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upon its entrance through the same channel, it received about four hundred and fifty degrees. The remaining thirty degrees necessary to produce the minimum of expansive force (480°) are derived from the heat of the furnaces; and the volume of air is then doubled, the machinery set in motion, and the action of the pistons is commenced. As the lower piston rises, it pushes up the crank of the connecting-rod which rests upon it-produces, thereby, a revolution of the shaft, by which the paddle-wheels are turned, and the ship is at once in motion.

The action of the cylinders, the regenerator, the crank and rod, and the shaft and wheels, continues without alteration so long as it may be desirable. The furnaces require the attendance of very few men, in comparison with the host of engineers, firemen, feeders, and supernumeraries that peoples the hold of our common steamships. Allusion has already been made to the fact, that the vessel is enabled to carry a sufficient supply of coal to accomplish both the outward and return voyages. The shaft lies concealed between-decks. In this respect, the application of the new power possesses a decided advantage; as, in vessels propelled by steam, the passages fore-and-aft are interrupted by the elevation of the shaft into inconvenient proximity with the head of the passer-by. On the Ericsson, the decks are entirely clear from stem to

stern.

The state-rooms and saloons of the ship are fitted up in superb style. The furniture is of the newest pattern, the mirrors of the richest, and the ornamental work of the best. No expense has been spared to render the vessel a worthy compeer of the noble ships which have gone forth to testify to the taste and enterprise of NewYork.

As regards the conveyance of heavy cargoes, the vessel is exceeded by none of the best steamers. Her capacity for stowage is about fourteen hundred tons. Her freight-deck is clear from fore to aft, secure, and easy of access. In consequence of the peculiarities of her build, there are no interruptions in the passages, and no difficulty is experienced in the assortment, arrangement, or the prompt delivery of her cargo. Beneath the freight-deck is the coal-hold, which remains distinct from any other portion of the ship, and does not interfere with the residue of its appointments.

The minor details of the structure of the vessel are not important, differing but slightly from the ordinary steamships.

In this brief description of the peculiar characteristics which mark the Caloric Ship, we have aimed merely at a general and popular exposition of a great idea, of which the full development must be a work of time. The efforts of the ingenious inventor, with whose name the enterprise is so closely allied, have been directed to the accomplishment of a mighty undertaking. Whether the use of steam is soon to be superseded by an invention so much more simple and easy of access as common air, is a problem of vast moment. The probabilities in favor of its ultimate success are certainly most flattering. Confidence, energy and perseverance have been assiduously brought into combination to effect an end at once so desirable and important. The new ship is receiving the finishing touches as this article is penned, and, by the advent of the new year, will probably have made her debut before the public. Nothing is hazarded in the remark that she will attract attention and regard, as a most perfect specimen of mechanical skill and enterprise.

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ANECDOTE OF JAMES SMITHSON.

DR. B. A. GOULD, jr., in a lecture on

"The Theory of Probabilities," delivered, on the 24th of November, before the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, in Boston, illustrated a proposition by narrating an occurrence in the life of James Smithson.

It is related of him that, when in Paris, being addicted to indulgence in "Rouge et Noir," he at one time experienced almost constant reverses, and narrated the circumstance to his friend M. Arago, the eminent Savan.

M. Arago interrogated him as to the number and the time of his losses, and their proportion to the times of playing,

and then, rapidly calculating, surprised him by declaring the exact amount.

Some time after, Smithson brought to M. Arago a table, in which he had applied the principles of this previous calculation, saying that the excitement of the game was necessary to him, and that, by the use of this table, he now obtained the greatest possible entertainment by the expenditure of a definite amount.

To this fact of the existence of certainty in uncertainty, as the lecturer remarked, are we indebted for the benefits subsequently conferred on the interests of science by the establishment of the Smithsonian Institution.

LITERATURE.

EDITORIAL NOTES.

AMERICAN. Dr. KRAITSIR'S Glossology, a Treatise on the Nature of Language, and the Language of Nature, amid its abundant merits, has the defect of being too learned. The author has crowded so much into a brief compass that his remarks become obscure, or rather they make such a demand upon the attention that the effort to understand him becomes almost painful. If the same rich materials were treated in a more familiar and explanatory way, they might do a great service in reforming the abuses of the noble English tongue. As it is, and in spite of the petulance which occasionally escapes from the too-earnest writer, we commend his instructions to all those who take an interest in purifying our speech, or who care to acquire foreign languages by a thoroughly scientific method. We are told by those who have penetrated the depths of the Doctor's principles, that they throw a wonderful light upon the whole subject of linguistic.

-Miss CHEES BORO's new novel, The Children of Light, is a worthy successor to the "Isa, a Pilgrimage," which attracted no small share of admiration last year. It has much of the same vigor and freshness, but, like that, it shows a mind which had not yet worked itself into perfect clearness of conception. Most of the books written by women are said to be deficient in that indescribable quality called Art, but Miss Cheesboro' is rapidly attaining the highest walks in the department to which her talents are devoted.

-What a taking title is that of Mr. KIMBALL, the Romance of Student Life Abroad, and how gracefully the author has told his adventures! But, on the whole, his book is not equal to the "St. Leger," in which there is so much romance and so much passion.

Knick-Knacks is the happy name wherewith our venerable contemporary of THE KNICKERBOCKER has christened his bantling of a book. It is enough to say of it that it contains all those funny things which have made the "Editor's Table" of that Magazine the part to which every reader of it first turns, and from which he gets up with a broad grin. We know of no collection of American humor similar to it, certainly none that contains such a variety of original and racy matter.

-An admirable compilation is that of The British Orators, made by Dr. GOODRICH. It presents, in a portable form, the best speeches of the most illustri

ous orators of Great Britain, with brief sketches of their lives, and excellent explanatory notes. We have made time to go over the greater part of the volume, and have derived no little refreshment and pleasure from the perusal. A collection of American orators, made with equal fidelity and care, would be a valuable contribution to literature.

-If we Americans have only a scanty literature of our own, we have the merit at least of first publishing a great deal of the best literature of England. The collected writings of Bolingbroke, of Macaulay, of Carlyle, of Wilson, of Talfourd, of Sydney Smith, of Jeffrey, of De Quincey, of Thackeray, were first issued on this side of the water, and now we have, added thereto, an excellent edition of the prose works of PROCTER, better known as Barry Cornwall. They consist of a series of pleasantly conceived and gracefully written tales and essays.

-Mrs. FOLLEN has done a good thing for the juveniles in printing some of the best stories and poems of her Child's Friend into a neat book form. Few persons know so well as she how to cater for the tastes of the young.

-An edition of the Speeches of Macaulay is announced in this city. His spoken rhetoric is quite equal to his written, and we wonder, in the universal admiration which his brilliant style merits, that this task of compilation has not been before undertaken.

-Mr. HILDRETH, the historian, is about to publish A Theory of Politics, a work which he has had for some years in preparation. It will be a statement of the reasons why different governments have prevailed in different nations, with historical parallels and illustrations.

-The Appletons will publish, in the month of February, a volume, entitled Prismatics, by RICHARD HAYWARDE, UNder which disguise the modest author lies concealed. In the matter of typography, the publishers promise that it will be something of which the American press will be proud, and to say that the embellishments will be from the pencils of Elliot, Darley, Kensett, Hicks, and Rossiter, will commend it to the lovers of art.

-Mr. BANCROFT'S continuation of his History of the Revolution, has appeared in England, and is favorably noticed by the reviews. The American edition is received as we go to press. It will have attention in our next.

-The papers contributed to the Horti

culturist, by the late A. J. DOWNING, We are glad to learn, will soon be collected and published. The editorial supervision is in the hands of his friend, G. W. CURTIS, who will write a memoir of his life, and Miss BREMER, who knew him well, having passed many days with him on her arrival in this country, will furnish a sketch of his character. This, we have no doubt, will be a most agreeable book.

-Meagher's Speeches are not out at the time of our going to press, but we anticipate from the reading of them, some rare pleasure. Those who were among the four thousand of delighted listeners to the lecture on Australia, delivered by the eloquent young Irish orator, at Metropolitan Hall, will be eager to see his utterances in print.

-Lectures have come to be one of the established winter institutions; not in the cities only, but in many of the country towns, both large and small. Nearly all the literary societies of the land, in addition to their usual exercises, have regular courses of lectures, in which men more or less eminent participate. In this city, Mr. Thackeray's course before the Mercantile Library Association, has been the most successful; his audiences have uniformly included the most intellectual and fashionable people, who have received them. with delight. The Popular Course, too, at the Tabernacle, with Mr. Whipple, Mr. Thompson, Mr. Osgood, Prof. Olmsted, as the lecturers, has been well attended, and the Course of the Historical Society, introduced by Mr. Bancroft, promises much pleasure to come. Such an uprising of listeners has never before been known.

-The Cooper Monument, what has become of it? We are glad to say that it is not forgotten. Besides the five hundred dollars collected at the meeting last winter, Mr. Irving and Mr. Prescott have since contributed one hundred dollars each, all which sums are in the hands of the Treasurer of the Memorial Committee. Will not some of our rich men add several thousands thereto, that New-York may boast of at least one enduring remembrance of an illustrious citizen? Let but one in a hundred of the readers and admirers of COOPER send a single dollar to John A. Stevens, Esq., Treasurer of the Cooper Monument Committee, Bank of Commerce, New-York, and a monument will be raised, worthy of the country. Shall it still be a reproach to this great leading community, that it possesses no public memorial to a literary man? Surely, all that is needed in this case, is the intimation that a responsible treasurer is ready to receive the funds, and that our greatest sculptor is

ready to proceed with the work. Now that this is announced, we are sure that hundreds and thousands will respond to the prompt and liberal example of two of the great novelist's brother authors, above mentioned.

-Frank Freeman's Barber Shop is one of a spawn of romances that has followed Mrs. Stowe's book. Some of them have taken the ground that Slavery was the greatest social curse under the heavens, and others, that it was the most Arcadian and blissful of institutions, exhibiting as much variety in their color as the human race itself, from the deeply black, to the pale white; but "Frank Freeman" takes a mulatto course, and is alternately of both sides. Yet as this is the day of compromises, we see no reason why a novel-writer should be excluded from an adoption of the fashion, especially when he belabors, with hearty ill-will, the extremes of both sides. The Rev. Mr. HALL, the author, is a humorist, a little rude at times, but with the genuine comic vis.

-Mrs. HALE pats the "friends of Women's Rights," on the head, perhaps without meaning it, by publishing an account of all the illustrious female mankind that have enlightened, if not beautified the world. Her roll-call musters a larger Amazonian army than was ever gathered by any of the Caliphs. She shows that women have attained eminence in every walk of life, in science, art, war, religion, authorship, philanthropy, etc., etc., but a crabbed friend of ours suggests the question, whether, among the whole number, there was a single genius? We shall, perhaps, undertake to answer his question in our next number.

-A life of WALTER SCOTT was not needed by scholars, who possess that most entertaining work of Lockhart, next to Boswell's the most readable of biographies; but how few scholars can afford so voluminous a work! It was, therefore, a happy thought of Donald McLeod to write a new history of the first of novelists, one of those broad fruitful natures that cannot easily be exhausted. How he has executed it, we have not found time to read: yet we think, from an occasional sip at his fountain, in a hearty appreciating way.

ENGLISH.-The English work likely to make the most stir in the coming months, is "Hippolitus and his Age," by the CHEVALIER BUNSEN, Prussian Minister to England. Both on account of the writer and the subject, the work excites attention. It is not often that we get a diplomat among the Doctors of Divinity. But the friend of Niebuhr, of Dr. Arnold, and of Archdeacon Hare, is quite an exception

among diplomats, and is better known for his scholarship, than his statesmanship. The object of the work is to explain the state of Christian opinion and practice at Rome, a whole century before the Nicene theology. It is suggested by a MS. discovered at Mount Athos, in Greece, and purporting to be a work of Hippolitus, bishop of the Harbor of Rome, and dating about A. D. 225. This Manuscript was formerly ascribed to Origen, but Bunsen tries to show that Origen did not write it, and that Hippolitus did. The authenticity is important, because, if written by Hippolitus, it throws light upon an obscure period in the history of the Church. It would go to show that, in that age, nothing was yet known of the ecclesiastical supremacy of the Roman Pontiff, nothing of the celibacy of the clergy, nothing of bishops as a supreme order, and nothing of a great many other dogmas now incorporated into the general faith. Whether Bunsen be right, or the Church, we will not say; but we will add, that he has given the Churchmen considerable of a nut to crack.

-Henry Esmond, by THACKERAY, is variously received, by the critics both at home and abroad; some say that it is an advance on his previous writings, and some, that it is not so good.. Our opinion is, that it is any thing but a failure; on the contrary, that it has all the nice power of observation and picturesqueness of the author, but that as the scene is laid in past times, it cannot have the freshness and truth of a novel relating to the present day. Characters and events passing before us, we see with our eyes, but the characters and events of a hundred years ago, exist only to the imagination. Now, as Thackeray is a man noted for seeing with his eyes, it was to be expected that a novel by him, about Queen Anne's folks, would not be so excellent as a novel about Queen Victoria's. Yet his learning is wonderfully accurate and comprehensive, his insight clear and penetrating, his suggestions always wise and significant, and his studies of costumes and attitude worthy of a painter, but his story is a little too intricate, and not over interesting.

-TENNYSON'S Ode on the Death of Wellington, is published by Moxon; but the almost unvarying opinion of the critics is, that it is not equal to the occasion. But who ever wrote an occasional ode or an occasional oration that took the palm? Occasions are only golden moments to mediocrities. Your man of genius must take his own time and way of doing things. Yet, there are passages in Tennyson's Ode, that relish of the butt of Ca

nary, which is his laureate salary. Here is one, for instance:

O civic muse, to such a name,
To such a name for ages long,
To such a name

Preserve a broad approach of fame,
And ever-ringing avenues of song."

And here is another:

Not once or twice in our rough island story
The path of duty was the way to glory.
He that walks it only thirsting
For the right, and learns to deaden
Love of self before his journey closes,
He shall find the stubborn thistle bursting
Into glossy purples, which outredden
All voluptuous garden-roses.

Not once or twice in our fair island-story,
The path of duty was the way to glory.
He that ever following her commands,
Or with toil of heart and knees and hands,
Thro' the long gorge to the far light has won
His path upward, and prevail'd,
Shall find the toppling crags of Duty scal'd
Are close upon the shining table-lands

To which our God Himself is moon and sun.

-Siberia is one of the unknown regions, to which a certain romantic interest attaches, as to the Man in the Iron mask, or to the author of Junius. MADAME EVE FELINSKI'S Revelations of Siberia, therefore, though they contain no fine descriptions of scenery, and few dramatic incidents, will be read for the fidelity of the story they tell. She had the misfortune to be the sister of one of the most eminent Polish poets, and for that offence, or some other, incurred the ill-will of the Czar, who gave her a three years' opportunity of repentance among his favorite colonists in Siberia. This was from 1839 to 1841; and the lady has made a valuable book out of her experiences. It is readable, but not pronounceable in parts, for such names, we take it, as Iasycenko, Krzyzanowski, and Kzonczewska, were never meant to be uttered out of Russia.

-A book called the Wanderings of a Pilgrim in search of the Picturesque, is advertised as follows in one of the English papers: "Its circulation has been almost ubiquitous. It lies on our Queen's drawing-room table at Windsor Castle; it is an ornament in the library of the Czar at Petersburgh. It is read in the hills at Simla and Landour, at the foot of the glorious Himalaya; it is treasured by her Highness the ex-Queen of Gwalior, and it adorns the court of Nepaul. In North America, at the court of the Brazils, it is in high repute. Our ambassadors read it in Madrid and in Stockholm; our military book clubs have long since ordered it at the Cape, in New Zealand (our antipodes), and at Hobart Town; and the 1002 imperial octavo pages, with their 50 beautiful illustrations sketched on the spot, and several of them lithographed by herself, constitute at this moment the most perfect delineation of East Indian

life, British and native, with which the literature of Europe has yet been enriched." Very strange that no one in the United States should have heard of it before!

-ALISON announces a continuation of his History, bringing the events up from the battle of Waterloo, to the declaration of the Empire by Louis Napoleon. As the war of the continent ceased during this period, as those great movements of peaceful civilization which are the glory of the modern era began to develop themselves then with unexampled rapidity, there is no portion of time more important or exciting; and the subject well treated, will make an admirable book. We scarcely think Alison, with his retrograde sympathies, the man for the task, yet we shall attempt to estimate his labors with fairness.

-LONGFELLOW's poems, and the Hyperion, have been issued in England, in the most beautiful illustrated forms. The "Evangeline" of two years ago, has been the model.

-The Second Volume of Mrs. Hall's Pilgrimages to English Shrines, with Notes and Illustrations, by F. W. Fairholt, has just been issued, in a handsome octavo, profusely illustrated with engravings on wood. This elegant volume is dedicated to Madame Otto Goldschmidt (Jenny Lind). The following names are memorialized: Izaac Walton, William Penn, Sir C. Wren, Edgeworth, Lady Rachael Russel, Jane Porter, Sir Richard Lovelace, Grace Aguilar, Edmund Burke, Flaxman, Edward Bird, Mrs. Hofland, Dr. Maginn, Cowley, etc.

-Vestiges of Old London, a series of etchings from original drawings, illustrative of the monuments and architecture of London, in the first, fourth, twelfth, and six succeeding centuries, with descriptions and historical notices, by JOHN WYKEHAM RICHER, is a choice folio volume of curious antiquarian sketches of the British Metropolis.

-Two brilliant volumes have just appeared, richly embellished with colored drawings of Flowers; one on FlowerPainting, in twelve progressive lessons, and the other Gems for the DrawingRoom, containing groups of fruit and flowers; by PAUL JERRARD, with accompanying verses, by F. W. N. BAYLEY.

-WILKIE COLLINS's novel of Basil, is a regular English novel, of the modern school, containing one desperate villain, one young lady, (not innocent, by way of variety,) one good man, and the usual supernumeraries. But the scenes are described with much power, and the story, though not strikingly original, is well told.

There is some humor mingled with the prevailing sadness of the tone, which is further relieved by the assurance given us towards the close, that the suffering parties generally are at last happy.

-Another example of what may be done in the art of color-printing, is shown in a volume which appears this month in London, called The Tenants of the Woods. The specimen plates are remarkably beautiful.

-SIR FRANCIS BOND HEAD'S Fortnight in Ireland is one of the most entertaining and instructive essays on Ireland, that has been published in a long while. The author is remarkable for making large books from the smallest possible amount of travel. He was but three weeks in Paris, and during that time gathered sufficient material to make one of the most entertaining books on the French capital that any Englishman has written, and his fourteen days in Ireland were so well employed in seeing and noting the causes of Irish misery, that he leaves nothing for any other traveller to tell on that subject. Sir Francis is a magnificent pennya-liner, and would make the fortune of a daily newspaper.

FRENCH AND GERMAN.-A ponderous book of reference for publicists and statesmen, is the Annuaire des deux Mondes (Annual of the Two Worlds), published by the proprietors of the well-known review of that name. In a thousand close octavo pages, we have here a summary of the political, industrial, social, and literary history of the entire world for the year 1851. Each country is treated by itself, from public documents, and other sources of information. The part relative to the United States is written by M. Emile Montegut; and if the others are as little trustworthy, the big volume is not good for much. For instance, this learned litterateur puts down M. Theodore Parker as the chief of the Universalists in this country, and associates "the Doctor George Ripley, M. Channing, the younger, M. Horace Greeley, and the poet Dana," as leaders in the sect of "the crazy and the illuminated," with which sect we are informed that "M. Henri Longfellow, a soft and timid poet," and M. Nathaniel Hawthorne, are intimately related. We learn also that there is a sect of "Episcopalian Methodists," who have three hundred churches in Massachusetts, and another of "Congregational Methodists," who have six hundred and twenty-five in the same state. The Shakers, he tells us, live on vegetable diet, and have a special medical doctrine known as the Thompsonian system. His account of American politics is

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