A SCHOOL OF APPLIED SCIENCES IN CoLUMBIA COLLEGE.-The trustees of Columbia College are about to add to that institution a School of Applied Sciences, having for its purpose a better and more effective development of the material resources of the country than has hitherto been attainable.

The need of thoroughly trained, scientific experts, in the promotion of our industrial interests, and especially in ascertaining and bringing out the dormant mineral resources of our country, is particular ly felt at the present time.

The course of study at the school, which is to cover three years, will include Analytical Chemistry, Mineralogy, Metallurgy, Lithology and the Formation of Metallic Veins, Geology, Palæontology, Machines, Mining, Mining Legislation, etc.

THE Sophomores and Freshmen of Yale College had a fight last week, caused by the Freshmen appearing with new and shiny hats.

THE number of children in Maine, between the ages of four and twenty-one years, is 34,775. The number of schoolhouses, 3,827.

THE prospects of Bates College, Maine, are encouraging. Boston promises a gift of $50,000, and part of it is already raised.

No student can enter the University of Oxford, except by attaching himself to some college or hall. But a small part of the revenues is applied to educational purposes. Most of the professorships are sinecures, and the real instructors are nearly starved.

POPULAR education is making great strides in Italy. Common and free schools are everywhere extended by the Italian local governments, and the number of scholars is largely increasing.

Ar the inauguration of Governor Hahn, at New Orleans, on the 4th of March, the voices of 8,000 school-children were accompanied by the strains of several military bands, and the chorus was swelled by the beating of fifty anvils, the ringing of all the bells in the city, and the thunder of fifty pieces of artillery. The cannon were fired simultaneously by one electric wire, the

ends of which were brought to the table of the conductor of the band, and the ringing of the bells was controlled by connecting a wire from the table with the telegraph of the fire-department. The effect was grand beyond description.

AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLS IN EUROPE.The desire expressed in various quarters for the establishment of agricultural schools, has occasioned the publication of a pamphlet, extracted from the report of the Secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Agriculture, in which he gives a somewhat

minute account of the different schools of that class in Europe. These schools are of two kinds-those which are connected with universities, and those which are not. In the former, the students are not expected to labor, though there is sometimes an experimental farm connected with them. In the independent schools, the students may labor or not, as they choose, the farm being carried on by hired labor, or by students of a lower school of practical agriculture connected with it.

Mr. Flint, the Secretary of the Board, visited many schools of both kinds, attended lectures, mingled with the students, joined in excursions, and forming an acquaintance with the professors, qualified himself for giving a full account of their organization and methods, which he has done at some length in this pamphlet.

Germany abounds in schools of this description, some of which have a high reputation. France has also her agricultural schools, nor is England or Ireland without

them.

The work before us states the systems of instruction in several schools in each of these countries. It would not be easy to give an abstract of the plan on which these schools are conducted; but it would be well for those who are interested in the subject, to read this pamphlet carefully before completing their plan of agricultural education.

THE new dormitory at Harvard College, in the rear of the old President's house, and in a line with the Law School, is nearly completed. It is a fine edifice: the centre, four stories and French roof-the wings, three stories and roof. In each

wing are sixteen study-rooms, and in the centre, twenty; each with bedroom at tached, and fuel closet; making fifty-two study-rooms, and fifty-two bedrooms. Gas is in all the rooms, and an iron grate in every study-room.

EIGHT thousand school-houses have been erected in Russia since the emancipation of the serfs took place.

FREE-SCHOOLS are being organized in Newbern, Washington, Beaufort, and other places, for the education of poor white children.

THE Boston School Committee have introduced into several of the boys' schools, instruction in military gymnastics and drills, for at least half an hour three times a week.

AGE OF THE EARTH.-The Rev. Prof. Haughton, in a paper recently read before the Dublin Geological Society, gave the result of some computations, based on the earth's rate of cooling, to determine the limits of the time during which animal life can have existed upon our globe. As the albumen of the blood coagulates at 122° Fah., he regards it as impossible that animal life can exist in an atmosphere above that temperature. He therefore attempts to calculate the time from the period when the polar regions of the earth were at a temperature of 122° down to the period when the mean temperature of the British isles was 77°, the latter being the London clay tertiary epoch of tropical mollusca. His computations give the time between the two periods as 1,018,000,000 years.

HEAT OF THE SUN'S RAYS.-The observations on this subject by the late Dr. Otto Hagan have been communicated to the Prussian Academy of Sciences. The most important conclusions are: 1st, That the height of the atmosphere, presupposing an equal power of absorption in the different superimposed strata of air, is only equivalent to the 173d part of the earth's radius. 2d. The amount of heating power of the sun's rays, on entering this atmosphere, is determined by the fact that a beam of rays, a square inch in cross-section, would, during one minute, elevate the temperature of a cubic inch of water 0.733 of 1° Centigrade. 3d. The loss of heat in its passage through the atmosphere, taken on different days and seasons, and when the air is apparently clear, is variable.

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REVELATIONS OF THE MICROSCOPE. · Brush a little of the fuzz from the wing of a dead butterfly, and let it fall upon a piece of glass. It will be seen on the glass as a fine golden dust. Slide the glass under the microscope, and each particle of the dust will reveal itself as a perfect symmetrical feather.

Give your arm a slight prick, so as to draw a small drop of blood; mix the blood with a drop of vinegar and water, and place it upon the glass slide under the microscope. You will discover that the red matter of the blood is formed of innumerable globules or disks, which, though so small as to be separately invisible to the naked eye, appear, under the microscope, each larger than a letter "o" of this print.

Take a drop of water from a stagnant pool or ditch or sluggish brook, dipping it from among the green vegetable matter on

the surface. On holding the water to the light, it will look a little milky, but on placing the smallest drop under the microscope, you will find it swarming with hundreds of strange animals, that are swimming about in it with the greatest vivacity. These animalcules exist in such multitudes, that any efforts to conceive of their numbers bewilder the imagination.

This invisible universe of created being is the most wonderful of all the revelations of the microscope. During the greater part of man's existence on the earth, while he has been fighting, taming, and studying the lower animals which were visible to his sight, he has been surrounded by these other multitudes of the earth's inhabitants, without any suspicion of their existence! In endless variety of form and feature, they are bustling through their active lives, pursuing their prey, defending their persons, waging their wars, multiplying their species, and ending their careers, countless hosts at each tick of the clock passing out of existence, and making way for new hosts that are following in endless succession. What other fields of creation may yet, by some inconceivable methods, be revealed to our knowledge!

THE spectrum analysis of flashes of lightning, by M. Grandeau, proves the existence of nitrogen and hydrogen in the discharges. The yellow ray of sodium is also detected.

CURIOUS DETECTION OF A CRIMINAL.Not long ago there occurred, in Prussia, one of those cases of detection of crime by scientific means which interest a large and intelligent class of readers. A quantity of gold, packed in boxes, was dispatched by a railway train. On arrival at its destination, it was discovered that the gold had been stolen from some of the boxes, which were refilled with sand to make up for the deficient weight. Measures were at once taken for the discovery of the thief, and that no chance might be lost, Professor Ehrenberg was requested to make a microscopic examination of the sand. The professor (who is a member of the Academy of Sciences at Berlin, well-known for his researches into minute objects, and his comparison of volcanic dust from all parts

of the world), asked that a quantity of sand from every station by which the train had passed should be sent to him. Examining these one after another, he at last came to a sand which was identical with that found in the gold boxes. The name of the station whence this sand had been collected was known, inquiries were set on foot at that station, and among the persons there employed the thief was detected.

SUBSTITUTE FOR GUTTA-PERCHA.-At a late meeting of the French Academy of Sciences, M. Serres gave an account of the calata, a shrub which abounds in Guiana, and affords a juice which he asserts is superior, for many purposes, to guttapercha, but especially as an insulating material for enveloping telegraph wires. The milk or juice is drinkable, and used by the natives with coffee. It coagulates quickly when exposed to the air, and almost immediately when precipitated by alcohol, which also dissolves the resin of the valata juice. All the articles made with gutta-percha can be made with the sap of the valata, and it has no disagreeable smell.

When worked up, it becomes

as supple as cloth, and more flexible than gutta-percha. M. Serres exhibited a number of articles manufactured of valata milk. Up to the present time it seems, from Serres' account, not to have become an article of commercial export.

A NEW explosive compound has been made in England, by pulverizing separately 47 parts of chlorate of potash, 38 parts of ferro-cyanid of potassium, and 5 parts of sulphur. These are mixed with water, formed into a paste. The water is evapo

rated, and ten parts of India-rubber are added. When mixed and molded, these ingredients form a solid compact body, and are said to answer the purposes of ordinary gunpowder.

IN making experiments with tuningforks, by holding one to each ear at the same time, Herr Fessel, of Cologne, has discovered that ears do not possess the same power of hearing. From numerous trials, it appears that persons hear best with the right ear, but in no case has the power been discovered to be alike on both

sides of the head. The difference in the sight of the right and left eye is more common than supposed generally, because the impression made upon the weaker eye is absorbed or dissipated by the stronger eye, which has been made more powerful by previous use.

SPONGE is the skeleton of a zoophyte. Its chemical constituents are 1 part of iodine, 3 of sulphur, 5 of phosphorus, and 20 of fibrin. The latter substance is found in the secretions of the silkworm and spider, and contains of carbon 39 parts, hydrogen 31, nitrogen 6, and oxygen 17. On account of the large quantity of fibrin present, the sponge is classed among animals, although a few naturalists still regard it as a plant. DR. DRAPER's discovery, that all metals reach a red heat at the same temperature,

has been questioned by M. De la Provostaye, who details in Comptes Rendus a process of theoretical reasoning, to prove that different bodies, heated progressively, do not become visible at the same temperature.

A BELGIUM paper says that petroleumoil lamps are affected by music-a certain note on a brass instrument putting them out. M. Duhem extinguished eight lamps in succession by the sound of a trumpet. He was one of the late M. Jullien's band, and is professor at the Brussels Conservatoire of Music.

THE theory of Bischof, concerning specular iron ore, is, that it is a metamorphosed condition of an iron deposit in some earlier age of the American continent, upheaved since the Silurian period.

AT a recent party, one of the candles was leaning slightly. Gliffkins, who boasts of his geography, remarked that it represented the Tower of Pisa. "Yes," said facetious Sniff kins, "except that one is a tower in Italy, and the other is a tower in grease."

How near akin laughter is to tears, was shown when Rubens, with a single stroke of his brush, turned a laughing child in a painting, to one crying. And our mothers, without being great painters, have often brought us, in like manner, from joy to grief by a single stroke.

An Oxford student joined, without invitation, a party dining at an inn. During dinner, he boasted so much of his abilities, that one of the party said: "You have told us enough of what you can do, pray tell us something that you cannot do." “Faith,” said he, “I cannot pay my share in the reckoning."

WISE parents know that a good education is the best legacy.

He who needs education most, cares least

for it!

MOTHERS are the most important teach. ers, therefore should be well taught.

Boaz did not give Ruth a quantity of corn at once, but kept her gleaning. That is the best charity which so relieves another's poverty as still continues their industry. Fuller.

AN AMERICAN PORTRAIT.-There are men who carry in their persevering, restless energy, the brand of success—not always an enviable one, still less frequently a moral one, but always palpable and noisy. Such a man makes capital fight with danger of all sorts; he knows no yielding to fatigues, to any natural obstacles, or to conscience. It is hard to conceive of him as dying, without a sharp and nervous protest, which seems conclusive, to his own judgment, against the absurd dispensations of Providence. Who does not see faces every day, whose eager, impassioned unrest, is utterly irreconcilable with the calm, long sleep, we must all fall to at last?-Ik Marvel.

A LITTLE Wrong done to another, is a great wrong done to ourselves.

THE human soul, like the salt sea, becomes fresh and sweet in rising to the sky.

THERE is no better looking-glass than an old friend.

THE blush of true modesty is like the soul of a rose in the heart of a lily.

BOOK-CATALOGUES are to men of letters, what the compass and the lighthouse are to the mariner, the railroad to the merchant, the telegraph-wires to the editor, the digested index to the lawyer, the pharmacopeia and the dispensatory to the physician, the sign-post to the traveler, the screw and the lever to the mechanic.

THE BRAIN.-Allusion has been made

ander Crombie's, 63 ounces; Lord Byron's, 62 ounces; and Mr. Thackeray's 58 ounces. In contradistinction to these, may be placed the brain of an idiot, given by Dr. Todd, weighing 16 ounces, and the still more remarkable one described last year by Dr. Gore, barely reaching 10 ounces, 5 grains. Among these unfortunate individuals, it is true, large heads are often met with; but in such cases, the fine filaments and delicate chambers of the brain have been injured by disease, and they are thus, from many of its parts failing to act, or not acting in harmony, converted into beings who live a mere vegetative existence: are guided by dangerous

A medical friend favors us with a note on the subject: "The average weight of the human brain,” he says, “is 49 ounces in the male, and 44 ounces in the female. In most instances, however, when the individual has been distinguished by great mental power, it has been known to rise much above the numbers given. The brain of Cuvier weighed 64 ounces; Dr. Alex

A MAN conversant with one particular study, is tempted to seek for a solution of every question, one very subject, by a reference to his own favorite science or branch of knowledge; like a school-boy when first intrusted with a knife, who is for trying its edge on every thing that comes in his way.

A COMPREHENSIVE GEOGRAPHY: combining Physical, Mathematical, and Political Geography, with important Historical Facts, and designed to promote the Normal Growth of the Intellect. Illustrated with numerous accurate maps and engravings. By BENJAMIN F. SHAW and FORDYCE A. ALLEN. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co.

The arrangement of this book (the proofsheets we have had the pleasure to examine) is logical and sensible. We are introduced to our world as it appeared in the earliest days of which we have any authentic record: its physical peculiarities are commented upon; its adaptation to animal and vegetable life noted; the laws which govern its relations to other members of the great planetary family, are explained-and so explained that they can be understood by. those for whom the book is intended.

In the treatment of the political and historical portions, the logic of events is ob

served. We start with man's first habitat; we notice its peculiar ear-marks, the manners of the inhabitants, the influence of externals upon them, the changes and developments to which they and their lodgingplace are subject. We follow the tide of necessity, enterprise, or curiosity Westward.

One peculiarity, patent on every page, calls for special commendation. A rare judgment is evident in the selection of facts, and in the language in which they are conveyed. Every thing is succulent and nutritious. Prominence is given to the important alone. Indeed, we remember no school-book in which what is really valuable is presented in so concise and yet so manageable a form. To be sure, one may not find the exact length of the toe-nails of the Samoyedes given; nor do we now recollect that the town of Weissnichtwo is definitely located. The mighty creek, Minimus, may likewise have been overlooked. Let who will mourn these deprivations, we are not of the number, content that nothing has been neglected which is necessary to a full and comprehensive view of essentials.