Sainte-Beuve, carrying the narrative of his life and works down to 1830. The occasion of the article is the publication of Sainte-Beuve's correspondence with a schoolfellow who became a priest, which proves that he retained his belief in Catholicism with a good deal of schoolboy pedantry up to eighteen or nineteen. His subsequent changes up to the age of six-and-twenty, when a more or less platonic love led him back to a more or less platonic orthodoxy, are traced with apparent candour, and with the air of authority which comes from access to special information. M. George Bousquet gives an interesting account of a visit to Yezo, the northernmost island which belongs beyond dispute to Japan, which is larger than Ireland, and has a total population of 76,850, including 16,000 Ainos, a singular aboriginal race, with many analogies to the North American Indians. The interior of the island is almost entirely covered with forests, it is known to con

tain valuable mines, and M. Bousquet thinks it

would be better to leave these resources to be developed by private adventurers in search of fortune, instead of trying to colonise the island by the authority of the Government, an enterprise which is at present pursued with American assistance and grotesque results. The Revue announces that it will shortly publish "Flamerande," by George Sand, and "Un Mariage dans le Monde," by M. Octave Feuillet, and that the "Table de la Revue des Deux Mondes de 1851 à 1874" will be ready immediately.

A GERMAN lady, Countess Prokesch (Frederike Gossman) has attempted-with more ingenuity, perhaps, than real profit to literature-to collect in one volume all the poems which could be gathered together from the works of German poets in honour of the Rose. Royalty figures largely in his rose-garden of poetry; and while Prince Adalbert of Bavaria heads the series of rose-songs| with a special adulatory address to the queen of dowers, the Grand Duchess Vera of Russia, wife of Prince Eugène of Würtemberg, closes the list with a composition of decidedly gloomy colouring. The German supply of rose-poetry is completed in the Countess's compendium by well-turned translations from the writings of Anacreon, Béranger, and Tom Moore, and from other equally incongruous sources.

THE Strassburg University Library has been recently enriched by the reigning prince of Bentheim-Steinfurt, through the presentation of a valuable collection of books which had belonged to the now secularised monastery of Frenswegen, near Nordhom, in Osnabrück. The collection, I which consists of upwards of 1,000 volumes, includes fifty MSS. in Latin and Low German, written on vellum and paper, which are remarkable as choice specimens of caligraphy. Some of the Low German MSS. are in the Westphalian dialect of the locality, which gives them special value from a linguistic point of view, while the presence in the collection of 150 incunabula makes this a doubly important addition to the contents of the Strassburg Library, which at the time of the disastrous siege lost all the numerous incunabular impressions for which it had been so distinguished.

THE death is announced of the distinguished economist, M. A. Audiganne, author of Populations ouvrières de la France, Ouvriers en famille, &c.

THE Bibliographie de la France gives some details of the history of the Gazette de France, which has just been put up to auction. It was founded in 1631 by Théophraste Renaudot, physician to the King, who may be regarded also as the founder of the modern pawnshop and advertising office. It first appeared once a week with four quarto pages, next with eight pages, which form it retained till nearly the end of the eighteenth century, when it became a daily paper. It was at first devoted chiefly to advertisements, general news occupying a very subordinate place; and it was long prosperous in spite of the competition

of the Mercure, which was started soon after the Gazette. The National Library possesses a complete set, consisting of 189 quarto and 128 folio volumes, which occupy a space on the shelves of sixteen mètres in length.

THE Liberté gives some interesting statistics with regard to French literature during the year 1874. The total number of books, including original works and new editions, printed throughout the whole of France was 11,917, beside periodicals of all kinds. There were also 2,196 engravings, prints, and maps, and 3,841 numbers of vocal and instrumental music, raising the total number of publications to 17,954. These results are the more satisfactory, as in the highly prosperous year 1869, only 17,394 publications were registered; in 1870, 8,831; in 1872, 10,659; in 1873, 11,530. The average for the last twenty years has been about 15,000, of which 10,000 are

printed works, 3,000 engravings, maps, plans, photographs, &c., and the remaining 2,000 musical publications.

WE

have received Shakespeare's Dramatic Works, with notes by S. W. Singer, and a Life by W. Watkiss Lloyd, vols. i. and ii. (Bell & Sons); Renshaw's The Cone and its Sections treated Geometrically (Hamilton, Adams & Co.); Badeker's Central Italy and Rome, fourth edition (Leipzig: Badeker); Prussia in Relation to the Foreign Policy of England (Hatchards); Von Sybel's Clerical Policy in the Nineteenth Century, translated by J. Scot Henderson (Hatehards); Englische Grammatik, von E. Mätzner, zweiter Thl., erste Hälfte, second edition (Berlin: Weidmann); Das Verbrechen des Hochverraths, von W. bearbeitet von H. Goldammer, 1. u. 2. Thl. (BerE. Knitschky (Jena: Mauke); Der Kindergarten, lin: Lüderitz); Das Verbrechen des Mordes und Lüderitz); Studien zur Geschichte der alten Kirche, die Todesstrafe, von F. von Holtzendorff (Berlin: von F. Overbeck, 1. Hft. (Schloss-Chemnitz: Schmeitzner).

THE Journal des Débats, in a short historical sketch of the Marshalate of France, states that the first person on whom that dignity was conferred was a certain Pierre-Pierre, created in 1185, and the last marshal nominated under the old monarchy was the Comte de Rochambeau, Washington's companion in arms, in 1791. The total number of marshals created between 1185 and

1791 was 256. Under the first empire (1804 1813) twenty-five marshals of France were created, Berthier, Prince de Wagram, being the first, and Prince Poniatowski the last; under the Restoration nine marshals, beginning with the Duc de Coigny, and ending with the Comte de Bourmont; under the Monarchy of July there were nine creations, the first being the Comte Gérard, and the last the Vicomte Dode de la Brunerie; from 1850 to 1870 nineteen creations, the first marshal nominated being Prince Jérôme Bonaparte, and the last General le Boeuf. The total number of crea

tions since the institution of the marshalate in 1185 to the present day is 318.

FROM a newspaper published in the year 1761 we get the following astounding piece of information dated from the Hague, April 17 :—

"Two men are arrived at Cologne, who say they came from Damascus. The Jesuits of that town have been with them, and talked to them in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and Chaldaic. They answered them in all languages. They say they are come by the order of Heaven, to turn men to repentance. They give out they are 700 years old, and that the world will infallibly be at an end in 1773. The Jesuits have obtained leave to carry them to Rome. Being put in irons, they were glad of that opportunity of proving the truth of their mission by breaking them. They say:

"The war will be general in Constantinople destroyed

The true God acknowledged by all

nations

. 1765 1766

"The French envoy at Cologne has received orders to examine them strictly."

THE little biographical sketch which follows, singularly illustrative of clerical manners and morals a century back, is derived from some manuscript jottings of a contemporary fellowworker in the Church of England, the Reverend William Cole, of Milton, Cambridgeshire:

Lamb Robert, Bishop of Peterborough, Fellow of Trinity College. He died in the first week of November, 1769, at his rectory of Hatfield, being taken ill on horseback, in the field in hunting, and carried home, where he died immediately. He was brother to Sir Matthew Lamb, steward and agent for the Earl of Salisbury, and member for Peterborough, who died very rich a little before him. The bishop died a bachelor, and was a bon vivant, and was supposed to have rather injured his health by a too free use of the bottle, but was otherwise a very worthy man, and much esteemed. He was buried at Hatfield. He was disposed to have rebuilt the palace at Peterborough, where he laid out much on the preparations and ornaments, as he had before done at the Deanery, but was diverted from it by Sir Matthew his brother. It was said that both the Bishop and Sir Matthew were remarkably ignorant in their professions, the one as a lawyer, and the other as a divine; the latter having twice been refused orders for insufficiency, as the former was particularly noted by Lord Chancellor Hardwick as unworthy of the usual honours and promotions gerated. in his profession. Perhaps both may be exag

FROM a memorandum attached to a manuscript volume in the British Museum of "Collections relative to the Family of Murray, of Stanhope, in the County of Peebles," are to be gathered some curious bits of gossip. The papers, which are of not much general interest in themselves, chiefly brother Charles. Sir Alexander was the husband relate to Sir Alexander Murray, Baronet, and his of the celebrated Lady Murray, "whose delightful Memoirs some few years since were presented to the world by Thomas Thompson, Esq., in a private publication-but which attracted so much notice that a new edition for sale was published in a smaller size." Her ladyship, we are reminded, in her own time created a considerable sensation in the fashionable world, and the attempt to ravish her by Arthur Grey, her footman, contributed not a little to her notoriety. Lady Mary Wortley Montague made the rape the subject of a ballad remarkable for its indelicacy, not (adds our informant) included by Lord Wharncliffe in his edition of her ladyship's works. One paper in the collection is a copy of a petition addressed by him, September 24, 1715, from the Marshalsea to the Duchess of Marlborough, to procure his liberation from thence. He was confined in that "expensive and unwholesome prison, so prejudicial to his health and narrow fortune" (to quote his own words), on account of his connexion with the Rebellion.

NOTES OF TRAVEL.

DR. ANDREAS, who left England this week, is employed by the German Government, as we have before mentioned, on a scientific exploring expedition to Persia. He first proceeds to Shiraz, where he will be joined by a photographer. Dr. Andreas will then explore the province of Khuzistan, the ancient Susiana, and valuable results may be anticipated from his labours. For he is a ripe scholar, and is deeply impressed with the necessity for combining sound geography and a knowledge of early writers on

southern horizon, Naxos, Paros, Antiparos, Siphnos and Seriphos. It was an admirable island view to commence with, and it was easy to distinguish the highest points by the amount of snow which they bore: far the greatest quantity lay on the south of Euboea, next after which came Andros, and then Naxos, while on the rest none was visible. The forms were broken and yet graceful, and the afternoon sun brought out the beautiful shadows on the mountain sides which are so familiar to the traveller in Greece. The general effect of the islands, especially the 'more distant ones, is that of long lines on the surface of the sea. The length of Naxos is very conspicuous, notwithstanding its lofty mountains, while Paros forms a single low pyramid, bearing a striking resemblance to the other great source of white marble, Pentelicus. Tenos is distinguished by the numerous white villages which stud its sides, while behind the town of Tenos itself, on the summit of the ridge, there rises a remarkable knob of rock, faced with red: with this we were destined to make further acquaintance. The picturesqueness of the whole scene was enhanced by numerous white sails dotting the blue sea, and by an atmospheric illusion, which lifted the islands

out of the water.

We had steered a little south of east, and in about four hours found ourselves rounding the southernmost point of Rheneia; from hence the long soft line of Ios was visible between Naxos and Paros on the horizon. The cape is formed of fine masses of granite, curiously honeycombed, and we subsequently discovered that both this island and the sister isle of Delos are entirely composed of this kind of stone, which is not the case with most of the other Aegean islands; consequently, while the houses of the town of Delos were of granite, as we see from their remains, the materials for most of the public buildings were imported. The two islands are now called the Greater and the Lesser Deli, and run due north and south, divided by a strait about half a mile in breadth, which forms a beautiful harbour, with deep water, and sheltered from every wind. There can be little doubt that it was to this feature that Delos originally owed its greatness, for it was the first place where persons could anchor in coming from the east, and thus became a natural resort for traders. Rowing up this channel, at the narrowest point we came to an island in mid-stream, now called Rheumatiari or Stream-island, which in ancient times was named the Island of Hecate. It is highly probable that it was here that Polycrates threw across the chain, by which he attached Rheneia to Delos, in token of its being dedicated to Apollo; and that Nicias when sent from Athens as the leader of a festival procession, having brought a bridge from Athens to Rheneia, and laid it in the night-time, proceeded to the temple on the morrow with triumphal pomp. Directly to the east of this rises Mount Cynthus, the highest point in Delos, and in a valley which descends almost from its summit towards the strait in a south-westerly direction is the bed of a stream, the ancient Inopus, which had a legendary connexion with the Nile, for Callimachus says that it was fullest when that river is flooded. Possibly the link of connexion may be found in a temple of Isis on the mountain side. Passing the island of Hecate, we landed on Delos, near where another small island, the lesser Rheumatiari, lies off the coast; here there were traces of quays, but the sea has retired and left a sandy beach. Within a gunshot of this point the ruins of the great temple of Apollo were plainly visible, forming a vast heap of fallen blocks of white marble; but we refrained for the moment from visiting these, our object being to ascend Cynthus before nightfall. Making our way through aromatic brushwood of lentisk and cistus, we directed our steps towards a white wall, conspicuous from below, which proved to belong to a theatre, the cavea of which faces west, and is clearly traceable, the back part being excavated in the hill side, while

utter shrieks when its root is extracted from the ground, is especially common in the Greek islands. In Attica bits of the root are carried by young men as amatory amulets. As I lay awake part of the night in the extraordinary stillness, I was able to recall, in some measure, the crowds of worshippers, the visit of the Persians, and other romantic glories of the place-things which it is so difficult to realise, when the senses are in contact with the material objects.

The next morning opened with rain, but it had cleared by eight o'clock, and we descended from our night's lodging towards the landing-place where we had left our boat. As we approached the sea, the northernmost ruins that we met with were those of the ancient city, where granite columns were lying among broken fragments of walls. Beyond this was an oval basin, about 100 yards in length, forming a kind of pond, the sides of which were banked in by a casing of stonework; it is usually dry, but at this season contained a small quantity of water. In ancient times it was full, and was called the Circular Lake (poxotions Xiurn, Herod. ii. 170). If, as we are told by Theognis (7), it was near this lake that Latona brought forth her two children, then the famous palm-tree of Delos, which is mentioned in Homer (Od. vi. 162), where Ulysses compares Nausicaa's beauty to it, must have stood here, for we are told

the ends are composed of masonry of Parian marble, the courses, of which in one place thirteen remain, being skilfully put together, though somewhat narrow. The line of the scena also is well marked. Behind this, and further up the hill side, stood the small temple of Isis already referred to, the foundations of which have been excavated, and show that it was of white marble; the pronaos, naos, and an altar were visible, together with a mosaic pavement composed of pebbles; its dedication is proved by an inscription found there. In the neighbourhood of this temple there is a curious gateway, which, when seen from a distance, resembles a cavern, but in reality is artificial, the roof being formed of two granite blocks resting against one another at an obtuse angle; the chamber to which it led, and which Leake conjectures to have been, perhaps, the treasury of Delos, is now obstructed. We then mounted by a very steep ascent to the summit of Cynthus, where are the foundations and fragments of another temple, the pillars being in the Ionic style. As this mountain is not more than 350 feet above the sea, I had often wondered how classical writers could speak of it as lofty-Aristophanes, for instance (Nub. 596), describes it as Kuria kipara Erpav-especially as it is surrounded by so much loftier peaks; but from its steepness and rocky character it deserves that epithet, and certainly it is very conspicuous from everywhere in the neigh-in the Hymn to the Delian Apollo (117) that the bouring seas. This circumstance, especially if it goddess clasped it when in the pains of childserved as a landmark to vessels coming from the birth; though Callimachus has followed another open sea, may also, perhaps, explain the origin of version of the story, when he places that occurthe name of the island, Aog, which can hardly rence on the banks of the Inopus (Del. 206). Near be otherwise than of Greek origin, and yet was this basin is the only good spring of water in the sufficiently strange to cause even the ancients to island, and this circumstance probably determined speak of Antoç aonλog. The view from this point the position of the temple of Apollo. The temeis very fine, comprehending all the islands we have nos of this is hard by to the south, and within it already noticed the Kudder, of which Callima

chus says:

Αστερίη θυόεσσα, σὲ μὲν περί τ' ἀμφί τε νῆσοι

κύκλον ἐποιήσαντο καὶ ὡς χορὸν ἀμφεβάλοντο while Myconos is full in view to the north-east, separated by a strait about two miles wide. It was natural, therefore, that Virgil should represent Apollo as fastening his island to Myconos, when it ceased to wander on the sea; but what, except Roman ignorance of geography, should make him attach it also to Gyaros-celsa Gyaro Myconoque revinxit-I do not understand. Here, too, the character of the island is well seen-a narrow rocky ridge, between two and three miles in length, with granite knolls and barren slopes; thus justifying the story related in the Homeric Hymn to the Delian Apollo, that Latona visited all the richest spots in the Aegean before giving birth to her children; but all were afraid to receive her, so that she betook herself to the small and rugged island. As we descended on the opposite side from that by which we had approached, we met the single inhabitant of Delos, an old shepherd, who spoke a most extraordinary dialect of Greek. He did not offer to accompany us, which our guide, who was not then with us, attributed to his regarding our sudden appearance as uncanny; the next day, however, when I tioned the old man as to the existence of "Vrykolakas or vampires in the island, he replied in the negative; at which I was surprised, for it was the neighbouring island of Myconos, about which Tournefort relates a marvellous story, of the whole population being bouleversé for weeks together by such an apparition. We passed the night in some deserted shepherd's huts, lying in a depression to the north of Cynthus, where the ground slopes gradually to the two seas, and has been sown with corn by the people of Myconos: these dwellings were constructed of stones put together with straw instead of mortar, while the doors were of ancient blocks approaching one another toward the top. All around grew the spreading leaves and lilac flowers of the mandrake (Atropa mandragora), forming large flat patches on the ground. This excessively poisonous plant, which has been a favourite with witches in all ages, and is said to

ques

the ruins of the temple form a confused heap of white marble fragments, columns, bases, and entablatures lying indiscriminately together. They are of the Doric order, and as many of the shafts are only partly fluted, it would seem that the details of the building were never completely finished. The wreck of so fine a specimen of architecture is a sad sight; but when we consider that the place has served for a quarry for the neighbouring islanders, and a place of pillage for foreigners from the times of the Venetian occupation to our own days, perhaps the wonder is rather that so much remains. In the south-west part of the area is a large square marble basis, hollowed out in the middle, with the remains of an inscription on one side NAZIOI AIOAAQNI: this supported a colossus, which was overthrown in ancient times by the falling of a palm-tree of bronze gilt, erected by Nicias in its immediate neighbourhood (Plutarch, Nic. 3). When Spon and Wheler visited this island in 1675, the statue remained with the exception of its head, and part of the torso, from the neck to the waist, has been seen within the present half century, but we could find no traces of it. A portion of the ruins in the temple area towards the coast, which are in the Corinthian style, seem to have belonged to an entrance colonnade to the temenos; and not far off, on the other side of a wall constructed by the shepherds, are the prostrate columns of another portico, built by Philip V. of Macedon. In Spon's time eleven of these were standing, but without capitals. In the midst of the ruins, anemones of various colours

white, pink, and lilac-were growing, and I dug up some fine narcissus roots to transplant to England. Our guide informed me that J. S. Mill, when he travelled with him in the Peloponnese, besides drying flowers, had an extra baggage mule in his train for carrying plants and roots.

Embarking once more, we crossed the strait, and landed on Rheneia, at a point somewhat south of the island of Hecate. Both Rheneia and its sister island are absolutely bare of trees. At a little distance from this point, on the slopes which rise above the strait, is an ancient necropolis, containing the graves of those whose bodies were removed from Delos at the time of the Peloponne

sian war.

It extends over half a mile, and is a scene of wild desolation, worthy of the circle of the Inferno in which Farinata's spirit emerged from its fiery tomb. Broken stones lay strewn about in all directions, mixed here and there with sides and lids of sarcophagi. Usually the graves are only distinguishable by depressions in the ground, but in some places the areas and walls are traceable. About them were growing the coarse branching stems of the asphodel, a most disenchanting plant, and so rough, that if the lotuseaters enjoyed lying among them, they did not indulge in Sybarite tastes. When we returned to our boat we found the sailors eating raw limpets, which they picked from the rocks. It was now the Greek Lent, which is observed with great strictness by all the sailors in the Aegean, but bloodless fish are allowed to be eaten.

DEMMIN, A.

SELECTED BOOKS.

H. F. TOZER.

General Literature and Art.

Encyclopédie historique, etc., des beaux-arts plastiques. T. 3. L'Art de la Gravure. Paris: Furne, Jouvet et Cie.

EBERT, H. Fritz Reuter. Sein Leben und seine Werke. Gü strow Opitz. 3 Thl. GASKELL, G. Algeria as It is. Smith, Elder & Co. 7s. 6d. LEIBNIZ, Euvres de, publiées pour la première fois d'après les manuscrits originaux, avec notes et introductions par A. Foucher de Careil. T. 7. Paris: Firmin Didot. MAINE, Sir H. On the Early History of Institutions. Murray. 123.

NORDHOFF, C. The Communistic Societies of the United States. Murray. 158.

PLANCHÉ, J. R. The Cyclopaedia of Costume; or, a Dictionary of Dress. Part I. Chatto & Windus. 5s. RAHN, J. R. Geschichte der bildenden Künste in der Schweiz. 2. Abth. Zürich: Staub. 3 Thl. 22 Ngr.

History.

GRASBERGER, L. Erziehung u. Unterricht im klass. Alterthum. Nach den Quellen dargestellt. 2. Thl. Der musische Unterricht od. die Elementarschule bei den Griechen u. Römern. Würzburg: Stahel. 3 Thl. 4 Ngr.

JERROLD, B. The Life of Napoleon III. Vol. II. Longmans. 188. KINGLAKE, A. W. The Invasion of the Crimea. Vol. V. Blackwood. MONUMENTA Germaniae historica inde ab a. Chr. 500 usque ad a. 1500. Ed. G. H. Pertz. Scriptores. Tom. 23. Hannover: Hahn. 18 Thl.

PAILLARD, A. Histoire de la transmission du pouvoir impérial à Rome et à Constantinople. Paris: Plon. 8 fr. ROCQUAIN, F. Etudes sur l'ancienne France, histoire, mœurs, institutions, d'après les documents conservés dans les dépôts d'archives. Paris: Didier. 3 fr. 50 c.

Physical Science.

GERLAND, G. Anthropologische Beiträge. Erster Band. Halle : Lippert. 2 Thl. GRISEBACH, A. Plantae Lorentzianae. Bearbeitung der 1. u. 2. Sammlg. argentinischer Pranzen d. Prof. Lorentz zu Cordoba. Göttingen: Dieterich. 3 Thl. JAEGER, G. In Sachen Darwins insbesondere contra Wigand. Ein Beitrag zur Rechtfertigg. n. Fortbildg, der Umwandlungslehre. Stuttgart: Schweizerbart. 5 Thl. REISE der österreichischen Fregatte Norara um die Erde in den J. 1857-8-9. Zoologischer Thl. 2. Abth. Lepidoptera, von R. Felder u. A. F. Rogenhofer. 4. Hft. Wien: Gerolds Sohn. 9 Thl.

SUTER, H. Geschichte der mathematischen Wissenschaften. 2. Thl. Vom Anfange d. 17. bis Ende d. 18. Jahrh. 1. Hälfte. Zürich Orell, Füssli & Co. 2 Thl.

Philology.

BENFEY, Th. Die Quantitätsverschiedenheiten in den Samhitân. Pada-Texten der Veden. 1. Abhdlg. Göttingen: Dieterich. 16 Ngr. EGGER, E. Les substantifs verbanx formés par apocope de l'infinitif. Paris: Durand. 2 fr.

THE

CORRESPONDENCE.

QUARTERLY REVIEW AND MR. DARWIN.
Jan. 13, 1875.

It was with no slight astonishment that I read the objection made in your last number to my intimation that Mr. Darwin had, in fact, deliberately kept back, when he published his Origin of Species, any explicit declaration of his views as to the bestiality of man, in order the better to disseminate his notions by disguising them (through such studious reticence) from the less clearsighted.

My astonishment was great for two reasons. First, because a statement to the same effect had appeared as much as three years earlier,* and, as far

"In his earlier writings a certain reticence veiled, though it did not hide, his ultimate conclu

as I recollect, passed unchallenged, in spite of the criticism to which the article referred to was subjected. Secondly, because both these statements simply reposed upon what Mr. Darwin himself had expressly said, and, after all, he must have known his own meaning and intentions better than even the most eager of his disciples.

His words in the introduction to his Descent of Man (words referring to his conduct and motives in earlier publications), stand as follows:"During many years I collected notes on the origin and descent of man, without any intention of publishing on the subject, but rather with the determination not to publish, as I thought that I should thus only add to the prejudices against my views."

If this does not denote deliberate and intentional "reticence," it is to me unintelligible.

Everyone who recollects the earlier stages of the controversy must remember that Mr. Darwin was often excused or defended on the plea that he might not really mean to include man. Moreover he was rightly so defended, for however little obscure might be his real meaning to the more clear-sighted and to his personal friends, there is, so far as I know, nothing in the Origin of Species, and certainly nothing in the passages quoted from it in your last number, which need have hindered the innocent or more kindly disposed from believing that Mr. Darwin appreciated 66 reason at its just value, and therefore, like Mr. Wallace, Professor Max Müller, and the author of the Genesis of Species, made rational man an exception to the general process of evolution.

Mr. Darwin proceeds (in the passage quoted) to say: "It seemed to me sufficient to indicate, in the first edition of my Origin of Species, that by this work" light would be thrown on the origin of man and his history; "and this implies that man must be included with other organic beings in any general conclusions respecting his manner of appearance on this earth."

And so it was sufficient for some purposes: sufficient to reveal his meaning to those who could divine his psychological views, sufficient also to secure the zealous aid of those eager to prove man to be in nature, as in end, like "the beasts which perish," without at the same time stimulating opposition, as it would have been stimulated had he plainly and unmistakably stated at first his views and conclusions as to

man.

As to Mr. George Darwin, I gladly avail myself of this opportunity of repeating, what has already been stated by the Quarterly Review for October, that however I may have misunderstood him, nothing could have been further from my intention than the wish to insinuate anything against Mr. G. Darwin personally. It never occurred to me as possible, when the passage was written, that it could be taken as casting any slur of the kind. Had it so occurred to me, it would most assuredly never have appeared. Nor do I hesitate to avow my great regret for not having more carefully guarded against any such possible misapprehenTHE QUARTERLY REVIEWER OF 1874.

sion.

CAPTAIN HOFFMEYER'S CHARTS OF THE WEATHER. Meteorological Office: January 12, 1875. I have the honour to inform you that the issue of Captain Hoffmeyer's daily charts of the weather from 60° E. to 60° W. longitude, and from 30° to 75° N. latitude, for the three months of last winter, are now complete.

Captain Hoffmeyer is anxious to know what chance there is of his being able to continue the publication. The number of copies already sold of the existing charts has not been sufficient to cover the expenses of production. sions as to the origin of our own species." was obscurely hinted in the Origin of Species is here fully and fairly stated in all its bearings and without disguise."-Review of the Descent of Man in the Quarterly Review for July, 1871, p. 47.

"What

[JAN. 16, 1875.

At the same time this office has found that the rate of subscription (118. per quarter) which it charges has fallen short of the cost, carriage, and postage of the existing chart.

I have, therefore, to request any gentlemen who are willing to subscribe to a future issue of the charts to send in their names to me as soon as convenient. The rate of subscription will be at least 12s. 6d. per quarter, and must necessarily be higher if the original cost of the charts at Copenhagen is raised above the price first named-viz., 4 francs per month. ROBERT H. SCOTT, Director.

STATUE OF KING ROBERT THE BRUCE AT STIRLING CASTLE.

Westerton, Bridge of Allan, N.B.: Jan. 10, 1875. In the paper of yesterday Mr. William B. Scott, of Bellevue, Chelsea, states that he was applied to for a subscription to the bronze statue of the Patriot King-Robert the Bruce-which it is proposed to place on the esplanade of Stirling Castle, where it will be seen by thousands of visitors to the ancient Capitol of Scotland. Mr. Scott adds, "the designer (or sculptor) seems to be Mr. George Cruikshank," and enquires if this is the well-known caricaturist of veteran years.

Mr. Cruikshank is the eminent artist, now an octogenarian, the great promoter of temperance, and exhibiting in his own person the great advantages of a well-regulated life. In his youth he was a comic draughtsman, and in his mature years by illustrations of the evil effects of "The Bottle," he has done an immensity of good.

His design for "The Bruce" is excellent, in chain armour, and sheathing his sword after his crowning victory of Bannockburn, while on the granite pedestal are the hands of those who lately were foes now joined in friendship.

It is hoped that patriotic Scotchmen and all admirers of the heroic king will assist the committee to perpetuate and honour his memory by means of this statue.

J. E. ALEXANDER, Major-General.
Chairman of Committee.

BLAKE'S ETCHINGS.

69 Lancaster Gate, Hyde Park, W.: January 9, 1875.

In the course of working at William Blake's Prophecies, I have come across two facts which may interest your readers.

1st. The well-known figure of Nebuchadnezzar in The Marriage of Heaven and Hell is without doubt derived from Plate 146 of The Bible Commen

tary (Richard Blome, 1703), which was probably drawn by G. Freeman and engraved by some Dutch or Flemish engraver, as is the case with most of the plates in the same volume. This fact appears to me interesting, as I know of no other instance in which Blake has borrowed an attitude or idea.

down The Song of Los (Africa and Asia), 1795, 2nd. Many catalogues of Wm. Blake's works put and omit The Book of Los of the same year. The "Song" completes the "America ('93) and "Europe" (94) series, while the "Book" belongs to the "Urizen" ('94) series.

The Book of Los is in the British Museum; it is etched, not printed in Blake's usual way. It contains only three plates of text, a frontispiece, and vignette. FREDK. YORK POWELL.

THE URARI POISON.

Museum, Kew: Jan. 11, 1875. The quotation at page 23 of the ACADEMY for January 2, from the Japan Herald, relating to the Urari poison of South America, seems to require some further explanation. I have not seen the original article referred to, but the Urari poison of Guiana is no new discovery. Sir Walter Raleigh, to whom so many wonderful discoveries have been attributed, is said to have been the first person to

London Institution: Professor Rolleston on The Early Inhabitants of England." II.

bring to Europe any trustworthy information on THURSDAY, Jan. 21, 7 p.m. Numismatic. the uses and virulence of the poison. The early accounts contained a good deal that was fabulous and mysterious, and even up to recent times the manufacturers of the poison impart a good deal of mystery to its preparation.

At the beginning of the present century Hum- FRIDAY, Jan. 22, boldt gave an account of its preparation as witnessed by him on the Upper Orinoko, but it was reserved to Sir Robert Schomburgk to obtain and publish the fullest information regarding it. With great difficulty he obtained from the natives specimens of the Ourari tree, from which it proved to be a species of Strychnos-namely, Strychnos toxifera, Schomb. In its preparation, which Sir Robert had much difficulty in prevailing upon the natives to allow him to witness-several other

ingredients were used besides the bark of the Strychnos itself. Indeed, there seems to be no absolute rule as to its manufacture holding good throughout the country where it is used; but each tribe appears to have its own recipe and to use different ingredients. That prepared by the Macusi Indians, however, has the greatest reputation; so much so, indeed, that whole caravans of Indians come from the surrounding States to exchange other articles for it.

that

As to "incautious handling" of the juice prolucing "external eruptions on the body, face," &c., it is well known to the natives as well as to toxicologists generally, as proved by experiments made by Professors Virchow and Münter, urari by external application is not fatal, but only when it is absorbed by the living animal substance through an incision made in the same." Numerous experiments are recorded of very rapid death after the poison had once touched a wound; but, taken inwardly in very small doses, it has no serious effect. Indeed, the natives, when using t, are said to habitually suck their fingers to renove any that may have attached itself. In larger doses, however, taken inwardly, the urari has proved fatal, so that the statement in the Japan Herald that "the antidote lies in the bane itself" ought to be thoroughly considered and practised with caution.

8 p.m. Linnean.

8.30 p.m.

8 p.m.

8.30 p.m.

Royal Albert Hall Concert (Herr Wilhelmj). Royal. Antiquaries.

Evening Meeting. 9 p.m. Sir

J. Lubbock on "Wild Flowers and Insects."

Quekett Club.

Society of Arts: Indian Section; Opening Address by Sir G. Campbell.

Clinical.

SCIENCE.

OUR readers will welcome with sincere pleasure the Supplement to Harvesting Ants and Trap-Door Spiders; but this pleasure will be mingled with deep regret in that so careful and conscientious an observer is now lost to us. In this, his last work, he has supplemented his previous observations by others equally interesting; also intended, as he says in his touching preface, to induce my readers to take part with me in my pleasure and pursuits, so that we should from that time work together."

It is to be hoped that the labours of this lamented naturalist may encourage others to emulate his example, and that thus clearer light may be thrown upon the hitherto scarcely understood habits of the Arachnidae and those of the Formicidae, which, in spite of the labours of Gould, Huber, Mayr, Ebrard, Forel, and other naturalists, still offer a rich field for investigation.

That the Strychnos toxifera should yield a varnish equal to that of the Japanese Rhus is some- The dissimilarity of different species of thing quite new, and seems to require further confirmation. It is not in the nature of the Apoants, as regards strength, speed, nocturnal, cyneae to furnish such a product. Many of them diurnal, and various other habits, as well yield a milky juice which is mostly acrid and poi-ants from the nest, and the different nature as the varying date of departure of winged sonous, but in some it is perfectly harmless and sufficiently bland to be used as food. JOHN R. JACKSON.

of their food, appear sufficiently to account for the co-existence of several species in a limited area.

Some surprise is expressed by the author that the winged ants, about to leave the nest, should be so carefully guarded by the 2 p.m. Mr. and Mrs. Kendal in The Lady Workers; but the fact is that the winged ants have no sting, and are consequently powerless to defend themselves, while the James's Hall (Malle. Maric large jaws of the workers render them formidable champions.

of Lyons at the Gaiety.

3 p.m. Crystal Palace Concert (Mr. Oscar

8 p.m.

Beringer).

Saturday Popular Concert, St.

Krebs).

First night of Our Boys at the
Vandeville.

Asiatic: Professor J. Dowson on
"Two Bactrian Pali Inscrip-
tions."

5 p.m. London Institution: Mr. Armytige Bakewell on "Cremation."

But, Mr. Moggridge considers, though the nests observed by him contained on an average sixteen ounces of grain, still, as each granary held but an insignificant quanapart, it is impossible not to believe that those alluded to in the Mishna must have been larger and more accessible; they would not otherwise have been deemed worthy of legislative notice. As regards the means employed by ants to prevent the germination of stored-up seeds, these yet remain a secret, and may bear some analogy to the curious instinct which leads Cerceris to keep the larvae fresh and good on which her young ones will feed on quitting the egg. With her, however, one operation is sufficient; whereas it appears that the constant presence of ants is necessary to prevent the germination of the granaried seeds. Some Indian ants, on the approach of wet weather, have a peculiar habit of bringing out in heaps the seeds which they have laboriously collected, most of these being then devoured by birds. The author considers that this may be owing to the fact that it would be impossible, during the rainy season, to prevent germination, and even perhaps that a certain number of seeds might spring up and afford to the ants an easy and accessible harvest.

In a certain part of India a kind of adoration is paid to ants, which Mr. Moggridge thinks may have had its origin in a And, he says, this is suggested by an Arabian sentiment of combined fear and admiration. custom of placing an ant in the hand of a new-born child, in order that its virtues may pass into and possess the infant. It is curious to see the analogy between this notion and that of those savage tribes who, in feasting upon a dead hero, imagine themselves to become inbued with his strength and courage, as well, of course, as with that of all the other warriors whom he might previously have eaten.

in their nests for no ostensible purpose, tend with great care, and hasten to rescue at the first approach of danger, is one of great difficulty and interest.