The Press.
London, England, 1855-07-07 00:00:00

PERIODICAL LITERATURE.

Colburn's New Monthly still continues its series
of excellent papers upon the continental armies,
with an article upon that of Prussia, a detailed ac
count of the state of which is at this moment in.
teresting. Out of a population of sixteen millions,
Prussia raises an active army of 195,477 men, with
792 guns, and a Landwehr force of two levies ; the
first drawn from men between twenty-biz and thirty-
two, amounting to 116,032 men, and the second of
men between thirty-two and fifty, of 82,900, with a
cavalry force respectively of 20,416 men, and 12,480,
exclusive of reserves, which swell the whole avail-
able force to something like 500,000. This is an
enormous army for so small a population; but in
Prussia every man is a soldier, and so strong is the
esvrit de corps kept up, that not to have been a
soldier is rather a slur upon the character. The
expense of such a force, if well paid, would be
beyond the limited inccme of so small a kingdom,
and it is evident

that the maintenance of such an immense army, de-
rived from a numerically small amount of population,
must be managed with the utmost degree of economy,
if the Government wishes to refrain from laying an un-
supportable amount of taxation on the nation. This
economy, however, is displayed in numerous very clever
and satisfactory devices : for instance, through the Land-
wehr system, Prussia is only called upon to pay one-half
of her standing army ; each year the arrival of the recruits
is found never exactly to coincide with the departure of
those on furlough; the volunteers enrolled for one year
receive no pay ; the Prussian army in garrison has no pay
for the 31st of the month ; and, lastly, retiring officers,
instead of receiving pensions, obtain employment in the
civil service.

But the principal reward on which the Prussian Govern-
pint relies is the almost unlimited distribution of orders—
a system rendered necessary by promotion depending
entirely on seniority ; and distinguished services are re-
warded by other methods than attaining a step.
Of lighter subjects there is abundant material,
tales, sketches, and anecdotes of places and persons,
and reviews of modern books, among which, those of
" The Private Life of an Eastern King" (lately
reviewed in this Journal), and Sydney Smith's letters,
are the most entertaining.
Macphail's Edinburgh Ecclesiastical Journal for
this month is an extremely good number. A variety
of topics, religious and political, are carefully re-
viewed, Professor Tulloch's Burnett Treatise on
" Theism " being the principal subject noticed.
The Churchman's Magazine has some well-written
sketches and tales, besides the usual amount of
Church information, and reviews and notices of the
current literature.

The current numbers of the Martins of Cro' Martin
and of Harry Coverdale's Courtship, are neither of
them remarkable for much interest, though in the
latter a serious domestic contretemps is upon the
point of happening.

Switzerland in 1854-5. By the Rev. W. G. Heath-
man (late British Chaplain at Interlaken). Lon-
don : Hope and Co.

AN agreeable book of travel, written with perfect
local knowledge, acute feeling for the beauties of
nature as they are to be viewed among the moun-
tains and valleys of Switzerland, and fair descriptive
power. Mr. Heathman is not only an excellent
guide, but an authority upon the manners and
customs of the inhabitants of the different Swiss
cantons and upon the peculiarities of their climate
and scenery. He traversed the country upon foot,
and hence his experience may be relied on. The
book is specially dedicated to tourists, who may
learn from it where to go, what to observe, and how
to make the most both of their time and money.

SATURDAY,

Dictionary of Geography, forming a Complete
General Gazetteer of the World. By Alex. Keith
Johnston. Second Edition, thoroughly Revised.
London : Longmans.

A WORK of this magnitude can only be described by
a statement of its contents. It forms a volume of
1,362 closely-printed pages, and gives the names of
upwards of fifty thousand places. The space
accorded to each article is proportioned to its impor-
tance. The characteristics of those places which
may be termed representative—as, first, divisions of
the earth, then seas, countries, districts, capital
cities, and so forth—are given in detail; while the
filets as to minor places, as villages and parishes, ale
limited to a statement of their position, population,
and distinctive attributes. The whole " Gazetteer"
has been compiled from the best existing maps in
the world, and the position of places has been
determined by measurement, corrected by the
most authentic notices that can be found of them.
The arrangement of the work is alphabetical, Ind
in the orthography of Eastern names (a perplexing
subject) the spelling of the Royal Geographical
Society has been adopted. This is, perbaps, the
best plan that could be adopted, though none can be
entirely satisfactory while so much diversity exists as
at present. Thus, Cabool, as it is spelt here, is
sometimes written Kabul, sometimes Caubul, and in
every variety of intermediate way. Places are
properly described under the names by which they
are commonly known in this country; but the
correct orthography and accentuation are also given.
Ex. gr., under entry of Munchen, we are referred to
Munich ; and when proper names are differently spelt
in different countries, the chief variations are
noticed, as under head of Venice we find (Italian,
Venezia; German, Venedig). The progress of
geographical discovery is so continuous that for
purposes of reference the latest gazetteer, if pro-
duced by a competent editor, is likely to be the best;
and in this instance we believe we may safely say
that so great a number of entries, with such authen-
tic details, were never before brought together in a
single volume.

A Smaller Latin-English Dictionary, abridged
from the Larger Dictionary. By William Smith,
L.L.D. Loudon: John Murray.

As a school dictionary, this abridgement of Dr.
Smith's great work must rank as the best extant.
It has two peculiar claims to favour. In the first
place, every word is given which the youthful scholar
is likely to meet with in the course of his classic
reading ; and in the second place, the various mean-
ings and uses of words are given in detail, so that the
student may select that signification most appropriate
to the sense of the passage in which a particular word
occurs. One authority, at least, is given for every
word in the book, and in the case of imp3rtant terms
many authors are quoted to illustrate different signi-
fications. The typography and general plan are those
of the larger work; and, in addition, there is a
tolerably copious list of proper names. For elemen-
tary scholastic purposes, the dictionary is all that
could be desired.

School Atlas of Astronomy. Ay Alex. Keith John.
ston. Edited by J. R. Hind. London . Blackwood
and Sons.

THIS volume is intended as a companion to those
elementary atlases of physical, classical, and general
geography by Mr. Keith Johnston, which have
deservedly won high repute for scholastic purposes.
The plates have been drawn, and the whole work
arranged, under the immediate superintendence of
Mr. Hind, the eminent astronomer, and hence the
correctness of the details are insured. The
work consists of eighteen plates, all beauti-
fully executed, and forming, with their corre-
sponding descriptive letter-press, a complete
course of astronomical instruction. A better or
more instructive guide to this wonder-moving science
could not be desired. It has the advantage of the
latest discoveries, and sets before the eye the lead-
ing facts of astronomy in a most striking and in-
telligible form.

PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.
BOOKS.

Fables Nouvelks. Le Chevalier de Chatelain. Whittaker

and Co.
Bennett's War Songs. W. C. Bennett. Effingham Wilson.
The Crimea, its Ancient and Modern History. The Rev T.
Milner, M.A., F.R.S. Longmans.
Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to El•Medinah and
Meccah. R. F. Burton. Do.
The Life and System of Pmdalarsi. Karl Von Ranmer. Do.
Exposition of the Parables. The Rev. J. G. Lonsdale. M.A.

J. IV. Parker and Sone.
The War and Us Issues in its Religious Aspect. The Bev.
J. Cumming, D.I). Hall and Virtue.
Compendium of Chronology. I'. H. Jagnennet. Longmans.
4 Selection from the Lesser Poems of Wilikuakfirry Lealhon•
ongmans.

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