The Press. — London, England, 1858-03-27 00:00:00

THE PRESS, MARCH 27, 1858. On the north exists the greater part of a large oblong crater; and a current of lava, springing from its base, turns to the east, and covers a considerable space inclosed between the Puy and the opposite heights o.f granite. Overflowing here, one portion of the current takes to the left, skirts the base of the Puy de Dome, and descends to Enval, where it joins that which derives from the Puy de Cohere already noticed ; the other enters the little valley of Beaune, but disappears before it arrives at Fontfredde, beneath the meadows of the low ground it occupies. The basalt of this current is cellular and coarsely crystalline, of a light grey colour, very similar to that of the Puy de Salomon above described, has a large dose of felspar in the composition of its b.►se, and embedded crystals of this mineral and of olivine. A separation into rude columns is observable nn some points. Another semi•crater to the left has also emitted a stream of lava, which, alter joining those of the Puys Lamoreno and Mositchar, two dependen• cies of Laschatnp closely united to it, spreads over a part of the western slope. To the south of the Puy de Lascliamp rises an irre galarly circular system of volcanic canes, the produce of many repeated eruptions within a small space, which in all probability succeeded one another very closely, or raged at the same epoch. This is the most interesting portion of the whole range to every observer, whether geologist or not. The extraordinary character of the view from any on of those pays impresses it for ever on the memory. There is no spot amongst the Phlegrtean fields of Italy or Sicily which displays in greater perfection the peculiar features of a country desolated by volcanic phenomena. It is true that the cones thrown up around are partially wooded and in general covered with herbage ; but the sides of some are still naked, and the interior of their broken cutters. rugged, black, and scoritied, as well as the rocky floods of lava with which they have loaded the plain, have a freshness of aspect, such as the products of tire alone could have preserved so long, and offer a striking picture of the operations of this element in all its moat terrible energy. Those cultivators of geology who have never visited Central France will find this wort: of Mr. Scrope an invaluable aid to their studies, if they make a personal examination of that most interesting district. We surmise that a " popular" tourist might find the whole coun try worth describing in a light book of travels, describing the scenery and local characteristics of the society in that portion of France which includes Puys de Dome, Haute Loire, and Ardeche, departments that lie out of the com mon routes for English pleasure-seekers. only power in nature capable of producing them. This apparent blindness is however very natural, ani not with out example. The inhabitants of Herculaneum and Pompeis built their houses with the lavas of Vesuvius ploughed up its scorise and ashes, and gathered their chesnuts from its crater, without dreaming of their neigh bourhood to a volcano which was to give the first notice of its existence by burying them under the products of its eruptions. The Catanians regarded as fables all relations of the former activity of /F,tna, when, in 1669, half their town was overwhelmed by one of its currents of lava. Recollecting how rich in volcanic phenomena the whole of that district is, it certainly does seem singular that scarce a century has passed since the true character of the mountains in the Auvergne was admitted. Mr. Set ope de tails the first discovery of the phenomena : In the year 1751 two members of the Academy of Paris, Gnettard and Malesherbes, on their return from Italy, where they bad visited Vesuvius and observed its produc tiona, passed through Montelimart, a small town on the left bank of the Rhone, and, after dining with a party of skyline resident there, amongst whom was M. Faujas de St. Fond, walked out to explore the neighbourhood. The pavement of the streets immediately attracted their atten. Lion. It is formed of short articulations of basaltic columns planted perpendicularly in the ground, and resembles in consequence those ancient roads in the vicinity of Rome, which are paved with polygonal slabs of lava. Upon inquiry they learnt that stones were brought from the rock upon which the Castle of Roche rnaure is built, on the opposite side of the phone ; and were informed, moreover, that the mountains of the Vivarais abounded with similar rocks. This alcount de• termined the Acaderricians to visit that province, and step by step they reached the capital of Auvergne, discovering every day fresh reason to believe in the volcanic nature of the mountains they traversed. Here all doubts on the subject ceased. The currents of lava in the vicinity of Clermont, black and rugged as those of Vesuvius, descend ing uninterruptedly front some conical hills of scoria., most of which present a regular crater, convinced them of the truth of their conjectures, and they loudly proclaimed the interesting discovery. When M. Guettard published his memoir, announcing the existence of the volcanic re mains in Auvergne, his statements obtained very little credit ; but subsequently other savans, amongst whom may be enumerated Faujas de St. Fond. Desmarest, Dolomieu, Le Grand d'Aussy, M. de Ruch, and many others, called attention to the natural pheno mena of the volcanos of Auvergne. Dr. Daubeny has alluded to them in the " Edin burgh Philosophical Journal for 1820 1," and Sir C. Lyell and Sir R. Murchison have also treated of Auvergne. But this work of Mr. Scrope is the closest and most minute account of the volcanic geology of Central France. The author has an unaffected style, and he possesses great cleverness of scientific description; he is what medical men would call "a goof clinical reporter;" he details rather than describes, and does not generalise his views with undue precipitation. Yet we could wish that a few chapters for general readers bad been introduced. As it is, the work is chiefly addressed to the geological public, which now forms a large portion of the community. Geology is a science in which a writer may unite the possession of attainments with the faculty of popular description. There are other sciences in which it is scarcely possible to display a " popular" manner with out becoming superficial. Humboldt's admir able method of exposition might be studied with advantage by those who treat of the various branches of physical geography. It is not often that a scientific work is so completely finished as this volume. It has some admirably-executed panoramic sketches of the districts described There are, also, inclosed in the covers of the volume two ex cellent maps—one geographical, and the other geological—of the volcanic district of Central France, with scales of both English and French mensuration. The work is enriched with an excellent index, and a copious catalogue of organic remains is in the appendix, and a table of the heights of the volcanic ranges of the district described. The volume is fit to ornament the drawing-room, while its contents arc certain to make it a most valuable addition to the library of the geologist. Of the closeness with which Mr. Scrope observes, we may cito his desc►iption of Puy de Laechamp :- This bill when viewed from a distance has nothing of a volcanic appearance. It is a long•backed ridge formed by the nnited ejections of three or four craters. which have considerably deface." one another. Its highest summit, seemingly the result of the last eruption, is nearly 1,000 feet above the village of Laschamp in the plain immediately below. NOTES ON FRENCH BOOKS. ACCORDING to some of our best public instructors,' a sort of intellectual darkness overspreads France under the present regime ; and yet the fact is that at no time were so many books of importance pub lished as new•a.days. It is no exaggeration to state that an entire I'REsS could be filled every other week with notices of now works of real sterling merit, in the different departments of literature issued by the Paris publishers. Here, for example, are a few of the recent publications of Messrs. Didier and Co.:—" L'Eglise et l'Empire Romain au IV. Siecle," by the Prince Albert de Broglie ; " Histoire d'Angle terre," by M. Emile de Bonuechose ; " Histoire des Revolutions d'ltalie," by M. J. Ferrari ; " Histoire du Regne de Louis Philippe," by M. Victor de Nouvion ; and "Bacon, Sa Vie, et Son Tempw," by M. Charles de Remusat, the ex-Minister. The first work, consisting of two volumes, is the first part of a history of the transformation of old Roman society from Paganism by Christianity—a subject almost as vast as, and certainly not less important than, the " Decline and Fall." The Prince de Broglie appears to have displayed great industry in collecting his materials, and he classifies them with skill, and deduces the philosophy of them with sagacity. His book may be read with profit by the historical student ; and, as it shows that there was a certain similarity between Roman society of the fourth century and that of France of these days, it will be of interest to the politician. It has already attained a second edition. M. Emile de Bonne chose's History of England appears to us a valuable and much needed edition to French literature : lu it (says he) I have proposed to myself, above all things, to cause the history of institutions to be understood by the history of facts ; to show what obstacles a people has to encounter, what combats to maintain, what sacri fices to make, in order to arrive at a result in which the freest expression of individual will is united with the greatest public power; to show, in a word, under what conditions a nation may become powerful and redoubtable without ceasing to be free. A demonstration of this kind must be, one would think, singularly instructive to all the peoples of the Continent, and especially to that of France, and it is not without interest for our own. To us, too, it will be edifying and agreeable to see how a thoughtful and impartial Frenchman—for M. de Bonnechose not only possesses an earnest desire to be impartial, but is so—regards the great events of our history and the great men who have played a part therein. Like Lord Macaulay, he does not consider it be neath the gravity of his subject to notice the man ners and customs of the people at different epochs. His two volumes commence with the earliest historical times, and come down to the death of Elizabeth. Of M. Ferrari's History of Italian Revolutions we cannot speak so favourably : its facts are not well grouped, and not clearly narrated; its style is terribly heavy; and it is somewhat too metaphysical. Victor de Nouvion undertakes to record the reign of King Louis Philippe with fairness and impartiality; but he displays an evident leaning to his Alajesty, and avows that he has received information from personages who stood high in his confidence. We nevertheless think his book acceptable, for thus far the late king has only had historians who, like Louis Blanc, were his bitter enemies. It is written with ease and elegance. M. de Remusat's high standing in the political and literary worlds has caused his book on Bacon to be read with such eager interest that a second edition of it has already become neces sary. It comprises a rapid biographical sketch of the great philosopher, an. analysis of his wr►tings and philosophy, an examination of the latter, and a history of its influence in the world down to the present time. On the whole it expresses high ad miration of his intellectual greatness ; but the ad miration is tempered by restrictions which to partial English readers will appear not altogether fair : Bacon was (says M. de Remusat in his conclusion) a writer of brilliant imagination, who taught practical truths, and who charms the mind by endeavouring to render it wiser. But he has not always gone to the bottom of the truths be sought to embellish ; still more iarely has he enlarged the sciences which he celebrated. He applies not very happily and with little clearness the methods he prescribed, and does not always know how to exercise the learned experience of which he laid down the rules. Superior in his general rules, he is wanting in special questions, in penetration, and exactness. He indicates the road but does not give the clue to the labyrinth. He has excited to discoveries rather than led to them. In sciences, he is a promoter not an inventor. Metaphysics owe to him little more than a vague summons to observa tion, and he has thereby left his principles to the mercy of extreme interpretations and facile exaggerations. Ile was a man of great mind; but may we venture to say th it he was not exactly a great philosopher? The publications of Messrs. Hachette are so very numerous that we can only select a few at hazard. First, we have four volumes of criticism and com ments on the works of Euripides, Sophocles, and .Eschylus, entitled " Etudes sur lea Tragiques Grecs," by M. Patin, Professor of the Faculty of Letters of Paris. The " Etudes " are the result of a life's study, and are marked by great acumen; but we find the worthy Professor's style a little heavy. Next we see a third edition of Count Eduard de Warren's " L'lnde Anglaise avant et apresl'lnsurrec tion de 1857." The insurrection in Hindostan has given rise to a vast number of publications in the French language ; but, if we mistake not, the authors of only two of them ever set foot in India, and one of the two is Count de Warren. Though upwards of twenty years since lie was in India, his accounts of the singular people and their customs possess as much freshness as if perfectly new. He says many sharp things of our rule, but much of what he says is, we fear, not unmerited. When the first edition of his work was published the insurrection was at its height, and the accounts from India were de plorable in the extreme ; and yet, in spite of all his prejudice against us, he predicted that, from his knowledge of the English on the one hand, and the natives on the other, the insurrection would cer tainly be quelled, and British power he established more firmly than ever. It is not a little singular that, though a Frenchman, Count de Warren actually served for sonic years in India as an odicer of the Queen's 55th Regiment. Two other of Messrs. Hatchette's publications are by M. Edmond Abut, one of the youngest, but one of the most charming and popular, writers of the day. '!'he first, " Nos Artistes," contains an account of the paintings of living artists in the last Exhibition of Paris, and it gives a synoptic view of the present state of art in France, whilst, at the same time, it 14 written with a facile grace which will please those who only read for amusement. The second work, " Maitre Pierre," is a tale of the Landes, a barren tract down by Bordeaux ; and, under . the guise of amusing only, it teaches the " great tact' that the Landes may be brought under cultivation, and shows how that can be done. The Emperor its utility, so pleased with this work, and so struck with utility, that he wrote the author an autograph letter of comp:iment, and made him a Knight of the Le gion of Honour. Books of voyages we also nonce-- " Sejour chez le Grand Cherif de la Mekke," and " Cinquante Jours au Desert," by Charles Didier—. simple offhand accounts of wanderings in parts of Africa, somewhat out of the beaten track, and of a , lventures with strange people. In "La Nurve,ze, M. Louis Enault, an admired and rapidly rising young man, takes us to a country to which our own 11