In this list we must not omit mention of a remarkable American woman who has achieved signal success in the science of Astronomy-who, in fact, may justly be termed the Mary Somerville of the United States. Hannah M. Peterson, the only child of the late Judge Bouvier, received her early training from her father, was first introduced to the study of mathematics by her very accomplished husband, and has since cultivated the study of Astronomy with success. Her great work, entitled Familiar Astronomy, has won her the applause of the leading men in the science on both sides of the Atlantic.

One other name deserves mention before we conclude our notice of the Americans of this period, who have written on Astronomy. In 1839, Ebenezer Porter Mason, a remarkable young man, who was cut off at the early age of twenty-two, wrote a paper, which was published in 1840, entitled Observations on Nebule, which gained the admiration of Sir John Herschel, who thus speaks of the work and its lamented author: "Mr. Mason, a young and ardent astronomer, a native of the United States of America, whose premature death is the more to be regretted, as he was (so far as I am aware) the only other recent observer who has given himself, with the assiduity which the subject requires, to the exact delineation of Nebulæ, and whose figures I find at all satisfactory." The numerous topics connected with Political Economy have received the attention of minds of the highest order. Still a great diversity of opinion exists as to the various theories advanced; and where so much has been written, it is difficult to offer anything entirely new. Henry C. Carey has carefully investigated the subject, disregarding the speculations of the mere theorist, and has based his opinions on the practical workings of the science. His first contribution to this department of American literature was an Essay on the Rates of Wages, published in 1835; after which he gave to the public three volumes, respectively, in 1837, 1838, and 1840, on the Principles of Political Economy; and in 1838, a very able and explicit work on The Credit System in France, England, and the United States, which has been much discussed in Europe. His next and, probably, ablest publication is an attempt to refute the theories of the disciples of the Free Trade School of Political Economists, entitled, The Past, the Present, and the Future, first issued in 1848. His last work-The Principles of Social Science-the first volume of which appeared during the present year (1858), sustains the reputation of its author. Mr. Carey defends his views with much zeal. His style is clear, terse, and chaste.

Several works of decided worth in this department of human science, but of less originality than those of Mr. Carey, have been written by Americans. The Elements of Political Economy, by Professor Wayland, has become a textbook in American Colleges; as has also a very excellent work, entitled The Principles of Political Economy, by Henry Vethake, published in Philadelphia, in 1888. This author is a defender of the principles of free-trade, and his arguments have had considerable influence in extending these views in the United States.

As a necessary result of the practical wants of a country like America, many of the writings on Political Economy are on manufactures and the circulating medium. The disturbed state of the currency at various periods, and the unsoundness of the different banking systems attempted in all sections of the

country, have been productive of several sound treatises on currency and banks. The works of Raguet, Tucker, and Gouge, stand forth among a mass of more or less value, all of which have cleared the abstruse subjects of which they treat of much of the obscurity by which they were formerly surrounded.

It is proper to state that metaphysical philosophy has not been neglected in this period. Upham On the Will, and Wayland on the Elements of Intellectual Philosophy, sustain a high place among modern productions of their class.

Great Britain is heavily indebted to the United States for Juvenile Works adapted to the youthful mind, free from the ridiculous absurdities which characterized the staple of this description of books fifty years ago. The first effort in this branch of popular instructive literature was made by S. G. Goodrich, whose nom de plume, of Peter Parley, is familiar to almost every person, both in Great Britain and the United States. The history of this gentleman's career in the world of letters has recently been given to the public in a couple of entertaining volumes of autobiography, and no more pleasant book of instruction has lately come from the American press.

The first production of Peter Parley was Tales about America, published in 1827, since which period he has been constantly before the reading public of both hemispheres; and his popularity has been taken advantage of in Great Britain by writers and publishers, who have assumed his nom de plume to his pecuniary detriment, as well as to the injury of his literary reputation. He is the author or editor of about 170 distinct volumes, 116 of which bear the name of Peter Parley. And so popular have these works been, that the past sales exceed 7,000,000 of copies, while the present annual demand is 300,000 volumes. His character as a writer has suffered in this country through the publication of a series of compositions bearing the name of Peter Parley, of which servility to English prejudices and a marked slovenliness of style are the distinctive features. So widely has this perversion and abuse of Mr. Goodrich's name been carried, that, up to this time, no less than 35 distinct works, purporting to be by Peter Parley, none of which he ever wrote, have been issued by English publishers.

Mr. Goodrich deserves a higher encomium for his services than the purpose of our work warrants us in pronouncing; and as the pioneer in substituting good books, in accordance with the wants of the times, for the old New England Primer of the Puritan age, and the absurd nursery rhymes of a later period, has, no doubt, prompted others to enter the same field.

Following the example of Mr. Goodrich, some of the most popular American writers, both male and female, have not considered the subject of youthful instruction too humble for their pens. Hawthorne, T. S. Arthur, Jacob Abbot, Miss Mc Intosh, and Grace Greenwood have contributed much to the healthy literature of the young; but few books in the whole range of youthful reading comparing with the fascinating Tanglewood Tales of the captivating author of The Scarlet Letter.

The United States has already a creditable Medical literature, peculiarly free from the bigotry of the schools. The example of Dr. Rush, in this department of letters, had an influence in directing attention to the subject, and since his time, Americans have done much in this branch of authorship. It will be sufficient for our purpose to name some of the most noted of these writers.

We may especially call attention to the Dispensatory of the United States, by Wood and Bache, as a work of great research, which describes the medical properties and effects of many curative agents peculiar to American medical practice. The many editions this work has passed through sufficiently prove its hold on public favour.

Diseases in general, as well as the climate of the United States, have been scientifically treated of by American writers. Dr. Forry, of the United States Army, has written a highly valuable work on The Climate of the United States, and its Endemic Influences, which the London Athenæum considers "creditable to the Medical science of the United States;" and all the works whose titles are given below, deserve the same praise. Treatise on the Practice of Medicine, by Geo. B. Wood; Elements of Medical Jurisprudence, by T. R. and John B. Beck; Elements of Pathological Anatomy, by S. D. Gross; Surgical Observations on Tumours, by John C. Warren; Principles of Surgery, by Professor Gibson; A Treatise on Baths, by John Bell; An Examination of the Practice of Blood-letting in Mental Disorders, by Pliny Earle; Obstetrics: the Science and the Art, by C. D. Meigs; Treatise on the Materia Medica and Therapeutics, by J. Eberle; Treatises on the Physical Diseases of Children, and on the Diseases of Females, by Wm. P. Dewees; and the many excellent works of Americans on Dental Surgery, a branch of science in which they seem to excel.

It is honourable to American Medical literature, that Wood's Practice of Medicine is regarded by many of the profession here as the best work of the kind in the English language, and is used as a text-book in many of the schools. And Beck's Medical Jurisprudence, edited by Drs. Dunlop and Darwell, has passed through seven editions.

Within the past twenty years the Naval and Military writers of the United States have contributed largely to the effectiveness of modern warfare. The works most deserving notice are Major-General Scott's Infantry Tactics; Hardee's Rifle and Light Infantry Tactics; A System of Tactics or Rules for the Exercises and Manœuvres in the Cavalry and Light Infantry, and Riflemen of the United States; Mordecai's Artillery for the United States Land Services; Heavy Artillery Instructions, prepared by a Board of Army Officers for the use of the United States; and the Ordnance Manual, for the use of the officers of the United States Army.

Among the works devoted to Naval instruction are Dahlgren's System of Boat Armament in the United States Navy: Dahlgren's Naval Percussion Locks and Primers; and Stuart on the Naval Dry Docks and Naval Steamships of the United States. Lieut. Dahlgren's latest and best work is devoted to Shells and Shell Guns, and contains a vast amount of valuable information.

As a part of this subject it is appropriate to mention the excellent instructive works of Professor Mahan, on Civil Engineering, on Field and on Permanent Fortifications; and his Treatise on Advanced Guard, Outpost, and Detachment Service of Troops, and the manner of posting and handling them in the presence of an enemy.

There are two recent works of originality to which we desire to direct the attention of professional men; and they are the Reports and Experiments on the Strength and other Properties of Metals, and on the Manufacture, Proof,

and Endurance of Cannon (1856); and Mordecai's Report on Experiments on Gunpowder. The first of these has already met with much favour in Europe, and has thus far been spoken of by competent judges in terms of unqualified approval.

During the past forty years much attention has been given in America to the Natural Sciences, and the different societies existing in the country devoted to this branch of philosophy, have each contributed more or less to the elucidation of certain mooted points in Ethnology, which were a source of perplexity in bygone times. Dr. Samuel Morton, of Philadelphia, for some years president of the Academy of Natural Sciences in that city, a man of sound scholarship and great abilities, had his attention directed to diversity of form presented by the human cranium while delivering a course of lectures in his native city on anatomy, and not being able at the time to procure crania of all the races, he at once proceeded to make a collection from all parts of the world, of the skulls of the different types of our race, and at his death, in 1851, had secured 918 specimens, all more or less dissimilar. As he advanced his collection, his mind was directed to the peculiarities of the American race; and devoting himself assiduously and scientifically to its investigation, he, in 1839, published his observations and speculations on this type of our species, in a work entitled the Crania Americana, with large lithographic illustrations, which at once brought him to the honourable notice of scientific men in Europe and America.

In the course of his investigations he made the acquaintance of Geo. R. Gliddon, American Consul in Egypt, and through his aid procured a large collection of skulls from that country. These he made his study, and, in 1844, published a large and valuable work, entitled the Crania Egyptiaca. The subject of Ethnology has since been further illustrated by the publication of Dr. Morton's unedited works under the superintendence of Professor Nott and Mr. Gliddon, to which these gentlemen have added much original matter, and given the title of Types of Mankind. This book is one of the most important contributions to Ethnology during the past ten years. Before its publication, Dr. Nott had devoted much time to the subject; and, in 1848, published his principal work, entitled The Biblical and Physical History of Man. He has also written several excellent scientific treatises, one of which is devoted to the Natural History of Man, and is a valuable contribution to American Ethnological literature. We may couple with these honoured names those of Bartlett, Squier, Meigs, and Leidy, men of science, whose labours have resulted most satisfactorily, and greatly extended our knowledge

of man.

And, following up the same current of investigation, we must not fail to specify some remarkable works of this period, solely devoted to the North American Indians, by which the traits of that singular race have been put upon imperishable record. The gigantic undertaking of Mr. Catlin, and his adventures among the Western tribes, in furtherance of his purpose, are familiar to most Europeans. His paintings, illustrative of Indian life, are daily becoming more and more valuable as records of a declining race; and his writings on the same subject are now a standard authority. These were first published in 1842, under the title of Letters and Notes on the Manners,

Customs, and Conditions of the North Americans Indians; and although having no pretensions to literary merit, fill anything but an inferior place in American Ethnological literature. The publication of a work on the same subject, but of a more purely historical nature, was begun at Philadelphia, in illustrated numbers, in 1838, under the joint labours of Thomas L. McKinney, recently of the Indian Department at Washington, and Judge Hall, of Cincinnati, the author of several works on the Great West. As early as 1824 the practice was begun of taking single portraits of Indian chiefs who came to Washington, and to this custom, in a measure, is science indebted for this really splendid work. It is entitled, The History of the Indian Tribes of North America; with Biographical Sketches and Anecdotes of the Principal Chiefs. Embellished with one hundred and twenty Portraits from the Indian Gallery in the Department of State at Washington. The North American Review says, "the portraits are a noble monument of skill and art, and a most becoming tribute to the memory of the departing tribes."

A very good work on American Antiquities, and Researches into the Origin and History of the Red Race, by Alexander W. Bradford, was published in Boston, in 1842, which is clear, able, and instructive. Its philosophy is bold, and the writer, while investigating his subject, has not permitted the fables of visionaries to obscure his reason or hamper research.

CHAPTER VI.

SECOND AMERICAN PERIOD, CONCLuded.

AMERICANS were never insensible of the charms of elegant literature, and men of learning in all ages of the republic have embellished this department of letters. While some gave their attention to the more fascinating walks of Belles Lettres, many minds, such as those of Dr. Channing, John Quincy Adams, Edward Everett, R. W. Emerson, Mr. Whipple, R. H. Dana, Judge Story, and Hugh S. Legare, produced profound criticisms which, for force, style, and analysis, rank with the ablest modern British Essays.

Dr. Channing published an Essay on National Literature, in 1823, which gave hopes of further excellence in this branch of letters, which his fine papers on the Character and Writings of John Milton, his article on Bonaparte, and his captivating essay on Fenelon, published respectively from 1826 to 1829, fully realized. These are particularly able. Southey considered them unapproached, and declared their author " a blessing and honour to his generation and country." His pamphlet on Self Culture has proved one of the most successful and useful Essays ever published.

Mr. Emerson's Essays are well known in Europe, and the peculiarities of his style need not be described here. His fugitive writings, many of which appeared in a Boston Magazine called The Dial, were first published in volume form in 1841. A diversity of opinion exists as to his philosophy; but his literary merit is generally acknowledged.