420 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



" Marbles of Great Britain and Ireland, 

 Germany, etc." The chromo-lithographs 

 give clear and brilliant representations of 

 the color and grain of some of the finer 

 European, African, antique, and American 

 stones. 



Muster altitalienischkr Leinenstickerei 

 (Patterns of Old Italian Linen-Embroid- 

 ery). Collected by Frieda Lipperheide. 

 First Part. Pp. 32, with 30 Plates. 

 Second Part. Pp. 36, with 30 Plates. 

 Berlin : Franz Lipperheide. Price, six 

 marks each part. 



The custom of embroidering articles of 

 household linen with designs in colored silk 

 or wool went nearly out of vogue in the last 

 century, but still survives in parts of Italy, 

 and traces of it may be found elsewhere. 

 An attempt is now made to revive it and 

 commend it. The publication in the Berlin 

 " Modenwelt," and afterward in books, of a 

 collection of patterns of old German em- 

 broideries revealed a richness in beautiful 

 specimens of art of this kind that the world 

 was not aware it possessed. The publisher 

 might have supplemented his collection with 

 another, as large, of additional patterns, 

 in the same style, but he has preferred to 

 vary it by presenting a second one in a dis- 

 tinct style, the old Italian. In the German 

 embroideries, the figure is brought out in 

 stitch-work, while the ground is left in plain 

 linen. In the older Italian work the oppo- 

 site motive generally prevails, and it is the 

 figure that is left plain, and is embroidered 

 around ; yet there are variations, and both 

 styles may sometimes be found in the same 

 piece. The Italian patterns are gracefully 

 drawn, evenly parceled off, and always con- 

 ventionalized and wholly ornamental. Some 

 of them may be ultimately of Grecian ori- 

 ^n, but they all come to the collectors 

 from Italy. They seem to have enjoyed an 

 extensive diffusion, for works in Italian 

 stitch may be found among nearly all na- 

 tionalities ; and we are given in these vol- 

 umes, besides the Italian and Grecian de- 

 signs proper, Moroccan, Persian, and Span- 

 ish-Moorish groups, all congenial in motive, 

 but having each traits and beauties peculiar 

 to themselves. The designs reproduced by 

 Frau Lipperheide are taken from authen- 

 ticated specimens of from the sixteenth to 

 the eighteenth centuries, or from Italian 



pattern-books of the sixteenth century. The 

 letterpress preceding the plates furnishes 

 full, clearly illustrated instructions for exe- 

 cuting the work in the various stitches. 



THE BERLIN EEPOKT. 



The Question of a Division of the Philo- 

 sophical Faculty. Inaugural Address 

 on assuming the Rectorship of the Uni- 

 versity of Berlin. Delivered in the Aula 

 of the University, on October 15, 1880, 

 by Dr. August Wilhelm Hofmann, Pro- 

 fessor of Chemistry. Second edition, 

 with an Appendix containing Two Opin- 

 ions on the Admission to the University 

 of Graduates of Realschulen, presented 

 to his Excellency the Royal Minister of 

 Public Instruction, by the Philosophical 

 Faculty of the Royal Frederick William 

 University, in the Years 1869 and 1880. 

 Boston : Ginn, Heath & Co. 1883. Pp. 



This is the somewhat formidable title 

 under which the celebrated " Berlin Report " 

 on classical and scientific education appears 

 in English. The first part of it, embracing 

 thirty-five pages, consists of the elaborate 

 inaugural address of Dr. Hofmann, delivered 

 October 15, 1880, devoted to a general dis- 

 cussion of the policy of dividing the Philo- 

 sophical Faculty of the German universities 

 so as to create a new faculty of the natural 

 sciences. Dr. Hofmann opposes this on va- 

 rious grounds, and then passes to the ques- 

 tion as to the admission for graduates of the 

 real schools to the university, which he re- 

 sists, and which is also a part of the gen- 

 eral question of the unity of the Philosophi- 

 cal Faculty. Following the address is the 

 opinion of the Philosophical Faculty of the 

 Berlin University, given in 1869, against the 

 proposed admission of the real-school grad- 

 uates, and then comes the adverse report 

 of the same faculty, made in 1880, after 

 the real-school students had been admitted. 

 The remainder of the appendix consists of 

 notes and extracts from various authorities 

 confirmatory of the views taken in the re- 

 ports. The pamphlet contains a preface by 

 John Williams White, of Harvard College, 

 giving various interesting explanations. As 

 the subject is one of considerable promi- 

 nence just now, the appearance of this doc- 

 ument in an English form will be helpful 

 in the discussion, and will be welcomed by 

 many readers. 



