which are singularly interesting. Among these may be noticed the remarkable susceptibility of the majority of idiots to musical sounds. Nearly all are acutely sensible of this influence, though they may be unable to utter a note or intelligible sound; and many, ignorant and incapable in other respects, manifest a remarkable power of imitating with the voice any simple air which has been carefully and repeatedly executed for their benefit. This sensibility of the organ of hearing becomes important as a means of producing impressions and awakening emotions. By a judicious education of the ear, the tutor acquires both a capability of communicating pleasing sensations, and also an increased power of enforcing obedience by a careful and marked intonation of his own voice, when imparting the various necessary directions to his pupils. Although in general naturally acute, yet this sense should receive a like systematic culture with the others. In addition to the regular gradations of the gamut, impressions should be made by striking various sonorous bodies together, and by uttering the different vocal expressions indicative of the emotions of the mind. It may be here remarked that there appears to be a greater susceptibility to lively and well-marked instrumental music than to that produced by the voice.

In following out the foregoing directions respecting the cultivation of the senses, great discretion will be absolutely necessary on the part of the tutor in adjusting the exercises to each particular case, as well as to the relative imperfections of the different organs observable in the same individual. Careful observation, combined with a fair amount of tact, will, however, lead to an adaptation of suitable means to each pupil. It may here be remarked that too rigid an observance of the above directions should not be enforced. Considerable latitude should be taken by the tutor, lest, by following too rigidly the somewhat artificial, though scientific and progressive order of cultivating the senses, a degree of irksomeness might in some instances be produced: To prevent this, frequent opportunities should be made available of directing the notice of the pupil to all ordinary objects which come within the range of his observation. He should be made as familiar with their names and uses as his imperfect capacity will allow. He should be taught to handle various articles, to attend to personal cleanliness, to dress and undress, as well as to take his food, without assistance. To accomplish all these objects, the force of example must be brought into operation, and much reliance must also be placed on the ingenuity, judgment, patience, and perseverance of the instructor.

bricks. One of them being handed to the youth, the instructor takes the other, and placing it in a certain position, requires that the remaining piece shall be moved by the pupil so as to correspond with it in situation. At first, little or no idea of the intention is formed, and some assistance becomes necessary. In a short time, however, an appreciation of the object sought is engendered, and the pupil will readily cause his portion to assume the various positions of the opposite one. When this is accomplished, an increased number should be employed, and the faculty of imitation cultivated, by arranging one set in a certain order, to be followed by the pupil with the other set. Succeeding to this exercise, domestic implements may be introduced, and their uses taught through the power of imitation. Thus, by gradual and progressive steps, instruction in various easy occupations may ultimately be inculcated, and the apparently hopeless object rendered useful and happy by means at once simple and applicable.

From what has been already advanced, the reader will perceive that the impressions received by a sound infant mind intuitively, require to be communicated by artificial means to the idiot. In pursuing those higher branches of instruction which prepare him to enter on active and useful avocations, the same principle must be carefully kept in view. Before the attempt is made to instruct the pupil in any handicraft employment, his ideas of form, and his capability of describing various figures in chalk, must be fully cultivated. This is an exercise which usually excites an agreeable impression among the pupils, and is accordingly entered on with readiness and pleasure. A black board being provided, the tutor draws upon it, by means of a rule and chalk, a single line; then requires that a similar one shall be imitated by each pupil in succession. The first lesson is devoted to a perpendicular line, the next to a horizontal, and the following one to an oblique.

As soon as the pupil has made each respective line, he should be required to utter the word, up, flat, slant, according as the line is perpendicular, horizontal, or oblique. After this combined exercise of both hands has been duly practised, he should be taught to draw a straight line without the aid of a rule. Then the three lines he has been taught being connected at each extremity, a triangle becomes represented on the board. To familiarise him, or rather to impress him, with a just conception of the nature of this picture, place in his hand the triangular piece of wood formerly employed to impart ideas of form, and encourage him to compare it with the figure on the board. By so doing, he becomes aware that the lines he has made constitute a representation of the substance he holds in his hand. A little reflection will convince us that the various steps embraced in this simple lesson are of great value in creating steadiness and capability of directing the hand, in perfecting the conception of form, and in generating a power to draw a representation of a simple object.

greatest ease by presenting the mathematical figures shaped in wood for imitation, beginning with the triangle, and passing to the square, circle, oblong, oval, &c. In due time, simple implements, with which the youth has become familiar, should be held up, that he may attempt a rude picture of them.

expand and cultivate the mind, to open out stores of improvement and enjoyment by this simplest of languages-the hieroglyphical. It also serves a most useful purpose in perfecting ideas of shape, and a power of imitation which can ultimately be turned to good account in manual operations requiring a capacity to cut and work out rude materials into useful articles.

The first instruction in letters is founded on the preliminary exercise respecting a straight line and curve, the various combinations of which form the complete alphabet. This important branch of instruction is greatly facilitated, and precise ideas respecting the symbols of language are created, by first making known those letters which consist of simple lines, next the circle, and lastly those consisting of a straight line and portion of the circle. We may here remark, though not forming a part of this portion of instruction, that when a consonant is represented, the simple sound should be associated with it, not that compound with a vowel which is usually employed in ordinary schools. This both aids utterance, and prevents confused notions.

Most idiots are mute; that is to say, they do not utter any intelligible sounds, owing to causes analogous to those which impede control over muscular action in other parts of the body. The means of cultivating the organ of speech consist in producing successive motions of the jaw, lips, and tongue. When the faculty of imitation is developed, and the pupil is able to control the muscles of those parts, the object may be easily attained if the tutor exhibit the necessary movements. But in some cases, both the tendency to follow the actions of others, and the power over the vocal apparatus, are so imperfect, that it becomes necessary to aid the muscles. The jaw should be opened and closed, the lips brought into various positions by the use of the fingers, and the tongue moved by means of a paper knife.

When, however, imitation and power of motion are more perfect, the mechanical assistance is unnecessary. Such exercises as whistling, sucking a ferule, holding a small body between the lips, protruding the tongue, and moving it in every direction, should be practised. After these muscular actions have been many times exercised, a simple sound should be uttered by the tutor, and repeated till the pupil does the same. When he becomes perfect in uttering simple labials and linguals, he should be practised in uttering consecutive syllables. The power of arrangement may be taught by placing several square and oblong pieces of wood so as to form a certain figure, to be imitated by the pupil. As soon as some knowledge of letters is communicated, he should be taught the sound of two letters combined, and then of those which form a word. The instruction in this department is greatly facilitated by having the letters on separate portions of card, so that they can be selected and brought together. The first words formed should be substantives of one syllable only, as hat, cap, &c. The object should also be presented at the time, so as to impress the mind with the power of the letters employed in forming the word. No words should be used of which the meaning has not been communicated.

From substantives proceed to adjectives: show that a hat may be white or black; then to verbs: form the sentence 'move the hat,' and when moving it, point to the verb. So with prepositions, place an object in, on, under the hat, &c. repeating the respective preposition, and showing the word whenever the object is placed in these different situations.

We now approach a most important department of tuition; namely, that of moral guidance. Owing to the inherent deficiencies already described, the several actions of idiots, constituting conduct, belong in a great measure to that class termed evil. To check this unfortunate tendency, and to cultivate the moral sense, so as to engender ideas of duty and improved conduct, form the highest office of the tutor. Although certain influences about to be described may be said strictly to belong to the class of moral agents, yet it is to be observed

that every step already taken bears on the same end in a most material degree. The faculties have been cultivated, knowledge imparted, and an affectionate regard for, and obedient reliance on, the tutor is felt. During the whole progress of intellectual training, it is vitally important that the moral sense be regarded, and that means should be taken to regulate and cultivate it. The first object to be accomplished is to prevent the pupil from committing any evil act; the next, to direct him to a more improved conduct by constant supervision; and lastly, to promote a desire and will to continue such conduct when no control is exercised over him. It will be perceived that, in training the moral sense, a course very similar to that adopted in the regulation of muscular action is recommended to be pursued; namely, first the prevention of vicious tendencies and habits; next, a judicious regulation under control; and lastly, a free and unrestrained power, stimulated by due excit

ants.

In accomplishing this latter and very exalted duty, the pupil should be taught to notice, compare, and judge-in fact, to reason, and then to will. He should be made to feel his wants both in food and clothing, and to supply them by fetching the necessary articles from a distant part of the establishment. When conducting this moral tuition, the first dawning of a better disposition should be carefully looked for, and made available when discovered. It is probable that, after the perverse propensities have been conquered, and the pupil has submitted to direction in a better course, some manifestation of a new desire or will may become apparent. This, if correct, should be actively encouraged, and other aids sought for to cultivate and gratify pure tastes and feelings. By these means he will, in course of time, be made sensible of many rational enjoyments, the gratification of which can be turned to good account as rewards for improved conduct.

Our remarks on the tuition specially adapted to the idiotic having already occupied so much space, we are unable to dwell at any length on the means applicable to those children in whom the development of the mental faculties has been retarded, owing to the occurrence of certain actions of the brain which have supervened after birth. The gymnastic exercises calculated to invigorate the bodily functions may be safely encouraged, but it will be advisable to adopt precautions respecting those agents destined to stimulate the brain in a direct manner, lest, by an injudicious excitement of a disordered organ, additional disturbance arise which it may be difficult to allay. The advice of a medical man should be sought, who, taking into account the cause which has operated in preventing the expansion of the mind, will be able to suggest what exercises are likely to prove advantageous, and what prejudicial.

Something remains to be said respecting the properties of the individual required to execute this nice and delicate work of tuition. He who is employed in the task should possess many amiable qualities. A mild, gentle, persuasive, serene, and charitable nature should be sought for, but at the same time a weak and yielding disposition is to be avoided. With much calm selfpossession should be united an equal share of firmness, consistency, and perseverance. Those endowments of temper, address, forbearance, superior judgment, and strong determination, constituting a power to command, are especially needed; as well as that ready and decisive appliance of just means to every emergency, usually denominated tact. Considerable play and power of voice, gesture, and look, are necessary to fix attention, communicate an impression, and enforce obedience. A capability to enter with spirit on various games and pastimes, and a facility of expressing emotion, as well as a taste for music, are all desirable qualities.

The power of observation should be studiously applied, the peculiarities of each pupil carefully marked, and met with that discretion which can alone lead to

success.

We have now traced some of the essential influences

destined to elevate the most inert and degraded creature, by the education of the whole being, to the likeness of man. The means are as simple and applicable as they are sound and philosophical, and it is only necessary to use them with energy and discretion, to secure happy results.

TRUMAN HENRY SAFFORD. THIS is the name of a boy now ten years of age, who, if he lives, and continues to enjoy mental and corporeal health, will in all probability be one of the most remarkable men America has ever produced. He is not one of those prodigies' in whom a single faculty is developed to a preternatural extent; for his general talent is nearly as conspicuous as his aptitude for mathematics. He has both the will and the power to learn in a very extraordinary degree, and his success cannot by any means be ascribed, as in other cases, to the collective energies of his mind being turned into a single channel. He was born at Royalton, Windsor County, Vermont, on the 6th of January 1836. His father is a farmer, and a person of considerable intelligence; and both his parents, during the earlier portion of their lives, were instructors of youth. From his father he appears to have inherited his passion for mathematical studies, and from his mother a nervous temperament, so exquisite,

'That one might almost say his body thought."

In his first year he was so delicate, so fragile, that perhaps no other mother could have reared him; but from the wan unearthly lips of the infant there came questions that made the listeners start and thrill by their preternatural intelligence. It seemed as if he had come into the world with a craving for knowledge, which he waited only for the gift of speech to wreak upon expression.' But it was not till his third year that the grand bias of his mind was suspected; nor did this fully develop itself till three years after. His parents had already amused themselves with his power of calculating numbers; but one day now, as we are told, he remarked to his mother, that if he knew how many rods it was round his father's large meadow, he could tell the measure in barleycorns. When his father came in, she mentioned it to him; and he, knowing the dimensions of the field, made a calculation, and told the boy it was 1040 rods; the lad, after a few minutes, gave 617,760, as the distance in barleycorns, "in his head," as the phrase is.'

This was sufficiently remarkable in a child of six years of age; but before his eighth year, he had gone to the extent of the famous Zerah Colburn's powers, and had answered, in fifteen minutes, all the questions which more recently made the reputation of a negro boy, detecting three mistakes either of the press or the boy. But these feats were not achieved-and this is the most promising fact in his history-by the kind of intuition usually observable in such cases, but by means of study; and it was observed that he improved rapidly by practice, and lost proportionately when he neglected the cultivation of his powers. At this time he acquired from books some knowledge of algebra and geometry, and appeared to possess, in addition to the power of performing lengthy calculations in his head, the higher power of comprehending and solving abstruse and difficult questions in the various branches of mathematics.' He was now attacked by typhus fever; and an incident of his illness is related which exhibits at once his passion for such studies and the extreme delicacy of his nervous temperament. When the alarming crisis of his disease had passed, and he was slowly recovering, he pled most affectingly with his mother for Day's Algebra and his slate. His mother, aware of his extreme nervousness and irritability at the time, thought it would be better to gratify than to refuse him, and gave him the Algebra and slate. He immediately commenced making a long statement, which extended nearly

across the slate; but before he could finish it, his little hand failed, his pencil dropped, and giving up in despair, he burst into tears, and wept long and bitterly.' After his recovery, Hutton's Mathematics and the Cambridge Mathematics were added to his few books, and in the winter of 1844-5 he studied hard. In the following spring, Dr Chester Dewry, a mathematician well known throughout the United States, writes of him thus:'He is not one of the calculators by instinct, if I may use the language, but a real regular reasoner, on correct and established principles, taking the easiest and most direct course. As he had Hutton's Mathematics, and wanted some logarithms, his father told me he computed the logarithms from 1 to 60 by the formula given by Hutton, which were afterwards found to be the same in a table of logarithms for the same number of decimals. He is a wonderful boy. His mind seems bent on the study of mathematics, and he takes his books about with him, that he may study some every day. He was also much interested in three lectures on chemistry that he attended. He seems very able to make a practical application of his knowledge. His mind is too active; and when roused in the night, or made wakeful by his nervous temperament, it is often difficult to arrest the current of his thoughts on some interesting calculation. The study of mathematical relations seems to be amusement to him.'

He was now taken to Hanover, where he saw for the first time an extensive collection of books and mathematical instruments. The sight made the poor nervous student wild with excitement; and when taken away, he was drowned in tears. On returning home from a little tour, in the course of which he had been introduced to various scientific men, and had his library enriched by several useful acquisitions, he set about constructing an almanac, which was actually put to press in the autumn of 1845, having been cast when its author was just nine years and a half old. In the following year he calculated four different almanac calendars-one for Cincinnati, which was published with a portrait; one for Philadelphia; one for Boston; and one for his native Vermont. While getting up the Cincinnati one, he became much abstracted in his manner, wandered about with his head down, talking to himself, &c. as is his manner while originating new rules. His father approached him, and inquired what he was doing, and found that he had originated a new rule for getting moon risings and settings, accompanied with a table which saves full one-fourth of the work in casting moon risings. This rule, with a number of others for calculating eclipses, is preserved with his manuscript almanacs in the library of Harvard University.' This almanac was placed upon a par by scientific men with the works of mathematicians of mature years; and the wonderful boy, who saw two editions of his book sold almost immediately-one of 7000, and one of 17,000 copies - became at once a public character.

'Not satisfied,' says the Rev. H. W. Adams of him at this time, with the old, circuitous processes of demonstration, and impatient of delay, young Safford is constantly evolving new rules for abridging his work. He has found a new rule by which to calculate eclipses, hitherto unknown, so far as I know, to any mathematician. He told me it would shorten the work nearly one-third. When finding this rule, for two or three days he seemed to be in a sort of trance. One morning very early he came rushing down stairs, not stopping to dress himself, poured on to his slate a stream of figures, and soon cried out, in the wildness of his joy, "Oh, father, I have got it-I have got it! It comes it comes!"

We now proceed to give the results of a regular examination of the boy, in which the questions were prepared beforehand by a skilful mathematician, with the view of testing his powers to the uttermost.

'I went, firmly expecting to be able to confound him, as I had previously prepared myself with various problems for his solution. I did not suppose it possible for

and history, are his sport. It does not make much difference what question you ask him, he answers very readily. I spoke to him of some of the recent discoveries in chemistry. He understood them. I spoke to him of the solidification of carbonic acid gas, by Professor Johnston of the Wesleyan University. He said he understood it. Here his eyes flashed fire, and he began to explain the process.

His memory, too, is very retentive. He has pored over Gregory's Dictionary of the Arts and Sciences so much, that I seriously doubt whether there can be a question asked him, drawn from either of those immense volumes, that he will not answer instantly. I saw the volumes, and also noticed he had left his marks on almost every page. I asked to see his mathematical works. He sprung into his study and produced me Greenleaf's Arithmetic, Perkins's Algebra, Playfair's Euclid, Pike's Arithmetic, Davies's Algebra, Hutton's Mathematics, Flint's Surveying, the Cambridge Mathematics, Gummere's Astronomy, and several nautical almanacs. I asked him if he had mastered them all. He replied that he had. And an examination of him, for the space of three hours, convinced me that he had; and not only so, but that he had far outstripped them. His knowledge is not intuitive. He is a pure and profound reasoner.'

What to do with this remarkable boy was the question. A neighbouring bank offered him a thousand dollars a year to enact the part of a machine for calculating interest. Another admirer of genius, equally disposed to turn the penny by it, advised his father to carry him about the country as a show; in the hope, no doubt, that his intellectual greatness might stand as well in the market as the physical littleness of General Tom Thumb. If this plan had been carried into effect, we should have had him in England no doubt; when, of course, her Majesty and her principal nobility would have treated him with at least the distinction they lavished, so honourably to themselves and to the character of the British court, upon the dwarf! Some thought that he should be lavishly supplied with books, and his genius left undisturbed to itself; while others contended that he ought to have the benefit of a public education, superintended by men eminent for their acquirements. This last opinion, we are happy to say, was adopted by his father; who, on the invitation of the Harvard University, removed to Cambridge with his family, where about this time last year Truman Henry Safford was placed under the charge of Principal Everett and Professor Pierce.

The above is compiled, so far as the facts are concerned, from a long article in a Boston (American) paper, called the Christian Alliance and Family Visitor.'

THE

PRIVATEERS.

and although somewhat sick of the details of its bloody struggles, from their having been so frequently obtruded upon our notice, we regard the composition of its materials and character as legitimate objects of literary curiosity. One of the strangest departments of such a subject is the Privateering system; and we now proceed to offer some illustrations of a class of belligerents who have not as yet received due attention either from history or romance. This we shall do by means of a couple of individual portraits-one French, and one English-which may be taken as exhibiting, though of course in higher relief than usual, the general features of the tribe.

As for the system itself, it is a relic of the barbarism of the middle ages, organised and legalised by the folly or depravity of modern governments. It is the piracy of the northern barbarians and eastern infidels sanctioned by letters of marque-a document which affects to give the right of reprisal, but, in reality, invests the desperadoes of the country with the privilege to rob and murder. This sort of commission did not come generally into fashion till the end of the sixteenth century; but once fairly afloat, the privateers continued to maintain their flag in time of war, in spite of the bursts of indignation which their excesses called forth from the neutral nations. Various attempts were made to bring them under legal restraint; but to impose any control but that of force upon ruffians called into action by such sordid motives was impossible. Sometimes the Channel between France and England was swept so clean by the sea guerillas of the two nations, that the poor privateers must have starved if they had not turned their arms against neutrals. In 1758, a ship belonging to Holland (with which country we were then at peace), having on board the Spanish ambassador on his way to Denmark, was boarded by three different squadrons of privateers, and plundered even of his excellency's baggage. A little hanging was had recourse to on this occasion; and in the following year, the nuisance still continuing unabated, great numbers of the privateers, as they were taken and brought into the English ports from time to time, were consigned to the gallows. The neglect of our internal police added to the disorders of the period; and the result, as we are informed by historians, was, that an ingredient of savage ferocity mingled in the national character.

Forty years later-in the first year or two of the present century-when the war raged bitterly between France and England, the career of two adventurers commenced, one on either side of the Channel, who were destined to exercise some influence on the fortunes of each other.

Under such circumstances, we look back upon war as one of the interesting or terrible things of the past;

To present little surface; to take hold of the water by length rather than breadth; to keep the sea in any weather; and to be able to run close in-shore at almost any depth-these were Jérôme's requirements in a ship. And all these and more he found in a long, low, narrow schooner, which, notwithstanding, he cut down still farther; shaving her off almost to the water's edge, so that she ran constantly between two seas-one below her keel, and the other above her always wet deck.