202 Notices of Recent and 



NOTICES OF RECENT AND FORTH-COMING SCIENTIFIC WORKS. 



Foreign. 



1 . Arcana of Science and Art : or one thousand popular inven- 

 tions and improvements, abridged fi-om the transactions of public so- 

 cieties, and f'Oin the scientific journals, British and foreign, of the 

 past year, (1829) : London : 12mo. Vol. 11. The first volume of 

 this neat little work appeared in 1828, and has passed through 

 a second edition. The object is to embody in each the discoveries 

 and inventions in the popular arts and sciences, during each year, 

 and present them to the public in an interesting form. Though de- 

 signed for the general reader, it has still a dignified and manly 

 character, with which we are greatly pleased. 



Domestic. 



1 . American Ornithology, or the JVatural History of the Birds of 

 the United States, illustrated with Plates, engraved and colored from 

 original draivings, taJcen from nature : by Alexander Wilson : with 

 a sketch of the Author's life, by George Ord, F. L. S. &;c. : New 

 York : 3 vols, royal octavo — pp. 430, 456, 396 ; the plates to be 

 in folio. The last volume of this valuable work has just been pub- 

 lished. In the preface the editor says, that he " has adhered to 

 the original text, correcting only some erroneous references and 

 a few verbal inaccuracies, most of which were probably typograph- 

 ical errors. 



" Wilson in his introduction, mentions its being desirable that the 

 birds should be arranged scientifically ; and takes notice of the 

 causes that rendered it, at that time, impracticable. In fact, he was 

 obliged to figure and describe his birds, nearly in the order in which 

 he obtained them ; and was therefore often compelled to place to- 

 gether those of the most dissimilar habits and characters, and to sep- 

 arate the male and female of the same species. In arranging them 

 in proper order, the editor believes that he is merely accomplishing 

 that which the author himself would have done, had he lived to pre- 

 pare another edition. The original plates, engraved under the eye of 

 Wilson, are employed in this edition, after having been carefully ex- 

 amined and retouched by Mr. Alexander Lawson, by whom most of 

 them were executed." 



2. Encyclopaedia Americana, Vol. II. pp. 600, has been publish- 

 ed, since the notice of this work in our last Number. The execu- 



