The Sun.
London, England, 1868-01-16 00:00:00

211 E REVIEWS:

The programme of the Contemporary Review is par-
ticularly attractive. Mr. Conington, the Professor of
Latin at Oxford, reviews the new volume of essays, " On a
Liberal Education," edited by Mr. Farrar. The pro-
fessor only partly agrees with the Harrovian and hit
fellow-writers ; but as we shall have to speak of this
volume more fully hereafter, we pass by this paper with-
out further remark. Mr. Hawes's writin,g on " Music
in England" has much that is interesting to sar
on oratorios, popular concerts, music halls, and
conductors. Mr. Maurice for once cannot be charged
with obscurity. He publishes a paper, read, we
believe, before one of the clerical gatherings that used to
take place at Mr. Kempe's, in Westminster, in which he
condemns the Irish Church Establishment on every
ground, and declares that its speedy fall is inevitable.
This paper was read in 1866, and Mr. Maurice must at that
time have stood almost alone among the clergy in thus de-
nouncing one branch of " the united Church of England
and Ireland." Opinion has made great progress since
then, and the incumbent of St. Peter's, Yore-street, may
now boldly proclaim from the housetop that which a few
months ago he only ventured to whisper in the car. Mr.
Maurice's paper is followed by one from his brother-in-
law, Mr. .Plumptre, who, in an essay on " The
Science of Religion," criticises Max-Muller's " Chips
from a German Workshop." We need scarcely
say that the article is both learned and interest-
ing. In " The Social Legislation of 1867" Mr.
Malcolm Ludlow gives an analysis of the Acts of Parlia-
ment passed last year affecting the condition of the working
classes. He should append it to the next edition of the
useful little book on " The Progress of the 'Working
Classes," which he has published in conjunction with Mr.
Lloyd Jones. An at title on " The London Press " is
somewhat vague, but as it is the first of a series, and is
rather in the nature of an introduction, we withhold
further comment. Mr. Reginald Stuart Poole has taken
advantage of the interest excited by Dr. Deutsch's recent
article on the Talmud, in the Quarterly Review, to say
something more upon that deeply interesting subject.
The usual carefully-written criticisms on current literature
make up the rest of a very successful number of this
magazine.

The Popular Science .Review opens with an article by
Professor Williamson, on " Spongilla," a class specially
interesting to naturalists from its being so nearly allied to
plants as to leave it for a long time uncertain whether the
common fresh-water sponge should be called an animal at
all. Professor Ansted contributes a chapter on a more
interesting subject—" The Hurricane, the Typhoon, and
the Tornado." Professor Ansted reminds us that in
August 1837 a similar storm to that which has desolated
St. Thomas and Tortola visited the same islands, and was
still more destructive of life and property. In a storm
which passed over the West Indies in 1780, nearly 10,000
persons lost their Jives in Martinique alone. Professor
Ansted notices the fact that these hurricanes have been
generally complicated with shocks of earthquake. The
coincidence, he observes, may be only accidental, but as
it is certain that both events are frequently, if not always
accompanied by electric and magnetic disturbances, and
that earthquakes are almost always indicated by changes
of the barometer, it would be unsafe and unphilosophical
to deny that the earthquake and the storm are without
mutual connection. Professor Ansted evidently considers
the choice of the harbour of St. Thomas by the Royal
Mail Company as ill-advised. It lies in the direction of
the tornadoes. The hurricane that swept over the har-
bour was not in any sense an extraordinary phenomenon.
It was one of a class foreknown, foreseen, and certain to
happen. The regularity of these storms is one of their
most remarkable features. The chapter by Mr. Dawkins
on the former range of the reindeer in Europe, illus-
trates the important change of climate which has been
going on in Europe for centuries. Mr. Dawkins considers
the retreat of the reindeer northwards conclusive testimony
that the amelioration of climate in modern times is
wrongly attributed to the draining of the morasses and the
cutting down of the forests. Before the hand of man had
made any impression on the vast forests that overshadowed
Germany and Britain, the animal had commenced its
retreat. We cannot, therefore, ascribe the change to the
industry of man, but to some great cause operating
through an inconceivably long time, from the glacial
down to the temperate climate of our own day. It is,
indeed, a return to the order of things in pre-glacial times.
The inquiry is worth prosecuting further. The "Science
of a Snow-flake," by Mr. Robert Hunt, and "The Food
of Plants," by Professor Church, are popularly written,
and the former especially well illustrated.
Mcliora has been affected by the season, and gives nearly
one half of its present number to fiction. The miscel-
laneous articles are one on the Newspaper Press—a some-
what hackneyed subject by this time—and two very good
papers on " Sound and Sense," and " Life in Lunatic
Asylums." The writer of the last is well acquainted with
his subject, and speaks with the authority of an expe-
rienced man as well as with the tenderness of a philanthro-
pist. He thinks that there is still great need of improve.
ment in our asylums. Compulsion is still too often the
rule, persuasion too often the exception. Physicians
too frequently take upon trust all statements of nurses and
matrons, and for granted that the patient is not
to be believed. There is much room for improvement in
the food of the patients, which is often coarse and revolt-
ing, and even the special orders of the medical man will not
always secure better diet, though it should be urgently
needed. Lastly, there ought to be a much more careful
classification of patients than is to be found at present. It
is the extreme of cruelty to shut up a nervous, sensitive
Patient with a violent one who is for ever roaring out
oaths and curses. The Commissioners of Lunacy have
plenty of work cut out for them. If they will read
" Meliora," they will gather some useful hints as to how
they should do it.