mate that can cure or counteract consumption method of compelling the guilty boy to inflict to read it. FICTION. the feruling on the teacher would lose its moral effect if it were generally adopted. We protest that for a boy to bring a lying accusation against himself to shield a friend is a very mistaken kind of heroism. Had we been present, we should have been tempted to admonish Mother Bhaer that it was not a safe operation to let her baby suck the spoon in which she had just administered a dose of medicine to a ragged urchin just picked from the street, the nature of whose disease she did not know. But, after all, the lesson which these improbable incidents are meant to teach, and do teach, is a good one-this, name their life, even their pranks and good-natured mischief, is the first condition of acquiring influence over them, and hence is the first condition of any true and good government in school or family. The children will be sure to read "Little Men" with interest, and the parents can read it with profit. THERE is perhaps no living writer of fiction whose portraitures of English society are more photographically life-like than ANTHONY TROLLOPE'S. It is this which gives to Ralph the Heir (Harper and Brothers) its chief interest to us. The tangled story of the four lovers' lives is more intricate and involved than interesting. There is no hero in the book to awaken the reader's sympathies; and though one sorrows for poor Clarissa, still there is no broken heart to give a tragic interest to the simple story of her mistakenly, that personal sympathy with children, in all and unrequited love. As to Ralph, the heir, it is difficult to bear with his weakness and vacillation with any patience, or to show to him half the forbearance that is shown by Sir Thomas and his daughters. But the novelist carries us through various phases of English life, which he depicts with rare fidelity. Neefit the tradesman, the leather-breeches shop, the villa at Hendon, the stables at the Moonbeam, the hunt, the chambers of Sir Thomas, the bachelor life of Ralph in London, and, perhaps best of all, Moggs, Ontario Moggs, and his audience in the parlors of the Cheshire Cheese, are all capitally drawn, with less coloring than Dickens or even Thackeray would have employed, but with more real fidelity to actual truth-the difference between Trollope and Dickens in their descriptions of English life being that one painted and the other photographs. That which is to our thought the most interesting, as it certainly is the most characteristic, feature of the book, is the view it gives of a "rotten borough." One might read a good many parliamentary blue-books and political newspapers and not get so good an idea of English political life-of how, in particular, an English election is conducted as he will get from reading the account of the canvass at Percycross. And from the reading of that account the American rises with a considerably enhanced respect for his own institutions, and a new sense of the truth that the corruption of his own land is far less, though more exposed and pronounced, than that of the Old World. It can hardly be asserted that Little Men by Miss ALCOTT (Roberts Brothers), is a natural story, or doubted that it is an entertaining one. The description of an actual boarding-school, with its humdrum life, would be as tedious as any thing that can well be conceived of, and that Miss Alcott is able to invest a story of boarding-school life with any interest must be taken as one of the evidences of her genius. There is hardly enough in the story itself to sustain the reader's interest in it; and despite the author's bright style and vivid descriptions, and, best of all, her hearty sympathy with youth, the book drags a little if one attempts to read it directly through. It is more entertaining read as a series of sketches than as a single connected story. We beg leave to doubt whether, on the whole, it would be for the best interest of any well-ordered school for the boys to have unlimited liberty to slide down the balusters at the risk of broken heads, and every Saturday night, after their bath, to chase each other over the house in a sham battle with the pillows. We are inclined to think that Mr. Bhaer's original Ina (James R. Osgood and Co.) is an American novel in that it is by an American writer, but in every thing else a foreign romance. The scene is laid in Italy; the plot is Italian; the fierce, passionate love and hate are Italian; the pretended marriage, the long concealment, the final dénouement, the assassination of the guilty lover by the brother of the victim of his guilty passion, are all Italian. There is dramatic power in the story, but it is not a pleasant onehardly a healthful one-and reminds the reader in its general tone and character quite too strongly of the average libretto of an Italian opera. And yet there is artistic power in it that leads us to hope from the young authoress a better and more genuinely American novel in her next production. We are sorry to see Dodd and Meade's imprint to such a story as The American Cardinal, for we had learned to consider their name almost a guarantee of excellence; and such a reputation as they were acquiring among the publishers of religious literature is not to be lightly cast away. "The American Cardinal" may prove popular; but if it does we shall think more poorly of the average American novel-reader than we even do at present. We do not join the general hue and cry against sensational novels. The story that produces a healthful and genuine sensation, of hatred of wrong and of sympathy with some special virtue, is not to be condemned because its incidents are more startling than the cultured critic can commend. He must not forget that there is as great a difference in the moral as in the physical sensitiveness of men, and that different minds need different spicing in their books, as different palates need different condiments in their food. But a novel that tries to be sensational and is not is unpardonable; and this unpardonable sin against literature is committed by "The American Cardinal." That it is entitled "a novel" does not justify the author in travestying the faith and spirit of the Romish Church; and he will hardly expect any of his intelligent readers to accept Bishop Frances as a fair portraiture of a Roman Catholic bishop, or the abduction and imprisonment of Arthur Cleveland in the Vatican as a possible incident. Fidelity to truth is the first condition of the true novel, and justice is the first condition of all controversial literature, even that which is couched in the guise | temptation, but it ends in a victory at last, and, of a romance; and "The American Cardinal" is neither just nor true. In the Mills of Tuxbury (Loring) VIRGINIA F. TOWNSEND undertakes to deal with the same problem with which Miss Phelps has dealt in the "Silent Partner." One can not read the one story without thinking of the other, and yet there is, except in the one point, no resemblance between them. In style Miss Townsend's book is much simpler; in incident and dramatic power much more artistic; in insight into the heart of the working-classes, and in the poet's sympathy with them, much inferior. There are no such characters, really, despite the half-finished outlines in which they are drawn, as Sip Garth and Stephen Garrick. Yet we think the inferior story the more interesting, and the more sensational story the more natural, of the two. The aim is the same in both, and it is a good one, not to propose any legislative or politico-economical solution of the perplexing problem of labor and capital, but to contribute something indirectly to its solution by showing that "hands" have hearts, and by awakening for them a living sympathy as living men and women. In the "Mills of Tuxbury" Miss Townsend carries this to the difficult point of bringing us into a sympathetic appreciation of those terrible temptations which hard labor, no culture, and dire poverty sometimes engender, without affording excuse, or even, perhaps, palliation, for the brutal crimes to which, as in the case of Hardy Shumway, they sometimes drive men. by showing the young how they can conquer, incites them courageously to try.-Tattered Tom (Loring) is the story of a street Arab, the Arab being a girl with a boy's name. The author, HORATIO ALGER, Jun., has evidently studied his subject with care, and drawn his portrait from the life. The first part of his story, which contains the street Arab, is by far the best part of the book. No real interest is added to it by the plots and counterplots of the latter chapters, and "Tattered Tom" is more interesting by far in her original character than when converted into Miss Lindsay.-The object of Belle Lovel (Randolph) is to counteract the tendencies of the age toward frivolity by contrasting two sisters, and tracing the process by which the heroine is at length converted from a useless belle to a genuinely Christian young lady. But the merit of the design is counterbalanced by the weakness of the execution, and, like some unpleasantly good people, the book impairs its influence by a certain ostentation of moral excellence. POETRY. Ir is somewhat difficult for the critic to comprehend what is the merit which has given to Mr. BICKERSTETH's long epic, "Yesterday, To-day, and Forever," readers counted by the thousands. We doubt whether any modern poem of equal length has proved equally popular. We are reasonably sure that Morris's unequaled volumes have had no such circle of readers, and that even Tennyson has written no large poem so widely read in this country. It is still more difficult to comprehend the secret of this popularity when we turn from the epic, which appalls us by its length, to the shorter pieces gathered into one While so many are seeking to curtail the time of duration of the marriage tie, the title of Married for Both Worlds, by Mrs. E. A. PORTER (Lee and Shepard), is really startling. But there is nothing startling in the book. It is not a dis-volume under the title of the opening poem, The cussion of marriage at all. Quietly assuming that a true marriage is a union which death is not strong enough to sunder, the author tells the story of a young and lovely woman who, with the calmness which only a Christian faith can give, saw her beloved husband waste away and die, leaving her at the age of eighteen to carry out some generous plans which he had originated and in which she had been his aid. He bequeathed to her also the care of his mother, old and querulous; and, caring for her, Esther passed many years in an unlovely home, returning at the mother's death to the work in the city which her husband had commenced. The plot is simple. The characters are such as we daily meet, except that Esther herself is perhaps too ideally beautiful. But the daily increasing love she bore her husband-manifesting it not in sickly sentimentalism, but in daily thought of his wishes-the combined gentleness and strength with which she discharged the duties and bore the trials of life, make the story a beautiful lesson of wifely devotion. The style is plain, but in some places the author becomes eloquent in truth and strong in sarcasm. We have half a dozen children's books of various merits. The object of Battles at Home and In the World (H. B. Fuller) appears to be to enforce the motto of the title-page, "He that ruleth his spirit is better than he that taketh a city." They are both healthful books, with no mock religion and no gloomy asceticism about them. The battle is the old battle with sin and Two Brothers (Robert Carter and Brothers). Solomon sagely advises his readers to be neither wicked nor righteous overmuch; and we suspect the secret of Mr. Bickersteth's popularity lies in the fact that in literature, as in morals, the popular crown is apt to be awarded to eminent mediocrity. His rhymes run easily. Their meaning lies upon the surface. One may read them easily, as one would a newspaper leader, without the trouble of much thought; and to the majority even of readers thinking involves a deal of trouble. Mr. Bickersteth, though not a great poet, is a good Christian, and his experiences, the common experiences of hundreds of thousands of fellowChristians, are pleasantly expressed in smoothly flowing verse, more happily, doubtless, than his readers could express them. So his verse will do good by deepening experiences that are common but yet need cultivation; and they are not characterized by any so serious literary faults that they will cultivate religion at the expense of good taste. JOHN HAY'S Ballads contain some poetry so good that it intensifies our regret at that which is poorer and more popular. We do not particularly wonder that "Little Breeches" and "Jim Bludso" should go the round of the papers, and give their author a cheap and transient fame; but we do wonder that the man who could write "A Woman's Love" and "The Sphinx of the Tuileries" could also write the "Pike County Ballads." It is not at all surprising that the theatre should be packed night after night by a crowded audience, laughing and cheering the drunken profanity of Toodles, but it would be a cause for a new lamentation if a Fechter or an Edwin Booth should assume the part. Passing by the "Ballads," and overlooking one or two other pieces which, without their positive profanity, contain assaults on Christian faith and feeling less offensive only because more disguised, we find a variety, a strength, and a genuine poetic beauty in some of the other poems which have pleasantly disappointed us.-On the whole, we find John Hay at once a better and a worse poet than R. H. NEWELL (Orpheus C. Kerr). He is better because he is a true poet, worse because he prostitutes a higher talent to an inferior use. Mr. Newell's Versatilities (Lee and Shepard) are largely humorous, though not exclusively so. His soberer poems are quiet and pleasant pieces of versification, not rich or strong, nor entitled to a permanent place in American literature, but pleasant reading. His humorous pieces are, for the most part, comic without being farcical, and with no pretense of literary purity or a moral tone are, at all events, not profane. There are three other volumes of poems on our table that deserve mention, each of them possessing some excellences, though neither of them likely to get very much the public ear or impress very much the public heart. A Woman's Poems (James R. Osgood and Co.) comes to us anonymously. The authoress had no need to fear putting her name to them. They are decidedly above the average of published poems; a certain simplicity, both of figure and language, imparts a real charm to what does not claim to be in any sense great, but only pleasant, poetry. They are all short, which is a merit, and rarely does any poem elaborate more than a single thought, often only a single simile-as, for example, in "A Child's First Sight of Snow:" "Oh, come and look at his blue, sweet eyes, As through the window they glance around, "This beautiful Mystery you have seen, 66 So new to your life, and to mine so old, Little wordless Questioner- What does it mean?' Why, it means, I fear, that the world is cold." -Mrs. HOOPER's Poems (J. B. Lippincott and Co.) are more pretentious, but not so good. She has essayed more, and accomplished less. The "lady" interprets nature. Mrs. Hooper writes the language of feeling almost exclusively. In such poems as The Duel" and "Too Late" there is a good deal of dramatic power, a good deal of insight into human experience, and marked ability in portraying it, and yet a nameless something is lacking necessary to enable it to take full hold on our hearts. It is not cold, and yet we easily read it coldly, and find ourselves less affected by the poem than moved by some measure of respect for the pen that wrote it.-In Thistle-Down (J. B. Lippincott and Co.) we find very little but a pleasant versification of common thoughts and feelings-just such poems as one often reads with pleasure to-day in the daily or weekly press, only to forget to-morrow. MISCELLANEOUS. MR. PHILIP GILBERT HAMERTON, in the preface to the American edition of his Thoughts about Art (Roberts Brothers), defends himself from the charge of egotism that has been brought against him, but proceeds in the body of the book to give ample justification to the accusation. There is something to those not initiated in art mysterious about the effect it produces on nearly all who essay the delicate and difficult task of art criticism. It begets a peculiar egotism in judgment, and censoriousness in expression. There are some slashing critics in literature; there are few or no others in art. There are men who, because it is their province to sit in judgment on books, assume to speak oracularly from half an hour's investigation on subjects on which a lifetime would be all too short to afford any full and accurate knowledge. They are, however, exceptional. The most egotistical of critics speaks deftly of such a work as Darwin's on the "Origin of Species" or the "Descent of Man." But every man who visits the National Academy assumes to form on the instant a verdict on works which have occupied months in execution, and years of patient study in preparation; and the professional art critic lays down the law like a second Moses, and executes it like an inspired Samuel. Mr. Hamerton's book is not free from the faults of his profession. It is a volume of art criticism; it is, we might almost say, therefore, characterized by a certain dogmatism and self-assertion which would hardly be suffered any where else, but which, in such a book, would hardly be noticeable were it not for the disavowals of the preface. But, despite his spirit of charmingly unconscious self-conceit, which condemns all genre pictures as unworthy to be compared with landscapes (Mr. Hamerton himself being a landscape painter), and commiserates the uncultured tastes of the people who know no better than to prefer "little figure pictures,” “rustic figures," "bits of incident connected with the domesticities," to landscapes-nay, perhaps because of this naïvely simple self-conceit, Mr. Hamerton's volume is exceedingly entertaining, being written in the easy, vivacious style-sharp, pointed, satiricalwhich we would expect of the art critic of the Saturday Review. And while his judgment is not always sound, and the reader must always pause and examine for himself the question discussed, whether of art or ethics, and come to an independent judgment on it, yet he can not read a chapter any where, and scarcely a page, without getting some thoughts well worth his consideration. In short, Mr. Hamerton does not do our thinking for us, but compels us to do our thinking for ourselves, and accomplishes as much good by stimulating us to disagree with him, and discover the falsity of his positions, as he does by the direct truths he inculcates. His themes, too, are not strictly, at least not exclusively, professional. His discussion of the relative merits of photography and painting is admirable, though it hardly does photography full justice; his essay on picture-buying, though only partially true, as it seems to us, is as useful by reason of its doubtful statements as for those that are indubitable; and there is an after-dinner conversation about furniture which we wish might be reproduced in such a form as to be read by erery householder in the land, if not for the practical utility of its separate suggestions, at least for the sake of its central truth, that "a house ought to be a work of art, just like a picture." 1 EDITOR'S SCIENTIFIC RECORD. SOULE'S English Synonyms (Little, Brown, | ever, who accepts it as a reminder of words forand Co.) possesses at once the advantages and gotten that need only to be brought to mind, or disadvantages of brevity. It is a small volume as a guide to words whose accurate meaning the of a little over 400 pages. It is therefore inex- larger dictionaries alone can give him-who emIt comprises simply ploys it, in other words, as an index either to pensive and convenient. the synonyms without any discussion of their other works, or, so to speak, to the treasurerespective etymologies, or of the delicate yet house of his own memory-will find it an exceedsometimes important differences in their signifi-ingly useful assistant. cations. It is therefore easily used and readily comprehended. In these respects it is an advantageous manual both for the youthful writer, who has not the patience, or perhaps the skill, to employ a more elaborate treatise, and for the busy writer, who wants a synonym quickly, and has not the time to study with care the delicate shades of meaning of various ones that offer. But these very advantages carry with them some compensating disadvantages. We might almost say there are no synonyms in language-i. e., no two words with exactly the same meaning. So this book, which attempts no discriminations, will often mislead the writer who trusts himself wholly to it. Thus it gives as synonyms of "atheist" the terms "infidel," "skeptic," and freethinker," albeit very few of modern skeptics or freethinkers are atheists at all. So, again, it gives as the first two synonyms for "atonement" the words "expiation" and "propitiation," words which are themselves far from beWe expiing, properly speaking, synonymous. ate a crime; we propitiate an individual. These examples, taken at hazard from a single column, illustrate the necessary defect of such a work as this; or, rather, they indicate what is alone its legitimate use. The reader or writer who employs it strictly as a dictionary of synonyms will find himself led into perpetual errors. He, how 66 President MUNSELL'S Psychology (D. Appleton and Co.) is intended as a text-book for schools and colleges, and ought not, therefore, to be subjected to the same test as if it assumed to be an original contribution to mental science. Perhaps all we can expect of a text-book is that it will give us the net result of the special school which the author accepts and seeks to interpret. But it is not all a text-book ought to give. The student who has taken what purports to be a course of study in mental science ought to be able to give clearly and succinctly the theories of such thinkFrom Dr. Munsell's ers as Maudsley, Huxley, and Bain, and his reasons for rejecting them. are absurdly book he gets no other reason than the author's authoritative declaration that they false."-MONROE's Public and Parlor Readings (Lee and Shepard) appears to be one volume of a series. It is devoted wholly to humorous selections. To make such a collection without descending to the vulgar is not an easy matter. Mr. Monroe has, however, accomplished it; and with very few exceptions there are no selections in his book to which even a fastidious critic could object.-Mr. TILESTON's Hand-Book of the Administrations of the United States (Lee and Shepard) is really a pocket edition of our national political history given in its most compressed form. 66 Editor's Scientific Record. SUMMARY OF SCIENTIFIC PROGRESS. UR summary of scientific progress for the novel, few announcements of any moment having been made since the date of our last number. As regards Astronomy, the following pages will be found to contain a valuable account of the eclipse expedition of December, 1870, with a statement of what has been accomplished and what yet remains to be done in regard to our knowledge of the physics and character of the sun. the Engineer Department; the geological, botanical, and physical survey of Louisiana by the ofvey of Mr. Clarence King in Utah, Wyoming, and Colorado; that of Dr. Hayden in Utah and Montana; of Captain Raymond on the Yukon River; of Professor Verrill on the coast of New Jersey; and of the Tehuantepec and Darien regions by officers of the United States government. We also have a report that is believed to be authentic of the safety of Dr. Livingstone, and of his probable return to England; and also of the travels of Dr. Hooker in the interior of Morocco. the crustaceans, etc. To Terrestrial Physics an important contribution has been made by Dr. Carpenter, in his lecIn Zoology valuable papers have been publishtures and articles upon the currents of the Mediterranean Sea, and the application of the obser- ed by Dr. Lütken on the ganoid fishes; by Plavations there discussed to a theory of oceanic cir-teau on the influence of salt and fresh water upon culation, such as the general surface movement of the waters toward the poles, with a corresponding deep-sea movement from the poles toward the equator, and the more superficial course of the Numerous earthGulf and other ocean streams. quakes are recorded in South America and elsewhere, and some interesting local modifications of climate have been indicated as the consequence or concomitant. In the line of Geographical Exploration we have the reports of the survey of the Lakes, under The most important announcements in Palethe determinaontology are the discovery of a species of pterodactyl in the Rocky Mountains; tion that the Mosasaurus possessed a well-developed arch and posterior limbs; and also the existence of numerous species of fossil land lizards and of crocodiles in the Rocky Mountain basins -all by Professor Marsh. Professor Leidy has continued his descriptions of interesting new forms of fossil vertebrates from the same region. In Anatomy and Physiology we have numerous papers upon the action of chloral and bromide of potassium upon the system, and the little value of the supposed antidotes to snake bite, such as ammonia injections, etc., and the influence of alcoholism upon the system, as based on observations on the French soldiers during the late war, etc. In Botanical Physiology an important paper has been published upon the movement of the chlorophyl grains. In Economical Science we have the announcement of progress in the artificial culture of fish, especially the hatching of many millions of eggs of shad, by the New York State Commissioners, in the Hudson River, and of a large number in the Rappahannock, and also of the comparative failure, for the present season, of the attempt to introduce salmon into the Dela diately, the degree ascertained being sufficiently near that of the water itself at the bottom to answer all purposes. Numerous communications were made in reference to the existence of man in prehistoric times; one of these, by M. De Saussure, describing the contents of a cavern occupied during the reindeer period; while another paper, by Professor Desor, had reference to objects of the bronze age from the Lake of Bienne, where they were found under four feet of mud. Dr. Waller publishes a paper upon the absorption by the skin of different substances dissolved in chloroform, such absorption being generally much more rapid than when alcohol or acid solutions of the same substance were employed. Thus, in experimenting upon an albino rat, he found that if one of the feet of the animal were plunged into a chloroformic solution of atropia, a marked dilataIn Necrology the most important announce- tion of the pupils of the eye was observed in two ment for many months past is that of the death or three minutes, while this substance dissolved of Sir John Herschel; and that of Dr. Schultz-in alcohol produced the same effect only after a Shultzenstein, an eminent botanist, has also been much longer period. mentioned. For fuller details in regard to the points just referred to, as well as others of minor importance not herein mentioned, we would refer our readers to the succeeding pages of the "Scientific Record," as also to the "Scientific Intelligence" in the Weekly. ware. Professor Plateau presents a paper upon the flight of coleoptera, and Dr. Marcet gives the result of investigations upon himself while ascending various high mountains, especially Mont Blanc, showing a variation of temperature of the body at different altitudes during repose and on the march. He found that, during COMMUNICATIONS TO THE SOCIETY OF PHYS- the ascent, the temperature fell considerably, but that it soon became normal on coming to rest. The unpleasant sensations experienced at great elevations are also accompanied by a remarkable depression of the temperature of the body. M. Humbert announces a curious instance of mistaken instinct in animals, in the fact that a specimen of sphinx, or hawk-moth, was observed to be attracted by the representations of flowers painted upon the tapestry of an apartment, and that it applied its trunk successively to many of them without discovering the illusion, showing that some insects, at least, are ICS AND NATURAL HISTORY OF GENEVA. Among first-class institutions devoted to scientific research in Europe, the Society of Physics and Natural History of Geneva has always borne an honorable part, its publications containing material in all branches of science of the utmost value. The last volume of the memoirs embraces the usual annual summary by the president of the papers presented to the society, in this instance for the year extending from June, 1869, to June, 1870. Among the more important of these are the following: A memoir by Professor De la Harpe upon the theory of num-guided by sight rather than by smell. bers, in which he shows that cubes have a com- Professor A. de Candolle suggests the inquimon measure among themselves. Professor ry as to whether it may not be possible to disSchaix gives a conjectural map of the region of cover some remains of animals and of plants beCentral Africa indicated by Livingstone as con- longing to the period of the elevation of the taining the source of the Nile. Professor Plan- Alps, and remaining buried in the eternal snow tamour reports upon the results which had been since that time. He thinks that such fossils may accomplished by himself and Professor Hirsch in yet be found in the cavities or fissures at the sumconnection with the geodetic survey of Switzer-mits of high mountains, and proposes to proseland. Professor Gautier discusses the observations made by the Moravian missionaries upon the coast of Labrador, where the thermometer ranges from a very low temperature in winter to quite a high point in summer. M. Risler, in the course of experiments upon evaporation from the soil, ascertained that during the years 1867 and 1868 about seventy per cent. of the amount of rain which fell was passed off annually by evaporation. M. Forel, in a somewhat similar investigation, discovered that the Rhone furnished a larger amount of water than could be supplied The April number of the American Journal by the rain-fall of the country, and concluded of Science contains an interesting account of obthat the excess was derived from the direct con- servations upon the solar protuberances, by Prodensation of the moisture of the atmosphere fessor Respighi, translated for its columns, from upon the glaciers and the snow-fields of the the Italian, by Professor Wright. The conclumountains. M. Forel also suggests an ingen- sions arrived at are, in the main, similar to those ious method of obtaining the temperature at the of Professor Zöllner, of which we have previousbottom of lakes, namely, by drawing up a quan-ly given an account; the essential idea seeming tity of mud and testing its temperature imme- to be that the photosphere is an incandescent cute inquiries in this direction. We present, in this brief summary, a mention of some only of the more popular and interesting communications to the Genevan society, there being still a number, of more or less scientific value, that we have not referred to. We shall give a special account hereafter of the important researches of Professor Claparede relative to the bryozoa and annelides. RESPIGHI ON SOLAR PROTUBERANCES. |