mars and lexicons, and gradually to be able to make rules for themselves.

We think Mr. Fosdick has done a good service to scholars, young and old, by his translation. All the parts of a grammar are gone over, and their relations and connections, if we may so say, are philosophically accounted for. We forewarn the reader that it will be a dry and tasteless book, unless he has some enthusiasm in his pursuit. To one, who intends to be a linguist or a scholar, it will not be lost labor to give the book a thorough perusal.

16.-Essays on the Principles of Morality, and on the Private and Political Rights of Mankind. By Jonathan Dymond. With a Preface by the Rev. George Bush. New York: Harper & Brothers. 1834. pp. 432.

It will be of course impracticable for us to give any thing like a full account of this volume in a brief notice. Our only object is to call the attention of our readers to it. Mr. Dymond was the son of a Quaker, and kept a linen draper's shop in Exeter, England. He wrote a great part of his works in a little room adjoining his shop, subject to frequent interruptions from his customers. He died of the pulmonary consumption, May 5, 1828.

In the first essay, Mr. Dymond investigates the principles of morality, including the ultimate standard of right and wrong, and those subordinate rules, which direct us in the common affairs of life. In the second essay these principles are applied in the determination of various questions of personal and relative duty. In the third essay, some of the great questions of political law are examined.

A portion of the subjects discussed in the volume are of great immediate importance-such as Intellectual Education, Suicide, the Nature of Civil Liberty, Forms of Governnient, Capital Punishment, Legal Provision for Christian Teachers, Religious Establishments, and Slavery. The writer has entered into this important department of science and of moral truth, with a bold and uncompromising Christian spirit. He keeps no quarters with Paley, or other like temporizers. The volume will command, and deservedly, a wide circulation. We shall take an early opportunity to canvass its claims.

LITERARY

AND

PHILOSOPHICAL INTELLIGENCE.

Proceedings of Learned Societies.

Royal Society of London, incorporated in 1662, meets on Thursday, at half past eight, P. M. Anniversary, 30th of November. Duke of Sussex, President. Peter Mark Roger, M. D., Secretary. Seven hundred and fifty members. At recent meetings medals were conferred on Dr. Dalton, Ivory, Prof. Struve, Encke, Sir Charles Bell, Prof. Michterlicht, Dr. Brewster, De Candolle of Geneva, Sir J. W. Herschell. The last named person read an interesting paper on nebulæ and double stars. He enumerated the difficulties which lie in the way of an accurate classification of them, such as their faintness; irregular distribution; impossibility of viewing them but three months in the year, and then only in the absence of the moon. His catalogue contains 2,500 nebulous stars, 2,000 of which were enumerated by his father, Sir William Herschell, and 500 by himself. The unity of their design, among other circumstances, shows, as he thought, that they form a definite system. Dr. Brewster read a paper on the crystalline lenses of animals, particularly of the cod. The fibres of the lens are united by a series of teeth, like rack-work. The number of teeth in the fibre of a cod are 12,500; number of fibres in a lens, 5,000,000-consequently, the number of teeth is 62,500,000,000. Mr. Barlow stated that he had commenced the task of collecting and arranging all the authentic information which he could find in recent books of travels concerning magnetic variation. Professor Michael Faraday stated the following as the results in his fourth series of experiments in electricity. 1. All bodies are conductors of electricity in the same manner, but in different degrees. 2. In some bodies, the conducting power is powerfully increased by heat, in others diminished. 3. A number of elastic bodies, when solid, insulate electricity; when fluid, conduct it freely, and are decomposed by it. 4. Fluidity is not essential to decomposition.

Asiatic Society, incorporated 1820, meets on Saturday. Anniversary, 14th of March. At the meeting on the 14th of December, 1833, Sir Alexander Johnstone in the chair, Prof. Wilson presented his Sanscrit Dictionary, and Sir G. C. Haughton his Bengalee and Sanscrit Dictionary. Of the Asiatic Researches of Calcutta, seven volumes were presented. Of the Antiquities of Egypt, brought out under the care of Prof. Rossellini, at the expense of the duke of Tuscany, two volumes of works were presented and five of plates. William Henry Sykes, Thomas Newnham, and S. Cartwright, were elected resident members. A paper was read on the law of adultery in Nepaul by Brian H. Hodgson.

Asiatic Society of Calcutta. At their meeting on the 29th of May last, lieutenant A. Burnes read a paper on the "Topes and Grecian Remains in the Punjab." He examined several of the topes, which he supposes were the tombs of the ancient kings.

Geological Society of London.

Seven hundred members. Formed in 1826. Meetings, first and third Fridays of the month. On the 20th of November, a notice of the geology of the north coast of the river and gulf of St. Lawrence was communicated by Capt. Brayfield. He has examined the coast from lon. 60 deg. to 69 deg. 16 min. about 500 miles. The formation is granitic, syenitic, limestone, a deposite of clay, and modern alluvial combination. The relative level of land and water is changing, produced by successive elevations of land.

Royal Geographical Society. Five hundred and twenty members. At a late meeting of this society, a premium was given to Capt. Ross, and a high eulogium pronounced on his character and on that of his nephew Capt. John Ross. So entirely were the hopes of the return of the former abandoned, that his relatives had proceeded to open his will. Lieutenant Burnes read before the society a statement of his journey in Central Asia. He travelled along the banks of the Indus to the Himalaya, Delhi, Lahore, Punjab, Peshawar, Caubul, Hindoo Coosh, or the Indian Caucasus, Balkh, along the valley of the Oxus, Sarmacand, Bokhara, Toorkamauns, desert of Khorasan, Mushiel to the Caspian at Astrabad, Tehran, Isfahan, Shiraz, Bushire on the Persian gulf, Bombay. He was accompanied by Dr. Gerhard, of whom he speaks in high terms. He was liberally encouraged by lord William Bentinck, and Sir John Malcolm. The kindness of the vizier of Bokhara towards him was remarkable. Among other things, he appointed a guard for the travellers through his dominions. When they left him he wished them to pray for him as he was very old, and to send to him a pair of spectacles that he might be better able to read the Koran. They found many Greek and Bactrian coins, having taken the identical route of Alexander. Lieut. Burnes will soon publish his journal in detail.

Royal Society of Literature, incorporated 1825, meets every Wednesday. Anniversary, 30th of April. Members, two hundred and seventy-one. At the meeting Nov. 6th, it was stated that Mr. Wilkinson, who has lately returned from Egypt, had examined the celebrated statue of Memnon, reported to have uttered sounds like that of a harp when it was touched by the rays of the sun. Mr. Wilkinson found within it a sonorous stone, and by it a concealed niche in which a man had been accustomed to stand with an iron rod, with which he had struck the stone. The statue was broken by Cambyses, but afterwards repaired. The secret was, however, kept.

French Academy of Sciences, founded in 1666 by Colbert, and received the royal ratification in 1699. Since 1699, it has, with a few exceptions, published, annually, a volume of Transactions, now constituting a series of between 130 and 140 volumes. We have gathered from the Revue Encyclopedique the following brief notice of its proceedings during the months of July and August last. A paper was communicated on a branch of analytical mathematics by M. Guillaume Libri. M. d' Avezac communicated some VOL. II. 47

strictures on the equation of time adopted by Mungo Park in his African travels. M. Puissant communicated a new comparison of geodesial and astronomical measures of France, and the consequent results in relation to the figure of the earth. A report of M. M. Molard, Bequerel, and Seguier, respecting a model of a vapor machine was presented. Also an account of experiments on compressibility by M. Eersted; description of a new species of vibration in sound, by Cagniard Latour; on the polarization of light, by M. Arago; on the formation of sulphurate of lead, by M. Bequerel; on organic chemistry, by M. Dumas; on the essential oil of black mustard, by M. Dumas and M. Pelouze; on sour milk, by M. Thènard; on vegetable products connected with gums, by M. Bouchardat and the duke of Leoynes; considerations on the interior geology of the globe, by M. Longchamp ; remarks respecting a scientific voyage to Italy, Malta, and Sicily, by M. Constant Prevost; on the Lacedemonian marble, by M. Boblage; on the application of circular polarization to the analysis of grasses; on the perfection of the plough, by M. Molard; on the bones, fossils, &c., found in the basins of Auvergne, by Geoffroy Saint Hilaire; on the abdominal glands, by St. Hilaire; statistical researches respecting the stone, by Dr.. Civiale; on public hygiene, by M. M. Giràrd, Freycinet, and Double; and on the identity of the hieroglyphic language of Egypt with the Sanscrit.*

Books and Literary Undertakings.

Professor Frederick A. Rauch, of York, Pa., has issued a specimen number of a Library of German Literature. It is a pamphlet of forty-eight royal octavo pages, and contains about one third of Goethe's Travels in Italy. Fifty-two numbers, divided into four volumes, will be furnished to subscribers, at five dollars payable in advance. It will embrace works in nearly every department of literature that partake of a popular character, and are calculated to interest the general reader.-Rev. J. N. Hoffman, of Baltimore, has in press a translation from the German of Arndt's True Christianity.-Hug's Introduction to the Study of the New Testament, translated by D. Fosdick, Jr., with notes by Prof. Stuart, will soon be published. A new edition of Lempriere's Classical Dictionary, with large additions by Prof. Da Ponte, of the New York University, is in press.-Prof. Bush is preparing the "Key of David," a critical commentary on the Psalms, comprising the Hebrew text and a new Version, to be published in periodical numbers. Mr. Bush is also preparing a new Hebrew Grammar and Lexicon.-Prof. Stuart is preparing a Grammar of the New Testament Idiom, to contain not only the appropriate syntax, but an exhibition of all the declensions, conjugations, &c., of the common dialects of Greece, which are usually contained in Greek Grammars.-Carey & Hart will issue a new annual for 1835, to be called "The Gift." The engravings are now in the hands of eminent artists.-Harper & Brothers are publishing Mrs.

It is our intention to give hereafter a more full account of the meetings and transactions of the most important learned societies throughout the world, particularly German, French, English, and American. We have access to the most valuable European scientific journals and philosophical transactions.

Sherwood's Complete Works, in a uniform style with those of Miss Edgeworth.-Prof. Woolsey, of Yale college, has issued the first number of a series of the Greek dramatic writers, containing the Alcestis of Euripides with notes. It is printed at the university press, at Cambridge.-The third and fourth volumes of Prof. Henry Ware's Sunday Library, will contain the Holy Land and its inhabitants, by Rev. S. G. Bulfinch, and selections from the writings of Dr. Priestley, by Mr. Ware.-A new History of the United States is preparing by Mr. Geo. Bancroft, late of Northampton. The first volume is about to be published by Hilliard, Gray, & Co.-A new History of Massachusetts is in preparation, by a gentleman who has been distinguished for his research and accuracy.-The Messrs. Abbotts are preparing a series of popular and practical religious works. Vol. I. will be entitled "Fireside Piety." Vol. II., “The Mother's Friend." About 20,000 copies of Mr. Abbott's Young Christian have been sold in England. An edition of the Teacher has been brought out, with a preface by the Rev. Dr. Mayo, of Oxford. The Little Philosopher, and the Mother at Home, are also widely extending in that country.-Rev. Dr. Wardlaw, of Glasgow, has published a number of sermons on Christian ethics.-Mr. Montgomery Martin is bringing out a very extensive work on the colonies of the British empire. It is to be comprised in five volumes, of which one is already published, containing a view of Singapore, New South Wales, &c.—A complete edition of the poetical works of Crabbe, is publishing by John Murray, under the charge of a son of the poet. The merits of this writer have probably never been appreciated either in England or this country.— Rev. Hugh Pearson, the biographer of Dr. Buchanan, has lately published a New Life of Schwartz, with a history of the introduction and progress of Christianity in India, previously to the labors of Schwartz.-The late report of Victor Cousin respecting the school-system of Prussia, has been translated into English.-Complete editions of the Works of Hannah More, with a biography, are soon expected.-The Westminster Review, which, according to Bulwer, is the most original of the British Reviews, is to be published at a price considerably reduced.

Literary Enstitutions.

President Peers, of the Transylvania university, Kentucky, has been removed from his office, on account of a difference of opinion between him and the trustees.-The legislature of Maine have quietly acquiesced in the decision of justice Story, in reference to Bowdoin college. They have, however, voted to discontinue after the present year, the appropriation to the medical school, connected with the institution.-The theological school, at East Windsor, Conn., will be opened on the first of May next. Rev. Bennet Tyler, D. D., is president, and professor of theology; Rev. J. Cogswell, professor of ecclesiastical history; Rev. A. Nettleton, of pastoral theology; and the Rev. W. Thompson, of biblical literature. The two last, have not yet signified their acceptance.-Rev. Rufus Babcock, Jr., has entered on his duties as president of Waterville college, Me.-Mr. Daniel Treadwell has been appointed Rumford professor of natural history in Harvard college. Rev. J. W. Alexander, late editor of the Presbyterian, has