The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1874-04-29
Sickness and the apathy Of biz Court prevented
him from doing 80.


Costenobie, OF Jena. We refer to the President OF
the Berlin biographical Society, DR.. Adolf Bas-
tian's work on ssThe German Expedition ON the
Loango Coast Of Africa; Together with Resume
or Older Information Respecting the Lands to be
Explored by the German Expedition. Treated
after Personal Experience The work Is IN two
volumes, and In embelIished with Illustrations and
o map. Germany Is following with considerable
interests the German expedition to the west coast
OF Africa, to which the Emperor donated sum Of
25,oCo tbaers from hts private purse, and the geo.
graphical societies of Germany are uniting In It's
support. The portion Of the African coast de.
scribed by DR.. Bastan (which has been selected as
the starting point Of the expediton is terra IN
coonfta and, excepting the old books OF Degrand.
pre- Qso3 ana Preyart p79-), We have no
literature relating to It, Tuckey's expcdi-
ton usle) went along tho southern borders
only Du Chaillu's routes were IN more northern
region, and the LOango coast was never visited by
a scientific traveller But much Information
dating from the sixteenth and seventeenth centu-
ries exists In works difficult to get at, and these
are the sources which Dr.. Bastian has used in
the present work. DR.. Bastian speaks at
length on the present state Of the Ger
man expeditions; he adds q monograph
on the lands which the expedition IA to explore
during the next few years. The work deserves the
DR.. Bastian Is a geographical authority and de-
serves listening to whenever ne speaks. In .
lengthy biography Of Livingstone, published in o
recent number OF the Dahertn, DR.. Richard Audree
takes up the HERALD-s taney controversy and tells
his readers how "Mr. Stanley, the bold American,
whose story has been SO unjustly doubted In Ger
many" found the missionary explorer.
LAND AND FOREST CULTURE.
An important book on the results OF one Depart
ment OF the Vienna Exposition comes to us from
the Austrian capital, and Is deserving OF atten-
tion. "Ihe Culture OF the Soil at the Vienna Ex-
position, 1871 especially prepared for Austrian
land and forest cultnriss, at the instance OF the
Austrian Ministry OF Agriculture. The work Is in
three volumes, and Is enriched with wood cuts and
photographic tables. The first volume Is devoted
to "Agrlcuture,' the second to "Forest
Culture" the third to National Econ
Omy." The first volume is especially
rich, and treats OF nearly every subject connected
with agriculture and It's related branches. Tho
second volume, treatlpg OF the forests. discusses
all the important questions connected with this
branch OF national economy. It will be remenl-
bered that the Forest Congress was one OF the
most important OF the Vienna International meet.
ings. The third volume Is divided into
three sections--1, "Natural Economy and
Statistics; 2. The Promotion OF Land Culture by
Governments and Societies; 3, photography of the
Vienna Exposition with reference to Land ana
Forest Culture" The work suffers greatly, how
ever, from the narrow standpoint taken by the
writer's.
Perthes, OF Gotha issues work, epic.
lures from the Rural Population in ThuringIa,
Esaas, Westphalia and East Friesland,n By August
Trumpelmann, which is q valuable contribution 10
the literature OF rural populations in Germany.
"wALDrR1ED.n
Bcrtho.d Auerbacb's new three volume romance,
Waldfred," stares at us in ifs ugly German dress
binding from every bookstore window. l have
not yet invested in It, for the reason that think
the publishers and the author DO great wrong to
the public in attempting to get English prices for
works printed and got up in the German style. The
whole romance would make good so,idly printed
single volume novel; but here author and publish
ers have managed to issue three small, mean
looking books, for which they ask us very nearly
a guinea, for which price the London three vol.
umes are geDer ally sold. But then 1t must be
remembered that the London publishers print In
good type and on good paper and bind their books
we'll SO as to make up, IN many cases, for the
trashy contents. In the case OF .Waldlrled,,
however, we have piece OF delightful reading,
for the Ftherlanders at least done up in bad iml-
tation Of the London style, and at price which
the Germans are certainly not accustomed
to give. Paul Iindau and other critics
ind IN the romance symb0llcal con-
nectIon between Waldiried,s family and
the German imperial family. Ent the work is
hardly fairly under the critics microscope, as
Johannes Scherr for whose gins Paul Lindau waa
recently sentenced to PRISON. has this week an ar
tcle in the Gegenuasy entitled ''vive Napoleon
Iv.!' He ys:-"Pe0plc laugh about it--now. Later
many who now laugh may have good cause to
weep. Did not people laugh when the son OF the
much beloved Hortense brought his ideas of impe-
radon on The tapis Later they knaeled thcro.
for? Human folly and human yillany remain ever
the samel'
-HOLTZENDORF---c CREMATION.
The BayariGn novelist, Hermann Schm!dt's
latest historical romance, ''Concordia, German
Imperial Story from Bavaria" is receiving hearty
welcome in South Germany. This author has
nearly ready lengthy narrative poem entitled
"Winland; or, the Search for Fortune,' which he
has received permission to dedicate to His Majesty
King Ludwig OF Bavaria. Schmidt ia fifty. niue
years of age and still an untirlng story teller His
subjects are chosen mostly from the Ravarian
highlands, from the peasants and hunters, tie
wood burners and the lake dweers,
over whom he tnrows the charm Of po-
etry ana interest. Professor Won Hoizendori is
writing for the Berlin Ge0enrart series Of inter-
estng essays ON "The Conflict OF the German En-.
p.re Against the Cholera" Hoitzcndorf considers
the cholera to be for Germany part vi the
Oriental question. The cholera, by the way, still
prevails at Munich and from two to three Per-
sons die OF the mysterious maedy daily From
Zurich comes q noteworthy pamphlet on "Crema.
tion." by Wcgmann Ecoan, In which the author
attempts 10 show that this is the only rational
mode OF disposlng OF our dead. The new Tor rather
oD system OF burning the dead wilt
soon be introduced into Germany. The
first ''ba.e-oven' for this purpose WIN be
opened In few weeks In Dresden. Process
SleHens is building IT, The communes or Lepsic
and Dresden have declared their readiness 10
adopt the system us soon as The results arc known
to be favorable Semens believes that with his
gas oven, with an enormous temperature the pro-
cess oil cremation will not last over an hour. The
yicnnese Cremation society 'Urno IS about to