ralizing pastimes of the tavern and the gaming-table,--the shuffling of cards, the throwing of dice,—and the chansons boire, have not one redeeming feature to recommend them.

Where the moral tendency of the drama represented has been very forcible, the effects produced on the minds of sympathetic spectators, hare, in some cases, been remarkable. Shakspeare says

"Guilty creatures, sitting at a play.

Have, by the very cunning of the scene,
Been struck so to the soul, that presently
They have proclaimed their malefaction."

And a well authenticated story is recorded of a young gentleman of the city of London, who, having embezzled part of his master's property, was, providentially, at a representation of the tragedy of George Barnwell at Drury Lane, when Mr. Ross, an admirable actor of his day, personated the character of George Barnwell, at whose fate the youth was so struck to the soul, that it occasioned his immediate contrition and amendment,-preserved him from ruin and disgrace,-stopt him in his mad career,—and saved him from an ignominious death. To theatrical representations he was, thus, indebted for more than life,-his redeemed honor and credit.

In so far as regards the inculcation of principles of liberty and patriotism, or implanting the virtues of magnanimity, generosity and fidelity, in the hearts of a people, no human invention is so admirably calculated for this purpose, as the varied machinery of theatrical representation. To adduce a solitary example,-Who can be a spectator of the tragedy of Cato, "without feeling his heart burn within him," and every pulse beating in unison with the sentiments of that patriot hero?—without glowing with emulous zeal to imitate his glorious example?

To conclude.-Where instruction is thus blended with amusement, -where the tendency is obviously of a salutary nature, every good parent will be anxious,-every master will be desirous, that the youth, under his protection, should be present at the representation of these moral, instructive, and sometimes awful scenes; while every teacher will recommend the occasional attention of his pupils, that they may "Learn to do good from others' harm, And they shall do full well,"

ARE WE ALMOST THERE?

"Are we almost there-are we almost there?"
Said a dying girl, as she drew near home.

"Are those our poplar trees which rear

Their forms so high 'gainst the heaven's blue dome?”

Then she talked of her flowers, and thought of the well,

Where the cool water splash'd o'er the large white stone;

And she thought it would soothe like a fairy spell,

Could she drink from that fount when the fever was on.

While yet so young, and her bloom grew less,
They had borne her away to a kindlier clime-
For she would not tell that 'twas only distress
Which had gather'd life's rose in its sweet spring time.
And she had looked, when they bade her to look,
At many a ruin and many a shrine-
At the sculptured niche, and the pictured nook,
And marked from high places the sun's decline.
But in secret she sighed for a quiet spot,

Where she oft had played in childhood's hour;
Though shrub or flowret marked it not,

"Twas dearer to her than the gayest bower.

And oft did she ask, "Are we almost there?"
But her voice grew faint, and flush'd cheek pale;
And they strove to soothe her, with useless care,
As her sighs would escape on the evening gale.
Then swiftly, more swiftly, they hurried her on;
But anxious hearts felt a chill despair;

For when the light of that eye was gone,

And the quick pulse stopp'd, she was almost there!

ODDS AND ENDS:

FROM THE SCRAP BOOK OF A STUDENT.

NO. I.

SPIRIT OF MATTER.-There is a certain most subtle spirit, which pervades and lies hid in all gross bodies; by the force and action of which spirit, the particles of bodies mutually attract one another at near distances, and cohere if contiguous; and electric bodies operate at greater distances, as well in repelling as attracting the neighbouring corpuscules; and light is emitted, reflected, refracted, inflected, and heats bodies; and all sensation is excited, and members of animal bodies move at command of the will, namely, by the vibrations of this spirit, mutually propagated along the solid filaments of the nerves, from the outward organs of sense to the brain, and from the brain into the muscles.-NEWTON.

STRUCTURE OF THE BIRD'S EYE.-Birds, flying in the air, and meeting with many obstructions, as branches and leaves of trees, require to have their eyes sometimes as flat as possible for protection, but sometimes as round as possible, that they may see the small objects, as flies and other insects, which they are chasing through the air, and which they pursue with the most unerring certainty. This could only be accomplished by giving them the power of suddenly

changing the form of their eyes. Accordingly, there is a set of hard scales placed on the outer coat or covering of their eyes, round the place where the light enters; and over these scales are drawn the muscles or fibres, by which motion is communicated; so that, by acting with these muscles, the bird can press the scales, and squeeze the natural magnifier of the eye into a round shape, when it wishes to follow an insect through the air,—and can relax the scales in order to flatten the eye again, when it would see a distant object, or move safely through leaves and twigs. This power of altering the shape of the eye is possessed by birds of prey in a very remarkable degree. They can see the smallest objects close to them, and can yet discern larger bodies at vast distances, as a carcase stretched upon the plain, or a dying fish upon the water.-BROUGHAM.

[N. B.-As regards the discerning of objects at a distance by birds of prey, the smell of the bird is a powerful auxiliary, this organ being, in all carniverous birds, most powerfully, and most beautifully developed.-R.]

INSTINCT OF BEES.-Of all insects the bee is, perhaps, the most gifted with instinct, as the following examples will prove. A snail, having crept into one of M. Reaumur's hives early in the morning, after crawling about for some time, adhered by means of its own slime to one of the glass panes, where, but for the bees, it would probably have remained till either a moist air, or its own spume had loosened the adhesion. The bees, however, having discovered the snail, immediately surrounded it, and formed a border of propolis * round the verge of its shell, which was at last so securely fixed to the glass, as to become immoveable.

"For ever closed the impenetrable door,

He sinks on death's cold arm to rise no more."

Maraldi has related a somewhat similar instance. A houseless snail, or slug, as it is called, had entered one of the hives: the bees, as soon as they observed it, pierced it with their stings till it expired beneath their repeated strokes; after which, being unable to dislodge it, they covered it all over with propolis.

"Embalmed in shroud of glue the mummy lies,
No worms invade-no foul miasmas rise.'

In these two instances who can withhold his admiration of the ingenuity and judgment of the bees? In the first case, a troublesome creature gained admission into the hive, which they could neither remove nor destroy: here, then, their only resource was to deprive it of locomotion, and to obviate putrefaction, both which objects they accomplished most skilfully and securely, and with the least possible

*Propolis is a resinous substance collected by the bees,-it is very tenacious and semi-transparent, and emits a balsamic odour. It is used by them to attach the combs to the roof and sides of their dwelling, stop crevices, fasten the hives or boxes to the floors and roofs, and strengthen the weak places of their domiciles, and varnish the cell-work of their combs.

expense of labour and materials. They applied their cement, where alone it was required, namely, round the verge of the shell. In the latter case, to obviate the evil of putrescence by the total exclusion of air, they were obliged to be more lavish of their material, and to form with it so complete an incrustation, as to guard them from the consequences which the atmosphere invariably produces upon all animal substances, that are exposed to its action, after the extinction of life. May it not be asked, what means more effectual could human wisdom have devised under similar circumstances?-BEVAN," ON BEES."

CORAL ISLANDS.-Few things are more curious, or more difficult to explain, than the immense quantity of coral formed in the sea, especially in the tropical regions. Coral is the production of various species of vermes, and it consists chiefly of carbonate of lime. Now, it is difficult to conceive where these animals procure such prodigious quantities of this substance. Sea-water, indeed, contains traces of sulphate of lime, but no other calcareous salt, that we know of. Hence, it would appear, that these creatures must either decompose sulphate of lime,-though the quantity of that salt contained in seawater seems inadequate to supply their wants-or they must form carbonate of lime from the constituents of sea-water in a way totally above our comprehension. There is one consequence of this copious formation of coral, in the tropical regions, of considerable importance to navigation, which has been clearly pointed out by Mr. Dalrymple, and seems now to be pretty well understood. The winds and waves accumulate these corals in large banks, which, entangling the sand, gradually rise above the surface of the waves, and form islands. These, in the process of time, and probably through the agency of birds, become covered with vegetation, and, frequently, loaded with timber. The bottom of these islands is nothing else but a coral-bank; the surface is a black soil, formed of a mixture of sand and decayed vegetable matter; the whole island is fiat, long, and narrow, and extends usually in its greatest length from north to south, because all the winds between the tropics blow either from the east or west. The sides of these islands frequently constitute a perpendicular wall, and the sea, at a little distance from them, is of unfathomable depth.-" PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS."

BAMBOO PLANT.-A person, who has been in the countries, where the bamboo grows, can scarcely mention it without thinking on the endless uses to which its straitness, lightness, and hollowness, make it applicable among the inhabitants. As it is found of all sizes, it has merely to be cut into pieces of the requisite length; and Nature has already been the turner, and the polisher, and the borer, &c. Bamboo is the chief material of their dwellings, and of their curipus chairs, couches, beds, &c. Their flutes, and other wind instruments, are the bamboo, with holes bored at the requisite distances; conduits for water are pipes of bamboo, cut off with their partitions

remaining, and bamboo, split into threads, is twisted into ropes.ARNOTT'S ELEMENTS OF PHYSICS."

BLACK ANTS OF GUYANA.-M. Malonet, in his "Travels in the

Forests of Guyana," says, I crossed the river with M. de Prefontaine, for the purpose of visiting the woods. In the midst of a savannah, extending beyond the visible horizon, I observed a hillock, which had the appearance of being the work of man. He told me

it was an ant-hill. What!' said I, is that immense structure the work of an insignificant insect?' He proposed to take me-not to the ant-hill, but-towards the route of the labourers.* In drawing near the wood, we saw several columns of these insects; some were going to, others returning from, the forest, carrying pieces of leaves, different seeds and roots. These black ants were of the largest species, but I had no desire to take a close survey of them. Their habitation, to which I approached within about forty paces, appeared to be from fifteen to twenty feet high, and from thirty to forty broad; its form was that of a pyramid, truncated at about one third of its height. A native once had the misfortune to meet one of these dreaded fortresses in turning up the earth; he was obliged to abandon his establishment, because he could not lay a regular siege to ti. This circumstance occurred also, to Mr. de Prefontaine on his first encampment at Rourau. To destroy them, he dug a circular trench, and filled it with a large quantity of dry wood, and when he had fired it in several places, he attacked the ant-hill with cannon. The shaking of the earth, and the bursting forth of the flames, leaving the enemy no means of escape, they speedily fell victims to his convenience."

OAK TIMBER. A seventy-four gun ship swallows up 3,000 loads of oak timber, which is no less than 150,000 cubic feet. A load of timber is 40 feet, and of square timber 50 feet; which 40 feet of round or rough timber are reckoned a ton, and 50 of square timber a ton. It will, of course, take 2,000 large well-grown timber trees, of two tons each, to build a seventy-four. Supposing these trees to have stood, at the distance they should stand in a plantation for such trees, each statute acre would contain forty trees; consequently, the building of one seventy-four gun ship would clear off such woodlands the timber of 50 acres. There is not as much full grown timber at present in all the national forests (from their neglected state) as would replace or fit out a navy as it stood in 1810.-MONTEATH, "ON FOREST TREES."

SOLAR PHOSPHORI.-The most powerful of these is the artificial compound of Canton, known familiarly by the name of phosphorus. If we mix three parts of calcined oyster shells in powder (fine shell

*Ants are divided into three classes, male, female, and labourers. The two former employ themselves in continuing the species; the latter, a kind of neutra sex, perform the various important tasks of collecting food, rearing the young, erecting cells, &c., &c.