man is doing in the work which is appointed to be done. He has, perhaps, neither time, nor taste, nor power for the investigation by which the limits are to be reached, but he has all these for the appreciation of their importance. For the greatest, if not the only great value of physical science, is the demonstration that all things in Nature are one-as Professor Tyndall well expresses it: "Nature is not an aggregate of independent parts, but an organic whole." This premise being thoroughly established, what follows any one may see.

Professor Tyndall has nobly distinguished himself among the army of laborers who are now engaged in scientific investigations, by his profound researches, especially into the subject of the radiation and absorption of heat. The results which he has reached are of the most interesting and valuable character, and his methods of experimenting are so ingenious, and his habits of research so accurate, that he fairly deserves to stand as an investigator with Newton, Lavoisier, and Regnault. More than this, he has an excellent faculty of generalization, a gift much more rare than the others. All these he has utilized in the lecture before us, in which he rapidly but precisely sums up the results of the labors of himself and others on the important subject of radiation, points out the useful conclusions to be drawn from these discoveries, and shows how large an addition has thus been made to the domain of our knowledge of the laws of the phenomena of Nature, and how strong the additional argument that "Nature is not an aggregate of independent parts, but an organic whole."

"Hand-Book of the Steam-Engine, by John Bourne." New York: Appleton & Co., 1865, pp. 474. Mr. Bourne is well known as a writer of practical books upon the steam-engine, and the success which several of these books have attained is good evidence of his competency. The present work is stated in the preface to be mainly designed as a key to his "Catechism of the Steam-Engine," but has, during to its composition, been somewhat extended in its scope and objects. The design of the work is excellent. Intended for young men who wish to devote themselves practically to the construction and management of steam-engines, it assumes nothing as known, and expounds successively the principles of arithmetic, algebra, mechanics, and physics, so far as they are of use to such a student, and then passes on to the exposition of the practical application of these principles in the art to be learned. For the English student we have not seen as good a book, for Mr. Bourne appears to have examined almost all that has been done by Englishmen. To the American student, although still very valuable, it presents the disadvantages of ignoring every thing that has been done except by Englishmen for the citations of Regnault, Person, etc., are evidently only citations at second-hand from Rankin and other English writers. To ignore the beautiful French and German formulæ, and pass over French, German, and American practical experience, at a time, too, when Continental machinery is successfully competing with the English upon English ground, is not to recommend the work to any but Englishmen. But, notwithstanding this defect, the merit of the book is very great, and we warmly recommend it to the young men among us who are preparing themselves for the building and management of the steam-engine. Let us say too, to recommend this book to those who admire Mr. Carlisle, that it has an excellent index and table of contents affixed, and an appendix of undoubted utility, and that it is very neatly printed, and nicely got up for its readers by the publisher.

Messrs. T. B. Peterson & Brothers, of Philadelphia, have sent us Mrs. Henry

Wood's new stories entitled, "The Lost Will," and "The Diamond Bracelet." In each the mystery is kept up in Mrs. Wood's best style. How the will came to be lost, and who stole the bracelet, she defies her readers to find out until she tells them. The price of the two stories, in one paper cover, is 50 cents.

"Standish: a Story of one Day," has just been issued by Loring, of Boston, and is for sale by O. S. Felt, of New York. Standish is a good story, connected with the late war, and descriptive of battles and events which are well known to our people. The plot is quite dramatic. The unfortunate hero, rich, manly, and brave, finds himself, in a manner which we will not spoil the reader's interest by narrating, the possessor of two wives, happily reduced to one at the close, and that one the right one. The story ends with the crushing out of the great rebellion, and a holy domestic peace to "gild the refined gold" of the great public peace. 8vo, 185 pages. Price 75 cents.

It is with sincere pleasure that we record our admiration of Mr. George H. Boker's poem, read before the Phi Beta Kappa Society of Harvard University, on the 20th of July, 1865. It is entitled "Our Heroic Themes." The exordium is classic and beautiful. The slight sketches of our great commanders, and in especial of our lamented President, are masterly. The language is exceedingly harmonious. We quote as an illustration his reference to our distinguished Lieutenant-General:"With growing courage, day by day I hung Above the soldier of the quiet tongue.

Sneers hissed about him, penmen fought his war;
Here he was lacking, there he went too far.
Alas! how bloody! but, alack! how tame!
Oh for Lee's talent!-O ye fools, for shame!
From the first move, his foe defensive stood;

And was that nothing? It was worth the blood.

O chief supreme, the head of glory's roll!

O will of steel, O lofty, generous soul,

Sharing thy laurels, lest a comrade want;

Why should I name thee? Every mouth cries, GRANT!"

We regard this poem as Mr. Boker's best popular effort.

We beg to acknowledge the receipt of Part XLIX. of the "Rebellion Record: a Diary of American Events" of 1860-'64. This Part begins with the report of General Thomas, of the operations of the Army of the Cumberland in January and February, 1864, and closes with the usual Poetry and Incidents. It contains portraits of Major-Generals Augur and Averill, which, like the former portraits, are admirable. Our readers will be also glad to know that Mr. Van Nostrand proposes to publish, by subscription, an engraving, copied from a photograph taken by Captain Edward C. Boynton, U. S. A., of the country at and around West Point, as seen from the North Redoubt above Garrison's Station, on the east side of the Hudson River. The view will measure five inches by twenty-seven inches, commencing with "Cozzens's Hotel," and including the entire section of country-West Point, Constitution Island, the Passage through the Highlands, Newburg and Cold Spring-with the exact location of the principal buildings, grounds, and details.

The engraving will be on steel, in the highest style of the art, and two hundred and fifty copies only will be printed on India paper, and furnished to subscribers at $10 per copy.

We have received from Messrs. John Pennington & Son, of Philadelphia, an admirable little "Descriptive Book," bound in parchment, containing tables for the

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Descriptive List, and detailed history of enlisted men in the French service: among the tables are such as "Clothing Account," Pay Account," &c., &c. Each French soldier has one of these books, which he carries with him continually. We were just revolving in our mind in what way it could best be brought to the notice of the authorities and adapted to our army, when we received a similar book-the French done into English, with the necessary alterations-by Dr. Thomas C. Brainerd, Assistant Surgeon U. S. A. It should be adopted at once. Dr. Brainerd writes: "I need not tell you of the great annoyance experienced by officers, and the frequent suffering of enlisted men, caused by imperfect descriptive lists, which this work is intended to prevent." We beg to call the attention of the War Department to the book, and to urge its speedy adoption.

We intend, hereafter, to give a fitting notice of a book to which we can now only briefly refer. It is a new edition of Alger's "Poetry of the Orient." An edition was published in 1856, but it numbered only sixteen hundred copies, and has long been out of print. The present edition is considerably enlarged; has a hundred new specimens of Eastern poetry; and quite a number not of an Oriental character. This is a rare, masterly, and beautiful book, and is very handsomely published by Roberts Brothers, of Boston.

Some years ago, Mr. Francis Parkman published a limited number of copies of a work which has since passed into an American classic: we refer to his "Conspiracy of Pontiac," that famous Indian chieftain and patriot who united the Northwestern tribes in a conspiracy against the English, at the West and around the Lakes, and massacred all the garrisons except those of Detroit and Fort Du Quesne. Overcoming physical difficulties which seemed almost insurmountable, he has again appeared as the author of the "Pioneers of France in the New World." This is a charming volume, truthful, full, and accurate as a history, and as absorbing and interesting as a romance. Occasionally we are tempted to believe that he has given play to his fancy, when a foot-note presents his accurate adherence to the truth, in the original French. The work is in two great divisions: the first giving the history of the Huguenots in Florida, and the second that of Samuel De Champlain and his Early Associates, with a view of the Earlier French Adventurers in America, and the Legends of the Northern Coast. With all the simplicity of the old chroniclers, he does not neglect the philosophy of these adventurers, but shows clearly the conflict of principles which was to result in the ejection of the French and the vital growth of the English-liberty and abolitionism-New England and New France. This work will be one of our classics. We are eager to see the remaining volumes which the author promises, and in which he says he has made some progress. The absorbing story of "Dominic De Gourgues" was printed from advance sheets as an article in the Atlantic Monthly. Boston Little, Brown & Company. 8vo, 420 pp. It is admirably published in what may be called a library edition.

We are also indebted to Messrs. Little, Brown & Co., for a large and handsome 12mo, of 494 pp., containing the speeches of Andrew Johnson. This book should be in everybody's hands. Andrew Johnson is a great man, not because the bullet of an assassin made him President, but because, conquering all difficulties, he rose from an humble position by native talent, by energy, and by industry, to be a leader among the people; because, regardless of consequences, he used his influence for the salvation of his country; because he would make no compromise with rebellion; and because, with a far-seeing judgment and noble clemency, he is now reconstructing the glorious Union out of existing elements, rather than fanatically tearing them away, in order to rebuild from new and unnecessary foundations. The speeches in this volume are noble efforts of natural eloquence, and are characteristic of the man. The frontispiece is a fine vignette likeness of the President.

EDITOR'S SPECIAL DEPARTMENT.

To the multitude who do not study history, there are in the signs of the times portents of evil. Peace does not shine upon us with that benign and steady light which was the fond anticipation of an excited people. President Johnson finds the duties of his administration as wearing, and more perplexing, than were those of our late lamented Chief Magistrate, who waited anxiously for battle news from morn till night, and from night till morning.

But, to the student of history, our present condition is not without precedent. Such an earthquake must leave ruins to be cleared away: such a storm must leave a sea of mountain billows, which time and fair weather only can allay. The present ugly outlook is, in reality, the normal condition of the country in such a category. Rebellious States, although conquered, will still grumble: old customs will still shriek, like Virgil's magic branch, at being torn up. New wine bursts the old wine-skins; but, in spite of all, the work of reconstruction and reform goes bravely and firmly on, and President Johnson's course has been prompted by a genius, a skill, a judgment, a moral courage and a firm purpose, which we cannot too highly appreciate or too greatly extol.

A large policy, no less than a Christian humanity, prompts that he should use all the good that remains in the South, in the process of reconstruction. His noble mission is to be merciful as far as is compatible with justice and the nation's safety. He is trying an experiment, which may have its failing cases, but must succeed on the whole. It is to rebuild with the good materials at hand; to give to the States, as far as he can, their municipal power, and a new chance of prosperity. But he will watch nequid respublica detrimentum capiat, and, when necessary, come down with the heavy hand of the Government on those who dare again to assail it. He dares to be a statesman of original grasp and will, and the man of no party; and we echo the noble speech of Schuyler Colfax, which indorses him as a President worthy the support of every patriot, Republican or Democrat.

The State elections go to strengthen the national edifice, and now Slavery is dead by the letter of the Constitution. There must be some trouble, here and there, between negroes and their former masters; unwillingness to work on the one hand, and the dying throes of a former oppression on the other: it will require years to settle these turbulences, but all things tend to that settlement, and we need no prophet to assure it.

The present condition of the pardon system is admirable. Persons in certain categories must wait; but this implies, first, that they deserve to do so for their misdoings, and, secondly, that they are on probation. It does not imply that they will be punished, but we should rather infer the opposite, that, if no new act of evil is performed by them, they will not be arraigned for what they have done.

The course to be pursued with reference to Jefferson Davis is by no means clear. A close prisoner, he has every comfort, and some luxuries. It was distinctly stated in certain newspapers, that the President had decided not to try him, but was preparing the public mind by the delay to send him away in perpetual exile. Many already concur in this view. Many still clamor for his blood. Where shall he be tried, and for what? There was not time for the trial, said the Chief-Justice, Chase, in the Circuit Court of Virginia, at Richmond. This can be readily overruled, and

the Court made to neglect other business, if necessary, and make time to try him. It has been suggested to try him for cruelty to our prisoners. This would be degrading the cause. He should be tried, if at all, for treason, and nothing else. Cruelty to prisoners might be practised by the meanest and vilest imps of hellWirz for example: Satan was tried for rebellion.

Abhorring his crimes, and conceding the justice of his punishment, let us say that if the Government should conclude to drive him away into a perpetual banishment, we do not believe the masses of the people would object, so large is the spirit of amnesty now awakened-so disinclined are the majority to see more blood, even guilty blood, flow. But, it may be deemed necessary by the Government, while punishing the offender justly, to settle forever the character and appropriate treatment of treason, of which he is the most notable representative. The coming session of Congress will throw light upon all these things; it will be a busy, but, we hope, not a stormy one.

The old army, which fought our battles and won our peace, still slowly melts away like ice in the sun. At length the Veteran Reserves are touched. In the general disbandment a great many of the privates express a desire to be mustered out, whereas most of the officers, who regard it as a snug harbor that they have richly earned, desire to remain. By the last orders issued, commanders are required to find out all the men who wish to leave, and those, it is understood, will be disbanded, with a proper proportion of officers; while the rest will remain. Let us repeat to all our readers to have no concern that this disbandment may be too thorough, but of the old army a new one will be made, on a much better system, and we shall never want men. The million of soldiers recently mustered out may be regarded as on furlough, ready to come back with great promptitude at the call of the Government.

We also entirely approve the rapid sales, which have been going on, of the vast surplus of military material; otherwise the cost would be expensive to store it. Many kind of stores would rot or rust; horses and mules would eat their heads off: and, instead of all this, we have ready money. In the mean time all this material is in the country, ready for use if it should be wanted again, as it soon may be.

Another subject of great interest is that of the tactics of all arms, but especially of Infantry Tactics, in regard to which we have always been in a false position, blindly following the French light infantry. Scott's system was but a translation of the old French ordonnance. When the French modified their system, a new translation was made, under the direction of Hardee, and this was used by the first great volunteer army sent into the field. Most injudiciously, we think, when hundreds of thousands of green men were being drilled by this system, General Casey's was adopted. The greater part of this is a reproduction of Hardee's, with the addition of a volume on Evolutions of the Line. It has thus happened that in our vast armies organizations have been drilled-according to the knowledge of the commander-by Scott, Hardee, or Casey, or a composite of the three, with a little sprinkling of Cooper.

Government should at once take this matter in hand, and appoint a board of the best tacticians in the army, to prepare an entirely new American system, which should rid us of one-half of the French verbiage, and the fancy theatrics. It is well known that the English tactics differ entirely from the French, and we do not see any reason why we should adhere blindly to French translations any longer.

Among the pardon-seekers now at Washington is General Longstreet. General Hood left Galveston on the same errand on the 9th of October.

General Grant is again the cynosure of all eyes in New York, and wherever he goes the people cannot see enough of this real Napoleon of our war. But, on this occasion, he is a bone of contention. It is the Nobs versus the Snobs. A few gentlemen of wealth and influence, ignoring the City Fathers, have given him a grand reception at the Fifth Avenue Hotel, at which the multitude are not pleased. But