New-York Canals....2,332,435..2,720,416..411,481

1846....90,119,600......58.720,000......148,839,600.

The total valuation in New-York has increased, it appears, $7,100,000 since 1842, and that of Boston has advanced $13,100,000, in the same time, or six times as much. The increase in the real estate of Boston is the most considerable, and arises, probably, from the opening of streets through extensive private grounds in the fourth ward, and the reclamation of large tracts in the third ward. In relation to personal estate, however, it would appear that Boston has increased $17,000,000, while NewYork has increased but $170,000. These assessed values of personal estates cannot be taken as the actual amount of personal property in each city, from the different mode and manner of assessment, But when one city, as New-York, exhibits no increase in the property as assessed by it, and another city, as Boston, shows a consid

..171,936,591. .177,207,990.

..........183,480,934......61,471,470......244,952,404

erable increase on a uniform mode of assessment, it affords a general index of a greater degree of prosperity. In the present case, however, it must be remembered that, in Boston, merchants are assessed for the debts owing to them, beyond what they are themselves indebted; and therefore, an expansion of credits would, in some degree, swell the personal property. Nevertheless, the operation of the tariff of 1842, and the effect of railroads, has been to give Boston an impetus, which, in point of personal profits, has brought her along side of New-York. In 1839, the assessment in Boston was less than half that of New-York. It is now very nearly equal to it. The United States customs revenues at the two ports of New-York and Boston have, for the three quarters ending Sept. 30, been as follows:

NEW-YORK.

.19,260,741

This affords a most remarkable instance of the effects of the great enterprise and energy of Boston in overcoming physical disadvantages and forcing prosperity.

"When the people first thought of making liberty a goddess, we cannot say, but at the time when the troubles between the American colonies and the mothercountry commenced, there appears to have been laid in England an unpopular excise on cider, and the sufferers under the act assembled near Honiton, in Devonshire, appropriated an apple-tree as the altar to which they must sacrifice the image of the minister with whom the act originated. It was in imitation of this that we suppose our Revolutionary trees took their rise." This is highly probable, but we have no space to enter into a discussion of the question, however profitable. We conclude our notice by referring the reader to the deeply interesting account of the trees of our country, contained in Mr. Browne's able work, many of which, as single specimens, have not been equalled in age, beauty and magnitude, by those of any part of the old world. The author is greatly indebted to Loudon's Arboretum Britannicum, Dr. T. W. Harris's " Report on the Insects of Massachusetts," Mr. P. J. Selby's "British Forest Trees," and Mons. M. F. Andre Michaux's Histoire des Arbres Forestiers de L'Amerique Septentrionale, for many of the materials and extracts of his work; but he has evidently travelled much for the purpose of obtain ing accurate practical knowledge, and has displayed great research and ability in the execution of his arduous undertaking. The public are, however, the best judges of the -terhin merits of this work, and we leave it in their hands with the most sanguine hopes of its brilliant success. It is beautifully bound and printed, the pictorial illustrations being of a high order of merit, and altogether it does great credit to the publishers.

A Treatise on Algebra. By Prof. CHAS. W. HACKLEY, D. D., of Columbia College. Harper & Brothers.

This is a work to delight the eye of a teacher-it is so full and comprehensive, at the same time that it is so simple, clear and elementary. It contains many things that are not to be found in any single English treatise, and everything that can serve to give a student a complete knowledge of modern analysis. Among the subjects, entirely new, or which, if found in other books, are here treated in a much more ample and elegant manner-are Interpolation, the Elements of the Calculus of Probabilities, and some American improvements, never before published, in the methods for the solution of cubic cynations. The article upon the theory and use of logarithms is uncommonly full and clear; while the important subject of the Theory of Numbers, generally left out of school-books, is treated in a very elabo

rate and detailed manner. Throughout the book there is much that is entirely new, and very beautiful in arrangement, presentation and explanation-and, what will particularly please the teacher, and supply a desideratum often felt, there is an abundance and variety of examples.

It would be natural to suppose, from what we have said, that the book is intended mainly for the advanced student. but this is not so. It is eminently calculated for beginners, by the clearness and fulness of definition and abundance of illustration. For those who wish to master nothing but the rudiments, there is a minimum course indicated in the preface by reference to the numbers of the paragraphs. The book is a handsome, farge octavo of over five hundred pages, beautifully printed, and sold at the very low price of $1 50-making it one of the cheapest, as well as one of the best and most useful books recently issued from the press.

The Lancet; A Journal of British and Foreign Medical and Chemical Science, Criticism, Literature and News. No. 3, Vol. IV. Burgess & Stringer, N. Y. THE Lancet is, beyond all question, one of the most useful and popular scientific works republished in this country. The present number contains upwards of thir ty deeply interesting articles, contributed by some of the most skilful and expe rienced medical and surgical practitioners on those difficult cases of disease and accidental injury which present the strangest anomalies, or which require bold and extraordinary treatment.

Amongst the former, we may mention a singular instance of abscess of the heart, which will serve most aptly to illustrate the fact that disease may reach the utmost verge of mortality without giving any distinct local evidence of its existence. Dr. T. Howitt, who wrote the paper of which we now speak, was called upon to visit Samuel P, at the residence of the house-surgeon of the Lancaster Infirmary. Mr. Howitt found him suffering acute pain, which he described as being in the calf of the leg, and which had commenced twelve hours previous. There were, however, no signs of inflammation nor any spasmodic action of the muscles to account for it, and the patient, strange to say, had no other complaint to make. He died soon after the surgeon's visit, and there was a post mortem examination. The leg was, of course, first examined, and various other portions of the body, but no signs of disease appeared. At last, upon opening the chest, the pericardium instantly attracted attention, as appearing very much distended. On cutting into it, there gushed out nearly a pint of grumous fluid and pus,

containing a number of purdy flakes, the whole interior being lined with a layer of cheesy, scrofulous-looking matter, apparently soft, coagulated lymph, one-sixteenth of an inch in thickness. The pericardium was covered with the same matter, and of an equal degree of thickness.

On examining the external surface of the heart, a rounded eminence was discovered, situated at the junction of the right auricle with the right ventricle, and which was darker in color than any other portion. Upon making a crucible incision into this prominence, there flowed out about a tea-spoonful of ill-conditioned pus, with a few curdy flakes; this small abscess communicating internally by a small, ragged opening, with the right auricle, which contained a mixture of pus and blood. There was no communication with the sac of the pericardium; the lungs were perfectly sound. This is certainly an extraordinary case, at least to the unprofessional observer.

The lectures on the principal forms of insanity, of which the eighteenth is given in this number, are of great interest, and interspersed with most valuable remarks. There is one fact, which if generally considered, would make us more lenient to the faults of many sane persons (in the ordinary acceptation of the term) with whom we come in contact, and to this, Dr. Conolly, the able lecturer, has called attention. Let him speak for himself. "Long observation has convinced me that there are many unhappy individuals in society, whose faulty characters are connected with some disturbance or interruption of the foetal or infant brain. In some of these individuals, with much talent and many engaging qualities, there is a moral eccentricity, wondered at by happier organizations, but fatal to their own fortunes; in others it leads to actions which society cannot tolerate, and agrees to punish." We have quoted this pas sage, as we believe that it fully accounts for the strange conduct of nearly one-half the world, and that much good will result from its being taken into due consideration.

Altowan; or, Life and Adventures in the Rocky Mountains. By an Amateur Traveller. 2 vols. Edited by J. WATSON WEBB, Esq. Harper & Brothers, New-York.

This work presents some of the most graphic, stirring and faithful sketches we have yet seen of life in the north-west.The editor, in a deeply interesting and appropriate dedication to C. F. Hoffman, Esq., informs us that these volumes were written by an English military officer, descended from one of the most ancient fami

lies in Great Britain, and connected by birth and patronage with royalty itself.— The author and editor were incidentally thrown very much into each other's society, and their acquaintance ripening into friendship, the former explained the chief object of his visit to the United States.Col. Webb thereupon gave him letters of introduction to the late Gov. Clarke of Missouri, and Generals Atkinson and Ashley, by means of which he obtained much valuable advice and assistance in exploring the wilds of the Rocky Mountains, Oregon and Upper California-the whole term of his visit to these places amounting to upwards of three years. He was impelled by a restless spirit of adventure into the most daring pursuits of the chase, and amongst the truest specimens of our aborigines. It will be thus seen that the author has had every opportunity of information. book is full of exciting events and startling incidents, and the agreeable style of the narrative carries the reader on from page to page with unflagging interest and unalloved pleasure. The pictures of Indian life are touched with the pencil of one who paints directly from nature; and the various scenes and characters are often shadowed forth with a delicacy, vividness of coloring and general beauty, which naturally lead to the conclusion that the author is no

mere novice in his art.

The

There is such a charm of truth and poetry in the description of Idalie's rencontre with the strange party bivouacked round a fire which had attracted her attention whilst she was in search of her father, that we cannot forbear pointing the scene out to the admiration of the reader. This is remarkable for a subdued and quiet beauty, but there are many scenes of the most stirring nature; rapid sketches of tiger, bear, and buffalo hunting; of thrilling encounters with the Indians, and of the many natural dangers in which an unknown and uncultivated region like that of the Rocky Mountains so peculiarly abounds. We can only regret that our limited space prevents our making extracts from the book. Were it otherwise, however, we might be placed in the dilemma of praising some portions of it to the exclusion of others equally interesting and admirable. The editor states in his dedication, that the late Mr. Inman would have illustrated this work, but for his untimely death. All who read it must feel assured that it abounds with scenes that are singu larly adapted to pictorial effect; and successful as the work will undoubtedly be, the friends of art will not fail to express great disappointment that the artist did not live to avail himself of so fitting an occasion for the exercise of his genius.

Park Theatre.-Since the publication of the October number of the "Review," our fair and talented country woman, Mrs. Mowatt, played a very successful engagement at this theatre, appearing in a range of characters admirably adapted to elicit the varied natural requisites with which she is endowed. We were much gratified to mark the progress she had made since her last appearance amongst us; and we feel assured that she is destined to realize the promises held out by her brilliant debut in the role of Pauline, in the Lady of Lyons.

The Keans have also had another engagement here, which has been somewhat more successful than was anticipated, owing, doubtless, to the fact, that they have endeavored to produce something more novel and attractive than those Shakspearean parts, in which they have so frequently presented themselves before the American public. The "Two Gentlemen of Verona" was produced by them, it is said, for the first time in this country; and nothing was neglected that costume and scenery could do to render the performance effective; but the play is decidedly unworthy of its great author, and verifies the opinion, that "even Homer nods sometimes."

It is replete with passages of a pleasing nature, but there are few, if any, of those powerful dramatic effects by which Shaks peare's plays are chiefly characterized, and one of the scenes, at least,-that between Launce and his dog, is so pointless and silly, that, with all our reverence for his great genius, we cannot choose but condemn it. We need hardly say, that this piece did not prove so attractive or agreeable as "Coleman's Jealous Wife," which was played on alternate nights by the same artistes.

The latter is, however, one of those plays which, without possessing any great merits of plot or incident, can be rendered highly successful by a spirited and talented actress.

It is now our pleasant and novel task to notice the first performance of "The Wife's Secret," a new play by Lovell, the well-known author of Love's Sacrifice." This, we are informed, was written expressly for Mr. and Mrs. Kean; and certainly their respective roles are peculiarly fitted to the mental and physical powers of both performers. Mrs. Kean's Lady Evelyne is in every respect

one of her most striking personations.The text abounds in pathetic, striking, and vivid passages, and is pervaded by a vein of conflicting emotions that bring into full relief every excellence of her style.

The part of Mr. Kean, (Sir Walter Amyot,) is not less admirable in this regard, whilst it has an advantage over every other in which we have seen him; inasmuch as it makes no extraordinary demands upon those qualities in which he is deficient. It is true that there are occasional bursts of jealousy and agony, but the doubt entertained by him, almost throughout, in the base aspersions of Jabez Sneed, the unworthy steward, subdues this phase of the character to a level with Mr. Kean's powers, enabling him, in the more quiet expression, whether of renewed confidence or oft-recurring doubt, to display much of the taste, feeling, and grace, by which his acting is distinguished. In looking critically at the plot or construction of the play, we confess we were greatly disappointed. Its chief defects are, in the first place, that there is a lack of novelty in the incidents; and secondly, that each circumstance may be easily anticipated, even by those who are but little acquainted with theatrical matters.

The scene where Sir Walter discovers his wife in the embraces of a cavalier, is such an exact counterpart of a tableau in Dickens' "Cricket on the Hearth," as dramatized and played not very long since at this same theatre, that we might almost feel justified in the conclusion that the author had taken the idea from that piece. But we could point to numerous plays in which the various incidents of this piece occur. The plot is, indeed, of the simplest and most common-place description, and certainly unworthy of Mr. Lovell's talents as a play-wright. The language, however, is very beautiful. Forcible,chaste, and fanciful, it has yet the still higher merit of arising naturally from the heart and mind of the dramatis persona.

To this there are but two or three passages which form exceptions; but where there is so much deserving of admiration, it were hypercritical to dwell upon them. The parts were all exceedingly well cast, though it was to be regretted that Fisher's Jabez Sneed, which would have been otherwise excellent, was a little overacted.

The Vienna children have been engaged by Mr. Simpson for a period of 36