insolubility in salt water, excite the inquiry whether the salt water of primeval lagoons may not have prevented the escape of the vegetable gases beneath, and condensed them into liquids.

Structure of the Liver.-Dr. Lionel Beale's opinion as to the structure of the vertebrate liver has been recently substantiated by the researches of Herr Hering. This histologist states that the liver is constructed like the other secreting glands. It is of the tubular type, with canals, anastomosing in every direction, and having a tendency to form a series of networks. Like other secretions, the bile travels along glandular canals surrounded by glandular cells. It is easy (he says) to observe this arrangement in the livers of vertebrates. Five or more cells are disposed in simple layers around the circular and minute aperture of a hepatic utricle seen in transverse section. This arrangement loses itself insensibly in that variety of structure in which there are no utricles properly so called. Occasionally may be seen four, three, or even only two cells, uniting to form a biliary canal. The Russian anatomist denies the existence of hepatic trabeculæ of biliferous capillaries, and believes that the biliary cells are persistent. He looks upon serpents' livers as the only organs for minute inquiries upon the subject.

The Cometary Theory of ShootingStars-to whom does it belong?-The Abbé Moigno, who has broached this question, and who evidently feels strongly on the point, makes the following observations in our contemporary, the Chemical News, of March 15th: "In a quite recent note inserted on March 3d, in the International Bulletin of the Imperial Observatory, and on the 8th inst. in the Bulletin of the Scientific Association of France, M. Le Verrier resumes on the cometary theory of shooting-stars, and persists in attributing the honor of it to himself, without condescending to mention the name of Schiaparelli, whose letters, however, have been published in a journal of great authority, the Meteorological Bulletin of the College of Rome, issued under the superintendence of the Rev. P. Secchi, and were translated by the writer before M. Le Verrier had published a single word of his researches. We are really frightened by this system of organized cool-blooded appropriation,

and more so by these lines, the effect of which has been even more coolly calculated: Sir John Herschel, who, along with his son, Alexander Herschel, has paid great attention to shooting stars, gives his complete assent to the theory of the swarms of November.' Poor M. Schiaparelli! Happily the Astronomische Nachrichten have collected the necessary papers, and he will soon be in a position of having his revenge."

New Form of Telegraphy.-An invention for the transmission of despatches by an automatic electro-chemical method has been devised by MM. Vavin and Fribourg. Its object is to utilize all the velocity of the current on telegraphic lines. The Abbé Moigno, who has called attention to it in England, gives the following description of it: It consists in the distribution of the current through as many small wires, very short and isolated, as there are signals to be transmitted, all the while only employing one wire on the main line. Each of these small isolated wires communicates, on the one hand, with a metallic plate, of a particular form, fixed in gutta-percha; and, on the other, with a metallic division of a disc, which is also formed of an insulating substance. A group of eleven of those small laminæ form a sort of cipher, which will give all the letters of the alphabet by the suppression of certain portions of the fundamental form. "Now," says the abbé, "suppose rows of these compound characters to be placed on a sheet of prepared paper of a metallic nature, the words of the telegram to be sent are written on them with isolating ink, leaving the other parts of the small 'stereotyped' blocks untouched. The consequence is that the current is intercepted at every point touched by the ink, and a letter is, imprinted on the prepared paper at the other end of the line where the telegram is to be received."

A Cheap and Ingenious Ice Machine. -M. Tonelli, says the Abbé Moigno, has just devised an ice-making machine which bids fair to become very popular in this country, since it is convenient, cheap, and efficient. The inventor calls it the "glacier roulante." It is a simple metallic cylin der mounted on a foot. The salt of soda and the salt of ammonia are added in two operations, the smaller cylinder, containing the water to be frozen, is introduced into the interior, and the orifice is close

by an india-rubber disc, and then by a cover fastened with a catch; the cylinder is then placed in a sac, or case of cloth, and it is made to roll on the table with a slight oscillatory movement given by the hand. After a lapse of ten minutes, the water in the interior of the cylinder becomes a beautiful cylinder of ice. Nothing is more simple, more economical, or more efficacious than the new "glacier roulante," which costs 10 fr., and gives us, moreover, what could not hitherto be obtained with an apparatus containing freezing mixtures-the means of freezing a decanter of water or a bottle of champagne. The apparatus, in a case, packed for travelling, with 20 kilogrammes of refrigerating materials and a measure, costs, at present, only 17. Popular Science Review.

The "Cybele Hibernica."-The invaluable work which Mr. Watson achieved for England is being imitated on the

other side of the Irish Channel. Messrs. Moore & More have issued a volume upon the subject of the distribution of Irish plants, and the facts it lays before the botanical public are both numerous and interesting. Taking the number of species for Britain proper at Mr. Watson's estimate of 1,425 species, the authors of the "Cybele Hibernica" claim for Ireland about 1,000 species. Of the 532 plants of the British type, Ireland has all, or very nearly so. The Atlantic type is the only other one where she has decidedly more than half, forty-one species out of seventy. Of the boreal species, (Highland, Scottish, and intermediate types taken together,) although there is not a single one of the twelve provinces in which there is not a hill of upward of 2,000 feet in altitude, Ireland has only 106 species out of 238. Of the 458 English and local species she has just over one half; and, finally, out of the 127 Germanic species only 18.

HISTORY OF ENGLAND, from the Fall of Wolsey to the death of Elizabeth. By James Anthony Froude, M. A. Vols. VII., VIII, IX. and X. 12mo. New

York: Charles Scribner & Co.

The four volumes of this work which are now before us carry the history of the reign of Elizabeth from her accession to the death of Maitland and Grange, and the consequent extinction of the Mary Stuart party in 1573. The wars and troubles in Ireland, the invasion of Ulster, the insurrections and death of Shan O'Neil, the quarrels of the Ormonds and the Desmonds; the career of John Knox; the reign of Mary Queen of Scots; the English maritime adventures of the sixteenth century; and the St. Bartholomew massacre, are some of the exciting topics which Mr. Froude touches with his brilliant pen, and upon which he lavishes his wonderful powers of narration and his skill of dramatic arrangement. That our readers should be satisfied with the pic tures he presents to them is not to be expected. They must not look in his pages

Mr.

for candor or judicial calmness. They will find Mary Stuart painted here in darker and more horrible colors than in any other modern work; John Knox lauded as "the one supremely great man that Scotland possessed;" and the Huguenot massacre detailed with all the exaggerations and harrowing circumstances which the partisan spirit of former historians has spread about it. Froude is too anxious to make an effective story ever to be an honest historian. A picturesque grouping of events and persons has a temptation for his refined literary taste which often overcomes the cardinal principle of historical composition, to tell the truth and the whole truth. The extravagant admiration of the Tudor dynasty with which he began to write has not cooled with the progress of his labors. The fealty which he held to Henry and Edward he has now transferred unshaken to Elizabeth; but there is this to be said for him, that Elizabeth, with ali her many faults, (and now and again even Mr. Froude recognizes some of them,) possessed many really great

We will not quarrel over this point with Professor De Vere, for nothing is more difficult than a precisely accurate judgment concerning the relative merits of the principal modern languages. We have a mother tongue with which we have every reason to be satisfied, and therefore let us try to use it well, and preserve it from corruption. On this head, we have great reason to fear for the future, and therefore we give a hearty welcome to the learned professor's suggestion that an English Academy should be constituted, which shall decide all questions respecting the spelling, pronunciation, and right use of English words. It is enough to say that this volume is from the Riverside press to guarantee its typographical excellence, and we hope this circumstance will counterbalance, in those minds disposed to be rigid in excluding everything which has not the Boston stamp, the fact that the author hails from Virginia.

ETUDES PHILOLOGIQUES SUR QUELQUES LANGUES SAUVAGES DE L'AMERIQUE. Par N. O., Ancien Missionnaire. Montreal: Dawson Brothers, 55 Grande Rue St. Jacques. 1866.

The Indian dialects of North America deserve a more attentive study than they have yet received. If the inquirer did no more than confine his researches to the languages spoken by the Algic tribes, (to use an epithet happily devised by Schoolcraft to designate the native races found east of the Alleghanies,) the compensation would be fairly worth the work. Resolved into two groups, the Algonquin and Iroquois, these varieties of speech present contrasts so striking and analogies so rare as to forbid the theory of a derivation from a common stock. The words of these two families of tongues are not only wholly dissimilar, but are, for the most

The

part, mutually unpronounceable. Algonquin cannot articulate an ƒ or an r; while the Iroquois, to whom these sounds are familiar, can make nothing of ab or an m. The two languages, with the doubtful exception of a corrupt dialect, and then in words evidently borrowed from the conqueror, agree in little else than an odd aversion to the letter l, and, we may add perhaps, in a plentiful lack of adjectives and a most oppressive multiplicity of verbs.

It is in this last-mentioned field (the analysis of Algic verbs) that our author N. O. has exerted his main strength, and has given the best proofs of his linguistic skill. The Algonquin verb to love, sakih, expatiates, in the course of twenty-two pages of this treatise, into two active and three passive voices, served by eight moods, three past tenses, two futures, and two first persons plural, with participles and gerunds to match; and all subject to fifteen accidents, corresponding to the various modifications of Semitic verbs. The Iroquois verb, though in quite another way, rejoices also in conjugations, moods, tenses, and numbers not unworthy of comparison with the Greek, subject to secondary forms more or less resembling the Semitic. The Algonquin participle may assume a negative shape, and it is this nullifying syllable si that mainly distinguishes the two words which in that language signify Catholic and Protestant. The Catholics are tcipaiatikonamatizodjik, literally, "they who make upon their own persons the sign of the wood of the dead body of Christ." "Protestants" (having as usual failed to make themselves understood except as deniers of Catholicity, and who are nothing if not negative) are teipaiatikonamatizosigok, "those who do not make upon themselves the sign of the wood of the dead body of Christ." It is to be hoped that the theologians of the two professions have shorter and more convenient terms when they resort, as they have been known to do, to the refreshment of reciprocal objurgation.

We regret that we cannot go into details. The book is pleasantly written, lucidly arranged, and full of satisfactory evidence of a keen perception of philological distinctions. We cordially recommend it to those who are ambitious to gain an insight into the philosophy of the languages, before they also (we mean the languages) take their inevitable turn to be numbered with the dead.

THE LITERARY CHARACTER OF the Bible. A Lecture delivered before the Wilmington Institute. By H. Beecher Swoope, Attorney-at-law.

The author delivered and now publishes this as "A Lawyer's tribute to the Bible," and it is surely a very graceful one. It shows a just appreciation of the literary excellences of the sacred volume, of the grandeur of its history, the depth of its philosophy, the sublimity of its poetry. We dislike, however, this consideration of the inspired volume merely as a literary production, without keeping in view its sacred character as the word of God. Containing as it does, the revelation of God's infinite perfections, it must necessarily contain all that is most beautiful, profound, sublime. We agree with the author that, "in order to bring out all the hidden beauties of the original Scriptures, we need a new translation brought fully up to the present standard of our language," and that "our present version of the Bible is sublime, grand, and beautiful, only because many of the ideas and conceptions are so essentially great and lofty that they necessarily appear magnificent in the most artless dress."

CATHOLIC ANECDOTES; OR, THE CATECHISM IN EXAMPLES. Illustrating the Sacraments. By the Brothers of the Christian Schools. Translated from the French by Mrs. J. Sadlier. NewYork: D. & J. Sadlier & Co.

This is the third and last part of this series of anecdotes. They are intended to assist those engaged in teaching the Christian doctrine, by giving them examples illustrative of the subject they may be teaching. They are arranged in the same order as the subject matter of the Catechism, and are well adapted for this purpose.

LIVES AND TIMES OF THE ROMAN PONTIFFS. 2 vols. Sadliers.

This great work, in two large quarto volumes of nearly 1000 pages each, is a translation from the French of the Chevalier Artaud de Montor. The author is both a well-informed historian and an elegant writer. Although there are some faults in the translation, and some typographical errors, the value of the work is nevertheless very great, and it is a noble addition to our Catholic literature. There is much beauty in the mechanical execution, and the illustrations are numerous. Many

of the portraits and other illustrations are excellent, though a few are quite indifferent. The preface is carelessly written, and has not the excellence which

ought to characterize the introduction to such a great work. The hand of a finished scholar would have done great good in retouching the whole work, which is, notwithstanding its minor defects, on the whole a superb one and a credit to its publishers.

CHRISTIANITY AND ITS CONFLICTS, ANCIENT AND MODERN. By E. E. Marcy, A.M. New-York: Appleton & Co. For sale by the Catholic Publication Society, 126 Nassau street.

This work comes upon our table just as we are going to press. A rapid glance over its contents shows us that it presents a comprehensive view of the church and its work, contrasted with the vain and fruitless attempts made by her enemies to set up a rival system of Christianity. It is a work which will be widely read and excite no little interest, and deserves at our hands a more extended critical notice, which we propose to give it in our next issue. It is not an ordinary book of controversy, and we advise our readers in the mean time to get a copy and read it.

H. McGrath, Philadelphia, announces a new and illustrated volume of Poems, by E. A. S.

BOOKS RECEIVED.

From P. O'SHEA, New-York. The Beauties of Faith; or, Power of Mary's Patronage. Leaves from the Ave Maria. 1 vol. 12mo, pp. 272 and 145, Price, $2. From CHARLES SCRIBNER & CO., New-York. Liber Librorum; its Structure, Limitations, and Purpose. A friendly communication to a reluctant sceptic. 1 vol. 12mo, pp. 232. Price, $1.50.--Studies in English; or, Glimpses of the Inner Life of our Language. By M. Schele de Vere, LL.D. 1 vol. 12mo. Price, $2.50.

Peter of the

From D. & J. SADLIER & Co., New-York. Castle and the Fetches. By the Brothers Banim. 1 vol. 12mo, pp. 343. Price, $1.50. From M. DOOLADY, New-York. The History of Pendennis, etc. By W. M. Thackeray. 1 vol. 16mo, pp. 479. Diamond Ed.

From the AUTHOR. Dion and the Sibyls; a Romance
of the First Century. By Miles Gerald O'Reilly,
H. M. Colonial Secretary in Bermuda. 2 vols. 8vo
Richard Bentley, London.

From LEYFOLDT & HOLT, New York, Fathers and
Sons. A Novel. By Ivan Sergheievitch Turgeneff.
Translated from the Russian by Eugene Schuyler,
Ph. D. 1 vol. 12mo. Price, $1 50.- The Man with the
Broken Far; from the French of Edmond About.
By Henry Holt. 1 vol. 12mo. Price, $1.70.
From P. F. CUNNINGHAM, Philadelphia. Stories of the
Commandments; The Seven Corporal Works of
Mercy; Carol ne, or Self-Conquest. Being vols.
16, 17, and 1s of the Young Catholic's Library. Price,
50 cents each.