AN IMPORTANT RAIL-ROAD DECISION.

The Court of Appeals of New-York, the highest tribunal in that State, has just rendered a decision that a rail-road company running an engine through a village where wooden buildings are so near the track as to be exposed to fire from the sparks, is bound to a higher degree of care than when running in the open country.

When the exposure of the buildings is increased by reason of a wind blowing towards them from the engine, which is standing at rest upon the track, the corporation is responsible for the utmost vigilance and care.

Under such circumstances, and after the law had been stated in effect as above, an instruction to the jury that the plaintiff could not recover if the engine was in good order, of proper construction and used with ordinary care, was properly refused."

The owner of an unfinished building thus exposed is bound to the use of such care as a man of ordinary prudence would employ under the circumstances; but does not forfeit his right to redress for the wrongful negligence of another, because he might have escaped injury by a higher vigilance on his own part.

Whether the leaving a door partly open, through which sparks from the engine flew-door being a part of the house then in course of construction and under the hands of the builders-was culpable negligence on the part of the owner or his servants, is a question which may properly be referred to the jury as one of fact.

THE NEW FIELD TELEGRAPH.

Engineer RODGERS, of New-York, has put in operation his newlyinvented telegraphic cordage or insulated line, for field operations, and it proved eminently successful, giving entire satisfaction in the manner in which it operated. It is run off reels upon the ground with great rapidity, (as required for instant use,) across streams, through woods, or over any localities. Lines were yesterday, in extraordinary short time, thus laid between the headquarters of General McDoWELL and two or three of his most advanced camps, and were worked in immediate connection with the telegraph station in the War Department. It is worthy of note that the heaviest artillery may run over this RODGERS' cordage without damaging its effectiveness in the least. It differs in many respects from the field telegraph used by Louis NAPOLEON in the Italian war, and embraces many advantages of convenient and certain operation under any possible circumstances over that (LOUIS NAPOLEON'S) which contributed so signally to the success of the French arms.-Washington Star.

NEW TELEGRAPH LINES.

The telegraph cable between London and the Ajaccio, on the island of Corsica, has been successfully laid over a length of 205 miles, and an average of 1,500 fathoms in depth.

The wires of the new telegraph line from Boston to Washington are laid already to Providence. The line is constructed by the Independent Telegraph Company, consists of three wires, and is what is called a metallic circuit. The wires may be fastened to trees or any convenient object, or pass through water without impairing their efficiency, and they cannot be tapped to take away what is passing.

THE BOOK TRADE.

I. A History of American Manufactures from 1608 to 1860, exhibiting the Origin and Growth of the Principal Mechanic Arts and Manufactures, from the Earliest Colonial Period to the Adoption of the Constitution, and comprising Annals of the Industry of the United States in Machinery, Manufactures and Useful Arts, with a notice of the Important Inventions, Tariffs, and the results of each Decennial Census. By J. LEANDER BISHOP, M. D. To which are added notes on the principal manufac turing centres and remarkable manufactories of the present time. Vol. 1, octavo, pp. 642. EDWARD YOUNG & Co., Philadelphia.

This is a work that has long been wanted. It is the record of American industry carried down to the beginning of the present century, showing how the foundations were laid, and who laid them, of a yearly business now amounting to over eleven hundred millions of dollars, and employing a capital of over five hundred millions. This book shows how States become rich, and alludes to enterprises, mines, &e., that have been abandoned, but which, with modern appliances, might be made to yield fortunes.

Mr. BISHOP's work includes a sketch of the industrial resources and pursuits of every State in the Union. The ship-building interest of Maine, Massachusetts, NewYork, Maryland, &c., from the year 1650 to this period, finds an ample record. The grist and saw mills of New-York, the coal mines of Pennsylvania, the cotton mills of Rhode Island, &c., find their reliable history here. The work is also full of accurate historical and statistical details as to the important subjects of bark mills, barley and malt, beer, ale and porter, bounties and premiums, brass, iron, copper, lead and other metals, linens, woollens, cottons, flax and hemp, fire-arms, furs, grain, furnaces, gas, granite, gunpowder, glass, hides and skins, hops, hosiery, leather, liquors, lumber, machines, mines, mills, minerals, paper, prices of labor, pianofortes, rail-roads and rolling mills, salt, shoes, silks and steel, &c.

Vast labor and research have been necessary in the compilation of this volume, and, as a national work, of inestimable value to all interested in the triumphs of American genius and the material progress of our country, should find a place in every library, public or private.

The work is peculiarly rich in its historical and statistical details as to the City and the State of New-York; their early ship-building, textile arts, newspapers, mills, mines, leather and metallic manufactures, &c. New-York took the earliest measures to arrest the excessive importations of British goods. As early as the year 1764, a society was established in New-York "for the promotion of arts, agriculture and economy." At that early day they had committees on the arts, on agriculture, on schemes of economy, and offered premiums for various articles of manufactures. Premiums were awarded for the best specimens of hemp and flax, linen cloth, wove stockings, sole leather, shoes, gloves. Medals were announced for the first flax mill, stocking looms, &c. The first vessel built in New-York was in the year 1614, in which vessel the captain two years after discovered the Schuylkill River. Our merchants and manufacturers should read and consult this valuable work in order to find out the origin of the great articles of commerce, and especially the results of labor in the Empire State.

II. Comparative Table, No. 1, of the Exports, Imports and Revenues of all the Coun tries of the Globe, with a sketch of their respective Productions, Agricultural, Mineral and of Manufactures; comprising, also, a Summary Account of their Commerce, Coins and Moneys; of their Rulers and Predominant Religion. Carefully compiled by Dr. K. PETER REEHORST, Professor and Translator, author of the "Mariners' Friend," in ten modern languages. 3 Cowper's Court, Cornhill, London. III. Comparative Table, No. 2, of the Returns of Population, Territorial Extents or Area, the Armies and Navies of all the Countries of the Globe, with their different National Colors, Flags, Standards and Cockades, as shown in the last twelve months. Carefully compiled by Dr. K. PETER REEHORSst.

IV. Statistical Abstract for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, in each of the fifteen years, ending 31st December, 1846 to 1860.

The tabular information in this parliamentary document relates to revenue and expenditures, imports and exports, bullion, shipping, coinage, Savings Banks, Bank of England, population and grain.

The preceding four works have been deposited in the library of the Chamber of Commerce, New-York, where they may be examined by members.

V. Seasons with the Sea-Horses; or, Sporting Adventures in the Northern Seas. By JAMES LAMONT, Esq., F. G. S. 8vo., pp. 282, with a map and eight engravings. HARPER & BROTHERS, New-York.

This work opens with a trip to Spitzbergen, followed by descriptions of the walrus, the seal, the hippopotamus, &c., and hunts for bears, foxes, deer and whales. The volume contains spirited drawings of the author's yacht, the walrus, seal-shooting, bears and cubs, reindeer, &c.

VI. Eighty Years Progress of the United States. Showing the various channels of Industry and Education through which the People of the United States have arisen from a British Colony to their present National Importance, giving, in a historical form, the vast improvements made in Agriculture, Commerce and Manufactures, with a large amount of Statistical Information. By eminent literary men, who have made the subject their study. Illustrated by 220 engravings of the first order. L. S. STEBBINS, Worcester, Mass., 51 John St., New-York.

The first eighty years of the national existence were illustrated by no brilliant military exploits, such as for the most part make up the history of most countries of the Old World, but the American people did not the less on that account assume a marked character, and a first rank among the nations of the earth. Their success in ship-building and commerce at once placed them on a level with the greatest maritime nations. The inventive genius and untiring industry of the people soon revolutionized the manufacturing industry of the world, by the ready application of new mechanical powers to industrial arts; and if the extent and cheapness of land for a time supplied the scarcity of labor in agricultural departments, it did not prevent the multiplication of inventions, which have not only added immensely to home production, but have greatly aided that of European countries. The development of these industries forms the true history of American greatness, and the work of Mr. STEBBINS has given a world of information upon each branch of the subject, in a most authentic and attractive form. The chapters on ship-building, commerce and internal transportation present to the reader a mass of valuable information as astonishing for the magnitude of the results produced as interesting in the narrative. We know of no other work which, in the compass of two handsome volumes, contains such varied and comprehensive instruction of a perfectly reliable character. They form almost a complete library in themselves.

VII. Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts. By HORACE GRAY, Jr. Vol. 13. Boston: LITTLE, BROWN & COMPANY. We are much pleased to receive another volume of GRAY'S Massachusetts Reports. This volume is not only invaluable in Massachusetts, but in every other State, as decisions made in her courts are cited everywhere as the highest authority. In our opinion, also, these decisions should not be thought of service to, or studied by lawyers alone. It has been too much our custom to call State reports law books, and to consider them, therefore, as of little general use. Yet they are filled with clear and authoritative expositions of every-day transactions, the study of which cannot but benefit every one. We see, for instance, in this volume, many important commercial points discussed, and many contracts explained, any of which might arise in the every-day experience of any merchant.

Yet we would not convey the idea that every man should be his own lawyer any more than that every man should be his own doctor. Those who have made the study of law their profession are, of course, best able to explain its knotty points. But a certain knowledge of law is as necessary to every merchant, who would safely conduct his own business, as a knowledge of the simplest laws of health is to one who would enjoy this greatest blessing of life. This necessary knowledge, we insist, therefore, can best, and perhaps we should say only, be obtained, by studying the reports of decisions of the highest of our several State courts, for there the meaning of statutes, contracts and every mercantile transaction is explained and clearly stated.

VIII. The Statutes at Large, and Treaties of the United States of America, passed at the first Session of the Thirty-Seventh Congress, 1861, and carefully collated with the originals at Washington. Edited by GEORGE P. SANGER, Counsellor at Law. Boston: LITTLE, BROWN & COMPANY.

To the lawyer, editor, and all who have occasion to refer to the acts of Congress, this work is of great importance, it being arranged in a very convenient form for reference, with a copious index, too often omitted from similar works.

IX. Framley Parsonage; a novel by ANTHONY TROLLOPE, author of "Dr. THOME,” "The Bertrams," &c. HARPER & BROTHERS, Publishers, New York.

There seems to be a wide diversity of opinion regarding Mr. TROLLOPE's last novel, many of its readers being loud in their praises, while others declare themselves unable to accomplish the perusal of it. Without taking the part of either Framleyites or anti-Framleyites, we can assert that the book is quite out of the ordinary run of novels, and has a decided character of its own. The narrative is chiefly concerning the feuds and friendships of politicians, and the distresses consequent upon money-borrowing and money-lending. In this respect we think it capable of exerting a salutary influence; not upon the borrowing public, for an inveterate borrower is incorrigible, but a few of the poor, dear, indiscreet lenders may still be reclaimable, and to them we heartily commend it.

X. SILAS MARNER, The Weaver of Raveloe. By GEORGE ELIOT, author of "ADAM BEDE," "Mill on the Floss," &c. New-York: HARPER & BROTHERS, Publishers. SILAS MARNER cannot approach "ADAM BEDE" or the "Mill on the Floss," in point of merit, yet there is an originality and life about the writings of Miss EVANS, (or of Mr. ELIOT, as she seems to prefer being called,) which must make any book interesting. Secret Sin and Self-Expiation are the abiding topics with this author. We find them everywhere, in various stages of development, and in SILAS MARNER they flourish in full blossom. The most charming thing in the whole story is the transfer of the wretched miser's affection from his heap of gold to the orphan baby, who creeps to his door through the winter storm. The difference between the love of money, so hardening in its effects, and the love for the helpless sweet-eyed baby, so humanizing and so tender in all its influences, is beautifully told and strongly con

trasted.

XI. The Recreations of a Country Parson. Second series. Boston: TICKNOR & FIELDS.

Every one ought to read the "Recreations." Since ADDISON delighted his silverbuckled cotemporaries, and LAMB charmed his more modern age with the essays of ELIA, there has been no such essayist as the Country Parson. His writings are so wise that they teach us, so playful that they amuse us, and so hearty and simple in their love towards God and our neighbor, that they make the warm heart warmer, and transform the cynic into a philanthropist. He has given us a book for every nation, for every community, for every fireside, for every individual, and none should fail to read it.

We have received from the American Tract Society, 28 Cornhill, Boston, the following:

1. Missionary Life in Persia; being glimpses at a quarter of a century of labors among the Nestorian Christians. By Rev. JUSTIN PERKINS, D. D. With illustrations. 8vo., pp. 250.

This little volume contains a very interesting account of the missionary labors of Mr. PERKINS and others in Persia, during the past thirty years, since the origin of the mission; the state of the field, the opposition of Mohammedans, and the joyful reception given to the missionaries by the Nestorians. The work has already been blessed, and offers a useful field for earnest laborers.

2. Memoirs of THOMAS FOWELL BUXTON; embracing a Historical Sketch of Emancipation in the West Indies, and of the Niger Expedition for the Suppression of the Slave Trade. By MARY A. COLLIER.

This is an admirable little volume, and gives ample light on the early measures to suppress the slave trade.

THE

MERCHANTS' MAGAZINE

AND

COMMERCIAL REVIEW.

Established July, 1839.

EDITED BY

1. SMITH HOMANS, (SECRETARY OF THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE OF THE STATE OF NEW-YORK,) AND WILLIAM B. DANA, ATTORNEY AT LAW.

VOLUME XLV.

DECEMBER, 1861.

NUMBER VI.

ART.

CONTENTS OF No. VI., VOL. XLV.

PAGE

I. COTTON AND ITS CULTURE.-Importance of a Machine and a process to Cottonize Flax into Fibrilia, in aid of the demand for Cotton, by a yearly increase of 6,000,000 of Spindles, requiring 800,000 Bales of Cotton, and, in ten years, a supply of 13,500,000 Bales to Clothe the World-The change of Commerce effected in the Linen Trade, on the Discovery of WHITNEY's Gin, 1795, and the peculiar staple of American Cotton to make Machine Goods-Physical causes of the Sea and Trade Winds giving extra Heat and Moisture outside of the Tropic of Cancer-The true cause of our unique class of Cotton-A Table from BLODGET'S Climatology of Heat and Moisture in the Cotton States. By J. E. BLOOMFIELD,...

II. TOLEDO PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. By J. W. SCOTT,...

III. ENGLISH INSURANCE-STATISTICS OF 1856-1860.-1. Number of Casualties. 2. Loss of Lives, eleven years. 8. Annual Average, eleven years. 4. Wrecks for each year since 1856. 5. Tonnage and character of vessels wrecked,.......

IV. INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION OF WORKS OF INDUSTRY AND ART, TO BE HELD AT LONDON IN MAY, 1862.-1. Divisions of Articles for Exhibition. 2. Commissioners and Agents of the United States. 3. Executive Committee on the part of the United States,....

V. STEAM AND THE TELEGRAPH TO INDIA AND CHINA.-1. Telegraphic and Steam Communication between San Francisco and Asia. 2. Steam to Jeddo, Hakodadi, Nagasaki, Shanghai, Amoy, Hong Kong, Australia and India. 3. Telegraph up the Coast of the Northwest to Oregon, Washington, Vancouver (British) and Sitka, (Russian,) to the Alutian Islands, or via Behring's Straits to Asia, and thence, via the Amoor River and Siberia, overland to Moscow. 4. Lateral lines, to connect with the Main Trunk Line, to Jeddo, Pekin, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Australia; also to Bombay, British India, Persia, the Caspian Sea, Circassia and Georgia, thus uniting the whole world in Telegraphic Union. BY PERRY MOD. COLLINS, late Commercial Agent of the United States at the Amoor,.......

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