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shall not now inquire which of the rival theories of glaciers or floating ice-offers the simplest explanation of the phenomena here. It is very remarkable, however, that both here and on the Crags, the lines have directions which do not radiate from the highest point of Arthur Seat, but are parallel to its sides, and at right angles to each other, and consequently correspond nearly to that of a current of water flowing from the west, and interrupted in its progress by the hill. J. N.

EPHEMERIS OF THE NEW PLANET ASTREA.-1846.

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86 49 40,5

21 6 31,7

0,336328 0,351832 0,366358 0,379932

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21 24 30,6

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90 49 30,2 The above computations of M. Encke, Professor of Astronomy at Berlin, are for 8 o'clock in the evening, Berlin mean time. Though the observations on which they are founded are rather too few to fix its position with extreme precision, yet they are sufficient to identify it among the fixed stars, so that any amateur observer, possessed of the ordinary instruments, may detect it. It may also be laid down on a celestial globe, or atlas of the stars, so as to ascertain its relative position. Thus: rectify the globe for the given latitude of the place of the observer; let the planet's right ascension, say on February 1st 1846, which, by the accompanying Ephemeris, is 61° 28′ 49′′4 to the brass meridian, then under the planet's declination, + 15° 3′ 47/1 north, will be found its position among the stars, which may be marked by pencil or chalk. Again, by, say the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge's Map of the Stars, draw a pencil line through the planet's right ascension 61° 28′ 4974, by help of the degrees at the top and bottom of the plate No. 2, and draw a pencil line through the curve of declination 15° 3′ 47′′4, estimated by the degrees on the right and left of the page, these two pencil lines will cut each other in the planet's place among the stars in Taurus, near the Bull's mouth. On Mollison's Perforated Planisphere, its position will be pretty correctly indicated in a similar manner. W. G.

HYDRAULIC CLOCK.-This important invention being now registered according to Act of Parliament, we are at liberty to explain the principles on which the hydraulic clock is constructed. Attached to the axis of the crown wheel is a small bucketwheel, on which the propelling power, a single drop of water in a second, acts. The action of a pendulum keeps the motion in perfect regularity, and the other machinery is of the most simple description. It requires no winding up, and from its great durability in the absence of friction, it will be attended with very little expense in keeping it in repair. It exhibits time with the most perfect accuracy, and from its elegant appearance, it is beautifully adapted for gentlemen's houses and public buildings, railway stations, &c.-Dundee Warder.

DISCHIDIA RAFFLESIANA. The common opinion with regard to the pitchers of this plant is, that they are a modification of the petiole, and the lid or operculum of the lamina; but according to the late Mr Griffith, the pitchers are leaves formed by a union of the edges of the lamina.

ZOOLOGY.-The Snowy Owl, the Roller, the Cuckoo, and the Ivory Gull, have been killed within the last year in Orkney.-Report, Nat. Hist. Society.

TO COLLECTORS OF NATURAL CURIOSITIES.-No. 1. Arsenical Soap for preserving skins of animals-Common soap, 1 lb.; powdered chalk (whiting), 1 lb.; arsenic, 3 oz.; oil of thyme, oz. To be worked up with a little water into a paste, and kept in a bottle; it is dissolved in water to about the thickness of milk, and applied with a brush to the article to be preserved. No. 2. Varnish for eggs, crabs, inserts, fish, dec.-Common gum, 4 oz.; gum tragacanth, oz. Dissolve these in three pints of water, add to the solution 20 grains of corrosive sublimate, and 20 drops of oil of thyme, dissolved in 4 oz. spirit of wine; mix it well, and let it stand for a few days to separate; the clearer part is to be used as varnish, the thicker as cement. No. 3. Goadby's solution for preserving specimens-Corrosive sublimate, 4 grains; alum, 2 oz.; bay salt, 3 oz.; water, 1 quart. Specimens should be first steeped in equal parts water and the above solution, and then put in the solution plain. This solution is not applicable where bone or shell is present.

TRACING PAPER.-The editor of the Mechanic's Magazine gives the following recipe for producing a tracing paper, "that leaves nothing to be desired." Mix six parts (by weight) of spirits of turpentine, one of rosin, and one of boiled nut oil, and lay on with a brush or sponge.

Literature.

Scottish Art and National Encouragement.

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This volume consists of thirteen chapters, containing a detailed account of a late correspondence between the Board of Trustees, the Royal Institution for the Fine Arts, and Royal Scottish Academy, with an appendix of original letters and documents. There appears to have been considerable misunderstanding on one or both sides, and some sharp words, but the matter seems to have been arranged to the satisfaction of all the parties concerned; and there we think it should have been allowed to rest'non nostrum inter vos tantas componere lites." We have had the curiosity, however, to go over the volume somewhat coolly and dispassionately, and if we were to divest the honourable corporate bodies of all their adventitious qualities, and reduce them to ordinary individuals, the case would stand nearly thus:-A built a large house, and set apart two or three rooms in it to accommodate his friend B, on a consideration, however, of a good regularly paid rent. B occupied the rooms for some time, but finding business become slack, he sub-let them to C for three months in the year, granting no lease, however, for he had none himself,-he leaves his library also, and some other traps, which he has no objections might be used by the incoming tenant. After C has occupied the lodgings for several years, A finds that he has need for more accommodation, both for himself and another tenant that he prefers, and he gives notice to C to quit at least a portion of his suite of apartments. C grumbles at this, declares he can find no other lodgings to suit, and becomes a good deal irritated-old family matters are raked up, which have little bearing on the matter in hand, and C still perseveres, and reckons himself ill-used, and appeals to the public. At last the incoming tenant D waives some of his arrangements and promised ac commodations; A relents, and the matter is amicably made up.

Military Miscellany. By H. MARSHALL, F.R.S.E.

A valuable work, as all this author's productions are. The chapters on Recruiting, Enlistment, Punishments, Education, and Pensions, are particularly important, and are marked throughout by much practical knowledge of the subject, as well as good feeling and humanity. A Manual of Music.

Three treatises “rolled into one,” comprehending all that popularly need be known regarding the history and progress of foreign and national music-followed by a guide for vocal and pianoforte instruction. It belongs to the new Library of Useful Knowledge, which is more utilitarian than the old Library.

Twenty Lessons in British Mosses. By WILLIAM GAR

DINER.

We noticed in a late number an elegant volume of botany with real plants dried: this is another similar herbarium of some of the British mosses. It is an admirable little volume for the young botanist, and is dictated evidently by a refined taste. There are some scraps of poetry interspersed, which display much natural sweetness. We must quote one of them.

In Highland dell, by lonely brook,
Some sweet sequestered fairy nook
Invites the wanderer to explore

Its flowery wealth, and wond'rous store!
Trees, shrubs, and blossoms, there display
Their graceful forms, and colours gay;
And fling from leaf, and chalice fair,
Their odours through the balmy air.

And there, to charm the curious eye,
A host of hidden treasures lle-
A microscopic world, that tells
That not alone in trees and flowers
The spirit bright of beauty dwells,-
That not alone in lofty bowers
The mighty hand of God is seen-

But more triumphant still in things men count as mean. The young botanist and poet is to be found at Overgate, Dundee, and a very small sum will purchase his little volume.

The Enchanted Rock...

An American aboriginal story by the author of the Trapper's Bride--the denouement being less tragical, and the early portion more equable than in that thrilling tale.

The Parlour Novelist.

The first part of this new serial work is Tales by the O'Hara Family, to be followed by productions from Miss Austen, Maxwell, Grattan, &c., to which there can be no possible objection-but we cannot announce, except under protest, that works by Sue and Dumas are to be admitted. Of the talent of these parties there can be no question, and that their writings may be the best selling of all the authors named, may also be likely, but their style of writing is objectionable, not merely in manner, but also in matter and as such, we deprecate their extensive perusal in this country. In cheapness and external appearance, the Parlour Novelist is irreproachable. North British Review, No. VIII.

This periodical holds on its course bravely, and with full sail, having at first, and with one dash, as it were, got fairly abreast, if not a-head of its contemporaries. The opening article is a notice of recent works on Aus tralia, descriptive, scientific, and statistical. 2. Scottish Criminal Law. The general subject of criminal legislation is now taking hold of the public attention, and we hope some good results will follow. This is an able article, and suggestive of some good practical reforms. 3. Antiquity of the Gospels, a review of an ingenious argument of Dr Dobbin's, in refutation of the mythical school of Strauss, a short summary of which we shall give next week. 4. An approving notice of Whewell's Indications of the Creator. 5. Analysis of Arago's Memoir of Baron Fourier, and views of his interesting theory of the temperature of the earth, &c. 6. Nelson's Despatches, in which the eclat of the hero is not allowed to eclipse the failings of the man-a searching investigation made with moral firmness and candour. 7. Ecclesiastical Miracles. Some of Henry Newman's tracts on the miracles of the middle ages, and of English Saints, completely exposed. 8. A Sequel to the Vestiges-another fling at the nebular and cosmological hypothesis, and an able rebutment of alleged former errors of the Reviewer. 9. Carlyle's Oliver Cromwell. A smart censure, and we think a very merited one, on the author's absurd, Germanized, and affected style; but full mead of admiration paid to his genius as an original thinker. So far as he goes, the critic is favourable to the sincerity of Oliver Cromwell's character, professions, and patriotism, but we think there was scope for a much more full memoir of this extraordinary man and his times, in the North British.

Dundee Diagnostic Society's Volume.

Literary societies must not be sneered at, for most literary men have had to do with them at one time or another. This volume does not so much show deficiency of smartness, as it shows want of experience in handling the pen, although the precise want could with difficulty be explained to those who write in it. Actors have to serve an apprenticeship to stage-walking, and without improvement in this mechanical department they never become eminent; and so, in like manner, our friends before us must practise writing more and more. As to their volume, we prefer the female prose to the male prose, and the poetry to both.

M'Phail's Ecclesiastical Journal, No. I.

A decidedly clever number, but containing rather much of the odium theologicum for our taste-a fault excusable so far, that the paucity of Established organs has not hitherto afforded sufficient vent for the pent-up feelings roused by rival sects. The hand of one pen, and that a caustic one, is observable through more of the papers than a due regard to variety might have dictated --but no periodical should be judged by a first number. The strictly literary part is confined to notices of Dickens' Cricket and Jane Bouverie, the former just and discriminating.

Gleanings.

ADVERTISING. Could we but look through these long lines of advertisements into the hearts of those who have published them, what a revelation would there be of human life! Here are partnerships formed and closed; young men entering into business, old men going out of it; new inventions and speculations; failures; sales of household furniture and dwellings. These have been attended by the most sanguine hopes, by utter hopelessness, by every form of fear, anxiety, and sorrow. This young man, just entering business, looks forward with anticipations bright as the morning to his marriage-day. This sale of furniture speaks of death, diminished fortunes, a scattered family. There is not a sale of stocks which does not straiten or increase the narrow means of widows and orphans. This long column of ships news-a thousand hearts are this moment beating with joy and thankfulness, or are oppressed by anxiety, or crushed down by sorrow, because of these records which to others seem so meaningless! One reads here of his prosperity; another of ruined fortunes; and the wrecked ship, whose crew was swept by the surge into the breakers, and dashed on the rocks-how many in their solitary homes are mourning for those who sailed with bright hopes in that ship, but who shall never return! And more than thiscould these lines which record the transactions of daily business tell of the hearts which indited them, what temptations and struggles would they reveal! They would tell of inexperience deceived or protected, of integrity fallen or made stedfast as the rock, of moral trials, in which noble natures have been broken down or built up. Had we the key and the interpretation of what we here read, this daily chronicle of traffic would be a sadder tragedy than any which Shakspeare wrote. It is the same with all human labour. "The spirit giveth life." Were it not so, earth would be a dungeon. If toil were only toil, or if it had no object but the supply of one's own bodily wants to gratify hunger and thirst, or to minister to luxurious appetites-if this were all, the labour of man would be as the labour of brutes. But all the products of man's labour are but symbols of a spiritual life beneath. To the outer eye, what toilsome drudgery is oftentimes the life of a mother of a family! She labours by day, she watches by night; her years are worn out n disconnected, trifling occupations. And yet, could we look beneath, when the mind is right, we should find all these details bound together, elevated, hallowed by the spiritual element blended with them. While with housewifely care she goes from room to room, under the labour of her hands grows up, as under the sunshine and dew, the affections and virtues of a happy home. -The Token.

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A DAY IN SOUTH-WESTERN AFRICA.-Morning. The terrors of the night are quickly dispelled by the transcendant beauty of the morning. Earth glows in her primeval beauty,-all nature smiles in the loveliest verdure, and the delicious coolness of the atmosphere invites many a one to enjoy the early dawn. From half-past five till eight o'clock, when the sun gradually dispels the silvery mist that is spread over the earth, is the busiest part of the day and the time most engaged by the European.

Noon. Suddenly the whole scene changes, the sun begins to shoot down his vertical rays, and the European, who dreads the fierce magnificence of this glorious luminary like the pestilence, retires to his house for the day, while the negro lies down before his hut, smokes tobacco, and basks in the sun, but neither dance nor song is heard. The numerous birds disappear-the little parroquet and the African humming birds seek the thickest shade, the songsters of the wood are mute, and the plants which but a moment before looked vigorous and fresh, languidly drop their leaves. The pulses of nature seem to be stopped,-every sound is hushed, there is not a breath, not a motion in earth or sky,-an unearthly death-like stillness prevails, which, combined with an oppressive heat, is more trying to bear than all the terrors and discomforts of the night. On looking abroad, the atmosphere appears in glistening motion,-the eye cannot endure the glare of light, and yet the sun is always veiled in mist. The thermometer gradually rises in the shade to 93° or 94", and sometimes to 102° or 105°. All creation is wrapt in such profound repose that the most solitary spots may be visited without risk, because not even a wild beast rises from its lair, or coiled serpent issues from its dark retreat. The unhappy slaves alone are not left to repose. In the awful silence of noon, the clank of the chains of the passing slaves falls reproachfully on the ear, as they toil on their weary way, fetching water from the mountains or carrying goods to the sea

coast.

Night. As soon as darkness sets in, all hurry anxiously home, even the negroes desert the street, or lie round a blazing fire in front of the dwellings, or if obliged to be abroad, carry lighted torches in their hands to scare away the wild beasts. Darkness seems to be alive, for the silence of night is broken by the cries of ravenous beasts of prey, chiefly the hyena, whose presence in the town is immediately announced by the howling of the dogs, who slink away in evident terror. While the European stranger is filled with apprehension at the proximity of such neighbours, the inhabitants, who are accustomed to it from childhood, are almost indifferent to it, though it is by no means unusual for some to fall a prey to these ravenous creatures,-lately a female slave was devoured by a lion, close to the town, at noonday. From the German of Dr T. Gamms.

MILITARY FORCE OF QUEEN ELIZABETH.-At one muster there were found, in all England, fit for war, of common soldiers about 400,000; and of those armed and trained 185,000, besides nearly 40,000 horse. The nobility and gentry were then able to bring into the field, of their servants and followers, 20,000 men, horse and foot; choice men and excellent horses; and in all fit for war and ready upon all occasions, 642,000, leaving sufficient to till the ground and to furnish trades, besides nobility and gentry. In those times the whole male population formed a standing army for the security of the kingdom.-Chamberlayne.

Proceedings of Societies.

ROYAL SOCIETY, LONDON, Jan. 8-15.-Mr Faraday read a paper on new magnetic actions and on the magnetic condition of all matter. A simple form of exhibiting this newly discovered law of action, is as follows:-A bar of glass composed of silicated borate of lead, two inches in length, and half an inch in width and in thickness, is suspended at its

ccn.re by a long thread, formed of several fibres of silk cocoon, so as to revolve freely in a horizontal plane, and inclosed in a glass jar, to prevent agitation by currents of air. Place two poles of a powerful electro-magnet, one on each side of the glass jar, so that the centre of the bar shall be in the line connecting the poles, which is the line of magnetic force. If, previous to the establishment of the magnetic action, the position of the bar be such that its axis is inclined at half a right angle to that line, then on com pleting the circuit of the battery, so as to bring the magnetic power into operation, the bar will turn so as to take a position at right angles to the same line, and if disturbed will return to that position. If a bar of bismuth be sub stituted for the glass bar, the same phenomenon will be exhibited, but in a still more marked way. A bar of iron placed in the same circumstances takes a position coincident with the direction of the magnetic forces, or at right angles with the position taken by the bar of bismuth subjected to the same influence. These two directions Mr Faraday terms axial and equatorial, the first being that taken by the iron, the second, that taken by the bismuth. It thus appears that different bodies are acted upon by the magnetic forces in two different and opposite modes, and may accordingly be arranged into two classes; the one, of which iron is the type, constituting those usually denomin ated magnetics; the other, of which bismuth may be taken as the type, obeying a contrary law, and therefore coming under the generic appellation of diamagnetics. Gaseous bodies, being unaffected by magnetic action, are termed neutral. The magnetic properties of compound bodies depend upon those of their elements. Formerly it was supposed that heat destroyed the magnetic property in metals; but Mr F. has proved this not to be the case. Mr Faraday's experiments tend to establish the general and simple law, that while every particle of a magnetic body is attracted, every particle of a diamagnetic body is repelled by either pole of a magnet. All matter, in fine, seems to be subject to the magnetic force as universally as it is to the gravitating, the electric, the cohesive, and the chemical forces.

SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES OF SCOTLAND, 2d February.The Marquis of Breadalbane in the chair. At this meeting the following papers were read. 1. Remarks on the state of Archæology in Copenhagen, Stockholm, and Upsala, as ascertained during à late tour by J. M. Mitchell, Esq. 2. Letter from King James VI., dated 1589, and supposed to be addressed to Cecil. Communicated by W. W. Hay, Esq. 3. Notice of Early Historical Writers of Scotland-Friar Abel, author of the Rota Temporum. Several donations to the Society were also exhibited. The museum of this Society has been newly arranged, and we propose giving notices of some of its most remarkable contents in a future number.

ANTIQUARIAN AND NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF ORKNEY. -We are glad to perceive, by a report sent us, that this society continues to flourish. It has a respectable list of members, and a museum yearly extending. The curators intend to keep a meteorological journal, to draw up a Fauna and Flora, and propose opening some of those tumuli which are so numerous in the country. We shall be happy to have an opportunity of communicating the results of all these labours to the public.

University and Educational Entelligence.

KING'S COLLEGE, LONDON.-Classes for Theology have been opened for training young men for the ministry in the Church of England.

UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH.-Dr Munro having resigned the anatomical chair in this university, various candidates have announced themselves for the vacancy. We have heard of Professor Reid, St Andrews, Dr Sharpey, London, Dr Handyside, Mr Goodsir, and Mr Lizars. Dr Munro was the oldest professor in the university of Edinburgh, having been appointed in 1798, and the only one within its walls who was inducted last century.

GLASGOW UNIVERSITY.-The number of students attending this university is considerably greater than during previous sessions. The students in the gown classes amount to six hundred and thirty, the divinity and medical students number above three hundred. The total number amounts to nearly one thousand. Our correspondent gives it as his opinion that nearly one-third of the entire number belong to the Free Church.-Glasgow Examiner.

SHERIDAN KNOWLES.-The dramatist is talked of to fill the chair of Elocution in the new College, Belfast.

Fine Arts.

RIGHTS OF ARTISTS AND PURCHASERS-The question, whether an artist selling his picture without reservation, does or does not thereby part with all its beneficial incidents, has been raised in France, and decided according to the common-sense view of the matter. M. St Amant, having purchased M. Marlet's painting of the scene of the great chess-match played between him and Mr Staunton, and had it lithographed for sale, the artist brought an action against the chess-player, on the ground that his possession of the picture did not give him the right of reproduction by engraving, without the painter's consent. It seems quite clear that nothing but a custom, or a positive provision, could limit such a purchaser's right to do what he would with his own; and the court so decided-very properly, however, negativing M. St Amant's right to suppress the painter's name in his publication, and giving the latter small damages for that omission.

PRIZE CARTOON.-The Art Union prize of £500, for the best Cartoon, has been awarded to Mr Selons for his Philippa."

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ROYAL SCOTTISH ACADEMY.-The annual exhibition is to open early in February. The ensuing exhibition is to contain paintings by Turner, Etty, Maclise, Wilkie, Collins, &c., and promises to be unusually interesting.

News of the Week.

MR GILFILLAN ON POPULAR LECTURES.-Lecturing has become fashionable among men of genius; though we doubt greatly if it tend either to their permanent credit or to the good of the public. It either seduces them into clap-trap, or presents them, unstudied in the art of oratory, in unfavourable or deteriorating lights; and, generally speaking, instead of instructing, it misleads and mystifies the public. The man stands up before his audience, half a prophet and half a play-actor; in a position intensely and almost ludicrously false. How utter burdens to such a promiscuous audience as assemble to wile away an evening hour in a lecture room! Conceive of an ancient prophet delivered of one of his oracles through the established formula of"Ladies and gentlemen!" No; the lecture and the lectureroom are better fitted for the glib, clever, showy declaimer, who happens to have white hands and cultivated whiskers, than for the simple and fiercely inspired sons of genius.— Gallery of Literary Portraits, 50.

[Mr Gilfillan has "lectured" since his volume was pub lished, and the character of his lectures, as well as of his audience, have been such as to disprove the above positions. The passage should be left out of his second edition.]

PROTECTION TO PUBLISHING.--The paper-maker is protected, by a duty of 43d. per pound, which effects a total prohibition of the foreign article; the printing ink maker by a duty of 10 per cent., besides very heavy duties on the raw material in other forms; the type founder by a duty of 35 per cent.; the iron press and machine maker by a duty of 15 per cent. The English compositor and pressman is protected in the most important branch of the printing business, book printing, to the fullest possible extent. Not a single sheet of paper can be printed on in the English language and imported at any duty-it is literally prohibited. So that no enterprising publisher can set up an establishment at Boulogne or Calais, engage French printers at their reduced scale of wages, and send over cheap works to supply the English market-that is exclusively retained for the English artisan.-Berkshire Chronicle.

LUTHER. A Society has been formed in Germany to assist and educate upwards of eighty descendants of Martin Luther, who have been traced in a direct line from the reformer. If similar societies were formed in this country, they would find ample scope in caring for the descendants of our authors, discoverers, patriots, and other public benefactors.

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DICKENS.-In noticing the translation of Dickens' last work into French, Galignani states that he is not popular in France, on account of his peculiar style not being translatable, and because the French lack knowledge of that class of society which he describes." There may be something in the first reason, but the second is absurd. There is not a character in Oliver Twist, who might not have appeared in the Mysteries of Paris or the Wandering Jew. Rodin and Fagin would pair off nicely; and the other characters would equally unite at the "first intention." In fact one complaint made against Oliver Twist was its resemblance to the Sue school.

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JOAN OF ARC.-An equestrian statue of the amazon is to be erected at Orleans, from whence she took her warriorname, and the council of which has contributed 20,000 florins to the fund. This is as it should be, for towns are greatly oblivious of those who have gained them fame. Calvin has no statue at Geneva, nor John Knox one at Edinburgh.

PUBLIC READING.-To save the time of private readers a society is about to be formed in Liverpool, for the publie reading of the parliamentary debates. "Skilful readers are said to be engaged, and if this means skill not only in the elocutionary art, but also in the eclectic science of omitting the heavy portions of senatorial oratory, the scheme may prosper-but if the readers are to go through the columns of the Times verbatim, they will clear the house by a faster process than what obtains in the real St Stephens. A better plan would be to dramatise the debates, and then the "holding up of the mirror to nature" would not only give a popular diffusion of debatable matter, but would re-act upon parliamentary speakers themselves.

WORKING OF LORD ASHLEY'S BILL.-I cannot pass from this subject [prevalence of consumption among colliers] without an observation on the beneficial results which have been the consequence of Lord Ashley's valuable colliery Act. The female labourers, and particularly the unmarried, have improved not only in their appearance but also in general physical development, since they have abandoned the unhealthy labour of the coal-mine. They are no longer the squalid, filthy, and ill-favoured race they formerly were. There is now exhibited on the face of the collier girl the bloom of health and cheerfulness; and when we descend to their domestic economy, there is observed a comfort in the management of their households, which formerly did not exist. Their children are now particularly cared for, both in health and when suffering from disease; and we must regard this early watching as an important step to the removal of that predisposition to pulmonary irritation, so general in the collier community.Dr Makellar, in Cormack's Medical Journal.

THE MILITIA. The operative masons of Edinburgh held a meeting last week, when resolutions were passed to the effect, that being opposed to war as a barbarous custom, they would neither protect themselves by clubs, nor serve in the militia if drawn-but would seek to resist its embodiment by all legal and constitutional means. "Glorious war" is truly in danger, when working men hold it at a discount; but honouring them as we do for sound views regarding international butchery, we would counsel them to obey the law till altered, and the more so as obedience is cheap, by means of protective clubs. They are not the friends of the people who advise passive resistance, either as "legal or constitutional."

LIVERPOOL BOTANIC GARDEN.-The gardens in Liverpool have been so ill supported that they are first to be offered for sale to the Town Council, and if not bought by them, are to be broken up for building plots! This says little for Liverpool. The Council should purchase them for public walks; or if that cannot be done, the flourishing Mechanic's Institution of the town should get them for the purpose of founding a botanical lecture.

MILDNESS OF THE SEASON.-In the north of England pear-trees, roses, pansies, marigolds, polyanthuses, wallflowers, and primroses, are reported as in full bloom; and, as a matter of course, rara aves have been seen in Dumfriesshire,

where nature first unfauids her robe,

and where she langest tarries.

The bird in question is the cuckoo, which our contemporary, the Courier, states to have been heard in Locher Moss, and seen in Mouse wald.

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THOMAS MILLER.-We regret to learn that Thomas Miller (the poet basketmaker), author of "A Day in the Woods," Royston Gower," ," "Fair Rosamond," "Rural Sketches," &c., is at present labouring under a total deprivation of sight, in consequence of an attack of erysipelas. PETER STILL.-The London Literary Fund has awarded £30 to Peter Still, the deaf Buchan poet.

WILLIAM JONES.-Mr Jones, well known as an industrious compiler of works, chiefly of a religious kind, died on the 21st instant, aged 84.

NEW PERIODICAL.-A new literary publication, to be called The Literary Herald, comes forth next month. Its avowed object is to introduce and encourage unknown authors.

[This is a benevolent design, and we trust that it may be so impartially carried out as to deserve success-we are afraid however that "unknown" authors are generally also "unknowing" ones.]

CRIME AND CRIMINAL PUNISHMENTS.

CRIME-that deep and mysterious blot upon humanity, that moral aberration, which causes so much misery and solicitude, such endless confusion and instability among the nations of the earth, while the inferior creation moves on in a smooth and harmonious progression-it is not so much our intention to treat of abstractedly, as to trace its prevalence and prevention in progressive stages of civilization. In a rude and savage condition of society, man is not very sensitive of the idea of crime, or rather in such states the idea of crime is conventional,-revenge, murder, thefts, and domestic immoralities, which are looked upon as the greatest crimes in civilized life, are in the savage either commended as virtues or considered as matters of little moment,-a breach of hospitality would be looked upon by such a savage with greater disgust than the maiming or even killing of a neighbour in any trivial quarrel. As nations advance in improvement, the mind is more and more opened up, and the conscience becomes more alive to the nature and distinction of crimes. Yet among the most rude there is a standard of right and wrong, however various or however erroneous this standard may be. A predisposition to adopt either one course or another, is inherent in the human mind, and indeed is a consequence of the freedom of action or will. Hence the standard of the savage is too frequently erroneous or evil, because his mind being uninformed, he is swayed by his preponderating passions,-whereas the instructed mind has a standard of truth to appeal to and be guided by. Philosophers have puzzled themselves in all ages to find out what is this standard and where it comes from,-the Christian believes it to be the dicta of the Deity, revealed to man in some mode or another, from the first existence of the human race to the present time.

We shall next find that man, being naturally a social animal, has always lived in some measure under the control of his fellow-man; the father of a family, the chief of a clan, the sovereign, or the senate, holding and exercising authority. Blackstone rather abstractedly says, "the absolute rights of man, considered as a free agent, endowed with a discernment to know good from evil, are usually summed up in one general appellation, and denominated the natural liberty of mankind; and when he enters society he gives up a part of his natural liberty as the price of so valuable a privilege." We do not exactly understand this "natural liberty of man" as respects society; indeed man seems to submit to the control of society from a natural instinctive feeling, showing itself in action in the young and helpless child long before he could have any idea of "giving up a part of his natural liberty."

At first, men associate together for general protection and convenience. Each individual is the protector of himself, his family, and his goods. If

THE TORCH, NO. VII.

he is wronged in person, or family, or property, he is his own avenger,-he personally demands apology or restitution; or for a more grievous offence, pursues his enemy to the death, and thus satisfies his offended sense of justice, or it may be, gluts his revenge. As society advances, the community takes this duty upon it,-hence national police, national judges and magistrates, and an army of soldiers prepared to battle for the rights not only of the nation at large, but of every individual in it. Nothing can be more beautiful than a community thus arranged according to a system of strict justice and rectitude, and nothing is so characteristic of the change which civilization brings upon the former rude and lawless disposition of man, than the calm and implicit obedience which is displayed to the judge in authority, the magistrate exercising his executive power, or the soldier performing his rigid duties. To these delegated powers every member of society gives up his own natural rights of selfdefence; nor is individual resistance tolerated by the law of his community, unless in those extreme cases of self-defence, where the immediate aid of justice is impossible.

Crime is, of course, much more common in a rude state of society than in civilized communities, and is also more difficult of control. Hence in looking back into our past history, we are too apt to blame the severity of the laws, or the sanguinary character of the executive, without taking into consideration the spirit and character of the times, To a sensitive mind of the present day, the expeditions of our Scottish kings to the turbulent borders of England, or to other remote districts of the kingdom, and the summary trials and executions which there took place, appear as so many barbarous outrages against law and justice, and no doubt essentially they were so,-but the executive was then weak, and individual and party resistance was strong, rapine and murder were familiar as household words, and strong and decisive measures were perhaps the only practicable ones, however, to be deplored. But it was not so much the intrinsic rigour and cruelty of the laws that were then to be deprecated, as the corruption and capricious nature of the executive. The sacred fountains of justice were rendered impure by the passions and party spirit, as well as by the mean subserviency and the cupidity of judges and rulers. The evil was in high places, which exercised its baneful and retarding influence on the inferior mass. The powerful noble was not then ashamed to go forth with his clan in open day, and commit robberies and murders, neither sanctioned by law nor permitted to individuals of inferior station with impunity.

But worst of all were those laws against offences, doubtfully or not at all implying moral guilt, offenders against which were treated with all the FEB. 14, 1846.

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