MONTHLY REVIEW OF LITERATURE. 517 



of his narrative style adds to the fascination ; and we only regret that his 

 nationalism or rather his Americo-mania renders it impossible to give to those 

 portions of his book our unqualified praise. The visit to Paris was in the 

 year 1832 in the times of La Fayette and the cholera. The author is con- 

 stantly with La Fayette and views through his medium the politics of the 

 day. The insincerity of the " patriot king" is well described, and the account 

 of the French court altogether may be read by courtiers and diplomatists in 

 general with much advantage. The merely political details are somewhat 

 passe and have been much better given. His second volume is devoted to an 

 excursion up the Rhine from Cologne into Switzerland ; and with respect to 

 this portion of the work we shall not add a single word to our former obser- 

 vations. 



Mr. Cooper's proper department is FICTION. The author of Waverley 

 attempted history and failed. Let not the living romancist lose his well- 

 earned laurels in a vain attempt to enlarge the sphere of his celebrity. 



ABSTRACT AND NATURAL SCIENCE. 

 Silliman's Quarterly Journal of Science and Arts. U.S. July, ^8 . 



THE present number contains " Observations on Halley's Comet," by Elias 

 Soomis, of Yale College, .and also on the " Variation of the Magnetic Needle," 

 by the same gentleman a valuable geological paper, by Captain Bonnycastle, 

 on " The Transition-Rocks of the Cataragui" a very ingenious article on 

 " Scientific Definitions," by the Rev. D. Wilkie, of Quebec (with some of 

 whose conclusions we still beg to differ) and another by J. D. Dana, on the 

 "Formation of Twin Crystals." 



Those papers which are most interesting to the well-informed general reader 

 are 1. A communication by G. E. Day, of the New York Deaf and Dumb 

 Institution, on " The late efforts in France and other parts of Europe to re- 

 store the Sourd-meiats." 2. Proffessor Simmons's " Notice of a Scientific Ex^ 

 pedition to Nova Scotia." 



It is a matter of regret that we cannot further notice this excellent transat- 

 lantic Journal, which ought immediately to command, as we believe it does, 

 the notice of many of our scientific countrymen. 



White's Natural History of Selborne ; to which are added the Anti- 

 quities of Selborne. Edited by E. BLYTHE. 8vo. Orr and Smith. 



MR. WHITE, the accomplished naturalist of Selborne, lived at a time when 

 Zoology was not systematically studied as it is in our day. He had little aid 

 from his predecessors, and in defect of that aid, instead of forming vain theo- 

 ries from short and imperfect observation, he was willing to devote his whole 

 life to the watchful examination of the functions and habits of animals, and 

 was content with transmitting in familiar letters the results of his inquiries to 

 his brethren in natural science. We know scarcely any such instance of an 

 investigator in natural science accomplished and perfectly competent, yet so 

 modest and indifferent to self-adulation as Mr. White ; and certainly no mere 

 observer of animals has transmitted to posterity such valuable information on 

 their functions and peculiar habits. 



Mr. White's book has been often edited before. The present," however, is 

 an entirely new edition. To say that the type is good, and that the illustra- 

 tions, more than two hundred in number, are unexceptionable, is but insuf- 

 ficient praise. The notes, which are entirely new, form a very important fea- 

 ture in this elegant and cheap volume. The editor, we are certain, and this 

 is but small praise, is not only a man of taste, but also of considerable scien- 

 tific attainments. This edition is well fitted for the library. 



M.M. No. 5. 2O 



