less numerous than those with which we are already acquainted; and the fecundity of these Infusoria is so astonishing that whole mountains consist almost entirely of their remains :

"Take an example from the most minute of living beings to which our knowledge at present extends-such as the Monas Crepusculum-and compute the number which could occupy the bulk of a single grain of mustard seed, the diameter of which does not exceed the tenth of an inch it is hardly conceivable that within that narrow space eight millions of active living creatures can exist, all richly endowed with the organs and faculties of animal life! Such, however, is the astonishing fact" (3).

"Ehrenberg informs us that he insulated a single specimen of Hydatina Senta, and kept it in a separate vessel for eighteen days; that during this interval it laid four eggs per day, and that these young, at two days old, lay a like number; so that, when circumstances are favourable, one million individuals are obtained from one specimen in ten days; that on the eleventh day this brood will amount to four millions, and on the twelfth day to sixteen millions" (82).

Some persons have supposed that Infusoria have been produced by the application of electricity or spontaneous generation, and careful experiments have been made to determine this point. One of the most decisive was that of M. Schultz (recorded at page 55), which proves that Infusoria cannot be produced in the way supposed; and that it is probable those experimenters, like Mr. Crosse, who thought they produced them, had not been sufficiently careful in the apparatus they employed.

Mr. Pritchard also shows that the line of separation between plants and animals is never passed; that it is not true that plants under any circumstances pass into animals, or vice versa; but the mistake had arisen from the great tenacity of life in these little creatures, so that they may remain dry for months, yet become revived on the application of moisture. And many of them thus dried are wafted in the air for thousands of miles; so much so that genera from South America and Africa have been carried by a west wind as far as Malta; and the sirocco, again, from the East is loaded with another species of Infusoria.

These little creatures are also able to exist in water at a very high temperature, and in many of the acids which would be fatal to larger animals. But none of them can live without atmospheric air. For further particulars on all these interesting subjects we refer our readers to Mr. Pritchard's work, which they will find full of information.

An Epistola to his Royal Highness the Prince Albert, K.G., L.L.D., as Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, and Master of the Bench of the Honourable Society of Lincoln's-Inn. Containing Suggestions for a Complete System of Legal Instruction in the University of Cambridge. By PATRICK COLQUHOUN, LL.D, once Scholar of St. John's, and Author of a Summary of the Roman Civil Law. Cambridge: M Millan. London: Benning. 1853.

THE object of this pamphlet is sufficiently indicated in the title which we have quoted at length. In whatever other points the march of reform is calculated to do mischief rather than good in our universities, it is admitted on all hands that the system of legal instruction, however excellent as far as it goes, is very incomplete. Dr. Colquhoun's legal authorship will secure attention to his opinion on this subject, which he handles with great ability and acumen. The following is a summary of his suggestions, for the adoption of which very sufficient arguments will, we think, be found in the pamphlet:

tr

"1. That a syndicate of legal studies be appointed.

"2. That all members of the university, being graduates in the legal faculty, or barristers-at-law, be elegible for appointments.

"3. That the Queen's Professor of Laws be ex officio president of this committee, with power to summons it mero motu, or on the written request of any two members thereof.

"4. That he appoints some member prothonotary to minute the proceedings.

"5. That examiners be chosen each year in civil law-in common law and pleading-in criminal law-in equity-in conveyancing -and in international law and diplomacy-with power to the same examiner to examine in more than one branch; but that none be eligible to examine on a subject upon which he is in the habit of giving private instruction.

"6. That barristers-at-law, with advantages equal to the ordinary run of fellowships, be appointed, in order to induce competent men to reside and take pupils in common law, equity, and conveyancing.

"7. That they be required, if called upon, to assist in holding repetitions for initiating the students of law into the practice of public argument on legal points.

“8. That a student in law be eligible for the degree of LL.B., and an LL.B.; for that of LL.D. at the same time as students in arts are eligible for B.A.; and B.A. for M.A., with similar privileges.

9. That students in law be allowed to enter their names on the boards of some college, and pass the previous examination of the year before, or immediately before, commencing their residence, so as to be at liberty to dedicate their whole time exclusively to their faculty."

VOL. XXXIV.-Q

The School for Dreamers: a Story of the Present Day. By T. GWYNNE, Author of "The School for Fathers." London: Smith, Elder, and Co. 1853.

Ir is not long since that we noticed the debut of Mr. Gwynne in his story of the "School for Fathers," a work of great promise, which has been followed by another equal in power and graphic truth, but of less painful interest. His former work was of a by-gone day: the book before us is of our own time. The principal characters are a political adventurer, of the Radical and Utilitarian school, who succeeds in inveigling an earl's daughter into a stolen marriage, of which she repents from the hour of its contraction; the lady's father, a finely depicted specimen of an English nobleman; and his son, a finished model of a high-minded and withal Christian gentleman; Annie Thompson, the graceful and fair daughter of a poor clergyman; and a dean, the beau ideal of a good Churchman. The contrasts exhibited in the various characters are very striking and picturesquely given, and the interest of the tale is well sustained to the end-the writing at once powerful and elegant, and the moral of the highest order. There runs throughout a vein of rich but quiet humour, happily relieving the graver scenes of the story. There is no mawkish sentiment-no stilted declamation: it is pure in thought, manly in tone, and altogether, both in style and teaching, vastly above the ordinary run of novels.

The Hero's Funeral: a Poem. By ROBERT MONTGOMERY, M.A. London: Routledge. 1853.

SIR Walter Scott's poem on "The Battle of Waterloo" elicited an epigram in which, with reference to that event, it was said

"That none by sabre or by shot

Fell half so flat as Walter Scott."

And there was some truth in the satire. We do not think that the death of the great warrior has been more worthily sung by our modern bards than was his last and crowning victory by the Wizard of the North. Mr. Tennyson's ode, though characterised by some startling flashes of genius and many sweet and touching thoughts, contained more prosaic lines, and those in succession, than we ever met with in a lyric of the same length by any man worthy of the name of poet; and Mr. Montgomery's poem on the same subject is amenable to the like censure. Take a line in the third stanza

"When Arthur Wellesley to his tomb is borne."

We remember our poor friend Barham quoting a line of like bathos from one of Fitzgerald's addresses at an anniversary of the Literary Fund

"And drop a tear upon Lord Nelson's grave."

But, as in the instance of the poet Laureate's ode, there are in Mr. Montgomery's production redeeming passages, all of which, were not space wanting to us, we should gladly transfer to our pages. Our quotation is in his best style-full of truth and vigorously graphic-marred only by the absurd inversion, for the rhyme's sake, in the second line:

"Just to a hair, inflexible as truth,

:

Thus lived great Wellington from age to youth;
And when hoared years had bowed that classic head,
With silver locks so venerably spread,

How did we greet him in the public square,

And rouse the stranger with re-echoed There!
There comes THE DUKE! whose very

shadow throws

A light on England wheresoe'er he goes ;'
While pausing childhood, with entranced eye,
Beheld him in his glory moving by.
And though the winter of declining age
Touched form and feature with a sad presage,

In list'ning reverence how the Senate hung
On the plain Saxon of that pithy tongue!

The smiting earnestness of honest speech

Which taught more wisdom than mere words can reach."

We forgive the Hibernianism of the second line for the force and truth of those we have underscored.

The Wide, Wide World. By ELIZABETH WETHERELL. Author's Edition. London: Nisbet. 1852.

A BOOK which has passed to a thirtieth edition-twenty in America and ten in England--has nothing to fear from censure, and as little to expect from praise. Albeit, deeply imbued with nationality, which exalts the new world at the expense of the old, the object of the book, as regards its teaching, is such that all must appreciate and approve. Its lessons are chiefly addressed to the rising generation, the heroine being little more than a child when the history concludes; and thus it does not draw so largely on general sympathy as its competitor for popularity, "Uncle Tom;" to which, however, it is not inferior as a picture of American life, although less abounding in exciting scenes and situations.

Lectures Delivered at Exeter Hall.-1. The New Creed of Rome and the Old Creed of England. By the Rev. R. J. M'GHEE, A.M. 2. The Romish Church a Dumb Church; or, a Challenge to Cardinal Wiseman to give his Church's Interpretation of any one Chapter in the Bible. By the Rev. J. CUMMING, D.D. 3. The Crimes of the Madiai; or the Use of Scripture in the Romish Church. By Dr. CUMMING. 4. The Church of Rome proved unable to justify the Sacrifice of the Mass, or the Idolatry of the Wafer. By Mr. M'GHEE. 5. Canon Law; or, the Canonical Punishment of the Madiai. By Dr. CUMMING. London: A. Hall, Virtue, and Co. Small Octavo. 1853.

WE gladly take the earliest opportunity of introducing these cheap and neatly-printed lectures to the knowledge of our readers. They contain much important information concerning the principles and practices of the modern Church of Rome, which cannot be too soon or too widely circulated.

These lectures were listened to, with profound interest and attention, by very numerous auditories. Dr. Wiseman, it appears, in a letter which he wrote on the papal aggression, expressed his strong desire to be met in controversy and his willingness to come forward, accompanied by a wish for fair play and an open field. Accordingly, he was invited to come forward on this occasion: one-half of the platform in the great room at Exeter Hall was parted off for Dr. Wiseman or any of the clergy, or other advocates of the Romish Church, who might choose to attend. It is, perhaps, scarcely necessary to state that no one was present on his behalf; and by this absence he, silently but most effectually, proved his utter inability to meet Mr. M'Ghee and Dr. Cumming in fair argument.

Mr. M'Ghee's first lecture, on "The New Creed of Rome and the Old Creed of England," is, in fact, an epitome of ecclesiastical history. It sets forth, in a concise form, the progress of error in the Christian Church, until the apostacy was fully developed in the Papacy: which, at the Council of Trent, legitimated all the errors that had been accumulating for centuries; and embodied them in the twelve new articles of the creed of Pius IV. (which every pervert to Popery is required to subscribe) which creed never had any existence in Christendom until the year 1464, and consequently the Romish Church is a new Church. Mr. M'Ghee then proceeds to trace the progress of the Reformation in England, at which period the Church of England threw off the errors which had gradually crept into her, and returned to the old faith and the old creed, "the faith once" for all "delivered to the saints." Dr. Cumming, on the same evening, followed in the lecture entitled