5 belong to the loins, and the rest to the lower parts of your body. Which of you will now describe the ribs fully?

W. I will, mamma. THE RIBS are twelve pair of curved bones, which are joined at one end to the vertebræ of the back, and at the other end to the breast bone. They thus connect the spine and the breast bone, and form a tubshaped cavity, which contains the heart, and the lungs. The seven upper pair of ribs are joined to the breast bone by cartilage, and are called True Ribs; but the five lower pair are only joined by cartilage to the seventh rib, and they are called False Ribs.

M. Very good, Willie. Now, let Lucy notice the shoulder bone, or shoulder blade, as it is called.

L. The SHOULDER BLADE, mamma, is a flat bone, nearly the shape of a triangle, at the upper part of the back. The narrow end, I see, is joined to the top of my arm. There seems to be a round hole for the round end of my arm to fit into.

M. This round hole is called a socket. Perhaps, when we have had a shoulder of mutton for dinner, you may have noticed this socket at the end of the blade bone, where it is joined to the shank bone.

Ion. Now, I will describe the COLLAR BONES, mamma. They are thin round bones at the top of the breast bone, joining it to the shoulder bones. I should think

the shoulders apart, or else they would fall together, or get too near to each other.

M. That is their use; but not all collar bones are alike. As we proceed with the Natural History, you will see strange differences in the collar bones, and indeed in other bones of animals, according to the different circumstances they are placed in.

A Bird, who uses its fore limbs, or wings, to fly with, would soon knock its shoulders together with the flapping of these wings, so it has a double collar bone-just like two collar bones.

A Horse, who uses his fore limbs to trot on the ground, has not any collar bone. We will find out the reasons for these things one day.

Now for the Lesson.""

Lesson 9. THE FRAMEWORK OF VERTEBRATED ANIMALS (continued).

(5). The other bones of THE TRUNK, are a long flat bone in the front, called the BREAST BONE.

(6.) Twelve pair of curved bones, joined to the spine and the breast bone, and called Ribs-the seven upper pair are called True Ribs; and the seven lower pair are called False Ribs.

(7.) A pair of broad, flat, triangular bones, called THE SHOULDER BLADES ; and

(8.) A pair of thin, round bones, between the breast bone and the shoulder blades, called THE COLLAR

BONES.

THE SAXON KINGDOM.

EDRED, EDWY, AND EDGAR.

P. You heard last week of the dread power "superstition," which kept the minds of the Saxons in darkness.

When EDRED came to be king there was one man amongst the priests who had determined to become a "saint." This man was named DUNSTAN-the same whom I spoke of when you heard of the trades which the clergy practised. In order to be called a saint, he knew that he must pretend to have had messages from God, and, to have done extraordinary things.

Ion. Miracles, I suppose.

P. Yes. I should hardly like to tell you half the wicked inventions of this man-they are too foolish for children to hear. I will just mention one or two.

One of his tales was, that when he was very ill, an angel brought him, in bed, some medicine, mixed up in heaven-that he was going to church to thank God, when the devil and some black dogs tried to prevent him, but another angel caught him up, and popped him down a hole in the roof.

He made another tale-"That he was working quietly in his cell, when suddenly the devil put in his head, and asked him to make him something, and that he-Saint Dunstan seized the fellow by the nose with his red hot tongs, and made him roar horribly."

Many more such accounts he gave of adventures which no one had seen but himself; and of wonderful miracles-and the poor people believed them all to be true. So Dunstan was called a Saint. He was also an Abbot, which

means a chief man amongst the Monks; and, in time, he became an Archbishop, which, you know, means the chief of the bishops.

The KING, too, as well as the people, believed him; and almost everything that Dunstan told him to do, he did. Dunstan then made a law that every man who became a priest should not have any wife; and forbade any of the clergymen to get married-but, not all of them obeyed him.

This man had such great influence over the king, that the king gave him the charge of the Treasury of England; the place where the money is kept.

EDWY.

When Edred died, EDWY, his nephew, was placed on the throne. He found out that Dunstan was a rogue, and that he could not give a fair account of the money which belonged to the Treasury in Edred's reign. So he told the people that Dunstan had been stealing, and banished him from the kingdom.

EDWY had also been provoked to banish this man by his impudent behaviour. He had married a beautiful princess, called Elgiva; and Dunstan declared that he should not do as he liked, and tried to prevent him.

But now that Edwy had banished Dunstan, he found that he had provoked most dangerous enemies.

The Monks, everywhere, called him a heretic. They stirred up the people with tales about the holiness of Dunstan, and made the whole nation in an uproar. And, now they did a most wicked thing; they sent soldiers to the king's palace, who dragged off his beauti

ful Elgiva, marked her face with a | red hot iron, and carried her away from him, to Ireland. Soon after, when the dreadful scars on her poor face were better, she tried to return to her husband. Then these wicked priests discovered her on her way, caught her, and caused her to be cruelly murdered!

I feel shocked to tell you of such dreadfully inhuman deeds; they hardly seem fit for you to hear. And yet, so blind were the miserable Saxons, that they considered this cruelty of the monks to be a judgment from God upon Edwy and Elgiva for marrying against the will of "the Church."

So, the monks then cailed Dunstan back again to England; and, soon they were strong enough to drive Edwy away from his throne, and make his little cousin, EDGAR, to be king instead.

EDGAR.

EDGAR was a boy only 13 years old; but when he grew up to be a man he became a brave king, kept the kingdom in good order, and kept away the Danes. So great was his power that he once caused himself to be rowed in a barge by eight princes who were subject to him, and paid him tribute.

He was remarkable, too, for his love of hunting, and, for his care in clearing the country of wild beasts. He and his soldiers hunted the wolves here until they com

pletely drove them out of England -so that, the Saxon farmers, now, were not afraid of having their sheep stolen, and their children killed. The king found, however, that great numbers of the wolves had run away, and hidden themselves in the mountains and forests of Wales; so he thought of an excellent plan to get rid of them. The Welsh people having been conquered by the English, were obliged to pay them a large sum of money every year as tribute. So, the king said to the Welsh"In future, instead of paying me your tribute in money, you may bring me Wolves' heads-300 every year." The Welshmen then were very glad to save their money, and set to work to kill the wolves every year, in such earnest, that soon, none remained to be killed.

King Edgar, although clever and brave, was not, I am sorry to say, a good king. As Dunstan and the priests had maue him king, he was so foolish as to believe all they said to him, and to let his mind be guided by them. You will not wonder that he did some wicked deeds. He murdered a nobleman that he might have his wife for himself; and,-ah! I had better not tell you any more dreary tales of wickedness.

He was a brave king, but, being led by cruel and superstitious men, he did many shocking actions. He died in the year 975.

LITTLE bird, with bosom red,
Welcome to my humble shed.
Daily near my table steal,
While I pick my scanty meal;
Doubt not, little though there be,

But I'll cast a crumb to thee.
Come, my feathered friend, again,
Well thou know'st the broken pane;
Ask of me thy daily store,
Ever welcome to my door.

WATER.

M. You did not finish your "description" of Water last week.

W. No, mamma, we only gave you its qualities; but I have thought of three more qualities since then. If you put a ship on the water, you know it will float--the water will bear it up.

M. Yes; and that quality you will find in all liquids. Because they have this quality, you may say that they are buoyant.

W. And, again, mamma, if you poured some water on a piece of sugar, it would get between the particles of the sugar, and separate them just as the liquid, Tea, or the liquid, Coffee, would.

Ion. You mean it would dissolve it.

M. That is what Willie means; and, because water dissolves substances, it is said to be solvent.

W. Then, tea, and coffee are solvent; and all liquids, I suppose, -gin, and brandy.

M. Yes. But gin and brandy are spirits. They are strong solvents, and will dissolve substances that cannot be dissolved in water. Water will not dissolve camphor, but spirits will.

W. But, mamma, I have thought of a third quality. Before the water can separate the particles of the sugar, it must work its way in between them "soak" in, I mean. All thin liquids will do this. If you pour water or beer on the floor, how soon it soaks between the fibres of the wood!

Now, because it separates the particles of a thing it is called solvent; but, because it soaks between them so easily, what is it called?

M. The proper thing to say is,

that it is penetrating—all liquids penetrate.

Ion. And fluids which are thinner than liquids are very penetrating. Air is. How the wind penetrates, even through a cloth coat, and makes you cold; and so does

smoke.

W. Yes; but I was thinking of the qualities of the water. Because it is liquid, it is penetrating. Because it is penetrating, it is solvent. And, because it is solvent

Ion. Ah, that will show us one of its effects. Because it is solvent, we take the water-jug in the morning, pour some water into the basin, and put our hands in it. Then you know what happens. The water penetrates between the little cracks of our fingers, dissolves the dirt, and carries it away. So there is an effect-it is cleansing. And we may say the first effect is this, mamma,it is liquid, penetrating, and solvent; therefore, it is cleansing. Now for some more effects.

W. We can soon discover its other effects. I will drink it all up, and will tell you how I feel. We do not want to observe longer: that is, we do not want to observe with our senses-so I'll drink it.

any

Ion. Well, Willie, how do you feel?

W. I can't tell yet. Why, I feel that it is rather cooling-that is an effect! And I think I'm refreshed a little after talking so much. It is refreshing.

I'm not stimulated very muchnot at all, I think.

L. But, Willie, if you were to faint, and I threw some on you, it would stimulate you.

W. Yes-then it would revive me! The coldness in it would do

that so it is reviving. That will make four effects.

M. And again, Willie, I'll tell you something. When you were about four years old, you were rather a weak child; so I took you to Broadstairs, and bathed you in the Sea-water, until it strengthened you.

W. That was very kind of you, mamma. And the water produced an effect, certainly; for I am very strong now-it is strengthening.

L. And when water comes down from the clouds, Willie, it produces an effect on the flowers. It strengthens them-or, at least, it improves the earth, so that they grow better.

M. Yes. It makes it more fertile; or, it fertilizes it, as we say -so it is fertilizing.

W. That will make six different effects altogether, mamma! Please to let me say them. Now-Because the water is liquid, it is penetrating, solvent, and cleansing. It is also cooling, refreshing, reviving, strengthening, and fertilizing.

Ion. And now, mamma, may I give a full description of water? I will say all the properties and effects that we have discovered.

I have written them all in a string, on a piece of paper, and they make a very long account.Listen

inorganic, and reflective. Because it is liquid, it is penetrating, solvent, and cleansing. It is also cooling, refreshing, reviving, strengthening, and fertilizing. There, mamma! and that is a "true account" of the water.

M. I think you have described it very fairly, although there are some properties which you have omitted. But, do you think this is such a description, that if you were to say it over slowly to any man who had never seen water, he could form an idea of it in his mind?

Ion. Yes, mamma-I think so. That is, if he knew the meaning of the words. But I should hardly think that a blind man could know the meaning of the word "Liquid." If you were to say to him-"Its particles hold together enough to form a drop," he would say to you, "Please to say it over again," and he would try and think in his mind how it looks. But no; I do not think any one could imagine such a thing as water!

M. Nor do I, Ion. A man must see water to know what it is. Well, we have more to learn about water yet. We have to notice what men can do with it, because it has these properties and effects.

You may depend upon it, that every quality in the water was put there for some good purpose or another.-We will finish our lesson next week.