150 Literary Notices. 



quickly, first, to see in the objects around him the artistic ele- 

 ments of which they are composed, and, secondly, to perceive how 

 these maybe combined so as to produce an endless variety of effects. 

 The book offers suggestions that will be valuable to practised adults, 

 but its well -arranged steps and excellent illustrations will soon 

 conduct any tolerably clever child to a substantial, though rudi- 

 mentary knowledge of drawing and of decorative art. The book 

 will be a favourite in every family in which it is introduced, and it 

 will be found that most children begin to attend to form at a much 

 earlier age than is commonly supposed. We remember a clergy- 

 man at Huntingdon who managed some schools for his poor 

 parishioners with great skill, and he found that little creatures, 

 four or five years old, took great delight in tracing the outlines of 

 forest leaves on a scrap of paper. In many cases this was the 

 foundation of considerable proficiency in subsequent life. 



Two Months in a London Hospital ; its Inner Life and Scenes : 

 A Personal Narrative. By Arnold J. Coolet, Author of " Cyclo- 

 paedia of Receipts, Processes, Dates, and Collateral Information," 

 " Dictionary of the English Language," " Latin Grammar," etc., 

 etc. (Grroombridge and Sons.) — A severe and dangerous accident 

 unfortunately made Mr. Cooley the inmate of a London hospital, 

 and he improved the melancholy occasion by watching all that 

 occurred within his sphere of observation, his own sensations in- 

 cluded, and compounding his experience into a very readable book. - 

 The details of hospital life are well described, and many pathetic 

 and startling incidents graphically pourtrayed. Mr. Cooley suffered 

 with an attack of erysipelas, which made him delirious, and he has 

 recorded the strange fancies that arose in his disordered mind, and 

 the various scenes in which he imagined himself to be an actor or 

 spectator. These chapters will interest many readers, and they are 

 not without scientific psychological value. He remarks, with refer- 

 ence to this part of his experience, that " the quiet delirium of 

 erysipelas — that variety which has chiefly to do with my narrative — 

 is more closely related to dreaming than the others. Indeed, 

 whether occurring by night or by day, it clearly resembles a con- 

 tinuous day-dream of a varied and very vivid character, occurring 

 with the senses, or some of them, more awake than in what is 

 popularly called ' day-dreaming,' by which the sequence of ideas or 

 illusions, though irregular, are usually more connected, persistent, 

 and continuous than in ordinary dreams. In general, as in 

 dreaming, the illusions and irregular trains of thought primarily 

 depend on the suggestions of immediate influences. Among these, 

 sounds heard and misunderstood by the patient are the most pro- 

 lific. His pains and sensations also act in the same way. The 

 subject, the thoughts floating through his mind as he passes into a 

 delirious state, likewise frequently furnish the groundwork on which 

 his subsequent wanderings are raised. Then imagination begins 

 her work, and memory supplies her stores to continue and diversify 

 the vision or illusion. And, lastly, the usual habits or bias of the 

 mind in health give a tone to the whole, and leave the thoughts 

 rambling on a train of favourite subjects, until the patient is 



