THE HEALING ART THE RIGHT HAND OF THE CHURCH.-This interesting volume aims "to ascertain what data are furnished by Scripture to warrant the recognition of scientific and practical medicine as an essential element in the Christian system, an indispensable agency in the activity which the Church is called on to sustain in the world." It maintains that the work of healing should be "recognized as a function of the church, and the fulfillment of it, begun under the sense of it being a duty, in the discharge of which every Christian is directly interested." In advocating this proposition, the author, David Brodie, M. D., of Edinburgh, has collected much curious and apposite learning on the subject of medicine and medical practitioners, and offered many valuable thoughts of his own. The topic discussed is certainly a very important one, and deserves special attention in connection with missions to the heathen. We might not go along with the author to the full extent of what he maintains, but we sympathize with the general spirit and purpose of his work. We have noticed an important omission in the list which he furnishes of medical missionaries. We refer to the name of the distinguished and excellent Dr. Grant, late missionary of the American Board in Persia. It may be, however, that the author designs simply to give a catalogue of physicians who were in the missionary service in 1849, when the list was prepared.

PHILOSOPHY.

AN ESSAY ON INTUITIVE MORALS.t-Crosby, Nichols & Co. have promptly republished Part I of the very interesting and spirited English treatise on Intuitive Morals with additions for the American edition, by the author. We conclude, therefore, that they have done this with the author's consent. The treatise is popular, but it is not superficial. It is written by a person who has read extensively, thought earnestly, and learned to write well. This style indicates a thorough and refined culture, and the book is far more attractive than ethical treatises usually are. It expounds the Kantial system of conscience and the will, in its essential freshness, with great earnestness and with some measure of Kant's

The Healing Art the Right Hand of the Church; or Practical Medicine an essential element in the Christian system. By THERAPEUTES. Edinburgh: Sutherland & Knox. 1859. 12mo.

An Essay on Intuitive Morals, being an attempt to popularize ethical science. Part I. Theory of Morals. First American edition, with additions and corrections by the Author. Boston Crosby, Nichols & Co. 1859. 12mo. pp. 279.

enthusiasm. It also carries them to their legitimate consequences, in enforcing a theory of morals that claims to be more disinterested than the Christian theory. We need say no more than this, to excite the attention of philosophical students of ethics to this very interesting volume. It would be entirely out of place for us to discuss the old question here of the relation of virtue to happiness, and to determine in a critical way whether the author's theory states the question fairly or answers it successfully. It is quite enough to know that he has argued his own views with great force, and presented them in an attractive way.

BISHOP BUTLER'S ETHICAL DISCOURSES.*-Messrs. John P. Jewett & Co. publish, in convenient form and fair type, a much needed volume which has long been deemed as a desideratum by teachers of ethics, viz, Bishop Butler's Ethical Discourses and Essay on Virtue, arranged as a class-book, by President Champlin.

The attempt was first made by Dr. Whewell, but it was but partially executed. Whewell published only the sermons on Human Nature, with an Essay--which were republished in this country under the editorial direction of Professor C. S. Henry, D. D. Dr. Champlin has added the remaining sermons, with the Essay on Virtue-has broken up the text into separate paragraphs, and arranged the sermons in such an order that they seem to develop a somewhat orderly and complete system. He has also given a running analysis in the titles to the several divisions and branches of the subject. He ought to have done far more than this, to have furnished a critical and historical commentary upon his author, showing what were the opinions current in Butler's time, what the questions at issue, what authors and what opinions he had in mind in his cautious and well-guarded sentences, and what were and were not his opinions. We are surprised at these omissions, and must therefore look elsewhere to supply them; while we are prepared to recommend and adopt the book as a convenient manual for the class

room.

* Bishop Butler's Ethical Discoses and Essay on Virtue. Arranged as a Treatise on Moral Philosophy; and edited with an Analysis. By J. Z. CHAMPLIN, D. D., President of Waterville College. Boston: John P. Jewett & Co. 1859. 12mo. pp. 206.

PHILOLOGY.

NEW "PICTORIAL EDITION" OF WEBSTER'S DICTIONARY, UNABRIDGED.*—A new edition has just been published of Webster's American Dictionary, with many and important additions. The general merits of this great work do not need to be pointed out to the readers of the New Englander, Its reputation is established. Thirty-one years ago the case was different. Then, the publication, by an American, of a new Dictionary of the English language, in two quarto volumes, the work of a long life time, was a bold experiment, especially as hostile criticism could scarcely fail to be awakened by the author's known peculiarities in matters of lexicography. But though received at first everywhere with caution, and, in many quarters, with prejudice, so great and obvious were the merits of the work, that in spite of prejudice it soon won the confidence of scholars and the popular favor, and placed the name of its author, where it will ever remain, in the front rank of English Lexicographers. From the day of its publication to the present, its reputation has been steadily gaining ground; and especially, since the issue in 1847 of the revised edition, edited by Prof. C. A. Goodrich, it may be regarded as having definitely taken its position as the standard Dictionary of the language. Not only in this country,

* An American Dictionary of the English Language; containing the whole vocabulary of the first edition in two volumes quarto; the entire corrections and improvements of the second edition in two volumes royal octavo; to which is prefixed an Introductory Dissertation on the origin, history, and connection of the languages of Western Asia and Europe, with an explanation of the principles on which languages are formed. By NOAH WEBSTER, LL. D., Member of the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia, &c, &c., &c., &c. General subjects of this work, I.-Etymologies of English words deduced from an examination and comparison of words of corresponding elements in twenty languages of Asia and Europe. II.-The true orthography of words, as corrected by their etymologies. III.-Pronunciation exhibited and made obvious by the division of words into syllables, by accentuation, by marking the sounds of the accented vowels, when necessary, or by general rules. IV.-Accurate and discriminating definitions, illustrated, when doubtful or obscure, by examples of their use, selected from respectable authors, or by familiar phrases of undisputed authority. Revised and enlarged by CHAUNCEY A. GOODRICH, Professor in Yale College. With pronouncing vocabularies of Scripture, classical, and geographical names. To which are now added Pictorial Illustrations, Table of Synonyms, Peculiar use of words and terms in the Bible, Appendix of new words, Pronouncing Table of names of distinguished persons, Abbreviations, Latin, French, Italian and Spanish phrases, etc. Springfield, Mass. Published by G. & C. Merriam. 1859. pp. 1750.

but in England also-slow as the English are to recognize American merit-it is acknowledged to be unsurpassed. Even before the publication of the edition of 1847, it was confessedly made the basis of the Imperial Dictionary, edited by Dr. Ogilvie, who, in his preface, has this remark: "Webster's Dictionary, which forms the basis of the present work, is acknowledged both in this country (Great Britain) and America, to be superior to every other Dictionary hitherto published." The Imperial Dictionary is, in fact, almost a verbatim reprint of one of the earlier editions of Webster. If such were its merits at that time, how much more is it worthy of its high reputation, since it has once and again passed under the critical eye, and gathered to itself the fruits of the ripe scholarship of its present distinguished editor, as well as of many other gentlemen accomplished in different departments of literature and science.

The new edition contains, besides all the matter of the previous revised edition, a collection of fifteen hundred Pictorial Illustrations of the objects or terms in Natural History, Architecture, Mechanics and other branches of knowledge, which admit of a better definition by an engraving than in words—an extended and very valuable table of synonymous words clearly and accurately discriminated-an appendix to the vocabulary, embracing nearly ten thousand new words and meanings a very useful table exhibiting the pronunciation of some eight thousand names of distinguished individuals of modern times, and of different nationsa table of popular quotations, phrases, proverbs, &c., from the Latin, French, Italian, and Spanish-together with full tables of Abbreviations, Arbitrary Signs, the signification of Scripture proper names, and the peculiar use of words and terms in the Bible. These various appendices, along with others common to this and the previous edition, such as full pronouncing vocabularies of Modern Geographical Names, of Greek and Roman and Scripture Proper Names, Rules of Pronunciation, Introductory Essays, and other important matters, in addition to a general Vocabulary distinguished alike for its copiousness and the unrivaled completeness and accuracy of its definitions, contribute to render Webster's Dictionary a real lexicographical Encyclopedia, indispensable as a book of reference both to the scholar and the general reader.

The appendix of additional words is largely made up of new terms in science, and well preserves in the fullness and accuracy of the definitions, a leading and long recognized characteristic of this Dictionary.

The Pictorial Illustrations-a feature borrowed, perhaps, from the

Imperial Dictionary, in return for its more serious borrowing from Webster-are not scattered through the body of the vocabulary, as in that work, but placed by themselves, and are classified under leading or generic terms, with a subordinate alphabetical arrangement; reciprocal references being made from the illustrations to the pages of the vocabulary where the words occur, and from the vocabulary to the Illustrations. Most of the objects, however, are so fully described in connection with the cuts as to render a double reference unnecessary. This arrangement admits of superior mechanical execution, and affords the convenience of having the objects belonging to a class grouped together under the eye in a single view—thus rendering the illustration a sort of pictorial synonym, the eye taking in and discriminating the several objects at a glance, just as synonymous words are discriminated by being grouped and treated together. Thus, for example, the eye compares at once the several orders of architecture, the devices of heraldry, the varieties of animals, &c., and notes the characteristic differences with a facility which would be otherwise impracticable.

This feature of the work-the Pictorial Illustrations—we regard as one of great importance. There is a prejudice, we are aware, or an affectation of prejudice, against "pictures," as suitable rather for children than for grown people. But if "cuts" are in place anywhere, they certainly are in a dictionary, where the great object is to convey to the mind as distinctly and readily as possible the exact images or ideas which single words represent. Pictures are, in fact, a species of language; and of written language the most simple and perfect form. When a cut of the size of a sixpence will convey an idea more definitely and accurately than a whole page of type, why not use it? If specially attractive to children, so much the better. To make knowledge attractive, is no fault in any book. And if the phrase "dry as a dictionary," has henceforth lost its meaning, thanks to the good sense which has annulled it by the happy device of pictures. Let the little ones of a family pore over these beautiful engravings, if they will, till the pages are worn out and the images indelibly impressed on their memories, and more real knowledge, we are confident, will have been stored away in their young heads for future use than could have been by any amount of mere oral instruction, or of irksome drilling under the birch. Were it our task to make a dictionary in our own way, we would multiply these cuts and diagrams at least fourfold. Some of them, perhaps, we might construct on a smaller scale, as more in harmony with the smallness of the type; in respect to some we might aim