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vidual, intermediate in character between its respective parents, and therefore slightly divergent from both, is the result, so that this mode of multiplying the individuals of a species seems to fulfil an important end, even in cases where, as in plants of low organization, the increase of the species is sufficiently provided for by means of buds. Accordingly, plants propagated by cuttings seemed in general to adhere very uniformly to the same type, and to be more limited in their deviation than those produced from seeds. But this devia tion from the permanent type was still more completely carried out where the pollen of one plant is made to act upon the embryo of another, and here, perhaps, may arise those numerous contrivances to prevent self-fertilization which Mr. Darwin and others have pointed out. To the same cause, perhaps, was owing the increased vigor which a plant obtains by the removal into a fresh locality, or into a deserted country. Many, no doubt, might regard it as a sufficient explanation of these facts to appeal to the changes produced in the constitution of a plant by such causes as tended to multi

Mr. Frank Buckland read a paper on "The Natural History and Cultivation of the Oyster." He traced the oyster's history from its birth upwards, describing in amusing language the mode in which the mother ejects the young in clouds like fine dust, and the perils and troubles to which the young and delicate creatures are subjected during the few days they had to swim about and amuse themselves before they became permanently settled for life; for, when once fixed on an object, they were never again able to change quarters. It has been said that it was impossible to cultivate oysters, but to prove that it was done in the Isle of Re, he had brought over witnesses in the shape of tiles, stones, broken bits of pottery, and even glass, on which oysters had assembled themselves, like grapes in large bunches, and in order that the locality might be understood, he exhibited a series of photographs, which Mr. Ashworth had caused to be taken, and which were now submitted to the meet-ply the chances of some members of the species being by his permission. With regard to the failure of spat this year, which was so general that it extended even partially to the Isle of Re, he stated that hitherto the attention of scientific men had not been directed to the point. An event, moreover, which the ladies would appreciate, had taken place in Ceylon—namely, the sudden death from unknown causes of whole banks of the pearl-bearing oysters, the consequence of which would be that the price of pearls would be enormously in

creased.

Dr. Hayden's paper on the "Relative and Special Application of Fat and Sugar as Respiratory Food" created a very lively interest, and the discussion which it gave rise to was one of great importance and high scientific value.

Another valuable paper was submitted on the new metal, magnesium-a metal of the color of tin and almost the lightness of cork. One of its properties is that it burns, not only like steel wire, in oxygen, but in the open air, and with a light so intense that it can be seen twenty miles at sea. It is in intensity all but sunshine, and can be used in taking photographs. A bit of wire, lighted in a candle, lights up a room with wonderful brilliancy. It is proposed to use it for ships, being lighter than wood and not liable to foul like iron. But what if such a ship should catch fire?

On the "Decay of Species," Dr. Daubeny said it may be assumed as an acknowledged fact, not only that every organized being has a limit to his existence, but also that the species themselves, both in the animal and vegetable kingdoms, wear out after a certain period. But it still remains to be inquired, whether there are not certain natural contrivances for postponing this inevitable termination to a later period than would otherwise happen. Confining himself to the vegetable kingdom, Dr. Daubeny suggested that one of these provisions would seem to be the introduction of new varieties, which, by diverging somewhat from the original type, acquire fresh vigor, and thereby tend to prolong the existence of the species from which they are derived. One of the modes by which this variation in character is secured follows as a consequence from the mode by which plants are reproduced through the instrumentality of the floral organs, by the concurrent action of which an indi

coming adapted to the changes in the external conditions which occur in the course of time, and which might otherwise have proved fatal to its continued existence. There were, however, reasons for believing that this solution did not embrace all the facts of the case, and that, even where every facility for producing the utmost amount of variation of which the species was susceptible existed, a period at length arrived when a species dies out, although the climate, soil, and other external conditions continue apparently propitious.

The most interesting paper on Geology, next to the president's address, was the report of Sir William Logan's geological survey of Canada. A vast series of stratified and crystalline rocks were found, of an order earlier than the most ancient strata in Europe where traces of animal existence have been discovered. These crystalline rocks-the Laurentian system as they are called—are tilted up at an angle against the overlying strata of fossiliferous rocks; and not only so, but the same indication of formation at successive epochs is found in the fact that the earlier portions of the Laurentian rocks are also unconformable to the more recent portions. Two enormous geologic epochs must, therefore, have elapsed between the early Laurentian and the supervening fossiliferous strata, themselves formerly considered as the most ancient formations in which life was traceable. In the very heart of the earlier division of the Laurentian system occurs a bed of limestone, a thousand feet thick, from which Sir W. Logan has extracted what he considers undoubted fossils of an early type of animal life. Thus, if there is no error in the facts, our conceptions of the duration of life upon the earth must be carried back two epochs further than ever, possibly to be yet further extended by subsequent discoveries.

Chinese Record of Eclipses.-Out of the thirtysix solar eclipses which Mr. Williams has extracted from the Chinese records, the Astronomer Royal has found thirty-two to agree with those in the Art de Verifier les Dates. Two appear impossible; but Mr. Williams has found that one of those is an erroneous repetition. Two are not real eclipses, being probably set down as memoranda of dates when eclipses were to be looked for, being the times of new moon.

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made 4240. The height of Benabourd is fixed at 3923 feet.-Elgin Courant.

Railway in Mexico.-The Imperial Mexican Railway Company is announced. The line is to be from Vera Cruz to Mexico, with a branch to Puebla, comprising an aggregate length of three hundred miles, of which a section of twenty-five miles from Vera Cruz has been opened for some time. The capital for the purchase of this portion and the completion of the remainder is to be £5,400,000, one half in shares and the other half in bonds or obligations. Of the share capital of £2,700,000, the government take £800,000 (a sum intended for the endowment of hospitals, and therefore to be inalienable), while £700,000 is to be taken in parting it with the four-and-twenty letters, in the same payment for the portion of the line already executed. The amount for which subscriptions are invited from the English public is, therefore, £1,200,000. At the same time the government give a subvention of £1,200,000 in 5 per cent. bonds, which are to be receivable for customs' duties in the proportion of one fifth in bonds and four fifths in cash. Among the other privileges granted, the most important are that the concession is in perpetuity, and that the company are to be free to fix their own tariffs both for goods and passengers without any limitation; the present cost of conveyance being about £20 per ton for goods, and £11 per passenger. A contract for the entire completion and stocking of the line has been entered into with the joint-stock undertaking, "Smith, Knight and Co.," for a sum within the capital of £5,400,000, and 8 per cent. interest during the construction is to be paid out of the State subvention of £1,200,000. The cost of the twenty-five miles already completed is not stated, but it is mentioned that the returns upon this portion have been equivalent to a profit of 11 per cent., reckoning the cost at the average per mile which is to be expended on the entire line. The board of direction consists of Messrs. R. W. Crawford, M. P. (Crawford, Colvin, and Co.), George Campbell (Finlay, Campbell, and Co.), H. H. Gibbs (Antony Gibbs and Sons), S. Hodgson (Finlay, Hodgson, and Co.), and L. Huth (F. Huth and Co.)-Examiner.

The Highest Mountain in Britain.-A new measurement of Ben Macdhui and the other mountains of the Cairngorm group, has just been made by the Royal Engineers presently engaged upon that part of the Ordnance Survey of Scotland. Ben Macdhui, which was formerly supposed to be 4390 feet in height, is now set down at nearly 100 feet less than that-namely, 4296. Some years since Ben Macdhui was supposed to be seventeen feet higher than Ben Nevis, the height of which was then put down at 4373. Ben Macdhui was therefore at that time authoritatively stated to be the highest mountain in Britain. Since then, however, the tables have taken a turn, and Ben Nevis would now appear to be by far the higher of the two. The Ordnance Survey of Ben Nevis, so far as we are aware, has not yet been made; but taking its height at the old measurement of 4373 feet, and Ben Macdhui at its newly-ascertained height-namely, 4296 feet, Ben Nevis appears by this calculation to be seventyseven feet higher than the highest of the Grampian range. The difference is still greater in favor of Ben Nevis, if we accept its height as being 4406, as marked in a map lately published by Messrs. Chambers in Milner's Gallery of Geography. Braeraich is set down in the new survey at 4248. Caintoul, which was formerly believed to be 4245 feet in height, is now taken down five feet, and

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Electric Telegraph Anticipated.-Strada, in one of his Prolusions, gives an account of a chimerical correspondence between two friends by the help of a certain loadstone, which had such virtue in it that, if it touched two several needles, when one of the needles so touched began to move, the other, though at never so great a distance, moved at the same time and in the same manner. He tells us that the two friends, being each of them possessed of one of these needles, made a kind of a dial-plate, inscribmanner as the hours of the day are marked upon the ordinary dial-plate. They then fixed one of the needles on each of these plates in such a manner that it could move round without impediment, so as to touch any of the four-and-twenty letters. Upon their separating from one another into distant countries, they agreed to withdraw themselves punctually into their closets at a certain hour of the day, and to converse with one another by means of this their invention. Accordingly, when they were some hundred miles asunder, each of them shut himself up in his closet at the time appointed and immediately cast his eye upon his dial-plate. If he had a mind to write anything to his friend he directed his needle to every letter that formed the words which he had occasion for, making a little pause at the end of every word or sentence, to avoid confusion. The friend, in the meanwhile, saw his own sympathetic needle moving of itself to every letter which that of his correspondent pointed at. By this means they talked together across a whole continent, and conveyed their thoughts to one another in an instant over cities or mountains, seas or deserts.-Addison's " Spectator," Dec. 6, 1711. Railway Progress in India.-The annual report on the railways in India for 1864 shows that 2687 miles of railway are already completed in that country, and as many more are authorized by government. £3,360,000 have been expended in the work during the past year, while the whole capital raised for the construction of railways in India to the first of May in the present year amounted to £54,285,088, and the total expenditure to £51,144,722. The traffic of the railways of India is increasing. In the year ending the 30th June, 1863, the amount received for the conveyance of goods was £1,033,000, and that for the conveyance of passengers £679,400. In the previous year the receipts for goods were £590,000, and for passengers £438,829. The net earnings in 1863 were £780,000, compared with £434,000 in 1862; and these are only the aggregate results of the working of several incomplete and broken lines. Nearly all the lines run through the districts best adapted for the growth of cotton, and those in which it is now extensively cultivated.,

Unexpected Silver Mine.-From Manchester we hear of an extraordinary "find" of silver pennies

chiefly of the reign of Henry III. A writer in the local press says: "The extent of the deposit may be gathered from the fact that the total quantity of these coins found numbers about 6400 pieces, having an aggregate weight of about twentyone pounds avoirdupois. A new junction road is being made from Wellington-road Eccles, past the boundary wall on the west side of the ancient residence known as Monks' Hall, where it is probable the monks of Whalley Abbey, who were formerly

the lords of the greater part of Eccles, Monton, and Swinton, had a grange or farm residence, with tithe barns, etc., and where they collected rents and tithes from their tenants and other inhabitants of the neighborhood. Here the discovery was made by a young man named Britch, who, about ten days ago, picked up a few coins at the wall, and thought so little of the discovery that he gave some away to his companions. He afterwards found more, and was brought into communication with Mr. Allan Gibb, a local antiquary, under whose auspices a coarse earthenware pot, containing the quantity above stated, was disinterred." -London paper.

A New Gun Metal.-A letter in the London Times from a distinguished English metallurgist, gives some interesting particulars respecting the new gun metal lately invented in Austria by Baron von Rosthorn. The new alloy, which has received the name of "sterrometal," from a Greek word signifying tough or firm, is composed of copper, spelter, iron, and tin, in proportions that may be slightly varied without much affecting the result. In color it resembles brass rather than gun metal; it is very close in its grain and free from porosity. It is possessed of considerable hardness and will take a very fine polish. Several eminent Vienna engineers have tried it for the cylinders of hydrau- | lic presses with great success. The writer gives it as his opinion that the days of wrought iron are numbered, and that its place will be soon supplied by steel in some form or other.

long course of time made observations on the walls built with mortar from this stone, which I understand has been brought from Bristol, and used for the plaster on which the national frescoes have been painted by special recommendation from authority, and having frequently examined those walls, both in and out of doors, I immediately recognized, from the description given by Mr. B. Atkinson, in a paper published in the journal of the Society of Arts, that exactly similar effects were taking place on the walls of the Houses of Parliament, to those which I had been accustomed to see in constant operation. All the beds of Durdham Down limestone are of marine origin, being full of marine shells, and, although in the long lapse of ages since they were deposited, the marine salt, with which the stone must have been saturated, has, for the most part, been washed out, yet still a trace of it remains insensible to an or dinary analysis. It is the general practice to burn this stone into lime with braize (or cinder, taken from the scavenger's yard), and this braize always contains sulphur. In this chemical section, I need hardly say, that in thus burning the minute quantity of marine salt in the stone is converted, for the most part, into sulphate of soda, or the salt well known in commerce as Glauber Salt.' On most of the walls that grow cold in winter, I have found needle-form crystals, varying from a bloom 1-100th of an inch to needles of an inch in length, and in some instances in damp old walls, such as the cloister walls of a cathedral, the crystals stand out to the length of an inch and a half. At first I examined these crystals chemically. They were generally composed of sulphate of soda, in rare instances found mixed with nitrate of potash, and sometimes with small quantities of muriate of lime and magnesia. I soon became familiar with these bunches of needle-formed crystals, and from their taste and general appearance could not mistake them. When the weather becomes dry, all these bunches of crystal effloresce, and are converted into a loose white powder, much of which drops from the wall, carrying with it shales of plaster, or flakes of paint, or films of whatever material the surface of the wall is cover

A New Stethoscope.-M. Koenig of Paris has invented a stethoscope which promises to become very useful in clinical practice, in which the instrument usually employed is often found inconvenient. The new instrument consists of a flat box slightly rounded, containing a diaphragm of caoutchouc, which, by blowing, is made to assume a hemispherical form. To the box thus prepared, a tube of caoutchouc five or six yards in length is attached, and on applying the ear to the outer extremity of this tube, the beating of the heart and the movement of the lungs can be distinctly heard. This, it will be seen, is an important advantage, for the stethoscope can now be applied to the chest of a patient lying in bed, and observations made with-ed with. Moisture will condense on the wall, if out inconvenience to either party. There is, moreover, the further advantage, that five tubes can be screwed to the box as easily as one, whereby, during a clinical lecture or examination, four students may listen to the movements in the chest of the patient, while the surgeon is making his observations thereon.-Chambers's Journal.

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allowed to grow cold, in damp weather; the white powder is then dissolved, and the liquor, a solution of sulphate of soda, is absorbed by the mortar or plaster. Architects are in the habit of proving the value of the various kinds of stone presented for their use, for the endurance of frost, by a saturated solution of sulphate of soda, similar to this liquor, which, on crystallizing, imitates the heaving and splitting action of ice forming from water. Accordingly, this liquor is no sooner absorbed, as the wall dries, than it aggregates into ice-like crystals, and the plaster is disintegrated and heaved by the dynamical force developed in their formation. The plaster having sustained this injury, the salt transforms itself, and shoots out into bunches of needle-form crystals, only to fall again into the terrible white powder, as the air becomes warm and dry. Thus a constant succession goes on of solution and dessication, with the changes of the weather and temperature; and if the wall be permitted to cool with the frost, the ruin of the plaster is insured. Sulphate of soda exists, not only in Durdham Down limestone, but unfortunately also in much abundance in all the lias mortars, in London clays, and in many other stones. In fact,

works. That beautiful picture of Guido, "Christ giving the Keys of his Church to Peter," is washed away to the blue coloring; and so of numerous others. As to the Rubens', they are destroyed. The women, once fine flesh and blood, are now blue women! It is really piteous that a gallery once the delight of every educated person should be thus destroyed and profaned.”—Athenæum.

OBITUARY.

Walter Savage Landor, whose death at his villa near Florence, on the 17th of last month, has just been announced by the last European arrivals, was about the sole remaining literary man whose career as an author dates from the last century. He was born in 1775. His first book, a volume of “ Poems," was published in 1795, when young Landor, the eldest son of wealthy parents, of the old Eng

I doubt if any London wall is entirely free from its presence. We may, therefore, observe this kind of action of destruction going on more or less almost everywhere. A marked instance of its injurious effect can be seen in the Crystal Palace, where not only the surface of the richly-decorated walls is attacked, but also the plaster-cast statuary suffers, and requires constant renovation. In Rome and Florence, indeed, many frescoes have remained entire, with their colors smooth and in good order, for hundreds of years; but then these frescoes are on plaster made from travertine, a limestone of freshwater formation, free from salt, and the lime has been burnt with wood charcoal, in which there is no sulphur. In a late view which I had of the admirable fresco which Mr. Herbert has just finished, I find that the robing-room in the House of Lords was kept with a wet floor. If this apartment be ever allowed to grow cold, can we doubt that the fate of this glorious work of art is sealed? Damp will condense in drops on its surface, and be absorbed. These drops will dissolve whatever trace of sul-lish squirearchy, had declined, with characteristic phate of soda exists in the plaster, or perhaps in the mortar of the wall. The salt will aggregate together (probably by the force of dialysis), then form ice-like crystals, to heave the plaster and show itself in a bloom on the surface of the fresco, and then dessicate into a dry powder, to be re-dissolved by the first moisture which comes over it, and then be reabsorbed again, till at last it aggregates into blotches, and the destruction be complete. To preserve this fresco I should recommend that the robing-room be kept always warm, and as dry as possible, so that the sulphate of soda may not pass into solution and aggregation; and surely such a work of art, of which the nation is so justly proud, is worth the cost of any expense incurred in its preservation. The liquid glass process,' I understand, has been tried to secure the preservation of Mr. Herbert's fresco, but I doubt its power to prevent the plaster absorbing any drops of moisture which may come on its surface. Indeed, if there be any soda in the preparation of liquid glass, it may accelerate the work of destruction, for carbonate of soda is almost as efflorescent a salt as sulphate of soda, into which, however, the former is often converted by the sulphurous acid gas seldom absent from London air. I conclude that fresco painting on fresh-water limestone walls, kept constantly warm and dry, will have the best chance of endurance for ages yet to come, for the delight of our remote successors.'

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Thackeray is to have a monument in Westminster Abbey, the Dean of Westminster having at once complied with the request of many men of letters and artists to be allowed to erect one. The monument to Sir Charles Barry, lately placed in the nave of the Abbey, consists of a large cross of brass, with an inscription upon it, let into a black marble slab.

Picture Cleaning—and Destroying." A sincere Lover of the Fine Arts" calls attention to the wanton Vandalism now being perpetrated at the Louvre on some of the masterpieces of the great artists. The "procès de restauration," he says, "consists in scrubbing down, in annihilating the fine tones of a picture, in laying bare the blue tint which, I believe, is the foundation color for pictures; in destroying the mellow and unattainable coloring of age, all the delicate and elaborate touches by which the great masters knew how so well to express the deep thought and feeling which animates their

independence, the military and legal professions for which his father successively intended him, and started on a life of freedom and literature. Though diversified by many incidental changes, this programme he steadily adhered to through the long term of nearly ninety years, and of more pronounced individuality than any of his contemporaries, on succeeding to the family estates in Warwickshire, in the early part of this century, the routine life and narrow aims of a large-acred man " could not long confine the restlessness of his spirit. Before many years were over he had be come disgusted with his ungrateful tenants, dissatisfied with his neighbors, and out of sorts generally with the rural world. The resolution to sell the property that had belonged to the Landors for seven hundred years, was soon taken and acted on. In 1808 he stood clear of all such trammels, and rushed with ardor into the contest then waging by the patriotic Spaniards against the Napoleonic lust of conquest and universal dominion. His participation in this struggle occupied him until the pacification of Europe in 1815, when he purchased the mansion and estates near Florence, where the greatest part of his life has since been spent.

As a writer he flowered late. At his residence in Italy commences the period of his greatest literary productiveness. His noblest and most original work, Imaginary Conversations of Literary Men and Statesmen, was brought out in London, in two series, in 1824-29, and was followed by a succession of other books, partly of the same character, as Pericles and Aspasia, (with a remarkable dedication to Gen. Jackson, omitted in the American reprint,) The Tentameroy, etc.-partly poetical, as Gehr, Count Julean, etc., and partly personal and political, springing from the intense and highly wrought feeling that Landor exhibited toward every object that excited his love or his hate, and between the two passions, there was no middle-ground. Though spending most of his time in Italy, he kept up a home at Bath. Some of his appearances in England do not redound to his credit, and must be attributed to the perversion rather than the decay of his faculties, arising from extreme age. Mr. Landor married in 1811 a lady of Swiss extraction. He leaves a family of three sons and one daughter, to whom he some time ago made over the bulk of his fortune, reserving but little for himself. He presented the copyright of

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his works to Moxon, the publisher, by whom they were brought out in ten volumes, royal 8vo, 1847. There is a native vigor, energy, and fire in all that Landor wrote that must make his name an enduring one in the roll of English classics. His poetry was accused of obscurity and want of human interest, and is little known to readers of the present day. The shape in which he clothed the rich results of his reading and observation-that of imaginary dialogues or conversation, may seem forced and unnatural to one who possessed so ably the dramatic temperament; but the weightiness of their matter, the insight they show into the history, literature, politics, manner, and modes of thinking of past ages, will always make them be numbered among the choicest volumes of the student's library. Mr. Landor's scholarship was of the highest quality. His Latin verse is among the best written by Englishmen in modern days, and in Italian literature he was preeminent.-Times, (N. Y.)

also published parts of Homer from a palimpsest. He has lately been preparing a work on Matthew's Gospel. His work on Christianity in Edessa will be published.

Dr. Hubbard Winslow, for many years a prominent clergyman of the Presbyterian church, and well known as an author, left a large circle of friends to mourn his recent death. His faithful ministry in Boston over one of the largest and most influential churches in the land, is still fresh to many minds, and held in grateful remembrance by some of our leading men, who attended his church. The Editor of this Magazine, when ordained to the ministry, heard his ordination sermon from the lips of Dr. Winslow. He was a bright light to illumine many dark souls and win them to Christ, and wherever he ministered rich fruits were a result of his labors.

VARIETIES.

During a long life of study and religious labor, he published a number of excellent books devoted M. Emile Saisset.-The death of M. Emile Sais- to the welfare of the young and the spiritual set, Professor of Moral Philosophy at the Sorbonne, growth of the church, while his volumes on philohas left in the ranks of metaphysical teachers a sophical and doctrinal subjects placed him high in vacancy which cannot easily be filled. This gifted rank among living authors. He left a blessed author was preparing several works on metaphys-memory to his friends; a bright example for many ical subjects, and he had intended to re-write in an to dwell upon and strive to imitate. extended form, for M. Germer Baillière's Bibliothèque de Philosophie Contemporaine, two essays originally published in the Revue des Deux Mondes. The former of these articles was a refutation of the theories of modern Animists; the latter contained a sketch of French æsthetics, written à propos of M. Charles Levêque's treatise on the science of the Beautiful. Ill-health having prevented M. Saisset from carrying out the plan originally conceived, M. Germer Baillière thought it better to reprint together in the same brochure the articles referred to. If not strictly connected by unity of subject, they are so, at all events, by unity of doctrine; and M. Saisset's elevated views will be equally apparent to those who follow his masterly discussion of M. Bouillier, and to the artists who examine the manner in which he deals with the subject of æsthetics.

Roman Feasts.-The ordinary arrangement of a Roman supper consisted of three low couches, ou three sides of a low table, at which the attendant slaves could minister without incommoding the recumbent guests. Upon each couch three persons reclined-a mode which had been introduced from Greece, where it had been in use for centuries, though not from the heroic times. The Egyptians and Persians sate at meat; so till the Grecks corrupted them did also the Jews; the poetical traditions of Hellas represented the gods as sitting at their celestial banquets. The Macedonians also, down to the time of Alexander, are said to have Rudolph Wagner, Professor of Physiology in adopted the more ordinary practice; and such was Göttingen, died May 13th. He was born in 1805. the custom at Rome till a late period. When the He was a pupil of Cuvier, and the successor of men first allowed themselves the indulgence of reBlumenbach. Besides writing works on physiol-clining, they required boys and women to maintain ogy and anatomy, he translated Prichard's Researches, and was a zealous opponent of the materialists, Vogt and Büchner. One of his later works was in reply to Darwin.

an erect posture, from notions of delicacy; but in the time of Augustus no such distinction was observed, and the inferiority of the weaker sex was only marked by setting them together on one of James F. Ferrier, Professor of Moral Philosophy the side couches, the place of honor being always in the University of St. Andrews, died June 11th. in the center. Reclined on stuffed and cushioned He was born in 1808. His articles on "Conscious-sofas, leaning on the left elbow, the neck and right ness," "Berkeley," "Reid" and "Mill's Logic," in Blackwood's Magazine, attracted attention. His chief work was The Institutes of Metaphysics. He was twice an unsuccessful candidate for a professorship in Edinburgh, the last time on the death of Sir William Hamilton. He wrote in this controversy a sharp pamphlet, Scottish Philosophy, the Old and the New.

arm bare, and his sandals removed, the Roman abandoned himself, after the exhaustion of the palæstra and the bath, to all the luxury of languor. His slaves relieved him from every effort, however trifling: they carved for him, filled his cup for him, supplied every dish for him with such fragmentary viands as he could raise to his mouth with his fingers only, and poured water on his hands at every Rev. William Cureton, Canon of Westminster, remove. Men of genius and learning might amuse the best Syriac scholar in England, died June 17th. themselves with conversation only; those to whom He was born in 1808. From 1837 to 1849 he was this resource was insufficient had other means of Curator of the Manuscripts in the British Museum. entertainment to resort to. Music and dancing His Epistles of Ignatius, 1845; Corpus Ignatianum, were performed before them; actors and clowns 1849; Vindiciae Ignatianæ, 1846; Ecclesiastical His-exhibited in their presence; dwarfs and hunchbacks tory of John of Ephesus, 1853; Spicilegium Syria- were introduced to make sport for them; Augustus num, 1855; Festal Letters of Athanasius, 1848; himself sometimes escaped from these levities by Curetonian Gospels, 1858, are well known. He' playing at dice between the courses; but the stale

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