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which combine to make up deliver, since those terms awaken no corresponding state of mind in the mere English student; and consequently, their equivalents in terms of Saxon origin must be given, In the progress of these lessons, you will be led to study the constituent elements of all our compound words. Here I wish to dwell on the fact, that the vocabulary of the English language consists generally of words derived-1, from the Saxon; 2, from the In order to possess a full and exact acquaintance with the Saxon treasures of our language, you must study that language historically; you must study it in its literature; and you must study the AngloSaxon in its productions, and in the laws of its structure. Apart from so prolonged a labour, you may here learn something on the subject, and at any rate acquire information, which, in general, will enable you to distinguish and recognise words which come from a Saxon source. I lay before you some results of the investigations made by the learned on this subject.

The English language consists of about 38,000 words. Of these, about 28,000, or nearly five-eighths are of Anglo-Saxon origin. The majority of the rest are Latin and Greek; of which the former has the larger share. If we look not merely to the number of words, but to their kind, as well as to the share that Anglo-Saxon has had in the formation of our language, we shall see how important is this element of the English tongue.

energetic that any language can supply; for the same reason that words expressive of individual objects are always stronger than general terms. It is a sound and universal maxim of rhetoric, that the more abstract the term is, the less vivid; the more special, the more vivid is the impression. Now, almost all the words which are expressive of these specialities of posture and bodily aotion, are the purest Saxon; such as, to sit, stand, lie, run, walk, leap, stagger, slip, slide, stride, glide, yawn, gape, wink, thrust, fly, swim, creep, crawl, spring, spurn. If all this is true, we need not be surprised at the fact that, in the descriptions of external nature, whether by prose writers or by poets, the most energetic and graphic terms are almost universally Anglo-Saxon. It is as little matter of wonder that in those simple narratives in which genius and wisdom attempt the most difficult of all tasks-that of teaching philosophy without the forms of it, and of exhibiting general truths in facts and examples, leaving the inferences to be drawn by the instinctive sagacity of human nature-the terms are often, almost without exception, Anglo-Saxon. It is thus with the nartatives of the Old Testament,-the history of Joseph for instance,and with the parables of the New Testament, perhaps the only compositions in the world that can be translated without losing much in the process, and which, into whatever language translated, at once assume a most idiomatic dress. The same remark holds good to a certain extent of "Robinson Crusoe," "The Vicar of Wakefield," "Gulliver's Travels," and other works in which the bulk of the words are pure Saxon.

III. It is from this language we derive the words which are expressive of the earliest and dearest connexions; and the strongest and most powerful feelings of our nature; and which are, consequently, invested with our oldest and most complicated associations; their very sound is often a spell for the orator and the poet to conjure withal. It is this language which has given us names for father, mother, husband, wife, brother, sister, son, daughter, child, home, kindred, friends. It is this which has furnished us with the greater part of those metonymies and other figurative expressions, by which we represent to the imagination, and that in a simple word, the reciprocal duties and enjoyments of hospitality, friendship, or love. Such are hearth, roof, fireside. The chief emotions, too, of which we are susceptible, are expressed in the same language, as love, hope, fear, sorrow, shame; and what is of more consequence to the orator and the poet, as well as in common life, the outward signs by which emotion is indicated, are almost all Anglo-Saxon; such are tear, smile, blush, to laugh, weep, sigh, groan.

I. English grammar is almost exclusively occupied with what is of Anglo-Saxon origin. Our chief peculiarities of structure and of idiom are essentially Anglo-Saxon, while almost all the classes of words, which it is the office of grammar to investigate, are derived from that language. What few inflections we have are all AngloSaxon. The English genitive, the general modes of forming the plural of nouns, and the terminations by which we express the comparative and superlative of adjectives, er and est; the inflections of the pronouns; of the second and third persons, present and imperfect of the verbs; of the preterites and participles of the verbs, whether regular or irregular; and the most frequent termination of our adverbs (y), are all Anglo-Saxon. The nouns, too, derived from Latin and Greek, receive the Anglo-Saxon terminations of the genitive and the plural, while the preterites and participles of verbs derived from the same sources, take the Anglo-Saxon inflections. As to the parts of speech; those which occur most frequently and are individually of most importance, are almost exclusively Saxon. Such are our articles and definitives generally, as an, a, the, this, that, these, those, many, few, some, one, none; the adjectives whose comparatives and superlatives are irregularly formed, and which in every language are amongst the most ancient, com- IV. Most of those objects, about which the practical reason of prehensive in meaning, and extensively used; the separate words man is employed in common life, receive their names from the more and most by which we as often express the forms of compari-Anglo-Saxon. It is the language for the most part of business, of son as by distinct terminations; all our pronouns, personal, pos- the countinghouse, the shop, the market, the street, the farm. sessive, relative, and interrogative; nearly every one of our socalled irregular verbs, including all "the auxiliaries" have, be, shall, will, may, can, must; all the adverbs most frequently employed; and the prepositions and conjunctions almost without exception.

II. The names of the greater part of the objects of sense, in other words, the terms which occur most frequently in discourse, or which recall the most vivid conceptions, are Anglo-Saxon. Thus, for example, the names of the most striking objects in visible nature, of the chief agencies at work there, and of the changes which pass over it, are Anglo-Saxon. This language has given names to the heavenly bodies, sun, moon, stars; to three out of the four elements, earth, fire, water; three out of the four seasons, spring, summer, winter; the natural divisions of time, as day, night, morning, evening, twilight, noon, midday, midnight, sunrise, sunset; some of which are amongst the most poetical terms we have. To the same language we are indebted for the names of light, heat, cold, frost, rain, snow, hail, sleet, thunder, lightning; as well as of almost all those objects which form the component parts of the beautiful in external scenery, as sea and land, hill and dale, wood and stream. The same may be said of all those productions of the animal and vegetable kingdoms which form the most frequent subjects of observation or discourse, or which are invested with the most pleasing and poetic associations; of the constituent parts or visible qualities of organised or unorganised beings, especially of the members of the human body and of the larger animais. Anglo-Saxon has also furnished us with that numerous and always vivid class of words, which denote the cries, postures, and motions of animated existence. These are amongst the most

V. Anglo-Saxon, also, are nearly all our national proverbs, in which, it is truly said, so much of the practical wisdom of a nation resides, and which constitute the manual or vade-mecum ("go with me;" that is, the pocket-book, or note-book) of "hobnailed philosophy."

VI. A very large proportion (and that always the strongest) of the language of invective, humour, satire, and colloquial pleasantry, is Anglo-Saxon; also all the terms and phrases by which we most energetically express anger, contempt, and indignation.

VII. It may be stated, as a general truth, that while our most abstract and general terms are derived from the Latin, those which denote the special varieties of objects, qualities, and words of action, are derived from the Anglo-Saxon. Thus, move and motion, very general terms, are of Latin origin; but those terms which express nice varieties of bodily action, are Anglo-Saxon, Sound is perhaps Latin, though it may be Anglo-Saxon; but to buzz, hum, clash, hiss, rattle, &c., are Anglo-Saxon. Colour is Latin; but white, black, green, yellow, blue, red, brown, are AngloSaxon. Crime is Latin; but murder, theft, robbery, to lie, to steal, are Anglo-Saxon. Member and organ, as applied to the body, are Latin and Greek; but ear, eye, hand, foot, lip, mouth, teeth, hair, finger, nostril, are Anglo-Saxon. Animal is Latin; but man, eow, sheep, calf, cat, are Anglo-Saxon. Number is immediately French, remotely Latin; but all our cardinal and ordinal numbers are Anglo-Saxon.

With these facts before us we need not wonder that the orator and the poet are recommended to cultivate assiduously the AngloSaxon portion of the language. "The common people," it is said, "cannot understand words which are of classical origin." And

this is a good reason for the advice. But it is not the only reason. The great object of the orator and the poet is to make their meaning felt; to stimulate the imagination, and thence excite emotion. They, therefore, seek the most special terms they can find. Again, the terms which, cæteris paribus (other things being equal), most vividly recall the objects or feelings they represent, are those which have been earliest, longest, and most frequently used, which are consequently covered with the strongest associations, the sign and the thing signified having become so inseparably blended that the one is never suggested without the other. And thus it is that of two synonymes (words having nearly the same meaning) derived respectively from Latin and the Anglo-Saxon, both equally well understood, the one shall impart the most vivid, and the other the most tame conception of the meaning. It is precisely for the same reason that the feelings with which we read beautiful passages in foreign poets are so faint and languid, compared with those which are exerted by parallel passages in Shakspeare, Milton, or Burns.

SOLUTIONS OF PROBLEMS AND QUERIES. (From No. 7, page 111.)

5. SHow how the squares described on the two legs of a right angled triangle must be cut so that the pieces may be laid upon the square described on the hypotenuse.

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In this solution by ocular demonstration, the pieces of the two smaller squares marked 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, when cut out and laid upon the parts of the larger square marked with the same figures, will exactly cover the same.

The author of the preceding solution remarks that the sides of all the figures which form the pieces of the smaller squares, make exactly the same angles with the base of the larger, which the sides of the corresponding figures of that square make with its base. Accordingly, these pieces may be made to slide into their proper places on the larger square, by merely moving them downwards, and preserving the parallelism of their original position. We are indebted to Mr. Henderson, the Astronomer, at Liverpool, for his kindness in recommending this solution to be sent to us by the author, Henry Dugdale, of Slaidburn. In the interesting biography of James Ferguson contained in this Number, it appears that this wonderful genius was theoretically unacquainted with Euclid's geometry, and that when he had occasion for any proposition contained in that storehouse of valuable facts he consulted it, and tested the accuracy of the fact he wanted to employ in his own pursuits, by scale and compasses. We have somewhere read concerning this same Ferguson, that he satisfied himself of the truth of the 47th Proposition of the First Book of Euclid, by some method of ocular demonstration similar to the preceding. We do not know the exact mode in which he cut out the parts of the smaller squares and applied them to the larger one in order to cover it; but we know that there are many ways besides the above, and some that require fewer parts or divisions of the figures, which we consider a recommendation to any method, and a reason for its preference in general. In the editions of Euclid by Lardner and Playfair different methods are exhibited, and those which are accompanied with a demonstration are to be preferred; we shall be glad to see the author's demonstration of the preceding one.

In the solution of the problem "to draw a perpendicular to a straight line at one of its extremities," inserted in our last Number, there is an omission in the demonstration which we now supply. The omission consists in not proving that D B and B E are in the same straight line. To prove this, it is plain that the three angles A B D, A B C, and CBE, are equal to the three angles of any one of the equilateral triangles, and, therefore, by the 32nd of the first Book, they are equal to two right angles. Wherefore, by the 14th of the same Book, the two straight lines D B and B E, are in one and the same straight line.

This problem has been sent to us solved in various ways, which are all well known and appreciated. The following solution, which

we give without a diagram, in order to exercise some of our younge pupils, appears to us to be the simplest and best; and it requires nothing more than the 11th of Euclid's first Book, and some preceding propositions. From the given extremity of the straight line cut off a convenient length towards the other extremity, and from the point of section draw a perpendicular to the given straight line. From this perpendicular cut off a part equal to the part of the given straight line between the given extremity and the point of section; and from the point of section in this perpendicular draw a perpendicular to it on the side next the given extremity of the given straight line. Bisect the angle on the same side between the first perpendicular and the given straight line, and the bisecting line will meet the second perpendicular. From the point of meeting in this perpendicular draw a straight line to the given extremity of the given straight line, and it will be a perpendicular to that straight line at the point required.

The proof is this: Because that the bisecting line divides the right angle between the first perpendicular and the given straight line into two equal angles, that this bisecting line is common to the two triangles thus formed, and that the part cut off the first perpendicular is equal to the part of the straight line between the first point of section and the given point; therefore, by the fourth of the first book, the two triangles are equal, their bases are equal, and the remaining angles of the one are equal to the remaining angles of the other each,-viz., those to which the equal sides are opposite. Therefore all their sides are equal, and the angle at the given point is equal to the angle at the point of section in the second perpendicular; but the angle at the latter point is a right angle. Therefore the angle at the given point is a right angle; and the straight line is drawn perpendicular to the given straight line at one of its extremities as required.

N.B. The figure formed by the four straight lines which are all equal, has all its angles, as can easily be shown, right angles, and is therefore, according to Euclid's definition, a square.

CORRESPONDENCE.

ALLOW me to tell you a little story in connexion with the POPULAR EDUCATOR. About two miles from where I stay, is a small village; and in that village is a tinsmith. In that Tinsmith's shop, is a little orphan-boy apprenticed, quite young-no father, no mother, to tend him, and see that his young mind does not shrivel away into nothing for lack of food! Well, in this shop, a paper may be seen in a corner. On taking it up, we discover that it is the POPULAR EDUCATOR. In the inside of it is a little note-book which he (the boy) has made himself of a few shreds of paper. It is neatly ruled; and he has Latin words written on the one side, and English on the other. I was perfectly struck to see the poor little fatherless and motherless boy persevering, all unaided, unless by your lessons, and learning the language of ancient Rome.

You say," The authority of such men as Macaulay, Macintosh, Addison, Dryden, Shakspeare, is in grammar paramount and supreme." I would like to have a prose composition that you would recommend as being worthy to be studied, every word and line for the style. Macaulay's are all too dear. Would Mackintosh's "History of England" do? I do not see how Shakspeare can be an authority for a grammar at all, since his expressions are antiquated and stiff. I should like if you would recommend a book written in a fine, flowing style.

LITERARY NOTICES.

FILOS.

HISTORY OF THE PAINTERS OF ALL NATIONS.-The first part of this magnificent work, in imperial quarto, containing a portrait of Murillo, and eight specimens of his choicest works, including the "Conception of the Virgin," lately in the collection of Marshal Soult, and recently purchased by the French Government for the Gallery of the Louvre, for the sum of £28,440, is now ready. The successive parts will appear on the first of every month, at 2s, each, and will be supplied through every bookseller in town or country.

CASSELL'S SHILLING EDITION OF EUCLID. THE ELEMENTS OF GEOMETRY, containing the First Six, and the Eleventh and Twelfth Books of Euclid, from the text of Robert Simpson, M.D., Emeritus Professor of Mathematics in the University of Glasgow; with Corrections, Annotations, and Exercises, by Robert Wallace, A.M., of the same university and Collegiate Tutor of the University of London, will be ready early in July, price 18. in stiff covers, or 1s. 6d. neat cloth.

SCRIPTURE LIBRARY FOR THE YOUNG, in Shilling Volumes.The first two volumes of this instructive series of works, "The LIFE of JOSEPH," illustrated with sixteen choice engravings and maps, and "The TABERNACLE, it PRIESTS, and SERVICES," with twelve The LIFE of MOSES" is in the prom. engravings, are now ready.

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this last sentence, being used not for a musical scale, but for a lever
and valve. Let W. P., however, use his flute for a pattern, but learn
to be independent of it as soon as possible,-tuning his voice and ear
to the chord, as in the earlier exercises, and marking the "mental effect"
of notes. These things will give him accuracy of ear.—M. B. S. C.
(Edinburgh) must mark the difference between DOH and C. c is a fixed
sound, given by string or tuning-fork, that vibrates two hundred and
fifty-six times a second. To make the monochord give the true c, our
friends must consider not only the length of string, but also the thickness
and the tension. They will have, in that case, to tune the monochord by
a good c' tuning-fork, bought of a respectable musicseller. The alpha-
betical letters c' BAG FEDC, are well known throughout the civilised
world as the acknowledged names for the fixed sounds, each one indi-
cating a certain pitch. We do not make, therefore, the unphilosophical
and useless attempt to force the syllables DOH, RAY, ME, &c., into the
places of these alphabetical names; but we use them in a different sense.
The principal thing in music, is the key-note of a tune. That key-note
may be at one pitch in one tune, and at another pitch in another tune.
But there is an essential sameness in the relationship of notes which at-
tends it, and in the mental effect of those notes, whatever be its pitch.
to familiarise the learner with that essential law of relationship and
mental effect, which constitutes the simplicity and beauty of music, we
give a distinct name to the key-note-a name which follows it to any
pitch. That name is DOH. And distinct names, also, to its attendant
notes. Those names are RAY, ME, FAH, &c. Therefore, whatever be the
full length of your monochord string, and whatever be the sound in pitch
it gives, you may take that for the key-note (or, as Euclid called it, the
Proslamomenos-the "given" sound) and the other notes of its scale will
be given by the proportions of the string mentioned.-J. H. P. is right
about the metronome. But it is usual to say "Metronome crotchet =
72," or "M, quaver = 72," &c.—UN JEUNE COMMIS must be patient with
his breaking voice, and not use it too much. He must also read the
lessons with greater care, as well as the remarks above. German Con-
certina.-As this instrument is founded on the tonic principle, is without
temperament, and is moreover cheap, we may probably give, as our corre-
spondent desires, a few brief instructions for its use.

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. MONGREL (Carnarvon): Something will be done for the Principality. -R. J. C.: Reading at meals is injurious to health.-JOHN SOMERS (Huddersfield): Persevere and you will succeed; try to write evenly, that is, parallel to the top and bottom of the page.-J. W. GARLICK (Halifax): We thank him for his useful suggestions.-E. C. (Brixton): We are preparing something of the kind.-GRIERSON (Edinburgh): Maps are to be printed in the P. E. The numerous exceptions in gender, &c., must be learnt from Dr. Beard's "Latin Made Easy," and other yet fuller manuals. We can give nothing more than a general view.-ISAK will succeed, if he perseveres.-XENOPHON: Your exercise is good; good, also, are several that have been sent to us; so good as to show that many are acquiring a sound knowledge of Latin from our pages. This is encouraging. Their progress will be more easy, more sure, and more rapid, if we are able to publish an English translation of the Latin Exercises, and a Latin translation of the English Exercises.-The translation asked for by R. runs as follows:-At Sparta there is no widow so noble as not to appear on the stage under the attraction of gain.-PILATE should pronounce vaccæ and heus like English words; thus, vaksee and Hughs. Maps will be given.-R. F. T. (Margate): Something will soon be done to meet his wishes, in Latin.-DELECTOR must read a little more carefully; his difficulties will then disappear.-G. PEPPER (Belfast): We think so; but see answers to former correspondents.-WESTMORELAND: Probably less than a couple of years; as to "Emigration," let him look to our "Literary Notices."-J.H.F. (Horbury-bridge): We intend to publish one. -T. SMITH (Islington): To bookkeeping, yes.-ALPHA: No.-R. WOOD (Chepstow): Yes.-W. N. B., an ANXIOUS INQUIRER: There is no artificial means of improving the memory applicable to all subjects. As to the dictionary and the shorthand, we are on the look-out for the best.-An IGNORANT SUBSCRIBER (Edinr.) wants our advice. Let him study English first, and then arithmetic.-J. J. NEWTON (Bridgewater): Under consideration.-A STUDENT (Liverpool): Certainly. As to dans and en, we shall give rules soon: he should read the notices to other correspondients.-J. M. (Bristol): Yes.-G. STRANGE (Hackney): His question has been answered in our notices, to another correspondent.-J. VICKERS (Hulme): The error has been noticed and corrected.-WILLIAM: We are about to publish a work on the subject. ARITHMETIC.-JOHN (Berwick-upon-Tweed): We should like to see the work to which the printed paper, he sent us, refers.-The remarks-TIRO (Leicester) can get a shilling's worth of "Etiquette," published of JUVENIS on Inverse Proportion are just; when we come to this subject we hope to satisfy him.-J. L. (Waterhead Mill, Oldham): Yes.R. BOLAND (Great Shelford): We thank him for his correct and useful remarks; we shall avail ourselves of them,-Answers to queries 1, 2, 3, page 80, from P. G. ANDERSON (Birmingham), correct.-J. BOWMAN (Preston), is thanked for his very ingenious communication on the mystical number 9.-A. CAMPBELL (Cathcart): Ditto.-LEWIS W. H. (Wolverhampton), proposes a curious question: "Can the nine digits be placed in rows nine times to form an exact square of 81 figures, without having two figures of the same name in any one line, either perpendicularly, horizontally, or diagonally?" We thank him for his second communication, and shall keep it in view.-DELECTOR: His answer to the arithmetical question is right.-G. J. E. (London): His difficulty is removed by making the second distance 2 and seven-eights, instead of 2 and one-eighth miles.-W. FAULKNER (Smethwick): Ingenious and correct.-A. Fleming (Broughton-in-Furness): Correct.-J. CAREY (Clapham): Ingenious.-F. R. W. (Islington): Not so foggy either.J. N. L. (Dublin): Under consideration.-Correct solutions of Problems and Queries from H. S. T., of No 2, p. 111.-JOHN (Berwick-uponTweed), of No. 5; and from G. W. (Dundee), of No. 3.

MUSIC. JOHN is informed that some of the best flute instructors are the following:-Tegg's "Flute Preceptor," 28.; "Alexander's Flute Preceptor," 38.; "Dressler's Flute Instructions," 9s.; and Richardson's, Pratten's, and Wragg's "Flute Tutors."-GEORGE CON: The ME, in exercise 5, is printed on the wrong line.-A GREENWICH AMATEUR suggests for the monochord, instead of a weight, "a peg, similar to those of a violin, where weights cannot be easily obtained." If so, there should be one at each end, and both should be used in tightening the string. He finds a string of thirty inches quite sufficient," and wants us to print "a scale of the divisions of the monochord fifteen inches long." Any length is sufficient if the divisions are correct. There would not be sale enough for the scale he proposes.-W. G. (Bury): A guitar is one of the worst instruments for a "pattern," on account of its inaccuracy of tune. Let W. G. take a pattern from the best instrument at hand, but use his pattern as little as possible. The natural ear, with frequent practice, will soon guide him to sing better than a falselytuned instrument. Let him practise well the first exercises, and study the mental effect of notes.-W. L. H. S.: We shall be happy to see his views on Pianoforte Teaching.-WM. PARKER (Newnham): Generally speaking, any simple instrument that allows you to play only in one key (the key of c for instance), is, for that key, correctly tuned. It is only when they attempt to combine several keys that the common instruments require "temperament." The eight-keyed flute is, therefore, not so free from temperament as that with one key; the word key in

A. FOAD (Whitstable) is recommended to Reid's work on "Watch and Clock Making."-POOR PEASANT is advised to drop the subject of perpetual motion.-A. D. (Edinburgh) should study Euclid.-A STRUGGLER (North Shields) should study the Lessons in English well. by Longman. The diphthongs are separated for the sake of the learner. -ALPHA (Richmond) should consult "Cassell's Emigrants' Handbook," (9d.).—R. J. (Mount Sorrel) is advised to study French first.-CLAUDE (Blandford) should read all the answers to Correspondents.-ONE WHO PERSEVERES is advised to be content with stenography.-JAMES STEEL (Bradford), B. MILVERTON (Winsham), A FACTORY OPERATIVE (New Lanark), and A YOUNG BEGINNER, should read the notices appended to Lessons in French, No. 13.-GEORGE WETTON (Kirkby-inAshfield), received.-E. P. a YOUNG BEGINNER will find what he wants at present in the " Illustrated Exhibitor."-DAVID M. (Norwich): Study" Macculloch's Commercial Dictionary."-J. T. D. (Bloomsbury) should try by himself first.-S Y. (North Shields): His problems are not sufficiently explicit.-Ouanrns (Backwell): See above.-GEORGE HERBERT (Brid. Quay): Thanks for his hints.-AMICUS (Delph); His question shall be inserted. -JAMES WILKINSON (Earby): We advise him to let such words alone as he sent to us; their meaning is bad.-JOHN GOWANS (Liverpool): His reasons are excellent for haste, but ours are better for delay at present.-A. M. BELL (Liverpool): As soon as other subjects are disposed of.-WILLIAM PEET (Bedford): Right.-H. F. (Belfast), DUNC. F. (Glasgow), A SUBSCRIBER (Dublin), THEOPHILUS (Caledonian-:oad): The subject of German pronunciation will soon be discussed more fully.-S. S H. (Holywell-hill, St. Alban's): We are not in a state at present to avail ourselves of his kind offer-ERNEST M. (Wolverhampton): His criticisms are on the whole just; errors will be corrected. Study Macculloch, above mentioned.THOMAS PATTISON (Newcastle-on-Tyne) is right; the solution of James Veecock is defective.-C. F. P. (Dunmanway, Cork): His solutions are correct and good.-D. D. O. (Great Yarmouth): We say go on and prosper in the Co-instruction Society.-A. M. WHITE (Woodstreet): Thanks for his suggestions, they shall not be lost sight ofDANKBAR: Yes.-A. D. is premature.-MURAT (Halifax), a system of bookkeeping is preparing. The least charge for an advertisement is 5s.-R. S. DALE (North Shields): It is in progress.-J. S.: The number of years from the creation of Adam to the deluge was 2262, according to the Scriptures and by the Christians. According to rule g is soft in Dolgelly.-P. E. A. (Bywell, Newcastle): "The Popular Educator."T. CROX (Fareham): We are entirely of his mind. We should only be too happy if our numerous subscribers wanted lessons in religion. We hope and trust this will be a blessed consequence of the spread of education among all classes of the people.-WILLIAM LIVSEY (Manchester): We cannot positively say how soon, but they are sure to be given. ped and Published by JOHN CASSELL, 335, Strand, and Ludgate-hill, London.-July 10, 1852.

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We have disposed of the liver and its functions. But important as the office of that organ may be in separating and withdrawing certain superfluities from the blood, there are certain other matters which must be immediately and completely removed from the system, which would otherwise prove highly injurious. This is effected by the KIDNEYS, which are, perhaps, the most purely excreting or draining organs in the body. In each kidney, there are numerous secreting tubes, which project into its pelvis or basin; and from this basin there is a small but somewhat extended canal, called the URETER, which carries the urine from the kidney to the bladder. Each kidney has its own ureter or conducting canal. The secreting tubes are about both part of an inch in diametor, and are lined throughout with nucleated gland-cells, as if the urine were filtered through those cells in its way to the pelvis.

But how is the urine formed? If we take a section of the kidney, and examine it with a slightly magnified power, we shall find that its cut surface is studded with a number of little dark points, each of which consists of a knot of minute blood-vessels. Each of these knots is included in the extremity of one of the secreting tubes, and is directly supplied by a branch of the renal artery. This artery arises from the aorta, passes across, enters the kidney, divides into numerous branches which become very minute, frequently unite and form arches in the outward covering or substance of the organ; their extremities at last wind in toward the medullary or internal substance, and are coiled up into clusters, which take on the appearance and form of corpuscles. In these corpuscles or small bodies, which are situated in the external substance of the kidney, the urine is secreted, and is there received by the secreting tubes, which gradually unite to form larger tubes, and then converge towards the pelvis of the organ.

The separation of urine, as a surperfluous fluid from the blood, is in all likelihood effected by the agency of the glandcells which line the secreting tubes, and equally in all parts of these tubes. There are certain matters existing ready-formed in the blood, which require only to be separated from the vital fiuid. That is to say, that all such matters may pass from the blood to the urine without any further elaboration; but there are certain other properties which do not exist in the blood, and must therefore be formed by the chemical agency of the cells. These, also, must be carried off, or life would soon cease.

Healthy urine is a clear limpid fluid, of a pale yellow or amber colour, with a peculiar faint aromatic odour; and yet, consistently with a good state of health, it may be ali but colourless, or present every shade between that and a deep orange tint. Clear and transparent at first, it often becomes, as it cools, opaque and turbid from the settlement of those particles which before were held in a state of solution. The average amount of this fluid which is excreted within the fourand-twenty hours by an adult healthy man, is thirty-five ounces, and ite average specific gravity may be taken as very near 1,020. In summer, owing to the larger proportion of fluid exhaled by the skin, its quantity is less than in winter, and consequently its specific gravity is proportionally higher. The water holds in solution certain animal and saline matters

• From the Latin word ren, the kidneys or reins. TOL. 1.

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wasted tissue and superfluous food? We get at this conclusion But how do we know that this urea takes off the nitrogen of in two ways. If we substitute an animal for a vegetable diet, we find an increase of urea, and therefore it must be derived in part from those unassimilated elements of this highly nitrogenous food which circulate with the blood. That is one method. The other is this:-If we exclude all nitrogenous substances from the food, and let the diet for several days consist of sugar, starch, gum, oil, and such like articles, the quantity is diminished, still urea is excreted or thrown off. It comes off even if there be no food taken for a considerable time. And therefore it must, in a still larger part, be derived from the waste of those animal tissues of which the body is made up. Whatever of this injurious substance exists ready-formed in the blood is withdrawn by the kidneys; but by far the larger portion passes off with the water.

Another animal substance, rarely absent from the urine, is URIC ACID, which is derived from the breaking down or waste of albuminous tissues. The relation which this acid bears to urea has not yet been determined. It is increased like urea by the use of animal food, and is diminished by adopting an exclusively vegetable diet, or such as is free from nitrogen. A nitrogenous compound, named HIPPURIC ACID, in the quantity of about one-third of the uric acid, exists in the urine, and is removed from the system in the same way as the others.

It is now clear that the grand purpose of the urinary secretion is to carry off those products which neither can be set free in the condition of carbonic acid and water through the lungs, nor be got rid of by the agency of the liver in the form of solid biliary matter. In all this there is evident design. This design bespeaks a wisdom which is infinite, and a good. ness which is exhaustless. The Father of our spirits is to be worshipped no less as the Framer of our bodies. The creation of man was nothing fortuitous-not a thing which happened by chance. It was one of the highest acts of divine power. How perfect is the structure of every organ! How beautiful and end, and how beneficent in their functions! In the midst of harmonious is their arrangement! How adapted to their such profound contrivance and skill-such arrangement, and harmony, and beneficence, we are lost in wonder, and fall down in silent adoration.

But we have not done with the process of secretion. The little glands which are disposed in the substance of THE SKIN, and in the walls of THE INTESTINAL CANAL, although individually minute, serve a most important end in the human economy. In the skin we meet with two distinct classes of these little glands, one of which is destined to free the blood of a large quantity of fluid, and is named PERSPIRATORY or considerable amount of solid matter is styled SEBACEOUS or SWEAT GLANDS; and the other being designed to draw off a OIL GLANDS. The first class presents the appearance of small oval or globular masses, situated just beneath the skin, and found in almost every part of the surface of the body. Of their number some idea may be formed from the fact that not fewer than three thousand five hundred and twenty-eight of these little glands exist in a square inch of surface in the palm of the hand. Now if we allow that each of these little coiledup tubes measures one-fourth of an inch, we have thus within a single square inch, a length of tube equal to eight hundred and eighty-two inches, or seventy-three feet and a half, or twenty-four yards and a half. Nor is this all :-the number of square inches of surface in the body of a man of ordinary height and size, is computed at ten thousand five hundred, and if we allow two thousand eight hundred pores at an average in every square inch, then the number of pores in the human body cannot be fewer than twenty-nine millions !

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We have said that each of these little glands consists of a small globe-like mass. Now from this mass there ascends a

conducting-tube which makes numerous spiral turnings in its course, penetrates the outer skin rather obliquely, and opens by a sort of valve to allow the fluid to issue from it. On the palm of the hand, the sole of the foot, and the ends of the fingers, the opening of these ducts or tubes is visible to the naked eye. By means of this gracious and wonderful arrangement, a secretion of watery fluid is continually taking place, while a considerable amount of solid matter is at the same time drawn off by the cells which line these small tubes. The fluid secreted is formed so gradually, that as fast as it reaches the surface, the watery portions of it escape by evaporation. This is called insensible perspiration. But during strong exercise, exposure to great external warmth, in certain diseases, or when evaporation is prevented by any means, the secretion is increased and collects on the skin in the form of drops of sweat. is named sensible perspiration. But the amount of fluid sent off by the skin depends very much upon the temperature of the surrounding medium. When the surface of the body is exposed to a high degree of external heat, an increased amount of fluid is set free from the perspiratory glands. But as this fluid is carried off in a state of vapour as fast as it is set free, and in this form withdraws a large quantity of caloric from the surface, the temperature of the body itself is kept down and regulated. On the other hand, if the hot atmosphere be already loaded with vapour, this cooling power fails to be exerted. The temperature of the body is raised, and if this temperature contínues for any length of time, there follow the most fatal consequences.

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hair. These hair-follicles, into which the sebaceous glands open, are in fact among the secretory organs of the skin; since it is only at their root or lowest part that the material produced from their walls is appropriated to the growth of hair. All the rest goes to anoint the hairs and the surface of the skin. Hence it is that this secretion is much more abundant in the inhabitants of tropical climates than in those which inhabit cold countries. But for this benevolent provisior of the great Creator the skin would become parched and dry. And even with this provision of nature, the natives of the warm countries are in the habit of lubricating their skin with vegetable oils of various kinds, to protect it from the scorching influence of the solar rays.

These wonderful functions of the skin have led some medical men to the conclusion, that hydropathy, or the use of the wet sheet, is the most valuable curative means we possess for almost every form and variety of disease to which the human body is subject. It is possible that not enough has been made of this most powerful of all diaphoretics-it is possible that it may come to be more generally employed as the functions of these glands are better understood-but we can never believe that any one remedy is equal to every type and development of disease. At the same time, we can, while in health, never be too lavish in our daily use of cold water.

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Another fact on this subject of secretion. The mucov face of the alimentary canal, is, like the skin, furnished with a vast number of these small glands. There are simple follicles to secrete the mucus; there are more complex follicles to elaborate the gastric juice; while those which crowd the walls of the small intestine are destined to withdraw the putrescent The entire loss by exhalation from the lungs and skin may matters from the blood, and convey them by the readiest chanbe taken at the average of two pounds and a half in the nel completely out of the body. It may be very necessarytwenty-four hours. In a warm, dry atmosphere, it will rise indispensable, if you will-to take food to repair that consunt above this, and in cold and damp, it will fall below it. Of waste of the tissues which is going on within us at every suc this quantity, the exhalation from the lungs is about one-third, cessive moment of our earthly life; but there is a far greater and rather more than two-thirds from the skin. The variations necessity why these tissues, in a state of disintegration or in the amount of fluid set free at different times, and in differ-decomposition, should be removed from the body. Life ent states of the body, by exhalation from the skin and lungs, may be prolonged for a considerable period with little if any are counterbalanced by the action of the kidneys. If the ex-food, but the retaining of this morbific matter in the system for halation be less, then the kidneys allow a larger proportion of even a short length of time would issue in a fatal result. For water to be strained off in a liquid state from the blood-vessels. its removal the most beautiful provision has been made, and On the contrary, the kidneys have less to do in proportion to as we study, and perceive, and understand this provision, does the quantity that is exhaled from the lungs and skin. It is it become us to lift up our hearts in adoring gratitude and love supposed that at least one hundred grains of effete nitrogenous to God, whose tender mercies are over all his works. matter are daily thrown off from the skin; but let this excretion be checked or arrested, and how much more labour is imposed on the kidneys, since if it is not got rid of-if it accumulate in the blood-it must prove fatal to health and life! Great attention, therefore, should be paid to the functions of the skin, so as to keep its pores open, and its action free, and for this purpose nothing is so efficacious as bathing in cold water, followed by friction and exercise.

Besides this beautiful arrangement for the perspiration, the skin is provided with another set of special organs, named SEBACEOUS GLANDS, whose office it is to withdraw a peculiar fatty matter from the system, while the secretion itself prevents the skin from being dried and cracked by the influence of the sun and air. These glands are distributed more or less closely over the whole surface of the body, but are most numerous in those parts which are largely supplied with hair, such as the scalp and face, and are thickly distributed about the entrances of the various passages into the body, as the anus, nose, lips, and external ear. They are altogether absent in the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet. As the engraving very nicely indicates, they appear to be made up of an aggregate of small vesicles, and these small vessels are filled with an opaque white substance, something like soft ointment. These glands are overspread with minute capillaries or blood-vessels, and their ducts open either in the surface of the skin, or, which is more usual, directly into the follicle of the

QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION.

What is the function or the office of the kidneys?
How is the urine carried from the kidney to the bladder?
How is the urine formed?

How is the separation of urine from the blood effected?
What is the grand purpose of the urinary secretion?
With what little organs do we meet in the skin?
Can you give their names and functions?

Where are the perspiratory glands situated?

What is the secretion which is effected by these glands?

On what does the amount of fluid sent off by the skin depend? What is the entire loss by exhalation from the lungs and skin in the twenty-four hours?

What quantity of effete matter is daily thrown off from the skin?

Where are the SEBACEOUS GLANDS chiefly distributed?
What is their peculiar function?

Do the functions of the skin in any way favour the practice of hydropathy?

Is the alimentary canal furnished with many of these little glands?

Can you describe the various offices performed by these intestinal glands?

How is it more important to remove effete matter from the bedy than to supply the body with good nourishing food? How do these facts illustrate the goodness of God?

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