80 MONTHLY REVIEW OF LITERATURE. 



"The grant of the charter of Henry VIII. contemplated the existence of only 

 one species of examining board in England, and to this simple and excellent 

 principle legislation will perhaps act wisely to return, expanding it merely to 

 suit the altered circumstances of the times, and carefully guarding it against 

 abuse. At present, the surgeons practise physic, which was not the case at 

 that early period, therefore a single examining board, were it hereafter con- 

 stituted, should consist of two classes* of professional persons Surgeons and 

 Doctors of Medicine ; but, as neither can judiciously perform their profes- 

 sional duties without a knowledge of pharmacy quite equal to that possessed 

 by the medical practitioners known under a different name, it would be irra- 

 tional to speak of a third class as being necessary to the completeness of the 

 General Board," 



Mr. Kennedy then proceeds to develope a plan for an effective reform of the 

 abuses which exist in the medical profession. But of the merits of this plan, 

 not being professional men, we are incompetent to speak. 



A Dissertation, Practical and Conciliatory. By DANIEL CHAPMAN. 



Hamilton, Adams, and Co. 



THIS work is divided into three parts. The first embraces "Phi losphy and 

 Theology ;" the second, " Politics and Religion ;" and the third, " Private 

 Opinion and Ecclesiastical Communion." The author is ev : dently a deep 

 thinker, and possesses a vigorous mind. He is, moreover, a man of decided 

 and enlightened piety. But we are afraid his subjects, and his mode of illus- 

 trating them, are too abstruse for his book obtaining an extensive circulation. 

 His positions are generally sound : occasionally we meet with one of a de- 

 bateable nature. We shall be glad to hear that Mr. Chapman's success in 

 this instance is sufficiently great to encourage him to proceed with the future 

 volumes he has in contemplation on similar topics. If so, we would hint that 

 his style, which is in the main correct and vigorous, would be more popular 

 if less elaborate. His arguments also would, in many instances, be still more 

 effective if they were not amply so illustrated. 



Tales of Fashion and Reality. By CAROLINE FREDERICA BEAU- 

 CLERK, and HENRIETTA MARY BEAUCLERK. Smith, Elder, & Co. 



THERE is much that is silly, some things which are absurd, with a good 

 deal that is clever in this volume. We have seldom seen a work of more un- 

 equal merit. There is a mixture of poetry and prose in the contents. The 

 prose is the best ; the poetry is poor in the extreme. The merit of the work 

 chiefly consists in the insight it gives into the foibles and follies of the fashion- 

 able world. The volume professes to be only the first of a series. We doubt 

 much whether its success will be such as to induce the fair authoresses to con- 

 tinue the series. 



The Arboretum Britannicum. Parts XX. and XXI. 



WE have already, on several occasions, called attention to this periodical. We 

 have only to say that it continues its course with all that apparent prosperity 

 to which it is so justly entitled. 



Library of Anecdote. Book of Table Talk. Vol. I. fcp. 8vo. pp. 

 319. Knight. 



NOTHING can be more pleasing to a person much of whose time is engaged 

 in perusing and forming an opinion of the merits of contemporaneous pub- 

 lications than the appearance of a work calculated to smooth the brow of dull 

 care, and excite mirth, even the hackneyed train of feelings so sadly incident to 

 a professional reviewer. Such a work, we are happy to say, is the present, 



