Mr. Skinner's Stock Exchange Year-Book (Cassell), a compact book of reference full of information ; but we do not like advertisements on the binding. The Insurance Year-Book (Simpkin, Marshall & Co.) is a cheap volume likely to be of use to those about to insure.

We have on our table Great Thoughts for Little Thinkers, by L. T. Ames (Putnam), -The Teaching of Epictetus, translated from the Greek, with Notes, by T. W. Rolleston (Scott), -A First Book of German, by H. C. G. Brandt (Boston, U.S, Allyn & Bacon), Force and Energy, by G. Allen (Longmans), - Elementary Theory of the Tides, by T. K. Abbott (Longmans), -The Jewish Calendar, Manual, and Diary, 18881889-5649, edited by Mrs. R. Myers (Schaap), Qabbalah, the Philosophical Writings of Solomon Ben Yehudah Ibn Gebirol, by I. Myer (Philadelphia, the Author), - Why was It? by L. Benjamin (New York, Belford), -The Curse upon Mitre Square, A. D. 1530-1888, by J. F. Brewer (Simpkin), The Mysteries of New Paris, by F. du Boisgobey, 2 vols. (Vizetelly), - For Abigail, by S. K. Hocking (Warne), -The War Tiger, by W. Dalton (Griffith & Farran), -Kisses of Fate, by E. Heron-Allen (New York, Belford), -A Throw of the Dice, by A. F. Major (Simpkin), - Ernest Fairfield, by the Rev. A. N. Malan (Warne), What Dreams may Come, by F. Lin (New York, Belford), -The Boys' and Girls' Companion, 1888 (C.E.S.S.I.),-Two Fairy Girls, by J. Litart (Laurie), Poetry, Comedy and Duty, by C. C. Everett (Boston, U.S., Houghton),-On Behalf of Belief, Sermons, by the Rev. H. S. Holland (Rivingtons),-La Maison du Temple de Paris, by H. de Curzon (Paris, Hachette), and La Tapisserie, by E. Müntz (Paris, Quantin). Among New Editions we have The Life and Letters of Frederick William Faber, D.D., by J. E. Bowden (Burns & Oates), - The Biblical Treasury, Vol. IX. (S. S.U.), - Wordsworth, by F. W. H. Myers (Macmillan), and Essays of Elia, by Charles Lamb, 2 vols. (Putnam).

Blue Ribbon (The), by Author of 'St. Olave's,' cr. 8vo. 2/bds. Coupland's (W. C.) Elements of Mental and Moral Science

as applied to Teaching, cr. 8vo. 2/6 cl.

Edmond's (Mrs.) Mary Myles, a Study, 2 vols. cr. 8vo. 21/cl.
Hornibrook's (Mrs. E. E.) The Shadow of Nobility, 2/6 cl.
Jefferies's (R.) Field and Hedgerow, Last Essays, collected
by his Widow, cr. 8vo. 6/ cl.

Lee's (M.) Faithful and Unfaithful, cr. 8vo. 3/6 cl.
Levy's (A.) Reuben Sachs, a Sketch, cr. 8vo. 6/cl.

General Literature. Döllinger (I. v.): Akademische Vorträge, Vol. 2, 7m. 50.

NEW YEAR'S DAY, 1889.

NEW YEAR, be good to England. Bid her name Shine sunlike as of old on all the sea:

Make strong her soul: set all her spirit free: Bind fast her homeborn foes with links of shame More strong than iron and more keen than flame: Seal up their lips for shame's sake: so shall she Who was the light that lightened freedom be, For all false tongues, in all men's eyes the same. O last-born child of Time, earth's eldest lord, God undiscrowned of godhead, who for man

Begets all good and evil things that live,

Do thou, his new-begotten son, implored
Of hearts that hope and fear not, make thy span
Bright with such light as history bids thee give.
ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE,

PLOW MONDAY IN THE CITY.

THE first Monday after the Epiphany, otherwise known as Plow Monday, was formerly looked upon as a great state day among the civic dignities, as being the day on which was held "the Great Court of Wardmote," for the purpose of receiving presentments from the several wardmote inquests and of swearing in constables. The aldermen were summoned to attend at the Guildhall in their scarlet gowns, and the Lord Mayor came in state from the Mansion House

accompanied by the sheriffs. In the evening his lordship entertained the officers of his household. The great silver bowl was introduced at the end of the banquet filled with punch, and "pyramids" of cakes and sweetmeats placed on the table with the dessert. Such as were not eaten by the guests were removed and divided into parcels for them to take home, in addition to which there was formerly given a piece of twelfth cake in a separate parcel. The custom of dividing the sweetmeats and cakes was continued down to the mayoralty of Samuel Wilson in 1839, but the twelfth cake was frequently omitted, and in that year the division of the sweetmeats, &c., was also done away with. The practice, however, both as to the sweet cakes and the slice of twelfth cake in a separate parcel, appears to have been again in force ten years later.

At the present day the Great Court of Wardmote continues to sit for the purpose of receiving returns of elections of members of the Common Council for the various wards of the

Religion, cheap edition, cr. 8vo. 2/ bds.
Pollock's (W. H.) A Nine Men's Morrice, cr. 8vo. 6/ cl.
Remedy for Landlordism, cr. 8vo. 2/6 cl.

Waechter's (H.) Chaucer Birthday Book, royal 16mo. 10/6
Walford's (L. B.) A Stiff-Necked Generation, 3 vols. 25/6 cl.

FOREIGN,

Fine Art and Archæology.

St. Thomas's day, viz, December 21st preceding), for hearing objections to any election, and for swearing in ward beadles, the City Marshal, and extra-constables not under the jurisdiction of the Commissioner of Police. All presentments of nuisances, &c., have ceased to

Parts 45-68, 24m.

tertains the officers of his household, but extends his hospitality to a large number of clerks employed in the various offices of the Corporation. In place, however, of the twelfth cake and sweetmeats, each guest is presented with a box containing biscuits or preserved fruit, the box itself being sufficiently handsome, according to the taste and liberality of the Lord Mayor, to be

accurately condense that meaning into the index line which is to express it.

As to the modus operandi, underlining the index subject words is necessary, but not sufficient, for a reason already implied; that is to say, the index should often contain a reference not expressed in words on the page or pages indexed.

The plan of indexing which I have found the simplest is to have two boards divided each into twenty-six spaces, separated by lines-each space being headed by a letter of the alphabet in order - A, B, C, &c. Taking a number of narrow sheets of wide-lined paper, I begin with p. 1, carefully index everything in it under its page number, and proceed in the same way through all the book, giving double references wherever necessary. The entries are put one under the other on the lined paper. Having finished, I cut up the whole, having each entry on a tiny slip of paper containing subject and page the lines of the paper assisting the scissors, the width of each slip being a little less than the width of the spaces on the two boards. I then begin to sort them alphabetically into the spaces on one of the boards, and this finished, I take each of the little piles of slips, beginning with A, and, using the second board, sort them by its aid intodictionary order, the plan of taking them in the order of the first vowels in a word being a good beginning, thus: Barley, Bentwood, Bitumen, Box, Butter, and so on. The divided alphabetical board proves useful at every stage; for in the second sorting Barley goes into the A compartment, Bentwood into the E ditto, and so on. Words with the same first vowel are arranged on the board on the same plan, in the alphabetical order of the consonants, thus: Babington, Bacteria, Badminton, Baffled, Bagdad, &c. As each letter is completed I gum the set on to pieces of paper for the printer, the quickest plan of doing which is to gum the pieces first, and then, having the index slips displayed in their due order on the table, to transfer them in that order to the printer's slips.

FRANCIS GEORGE HEATH.

AMERICAN PUBLISHERS.

New York, Dec. 18, 1888,

In your journal of the 8th inst. is published a letter from Mr. George Moore complaining of the republication by a firm of booksellers in this city (who have only recently interested themselves in publishing ventures) of an unauthorized edition of his latest volume. In the absence of any explanation from the firm in question, Mr. Moore appears to have good ground for his criticism of their action.

I cannot see, however, that his indignation against one American firm (heretofore, as it happens, hardly known as publishers) is any justification for the sweeping ing and inaccurate statement with which he closes his letter, namely, that "all American publishers have stolen English books." It would be precisely as accurate and precisely as sensible for the long list of American authors whose books have been freely "appropriated" by a certain group of English publishers (including firms rich enough and important enough to have arrived at a better standard of business) to assert that "all English publishers have stolen American books." American authors who are fortunate enough to have had business relations with such firms as the Macmillans, the Murrays, and the Longmans know better than to permit their rightful annoyance with the British "reprinters" to mislead them into any such foolish utterances; and there are plenty of English authors who are in a position to bear testimony to satisfactory treatment from American houses of the same character as the above-named English publishers.

THE study of Vedic literature is making rapid progress in every part of India. We noticed some time ago the very careful reprint of Prof. Max Müller's edition of the text of the 'Rigveda-samhita' brought out by the Theosophical Publication Fund in Bombay and Madras. We have just received as a second instalment an edition of the 'Black Yagur-veda-samhita,' carefully edited by Ragârâmasastri and Sivarâmasarma. It is a handy and useful book and wonderfully cheap, its price being only three rupees and eight annas.

From Agra a new edition of the 'Vagasaneyi

samhita' has been sent to us, which is of a more ambitious character. It contains not only the text, but a new commentary composed by Pandit Jwala-Prasad in honour of the Queen's jubilee. Jwala-Prasad has proved himself an excellent representative of native Vedic scholarship, and a worthy rival of Sayana and Mahidhara. Not satisfied with a grammatical and ceremonial explanation of the Yagur-veda, he has added what he calls an adhyatma explanation, which is meant to show a deep philosophical meaning in the Mantras of that purely sacrificial Veda. This part of the work is curious rather than useful, but it gives evidence of considerable familiarity with Vedic and philosophical literature, such as is seldom found among living

Pandits.

NOTES OF CONVERSATIONS WITH THE DUKE OF

WELLINGTON.'

SEVERAL reviewers of the recently published 'Notes,' compiled by the late Lord Stanhope, quote a saying of the Duke of Wellington that Soult was an excellent tactician, but "did not quite understand a field of battle." It is highly improbable that the Duke ever made such a statement. The field of battle is exactly the place where the qualities of a tactician come into play; the plan of campaign is arranged by the strategist. But perhaps the passage has been imperfectly quoted.

While on this subject it may interest some of your readers to hear a characteristic story of the great Duke which was told me by a gentleman principally concerned in the affair.

The Duke of Wellington at one period of his life was rather fond of telling a certain pigsticking story, and persons who knew of this weakness used to lead the conversation so that the great man might have an opportunity of relating his favourite anecdote. But at length he became suspicious, and any allusion to the subject made him extremely angry. About this time-nearly sixty years ago-the Duke was staying at Belvoir. One of the visitors at the

THE STUART EXHIBITION AT THE BRITISH
MUSEUM.

THE authorities of the British Museum have placed for a short time in the King's Library some cases containing a variety of relics of the Stuarts, consisting of manuscripts, books, prints, seals, and medals, and as each piece is labelled difficulty will be encountered by the visitor.

no

Among the MSS., which form the greater part of the display, there is a letter from James II. of Scotland to King Charles VII. of France; one from James III. to Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, c. 1474; holograph letters from James IV. to King Henry VIII., and from Queen Margaret to Cardinal Wolsey; and a signed acquittance by John Stuart, Duke of Albany, to the Treasurer of Languedoc for part payment

for a great ship called "La Michelle descosse," 1517. There is, too, a curiously marshalled coat of arms, 1559, with verses accompanying it showing that they are "the armes of Marie Quene Dolphines of France, the nobillest Ladie in Earth." The letter from Francis, Earl of Bedford, Warden of the East Marches, and Ambassador Randolph, to the English Privy Council, giving a circumstantial narrative of the murder of David Rizzio, 1566; the memoirs of Mary, Queen of Scots, written by her secretary, Claude Nau, 1566-1570; and an original sketch by Lord Burghley of the plan for fitting up the great chamber in Fotheringay Castle for the trial of the queen, are also shown. To these follow a letter of James I. to his son Prince Henry on his taking possession of the crown of England, 1603; poems by Charles I. when prince, entitled 'Florum flores'; the 'Basilicon Doron' of James I., holograph; letter of Arabella Stuart to her husband, William Seymour (2nd Earl of Hertford, 1621); several letters of Charles I.; the king's pledge of his "collar of Esses with a George and Garter" to Lieut. - General Thomas Hamond for 500l. in 1646; and the secret conditions of the treaty between the king and the Scottish Commissioners while he was at Carisbrooke, 1647. Prince Charles's carte blanche, sent, it is believed, to the Parliament for insertion of conditions for saving his father's head, January, 1649, ca cannot fail to produce an impression of the deepest interest. Among other documents are papers relating to the birth of James Francis Edward, Prince of Wales, A.D. 1689; Declaration of James Stuart (James III.) to all his loving subjects, previous to the rising of 1745; and a letter from the Duke of Monmouth to the Queen Dowager, Catherine of Braganza, asking her to intercede for him, written a few days before his execution.

The fine series of seals is divided into two classes, the royal and the family seals. In the first class, which begins with Robert II., 1371, and closes with Henry, Cardinal York, many excellent specimens of Scottish art will be observed. The best seals in this case are those of

James IV., 1488; James VI., 1567; signets of Charles I.; Henrietta Maria, 1625; Catherine of Braganza, 1662; her second seal, 1680; James II. as James VII. of Scots; and Mary of Modena. The second class shows the earliest of all the Stuarts, Walter filius Alani dapifer Regis, c. 1170, from the Melros charters; and the series runs down to Esme Stuart, Duke of Lennox, 1672. The thirteenth century examples are very fine, as, for instance, that of Alexander, son of Walter Stuart, c. 1226. The fourteenth century seals are chiefly armorial. Those of James Stuart, 1501, and Alexander Stuart, 1516, Archbishops of St. Andrews, are curious and intricate.

The medals are not numerous. The best among them appear to be Mary, Queen of Scots, 1587; gold medal of the marriage of James I. with Anne of Denmark, 1590; Roettier's medal of Archbishop Laud, 1660; the coronation medal of Charles II.; the Dutch silver medal of the Restoration, Charles II. embarking at Scheveling, 1660; J. Roettier's larger medal of the Restoration; and Bower's silver medal of James, Duke of Monmouth. One of the most remarkable pieces is a leaden plaque depicting, as is supposed, the details of the murder of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey, 1678. The later medals are fine and curious, but we have no room to describe them. The series ends with Cropanese's medal of Cardinal York, 1788.

The prints and drawings are especially attractive, and they form a fine representative series of portraits. Those of Mary, Queen of Scots, which are numerous, will be much admired, especially the "Carlton" picture and Janet's drawing.

The chief early Scottish literature illustrated is the 'Poetical Remains' of James I. of Scot

land. The life and death of Queen Mary furnish a number of works, and the Rebellion of 1745 is also well represented. One book is of special interest; it is 'The Actis and Constitutiouns of the Realme of Scotland,' folio, Edinburgh, 1566, formerly in the possession of Queen Mary, and the ornamental binding bears her arms heraldically coloured. Of course the works of James I. and the literature of the Eikon Basilike' are exhibited. The printed broadsides and single sheets are numerous. They include an 'Elegy on the Death of James II.'; numerous proclamations; a poem entitled 'Majesty in Misery,' by Charles I. at Carisbrooke, 1648; 'The Blackbird, a poem on the departure of Prince James Francis Edward; a proclamation by the Parliament for the apprehension of "Charles Stuart, son to the late Tyrant," 1651; and an official list of the judges and others appointed to take part in the trial of Charles I.

Literary Gossip.

MR. JAMES WEALE has made a most interesting discovery. Whilst searching for materials for his forthcoming work on bookbinders and bookbinding at the Public Record Office, he had an opportunity of inspecting the ancient binding of the smaller 'Black Book of the Exchequer,' and noticed that two stamps had been used to decorate the leather covers. During his researches elsewhere he ascertained that these

stamps belonged to William Caxton, clearly proving that this valuable volume had been bound or rebound by the famous printer. It is not known that the original stamps are extant, but the payment for the binding should certainly be recorded on the Exchequer Issue Rolls. One thing at least is evident from the foregoing, and that is that the greatest care should be exercised in dealing with old book-covers, and that no one but an expert should be allowed to break up any ancient binding in order to ascertain the composition of the covers.

MESSRS. LONGMAN & Co. will shortly publish in two octavo volumes 'The History of the Corps of Royal Engineers,' by Major-General Whitworth Porter, R.E. The frontispieces are portraits of Sir John Burgoyne and Major-General C. G. Gordon. There will also be five coloured portraits illustrating Engineer uniform at different epochs, mostly from miniatures, sketch plans illustrating sieges, and numerous woodcut illustrations.

seven

poet; and of Mr. H. Dunphie, a veteran journalist, head of the reviewing department and writer of the parliamentary summary of the Morning Post, to which paper he had been attached for over forty years.

MR. JOSEPH JACOBS has been elected a Corresponding Member of the Royal Academy of History at Madrid, as was Prof. Graetz recently. Mr. Jacobs's researches on the history of the Jews during his recent travels in Spain will form the subject of a forthcoming elaborate report.

A WELSH LECTURESHIP FUND has been

zines.

MESSRS. MACMILLAN & Co. will shortly publish a new volume by Mr. Alfred Austin, called 'Love's Widowhood, and other Poems.' DR. ROBERT BROWN has promised to edit Leo Africanus for the Hakluyt Society. The text will be that of Pory ; but it will be revised by the original version Ory, of Ramusio, the Arabic MS. having been lost, while the Latin one of Florianus is neither complete nor accurate. The new version will be prefaced by an introduction on the old Moorish traveller's life and

voyages, and elucidated by copious notes, which will form a commentary on the natural history, ethnology, and geography of Morocco and North Africa generally, as well as by the editor's own observations during journeys of various duration within the last seven years.

THE death is announced of Miss Louisa

M. Gray, who had attained a considerable position as a writer of stories of a quiet domestic character, and of books for the young. Among her best-known works are Mine Own People,' ,''Nelly's Teachers,' and 'Little Miss Wardlaw." Miss Gray was a daughter of the late Rev. Thomas Gray, of the Free Church, Inverurie.

THE Aristotelian Society will hold its first meeting in the new year on January 14th, when Mr. M. H. Dziewicki will read a paper on 'The Scholastic Philosophy, which will set forth the standpoint of neo-scholasticism. Prof. Bain is to read a paper on January 28th on 'The Empiricist Position.' Two symposia are announced, one on the subject 'What takes place in Voluntary Action?' and one on 'The Nature of Force,' to which Prof. Bain, Prof. Dunstan, and Dr. Johnstone Stoney will contribute.

THE deaths are announced of the wellknown theologian Prof. Lechler, the biographer of Wycliffe and the historian of English Deism; of the Rev. Cuthbert Southey, the son and biographer of the

lege, and the Council will appoint its first lecturer in the course of this month.

MR. R. C. LESLIE writes:

"In a notice in the Atheneum of 'Life aboard a British Privateer in the Time of Queen Anne,' exception was taken to the retention in some of the illustrations of the old ensign of St. George, which, as the reviewer rightly says, was not used after the death of Elizabeth. I cannot

plead ignorance of this as an excuse, but (if there is such a thing) an artistic licence, taken in this case from love of the old flag, together with its great value as a broad mass of white, and the difficulty upon a small scale of making the darker ensign tell effectively without the aid of colour."

Mr. Leslie's argument, if pushed to a conclusion, would lead to startling results. Smoke-stacks, for instance, turrets or barbettes, are not exactly things of beauty. Would Mr. Leslie, if painting a picture ofshall we say-the bombardment of Alexsailing ships, similar to those in Sir Oswald andria, represent a number of high-charged Brierly's Elizabethan pictures?

THE Schwäbische Merkur says that the Goethe and Schiller correspondence has been handed over to the Goethe-Archiv at Weimar by the heirs of the lately deceased Baron von Cotta. It appears that the letters were

bought by Friedrich von Cotta, before the death of Goethe's last surviving descendant, in order to save the treasure from being split up into fragments and sold to foreigners. He paid 12,000 marks for the correspondence, and "thereby rescued the honour of the German nation," the Stuttgart journal observes; for it seems that none of the learned corporations or libraries to which the letters had been offered through dealers would buy them. When the Grand Duchess of Saxony founded the Goethe-Archiv, she said it was indispensable to obtain the

correspondence, and at once opened nego

tiations with Baron von

Cotta for its

purchase. time 30,000 marks for his unique treasure, and later as much as 60,000 marks; but as soon as he knew that the Grand Duchess wanted them for the GoetheArchiv, he sold them to her for 12,000

He had been offered at one

marks, the sum which he originally gave for them, merely making the condition that he should retain them during his own lifetime. The agent for the Grand Duchess was the late Prof. Erich Schmidt, the former director of the Goethe-Archiv.

THE chief Parliamentary Papers of the

week are Friendly Societies, Reports for

1887, Part A (18. 9d.); Income Tax on Charities, House of Lords' Return (6d.); and Police, Metropolis, Return (1d.).

SCIENCE

RECENT PUBLICATIONS,

Scripture Natural History. II. Animals mentioned in the Bible. By H. C. Hart. (Religious Tract Society.) - Mr. Hart's volume is very different from one on a similar subject which we had to notice somewhat severely a few months ago. It is, at least, the product of a sensible man who has been in Palestine, and has considerable acquaintance with the habits of animals. The following was certainly written by one who has had practical experience of what he is writing about: "The edible frog fills the air at night with his deafening croaking in those places where there is sufficient marshy ground, as at the Dead Sea, or at Tel el Milh, near Beersheba. The numbers which congre gate together are most astonishing, and if after a few hours' hopeless wakefulness one leaves the tent in despair, it is probable that the first marshy pool examined will appear almost to break up and vanish, as the frogs which filled it en masse move away in detachments. But they do not cease croaking because they are disturbed. They will surround the intruder and croak apparent defiance on all sides, and their per sistent monotony is worse than either jackals, cicadas, or dogs." A candid consideration of the natural history of the Bible, of course, raises some difficulties. This is the way Mr. Hart deals with a classical case: "The fish spoken of in Jonah i. 17 could not have been a true cetacean, since all of that class are possessed of small swallowing powers. It is better to regard

the 'great as an interposition of Providence than to deal with its zoological position." It seems to be a pity that Mr. Hart has given the Hebrew characters of the Hebrew names of

animals, for they give an air of pretentiousness to a work which may well be useful in a simple way. It has a number of zoological faults on the technical side, and, as our quotations show, the English is far from perfect; but it is, on the whole, the kind of book which, within its limits, is as good as we may reasonably expect to get.

Our Nurses and the Work they have to Do

(Ward, Lock & Co.), by Miss (?) O'Neill and Miss Barnett, is a sensible volume containing much information clearly expressed.-Another volume of sound popular science is The Health Lectures delivered in Manchester between 1886 and 1888 (Heywood). Eleven series of these excellent addresses have now been delivered. El Dorado, von F. A. Junker von Langegg (Leipzig, W. Friedrich), is a history of the voyages of discovery undertaken in the course

of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in search of the "great and golden city of Manoa, which the Spaniards call El Dorado." After a short historical introduction the author deals successively with the "Goldfahrten" of the

Germans, the Spaniards, and the English. The Welsers of Augsburg, to whom Charles V. had granted in 1528 the privilege of colonizing the modern Venezuela, dispatched several expeditions whose leaders were as remarkable for their courage and enterprise as they were for their cruelty towards the poor Indians. Their privileges were withdrawn in 1554, and from that ried on exclusively by time until 1582 the "search for gold" was car

Spaniards. The "search

may be said to have terminated with Sir W.

11

Raleigh's abortive expeditions, which brought their noble author to the scaffold. Herr von Langegg is deserving of thanks for having presented us with a succinct account of so remarkable an epoch in the history of geographical ex

ploration. His narrative is accompanied by

interesting notes, but there is index nor a much-needed map.

Proceedings and Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada. Vol. IV. (Montreal, Dawson Brothers.) This imposing quarto contains the record of the Society's work for the year 1886,

and there is no question that it is a very creditable record. The first section of the Transactions dealing with French literature, history, and archæology-is printed in French. Here we find an eloquent éloge of one of the prominent members of the section-the late M. Oscar Dunn, a brilliant Canadian journalist, who died at the early age of forty, and whose memory is likely to survive in connexion with his 'Glossaire Franco-Canadien.' In the second sectionwhich is devoted to English literature, history, and archæology-Prof. Daniel Wilson discourses in a very learned manner on the curious subject of 'Right and Left Handedness.' He arrives at the conclusion that left-handedness is due to an exceptional development of the right hemisphere of the brain, in, and being himself naturally lefthanded-though by education he uses the right hand with equal facility-he is anxious that after death his theory should be tested by the scientific examination of his own cerebral hemispheres. The third section of the Transactions is given up to papers on mathematical, physical, and chemical science-among which we note an elaborate essay by Dr. Sterry Hunt on 'The Genetic History of Crystalline Rocks,' in which he supports the crenitic hypothesis brought forward in a previous volume. Among the communications in the fourth section-a section dedicated to the geological and biological sciencesmention may be made of the presidential address by Sir William Dawson, wherein he discusses certain points in which American geological science is indebted to Canada. On the whole, the new volume impresses the reader with

دو

the conviction that the Dominion is doing its

best to keep pace with the intellectual activity of the age.

The Sailor's Pocket-Book: a Collection of Practical Rules, Notes, and Tables for the Use of the Royal Navy, the Mercantile Marine, and Yacht Squadrons. By Capt. F. G. D. Bedford, R.N., C.B. Fifth Edition, Revised and Enlarged. (Portsmouth, Griffin & Co.) -Capt. Bedford's 'Sailor's Pocket-Book' is too well known and too fully established to need more mention than a statement of the simple fact that the fifth edition, now published, has been carefully revised and in the several sections brought up to date. Important additions have been made to the information on lights and buoys, the particulars of docks abroad, and the quality, price, and supply of coal. The only criticism we can offer is that the book, increasing in bulk as it increases in positive value, is approaching the extreme limit compatible with its name of "pocket-book." It is for Capt. Bedford to determine whether it will be equally useful to the profession as the nautical cyclopædia which it threatens to be

come.

ASTRONOMICAL NOTES.

THE total eclipse of the sun on New Year's Day appears to have been well observed in California and Nevada, and large numbers of photographs of the corona were taken at different stations. Search was made for an intra-Mercurial planet, but none was seen. One observer is reported to have discovered a comet near the

sun.

A more accurate calculation by Herr Lange of the elements of the orbit of the small planet No. 279 shows that although its mean distance from the sun is greater than that of any other known small planet, it is less than was at first supposed, amounting to 4.247, and even at aphelion the distance does not exceed 4.706, which is 0-24 less than the perihelion distance of Jupiter.

We have received another instalment of the Madras Observations, containing the results of those made with the meridian circle in the years 1865, 1866, and 1867. It will be remembered that Mr. Pogson published about a year and a half ago the first volume of this series, containing the results of stellar observations obtained

leading through a pastoral country.

We have received the number of the Memorie della Società degli Spettroscopisti Italiani for October. It contains Prof. Tacchini's tabulation of the solar phenomena observed at Rome during the third quarter of 1888, and a paper by Father Fényi (extracted from the Memoirs of the Hungarian Scientific Academy) on the remarkable outburst of solar activity in the summer of 1887, in which a protuberance was noticed, on the 29th of July, to rise to a height of 178,000 kilomètres; also a continuation of the diagrams of the spectroscopical images of the sun's limb as seen during the summer and autumn of 1885.

Himmel und Erde is the title of a new monthly illustrated periodical which is now published in Berlin as the organ of the Gesellschaft Urania, a society recently established there for the purpose of diffusing a taste for the study of the natural sciences. As may be supposed from the title, a large portion of the matter is devoted to astronomy and the sciences connected with it.

SOCIETIES.

GEOLOGICAL.-Dec. 19.-Dr. W. T. Blanford, President, in the chair.-Rev. S. Gasking, Messrs. W. J. L. Abbott, Burrows, J. W. Evans, F.

Heathcote, C. Hudson, B. MacNeill, M. Marshall, and F. F. Walton were elected Fellows. -The following communications were read: 'Trigonocrinus, a New Genus of Crinoidea from the "Weisser Jura" of

Bavaria, with Description of New Species, T.liratus; Appendix I. Sudden Deviations from Normal Symmetry in Neocrinoidea; and Appendix II. Marsupites testudinarius, Schl., sp.,' by Mr. F. A. Bather, Archæocyathus, Billings, and on other Genera allied thereto or associated therewith, from the Cambrian Strata of North America, Spain, Sardinia, and Scotland,' by Dr. G. J. Hinde, and 'On the Jersey Brick Clay,' by Dr. A. Dunlop.

MEETINGS FOR THE ENSUING WEEK.

MON. London Institution, 5. - Art and Artists, Mr. H. Furniss,

Victoria Institute, 8- Ethnology and Ancient Chronology of
China, Surgeon-General Gordon.

Royal Academy, 8.- Painting, Mr. J. E. Hodgson.
Geographical, Journey over the Central Plateau of Africa,
from Natal to Benguella, and past the Sources of the Zambesi
to the Sources of the Congo, Mr. F. S. Arnot.

TUES. Royal Institution, 3- Clouds and Cloudland, Prof. Dewar (Juvenile Lecture).

Society of Architects, 7.- Ancient Lights, Mr. E. Farman.
Biblical Archæology, 8.-Anniversary Meeting.

Civil Engineers, 8-Ballot for Members: The Compound Prin-
ciple applied to Locomotives, Mr. E. Worthington.
Anthropological Institute, Distribution and Density of the
old British Population of Hampshire, Mr. T. W. Shore;
Monument known as "King Orry's Grave" compared with
Tumult in Gloucestershire, Miss A. W. Buckland

WED. Geological, 8.- Growth of Crystals in Igneous Rocks after their Consolidation, and 'Tertiary Volcanoes of the Western Isles of Scotland, Prof. J. W. Judd.

Microscopical, 8.- Observations on the Special Internal Anatomy
of Uropoda krameri, Mr. A. D. Michael; Reproduction and
Multiplication of Diatoms, Abbé Count F. Castracane.
Huguenot, 8.- 'The Huguenot Settlement at Portarlington,' Rev.
Canon Floyd.

THURS. Royal, 4.

FRI.

SAT.

London Institution, 6-Pygmies,' Prof. Flower.
Royal Academy 8.- Painting, Mr. J. E. Hodgson.
Mathematical, 8-Results of substituting Differential Symbols
in the general Quadric Ternary Form, and operating on the
Product of Two or more Forms of any Order in Terms of
Second Differential Coefficients only, the President; 'A
Theorem in Combinations, Mr. R. W. Christie.

THE death is announced of Dr. Parkinson, F.R.S., of St. John's College, Cambridge, after a long illness that terminated rather suddenly. He was the author of a well-known manual of elementary mechanics and a 'Treatise on Optics' which had also gone through several editions.

FROM a rough map of Count Teleki's expedition just published we learn that the Baso Nerok or Rudolf Lake, recently discovered by him, extends from north to south for about 180 miles, its northern extremity being in latitude 4° 45′ N. It is a salt lake, into which several important rivers discharge themselves. The Turkan, who inhabit the western shore of the lake, are one of the tribes with whom Emin Pasha has long since opened friendly intercourse. The distance from the lake to Wadelai, Emin's recent headquarters, does not probably exceed

FINE ARTS

ROYAL SOCIETY of PAINTERS in WATER COLOURS -The WINTER EXHIBITION of SKETCHES and STUDIES 18 NOW OPEN. -5, Pali Mall East, from 10 till 5-Admission, Is. Catalogue, 6d.

ALFRED D. FRIPP, R. W.S., Secretary.

NEW GALLERY, Regent Street. - EXHIBITION of the ROYAL HOUSE of STUART. NOW OPEN from 10 AM. to 7 PM.-Admission, 18; Season Tickets, 5s.

'THE VALE OF TEARS.'-DORE'S LAST GREAT PICTURE, completed a few days before he died, NOW ON VIEW at the Doré Gallery, 35, New Bond Street, with 'Christ leaving the Prætorium,' 'Christ's Entry into Jerusalem, The Dream of Pilate's Wife,' and his other great Pictures. From 10 to 6 Daily. -Admission, 18.

Musical Instruments, Historic, Rare, and Unique. By A. J. Hipkins. Illustrated. (Edinburgh, Black.)

THIS book treats of the decoration and history of a number of curious and beautiful instruments of various kinds and many ages and countries. It is not a complete history, and it does not pretend to explain exhaustively the mechanics of musical instruments. Still, the remarks on their constructional development, which is the ever present and connecting link in their history, are amply sufficient, and the relics themselves have been delineated by Mr. William Gibb, of Edinburgh, with rare skill. Not a few of them have much historic and personal interest, such as the so-called Queen Mary's harp, Rizzio's guitar, Queen Elizabeth's lute and her virginal, of the original ownership of all of which, except the last, Mr. Hipkins avows himself by no means certain. It is evident that he does not believe the legends which have so long clung to them. He would, no doubt, as soon believe in the Horn of Roland as in the story that the lute at Helmingham, which bears the date 1580, was the gift of the Virgin Queen to a child christened in 1561. He admits, however, that the lute may have been Elizabeth's, and that the tradition attributing it to her may have been corrupted, without being entirely false. Artistically speaking, the lute is one of the most beautiful things of its kind.

There have been, in fact, so many stories associating musical instruments with distinguished persons that Mr. Hipkins is on his guard at every turn. He is on safer ground when delineating and describing the noble harpsichord his own firm, the Broadwoods, made for Maria Theresa nearly a century and a quarter ago, which is now at Brussels; the green and gold harp constructed for George IV., a charming instrument on which more than one Lady Heron is supposed to have played; or the beautifully painted Ruckers clavecin made for Marie Antoinette. The silver trumpets of the Queen, and the great state kettledrum of silver draped with the royal banner, find place in Mr. Hipkins's volume, and so does the trumpet which sounded the charge at Salamanca, of which Wellington's trumpeter spoke in noble words :

"I trembled all over as I lifted my trumpet to my mouth, for I could see what the boys had before them; but as soon as my lips touched the mouthpiece fear left me, and I blew such a charge as I never had before or could afterwards."

It is figured here along with the lituus of the Roman cavalry, more than five feet in length, and the buccina of bronze found at Pompeii. The buccina is represented on Trajan's Column, and was much used by Le Brun for his battlepieces. Its shape survived in the old-fashioned French horn. It had a bugle quality in tone, says Mr. Hipkins, but that quality must have been decidedly poor. To these our author has added a few beautiful illustrations of Asiatic instruments, such as the Siamese khong yai of eighteen metal kettles on a circular stand, a commendable instrument of its kind, which has analogues all over Polynesia and in the most savage islands; and the highly ingenious Japanese koto, a thirteen-stringed contrivance it would have puzzled Apollo to play upon. Finally, we have the South African marimba, made by the Mindonga tribe, a sort of harmonicon. This, rude as it is, is by no means to be despised even for its musical qualities, which are considerable; it is a picturesque-looking thing, and has been longer known in this country than any other barbaric instrument. On the other hand, the koto is comparatively a novelty here. The Siamese saw tai, or fiddle, is the same as the Javese rahab, and is, we are told, of Persian origin. Its like is known in Egypt, and about a hundred years ago a man created a tremendous sensation in London by playing on what was called the bladder and string. In this contrivance a single string was stretched over a bladder attached to a long staff; it was, like the rahab (which has three strings), played with a long bow. Hogarth represented it in one of his earlier satires, and placed it on a level with the salt-box and the marrow-bone and cleaver, which were popular instruments of rough music till within living memory. Mr. Hipkins, who has not forgotten even the Indian tam-tam of earthenware, has a complimentary word for the skill of the beaters of the tabla, or Hindoo kettledrum of copper, to which history ascribes an immemorial origin. If the development theory of Mr. Rowbotham is true, and we should recognize archetypal music in the performances of the drum, these things demand ourreverence. Although he condescends to tam-tams, Mr. Hipkins maintains a stern silence regarding the banjo, an instrument which even Carl Engel vouchsafed to mention, although with scorn, as the Senegambian bania imported by negro slaves to America. Since then Lartet and others have declared a bone whistle discovered in the Dordogne to be the most ancient known instrument of

sound.

Mr. Hipkins, as in duty bound, has a good deal to say about the historical sequence of improvements, and changes which were not always improvements from either a musical or decorative point of view. For instance, he quotes Count Valdrighi of Modena's note on the invention of the improved bassoon, which Carl Engel observed had been | ascribed to the Canon Afranio, of Ferrara, in 1539. Although it was stated that this instrument is an improved bombardo (as was obvious enough) rather than a new invention, it was not known that Afranio's invention was of the nature of a corna musa

(cornemuse, or bagpipe), and was much developed by Scheltzer (Schnitzer) of Nuremberg, who rejected the bag and united the two tubes into the fagotto of the

soon.

This solution of this mystery was discovered in a very unlikely place, " in an introduction to the Chaldee language, published in 1539," and written by the nephew of Afranio, who was Professor of Chaldee and Syriac at Bologna. Of course the corna musa or musette, which both Handel and Bach seem to have approved, was by no means the same as the Highland bagpipes or that still more powerful apparatusthe ancient Irish bagpipes, to which Joseph Walker did not hesitate to ascribe a "high antiquity," as he called it, although he mentioned the tenth century A.D. only, which is as yesterday in comparison with the alleged date of most Irish inventions connected with the arts.

Not a few improvements are of unexpectedly modern origin; thus the principle of the Chinese mouth organ, or shêng, which has seventeen sounding pipes, each furnished with a small brass free reed, sounded by drawing in the wind, not forcing it outwards, as in the present American organ, was adopted by a Russian organ-builder about a century ago. Analogous to the sheng, which is of great antiquity, is the Siamese phan, which is generally a solo instrument, and not devoid of a certain kind of charm. The triple-strung Welsh harp, popularly supposed to have been used in that dim and distant past of which so many strange things have been alleged, is a comparatively modern affair, although it is of extremely primitive construction and very limited power. On the survival of ancient instruments, or rather their retention, Mr. Hipkins has some excellent remarks in the introduction to this work. He says that it is a question whether some musical instruments of special character should not be retained for use, or be made again when that character cannot be expressed by any other instrument. If this were done the viola d'amore, the viola da gamba, the harpsichord, clavichord, and the old German flute (with improvements as regards the last) would again be heard with pleasure. The fact is, this is a matter for composers, who may not be averse to doing as Handel and some of his successors did when they used certain instruments which were already passing out of vogue.

An excellent and thoroughly well-arranged introduction comprises the staple of our author's views of the subject at large, while special comments are to be found placed beside the beautiful illustrations of Mr. William Gibb. This system of treatment saves much repetition as well as trouble to the reader. The specimens have been taken from that incomparable collection of musical instruments which ought to be the pride of South Kensington (but is relegated to darksome corridors and cases in dim corners), and also from private collections in England and Scotland. This has allowed the author to include such supremely interesting examples as the socalled "Queen Mary's harp," now in the possession of Mr. C. Durrant Steuart of Dalguise, the least injured Gaelic harp in existence, and, although much smaller (31 in. by 18 in.) than popular fancy, based upon ridiculous pictures, conceives, it is quite a noble specimen of its kind. It is one of seven Gaelic harps that may be dated

of which, including this one, are certainly older than the sixteenth century. The other two are the Lamont harp, represented on plate iii., and the so-called harp of Brian Boru, now at Dublin. Of the extreme antiquity suggested by the name of the Hibernian chieftain we may say at once that there is no evidence whatever. Queen Mary's harp seems to us the older of two here figured; the Irish specimen closely resembles that delineated on plate ii., and is inferior to it in design and beauty.

The three harps unquestionably belong to the same school of craftsmanship, which is distinctly Celtic, although there is nothing in either the Lamont harp or that which bears the name of Mary of Lorraine, who is said to have given it to Beatrix Gardyn, of Banchory, which need compel us to consider them older than the fifteenth century at the outside. We may presume, if need be, that the latter is a copy of a still older harp, but there is nothing in its construction or decorations unsuited to the fifteenth century, for although the style had died out long before, say c. 1350, in more advanced regions, yet it still existed north of the Highland Line and west of the Pale in Ireland. All over the Highlands, especially in Aberdeenshire and Argyleshire, abundance of Romanesque as well as quasiCeltic carvings like those on the harp of Mary of Lorraine are found on gravestones and tomb crosses of many sizes and dates. In Scandinavia carving of this kind is produced to this day, and has been produced for more than a thousand years. The probabilities are that the widow of James V. of Scotland bought the finest Aberdeenshire harp she could get. It seems unlikely that, desiring to give a harp to a young lady, she would elect to give her an ancient one. Mr. Hipkins says the strings of this instrument were of brass, twentynine in number, and sounded by the player's finger-nails, which were allowed to grow long for the purpose. According to this the ancient phrase indicating that harpers "pinched their strings did not apply to Highland instruments. He notices acutely that the bow of the Lamont harp cannot, as it now exists, be original, for it resembles the Irish bow and that of the Lorraine harp, while the instrument itself appears to have always had thirty-two strings, and for the three extra treble strings a longer bow was required. The bow here represented is clumsier and much less well designed than the corresponding portion of the Lorraine harp.

Of the musical capacity of these instruments we have an interesting record by John Evelyn, who mentions a certain Mr. Clarke, "a gentleman of Northumberland," as an admirable player on the Gaelic or Irish harp, "who makes it execute lute, viol, and all the harmony an instrument is capable of; pity it is that it is not more in use; but, indeed, to play well takes up the whole man, as Mr. Clarke has assur'd me," who was "brought up to that instrument from 5 years old." "Such music before or since did I never hear, that instrument being neglected for its extraordinary difficulty; but, in my judgment, far superior to the lute itself, or whatever speaks with strings."

Mr. Hipkins is careful to mention