Quarterly List of New Books and Pamphlets [pp. 302-304]

Quarterly List of New Books.
Letters to School-Children. By E. C. Wines, author of "Hints on Popular
Education," "How shall I govern my School," &c. &c. Boston: 1839.
pp. 135. 18mo.
This little volume is another valuable contribution from Mr. Wines to the
cause of education. It conveys much sound instruction, in a style admirably
adapted to its purpose.
Address, delivered before the Alumni Association of the College of New
Jersey, September 26, 1838. By James M'Dowell, Esq., of Rockbridge
County, Virginia. Princeton. pp. 51. 8vo.
An eloquent exhibition and enforcement of the duties of educated men. They,
whose privilege it was to hear it as it came glowing from the lips of the
speaker, will rejoice in the opportunity of renewing over its pages the impression
then made. We would especially commend its closing paragraphs to the attention of all fanatical agitators of the question of Slavery.
The Apostolical Commission. The Sermon at the Consecration of the
Right Reverend Leonidas Polk, D.D., Missionary Bishop for Arkansas;
in Christ Church, Cincinnati, December 9, 1838. By Charles Pettit
M'Ilvaine, D.D., Bishop of the Diocese of Ohio. Gambier. pp. 43. 8ve.
We have, in this Sermon, a condensed and popular statement of the argument for Diocesan Episcopacy. The Right Reverend author has made the most
of his case, though he has offered nothing new, and has ventured upon some
very questionable assertions. Though he magnifies his office, he does it, without
that insulting arrogance which some of his brethren never fail to exhibit, and
without casting "reflections upon those parts of Protestant Christendom, with
which, on this head, he is sorry to differ."
Elements of Trigonometry, Plain and Spherical, adapted to the present
state of Analysis. To which is added, their application to the prin ciples of Navigation and Nautical Astronomy, with Logarithmic, Trigono metrical, and Nautical Tables. For the use of Colleges and Academies. By
the Rev. C. W. Hackley, Professor of Mathematics in the University of the
City of New York. New York. pp. 307, 8vo.
Every friend to scientific education in our country must rejoice in the publi*
cation of a work upon Trigonometry, adapted to the present state of Analysis.
Trigonometry has long since passed far beyond its original object, the investigation of the relations of the sides and angels of tri-angles; and its collateral uses
in the higher departments of mathematical analysis, and especially in Physical
Astronomy, have become more important than its original end. But there are,
we believe, colleges in our land which still continue to teach under the name of
Trigonometry the few theorems which are immediately applicable to Land Surveying and Navigation, leaving the student in utter ignorance of the true scope
and extent of the science. ProfessorHackley's work, though less comprehensive
than we could have wished to see it, is perhaps sufficiently extended to meet
the present wants of most of our institutions. Nor are we altogether satisfied
with the arrangement of his treatise. He complains of it as a fault in other
treatises, that they contain, at the commencement, a tedious succession of general
formulae, the uses of which are not understood; and he accordingly begins with
1839.]
303