A smack of youth, and makes the lip of youth
Shed perfume exquisite. Expect it not,

Ye who till noon upon a down-bed lie,
Indulging feverous sleep."*

If early rising be commenced in childhood, it becomes a habit, and will then, probably, be continued for the remainder of a man's existence. A youth should on no account be roused from his sleep; but, as soon as he is awake in the morning, he should be encouraged to rise. Dozing-that state between sleeping and waking—is injurious; it enervates both body and mind. But, if a youth rise early, he should go to bed betimes it is a bad practice to keep boys up until the family goes to bed. A youth should retire to rest by nine o'clock, winter and summer, and rise as soon as he awakes in the morning.

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276. How many hours sleep should a boy have?

This, of course, will depend upon the exercise he takes; but, on an average, he should have at least eight hours every night. It is a mistaken notion that boys do better with little sleep. Infants, children, and youths require more sleep than those who are more advanced in years; hence, old people can frequently do with little. This may, in a measure, be accounted for, from the quantity of exercise the young take. Another reason may be, the young have no pain and no care to keep them awake; while, on the contrary, the old frequently have one or both.

ON THE TEETH AND GUMS.

277. What are the best means of keeping the teeth and gums in a healthy state?

* HURDIS'S 'Village Curate.'

I would recommend the teeth and gums to be well brushed, every night at bed-time, with warm salt-andwater, in the proportion of one large teaspoonful of salt to a tumbler of water. I was induced to try the above plan, by the recommendation of an intelligent American writer, who makes the following remarks on the subject:" Pay particular attention to your teeth. By this I mean, simply, cleanse them with a soft brush, and with water, in which a little common-salt is dissolved, the last thing before you retire at night. This simple direction, faithfully followed, will ordinarily keep the teeth good till old age. I would urge this, because, if neglected, the following are the results:-Your breath will inevitably become offensive from defective teeth; your comfort will be destroyed by frequent toothache; your health will suffer for the want of good teeth to masticate the food; and last, though not least, you will early lose your teeth, and thus your public speaking will be irretrievably injured. These may seem small affairs now, but the habit of neglect will assuredly bring bitter repentance when it is too late to remedy the neglect."* The salt-andwater should be used every night. The following is an excellent Tooth-powder:

Prepared Chalk ;

Myrrh, of each, half an ounce ;
Orris Root, a quarter of an ounce ;

Mix them well together in a mortar.

*Todd's Student's Guide.'

The teeth should be well brushed with the above toothpowder every morning. Camphor should never be used as an ingredient of Tooth-powder-it makes the teeth brittle.

PREVENTION OF DISEASE, ETC.

278. If a child show great precocity of intellect, is any organ likely to become affected?

A greater quantity of arterial blood is sent to the brain of those who are prematurely talented, and hence it becomes more than ordinarily developed. Such advantages are not unmixed with danger: this same arterial blood may excite and feed inflammation; and convulsions, or water-on-the-brain, or insanity, or, at last, idiocy, may follow. "Precocity is generally an indication of disease: and it has been very safely predicated of infant prodigies, that they rarely grow up clever, because in fact they rarely grow up at all. They 'o'er inform their tenement of clay; '—the fire of intellect burns faster than the body can supply it with aliment, and so they spiritualize and evaporate. Mind and body are yoked together to pursue their mysterious journey with equal steps, nor can one outstrip the other without breaking the harness and endangering the whole machine."*

279. How can danger in such cases, be warded off? It behoves a parent, if her son be precocious, to restrain him; to send him to a quiet country place, free from the excitement of town; to keep him from

*THEODORE Hook.

books; and, when he is sent to school, to give directions to the master that he is not to tax his intellect (for a master is apt, if he have a clever boy, to urge him forward); and to keep him from those institutions where a spirit of rivalry is maintained, and the brain thus kept in a state of constant excitement. Medals and prizes are well enough for those who have moderate abilities, but dangerous, indeed, to those who have brilliant ones. Henry Kirke White was one possessed of precocious talents, and he, alas! fell a victim to them. And that he may be a warning to parents, I cannot help dilating upon his case. Henry Kirke White died at the age of twenty-one. His biographer, after alluding to his transcendent talents, and the immense application he made to improve them, goes on to state that "His frame was now totally shaken, and his mind appeared to be worn * * His brother, however, was informed of his danger by a friend, and hastened to Cambridge; but when he arrived he found Henry delirious. The unhappy youth recovered sufficiently to know him for a few moments; the next day he sunk into a state of stupor, and on Sunday, 19th of October, 1806, expired. I was the opinion of his physicians that, if he had lived, his intellect would have been affected." Lord Byron beautifully speaks of him in the following lines and

out

note :

“Unhappy WHITE!* when life was in its spring,

And thy young muse just waved her joyous wing,

* " 'Henry Kirke White died at Cambridge, in October, 1806, in consequence of too much exertion in the pursuit of studies

The spoiler came; and all thy promise fair
Has sought the grave, to sleep for ever there.
Oh! what a noble heart was here undone !
When science' self destroyed her favourite son!
Yes! she too much indulged thy fond pursuit;
She sowed the seeds, but death has reap'd the fruit.
'Twas thine own genius gave the final blow,
And help'd to plant the wound that laid thee low.
So the struck eagle, stretch'd upon the plain,
No more through rolling clouds to soar again,
View'd his own feather on the fatal dart,
And winged the shaft that quiver'd at his heart.
Keen were his pangs, but keener far to feel
He nursed the pinion which impelled the steel;
While the same plumage that had warm'd his nest,
Drank the last life-drop of his bleeding breast."

If Kirke White's brain had not been overworked, (and, possibly, the emulation of honours may, in a great measure, have been the cause of its being so) he might still have been alive, a blessing and ornament to society. If an over-worked precocious brain does. not cause the death of the owner, it, in too many instances, injures the brain irreparably; and the possessor of such an organ, from being one of the most intellectual of children, becomes one of the most stupid of men. The young Roscius, who made such a noise in the world some years ago, and whose brain was

that would have matured a mind which disease and poverty could not impair, and which death itself destroyed rather than subdued. His poems abound in such beauties as must impress the reader with the liveliest regret that so short a period was allotted to talents which would have dignified even the sacred functions he was destined to assume."-BYRON.