—In answer to J. P., I beg to inform him that the skull of Cromwell is in the possession of W. A. Wilkinson, Esq., of Beckenham, Kent, at whose house a relation of mine saw it. I have no doubt that Mr. Wilkinson would feel pleasure in stating the arguments on which the genuineness of the interesting relic is based.
L. W.
Miscellaneous.
NOTES ON BOOKS, ETC.
The publication of The Works of Sir Thomas Browne, vol. iii., containing "Urn Burial," "Christian Morals," "Miscellanies," "Correspondence," &c., edited by Simon Wilkins, completes this important contribution to Bohn's Antiquarian Library. We could have wished that it had not been included in this series, for we fear that circumstance may deter many from purchasing it; and the writings of Browne may still be read by all with interest and advantage, for, "of the esteem of posterity," said Johnson, "he will not easily be deprived, while learning shall have any reverence among men; for there is no science in which he does not discover some skill; and scarce any kind of knowledge, profane or sacred, abstruse or elegant, which he does not appear to have cultivated with success;" and these writings, with Mr. Wilkins's notes, may now be placed upon our shelves for fifteen shillings!
If, when speaking of the discovery of electro-magnetism by Professor Oersted, Sir John Herschel did not hesitate to declare "that the Electric Telegraph, and other wonders of modern science, were but mere effervescences from the surface of this deep recondite discovery which Oersted had liberated, and which was yet to burst with all its mighty force upon the world," he paid only a just compliment to the merits of the great physicist—and he really did no more—it is obvious that Mr. Bohn, in giving as a new volume of his Scientific Library, a translation of The Soul in Nature, with Supplementary Contributions, by Hans Christian Oersted, has rendered a great service to scientific men. And it would seem, moreover, from the dedication of the translators, that in executing their labour they have been fulfilling Oersted's own wish, that a true representation of his views of nature should be presented to the English public.
BOOKS RECEIVED.—The Honey Bee. Music, and the Art of Dress. We have thus, in two handsomely and legibly printed shilling numbers of Murray's Reading for the Rail, three Essays from the Quarterly, which all who have read them will be glad to read again, and which all will gladly read who never read before.
BOOKS AND ODD VOLUMES
WANTED TO PURCHASE.
THE ARCHÆOLOGICAL JOURNAL, the First Five Volumes, complete. Also the Extra Volumes of Winchester, York, Norwich, and Lincoln; published by the Archæological Society.
EDWIN AND EMMA. Tayler, 1776.