report, presented to the City Council, January 3, 1863, it appears that the library now numbers 16,000 volumes, besides 5000 pamphlets. The average number of books drawn daily is 116. (Robert C. Ingraham, Librarian.)

The GENERAL SOCIETY OF MECHANICS AND

TRADESMEN, in New York, report (February, 1863) that during the year ending in July, 1862, 1400 volumes were added to the Apprentices' Library, and 116 volumes to the Demilt Library, thus making the total number of volumes in both libraries 25,364.

The ROCHESTER ATHENEUM report that 381 volumes were added to the library during the year 1862, 43 of which were gifts. The total number of volumes drawn in the year was 11,805. The amount expended in buying books was $357; periodicals, $240 additional; binding, $97. Total receipts, $2610. Expenses, $2075. (John Phin, Librarian.)

The PITTSBURG MERCANTILE LIBRARY report the addition of 343 volumes in 1862, making a total collection of 4215 volumes. The number of volumes drawn during the year was 6762. 194 volumes were bought for $122.46. Total receipts, $1869. (George E. Appleton, Librarian.)

The BUFFALO YOUNG MEN'S ASSOCIATION, at their annual meeting in February, 1863, reported an increase of 661 volumes in the library,-130 by donation. The sum of $551 was expended for books, and $204 for binding. Total receipts, $10,300; expenditures, $5830.55; leaving a balance of $4470. (William Ives, Librarian.)

The ST. LOUIS MERCANTILE LIBRARY in 1862 purchased 566 volumes, at a cost of $689. 162 volumes were presented, valued at $482. 130 bound volumes of periodicals cost $533. The whole number of volumes in the library at the end of the year was 19,260. Number of members, 2475. (John N. Dyer, Librarian.)

The CINCINNATI MERCANTILE LIBRARY has added 174 volumes during 1862, 77 of which were gifts. The number of members is 2276. One hundred and fifty-nine newspapers and 95 magazines are taken. The finances of the society are not in so good a condition as could be desired. (Sylvester Taylor, Librarian.)

The PEABODY INSTITUTE AT BALTIMORE.-We learn that the costly Peabody Institute building in Baltimore will soon be finished; but the trustees, after mature deliberation, have concluded not to put the Institution into practical operation at present. The most interesting feature about the building is the library room, which is a splendid apartment, being more than ninety feet in length and forty in width. There are two corridors, one rising above and the other around the galleries, and their aggregate length is nearly five hundred feet. The librarian has already enriched the cases with about ten thousand rich volumes of literature in many branches of learning. The capacity of the cases will exceed fifty thousand volumes, and these generally of the larger size of books. We understand that preliminary to the purchase of books, a detailed list was made out by the able librarian, Dr. Morris, of the books that it was considered desirable to secure at the present time, with the proper editions indicated. This was printed in a small 4to volume, and copies were sent to every respectable bookseller, with a request that the price at which he could supply any of the books might be marked, and the list returned. A comparison of these priced lists shows at once what books could be obtained, and the most favorable terms offered for them, thereby doing away with

all necessity for bargaining and wasting time in vain researches. Dr. Morris is now in New York, making purchases in accordance with the results thus obtained. The liberal endowment and excellent management of the Baltimore Library promise to raise it to a high rank among the literary institutions of the country.

WE are informed by a correspondent that a "General Theological and Religious Library" has been commenced in Cincinnati for the use of ministers and religious teachers of all denominations, for superintendents of Sabbath-schools, teachers of Bibleclasses, and all others interested in religious studies.

Our informant adds that the basis of the society is broad enough to include every religious denomination. Only three public meetings have been held, yet the subscriptions amount to nearly $12,000; which shows how well the project has been received by the religious portion of the community. Nearly 500 volumes of books have also been given to what is termed the "Founders' Collection," and the number is daily increasing. Donations will be gladly received from private individuals or publishers. They can be sent to publishers in any city, to be enclosed to any of the booksellers in Cincinnati. It is much desired that publishers will send copies of their catalogues to the Library, and that public libraries will contribute copies of their catalogues. These will be a valuable aid to the Library Committee in the selection of books to purchase. The Corresponding Secretary is Prof. Geo. E. Day, to whom any communications can be addressed. The venerated Bishop McIlvaine is President.

THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. AT the close of the recent session of Congress, Senator Wilson, by unanimous consent, introduced a bill for the incorporation of the National Academy of Sciences. The bill was passed without opposition, and was signed on the same day by the President. The appointed members assembled in New York on the 22d of April, for organization. We append, for convenient reference, the act by which the Academy is constituted, and also a report of the proceedings of the Senate, from the Congressional Globe. It is gratifying to observe that, in a matter where personal considerations were involved, the Senate magnanimously declined to hear read the names of the distinguished corporators.

In copying the bill from the "Statutes at Large" we have not felt at liberty to deviate from the letter of the law, but we presume it is a simple misprint which gives us F. B. Barnard instead of F. A. P. Barnard, late President of the Mississippi University. Although the term "Sciences" is employed, the list of members indicates that the natural sciences are intended. Moral and political sciences are not represented, as in the French Institute, nor medical, nor theological, nor philological science, but chiefly mathematical and physical science.

IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE, MARCH 3, 1863. Mr. Wilson, of Massachusetts, said: I ask leave of the Senator from New York to take up a bill which I think will consume no time, and to which I hope there will be no opposition. It is a bill to incorporate the National Academy of Sciences. It will take but a moment, I think, and I should like to have it pass.

The Presiding Officer. The Senator from Massachusetts asks unanimous consent to lay aside the business properly before the Senate, and to take up the bill indi

cated by him.

There being no objection, the Senate, as in committee of the whole, proceeded to consider the bill (S. No. 555) to incorporate the National Academy of Sciences. The Presiding Officer. The bill will be read.

ME. SCRIBNER has already published three of the 1 beautiful Physical wall-maps which have been so long promised by Professor Guyot; and there is every reason to expect an early completion of the series. One characteristic of these maps is that they may be used to advantage with any sort of text-book in academies or schools. But their real merits are of a much higher order. For freshness, accuracy, elearness, and harmony, they are not equalled even by the excellent wall-maps which Ewald, Sydow, and others have published in Germany. The map of the United States, already issued, is a most satisfactory exhibition of the natural features of our country, even better than any chart in relief. It is, moreover, as well adapted for general use as for all purposes of instruction. The map of South America may be had on either of two scales, one almost double the size of the other. Other maps are nearly ready.

MESSES. HARPER AND BROTHERS are about to issue "The History of the Intellectual Development of Europe, by JOHN WILLIAM DRAPER, M.D., LL.D.," in one large octavo of 650 pages. Professor Draper's "Human Physiology" has taken unquestioned rank as one of the most profound and suggestive works of the age. The object of this was to treat of the development of man as an individual. The present work treats of the development of the race. The main propositions which are laid down, and to the proof of which the book is devoted, are that "social advancement" is as completely under the control of natural law as is bodily growth, and that the life of an individual is a miniature of the life of a nation. To establish these points, the history of the civilized world is passed under review,--the history, that is, not so much of its wars and alliances, as of its opinions, modes of thought, and habits of life. Warburton's "Divine Legation" is perhaps the only other book in which such an immense mass of learning and research is expended in the elucidation and defence of two or three propositions which can be stated in as many scores of words. Two or three brief paragraphs, taken from the opening and closing pages of the book, will give some insight into its design, mode of treatment, and ultimate

conclusions.

"I intend in this work," says Professor Draper, "to consider in what manner the advancement of Europe in civilization has taken place, to ascertain how far its progress has been fortuitous, and how far determined by primordial law. Does the procession of nations in time, like the erratic phantasm of a dream, go forward without reason or order? Or is there a predetermined, a solemn march, in which all must join, ever moving, ever resistlessly advancing, encountering and enduring an inevitable succession of events? Some have asserted that human affairs are altogether determined by the voluntary action of men; some, that the providence of God directs us in every step; some, that all events are fixed by destiny. It is

"Forms are in their nature transitory, law is everlasting. If from visible forms we turn to directing law, how vast is the difference! We pass from the finite, the momentary, the incidental, the conditioned, to the illimitable, the eternal, the neIt is of law that I am to cessary, the unshackled. In a world composed of vanspeak in this book. the majesty, of law, and to show how man proceeds ishing forms, I am to vindicate the imperishability,

in his social march in obedience to it. I am to lead my reader, perhaps in a reluctant path, from the outward phantasmagorial illusions which surround us and so ostentatiously obtrude themselves on our attention, to something that lies in silence and strength behind. I am to draw his thoughts from the tangible to the invisible, from the limited to the universal, from the changeable to the invariable, from the transitory to the eternal, from the expedients and volitions so largely amusing the life of man to the predestined and resistless issuing from the fiat of God."

Here are the closing sentences of the volume:— "In an all-important particular, the prospect of Europe is bright. China is passing through the last stage of civil life in the cheerlessness of Buddhism; Europe approaches it through Christianity. Universal benevolence cannot fail to yield a better fruit than unsocial pride. There is a fairer hope for nations animated by a sincere religious sentiment, who, whatever their political history may have been, have always agreed in this, that they were devout, than for a people who dedicate themselves to a selfish pursuit of material advantage, who have lost all belief in a future and are living without any God. . . . I have asserted the control of natural law in the shaping of human affairs,— a control not inconsistent with free will any more than the unavoidable passage of an individual as he advances to maturity and declines in old age is inconsistent with his voluntary actions; that higher law limits our movements to a certain direction, and guides them in a certain way. An acorn may lie torpid in the ground, unable to exert its living force until it receives warmth and moisture, and other things needful for its germination; when it grows, it may put forth one bud here and another bud there, the wind may bend one branch, the frost blight another, the innate vitality of the tree may struggle against adverse conditions or luxuriate in those that are congenial; but, whatever the circumstances may be, there is an overruling power forever constraining and modelling it. The acorn can only produce

an oak.

THE Completion of the New American Cyclopædia, edited by George Ripley and Charles A. Dana, and published by D. Appleton and Company, New York, is an event of no small interest and importance. The original project of producing a Popular Dictionary of General Knowledge has happily been carried out, in sixteen volumes, notwithstanding the monetary difficulties of the country since the close of 1857, when the first volume appeared. The organization which has produced this Cyclopædia was very perfect. The editors employed a large staff of regular assistants, all of them well-informed gentlemen, and also largely called in aid a corps of able miscellaneous contributors, each of whom wrote upon the subjects he best understood. Every line in the sixteen volumes is original, that is, was expressly written for this work. The number of subjects treated of far exceeds that of any similar work of

1857, been associated in its editorial charge, has recently become one of the proprietors and responsible managers.

THE publishers of the Universalist Quarterly announce that at the end of the present year it will be discontinued. Most of the stock of the journal has been consigned to the paper-mill, and those wishing complete sets (twenty volumes) should apply at once.

THE American Journal of Education, published quarterly by Hon. Henry Barnard, entered upon its second series last year. The first series was in ten volumes, and it is proposed to make the present one at least five volumes. No abler journal on this specialty is published anywhere.

A NEW magazine, devoted to an important branch of medical science, entitled the American Journal of Ophthalmology, was commenced in New York City in July, 1862. It is published every other month, by Baillière Brothers, at $2 a year.

THE AUCTION ROOMS.

THE LATE TRADE SALES.

THE late Trade Sales of Books in New York and Philadelphia were well attended, and the books brought good prices. As a general thing, the lots sold were small, and, while the prices were entirely satisfactory to the sellers, the total amount of the sales was not large, owing to the leading and heavy purchasers not being willing to give so great an increase over the prices of former years. Altogether, we think the result of these sales shows a decidedly healthy state of the market: if the price of paper was not so high, we might soon expect to see a great improvement in business. Even as it is, certain branches of the trade were never in a more flourishing condition.

SPRING PARCEL SALE IN NEW YORK.

BANGS, MERWIN & Co. announce their regular Spring Parcel Sale of Books, Stationery, &c., to be commenced Tuesday, May 12, 1863, at the Irving Buildings, N.Y. The Catalogue will be ready for distribution by the time our readers see this para

graph.

SALE IN BOSTON.

A LARGE and valuable collection of books were sold at auction in Boston, by Leonard & Co., on the 14th, 15th, 16th, and 17th of April. The attendance was good, and the books brought high prices. We quote a few. "North American Review," complete, in half calf, $154.38. "Smith's Catalogue Raisonnée of the Works of Painters," in 9 volumes, half morocco, $76.50. Meyrick's "Ancient Arms and Armour," 5 volumes folio, half morocco, $90.00. The Palace of Pleasure," 2 volumes, and the "Mirror for Magistrates," 3 volumes, in all 5 volumes, quarto, bound in full morocco by Reviere, $90.00. Dyce's Beaumont & Fletcher, 11 volumes, cloth, $23.38. Nichols's "Anecdotes," 17 volumes, $92.50.

LIBRARY OF THE LATE LORD MACAULAY.-The Library of Lord Macaulay has just been sold, by auction, in London. The books are said to have been generally in the roughest condition, just as if picked up at a book-stall for immediate use and then thrown aside. A rather indecorous haste seems to have characterized the transaction, as it is now said many of the most unpromising-looking volumes prove to be richly and copiously annotated by the great historian's own hand, and, consequently, merited conservation till examined by his literary executors.

JOHN R. BARTLETT, Esq., the accomplished Secretary of State of Rhode Island, has completed a catalogue of all publications relating to the History and Topography of that State, which will be published. We hazard nothing in saying that this will be an exhaustive treatise on the subject and serve as a model for the labors of others in the same general field. We trust it will not be long before the work in this line commenced by the late Mr. Ludwig, and since continued by Messrs. Willis of Maine, Hall of Vermont, and others, will be carried on until no part of our country shall fail of having its minutest sources of local history pointed out. Ludwig's "American Local Bibliography" has long been out of print, and should be reproduced with additions.

THE second part of the fourth volume of Brunet's "Manuel du Libraire et de l'Amateur de Livres," which has just appeared, announces the completion of the work in the fifth volume, to be published in Bohn, of London, has recently issued the second part 1863-64, together with a table of contents. of the fourth volume of his edition of "Lowndes's Bibliographer's Manual of English Literature," and promises the completion of the work before the close of the year. The Trésor de Livres Rares et Précieux," by M. J. Graesse, has reached its twentyfirst number, extending to the letter M.

MR. JOSEPH SABIN, the book-auctioneer, has been for many years collecting the material for, and has in a forward state of preparation, a work giving a bibliographical account of all publications relating to America. His list of books published in the United States prior to 1800 is said to be very complete.

REV. S. D. BOWKER, of New Hampshire, is preHistorical and Critical paring for publication a " Dictionary of Standard Works," embracing the titles, size, price, name of author and publisher, &c. of more than ten thousand volumes of standard works, ancient and modern.

It is

A CATALOGUE of American school and college "text-books" has been commenced in the March number of the American Journal of Education. suggested, in the same connection, that a public collection of all these text-books should be made. Was not something of the kind started in Cincinnati a few years ago?

MR. WM. F. POOLE, Librarian of the Boston Athenæum, is preparing a new edition of his Index to Periodical Literature." The work will be much enlarged and entirely remodelled, and the references will be brought down to the close of the year 1863. Subsequent issues will appear periodically in the form of supplements.