SCOTLAND.-The Edinburgh Courant has the following characteristic letter from Thomas Carlyle to Mr. Adam White, who proposes to introduce the teaching of natural history into boarding-schools and private families: "For many years it has been one of my constant regrets that no schoolmaster of mine had a knowledge of natural history, so far, at least, as to have taught me the grasses that grow by the wayside, and the little winged and wingless neighbors that are continually meeting me, with a salutation which I can not answer, as things are. Why didn't somebody teach me the constellations, too, and make me at home in the starry heavens, which are always overhead,

and which I don't half know to this day? I love to prophesy that there will come a time when, not in Edinburgh only, but in all Scottish and European towns and villages, the schoolmaster will be strictly required to possess these two capabilities (neither Greek nor Latin more strict), and that no ingenuous little denizen of this universe be thenceforward barred from his right of liberty in those two departments, and doomed to look on them as if across grated fences all his life! For the rest, I cannot doubt but, one way or other, you will, by and by, make your valuable, indubitable gift available in Edinburgh, either to the young or older, on such conditions as there are; and I much recommend a zealous and judicious persistence till you do succeed. Believe ine, yours very sincerely, T. CARLYLE."

The President, after the old-fashioned way in vogue in Boston, was somewhat prolix when calling on and referring to persons; but the members meant busiress, laudably exhibiting that if they were not fitted for their offices when elected or appointed, they were anxious to prepare themselves for performing their duties acceptably and well.

Several papers were read and discussed in a sensible, familiar manner, questions being asked so as to bring out practical bearings. In this way Mr. Coburn, of Pennsylvania, was lead to make many interesting and valuable statements concerning the character and working of the school system of Pennsylvania-in what respects he thought it might be improved, and how applied in other States. He thought it would not, on the whole, work well in New York; nor would the system of New York answer for Pennsylvania. The opinion of the convention was, that different States required different systems or modifications of them. Mr. Coburn's paper was pointed and practical. It should be in the hands of every superintendent.

Mr. White, of Ohio, read an elaborate paper on the establishment of a national bureau of education.

The convention seemed to be in favor of such a bureau, provided it be of limited controlling power; it should be advisory merely.

The paper of Mr. White was highly commended for its literary, logical, and especially its business character.

Mr. Van Bokkelen, with his usual en

formity in State and national education. His plans were thought to be somewhat visionary, and to depend upon more stringent laws than most of the superintendents thought desirable--tyranny, even in a good cause, being, at least, a bad example. This was evidently Mr. Harrison's opin ion, as expressed in a very correct review of some of the defects of educational systems.

Mr. Richards, of Washington; Mr. Payne, of Virginia; Mr. Fiske, of North Carolina; Prof. Davies and Dr. Lambert, of New York, and many other friends of education were present.

It was thought by some that, like too many educational meetings, this would prove to be only another phase of the Muinal Admiration Society; but such practical men as the superintendents of Vermont, Pennsylvania, and Ohio are not likely to misspend time; and the action of the meeting was directed so as to make it eminently successful,

Mr. Bateman also expressed similar opinions in his excellent paper on a model system.

Mr. Philbrick, of Boston; Mr. Bulkley, of Brooklyn, and Mr. White, Secretary of the Board of Education of Massachusetts, were unavoidably absent. The papers which they were to read were consequently deferred to the next meeting of the Association, to be held in Indianapolis.

The meeting was presided over and conducted with pre-eminent ability and courtesy; and its conclusion was regretted by all who attended.

Of the benefit to be derived from such meetings, it is scarcely necessary to speak. The leading men of the various sciences and arts have long found it of advantage to meet and discuss the various questions that arise in their respective pursuits, and why may not Education be advanced in like manner?

NEW MEXICAN DISCOVERIES.-The presence of a man on the Mexican throne who is a patron of science and art, though personally disagreeable to America, is certainly useful to the progress of knowledge. He sends out explorers to all parts of the country, who find many indications of that wonderful wealth and intelligence which abounded in Mexico ages ago, in a degree which has not been approached there for centuries. The last discovery, in the midst of a large forest, is the ruins of a city built and inhabited by the aborigines long before the time of Cortez. This city is of considerable extent, surrounded by a stone wall five yards in thickness and ten feet high, and having its streets paved with polished stone. Many fine specimens of architecture were discovered; among them a magnificent palace, supposed to have been the residence of some Indian king, and also statuary and paintings of a superior character, monuments, reservoirs, aqueducts, canals, and many concomitants of a civilized and educated condition of society.

-Dr. Charles Clay, of Manchester, England, has a portrait of Shakspeare, which he claims to have been taken from life by a contemporary of the great dramatist, and which is far more satisfactory than the celebrated Chandos picture. An English journal says of it:

"The face is thoughtful and slightly touched with melancholy, the eyes being remarkably expressive and pleasing. Many critics have objected to the Chandos por trait on account of its foreign cast of features. Here we have the type of a true Englishman, of the true Elizabethan period. There are no earrings, as in Chandos' picture, the clothing being simple and unadorned; the collar is without strings, less in size, and where it meets in front shows a portion of the throat below the beard; the collar itself is not so stiff as in other portraits. If we might venture on an opinion from the luxuriance of the hair, which is of a rich brown, tinted with auburn, this picture must have been paintod at an earlier period of life than the Chandos portrait. The face is nearly full, the hair higher over the forehead, and falling partially and gracefully over the collar on the left side. The portrait has been carefully relined, and is in an old-fashioned frame of the period."

-A brass made of sixty parts copper, thirty-eight parts zine, and two parts iron, may be forged at a red heat, and will support a "breaking weight" of twenty-seven tons per square inch. This has been used with success for bolts in the, fire-boxes of locomotives.

-The famous German chemist, Mitscherlich, at the conclusion of a paper discussing his observations of the "spectral lines" given by various non-metallic bodies, states that he believes all the so-called nonmetallic elements to be compounds.

-A beautiful variety of ornamental glass has been devised by M. Pelouze: 250 parts of white sand, 100 of carbonate of soda, 50 of limestone, and 40 of bichromate of potash are fused together. A glass is thus formed of a rich green color; filled with golden spangles.

-The editor of the British Journal of Photography speaks in terms of high approval of the rectified wood spirit, or methylic alcohol, as a solvent for gun-cotton in making collodion, in place of the usual mixture of alcohol and ether. In these times of dear alcohol this is an important matter to photographers.

-In 1777 average life in France did not exceed twenty-three years; in 1798 it had risen to twenty-six years, three months; in 1836 it was thirty-three years; and at present it has reached the very high figure of thirty-nine-an increase of six years within a period of twenty-eight years.

--An arctic expedition is being organized in Prussia. Three vessels will be fitted out, their crews to consist of scientific men from the Prussian schools.

-The French emperor is organizing a scientific exploration of Camboge, from the source of the Mer Kon to Thibet, where this river apparently disappears. Most of these regions are unknown, although the ruins discovered in the known districts would seem to attest the existence in former ages of a high state of civilization there.

--A Finland newspaper mentions a stone in the northern part of Finland which serves the inhabitants instead of a barometer. This stone, which they call ilmokiur, turns black or blackish gray when it is going to rain; but on the approach of fine weather it is covered with white spots.

-Dr. Calvert, in his last "Cantor Lecture," gives a recipe for cleaning silver articles without the troublesome and destructive use of polishing powders. The articles should be plunged for half an hour in a solution made up of one gallon of water, one pound hypo-sulphate of soda, eight ounces sal-ammoniac, and four ounces of aqua-ammonia or hartshorn.

A NEW PROCESS OF PHOTOGRAPHING ON WOOD. For decorative purposes, it is

said, it will be advantageous, as pictures can be transferred to panels, ceilings, or any surface that may require ornamentation. Graining can by this new process of photography be multiplied, and transferred to a surface with accuracy. For household ornamentation, and for decoration of public edifices, this method of applying photography is said to be economic in its application and artistic in its effects, while it is as durable as the material on which it is transferred.

-An acrolite fell at Shergotty, India, on the 25th of August last. A native witness states that about 9 A. M. a stone fell from

the heavens, accompanied by a very loud report, burying itself knee-deep. The sky was cloudy at the time, and of a murky color; the air calm, and no rain.

The stone has been forwarded to the Asiatic Society of Bengal.

DIAMOND.-Contrary to the usual opinion that the diamond is produced by the action of intense heat on carbon, Herr Goeppert asserts that it owes its origin to the action of aqueous agencies. His argument is based upon the fact that the diamond becomes black when exposed to a very high temperature. He considers that its Nep tunian origin is proved by the fact that it has often on the surface impressions of grains of sand, and sometimes of crystals, showing that it has once been soft.

SEWER RATS KILLED BY ELECTRICITY.A new and curious use of electricity is now made in the sewers of Paris. There, as is well known, the rats swarm by millions. Wires one hundred metres long, insulated from the ground by glass feet, and

connected with a strong galvanic battery. are placed in these subterranean walks. Little pieces of roast meat are attached to the wires at short distances, and the rats, nibbling at the bait, call down upon themselves the galvanic shock with terrific power. Death is instantaneous. The bait remains, to destroy other victims.

-Numerous remains of the dodo have recently been found in a morass in the island of Mauritius. A very complete series of the bones of this remarkable bird are now in the hands of Professor Owen.

OZONE.-A very important memoir has recently been published by M. J. L. Soret, on the density of ozone. He sums up our actual knowledge of the volumetric relations of this body as follows: first, Ordinary oxygen diminishes in volume when ozonized--that is, when a part of it is converted into ozone, by electricity, for example; second, When oxygen, charged with ozone, is treated with iodide of potassium and other oxidizable bodies, the ozone disappears without the volume of the gas changing; third, Under the action of heat, oxygen charged with ozone suffers an expansion equal to the volume of the quantity of oxygen that the gas would have been capable of yielding to iodide of potassium. These facts, he says, lead to the supposition that ozone is an allotropic state of oxygen, consisting of a molecular grouping of several atoms of this body. One of the simplest hypotheses in this matter, is that in which the molecule of ordinary oxygen is regarded as formed of two atoms, and the molcule of ozone as formed of three atoms.

A PRETTY CUSTOM.-One of the prettiest of Christmas customs is the Norwegian practice of giving, on Christmas day, a dinner to the birds. On Christmas morning, every gable, gate-way, and barn-door is decorated with a sheaf of corn fixed on the top of a long pole, where from it is intended that the birds shall make their Christmas dinner. Even the peasants will contrive to have a handful set by for this purpose; and what the birds do not eat on Christmas day, remains for them to finish at their leisure during the winter.

-"Ashland," so long the home of Henry Clay, has been purchased by the trustees of the Kentucky University for $90,000. The farm contains about three hundred and twenty-five acres of the best land in the Blue Grass region. The Lexington Observer says: "The Kentucky Agricultural School, which is under the patronage of the State, as well as other schools of the University, will be established at Ashland,

and it is proposed to begin the improvements on a most magnificent and extended scale-one that will do credit to our State, and serve as a monument to the memory of Mr. Clay."

HONESTY IN A HURRY.-An Irishman, having accidentally broken a pane of glass in a window, was making his way out of sight; but, unfortunately for Pat, the proprietor stole a march on him, and having seized him by the collar, exclaimed:

"You broke my window, fellow."

"Agh, an' sure I did," replied Pat, "an' be jabers, didn't you see me runnin' home for money to pay for't, ye spalpeen?"

A CURIOUS FACT.-The finest orangetrees in Europe, in the superb collection at Dresden, were brought as ballast, in the shape of mere blocks of timber, without roots or branches, in the hold of a German vessel, and found their way to Saxony. Some curious gardener, anxious to know