sult of causes whose operation has no historical or no written proof to attest them. The gigantic stone images on Easter Island, or the great earthworks in America, are among the proofs that but for such material traces of its existence it is possible for a whole civilization to vanish, and to leave only the veriest savages on the soil where it flourished. As we know that Europe was once as purely savage as parts of Africa are still, and can conceive the cycle of events restoring it to barbarism, so in the depths of time it may have happened in places where no suspicion of such a history is possible. As the surface of the earth seems subjected to processes of elevation and subsidence, land and sea constantly alternating their dominion, so it may be with civilization, destined to no permanent home on the earth, but subsiding here to reappear there, and varying its level as it varies its latitude.
As the practical infinity of past time makes it impossible to calculate the influence exercised in different parts of the world by migrations, by conquests, or by commerce, except within a very limited period, so it precludes any definite belief in ethnological divisions, and relegates the question of the unity of the human race, like that of its origin, to the limbo of profitless discussion. No characteristic has yet been found by which mankind can be classified distinctly into races: and with all the differences of color, hair, skull, or language, which now suffice for purposes of nomenclature, it remains true that there is nothing to choose between the hypothesis that we constitute only one species and that we constitute several. The world is so old as to admit of several divergences from a single original type quite as wide as any that exist; while, on the other hand, similarity of customs (such, for instance, as that Tartars in Asia, Sioux Indians in America, and Kamschadels should all regard it as a sin to touch a fire with a knife) fail us as a proof of a unity of origin, in the face of our ignorance of prehistoric antiquity.
Should he have succeeded in making any one think better than before, with more interest and sympathy of those outcasts of the world whom we designate as savage, something will at least have been done to claim for them a kindlier treatment and respect than in popular estimation they either deserve or obtain.Papers read before the Pi Eta Scientific Society, 1878-'79. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, N. Y. Pp. 69.
This is a collection of ten papers on various subjects, most of which fall under the head of engineering. The first, by S. Edward Warren, on "Graphic Science in Textbook and Teaching," is an explanation of "the idea and intended use" of each volume of a series of text-books prepared by the author on this subject. The second is a technical paper by Hugo Gylden, Director of the University Observatory, of Stockholm, "On the Relations between the Number, Brightness, and Relative Mean Distances of the Fixed Stars as seen from the Earth," translated by Professor E. S. Holden, of the Washington Naval Observatory and Lieutenant Eric Bergland, U. S. Engineer Corps. Among the remaining papers, "Iron and its Uses in Permanent Structures," by C. J. Bates, and "Tides in the Upper Hudson," by John A. Ferris, are of considerable popular interest. A list of the members of the society is appended.
American Ornithology; or, The Natural History of the Birds of the United States. Illustrated with Plates made from Drawings from Nature. By Alexander Wilson and Charles Lucien Bonaparte. Philadelphia: Porter & Coates. Pp. 788, Price, $7.50.
This book does not sufficiently explain itself. There are two volumes bound in one; there are prefixed to it twenty-seven plates containing three or four hundred engravings of birds; there is Baird's list of American species of 1856; and a biography of Alexander Wilson, made up chiefly of his letters. Two names appear upon the title-page as authors, but, if there is any statement of their respective shares in the production of the work, we have failed to observe it.
Alexander Wilson, the ornithologist, was a Scotchman, born in 1766, the son of a distiller, and who himself became a weaver. He early dabbled in poetry, and emigrated to Pennsylvania in 1794. He maintained himself at first by peddling and teaching school. During his journeys he became interested in birds, and at length devoted himself to that branch of natural history. He learned drawing, coloring, and etching, and projected a comprehensive work on American birds. Having prepared a large number of fine illustrations, he made tours through the country to extend his ornithological observations and to get subscribers to his work, which was to appear in successive volumes, and to cost altogether $120. He was but poorly sustained, getting many compliments for the beauty of the pictures he presented, with but very little substantial support. The first volume appeared in 1808. He had completed the publication
