REVIEWS. 127 



The Channel Railway Connecting England and France. By 

 James Chalmers. E. and F. N. Spon. 



We live in an age of mechanical progress where, with great feats 

 accomplished and staring us in the face, it is scarcely possible to be 

 sceptical. Who that considers the Thames Tunnel, the Menai Bridge, the Vic- 

 toria Bridge across the St Lawrence, the Great Eastern, the submerging 

 the Atlantic Cable, and other engineering works of the past, will assert the 

 impossibility of forming a communication by a tunnel with France. It 

 scarcely falls within our province to investigate the plans and data set 

 forth, but Mr Chalmers reasons calmly and deliberately upon the matter ; 

 and setting aside the enormous difficulties of construction, his estimates 

 seem to be moderate and carefully framed. 



An Essay on the Beautiful and Sublime ; or, Elements of Ms- 

 thetic Philosophy. By Vincenzo Gioberti. Translated from the 

 Italian by Edward Thomas, Esq., Pupil of the Author at Brussels. 

 Second Edition. London : Simpkin, Marshall, and Co. 



Tiie thoughtful and philosophic portion of our readers will thank Mr 

 Tho:nas for the translation of Gioberti's celebrated work on the ' Beautiful 

 and Sublime.' Mr Thomas, in his preface, states that it is not intended as a 

 novel to satisfy the idle and the curious, but, on the contrary, is published 

 for the consideration and study of men of science, and those who are 

 capable of appreciating its inestimable value. No small pains have been 

 taken in translating a work extending over 400 pages, and we doubt not 

 but that the industry and care displayedwill meet with the success deserved. 



The West Indian Quarterly Magazine. No. I. Edited by Hugh 

 Croskery, Esq. Henderson, Savage, and Co., Kingston, Jamaica. 



Besides several medical articles, there are a few interesting techno- 

 logical papers, one of which, that on Bitter Cassava, we have extracted 

 into our pages. The following remarks have also our hearty concurrence ; 

 and the more such truths are pressed upon public notice, the better for the 

 interests of the West Indian Colonies. 



" Of all the islands in the Antilles, there is none so rich in Nature's 

 gifts as Jamaica, — and yet little is done to cultivate so fertile a vineyard. 

 Thousands, aye, hundreds of thousands of broad acres of the richest land, 

 remain grown up in brushwood; while their proprietors — and many of them 

 rich men too — are absentees, who care not for their properties, because 

 they know not what a mine of wealth the judicious expenditure of a little 

 money might discover. After the abolition of slavery, and the unjust 

 admission of slave-grown products into the English market, years of 

 depression succeeded years of prosperity ; sugar estates, coffee and pimento 

 plantations were thrown up, and their proprietors became either bankrupts, 

 ro left the island to seek the means of livelihood elsewhere. 



" Again, when there was a chance of improvement, and it was proposed 

 to add to our labour market by the importation of foreign immigrants, we 

 were denied the opportunity even of getting these, and the tide of immi- 

 gration was ruthlessly arrested. Now, however, we are told that these 

 restrictions v/ill be removed, and that the British Government will give 

 every encouragement to the importation of foreign labourers ; and why ? 

 because England must have cotton and other staples, which, hitherto, she 

 has sought elsewhere, and which she knows cannot be cultivated here with- 

 out increased facilities of labour. This very pressure will, we hope, be the 

 means of raising England's West Indian possessions from that slough of 

 despair and poverty into which most of them have fallen." 



