by Dr. Thomas Thomson, Professor of Chemistry in the University of Glasgow, on the Progress of Literature, by the late Sir Daniel K. Sandford, Professor of Greek, and on the Fine Arts, by the late Allan Cunningham, Esq. It is published in seven large octavo volumes and profusely illustrated. Dr. Dionysius Lardner edited a Cyclopædia which extended to one hundred and thirty-one small octavo volumes. It contained several valuable works on Natural Philosophy, Arts, Manufactures, History, Biography, &c. The ablest writers in each branch contributed to the work, among whom may be mentioned, Sir James Mackintosh, Sir Walter Scott, Sir John Herschel, Sir David Brewster, &c. The volumes are still highly prized and circulated. But the Cyclopædia does not carry out the idea of the great work we have been describing. Cyclopædias on separate branches also abound. In Commerce we have M'Culloch's great work; on Arts and Manufacture, Dr. Ure's, and Charles Tomlinson's; on Practical Medicine, one by Drs. Forbes, Tweedie, and Conolly; on Anatomy and Physiology, by Dr. A. T. Thomson; on Surgery, by Dr. Costello. In Theology, too, we have the 'Biblical Cyclopædia,' edited by Dr. Kitto, and contributed to by the first divines of the present age, European and continental. Herzog's Encyclopædia, now being issued in this country and America, and translated from the German, is the fullest and most comprehensive yet published. In English literature we have Chambers' Cyclopædia.

works

Bibliography is a science in itself in which there is abundant room for research and production. The history of books in general, or of an individual book, possesses peculiar interest, and will always repay the inquirer. No attempt has yet been made to compile an Universal Bibliographical Dictionary. Perhaps it will never be attempted. There are, however, many more or less connected with the subject, but the greatest have been issued in foreign countries-in France, Germany, and Italy. In 1763-68, was published at Paris a work by G. F. De Bure, in seven octavo volumes, entitled, 'Bibliographie Instructive; ou, Traité de la Connoissance des Livres rares des singuliers.' It is arranged under five divisions-Theology, Jurisprudence, Sciences and Arts, Belles Lettres, and History. De Bure published a supplement in two volumes in 1782, and an index to anonymous works was added by another compiler. Altogether the work was highly creditable to the learning of the collector, who was a bookseller in Paris. In 1810 appeared a work of great value by Monsieur J. C. Brunet, Manuel du Libraire et de l'Amateur de Livres; contenant, 1. Un nouveau Dictionnaire Bibliographique; 2. Une Table en forme de Catalogue Raisonné.' It has been supplemented by additional matter, and was re-issued by the author in 1842 in five large octavo volumes.

In this country one of the earliest bibliographical efforts was made by Dr. Adam Clarke, a man of great scholarship and excellence. In 1803, he published A Bibliographical Dictionary, containing a chronological account, alphabetically arranged, of the most curious and useful books in all departments of learning, published in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Arabic, and other Eastern languages.' The work contained six volumes, extended by two more in 1806. The Bibliographer's Manual of English Literature,' was compiled by W. T. Lowndes, and issued in four octavo volumes in 1834. It has the merit and the defect of being the first of the kind, but it exhibits considerable accuracy and research. The Cyclopædia Bibliographica,' by Darling, not yet complete, is a great undertaking, and affords ample information of books, their authors, and their subjects. The first volume of authors contains 3,328 columns of small print, entirely descriptive of the theological productions of the writers who swell the alphabetical enumeration. It is, nevertheless, on the principle of selection. In the second volume, biblical subjects, of which part first is published, are enumerated. It has been well said, He that will be so original as to scorn to borrow from others, may indeed acquire the wisdom of age, but he throws away the wisdom of ages. In this world that originality is sufficiently original, which having first acquired the knowledge and practice of others, improves on themadds one story to the original edifice.' These works of Darling are a treasure to the divine. Few men can ever attain encyclopædic knowledge; but it should be the ambition of most to possess, either in their own or their public library, an Encyclopædia, which brings within their reach any information they may desire to gain. It is to aid our readers in this that we have specified at length the features and merits of the works mentioned in this paper, and specially that we have described the recently completed and highly valuable work of national importance-the ENCYCLOPÆDIA BRITANNICA.'*

* With regard to the demerits or faults of this great work, we have had our attention called to one omission, which, as sociologists, we are bound to notice. There is no account given in the Encyclopædia of the temperance movement. Literary men must have heard of this Cause. Its advocates and adherents have long been the butt of post-prandial talk; and they have been collected into societies which have a good position in the country, and ought to have been known to literary men. When a future edition is issued we believe the Temperance Reformation will have its principles expounded and its history written in this national work. In the course of the work we occasionally meet with some expressions which cannot but be offensive. We take an instance that turned up in our casual reading. Cupar-Angus, in addition to the parish church, contains chapels for the Free Church, United Presbyterians,' &c. In Scotland it is not the custom to call the places of worship belonging to any Presbyterian church by the name of chapels. It is offensive to draw this distinction where it will not be allowed. We observe it is frequently repeated throughout the work. Church is the most proper appellation for a place of worship, and the Scotch almost universally use it in preference to chapel. Their old 'meeting-house' is more becoming than chapel.'

ART.

The State of Sobriety in Norway.

217

ART. IV.-Om Edrueligheds Tilstanden i Norge. (The State of Sobriety in Norway.) Af Eilert Sundt, Theol. Cand. Christiania, 1859.

THE

HE growth of public opinion in Norway in favour of temperance may be traced in the deliberations of the Storthing. The means of checking the sale of intoxicating liquors forms one of the chief subjects of discussion in every session of that body, a bill for the absolute prohibition of brandy having in 1848 been thrown out by a majority of only 38 against 30, even the opposing majority having little to urge against the prohibition, except the exceeding difficulty of making the law effective. Every succeeding session has shown that the views as to this question remain the same, and each one has sanctioned the introduction of new restrictions to be imposed on the manufacture and sale of the poison, which, previous to the temperance movement, seemed rapidly destroying the physical and mental energies of the people.

Where so much unanimity exists as to the desirability of an object, and the difficulties to be overcome for its accomplishment are, in consequence, merely of a practical character, a thorough knowledge of the circumstances amid which the people live, and the bearing of the legislative measures upon these, becomes the points of the utmost importance to ascertain; for to know every symptom and circumstances of the disease is almost tantamount to having found the remedy. Feeling this, Mr. Eilert Sundt, who has for many years held a foremost place among the men who have exerted themselves to raise the state of social morality in Norway, conceived the plan of the work before us, the object of which we give in his own simple terms, as he explains it in a letter addressed, in the autumn of 1857, to the popular schoolmasters in the rural and urban districts throughout Norway, whose co-operation he invites.

There is a vicious habit,' says this letter, which, above all others, has been called the misfortune of our country and the bane of our people, I mean the abuse of strong drinks. We all know how much concern this vice has caused, and still causes, every true philanthropist.

Yet it seems to me that we are still far from being sufficiently acquainted with the details of this national evil. I mean, more especially, that the degree in which it prevails in the different parts of the country is not as yet correctly ascertained.

It is a fact proved by experience, that in regard to those obnoxious customs, and that laxity of social restraints that lead to other immoralities and crime, there are decided differences between the various localities; and it is probable that the same is the case as regards the abuse of strong drinks. But we have no certain information on this point.

Such information would however be very useful. If it were known that drunkenness were more prevalent in one locality than in another, further investigation might lead to the discovery of certain circumstances in the life of the people, which lie at the root of this deplorable result, and this may again render

Vol. 4.-No. 15.

it possible to devise means for eradicating the unfortunate cause, and thus obviating the disastrous result.'

Having next pointed out how such knowledge might be obtained through the class whom he is addressing, and in whose power and desire to discriminate the truth he is willing to trust, the letter goes on to request that every schoolmaster whom it may reach, will furnish the writer (whose appeal was endorsed by the directing committee of the Association against Brandy Drinking in Norway,' and was distributed by the aid of Government) with a list of the number of married men and widowers in his district, discriminating between those that he considers habitually intemperate, those that are uncertain,' or liable to become intoxicated under peculiar inducements, and those who are decidedly sober, without this being meant necessarily to imply that they abstain altogether from the use of strong drinks, or that they are members of a temperance society; and distinguishing likewise between those belonging to the proprietary class (in which he includes all government officials, peasant proprietors of all grades, skippers, traders of various grades, manufacturers and others considered as belonging to the upper classes), and those who belong more essentially to the working class (such as farm servants and cottagers, factory labourers, day labourers, sailors, village craftsmen, &c.). Added to this is a wish that as many of the persons addressed as have time and feel themselves competent, would further furnish him with as full accounts as possible, of the customs and habits prevalent in their particular locality in respect to the use of brandy and other strong liquors at convivial meetings, in cases of sickness or of unusually hard work, on journeys, at auctions, &c.; of the changes that have taken place in these customs and habits; and of the causes that have led to such changes.

The reasons assigned for limiting the inquiry to married men and widowers, are the necessity, in case unmarried men were to be included, of fixing a limit of age, and the difficulty of doing this under the peculiar circumstances, except by choosing the period of confirmation (which in Norway is compulsory and must not be postponed beyond the sixteenth year, we believe), as the criterion, which would, however, be objectionable, as at that tender age the habits of life cannot be said to be formed, and the returns would, in consequence, become less reliable; whereas the state of temperance or intemperance among the married men being known, that of the unmarried may easily be inferred, as the habits of the heads of families cannot fail to exercise a decided influence on the morality of their children and dependents, while, on the other hand, the habits of a man's youth will, as a general rule, be traced in his more mature age.

When

Physical Aspect of Norway.

219

When it is taken into consideration that every parish (Præstegjeld) in Norway is divided into school-districts, that, in consequence, there is not an isolated homestead or hovel in town or country that is not included in one of these districts, and that the population, in the rural school-districts at least, is very sparse, so that the schoolmaster cannot fail to become personally acquainted with every family belonging to it, it will be seen how complete and how important might be the returns asked for by Mr. Sundt; and the result shows that he had not made a false calculation when thus appealing to the philanthropy and public spirit of this class of his countrymen. However, before entering upon this, and in order to enable the reader fully to understand the bearing of the questions put by Mr. Sundt, it may perhaps be as well to preface all further remarks with a sketch of the natural features of Norway, and of the consequent constitution of Norwegian society, which is in many respects peculiar.

Stretching from Cape Lindesnæs, its southernmost point in 58°, through 130 of latitude, till terminating in the North Cape in 71°, Norway has a coast line of very nearly one thousand miles in length, while the average breadth of the country, for nearly twothirds of this extraordinary length, does not exceed seventy-five miles. Over this vast area is spread a population of less than one million and a half of souls, of which about 197,000 are gathered in the towns, while the rest are scattered over an expanse of country, intersected in every part by mountain ranges, which sometimes shelve down abruptly to the shores of the numerous fjords that run high up into the land, sometimes spread out in vast plateaux, whose loftiest peaks, rising to an altitude of from 5,000 to 7,000 feet, are capped with perpetual snows; while the slopes and the table-lands are partly covered with almost impenetrable forests, and the rocky clefts are occupied by foaming mountain torrents, which precipitate themselves in stupendous cascades into the calm waters of the great inland lakes, which here and there are gathered in the bosom of the mountains, and which, together with the fjords or bays (for the rivers or elves are mostly too rapid for navigation) afford most welcome means of intercommunication in tracts where intercourse by land is almost impossible; even the great high roads of the country being carried over elevated mountain-passes, where tempests of wind and rain are frequent at all seasons. Town is separated from town by distances of three hundred or four hundred English miles, over roads such as these, and valley from valley by perpendicular walls of rock, or by gradually ascending ridges scaled by pathways at times all but inaccessible even to the hardy mountaineers, or by vast and dreary tablelands.