New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-03-05
NEW BOOKS NEW EDITIONS

4
DR. s A. X Srahan's book. Suicide and In
sanity" Imported by Charles scribner's sons. de-
served the reward OF second edition. Its tone IS
moderate and sensible, and its facts are largely the
resu, Of personal observation.
"Chambers's Concise Gazetteer of the World q.
E Iippincott e. Coz Is a handy and compact book
in which the array Of facts is fairly complete down
at ieas TO the close OF the last decade In addition
to the alpha betical list of places described there
are also short appendices. including an etymoogy OF
place names and tables OF distances between I'M
portant points.
The fifth volume Of Henry r. Wheateys edition
OF THE Diary of Samuel Pepys" macmillan d Co)
comprises the period from July !. 1868 10 september
80 1866 1t therefore Includes Pepys's observations
on the plague. the great fire and the naval war WIN
the Dutch Pepys also achieved some SOCIAL id"'e
at this time as a musical composer. his setting Of
Beauty Retire" song In the second part OF 'he
"Siege of Rhodes" w. scene p being hlghN
popular according his own testimony a lac
slme OF the first page Of the song Is gwen io'''
the Pepvs collection The other illustrations are
portrai. of Mrs Pepys, engraved by HoiI!e' from
the painting by Hayls which represents her in the
character of 81. Katherine. and a portrait or III
William after Lely Life in the Pepys househou
is still marked by the quarrels that nave become
famous but the husband has begun to take pride
IN the fac, that the wife shows considerable apu-
/
satisfaction 10 see that Peggy Penn me daughter
of Sir William makes much slower progress under
tho same Instructor. But the editor is stu obhsed
to omi; passages from the manuscript Inc pof-
,ions loft on: are apparently OF some length not
merely a word or a phrase in some OF the earlier
volumes, but their NUMBER Is iesS' 0'''' "' ~
IN all.
IN "Tbr.. q, Us" CIIunt & Eaton) Mrs 1zora
! ~ C,ard,sr tolls n trio Of dog stories noble in pur
o-1 ted
deal OF literary skill The hero Of the first Barney
N. dog who was not beautiful but supremely faith
ful and loving. will not soon be forgot'eh pE 'he
reader In mis- history, as in that OF rex ING
author shows a most intimate ana sympathetic I'M
Outstanding OF dog nature. The second story Is
or,;r,entaI and melodramatic and far inferior TO
tho others. The authors Illustrations are admlra-
be.
Preparatory to the exhibit at the Columbian FIX
hIbition the German Imperial Government pun
ushe6 an elaborate work on the universities OF the
Empire The introduction by Friedrich Pauisen'
Professor OF Philosophy and Pedagogy in the M
versity OF Berlin. was compact ana yet singuarIy
comprehensive review OF the history and character
Of the great schools OF Germany. This Introduction
has now been translated separate work by
Professor f. u. Perry. of Columbia College under
the title THE German Universities; their ChaTac-
ter and Historical Development and mas been
published by Macmillan & Co noteworthy point
| in
CRADLE reduction in the numbers OF students at the
great schools OF the Middle Ages. The largest
German university In the Middle Ages can hardly
have contained according TO Professor fauisch'
more than 900 students at any one time IN HOu-
ern times the most significant fact is the unity OF
German universities taken together. They form n
world by themselves. In other countries each
university stands alone. There IS nothing Ike me
constant movement of students and instructors Tom
university to university which is the I've OF me
German system. Professor Perrys translation
reads like Original work Among the appendices IL
good list OF books on the subject.
we have received Part V Of Mr. ". G. Harrss
work. The Fishes OF North America" diarrts
Publishing Coz. and glad to note that the stan
dari set in the number IS steadily maintained
The engravings In the and the fullpagc colored
portraits are admirably done, and the letterpress
s entertaining as we'll instructive. We are even
told how TO cook fsh-in this case me Sturgeon
and suggestions in the art OF angling ana peasant
anecdotes enliven the course Of scientific state
ment The duckbil catfish. sturgeon and the bow
fin or dogfsh are dealt with in this part OF the
rork; and the colored plates introduce us 20 tho
weaknsh and the Rocky Mountain whitehsh as
they look in their native element
Professor O F. Emerson OF Cornell University.
in The History OF the English Language tMac-
milan & Coz argues strongly that foreign eie-
ments and influences have usually been eHag-
gerated He maintains that a dictionary IN "hich
! the alphabetically arranged words occur each ohly
/ once is not a proper standard. Nor is " right III
| the case OF a given book author to note the use
| OF a word only once. In n chosen paragraph ne
| would count all the words. and subtract those or
! foreign origin. Thus he arrives at statistical
estimate OF the relation Of the native TO the Foreign
| element which reduces the latter TO comparatively
small compass even In the case OF such writer's as
! Macaulay Hume. Johnson and Gibbon He points
/ hat sf foreign
must find a place in the dictionary are only used
/ in special writings. while multitude OF native
words rarely never used in writing are frequent
in daily speech. Even the familiar conversation or
a man Ike Johnson must have contained large
portion OF native words which he would not have
used in his writings Speech IS the real test OF a
| language and investigation turns more ana more
from the written and printed forms to the inini'e
variety OF sounds that fall from living lips The
results Of this investigation show that the moiifca-
tons OF English have been characteristic OF tho
masses % thoss who spoke 1t. and that con'r'bu-
tons from without have never been potent enough
/ 10 change II. They have helped TO render useless
some OF it's ancient tendencies; FOR example that
, O, commanding words. But the strongest Influence
even here was the liking for short words The ma
/ tive element is largely monosyabic, and 1t adapted
Itself better to compact foreign words than to com
binations such AS still the pride Of German lie
/ compares the expressions proposed by the poet or
Dorsetshire. William Barnes with words which they
were meant to repace-"t me-takng" with tense. y
mark word Of suchness' with "adjecve.' pitch
| mark with "compa rison'-to show that the bor-
rowing has really been more native process than
the making OF compounds would have been For
| that reason he deprecates "the wall Of corruption
! because OF the borrowed element In English. which
| has been put UP often by writer's in this CEN
fury in the last" He is inclined to minimize the
| effect Of the Norman Conquest on the language.
and he points the readiness soon shown by the
victors to take up the speech OF the conquered
| people
Probably Professor Emerson was led to his view Of
English language history by his study OF phonology.
! TO which he gives a prominence in this book that
| VIII strike many unusual. perhaps as excessive.
/ Here again the dictionary has created prejudices
| thar will have TO be lived down. The written word