Short Notices [pp. 580-590]

580 The General Assembly. [JULY,
Johns spoke with effect on the other side of the question.
Dr. McMasters moved to postpone the resolutions offered by the
Committee with a view to send down a proposition to alter the
constitution, so as to answer the end contemplated in the overture. Dr. R. J. Breckinridge moved as a substitute a proposition to be sent down to the Presbyteries changing the representation in the Assembly from Presbyterial to Synodical. He
thought the Assembly, and of course the lower courts, had the
power to appoint commissions, and that the best way was for
them to do so whenever necessity called for such action, without
any declaration of the Assembly in its favour. Finally the whole
subject was laid on the table. It was evident the House was
not prepared to adopt the overture proposed by the Committee,
and perhaps it is best to let the matter rest until the Church is
brought to see that our present mode of conducting judicial
cases is impracticable, and that we must in some form introduce the principle of judicial commissions.
SHORT NOTICES.
A1 German Dictionary, by J. Grimm and W. Grimm. "In the beginning
was the Word." Vol. I. Leipzig, 1854: xcii. and 1824 columns.
(Deutsches Worterbuch, von Jacob Grimm und Wilhelm Grimm. Im an fang war das Wort. Erster Band. A-Biermolke. Verlag von S. Hir zel.)
The completion of the first volume of the long expected
German Dictionary of the Brothers Grimm gives us an opportunity of saying a few words about it. The labour of editing this Dictionary has been taken upon two pairs of shoulders,
but at the same time it engages two heads. To obtain the necessary freedom of action for both these scholars, they have agreed
to divide the labour in such a manner between themselves that each
volume shall be from the hand of one of the brothers; so that the
first volume is entirely from the hand of Jacob Grimm. This