The Sun.
London, England, 1867-06-28 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

Journal of the Transactions of the Victoria Institute
or Philosophical Society of Great Britain. Hard
wicke.

The time has gone by when scientific study was
left to a few men of remarkable capacity who with-
drew themselves altogether from daily life to search
into the secrets of nature and spy out the move-
ments of the celestial bodies. It now forms a part
at least of every good education, and he must be
either very dull or very illiterate who knows no-
thing or cares nothing about science in any of its
developments. The record of the proceedings of the
Victoria Institute are not, therefore, exclusively
addressed to the deep thinker and the profound
scholar, but may be read with interest and advan-
tage by a very wide circle. The papers read More
the meetings deal indeed with subjects of the
widest range, and show the results of long and
arduous study, but they are for the most part
tolerably free from technicalities, and written with
clearness and simplicity. The reading of the papers
is, as is usual in such societies, followed by a dis-
cussion upon their merits, and on the views and
principles which they expound, all of which is fairly
reported, and affords very interesting and suggestive
reading. One remarkable feature of the Victoria
Institute, in an age when the supposed antagonism
between Scripture and science has excited so much
controversy, is that all its members are professedly
Christians, and that it takes for its principal object
the full and impartial investigation of those ques-
tions of philosophy and science which bear upon the
great truths of Scripture. A good many well-known
names are among its members and contributors, and
we have no doubt their labours will do good service
in the cause of science.

The Fortnightly Review. No. VI. New Series

No. MAIL

Old Series.

This number opens with an essay on " Miracles
and Special Providences," by Professor Tyndall,
who discusses the subject in a learned and com-
prehensive spirit. Among many pertinent elucida-
tions we find interesting details illustrative of dis-
coveries leading from facts to laws in nature.
" The Picture Gatherings of Paris," by Henry
O'Neil, occupies a good many pages, and the
subject is artistically handled, but we cannot spare
space to criticise its merits, nor those of the next
paper, " On the Relations betwoen the Crowns of
England and Scotland" some centuries ago ; nor
yet for " The White Rise," however enticing its
pages. " The Ilistory of the Reform Question
from 1848 to 1866," by Mr. Moleswortb, may
be referred to with advantage by the next
generation ; but we have enough on our
hands at present with the interminable de-
bates of 1867, which will no doubt form a fitting
sequel to the past. A paper on " American
Prospects" winds up the number with an account of
the liberation of Jefferson Davis, and other matters,
treated in a more hopeful spirit than the future may
realise.

Prize Essay on Education. By the Rev. W. N.
Molesworth, M.A. Longman.
Mr. Molesworth, the able and fortunate writer of
the essay before us, was also the successful com-
petitor for another prize offered by the same donor,
the subject of the essay being the importance of a
close alliance between England and France. Mr.
Molesworth must be considered as having fairly won
his honours, since the adjudicators of the prize were

no lesser authorities than Lord Brougham, Lord
Clarendon, and Lord Shaftesbury, in the
one case, and Lord Clarendon and two Oxford
Professors in the other. The question
of how best to educate the people is now engrossing
so much attention that it deserves to be studied in
all its aspects, and as Mr. Molesworth's essay is
directed to the attainment of an improved system of
education for the upper and middle classes rather
thelower, it treats of a branch of the subject hitherto
little discussed.

Al Peep at the Pyrenees. By the Pedestrian.

Whittaker.

This a lively and readable little volume, compiled
from a tourist's note book, and intended chiefly for
the benefit of those who think of " taking a consti-
tutional" up the altitudes of the Pyrenees, which,
in spite of Louis the Fourteenth, seem to be still
tolerably substantial. The author is very straight-
forward and practical in his account, and his ex-
perience will no doubt be of service to many
an intending tourist who is contemplating the same
route. We must not omit to mention that the work
is supplied with a map of the West Pyrenees, with
the route marked.

The Social and Political Dependence of Wonzei

Longman.

The arguments in favour of the political enfran-
chisement of women are summarised in this essay,
though it has regard rather to the grievances of
which women have to complain, legally
and socially, than to a discussion of her
special qualifications for sending representa-
tives to Parliament. The women on whose
behalf the writer pleads so fervently are, however,
something very different from the ordinary feminine
character. They are men, with men's tastes and
capacities and characters bearing another name.
Those departments of life in which women pecu-
liarly shine, for which they are by nature and in-
clination most clearly and unmistakeably fitted, and
which are certainly by no means the least import-
ant in their influence on the human race, are put
aside as unworthy of notice. Philosophers them-
selves have told us that the impress of the first few
years of intelligent life is indelible, and the training
of mindand heart, and the care of the physical power
during those years, will leave its traces till the
grey-haired man or woman sinks into the grave.
Yet, while there is much reason to doubt a
woman's fitnesss for following the learned profes-
sions or taking an active part in the Legislature,
who shall deny her the right of educating and tend-
ing the young ? Again, in this world of struggle,
and victory and defeat, while thousands of brave
soldiers are fighting in the front of the battle, there
must always be a large proportion of those who
have been disabled in the encounter, or who have
fallen by the wayside " weary with the march of
life." Man may claim his superior right to push
forward the more active service, but he must at
once yield his supremacy to woman in the sick
room, the asylum, and the orphanage. In dealing,
too, with the fallen and despairing, in bringing the
blessings of personal sympathy and kindness
to cheer the degraded and enlighten the ignorant
woman, may find work which her hand is better
fitted to do, though certainly it is not less difficult
in its nature or less momentous in its consequences.
Neither need she confine her attention exclusively
to the helpless and suffering. There are thousands
of practical means of assisting their less fortunate
sisters, of improving the condition of the poor, and
of diffusing useful knowledge, that ladies of our
own time and country have found, and
their names are a sufficient answer to the complaint
that woman in the nineteenth century in England
is condemned to a useless and contemptible exist-
ence. There is no occasion for our women to choose
between the alternative of absolute ignorance and ac-
tive competition with men. They can surely cultivate
their minds sufficiently to take an intelligent interest
in the affairs of the day, while keeping their personal
energies for a snore congenial sphere. If their time
and their thoughts are not fully occupied at home,
they need never wait idle for lack of 4' worlds to
conquer" abroad; but we would remind our eloquent
advocates of " woman's rights" that there have been
crying evils in our unions, our workshops, our
schools, and our streets which woman's influence
would have been all-powerful to bring to light
earlier, had " she done what she could" for these
years past, instead of striving to do what she could
no

THE DUKE OF HAMILTON V. ROBINSON.—At the
Vice-Chancellors' Court yesterday, Mr. Dickenson (with
him Mr. Brockshank) applied ex parte, on behalf of the
Duke of Hamilton, for an injunction to restrain some ac-
tions at law on bills of exchang .5 amounting to £13,400, of
which it appeared that £B,OOO had been given in respect of
horse-racing transactions. As to £2,000, the duke ad-
mitted that it was a bona fide loan. £4,000 had been paid
into the court of law. The plaintiff-at•law had gone out
of the jurisdiction of the court: Th 3 Vico-Chancellor
granted an injunction upon the usual understanding.