The "Crania Americana" of Dr. Morton, the "Crania Egyptiaca" of Gliddon, and the "Types of Mankind," the joint production of the above writers and Dr. Nott, are important contributions to the department of ethnology.
De Vere and Dwight are eminent writers on philology; Jarvis, Hough,
Tucker, De Bow, Kennedy, and Wynne, on statistics.
Medical literature has been ably illustrated, and American writers on naval and military affairs have contributed largely to the effectiveness of modern warfare. Geographical knowledge has been greatly increased. Many explorations and publications have been made under the patronage of the government, and many excellent maps and charts have been executed from actual surveys. The Wind Charts and other works of Lieutenant Maury have greatly advanced the science of navigation, and his "Physical Geography of the Sea" has revealed the mysteries of the submarine world with graphic power.
10. FOREIGN WRITERS.—Many foreign writers in the United States, some of whom have had their tastes formed here, and are essentially American in principle and feeling, have contributed to the literature of the country. The celebrated Bishop Berkeley (1684-1753), whose prophetic verses on America are so often quoted, brought with him the prestige which attached to high literary reputation, and had an influence on the progress of literature in the colonies. His "Minute Philosopher" contains many passages descriptive of the scene at Newport, in the midst of which it was written. Thomas Paine (1736-1809) wrote his pamphlet entitled "Common Sense," and his "Crisis," in America, the former of which, especially, powerfully affected the political condition of the country. John Witherspoon (1722-1794), lineal descendant of John Knox, was the author of many religious works, and of some valuable political essays. Susanna Rowson (1762-1824) was the author of "Charlotte Temple," a novel which had extraordinary success in its day, and of many books of less fame. Joseph Priestley (1733-1804) wrote and published many of his most valuable works in the United States. His friend Thomas Cooper (1759-1840) was one of the most active minds of the age, and his religious, political, and scientific writings were not without their influence on the national literature. "The American Ornithology" of Alexander Wilson (1766-1813), a native of Scotland, is second only to the great work of Audubon. The names of Matthew Carey, Peter Duponceau, and Albert Gallatin are also honorably associated with American letters.
Of the more recent writers, Dr. Lieber has done much for the advancement of political and philosophical science in the United States. The names of Agassiz, father and son, and Guyot, prominent among the scientific investigators of the age, are indissolubly connected with science in America; and Drs. Draper and Dunglison have made valuable contributions to the medical literature of the world. Count A. de Gurowski, an able scholar, has published a work on "Russia as it is," and another on "America and Europe." Mrs. Robinson's various works entitle her to high distinction in the more grave as well as the lighter departments of literature. Professor Koeppen has written two valuable works on the "World in the Middle Ages." Dr. Brunow has brought a European reputation to the aid of one of our Western universities. Henry Giles has gained distinction by his essays and criticisms, and Henry William Herbert by his novels and miscellaneous writings. Many other foreign men of letters might be named, who, in various ways, aid the development of the national literature.
11. NEWSPAPERS AND PERIODICALS.—One of the most powerful engines in creating a taste for literature among the people of the United States is the newspaper and periodical press. Every interest, every social and political doctrine has its organ, and every village has its newspaper; not devoted solely to special, local, or even to national topics, but registering the principal passing events of the actual as well as of the intellectual world, and in this respect differing essentially from the press of all other countries. These papers are offered at so small a price as to place them within the reach of all; and in a country where every one reads, the influence of such a power as a public educator, in stimulating and diffusing mental activity, and in creating cosmopolitan interests, can scarcely be comprehended in its full significance. While there is much in these publications that is necessarily of an evanescent character, and much that might perhaps be better excluded, it cannot be denied that the best of our daily and weekly papers often contain literary matter which in a less fugitive form would become a permanent and valuable contribution to the national literature.
The magazines and reviews of the United States take a worthy place beside those of Great Britain, and present a variety of reading which exhibits at once the versatility of the people and the cosmopolitan tendency of the literature which addresses itself to the sympathies of the most diversified classes of readers. Among the quarterly reviews, the North American occupies a prominent position. It is associated with the earliest dawnings of the national literature, and in the list of its contributors is found almost every name of note in American letters. The Scientific American and the Popular Science Monthly are the most eminent of the scientific periodicals; the Bibliotheca Sacra, the Andover and Princeton Reviews, the Christian Union, the Independent, the Churchman are among the ablest religious journals.
With the decease of H.S. Legaré, one of the most finished scholars of the South, the Southern Quarterly, which had been indebted to his pen for many of its ablest articles, ceased its existence. Putnam's Magazine was long the medium of the most valuable and interesting fugitive literature; and the Atlantic Monthly, which has succeeded it, is under the auspices of the most eminent men of letters in New England, and has become the nucleus of a number of young and able writers. The Magazine of American History is the repository of much valuable information and many curious incidents in the history of the country. Harper's Magazine and the Century are periodicals of high literary character and of wide circulation both in this country and in England. They have by means of their illustrations done much to advance and develop the art of engraving.
The language of American literature being that of England, its early productions were naturally modeled after those of the mother-country. But the cosmopolitan elements of which the nation is composed, and the peculiar influences of American civilization in holding out to the human race opportunities and destinies unparalleled in history, are rapidly developing a distinct national character which in the future must be reflected in American literature, and cannot fail to produce great results. This at least is the belief of all those who have faith in humanity and in the spirit which laid the foundation of our Republic.
12. SINCE 1800.—The period intervening between 1860 and 1885 has not been marked by any important literary development. In the great war for the support of the institution of slavery on one hand and for national existence on the other, history was enacted rather than written, and the sudden and rapid development of material interests succeeding the war have absorbed, to a great extent, the energies of the people.