In the lives of public persons, their public characters are principally, but not solely, to be regarded. The world is inquisitive to know the conduct of its great men as well in private as in public; and both may be of service, considering the influence of their examples. In preparing this department of our work we have aimed to introduce variety,――selecting representative men from all the various pursuits of life. The third department of our work has been designated as the Department of TRAVEL. It embraces the principal voyages of discovery and the lives of great navigators and travelers, since the days of Columbus and Vasco de Gama. In the history of scientific expeditions, the five following divisions may be made: 1. The earliest age of the Phœnicians down to Herodotus, 500 years before Christ. The Phœnicians undertook the first voyages of discovery for commercial purposes, or to found colonies. 2. The travels of the Greeks and the military expeditions of the Romans, from 500 B. C. to 400 A. D. The Greeks made journeys to enlarge the territories of science. The armies of Rome, during this period, supplied an extensive knowledge of a part of Asia, Egypt, the northern part of Africa, and Europe to South Britain. 3. The expeditions of the Germans and Normans until 900 A. D. The Normans discovered the Faroes, Iceland and Greenland. 4. Besides the commercial and military voyages of the Arabs and Mongols, the travels of the Christian Missionaries, and other Europeans, down to 1400, furnished much valuable information. 5. The fifth period, from the year 1400 to the present time, is the period particularly embraced in this work. During this time, North and South America, a portion of Asia, and the interior of Africa, have been explored, and the adventurous voyagers in the Arctic and Antarctic seas, have pushed their researches to within twelve degrees of the poles. Sir J. Ross reached the south latitude of 78 deg. 4 min. in the year 1841. Such are the results of the labors of four centuries. The knowledge has been slowly gathered, but it will remain a lasting testimony to the triumphs of intellect. It is but recently that human enterprise has penetrated many of the secrets of the Antarctic regions,――that realm of mighty contrasts,――and it will doubtless pursue the investigation. ‘Meantime the wintry solitudes of the far south will be undisturbed by the presence of man; the penguin and the seal will still haunt the desolate shores; the shriek of the petrel and the scream of the albatross will mingle with the dash and roar of continual storms, and the crash of wave-beaten ice; the towering volcano will shoot aloft its columns of fire high into the gelid air; the hills of snow and ice will grow and spread; frost and flame will do their work; till, in the wondrous cycle of terrestrial change, the polar lands shall again share in the abundance and beauty which now overspread the sun-gladdened zones.’ TABLE OF CONTENTS. DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY.