been at work to bring this change about. The education which the Roman considered proper and decorous for his daughters was the same now as it had been in the early days of the Republic, when, amid a tribe of herdsmen and shepherds, the highest praise that could be placed as an epitaph on the tomb of a deceased matron, was the statement that she who lay beneath had led a sober and a pious life, had regulated her household with diligence, and had presided ably at the spinningwheel, untouched by foreign manners, careless of what occurred abroad; and, finally, that she had been the wife of only one lord and master, and had never sought a second matrimonial alliance. Innocence such as this, grounded on simple habits, and preserved by ignorance, might indeed be maintained by the rude farmers of Latium-among the citizens of what was then 'merely the capital of an Italian tribe. But when once the highly cultivated nations of the East began to pour their treasures into the open bosom of the queen of the Mediterranean, such innocence and ignorance could no longer be of any avail, even had men been in earnest in their endeavors to preserve them. "Conquered Greece led her conquerors captive" in morals no less than in philosophy and in art; and now the softer manners and the looser morals of the Egean were transferred to the hills among which Curius had tilled his farm, and Camillus driven his oxen. EARLY SUBSTITUTES FOR A COINAGE.-Skillful armorers were still unknown amongst the Franks in the middle of the sixth century, because they were not wanted, and, for a similar reason, some time must have elapsed before the monetarius, as a skillful craftsman, penetrated beyond the boundaries of the old Roman provinces. Various substitutes, however, existed for a metallic currency, or rather coinage. Cattle passed from very early times at a fixed value for money, feoh, or pecunia; hence the high valuations of the eye, the horn, and the tail, in Ini's laws, for "the best beast," was always insisted upon, and a mutilated animal was "bad money," the malicious injurer of his neighbor's means of paying "rents and taxes" being apparently amerced in the estimated amount of the depreciation. A very ancient and widespread custom was that of reckoning the ox as a measure of currency. "Let him pay ten oxen," says the law of Draco, quoted by Pollux; and in the wellknown lines of Homer, the golden armor of Glaucus, and the brazen armor of Diomed, are valued not in money, but in oxen. When a man was bribed to silence, the Greeks used to say, "He has an ox on his tongue;" and though the learned choose to explain the proverb as if it referred to a coin with the impress of an ox," the beast passed as money long before his image was stamped upon a bit of metal. This cattle-tribute known in England as Nowt-geld, or Cornage, affords a very fair criterion of the state of the so ciety in which it prevailed. Thus the Continental Saxons, in the days of Charlemagne, evidently paid the greater part of their tribute in cattle and produce rather than in coined money, and the value of the animal according to his age and condition, with the amount of grain or honey passing for a solidus, was carefully laid down in their laws. The beast remained stationary in value between autumn and spring, thriving little apparently as a "winter-steal" upon bad hay; but the valuations in Ini's laws are not repeated in any of the later English codes, and the custom of estimating payments in cattle would appear to have died out in the South-country at a comparatively early period, its cessation dating at any rate from the establishment of a royal moneyer in the most important burghs, if not before. In the Welsh and Scottish laws, however, of a much later date, assessments were still reckoned by "the cow," as well as by the penny, the ox, and the shilling, and nowt-geld long continued to be the "custom of the country" in the north of England; for, at the date of the Conquest, there was but one mint in existence at York-throughout the whole of the great Northumbrian provinces and St. Cuthbert's territory, whilst, in the wild western districts, gradually known as the counties of Cumberland and Westmoreland, cornage continued to be nearly the only tenure for several generations after the Norman Conquest.-From "Historical Essays." By E. William Robertson. BIBLIOMANIA.-A novel entertainment was lately afforded the Troy Scientific Association at their monthly meeting, which took place at the residence of Irving Browne, where they listened to the reading of an essay on "Bibliomania" by Mr. Browne. The subject was illustrated by books and prints from the reader's library, which were shown, as he remarked, for the same reason that the temperance lecturer carried about with him his inebriate brother, as an example to be avoided. Mr. Browne reviewed the history of book collecting, and enumerated the famous men who acquired libraries, from Cicero to Marshal Jumot. He described the whims and peculiarities of collectors, especially in respect to the subjects of large paper books, bindings, and "illustrating." In regard to the pleasure derived from the pursuit of accumulating a library, he remarked: "To constitute a bibliomaniac in the true sense, the love of books must combine with a certain limitation of means for the gratification of the appetite. The disease is cunningly concealed in the patient affected by it. The consciousness of a certain amount of extravagance must be always present in his mind. In a rich man the disease can not be correctly evinced. He can not enter the kingdom of the bibliomaniac's heaven. There is the same difference of sensation in the acquirement of books by the wealthy man and by him of slender purse that there is to a fisherman between the taking of fish in a net and the successful result of a long angling pursuit after one specially fat and evasive trout. To visit the metropolis; to haunt its book stores, there to see a long desired work in luxurious and tempting style; reluctantly to abandon it on account of the price demanded; to go home and dream about it, to wonder for a year, or perchance longer, whether it will ever again greet your eyes; to conjecture what act of desperation you might in heat of passion commit on some more affluent man in whose possession you should thereafter find it; to have it turn up again in another book shop, its charms slightly faded but yet mellowed by age, like those of your first love, met in after life, with this difference, however, that whereas you crave those of the book more than ever, you are generally quite satisfied with yourself for not having, through the greenness of youth, yielded untimely to those of the lady; to ask, with assumed indifference, the price, and learn, with ill-dissembled joy, that it is now within your means; to say you'll take it; to place it beneath your arm; to emerge from that room with feelings akin to those of Ulysses when he brought away the Palladium from Troy; to keep a watchful eye on the parcel in the steamboat or railroad cars on your way home; to gloat over the treasures of its pages, and wonder if the other passengers have any idea of what a fortunate individual you are; and finally, to place the volume on your shelves and thenceforth call it your own; this is indeed a pleasure denied to the affluent ; so keen as to be akin to pain, and only marred by the palling which always follows possession." BLOOD-RELATIONSHIP.-Mr. Francis Galton stated, the other night, in a memoir read before the Royal Society, that it had hitherto been impossible to define the connection between relatives in a way that should do justice to the latent elements which every creature inherits and may bequeath, but which give no sign of their existence in its own person. He showed that this difficulty may be wholly avoided by the simple expedient of tracing the intervals of descent from the very origin of life in each generation, and not from one adult person to another. There are three welldefined stages in each of these intervals-namely, the ovum in which all the elements are confounded and no structure exists, and the embryo, and the adult, in both of which they are separated into personal and latent. The author described in detail the character of the processes by which each stage in either of the lines was derived from its predecessor. By protracting these stages into a genealogical diagram, the true relation of a man to either of his parents becomes quite clear. It has a twofold character, one part passing by the latent and the other by the personal line. The former was shown to be much the more important, but it is only collateral because it will be found to ascend through five steps to the parental ovum, and thence to descend through three other steps to the parental person. The personal line, though of minor importance, is nearer and quite direct: it descends through three steps. Brothers and sisters are more closely connected; their descent passes through only three parallel steps, though it is derived from no less than four variable sources-namely, the latent and personal contributions of either parent. FEMALE EDUCATION AT ZURICH.-The uni versity of Zurich has, as is well known, led the way in the attempt to solve the problem of female university education. From a letter printed in the National Gazette from Zurich, we observe that at present out of some 400 students at the university there are eighty ladies in attendance, most of them students of medicine. A large proportion of these ladies belong to Russia, where the movement in favor of female education has taken very distinct shape, though they have not been able yet to establish a medical college of their own. It would seem from the remarks of the writer of the letter that the lady students are hardly much more in favor with their masculine companions at Zurich than they have been at the university of Edinburgh, although there have been none of the discreditable scenes at the former by which the latter has made itself notorious. The professors also are a good deal puzzled sometimes how to proceed, and some of them do not hesitate to speak openly in condemnation and discouragement of the lady medical students-remarks which are sure to be applauded by the chivalrous males. So that, although Zurich has practically solved the problem of female university education so far, it would appear that the subject has introduced there as well as in Edinburgh not a little discord, with also considerable perplexity and dissatisfaction. APPARATUS FOR THE BLIND.-At a recent meeting of the Royal Scottish Society of Arts, a communication was read from Mr. Albert Meldrum, teacher of the blind, Alloa, describing an improved method of corresponding between blind persons. The invention consists of two partsthe upper having the types, with keys and levers for moving them, and the lower containing the paper-moving apparatus. The base of the upper part is a metal disk, with a circular hole in the centre. Around the central opening are arranged twenty-six little hammers, having on their striking surface copper types for embossing the paper. The types are so arranged that they all strike at the same place, namely, on the opening in the disk, and each hammer, after striking, is pulled back to its original position by an india-rubber band. Each of the keys represents a letter, and when any particular key is pressed down, the corresponding hammer strikes, and the type makes a mark on the paper, which is stretched on a revolving drum in a drawer below the disk. When one letter is impressed the drum is moved round by a handle in front of the machine, and a plain surface is presented for the next stroke. When a line is finished, the drawer in which the paper moves is pulled out one line. The machine is constructed to print Moon's type, but its principle is equally applicable to any other, especially to Braile's. After the paper had been read the machine was exhibited in operation, and worked very satisfactorily. HESPERUS. THERE is a silence in the quiet woods, There is a silence in the weary town, When frequent footsteps lessen one by one; And last good nights have fainter, fewer grown, And all the bustle of the day is done. Yet not the silence of the setting sun, Nor all the twilight darkening with increase, Brings unto weary mortals, every one, The tender comfort of a natural peace. The wild bird, tired of its song, may rest, And hide its head within its trusty wing; The early sun shall wake it from its nest To-morrow morn it will as bravely sing, The flowers may close their petals for the night, And stay their beauty in the dewy gloom; Upon the glory of the morning light, More fresh, more fragrantly, the rose will bloom. Yet not with men is such a dream of peace;j The fierce thought racks throughout the silent night; And longing, lingering cares without surcease, Wear on the troubled soul into the light. -Once a Week. COLORING VENEERS.-Veneers first soaked for 24 hours in a solution of caustic soda containing 10 per cent of soda and boiled therein for half an hour, and afterward washed with sufficient water to remove the alkali, may be dyed throughout their mass. This treatment with soda effects a general disintegration of the wood, whereby it becomes, in the moist state, elastic and leather-like, and ready to absorb any pigment. After dyeing the wood must be dried between sheets of paper and subjected to pressure to retain its shape. Veneers treated in this way and placed for 24 hours in a hot decoction of logwood, then dyed superficially and subjected to another solution, consisting one part of proto-sulphate of iron dissolved in 30 parts of water, will, at the expiration of 24 hours, become beautifully and completely dyed black. A solution of part of picric acid in 60 parts of water, with a small quantity of ammonia, produces a beautiful yellow, which is not changed by subsequent varnishing. Coralline dissolved in hot water, with the addition of one fifth of its volume of silicate of soda and a little caustic soda, produces rose colors of different shades, dependent on the amount of coralline used. The only color which veneers will absorb, without a previous treatment of soda, is silver gray; this color is obtained by soaking them for a day in a solution consisting of one part of protosulphate of iron to 100 parts of water. PETRIFACTION OF THE BODY.-The New-York Courrier des Etats Unis has the following statement: "The mortal remains of Mazzini, after the pretended burial at Genoa, have been intrusted to Professor Gorini, who has undertaken the complete petrifaction of them within eight months. To preserve the body for ages, and to give it all the appearance of life has been in Italy the preoccupation of a number of scientific men. One may say that it is a study peculiar to that country, where it has been followed for many centuries, and has produced incredible results. 'Professor Gorini, whom,' says the Liberté 'we have known personally, enjoys in this department uncontested notoriety. He possesses a museum of bodies and of anatomical pieces of the most curious kinds, which we have frequently been to see, and the merest superficial examination of which causes unutterable surprise. Certain mummifying operations give to the body the strange property of resuming all the appearances of sleep after it has remained some hours in the water, and admit of the closest anatomical study of it. Other preparations give to the body the hardness of stone, and enable it to resist humidity, the inclemency of the seasons, and the combined action of heat and cold. The remains of Mazzini, in the hands of this skillful operator, will escape disorganization, and retain the sublime expression of the last hour.'" A RELIC OF SCOTT AND BURNS.-In the June number of Macmillan's Magazine, there is a single page with the signature "H. Bartle G. Frere," a name that guarantees the accuracy of the writer's statement. He publishes eight lines of verse by Sir Walter Scott. They form a kind of introduction to Burns' "Address to Robert Bruce before Bannockburn." Sir Walter thought that the opening of those beautiful lines was "too abrupt," and that Burns would, on consideration, have prefaced them with some words showing the notation. Scott, talking over this with a friend, hastily penciled the sort of thing he meant, and his lines are before us. This is a literary anecdote of great interest, and as such it is most welScott on Burns must be listened to with especial reverence: come. "By Bannockburn proud Edward lay; The Scots they were na far away, Just waiting for the break o'day, To show them which were best. The sun rose o'er the purple heath, And lighted up the field of death, When Bruce wi' soul-inspiring breath, His soldiers thus addrest :' 1 "Scots wha hae wi' Wallace bled,'" etc. |