of foreign classics is perhaps not to be found in the country than is presented here. A new American book, "Ames's Life and Works," edited by his son, Seth Ames, Esq., in two octavo volumes, meets you and holds your eye upon its beautiful pages and rich contents, as you enter. Few names have a more fragrant reputation in American annals for patriotism and eloquence than Fisher Ames. In their press they announce a work that will excite attention, both from its subject and its author: "Brownson's Spirit Rapper," designed to show the connexion of spirit manifestations with mesmerism, socialism, revolutionism, magic, &c., by O. A. Brownson. "Plutarch's Lives." Partly from Dryden's translation, and partly from other hands. The whole carefully revised and corrected. With some Original Translations by the editor, A. H. Clough, Esq., late Fellow of Oriel College, Oxford. 5 vols. 8vo. "Norton's Translation of the Gospels." A translation of the Four Gospels, with Notes, by Andrews Norton, 2 vols., 8vo. "Pierce's Mechanics." A Treatise on Analytic Mechanics, by Benjamin Pierce, LL. D., Perkins Professor of Astronomy and Mathematics in Harvard University, 1 vol., 4to. "Lyell's Manual of Geology." New edition. Manual of Elementary Geology; or, the Ancient Changes of the Earth and its Inhabitants, as illustrated by Geological Monuments, by Sir Charles Lyell. Fifth and entirely revised edition. Illustrated with maps, plates, and wood-cuts. 8vo., cloth.

The same firm have made arrangements with Murray, the well-known English publisher, for a supply of his fine edition of the "British Classics," now in course of publication, by which they are enabled to furnish them at a great reduction from the English price. The following volumes will be forthcoming at an early day: The Works of Oliver Goldsmith," edited by Peter Cunningham, F. S. A., with vignettes. To be completed in 4 vols. "Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," with Notes, by Milman and Guizot. Edited with Additional Notes by William Smith, LL. D. Portrait and maps. To be completed in 8 volumes. "The Works of Alexander Pope," containing nearly one hundred and fifty unpublished Letters. Edited by the Right Hon. John Wilson Croker, assisted by Peter Cunningham, F. S. A. 6 vols., 8vo.

The Works of Dryden and Swift." Thoroughly revised and edited. Based upon the editions of Sir Walter Scott. "The Works of Joseph Addison." Edited, with a new Life and Notes, by the Rev. W. Elwin, B. A. 4 vols., 8vo. "Johnson's Lives of the Poets." Edited, with Notes, by Peter Cunningham, F. S. A.

In a previous letter, we referred to a movement among the "Franklin Medal.Scholars" and the "Charitable Mechanics' Association," to erect a statue to the philosopher and statesman, in his native city. The committee charged with the preliminary work has secured funds adequate to authorize them to engage an artist and adopt a model of the statue. Mr. Richard S. Greenough has been selected, and the evidence which he has already given of his capacity justifies the expectation that he will execute a work that will be worthy of its subject, and of the city that has thus sought to express its respect for an honored former resident. In the model prepared by the sculptor, the face and head have been copied from the original bust of Franklin, by Houdon, taken for Mr. Jefferson, and now the property of his granddaughter, resident in Boston. He is to be represented in the costume of the times, in the dress he wore at the time he signed the Treaty of Peace in 1783, the identical clothes having been preserved as most valuable relics, and accurately copied by the artist. It is proposed to have the four sides of the pedestal to represent, in bas-reliefs, as many prominent events in Franklin's life: the first, "Franklin working his press" the second, bis "Experiment in electricity;" the third, "Signing the Declaration of Independence;" and fourth, "Concluding the Treaty of Peace." It is also proposed that these bas-reliefs be intrusted to different artists. If the statue is executed in the spirit of its design and model, it will be a most admirable work of art, and an expressive tribute to our Franklin.

You will recollect the fearful storm in April, 1851, which swept away the iron foundations, with the superincumbent lighthouse and its occupants, from Minot's Ledge, outside of Boston harbor. This exposed ledge. the scene of many wrecks, has been unprotected with a light since the time of this dreadful casualty. But now the United States engineers have surveyed the ledge, and reported that the base will permit of the construction of a stone lighthouse of sufficient dimensions to resist the force of the most powerful wave, and immediate measures will be taken to cominence the work.

Our noted East Boston ship-builder is now at work upon a clipper ship of the first class, and of two thousand five hundred tons' capacity. She is intended for the trade of James Baines and Co., of Liverpool, and is to bear the honored name of its constructor, "Donald M'Kay."

It is reported that Mr. M'Kay is about to build a beautiful yacht of about ninety tons, which he intends as a present to the Emperor of Japan. She is to be named the "Queen of the Orient."

In several of our towns we have had serious discussions upon the "Bible question in Schools," and in every instance the Bible has been retained. In Winchester, by a very large majority, the request of the Catholics to give up the Bible was refused; and in Holliston, the committee have ruled that where a child objected to read the Protestant version, he should be excused. A public meeting was called, and after many spirited addresses, the following resolution was passed, with only a few dissenting voices. The school committee, however, at once resigned:

Resolved-That it be the sense of this meeting, that while no blame attaches to the school committee in regard to the reading of the Bible in our schools, yet, in view of the fact that the Bible furnishes the only safe foundation of moral instruction, and in view also of the repeated encroachments of the Catholics in various parts of our country, as well as in our own town, in regard to schools, we deem it the duty of our committee to direct, under all circumstances hereafter, that the Bible be uniformly read in all our schools by all the scholars thereof of sufficient acquirement to read the same intelligibly.

The last General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, provided the following large literary corps for the ensuing four years:

Book Committee-Messrs. M'Ferrin, Hamilton, Green, Gardner, and Evans.

Editor of Sunday-school Books, Tracts, and Books of general catalogue-Dr. T. O. Summers. Editor of Lady's Companion and Sunday-school Visitor-L. D. Huston.

Quarterly Review-Dr. D. S. Doggett.

Nashville Christian Advocate-Dr. J. B. M'Fer

rin.

.

Richmond Christian Advocate-Dr. L. M. Lee. Southern Christian Advocate-E. H. Myers. Holston Christian Advocate-S. Patton. St. Louis Christian Advocate-D. R. M'Anally. New-Orleans Chris. Advocate-H. N. M'Tyeire. Memphis Christian Advocate-J. E. Cobb. Texas Christian Advocate-C. C. Gillespie. California Christian Observer-Dr. Jesse Boring.

A resolution was adopted, giving liberty to the book agents to publish, if they think it advisable, a monthly magazine of a high literary character.

Ages of English Periodicals-The Edinburgh Review is just 50 years old; the Quarterly, 34; the New Monthly Magazine, 33; Blackwood, 38; and Frasier, 24.

Dr. Griswold's two works, the Poets and ProseWriters of America, are about to pass to a new edition, with the preparation of which for the press he is now engaged. The addition to his list of poets is considerable, several new competitors for poetic fame having made their appearance within a few years past. On the new edition of the Prose-Writers, Dr. Griswold, it is said, is bestowing a good deal of pains, writing over some parts of it, and making it in every respect more complete.

The Tuscan Moniteur announces that Signor Sigli has discovered in Florence Galileo's Commentaries on Dante, which were supposed to

have been lost. They are in the autograph of the philosopher, and will doubtless be given to the world in due time.

a paper,

At the last meeting of the Royal Society of Literature in London, the Rev. D. J. Heath read "On the Select Hieratic Papyri," published by the British Museum, in 1844, in the deciphering of which he has lately been making considerable progress. Mr. Heath believes that he has succeeded in discovering that some of these, as the fifth and sixth of the Anastasi collection, which belong to the reign of Menephthah II., narrate the exodus of a "mixed multitude" from Egypt, and probably that of the Jews themselves. In the commencement of his paper, Mr. Heath gave several reasons why he imagined that the exodus did really take place during the reign of this Menephthah II., though, if his theory be true, the date of that event is brought down as low as B. C. 1312; and he stated that he had been led to this conclusion by perusing some remarkable papers, contributed by Miss Corbaux to the "Journal of Sacred Literature." The contents of these papyri Mr. Heath showed to be very various, each new subject being, generally, distinguished by red-letter headings; some are verses, sung by the tutor to the royal youths in the harem; some are official orders to different officers; some are praises, not only of kings but of individuals. In one instance there is a psalm, by a royal psalmist, and some are plain historical statements. The dates appended to some of the paragraphs are those of the copyist; for the same paragraphs are sometimes repeated in different handwritings. Mr. Heath then proceeded to give various portions of the papyri translated, but necessarily in a very fragmentary form, in illustration of his theory and belief with respect to their contents.

Scribner, of this city, will soon issue a work entitled, "An Encyclopædia of American Literature," embracing personal and critical notices of authors, with passages from their writings, from the earliest period to the present day, with portraits, autographs, and other illus

trations.

M. de Lamartine has a new work in the press, a" History of Turkey," of which a notice has appeared in the Paris Constitutionnel.

Newspapers in Turkey.-Constantinople has thirteen papers, Smyrna six, and Alexandria

one.

Servia is rich in its periodical press, having eight papers, while Wallachia and Moldavia have only four. In all there are thirty-four newspapers in the Ottoman empire.

Murray, the celebrated London publisher, has issued a new edition of Oliver Goldsmith's Works, edited by Peter Cunningham, (John Murray,) containing the "Bee," the "Essays," collected from various periodicals by the author, and first published by him in 1765, unacknowledged Essays, and miscellaneous prefaces, introductions, and other papers.

A work of fiction, referring to Conventual Institutions, by a member of the family of the Protestant Archbishop of Dublin, (Whately.) will shortly be published, entitled "Quicksands on Foreign Shores."

"The Old Printer and the Modern Press," is the title of a work recently published by Murray, of London. The author, Charles Knight, is a "fast" and amusing writer, full of anecdote and mirth. He reviews the history of literature in all its phases; sneers at patronage, and abuses the British Government in no measured terms for creating a people that rush to casinos and sottish beer-shops instead of being purchasers of weekly volumes. As a specimen of the manner in which he handles his subject, we give the following amusing notice of the transformation of rag into paper:—

"The material of which this book is formed existed a few months ago, perhaps, in the shape of a tattered frock, whose shreds, exposed for years to the sun and wind, covered the sturdy loins of the shepherd watching his sheep on the plains of Hungary;-or it might have formed part of the coarse blue shirt of the Italian

sailor, on board some little trading-vessel of the Medi

terranean; or it might have pertained to the once tidy camicia of the neat straw-plaiter of Tuscany, who, on the eve of some festival, when her head was intent upon gay things, condemned the garment to the strucci vendolo (rag-merchant) of Leghorn;-or it might have constituted the coarse covering of the flock-bed of the fariner of Saxony, or once looked bright in the damask table-cloth of the burgher of Hamburgh;-or, lastly, it might have been swept, new and unworn, out of the vast collection of the shreds and patches, the fustian and buckram, of a London tailor; or might have accompanied every revolution of a fashionable coat in the shape of lining-having traveled from St. James's to St. Giles's, from Bond-street to Monmouth-street, from Rag Fair to the Dublin Liberty, till man disowned the vesture, and the kennel-sweeper claimed its miserable remains. In each or all of these forms, and in hundreds more which it would be useless to describe, this sheet of paper a short time since might have existed. No matter, now, what the color of the rag-how oily the cotton-what filth it has gathered and harbored through all its transmutation-the scientific papermaker can produce out of these filthy materials one of the most beautiful productions of manufacture."

There are two translations of Captain Mayne Reid's "Scalp Hunter" on sale in Paris; and of one of them there are two editions. The Mousquetaire, in a review of the work, pronounces the author equal to Cooper, and original in the same field where that romancer was so successful. M. Allyre Baseau, the translator of the edition thus eulogized, certainly understands and seizes upon the singularly vigorous and pic. turesque Western American-English better than any other Frenchman who has applied himself to the task.

The Athenæum is at present edited by Mr. Hepworth Dixon, author of the "Lives of Penn, Howard, and Blake;" the first undertaken to counteract the slanders of Macaulay in his "History of England."

An enterprising mercantile firm

Resources of the West-Marble Quarries.

CAPTAIN FITZROY, of the English navy, has been appointed superintendent of the newly-created office for analyzing and tabulating the uniform system of meteorological observations. "This," says the London Athenæum, "is an important result of the excellent proposition made by Lieutenant Maury, on the part of the United States Government, for an extensive international series of maritime meteorological observations on a uniform plan."

There is, says the Scientific American, a method of sawing or cutting hardened steel, which is not as generally known as it should be. A circular piece of common thin iron plate, or sheet iron, being adjusted to a lathe, or by other means put into a violent rotary motion, will readily cut off a file, a cutting tool or tempered steel spring, without drawing or reducing the temper. There is much mystery in the wonderful effect of this buzz, and its cutting property is attributed to electricity. It answers a very convenient purpose, however, when the shape and form of articles are required to be altered without effecting their temper. It furnishes a convenient method for cutting teeth to large saws, but objectionable on account of the newly-cut surface being left so hard that they cannot be readily filed by a common file.

The growing demand for printing paper, and Its present high prices, render it necessary that some new material should, if possible, be brought into use, which, from its abundance and cheapness, may recommend it to the manufacturer. To this end several of our most able scientific men are devoting their time, and with satisfactory results; for it has been discovered that in the southern and western states, south of the 30th degree of latitude, a plant is grown from which printing paper may be manufactured in greater quantities and of a finer quality, than is now made from all the materials now used in the manufacture of that article. The plant flourishes best in damp soils and a humid atmosphere. Under the most advantageous circumstances, it grows from six to ten feet in height, and will yield several tons to the acre. The stem, like hemp, requires to be stripped of its bark, leaving a core of a beautiful whiteness, with a fiber of the full length of the plant, very strong and pliable. Experiments on a limited scale have recently been made with it, in the manufacture of a cloth used for bagging, with highly favorable results. In texture it bears some resemblance to manilla, though it is not so harsh, and is more readily converted into pulp.

Gold in South Africa.-It has been known for several years that copper to some extent was to be found in the country of the Namaquas, or, as it is called, Namaqualand; but, owing to the barrenness of the country, the scarcity of water, and the consequent difficulty of transport to the coast, it was doubted whether it could be profit

reward, the ore collected being found to be of a very rich description, and the difficulties of transport much less than were at first anticipated. It has been lately discovered that some of the copper ore collected contains a portion of gold, thus greatly enhancing its value, even if the more precious metal be not found in large quantities, as by many it is anticipated it will be. The foregoing remarks refer to the Namaqualand-a country bounded by the South Atlantic Ocean, the Great Orange River, and the district of Clanwilliam. In the sovereignty, or country north of the Orange River, small nuggets of gold have been discovered in the quartz rock, with which that country abounds, and many "prospecting" in that direction; people are and further to the north, in the country occupied by the Dutch farmers, some similar discoveries have been made, but it is said a law has been passed by the "Volksraad," excluding all Englishmen from the right to search for it.

Dr. Robert de Lambelle, a distinguished physician of Paris, announces that a shock of electricity, given to a patient dying from the effects of chloroform, immediately counteracts its influence, and returns the sufferer to life.

From an article in a late number of the American Phrenological Journal we clip the following on the mineral resources of the West:

"The mineral wealth of the West is beyond all computation. The greater portion of this vast valley is underlaid with rich beds of coal. Practically inexhaustible are these mines of wealth. They crop out at short distances; show themselves along the ravines and river bluffs; exhibit their sooty lines on the hillsides, inviting attention to their beds of wealth. They will afford fuel for thousands of years for all who may wish to use it. Next to coal, iron is the most widespread mineral of the West. Its mines are practically inexhaustible. It is found in almost every state, and in some in great profusion. In the arts of civilization, iron is by far the most useful and valuable mineral yet known. In many places the iron ore of the West is very rich, containing sometimes as high as ninety per cent of iron. There is probably iron enough in the West to make all the railroads and all the factories and iron utensils that will ever be needed in the valley, should it be as densely populated and highly civilized as we have contemplated. Next to iron, lead is the most plentiful metal. It is found in numerous places. The lead mines of Illinois and Missouri alone will produce enormous quantities of this valuable mineral.

The

"Copper is found in some parts in abundance; and some silver has been found. And yet the West is comparatively unexplored. The speculator and the huntsman have passed over it, but the eye of SCIENCE has yet revealed but little of its mineral wealth. whole underground West is one grand lime-kiln, in which are interspersed its varied beds of minerals; and the greater portion of the soil is ready to be made into bricks of the best quality. Stone, brick, and lime, are almost as plenty as soil and water."

A German sculptor, established in the ancient city of Athens, has again discovered those celebrated kinds of marbles, the red and green antique, the quarries of which have been lost from time immemorial. He has discovered the red antique on the southern part of the chain of the Taygetus, and the green on the northern side of the island of Tinos.

beautiful town of Newburyport, Mass., became acquainted with its subject. Mr. M'Kay had just established himself in business, and won the confidence and respect of the citizens of the place. His fine marine models, his thorough workmanship, and his vigorous business habits had begun to attract the attention of the merchants of New-York and Boston, and his shipyard was fast filling with mechanVOL. V.-15

creasing business gave a new impulse to nearly all mechanical labor in the town, while the noble ships that were successively launched, returned a generous recompense to the laborers. The presiding genius who excited and controlled all this fervor of business, causing the shapeless and disjointed timbers to rise up, by a thousand hands, into the most harmonious proportions, was at that time a young man