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observations on the best plan of educating the Irish peasantry, divided into three branches, religious, literary, and prac tical. As to the first, some persons would forbid the use of the Bible in schools, unless accompanied by the Catholic exposition of controverted passages: others would present it to Catholic children with a Protestant exposition; and a third set would introduce it without any note or commentary. I am persuaded,' says this writer, it would have been as easy for the Marquis Wellesley in India to introduce animal food into an Hindoostanee repast, as to teach any religious doctrine to the Catholic peasantry in opposition to their own church. Reading, writing, and parts of arithmetic, are all that can be required under what is termed the literary division; and it is to the practical branch that we would call particular attention, being much inclined to think that it is very insuf ficiently managed in England as well as in Ireland.

With the following judicious remarks on this subject we feel ourselves compelled to close the present article; again recom> mending the tracts which introduce it to those, particularly, in whose hands the destinies of Ireland are placed:

Next to a want of a good system of morality, ranks the want of systematic order, punctuality, and methodized arrangement, among the poor. This defect is usually corrected by a great increase in the value of labour in countries in an advanced state of civilization; but it may be much promoted, or, indeed, receive its birth, from the application of maxims to practice in the course of early education. Two instances of those defects are very prominent, among the many that are discoverable in the Irish the Irish peasantry -the want of an apt division of labour, and the ignorance of the value of small portions of time, and, I may add, of money. Arithmetical calculations exercised by the children, and well pointed to those objects, may be resorted to with effect: but withbut the introduction of works generally in schools, the practical illustration will be still wanted. It is not easy to devise works fit for male children to practise at schools, without requiring too -much time to learn, or too much expense in teaching. It is therefore necessary for that purpose to choose manufactures, the learning of which is of easy acquirement, the raw material of which is inexpensive, and the use of which is general and applicable even to the peasant's cottage. The advantage of a judicious division of labour, as well as of cleanliness, may be exemplified in almost any manufacture. The value of small portions of time may also be suggested by arithmetical calculations of the total yearly amount of diurnal fragments; but it may be most usefully exemplified in their practical employments. The art of passing rapidly from one species of occupation to another; without that idle chasm which separates the foregoing from the succeeding employment of an Irish manufacturer or labourer, can also be inculcated by similar practice. The inertness of the disposition of an

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Irishman,

Irishman, and his inability to appreciate the value of time, (occasioned, as already observed, by the cheapness of labour,) will always leave a wide vacuum, particularly if the near approach of Sunday or an holiday furnishes an additional excuse for indulging in this propensity. To the success of inculcating this practical education, nothing would more conduce than interesting the country schoolmasters in its adoption, by proportioning their profits to its success. Prizes also might usefully be given, for the best essay on such subjects written by a schoolmaster of a given district; for the peasantry of that district would pay more attention to such a tract, however defective in style, than to the productions of Adam Smith himself. The advantage also of instructing the teacher himself, by his reflections on the subject, could be best attained in this way.

The species of employment, however, which would be most useful in schools of this kind, would be a miniature system of husbandry. This might be effected in the following manner, at little or no expence. If the endowment of a plot of ground could not be obtained, the parents of each child might be charged for his education the usual rates of the country, instead of nominally enjoying a free school; with this the rent of a field might be paid, and a certain small portion be allotted to each boy to cultivate, principally with green crops and potatoes, as affording practice at all seasons; a regular diary to be kept, as a journal of the hours and kinds of labour, quantity of seed, &c.; the produce sent to market, accompanied by the grower himself; the father reimbursed his expences; and the balance given to the child.

'I have rarely known a peasant boy, or farmer's son, who evinced an early taste for embellishing the cottage in which he was reared, or its garden, that failed of becoming a successful farmer or expert labourer; and this taste is of easy acquirement, in the manner I have proposed. I am also convinced, that the earlier a peasant's child is taught to acquire money, paid at once into his own hand, for the produce of his own labour, as in this case, (however trifling the amount,) the better chance there is of his industrious exertions in life, and the less dangerous the period between boyhood and manhood is likely to prove.'

We ought to add that the topic of all others most elaborately, earnestly, and we may add learnedly argued, is that of tythes. The author, having drawn a most frightful picture -but drawn it from life-of the oppression produced by the present exactions, first shews that the constitutional right of control over tythes exists in the legislature, and has been exercised on various occasions; secondly, that it ought now to be exercised in diminishing the overgrown incomes of ecclesiastics; and, lastly, that not merely the mode of collection but the source of these revenues should be changed. This subject must be considered by the legislature ere long; and many useful remarks on it will be found in the anonymous volume before us.

ART.

ART. IX. Memoirs of the Wernerian Natural History Society. Vol. IV. For the Years 1821-22. Part I. With Ten Engravngs. 8vo. pp. 260. 10s. 6d. Boards. Longman and Co. 1822.

WE E have to commence our report of the present continuation of these Memoirs, by intimating to our readers that a half volume will in future appear every six months, so as to obviate the inconvenience of more protracted delay in publishing the essays of contributors. The first of the series of papers before us is intitled,

On the Crystallizations of Copper-Pyrites. By W. Haidinger, Esq., of Freyberg. Mr. Haidinger's object is to prove that the crystallizations of copper-pyrites cannot be legitimately deduced from the regular octahedron, or from any other form of the tessular system, but that it properly belongs to the pyramidal system of Mohs. The analytical illustration of this position, however, involves an incessant reference to the plates.

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Notice of the Attempts to reach the Sea by Mackenzie's River, since the Expedition of Sir Alexander Mackenzie. It may be in the recollection of such of our readers as take an interest in remote expeditions, that, since the period of Sir Alexander Mackenzie's voyage, two attempts have been made to reach the sea in the same direction; namely, by Mr. Livingston, in 1799, which terminated fatally for that gentleman and his party, as they were overpowered by the arrows of the Eski maux; and in 1809, by Mr. Clarke, who, to avoid a similar disaster, found it prudent to retrace his route. The information obtained from such abortive expeditions is necessarily very scanty and defective; and the amount of the present anonymous communication is comprized in a few sentences. There is reason to presume that Sir Alexander Mackenzie either saw the sea, or had approached within a short distance of it. Rocky mountains range along the western side of Mackenzie's River, at a greater or smaller distance from its banks, in some places receding to the distance of 70 miles, at others approaching the very verge of the stream, and at one spot, below the Great Bear Lake River, a continuance of the same ridge appears on the eastern side of the same river.'

The Ovis Montana, or Argali, a species of Wild Antelope, and a large variety of the Rein-deer, frequent these mountains.

The natives make knives of a white translucent stone, which they detach in large sharp-edged flakes, by greasing a portion of the rock, and kindling a fire upon it. They also dig up an edible unctuous earth, similar, probably, to that which is found at the mouth of the Orinooko; and use as a pigment a mineral substance, which they find at the bottom of a small subterraneous stream. It is in the form of round, flattish, ponderous

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grains,

grains, of a shining black colour, with a greasy feel, and adheres to the skin only when mixed with grease. A large specimen of native silver was also found in that neighbourhood in 1796. Near the Great Bear Lake River, there are some coal-mines on fire. And there are several fountains of mineral-pitch, one in particular, which rises in the channel of the river, at a spot which, from that circumstance, is named the Flaming Point.'

The narrative of Capt. Franklin, which is reported to be in a state of great forwardness for publication, will probably furnish us with more satisfactory details relative to these unfrequented latitudes.

Geological Notices, and Miscellaneous Remarks, relative to the District between the Jumna and Nerbuddah; with an Appendix, containing an Account of the Rocks found in the Baitool Valley in Berar, and on the Hills of the Gundwana Range; together with Remarks made on a March from Hussingabad to Sangar, and from thence to the Ganges. By Dr. Adam, of Calcutta. In his line of march, Dr. Adam appears to have been no idle or indifferent spectator of the structure and aspect of the circumjacent countries: but a more deliberate survey, than was compatible with his professional duties, would have imparted to his observations greater extent, precision, and consistency. This remark particularly applies to his notes in the Appendix; though he has evidently turned his passing opportunities to the best account. After having crossed the Jumna, he found the light-coloured micaceous soil of the plains of Hindustan exchanged for a dull black earth, more impregnated with argil and vegetable recrements, which continues nearly the whole way to Besseramgunge. In the vicinity of Banda, a range of small conical or rather pyramidal hills runs from N.W. to SE. On ascending one of them, it was found to be composed of a reddish, small-grained granite, disposed in irregular blocks, of great size, some of which were scaling off at the surface, but most of them were very compact and entire. About 12 miles from Banda, a more extensive groupe of detached granitic hills crosses the country in different directions, shooting abruptly from the plain. At Kurtul, masses of bluish trap-rock are found; and a superficial stratum of the same material is traced over the granite for a considerable way up the hill, but without presenting any very distinct arrangement. An upper formation of sand-stone is first observed beyond Kurtul, particularly at the Fugueers' hill. The fort of Adjyghur, also, like that of Callinger, placed on the summit of an insulated hill, owes its principal strength to a tabular face of sand-stone rock. Within the walls of these forts, fine remains of antient Hindu architecture are observable. The Ghaut,

Ghaut, or Pass of Besseramgunge, incumbered with masses of granite, trap, and sand-stone, conducts to table-land, elevated about 1200 feet above the plain of Bundlecund; chiefly composed of a ferruginous gravel, in which are the diamondmines of Tonng Punnah. The diamonds are generally found at a few feet beneath the surface, and obtained by repeated washings and ransacking of the soil: but the employment seems to be far from lucrative. It is remarkable,' says Dr. Adam, that the gravel-conglomerate should form the matrix of the diamond in Asia and America, and, I believe, in every quarter of the globe where the gem is found; while almost all the other precious stones are included in solid rock, of which they constitute, as it were, an integrant part, or are found along with its debris.' We suspect, however, that this allegation is somewhat too unqualified; since the specimen of the matrix of diamond brought to London by Dr. Heyne from Banagam Pally, in the Decan, appears to be of trap-formation, and a variety of amygdaloid; while another from Brazil, and now deposited in the Imperial Museum at Vienna, is said to be a fine grained sand-stone.

For the Doctor's ingenious remarks on the site of Palibothra, on the calcareous concretion called Kunkur, and on the fine statuary marble quarried on the banks of the Nerbuddah, &c., we must refer to the paper itself; which, within the compass of a few pages, contains much to awaken the curiosity of the geological reader.

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Notices regarding the Fossil Elephant of Scotland. By Robert Bald, Civil Engineer, &c. &c. Of the elephantine tusks here described, the first was revealed in the course of digging the Union Canal, on the estate of Sir Alexander Maitland Gibson, of Clifton-hall; and in a description of soil which Mr. Bald terms the old alluvial cover, usually consisting of sand, gravel, clay, and boulder stones, and not hitherto recognized as a repository of organic remains. This tusk was perfectly fresh, weighed when washed 25 lbs. avoirdupoise, and measured 39 inches in length and 13 in circumference at the middle. The other was discovered in 1817, near the rivulet called Carmel, in Ayrshire, on ground corresponding in composition to recent alluvial soil. It measured three feet five inches and a half in length, about 18 inches in circumference, and weighed 20 lbs. Its interior substance was much decomposed, and resembled rotten wood. Beside it lay another tusk, too much decayed for preservation. Both were found in a horizontal position, at 174 feet beneath the surface, with several small bones near them, and marine shells in the dark coloured earth. As the spot in which the bones were deposited

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