into the questions respecting the Plague and the Quarantine Laws, founded upon the important statements made to the Medical Section by Dr. Bowring."

The subject is one of no ordinary magnitude and interest, whether taken medically, commercially, or as bearing upon the social condition of nations. If our government should move in the business, and we hope it will take the initiative of inquiry, it will be necessary that the leading commercial powers of Europe should be invited to carry on a contemporaneous, if not a united investigation, which, to use Dr. Bowring's words, "might either serve to justify the existing state of things, or lead to improvements friendly to economy, to trade, to knowledge, and to happiness.'

ART. XXIV.-The Shores of the Mediterranean. By F. H. STANDISH, Esq. Vol. II. London: Black and Armstrong. 1838. MR. STANDISH proved himself to be, by the preceding volume, one of the most pleasing and accomplished writers that can be named; and nowhere could he find a richer and more diversified field or sweep of territory, island, and mainland, than the "Shores of the Mediterranean" for the disportings of his fancy, the display of his taste, or the treasures of his scholarship. The highly-deserved favour with which the first volume has been received has naturally induced the author to extend his sketches, criticisms, and reminiscences, by carrying the reader to new spots and contiguous scenes. Accordingly, we are here conducted to the Adriatic and Grecian coasts, to Constantinople, &c., the observer of life, the connoisseur, and the historian, in turn, most agreeably engaging us,-very frequently, too, with information which is either nowhere else to be obtained, or at least, not so accurately, succinctly and elegantly put together. Truth, though unwelcome to sentimentalists, is with him a primary con. cern. Take, and it is the only specimen for which we can find room at the late period of the month, when the work came to hand, some notices of the Greeks and of a great poet :

"The actual inhabitants of Greece are, at the present moment, more heavily taxed and more discontented than when under the dominion of the Turks. Among the misleaders of mankind in this matter, and himself a sufferer by his own inexperience, was the great poet Lord Byron. It appears invidious to diminish, by the statement of actual facts, the interest which his works have given to the East; for perhaps a stronger one is hardly elicited even by the perusal of the ancient writers, than by the exquisite portraitures of Childe Harold, and his delightful Turkish tales; but prejudice must yield to truth; had he occupied himself only in writing, he would probably have lived longer to amuse and instruct the world. It is said that he took into his service, soon after arriving in Greece, a band of Arnauts or Suliots, on whose shores he had been some years before shipwrecked, and from whose tribes he had received hospitality; and that these creatures took his money, abused his kindness, menaced him when he resisted their unjust demands; and that their intimidation elicited the fatal symptoms of the disease which caused his death. He perished with the conviction of having been duped, and with the misery of knowing that the instruments of the revolution he had aided were worthless and ungrateful. * It is to this day doubted by many whether the Greeks will eventually forme

a united empire, or whether faction will not destroy what the combined powers of Europe have been labouring to bring together and consolidate. On the 19th of September, I embarked for the Piræus, distant from the modern town of Athens about five miles; but it is still the port. In my present vessel, for which I paid four dollars, as well as in my last, I was annoyed by the multitude of dirty and unwholesome wretches who crowded to get a passage at my expense, in which some succeeded. I was delayed by their importunities, and very well aware, besides, that if you oblige a Greek he will but hate you the more."

ART. XXV.—A Catechism of Heat. By HUGO REID, Lecturer on Chemistry. Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd. 1839.

THIS is a fitting companion to the same author's admirable little work on Chemistry, which forms one in the series of "Catechisms of Elementary Knowledge," issued by the above publishers. It treats of the facts and principles of the element mentioned, and of its application in explaining the phenomena of nature and art,- -a number of wood-cuts illustrative of the more curious or intricate experiments being introduced. The author considers first, the Effects of Heat; secondly, the manner in which Heat spreads; thirdly, the relative proportions of Heat in different bodies, and in different conditions of the same body; and lastly, treats of the sources of Heat and Cold.

The first question and answer are in the following terms :

"Q. To what department of science does the subject of Heat belong? "A. It is usually included under Chemistry; perhaps, because it was first cultivated by chemists. It should rather belong to Natural Philosophy, as it involves in its phenomena, time, distance, and a number of considerations relating to the direction of motion. But it would more properly form a distinct and independent branch of science."

Accordingly Mr. Reid considers the subject in the extended sense indicated, and in conformity with the many beautiful laws which have been discovered in its regulation, and its numerous applications in aiding scientific investigation and improving the arts; for he regards the element as the prime mover in the operations both of art and nature, while its status in an economic view is unparalleled.

ART. XXVI.—School Houses. By HORACE MANN. London: Hodson.

1839.

MR. Mann is Secretary, it would appear, to the "American Board of Education," and has in the present little tome given a report on school-house architecture, particularly as fitted for, and suggested by such establishments in the United States. His design is to show "the form and arrangement best adapted for promoting the Health, Comfort, and Improvement of Children." Accordingly he treats of Ventilation and Warming, Size, Desks, Seats, Light, Play-Grounds, &c., and gives plans, with explanations, illustrative of his views. The work contains much in a small compass that is interesting, and which will be novel or strange to those persons who look upon the old fashioned ways of education and its adjuncts as perfect. But a little consideration, even in spite of prejudice, will serve

to convince the reader, that some of the most simple and necessary provisions are generally overlooked in regard to our tenderest and most susceptible years. Mr. Mann has, from his official situation and no doubt from his peculiarly directed philanthropy, brought so much information, sound feeling and sense to his subject as ought to obtain for his book a wide circulation and a frequent reference. We quote a few separate sentences just to show of what it is made. Every keeper of a greenhouse regulates its heat by a thermometer. The northern blasts which come upon the blossoms of a farmer's orchard or garden chill him as much as them. When shall we apply the same measure of wisdom to the welfare of children as to that of fruits and vegetables?" "In the penitentiary erected at Philadelphia a few years since, 1300 cubic feet were allowed to each prisoner, solitarily confined; while in some of our schoolrooms, less than forty cubic feet is allowed to a scholar, without any proper means of ventilation." "The heights of the seats and desks should of course be graduated, to fit the different sizes of the scholars, the smallest scholars sitting nearest the teacher's desk.' "The place for hanging hats, bonnets, and so forth, will also depend upon the general construction of the house. It should be such as to encourage habits of neatness and order." "The following is extracted from a lecture, delivered by Dr. Edward Reynolds of Boston, before the American Institute of Instruction, in 1833. How much talent lies dormant by the morbidly sensitive eyesight, occasioned by inordinate and untimely use of the eyes! This last mentioned evil is increasing to a fearful amount amongst the young. Accurate inquiries have convinced me, that a large number of these individuals must go back to the school-room to find the source of their infirmities.' 999 These and many other evidences in this little book and elsewhere to be found, show how deeply engaged the citizens of the United States of America are in regard to the paramount importance of education, and the best rules and provisions to be employed in its furtherance.

ART. XXVII.-The Natural History of the Sperm Whale, &c., to which is added, a Sketch of a South Sea Whaling Voyage. By TH. Beale, Surgeon. London: Van Voorst. 1838.

THIS is a new and enlarged edition of the fullest and ablest work on the subject of the Sperm Whale, and the South Sea Whale Voyagers, that exists in our language. Mr. Beale, who is Demonstrator of Anatomy to the Eclectic Society, has been so successful as to have had his scientific details approved of by some of the most celebrated naturalists of the age; while his narrative of adventures in connection with the scientific and commercial branches of his subjects, together with his pictures of savage life, are of the most stirring kind.

ART. XXVIII.—The Apostolical Authority of the Epistle to the Hebrews. By the REV. CHARLES FOSTER, B.D. London: Duncan. 1838. To copy the title in full, and a great portion of the Dedication of this large, most elaborate, and learned work, will be by far the best method we can adopt to convey an idea of its nature and its merits. It would indeed be the grossest presumption were we to pretend to be capable or entitled to pronounce an opinion of our own, after a hasty glance, of a

volume extending to nearly seven hundred octavo pages, a great proportion of them being in good tough Greek,-a work too upon an intricate, or at least, much vexed theological subject, that has engaged its competent author, amid his other avocations, since 1814,-further than to say, that from Mr. Foster's established reputation, from the ability, the dignity, earnestness, and solemnity of his Introductory remarks, and from the manifest mastery which he possesses over not merely the Greek language, but in regard to all the controversies on his subject, the most complete confidence may be reposed in his deductions that one man can expect to be extended to him by another.

The work proclaims itself on the title-page to be "An Inquiry, in which the received Title of the Greek Epistle is Vindicated, against the cavils of Objectors, Ancient and Modern, from Origen to Sir J. D. Michaelis, chiefly upon grounds of Internal Evidence hitherto unnoticed: comprising a Comparative Analysis of the Style and Structure of this Epistle, and of the Undisputed Epistles of St. Paul: Tending to throw Light upon their interpretation."

The Work is appropriately dedicated to the Archbishop of Canterbury; and in this preliminary document we read further-" While professedly a vindication of the received title of the Greek Epistle to the Hebrews, in fact contains, so far as my more immediate object will allow, a comparative survey of all the Epistles of St. Paul; beginning with the comparison of words; proceeding to the comparison of contexts; and extending to the development of the style and structure of each of those epistles as a whole. A critical analysis, thus, at the same time, minute and comprehensive, necessarily involves the principles of interpretation; which, in the case of St. Paul peculiarly, were found to receive light no less valuable from the consideration of single words and clauses than from the examination of whole contexts.

"To the adoption of this plan I was originally led, by the nature of the Inquiry itself, and by the course pursued, alike, by the supporters and the opposers of St. Paul's claim to the authorship of the disputed Epistle : who, however at variance in other respects, are unanimously agreed, as to the mode of investigation essential to any final settlement of the question. Convinced that this mode had not hitherto been done justice to by either party, I began, accordingly, by a complete analysis of the verbal peculiarities of style common to St. Paul and Hebrews and advancing, gradually, from the consideration of words, to the comparison of contexts, ended in the discovery of a peculiar law of composition, affecting the general scheme and structure, which had hitherto wholly escaped the commentators; and which, being common to the whole of Saint Paul's undisputed writings and to the Epistles to the Hebrews, furnished, in support of the received title of this Epistle, a new argument, as comprehensive, as the verbal argument was minute. This law consists in the regular recurrence in Hebrews, and (with the exception of the short letter to Philemon) in all Saint Paul's unquestioned Epistles, of certain words and phrases, at certain intervals, marking the return of the same ideas, and standing as keys, both to the subordinate topics, and to the main theme or subject of each letter. Upon first observing and verifying this phenomenon, I was struck with its interpretative bearings; and, upon examination found, to my great satisfaction, that my first impression was fully borne out: in those Epistles, upon whose general subjects all commentators are agreed, the key-texts invariably coinciding with the subjects!

whence it followed, by parity of reasoning, that, in those Epistles whose themes are still matter of controversy, the subjects must coincide with the key-texts; as, in the one case, the key was found to fit the lock; so in the other, the lock would be sure to fit the key. This experimentum crucis, further, invariably issued, not in abstract or dogmatic, but in practical and experimental views of Christianity.

"I mention this law of composition thus early under the persuasion, that general results of this nature, arising out of the close scrutiny of language, teach the reader, far better than other kind of proof, the true value of the verbal criticism of Scripture; and the fruits to be expected from its disjecta membra, if only justly selected, and judiciously compared. For, as those crude selections of parallel passages, with which the margins of too many additions of the Bible are filled, must justly be reckoned among the greatest obstructions, so exact selections may, with equal justice, be accounted among the best aids, to sound scriptural interpretations. Somewhat of this exactness of selection it has been my constant study to arrive at, so far as the nature of the work will permit, in these pages: with what success, it is not for the writer, but for his judges to pronounce. I would venture only to suggest the propriety of estimating the intermediate verbal tables, by reference to the results exhibited in the Sections of parallel passages, and of key-texts, and in the Harmony which closes the internal evidences: results, which are the consequences, and, therefore, the first measure, of the mode of examination pursued throughout the previous tables." as wat "The conviction of my mind has grown and gained strength, that the true scope and sense of the writings of Saint Paul can be elicited, in proportion only to the strictness, or, if I may use the word, the severity, with which his readers analyse the style and order of his Epistles; and to the competence to do so: always remembering, that it was not the unstable' alone, but the unlearned' also, who, in the apostolic age, made shipwreck of the faith by their perversion; and that, in the very nature of things, the same causes must, in all after-times, be attended by like lamentable con. sequences. Hence only can have arisen the strange, yet wide-spread misconception (a misconception utterly subversive of the first principles of sound interpretation), which assumes Saint Paul's Epistles, generally, to be rambling and desultory discourses, and which treats them as such; when, in point of fact and reality, the orations of Demosthenes or Cicero are not more regular and orderly, the logic of Aristotle is not more strictly or closely ratiocinative, than the writings of this great Apostle."

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The philological, the grammatical, the literary, and the theological analyses and illustrations by which the reverend and learned author establishes these views, ought to recommend his work to every scholar and every divine.

ART. XXIX.-Sketches in London. By JAMES GRANT, Author of "The Great Metropolis," &c. London: Orr and Co. 1838. MR. GRANT, it appears to us, trades too much for his wealth of fame on a small or uniform stock. One would think, who has read his "Great Metropolis," entertaining as it is, and not the less so, sometimes, that the author calculates hugely upon the credulity of country readers, and draws with equal effrontery upon his own invention, of which he is evidently inordinately vain, that he had gone over the ground till it had become