I look my last up to the purple hill, I cannot bear these hateful flickering shadows Why will they witch me with their wanton freak? I cannot bear this shifting blinding sunlight Two lovers, straying by a brook, A heart that yearns for nothing more. One drooping form that strays alone, To watch the waters gleam and glide, To fancy that a lost love-lone Is mingling with its murmuring tide; To gaze into the stream and trace, What of the future it could show, Only to see one pale sad face, Reflected in the depths below. -Dublin University Magazine. While the lone sea-birds mourned its failing strength In plaintive notes whose tones were consonant And thus, I thought, thousands of human hearts Of Hope's delusive smile?-thirsting for joys But, while I thus sat musing, lo! there came Those lofty mountains, which to thee appear The soul that trusts in them; and hopes whose fruit Is tenfold sweeter than our heart's desire? J. F. P. AUTUMN. No sound but the beech-nuts falling And the crimson-breasted birdie Pass like the summer flowers. THOUGHTS BY THE SEA-SIDE. I SAT at eve upon the pebbly shore: NOTES ON BOOKS. Dombey & Son. By CHARLES DICKENS. With original illustrations by S. Eytinge, Jr. The Old Curiosity Shop, and Reprinted Pieces. By CHARLES DICKENS. With original illustrations by S. Eytinge, Jr. Little Dorritt. By CHARLES DICKENS. With original illustrations by S. Eytinge, Jr. Boston: Ticknor & Fields. These three volumes have recently been added to Messrs. Ticknor & Fields' "Diamond" edition of the complete works of the great novelist. We naturally assume that our readers are familiar with the contents of these volumes, and therefore it would be superfluous to describe them. It is only necessary to announce their appearance in this new and exceedingly attractive form to secure numerous purchasers. We do not wonder at the exceeding popularity of this edition-it is so neat, compact, and tasteful. The illustrations, by Mr. Eytinge, are spirited and well executed, and are not the least pleasing features of this edition. The Household of Sir Thomas More. By the Author of "MARY POWELL." New edition, with an Appendix. New York: M. W. Dodd, 1867. Jacques Bonneval; or, The Days of the Dragon Miss Manning is among the most charming of living female writers. The first of these volumes was published several years since by Messrs. Scribner & Co., but it has been out of print for some time, and Mr. Dodd has done well to reproduce it in a very neat style, for it is a book of remarkable interest, and a great favorite with the public. Jacques Bonneval is a graphic sketch of the persecutions which the Protestants of France suffered some two centuries ago, written in that autobiographic form which gives such life and reality to the writings of this author. A healthful moral tone pervades all her writings. The Confessions of Gerald Estcourt. By FLORENCE MARRYAT. Boston: Loring, Publisher, 1867. Price 75 cents. This belongs to "Loring's Railway Novels," and will doubtless command a goodly number of readers, for the author is a favorite with multitudes. It is written in the autobiographical form, and takes for its motto, "The gods are just, and of our pleasant vices make instruments to punish us." This we believe is Miss Marryat's fifth novel, and it shows progress in the high art to which she devotes herself. Her style is graphic and nervous, and her power of conception and expression is very considerable. same publisher sends us, in a neat paper cover, Beauty and the Beast, by MISS THACKERAY, daugh ter of the celebrated novelist, which is a charming little work of art, that delightfully uses up a leisure hour. The Reise der osterreichischen Fregatte Novara um die Erde in den Jahren, 1857, 1858, 1859, unter den Befehlen des Commodore B. von WüllerstorfUrbatr. Linguisticher Theil von Dr. Friederich Müller, Professor der Orientalischen Linguistik an der Weiner Universitat. Wien, 1867. 4to, pp. 357. Professor Frederick Müller, of the Imperial University at Vienna, favorably known to oriental scholars by his different publications about Arian languages, had been charged by the Imperial Academy of Science to collect all linguistic materials brought home by Dr. Scherzer from the Novara expedition. Professor Müller had indeed many new details to dispose of, and could thus edit this volume, originally intended to give also an anthropological view of all tribes and nations visited by the Novara. The linguistic materials collected by Dr. Scherzer being, however, so numerous, it was decided to publish them separately from the anthropological researches, and we should think all scholars will applaud this decision. Nevertheless, we must not expect from Müller's work to get a view of the whole linguistic system of our globe, a task from which we stand still far removed. Professor Müller's work intends to acquaint us with some peculiarities of the idioms spoken by peoples visited by the Novara expedition, and divides therefore his book into four principal parts, the African, the Hindoo, the Australian, and the Malayo-Polynesian languages. In respect to Africa, he treats only the idioms spoken out of the Negro lands, that is, the language of the Hottentots, the Bantu idioms, and the Hamitic languages in the north-east of Africa. His division concerning the Hindoo Peninsula contains four chapters, namely, the Dravida, the Sanscrit languages, the Singhalese or Ceylon, and a most remarkable and highly interesting dissertation about the origin, development, and extension of the Hindoo characters, a chapter we must indeed recommend to the attention of any one who looks upon the philosophic element as an integral part of his studies. We know that Professor Müller, who has published very valuable memoirs on Himiaritic Inscriptions in the Proceedings of the Imperial Academy of Science, has for a long time paid much attention to all different systems of writing in general, and intends in due time to edit the result of his researches on the subject, under the title, "History of Writing." The idioms of the Australian continent, together with those in Tasmania, are relatively the poorest part of the book, but it must be confessed that but very little is known of them. The Malayo-Polynesian languages, on the other hand, forming the fourth part of the work, are treated of at great length. We need not say that the Malayan exceeds in interest the idioms of Polynesia by far. We have no wish to anticipate the judgment of leading scholars, but must say that in our opinion the work will occupy a high place in science. The explanatory text is clear, distinct, and devoid of rhetorical flourishes. But to any one who is not a stranger in linguistic geography, it is rich in details, and valuable on account of the strict and critical classification of the languages and their dialects, as far, of course, as is justified by our knowledge of them. VARIETIES. Prince Albert's Love of the Country.—This the Prince constantly expressed. On arriving at Osborne and Balmoral, and on leaving London : "How sweet it smells;" "How delicious the air is! One begins to breathe again!" And how he delighted in the song of the birds, and especially of nightingales, listening for them in the happy, peaceful walks he used to take with the Queen in the woods at Osborne, and whistling to them in their own peculiar long note, which they invariably answer. The Queen cannot hear this note now without fancying she hears him, and without the deepest, saddest emotion. At night he would stand on the balcony at Osborne, in May, listening to the nightingales.-"The Early Days of the Prince Consort." A Royal Sign Manual Warrant of King Charles II., issued in the first year of his reign, is printed in the Builder, which says that it was found in an old office-book belonging to the office of the Lord Chamberlain. Neither Malone nor Payne Collier has noticed it. "In the sign manual," continues our authority, after printing it, "eleven plays are assigned to Sir William Davenant, the patentee of the Duke's Theatre, one by Webster, 'The Duchess of Malfi,' one by Sir John Denham, 'The Sophy;' and nine by Shakespeare. We have here, then, fresh and startling evidence of the preeminent popularity of Shakespeare over other dramatists in the reign of Charles II." The High Price of Books in America. A com. "plete reversal of what was formerly the case in the United States, is at present attracting attention on the other side of the Atlantic, and exciting a good deal of adverse criticism. A New York writer observes:-"American publishers are pur. suing a suicidal policy in charging the enormous prices that now rule; it is almost impossible for persons of moderate means the general reading public-to keep pace with the current literature. Daily, books are issued at a dollar, or a dollar and a half, which do not contain more than double the amount of reading matter of an ordinary newspaper, and which do not require more than four or five times as much paper. It is perfectly natural that English publishers should take advantage of this state of affairs to introduce to this country exceedingly cheap editions of the standard works of British literature, and, as a consequence, the great interest, and the great industry of manufacturing books among ourselves for our own reading public, is on the decline. 'Shakespeare,' complete for fifty cents, which is twice as much as the publishers' price in gold, sells in Nassau street with great rapidity, A volume of plays for twenty-five cents less than it costs to see any one of them, in whatever manner performed, is an item that strikes our attention forcibly; and, although these cheap editions are purchased only by the poorer classes, they will certainly purchase the book in preference to waiting until such time as they can afford the costly product of home manufacturers. This once was the great country for cheap books. Our publishers have entirely forgotten that people do take into consideration the difference between two dollars and one dollar, as well as the difference between one dollar and a half dollar; and the competition which will soon spring up, will be attended by results decidedly beneficial to the American masses."-London Review. It is stated that the works of the late emperor Maximilian are about to be published in Austria, in four volumes, consisting of memoirs, travels, and poetical compositions. It is now denied that M. Louis Blanc will publish Maximilian's correspondence on the Mexican question. A collection of the American poets is about to be translated into German by Adolf Strodtman, who is an admirable translator, and Speithergan, who holds a high rank among the essayists of Germany. It will be a voluminous work, and will contain, among other productions of the American muse, a version of the whole of Mr. Stoddard's "King's Bell." Parsi Literature.-We have just received parts I. and II. of the first section of the Proceedings of the Royal Bavarian Academy for 1867, which contain, among others, an interesting article on the life of Zarathustra, by Professor Friedrich Spiegel (92 pages). Professor Spiegel purports in this account to continue and bring to a close the narrative of the life of Zarathustra, which Professor Windischmann began, not, however, being allowed to complete it, which is the more regrettable since the life of that great reformer is full of interest, and of the utmost importance. The difficulty which will present itself, lies with the scanty material we possess with respect to his early life; and though Greek historians, as Herodotus, Berosus, and Ktesias, who are the first to make mention of him at full length, dwell on the subject, they are not always to be relied upon. This applies especially to Ktesias, whose accounts, though by far the longest of any other, are almost wholly contradicted by historians of a later period, thus rendering his authority rather doubtful. Great help, however, is found in the Avesta itself, the accounts of which reach at least as far as those of the oldest Greek historians, and will be found in full accordance with Furdisa and Hamza. We must refrain from going into details, and refer our readers to the article itself, in which Professor Spiegel, in the different chapters, speaks of Zarathustra's name, age, birthplace, his preparations for his priestship, and his sojourn in Bactria. Smyrna.-The ancient city of Smyrna has always been of great interest to the archaeologist, numismatist, historian, philologist, and merchant, and a full account of it cannot fail to attract their attention. It is therefore intended, at an early date, to lay before the public a carefully prepared work on the subject, in the French language, by Mr. B. F. Slaars, of Smyrna, based upon the Greek original by Constantine Ironomos, a learned NeoHellene, who died at Smyrna, in 1857. The work will be complete in a handsome octavo volume, and will be furnished to subscribers at the price of 68., by Trübner & Co., 60 Paternoster Row, London, the agents for the sale in England. SCIENCE. IN our summary for January, it was recorded that Professor Adams had seen reason to doubt the correctness of the period assigned by Professor Newton to the November meteor-ring, The rigid mathematical scrutiny of the nodal motion due to the actions of Venus, Jupiter, and the Earth-the planets which would be the principal perturbers of the meteoric orbit on Newton's hypothesishas resulted in showing that 354 6 days is not the true period of the orbit. In like manner a period of 377 days-another view suggested by Newton -must be abandoned. Either theory gives to the node an annual motion of about 21", whereas to account for the observed change in the epoch at which the November shower occurs, a motion of 52" 4 is required. It remained to calculate the motion of the node when a period of 33.25 years is selected-that being the only other period, besides those considered, which fairly accounts for the interval observed to separate successive recurrences of brilliant meteoric displays. This period, which gives, (by Kep. ler's law) an elliptic orbit, having a major axis 20-7 times as great as the earth's distance from the sun, presents many difficulties. The formulæ adapted to the nearly circular planetary orbits are here inapplicable. Adams applied the method given by Gauss in his "Determinatio Attractionis," etc. In this method the long ellipse is broken up into small parts, and the perturbing effects of the planets on the motion of a meteor in each part is considered, tho change in the node as the meteors move over each section being separately examined. The calculation is very laborious, though Professor Adams simplified the work to some extent by introducing several ingenious modifications. found that during a period of 33-25 years the longitude of the node is increased 20' by the action of Jupiter, nearly 7' by the action of Saturn, and about 1' by that of Uranus. The other planets produce no appreciable perturbations. Thus the observed increase of longitude is about 28' in 33.25 years, or 50"-2 in one year. We have already stated that the observed motion of the node is 52"-4. The accordance is close enough to leave no He doubt that the true period of the November meteors is 33.25 years. This result very largely enhances the interest with which the phenomenon of periodic November displays must be viewed. On Newton's hypothesis one could understand the recurrence of brilliant showers during two or three successive years; since the earth was assumed to pass for two or three years in succession through parts of the ring not very far separated from each other. But with meteors travelling in an elongated ellipse, extending beyond the orbit of Uranus, the case is far different. The part of the meteoric ring traversed at one passage has travelled away more than 100,000,000 of miles, when the earth next crosses the stream. Therefore to understand the recurrence of star-showers during two successive years oulyand we have well-authenticated instances of showers occurring three or four years successively one must conceive a stream of meteors extending more than 100 miles in length. This being the case it is the more remarkable to find the important November shooting-star displays, which have continued for at least 600 years, associated with a telescopic comet which has escaped discovery until quite recently. Yet it results from Adams' discovery that the orbit of the November shooting-stars accords in the most remarkable manner with the orbit of Comet I, 1866 -a minute tailless comet discovered in January of that year by M. Tempel. Professor Adams' elements of the November meteors are here compared with Dr. Oppolzer's elements of Tempel's lion from node.... 651 9 2 Direction of motion Retrograde. Retrograde. This evidence following on Schiaparelli's proof of the close accordance between the orbits of the August meteors and that of Comet II, 1862, seems all but decisive. The association of comets-and especially of comets of eccentric orbit-with shooting-stars, is certainly one of the last that would have occurred even to the most speculative astronomer, yet it is now established on a foundation that will not be readily shaken.-Pop. Science Review. The Proportion of Acid and Sugar in ripening Fruit.-At the meeting of the Chemical Society, held on the 16th of May, an interesting paper by Dr. A. Dupré, upon the above important subject was read by the secretary. It has been stated by Continental chemists that, as the fruit ripens the acid (malic and tartaric) becomes converted into sugar. This is the point to which Dr. Dupré especially devoted his inquiries, and which he believes he has cleared up by showing that the Continental view is inaccurate. Dr. Dupré collected and experimented upon a hundred berries of Riesling grapes gathered at intervals of a month, commencing with September last, and the amounts of tartaric acid, free and combined, and also of sugar, were determined in the separated juices. The proportion of sugar increased in order of time from 2-98 to 12:10, and even to 16-20 per cent. in the juice of the perfectly ripe fruit; whilst the entire berries showed but a slight diminution or no appreciable change in the total amount of acid present. The saccharine matter could not, therefore, have been directly derived from the organic acid or its salts contained in the grape; but the author thinks it possible that the presence of such acid effects a change resulting in the production of sugar similar to that known to occur in the conversion of starch into sugar by the action of sulphuric and other acids. Further experiments, even more decisive in their character, were made upon Gutedel and Muscatel grapes, gathered at the same time and from the same vine, but in various stages of ripeness. In some of the unripe berries there was absolutely no sugar, whilst in others nearly ripe 8.87 per cent. of sugar was found; but the amount of free acid estimated in a hundred grapes was almost the same in three samples of Gutedel, and actually increased with the ripening of the Muscatel.-Pop. Science Review. The Origin of Petroleum.-The last number of the Canadian Naturalist contains an abstract of a recent paper by Dr. Hunt, in which the author alluded to the subject of the origin of petroleum. Dr. Hunt regards the process by which animal and vegetable hydrocarbonaceous tissues have been converted into solid or liquid bitumen, as a decay or fermentation, under conditions in which atmos pheric oxygenation is excluded, so that the maximum amount of hydrogen is retained by the car. bon; and as representing one extreme of a process, the other of which is found in anthracite and mineral charcoal, the two conditions being antagonistic, and excluding each other, and the production of petroleum implying, when complete, the disappearance of the organic tissue. Hence pyroschists, the so-called bituminous shales, and coal, are not found together with petroleum, but in separate formations, and it is to be borne in mind that the epithet bituminous applied to the former bodies is a mistaken one, since they seldom or never contain any bitumen, although, like all fixed organic bodies, they yield hydrocarbons by destructive distillation. The fallacy of the notion which ascribes petroleum to the action of subterranean heat on coal was expressed by Dr. Hunt, who stated that the oil of the Trenton limestone occurs below the horizon of any pyroschists or other hydrocarbonaceous rocks. The Carboniferous Coal of Russia.-A monograph on the coal of Russia has been published at St. Petersburg. It is by Lieut.-General de Helmerson, and, among other facts, it gives the distribution of the coal of the Carboniferous age. This distribution is as follows: 1. On the eastern and western slopes of the Oural mountains. 2. In the governments of Novgorod, Iver, Moscow, Kalouga, Toula, and Riazan. The coal occupies a large elliptical basin, six hundred versts in length and four hundred in width, in the centre of which the town of Moscow is situated. 3. In Samara, a little peninsula formed by the river Volga, near Liavrpool; and 4. In the government of Ekaterinoslav, where the coal-beds form a chain of low mountains called the Douetz, and are associated with abundant deposits of iron, which latter have not at present been worked for economic purposes; though they would well repay the cost. |