The object of this communication is to obtain, through the medium of your extensively circulated publication, as many facts as possible in respect to the above interesting subject. The eggs of ducks and geese are often hatched by the domestic hen; but I have not heard that the fertility of the progeny is impaired by the unnatural incubation, though from the facts disclosed by the three above undoubted instances of infertility from this cause, I strongly suspect it.

Let me call the attention of your readers to the importance of being very particular in what they may have to say on this subject. It is not to be supposed that the hens were not affected, as well as the gobblers of the same blood, because they became fertile by the introduction of a gobbler produced by natural incubation. Nor is it to be taken for granted, that, because they have beome thus fertile, the progeny thus produced have the full natural vigor necessary for a continued stock. They might require to be recrossed at certain periods by unimpaired stock.

Very respectfully yours,

W. F. VAN AMRINGE.

OUR PORTRAITS.

The daguerreotypes from which several of our best portraits have been engraved were furnished by J. H. Whitehurst, whose elegant galleries in this and other cities have attracted deserved attention. Mr. Whitehurst's portraits are marked by clearness and vigor; every line seems to be brought forward true to nature, and even the expression of the countenance, so difficult to secure in a daguerreotype, is thoroughly produced. We would call attention to the portraits of the Hon. George W. Wright, Commodore Stewart, and the Hon. Pierre Soulé, lately published in the Review, and still more particularly to that of the Hon. Henry S. Foote in the present number, as proofs of our assertion. Whitehurst's Gallery, at the corner of Broadway and Leonard street, is well worthy of a visit from those desirous of seeing a collection of the portraits of our most distinguished people finished in the highest style of the art.

PORTABLE STEAM ENGINE.

We notice, as among the improvements of the day, a very compact and economical combination in the form of a steam engine, attached to an upright tubular boiler, with horizontal flues of peculiar construction, of the same fashion as the boilers of the steamer Ben. Loder on the Seneca Lake. The engine is suitable for driving presses, hoisting, and well adapted for farm uses; indeed, for all purposes where steam power is required. We note this favorably, and more particularly commend it to the attention of our Southern friends who require for plantation and other purposes machines of this kind. Its particular advantages are: economy in the use of fuel and space; it is not liable to get out of order, and may be safely attended without much experience in the use of steam: it strikes us as a very valuable and practical improvement. It is manufactured by John T. Johnston, Geneva, New-York.

This machine can be seen at A. B. Allen & Co.; 189 and 191 Water-street; Wm. Kemble's, 28 and 29 West-street; and is well worth a visit.

THE MARSHALL TESTIMONIAL.

This splendid festival, creditable alike to our city and to those gentlemen connected with its management, came off on the 12th ultimo. From early morning until midnight there was a constant succession of entertainments. Melodrama, farce, comedy, rope-dancing,

ballet, opera, German and French vaudevilles, all contributed their shares, and a grand

display of fireworks on the battery formed a grand finale. We were pleased to observe large audiences throughout the entire performances. This mark of esteem will, we have no doubt, urge Mr. Marshall to return the compliment by an unparalleled season at the Broadway Theatre.

ITALIAN OPERA.-CASTLE GARDEN.

Two triumphs are to be recorded this month, in the production of Don Pasquale, and Il Barbiere di Seviglia; in the former Bosio's Norma was a charming piece of natural acting and still more beautiful vocalization. A more complete transformation was never witnessed than Marini's as Don Pasquale; his dressing and singing were both very effective. Salvi's Ernesto did not please us-even the delicious serenade in the last act was, we think, most provokingly slighted. Salvi is an artist of great merit and good taste, and therefore we are surprised that he should fail in an opera affording so fine a scope as Don Pasquale. Badiale's Doctor Malatesta was a finished performance, but there is a harshness in his voice extremely displeasing to the ear.

Of Il Barbieri we shall speak more anon, only saying, at this time, that it introduced to us, in the character of Rosina, an old favorite at the Astor Place-Signora Bertucca Maretzek, the accomplished lady of the Empresario.

NIBLO'S.

Since the re-opening of Burton's Theatre the place of his dramatic corps, at this house, has been filled by Mrs. Mowatt, who has lately returned from an European trip. She has greatly improved in appearance, but, with the exception of the finish given by experience, we cannot perceive any improvement in her acting. She has, as yet, only appeared in her original play of Armand, or The Peer and The Peasant. The Ravels and Francks are still delighting the audiences on alternate evenings with Mrs. Mowatt, and we are glad to observe that the houses are nightly well filled.

PROFESSOR ANDERSON AT TRIPLER HALL.

This gentleman has been nightly astonishing large audiences by the mutilation of handkerchiefs, which are afterwards restored uninjured; by passing doubloons through the thick heads of young gentlemen; by magical disappearances, and wonderful reappearances; by magnetic experiments, and more particularly by serving out of the same quart bottle at least a gallon of several different kinds of liquors. We are little given to believe in witchcraft, but were we in the least sceptical, an hour at one of the Soirees Fantastiques would entirely convert us into true believers. We are sorry to perceive that there are many persons anxious to interfere with Prof. Anderson, and who manifest their ill-nature by making remarks during his performances, and accusing him of being aided by accomplices in the house; but the manner in which these persons are treated, being at once gentlemanly and dignified, gives us unlimited gratification. It should be remembered that visitors go to see Professor Anderson, and not to instruct or question him. If they have the superior skill to detect him, some other time and place should be chosen for an exposé, than a crowded hall during an interesting performance.

BURTON'S THEATRE.

Burton has commenced the season with a revival of the old comedies so successful at his house last year; he has made several alterations in his company, but we are

pleased to find many of our old favorites still retained. We are always sure of good entertainment when we visit Burton's, and we cordially recommend our theatre-going friends to give his house a trial.

BOWERY THEATRE.

The spectacles lately so popular at this house have given place to an engagement with Barney Williams, one of the best delineators of Irish characters now on the stage ; he is ably supported by his talented lady, and the members of the company. The house is constantly well filled, and it would seem that Mr. Hamblin's late embarrassments have called forth the active support of his friends. A new play, entitled, “Ireland As It Is," has been produced with considerable success, to be attributed more, perhaps, to the excellence of the acting than to any great merit in the play itself.

NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS.

SKETCHES OF EUROPEAN CAPITALS. By William Ware. 12mo., pp. 320. Boston: Phillips, Sampson & Co. Sold by Stringer & Townsend,

The author of "Letters from Palmyra" is so favorably known to the reading public, as to afford general welcome to this new and acceptable production, even upon so threadbare a subject as Europe, its things and theories. In addition to the high literary merit of this work, it contains one which prides highly on an independence of English abuse, which is sure to visit every production not laudatory of John Bull in all his phases. Nearly all of our prominent writers, hitherto, have judged it expedient to mix with a little slander of their own country, which they call "candor," a large portion of English laudation and flunkeyism, which they denominate a "generous tribute to the mother country," but which the public designate as a contemptible, 'crawling sycophantism—a miserable devil-worship-a slavish propitiation of the monster they fear to face. Mr. Ware has passed a step beyond that: his pages are tinged with the roseate dawnings of an "American Literature;" a manly contempt for the bravos of the English press, and something like a confident repose upon the judgments of the millions of readers upon this side of the Atlantic; giving earnest that public taste is strong enough to defy English prejudice, and speedily to mark with indignation the poltroon politicians who, in official stations, perambulate British "feeds;" earning their welcome by puffing the proud oppressors of the human race. Mr. Ware is of other metal, and discourseth thus:

"But, though all this be so true-this devotion of England to commerce and the accumu lation of wealth, and their success in heaping up riches beyond any other people on earth-they are very much grieved that the American should be touched with the same infirmity, and, as we well know, never cease from tenderly upbraiding us for our devotion to the "almighty dollar." This is all most kindly meant, no doubt; but it reveals a trait in the English character which deserves a little attention-their love and their practice of cant. I suppose, if there be one trait by which it is more deeply marked than by another, except two, possibly, already named, it is by this particular form of hypocrisy, Colossal magnitude is not more truly the characteristic of London than cant is of the English mind. To read their journals, reviews, papers and books, you would fancy them, from what they say of themselves, to represent the most moral and religious, the most loving and peaceable, the most generous and magnanimous, the most self-sacrificing, pious and Christian people in the wide world. But whether they in truth are what they seem to many to be, because they arrogate these virtues to themselves so freely, is more than doubted by the world at large, and quite denied by such

learned domestic authorities as Carlyle and Punch. Even The Edinburgh hints at "a form of religious insincerity, called cant," as the "special infirmity of the people." These, but especially the two first named, are the doctors who particularly apply themselves to the cure of this easy-besetting sin of the English character. Yet honestly, fearlessly, powerfully as they have plied their trade. they have found the disease too deepseated to be easily eradicated. Native, moreover, to the constitution of the entire people, and long hereditary, unfortunately, it has been caught by the Anglo-American, and, though weakened by transmission, finds itself in a hopeful way, and with encouraging prospects before it but by no means, as yet, in the condition of the parent people. In England, the very occupation of the people seems to be straining at gnats and swallowing camels. They are filled with a very virtuous indignation at the continued existence of American slavery, although it was they who planted it here, and that, too, against our will and most earnest remonstrances, while, at the same time, they swallow without difficulty the slavery of one hundred and fifty millions of Hindoos: in what proportion out of the whole there is personal slavery, where there is buying and selling, and labor without remuneration, that basest, meanest form of tyranny, I know not: though the proportion is very great; but that there is political slavery there throughout that whole immense population, all the world knows; a slavery beneath which the East Indian is ground to powder by the irresistible power of English arms, and by which the proceeds of his industry, or his hereditary wealth, are wrung from him by compulsory process, and, by their impoverishment, the most gigantic fortunes accumulated all over the British Islands, and, as well, sinecurist idlers, without number, throughout the Indian peninsulas, enriched by enormous salaries,-natives doing all the work for what rice and rupees will keep them from starving. Notwithstanding the frequent display, on the part of the traveling Englishmen and the review-writing Englishmen of the most generous sentiments and sympathies on behalf of the blacks, and their expression of wonder and regret that the American white should refuse to consort on equal terms with the free African, it is still true that color, even the light olive tint of the Hindoo, bears the same mark of degradation in Calcutta, and to many even in London, as here; and the white Englishman will not sit at meat with the East Indian, though he be a prince or a philosopher. There were gentlemen who, though invited, would not dine in company with Ram Mohun Roy, though a full-blooded Rajah, and a most learned and accomplished man-"indignantly refusing to sit at table with that black fellow." They lecture the world on the virtues and duties of peace, but, without scruple, will let loose the dogs of war whenever their flannels, their cottons, their woolens, iron, or opium are interfered with. They give suppers and breakfasts, and have all their equipages in full liveried action on Sundays, whereby armies of servants, of higher and lower degrees, are detained in personal attendance on their masters throughout the day, and, for a pretence, stop the Sunday mail, that all the various operatives connected therewith may be at leisure to go to church, as they ought to do, and say their prayers; they are sadly pained that the American should love the dollar so well, the only difference being that their love of the pound is the same, only five times as much. They have made a great ado, and with justice and sense, about the virtue of temperance in England: there is need of it, for the English, and still more the Scotch and Irish, are a nation of hard drinkers; but, at the same time, made cruel and cowardly war, but a few years since, upon the Chinese, to compel them to get drunk on the opium which they first forced them to buy at the point of the bayonet. They are really mortified that we, who they cannot, to their manifest chagrin, deny, sprung from English blood, are still so low in civilization that we produce little literature and no art as yet, (West, Copley, Stuart, Allston, Inman, being Englishmen, just as Wilson, Reynolds, Lawrence, Wilkie, Wyatt and Gibson, are, or were, of course, Italians—the first having been at school awhile in London, the last in Rome,) not remembering that England, a thousand years older than we at that time, produced no artists before the middle of the eighteenth century, and to this day has produced not one of the highest class; the taste of England never having risen above the admiration of Carlo Dolce, among the old painters, and now delighting itself chiefly in the horses' heads, pet poodles, and woolly lap-dogs of Landseer. England riots in luxuries obtained at the expense of the comfort and subsistence of the lower classes, from which she wrings by taxes, direct and indirect, the last penny that will just leave the life in the body, over whom she at the same time utters the most touching lamentations for their hardships and miseries. The female sex is, in this case, the grand sacrifice, who, in this respect at least, are slaves-though living on the boasted soil of England, that they are compelled to work without remuneration; for that cannot be called remuneration which fails not only to support life in tolerable comfort, but to support it at all; and to save from starvation by cold and hunger, resort must be had to vices which, were God no more merciful than man, would destroy soul as well as body."

EPISODES ON INSECT LIFE. By Acheta Domestica, M. E. S. J. S. Redfield, Clinton Hali. B. B. Mussey & Co., Boston,

This is a beautifully printed and illustrated work upon the insects peculiar to the summer season. They are described, with their habits, in the form of short stories of much interest and instruction. All the varieties of the insect species are described with "pen and pencil" in a most clear and attractive manner. The attention of almost every person is at this season forcibly attracted to insects, and in the cool autumnal weather their little histories may be investigated with considerable interest.

LECTURES ON THE LORD'S PRAYER. By Wm. R. Williams. Boston: Gould & Lincoln. For sale by Lewis Colby, 122 Nassau-street, New-York.

Dr. Williams dedicates these commentaries to the "church and congregation" in Amity street, who have been so long under his pastoral care. His lectures are not addressed to the learned, although they embody much learning, but are devoted to the analysis of the Lord's Prayer in a manner adapted to the wants of persons engaged in the active pursuits of temporal life. How much is comprehended in that matchless supplication of the Saviour may be learned by perusing these lectures, which fill over two hundred and fifty pages, and are yet themselves condensations of thought. A folio would scarcely contain the ideas comprised in those six sentences. Dr. Williams has limited himself to the use of the most striking reflections, and clothed them in language characteristic of his eloquence.

POPULAR CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE. By John Kitto, D. D., author of "The Pictorial Bible," "History and Physical Geography of Palestine," Editor of "The Journal of Sacred Literature," etc. Assisted by numerous distinguished Scholars and Divines, British, Continental, and American. With numerous illustrations. Boston: Gould & Lincoln.

This work, the result of immense labor and research, and enriched by the contributions of writers of distinguished eminence in the various departments of Sacred Literature, has been, by universal consent, pronounced the best work of its class extant; and the one best suited to the advanced knowledge of the present day in all the studies connected with Theological Science.

It is a dictionary of Scriptural topics, which should find a place in every library. It is condensed from the larger and more expensive work of the same name, into the compass of one volume imperial octavo, and thus rendered more easy of consultation, without omitting anything essential for the information of the general reader. It has been the author's aim to avoid imparting to the work any color of sectarian or denominational bias. On such points of difference among Christians, the historical mode of treatment has been adopted, and care has been taken to provide a fair account of the arguments which have seemed most conclusive to the ablest advocates of the various opinions. The student of theology will of course avail himself of the unabridged work; but the vast majority of persons will find the book in its present shape amply sufficient for every useful purpose. Sunday school teachers, and all who study the Scriptures, will find this Cyclopedia a more valuable auxiliary than any work extant of which we have any knowledge. Scarcely a query can arise in the mind of the reader of the sacred book but may be answered by reference to this comprehensive volume. For the family library, ag well as for Bible class and Sunday school teachers, we cordially commend it.

The pictorial illustrations, amounting to more than three hundred, are of the very highest order of the art.