tastes are not a bit advanced beyond beer, bacon, and baccy; and whose shocking ignorance of all kinds of polite literature would horrify the "Morning Post." Astonishing as it seems, these rural ignorami do manage to form estimates not widely erroneous, whether their sons and daughters learn what is useful or not; and the education of a village progresses very much according in proportion to the utility of its school. These things being so, it has struck Dean Dawes, and many more who follow in the same course, that the better we make these schools, the more are we raising the poor, and especially that generation which will soon people England and her vast empire; and that by thus giving them the keys and seeds of knowledge, we can most effectually chasten and elevate their "thoughts and habits" towards the standard of civilization for which the "Post" yearns. How this common object is to be furthered by the spirit in which our contemporary attacks the Dean of Hereford, we have not yet sufficiently advanced "habits of thought" to understand. Apart from the vulgarity of charging the plebeian sum of "sixpence for his lecture," most people would be puzzled to understand what it contains to raise the bile of a polite educationist: so little, indeed, is the cause of this onslaught apparent, that though the Dean devotes forty pages to a forcible and masterly exposition of the great educational necessities of the day, the only portions on which the "Post" bases its attack occupy less than two. They consist only of an approval of Mr. Trevelyan's offer of opening certain offices as a premium to successful scholars, and of an illustration of the worst of the bad habits the "Post" is so anxious to remove, taken from the county of Hereford, in which the Dean lives, and from which he derives his experiences and naturally draws his examples. Ignoring the volume of good sense within the compass of the same pages, the critic of the "Post" pounces on these isolated passages and on one misworded sentence which aggrieves his fine sense of classical propriety, and thereupon vents splenetic remarks which are worthy of notice, only because they usefully indicate one of the masked batteries of which the cause of education has still to beware. The Dean of Hereford is obnoxious to the "Morning Post,"—not because he approves of Civil Service Examinations,-or falls foul of drunkenness; but because he, of all men, has thrown himself boldly and heartily into the cause of human progress, aiding its great struggles to make head against the selfish interests and foolish dogmas which have their stronghold in ignorance. It is because he disregards the mindless formalism of the worshippers of "mint, anise, and cummin," who would trammel education in her onward way with their tethers and fetlocks on the one side, and the morbid fanaticism which would cast it after its own image, and dwarf it to its own pigmy dimensions, on the other. It is because he has spread, broadcast, the glorious treasures of knowledge, scattering its hoarded riches in their fulness among all ranks and orders of men,-dealing with the same hand, power to the behests of modern intelligence and death-blows to the dynasty of those obsolete opinions and effete interests, of which for half a century the "Morning Post" was the servile advocate, and is still the lingering ally. Hence, the anxiety of our contemporary that the education of the youth of England should be deferred till the older generation be raised in taste and habits of thought; in other words, that what is practicable should be postponed to what is impracticable. Hence, also, the rancour of such writers against those who, like the Dean of Hereford, Canon Moseley, the National Society, Lord J. Russell, Lord Ashburton, Dr. Booth, Mr. Goodwin, Lord Stanley, Mr. Pears and many others, decline this retrograde policy, and do the work their hand findeth to do with a will and a power to do it well and wisely, which under God's blessing, is the best surety of success, and will earn for them a reputation no less enduring than brilliant as the worthiest benefactors of their fellow men, alike in time and eternity. Mathematical Dictionary and Cyclopædia of Mathematical Science. By Charles Davies, LL.D., and William Peck, Esq. Pp. 592. New York: Barnes & Co. London: Sampson, Low, & Son, 1855. This is a very valuable book, and admirably illustrated, as well as plainly and nicely printed (an unusual subject for praise for an American book, for transatlantic types are usually signally devoid of beauty and symmetry, and have a meagre and ugly aspect, which this work avoids more than most we see).* The definitions are for the most part good and accurate, but not always so terse and comprehensive as the nature of the book requires. 'Exponent,' for instance, should, in its simple form, be explained as the multiplier of the quantity over which it is placed, instead of "a number written to the right, and above a quantity, to show how many times it is to be taken as a factor," which is verbose, and wanting in precision; yet exponent occurs frequently throughout the work as a radical term, explanatory of others. A fraction is said to be "A collection of equal parts of 1." If so, what is or Certainly not a "collection," but one part only. Why not adopt, even in the United States, the definition framed by this JOURNAL-' one or more equal parts of one?' If we were writing in America, we should extol this invention of ours; as we are on the modest side of the Atlantic, we humbly submit it to the better discretion, and recommend it with all due diffidence and deference, to the adoption of our brethren on the other side. The authors say that it has been " a leading object of this work to define, with precision and accuracy, every term which is used in mathematical science; and to afford, as far as possible, a definite, perspicuous, and uniform language. "2. A second object is, to present, in a popular and condensed form, a separate and yet connected view of all the branches of mathematical science. "3. The work has also been prepared to meet the wants of the general reader, who will find in it all that he needs on the subject of mathematics. He can learn from it the signification and use of every technical term, and can trace such term, in all its connections, through the entire science. He will find each subject as fully treated as the limits of the work will permit, and the relations of all the parts to each other carefully pointed out." * Some of the matrices are cut, however, out of the perpendicular, and the letters do not always range. X It is but fair to admit that the book really justifies, in the main, all these commendations. The design, to use full and accurate definitions, is, on the whole, less successfully executed than the execution of mathematical processes, which are usually clear and good, though the authors might have benefitted by previously reading one or two of our recently published works on dynamics. The work is certainly a very valuable addition to scholastic and scientific literature. Lessons in General Knowledge. By Robert James Maine, M.D. Pp. 368. London: Longmans, 1856. We have already expressed our approval of the very interesting and instructive lessons in general knowledge which this book contains. They are interesting and instructive to children without being either prosy or curt. There are one or two mistakes which it would be well to correct, ex. gr., p. 322, it is stated that "visible points not more than ninety yards in diameter can be seen, with Rosse's telescope, on the moon." On the contrary, none much less than a mile in diameter can be seen distinctly. Thus the small projections seen on what has been deemed to be sea in the moon, are no proofs that it is not sea; it is much more probable that these are volcanic islands. The lessons on the steam-engine, mountain chains, and Esquimaux, the telescope, Herschel, and those relating to the animal frame, are admirably written, and reflect great credit on the learned author. Principles of English Grammar. By James Douglas. Eleventh edition. Pp. 174. Edinburgh: Black. London: Longmans, 1855. sense. Mr. Douglas has been long known as the successful author of one of our best and simplest grammars for schools. There are, however, in it some mistakes, or at least axioms such as we deem erroneous. For instance, Mr. Douglas holds to impersonal verbs. We maintain that there are none whatever. "It rains," for example, does admit of a nominative; for there is one in the phrase of which it is merely the elliptical expression; for the weather, or state of the weather, is, that it rains: the pronoun is impersonal, but not the verb, for it is used in its natural and conjugable We have no analogous expression or verb to " oportet ;" and grammarians only get to sea in trying to latinize English syntax. Sometimes new laws are laid down a little too oracularly: "Collective nouns conveying plurality of idea require a verb in the plural, as, the people shout." Will Mr. Douglas go the length of saying that "The Cabinet meets to-morrow" is bad grammar? Nouns of multitude admit of either singular or plural verbs, is a good old rule. The use of two negatives is not sufficiently defined to guard against the common blunder in such a sentence as this, "He can not read nor write ; or this, "He can neither read or write." Most of the definitions are, however, simple and good; but some expressions used are singularly inaccurate: "What kind of a pronoun is which?" This is strange English, and should not occur in a book on grammar; nevertheless, on the whole, the book is good. An Improved System of Geography. By Francis McNally. The Maps are pretty fairly executed in this atlas, though there are tremendous halos round the islands. It contains altogether some very valuable information, which consists chiefly of descriptions of different countries, and their manufactures, &c. But this information is defective, for instance: "The coal-mines of Derby and Northumberland are very extensive ;" thus entirely omitting those of Cumberland, Yorkshire, and Leicestershire. London, we learn, is chiefly noted for its seminaries !! The most defective part of the book is the spelling, which is shocking; ex. gr., “jewelry," "woolens," "skepticism." There are some useful statistics at the end. The most valuable part here is the series of maps of the United States which are elaborate, and we dare say accurate beyond anything within the compass of our Schools, though the descriptive geography of other countries is remarkably fair, and generally very correct. Analytical View of Sir I. Newton's Principia. By Lord Brougham, F.R.S., and E. J. Routh, B.A. Pp. 442. London: Longmans. The objects of this work cannot be better explained than in the introductory words of the editors. It is "First, to assist those who are desirous of understanding the truths unfolded in the Principia, and of knowing upon what foundation rests the claim of that work to be regarded as the greatest monument of human genius; secondly, to explain the connection of its various parts with each other, and with the preceding and subsequent progress of science." Two classes of readers to whom the Principia has hitherto been well nigh a sealed book will find the analytical view specially adapted to their cases. The first class consists of those who, without going into the reasoning or examining the grounds, wish to obtain a general, and at the same time a connected, idea of the discoveries which Newton made, and the results of them. The second class, those who, with only a moderate amount of mathematical knowledge, are desirous of understanding the reasoning by which the discoveries were made. The difficulties that have hitherto met these classes from the synthetical method adopted in the original work, and also from the antiquated mathematical processes, are too well known to the world at large. The analytical view is drawn up in such a manner that these two classes may study it independently: directions are given in the introduction what portions of the work may be omitted by non-mathematical readers, without breaking the links in the general view. Let it not, however, be supposed, that the analytical view will be found useless to the professed mathematician: we venture to assert, that by no class will it be more appreciated. The connection of the different parts of the Principia, the relation of its principles to the preceding and subsequent stages of science, the substitution of the analytical for synthetical, and of algebraic for geometric methods, the various ramifications into which the discoveries have developed themselves, their practical uses, the general corroboration, both of the processes of discovery and of the discoveries themselves by modern mathematicians, together with the occasional correction of the errors into which Newton fell,-all these topics, ably handled, make the work a most valuable commentary on the text of the Principia, at once suggestive, inventive, and instructive. It will hardly be expected that we should enter upon a criticism of this work, or even upon an analysis of its contents. We conceive that we shall have done more service to our readers by stating, as we have done, almost in the words of its authors, the general plan pursued, and the objects contemplated. We have perused portions of it with the greatest satisfaction, and feel confident that all who follow our example will express a similar opinion. A Dictionary of Epithets. By C. D. Yonge. Pp. 96. London: Longmans. A useful little manual, the object of which is to supply the sense, as well as the quantity, of the substantives which form the subjects of an ordinary Latin Gradus, and of the epithets which qualify them. Of all old school-books, the "Gradus ad Parnassum was the most deficient, affording, as it did, great assistance in the mechanical formation of verses, but totally devoid of all that would minister to sense or taste: supplying the elements for the manufacture of hexameters and pentameters, but doing nothing for poetry per se. Mr. Yonge's works are constructed on a truer principle: to each epithet he adds the meaning in English, thus leading the pupil to consider whether the word that will suit in scansion will also suit in sense, and occasionally suggesting ideas where ideas are wanting. His "Gradus" is adapted for the higher classes: the "Dictionary of Epithets " is intended as introductory to the more advanced work, for the use of the lower classes. The Geographical Word-Expositor. By E. Adams, T. C. B. Pp. 148. London: Longmans. The title explains the object of this little work: it contains an etymological exposition of the technical terms and expressive names connected with geography. Thus: "VENEZUELA signifies Little Venice, and was so called by the Spaniards, who, when they beheld the Indian villages erected on piles in Lake Maracaybo, thought it resembled Venice." 66 PUNJAB, signifies the country of the five rivers or waters; punj, meaning five." "ABERCONWAY, a town situated at the mouth of the river Conway; aber, meaning mouth, or more properly, the confluence of waters, whether it be of two rivers, or of a river and a sea.' These specimens are sufficient to give an idea of the general run of the book, which will be found of use to pupil-teachers, and the upper classes in schools. Card of Latin Prosody. By E. Walford, M.A. London: Longmans. The student will find in this Card all that he requires to know on the subject of Latin Prosody. The general rules of quantities and versification, the nature of the feet, and the ordinary systems of metre, are all explained clearly and correctly. |