really ice, is the consequence of the extent of its surface compared with its bulk; on the same principle that gold may be spread out till it will float upon a mere breath of air. The whiteness of snow is owing to the very small particles into which it is divided; if ice be pounded, it will appear equally white. RAMBLINGS IN WINTER.-No. I. There are a greater variety of travellers, than modes of travelling, and more modes than seasons. Sterne enumerated and described some of the first, as they existed in the last century; but there are hundreds who are distinguishing the present period, Signior Beccaria was of opinion, that clouds of that Sterne never had the fortune to know. They snow differed only from rain in the circumstance of the cold which froze them; that the regular diffusion are such as are intolerably infected with the cacoethes of snow and its structure (particularly some snow or scribendi, and run from one country to another, and hail which fell about Turin, and which he called particularly from Europe to America, and vice versa, rosette) showed that clouds of snow were acted and hasten over a few hundred miles as if they bore upon by some uniform cause, like electricity, which a message for his satanick majesty, and hurry home he endeavoured to explain. He was confirmed in this conjecture, by observing that his apparatus for again to scribble a book about the wonders they have ascertaining the electricity of the atmosphere, was so suddenly seen. I have nothing to do with the always electrified by snow as well as rain. A more character of these or any other travellers, except intense electricity, he conjectured, united the parti- that I desire the reader to understand that I am not cles of hail more closely than the more moderate ambitious to be classified among those hasty gentry; electricity did those of snow, in the same way that we see the drops of rain falling from a thunder-cloud. although I frankly confess, that I have travelled as larger than those of ordinary rain. much out of the besoin de voyager, as any other imAn artificial snow may be made by placing a tall pulsion or motive. Again, in opposition to common vial of aquafortis near the fire till it is warm, and practice, I esteemed it of considerable importance filings of silver, a few at a time, being put into it; after a brisk ebullition, the silver will slowly dis- to pass over some portions of my native land, before solve. If the vial be then placed in a window I ventured into another; and therefore, my travels where it is cold, as it cools, the silver particles will shoot into crystals, and several running together, will form a flake similar to snow, which will then descend to the bottom of the vial; while descending, they will appear like silver snow, and will lie at the bottom of the vial like real snow upon the ground. have been confined to the limits of the United States, My forehead exhibits locality, full; and the crown of my head bears that conclusive index that I shall eat my bread in two kingdoms, which the grandmother so early discovers. But I dread confusion of face, and should terribly dislike to be exposed to inquiries in a foreign kingdom, in relation to the soil, climate, manners, or institutions of America, which I, an American citizen, could not answer or elucidate. To fear and pride, therefore, am I indebted for the virtue of a short pilgrimage, by land and water, con We will now consider the uses of snow; for in common with every other phenomenon in nature, when understood, it is found to be of real utility to man. Experience proves that snow is very beneficial to the nourishment of the earth; particularly in the colder regions, where the ground is covered with it for several months, and where it serves to guard the corn and vegetation from the intense cold cerning which, I am unexpectedly undertaking to and piercing winds. The internal portion of the furnish a few general particulars. earth, on what principle is not well understood, is There are usually sixteen modes of travellinguniformly heated to the 48th degree of Fahrenheit. my remark is confined to the Union-to wit: by In this heat the vegetable juices will not freeze, and steam-boat, by sailing vessels, by batteaux, by canalto them it is conducted when the cold is greater on the surface than they can bear. Different vegeta-boats, by rafts, and by canoes, upon the water; and bles will bear different degrees of heat and cold; by stages, by rail-roads, by wagons, coaches, and but too intense cold at the roots destroys all vegeta- sleighs, on horseback, by velocipedes, on stilts, and on tion. Providence therefore provides that, when the foot, upon land; and by balloons through the atmocold on the surface is so great as to injure vegeta-sphere. Each mode has its peculiar advantages, and tion, that cold, which renders the rain unnecessary, and would of itself destroy vegetable life, is made each again, its various subdivisions with their inthe instrument of preserving it; for it freezes the rain, which falling on the ground in the shape of snow, preserves the interiour warmth of the earth, supplies sufficient moisture if needed, and becomes a beautiful and ingenious covering for the preservation of vegetation during the inclement season of the year. Can any thing be more demonstrative of the superintending providence of the Creator, or of the beneficent design influencing every principle in the universe? Guide to Knowledge. Marriage is a feast where the grace is sometimes better than the dinner. dividual merits; and any one of them may be adopted to accommodate the character, mood, habit, or kind of traveller. The subdivisions are more numerous than the general denominations would seem to indicate. Steam-boats, for example, are of several kinds, viz.: large and small, with one and two engines, tow-boats, and passenger-boats. Sailing vessels may be divided into ships, brigs, schooners, sloops, cutters, scows, fishing-smacks and skiffs. Batteaux are constructed in various ways, and there are three kinds of canal-boats, viz.: packet-boats to no civilized community, where there is a wholesome association of the sexes, is an individual to be found whose heart is not animated at the mere mention of these indispensable luxuries of a snowy winter. I know of no situation in travelling in which a gentleman is apt to feel so amiable, as when he is nicely esconced in firs, in a fair sleigh, a pretty countrycousin at his side, and a fast horse and merry bells ahead. His heart expands, and every beat harmonizes with the fast and merry bells; he loves every carry passengers, line-boats for merchandise, and scows for stone, earth, lumber, &c. Rafts may be made of logs, of boards and plank, or of slabs and brush. Canoes are cut out of a log, or made of green hides or birch bark. The term stages is associated with a concatenation of calamities, inconveniences and horrours, almost too insupportable to be spoken of. A stage is a heavy, foul, unwieldy coach, generally drawn by four jaded horses, urged along by a vulgar, profane, and insolent driver. There are some exceptions; some drivers are re- circumstance about him, and blesses even the winspectable, some stages are lumber-wagons, and in winter, when the snow is sufficiently deep, sleighs are used. They are usually, however, associated with bad roads and manifold horrours, and are very favourable to the nurture of spleen. Rail-roads are of two kinds. In some, the rails are laid longitudinally, and the upper surface being sheathed with iron, are adapted to the wheels of cars which are impelled over them with great rapidity. In others, the rails are rough, unhewn, and placed crosswise the road, for the purpose of enabling horses and wheels to avoid sinking into the mire; they are used in marshy places. Both kinds, however, greatly facilitate transition. try storm. But precisely such enviable circumstances are not the boon of ordinary travellers; they are more peculiarly the pleasures of the home and the town. The traveller must commonly content himself with the comforts appertaining to a stage sleigh, a lumber sleigh, a cutter, a wood sleigh, a sled, or a jumper. By the solitary traveller, the jumper, in my humble opinion, is to be preferred over all manner of sliding vehicles. It is easily constructed and conveniently disposed of; it consists chiefly of two poles which should be tough and pliable, placed about three feet apart and parallel with each other, with uprights at one end supporting, a crate comAs to wagons, coaches, and sleighs, those tech-fortably filled with hay or straw, and pegs at the nicalities include an almost innumerable variety of other to fasten them to the barness. In this article, vehicles. There is the heavy Pennsylvania wag- the traveller moves on, enjoying a reasonable portion on, drawn by six horses, guided by one line, of the pleasures of sleigh-riding, without fear of dethen the lumber wagon, the pleasure wagon, the triment from man, beast, storm, or snow-bank. little wagon, the baggage wagon, and the pedler's wagon. Coaches differ chiefly in their circumferences and diameters, and the relations which their bodies and wheels snstain to each other. For instance, some coach-bodies are above the axletrees, others below, some are poised upon thorough-braces, others upon cross-springs, and not unfrequently upon cross rails. In 1601, coaches were prohibited in England, because they were considered effeminate. Sir Walter asserts, that Dr. Johnson's chaisedriving, in point of pleasure, must yield the palm to pedestrianism. Coming now to speak of travelling on horseback, I beg leave to interpose that method of transition, as a substitute, superiour, in every important respect, to both pedestrianism and chaise-riding. Dr. Johnson was decided in his preference, but Sir Walter was merely of opinion that pedestrianism was superiour to chaise-riding, not intimating however, but that riding on horseback might be preferable to both. There are many vehicles comprised under the very indefinite denomination of carriages, which I have not thought proper to classify in distinct orders. A horse, seventeen hands high, sagacious, spirited, They partake of the nature of both wagons and free and easy, with a soft saddle and a firm rein, is coaches, and frequently bear the same relation to just the thing, above all others, that I should first seboth, that the vegetable-insect, we some time since lect for travelling purposes. There is something described, does to the animal and vegetable king-du militaire in a gentleman upon horseback; he is doms. It will be readily perceived by the enlighten-above-ground, dry-shod, independent, ready for high ed reader, that I allude to those locomotives usually deeds and daring purposes. There are no incumdenominated chariots, phaetons, barouches, buggies, chaises, gigs, sulkeys, &c. These are by no means publick conveyances, but they are found in the employ of private gentlemen, and are kept at liveries, for the accommodation of pleasure parties, and of people who have been miscarried or are benighted. Sleighs, in a country where knowledge is so universally dissemminated, must be widely known. In brances upon him, or about him; if he meets a bridgeless stream, he swims it; if a stump, or a hole, he goes around it; if a log, or a fence, he jumps it; in fine, he rides when he pleases, and where he pleases, and without danger; he stops without trouble, and lastly, though not leastly, he travels at a trifling expense. Besides, it is a wholesome exer cise; it invigorates the spirits, clarifies the mind, and purifies the body. The muscles become full and strong, the limbs round and substantial, the appetite is excellent, the digestion perfect, and the blood is driven briskly and freely through every part of the system. Again, riding upon horseback is by no means unfavourable to the cultivation of the social powers. The feelings partake of the general stir and animation of the system; and when two travellers happen to jog along together, an unusual conversation is speedily elicited their sympathies unite, and their casual acquaintance very soon ripens into a permanent friendship. If you choose to annex a pillion to the houss of the saddle, you may accommodate a female companion. And he who can appreciate the value of female society, will find this the grand climax of pleasurable travelling. It is most opportune for those labial contactions which are such notable auxiliaries of love and courtship, ard therefore very favourable to the prosecution of the latter. Distance, also, is annihilated, and difficulties surmounted in this manner, with remarkable facility. Again, therefore, I repeat, that all modes of transition upon land must yield the palm to that of riding upon horseback. any thing I have seen, except it be mere straws. Some pretend, that they have travelled in a balloon at a rate which would have carried them round the world in a fortnight. I cannot think, that such a rapid passage is so wholesome as travelling upon horseback. In a hurricane, balloons are too swift. They are constructed of oiled or varnished silk, covered with a netting of twine, and inflated with hydrogen gas. The secret of their buoyancy is, they are lighter than the air. It is necessary to observe great care in making use of balloons, to avoid electricity and trees-the first explodes the hydrogen, and the second rends the netting and silk—in either of which events, a downward tendency is created, which is manifestly unfavourable to repose. The continual propinquity to this awful danger, is the great objection against travelling in balloons, under the present discipline thereof. Of these sixteen modes of travelling, the reader may gather that I am partial to the back of a horse. MISERIES OF A BACHELOR'S LIFE. Poor fellow he returns to his lodgings; there may be every thing he can desire, in the shape of mere external comforts, provided for him by the Velocipedes are so little used, that they scarce official zeal of his housekeeper; but still the room deserve a mention. They consist of two wheels, has an air of chilling vacancy; the very atmosphere one following the other, and connected by a shaft, of the apartment has a dim, uninhabited appearance; which the traveller strides. He propels the vehicle the chairs, set round with provoking neatness, look reproachfully useless and unoccupied-and the taby moving his legs, much after the manner of walk-bles and other furniture shine with impertinent and ing, and touching his toes to the earth at every pace. The machine is most valuable in going down hill. Stilts are long poles fastened to the feet and legs, by which a man is raised from three to ten feet above the ground. A person skilled in the use of them, may walk with great rapidity. In this country, they are used chiefly in fording streams. If one of them breaks, or the individual loses his balance, they become mighty inconvenient appendages to the nether extremities. Travelling upon foot, is, upon the whole, the surest and the safest method. There is no boiler to burst and scald you to death-no vessel to sink you to the bottom of the waters-no carriage to turn you over at the imminent hazard of your neck-no driver or proprietor to insult you-no toll-gatherer to stop you-no horse to run away with you and break your bones. You are entitled to the space you fill, whether it be upon the surface, or under the sodyou can stand up or lie down-climb over, creep under, or circumvent-in fine, you are free and independent. There is this disadvantage, however, which though small, is still a disadvantage. You move intolerably slow, and are inevitably inclined to get leg-weary in the long run. Balloons pass more rapidly in a strong wind, than futile brightness. All is dreary and repelling. No gentle face welcomes his arrival-no loving hand he throws round the apartment as he enters. He meets his-no kind looks answers the listless gaze sits to a book-alone; there is no one by his side to enjoy with him the favourite passage-the apt remark-the just criticism; no eyes in which to read his own feelings; his own tastes are unappreciated and unreflected; he has no resource but himself— no one to look up to but himself; all his enjoyment, all his happiness, must emanate from himself. He flings down the volume in despair; buries his face in his hands, and sighs aloud, O! me miserum! DELIGHTS OF A MARRIED MAN'S LIFE. Behold him! all the while he is busied about his daily occupation, his thoughts are wandering to wards the time of going "home" in the evening, after the toils and fatigues of the day. He knows that, on his return, he shall find an affectionate face to welcome him—a warin snug room-a bright fire-a clean hearth-the tea-thing laid-the sofa wheeled entrance, his wife sitting by his side, consoling him round on the rug-and, in a few minutes after his in his vexations, aiding him in his plans for the future, or participating in his joys, and smiling upon him for the good news he may have brought home; leaning over his knees to eye his face with joyous his children climbing on the cushion at his feet, eagerness that they may coaxingly win him. This is the acme of happiness! THE RUINS IN NEW YORK FIFTEEN DAYS AFTER THE FIRE. You stand in the midst of upwards of twenty acres of smouldering ruins. The cellars of those immense storehouses are glowing still with the living embers. The hundreds of busy workmen, yet only rake open the cinders by day, that the air may fan them into a flame by night. The evening scene fills you with singular emotions. It requires but a slight stretch of the imagination, to feel as though you were in the vicinity of Pompeii, with Vesuvius sending up its lurid glare close at hand, throwing a melancholy light over the deserted ruins. Just here rises a large and ragged pile, where the corners of four stately buildings still stand up by mutual support; there towers alone a single chimney; here stands the fragment of a wall; yonder the front of half a block, the windows gone, reminding you, in the dim distance of the vacant ruins of a castle; in the midst you observe some half a dozen granite pillars, standing as though they were grim and solitary sentinels, stationed there to frighten the plunderer from the desolated scene. But yonder, mark the grandest ruin of them all! The Exchange, with its huge pillars rent and torn from top to bottom, and the massy architrave still tottering upon their capitals; this is like the antiquated temples of Palmyra and of Carthage! The day-scene, although it still inspires a melancholy gloom, is rapidly yielding to a gratifying change every spot is enlivened by the busy workmen, the rubbish is fast disappearing, and order is taking the place of confusion. In some places the foundations of a new edifice are already laid; but in others, large quantities of merchandise are yet unrescued from the ruins, and crowds of poor people may be observed, standing about, watching and waiting for their portion of the salvage. The first class will be taught, The Organization of Courts-Duties in an Attorney's Office-Practice and Pleading. Collaterally, they wili attend a course lectures on the Law of Nature-the Divine Law, and the Law of Nations, &c. The second class will study the Domestick Relations-the Law of Personalty, &c., and attend lectures on Constitutional Law-the Interpretation of Statutes, &c. The senior class will learn the Law of Real Property-Law of Corporations-Law of Equity, &c., and they will hear lectures upon the Civil and Roman Law-Forensick Duties-Professional Ethicks, &c. The lectures will be of a familiar and conversational character, which the student will be fully able to understand—and are intended to give him an opportunity to converse upon, review and criticise the studies he may be pursuing. The plan is deservedly popular, and with Mr. Butler to carry it into execution, will unquestionably be successfully prosecuted. We rejoice that this mode of lecturing is to be adopted. THE ABYSSINIANS. There is perhaps no nation, (says the Boston Mercantile Journal,) the character and manners of whose inhabitants are more disgusting to a civilized being than Abyssinia. The instances given by Bruce, of their cruelty and ferocity, were believed to have been much exaggerated, if not entirely fabulous, until subsequent travellers confirmed his statements. They seem to delight in cruelty-and their daily banquets are disgraced by the protracted torture of the unhappy animal, which is destined to be the victim of their unnatural luxury. -The following is a description of one of those unusual festivals, given in the words of Bruce, who was often compelled to be present at them : "A long table is set in the middle of a large room, But the whole scene will speedily change; those and benches beside for a number of guests who are splendid edifices, whose ashes you now behold, will invited. A cow or bull, one or more, as the comhave given place to others still more noble-busi-pany is numerous, is brought close to the door, with ness will have resumed its accustomed channels-his feet strongly tied. The skin that hangs down and the sufferers, although they will never forget under the chin and throat, which is called the dewthe calamity, still will have recovered from its effects. STUDY OF THE LAW. Attorney General Butler has proposed a plan to the New York University, for the organization of a Law Class, and a course of legal studies in that institution, which will probably be adopted in the course of the year, and himself placed at the head of it. He proposes to have three classes, each of which will pursue a distinct and systematized course of studies, and attend at the same time to a parallel course of law lectures. lap in England, is cut only so deep as to arrive at the fat, of which it totally consists, and by the separation of a few small blood vessels, six or seven drops of blood only fall to the ground. They have a stone bench, or altar, on which these cruel assassins lay the animal's head in this operation. Having thus satisfied the Mosaical law, by pouring these six or seven drops of blood on the ground, two or more of them fall to work-on the back of the beast, and on each side of the spine, they cut skin deep; then, putting their fingers between the flesh and the skin, they begin to strip the hide of the animal half way down his ribs, and so on to the buttock, cutting the skin, wherever it hinders them commodiously to strip the poor animal bare. All the flesh on the buttocks is then cut off, and in solid square pieces without bones, or much effusion of blood, and the prodigious bellowing which the poor animal makes, is the signal for the party to sit down at the table.” them back again. We believe they were pursued and caught. 66 The deer, which are plentiful in this region, usuA people of such unexampled cruelty towads brute ally herd together. A short time since some lumanimals, cannot be expected to pay much regard to bermen came upon a yard," containing nine of the sufferings of their fellow creatures. Inured to these poor fellows-whose fleetness is of no use to blood, and scenes of barbarity from their infancy, them when there are four or five feet of snow upon murder seems almost a pastime. Their sanguinary the ground. When discovered, they ploughed away laws are but a weak restraint against their violent the snow immediately about them, and prepared to passions, and the punishments annexed to the defend themselves with the utmost desperation. laws themselves, exhibit the most striking examples Bangor Courier. of natural cruelty. One of their punishments is slaying alive; and criminals are frequently hewn in pieces with a sabre. The executioners are often men of quality, or officers of rank. Mr. Bruce relates, that happening one day to pass an officer who had three men to despatch with a sabre, he was coolly requested by him to stop till he had cut them to pieces, as he wished to converse with him upon an affair of consequence. A civilized man sickens with horrcur at such recitals, and he can hardly believe that he partakes of the nature of such monsters. A WOMAN WHO SPOKE WITHOUT A TONGUE. This woman was a native of Monsary, in the teritory of Elvas, in Portugal. The case was attested by Wilcox, bishop of Rochester, then chaplain to the English factory at Lisbon, in a letter dated from that city, September 3, 1707, and was laid before the royal society in London. The following is an extract from the letter:-"The Conde d' Ericeya a nobleman of letters, and curious in natural knowledge, brought from the frontiers of this country a woman without a tongue, who yet speaks very well; she is seventeen years of age, but in stature exceeds not one of seven or eight. I was with her at the conde's house, and made her pronounce every letter in the alphabet, which she can do distinctly. She has not the least bit of a tongue nor any thing like it; but the teeth on both sides of her jaw, turn very much inward, and almost meet. She finds the greatest want of a tongue in eating; for as others, when they eat, move their meat about with their tongue, she is forced to use her fingers. She pretends to distinguish tastes very well, but I believe she does it imperfectly. Her voice, though very distinct, is a little hollow, and like that of old people, who have lost their teeth." WILD ANIMALS. London paper. The forests of Maine still abound in numerous species of wild animals, such as the moose, deer, caribou, loupcervier, lunkasoose, and many othersmost of them valuable for food and for their skins. The lunkas ose (the orthography is arbitrary) is an animal of which we have only heard recently; but tradition says that a ferocious animal of huge size, with a mane like a lion, has actually been seen to come to the borders of the river, and the lumbermen say that they have heard him in the woods roaring most lustily. The Indians, too, talk about the "lunkasoose," and they are conclusive authority in such matters. A few days since two large moose were seen quietly travelling in the road near Orono! they occasionally left the track for the woods, but the great depth of the snow soon forced HIPPOPOTAMUS. Zeringhi, an Italian surgeon, procured one on the Nile, which measured seven feet from the extremity of the snout to the insection of the tail, sixteen feet round the body, and above seven feet in height; head four feet long, and upwards of nine feet in circumference; jaws opened about two feet, and its cutting teeth (four in each jaw) were about one foot long; feet resembled elephants-four divisions; tail short, flat, and pointed; hide thick, covered with a few scattered hairs of a whitish colour; figure between an ox and a hog; its cry between the bellowing of the one and the grunting of the other. It frequently upsets and sinks boats Kay's Travels. when attacked. In all the applications of Algebra it is not the magnitudes concerned that we consider, but merely their proportions. The letters of the alphabet, or any other symbol used in Algebra, are not therefore, strictly speaking, the representations of magnitudes; they denete ratios, or abstract numbers. Genius, when employed in works whose tendency it is to demoralize and to degrade us, should be contemplated with abhorrence rather than with admiration; such a monument of its power, may indeed be stamped with immortality, but like the Coliseum at Rome, we deplore its magnificence, because we detest the purposes for which it was designed. cide; anguish of body, none. Lacou |