LITERARY NOTICES. 



371 



progressive teachers and advanced edu- 

 cational reformers that the government 

 shall follow out the policy to its logical 

 and consistent consequences, and assume 

 the complete educational control of the 

 young. From the time of weaning to 

 graduation, the state (that is, the politi- 

 cians who at any time happen to be in 

 office) will hire the teachers and pay 

 them, prescribe the studies, furnish the 

 books, build the schoolhouses, and ad- 

 minister the discipline by which charac- 

 ter is to be formed. This is an invasion 

 of the domestic sphere, and an abroga- 

 tion of those domestic functions by 

 which the family was called into exist- 

 ence and has ever been maintained. Our 

 school system is applauded on account 

 of its imposing parade of statistics, its 

 profuse expense, and the millions of 

 children that the state has got charge 

 of; but, when its indirect influences are 

 taken into account, it may be found 

 that, like most other human contriv- 

 ances, it entails evil as well as good. 

 Which shall preponderate, it remains 

 for time to tell. 



LITERARY NOTICES. 



New Lands within the Arctic Circle. 

 Xarrative of the Discoveries of the 

 Austrian Ship Tegetthoff, in the Years 

 1872-1874. By Julius Payer, one of 

 the Commanders of the Expedition. 

 With Maps and numerous Illustrations, 

 from Drawings by the Author. Pp. 

 399. New York : " D. Appleton & Co. 

 Price, $3.50. 



The honor will be unhesitatingly accord- 

 ed to Lieutenant Payer of having written 

 the most deeply-interesting volume that has 

 yet appeared on arctic adventure and ex- 

 ploration. We have rarely been so fasci- 

 nated by a book of any kind, upon any 

 subject. The experiences of the party were 

 tragic and of thrilling intensity, and the 

 narrative of them is in a remarkable degree 

 vivid and graphic ; so that, with the numer- 

 ous and admirable illustrations, all drawn 

 on the spot from Nature, we are made deep- 

 ly to participate in the feelings of the he- 

 roic group of adventurers who were so long 



locked up amid the terrible desolations of 

 Nature in the arctic region. 



In a preliminary notice by the transla- 

 tor, the leading features of the expedition 

 are thus summarized : 



"The interest which will be excited afresh 

 in arctic discovery and adventure will doubtless 

 sharpen the interest in the volumes which re- 

 cord the fortunes of the Austrian Expedition; 

 and we venture to affirm without undue par- 

 tialitythat, though the history of arctic ex- 

 ploration and discovery abounds in records of 

 lofty resolution and patient endurance of almost 

 incredible hardships, the narrativeof the voyage 

 of the Tegetthoff will be found to fall below none 

 in these high qualities. The mere destiny of 

 the vessel itself equals, if it does not exceed, in 

 the element of the marvelous, anything which 

 has before been recorded. Surely this is borne 

 out when we think that, on August 20, 1873, the 

 Tegetthoff was beset off the coast of Nova Zem- 

 bla; remained a fast prisoner in the ice, spite of 

 all the efforts made by her officers and crew to 

 release her; drifted, during the autumn and the 

 terrible winter of 18T2 amid profound darkness 

 whither they knew not; drifted to the :iOth of 

 August in the following year (1873), till, as if by 

 magic, the mists lifted, and, lo I a high, bold, 

 rocky coast latitude 79 43' north, longitude 59 

 33' loomed out of the fog, straight ahead of 

 them. Close to this land which could be visit- 

 ed with safety only twice, on the 1st and 3d of 

 November of that year the ship remained still 

 fast bound in the ice. Not till the winter of 

 18(3 had passed, and the sun had again returned, 

 was it possible to explore the land which had 

 been so marvelously discovered. On the 10th 

 of March, 1874, the sledge-journeys commenced, 

 and terminated May 3d, after 450 miles had been 

 passed over, and the surveys and explorations 

 completed, which enabled Payer to write the 

 description of Kaiser Franz-Josef Land (pp. 

 258-270), which shows that other still undefined 

 lands, with an archipelago of islands, have been 

 added to the geography of the earth." 



For more than two years the party were 

 prisoners in their ship, of which they had 

 lost all control, and, after passing two hor- 

 rible winters in this distressing helplessness, 

 it became clear that they must quit the 

 ship or perish, and, in fact, there was small 

 hope of saving their lives even by leaving 

 it. Three boats were loaded with neces- 

 saries, and thpy started, May 20th, to dig 

 their way through the deep snows and amid 

 the mountainous ice-hummocks to open wa- 

 ter. We extract from Payer's diary : 



" The first day's work for twenty-three men, 

 harnessed to boat or sledge, was the advance of 

 one mile; and even this rate of progress, small 

 as it was, was not constant. Many days it did 

 not amount to half a mile. The sledges sank 



