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    Untitled Article

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    Untitled Article

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    NOTES ON SCIENCE.

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    GLEANINGS FROM FOREIGN BOOKS.

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    Untitled Article

    mistake as to such works as Watson ' s RJietorical Header and Speaker ' which contains a selection of the choicest passages from thfr-works of tlip best English writers , with an introductory essay on the power and beauty of the English tongue , and full instructions for the rhetorical management of the voice . The pieces" have , indeed , been selected with especial reference to the vdcal powers , and therefore with express regard "to the aesthetic quality of rhythm / ' The collection is preceded with a well-written essay "On the Power and Beauty of the English Tongue , " the illustrations being principally taken from 'Byron , Poe , and Tennyson . Similar remarks apply to the same publisher ' s Third JBooJc of Heading , which contains some simple pieces in prose and verse , progressively arranged for the use of schools . The principle on which the work is planned is - ¦ manifestly' good , and will , as it is stated , undoubtedly " aid the quickness and accuracy of the child both in other

    pronunciation and spelling . "—But men need instruction in things than rhetoric or reading ; and not only in _ relation to business , but recreation . Here we have a book containing the best games in chess played by the distinguished champion Paul Morphy in Europe and America , edited by Mr . Lowenthal , the president of the St . James ' s Chess Club . The lovers of this noble game will here find some of the best examples of play extant . To the " theory of openings' * great attention is profitably paid . The match games are elaborately analyzed , and thoroughly commented on . —A couple of books by Mr . Waleott are full of information on oiir Cathedrals , and Minster " and Abbey ruins . The author tells us their history , with their architecture , monuments . and traditions ; and al . « o notices of the larger parish churches and collegiate chapels . Short notes , also , are given of the chief objects of interest in each cathedral city . Much of church architecture may be learned from these books ; one of which contains a valuable essay on the subject .- ^ -A shilling ' s

    worth of Riddles and JoJces next invites our attention , and claims to be " a complete (?) Collection of Riddles , Enigmas , Charades , Rebuses , Words transposed . Acting Charades , Acting Proverbs , Puzzles , and Jokes . " We may at least concede that there is a goodly amount of these for the money , and that much amusement may lV secured by attention to its directions . ^ -Among the " Books fur Boys / ' we find one of merit by Mr . William II . G . Kingston , the object of which is to give incidents of Whaling in the South Seas , with some descriptions of the icy regions that may prove instructive sis well as entertaining to the pupil . Some account , also , of the Island of Java is introduced . r—The same writer has another story s of a more ambitious order * in which he conducts his hero Bound , the World . This is done in a somewhat bulky volume , in

    which , ' after devoting a chapter to the wonders of the ocean , we are taken to the Falklands , arid round Cape Horn . Then follow adventures in CUjli , arid visits to RobinsonCrusoe ' s island arid the empire of thei IiieiiR . Mexico , California , and Hawaii , are next laid under contribution ; to which , after some mischances from pirates , we have to add the South Seas and Japan . In this manner a mass of information is brought to bear on the juvenile mind , while curiosity is excited l ; y the progress of the story , soas to secure an interest in the "knowledge imparted , —One of the best writers t-f this class-of fiction is Mr . Ballantyrie , who has had great experience in it . His romance for this year is entitled Martin Battler , and he takes his hero into the forests of Brazil , having invented a tale which possesses considerable pathos and more than ordinary interest . —The next on our list is Miss Frances Browne , whose Traveller ' s Stories are told with a verve-mid simplicity which belong especially to female composition . There is , indeed , great spirit in the hi ode

    of telling , and singular invention in the contrivance of . trie various incidents . This is really and truly a juvenile book of rare merit . —More didactic in its vein , we may commend Miss Henderson's Daily Bible Teachings ; to each day one page of comment on a text is given , written with neatness and point . —We may fitly conclude those miscellaneous notices with Dr . Lee ' s translation of M ^ Ainid Martin ' s prize essay on The jEducatio ? i of Mothers of Families ., Hero the great question of the time is answered— " the Civilization of the Human JKace by Women . " Dr . Lee has appended to the work his own remarks " on the prevailing Methods of Education , and their influence upon . Health ancl Happiness . " The work , it is well known , takes an extensive range of argument , and the latter is enforced with that fine epigrammatic point which makes French books such lively reading . We may cite the very last ' sentence of the essay as an example . " Young girls , young wives , young mothers , you hold the sceptre ; in your bouIs , much more than in ' the laws of legislators , now repose tho futurity of Europe , and the destinies of the human race . " That single sentence , fortunately , contains the whole gist and application of the volume .

    Morphy ' s Games of Chess , with Analytical and Critical JFotos . By J . Lowenthal . Henry G . Bonn . Tho Minster and Ahhoy JRuins of tho United Kingdom . The Cathedrals of tho United Kingdom . By Max \ onzio Wuloott , M . A . Edwiu'd Stanford . Middles and Jokes . By Edmund Rusaoll . lioutlcdgo . Old Jaok : a Man'of-war ' a Man and South Sea Whaler . By William II . Q . Kingston . T , Nelson and Sona . Mound tho World ' , a Tale far JBoys . By W . H . G . Kingston . T . Nelson and _ 9 ona . , Martin Mattlor : or , a Roy ' s Adventures in tho Forests of Brazil , By Robert Michael BiUlantyno . With Illustrations . T , Nqlsou ' anu" Sons .

    Our Unolo t The Traveller ' s / Stories . By Miss Frances Browne . W . Kent arid Co . Daily Jiiblo Teaphinaa . Uesignod for tho Young . By Thulia S . Henderson . Knight nua Son . Tho Education of Mothors of Families . By M . Aime Martin . With Remarks by Edwin Iico , M . D . Cheaper Edition . W . J . Adyms .

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    A STRONOMERS have for some time been anxious to discover •/* - the planet or planets which were suspected to produce certaiu aberrations in the movements of Mercury , and the recent observation of one small body by M . Lescarbaui / t has induced M . Le Veruier and others to look for a plurality of revolving bodies instead of a single orb . Concerning the newly recognised member of the solar system . M . Le Yerrier says that if its orbit were circular , half its major axis would be equal to 0 . 1427 , taking half the major axis of the earth ' s orbit as unity , He concludes that its period of revolution is 19 days 7 hours . Being only one-seventeenth of the bulk of Mercury , and very near the Sun , it has been easy for it to have escaped observation , and it is no small credit to an amateur astronomer with rude imperfect apparatus that he should have been the first to detect

    its existence , although scores of practised star-gazers were directing the best instruments in the direction where it was supposed to . exist . In addition to the search for more planets , those learned In celestial ways will shortly be on the look out for another great comet , which is expected to flourish as grand a tail as the memorable one of * 58 . This comet was looked for on the 2 nd August , 1858 , but as it did not then appear , and there was an uncertainty of ten years in the astronomical data , it is now expected in the August of the present year-. Tf Pio Nono keeps an astrologer he will watch its advent with alarm , for on its appearance in 1264 , Pope Urban VI . fell sick , and died on the night that it passed away from human sight . This comet was described' by eye witnesses as the most magnificent that had ever been seen , and is supposed to be identical

    with that of 1550 , whose brilliancy was less remarkable . Ihe coining eclipse of July 18 th , 1860 , occupies much attention , but it will not be visible in this country . A " Revised Path of the Moon ' s Shadow" has been issued from tho Nautical Alyianacic oflfico , and Professor Airet has published instructions for observations on Mars . It is expected that Photography will render valuable aid in recording some of the phenomena of the eclipse , It will bo employed to copy the forms of the coloured flames if they should appear , and to obtain images of the solar ring . M . Fate intends to tuke a photographic apparatus to Spain which will register the precise time between the beginning and the termination of the total obscuration , It will oontain a band of sensitive paper , which will bo exposed to the light as concentrated by a lens , and will be wound off

    at a given rate per second . Talking of the sun we may mention eome curious disooveries racently made by M . do Chacornao and Professor Seoohi , the oho occupying himself with the light , and the other with tho heat ., and arriving at analogous results , from which it appears that tho light and heat giving powers of the great luminary are unequally distributed over his suvfiice . The central space possesses those powers in the highest degree , and a zone nearer the circumforcxicG only emits one half the intensity of the former . Another solar phenomenon of interest was the sudden outburst of a batch of brilliant light on the 1 st of September , 1859 , which was noticed by Mr , Ca . ii-1

    kinoton , and by Mr . Wppgsonof Highgatq . The former «« tiniatod tho velocity of its motion at the rate of 35 , 000 miles during tho five minutes it was seen . Also , on th p 22 nd October , Mr . Dawks noticed it bright streak , whose edges projected beyond tho disk . In chemistry some interesting 1 observations have been made on the action of sunlight / in modifying or exalting the propertiof ? of yariows substances , } and solarized oils—that is , oils exposed- to the sun's rays—pf 'different kinds are getting into favour with the doctors on account of alleged medicinal notion nut noticeable in their original state , Another now medicine is composed of or extracted from custor oil loaves , which' are assorted to have a remarkable property of stimulating 1 the secretion of millr . Some plant known to a tribe in South America , has long 1 been usod

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    ra The Leader atid ^ aXzircltiii AncdgM . [ Jan . , 1860 .

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    ALEXANDER HEHZEH . Amon" the political writers of the present day , Alexander Herzen occupies an exceedingly interesting and important position . This position became his without his seeking it . Destiny seemed to confer it on him after he had escaped from persecution in his own country , and had undertaken the mission of instructing Russia from abroad , through free , bold , fertile utterance , and of enlightening : Europe regarding Russia ' s deeper spiritual life , out ot which the future development of Russia must come . Neither political nor literary ambition attracted Herzen to this career . He aspires herein at nothing more than the right of the free man to breathe delihtful of his

    forth the truth , and it forms the most g aspect writings that he strives after the assertion of this right , with the full force of spontaneous feeling ; freshness of emotion distinguishing him quite as much as keenness of philosophical thinking . He stands on the boundary between Russian and German literature , and the energy which he has derived from both has conducted and enabled him to gain influence over the literature of England and France . In him is concentrated , in a remarkable manner , the cosmopolitan character of an age . Goethe would have regarded him as a striking confirmation of the theory of a coming universal literature . From London this one man exerts an influence on Russia such as publicistic literature has offered no example of ; and what he works and creates for Russia , becomes at the same time

    the pi-operty of the rest of Europe . He has succeeded in becoming , in England , the creator of a free press for Russia , whose progress it potently furthers , and all Europe looks with interest and sympathy on the ever increasing vigour of this activity . —Life of Serzen .

    Notes On Science.

    NOTES ON SCIENCE .

    Gleanings From Foreign Books.

    GLEANINGS FROM FOREIGN BOOKS .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 21, 1860, page 70, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2330/page/18/