coins. Of the gold coinage issued, 20,048,500 dols. were in double eagles, 2,246,890 dols. in eagles, 2,545,900 dols. in half eagles, 5670 dols. in three-dollar gold pieces, 6,982.50 dols, in quarter eagles, and 7181 dols. in dollars. Of the silver coinage, nearly all of which was coined by the Philadelphia Mint, consisting of dollars, half-dollars, quarter-dollars, and dimes, amounted to a total of 28,848,959 dollars.

A notable and useful feature in this report is that it gives a statement of the coinages of the following countries of the world as returned by the respective ministers accredited to them. Great Britain, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Denmark, Sweden and Norway, Netherlands. Russia, Egypt, Japan, Sandwich Islands, Mexico, Venezuela, Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, and Uruguay. The minister to the Korea reports that he could not get any returns, as the coinage of that country is carried on secretly by the government. Mr. Kimball says as far as advices have been received, coinages were executed during 1884 in eighteen countries of the world, amounting in round numbers to 99.500,000 dollars in gold, and 90,000,000 dollars in silver. The United States has been, as formerly, the largest coiner of both metals. The coinage of Australia was only less than the United States by 1,800,000 dollars. The gold coinage of Russia amounted to within 4,000,000 dols. of the United States. The coinage of silver in Mexico was only 3,000,000 dols. behind that of the United States. India coined only 13,800,000 dollars, a large decline from former years, and the coinage of Spain amounted to nearly 7,000,000 dollars.

The Third Report we have before us is the Annual Report of the Hon. Henry W. R. Cannon, the Comptroller of the Currency, dated Dec. 1, 1885. Since the Civil War the Comptroller of the Currency has become practically the comptroller of the banks of the United States, as the National banks, as they are called, have their notes supplied to them by him according to the amount of U.S. bonds they deposit with the Government. This arrangement swept away all the bankrupt and half bankrupt banks, the value of whose notes

varied from twenty-five per cent. to seventy-five per cent. discount, and placed the banking system of the United States on a sound commercial basis. In this twenty-third annual report Mr. Cannon tells us that during the year ending November 1, 1885, one hundred and forty-five banks have been organized, with an aggregate capital of 16,938,000 dols. and circulating notes have been issued to them amounting 4,274,910 dollars. Since the establishment of the national banking system on February 25, 1863, three thousand four hundred and six national banks have been organized. Four hundred and thirty-two have gone into liquidation, for the purpose of winding up, seventy-nine for the purpose of re-organization, sixty-four by the expiration of their charter, of which thirty-eight have been re-chartered, and one hundred and four have been placed in the hands of receivers for the purpose of closing up their affairs. On November the 1st. 1885, two thousand seven hundred and twenty-seven were in working order, the largest number that have been in operation at any one time since the inauguration of the system. Bank notes are the most convenient forms of value, when they are backed up by some reliable security such as the bullion in the Bank of England, or the bonds in the hands of the Government of the United States; not only are notes more convenient than coin, but they save a considerable amount annually in its wear and tear. In England we do not appreciate as we ought the benefit of notes as money, but in the United States, through the scarcity of coin during the civil war, they got thoroughly used to them, and there was considerable discontent when the fractional currency ceased to be issued. In Scotland, where they have taken kindly to paper money, a trader, especially in outlying districts, will rather take a one pound note than a sovereign; the former he has become expert in telling if it is genuine or not: the latter he has less experience in, and is more suspicious of. Mr. Cannon in his valuable report gives the bank note issues of most of the other countries of the world who have recognized the utility and advantages of paper money.

PROF. MONIER WILLIAMS.-We are pleased to be able to announce that Prof. Monier Williams, D.C.L., Boden Professor of Sanskrit in the University of Oxford, has received the honour of knighthood in recognition of his services in the field of Oriental languages and literature.

CAPTAIN BURTON, the celebrated African traveller, and H.M. Consul, Trieste, has been made a Knight Commander of the Order of St. Michael and St. George.

MR. EDWIN ARNOLD IN INDIA.-Before leaving Bombay, Mr. Arnold was specially entertained by the leading native gentlemen of that city at the house of Mr. Dosabhoy Framjee, C.S.I. All the leading representatives of Bombay society were present on the occasion.

SIR WILLIAM COMER PETHERAM.-The Queen has been graciously pleased to approve of the appointment of Sir W. C. Petheram, Chief Justice of the High Court at Allahabad, to be Chief Justice of the High Court at Calcutta, in succession to Sir Richard Garth, who is about to retire.

THE LIGHT OF ASIA AND THE LIGHT OF THE

WORLD. By S. H. Kellogg, D.D. (London: Macmillan & Co.). The following is an interesting extract from a review of the above work in the Saturday Review for February 6th:"We cannot regret too much Dr. Kellogg's rashness (for we should have liked good argument in preference to bold assertion) in challenging the pre-Christian existence of the Buddhist legend. After misquoting Mr. Beal, he says (p. 158): 'No one has yet proved that a single feature in the Buddha legend which could possibly suggest a dependence of the Gospel on that legend dates from a period earlier than several centuries after Christ.' We do not quite understand what the dependence of the Gospel on that legend' means; but, if Dr. Kellogg denies the existence of the Buddhist saga in times before Christ, we can assure him he is mistaken. Has he not read M. Sénart's La légende du Buddha? and does not this writer say that it is positively demonstrable that the formation of the legend was anterior to the Christian era (p. 537 op. cit.)? Then, again, what about those Indian sculptures at Bhârut and Sanchi, which Dr. Kellogg trips by so lightly? Have we not here plain evidence that the supernatural incarnation of the Buddha, his early life in the palace, his excursus, his flight from the city, his enlightenment, his temptation, his preaching, etc., were all perfectly known at the time of the erection of one or other of those topes ?

And is Dr. Kellogg prepared to dispute with General Cunningham or with Mr. Fergusson the date of their building? But it is really too late in the day to enter on an argument of this kind. Surely the writer of this apology might have looked into the Life of Buddha by Asvaghosha, who lived in the first century of our era, and found there the legend in all its completeness; or, at any rate, he might have given us some reason for disbelieving the universally accepted account of the life of Buddha brought to China A.D. 72, which, as has been shown (vol. xix. Sacred Books of the East, Introduction), contained all the legendary details above named-but about all this, in the presence of his own challenge, he says nothing. It is impossible, in the space allotted to us, to enter on the question of what Dr. Kellogg calls the integrity of the Gospel' (p. 158). He seems to think it almost wicked to suppose that any knowledge of the Buddha legend could have extended beyond the confines of India towards Palestine. But we would simply remind him that the historical connection between North India and Syria is placed beyond reasonable doubt by the fact that the town in which Nagasêna held his discussion with Menander (namely, the city of Sâgala on the bank of the Râvi) some hundred and forty years B.C. was called a Yavana, or Greek, territory; and this is explained in the Chinese version of the life of Nagasêna by saying that Sâgala was the capital of Ta-Thsin-i.e. the Empire of Syria, or of the Græco-Syrian Empire, established by the followers of Seleucus on the hither and thither borders of the Indian Caucasus. It is not at all likely that this celebrated discussion of the Buddhist Bhikshu and the Yavana King, who was born at Alasadda, 1400 miles from Sâgala. should have been unknown before the limits of India. We know that it was translated into Pâli, and it is impossible not to believe that some knowledge of it was carried by the Yavana nobles who attended on the occasion, to other parts of the Greek-i.e. Syrian Empire. Why not, then, to Antioch and other places bordering on Palestine? It will be replied there is no proof of it. No! there is no proof; but there are so many probabilities derived from this and other considerations, that the argument from silence' is of little weight, But in any case, even if we had proof positive that the whole Buddhist legend was known familiarly throughout Western Asia, why need we call in question the integrity of the Gospel ? Are there no instances in the Old Testament of the presence of Egyptian and

Assyrian and Persian influences? Such, at least, is the common belief. But how does this interfere with the integrity of the Mosaic dispensation? In fact, an honest believer in the Gospel history is not afraid to face any possible new relation of facts brought to light by new investigations; and we venture to think it is unworthy of any scholar to stand in fear of such new discoveries."

PROF. ROEHRIG AND CORNELL UNIVERSITY. - The new authorities of Cornell University have resolved to abolish the Department of Oriental Languages as not suitable to a technical university. This resolution, we regret to say, leaves Prof. Roehrig, after seventeen years' work in the University, without any occupation, or compensation for thus being suddenly deprived of his appointment. The Cornell Sun says: Very important action was taken by the Executive Committee of the University at a meeting held December 18, 1885, in the adoption of the report of the Committee on Salaries and Reorganization of Departments. We quote some of the more important portions of the report:-'Your committee are of opinion that the hopes for many years entertained of building up a department of Sanskrit and Modern Oriental Languages have not been realized. The demand for instruction in that department seems to us not to justify the continuance of the professorship beyond the end of the present year. While we are by no means certain that the University ought not ultimately to have a department of Comparative Philology, we are of opinion that such a department, to be successful, must rest upon the broad basis of a well-organized and well-equipped classical department. In the interest of linguistic study, we therefore recommend that the classical department be strengthened by receiving at least one more instructor than is at present employed.' The first resolution of the Executive Committee was as follows:-"1. Resolved, That the chair of Sanskrit and Modern Oriental Languages be discontinued from and after the end of the present collegiate year." Unfortunately the following remarks of the Sun have not found an echo with the University authorities: "The abolition of the department of Oriental langnages is a source of much regret; and it is to be hoped that the services of the scholarly and distinguished gentleman who has filled the chair during seventeen years, and whose work has been coeval with that of the University, will be properly recognized and honoured at the close of his official term, as an old and worthy servant should be recognized and honoured, especially one who has, by his very name alone, contributed more than many of his associates to the fame and standing of Cornell." Previous to his appointment to the chair of Sanskrit and Oriental Languages, Prof. Roehrig was an assistant surgeon in the U.S. Army, and when he was stationed in Northern Dakota, be contributed an article on the " Language of the Sioux Indians" to the Report of the Smithsonian Institution for 1871.

A COMPENDIUM OF CASTES AND TRIBES FOUND IN INDIA. (By E. J. Kitts, B.C.S.)—This work presents us with a bird's-eye view of the entire system of castes and tribes in India. Although a mass of figures, we know of no work that gives such a clear idea of the extraordinary conditions under which India exists at the present moment, and it is almost with feelings of awe that we here recognize the courage which the English of old must have displayed in endeavouring to govern such a mass of incongruous material. We find nearly 2000 different castes or tribes in India, some counting by millions, others only by hundreds.

AMERICAN ORIENTAL SOCIETY.-Proceedings at New York, October 28th and 29th, 1885.-The Society met at 3 o'clock p.m. in Professor Short's lecture-room (No. 23), at Columbia College. The President, Professor Whitney, of Yale College, called the Society to order. As the Recording Secretary, Professor Toy, was absent, it was voted that the Corresponding Secretary, Professor Lanman, serve in his stead pro tempore. The minutes of the May meeting having been read, and, after correction, approved, Professor Short announced the order of the present meeting.-Prof. Whitney made a brief statement respecting a recent edition of the Atharva-Veda published in India (Bombay, 1884). Professor Whitney said that, seeing a new Hindu edition of the Atharva-Veda advertised in Europe, he had sent for it; but he was rather amused, as well as disappointed, to find it simply a lithographed copy, page by page, line by line, note by note (except that the German words contained in the latter are left out), of the edition published by Professor Roth and himself in Germany, now nearly thirty years ago. Of course, the misprints and errors of the original are faithfully reproduced with the rest; probably there are no more new ones than were reasonably to be expected, the transcrip

tion seeming to be made in general with care (though there are, to be sure, two accent-signs omitted in the very first verse). There is nowhere in the work any intimation of its source, or of credit due to any one but the Hindu editor, Sewaklal Karsandās. It is desirable by such a notice as this to put other possibly intending buyers on their guard.Professor Hall also made a statement with reference to Prof. B. B. Warfield's translation of a section from the Abbé Martin's Introduction à la Critique Textuelle du Nouveau Testament, in the October "Hebraica"; showing how the Abbé Martin-and that translation, of course-had ignored certain arguments in favour of the existence, past if not present, of a Karkaphensian Syriac version of the Scriptures, or a portion thereof, and justifying Rosen and Forshall, J. S. Assemani, and others, in rendering a certain Syriac term as "version." As the substance of that oral statement has been sent to "Hebraica," in which it will doubtless soon appear, no abstract is here necessary.-Professor Hall then presented a communication on several newly acquired Syriac manuscripts, in the custody of the Union Theological Seminary in New York City. Circumstances of ownership forbid any public statement or description for the present, but the restriction will perhaps be removed in time for the next issue of the Proceedings.-Communications were then presented as follows: 1. Further Inscriptions from the Cesnola Collection in New York, by Prof. Isaac H. Hall, of New York. -2. On a Syriac Table for finding Easter in years of the Seleucid Era, by Prof. Hall.-3. On an inscribed Babylonian Weight, by Rev. William Hayes Ward, of New York City.4. On two stone objects with Archaic Cuneiform Hieroglyphic writing, by Rev. Dr. Ward.-5. On some Avestan superstitions and their parallels elsewhere, by Mr. A. V. Williams Jackson, of Columbia College, New York City.6. On Professor Ludwig's views respecting Total Eclipses of the Sun as noticed in the Rig-Veda, by Professor W. D. Whitney, of New Haven, Conn.-7. On the proceedings of the Wolfe Exploring Expedition to Mesopotamia, during 1884-5, by Rev. Dr. Ward.-8. On Marriage and Divorce in Ancient Egypt, by Rev. Lysander Dickerman, of Boston, Mass.-9. On the Work of the recent Revision of the New Testament as illustrated by the Gospel of St. Matthew, by Professor Charles Short, of Columbia College, New York City.-10. On the latest Translation of the Upanishads, by Prof. Whitney.-11. On the Location of Sippara, by Rev. Dr. Ward.-12. On the ancient name of Old Cairo, by Prof. J. A. Paine, of Tarrytown, N.Y.-13. The imperfect of (yêsheb), and kindred forms, in Hebrew; by Prof. Francis Brown, of Union Theological Seminary, New York City.14.-On Double Parallelisms in Hebrew Poetry, by Prof. A. Meyrowitz, of New York City.-15. On the Language of the Lepchas, in Sikkim, by Prof. John Avery, of Brunswick, Me. -16. Review of Dr. Hirth's book on China and the Roman Orient, by President W. A. P. Martin, of Tungwen College, Peking, North China.-Prof. C. A. Briggs, of the Union Theological Seminary, offered the following resolution, which was passed without dissent: Resolved, That this Society expresses its gratification at the valuable discoveries made by the Wolfe Expedition; that we regard it as highly important that the ruins discovered by Dr. Ward in ancient Babylonia be thoroughly explored as soon as possible; and that we recommend to the American public this object as one worthy of liberal contributions, in order that a second expedition may be sent out at an early date to make the excavations, and that Assyrian and Babylonian antiquities may be acquired. by American museums.-After a vote of thanks to the authorities of Columbia College, the Society adjourned to meet in Boston, May 12th, 1886.

A SINHALESE GRAMMAR ADAPTED ESPECIALLY FOR THE USE OF EUROPEANS.-Mr. Abraham Mendis Gunasekara, now a clerk of the Registrar of Lands' Office. Galle, and a pupil of the famous Oriental scholar, Waskaduve Subhuti Terunnánsé, announces that he has ready the manuscript of a Sinhalese Grammar in English, and that he intends to send it to press for publication, ere long, if he should be so fortunate as to win the substantial support of the public.

THE SPHINX.-This is the title of a German Spiritualistic Magazine, the first part of which is dated January, this year. It is issued from Th. Griebeus Verlag (L. Ternan), Leipzig, and Mr. George Redway, of York Street, Covent Garden, is the London agent. We notice it reproduces some of the drawings to be found in the Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research.

A HANDY DICTIONARY OF ANGLO-SAXON POETRY. (By J. A. Harrison and W. M. Baskerville.)-This work is

practically an English translation of Groschopp's Revised Grein's Poetical Lexicon of the Anglo-Saxon Language. The editors have worked well from the advanced sheets of Groschopp's work, and have added several important features, all of which will enhance the value of the book to students of Anglo-Saxon. The work is printed clearly and distinctly.

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THE LITERATURE OF EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN. (By H.H. Prince Ibrahim-Hilmy.)-We have now to add to the list of Royal Authors the name of Prince Ibrahim-Hilmy, the son of the ex-Khedive Ismail. In his father's and his own exile from their native land, it must have been a labour of love to the latter to undertake the work, and his difficulties must have been eminently increased by this enforced absence "during five long weary years." There is something which calls forth all our sympathy in the concluding remark of the Preface: In the dark days which have overtaken the Egyptians, the descendents of Mehemet Ali still place their hope and the hope of their country in him who, during eighteen years, laboured so hard to develop its abundance and fertility, and who has borne without a murmur all the bitterness of exile." Prince Hilmy's main object has been "to facilitate the acquisition of a knowledge of the enormous mass of learing which has been exercised on the monumental lore, the ancient writing and literature, and the mediaval and modern history of that simple but mysterious country whose great antiquity, no less than the problem of its future well-being, is to all nations an ever-present wonderment and speculation." As regards the work itself, it can only call for wonder and admiration at the strength of mind and courage which could have induced Prince Ibrahim- Hilmy to undertake such a work. We have had bibliographers and bibliographies, but one ranging over so long a period, and involving such stupendous research, we have never seen before. Not only printed books, periodicals, papers of learned societies, maps and charts, but ancient papyri, manuscripts and drawings, have all been mashalled into order and indexed. Wherever it has been important the whole contents of any given work have been printed. The information varies from the papyrus of Aa-Amen, "Priest and chief of the sailors of the barge of Amen-ka in Thebes," down to the latest pamphlet of Mr. Wilfrid Blunt. Much credit is due to the printers (Messrs. Clowes & Sons) for the execution of the printing, involving as it does all sorts of modern and Oriental types.

THE BOOK OF THE DEAD.-Messrs. A. Asher & Co., of Berlin, have in preparation and nearly ready for publication, M. Edouard Naville's Egyptian Book of the Dead, which was promised to the Second International Congress of Orientalists at London, in 1874. It consists of two volumes, large folio, in boards. The introduction in German will be published shortly after the two volumes of the text, and will be supplied gratis to all subscribers.

LITERARY JOTTINGS FROM TEHERAN.-The rare Yúsuf and Zulaikhá of Firdúsí, collated by Mírzá Muhammed Husain Khán styled Adíb, but better known by his poetical title of "Frúghí." has been lithographed at Tehran, pp. 234, illustrated, A.H. 1299. A biographical notice of Firdúsí from several sources is prefixed Seven MSS. are said to have been collated for this text. The same scholar edited and lithographed, at Tehrán, in A.H. 1293, the 'Iqd al-Ulá, a history of Kirmán. This work, also known as the "Táríkh Kúbínání," is principally a record of contemporary events to A.H. 584. Its author is Afzal-ud-din Ahmed B. Hámid. Frúghí also edited Agá Muhammed 'Alí B. Agá Abú Tálib, poetically styled Bahár's, parody on Lutf 'Ali Beg's "Atash Kadeh." The parody on Azar's biography of the poets is called the Yakhcháliyah." It was first lithographed at Tehrán, illustrated, A. H. 1290, and has this year been re-lithographed.

THE INDIAN.-The Dominion of Canada has now a periodical under the title of "The Indian," devoted to the interests and welfare of the aborigines. It is published at Hagersville, Ontario, and the first number appeared Dec. 30, 1885. It will be a fortnightly issue until the subscriptions warrant a weekly issue.

THE BAY PSALM BOOK.-Mr. Wilberforce Eames has compiled a list of the editions of the celebrated "Bay Psalm Book," or New England version of the Psalms. It is printed in New York, imperial octavo, 14 pages, on ribbed paper, and the edition consists of 25 copies (the one before us being No. 12).

THE AMERICAN GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY.-The Bulletin of this society, No. 1 for 1885, contains a very interesting paper by Mr. David Dudley Field, on the Nomenclature of Cities and Towns in the United States, deprecating the use of classical names when the more appropriate native Indian

names could have been used. Mr. E. Ingersoll also contributes to the same number a paper scarcely less interesting, on "How the Settlement of North America has affected its Wild Animals."

THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SCIENCE.-A Ten-volume Index, making an extra number of this Journal, of fifty-six pages, containing an Index to volumes xxi. to xxx., is ready for delivery. The publication of this number involves a large extra expense to the editors, and it will be sent, therefore, to those only who specially order it. This index makes the closing part of volume xxx. Intending subscribers should at once send in their names, as the edition is limited.

THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF ARCHEOLOGY.-Dr. A. L. Frothingham, jun., announces to subscribers of this Journal that No. 4, which was to have been issued during the second week in December, has been delayed on account of an unexpected difficulty. After several sheets had been printed, on the usual paper, a further lot sent at the last moment from the manufactory was found to be unserviceable and a new order was issued: the indulgence of the subscribers is begged for this delay. In the meantime No. 1 for 1886 is being prepared for the press. The following is the programme of Volume II. 1886. During the year contributions from England, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Sweden, Malta and India are expected, in the form of articles, correspondence, or notes. Special attention will be given to the part devoted to archaeological news and to the summaries of periodicals, which form so valuable a part of the Journal's programme. The Second Volume will include the following articles: Prof. Merriam will complete his learned study on the Kretan Laws, and will publish some almost unique painted Egyptian steles owned in New York; J. T. Clarke, the explorer of Assos, will illustrate a proto-ionic capital found in the Troad, important for the origin of the Ionic order, and will contribute other papers illustrating the work of the late expedition to Assos: Prof. Ramsay will continue his "Notes and Inscriptions from Asia Minor;" Dr. Ch. Waldstein will write on differences in the style of Skopas and Praxiteles, and on the Etruscan sarcophagi at Boston, one of which is of unique importance: he will also explain the plan which has presided over the formation of the choice collection of casts from antique sculpture in the Museum at Cambridge, England, etc.; J. Menant, the noted Assyriologist, will illustrate some of the most important of the Babylonian and Assyrian cylinders in American collections, especially at the Metropolitan Museum, N. Y.: Dr. W. H. Ward is to publish some antiquities studied or purchased by him during his journey through Babylonia; D. W. Ross will publish a beautiful Greco-Etruscan bronze in his possession; S. Reinach will contribute one or more papers illustrating some of the antique sculpture at the Museum of Constantinople; Dr. A. Emerson will write on the Athena Parthenos; E. Babelon is to give a full account, in the several issues, of the recent discoveries at Susa, in Arabia, in Phoenicia and in Assyria, as well as a review of recent books on Numismatics; F. Trawinski's contribution will give an account of the numerous archæological societies in France; Dr. Frothingham will continue his "Notes on Christian Mosaics," and will publish some inedited documents; and other papers on Christian archæology will be contributed by L. Duchesne, 0. Marucchi, and E. Molinier. Scandinavian antiquities will be treated by the authoritative pen of Prof. Hans Hildebrand, the director of the Museum of Stockholm, etc. Other original papers and correspondence are expected from the distinguished German archæologists Fr. von Reber, Th. Schreiber, and W. Helbig, as well as from several investigators in the field of American Archæology. The latest discoveries and investigations in India will be reported on by Mr. Robert Sewell, those in Rome by Prof. Ò. Marucchi, and those in Greece will probably be described by the present director of the American School, Prof. Allen.

THE UNITED STATES CENSUS, VOLUMES XI. & XIII.The Eleventh Volume of the Tenth Census of the United States Census is a report on the mortality and vital statistics of the United; States, edited by Dr. John S. Billings, of the U. S. Army, and the Library of the Surgeon-General's Department. This eleventh volume will consist of two parts, the first part is all that is at present published, and it contains 833 pages. Dr. Billings arranged the entire scheme for the compilation of the Mortuary Statistics, and has supervised the work throughout its progress, and these services are acknowledged by the Hon. James H. Wardle, Chief of the Census division. Dr. Billings states that an attempt was made in the tenth census to obtain more reliable returns of the causes of deaths than previously obtained, and

for this purpose forms were sent to all Postmasters to be distributed to every known medical man in their districts. Although this would appear to be the most perfect form of arriving at the knowledge required, there are certain drawbacks to it, as all who choose to call themselves physicians receive these forms. Therefore, when such returns of the causes of deaths as the following are made. Dr. Billings points out it rather detracts from the scientific accuracy of the diagnosis of the whole returns. "Tecis." "Spinalgitis," Colory in Phantum," Colria fontim," 39 66 Cholor Rhea Infantum," "Hasphmar," "New Money fever," "No fisian tendin, struck in on the aire Sells," "Yaller ganders of the Liver," " Unnowing," "Know Knowen Cause." The spelling would certainly lead any one to doubt the correctness of the diagnosis.-The Thirteenth volume of the Tenth Census is a valuable monograph on the Statistics and Technology of the Precious Metals, prepared under the direction of Mr. Clarence King, by Messrs. S. F. Emmons and G. F. Becker. This volume should be in the hands of every one interested in American Mines and Mining, and will for many years to come be an authoritative book of reference for everything connected with the precious metals of the United States, their mining, and treatment when "brought to grass." It is a volume of 556 pages, and contains a Directory of American Mines, and an Index to the whole work.

MAJOR-GENERAL UPTON.-Professor Peter S. Michie, of the U. S. Military Academy, has written the life and edited the letters of his friend and fellow cadet Emory Upton, Colonel of the Fourth Regiment of Artillery, and Brevet Major-General United States Army, with an introduction by James Harrison Wilson, late U. S. Army. The U. S. Army and Navy Journal says of it-"Professor Michie has been enabled to give us a very interesting exhibit of the character and history of the soldier whose distinguished service, during and after the war, and whose melancholy fate, have made him an object of universal interest. Upton conceived an ambition for military life, and was entered at the Military Academy June 3, 1856, on the nomination of Judge Benjamin Pringle, who represented in Congress the New York district where young Upton had his residence. Thence opened the career with the outlines of which most of our readers are familiar. Its chief characteristic, as presented in this biography, is an active ambition, restrained and guided by a

high sense of duty, and a religious faith which, though eclipsed for a time, was a controlling influence during much of Upton's life. It was through his laudable ambition that Upton accomplished so much as he did as a soldier during the period of our Civil war, and was enabled after its close to impress his individuality so enduringly upon the little army gathered together out of the dissolving elements of that mighty host with which he won his battle laurels."

NEWFOUNDLAND.-The Rev. M. Harvey, of St. John's, author of "Newfoundland," has just issued a text-book of Newfoundland History" for the use of schools and families. with map and illustrations. Mr. Harvey has produced an excellent and useful epitome of the history of the oldest British colony in this little book, not only useful for the schools of the colony, but exceedingly interesting to older English readers, who will find recorded in it the constant efforts of the French to gain a footing on the island, which they considered a very important possession. Even as late as 1875 the British Government refused to sanction a railway, the terminus of which would be on what was called the "French shore," over which the French claimed certain rights which they had never surrendered to the English. Mr. Harvey's little volume contains numerous illustrations of the scenery of the island and of the public buildings of the towns.

BOOKS AND PERIODICALS RECEIVED.-Johns Hopkins' University Circular, September, November, and December, 1885-Department of Agriculture: Reports, New Series 24 and 25. Yield of Crops per Acre, November 1885, and Report of the Crops of the Year, December, 1885.-Hobb's Modern Kitchen Oracle, a Monthly Culinary Magazine, Dean and Son.-Proceedings of the Canadian Institute, Toronto, 3rd series, vol 3, fasciculus Nos. 1 and 2, March and July, 1885.Report of the Dundee Free Library. November, 1885. Journal ov American Orthoepy, vol. 2, Nos. 7 and 8, July and August, 1885.-Thirty-third Annual Report of the Manchester Free Public Libraries, 1884-5.- The Platonist, August and September, 1885, edited by Thos. M. Johnson, Osceola. Mo.-Reports of the Mining Registrars of the Gold Fields of Victoria for the quarter ending September 30, 1885. -Bulletin of the Library Company of Philadelphia, January 1886.-Harvard University Bulletin, October, 1885.

BIRCH.-By the death of Samuel Birch, D.C.L., LL.D., F.S.A., Keeper of the Egyptian and Oriental Antiquities in the British Museum, which took place, after a short illness, at noon on Sunday the 27th of December, 1885, at his residence, 64, Caversham Road, N. W., we lose an illustrious Egyptologist,

Dr. Birch, who had just completed his seventy-second year, was, as we gather from The Times, the grandson of Samuel Birch, Alderman and Lord Mayor of London, and eldest son of the late Rev. Samuel Birch, D.D., Rector of St. Mary Woolnoth, in the City of London, and Vicar of Little Marlow, Buckinghamshire. In 1834 Dr. Birch entered the service of the Crown, under the Commissioners of Public Records, where he was the contemporary of the late Sir Thomas Duffus Hardy. In January, 1836, he received an appointment under the Trustees of the British Museum, in whose service he has spent just fifty years. On the retirement of Mr. Barnewell, he became Assistant Keeper of the Department of Antiquities,-a miscellaneous mass at that time, including the whole range of Greek, Roman, British, Oriental, and Egyptian archaeology, as well as ancient and mediæval numismatics and ethnography. In 1861, on the subdivision of this vast and valuable collection, Dr. Birch was elevated to the responsible position of Keeper of the Oriental, British, and Medieval Sections. At a subsequent period of further division, his attention was confined solely to

the Egyptian and Assyrian antiquities, with which his name will always be associated.

At a very early period of his life he had studied the Chinese language, and made himself proficient in it; and his first important duty at the British Museum was to arrange and make a catalogue of Chinese coins. At this time he wrote on "Chinese Monkeys" in the "Magazine of Natural History," and in 1841 he published a volume of Chinese selections under the title of "Analecta Sinensia." A few years later he produced a translation of the Chinese work "Friends till Death;" the "Elfin Foxes" in 1863, with a criticism on this Chinese legend; and in 1872, "The Chinese Widow,' a tale of Chinese Manners and Customs: and "The Casket of Gems," illustrative of Chinese every-day life, were published by Dr. Birch in "The Phoenix," a periodical mainly devoted to the literature of the Celestial Empire. Besides Chinese Numismatics, Dr. Birch carefully studied the coinage of the ancient Britons; and this resulted, in the year 1845, in the recovery of the royal name Tasciovanus, the father of Cunobelin, from a few abbreviated legends on the coins of the latter, which had up to that time been unexplained. His paper on "Ancient British Coinage," read at the Brighton Congress of the British Archæological Association during the past summer, shows that he had maintained his studies on this important branch of archæology.

In 1846 Dr. Birch was despatched on a mission to Italy, by direction of the Trustees of the British Museum, to examine and report upon the extensive and valuable collection

of Egyptian antiquities which had been gathered by the late Signor Anastasi, and was at that time deposited at Leghorn, and to visit the archæological museums of Rome and the other cities of the Italian peninsula. In 1856 he was again sent to Rome by the late Sir George Cornewall Lewis, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, to examine and appraise the celebrated Campana collection of classical antiquities, which was at that time offered to the Museum for purchase. At a later period, the abstraction of some valuable antiquities from his department led to a third mission abroad, which happily resulted in the recovery of the missing objects.

One of the chief events in his life was the foundation of the Society of Biblical Archæology in 1870, in conjunction with the late Mr. W. R. Cooper, of which Dr. Birch became the President. Another was his successful conduct of the London Congress of Orientalists in 1874, of which he was President.

In 1839 Dr. Birch was elected Corresponding Member of the Archæological Institute of Rome; in 1851, of the Berlin Academy; in 1852, of that of the Herculaneum; and in 1861, of the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles Lettres of the French Institute. The Royal Academy of Turin also conferred upon him the honour of Corresponding Membership, and other foreign seminaries of science and learning similarly recognised the work to which he had devoted himself. In 1862 the University of St. Andrews conferred on Dr. Birch the honorary degree of LL.D. In 1875 he was honored with the degree of LL.D. of the University of Cambridge, he being appointed Rede Lecturer for the following year, when he expounded a general synopsis of the Monumental History of Egypt" before the Senate. At Oxford, the degree of D.C.L. was bestowed on him in 1876, following upon his election to an Honorary Fellowship of Queen's College in the previous year. Several foreign orders and other diplomas of foreign societies were also bestowed upon him.

High as was the position attained by the learned scholar who has just passed away in many branches of antiquarian learning, it is in the special domain of Egyptology that Dr. Birch's reputation is mainly established. Entering upon the critical examination of Egyptian antiquities at a period long before the time when collections were vitiated by the presence of impudent Arab forgeries, now easily palmed off upon the vanity or ignorance of travellers, Dr. Birch's eye was trained only on pure and genuine specimens of ancient Egyptian fine arts; hence his facile detection of spurious antiquities; and this, sometimes, to the chagrin of disappointed owners. His lucid and comprehensive system of arrangement of the Egyptian antiquities in the British Museum, in spite of the very limited space in which, until quite recently, they were comprised. enabled students to consult, and compare at will, any objects among the many thousands which make up the collections. Nor did he neglect the Egyptian language and philology. The crude and imperfect knowledge of the language which philologists had with difficulty, and in a great measure with error, managed to elicit from the Rosetta Stone and other bilingual texts, under Dr. Birch's hand became a sound and genuine study. Weighing the conclusions and examining the theories propounded by such Egyptologists as Belzoni, Arundale, Wilkinson, Bonomi, Sharpe, Burton, Hincks, Prisse, Rosellini, Champollion Figéac, De Rougé, Harris, Young, Lepsius, Lauth, Brugsch, Pleyte, Chabas, Leemans, Goodwin, Le Page Renouf, and many others, Dr. Birch constructed a grammar and dictionary which, with a few alterations needed to bring them up to the present standard, are still the text-books of the student.

His researches early attracted the attention of Baron Bunsen, at whose disposal he generously placed the publication of these works. In 1867 these took the form of three separate articles published in the fifth volume of "Egypt's Place in Universal History." The first was a translation of the whole of the extensive "Funeral Ritual, or Book of the Dead;" the second, a "Dictionary of Hieroglyphics;" and the last a "Grammar." The difficulty of translating the "Ritual" was very great. Dr. Birch's work was the first attempt to give the whole as it was seen in the Turin copy, and to convey a general idea of this mystical work. The Dictionary is phonetic in its arrangement. At the time of its appearance, it was the only one printed, except that of Champollion, published in 1841, which contained only a few of the principal words.

We may here draw attention to the more important works which Dr. Birch has been engaged upon during his literary career. In 1842 he published his "Gallery of Antiquities; the text of Owen Jones' " Views on the Nile," 1843; "Catalogue of Greek Vases (with Mr. C. T. Newton), 1851; "Introduction to the Study of Hieroglyphics," 1857. In

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1857 his "History of Ancient Pottery, Egyptian, Assyrian, Greek, Etruscan, and Roman," was also published; and in 1873 a new and revised edition was issued. These were published by Mr. Murray. In 1863 appeared a treatise on the Himyaritic Inscriptions of Southern Arabia; " a "Magical Papyrus" in 1864; in 1872, "Cypriote Inscriptions;" "The Records of the Past," 1873-77, a series of twelve volumes containing translations of Egyptian and Assyrian texts by various scholars, edited by Dr. Birch; "A Guide to the Egyptian Galleries of the British Museum," 1874; the great "Harris Papyrus," containing the annals of Rameses III., with a translation, in 1876; a new edition of "The Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians," by Sir J. Gardner Wilkinson, in three volumes, 1878. In this work, as in the second edition of the "History of Ancient Pottery," he was assisted by his son Mr. W. de Gray Birch, F.S.A. In 1879 Dr. Birch brought out, for the authorities of the British Museum, "A Guide to the First and Second Egyptian Rooms; and in 1880 he wrote a "Catalogue of the Collection of Egyptian Antiquities at Alnwick Castle," for the Duke of Northumberland, which was printed for private distribution. In this work, also, his son, Mr. W. de G. Birch, assisted him. In 1883 "The Guide to the Kouyunjik Gallery" of Assyrian Antiquities was prepared for the British Museum; and in this work Dr. Birch had the material assistance of Mr. T. G. Pinches, the Assyriologist of the Museum.

Dr. Birch had in the press, for the British Museum, at the time of his death, the ancient text on the coffin of Amam, who flourished in the eleventh dynasty, a very early period of Egyptian history. He was also preparing a comprehensive catalogue of the large collection of papyri. He prepared the greater part of a new dictionary of hieroglyphics, suggested by the late Mr. N. Trübner, the publisher, who had undertaken to publish the work in a manner befitting the difficult nature of the subject. Other labours, on A Papyrus belonging to H.R.H. the Prince of Wales," "The Tablet of Karnak," "The Trilingual Inscription of the Decree of Canopus," "The Rhind Papyri," and "Cleopatra's Needle " (published in the Journal of the British Archæological Association), appeared from time to time, besides many other contributions to Egyptology and archæology.

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In Cypriote antiquities, as expounded by the Cesnolas, Dr. Birch took a profound interest, writing for General L. P. di Cesnola the descriptive text of the Great Album of the New York Collections; and for Major A. P. di Cesnola an introductory chapter to his Salaminia. Coptic, Phoenician, Lycian, Etruscan, and Chaldæan languages were others of Dr. Birch's favourite studies; and he was one of the first to denounce the Shapira forgeries. It remains to be seen whether or not his opinion of the hieroglyph Hamathite inscriptions, from the neighbourhood of Jerablus, of which the British Museum is gradually acquiring a representative collection, is correct. He always expected a good bilingual inscription to turn up. He also contributed frequently to the periodical and scientific literature of the day, including the transactions of learned societies and the columns of The Times, The Athenæum, and The Builder.

Original in all his ideas, never borrowing from other works, but enunciating in his own terse language the profound results which a keen and critical intellect enabled him to formulate without difficulty, his works will leave their mark firmly fixed on the minds of his readers. Kind and genial in manner, and studious to avoid hurting the susceptibilities of others, he always endeavoured to encourage the youngest students in the many subjects with which he had so thoroughly identified himself.

BRADSHAW. It is with regret we have to record the death, on Feb. 11, of Mr. Henry Bradshaw, M. A., Librarian of the University Library, Cambridge, who was the best versed librarian of his time in early printed books and their makers. It is to be regretted that he has left so little written record of his researches and that his great knowledge and experience is lost to the public. He was born on February 2, 1831, and educated at Eton and King's College, Cambridge.

CAPEN. The cable news from the United States announces the death of Mr. Nahum Capen, the author of The History of the Democracy, or Political Progress." Mr. Capen never published more than one volume of this work.

EDWARDS.-It is with sincere grief that we have to report the death of Mr. Edward Edwards, so well known in years gone by as an authority on all matters in connection with libraries. His principal works were: "Memoirs of Libraries, including a Practical Handbook of Library Economy" (1859);