Intelligence and Miscellanies, 399 



ion of the most competent judges, it certainly Is so in its 

 whole combination and effect, and in nearly all its details. 



As regards the liability hitherto existing in all the instru- 

 ments of the kinds above mentioned, to successful alterations 

 usually effected by the application of chemical agents, they 

 have provided an effectual preventive, so that even signatures 

 and sums may be altered, without its being possible for the 

 swindler to avail himself of his fraud without encountering a 

 moral certainty of detection. 



The frequency of frauds, and the prospect that they will 

 continue to increase with the progress of population, busi- 

 ness, and the arts, unless effectual efforts are made to op- 

 pose every obstacle to their growth, and if possible to re- 

 move every hope of success in the attempt, is a sufficient rea- 

 son for pressing on the attention of the public, and especially 

 of the officers of banks, a plan which promises to accomplish 

 the desired object. We have critically examined the plan 

 above proposed, and have seen it examined by skilful men of 

 business, and by experienced officers of banks; and if there 

 is any mode of evading the effect of this ingenious and impor- 

 tant invention, we confess we have not sufficient sagacity to 

 discover it. — Editor. 



36. Webster''s Dictionary. — This great work is at length 

 finished. It is comprised in two large quartps ; and its ap- 

 pearance does much credit to the publisher and printer. 



More time and labor have probably been bestowed on this 

 performance, than upon any other that has appeared in this 

 country. It is the most extensive vocabulary of the lan- 

 guage extant : the author states that it contains twelve thou- 

 sand words words more than Todd's Johnson, and between 

 twenty and thirty thousand definitions more than the most 

 copious English dictionaries before published. 



As to the peculiarities of orthography, (not numerous 

 however) and the value of the etymology, and the affinities 

 with other languages, ancient and modern, the few who are 

 qualified to judge, will, after due consideration, form an opin- 

 ion in which the rest of the world must acquiesce. But, as 

 the author justly observes, the principal practical value of the 

 work must consist in a copious vocabulary, and in the com- 

 prehensiveness and correctness of the definitions. 



It would be too much to expect, that in so great an under- 

 taking there should be no errors ; but we feel that we hazard 



