miles square, it may be calculated that there will be raised from its surface, in one day, more than 64,000 tons weight of water (64,821), by means of solar radiation. This is at least equal to the work of ten steam-engines of 200 horse-power each, for the same space of time; presuming that the above weight is only raised to an average height of between 300 and 400 feet. To balance that weight, a hill of earth would be required 30 feet high, 100 feet wide, and 600 feet in length. In making the calculations which have led to these statements, it has been assumed that, in a hot day of summer, a quarter of an inch of water would be evaporated from an exposed surface of a lake, in twelve hours; and this from an area of two miles square would amount to 2,323,200 cubic feet, which at sixty-two and a half pounds ⚫ per cubic foot, is equal to 65,821 tons. Now, a quarter of an inch is not a maximum amount of evaporation; it is but one half of that which, according to good authorities, has been actually removed by evaporation, and under a temperature, of from 73° to 75° degrees Fahrenheit. Instead of 64,000 tons, facts would justify us in stating that 130,000 tons might be raised in one day, from a surface of water not exceeding two miles square.-REBECCA W., Southampton.

Turbot. The turbot is known in our markets as one of the largest of our flat fishes; and is justly prized both for the delicacy of its flavor and its nutritious qualities. It is found in large shoals; and although not capricious in regard to its haunts, it appears, in frequenting certain localities, to be influenced mainly by the presence of the small fish on which it preys. Turbot are caught in considerable quantities on the coasts of Durham and Yorkshire, with lines, in a similar manner to cod; but the most extensive turbot-fisheries are those of the Dutch, which commence about the end of March, and are pursued during the months of April and May, and continued till the middle of August, when the fishing is dropped for the year. The produce is principally transported in boats to the London market. From some peculiarity in its organisation, the muscular fibre of the turbot is not so much deteriorated during the growth of the milt and roe as in other fish; and if it could be caught, would be longer in season. But, like most of the finny tribe, it is only to be procured when frequenting the coasts which it has selected as its favorite spawningground. The turbot spawns in August, after which it becomes feeble and is out of season; but it speedily recovers its strength, and retreats into deep water.-VIOLET, Worcester.

Essex Lunatic Asylum.-This splendid pile of building, which covers eight acres, contains seven wards and two infirmaries on one side, and six wards and one infirmary on the other, with 300 dormitories and 150 single rooms. The chapel is most tastefully fitted up in the cathedral style, with 300 sittings. The tank, which is supplied from an adjoining reservoir, contains 10,000 gallons of water, and is so arranged as to keep up a constant supply of hot and cold water for the baths. The asylum cost £65,000; but would have cost £12,000 more, through the increased value of labor and material, had it not been

commenced ten years ago. The support of each inmate is estimated at £145, while in the other asylums it averages from £150 to £200.-J. ANDERSON, Chelmsford.

Quackery in England-A Foul Blot upon the National Character. Of all countries in the world, England is that in which quacks and quackery flourish most. According to the census returns, there are nearly 30,000 persons practising one or more departments of medicine and surgery without qualications.—CIVIS.

[The world is "mad,"-suicidically mad; therefore is it that the villanous quacks prey upon them. The quacks and undertakers 'do the thing nicely. They appear to act quite in concert, and very evidently "understand' another.]

one

Chloroform a Motive Power.-The inhabitants of our port have just witnessed some experiments to move machinery by the vapor of chloroform. The experiment was made by the steamer Galilee, of 120-horse power, under the inspection of the Minister of Marine during his last visit. After making several turns in the harbonr, she went out into the roadstead, at the rate of not less than nine knots an hour. The success of the experiment was complete.-A Lorent Correspondent of the Lancet.

Railway "Acts."-It appears from a return ordered by the House of Commons, at the instance of Mr. Hume, of the several railway companies who obtained powers from Parliament, by acts passed since 1844, to make lines of railway, and who have either not made the same, or have not carried the same fully into effect-that the aggregate length of railway authorised to be made by them was 6,238 miles; the estimate of capital to complete the same £105,663,905, or at the rate of £16,939 per mile; the length of line open for traffic, 1.793; leaving 4,445 miles not made. The return is dated the 7th of July, 1853, and includes 150 companies, of which eighty-eight are stated as new companies, including twenty in connexion with existing or old companies. The Great Northern Railway Company is represented as having power to make 349 miles of railway, of which 2364 miles are completed, leaving 112 miles not made; the Great Western, as having had power to make 303 miles, of which only 59 miles are completed, leaving 2433 miles not made; the Lancashire and Yorkshire but 14 miles not made; the London and North Western authorised to make 157 miles, of which 57 ore completed, leaving 100 miles not made; the London and South Western 114 miles authorised, but not made; the London and Brighton 18 miles authorised, but not made; the Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire, 100 miles authorised, of which 32 miles are open, and 679 miles not made; the Midland, 241 miles authorised, 43 open, and 197 not made; the South Wales, 217 miles authorised, and 124 open, leaving 93 miles not made; the York and North Midland, 97 miles authorised, and 363 open, leaving 60 miles not made; the York, Newcastle, and Berwick, 195 miles autborised, and 107 completed, leaving 88 not made. Since the return was ordered,

130 miles of the railways in question were opened for traffic, making, with the 1,793 miles in the return, 1,923 miles open for traffic. In addition to these, there are 89 miles on the point of opening, or nearly completed, making, together, 2,012 completed out of the 6,238 miles authorised, leaving 4,2263 miles to be completed. Of these about 594 miles are in course of construction, a considerable portion of which will be completed before the end of next year, whieh will further reduce the mileage of uncompleted railways to 3.632 miles. On adding the 2,012 miles completed to the 594 miles in course of construction, they make 2,606 miles; and, calculating the cost of them at the average rate of those already executed in the United Kingdom-viz., £35,000 per mile-they would amount to £91,210,000, leaving £14,453,905 to complete the 3,632 miles of railway, which sum would not be sufficient to complete more than 400 or 500 miles of railway, leaving 3,100 miles unprovided for. During the past session of Parliament, several bills were passed, authorising the incorporation of new companies and fresh capital to be raised for constructing some of the above railways; for making which the former powers had expired, and the capital, in many cases, had been used for other purposes.-W. R.

summer,

Seasonable Hints to People having Small Gardens. The beauty of most of the plants which enlivened the flower-border with gay blossoms in isnow nearly over; and little remains to cheer us at this season except some late flowering Phloxes. The different varieties of Chinese Chrysanthemums will, however, scon be very ornamental; more especially when tied up so as to show their flowers to advantage. Cut down the stems of all plants that have done blooming. The roots of Dahlias will survive moderately severe winters in the open ground, if protected by a covering of dry litter or fern; but treated in this way, they do not flower so well; and on that account it is better to take them up as soon as their leaves and flowers have become blackened by frost. Leave about six or eight inches of the stem attached to the tuber. They may be preserved over winter in any dry cool place, where they will be free from frost. When the flowerborder is dug, and put in order for the winter (which should be done as soon as the leaves are fallen from the trees), any plants that have become too large should be reduced, and such as are not wanted may be removed altogether. Let decaying leaves and other refuse be taken to the manureheap. Any drainings from it should not be allowed to be lost; they should either be thrown back over the heap, or they should be made available for some useful purpose.-G.

The Advantages of a good Gravel Walk.In a season like the present, when heavy drenching rains succeed each other in quick succession, the comforts of a good gravel walk can scarcely be over-rated. It is, therefore, a serious drawback when paths are not good; and there are yet many that are not so, owing as much to the injudicious manner in which they have been made, as to the indifferent materials of which they are composed. But there are walks, likewise, with which, in ordi

nary weather, no fault can be found. These, after heavy rains, present a guttered and broken appearance. Such walks are those on hill sides, when the water is sure to break them up into gullies, more or less deep. Now to obviate this defect, many walks are provided with outlets at the sides, where the water is caught by an earthenware pipe, which conveys it to some subterranean channel. These outlets (or eyes as they are called) are, to say the least of them, but clumsy appurtenances to a walk; and they must be pretty numerous, otherwise the accumulation of water does all the mischief they are intended to remedy. Any plan, therefore, that would bind the walk together (so as to resist the flow of water, without, at the same time rendering them unpleasant to walk upon), must be an acquisition; provided it be capable of general application. The following, though pos sibly nothing new, will effect this object:-Pound some good lime (do not slake it); and convey some of it to the damaged walks. Then mix it with the gravel, in something like the proportion of one part of lime to four or five of gravel. A small quantity only ought to be mixed at a time with water, and then laid on immediately; beating and smoothing accordingly. Then another quantity; and so on, until the whole is done. The mass by this means becomes so consolidated, that it is years before water can have any effect upon it. The process is, in fact, what builders call "cementing," and it is one which I certainly like better than asphalte, besides being so much cheaper; for in districts where lime is plentiful and good, it may be used less sparingly. But it is not an expensive affair at any time; and to those who have been suffering from the effects of thunder showers, and other heavy rains, I advise a trial of a little of it in the most exposed places. It can hardly fail to answer.-V.

Nest and Incubation of the Swan.—Will any of your readers be so obliging as to give us some particulars of the nesting of the Swan,-telling us how many eggs she lays, and how long she sits? Little appears to be known about this,—although the swans are seen in such numbers upon our noble river Thames.-JOHN P., Wandsworth.

A LOVE SONG.

THE stars are climbing up the hill,
Like footsteps of the night;
And, like a child, the little rill

Runs whimpering out of sight.
It is an hour when love hath birth-
When hands and hearts are given;
An hour when stars are nearer earth,
And lovers nearer Heaven!

When visions of the future glow,
Despite the world's control;
And whispers, musical and low,
Steal softly o'er the soul!
An hour all other moments worth,

That life hath ever given;

When Heaven's own stars are nearer earth, And lovers nearer Heaven.

C. S.

Perfect contrivance, wondrous propagation, providential support, marvellous protectioninvite our contemplation and enforce our adoration. Who can look at nature, gaze upon the great world (great in itself, small creationally considered), glance at the glorious splendor of the sky, observe the beauty of the earth its fragrant plante, its exquisitely-formed animals, and not be impressed with a feeling of wonder magnified into adoration!

The most cursory glance at living-nature must call up feelings of profound astonishment. Look at the infinite variety of form, the endless complicity of construction-animation everywhere. These (large and small) are working out their path in the grand scheme of creation. The great Creative Power has stamped upon all-activity. WORK, commonly considered as the curse, is the blessing of life as life. All is work; the toil of the individual animal is merely a humble reflex of the work of Creation.

The conformations and varieties of animals are endless. On the earth, and under the earth; in the light element of the air, in the boisterous ocean--all is life! Everything teems with life. The very sunken rocks are mementoes of past-life; formed as they are of the natural tombs of previous inhabitants of the surface. The waters abound with life; from the wavy fish, and the shelly crustacea, to the pulpy medusa, and the microscopic monad. All is life, all is work-all the distant humble reflex of CREATION! The tiny coralline builds up continents, and shames man by the consistency of its labors. The bird builds its own house, and seeks for the materials, even while compelled to find its daily sustenance !

It is worthy of notice that, in all quadrupeds, the four extremities, more or less, contribute to the support and progression of the body; but it is only in man that they are wholly exempted from these offices. In the power of executing an infinite variety of movements and of actions, requiring either strength, delicacy, or precision-the human arm and hand, considered in their mechanism alone, are structures of unrivalled excellence. But, when viewed in relation to the intellectual energies to which they are subservient, they plainly reveal to us the Divine Source from which have emanated this exquisite workmanship, and these admirable adjustments, so fitted to excite the deepest veneration, and to fill us with never-ceasing wonder.

To conclude-how magnificent is life in its vastness and its minuteness! How incomprehensible to finite life is infinite Creation! Every animal has its assigned place in the grand scale of being. It cannot choose. cannot change. Yet life-finite life, is everywhere. In the scorching desert, at the icy

It

pole, on the mountain top, in the abysses of the deep. Mysterious life! so uncertain in the individual, so certain in the species.

Nature's power is indeed without limit. Wherever life can exist, there it is! We find it in diversified combinations, in endless perpetuity-all-subordinate to one scheme of general good.

WHO would not become a "Naturalist? "

THE DYING YEAR.

BY H. W. LONGFELLOW.

YES; the year is growing old,

And his eye is pale and blearedDeath, with frosty hand and cold, Plucks the old man by the beard, Sorely, sorely!

The leaves are falling, falling,

Solemnly and slow;
Caw! Caw! the rooks are calling,
It is a sound of woe,

A sound of woe!
Through woods and mountain passes
The winds, like anthems, roll ;
They are chanting solemn masses,
Singing; "Pray for this poor soul,
Pray,-Pray!"

And the hooded clouds, like friars,
Tell their beads in drops of rain,
And patter their doleful prayers;
But their prayers are all in vain,
All in vain!

There he stands in the foul weather,
The foolish, fond Old Year,
Crowned with wild flowers and with heather,
Like weak, despised Lear,

A king,-a king!

Then comes the summer-like day,
Bids the old man rejoice!
His joy! his last! O, the old man grey
Loveth that ever soft voice,
Gentle and low.

To the crimson woods he saith,

To the voice gentle and low Of the soft air, like a daughter's breath,— "Pray do not mock me so!

Do not laugh at me!" And now the sweet day is dead, Cold in his arms it lies; No stain from his breath is spread Over the glassy skies, No mist or stain!

Then, too, the Old Year dieth,

And the forests utter a moan,
Like the voice of one who crieth
In the wilderness alone:
"Vex not his ghost!"

Howl! howl! and from the forest
Sweep the red leaves away!
Would the sins that thou abhorrest,
O soul, could thus decay,

And be swept away!

A LEAF FROM MY DIARY.

THE HOSPITALS OF LONDON.

FULL MANY AN EARNEST and inquiring gaze is turned by the stranger in London on these noble institutions, whilst passing and re-passing them day after day. Could this gaze but penetrate those substantial walls, and reveal the mournful, soul-stirring, and alas! too often heart-sickening sights that are concealed within,-how would the most stoical shrink back! A thought would readily suggest itself,-"Why should I be exempted from the fearful category of agonies, endured by fellow creatures less able to pass the fierce ordeal than myself?" Such was my soliloquy whilst entering one of our large metropolitan hospitals; and now, let my reader accompany me whilst mentally I retraçe my steps, and again in thought enter "those substantial walls." See, what a noble building lies before us! But for its name one might fancy oneself in

one of our aristocratic mansions.

Passing through the corridor we are, by the courtesy of a medical gentleman, admitted to the receiving-room. Its interior and occupants have riveted our attention. We seem to start at our own footsteps, as they tread the echoless floor; and we feel relieved by being able to sit down, in order that our intrusion may not be so apparent.

On our right lies an infant child, outstretched upon the cushioned form; its breath drawn deeply with that peculiar sound accompanying intense pain; its eyes closed. A by-stander removing, we get a better view of that child's face; now we fear one eye is closed for ever. In a low tone, we inquire the cause of the fearful laceration. We find it was produced by the kick of a horse.

some surgical operation, and we behold the subject of it carried through on a litter.

Our friend now returns, with an apology for having kept us waiting so long; and he kindly offers himself as our Cicerone through the building. Gladly, most gladly do we quit this scene, fraught with so much fearful excitement, and change it for the less painful one of a stroll through the wards. What an air of perfect cleanliness prevails therein! and what order! Surely all that poor human nature requires for its physical comfort, is here provided; and as our eye wanders from ward to ward, from bed to bed, we cannot but bestow a heartfelt blessing upon the philanthropic individuals who are the supporters of such an institution!

Let us particularly notice the beds provided for persons afflicted with spinal complaints. The most wealthy in the land could have nothing better adapted for easing their sufferings; and as for nurses, the attendants here far surpass in tenderness and true feeling, four-fifths of the pampered, and over-fed nurses who live "in great houses." There are restorative agents too of the most expensive character, and these without limit, and medical advisers out of number.

Then how cheering to the eye, how grateful to the ear, to note the convalescents holding converse with their friends or relations,-rejoicing in the hope of soon being able to depart! How full of gratitude for the past, how full of hope for the future!

Our guide ever and anon courteously directs attention to some interesting case of surgery; but these I shall not dwell on, as it is not my wish to harrow up the feelings. Having now traversed the extent of the building which is open to public inspection, we descend to the ground floor. And who is this before us? It is a poor sufferer, who has just left the receiving-room,-after having (without a murmur) submitted to the amputation of three fingers! Look at his remaining thumb and little finger! Poor fellow! we shall indeed think of you, whilst in the full enjoyment of a perfect hand. May our gratitude for the preservation of such a gift, be in proportion to its great value!

A movement in the next room has now broken the spell that had fixed upon all beholders. The hurrying to and fro of the nurse, with the appearance of some of the medical staff, tell us of the conclusion of

tion, and purpose!" "Yes," said our Cicerone, with an air of professional pride, "if it required the wealth of a Croesus to purchase an instrument which could effectively add to the number, we would obtain it." He said this with an energy that delighted us.

He then told us that the wants of the