behind it, is the crystalline humour, or lens, invested with a peculiarly transparent and elastic membrane, which contains a small quantity of fluid; (liquor Morgagni ;) while the lens itself consists of concentric layers, of which the external are soft, the next firmer, and the central form a hardened nucleus. In form it is a double convex lens, (transparent,) flatter before than behind; and it is embedded in the anterior part of the vitreous humour, from which it is separated by the hyaloid membrane. Its shortest diameter (in the axis of vision) may be about two lines; its longest, four.

Very little can be said here respecting the actual operations of the eye in vision. Not much can be said; and of this, much refers to different degrees of refrangibility, and the effects, in so small a compass, of some of the most delicate and minute laws which long study has laid open to optical science. As the cornea is much denser than the atmosphere, the rays passing through it are very greatly refracted; and this is increased by its convexity, which also causes their convergence in the direction of the axis of the eye. Through the pupil they are admitted to the lens; through which they are transmitted with much additional refraction, and with such increased convergence from the convex surface, as that now the image is formed on the retina. Perhaps the rays do not form an absolute point of light by the comparative diminution, in the density of the transmitting medium, the vitreous being more rare than the crystalline humour. The rays having thus, after these several refractions and transmissions, formed the image on the retina, the proper nerves are impressed by their appointed stimulus, and this peculiar sensation is experienced by us, WE SEE.

On the phenomena of vision we have not room to enlarge; and who needs to be more than reminded of the inestimable advantages derived to the mind from without by this one organ? So elevated is this sensation that it seems naturally to have furnished a very large number of analogical expressions for purely mental operations. As to the eye itself, the more it is studied the more clearly it is seen that its structure supposes the most intimate acquaintance with the whole range of optical laws and facts, and an adaptation to them

so exact, so minute, as well as so full of benefits for man, that he is indeed to be pitied who can rise from the inquiry without being "lost in wonder, love, and praise," especially when we recollect the indubitable proof of an intelligent Designer, furnished by the fact that while all eyes recognise the great laws of optics, their actual structure varies according to the actual circumstances of the living creature. The eyes of birds, men, fishes, for instance, are all different: and it is in identity of principle, and wise, accurate variety in application, that intelligence and design are seen.

THE ARUNDEL MARBLES.

In the Memoir of John Selden, published in the January Number of "The Youth's Instructer" for the present year, having occasion to mention the Arundel Marbles as having engaged much of the attention of Selden, we said that we would furnish the reader with a brief account of them. That account will be found in the following article. We are not sure whether the subject be not one of those which deserve a more extensive description: at all events, a brief account in the present Number we believe will be interesting to our readers, and needs not hinder a larger one in some future Number of another volume.

The Arundel Marbles consist of certain pieces of sculpture, comprising ancient statues, busts, mutilated figures, altars, inscriptions, &c., collected by Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel, in the early part of the seventeenth century.

Lord Arundel was born about the year 1586; and, when he came of age, married Alathea, third daughter of Gilbert, Earl of Shrewsbury, by which marriage the possession of the noble property of the Talbots came to the house of Howard. He became an earnest and active patron of the fine arts, and especially desired to collect a gallery of statuary. To aid him in this object, the celebrated John Evelyn was sent to Rome, and Mr. (afterwards Sir William) Petty to the Greek islands and the Morea. In the islands of Paros and Delos, Mr. Petty was very successful; and at Smyrna, also, he acquired many marbles of great value. Sir Thomas Roe, then

Ambassador at the Porte, was likewise directed to employ his diplomatic influence in furtherance of His Lordship's wishes, and to purchase, where the price exceeded the means in the power of Petty. Ultimately, his long-desired treasures from Italy and Greece were all collected together, amounting to thirty-seven statues, one hundred and twenty-eight busts, and two hundred and fifty inscribed marbles, besides sarcophagi, altars, and various fragments, and valuable gems.

The history of this collection after the death of Lord Arundel is a melancholy one. It was divided between his two sons. The second son (and heir) of the oldest, influenced by Evelyn and Selden, presented the "Inscriptions," which were included in his moiety, in 1667, to the University of Oxford. In 1678, when it was resolved to convert ArundelHouse and gardens into streets, &c., the statues remaining there were offered for sale. One portion was purchased by Lord Pembroke: these are now at Wilton. A second was purchased by the father of the first Earl of Pomfret; and in 1755, the Countess-Dowager of Pomfret presented these also to the University of Oxford, when they became again united to the "Inscriptions." The remainder were widely dispersed, and many articles destroyed.

The Arundel and Pomfret marbles are at present preserved at Oxford, in two rooms beneath the picture-gallery. Among the more important articles in the Pomfret portion are some very ancient statues: Terpsichore; a young Hercules; an Athleta; and also some Roman ones, as three Senators, one of which is considered as Cicero.

The Arundel portion consists of ancient Greek inscriptions. Thus, there is the inscription of a treaty concluded between the Smyrneans and Magnesians, for the protection of Seleucus Callinicus. This is engraven on a pillar belonging to the temple of Venus Stratonicis, at Smyrna, and is referred to the year B. C. 244. But the chief article of the collection is the "Parian Chronicle," so called because supposed to have been made in the isle of Paros, about B. C. 264. This, in its perfect state, contained a chronological account of the principal events of Grecian history for a period of 1318 years, from Cecrops, B. C. 1582, to B. C. 264.

When Selden viewed the marble on which this Chronicle was engraved, it measured three feet seven inches, by two feet seven inches; but a corner had been broken off. It then contained ninety-three lines, reckoning the imperfect ones, and perhaps originally contained one hundred. On an average the lines have one hundred and thirty letters each, all capitals, and continued without being separated into words. The recorded events do not refer so much to the history of the several states of Greece, as to the progress of their civilization and literature. The Peloponnesian war is not mentioned; but there is an account of the establishment of various religious festivals, &c., &c. An extract or two will show the general character of the inscriptions:

"Since Sophocles, the son of Sophillos, who was of Colonos, gained the victory in tragedy, being twenty-eight years of age, two hundred and six years; Apsephion being archon at Athens.

"Since Alexander died, and his son Perdiccas reigned over the Macedonians, one hundred and ninety-eight years; Euthippas being archon at Athens.

"Since Euripides, being forty-three years of age, first gained the victory in tragedy, one hundred and seventy-nine years; Diphilos being archon at Athens. But Socrates and Anaxagoras lived in the time of Euripides."

SENTENCES FOR REFLECTION.

MAKE more haste to right thy neighbour than thou didst to wrong him. True honour will rather pay treble damages, than justify our wronging of another. In such controversies, it is but too common for some to say, Both are to blame; to excuse their own unconcernedness, which is a base neutrality. Others will say, They are both alike; thereby involving the injured with the guilty, to mince the matter for the faulty one, or to cover their own partiality and injustice to the wronged party.

Let the course of thy studies be as a journey ought to be. First, propose to thyself whither it is thou wouldest go. Secondly, which is the best and nearest way thither. And,

thirdly, think of setting about it with unwearied diligence. He that is discouraged with difficulties, that mistakes his way, goes far about, or loiters, is not like to arrive very soon. And he that rambles about from one town to another, without any determinate design, is a vagabond, and not an enlightened, industrious traveller, seeking for more knowledge.

Neither example nor precept can be an absolute guide of life to thee. It must be a knowledge and practical judgment of thy own that must direct thee in the business of the world, and in the turnings and trials of Providence. The other, indeed, will assist thee in generals, but it will be insufficient for particulars. It is impossible that any man should leave his successor rules that are infallible; because he knows not how times may alter, and things may offer. Even the word of God, which requires us to be "holy in all manner of conversation," requires us to "consider our ways;" and having laid down the great principles and rules, the conjunction of which constitutes the personal holiness of man, commands us to "think on these things," that our practice may conform to them.

If thou hast any humanity in thee, it will cause thee to do acts of charity; but if thou hast any piety, that must do it much more. For as the former shows thee thine own image in thy poor brother, so the latter shows thee the image of God. And how transcendent a satisfaction must it be to have thus rescued him who bears so divine an impress, and to have paid some part of thy gratitude to thy Creator for thy own being, by making thyself, in thy low sphere, the giver or preserver of that life which he first breathed into another. Nay, more. How fitting an acknowledgment of thy debt to thy merciful Redeemer for his remembrance of thee, an unworthy sinner, that thou hast assisted to deliver from some sorrow or danger one who, though he may not be what he ought to be, yet needed the help which thou wert able to bestow. For his wrong God will judge him, if he repent not; but for his distress, be thou the almoner of the divine bounty. When it is written, "Be ye followers of God as dear children," it is added, "And walk in love."