MM I. VI U.K. IIF.KMAN. 



MKTALLCKi.Y. 



506 



-hip. Inii this is doubtful, as he could not 



usincrts details or routine work <>f any son. 



His (mil her Allan was ti New York lawyer, and, 



until his ilcaih in 187U. managed Melville't 



- with ability, purticiilarly the literary ac- 

 counts. It \v:is lute in the \ear IM.'i when 

 Melville completed the manuscript of "Type.'." 

 At nearly the sum- time his Im.ther, (Janse\. ,.,rt 

 Melville, sailed for Kngland as .secretary of lega- 

 tion ti. MiniMer McLane. taking the manu-< -ript 

 with him. It was offered to John Murray, who 

 at once accepted it, buying the book outright for 

 Kngland for a moderate sum. The same plan 

 \\a- followed a year later with " <)nio>." The 

 house ct Murray wished to include both vol- 

 umes in their "Colonial and Home Library," 

 so the title " Typee " was omitted, and that book 

 was first published iu Kngland as .Melville's 

 Marquesas Islands." In the United States 

 Wiley \ I'utnam, whose London agent had con- 

 tracted for the work, brought it out simultane- 

 ously with the Knglish edition in the spring of 

 |s|ii. Moth "Typee "and "Omoo " (184?) were 

 immediate successes, and Melville gained an in- 

 ternational reputation at an earlier date than 

 .lames Russell Lowell, who- was l>orn in the same 

 year. Harper & Brothers issued "Omoo" in the 

 United States, and "Typee" was plnced with 

 them two years later. This firm published nil 

 of Melville's works except four, not including 

 two privately printed booklets. "Mardi, and a 

 Vo\age Thither" (IS-H)j was severely criticised in 

 some quarters for certain "metaphysical nnd 

 morbid meditations." " Red burn, his First Voy- 

 age" (1849), more favorably received, was partly 

 based on Melville's own experiences on his trip 

 to Liverpool. "White Jacket, or the World in 

 a Man-of-War" (1850) of course repented much 

 of his life on board the frigate " United States." 

 " Typee " and " White Jacket " are the most con- 

 sistent of his books. With "Moby Dick, or 

 the White Whale'' (1851) he reached the top- 

 most notch of his fame. It is perhaps the most 

 graphic and truthful description of whaling 

 life ever written, although it contains some of 

 the objectionable characteristics of " Mardi." 

 " Pierre, or the Ambiguities " (1852) was the 

 signal for an outburst of hostile criticism. In 

 the year following its publication the grent 

 Harper fire occurred, destroying the whole stock 

 of Melville's books although the plates were 

 preserved and keeping them out of print at 

 a most unfortunate time. Thereafter Melville's 

 star waned. "Israel Potter" (1855) and "The 

 Confidence Man (1857) detracted from his repu- 

 tation; and "The Piazza Tales" (1856), while 

 containing the powerful stories of "BenitoCe- 

 reno " and " The Bell-Tower," was published 

 in an unattractive form. "Battle-Pieces, and 

 Aspects of the War" (1866) embraces some of 

 the best lyrics inspired by the civil war. nota- 

 bly "Sheridan at Cedar" Creek." "Oarel, a 

 Poem nnd Pilgrimage to the Holy Land'' (1876), 

 is written in the author's most mystical style. 

 At the beginning of his physical decline he 

 wp.tr and privately circulated a little story en- 

 titled "John Marf, nnd other Sailors" (1888), 

 to which a few poems were appended. This 

 volume was dedicated to W. Clark Russell, a 

 genial correspondence with whom cheered Mel- 

 ville's last years. Mr. Russell considers Melville 



Ihe first of "the poets of the deep," using the 

 word "poet" in it* general hens*. A few 

 month* before hi- death Melville collected Ju, 

 remaining shorter pot-inn in H similar book, 

 " Timoleon, etc. " (IHJ)l), which WHS dedicated to 

 " My Countryman, Klilm Vedder." Tin- caumt 

 of the decline in popularity of Melville's writ- 

 ing- may be found chiefly in his own career. 

 Had he confined himself closely to an amplifica- 

 tion of the interesting materials first diM overt d 

 by himself, after the manner of a later Cali- 

 fornian romancer, he might have gone on in- 

 definitely producing works of more than com- 

 mon respectability. But he was led by his incli- 

 nation for philosophical speculation to commit 

 grave literary errors, which dc-t roved his popu- 

 larity with the reading public. Perhaps, also, 

 having once recited the story of his adventures 

 in a series of romances, he Telt his inability to 

 create new characters and situation;- in the same 

 domain; and his subsequent efforts might be 

 considered as vain seeking after new successes. 

 With lessening fame his desire for retirement 

 increased, until a generation of writers for the 

 press grew up to whom the announcement of his 

 death was the revelation of his previous exist- 

 ence. 



METALLURGY. The relation between the- 

 ory and practice in metallurgy, with special ref- 

 erence to the indebtedness of the practical man 

 to the scientific investigator, formed the subject 

 of the address of Prof. W. C. Roberts-Austen, as 

 president of the chemical section of the British 

 Association. Practical metallurgists, the author 

 said, are too apt to think that improvements in 

 their processes are mainly the result of their 

 own experience and observation unaided by 

 science. On the other hand, those who teacii 

 metallurgy often forget that for the present 

 they have not only to give instruction in the 

 method of conducting technical operations, but 

 have truly to educate, by teaching the chemistry 

 of high temperatures, at which ordinary reactions 

 are modified or even reversed, while they have 

 further to deal with many phenomena of much 

 importance which can not as yet l>e traced to 

 the action of elements in fixed atomic propor- 

 tions, or in which the direct influence of the 

 atom is only beginning to be recognized. Met- 

 allurgical chemistry is, in fact, a special branch 

 of chemical science" which does not come within 

 the ordinary sphere of the academic teaching of 

 chemistry. It is often urged that metallurgical 

 practice depends upon the application of chemi- 

 cal principles which are well taught in even- 

 large center of instruction, but a long series of 

 cheinicnl reactions exist which are of vital im- 

 portance to the metallurgist, though they are not 

 set forth in any manual of chemistry or dealt 

 with in courses of purely chemical literature. 

 The author irave particular attention to the in- 

 fluence of allot ropism on the qualities of metal, 

 and showed that interest was centered to a large 

 extent on the question whether metals can, like 

 many metalloids, pass under the application oi 

 heat or mechanical stress from a normal state to 

 an allotropic one, or whether metals may even 

 exist in numcrotisallotropiestates. Prof. Spring, 

 of Liege, has given evidence that in cooling lead- 

 tin alloys |K>lymemation may take place after 

 the alloys have solidified, and it. seems to l> ad- 



