Literature.

portion of the globe—aliform part of this subject . AA o have little doubt but that our accomplished brother will skilfully mould the materials which he has accumulated into a shajie that will prove satisfactory both to seekers after knowledge and the more instructed lovers of literature . It is early yet to give any decided judgment upon the work , but we arc bound to say that the opening chapters show skillgood tasteancl judgmentand promise

, , , well for the comjiletion of such a work as this should be made—¦ an epitome of accurate facts and recondite information . The illustrations are worthy of the letter jwess , and . arc as good sjiecimens of lithography as wc have seen , while their accuracy is guaranteed by the fact that they are taken from photographs . It is true that to every one this will not be a recommendation , for the sun , though a strictly conscientious draughtsman , is not always

accommodating as to the most picturesque point of view ; in these drawings , liowever , the perspective has not been sacrificed , as is too often the case in photographs , and the general effect is very pleasing .

NOTES ON LITERATURE , SCIENCE AND ART . THE Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge has just published to the members of the Senate a report from the Board of Mathematical Studies . It contains the following extracts from the moderators ' report : — " The moderators regret that they must again call the attention of the board to the very imperfect manner in which the questions in

elementary astronomy were answered by the large majority of those who attempted them . This defect appeared to arise not so mueh from ignorance as from the want of facility of expression in treating a subject which , perhaps , more than any other , requires the rare power of setting forth complicated geometrical conceptions iu clear and jiopular language . The moderators would also state their opinion that there was a general want of power shown by the candidates in treating difficulties of a

purely analytical character . In some cases the candidates , even when they have overcome the other difficulties of the problem , seem to have been stopped by those of pure analysis . " The board repeats the opinion expressed in the report of 1 S 59 , that it is desirable that the first three days of the examination for mathematical honours be transferred from

January to the preceding Easter term , and that the passing of this examination should be of itself a qualification for admission to the B . A . degree . The details ofthe proposed alteration are fully set forth in the report . The board have also had under further consideration the subject of vini -voce examination . In dealing with such au important subject they deem it desirable to obtain the advice and co-operation of other residents in the university , anil recommend the appointment of a

syndicate , to consider the expediency of introducing a rivet voce element into the examination for mathematical honours . Tho Atheiueum announces that Mr . Murray will shortly publish , " Francis Bacon , Lord Chancellor of England , " by Hepworth Dixon , being an inquiry into his life and character based on letters and documents hitherto unpublished . This work , though new in form and in material , will contain the . substance of tho articles ivhich appeared iu the

AlheiKcum in January last . Ono of the mysteries not completely cleared up in the striking novel of "Paul Feri-oll" ( by the author of IX . Poems by V . " ) will , we presume , be elucidated in the work announced by Messrs . Saunders , Otley , and Co ., " Why Paul Ferroll killed his "Wife , " by the author of " Paul

Feri-oll . " The obituary of the week includes the name of the Rev . Baden Powell , M . A ., Savilian Professor of Geometry in the University of Oxford , who died at his residence , Stanhope-street , Hyde-park -gardens , on Monday last . Professor Powell ' s labours in the cause of religion and of science are well known . He was an earnest though liberal Christian , and a profound thinker . His death , leaves vacant the Professorship , which is

worth £ 300 a year . The rumour that Lord Brougham was engaged in the compostion of a complete treatise on the British Constitution turns out to be correct . It will , we understand , be published during the ensuing winter by Messrs . Griffin and Co . The completeness of "Black ' s General Atlas of the World' has already been acknowledged by the public ; so thatin adverting to a new

, edition , it will only be necessary to remark that Mr . John Bartholomew , to whom has been entrusted the revision of the work , has carefully introduced tho latest discoveries with numerous valuable additions . The atlas now contains fifty-six maps—amongst which are tyro representing the empires of the world as known to the ancients ; an essay on physical geography , and an index of 05 , 000 places . For

general purjioses , iu schools , and families it will be found exceedingly useful . An enterprising Elberfelcl publisher issues simultaneously a German translation of an open air discourse by Mr . Spurgeon ( on Matthew viii ., 11-12 ) , and ono of Lord Shaftesbury ' s speech in the House of Peers in defence of tho occasional conversion of theatres into places of public worship .

Tho French Academy has awarded the Gobcrfc prize to M . AVallon for his "History of Jcaune d'Avc , " and the Bordin prize to tho translator of Dante ' s " Divina Commedia , " M . Louis Ratisbonne , who received on a former occasion the Monthyon prize for his translation of the ' - 'Inferno . " The ' - ' New Poet " of the United States is a certain Walt AVhitman , whose " Leaves of Grass " has been frequently alluded to . A new and augmented edition of his " Poems " has appeared , and a contemporary

calls attention to the fallowing ingenious puff of it ivhich appeal's iu the American papers . The motre is precisely that of the " Leaves of Grass , " and the sense is rather superior to that of Mr . AVhitman himself , who appears to be a cross between a New York " rowdy" ancl our own unapproachable Martin Farquhar Tapper ;—" Look here , AYalt AVhitman , what made you write this book , these Leaves of Grass , full of good thoughts , bad thoughts , naughty thoughts ,

noble thoughts ; " Ideas politic , impolitic , incomprehensible , insane , inexpressive , impure , invigorating , infuscatable , and bifoliate ? "Did you doit to make , pennies , dimes , dollars , eagles , sponciules , rhino . "That AValt AVhitman—human AValt—might row , ride , riot , regale . recuperate , refocilate , "At Hull . Hiugham , Nahant , Newport , Rye , Niagara , Shirley , Long Island , Cohasset , Bergen Point , Cape May , or the mountains called

AVhite ? " Perhaps you did , but then again perhaps you didn't , for the didn't is resumptive in this world . "And you are anti-resumptive , reticular , responsive , and restviugent . " You ' ve made a book , it can't be rubbed out , for it is a fact . " Rub out the stars , Declaration of Independence , habeas corpus , magna charta , squatter sovereignty , little Giant , old Abe . " Rub outsunmooncloudsstreamsBoard of AldermenJapanese

, , , , , , Embassy , lapstreak , shell , canoe . " Rub out Boston Common , Battery , Girard College , Old Man of tho Mountain , Franklin-street , horse railroads , Baltimore Convention , _ " But rub out Leaves of Grass—456 pages , electrotypeel , beautiful print , fine type , elegant binding , seemly , comely , white paper—published by Thayer and Eldridge—it cannot be did . "

At the Royal Institution , on Thursday week , Professor Austed concluded a short course of lectures on geology , with a disquisition on the antiquity of the human race , on ivhich subject the opinions of many geologists have recently undergone a change . The absence of any fossil human remains , even in the most recent geological deposits , has , until lately , been considered to prove that man was the most recent of created beings , aud that he was not called into existence until after the uppermost strata had been deposited . The discovery within late years of flint implements , evidently fashioned by art , among the lower strata , associated with tho fossil remains of extinct animals , has , however ,

thrown doubt on the previously conceived most recent creation of man ; and to the consideration of this interesting question Professor Austed devoted his concluding lecture . He commenced by explaining that , long after the deposition of the crags of Norfolk and Suffolk , ivhich are the uppermost of the regular geological series of strata , the surface of this portion of the globe underwent great changes ; that its climate became colder ; that there wove glacial periods , during which icebergs laden with

the debris of rocks carried their burthens to distant parts , and deposited them in places far removed from tho rocks whence thoy were detached ; and thai , during the succession of changes , beds of gravel , of clays , and of sand were formed in patches overlying the regular strata . The remote period at which this " drift" ivas deposited is indicated by the fossil remains of species of animals that have become extinct—including among them the bones of elephants and hippopotamusesand of other habitants

, of warmer climates . This drift is of itself of various ages , and no fossil organic remains of man have yet been discovered among the beds of clays and gravel of which it is composed . But within the last few years there have been found , in the lower as ivoll as the upper formations , pieces of flint , chipped round the edges to form cutting instruments , exactly like the flint "celts" and arrow heads of ancient Britons .

These are found in the strata , in somo places rather abundantly , and they are found in bone-caves ming led with fossil bones of extinct animals , and imbedded in the incrustations of limestone , called stalagmite , that are formed on the floors of such caverns . In one instance these implements have been found in the rock or the roof of the