will ever do any thing to emancipate us, or get us places at the theatre. They are all alike— such Turks!-and are only too glad of an excuse to go out alone and enjoy themselves." Obviously Mrs. Brassey is quite right in saying that "this discontent will assuredly bring about a revolution, in spite of the special services for women in the mosques, and the special priests to address them on the duty of subjection."

There are many other passages of equal interest in the chapters on Constantinople; and the daily journal of the incidents and occurrences at sea possesses the peculiar charm of the earlier work-a charm quite independent of the importance of the events recorded. The illustrations are a much more prominent feature of the present volume than of its predecessor, and many of them are beautiful specimens of wood-engraving.

THE YOUNGER EDDA. An English Version. With Introduction, Notes, Vocabulary, and Index. By Rasmus B. Anderson, Professor of the Scandinavian Languages in the University of Wisconsin. Chicago: S. C. Griggs & Co.

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The occasional gleams of poetic beauty that come to us from out of the " misty North" reveal but tantalizingly the rich materials for romance and poetry which lie hidden in the unexplored fields of Scandinavian mythology. Gibbon pointed out the splendid possibilities for an epic poem like the Æneid, in the wanderings of the semi-historic Odin, who, like Æneas, driven by the Norns, first came from Asgard to the Baltic shores, and there became the founder of a mighty race. A single myth, contained in the story of the "Niflungs and Gjukungs" of the Younger Edda, furnished the ground-work for the Nibelungen-Lied," William Morris's Sigurd the Volsung," Forestier's "Echoes from Mist-Land," and Wagner's Nibelungen Trilogy." But the skald is yet to appear who, having drunk deep at the fountain of Mimer, shall sing of Balder the Beautiful, Idun and her apples of perpetual youth, and the many other beautiful myths, all alike filled with the pure spirit of poetry. The sons of Odin have long been devout worshippers at the shrines of the Greek and Roman gods, unmindful or ignorant of the beauties and fascinations of their own ancestral faith; but the revelations of a few great poets, such as Longfellow and Morris, and the earnest work of scholars like Prof. Anderson, are slowly converting them from this apostasy.

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ing these works Prof. Anderson has rendered an inestimable service to both the makers and readers of books, and he should receive from every lover of English literature a generous and hearty encouragement.

The Eddas constituted the Bible of the old Teutonic religion; and their many striking resemblances to the Christian Bible have often been pointed out. The Elder Edda, like the Old Testament, is written in poetry, presenting in a series of lays or rhapsodies the mythic and prophetic foundation of the asa-faith. The Younger Edda, or New Testament, is in plain prose, and is an interpretative sequel to the Elder. It contains the complete system of theosophy and cosmography as understood and believed by the fathers of our race. Copious extracts from the Elder Edda were given by Prof. Anderson in his “Norse Mythology.” In the present work he has translated all of the Younger Edda that is of any interest to general readers, more indeed that has ever before appeared either in English or in any of the modern Scandinavian tongues. The value of the translation is increased very much by the excellent introductory matter and voluminous notes. In the latter Prof. Anderson has included the whole of the saga of Odin's pilgrimage, taken from the " Heimskringla," a history of the kings of Norway, written in the early part of the thirteenth century, which Emerson has styled "the Iliad and Odyssey of our race."

ENGLAND: HER PEOPLE, POLITY, AND PURSUITS. By T. H. S. Escott. New York : Henry Holt & Co.

In this comprehensive work the author has performed a most difficult and complex task in a thoroughly admirable and satisfactory manner. There is unquestionably something of presumptuousness in the undertaking on the part of one man to portray a vast, complicated, and progressive civilization within the limits of a few hundred pages; yet, after a careful perusal of the book, the reader will find that there are remarkably few questions that could properly be asked about the social and political condition of contemporary England that are left unanswered or unconsidered. A partial explanation of this adequacy and comprehensiveness-this compacting of multum in parvo -is that the author has confined himself almost entirely to the collection and presentation of carefully-authenticated facts, and seldom ventures upon inferences or opinions. The “dry light" of science illuminates the work; and in spite of the innumerable "vexed questions" with which it deals, it is impossible to say at the end whether Mr. Escott is a Tory or a Liberal, whether he be most in sympathy with the aristocratic or the democratic view of society

and the State. What can be said of him with confidence is that he is a close observer, a most industrious and painstaking compiler, and a thoroughly impartial and liberal-minded man.

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As our space will not allow us to enter upon any detailed description of the work, we can best convey an idea of its scope and arrangement by quoting the Table of Contents. The first chapter is introductory and general, but valuable as indicating the author's viewpoint and method of work. Then, beginning with the relatively simple and special, and proceeding by gradual steps to the more complex and general, the chapters discuss successively "The English Village," "Great Landlords, and Estate Management," ""Rural Administration," Municipal Government,' Towns of Business," Towns of Pleasure," "Commercial and Financial England,' Commercial Administration,' ""The Working Classes" (to which two most valuable and instructive chapters are assigned), Pauperism and Thrift,' 'Co-operation," Criminal England," " Travelling and Hotels,' Educational England," The Social Revolution," "The Structure of English Society," Society and Politics," "Crown and Crowd," Official England," ""The House of Commons,' The House of Lords," The Law Courts, The Services," "Religious England," Modern Philosophical Thought," Modern Culture and Literature," "Popular Amusements,'' "Professional England,' Imperial England, and Conclusion."

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Of these chapters, each of which is a comprehensive treatise on the topic or phenomena with which it deals, those on "Commercial and Financial England," on "Criminal England," on the "Law Courts," and on "English Philosophy and Thought," were contributed by other writers, each a specialist in his particular field. The rest were written by Mr. Escott himself, and are based, we are assured, either upon personal observation or upon the testimony of authorities whose trustworthiness is conceded and whose works have been studied at first-hand. Further, in order to insure the greatest attainable accuracy, where accuracy is all-important, portions of the proofs were submitted to such specialists as would be most likely to detect errors either of statement or of inference. And finally-what should be regarded as indispensable in such a work-a copious index classifies and renders accessible the vast aggregation of facts.

THE MANLINESS OF CHRIST. By Thos. Hughes, Q.C. Boston: Houghton, Osgood & Co. The definition which Mr. Hughes gives of the word "manliness"-courage, moral as well as physical, loyalty to truth, and patience, or self-control-removes any objection which

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there might be to the application of a term so purely secular in its associations to the sacred figure of Christ. The papers of which the little book is composed were suggested by the fact which had often come under the author's notice that among a certain class of otherwise good and worthy men there was a dislike of Young Men's Christian Associations," and similar societies, because of the impression that these associations tended to produce and encourage in their members a sort of sentimental effeminacy which disqualified them from playing an active and vigorous part in the rough work of life. Certain gentlemen in different parts of England, influenced by this feeling, conceived the idea of forming young men's clubs on the basis of muscular Christinity, with the object of showing that the moral and ethical features of Christian creed and conduct are not incompatible with a quite special cultivation of physical manliness; and these gentlemen proposed to Mr. Hughes that he should lend his aid in the advocacy and propagation of their scheme. Mr. Hughes could not see his way to participation in the scheme on the basis submitted, because the proposed tests of manliness were of too physical or "animal" a type; but reflection upon the subject convinced him that there was a genuine difficulty behind the discontent which had sought such eccentric expression, and the thought occurred to him that something might be done toward removing the misapprehension upon which the discontent was founded.

Such is the origin of the present essay, the object of which is to show that of true manliness-the manliness of a man as distinct from mere animal courage and hardihood-He who braved the scorn of his people, the fanatical rage of rival sectaries, the hostility alike of dominant Roman and disappointed Jew, the suspicion and incredulity of his most intimate friends, the solitary suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane, and, last of all, death in its most painful and ignoble form-who braved and endured all these, and could neither be tempted nor driven from the straight and thorny path of duty-even He is the supreme type and exemplar.

In order to secure prominence and emphasis for these aspects of Christ's life and character, Mr. Hughes narrates anew that most moving of all stories; and, alter reading it, no one will be disposed to say that it tends to encourage and countenance weakness or effeminacy of any kind.

THE READER'S HAND-BOOK OF ALLUSIONS, REFERENCES, PLOTS, AND STORIES. By the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. Philadelphia: 7. B. Lippincott & Co.

"Who has not asked what such and such a

book is about? and who would not be glad to have his question answered correctly in a few words? When the title of a play is mentioned, who has not felt a desire to know who was the author of it ?-for it seems a universal practice to allude to the title of dramas without stating the author. And when reference is made to some character, who has not wished to know something specific about the person referred to? The object of this Hand-book is to supply these wants."

Such is Dr. Brewer's concise account of the scope and purpose of his work; but even this scarcely conveys an adequate idea of its varied usefulness.

Not only is every question which the most omnivorous reader would be likely to ask answered in the most satisfactory manner, but a vast deal of curious and valuable information which he would never think of asking for is furnished him, and there is scarcely any phase or department of literature to the illustration of which Dr. Brewer has not brought some fresh, interesting, and helpful gleanings. For example, besides the summaries or outlines of the great epic and narrative poems, of the more famous novels and romances, of the fairy tales and dramatic plots, and of the characters that figure in them all, fruitful revelations are made of the sources from which dramatists and romancers have derived their stories, and numerous instances are given of the strange repetitions of historic incidents. To the book proper are added two Appendices, which will be found very useful, the first containing a list of all the dramatic works mentioned in the Hand-book, with author and date; and the second containing the date of the divers poems and novels given under the author's name.

The Hand-book is indeed a prodigious storehouse of carefully-classified information; and when its value once becomes known it is likely to be more frequently in the hands of readers and students than any work of the kind that has ever been compiled.

FOREIGN LITERARY NOTES.

AN interesting discovery has just been made at Wells, England, of upward of a thousand original documents, some of which date back to the thirteenth century. Many of the seals are in a beautiful state of preservation. They were found in an old oaken press in the almshouses.

THE total number of journals and periodicals at present appearing in Russia is officially given as 608. Of these 417 are in Russian, 54 in Polish, 10 in French, 40 in German, 3 in Latin, 11 in Lithuanian, 7 in Esthonian, 2 in

Finnish, 4 in Hebrew, 7 in Armenian, 3 in Georgian, and 4 in Tartar. There are also 46 journals published in the Grand-Duchy of Finland.

GERMAN Scholars in this country will be glad to hear that Dr. Daniel Sanders is now issuing a supplement to his great German dictionary, which will retain its value as an excellent and handy lexicographical work of reference, even when the gigantic "Wörterbuch" of the brothers Grimm has been completed.

ACCORDING to the Cologne Gazette the Papal archives have been recently enriched by some inestimable treasures. Among other matters

these newly-acquired documents consist of autograph letters from Cardinals Farnese, Sfondrati, Polo, Carlo Borromeo, Pope Pius V., and several dignitaries present at the Council of Trent. The papers throw much light upon ecclesiastical history during the last three centuries.

A LITERARY curiosity and jeu d'esprit has just been published at Amsterdam. It consists of three short stories, possessing the peculiarity that in each of them only one vowel is employed, in the first a, in the second e, and in the third o, according to which the stories are entitled "A-Saga,' E-Legende," " O-Sprook." In the Dutch language only would such a feat be possible. The authors of these tours de force the philologists Professor Boscha, Dr. Jacob van Leuness, and Dr. van der Hoeren, all three now dead, the little stories having lain unpublished for more than ten years.

are

THE Gazette des Femmes gives interesting statistics as to the number of female authors, painters, and sculptors in France. Out of 1700 female authors, two thirds are natives of the provinces-more especially the Southern-and one third of Paris; of this number 1000 write novels or stories for the young, and 150 educational works, while 200 are poets. Two thousand one hundred and fifty female artists figure as exhibitors, including 107 sculptors, 602 painters in oil, 193 miniaturists, 754 china painters, 494 water-color painters, fan painters, Of the 2150 artists no less than two thirds are Parisians.

etc.

As the English daily papers have been full of the achievement of the young lady at Girton College who obtained so many marks from the Examiners for the Mathematical Tripos that she would have taken the eighth place among the Wranglers had she been allowed to compete, it may be as well to remark that on the result of the Three Days' examination she stood third. The merit of her achievement is enhanced by the fact that when she entered at Girton her mathematical reading was comparatively slight, while most of the first fifteen

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Wranglers had already read high" before they went to Cambridge.

TALLEYRAND's memoirs will not be printed before next July, the MS. being in the hands of one M. Audral, who absolutely declines to break the seal until the arrival of the time set by their author. Publishers are said to be greatly excited over these memoirs, and M. Audral tells an amusing tale of one who, after offering him in vain an enormous sum for them, said at length, in the most oily and persuasive manner, Sir, take the money. All I ask is to have the MS. in my hand for two days, and it shall then be returned to you. I will publish a mangled and distorted copy; you will bring an action against me for damages, and will certainly win. Surely you can have no objection to such a proposition, for all the profit will be on your side." And he was astonished when his offer was refused.

THERE has been so much discussion on the signatures of Shakespeare one would hardly have thought there was more to be said. A rather startling heresy, however, respecting the last signature to his will, has been broached in a second pamphlet on the subject just issued by Mr. Halliwell-Phillipps. 'A distinguished scholar," he observes, "has just pointed out to me and it is most singularly curious so obvious a fact should have escaped the notice of all others-that the character following the letterk is the then well-known and accepted contraction for es." If this interpretation be confirmed, the longer form of the poet's name will have the sanction of autographic authority.

MR. JOHN HOGG has in the press an entirely new work on Poe, by Mr. J. H. Ingram, entitled, Edgar Allan Poe: his Life, Letters, and Opinions." This is the exhaustive life of the American poet upon which Mr. Ingram is known to have been so long engaged, and in preparing which he has, it is said, obtained much valuable assistance from the late Mrs. Whitman, the late Mrs. Houghton, the poet's "Annie," Mrs. Shelton, John Neal, Mrs. Gore Nichols, Stella," the Poes of Baltimore, Colonel Preston, and many others. The work promises to contain a very large amount of biographical material not hitherto made public, including, beside other matters of interest, more than forty new letters, much fresh information about Poe's parentage, his early life in England and America, his school days, his University and West Point career, adventures in Europe, literary transactions, affaires de cœur, a full account of the Dunn English libel and the poet's rejoinder, an explanation of the cause which drove him to stimulants, etc. The work will be issued in two volumes, with new portrait, fac-simile, etc.-Academy.

SCIENCE AND ART.

A MAP OF MARS.-A map of Mars, on Mer. cator's projection, constructed by Professor Harkness, from observations made at the United States Naval Observatory, Washington, is published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. It shows ten dark spots, one Y-shaped, one having the form of a leather apron, one a bullet, the others generally resembling willow-leaves, ranged in parallel lines from east to west. The south polar ice shows an important segment in the upper border of the map, and is, as seen through the telescope, pure white, while the color of the planet is a golden yellow, and that of the spots or markings is a light indigo blue. The spots are by some observers supposed to be land. So far as it goes this map is a very interesting representation of Mars. Professor Harkness hopes to improve it greatly during the opposition of next autumn.

PRIMITIVE ENGINEERING FEATS.-At a meeting last session of the Anthropological Institute the President referred to an explanation that had been given of the way in which the huge and heavy stones standing as monoliths, or in groups as tombs and temples, had been lifted into place, a long standing and puzzling question. Among the hill tribes of India there are some who still erect big stones as memorials; and, as is reported, they recently carried stone weighing twenty tons up a high hill in the course of a few hours. The ponderous block was inclosed in a wooden framework so arranged that a large number of men could lift all at once, and in this simple way was it borne to the hill-top, a height of four thousand feet. That such a practice still exists is fair ground for assuming that it prevailed in the primeval ages. And that enormous weights are transported by mere manual labor is stated by Captain Basil Hall, who at a port in India saw a number of natives lift and carry a ship's anchor of the largest dimensions.

THE DEGREE OF COLD THAT SEEDS WILL ENDURE.-Researches made by Messrs. De Candolle and Pictet, of Geneva, on the degree of cold to which seeds of plants can be subjected without impairing their vitality, present very remarkable results. It is not the first time that such experiments have been tried; but the means now available for maintaining a low temperature for a long time impart to present investigations a degree of certainty never before possible. Seeds of cabbage, mustard, cress, and wheat were separately inclosed in glass tubes, hermetically sealed, and where then exposed during six hours to a course of refrigeration, in which the temperature was reduced to fifty degrees below zero of centi

grade. No precautions were taken to restore them gradually to the ordinary temperature. They were sown, and all except seven grains of wheat, whch had been damaged, germinated in the same time as seeds which had not been refrigerated. Another experiment was made with thirteen different kinds of seeds. It lasted two hours, and during half that period the temperature was brought down to eighty degrees below zero. They all germinated except three sorts, which were proved to be bad, by the fact that non-chilled seeds of the same kind did not grow.

INFLUENCE OF COLOR ON THE GROWTH OF ANIMALS. That the different colors of the spectrum have an influence on vegetation has long been known. Plants grown under green glass soon die; under red glass they live a long time, but become pale and slender. Mr. Yung, of the University of Geneva, has placed the eggs of frogs and fishes in similar conditions, and found that violet light quickens their development; and blue, yellow, and light also, but in a lesser degree. Tadpoles, on the contrary, die sooner in colored light than in white light. As regards frogs, Mr. Yung has ascertained that their development is not stopped by darkness, as some observers have supposed, but that the process is much slower than in the light.

OPTICAL POWER OF SPECTROSCOPES.-Lord

Rayleigh notes in the Philosophical Magazine that as the power of a telescope is measured by the closeness of the double stars which it can resolve, so the power of a spectroscope ought to be measured by the closeness of the closest double lines in the spectrum which it is competent to resolve. In this sense it is possible for one instrument to be more powerful than a second in one part of the spectrum, while in another part the second instrument is more powerful than the first. The most striking cases of this inversion occur when one instrument is a diffraction and the other a dispersion-spectroscope. If the instruments are of equal power in the yellow region the former will be more powerful in the red and the latter in the green. That the resolving power of a prismatic spectroscope of given dispersive material is proportional to the total thickness used, without regard to the number, angles, or setting of the prisms, is a most important—perhaps the most important-proposition in connection with this subject. Hitherto, in descriptions of spectroscopes, far too much stress has been laid upon the amount of dispersion produced by the prisms. But this element by itself tells nothing as to the power of an instrument. It is well known that by a sufficiently near approach to a grazing emergence the dispersion of a prism

of given thickness may be increased withou limit, but there is no corresponding gain in resolving-power. So far as resolving-power is concerned, it is a matter of indifference whether dispersion be effected by the prisms or by the telescope. Two things only are necessary : first, to use a sufficient thickness; secondly, to narrow the beam until it can be received by the pupil of the eye-or rather (since with full aperture the eye is not a perfect instrument), until its width is not more than one third or one fourth of the diameter of the pupil.

CAN WE SEE SOUND?-It has been demon strated on various occasions that sound-waves of different quality produce forms of various shapes, but this important fact is shown in a novel and interesting manner by a new instrument which has been invented called the Phoneidoscope. The phoneidoscope consists of a cylindrical L-shaped brass tube, to the horizontal portion of which is attached an indiarubber tube and a wooden mouth-piece. At the termination of the vertical part of the instrument is a blackened brass disk, in which is an aperture. If the disk be now covered with a thin coating of soap and water similar to the preparation used in blowing soap bubbles, and a voice or instrument be sounded close to the mouth-piece, a curious effect can be perceived in the soap film at the other end of the instru ment. The vibration of the molecules of air

in the tube is transferred to the film, and bands of rainbow-tinted color become apparent, vary. ing in form as the voice or instrument changes, and assuming an endless variety of patterns. Change of pitch produces a noticeable alteration in the forms, and the same notes on different instruments are marked by variations in the patterns on the soap solution, the colors in which, as the tenuity of the film increases, become marvellously beautiful.-Cassell's Family Magazine.

Anthropometric

ANTHROPOMETRY. - The Committee of the British Association appointed for the purpose of making a systematic investigation of the heights, weights, and other dimensions of the human inhabitants of the empire, laid their report before the Association at the last meeting. They stated that considerable progress had been made in carrying out the objects of the Committee during the past year, returns having been obtained giving the birthplace, origin, and sex, age, height, weight, color of hair and eyes, girth of chest, and strength of arm and eyesight of a great number of persons, including pupils at Westminster and other schools, London policemen and letter-sorters, rifle volunteers, soldiers, and criminals. The Committee had thus procured nearly 12,000 original observations on the question of height and weight in relation to age, in addition to