LITERARY NOTICES. 



755 



What is Music ? By Isaac L. Rice, 

 Author of " Analysis and Practice of the 

 Scales." 94 pp. Price 50 cents. New- 

 York : D. Appleton & Co. 



This is an ingenious essay by a musical 

 professor who not only practises the art, 

 but speculates freely and boldly upon its 

 nature and origin. The theories of music 

 which have been hitherto proposed do not 

 satisfy him, and he is inclined to consider 

 that the ancients were nearer right in their 

 views of the subject than the moderns. 

 The contrast between the ancient and the 

 modern stand-points he takes to be, that 

 the ancients looked upon music cosmically, 

 or considered it a part of Nature, while the 

 moderns are more disposed to regard it as 

 something subjective. The first half of the 

 work is devoted to an exposition of the 

 various theories that have been proposed 

 Chinese music, Hindoo music, Egyptian, 

 Grecian, Arabic, and Persian theories, and 

 its scholastic interpretations in the middle 

 ages. The doctrines of Euler, Helmholtz, 

 and Herbert Spencer, are reviewed, and with 

 the latter author Mr. Rice takes issue on 

 many of his positions. The latter half of 

 the work is devoted to a presentation of his 

 own views of the subject. His idea seems 

 to be that, as beauty of form or color is a 

 principle of Nature, displayed in space, so 

 music is a principle of beauty in Nature 

 displayed in time. The key to the author's 

 position is given in the following passage : 



" Now, what is music? The leautifier of 

 time, is the simple and categorical answer 

 an answer, too, from which further answers 

 to all questions springing from the original 

 question may be deduced ; an answer that 

 serves as the corner-stone of the fundamen- 

 tal theory of music itself. It is to adorn 

 the ever-moving space of existence that 

 music was generated and the germs of its 

 development were placed within it. In the 

 space of rest, iu visible Nature, Nature it- 

 self lias undertaken the task of beautifying. 

 And there she has lavished beauties untold 

 and unnumbered. Beauty reigns on the 

 mountain and in the valley, on the hill and 

 in the dale. It is present in the gentle grove 

 as well as in the mighty forest. It is in the 

 little brook and in the magnificent ocean. It 

 is in man and woman, in the birds, in the 

 plants anywhere, everywhere, it meets our 

 eyes, if we will but see. There are beauties 

 of all kinds and degrees, from the sublime 



to the graceful, from the magnificent to the 

 picturesque. All this has Nature done for 

 space and to do something similar for time 

 is the grand and holy object of music. The 

 materials of which music is composed ex- 

 ist only in Time, and here we have the ex- 

 planation of many of the characteristics of 

 music. Time is motion, is life, yet the sure 

 bringer of change, of death. As it is motion, 

 its influence upon us is emotional, agitating ; 

 as it constantly tells us of change and death, 

 it awakens the feelings of melancholy within 

 us. Music, as it beautifies the passing mo- 

 ments, yet tells us that they are passing, 

 and consequently it is so prone to cause 

 sadness." 



Without indorsing Mr. Rice's views, 

 which seem to us rather fanciful, his little 

 work will be found suggestive, and contains 

 withal much curious information that will 

 interest the lovers of musical literature. 



Chemical Examination of Alcoholic Li- 

 quors. A Manual of the Constituents 

 of the Distilled Spirits and Fermented 

 Liquors of Commerce, and their Quali- 

 tative and Quantitative Determination. 

 By Albert Prescott, Professor of Or- 

 ganic and Applied Chemistry in the 

 University of Michigan. 108 pp. Price 

 $1.50. New York: D. Van Nostrand. 



This volume concentrates the rays of 

 the latest chemical science upon the subject 

 of spirituous liquors. The author has noth- 

 ing to say of the physiological, pathologi- 

 cal, or moral effects of alcoholic beverages, 

 but occupies himself simply with the ques- 

 tion of their composition, production, con- 

 stituents, and imitations ; and his book be- 

 ing written under no bias, but simply to 

 state the scientific facts, may be taken as 

 entirely trustworthy. Its especial value 

 will be to chemists who may be required 

 to investigate the constituents and the pu- 

 rity of alcoholic liquors. 



Elements of Magnetism and Electricity. 



By John Angell. 172 pp. Price 75 



cents. New York : Putnams. 



Though the author's purpose is to fit 



students to " pass in the first class in the 



elementary stage of the government science 



examinations" for aspirants to position in 



the civil service of Great Britain, the work 



has a value of its own, as being a succinct 



statement of the sciences of magnetism and 



electricitv. 



