434 



LITERATURE AND LITERARY PROGRESS 



1872. 



books of a higher character are thus sold. The 

 innovation is regarded with dislike and dis- 

 trust by those whose interests are identified 

 exclusively with " the old line," but it is not 

 easy to see how it can be injurious to any real 

 and legitimate business. The more really good 

 books are sent into the remoter channels of 

 circulation, the greater will be the demand for 

 other good books, to the profit of those by 

 whom they are published. 



The whole number of copyrights entered in 

 the office of the Librarian of Congress during 

 1872 was: of books, 3,175; of pamphlets, 2,728; 

 of musical productions, 2,312 ; of dramatic 

 pieces, 18 ; of maps and charts, 221 ; and of 

 photographs, engravings, chromos, and prints, 

 2,621. It is much to be desired that, from time 

 to time, lists of copyrighted titles should be 

 published, to give opportunity for comparing 

 the demand and supply of the different depart- 

 ments of literature. The report we attempt 

 here is neither exhaustive nor minutely ana- 

 lytic. Many of the works recorded have been, 

 like bills on their introduction into a legisla- 

 tive body, "read by their titles" only, and a 

 brief acquaintance with books is enough to 

 teach one that, between the promise of the title 

 and the performance of the contents, there is 

 sometimes a marked disparity. In such cases, 

 the only ill-consequence likely to happen is 

 the entry of a title under the wrong head. 



SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY. The works in 

 these departments worthy of mention are not 

 numerous, but are enough to show that our 

 scholars and -thinkers recognize the tendency 

 to the implication of physical with metaphysi- 

 cal and moral science. A work that has at- 

 tracted attention from the union in the author's 

 mind of a hearty interest and large attain- 

 ments in zoology, with a firm hold upon the 

 principles of psychology, as discoverable in the 

 consciousness, and of a proper metaphysical 

 and spiritual philosophy, is "Instinct in Men 

 and Animals," by Paul A. Chadbourne, LL. D., 

 (now) President of Williams College. Dr. 

 Chadbourne's statements are sometimes want- 

 ing in scientific precision, but. in the main, his 

 discussion is marked by freshness and force of 

 thought. The venerable Dr. Martin Payne, 

 in his " Physiology of the Soul, and Instinct, 

 as distinguished from Materialism," brings the 

 resources gathered in a long and successful 

 life, during which his mind has been busy with 

 the highest problems of medical science and 

 physiology, to refute materialistic theories. 

 In connection with this, he reviews the theo- 

 ries of geology now generally accepted, and, 

 with a courage not often found, argues for the 

 literal interpretation of the narratives, in Gene- 

 sis, of the Creation and the Deluge, and their 

 consistency with all that is known to be true 

 of the structure of the earth's crust. At pres- 

 ent, he Avill find scarcely more among the 

 clergy than among the scientists to concur in 

 these views. Prof. II. N. Day, of Yale Col- 

 lege, has added to his other meritorious philo- 



sophical treatises "The Science of ^Esthetics; 

 or, the Nature, Kinds, Laws, and Uses, of 

 Beauty," in form a school text-book ; in sub- 

 stance, an original investigation into a subject 

 of research that is far from being hackixeyed. 

 Prof. James D. Dana, LL. D., of the same in- 

 stitution, by his " Corals and Coral Islands," 

 has laid the public under new obligations to 

 himself; and the "Oriental and Linguistic 

 Studies "^ of Prof. W. D. Whitney are an honor 

 to American scholarship and critical culture. 

 From the youngest of our seats of learning, 

 Cornell University, issues a volume of " Lec- 

 tures on the Psychology of Thought and Ac- 

 tion, Comparative and Human," and "An In- 

 troduction to Metaphysics," by W. D. Wilson, 

 M. D. The so-called " Science of Religion " is 

 yet in its speculative infancy, but the essays 

 of Prof. Whitney, just mentioned, are proofs 

 of a strong bent of speculation to that region 

 of thought, which is still further indicated by 

 "Oriental Religions, and their Relations to 

 Universal Religion," by Samuel Johnson. 

 The author reverses the tendency commonly 

 shown to look on pagan religions as at an in- 

 finite remove downward from the Christian 

 faith ; he is so determined to be impartial that 

 he seems to lean away from Christianity. To 

 these we add the following titles : 



Appendix to the Fifth Edition of Dana's Miner- 

 alogy. By George J. Brush. 



How the World was Peopled. Ethnological Lec- 

 tures. By Eev. Edward Fontaine. 



The Sun, and the Phenomena of its Atmosphere. 

 By Prof. C. A. Young, Ph. D. 



"About Spiritualism. By E. F. Burr, D. D. 



Lectures on Mineralogy, delivered at the School 

 of Mines, Columbia College. "With 34 Lithographic 

 Plates. By Prof. T. Eggleston. 



The Physiology of Man; designed to represent 

 the Existing State of Physiological Science, as ap- 

 plied to the Functions of the Human Body. By 

 Austin Flint, M. D. 



The Child, its Nature and Eelations; an Elucida- 

 tion of Froebel's System of Education. 



On Certain New'Phenpmena in Chenmtry. Bead 

 before the Ametican Institute. By Verplanck Colvin. 



Non-Existence of Projectile Forces in Nature. A 

 Paper read before the American Institute. By JoLn 

 A. Parker. 



A Paper on Botany, read as a Report before the 

 American Institute. By Charles H. Peck, A. M. 



The Evolution of Life. By Henry C. Chapman, 

 M.D. 



Geometrical Analysis. By Benjamin Hallowell. 



The Problem of Life and Immortality. By Loring 

 Moody. 



Spectrum Analysis explained. By Schellen, Ros- 

 coe, Hugeins, Lockyer, Young, and others. 



On Nebulae, Comets, and Meteoric Showers. By 

 Schellen and others ; and Corals and Coral Islands. 

 By J. D. Dana (in " Half-Hour Kecreations in Nat- 

 ural Science "). 



The Unity of Law as exhibited in the Relations of 

 Physical, Social, Mental, and Moral Science. By H. 

 C. Carey. 



Myths and Myth-makers. Old Tales and Super- 

 stitions interpreted by Comparative Mythology. By 

 John Fiske. 



Chemistry, Inorganic and Organic. With Experi- 

 ments and a Comparison of Equivalent and Molecu- 

 lar Formulae ; 276 Engravings on Wood. By C. L. 

 Bloxam. 



