mines have been wrought, which must otherwise have been abandoned. It has, however, been clearly established that, in certain circumstances, especially when exposed to a current of air, the safetylamp is no protection at all. introduced to support the roof as the coal is cleared out. In some of the Staffordshire collieries, where the strata is of such amazing thickness, immense sections are excavated with comparative safety, pillars of coal being left at intervals to support the roof. And in conseNothing appears likely to obviate effecquence of the height of the roof and the tually these dreadful calamities but conextent of the workings carried on under- stant and efficient ventilation. It is when neath, they present when lighted up a some kind of obstruction occurs, either in most impressive spectacle. Sometimes consequence of the fire in the furnace what is called a crust, or a creep, occurs, shaft being neglected, or from some other especially when the intrepid miner pro- cause interrupting the free current of atceeds to work out the material of the sup-mospheric air, that an extensive magniports so far as is thought to be compatible with safety. This is a protrusion or bursting up of the floor of a mine, in consequence of the liability to sink of these bars or pillars. There is another danger to which individual workmen are exposed. Large quantities of slatery roof may sometimes fall, and seriously injure or kill them on the spot. Accidents of this kind are, however, rare. More frequent and fatal calamities arise from sudden irruptions of water into the workings, in consequence of which the men are sometimes drowned, before they can reach the shaft or any elevated level. At Heaton colliery, in the county of Durham, so deplorable an accident of this kind occurred, in the year 1815, in consequence of tapping an old work, that only eighteen out of one hundred were able to make their escape. But by far the more awful, fatal, and, it is lamentable to add, the more frequently occurring accidents, are those arising from the accumulation of inflammable gas (carburetted hydrogen), or from what often follows in its rear-the presence of carbonic acid gas, or what is termed "choke damp.' The returns of these casualties are not complete, yet, defective as they are, it appears from them that no less than 2070 persons lost their lives in coal mines during the twenty-five years preceding 1835. By a single explosion which took place in one of the northern mines, more than one hundred men and boys were instantaneously destroyed. It is even stated that, during the eighteen years that elapsed immediately after the introduction of sir H. Davy's safety lamp, more explosions took place in the northern mines than during the preceding eighteen years. This is said to have arisen not so much from the invention having disappointed the hopes to which it gave rise, as from the fact that by means of it many dangerous and fiery tude of fire-damp accumulates, and when this is once ignited, the whole mine becomes instantly illumined with the most brilliant light; a roaring whirlwind of flaming air tears up everything in its progress, scorching some of the miners to a cinder, burying others under enormous heaps of ruins shaken from the roof, and thundering up the shaft, finally spends its volcanic fury in a discharge of thick clouds of coal, dust, stones, timber, and not unfrequently, limbs of horses. Nor is this, although so appalling, the most destructive result of these subterranean explosions. Atmospheric air being for a short time excluded from the workings, those individuals who have escaped the "fire-damp" are often suffocated by the "after-damp" the carbonic acid gas, which rises to fill up the vacuum occasioned by the explosion. Such_are_the perils of the miner; well calculated to call forth our deepest sympathy for their eternal as well as temporal interests. The records of the labours of Whitfield and the early Methodists afford ample proof of what, by the blessing of God, may be effected among them; and the following little anecdote gives us reason to hope that some are in a state of preparation for those sudden and awful catastrophes : In one of the northern collieries forty-one men and thirty-four boys died by suffocation, or were starved to death; one of the boys was found dead with a Bible by his side, and a tin box, such as colliers use; within the lid he had contrived to engrave, with the point of a nail, this last message to his parent and brother:"Fret not, dear mother, for we were singing while we had time, and praising God. Mother, follow God more than ever I did. If Johnny is saved, be a good lad to God, and thy mother.' - See Tract, No. 497. D. W. SOURCE OF THE THEORY AND SCIENCE OF MUSIC. THE only department of pneumatic science, in which discoveries appear to have been actually made in remote ages, is that which relates to the theory of sound, to which modern science has given the name of acoustics. This, though formerly considered as a distinct branch of natural philosophy, having been ascertained wholly to depend on the motion of air, is most properly classed, in the present day, with pneu matic experiments. The records of antiquity prove that this department of physical science was not unknown to the ancients. The invention of different kinds of musical instruments, and the astonishing effects said to have been produced by ancient musicians, indicate a considerable advance towards perfection in an art which could not have been attained in any high degree without scientific knowledge. Pythagoras is universally acknowledged to have been the first among the Greeks who applied the elements of arithmetical and geometrical science to the theory of sound, and the laws by which it is propagated. To him is ascribed the invention of the harmonic scale, and the discovery that chords are produced by synchronous or isochronous vibrations, that is, by vibrations measured by equal spaces of time; and discord by those in which the spaces are unequal and various. The manner in which that celebrated philosopher was led to this discovery has been thus stated by Nicomachus, an ancient writer on arithmetic :-"Pythagoras was passing one day by a blacksmith's shop, while several workmen were hammering on the anvil, and was surprised to hear sounds which accorded with the intervals of the fourth, fifth, and octave tones of what is called the diatonic scale. On entering the workshop, he perceived that the diversity of sounds arose, not from the form of the hammers, or the force with which they struck the iron, but merely from the difference of their weight. Reflecting on the cause of this phenomenon, after he had caused the hammers to be accurately weighed, he concluded, that in exact proportion to the percussion was the vibration effected; and as these were in the gradation of four, five, and eight, the tones produced exactly corresponded with those proportions." If the testimony of this ancient writer is to be credited, such was the occasion which led to the construction of the harmonic scale. But whether this be a fable or not, it is certain that to Pythagoras belongs the honour of having developed the musical ratios, on which the harmony of sounds depends, and to which the ear is indebted for so much of its enjoyment. The lively imagination of this philosopher led him to transfer this doctrine of musical chords to the celestial spheres. He imagined that those spheres, in which the planets move, being composed of material substances, struck on the ether through which they passed, and thus produced sounds exquisitely harmonious; that these sounds must differ according to the magnitude, velocity, and relative distances of the bodies; and as these were admirably proportioned, they could not fail to produce perfect chords, infinitely diversified. This fanciful doctrine respecting what was then termed the "music of the spheres," gave rise to the names affixed by Pythagoras to musical tones, the deepest or most grave being called after Saturn, because that body was believed to be the greatest and most remote of the planets; and the shrillest or most acute sound after the moon, because the least of the planetary bodies, and nearest to the earth. These first ideas of Pythagoras relative to equal and unequal vibrations of air, as the cause of harmonious or discordant sounds, were the true source of the theory and science of music; and the pneumatic discoveries of modern times have abundantly confirmed their truth. "IN EVERY THING GIVE THANKS." Ir is not enough for Christians to pray unto the Lord for a supply of their wants, they must also offer unto him the excellent sacrifices of praise and thanksgivings. In this service the holy angels, and spirits of just men made perfect in heaven, are continually exercised; and therefore, by abounding in this duty, we shall be made most like unto them. And as respects the acceptableness of it, let us hearken to what the Lord himself says: "Whoso offereth praise, glorifieth me," Psa. 1. 23. A sinner may put up his requests unto the Lord and not honour him, but serve himself, by seeking to have his necessities supplied: but he that offers the sacrifice of praise must needs glorify God, because that proceeds from a free and loving heart, touched with a lively | root downward, when the boughs and sense and feeling of God's loving-kindness and merciful goodness. All the ten lepers prayed unto Christ to be healed, but the poor Samaritan alone glorified God, because he only returned to give thanks. Christians can never want causes or occasions of thanksgiving to God. For even in the midst of our crosses we enjoy innumerable blessings, both corporeal and spiritual. "The Lord, even in judgment, remembers mercy." And those very afflictions which come nearest to us, are sent in mercy. He never lays more upon us than we need; nor ever so much as we deserve. And in our greatest extremities he is with us, to strengthen us, to uphold us, to direct us, to sanctify our troubles unto us, to give us patience under them, a good use of them, and, in the end, a blessed issue out of them; in all which respects, he is " greatly to be praised.”—Dodd. ANIMALS AND PLANTS ACT BY A RULE OR LAW OF THEIR NATURE. branches ascend upward, as if it understood the need it was in of the fatness and moisture of the earth, and therefore sends forth its roots up and down, as it were, to forage and fetch in the earth?— Barker. THE BEJUCAS. ONE of the most singular appearances of the South American forest arose from the number of a species of plant called bejucas. These are everywhere seen stretching from the earth to the tops of the highest trees, like stays to the mast of a ship. Sometimes stretched perfectly tight, and twisted round each other in pairs, they resemble hempen cables, being quite regular as to thickness, and without a leaf or branch. They were of various thicknesses, from the smallest twine to six and seven inches in diameter. When young, they are applied to all purposes for which cordage is used in England; in the woods, the natives lash the beams and rafters of their houses with them; on the coast, the fishermen use them as ropes for their fish-crawls, which they sink many fathoms deep. I have seen trees of large diameter, when cut through with the axe, remain perfectly stationary, until these natural stays, which were supporting them on all sides, were cut away; and not unfrequently have riders been pulled from their horses by riding against one, which, from its tendril-like appearance, being not thicker perhaps than a quill, they expected to break.-Hawkshaw. IN contemplating the works of creation, it is observable how creatures that are without the faculty of reason, nevertheless act according to the exactest rules of reason, which could not be the case, unless they were guided and actuated by some other principle than their own respective natures; for no nature can act of itself beyond its own principle. Thus we see how the bee makes its comb, and the spider its web, and the birds their nests, and the beavers their houses in the waters, consisting of several stories, all arranged according to the exactest rules of art and reason. And if we choose to resolve this into instinct; yet what shall we say of those creatures that have neither sense nor a sensitive life, as plants and trees in this lower world? Whence is it that the ivy, as if conscious of its own weakness, and its inability to exist of itself, should naturally bend to the wall or tree that is near it, there to fix, and, as it were, incorporate itself by a strong and firm adhesion ? Whence is it that a tree fixes its roots with that strength and art in the bowels of the earth, that human ingenuity cannot devise how it could be done better, as though it knew what blasts of wind it had to encounter, and which threaten its subversion? What wisdom is that which guides and carries the-Bennett. A CALM AT SEA. Of all the minor inconveniences attending a journey by sea, a protracted calm is certainly the most annoying both to sailors and to landsmen. Whatever length of time a passage may occupy, if the motion of the ship is rapid, it is endured with patience; whilst, on the other hand, but a few successive days of perfect calm appear as a tedious century, and destroy the equanimity of the most resigned voyager. On those who have not the inclination to resort to intellectual pursuits to beguile their time, the affliction falls with greater force. With them the ship becomes at once a floating illustration of the Castle of Indolence, where "Labour only was to pass the time; THE FALLS OF THE REICHENBACH. TRAVELLING is often attended by many inconveniences and toils, but though they may be endured on a visit to the Falls of the Reichenbach, in Switzerland, these celebrated cascades amply compensate for them all. The vast body of water which howls and foams from the precipice is supplied by the Scheideck, the Rosenland, and the Schwartzwarld, and rushes through the gorge of the Swirgi. The second fall, represented in the engraving, is the more stupendous of the two superior ones, having a breadth of about thirty feet, and falling, in its successive bounds, four hundred feet into the waters that flow at its base. Water forms a peculiarly conspicuous feature in the physical structure and scenery of Switzerland. into wide watery expanses. The smiling the immediate border of its lakes, with valleys and cultivated hills which form the lofty mountains that tower behind in successive ranges, till they terminate in icy pinnacles, rising above the clouds, produce a remarkable union of the sublime and beautiful. AN ANCIENT FAMILY. ANTIQUITY has for many a great charm, and the feeling thus operating may be fully gratified in reference to the family now to be described, since its date is extremely remote. It is the boast of some, that their ancestors arrived in this country with William the Norman, and of Its others that Saxon blood flows in their rivers, after rolling for a considerable veins; but, in this instance, heraldry is space through immense mountain valleys, set at defiance, for we are directed to a accumulate into a vast mass, which, reach- period not only long before the use of aring the plains, and no longer finding a morial bearings, but even before lines and channel capable of containing it, spreads partitions, from which they are formed, MARCH, 1845. H LITTLES. story as that of Hualpa, who, scrambling up a bank, caused a branch by which he held to give way, and thus, accidentally, discovered a mine of silver. The chief employment of their minds is indeed in 66 were first produced on shields by transverse sword cuts. We must go back to a time when history was unwritten, and the events of life could only be transmitted orally to succeeding generations. This ancient race is the family of the Do-day-dreams, until the whole intellect becomes, something like a hemisphere of cloud scenery, filled with an evermoving train of changing, melting forms of every colour, mingled with rainbows, meteors, and an occasional gleam of pure sunlight; the mental, like this natural imagery, all vanishing away, when its hour is up, without leaving anything behind but the wish to recall the vision."* It is no less true that it is as extensive as it is ancient. We are sometimes struck by splendid equipages, yet there is not one which has not been possessed, or does not now belong to some of its members. Every depository of the dead contains the reliques of others, under magnificently sculptured tombs or grassy mounds, and their remains are as certainly found where the Egyptian women go to throw sweet herbs on the graveswhere those of Turkey water, with respectful attention, the myrtles planted in memory of the departed-aud where the Nubians set up palm trees for a memorial-as they are where the foot of the savage, or of the man in the highest state of social refinement, traverses the Idust which once lived. Another characteristic of this family, equally as remarkable as their antiquity and diffusion, is variety. The naturalist, speaking of the world in which he loves to roam, exhibits a bird, a plant, or a mineral, and, from his description of any one of them, it may be promptly recognised as belonging to a certain class or order, wherever it is afterwards observed. But, in reference to this ancient family, so great is the diversity in rank, property, mental and moral qualities, that no such general clue can be given. It is obvious, therefore, that we must content ourselves with a few specimens, and take them in aid of future observation and research. As, too, our object is to profit, as well as please, some of these individuals the reader is most likely to meet with, shall have the preference. At the outset it may be remarked, that not a few of those now referred to are young. We allow for the buoyancy and ardour of opening life, but still it must be affirmed that they suffer the natural feelings of the bosom at this period to run to extremes. As to health, they assume that theirs cannot be impaired. As to knowledge, the only path they think of treading is some royal road." As to advancement in life, their favourite theme, they never ruminate on the necessity and value of prudence, energy, and perseverance, but on what they call "luck, or good fortune," associated with some such 66 The consequence of such indulgences is truly lamentable; they produce distaste for the dull yet important avocations of ordinary life, and they enervate and impoverish the intellect, so that it is unfitted for the exertions which are absolutely indispensable. The victims of this folly were intended for the legal profession, but they are solicitors without clients, and barristers without briefs; they belong to the faculty, but, happily for others, no confidence has ever been excited in their skill; they seek to take a degree, but they are 'plucked" in their college trials; they are intent on marrying large fortunes, but only to be refused where there are golden expectations, or accepted, notwithstanding their thirst for wealth, where there is none. Such individuals have been compared to a traveller, who indolently musing in some soft bower, where he has sought to be shaded from the rays of noon, falis asleep, and dreams that he is in the midst of the highest enjoyments; but, as he awakes, he finds to his regret that he has yielded to indulgence, when he ought to have urged his way onwards: so, sooner or later, they will discover that their reveries are followed by bitter disappointment, perhaps agonizing remorse. The relationship of some parents to the family now under consideration is beyond dispute. Among them we may frequently recognise a mother whose appropriate and imperative duties are entirely delegated to nursery-maids, private governesses, and the masters and mistresses of schools. The only word descriptive of their personal treatment of their offspring is indulgence. As in the nursery the infant had whatever it cried for, so in after-life, the gratification of its wishes was provided for, or enjoined, un Foster on the Epithet Romantic. |