tions, as the best method in our country of promoting the arts; it is the only one which promises a sufficiency of means, and it places the works of art within the reach of all classes of the community. Were it necessary, we might strengthen the argument by a reference to the experience of other countries. In Germany, where the arts have been more successfully cultivated during the present century, than in any other part of the world, there is scarcely a city without its Kunst Verein, or Society of Fine Arts; and in every instance, they have been eminently successful in promoting their object, as Prague, Dresden, Berlin, Munich, Dusseldorf, Manheim, and Frankfort, most satisfactorily witness. The Apollo Association is an institution similar to those just named; its objects, as expressed in its constitution, are, "the cultivation and diffusion of correct taste in the fine arts, by the exhibition and distribution of good works of art, and the encouragement of artists, by raising a fund for the purchase of their works, and by providing a place for the exhibition and sale of them." A person becomes a member of the association by the small annual contribution of five dollars. The fund is appropriated to the purchase of works of American artists, or of artists resident in the United States, and to defray the expenses of such engravings as the Association may order to be made. It also provides for two exhibitions annually, to which the members and their families have free access. At the close of the year, the works of art which have been purchased are distributed by lot among the members, and each one is entitled to a copy of every engraving that is executed for the Association. No one can question the excellence and utility of this plan - it holds out encouragement to artists by creating a new demand for their productions; it acts directly upon public taste by frequent exhibitions of works of art, and by the annual distribution of a considerable number of them. To make this plan completely successful, it is only necessary that the community generally should take an interest in it and give it a generous support. If good prices are paid, good paintings and good statues will be offered, and public liberality will be rewarded by fine exhibitions. Large means are wanted for another purpose absolutely essential to the prosperity of the association; without a suitable building of its own, to be held in perpetuity, and exclusively for its specific object, it cannot safely form a permanent gallery, or any great plan of operations for the promotion of the arts, as past experience here has conclusively and sadly proved. We know of no instance in this country, of uninterrupted success in forming a public gallery of paintings and other objects of art, except that of the Athenæum in Boston, and much of that must doubtless be attributed to the confidence in its permanent duration, which the possession of a fine edifice well adapted to all its purposes creates. Contributions to such institutions are freely made, when there is good reason for believing that they will be permanently preserved; but none are willing to give, when the chance is that what they give may be lost or destroyed in a year or two.

In full confidence that the Apollo Association is formed upon the right principle for effectually promoting the fine arts among us, and that if duly encouraged it will do more for this great object than can be done in any other way, we have bestowed a few words upon it, hoping to interest the public in the efforts it is making. Our explanation of its objects and operations has been necessarily imperfect, from the small space we could now appropriate to it, but our readers will find them set forth at large in their pamphlet ; the address of the president of the institution, Dr. J. W. Francis, well known as the liberal patron of letters and arts, most eloquently urges its claims to public favor, and exhibits in glowing language the labors of our artists abroad, the laurels they are gathering for themselves, and the honors they are conferring upon their country. We miss one name from the list, which was doubtless accidentally omitted; the great fame of Powers is too widely spread through the world, not to have come to the knowledge of the learned President. This artist, we are glad to find, is no longer wasting his genius in chiselling busts, but is now exercising it with marvellous skill upon the ideal; his Eve, at the moment of temptation, with the apple in her hand, is, we learn, such an Eve as might well tempt any man to risk expulsion from Paradise; such a one, indeed, as would make a Paradise of any spot on earth.

We have already overstepped our limits, and encroached upon the space assigned to other matters, but we cannot close our remarks without adding a few words upon a subject of highest interest to the friends of the arts and of American genius. This great metropolis has not in any public collection a single chef d'œuvre of that artist, who is first, not only on the list of American, but of all living painters; in fact the name of Allston is better known and more honored in most of the cities of Europe than in New York. We have no right to a share in his fame; we have done nothing to encourage his genius; we have taken no pains to give an opportunity to our artists and the public in general of studying his works, and improving their taste by them. Whilst this reproach remains upon us, we can make no boast of our exertions for the promotion of the arts. We could name several of Allston's paintings, which future ages will rank with the finest of the Italian pencil, as imperishable even as those of their immortal masters of the art-several of more value for forming public taste, than all the galleries ever exhibited in our city.

7. Additional Remarks on the Currency of the United States. By PUBLIUS. Together with the Previous Remarks on this subject by the same Author. New York: 1841. Wiley and Putnam.

By some accidental oversight, Publius's first remarks on the Currency of the United States did not receive from us that attention

to which they were entitled, both by the importance of the subject and the very able manner in which it was treated by this writer. It is too late to revert to it now, as many of the topics therein discussed have since been settled in various ways, and in some instances so much to the credit of the author's foresight, that what with him was prophecy has become history. We desire, however, to make him the amende honorable; assuring him, that the omission was not owing to any undervaluing of his labors. In the "Additional Remarks," the author replies most satisfactorily to the objections which he had elicited to his former positions, and comes to the result which all men do, whose understandings are not darkened by prejudice, that a national bank is indispensable to the commercial and general prosperity of the country. He then exhibits the fallacies of Mr. Wright's reasoning, in his address to the people in the Park, last September; and next inquires into the consequences that must result from the late change in the administration of the government, and the necessity of an extra session of Congress in May, to decide upon the two great questions of the Tariff and a National Bank. We have only to refer to the article on the latter subject in our present number, to show that we are in entire accordance with Publius on the great point of the necessity of the institution in question; and as to all minor ones, we do not essentially differ, except perhaps in regard to the propriety of making a distinction between the bank of issues and banks of discount. Publius's pamphlet, in both its parts, is a very valuable one, and should be read by every man who wishes for information upon the great subjects of which it treats.

8. An Introductory Lecture on the Evils, Social, Moral, and Political, that flow from Party Divisions and the Prevalence of Party Spirit. Delivered before the Mercantile Library Association, Feb. 2, 1841. By JOHN DUER, Esq. New York: 1841. Baker, Crane, and Co. Svo. pp. 27.

THE subject of Mr. Duer's discourse being one upon which we have dwelt at large in another department of our journal, in reviewing the Political Writings of Mr. Leggett, we cannot again enter upon the discussion of it here, but must restrict ourselves to the expression of our hearty concurrence in his sentiments. We rejoice to find Mr. Duer's eloquent pen employed upon this topic: the evil which it depicts and deplores is one of most threatening portent to our political welfare, and it is the imperative duty of every patriot to attempt to arrest its progress. This Mr. Duer has done in the address before us with great force and beauty of language; and were this address not within the reach of most of our

readers, we should feel it incumbent upon us to give them copious extracts from it; but as it is, we confine ourselves to a single one, which we are led to select from a belief that its sentiments are in accordance with the spirit now prevalent in our national councils, and with the daily strengthening convictions of all honest men in the community. If we are right in this idea, it is certainly a harbinger of a brighter day in our political horizon than has risen upon us for a long while.

"What is it that preserves our existence as a people? What is it that constitutes us a nation? Our form of government, our constitution and laws? They are the shell, the outward covering, the body merely. It is a pervading unity of thoughts and feelings and principles, a common attachment to our federal union and our free institutions, and a common resolve to maintain and uphold them, that alone bind us together as a nation; this pervading unity is the spirit and the life from which alone our constitution and laws derive their speaking energy and their constraining force; and this unity our party dissensions, if they continue and increase in violence, will first weaken, then destroy. Let this spirit depart; this life be extinguished, and we shall cease to be one people. Dissolved as a nation, we shall be banded into factions, each seeking as its ultimate object, not the good of the country, but its own supremacy. We shall be banded into factions, calumniating, distrusting, suspecting, reviling and hating each other, until at last the gratification of this hatred shall become to both parties an overruling necessity, and driven by a force they will have lost the power to resist, they will rush-as in other ages and countries, from similar causes, millions have rushedthey will rush, with an insane alacrity of joy, to the work of mutual destruction."

9. Treatise on the Eye, containing Discoveries of the Causes of near and far sightedness, and of the Affections of the Retina, with remarks on the use of Medicines as substitutes for Spectacles. By WILLIAM CLAY WALLACE, Oculist. Second Edition. New York: 12mo. PP. 88.

THE ample title of this little treatise gives a very fair idea of the objects of the author. There is unquestionably some claim to originality in many of the observations of the author on several important points in the theory of vision, and his exposition of the anatomical structure of the eyes of different animals adds to our knowledge of the comparative anatomy of this intricate organ. We find from the Report of the Eighth Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, that Sir David Brewster adverted to our author's labors in the following terms: "One of the most important results of Mr. Wallace's dissections is the discovery of fibres in the retina. These fibres may be rendered distinctly visi ble. They diverge from the base of the optic nerve, and surround the foramen of Sommering at the extremity of the eye. Sir John Herschell had supposed such fibres to be requisite in the explanation of the theory of vision, and it is therefore doubly interesting to find that they have been actually discovered."

ART. X.-NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS.

Rotteck's highly popular, and in many respects, excellent "General History of the World," has been translated by Mr. Frederick Jones, and published in Philadelphia, by C. F. Stollmeyer, in four volumes, 8vo. Mr. Rotteck was of the ultra-liberal school in politics, and his account of historical events is sometimes discolored by the medium through which he views them, but his fidelity and accuracy are unquestioned. We have not found time to compare Mr. Jones's translation with the original; if faithfully done, it forms a highly valuable contribution to our historical literature, as the original is universally acknowledged to be to that of the language in which it is written. We cannot say much for the dress in which it appears. It would have been far better to have omitted the engravings, and laid out the cost of them upon a better paper.

Some five or six weeks since, a new book disappeared from our table almost as soon as we received it. In the hope of its re-appearance, we have deferred providing ourselves with another copy, and we had only read enough of it to know that it contained several pieces of very pretty poetry. We remember its title, and the name of its author-" A Year's Life, by James Russell Lowell”— and we think we remember a beautiful description of woman in a piece called Irene, and some very charming fancies in another called Ianthe, which certainly breathes the inspiration of love, if not of poetry. As to the rest, our recollections are too misty to be written down; we have only a general impression that the poetry was mostly of that descriptive kind which owes much of its interest to a personal acquaintance with the originals from whom the poet has sketched his portraits.

C. S. Francis, 252 Broadway, has collected into a beautiful volume the before scattered "Writings of Charles Sprague," which are chiefly poetical. Mr. Sprague is a rare instance of union in the same person of an ardent love of letters and the most devoted attention to business. He is a genuine poet and a first-rate banker. He dares to acknowledge his homage to the Nine, in the very temple of the money-changers; and enjoys, at the same time, the most favoring inspirations of the former, and the unlimited confidence and credit of the latter. One part of this assertion needs no proof; for the other, should any doubt it, we refer to the volume of which we have been speaking.