The New York Herald Newspaper, March 31, 1879, Page 5

" LITERATURE. The Scientifi® Resurrection of Prehistoric Ages. AN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL QUERY. History, Biography, Geography—Books of the Sea and the Coast. PROPERTY IN BRAIN WORK. “(THE DAWN OF HISTORY.” “The Dawn of History: An Introduction to Pre- historic Study,” is the title of a work edited by C. F. Keary, M. A,, ofthe British Museum, and pub- lished by Charles Scribner’s Sons. Antecedently to all written history, sayg Coleridge, and long glim- mering through it as a hazy tradition, there presents itself to our imagination “an indefinite period, date- less as eternity—a state rather than a time, for even the sense of succession is lost in the uniformity of the stream.” Writing less than two decades ago about the history buried in this dateless past, 4 historian and archwologist no less eminent than the late Sir Francis Falgrave mournfully exclaimed, “We must give it up—that speechless past, whether it be fact or chronology, doctrine or mythology; whether it be in Europe, Asia, Africa or America, at Thebes or Palenea, on Lycian shore or Salisbury Plain—loat is lost, gone is gone forever.’ In spite of his despairing cry this whole realm of history, rich in facts and chronology, replete with doctrine and not at all disdainful of myths, has been redeomed, to use the phrase of Shakespeare, from “the dark backward and abysm of time” on every continent of our globe. It is as if the fable with which Plato introduces the ‘Timmus,” and which meets us again in his “Critias” (the fable of the lost and populous island of At- lantis, which, some ten or twelve thousand years ago, is said to have disappeared and sunk into ‘the sea), had suddenly loomed up again, like a buoy, to mark the spot where a world went down, instead of being a will o’ the wisp floating over the buried past. Many are the spots in every part of the earth, in America and in Palestine, in Arabia Felix and in Ceylon, in Sardinia and in Sweden, to which the in- terpreters of Plato have looked for the antetype of the lost Atlantis, and lo! the lost Atlantis is now coming to light in every quarter of the globe. , Itis a significant fact, and only the more signifi- cant if the coincidence should be accidental, that Mr. Keary has selected for the title of his book—‘The Dawn of History’—the yory phrave which Mr. Jowett employs when in his introduction to Plato's critics, as translated by his masterly pen, he seeks to locate the logical place which that dialogue holds on the Platonic physics. “‘Timeus,” says Mr. Jowett, “had brought down the origin of the world to the creation of map, and the dawn of history was now to succeed the philosophy of nature.” It is the first time, so far as we are aware, that an attempt has been made to popularize for the English reading public the methods and the leading results of those fruitful scientific studies which, whether con- ducted in the name of archwology or of anthropology, have for their object the collection of facts and the ascertainment of principles which shed light on the origin of civilization and on the early unwritten his- tory of the human race. Niebuhr, the philosophical historian of the early Roman annals, was in the habit of saying that he could be happy not only in the divine Tyrol but anywhere else on the globe wherever the roots of a history were imbedded in its soil. It is now discovered that the roots of a most fertile history are imbedded in the soil of overy land upon which the foot of man has trod, and that if we will only skilfully dig tor them it is possible to find, sometimes in even the most unpromising places, abundant relics of the former gonerations—relics which, if less brilliant, are often hardly leas instruc- tive than those which ‘have rewarded the explorer at Pompeii and at Nineveh, at Hissarlik and in the island of Cyprus, And ‘so it has come to pass in these latter days that a host of scientific inquirers and philosophical scholars have rumaged on the shell heaps left by Savages. on the shores of ancient Scandinavia; have ransacked the ossuaries and plundered the graves in which the “primitive folk” are known to have laid their dead; have rejoiced in the “find” of ancient and queer shaped crania at Neanderthal or Engis; have col- lected and collated the human remains left by the savage inhabitants who once built their houses not only over the lakes of Switzerland but over the lakes and water courses of other lands; have assorted and tabulated in the museums of Copenhagen, of Dublin, of Salisbury, of London and of Washington the implements of rude and of polished stone, of bronze and of iron, which represent the successive ages and stages through which the tribes of the world are supposed to have passed in emerging from savagery into civilization. It is into the general results which have been at- tained by researches such as these that Mr. Keary has introduced the English popular reader. Ex- Plaining the methods pursued and surveying the fields cultivated by the scientific student of com- parative history, and doing this in popular lan- guage, he has given, in rough but clearly defined Outlines, the eulient features of that great body of human knowledge which, in a literal sense of the word, has been exhumed from the buried pust, It is here shown that savagery and barbarism, as well as civilization and culture, have their Ninevehs and Pompotis, which may be dis- entombed with large guins to the mass of human knowledge. For the problems with which this branch of historic science is called to deal are problems which come home nearest of all to the bosoma if not the business of men—problems which relate to the unity and distribution of the human family; the antiquity of man on tho globe; the starting points of that civiliging progress which Sugurs a primitive low estate in the past, as well as ® higher distinction fn the future; and last, but not least, the genesis of morality and of social and civil: order in the Aryan tribes, which we recognize as the Progenitors of our race and the lawgivers of our speech in its most lineal and essential features. In the pages of this little book, upon a subject at once ‘vast and weighty, the unscientific reader will be able to discern that “every stone on which we tread oan yield a history, to follow up which is almost the work of a lifetime,” and that “every word we use is & thread leading bick the mind through centuries of man’s life on earth,” And it is only in the presence of such studies and in @ full sense of the moral lessons they teach that we can fitly conceive the historic continuity which binds the days of our race, like the days of the individual, into that ‘natural Piety” and unconscious identity which realize the ‘vision of Pascal by converting the life of the human race into the life, as it were, of one man Who never dies and who learns perpetually, “DECISIVE EVENTS OF HISTORY.” Under the above title a book by Mr. Thomas Archor isnues from the publishing house of Cassell, Potter & Galpin, of New York and Loudon. The six- teen decisive events of history as here cel- ebrated and portrayed by Mr. Archer are the battle of Marathon, the Carthagenian defeat at Zoma, the fall of Jerusalem, the ded- ieation of Constantinople, the foundation of Venice, the landing of 3t. Austin in England, the defeat of the Baracons at Tours, the Norman conquest, the sub- mission of Henry 1V. at Chnosea, the first crusade, tho signing of Magna Charts, the Protestant Reformation, the defeat of the Spanish armada, the “Potition of Right” in England, the surrender of Napoleon L. and the restoration of the German Em- pire. It {# needless to say thyt the plan of the work provokes comparison with the well known book of Professor Croasy on the twelve ‘“lecisive battles” of the world; but the scope of Mr. Atcher seems a little broader, his style of treatment is much moro popular and his didactic purpose is made so evident that it can be read between the lines of his narratives even whore it is not the ground and motive of his NEW YORK HERALD, MONDAY, selections. In his brief and picturesque description of the supreme occurrences which have been the turning points of the world’s history the author seems to have had the instruction of the young mogt prominently in his thoughts, though in so saying we mainly refer to the pictorial qualities of his style, and do not mean to intimate that there is any want of historical substance in the basis of his sketches. “PRINCE METTERNICH’S MEMOIRS” —WHERE ARE TALLEYRAND'S? Prince Metternich, the Austrian statesman, who died in Vienna in 1859 at the advanced age of eighty- six, had passed through the eventful period of European history comprised between the years 1773 and 1849 in the highest offices. He was Minister to France in 1806, where Napoleon received him with the ‘remark, “You are very young to represent so powerful a monarchy.” To which he replied, “Your Majesty wes not older at Austerlitz.” He was cog- nizant of, if not the centre of, all the secret springs of European diplomacy for the succeeding forty years. It is now announced that this leader of the conservatism of Europe has left bebiud him an sutobiography and 8 mass of autobiographical ma- terials which will illuminate his connection with the great events of the history of the first half of the century, and consequently throw much light on the events themselves. These memgirs are now about to be published simultaneously in Vieuna, London and Paris. Mr. Bentley is the English pub- Maher, M. Braumiiller the Austrian, and M, Plon the French. The work of editing has been done by Prince Metternich’s son, Prince Richard Metternich, formerly Austrian Ambassador at the Court of Napo- leon III, and by his adlatus Alfons von Klinkowstrim, ‘The order of despotism of which Metternich was the incarnation is passing away; indeed, it was an up- heaval against it that shook Metternich out of power, but it is desirable to know the attitude of the man to his work and the influences which helped him to stay the tide of progress as long as he did. A man of keen observation and judgment, his opinions, his sketches of his celoprated contemporaries, cannot fail to be of high interest. ‘This publication will undoubtedly add immensely to the material for the history of the first half of the century. But now that we see the promise likely to be realized in the case of Metternich another ques- tion presents jjself. Why are not the memoirs of Talleyrand given to the world? On his death, in 1838, it was found that he desired these memoirs to be kept from the public eye for thirty years. In 1868 they should accordingly have appeared, but the fam- ily, it seems, decided that it was yet too soon. Pos- sibly they found that the revelations of the memoirs would have compromised in public esteem persons still living, or that the comments on great person- ages—Napoleon Bonaparte, for instance—would not have been relished by his so-called nephew, then on “the French throne, and with innumerable police spies and agents available to make lifo uncomfort- able for those who made light of his “uncle.” But the Napoleonic dynasty is now safely out of the way, ‘and Death has had eleven years to glean the inter- ested few spared by his grim harvests of the previous three decades. Great as the value will be of the Met- ternich memoirs, it is safeto say that the interest awakened by the memoirs of Talleyrand would be many times greater than will follow the appearance of the life work of the Austrian statesman. Metternich, with all his foxy turns of statecraft, had a dominant political idea, which be sustained all through and whos: application at length cost him his power; but what convulsion stayed the influence of Talleyrand? Itis sstrange character in history that is made by the subtle diplomatist, cynic, wit and statesman, who had been Catholic bishop, high priest of the Revolution, republican, exile, imperial- ist and royalist, and from 1789 to the close of his Mfe, either at the front rank of affairs in France or the secret mentor of ite statesmen. He may not be lovable or even to be respected, not to say admired, but he presented a mixture of extraordinary quali- ties of a high order, and his word upon the men and the events of his time is certain to be listened to with keen attention, as much from the cold worldly wisdom expressed in caustic sententiousness With which it is sure of being iced as from his command- ing sources of information. His story, told by him- self, is necessary before the inner diplomatic history of Europe, during and immediately following the reign of the-Corgican, can be said to be written. It should be the most interesting of all the memoirs of the cpoch. What better or moroapt time than the present could be chosen for the appearance of his autobiographical remains? Following closely on the Metternich memoirs they would be sure of the keen attention of the entire literary world, “THOMAS CARLYLE.”" In their “Handy Volume” series D. Appleton & Co. have issued @ biography of Carlyle, written by Alfred HH. Guernsey. The life, the books and the theories of the octogenarian writer are epitomized within this small duodecimo of two hundred pages in a style that is perforce sketchy; but care in the collection and arrangement of the data has not been lacking, and the result is, on the whole, satisfactory. Asa historian Mr. Guernsey accords Carlyle a place among the highest, and regaitds him as the best biographical critic who has written in our language; but, while conceding to his subject eminence as a biographer and historian, he admits that as a guide to conduct one through the mazes of speculation and inquiry there could hardly be a poorer one than Carlyle. Very little that is reminiscent of Carlyle’s personal character or habits is offered, and in this respect the ‘book is # disappointment. It is doubtless trae that the sage leads an exceptionally isolated existence, but there must bave been other available material than the meagre records of Rey. Mr. Milburn, the blind preacher, and of Ralph Waldo Emexson. The author discloses, however, the fact that tho manifold inconsistencies of his subject were duc in no small measure to the tyranny of an obdurate stomach, which, for more than half a century, compelled the enforcement of a strict regimen. Rustic farm prod- uec seems to have been his only diet. He could not with izapunity go beyond milk and meal, eggs, chick- ens, moor mutton and whitefish. Even salmon, lamb and veal were, he writes himself, “‘tabooed”’ to him, He regarded the cow as the friend of man, and the French cook his enemy, and not one day in ten did he drink beyond a single glass of wine. With the conclusion of his biographer there will probably be @ general agrcement:—“His place is that of a stimulator of thought rather than a leader of it. Ho. has taught us muita, not multum—very many things but not very muc! “ARABIA, EGYPT AND INDIA,” That indefatigable traveller Mrs. Isabel Burton, wife of the redoutablo Captain, has just published a new volume of travel. (William Mullan & Son, Lon- don.) Ina “very, personal” introduction sho begs the public not to pronounce her book dry until they have given it a chance. Tho first chapter seems qitite as personal as the introduction, although the author does not label it so, Indeed, Mrs. Burton's style might be called personal turoughout the book, and it is this very personality that makes it enter- taining. She chats about her husband and herself and advertises their former books with as much sangfroid as she would in a drawing room, The Burtons had only been in England a year when tho unquenchablo desire to travel seized them, and as Mrs. Burton had never been to India they concluded to go to that now much visited coun- try. Mrs. Burton devotes several pages to life in Trieste, where hor husband is Consul, Tho pretticst thing in that city, she says, is the swim- miug school, Svores of young girls romp about, ducking under each other and climbing on each other’s backs for sport in deep water, and children of three or four swim sround like whitebait, One old lady sits lesily on the water, like @ blubber fish, knitting, occasionally moving her foet. “Wo call her the buoy and hold on to her when we are tired.” Our traveller takes us through a great doal of in- teresting country before we reach the main lands of her journey. She denies that India is overcrowded, ‘The people aro so poor that when grain rises a penny ® pound they must live on wild roots or starve. She predicts that India will become a great manufacturing country, and that Great Britain, “with one foot on Hindostan and another in China, whoso 300,000,000 work at three pence a day, will command the wool and cotton markets of the world, and will become the greatest producing power that the ylobe ever bore.” The bad manners of the Indian military lsdies are spoken of with indignation by Mrs, Burton, who pro- MARCH 31, 1879.-TRIPLE SHEET. nounces them coarse and arrogant. The way the natives are treated by these English she considers not only impolite but downright cruel. ‘The genial and friendly treatment of the natives by the Prince of Wales is mentioned in strong contrast to the stiff dignity of employé manners. Lord Lytton also is described as having nice cordial manners. A chapter devoted to Mrs, Burton's experience as & member of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is very amusing as well as interesting, and tells well for her kind heart. In Egypt, Austria and India she made the authorities support her. She was tho terror of the donkey boys at Suez, and the natives who twisted bullocks’ tails in India trembled when they saw her coming, In concluding, Mrs. Burton says :— At present India is administered for the benefit of England, or, rather, of the English trading classes, Who must supply the public offices with paper and sealingwax and the soldiers and Sepoys with broad- cloth and ducks. The national religion of England will become the State Church of India. * * * We shall borrow from Russia another lesson of econ- omy by substituting military law and rule for the pseudo constitutionalism with which we, like Portu- gal, have afflicted India; we shall relieve our great colo r rather, conquest, of such an incubus as pres: » governors and commanders-in-chicf, ree of council and ea ieee dling money, now ately wasted upon civil establishments, we sitll maintain an eflciont native army, which will deliver, us from the feeble Politic of “purpose and no power.” Mrs. Burton touches upon every subject from do- mestic to public and from acting, swimming and the drama to politics and religion. Notwithstand- ing the fact that the ground gone over is old Mra. Burton has given ita new interest and made book that will be almost as widely read as her “Inner Life of Syria.” A number of the illustrations of the book are absurdly out of keeping. BRITISH CYPRUS. Mr. W. Hepworth Dixon, who has something to say on every subject of popular interest, has just written @ volume on British Cyprus. (Chapman & Hall, London.) ‘There is a great dval of interesting matter in Mr. Dixon's volume, but little that is en- tirely new. This writer has » happy faculty of hold- ing one’s attention, although what he writes nowa- days does not command the respect of his early work. His literary style, too, is deteriorating, and he indulges to tiresomeness in exclamatory* para- graphs. The first part of Mr. Dixon’s book is de- voted toa résumé of the history of the Cypriotes. His personal experiences begin with the sixth chap- ter:— Our act of taking over Cyprus, says Mr. Dixon, from the Sultan to the Queen, without a voice being heard, a hand being raised, against the change of flag, has classical and humorous features, like the rape of some fair’ mortal beyond the elder race of ods or demi-gods, A bag of sixpences played a part in the affair as in so many other Eastern stories. We have taken Cyprus very much on the method known in ancient law books as marriage by force. ‘The taking of Cyprus is rather sarcastically de- scribed :— At five the Ottoman flag was lowered with mili- tary honors. Kelly’s marines presented arms, and in the Admiral’s presence Rawson ran up the British fing. All government debts were ordered to be veri- tied and paid. No voice was raised except to cheer. Victoria spoke to her new children trom the sllver coins. What caimacan, what zaptieh could resist a lady whose Minister's first act was not to tax them but to pay their debts? Long before Sir Garnet Wolseley and his regiments arrived at Larnaca the work of taking ove Cyprusfrom the Sultan to the Quean was done, To the high commissioner was lett the task, more arduous, perhaps, but less pictorial, of quickening a torpid, Oriental body like those Cypriotes into an active and progressive state of life, id The improvement in the condition of Cypras after the British rule began is reported as remarkable, alike for its suddenness and thoroughness. The house occupied by Mr. Dixon was famous as the home and magazine of the Cesnola family. It is an ordinary country villa of the higher class, such as ® Moslem caimacan might build and a Christian banker would like to hire. The house is old for Cyprus, having been built shout forty years. Noth- ing, we are told, lasts in Cypras—nothing but the gardens and the graves, Pormerly, says Mr. Dixon. the Cypriotes had as much control over their own affairs as English peo- ple; now they are as helpless as & multitude of Rus- sian sorfe, Such changes, he believes, must be judged by results; but for the time he thinks they have an ugly look. “One,” we quote, ‘hardly Ukes to see a popular franchise filched away, even though he get a cleaner strect and stronger pier in payment tor the theft. No rights are prized so much as local rights to which ® man is born, * * * More than one English Rend has started on bisdownward path by tampering with the rights of city wards.” England’s policy with her newly acquired prov- inces seems to be getting some pretty hard laps trom British subjects, “INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT.” ‘The general interest which has of late been aroused on the subject of the protection of authors in their rights to their own writings makes the publication of Mr, G. F. Putnam's pamphlet, entitled “‘Interna- tional Copyright,” particularly timely. Within the compass of fifty pages the author gives a history of copyright custom and law in all countries, as well as & synopsis of the various movements that have been publicly made in favor of international copyright. The ethical side of the question is already under- stood by every one, barring, perhaps, a few publish- ers on each side of the Atlantic, but the economic aspect has been so obscured by interest and senti- ment that ® dispassionate view of it will be eagerly welcomed by men who read and think. That Mr. Putnam's consideration of the topic is not senti- mental may be assumed from the fact that he is himeelf a publisher and as much at liberty as any one else to steal whatever British or Continental brafn work may be in print and strike his fancy. Defining copyright as ‘the legal recognition of brain work or property,” throughout his essay the author regards books as he would anything else which be. longs to # man by right of creation, and he therefore believes it unfair that authors shall be robbed of their brain work while patent rights, which are practically the same as copyrights, are fully able to protect the originator of a new design in toothpicks. He also reminds us that the United States is the only coun- try having # printed liverature of any consequence which has made no legal provision for the protection of non-resident authors’ property. Positive as may seem the right of the author to his own the reader will be astonished to learn that there are reputable business men who cannot see anything of the sort. A favorite argument against international copyright is that it will make foreign-born books dearer, though how far the same principle would success- fully work when applied tothe mechanical manu- facture of books by men who were not paid for their labor does not clearly appear. Another is that if English authors wero allowed copyright in America they might refuse entirely to have their books pub- lished here, preferring to impose upon us the Kug- lish editions, though no one, reasoning from the same premises, would dare to propose robbing any foreign patentee of his inventions. These and other bubbles have been a thousand times pricked in pri- vate; but, by bringing them to the notice of the general public to again be dissipated, Mr. Putnam does literature and morality along needed service. Aside from all other considerations, international copyright would nearly or quite double the tnduce- ment under which English speaking authors, like other people, do their work. DIPHTHERIA, In Dr. Monell Mackenzie’s little manual “Diph- thetia; Its Naturo and ‘Treatment, Varictios and Local Expressions” (Lippincott) may be found o very complete and well digested account of all the knowledge of this formidable malady that ia in any degree satistactory. The literature of diphtheria is now enormous in extont, and # fair sized library might be filled with the monographs of original in- vostigators, the élaborate treatises of professors in the languages of all civilized countries and the offi- cial reports and records of cases of this one discase; and the very extent of the material dismays the reader, It ts, therefore, a practical end important service done to the student or practitioner when a capable man makes a book like this, which digests and presents in a clear order all that {8 really good in what is known of 4 malady of which one cannot afford to be ignorant. ‘UE REIGN OF THE STOICS,” Except by special students of classical literature there is so little known about tho Stoics and their teachings that the Httle book whowe title ia given above meets @ goneral necessity—we might way a general want, wore it not that only @ small minority of intelligent people care to know about good men whose written creed differs from theirown. The editor of the volume, Mr. Frederie May Holland, prefaces an admirable collection of sayings of noted Stoics by a historical sketch of the principal teachers of this most reputable of pagan schools, and avoids the stupid blunder, peculiar to men of his class, of attempting to belittle Christianity by comparison. He honestly admits commonplace and error in his favorite authors, but is satisfied to show that stoicism has still truths to teach, What truths there may be among these which are not already taught by Christianity, and cven by Jewish teachers centuries before the era of the Stoics, the reader will have hard work to discover, but if the book does no more than to teach men impatient of moral re- straint that paganism is no refuge from the injunc- tions and requirements of the Christian faith, it will do a much needed work. But it has other pos- sibilities than this. Good men of all faiths will learn from these teachings of the Stoics that no age can be so corrupt and so deficient in moral teaching and example as to restraim the soul that aspires toward personal purity aud active goodness. To acquire this knowledge is humanity’s duty as well as right, “THE SECRET OP THE ANDES.” The romance bearing the above title, from the pen of Mr. F. Hassaurek (Robert Clarke & Co., Cin- cinnati, and T, Dillingham, New York), is doubtless the fruit of Mr. Hassaurek’s diplomatic residence in Ecuador, and of which he has already given us a prelude in his “Four Years Among the Spanish Americans.” The scene of his story is laid in Quito, and its drama turns on the troublous events which succeeded the conquest of Peru bythe Spaniards, and while as yet the memory of tho Incas was a sacred heritage in the minds ‘of the native popula- tion. The heroine of Mr. Hassaurek is a grand- daughter of the Inca Atahualpa, and the hero is a creole who lets “I dare not” wait upon “I would,” and who consequently fails alike in war, in ambition ang in love. Readers who delight in what the poet Schiller was wont to call the “material sublime,” and who agree with Burke in holding that there is an element of terror in all sublimity, will find some of Mr. Hassaurek’s pages as thrilling as they could desire, for his book is as full of trea- sons and stratagems of blood and murder and battle fury as an egg is full of meat. It was fitting that such a romance should end with an arrow sped by the hand of the heroine and planted in the heart of the hero, all for love! “THE MUSE.” ‘ Supplementing the “Wornout Shoe” and “Modern Rhymes,” comes ‘The Muse” (Clark & Hoftelinn, New Orleans). Like its prodecessors, it is the work of an amateur. But if not teeming with the divine afflatus, nor touched, ever so lightly with the mystic wand of the muse, this writer, who shelters his per sonality behind the shield of anonymity, has de- livored himself of a preface that, as a specimen of sublime impudence and bravado, has scarcely been paralleled. Ina five page dedication the author of “The Muse” speaks of “the only mead” (sic) he may receive, with a recklessness of orthography most fitting as an acoompaniment to his rhetoric, The leading feature ot the book, aside from tke preface, is along narrative poem, coarse in style, poor in versi- fication, but not without some redeeming force in ideas. It is entitled “The Rebel.” It seems incred- ible that a writer to whom poetic thoughts at least seem to have been possible should have been capable of printing such rubbish as is to be found among his shorter pieces. Let us hope that his readers, if there be such, will not pronounce his epitaph in lit- erature out of the poet’s own mouth:. Kind reader, stop and say a prayer For the poor soul of Tom; And If there bo « heaven For assos—he'll co therot DAMON'S OCEAN WONDERS, “Ocean Wonders: A Companion for the Seaside. Freely Illustrated from Living Objects,” is the title of a deeply interesting and instructive volume de- voted to the curious denizens of the ocean, made doubly attractive by the two hundred and twenty odd excellent woodcuts with which it is illustrated. “We know not @ millionth part of the wonders of this beautiful world” is the legend on the title page, but certainly much less about the mysterious world of the sea, and perhaps no one is better enabled to enlighten our ignorance than Mr. Damon. “Every man ought to have s hobby; there is no real life without enthusiasm for something,” says the author, and in this volume we have the result of years of enthusiasm devoted by him to tho study of the curi- ous and interesting forms of life which abound on our seashores. Says Mr. Damon in the preface:— ‘The volume has been prepared specially to supply a long folt need of precise and reliable information in regard to the living objects of our own seacoast and, incidentally, of other marine animals, either suitable for the aquarium or of sufficient intrinsic interest to deserve notice in any Loma Peli be La eye zovl- z urpose is not o1 scr! e orgsnic ede odes of life OP these creatures in their native ocean and river homes, but also to give care- ful and practical instruction as to where and how many of them may be procured and preserved in parlor and public aquaria, Thousands of persons visit the scashore annually; nature throws her choicest treasures at their feet, bat they walk over them disregardful and insensible. No words of ours could better indicate the char- acter of the work before us, which, full of invaluable information about ocean plants and animals, will not only prove instructive, but an in- tonsely interesting book to young and old. There are chapters on sea anemones or sca dowers, living corals, use builders of the sea, remarkable fishes, mollusks, sea horses, barnacles, echinoids, hydroids, sponges, whales, seals and marine and fresh water aquaria, and one devoted to the subject “How. to do everything that is necessary to build, stock and take care of the aquarium.” Mr. Damon writes not only enthusiastically, but clearly and interestingly. He believes the house aquarium can be made not only a “thing of beauty and a joy forever,” but # means of deep instruction for youth, For Under God's His patien Gladdening th With fairest Forever teaching us. “STIELER'8 HAND ATLAS OF MODERN GEOG- Rapny.” We aro glad to announce that a new edition of “Stieler’s Hand Atlas of Modern Geography” is now in course of publication in Germany, and that the successive issues of the work will be made accessible to American subscribers through the house of West- ermann & Co. in this city. The new edition is to comprise ninety-five colored plates, aud will be issued in*thirty-two monthly parts, While all the plates will be revised and corrected in order to bring them up to the latest discoveries in geography twenty- seven of the maps will be engraved entirely anew; to wit, the general maps of Asia, Africa, North Amer- ica and South America, with eleven maps devoted to particular parts of Africa, of the West Indies and of South America, to be prepared under the superin- tendence of the late Dr. A. Petermann and finished by Dr. H. Berghaus; seven new plates, prepared by Berghaus exclusively, representing the planetary system of the sun; geological views, the North Polar rogions, &c., and five plates exhibiting the German Empire and @ general map of France. As the ac- knowledged excellence of these maps in the edi- tion of 1876 has procured for Sticler’s atlas the highest repute in point of accuracy aud com- plotonese, a8 well as of beauty in mechanical exec tion, we cannot doubt that the forthcoming publica- tion will be & still more valuable contribution to scientific cartography. If the first number of the series (containing plates of Northwestern France, Northeastern Russia, Northwestern Africa, with side maps of Senegambia, the coast of Sierra Leone and the Gold and Slave coasts), is to be accepted as an carnest of the improved edition, {t would scom that the completed work can leave little to be desider- ated iu tho way of map making. It is true the maps are published in the German language, but as the names of places, streams and mountains in Stieler’s atlas are always spelled according to tho castom and dialect of the country to which they pertain there is only small room for misapprehension among English readers on this score, and no ground for misappre- hension at all if the English reader will but bring reasonable degree of intelligence to the use of the work, THE ATLANTIC COAST PILOT, Anothor volume of the Atlantic Coast Survey, em- bracing the section from Boston Bay to New York, has been issued by the Superintendent of the Coast and Geodetic Survey, Captain Carlile P. Patterson, under the above head, Zhis volume is one of a series that is destined to prove of the highest importance to navigation on the atlantic coast. Every detail of the coast line, as well as the hydrography of its imme- diate vicinity, is given with the scrupulous exactness that characterizes the work of the Coast Survey office. Indeed no other country, not even England, can show such & superb work conducted in the in- terests of commerce and navigation. In addition to the perfect charts that ure published with the de- scriptions of the various parts of the coast line, there are also to be found in this volume elevations of the shore as yiewed from the sea, and by means of which any part is readily recognized. ‘The bearings (magnetic) are given of every prominent object on the coast, such as churches, lighthouses, schools and other large buildings, and these are referred to in the accompanying sailing directions in such a man ner as tomake them reliable guides to the navigator. At New York, besides the upper and lower bays, the Hudson River to Troy is fully described and illus- trated by charts and views. We copy the following statement, or brief preface, with which Superintendent Patterson iasuea the volume :— U. 8, Coast Survey Orricr, Wasuixaton, D. C., Oct. 1, 1878, ‘This volume of the “Coast Pilot” embraces the coast from Boston to New York, including Nau- tueket, Vineyard and Long Island Sounds, apd the Hudson River to Troy. * ‘The system adopted in this work includes: — 1, A general description of the coast line and of the shores of the severl harbors and thoroughfares. 2. A detailed description ot all dangers and ob- structions to navigation on the coast and in the har- bors, with directions for avoiding them. 3. Bailing directions for coasting and for approach- ing and entering the harbors. 4. Geographical positions of all lighthouses and lighted beacons. 5. Practica! information in regard to fog signals, tides, tidal currents, ice formations and the varia- tious of the compass. 6. Views of the coast and of entrances to the more important harbors. 7. Charts of the coast on a uniform scale. 8. Appendix I, relating to currents at the entrance ‘of the Gulf of Maine. ys Appendix I. Pilot laws of the harbor of New ‘ork, 10. For marginal references the style of lettering in use upon the charts of the Coast Survey (being upright for names, &c., applicable to land, and in clined where spplicable to water), and also system atic sizes and weights in printed names to indicate the relative importance of coast features. ‘This voluine, as well as the preceding one for the Gulf of Maine, has been compiled by John Service Bradford, assistant, Coast Survey. It includes the results of previous detailed surveys by the Coast Survey and those which his own continuous obser- vation and verification (by visiting every locality along the coast and personally testing all sailing lines, bearings and courses given) have developed. aches to the sev- The views of the coast and a) eral harbors were drawn by John R. Barker. ‘Phe tacts in relation to ice are given from an able re- port by Lieutenant Charles A. Bradbury, United States Navy, assistant, Coast Survey, who made a careful personal examination of this subject during the very cold winter of 1874 and 1875. ‘The compiler, who has been ably assisted by Mr. John W. Parsons, has exercised every care to avoid er- Tors; but as absolute accuracy in a work of this class is scarcely possible (particularly in a first edition) it is earnestly hoped that navigators will note all errors or omissions which they may discover, or any addi- tional matter they think should be inserted, and for- warda notice of the same to the Superintendent of the Coast Survey, Washington, D.C. CARLILE P. PATTERSON, Superintendent. The importance of the work induces us to give the fullest publicity to its features, with the idea of increasing its value ‘o the navigators on our coasts. LITERARY CHIT-CHAT. Moncure D. Conway, who writes of “Demonology and Devil Lore,” was inade a B. D. by Divinity Col- lege, Harvard University. A recent reviewer shows that there is little of the divinity element in his composition. Anthony Trollope says that he “never knew a nice woman who did not think it proper to lock up to her husband, and be ruled by him.” Perhaps Mr. Trol- lope’s lady friends have found out the necessity of the ‘‘grin and bear it” policy. Miss Ella Dietz, whose poem, “The Triumph of Love,” met with such a flattering reception from the critics, is contemplating a volume of her shorter poems, some of which have been set to music— music, by the way, of her own composition. Among the books on art that will soon find their way to our shores are a translation of Dr. Karl Woer- mann’s “History of Painting,” copiously illustrated, and edited by Professor Sidney Colvin, and a work on “Greek and Roman Sculpture,” by Walter Perry. Mr. J. Brander Matthews has an entertaining and gossippy paper on “Actors and Actresses, of New York” in the April Scribner, in which he mentions Miss Claxton as the Henriette of the ‘Two Orphans.” When did she desert the réle of Louise, the blind or- Phan? The second number of the “Bulletin of the Na- tional Philatelical Society,” contains the report of the Postal Card Committee, which presents, as far as the letter G, a list and in most cases a full descrip- tion of the postal cards of the different countries of the world. Sir Charles Dilke has received from New Zealand some relics of Kesta, including the poct’s annotated “Beaumont and Fletcher,” and 8 mass of family let ters containing references to Keats. They were for, warded by Major Brown, of Taranaki, whose father was the friend of the poet. Roberts Brothers are very well pleased with the success of Hamerton's “Life of Turner,” which they recently published. ‘There ix a difference of opinion among artists as to the merits of the book, as there is adifference of opinion among artists as to the merits of its subject. No one, however, can deny that Mr. Hamerton has made an interesting and val- uable volume, Heirs to property, or rather those who think there is some property to which they may be heir, have a chance to find out whether any such has been ad- vertised by consulting that curious publication, now in its eleventh year, ‘‘Gun's Index to Advertisements for Next of Kin, Heirs-at-Law, Legatees and Cases of Unclaimed Moncy.”’ Beatty & Co., Toronto, American agents. “Lautrec,” a poem by John Payne, published in London, is of the school of Baudelaire, and deals with the adventures of a tair young vampire who weds a Crusader and sucks his blood. The extracts quoted in the Alheneum show some power, but it is some comfort that this moon-struck, panther-liko young lady was buried some centuries ago, Perhaps, however, the poem is intended to be typical. Mr. Herbert H. Smith had @ residence of four years in Brazil, being conversant with the people and the language. Ho twice revisited that empire ia the interest of Scribner's, seriously imperilling his life during his last trip in the pestilence stricken pro- vince of Ceara, where, in a population of 75,000, the death rate was then several hundred per day, an ac- count of which has been published in the Hrnanp. © Shakespeare's ‘‘Komeo and Juliet’ has (the Bom- bay Gazette says) been operated on by a Bengali adapter, The result is a drama in Bengali, called “Ajayaintha and Vilasvati;” the sceno is in Rajpu- tana, and all the Montagues and Capuiets sre taken from the ranks of Rajput nobles and princes, Juliet’s belief in the insignificance of names must be rudely tested; she might well exclaim, “Romeo, wherefore art thou Ajaysintha?” Under the title “English Actors’ Honry Holt & Co. have published in two volumes, in their attractive Amateur Series, Henry Barton Baker's “Our Old Ac- tors, from Shakespeare to Macready,” reviewed ut length in these columns from the English edition. ‘Yho contents of these volumes appeared originally in Temple Bar, and attracted wide attention. There aro few more interesting books published on the subject of the stage, and it is a valuable addition to anec- dotal theatrical literature. Colonel John G. James, superintendent of the ‘Texas Military Institute of Austin, has prepared a collection of extracts (rom the writings of eminent Southern authors, such as Sidney Lanicr, Paul H, Hayno, J. R. Tucker, Sam Houston, W. HM. Taylor, A. H, Stephens, Margaret J. Preston, W. H. Trescott, J. R. Randall, L. Q. C. Lamar, Wade Hampton, J. Proctor Knott and others, with a view to their use in Southern schools. Tho work is published by A. 8, Barnes & Co. NEW BOOKS RECRIVED, wal of the Law Rel ig to Shipping ai A Mi Ity as Determined by the Codrts of England ited States By Robert Dosty. Sumner, W « publis! San Francisco ‘The Mail Ci Harry Castleman, Portor & Coates, hiladelphia, reat Home Series, Dross By Mee. Oliphant. Porter & Contes, publishers, ‘Sewor Gases, Their Natate and Origin and How to Pro- tect Que Dwellings. De Va From the Bugle Book Printing Greek He febubr. With w York. + of France and England, A Done into modern Emyliah story of © the Schoubers Cotta Family by the author of Chroniche id, Mead & Uo., wablisbers, FINE ARTS. FIFTY-FOURTH ANNUAL EXHIBITION OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF DESIGN — SECOND NOTICE. Oue striking point to be noted about the exhibi- tion which opens at the Academy by the reception and private view of this evening, is, that after our first tour around the galleries we find it difficult to recall any important canvases which are strikingly Dad, Last year it was just the contrary, and atroci- ously bad pictures stared at us from the line, and are still indelibly impressed upon our memory, Returning to our description and criticism of indis vidual works in the galleries, we note first in the south room James M. Hart's large and seriously studied cattle picture “On the Road,” —— a herd of cattle raising the dust of a cofntry highway, as they puss by a stone fence which en- closes an apple orchard, Though not one of the artist's best pictures it isa good example and a bet~ ter painting than the one from his brush which hung in about the same position last year. The cattle are well grouped in excellent and well contrasted action and carefully painted. The dog, which jumps barking by the side of the bull which heads the herd, is also well given, We find much to praise in the painting of the orchard and of the dusty roadway. On the east wall is a pleasing portrait (319) by Mrs. Jennie Loop, with a well painted face, On the second line, in the northwest corner, is a large view of the ruins of an Egyptian temple (853) by Lockwood de Forest. There is a strong feeling of distance and breadth, real sunlight where the columns rise in the middle distance, and the foreground, in shadow, is in excellent keeping. The drawing here is but fair, and there is a lack of strength of effect in the detail, Near it, on the line, on the west wall, is “Byb-el-Zu- weyleh, Cairo” (357), acareful and very skilfully paint- ed street scene, by Henry A. Ferguson, The chief Points to be noted in it are the excellent local color, the careful architectural drawing and the good per= spective. The effect of sunlight is well managéd, the depth under the arch is finely suggested and the buildings seen down the street through it keep their place. H. W. Robbins has a careful and pleasing landscape, a scene on an Adirondack brook, in which we decidedly object to the introduction in the mid+ dle distance of an insignificant figure. Passing, as we did yesterday to the north gallery, we find near the door leading from the west gallery = simply treated though ineffective study in an Eastern street (191) by Lockwood de Forest. No. 171, on the north wall, is a broadly handled picture by A. H. Wyant—a rolling sky over a broad plain, in the middle distance of which figure is skilfully intro- duced to give perspective value. The painting is ade mirable in its harmony of grayish tones and has » strong feeling of breadth and depth. The portrait (152) of @ well known gentleman, by J.C. Beckwith, is aa excellent one. The face is simply painted, and with knowl every touch being made to tell.’ The figure is well wn, but as we have before said in reference to this painting, the flat expanse of gray overcoat is monotonous and wearies the eye. A portrait head of a lady (148), by J. H. Witt, though zood docs not compare with his other picture al- ready noted as being in the cast room. Above ® stroug bead (138) excellent in flesh and general tone, by Wyatt Eaton, we see a large Breton street scene, by D. M. Armstrong—a better example than we have before seen of his work. George Inness’ masterly little sunset (131), in the soutirwest corner of the gallery, is as good a picture as bis large canvas in the north gallery is a bad one, ‘The Juminous sunset sky 18 a superb ‘piece of work, if we ee the exaggerated clots ot blood which do duty for detached clouds in the ‘centre. The planes ot light and shade are thoroughly well disposed; the trees in the middle distance are massively painted, aud the foreground, with its excellent suggestion of de- tail, holds its place well. The color is rich and strong. A Long Island landscape, by C. H. Miller, on the north wali, bas a sky which is good, though too flat in its upper cloud plane; is excellent in perspective and has well diffused light. On the same wall is a strong head of an old man, noticeably fine in flesh painting, with which we should scarcely credit John Mulvany. Inthe east gallery is a scene, in front of # caravausery at Fiemcen (252), by Samuel Colman, which is rich and solid in color, carefully drawn; has @ good effect of sunlight and # fine olden tone. Walter Shirlaw’s “The Task” is @ nee got ec genre study—a work which does him credit. Kruseman van Elten has in the weet gallery a striking and weil painted picture, “Cornficld in West- chester County” (417). On the line below it isa landscape with two figures (415), which shows a creditable advance in this line, by C. 8. Reinhart. Astrect scene in Venice (470), by A. F. Bunner, is & cleverly painted work. No. 457 is a good castle piece, which shows that J. Ogden Wood is under good for- eign influence and is the best castle painter we have. Atresh little study of a ‘Fisher's Hut on Captree Island” (443) is by Arthur Quartiey, A caretul and neatly painted little interior, by E. L. Henry, is cata- logued No. 434. Near it isone of the most attractive pictures in the collection, an out of door study of some naked boys on a beach, with another seen swim- ming. It is a sparkling little work, full of air and sunlight and superb in its decorative Italian color, The figures ure remarkable for good drawing and simple modelling, also for pure flosh tints. The pose of the two older boys lying on the sand is well taken, and what could be more in- imitable than the tat little fellow, with his face turned to us, who timidly paws the air with a swim. ming stroke? As @ remarkably clever bit of work note the painting of the semi-trausparent air bags which the ~ 4 with his back to us has fastened to his shoulders as life preservers. In the northwest room is @ solidly painted, fiuely drawn picture (521) by EF. i. Smith, “A Winter ‘Day at the Kige of the Woods.” It is an intensely realistic work, which shows what a thorough knowledge the artist has of nature’s wintry phases. ‘Turning into the central gallery, which runs around the entrance stairs, we find @ masterly pic- ture by J. G. Brown—“A Merry Air with a Sad Heart"’ (67)—a poor old fellow playing on the violin aud soliciting charity. It is remarkably strong piece of character painting. The pose, as the old man bends forward and looks up, bis ear attentive to the strain. is admirable, and his tine old face, with its bmp hate om and eee, bow is very expressive a strong! Inted. 'e note an exag- geration in the size of tie tert hand. This artist is also finely represented on an adjoining wail by a number of effective fisher studies at Grand Menan, F. chardt’s “Nydia, the Blind Girl of Portici”’ (62), is ede sentiment. The suggestion of blindness is skilfully managed, so that a painful impression on the spec- tator is obviated. A large upright of a cavalier isa strong work by Duveneck. The face, to which all is subordinated, is painted with rare skill—the very surtace of the solid flesh is felt. The picture is ex- ceedingly fine in tone. ‘Nearing the Issue” (104) is 8 remarkably real, though unuartistic, scene at a cock fight by H. Bonham. It is # sterling bit of low character study. The figures are iu striking, life like poses, and the diverse emotions expressed on their well individualized faces are very skilfully rene dered, No. 122 is astrong and finely modclied head by Walter Shirlaw. In the centre of the sculpture room is J. S. Hurts ley’s graceful and very charming life-size group, “Tbe th’ (613), & handsome young mother, half nude, seated ona rock and drying the body of her unwilling boy, who straggles to get back into the water, in which he has one foot, ‘The figures ara very well modelled and in excellent action, and their lines harmonize fincly. The thick, long hair of the mother falls gracefully over her shoulders apd bangs by a heavy loop to the right, shading her sweet, exe ressive face. We note William R. O'Donovan's good ead of K. Swain Gifford (611), the artist, which does not look as well in — as in the clay; a fine little bust of a lady (604), by Olin L. Warner, and an animal group by Edward’ Kemeys—a fight between @ bison and wolves—which is a very creditable work though not very v ey in action, and with mach elaboration of detail at the expense of the general effect. THE AVERY COLLECTION. ‘The Avery collection of Oriental porcelain is still on view at No, 845 Broadway. Tickets of admission have been distributed among the art students of the National Academy of Design, Art Students’ League, Cooper Institute, Decorative Art Soctety, Young Women’s Christian Association, &c., &. exhi- bition will also be open without charge on Wednes- day evenings, April 2and 9. It is understood that at the next meeting of the trustees of the Metro- politan Musoum ot Art an effort will be made to secure the collection for that institution, HOME ART NOTES. Karl Storch, of Philadelphia, has modelled a bust of Fortany. ‘The little collection of Tanagra statuettes donated by T. G, Appleton are now in place in the Bustom Museum of Art. An exhibition of pictures at tho above institatiog, held under the joint management of the Museum and the Art Club, will open on the 22d prox. and con- tinue until May 24. ‘The Baltimore loan exhibition, which has just closed, has been @ great success artistically and finan. cially, The receipts from entrances and catalogues will reach some $6,000, A committeo will shortly be appointed to select for parchase a number of paint ings from the display tor the permanent art gallery of the Peabody Institute, in which the exhibitiog was eld. Leonard W. Volk, the Chicago sculptor, has com pleted the clay model of his statue, “History,” the second of the four bronze figures which are to be placed on the pedestal of the Douglas monument. ‘The Northumberland County Monument Associ: tion is now erecting at Sunbury & monument of granite to the memory of Colonel James and other Lean e Soe eae by lives during the war, si torty height, will be surmounted by a vine of Caio ry of herote size, for which the clay model has rece | been ear by the Philadelphia seulpto: Eddicot