VIEWS AND REVIEWS. ANCIENT HISTORY: Containing the History of the Egyptians, Assyrians, Chaldeans, Medes, Lydians, Carthaginians, Persians, Macedonians, The Seleucidæ in Syria, and Parthians. By EDWARD FARR. In Four Volumes. Cincinnati: Moore, Wilstach, Keys & Co., 25 West Fourth Street. 1856. This, in our estimation, is a work which should be found in every family. With the earlier ages of the world, with those far-distant times of the past, all should gain an acquaintance. Those old nations- so powerful, those past ages so fraught with the deeds of heroes and demi gods, send to us their strange and thrilling histories. They should be studied. And for this purpose we know no better text-books than this work of Farr. It is written in an easy, pleasant style, and, so far as we can judge, is accurate in the statement of facts. Like all the publications at this house, it is got up in the best style; paper, printing and binding being of the first quality. AN INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF ESTHETICS. By JAS. C. MOFFat, Professor of Greek in the College of New Jersey, Princeton. Cincinnati Moore, Wilstach, Keys & Co. Teachers, would you improve your acquaintance with the theory or philosophy of taste, with the science of the beautiful, that which treats of the principles of the belles letters and the fine arts? We would recommend this work to your attention. To us it seems admirably adapted to your use. It is high time that the graceful should claim higher regard on the part of the instructors of the young, than it hitherto has. SOUTHERN AFRICA. By ROBERT MOFFAT, twenty-three years an agent of the London Missionary Society in that continent. Cincinnati : Moore, Wilstach, Keys & Co. This is a new edition of a work which we read ten years ago with surpassing interest. We know of no book which to so great an extent abounds in descriptions and incidents of more than romantic interest, and at the same time deals only in indisputable facts. The stories of Africanus and Makaba, of lions and giraffes, are adapted to interest the minds of children; while the geographic, historic and ethnographic information which it imparts, is of a most important character. MAN-OF-WAR LIFE: A boy's experience in the U. S. Navy, during a Voyage round the World. Also, THE MERCHANT VESSEL, by the same Author. Moore, Wilstach, Keys & Co., 1856. These are beautiful books to look at, and are splendidly illustrated. But to read them we have not yet found time. A youthful member of our family has read them with attention and pleasure, and pronounces them "real interesting.” THE TEACHER'S MISCELLANY: A selection of articles from the Pro- By J. L. CAMPMoore, Wilstach, This is a 12mo. of 442 pages; and if there is a soul on earth who likes to read Addresses, this may be just the book that will suit him. This is all we know about it. CORNELL'S HIGH SCHOOL GEOGRAPHY, forming Part Third of the Series. D. Appleton & Co., New York. We have not been able to give this work that attention which is requisite to an understanding of its merits. We commend it to the examination of Teachers. It contains over 400 pages, the paper, type and illustrations are all of Appletonian excellence. Address LIBERTY HALL, Esq., Columbus. THE SCHOOL VOCALIST. A. S. Barnes & Co. This work is an honor to its enterprising Publishers, for it has a beauty of appearance, which few singing-books can boast. We ought to be rather modest in speaking of its merits, for our knowledge of the science of music is one of the things that we are sorry for. Music in schools is a demand of the age, a demand of our nature, a matter which claims the consideration of all school authorities and Teachers. Address Henry Childs, Cleveland. We are indebted to A. S. Barnes & Co., for the well known and everywhere popular "Teacher's Library," consisting of Page's Theory and Practice of Teaching, Mansfield's American Education, Northend's Teacher and Parent, De Tocqueville's American Institutions, and Davies' Logic of Mathematics. What Teacher can afford to be without them? Price of the Library, $5. Address Henry Childs, Cleveland. FIVE HUNDRED MISTAKES, of daily occurrence in speaking, pronouncing, and writing the English Language, corrected. Daniel Burgess & Co., New York; Applegate & Co., Cincinnati; Randall & Aston, Columbus. A good book for a good many folks to read. Mistake 31, "Not as I know," say, not that I know. The book contains 499 other corrections of similar importance. PERIODICALS. THE GENIUS OF THE WEST. A Monthly Magazine of Western Literature, Wм. T. COGGESHALL and GEO. TRUE, Editors, Cincinnati. This is a valuable literary publication, a credit to the West, and it richly merits a liberal patronage. Price $1 per annum. THE CINCINNATUS. Published at Farmer's College, College Hill, O. We have received No. 5 of this monthly Magazine. When it is stated that the Hon. I. J. ALLEN is its editor, nothing more need be said in its favor. We most cheerfully and earnestly commend it to the favor of all our readers who are interested in agriculture, horticulture, and kindred pursuits. The Bellefontaine School Offering, the Union School Journal, Springfield, (F. W. HURTT, Editor,) and the Acorn, Cleveland, all local in purpose, but all well got up, all interesting, have been received. The Illinois Teacher, Peoria, C. C. HOVEY, Editor, and the Wisconsin Journal of Education, Racine, JOHN G. McMYNN, Resident Editor, are both among the best of our exchanges. STATE TEACHERS' ASSOCIATION. The next Semi-Annual meeting will be held in Mansfield, Richland county, on the 2d and 3d days of July, 1856. The session will commence in the morning of the 2d, at 10 o'clock. Rev. ANSON SMYTH, President of the Association, will deliver the opening address. At 2 o'clock, P. M., the Rev. J. B. BITTINGER, of Cleveland, will read a paper on "The Will as an Educational Power." The evening address will be by the Rev. H. L. HITCHCOCK, D.D., President of Western Reserve College. On the afternoon of Wednesday, an address on the subject of Phonetics will be delivered by Rev. THOMAS HILL, of Waltham, Mass. Reports from committees, and other business of importance, will come before the Association. As Mansfield is easy of access from almost all parts of the State, and there are assurances of ample and pleasant accommodation, it is hoped that there will be a very large attendance of teachers and others. CINCINNATI, May 20, 1856. JOHN HANCOCK, Chairman Ex. Com. of O. S. T. A. THAT MEETING.-Above is seen the official notice of the next meeting of our State Association. It is expected that arrangements will be made for half-price tickets on the various railroads of the State. We are in receipt of a letter from Dr. CATLIN, of Mansfield, which assures us that the families of the village will be happy to receive and entertain all ladies who may attend. The hotels will reduce their charge to one dollar per day. It should be remembered that Mansfield numbers among its citizens two ExGovernors of Ohio, one Lieut. Governor, two Judges of the Supreme Court of the State and one Congressman who is a member of the Kansas Investigating Committee. A village abounding thus in celebrities is worth visiting for its own sake. We hope to see 500 of our "live" Teachers there. N. B. A committee will be in attendance at the Wiler House to direct ladies to their temporary homes. Should gentlemen wish to engage rooms at the hotels pevious to the meeting, they can address Dr. W. C. CATLIN, who will attend to the business for them. The Editor of the Journal of Education may be found at the Wiler House, where friends and funds will be received with the utmost pleasure. THE Ohio Journal of Education. COLUMBUS, JULY, 1856. COMMUNICATIONS. MUSIC. If the value of any thing is to be estimated by its antiquity, there can be but little doubt that Music is one of the greatest blessings which the Creator has ever bestowed upon man. Man and Music have trayeled together down that long pathway called Time. As we have in the Bible the history of the first appearance of the former in this world; so in the same volume are we first informed of the birth and progress of the latter. Music is first distinctly referred to in that portion of the Old Testament where Jabal, the sixth from Cain, is stated to be the father of all such as handle the Harp and Organ. This "harp and organ" must of necessity have been of the most primitive construction: a few stretched strings constituting one, and mere tubes the other. In the 31st chapter of Genesis we have a more distinct reference to music, and not only to instrumental but vocal harmony. The Patriarch Laban is represented as saying to Jacob by way of expostulation: "Wherefore didst thou flee away secretly, and steal away from me, and didst not tell me, that I might have sent thee away with mirth and with songs, with tabret and with harp." Here we have a plain intimation that both voice and instrument were employed on special occasions. Passing onward we arrive at a period when not only the song but the singer is specially noted. The sublime song of Miriam is the first piece of Lyric Poetry on record, as given in the 15th chapter of Exodus. VOL. V, No. 7. 13 Grand must have been the spectacle presented to the Hosts of Israel when Miriam, the Prophetess, shouted forth the magnificent song-a song in which she called on all to participate : "Sing ye unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously; The horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea." And how sublime must have been the closing strain, "The Lord shall reign forever and ever." We are apt in this our own day to talk of splendid dramatic effects in Operas, but never has earth beheld such a scene as that, when, having finished her song of triumph, Miriam took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances, repeating the joyful chorus "Sing ye unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously." And here it may not be out of place to advert to the musical capabilities of the Jewish people. From the earliest to the present time, they have been distinguished for excellence in vocal music. The greatest singers of modern times have been Jews. Braham, who now lives in England at the advanced age of ninety-four, is a Jew. Henry Phillips is a Jew. Mrs. Billington was; Madame Grisi is a Jewess. Many others might be mentioned. Mr. Gardiner in his work entitled the Music of Nature asserts, that "there is not a single human being on whom the gift of music has not been bestowed." And it is the universal record of travelers, that no tribe has ever been discovered, however barbarous, which had not some peculiar music of their own. Harsh and discordant to the ear of the European or American as are the sounds of the African Tom-tom, or the Australian Rattle-drum, to the ear of the Savages themselves doubtless they are as soft or exciting as would be to other organs the notes of the harp or trumpet. In some form or other music exists everywhere; and the sounds produced by winds and waters, the songs of birds, the voices of animals, and the speech of man, form but portions of its infinite varieties. However inspiring mere musical sounds may be, it is when they are united with words, that they are capable of affording the greatest amount of pleasure. Let the tone be suited to the sentiment, and there is not an emotion or passion of the human heart which will not beat responsive to them. While the ear is pleased, the heart is touched; and what language alone could not effect, may be accomplished by its being united with tones in harmony with it. This power of musical language, or rather of uniting voices, belongs |