The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1856-02-14


expression of his feelings, in respect to his pro-
fession and its important duties. The sketches
here and there of an eminent physician are
pleasing, his hints to the young physician Judi
cious, and the observations as to conduct in
the sick room, and the treatment of patients,
show him to be man of kind and humane
feelings, with those sympathies which are need
ed in many an hour of trial and sorrow. Books
of this class must exercise good influence on
the profession, and practice on its principles,
aside from its medical advantages, will evince
that its publication is opportune and beneficial
s.
STRAY LEAVES FROM Book NATURE. BY NJ Schele
de We're, of the University of Virginia. New York
G. Putnam Co For sale by r. Farnham, Washing
ton, DC.
To the readers of Putnam's Magazine, these
beautiful sketches are already familiar. Yet
they will be glad, be are confident, to see them
gathered in neat volume. 1t is like ramble
among the. fair fields Of nature, to sit down to
such book. The author is well known as q
man of science, and he possesses the rare talent
of imparting his solid instruction in a way that
bols on with the glee of child, catches up q
stone, of which you say, "only pebble" and
yet reads you a lecture on life, rocks, and
stones, which makes one marvel that so much
can be said, and so gracefully, on " wee bit y
of hardened earth. Anon he points you to all
nature in motion, or the distant rolling ocean,
and discourses eloquent thoughts about trees
and flowers takes you trip to the moon, and
shows you how she looks, and what strange
sights and sounds are there. After you have
laid down his book for a time, admonished by
some graver care in the business Of life, you
set out anew with him with the same zest as
before and when, at last, you come to its close
you rather sigh that there are not some more
sketches just like these still to be read. See kind
readers, if you do not find it so. 1t adds much
to the pleasure Of its perusal, too, that it has
such a fair, loaded type-the width of space
between the lines making ample amends for
the minor size of the letter. The style of wri-
ting is polished, and yet marked with great
lucidness and freshness. We are not met on
every page with instances Of careless sentences,
! and expressions not in keeping with the gener-
al purity of its language. 1t is an easy book
and, we may say, a charming book to read ;
and now we leave it to our readers to say, by
their own experience if our judgment of it is
not n correct one. s.
THE CHRISTIAN LIFE: lis Course its indrances and its
Helps BY Thomas Arnold. ID. d., Head Master OF Rug
by School, &c From the fifth London Edition. Phila
delphia: Lindsay & Bakiston 1856. For sale by Tay-
lor Maury, Washington d. c
Few teachers have gained better name for
imparting thorough classical education than
DIR. Arnold, Of the Rugby School. Respected
by his pupils for his kindness and irmness, du-
ring course of years, he stood among the first
of those in England whose aim was to contrib
, ute their best efforts to form manly and vigor
Gus growth in the youthful mind. His system
of teaching and discipline had for its basis a
deep sense of his responsibility, and, with such
devotion to his purpose as he felt, could not
but be successful. DIR. Arnold's Life and Cor
respondence have for several years been before
the public, and many have thus come to know
the man. Such will gladly hail the appearance
of the present volume. Designed as a series of
lectures to his pupils, its pages, however, will not
prove unacceptable to those yet more advanced.
He writes in a clear and vigorous STYLE direct,
and to the purpose. His views are evangelical,
and he is not afraid to present the fear of God,
a sense Of obligation to him, with the necessity
Of something better than human nature, as the
great doctrines by which such a character as
he would have formed in the young is to be
produced. The discourses are short, full of
thought, and in this respect differ greatly from
much that is popular. And here cannot
but notice how diverse the sermons of such
thorough scholarly, disciplined minds, trained
in classical love, are from great many of those
Of the writers and preachers of the present day,
especially i'll our own country. The sermons
of such men as Arnold lie Bas, Shuttleworth,-
&C., are marked by plainness of style, forcible
arguments, and apt illustration. The stamp
they bear from the mint of thought, tells plain
" the purity of the gold. 1t is not true in the
products of mind, that the more diliuse, the
greater the dynamic power, as some would
seem to suppose; that great words, and many
of them, especially epthets, are evidence of
mental force; and that to use terms of science
and literature is to be profound and learned
This is the fault Of too many of the writer's and
speakers of our country; but in sketching out
so wide an expanse, the language becomes too
weak to bear thoughts of weight or power. No
one will find anything like this in Arnold's dis
courses. They may be read and re,read, and
their suggestive influence will be the more felt