Dr. Latham seems to have adopted as his literary motto the dictum of the
poet,
"The proper study of mankind is man."
We have recently had occasion to call the attention of our readers to his
learned and interesting volume entitled _The English Language_,--a work
which affords proof how deeply he has studied that remarkable
characteristic of our race, which Goldsmith wittily described as being
"given to man to conceal his thoughts." From the language to _The Natural
History of the Varieties of Man_, the transition is an easy one. The same
preliminary studies lead to a mastery of both divisions of this one great
subject: and having so lately seen how successfully Dr. Latham had pursued
his researches into the languages of the earth, we were quite prepared to
find, as we have done, the same learning, acumen, and philosophical spirit
of investigation leading to the same satisfactory results in this kindred,
but new field of inquiry. In paying a well-deserved tribute to his
predecessor, Dr. Prichard, whom he describes as "a physiologist among
physiologists, and a scholar among scholars,"--and his work as one "which,
by combining the historical, the philological, and the anatomical methods,
should command the attention of the naturalist, as well as of the
scholar,"--Dr. Latham has at once done justice to that distinguished man,
and expressed very neatly the opinion which will be entertained by the
great majority of his readers of his own acquirements, and of the merits of
this his last contribution to our stock of knowledge.
_The Family Almanack and Educational Register for_ 1851, with what its
editor justly describes as "its noble list of grammar schools," to a great
extent the "offspring of the English Reformation in the sixteenth {111}
century," will be a very acceptable book to every parent who belongs to the
middle classes of society; and who must feel that an endowed school, of
which the masters are bound to produce testimonials of moral and
intellectual fitness, presents the best security for the acquirement by his
sons of a solid, well-grounded education.
Messrs. Sotheby and Wilkinson will sell on Monday next, and three following
days, the valuable antiquarian, miscellaneous, and historical library of
the late Mr. Amyot. The collection contains all the best works on English
history, an important series of the valuable antiquarian publications of
Tom Hearne; the first, second, and fourth editions of Shakspeare, and an
extensive collection of Shakspeariana; and, in short, forms an admirably
selected library of early English history and literature.
_Catalogues Received_.--Cole (15. Great Turnstile) List, No. XXXII. of very
Cheap Books; W. Pedder (18. Holywell Street, Strand) Catalogue, Part I. for
1851, of Books Ancient and Modern; J. Wheldon (4. Paternoster Row)
Catalogue of a Valuable Collection of Scientific Books; W. Brown (130. Old
Street, London) Catalogue of English Books on Origin, Rise, Doctrines,
Rites, Policy, &c., of the Church of Rome, &c., the Reformation, &c.
* * * * *