what may I call it? Space, again- To meet at noontide, Fear and trembling And Time the Shadow is not pleasure, but power. All, that so that, from being a thing to inscribe with diagrams, it has become under his hands a vital agent on the human mind; I presume that I may justly express the tendency of the Paradise Lost, by saying that it communicates power; a pretension far above all communication of knowledge. Henceforth, therefore, I shall use the antithesis power and knowledge as the most philosophical expression for literature (i. e. Litere Humaniores) and anti-literature (i. e. Literæ didactice Now then, prepared with this distinction, let us inquire whetherweighing the difficulties against the benefits-there is an overbalance of motive for you with your purposes to study what are inaccurately termed * theclassical" languages. And, notice that there is a rhetorical use of the word "power," very different from the analytic one here introduced, which also is due originally to Mr. Wordsworth, and will be found in no book before 1798; this is now become a regular slang term in London conversation. In reference to which, it is worth notice that a critic, speaking of the late Mr. Shelley, a year or two ago, in the most popular literary journal of the day, said, "It is alleged that there is power in Mr. Shelley's poetry: now there can be no power shown in poetry, except by writing good poems" (or words to that effect). Waiving, however, the question of Mr. Shelley's merits, so far is this remark from being true-that the word was originally introduced expressly to provide for the case where, though the poem was not good from defect in the composition, or from other causes, the stamina and matériel of good poetry, as fine thinking and passionate conceptions, could not be denied to exist. A late writer has announced it as matter of discovery, that the term "classics" is applicable also to the modern languages. But surely this was never doubted by any man who considered the meaning and origin of the term. It is drawn, as the reader must be reminded, from the political economy of Rome. Such a man was rated as to his income in the third class, such another in the fourth, and so on; but he who was in the highest was said emphatically to be of the class, "classicus"-a class-man, without adding the number, as in that case superfluous. Hence, by an obvious analogy, the best authors were rated as classici, or men of the highest class: just as in English we say-" men of rank"-absolutely for men who are in the highest ranks of the state. The particular error, by which this mere formal term of relation was materiated (if I may so say) in one of its accidents (viz. the application to Greek and Roman writers), is one of the commonest and most natural. We first, with respect to Greek. have often had the question debated, and, in our own days, solemn challenges thrown out, and solemn adjudications given on the question, whether any benefit corresponding to the time and the labour can be derived from the study of the ancient classics. Hitherto, however, the question could not be rightly shaped for, as no man chose to plead" amusement" as a sufficient motive for so great an undertaking, it was always debated with a single reference to the knowledge involved in those literatures. But this is a ground wholly untenable. For let the knowledge be what it might, all knowledge is translateable; and translateable without one atom of loss. If this were all, therefore, common sense would prescribe that faithful translations should be executed of all the classics, and all men in future depend upon these vicarious labours. With respect to the Greek, this would soon be accomplished: for what is the knowledge which lurks in that language? All knowledge may be commodiously distributed into science and erudition of the latter, (antiquities, geography, philology, theology, &c.) there is a very considerable body: of the former, but little; viz. the mathematical and musical works, and the medical works: what else? Nothing that can deserve the name of science, except the single organon of Aristotle. With Greek medicine, I suppose that you have no concern. As to mathematics, a man must be an idiot if he were to study Greek for the sake of Archimedes, Apollonius, or Diophantus. In Latin or in French, you may find them all regularly translated: and parts of them embodied in the works of English mathematicians. Besides, if it were otherwise, where the notions and all the relations are so few-elementary and determinate, and the vocabulary therefore so scanty as in mathematics, it could not be necessary to learn Greek even if you were disposed to read the mathematicians in that language. I see no marvel in Halley's having translated an Arabic manuscript on mathematics, with no previous knowledge of Arabic: on the contrary, it is a case (and not a very difficult case) of the art of decyphering, so much practised by Wallis, and other great mathematicians contemporary with Halley. But all this is an idle disputation: for the knowledge of whatsoever sort which lies in Grecian mines, wretchedly as we are furnished with vernacular translations, the Latin version will always supply. This, therefore, is not the ground to be taken by the advocate of Greek letters. It is not for knowledge that Greek is worth learning, but for power. Here arises the question-of what value is this power? i. e. how is the Grecian lite rature to be rated in relation to other literatures? Now it is not only because "De Carthagine satius est silere quam parciùs dicere," but also because in my judgment there is no more offensive form of levity than the readiness to speak on great problems, incidentally and occasionally, that I shall wholly decline this question. We have hitherto seen no rational criticism on Greek literature; nor, indeed, to say the truth, much criticism, which teaches any thing, or solves any thing, upon any literature. I shall simply suggest one consideration to you. The question is limited wholly, as you see, to the value of the literature in the proper sense of that word. Now, it is my private theory, to which you will allow what degree of weight you please, that the Antique or pagan literature is a polar antagonist to the modern or Christian literature; that each is an evolution from a distinct principle, having nothing in common but what is necessarily common to all modes of thought-viz. good sense and logic; and that they are to be criticised from different stations and points of view. This same thought has occurred to others: but no great advance is made simply by propounding the general thesis; and as yet nobody has done more.* It Nor, do I much expect, will do more: which opinion I build on the particular formula chosen for expressing the opposition of the antique and the Christian literature viz. the classical and the romantic. This seeming to me to imply a total misconception of the true principle on which the distinction rests, I naturally look for no further development of the thesis from that quarter. is only by the development of this thesis that any real service can be performed. This I have myself attempted, in a series of "reveries" on that subject; and, if you continue to hesitate on the question of learning Greek now that you know exactly how that question is shaped, and to what it points, my manuscript contains all the assistance that it is in my power to offer you in such a dilemma. The difference of the Antique from the Christian literature, you must bear in mind, is not like that between English and Spanish literature-species and species-but as between genus and genus. The advantages therefore are-1. the pow er, which it offers generally as a literature; 2. the new phasis under which it presents the human mind; the antique being the other hemisphere, as it were, which, with our own, or Christian hemisphere, composes the entire sphere of human intellectual energy. So much for the Greek. Now as to the Latin, the case is wholly reversed. Here the literature is of far less value; and, on the whole, with your views, it might be doubted whether it would recompense your pains. But the anti-literature (as for want of a strict antithesis I must call it) is inestimable; Latin having been the universal language of Christendom for so long a period. The Latin works since the restoration of letters, are alone of immense value for knowledge of every kind : much science, inexhaustible erudition; and to this day in Germany, and elsewhere on the Continent, the best part of the latter is communicated in Latin. Now, though all knowledge is (which power is not) adequately communicable by translation, yet as there is no hope that the immense bibliotheca of Latin accumulated in the last three centuries ever will be translated, you cannot possibly dispense with this language; and, that being so, it is fortunate that you have already a superficial acquaintance with it. The best means of cultivating it further, and the grounds of selection amongst the modern languages of Christendom, I will discuss fully in my next letter. Yours, most truly, X. Y. Z. REPORT OF THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE. ELECTRO MAGNETISM. In our last number we laid before our readers a brief account of the discoveries of Oersted on ElectroMagnetism; we now proceed to state what has been done by others. M. Ampere, shortly after the publication of Oersted's papers, stated to the Royal Academy, that he had succeeded in producing similar effects with the Galvanic Battery itself, as with the connecting wire. He mentioned also the important fact of the attraction and repulsion of two wires connecting the ends of the battery. He ascertained that the magnetic needle, which had been used to show the attractions and repulsions of the wire, could be replaced by another connecting wire like the first. This discovery seemed to prove, that the phenomena produced did not depend on any power inherent in the magnet, but were occasioned by the agency of electricity alone, so that magnetism can be excited indepen dent of magnets, or of any of the means by which it is usually produced. Arrago subsequently announced to the Academy, that he had ascer tained the attraction of iron-filings by the connecting wire, exactly as by a magnet. This fact proved not only that the wire had the power of acting on bodies already magnetic, but that it was itself capable of developing magnetism in iron not previously magnetized. When the wire connected with the ends of a battery was dipt into iron-filings, it became covered with them; but the instant that the communication was broken at either pole they dropped off. This occurred with wires of brass platinum and silver, and the attraction was so strong, that it acted on the filings, though not in contact with them. Arrago even succeeded in magnetising a needle, by putting it in a certain position near the battery. The easiest mode of doing this was to place it in a spiral of wire connected with the end of the trough, and leave it there for some time. When removed it was strongly magnetic. Sir H. Davy has laboured much in this field. He has confirmed the facts discovered by Arrago, and shown that iron-filings may be affected, even though a thick plate of glass be placed between them and the connecting wire. He also succeeded in magnetising needles of two inches in length, and one-tenth of an inch in thickness, by a discharge from a battery, and this occurred though the needles were at the distance of five inches from the connecting wire. He found also, that when a number of wires were arranged around the wire, they were all rendered magnetic when the battery was discharged, and the north pole of one was always next the south of the other. Another very important discvoery has been made in this subject; that most of the phenomena stated can be produced by common electricity. Sir H. Davy first announced to the Royal Society, that he had succeeded in magnetising a needle by the electricity of an electrical machine, and his experiments have been fully confirmed by those of Arrago and Von Buch. Von Buch found, that when a needle was placed in a spiral wire, fixed between the conductor of the machine and another conductor, it became magnetic when sparks were drawn from the latter. One turn of a machine, with two plates eighteen inches in diameter, was sufficient to magnetise it. Sir H. Davy, from his discoveries, has pointed out a simple mode of making magnets, namely, by fixing bars of steel across, or circular pieces for horse-shoe magnets, round the electrical conductors of buildings, or other exposed situations. MAGNETISM. At a late meeting of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Captain Scoresby, whose name is well known as connected with the history of whalefishing, exhibited some interesting experiments on the magnet. His observations have been made principally with a view of correcting the errors of chronometers, which he has found are occasioned by the most simple, and frequently the most un, looked-for circumstances, such as the position of the material of which the balances are constructed at the time' they were made. He showed that by a blow of a hammer the polarity of a bar of iron may be reversed according to the end on which it is struck-and that, if it be bent while in a horizontal position, it does not become magnetic; whereas, if it be held perpendicularly when bending it does so with the negative or positive ends, according to their being uppermost or undermost. From his experiments he draws the important conclusion, that as the simple stroke of a hammer is capable of rendering iron magnetic, in the event of shipwreck, and the boat being forced to sea without a compass, it is an easy matter to construct one for temporary purposes with the blade of a knife, or a pair of scissars. PERFUMES AS PREVENTIVES OF MOULDINESS. An interesting paper on this subject has been lately published by Dr. Macculloch. We presume our readers are aware, that mouldiness is occasioned by the growth of minute vegetables. Ink, paste, leather, and seeds are the substances that most frequently suffer from it. The effect of cloves in preserving ink is well known; any of the perfumed oils answer equally well. Leather may be kept free from mould by the same substances. Thus Russian leather, which is perfumed with the tar of birch, never becomes mouldy; indeed it prevents it from occurring in other bodies. A few drops of any perfumed oil are sufficient also to keep books entirely free from it. For harness, oil of turpentine is recommended. Bookbinders, in general, employ alum for preserving their paste, but mould frequently forms on it. Shoemaker's rosin is sometimes also used for the same purpose, but it is less effectual than oil of turpentine. The best preventives, however, are the essential oils, even in small quantity, as those of peppermint, anise, or bergamot, by which paste may be kept almost any length of time; indeed, it has, in this way, been preserved for years. The paste recommended by Dr. Macculloch is made in the usual way with flour, some brown sugar, and a little corrosive subli mate; the sugar keeping it flexible when dry, and the sublimate preventing it from fermenting, and from being attacked by insects. After it is made, a few drops of any of the essential oils are added. Paste made in this way dries when exposed to the air, and may be used merely by wetting it. If required to be kept alway sready for use, it ought to be put into covered pots. Seeds may also be preserved by the essential oils; and this is of great consequence, when they are to be sent to a distance; of course moisture must be excluded as much as possible, as the oils prevent only the bad effects of mould. ATTEMPTS TO REACH THE SEA BY MACKENZIE RIVER. Considering the lively interest that is at present excited by the expected publication of the journals of Capt. Franklin and Dr. Richardson, of the Overland Expedition, we trust that the following statement will not be unacceptable to our readers. The North West Company first established a fur-post on the banks of Mackenzie river, in the year 1795; since which they have always maintained establishments on various parts of its course. At present, the most northerly post is Fort Good Hope, about 100 or 120 miles below the influx of Great Bear Island Lake River, supposed to be about three days' voyage in a light canoe, from the sea, travelling at the rate of from fifty to eighty miles a day. In the vicinity of Fort Good Hope, and on the east side of the river, the Hare Indians reside, their lands to the north of Great Bear Island Lake bordering on the Esquimaux grounds, which skirt the sea coast. The fort is also visited by the Loucheux, or Squint-eyes, who inhabit the west bank, and who are separated by Vermilion river from the Esquimaux, two and a half days' journey below Fort Good Hope. Two attempts have been made to reach the sea since Sir Alex. Mackenzie's voyage; the first by Mr. Livingstone, in 1799; the second by Mr. Člarke, in 1809. Mr. Livingstone, with James Sutherland, an interpreter, three Canadians, and three Indians, descended in a canoe, a little below Vermilion river, where they met an Esquimaux, who refused to receive any of their presents, but made signs to them to leave them on shore. In the meantime he proceeded down the river, and returned with five of his companions, each armed with a bow and arrows. All attempts to conciliate them proving fruitless, Mr. Livingstone and his party were hastening on board, when they were assailed by a shower of arrows from the Esquimaux, each of whom shot three from his bow at once. Mr. Livingstone and one of the Canadians were killed; two of the Indians escaped into the woods, while Sutherland and the rest floated down the river in the canoe, the paddle having been carried off. They were, however, pursued and overtaken by the Esquimaux, when a desperate struggle ensued, in which five of the latter were killed, and Sutherland was left alone in his boat, which drifted down' opposite to the main settlement of the natives. He there swam ashore, and put himself under the protection of an elderly man, but a consultation being held, it was decided he should be destroyed, and as he was supposed invulnerable, having escaped in the previous conflict without a wound, a heavy stone was tied round his neck, and he was then thrown into the river, his protector having conveyed himself away, being contrary to their ideas of humanity that he should witness the death of his protege. The year after this melancholy event, the Red Knife, or Copper Indians, making war on the Esquimaux, at the mouth of the Copper Mine river, found some of the clothes of Mr. Livingstone's party in their huts. Mr. Clarke, who made the second attempt, descended the river as far as the assemblage of islands described by Mackenzie, but a number of Esquimaux drew up in battle array on both banks, and it was deemed imprudent to proceed farther. The country through which Mackenzie river flows, appears to present a wide field for naturalists. A kind of sheep frequent the mountains, which seem to be the same as the Rocky Mountain sheep, lately described by Professor Jameson. They have large striated spiral horns, and are covered, during winter, with a thick coating of coarse hair, like that of a rein-deer, but which falls |