There can be little doubt that the beneficent intentions which prompted
the late Earl of Bridgewater to bequeath 8000_l._ for the production of
a work _On the Power, Wisdom, and Goodness of God, as manifested in the
Creation_, were fully realised, when the late Mr. Davies Gilbert, the
then President of the Royal Society, to whom the duty of carrying out
such intentions was allotted, did, with the assistance of the Archbishop
of Canterbury and the Bishop of London, select for that purpose the very
eminent men to whom the world is indebted for the now well-known series
of books entitled _The Bridgewater Treatises_. And there can be as
little doubt that the republication, in a more popular form, of these
Essays, written by men most eminent for their scientific attainments,
and for the noble purpose of proving the consistency of the works with
the Word of God, is a still further carrying out of the original
intentions of the testator. We are therefore glad to see that they are
to form a portion of Bohn's _Scientific Library_. The first
volume--being the first also of the Rev. W. Kirby's Treatise _On the
History, Habits, and Instincts of Animals_, revised by Professor Rymer
Jones, who has added a few notes to the text explanatory of omissions
and errors incidental to the condition of zoological knowledge at the
time of its publication, and with the addition of many new woodcuts--has
just been issued, and is destined, we trust, to be circulated throughout
the whole length and breadth of the land.
Our readers who take an interest in the literature of Germany will be
pleased to hear that the _Deutsches Wörterbuch_ of the Brothers Grimm,
the announcement of which fourteen years since created so much
excitement, is at press, and that the first portion of it may very
shortly be expected in this country. From the specimen which has been
forwarded to us by Messrs. Williams and Norgate, we think we may safely
assure our readers that, while on the one hand the work will be found
such as to do justice to the well-known acquirements of its
distinguished authors, it will not be found to be so overlaid with
learning as to be only fit for the use of profound philologists.
Messrs. Murray and Longman continue stedfast in their good work of
supplying the still increasing demand for works of real value at
moderate prices. The _Reading for the Rail_ has, since we last called
attention to the series, been enriched with James's _Fables of Æsop_,
with one hundred original and beautiful woodcuts designed by John
Tenniel; with the _Sketch of Theodore Hook_, from which we quoted in our
last Number; and with an admirable collection of stories of naval
heroism, under the title of _Deeds of Naval Daring_.
Messrs. Longman, on the other hand, have added to their _Traveller's
Library_ one of the most interesting and curious books of travels in
Africa ever given to the public, we allude to Ferdinand Werne's _Feldzug
nach Taka_, the merits of which were recently pointed out in
_Blackwood's Magazine_, and which Mr. Johnston has well translated,
under the title of _African Wanderings; or an Expedition to Taka, Basa,
and Beni-Amer, with a Particular Glance at the Races of Bellad Sudan_. A
more interesting book for the traveller, or the stayer at home, we have
not met with for some time.