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are transmutable into the other-and this inquiry suggests another still," Is the vital force in its turn transmutable into the psychical;" and if so, how much heat is the equivalent of the energy of knowledge which Prof. Grove employed in the devolopment of his theory or how much oatmeal furnished the phosphates which were transmuted into Hume's Essay on Human Nature? But we may not discuss these points. It strikes us that the physicists have a very pretty little job of metaphysics on their hands, with the management of which the so-called metaphysicians had better not intermeddle, at least for the present.

Meanwhile both classes of philosophers will be very thankful to the editors and publishers of this most attractive and timely vol

ume.

MISCELLANEOUS.

ESSAYS:-MORAL, POLITICAL, AND ESTHETIC; BY HERBERT SPENCER.* This is by far the most interesting and valuable volume of the two series of Mr. Spencer's Essays, now published. His admirers and devotees will scarcely forgive us for saying it, but we cannot refrain from giving as the reason, that it contains very little of Mr. Spencer's favorite philosophy, while it abounds in the results of the sharp observation, the wide reach of knowledge, and the capacity to write clearly, forcibly, and pointedly, for which he is preeminent. The first Essay on the Philosophy of Style is worth the cost of the volume. It would be a deed of charity to print it by itself and send it to the editor of every newspaper in the land. The titles of the remaining Essays are Over Legislation, The Morals of Trade, Personal Beauty, Representative Government, Prison Ethics, Railway Morals and Railway Policy, Gracefulness, State Tamperings with Money and Banks, Parliamentary Reform,-The Dangers and the Safeguards. These subjects are all such as concern us most intimately, and they are treated with admirable tact and knowledge. The circumstance that they are written from an English point of view rather adds to than diminishes their interest and value.

* Essays: Moral, Political, and Esthetic. By HERBERT SPENCER. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 1865. 12mo. pp. 386. [New Haven: H. C. Peck. Price $1.75.]

DWIGHT'S MODERN PHILOLOGY.*-Dr. Dwight's Modern Philology was first published in 1859, and received at that time a somewhat extended notice in this Quarterly. The following year, it came out again, with little change, in a second edition. And it now reappears in a third edition, attended by a companion-volume of more than its own size, the two being distinguished as First and Second Series. The additional volume is divided almost equally between two independent essays, of which the first is entitled Comparative Phonology, and aims to set forth in scientific form the general relations which subsist among the Indo-European languages, and particularly the Greek and Latin, in regard to their sounds and changes of sound. We should have been glad to see here a sharper distinction made between the regular and the anomalous, between phenomena and relations which are general and pervading, and those which have an occasional and exceptional character. But the subject, as the author himself says, is one of no little difficulty: and it is only fair that this should be considered in-criticising the execution. The second essay bears the name "Comparative English Etymology; or English Etymology in its comparative elements and aspects, especially on its classical side, with illustrative examples." The examples contain much that is curious and striking, and we have little doubt that this will be regarded as the most interesting part of the volume.

As for the First Series, it is unnecessary for us to repeat the opinions, which we have already expressed concerning it. But it may be interesting to our readers to see the judgment of a distinguished German scholar; Dr. Adalbert Kuhn, editor of the Journal of Comparative Philology. In a notice of Dr. Dwight's work, printed in the twelfth volume of that journal (p. 315 ff.), he says:

"The object of the present work is not only to furnish a suitable introduction for those who devote themselves to the study of comparative grammar, but also, by an animated and popular treatment, to awaken and diffuse in wider circles an interest for the results of these studies. If, therefore, the merit of the author is to be looked for, not in the development of new points of view or results of extended research, but only in clear and lively exhibition of

• Modern Philology; its Discoveries, History, and Influence. By BENJAMIN W. DWIGHT, Author of "The Higher Christian Education." New York: Charles Scribner. 1864. First Series, pp. 360. Second Series, pp. 554. [New Haven: Judd & White.

what is most important in this field, we cannot upon the whole refuse him our testimony, that he is fitted to treat the subject by a comprehensive knowledge of its literature, and that he has presented the results of linguistic comparison with fidelity, and, in general, with exactness. His style, however, often rises to such a pitch of rhetorical intensity, that we cannot but think that even in America, where people are more accustomed than with us to such a style, a soberer treatment would have been more appropriate and advantageous. But we cannot, and will not, make this a reproach against an author inspired with his theme, especially as he himself says: Should any think that the rhetorical element is allowed, perchance, too free play to any degree in affairs of such high science, the plea is offered in self-defense, that whatever there may be of it, came spontaneously from the depths of the subject itself, which is full to the brim of its own lively appeals both to the reason and the imagination.'

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We conclude our notice with the wish, that the author's exhibition of linguistic science may raise up for that science many new friends in his own country; an office for which we regard it, notwithstanding some errors of detail, as on the whole very well fitted."

WET DAYS AT EDGEWOOD.*-The author of "My Farm at Edgewood" bids fair to do his share in contributing to an American literature. That volume, and the one which we are happy now to welcome from the press, are American in the best sense. They are literally redolent of the soil. They are appropriate to American life, as they spring directly from it. The themes, the illustrations, the scenery, the home life, the social condition, the modes of labor, the economies that are so gently enforced, the prejudices that bring out the satire, the follies that are so gracefully reproved, the duties and hopes that are enjoined and encouraged with so kindly a spirit, are American entirely. The boldness with which the author has dared to treat these native and even homely themes, is only surpassed by the genius with which he glorifies and gilds them. "Wet Days at Edgewood" purports to give the record of indoor occupations in the library of the farm-house-in the way of turning over various books upon agriculture and kindred topics, beginning with Hesiod and ending with the latest agricultural journal. Such a book, prepared by most men, might, perchance, have been learned and valuable. It would be almost certainly dull and trivial, perhaps heavy and repellent. In the hands of our author it is not only readable, but even fascinating to all those who know

"Wet Days at Edgewood;" with old farmers, old gardeners, and old pastorals. By the Author of " My Farm of Edgewood." New York: Charles Scribner. 1865. 12mo. pp. 324. [New Haven: Judd & White. Price $2.]

how to esteem a work abounding in sound sense, graceful allusions, easy transitions, playful humor, felicitous diction, and an unobtrusive faith in whatever is honorable and good.

The farmer who reads "My farm at Edgewood" cannot but be elevated to some sense and appreciation of the dignity and even the romance which lie dormant in his occupation. The same farmer, when he comes to read "Wet Days at Edgewood," will learn to connect his calling with the history of other times, and to obtain a widening sense of its relations to the fashions of other days, as well as to the varying wants and fortunes of the race. He may get by the reading of it some awakening of the historic sense and the historic imagination,-nay, some power of literary appreciation,—such as the reading of many learned and ponderous tomes might fail to inspire.

OUR YOUNG FOLKS.-We have usually felt that we had no room in our crowded pages to speak of periodicals intended for juvenile readers; but this first number, which we have before us, of the New Monthly Magazine, which is to be published by Messrs. Ticknor & Fields of Boston, for the benefit of "boys and girls," evidently marks the commencement of a new era in the history of this description of magazines, which deserves even more attention than we can now give it. The editors are J. T. Trowbridge, Gail Hamilton, and Lucy Larcom, who have secured a large number of contributors from among the most popular writers in the country. In this first number we find a contribution from the pen of Mrs. Beecher Stowe, which we think will be enjoyed by many who cannot exactly be classed with our "young folks." Dr. Dio Lewis has an Article on "Physical Health," which ought to do much to improve the physique, and lengthen the lives of the next generation of American scholars. Mayne Reid, Edmund Kirke, and the Author of "Ten Acres Enough," are also among the contributors to the number before us; and John G. Whittier, and Col. T. W. Higginson, are to have Articles in the February number. We will add, that each number is to be amply illus trated. It is evident that both editors and publishers intend that this new Magazine shall be made to contribute in every way possible to the instruction and amusement of the young people who read it; and we are confident that no periodical in the country will give more real happiness or be welcomed with a heartier good will! The subscription price is $2.

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DIARY OF MRS. KITTY TREVYLYAN; AND OTHER WORKS BY THE AUTHOR OF "CHRONICLES OF THE SCHONBERG-COTTA FAMILY."*The success of the "Chronicles of the Schonberg-Cotta Family' has been rarely equaled, There are probably few intelligent Christian families, of any denomination, where its reputation, at least, has not penetrated. An immediate interest was naturally awakened in the author, which led to the republication in this country of several of her early works. Among the best of these, are "The Martyrs of Spain, and the Liberators of Holland," and "Tales of Christian Life in different lands and ages.”‡

These books reveal some of the characteristics of the author's mind, which make her descriptions of the events and characters of past times so life-like, yet they are chiefly valuable as showing the kind of training through which she was led, the ripe results of which we have at last in the Cotta-Family and in this new work, just from her pen, the "Diary of Mrs. Kitty Trevylyan."

This last book, equal to the "Cotta-Family" in freshness and orginality, gives the story of the times of Whitefield and the Wesleys, as it is revealed in the diary of a young girl, the daughter of a retired British officer, who is living in the quietest of villages on the Cornwall coast of England. In this Diary, as in the "Chronicles," so widely known, the reader is introduced immediately into the home circle, and cannot but feel at once in full sympathy with all the hopes and fears, the joys and sorrows of the domestic scenes which pass before him.

But it is not alone in exquisite pictures of home-life that this book excels. The author shows herself to have been well able to grapple with the dead formalism of that corrupt and decaying age, and to exhibit it in all the manifold ways in which it manifested itself, among Dissenters, as well as among Churchmen, in the salons of fashion as well as in the humble cottages of Cornwall.

* Diary of Mrs. Kitty Trevylyan: A Story of the Times of Whitefield and the Wesleys. With a Preface by the Author for the American edition. New York: M. W. Dodd. 1864. 12mo. pp. 436. [New Haven: F. T. Jarman. Price $1.75].

The Martyrs of Spain and the Liberators of Holland. New York: R. Carter & Brothers. 1865. 24mo. pp. 400. [New Haven: F. T. Jarman].

Tales and Sketches of Christian Life in different lands and ages. New York: R. Carter & Brothers. 24mo. pp. 350. [New Haven: F. T. Jarman.]

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