, which our author should have known has proved to be Condrodite (or what he calls Chondorcite), and so of Sillimanite, which has been ascertained to be Cyanite, and of Meionite, which is now referred to Scapolite. Under crystallized lepidolite,' we are told that it occurs at Paris in Maine, where no such thing is known; what was guessed to be such, is undoubtedly the kind of pseudomorphous talc, a substance not exactly like a mica.

In excluding from the external characters of minerals the angular measurements, he has at once struck out one of the three all important characters; and although we have a table at the beginning of the volume, it is incomplete, and, from the trouble of frequently turning back to it, will probably be altogether neglected by the pupil.

An air of parade is given to this book by the introduction of a few of Professor Mohs' new terms; but no kind of explanation is given, and we strongly suspect our author knows but little about it. It is but lately, it is true, that this new system has been made accessible, and its mysteries revealed by the labors of Mr Haidinger, but his work has been long enough before the public for any one to have made himself acquainted with its principles. To introduce us at once, without any preparation, to Pyramidal Pearl-Kerate' and' Empyrodox Quartz,' is somewhat appalling; and we can well imagine the utter despair into which the 'private student' will sink at the sight of Brachytypous Parachrose-Baryte.' In giving, here and there, these and a few other of Mohs' synonyms, a ridiculous effect is given to his whole system, which it was due to the distinguished author to avoid, and which a few pages of explanation might have prevented.

This work is as full of errors of the press, as of the pen, and so far from facilitating the progress of science, carries us back something like ten years.

QUARTERLY LIST OF NEW PUBLICATIONS.

ARTS AND SCIENCES.

An Elementary Course of Civil Engineering, translated from the French of M. J. Sganzin, Inspector General of Bridges, &c. With Notes and Applications, adapted to the United States. Hilliard, Gray, & Co. 8vo. pp. 161.

BIOGRAPHY.

Boston.

Memoirs of the late Mrs Susan Huntington, of Boston, Massachusetts, with the Sermon occasioned by her Death. By B. B. Wisner, Pastor of the Old South Church in Boston. Second Edition. Boston. Crocker & Brewster.

The Life of the Rev Dr Cotton Mather. Philadelphia. 12mo.

DRAMA.

Sylla; a Tragedy, in Five Acts. By a Member of the Institute. Translated from the French, by a Citizen of New York. Behr & Kahl. 12mo.

EDUCATION.

Elements of Mineralogy, adapted to the Use of Seminaries and Private Students. By J. L. Comstock, M. D. Boston. S. G. Goodrich. Svo. pp. 338.

Hawes's United States Spelling-Book. Second Edition. Augusta. W. M. Ladd.

12mo.

A Theoretical and Practical Grammar of the French Tongue. By M. De Lévizac. New Edition. New York. 12mo. pp. 444.

American Popular Lessons. Ninth Edition. New York. W. B. Gilley. 18mo.

A Primer of the English Language, for the Use of Families and Schools. By Samuel Worcester. Boston. Hilliard, Gray, & Co. 18mo. pp. 79.

Questions adapted to Whelpley's Compend of History. By Joseph Emerson. Boston. Richardson & Lord. 12mo. pp. 69.

Le Lecteur Français de la Jeunesse, ou Choix d' Historiettes Morales, Anecdotes, Fables en Prose et en Vers, &c. Redigé par F. B. G. Northampton, Mass. Simeon Butler. 12mo. pp. 212. The Family Instructer; relating to Parents and Children, Masters and Servants, Husbands and Wives, &c. with Family Prayers. Willet's Geography. A New Edition, with Cuts. Philadelphia. A New Edition of Freeby's Astronomy, with the Method of Determining the Longitude, Aspects, &c. of the Planets for any future VOL. XXIV.No. 55.

62

time, and an extensive set of Geographical and Astronomical Problems on the Globes.

The Eagle, or National Baltimore.

Bentley's Spelling Book. The American Teacher's containing all the Rules of

Arithmetic. By D. Macurdy, Philomath.

Third Edition, improved.

Assistant, and Self Instructer's Guide; Arithmetic, properly explained and illustrated. With an Appendix. By John Mackay. Price $1. Charleston, S. C.

The Second Book, or Reading Lessons for Primary Schools. New Edition. Boston. Richardson & Lord. 18mo.

Primary Lessons in Arithmetic. By Frederick Emerson. Edition. Boston. Lincoln & Edmands. 12mo. pp 34.

Second

First Book for the Use of Teachers. By Elizabeth Oram. New York. James W. Campbell.

Practical and Mental Arithmetic, designed principally to accompany Daboll's System of Arithmetic, and equally adapted to any other. By Roswell C. Smith. Providence.

A new Treatise on the Use of Globes, with Notes and Observations. Designed for the Use of Schools ond Academies. By James M'Intyre. Second Edition. Baltimore. E. J. Coale.

Map of the World in Outline, to be filled up by Students in Geography, accompanying the Rev. C A. Goodrich's Outlines of Modern Geography. Boston. S. G. Goodrich.

The Young Scholar's Manual, or Companion to the Spelling Book; By T. Strong. Fifth Edition. Greenfield. J. Denio.

The Analytical Reader, containing Lessons in Simultaneous Reading and Defining, with Spelling from the same. By Samuel Putnam. Second Edition. Dover. camuel C. Stevens. 12mo. pp. 160.

Questions adapted to the Constitution of the State of Massachusetts, designed to be used in Academies and Common Schools. By the Rev. Isaac Jones, A. M. Boston. Richardson & Lord. 12mo. pp. 19.

Geography for Beginners, or the Instructer's Assistant in giving First Lessons from Maps; accompanied with an Atlas. By Emma Willard. Hartford. O. D. Cooke & Co. 18mo. pp. 110. Thompson's Arithmetic. Second Edition. Woodstock.

Watson.

David

A New and Improved Theoretical and Practical Grammar of the Spanish Language. By Emanuel Del Mar, Teacher of the Spanish Language. New York. Bliss & White. 12mo.

The Child's Arithmetic. By William B. Fowle, Instructer of the Monitorial School. Second Edition. Boston. Thomas Wells. 18mo. pp. 104.

The Pestalozzian Primer, or First Step in Teaching Children the Art of Reading and Thinking. By John M. Keagg, M. D. Harrisburg. 12mo. pp 126.

This work is evidently the production of a well fraught and reflecting mind, which has bestowed much attention on the important subject of early education, and really is what its title intimates, A first step in teaching children the art of reading and thinking. The author says that the work was begun under a conviction that something of the kind is much needed in our primary schools, in order to create a habit of thinking, and of understanding what is read. He has according

ly subjoined to even the first and most elementary lessons, what he calls a Dianoetic lesson, consisting of certain words, or sentences, on which it is intended the teacher shall exercise the thinking powers of the learner, by making him point out the differences and resemblances of objects, with which he is most familiarly acquainted; thereby affording gratification to the strongest passion of a child, the desire of information. This seems to be the true way of blending the agreeable with the useful, and of making curiosity the handmaid of improvement. This work, to be useful, needs only to be known; we therefore heartily wish our author success in his undertaking, because we regard every effort to facilitate the acquisition of good knowledge, as doing something for the cause of public order, morality, and happiness.

The True English Grammar, being an Attempt to form a Grammar of the English Language, not modelled upon those of the Latin, Greek, and other Foreign Languages. By William B. Fowle. Boston. Munroe & Francis. 18mo. pp. 180

Tenth

A History of the United States, on a Plan adapted to the Capacity of Youth. By the Rev. C A. Goodrich. Bellows Falls, Vt. Edition. James J. Cullen & Co. 18mo. The Moral Instructer, and Guide to Virtue, being a Compendium of Moral Philosophy, in eight parts. By Jesse Torrey, Jr. Fifth Edition. Philadelphia. pp 300.

This is a duodecimo volume of three hundred pages of very miscellaneous contents; but all of them apparently intended to effect one of the noblest purposes of human ambition, the reformation of manners, and diffusion of correct principles of conduct, among those classes of the community which have fewest opportunities for reading and reflection. Much the greater part of this volume is composed of extracts and abridgments; and these are generally made from the brightest pages of ancient and modern wisdom, as the following heads of its contents will prove; Epitome of the Moral Precepts of the Bible; Abridgment of the Lives and Moral Discourses of Confucius, Socrates, and Seneca; Abrigments of the Law of Nature, of Penn's Maxims, Paley's Moral Philosophy, and Knigge's Art of Conversing with Men; selections from Franklin's Works, from the Spectator, and from the occasional Speeches and Addresses of some of the most distinguished men of our own country; the whole concluded by some didactic poetical extracts. But the first part, consisting of original essays, is the one on which Dr Torrey seems to have expended the most labor, and from which he, perhaps, expected to reap his most enduring laurels. And here we cannot but regret to see good intentions marred by,so much bad taste; we subjoin two or three sentences, which are not unfair specimens of his style, carefully italicizing the same words which the Doctor has thought worthy of that distinction. The first is from his address' To the People of the United States' It is but of little avail to the majority of the human family, that philosophers of different ages and nations have exerted their talents in perfecting the science of moral wisdom, as long as no one will take the pains to collect and concentrate the best fruits of their labors into a convenient portable vehicle for universal distribution, upon the boundless table of the Printing Press. p. 3. And the following, which is the first sentence in his Serious Address to the rising Generation of the United States.' Favoured Youth, Contemplate calmly and attentively the sacred legacy which must soon be committed to your charge, in trust for your successors, and eventually for the whole human race! You constitute the only insulated Ararat, on which the olive branch of peace, and the "glad tidings" of freedom and happiness, can be deposited and preserved to a groaning world drowned in tears' p 18. We will add but one more. With an incredible infatuation, we have sacrificed the golden presents of Ceres on the hissing copper altars of crazy Bacchus. Were I allowed the privilege of obliterating the two greatest scourges of mankind, I would select the art of distilling food, and the art of war,' (p.25,); which we take to be a most evident imitation of the following, from the speech of Mr Matthews's Irish Barrister. If I could mount the winged horse Pegasus, I would fly over Mount Helicon, and travel the land of Egypt, to emancipate and elucidate all that can reverberate to substantiate the emaculation of all that puts you at present

in a consternation." However much Dr Torrey may admire the practical wisdom of the ancients, he has never devoted his days and nights to those examples of a neat simplicity in style, which by refining the taste, tend to purify and elevate the morals. They would have taught him better than to bedizen with gaudy patches that philosophy, which ought to have been presented to the laborious and marly portion of the community, for which his work seems to have been designed, in her own sober and decent garments.

Goldsmith's Roman History, for the Use of Schools. Revised and corrected by William Grimshaw. Improved edition, stereotyped. Philadelphia. J. Grigg. 12mo. pp. 240.

Mr Grimshaw has, in this edition, corrected the typographical errors, with which the later editions of Goldsmith's Abridgments so much abound; and removed any grossness in language, which, in some few instances, rendered these valuable com pends less useful in the schools to which youth of both sexes resort. He has also added a Vocabulary of Proper Names accentuated, in order to show their right pronunciation, which is a valuable appendage to the history.

An Easy Introduction to the Study of Geography, on an Improved Plan. Accompanied by an improved Atlas. By Thomas T. Smiley. Fifth Edition, improved. Philadelphia. 18mo. pp. 252.

This is a compendium, resembling, both in plan and execution, many other small works on the subject; and comprising, in connexion with the Atlas, much geographical information.

Spanish Grammar, dedicated to the Youth of North America. By A. T. Letamendi, late Consul of Spain for East Florida. Charleston, S. C. Wm. Riley. pp. 255.

Mr Letamendi's motto is from Fiorilli ;-- Few and clear rules, much reflection, and still more practice.' The author is an exile from Spain in consequence of his active attachment to the late constitution. His grammar is divided into two parts, theory of words and practical use of them. The execution of the work is full and clear, and well suited to the purposes for which it is designed. The author merits a fair share of patronage, as his grammar takes a high rank among the excellent ones, with which the public has been lately favored.

The American Teacher's Assistant, and Self Instructer's Guide; containing all the Rules of Arithmetic properly explained, and illustrated by an adequate Number of Examples; with an Appendix, containing a Key to the most difficult, and Answers to all the Questions. By John Mackey, Teacher. Charleston. A. E. Miller. pp. 294.

12mo.

Every attempt made by men of sense and experience to improve the common manuals of education, deserves encouragement. The following are the principles which this author exhibits as having guided him in the execution of his work.

The mathematical theorems on which Arithmetic is founded, being as all other truths, unsusceptible of change, either for better or worse, it follows, that improvement can only be looked for, or successfully attempted in the extension, application, and illustration of its rules. I have accordingly directed my attention solely to these objects.

Conceiving a knowledge of its first principles to be an essential prerequsite in the pursuit of any branch of art or science, I have given a more ample developement of the primary rules than is usually found in books upon the subject. I have likewise extended the subsequent rules to all their useful cases, and illustrated the whole, throughout by an extra number of appropriate examples. Of these the greater part are questions of business; showing the real uses of the rules in the concerns of future life; but, the better to accommodate the work to the versatility of the youthful mind, I have occasionally introduced such as tend to familiarize it with interesting incidents of history; and others that may be termed questions of curiosity, calculated to obviate the danger of that disgust, which a tiresome sameness of intense application has a direct tendency to inspire.'