portion of students in our colleges. The clear perception of truth is always grateful to the mind, and this source of interest alone can safely be relied on to attract and secure the attention of the young, and inspire them with a love of science for its own sake, the only adequate incentive to laborious and profound study. No fears need exist lest their minds should not be sufficiently tasked. Ample scope for their powers will be found in the application of general principles to particular cases, and in mastering the long and abstract demonstrations of the more difficult parts of the science. Applying the principles just laid down to Mr. Sherwin's treatise, we do not hesitate to say, that it possesses, in an uncommon degree, all the requisites of a good text-book. He is evidently a close observer of the mental operations of the young, and intimately acquainted with the difficulties which they meet with in the study of Algebra. With an intimate knowledge of their wants, which is hardly less important as a qualification for the task he has undertaken, than an accurate acquaintance with the science itself, he unites uncommon skill in communicating the exact information needed, in the precise form in which it is most readily apprehended by them. The difficulties which will be met with in Mr. Sherwin's book, in understanding the principles of Algebra, are inherent in the subject itself, not dependent on his mode of treating it; and these, together with the numerous examples for practice which the work contains, will abundantly task the learner's powers. The author manifests a familiar knowledge of his subject, and his treatise is characterized throughout by sound judgment in the selection and arrangement of its materials, by neatness and precision of expression, and, above all, by a skilful adaptation to the capacities and wants of the class of learners for whom it is designed. 11. Youth; or, Scenes from the Past, and other Poems. By WILLIAM PLUMER, Jr. Boston: Little & Brown. 1841. pp. 144. THE poems in this volume are chiefly sonnets. A few short pieces in other forms are intermingled. They are a sort of poetical history of the author's life, delineating successively the "scenes of the past," through the various stages of childhood, schoolboy days, entering college, college life and its transitions, graduation, and so on. We opened the volume with some misgivings. Sonnets are not generally the most attracVOL. LIV. - No. 114. 31 tive reading; even the best of those of Petrarch himself. We have generally been obliged to take them in homœopathic doses. The form of the sonnet is too artificial for our free and bold language easily to yield to; the necessity of confining the thought within a certain specified number of lines, and, — when the strict rules of the sonnet are adhered to, — of arranging the rhymes in a particular order, is too much like a strait jacket for the "undoubted liberties" of the English Muse. But Mr. Plumer's book is exceedingly pleasing. His language is easy, flowing, and pure. He never transcends the boundaries of good taste. The poetry is not of a high or brilliant order; but it breathes a pure and gentle spirit, and shows a refined sensibility to the beauties of nature, the charms of literature, and the best feelings of the heart. Its metrical structure is correct and harmonious. The descriptions that here and there occur are delicately and elegantly drawn ; the reflections are well expressed; and the imagery is all of a poetical character. As a fair specimen of our poet's skill, we may take two sonnets on Shakspeare. "Would that my verse were worthier, while I sing With inbred wisdom: not earth's sagest pen That glanced o'er earth, and all its movements viewed. Till highest truths, in richest fancy dressed, II. "When he speaks, The air, a chartered libertine, is still; HENRY V. "Not greatly did he err, the priest, who said That wisdom here, as at the fountain head, Her pure streams poured, her richest verdure spread. Bright child of fancy! sporting on the verge Surveyed all worlds, and harmonized the whole."-pp. 98, 99. 12. Notes on the Use of Anthracite in the Manufacture of Iron. 156. PROFESSOR JOHNSON has made himself favorably known by his able contributions to various scientific publications, and by the laborious and valuable experiments which he conducted as Chairman of a Committee of the Franklin Institute, at the expense of the government of the United States, on the strength of different kinds of iron, and of iron at different temperatures, and on the latent heat of steam. The present treatise exhibits evidence of good taste, sound judgment, careful investigation, and no mean qualifications for original scientific research. The subject which it discusses is one of great importance. Iron, intrinsically the most valuable of metals, is consumed to an immense extent; and from the expansion of long-established branches of manufactures, and the rapid multiplication of the uses to which it is applied, its consumption is constantly increasing. There is no reason to doubt that the progress of civilization and of the useful arts will create new demands for it, as vast and as little foreseen, as that which has arisen from the invention of the railroad. So intimately is iron connected with the physical well-being of individuals and the advancement of society, that the improvement of its quality and the reduction of its cost may justly be regarded as important public objects. Viewed in this light, the act passed by the legislature of the State of Pennsylvania, in the year 1836, to encourage attempts to substitute mineral coal for charcoal, the fuel which has heretofore been used in that State in the manufacture of iron, and of which the supply must constantly diminish as the forests disappear, was a most judicious measure. The objects contemplated by it have been completely achieved. Anthracite is now used with success in Pennsylvania in all the processes, by which iron is extracted from the native ore, and converted into articles ready for the market. In England, and on the continent of Europe, coke has heretofore been generally employed in the smelting of iron. Abortive attempts to use anthracite with cold blast were formerly made in Pennsylvania, in Wales, and in France. It was not until the year 1837, when hot blast was substituted for cold, that any considerable success crowned the attempts to use anthracite in that process. Besides the saving of expense thus effected, the quality of the iron produced has been improved. Mr. Crane stated, at the meeting of the British Association for the year 1837, that iron, manufactured with anthracite and hot blast at the Yngscedwin iron works, in South Wales, had been found to be stronger than any ever before smelted at those works. Professor Johnson describes a great variety of experiments relating to the use of anthracite in the manufacture of iron, which, together with his deductions from them, possess great value for those persons who are practically engaged in that business. The latter part of his book is devoted to the subject of the evaporative power of anthracite, and contains, in addition to much other valuable matter, accounts of very laborious and carefully conducted experiments by Mr. A. A. Hayes, of Roxbury, and Dr. S. L. Dana and Mr. James B. Francis, of Lowell, of great importance in relation to the economical generation of steam. It is but an act of justice to add, that Professor Johnson's book is a beautiful specimen of the typography for procuring which the publishers are already so advantageously known. 13.- Poems, Narrative and Lyrical. By WILLIAM MOTHERWELL. Boston William D. Ticknor. 1841. 16mo. pp. 220. THIS elegant reprint of Motherwell will be welcomed by all the lovers of poetry among us. Some of the poems contained in this volume are very remarkable productions. The writer's mind seems to have been deeply imbued with the peculiar spirit of northern literature, which he has reproduced with singular beauty and effect, though somewhat softened by the elegances of modern civilization. The bold, daring, abrupt character of the old Scaldic and ballad poetry, seems to have taken full possession of his genius. The editor, with a true appreciation of Motherwell's peculiar turn, remarks; "In his Scandinavian poetry, the spirit of an ancient Scald seems in truth to peal forth. The notes are not those of a soft lute, from silken string or silver wire, but are tones wrung from one of their own rude harps, sinew-strung, whose measures are marked by the sword-struck shield, and whose pauses are filled by the shout of the warrior or the roar of the keel-cleft wave." It is to subjects such as are most of those treated by the Muse of Motherwell, that the Anglo-Saxon part of our English language is most happily adapted. The poet has not failed to perceive this, and to use, to a great extent, the short, sharp, and ringing words, which have come down to us from our blueeyed and light-haired Saxon ancestors. With what spiritstirring effect this has been done, the reader will see in "The Battle-flag of Sigurd." Take a few lines as an illustration ; "Nor swifter from the well-bent bow Can feathered shaft be sped, Than o'er the ocean's flood of snow Their snorting galleys tread. Then lift the can to bearded lip, And smite each sounding shield, Wassaile! to every dark-ribbed ship, To every battle-field!" - pp. 19, 20. "The wooing song of Jarl Egill Skallagrim," whose very name, like a handsome face, must have been a letter of recommendation to the "Bright Maiden of Orkney," is another happy and vigorous imitation of the old northern poetry. We give the conclusion, by way of encouragement to all faint-hearted suitors, to remember the old proverb which applies to their case; Away and away then, 66 I have thy small hand; The wing of black night, That shadows forth ruin O'er islands of light: Once more on its long deck, Behind us the gale, Thou shalt see how before it Great kingdoms do quail; Thou shalt see then how truly, My noble-souled maid, The ransom of kings can Be won by this blade. So bravely Jarl Egill did soothe the pale trembler. |