Palace is as follows:-The United Statee, 85,000 feet; India, 60,000, other British Colonies, 47,050; France has applied for 100,000 feet, the City of Hamburgh for 28,800. Commissions have been formed in Austria, Spain, and Turkey. It is proposed to send to the Exhibition, bound together, a specimen copy of each of the Canadian newspapers published about the first of January next: also specimens of the leaves of some of the most beautiful American trees and plants. Specimens of the mineral products of England will be exhibited--The wires of the submarine telegraph between France and England having been found too weak, they will hereafter be encased in a ten-inch cable, composed of what is called

whipped plait," with wire rope, all of it chemically prepared and galvinized so as to protect it from rot--A new great seal of Ireland has been constructed of Gutta Percha--Two new Colleges will be opened in Scotland this month; a Free Church one in Edinburgh, and one designed for the Commercial classes in Glasgow-The Pope has concurred in the Memorial from the Synod of Thurles, and refuses his sanction to the Queen's University Colleges in Ireland. Meanwhile the attendance of Roman Catholic, and other students is highly satisfactory Statues of Newton, Shakspeare, Milton, and Bacon are about being erected in front of the British Museum, which is to be enclosed by an iron railing. A portion of the pediment, representing the progress of man, from the time when "wild in the woods the naked savage ran," up to the highest state of civilization, is completed Statues of the great statesman, Sir Robert Peel, are about being erected in various parts of England-The plan of auction sales of pictures in Paris, which originated just after the last Revolution as a dernier resort of artists, has proved eminently successful. They will be the rule instead of the exception hereafter-Beautiful engravings can be produced on black marble by scratching the polished surface with a steel or diamond point, producing a white mark of different degrees of intensity according to the depth of the graving-An inquiry has been instituted at Rome to ascertain the nature and extent of the damage done to works of art during the late political troubles. The loss is estimated at 440,000 francs-Gervinus, the recent historian of German literature, has just published a work on Shakspeare, which has produced a great sensation in Germany-M. Guizot has been elected Director of the French Academy for the year-The total cost of the Britannia Suspension Bridge is £601,865 sterling. The weight of the two iron roadways is 12,000 tons, supported by a mass of masonary of 1,500,000 cubic feet, erected at the rate of three feet a minute- -Lines of electric telegraph are extending rapidly over Central Europe. Within four months 1,000 miles have been spread in Austria, making 2,000 miles in that empire. Another 1,000 miles will be ready next year. The telegraph now works between Cracow and Trieste, 700 miles-The Senate of the University of Padua is about to issue, from MSS. in its library, editions in Hebrew of Dante's Divina Commedia' and Ovid's Metamorphoses'-The 1st vol. of Har per's New Monthly Magazine has been completed. It has reached an edition of 50,000 copies!--Newspapers in England absorb so much of the literary talent of the country that articles in the Reviews have dwindled down in importance and interest; so much so that the two chief English Quarterlies scarcely pay their expenses. An article on the French in the current No. of the Edinburgh (attributed to Lord Brougham) has attracted a good deal of attention--Two new works by Guizot are announced: one on the fall of the Republic in England in 1660, under Gen. Monk; and the other, the rise of the Republic in America, under Gen. Washington--An ærial voyage is proposed to be made from Madrid to England, and over Europe, by a Spaniard, named Montemaynor--The English engineer, Stephenson, is in Egypt, surveying the canal route between the Mediterranean and Red Seas-Asphaltum and iron have been found in abundance in New Brunswick by the Provincial Geologist, Dr. Gesner--The number of periodicals at present published in Russia amounts to 164; 64 of which are published at Petersburg, 13 in Moscow, 5 in Odessa, 22 in Courland and the adjoining provinces, and 50 in the remaining parts of the empire; 108 of these are published in the Russian language, twenty-nine in German, 8 in French, 8 in Italian, 5 in Polish, and 3 in Latin--It is in contemplation to erect a monument in Brantford to the celebrated Canadian Indian warrior, Theyandanegea, Joseph Brant- -A subscription has been started at Madrid to erect a Colossal statue of Columbus in that city, 20 feet high, of Florentine bronze, at an estimated cost of £20,000.—The Prospectus of a literary and industrial paper, entitled, the Canadian Journal has been issued in Toronto, under the auspices of the Mechanics' Institute. Price 12s 6d. per annum.-. -A statue in honour of the hero Wallace is about being erected in Edinburgh-A great Chess match, to be played by amateurs of all nations during the Exhibition of 1851, is being arranged.—A mummy brought from Thebes by Sir J. E. Tennant, has been unrolled at the Belfast Museum.-A monthly Magazine has been announced in England as the organ of the advanced section of the Non-conformists.A monument in honour of Stephenson, "the father of Railroads," is about being erected at Newcastle-upon-Tyne.--The Koh-i-noor diamond, will likely be exhibited among the minerals at the great Exhibition.-Vol

canic eruptions continue to take place from Mounts St, Helen and Baker, in Oregon. An admirable address delivered by the Hon. Justice Day, before the Provincial Industrial Exhibition, appears in the Montreal Pilot in extenso.

Geological Survey of Canada.-Mr. Logan, the provincial geologist, and his assistants, are slowly but scientifically continuing their survey of the Canadas. Messrs. Logan and Murray have passed several months upon the shores of Lake Huron, and are examining the physical structure of the Green Mountains of Vermont in their prolongation into Canada. Their report shows that Lake Superior is nearly 274 feet higher than Lake Huron, of which rise 18 feet is at the Sault St. Marie. Tobermany, near Cape Hurd, is described as an excellent harbour, but with the exception of Goderich harbour, at the mouth of the Hartland, and the basin at the exit of the Riviere au Sable (south) there is not a single place of security for any kind of vessel on Lake Huron between the River Sangume and the St. Clair. Gypsum and hydraulic lime are stated to be plenty, but no coal has been discovered in any part of Canada. The surveying party ascended the Spanish River to the distance of 60 miles from Lake Huron, and found it navigable for 30 miles for vessels drawing 5 feet, with 5 cascades of 127 feet rise, in the next 30 miles. Mr. Logan remarks that the extent and value of the pine forests in this region, the facility afforded by the river for water communication, the water power to be found on the main stream and all its tributaries, and the capabilities of the soil for raising most of the necessaries of life, all tend to indicate a probability that this district is destined to become of great commercial importance.

A Canadian Microscope.-We copy the following, with great pleasure, from the Kingston British Whig of the 12th inst.: "Mr. Smith, watchmaker, has, at the expense of much labor and money, completed a very powerful oxy-hydrogen microscope, the first ever made in Canada; which magnifies the object upwards of ten million times. At a private exhibition at the Lambton House, a variety of insects and other minute objects were submitted to the powers of the microscope, and the result was truly surprising and wonderful. A fly's wing was rendered so enormous, that only a very small portion of it could be contained on the large screen, and its minute and delicate structure was beautifully developed.

Scientific Wonders.-The general faith in science as wonder worker, is at present unlimited; and with it there is cherished the conviction that every discovery or invention admits of a practical application to the welfare of man. Is a new vegetable product brought to this country from abroad, or a new chemical compound discovered, or an anatomical or physical phenomenon recorded, the question is immediately asked, cui bono? What is it good for? Is food or drink to be got out of it? Will it make hats, shoes, or cover umbrellas? Will it kill, or heal? Will it drive a steam engine, or make a mill go? And this truly cui bono question has of late been so satisfactorily answered, that we cannot wonder that the public should persist in putting it somewhat eagerly to every discoverer and inventor, and should believe that if a substance has one valuable application, it will prove, on further investigation, to have a thousand. Gutta percha has not been known in this country ten years, and already it would be more difficult to say what purposes it has not been applied to than to enumerate those to which it has been applied. Gun cotton had not proved in the saddest way its power to kill, before certain ingenious Americans showed that it has a remarkable power of healing, and forms the best sticking plaster for wounds. Surgeons have not applied ether or chloroforms as an anæsthetic for three years; and already an ether steam engine is at work in Lyons, and a chloroform engine in London. Of other sciences we need scarcely speak. Chemistry has long come down from her atomic altitudes and elective affinities, and scours, and dyes, bakes, cooks, and compounds drugs, with contented composure. Electricity leaves her thunderbolt in the sky, and like Mercury dismissed from Olympus, acts as letter carrier, and message boy. Even the mysterious magnetism, which once seemed, a living principle, to quiver in the compass needle, is unclothed in mystery, and set to drive turning lathes. The public perceives all this, and has unlimited faith in man's power to conquer nature. The credulity which formerly fed upon unicorns, phoenixes, mermaids, vampires, krakens, pestilential comets, fairies, ghosts, witches, spectres, charms, curses, universal remedies, pactions with Satan, and the like, now tampers with chemistry, electricity, and magnetism, as it once did with the invisible world. Shoes of Swiftness, seven leagued boots, and Fortunatus wishing caps, are banished even from the nursery, but an electro-magnetic steam fire balloon, which will cleave the air like a thunderbolt, and go as straight to its destination as the crow flies, is an invention which many hope to see realized, before railways are quite worn to pieces. A snuff-box full of new manure, about to be patented, will fertilize a field; and the same amount of the new explosive will dismantle the fortifications of Paris. By means of a fish-tail propellor, to be shortly laid before the Admiralty, the Atlantic will be crossed in three days.-[Edinburgh Review.

Editorial Notices, &c.

SECOND TRIUMPH OF THE FREE SCHOOL QUESTION IN THE STATE OF NEW-YORK.

Our readers are aware that owing to some slight dissatisfaction expressed by a section of the people of the State of NewYork against the system of Free Schools, the Legislature decided upon again submitting the question to the people at the autumn elections. The result of that step is announced in the following paragraph from a New-York paper. We congratulate our neighbours on the result of this second deliberate vote, and on the decisive success of so important a national movement. We ardently hope that Canada will also, ere long, boldly and patriotically assent to the universal diffusion of education among all classes of her people, upon the same terms as have a second time been agreed upon by the great mass of the people in the State of New-York.

"We announce with no common satisfaction, the signal triumph of Free Schools at the recent election. Our returns are as yet very imperfect and scattered, but they induce us to believe that the State canvass will show a majority against the Repeal of the Free School Law' of 50,000 to 100,000. We hear of majorities for Repeal in very few localities, while majorities against Repeal are numerous and abundant. We think this city has given at least thirty thousand majority against Repeal; had a full vote been polled, it would have been forty thousand. Many votes were lost through inattention, some for want of ballots. However, 'enough is as good as a feast,' and we feel confident that Education Free to All has been re-affirmed as a cardinal principle of our political system by a large majority. Now let the new Legislature silence all constitutional cavils by re-enacting the law, with whatever modifications and improvements experience may have suggested. and New York will have set her sister States South and West of her a noble example. Free Schools for all and for ever!

THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING:

Or the Motives cnd Methods of Good School Keeping: By D. P. PAGE, Esq., A.M., late Principal of the State Normal School, Albany. 12th edition, New York. A. S. BARNES & Co. Svo., pp. 349.

In a practical educating age like this, few professional books on the subject of education seem to be so admirably adapted to the purposes for which it is designed, as the volume before us. There are 15 chapters in the book devoted to various important subjects connected with "Good School Keeping." The work would prove a valuable book of reference for local Superintendents in their preparation for the delivery of lectures in the various School Sections under their charge. As a manual for Teachers it is unequalled among the many rival books on the subject as it contains the result of many years of practical teaching by the gifted and lamented Master of the New York Institution, designed for the especial training of Common School Teachers. The book may be obtained at this Office. Price 5s.

Two LECTURES ON AGRICULTURAL CHEMISTRY:

By H. Y. HIND, Esq., Mathematical Master, etc., Normal School,
Toronto. H. SCOBIE, 12mo., pp. 84.

This admirable brochure contains a very concise summary of facts and principles illustrative of the Science of Agriculture. The style of the author is remarkably clear and elegant. His propositions are distinctly and popularly elucidated, and even to the general reader they will rarely be found obscured by the use of a purely technical phraseology. The Lectures were originally delivered by Mr. Hind while on a tour last summer for the purpose, in conjunction with the Head Master of the Normal School, of holding preliminary Teachers' Institutes in the several Counties of U. C. They are interspersed with interesting and striking statistics collected from various Canadian and other sources. Indeed, the general adaptation of these Lectures to the wants of the Canadian Agriculturist has impressed us very favourably. We cordially recommend the Lectures to this class of our readers, as well as to Teachers and local Superintendents

generally. No Teacher should be without a copy: the work may be procured at this Office, price 1s. 3d., and can be transmitted by post.

-

NOTICE TO COUNTY CLERKS AND LOCAL SUPERINTENDENTS. Boxes containing copies of the last Annual Report of the Chief Superintendent, for the several Municipal Councils and School Corporations, Trustees, Local Superintendents, and Boards of School Trustees, in Upper Canada,-Blank Forms of School Reports for 1850,--Copies of the work on "School Architecture," designed for the several Municipal Corporations, and also of the School Act, Forms, Circulars, &c., have been sent by Steamboat and Express to the Clerks of the several Counties in Upper Canada.

JUST PUBLISHED.-Two Lectures on Agricultural Chemistry.

By HENRY YOULE HIND, Mathematical Master and Lecturer on Chemistry and Natural Philosophy, Provincial Normal School, Upper Canada. Price-1s. 3d. Toronto:-HUGH SCOBIE, 16, King Street East, and Sold by all Booksellers. November 18, 1850.

WANTED.-A Young Man whose present engagement will

terminate about the middle of December next, will want a situation in a Grammar School, a good Common School, or as an Assistant in some higher Institution. He has had several years experience in the business of Teaching-about two years of the time in one of the Provincial Colleges. He is qualified to teach the common and higher branches of an English Education. The Classics, so far as is necessary for entering on the regular Collegiate course. The French language and the most useful branches of the Mathematics. He teaches on the Normal School system.-Address, R. T. C., Grimsby, C. W.

WANTED.-A Teacher who received a regular University

Education in Edinburgh, has had extensive experience in conducting large Classes in that City; and who is well acquainted with the most approved systems of Education both in England and Scotland. He finished his French Education in Paris.

Numerous Testimonials from Gentlemen of high respectability and talents, both in Edinburgh and in this country may be seen by applying to J. George Hodgins, Esq., Education Office, Toronto. If by letter, postpaid, or to R. N., London Post Office, C. W.

WANTED.-A Teacher who has had six years' experience in

Teaching in his Province, and holds a First Class Certificate, is desirous of obtaining a good School; a village would be preferred. Engagement to commence on 1st January. Apply, if by letter post-paid,.to T. S. M., Oshawa.

CHAMBER'S EDUCATIONAL COURSE.

THE

THE SCIENTIFIC SECTION.

PUBLISHED BY A. S. BARNES & Co., NEW-York.

THE Messrs. Chambers have employed the first professors in Scotland in the preparation of these works. They are now offered to the schools of this country, under the American revision of D. M. REESE, M.D., LL.D., late Superintendent of Public Schools in the City and County of New-York.

I. CHAMBERS' TREASURY OF KNOWLEDGE.

II. CLARK'S ELEMENTS OF DRAWING AND PERSPECTIVE.
III. CHAMBERS' ELEMENTS OF NATURAL PHILOSOPHY.
IV. REID AND BAIN'S CHEMISTRY AND ELECTRICITY.

V. HAMILTON'S VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL PHYSIOLOGY.
IV. CHAMBERS' ELEMENTS OF ZOOLOGY.
VII. PAGE'S ELEMENTS OF GEOLOGY.

Toronto: Printed and published by THOMAS H. BENTLEY. TERMS: 5s. per annum in advance. No subscription received for less than one year, commencing with the January Number. Single Nos. 74d each. Back Numbers supplied to all new Subscribers. The 1st and 2nd Vols., neatly stitched, may be obtained upon application, price, 5s. each.

All Communications to be addressed to Mr. HODGINS, Education Office, Toronto.

THE GIFTS OF SCIENCE TO ART. STEAM-DAGUERREOTYPE - LIGHTNING CONDUCTORS— THE SAFETY LAMP-ELECTRO-PLATING AND GILDING -THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.

Each succeeding age and generation leaves behind it a peculiar character, which stands out in relief upon its annals, and is assuciated with it for ever in the memory of posterity. One is signalized for the invention of gunpowder, another for that of printing; one is rendered memorable by the revival of letters, another by the reformation of religion; one epoch is rendered illustrious by the discoveries of Newton, another by the conquests of Napoleon. If we are asked by what characteristic the present age will be marked in the records of our successors, we answer, by the miracles which have been wrought in the subjugation of the powers of the material world to the uses of the human race. In this respect no former epoch can approach to competition with the present.

Although the credit of the invention of the steam-engine must be conceded to the generation which preceded us, its improvement and its most important applications are unquestionably due to our contemporaries. So little was the immortal Watt himself aware of the extent of the latent powers of that machine, that he declared, upon the occasion of his last visit to Cornwall, on ascertaining that a weight of twenty-seven millions of pounds had been raised one foot high by the combustion of a bushel of coals under one of his boilers, that the ne plus ultra was attained, and that the power of steam could no further go. Nevertheless, the Patriarch of the steam-engine lived to see forty millions of pounds raised the same height by the same quantity of fuel. Had he survived only a few years longer, he would have seen even this performance doubled, and still more recently it has, under favorable circumstances, been increased in a threefold ratio.

But it is not in the mere elevation of mineral substances from the crust of the globe, nor in the drainage of the vast subterranean regions which have become the theatre of such extensive operations of industry and art, that steam has wrought its greatest miracles. By its agency coal is made to minister in an infinite variety of ways to the uses of society. Coals are by it taught to spin, weave, dye, print, and dress silks, cottons, woollens, and other cloths; to make paper, and print books on it when made; to convert corn into flour; to press oil from the olive, and wine from the grape; to draw up metal from the bowels of the earth; to pound and smelt it, to melt and mould it; to forge it; to roll it, and to fashion it into every form that the most wayward caprice can desire. Do we traverse the deep ?— they lend wings to the ship and bid defiance to the natural opponents, the winds and the tides. Does the wind-bound ship desire to get out of port to start on her voyage?-steam throws its arms round her, and places her on the open sea. Do we traverse the land?-steam is harnessed to our chariot, and we outstrip the flight of the swiftest bird, and equal the fury of the tempest.

The great pyramid of Egypt stands upon a base measuring seven hundred feet each way, and is five hundred feet high. According to Herodotus, its construction employed a hundred thousand labourers for twenty years. Now we know that the materials of this structure might be raised from the ground to their present position by the combustion of four hundred and eighty tons of coals.

The Menai Bridge consists of about two thousand tons of iron, and its height above the level of the water is one hundred and twenty feet. Its entire mass might be lifted from the level of the

water to its present position by the combustion of four bushels of coal!

Marvellous as the uses are to which heat has been rendered subservient, those which have been obtained from light are not less so. Ready-made flame is fabricated in vast establishments, erected in the suburbs of cities and towns, and transmitted in subterranean pipes through the streets and buildings which it is desired to illuminate. It is supplied according to individual wants, in measured quantity; and at every door an automaton is stationed, by whom a faithful register is kept of the quantity of flame supplied from hour to hour!

It resulted from scientific researches on the properties of solar light, that certain metallic preparations were affected in a peculiar manner by being exposed to various degrees of light and shade. This hint was not lost. An individual, whose name has since become memorable, M. Daguerre, thought that as engraving consisted of nothing but the representation of objects by means of incisions on a metallic plate, corresponding to the lights and shades of the object represented-and as these same lights and shades were shown by the discoveries of science to produce on the metals specific effects, in the exact proportion of their intensities-there could be no reason why the objects to be represented should not be made to engrave themselves on plates properly prepared!! Hence arose the beautiful art now become so universally useful, and called after its inventor-Daguerreotype.

But of all the gifts which Science has presented to Art in these latter days, the most striking and magnificent are those in which the agency of electricity has been evoked.

From the moment electric phenomena attracted the attention of the scientific world, the means of applying them to the useful purposes of life were eagerly sought for. Although such applications had not yet entered into the spirit of the age as fully as they have since done, it so happened that in this department of physics, & volunteer had enlisted in the army of science, the characteristic of whose genius was eminently practical, and soon achieved, by his discoveries, an eminence to which the world has since offered universal homage.

Art often presses into its service the discoveries of Science, but it sometimes provokes them. Art surveys the fruit of the toil of the philosopher, and selects such as suits her purposes; but sometimes not finding what is suitable to her wants, she makes an appeal to Science, whose votaries direct their researches accordingly toward the desired objects, and rarely fail to attain them.

One of the most signal examples of the successful issue of such an appeal presents itself in the safety-lamp.

The same gas which is used for the purpose of illumination of our cities and towns (and which, as is well known, is obtained from coals by the process of baking in close retorts) is often spontaneously developed in the seams of coal which form the mines, and collects in large quantities in the galleries and workings where the coalminers are employed. When this gas is mingled with common air, in a certain definite proportion, the moisture becomes highly ex, plosive, and frequently catastrophes, attended with frightful loss of life, occurred in consequence of this in the mines, The prevalence of this evil at length became so great, that Government called the attention of scientific men to the subject, and the late Sir Humphrey Davy engaged in a series of experimental researches with a view

o the discovery of some efficient protection for the miner, the result of which was, the now celebrated safety-lamp.

The instrument by which he accomplished this was as remarkable for its simplicity as for its perfect efficiency. A common lantern, containing a lamp or candle, instead of being as usual enclosed by glass or horn, was enclosed by wire gauze of that degree of fineness in its meshes which experiment had proved to be impervious to flame. When such a lantern was carried into an atmosphere of explosive gas, the external atmosphere would enter, freely through the wire gauze, and would burn quietly within the lantern; but the meshes which thus permitted the cold gas to enter, forbade the white hot gas within to escape withoutparting with so much of its heat in the transit as to deprive it of the character and properties of flame; so that although it passed into the external explosive atmosphere, it was no longer in a condition to inflame it. The lamp thus serves a double purpose; it is at once a protection and a warning. It protects, because the flame cannot ignite the gas outside the lantern. It warns, because the miner, seeing the gas burning within the lantern, is informed that he is enveloped by an explosive atmosphere, and takes measures accordingly to ventilale the gallery, and meantime to prevent unguarded lights from entering in.

As wire gauze drains flame of its danger in the safety-lamp, it drains air of its poison by another felicitous applictaion of a physical principle in the case of the needle-grinder's mask. In that department of industry, the health of the artisan was impaired, and the duration of his life abridged, by respiring continually, while at work, an atmosphere impregnated with steel-dust. A mask was invented composed of a gauze formed of magnetized wire, through which the artisan was to breathe. The air in passing from the external atmosphere to the mouth and nostrils, left all the steel-dust which it held in suspension on the wire of the mask, from which, from time to time, it was wiped off as it accumulated.

Electricity has proved a fertile source of benefits conferred on Art by Science. When a galvanic current is passed through a fluid which holds in solution any substance which has the property of being attracted by one of the poles of the battery, such substance will desert the fluid, and collect upon any object, being & conductor, which may be used to form the attracting pole.

This fact has been already variously applied in the arts, and in no case with greater felicity and success than in the process of gilding and silvering the baser metals.

Let us suppose that it be required to gild an object formed of silver, copper, or any inferior metal. The object being first fabricated in the form it is designed to have, is submerged in a fluid which holds gold in solution. It is then put in connection with the attracting pole of the galvanic battery, while the solution of gold is put in connection with the other pole. The galvanic current thus passing through the solution, will decompose it, and the gold will attach itself to the metallic object, which, in a few seconds, will be sensibly gilt.

An object may be silvered in some parts, and gilt in others, by a very simple expedient. Let the parts intended to be gilt be coated with some non-conducting substance, not affected by the solution of silver, and let the object be then immersed in the solution, and put in connection with the galvanic battery, as already described. The parts not coated will then be plated. Let the parts thus plated be now coated with a non-conducting substance not affected by the solution of gold, the coating previously applied being removed, and let the object be immersed in a solution of gold, and being connected with the battery, the parts not coated will be gilt.

But of all the applications of electric agency to the uses of life, that which is transcendently the most admirable in its effects, and the most important in its consequences, is the electric telegraph. No force of habit however long continued, no degree of familiarity can efface the sense of wonder which the effects of this most marvellous application of science excites.-Dublin University Mag.

FREE PUBLIC EDUCATION IN CANADA. Extract from the Lecture of John Kirkland, Esq., Local Superintendant of Guelph and Puslinch.

Men who would submit to be taxed without murmuring for the purpose of carrying the horrors of war into the borders of a hostile nation, losing sight of the great prospective blessings which the universal diffusion of education would impart, were grudging

the possible appropriation of a part of their Educational tax to the benefit of their neighbours' children. He said the possible appropriation, because, as a general principle, the changes which took place in families caused almost any given family, which might happen at one time to pay more than it received, to be almost certain, in the revolution of a few years, to receive more education than it paid for; so that in the end, even on the score of profit and loss, in mere dollars, the account was almost sure to be balanced. Such penny-wise persons, however, might rest assured that, though they might possibly succeed in retarding the adoption of the Free School System in their own locality, and thus ensure to themselves the censure of posterity whose interests they had endeavoured to sacrifice, they could not altogether prevent it. The signs of the times were so unequivocal as to the universal adoption of the Free School System, that he hazarded nothing in saying it was à mere question of time: but at the same time on the prompt solution of that question depended the intellectual and moral status of the coming generation. Any system of practical education would be seriously defective, which did not provide for the development of the essential attributes which crowned man with glory and honour, and sustained him in his proud position as "lord of creation," in accordance with the great principle, that whilst the laws of God were all true and exact, they were so made to operate as to give expansion to every created thing up to the full elevation of its nature; and that not in a sort of indefinite aggregate condition of the being as a whole, but in the full development of every separate part or faculty in its due proportion-physical, mental, moral, and spiritual. Supposing the physical effects of the fall of man to remain unchanged, if human sorrows were limited to such as necessarily flowed from that source, they would be immeasurably lighter than they were; and true wisdom would direct educational efforts with a view to arrive at such a consummation as nearly and as quickly as possible. The prophetic Scriptures shadowed forth such a state of things; and its advent, looking to the operation of cause and effect, with the sanction and blessing of Almighty God upon the agencies which, for the first time in the world's history, were being put into operation on a large scale, was not so chimerical or distant as it would appear at first sight. Were we to draw an imaginary picture of the state of human society, on the supposition that man had retained his original innocence, in combination with the expansion of the faculties of every human being, "up to the full elevation of his nature," and then make the necessary deductions for the physical curse, we might arrive at a pretty definite idea of the practical elevation of which human society was susceptible. We might suppose that whilst man's sensual and intellectual pursuits were regulated by moral rectitude, his necessary intellectual and bodily exertions would neither be oppressive nor of doubtful results. In the absence of the curse, regular attention would secure an unfailing supply of food; in the universal prevalence of competence, morality, and content,-every man's conscience being a law unto himselt, there would be no necessity for written laws being added, "because of transgression," or for the education of "gentlemen learned in the law," or for complaints of the exorbitance of lawyers' charges, or for constables, magistrates, bailiffs, jailers, and those periodical displays of human depravity and legal cunning, furnished by assizes and quarter sessions, in which the concentrated power of society had to deal with the erring man whom, when a child, it had neglected to train "in the way he should go," and to punish him as a felon at four-fold the cost which would have been required to furnish him with knowledge and motives to become a blessing to his generation. Despotism and anarchy, civil wars and international disputes would be out of the question; and naval armaments would not be needed; the butchery of battles and sieges would not cause the blood of human brotherhood to cry from the ground, nor "soldiers of fortune" to "seek the bubble reputation at the cannon's mouth;" nor would the resources of nations be laid under contributions for generations to come, to gratify the passions and carry out the schemes of unprincipled and unfeeling men; nor have to contend in self-defence, against unjust aggressions. The expenditure of public property on the erection of prisons, fortifications, penitentiaries, poor-houses, or the pensioning of those wrecks of human beings whom the fiendish appliances of war had not dispossessed of life, would have been equally avoided; and every day's walk, and every dollar expended, would, like the rain and the sunshine, have brought blessing to man.

The illimitable range of human interests, enjoyments, distresses, and responsibilities,-sensual, social, mental, and moral,-demanded that the intellectual faculties should be as fully developed as opportunity would permit; and that the mechanical means for the transmission of thought from mind to mind should combine distinctness, variety, and facility of expression. Man possessed bodily organs fitted for the purpose; but, unlike the lower animals, the powers of those organs were not so uniformly or instinctively capable of fulfilling their functions. The local associations of the individual determined the mode and extent of their development. They, as well as the moral and intellectual faculties, required to be cultivated by precept and example; in other words, their correct exercise constituted one part of practical education. It was true the uneducated rustic, who had never travelled beyond the vicinity of his own birth-place, found no difficulty in conversing for the necessary purposes of common life, so as to be understood, and if a stranger happened occasionally to visit the unfrequented locality, his different modes of thought and expression called forth expressions of vulgar merriment, and perhaps contempt, at his supposed affectation; but let the rustic leave his own locality, and he became "the observed of all observers," finding the laugh turned upon himself; or if he wished to correspond with distant persons by letter, he must either employ some person to write for him, or, if he could write at all, and determined to do so in his own imperfect way, his bad spelling, his ill-chosen words, and almost unintelligible sentences would render it almost impossible for his puzzled correspondent to come at his meaning. In addition to the practical difficulties which educational deficiencies threw in the way of intercourse. they made the uneducated man a butt for ridicule of the aristocrat-an object of pity to the philanthropist : a cat's paw for the unprincipled, politician; a pigeon for the sharper, and the helpless prey of statecraft, law-craft, and priest-craft. [Reported in the Guelph Advert.

THE BIBLE AND EDUCATION.

When men speak of discarding the Bible from Education, it is enough to set the world on fire. Where, in the wide earth, is there a book like it? In what library will you find such narratives, such wisdom, such pictures of domestic life, such panoramic, exhibitions of natural history, such glowing poetical visions, such inimitable simplicity and powers of diction?. There is not a book in the world to be compared with it, even although it were not the book of God; and admitting it to be His, kings may well place their crowns beneath it, and philosophers sit with it on their knees, and merchants carry it with them in their travels, and sailors and soldiers deposit it in the safest corner of their chests, and missionaries go forth with it as beyond price, to give it to the heathen. Take it away and it would be as if you were to quench the sun, so that the gloom and confusion of a second chaos would fall upon the condition and prospects of mankind.,

: Sometimes it would appear as if it were supposed that, in contending for the fundamental use of the Bible in the work of education, we mean that the Bible should supplant everything else. But there can be no greater mistake than this. Take the Bible, we say, for what it is, a book of religion and morality. In connection with these, it contains some history, poetry, and propheey; but its proper character is, that it is a popular book, that is, a book designed for the mass of mankind on these subjects. If you can educate the young without religion and morality, then you may educate them without the Bible; but if you cannot, then the Bible you must have, because it is, in all respects, incomparably the best, and in many most important respects, the only book on these subjects.

Let parents and teachers consider their responsibility, as superintending the formation of character in the young. They have a prodigiously important trust in hand; and all their schemes and labours distinctly manifest that they are alive to this fact. Let the young themselves awake to the obligation of rightly improving the precious season allotted for education, and now fleeting so rapidly away; and, above all, let them be careful to listen to the voice of God, proclaiming in his Word, that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." Never can they learn with so much ease and proficiency as now; and their study should be to learn the best things, and to learn them with diligence and care. Let Christians every where awake to the commanding claims of the religious education of the young. Other means of doing good are not to be

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neglected; but this should occupy a very high and prominent place. "Educate, educate !" is a voice that comes from every corner of the land on the ear of patriotism; and that education may accomplish its lofty end, in forming the character, and preparing for a holy and spiritual life, the Bible must be its basis, and eternity the sole boundary of its aims.-Scottish Christian Herald.

TEACHERS MAKING EXCUSES.

Read the following hints to teachers, and avoid making excuses for the defects of your school.

I think that it was Franklin that said, "A man who is good for making excuses is good for nothing else." I have often thought of this as I have visited the schools of persons given to this failing. It is sometimes quite amusing to hear such a teacher keep up a sort of running apology for the various pupils. A class is called to read. The teacher remarks, "This class has just commenced reading in this book." Stephen finishes the first paragraph, and the teacher adds, "Stephen has not attended school very regularly lately." William reads the second. "This boy," says the teacher, "was very backward when I came here he has but just joined this class." Mary takes her turn. "This girl has lost her book, and her father refuses to buy her another." Mary here blushes to the eyes; for though she could bear his reproof, she has still some sense of family pride; she bursts into tears, while Martha reads the next paragraph. "I have tried all along," says the teacher, "to make this girl raiso her voice, but still she will almost stifle her words." Martha looks dejected, and the next in order makes an attempt.

Now the teacher, in all this, has no malicious design to wound the feelings of every child in the class, and yet he has as effectually accomplished that result as if he had premeditated it. Every scholar is interested to read as well as possible in the presence of strangers; every one makes the effort to do so, yet every one is practically pronounced to have failed. The teacher's love of approbation has so blinded his own perception, that he is regardless of the feelings of others, and thinks of nothing but his own,

The over-anxiety for the good opinion of others shows itself in a still less amiable light, when the teacher frequently makes unfavuorable allusions to his predecessor. "When I came here," says the teacher, significantly, "I found them all poor readers." Or if a little disorder occurs in a school, he takes care to add, "I found the school in perfect confusion" or, "the former teacher, as near as I cau learn, used to allow the children to talk and play as much as they pleased." Now whatever view we take of such a course, it is impossible to pronounce it any thing better than despicable meanness, For if the charge be true, it is by no means magnanimous to publish the faults of another; and if it is untrue in whole or in part, as most likely it is, none but a contemptible person would magnify another's failings to mitigate his own.

There is still another way in which this love of personal applause exhibits itself. I have seen teachers call upon their brightest scholars to recite, and then ask them to tell their age, in order to remind the visitor that they were very young to do so well; and then insinuate that their older pupils could of course do much better. · All these arts, however, recoil upon the teacher who uses them. A visitor of any discernment sees through them at once, and immediately suspects the teacher of conscious incompetency or wilful deception. The pupils lose their respect for a man whom they all perceive to be acting a dishonourable part. I repeat, then, never attempt to cover the defects of your schools by making ridiculous excuses. -Selected.

THE BASIS OF PROGRESS.-The Institutions and manners of society indicate the state of mind of the influential classes at the time when they prevail. The trial and burning of old women as witches, indicate the predominance of wonder, over reason"; the practice of wager of battle, and of ordeal by fire and water, show great intellectual ignorance of the course of Providence. The enormous sums expended in war, and the small sums grudgingly paid for education; the intense energy displayed in the pursuit of wealth, and the general apathy exiueed in the pursuit of knowledge and virtue, show ihe predominance of selfisness and the lower propensities. It is not safe, therefore, to establish institutions greatly in advance of the mental condition of the mass, but the rational method is, first to instruct them; to elevate the standard of morals, and then to form arrangements in harmony with improved public opinion.