"It is not the vast prospect that makes the charm of the higher mountains. We had already found from former experince, that distant views are generally indistinct. Here, on the summit of the Jungfrau, the contours of the distant mountains were still less defined. But what fascinated us was the spectacle in our immediate neighbourhood. Before us was spread out the valley of Switzerland, and at our feet were piled up the lower chains, the apparent uniformity of whose height gave still greater sublimity to the vast peaks that towered up almost to our level. At the same time, the valleys of the Oberland, which, until now, had been covered by light vapor, were uncovered in several places, 'revealing to us through the fissures the world below.' We distinguished on the right the valley of Grindelwald; on the left, far below, an immense chasm, at the bottom of which a brilliant thread wound along, following its windings. This was the valley of Lauterbrunnen, with the river Lutschinen. . . . On the south the view was interrupted by clouds, which had for some hours been gathering on the Monte Rosa. We were recompensed for this, however, by a very extraordinary phenomenon, which took place under our eyes and interested us much. A thick mist had gathered on our left, towards the southwest; it ascended constantly from the Rott-thal, and began to extend to the northward. We already feared lest it should surround us a second time, when we found that it terminated abruptly at the distance of a few feet from us. Owing to this circumstance, we beheld before us a vertical wall of mist, the height of which we estimated to be at least from 12,000 to 15,000 feet, since it rose from the valley of Lauterbrunnen to a considerable distance above our heads. As its temperature was below the freezing point, the little particles of vapor were transformed into crystals of ice, and reflected the sun's rays in all the colors of the rainbow; we seemed to be surrounded by a mist of gold."

The scientific results of this ascension were the discovery that the snow, even on the highest summits, is not changed into ice, though it rests on a crust of very compact ice; also, that the summit of the Jungfrau is gneiss, and not limestone, as had been supposed. Among the lichens gathered by Mr. Agassiz at the summit, was a new species (Umbilicaria Virginis, Schor.); the others were among those found by Saussure on

Mont Blanc.

The general features of Mr. Agassiz' history since 1845

are probably known to most of our readers. In the fall of 1846, being charged with a scientific exploration by the king of Prussia, and having also received an invitation to lecture before the Lowell Institute, he arrived in this country, where he has since resided. On the establishment of the Lawrence Scientific School, at Cambridge, the professorship of Zoology and Geology was offered to him, and after some deliberation accepted. Of the results of his labors in this country it is yet too soon to speak; but the impulse given to these studies by his presence is a matter of public notoriety, and of the highest importance to scientific culture among us.

In conclusion we give a chronological list of the most important of Mr. Agassiz' works.

Spix et Agassiz, selecta genera et species Piscium, quos in itinere per Brasiliam annis MDCCCXVII-XX peracto collegit et pingendos curavit. 2 vol. cum 55 Tab. lithogr. et 46 Tab. col. Munich. 1829-31.-Recherches sur les Poissons fossiles. Soleure. 1833-43. 5 vols., 4to, et 5 vols. Planches, fol.-W. Buckland, Geologie u. Mineralogie in Beziehung z. natürl. Theologie. Aus d. Engl. übers mit Anm. u. Zusätz v. L. Agassiz. Neufchatel. 1838. Mit 69 Tafeln. 2 Bde. 8vo. Description des Echinodermes fossiles de la Suisse. Soleure. 1839-40. Avec 25 Pl. 4to.-Monographies d'Echinodermes vivans et fossiles. Soleure. 1838-40. 4 vols. 4to.-Etudes critiques sur les Mollusques fossiles. 1840-45. 4to. -Histoire naturelle des poissons d'eau douce de l'Europe centrale. Soleure. 1839-40. Fol. - Mémoire sur les moules de Mollusques vivans et fossiles. Soleure. 1840-42. 4to.- Etudes sur les glaciers. Soleure. 1840. 8vo. 8 vols. Avec 32 Pl. fol. [Also the same work in a German translation.] - Nomenclator Zoologicus, seu nomina generica generum animalium tam viventium quam fossilium. Soleure. 1842-1846. 4to.-Monographies des Poissons fossiles du système Dévonien. 1844-45. 4 vols. fol. Avec un Atlas.-Iconographie des coquilles tertiaires. Dans les Mém. de la Soc. Helv. des Sc. Nat. Vol. 7. 1845.-Bibliographia hist. naturalis. [In publication by the Ray Society.]Système glaciaire, ou recherches sur les glaciaires et leur mécanisme. Avec un Atlas. Paris. 1847.- Catalogue raisonné des Echinides vivans et fossiles, par MM. Agassiz et Desor. [Annal. des Sc. Naturelles, 1847.]

Mr. Agassiz has also prepared (by request) an elementary work on Natural History, which is now in course of publication.

ART. V.-SHORT REVIEWS AND NOTICES.

1.-1. Phonotypy. A Report to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Cambridge. 1847.

2. Significance of the Alphabet. By C. KRAITSIR, M. D. Published by E. P. Peabody. Boston. 1846.

3. First Book of English, founded on the Significance of the Alphabet, by C. KRAITSIR, M. D.

AN orthography of English, properly speaking, has never had existence. The gentlemen of the American Academy, who have put forth the report in favor of Phonotypy, state very clearly the disadvantages resulting from the extreme contradiction at present existing between the writing and the pronunciation. But they have not investigated the origin and history of this discrepancy, nor shown the comparative truth to the nature of language, of the writing and pronunciation; and hence the remedy they suggest is worse than the evil, for it involves a sanction and extension of every abuse of the latter, which has the chance of present fashion in its favor; it precludes future return towards the general standard of the Indo-European tongues, in pronunciation; and, what is worse than all, it annihilates that truth to the eye which the language in a great degree still preserves, by being written with letters indicating the natural growth of the words from roots common to the whole family of languages to which it belongs.

We therefore would call attention to Dr. Kraitsir's pamphlet on the "Significance of the Alphabet," as well as to the "First Book of English," which he has published. The latter, notwithstanding some carelessness evinced in the composition of the vocabularies, is conceived in a more scientific spirit, and suggests more fundamental ideas than any primer we have seen.

In the "Significance of the Alphabet," Dr. Kraitsir shows that the Latin arrangement of the visible signs of sounds was made with reference to the organs which made the sounds respectively; and that these organs severally imitate the things, and symbolize the ideas, which are the subject of speech: consequently, that the sounds they make are significant. And, in the "First Book of English," he states, as a first principle, that the great secret of language is this; namely, that the sounds articulated by the lips, tongue, throat, and teeth, signify exactly what these organs symbolize to the senses and imagination.

If this is the case, and if, as he states, the alphabets used by the Indo-European nations classify sounds according to their organic origin and significance, an importance is given to these schemes of writing, in the eyes of the philologist and philosopher,

which Phonotypy does not respect, but which claims the careful investigation of both its defenders and opposers.

Dr. Kraitsir has yet to unfold, in a "Second Book of English," the practical bearings of his idea upon the treatment of the English language. In his treatise on the "significance," he has merely spoken of the alphabet we use as affording a perfect standard of Latin pronunciation, for which language it was invented. The views and arguments with respect to the pronunciation of Latin are not new, except in this country. Karl Ottfried Müller adopted this pronunciation in his lectures in Göttingen, and, in fact, it is now generally recognized as having the analogy of the language and the authority of the old Roman grammarians in its favor. Even in England, Scheller's Latin Grammar has been translated, and the translator adds to the proofs adduced by Scheller, others of his own; and Dr. Ainsworth long ago, in his dictionary, gives us the same views.

But Dr. Kraitsir goes to the root of the matter, in pointing out the organic significance of the sounds, and showing the bearings of the true pronunciation of Latin upon the establishment of a standard of radical meanings, and the laws that identify words in all the Indo-European languages.

The possibility of establishing this standard, and discovering these laws, which may be used as keys to unlock the vital treasures of that immense family of languages, containing the highest results of human civilization, gives the subject such an interest as might ensure for it the attentive study, not only of professed scholars, but of practical men, to whom it becomes yearly of more importance to speak in a variety of tongues. The suggestion of the Promptuary, (pp. 26, 27,) containing a comparative anatomy of languages, opens a new world to every man of common-sense, no less than to the philologist and philosopher.

Among the many trains of interesting thought suggested by these works, we have room only to advert to that point, in which they seem to cross the path of the phonotypists.

Dr. Kraitsir recognizes all the inconveniences of the discordance of the writing and pronunciation of English pointed out by the Report of the Academy, and touches upon others of more importance still; and, although he maintains that the English writing is less corrupted than the pronunciation, and is rather to be preserved of the two, he admits and even suggests some reform in the writing.

Since the Latin alphabet is confessedly not adequate to the perspicuous writing of the English tongue, which contains eight more vowels, and five more consonants, than the Latin, he would enlarge it by a system of pointing, as the Poles did, when they undertook to write their language with Latin letters. He suggests that the a in man, o in not and nor, e in err, i in fir, and u

in fur should have each a dot placed under them; and u in fun two dots. This would make a character for every vowel, for Dr. Kraitsir does not admit that mere quantity of sound changes the vowel. To the guttural division of the alphabet he would add c with a dot under it, to represent the consonant ch in church. To the lingua-dental division he would add s with a dot under it, to represent the sh in ship, and a ≈ with a dot under it, to represent the first consonant sound in osier. To represent the th in this he suggests that either the Anglo-Saxon character be restored, or a d with a dot under it used; and for th in thin, either the AngloSaxon character or a dot under t.

These twelve additional characters would represent all the sounds of the English language; rendering the present characters not obsolete or obscure, but more clear and perspicuous, and then a great deal of the English language could be written as it is spelt.

But this last should not be done indiscriminately. There are many silent consonants in English writing, which should be preserved, because they indicate sounds that have a meaning; and the vowels i and u are often indicative of sunken consonants, and must be, in those instances, carefully preserved.

It is proper also to remark, that although Dr. Kraitsir suggests this reform in printing, it is not at all essential in his eyes. When languages are studied on the philological principle, the inconveniences of the anomalous writing of English are of less consequence.

We were quite surprised to find, from the "First Book of English," how seldom the soft sounds of c and g occur in the language. Dr. Kraitsir affirms that they never occur except in derivations from the corruptly pronounced Latin of the middle ages, or in importations from the French. In the Anglo-Saxon words, girl, gird, get, &c., we have g hard before e and i as well as before a, o, and u. We would suggest, that, if the writing be reformed, a dot should be placed over c and g, wherever they are soft, to facilitate the reading of the language to children and foreigners.

The space allowed has compelled us to abbreviate what we have hinted at, and we can only add, that the suggestion of pointing the letters of the Latin alphabet to represent those sounds of the English which are not found in Latin, has this unquestionable advantage over the scheme of the phonographers; that it is in analogy with the organism and in harmony with the significance of the language, and suggests to scholars true standards of pronunciation and meaning.