then, if against it, above all others, the impotent thunders of the Vatican have been not less repeatedly than frantically launched. We point to 30,000,000 of copies issued in England by a single Society, as a fact by which the world may guage the depth of our estimation of the value of the Scriptures, and measure the opulence of our spiritual resources. We point to that Society as to an armoury from which our sons and daughters have, sheathed in panoply, provided themselves with weapons for the conflict of life. We point to it as to a proof of our mindfulness of our obligations to others, as well as of those which we owe to ourselves. Cheered ourselves by the tones of inspiration, we have, as was right, taken measures to make others sharers of our joy, so that the pagan nations may join with that Pentecostal audience, and say, "we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God." We do not, we durst not, claim any merit for acquitting ourselves of this obligation: woe unto us if we neglect it! For what other purpose shall we say that a small island in the Northern Ocean has been blessed with so large a measure of civil liberty, secured to her by her well poised constitution, while she girdles the globe with her commerce, touches with her sceptre the eastern and western tremities of the earth, and spreads her navy, invincible and triumphant, as far as waters roll or winds can waft it; gifted with a language that bears the impress of her people, fit for eloquence and poetry, fit for philosophy and ethics, fit for genius to employ as the vehicle of its loftiest

ex

inspirations, and above all fit--yes, the fittest of all the spoken languages of the earth,-to convey to mortal man an adequate expression of the message sent down from Heaven? Besides all these advantages, which indicate the high destiny of this favoured kingdom, look at her numerous and wide-spread dependencies, especially her colonies in India,provinces acquired not merely by right of conquest, but by necessity of state; not merely by the vigour of her arm, but by the fiat of the Almighty; not from thirst of territorial aggrandizement,but in spite of the repugnance of her parliaments, the remonstrances of her statesmen, and the reclamations of her people, in obedience to a law from on high, which COMPELS her to "become the first of the nations." "Not for your sakes do I this, O house of Israel, but for mine holy name's sake :" not that we may feed our national pride by gathering into one crown of dazzling effulgence the gems of many a subjugated diadem, but that we may be the humble instrument in the hand of the Supreme Disposer of all things for the maintenance and diffusion of His holy Scriptures. Wherever those Scriptures go, we may trace their course by a track of light. In their train are civilization, political and religious freedom, literature, science, art, and all that ministers to the necessity, convenience, and embellishment of life and although we would not speak disparagingly of the noble versions that preceded our present translation, we justly claim for it a superiority over them all, and believe that it will be long ere it is supplanted in the affections of the people.

WHAT a human migration takes place in the month of September! As railroad and steam-boat scatter these sheets over the length and breadth of the land, into what remote holes and corners of the earth do those same

railroads and steam-boats carry our readers! A treasury clerk or two remain in town to guard the interests of the British empire. A few sad visaged lawyers look after the fate of those impatient folk who will insist on

getting married at the most inconvenient seasons. Every clergyman has the duty of three or four parishes to attend to besides his own. In every shop and counting-house, some one unhappy clerk must keep sentinel up and down the deserted counters. But the mass of mankind, where are they? We think a large reward might safely be offered to discover the mountain, river, lake, or village in Europe where, on any day within the next six weeks, an Englishman, Irishman, or Scotchman, or all three together, could not be found; not to speak of the great cities which, deserted by their own population, are instantly filled with the inhabitants of these Isles. And what a Babel of tongues prevails !---Not meaning anything discourteous to our fair readers, we venture to assert that, as a general rule, every man and woman speaks his or her own language more accurately than the language of any other country. Now, will any one tell us what language is spoken by our countrymen when once out of England? Certainly not any language taught in our schools or Universities. -The plan most generally adopted, so far as our observation has extended, appears to be this. In the course of a few days we insensibly acquire something of the tone or pitch of the voice of the natives, and then, an English word made as unlike what it really is as possible, and spoken in this tone or pitch, is considered by our traveller to convey the requisite meaning to the foreigner. It is marvellous how well they do comprehend what we mean to say. Long practice, and we suppose a certain universality of our medley tongue, facilitate the operation. Nevertheless, the expense, the language, the trouble, and a thousand etceteras, combine to keep by far the larger portion of our readers within the four seas. Of these, the moors and the lochs absorb a multitude, composed of the more vigorous and sportsmanlike; and glorious is their enjoyment. Of the rest, every stream and valley has its artist, not including the regiment of photographers that now marches through the land, armed with mysterious bottles and dark chambers supported on

gigantic wooden spiders. But it is on the sea-shore that the British population, old and young, is for the most part to be found. North, south, east, and west, a fringe of human barnacles lines the coast. Beauties lie hid beneath "uglies," and individuals no longer beautiful,- -we give them the benefit of the " no longer"-tantalize us from under "mushrooms," (now made perfectly irritating by the long string over the front leaf.) Old gentlemen wander along in "wide awakes," thus named because so comfortable to go to sleep in, and young gentlemen in garments too nondescript to admit of description smoke and doze on every rock. A naturalist might not inaccurately commence a definition of man at this season of the year, as “an animal found on the sea-shore between high and low water marks."

The modes of occupation and amusement at the sea-side are numerous; and not the least attractive is that to which we invite the attention of the reader. Bathing, boating, fishing, walking, riding, reading, are all enjoyments in which the hours and days fly rapidly past; but, if to these we add the pleasures of Natural History, no length of holiday will suffice to exhaust the interest of the seashore. The day has gone by when those who followed such pursuits were looked upon as "harmless lunatics." "To those few well informed persons who still, from old prejudice, accuse us of,

Dropping buckets into empty wells, And growing old in drawing nothing up,

we may say that till the well of creation be emptied, there is no danger of our returning from our labours without abundant food for thought; and if we do not always make the best use of it, the blame must rest with ourselves."

Formerly to gather empty shells on the shore, or, if tenanted, to boil them and extract the inmate, and neatly to name and arrange his treasures in drawers lined with wool, or to dry and mount on paper the lovely "ocean flowers," was the limit of the naturalist's means of observation. Now he can watch the strange animals living

in their native element, and observe the sea-weed garden growing in its wild luxuriance, while, with the aid of a microscope, a world of wonders lies opened before him.

Our readers have, many of them, no doubt, seen and admired the Aquaria in the Zoological Gardens in London or Dublin; sea-weeds in them expanding their feathery fronds, and strangely shaped masses of living flesh pushing forth their bright colored tentacles, pretty shellfish creeping along their glassy sides, and manyhued fishes gliding through the clear water. The man or woman with a mind above billiards or crochet, cigars or novels, (not that we despise these invaluable aids to forgetfulness) who will bring with him or her to the seaside the means of observing these wonders of the deep, will be provided with a fund of interest, amusement, and instruction never to be exhausted. We purpose to set such a one on the right road, and to point out where and how he will find the objects of his pursuit.

As we wish to place our readers in a position to "set to work," we will first suggest what microscopic aid they will require, although without any such assistance there is spread out an ample field for observation. What book will tell me all about it? is the first question of the beginner. There are many good books on this subject, but if the reader has Dr. Carpenter's work, "The Microscope," he will need none other. The cost is about 12s., and the quantity of information it contains amazing. From it we extract the description of a simple microscope to be recommended.

The general purposes of a simple microscope are satisfactorily answered by the instrument which has recently gained the premium awarded by the Council of the Society of Arts, and which is capable of being very effectively used in the examination of most of the objects for which such an instrument is suited. It consists of a tubular stem about five inches high, the lower end of which screws firmly into the lid of the box wherein the instrument is packed when not in use. To the upper end of this stem, the stage is firmly fixed; while the lower end carries a concave mirror. Within the tubular stem is a round pillar, having a rack cut into it, against which a pinion works that is turned by a milled head; and the upper part of this pillar carries a horizontal arm which bears the lenses; so that by turning the milled

head, the arm may be raised or lowered, and the requisite focal adjustment obtained. Three magnifiers are supplied with this instrument; and by using them either separately or in combination (the lens of shortest focus being placed at the bottom, whenever two, or all three, are used together) a considerable range of powers, from about five to forty diameters, is obtained. The stage is perforated with a hole at each corner; into any one of which may be fitted a condensing lens for opaque objects in a pair of stage forceps. An aquatic box for the examination of objects in water is also supplied. Furthermore, "the price of the instrument, with all these appurtenances, packed in a neat mahogany box, is only half a guinea, and the maker, Mr. G. Field of Birmingham, is bound by his agreement with the Society of Arts to keep it always in stock."

For more minute investigations the student must provide himself with a compound microscope, of which several forms will be found described by Dr. Carpenter, and in purchasing which we would recommend the reader to trust himself to the character of a first-rate optician in selecting a suitable instrument.

Whether armed with these extra eyes or without, the next requisite is a proper vessel in which to place the living animals and weeds we may find. Any glass vessel will do, but the plate-glass Aquaria manufactured by Messrs. Sanders and Woolcot, of Doughty-street, London, are by far the most elegant and satisfactory contrivances for the purpose. They are of various shapes and sizes and prices, from £1 11s. 6d. upwards. Being, from the nature of the material, heavy to move, we would recommend one of small size to begin with.

And now, arrived at the sea shore, we imagine the enthusiastic reader all impatience to fill the tank and set to work, observing and noting the manners and customs of its inhabitants. But stay,-not so fast; he cautious, a little care and trouble in this respect at first will save sad disappointment and great difficulties in the end. Remember what you are attempting. Those free, untamed creatures, to which every wave brings fresh nourishment, and which roam from rock to rock, from pool to pool, as each successive source of life is exhausted, are about to be confined in a narrow box some foot and a-half square, the few gallons of water it

contains to constitute their sole supply for months to come. Take care then that the tank contains no impurity to corrupt the water. Let it be well washed and exposed to the air: be careful not to overstock it, and let the amount of vegetable growth be amply sufficient. In this last condition lies the discovery to which we are indebted for our water-gardens of Zoology.

Researches into the chemistry of animal and vegetable bodies, and especially of the effects they severally produce by respiration on the medium surrounding them, have resulted in the conclusion that animals and vegetables supply each other with the gases most essential to existence; what the one exhales as effete and noxious, the other absorbs for the highest uses of vitality. Animals take oxygen from the medium in which they live, and in return exhale carbonic acid. Vegetables also absorb oxygen gas and give out carbon, but they also absorb the latter in greater quantity than they exhale it, and during their season of greatest activity throw off more oxygen than they take up at other times.

Lavoisier was the first who upon philosophical grounds established the fact of this balance of influences. De Saussure, in 1780, proved that plants had a tendency to improve the atmosphere, by robbing it of the gases most baneful to animal life; and Priestley, by means of well-devised experiments, ascertained that when atmospheric air had become vitiated by combustion and animal respiration, plants had the power of restoring it to a normal condition, so as to be again capable of supporting flame and the breathing of animals. Inglehouse and Ellis contributed to this enquiry, and modern chemistry establishes the fact, that though vegetables absorb oxygen, they do, by the decomposition of carbonic acid into its elements-oxygen and carbon-yield a large quantity of the first element to the atmosphere, while retaining the second for the coustruction of their tissues. In the philosophical examination of this subject, the report of Professor Daubeney to the British Association in 1833 is, perhaps, the most conclusive and elaborate of any of the contributions of modern chemists. He regarded light as operating upon the green parts of plants in such a way as to enable them to assimilate carbon and evolve oxygen; and concluded that if a very small portion of a tree or shrub generates a considerable quantity of oxygen, there were no reasons to doubt that the influence of the vegetable might serve as a complete compensation for that of the animal kingdom.*

Upon this principle of the mutual support of the animal and vegetable worlds depends, then, the successful establishment of the Aquarium). What the exact proportion of each requisite to sustain the other may be remains to be discovered. If we place the animals in water without living vegetable growth, they will quickly perish; if we place too great a number of animals in the water with living plants, the animals will likewise die. The vegetable portion is not apparently so easily affected, as the Aquarium may be stocked with plants long before any animals are placed in it. However, the purest sea-water will be found to contain numberless minute animals, which no doubt are not without their effect on the plants associated with them.

The history of the various successful attempts that have been made to construct Marine Aquaria is very interesting. The first in the field was the late lamented Dr. Johnston, a name dear to all students of Marine Zoology, and who has left in his works on Sponges and Zoophytes imperishable monuments of his patient industry and distinguished talents. Writing in 1842, he says,

It is now eight weeks since I placed in a small glass jar, containing about six ounces of pure sea water, a tuft of the living corallina officinalis to which were attached two or three minute conferve, and the very young frond of a green ulva; while numerous rissom, several little mussels and annelides and a star-fish were crawling amid the branches. The jar was placed on a table, and was seldom disturbed, though occasionally looked at; and at the end of four weeks the water was found to be still pure, the mullusca and other animals all alive and active, the confervæ had grown perceptibly, and the coralline itself had thrown out some new shoots, and several additional articulations. Eight weeks have now clapsed since the experiment was begun,-the water has remained unchanged, yet the coralline is growing, and apparently has lost none of its vitality; but the animals have sensibly decreased in numbers, though many of them continue to be active, and show no dislike to their situation.

A lady was the next of whose experiments we have a record. We quote from Mr. Hibberd.