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grew, Mulgrave, Rochester, and Sedley. But neither then, nor at a much later period, were any of our great thinkers influenced by the intellect of France; on the contrary, we find in their ideas, and even in their style, a certain rough and native vigour, which, though offensive to our more polished neighbours, has at least the merit of being the indigenous product of our own country. The origin and extent of that connection between the French and English intellects which subsequently arose, is a subject of immense importance; but like most others of real value, it has been entirely neglected by historians. In the present work I shall attempt to supply this deficiency; in the meantime I may say, that although we have been, and still are, greatly indebted to the French for our improvement in taste, in refinement, in manners, and indeed in all the amenities of life, we have borrowed from them nothing absolutely essential-nothing by which the destinies of nations are permanently altered. On the other hand, the French have not only borrowed from us some very valuable political institutions, but even the most important event in French history is due in no small degree to our influence. Their revolution of 1789 was, as is well known, brought about, or, to speak more properly, was mainly instigated, by a few great men, whose works, and afterwards whose speeches, roused the people to resistance; but what is less known, and nevertheless is certainly true, is, that these eminent leaders learnt in England that philosophy and those principles by which, when transplanted into their own country, such fearful and yet such salutary results were effected. It will not, I hope, be supposed that by these remarks I mean to cast any reflection on the French-a great and admirable people; a people in many respects superior to ourselves; a people from whom we have still much to learn, and whose deficiencies, such as they are, arise from the perpetual interference of a long line of arbitrary rulers. But, looking at this matter historically, it is unquestionably true that we have worked out our civilisation with little aid from them, while they have worked out theirs with great aid from us. At the same time, it must also be admitted, that our governments have interfered less with us than their governments have interfered with them. And without in the least prejudging the question as to which is the greater country, it is solely on these grounds that I consider our history more important than theirs; and I select for especial study the progress of English civilisation, simply because, being less affected by agencies not arising from itself, we can the more clearly discern in it the normal march of society, and the undisturbed operation of those great laws by which the fortunes of mankind are ultimately regulated.

After this comparison between the relative value of French and English history, it seems scarcely necessary to examine the claims which may be put forward for the history of other countries. Indeed, there are only two in whose favour anything can be said: I mean Germany, considered as a whole, and the United States of North America. As to the Germans, it is undoubtedly true that since the middle of the eighteenth century they have produced a greater number of profound thinkers than any other country-I might perhaps say, than all other countries put together. But the objections which apply to the French are still more applicable to the Germans; for the protective principle has been, and still is, stronger in Germany than in France. Even the best of the German governments are constantly interfering with the people; never leaving them to themselves, always looking after their interests, and meddling in the commonest affairs of daily life. Besides this, the German literature, though now the first in Europe, owes its origin, as we shall hereafter see, to that great sceptical movement by which, in France, the Revolution was preceded. Before the middle of the eighteenth century, the Germans, notwithstanding a few eminent names, such as Kepler and Leibnitz, had no literature of real value; and the first impetus which they received, was caused by their contact with the French intellect, and by the influence of those eminent Frenchmen who, in the reign of Frederick the Great, flocked to Berlin, a city which has ever since been the headquarters of philosophy and science. From this there have resulted some very important circumstances, which I can here only briefly indicate. The German intellect, stimulated by the French into a sudden growth, has been irregularly developed, and thus hurried into an activity greater than the average civilisation of the country requires. The consequence is, that there is no nation in Europe in which we find so wide an interval between the highest minds and the lowest minds. The German philosophers possess a learning, and a reach of thought, which places them at the head of the civilised world. The German people are more superstitious, more prejudiced, and, notwithstanding the care which the government takes of their education, more really ignorant, and more unfit to guide themselves, than are the inhabitants either of France or of England. This separation and divergence of the two classes is the natural result of that artificial stimulus, which a century ago was administered to one of the classes, and which thus disturbed the normal proportions of society. Owing to this, the highest intellects have, in Germany, so outstripped the general progress of the nation, that there is no sympathy between the two parties; nor are there at present any means by which they

may be brought into contact. Their great authors address themselves, not to their country, but to each other. They are sure of a select and learned audience, and they use what, in reality, is a learned language: they turn their mother-tongue into a dialect, eloquent indeed, and very powerful, but so difficult, so subtle, and so full of complicated inversions, that to their own lower classes it is utterly incomprehensible. From this there have arisen some of the most marked peculiarities of German literature. For, being deprived of ordinary readers, it is cut off from the influence of ordinary prejudice; and hence it has displayed a boldness of inquiry, a recklessness in the pursuit of truth, and a disregard of traditional opinions. But, on the other hand, this same circumstance has produced that absence of practical knowledge, and that indifference to material and physical interests, for which the German literature is justly censured. As a matter of course, all this has widened the original breach, and increased the distance which separates the great German thinkers from that dull and plodding class which, though it lies immediately beneath them, still remains uninfluenced by their knowledge, and uncheered by the glow and fire of their genius.

In America, on the other hand, we see a civilisation precisely the reverse of this. We see a country, of which it has been truly said, that in no other are there so few men of great learning, and so few men of great ignorance. In Germany, the speculative classes and the practical classes are altogether disunited; in America, they are altogether fused. In Germany, nearly every year brings forward new discoveries, new philosophies, new means by which the boundaries of knowledge are to be enlarged; in America, such inquiries are almost entirely neglected. Since the time of Jonathan Edwards no great metaphysician has appeared; little attention has been paid to physical science; and with the single exception of jurisprudence, scarcely anything has been done for those vast subjects on which the Germans are incessantly labouring. The stock of American knowledge is small, but it is spread through all classes; the stock of German knowledge is immense, but it is confined to one class. Which of these two forms of civilisation is the more advantageous, is a question we are not now called upon to decide. It is enough for our present purpose, that in Germany there is a serious failure in the diffusion of knowledge; and in America, a no less serious one in its accumulation. And as civilisation is regulated by the accumulation and diffusion of knowledge, it is evident that no country can even approach to a complete and perfect pattern, if, cultivating one of these conditions to an excess, it neglects the cultivation of the other. Indeed, from this want of balance

and equilibrium between the two elements of civilisation, there have arisen in America and in Germany those great but opposite evils, which, it is to be feared, will not be easily remedied; and which, until remedied, will certainly retard the progress of both countries, notwithstanding the temporary advantages which such one-sided energy does for the moment always procure.

I have very briefly, but I hope fairly, and certainly with no conscious partiality, endeavoured to estimate the relative value of the history of the four leading countries of the world. As to the real greatness of the countries themselves, I offer no opinion; because each considers itself to be the first. But, unless the facts I have stated can be controverted, it certainly follows that the history of England is, to the philosopher, more valuable than any other; because he can more clearly see in it the accumulation and diffusion of knowledge going hand in hand; because that knowledge has been less influenced by foreign and external agencies; and because it has been less interfered with, either for good or for evil, by those powerful but frequently incompetent men to whom the administration of public affairs is entrusted.

MENSURATION.

To find the area of any triangle when the three sides only are given.

(1) Find the area of a triangle whose sides are 15, 13, and 14 yards

respectively.

(2) What is the area of a triangular field whose sides are 20, 30, and 40 chains respectively?

(3) The side of an equilateral triangle is 36 ft., what is its area? (4) How many square yards are there in a right-angled triangle whose hypotenuse is 50, and one of its other sides 30 ft.?

(5) What would be the cost of paving a triangular yard, its sides being 31 ft. 8 in., 35 ft., and 63 ft. 9 in. respectively, at 10d. per square foot?

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THE THERMOMETER, ETC.

(From the Laboratory of Chemical Wonders,' by G. W. Septimus Piesse.)

fe-tid, having a strong and offensive |

smell

pu-tres'-cent, growing rotten
in-fec'-tious, communicating disease
gel'-a-tine (n.), a substance like jelly
as-trin'-gen-cy, the power of binding
vir'-u-lence, poisonousness, bitterness

ef-flu'-vi-um, pl. ef-flu'-vi-a (Lat.), a
minute particle flying off from a body
causing an offensive odour
in-fu'-sion, the liquor made by infusing
or steeping a body in a liquid
al-bu'-men, white of egg

THE conditions in which we see water-at one time a crystal rock, in the shape of an iceberg, then as a purling stream, and again as a fleecy cloud, are so many eye lectures on the effects of heat. Solids become fluids, and liquids become gaseous, by the addition of heat. Reversing this operation-by cooling gaseous bodies they are converted into liquids, and fluids become solids. In the Arctic Circle, water, as such, is not known; it is always ice; but in India it rapidly takes the gas form, and disappears from the earth's surface. Whenever heat is added to any substance, the particles or atoms of which that body is composed seem to take a dislike to each other; they appear, as it were, to stand aloof, and try their utmost to get away. For this reason any substance, when heated, immediately swellsit expands. If a kettle be quite full when put on 'for tea,' long before the water boils a portion of it runs over; it has expanded so much that the kettle cannot hold it. If water be placed in a glass tube, under the influence of heat, then the effects of heat will be visible by its rising up the pipe. It is just upon this principle that thermometers are constructed. Thermon, heat; metron, a measure. A thermometer is therefore a heat-measurer, and indicates the relative quantity of heat by the relative expansion and contraction of the materials put into the tube. About the time of the memorable Prince of Orange, there lived in Holland a philosopher named Fahrenheit; it was he who first made a heat-measure. His name is stamped upon nearly all the thermometers made in England. Their form is well known; a glass pipe, with a globe at one end, filled either with quicksilver (mercury) or with spirit. These liquids are chosen in preference to all others, because their bulk is increased or diminished with less alteration of temperature than any other liquid would be. In the best, the bore of the pipe is so small that a hair would not pass through it. The least change of temperature, from warmth or cold, causes the mercury to expand or contract, and hence it rises or falls in the tube. One thing is important to remember-namely, that the same quantity of heat always causes the same degree of expansion. Fahrenheit found this out when he placed his heat

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