PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED,

Otago Witness, Issue 2203, 21 May 1896, Page 40

PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED,

We have noticed on different occasions a little work on " The Feeding and Management cf Australian Infants," by Dr Philip B. Muskett, of Sydney, and it gives us great pleasure to find that (he appreciation with which the broohure continues to be received has compelled the issue of a foutth edition by Messrs Eyr« , -and Spottiswoode, the publishers. Publishing in the colonies is always attended with consider- ! able risk, a fact due more to the sparsity of population than to any lack of reading faculty, and it is therefore all the more pleating to find ! the semi-philanthropic efforts of a busy medical man meeting with' such cheering encouragement as has been the ciee with Dr Muskett. As showing the necessity of a. distinctive Australian work the author in his preface mentions two Old World diseases which appeared in the colonies in such a modified form that they were for a long time uuidentifUble — viz , colonial fever, long thought to be a purtly Australian malady, but subsequently identifi-.d as simply typhoid, and nothing else ; and rickttts, which' was thought to have no existence in the eoloL.i< s ■because it did not conespond with the disease in its most evident form. The Au»tralian child - with this complaint is straight limbsd, yet this type of ricketty, disease is a definite affection. In voting these facts the author anticipates that colonial and peculiarities will ' sooner or litter be found in die eases of the - gtotnaob, lirer, ' and kidneys. In connection .with infant- mortality -in- the four great Aus- , tralian cities more than 60,000 infants under two rears of age have died during the past nine , years r and the author is of opinion that of these '.deaths probably 30,000 could have been preveated. In the work iLtelf there are two new chapters, entitled " Mountain Air a? a Remedy in Disease " and " D*eful Information for Australian Mothers." The recipes are much improved, and thair number conaiderably added to ; and an index, carefully prepared, is also inserted for the first time. Met Era Piictor and Ormsbr send OS number 16 of Sfeoddard's Portfolio of Pictures, the finish of the series. Tee number deals with a varied list of subjects, but wild scenery and comparatively unknown resorts comprise the majority of tbe pictures. The firm huve made arrangements to have the series bound into a handgeme volume for customers at a comparatively slight cost, and no doubt many will take advantage of this offer in order to conserve this most interesting series of pictures and views. The "Art Journal" for April (J. S. Virtue feud Co., Limited, London) is accompanied by a special number devoted entirely to "G. F. Watt?, Royal Academician : His Life and Works," by Julia Oartwtight (Mrs Ady). " I vrent upitairc," writes a French critic who Ti-ited the Art Library at South Kensington Museum for the fir6t time eoms years ego, *' Ortnly convinced that symbolic painting wa.s a . de«d art ; lex me down after of an altogether , different opinion. Wbab. bad no.ked- thi< iuddt n change of mind in these few moments ? U?be sight cf two £ffctures by WaV.s — • Love and Life ' and ' Love and Death/ " Equally '■ well might the Frenchman have qu ted " Charity," reproduced in this issue, or " When Poverty comes in at the door; Love flies out at the window," or Tialf a dvzen other mbjecta which caunot do otlur-vise than set (he thoughts ' agoing. 'Love .and L ; fe" and •• Fata Morgana " a^e exquisite chtomo litho- J graphs on th : ck, ht;.vj paper ; while, in addi- • tioii to numerous reproductions on a smaller icile, tie i*Mie contains some half-dc-zrn fullpage pictuns, each a aepurate &tujy in itself; the total r v mbjf of /reproductions of Mr Wattt's works beh'g übbut 60. Altogether the extra Easter number of the "Art Journal" is an issue which any lover of art may wall long to possess. Tbe only fault to find with this exquisite number is that it somewhat throws tbe accompanying ordinary monthly issue into the background. Notwithstanding this tbe.e is no luck cif variety or attractiveness in the latter It teems with illustrations and their accompanying descriptions, to particularise which would occupy more space than we have at our. disposal. The three full- si zed picture? are " The Communication," from the painting of Sir Edward Burne-Jones, Bart. ; " Whither," from the painting by Albert Maignon ; and " ltotten Row in 1898," %% i rom a paiuting by Mobs. The art collection illustrated is that of "Will am Col' art, E»q , by A. J. Temple, F S.A , and Helen Zimmeru contributes au attractive illustrated sketch of a modern Roman artist, Arietide Sartorio, in which «ha says :—": — " An examination of Sartorio's works, as well as a couveridlion with him, forces on the beholder the conviction that he here deals with a man who belongs to the scbool which' has taken as its models tbe best m-iists of the epoch of the Rea*isEtnc3. H&tiug all over-fiuisb, fell ultra■moothncis, te does uot, < n the other hand, fall into that exaggerated realism that always ends . ' in not being realistic at all. He does not «etk Effects for the mere sake oi makiug an effect,, audit is his intimate conviction that Italian art ' caniK t regain its ancient high standard unless , Ihesrjiists will turn back upon thsir path;, and, refusing to be seduced by auy momentary fashion, will once more seek inspiration in tbe pure beautj of the Italian art of the Renaissance. The most important picturo Sutorio has painted v 'The Wise and foolish Virgin!,', a commission from Coast

Primoli. In this triptych Barfcorio has bean able to give full play to his intellectual and his artistic faculties. The centre of the picture represents the gates of Heaven, and for these gates Sartorio has reproduced Ghibarti's doors leading to the Baptistry of St. John at Florence, named by Michael Angelo 'the portals of a paradise.' On .either side of these stands a guardian angel, and arjg.-h also hover above. In the wings are seen, on one side the wise, and on the other the foolish virgins. The figures are draws with great grace, variety, andjjeanty, leaning, especially in" the foolish virgins, to the female 'type that has become typical of preRaphaelitism — a type that is, perchance, a little anemic and scarcely as healthy end robust as one' would desire for the mothers of a future generation. Its is said that the greatest ladies of" Rome posed to the artist for these figures. There are moments in the artist's life when both brush and pencil fail him, when he has dimly before his miud's eye an image he would express but to which he is nnable to give plastic shape. It is then that he has recourse to his pen, pouring out in verse the santimeats or feelings that fail him on canvas. Some of these poenn are really beautiful."