THE BRIDE'S TRAGEDY.

"THE wind wears roun', the day wears doun, The moon is grisly grey;

There's nae man rides by the mirk muirsides,

Nor down the dark Tyne's way."
In, in, out and in,

Blaws the wind and whirls the whin.

"And winna ye watch the night wi' me,
And winna ye wake the morn?
Foul shame it were that your ae mither
Should brook her ae son's scorn."
In, in, out and in,

Blaws the wind and whirls the whin.

O blithe and braw were the bride-folk a',
But sad and saft rode she;

And sad as doom was her fause bridegroom,

But fair and fain was he.

In, in, out and in,

Blaws the wind and whirls the whin.

"And winna ye bide, sae saft ye ride,
And winna ye speak wi' me?
For mony's the word and the kindly word
I have spoken aft wi' thee."
In, in, out and in,

Blaws the wind and whirls the whin.

"My lamp was lit yestreen, Willie,
My window-gate was wide:

But ye camena nigh me till day came by me
And made me not your bride."
In, in, out and in,

Blaws the wind and whirls the whin,

He's set his hand to her bridle-rein,

He's turned her horse away:

And the cry was sair, and the wrath was mair,

And fast and fain rode they.

In, in, out and in,

Blaws the wind and whirls the whin.

But when they came to Chollerford,

I wot the ways were fell;

For broad and brown the spate swang down,
And the lift was mirk as hell.
In, in, out and in,

Blaws the wind and whirls the whin.

"And will ye ride yon fell water,
Or will ye bide for fear?

Nae scathe ye'll win o' your father's kin,
Though they should slay me here."
In, in, out and in,

Blaws the wind and whirls the whin.

"I had liefer ride yon fell water,
Though strange it be to ride,
Than I wad stand on the fair green strand
And thou be slain beside."
In, in, out and in,

Blaws the wind and whirls the whin.

"I had liefer swim yon wild water,
Though sair it be to bide,

Than 1 wad stand at a strange man's hand,
To be a strange man's bride.”
In, in, out and in,

Blaws the wind and whirls the whin.

"I had liefer drink yon dark water, Wi' the stanes to make my bed,

And the faem to hide me, and thou beside me,

Than I wad see thee dead."
In, in, out and in,

Blaws the wind and whirls the whin.

He's kissed her twice, he's kissed her thrice,
On cheek and lip and chin:
He's wound her rein to his hand again,
And lightly they leapt in.
In, in, out and in,

Blaws the wind and whirls the whin.

Their hearts were high to live or die,

Their steeds were stark of limb:

But the stream was starker, the spate was darker,

Than man might live and swim.
In, in, out and in,

Blaws the wind and whirls the whin.

The first ae step they strode therein,
It smote them foot and knee:
But ere they wan to the mid water
The spate was as the sea.
In, in, out and in,

Blaws the wind and whirls the whin.

But when they wan to the mid water,
It smote them hand and head;

And nae man knows but the wave that flows
Where they lie drowned and dead.
In, in, out and in,

Blaws the wind and whirls the whin.

ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE,

NOTES FROM DUBLIN.

THE sudden death of Dr. Maguire has not only made a vacancy among the Fellows, but leaves the Chair of Moral Philosophy for a new aspirant. The deceased professor had very peculiar views; he was in temper, as well as in profession, a Hegelian, and as such his writing partook of the characteristics of that school; it was trenchant, and sometimes obscure. But he was a bold thinker, and always had courage to speak out his opinions, especially concerning men and things that appeared to him shams. It will, indeed, be difficult to find a successor with his wide and accurate knowledge. On one point, now warmly discussed within the College, his opinion was very decidedly expressed. He had a horror of allowing modern languages, or any other substitute, to take the place of Greek in a university course; and when the opposed party would ask him whether he really thought it the special province of universities to teach useless things, he would even accept the paradox in that form. It seemed to him unworthy of real education to talk about bread-and-butter, or new patents, or commercial qualifications, when the mind was not yet unfolded and formed by pure disinterested thinking. The danger in a country like Ireland, where all the recent schemes of education are the mere vulgarest system of examination-bribing, is that any university maintaining the old standards may be left high and dry, and no institution in that condition, if well endowed, would withstand the taste for plunder which is in the air. So that we may expect to see, as usual, this difficult question fought out here for the benefit of Oxford and Cambridge, who are anxiously considering how to meet the same demand for reform on the part of people calling themselves practical.

The most interesting literary news is the advanced condition of a history of Trinity College, Dublin, from its foundation, by Dr. Stubbs, Bursar of the College. His careful study of the archives has brought many new and curious things to light. The new edition of Mr. Mahaffy's 'Kant,' completed by Prof. J. H. Bernard, is almost ready; and we may expect that Hermathena will assume greater life and vigour under the able editorship of Mr. Arthur Palmer. He promises a new volume of it next term.

There are rumours of changes to be made in the Queen's Colleges by some new Government scheme-so much so that there has been some hesitation as to the filling up of the vacant chair in Galway College. But a temporary appointment is necessary to carry on the work of the college, nor does it seem fair to advertise for candidates in the ordinary way, and then give the successful man less than was formally promised. There are many good applicants, both Irish and English; people who profess a talent for guessing, name Mr. Philip Sandford as the likeliest winner. He is a brave worker, full of energy, but has hitherto had no leisure to show his literary capacity. G.

DOUAI COLLEGE AND THE BRIGHTON PAVILION.

Is not the solution this, that neither the Douai College fund nor any other specific amount was applied to the Brighton Pavilion, and refused payment on that score?

A gross sum was paid by the French Government for English claims. These were adjudicated upon by commissioners in the usual course. Many claims were paid, but not to the full amount of the demands set up. Some were rejected. Among others were the famous claims of the Baron de Bode, which used to come before Parliament year after year, the Douai claim, &c. The greater portion of the fund was disbursed. The balance remaining, like some other remanets, passed to the Crown.

The claim of the Baron de Bode being very large, it would be as reasonable to say that sum was applied to the extension of Windsor Castle or the Pavilion, or both, as that the gross sum claimed by Douai College was so applied.

Memory of events is short in these days or the Baron de Bode would not now be forgotten.

As the Douai College and the estate of the Baron de Bode had not been under the sovereign care of England, the question arose whether their claims were entitled to be included in the fund. Н. С.

MAIMONIDES AND WYCLIF.

IT was known that the theologico-philosophical book of Moses ben Maimon, composed in Arabic and of which two Hebrew translations exist, had

also been translated into Latin about the middle

of the thirteenth century. Thomas Aquinas, Albertus Magnus, and the Hebrew commentator on Maimonides's book, Moses of Salerno, quote passages from a Latin translation. The two fathers mention the title of 'Dux Neutrorum,' and this translation, as Dr. Perles has proved from a Munich MS., is identical with that edited by Augustinus Justinianus (Giustiniani), Paris, 1520. The edition is not so rare as Dr. Perles believed in 1875, when he spoke of the copy in the Munich Library as unique. In fact there are four copies of it in Oxford alone-two in the Bodleian Library, one in Magdalen, and one in Merton College. There may be copies in other colleges. Dublin and the British Museum have copies of this edition, and most likely also Cambridge. Nicolas de Lyra in his "Postilla" on Exodus iii. 14 quotes a passage from Maimonides's book relating to the tetragrammaton, without giving the title of the book. Wyclif in his fifty-ninth sermon (p. 516 of the forthcoming edition of Dr. J. Loserth, made for the Wyclif Society, proofsheets of which I have seen in the hands of my friend Dr. Reginald Lane Poole, Balliol College)

quotes also Maimonides concerning the tetragrammaton in the following words: "Dicitur enim quod translacio Septuaginta et Hebraica veritas habent loco huius termini Dominus nomen Domini tetragrammaton et secundum Ra[b]ymoysen in libro de direccione propheciarum [1. perplexorum] hoc nomen tetragrammaton hoc est quatuor literarum quas cum earum vocibus ignoramus cum non sit hoc nomen Deus, impositum um est Deo ad significandum cuidam

a

eius essencium [sic] absque respectu ad creaturam, et ideo est incommunicabile sicut non est hoc nomen Dominus nec hoc nomen Deus, ut patet Exodi xxiio [sic]; unde solis sacerdotibus

Judeorum licuit nominare hoc nomen et non

ubilibet sed in templo." This passage (not verbatim) is to be found in part i. chaps. lxi. and Ixii. of Maimonides's work (see Dr. Friedländer's

excellent translation with the title of 'The Guide

of the Perplexed,' 3 vols.). The title 'Directio Perplexorum ' used by Wyclif points to another Latin translation than that edited by Giustiniani; it is, perhaps, the same which is quoted by Alphonsus de Spina in his 'Fortalitium Fidei,' as mentioned by Dr. Perles. It is nearly certain that Wyclif did not take his words from Nicolas de Lyra, whom he quotes elsewhere, as I am informed by Mr. Poole. Thus we must suppose that a Latin translation of Maimonides's 'Guide' was extant in some library in Oxford, or perhaps in Cambridge, in the fourteenth century, of which W Wyclif made use. Is this manuscript now lost? A. NEUBAUER,

'ENGLAND'S PARNASSUS.'

THE principal motive of my letter was to place beyond all doubt the correct collation of this book, which would have been quite unnecessary if it had already been done in the Huth, Halliwell, or any other catalogue.

I gather from Mr. Pollard's letter that Mr. Huth's copy is only an ordinary one, with none of the blank leaves, and is in no way remarkable except for containing a note by Mr. George Smith which is not strictly correct, as it represents Lowndes as saying, "This collection should end...... with 'Fame's windy trump," when he actually says, "It is believed this leaf belongs to another book." If I had looked in the Huth Catalogue," I don't think it would have done me much good, if that note is a fair sample of the contents, although it was considered good enough to be "repeated in Mr. LockerLampson's catalogue." It appears that neither of them contains a correct collation of 'England's Parnassus.'

From Mr. Baker's interesting letter it is quite clear that Mr. Halliwell-Phillipps's copy has the two preliminary blank leaves, and that he attached great importance to them, and considered them "perhaps unique"; but it is not equally clear whether or not it has also the genuine blank last leaf Kk8, but most probably it has. The value Mr. Halliwell-Phillipps set upon this leaf is sufficiently shown by his having "a gor

geously bound portion of the book, containing the last sheet with the blank leaf......from a very imperfect copy," with a memorandum drawing

attention to the importance of it.

Immediately after the appearance of my letter Mr. Ellis (Ellis & Elvey) courteously wrote and told me of their purchase, when he also made the remark, "It is rather an odd circumstance that we should have both just stumbled upon copies having the blank leaves, probably the only two there are." So if I have made a slight error in over-estimating the rarity of my copy, I have the fellowship of Halliwell-Phillipps and Ellisvery good company. ROBERT ROBERTS.

A POEM OF MUSSET'S.

15, Kent Terrace, Regent's Park.

I HOPE I may not be deemed importunate if I venture to bring under your notice the discovery that I have made of a poem by Alfred de Musset which is not included in his complete

works. It lay buried in the musty pages of an old miscellany, 'Le Keepsake Français 'for 1831, published here and in Paris, the London publishers being Messrs. Whittaker, Treacher & Arnot. The volume is inscribed to Marie Amélie, Queen of the French, with whose portrait, in fanciful head-gear of the period, it is embellished.

The charming poet who wrote of himself

Mon verre n'est pas grand, mais je bois dans mon verre, has still so many admirers left both here and in his native country, that I somehow thought you might, perhaps, be induced to grant me leave to introduce my curious " trouvaille" to the readers of the Atheneum. Musset's poem is in dramatic form, and consists of 134 lines. Its title is Derniers Moments de François I.'; subject, the King of France dying of what he wrongly imagined was the plague. His favourite jester is with him. Francis bewails his melancholy fate-becomes delirious-fancies himself on the

battle field of Marignan :

Quelle bataille, amis !... Elle dura deux jours!
Un soir vint...puis un autre...on se battait toujours;
Et de faim ni de soif, nul ne sentait l'envie !
Deux jours !...nul ne songea qu'à sa mort ou sa vie;
Et les bataillons noirs se heurtaient dans la nuit,
Et fatigués du bruit n'entendaient plus le bruit;
On se battait. Quand vint un matin le silence,
Comme, tout étonné, je restais sur ma lance,
La Trimouille arriva, qui me dit: "Ils sont morts!"
Et je vis, en effet, que l'on comptait les corps.

vol. ii. (completing the work); also a translation of a new work by Prof. Delitzsch entitled 'Iris' (this is a collection of essays or treatises on colours and flowers, and will exhibit the learned author in a somewhat new character), - The Redemption of Man,' by Principal Simon, Congregational Hall, Edinburgh, and 'The Book of Exodus,' by Dr. James Macgregor, late Professor of Systematic Theology, New New College, Edinburgh ("Bible-Class Handbook Series").

Messrs. Oliphant, Anderson & Ferrier an'Clues: Leaves from a Chief Con

nounce

stable's Note-Book,' by Mr. W. Henderson, Chief
Constable of Edinburgh, - ' Adele's Love: the
Story of a Faithful Little Heart,' by Maude M.
Butler, - 'Love Conquers All, by A. C. Hert-
ford, author of 'Among the Heather,'
'Rachel, a Heroine,' by Edith C. Kenyon,
author of 'Hilda,' 'The Old Violin,' &c., - On
the Way to the Throne,' by R. Ballantine, M.Α.,
-and 'Bible Animals,' by Dr. Richard Newton.
Messrs. Crosby Lockwood & Son promise
'Paper Manufacture: a Practical Handbook of
the Art of making all Kinds of Paper, Boards,
&c., on the English, German, and American
Systems, from all Known Materials,' by Mr. A.
Watt, author of 'Electro-Deposition,' - A Hand-
book on Modern Explosives: a Practical Treatise
on their Manufacture and Uses in Mining and
Engineering,' and 'The Metallurgy of Silver,'

To this the jester replies, appropriately enough by Mr. M. Eissler, - Elementary Engineering,

for him :

Maître, oyez sur ce point

Une âme détrompée

Qui porte mieux au poing

Un faucon qu'une épée;

J'ai pour armée un chien,

Mon pourpoint pour royaume,

Pour dieu le majordome

Et pour maîtresse rien.

Upon recovering his senses the king orders his page to bring La Ferronnière to him. But the poor woman is no more. She has fallen a victim to the disease which now threatens her royal lover with destruction, and the vindictive husband, as he soliloquizes over his wife's remains, observes :

Qui verrait ce cadavre et se souvient de l'ange
Celui-là frémirait, sachant comme on se venge.

And he adds significantly :

François, si tu la veux, je vais te la porter. When the page knocks at the door, he is already prepared to let the king have his wish, for he now hopes the sight of her who, in death, Ferait horreur aux chiens,

may hasten the royal profligate's doom. Such is this remarkable composition, which is a natural "pendant" to Musset's 'Charles Quint au Monastère de Saint Just.' It certainly deserved a better fate than to lie forgotten where I found it. THOMAS DELTA.

THE SPRING PUBLISHING SEASON.

MESSRS. CASSELL & Co. are issuing their spring list, which includes 'Subjects of Social Welfare,' by Sir Lyon Playfair, K. C. B., - 'The Secret of the Lamas: a Tale of Thibet,' - 'St. Cuthbert's Tower,' by Miss Florence Warden,Vol. i. of 'Cassell's New Popular Educator,''Cassell's New German Dictionary,' in two parts, German-English, English-German, by Elizabeth

Weir, Vol. ii. of 'Our Earth and its Story,' by Dr. Robert Brown, -a new edition of 'The England of Shakespeare,' by E. Goadby, cheap editions of 'The Admirable Lady Biddy Fane,' by Mr. Frank Barrett, and of 'Oliver The Secret of Success and How to Attain It,' Cromwell,' by Mr. Allanson Picton, M.P., by John W. Kirton, LL.D.,-'Hand and Eye Training,' by G. Ricks, B.Sc., 2 vols., - ' Cassell's "Higher Class" Readers,' and 'Stromata: Short Essays on Crucial New Testament Passages, Charge 1886, and Latin Hymns,' by Archdeacon Sheringham.

Messrs. T. & T. Clark, of Edinburgh, have in the press a translation by Prof. J. S. Banks of an exposition of 'The Prophecies of Isaiah,' by Dr. C. von Orelli, of Bâle, A New Commentary

by Mr. J. Sherren Brewer, -' Hints on Essay Writing,' by Mr. H. Skipton, - ' A Handbook of Laundry Management,' by Mr. G. C. Rothery, -'The Pastry-Cook and Confectioner's Guide for Hotels, Restaurants, and Families,' by Mr. Robert Wells, - 'The Student's Guide to the Practice of measuring and valuing Artificers' Works,' by E. Dobson, sixth edition, revised with additions by Mr. E. Wyndham Tarn, M.A., Market and Kitchen Gardening: a Practical Handbook,' compiled by Mr. C. W. Shaw, editor of Gardening, a new edition of 'The Boy's Own Book,'-and the following new volumes in Lockwood's series of "Handybooks for Handicrafts": 'The Clock-Jobber's Handy. book: a Practical Manual,' and 'The CabinetWorker's Handybook: a Practical Manual,' both by Mr. P. N. Hasluck.

Messrs. Parker & Co. are going to publish in a few days editions of the eleventh book of the 'Metamorphoses' and of the third book of the 'Tristria, with English notes, &c., by the Rev. Edgar Sanderson.

Mr. Gardner's announcements include 'Aalesund to Tetuan,' a volume of travel, by Mr. Chas. R. Corning, -' Midnight Sunbeams; or, Bits of Travel through the Land of the Norseman,' by Mr. E. C. Kimball,- and 'The Life of Raphael as shown in his Principal Works,' from the German of H. Grimm.

Messrs. W. B. Whittingham & Co. have in the press a reprint of Mr. Mathers's 'Golden South Africa,' - an illustrated guide-book to South Africa, entitled 'The Land of Gold and Ivory, and an issue, making the thirtieth thou

sand, of 'South Africa as a Health Resort,' of which they also announce a German edition.

THE HOPETOUN LIBRARY.

THE sale of a portion of the library of the Earl of Hopetoun at the rooms of Messrs. Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge concluded on Thursday in last week. One of the chief rarities was a copy of the famous Mazarin Bible, and it sold for 2,000l., notwithstanding an imperfection in vol. ii. The first edition of Balbi Catholicon, printed by Gutenberg in 1460, 145l. Aulus Gellius, a good specimen of binding by Clovis Eve, 25l. Antiphonarium, MS. on vellum, written for the church of St. Peter at Strasburg, 25l. 10s. Ciceronis Epistolæ Familiares, printed by Aldus in 1533, on large paper, 211. Dante, first Aldine edition, 15l. 15s. Herodotus Latine, a beautiful specimen of Clovis Eve's binding,

on Genesis,' by Prof. Franz Delitzsch, D.D., | 391. Horace, first Aldine edition, 171. 15s. Heures a luisage de Romme, printed in 1509 by Hardouyn, on vellum, 42l. Chippendale's Cabinet Maker, 17l. 10s. Chronica Hungarorum, printed in 1473 at Buda, 791. British and Stafford Galleries, 50l. Petrarca, first Aldine edition printed on vellum, 3001. Langhenez, Voyage, 331. 10s. Mamotrectus, first book printed in Switzerland, 271. 10s. Plinii Historia Naturalis, 1470 edition, 17l. 10s.; 1472 edition, 25l. Psalmi et Preces, MS. on vellum, 26l. 10s. Virgil, first Aldine edition printed on vellum, imperfect, 24l. 10s. Statuts de S. Michel, printed on vellum, 38l. Poggio, Historia Fiorentina, printed on vellum, 80%. Poliphili Hypnerotomachia, first Aldine edition, 80l. Scottish State Letters, 300l. Thome Aquinatis Secundæ, first edition printed on vellum, imperfect, 23l. 10s.; perfect copy on paper, 251. 10s. Virgil, first edition, 590l. The sale produced 6,117l. 6s.

THE South Kensington Museum has recently acquired an interesting bookbinder's panel - stamp of the latter half of the fifteenth century. It is of latten and measures 3 in. by 14 in. A plain band at the head bears the holy names Thesus Maria; another, at the foot, the motto "Respice finem." The intermediate space is occupied by two large circular medallions, one above the other, and two smaller circles between them and the outer edge of the panel. These contain a pelican in its piety, a lion rampant, a holy lamb, and a double eagle displayed. In the angles are monsters. Impressions of this stamp occur on the bindings of several manuscripts in the National Museum, Amsterdam, and the Archiepiscopal Museum, Utrecht.

It is believed that the Principalship of Somerville Hall, Oxford, will shortly be vacant, owing to the resignation of Miss Shaw-Lefevre, who has successfully ruled the Hall since its foundation nearly ten years ago.

MR. GLADSTONE wrote the other day to Mr. Bentley a postcard to this effect regarding Mrs. Alfred Marks's novel :

""The Masters of the World' reached me at Naples, and I have read it with interest and pleasure. Though I think it would bear compression, it seemed to me a careful and lifelike study of the Roman manners of the period, marked by much power of drawing character and sustained by high principle and aim."

THE unfinished novel by Stendhal, 'Lamiel,' which has been published by M. Casimir Stryienski, to whom we owe the 'Journal

de Stendhal,' printed last year, was the last work Beyle put his pen to. The MS. from which it is printed belongs to the public library at Grenoble. The volume is ornamented with a facsimile of Stendhal's handwriting, including a map of the imaginary village of Carville, in Normandy, and its neighbourhood, drawn by the author himself.

THE Hon. William Warren Vernon, who follows his father's example in devotion to the study of Dante, has in the press 'Readings on the Purgatorio of Dante, chiefly based on the Commentary of Benvenuto da Imola.' It may be remembered that the commentary of Benvenuto was printed at Florence a couple of years ago, "nunc primum integre in lucem editum, sumptibus Gul. Warren Vernon, curante J. P. Lacaita." The "Readings" were given in the first Florence. instance to a small circle of friends at

THE fifth and concluding volume of Mr. H. E. Watts's translation of Don Quixote,' which will be issued to subscribers and the public in a few days, will be furnished with a full index to the text, the first that has appeared in any English version.

A NEW edition of Mr. Maxwell Lyte's 'History of Eton College' will shortly be published by Messrs. Macmillan & Co. The book has been revised throughout, and among other additions will now contain extracts from diaries and letters in the possession of Dr. Keate's representatives. PROF. MAHAFFY is going to visit Northern Greece this Easter vacation on his way to Athens. He has consented to give a series of addresses on various subjects at Chautauqua next August, but will appear on no other platform in America.

VIENNA is not satisfied with having its own Goethe-Gesellschaft, but is determined to have also a grand Goethe monument. The subscriptions collected for the purpose have turned out very satisfactorily, and four notable Viennese artists have declared their readiness to send in plans for the monument without aspiring to any remuneration.

It is expected that the Life of Washington' by the Hon. Henry Cabot Lodge will appear during the year.

MESSRS. MACMILLAN & Co. are about to publish 'A Household History of the United States and its People,' by Mr. Edward Eggleston.

MR. FITZPATRICK, the accomplished editor of O'Connell's letters, writes to us to say that when we spoke a fortnight ago of instances of the separate burial of the heart, we forgot O'Connell, whose heart is buried at Rome, but we were speaking of England only. We might have added, for instance, Kellermann, whose heart was buried on the field of Valmy.

THE little kingdom of Samoa now possesses a newspaper, written in English, the Samoa Times (weekly), a creditable-looking sheet of four pages with good paper and type, and costing 10d. a number.

H. W. writes from Naples:--

"In a former letter I stated that the Count Lucchesi-Palli had presented the Museum of Naples with his very rich library and his valuable musical collection. This library possesses

merit, of historians and musicians, as also 1,200 volumes of journals from 1837 to the present day. It must be noted, too, that it contains a vast collection of dramatic works, including many in the Chinese and Japanese languages. Count Lucchesi has given also 3,000 lire (120l.) annually to pay a distributor, and to make an annual addition to the library. He charges himself with the entire expense of removing this valuable collection, and of fitting up the space assigned to him in the building of the National Museum in a rich and handsome style. With this view the count has opened a concorso of artists, so that the works in affresco may be really worthy of his magnificent donation. The pavement of the room or rooms is to be of Carrara marble.' A society has been formed here for the protection of the rights of Italian authors. Signori Clausetti and Sacchetti, united with the advocate Francesco Siciliani, are at the head of this society, of which all literary men and artists are invited to become subscribing members. The president of the society in Milan is Cesare Cantù, and the principal members are Verdi, Boito, Cavallotti, and Pullo."

For the advantage of collectors a correspondent sends us a warning that an extensive fabrication of autograph letters of Scott, Carlyle, and Thackeray, as well as of Scottish historical documents, seems to be going on at or near Edinburgh.

THE chief Parliamentary Papers of the week are Local Taxation, England, Returns for 1886-7, Part III. (48. 3d.); Historical MSS. Commission, Report on Earl Cowper's MSS., Part II. (28. 5d.); Railway, &c., Bills, 1889, Report by Board of Trade (7d.); Trade and Navigation, Accounts for January (6d.); Post Office Telegraphs, Capital Account, 1887-8 (1d.); Emigration and Immigration, Tables for 1888 (4d.); Life Assurance Companies, Accounts for 1888; and Consular Reports-Mexico, Railways (4d.); Portugal, Monopoly of Wine Company at Oporto (1d.); Persia, British Trade (1d.); Greece, Trade of Patras (1d.); United States, Trade of Texas (ld.). We

should add to these the Public General Acts

passed in the Third Session of the present Parliament (38.).

SCIENCE

Report on the Scientific Results of the Voyage of H.M.S. Challenger. - Zoology. Vols. XXI. and XXII. (Published by Order of Her Majesty's Government.)

THE great work over which Dr. John Murray has so ably presided is approaching its conclusion. In the notice issued with the twenty-seventh volume Dr. Murray tells us what we have still to look for, viz., a volume giving an account of the Siphonophora by Ernst Haeckel, a volume on the pelagic fishes by Dr. Günther, a volume of odds and ends and supplements, and a volume containing a summary of results and appendices prepared by the editor. No more satisfactory work was ever carried through by the British Government with the object of promoting natural science than this magnificent series of reports; no more splendid treatise on zoological science was ever put through the press than this which Dr. Murray has edited. The influence of the work done by British and foreign naturalists in studying the collections of the Challenger has been admirable, not merely on account of the extension of our knowledge through the consequence of the training of a large number of younger observers who have taken part in the reports and become familiarized with a great series of forms, and with the use of the best and most carefully thoughtout methods of examining them so as to extract from them the largest amount of new knowledge.

The two volumes which we now briefly notice (leaving five others for a subsequent occasion) contain two of the most interesting of the whole series of reports. Vol. xxi. is occupied by Prof. Eilhard Schulze's report on the Hexactinellida. These are the remarkable sponges with siliceous fibres and siliceous six-rayed spicules, which are the most beautiful and peculiar of deep-sea products. The Hexactinellida are not found in shallow water. They were known years ago through specimens of a species, the Hyalonema sieboldii, brought from Japan and sold as the "glass-rope sponge," and by the beautiful Venus's flower-basket, the Euplectella aspergillum of the Philippine Islands. Ehrenberg maintained that the "glass-rope" of Hyalonema was manufactured from glass by the Japanese, whilst the late Dr. Gray considered it to be the axis of a coral. It is not twenty-five years since Prof. Barboza du Bocage astonished the zoological world by showing that the Portuguese shark-fishers of Setubal bring up a species of Hyalonema on their deep-sea lines almost identical with the Japanese curiosity. To-day we know a great number of these hyaline sponges, and one point of interest in connexion with them is that, like the echinoids with movable body-plates and the Globigerina and coccoliths of the Atlantic ooze, they are represented in the chalk deposits of Europe by extinct forms, the ventriculites. Prof. Eilhard Schulze treats the whole group in the same thorough way which has characterized the other reports on sponges dredged by the Challenger. It is, indeed, owing to his initiative that our knowledge of sponges has so greatly extended during the past fifteen years, and it is only fitting that the most interesting section of the sponges the hexactinellidsshould be described by him, whilst his disciples have carried out his methods in dealing with the other members of the group. Prof. Schulze is able to describe the tissues and canal system of the soft substance of these sponges for the first time, and to place our knowledge of them on a thoroughly satisfactory footing. A special nomenclature for the soft parts and for the various elements of the skeleton is established. A separate volume of one hundred plates illustrates this monograph.

Vol. xxii. is devoted to Dr. Günther's account of the deep-sea fishes. In a previous volume he described the less interesting fishes of shallow waters, and in a later volume, nearly ready, he will treat of the pelagic fishes, those of the ocean surface. The fishes are the highest in organization of the denizens of the deep sea, and in proportion as we are familiar with the forms of ordinary fish are we astonished at the singular shapes and modifications of structure of some of those which live in great depths. The fishes described in the present report consist of 794 specimens. It was originally intended to limit the description to those taken at

depths below 350 fathoms, but a few occurring in depths as small as 100 fathoms present unmistakable "bathybial" characters, and are, therefore, included here. 266 species are described, of which 154 are new. Before the voyage of the Challenger about thirty deep-sea fishes were known; this number is now increased to about 370. From depths between 100 and 300 fathoms 232 species are known; from 300 to 500 fathoms, 142 species; and from 2,000 to 2,900 fathoms, 23 species.

Dr. Günther recognizes a distinct modification of the organization of fishes as characteristic of the "bathybial" type. Representatives from various families are found exhibiting these characters in great depths. They are

"the diminished amount of earthy matter in the osseous system, the extreme thinness of the muscular layers of the trunk and tail, the easily ruptured connective ligaments and tissues of the muscles and bones, the increase in size or degradation of the organ of sight, the distensibility of the stomach, the shrinking of the gills, the development of the muciferous system with or without special organs of luminosity, and the

black coloration of the pharynx and peritoneum." Either singly or combined these characters are present in "deep-sea" or "bathybial" fishes. The phosphorescent organs are among the most interesting peculiarities of some of these fishes, and form the subject of a special histological appendix to Dr. Günther's monograph. Phosphorescent organs have been observed in various animals living in the depths of the ocean where sunlight cannot penetrate. Both Dr. Günther and Dr. Guppy have actually observed flashes of light to be emitted from the phosphorescent organs of the little fish Scopelus. But, as a rule, the phosphorescent property is inferred from the structure and position of the organ rather than from direct observation. It appears that these organs serve in some cases to enable the fish to see, and in other cases as a lure to attract its prey. The co-existence of animals with very large eyes side by side with blind or eyeless species closely allied to them in the great depths of the sea has been noticed in other groups besides the fishes; for instance, among the Crustacea. The fact is one tending to disprove the theory that the eyeless animals have lost their eyes by disuse, since the direct action of the environment could hardly be supposed simultaneously to cause enlargement of the eye in one species and atrophy in another. The better explanation of the existence of eyeless animals in the dark depths of the sea and in caverns is that, by a process of natural selection, those individuals with congenitally defective eyes (of which examples occur in every brood of even the best-provided eyebearing animals) have, after wandering into regions of darkness, remained there through lack of the power to perceive the light

superasque evadere ad ores"; whilst their better-furnished normal brethren have continually escaped from the almost complete darkness by using their eyes to guide them in the direction of such glimmer of light as reaches even abysmal depths and the recesses of lengthy caverns.

Several blind bathybial

fishes are described and figured by Dr. Günther, the most curious being the new Ipnops murrayi, of which a special account is given as an appendix by Prof. Moseley.

Dr. Günther offers some important remarks on the relations of the bathybial fish to the enormous pressure under which they live. It appears that when brought to the surface they often fall in pieces and appear to be barely held together by the skin. What, in fact, is a sufficient mechanical support for life under the pressure of a column of water six thousand feet high, is entirely inadequate at the ordinary atmospheric pressure of the surface. The first specimens of deep-sea fish known were found floating in an inert condition on the surface, and this is no doubt correctly explained by Dr. Günther as due to the expansion of the gases in the intestine and in the blood when the fish, in struggling with prey or in flight from enemies, has inadvertently left its native abysm and swum upwards a few hundred fathoms. Once arrived at a certain level it must experience the same sensations as those known to mankind when suffering the "mal de montagnes," and, becoming distended and embarrassed in its physiological processes by the expanded gases within it, can no longer direct its movements downwards, but rises higher and higher until it floats in a helpless condition on the surface. The results of the expansion of gas are, of course, especially noticed in those deep-sea fishes which possess an air-bladder. They are literally blown to pieces by the balloonlike expansion of that organ caused by rapid ascent in the trawl. The deep-sea fishes thus seem to live in danger of an accident, the converse of that to which we terrestrial beings are liable: they may have the misfortune to fall up to the top of the sea instead of down to its bottom. Dr. Günther's report is illustrated by seventythree plates, which alone are enough to astonish the observer by the grotesque and almost incredible shapes they depict. Saccopharynx is the queerest fish ever seen, if the honour of that title be not assigned to Malacosteus or Bathypterois. The report on the deep-sea fishes is the most striking and distinctive of all the results of the Challenger expedition. The expedition was primarily equipped to discover what strange forms of life might be lurking in the "dark unfathomed depths," and here surely enough-visible and appreciable by the eye of any one who has seen the range of fish form of the upper world, from the salmon to the sole are dozens of the most extraordinary beings, surpassing in their absurd appearance all the imaginative efforts of mediæval ingenuity.

ANTHROPOLOGICAL NOTES.

A NEW anthropological society has been established in Russia under the title of the Russian Society of Anthropology of the Imperial University of St. Petersburg. Its regulations were approved by the Government on the 17th of November last.

The arrangements for the retrospective exposition of labour and of the anthropological sciences in the Paris Exposition of 1889 are being proceeded with under the direction of the Department of the Minister of Commerce, which has issued a series of regulations and directions for exhibitors. An international anthropometric

laboratory, on Mr. Galton's plans, will be organized. The congresses of anthropology and prehistoric archæology and of criminal anthropology will take place in August.

A party of Hottentots, consisting of six men, residence at the Jardin d'Acclimatation at Paris, and are the subject of a detailed description by M. J. Deniker in the Revue d'Anthropologie. Though all speak the Koranna dialect, they appear to have been born in various parts of South Africa, the principal man Jacob with his wife Esther and the children coming from Kimberley in West Griqualand, one from the banks of the Vaal, three from the Transvaal, three from the Orange River Free State, while the remaining two are of mixed descent with Bechuana and Boer blood respectively. They are under the middle height, rather thin, but muscular; in the females (with the exception of the one of mixed blood) the steatopygy is marked, and especially so in the case of Esther, who is in other respects extremely thin; the maximum protuberance is 10 per cent. of the total height. The average cephalic index of the nine relatively pure adult Hottentots is 74, the facial index 59, and the nasal index 104 in the men and 116 in the women.

The president of the Anthropological Society of Bombay, Brigade-Surgeon W. Dymock, has contributed to its Journal a paper on the anthropogonic trees of the Hindu castes. During the marriage ceremonies of a Hindu the branch of a tree is brought into the house, placed in a winnowing fan, and treated as the first object of worship. The tree used for this purpose varies in different castes, but in the highest castes is always the fig tree. The custom is based on the popular superstition, common in every Aryan country, that men have sprung from trees, and has, therefore, a close relation to customs and superstitions still existing in Europe. To the same journal Mr. Jivanji Jamsetji Modi contributes a collection of the good and bad omens believed in by the Parsees, and Mr. John de Cunha one of those current among the Hindus. Capt. M. J. Meade gives an account of the Moghiahs or Báoris of Rajputáná and Central India, one of the numerous tribes of hereditary criminals with which India has long been infested, of wandering and predatory habits, which has been passing through a process of gradual reclamation during the last ten years. They are divided, like Rájput tribes generally, into gôtes or gotras, within which intermarriage is forbidden. For the discovery of theft they use an ordeal of fire, the person accused carrying a piece of red-hot iron a few paces with nothing between it and the skin but a few pipal leaves, though this custom is much less prevalent now than formerly. They are famous trackers, and excellent at following up wounded animals. As the next generation will be brought up to agriculture their nomadic and criminal characteristics will probably in time die out. Another interesting paper published by the same society is by Mr. E. Rehatsek, on veneration of the dead in China, including the customs of ancestor worship.

GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES.

THE Mittheilungen of the Vienna Geographical Society contains a most elaborate account of the climatic conditions of Austrian Silesia, by Prof. K. Kolbenheyer, which is illustrated by three maps, and may in some respects serve as a pattern for local inquiries of this kind. There is likewise an interesting account of Hue, the capital of Annam, by Dr. Svoboda, of the Austrian navy. Dr. Hann draws attention to a curious reference to the aurora borealis in the 'Konungs Skuggsjá' or 'Speculum Regale,' a work supposed to date back to the twelfth or thirteenth century, from which it appears that this phenomenon,

very faithfully de

scribed, could be witnessed only rarely at that time at Trondheim, in Norway, where its author resided.

In Petermann's Mitteilungen will be found a very full summary of General Prejevalsky's last journey into Central Asia, together with an excellent map. Among other papers we notice an

recent journey through Usambara, with a map drawn from memory, the journals of the explorers having unfortunately fallen into the hands of Bushiri, the rebel leader of Pangani. This loss is all the more to be regretted as our knowledge of Usambara, notwithstanding its proximity to the coast and the many explorers who have visited it since the days of Krapf and Burton, is still exceedingly imperfect.

Commercial Geography, by Dr. Carl Zehden, translated by Findlay Muirhead, M.A. (Blackie & Son), is stated to have gone through five editions in its original shape, and to be popular as a textbook in many Austrian and German schools; yet it scarcely deserved the honour of a translation. Mr. Muirhead has somewhat expanded the sections on Great Britain and her colonies; but even thus there exists a striking disproportion between various parts of the book. Thus, whilst even the most insignificant of German states (such as Lippe or Waldeck) has a separate paragraph allotted to it, and the account of the commerce of Hamburg occupies over pages, the English counties are generally dismissed in a single line, and Liverpool is deemed to be sufficiently dealt with in three lines. As a rule, the information given seems to be trustworthy. It appears to us, however, that "commercial" geography could with advantage be dealt with in schools concurrently with general geography. This, at all events, should be done in all elementary schools, reserving a more thorough treatment of the subject for commercial high schools.

BOCIETIES.

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ROYAL.-Feb. 28.-The President in the chair.The following papers were read: 'On the Spectra of Meteor-Swarms (Group III.),' by Prof. J. N. Lockyer, and 'On the Magnetic Action of Displacement-Currents in a Dielectric, by Dr. S. Thompson.

SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES. - Feb. 28. - Dr. J. Evans, President, in the chair.-Chancellor Ferguson exhibited a gold armlet, formed of part of a torque, found near Kirkby Stephen, Westmoreland.-Mr. W. H. St. John Hope exhibited, by permission of Mr. J. D. B. Trenfield, an ancient silver parcel-gilt mace of the old borough of Chipping Sodbury, probably of fifteenth century date, and peculiar in having on top, instead of the royal arms, a shield of the arms of Beauchamp, which family held the manor of Old Sodbury from about 1415 to 1487. Mr. Hope also exhibited, by permission of Mr. Estcourt, a most beautiful silver parcel-gilt mace of the borough of Newtown, Isle of Wight, with the arms of Henry VII. The plate with the royal arms bears on the reverse the arms of the Commonwealth.The Mayor and Corporation of Bristol exhibited three splendid mediæval state swords belonging to their city. The first of these was probably obtained, with a new charter, in 1373, and bears the arms of Edward III. and part of the original silver-gilt decorations of the sheath. The second sword was

given to the city of Bristol by Sir John Wells, Mayor of London in 1431, and has a hilt and pommel of silver-gilt, and a sheath embroidered with Elizabethan silver wire-work. The third sword is of a date circa 1450, but the decorations of its sheath are chiefly Elizabethan, put on in 1594.-Rev. J. Morris read a paper on the style and rite used by the

Catholics in the time of Elizabeth.

BRITISH ARCHEOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION. - Feb, 20. -Mr. C. H. Compton in the chair. -The progress of the arrangements were detailed for holding this year's congress at Lincoln.-Mr. E. Way exhibited some articles of pottery, of Roman date, found at Kent Street, Southwark.-Mr. Winstone reported the discovery of a large series of articles of pottery in making excavations recently on the premises of Messrs. Harrison, St. Martin's Lane. Several specimens were exhibited, the articles being mostly of Delft ware dating from the time of Queen Elizabeth. -A discussion ensued as to whether some of the articles produced were not of English manufacture. - Mr. Prigg described some of his recent discoveries at Elvedon, near Thetford. Excavations on the site of an ancient burial-place revealed three large urns of brown ware, which had been deposited with their necks downwards, and covered over by a circular situla, some of the metal mountings of which remained. The urns have the appearance of having been intended for burial purposes, but although

situla, none were found with them. Mr. Prigg referred to the local controversy that has arisen relative to the age of the deposit, it being contended that, because some ornamentation of Celtic style occurs on the mountings, the date must be pre-Roman. The meeting was unanimous, however, that the urns, two of which were exhibited, were of undoubted Roman date. A paper was read by Mr. E. P. Loftus Brock on the ancient churches of Cheshire. The dedications were passed in review, and it was shown that, in a county where many traces of the ancient Welsh saints might have been expected, they hardly occur at all. There are, however, many dedications to early Saxon saints, and few or none to those of Danish origin, although the Danes settled largely in the district. The architectural peculiarities, particularly the existence of many timber-built churches, were dwelt upon at length.

INSTITUTION OF CIVIL ENGINEERS.-March 5.

Sir G. B. Bruce, President, in the chair. It was announced that three Associates had been transferred to the class of Members, and that twenty-six candi

dates had been admitted as Students of the Institution. The monthly ballot resulted in the election of five Members and of twenty-four Associate Members.

ROYAL INSTITUTION.-March 4.-Sir J. C. Browne, V.P., in the chair. -Mrs. E. S. Dewick, Miss K. D. Doulton, Mrs. S. Heap, Miss M. Kemp, Mrs. W. C. Roberts-Austen, Mrs. M. A. E. Wright, Mrs. H. Sutton, Lieut. N. J. Lyon, Dr. R. D. Powell, Messrs. J. C. Butterfield, C. Čave, J. G. Gordon, A. Nobel, T. J. Reeves, G. E. Whitton, and E. H. Winstone were elected Members.

SOCIETY OF ENGINEERS.-March 4.-Mr. J. R. Baillie, President, in the chair. A paper was read 'On the Construction and Repair of Roads,' by Mr. G. R. Strachan.

SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY.-March 5.-Mr. P. Le Page Renouf, President, in the chair.A paper was read by Rev. C. J. Ball, entitled 'Nebuchadrezzar in the Bible and the Inscriptions.'

ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. - Feb. 26.-Dr. J. Beddoe, President, in the chair. The election of Mr. J. G. Philpot was announced.--Mr. F. Galton exhibited a new instrument for testing the delicacy of perception of differences of tint, also an instrument for telling reaction time. Both instruments will be exhibited in the Paris Exhibition. Major C. R. Conder read a paper 'On the Early Races of Western Asia.' The question now raised was whether the early population of Asia Minor and Syria, of which traces are recoverable from various sources, belonged to the Turanian stock. In Asia Minor Lenormant believed a Turanian stock to have existed very early, and the late Dr. Birch believed it to have existed in Syria, and this has been urged by Capt. Conder from 1883 onwards. The only alternative to the supposition that a Turkic population once spread over Mesopotamia, Syria, and Asia Minor is the supposition that these tribes, or some of them, belonged to the Lesghic group in the Caucasus, to which Lenormant proposed to refer the ancient Vannic population. The reason why the author has not accepted this supposition is that the study of this group of languages, though long since proposed, has not led to any satisfactory result, or enabled any student to interpret the sounds of the various languages of Syria and Asia Minor, or those of the Syrian hieroglyphics, in the manner in which they can be interpreted through the use of the Tartar or Ugrian languages. The author appended a list of one hundred Hittite words recovered from the monuments and compared with Turanian words, and other short lists of Carian, Lydian, Phrygian, and Scythian words of the same class.

PHYSICAL.-Feb. 23. Prof. Reinold, President, in the chair.-Mr. M. H. Kilgour was elected a Member. The following communications were read: 'Note on the Measurement of Electrical Resistance,' by Dr. J. W. Waghorne, -'On a New Polarimeter, by Prof. S. P. Thompson, - ' On Electrical Measurement,' by Profs. W. E. Ayrton and J. Perry, and Note on the Dimensions of Electromagnetic Units,' by Prof. G. F. Fitzgerald.

FOLK-LORE.-Feb. 26. Mr. Gomme, Director, in the chair.- Mr. E. Clodd read a paper 'On the Philosophy of "Rumpelstiltskin."" After referring to the work of analysis and tabulation of folk-tales which the Council, with the help of other members of the Society, has in hand-a work which may be expected to throw light on the origin and diffusion of folk-tales-the author of the paper explained that his interest in the variants of Rumpelstiltskin' had been excited by finding an old Suffolk tale entitled 'Tom, Tit, Tot,' amongst "County Notes and