in which these improvements are recommended, was adopted by the unanimous vote of the Trustees. No provision, however, was made for carrying the plan into execution,-the pecuniary means of the College not being at present sufficient for that object. By accepting the report, they intended to express their approbation of the general plan, and their intention of incorporating the new course of instruction with their present four years' course; and to add the department of education, as soon as they can obtain the necessary means. The mechanic department they consider of less immediate consequence, but as deserving of a trial, as soon as the funds of the College will permit.

'13.—Elements of Mineralogy, adapted to the Use of Seminaries and Private Students. By J. L. COMSTOCK, M. D. 8vo. pp. 338. Boston. 1827. S. G. Goodrich.

FROM the introduction of the Elements of Mineralogy as a branch of study in so many of our schools and higher seminaries, the want of a convenient and correct work, suitable for beginners, has been for some time felt. We know of no book which, in the present state of the science, is every way calculated to serve as an introduction to the more extended treatises. Frofessor Cleaveland, we had heard, was preparing such a work, and he will not find in the volume before us any cause for relinquishing his undertaking. Although Dr Comstock has presented us with much of the matter of Professor Cleaveland's volumes, we do not think that he has enriched it by the additions from other writers. Since the publication of Professor Cleaveland's work, mineralogy has advanced with rapid strides, and while a vast number of new substances have been brought to light, others that were then considered as distinct species or varieties have been discarded. Of this Dr Comstock does not seem sufficiently aware, and as to new American localities, we find no evidence of his having ever heard of them. Most surely, in an American work, and one too professedly designed to facilitate the progress of science,' our own localities should have been diligently examined and made known. On the contrary, many of those which have afforded choice and abundant specimens are wholly omitted, while old errors, both as regards the localities and the minerals themselves, are retained.

6

Thus our author does not appear to have known that some of the finest crystals of Chrysoberyl have occurred at Saratoga, that Tabular spar has been occasionally found at Ticonderoga ;

Yenite, Amethyst, and Grossulare at Rhode Island; Egerane at Worcester; Amazon stone at Beverly; Asparagus stone at Billerica, &c.

Among other instances of an unpardonable inattention to the progress of the science, we may notice the description of Humite, which our author should have known has proved to be Condrodite (or what he calls Chondorcite), and so of Sillimanite, which has been ascertained to be Cyanite, and of Meionite, which is now referred to Scapolite. Under crystallized lepidolite,' we are told that it occurs at Paris in Maine, where no such thing is known; what was guessed to be such, is undoubtedly the kind of pseudomorphous talc, a substance not exactly like a mica.

In excluding from the external characters of minerals the angular measurements, he has at once struck out one of the three all important characters; and although we have a table at the beginning of the volume, it is incomplete, and, from the trouble of frequently turning back to it, will probably be altogether neglected by the pupil.

An air of parade is given to this book by the introduction of a few of Professor Mohs' new terms; but no kind of explanation is given, and we strongly suspect our author knows but little about it. It is but lately, it is true, that this new system has been made accessible, and its mysteries revealed by the labors of Mr Haidinger, but his work has been long enough before the public for any one to have made himself acquainted with its principles. To introduce us at once, without any preparation, to Pyramidal Pearl-Kerate' and 'Empyrodox Quartz,' is somewhat appalling; and we can well imagine the utter despair into which the 'private student' will sink at the sight of Brachytypous Parachrose-Baryte.' In giving, here and there, these and a few other of Mohs' synonyms, a ridiculous effect is given to his whole system, which it was due to the distinguished author to avoid, and which a few pages of explanation might have prevented.

This work is as full of errors of the press, as of the pen, and so far from facilitating the progress of science, carries us back something like ten years.

QUARTERLY LIST OF NEW PUBLICATIONS.

ARTS AND SCIENCES.

With Boston.

An Elementary Course of Civil Engineering, translated from the French of M. J. Sganzin, Inspector General of Bridges, &c. Notes and Applications, adapted to the United States. Hilliard, Gray, & Co. 8vo. pp. 161.

BIOGRAPHY.

Memoirs of the late Mrs Susan Huntington, of Boston, Massachusetts, with the Sermon occasioned by her Death. By B. B. Wisner, Pastor of the Old South Church in Boston. Second Edition. Boston. Crocker & Brewster.

The Life of the Rev Dr Cotton Mather. Philadelphia. 12mo.

DRAMA.

Sylla; a Tragedy, in Five Acts. By a Member of the Institute. Translated from the French, by a Citizen of New York. Behr & Kahl. 12mo.

EDUCATION.

Elements of Mineralogy, adapted to the Use of Seminaries and Private Students. By J. L. Comstock, M. D. Boston. S. G. Goodrich. 8vo. pp. 338.

Hawes's United States Spelling-Book. Second Edition. Augusta. W. M. Ladd.

12mo.

A Theoretical and Practical Grammar of the French Tongue. By M. De Lévizac. New Edition. New York. 12mo. pp. 444.

American Popular Lessons. Ninth Edition. New York. W. B. Gilley. 18mo.

A Primer of the English Language, for the Use of Families and Schools. By Samuel Worcester. Boston. Hilliard, Gray, & Co. 18mo. pp. 79.

Questions adapted to Whelpley's Compend of History. By Joseph Emerson. Boston. Richardson & Lord. 12mo. pp. 69.

Le Lecteur Français de la Jeunesse, ou Choix d'Historiettes Morales, Anecdotes, Fables en Prose et en Vers, &c. Redigé par F. B. G. Northampton, Mass. Simeon Butler. 12mo. pp. 212. The Family Instructer; relating to Parents and Children, Masters and Servants, Husbands and Wives, &c. with Family Prayers.

Willet's Geography. A New Edition, with Cuts. Philadelphia. A New Edition of Freeby's Astronomy, with the Method of Determining the Longitude, Aspects, &c. of the Planets for any future VOL. XXIV.-NO. 55. 62

time, and an extensive set of Geographical and Astronomical Problems on the Globes.

The Eagle, or National Arithmetic. By D. Macurdy, Philomath. Baltimore.

Bentley's Spelling Book. Third Edition, improved.

The American Teacher's Assistant, and Self Instructer's Guide ; containing all the Rules of Arithmetic, properly explained and illustrated. With an Appendix. By John Mackay. Price $1. Charleston, S. C.

The Second Book, or Reading Lessons for Primary Schools. New Edition. Boston. Richardson & Lord. 18mo.

Primary Lessons in Arithmetic. By Frederick Emerson. Second Edition. Boston. Lincoln & Edmands. 12mo. pp 34.

First Book for the Use of Teachers. By Elizabeth Oram. New York. James W. Campbell.

Practical and Mental Arithmetic, designed principally to accompany Daboll's System of Arithmetic, and equally adapted to any other. By Roswell C. Smith. Providence.

A new Treatise on the Use of Globes, with Notes and Observations. Designed for the Use of Schools ond Academies. By James M'Intyre. Second Edition. Baltimore. E. J. Coale.

Map of the World in Outline, to be filled up by Students in Geography, accompanying the Rev. C A. Goodrich's Outlines of Modern Geography. Boston. S. G. Goodrich.

The Young Scholar's Manual, or Companion to the Spelling Book; By T. Strong. Fifth Edition. Greenfield. J. Denio.

The Analytical Reader, containing Lessons in Simultaneous Reading and Defining, with Spelling from the same. By Samuel Putnam. Second Edition. Dover. Samuel C. Stevens. 12mo. pp. 160. Questions adapted to the Constitution of the State of Massachusetts, designed to be used in Academies and Common Schools. By the Rev. Isaac Jones, A. M. Boston. Richardson & Lord. 12mo. pp. 19.

Geography for Beginners, or the Instructer's Assistant in giving First Lessons from Maps; accompanied with an Atlas. By Emma Willard. Hartford. O. D. Cooke & Co. 18mo. pp. 110. Thompson's Arithmetic. Second Edition. Woodstock.

Watson.

David

A New and Improved Theoretical and Practical Grammar of the Spanish Language. By Emanuel Del Mar, Teacher of the Spanish Language. New York. Bliss & White. 12mo.

The Child's Arithmetic. By William B. Fowle, Instructer of the Monitorial School. Second Edition. Boston. Thomas Wells. 18mo. pp. 104.

The Pestalozzian Primer, or First Step in Teaching Children the Art of Reading and Thinking. By John M. Keagg, M. D. Harrisburg. 12mo. pp 126.

This work is evidently the production of a well fraught and reflecting mind, which has bestowed much attention on the important subject of early education, and really is what its title intimates, A first step in teaching children the art of reading and thinking' The author says that the work was begun under a conviction that something of the kind is much needed in our primary schools, in order to create a habit of thinking, and of understanding what is read." He has according

ly subjoined to even the first and most elementary lessons, what he calls a Dianoetic lesson consisting of certain words, or sentences, on which it is intended the teacher shall exercise the thinking powers of the learner, by making him point out the differences and resemblances of objects, with which he is most familiarly acquainted; thereby affording gratification to the strongest passion of a child, the desire of information. This seems to be the true way of blending the agreeable with the useful, and of making curiosity the handmaid of improvement. This work, to be useful, needs only to be known; we therefore heartily wish our author success in his undertaking, because we regard every effort to facilitate the acquisition of good knowledge, as doing something for the cause of public order, morality, and happiness.

The True English Grammar, being an Attempt to form a Grammar of the English Language, not modelled upon those of the Latin, Greek, and other Foreign Languages. By William B. Fowle. Boston. Munroe & Francis. 18mo. pp. 180.

A History of the United States, on a Plan adapted to the Capacity of Youth. By the Rev. C A. Goodrich. Bellows Falls, Vt. Tenth Edition. James J. Cullen & Co. 18mo.

Fifth

The Moral Instructer, and Guide to Virtue, being a Compendium of Moral Philosophy, in eight parts. By Jesse Torrey, Jr. Edition. Philadelphia. pp. 300.

This is a duodecimo volume of three hundred pages of very miscellaneous contents; but all of them apparently intended to effect one of the noblest purposes of human ambition, the reformation of manners, and diffusion of correct principles of conduct, among those classes of the community which have fewest opportunities for reading and reflection. Much the greater part of this volume is composed of extracts and abridgments; and these are generally made from the brightest pages of ancient and modern wisdom, as the following heads of its contents will prove; Epitome of the Moral Precepts of the Bible; Abridgment of the Lives and Moral Discourses of Confucius, Socrates, and Seneca; Abridgments of the Law of Nature, of Penn's Maxims, Paley's Moral Philosophy, and Knigge's Art of Conversing with Men; selections from Franklin's Works, from the Spectator, and from the occasional Speeches and Addresses of some of the most distinguished men of our own country; the whole concluded by some didactic poetical extracts. But the first part, consisting of original essays, is the one on which Dr Torrey seems to have expended the most labor, and from which he, perhaps, expected to reap his most enduring laurels. And here we cannot but regret to see good intentions marred by so much bad taste; we subjoin two or three sentences, which are not unfair specimens of his style, carefully italicizing the same words which the Doctor has thought worthy of that distinction. The first is from his address' To the People of the United States.' It is but of little avail to the majority of the human family, that philosophers of different ages and nations have exerted their talents in perfecting the science of moral wisdom, as long as no one will take the pains to collect and concentrate the best fruits of their labors into a convenient portable vehicle for universal distribution, upon the boundless table of the Printing Press. p. 3. And the following, which is the first sentence in his Serious Address to the rising Generation of the United States.' 'Favoured Youth, Contemplate calmly and attentively the sacred legacy which must soon be committed to your charge, in trust for your successors, and eventually for the whole human race! You constitute the only insulated Ararat, on which the olive branch of peace, and the "glad tidings" of freedom and happiness, can be deposited and preserved to a groaning world drowned in tears' p 18. We will add but one more. With an incredible infatuation, we have sacrificed the golden presents of Ceres on the hissing copper altars of crazy Bacchus. Were I allowed the privilege of obliterating the two greatest scourges of mankind, I would select the art of distilling food, and the art of war,' (p.25,); which we take to be a most evident imitation of the following, from the speech of Mr Matthews's Irish Barrister. If I could mount the winged horse Pegasus, I would fly over Mount Helicon, and travel the land of Egypt, to emancipate and elucidate all that can reverberate to substantiate the emaculation of all that puts you at present