EDITORIAL NOTES. 
THE sixty-second Volume of Harper's Maga- 
zine began with the December Number. The 
February Number will contain an able paper. 
by the Rev. HENRY J. VAN DYKE Jr., on the 
Gospel History in Italian Painting, with a 
large number of fine illustrations; the con- 
clusion of MoncurE D. Conway’s ‘The 
English Lakes and their Genii,” with illustra- 
tions by ABBEY and PARSONS; asecond paper 
on the Old New York Volunteer Fire Depart- 
ment, by G. W. SHELDON, illustrated; an 
illustrated article on Pottery in the United 
States; a paperentitled ‘‘ Literary and Social 
Boston,” by Gro. P. LATHROP, with eighteen 
illustrations; the third part of Miss WooL- 
SON’S serial story, ‘‘ Anne,” with an illustra- 
tion by REINHART; the second part of THos. 
HARDy’s new novel, “A Laodicean,” (pub- 
lished exclusively in Harper's Magazine,) with 
an illustration by DU MAURIER; a paper en- 
titled ‘‘ The Early History of Charles James 
Fox,” by the Hon. JOHN BIGELOW, a charac- 
teristic Georgia sketch, ‘‘Puss Franklin’s 
Defense,” by R. M. JOHNSTON; and other 
interesting reading-matter—--poems, short sto- 
ries, etc. 
Goop Company, Number Fifteen, has an 
account of a steamboat trip to the head of 
navigation on the Missouri river by Mr. Her- 
bert Hall Winslow, which happily contains 
information and incident, and is not wanting 
in graphic description of scenery and experi- 
ences with Indians, etc. in that little-known 
region of our vast Northwest. One of the 
novel and characteristic occurrences on the 
trip was a free fight among some of the steam- 
boat hands. 
Apropos of Dora d’Istria’s recent visit to 
the United States, the story of that most re- 
markable woman’s life is given, Mrs. M. S. 
Bull writes of the noble philanthropist Gerrit 
Smith. 
Thereisan account of the origin and growth 
of the United States Life-saving Service, in- 
cluding some vivid descriptions of its mem- 
bers’ experiences with wrecks; a paper on 
Eskimo traditions ; an account of the Chinese 
professor and his family at Cambridge; and 
«Autumn Leaves,”’ by E. S. Gilbert. 
IV—39 
583 
For fiction there is an installment of Ellen 
W. Olney’s serial and several complete stories. 
One or two shorter articles, with poems 
and the department of ‘‘ Discussion and Sug- 
gestion,”’ fill out the number. 
WE learn from the New York Odserver that 
Principal Dawson of McGill College, Mon- 
treal, delivered a course of lectures last month 
to the students of Auburn Theological Semi- 
nary, on the ‘‘Geological Features of Bible 
Lands, Illustrative of Bible History.” The 
special topics embraced in the six lectures 
were: ‘Parallelism of Geological Chronol- 
ogy;’”? ‘‘Early Bible History;” ‘‘Geology of 
Egypt in Relation to the Hebrew Sojourn ;”’ 
‘¢ The Sinaitic Peninsula and the Exodus ;” 
<¢ General Geological Structure of Palestine ;”” 
‘¢The Dead Sea and its Geological History ;” 
‘‘Pre-historic Palestine-General Conclusions.” 
— — 
Pror. ASAPH HALL continues his articles 
upon the Advance of Astronomy, in the Od- 
servatory ; also Prof. C. A. Young, of Prince- 
ton, who contributes an article upon the 
Spectrum of Hasting’s Comet. 
No magazine published in the United States 
has made more brilliant progress within the 
past few years than the Worth American Review. 
It enters on its sixty-sixth year with the Jan- 
uary number, which is full of excellent 
articles by some of the ablest writers of the 
present day in America. Its contents are as 
follows : 
‘¢ The Philosophy of Persecution,” by Prof. 
Joun Fiske; ‘‘ Controlling Forces in Ameri- 
can Politics,’’ by Senator GEO. F. EDMUDES ; 
‘¢ Atheism in Colleges,” by JoHN Bascom, D. 
D., LL. D., President of the University of 
Wisconsin; ‘‘The Ruins of Central Ameri- 
ca,” Part V., by DESIRE CHARNAY ; ‘¢Parti- 
ran Government,” by Wm. D. LE SUEUR; 
‘¢ Popular Art Education,” by Prof. JOHN F. 
WEIR, Director of the School of Fine Arts, 
Yale College; ‘‘The Limitations of Sex,” by 
Nina Morais; ‘‘ The Mission of the Demo- 
cratic Party,”’ by Senator Wm. A. WALLACE; 
«Recent Philological Works,” by Prof. F. A. 
MARCH. 
