Another branch of our exercises has been discussions. The particular subjects discussed need not perhaps be mentioned, but they have embraced a wide range, and particularly have they had reference to education, and the best means of teaching "the young idea how to shoot." The questions discussed have been selected by the Lyceum from those written by the members, and placed in a box for that purpose.

It may be asked, since we have stated that the members are chiefly female, whether they took part in the lectures and discussions? They did so; but in a manner calculated to avoid unpleasant exposure, they resorted to the box; their communications are read by the secretary, and the authoresses remain unknown. Another feature in our exercises is that of exchanges; curiosities of Nature and art are brought and exhibited, and exchanges are made. The following is our order of business at any ordinary meeting.

1. Reading Minutes; 2. Lecture; 3. Reading the question for discussion; 4. Report of committees; 5. Communications of the box read, and questions referred to committees for solution; 6. Discussion; 7. New business; 8. Adoption of question for discussion at the next meeting, and appointment of a member to open the same. Adjourn.

Our excursions in the neighborhood of the city have been numerous, instructive, and profitable. In them, plants and minerals have been the chief objects of collection.

A brief description of one such excursion may not be uninteresting. We will therefore select one which took place in June last, attended by about 160 individuals, chiefly members of this Society.

A boat on the Schuylkill river was chartered for the day to proceed slowly along the banks of this stream for the purpose of allowing time to ramble through the woods and fields; and thus, while one half of the company were roving over the hills and vales near this romantic river, gathering plants, minerals, &c. depositing them in their portfolios and other receptacles prepared for the occasion, the other half were gently gliding up the stream, viewing at a distance the varied foliage of our deep, rich forests, commenting on the surrounding beauties of the scene, and inhaling the balmy air made fragrant by the flowers on the neighboring banks.

The walking party, on becoming weary, resorted to the boat, while the other landed, and wandered in their turn, to collect more of the curiosities of nature. Having arrived at the mouth of the Wissachicken, a beautiful stream about seven miles from the city, the whole disembarked, prepared a rural repast in the shade of some large and spreading trees, and dined with appetites which had been sharpened by the "morning excursion." After this they separated into numerous little bands; and, after scouring the neighboring fields and woods, returned laden with the spoils of their peregrinations.

The boat was then re-laden; and the whole company, in a short time, landed at our water-works, where, in the large saloon open for visiters at all times, the various parties assembled; and some three or four of the senior members examined the different collections, and made some interesting observations on the properties, botanical arrangement, or other peculiarities of each plant. The plants were then restored to their portfolios, and each delighted and weary little natural ist sought his home, and no doubt found "Nature's sweet restorer" of very easy

access.

SCHOOLS IN THE CITY,

On the subject of schools in the city proper, we have to state that they are of three descriptions. The first may be termed private, and owe their existence to

Northern Lyceum. This has been, and is, one of the most efficient and industrious in our neighborhood, as its report will no doubt show. Among the social and family Lyceums may be mentioned the Arch Street Lyceum, The Needles Lyceum, The Hannah Moore and Sigourney Lyceums. These embrace among their members many of the intelligent youth of both sexes in our city. One of these associations, during the last year, has collected, dried, neatly labelled, and put up in paper, nearly a thousand plants, obtained from the neighboring fields and districts. They have also collected a very interesting cabinet of minerals and natural curiosities of various descriptions; besides a considerable number of books on science, history, the arts, &c. A report from this, as well as the other Lyceums mentioned, will, we hope, be presented by the members.

The Excursions of these Lyceums are conducted nearly in the same manner as those of the Philadelphia Lyceum. They have weekly meetings at the houses of the members in turn, generally about once a week; and have short lectures, discussions, essays, and readings.

They establish a correspondence with their friends in all parts of the Union, and make exchanges of every thing interesting to them in science or art. In their excursions they generally appoint one of their number to act as reporter, whose duty it is to draw up an account of all that has interested them, or that has been collected by the members.

Our modes of operation are, in fact, similar to those of the philosophers and sages of old; our meeting rooms are our "porticos," and the wild woods our "academic groves." We have, however, this advantage over the ancient schools of philosophy and science, that, instead of our members or operations being restricted to a few, and those the initiated, we invite all to partake with us. No oath of secrecy is enjoined on our members: on the contrary, we are anxious that every kindred, nation, and tongue shall enter with us into the magnificent temple of the Creator, and enjoy the highest bliss to mortal given,-communion with the works of nature, and, through them, with the Great Source of all knowledge, goodness, and happiness.

In conclusion of our colleagues in this noble undertaking we ask, shall this work be staid in its onward course? of our fellow-citizens we may well inquire, will you not devote your whole energies to the support and furtherance of a system that offers so many and important advantages for the moral, intellectual, and physical improvement of our countrymen? We know no barrier, we will recognize no limits, to the extension of the culture of the heart and mind. We court, nay, we implore, the assistance of all our fellow-citizens in this noble object. "Thus, and thus only, shall we rear up successors worthy of those ancestors from whom under God we hold our present blessings-thus only shall we form fit guardians and supporters of equal laws and enduring freedom. An ignorant people always have been, and always will be, a degraded and oppressed people; they are always at the mercy of the corrupt and designing. In vain shall we trust to physical strength to guard us from foreign hostility or domestic violenceto a sea-coast girt with a thousand fortresses—or a frontier bristling with countless bayonets-to armies, fleets, or military skill, if we fail to cultivate the moral strength of our people, to enlighten the intellect, to purify the heart, and stamp upon the character that feeling of independence which is only founded upon knowledge and self-respect. If we fail, BY EDUCATION, to awaken, guide, and confirm the moral energies of our people, we are lost.

MONTHLY COMMENTARY.

PAUPER IMMIGRATION.-We are glad to see that our countrymen are alive upon this matter. The seaports of Europe seem bent upon converting the United States into a lazar-house; and the unhappy wretches who are ejected from their own country by those who have helped to keep them poor, are disgorged upon our land as the fitting receptacle for all

"The slime that Europe breeds in her decay."

"During the present year," says the mayor of New-York, "it is probable that a greater number of foreigners than in any previous year will come direct to this city, exclusive of the thousands who will land at other ports, and soon reach us, A large portion of these people generally consist of women and infants, and many of them sickly or crippled persons, who pay nearly all their substance for a passage to our shores, and who have little remaining with which to procure even a scanty subsistence. Scarcely a vessel arrives from certain ports of Europe with steerage passengers, which does not increase the applicants for admission into our alms-house. Crowded together, poorly clad, lodged and fed on their voyages as thousands of them are, they must be sickly and miserable on arrival. It has become worthy of your dispassionate and most profound deliberation, whether our present system shall be continued without variation, or whether application shall be made to the proper power to amend the laws affecting the introduction of alien passengers; whether you will recommend a new practice in regard to commutation, or whether that proceeding shall be altogether dispensed with, and the most ample security required in all cases against such passengers becoming a charge upon the city. The facts in the case call for prompt action. Here, individual enterprise is in a measure paralyzed; business of every kind is almost destroyed; and it may happen that even our public works must, for a time, be suspended; it will be extremely difficult for the laborer to obtain employment. The coming winter will find our citizens not less charitable in feeling, but far less able than formerly, to continue their private subscriptions and contributions; and the common council will doubtless be solicited for greater aid than has usually been given for the support of all the charitable institutions; the out-door poor will be increased, and will be more than usually earnest in their entreaties." We are very sorry to see, by communications in the newspapers, that some misjudging foreigners of respectability are willing to identify themselves with these hapless outcasts, by taking umbrage at the remarks which the late importations of British paupers have elicited from the American press. Nothing can tend more to deteriorate the character of our democracy than these periodical infusions of degraded hordes among them. The theoretical operation of republicanism is to rear a race of intelligent and high-minded freemen, whose personal, mental, and moral characteristics will not be less marked than the best qualities of the best castes in countries where fixed rank obtains; in a word, to make a heterogeneous democratic race, the aristocracy of mankind. The various admixture of Europeans that has taken place upon our soil, has thus far been favorable to the creation and improvement of such a stock. The Puritan ancestors of English liberty, the Dutch opposers of Spanish tyranny, the Huguenot reformers of bigot-ridden France, each supplied their representatives to form the germ of a population, since swelled by the ardent yeomanry of Ireland, and the enterprising, among the middle classes, from every land in Christendom. We have long since, however, got all we want from Europe; and the depreciated importations she now sends us can only serve to assimilate the mass of population to the worst of hers, and al-' most make us wish, with one of the most enlightened fathers of the republic, that there was "a wall of brass between the old world and the new."

VOL. X.

26

THE CHILDREN OF THE REPUPLIC.-The mayor of New-York, in his late message to the common council, very properly observes, that, of all the charities of the city, there is perhaps none more attractive, or which more fully attests their wisdom and benevolence, than the institution known as the "Long Island Farms." These schools contain three hundred and seventy-one boys and one hundred and forty-one girls: and at this place and at Bellevue, one hundred and eighty-nine infants. The schools continue to be ably conducted; proper nurses and good clothing are provided for the children; and they are considered, in every respect, as the “children of the republic;" and, at a proper age, are bound out to suitable trades and occupations, with provision for their good treatment, maintenance, and instruction. There has been no case of ophthalmia at the Long Island Farms during the past year.

MINERAL WEALTH OF VIRGINIA.-Every day affords additional evidence of the great mineral wealth of the Old Dominion. There are several rich gold mines in successful operation, and within a short time past several rich veins of copper ore have been discovered, and the brightest prospect held out to the enterprising proprietors, of valuable results.

CHRONOLOGICAL OF COTTON.-The Milledgeville (Geo.) Journal has compiled an impartial view of the introduction to the use, and mutations of price in the history of cotton, which, although it is the staple commodity of this country, is an article that, above all others, shows the most sensitive action on the slightest approach of a change, no matter what causes the commotion:

1730. Mr. Wyatt spins the first cotton yarn in England by machinery. 1735. The Dutch first export cotton from Surinam.

1742. First mill for spinning cotton erected at Birmingham, moved by mules or horses, but not successful in its operations.

1749. The fly shuttle generally used in England.

1756. Cotton-velvets and quilting made in England for the first time.

1761. Arkwright obtained the first patent for the spinning frame, which he further improved.

1768. The stocking frame applied by Hammond to the making of lace.

1773. A bill passed to prevent the export of machinery used in cotton factories. 1779. Mule spinning invented by Hargrave.

1782. First import of raw cotton from Brazil into England.

1782. Watt took out his patent for the steam-engine.

1783. A bounty granted in England on the export of certain cotton goods.

1785. Power looms invented by Dr. Cartwright. Steam engines used in cotton factories.

1786. Bleaching first performed by the agency of oxymuriatic acid. 1787. First machinery to spin cotton put in operation in France.

1789. Sea Island cotton first planted in the U. S. and Upland cotton first culti vated for use and export about this time.

1790. Salter, an Englishman, builds the first American cotton factory at Pawtucket, R. I.

1792. Eli Whitney, an American, invents the cotton gin, which he patents. 1798. First mill and machinery for cotton erected in Switzerland. 1799. Spinning by machinery introduced into Saxony this year.

1803. First cotton factory built in New Hampshire.

1805. Power looms successfully and widely introduced into England.

1807. The revolution in Spanish America begins to furnish new markets for cotton manufactories.

1810. Digest of cotton manufactures in the U. S. by Mr. Gallatin, and another by Tench Cox, Esq. of Philadelphia.

1811. Machinery to make bobbin lace patented by John Burn.

1813. The India trade more free, and more British manufactures sent there.

1815. The power-loom introduced into the U. S. first at Waltham.

1818. Average price of cotton 34 cents-higher than since 1810. New method

of preparing sewing cotton by Mr. Holt.

1819. Extraordinary prices for Alabama cotton lands.

1820. Steam power first applied with success extensively to lace manufac

tures.

1822. First cotton factory in Lowell erected.

1823. First export of raw cotton from Egypt into Great Britain. 1825. In New Orleans, cotton at from 23 to 25 cents per pound. 1826. Self-acting mule-spinner patented in England by Roberts.

1827. American cotton manufactures first exported to any considerable extent. 1829. Highest duty in the U. S. on foreign cotton manufactures.

1830. About this time Mr. Dyer introduced a machine from the United States into England for the purpose of making cards.

1832. Duty on cotton goods imported into the U. S. reduced one half, and in England it is forbid to employ minors in cotton mills for more than nine hours on a Saturday: in consequence they work at something else.

1834. Cotton at 17 cents.

1835. Extensive purchases made of cotton lands by speculators and others. 1836. The season began at 16 cents, and ended at 20 cents. 1837. Cotton reached 22 cents, and then

THE BEN SHERROD.-The burning of the steamer Ben Sherrod on the Mississippi, in May last, with the loss of one hundred and fifty human lives, is one of those horrible casualties which could occur (so murderously inefficient, so inadequate to the protection of life, are our laws) in no land but America. The journals of the day have acquainted all readers with the harrowing particulars, and we need not repeat them. It is sufficient to say that the catastrophe happened of course (when does such an accident happen in the United States otherwise than of course?) in consequence of criminal carelessness on the part of those to whom the wretched victims had committed their safety. The boat was racing, the firemen were supplied with liquor, a barrel at a time, the passengers were asleep; the boat took fire from the furnaces, the tiller-ropes were burnt: the rest may be imagined. But a few weeks or months before, it is said that a number of passengers from the same steamer were drowned in consequence of the captain (then, also, engaged in racing,) attempting to put them ashore in his yawl instead of coming to at the landing. In the last and closing tragedy, he is reported to have lost his father and only child; for which reason his friends entreat a suspension of public opinion. In our opinion, that circumstance, if there was fault at all, adds to it double criminality.

It is really time that something should be done to abate the alarming frequency of steam boat accidents in the United States, particularly in the West and South. Public opinion-a tribunal we are fast learning to defy-will never arrest the evil. The avarice of steam boat owners, who build high-pressure engines, because cheaper than the safer condensing engines; the pride and emulation of captains, who think the disgrace of being beaten by another boat more dreadful than the prospect of blowing a dozen souls into eternity; the inflammable spirits even of passengers themselves, who so often encourage their commanders to a race; are adverse to every hope of improvement. Nothing but the strong arm of the law can put down the evil, and it should be interposed without further delay.

FAIRMOUNT IN MINIATURE.—An extremely ingenious and beautiful model, on a large scale, of the Philadelphia Water-works is now exhibiting in Chesnut Street,-rocks, trees, buildings, reservoirs, fountains, and all,—a perfect fac-simile of the original. It deserves repeated inspections, and will enable our friends of other places (for, we doubt not, it will be carried from city to city,) to make the acquaintance of the chief lion of Philadelphia without stirring from their own strongholds.