er may be
mentioned a short series of works on in-door and out-door amusements,
the object of which is to furnish young persons with sources of
amusement, innocent in their kind, and healthful in their application
both to mind and body. Among the in-door amusements may be mentioned a
volume which is nearly ready for publication on the game of Chess.
Experience has shown that where Chess is introduced as an amusement
into families and schools, it exerts a highly beneficial influence, by
exciting a taste for more exalted sources of recreation than are
afforded by _games of chance_, which so far from producing a
beneficial influence on the mind, are apt to disturb the temper,
excite animosity, and foster a spirit of gambling. Chess, on the
contrary, is an effort of pure skill; it gives healthy exercise to the
mental powers; it requires caution and forbearance on the part of both
players; it leaves the victor satisfied with having won the game
without the additional stimulus of 'a stake;' and it entails no
humiliation on the vanquished, but rather prompts him to greater
exertions. We propose, therefore, to give the history and antiquities
of the game of Chess, together with a series of Easy Lessons, the
object of which will be to make the young student acquainted with a
few of the leading features of the principal openings, that he may
form some idea of the richness of the territory of Chess, and to add a
selection of Chess Problems. Chess Problems form one of the most
attractive departments of the game; they enable us, more perhaps than
anything else, to appreciate the subtle skill and resources of a
first-rate player, and tend to elevate Chess to the rank of
mathematical science.

Among the works which include several of the foregoing divisions, is
one in four volumes, illustrating the Progress of the Year, wherein
the information given is arranged under the form of Daily Headings.
All the varied phenomena of nature; the animals, the plants, the
minerals, assume different phases, according to the means and
acquirements of the observer, the progress of science, and the climate
under which the descriptions are given. As science advances, the
descriptions of naturalists admit of modification and addition, in
order to keep pace with the progress of discovery; hence our
Year-books require renewal from time to time. The present is an
attempt to furnish a seasonal account of the natural phenomena of the
year, in conformity wit