The New York herald., 1866-07-22


say col between Augustus Caesar the nephew the re-
sorer Of order and permanent empire and the nephew
Louis Nanoleon The imperial author loses OPP
portunity for making comparisons between the situ-
alton of Caesar and his uncle Tho gist OF
his whole theme Is that both the Roman
and French empires were necessity OF the times
So Also with regard TO Augustus and BY inference We
suppose he means too. Napoleon the Third "The Ro-
man wordn he says "dId not find peace until the heir
Of his (Csars) name had made his cause triumph" In
this sentence lies the secret Of the book s argument
We do not think that either the or the
persons are entirely alike though there Ia resemblance
in some particulars The civilization and institutions Of
tho Romans were different TO our modern civilization
and the institutions Of France The French empire does
not rest ON the same foundation the Roman, The fu
ture alone can determine how long the partially hston
ca, parallel between the nephews OF Cesar and Napoleon
viii last
A NARRATIVE OF ANDERsoNvILLE, Drawn from
the Evidence Elected on the Trial of Henry
Wirz the Jailor. BY Ambrose Spencer Har.
per d Brothers.
Tho compiler of this book must have had an ire.
sIsble mania to appear in print he would not have
taken up disgusting subject with which eli the world is
too familiar II is neither moro or than the wirz
trial over again. with which the newspapers all over the
country were filled few months ago. There is nothing
new in it, except some twaddle about what certain
silly Southern school girls foolish Southern women
said with regard to the prisoners and the Yankees how
they looked at them, and how they supposed 70
feel toward them, all Of which we knew before and
which nobody for As to the horrible details OF
cruelty we have had enough Of them. To try to bring
them before the public again serve no good purpose
but cannot fail to do harm by keeping alive bitter feel
ings which it is the duty Of every good citizen to
endeavor to aay. The wretched Wrz has
not only expiated his crimes by death, but,
under the form OF o trial that reflect
credit upon the country he was offered up as an ap-
pcasement to the excited public feeling Of the tme Let
him rest thon till the history of the can be written
in future and calrncr period Wicked as he showed
himself to be his crimes the result Of fierce and
bitter war and in great or the idhculties OF
his situation As the feeling OF the Southern people
during the war, which Mr.. Spencer seems TO delight in
describing we meyer heard Of any war; and particularly
such aofce civil as ours, ,lwhere there was not
great deaf of bitter feeling The author II the compiler
Of this book may called author appears to be one
Of that class Of preudced people who have but ono idea
or who can see only one side OF question.
HOMES WITHOUT HANDS. Being Description Of
the Habitatons of Animals, Cassed According
70 Their Principle of Construction. BY the Rev.
J, e. Wood, N. A., +. l.. s., &C. Harper
Brothers.
We have rarely perused abosk with as much pleasure
have this one An interesting Prancn oi nasural
history treated in and most attractye manner
AS tho author in his preface the object OF tne
work is fully given in the titlepage. Boginnng with
the simplest and most natural form OF habitaton-
namely burrow in the grornd-ths work proceeds
In the following order Second those creatures that
suspend their homes the air; third, those that are
real builders forming their domicies Of mud. stones
sticks and similar materials fourth those which make
their habtations beneath the surface OF the water
whether salt or fresh NTH those that live socially in
communication SIXTH those that are parasitic upon ami
mails or plants seventh those which build on branches
The last chapter treats Of msceanea, or those habita
tons which could not be well cassed in any Of the
ceding groups"
The author .begns with the mammalia, the highest
type Of e and carries down TO the lowest, in the
corals and madrcpores ut the bottom Of the Hu
man habitations arc excepted coming within the
scope OF this work Homes Without Hands,
Let be supposed that this book is only for
the learned and scientific and that is cncumbered with
| Of technical atinized phraseoogy, like most
works on natural history from which the mass Of ord
nary readers turn away in despair Of understanding
them No, Il Il simple, clear and easily under
stood as child school book The style very natural
and pleasing II Is dull heavy. Children
this work undertandingly and with delight yet the
learned naturalist may study it with profit Indeed
less valuable book for the scientific and philo
sopher than for the ordinary reader
Tho writer begins with the mole, entitled to take the
FIRST place the list burrowers He strikes right into
the subject at in the following manner which
give a specimen of his style:-
This extraordinary animal docs not merely dig tun
nes the ground and 81, at the end OF them forms
complicated subterranean dwelling place, with cham
bers passages and other arrangements Of wonderful
n haa ifsf
ing grounds; establishes system OF communication
elaborate as thai OF modern railway or to be
correct that OF subterranean network Of metropo
tan sewerage; and Is animal OF varied accomplish
ments'
He then goes on to show whs, these accomplishments
are show US in fact what the habits nature,
domestic life and public conduct OF this animal SO on
with regard to other animals We leara to know all
about them. II would be pleasant 10 quote extensively
from this interesting work. but space will not per-
nit We cannot however, resist the temptation TO
fer the authors remarks upon the hivebec being
the most accurate of mathcmaticans = Many years
ago Mrad being struck with the fact that the lozengc.
shaped plates of the honey comb always had the
angles took the trouble TO thcrn and found
that in each ozenge the large angles measured 100 de-
% minutes and the smaller 20 degrees 80 seconds
the two together making $50 degrcesthe equivalent of
right angles He also noted the fact that the apex
Of tho threcsided cup formed by the union OF
three OF the great angles
''omc time after Reaumur thinking that this remark
able uniformity Of angle might have some connection
with the wonderful economy of space which Is observ
able in the bee-comb, hit upon very ingenious plan
without mentioning his reasons for the question he
asked Knnig the mathematician TO make the follow
ing calculation n-Given hcxasonal weasel, terminated
by three lczcngc-shaped plates what are tho angles
vi va the atesfn
the least amount Of material sn
Krnis made his calculations, almost agreeing with
Mradi, and Reaumur concluded shat the bee had very
nearly solved the difficult mathematical problem.
Mathcmnscians delighted with the result, and
for long time the calculations were not questioned.
However, haclaurin the we'll known Scotch mahemati-
clan, not satisfied with even 90 slight difference