the Free Cities of Hamburg and Lubec. By Robert Baird. NewYork: 1842. J. S. Taylor. 2 vols. 12mo. The Glory and Shame of England. By C. Edwards Lester. NewYork: Harper & Brothers. 2 vols. 12mo. Incidents of a Whaling Voyage: to which are added, Observations on the Scenery, Manners and Customs, and Missionary Stations of the Sandwich and Society Islands; accompanied by numerous lithographic prints. By Francis Allyn Olmsted. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Narrative of an Expedition to the Polar Sea, Commanded by Admiral Ferdinand Wrangell. New-York: 1841. Harper & Brothers. NOVELS, TALES AND ROMANCES. Confession, or the Blind Heart; a Domestic Story, by the Author of "The Kinsman," "The Yemassee," &c. Philadelphia: Lea & Blanchard. 2 vols. 12mo. Monaldi, a Tale, by Washington Allston. Boston: 1841. Charles C. Little and James Brown. Jacquerie. By G. R. P. James. New-York: 1842. Harper & Brothers. MISCELLANEOUS WORKS. Democracy. By George Sidney Camp. New-York: 1841. Harper and Brothers. Letters of John Adams, addressed to his wife. Edited by his Grandson. C. F. Adams. Boston: 1841. C. C. Little and J. Brown. Conjectures and Researches concerning the Love, Madness and Imprisonment of Torquato Tasso. By R. H. Wilde. New-York: 1842. A. V. Blake. Sketches from a Student's Window, by S. G. Goodrich. Boston: W. D. Ticknor. Essay on Property and Labor, as connected with Natural Law and the Constitution of Society. By Francis Lieber. New-York: Harper and Brothers. The Book without a Name, by Sir Charles and Lady Morgan. NewYork: Wiley and Putnam. An Inquiry into the History of Slavery; its Introduction into the United States; Causes of its Continuance; and Remarks upon the Abolition Tracts of William E. Channing, D. D. By the Rev. T. C Thornton, President of the Centenary College, Clinton, Mississippi. Washington, D. C.: William M. Morrison. ERRATA. Page 32, for Mr. Sullivan,' read-Mr. O'Sullivan; p. 40, for Boston Review, read-Boston Quarterly Review; p. 255, for 'making money out of them,' read-make money out of them; p. 262, for 'Carlisle,' read-Carlyle; p. 274, for 'comes homes home,' read-comes home; p. 282, for 'deserving tribute,' read-deserved tribute. I. TAYLOR'S NATURAL HISTORY OF SOCIETY The Natural History of Society in the Barbarous and Civilized State: An Essay towards discovering the Origin 1. A System of Latin Prosody and Metre, from the best Authorities, Ancient and Modern, by CHAS. ANTHON, L.L.D. 2. The Traveller's Companion, for Conversation, being a selection of such expressions as occur frequently in travel- ling, and in the different situations of life, by Madame de 3. Corderii Colloquiorum Centuria Selecta: in usum Tironum, Editio Portsmuthiensis, Edita Carolo Tappan, Lives of the Queens of England, from the Norman Con- quest, with Anecdotes of their Courts, now first published, from Official Records, and other Authentic Documents, private as well as public. By AGNES STRICKLAND. IV. STATE OF EDUCATION AND LEARNING IN CUBA 1. Informe sobre el estado de la enseñanza primaria en la isla de Cuba en 1836, su costa y mejoras de que es sus- ceptible; extendido de orden de la seccion de Educacion de la Sociedad Patriotica de la Habana para eleverlo al su- premo gobierno de S. M. en cumplimiento de lo provenido en su Real Orden de 21 octubre de 1834. Leido en la junta de la Sociedad de 30 de marzo, en que fue aprobado unanimamente :-por D. Domingo del Monte: M. S. [Report upon the state of elementary education in the Island of Cuba, in 1836, and upon the improvements of which it is susceptible, prepared by order of the Section for Education of the Patriotic Society of the Havana, for the information of Her Majesty's Government, in pursuance of the Royal Order of October 21, 1834, and read at a meeting of the Society: By Don Domingo del Monte.] 2. Informe presentado á la Real Junta de fomento de agricultura y comercio de la isla de Cuba, en sesion de 11 el pueblo de Regla, refundiendola en un instituto cientifico con arreglo á las necesidades del pais: por la diputacion in- spectora de dicho establecimiento. Imprimese por acuerdo de la misma junta. Habana: 1834. [Report presented to the Royal Society for the encou- ragement of agriculture and commerce in the Island of Cuba, at their meeting on the 11th December, 1833, upon the subject of the conversion of the Nautical School established at Regla into a Scientific Institute, adapted to the wants of the country: by the Committee for the ex- amination of that establishment (Don José de la Luz). Printed by order of the Society. 151 pp. fol. Havana, 1834.] Mormonism Exposed; being a Sketch of the Rise and Progress of the Latter Day Saints. VI. REFRIGERATION AND VENTILATION OF CITIES. 1. Introductory Lecture on the Climate and Salubrity of New Orleans, and its suitability for a Medical School: by 2. Introductory Lecture on Acclimation; delivered at the opening of the Third Session of the Medical College of Louisiana: by E. H. BARTON, M. D., Professor of the Theory 1. Letters to Wilberforce, recommending the Encourage- ment of the Cultivation of Sugar in our Dominions in the East Indies, as the natural and certain means of effecting the general and total abolition of the Slave Trade. 2. Letters to the Liverpool Society for Promoting the abolition of Slavery, on the injurious effects of the High Prices of Produce, and the beneficial prospects of Low Prices 4. Treatise on the principal products of Bengal,-Indigo, 1. Voices of the Night, by HENRY W. LONGFELLOW. 2. Ballads and other Poems, by HY. W. LONGFELLOW. "Laissez nous faire." Reply of the French merchants to Colbert, Minister of Finance, who enquired what he could do to forward the Commercial Interests. X. LIVES OF LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC MEN OF ITALY . . 527 Lives of Eminent Literary and Scientific Men of Italy; No. 2. APRIL, 1842. ART. I.-The Natural History of Society in the Barbarous and Civilized State: An Essay towards discovering the Origin and Course of Human Improvement: By W. COOKE TAYLOR, Esq. L.L.D., M.R.Â.S, of Trinity College, Dublin. 2 vols. New York: D. Appleton & Co. pp. 332-328. The volumes, the title of which is placed at the head of this article, are ushered forth, under the sanction of high authority, having received the revising care of archbishop Whately, before publication. That the subject matter of these volumes is interesting, is unquestionable: no man of reflection and of general information could produce a work on this subject, which would be totally devoid of interest. To trace man, from the earliest records of his race, down through the successive generations which have flourished and passed away, till we reach our own times, opens a field of investigation and research, for which few minds are well prepared. The proper performance of a task, which embraces the different grades and characteristics of civilization, requires a mind well stored with knowledge, relating to the history and capacity of man for improvement. In entering upon the investigation of the natural history of society, we lay down the proposition, that, man is a being of progress, that all knowledge, which is really useful and valuable to him, is never wholly lost, though it may be modified by circumstances; and, although it may be seemingly lost, for a time, yet it affords the basis on which other means of information, tending to the development of VOL. I.-NO 2. 1 To this, it may be once in use, is of embalming the more important truths may be founded. replied, that the knowledge of arts now entirely lost to man. The art dead, is now unknown; no trace of the knowledge, by which that process was performed, now remains. Be it so but is any useful knowledge lost, because we cannot embalm the dead as the ancients did? What benefit to man was the possession of that art? Though the frail tenement might be preserved, still the question returns, how did this aid in the improvement of man, either physically, intellectually or morally? If these questions be answered with impartiality, we think that, on this subject, there will no longer be any cause of dispute; for none, we presume, will contend that a state of ignorance is preferable to one of intelligence. Take the first rude attempts in all the arts, and the clumsiness and inefficiency of the machinery are strikingly manifest. Compare this with the nice adaptation of the machinery now used to produce the same, or similar results, and mark the grand and elevating contrast, -grand and elevating it is, because we behold in it, an exhibition of the power of mind over matter! In the early records of our race, we learn that the simplest constructions were accomplished by great toil and much labor. The combinations of the mechanical powers, so as to produce important results, were not thought of. Give me a place to stand upon, said Archimides, and I will move the world; but his lever would have proved unavailing, and fruitless would have been the effort to overcome that silent but mighty power, which holds the universe together, and binds it in harmony. Had he known what Newton in after times discovered,-led to it by so simple a thing as the falling of an apple to the ground, he never would have made the assertion quoted above. The existence of steam was cöeval with fire and water; but not a century since, and the application of that power to the useful arts was undiscovered. Now, inland trade, penetrating the rivers of continents, is carried on by means of steamboats, and the "fire-fed horse" draws the ponderous car, with almost the rapidity of wind, to the place of its destination. Nor does the improvement stop here the mighty steam-ship ploughs old ocean's tide, and lays the treasures of the earth at the foot of man. The |