BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. 1.—The New Punctiuncula Stenographic System of Embossing. By G. A. Hughes. characters, thereby enabling those who can read by To accomplish his great undertaking, the Inventor makes this appeal to his friends and the public, in the full confidence that it will be responded to, in a country abounding with so much Christian charity as is found in England, and especially in a cause which has for its object, the happiness, education, and improvement of the Blind. Several Friends, well-wishers to his system, and 'enlighteners of darkness,' have come forward to aid him in the accomplishment of his plans, to furnish the Blind with progressive and scriptural lessons, and he doubts not but that many others will be found ready to lend a helping hand towards lessening the expensive burthen, which has fallen so heavily upon himself and his parents, by whose assistance he has already accomplished so much." Mr. Hughes is totally blind, having been deprived of sight in 1837. Previous to that calamity he had been in the scholastic profession, and he particularly mentions that he was thoroughly acquainted with stenography. His stenographic taste and expertness, no doubt, together with the necessity which his bereavement imposed, drove his inventive powers into the channel which he has followed out to what he considers a perfect and most satisfactory issue. He feels most confident not only that a person who has lost his vision is better qualified to devise a plan for instructing those who are blind, than an individual who is blessed with sight, for the blind alone, he observes, can really judge what is easy or difficult for all such, but that his method is by far the most simple that has ever been laid before the public, and vastly superior to any in which embossed type is used. Mr. Hughes hesitates not to assert that by his plan and means the blind of all nations will be able to emboss for themselves, on any paper, without the use of type, and to attain a perfect knowledge in reading, arith-taking in pupils at his residence in the Strand. His metic, &c., with unprecedented facility. The system consists of two dots, one smooth and the other rough, together with the aid of a sign line; the different arrangements and positions to which these may be subjected giving the person who can make a dexterous use of them, an extraordinary command upon paper. Besides paper and the little embossing instrument, a cushion, and a little framework having many small square divisions, called by Mr. H. the formula, are necessary. The system may be understood by a person having sight in a very short space of time, but its ready practice will come to hand with something of the kind of slowness which attends the aquisition of stenography. In fact, in Mr. Hughes's system the characters are applied stenographically. Still, we do not conceive that there can be any very formidable difficulty in the way of the blind becoming expert in the practice of the system; but on the other hand, we feel assured that the process of acquiring this system would afford an enviable species of amusing occupation, not to speak of the incalculable satisfaction that would accompany and follow the daily use of its helping hand for the purposes of in tercourse. The present is no ordinary case, whether one looks to its literary importance, or individually to the case of the inventor; and therefore let him be heard for a moment: "George A. Hughes, of Ramsgate, in the county of Kent, aged 34, and totally blind, formerly in the scholastic profession, in the Isle of Thanet, begs leave to call the attention of his friends and the Public to the New System of Embossing, which he has invented for the Blind, and which will enable them to emboss, and record their thoughts without the use of type, with an instrument, occupying no more space than a common pencil-case, and in every way as simple in its construction. Likewise every individual who can read, including the deaf and dumb, will be able to correspond with the blind by post, by only studying the alphabet, and if two leaves of paper are placed on the cushion instead of one, the copy of any letter, &c., will be obtained while embossing the original. "To illustrate the system, the author has been at considerable expense in publishing a work in which he has embodied the letter-press with the embossed Such are some of the interesting particulars concerning this new system of embossing, and its ingenious inventor. We can hardly doubt of its success, which success must be identified with the worldly prosperity of Mr. Hughes, who is about, we believe, to open apartments for the purpose of book, together with the other articles essential to the study and practice of the method, we can have no doubt, requires merely to be advertised to attract extensive notice, and to establish for the inventor the character of an enlightened philanthropist.Monthly Review. 2.-The Poetical Works of Geoffrey Chaucer. With an Essay on his Language and Versification, and introductory Discourse, with Notes and Glossary, by Thomas Tyrwhitt. 8vo, double cols., pp. 502. London: E. Moxon. In this, as in the new edition of Beaumont and Fletcher, Mr. Moxon has done spirited and good service to English literature; and we sincerely trust that he will meet the reward his efforts so truly deserve. The glorious father of our poetry, in a noble single volume, is a library of itself-a mine of mental treasures and poetical beauties, solid veins of gold and silver, and innumerable clusters of diamonds and precious gems. How delightful it is to dig into the depths of the former, and dabble with the sparkling sands where the latter are so abundantly found! The reading of Chaucer is enough to make a poet almost equal in power to the poeta nascitur. Let all who can enjoy this recreation.Ibid. 3.-A Short Treatise on Life Assurance, with the Rates of all the Offices in London, Mutual, Mixed, and Proprietary. Alphabetically arranged. By Frederick Lawrence, Esq., Secretary to a Life Office. By far the most intelligible and interesting treatise that we have ever met with on the subject of Life Assurance. The work is as remarkable in respect to brevity, as it is of simplicity and plainness; and, a thing that one would never think of looking for in such a quarter, there is information in it sufficiently entertaining and popular, to keep you reading page after page at one sitting, till the end is reached; by which time, to a certainty, a strong anxiety will have been created to secure in some form or another, the benefits of Life Assurance. The treatise begins with a history of the rise and progress of such institutions; and in due course shows the great good that may thus be effected for the assured whilst living, and for friends and rela- | SELECT LIST OF RECENT PUBLICATIONS. tions after his decease-the applicability of the benefits to every contingency which can possibly occur in mercantile operations; and, in short, explaining the whole subject in a manner that is singularly clear and instructive. The little book has assuredly not been written for the sake of pecuniary gain, its price being only one shilling. Neither has it a particle of the character of a puff, for Mr. Lawrence does not advocate the interest of any one particular office; not even mentioning the name of the establishment of which he is secretary. His object evidently has been to increase the number of policy-holders, and to circulate such an accurate knowledge of the science of Life Assurance as will be sufficient to induce people to enrol themselves amongst those already assured. -Monthly Review. The Iodated Waters of Heilbrunn in Bavaria, &c., as a Cure of Scrofulous, Cutaneous, and other Diseases. By Sir A. M. Downie, M. D. &c. Pp. 92. Frankfort, C. Jugel; Paris, Galignani; London, J. Churchill. THE author of this brochure is, it appears from the fly-leaf, the author of another on The Spas of Homburg, and of a volume, entitled A Practical Treatise on the Efficacy of Mineral Waters. He was formerly physician to our princess the Landgravine of Hesse Homburg, and has had much experience in the use and abuse of mineral waters during an extensive practice and pretty long resi dence at Frankfort. We say abuse for Sir A. Downie, though powerfully advocating mineral waters in a variety of complaints, is far from believing in their universal applicability, or that chronic gout and rheumatism is to be miraculously cured by quaffing a certain quantity of water for three or four weeks; as many German doctors, and some recent writers nearer home, have promulgated. In the third chapter it is pretty distinctly shown, indeed, that patients need not go to Heilbrunn, where there is no suitable accommodation; as this water, called the Adelheid's Quelle, and others equally efficacious, may be imported and drunk at a distance from their native spas with the same effects. For this purpose they must, however, be bottled in glass according to the method, and then they will keep for a very long time. Fifty thousand bottles are thus annually sent off for consumption in various parts of the continent,-Munich, Petersburg, Paris, Frankfort, &c. Whilst drinking it, strict attention to diet is strongly recommended, differing according to the maladies of the patients. Much of the efficacy of the waters is ascribed to iodine, for the detection of which a simple test is given, viz., to "take two table-spoonfuls of the water and a small piece of starch and mix them, then drop in about 20 or 30 drops of nitric acid; the liquid will immediately assume a purple color, which, on adding more acid, or being allowed to remain some time in the glass, will gradually change to a deep blue. Iodine (adds Sir Alexander) in large doses is a very energetic irritative poison; in smaller ones, it exercises a general stimulating influence, especially on the mucons membranes. It has also been found to exert a very decided effect on the glandular system; a fact which ought to be borne in mind by those who prescribe the drug, since experience has proved that the excessive use of it may be attended by the most untoward results." GREAT BRITAIN. Narrative of the Discoveries on the North Coast of America; effected by the Officers of the Hudson's Bay Company, during the years 1836-39. By Thomas Simpson, Esq. A Guide to Greek for Beginners, or Initia Græca. By Rev. W. Cross. Pathological and Philosophical Essay on Hereditary Diseases. By. J. H. Steinau, M. D. |