among those people from whom he intimated that he had obtained it.

It is worthy of observation how, in the extraordinary process we have described, art accomplishes in so brief a time what nature requires so long a period to effect, and then never with anything comparable to the perfection, we may say almost identity, with which this mode preserves an exact fac-simile of the original; in truth, the original itself.

In all the natural petrifying processes, only the external configuration and character generally, and not even the colour is retained, and rarely the texture, except in the case of ligneous substances, where both the fibres and colours are tolerably well sustained.

But in this surprising and almost magic art, not only, as we have said, the precise exterior outline is faithfully and exactly represented, but also the most minute and delicate interior arrangement of structure admirably perpetuated; as, for example, the entire viscera of the chest and abdomen, with all their varied and beautiful convolutions, were clearly exhibited, retaining even the colours of the blood vessels, in preparations of frogs, birds, and other animals, besides the human body.

Before leaving Florence, we must be permitted to say one word upon the almost threadbare theme of its more remarkable gems in sculpture. However much we may admire the perfect and exquisite proportions of the celebrated Venus de Medici, perhaps the chef d'œuvre itself of Praxiteles, and all the world must admire it, or their taste, or even their reason will be impeached, we venture, professionally, to have another taste, which is decidedly in favour of the Venus of Canova in the Pitti Palace of the grand-duke.

In the former, everything there is of it is good, but it

is too diminutive; while Canova's is better because there is more of it.

Both being exquisite in perfection, a precedence would naturally be given to that of Canova, in contemplating them as models of that female form, truly divine, that is destined to preserve and perpetuate unbroken and undegenerate, in volume, strength, and beauty, the golden links of creation.

ROME.

On my way to the "Eternal City," I tarried a short time in the old and cheerless town of Siena, on one of the summits of the Apennines. The only interest I felt in this dreary and sequestered place was in the tomb of the celebrated Mascagni. A traveller would think, in viewing this town, that every resident ought to be an enthusiast in some pursuit or another, to reconcile him to so gloomy an abode. So probably it was with Mascagni, whose name is consecrated in the esteem of every anatomist for his matchless discoveries and delineations in that wonderful system of our organization denominated the Absorbent. No man before or since his time has ever been so successful in his injections and demonstrations of this minute part of our structure. His magnificent work continues, even at this day, to be appealed to as our highest authority. Though no one can question that all he has delineated was necessary to complete this intricate part of our fabric, yet some, who have been unable to extend their researches as far, have even ventured to doubt that Mascagni himself could have alone achieved the monument he has left, of an untiring industry and keenness of investigation that has never been surpassed.

No object at Siena was exhibited with so much pride and pleasure as the beautiful and full-sized statue of Hygeia, placed over his remains, and pointing significantly, and with mournful expression, to the tablet in bas-relief of a portion of the absorbent system exquisitely chiselled in marble.

Traversing the last ranges of the Apennines, we at last saw in the distant horizon the towers and domes of the "Eternal City." In common with all travellers, we venture to express our disappointment at the first glimpse that is obtained of Rome. The first prominent object that strikes the eye is the far-famed and holy edifice of St. Peter's, which, from the high expectations that have been conceived of it in every one's mind, appears comparatively diminutive. And this disappointment continues on a nearer approach to it, and even on entering its vestibule for the first time. But, on a closer examination of its vast interior, its pictorial decorations and majestic architectural proportions, its costly ornaments and rich and elaborate workmanship, which have been the theme of so many pens, this superb and colossal structure, at every subsequent visit, impresses itself with greater and greater force upon our minds, exciting our wonder and admiration.

After a visit to this first great object of interest, we next directed our attention to the ruins of ancient Rome; and here, also, our first impressions fell far short of the conceptions that we had formed of them. Linked though they had been with every thought almost of our early recollections and studies, the glowing colours in which they had been invested in our imagination were dispelled when we saw the reality.

Of all that is now left to verify the identity of proud, imperial Rome, the only object by which we could realize, by tangible and ocular evidence, the existence of that mighty people, and that we were treading upon the hallowed ground,

"Where conquering eagles gilded every dome ;
Where Virgil sang; where Ciceronian fire

Burst on the heads of guilty senators ;

P

And murdered Cæsar, bleeding with his wounds,
Fell at the foot of Pompey's statue,"

were the ruins of the incomparable Coliseum.

In clambering over the remains of this vast structure we could readily picture to ourselves the grand conceptions of Vespasian, under whom it was commenced, and the Herculean labour with which it was completed by the thirty thousand prisoners whom his son and successor, Titus, brought from Judea after his conquest of Jerusalem.

What gratifying emotions must naturally arise in the mind of the Christian, in contrasting this pagan pile with the modern edifice of St. Peter's!

The one saw the followers of Christ brought in chains to Rome, to swell the triumphs of the imperial conqueror, and to labour as slaves in the construction of a work designed to pamper the pride of their master. The other records the advent of that auspicious era in the tide of human events, when the descendants themselves of those Christian slaves, still humbly bearing the standard of the cross, and spreading abroad the glad tidings of salvation, in their turn dictated laws to the world from this capital of the Roman Empire, as masters and freemen.

She whose military sceptre had so long held undisputed dominion over the nations of the earth, the home of that thrice-honoured Cæsarean Titus who had sacked the city of Jerusalem and laid waste the Holy Land, now became, under his successors, the fountain-head and mother of Christendom.

Even in the very arena of the Coliseum, where once was exhibited to admiring thousands those brutal spectacles of gladiatorial combats, where not only wild beasts, but human beings, were wantonly immolated at the shrine