HAHNEMANN's disciples, and even witnessed the benefits of their treatment, but so perfectly had the sharp ridicule of the allopathists warped our judgment and moulded our feelings, that we felt a sort of humiliation in confessing an advantage from an 'infinitesimal dose.' We could never forget the keen and brilliant wit with which our friend HOLMES, for example, assailed a system which threatened to take away his patience and patients, deprive him of his income, and consign his profound erudition and ingenious speculation to oblivion. But the work of Dr. MARCY displayed these matters to us in an entirely different light, and guarded by walls of truths and arguments quite impenetrable by the most finely pointed or most powerful satire. His well-known abilities, great learning, and long and successful experience as an allopathist, gave us assurance that his conversion to the school of HAHNEMANN could have been induced only by inherent elements of extraordinary force and vitality in its principles, and we looked to him confidently, when we understood that he was preparing for the press an exhibition and vindication of homœopathy, for such a work as should at least screen the layman who accepted its doctrines from the reproach of fanatical or credulous weakness. We are not disappointed. He has given us a simple and powerful appeal to the common sense upon the whole subject. In language terse, direct and perspicuous, and with such bravery as belongs to the consciousness of a championship for truth, he displays every branch of his law, with its antagonism, and leads his reader captive to an assenting conclusion.

Our limits, and the professional character of the work, forbid particular criticism, and we shall add but a recommendation, in the general, of this first book by an American upon the Homœopathic Theory and Practice of Medicine, as at least a very able and attractive piece of philosophical speculation; and to those who are still disposed to think with little respect of the Hahnemannic peculiarities, we specially commend, before they venture another jest upon the subject, or endure any more needless nausea and torture, or sacrifice another constitution or life upon the altar of prejudice, the reading of Dr. MARCY's capital chapters upon Allopathy, Homœopathy, and the Attenuation of Drugs and Repetitions of Doses.

SUPPLEMENT TO FRANK FORRESTER'S FISH AND FISHING OF THE UNITED STATES, and British North America.' By WILLIAM HENRY HERBERT. New-York: STRINGER AND TOWNSEND. BESIDE the corrections of certain natural and perhaps unavoidable errors in the previous larger work, the present well-printed quarto contains very considerable additions on trolling for lake trout and on fishing with a fly, together with a table, explaining the seasons, bait, etc., of the principal salt-water fishes of our waters. The 'Supplement' is divided into two parts; the one treating of the structure, habits and classification of the fishes; the other of the implements, the materials, and the art of angling. The SALMON family come in for a large share of Mr. HERBERT's attention. Of this interesting group he has inserted descriptions of six new species peculiar to the Columbia and other rivers of the Pacific coast, now growing into so great importance, together with the new varieties from the north-western lakes. Much new information is also here collected, touching the habits, quality, instincts, and mode of capturing TROUT. Would that at this moment, with our choice of flies from the score or more so well depicted in the frontispiece to this 'Supplement,' we were away in the woods of the Calicoon, listening to hear its 'waters croon,' what time we drew from the deep eddies the speckled prey! But alas! this is a work-day world.

MANUAL OF THE CORPORATION OF THE CITY OF NEW-YORK, for the year 1850. By D. T. VALENTINE. New-York: McSPEDON AND BAKER.

WE take blame to ourselves for not having before noticed this corpulent volume for the present year, from the pen of the indefatigable and popular clerk of the Common Council. It is a most comprehensive compendium of all that is worth knowing of the early history and present condition of the city. Minute information concerning every department of our city institutions, tables containing statistics of every description, and in fine, every thing, as we have said, that it is necessary to know may here be found, admirably classified, and so arranged as to be perfectly accessible for immediate reference. There are maps and pictures in abundance, representing the old and new metropolis, public edifices, etc.; and what adds an especial charm to the book, aside from its usefulness, are the copious extracts from the records kept by the good burgomasters and schepens who ruled the city in the olden time; records which of themselves, to say nothing of the entertainment which they will afford to modern readers, exemplify the homely virtues and just spirit of our good old KNICKERBOCKER fathers.

THIRD ANNUAL REPORT OF THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY of the State of New-York, of the Condition of the State Cabinet of Natural History, and the Historical and Antiquarian Collection annexed thereto. Albany: WILLIAM PARSONS AND COMPANY, Public Printers.

We are indebted to an obliging friend, the Secretary of the Regents of the University, for a copy of this valuable, and in some respects very beautiful work, which was presented to the State Senate on the eleventh of January last. We find in the report itself a brief résumé of the transactions in, and present condition of, the different departments of the State Cabinet of National History. In its appendices are catalogues of the quadrupeds, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fishes, etc.; and a report, one of the most interesting in the entire work, upon the articles furnished to the Indian collection. Many of these, consisting of articles of male and female Indian wardrobe, are engraved in the first style of art, and colored with a delicacy and truth to nature that we have never seen surpassed. We trust that this report has been widely circulated, for the facts which it contains, and the manner in which they are preserved, reflect honor upon the State.

HISTORY OF THE POLK ADMINISTRATION. By LUCIEN B. CHASE, a Member of the Twenty-Ninth and Thirtieth Congress. In one volume. pp. 512. New-York: GEORGE P. PUTNAM.

THIS very handsome and clearly-written volume delineates, and we have no doubt with conscientious partiality (albeit ourselves wedded to the 'Principles of NinetyEight,' those 'fundamental principles of our government,' concerning which we have no sort of 'notion,' and never knew the first partizan who ever had), the various transactions which signalized the eventful epoch of Mr. POLK's administration. Mr. CHASE was in Congress during the entire presidential term of the late democratic PRESIDENT, and many occurrences are recorded in the pages before us, which passed under our author's own observation, and which greatly facilitated his researches. He has incorporated copious notes, containing arguments upon both sides of important questions, for the purpose of presenting the views of Mr. POLK's contemporaries.

EDITOR'S TABLE.

'THE OLD WHITE MEETING-HOUSE REVISITED.'- When we wrote, in our num ber for May, a few brief sentences concerning the above-entitled sketch, and presented a touching and beautiful extract from the same, we were not aware that we were quoting from a published volume, but only from the columns of a journal to which a correspondent had directed our attention. We have before us, however, from the press of Mr. ROBERT CARTER, of this city, a well-printed little book, of some two hundred and fifty pages, bearing the title of The Old White Meeting-House, or Reminiscences of a Country Congregation; and upon perusing its pages we are not surprised at the words 'fourth edition' which we find upon the title-page. It possesses in an eminent degree the elements of a true popularity. It is written with uniform simplicity of style, and is informed with beauty and deep feeling throughout. We propose to show, by a few segregated passages, 'what is that better way' of writing, when one would reach the hearts of his readers. We commence our extracts with some reflections upon the difference between city and country funerals :

"THERE was a simple beauty and solemnity in those country funerals that I have not observed for years. A death in the country is a widely-different event in its relations and effects, from one in the city. The other day I observed an unusual gathering at the house of my next-door neighbor, a man whom I had never known even by sight. Presently a hearse stood in front of the house, and I soon learned that it had come to take away the body of my neighbor to his burial. It was sad to think of, that I could have been living with only a thin wall between me and a brother-man, who had been for weeks struggling with disease, and who had finally sunk into the arms of death, while I had never even felt the tenderness of sympathy with him or his, in the days and nights of suffering and sorrow which they had known. Yet so it is in this city. Your nearest neighbors are utter strangers, and may sicken and die and be buried, and you will know nothing of it, unless you happen to be at home when the hearse comes or goes. It is not so in the country. There in L , when one was sick all the neighbors knew it and felt it; kindness, like balm, fell on the heart of the sufferer from every family near, and when death came, solemnity was on every heart. All the countryside, from far and near, without being invited, came to the funeral, and filled the house and the door-yard, and when the services were concluded, the coffin was brought out in front of the house, and the multitude were permitted to take a farewell look of the departed. Then the remains were borne away to the grave, followed by a long train, not of hired carriages, but of plain wagons filled with sympathizing friends, and the procession moved on slowly and silently, often many miles, to the place of burial. As it reached the yard, those who lived near would drop in and join the crowd that was now gathering at the open grave, and the children of the neighborhood, especially, were sure to be present at such times. Frequently have I been deeply moved by the scenes around those graves for there in the country, nature revealed itself in its simple power- and the deep but half-stifled groan that has come to my soul when the first clods fell on the coffin, was as if they fell on the warm breast of a sleeping friend. We see no such funerais here in this great city itself a mighty charnel-house.'

Well do we remember the first funeral we ever saw in the country, when at the age of five years. It filled the hearts of the two little twin-brothers who followed hand in hand after the slowly-moving bier, borne upon men's shoulders, with wonder and awe. The very smell of the first coffin we ever beheld, and the sound of the first graveclod we ever heard, we can recall at this moment with the most vivid recollection. VOL. XXXVI.

6

We cite the annexed, simply because it is a most graphic description of a scene which also occurred in our native town in the country. It should be premised that a great excitement exists in the community, a report having arisen that a grave in the peaceful church-yard had been violated, and the lifeless tenant carried off by the doctors:

"THE appearance of the grave led to suspicion that there had been foul play. It was examined, and the suspicions were found to be too true. The body of a girl some fourteen years of age, of respectable family, had been stolen from the sepulchre to be cut up and made into a "natomy,' as the people expressed it. The whole town was aghast. Such an outrage had never been heard of in that part of the world, and the good people could scarcely believe that such monsters lived, as men who dig up corpses to hack them in pieces. They met in righteous indignation, and appointed a committee of investigation, who never rested till they got upon the trail of the hyenas; they never rested till the perpetrator of the deed was in prison... ... THESE events naturally led to great apprehensions respecting other graves, and many were searched by anxious friends, who now watched the tombs with more vigilance than did the guards set over the holy sepulchre. The impression became very strong that a certain grave had been robbed. It was the grave of a lovely woman, the wife of a drunkard; and the fact that he was dead to all feeling, and consequently would not be likely to care what became of the body of his wife, seemed to confirm the grounds of suspicion, and finally it was determined to make the examination. It was the afternoon of a warm day in the midst of summer, when I, a mere child then, was attracted into the yard by seeing a number of men around a grave. I soon learned what was going on, and creeping between the feet of those who were standing nearest, I was soon immediately over the head of the grave which they had now opened down to the coffin. Having cleared off the earth and started the fastenings of the lid, which were all found secure, they raised it, and the full light of the sun flowed upon the most horrid spectacle which my eyes before or since have seen! . I waited not for a second look, but ran from the spot in awful terror, and have, from that time, had an image of death's doings,' which I never could have obtained but for the loathsome revelations of that grave-yard scene. These are not the things that I intended to record of that hallowed spot. Yet they are, perhaps, among the most vivid impressions that I retain of it; unless it be my fears to pass it alone after dark! And I should as soon have thought of setting fire to the church, as of playing within the enclosure. I looked upon it with reverential awe as GoD's acre;' and I wish with all my heart that the feelings of regard for sacred places, and times, and things, which we felt in our childhood, might return."

6

There is a good deal of very faithful limning in the sketch of Our Minister.' He illustrated, in his own person, the extraordinary sacredness with which young minds in the country invest the parson. 'That he ever sinned,' says our author, 'I never supposed; and if any one had mentioned any thing to his disadvantage in my hearing, it would have shocked me very much as it would now to hear of a peccadillo in an angel.' We like an independent pastor, and 'our minister' seems to have been one: The pastor was the pastor. As shepherd of the flock, it was his office to watch over them and keep them, as far as in him lay, from wandering into dangerous ways, and from the covert or open assaults of enemies who go about, like their master, the devil, seeking whom they may devour. And when any one or any dozen of the sheep took it into their heads that they knew more about the proper mode of managing the flock than the shepherd whom the LORD had sent to tend them, they soon found that they had mistaken their calling, and would consult their happiness and usefulness by quietly minding their own business.' We are glad that 'our minister'

was not

6

Too great and good

For human nature's daily food.'

The first pastor of our boyhood was frightfully holy. Notice that the minister was coming' would send us little people up stairs in a twinkling. It might with truth be said, in Yankee phrase, that he was ‘a dreadful good man.' He was a well-meaning, half-educated, very dull, and uncommonly protracted' preacher, and we have no doubt he has gone to his reward.' It has come to be seen, we are glad to say, in these latter days, that a lugubrious face, a sepulchral voice, and a smileless countenance, are not the necessarily outward signs or significant concomitants of that religion which maketh glad the heart of man' and inspires him with the hope of glory. There is something very affecting, as we have already shown, in the writer's visit, after years of absence, to the old meeting-house. These are his first thoughts:

Come from your graves, old men and women of my native parish; come, stand up before me, while I draw your portraits and write your history! But they come not! Of all that were the men and women grown when I was a boy, how few of them are there now!' No one knows him; some bow, indeed, as is the country custom to all, but there is no smile of recognition. The meeting-house itself has a new fashion, but that is nothing to the change in the faces of the people, those 'old familiar faces.' They are gone all gone! From among the reminiscences of Scenes and Characters in the Meeting-House' we select the following. The first is a rebuke of what, on the score at least of good taste, if nothing else, was always our aversion:

'ONE Sunday, there was a family in church from the far city of New-York. They had come up there to visit some country relations, and two or three of these gay city girls burst out laughing in the midst of the sermon. The cause was this: the old aunt whom they had come to visit had stopped in at one of the neighbors on the way to church, and had borrowed some little yellow cakes, called turnpikes, and used, I believe, for some purpose or other in baking bread. She had thrust them into her work-bag, which she carried on her arm, and during sermon, having occasion to use her handkerchief, she drew it forth suddenly, and out flew the turnpikes,' rolling and scampering over the floor. The city girls tittered at this, as if it were very funny. Their seat was on the side of the pulpit, so that the pastor did not see them, or he would have brought them to order by a look, or a blow on the desk, which would have sent the blood out of their cheeks, though their cheeks would have been red after that. But JOSEPH BUTLER Saw them, and rising in his seat, struck with his psalm-book on the top of the pew; the preacher paused; the congregation sat dumb; the good elder spoke, calmly, but with energy: Those young women will stop that laughing in the house of God! They did stop; the pastor proceeded; JOSEPH sat down, and the city girls gave no occasion for the exercise of summary church discipline during the remainder of their summer visit.'

The second is a picture of a personage not altogether uncommon, we fear, in the country meeting-houses of the present day. We remember us of more than one church-gossip, such as is described below:

'I WISH you could see old Mrs, SNIFFLE, the gossip of the congregation, in her rounds of absorption, fastening herself upon every one, to take in, like a sponge, whatever they would impart, that she might have the sweet satisfaction of leaking it to others. Her harvest time was at the close of the morning service, when the most of the people remained in their respective pews to eat their dinner, which those from a distance brought with them. This was the favorable moment for Mrs. SNIFFLE'S expedition, and darting out of her own seat, she would drop in at another, out with her snuff box, pass it round, and inquire the news. Staying just long enough to extract the essence of all the matters in her line to be met with there, she would make all haste to the pew of some one from another neighborhood, where she would impart the information she had just received, with her own edifying comments, pick up as many additional fragments of facts as she could find, and pass on to another pew, spending the whole of the interval of divine worship in this avocation, and the leisure of the week to come in spreading among her neighbors these items of news, especially such as come under the head of scandal. It is only just to the people, however, to add, that Mrs. SNIFFLE was a black sheep in the flock; there was not another like her; and we may well say, 'Happy is that people which is so well off as to have only one Mrs. SNIFFLE!''

'Our Singing Schools' would do no discredit to the historian of 'PETER CRAM, of Tinnecum,' a narrative which we hope and trust our author has encountered. If not, he shall be furnished with one, 'on application to this office.' Deacon SMALL, 'a very large man, who could sing nothing but bass, and that very basely,' had sung tenor, and 'led the singing' for ten years, until those of the congregation 'whose nerves were not made of steel wire' began to take steps for improving the music. The deacon, who was as jealous of his prerogative as was Mr. JONAS WEATHERBY of Tinnecum, said, that 'for his part, he should be glad to do any thing reasonable, and he had sometimes thought the singing would be better if the young folks would come together once a month or so and practise the tunes with him; he would give his time for nothing, and perhaps something might be done.' 'But this,' says our historian, was not the thing. The deacon's singing was as bad as the choir's, in fact worse e; for what he lacked in skill and taste he made up in volume; and his voice, in a part for which it had no fitness, would swell above all the rest, so as to make such dire music as no gentle ears could endure without grievous pain, causing strong temptations to feel wrong even in church. When therefore the reformers heard that Deacon