150 



Miscellaneous Intelligence. 



ever of these and similar deficiencies, this work is by far the most full 51 

 scientific and satisfactory exposition of the subjects of Fuel and Illumine 

 ation to be found in any manual, and its mechanical perfections add a 

 great claim to its real merits. 



9. Western Academy of Natural Sciences, Cincinnati, 0. — Officers 

 for 1856. — President, U. P.James. — Vice President, Geo. Graham. — 1 

 Recording Secretary, J. D. Caldwell. — Corresponding Secretary, Robert 

 Clarke — Treasurer, Walter Patterson. — Librarian, H. C. Grosvenor. — 

 Curators. — U. P. James, H. C. Grosvenor, Robt. Clarke, S. T. Carley. 



10. American Association for the Advancement of Science. — The next 

 meeting of the Association will be held at Albany, New York, commenc- 

 ing on Wednesday, the 20th of August. The officers for the ensuing 

 year are, Prof. James Hall of Albany, President, Dr. B. A. Gould, Gen- 

 eral Secretary, Dr. A. L. Elwyn, Treasurer, Prof. Joseph Lovering of 

 Cambridge, Permanent Secretary. 



The volumes of the Proceedings for the meetings at Providence and 

 Cleveland have been recently issued by the Permanent Secretary. 



11. MantelVs Medals of Creation. — The edition of this valuable work 

 which Dr. Mantell had nearly made ready for the press when he died, has 

 been issued by his son, in two volumes duodecimo. 



12. Transactions of the Connecticut State Agricultural Society, for the 

 year 1855. 350 pp. 8vo. Hartford, 1856. 



13. The Art of Perfumery, and Method of obtaining the Odors of 

 Plants, by G. W. Septimus Piesse, is the title of a small manual which 

 appears to be carefully prepared — -containing numerous processes and 

 recipes. Philadelphia: Lindsay and Blakiston, 1856. 



Obituary. — Death of Dr. James G. Percival. — Died on the 2d of May, 

 1856, at Hazel Green, Wisconsin, in the 61st year of his age, Dr. James 

 Gates Percival, eminent as a poet, scholar and philosopher. 



He was born in the village of Kensington, in the town of Berlin, in 

 Connecticut, Sept. 15, 1*795. At an early age he manifested the poetical 

 ability and general intellectual power for which in after life he was 

 so distinguished. He entered Yale College in 1810, but on account of 

 ill health he did not graduate until 1815. During his collegiate course 

 he was eminent for scholarship, although he devoted much time to general 

 studies and to the cultivation of his poetical powers. He studied the 

 profession of Medicine, receiving his degree of M.D., in 1820, but he 

 never engaged in the practice. His first volume of poems was published 

 in 1820 ; his last in 1843. His verse shows great force and freshness of 

 expression, a fertile imagination, and remarkable rhythmical skill. Many 

 of his songs have taken permanent rank in American literature. Chiefly 

 as a poet will he be remembered, but we must here speak of him in 

 other relations. 



In 1824 he was for a short time in the service of the United States as 

 Professor of Chemistry in the Military Academy of West Point, and 

 subsequently as a surgeon connected with the recruiting service at Boston. 

 "But he preferred solitary study, and gave himself to philological and 

 historical researches, and to general literary pursuits. Having great 

 readiness in acquiring languages, he soon became a critical scholar in 

 most of the modern European tongues, and composed verses in many of 



