into two on the coast of the Brazils; one branch going to the south, the other into the Gulf of Mexico, and called the gulf stream-most rapid between the coast of Florida and the Bahamas, striking against the coast of Newfoundland, and meeting the polar current, is again sent back across the Atlantic to the Azores, and so into itself again;-in the time of Columbus, remains of trees, also two dead bodies, were found at the Azores, washed over by this stream-how and why this encouraged him in his views.

The connexion of North America with this country, when declared independent, &c., and, in like manner, how the other divisions of this large continent were, at an earlier period, connected with other European nations-Canada with France -the Brazils, &c., with Portugal-Mexico, &c., with Spain.

It is not meant that all this is to be taught to children at one lesson, but in the course of their reading the lessons on the subject of America, introduced into their school-books ; this is the sort of information given by the teachers in the school here.

After a first lesson they would be made to sit down and write on their slates the meaning conveyed to their minds by such a sentence as the one quoted above, which occurs at the beginning of their lessons: "Soon after it was discovered each nation," &c.;-at another, to sit down before the map and make an outline of the coast bordering on the Gulf of Mexico, noting the river mouths, towns, &c., or to put down on their slates the longitude of the extreme east and west points of South America, and then to work out the difference in time.

The first class of boys are reading Sullivan's 'Geography Generalized,' one of the most useful books on this subject for the purposes of teaching I have ever seen.

By most of them questions of the following kind would be answered with a good deal of intelligence: What is the difference between a great and small circle on the same sphere? What sort of circle is the parallel of latitude on which we live? What parallels of latitude are great circles? Is the sun ever vertical to the inhabitants of Europe? In what direction is he seen, when on the meridian, by an observer north of the northern tropic? Always south. To an observer between the tropics? Explain why he would appear north or south of him

at noon, according to the time of the year? To an observer in a higher southern latitude than 2340, where would he appear at noon? Always north.

Two men walking out of the school, the one direct east, the other west, and always keeping equally distant from the equator and pole, on what line would they walk supposing the earth a sphere? Is it a straight line? How would their reckoning of time vary? Supposing each to walk a degree a day, how would their respective noons differ from the noon of the place where they started from and from each other?—at the end of one, two, three, &c., days-at the end of 360 days? When would they meet a first, second, third, &c., time? When they come to the place from which they set out, how many times will the one walking east have seen the sun rise? How many the one walking west? What is the circumference of the circle on which they walk, supposing them to start from a place in latitude 51°?

Two men starting from the same point on the same meridian, latitude 51°; point out their course, supposing one to go due north, the other due south, and always to walk on the same meridian. Will they have described a greater space when they meet than the two walking on the same parallel of latitude? How much longer? How will their reckoning of time differ? How long will it continue to be noon to both at the same time?

The sun is said never to set on the Queen's dominions how is this? would he set on a belt of land running from pole to pole? -on a belt one degree wide on each side of the equator, and running round the earth ?-ths of the equator is in seas -th in land-show this on the map, reckoning the exact number of degrees through which sea and land run.

Point out the advantage of knowing the figure of the earth, in answering the above.

Supposing a ship to sail from the Red Sea along the east coast of Africa, round the Cape of Good Hope, and so to Europe, would they always see the sun south of them at noon? Answer: No, sir. Point out, then, where they would begin to see him north according to the time of year-how this direction would vary in different latitudes up to the Cape of Good Hope. That to a people ignorant of the figure of the earth, and of its motions, and never having been beyond the Tropic

of Capricorn, seeing the sun to the north of them at noon would appear as something supernatural.

Now, we find in a book written before the time of our Saviour, that, in the time of Pharoah Necho, king of Egypt, some Egyptians had made their way in a boat, setting out from the Red Sea, along the east coast of Africa, turned round what is now called the Cape of Good Hope, in passing which they would have, with their faces to the west, the sun on their right hand and towards the north of them, their left hand to the south, and of course their backs to the east. They then coasted along the west coast of Africa, found their way into the Straits of Gibraltar, which perhaps were known to them, and so sailed up the Mediterranean until they came to Egypt again, having thus coasted along the entire sea-coast of the continent of Africa. They took three years to do this in, and when they came back told people that they had seen wool growing on trees, and the sun at noon, when their faces were to the west, on their right hand. At that time these were reasons for not believing the account; but with us who know more of the figure of the earth than people did then, and something about cotton, they confirm the truth of the story.

On the subject of Physical Geography,* which is one of great interest many things suggest themselves-such as the varying altitude of the snow-line in different latitudes-why it should be higher near the tropics than at the equator-and why the line of the same temperature should recede further from the equator in the old continent than in the new-the limits of the different vegetable productions, and why on high mountains, even within the tropics, those of all climates, from the equator to the pole, may be found, &c., showing the effect which elevation above the level of the sea has upon climateillustrating the explanation by instances of the vegetation of mountainous districts in low latitudes, and of low levels in high latitudes, and how it is that the temperature of the air decreases as the height above the earth's surface increasesstate facts in proof of this. If the lands in the equatorial seas were increased, an increased temperature of climate would arise if those of the polar regions, the temperature of the climate would be diminished.

* See Appendix (B).

NATURAL HISTORY.

The subject of Natural History, both of plants and animals, so far as they differ from each other in external form, in habits, &c., may be turned to very good account, and made the means of a great deal of useful instruction in our elementary schools. "All this, it has been observed, children are capable of understanding-it consists in attending to the objects with which Nature presents us, in considering them with care, and admiring their different beauties, but without searching out their causes, which belongs to a higher department of knowledge: for children have eyes and do not want curiosity: they ask questions and love to be informed, and here we need only awaken and keep up in them the desire of learning and knowing what is natural to all mankind."

The children here are in the habit, as the spring and summer advance, of bringing to the school plants and flowers when they first come out-small twigs of the different trees of the parish, as the foliage begins to expand-aquatic and other plants; all these, so far as a knowledge of them can be had from the organs of vision, with a little of the mind and of common sense to help it, are made vehicles of instruction.

For instance, the names of the different parts of a flower, from its root upwards, and the functions which each part performs the nature of the root, whether bulbous, fibrous, or tap-rooted-the uniformity in number of the petals, stamen, pistil, &c.,-running through the same class of plants ;-difference in the shape of leaves-some are notched and some are plain some rough, others smooth, some oval, some round, some bright green, others dark-the under side of the leaf differing in colour from the upper, &c. : the different kinds of soils on which they find the wild plants-showing that the soil on which any particular plant is generally found is, most likely, one best suited to its habits-that some plants, and pointing out which (this they ought to know from their own observation), are only found in shady places, while others will not grow at all in the shade; that, when a flower or leaf withers, this is from the juices making their escape into the atmosphere, and the plant being separated from its roots, cannot get a fresh supply; how aquatic plants differing in structure from those on dry land, in their air-cells, are calculated to make them float.

4

Then again, the small twigs of the different trees or shrubs they may bring, the oak, and the elm, and the beech —place a little twig of each side by side-how many differences in external appearance-in the leaf, the bark, the texture of the wood-the bark of the oak used for tanning, and the difference in time in the leaf coming out, and in its fall-the value of each as timber.

The acacia and the laurel-beauty of the leaves, how uniformly the leaflets of the acacia are set on, one opposite another-how regularly in some plants the leaves are placed directly opposite to one another, others, again, alternating on opposite sides of the stem; point out the framework of the leaves, how the skeletons of them differ-to observe this in decayed leaves.

Another morning they bring different twigs of the pine tribe-the larch, the Scotch fir, spruce, or silver fir-pointing out their thread-like leaves-that the larch is deciduous, the others not, &c. In this way they become acquainted with all the trees in the parish. That when a tree is cut down, the number of concentric rings on the face of a section of the stem marks the number of years' growth; that, when they observe one ring smaller than another, it would denote a small growth for that year, and might have been caused by some peculiarity in the season, &c., such as a hard winter.

The great age of some trees, particularly yew.

These kind of observations should be made with the plants before their eyes, otherwise they have but little effect: the teacher would then tell them to sit down and describe a leaf, a twig, &c., of any of them; or some take one, some another, which is better, as this does away with the temptation to get hints from each other.

Again, calling their attention to some of the more striking differences in animals in their outward appearance and habits -the migrating of birds, and when they return, getting them to observe it; difference in the teeth and in the articulation of the jaw in animals of prey and of those which ruminate, the jaw of the latter being capable of a rotatory motion, which enables them to grind, the other not, and having long tearing teeth; the air-cells in the bones of birds so beautfully adapted to the purposes of flight-the feathering of water-birds-the down on their breasts-the peculiarity of their feet, and how differing from the feet of those that roost, &c.