New-York tribune., 1884-03-25
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
G 8 PRENTISS.

S. s. PRENTISS.
,, ,,rp AND TIMES OF sEARGENT SMITH 15
PRENrIsS. BY JOSEPH ID. ssls Gn ~
Philadelphia ]. b. Lppincou 70. ..s
80 - al, rosnocts authoritative and satittae-
tory biography of S. S. Prentiss was "l,''' ~ IT.
1rotbor the Rev. d. Prentiss, Of the Union Aheo,
,;oal Seminary in this city, many years ago. anu
. -, sirce n new edition Of this was puoIisnou'
,rtoro can we presume be no doubt that MS i.ilnS
,vould desire him TO DO represented oy 'n".
si~I andupless some new and important materlai
bad heen discovered it is difficult 10 unueiS
,ybat need could exist for q new NE OF Trcn"S''
q biocrapher of exceptional talent ana h'neSS nau
undertaken such a task, moved Dy enthusiasm %
his subject, the end might crown tne WiSi' OuV 'Ao
has not been the Mr. Shlelus nlueeo Po'SoS'eo
some personal knowledge of Prentiss, but he does
not onnear 70 be in position to add anything to the
to Of information already in the possession OF the
world concerning him. and he manltests none ol
+bose special qualifications which coulu aloho ha'o
excused 80 essentially supererogatory aperlorhahce'
In fact be has not any Of the most important IT,
ouisites of of the bographer HIS style Is a1 once
tavdrv'and tedious. He has no sense OF proportion
Te exnotates at wearisome length upon topics no
longer interesting lie pads his book with lnteriin
able extracts from political speeches lie quotes Ie
pcatedly from the Memoirs ." and he puts MS DooA
10th m tbe most slovenly fashion, without preface
IA
his case Indispensable because it was incumbent On
him to show that his book possessed some reason LOT
existence As it is no such reason can be discovered
I. eer.o,rlv is not in any way fitted TO supersede
tho ,revorsy existing life of PrentSs. III tels INC
nublic nothing new and what II does tei Is ho'
well told. Undoubtedly Seargent ;. Preauss de-
served a good biography, but he has had one' ana
even If he had not this book would not supply such
want.
ENERGY IN NATURE. By W. LIANT CARPENTER. PIP.
2l2 CaSse < Co.
Mr. Carpenter a son of DIR. w. B. Carpenter ana
n rising physician himself has prepared little book
containing the substance of six lectures upon the
force of nature and their mutual relations The
freshest scientific views concerning these forces are
here given in a simple, clear and ntellgbe manner
The doctrine Of the correlation forces has made
considerable advances since the time of Grove and
Mayer and those who desire to keep abreast of mod
ern scientific work and speculation IN superhciaI
way cannot do much better than TO read Mr. Car
penter's lucid exposition. Our author reaches the
conclusion that the uniformity exhibited IN natural
law and the interaction of natural forces, suggest
tbey do not prove a designing Mind as their orig
inatOr. lie has no sypamthy with the plnloSophJ
which seeks TO explain the order OF the universe by
blind force.
yorJvG EntKs' HIsTORY OF TIE CTvGI. WAR. BY
Ms. Q. EMMA CHENEY Fully lh.fstrateu' PIP OH
Boston: Estes 81 Lauriat.
Mrs !bcpey has done her work cOnscientiOusly
and fairly WELL having written history OF the re-
bellion which certainly ought TO be interesting TO
The Young folks of the North, however 1t may strike
those OF the south. Some of the generazatlons are
indeed deficient in historical precision as when the
author states that party lines were wiped out by
the outbreak of secession and that there were no
longer Democrats and Republicans This, how
ever. is not of material consequence the main part
teing to give a sufficiently graphic and stirring
narrative of the principal events of the war, and
this Mrs Cheney has succeeded IN doing. The book
is almost overloaded with Illustrations some OF
which are not altogether relevant but perhaps they
will serve TO prevent youthful interest from flag
rinq, though boys generally show quite sufficient
eagerness in hearing about battles.
p61rND AROrT RIO By FRANK d. G. CARPENTER.
pp AIS Chicago: Jansen, McCurg * Co.
This is a compromise between a book of travels
and novel. 1t is IN fact, one of those particularly
dreadful books in which the travels of family or
Marty are narrated from semi-cOmjc point OF view.
We know of nothing more depressing in the cate
aory of printed things and the present volume is
not an execution 10 its class. The hour must indeed
he heavy which can bc cheered by such literature
and though there canuot bat be some scattered III
formation in a volume of the kind it is so hidden,
and in such rubbish, that the game of exploration
will not pay for the candle
A DAY ~ ATHENS WITH SOCRATES. Tr%nsations
from the PrOtagOraS and the Republic OF Flat0. pp'
las. Charles ScIibners sons
An attempt is here made apparently TO popuarize
Plato by giving liberal extracts from two of his dia-
locues. the Protagoras and the Republic. Whether
the editor has made the happiest selection possible
js question which will, we think, admit OF argu-
ment though of course individual taste must have
a good deal to do with it. Certainly the portions
chosen do convey sufficiently vivid picture of the
intellectual life of the Athens Of that day, though
terhaps some familiarity with Greek history is
necessary TO a full appreciation Of the picture. The
reasoning of Socrates is well displayed IN both the
dialogues and the questions discussed are of un-
diving Interest being for all practical intents as
fresh to-day as when they were being disputed IN
the Portico A preface gives a sufficient introduc-
ton and kew TO the argument, and an appendix con-
taips notes still further elucidating the dialogues.
THE WINE PRESS AND THE CELLAR. manual
for the wiue-uaker and the cclilIInan BY r.. II.
RixFORD Up. 30 d. Van N0stiand.
This manual has been prepared especially for the
use of California wine-maAers. 1t treats mainly Of
the grapes gown in that State, and Of the qualities
of soil modes of cultivation and 50 forth. it Is the
work of a thoroughly trained viuiouturist. aud con-
tains a mass of very important and indeed lndis-
pensable information. The rapid growth Of vini-
culture in California renders such publications
necessary continually, and Mr.. Rxfords manual
can be rocommenfv. as Trustworthy and compara-
lively exhaustive.