whose early death in a mission among the Mohammedans near Aden was so much deplored. He had made great attainments in Oriental literature. M. MASPERO, the director of the magnificent Museum of Antiquities at Boolak in Cairo, made also remarkable linguistic attainments in his youth. Though an Italian by At the age of twenty birth, he was naturalized in France. he not only knew the usual classical tongues, and several of modern Europe, but had learned Oriental languages, and even the long-lost tongues of Chaldea, Assyria, and Egypt. He was made a professor at that early age in the College of France, and at the Sorbonne. Even in that city, so long distinguished for precocious scholars, he was the youngest who had gained a chair. M. Maspero next went to Egypt, and was made assistant to the distinguished Marriette Bey, who did so much to arrange and preserve the antiquities of Egypt. After the death of M. Marriette in 1880, Maspero was appointed his successor, and it fell to him to secure the remarkable discovery of so many mummies of royal personages, including those of Thothmes III. and Ramses II., the two greatest monarchs who ruled over Egypt. This was in 1881, and since that time several of them have been unrolled, and many have looked on the faces and touched the hands of those mighty kings who left so many monuments behind them. Maspero had to flee from Cairo during the insurrection of Arabi Pasha in 1882, and to leave the museum in the hands of a Circassian. There were fears that the leader of the revolt would disperse the treasures of Boolak for money, but happily they were preserved. Maspero has been as proficient in modern as in ancient. tongues, and at home in the various philosophical systems. of the age. His "History of Ancient Egypt," as well as other works, illustrate much of the language and people of the past. M. Maspero has endeavoured to collect as many monuments of the past in the museum at Boolak as possible, and to discover new monuments of antiquity, so that the ancient history may be written more correctly. His hands have been greatly tied by the inadequacy of the funds placed at his disposal, though he has made the best use of what he has got. But he justly remarked in a letter to the Times in London that there are at least three thousand travellers annually drawn to Egypt to see its wonderful monuments, and that these spend at least £80 each, which would make a total of £240,000 annually circulated in the country. This is clear gain, and it is not too much to expect that a fair proportion should be assigned to the director of the museum for enriching the antiquities. Maspero has taken a lively interest in the Egyptian Ex ploration Fund, which has been employed to such advantage. Much may yet be brought to light by the combined efforts of so many explorers and scholars. The discoveries at Goshen, and Naukrates, and Bubastis, are sufficient encouragement. His GEORGE ROLLESTON, M.D., F.R.S., Linacre Professor of Anatomy and Physiology in the University of Oxford, made remarkable attainments in language while very young. aunt, a very clever lady, and the authoress of "Mazzaroth," taught him Hebrew when he was only eight years of age. His father also taught him the classics, so that he could read Homer at sight when he was ten years old. He thus acquired an extensive acquaintance with the ancient literature of Greece and Rome. His tenacious memory served him equally well when he turned his attention to science, and while a boy he knew by sight all the birds of his neighbourhood. He afterwards studied medicine, and obtained the honourable place which he held in the university and in science. His attention was early turned to social and intellectual evils, and he became a philanthropic advocate of reform, and an enlightened director of erratic thought. These are only specimens of the achievements of youth in this one department of learning. Some of them encountered difficulties which seemed insuperable; but by patient and persevering industry they overcame them. It was said of the learned Dr. JOHN DUNCAN, Professor of Hebrew in the New College, Edinburgh, that when a young student at Aberdeen, he made excursions into the knowledge of languages without the aid of grammars and dictionaries. He would visit the university library and take a new volume of the translation of the Scriptures into some language with which he had not been familiar, and work his own way into a knowledge of its grammar. Thus, too, Sir HENRY RAWLINSON, while a cadet in the Honourable East India Company's service, stationed in Persia, saw the old inscriptions on the rock of Behistun in the Persian, Scythian, and Assyrian languages. The latter consisted of arrow-headed letters, the knowledge of which had been lost. He copied the strange writings and sent them to England, where none could read the most ancient of them. By study and comparison with the other languages, the young officer obtained the key to the Assyrian.-Another young man, only twenty-two-Sir HENRY AUSTEN LAYARD, D.C.L.-opened up the ruins of Nineveh and Babylon, and brought to light many monuments of antiquity, and whole libraries of historical knowledge, that had long been buried under ruins. He afterwards entered the English Parliament and the diplomatic service, and was Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. In his advanced years he published the story of his youthful adventures and researches, which afford a fine example of the achievements of youth. The learning of languages in all the cases brought under review was a voluntary exercise by the ardent youths who prosecuted it. Such work cannot and ought not to be forced. In the ordinary exercises of most schools there is abundant employment for young minds, and it is always of the utmost importance that full opportunity should be afforded for athletic and gymnastic exercise as well as for learning, for play as well as for work. Dr. Smiles, in his interesting and stimulating book on "Life and Labour," devotes a chapter of wholesome counsel to "The Literary Ailment: OverBrainwork," which deserves to be carefully pondered with reference to the training of youth. And in his chapter on "Great Young Men" he says that "parents and teachers sometimes forget that the proper function of the child is to grow; that the brain cannot in early years be overworked without serious injury to the physical health; that the body -muscles, lungs, and stomach-must have its soundness established; and that the brain is one of the last organs to come to maturity. Indeed, in early life, digestion is of greater importance than thinking; exercise is necessary for mental culture; and discipline is better than knowledge. Many are the cases of precocious children who bloom only to wither, and run their little course in a few short years. The strain upon their nervous system is more than their physical constitution can bear, and they perish almost as soon as they have begun to live. Boys and girls are at present too much occupied in sitting, learning, studying, and reciting. worked. Their brain is overworked; their body is under- continual debility and disease.” IV. YOUNG SCIENTISTS. N the arduous pursuit of science youth has frequently gained distinction, though in the progressive departments of physical research matured powers and long perseverance are needed to make discoveries. Legitimate science is still comparatively young, but it has had a brilliant career since experimental knowledge entered upon its work to collect and classify facts and rear the physical sciences. FRANCIS BACON (1561-1626), Lord Verulam, has been already referred to in connection with letters as blossoming in full maturity of years and wisdom; yet even of him it is said that in childhood he was fond of investigating the causes of things, and busied himself with ingenious speculations. In his thirteenth year he went to the University of Cambridge, and while there, with the dew of youth upon him, planned that great intellectual reformation with which his name is connected. He travelled on the Continent when sixteen, and wrote "Notes on the State of Europe," which have been deemed of sufficient importance to be reprinted in his collected works. By the age of twenty-five he had made all knowledge his study. TYCHO BRAHE (1546-1601) was born at Knudstorp, Denmark. He learned Latin at seven years of age, and became |