mon, and altogether disappeared from the new dwellings. The instances are numerous in which mortality and disease have been brought under immediate control and largely curtailed by the application of plans of ventilation. In the year 1882, scrofula broke out in the pauper school at Norwood, which then contained 600 children, and great mortality occurred, which was ascribed to bad and insufficient food. Upon the case being examined by Dr. Arnott, the food was found to be ample in quantity and quality, and atmospheric impurity, through defective ventilation, was suspected to be the cause. Ventilation was therefore applied, and soon afterwards the disease disappeared; and nearly double the number of children are now maintained in good health, where comparatively the few were sickly and scrofulous. The managers of the Zoological Gardens have had similar experience. At the commencement of that establishment, a large number of the animals died, which was attributed to the cold, the damp, the soil, and the general climate; but it was ascertained to arise from the closeness of their dens, for the effect was remedied by giving a proper supply of air to them. Science has been called in to preserve the health of our legislators from suffering injury through an impure atmosphere in the House of Commons, and large sums of the public money have been expended to secure the object; but there are several cheap and simple modes of ventilation which might be applied to the workshops and residences of the labouring population with signal benefit, thousands of which are now the active producers of physical suffering and of moral disorder, through preventing the change and circulation of the fluid upon which life and health depend. Mr. Toynbee mentions having introduced with success the simple expedient of a very finely perforated zinc plate, fixed in the window-pane farthest from the fire or the bed, the expense of which, including the fixing, only amounted to two shillings. Some effective arrangement to prevent the exclusion of the bounteous goodness of Heaven from the dwellings of the people, and to banish the diseases which are spontaneously engendered in consequence, is a proper object to enforce by law; for as well tolerate a butcher in vending a putrid carcass, as a landlord in letting a poisonous tenement,-Rev. T. Milner, ALAN QUINTIN'S INQUIRIES. ARE YOU IN THE RIGHT ROAD? AGAIN let me question you, plainly, closely, and urgently, yet still kindly, Are you in the right road? If you are, every movement is in your favour. If you are You cannot, every step is against you. not stir without helping yourself or hindering yourself-without doing yourself good, or doing yourself evil. There is no such thing as standing still in the world, not for an hour, not for a minute, no! not for a second. On! on! on we must go, whatever be the road on which we travel. We may not believe it; we may not know it; we may not so much as think of it, yet on we go. The world itself is turning round at the rate of a thousand miles an hour, though we do not perceive it. And we are hurrying to eternity quite as rapidly, whether we perceive it or not. We are all hastening to the tomb, but that is not what I mean. That is a serious thing, an important thing, a solemn thing, an awful thing; but there is something much more serious, important, solemn, and awful. We are all hastening to eternal life, or to eternal death! This renders my question, are you in the right road? doubly serious, doubly important, doubly solemn, and doubly awful. "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death," Prov. xiv. 12. Nay, there are many ways of this description, smooth ways, green ways, flowery ways, pleasant ways, delightful ways; but then they are deceitful ways. They are safe and lively at their beginning, but dangerous and deadly at their end. There is a right way, and a wrong way; a narrow way, and a broad way. Many move in the one, many miss the other : "For why? Alas! the gate of life less bliss, or endless woe? This is not an affair for next year, or next month; this moment the case should be inquired into, this moment the question should be asked, and this moment the point should be decided. You have seen a bubble carried onward by the stream. No pause, no resting place, no cessation; on with the current, on without end. So is it with you, whether you are in the right road or in the wrong. On! on! on with the current of time, laughing or weeping, running or creeping, waking or sleeping, towards a happy or a miserable eternity. The world cannot stop you, neither can you stop yourself. Remember this, and remember, too, That all which the world has to give is a breath A bubble that bursts on the dark stream of death. It may seem to matter but little, now, whether you are in the right road or the wrong; but it will matter much by-andbye. It may now be nothing; it may then be everything. Remember the consequences of taking the wrong path without God's blessing. Solomon was wise, and Sampson was strong, but they both fell into folly and sin. Riches will not keep you from the wrong road; much more likely to lead you into it. Where the treasure is the heart is, and there it will be. As soon shall the feeble be famed for their might; The sun shine abroad in the depth of the night; Through the eye of a needle the camel be driven, As a rich man, unhumbled, shall seek after heaven. Many think they can go on a little way, or a long way, just as they like, and turn into a better path when it suits them. Sad mistake, wretched mistake, miserable mistake! By-and-by there may be deep ditches, too broad to cross, and fences too high to climb. Their way may be hedged in with thorns, so that they cannot leave the road they have chosen. Our first parents were disobedient. They got into a wrong road, and it led them out of Paradise. Pharaoh was hardhearted; he, too, took a wrong road, and it brought him and his host into the Red Sea. Have a care! Be on the watch! Take warning! Are you in the right road? the right road to peace? the right road to heaven? the right way to God? For, if you are not, you are not only going astray, but leading others astray too. When a sheep pushes through a gap in the hedge, others are sure to follow; and so it is with mankind-they will follow one another. Sad thing to set a bad example. What! would you lead those you love from right to wrong, from light to darkness, and from safety to destruction? When coachhorses run away, they take the coach with them; and where the coach goes, the passengers go, so that horses, coach, and passengers are in equal danger; it is just the same if you lead your companions astray. You and they may share alike the folly, the sin, the danger, and the ruin. Turn aside from the idle, the careless, the dishonest, the proud, the cruel, the sceptical, and the self-righteous, for they are none of them in the right road, and all of them in the wrong. The right way grows better as you go on, but the wrong way grows worse; its smoothness becomes rugged, and its verdure blasted; its flowers change to flint stones, and its gladness to gloom; the song of the lark dies away, and the croak of the raven afflicts the ear; the green trees are no longer seen, and the threatening rock hangs frowningly over the path; the rill and the sunny slope are transformed into the torrent and the precipice, and all is dreary, and dark, and dangerous. Again, I ask, Are you sure that you are in the right road? Some there are who are discontented in the midst of all their mercies, and repine and despond. This is indeed taking the wrong road; the road to sin and sorrow. Would you fling back sunshine and sunbeams in the face of the Eternal? Would you cast aside, as worthless, the means of grace and the hope of glory? Is the word of God to be disbelieved, the will of God to be resisted, and the gift of God, even of eternal life, to be despised? Oh, it is a fearful thing to give way to despondency :— The road of despondency, shrouded with gloom, If you would quit the wrong road, and keep in the right road for ever, fling away desponding thoughts, and encourage hopefulness and faith. Look to that great and gracious Saviour, who took our nature upon him, though equal with the Father, and groaned, and bled, and died for man. Set your face towards the city with the golden gates! Fix your eyes on the hills whence cometh your help! 200 CONSCIENCE-FAITH-THE WEATHER-IMITATE WHAT IS GOOD. Look homewards! Look heavenwards! | which are quickly and easily provided Be watchful! be diligent! be urgent! Pray, praise, and strive humbly yet ardently, and give heed to Him who hath said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life," John xiv. 6. Then will your heart take comfort. Then will the Sun of righteousness shine upon you by day, and even in the dark night of death,— A light from above, and a guide will be given, And the right road be yours to the kingdom of heaven. CONSCIENCE. RELIGION is a pleasure to the mind as it respects practice, and so sustains the name of conscience. And conscience, undoubtedly, is the great repository and magazine of all those pleasures that can afford any solid refreshment to the soul. For when this is calm, and serene, and absolving, then, properly, a man enjoys all things-and, what is more, himself; for that he must do before he can enjoy anything else. But it is only a pious life, led exactly by the ruler of a severe religion, that can authorise a man's conscience to speak comfortably to him. It is this that must word the sentence before the conscience can pronounce it, and then it will do it with majesty and authority: it will not whisper, but proclaim a jubilee to the mind; it will not drop, but pour in oil upon the wounded heart. And is there any pleasure comparable to that which springs from hence? The pleasures of conscience are not only greater than all other pleasures, but may also serve instead of them; for they only please and affect the mind in transitu, in the pitiful narrow compass of actual fruition; whereas, that of conscience entertains and feeds it a long time after with durable, lasting reflections. The second ennobling property of it is, that it is such a pleasure as never satiates nor wearies; for it properly affects the spirits, and a spirit feels no weariness, as being privileged from the causes of it. But can the epicure say so of any of the pleasures that he so much doats upon? Do they not expire while they satisfy, and, after a few minutes' refreshment, determine in loathing and unquietness? How short is the interval between a pleasure and a burden-how indiscernible the transition from one to the other! Pleasure dwells no longer upon the appetite than the necessities of nature, ** for, and then all that follows is a load and an oppression. Every morsel to a satisfied hunger is only a new labour to a tired digestion. Every draught to him that has quenched his thirst is but a farther quenching of nature, a provision for rheum and diseases, a drowning of the quickness and activity of the spirits. Those that are so fond of applause, while they pursue it, how little do they taste it when they have it! Like lightning, it only flashes upon the face, and it is gone; and it is well if it does not hurt the man. * * If it be a pleasure to be envied and shot at, to be maligned standing, and to be despised falling, to endeavour that which is impossible, which is to please all, and to suffer for not doing, it then is a pleasure to be great, and to be able to dispose of men's fortunes and preferments. * * And then, lastly, for company: though it may reprieve a man from his melancholy, yet it cannot secure him from his conscience, nor from sometimes being alone. And what is all that a man enjoys, from a week's, a month's, or a year's converse, comparable to what he feels for one hour, when his conscience shall take him aside and rate him by himself?-South. THE ALPS. THE central ridges of the Alps are composed of primitive rocks, especially of granite and gneiss, and are distinguished by their pointed peaks. On the north side of this formation extends a slate formation of considerable width. This does not appear to accompany the range on the south, except along the east Alps, where it has been observed to extend from Brixen on the Eisach to Marburg on the Drave, skirting that river on the south. Beyond the slate formation, the chalk occupies a considerable space. It is found to occupy the greatest extent on the south-east of the mountain system, the whole Julian Alps being composed of it. On the opposite, or north-west side, the sandstone formation extends from the lake of Geneva as far as the south boundary of Bavaria. The chalk formation is distinguished by JUNE, 1847. its summits, which do not rise in pointed peaks, but form either cones or cupolas. All those parts of the numerous ridges which rise above the line of congelation, are of course covered with snow all the year round. In many places the snow occupies a considerable space on the upper parts and summits of the rocky masses; and from these reservoirs of snow the glaciers are derived. The sides of the rocky mass are usually furrowed by long narrow valleys; and in these, masses of snow, descending from the upper parts under the form of ice, extend the farther downward the greater the mass and height of the snow from which they are derived. These accumulations of snow and ice form glaciers, many of which are from fifteen to twenty miles long. Near the upper part, or at their origin, they are generally narrow, sometimes not much more than a hundred yards across; but as the valleys R APPEARANCES OF NATURE. JUNE. grow wider as they proceed downwards; | charms to the scenery of the Alps, by the glaciers also extend in width, taking the beauty of their colour, and their the shape of a fan, and in some places contrast with the surrounding country; are two miles across. The thickness of their lower extremities being commonly the ice-masses varies from one hundred contiguous to meadows covered with the to perhaps six hundred feet. Though finest grass, and the most beautiful the snow-line in the Alps is found at an flowers; and the declivities of the mounelevation of about 8,000 feet above the tains which inclose them, exhibiting large level of the sea, some of the glaciers tracts clothed with magnificent trees, descend so far downward, that their especially firs.-Macculloch. lower extremity is not more than 3,500 feet above it. The ice of the glaciers does not resemble that with which our rivers are covered in winter; it consists of a great number of crystals, measuring from half an inch to two inches in length, and something less in width, united by having been pressed strongly together. It is difficult to remove one of these crystals without breaking it; but, when the first has been removed, the others may be easily taken up. The surface of the glaciers is very various, and depends on the degree of inclination with which the valley descends. Where the descent is gradual, the surface of the glacier is nearly level, and offers few crevices; but where the declivity is rapid and uneven, the glacier is rent with numerous chasms, and covered with elevations, rising from one hundred to two hundred feet, having the aspect of a sea agitated by a hurricane. The chasms are frequently many feet wide, and more than one hundred feet deep. Their formation, which never takes place in winter, but is frequent during summer, is accompanied with a loud noise, resembling thunder, and a shock, which makes the adjacent mountains tremble. These chasms are subject to change every day, and almost every hour; and it is this circumstance that renders the ascent of the glaciers so dangerous to travellers. Sometimes there are found in the glaciers pyramids of ice of a considerable elevation and regular form, on the tops of which are placed large pieces of rocks. At the lower extremity of the glaciers is an excavation in the form of a grotto, frequently a hundred feet high, and from sixty to eighty wide, whence issues a small river, bringing down a bluish water. Though every single crystal of the ice of the glaciers seems perfectly white, the whole mass is of a blue colour, passing through every shade, from the most feeble sky-blue to that of the lapis lazuli; it is most pure and beautiful in the lower parts of the chasms. The glaciers impart one of the greatest THE "manhood" of the year has now arrived, for during this month the vigorous growth of spring is followed by the serenity of summer; the first flush of beauty is consummated in the majestic grandeur of maturity. Surely there cannot be those of the human family who do not in some degree appreciate the return of summer. Even animals, according to their various powers, testify their joy. The blessings of heaven are now descending upon nature in their richest abundance, as the garden, the wood, and the field abundantly prove. The trees are heavy with fruit and foliage, and the shade of the outstretched boughs refreshes man and beast. Diversity meets us on every hand. There is the majestic oak, and the lowly sprig of moss. The eye glances from beauty to beauty; and whether the steep mountain is climbed, or the valley entered, or we seek the friendly shade of the wood, we everywhere find new and varying objects of delight, yet each one possessing charms sufficient to engage our attention and call forth our admiration. Here innumerable wild flowers, diffusing their sweetness through the air; and there, the innocent gambols of the animals around please and improve us. We look up, and the clear blue sky presents itself; we survey the ground, and the fresh verdure smiles. Our eyes are delighted by the beauteous scenes before us; our ears are charmed with the tuneful notes of the feathered songsters, while we are soothed by the silver waves of the clear stream, gently gliding beneath the willow and the ash. Showers fall to refresh the earth, opening new springs of blessings; or smiling groves and tufted trees invite us to seek their shelter from the sun's fervid beams. Beauty, variety, and harmony are everywhere apparent. "Thus cometh welcome summer with great strength, |