Howe Family ([Vol. iii., p. 353.]).—Your correspondent who asks what was the connexion of the Howes with the royal family, will find in Walpole's Reminiscences (ch. ii.) that Charlotte Viscountess Howe, the mother of Captain Howe, afterwards the celebrated admiral, and of General Sir William Howe, was the daughter of George I. by Madame Kelmansegge, Countess of Platen, created in England Countess of Darlington.
C.
Miscellaneous.
NOTES ON BOOKS, SALES, CATALOGUES, ETC.
Dr. Gregory, Professor of Chemistry at the University of Edinburgh, and the translator of Reichenbach's Researches on Magnetism, has just published a volume destined, we believe, to excite considerable attention, both from the nature of its subject and the position of the writer. It is entitled Letters to a Candid Inquirer on Animal Magnetism, and in the first Part, after describing the phenomena, and their application to medical purposes, and to the explanation of much that is obscure in what is called Magic or Witchcraft, "a great part of which appears to have rested on a knowledge of these phenomena possessed by a few in an ignorant age," Dr Gregory suggests, not as a fully developed theory, but simply as a conceivable idea, an explanation of the modus operandi in magnetic phenomena, especially in clairvoyance. The basis of this explanation is the existence of that universally diffused power or influence, the existence of which, in Dr. Gregory's opinion, Reichenbach has demonstrated. The second Part consists of a large and startling collection of mostly unpublished cases; and Dr. Gregory expresses his conviction that if the evidence is fairly studied, it will be impossible to believe that the alleged facts are the result of imposture or of delusion; or to resist the conviction, which investigation will confirm, that the essential facts, however apparently marvellous, are yet true, and have been faithfully reported. These cases are indeed most extraordinary, and would, at first sight, seem more fitted to fill our Folk Lore columns than to become the subject of scientific enquiry; and most readers, we believe, will rise from their perusal with an inclination to admit that there are more things true than are dreamt of in their philosophy—some with an anxious doubt whether these "arts" are not as "forbidden" as they are "curious."
The Society of Arts have opened a reading-room for the gratuitous use of foreign visitors to London during the Great Exhibition. Our readers will be doing a kindness to their friends from the Continent by making them acquainted with this act of liberality and good feeling on the part of the Society of Arts.
Messrs. Puttick and Simpson (191. Piccadilly) will sell on Wednesday and Thursday next a curious and valuable Library, rich more especially in the department of voyages and travels, and including a collection of very rare works relating to America.
CATALOGUES RECEIVED.—B. Quaritch's (16. Castle Street, Leicester Square) Cheap Book Circular No. 29. of Books in all Languages; C. Hamilton's (22. Anderson's Buildings, City Road) Interesting Catalogue No. 43. of Cheap Tracts, Law and Miscellaneous Manuscripts, &c.; J. Miller's (43. Chandos Street) Catalogue No. 23. of Books Old and New.
BOOKS AND ODD VOLUMES WANTED TO PURCHASE.
DIANA (ANTONINUS) COMPENDIUM RESOLUTIONEM MORALIUM. Antwerp.-Colon. 1634-57.