he would be leading a life very unlike what a Christian's should be. Since, then, we are bound to use our own natural faculties in the search after all truth that is within the reach of those faculties, most especially ought we to try, by their own proper evidence, questions which form no part of revelation properly so called, but which are incidentally alluded to in the Sacred Writings. If we appeal to the Scriptures on any such points, it should be merely as to an ancient book, not in reference to their sacred character; in short, not as Scripture."

We are inclined to attribute the defects in this volume, to an attempt in the author to found that into a system, or to make that a basis for his theory, which is itself yet imperfect, and in its infancy. From phrenological research much information connected with the relations between matter and mind has been obtained, and it may be said with this science, as Lord Bacon said of knowledge generally, that a little of it inclineth man's mind to atheism, but that a copious draft of it brings him back again to Providence and Deity. So we trust that while the infancy of this interesting science may be harrassed with perplexities and difficulties common to childhood, that when it rises into mature strength, it will find these difficulties removed, and that Scripture testimony and religious truth will be found to accord with it naturally, without the necessity of an endeavour to strain them to this purpose. We take our leave of the volume as one which contains much truth, much sound philosophy, and much practical religion: it will be of extensive usefulness, and is calculated, in spite of its defects, to be of important benefit to the community.

AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLS.

(From a Correspondent.)

WE have had occasion to speak of Agricultural Schools, as likely to prove instruments for educating the humbler classes of society, in a manner to ensure their own happiness, and the welfare of the community of which they are members. The peasantry, by such a plan, will be trained to perform those duties which will more peculiarly belong to them in after life; while those vices, which have been engendered by the operation of an unphilosophical system of public charity, will be met by appropriate remedies.

At schools of the nature under consideration, when properly constituted, children will acquire the habit of patient industry, a knowledge of the value of labour, from the circumstance of being paid for their work an acquaintance with the right to property, from having some of their own to protect-and a feeling of independence, from the circumstance of gradually emancipating themselves, by their own exertions, from a tax upon the industry of any person but their own for support-while, besides, a portion of intellectual information, they will acquire a skill that will enable them to turn their resources, whatever hereafter they may be, to the greatest possible advantage.

But it is not in the instance of the peasantry alone that we consider this description of education as desirable-to mechanics and others, who, although not concerned in agricultural labour, still get their

livelihood by their hands, it is even of greater value than to the peasantry. In the supplement of the Enclycopædia Britannica there is an article upon education, containing the following passage:-" Dr. Smith made the important remark, that the labour in which the great body of the people are employed, has a tendency to grow less and less favourable, as civilization and the arts proceed. The division and subdivision of labour is the principal cause. This confines the attention of the labourer to so small a number of objects, and so narrow a circle of ideas, that the mind receives not the varied exercise and that portion of aliment, on which almost every degree of mental excellence depends; when the performance of a few simple operations in one fixed invariable course, all exercise of ingenuity, all adaptation of means to ends, is wholly excluded and lost, as far as disease can destroy the faculties of the mind. The minds, therefore, of the great body of the people are in danger of really degenerating, while the other elements of civilization are advancing, unless care is taken by the other instruments of education, to countervail those effects which the simplification of the manual process has a tendency to produce."

By reducing the number of acts to be performed by a single individual, skill has been increased, and time has been saved, to such an extent, that countries in which the subdivision of labour has not been carried as far as it has in England, have not the slightest chance of competing with her in the production of manufactures. But it must be self-evident to all, that if a man's attention be entirely engaged in the performance of one single operation, which after a time, he performs mechanically, without thought or reflection, the powers of the intellect, as they have not any exercise, can receive but little development: the workmen engaged in the same room may talk together, but unless they have objects presented to them as food for reflection, their conversation can be but empty: if they have nothing to do which involves the consideration of an end-if they have not themselves to seek the means of attaining it-the powers of the intellect from continually lying dormant, must at last, lose all energy. A short time back, Mr. Faraday, in an able lecture, introduced the subject of steel pen making to the consideration of the members of the Royal Institution: the workmen from a celebrated manufactory were in the theatre, with their instruments, and the process was performed before the company. The business of one man was, by the aid of a particular instrument, to cut out of a sheet of steel small pieces of a particular form, this he did with all the rapidity and precision which the continued practice of performing one operation over and over and over again enabled him to do. A second man as rapidly doubled these pieces into the form of a pen, while a third as rapidly cut the split in them. Supposing that these three individuals performed no other work beyond that which I have here allotted to each of them, for the greater proportion of their lives, and at the end of each day, as having performed their duty, indulged in idleness, in what state of civilization would each of them actually be in, while conjointly they manufactured steel pens at a cheaper rate than any other manufacturers in the

world, and the product of their labour found its way to every region? But, supposing that, after having performed their daily labour, they spent their evenings in reading. Reading is a very delightful and instructive employment, but unless it be accompanied by an actual acquaintance with things it is of little value-witness the pitiable, the helpless ignorance which is so continually manifested by persons who have devoted their whole lives to study; and it arises from the circumstance of their not having an acquaintance with things. The Allmighty never intended that we should have an existence in imagination alone; he has surrounded us with a beautiful nature which is capable of improving and growing more beautiful under our hands; which can be made to administer to our wants, to gratify our senses, and to fill us with delight-a nature that we can see, and smell, and touch, palpable to our senses-that we can measure, and weigh, and analyze the spontaneous productions of which we can modify, and adapt to our use and necessities; thereby developing our intellect, and greatly aiding in placing us in that high position which, as men, we aspire to. For the purpose of counteracting the peculiar injury that is inflicted upon the workmen, by the great subdivision of labour, nothing appears to us so efficacious as Agricultural Schools: for not only will children obtain there a considerable portion of practical knowledge, but the man will have grown up with tastes which, although they must from necessity perform the mechanical labour which we have been considering, will always enable them to counteract its injurious effects by the addition of other employments, when the task of the day is over.

"The late discussions on the Factory Bill," says Dr. Combe, in a little work, entitled the Elements of Physiology, as applied to education, and which we cannot too strongly recommend to our readers, "have demonstrated by an unassailable mass of evidence, that many circumstances, rarely considered as injurious, because they have no immediate effect in suddenly destroying life by acute diseases, have, nevertheless, a marked influence in slowly undermining health, and shortening human existence. There are trades, for example, at which workmen may labour for fifteen or twenty years, without having been a month confined by disease during all that time, and which are therefore said to be healthy trades; and yet when the investigation is pur sued a little further, it is found that the general health is so steadily, although imperceptibly encroached upon, that scarcely a single workman survives his fortieth or fiftieth year." The dust floating in the air in cotton manufactories and spinning mills, and produced in many trades, inhaled into the lungs, produces irritation in their structure, and sooner or later, leads to consumption; while the sedentary habits necessary for some pursuits, and the contracted position of the body for others, the poisonous atmosphere in many, all tend to induce disease, unless their effects be counteracted by employment in the open air for a portion of the day. To the health, intellectual and bodily, of the manufacturer, the system of education adopted at the Fellenberg and other good Agricultural schools, is of greater importance than to the peasant. To the peasant it affords the means of in

creasing the comforts of life and dignifying existence-to the manufacturer it gives life itself.

LESSONS ON NUMBERS.

The object of the following lessons is simply to attach real ideas to otherwise abstract numbers. It will readily appear, that the illustrations given are only a few out of many that might have been adduced. It will be the business of the teacher to vary and extend them, and to take the information on the figures as texts, for short lectures on the subjects themselves. We shall, on a future occasion, supply similar illustrations to the multiplication table :

THE ADDITION AND SUBTRACTION TABLE.

On Number 2.

1 and 1 are 2; take 1 from 2, remains 1. We have 2 eyes, 2 ears, 2 hands, 2 feet, 2 thumbs. Birds have 2 wings, brigs have 2 masts; 2 farthings make 1 halfpenny, 2 halfpennies 1 penny; 2 gloves are a pair, 2 shoes are a pair, 2 stockings are a pair; 2 halves make a whole one; 2 pints make a quart; January is the first month, February is the second month; nouns have 2 numbers, the singular and the plural; animals with 2 legs are called bipeds; 2 angels sat in the sepulchre of Christ (John xx. 12.).

On Number 3.

1 and 2 are 3, 2 and 1 are 3; take 1 from 3, remain 2; take 2 from 3, remains 1. We have 3 knuckles on each finger; 3 barley-corns make 1 inch; 3 feet, 1 yard; 3 scruples, 1 dram; 3 hogsheads, 1 tun of wine; 3 kilderkins, 1 hogshead of beer; 3 barrels, 1 butt; 3 months, a quarter of a year. Jonah was 3 days in the whale's belly; Jesus Christ rose from the dead the third day; March is the third month; 3 children of Israel were put in the burning fiery furnace; a triangle has 3 corners and 3 sides. There are 3 different kinds of things: animals, vegetables, and minerals. There are 3 principal burning mountains in Europe: Hecla, in Iceland; Etna, in Sicily; and Vesuvius, in Naples. There are 3 curved solids: a sphere, a cone, and a cylinder. Nouns have 3 genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter. There are 3 kinds of verbs in grammar: active, passive, and neuter. There are 3 articles in grammar, called a, an, and the. Nouns have 3 cases: nominative, possessive, and objective. There are 3 degrees of comparison: positive, comparative, and superlative.

On Number 4.

1 and 3 are 4, 2 and 2 are 4, 3 and 1 are 4; take 3 from 4, remains 1; take 2 from 4, remain 2; take 1 from 4, remain 3. There are 4 fingers on each hand; 4 farthings make one penny. Quadrupeds have 4 legs. A square has 4 corners and 4 sides. There were 4 Evangelists, who wrote the gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. 4 pence are one groat; 4 weeks are one month; 4 quarters (of 28lbs. each) are one hundred weight; 4 nails are one quarter of a yard; 4 quarters are one yard; 4 quarts are one gallon; 4 hogsheads are one tun of wine; 4 firkins are one barrel of ale; 4 bushels are one coomb of corn. There are 4 seasons: spring, summer, autumn, and winter. 4 roods make one acre of land. There are 4 kinds of animal motions: to walk, to fly, to swim, and to creep. There are 4 points of the compass: east, west, north, and south. There are 4 quarters of the globe: Europe, Asia, Africa, and America-4 kinds of tastes: sweet, sour, salt, and bitter-4 stages of human life: infancy, youth, manhood, and old age. April is the 4th month in the year.

On Number 5.

1 and 4 are 5, 2 and 3 are 5, 3 and 2 are 5, 4 and 1 are 5. Take 1 from 5, remain 4; take 2 from 5, remain 3. We have 5 toes on each foot. The 5 first books in the Bible are called the Pentateuch. There are 5 senses: seeing, hearing, feeling, smelling, and tasting. There were 5 foolish and 5 wise virgins. There are 5 zones: 2 friged zones, where it is very cold; 1 torrid zone, where it is very hot; and 2 temperate zones, where the climate is moderate. There are 5 great oceans: 1, the Northern; 2, the Southern; 3, the Indian; 4, the Atlantic; 5, the Pacific;-5 quarters are one English ell; 5 yards are one pole, in long measure; 5 shillings are a crown; 5 is the 20th part of one hundred. Christ fed the multitude with 5 barley-loaves and two small fishes. May is the 5th month in the year.

On Number 6.

6

1 and 5 are 6, 2 and 4 are 6, 3 and 3 are 6, 4 and 2 are 6, 5 and 1 are 6; 6d. is a shilling; 6 farthings are 1d.; 6 feet, one fathom; flies have 6 legs; 6 tierce, one tun; 6 quarters, one French ell. God created the world in 6 days. Things have 6 different qualities: long, short, thick, thin, rough, and smooth. There are 6 principal metals: gold, silver, copper, iron, lead, and tin. months make half a year. There are 6 vowels: a ei ouy. There are 6 tenses of the verb: 1, present; 2, imperfect; 3, perfect; 4, preterperfect; 5, first future; and 6, second future tense; 61⁄2 tod make one wey of wool. There are 6 millions of inhabitants in the Netherlands. There are 6 mechanical powers: 1, the lever; 2, the wheel and axle; 3, the pulley; 4, the inclined plane; 5, the wedge; and 6, the screw. June is the 6th month in the year.

On Number 7.

1 and 6 are 7, 2 and 5 are 7, 3 and 4 are 7, 6 and 1 are 7, 5 and 2 are 7, 4 and 3 are 7. There are 7 days in the week; the 7th is the sabbath, to be kept holy.-7 farthings are 1åd.; 7 lbs. are the 16th part of a cwt.; 7 lbs. make one clove of wool. There are 7 primary colours, as seen in the rainbow: 1, red; 2, orange; 3, yellow; 4, green; 5, blue; 6, indigo; and 7, violet. There are 7 different kinds of sound, or notes in music: called, a b c d e f g. The Roman penny (denarius) was worth 74d. There are 7 primary planets: 1, Mercury; 2, Venus; 3, the Earth; 4, Mars; 5, Jupiter; 6, Saturn; and 7, Herschel. 7 Sins are declared an abomination to the Lord (Prov. vi. 16.). Christ told Peter not only to forgive his brother 7 times, but 70 times 7 (Mat. xviii. 22.). Solomon was 7 years building the temple (1 Kings, vi. 38.). Joseph foretold 7 years of plenty, and 7. of famine (Gen. xli. 25, 27.). Nebuchadnezzar was years mad (Dan. iv. 16.). July is the 7th month in the year.

On Number 8.

7 and 1 are 8, 6 and 2 are 8, 5 and 3 are 8, 2 and 6 are 8, 3 and 5 are 8, 4 and 4 are 8, 1 and 7 are 8; a figure with 8 sides is called an octagon, 8 farthings are 2d., 8d. is two-thirds of a shilling, 8 pecks are 1 strike, 8 bushels are 1 quarter of corn, 8 gallons are 1 bushel, 8 drachms are 1 ounce in apothecaries' weight, 8 pints are 1 gallon, 8 lbs. are 1 stone of meat or fish, 8 furlongs are 1 mile. Turkey has 8 millions of inhabitants, Siam has 8 millions. There are 8 beatitudes, or blessings, in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. v. 3-10.): 1, on the poor in spirit; 2, on those that mourn; 3, on the meek; 4, on those that hunger and thirst after righteousness; 5, on the merciful; 6, on the pure in heart; 7, on the peacemakers; 8, on those persecuted for righteousness. There were 8 people saved in the ark (Gen. viii.). August is the 8th month in the year.