"HAVE YOU SEEN MY CERTIFICATES?" Suppose a given appointment to be vacant, the candidate immediately sets to the manufacture of certificates, and he calls upon the man whom he supposes to occupy the largest position in the eye of the electoral body, and he asks for a certificate, in a coolly bland, and deferential way, just as he would ask to be helped to an extra potato at dinner. He does not ask for it so much as a positive favour to be bestowed, but as one which, if refused, would imply something like positive rudeness. "Professor," reasons he, "got certificates when he was a candidate for his chair,-he has given them to others; and if he ever comes to seek after a more lucrative office himself, he may require to seek one from me, why therefore should he think of refusing it?" On "HAVE you seen my Certificates!" Such is the quently pored over, as frequently pored over they are, question put by every candidate on the occasion of a to be regarded as, on the whole, strikingly truthful, and vacancy in any public office,-and believing the ques- the deluded tyro fancies himself to have been criminally tion, and almost every thing else connected with the neglected, intermits study as of no use to such a genius, present system of certificates, to be manifestly absurd, and allows his whole mental man to run to seed. we mean to make a few observations on the subject. the other hand, how are men of real talent positively demeaned, when they are obliged to turn certificatehunters? Quantity, not quality, is the order of the day, and, to make up the bulky tale, he must have recourse to the opinions of parties who know absolutely little or nothing of the science which he professes to expound, or the duties which he volunteers to perform. Leaving candidates, and going to those who are asked for those fulsome declarations, how often does an honourablyminded man shrink from giving a certificate, while yet he dare not openly refuse it. The candidate may become one of his own colleagues, and how awkward would that be! or his friends may be influential, and have power to annoy, and what a consideration is that ! Then, again, what must foreigners think of our ability to judge of talent, when they find themselves so regularly besieged for testimonials on all occasions of vacancies in British appointments! The rage for continental laudation would be ludicrous, were it not that it exposes a very weak point in national character to all the world abroad. 1 Certificates in the vernacular are as dust in the balance,-one French, German, or Italian panegyric being, severally, equal to two, three, and four trumpetings from indigenous performers. Such is the reasoning-and it is correct, so far as conventionalities are concerned-but let us fall back on first principles, and inquire what is really implied in asking a certificate. If A were to go to B, and say bluntly, "What do you think of me?-what is your opinion of my intellect?-of the knowledge I presently possess !—and of my capacity for acquiring more!" Α would be set down as an impertinent coxcomb. But when A goes to B, and solicits a certificate, he does worse than this, for he does not say "tell me what you think of me," but he says, "write down all the good qualities which, short of extravagance, you can say appertain to me, keeping out of sight all drawbacks." This is what is asked; and in order to show it, it is only necessary to say, what is well known to all conversant with the matter, that if B were to refer to the "shadows," as well as the "lights" in A's character; or even depict the lights" themselves in anything short of rainbow-brilliancy, A would not condescend to call such a document a certificate, but would leave it out of his budget, and walk home an injured man. Now what is the value of a testimonial so acquired? People are beginning to open their eyes to the pure, unmitigated humbug involved in such a system; and all our public boards, or, at all events, the more sensible men who surround them, regard the masses of certificates with which they are duly inundated on all occasions when they are called on to exercise their patronage, as possessed of no more veracity than the advertisements of quack medicine venders. If a foolish thing were harmless, one might be disposed to let it alone; and if nothing beyond absurdity were connected with certificates, assuredly we should not have interfered with them on the present occasion,-but the system is pernicious to all and sundry concerned. It engenders conceit on the part of many weak young men, who obtain certificates. Although they know that these documents are so many "Arabian facts," yet such is the deceitfulness of human vanity, that some two or three-score pages of flattering incense, come, when fre Then, last of all, consider the effect upon those whose minds are expected to be influenced by certificates. Although patrons of all kinds are daily getting wiser, there cannot be a doubt that, at no recent date, certificates, when puffed forth with hot-blast fury, have blown many an undeserving person into high places; but even without dwelling on this, they are apt to puzzle those who have wisdom enough not to be absolutely misled by them. Our old friend, A, may early have been on the outlook for preferment-in short, a solicitor-general.” He gets his certificates, but loses his place. "Very well," he says to himself, "keep a thing seven years, as Jack Sheppard did when he concealed the crow-bar that first took him out of Newgate;" and he locks past the documents. A second vacancy takes place, and then out they come with additions. Lost again. A third vacancy occurs, and again, like the big snow-ball, forth they issue obeser than ever. Lost again, however; but then for the fourth time A comes forward for a prize. "Oh, but," says an elector, “ Mr- has such heavy testimonials." "Has he," says A," who has he, that I have not? so have I. Chevalier so have I. Baron ? so have I. Dr. ! so so have I." And the honest patron is bewildered, not immediately perceiving that A's certificates are the accumulations of years, and that they are of a general cast, having no bearing on the office that is vacant for the time being. How, then, is all this to be remedied! Simply by the exercise of self-denial and common sense on the part of those who are connected with the system. The electors to public offices could at once put it down, by announ cing their determination not to read certificates; and if they tell us that they are unable to decide without assistance, as to the comparative merits of candidates, our answer is, get that assistance if you will, but get it in a manly and efficient manner. Call upon, or write to, the parties on whose judgment you can rely, and ask them for a conscientious opinion, to be received by you as strictly private and confidential. This is what is done every day in commercial life, in the equally delicate negotiation of discovering mercantile stability. But really respectable candidates should themselves do something; and we are convinced that a little moral courage on their part would not only go far to rid the world of an acknowledged nuisance, but would pave the way for their own elevation. Let a man of admitted 1 eminence in his vocation, present himself fearlessly before his judges, and tell them that if so minded he could collect certificates as well as his brother competitors, but that he declines doing so, because of their fallacy,and, instead of them, he refers to what he has done or written, as well as to the testimony, which they can, if required, get for themselves more impartially than he can get for them, of those qualified to decide on his ability to fill the situation to which he aspires. Let him do this, and if he do not succeed in the object of his wishes, he has this satisfaction, that he has lost all save -honour. Lastly, those who are applied to for certificates should calmly but firmly decline giving them; and if they do so, they will not only save themselves the discharge of a troublesome and disagreeable species of labour, but will also benefit the applicants themselves, and confer a positive boon on society. Testimonials IN FAVOUR OF Polyglot Syntax, A.MM., B.D., D.D., LL.D., M.D., Mus. D., and Ph. D. (AS CANDIDATE FOR THE PROFESSORSHIP OF LOGIC IN THE UNIVERSITY OF BALAAM.) (The following certificates, found in the repositories of the late Dr Syntax, have juɛt been handed to us, and so appropriately illustrate the above remarks, that we cannot resist appending them.] No. I. WE, the Senatus Academicus of the U. of E., unanimously bear testimony that Dr Syntax has, for a long period of years, proved himself the most punctual of all students in attending the various lectures of the University, of which fact, besides ocular observation, we have full evidence from his having given in cards of attendance which would fill a bushel. From this, his punctual attendance, we conclude, for we take no other means of ascertaining, that he cannot have failed to have profited by what he has heard and seen; and, therefore, we deem him a most fit person to fill the proposed chair of logic, or, indeed, any chair within the circle of the sciences. Signed, &c. Note by the P.-I fully concur in the above; and whereas it might be objected that a man of such varied talent, and an aspirant for so many offices, might be superficial in most, and profound or useful in none, I am of opinion that the more a man undertakes, the more inclination he has to extend the sphere of his pretensions. Individual Testimonials. No. II. I have been for many years familiar with the visage of Dr Syntax in my class. He has ever proved himself a most diligent listener to tupto, tupso, tetupha, and has uniformly declined the Greek nouns. Indeed, his meditative taciturnity has always been so great, that I know not whether he most excels in the Ionic, Doric, or Eolic dialects. I have no doubt, however, but he would make a good professor of Logic. No. III. Dr Syntax has been familiar to me for the last quarter of a century. His staid demeanour, and imperturbable quiescence, early suggested him to me as a fit person for a monitor, and I have no doubt he would have had a practical effect upon the class, had he not been carried away by a variety of other ideas quite foreign to the proper business of the class. His pencilled maps of the city of Rome, as well as delineations of classical Ciceronian heads, would have adorned any work on ancient literature or art. I have no hesitation in recommending him. No. IV. I have had much pleasure in calling Dr Syntax my friend and pupil for many years. Often has his striking figure enlivened the monotony of my benches. As to the poet or the painter, an old scragged tree is more picturesque in the landscape than a trim box or holly,-as a goat skipping in its fantastic hairy dress over the rocks, is more beautiful than a fat South Down wedder grazing in a rich meadow, -as an ass revolving its long ear on the pivot of its skull, and chewing a thistle with a look expressive of mind and sagacity is an infinitely finer object than a dull fat dray-horse-so was Syntax,-the spare, meagre, fantastic, and philosophic Syntax,-to a wilderness of commonplace men. I undoubtedly think, that he, and none other, should grace the chair of Logic. As to his mere acquirements, I know not, nor care not much. He may not be a deep and profound student of metaphysical books, but he has studied the stars and the blue sunny sky, and the tide of human life, from his elevated garret in the High Street. O many are the calm and half-sleepy musings which must have filled up his solitary lion-like sequestered den there, and many are the glares and sparkles, and fire-circles, as of a stick of glowing charcoal swung quickly round in a beautiful and brilliant circle, which must have irradiated his fanciful brain, as he sat after the labours of preparing and eating his solitary supper, before his stockings or his best day shirt were pulled off, or he had plunged into his cold wintery bed! Alas, the poetry and the fantastic images of College life will be extinguished, when dies a Syntax or a Sir Peter Nimmo ! No. V. As we make an invariable rule to grant no certificates to any aspirant professors whatever, we are precluded from honouring Dr Syntax with a recommendation. We regret this, for we consider Dr S. as the most extraordinary organism that ever entered our museum. He is like the Plesiosaur or Pterodactyle-a nondescript, neither fish nor flesh, but perhaps something better. We would class him somewhere between the genus homo and the chimpanse, an intermediate organism, passing by slow vestiges up to man; but in the mean time, developing a good instinct for Logic. No, VI. Dr Syntax has been frequently a pupil of mine. It may be doubted whether he possesses the Psyche, Ens, or Ego of metaphysicians. His intellect is rather objective than subjective. He has a taste for form, and perhaps colour, and makes frequent use of the pencil. His cranium is not very largely developed, and on that account, I would presume a priori that he should have a great and com manding intellect. As it is, however, I have no doubt that he might comprehend a syllogism and evolve sense out of mysticism. No. VII. Dr Syntax has for many years punctually attended my rooms, and I believe my father's lectures too. I know few students who have had such opportunities of acquiring a general knowledge of anatomy, physiology, and pathology, laying out of view all particular and minute systematic knowledge of the same. He is a good anatomist, I doubt not, and has some taste for the fine arts too. He is deficient or oblivious as a fecr however. No. VIII. Dr S. has attended the Law classes with diligence, He has a profound knowledge of #and, and is not amiss at conveyancing. He has also got a polish in the civil law. If unsuccessful in his present views, bis literary habits and taste in the fine arts, would admirably fit him for an editor of any important work, where the duties could be done by deputy. Foreign Certificates. No. IX. (Translation.) We, the professors of the University of Gottingen, esteem it a high honour, and peculiar gratification to have an opportunity of speaking of the more than European fame of DrSyntax. We have heard his name sounded in many mouths, and have diligently perused all the great works he ever wrote. We would feel but too happy could Dr S. cross the Channel, and become one of our confrerex, and be created at same time, by our Sovereign, an Aulic councillor. We envy the British nation such a profound logician. No. X. Madame B. of the Hospice de la Maternite de Paris has beheld Dr Syntax's beautiful portrait drawn by himself, with extreme admiration, and has perused his letter full of self-encomiums. She would be overwhelmed with joy to see Dr S. at the establishment here, where his philosophy and logical acumen would have a wide and curious field to speculate upon, “de omnibus rebus naturæ et quibus dam aliis,” Certificates of City Councillors, &c. No. XI. We, the undersigned, have had much pleasure in observing Dr S. Sunday after Sunday, sitting, or rather standing under the minister, under whom we sit, taking great note of the sermon, joining audibly in the psalmody. In consideration of this, and also from the high character of your foreign testimonials, we have no hesitation in assuring you, that you may depend on the patronage and countenance of the whole dissenting party, Old and Free, in the Council. No. XII. We have repeatedly observed you a standing pillar of the Establisi ment, and more especially now, in times when scorners say that the Establishment needs a pillar to stand upon. We are as deeply impressed with the character of your fore testimonials, and having also received pressR ing letters from high quarters, you may rest assured on our standing stonen by you. No. XIII. I have bad considerable hesitation in making up my mind with regard to your canvass. There are many in the field, all good men, but I have difficulty in pointing out who is worst, or who is best, we know them all too familiarly, and no man is a hero or a philosopher to his valet. You, we know little about, except by report, and once iguotum pro magniico, is a maxim we learned long ago at the High School. If not a foreigner, you have a foreign nan e Syntax, that is the nomme de querie of a man who wrote some droll books, and was known among the London publishers. Well, you are a conservative I believe too,- and as I have determined to act a decided straightforward part, and, I may add, have ever done and thought so, if your merits are on the whole equally on a par with your competitors, I shall take you by the hand, in case it should be in the most remote degree surmised that I have party leanings. Send me your testimonials too, especially your continental ones, although I am too old to be caught with chaff; yet they may be of use. No. XIV. DEAR SIR, You know that on your appointment to any salaried or lucrative situation, your annuity, paid by immediately ceases and determines, in terms of the deed and agreement, p. 505. We are most anxious that you should obtain this Logic chair. I have done my utmost | both by oral meetings and letters, as many of the above certificates, and my own account by and bye, will show. I have strong hopes of your success. Ding it, man, that you was not a foreigner, or even an Englisher-bat never mind," Syntax is a good name to conjure with. Let me know the moment you get advice of appointment, that I may score you off the amulty roil, and make up accounts.-Your-, CALEB BALDERSTONE, S.S.C. ORIGINAL POETRY. THE WAEFUL BRIDAL. "O spread for me no bridal bed," Cauld, cauld's my heart and dim my e'en; "O haste thee, haste thee, holy man, Tho' cruel death should snatch the prize, "Long, long and fondly have we loved, And flaps its sable plume." "O weep not, weep not, mother dear, But calm and cheer my lone bridegroom, Then, stretching forth her clay-cold hand, And he knelt and kissed her pale, pale lips- Science. DESCRIPTION OF NOSTOCHINEÆ. By A. HILL HASSALL, F. L.S., &c. in Hist. of British Fresh Water Algæ. Lond. 1845. THE Nostochinea form one of the most natural and beautiful of the families of freshwater Algae. The filaments are simple, of uniform diameter, elegantly moniliform, resembling strings of pearls, in the highest degree flexible, and of exceeding lubricity. The species of which it is composed naturally arrange themselves into two divisions: in the one the filaments are free, and in the other imbedded in a mucous matrix, which sometimes assumes a definite form. At intervals, in the course of the filaments, are observed cells larger than those which compose the thread itself: these, in the genus Anabaina are more or less of an oval or elongated form; while in the genus Nostoc they are exactly spherical. They are generally supposed to be connected with reproduction; but hitherto no precise observations have been made upon them. In most, and perhaps in all the species of Nostoc, many of these enlarged cells are scattered singly and detached throughout the mucous matrix: they have doubtless become separated from the filaments of which originally they formed a link. It a Nosioc, in the first period of its development, be examined, it will be observed to consist of a single moniliform thread, short, and but little curved, immersed in a mucous nidus. In each of the fully developed specimens of most of the Nostocs, however, threads innumerable present themselves. Now the question arises, in what way are those threads multiplied? First, and chiefly, I conceive, by the separation or dislocation of the enlarged cells, whereby each filament is divided into other shorter filaments; and, in the second place, probably by the growth of those vesicles themselves; but on this point nothing positive is known. Independently of these two modes of multiplication of the threads in each frond, no other conceivable method exists. The filaments in every example of a true Nostoc, whether young or old, present one uniform diameter; there are no gradations of size. It cannot therefore be supposed that the threads are increased in number by the effusion of the minute contents of the cells. The multiplication of the threads in a frond having been, as it seems to me, satisfactorily accounted for, the manner of the formation of new fronds remains to be determined When a Nostoc has arrived at the full and last period of its development, the pellicle formed by the inspissation of the mucous matrix bursts: the mucous contents and the filaments are effused: these last become disarticulated, so as to form short fragments, each of which retains about it a portion of mucus, so that in this state it corresponds with a Nostoc in the first period of its development. In this mode of multiplication, remarkable as it is, there is nothing generically peculiar. A Conferva multiplies itself cecasionally by the disarticulation of the filaments. The only difference between the case of the Nostoc and the Conferva is, that the process in the first is natural, and in the second artificial. While, however, the separation of the primary filaments accounts amply and satisfactorily for the multiplication, not only of the threads of a frond, but also for the increase of a number of the fronds themselves, it falls short of explaining the first development of the first thread. The species of the genus Nostoc, like the freshwater Alga in general, are short-lived: in the course of a few months they pass through the stages of their development; they die, disappear; the filaments themselves are destroyed; and then are seen no more until the advent of another season. The Nostochine of the first section are mostly of a lively and exquisitely delicate green colour. They are wonderfully prolific, increasing to such an extent frequently as to impart their beautiful colour to extensive tracts of water, as also do occasionally certain species of Oscillatoria. One species described by Mr Thompson, Anabaina spiralis, and which I have named in honour of its discoverer, Spirillum Thompsoni, imparted its colour to the entire of an extensive lake, Ballydrain, which extends over about twenty acres of ground near Belfast. The Oscillatoria ærugescens of Drummond in like manner imparted its rich green colour to an extensive lough in the north of Ireland, Glaslough, whose waters seemed greened as though by the reflection of trees. Leaving the limits of our own country, MM. Engelhardt and Treschel have described a minute Alga, which they have named Oscillatoria rubescens, and which tinges with a red colour the lake of Morat, in Switzerland; assuming sometimes a very beautiful arrangement, depending upon the motion of the water in which it is immersed. But it is not in freshwater merely that the productions of this family are found; they likewise have been noticed to occur in vast quantities in the sea, in different parts of the world; and it has been ascertained that the Red Sea owes its name to the periodical development of a species of this family, the Trichodesmium Ehrenbergü Montagne. "During the year 1823," observes M. Ehrenberg, “I 'made a stay of many months at Tor, upon the borders of the Red Sea, close to Mount Sinai. On the 10th of December I there saw the surprising phenomenon of the blood-red coloration of all the bay which forms the port of that city. The high sea, without the boundary of the corals, preserves its ordinary colour. The short waves of a tranquil sea bring upon the banks during the heat of the day a mucilaginous matter of a blood-red colour, and deposit it upon the sand, in such a manner as that in the course of a good half hour, all the bay, with the receding tide, is surrounded with a red border of many feet in depth. I removed from the water some specimens with glasses, and carried them to a tent which I had near the sea. It was easy to perceive that the coloration was due to little tuits, scarcely visible, often greenish, and sometimes of an intense green, but for the most part of a deep red: the water upon which they floated was always colourless. This very interesting phenomenon, sufficient to afford a reason for the etymology of the name which this sea has received (an etymology up to the present time buried in complete obscurity)-attracted all my attention, and I examined it at leisure with all the care of which I was capable. During many days I observed also the colouring matter with the microscope; the tufts were formed of little bundles of filaments of an Oscilatoria; they were fusiform and elongated, irregular, having rarely more than the diameter of a line, and were contained in a sort of mucilaginous sheath; but neither the filaments taken separately in each fleech, nor the fleeches themselves, resembled each other. When the sun shines in the horizon, I observed, moreover, that these last maintained themselves upon the surface of the water in the glasses which I had brought with m, and that during the night, and when I shook the vessel, they reached the bottom. Some time afterwards they remounted to the surface. The phenomenon of the Red Sea was not permanent, but periodical. I observed it three other times, the 25ch and 30th of December, 1823, and the 5th of January, 1824." "The same phenomenon of the coloration of the Red Sea, although on a scale infinitely more surprising, has occurred also more recently to other observers, especially to M. Evenor Dupont. The letter of M. Dupont is so very circumstantial and satisfactory, and corroborative of Ehrenberg's account, that its introduction cannot but be approved of. It is addressed to his friend M. Isidore Geoffroy-Saint-Hilaire. "You demand of me certain details in reference to the circumstances in which I gathered the Cryptogamic plant which I sent you from the Red Sea, and which you told me appeared a new species. They are as follow: The 8th July last (1843), I entered into the Red Sea by the Strait of Babelmandel, upon the steam-boat the Atalanta, belonging to the Indian Company. I demanded of the captain and the officers, who for a long time navigated in these latitudes (parages) what was the origin of this ancient name of the Red Sea; if it was owing, as some have pretended, to sands of that colour, or, according to others, to rocks. None of these gentlemen could reply to me; they never, they said, remarked anything to justify this denomination. I observed then for myself as we advanced: whether the ship approached by turns the Arabian coast or the African coast, the red was in no part apparent. The horrid mountainous barriers which border the two banks, were uniformly of a blackish brown, except where in some places the appearance of an extinct volcano had left long white streams. The sands were white, the reefs of coral were white also; the sea of the most beautiful cærulean blue. I had given up the hope of discovering my etymology. On the 15th of July, the burning sun of Arabia awoke me suddenly by shining all at once from the horizon without spot, and in all its splendour. I turned myself mechanically towards the window of the poop to seek a remnant of the fresh air of the night before the ardour of the day had devoured it. What was my surprise to behold the sea tinted with red as far as the eye could reach! Behind the ship, upon the deck, and on all sides I saw the same phenomenon. I interrogated the officers anew. The doctor pretended that he had already observed this fact (which was, according to him, produced by the fry of fish floating on the surface) the others said that they did not recollect having seen it before. All seemed surprised that I should attach such interest to it. If it be necessary to describe the appearance of the sea, I should say that its surface was covered with a compact stratum of but little thickness, but of a fine texture, of a brick red, slightly tinged with rouge; sawdust of this colour, of mahogany, for example, would produce very nearly the same effect. It seemed to me, and I said at the time, that it was a marine plant. No one seemed of my opinion; so with a pail tied at the end of a rope, I was able to gather, with one of the sailors, a certain quantity of the substance. This, with a spoon, I introduced into a white glass bottle, thinking that it wonld be the better preserved. The next day the substance had become of a deep violet, and the water had taken a pretty pink tinge. Fearing that the immersion would hasten the decomposition instead of preventing it, I emptied the contents of the bottle upon a piece of cotton (the same which I remitted to you). The water passed through it, and the substance adhered to the tissue. In drying it became green, as you actually saw it. I ought to add, that on the 15th of July, we were by the side of the town of Cosseir; that the sea was red the whole day; that the next, the 16th, it was the same until near mid-day, the hour at which we found ourselves before Tor, a little Arabian village, the palms of which we perceived in an oasis on the border of the sea, behow the chain of mountains which descends from Sinai, even to the sandy shore. A little after mid-day, the 16th, the red disappeared, and the surface of the sea became blue as before. The 17th, we cast anchor at Suez. The red colour had consequently showed itself from the 15th of July, towards 5 o'clock in the morning, up to the 16th, nearly an hour after mid-day; that is to say, during thirty-two hours. During this interval the steam-boat, making eight knots an hour, as said the sailors, had traversed a space of 256 miles, or 85 leagues and a third. In the different works relative to Egypt and the Red Sea which I have had occasion to read, I do not recollect to have found mention made of a similar fact: it appears to me, nevertheless, but little probable that it has not been observed by others. I reproached myself for not having questioned the Arabian pilot whom we had on board, and who for twenty years traversed that sea. This idea unhappily presented itself too late.” Numerous other navigators and naturalists have noticed the coloration of different portions of the ocean, but these, for the most part, have not determined the exact nature of the cause, most of them attributing the phenomenon to minute animals, Crustacea and Mollusca. Two English naturalists, in describing it, have distinctly stated the cause to be an Alga, the species of which, however, they did not determine. The first of these, Mr Darwin, observed the phenomenon in the Atlantic Ocean near Brazil, and not far from the Isles of Abrolhos. The other, Dr Hinds, of H. M. ship Sulphur, encountered the same Alga at the same spot in which it was originally discovered by Mr Darwin, and again observed it in the month of April 1837, while at anchor at Liberty, near San Salvador, upon the western coast of America, latitude 14° north. Mr Hinds on both occasions remarked that the plant emitted a strong and penetrating odour, and many persons on board experiencing an irritation of the eyes, followed by an abundant secretion of tears, attributed the affection to the presence around the ship of the Alga. Mr Hinds took the precaution to preserve specimens of his plant, some of which were entrusted to Mr Berkeley for publication, who forwarded them to Dr Montagne, who ascertained that, though belonging to the genus Trichodesmium, the plant was specifically distinct therefrom, and named it T. Hindsii. The sudden and periodical coloration of vast extents of the sea, has been, to uninformed minds, in early times, a subject of superstition and dread, these appearances having been regarded by the ignorant as Divine manifestations of anger or impending calamity; and that they should have been so regarded in days in which natural science was all but unknown, is scarcely surprising. The true explanation of the cause of these sudden and remarkable appearances, while it removes all feelings of superstition or dread, does not banish those of amazement and admiration which indeed supplant them. We add the following appropriate observations of Montagne. sor. "The singular phenomenon of the coloration produced on the surface of the Red Sea,-a coloration in which we have seen the waters themselves do not participate, has been, each time that it occurs, a new subject of astonishment for the people who have witnessed it. It cannot be doubted, moreover, that the jugglers and charlatans, after having probably calculated in advance its periodical return, made use of it to govern the multitude by the menace of an approaching calamity, of which they failed not to present this sign as the undoubted precurIt is also to a cause, if not altogether similar, at least very analogous, that is to be attributed, according to many naturalists, in the number of whom figures M. Ehrenberg, those rivers, waters, and lakes changed into blood in one of the plains of Egypt,-an explanation which M. Morren considers somewhat hazardous, although not improbable. As to the phenomenon of the Red Sea, by the fact that its extent has impressed upon it a character of majesty calculated to affect strongly the imagination of the vulgar, it ought to produce still more sensation. Since now we know the origin of it, if we compare together the immensity of this phenomenon and the infinite smallness of the being which produces it, one cannot divest oneself from a profound sentiment of admiration for the Omnipotence which effects such great ends with such feeble means." RED SNOW. (Protococcus nivalis) This curious little plant, which, under the name of Red Snow, has excited so much interest among botanists, is usually found in this country in the form of a thin, stainlike stratum on the surface of rocks, or investing decay |