ilologist? Max Mueller thinks that perhaps our posterity, some three
hundred years hence, may write as they speak,--in other words, that our
orthography will by that time have become a phonetic one. It is not safe
to prophesy; but, whether such a result comes soon or late, the credit
of having accomplished it will not be due to those "half-learned and
parcel-learned" persons who consider the present written form of the
language as a thing "taboo," and look with such horror upon all attempts
to better its condition.

As regards pronunciation, we think this will be generally considered one
of the strong points of the new Dictionary. The introductory treatise on
the "Principles of Pronunciation" is a comprehensive, instructive, and
eminently practical, though not very philosophically constructed,
exposition of the subject of English orthoepy. It contains an analysis
and description of the elementary sounds of the language, a discussion
of certain questions about which orthoepists are at variance, and a
useful collection of facts, rules, and directions respecting a variety
of other matters falling within its scope. As a sort of pendant to this,
we have a "Synopsis of Words differently pronounced by Different
Orthoepists," which those who regulate their pronunciation by written
authorities or opinions may find it useful to consult. The
pronunciations given in the body of the work appear to be conformed to
the usage of the best speakers. We notice with gratification that such
vulgarisms as ab'do-men, pus'sl (for pust'ule!), s_w_ord (for sord),
etc., no longer continue to deface the book.

A large number of wood-cuts, mostly selected with good judgment and
skilfully engraved, adorn the pages, and throw light upon the
definitions. Besides being inserted in the vocabulary in connection with
the words they illustrate, they are brought together, in a classified
form, at the end of the volume. This is claimed as an "obvious
advantage."

We have left ourselves but little space to notice the very rich and
attractive Appendix, the first fifty pages of which are taken up with
an "Explanatory and Pronouncing Vocabulary of the Names of Noted
Fictitious Persons and Places," etc., by William A. Wheeler. The
conception of such a work was singularly happy, as well as original,
and, on the whole, the task has been executed with commendable fidelity
and discretion. That occasional omissions and mistakes should be
discovered will probably su