fruits, and of its first fruits. For it is a philosophy which never rests, which has never attained, which is never perfect. Its law is progress. A point which yesterday was invisible is its goal to-day, and will be its starting-post to-morrow.—(Macaulay.) SCIENTIFIC ADVENTURE. ASCENT OF THE JUNGFRAU. In 1841, Professor Forbes, along with M. Agassiz, and others, made a successful ascent of the great Swiss mountain, the Jungfrau, whose summit is 13,720 feet above the level of the sea. the col which separates the Aletsch Glacier from the Rothal, on the side of Lauterbrunnen, by which the ascent has usually been attempted. Thus, the travellers, although now at a height of between 12,000 and 13,000 feet, had by far the hardest and most perilous part Of six travellers and seven guides of the ascent to accomplish. The who formed the party, four of each whole upper part of the mountain reached the top-viz., of the former, presented a steep, inclined surface MM. Forbes, Agassiz, Desor, and of what at first seemed snow, but Duchatelies; of the latter, Jacob which soon appeared to be hard Leutvold (who ascended the Finster ice. This slope was not less than Aarhorn), Johan Jannon, Melchior, 800 or 900 feet in perpendicular Baucholzer, and Andreas Aplanalp. height, and its surface (which ProThey left the Grimsel on the morn- fessor Forbes measured several ing of the 27th of August, 1841, times with a clinometer), in many ascended the whole height of the places rose at 45 degrees, and in few Ober-Aar Glacier, and descended much less; and all Alpine travelthe greater part of that of Viesch. lers know well what an inclined Crossing a col to the right, they surface of 45 degrees is to walk up. slept at the chalet of Aletsch, near Of course, every step taken was cut the lake of that name. This was with the hatchet, whilst the slope twelve hours' hard walking, the de- terminated below, on both sides in scent of the glaciers being difficult precipices some thousand feet high. and fatiguing. Next day, the party After very severe exertion, they started at six A.M., having been un- reached the top of this great mounable sooner to procure a ladder, to tain at four P.M. The summit was cross the crevasses; they then tra- so small that but one person could versed the upper part of the glacier stand upon it at once, and that not of Aletsch in its whole extent for until the snow had been flattened. four hours and a half, until the The party returned as they came ascent of the Jungfrau began. up, step by step, and backwards, The party crossed with great caution extensive and steep fields of fresh snow, concealing crevasses, till they came to one which opened vertically, and behind which rose an excessively steep wall of hardened snow. Having crossed the crevasses with the ladder, they ascended the snow without much danger, owing to its consistency. After some similar walking they gained and arrived at the chalet of Aletsch, and by beautiful moonlight, at halfpast eleven at night. PROFESSOR FORBES IN THE ALPS. Strange incidents befell Professor Forbes and his companions, in their travels through the Alps of Savoy. On one occasion, they got so near a thunder-cloud, as to be highly electrified by induction, with all the angular stones round them hissing from the sense of personal danger. like points near a powerful electrical As it was, when we had recovered machine; on another, whilst cross-our first surprise, and interchanged ing one of the loftiest passes, the Col de Collon, they discovered a dark object lying on the snow, which proved to be the body of a man, with the clothes hard-frozen and uninjured. "The effect on us all," says the Professor, "was electric; and had not the sun shone forth in its full glory, and the very wilderness of eternal snow seemed gladdened under the serenity of such a summer's day, as is rare at these heights, we should certainly have felt a deeper thrill, arising of God." our expression of sympathy for the poor traveller, and gazed with awe on the disfigured relics of one who had so lately been in the same plight with ourselves, we turned and surveyed, with a stronger sense of sublimity than before, the desolation by which we were surrounded; and became still more sensible of our isolation from human dwellings, human help, and human sympathy, our loneliness with nature, and as it were, the more immediate presence SCIENTIFIC MEN. NAPOLEON'S SAVANS IN EGYPT. During the Egyptian campaign, no sooner were the Mameluke horse descried than the word was given-" Form square; artillery to the angles; asses and savans to the centre;" a command which afforded no small merriment to the soldiers, and made them call the asses demisavans.—(Alison.) HUMBOLDT AND THE FRENCH SAVANS IN EGYPT. In the diary of Thomas Moore appears the following notice of the great work which was the joint production of the savans who accompanied Napoleon to Egypt: ledge on the subject. When I mentioned to Madame de Souza what he said about the concoction of the memoir, she told me it was all done too in the presence of the Emperor!" Afterwards meeting with Baron Humboldt, that distinguished philosopher "spoke contemptuously of the great government work as a confused heap of common-places; Fourrier's a pompous preface with nothing in it. Said the Egyptians were blackish, with good aquiline noses; the Sphynx a negro face. Asked him if he thought Cleopatra was 'blackish?' 'Yes, certainly."" DR. WHEWELL AND THE COLLEGE "DONS." Dr. Whewell's accession to the Mastership of Trinity might well have been an era in the history of that "royal and religious foundation." The new head was a gentleman of most commanding personal appearance, and the very sound of his powerful voice betokened no ordinary man. He was a remark Aug., 1820. Went to call on Madame de Souza, for the purpose of being taken by her to the Institute. Was received there with much kindness by M. Fourrier, one of the Egyptian savans, and author of the 'Memoire' prefixed to the great work on Egypt. He said that he merely held the pen, for that every word in it was disputé ably good rider even in a country of among the whole number of those horsemen, and the anecdote was on the expedition, and that it was often told, and not altogether reputhe result of their collected know-diated by him, how, in his younger YOUTHFUL PURSUITS OF GALILEO. days, about the time of his ordina- | primed, and with their parts artistion, a pugilist, in whose company tically distributed, watched their he accidentally found himself while time and adroitly introduced the travelling, audibly lamented that prepared topic. One after the other such lusty thews and sinews should they let drop most naturally a quanbe thrown away on a parson. With tity of strange erudition, marvelthese physical advantages was com- lously astounding, no doubt to the bined a knowledge almost literally small-college Dons present, and apuniversal. Some people are said parently puzzling to the object of to know a little of everything; he attack, for he actually remained might be truly said to know a great silent for a full quarter of an hour, deal of everything. Second Wrang- till, just as the parties were conler of his year, Professor of Miner- gratulating themselves on their alogy, and afterwards of Moral success, he turned to the principal Philosophy, author of a Bridge- speaker, and remarked, "O, I see water Treatise, and writer on a you've been reading the article I diversity of subjects, scientific and wrote for such a cyclopædia in such ethical, he kept up his classics to a year!" They gave it up after an extent unusual for a scientific that.-(Bristed's Five Years in an man, and did not neglect the lighter English University.) walks of literature. His name is on the list of the Cambridge prize poets, and is also known in connection with several translations from the German. In conversation it was scarcely possible to start a subject without finding him at home in it. A story is current about him, not absolutely authenticated, but certainly of the se non vero ben trovato sort; that some of the Dons who were tired of hearing him explain everything, and enlighten everybody in Combination-room, laid a trap to catch him in this wise. They determined to get In the year 1615, Galileo was themselves up thoroughly in some called to account by the Inquisition out-of-the-way topic, and introduce at Rome for maintaining the moit, as if by accident, on the first tion of the earth and the stability convenient occasion. Accordingly of the sun, and teaching and prothey pitched upon something con- mulgating this doctrine. He was nected with China, either (for there enjoined by Cardinal Bellarmine to are two versions of the story) renounce this opinion as heretical, Chinese musical instruments or the and it was decreed that if he refused Chinese game of chess. Various he should be cast into prison. The odd books, and particularly a cer- astronomer appeared before the tain volume of a certain cyclopædia, cardinal, and declared that he were dragged out of their dusty abandoned the doctrine of the repose and carefully perused. Next earth's motion, and would cease to Sunday, when the College digni- propagate it. Under the pontifitaries and some stranger guests were marshalled over their port and biscuit, the conspirators thoroughly The early years of Galileo were spent in the construction of instruments and pieces of machinery, which were calculated chiefly to amuse himself and his schoolfellows. Sir David Brewster, in mentioning this fact, remarks that in this respect the early life of the future astronomer, resembled that of almost all great experimental philosophers. GALILEO'S ABJURATION. cate of Urban VIII., however, he began anew to teach the doctrine of the earth's motion. This pope SCIENTIFIC AND LITERARY PURSUITS OF AGE. had once been his friend, but now became his accuser; and in 1633, Galileo was again summoned before the Inquisition, and put upon his trial for holding and teaching the heretical opinion. He again abjured the doctrine, kneeling before the assembled cardinals, and clothed in sackcloth of a penitent criminal. Laying his hands upon the gospels, he invoked the Divine aid in ab 211 juring and detesting, and vowing never again to teach, the doctrine of the earth's motion, and of the sun's stability. When he rose from his knees, he stamped on the ground and said in a whisper to a friend, "E pur si muove." "It does move, though." Having signed his recantation, he was, in conformity to his sentence, confined in the prison of the Inquisition. SCIENTIFIC AND LITERARY PURSUITS OF AGE. HUMBOLDT. "In my eightieth year" (writes Baron Humboldt, in the Aspects of Nature, 1849), "I am still enabled to enjoy the satisfaction of completing a third edition of my work, remoulding it entirely to meet the requirements of the present time." | The Nestor of science is now (1854) engaged in completing his Cosmos. ARNAULD AND SPELMAN. The great Arnauld retained the vigour of his genius, and the command of his pen, to his last day. He translated Josephus when eighty years old, and at the age of eightytwo was still the great Arnauld. Sir Henry Spelman neglected the sciences in his youth, but cultivated them at fifty years of age, and produced good fruit. His early years were chiefly passed in farming, which greatly diverted him from his studies: but a remarkable disappointment respecting a contested estate disgusted him with these rustic occupations. Resolved to attach himself to regular studies and literary society, he sold his farms, and became the most learned antiquary and lawyer. before his death. In one morning of advanced life, he amused himself by committing to memory 800 lines of Virgil. At the age of seventythree, when staggering under an immediate attack of paralysis sufficiently severe to render him speechless he composed a Latin prayer, in order to test the loss or retention of his mental faculties. Chaucer's Canterbury Tales were the composition of his latest years. They were begun in his fifty-fourth year, and finished in his sixtyfirst. The most delightful of autobiographers, for artists, is that of Benvenuto Cellini-a work of great originality, which was not begun till "the clock of his age had struck fifty-eight." Franklin's philosophical pursuits began when he had nearly reached his fiftieth year. DRYDEN, ANGELO, WREN, FRANKLIN, AND ACCORSO. Dryden's complete works form the largest body of poetry from the pen of one writer in the English language; yet he gave no public testimony of poetical abilities till his twenty-seventh year. In his sixty-eighth year he proposed to translate the whole Iliad; and the most pleasing productions were written in his old age. Michael Angelo preserved his Sir Christopher Wren retired from public life at eighty-six; and after that he spent five years in literary, astronomical, and religious engagements. should but ill return the favours God has granted me in the eightieth year of my age, should I allow myself to give way to that shameless want of occupation which I have condemned all my life" and the old man proceeds with his "observations on the composition and reading of books." WALTON AND REID. Izaak Walton still glowed while writing some of the most interesting biographies in his eighty-fifth year, and in his ninetieth enriched the poetical world with the first publication of a romantic tale by Chalkhill, "the friend of Spenser." Dr. Franklin exhibited a striking instance of the influence of reading, writing, and conversation, in prolonging a sound and active state of all the faculties of the mind. In his eighty-fourth year he discovered no one mark in any of them of the weakness of decay usually observed mistry kindled the curiosity of Dr. in the minds of persons at that ad-Reid to his latest days. vanced period of life. Accorso, a great lawyer, being asked why he began the study of the law so late, answered, that indeed he began it late, but should therefore master it the sooner. NECKER AND LE VEGER. Necker offers a beautiful instance of the influence of late studies in life; for he tells us, that "the era of threescore and ten is an agreeable age for writing: your mind has not lost its vigour, and envy leaves you in peace." The opening of one of La Mothe le Veger's Treatises is striking: "I The revelations of modern che ADAM SMITH. Professor Dugald Stewart says, that Adam Smith observed to him that "of all the amusements of old age, the most grateful and soothing is a renewal of acquaintance with the favourite studies and favourite authors of youth-a remark which in his own case seemed to be more particularly exemplified while he was reperusing, with the enthusiasm of a student, the tragic poets of ancient Greece. I heard him repeat the observation more than once while Sophocles and Euripides lay open on his table." TABLE-TALK AND VARIETIES. SPEAKING A FOREIGN LANGUAGE. Miss Selina Bunbury, the writer of a Tour in Norway and Sweden, relates some amusing blunders committed in the course of her attempts to secure the services of a travelling companion who could drive her into the country. After sundry failures, a Scandinavian professor succeeded in finding a collector of fairy legends who was desirous of making a tour in quest of the lore of faëryland, and consented to take the whip and reins in Miss Bunbury's carriole: "The Professor had told me (she writes) that the fairy-legend hunter spoke English; a delightful knowledge this was to me, for I am by no means strong in northern tongues. Thus, in the hope of using and hearing my own, I was |