Notes On Literature Science And Art.

artistic composition on the initial itself ; some specimens of such treatment Avill be found in our illustrations . The illustrations for the most part speak for themselves ; the earlier ones Avill be found to exhibit all that strength and freedom of outline , combined ivifch ais almost quaint and very characteristic treatment , AA'hich distinguish the Anglo-Saxon era in England and the Caroline in Prance . They will be found useful stndies to beginners , whose hands have hardly acquired the lightness and delicacy of touch necessary for the styles of later periods . "

Mr . George Catlin , Avhose Notes of Travels amongst the North American Indians , Sfc ., made him a world-wide reputation , has noiv produced " a book for youth , " entitled Life amongst the Indians , ihuwhich he thus relates his first sight of a Iteil Indian : — " Just at this cool moment the deer came gliding through the bushes and into the lick again , much nearer than before . One little chill began ; but by gritting my teeth tiht togetherI succeeded in

g , getting a more steady aim , when—bang ! went the crack and the flash of a rifle , a little to the left of me ! and the deer , bounding a feiv "tods from the pool on to the left of an elevated bank , and tumbling upon the ground quite dead , showed me that I was too late !—My head and the breech of my rifle Avere instantly lowered a little more behind my stone breastwork , and then , oh , horrid ! ivhafc I had never seen beforenor ever dreamt of seeing in that lace—the

, p tall anel graceful form , but half bent forward , as he pushed his red and naked shoulders and dreAv himself over the logs and through the bushes , of a huge Indian ! trailing his rifle in his left hand , 2 nd drawing a large knife Avith the other , from its sheath in the hollow of his back , as he advanced to the carcase ofthe deer , Avhich had fallen much nearer to me than it was Avhen ifc was shot ! His rifle he leaned against a treeand the blade of his bloody knife

, , which he hael drawn across the neck of the deer , he clenched hetAveen his teeth , while he suspended the animal by the hind legs iron the limb of a tree to let ifc bleed ! ' Oh , horrid ! horrid !—Avhat—what a fate is mine ! Avhat am I to do ? ' No length of life could ever erase from my recollection the impression which this singular and unexpected scene made unon mv infant mind , or tlie

ease , the composure , and grace , AA'ith Avhich this phantom seated himself upon the trunk of a large and fallen tree , Aviping his huge knife upon the moss and laying ifc by his side , and drawing from his pouch his flint and steel , and spunk , ivifch Avhich he lit his pipe , and from Avhich ifc seemed , in a fcrw moments , as if he AA-. IS sending up thanks to the Great Spirit , in the blue clouds of smoke that were curling around him . Who will ever imagine thafc the thoughts that were passing through youthful brain in these exciting

my moments ; Por here Avas before me , the first time in my life , the living figure of a Sed Indian I " If he sees me , I'm lost ; he will scalp me anel devour me , and my dear mother Avill never know what became of me . " Prom the crack of that rifle , hoivever , I had Bot another chill , nor a shiver ; my feeling now ivas no longer the ebullition of childish anxiety , but the awfully flat aucl stupid ' one of sfread and fear ; and every muscle Avas quiet . Here AAMS ' perhaps death in

a moment' before me . My eyeballs , Avhich seemed elongated as though they ivere reaching halfway to him , were too tightly strained to tremble , and I could then have aimed afc the devil himself Avithout a tremor . An instant thought come to me , when his naked back and shoulders were turned towards me : 'My rifle is levelled , and I am perfectly cool ; a bullet would put an end io all my fears . ' And a better one followed when lie turned gently ¦ round and moved

his piercing black eyes over and about the ledge where I was sitting , and the blue streams ivere curling upwards from his mouth and his nostrils , for I saiv then ( though a child ) , in the momentary glance of thafc face , Avhat infant human nature eoald not fail to see , and none but human nature could express . I saw humanity . His pipe burned out ; the deer , with its fore and hind legs tied together , and slung upon his back , and taking his rifle in his hand , he silently anel quietly disappeared in the dusky forest , which at this time Ai'as taking the gloom of approaching night . "

A very appropriate memorial of the estimation in which the parishioners of Thirsk held their late parish clerk has just been erected 5 J the form of a stained glass AvindoAV in the fine old Gothic church where he had officiated for forty years . In the Marvels ofTond Life , by Mr . Henry . 1 . Slack , P . G . S ., just published , is the folloAving description of Nloscularia arnala

, si "tubicolar rotifer , " to be found in English ponds on fine leaved Avater-weed : — " KnoAving that the Floscules live in transparent gelatinous tubes , such an object was carefully looked for ; hut hi this instance , as is not uncommon , ifc was perfectly free from sstraueoivs matter , and possessed nearly the same refractive power as the Avater , so that displaying it to advantage required some little trouble in the Avay of careful focussing , and many experiments as to

the best angle at Avhich the mirror should be turned to direct the light . When all Avas accomplished , it Avas seen that the Ploscule had her abode in a clear transparent cylinder , like a thin confectioner ' s jar , Avhich she did not touch except at the bottom , to Avhich her foot Avas attached . Lying beside her in the bottle Avere three large eggs , and the slightest shock given to the table induced her to draw back in evident alarm . Immediately afterivards she sloAvly

protruded a dense bunch of the fine long hairs , Avhich quivered in the light , and shone Avith a delicate bluish green lustre , here and there varied by opaline tints . The hairs Avere thrust out in a mass someivhat after the mode in Avhich the old-fashioned telescope hearth-brooms Avere made to put forth their bristles . As soon as they Avere completely everted , together Avith the upper portion of the Ploscule , six lobes gradually separated , causing the hairs to fall on all sides in a graceful shoiA-er , and Aihen the process ivas complete

they remained perfectly motionless , in six holloiv fan-shaped tufts , one being attached to each lobe . Some internal ciliary action , quite distinct from the hairs , and ivhich has never been precisely understood , caused gentle currents to floiv towards the mouth in the middle of the lobes , and from the motion of the gizzard , imperfectly seen through the integument , and from fche rapid rilling ofthe stomach Avith particles of all hues , ifc Avas plain that captivity had not destroyed the Plocule ' s appetite , and thafc the drop of Avater in the live-box contained a good supply of food . "

& od and Man is the title of a volume of poems recently issued by an anonymous author . Hope heing a cardinal Masonic virtue , the folloiving passage may interest our readers : — " Hope is the lamp of mercy ; far above , Prom heaA-en ' s high toiver , she sheds her faithful light , To guide earth's ' nighfced Avanderers on their road j Oh , by her radiance seek the narroAv Avay ,

Or e'er the curtains of her AvindoAV , closed , Shut out the world to darkness , death , despair—In that dread outer darkness there shall be Weeping and wailing , gnashing of fierce teeth , And rending groans from agony ' s wrung heart . When the dead everlasting morn shall rise—Shall from its glorious bed burst blinding forth , And doivn the dazzled clouds ivifch radiant flood

Stream on the naked secrets of all hearts , Dragging the marbled , prostrate criminal , Conscience-condemned , to justice and to judgment , Who Avill choose then ivhafc he has chosen noiv ?"

The office of Conservator of the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons of England is now vacant . A course of twenty lectures on Political Economy has just been commenced by Professor AA / aley , afc University College , London . Mr . James A . Wade , in his neivly-published History of Melrose , informs ns , that afc the latter part of the thirteenth century , "The

convent possessed more than one hundred saddle horses , and as many more for agricultural and other purposes , and threefold the number of both in outlying mares and foals . The monks had tivo thousand acres of arable land , and one thousand acres of meadow in cultivation , under their OAVII surveillance . They had also fifteen thousand acres of forest , common , and pasturage lands . They had herdsmen , hinds , and labourers , at hired rates from a penny to

twopence per day , besides a numerous staff of lay brethren . They had two hundred cows , three thousand head of oxen , eighty bulls , nearly as many calves under one year old , and upwards of twenty thousand sheep . They had also deer , swine , capons , and other poultry . At this time they bought , sold , and exchanged lands . They advanced money by Avay of mortgage , on the security of lands or buildings . They bestoived lands on their brotherhood or those of the same order . They had accessfree of tollage and duesto

, , markets all over the kingdom . They bred , bought , and sold horses , COAVS , oxen , sheep , and pigs . They sold fish , fruit , and grain of all kinds . They exported from Berwick tiventy thousand fleeces of Avool , or three thousand sacks , in a single year , the produce of their own flocks . They made butter and cheese , and sold both . They had fishings in the principal rivers , and even on the sea-coast . They had potteries and tile-ivorks , public mills and ovens or bakehouses ; church livings and benefices in all directions . They had

forty granges and herd-houses situated in various localities : private property In distant counties . " The following also is of interest : — "The three monasteries of Melros , Melrose , and Dryburgh were built of red sandstone obtained in the district , known in ancient times as the quarry of Dryburgh . Its chief peculiarity Avas , that it cut soft in the bosom of the strata , but afterwards , on exposure to fche atmosphere , became so hard ( not brittle ) , as to preserve indelibly the severe and artistic lines of the sculptor ' s chisel , and even now exhibits bufc feiv traces of decomposition , after tbe lapse of centuries . The ancient quarry is no longer worked . In the