Notes On Literature, Science And Art.

it does at present , either animal or vegetable , and our so-called "Agricultural Societies , " which abound noAv in profusion all over the country , ought to become teachers of both the theory and practice of the important art of agriculture , instead

of mere organizations for sliOAving fat animals once a year . The farce of creating a newly-appointed judge a serjeant-at-law , because none else could be legally made judges , being noAv p layed outand the dignity of

serjeant-at-, law not only no longer required , but no more barristers to be so created , Serjeant ' s Inn , Chancery Lane , Avill soon also become a thing of the past , being about to be offered for public sale by auction . The " Whitby Gazette " has just

published thirty-four verses composed by the late Dr . George Young , the historian of Whitby , written Avhen he Avas . about arriving at manhood , but never before printed . Sternhold and Hopkins , Avith their coadjutorDean Whittinghammiht

, , g have been the Avriter ' s model . The subject is the death of his eldest brother , John , who died Nov . 13 th , 1797 , at CharlestoAvn , South Carolina .

" His mother ' s first-born , well-beloved , His father ' s rising joy ; They hoped he would comfort old age ; Death did their hopes destroy . " Dr . Young , Avho had not a particle of

poetry in his matter-of-fact and theological mind , did well to abandon verse-making for antiquities , AVhere he Avas really at home . Mr . Home has done Avell to preserve the verses as a fragment toAvards the learned antiquary ' s biography , but feAV

judges of poetry will endorse his statement that they are "beautifully and patheticall y" written . _ A " soap mine " is said to have been discovered on the coast of California . Some of the American and English

papers are circulating a staggering statement on the dangerous properties of lamp black . According to them , a drop of water , a bit of grease , a sprinkle of oil , or the touch of a sAveaty hand , will set lamp black into a sudden conflagration . The statement appeared to me so incredible , 'hat I at once tried it ; but added a drop ° f water to one portion of lamp black ,

and a drop of oil to another , Avithout the least signs of either fire or smoke ; so that I thought of the old English proverb : — " It Avill be a fire when it burns , as the fox said Avhen it [ did something ] among the snoAV . "

According to a paper read before the directors of the Highland Society , by Mr . William Gome , of Rait Lodge , Trinity , Edinburgh , Ave are likely to have a new plant brought into cultivation , for feeding cattle and making paper , tAvo important objects in the present day . Mr . Gorrie says : — " A selected variety of the tree malloAv , Lavatera arborea , the natural habitats for the normal form of which in

Scotland are the Bass Rock , Avith other islets of the Firth of Forth , and Ailsa Craig , has an ordinary height varying from six to ten feet , but it can be grown to more than twelve feet . It is a biennial , but the first year it may be planted after

the removal of any early crops , and matured in that following . From the limited experiments I have been enabled to make , its productions in seed , bark , and heart AVOOC ! are estimated at about four tons of each per acre . Chemical analyses

by Dr . Stevenson Macadam and by Mr . Falconer King of its seeds show these to be fully equal in feeding properties to oilcake , the present value of Avhich is about £ 10 per ton , and paper-makers offer the same price at least for the bark that' they now pay for esparto grass , Avhich is also about £ 10 per ton , thus shoAving a return

of about £ 80 per acre for seed and bark . In various parts throughout the Avestern coasts and Orkney Islands the malloAv has invariably been found to thrive Avell : and I feel confident that it might there be made to yield higher pecuniary returns

from hitherto comparatively Avorthless ground than ordinary agricultural crops do in the best cultivated districts of Britain . " TheCleveland Literaryand Philosophical Society ( the meeting for the formation of

AA'hicli , some years ago , I had the honour of being the second speaker at ) have just opened their handsome new hall at Middlesborough with a really creditable Fine Art and Science Exhibition , Avhich will he closed before this meets the eyes of my readers . Many articles of interest have been lent from the South Kensington