Part 3

Besides the leading features of the work which we have thus briefly described, it contains many new and beautiful demonstrations of general principles in Geometry, to which the author was lead by his new methods of investigation. Among these we may mention one, viz., "The square of the hypothenuse of a right-angled triangle equals four times the area of the triangle, plus the square of the difference of the other two sides." This principle has been known to mathematicians by means of arithmetic and algebra, but has never before, we believe, been reduced to a geometrical demonstration. The demonstration of this principle by Mr. Smith is one of the clearest, simplest, and most beautiful in Geometry. The work is divided into three parts, I. The Philosophy of Geometry, II. Demonstrations in Geometry, and III. Harmonies of Geometry. The demonstrative character of it is occasionally enlivened by philosophical and historical observations, which will add much to its interest with the general reader. We have too little skill in studies of this sort to be altogether confident in our opinion, but certainly it strikes us from an examination of the larger and more important portion of Mr. Smith's essay, that it is an admirable specimen of statement and demonstration, and that it must secure to its author immediately a very high rank in mathematical science. We shall await with much interest the judgments of the professors. It makes a handsome octavo of some 200 pages.

* * * * *

M. FLANDIN, an eminent dilettante and designer attached to the French embassy in Persia, has published in the last number of the _Revue des Deux Mondes_ an interesting memoir of the ruins of Persepolis, under the title of "An Archaiological Journey in Persia." On his route to the ruins he witnessed melancholy evidence, in the condition of the surface and population, of the improvidence and noxiousness of Oriental despotism. He tells us that the remains of the magnificent palace of Darius are dispersed over an immense _plateau_, which looks down on the plain of Merdacht. "Assuredly, they are not much, compared with what they must have been in the time of the last Prince who sheltered himself under the royal roof. Nevertheless, what is now found of them still excites astonishment, and inspires a sentiment of religious admiration for a civilization that could create monuments so stupendous; impress on them a character of so much grandeur; and give them a solidity which has prereserved the most important parts until our days, through twenty-two centuries, and all the revolutions by which Persia has been devastated. The pillars are covered with European names deeply cut in the stone. English are far the most numerous. Very few, however, are of celebrated travelers. We observed, with satisfaction, those of Sir John Malcolm and Mr. Morier, both of whom have so successfully treated Persian subjects."

* * * * *

EMILE GIRARDIN states in his journal that he paid for the eleven volumes of Chateaubriand's Posthumous Memoirs as they appeared, piecemeal, in his _feuilleton_, the sum of ninety-seven thousand one hundred and eight francs. They occupied a hundred and ninety-two _feuilletons_, and cost him thus more than a franc a line. Alfred de Broglie has made these memoirs the test of a paper entitled "Memoirs de Chateaubriand, a Moral and Political Study," in the _Revue des Deux Mondes_. It is a severe analysis of the book and the man. He concludes that Chateaubriand was one of the most vainglorious, selfish and malignant of his tribe. He, indeed, betrayed himself broadly, but surviving writers, who knew intimately his private life--such as St. Beuve--have disclosed more of his habitual libertinism. The Radical journals, and some of the Legitimists, turn to account the portraits left in these memoirs of Louis Philippe, Thiers, Guizot, and other statesmen of the Orleans monarchy. They are effusions of personal and political spite. Chateaubriand hated the whole Orleans dynasty, and has not spared the elder Bourbons.

* * * * *

GUIZOT has been for thirty years in political life, many of them a minister, and was long at the head of the government of Louis Philippe, but is now a poor man. Recently, on the marriage of his two daughters with two brothers De Witt, the descendants of the great Hollander, he was unable to give them a cent in the way of marriage portions. This fact proves the personal integrity of the man more than a score of arguments. Not only has the native honesty of his character forbidden him to take advantage of his eminent position to gain a fortune, but the indomitable pride which is his leading characteristic, has never stooped to the attractions of public plunder or the fruits of official speculation. Guizot is not up to the times, and hence his downfall, but future historians will do justice alike to his great talents and the uprightness of his intentions.

* * * * *

One of the best works yet produced on the History of Art, is by Schnaase, of Düsseldorf. The first three volumes have been published and translated into French and English, and have met with great success in both those languages. The fourth volume is just announced in Germany. Artists and other competent persons at Düsseldorf who have seen the proof-sheets, speak in the highest terms not only of its historical merits, but of the excellence of its criticisms.

* * * * *

The fifth volume of the _History of Spain_, by Rousseau St. Hilaire, includes the period from 1336 to 1649. The professor has been employed ten years on his enterprise; he is lauded by all the critics for his research, method, and style. We have recently spoken of this work at some length in _The International_. The PARIS ACADEMY OF INSCRIPTIONS and Belles Lettres is constantly sending forth the most valuable contributions; to the history of the middle ages especially. It is now completing the publication of the sixth volume of the Charters, Diplomas, and other documents relating to French History. This volume, which was prepared by M. Pardessus, includes the period from the beginning of 1220 to the end of 1270, and comprehends the reign of St. Louis. The seventh volume, coming down some fifty years later, is also nearly ready for the printer. Its editor is M. Laboulaye. The first volume of the Oriental Historians of the Crusaders, translated into French, is now going through the press, and the second is in course of preparation. The greater part of the first volume of the Greek Historians of the same chivalrous wars is also printed, and the work is going rapidly forward. The Academy is also preparing a collection of Occidental History on the same subject. When these three collections are published, all the documents of any value relating to the Crusades will be easily accessible, whether for the use of the historian or the romancer. The Academy is also now engaged in getting out the twenty-first volume of the History of the Gauls and of France, and the nineteenth of the Literary History of France, which brings the annals of French letters down to the thirteenth century. It is also publishing the sixteenth volume of its own memoirs, which contains the history of the Academy for the last four years, and the work of Freret on Geography, besides several other works of less interest. From all this some idea may be formed of the labors and usefulness of the institution.

* * * * *

M. LEVERRIER, the astronomer, has published a long and able argument in support of the free and universal use of the electric telegraph. He has supplied a most instructive and interesting exposition of the employment and utility of the invention, in all the countries in which it has been established. The American and the several European tariffs of charge are appended. He explains the different systems, scientific and practical, in detail, and gives the process and proceeds. He observes that the practicability of laying the wires _under_ ground along all the great roads of France, which will protect them from accidents and mischief, will yield immense advantage to the Government and to individuals. He appears to prefer Bain's Telegraph, for communication, to any other, and minutely traces and develops its mechanism. A bill before the French chambers, which he advocates, opens to the public the use of the telegraph, but with various restrictions calculated to prevent _revolutionary_ or seditious abuses; to prevent illicit speculations in the public funds, and other bad purposes to which a free conveyance might be applied. The director of the telegraph is to be empowered to refuse to transmit what he shall deem repugnant to public order and good morals, and the government to suspend at will all private correspondence, on one or many lines.

* * * * *

THE WORKS OF REV. LEONARD WOODS, D.D., lately Professor of Theology in the Congregational Seminary of Andover, are in course of publication, and the third and fourth volumes have just appeared, completing the theological lectures of the venerable Professor, making in all one hundred and twenty-eight. In these, the student is furnished with a complete body of divinity as generally received by the orthodox denominations in New England, and has presented in a clear, condensed manner, the matured results of a long life of thought and study devoted to these subjects.

The fourth volume is occupied with theological letters. The first 121 pages contain those to Unitarians; next follows the Reply to Dr. Ware's Letters to Unitarians and Calvinists, and Remarks on Dr. Ware's Answer, a series remarkable for courtesy and kindness toward opponents, and clearness and faithfulness in the expression of what was regarded as truth. Following these, are eight letters to Dr. Taylor of New Haven; An Examination of the Doctrine of Perfection, as held by Mr. Mahan and others, and a letter to Mr. Mahan; A Dissertation on Miracles, and the Course of Theological Study as pursued at the Seminary at Andover. One more volume will complete the works of this long active and eminent divine.

* * * * *

THE REV. ORVILLE DEWEY, D.D., we learn from the correspondence of the _Christian Inquirer_, is living upon the farm where he was born, in Sheffield, Massachusetts, having, in the successive improvements of many years, converted the original house into an irregular but most comfortable and pleasant dwelling. The view from the back piazza is as fine as can be commanded anywhere in Berkshire, and should the shifting channel of the Housatonic only be accommodating enough to wind a little nearer the house, or even suffer some not impossible stoppage which would convert the marshy meadow in front into a lake, nothing can be conceived of which could then improve the situation. In this lovely retirement, Dr. Dewey endeavors to unite labor and study; working with his own hands, with hoe and rake, in a way to surprise those who only know how he can handle a pen. He is preparing, in a leisurely way, for a course of Lectures for the Lowell Institute, upon a theme admirably suited to his previous studies, and in which it is evident his whole mind and heart are bound up. We are glad to know that it is not until winter after next that this work must be taken from the anvil.

* * * * *

DR. HOOKER, we learn, has again proceeded to a new and unexplored region in India, in the prosecution of his important botanical labors. THE AUTHOR OF THE AMBER WITCH, the Pomeranian pastor, Meinhold, has been condemned to three months' imprisonment, and a fine of one hundred thalers, besides costs, for slander against another clergyman named Stosch, in a communication published in the _New Prussian Zeitung_. The sentence was rendered more severe than usual in such cases by the fact that Meinhold, who appears to possess more talent than temper, had previously been condemned for the same offense against another party. The _Amber Witch_ is one of the "curiosities of literature", for in the last German edition the author is obliged to prove that it is entirely a work of imagination, and not, as almost all the German critics believed it to be when it appeared, the reprint of an old chronicle. It was, in fact, written as a trap for the disciples of Strauss and his school, who had pronounced the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be a collection, of legends, from historical research, assisted by "internal evidence". Meinhold did not spare them when they fell into the snare, and made merry with the historical knowledge and critical acumen that could not detect the contemporary romancer under the mask of the chronicler of two centuries ago, while they decided so positively as to the authority of the most ancient writings in the world. He has been in prison before.

* * * * *

"THE NIGHT SIDE OF NATURE[1]", by Catharine Crowe, so well known as one of the cleverest of the younger set of literary women in England, we have already mentioned as in the press of Mr. Redfield; it is now published, and we commend it as one of the most entertaining and curious works that has ever appeared on the "wonders of the invisible world". We quote from the judicious critic of the _Tribune_ the following paragraphs in regard to it:

[Footnote 1: The Night side of Nature; or, Ghosts and Ghost Seers. By Catherine Crowe. New York. J.S. Redfield.]

"The author of this work is an accomplished German scholar. Without being a slave to the superstitious love of marvels and prodigies, her mind evidently leans toward the twilight sphere, which lies beyond the acknowledged boundaries of either faith or knowledge. She seems to be entirely free from the sectarian spirit; she can look at facts impartially, without reference to their bearing on favorite dogmas; nor does she claim such a full, precise and completely-rounded acquaintance with the mysteries of the spiritual world, whether from intuition or revelation, as not to believe that there may be more "things in heaven and earth than is dreamt of in our philosophy." In this respect, it must be owned that she has not the advantage of certain religious journals in this city, like the _Christian Inquirer_ and _The Independent_, for instance--which have been so fully initiated into the secrets of universal truth as to regard all inquiry into such subjects either as too vulgar for a Christian gentleman, _comme il faut_, or as giving a "sanction to the atheistic delusion that there may be a spiritual or supernatural agency" in manifestations which are not accounted for by the New-England Primer. Mrs. Crowe, on the contrary, supposes that there may be something worthy of philosophical investigation in those singular phenomena, which, surpassing the limits of usual experience, have not yet found any adequate explanation.

"The phrase 'Night Side of Nature' is borrowed from the Germans, who derive it from the language of astronomers, designating the side of a planet that is turned from the sun, as its night side. The Germans draw a parallel between our vague and misty perceptions, when deprived of the light of the sun, and the obscure and uncertain glimpses we obtain of the vailed department of nature, of which, though comprising the solution of the most important questions, we are in a state of almost total ignorance. In writing a book on these subjects, the author disclaims the intention of enforcing any didactic opinions. She wishes only to suggest inquiry and stimulate observation, in order to gain all possible light on our spiritual nature, both as it now exists in the flesh and is to exist hereafter out of it.

"It is but justice to say, that the present volume is a successful realization of the purpose thus announced. It presents as full a collection of facts on the subject as is probably to be found in any work in the English language, furnishing materials for the formation of theoretic views, and illustrating an obscure but most interesting chapter in the marvelous history of human nature. It is written with perfect modesty, and freedom from pretense, doing credit to the ability of the author as a narrator, as well as to her fairness and integrity as a reasoner."

* * * * *

MR. MILNE EDWARDS presented at a recent meeting of the _Academy of Sciences_, in the name of the Prince of Canino, (C. Bonaparte), the first part of the Prince's large work, _Conspectus Generum Avium_.

* * * * *

M. GUIZOT has addressed a long letter to each of the five classes of the Institute of France, to declare that he cannot accept the candidateship offered him for a seat in the Superior Council of Public Instruction.

* * * * *

SIR EDWARD BULWER LYTTON is to be a candidate for the House of Commons, with Col. Sibthorp, for Lincoln. He has a new play forthcoming for the Princess's Theatre.

* * * * *

MISS STRICKLAND has in preparation a series of volumes on the Queens of Scotland, as a companion to her, interesting and successful work on the Queens of England.

* * * * *

THE MARQUIS DE FOUDRAS has published _Un Caprice de Grande Dame_--clever, but as corrupt as her other works.

* * * * *

MR. HERBERT'S NEW BOOKS.--The _Southern Quarterly Review_ for July has the following notice of "Frank Forester's Fish and Fishing in the United States and British Provinces," recently published by Stringer & Townsend:

"There are few of our writers so variously endowed and accomplished as Mr. Herbert; of a mind easily warmed and singularly enthusiastic, the natural bent of his talent inclines him to romance. He has accordingly given us several stories abounding in stately scenes, and most impressive portraiture. Well skilled in the use of the mother tongue, as in the broad fields of classical literature, he has written essays of marked eloquence, and criticisms of excellent discrimination and a keen and thorough insight. His contributions to our periodicals have been even more happy than his fictions. With a fine imagination, he inherits a _penchant_ and a capacity for poetry, which has enabled him to throw off, without an effort, some of the most graceful fugitive effusions which have been written in America. His accomplishments are as various as his talents. He can paint a landscape as sweetly as he can describe it in words. He is a sportsman of eager impulse, and relishes equally well the employments of the fisherman and hunter. He is a naturalist, as well as a sportsman, and brings, to aid his practice and experience, a large knowledge, from study, of the habits of birds, beasts and fishes. He roves land and sea in this pursuit, forest and river, and turns, with equal ease and readiness, from a close examination of Greek and Roman literature, to an emulous exercise of all the arts which have afforded renown to the aboriginal hunter. The volume before us--one of many which he has given to this subject--is one of singular interest to the lover of the rod and angle. It exhibits, on every page, a large personal knowledge of the finny tribes in all the northern portions of our country, and well deserves the examination of those who enjoy such pursuits and pastimes. The author's pencil has happily illustrated the labors of his pen. His portraits of the several fishes of the United States are exquisitely well done and truthful. It is our hope, in future pages, to furnish an ample review of this, and other interesting volumes, of similar character, from the hand of our author. We have drawn to them the attention of some rarely endowed persons of our own region, who, like our author, unite the qualities of the writer and the sportsman; from whom we look to learn in what respects the habits and characters of northern fish differ from our own, and thus supply the deficiency of the work before us. The title of this work is rather too general. The author's knowledge of the fish, and of fishing, in the United States, is almost wholly confined to the regions north of the Chesapeake, and he falls into the error, quite too common to the North, of supposing this region to be the whole country. Another each volume as that before us will be necessary to do justice to the Southern States, whose possessions, in the finny tribes of sea and river, are of a sort to shame into comparative insignificance all the boasted treasures of the North. It would need but few pages in our review, from the proper hands, to render this very apparent to the reader. Meanwhile, we exhort him to seek the book of Mr. Herbert, as a work of much interest and authority, so far as it goes."

* * * * *

MR. PUTNAM is preparing some elegantly embellished works for the holiday season. Among others, an edition, in octavo, of Miss Fenimore Cooper's charming _Rural Hours_, embellished by twenty finely-colored drawings of birds and flowers; _The Picturesque Souvenir_, or Letters of a Traveler in Europe and America, by Bryant, embellished by a series of finely-executed engravings; and _The Alhambra_, by Washington Irving, with designs by Darley, uniform with the splendid series of Mr. Irving's Illustrated Works, some time in course of publication. We have also seen a specimen copy of a superbly illustrated edition of _The Pilgrim's Progress_, printed on cream-colored paper, as smooth as ivory; and the exquisite designs by Harvey, nearly three hundred in number, are among the most effective ever attempted for the elucidation of this first of all allegories. Professor Sweetser's new work, _Menial Hygiene_, or an Examination of the Intellect and Passions, designed to illustrate their Influence on Health and the Duration of Life, will be published in the course of the present month. Professor Church's _Treatise on Integral and Differential Calculus_, a revised edition; _The Companion_, or _After Dinner Table Talk_, by Chelwood Evelyn, with a fine portrait of Sydney Smith; _The History of Propellers, and Steam Navigation_, illustrated by engravings: a manual, said to combine much valuable information on the subjects, derived from the most authentic sources, by Mr. Robert MacFarlane, editor of the _Scientific American_; and Mr. Ridner's _Artist's Chromatic Hand-Book, or Manual of Colors_, will also be speedily issued by the same publisher. Mr. Putnam's own production, _The World's Progress, or Dictionary of Dates_, containing a comprehensive manual of reference in facts, or epitome of historical and general statistical knowledge, with a corrected chronology, &c., is expected to appear in a few weeks. Mr. Theodore Irving's _Conquest of Florida_ is also in progress.

* * * * *

It is said that Meyerbeer has already completed a grand opera with the title of _L'Africaine_, and is now engaged on a comic opera. This is probably nothing more than one of the trumpets which this composer knows so well how to blow beforehand. Meyerbeer is not greater in music than in the art of tickling public expectation and keeping the public aware of his existence.

* * * * *

The _Lorgnette_ has just appeared in a volume.

* * * * *

RECENT DEATHS.

* * * * *

AUGUSTUS WILLIAM NEANDER.