PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.
A Histong ofAmerican Manufactures from 1608 to 1860. By J. Leander Bishop, 11i.D. In two volumes. 'VOL I. Philadelphia : Edward Young.—The present volume, which extends only to the establishment of American independence, is not so much a history of American com- merce, as, what its name imports, a history of American manufactures; Its subject is the progress of industry and the useful arts in the American colonies during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, which are traced by Dr. Bishop from their earliest origin in the ele- mentary wants of the first settlers, up to their full development at the time of the revolution. The influence of Englishprohibitive legisla- tion upon the manufactures of America is also carefully explained; and no research seems to have been spared in order to throw light upon this subject. There was, however, from the outset, a marked difference between the colonies in the alacrity with which their inhabitants be- took themselves to manufacturing pursuits. In Virginia, for instance, the settlers were essentially planters, regarding agriculture as the only industrial occupation becoming to a gentleman. Great efforts were made by the British Government to fix their attention upon the culture of the mulberry and the vine. But tobacco eventually drove every other competitor from the field, while the number of hands required for the proper cultivation of it of course gave an impetus. to slavery. In other colonies, however, a more laborious and less punctilious popu- lation steadily set themselves to work to turn to account the natural advantages of their position, and to provide themselves with the neces- saries of life instead of being dependent on the mother country. Ships and dockyards sprang into existence. The water power of the country was utilized by the erection of mills to saw the timber of the forests and grind the corn which grew in patches round the settler's cottage. A brick-kiln was built in Massachusetts in 1629, and by slow degrees the old log but of the emigrant was replaced by a more durable edifice. Glassworks were established in the same county only ten years after- wards, but the progress of glassmaking was necessarily slow and inter- mittent. The leather manufacture, like all others, made little progress in Virginia and Carolina during the whole of the seventeenth century. There was no deficiency of hides, yet as late as 1690 the planters got their shoes from England, and none but servants' shoes were manufac- tured in the colony. But in New England this manufacture advanced much more rapidly, so that within twenty years from the foundation of the colony she was making shoes for exportation. The progress of the working of metals is traced out by Dr. Bishop with equal care. The first proprietor of regular iron-works in America was a Governor Keith, of Pennsylvania, in1726. But during the previous centuries the smelting of iron had been carried on upon a smaller scale. This was one of the branches of industry which up to a certain point was greatly encouraged by England. A duty was laid upon all iron imported into the colonies from Europe, and upon all bar iron imported into Eng- land, except from the American colonies the existing duty upon Ame- rican iron being at the same time repealed. But this encouragement only extended to bar iron and pig iron, the manufacture of iron being for- bidden, under a penalty of 2001. But the manufacture of which England was most jealous was the cloth manufacture, and in 1699 an act of Parlia- ment was passed forbidding the exportation of woollen goods from the American colonies under very severe penalties. All kinds of garments, however, continued to be manufactured for home consumption from wool, flax, hemp, and cotton. Silk also was successfully cultivated, espe- claim Georgia, before the revolution, and it is Dr. Bishop's opinion that it might again form a profitable branch of industry. , But both silk and indigo have been displaced by the demand for cotton, though both might still be made remunerative. The chapters on wine, beer, and salt will not be found the least interesting in the volume, and Dr. Bishop is persuaded that, by cultivating the native American grape, the vine-growers of America may have a great future before them. In the Track of the Garibaldians through Italy and Sicily. BY Algernon Sidney Bicknell. London : George Manwaring. —This volume is much above the average of average books of travel. The author has. more originality, curiosity, and resolution than the ma- jority of nunor travellers. He expresses himself on all occasious with an amusing quaintness; wherever ther.1 was anything r arkable to be seen he is certain to have seen it ; and 'where there re obstacles
to be overcome he is equally sure to have overcome the A haPPY mixture of assurance, intelligence, and coolness seems to have carried him through a rather trying journey in safety and comfort. And if the violence of his invectives against the Bourbons seems at times to be a little affected, it is a fault upon the right side, and is venial in a literary sense, as it is perhaps justifiable in a political one. Mr. Bick- nell reached Naples in the month of September, 1860, while the King of Sardinia was besieging Gaeta, and the Garibaldians were lying before Capua. He visited the camp of the Liberator, and brought away the most unfavourable impression of the English volunteers as a body. According to Mr. Bicknell, they consisted of much the same class as took refuge with David in the cave of Adullam. They scorned discipline, pillaged the inhabitants, fleeced innkeepers, and behaved themselves as we can imagine the inhabitants of the Queen's Bench might do, if they were suddenly let loose upon some quiet English town, and told to do exactly as they liked. This is the picture drawn by Mr. Bicknell, and he it is, and not we, who must make good his words. Mr. Bicknell was also at Gaeta, and awards-high praise to the discipline and morale of the Piedmontese army, as well as to the stuff of which it is composed, the privates being far finer men than either the French or Prussians, and capable, apparently, of bearing more fatigue than the English. At Naples itself Mr. Bicknell witnessed the proclamation of Victor Emmanuel as King of Italy by men who had been judges under Francis the Second, and describes it as a very sorry spectacle. He took especial care to be present at the liquefac- tion of the blood of St. Januarius in the cathedral of Naples. He contrived to push his way within the altar rails so as almost to touch the reliquary in which the vials were contained; and he has formed the conviction that, although there is no miracle, neither is there any fraud. He attributes the liquefaction to atmospheric influences which the priests sincerely believe to be miraculous. And we are bound to say he gives good reasons for his opinion. From Naples Mr. Bicknell went to Sicily, where the women do, and the scenery does not, justify the reputation of the island. He ascended Mount /Etna certainly under some difficulties and describes the view from the summit as superior to anything in Europe. But the ordinary aspect of the island is range after range of low grassy hills, without wood, water, or even general cultivation. He found everywhere, however, the deepest enthusiasm for Garibaldi; and indeed at Naples he maintains there are but two classes who desire the restoration of the Bourbons—the higher ecclesiastics and the old English residents—the attachment of the lazzaroni for their late sovereign being, he says, wholly illusory.
Handbook for Travellers in North Wales. With a Travelling Map. London: Murray.—There seems, unfortunately, no probability that the expenses of travelling in our own island will ever be so far re- duced as to make a trip to Wales, to the Lakes, or to Scotland, as economical as a visit to the Continent. Still, for those persons to whom a few pounds more or less is not a great object, and who are satiated with the Alps and the Rhine, a guide-book of this description will be found very useful. These are just the kind of remarks which Mr. Murray's other English Handbooks have already called forth, and we really see nothing that can be added to them. The book is exe- cuted with great care and completeness. The tastes of the antiquarian, the geologist, the botanist, and the angler, are all consulted in its arrangement. And seeing that railways are beginning to pierce the hitherto inaccessible valleys of this beautiful region, we may fairly suppose that Mr. Murray has not been premature in providing the public with this volume.
Lectures on Natural History. By Edward Jesse, Esq. Delivered at the Fisherman's Home, Brighton. London: Booth.—The Fisher- man's Home at Brighton consists of a good warm room with books and newspapers, provided for the use of such men as can be persuaded to forego the public-house. Mr. Jesse did a really good action in writing these lectures for the amusement of this little audience. They form a regular series, beginning with fish, and going through birds, quadrupeds, insects, reptiles, interspersed with one or two chapters of a more genetal nature on the habits of animals, &c. The whole public is aware of Mr. Jesse's qualifications for such a task as this, and will be interested in hearing that he has devoted them to so good a pur- pose.
Emigration Guide. S. W. Silver and Co. Published at the Emigra- tion Warehouse, Nos. 3 4, and 5, Bishopsgate-Within, and sold by Simpkin, Marshall, and Co.—This carefully compiled volume seems to offer to the English emigrant as much information as it is reasonable to expect on so extensive and various a subject. He will here find a general description of the resources of each colony and of the kind of labourwhich they demand. He will be taught where capital is re- quired, and where mere bodily vigour. In addition to this, he may ascertain, if he desires, what are the facilities for education and reli- gious instruction supplied by each, and what are the opportunities of rearing his family as he would have desired to rear them in England. The interior of each colony is also mapped out with some care, and the chief towns and their distance from the sea-coast regularly noted down. Everything which relates to the voyage, the outfit, and the con- venience of the emigrant when he first lands in his adopted country, is described with as much fulness as was probably possible; and we ob- serve that a supplement is added, containing general news from each colony up to the latest date. The Guide is published monthly.
Routledge's Illustrated Natural History. Part XXX. August.—The August number of this popular publication begins with the liartridge and ends with the crane, embracing in the interval the grouse, back cock, and capercailzie, the ostrich, the emu, and the cassowary the curious apteryx, the bustards, the plovers, and the crane. Mr. Wood's inte- resting style of writing is too well known to require encomiums from us.
Kingston's Magazine or Boys. No. XXX. London : Bosworth and Harrison.—This capital boys' periodical maintains its early reputation. It unites all the elements of excitement and adventure, which are in- dispensable to juvenile readers, with a vein of instruction unknown to the boys' books of former days.
The Family Save-AU: a System of Secondary Cookery, &c. &c. By the Editor of "Enquire Within." London Kent.—As we have hitherto neglected to obey the exhortation on which the author of this volume seems tq rest his title to fame, we can say nothing of his ante. cedents. But the Save-All is a captivating work to read, being the nearest approach to a comic cookery-book that we have yet met with. The author, however, has not allowed his humour to interfere with his utility, but has confined it to the appending of facetite to the end of each receipt, a practice which he justifies by saying that it is a decoy to attract the reader's attention. We can assure him, however, that his receipts need no such artificial attraction, as they are ex- tremely appetizing, and appear to be equally simple. How Shall I Get into an Hospital ? A Guide for Patients. By Rev. Albert Alston, M.A., Curate of All Saints, St. John's-wood. London: Edward Stanford.—It is impossible to exaggerate the practical value of this little pamphlet. It contains an account of all the hospitals in London, with the terms of admission, the visiting days, the differences which relate to the treatment of out and in patients, the rules which regulate the adrniqsion of friends, and the receipt by patients of money or food from this source. Everything, in fact, which the poor man requires to be told is here laid down for him. Colliery Explosions and How to Prevent Them. By Richard Hugh Hughes. London : F. Plummer.—This is a little pamphlet of only eleven pages. We give the gist of it in the author's own words, as it is impossible to condense them intelligibly : " The system now pro- posed is no more than the application to the ventilation of collieries of a principle which is already applied for domestic purposes in almost every town in the kingdom, the efficiency of which has never been doubted, and the value of which has been tested by the experience of many years. As a town is supplied with gas from reservoirs in a single locality, so it is proposed to supply every level and working place in a mine with pure air from reservoirs at surface, the advan- tages of which will be enormous. In collieries the requirements of the Act of Parliament could be effectually and economically fulfilled, and in metallic mines the application of the system would, by rendering underground occupation as healthful as surface labour, entirely re- move the alleged necessity of governmental inspection of metallic mines."
Course of Elementary Reading in Science and Literature, compiled from Popular Writers. With an Appendix, &c. &c. By J. M. M'Culloch, D.D.• With thirty-nine woodcuts. 'Thirty-ninth edition, recast and enlarged. Edinburgh: Oliver and.Boyd ; Loudon: Simp- kin, Marshall, and Co.—The value of books of this description must, we presume, be considered established by the simple fact of their being so generally used. Upon that point, therefore, we can say nothing. Of its kind, Dr. M`Galloch's book clearly seems a good one. The various selections are all from good writers, are not too long, and are usually taken from authors in whom elegance of style is discernible as well as special information.
The Family Treasury of Sunday Reading. Edited by the Rev. Andrew Cameron. London : Nelson and Sons. Parts VD.. and VIII. 1861.—This is an exclusively religious publication, though, to judge by the preachers and writers from whom selections are made, it is of a tolerably comprehensive character. Among them are Dean Trench and Dr. Vaughan. But, on the whole, the Evangelical element pre- dominates, and gives the tone to the publication. Among the more miscellaneous contents of the eighth number we should note " The Saving Wife," and on the whole "The Children's Treasury," though not wholly free from objectionable matter.
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