In our climate, he cannot vile and hungry creeper, the book-worm. In our city, the city of Logan, Franklin and Peters, and, we may add, of Rush, this process of accumulation may be said to have begun as a thing of municipal interest. And, although Philadelphia did for a long period relinquish the foremost place she had once held as a literary and a publishing centre, there are signs of a Renaissance of literary interest among us. The improved condition of the University, and the increase of popular interest in it, is but one indication out of many. And may we not fairly hope that a generous provision for its many needs, not excepting its Library, will become a matter of pride in our city, as is the case with Boston in relation to the most venerable of our Universities? ROBT. ELLIS THOMPSON. NEW BOOKS. THE THEORY OF SOUND IN ITS RELATION TO MUSIC. In the preface to this book, the author speaks of the notable progress which the science of acoustics has lately made, especially in its important bearing upon many musical questions; yet we are sorely disappointed not to find even one of the later discoveries recorded-discoveries which have fully as much bearing upon practical music as the long-established and well-known principles of sound expounded in this volume. In the second chapter, treating of the "transmission of sound," the laws regulating it are by no means clearly set forth, It reads: "The vibratory movement is not possible if each particle of the transmitting medium be not able to vibrate on its own account that is to say, if the medium be not elastic; and thus the power that a body possesses of transmitting sound constitutes 'A member of Trinity College, Dublin, told us that their large and valuable collection of Manuscripts and rare books was suffering terribly from the ravages of this destroyer. We generously offered him store-room and watchful care for the whole collection, but he declined it! We will not be responsible if the collections of Ussher and the other great benefactors of that library are ruined. one of the surest criteria of its elasticity." But every one, even those not acquainted with physical science, knows that one of the most elastic bodies, viz: india-rubber, does not conduct sound easily; on the contrary, it, like felt, is used to present an obstacle to the transmission of sound. The correct explanation, viz: that the facility with which a body transmits sound depends upon the relation of its elasticity to its density, is mentioned only incidentally further on. In speaking of the measurement of the velocity of sound, the author relates the old experiment of Biot in the water pipes of Paris, but omits mentioning the much more accurate and beautiful experiments made a few years ago in those very pipes by Radeau Koenig, the results of which were published in "Poggendorff's and Annalen." The method employed in this investigation differed materially from those in former experiments of this kind, inasmuch as not the ear of the observer alone gave the final judgment, but it was aided by the eye; the so-called graphic method having been employed, in which the sound is caused to trace its vibrations upon blackened paper or glass. We are amused also to find faithfully recorded the old mistake of Radeau, who requires a person to pronounce five syllables in a second, and what is more, says that an echo will repeat those syllables distinctly if at the proper distance from the source of sound. The very important subject of resultant, or Tartini's, tones is treated very lightly, and the explanation of their production is exceedingly unsatisfactory. The author says, "the theory of these notes is not easy to give;" nor do we hold it to be, yet this does not excuse the assertion, after having given Young's theory—but without the name—that the true theory of these sounds can only be explained by mathematical calculation. He does not mention the very important researches in the subject of beats and resultant tones, made by Dr. R. Koenig, of Paris, which were published in "Poggendorff's Annalen," where a theory of these tones is given, differing in some vital points from both Young's and Helmholtz's. Neither do we find the many important experiments and discoveries of Prof. A. Mayer, of Hoboken, which were published both in this country and abroad. His experiments in regard to the retention of sound in the ear, after the sound has ceased, and the conclusions derived from them, have an all-important bearing upon the consonance and dissonance of intervals, which the author of the volume under consideration has taken so much pains to explain with both figures and words. However, in the part of the book which relates to the theory of music and to the history of the musical art, both the musician and the lover of music will find much of value and interest, especially in the last chapter, where Prof. Blaserna shows himself as a musical critic of rare ability and fine æsthetical feeling. His criticism of the music of the future is the more acceptable, as it shows none of that infuriated partisanship which has split the musical world of the present time into two antagonistic parties, keeping up a constant warfare with each other. The illustrations, with the exception of one or two, explanatory of the Stroboscopic method of studying the vibrations of strings. by means of intermittent light, are taken from Helmholtz, from Tyndall and from Koenig's catalogue, but unfortunately from the earlier editions of those works which were printed before many of the instruments depicted were improved to their present forms. The volume is one of the International Scientific Series, which has gained some repute on this side of the water. LES ORIGINES DE LA FRANCE CONTEMPORAINE. Par H. Taine. Tome 1. L'Ancien Régime. Paris: Hachette. (Translated by John Durand. New York: Holt. 1876. pp. 553. At last Taine has found a subject worthy of his eloquence and suited to his style. Gifted with a wondrous clearness of expression and an admirable love of paradox, he was altogether out of his element in discussing English literature or the philosophy of art; even his travels gave him small opportunity to show his real power, and now only does he show himself master alike of his subject and its wealth of resources. The ancient Regime or France before the Revolution, the Revolution itself, and France as it was reorganized, in 1808, into the France of to-day as far at least as its political geography goes, are the grand outlines, and of these Taine now publishes his living picture of the first part. Unquestionably there was a vast amount of material ready to his hand, and a help rather than a hindrance in the earlier works on the subject, notably De Tocqueville's book with the same title-for De Tocqueville's only eloquence was that of truth, and his only aim was a direct attack upon the Napoleonidae, and he endeavored to show that many of the reforms credited to Napoleon were really adopted long before by the leaders of the royalist party. Taine disclaims any reserved purpose and declares that he is only a historian and not at all a partisan, and yet his book leaves a strong impression of being intended to cultivate a tendency, although with characteristic art, both as politician and man of letters, he evidently means to keep his own counsel and leave it to his readers to adopt all unconsciously the opinions he prescribes. To Frenchmen, therefore, the book may have a significance of peculiar meaning and value; to us, who read it as a charming contribution to modern French literature, it has a grace, a novelty, a rush and force of eloquence, a contrast of colors and a depth of light and shade, that make it almost, if not quite, the most notable book of the day. It is not that the parts are new, for these have been in the main stated in all earlier histories; but for the first time they are brought out in their full force and significance, are marshaled not merely in their chronological order, but in a way that best shows their political and social significance. It is not that the story of the utter decadence of real power in France in the eighteenth century is a new one, or that the prologue to the great French tragedy is not familiar, but M. Taine knows perfectly well how to illustrate the old by the new, and to make each strengthen the other. The analysis of society is necessarily a serious study, as befits the subject; but the sketch of the manners and character of the world that lived in France, not for it, is wonderfully well done, with all the point and force, and without the wearisome detail and repetition, of the famous biographies of the same period. The discussion of the spirit which prevailed in France, and the doctrine that grew into being, is clear, sharp and decided; but the way in which the propagation of what was essentially the philosophy of the French Revolution, is described, rises to an almost absolute eloquence, and then in tones of awful darkness, is the account of the condition of the French people, the long, wearying, crushing deadening weight of years of oppression and misgovernment, ruining them alike in mind and body, in purse and person, in heart and intellect. The few books that make up the picturesque tale of the French pro-revolutionary period, are for the most part exaggerated or unreliable, and sometimes both; and even of the gloomy horrors of the Revolution itself, Carlyle and Dickens have given us the best examples of how to treat so great a subject. Here, however, we have in Taine a hand worthy of the facile clay and able to mould it into a living shape, and his book is full of life and light, of shadow and effect. He has thrown aside lesser tasks and the uncomfortable business of criticism, for the nobler work of recounting the story of a great revolution, and his first volume gives promise of a book that will serve to throw light on the present of France as it is explained in the France of a century ago. The translation of the book necessarily, in the case of an author like Taine, deprives his writing of much of its sparkling clearness, and therefore of course it ought to be read in the original, by those who can do so, for the pleasure of his force and beauty of diction, and as a study of the best French of the day, the French of a scholar and a man of authority; but for those who must read the book in English, there is fortunately a good translation from the pen of Mr. John Durand, published by Messrs. Henry Holt & Co., of New York. The substance of Taine's work is preserved there, and it ought to find abundant readers; for it deserves careful perusal and diligent study, and there is no better method of contrasting the building up of nations, than to recur to the now familiar history of our hard task of creating a union in the struggles of our eighteenth century life, and then to turn to Taine to read, in his eloquent pages, the story of the undoing of France by its rulers. FIFTY YEARS OF MY LIFE, by George Thomas, Earl of Albemarle, New York: Henry Holt & Co. 1876. pp. 420. Lord Albemarle had the good fortune to be born under a lucky star and in a lucky family; but with all the other fairies on his side, he certainly was not blessed with the gift of authorship. His book is essentially vulgar and stupid: the vulgarity that of a man who thinks that his peerage has done so much for him that he need do nothing more for himself; the stupidity that of a man who has lived with bright and clever people, without in the least acquiring any of their good qualities or appreciating them. Perhaps the only justification of the book is the appendix, with its absurd chronological history of the Keppel family, showing that it began with nothing and ended nowhere, while it had a long run of nobodies to make it rich and famous. Lord Albemarle's personal history is utterly insignificant, and yet, in his seventy-odd years of life, he was thrown among great folk and took part in great events. He was at Waterloo; he traveled and wrote books about the East, when it was something of a terra incognita; he held various petty offices, and he was in Parliament at times of importance; and yet his book is so vapid, so dull, so insignificant, that one wonders how it came into being in England, and why it was ever borrowed for our American market. Can it be that we dearly "love a lord," and may safely be counted on to buy a book, no matter how worthless, provided it is written by a peer, and admits us to the wonderful circle in which Lord Albemarle now takes his round of duty? Sir Henry Holland disappointed the world with a dull book, but it was not a bad one; and he was not less readable than people expected, only he was too circumspect and impersonal. Lord Albemarle has no reserves, either about his own family or any other, and he vamps up old stories that might as well have slept on another half century, without being pressed into the service in this last example of book-making. Even the art he uses in that inglorious trade, belongs to the fashion of half a century ago, when he inscribed himself on the list of noble authors by his books of travel that died long before their writer. He tells a story of his own accidental being-his grandfather married to pique his sister-in-law and cut off her son from the peerage. Having accomplished that praiseworthy purpose, he left us the present Lord Albemarle, who is foolish enough to add this to his other store of elegant anecdotes. Perhaps there may be some special merit in the book, or some value in its account of events once important, such as Queen Caroline's trial or Princess Charlotte's domestic life-but we thought Mr. Thackeray had effectually put an end to that sort, of easy writing and bad reading. It is not pleasant to see sharp, harsh things said half a century ago, revived by Greville's Memoirs, but at least they were true, new and good; it is far worse to |