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What induced Schiller to put the highest ideals of patriotism in the breast of a woman we do not know. It was, perhaps, his intention to place before his nation, after they had witnessed so many representations of false patriotism in the French Revolution, a pure, virgin-like example of real national grandeur in the Maid of Orleans. But, again, thinking that the feelings of patriotism cannot excite such a powerful and idealistic expression in the heart of a woman as it does in that of a man, he composed his last and most attractive work, "William Tell." In this drama, he proclaims the triumph of individual liberty over all the machinations of tyranny. Moreover, it seems to us as if he, through this production, intended to impress upon his countrymen the truth that every national idea gains the victory over inimical obstructions by unity and strength of purpose. But, for the accomplishment of these great aims, it is necessary that every country should possess women imbued with the spirit of Gertrude, who exclaims,

"Many a time, as we sat spinning, in the winter nights, my sisters and "myself, the people-chiefs were wont to gather round our father's hearth, to read "the old imperial charter, and to hold sage converse on the country's weal; then, 'heedfully, I listened, marking well what, or how, a wise man thought, a "good man wished, and garnered up their wisdom in my heart."

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And, in union with this spirit of Gertrude, the patriotic spirit of all times stands in need of men impressed with the beautiful words of Attinghausen,

"Deluded boy; despise the land that gave thee birth?
"The day will come, when thou, with burning tears,

"Wilt long for home and for thy native hills.

"O! potent is the spell that binds to home.

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No, no, the cold false world is not for thee;

"In the foreign land, with thy true heart,

"Thou wilt for ever feel a stranger amongst strangers."

With this drama Schiller concluded his poetical career. His feeble body was entirely exhausted by his mental labours and excitement; he needed stimulants to keep up his shattered constitution; and yet, often in the midst of the most painful sufferings, his great and genial soul dwelt in soothing meditation

upon the love of his wife and family and upon new poetical conceptions with which his teeming mind supplied him so abundantly.

Under the influence of some alarming symptoms Schiller entered the spring season of 1805, when, on the 6th May, a rheumatic fever threw him on a sick-bed, from which ruthless death released him on the following day. A few hours before he expired he expressed his desire once more to see the setting The curtain was drawn aside and, gazing with cheerful and serene countenance, he thus bestowed on Nature his last farewell kiss; vernal breezes wafted his immortal soul to the shores of the infinite spirit, beyond the confines of this terrestrial world.

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I must crave your pardon for having protracted my paper to an unusual length; and yet, notwithstanding this, I have only given you a scanty and meagre sketch of the Poet's Life and Works. I have not mentioned to you his romances, ballads and songs, which will live for ever in the heart of every German. Amongst these songs none stands higher than the "Song of the Bell," in which the poet, according to the Latin motto, "vivos voco, mortuos plango, fulgura frango,"-I call to the living, I lament the dead, I control the lightning,—describes, in poetical and refined language, all the joys and afflictions of toiling man. Everything that beautifies the life of hard-working man,-as home-happiness, love of liberty, moderation and piety,-sounds in pleasant accents on our ears. German critics have very often compared Schiller with Raphael, the great painter. No artist, they say, has painted the human face with a grace and majesty like Raphael's, and no poet has endowed the soul of man with such celestial charms as Schiller; as the spirit of physical beauty rests upon the works of the one, so the spirit of moral beauty pervades the poetry of the other.

We fully assent to this opinion and, by force of it, we

strongly advocate the study of Schiller's works in houses and families where it is the desire of parents to awaken in their children a love for sound principles and refining ideas. Some passages from Schiller far out weigh all that modern rubbish and exciting literature which we so often find in the hands of our youth and maidens; besides, if life be more than an existence spent in common pursuits and trivial aspirations; if it be a divine gift, containing in its substance the joys and blessings of humanity, then, we do not know any man who has given these ideas a more congenial expression than Schiller the poet,

"Who digged and delved through light and gloom;
"And digged and delved till he found a tomb."

With this we conclude the life of our immortal bard, whose endeavours tended to invest the heart of man with the charms of love and harmony; and who, at the commencement of this century, drew from his melodious soul the elevating words,

"To the heart's still chamber, deep and lonely,
"Must thou flee from life's tumultuous throng;
"Freedom in the land of dreams is only,
"And the beauteous blooms alone in song."

ON MICRO-GEOLOGY.

By Edward H. Birkenhead, F.G.S.

(READ 18TH DECEMBER, 1862.)

THE object of the present paper is to pass in review those contributions to the science of Geology which have been effected by the aid of the Microscope, and to make suggestions with regard to some points upon which further investigation by the same means is desirable.

I have no desire to exalt microscopic Geology to the dignity of a separate science; it is rather to be regarded as a subsidiary branch of physical, chemical and organic Geology, enabling us to extend and complete our studies of many terrestrial changes which, without its aid, would be incomprehensible.

In order to make himself acquainted with the nature and past history of a rock the geologist examines its lithological character and its organic remains. In each of these divisions of the subject the microscope is indispensible. I propose to begin with the Paleontological evidence furnished by the microscope; commencing by considering the assistance it has rendered in furnishing characters for the discrimination of various members of the animal and vegetable kingdoms, and afterwards passing on to notice the different formations where the knowledge thus obtained has been applied.

It will be convenient to consider animated beings under the three heads of Animals, Plants and Infusoria, including under the latter term all the organisms, whether animal, vegetable

or doubtful, which are so minute as to form, of themselves, objects for microscopic examination.

Plants. The cases where the microscopic structure of a plant is preserved in its fossil state are somewhat exceptional. Usually we may expect vegetable matter lying under water to undergo decomposition and disintegration before it becomes so covered with sediment as to arrest further change of this nature. Nevertheless we have many instances where the distinctive characters of exogenous and endogenous wood can be clearly made out, occasionally by the naked eye. In the Tertiary leaf-beds the botanist finds nearly all the characters of the living plant; in lignite the woody structure is apparent to the eye; but it is when we come to examine coal that we require the microscope to accompany us even in the first steps. Doubtless there is much of this substance which underwent disintegration before it was consolidated; but in favourable specimens it is not difficult to obtain evidence of structure. In many cases we have presented to us the glandular woody tissue characteristic of the Coniferæ; and it has even been sought to ascribe such specimens to living genera, as Pinus and Araucaria, by the arrangement of the glands. We are not, however, entirely without the preserved remains of Angiosperms; and one reason why there are not more is doubtless the fact that their tissues are very rapidly destroyed by exposure to water.

In the division Cryptogams we have abundance of ferns; and the microscope not unfrequently reveals the presence of their peculiar form of vascular tissue. Equisetum stems are said to occur in the leaf beds of the Isle of Mull.

It is when portions of plants become silicified, that their structure is most beautifully preserved; in this case the vegetable matter has been removed, and replaced, atom for atom, by silex: thin polished sections then shew their most minute characters. Palms and Dicotyledons are frequently

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