HINSCHIUS, P. Das Kirchenrecht der Katholiken u. Protestanten in Deutschland. 3. Bd. 2. Hälfte. 1. Abth Berlin: Guttentag. 10 M. während e. 18jähr. Aufenthalts in aer Kolonie Surinam. Italien. 1. Hft. Stuttgart: Spemann. 2 M. 50 Pf. LAURIE, A. Scènes de la Vie de Collége dans tous les Pays: ning of 1883. Secondly, Mr. Fortnum rightly speaks of the erection of a "new Ashmolean as "a beautiful dream." We hope to see it realised, but it will be some years before we shall be able to find the money. In the meanwhile, he may, I think, feel tolerably certain that the upper room of the Ashmolean will be restored la Vie de Collége en Angleterre. Paris: Hetzel. 7 fr. PALUMBO, V. D. L' Alfabeto dell' Amore. Canti Rodii. to archaeological purposes; and a proposal to this Traduzione dal greco medievale. Leipzig: Gerhard. effect will be laid before the university early 2 M. BARCKY, F. Le Mot et la Chose. Paris: Ollendorff. 3 fr. 50 c. next year. Thirdly, a preliminary step has VANZOLINI, G. Istorie delle Pitture in Majoliche Metaur- been taken towards an ultimate concentration of the scattered collections by the appointment of a committee to consider the question of a complete and classified catalogue of all the Oriental and classical antiquities in Oxford. This committee is now at work. Lastly, I may mention, as an indication of our growing interest in archaeological studies, that an attempt is being made, by means of private subscriptions, to form a good working collection of casts, and thus provide the necessary apparatus for archaeological teaching. We have limited our ensi e delle Attinenti ad Esse. Milano: Dumolard. 25 fr. THEOLOGY. NILLES, N. Kalendarium manuale utriusque ecclesiae orientalis et occidentals. Tom. 2. Inusbruck: Rauch. 9 M. HISTORY. BANQUIERS, Les, et les quatre Canges à Liége avant 1468. Bruxelles: van Trigt. 3 fr. were sung by the choir or read by the deacon and sub-deacon at High Mass, and which were usually contained in separate volumes known as the Antiphonarium, Epistolarium, &c. The priest was not bound then, as now, to repeat them privately; and, if he was so bound, the mere catchwords would have been insufficient for the purpose, unless he was endowed with almost superhuman powers of memory. III-A page of the Kalendar written in, or shortly after, 969, as the Paschal Tables run from that year up to 1006. At the top of this page there is a blue line, much faded, recording the sign of the Zodiac : Recherches sur la Numismatique et la Sigillo- selves for the present to an outlay of £800; and, column contains the golden number. The graphie des Normands de Sicile et d'Italie. Paris: Leroux. 24 fr. GIRAUDET, E. Les Origines de l'Imprimerie à Tours (1457GLASSON, E. Histoire du Droit et des Institutions politiques, civiles et judiciaires de l'Angleterre comparés au Droit et aux Institutions de la France depuis leur Origine jusqu'à 1550). Tours: Imp. Rouillé-Ladevèze. nos Jours. T. 1. Epoque anglo-saxonne. Paris: PedoneLauriel. Gallen: Huber. 9 M. KUCHIMKISTER, C., niiwe Casus Monasterii sancti Galli. St. MONUMENTA Germaniae historica. Legum sectio II. Capitularia regum Francorum. 7 M. Scriptorum tom. XIII. Hannover: Hahn. 40 M. 2. Bd. Malacologische Untersuchungen v. R. Bergh. Suppl.-Hft. II. Wiesbaden: Kreidel. 20 M. SIMONCELLI, A. L' Uomo ed il Bruto paragonati sotto d' Aspetto psicologico metafisico. Verona: Drucker & Tedeschi. 10 fr. PHILOLOGY, ETC. BACHER, W. Abraham Ibn Esra als Grammatiker. Ein Agustum mensem Leo feruidus igne perurit." Other lines, above and below, record the number of the days of the month, and of the hours of day and night. On the left-hand side of the page there are nine perpendicular columns of letters, or numbers, between parallel lines finely ruled with a hard point. The first next five columns contain letters variously arranged, and technically entitled "Vocationes," having reference to the solar and lunar column contains the dominical letters. The seventh and eighth columns give the day of the month according to the Roman calculation. The ninth column contains the capital letters F and S, which are prefixed, by way of distinction, to certain festivals. Each F and S is ornamented with two middle points, that on the right hand being rather higher than that on the left. F, which probably stands for "Festum " or for "Dies feriatus," is prefixed to four greater festivals, which are also distinguished from the rest by being written in small rustic capitals. S is prefixed to thirteen minor festivals. Neither the principle of selection nor the meaning of the prefixed is obvious. Such distinctions as 66 and "semi-duplex" do not existed in the tenth century. tables which follow the Kalendar. The sixth simplex" seem to have There are three entries of a local character on this page which are of considerable importance as indicating the place in which the Kalendar was written. I.-The opening page of the Canon of the Mass, richly ornamented in the Franco-Saxon style of the ninth-tenth century. There is a broad square "IX. Kal. [Sept.] Sci Patricii Senioris." framework, with four smaller squares, by way This is not the Apostle of Ireland, whose of ornament, at the four corners. Its ground- commemoration always occurs on March 17, work is gold with vermilion outlines, the centre but a less-known namesake, who is sometimes, being filled up with light interlaced work on a as here, called "St. Patrick Senior," some'Life of St. Dundark ground. The central portion of the page times, as in the Arras MS. " is occupied with the words "Te igitur" in large stan, ""St. Patrick Junior." He was, golden uncials edged with vermilion. The tionally, the first Abbot of Glastonbury. stem of the capital T terminates in two dragons' "IV. Kal. [Sept.] Obitus Elfwini Episcopi." heads with red out-stretched tongues. A large This Elfwin, whose obit is entered secunda E in a fancy framework is placed on the right-manu by an early Anglo-Saxon scribe, died in SPIEGEL, F. Die altpersischen Keilinschriften. Im Grund- hand side of the T, with the word "igitur" 998. He was Bishop of Wells, within which diocese Glastonbury is situated. BUCHHOLZ, E. Leipzig: Engelmann. 6 M. FRIGELL, A. Epilegomena ad T. Livii librum vicesimum primum. Upsala: Akademische Buchhandlung. 1 M. 40 Pt. PIERRET, P. Le Décret trilingue du Canope. Paris: Leroux. 10 fr. II. The concluding portion of the Mass for Easter Eve and the opening portion of the Mass for Easter Day. The heading of the Easter Mass, and the first four lines of its collect, are written in large gold uncials. The titles of the separate portions of the Mass are written in I hope that I may be allowed to say a few rustic capitals. The large initial D on this page words by way of supplement to Mr. Fortnum's has a gold groundwork, edged with red and remarks, in the last number of the ACADEMY, on black, and is otherwise elaborately shaped and our archaeological collections here. Of his ornamented. On the left-hand margin the catchstrictures on their present neglected condition, words of the Epistle and Gospel have been added I will only say that they are perfectly just and secunda manu in the eleventh century. Below well deserved. But it may interest the readers them the catchwords of the remaining portions of the ACADEMY to know what are the prospects of the Mass have been written prima manu of improvement, and how far the authorities of early in the tenth century. They have become the university are alive to the necessities of the much worn by the finger-marks of priests, who case. In the first place, the want, mentioned used the book holding it open by its left-hand by Mr. Fortnum, of a Professorship of Archae- corner. This arrangement of catchwords is ology, will be very shortly supplied. The Uni- very unusual, and is only found, as far as my versity Commissioners have sanctioned the knowledge goes, in two other sacramentaries, creation of such a professorship, Lincoln Col- the Codex Othobonianus at Rome, and the Codex lege has offered to endow it, and the first pro- Theodericensis I. at Rheims. Its object is not fessor will probably be appointed at the begin- obvious. They are the parts of the service which tradi "II. Kal. [Sept.] In Glasstonia Sci. Aidani Episcopi." St. Aidan, the Celtic Bishop of Lindisfarne, died in 651, but his name is here connected with Glastonbury, in the South of England. Now, William of Malmesbury, writing about the antiquities of Glastonbury early in the twelfth century, tells his readers that, in 75, Tica, Abbot of that monastery, brought the relics of St. Aidan, and of a great many other saints, from the North of England to his Southern home to protect them from the ravages of the Danes. This has generally been regarded as a somewhat incredible story, e here we have a tenth-century corroboration of a portion of it. These entries point to the monastery of Glastonbury, in the Diocese of Wells, as the place where the Kalendar was written. IV. One of the pages following the Kalendar containing a representation of Death. The only dress of this figure is a shaggy girdle round the loins; a pair of horns spring upwards from the head; the enlarged ears flap like leaves; the hair of the head develops outwards into six dragons, three on the right, three on the left-hand side; a pair of wings are fitted to the shoulders; there is hair on the chin and chest; the elbows, knees, fingers, and toes are furnished with claws or spurs; both hands are extended, displaying a scroll. Above the figure, on either side of it, on the scroll in its hands, and on the diamond-shaped shield in the left-hand lower corner, are letters or figures connected with the chances of death, sickness, success in business, &c. The whole design is borrowed from, and is described as, the Sphere of Apuleius, the well-known author of "The Golden Ass." This Sphere, varying somewhat from its present form, is printed in Barthii Comment., libri lx. (Frankfort, 1624), col. 1404. It is a strong proof of the superstition of the clergy, and of the credulity of the age, that a fortune-telling picture should be borrowed from such a quarter, and inserted in one of the chief missals of Exeter Cathedral. Its match might be found nowadays in the hands of strolling Gipsies on the Epsom Downs, but anyone hawking it in the streets of our towns would assuredly be liable to punishment for attempting to obtain money by false pretences. V.-Several pages of Anglo-Saxon manumissions. The text of some of the less-known passages will appear in extenso in the pages of the Revue celtique, and need not be reproduced here. Their interest lies chiefly in the following points: (a) The preservation of several otherwise unknown names of places and persons in Devon and Cornwall, some of which have an evidently Celtic ring about them. (b) An allusion to the occupation of women in the "hlaf bryttan," "loaf distributor," as a description of Elfgith in line 10. (c) Proof of the existence in Great Britain of a custom, unevidenced hitherto by any other Anglo-Saxon documents, of manu mitting slaves at places where four roads meet, "on feower wegas," line 11. Its use in 66 egin, "factum;" dau, a variation of gau, au, the meaning of the statement in the prospectus that none of the existing versions comprise much more than a third of the original, and to have taken the word "version" to mean (as it is sometimes, though somewhat incorrectly, employed) "text," while the fact is that it was used in the ordinary sense of "translation.' This misapprehension on Dr. Badger's part granted, it is easy to understand why my answer as to the source of the translation did not entirely satisfy him, and still easier to satisfy the queries raised by his letter. 1. The texts by collation with which Mr. Payne's translation of the Macnaghten edition is supplemented and revised are those of Boulak (that used by Mr. Lane) and Breslau, with occasional reference to the earlier-incomplete Calcutta edition of the first 200 nights. The date of the Macnaghten edition should have been given by me as 1839, &c., although I believe that, as a matter of fact, the first volume was actually published in 1838, but post-dated in accordance with a not uncommon, though vexatious, custom. If, on the contrary, we give as a literal translation of nik egin daut: nik, “ego; " egin, "factum;" dau, "habeo illud; t, ego," or "ego feci illud ego," in admitting that the verb is materially expressed, then the rendering of nik by "ego" in the first phrase nik egina would produce the following nonsense:-"Ego factum illud" for the rendering of "made by me." It appears, therefore, that the translation of k by English "by," or Latin "a, ab, abs," is the only way left to us for avoiding the absurdity of regarding a Basque noun followed by 2. The Boulak text is, I believe, as complete the casual suffix k in the singular number, as any in existence. Macnaghten's edition is now as a nominative subject of a transitive supposed to have been printed from another verb, and now as an indirect regimen or an copy of the same MS.; and the two texts offer ablative; and, as the admission of such an but slight discrepancies, while they not unablative bears, as a necessary consequence, the frequently correct each other in doubtful suppression of the transitive verb ("a me feci passages. The Macnaghten edition, perhaps, on illud ego," for the rendering of "I have made the whole, contains somewhat fewer important it," being even more nonsensical than " ego errors, while it is incomparably better printed factum illud" for that of "made by me "), it than the Boulak, which is a vile specimen of follows that the theory we have developed in native typography. But while Mr. Lane's our "Verbe basque en tableaux" receives a original may be considered as substantially further confirmation by the sense of the Latin complete, the same qualification cannot be ablative attributed to k, either in nik egiña, or applied to that gentleman's translation, as Dr. in nik egin daut. L.-L. BONAPARTE. Badger may readily satisfy himself by a comparison of the two books. Mr. Lane, for reasons which were no doubt satisfactory to himself, omitted, on the evidence of his own notes, to render into English no less than eleven of the longest stories of the collection, occupying nearly 1,100 pages of the 3,000 of the Macnaghten edition, besides at least eighty THE ALLEGED STATUE OF MARCO POLO Wark: Dec. 12, 1881. The question about the supposed statue of or ninety of the shorter stories; and he England has been inferred by Mr. Kemble from Mr. Hilderic Friend's letter) from an original also considerably abridged some of the tales its use among continental Teutonic nations, and passages in the Leofric Missal prove the correctness of his inference. Publicity was symbolised and freedom was secured by the choice of such a locality; and the manumission in the Temple of the 500 Genii at Canton, In addition actually translated by him. to this, he omitted to translate a very large portion of the verse; and, these omissions being allowed for, it is evident that Mr. Lane's translation must be ranked among those versions comprise much more than a third of the Iwas entered, in the same way as manumissions / labours in China. He was afterwards canonised. which (in the words of the prospectus) do not made before the altar, in the service-book of the nearest cathedral or important abbey church. I shall be happy to send a set of the photographs on which the above remarks are based, on the receipt of forty-three stamps or an equivalent P.O.O., and shall be thankful for further elucidation of the various points of liturgical, palaeographical, and historical interest which they present. F. E. WARREN. THE BASQUE SINGULAR SUFFIX-K. 6 Norfolk Terrace, Bayswater, W.: Dec. 8, 1881. In these two phrases-nik egiña, "made by me," and nik egin daut, "I have made it". nik represents "by me "in the first and "I" in the second instance. Nik is nothing else than the personal pronoun ni, "I," followed by the casual suffix k. The only way to understand how the same word may represent Latin "a me" in the first and "ego in the second phrase consists in admitting that the suffix k is in both instances capable of being rendered by the ablative, although the Basques, with great propriety, call it "active." In fact, the strictly literal translation of nik egiña is—ni, "me; "k, "a;" egin, "factum; a, "illud," a me factum illud;" while nik egin daut may be strictly rendered by ni, "me; "k, "a; or The Chinese inscription, "Shen chu tsun che," according to Julien's Méthode, is equivalent 66 to San-tchou-tsun-ché," which I take to be "the Saint of Sun Ju(au) or Sun S. BEAL. PS.-The case is unaltered even if, as Halde says, the island called Sangian, on which St. Francis Xavier died, is a corruption of "Chang tchouen san," as the Chinese symbols "Shen chu" will equally well stand for Chan chou(en) (vide Julien sub vv.). The inscription would then read "The Saint (tsun ché) of Chan Chu (Chang tchouen)." THE BOOK OF THE original. With regard to the correspondence in the ACADEMY respecting the "new complete transDulation" of The Thousand and One Nights, I think it right to say that my sympathies are entirely with the Rev. Dr. Badger. If the work be ever published, I hope that the attention of the proper authorities may be called to it with a view to its suppression. If Mr. Payne be, Persian scholar, both Orientalists and the as I am glad to hear, a good Arabic and general literary public have need of his talents and labour in other fields. There are plenty of works in both languages in the departments of poetry, history, biography, mathematics, and philosophy which require to be edited and translated before we can arrive at a right appreciation of Arabic and Persian scholarship in its palmy days, THOUSAND NIGHTS AND 8 Oxford Road, Kilburn: Dec. 12, 1881. In reply to Dr. Badger's courteous letter of the 5th inst. he appears to have misapprehended WM. WRIGHT. THE SCENE OF GRAY'S "ELEGY." and Part iii., "On the Particle." Parts i. St-Jean-de-Luz: Dec. 5, 1881.1 The reviewer of Booth's Poetical Reader (ACADEMY, November 26, p. 399) remarks, "After a recent visit to Stoke Pogis, we feel more than doubtful whether Gray wrote his Elegy there. By-the-way, is there any authority for this tradition ?" In default of better evidence, I can testify that about thirty-five years ago this was the report of the country-side, and that the tradition was said to date from the end of the last century. Gray's life covers 1716-71. Nearly in front of Penn's house, but separated from it by the park and road, was then an old farmhouse, with a fine avenue in front (though broken by the road) leading towards the house or the church. This farm was then occupied by a family named Randall, the father somewhat over middle-age, the children about eighteen or twenty. The tradition was that Gray had been in the habit of staying at this house, formerly the Manor House, and that he wrote both the "Elegy" and the "Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College" while on a visit there. A spot was pointed out to me in the park on a slight rise, more in front of Penn's house than the monument, and nearly on a line between the latter and the farmhouse, whence a view of Eton College could be obtained before the trees of the avenue had attained their then height. Though as a lad I have passed more than once within a few yards, I never went quite up to the spot, because I was told that the view could no longer be seen. I cannot distinctly remember whether the tradition was said to come from a grandfather of the Randalls, or merely from a former occupant of the farm, but it was from an old man who had occupied the house in a former generation. It was told me by more than one of the farmers and country-people of the neigh-be bourhood; and I have an impression of having once heard a confused story from a very old hedger about "a Muster Gray who did something there." W. WEBSTER. THE JAIN STATUE AT SRAVANBELGOLA. London: Dec. 10, 1881. May I correct a slight error which has crept into the ACADEMY of this day, p. 441, col. 1 ? The colossal nude figure, of which I exhibited a photograph to the Society of Antiquaries on December 1, and which surmounts the Jain temple of Sravanbelgola, whence I brought the stone which I then presented to the society, is that of Gometesvara, not Buddha. Buddha is not worshipped by the Jains; nor are Buddhist statues ever nude, although those of the Jains are so invariably. H. S. ASHBEE. the book. grammar is, in my estimation, the best Arabic which we possess; and Mr. William Wright's emended English version of the work,-which has already reached a second edition, for comprehensiveness of matter and simplicity of arrangement leaves little to be desired. A great defect in all the existing native Arabic grammars has been supplied, more or less completely, in these European compilations. I refer to the exhibition of the conjugation of verbs, declension of nouns, &c., in paradigmata, presenting to the reader at a glance what might occupy hours of his time to discover from the text. The most useful handbook of the kind known to me is "The Elements and Forms of Arabic Grammar tabularly described," compiled by John Augustus Vullers, and published at Bonn in 1832. Mr. Howell will, I trust, pardon the addition of these paradigmata to his Grammar, liberty which I take in suggesting that the as an appendix, would greatly enhance its value and utility. His Grammar, as it stands, or rather the two parts under review, display a knowledge of Arabic possessed at the present day by very few Anglo-Indians, combined with an amount of critical acumen worthy of a ripe scholar. And if to this we take into consideration the fact that the work was compiled during the author's leisure moments, as a member of the Bengal Civil Service, his persevering industry deserves the highest praise. That the Government of the North-west Provinces should have undertaken to print this work for the use of the Education Department is a sign of happy augury, evincing as it does a laudable desire to promote the Mr. Howell's work, indeed, is a perfect study of Arabic. The liberal act will cer thesaurus for advanced scholars who, having tainly be duly appreciated by the Muslims of passed the curriculum of the Mabadiü, or India, who, rightly or wrongly, have been First Principles of Grammar, aim at a critical under the impression that their particular knowledge of the elasticity and versatility interests with respect to education have of the language. As such it deserves to hitherto been ignored or neglected. It is be highly recommended to English and sincerely to be hoped, however, that for any English-reading students of Arabic; but future publication of Arabic works the Gothe commendation does it as a suitable manual for alumni, for in which Mr. Howell's Grammar is printed, not apply to vernment will secure better types than those whom it is too diffuse, too complex, and which are sorry and shapeless in the extreme. more likely to deter them from, than to en- Excellent founts are now procurable in Syria, courage them in, the study of the language. Egypt, and Constantinople; to say nothing of The general plan of the work follows that that cast by Messrs. Austin & Sons, of Hertof the al-Mufással of az-Zamákhshary, which ford, and used by them in the printing of my is unquestionably one of the best arranged of English-Arabic Lexicon,-a fount which has the older native Arabic grammars; neverthe-been greatly admired in the East. Quite less, modern grammarians, Oriental as well as European, have recognised the desirableness of modifying that arrangement so as to bring it more readily within the grasp of the Institution of Civil Engineers: Annual ordinary student. Among the former may mentioned the Báhthu-'l-Matálib of Jibrilu-'bnu-Farahât, admitted by its recent commentator and reviser, the erudite Bútrus al-Bustâny, to be the most handy, simple, Grammar of the Classical Arabic Language, ever written. and comprehensive grammar of the Arabic translated and compiled from the Works through several editions, and has become the The revised version has gone of the most approved Native and Natural- text-book throughout Syria and Egyptised Authorities. In an Introduction and well-nigh to the complete exclusion of all Four Parts. By Mortimer Sloper Howell, other native grammars. Among Europeans, H.M.'s Bengal Civil Service. (Allahabad: de Sacy's Printed at the North-western Provinces hold a conspicuous place, as Grammaire Arabe will always Government Press.) will also that of Ewald, albeit both are better THE portion of this work submitted for adapted for advanced scholars than for review consists of Part ii., "On the Verb," beginners. For the latter, Prof. Caspari's APPOINTMENTS FOR NEXT WEEK. MONDAY, Dec. 19, 5 p.m. London Institution: " Colour as applied to Architecture," by Mr. G. Aitchison. 7.30 p.m. Aristotelian: "Plato's Cosmology," by the Rev. W. C. Barlow. TUESDAY, Dec. 20. 7 45 p.m. Statistical: "The Industrial 8 p.m. General Meeting. THURSDAY, Dec. 22, 7 p.m. London Institution: SCIENCE. "Mark be recently his Highness the Sultan of Zanzibar unable to quote the Latin title. Zoological Atlas (including Comparative Anatomy). With Practical Directions and Explanatory Text. By D. M'Alpine, F.C.S. Vol. I.-Vertebrata. Vol. II.-Invertebrata. (W. & A. K. Johnston.) THESE books " are to help the student in the examination and dissection of the leading types of animal life;" and they will be found of great use to teachers who desire to explain to the youthful the simplest truths of morphology. The first volume contains twentyfour large plates, with their descriptions; and they illustrate the skate, cod, salamander, tortoise, pigeon, and rabbit-all readily got creatures. is under Taking the first five plates as typical of the work, it may be said that they convey a very excellent idea to the dissecting student of the positions and shapes of the organs of the skate. Directions are given how to proceed in the manipulation, and the derivations of the technical terms are explained. The first plate shows the external form; and there a capital diagram of the surface, in which the underlying parts are indicated, and another diagram, which shows a dissection from the ventral surface, and indicates the pericardial and abdominal cavities. The former is of use to the student, and the latter to the teacher, who by drawing it on the blackboard would convey a rude notion of the truth. In the second plate are rough diagrams of the vertebral column and its parts, of the pectoral arch and pelvic girdle. A large representation of a longitudinal vertical section through the skull and spinal column is drawn and coloured, the viscera being added. All are just the kind of rough-andready delineations which a good teacher would draw with coloured chalks, for the benefit of his class. The same may be said with regard to the third plate. We have an elevation plan of the skull, showing the hyoid and branchial arches and views of the brain and spinal cord and nerves; but they are blackboard coloured diagrams, not representations of nature. The organs of circulation are shown in the fourth; and the urino-genitals, spermatozoa, and the embryo within the egg-case form the objects represented more or less as diagrams on the fifth plate. The delineations of the parts of the cod are, perhaps, better than those of the skate; and a student must be dull indeed if he cannot be assisted by the capital plans of the structures. The volume on the Invertebrata is fairly good, and will be useful as an A B C book for beginners. These books fill up a want in the teacher's library, but it is doubtful whether a student working by himself would care for the diagrams as much as for careful and accurate representations of what is seen during dissection. It will help to direct the mind of the young naturalist to the consideration of the internal construction, rather than to the external configuration, of animals; and, in doing this only, the work will assist morphology, but not zoology. It is true that the science of zoology embraces that of the anatomy of the structures, but the present development of histology and embryology is tending to the rapid deterioration of classificatory zoology. The title of the work ought to have been "Diagrams of the Internal Structures of Animals, with Explanatory Notes," for it has little to do with zoology proper. It is, however, well done, and ought to be much used in class-teaching. P. MARTIN DUNCAN. FOREIGN TRANSLATIONS BY THE SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE. THE Foreign Translation Committee of the S. P. C. K. was put on a new basis in July last, and is now busily at work in the enlarged sphere which was then assigned to it. The previous labours of this committee were confined to the production of foreign versions of The committee the Bible and Prayer-book. it may think conducive to the spread of Chrisis now empowered to publish any works which tian knowledge. The following works are now either going through the press, or have been lately issued:In Yao (spoken on the East coast of Africa), portions of the Prayer-book. In Boondei (East Africa), a Grammar and a Vocabulary containing English-Boondei and BoondeiEnglish. In Luganda (Uganda Mission, Central Africa), a Grammar. In Susu (West Africa), the New Testament. In Yoruba (West Africa), the Catechism. In Turkish, a new version of the Book of Common Prayer. This version has been prepared by Dr. Koelle and a learned member of the Ulemah, Ahmed Tewfik Effendi, who is now in this country. It will be remembered that the latter was condemned to death by the Ottoman authorities for the part he took in this work, and that he was saved by the intervention of the British Government. In Persian, portions of the Prayer-book. In Russian, portions of the Prayer-book. In Ojibway (North America), the Book of Common Prayer. In Cree Syllabics (North America), the Book of Solomon Islands, Pacific), portions of the Book In Florida (spoken in of Common Prayer. In Isabel (Solomon Islands), portions of the Book of Common Prayer and the Gospels. In Maori (New Zealand), Outlines of Scripture History. In Hindi (North-west India), the Catechism, Prayers, &c. Common Prayer. In addition to the foregoing, which will be important works on hand in India and elseprinted in London, the committee has several where. NOTES OF TRAVEL. NEWS has lately come to hand that Père Depelchin, the leader of the missionary expedition in Matabele-land, towards the end of May visited the station at Panda-ma-Teuka, some fifty miles from the Victoria Falls of the Zambeze, where he found that his agents had suffered severely from fever. Accordingly, he on the east side of the valley, and to make an proposes to build a sanitarium on the plateau attempt at improving the climate by planting a number of eucalyptus-trees on the low ground; a well is also to be sunk for the supply of drinkable water. The Barotse chief expressed desire to see the missionaries, and sent boats to Mparira to convey them to Katonga. a THE association formed some time back in Spain for the exploration of Africa is said to be to explore the country from Corisco Bay to actively engaged in organising an expedition the Albert Nyanza. SIGNOR PENNAZZI, who not long ago was so warmly welcomed in Italy on his return from his explorations in the Soudan, is to start immediately on another expedition. This time he proposes to visit the Galla country, and afterwards to make for the Equatorial lakes. GREAT excitement has been caused in South Australia by the alleged discovery of exceedingly valuable tin-deposits in the Northern Territory on the McKinlay River, in the neighbourhood of Mount Wells. Good copper lodes have also been found, which will require English capital for their development. MAJOR-GEN. FEILDING's surveying expedition reached the Cloncurry River in Northern Queensland on October 7; and news of their arrival at Point Parker, on the Gulf of CarThey are understood to consider the line of pentaria, has since been received by telegraph. country they have traversed as well suited for the projected transcontinental railway. M. CHARLES WIENER, French vice-consul at Guayaquil, has returned to his post from his Amazon; but his narrative of his various extended journey in the basin of the Upper explorations has not yet been received. The Brazilian Government placed a small steamer at M. Wiener's disposal, in which he travelled more than 9,000 miles on the main stream, ascending it almost to the limits of navigation, and on its various affluents in Northern Peru and Ecuador. Of the latter, the streams explored were the Napo, Jamiria, Tigre, Morona, Aypena, Huallaga, Paranapura, Chambira, and the Upper Marañon, some of which had never before been visited by a European, their names even being unknown. On these rivers M. Wiener travelled for more than 3,500 miles altogether. The principal object of M. Wiener's expedition was to discover the most practicable fluvial highway to the Cordillera, but he also paid considerable attention to the productions and resources of the regions traversed. MR. H. M. STANLEY reached Stanley Pool, on the Congo, last July, and has made a fresh determination of its longitude; but, according to the latest advices, he had not, in the middle of August, succeeded in negotiating a site for his station with the principal chief on the south sort of undertaking that he would allow none bank, who seems to have given M. de Brazza a but Frenchmen to settle there. AT a recent meeting of the Italian Geographical Society, Com. Haimann read a paper upon his travels in Tripolis this year in company with Capt. Comperio. A collection of objects was also exhibited of archaeological, as well as scientific, interest. M. JAMES JACKSON, librarian to the French Geographical Society, has compiled what he modestly calls a Liste provisoire de Bibliographies géographiques spéciales. This is really a convalue to all those who are engaged in geographical siderable volume, of 340 pages, of inestimable research. French, German, and English publications are omitted, as being sufficiently well known; but these apart, a catalogue is given, that may almost be described as exhaustive, of all the geographical works published up to date in other countries, arranged according to their subject-matter and also according to their authors. The total number of works mentioned examined by M. Jackson himself, who visited is 1,557, of which the great majority have been for this purpose the libraries not only of Europe, but also of the United States. They are written in twenty different languages, and by 1,136 authors. They include books on oceanic hydrography, on ethnology, on the Polar regions, and books of travel generally. Club has issued an appeal for subscriptions to THE section " Oberland" of the Swiss Alpine a fund for the support of the family of the late Peter Egger, of Grindelwald. The last number of the Alpenpost has a good portrait of the deceased guide, and a memoir from the pen of Pfarrer Strasser, of Grindelwald. SCIENCE NOTES. An International Geological Map of Europe.At the last meeting of the Geological Society, Mr. W. Topley, who attended the International Geological Congress at Bologna, described the work of that body in so far as it related to the colouring of geological maps. This is a matter of considerable importance to geologists, and, in order to secure uniformity in this respect, the following scheme of colours was suggested:-Crystalline schists to be always indicated by rose-carmine; triassic rocks, by violet; liassic, by dark blue; jurassic, by blue; cretaceous, by green; and tertiary, by yellow. Arrangements were made for the preparation of a geological map of Europe, to be published under the authority of the congress. The work of preparing this map is entrusted to a committee of eight members. Austro-Hungary is represented by Dr. E. Mojsisovics; France, by Prof. Daubrée; Germany, by Dr. E. Beyrich and Herr W. Hauchecorne, who act respectively as director and assistant-director; Great Britain, by Mr. W. Topley, of the Geological Survey; Italy, by Signor F. Giordano; Russia, by Prof. von. Möller; and Switzerland, by Prof. Renevier, who acts as secretary to the committee. AN organising committee has been formed to take preliminary steps in anticipation of the visit of the British Association to Oxford in 1883. The local secretaries are Mr. W. W. Fisher, Mr. E. R. Poulton, Mr. H. B. Dixon, and Dr. S. D. Darbishire. ALFRED GAUTIER, who was one of the foremost scholars and naturalists of Geneva in the first half of this century, died in that city on November 30 in his ninetieth year. He was for several years Professor of Astronomy at the Academy of Geneva, and directed the building of the Observatory. printed." Of the 133 entries, the Prince has We understand that the third and concluding PROF. WÜLCKER, of Leipzig, gave his last vacation to the collation and copying of the famous Anglo-Saxon MS. at Vercelli, in Italy. The copy of its over twenty Homilies made many years since for our Record Office disappeared somehow; so these Dr. Wülcker copied again, and will print as a volume of his 66 Bibliothek der angelsächsischen Prosa." He also collated the poems-Andrew, Tales of the Twelve Apostles, The Departed Soul's Address to the Body, Bi manna leáse (a fragment), The Holy Rood, Elene or the Finding of the Cross-and got many useful corrections of the printed text. THE great edition of Tabari's History has made considerable progress this year. Four halfvolumes have been published within the last twelve months-part iii. of the first series, part i. of the second, and parts iii. and iv. of the third series. Eight parts are now at the student's disposal, thanks to the method of parallel publication. The first series has arrived at the account of Kisra Anushirvan and the Tobbas of Yemen. The second series gives, so far, the history of the early years of the Khalifate, A.H. 40-61. The four parts of the third series_cover the period from A.H. 131 to A.H. 224. Dr. Barth is the editor of the first series, except the last 150 pages, which have been MESSRS. CROSBY LOCKWOOD AND Co. have prepared by M. Nöldeke. The second series, part sent us three new volumes of their " Weale's, is the work of Drs. Thorbecke and Fraenkal. Rudimentary Scien tific and Educational Series": Of the third series, pp. 1-459 have been edited Mechanical Engineering, by Mr. Francis Campin; and the remaining 120 pages by the editor-inby M. Houtsma, pp. 460-1163 by M. Guyard, Coach-Building, by Mr. James W. Burgess; and Magnetic Surveying, by Mr. William Lan-chief, Prof. de Goeje, who has issued a tern. Neither our space, nor the special know- notice," in which he describes the progress of ledge at our command, permit us to notice the work, and deplores, in feeling words, the loss which has been sustained in one of his colleagues, these as fully as they deserve. Their common characteristic is that they place technical know- Dr. Otto Loth, who died in March, at the early ledge in the hands of the public at a very cheap age of thirty-eight, after carrying on his Tabari price. Some of them are illustrated, and very with a view to the immediate completion of his researches at the Khedivial Library in Cairo clearly illustrated too. share in the first series. His place will be filled by Prof. P. de Jong; and the fourth part of that series, on which he was engaged, will, it is hoped, appear early next year. In spite of fresh subscriptions, and handsome donations from the Minister of Public Instruction at Berlin and M. J. P. Six, of Amsterdam, the cost of the printing necessitates a continued appeal for support; and we feel sure that all who can appreciate the value and scholarship of this great undertaking will not be slow to give substantial help. THE popularity of certain of the upper valleys of Switzerland alike for summer and winter resort has already given occasion to a considerable body of literature. The two last books that have appeared on the subject-The Physiography of the Upper Engadine, by Francis Lloyd (Stanford); and Davos Platz as an Alpine Winter Station for Consumptive Patients, by J. E. Muddock (Simpkin, Marshall and Co.) are specially marked by the scientific character they have in common. The former supplies just that knowledge about natural phenomena which a visitor to Pontresina ought to want; and this knowledge is conveyed in a fashion that is readable, and at the same time not "popular" or diffuse. The chief value of the latter book (apart from its mere guide-book information) consists in the analytic notes on the food and water furnished by Mr. Philip Holland. There are also some trustworthy meteorological tables. PHILOLOGY NOTES. AT the last meeting of the Philological Society, Prince Louis-Lucien Bonaparte gave to the members copies of his "List of the (133) Languages and Dialects belonging to the Basque (S), Uralic (18), and Aryan (107) Families of Europe in which one or more Entire Books of the Bible have been literally translated and "fourth It is THE first volume has just been published at MEETINGS OF SOCIETIES. CAMBRIDGE PHILOLOGICAL SOCIETY.—(Thursday, Dec. 1.) H. A. J. MUNRO, Esq., President, in the Chair.SKAR in English. The root SAK, to cut, appears in Prof. Skeat read a paper on the roots SAK, SKA, Lat. secare, to cut. Related words are secant, section, segment, bisect, insect, &c. Also sickle, of Latin origin; saxifrage, sassifras; scion, of French origin; and probably serrated. English words from the same root are saw, see-saw, scythe, sedge. The root SKA, to cut, appears in the extended forms Risk is Spanish, from resecare, as shown by Diez, SKAN, SKAD, SKAP, SKAR. The base SKAN accounts for E. scathe and coney; also for canal, channel, kennel, of Latin origin; the initial s being lost in some cases. The base SKAD accounts for schedule, of Greek origin; and the E. scatter, originally to burst asunder; while the E. shed, to part, is closely allied. It also appears in the weakened form SKID, whence schism, schist, zest, squill, abscind, rescind, abscissa, shingle in the old sense of "wooden tile," sheath, sheathe, shide, an old word signifying a thin piece of board, and skid. With loss of initials, we have Lat. caedere, to cut, connected with which are caesura, concise, decide, precise, homicide; also chisel and scissors, the last being misspelt owing to a false popular etymology from scindere. The base SKAP, also KAP, to cut, accounts for apocope, syncope, comma, chop, chump, scoop, capon, sheep, shape, ship, shave, scab, shabby, shaft. The base SKAR, to shear, accounts for shear, share, shire, shore, score, shirt, skirt, shard, sherd, saur, skerry, scarify, sheer off (which is Dutch for "to cut away"), and even jeer. Also for character, cuirass, appears as SKAL, whence scale, scall, skull, shale, scourge, scorch, and perhaps curt. This base also shell, scallop, scalp, shelf. There is also a form SKUR or SKRU, to cut, whence scrutiny, scruple, shroud, shred, screed, scroll, and probably screw. The base SKAR is also extended to SKARP or SKALP, to cut; hence excerpt, scarce, scalpel, sculpture, sharp, scarf; also harvest, grave, grove, groove, graphic, graft; also scrap, scrip, scarp, escarpment. All these can be fairly traced, explained, and accounted for; and show that the Aryan root sak, to cut, with its various developments, is a wellattested fact which is worthy of being carefully considered. SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY.—(Tuesday, Dec. 6.) DR. SAMUEL BIRCH, President, in the Chair.-M. Theo. G. Pinches exhibited a cast of the Cappa nationale at Paris, with transcriptions into a docian tablet preserved in the Bibliothèque syrian and also into Roman characters. The sub ject of the tablet is a gift of silver to the Sun-gd. The language is evidently not Assyrian, yet there are three verbal endings which correspond to the endings of Assyrian nouns. A few Akkadia words can also be detected.-Mr. Pinches further made some observations upon "Two Ancient Babylonian Calendars now in the British Museum The more complete of the two, of which two copies directions about lucky and unlucky days for certain exist, is extremely difficult to translate. It contai actions, many of which are of a very cun character. The second calendar, which comprises only the first four months, contains an entirely different set of directions, and devotes a long para graph to the first day of each month. In neither is there any mention of a regular Sabbath, nor of sacred days, but only of lucky days. SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES.-(Thursday, Dec. 9) A. W. FRANKS, Esq., V.-P., in the Chair.-Rev. F. Warren, of St. John's College, Oxford, exhibited some photographs of pages from the Leofric Missal, manumission of a serf at a point where four cross one of which contains an entry concerning the roads met a custom of which there has hitherto been hardly any distinct evidence, though it ha been inferred from expressions in Anglo-Saxo laws. The Calendar in the Missal contains Pascha tables covering the last few years of the tenth and the first of the eleventh centuries, and was there fore doubtless written at that time. From the meation of St. Patrick Senior, first Abbot of Glastonbury, and other Western saints, it probably |