The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-04-20 00:00:00

Literature.

POETRY

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.
SlR,—The following are original, from my old scrap-book,
if you think them worthy of insertion. J. Q.
Kirkdale-road.

TRUST TN GOD

Who
put thy trust
in in GOD, msoul,
Who now life upholds thee;

Whose ten-del' car

from poli to pole,

O, lit thy trust in Grin, my soul,

Nor fains th
Doth he not all ever
His hand no good denies the

:ontrol?

0, put thy trust in God, n
So shah he never fail th,

Though thunders roar and

all life's

TO A FRIEND

Full many a turn this globe has had

And I 'ye been bli

been sad,

Mt-changing scenes of woes have past,
Like shadows on the dial ;

But thanks, 0 thanks ! thi
Too long for mortal trig'

y did not last

NOTICES

A.Letter on the subject of the Navigation Laws, with
Suggestions for the Improvement of the System of
Apprenticeship. By Henry Cleaver Chapman, Esq.
Liverpool : Wareing Webb,
. . . .

In the above short pamphlet, which has just been
printed for private circulation only, Mr. Chapman ap-
peals to the shipowners of Great Britain on the necessity
of laying aside the inertness with which they appear to
regard the proposed abrogation of the navigation laws.
Whilst London and the outports are energetically pre-
paringi to lay the case of the shipping interest before the
commnttee, Liverpool, he justly contends, ought not to
remai silent; but, on the contrary, should take active
steps, and by means of a public meeting, make their senti-
ments known to the public and the legislature.
The pamphlet contains many valuable suggestions,
which, coming from a practical man of Mr. Chapman's
known ability, ought to attract the attention of those to
whom it is addressed and the shipping interest generally.
The remarks on the system of apprenticeship appears to
its to be especially valuable.

National Education; a Letter, 6(e. By Thomas King,
Surgeon, Chelmsford. Longman and Co.
One of the trenchant reproofs which Mr. Edward
Baines, of Leeds, has drawn upon his head by his factious
opposition to the government scheme of education. The
writer inti mates that he is a Dissenter.

Prevention better than Cure; or, the Moral Wants of
the World we live in. By Mrs. Ellis, Author of the
" Women of England," &c., &c. London : Fisher,

Son and Co

The all-absorbing interest now felt in the subject of
education, and in the importance of early moral training,
as tending to improve the national character, and more
efficacious in promoting the decrease of crime than any
laws for its repression or punishment, bespeak attention
to a work on the above subject from a writer so intelligent
as Mrs. Ellis has proved herself to be in all her previous
writings. The object of the writer may, perhaps, most
clearly be gathered from the following passage of her pre-
face :—" Having reflected deeply," she says, " upon the
different causes which operate in the formation of charac-
ter,• and the paramount influence of character upon so-
ciety, I have been unable to resist the conviction, that if
more importance had been attached to the direction of
the moral faculties in early life, many of the social evils
which we now so justly deplore would have been either
unknown, or felt in a much less disastrous manner. It
has, therefore, been my earnest endeavour, in the follow-
ing pages, to, engage the sympathy of readers interested,
like myself, in this important subject, in the hope that,
by united co-operation, some of those improvements may
be introduced into our educational systems, of which all
are feeling the want, though few are yet endeavouring to
supply, by the application of moral means, in such a man-
ner as to bear directly in the formation of moral in con-
nexion with intellectual character." Whilst endeavour-
ing to make out the advantages of such a course of opera-
tion upon the national mind, Mrs. Ellis does not neglect
the opportunity of admitting that there is a higher in-
fluence—that of religion—which ought to be called in to
its aid, in order to realise fully the object sought.
In pursuing her subject, the author sets out with a des-
cription of the general state of society at the present, with
its universal activity and onward tendency. The physical
hindrances which affect mankind, and those who seek the
amelioration of their condition, are lucidly traced to con-
sist in the want of proper sanitary regulation of our large
towns, the necessary contact of their population with
crime, the effect of example vitiating the mind and des-
troying health and energy : the natural tendencies to evil
are also traced as operating as a serious hindrance, and a
powerful appeal is made upoillite claims of the poor to
better treatment by their sup fors, and to an improved
system of education.
In this work, which ought to be extensively studied,
Mrs. Ellis has succeeded in adding one more to her many
previous claims upon the gratitude of her kind. The
work, we may add, is got up in the usual excellent style
of its spirited publishers, Messrs. Fisher.

Euclid's Elements of Geometry, the First Sia Books,
chiefly from the text of Dr. Simon, with Explanatory
Notes, a Series of Questions on each Book, and a
Selection of Geometrical Exercises from the Senate
House and College Examination Papers; designed
for the use of Junior Classes in Public and Private
Schools. By Robert Potts, M.A., Trinity College.
Cambridge ; University Press : London, J. W. Parker,
pp. 272.
Mr. Potts's " University Edition of Euclid " has al-
ready become the standard copy, and the college examina-
tions of the last year in Geometry turned upon its con-
tents. We rejoice, therefore, to perceive that he has sent
forth a less expensive volume, for the use of those who, in
schools or elsewhere, are entering on the study of mathe-
matics, embracing the same principles, and all the
Advantages of the larger copy, as far as is required for

Hitherto the mathematical learning of Cambridge has
either been confined to manuscript in the possession of
private tutors, or else expressed so ambiguously in print,
as to puzzle rather than assist the learner, and thereby
render a private tutor still more necessary. In the present
publication, the author, who has been engaged in tuition
in the University for many years, has given a well ar-
ranged text, lucid notes, and a large collection of
examples ; opening literally his treasures, so that the
lover of science, young or old, may acquire the elements
of geometry, and become well practised in their applica-
tion, without the necessity of calling in a tutor, which
help, so unattainable in many situations and so costly
everywhere, he may reserve for the higher branches of
mathematical science. The preparation thus afforded
will render his advance in the deeper processes much
more rapid and intelligent than is generally the case, and
should he aspire to the University honours, give an im-
mense impetus to his progress.
The application of geometry to every branch of physical
science, and especially to navigation, is apparent. It is
the very alphabet of mathematics; and Mr. Potts adheres
to the geometrical form of representing its truths. Each
successive step in the demonstrations is printed in a sepa-
rate line, which is calculated to impress on the mind of
the learner the successive links in the chain of reasoning.
In the body of the work the algebraic signs are avoided.
Should the study of geometry be viewed only as that of
the most satisfactory kind of logic, and as calculated to
_strengthen the intel'ectual powers, its value can scarcely
be estimated. Order, accuracy, force of thought, language
and argument applicable to business of all kinds, and
knowledge •of every sort, are the fruits of a mind thus
exercised. And if a series of gymnastics be of advantage
to the bodily vigour, we cannot conceive an intellectual
discipline more calculated to develope the inventive,
rational, and retentive faculties of the mind than the pro-
blems appended to each hook of the present edition of
Euclid ; and as they are selected from the University and
College Examination Papers, for the last fifty years, they
will be a store of actual information of the most probable
utility, if ever the student should become a candidate for
academic distinction, or, in the current language of the
University, such matter as " will pay."
In the sent volume is an abridgment of the
,hick has become so generally adopted in
-,inversities of Oxford and Cambridge. We are
gratified to learn that the " School Edition " is adopted
at Eton, King's College, London : Christ's Hospital, the
Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, and many other
public schools. The members of mechanics' and other
scientific institutions, will find either edition of great
value; according to their state and progress in science.
And for their encouragement we select the following ac-
count. of Edmund Stone, the Mathematician, from the
introduction to the large edition, which contains a history
of the sciences, as " an example of true genius overcoming
all the disadvantages of birth, fortune, and education."
" Etinund Stone was the son of a gardener of the Duke
of Argyle. At eight years of age he was taught to read ;
and at eighteen, without further assistance, he had made
such advances in mathematical knowledge as to be able
to read the Principia of Newton. As the Duke was one
in his garden, he saw a copy of Newton's
Principia lying on the grass, and called some one near
aim to take it back to the library. Young Stone, the
modestly observed, that the book belonged-to
To you replied the Duke; 'do you understand
cry, Latin, Newton ?" I know a little of them,'
d the young man, with an air of simplicity. The Duke
stirprised, and having himself a taste for the sciences,
entered into conversation with the young mathemati:
kn. .He asked him several questions, and was astonished
the force, the accuracy, and the candour of his answers.
But how,' said the Duke, • came vole by the knowledge
)f all these things ?
.Stone replied, ' A servant taught
Tie, ten years since, to read. Does any one need to know
tore than the twenty-four letters of the alphabet, in
-der to learn anything else that one wishes ?' The
curiosity was redoubled : he sat down on a bank,
and requested a detail of all his proceedings. I first
learned to read,' said Stone. ' The masons were then at
work upon your house. I went near them one day, and
saw that the architect used a rule and compasses, and that
he made calcidations. I enquired_ what might be the

er edition, w

Ge-nine

1/Wie S

meaning of these things, and seas informed that there was
a science called Arithmetic. I purchased a book of
Arithmetic, and learned it. I was told there was another
science- called Geometry ; I bought the books, and learned
Geometry. By reading I found that there were good
books h these two sciences in Latin : I bought a diction-
ar Y. and learned Latin. I understood also that there
wve good books of the same kind in French : I bought