The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1873-07-29
LITERARY CHIT-CHAT.

THE LATE GEonsE GIBBS, whose specially was
philoogy, had nearly prepared for publication
quarto volume OF vocabdisries Of the American
Indians having carefully arranged several hum
dred series OF words The Smithsonian Institution
will issue the work hereafter.
NEW LIFE OF ERASMUS by R. B. Drummond,
has appeared In London In two volumes. This
learned and industrious scholar was the author Of
more volumes than any man Of his time Mr..
Drummond shows him to US In copious transla.
lions from his writings, and with some shortcom-
ings has produced book which will supersede
Buffers and Jortin's weIl-known lives OF Erasmus.
THE LEARNED TREATISE OF Professor GOudsmtt, Of
Leyden. on the Pandects and the connection OF
the Roman law with modern legislation, has been
translated and published in London.
BOEoKH's famous work on Greek inscriptions,
long out Of print, Is to be ressued In three vol
umes, In enlarged form, as the CORPUS Inscrip-
tionum Attcarum," by the Academy of Sciences at
Berlin. The same Academy will issue the long
delayed third volume Of the historian Mommsen's
"Corpus Inscriptonum Latinarum."
DIR. WYvILLE THoNsoN's interesting book on
'sThe Depths OF the Scar shows by the experience
Of the naturalists on board Her Majesty's ship
Challenger that 1t is possible to dredge for marine
plants and animals in 5000 fathoms Of water, and
that Edward Forbes idea OF the lifeless condition
and repairing OF ocean cables was the first step
towards this interesting revelation. The wires
come up from the most prodigious depths encrusted
with organisms
THAT DREADFUL bette notr OF the astronomers
Professor Piantamour, has published complete
"Resume MeteOr0logique de pAnnee 1872 pour
Geneve ct le Grand Saint Bernard. "''
THE ENGLISH DIALECT SOCIETY has issued "Rules
and Directions for Word Collectors intended to
enable students to arrange all archaic and provtn
cial forms Of pronunciation without using any
letters but those Of ordinary English alphabet
IT TURNS OUT that the historian Prescott was not
always as careful critic and scholar as his con-
temporaries thought him. In his Conquest Of
Peru" he quotes few authors more frequently tn an
"Sarmiento,n whom Mr.. Prescott supposed to be a
writer who had himself been long in Peru and an
eyewitness Of the scenes he described. But Senior
Gonzalez dc Ia Rosa, Peruvian student, finds that
the manuscript of 'tSarmiento," so prOfusey cited
by Mr. Prescott is actually the second part of the
well known Cieza de Leon, whose "Chronicle Of
PERU is 30 familiar In all the languages OF Europe
Sarmient0, who was lawyer and President OF the
Council Of the Indies was never in America in his
llfe and the manuscript is merely endorsed as hav-
ing been sent to him.
MAX julius L. BREUCHLEy, whose recent death
has deprived the world Of one OF the most graphic
ana SUCCESSFUL WTlterS OF DOCKS OF traVe, printed
this year, 1.-THE Cruise of the Curacoa" Journal of
a voyage among the Navigator, the Friendly and
the FIJI Islands, Mr. Breuchley, although he was
himself In holy orders, gives highly uniavorable
account Of the missionaries IN these islands. He
found them small minded, jealous and intolerant,
prone to exaggerate the depravity Of the heather
and almost destitute OF tact or judgment. He
praises the natives Of these islands 40 among the
most friendly, amiabe and open-hearted specimens
OF mankind.
Mr.. RAwDoN BROWN has discovered that shak-
speare was well known to Cervantes, and traces
Sancho Panza's well known eulogy or sleep to
Macbeth's
Sleep that knits up the ravellei slave Of care
He points out several other analogies of thought
and expression to show that Cervantes appreci-
ated Shakespeare. whose best dramas were printed
few years before the appearance Of Don
Quixote."
THE EARLY ENGLISH TEXT SOCIETY has nearly
ready that quaint and rare old volume "The Mgr.
roure Of Our Lady" 1880, with Autographs of the
four original woodcuts in the nrst edition.