678 MONTHLY REVJEW OF LITERATURE AND ART. 



Jamieson, blush thyself into deeper oblivion ! Mr. Thorns is speak- 

 ing of the word " airy." 



" An airy place is, however, equivalent to a haunted place : therefore 

 Sir Walter Scott explains 



"And eiry was the way/' 



in the ballad of " Tamlane," as producing superstitious dread in fact, 

 shadowy ! ! !" 



Excellent Mr. Thorns ! his " in fact" is perfectly conclusive, and 

 the wondering people are now aware, for the first time, that the ex- 

 pressive Scotch word "eiry'' which every one thought meant a 

 sense of frightful loneliness is nothing more than a corruption of 

 "airy!" But the concluding part of the note is best of all. "Is 

 not 'fairy* ' airy' by the modification of the first letter?" quoth our 

 editor. True, Mister Thorns; and is not " witch" " itch" by the same 

 infallible rule, and 'blather" 'lather?" Ohe ! jam satis. 



ESSAYS ON ELECTRICITY AND MAGNETISM. BY PETER CUN- 

 NINGHAM, SURGEON, R. N. LONDON, COCHRANE AND M'CRONE. 



This is the work of a gentleman, whose profession (a surgeon in 

 the Royal Navy) has afforded him an opportunity to observe much 

 that is interesting, and to form opinions, which, if not just, are at 

 least original and striking No man can set himself up as a proper 

 judge of the subject, unless he has been in the self-same spots that 

 the author has; he is not fit to criticize and impugn inferences that 

 observation has not shewn either correct or otherwise ; the wild 

 country of Peru has been little travelled, and Mr. Cunningham is at 

 present alone in his Peruvian deductions. 



Mr. Cunningham's title-page bears the following, " On the motions 

 of the earth and heavenly bodies, as explained by electro-magnetic 

 attraction and repulsion ; and on the conception, growth and decay 

 of man, and cause and treatment of his diseases as referable to Gal- 

 vanic action," &c. We understand not electricity, so we can neither 

 condemn Mr. Cunningham's work nor praise it, and 'we have never 

 sailed o'er the blue expanse 



" To Susquehana's side." 



All we can do is to recommend the many who are interested in the 

 subject of electricity and its influences, to read and judge for them- 

 selves. 



WE are obliged to defer the notice of many new books till our 

 next number, among which is a very talented and amusing work 

 by Miss J. Hill, called " Brother Tragedians," and two entertaining 

 volumes by Mr. Inglis on the " Channel Islands." 



