Elizabethan Miscellanies, Drummond of Hawthornden, Sir William Alexander, Cowley, Whitehead, Christopher Smart, Thomas Warton, Cowper, Macaulay, and Clough; and among those who have co-operated with him in the work are Matthew Arnold, who, besides furnishing the General Introduction, has dealt with Gray and Keats; Professor Skeat, who deals with Piers Ploughman;" Professor Dowden, who deals with Shakespeare, John Dyer, Falconer, Goldsmith, Lamb, Leigh Hunt, Ebenezer Elliott, and Hartley Coleridge; Dean Church, who deals with Sackville, Spenser, and Wordsworth; Professor A. W. Ward, who deals with Ben Jonson, William Cartwright, John Oldham, and Dryden; Dean Stanley, who deals with Keble and the Wesleys; Professor Nichol, who deals with Dunbar, Sir David Lyndesay, Swift, and Sydney Dobell; Dr. Service, who dea's with Burns and Ferguson; Goldwin Smith, who deals with Marvell and Sir Walter Scott; Lord Houghton, who deals with Landor; George Saintsbury, who deals with William Warner, Samuel Daniel, Drayton, Garth, Armstrong, Blair, Young, Shenstone, and Beattie; Austin Dobson, who deals with Congreve, Prior, Gay, Green, Bowles, Frere, and Praed; Professor Mark Pattison, who deals with Milton and Pope; J. A. Symonds, who deals with Byron; Frederick W. H. Myers, who deals with Shelley; A. C. Swinburne, who deals with Collins; Edmund W. Gosse, whose contributions are very copious; and many other writers, whose names are less familiar to the public, but whose work vindicates their selection.

A very large proportion of what is distinctly best in English poetry is brought together in these four delightful volumes; and the critical introductions which precede the selections from each poet are not less instructive, and scarcely less interesting, than the poems themselves. For cultivated readers who can afford but one anthology, this is undoubtedly the one to choose; and it should find a place in every collection, however smail.

ANALYTICAL AND CLASSED CATALOGUE OF THE BROOKLYN LIBRARY. Brooklyn, N. Y. : Published by the Library. Large 8vo, pp.

IIIO.

Strictly speaking, perhaps, a catalogue of books can hardly be regarded as literature, but as an auxiliary to literature nothing could well be more important. A library without a catalogue is little more than "a fortuitous concourse of atoms;" and it would be scarcely an exaggeration to say that the utility of any large collection of books will be almost exactly proportioned to the thoroughness and discrimination with which it is catalogued. This, however, is no novel proposition, and from the

time when books first began to be brought together, the art of rendering them easily accessible has occupied a considerable share of the attention of librarians. Of course, with so many different minds directed to the subject, many plans have been devised and numerous experiments made; but, in general, one of two systems has been adopted—that which arranges the books under authors and titles, or that which classifies them according to their subject-matter. Each of these methods has had its advocates and defenders, and each of them possesses such unquestionable advantages that it must always have been a difficult matter to choose between them; but Mr. S. B. Noyes, of the Brooklyn Library, has devised a plan which combines the characteristic merits of both, and the result is so happy as to cause surprise that it was not thought of sooner.

The distinctive feature of Mr. Noyes' Catalogue is that it combines in one general alphabet a systematic arrangement of authors, titles, subjects, and classes. The authors and titles appear in the manner which usage has rendered familiar; and when, in its proper alphabetical place, we reach one of the larger groups --such as Architecture, Arts, Astronomy, Biography, Education, Fiction, Government, History, Law, Mathematics, Medicine, Music, Philosophy, Poetry, Political Economy, and the like-we find a sub-list of the contents of the library in each of these departments arranged in alphabetical order, and not infrequently subdivided into smaller groups, which still further facilitate and expedite reference. Where the contents of a book are of such a character that it might reasonably be looked for in more than one group, it is inserted in each of them; and affiliated topics are bound together by an elaborate network of cross-references.

One other feature which, if not distinctive of this Catalogue, immeasurably enhances its value, is the fulness with which, in the case of collected works (voyages, essays, compilations, and the like), the contents are given. To quote the Preface on this point: "Volumes of miscellaneous essays biographical, historical, etc.-have been carefully analyzed, and the contents distributed under their special subjects. A considerable portion of the Periodical Literature issued since the year 1852 (the date of publication of Poole's Index) has received like treatment, particularly in the line of biography and criticism. . . Many thousand references to magazine articles, and to chapters and parts of books, are entered in the Catalogue, under the subjects of which they treat. There are about eight thousand such references in the class BIOGRAPHY alone; and in this connection it should be stated that, in the same class, a brief characterization is

given of each of the persons (about three thou sand in number) whose biographies are recorded, together with the dates of birth and death." Some idea of what all this involves may be gained from the statement that upward of twenty-five thousand distinct essays and articles in periodicals are placed under the subjects of which they treat.

Even this, however, by no means exhausts the special merits of the Catalogue. In the case of the more important subdivisions, at the end of the list of titles, a brief paragraph usually summarizes the qualities of the leading works, or indicates which are best worth attention. Thus, under the group "Countries,' sub-group" United States," class "General History," we find the following note:

"Of the above-named works, those of Anderson, Quackenbos, Scott, Willard, and the Grammar School History' of Lessing, are elementary text-books in excellent repute. All have illustrations, and, with the exception of Willard, have been published since the Civil War. Those of Bonner and Dodge are more narrative in method, but written for juvenile readers. Those of Higginson and Doyle tell the story in a clear and accurate manner, for young and old. Patton's History is considerably fuller in its narrative. Barnes' Centenary History, and the larger histories of Lossing, and Mrs. Richardson's History are also broader in their scope, treat their subject in a picturesque and popular way, and are copiously illustrated. The Compendium, by A. H. Stephens, is written from a Southern standpoint. The most elaborate histories are those of Bancroft, Hildreth, Tucker, and Bryant and Gay. The last volume of Bancroft ends with the close of the Revolution; Hildreth carries his narrative to 1821; Tucker, passing lightly over the Colonial period, reviews at length the political history of the country from the Revolution to the election of Harrison in 1840. His political sympathies appear to be those of a Southern Jeffersonian Democrat, while Hildreth's are with the Federalists."

It will be seen that, without venturing upon controverted points of criticism, this furnishes an invaluable guide to readers, who are in most instances simply bewildered by being confronted with a list of books about whose scope or contents they know nothing.

It remains to be pointed out (and this is our excuse for dealing with it here) that such a Catalogue possesses usefulness for a constituency far wider than that of the institution for which it was made. A well-selected library of 60,000 volumes will be apt to comprise all or nearly all the books that smaller popular libraries will contain; and it has been well suggested that such libraries might avail themselves of the fruits of Mr. Noyes' labors by purchasing copies of this Catalogue and marking upon them the titles of such works as are included

in their own collections. By doing this, librarians would be aided in making additions to their lists, and readers assisted in the selection of such other works as they might apply for elsewhere or acquire by purchase. Even in the smallest private collections the utility of the Catalogue would be very great. Very often the most difficult task of the student or reader lies in discovering what works are to be found in the field which he proposes to cover. In this Catalogue the greater part of such work has already been done for him, and its results are as accessible and as easily referred to as a word in a dictionary or an article in a cyclopædia.

Mr. Ferris's little books on musical composers and singers are among the most attractive and popular that have appeared in Appletons' New Handy-Volume Series, and the present volume is quite as interesting as any that has preceded it. It contains chapters on Malibran, Schröder-Devrient, Grisi, Pauline Viardot, Fanny Persiani, Alboni, Jenny Lind, Sophie Cruvelli, and Titiens; but it touches incidentally upon nearly all the lesser lights of the operatic stage who were contemporary with these stars," and furnishes what might almost be called a history of the lyric art in Europe during the past three quarters of a century. Mr. Ferris has evidently taken particular pains to portray the personality of his subjects, and numerous piquant and characteristic anecdotes lend animation to his pages; while the more serious questions suggested by the careers of the several artists are treated with as much fulness and perspicuity as space would permit. Taken together, the little volumes on "The Great German Composers," "The Great Italian and French Composers," and the two series on Great Singers," form a collection which every lover of music will find it convenient to have at hand either for reading or for reference.

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ANIMAL LIFE as affecteD BY THE NATURAL CONDITIONS OF EXISTENCE. By Professor Karl Semper. With two Maps and 106 Woodcuts. International Scientific Series. New York: D. Appleton & Co.

The gradually lengthening list of the International Scientific Series shows few volumes more interesting to the general reader than this of Professor Semper's, for it deals with the elementary principles and processes of that great law which has now become the almost universally accepted "working hypothesis" of scientific men-the law of Evolution. Con

vinced that "enough has been done in the way of philosophizing by Darwinists," and that the time has now come to apply the test of exact investigation to the hypotheses that have been laid down, Professor Semper addresses himself to the task of proving by experiment that "this imaginary process of development is indeed the true and inevitable one." It appears to me," he says, "that of all the properties of the animal organism, Variability is that which may first and most easily be traced by exact investigation to its efficient causes; and as it is beyond a doubt the subject around which at the present moment the strife of opinions is most violent, it is that which will be most likely to repay the trouble of closer research. I have endeavored," he continues, "to facilitate this task, so far as in me lies, by here presenting a general view of those facts and hypotheses which bear upon the subject, and are either of universal significance, or, from my point of view, appear to offer favorable subjects for experimental treatment."

The latest results of the Challenger and other deep sea explorations are availed of, and the book throws light upon what is now among the foremost problems of scientific researchthe problem as to the geographical distribution of animals.

WIT AND WISDOM OF GEORGE ELIOT. With a Biographical Memoir. Boston: Roberts Brothers.

This is a new edition of a little book which

was first published several years ago, but which appears to have attracted less attention than its merits should have secured for it. The dis tinctive feature of the present edition is the biographical memoir, which, without attempting to define her position in the world of letters, brings together in consecutive order all that is now known about the life and career of George Eliot." The body of the book consists of selections from her prose writings, and its raison d'être is thus given by the author of the Memoir: "No other writer of fiction has

44

given utterance to so many of those pithy, pungent, and epigrammatic 'sayings' which have become part of the current coin of conversation and literature, and the source of which is in many cases forgotten. On almost every page of her stories is to be found some wise thought finely expressed, some beautiful sentiment tenderly clothed, some pointed witticism exquisitely turned, or some bit of humor genially exhibited; and, more easily than is commonly the case, these are susceptible of being separated without damage from their context. The work of selection seems to have been done with judgment and discrimination, and the arrangement is excellent.

MR. H. G. BOHN, the well-known publisher and bookseller, is, it is said, engaged in arranging the letters he has received during his long life from people of note, with a view to an autobiography.

PROF. SKEAT hopes to finish the words of his Etymological English Dictionary in about two months from this time. Then will come the list of roots and the words grouped under each, the index of affixes, with their derivations, and the corrections and additions, etc.

THE British Museum has lately acquired a collection of terra-cotta inscribed cylinders and tablets excavated at Bagdad. Among them are cylinders of Esarhaddon, Assurbanipal, and Neriglissar, and tablets of Kinaladanu or Kinneladanos, Nabonidus, Cambyses, and other late Babylonian monarchs.

A LITERARY curiosity of the day is "The Heptalogia," just published by Messrs. Chatto & Windus. It contains seven parodies of contemporary poets, and bears no name, but, says the Squire, I hear that it is by none other than Mr. Swinburne. Some of the bur

lesques are as clever as any by Mr. Calverly or Bon Gaultier. Perhaps the best are those of Browning and Coventry Patmore, but all are witty.

AT the last meeting of the Académie Française it was resolved not to give any prizes this year for poetry, all the pieces sent in being marked by une faiblesse déplorable." The same subject, " Eloge de Lamartine," has been appointed for 1883. Next year the Académie will award its prize for eloquence, the subject being "Eloge de Rotrou."

PROF. MAX MULLER, in a letter to the author of the "Literary Leader'-which is the first book printed in Mr. Pitman's semi-phonotype -writes that he has read it without experiencing any difficulty. Referring to the unfavorable criticism which this innovation in spelling has provoked, the Professor remarks: "A reviewer, if he has nothing else to say, can always fill a column with ridicule of spelling reform. That cannot be helped. No man was ridiculed so much as Copernicus."

A PROPOSAL is under consideration by the leading spelling reformers of Germany to hold an international congress in Berlin at the same time as the congress of Orientalists in September. The subjects suggested for consideration are the formation of a common alphabet for Europe, of a common alphabet for the East, and, finally, of a universal alphabet.

IT is reported that Mr. Hormuzd Rassam, who is prosecuting the British Museum archæological researches at Nineveh and Babylon, has discovered quite a new ancient Babylonian city, a short distance from Bagdad, on the renowned ancient canal called Nahr-Malka or Flumen Regium. We learn that Mr. Rassam has already unearthed a valuable collection of inscriptions, both in the cuneiform and hieratic characters.

AMONG eccentric visitors to Parisian libraries, a French paper mentions a monomaniac who frequented the Arsenal library for twenty years for the sole purpose of reading and rereading "Paul and Virginia." He knew the tale by heart, and recited it on summer evenings as he paced to and fro in the Jardin des Plantes. When M. Victor Massé's opera was brought out at the Gaieté, he was present in the theatre, but left before the end of the first act, exclaiming. "Your music spoils the whole thing!"

A HITHERTO unknown Goethe portrait is attracting much attention in Germany It is a chalk drawing by Gerhard von Kügelgen, and appears to be the original study for the three oil portraits of Goethe painted by this artist. Those who have seen this drawing declare that it surpasses in beauty and vivacity any other portrait of the great poet. It was taken in 1808. It is about to be reproduced photographically, and will thus be accessible to the

multitude.

GAELIC literature seems to be attracting attention in the west of Scotland. A course of lectures on subjects connected with the Celtic language and literature is to be delivered under the auspices of the Glasgow Ossianic Society. One of these will treat of "the Uist Poet," and will be given by a gentleman who possesses many unpublished poems of the bard. Besides, a work on Celtic literature, which is written by the Rev. N. MacNeill, is to appear in instalments in the Giasgow Weekly

Herald.

MESSRS. G. ROUTLEDGE & SONS propose to publish an édition de luxe of Shakespeare from the text of Mr. Howard Staunton, which is certainly one of the best texts we have. It will be comprised in fifteen imperial octavo volumes, printed in larger type than is used in any extant edition, and will contain the wellknown illustrations, upward of eight hundred in number, by Sir John Gilbert, R.A., which will be worked from the original wood-blocks on china paper. The impression will be limited to one thousand copies.

FROM an interesting account in the Scotsman of Carlyle's funeral, we learn that the house at Ecclefechan in which Carlyle was

born is still standing, being inhabited by the village gravedigger. The actual room is described as measuring only four or five feet in width by eight or nine fect in length, with a bed-place formed in the old style of making a recess in the wall. The house into which his father afterward moved, and where Carlyle was brought up, situated in a lane known as Carlyle's Close," has become the village shambles. The building of the old Secession Kirk, to which his father belonged, also exists to this day and the parish school, in which

Carlyle received his earliest education, is now used as a casual poorhouse and soup-kitchen.

SCIENCE AND ART.

SOUND AND HEAT.-From recent experiments made in France, it is believed that the curious sounds obtained by Professor Bell from different substances in connection with his photophone researches, are due to heat, and not to light. The same effects are said to have been obtained from similar substances by means of a gas jet without the intervention of a lens. In one case a metal plate was employed which was silvered on the side next the gas jet, when the sounds were very feeble; owing, presumably, to the circumstance that the heat reflected back to its source. When coated with lampblack-which would of course absorb the heat-the sounds from the same plate were very strong. In another case a plate of copper gave distinct sounds while at a red heat; but they gradually ceased as the metal slowly cooled.

ELECTRIC WATCH.-It is reported that an electric watch has been produced by a clockmaker at Copenhagen. It is especially suitable for persons of irregular habits, for it requires no winding up. The sole attention necessary must be devoted to the battery which accompanies it, and which needs replenishing once

in six months. We are curious to know the

dimensions of this battery. Most things of the kind with which we are acquainted are of the size of an ordinary flower-pot, and would be decidedly inconvenient for the waistcoat pocket.

REMEDY FOR DIPHTHERIA.-A South African paper gives the following simple remedy for curing that distressing and commonly fatal maladv diphtheria. It is vouched for as being efficient in the most obstinate cases, provided that it is applied in time. A spoonful of flowers of sulphur is well stirred in a wineglassful of water. This mixture is used as a gargle, and afterward swallowed. Brimstone is known to be abhorred by every kind of fungoid growth, and this remedy, which it may here be added has been long known to medical men in Great Britain, may have something in it.

LIFE IN METEORITES.-Dr. Otto Hahn has just published a volume under the title of "Die Meteorite und ihre Organismen," in support of the theory, advanced by Sir William Thomson several years ago, that life probably originated on the earth from seeds brought to it on meteorites from the ruins of another world. Dr. Hahn's work contains a number of illustrations of the microscopic aspect of meteoric stones, and he concludes that meteorites are full of fossil débris of spongiaria and polypes, some of which exist on the earth and others which belong to other planets. M. Meunier, of the French Academy of Sciences, has demonstrated that the figures in question are merely clustering crystals of eulatite; in fact, M. Meunier has successfully created the zoophytes in his laboratory.

ARTIFICIAL PROPAGATION OF SPONGES.-An interesting report upon the artificial propagation of sponges has, at the request of the Secretary of State for the Colonies, been prepared by Professor Ray Lankester. It chiefly deals with the results obtained in some experiments initiated by Professor Oscar Schmidt in the waters of the Adriatic during the period 186372. From these experiments it has been proved that a sponge cut into small pieces will form independent masses of growth. Each piece was fixed to a movable support, and sunk in a suitable locality in salt water, when it was found that it grew into a well-formed sponge of marketable size in about seven years. One condition of success was that the cuttings must be left in open unprotected beds, where the natural food of the sponge is not withheld from them. This condition unfortunately led to the abandonment of the experiments in 1872; for the regular fishers were so hostile to the scheme-considering that it might in time to come endanger their trade-that they continually robbed the experimental beds, and finally brought the trials to an end. The results obtained are nevertheless valuable, as pointing to the possibility of growing sponges in localities at present free from them. It seems but yesterday when the sponge was regarded as a vegetable product; we now not only recognize it as an animal, but are considering schemes for its artificial nurture. Human knowledge indeed makes rapid strides ; but how much there is still to learn about the embryology of a bit of sponge, those who have studied the subject most alone can guess.

THE AMOEBA.-It is now well known that one of the lowest forms of animal life is the Amaba, a small gelatinous mass of matter, or protoplasm as it has been termed, which has the power of shocting out limb-like processes and withdrawing them again. At a recent meeting of the Royal Society of Edinburgh,

Dr. Haycraft communicated an explanation of the amoeboid motions of masses of protoplasm. By a simple mechanical contrivance he illustrated these motions with remarkable success. An india-rubber ball, perforated with several small apertures, was filled with colored white of egg, and immersed in a solution of sugar of about the same density as the albumen. When a gentle pressure was applied the albumen was forced out in long continuous strings or processes; and when the pressure was relaxed, the processes at once retracted inside the ball. This curious result was thought to be in virtue of the action of the viscosity and surface tension of the gelatinous matter, and was illustrative of the manner in which the amoeboid processes, after being expelled by contraction of the internal muscular structure, are again withdrawn.

LOCALIZATION OF SOUND BY THE BLIND.-A correspondent writes to Nature: My friend the Rev. H. J. Marston, Second Master of the School for Blind Sons of Gentlemen at Worcester, has communicated to me some very singular instances of the power of localizing sound possessed by blind boys. One of the games in which his pupils most delight is that of bowls. A bell is rung over the nine-pins just as the player is ready to throw the bowl, when, totally blind as he is, he delivers it with considerable accuracy of aim. Mr. Marston vouches for the fact that it is no uncommon feat for a boy to strike down a single pin at a distance of forty feet three times in succession. It is significant that this game cannot be played by the blind boys in windy weather. And yet the allowance for windage on a heavy bowl can be no very large quantity. The boys also play football with great zeal and considerable skill. Bells are rung at the goals throughout the game, and the ball contains two little bells. With these guides the boys manage both to follow the ball and to direct it to the goals."

DYNA-MAGNITE.-A new explosive, dynamagnite, is said to give remarkable results, while at the same time it will resist every effort to ignite it by simple percussion. It is composed of seventy-five per cent of nitro glycerine and twenty-five per cent of carbonate of magnesia. It will be seen, therefore, that it differs only from ordinary dynamite in the character of the porous earth used as a vehicle for the glycerine. Hitherto the monopoly of this class of explosives has, by means of patent rights, been secured to one firm. But as the patent under which these benefits are secured has nearly expired, competition will step in and reduce the price of these destructive compounds. This will be a matter for congratulation to the mining interest, if not particularly so to the public at large.