Journal of education, 1 décembre 1862, Décembre

JOURNAL OF EDUCATION Volume VI.Montreal (Lower Canada) December, 1862.No 12.SUMMARY.—Literature.—Poetry : New Year.1863.—1The Echo, (Wordsworth).— Trifles.—Science : Life in the Deep Sea.—Education : Physical and Military Exercises in Public Schools (concluded from our last).—Teaching Language.— Have Patience, Teacher.—Official Notices: Council of Public Instruction.— Diplomas Granted by the Boards of Examiners.—Donations to the Library of the Department.—Situation as Teacher Wanted.—Notice to Teachers.—Editorial : Superannuated Teachers» Fund.—A.D.1862.—Report of the Superintendent of Education for Lower Canada, for 1861.—Extracts from Reports of Inspectors, for 1859 and 1860.—Notices of Books and Publications—Margry : Les Normands dans les Vallées de l’Ohio et du Mississipi.—Lindsey : The Life and Times of Wm.Lyon McKenzie.—The British Canadian Review.—Roby : An Elementary Latin Grammar.—Todhunter : The Elements of Euclid.—Monthly Summary : Educational Intelligence.—Scientific Intelligence.—Miscellaneous Intelligence.LITERATURE.POETRY.NEW YEAR, 1863.I hear in the depths of fancy, The close of a dying sound, Like the faintest moan of a passing breeze, That sweeps the wintry ground.I see in the depths of fancy, A glimmer of warning light, Like the palled ray of twilight, That fades on the brow of night.I feel in the depths of being, That the voice and light are gone, And only a fitful memory, From the shadowy year is borne.For all its glory and meaning, And beautiful rainbow glow, Are cold as the far-off starlight, And pale as the passionless snow.Like foam that wastes on the sea beach, Like waves that break on the shore, The changeful days of the faded year Have vanished for evermore ! Consumed are their beauty and sadness, And all their sweetness and grace ; They have passed away in the void of the past, Like shooting stars in space.But the transient year as it dieth, A new-born glory, gives, We touch the hem of its shadowy skirt, And feel that its beauty liveB : In the lovelier hope of a brighter dawn, Upspringing from death and night, The dazzling glow of another year, * That breaks upon our sight.0 golden promise that lights the dust Of jarring, fitful days, The aching void within our heart, Is gilded with your rays.0 light that vivifies and warms, Yield us a will and power To wrest the utmost good we can From every new born hour.Search the waste places of our souls, And cast forth in the past, The cobwebbed doubts that made the days So drear and over-cast.Pierce the lone chambers of the heart, If truth and faith are there, Your rays shall give them happy birth, To make the New Year fair.Isidobb.Montreal Gazette.THE ECHO.Yes 1 full surely ’twas the echo, Solitary, clear, profound, Answering to thee, shouting cuckoo 1 Giving to thee sound for sound.Unsolicited reply To a tattling wanderer sent Like her ordinary cry, Like—hut oh how different ! Hears not also mortal life ?Hear not we, unthinking creatures ! Slaves of folly, love, or strife, Voices of two different natures?Have not we too ?Yes we have Answers, and we know not whence Echoes from beyond the grave, Recognised intelligence 1 Such within ourselves we hear Gfttimes, ours though sent from far Listen, ponder, hold them dear; For of God,—of God they are ! ¦Wobdswobt», 178 JOURNAL OF EDUCATION TRIFLES.Wliat are trifles—who may gue3s All a trifle’s meaning?Scattered ears on life’s broad field, For a wise one’s gleaning.Naught but hath its work on earth, Fraught with pain or pleasure— Link3 in nature’s mystic chain, Though of tiniest measure.Trickling from the mountain height Through the beech roots stealing, See, a thread of silver light Sunbeams are revealing ; Drop by drop it gathers fast, Never resting, never, Till it swells and flashes forth In a glorious river.'T was a single rain-drop fell On a green bud thirsting— Strengthened by the fairy draught, Lo, a flower is bursting ! And an acorn lightly flung In a pathway dreary, Spreads an oak’s broad shadows out To refresh the weary.But a flower’s perfume may bear Back through years of sorrow, The sweet sunny morn of life, With a bright to-morrow— And a tress of silken hair On a young brow parted, Wake a fount of bitterest tears For a broken-hearted.Just a look may waken thoughts Full of proud resentment— Just a look may fill the soul With a glad contentment ; Little prayers of children fair, By their mother kneeling, Touch a worn and weary heart With a child-like feeling.But a trifle seems a word All unkindly spoken, Yet the life-harp waileth low For a gold-string broken.But a trifle seems a smile On a kind face beaming, Yet a faint heart groweth strong, ’Neath its gentle gleaming.Trifles ! each one hath a part In our pain or pleasure, Making up the daily sum Of our life’s brief measure ; All unnoted as they pass, Scarcely worth our heeding, Yet a trifle, it may be, God’s own work is speeding.Churchman's Magazine.SCIENCE.Life in the S>ecj> Sea.There is a curious tendency in the human mind to allow itself to be misled by negative evidence, it arises chiefly from the conservative spirit of indolence which does not like to be disturbed in its repose, and which is better satisfied to believe that things do not exist, because we have not found them, than to underlake the labours of a fresh search.There is likewise a readiness to establish a scientific orthodoxy upon insufficient evidence, and to resent, as a pestilent heresy, whatever facts, opinions, or conclusions militate against the canons of credence which have been arbitrarily laid down.A good philosophical training removes prejudices, and establishes a readiness to believe upon sufficient proof being adduced, propositions that contradict its previous ideas.But while professed students of science feel this influence in the earlier portions of their career, they often suffer a psychological ossification as age creeps over them, and they become as great opponents of novelty as if the powers of knowledge were exhausted and nothing j new could possibly be true.Of course, as our store of facts grows 1 larger, and sound induction establishes a larger number of princi-j pies from which accurate deductions can be made, many of the ! discoveries of science will simply realize anticipations previously ! formed ; but we must still expect that Nature will be for ever a ! region of wonder and surprise, in which many things that were undreamt of, or whicii were even inconceivable before their discovery, will come to us with all the unquestionable credentials of belief.Every department of science can offer illustrations of these j views ; but in none have old conceptions been more completely I revolutionized than iri marine zoology, so far as relates to the in-[ habitants of the profound depths of the sea.It was assumed that life rapidly diminished with increasing profundity, and that our plummets soon arrived at a region where no “ dim beams,” “ amid the streams,” “ wove their network of coloured light,” but where the world of waters rested for ages in unbroken silence and lifeless gloom.There was, however, little excuse for the extent to which these opinions were carried ; for, as Dr.Wallich reminds us, the i late Sir John Ross published in 1819 an account of his having obtained in Baffin’s Bay various “ sea-worms,” “ shrimps,” and other creatures from “depths greatly exceeding those at which animal life was supposed to exist ; and nearly thirty years subsequently Sir James Ross also reported having dredged up living creatures from great depths in the Antarctic seas but these important discoveries met with no attention, and it may be fairly said that the capture of the deep sea starfishes by the “ Bulldog” was the first incident that materially modified pre-existing and errori-i eous views.To show the process of reasoning adopted by distinguished men in reference to this subject, Dr.Wallich quotes Mr.Page’s Ad vanced Text Boole of Geology, that, “ according to experiment, water at the depth of 1000 feet is compressed one three hundred and fortieth of its own bulk, and at this rate of compression we know that at great depths animal and vegetable life, as known to us, cannot possibly exist.” If Mr.Page had written “ we guess,” instead of “ we know,” he would have more accurately described the groundwork of a decision which naturalists had arrived at by common consent, without either examining the deep sea bed to ascertain what it really contained, or without acquainting themselves with some of the principal conditions that would determine whether or not it could offer the means of existence to any living thing.In the same spirit which dictated Mr.Page’s remarks, Professor Philips, in his Origin and Succession of Life on the Earth, expresses the belief that at 300 fathoms life is extinct, thus completely ignoring the 800 fathoms sounding from which Sir John ! Ross brought up a caput medusce, and the various creatures he obtained at a somewhat smaller depth.In science, as in other spheres of human activity, an unreasoning credulity often follows an equally unreasonable scepticism, and we are glad to notice that Dr.Wallich, while laudably anxious as “ King of the Deep Sea,” to increase the number of his subjects, boldly resists arguments in their favour, which although tempting are not conclusive.Thus Professor Ehrenberg assumed that the presence of undecomposed fleshy matter (sarcode) in foramenifera, whose shells were found at very great depths, was a proof that they had been alive in the situation in which they were discovered ; but Dr.Wallich demonstrates the fallacy of this reasoning, although he expects its conclusion will ultimately prove to be correct, and that hereafter specimens will be obtained whose vital movements will leave the question in no doubt.Before examining the circumstances under which deep sea organisms live, we will advert to the most startling acquisitions which Dr.Wallich made, especially to his famous starfish hawl.He tells us the sounding was taken in lat.59° 27’ N.; long.26° 41’ E., about halfway between Cape Farewell and the northwest coast of Ireland.The depth was 1260 fathoms, and “ adhering to the last fifty fathoms of the line, which had rested on the ground for several moments, were thirteen Ophiocomce, varying in diameter across the arms from two to five inches.” These animals moved their arms afler reaching the deck.The starfishes so remarkably obtained appeared lo be living in the midst of their “normal haunts.” In their digestive cavity was found a quantily of fresh-looking globi-gerince, and they seem to have been associated with creatures oi a still higher type.Thus we read “ in these soundings (including that in which the starfishes were obtained), many cylindrical tubes occurred, varying irom one-eighth to one-halt and inch in length, and frojn one-fiftieth to one-seventieth of an inch in diametei. FOR LOWER CANADA.SfrtiU "orerninme'SlOTrMM dihe'-y * Smal‘ Slobigerine shells, or three such tZs fo^d bv mëln^K’‘^^ther.Two but I failed to extract the animal' f® 1®.eacb °> these soundings ; feet condition to admit of idenHfinat ‘?em m a efficiently persiste positively that the tube*?™?1'i1 am nevei'theless able to and think it is'highly^ probabfe that S°?e ?pecies °p Annelid, forameniferous shells in the Ï cer.tain borings, to be seen on by it.But whether this beTe" tZ°T’ TY- have bee" effected an Annelid lives at the depths indies.?i”01’ V V* qUi,e c,ear 'bat tenement.” pttls mdioated, and there builds up its of apparently °Hvin^rpo)yzoaChaT(]t iW,th a .SerPUla, and a cluster From a depth of 445 fothomshe fi?hlfa,aU,e JlVin?Spirorbis.“amphipod Crustaceans ” °and «rî^ “P a C0UP,e of living when we consider how these creature* I"?0"® Anne,id> ” and selves to such localities we hi?®8.0?11 d acc°mmodate them-ïraordinary fact that the Vlr/9- bave l° ?ke ,nl° aocouni the •< ex-of the deep soundings -on^trTTi,> W t*erPula> the Spirorbis species.” From hie fais n?Wit'?g ,0 well-known Jittoral istibiy led to the inference ihÆholrmf : “ We a>'o irres-kept pace?during a vast senuenee nflr accl,matization must have going on in the po1»fo„ofThe siJ1?the cllanSes aence that, under sufficiently favour»hilnbablted by them, and may accommodate themsëive*re?^ Circanlstanoes, species from those under which ttiev iLn4u.10nf.diflenng so widely subjection to them under • 7 ®re or,£mal|y created, that then-res,ills in their extirSn.”rCUmStanCeS '®SS inevitably seems rather for experiment than'fnleTr Ü