GEORGE PERKINS MARSH. 455 



and soil best fitted to the animal's usefulness. lie shows that our 

 Trans-Mississippian regions, and our Southwestern territories, in- 

 cluding the southern passes of the Rocky Mountains, possess all the 

 requisite conditions. In the closing chapter he traces the use of 

 the camel for military purposes from the earliest historical times to 

 the present, and sets forth the expediency of emjiloying the animal 

 in these services iu the United States, especially against our hostile 

 Indian tribes. 



Mr. Marsh had the satisfaction of seeing the introduction of the 

 camel tried by our goverimient with so much wisdom and skill as to 

 elicit his warmest praise of all those who had a share in the experi- 

 ment. He forgets, however, to claim any praise for his own distin- 

 guished services in the matter. 



The book has an index, which places its valuable contents readily 

 at the reader's command. 



While the books that have just been analyzed may l)e called scien- 

 tific, those of the second group belong to the provinces of philol- 

 ogy, literary history, and archaeology. The largest of Mr. Marsh's 

 works in these departments are the courses of lectures delivered by 

 him, in New York and Boston respectively, upon the English Lan- 

 guage. The first of these was given at Columbia College in the years 

 1858-59, and published under the name of " Lectures on the English 

 Language " ; the second was delivered at the Lowell Institute in 

 1860-Gl, and issued with the title of "Origin and History of the Eng- 

 lish Language, and of the early Literature it embodies." Another of 

 his philological woi-ks is the admirable enlarged edition of Wedgwood's 

 Dictionary of English Etymology. 



Mr. Marsh's attainments in the Scandinavian languages and lore 

 were early recognized and honored by the learned societies of North- 

 ern Europe. One fruit of liis studies in that direction was a Grammar 

 of the Icelandic Language, compiled from the several works of Rask, 

 the Danish philologist. 



The antiquarian researches of IMr. Marsh are represented by the 

 careful study that he made of the position and influence of the 

 Goths in history, even tracing the Gothic element in the Puritans 

 of New England. 



The two groups into which we have ventured to divide Mr. Marsh's 

 writings combine their forces to prove how vast and exact was his 

 learning, and how thorough and judicious were his methods of intellect- 

 ual work. But it is the first group that specially exliibits his individual 

 chai'acteristics. There we see him pursuing a wholly new inquiry, 



