NOTES ON BOOKS, SALES, CATALOGUES, ETC.
If it be true, as we are inclined to believe, that there is no one subject in the whole wide range of speculative studies, to which the well-worn saying of Hamlet, that there are more things true than are dreamt of in our philosophy, may be applied with so much propriety as Animal Magnetism,—so we are also inclined to believe that a perusal of the two volumes recently published by Mr. Colquhoun under the title of An History of Magic, Witchcraft, and Animal Magnetism, will tend to convince our readers that to the same subject may be applied the yet older saying, that there is nothing new under the sun. Mr. Colquhoun, who many years since published his Isis Revelata, has long been a diligent inquirer into the nature and origin of the different phenomena of animal magnetism; and it would appear from the work before us, he has also been a persevering reader of all the various accounts of magic, witchcraft, and other so-called popular delusions, recorded by the writers of antiquity, and the chroniclers of the middle ages; as well as of those more modern mysteries (such as the Gustavus Adolphus Story, the Death of Ganganelli, &c.) which seem to increase in interest just in proportion as they approach to our own more enlightened days. As in all the extraordinary tales which he brings forward, our author sees only manifestations of well-known mesmeric phenomena, it may well be imagined that, in recording the result of these examinations and studies, he has probed two volumes which, if they do not satisfy all our requirements upon the subject, will be found of most considerable interest, not only to all who believe in Animal Magnetism, but to all who care to investigate the nature of the human mind, its organization, and the laws which govern its action.
The success which has attended the publication of Mr. Buckley's translation of The Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent, and the approbation bestowed upon that work by several of the highest dignitaries of the English Church, have led him to publish The Catechism of the Council of Trent translated into English with Notes; and there can be little doubt, from the anxiety which now exists to learn, from sources which cannot be disputed, both the points on which we differ from Rome, and those on which we agree with Rome, that the success which followed Mr. Buckley's translation of the Decrees will be extended to his English version of the Catechism of the Council of Trent.
BOOKS RECEIVED.—The Pathway of the Fawn, a Tale of the New Year, by Mrs. T.K. Hervey. A charming and appropriate tale for a New Year's Gift, written as it is with exquisite taste and a most benevolent intent, and set off with a number of capital illustrations by G.H. Thomas. Jubilee Edition of the Complete Works of King Alfred the Great, Part I. This first part of what is intended to be a complete translation of the works of our great Alfred, comprises a prefatory notice of what the whole work is to contain, and a harmony of the chroniclers during the life of King Alfred, that is to say, from A.D. 849 to A.D. 901.
BOOKS AND ODD VOLUMES
WANTED TO PURCHASE.
CH. THILLON (DE HALLE) NOUVELLE COLLECTION DES APOCRYPHES, Leipsic, 1832.
THEOBALD'S SHAKSPEARE RESTORED, ETC. 4to. 1726.
A SERMON preached at Fulham in 1810 by the REV. JOHN OWEN of Paglesham, on the death of Mrs. Prowse, Wicken Park, Northamptonshire (Hatchard).
FÜSSLEIN, JOH. CONRAD, BEYTRÄGE ZUR ERLÄUTERUNG DER KIRCHEN-REFORMATIONS-GESCHICHTE DES SCHWEITZERLANDES, 5 Vols. Zurich, 1741.
CONCORDIA DISCORS. By GRASCOME.
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