and all night they flew and flew, till they found a land where there was no winter; where there was summer all the time; where flowers always blossom, and birds always sing.

But the birds that staid behind found the days shorter, the nights longer, and the weather colder. Many of them died of cold; others crept into crevices and holes, and lay torpid. Then it was plain that it was better to go than to stay.

PURITY OF CHARACTER.

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OVER the plum and apricot there may be seen a bloom and beauty more exquisite than the fruit itself, a soft, delicate flush that overspreads its blushing cheek. Now, if you strike your hand over that, and it is once gone, it is gone forever; for it never grows but once. The flower that hangs in the morning, impearled with dew, arrayed with jewels, once shake it so that the beads roll off, and you may sprinkle water over it as you please, yet it can never be made again what it was when the dew fell lightly upon it from heaven.

On a frosty morning you may see the panes of glass covered with landscapes, mountains, lakes, and trees, blended in a beautiful fantastic picture. Now, lay your hand upon the glass, and by the scratch of your fingers, or by the warmth of the palm, all the delicate tracery will be immediately obliterated. So in youth there is a purity of character which, when once touched and defiled, can never be restored,

a fringe more delicate than frostwork, and which, when torn and broken, will never be re-embroidered.

A man who has spotted and soiled his garments in youth, though he may seek to make them white again, can never wholly do it, even were he to wash them with his tears. When a young man leaves his father's house, with the blessing of his mother's tears still wet upon his forehead, if he once loses that early purity of character, it is a loss he can never make whole again. Such is the consequence of crime. Its effects cannot be eradicated, they can only be forgiven.

DANA.

1813

PROFESSOR JAMES DWIGHT DANA, one of the most eminent of American geologists and naturalists, was born at Utica, New York, in 1813. At the age of twenty he graduated at Yale College, where he was distinguished for his scientific tastes and attainments. Devoting himself assiduously to this specialty in knowledge, he soon acquired a reputation which justified his appointment to be the geologist and mineralogist of Commodore Wilkes's Exploring Expedition, sent out by the United States government in 1838. During his four years' absence in this capacity he gathered materials for some of the most notable contributions that have ever been made to the literature of science. Among these are his Report on Zoophytes, Report on the Geology of the Pacific, and Report on Crustacea. The amount of labor demanded by the preparation of these Reports may be inferred from the fact that they comprised 3,100 pages of text, in quarto form, and 178 plates in folio. Prior to his departure with this expedition he published his System of Mineralogy, the fourth edition of which was issued in 1854, and the descriptive part of the fifth, in 1868. In 1850 he was called to the chair of Natural History and Geology at Yale College, but did not begin its occupancy until five years later. Since 1846 he has been a principal editor of the American Journal of Science. Professor Dana's Manual of Geology, a new and thoroughly revised edition of which has recently been issued, is a standard text-book, not only in this country, but in Europe. His latest work is a volume entitled Corals and Coral Islands. Professor Dana has long been recognized in the scientific circles of Europe as one of the foremost living naturalists; he is a member of many English and Continental scientific societies, and last year received the high compliment of an election to membership in the French Academy. Professor Dana's fame rests upon the sound basis of practical achievement. He has been a hard student and a close observer of nature, and his special qualifications for scientific investigation are happily supplemented by general intellectual powers of exceptional breadth and strength, which admirably fit him for the office of leader and instructor in his chosen department of science.

KNOWLEDGE OF NATURE.

WHEN man, at the word of his Maker, stood up to receive his birthright, God pronounced a benediction, and gave him this commission : Replenish the earth: subdue it: and have dominion over every living thing."

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Subdue and have dominion." These were the first recorded words that fell on the human ear; and Heaven's blessing was in them.

But what is this subduing of the earth? How is nature brought under subjection? Man's highest glory consists in obedience to the Eternal Will; and in this case, is he actually taking the reins into his own hands? Far from it. He is but yielding submission. He is learning that will, and placing himself, as Lord Bacon has said, in direct subserviency to divine laws. When he sets his sails, and drives over the waves before the blast, feeling the pride of power in that the gale has been broken into a willing steed, he still looks up

reverently, and acknowledges that God in nature has been his teacher, and is his strength. When he strikes the rock, and out flows the brilliant metal, he admits that it is in obedience to a higher will than his own, and a reward of careful searching for truth, in complete subjection to that will. When he yokes together a plate of copper and zinc, and urges them to action by a cup of acid, and then despatches burdens of thought on errands of thousands of miles, — man may indeed claim that he has nature at his bid, subdued, a willing messenger; and yet it is so, because man himself acts in perfect obedience to law. He may well feel exalted: but his exaltation proceeds from the fact that he has drawn from a higher source of strength than himself; and a mind not morally perverted will give the glory where it is due.

These are the rewards of an humble and teachable spirit, kneeling at the shrine of nature; and if there is indeed that forgetfulness of self, and that unalloyed love of truth, which alone can insure the highest success in research, this shrine will be viewed as only the portal to a holier temple, where God reigns in his purity and love.

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The command," subdue, and have dominion," is, then, a mark both of man's power, and of God's power. It requires man to study his Maker's works, that he may adapt himself to his laws, and use them to his advantage ; to become wise, that he may be strong; elevate and ennoble mind, that matter may take its true place of subjection. It involves not merely a study of nature in the ordinary sense of those words, but also a study of man himself, and the utmost exaltation of the moral and mental qualities; for man is a part of nature; and moreover, to understand the teachings of Infinite Wisdom, the largest expansion of intellect and loftiest elevation of soul are requisite.

Solomon says, that, in his day, "there was nothing new under the sun." What is, is what has been, and what shall be. The sentiment was not prompted by any modern scientific spirit, impatience of so little progress; for it is immediately connected with sighings for the good old times. Much the same spirit is often shown in these days, and elaborate addresses are sometimes written to prove that, after all our boasted progress, Egypt and Greece were the actual sources of existing knowledge. They point to the massy stones of the pyramids; the sublime temples and palaces of the old empires; the occasional utensils of half-transparent glass, and implements of bronze or iron,

found among their buried ruins; the fine fabrics and costly Tyrian dyes; they descant upon the wonderful perfection attained in the fine arts, in poetry and rhetoric, and the profound thought of the ancient philosophers and then are almost ready to echo, “There is nothing new under the sun." What is, is what has been. Those good old times!

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But what had those old philosophers, or the whole ancient world, done toward bringing nature under subjection, in obedience to the command, "subdue it "?

They had, it is true, built magnificent temples. But the taste of the architect, or that of the statuary or poet, is simply an emanation from the divine breath within man, and is cultivated by contemplation, and only surface contact with nature.

They piled up Cyclopean rocks into walls and pyramids. But the use of the lever and pulley comes also from the workings of mind, and but shallow views of the world. And adding man to man till thousands have worked together, as in one harness, has been a common feat of despots from the time of the Pharaohs onward.

They educed profound systems of philosophy, showing a depth of thought since unsurpassed. But these again were the results of cogitating mind, acting in its own might, — glancing, it may be, at the landscape and the stars in admiration, but centering on man and mind; and often proving to be as erroneous as profound.

They cultivated the intellect, and made progress in political knowledge. But in their attempts to control nature, they brought to bear little beyond mere physical force.

Although ancient wisdom treats of air, earth, fire, and water, not one of these so-called elements was, in any proper sense, brought under subjection.

The Air: Was it subdued, when the old Roman still preferred his banks of oars, and on the land, the wind was trained only to turn a wind-mill, carry off chaff, or work in a bellows?

Was the Earth subdued, when, instead of being forced to pour out in streams its wealth of various ores, but half a dozen metals were known? and, instead of being explored and found to be marshaled, for man's command, under sixty or more elements, each with its laws of combination, and all bound to serve the arts, the wisest minds saw only a mass of earth, something to tread upon, and grow grain and grass?

Was Fire subdued, when almost its only uses were to warm, and cook, and to bake clay, and few of its other powers were known, besides those of destruction? or Light, when not even its component colors were recognized, and it served simply as a means of sight, in which man shared its use with brutes?

Was Water subdued, when it was left to run wild along the watercourses, and its ocean-waves were a terror to all the sailors of the age? when steam was only the ephemeral vapor of a boiling kettle, yet unknown in its might, and unharnessed? when the clouds sent their shafts where they willed? when the constituents of water- the lifeelement oxygen and the inflammable hydrogen - had not yet yielded themselves to man as his vassals?

KNOWLEDGE OF NATURE (continued).

HARDLY the initial step had been taken, through the thousands of years of the earth's existence, to acquire that control of nature which mind should have, and God had ordered. The sciences of observation and experiment had not emerged from the mists of empiricism and superstition. There were few ascertained principles beyond those that flow from mathematical law, or from cogitations of mind after surface surveys of the world.

No wonder that nature unsubdued should have proved herself a tyrant. She is powerful. Vast might is embodied in her forces, that may well strike terror into the uninstructed and man has shown his greatness in that he has at last dared to claim obedience. The air, earth, water, fire, had become filled with fancied fiends, which any priest or priestess could evoke; and even the harmless moon, or two approaching or receding planets, or the accidental flight of a thoughtless bird, caused fearful forebodings; and a long-tailed comet made the whole world to shake with terror.

Christianity, although radiant with hope, could not wholly break the spell. The Christian's trust, Heaven's best gift to man, makes the soul calm and strong mid dangers, real or unreal; yet it leaves the sources of terror in nature untouched, to be assailed by that power which comes from knowledge.

Man thus suffered for his disobedience. He was the slave, nature, the feared master; to many, even the evil demon himself.

Is this now true of nature? We know that, to a large extent,