has been without authentic hierarchies, or true ecclesiastical institutions. I do not see what reasonable fault is to be found with either the Jewish worship, or with that of the Christian church, if they are to be replaced only by other external worship. The Jewish priests reflected, no doubt, the prevalent arrogance and selfishness of the national hope, but, I presume, were otherwise a superior class of men. And the Christian priesthood, although the temptations incident to their conventional elevation have served to

develope among them many of the subtler forms of evil latent in the undisciplined human heart, have yet, on the whole, been lustrous with many virtues. You will occasionally find one among them with a conscience like the hide of a rhinoceros, and a lust of dominion able to surmount the tallest star, and annex it to the bishopric of his conceit. And, what is remarkable, the smaller the sect, the plentier you find this sort of men, as if the divine Providence purposely limited a stomach so gigantic to the meagerest possible pasture. But, on the whole, what sweetness has baptized the clerical function in the past! What fortitude, what self-denial, what patience, what labor in season and out of season, have been the heritage of the great mass of these men! What stores of learning they have accumulated; what splendid additions they have made to the best literature of every land; how they have enriched the sciences by their observation and studious inquiries; how they have kept the flame of patriotism aglow; how they have encouraged the generous ambition of youth, and directed it to worthy and useful ends; how they have dignified the family altar, and cherished the purity of woman, and diffused through society the charm of honest and gentle manners; all these things must be cordially acknowledged by every one competent to speak on the question. Where would be the sense of ousting such a body of men, native, as it were, and to the manner born, inheriting a grace and dignity from their time-honored places, embalmed in the kindly reverence and good will of the community, only for the purpose of introducing a new and undisciplined body, honest and well-intentioned, no doubt, and in many respects intellectually well qualified, but aggressive by the very necessity of their birth, contemptuous and insulting by the inseparable theory of their office?

"All the world will bid God-speed to the new aspirants, provided they will honestly and modestly apply such feaching-faculty as they possess to the dissemination of original truths on the subject of man's relations to God and his fellow-man. But if they are not content with this-if they immodestly claim to be a newer and more authentic priesthood as well; if, instead of simply shedding new and grateful light on previously insoluble problems, they seek a private end also, which is the exaltation of their own order in public regard, and to this end represent baptism and the Lord's Supper to possess a different virtue, a diviner unction, under their administration than under that of the existing priesthood; then the insulted common sense of the public will conclude that truth informed and urged by such a temper can hardly be worth a reasonable man's attention; and that if we can never attain to a newness of spirit in religious matters without necessitating a corresponding newness of letter also, the sooner we abandon all hope of spiritual progress the better, and so get well rid for ever of the interminable quarrel and fatigue."

Our author next inquires into the meaning of "the great phenomenon which we call a church," showing in what sentiments of the human soul it takes its rise, and to

what rational uses it inevitably points; but our space will not allow us to follow him in the inquiry. But we most cheerfully commend the whole pamphlet to our readers; not because we concur in the views of its writer; but because it is written in such a noble and generous spirit-with so easy a mastery of all the depths and bearings of the subject-and in a style which, for purity and beauty of language, might serve as a model in any literature. Indeed, we are disposed to regard Mr. James as the ablest rhetorician in this country; one whose rhetoric is not a mere vehicle of display, but the graceful and proper expression of his profound thought and his deeply poetical and religious nature.

A large volume is put forth by Mr. ANDREW BROWN, whose title is, perhaps, the best account of it that we can give. It runs as follows: "The Philosophy of Physics, a process of creative development, by which the first principles of physics are proved beyond controversy, and their effect in the formation of all physical things made comprehensible to all intelligent minds, as in phenomenal nature." The author seems really to suppose that he has solved the great enigma of creation, and made it plain to the commonest apprehension. But let us say to him, that either on account of our own stupidity or his want of clearness, we have read some one or two hundred pages out of his five hundred, without finding ourselves a whit the wiser. The physical world is no more intelligible to us than it was when we began, and we shall therefore dismiss the remainder of his volume, as not presenting us any very alluring hopes. On the other hand, we are convinced by Mr. Brown's attempts, if we were not before, that the à priori process of dealing with nature is not likely to lead to any substantial results. It is easy enough to imagine a scheme or philosophy of nature, if you are allowed to assume what first principles you please, which shall be consistent and even beautiful,-which indeed shall seem to explain all the ordinary facts of nature; some of the ancient philosophers and many of the German physicians have done that time and again; but the question will be, after all, Is it true? Thus, Mr. Brown assumes certain attributes of Deity, as he calls them, or first principles which he names, "mind, matter and energy," and by means of the action and interaction of these, he deduces an explanation of natural phenomena; but his explanation, as far as we have followed it, is no more satisfactory than a dozen

others that we have read in books of metaphysics. It strikes us as nothing more than an arbitrary fancy of the inventor, who would be at much better work if he were studying nature, instead of trying to explain it, and to arrive more speedily too at a sound philosophy. Hegel thought out the entire development of the universe, and Andrew Jackson Davis dreamed it; and we do not see but that their views of the matter are quite as authoritative and complete as Mr. Brown's. How long will it be before men learn that these conjectural philosophies-these systems spun out of the brain, and on the meagerest basis of facts-are a dreadful waste of time, patience and printing ink? If they were put forth simply as hypotheses, as tentatives, as modest suggestions, they might, perhaps, answer a purpose; but presented in huge tomes, and with all the pretension and positiveness of absolute systems of truth, they provoke either pity or a smile-a smile at the author's vanity, or pity for his delusion.

Another work on a branch of physical science-Mr. T. BASSUETT'S" Outlines of a Mechanical Theory of Storms,❞—is not open to these objections. It is a modest presentation of a new theory of meteorology, which the discoverer believes to contain the most important practical truth. He says that his theory has been tested by a large number of experiments, which show it to be perfectly sound, and authorize him in propounding it to the world. He has repeatedly predicted the time and place of the occurrence of great storms, and is enabled by means of it to instruct navigators how to calculate the coming change of wind and weather, for any given day, and for any part of the ocean.

The elements of the theory are these: Mr. Bassuett supposes, 1st, that space is filled with an elastic fluid, possessing inertia without weight; 2d, that the parts of this fluid in the solar system, circulate, after the manner of a vortex, with a direct motion; 3d, that there are also secondary vortices in which the planets are placed; 4th, that the earth is also placed in a vortex of the ethereal medium; and 5th, that the satellites are passively carried around their primaries with the ethereal current, and have no rotation relative to the ether, and, therefore, they present the same face to their primaries and have no

vortex.

Now, assuming that the dynamical axis of our tenal vortex passes through the centre of gravity of the earth and moon, and that it continually circulates over the earth's surface in both hemispheres in a

spiral, its latitude and longitude will depend at any particular time, 1st, on the relative mass of the moon; 2d, on the inclination of the axis of the vortex to the earth's axis; 3d, on the longitude of the ascending node of the vortex on the lunar orbit; 4th, on the longitude of the ascending node of the lunar orbit on the ecliptic; 5th, on the eccentricity of the lunar orbit at the time; 6th, on the longitude of the perigee of the lunar orbit, at the time; and 7th, on the moon's true anomaly at the time. But all these circumstances can be approximately determined, and, consequently, the physical cause which disturbs the equilibrium of our atmosphere, and is the principal agent in the production of storms. As a proof of this. Mr. Bassuett gives the calculations for several of the most violent storms that occurred during the past year, made by him before their occurrence, but adduced now simply as examples of the method of calculation. We are not sufficiently familiar with the subject to decide upon the degree of his success, but are still not so ignorant as not to know that his little book deserves the attention of scientific

men.

An excellent edition of the "Poetical Works of Thomas Campbell" has been prepared by EPES SARGENT, who has also prefixed an agreeable memoir. It is chiefly taken from the materials of Dr. Beattie, but is most skilfully and entertainingly put together, with incidents from other sources of information. About fifty poems not contained in any previous edition are included, having been sent to the editor by Dr. Beattie. Campbell is not among our most favorite poets, and we think only a few of his poems destined to a long life, and yet he was so graceful a versifier, and so thorough and consistent a lover of liberty, that we are glad to possess any thing that he wrote.

- PROFESSOR HITCHCOCK has performed an acceptable service in his " Outline of the Geology of the Globe and of the United States in particular," for he presents within the compass of a small volume, a general statement of an important science, which almost any intelligent reader can comprehend. It is founded on the labors of M. Boné, a distinguished French geologist, but with corrections as to the geology of North America. But the most valuable parts of this little work are two colored maps,-the one representing the geology of the globe, and the other, the geology of the North American continent,-which teach more at a glance than could be got out of whole reams of letter-press.

Such of our readers as adopt the Homœopathic system of medicine will find the series of manuals and elementary books, recently translated and prepared by Dr. CHARLES JULIUS HEMPEL, invaluable assistants. The first consists of Jahr and Possait's New Manual, which has been received with most distinguished favor by the French and German practitioners. The first part is a compendium of the Materia Medica Pura, including all those symptoms that are known to yield to the action of drugs, and the second is a repertory of the leading general indications. Another work, is Jahr's Manual, in a larger form, intended as the repertory and third volume of the Symptomencodex, which appeared some time since. It is the most comprehensive and thorough digest of the Homoeopathic system that has been prepared; Dr. Hempel has spared no pains in the translation and editorship, and deserves the thanks of his branch of the profession for his unwearied industry, intelligence, and faithfulness.

ENGLISH-Now that the great "beardquestion is the question of the day in England, Mr. ALEXANDER ROWLAND has published a work on The Human Hair, which is a complete and systematic treatise on the subject, anatomical, physiological, ethnological, and esthetic; giving not only accurate views of the structure and uses of hair, its diseases and history, but narratives of the fashions which have prevailed in regard to the wearing of it, both on the head and face. The author is a decided advocate of the beard and moustache, and looks upon it, as a kind of insult to the Creator, to apply the razor to the "human face divine." No man in the world, he argues, would shave himself, if he were not an arrant coward, afraid of the apparent singularity of the beard, and the world's dread laugh. In England, before the time of George the First, no full grown man ever thought of smoothing his chin, and then it was done in imitation of the practice of that monarch, who had some special reason for it,-perhaps an ugly beard, or a handsome mouth. A beard grows naturally on the face, and for some good and wise purpose, and ought no more to be removed than the hairs of the eyebrows or the head. Furthermore, adds

our author:

"There is one certain fact I would mention with regard to beards. It is this. As a general rule, every man with a beard is a man of strongly-marked individuality-frequently genius-has formed his own opinions-is straightforward-to a certain degree, frequently reckless-but will not fawn or cringe to any man. The very fact of his wearing a beard, in

the face, as it were, of society, is a proof that his heart and conscience are above the paltry aid of a daily penny shave.

"If men would not shave from boyhood up, they would find their beards would be flowing, their moustaches light and airy, both adding a dignity to manhood and a venerableness to age, to which shorn humanity must be strangers.

"But the beard is not merely for ornament, it is for use. Nature never does any thing in vain; she is economical, and wastes nothing. She would never erect a bulwark were her domain unworthy of protection, or were there no enemy to invade it. I shall proceed to show that the beard is intended as a bul wark, and designed for the protection of the health. The beard has a tendency to prevent diseases of the lungs by guarding their portals. The moustache particularly, as we have already seen, prevents the admission of particles of dust into the lungs, which are the fruitful cause of disease. It also forms a respirator more efficient than the cunning hand of man can fabricate. Man fashions his respirator of wire, curiously wrought; nature makes hers of hair placed where it belongs, and not requiring to be put on like a muzzle. Diseases of the head and throat are also prevented by wearing the beard.”

In this country, since the Mexican war and Californian adventure, the beard is quite generally worn, at least in the cities and large towns, and we have no need of formal treatises to commend it to

public favor. Besides, as every man among us does pretty much as he pleases, the fashion of wearing the hair is quite as infinitely varied as the tastes of the people.

This writer gives some curious accounts as to the trade and commerce in hair, which we extract from for the entertainment of our readers:

"Formerly, the manufacturers of artificial hair into wigs, ladies' curls, &c., obtained a considerable portion of their supply at home from hospitals, prisons, and workhouses; but now the hair is not cropped compulsorily, as was formerly the case, and the poor and distressed, or criminal, are not deprived of their fair and valued tresses. It must be understood that female hair alone is of any use to the hair-worker, from its length and curling properties. That most prized, is the gray hair of aged persons, which can be prepared to any shade.

"Light hair all comes from Germany, where it is collected by a company of Dutch farmers, who come over for orders once a year. It would appear that either the fashion or the necessity of England has, within a recent period, completely altered the relative demands from the two countries. Forty years ago, according to one of the first dealers in the trade, the light German hair alone was called for, and he alinost raved about a peculiar golden tint which was supremely prized, and which his father used to keep very close, only producing it to favorite customers, in the same manner that our august sherry-lord or hock-herr spares to particular friends-or now and then, it is said, to influential literary characters-a few magnums of some rare and renowned vintage. This treasured article he sold at S. an ounce-nearly double the price of silver. Now all this has passed away, and the dark shades of brown from France are chiefly called for.

"So constant and regular is this traffic, that the hair-cutters in France know exactly where to go for their year's crop.

"Keeping an account of the villages from which they gathered their supply for a certain year, they know that they will not be able to cut in the same places till the arrival of another given year. And not only can they calculate as to quantity, but the value of each local harvest is also well known, and almost fixed; for within a space of from ten to fifteen leagues, the quality varies, as we are told, so much as to make a difference of from ten to twenty sous per pound weight.

"The original price of the hair, as purchased from the village maidens, is, as we have seen, about five shillings per pound. The tradesmen engaged in the preparations of sorting, curling, and dressing it, purchase it at a price of ten shillings per pound; and after it has gone through their hands, it acquires a value of from twenty to eighty shillings per pound weight; and this is at the rate it is purchased by the hair-dresser.

"By the skill of the hair-dresser, the price is again raised to an almost indefinite extent, and must be calculated by the degree of labor and dexterity employed on it.

"Thus a peruke, containing only three ounces of hair, originally costing less than a shilling, is frequently sold at a price of twenty-five to thirty shillings.

The quantity of hair produced by the annual harvest is calculated at two hundred thousand pounds' weight. The sales of one house alone, in Paris, which supplies four hair-cutting establishments in the western country, amount to four hundred thousand francs annually."

-It is an evidence of the feeling which prompts a great deal of the English criticism of America, that a late Athenæum reviews a miserable catch-penny pamphlet, giving an account of the rich men of Boston. as a specimen of "transatlantic publications," and calls the fellow who put it together an "American author." We shall next expect to see the catalogue of some dry-good auctioneer quoted as the latest form of American journalism.

No

-Are the times of the old Grecian rhapsodists or the northern scalds to be revived, or are the tale-tellers of the East, and the improvisatores of Italy, to be transplanted into England? Mr. Dickens, we see has been reading one of his Christmas stories before immense audiences at Birmingham, and with great success. lecturer, it is said, ever commanded so complete and rapt an attention. But there is no research made by the newspapers, which has struck us. He lopped off instinctively, in the reading, under the pressure of a public ordeal, every thing to which the knife of the critic would be applied; curtailing his needless amplifications, omitting passages of mere description that have nothing to do with advancing the main purpose, and subduing the exaggerations, and over-colorings,-so that the story as received was shorter, and far

more interesting, than as originally published! Would it not be a useful discipline then for all popular writers to be required to read their works to a public audience? It is commonly supposed that that which is prepared for verbal communication, is more diffuse than what is intended for the closet; but our experience has been different. There is nothing that more leads a writer to condensation and vigor, than the consciousness that a large audience is to sit for an hour or two under its delivery. It forces him to leave out all unnecessary passages, and to say as much as he can as well as he can, within the time prescribed to him. Extemporary speakers, it is true, get into loose habits of thought and utterance, but speakers who prepare their addresses with deliberation and judgment do not; and it is remarkable, that among the best specimens of composition on the records of literature, are those dramas and orations which were put together to be read or spoken to popular audiences. For condensed energy of expression, a vivacity of style, we possess nothing superior to the tragedies of the Greek Dramatists, and the orations of Demosthenes, which were originally delivered to the most popular of all audiences-those of the Agora and the Games. A man who writes for the closet merely, is apt to get prosy and dull: he allows many sentences to remain that would be extremely tedious in a public assembly; and he is controlled, too, in the estimate of his own powers, very much by the opinions of the coterie to which he belongs. On the other hand, if he were forced to come personally with his production before a miscellaneous tribunal, he would impart to his style all the grace and power of which he was capable. It is for this reason that we look with some degree of hope to the influences of the system of lecturing in which so many of our literary men are engaged, believing that it will be a benefit to them no less than to the community at large.

A Magazine mania seems to rage in England just now, for we have to chronicle the appearance during the last month or two, of some half dozen new periodicals. First comes the National Miscellany, which, however, has reached its eighth number; then the Home Companion, an illustrated magazine; then Cruikshank's Magazine, with sketches from the pencil of the great caricaturist; then the Family Friend; and then Our Circle of the Sciences. In short, new magazines in England appear to be as plentiful as almanacs in France.

FRENCH. A Work of rare utility and interest is the M. P. FROUSSACS "De La Meteorologie dans ses rapports avec la Science de l'Homme, et principalement avec la Medecine et l' Hygiene Publique," or, of the Influence of Meteorology on the Science of Man. It is an elaborate treatise on the whole subject as far as our knowledge of it extends, showing how the condition of man and society is affected by the air, the water, electricity, galvanism, climate, and all other external physical influences, and giving the most precise and valuable details in respect to the entire series of meteorological phenomena. The author is favorably known by his previous works on climate, animal magnetism, gymnastics, &c.

We trust that we have no occasion of calling to the mind of French scholars in this country the Revue des deux Mondes, one of the ablest of the Parisian pcriodicals. It is published twice a month, and is one of the best depositories of the current literature of France that we know. A large number of the most accomplished scholars contribute to it. Such men as Cousin, Guizot, De Rémusat, St. Marc Girardin, Henry Heine, Madame Reybaud, Ampère, Lettre, Leon Faucher, and others, and it embraces among its topics, political economy, literature, religion, science and art, besides occasional fictions.

A gentleman who calls himself Monsieur A. BELLEGARRIGUE, has written a book on "American Women" (Les Femmes d'Amerique), in which he treats of our poor benighted females, and America generally, as something newly discovered; as we might treat of the women of Patagonia, or the Aleutian islands. Concurring entirely in the belief that American men are wholly absorbed in the tout-puissant écu, vulgarly rendered the "almighty dollar," he finds the women of course destitute of all moral elevation, and only a slight degree raised above the sex of the primitive inhabitants. This is an exaggerated representation, indeed, and yet, as there is something to be learned out of every opinion, there are certain classes of women who might profit by a perusal of its unfriendly criticism.

- M. EUGENE DE MIRECOURT proposes to write a history of the literature of the Nineteenth Century, and as a specimen brick out of the edifice, has presented the public with a small volume on some contemporary men of letters (Les Contemporains Hommes des Lettres, Publicistes, etc). His first selection is Méry, an inconsiderable French poet, whose works we suspect will be forgotten, long before

M. de Mirecourt's larger book shall have made its appearance.

-The history of the Girondists and of the Restoration, have been followed up by Lamartine. with a History of the Constituent Assembly. It is of the same general character as his previous works; not very precise, and disclosing no new facts or variety, but full of popular effects. On the whole, however, it must be regarded as inferior to the Girondists, and not better than the Restoration. Lamartine was never meant for a historian, or if he was, is either too idle or too much occupied, to devote to his task the necessary labor. It is not easy to be an historian, to possess a captivating style, to abound in sentimentality, or to be able to draw striking pictures. Some research is also required. But Lamartine seems to despise all research. He catches up a few of the best known authorities on the epochs he is writing about; tells their stories over again; puts in a charming bit of romance here and there, and then sends forth his book as a history. He is diffuse, inaccurate, theatrical, and wholly superficial. We suspect, indeed, that he does not much care whether his representations are correct or not, and that he adopts and discards views of historical personages and events, just as they may be telling or not, and quite without reference to their truth. If he can produce a sensation, can drape his figures picturesquely, or describe a transaction with dramatic point, he accomplishes his purpose. Yet, in spite of these drawbacks, we confess to a certain fascination which we find in his pages. He is seldom guilty of the besetting sin of historians-dulness: his narrative is always animated; he contrives to invest whatever he touches with a deep interest, a romantic interest, it may be, and yet powerful. Even in the volume before us, which opens with the convocations of the States-General, and ends with the destruction of the Bastile,-though there is no want of histories in regard to that period-though we have read all Mignet, Thiers, Michelet, Louis Blanc, and Carlyle have to say of it, we find our attention at once riveted. The stirring and earnest nature of the events may account for some of this interest, and the political treatment of these by the author for the rest.

-An imperishable curiosity attaches,-at least, in the French mind.-to every thing that relates to Napoleon. In order to gratify it, M. Keimozan has commenced the publication of all his letters, proclamations and state papers, under the name