ARTICLE IX.

CRITICAL NOTICES.

1.-Scripturae Linguaeque Phoeniciae Monumenta quotquot super. sunt edita et inedita ad autographorum optimorumque exem plorum fidem edidit, additisque de Scriptura et Lingua Phoe nicum commentariis, illustravit Gul. Gesenius. Lipsiae, 1837. pp. 481 to.

Ir is well known that Gesenius, some time since, turned aside from the Hebrew Thesaurus to the investigation of the Phoenician language, with the special design of studying its relations to the Hebrew. This work is the fruit of his studies. It consists of a quarto of nearly 500 pages of text, and another thin quarto, containing 76 lithographs of alphabets, coins, inscriptions, etc., very neatly done. Great interest has long been felt in the study of these remains of antiquity. But little progress, however, has hitherto been made in attempts to arrange them and to decipher their meaning. This has been owing to several reasons; one has been a want of the necessary aids to the study. The remains themselves, as well as the commen taries of learned men upon them, are contained in so many works, some of them expensive ones, and widely scattered over many countries, that they could not be collected together without much labor and expense. Besides, the fac similes of the inscriptions are not accurately edited. Some were negligently taken from autographs of little or of no authority. Those editions of the remains whose integrity and fidelity no one could doubt, are so arranged, that one who should confine his attention to the figures, would lose his pains. In the third place, we have wanted a full and critical exposition of Phoenician palaeography, exhibiting at once the obser vations of former writers, arranged in proper order, and the results of as many new investigations as possible, filling up the immense lacunae in this subject left by former writers, and thus laying more stable foundations. The renewed dispute respecting the nature of the Phoenician and Punic dialect, has been a great impediment to progress in these investigations. Bochart and many others have supposed that the Phoenician language, with a few exceptions, was identical with the Hebrew. The late learned Hamaker calls this a perverse and rash opinion, and attempts to show that the Phoenician is composed of forms from all the Semitic dialects.

Such being the circumstances in which this subject is placed, Gesenius has attempted to give, in a regular digest, all the monuments, edited or inedited, which have survived the wreck of Phoenician lite

rature. Spurious and doubtful remains are rejected. If new monuments, or more perfect copies of those which now exist, should be discovered, these can be appended in a supplement to the present work. In the second place, the author has taken great pains to give the most perfect copies of the existing remains, corrected where it could be done, by the original autographs. About eighteen months were spent by the author, in London and Leyden, in examining and copying some very important relics. Special pains were also taken to ascertain the value of the Phoenician remains in Paris, Italy, Sicily, Malta, Athens, Egypt, North Africa, etc. In the third place, instead of giving a prominent position to a delineation of palaeography, special pains have been taken with the commentaries on the remains themselves. In addition to the remarks on the Numidian and Phoenician letters, particular attention has been given to the subject of the Libyan letters, which have hitherto been nearly unknown, and in illustrating whose origin and history palaeographists may now employ their talents. Again, the agreement between the remains of the Phoenician, Punic and Numidian dialects and the Hebrew is pointed out, while what have been regarded as Arabisms, Syraisms, Samaritanisms, etc., are shown to rest on a false interpretation of the examples. All the remains of these dialects, of every age, are collected and arranged in proper order. Great labor has been bestowed on this part.

From these investigations, some valuable light has been drawn for the illustration of sacred and profane studies. The mode of writing the Hebrew language, and the reasons for some of its usages, may be rendered more certain. The Aramaean-Egyptian literature, which was as it were the origin and cradle of written language, is here placed very clearly before us. Certain Hebrew words, and those of rare occurrence in the Old Testament, are explained by the more frequent use of the same in the Phoenician. The pronunciation and grammatical conformation of the Hebrew, which is contained in the Masoretic points, are greatly confirmed by the pronunciation of the Punic language.

We must here close our account of these interesting volumes, by giving a brief synopsis of the contents. Book I. Phoenician Palaeography. Literary and bibliographical history, time and countries in which the Phoenician language was used, Phoenician and Numidian alphabet, the Aramaean-Egyptian mode of writing, various kinds of writing which took their rise from Phoenicia, numeral signs. Book II. Inscriptions found at Malta, Athens, Sicily, Sardinia, Carthage, Egypt, etc. Book III. Phoenician coins. Book IV. Phoenician language. Nature and history of the language, remains of the language in inscriptions and coins, remains in Greek and Roman writers, Phoenician and Punic grammar. Various appendices and

indices close the work.

2.-Probus: or Rome in the Third Century. In Letters from Lucius M. Piso from Rome, to Fausta the daughter of Gracchus at Palmyra. New York: C. S. Francis.-Boston: Joseph H. Francis. 1838. 2 vols. 18mo. pp. 257, 250.

These volumes, written, as we learn, by the Rev. William Ware, late of New York city, are a continuation, in some sort, of the Letters from Palmyra, briefly noticed in the Repository Vol. XI. p. 502. The latter describe Palmyra and its fortunes under Zenobia, and the victories of Aurelian which resulted in the eclipse of that splendid star in the east. A great variety of interesting information is communicated touching contemporaneous manners, customs, arts, sciences, religions, etc., invested in a style of finished elegance. In the character of the Jew, Isaac, the Old Testament faith is attempted to be delineated, and in the character of Probus, the persecuted religion of Jesus. In the volumes before us, we recognize the same graphic powers of description, the same accurate knowledge of classical and ecclesiastical affairs, the same lofty spirit, and the same pure and beautiful style. There are some passages of great power, in which the author succeeds in throwing the deepest interest into his narrative. The characters of Macer, Fronto and Aurelian, are drawn with remarkable distinctness and individuality. The unutterable abominations and the horrible cruelties, which were the sport and the every-day business of the Romans in the decline of the empire, are laid bare by this powerful writer. As in the former case, however, so here, we do not recognize the Christianity of the primitive ages. It is not, if we can judge, the religion which beams on every page of the New Testament. At least, some of the main features of this religion are wanting. The doctrine of the divine unity and of the immortality of the soul are fully recognized. But we do not see an atoning and divine Saviour. It is "Jesus of Nazareth," "a prophet and messenger of God," "a great moral and religious reformer, endowed with the wisdom and power of the supreme God,” “ an example of what should afterwards happen to all his followers," etc.* It is "the great God our Saviour," "the God over all blessed forever," "" the true God and eternal life," that animate and dignify the writings of Paul and of John. It was not by any means the doctrines of natural religion which strengthened the first Christian martyrs to meet calmly the pincers, the wheel, the lions, and the axe. It was faith in a crucified and almighty Redeemer, who had washed them from their sins in his own blood, and who had saved them from eternal perdition, which filled their souls with holy serenity when their limbs were torn asunder. The volumes have great literary

See the Defence which Probus made before Aurelian, Vol. II. pp. 151

merit. We are sorry that we must consider the Christianity developed in them to be fundamentally defective.

3. Journal of the Statistical Society of London. No. II. June, 1838. pp. 64. No. III. July, 1838. pp. 70.

The first article in the June No. of this work is on the statistics of the copper mines in Cornwall, by sir Charles Lemon. Previously to A. D. 1700, the copper ore produced in Cornwall was principally, if not wholly, from the tin mines, or at least from mines originally worked for tin. The number of persons employed in the mines in 1837, is calculated to have been 28,000. Between one third and one half are women and boys. About 60,000 tons of coal are annually consumed at the mines. The wages of the people employed in 1837, in the copper mines and in the tin and copper, (so far as the copper is concerned,) were about £416,000. The annual consumption of gunpowder is about 300 tons. The total ores of the county of Cornwall are, on an average, about 128,000 tons. The number of male deaths, between the ages of ten and sixty, in the three great mining parishes, (Gwennah for 18 months, Redruth for 7 years, Illogan for 5 years,) was 452. Of these, 52 were from mine accidents, and 242 from diseases of the chest; the latter caused almost entirely from the effort of ascending from the greatest depths with exhausted strength. Both these causes of mortality are in the process of being removed.

The sixth article is on the mortality of amputation, by B. Phillips F. R. S. The amputations included in the table below, are those of the arm and leg. The whole of them have been performed within the last four years, in civil hospitals, and in the private practice of hospital surgeons.

France,

Germany, 109

Deaths.

Cases.
203

United States, 95

Great Britain, 233

53

22.74

640

150

The ninth article contains some statements derived from the annual report of the statistical society of Saxony, presented Dec. 22, 1837. The Directory of the society collects, arranges, and enters into journals, registers, and other books for this purpose, all accurate inforImation which would be serviceable to the State. The facts are afterwards methodically transferred to separate ledgers, each appropriated to an especial subject; and those of peculiar importance, which present information directly useful to the public, are extracted and laid before the ministers of the government; while those of more general utility receive publicity in the pages of periodicals.

In a subsequent article, we have some very valuable statistics on the subject of intoxication as the source of crime. Between October, 1832, and July, 1837, just 1000 persons were confined in the jail at Preston for felonies. Of these, 455 or 45 per cent. arose from drunkenness directly connected with crime.

The first article in the July No. is on the sickness and mortality among the British troops in the West Indies. The number of white troops employed on the Leeward command during the 20 years from 1817 to 1836, has varied from 3265 to 5462, the average being 4333. Of this force there died in 20 years, 7869, being about 85 per 1000 of the strength annually, or nearly six times as many as among the same class of troops in Great Britain, where the mortality is 15 per 1000 annually. Some very valuable remarks are made on the healthfulness of different islands. Tobago is the most remarkable for fever, Dominica for diseases of the bowels and the brain, Barbadoes for those of the lungs, Grenada, for those of the liver, while Trinidad is noted for its dropsies.

The second article is on the relative frequency of pulmonary consumption and diseases of the heart in Great Britain, by John Clendinning M. D., a hospital surgeon in London. Out of a total of 520 to 530 cases examined, from 170 to 180, or about 33 per cent. were cases of disease of the heart. The doctor is inclined to think that there may be considerable exaggeration in respect to the opinion of the number of deaths by pulmonary consumption.-Among the other important articles in this number are observations on emigration from the United Kingdom, on schools in Massachusetts, on the poorest class in Glasgow, etc.

4.-Meditations on the Last Days of Christ, consisting of ten sermons, preached at Constantinople and Odessa. By William G. Schauffler, Missionary of the A. B. C. F. M. Boston: William Pierce, 1837. pp. 380.

The subjects of these Meditations are, Christ's entrance into Jerusalem; Father, glorify thy name; the great passover; Christ in Gethsemane; capture, arraignment and condemnation of Christ; behold your king; the scene of Golgotha; the penitent thief on the cross; the burial of Christ; the great morning; the walk to Emmaus; the great evening; Thomas's conversion; meeting at the sea of Tiberias; meeting of the five hundred brethren; and the ascension of our Lord.

We ought to ask pardon of our readers for not recommending to them this unassuming volume before. Our attention has been drawn to it by reading a well-written review of it in the Christian Spectator. It came into the world rather as an orphan. He who would naturally have cared for it was several thousand miles off. As for the proof-man, it either had none at all, or a very careless one.