Notes On Literature Science And Art.

met with even a German book which at all rivalled the one before us in the length and tmwieldliness of its sentences . Lord Lindsay thinks nothing of a sentence an octavo page long . We would seriously recommend him to discard from his typography the too seductive hyphen , and to limit his sentences to a liberal maximum of ten lines . As his style is at present constructed , it requires as much mental labour to connect the beginning of his sentences with the end as to remember the steps of a long mathematical

calculation . " In the memoir attached to The Zast Travels of Ida Pfeiffer recently translated hy W . H . Dulcken , Ph . D ., we are told that : — " She pressed forward into many regions never before trodden by Eeuropean foot ; and the very fact of her being a woman was often a cause of protection in her most dangerous undertakings . She was allowed to pursue her journey where the presence of a man

would assuredly have been forbidden . Her communications , consequently , have the merit of containing many entirely new facts in geography and ethnology , and of correcting the exaggeration and errors of previous accounts . Science , was likewise benefitted by the valuable collections she made of plants , animals , and minerals . Frequently she did not herself know the value of what she had Drought together ; but , nevertheless , she collected many important specimens ; and tbe sciences of conchology are indebted to her for the discovery of several new genera . " The September number of the Art Journal contains an

interesting article " On the Present Condition of the monuments of Egypt , by Mr . W . F . Fairholt , from wliich we are sorry to learn that works of art which have remained uninjured from before the days of Joseph and his brethren , have been wantonly destroyed by European travellers of our own day . " It may seem absurd to plead now for the proper and respectful protection of the monuments which have done such good and generally . acknowledged service to

history , " says Mr . Fairholt , "but , unfortunately , the frightful contradiction exists—the mischief is done , and is being continued . Tombs open in the Roman era , and uninjured until this boasted '' Inarch of intellect' age . now call for protection from educated Tandals who visit them . We blame the ignorant Arab whose poverty induces him to break away a fragment for sale to the European curiosity-hunter , ever anxious to obtain what he may

not fully understand ; or we direct a righteous scorn towards the Turk who would deface the figures his religious belief induces him to conceive to be wicked productions ; but with the complacency of a self-proclaimed superiority , Europeans have done the most fetal mischief of all , and this within the last five-and-twenty years . The monuments of Egypt have been most miraculously preserved , to be wantonly injured or destroyed in the nineteenth century , not so much by the ignorant and unlearned , as by ' scholars and gentlemen . ' " Ofthe valuable paintings on the walls of the

tombs in the rocks at Beni Hassan , which represent scenes in the domestic life of the Egyptians 3638 years ago , Mr . Fairholt observes : — " We may he most surprised afc finding such fragile art as stucco-painting , which a wet cloth might remove , preserved at all . They will not last much longer , unless the moderns give up their taste for destruction . It will scarcely be credited that these valuable and world-renowned works are most wantonly injured by

scratching and scraping where they are within reach ; the state of fche wall and its pictures on the upper part shows the extent of the injury . Names and dates of offensive size are scribbled and cut on the walls , or marked on the ceiling in smoke , amid such -wretched platitudes as ' Minnie dear 1 ' The columns , interesting for their architectural peculiarities , have been roughly broken away and destroyed ! No'ignorant' Arab or Turk has done this ; the names of 'enlightened' Europeans alone appear . " According to

Mr . Fairholt , the learned Dr . Lepsius has been as ruthless in destroying the most valuable works of architecture , as the most savage Goth or Vandal could have been . The History of Scottish Poetry , from the Middle Ages to the close of the Seventeenth Century , by the late David Irving , Z . L . D ., is . on the eve of publication , edited by John Aitken Carlyle , M . D . Mr . Charles John Anderson , the African traveller in his

aew hook , The OTcavango Fiver , says : — "Africa in fact may he said , even up to the present day , to he principally inhabited by wild beasts . Its savage human natives only afford a . study of rational life on so low a scale as hardly to justify the epithet I have just made use of ; whereas one may , in the regions I have frequented , luxuriate in the comtemplation of pure animal existence in its fullest and freest developements . To da so has been to ine a great source of enjoyment . Living pictures of the / era natures in multitudes , in endless variety , oftentimes ,

too , of beauty and of happiness , have a wonderful attraction to the reasoning intellect looking down upon them—yet mightily humbled by its sanse of superiority 1 In brief , ' Africa is a vast zoological garden , and a vast hunting-field at the same time . " And he thus describes a grand prairie conflagration in South Africa : — " The whole country before us was one huge lake of flames Turning to MortarI exclaimed' Good Godour return is cut off !'

, , , I had seen many wood and grass fires , hut nothing to equal this . Immediately in front of us layed stretched out like a sea a vast pasture prairie , dotted with occasional trees , bounded in the distance by groves of huge giraffe thorns—all in a blaze 1 Through the very midst of this lay our path . By delaying a few hours the danger would have been considerably diminished , if not altogether over , but delay in our case is almost more dangerous than in going

forward ; and so on we pushed , trusting to some fiivourahle accident to bring us through the perils we had to face . As we advanced we heard distinctly the sputtering and hissing of the inflamed grases and brushwood , the cracking of the trees as they reluctantly yielded their massive forms to the unrelenting and all-devouring element , the screams of startled birds and other commingling sounds of terror and devastation . There was a great angle in our road ,

running parallel , as it were , to tlie raging tire , but atterwaros turning abruptly into a burning savannah . By the time we had reached this point the conflagration , still in its glory on our right , was fast receding on our left , thus opening a passage , into which we darted without hesitation , although the ground was still smouldering and reeking , and in some places quite alive with flickering sparks from the recent bosom of hot flames thafc had swept over it . Tired as our cattle were , this heated state of the

ground made the poor brutes step out pretty smartly . At times we ran great risk of being crushed hy the falling timbers . Once a huge trunk , in flames from top to botton , fell athwart our path , sending up millions of sparks , and scattering inumerable splinters of lighted wood all around us , whilst the numerous nests of the social grossbeaks—the Textor Frythrorhynckus—in the ignited trees looked like so many lamps suspended in designs at once naturalpleasingand splended . Ifc was altogether a glorious

, , illumination , worthy of Nature's palace with its innumerable windows and stately vaulted canopy . But the danger associated with the grand spectacle was too great and too imminent for us thorougly to appreciate its magnificence . Indeed we were really thankful when once our backs were turned ou the awfhl scene . "

A work on Neuralgia , and other Painfil Affections—their Successful Treatment , Sfc , by Dr . O'Connor , physician to the Royal Free Hospital , is announced for publication early in November . Bro . George Frederick Pardon is preparing for the press , The History of Fire , Life , and Marine Assurance , which is to contain biographical notices of its founders and supporters , sketches of the

leading offices , anecdotes , facts , figures , and reflections ; and also to embrace an account of the rise , progress , and present position of the various orders of Oddfellows , Foresters , & c , and of co-operative associations .

Vulcanized India Rubber as applied to mechanical dentistry , has within the last five years almost completely revolutionised that part of the profession . So extensively is it used , that we are informed that the base or plates as a foundation for artificial teeth , are almost exclusively composed of that material , it having haen found to possess such excellent qualities as regards lightness , close

adaptation to the mouth , and a durability ifc is supposed greater than gold itself . We have lately seen the new process of modelling in this material , invented by Mr . Bradshaw , of 20 , Great Portlandstreet , Oxford-circus , late a manufacturing dentist to the profession . The plan of modelling by him ensures a fit of unerring accuracy , and his specimens appear extreemly natural and beautiful . "While this

can he done , coupled with the cheapness of the material as compared to others formerly used . He may safely predict its coming into general use , and within the use of all , to the exclusion of everything else . The Queen of Madagascar ( just deceased ) is thus described in The last Travels of Ida Pfeiffer , as translated by H . W . Dulcken ,

Ph . D . — " The Queen is of rather dark complexion , strong and sturdily built , and though already seventy-five years of age , she is , to the misfortune of her poor country , still hale and of active mind . At one time she is said to have been a great drunkard , but she has given up thafc fatal propensity some years ago . To the right of the Queen stood her son , Prince Rakoto , and on the left her adopted son , Prince Ramhoasalama ; behind her sat and stood sundry