bute to civilise the ferocious, to restrain the vicious, to enlighten the ignorant, and to protect and encourage the virtuous.

There are other departments, also, in which essential services have been rendered to the world, by the patriotic exertions of private persons. Many advantages have accrued from the discoveries of navigators, who have left a comfortable home, to venture the perils of the deep, in search of unknown countries. Through their adventurous endeavours, an intercourse has been established between distant nations, from which both have derived benefit; animals and plants, of much utility, have been transferred from their native soil, and domesticated in different climes. The catalogue of fruits for our deserts would be very small, were it restricted to those only that are the natives of our island; perhaps the crab, the sloe, and a few berries, would be our whole produce. But, thanks to the attentive care of travellers, we now enjoy the refreshment of a variety of wholesome, delicious fruits, differing in form, colour, and flavour, grateful to the eye and pleasant to the taste.

The same observation applies to the vegetables that add to our repasts both pleasure and advantage. That wholesome root, the potatoe, which, next to bread, may be justly termed the staff of life, especially amongst the poor, was brought from America about the year

1623.

Several kinds of our domestic poultry, also are descended from a foreign stock, introduced by visitors to

distant climes. The peacock came originally from India; and flocks of them, in a wild state, still abound in Ceylon.

Pheasants were the inhabitants of the banks of the river Phasis, near the city of Colchis.

Common fowl were brought from India and Persia.

The pintado, or Guinea-hen, is a native of the country from which it derives its name; and was first carried to America with a cargo of negro slaves, in the year 1508; though they are now so numerous on that continent, as, by many, to be supposed an original inhabitant.

Turkeys are said to have been natives of the new world only. They were brought into Europe first from Mexico, by the Spaniards; and were probably imported into England from Spain. The first recorded to have been eaten in France, was at the nuptial feast of Charles the Ninth, in 1590.

That valuable insect, the silkworm, was originally found in China; though now naturalised in several parts of Europe.

Much light has been thrown on various branches of natural history, by the observing eye of travellers, impelled rather by curiosity than avarice, to explore unknown countries; and many discoveries of animals and plants, new to our collectors, have enriched the journals of attentive voyagers, that at once amuse and instruct those who delight to study Nature and the wonders of creation, under the different forms in which she diversifies her productions.

A curious instance of this occurred to Monsier Peron, in his voyage from Europe to the Isle of France. Be. tween three and four degrees north latitude, during the obscurity of a night intensely dark, the wind blowing a hurricane, and the vessel making a rapid progress, he was struck by the sudden appearance of a vast sheet of phosphoric fire, floating before the ship, and covering a considerable space. The vessel presently made its way through this inflamed part of the sea, which enabled the observant navigator to discover that this prodigious light was occasioned entirely by an immense number of small animals, which swam at different depths, and appeared to assume various forms. Those which were most immersed in the water, looked like great red-hot cannon balls; whilst those on the surface resembled cylinders of red-hot iron. Some of them were soon caught, and found to vary in size from three to seven inches. All the outside surface of the animal was bristled with thick, oblong tubercles, shining like so many diamonds; and these seemed to be the principal seat of its wonderful phosphorescence. The inside, also, appeared furnished with a multitude of little, narrow, oblong glands, which possessed the phosphoric virtue in a high degree.

When in a tranquil state, the colour of these brilliant inhabitants of the ocean, is an opal yellow, mixed with green; but, on the slightest movement of those voluntary contractions exercised by the creature, or those which the observer can at pleasure excite by the least irritation, the animal seems to inflame, and becomes in

*

stantly like a piece of red-hot iron of the most vivid brilliancy. When its phosphorescency declines, it assumes a succession of light, elegant tints, that are very pleasing to the eye; such as red, aurora, orange, green, and azure blue; the last is particularly lively and pure. The organization of this animal, which is called the Pyrosoma Atlanticum, ranks it amongst the most singular of the zoophite tribe; whilst its extraordinary phosphoric powers render it the most beautiful that has yet been

seen.

Such are the wonders of the great deep, which must have been for ever lost to the inquisitive notice of man, had not an insatiable spirit of curiosity and enterprise, implanted in his nature, impelled him to venture across that unstable element; to face dangers unknown, to climb mountains, ford rivers, and cultivate an acquaintance with savage tribes. By this impelling principle, bestowed for no vain purpose, the productions of the whole world are brought into view; the pecularities of each country become common; and the book of nature, that amusing and inexhaustible volume, is laid open to every one who will read, study, and admire the works of creation; that never-ceasing fund of novelty and variety, to which the works of art bear no proportion, either in number or quality.

Our cabinets have been enriched with multitudes of plants and animals unknown to Europeans, by the assi

• Notes to Parke's Chemical Catechism.

duity of voyagers and travellers, to whom we are greatly indebted for an increase of knowledge in this delightful branch of science, both by the specimens they have preserved, and the descriptions they have presented to the public.

TRUE AND FALSE GREATNESS.

IT is rather a humiliating consideration, that, amongst

the innumerable millions that have been born, reached maturity, and fallen into the grave, so very few have been sufficiently distinguished to rescue their names from that profound oblivion that covers the memory of the multitude. It is still more mortifying, that, amongst the limited number thus held up to the view of posterity, the greater part have attained this pre-eminence from having been the scourges, rather than the benefactors of the human race.

Alexander the Great had the advantages of inheriting not only the kingdom of Macedon, but the great power his father, by policy and arms, had gained over the Grecian states. He possessed noble endowments of body and mind; was educated under one of the wisest men of his age but did these privileges contribute to his own happiness or that of his fellow-creatures? He was the slave of his passions. His insatiable ambition