race of myopes, but it is not true to anything like the same extent as that matrimony is doing so. Myopia, and the tendency to myopia, are usually inherited, and it is not an uncommon thing to find a large family of children all inheriting myopia from one parent; but few persons would on this account alone recommend universal and perpetual celibacy. Myopia may, no doubt, be developed, and the tendency to myopia may be aggravated by neglect of the known physiological conditions of healthy vision, and it is therefore incumbent upon all persons concerned in the construction of school buildings, and upon those who have charge of the education of children and youths, to take care that these conditions are strictly observed. As regards our public schools and universities, however, it should not be forgotten that shortsightedness is a fashionable complaint. Myopia has been said to be an affection of those who read much and think little ; it fairly belongs, therefore, to the present age. -Lancet.

THE MOON PHOTOGRAPHED BY EARTHLIGHT. It is well known that when the moon is new on a fine night, the markings of its surface may be distinguished by a low-power telescope, being illuminated by the sunlight reflected from the earth. This earthlight is, of course, many times brighter than moonlight, from the greater size of the earth. M. Janssen has succeeded in taking a photograph of the moon under these conditions, when only three days old. There was a narrow rim of brightness, the rest of the disc being in shadow, but still faintly visible. The photograph, which was taken on a gelatine plate, exhibits the general marking of the surface with considerable distinctness. Perhaps our electrically lighted cities may soon be visible from the moon at night, and act as the signal to any possible inhabitants of the moon, which it was suggested should be attempted by the construction of some gigantic geometric figure.

MISCELLANY.

CARLYLE'S WILL.-Carlyle's will has been published, and turns out to be a document in some sense characteristic of him, though characteristic, we think, rather of Carlyle's weaker than of his stronger side-of the deep interest which he very naturally felt in his own genius, than of his own teaching as to the silences and reserves of life. It is a document full of selfconsciousness and of little picturesque egotisms. In giving the books used in writing "Cromwell" and "Frederick" to Harvard University in the United States, "after due consultation as to the feasibilities and excuseabilities of it," Carlyle states that he gives them in

by no means ready for publication; nay, the questions how, when (after what delay, seven -ten years?), it, or any portion of it, should be published, are still dark to me; but on all such points, James Anthony Froude's practical summing-up, is to be taken as mine." Whether this applies chiefly to the letters still unpublished, or chiefly to the Reminiscences," it proves clearly enough that Carlyle had the greatest doubts on the point of what ought to be withheld altogether and what long delayed; and that he contemplated the publication of no portion at all immediately after his death. The whole will is a very curious illustration both of the self-consciousness and of the deep Romanticism of Carlyle's character. - The Spectator.

THE PHILOSOPHY OF SMELLING.-The sense of smell occupies itself with gases; for these alone can gain access to the organ, or cause the sensation of smell. Lest the reader should suppose this statement opposed to the testimony of his experience, from the well-known fact that solids, such as cedar-wood, camphor, and musk excite the sensation of smell, while ordinary scents are preserved and carried about in a liquid form, it must be explained that these which, on free exposure to the air, are slowly substances contain volatile essential principles, given off in a state of vapor. Some solids give off particles of their substance in a state of vapor without first becoming liquid, as is ordinarily the case. Thus snow, which coats the earth in winter, will diminish daily even though the air is frosty, and there is no melting process going on. In other cases, as in cedarwood, oils naturally volatile seem to be long entangled in the solid matter and but slowly rendered to the air; but their odoriferous power is so great that very small portions of them produce strong perfumes. This is sometimes truly wonderful. Dr. Carpenter states that a grain of musk may be freely exposed to the air for ten years, during which time it perfumes the whole surrounding air; yet when weighed, there is no perceptible loss observed. Matters which exhale odorous emanations are detected at a great distance, from the tendency of gases to pass through and diffuse themselves equably throughout all other gases. Thus, though there be but a very small escape of coal

64

THE CZAR NICHOLAS.-E. C. Granville Murray has lately contributed to the Swiss Times some entirely personal reminiscences of the Czar Nicholas. Of his mental habits and temperament he says: He was a man of hasty temper, but very full of generous impulses. Having on some occasion used harsh language toward one of his colonels, and learning that the officer had taken his rebuke to heart, the Czar ordered a review, and publicly embraced him at the head of his regiment. A kind man, too, who could unbend at times. One Ist of April, a lady, who told me the story herself, was surprised by her servant abruptly announcing the Czar. It was so early in the morning that she thought it was some joke of her sisters in connection with the day, so she replied laughingly, "Tell the Czar to wait,' and went on sipping her tea. Presently she looked up again, however, and saw the servant standing aghast near the door, which was still wide open, and behind it, casque and plume, was the stately figure of the Emperor. He had come to bring her good news of her son, who was abroad, and had been ill. He was not tolerant, however, of intentional disrespect, and had but a modified appreciation of a joke. A general who was police-master at St. Petersburg for a short time, found this out to his cost. The general was considered a very stupid man, and was the Czar's favorite butt, so his Majesty was pleased one night at a court ball to send him off in search of a thief who had stolen a colossal statue of Peter the Great. The police-master, finding this statue in its usual place, as any one else would have expected, felt mortified at the laugh raised against him, and determined to be revenged in his own way. Shortly afterward, therefore, he announced to his Imperial master while at the theatre that the Winter Palace was on fire. The Czar rose hastily to witness the conflagration, and on finding that the police-master had presumed to retaliate on his august self, sent him to reflect on his indiscretion in Siberia. Finally he was not a faithful husband, but he was fond of his wife and very jealous. Majesty was quite aware of this, and, unfortunately, very mischievous. Whenever, therefore, she wished to get rid of an officer who displeased her, she commanded him to dance with her, and so sure as she did so he was sent to the Caucasus. The Czar's personal habits were soldierly and simple. He ate and drank with extreme moderation, and he slept in his uniform on a tent bed in his study, with only a

Her

military cloak to cover him. He allowed his son, the late Emperor, £40,000. a month while travelling abroad; the Empress spent money so lavishly that her expenses for one night that she halted at Hanover exceeded £1600. He gave, too, largely, but his personal wants must have cost little indeed.

THE FRANKLIN MANUSCRIPTS.-There is rather a curious history attaching to the Frankin manuscripts which were offered to the American Congress the other day for the sum of $25,000. The manuscripts were originally left to Benjamin Franklin's grandson, William Temple Franklin, and contain the secret history of the war, private negotiations, and many political anecdotes of the time, which would now of course of great value, but which at the period of Franklin's death it was considered unwise to make public. The manuscripts were taken to England by William Temple Franklin, who, however, suppressed most of them, in consideration, it is said, of a sum paid to him by the British Government, and only published a portion of that part which consisted of the autobiography of his grandfather, and even this he greatly mutilated before making it public. The documents now offered to Congress are said to be the whole of the suppressed manuscripts which belonged to William Temple Franklin. If they have been preserved in their entirety, they are of course most valuable pieces of history, and should undoubtedly be in possession of the American Government. But there is some doubt as to whether they really are in perfect condition. The man who did not hesitate to mutilate the autobiography of Benjamin Franklin would scarcely be inclined to regard the remaining manuscripts with any great reverence, and it is quite possible that he may have taken liberties with them which greatly deteriorate, if they do not destroy, their historical value.-London Daily News.

BEFORE THE SPRING.

THE wind has blown the last year's leaves
From off the primrose head;
The lilac-shoot its prison cleaves,

The elm-tree tips are red.
And all about, though trees are bare,
And covert none to sing,
The blackbird heralds everywhere
The coming of the spring.
Sing on, sweet bird, for you have faith
To trust all darkness is not death!
The spring has signs to show her nigh,
And bid the world prepare;
Has Joy no herald, or must I
Look for no future fair?
My heart seems barren as a world

Where Spring comes nevermore;
No leaf shows from its sheath uncurled;
No birds their raptures pour.
Yet, faithless heart, believing be-
The Spring must come again for thee!
R. I. O.