mass from Ramsgate and Dover to Beechy Head, running inland to Madamscourt Hill and Sevenoaks? All clean gone, and swept out into the bosom of the Atlantic, and there forming other chalk-beds. Now, geology assures us, on the most conclusive and undeniable evidence, that all our present land, all our continents and islands, have been formed in this way out of the ruins of former ones. The old ones which existed at the beginning of things have all perished, and what we now stand upon has most assuredly been, at one time or other, perhaps many times, the bottom of the

sea.

"Well, then, there is power enough at work, and it has been at work long enough, utterly to have cleared away and spread over the bed of the sea all our present existing continents and islands, had they been placed where they are at the creation of the world; and from this it follows, as clear as demonstration can make it, that without some process of renovation or restoration to act in antagonism to this destructive work of old Neptane, there would not now be a foot of dry land for living thing to stand upon.

"Now what is this process of restoration? Let the volcano and the earthquake tell their tale. Let the earthquake tell how, within the memory of man, the whole coastline of Chili, for 100 miles above Valparaiso, with the mighty chain of the Andes-mountains to which the Alps sink into insignificance-was hoisted at one blow (in a single night, Nov. 19, A.D. 1822) from two to seven feet above its former level, leaving the beach below the old water-mark high and dry; leaving the shell-fish sticking on the rocks out of reach of water; leaving the seaweed rotting in the air, or rather drying up to dust under the burning sun of a coast where rain never falls. The ancients had a fable of Titan hurled from heaven and buried under Etna, and by his struggles causing the earthquakes that desolated Sicily. But here we have an exhibition of Titanic forces on a far mightier scale. One of the Andes upheaved on this occasion was the gigantic mass of Aconcagua, which overlooks Valparaiso. To bring home to the mind the conception of such an effort, we must form a clear idea of what sort of mountain this is. It is nearly 24,000 feet in height. Chimborazo, loftiest of the volcanic cones of the Andes, is lower by 2,500 feet; and yet Etna, with Vesuvius at the top of it, and another Vesuvius piled on that, would little more than surpass the midway height of the snow-covered portion of that cone, which is one of the many chimneys by which the hidden fires of the Andes find vent. On the occasion I am speaking of, at least 10,000 square miles of country were estimated as having been upheaved, and the upheaval was not confined to the land, but extended far away to the sea, which was proved by the soundings off Valparaiso, and along the coast, having been found considerably shall wer than they were before the shock.

"Again, in the year 1819, in an earthquake in India, in the district of Cuten, bordering on the Indus, a tract of country more than fifty miles long and sixteen broad was suddenly raised ten feet above its former level. The raised portion still stands up above the unraised, like a long perpendicular wall, which is known by the name of the 'Ullah Bund,' or 'God's Wall.' And again,

in 1538, in that convulsion which threw up the Monte Nuovo (New Mountain), a cone of ashes 450 feet high, in a single night; the whole coast of Pozzuoli, near Naples, was raised twenty feet above its former level, and remains so permanently upheaved to this day."

The book is throughout written in this style, and we have nothing but satisfaction in recommending it to our readers.

London Poems. By ROBERT BUCHANAN, Anthor of "Idylls and Legends of Inverburn," "Undertones," etc. London and New York: A. Strahan. Mr. Buchanan is a poet. He can sing from the soul to the soul. You read him, and you lose yourself, and you wake up to find that your heart has been pausing. For intensity of feeling, for exquisiteness of pathos, and for moral grasp together, we scarcely know where to mark his equal among the contemporary names that have not already won their immortality. Some of his poems, indeed, look in a direction towards which it is possible for pity to turn with a passion that shall be neither just nor merciful. We have no sympathy with unsympathetic rectitude; and Christianity falsifies itself when it frowns remorselessly upon evil, however gross, that is put away and lamented. But as misfortune is not vice, so neither is vice misfortune; and things which differ in their essence should not, if possible, be brought into the way of being confounded through identity of name. It is quite enough to have referred to a feature of Mr. Buchanan's poetry, which has struck us in several parts of this volume. As to the prevalent tone of the poems, it is all that the most rigid purist could desire; and Mr. Buchanan must be numbered among the increasingly nu-. merous company of gifted men, whose genius is linked to all noble qualities and uses. The piece entitled "Nell"--which means the quasi-wife of a man who committed murder when he was drunk, and was hanged for it-while it illustrates by its general drift and bearing the observations we have just made on the morale of Mr. Buchanan's writings, is one of the most thrilling and pathetic poems in the English language, and would of itself justify large expectations as to its author's future labors and successes.

Here is the conclusion of the poem. Nell describes to Nan, the only one of her neighbors who had been kind to her after Ned's ignomini

ous death, how she had done and felt on the morning of the execution. The crisis is at hand. She had crept into a lane off Ludgate Hill, and sitting on a doorstep in the rain, with her shawl thrown off, was vaguely listening for she knew not what. And she says,

"I heard the murmur of a crowd of men,

And next, a hammering sound I knew full well, For something gripp'd me round the heart!—

and then

There came the solemn tolling of a bell! O Lord! O Lord! how could I sit close by And neither scream nor cry?

As if I had been stone, all hard and cold,

But listening, listening, listening, still and dumb,

While the folk murmur'd, and the death-bell toll'd,

And the day brightened, and his time had

come.

Till-Nan!--all else was silent, but the knell
Of the slow bell!

And I could only wait, and wait, and wait,
And what I waited for I couldn't tell,—
At last there came a groaning deep and great
Saint Paul's struck "eight"-

I scream'd, and seem'd to turn to fire, and fell!

"God bless him, live or dead!

He never meant no wrong, was kind and trueThey've wrought their fill of spite upon his

head

Why didn't they be kind and take me too? And there's the dear old things he used to wear, And here's a lock o' hair!

And they're more precious far than gold galore, Than all the wealth and gold in London town! He'll never wear the hat and clothes no more, And I shall never wear the muslin gown! And Ned! my Ned!

Is fast asleep, and cannot hear me call ;God bless you, Nan, for all you've done and said,

But don't mind me! My heart is broke-that's all!"

There are parts of the poem which exhibit Mr. Buchanan's powers to greater advantage than the section we have quoted. We simply give the end as a matter of convenience. If Mr. Buchanan continues to ripen in power and quality, retaining his purity of tone, we shall hope to meet him often again in print through many years to come.

SCIENCE.

The Fishes of the Amazon-The district of the Amazon seems to swarm with all kinds of organic life. Of the land animals a very able and graphic account has already been given by Mr. Bates; and now Professor Agassiz has given an account of his elaborate investigation of the fish of the Amazon. In a lecture delivered quite recently at New York, Professor Agassiz stated that he found that the Amazon has not one fish in common with any other fresh-water basin; that different parts of the Amazon have fishes peculiar to themselves; and, as an instance of the teeming variety that exists in the Amazon basin, he gave the result of his examination of a smali contiguous lake or pool, of only a few hundred square yards, which showed 200 different kinds of fishes, which is three times as many as the Mississippi river can boast. In the Amazon itself he found 2.000 different kinds; and when he began his investigation of the river only 150 were known to exist, and he said that in proportion as he found the larger number the difference between them seem to grow. He proceeded to a general classification of the fishes of the Amazon, and instanced one that might appropriately be called a very peculiar fish, inasmuch as it had the power of walking or creeping on dry land, one having been found five miles from the water; and the Professor himself kept one of them out

of water half a day, and on putting it back into its natural element it showed as much of life as if it had never been removed. Moreover, it is an agile fish, worming its way up the inclined plane of the trunk of some old tree that had fallen, and twisting about among the branches until finally a single shot has brought down a bird and a fish together. Professor Agassiz declared that the Amazon, for a river of turbid water, and of so high a temperature, the average being 80 deg., nourishes an extraordinary number of delicious fishes for table use.-Popular Science Review.

The Glacial period, in its relation to the excentricity of the earth's orbit, is the subject of a highly philosophical essay, which appeared in the Philosophical Magazine for February. The paper should be carefully studied by those of our readers who are interested in the point it deals with. The following paragraph will give an idea of the author's views. "When the excentricity reaches a high value and one of the solstice points is in perihelion, the difference between the temperature of the two hemispheres must be very great. The hemisphere which has its winter in aphelion, and under a condition of glaciation, is much colder than the opposite hemisphere, which has its winter in perihelion, and enjoying an equable climate; and the consequence is, the aerial currents from the pole to the equator must be much stronger on the colder hemisphere than on the warmer, because the difference between the temperature of the pole and the equator a greater on the former hemisphere than on the

latter. When the northern hemisphere, for example, is under glaciation, the north-east tradewinds will be much stronger than the southeast. The medial line between the trades will consequently lie a considerable distance to the south of the equator. The effect of the northern trades blowing across the equator to a great distance will be to impel the warm water of the tropics over into the Southern Ocean.

And this, to an enormous extent, will tend to exaggerate the difference between the temperature of the two hemispheres." Mr. Croll gives a long series of tables showing the different values of the eccentricities at different epochs, and from them calculates the dates of the Glacial periods.-Popular Science Review.

Comets and Meteors.-In No. 794 of the "Leisure Hour" attention is drawn to a most extraordinary coincidence between the orbit of the August ring of meteors and that of Comet II of 1862, from which M. Schiaparelli has inferred that an intimate connection exists between comets and meteors, each originating from the same source. Since that paragraph was written, Dr. Peters, of Altona, has pointed out the remarkable fact that the orbit of the November ring of meteors, computed by M. Schiaparelli from the observations of the great display of last year, is almost identical with the crbit of Comet 1 of 1866. There must be something more than accident in these two coincidences, for the agreement, in both instances, in the different elements of the orbits is really startling. There is every appearance at present that M. Schiaparelli's speculations on this subject will rank among the most celebrated of recent astronomical discoveries. M. Le Verrier, of l'a

riz, has also published some remarks on the probable origin of meteors; his hypothesis, however, does not differ much from that of M. Schiaparelli. Whether it may be found ultimately that these speculations are or are not borne out by future investigations, we have no hesitation in again remarking that the two coincidences which have been mentioned are the most remarkable which we have had in astronomy for a considerable period.-E. D., Greenwich.

Electric Guns.-At a late meeting of the Society of Natural Sciences of Scine-et-Oise, M. De Brettes exhibited a rifle on the Fiobert system, and which is fired by means of electricity. This new invention, with which the Emperor appears to be much pleased, has the following characters :Two small electric batteries are enclosed in the stock, there conducting wires arrive at the surface of the breech, and can be put in communication with the extremity of a platinum wire, which traverses the cartridge. A simple pressure of the finger upon the trigger closes the electric circuit; the current passes; the platinum wire becomes at once redhot, and inflames the powder which surrounds it. The cartridges prepared for the needle gun carry their own priming, and a shock might inflame them; the cases are thus liable to explode, and deprive the troops of their amunition. With the new system this danger is impossible. It can, as the expense is trifling, be easily applied to guns of the ancient model. This ingenious weapon does not, however, seem likely to come into general use. Though exhibited by M. De Brettes, it was invented by M. Trouvé.-Vide French Correspondence of Chemical News.

Kew instrument. degrees.

571

701

79

Mr. Glaisher's instrument. degrees. 59

72

811

We draw attention to these facts, because they are of serious importance. We trust therefore, that some arrrangements may be come to by which only one certificate shall be allowed, and which shall compel all standard thermometers to be registered.

The important discovery made by Dr. W. B. Richardson, that parts of the body can be rendered insensible to pain at the will of the operator, has been introduced into veterinary practice, and with such success that henceforth we ought to hear no more of horses being tortured by operations. This "local anesthesia." as it is called, is produced by directing a shower of ether spray on the part affected from an instrument which acts as a fountain throwing off the finest of dew. In a short time after the instrument has been let to play on any part of the head, body, or limbs, all feeling ceases in that particular spot. During a lecture recently delivered, Dr. Richardson deadened portions of his arm, into which a brother physician thrust large needles, without occasioning the least pain. The importance of this discovery will be obvious; for the risk incurred by rendering the whole body insensible is avoided, and the most painful operations can be performed as insensibly to the patient as under the complete influence of chloroform. And the results obtained on the human subject are obtained also in horses, as has been made clear to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. terinary Surgeons have used Dr. Richardson's process to render the parts insensible, and have cut out tumors, put in setons, and have made deep incisions to get at internal obstructions without pain to the horses. In cases of local inflammation, whether in the human subject or in animals, the ether spray affords such a ready means of alleviating the pain and abating the attack, that it cannot fail to be adopted. We see by advertisements in the public journals, that in recognition of the value of Dr. Richardson's discovery a testimonial is to be presented to him by the medical profession.

Ve

Thirty-two years ago, Sir Charles Lyell examined some ancient sea-marks on the coast of Sweden, and concluded therefrom that the land of Sweden was rising gradually at the rate of three feet in a century. The Earl of Selkirk has recently examined the same marks, and comes to an opposite conclusion, which he has just communicated to the Geological Society. The change in the position of the marks he regards as apparent only, due to fluctuations in the level of the water, and not to any upward movement of the land. The question thus opened is important. Perhaps other geologists will take it up, and carry it on to a satisfactory solution.

Among other geological facts worth notice is the demonstration that gold exists in the gravel in the river valleys of Central New Brunswick, as reported by Mr. Shea; and the surprising yield from a copper-mine in Newfoundland. When, last year, a few specimens of copper-ore was exhibited at the conversazione of the President of the Royal Society at Burlington House, no one anticipated the discovery that has since taken place. At a depth of seventy feet, while sinking the shaft, the miners came upon a lode of rich ore four feet thick; a level was then run at right angles to the direction of the lode, and at a distance of eighty feet, another richer lode was struck; ten feet further, there was another twenty feet thick and ten feet still further, another of four feet. This is a most extraordinary instance of the occurrence of copper the yield will be enormous, for the distances to which the several lodes extend are

unktown, and many years may be spent before they are worked out. Specimens of the ore are to be seen at the Great Exhibition at Paris, along with specimens of lead ore also from Newfoundland, described as rich in silver.

VARIETIES.

History and Fiction.-It will not do to contrast fiction with history, as if one were all true and the other all false. Even as to matters of fact, historians contradict one another. Each writer tells us what he thinks, or wishes, or believes to have happened; relying mainly on somebody else's opinion, who said or wrote that such and such was the case, according to his view of the matter; he relying on somebody else's words nearer to the time, the whole picture coming to us at third or fourth hand, each authority having given to it a fresh varnish or coat of paint in exact accordance with the spectacles which he wore at the time. But as history is not all absolutely true, so neither is fiction all false.-Quarterly Review, Jan, 1867.

Chignons in Equatorial Africa.--On my arrival at Igoumbié, I had noticed how curious the headdresses of the women were, being so unlike the fashions I had seen among any of the tribes I had visited. Although these modes are sometimes very grotesque, they are not devoid of what English ladies, with their present fashions, might consider good taste; in short, they cultivate a remarkable sort of chignon. I have remarked three different ways of hair-dressing as most prevalent among the Ishogo belles. The first is to train the hair into a tower-shaped mass elevated from eight to ten inches from the crown of the head; the hair from the forehead to the base of the tower, and also that of the back part up to the ears, being closely shaved off. In order to give shape to the tower,

they make a framework, generally out of old pieces of grass cloth, and fix the hair round it. All the chignons are worked upon a frame. Another mode is to wear the tower, with two round balls of hair, one on each side, above the ear. A third fashion is similar to the first, but the tower, instead of being perpendicular to the crown, is inclined obliquely from the back of the head, and the front of the head is clean shaven almost to the middle. The neck is also shorn closely up to the ears. The hair on these towers has a parting in the middle and on the sides, which is very neatly done. The whole structure must require years of careful training before it reaches the perfection attained by the leaders of Ishogo fashion. A really good chignon is not attained until the owner is about twenty or twenty-five years of age. It is the chief object of ambition with the young Ishogo women to possess a good well-trained and wellgreased tower of hair of the kind that I describe. Some women are far better dressers of hair than othing of the hair requiring a long day's work. The ers, and are much sought for--the fixing and clean

return.

woman who desires to have her hair dressed must either pay the hair-dresser, or must promise to perform the same kind office to her neighbor in Once fixed, these chignons remain for a couple of months without requiring to be re-arranged. The fashion of the chignon was unknown when I left Europe, so that to the belles of Africa belongs the credit of the invention. The women wear no ornaments in their ears, and I saw none who had their ears pierced. The men also have fancy ways of trimming their hair. The most fashionable style is to shave the whole of the head except a circular patch on the crown, and to form this into three finely-plaited divisions, each terminating in a point and hanging down. At the end of each of these they fix a large bead or a piece of iron or brass wire; so that the effect is very singular. The Ishogo people shave their eyebrows, and pull out their eyelashes.-Du Chiallu's Visit to Ashango-Land.

Favorite Days for Marriage.-The latest reports of the Registrar's-General of England and Scotland show that no two nations could differ more widely than do the English and the Scotch with regard to the choice of days of the week for marriage. The Scottish report states that the favorite day for marriage in Scotland is the last day of the year, provided it does not fall on a Salurday or a Sunday. No marriages are celebrated on Sunday in Scotland, while in England it is the favorite day of the week for marriage, 32 per cent. of the marriages being contracted on that day. Monday is a favorite day in both countries. Saturday, in England, is the third day of the week in order of selection for marriage, 17 per cent. occuring on that day; but in Scotland no true Scot will marry on a Saturday, nor, indeed, begin any work of importance. With the Scot Saturday is an unlucky day for marriage, and he is impressed with the superstitious belief that if he married on a Saturday one of the parties would die before the expiry of the year, or that, if both survived, the marriage would prove unfruitful. Hence it happens that Sunday and Saturday, the two favorite days for marriage in England, are blank days for marriages in Scotland. Friday is the day on which the English do not marry, but in Scotland it is one of the favorite days for marriage.