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Literary and Scientific Entelligence.

Literary Order of Knighthood.—It is said the Queen is about to institute a new order of Knighthood, for persons eminent in literature, science and art, to be called the "Order of Minerva," and to consist of twenty-four knights.

Government Contribution to Science.-A letter has been addressed to the Council of the Royal Society of England, by Lord John Russell, offering to place at the disposal of the Society, for scientific purposes, this year, £1,000, and probably the same amount in successive years.

Pension to Mr. Petrie.-The Queen has conferred a pension of £100 per annum from the Civil List, upon Dr. George Petrie, one of the Honorary Secretaries of the Royal Irish Academy, who is well known for his antiquarian researches.

African Travellers.-Government has determined to afford effectual assistance to Mr. Richardson, the African Traveller, in prosecuting his travels and researches in the great desert of Sahara, Soudon and the regions of Bornou and the Lake Tshad. Mr. Richardson will be accompanied by Drs. Barth and Overweg, Prussian savans, who are charged by Government to draw up a scientific report.

The Exhibition of the Works of all Nations.-The Society of Arts has concluded contracts with Messrs. James and George Munday, the public works contractors, for carrying out Prince Albert's projected exhibition of arts and industry of all nations, to take place in 1851. The Messrs Munday undertake, without any security, to carry out the exhibition on their own responsibility, and to indemnify the Society of Arts for all expenses and liabilities; to erect the necessary buildings, at a cost of some £50,000, and to provide £20,000 for prizes.

M. Verbeyst, the most celebrated book-collector in Europe, or perhaps in the world, has just died at Brussels at an advanced age. He had founded a very curious establishment, consisting of a house of several stories, and as high as a church, and disposed so as to contain about 300,000 volumes, arranged according to their subjects.

New Application of Photography.-One of the greatest improvements which have yet been made in the practice of photography is, the substitution of plates of glass for sheets of paper. The simplicity of the process on glass is one advantage; but the perfection of primary pictures thus obtained and the great beauty of the positive photographs copied from them are what render the discovery of the greatest value. In 1840, Sir John Herschel published in the Philosophical Transactions, (vol. 131, pages 11-13) a description of some processes by which he obtained pictures with the camera on glass plates, and produced positive copies from them upon paper. They were of exceeding delicacy and beautiful definition,judging from a specimen which we have seen representing the great telescope of Sir W. Herschel previous to its destruction.

Incombustible Man.-M. Boutigney, the author of the experiment of making ice in a red hot crucible, divides or cuts with his hand a jet of melted metal, or plunges his hand into a pot of incandescent metal. No precautions are necessary to preserve it from the disorganizing action of the incandescent matter; only have to fear, especially if the skin be humid, and pass the hand rapidly, but not too rapidly, through the metal in full fusion. There is no contact between the metals; the hand becomes isolated; the humidity which covers it passes into the spheroidal state, reflects are radiating caloric, and does not become heated enough to boil. M. Boutigny has often repeated the apparently dangerous experiment in lead, bronze, &c., and always with success.

Naptha Gas.-The streets of Parsonstown on the Earl of Rosse's Estate, Ireland, are to be lighted with Naptha, which gives a most brilliant light.

Time of Building the Britannia Bridge.-Should the first line of tube be completed by March, 1850, the work will then have been nearly four years in progress. Telford's Menai Suspension Bridge was eight years in building. The weight of its iron work, compared with that of the Britannia Bridge, being as 644 to 10,000 tons.

Spindle Statistics.-It appears, by statistics recently published, that there are 28,000,005 spindles at work in the world. Out of these, England, including the United Kingdom, commands a force of 17,500,000; America, with all her competition, 2,000,000; Russia about the same number; France, 3,000,000; and Belgium considerably less than any of the three.

Terrestrial Magnetism.-Some interesting investigations in terrestrial magnetism, made by Professor Norton, of Delaware College, have recently been communicated to the American Journal of Science.

The theory is new. According to it every particle of matter at the surface of the earth, and to a certain depth below it, is endued with a magnetic force, acting, like the magnetic force of an electric current, transversely to the ideal line connecting the particle with the magnetic needle, the inteusity of which is proportioned to the temperature of the particle. This theory proves to be adequate to the explanation of all the phenomena of the general action of the earth upon the magnetic needle; and serves also with the computation, with a very close approximation to the truth of the direction of the needle, and of the intensity of the force acting upon it over all parts of the earth. It has also achieved the signal triumph of furnishing the first rational physical explanation of the daily variations that occur in the earth's magnetic action, by tracing them to the daily variations that occur in the temperature and humidity of the earth's surface. These investigations reveal the existence of unsuspected and very interesting relations between the thermal and magnetic state of the earth's surface, and show that the daily changes which take place in the action of the earth upon the magnetic needle proceed" pari passu" with the meteorological changes that occur in its vicinity.

"It is certainly a novel and beautiful result, that, in the disturbed movements and changes of force of a delicately poised magnetic needle, we can read the story at the same time of each passing change of temperature of the warm dew that steals noiselessly down at night, and of the rain that falls to rise again in invisible vapor at the awakening touch of the rays of the sun. In making these discoveries, Prof. Morton throws a flood of light upon much that has always been enveloped in the darkness of mystery. He reveals a field in which men of science will enter with delight; but we trust it will not be forgotten who unbarred the entrance gate."

The Phantascope.-A new philosophical instrumont in the departure of optics, has been invented by Professor Locke, of Cincinnati, called by him The Phantascope. It depends on principles of optics, announced by him in Prof. Silliman's Journal of last winter, under the head of Binocular Vision. It is very simple, and has neither lenses, prisms, nor reflectors. It consists of a flat board base, about nine by seven inches, with two upright rods, one at each end, a horizontal strip connecting the upper ends of the uprights, and a screen of diaphragm, nearly as large as the base, interposed between the top strip and the tabular base, this screen being adjustable to any intermediate height. The top strip has a slit onefourth of an inch wide, and about three inches long from left to right. The observer places his eyes over this slit, looking downward. The moveable screen has also a slit of the same length, but about an inch wide. This instrument may be expected to be fully explained in Silliman's Journal for January.

Valuable Presents to the Legislative Library of Canada.Upwards of one thousand seven hundred volumes of Parliamentary Works have been presented by order of the Speaker of the House of Commons, to the Library of the Canadian Assembly; they include a complete set of the Commons Journals from 1547, in 110 volumes; also a series of the Sessional papers from 1800 to the latest date, containing the whole of the valuable statistical and general information which have been from time to time laid before the House, together with Reports of Committees, Commissions of Inquiry, &c., &c. Caleb Hopkins, Esq., also has presented to the Library of the House of Assembly a full set of the Journals and Appendices of the Upper Canada Lower House.

High Life. The chamois and ibex are found on the Alps as high up as 9,000 feet; the goat of Cashmere browses at a height of 13,000 feet above the level of the sea, and the Pamir sheep live at an elevation loftier than the granite peak of Mont Blanc.

Age of the Principal Papers in London.-The London Times was established on the first of January, 1788, but bore the number 941, having previously appeared as the Universal Register. The Public Ledger dates from 1759, the Morning Chronicle from 1769, the Morning Post from 1772, the Morning Herald from 1784, and the Morning Advertiser from 1795.

Interesting Items from the Berlin Correspondence of the N. Y. Commercial Advertiser. The Carnival Society of Cologne, famous in poetry and prose for the splendour of its annual celebration, has resolved to have none this year. Its president, M. Raveaux, is now a political exile. The society has resolved that uproarious joy is not in harmony with the present unhappy condition of Germany. The magnificent wardrobe has been ordered to be sold for the benefit of the political fugitives now in Switzerland.

The fine Library of Tieck, the poet, was sold at auction last month, for the payment of his debts. A large number of the most valuable works were purchased by admirers who, as a token of thetr admiration, have returned them to Tieck for his life time. At his decease, they are to be placed in the Royal Library.

Shakespeare in Germany. The Royal Theatre presents every week one or more of the plays of Shakespeare. Henry the IV, Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Coriolanus and Macbeth, have already been produced. The Germans appreciate at least as highly as the English the genius of the great dramatist, while the German translations of his plays are the best existing in any foreign language. The commentaries of the German critics on Shakespeare are richer and more profound than any in English. Among these stand pre-eminent those of Lessing, Tieck, Schlegel and Herder.

The Marble Bust of the late Professor Gesenius, so well known in America as a theologian, has been set up in the grand hall of the University of Halle.

Berlin Popular Libraries.-Four popular libraries have been organized in this city, and go into operation immediately. The object of their founders, among whom is Professor Von Raumer, is to place books within the reach of the poorest of the people.

Louis Philippe's New Work.-The politicians are looking with some anxiety for the appearance of a work in four volumes, from the pen of Louis Philippe. It is to be entitled, "Eighteen years of Royalty," and will doubtless contain many new views of persons who have figured prominently on the political stage in the last generation.

Lamartine and the Sultan of Turkey.-The Sultan is said to have ceded to M. Lamartine a large tract of land lying some twelve miles from Smyrna, in Asia Minor. It is about fifty miles in circumference and contains five, villages, whose inhabitants live on the property, paying a small rent to the Sultan, who has been the sole proprietor. The land is fertile, produces orange ond olive trees in abundance, and is suited in fact to almost any kind of cultivation. The chateau is situated in the central part of the tract, near a fine lake well stocked with fish M. Lamartine has despatched an agent to perfect the arrangement, and is said to intend visiting the property in the Spring.

One re

The Christmas Expositions in Berlin are remarkable. presents, in figures as large as life, Waledeck in prison, Professor Kinkel in his dimly lighted and miserable cell, with his spinning machine by his side, and Stein "watching sheep in Switzerland." Great numbers crowd to see those idols of the people.

A Silver Statuette of Napoleon and a bust of the Emperor of Austria, made of the same metal, are now exhibited here to the public. Both were made of pieces of silver coin. The workmanship is said to be exquisite. The statuette is two feet high.

Girardin.-The Paris Presse, edited by the brilliant and eccentric Girardin, lost in the year 1849 more than twenty-eight thousand subscribers, owing to his tacking and veering so often. M. Girardin would be a great man if he would stick to one thing, but it is written "Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel."

Michael's Hebrew Library.-The learned Israelite, Joseph Michael, of Hamburg, left behind him, at his decease in 1846, one of the best collections, if not quite the best, of Hebrew literature in the world. He had devoted a great part of his life and a small fortune to the building up of his library, and has succeeded in getting 862 original manuscripts, and 5322 printed works, It is probable that this represents nearly all that now remains of a once rich literature. A great number of Hebrew works perished in the persecutions of the dark ages. The beginning of the 16th century is noted for the immense numbers of them destroyed in Germany and Italy, where they were burnt by the common hangmen, on the order of the Governments. The earlier impressions yet extant are nearly all from the Jewish press in Turkey, and are very rare and dear. The Michael library contained copies of all of these. When the heirs declared it for sale, the learned men of Berlin were anxious to have it for the royal library, and negotiations were commenced for that purpose, but the bureauocracy consumed more than two years in the preliminaries, according to custom; the holders became wearied out and sold the whole to the Bodleian library at Oxford, which retains the manuscripts, but parts with the printed works to the British Museum of London. As the Bodleian library purchased in 1829 the Oppenheim Hebrew library of Hamburg, it has now the largest and only complete collection of the works in Hebrew literature.

Stopping Fire in Ships.-A practical chemist of London, in a letter to one of the journals, referring to the loss of the ship Caleb Grimshaw, says that fire in the hold of a ship can easily be choked out by keeping a barrel of chalk in the hold, connected with a two gallon bottle of sulphuric acid on deck. The acid poured on the chalk will generate carbonic acid gas, which will at once extinguish flame.—[Evening Post.

To Prevent Steam Boiler Incrustation.-We see it stated that a Mr. Williams, in England, proposes to prevent incrustations by pouring

a small quantity of coal tar into the water before the steam is to be put up! This substance, when thrown into boiling water, parts with all its volatile constituents, and its carbon is, as a crust, deposited upon all sides of the boiler with singular uniformity, adhering with great firmness to the iron plates by the peculiar action of the force, which appears to condense fluid matter on solid surfaces. Thus a kind of graphite coating is formed, which protects the iron most effectually from corrosion.-[Scientific American.

The Astor Library.-The work of constructing the Astor Library, in Lafayette Place, has at length commenced. The building, which is calculated to contain 100,000 volumes will be completed at the end of two years and a half, at an estimated cost of $75,000, exclusive of the furniture, shelving, &c. About $14,000 worth of iron-work will enter into its composition. It will be, in every respect, a noble structure. From the level of the side-walk to the upper line of the parapet, its height will be about 70 feet. To the apex of the lantern, above the hall, the height will be 84 feet. Its length is 120 feet, width 65. Mr. Alexander Sælzer, of Berlin, is the architect.

Fossilized Forest.-The remains of a fossilized forest have been discovered beneath the mud deposit in Wallaseypool, near Liverpool.

A new method of regaining the hearing has been invented by Dr. Yeareley. Cotton is passed down to the membrane tympani, and the hearing returns.

Macaulay's History of England.-Mr. Macaulay is laboring hard at the work every day, but he does not expect to have the third volume ready for the press in less than a year.

M. Cousin has issued the first volume of his edition of the works of Abelard, with a preface of elaborate Latinity. He defrays the cost of the edition.

M. Thiers.—The ninth volume of Thiers's "Consulate and the Empire" has appeared in Paris.

The French Academy after discussing the new dictionary of the national tongue during nine years, have not yet completed the letter A! Miss Martineau's Travels Condemned.-The committee of the the principal library in Burton-upon-Trent, by a majority of one, burned a copy of Miss Martineau's "Travels in the East," which had found its way into the library," on account of its irreligious nature."

Thomas Moore.-The poet is in the enjoyment of good health, physical and intellectual, at his cottage at Sloperton.

The Dead of 1849.-The following distinguished personages and literary characters have died during the year :-Queen Adelaide, of whom it may be truly said that "her memory is blessed." Besides her, death has numbered among his victims, Charles Albert, ex-King of Sardinia; William II, King of Holland; Prince Waldemar, of Prussia; Mehemet Ali, the ablest modern ruler of Egypt; Ibrahim Pacha, his son; the Shah of Persia; Marshal Bugeaud and ex-President Polk. The list of eminent literary charactersand artists who were last year taken from among us, contains many names whom " the world would not willingly let die." Maria Edgeworth; Captain Marryatt; Bernard Barton, Horace Smith; the Countess of Blessington; Madame Decamier; Dr. Cooke Taylor; Bishops Stanley, Coplestone, and Coleridge; Frazer Tytler, the Scottish historian; Ebenezer Elliott, the "People's poet;" W. Etty, the artist; Madame Catalani, the singer: Kalkbrenner, the musician; Chopin, the pianist; Kreutzer, the composer, Charles Horn, the English composer; Robert Vernon, the great patron of British art. Hon. Albert Gallatin; Madame Cavaignac; Signor De Begnis; James Reyburn; Madame Marrast; Theodore Lyman, of Boston; David B. Ogden; Marquis D'Alizre, the French Millionaire; Henry Colman, the Agriculturist; Dr. Fisher, original Editor of the New-York Albion; Dr. Crolly, R. C. Primate of Ireland; Duke of St. Albans; Sir Edward Knatchbull; Sir E. Paget; Prof. Carmichael, of Dublin; Gen. Sir Hector Maclean; Lieutenant General Sir Benjamin D'Urban; Bishop of Landaff; Peter C. Broods, the Millionare of Boston; Madame Catalani; Lady Ashburton; Cardinal Mezzofante, the linguist; Sir Andrew Agnew; Horace Twiss; Gen. Sir R. T. Wilson; George Knoop, the Violincellist; David Hale; Hartley Coleridge; Dr. Pritchard, the Naturalist; Sir Charles Forbes ; Earl Carnarvon; Sir M. I. Brunel.

Acuteness and Sagacity of the Deer.-The deer is the most acute animal we possess, and adopts the most sagacious plans for the preservation of its life. When it lies, satisfied that the wind will convey to it an intimation of the approach of its pursuer, it gazes in another direction. If there are any wild birds, such as curlews or ravens, in its vicinity, it. keeps its eye intently fixed on them, convinced that they will give it a timely alarm. It selects its cover with the greatest caution, and invariably chooses an eminence, from which it can have a view around.

Editorial Notices, &c.

ESTABLISHMENT AND PROGRESS OF THE NORMAL SCHOOL.-The attention of legislators and other enlightened friends of education is respectfully directed to the second article in this number (p. 19) on the Origin and Progress of the Normal School of the State of New-York,-being part of an Address delivered by the State Deputy Superintendent of Schools, at the close of the last Session of the Normal School. An attentive perusal of that beautiful Address cannot fail to impress every reader with the vast importance attached to the Normal School department of a public school system by the most experienced and devoted friends of education in the State of New-York, and also the great delicacy and difficulty connected with the successful establishment of such an institution as a part of the system of public instruction; and it is only such a view of the subject that will enable public men and general readers to form an adequate notion of the responsibility and care connected with the introduction of this department of the Canadian School System. Whether those on whom this difficult task devolved were more worthy of suspicion and attacks, or of support and sympathy, any reader can judge. That the task has been successfully accomplished thus far, has been admitted on all sides. Yet the new School Act changes the constitution of the Normal School, and that at the instigation of persons who had never even been in a Normal School, much less understood its management, and without consulting a single individual to whose counsels and co-operation the Normal School owed its existence and successful operations. In addition to this, the new Act imposes a condition upon student-teachers, with which no young man of self-respect would comply, and which has never been proposed to be imposed upon the student-teachers of any Normal School in Europe or America. The 62nd Section of the Act does not permit the Board of Education to aid any candidate for teaching to attend the Normal School unless he shall "enter into a bond with two sufficient sureties" to fulfil has promise to teach for a specified time, or pay back the amount granted him. All that the Board of Education has given to facilitate the attendance of candidates for teaching, is £5 10s. each, or a dollar a week during a Session of five months, and that upon the same declaration that the authorities of the State Normal School of Albany have, from the beginning, required of each student-teacher entering the School-namely, that he will devote himself to school teaching, and that his object in coming to the Normal School is to qualify himself better to discharge the duties of his profession. But to value the honour or integrity of a young person producing a certificate of good character at less than £5 10s, and to bind him in a bond with two sureties for that pittance, is, in the view of those who have had the most experience in such matters in different countries, degrading in its moral influence, unnecessary and impolitic. A country receives, rather than confers, a benefit by thus aiding in the training of School Teachers. About nine-tenths of all the student-teachers who have been admitted to the Normal School were school teachers at the time. Though the population of all the State of New-York is about five times as large as that of UpperCanada, the average attendance at the Canadian Normal School has been nearly one half that of the New-York State Normal School. In most of the Districts · of the Province testimony has been given of improvement in school teaching and of the salutary influence which has gone forth through the medium of the Teachers who have been trained in the Normal School. The Board of Education,-the members of which have gratuitously devoted so much time to the Institution-is as deeply interested in the public welfare as those who devised the ill-advised provisions of the new School Act, and is quite competent to judge as to what regulations and conditions will best promote the great public objects of the Normal School. Most earnestly do we deprecate any thing that will limit and cripple the usefulness of this Institution; and most fervently do we pray for the still wider extension of its

benefits--given as its instructions are by masters whose superiors we have never seen in any Normal School.

PRINCIPLE OF APPORTIONING THE SCHOOL FUND.In October, 1848, (upwards of a year since) the Superintendent of Schools for Upper Canada, submitted, in the proper quarter, remarks and recommendations for the distribution of the School Fund according to the ratio of attendance at School, instead of the ratio of population of school age-taking the average attendance of pupils during both winter and summer as the basis of distribution. In the draft of Bill which he submitted at the same time, was contained a simple clause for carrying this recommendation into effect. The recommendation did not contemplate any change in the principle heretofore acted upon in the apportionment of the School fund to Districts, Cities, Towns, and Townships, but only a discretionary power in its distribution to the various school sections of a Township, Town or City, according to the ratio of attendance at School, -a principle of distribution most earnestly advocated by the Hon. HORACE MANN.

We are happy to find our own views corroborated by the recommendations of the Superintendent of Schools for the State of NewYork, who, in his report submitted to the Legislature the first of the last month, makes the following remarks on the apportionment of the School Fund :

"The annual revenue from the capital of the Common School Fund, $280,000, together with an equal sum raised by the Boards of Supervisors upon the several towns, and an additional equal sum levied upon the respective counties, under the act establishing Free Schools, is apportioned among the several towns and wards of the State, in proportion to the whole population of each, as ascertained by the last preceding census. The town and ward officers apportion the amount thus received, among the several School Districts of their respective towns and wards according to the whole number of children between the ages of five and sixteen residing therein. It is respectfully suggested to the Legislature whether the ratio of apportionment and distribution of the School money might not advantageously be so changed as to have reference to the attendance of pupils upon the District Schools for a certain specified period, during the preceding year, instead of being based upon either population or the number of children actually residing in the District. By the adoption of this mode of distribution, strong inducements would be presented to the taxable inhabitants of the several Districts, to place their children in the Common Schools, and to keep them there for a sufficient length of time to secure an additional share of the public money."

INSPECTION AND SUPERVISION OF SCHOOLS, &c.-The first article in this number-from the pen of the Head Master of the Provincial Normal School-is recommended to the attention of Legislators and all friends of educational progress. It is to be hoped the School Law will soon be so restored and amended as to afford facilities for giving some practical effect to the general practical views presented in the article referred to-views which cannot be practically developed under the provisions of the new School Act.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS-To the 28th of February, inclusive.

For the 3 Vols., Col. K. Cameron, Rev. W. H. Landon; For 1st and 3rd Vols., Rev J. Tawse, A. M.; For 2nd Vol., Rev. W. Clarke, (2), D.D'Everardo, Esq. (20), G. Fieldhouse, W. Hutton, Esq. (2); For 2nd and 3rd Vols., W. Townsend, J. Willson, Esq., M.P.P., Rev. J. Carroll; For 3rd Vol., A. McCallum, A. Weldon, R. McClelland, Rev. Dr. Chisholm, Clerk, County Carleton (13), A. Corson, J. Kilborne, Esq., W. Elliot, Esq., W. K. Grahame, Esq., D. Higgins, R. Blush, Dr. Curlett, T. A. Ferguson, T. Diffrill, W. Warner, J. C. Moulton, R. Waugh, Esq., J. Devlin, P. Thornton, Esq., T. Higginson, Esq. (3), Rev. J. Neilson, A. Campbell, jr. (3), T. Topping, Rev. W. Ormiston, A. B., A. Washington, Esq.

Back Nos. supplied to all new subscribers.

*The 1st and 2nd Vols. may be obtained upon application. Price, 5s. per Volume. Single Nos. 73d. All Communications to be addressed to Mr. HODGINS, Education Office, Toronto.

Toronto: Printed and Published by THOMAS H. BENTLEY, at 58 per annum, and may be obtained from A. GREEN, and SCOBIE & BALFOUR, Toronto; the principal Booksellers throughout the Province, and D. M. DEWEY, Arcade Hall, Rochester, N. Y.

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IMPORTANCE OF COMMON SCHOOLS.

It is manifest that the calm independence, the stern integrity, the enlightened patriotism, on which the stability of our civil institutions depends, are excellences which can be the product only of a wise culture of the minds and hearts of the people, in the forming period of life. If the community would avail itself of the intellectual and moral power within its embrace, it must multiply, it must elevate, purify and quicken our common schools. If the community would show due respect to itself, it must show respect to the individuals who compose it. The whole body politic has a deep concern in the intellectual and moral developement of every one of its members

Did our fellow cilizens but take this view of our civil condition, how would our common schools rise in their esteem! What necessary expenditure for their improvement, would be withheld, or grudgingly bestowed? How careful would the guardians of this great social concern be, in the selection of teachers; and how highly would those be honored, who faithfully and wisely discharged the duties of this most important office!

Whether we realize it or not, the most important trust we have to commit to others, is the care of our children,-the most momentous of all our social concerns is the education of our children. Who, that has any forecast, can look upon the rising generation, without heartfelt solicitude? Out of these infants and joyous youth are to arise the wise and good men and women, that shall bless,and the ignorant and vicious men and women, that shall curse the coming age. Can any one be indifferent whether they shall turn out to be of the one class or of the other? Because a few years will intervene before their characters shall be unfolded-because the change from infancy to manhood will be gradual, let it never, for a moment, be forgotten, that a momentous change is coming to all children that live. In every infant there are the rudiments of

a man or a woman.

When we look at a flower-see its calix filled with petals of exquisite form, of the most delicate texture, of diverse colors so rich and nicely blended, that no art can equal them,—and withal perpetually diffusing a delicious perfume, we can hardly believe that all this variety of charms was evolved from a little seed, not larger than the head of a pin.

When we contemplate a sturdy oak, that has for a hundred years defied the blasts of winter,-has spread wide around its sheltering limbs, and has seemed to grow only more hardy the more it has been pelted by the storm, we find it difficult to persuade ourselves that the essence, the elements of all this body and strength were once concealed in an acorn. Yet such are the facts of the vegetable world. Nor are they half so curious and wonderful as the facts which are disclosed in the history of the human mind and heart.

Here is a man, now master of twenty languages, who can converse in their own tongues with persons of as many different nations, -whose only utterance thirty years ago, was very much like, and not any more articulate than the bleating of a lamb. Or, it may be, that he, who could then send forth only a wailing cry, is now overwhelming the crowded forum, or swaying the Legislature of the nation by his eloquence, fraught with surpassing wisdom.

There is another, who can conceive the structure, and direct the

No. 3.

building of the mighty ship that shall bear an embattled host around the world; or the man, who can devise the plan of a magnificent temple, and guide the construction of every part, until it shall present to the eye of the beholder a perfect whole, glowing with the unspeakable beauty of a symmetrical form. And here is a third, who has comprehended the structure of the solar system. He has ascertained the sizes of the planets, and at what precise moments they shall severally complete their circuits. He has even weighed the sun,-measured the distances of some of the fixed stars,—and foretold the very hour, "when the dread comet," after an absence of centuries, "shall to the forehead of our evening sky return." These men are the same beings, who, thirty years ago, were puling infants, scarcely equal in their intelligence to kittens of a week old.

There, too, is a man who sways the destiny of nations. His empire embraces half the earth, and throughout his wide domains his will is law. At his command, hundreds of thousands rush to arms, the pliant subjects of his insatiable ambition, ready to pour out their blood like water at his bidding. He arranges them as he pleases, to execute his purpose. He directs their movements, as if they were the creatures of his hand. He plunges them into battle, and wades to conquest over their dead and mangled bodies. That man, the despotic power of whose mind overawes the world, was once a feeble babe, who had neither the disposition nor the strength to harm a fly.

On the other hand, there is one who now evinces unconquerable energy, and the spirit of willing self-sacrifice in works of benevolence. No toil seems to overbear his strength. No discouragement impairs his resolution. No dangers disarm his fortitude. He will penetrate into the most loathsome haunts of poverty or vice, that he may relieve the wretched, and reclaim the abandoned. He will traverse continents, and expose himself to the capricious cruelty of barbarous men, that he may bear to them the glad tidings of salvation. Or, he will calmly face the scorn or rage of the civilized world, in opposition to the wrong, however sanctioned by custom or hallowed by time; or march firmly to the stake, in maintenance of the true and the right. This man, a few years ago, might have been seen crying for a sugar-plum, or quarreling with his little sister for a two-penny toy.

And who are they that are infesting society with their daring crimes scattering about them "firebrands, arrows, and death;" boldly setting at defiance the laws of man and of God? Are they not the same being that a few years ago were children, who, could they have conceived of such deeds of darkness as they now perpetrate without compunction, would have shrunk from them instinctively with horror?

These surely are prodigious changes, greater far than any exhibited in the vegetable world. And are they not changes of infinitely greater moment? The growth of a mighty tree from a small seed may be matter for wonder-for admiration; but the developement of a being, capable of such tremendous agencies for good or for evil, should be with us all a matter of the deepest concern. Strangepassing strange, that it is not so! Go through the community and you shall find hundreds ready to adopt the best plans for the culture of vegetables, or fruit trees, where you will find one who is watching with due care over the growth of his immortal child.—Rev. Mr. May's Lecture before the American Institute,

DUTY OF LEGISLATORS RESPECTING THE EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE.

It seems strange that so few of the great men in Politics have cared much for the Education of the People; only one of those, now prominently before the North, is intimately connected with it. lle, [Hon. Horace Mann] at great personal sacrifice of money, of comfort, of health, even of respectability, became Superintendent of the Common Schools of Massachusetts, a place, whence we could ill spare him, to take the place of the noble man he succeeds. Few of the prominent scholars of the land, interest themselves in the public education of the People. The men of superior culture think the Common School beneath their notice; but it is the mother of them all.

None of the States of the North has ever given this matter the attention in demands. When we legislate about public Education this is the question before us :-Shall we give our posterity the greatest blessing which one generation can bestow upon another? Shall we give them a personal power which will create wealth in every form, multiply ships, and roads of earth, or of iron; subdue the forest, till the field, chain the rivers, hold the winds as its vassals, bind with an iron yoke the fire and water, and catch and tame the lightning of God? Shall we give them a personal power which will make them sober, temperate, healthy and wise; which shall keep them at peace, abroad and at home, organize them so wisely that all shall be united, and yet, each left free, with no tyranny of the few over the many, or the little over the great? Shall we enable them to keep, to improve, to double the manifold, the political, social and personal blessing they now possess; shall we give them this power to create riches, to promote order, peace, happiness-all forms of human welfare, or shall we not? That is the question. Give us intelligent men, moral men, men well developed in mind and conscience, heart and soul, men that love man and God, industrial prosperity, and social prosperity, and political prosperity, are sure to follow. But, without such men, all the machinery of this threefold prosperity is but a bauble in a child's hand, which he will soon break or lose, which he cannot replace when gone, nor use while kept.

Rich men, who have intelligence and goodness, will educate their children, at whatever cost. There are some men, even poor men's sons, born with such native power that they will achieve an education, often a most masterly culture; men whom no poverty can degrade, or make vulgar, whom no lack of means of culture can keep from being wise and great. Such are exceptional men; the majority, nine-tenths of the people, will depend, for their culture, on the public institutions of the land. If there had never been a free public school in New England, not one-half of her mechanics and farmers would now be able to read, not a fourth part of her women. I need not stop to tell what would be the condition of her Agriculture, her manufactures, her Commerce; they would have been, perhaps, even behind the Agriculture, Commerce and Manufactures of South Carolina. I need not ask what would be the condition of her free churches, or the civil institutions which now beautify her rugged shores and sterile soil; there would be no such churches, no such institutions. Take away the free schools, you take away the cause of our manifold prosperity; double their efficiency and value, you not only double and quadruple the prosperity of the People, but you will enlarge their welfare-political, social, personal -far more than I now dare to calculate.-Theodore Parker, of Boston, before a Teachers' Institute, Syracuse, N. Y., Oct. 4, '49. DUTY OF THE PEOPLE IN RESPECT TO THE COMMON

SCHOOLS.

Upon them rests the responsibility of furnishing the means of education to every child in their respective cities and towns. This must be done by making liberal appropriations of moneys for the support of schools, and everything pertaining to them. If new school-houses are to be erected, let liberal provision be made for this purpose. In locating them, be sure that they are placed in pleasant situations, and where the grounds and space will admit of it, let trees, and shrubs, and flowers be planted. Make them, as far as they can be made, even in their outward appearance, attractive to those who shall occupy them. Let the rooms be large and commodious, with proper means for heating and ventilating them. Who shall say how many thousands of our youth have contracted diseases, and gone down to an untimely grave, by breathing for

hours, day after day, and year after year, the unwholesome and almost suffocating atmosphere of a crowded and ill-constructed school-room! How many teachers in our land, go daily home, languid and dispirited, with pale and haggard countenances, all from inhaling the vitiated and life-destroying atmosphere of the school-room! And this evil may now be remedied, and by a process so simple, as to be within the means of every school district in the land. Methods have recently been adopted for heating and ventilating buildings, which, when applied to large and crowded school-rooms, as they have been in many places, render the atmosphere in them as healthy and agreeable as that which we breathe beneath the broad canopy of the heavens.

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Great improvements have also been made in the construction of seats and desks in school-rooms. The old blocks and benches, upon which we sat and conned our tasks in childhood, and over which so many lovely youths have been tortured and deformed, are fast giving place to the easy and convenient school chair, and improved desk, which now ornament so many of our school-rooms, conducing to the comfort and health of those who occupy them. These and other conveniences are to be furnished by the people, and they have only to know and feel the necessity of having them, and they will all be readily and cheerfully supplied. We, who are engaged in the immediate business of instruction, are too apt to declaim against the illiberality of the people in this respect, and we are often guilty of great injustice by so doing. The people are not illiberal in those things in which their children are interested. The love of offspring is inherent in our nature. moment a human being becomes a parent, he breathes a new existence. He ceases to live for himself alone; he exists in hisoffspring. Their wants open the hearts-ay, and untie the pursestrings, too, even of the hardened and avaricious. Could children, therefore, be made to know and express their wants in matters relating to education, they would all be supplied with the same readiness, as the toys and playthings are now supplied to gratify their childish wishes. The people, then, must be instructed in these things; and it becomes our duty as public educators to keep these subjects constantly before them. Let us, then, upon all occasions, in our lectures and discussions, in our literary and educational journals, continue to make known these wants, until the whole people shall know and feel their importance; and then, and not till then, will they all be readily supplied, and the means afforded for carrying forward and perfecting the great work of public instruction.

Another important duty incumbent upon the people is the compensation of teachers. Show me the town or city in which the teachers are liberally compensated for their services, and I will there show you good and flourishing schools. I care not how many plans are devised for the instruction of teachers-all the Normal Schools and Teachers' Institutes that have been, or can be established, will avail but little, unless the precaution is taken to retain the services of those who are educated in them. Men of genius-men who are qualified to carry on that great work of public instruction, cannot be retained unless they are liberally compensated for their services. They will seek other and more profitable callings in life. The laborer is worthy of his hire, and if the community would command and retain the services of able, faithful, and efficient teachers, they must be willing to make liberal provision for their support.-Lecture before the American Institute, by Wm. D. Swan, Esq., of Boston.

DUTY OF THE FRIENDS OF RELIGION TO PROMOTE UNIVERSAL KNOWLEDGE AND EDUCATION AMONG THE PEOPLE.

The friends of religion should show themselves interested, in the intellectual and moral improvement of the people. There has been not merely neglect here, but much weak fear. Fear, however, produces what it imagines. It is altogether out of place here. Knowledge is the food of the mind; and he who would monopolize it, the people shall curse him. We have no surer hold on the gratitude or the convictions of a people than by securing their spiritual growth. We want, in the fair sense of the term, national education. We want schools for all, without offending the conscience of any. The school, the college, the chair, should be equally accessible to all; and the reason why all do not attain the highest honors should be, that they pause in the course, and not that they are fenced off by others from an approach.

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