1.-Elementary Astronomy, accompanied by Sixteen Colored Astronomical Maps,
each Three by Three-and-a-half Feet; for the Use of Common Schools, Academies,
Higher Seminaries, and the Private Learner. By H. Mattison. New Xork: Hun-
tington & Savage.
It is in the highest degree gratifying to an American citizen, that our progress in
science and the arts is beginning to correspond, in some measure, with the rapid de-
velopment of the resources and wealth of the nation. Utility and accumulation have
become the motto of almost every enterprise. Yet, however strongly this spirit may
predominate, firing the mind in the one idea, with an enthusiasm which all but disre-
gards effects or causes, it is not the less true, that our signal advancement in educ a-
tion, in our common and higher institutions, is both the strong lever and the granite
fulcrum, by which Norman and Saxon enterprise is producing and adding to our year-
ly exports to every quarter of the globe. A better education is pregnant with new
discoveries in science and new inventions in the mechanic arts, all of which are con-
tinually adding to our facilities as a producing people. Europe, though she has, here-
tofore, will not, hereafter, claim all the honor of discovery in the sublime science of
astronomy, which has, more than any other, given protection to our commerce.
merly, our shipmasters sailed chiefly by throwing the log; and to strike the coast
For-
within one hundred miles of the port of entrance, was a calculation of average accu-
racy. Now, by observing the eclipses of the moons of Jupiter, for longitude, and the
for latitude, the skilful navigator strikes within a mile of the channel which leads
him to his harbor. Security from shipwreck lessens both freight and insurance, and
while it add to the price of our exports, diminishes the cost of what we import. To
say nothing, then, of the high moral influence of this study in our common schools, its
intrinsic and wonderful interest to the most common mind, every farmer, artisan, and
merchant, is practically interested in it.
it will, ere long, have place in all our common schools. The beautiful and elaborate
We rejoice, therefore, in the indications that
work just issued by Messrs. Huntington & Savage, illustrates to the eye, more clearly
and fully than anything we have ever seen, the positions, courses, and phenomena of
all the heavenly bodies, explains their laws and classifies them so plainly, and com-
prises so much of recent discovery and other matter, as to make it a desideratum in
every well-conducted school. In its use, the teacher may give his pupils a more thor-
ough knowledge of astronomy in a brief period, than in many months in the use of
other works. It is put up in two styles, at $15 and $20; a reasonable price for six-
teen large colored maps and a treatise of 200 pages.
2.-Historicol Sketch of Trinity Church, New York. By the Rev. William Berrian, D. D, the Rector of the same. 8vo. New York: Stanford & Swords.
There is no enterprise connected with public improvement, for the last few years, which has been more decided than that associated with ecclesiastical architecture. Numerous edifices devoted to religious worship have been erected in various parts of the country, constructed of the most enduring materials, and in their design in all respects worthy of the object for which they have been dedicated. Nor is there any section of the Union in which this improvement has been more evident than in the cities of New York and Brooklyn. In the magnificence and cost of the structure, Trinity Church probably exceeds every other in the Union. The magnitude of its design, and the respectability of the congregation with which it is identified, as well as the ancient records connected with their existence, induced the publication of the present work. The author is well known as a devoted and able clergyman, who, from his long familiarity with it history, appears to have been most appropriately selected for the task of perpetuating its records, and he has certainly performed it with signal success, He remarks, that he had worshipped in youth upon the spot where the foundations of the edifice were laid; that be had there ministered in manhood; and that, upon the day of its consecration, "he appeared again before the congregation on the verge of old age." In this volume, the author has presented, doubtless, a faithful history of this congregation from its earliest origin to the present time, compiled from the most authentic sources. The work is illustrated with several elegant engravings of that and other church edifices in the city, which enhance its value.