eers.

discoveries contributing greatly to the advancement both of private and public wealth. The failure of these attempts, and the useless waste of money which many of them exhibit, show in a highly forcible manner the national importance of well-educated mining enginIn France, Prussia, and Saxony-countries far inferior to Britain in mineral wealth, this fact has been long recognised, and institutions for this purpose supported by the government. With so many indications of lead ore in almost every part of Scotland, it can hardly be doubted that many valuable mines remain to be discovered, and that this branch of national industry might be very greatly extended.

FOSSIL REMAINS.-The horns and bones of a stag have been found near to the church of Dores, Invernesshire, under nine feet of successive strata of gravel diluvium. The strata decline regularly at an angle of from twelve to fifteen degrees. Above where the remains were found is chiefly small gravel, with few stones; at a foot below the bed of the bones is an open bed of water-worn stones, with no gravel intermixed, from a foot to eighteen inches in depth-the stones from six to ten lbs. weight; and under this, a stratum of considerably indurated fine sand: probably below this, but not ascertained, the deep bed of mountain clay which forms the subsoil of the adjacent bank of Lochness for miles. Considerable pains were taken to find more of the remains, but without success. DIMENSIONS.

Inches 23

History of Civilization. By W. A. MAKINNON, F.R.S.M.P. 2 vols. 8vo.

Traces civilization from Egypt, Greece, Rome, to modern Europe-sketch of English history, as bearing on civilization-France, Spain, and other European states-war as influencing civilization-state of female sex-witchcraft, &c. A comprehensive subject, treated discursively rather than philosophically. Numerous facts and opinions, both selected and original, are brought to bear upon the subject. Some slight inaccuracies occur in the historical statements; but the book will be instructive reading to those who wish a general view of the subject.

Notes on Reformation in Germany. By GEORGE COMBE.

A concise account of the state of religious opinions in Germany, with an appendix on the schools of Massachusetts America, for the diffusion of common education among all sects indiscriminately.

Address to the Students of Anderson's University, Glasgow. By ANDREW COMBE, M.D.

Dr Combe, as one of the trustees of the late Mr Henderson, the founder of a chair of phrenology in Ander

son's Institution, opened the first session of lectures by this address on the nature and utility of phrenology. Letters of individuals favourable to phrenology are appended.

The Artificial Preparation of Turf. By R. MALLET, Dublin. Peat-Coal versus Pit-Coal. By R. M. ALLOWAY, Esq.

Pamphlets on the nature and economical preparation of peat as fuel. Mr Mallet recommends, instead of the usual plan of cutting the turf or sod, the Dutch method of spreading the thin mud of peat bogs on dry soil, then forming it into square pieces after it is partially dried, and finally drying the peats in a kiln. Ample directions and diagrams are given.

The British Mother's Magazine.

A neat monthly periodical for the nursery and family circle.

The Bible Cyclopædia.

The prefix of " People's Edition," shows that this has been a successful work, and we have nothing farther to do than to state that the plan embraces the biography, geography, and natural history of the Scriptures,-a plan, which, if treated scientifically, would, like Dr Kitto's Cyclopædia, have required associated effort, but which, being treated popularly, may well enough be left to a veteran litterateur like Mr Parker Lawson, who ransacks whole libraries before he takes pen in hand.

Portrait of Professor Wilson.

One of the series of portraits issued by Mr Schenck, the enterprising lithographer. Judging from many failures, it seems difficult to give good portraits of men of genius, particularly those who speak in public, and the reason seems to be, that as the whole physiognomy speaks with them as well as the mouth, they are not, when sitting to the painter, lighted up in the same way as they are at the desk, platform, or pulpit. This has caused failures in the portraits of Chalmers particularly. In this one of Wilson, the animation has been well caught, and is highly creditable to the artist, Mr Crawford. Lays and Laments for Israel.

We last week had the pleasure of noticing a volume of poetry on Flowers, and we have similar gratification in referring to a collection on Palestine and the Jews. The classification of selected poetry shows that the popular taste is improving, and this may safely be reckoned a good sign of the times. And, moreover, this identification of Verse with all great questions, tends to exalt poetry to its proper place; for how could the importance of any subject be better estimated than by gathering together the spontaneous aspirations of the sons of melody regarding it? The Lays and Laments are, with few exceptions, quoted, and the original pieces for the most part are anonymous; but the whole form a most agreeable collection,-and one evidently the work not only of a tasteful and deliberate, but well-read compiler. The Rev. Mr Anderson has an introductory essay, which, although rather sermonic in its divisions and sub-divisions, is interesting and useful.

Sketch of the Life of Dr James Johnson.

An able and interesting account of a gentleman who might have been designated the Cobbett of medical literature. Although drawn up by a son it is free from the nauseous, though natural twaddle that generally characterises filial biography. The life affords a most interesting example of what perseverance, probity, and indefatigable exertion will accomplish, especially when joined to such talent, and we may even say genius, as the worthy Doctor possessed.

A Book of Christmas Carols. The Good-natured Bear.

The first is an elegantly illustrated work, with illuminated borders from ancient MSS. in the British Museum, and missal pictures. The second, a pretty story from the German, both well adapted for presentation.

Songs of the Vineyard. By the REV. J. G. SMALL.

A tiny volume of soft and sacred lays, to sweeten "days of gloom and sunshine." Dr Johnson has said that religion affords no scope or incident for poetry; but such subjects as "The Martyrs of the Isles,"" The Faithful among the Vaudois," &c., go far to disprove this assertion.

People's Edition of Jardine's Naturalist's Library.

The Naturalist's Library has been long and favourably known as a work, the merits of which have been universally admitted, and the accuracy and beauty, as well as the profusion of its pictorial illustrations, have been the subject of deserved approbation. In the people's edition the same care and ability in colouring and printing the illustrations, are manifested, as at first gained for it the estimation in which it was originally held.

Gleanings.

SELF-IGNORANCE.

Men carry their minds as for the most they carry their watches, content to be ignorant of the constitution and action within, and attentive only to the little exterior circle of things, to which the passions, like indexes, are pointing. It is surprising to see how little self-knowledge a person not watchfully observant of himself may have gained, in the whole course of an active, or even an inquisitive life. He may have lived almost an age, and traversed a continent, minutely traversing its curiosities, and interpreting the half-obliterated characters on its monuments, unconscious the while of a process operating on his own mind, to impress or to erase characteristics of much more importance to him than all the figured brass or marble that Europe contains. After having explored many a cavern or dark ruinous avenue, he may have left undetected a darker recess within where there would be much more striking discoveries. He may have conversed with many people, in different languages, on numberless subjects; but, having neglected those conversations with himself by which his whole moral being should have been kept continually disclosed to his view, he is better qualified perhaps to describe the intrigues of a foreign court, or the progress of a foreign trade; to depict the manners of the Italians, or the Turks; to narrate the proceedings of the Jesuits, or the adventures of the gypsies; than to write the history of his own mind.

FORMATION OF CHARACTER.

you

Consider the number of meetings with acquaintance, friends, or strangers; the number of conversations you have held or heard; the number of occasions on which you have been disgusted or pleased, moved to admiration or to abhorrence; the number of times that you have contemplated the town, the rural cottage, or verdant fields; the number of volumes you have read; the times that have looked over the present state of the world, or gone by means of history into past ages; the number of comparisons of yourself with other persons, alive or dead, and comparisons of them with one another; the number of solitary musings, of solemn contemplations of night, of the successive subjects of thought, and of animated sentiments that have been kindled and extinguished. Add all the hours and causes of sorrow which you have known, Through this lengthened, and, if the number could be told, stupendous multiplicity of things, you have advanced, while all their heterogeneous myriads have darted influences upon you, each one of them having some definable tendency. A traveller round the globe would not meet a greater variety of seasons, prospects, and winds, than you might have recorded of the circumstance capable of affecting your character, during your journey of life. You could not wish to have drawn to yourself the agency of a vaster diversity of causes; you could not wish, on the supposi tion that you had gained advantage from all these, to wear the spoils of a greater number of regions. The formation of the character from so many materials reminds one of that mighty appropriating attraction, which, on the fanciful hypothesis that the resurrection should reassemble the same particles which composed the body before, must draw them from dust, and trees, and animals, from ocean and winds.

NEGLECT OF A SUPREME BEING.

Why did you not think of him? One would deem that the thought of him must, to a serious mind, come second

to almost every thought. The thought of virtue wou'd suggest the thought of both a lawgiver and a rewarder; the thought of crime, of an avenger; the thought of sor. row, of a consoler; the thought of an inscrutable mystery. of an intelligence that understands it; the thought of that ever-moving activity which prevails in the system of the universe, of a supreme agent: the thought of the hu man family, of a great father; the thought of all being not necessary and self-existent, of a creator; the thought of life, o. a preserver; and the thought of death, of an uncontrollable disposer. By what dexterity, therefore, of irreligious caution, did you avoid precisely every track where the idea of him would have met you, or elude that idea, if it came! And what must sound reason pronounce of a mind which, in the train of millions of thoughts, has wandered to all things under the sun, to all the permanent objects or vanishing appearances in the creation, but never fixed its thought on the Supreme Reality; never approached, like Moses, "to see this great sight?"

IGNORANCE OF ONE ANOTHER.

It has several times, in writing this essay, occurred to me what strangers men may be to one another, whether as to the influences which have determined their characters, or as to the less obvious parts of their conduct. What strangers, too, we may be, with persons who have the art of concealment, to the principles which are at this mo ment prevailing in the heart. Each mind has an interior apartment of his own, into which none but itself and the Divinity can enter. In this secluded place the passions mingle and fluctuate in unknown agitations. Here all the fantastic and all the tragic shapes of imagination have a haunt, where they can neither be invaded nor descried. Here the surrounding human beings, while quite insensi ble of it, are made the subjects of deliberate thought, and many of the designs respecting them revolved in silence. Here projects, convictions, vows, are confusedly scattered, and the records of past life are laid. Here, in solitary state, sits Conscience, surrounded by her own thunders, which sometimes sleep, and sometimes roar, while the world does not know. The secrets of this apartment, could they have been even but very partially brought forth, might have been fatal to that eulogy and splendour with which many a piece of biography has been exhibited by a partial and ignorant friend. If, in a man's own account of himself, written on the supposition of being seen by any other per son, the substance of the secrets of this apartment be brought forth, he throws open the last asylum of his cha racter, where it is well if there be nothing found that will distress and irritate his most partial friend, who may thus become the ally of his conscience to condemn, without the leniency which even conscience acquires from self. love. And if it be not brought forth, where is the integ rity or value of the history, supposing it pretend to afford a full and faithful estimate; and what ingenuous man could bear to give a delusive assurance of his being, or having been, so much more worthy of applause or affec tion than conscience all the while pronounces? It is ob vious, then, that a man whose sentiments and designs, or the undisclosed parts of whose conduct, have been deeply criminal, must keep his record sacred to himself; unless he feels such an unsupportable longing to relieve his heart by confiding its painful consciousness, that he can be content to hold the regard of his friend on the strength of his penitence and recovered virtue. As to those, whose memory of the past is sullied by shades if not by stains, they must either in the same manner retain the delineation for solitary use, or limit themselves in writing it, to a deliberate and strong expression of the measure of conscious culpabilities, and their effect in the general charac ter, with a certain, not deceptive but partially reserved explanation, that shall equally avoid particularity and mystery; or else they must consent to friends, who share the human frailty and have had their deviations, on terms of mutual ingenuous acknowledgment. In this confidential communication, each will learn to be hold the other's transgressions fully as much in that light in which they certainly are infelicities to be commiserated, as in that in which they are also faults or vices to be condemned; while both earnestly endeavour to improve by their remembered errors.—Foster on a Man's writing Memoirs of Himself.

meet their

to

LIFE. The mere lapse of years is not life. To eat, and drink, and sleep; to be exposed to darkness and light; pass round in the mill of habit, to turn the wheel of wealth; to make reason our bookkeeper, and turn thought into an implement of trade-this is not life. In all this, but a poor fraction of the consciousness of humanity is

awakened; and the sanctities still slumber, which make it most worth while to be. Knowledge, truth, love, beauty, goodness, faith, alone can give vitality to the mechanism of existence; the laugh of mirth which vibrates through the heart, the tears that freshen the dry waste within, the music that brings childhood back, the prayer that calls the future near, the doubt which makes us meditate, the death which startles us with mystery, the hardship that forces us to struggle, the anxiety that ends in trust-are the true nourishment of our natural being.-Martineau.

STATISTICAL CLASSIFICATION OF SOCIETY.

1. Upper class includes all those who can command the work or time of 100 labourers, or more, the average amount of wages of each of these labourers being about L.30 a-year. The income of each of the upper class may be estimated at L.3000 a-year and upwards, a permanent income, which may be transmitted to their descendants.

2. Middle class includes those individuals who can command the labour of from 5 to 100 men, and the individual incomes varying from L.150 to L.3000 a-year.

3. Lowest class consists of all those persons not included in the other classes, who live on their own labour, and whose incomes vary from L.30 to L.150 a-yearMakinnon's Hist. of Civilization.

Proceedings of Societies.

PARIS ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, Jan. 12.-1. From some experiments on the conduction of the earth, M. Matteucci is of opinion that the earth does by its mass present a full compensation for the non-conductibility of its nature. 2. M. Letellier, in 1837, pointed out the means of preparing wood by immersion,-first by impregnating it with deuto-chloruret of mercury, and then with gelatine, which rendered the mercurial salt insoluble. He condemns the use of pyrolignite of iron. 3. M. Luog, on the cultivation of tea in France, shows its practicability.

ROYAL SOCIETY.-This Society met on Thursday, when a paper was read, "On the Supra-renal, Thymus, and Thyroid Bodies," by John Goodsir, Esq., communicated by Richard Owen, Esq., F.R.S.

ASIATIC SOCIETY, LONDON, Jan. 17.-A letter was read from Captain Newbold, on some remarkable tombs near Chittoon, North Arcot, which bear a close resemblance to the Cromlechs and other Druidical remains of Britain, and which are attributed by the natives of India to dwarfs and fairies. These tombs covered an area of more than a square mile. The bones found in these sarcophagi were of the ordinary stature, and belied the popular belief of dwarfs. Vessels of elegant shape are also found in those tombs and common ones of terra cotta.

WERNERIAN NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 10th Jan.-1. A notice from Dr D. Munro on the Dinornis or Moa of New Zealand. A thigh bone of this gigantic bird was exhibited 16 inches long, and a tibia 32 inches, indicating the strature of the animal to have been at least 12 feet. From the state of preservation which the bones exhibited when dug out of the alluvial deposit, Dr Munro conjectures that they may not be more than 200 years old, but he regards the Moa as extinct, at least in all those parts of New Zealand yet explored. 2. Specimen of the wild goat of Scotland from the highlands of Sutherlandshire. These animals are extremely shy, and were formerly hunted as game. 3. Specimens of the silvery fox, brought by Dr Gillespie jun. from Hudson's Bay. 4. A communication by Dr Hamilton on the excrementitious matters of various West India insects. 5. Communication on the lesser spotted woodpecker, by the Rev. Zachary Hamilton of Bressay.

MUNICIPAL LIBERALITY.-The municipal council of Marseilles has voted a sum of 10,000f. towards the expenses of the meeting of the scientific congress, which is to be held this year in that city.

Fine Arts.

AMATEUR THEATRICALS.-It has been decided upon that a body of artists shonld perform at St James's Theatre, on Tuesday, in aid of the funds of the "Artists' General Benevolent Institution," a society formed for the purpose of dispensing aid to distressed artists generally.

MANCHESTER ASSOCIATION.-A prize is to be given by the association for the best unpublished engraving.

EDINBURGH STATUE OF BURNS.-The Town Council has agreed that this statue be placed in the College Library.

University and Educational Intelligence.

EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY.-It is said that Dr Monro is to resign his professorship of anatomy in the Edinburgh University, at the conclusion of this session.

THE LIVERPOOL MECHANICS INSTITUTE.-This institution was established in 1825, after the model of the Glasgow and Edinburgh Schools of Arts, for the purpose of affording, at a cheap rate, instruction to the working classes. At first it was begun on a small scale, in apartments hired for the purpose, but was subsequently enlarged, and the present edifice in Mount Street built by public subscription, and first opened in September 1837. Besides a school for the education of the working classes, another was now added for the sons of merchants, and those in the middle and higher ranks of life, distinct in its arrangements from the other, and termed the High School, with a preparatory school for the junior pupils. In this school all the branches are taught which are generally included in what is called a liberal education, embracing the elements of physical science and the fine arts. The institution contains a sculpture gallery, with an extensive collection of casts, busts, &c., formed under the direction of Mr Haydon,-a library,-a museum of natural history, a chemical laboratory, and a lecture-hall, capable of containing nearly 1500 persons. The whole cost of the building as it now stands amounted to about L.15,000. The classes in all the departments commence at nine in the morning; the pupils change their classes every hour, when they are allowed five minutes recreation; from an hour and a half to two hours recreation are allowed at mid-day; and the average time of attendance during the day is six hours. Corporal punishment is strictly prohibited, confinement after school hours being substituted. As all books used by the pupils are provided by the institution, no lessons are prepared at home. [If this is a general practice throughout all the classes, we would be inclined to question the propriety of it much, both as regards efficiency and as promoting order and occupation at home.] The vacations are six weeks at mid-summer, two weeks at Christmas, and three days at Easter. The evening classes are more varied and extensive than those of the day. In addition to the subjects taught during the day, there are instructions given in mechanical, architectural, and naval architectural drawing, painting and modelling, navigation and nautical astronomy, together with the German and Spanish languages,-vocal music, dancing, and public speaking. The evening classes meet four times a-week. There is also a public lecture delivered two evenings in the week, on some subject connected with literature, science, or the arts, which lectures are open to the whole institution, to the subscribers and public generally. The number of pupils attending the lower school is about 700, with 19 teachers. The number attending the higher and preparatory schools, 250, and 13 teachers. The attendance on the evening classes, which meet from 7 to 9 o'clock, is-of master-tradesmen 28, of merchants' clerks, and others engaged in commerce, engineers, ship carpenters, sailors, from 3 to 400. Many sailors attend while their vessels are in harbour. Connected with this institution and in an adjoining building, an infant and girl school, for the education of the lower and middle classes of females of all ages, was opened in 1844. It is superintended by a head governess and fourteen teachers, and is attended by about 300 pupils. The seminary thus contains as complete an arrangement for general instruction as can well be conceived; and from personal inspection, we know that it is conducted with great regularity and propriety, and that it continues to meet with a success commensurate with its usefulness.

ENGINEERING, We are glad to observe that both King's and University Colleges, London, are to re-commence their classes or Engineering, Surveying, and Field Work. During the railway mania, we had too much of amateur surveying; and leaving out of view other disabilities, the blundering in this department alone would have prevented numerous lines from obtaining parliamentary sanction.

News of the Teck.

OREGON GEOGRAPHY.-People are now beginning to find out where Oregon is, but considerable obscurity still seems to exist as to what may be called its comparative geography. For instance, some have an idea, that being in America, the disputed ground could more easily be reached by Americans than Britons, -whereas, not only from its distance from the principal towns in the United States, but also from the direct intervention and great height of the Rocky Mountains, which lie obliquely parallel to the whole American side, American troops could not enter without much difficulty and much loss of time, whilst the British could enter easily from Canada, as the mountain range north of latitude 55° falls to a comparatively low elevation. Then others have the idea, that America could transport troops by sea much more rapidly than Britain, which is also an erroneous notion, because vessels from the United States, before they could clear Cape Horn, would require to sail in an easterly direction, so far as the 30th degree of W. longitude, somewhere about the point to which British vessels would have to proceed before descending the Atlantic. Again, the commercial importance of Oregon is not to be measured by its internal capabilities, about which we hear so much, but by its accessibility to intercourse with China and the Indian Archipelago. If railway communication were established between Oregon and the western shores of the United States, the products of China could be conveyed to Europe via America, much more expeditiously than at present, and this is a consideration of no small consequence, and shows besides, that our fleets in the China Seas could bear down on Oregon, in half the time required for a voyage from the United States. We make these remarks, not for the purpose of adding our mite to the cause of national fomentation, for war we deprecate, but simply because telling the truth can do no harm. Indeed, we have no idea that war will take place, for, as the Spectator justly observes, the American government is so entirely representative in its character, that every thing must be done before the people, and hence, Congressional discussions are at first nothing else but the thinking aloud of the Senators. Here we would call them deliberations which would not transpire beyond Downing Street, or the limits of an opposition parliamentary dinner. HORSBURGH.-The Singapore Chamber of Commerce propose erecting a lighthouse at Singapore Strait, in memory of the eminent hydrograper, Horsburgh. The East India Directory for navigation compiled by this meritorious man, is the most stupendous instance of individual toil ever performed. No ship goes to India without it, and yet the name of this benefactor to his country and the world, is not to be found even in a biographical dictionary.

GEOLOGICAL MAPS.-The Ordnance have commenced a series of geological maps of all the existing railways, on a scale of six inches to a mile. The British Association is said to have suggested this series.

PREVENTION OF RAILWAY ACCIDENTS.-A Railway Company has had to pay to Sir George Huyter L.2000, as a compensation for an accident sustained by him. A few payments like this will be the surest method of preventing railway accidents,-and we trust a similar system of compensation will be exacted from steam-boat proprietors.

PREMATURE INTERMENT.-From a paper by M. C. Guern, read in the French Academy of Sciences, it would appear that, since 1833, not less than 94 premature burials have been prevented by accidental causes. 35 of the persons supposed to be dead had awoke from their lethargy at the moment when the coffins were about to be nailed down, 13 had been revived by care, 17 by the upsetting of the coffins in which they had been placed, 9 by incisions or punctures in pinning their shrouds, 19 by accidental delays in the ceremony of interment, 6 by delays which had been created purposely by their friends, and 5 by other causes. On the whole, he supposes that 27 premature burials take place yearly. The usual period between death and interment in France is not given; but on the whole we are disposed to look upon M. Guern as a bit of an alarmist.

RATIONALISM IN GERMANY.-A new movement of the people in Germany, under the denomination of the "Friends of Light," is agitating the public mind. They discard the revelation of Scripture as uncertain and unsatisfactory, and seek the greater light of reason, as if one were to shut out the sun, and study by the light of a farthing candle. Ronge is said to have united this section of religionists to his party. PUNISHMENT OF DEAF AND DUMB.-Considerable interest was excited in the Justiciary Court, Glasgow, lately, by

the trial of a deaf and dumb youth on a charge of housebreaking and theft. The utmost difficulty was experienced in ascertaining whether the culprit understood the nature and consequence of a plea of guilty or not guilty--his interpreter stating that the only form in which, in these circumstances, he could put the question, being to ask, by means of signs, whether the panel had stolen the property. Shields and his accomplices were found guilty, and seM tenced to transportation for seven years, Had Shields been educated, the question of guilt or innocence, and many others not less important to the ends of justice, might have been put to him in writing or by means of the finger alphabet. Strange that the law which holds such persons amenable to punishment, should not at the same time make it imperative upon the overseers of the poor to provide them with education. As matters at present stand, we do humbly think that instead of transportation for seven years a more just and considerate sentence would have been, transmission of this poor ignorant and friendless youth to a deaf and dumb school, where he would have been taught a knowledge of right and wrong, and that moral restraint which instruction alone will awaken in the ignorant mind. With the deepest respect for the laws of our country, especially our admirable criminal administration, we do think that it looks something like a farce to see judges and jury and a whole array of lawyers solemnly deliberating on such a case as this, and at an expense too, as Bailie Mack lately stated, of £200. One fifth part of this sum would have educated this youth and perhaps placed him on the road of rectitude, which he would have ever after pursued.

MILITIA PROTECTION.-Excessive action is always followed by debility. A few months ago, we had proprietary companies, who were to run lines through every bog in the country, introduce gas into every hamlet, construct graving docks in every creek, and insure against fire, death, and all contingencies. Where be these enterprising capitalists now that the practical evil of militia ballot threatens every man in the empire- they have left the community to defend themselves by mutual protection clubs, at the very time that a really "eligible investment" might be made.

ADDITIONAL INSULT TO IRELAND.-Sir Edward Sugdenthe barber-Chancellor, is to be removed from Ireland to fill up the vacancy about to be caused by the retirement of alien Lyndhurst from the English Chancellorship.London Correspondent of Limerick Reporter.--[If Ireland sanctions this language, she deserves to be "insulted." Sir Edward Sugden's politics, or his nationality are fair matters for dispute--but his being the son of a barber is his " glory," and it is to the "shame" of any writer to attempt to reproach him with it. We say attempt, for Sir Edward himself is above being hurt with such an allusion, and we are sure that the people, be they Irish or Saxon, will never sympathise with such coarse provocation.]

CRITICISM.-Not only did the Quarterly review Lord Campbell's Lives of the Chancellors before the book saw the light, but Mr Murray was able to quote the opinion of the Quarterly upon an unpublished work before the review itself appeared.-Shropshire Conservative.—[ Provided no complaints can be made against the impartiality of the review in question, we do not see any great harm in this. A much more reprehensible act has been committed by the Shropshire Conservative, in quoting the Torch without acknowledgment.]

DOUGLAS JERROLD'S NEXT.-Encouraged no doubt by the success of Mrs Caudle's Lectures, a new series of domestic papers has been commenced in Punch, under the title of "Mrs Bib's Baby." All married men could derive consolation from Mrs Caudle's prelections, but only those having "little responsibilities" will be able to fathom the mysteries of Mrs Bib's oratory. Jerrold has now to take up Misses, and then he will have matched Mrs Ellis with her "Wo

33 66

men, Wives," and " Mothers" of England.

DR WOLFF.-A subscription has been set on foot to reward Dr Wolff for his adventurous journey to Pokhara. He has written a letter, disclaiming personal recompense, but suggesting that the sums advanced by Captain Grover should be paid off, and he also petitioned parliament to the same effect. Lord Aberdeen has promised to provide for Dr Wolff's son in the Foreign Office.

MR FRERE. Mr Frere, the coadjutor of Canning in the Anti-jacobin, and author of some amusing poetry, in the manner of Pulci, published under the name of Whistlecraft," and which Byron imitated and excelled in his lighter poems, died at Malta on 7th January, aged 77 years.

EIGHTEEN hundred years ago, or in the first century of the Christian era, Diodorus Siculus thus describes our country: "The Moate or Caledonians inhabit mountains very rugged, and wanting water, and also desert fields full of marshes. They have neither castles nor cities. They live on milk and the produce of the chase, as well as on fruits. They never eat fish, of which there is a very great quantity (in their seas). They dwell in tents, without shoes, and naked, and have wives in common, each bringing up his own offspring. Their whole life," in which he is corroborated by Strabo, "is spent in wars and plunder." He gives a similar account of the Irish-calls them savages, and even cannibals. With regard to the latter fact we have some hints by St Jerome; it is true the testimony is not direct, yet he affirms that he saw human flesh eaten in Gaul by certain strangers called Scots or Attacots, the same race who afterwards are conjectured to have come to Scotland and given their name to this country. From all accounts however, even down to much later periods, it appears perfectly evident that as regards civilization, the great mass of the population of the whole of the British Isles were in the first few centuries of the Christian era much upon a par with the inhabitants of the South Sea Islands at present. Yet centuries before this period, lived the refined Greeks and Romans; these again were preceded by the Etruscans, and thousands of years antecedent the art-cultivating Egyptians, and other enlightened nations almost lost in the dim uncertainties of history and tradition.

It is singular thus to trace the progress of civilization, dim and obscure as the lights are which irradiate the history. We can, it is true, very readily take up particular tribes and nations, and follow out their progress from rudeness and ignorance to a state of refinement and intelligence, but the great march of civilization itself in the world -the indications of its existence and prevalence from the very earliest periods-its devious pathits interruptions-its sudden diffusions-its wide spread in one era, its curtailment and decline in another, but on the whole its steady onward and accumulating progress, are all circumstances which mark the process as one of those great and abiding arrangements which have been peculiarly designed for human society.

It is needless to speculate on the origin of civilization, or the original state of man in society-to trace it as some have done from a community of savages passing by degrees through various stages, and accumulating knowledge and art by their own experience. As far back as we can penetrate, the light of knowledge burned; this light never appears to have been extinguished, but on the contrary to have been transmitted through every age: THE TORCH, NO. VI.

tribes and nations may have wandered far from its guidance, and plunged into the darkness of ignorance, but the light still was cherished, and still shone, always ready to communicate its illuminating influence. We accordingly find the best portions of human society early appearing as a social community-with their corn and wine, and their domestic animals, their herds and their flocks-their faithful dogs-their patient camels, and their fleet horses. The exclusive appropriation of such things proves the very early period of civilization. Thus all the plants of the Cerealia have been so completely appropriated by man as articles of food, that botanists now search the world in vain for any wild or natural specimens of wheat, oats, rice, or other grains. It is the same with domestic animals,-no wild camels, or horses, or even dogs, are to be found, which can truly be said to be the original species from whence the domestic animals sprung; and what is singular enough, with all our extended knowledge of animal beings, modern science has scarcely been able to add one to the number of our domestic list. It is different with respect to vegetables; though the most useful of these seem to have been early appropriated to the purposes of man, yet every century adds many to the list of those conducive to food, or clothing, or other purposes.

Hitherto in the world's history the great drawback to civilization has not been its actual and accumulated amount in particular localities, but the difficulty of its effective diffusion. Civilization has been broken up and retarded by the wandering, unsettled propensities of man-by masses of the people leaving the centres of knowledge and art, and retiring to remote regions, where an unsettled and precarious life of hunting or fishing left them no means of retaining the information they originally possessed, far less of acquiring and accumulating more. If to this be joined the propensity for castes and clanships, and petty feuds and wide-spreading wars, we have sufficient causes for all the degenerations which we meet with in remote and savage nations. The pride and tyranny of man too, has grievously retarded the diffusion of a beneficial civilization. Much of the grandeur and magnificence of ancient states were but false indications of true refinement. Ambitious and powerful tyrants goaded on the inferior classes to toil and labour, not for the amelioration of the condition of their subjects, but for their own individual pleasures. Hence arose the Pyramids of Egypt, those stupendous monuments of the rude taste and vanity of kings gratified by the toil and tears of their degraded slaves. Hence too the more refined temples and monuments-the paintings and palaces of antiquity, while the mass of the people lived in huts and in rude abodes scarce fit for the FEB. 7, 1846.