qualities of the natives, which is unfortunately often wanting in the writings of European travellers. The illustrations scattered in it are excellent. 27. Sketches from Eastern History, by THEODOR NÖLDEKE. (London and Edinburgh: A. and C. Black, 1892. 1os. 6d.) From the learned Strassburg Professor we could expect nothing less than a very exact and comprehensive treatise on the matters which he has chosen for this book; nor are we disappointed. He knows his subject thoroughly, and treats it with ease and facility. But we have failed to find in the book anything that is new, or any new thoughts on what was old. What is said is said rather verbosely, the object apparently being to spin out narratives to the utmost. The sketches of Simeon Stylites and Barhebræus are completely out of place in a work which treats mainly of Islam, its book, and its history; but "Eastern" is an elastic term, and in Professor Nöldeke's case seems to include even Abyssinia, for we have a good sketch of King Theodore. The book will yield pleasure and profit to the general reader. 28. The Story of Africa and its Explorers, by ROBERT BROWN, vol. i. (London: Cassell and Co., 1892. 7s. 6d.) This is a very beautifully got-up book, with 200 illustrations, executed in Messrs. Cassell's wellknown splendid style, including the reproduction of several ancient maps, which are of the greatest importance for comparison with our present knowledge. Dr. Brown does his work most thoroughly. This volume, after a short introduction on Africa and African Ethnology (which we would have liked to see treated more fully), brings down to our own times the history of the Guinea traders, of the Corsairs, of Timbuctoo and the Niger-that is, only a part, of course, of the West Coast. But Dr. Brown does well to take his arduous task up in parts: the next volume promises to deal with the History of the Nile. The present one contains a vast amount of information regarding the older explorers; and among other matters treated are the myths of Pirate treasure-islands, and Prester John. We recommend this series of publications to our readers as promising to furnish a complete Encyclopædia on Africa, both interesting and useful.

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29. The History of Socialism, by THOMAS KIRKUP. (London and Edinburgh A. and C. Black, 1892.) This stout little book, on one of the burning questions of the day, is deserving of careful perusal, in order to understand the present theoretical position of the movement. Neglecting, or at least passing over earlier socialistic theories, some at least of which were attempted to be propagated by force, our author begins with the inevitable Saint-Simon, and gives a well-connected and well-detailed history of socialist movements in various countries. We purposely use the plural, as we fail to see, and our author fails to show, any unity in these scattered and often dissimilar elements. He fails also to show impartially the practical working of the theory in the hands of the violent. Equally does he fail, and rather unaccountably, in noticing the great help given to Socialism by the present Pope and by Cardinal Gibbons, not to mention several other ecclesiastics of high position who have raised their voices for the people, now that sovereign rulers are the servants, and not the masters of the Masses. Mr. Kirkup's book is a valuable contribution to the study of a difficult yet urgent and loud-voiced question.

30.

Une Excursion en Indo-Chine, par le PRINCE HENRI D'ORLEANS. (Paris: Calmann Levy, 1892.) "Because a few have died from the impact of cherry-stones in the cæcum, therefore there is no God," was the pithy summing up of an atheist's long-spun-out sophisms. Prince Henri's little. pamphlet may be summed up similarly: Because there is coal in Tonquin, therefore a new Algiers, a new France, an Empire at least equal to that of England in the East, is going to be built up in Tonquin by the French, who though long and strongly and expensively established there, still have their periodical convoys chivied regularly by the so-called Pirates! Prince Henri knows and feels this, and complains of it; but of course France is destined to have such an Empire, with Prince Henri as Emperor: both results are equally probable.

31. Japan and its Art, by MARCUS B. HUISH, LL.B. (London : Simpkin Marshall and Co., 1892. 12s.) This second edition of a very elaborate work by a competent author enlarges the first and enriches it with the addition of much new matter, especially on Ceramic art. In it, after a sketch of Japan, the author touches on each point in the religion, customs, history, geography, and folklore of the country as far as these have influenced Japanese art and its peculiar style. That style, beautiful and graceful in itself, and elaborated by the genius and skill of many artists whose name and work have survived to the present day, like those of the makers of Italian art, is well described and abundantly illustrated, chiefly from the author's own collection, in this book. It is one that will be valued, especially by the numerous body of collectors of Japanese wares, and will give the ordinary reader an insight into a peculiar style, the taste for which is on the increase, and which well deserves the notice given to it.

32. An American Missionary in Japan, by the REV. M. L. GORDON, M.D. (Boston and New York: Houghton, Miffling and Co.) With very little real information about Japan, or even about the working and progress of the particular mission in which Dr. Gordon laboured as a medical missionary, his book gives us an insight into his own superlatively egotistical mind, where much general ignorance (e.g., of the first principles of Buddhism) combines with a self-conceited pose as a teacher of missionaries, and a style, often flippant, always bombastic, to render his book useless to read and very tiresome.

33. Japan: in History, Folklore, and Art, by W. E. GRIFFIS. (Boston and New York: Houghton, Miffling and Co., 1892.) This book, smaller in size than the preceding, is pleasant to read and full of varied information, on the subjects of which it treats. The self of the author is a little unduly protruded where not needed—perhaps a national defect. There is less about art than there should be, perhaps because Japanese art cannot be condensed into the very small limits which the size of the work imposed on the author for that section. As a pleasant and amusing book, if not without some faults, we can sincerely recommend it.

34. Outlines of Egyptian History, by AUGUSTE MARIETTE. (London: John Murray, Albemarle Street, 1892. 5s.) Mr. Murray has improved vastly on the first edition of this book, the value of which to the student of

Egyptology is now too well known to need repetition. It is now preceded by a table of the principal kings of Ancient Egypt, with their cartouches given in small but very clear hieroglyphics. This list evidently follows Dr. Brugsch's; and here we remark that the translator has retained the unvarying 333334 years conjecturally but persistently given to the three monarchs who are made to fill up each century. This average is absurdly high, compared with the average reigns of sovereigns. These have been, e.g., in England 23 years, in Scotland 20, and in Austria 16, while the average of Saxon Kings and Russian Czars has been only 12 years. With the light of actual discoveries this list clearly requires revision. In a few other points, too, the book is scarcely quite up to date; still it substantially includes all that was known of Egyptian History, till late in 1891, and is most useful as a compendious handbook.

35. Poems in Petroleum, by JOHN CAMERON GRANT. (London: E. W. Allen, 1892. 2s.) 2s.) We have not been able to discover much poetry in this volume; and the only connection that we have been able to discover between these poems and petroleum, is that the first would be most appropriately soaked in the second, and a lighted match applied to the whole.

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36. Du Niger au Golfe de Guinea, par le CAPITAINE BINGER. (Paris: Hachette et Cie., 1892.) This work, in two very fine 4to. vols., records the author's laborious and most interesting African journeys in 1887-1889. is embellished with one large and several smaller maps, besides over 160 illustrations. He first went from Senegal to the Niger. Thence, by his simple yet graphic narrative, he takes us through the little known regions and tribes he passed through on his devious way to Great Bassam. traveller of keen perception, acute observation and deep sympathy, nothing escapes his attention. The geographical details of these countries, still marked on our maps as absolute voids; the people who dwell there, with their manners and customs; its natural history, its political, social, religious, and commercial status and prospects, are all incidentally or professedly treated, with thorough knowledge of his subjects. There is a very interesting chapter on Tattoo-markings. But the whole book is a delightful narrative, and while we regret that the unusual pressure on our pages prevents our speaking more at length of the varied contents of this charming book, we cordially invite our readers to enjoy its perusal.

37. From the Caves and Jungies of Hindustan, translated from the Russian of H. P. BLAVATSKY. (London: T.P.S., 7, Duke Street, Adelphi.) Were it not expressly stated that the book before us is a translation of the letters, contributed in 1879 and 1880 by H. P. Blavatsky in leisure moments to the pages of the Russki Vyestnik, we should certainly have considered, from the style and mode of expression, that it had been originally written in English. The translator, in a modest preface craves indulgence for shortcomings of which, we feel confident, the public know nought, and even critics could gather but a meagre pile. The letters themselves, which treat of adventures and scenes in India in the language of an imaginative observer, keen sympathizer with the people and brilliant writer, form a fairly coherent whole, and the book is sure to fascinate, to instruct

and also to amuse. On pages 90, 91 et seq. is exposed with considerable ability and spirit the extremely fragile basis of the scientific discussions and deductions-only propped up by supreme arrogance-of the Oriental scholar whom Oxford worships as an oracle, and who calmly corrects the chronological tables and religious books of people into whose country he has taken good care never to set foot and whom he in no way comprehends. The book swarms with interesting and vivid descriptions, that of the witch (subsequently exposed as an impostor)-looking "like a skeleton seven feet high covered with brown leather, with a dead child's tiny head stuck on its bony shoulders "--and her den, being perhaps the most powerful. Want of space forbids our giving quotations.

If many Anglo-Indians never discover anything interesting, important or admirable in India, it can only be due to a lack of sympathy with the people whom they are supposed to govern. To the same cause must be ascribed, in part, that the glories of Aryavarta are fading fast, and that indigenous arts and sciences have almost died out.

38. Constantine, the last Emperor of the Greeks; or, The Conquest of Constantinople by the Turks, after the latest historical researches by CHEDOMIL MIJATOVICH, formerly Servian Minister at the Court of St. James. (London: Sampson Low and Co.) This is a very interesting and well-written book indeed. It is a matter of surprise that English literature, before the publication of this work, had no monograph on the Conquest of Constantinople by the Turks. The author has done well to use the graphic chronicles written (probably) by a Serbian, who was a personal witness of the defence of the city, as none of the French or German works seem to have availed themselves of this direct source of information, which is conspicuously detailed and on the face of it most impartial. The description of Sultan Muhammed's conduct when at last he entered St. Sophia, bears the stamp of internal truth and refutes strikingly the adopted stories of cruelty. We cannot conclude this brief notice without expressing our surprise at seeing in a monthly magazine for November '92, the Cosmopolitan, an article by Mr. Archibald Forbes entitled "A War Correspondent at the Fall of Constantinople," in which statements and descriptions from the book we are reviewing are reproduced, often almost verbatim, and invariably without any acknowledgment. In fact, Mr. A. Forbes nowhere mentions our author's name or book, and has even carried his sincere flattery so far as to reproduce several of the illustrations. This is hardly courteous.

39. A Sanskrit-English Dictionary, by ARTHUR A. MACDONELL, M.A., Ph.D. (London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1892. £2 2s.) Yet another "Sanskrit Dictionary for Beginners." Only the other day we had Apte's from India, and Dr. Cappeller's, published in London. One is led to reflect on the years that pass without the appearance of a Sanskrit Dictionary professedly for scholars, and comparable in perfection to the great Latin and Greek Dictionaries; or to that Shah-in-Shah of Word-Books, the New English Dictionary of Dr. Murray. Surely the problems of Sanskrit Lexicology are not less important or less subject to finished treatment than the problems of Latin, Greek, or English. Of original attempts to place Sanskrit Lexicology on the same footing as that of Greece and Rome, we have had only

one: the Great St. Petersburg Dictionary of Böthlink and Roth. And, since then, how many "dictionaries for beginners." We trust that the inference is not, that the "beginners" in Sanskrit greatly outnumber the "continuers;" but rather that all students who have passed the initial stage, go direct to the fountain-head of Sanskrit learning-the schools and libraries of India.

As a "dictionary for beginners" this work of Professor Macdonell's is very nearly perfect. It is clear, comprehensive, and accurate; the system of etymological analysis throughout is excellent; and of the greatest practical use in establishing a sound habit of thought, and in teaching the learner invariably to follow up the root-idea of every Sanskrit word.

Another feature which strikes us as both good and original is the indication of certain words which have first been corrupted into Prâkrit, and then re-adopted into Sanskrit; for example, the words bhatta and bhata (Sk. bhartâ and bhrta) which we may compare with the English guardian and guard, which represent re-adoptions of warden and ward after corruption by French pronunciation.

Yet another good feature is the suggestion of extinct roots for cognate words the link between which is lost; for example sthû to explain sthûla, sthavira, and sthûnâ; and also the printing of all verbal roots in larger type.

So much for the good features of the book. Our objections to it are these we cannot justify the arrangement by which (e.g.) nirvâna is included in the article on nirvâchya, while nirvâta is contained in a separate article; either all three should have separate articles, or all three should come under one heading, (nir or, possibly, to save space nirv or nirvâ, though we confess we do not like the latter arrangement at all).

Then certain etymological details seem to us questionable; is it correct to call a-sya, a smin, a-smâi “inflexions of idam"? and to connect idam with a tha, a-tra? Idam is really connected not with these but with i-dá(nim), i-tham, i-tas; the a-root, and the i-root being quite distinct (p. 1).

Then how does Professor Macdonell justify the form (e.g.) Kubera for Kuvera; the latter is much more probably the true form; as we know the Bengali pronunciation corrupts v to b as in Beda (for Veda) and Boishtob (for Vaishuava); while the contrary process, the corruption of b to vis much less likely.

Our last objection is, that in the transliteration the Missionary Alphabet has been employed. Professor Macdonell confesses that he shares this objection; so that we may hope to see a change made in a second edition. An amusing instance of the impracticability of this theoretically almost perfect alphabet was exhibited in the Academy a few weeks ago, in connection with Prof. Max Müller's letters on Namuchi. This name Prof. Müller wrote Namuki; while other correspondents, and we are afraid Mr. Andrew Lang must be mentioned among them, were apparently unacquainted with the Missionary Alphabet, and wrote Namuki; then it became necessary to express the same name in italics, and the hero became Namuki, which would really have a totally different sound in the Missionary