The New York Herald Newspaper, January 27, 1879, Page 5

NEW YORK HERALD, MONDAY, JANUARY 27, 1879,.-TRIPLE SHEET. LITERATURE. A Theory of the Reception and Re- turn of Solar Force. AND FICTION. Secilism-—The Telegraph—The Indians-—The Congressional Librarian's Report—Notes. —_————- TRAVELS ANOTHER COSMIC THEORY. “Now and Original ‘Theories of the Great Physical Porces” is the title of a little work of 106 pages, | “published by the author,” Henry Raymond Rogers, M. D., and obtainable from C. K. Abel & Son, book- sellers, Dunkirk, N.Y, This book is one of aclass almost invariably printed at the author’s expense, and which we fear seldom repays the pecuniary in- yestment made by the enthusiast, who believes that he has “solved the problems of the universe.” It is not necessarily a condempation of a new theory that the volume in which it is enshrined is forced to make its way in the world unprotected by the imprint of great publishing house. On the contrary, such books have a special claim to kindly notice at the hands of the press and conscientious examination of whatever nopelties they may present. In the present instance Dr, H. R. Rogers informs us in the pretace thathe has ever been unable to accept the usual explanations of the great physical forces, and the inadequacies of mooted theories have impelled him to efforts for more philosophical interpretations. If in his investigations he has been forced to strange and unusual conclusions, he has been actuated only by an honest desire to promote the advancement of science.” It is with the “profoundest sense of duty and responsibility” that Dr. Rogers finds himself placed in antagonism to the largest proportion of the scientific world. ‘The starting point of Dr. Rogers is the study of the sun and of solar physics, a subject in no danger of being neglected in the days of Norman Lockyer and Henry Draper. ‘Sun and earth are united in Indissoluble bonds. In philosophic minds the con- viction of a most perfect interdependence is rapidly gaining ground.” “A grand unity underlies and binds together in one all physical forces, as well in earth as sun.” {tis the “social relations of the sun with his planets’ which Dr. Rogers feels called upon to proclaim. ‘The sun acts, but the earth and planets react. The sun gives and dispenses favors, but also receives and sympathizes. The sun rouses the earth into action through their mutual rela- tionships, The two bodies interchange good offices and essential services.” Dr, Rogers considers the nebular theories of Kant and Laplace “specious, inconsistent, illogical, yet withal plausible and even fascinating.” ‘The present theories of the transmission of light and sound, of the production of winds and sun spots, and of the method of development and dissemination of heat, ure unphilosophical and incomprehensible.” Fully impressed with the truth of the great doctrines of the correlation and persistence of energy, Dr. Rogers is satisfied that whatever forces the earth may re- ceive from the sun it must repay ‘to the uttermost fraction,” and directs his inquiry to ascertain the nature of the earth's responsive action. The solu- tion is found in the earth’s solid core as a repository of electro-dynamic force, forming one link in a “grand magnetic circuit.” Sunlight is a subtle, in- tangible, vito-magnetic fluid, filling the cone space Dbetween the earth and the sun, beyond the boun- daries of which there is no light. The so-called “re- flection” of sunlight from the plancts is not a true or mirror-like reflection; “it consists rather of the lighting up of the static vito-magnetic fluid of our atmosphere by the great solar current.” It is not the body, either of the earth or of the sun, which is visi- ble from other orbs, but the ‘‘vivitied atmosphere."’ The sun is as dependent upon the circling orbs tor huis supplies of light and heat as they are upon him, The moon and planets to be visible must possess atmospheres. Light, like the thunderbolt and the aurora borealis, isa true substance. Dr, Rogers ac- cepts the doctrine of the French physicist, M. Maiche, propounded in Les Mondes, that water is not “the old, fashioned conventional oxygen and hydrogen, but esseutially a new element.” It may be called cither hydrogen plus electricity, or oxygen minus clec- tricity, or, in other words, that “normal clectrifled hydrogen constitutes water and normal diselectrifed oxygen produces the same, or that hydrogen, oxygen and water’are precisely the same, differing only in fegree of electrification. Dr. Rogers thinks the nebular hypothesis has received its death blow by Professor Hall’s discovery of the moons of Mars. He rejects with something very like contempt the combustion theory of the origin of the solar heat, and all the con- sequent efforts of scientists to account by contrac- tion, accretion or “dissociation of compound bodies in the sun's substance” for that incalculable amount of heat, of which the earth is supposed to receive only 1-2,000,000,000 part. Dr. Rogers cannot justly be charged with a blind and indiscriminate admiration of the processes and results of our modern spectro- scopists. He pronounces the origin of celestial spectroscopy to be as vague and unphilosophical as was that of the nebular nypothesis, rejects the doc- trine of the sun’s iucandescence, thinks ‘there may be no glowing metallic vapors, no hydrogen, no iron, no sodium, no magnesium, no oxygen” in the sun; ignores “all undulatory processes,"’ and holds that light and heat, like gravity, act instantancously, “If the most distant fixed star which is visible could be annihilated to-night its light would be seen no more forever.” The great doctrine which he has to propound is that of a “grand mag: netie circuit,” primarily manifesting itself as a veritable flood of light, heat and maguetic force in motion from the sun to the earth. “The line of great- est intensity of this solar or vito-magnetic current is found along the line of greatest diameter of those bodies,” and, consequently, “the centre of this cur rent reaches the earth at or near the Equator.” Hence it passes as terrostrial magnetism to the poles and leaps out into space as the aurora borealis, re- turning back to the sun by a duplex process through the same current which brought it hither. We have stated the conclusions of Dr. Rogers’ work with o fulness disproportionate to a mere book notice because we presume him to be anxious that they should become known as widely as possible, and because the subjects of which it treats are just now of absorbing interest. Of course it is not to be ex- pected that the reader will at once accept theories so radically opposed to current doctrines, but we think that the author deserves credit for boldness and in genuity and advise a perusal of his little work, PROFESSOR HUXLEY ON HUME, ‘The series of ‘English Men of Letters’ (Harper & Brothers), edited by Mr. John Morley, has reached its fifth volume, which is devoted to the famous Scot- tish philosopher, David Hume, and is from the pen of the distinguished physiologist, Professor Thomas Henry Huxley, LL, D. In this little volume of 206 pages Professor Huxley undertakes to furnish to that increasingly large class of young men and women “who have to run as they read’ an account of the life and writings of the great Scottish metaphysician “copious enough to be profitable for knowledge and life and yet brief enough to serve those whose leisure is scanty.” In this attempt he has in a great measure succeeded, and this little volume will probably become familiar to tens of thousands of students who desire to know something of tho great predecessor of the Kantian philosophy, but who haye not courage to attack the numerous treatises which compose the four octave volumes of Hune's “Philosophical Works," as edited for tho Clarendon Press by Professors 'T. H. Green and 'T. H. Grose (1874-7), We have not been accustomed hitherto to regard Professor Huxley & meta ysician, but he informs us that hisown copy of Hume (4 vols., 1777) “has been long in his possession and bears marks of much roading.” It is needless to say that it is as @ philosopher and not as a his- torian that Hume is chiefly regarded in this volume, the world of letters having long ago reached the con. clusion that however clegant the style and pleasing the tone of his “History of England” it is utterly worthless as a repository of facts, ‘The authority for the biographical chapters of this volume are Hume’s own autobiography and Dr. John | Hill Burton's “Life and Times of David Hume” (2 vols., 1847). No pretension is made to original | research in this department, and we are not even in- formed of the name of Hume's mother, from whom | he apparently derived the chief clements of his chur- | act In discussing the merits of Hume as a philos- | opher, great stress is rightly laid upon his celebrated doctrine of causality, and it is satisfactorily shown that he was not that blind opponent of “final causes” which he has usually been considered. On the vcon- trary, he was a genuine teleologist, in the enlarged meaning of that term which has arisen from the profound speculations of modern German scholars, in connection with the doctrine of evolu- | tion. Far from being a polemic against theology, Professor Huxley’s book is directed in an especial sense against svhat he con- siders the misnamed “positivism” of Auguste Comte, tor whose pretension as the “founder of Sociology’? Professor Huxley evidently has small respect. No theological opponent of Comte has pro- nounced so severe a sentence as that “the founder of positivism admirably illustrates the connection of | scientific incapacity with philosophical incompe- tence."" Comte’s denial of the existence of a science of psychology is pronounced “solemn nonsense,” and it is shown that the Frenchman really included what we now know as psychology under the term “cerebral physiology.” The classification of Hume as a ‘materialist’ is triumphantly refuted, unless in aecnse which makes Materialism and Spiritualism convertible terms. It 1s evident that in the eyes of Professor Huxley Hume is the real founder, not only of anthropology, but of the modern evolutionary philosophy, and from this point of view it has been a genuine labor of love to prepare this interesting ; and readable little treatise, ON FOOT IN SPAIN, There is something very inspiring in @ volume | of “views a-foot.” One enjoys following a travel- ler over by-ways and hedges rather than across country in a railroad train. Bayard ‘laylor sounded the first notes of his fame by the account of his tramp through Europe with knapsack and staff. Other writers who have followed his example, if not 80 successful, have made more readable books than they could have woven irom the ordinary material. Major J. 8. Campion, whose “On the Frontier’ gave him a pleasant introduction to the travel reading public, has published “On Foot in Spain” (Scribner & Welford), in which he tells of a walk from the Bay of Biscay to the Mediterrancan, His pages, as he says, ure full of “trivialities” and “minor incidents,” but that does not‘detract from their interest. Life is made up of little things, and why not a book of travels? There is “more gossip than guide book” in this volume. The author frankly confesses that he was susceptible to the charms of the dark-eyed daughters of Spain, whom he met at the wayside inns, In every town he finds “one ot the most beautiful women he has yet be- held,” and although he is “not a dancing man” and “not given to flirting,” dancing and flirting formed the main portion of his amusement. He carried a gun with him and was followed by a dog, but found no use for either, Major Campion had a quick eye and a ready notebook, which served him well, His descriptions are appreciative, and where he fails in the technicalities of architecture he makes up in knowledge of characteristic traits among the people. The typical Spanish inn is graphically described in chapter 6, He is received in the kitchen, which seems to be the inn parlor as well:— Almost in the middle of the room was a rough hearth, about four feet. square anda foot high, and composed of tiles, flat stones and pieces ot iron— anything that would not consume. In its centre burned a fire of three sticks, laid star fashion, with a pile of blazing brushwood heaped on them. Around stood, with different messes stewing in them, a goodly number of pottery pipkins and utensils, in shapes and patterns identical with the Roman ones in use before Christ. A | wooden hood, supported by massive rafters, caught and con- ducted such portion of the smoke as did not circu- late about the room toa hole in the roof furnished with a rough louvre, through which it escaped, and from a cross iron of the hood hung a stout chain, terminating ina hook by which was suspended large pot full of potatoes slowly simmering. In a corner stood a primitive looking casserole range for cooking, with charcoal in little hollows. A few coarse, badly constructed chairs, with bottoms of raw hide, and au old chest completed the furniture, * * * “Atsix o'clock « clean tablecloth was spread on the old chest of drawers in my rooui, a large white napkin furnished—one nearly twice as large 43 the towel—and a very fair dinucr of several courses served, of which the best dish was an omelette souflé, a much better dinner both as regards cook- ing and material than I ever got in any English country inn. “PRETTY LITTLE COUNTESS ZINA.” In “Pretty Little Countess Zina” (T. B. Peterson & Brothers) we have ono of Henry Greville’s clever stories of Russian life. In it we learn that Russian girls are not unlike American girls, or the bright, pretty girls of any country. Of course the story is of love. What claim would it have to the attention of fair readers if it were not? There is a minuteness of de- tail about Henry Greville’s novels that gives them an air of reality. We are told “the Countess looked at the letter—the envelope was thick and glossy—the wax and seal pure and perfect. The style of the letter was, in fact, irreproachable.” It was handed to the Countess on a “silver tray,” and it had a “red seal.” While the little Countess Zina gives name to the book she is not more its heroine than her cousin Vassalissa. Certainly the latter has the most romantic carcer. Henry Greville has a capital way of sketching character, We sce the two gov- ernesses, the prim English woman and the casy going Swiss, as distincUly as though we had their photo- graphs before us. The roughish boy Dimitri, the humble tutor, the poor relations—all are represented with a tew clever pen strokes. The book is full of excitement and is written in thatinteresting manner for which this author is conspicuous. Mrs. Mary Neal Sherwood has made the translation, and we can only say that the French novelist has been fortunate in her translator. Mrs. Sherwood has done her work so well that one fecls as though he was reading trom the original. In the preface to a forthcoming book Henry Greville writes a few lines to her American readers, whom she has learned have “shown her a great deal of indalgence,” and to whom her name is as “familiar ag to her own countrymen.” She writes :— It has been said that 1 am Russian, that my hus- band is Russian, and that my education was Russian, Nothing is more untrue. I'was born in Paris, where i was educated in the bosom of my family; and then the time having come for me to carn my own living, I followed my father to Russia. It was there I be- came acquainted with the language and the customs of that country. But [ had married a Fren and our love for our native land drew us hon At first I began by passing a few months every year in France, and my countrymen seemed to me as in- toresting to study as Rtissiaus. They had not for me the attraction of the unknown, but I had strengthened my faculties of observation, and I re- marked a thousand points of interest in them where others only saw everyday life, the commonplace of home existence, The yearning’ toward our country became so strong that seven years ago we returned to Paris; and here it is that L have written all my works, except one short novel and two or three stories, AN INTERNATIONAL EPISODE. Mr. Henry James, Jr., discovered the lead to a new mine in “Daisy Mil which he has followed up | With great suce ‘An Lnternutional Episode, published in Harper's Half Hour Series. It has been complained of Mr. James that his characters are “psychological marionettes,” that they are body without soul, impossible ercatures and the like, but this complaint cannot be made of cither “Daisy Miller” or the dramatis persone of “An Iaternational Episode.” In this latter story he bas served up American society with a keener pen than it was served us in the “Tender Recollections of Irene Macgilli- enddy,” though not so elaborately as in those amus. ing papers. In Bessie Alden and her sister, Mrs. Westgate, we have two distinct types of American women, types that will give the European reader a better idea of what he will find in America than pages of tourist journals or scathing satire, Mrs. Westyate’s first conversation with Lord Lambeth, beginning at tho foot of page thirty-nine, is as true to life as if it had been a vorbatim report. The way she gallops slong for three pages, barely pausing long enough for the necessary smiles, glances and gestures, is transcribed in a masterly mann Mr. Westgate is Just as clover a sketch of an American man of business as his wife is of a shallow, agreeable, married coquette. How many men there are like,him who stay in New York all summer, while their families cool off at Newport, They are always going to run down to the seashore, but busi- ness detains them, and they send regretful telegrams like that sent by Mr. Westgate, which his wife ear. ried around in er jewelled Sugers, while sho ex- plained to her English guests that there is no “leisure class” in America. He was a ‘dear, good fellow” and a “perfect husband.” So everybody said, and so he was. He let his wife do as she pleased, go to Europe as often as she wanted to, and the more 4 tlemen friends she had the better he liked it. While Mr. Jumes shows all the weaknesses of a woman like Mrs, Westgate he makes 4 charming character out of | her sister, The English are not spared. Lord Lam- beth and his cousin, Perey Beaumont, are excel- lent types of the class of Englishmen who come to this country. Not the snobbish men, but the good natured, genial fellows, who do not think that Americans are necessarily war painted Indians. After landing in New York the | two friends ride up Broadway in a hotel coach, They look out of the windows at the various sights and scenes but make no remark until they reach Union square, when one of them said to the other, “It seems @ ruin looking place.” “Ah, very odd, very odd,” said the other, who was the clever man of the two. “Pity its so beastly hot,” resumed the first speaker, after a pause. “You know we are in a low latitude,” said his friend. “I dare say,” remarked the other. “I wonder,” said the second speaker, “if they can give one a bath ?” “I dare say not,” rejoined the other. “Oh, I say!" cried his comrade. This animated disenssion was brought to a cloreby their arrival at the hotel, where they found the best of bathing conveniences, There is nothing more characteristic in the book than Mrs. Westgate’s remark after the visit of the Duchess of Bayswater and Lady Pimlico, Lord Lam- beth’s mother and sister aud the rejection of the Jatter’s suit by Bessie Alden. She did not regret so much her sister’s lost opportunity. ‘It is only,” said, “because those women will think that they ceeded—that they paralyzed u: Like most of Mr. James’ stories the scene of this one is laid in Europe and America, and he is equally at home in both places. The story originally ap- peared in the Cornhill Magazine, where it attracted much favorable criticism from the English re- viewers, THE DOOM OF THE INDIAN. Mr. Frederic Freeman has published a book called “Civilization and Barbarism, Illustrated by Especial Reference to Metacomet and the Extinction of his Race.” Metacomet is more largely known by his English name, King Philip, and the treatment he received from the Puritan settlers of New England showed, as plainly as our own Indian difficulties do, that even religious profession does not prevent the stronger from abusing the weaker so long as the lat- ter owns any land that is worth stealing. Meta- comet, a noble man and hearty neighbor, was treated by the Puritans just as our Western tribes have been treated by our government at the dictation of Black Hill miners and other borderors. His name and his family were extinguished and his lands deeded to the whites: Mr. Freeman need not have written a book to prove that Indians have some good qualities, ‘Their lands, not their personal characteristics, have been the causes of most of our wars. Nations gen- erally go to war for sclt-aggrandizement, and we have been as vicious as any other nation, when the limited number of our eneinies is considered. A SOCTALIST'S REPLY. Dr. Roswell D. Hitchcock's book upon socialism has evoked a reply by ‘A Socialist’ (Charles P. Somerby, New York, publisher). The socialist wel- comes Dr. Hitchcock's book as affording the Doctor “a delectable change from the contemplation of the endless miseries of the damned,’ but finds nothing else about it to rejoice in. He blames Dr. Hitchcock that the latter perceives @ huge human misery, but neither sces nor seeks any other solution than that the weakest must go to the wall. It is aguinst this passiveness that “Socialist” crics out. Is there no help for the miserable? he asks. The doctrine that government should merely ‘protest’ he attacks, and insists that it should “assist” also. While he does not believe that “property is robbery” or wholly subscribe to “the world owes me a living,” he aflirms “the world owes me a chance to make a living.”’ His idea of how the greed of money making is to be curbed, thcreby giving the poor a better chance, is to have all men's property above acertain amount not laid down go to the State for the good of the poor. “Socialist,” we may add, is very angry at the thought of any one calling his plans impracticable. In view of this we can go no further with him, OUT-OF-SCHOOL EDUCATION, ‘Those who are experienced in the requirements of the young, in relation to their moral and physical welfare, know that a prolific source of evil is what may be termed out-of-school idleness, which means that the young peovle do not apply themselves to healthful, amusing and intellectual occupations during the hours of relaxation from their regular school studies. This waste of time—tor the hours of amusement can also be made those of instruction— tends to cause intellectual barrenness or to the for- mation of vicious habits, We are satisfied that while the school training prepares the mind for the recep- tion and application of practical after-life ideas, it really teaches far less than is supposed. Personal experience or observation does more to form and fix impressions than all that can be read in books or seen in pictures, Therefore, every encouragement | should be given to a system of out-of-school educa- tion by which the youth becomes at once teacher and pupil. Such a system, if con- trolled by the intelligent but unobtrusive direction of parents and guided by books that possess a fas- cinating interest for the young, can accomplish what stated tasks, rigid school discipline and the too often misused birch in combination fail to secure. We are persuaded that a self-educator like “The Young Scientist’ (1878. The Industrial Publication Com- pany, New York) will make any boy, who is neither stupid nor a vicious idler, take a deep interest in the simpler methods of practical science, in amateur me- chanies, from the building of a big kite to the con- struction of a model steam engino; in dabblings in chemistry, microscopy and photography; in the thousand and one things that interest the world as scientific problems or everyday experiences. While we enjoy the sight of boyish sports in the fields and parks—baseball, cricket, &.—we are attracted to the youth who can build a model boat, erect a miniat: telegraph line and equip it with battery and sound make small but very useful collections of minera’ ogical specimens, draw, color, photograph, botanize, &e. Such boys will always turn out to be useful members of society. It is from their ranks t come the great inventors, the renowned explor and the master scientists of the age, THE TELEGRAPH IN AMERICA, Mr, James D. Reid, in his Work on “The Telegraph in America’ (New York: Derby Brothers), has adopted the plan of “beginning at the beginning,” and his volume is prefaced with a chapter on signal tele- graphs. The first occasion which he recalls of the use of bonfires or torches for the transmission of news is the fall of Troy, when beacon lights conveyed the intelligence to Rome, This oceurred én the year 1084 B.C. Tt was nearly thirty centuries later—A, D- 17M—when the French brothers Chappé, to reliove the tedium of their school day hours, invented a syst tem of signalling by means of # pivoted beam and smaller movable beams. Semaphoric signal stations continued in governmental use for many years. Lo this country Christopher Colles made use of the sys- tem between this city and Sandy Hook for several yoarg following 1812, “It is a curions circumstance,” says Mr. Reid, “that as late as 1846 signals on Mur- ray's plan were used between New York and Philadel- phia by some enterprising street brokers, who long kopt the matter secret, using it even after the Morse electric telegraph, and whose means of information fér a long time confounded the members of tho Stock Exchange. One of these gentlemen, known as Bull Bridges, when at last the Morse instrument began in 1845 to click in the second story of the Philadel phia Merchants’ Exchange, was ablo, by practising privately on telegraphic sounds, to cateh by car the messages coming over the wires, He could also, with his large, lustrous eyes, wink & figure to a confederate conveniently waiting for the information.” ‘The frontispicce of the book is appropriately a portrait of Professor Morse, and the title page is adorned with an allegorical engraving of the sending of the first despatch over the telegraph which he in- vented, The messuye was went by a lady—Miss Lillis worth, now Mrs. Roswell-Smjth, of this city—and the words were, “What hath God wrought?” The volume is handsomely prepared, and contains por- traits of all Americans who have achieved unusual distinction in connection with the subject of mag- netic telegraphy. There is an interesting chapter in memoriam of the late William Orton. YHE ELECTRIC LIGHT, In May last Mr. George B. Prescott, consulting electrician of the Western Union Telegraph Company, published a volume on the “Speaking Telephone, ‘Talking Phonograph and Other Novelties’ (New York: D, Appleton & Co.), of which 4 new edition has just appeared, enlarged trom 431 to 616 pages, under the title, “Lhe Speaking Telephone, Electric Light and Other Recent Electrical Inventions.” A chapter in the original book was devoted to the electric light, but in the revised volume it has become the charac- teristic feature of the work. It now presents in four chapters of 213 pages # useful compen, dium of nearly all that is at present known of the manifold rival inventions for elec trie lighting which have absorbed so much attention from the scientific world during the past six months, Mr, Prescott is an apt compiler, and, though very little of his material is original, he hus succeeded in presenting in readable form what every- body now wishes to know about the electric light. Copious sketches and iMustrations are given of Du- boscq’s and Foucault’s “regulators,” the electric lamps of Farmer, Jablochkoff’s candles, the dynamo- electric machines of Wallace, Farmer, Brush, Siemens, Ladd, Gramme and De Meritens; the carbons of Carre and Gaudoin and verious other inventions rep- resented by the names of Thomson, Houston, Rapietf, Lontin, Reynier, Sawyer, Man and Edison. A chap- ter is devoted to Edison's tasimeter, megaphone and other recent inventious. Notwithstanding his dili- gence Mr. Prescott ,has overlooked the notable achievements of Werdermann and of several other in- yentors of electric lights, an omission which will, doubtless, be remedied in a future edition. REPORT OF THE LIBRARTAN OF CONGRESS. Mr. Ainsworth R. Spofford’s report to Congress on the condition of the Congressional library and tie stutistics of copyright for 1878 is @ brief document. fhe accessions to the library from all sources were 21,537 volumes and 11,689 pamphlets, making the total in the library of 331,118 and about 110,000 pamphlets. Copyrights. have slightly increased, being 15,798 against 15,758 for 1877. They are divided as follows ;— Books. Periodicals. eee Musical composition: Dramatic compositions Photographs......... Engravings and chromos Maps and charts. Prints...... Designs and drawings...... Paintings. Total. ‘To perfect copyright under the law it is necessary to deposit two printed copies of ea¢h work, and, with the exception of dramatic compositions, this has been generally done, the records showing only 120 deposits of dramatic works, representing presumubly but sixty out of the 372 entered by title. This is suggestive. ‘The now catalogue of the library, which promises to make six octavo volumes and will embrace the con- tents of the shelves up to 1878 in one alphabet, has reached the close ot the letter B. More room for the library is imperatively needed and a new building worthy to contain the national library should be provided by Congress, On this matter the report says: Whatever plan for locating a library building may be agreed upon by Congress, whether by purchase of land in the vicinity of the Capitol or by location upon Judiciary Square or other grounds owned by the United States, two considerations should not bo lost sight of—First, the necessity of providing at the outset grounds adequate for the construction of a building suflicient to contain the present library mul- tiplicd fourtold, and secondly, the securing of space sufficient not only to afford proper approaches to a public building of such dimensions, but to admit of enlargement in more than one direction in the future, Any provision for a library building which should overlook these necessities would result in burdening the country with the cost of two library constructions instead of one. LITERARY CHIT-CHAT. “Tales from Shakespeare,” by Charles and Mary Lainb, have been reprinted by Macmillan & Co. in neat form. These delightful stories are an admirable introduction for the young to the study of the Bard of Avon. Rev. Alfred Angicr furnishes an introduc- tion. “Rose Ashleigh” is the name of a serial now being published in one of the weekly papers. The author- css isa dgughter of Judge A. P. Aldrich, one of the distinguished public men of South Carolina, and evinces much intellectual culture in connection with the imaginative faculty that makes @ successtul novelist. ‘The first number of the New York Library Magazine, which will exclusively contain sclections from for- eign literature, is handy in form and neat in print. Its contents are culled with discrimination, and its cheapness is another recommendation. Volume III, of the “Health Primers,” published by the Appletons, is upon “The House and Its Sur- roundings,” and devotes itself to the single topic of the healthfulness of homes. It is an excellent work, Volume IV, of the same series on “iremature Death” is partly statistical, and as the figures are bused upon mortality in England, they are not as yaluable to Americans as they might be. The re- mainder of the work, however, concerning itself with the means of preventing premature death is inter- esting and instructive. ‘The Adantic for February is an improvement on the January number, and is full of interesting read- ing matter, among which is # capital paper on music and music lovers, by young Apthorp, of Boston. ‘The January Maemitian contains Dean Stanley's address on the historical aspects of the United States, and a vory readable paper on Covent Garden Theatre and the Royal Italian Oyfora, John Boyle O'Reilly, the poet, is v with his wife. Bayard Taylor's letters from distinguished men fill fifteen packing boxes, and are stored away ut Codareroft, his country place. Stedman is gathering material for a volume of American criticisms as a companion to his “Victorian Pocts.”” Tt will flud a warm welcome if it is a& good as its predecessor. ‘The death of J. Blair Scribner does not affect the magazine firm of Scribner & Co. Miss Helen Stanley has made the translation of Heury Greville’s new novel of French lite, “Philo- miene’s Marriage.” Her work has been done under the author's supervision in Paris. ‘Theve is no complete edition of R. H. Stoddard’s poctival works. More's the pity, for he is one of our strongest poets, ‘The old-fashioned rocking chair in the picture of Emerson's study in the February Scribner was pre- sented to the Concord philosopher by Harriot Mar- tineau, The curve in the back of the chair was made to fit the curve in the back of the poet. Holland will celebrate the birth of her greatest writer, Vondel, on the Sth of February. A Gorman translation of Bjornson’s new comedy, «The New System,” will soon appear, Colonel Seaver does not confine his good stories to Harper's “Drawer,” as his after-diuner speeches will tostity. “Love's Revenge” is the blood-curdling title of Lady Ida Josvelyne’s new novel. Macmilian & Co, have republished “A Housewife’s Opinions” from the Examiner. A voluine of George Edgar Montgommery's sonnets has been printed for private circulation. : ‘The man who writes a book of travel “jn foreign lands’ merely to “ring in” bis patent mangle may be a genius, but he mast seck a more extended notice in the advertising columns which are let out to the public at #0 much @ line. The February number of the North American Re- view contains a number of interesting papers by prominent writera. Senator Hoar contributes an in- teresting paper on “The Conduct of Business in Congress; General Richard Taylor describes the career of George Mason, of Virginia, “A Statesman of the Coloni#l Era; ex-Governor D. H. Chamberlain writes concerning his experiences with the negroes in the process of reconstruction, aud the Rev. Dr. Taylor, of the Broadway Tabernacle, sharply criti- cises certain theatrical preachers under the title of “Sensationalism in the Palpit." Several anony- mous articles are also included, the number closing With am axticlo by rofessox J. 1’, Craue om “Abedin. iting New York, val French Literature,” which reviews a class of books not generally known to American readers. The Celtic Monthly is the title of a periodical pub- lished in New York, whose first number is to hand, It is intended as an “Irish-American Magazine,”’ and contains fiction and poetry, original and selectel. There is also an appreciative biography of Joka McCullough, the tragedian. NEW BOOKS RECEIVED. Selected Speeches and Repor 1soH to INT. By Jol Sl shore, New York. Modern Fishers of Men Among the Various Sexes, and Sets of Chartville and Community. D. Apple- ton publishers. wanber's Cyclopwdia of English Literature, A | ical, critical and biozraphical review of British and An ican authors, with specimens of their writin revised by Robert Caruthers. 1 Vol. 1. From the American Book Exeha cal Compositions, By Baton publishers, Boston. fnud in Alphabetical Or ng Hustrations and Exainples Drawn from th Writers, to whieh is Now Added an Index to the abb, A. M. New edition, with ad Harper & Bros., publishers, and M Little, Brown & ¢ Suiglialy Synonyies EAp mith, By William Black, Harper & Brothers, pub- Library—"Man and Wife. Harper & Brothers, pabl A. biography ond editio A biographical sketeh of Lieute- % Audersun, of the Continental a. G. P."Putnam’s Sons, pub- ” A novel. ers. y "Octavions Brooks GP. Putnam's Sons, pub- By Wilkie € Gerrit: Smith Feothin w York. i Pionee d zineering Mu isher, New rine, February, 15 MARCHES THROUGH PERSIA” —AN- Nou ENTS. Bosrow, Jan, 24, 1879, “Accurate information respecting the interior of Persia is not easily gained,” says President Scelye, in his introduction to “Midnight Marches Through Per- sia,” the book now in the press of Lee & Shepard, in which Mr. Henry Ballantine deseribes his journey in a land which he calls lawless, God-forsaken and man- forsaken. “The Persians themselves do not publish ’ President Seclye goes on, “and the difficulties and dangers incurred by a foreigner travelling there are so many and so great that few of these are found who can tell us of the present condition of a country and a people whose history forms so conspicuous and so important @ portion of the earlier annals of our race; and he turther proceeds to show that Mr. Ballantine's journey gave him rare opportunities for observation, aud youches for his truthfulness. The book is dedicated to the American Geographical So- ciety, New York, before which Mr. Ballantine read two papers in 1676, describing his journey. He was “MIDNIGHT | Accompanied on his weary pilgrimage by his wite and chiid, and was without the protection of being @ government messenger of any kind—facts which make his success all the more wonderful. His journey took him from Bushire, on the Persian Gulf, to ‘heran, and then to Resht, on the Caspian, through a country in which the roads are so bad that no wheeled vehicle can possibly pass them, even the will of the Czar not being strong enough to extricate from the mud the wagons on which he tried years ago to have the machinery of a mint brought to his capital, Here and there a tele- graph station recalls the exist.nce of civilized beings, but the wire is regarded as a thing of ill omen in Persia, significant of the bondage into which the land will fall if the feringhi be admitted to it. There are rich petroleum ‘springs near Bushire, and Mr. Ballantine thinks that a profitable trade could be built up there without much outlay, He laments the absence of railroads, which might enable Persia to export the fruit which she produces in immense quantities, and is of the opinion that “gaz,"" or manna, might be made into very good sweet- meats. ‘Chis is » powder which is produced on the mountains northeast of Ispahan. It is deposited on the leaves of low bushes and resembles snow. It must be gathered early in the morning, as it melts when the sun is well up. Mr. Ballantine gives an interesting description of the Persian method of silk culture, He has small respect for Persian ways and manners, and disposes of the English and Russian Ministers at the Shah's court in this way:— Both representatives, for the better acting of the part assigned, are strenuously enjoined by their home governments to keep up the most friendly re- lations with the Shan, The Shah fully com:prehenda the state of affairs and makes (he best possible use of his peculiar intermediate position. In fact, he bas fondiy reasoned himself into the ridiculous belief of being immensely 1mportant among the brotherhood of nations. And why not? Here, at his court, are the representatives of two of the most powerful na- tions, fawning and sraaing upon hin in a slavish, sycophantic manner. This farce is carried to such an extent, I am told by a successful English mer- chant long resident in Persia, that private wrongs are nowhere righted; complaints receive a deat ear; neither party cares to offend the haughty Shah with “petty demands;" the poor foreigner i8 obliged to suffer on submissively or abandon Persia, and the result is @ common verdict declaring the legations representing the greatest nations at the Persian capital to be the biggest humbugs. In illustration of this he quotes the case of Baron Reuter, who obtained a monopoly of the internal revenue for twenty-five years_ on condition that he developed the resources of the Empire, only to have his plans overset by the moulahs and the women of the harem, England declining to interfere and leav- ing him to console himself as best he could. Among the fow announcements are, “Gwen; & Drama in Monologue,” by the author of ‘An Epic of Hades,” and Hamerton’s “Life of Turner,” from Roberts Brothers. The next number of Estes & Lauriat’s Cobweb series will be, “At a High Price,” translated from the German of E. Werner, Lee & Shepard have a satire in press, entitled “Back of the Moon.” The collection of Easter hymns to be 1s- sued by this firm is entitled “Resurgit,” and is to be edited by Mr. Frank Foxcroft, FINE ARTS, THE PAINTINGS AT THE UNION LEAGUE CLUB— SECOND NOTICE. There are so many pictures at the exhibition which was prepared by the Art Committe of the Union League Club for the ladies’ reception of last ‘Thursday evening that are worthy of more than a passing notice that we cannot forbear returning to thom. The star picture of the collection is Leon Perrault'’s “Tendresse Materneile,” which is owned by Mrs. Marshall O. Roberts. It is a simple and pure conception, solid in execution in the figures, slightly disposed to impressionism in the landseape setting, aud opon to some criticism as to its color. How ex quisite, however, is the expression of the face of the mother, tenderly smiling, as she bends over her babe; how subtle the modelling and how real and pure the flesh tints. You would hardly think the painter was a pupil of Bouguereau, whose large “Ro- turn from the Harvest" hangs on an adjoining wall, so individual and spirituelic his treatment. The *Tondresse Maternelle’’ and a portrait represented the artist at the last Salon. Mr, R. L. Kennedy's Pasini—“The Esvort of the ha” —a scene in a city of Asia Minor, was one of the artist's eleven canvases in the Italian display at the Universal Exposition, It is romarkable for the natural grouping of the troop of horse waiting at the portal for the sorfie of the Pacha, for tho impression of immense height given by the building aud for the skilfal and powerful rendering of the stains which wind and weather have mude on the fagade, Mrs, Stewart's Jacque—"Sheep at Water’ —iu one of bis broadly handled, open land- scapes, is as remarkable for the quietude of the scene, as are many of his similar works in the ex pression of agitated nature, Munthe’s winter “Land- seupe,” owned by Mr. Hilton, is @ fine work, simple in wotive, concentrated in eifect and singularly hur- monious in its gamut of grays, The story of Zim- merman’s “Disputing Monks,” owned by Mr, Oswald Ottendorfer, is admirably told in a quiet German key, in strong contrast to Vibert’s louder but also effective treatmont of similar subjects, We should like to be the subject of the “First Gon fidences’ of those charming givis in Scheurenberg picture, loaned by Knoedler & Co. Mr, Spencer shows that he has excellent taste and sound judgment in the seven canvases which he has loaned. Of the two Diages the first is superb in the rich coloring of the costumes of the little Bastoru children engaged in their game of blinduon's butt, and the second is # little gem of & la nd one of the promi- nent pictures of the Tho Millet is oue of the best of the small works this master whieh has been on exhibition here. What a magnificent lit- tle vista ap the quiet stream does Rico give us in his “Near Chartre How naturally the hietle boat sits on the water aud what a fine fecling of perspective there is, Of Mr. Spencer's Boldini, Gérome ond Julabert we have already testified our appreciation. The large Escostira, which wae loaned by Mr. Avery, Was the artes» omy coutsibution to the ant display at Pari . Though we care little for thi artist's work in general we must give hun credit fu “Philip IL at pion Court.” The architest) of the vast hall, in which the Spaniard, with queen and her courtiers are seated at dinner, is Huely given, The usual doll like figures are carefully painted wd have much more life in them than usual, and the fecling of distance between those at table im the foreground aud the musicians in the as the far end of the hall is strong. The group of play- ers is in most lifelike relief, and you feel space behind the figures. FE. L. Henry comes decidedly to the front asx a colorist in his “Waitin Buthers,” which ix a neatly told David Johnson's “Near Greenwick, Conn.,”’ we acc’ dentally omitted to mention ina first notice of the pictures, It is a good example of the artist’s tech~ nique, though the motive is not very picturenanee ‘he Apprentice,” by William 5, Chase, loaned by J. H. Caswell, is un inimitable bit of character paintings Eastman Johnson's “Heroine of an Unpublished Poem’ is remarkable for 4 spottiness in skin painte ing and an indistinetness, for which we can see no plausible cause, George H. Sewell contributes » careful “Studio Corner.” The gallery was crowded on Friday and Saturday evenings and well filled dur- ing those hours of the two days when it was open tor the holders of cards of invitation. STUDIO NOTES, M. F. H. de Haas is at work on “A Sunset on Long Island Sound.” There are rocks in the foreground, a bark sailing off shore, a steamer coming in, and » few distant sail. Arthur Quartley has on an easel “A Stormy Morning off Nabant.” A high surf is bounding im and up against cliffs to the left, around which gulla are circling. In the distance a bark is coming up before the wind, and along the horizon are seem other sail, ‘Thomas Moran will send to the Academy “Bring< ing Home the Cattle—Coast of Florida,” a larga landscape to which we have before alluded. The artist has now in his studio a smail study by Turner, which was lately brought to him by itn owner, Dr, Roiton, of Brooklyn, who was ®& student, while in London, of a physician who was at the time very intimate with the grew painter. The present owner of the little study re~ members ‘Turner very well, The artist, wherever ha was intimate, was accustomed to present to the mas ter or mistress of the house some little sketch on study which had served his purpose, and Dr. Rot« ton’s picture is one of these, An inscription om the back of the frame shows that it was painted from a description of one who witnessed the occurrence depicted, The subject is a ship laid on her beam ends in the Bay of Biscay, and, though the canvas ia sinall, there is a feeling of immensity in it. Tha huge waves are real and not conventional. The har« mony of the green, running from extreme darknesa in the middie distance to the passage of light over tha side of the ship and the adjacent waters, and tha heavy storm sky, with its suggestion of reddish light to the left, are the strongest points. Joseph Lyman, Jr., has about finished a sunset om acreek, ou the Englewood meadows, which is exceed~ ingly picturesque. ‘A Stormy Day’ at Nahant” is a Lee sized picture, which the artist is at work on tos the Acaaemy. J, Ogden Wood will send to the Academy a “Cattle in Landscape,” in bright sunlight and a portrait of a lady on horseback, riding through the woods. Samuel Kitson,of Rome, who is now in this cit; has finished in the clay a lifelike bust of the Rev. Dr, Potter, of Grace Church. The pose and the poise: of the head on the shoulders, to speak, are very natural, and the bust is modelle with knowledge and skill. Frederic Dieiman will send portraits both to the Society of American Artists and the Academy. ILLUSTRATION IN HARPER'S PERIODICALS, The bound volumes of Harper's Magazine, Weeklg, and Bazar for the past year, which have just been received, contain, in addition to their varied, instruce tive and entertaining literary matter, much illustra- tion which is worthy of mention. In the Magazine, among the numerous cuts we note especially Abbey's illustrations to Longtellow's ““Keramos,” to several English poems and accompanying various tales, and Alfred Frederick's cuts to Milton’s “Hymn of the Nativity.” The volumes of the Weekly, besides numerous and well sclected English plates, published by arrangement with the London illustrated week- vontain work by Edwin A. Abbey, Howard Pyle, inhart, F. 5. Church, A. B. Frost, Pranishoi~ koft, Granville Perkins sud others. ‘he Bazar, in: addition to the fashion plates, which delight the. ladies, has many fine English and American wood- cuts. ies, HOME ART NOTES. ‘The sale of the Artists’ Fund pictures will take place at the Leavitt Art Rooms on the evenings of the 2ith and wth inst. ‘The work of the Hanging Committee of the Water Color Exhibition, which opens on the $d prox., now going on bravely. The exhibition promises to be unusually interesting. The Art Interchange for the 22d inst. has corre« spondence about current art topics from Bostong Philadelphia, Chicago, Cleveland, Baltimore, Sty Louis and New Haven, A newspaper war has been started in Boston anent the hanging and rejection of pictures at the Boston, Art Club Exhibition. The Boston Society of Decorative Art Loan Exhibi-. tion opened on the 13th inst. The sculptor Valentine, of Richmond, is at work on, an “Andromache A(ter Her Parting with Hector,’* which he intends for the Royal Academy. W. L. Sheppard has lately returned from abroad) and is preparing the illustrations for a new edition of Longfellow. The Utica Exhibition is now open. San Francisco will have an exhibition in the spring: chietly of work by local artists. And now A. H. Bicknell, of Malden, Mass., is going to inflict the national Capitol with a “Lincoln at the. Consecration Ceremonies of Gettysburg Cemetery,” a canvas 17), feet in length by 10‘, feet in height—if the government will buy it. c.C, Perkins lectured on 22d inst., at the Yale School of Fine Arts on “Etching and Etchers,”” Akron, Ohio, has 2,000 articles in its Loan Exhibie tion and Meadville 3,000, NOTES FROM ABROAD. Gabriel Max has been appointed a professor at the Academy of Munich. Professor Ferdinand Bartn has been transferred to the Art Industrial School, to which Defregger has been appointed a professor, Messrs, Gabi and Hackl have been made instractore at the Life and Antique schools of the Academy. Ephraim Keyser, the young Jewish sculptor of Baltimore, who two years ago won the Meyerbecr Roman scholarship at Berlin, writes from Rome to. say that he will send his “Page,” in bronze, to tha approaching exhibition of the Society of American Artists. An exhibition of works of the lately deceased young and talented sculptor Frank Dengler is being held in Cincinnati, W. Gedney Bunce, the painter of Venetian scenes, will return from abroad in the spring and establish & studio in this city, - We hoar through @ private letter that Duveneck has been lately quite sick in Munich, " ‘Turner was once struck by lightning while sketch ing and was afterword always exceedingly nervout during storms. ‘The Queen has commissioned Mr. Boehm, A. R. A the sculptor, to exccute memorial of the late Princes: Alice. Florence is to have a school of design for women which will be established in connection with tha Academy of Art The new regulations for the French Salons, annual and triennial, have been published. The jury of ad- mission will be clected by thoxe contributing artists who are members of the Institute or have been deco- rated for their work or gecompensed or who have ex- hibited three times. ‘The jury of recompense will be nominated by the administration and the members cannot receive any medals or mentions themselves, Medals of honor will only be given at the triennial Salons. De Neuville is working on an order fora New York amateur. Ho will re Henry Stacy Marks, the etected a me made an asso: Among his pictures may “Dogberry’s Charge to the Wateh * al Gunnery in the Middle Ages’ and ‘the Pelican’ (i870); “Capital and Labor” (1874), and “Convocation,” an 'y. Ho has done a good deal of decorative work in public and private buildings. ‘The Grosvenor Gallery Water Color Exhibition of var contains 350 examples of the work of Eng- tists, 76 «tucies by Ingres and 400 drawings by asters. Arthur Turrell has made an excellent engraving of —— Herkomer's celebrated picture, “The East uster.”” HIEVES, Mrs, Ralf lives at No, 21 Allen street, and on Satan day evening about nino o'clock was sitting alone ip her apartments. Three young men entered witho knocking, and while one of them pointed a pistol ab Mrs. Ralf's head the other two proceeded to gather up sundry articles for the purpose of carrying theus off, Notwithstanding the peril of so doing Mrs. Ralt and the robbers ran away, u brass candlesticks. ‘fhe notified of the occurrence, and in a short time arrested William Carson, William Albro and John Wolt, y rraigned betore Judge Smith at the Court yesterday morning, aud Mrs, Ralf, who was summoned to appear, identifie Carson as the one who had pointed the pistol while his companions were engaged ran the place. Judge South committed thea coe hn dues Mt ve 94,000 ball fox trial, NG , i