ART. VIII.-Butler's History of the United States. A complete history of the United States of America, em- bracing the whole period from the discovery of North America down to the year 1820. By Frederick Butler ART. IX.-Domestic Manners of the Romans. A new system of modern geography, or a view of the ent state of the world, with an appendix containing sta- tistical tables of the population, commerce, revenue, expenditure, and various institutions of the United States; and general views of Europe and the world. By Sidney E. Morse A. M. Accompanied with an atlas. ART. XI.-United States Law Journal and Civilian's Magazine. 181 ART. XII.-Biography of the Signers to the Declaration of Independence. By John Sanderson. Vols I. and II. ART. XIII.-Metcalf's edition of Yelverton. Yelverton's Reports. First American from the fourth Eng lish edition, with notes and references to prior and sub- sequent decisions, by Theron Metcalf. ART. XIV.-An Essay on the law of patents for new inven- tions. By Thomas Green Fessenden, counsellor at law. ART. XV. Von Hammer's Constantinople. ART. XVI.-Grassi's Present State of America. Notizie varie sullo stato presente della Republica degli Stati Uniti dell' America settentrionale, scritte, al prin- cipio del 1818, dal Padre Giovanni Grassi, della com- Account of an expedition from Pittsburgh to the Rocky Mountains, performed in the years 1819 and 1820, by order of the honourable J. C. Calhoun, Secretary of War, under the command of Major Stephen H. Long; from the notes of Major Long, Mr T. Say, and other gentlemen of the exploring party. Compiled by Ed- win James, botanist and geologist for the expedition. ART. XVIII.-Smith's Adventures. The trve travels, adventvres, and observations of captaine John Smith, in Europe, Asia, Africke, and Amoriva. beginning about the yeere 1593, and continued to this The General Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles, with the names of the adven- turers, planters, and governours from their first begin- ning, an. 1584. to this present 1626. with the proceed- ings of those severall colonies and the accidents that befell them in all their iourneyes and discoveries. Also the maps and descriptions of all those countreyes, their commodities, people, government, customes, and reli- gion yet knowne. Divided into sixe bookes. By Cap- taine Iohn Smith, sometimes governour in those coun- tryes and admiral of New England. From the London ART. XIX.-Das Goldene Vliess von Grillparzer. Das Goldene Vliess, Dramatisches Gedicht in drey Ab- The Life of James Otis of Massachusetts; containing, also, ART. XXII.-Moore's Loves of the Angels. The Loves of the Angels; a poem. By Thomas Moore. 353 ART. XXIII.-Bigelow's Materia Medica. A treatise on the Materia Medica, intended as a sequel to the Pharmacopoeia of the United States: being an ac- count of the origin, qualities, and medical uses of the articles and compounds, which constitute that work, with their modes of prescription and administration. By Jacob Bigelow, M. D. author of American Medical Botany, and Professor of Materia Medica in Harvard ART. XXIV.-Connecticut School Fund. Report of the commissioner of the school fund, May 1822, to the honorable general assembly of the state of Con- necticut, holden at New Haven on the first Wednesday of May 1822. Signed James Hillhouse, commissioner ART. XXV.-Life and Writings of Schiller. Friedrich von Schiller's Leben, aus theils gedruckten, their druckten Nachrichten, nebst gedrängter Uebersicht seiner poetischen Werke. Herausgegeben von Heinrich Doering.-The Life of Frederic von Schiller; compiled in part from materials before un- published; with a concise review of his poems. By ART. XXVI.-Niebuhr's Roman History. NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW. No. XXXVIII. NEW SERIES, No. XIII. JANUARY, 1823. ART. I.-Voyage aux Regions equinoxiales du Nouveau Continent, fait en 1799, 1800, 1801, 1802, 1803, 1804, par Al. de Humboldt et A. Bonpland, Redigé par Alexandre de Humboldt: avec un Atlas Geographique et Physique, Tomes VII & VIII. 8vo. Paris, 1822. THE appearance this year of two more volumes of the octavo edition of M. de Humboldt's travels has seemed to us a favorable opportunity for calling the attention of the American public to this most important work. The several publications of Messrs de Humboldt and Bonpland have been noticed, as they have appeared, in the respectable foreign journals; and the English translations of some of them have been reprinted in this country; but the value of what has been done by these distinguished travellers, for the knowledge of the American continent is not yet fully appreciated. Various circumstances have prevented a large number of copies of the different publications of M. de Humboldt from passing into circulation, either in Europe or America; and few persons, who have not had occasion particularly to inform themselves, are acquainted with the precise state of a series of works, not yet completed, which constitutes already an era in American history, natural and civil. It certainly is not too much to say, New Series, No. 13. 1 that the results of the researches of these travellers have fixed a point, where the history of Spanish America will stop, and have shown more clearly than ever, the extraordinary imperfection of the preceding popular manuals. It is difficult in perusing the works of Messrs de Humboldt and Bonpland, in the department of natural history alone, to recollect, with patience, the learned errors of Buffon and the Abbé Raynal, and the grave acquiescence, with which they are repeated by Dr Robertson. We can scarce believe that one generation only intervened between Dr Robertson, who talks of the Mexican gold as being native, and refined into a pure metallic state,' and ' of the lizards and other reptiles, which the heat engenders in a fat soil,' and the authors of the essay on New Spain, and of the observations on Zoology and comparative Anatomy.' The history of Mexico, by Clavigero had already shown, that Dr Robertson had undertaken his task with inadequate preparation. Works so important to America, as those of M. de Humboldt, deserve, if any where, to be known and prized in this country. We have thought therefore that it would not be unseasonable to offer our readers a succinct account of the voyage of this distinguished philosopher, and of the works, in which the results of it are recorded. We shall say nothing new to students of the natural and civil history of our country, and all we shall aim at is to refresh their memories with a few notices, which lie scattered in several volumes. M. de Humboldt was born at Berlin, and is by no means the least of the great men whom the year 1769 brought forth. Having prepared himself by his studies, at Freyberg under Werner, and his excursions on the Rhine, in the Alps, and Italy for the vocation of a traveller, he resolved, toward the close of the last century, to carry into execution a purpose formed from early youth, of undertaking a voyage to some remote region.* The acquaintance of a Frenchman, who had already been a traveller in Illyria and Greece and who projected an expedition to Egypt, led M. de Humboldt also to determine on that route. His investigations consequently made with a reference to Egyptian antiquities, though not brought into application by a journey in that country, which the disastrous aspect of affairs prevented his undertaking, were * Introduction to the Voyage aux Regions Equinoxiales. |