of the human race have thrown into the shade every other production of art or science. Whether we regard the history of this invention as to time or place, the effects which it has produced, or the means by which it has produced these effects, we find every thing to gratify our national pride, excite our wonder, and command our admiration. Within the last century the steam-engine had its birth, and was cradled in Britain. The offspring of British genius, it was fostered by British enterprise, and supported by British capital. It has grown with a ra pidity which has no example in the annals of mechanical invention to its present giant stature. To enumerate its effects would be to count almost every comfort and every luxury of civilized life. It has increased the sum of human happiness, not only by calling new pleasures into existence, but by so cheap ening former enjoyments, as to render them attainable by those who never could have hoped to share them. Nor are these effects confined to England alone; they extend over the whole civilized world; and the savage tribes of America, Asia, and Africa, already begin to feel, in a thousand ways, directly and indirectly, the advantages of this all powerful agent. Regarded as affecting the material condition of man, the steam-engine has no rival. Considered as a moral and social agent, it may be placed beside, if not before, the press. Extensive as were the former powers of that vast instrument of intellectual advancement, who can measure the augmentation which its influence has received from its combination with the steam-engine? But among the unnumbered benefits which this creation of Watt has showered on mankind, there is assuredly none attended with consequences of such magnitude and import ance as the powers of locomotion, both by land and water, which it has conferred upon us. Every line of easy and rapid intercommunication between nation and nation is a new bond of amity, and a channel through which streams of reciprocal beneficence will flow. The extension of commercial relations thus produced will generate community of interests, and will multiply the motives for the maintenance of universal peace. Channels will be opened, through which information and knowledge will pass from people to people; civilization will be stimulated, morals elevated, taste cultivated, manners refined. The temples of superstition will be razed to the ground, the darkness of ignorance dispelled, national antipathies uprooted, and the population of the globe taught to regard them selves as denizeus of one great commonwealth, and children of one common FATHER. Such are the benefits which flow from the triple league of the Steam-engine with the Press, the Ship, and the Railway. These are the combined powers to which nations may securely tender unqualified allegiance. This is the true Holy Alliance, which will cause the sceptre to tremble in the hands of the despot, and the chains to fall from the limbs of the slave. THE QUICKSilver steamER. ONE of the boldest enterprises among the projected improvements of the steam-engine, which has emerged from the condition of a mere experiment, is the vapour engine, as it is called, of Mr. Howard. The extent to which the economy of the combustible is professed to be carried by this contrivance is, sufficiently startling to entitle it to attention; and as trips of some length have been already made by vessels propelled by engines on this principles, and a vessel is in prepa ration for the Atlantic voyage, we should hardly be justified in classing it among mere speculations, or in passing it over without particular notice. Mr. Howard applies the furnace, not immediately to the water, but to a pan of quicksilver. He proposes to maintain this at a temperature below its boiling point, but very much above the boiling point of water. On the surface of this hot quicksilver he injects the water, which is converted instantaneously into steam, containing much more heat than is sufficient to maintain it in the vaporous form. This superheated steam is used to work the piston; and being subsequently condensed by means of a jet of fresh water, the mixture of warm water, produced by the steam and the water injected, is conducted through the cooling pipes, and subsequently used-partly to supply the water for evaporation, and partly to supply the water for injection. Thus, in this contrivance, as it now stands, not only the boiler, but the use of sea-water is altogether dispensed with; the same distilled water constantly circulating through the cylin der and the condenser. It appears to have an advantage over Hall's condenser, inasmuch as it preserves the method of condensing by injection, which has, since a very early epoch in the history of the steam-engine, been found to be attended with considerable advantages over any method of condensation by cold sur face. It is right, however, to state, that the idea of supplying the water of injection by cooling the water drawn from the condenser, by passing it through pipes, has been patented by Mr. Symington. The economy of fuel proposed to be attained by Mr. Howard's contrivance is so great, that, if it should prove successful, it must put every other forin of marine engines altogether out of use. We regret that we have not had opportunities of immediate observation of the experimental results of this engine; but they have inspired confidence into several persons competent to judge of them, who have not hesitated to embark capital in their realization and improvement. The question must now soon be decided, as the steam-vessel Columbus, having her machinery constructed on this principle, is understood to be in a forward state of preparation at Liverpool for the Atlantic voyage. As the British and American Steam Navigation Company proposes to introduce the method of condensation by surface into the British Queen, we shall have all the different expedients, which afford an immediate prospect of material improvement in the economy of fuel and the preservation of the machinery, speedily in operation on the Atlantic, and the results of experience will afford grounds for judging the respective merits more conclusive than any theoretical skill can pretend to offer.-Monthly Chronicle. The Naturalist. FLOWER-GARDENS OF THE ANCIENTS. By James Macauley, Esq. M.A. [THIS very interesting paper, full of the lore of classic gardening, graces the pages of the Magazine of Natural History.] It is always asserted by modern writers on gardening, that the ancients did not cultivate flowers as a source of amusement. In the descriptions, it is said, of all the most famous gardens of antiquity which have come down to us, we read merely of their fruits and their shade; and when flowers are mentioned, they are always reared for some special purpose, such as to supply their feasts, or their votive offerings. Considered merely as an useful art, gardening must be one of the earliest cultivated; but as a refined source of pleasure, it is always one of the latest. It is not till civilization and elegance are far advanced among a people, that they can enjoy the poetry or the pleasure of the artificial associations of nature. Hence this question is interesting, as illustrating the manners and the tastes of the times referred to. Negative proofs are not sufficient to determine the point. To show that the gardens of the Hesperides contained nothing but oranges, or that of King Alcinous (Odyss. vii.) nothing but a few fruit-trees and pot-herbs, does not disprove the opinion that others cultivated flowers as a source of pleasure. Before speaking of the Roman flowergardens, I would offer a few remarks on those of Greece and the east. From the little mutability of oriental customs, their ancient gardening did not probably differ much from that of modern times. The descriptions given by Maund rell, Russell, and other travellers, agree with what we read in the Scriptures of the Hebrew gardens three thousand years ago. Solomon, who had so extensive a knowledge of the vegetable kingdom, that he knew plants from the cedar of Lebanon to the moss on the wall, enumerates gardening among the pleasures he had tasted in his search after happiness: "I made me great works; I builded me houses; I planted me vineyards; I made me gardens and orchards."-Eccles. ii. 14. From Xenophon and other writers we have a few notices of the Persian gardens. Xenophon relates that Cyrus was much devoted to the pleasures of gardening; and wherever he resided, or whatever part of his dominions he visited, he took care that the gardens should be filled with every thing, both beautiful and useful, which the soil could produce. These were sometimes only hunting-parks, or inclosed forests, but there were also flower-gardens among them. Cicero ("De Senectute") relates the following anecdote of Cyrus. When Lysander the Spartan came to him with presents to Sardis, Cyrus showed him all his treasures and his gardens ;-and when Lysander was struck with the height of the trees, and the arrangement and fine cultivation of the grounds, and the sweetness of the odours flowers, ("suavitate odorum qui afflarentur which were breathed upon them from the e floribus," he said, that he admired not only the diligence but the skill of the man, who had contrived and laid out the garden. And Cyrus answered, "Atqui ego omnia ista sum dimensus; mei sunt ordines; mea descriptio; multæ etiam istarum arborum mea manu sunt sute." One of the earliest and best known of all the Grecian gardens is that of King Alci"What, "" nous, described in the Odyssey. says Sir Robert Walpole, "was that boasted paradise with which -the Gods ordained To grace Alcinous and his happy land?' Why, divested of harmonious Greek and bewitching poetry, it was a small orchard and vineyard, with some beds of herbs, and two fountains that watered them, inclosed within a quick-set hedge!" Of course, the whole scene is a mere romantic creation of the poet; but, in describing it, he would be guided by what actually existed in nature, and, perhaps, took his idea of the garden from some particular spot with which he was acquainted. It is described as consisting of four acres, surrounded by a fence, and adjoining the gates of the palace. It contained a few trees for shade and for fruits, and two fountains; one for the palace, and the other for the garden. But then he thus ends the simple and beautiful picture of the place with these lines:-"And there are beautiful plots of all kinds of plants at the Atque inter sylvas academi quærere verum,' We are not to look for ornamental gar The dening in the early history of the Romans, as the soil of their little horti was cultivated merely for the sake of procuring the necessaries of life. Excellence in war and in agriculture were the chief virtues as well as duties of the citizens; and we find bonus agricola and bonus colonus used as synonymous with a good man. Some of the noblest families of Rome derived their names from particular grains, such as the Lentuli, Pisones, Fabii, and many others. story of Cincinnatus being found by the messengers of the senate at the plough, is well known; and Curius, after triumphing over the Samnites, the Sabines, and Pyrrhus, spent his old age in the labours of the field. So late as the Punic wars, Regulus, in the midst of his victories in Africa, wrote to the senate, that his steward had left his service, and stolen his implements of agriculture; and begged leave of absence from the army, to see about his affairs, and prevent his family from starving. The senate took the business in hand, recovered his tools, and supported his wife and children till his return. It was not till they had come much in contact with the Greeks that the Romans would be anxious about pleasure or elegance in their gardens; for it was thence they derived their taste for all the arts of peace: "Græcia capta ferum victorem cepit: et artes Intulit agresti Latio." Even in later Roman authors, the allusions to gardening often relate more to the general pleasures and occupations of a country life, than to the special cultivation of flowers. But this is the richest theme in all ages, inasmuch as the subordinate disFor authorities see 'Voyage d'Anacharse,' tome v. p. 20. play of human art in gardening is eclipsed from the eye of the poet, by the beauties of nature even there displayed. The scene of the "Song of Solomon" is laid in a garden; but the finest allusions which it contains are to the general appearance of nature. For example: "Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away. For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over, and gone: the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land; the fig-tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grapes give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away."And, again: "Come, let us go forth into the field; let us get up early to the vineyards; let us see if the vine flourish, whether the tender grape appear, and the pomegranates bud forth: there will I give thee my loves." Our own poets, when they paint a modern garden, dwell most on its shade and freshness, its verdure and music, without descending to particular description. Examples of this must occur to every one.The garden of the Corycian old man, demilar classical scenes, are sometimes quoted, scribed in the fourth Georgic, and other sithe ornaments of an ancient garden. But as proving the absence of flowers as part of we must not thus judge from negative or detached instances: we might as well argue what he says in his invitation to Phyllis :— the poverty of that of Horace, merely from "Est in horto Phylli, nectendis apium coronis : Multa, quâ crines religata fulges." Nor is the garden of Lucullus, which is so often referred to, to be regarded as a specimen either of the art or the taste of his time. We are told of its terraces and fish-ponds, its statues and sumptuous temples, and not of the cultivation of flowers; but this was alluded to by his own contemporaries. Cicero records, that Lucullus was often blamed for the vast extravagance displayed in his Tusculan villa; and says, that he used to excuse himself by pointing to two neighbours, a knight and a freedman, who tried to vie with him in the splendour of their gardens. In Latin authors, the word Hortus seems to have four distinct significations. First, a garden, analogous to the gardens of the Tuilleries and the Luxembourg, at Paris, composed chiefly of shaded walks, with statues, water-works, and other ornaments. Such were the gardens of Lucullus, Cæsar, Pompey, Maecenas, and the rich Patricians, who used to seek popularity by throwing them open to the people. The second signification is, a little farm, or any place for the cultivation of esculent vegetables. Perhaps the garden of the Corycian old man was only one of these; but they seldom contained such a variety as we find there. In the laws of the twelve tables, hortus is always put for a farm, or a villa. The third sort of hortus was devoted to the cultivation of those flowers, which were used at festivals and ceremonies, and for similar special purposes. Such were the "biferi rosaria Pasti;" and gardens of this sort surrounded the city, to supply the markets. It is to these three species of horti alone that modern authors refer; but there are many allusions in the Classics, showing that the Romans had flower-gardens for pleasure, as well as utility. Such were the "delicati horti," the "venusti hortuli" of private individuals, which we read of in Tibullus, Phædrus, Martial, and other authors, who occasionally refer to the domestic manners of the Romans. If they cultivated their flowers for the purposes alluded to, a single dinner-party, or a few chaplets, would have stripped bare the whole garden. The citizens of Rome used to cultivate plants in the balconies of their houses, (Hor. I. Ep. x. &c.,) and to rear flowers in boxes and flower-pots, which were called "Horti imaginarii. (Pliny.) It is not likely that the rich would do this, merely to procure materials for their votive offerings, or to supply the ornaments for their enter-, fainments, when these could be easily purchased at the public markets. It shows that a taste for their cultivation, as objects of amusement, did prevail, which followed them even amidst the "fumum, et opes, strepitumque Romæ." There are, also, small garden-grounds attached to the houses in many of the streets of Herculaneum, which, from their size and their position in a great city, could not have been used, either for the cultivation of the festal flowers, or of esculent vegetables, and probably contained only a few beds of flowers for ornament. The Gatherer. Effective Preaching. In 1104, when Henry I. was in Normandy, a prelate named Serlo, preached so eloquently against the fashion of wearing long hair, that the mo narch and his courtiers were moved to tears; and, taking advantage of the impression he had produced, the enthusiastic prelate whipped a pair of scissors out of his sleeves, and cropped the whole congregation. Planché. Touching for the Evil was, in past ages, a pretended miracle, performed by our sovereigns at their coronations. In the parish register books of St. Nicholas, Cole Abbey, is a list of persons, with their ages, whom James II. had touched for the cure of the "evil" at his coronation! Trotzendorf, the celebrated German school-master, of the sixteenth century, encouraged his scholars to learn music, by saying: Learn to sing, my dear boys, and then, if you go to heaven, the angels will admit you into their choir." Natural History.-So great is the desire now evinced to obtain the various species of the brute creation for the metropolitan and provincial "Zoological Gardens," that the importation of animals has become an every-day commercial transaction. During one week lately, there arrived in the Docks, a rhinoceros, tiger, porcupine, sloth bear, Indian elk, axis deer, and several birds. The four first were purchased for "the Surrey Zoological Gardens." Tehraun, or Teheraun, stated to have been recently captured by the Russians, is the present capital of Persia. It is sur rounded with a strong mud wall, about four miles in circuit, but contains no building of consequence, except the royal citadel, or fortified palace. Half a century ago, it was an inconsiderable place; and it started at once into the first consequence under Aga Mahomed Khan, the uncle to the present Shah, and the first sovereign that made this city a royal residence. It is 242 miles north of Ispahan, and about half that distance from the southern shore of the Caspian Sea. difficulty be eradicated, on account of the The Canada Thistle can only with great instance is related of its descending roots distance to which its roots penetrate. An having been dug out of a quarry nineteen feet in length; and it has been found to shoot out horizontal roots in every direction, some eight feet in length, in a single season. |