All the limestones formed perpendicular cracks and splinters a long time before they crushed.

Weight of the material from above 165 lbs. 5 ozs. per cubic foot, or 13 feet per ton.

The weight required to crush this limestone is 471.15 tons per square foot, equal to a column 6433 feet high of such material.

Previously to the experiments just recorded, it was deemed advisable not to trust to the resisting powers of the material of which the towers of either bridge were composed; and, to make security doubly sure, it was ultimately arranged to rest the tubes upon horizontal and transverse beams of great strength, and by increasing the area subject to compression, the splitting or crushing of the masonry might be prevented. This was done with. great care, and the result is the present stability of those important structures.

In conclusion, the following general summary of results, obtained from various materials, shows their respective powers of resistance to forces tending to crush them.

The above summary gives pretty correct data for the guidance of the practical builder in the application of these materials when subjected to a simple crushing force. The experiments might be greatly extended to stone from other localities, but the specimens are of a sufficiently varied character to afford the necessary information to those employed in the constructive arts.

145

PART II.

LECTURES.

LECTURE I.

ON POPULAR EDUCATION.

THE object I have in view in this address is to direct your attention to certain principles which I hold to be true, and which I consider essential to the development of the human mind, the formation of character, and the right exercise of our duties to society. In the investigation of the all-important question of education, I hope you will give me your attention whilst I endeavour to lay before you such facts as seem to elucidate a subject on which no two men appear to be agreed, and which has occupied the attention. ɔf the statesman and philanthropist from the earliest period of our history down to the present time. Notwithstanding he number of treatises that have been written, and the umber of speeches that have been delivered, we are still ar short of a sound national system of education; and it ppears questionable, as society is constituted in this ountry, whether any system which may be called national 'ould ever supply the wants of the different classes into hich the population of the kingdom is divided. Many

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of the difficulties which present themselves would be removed if the different denominations of religionists could agree upon a sound system of secular education, supplemented by some general principles of faith to which no real professor of Christianity could object, and on which to build the great moral structure of liberty, honour, and independence. There cannot exist a doubt that the safety and well being, and even the very existence of the state, depends on the education of the people; and our intellectual enjoyments are chiefly derived from the instructions we have received, and the examples which have been set before us, in early life. How essential is it, therefore, that these instructions should inculcate not only the leading truths of natural science, but the great principles of morality by which our future lives are to be governed, and on which depends our bearing towards our families and society at large.

It is not for me to demonstrate what these principles are; they vary according to the system of education that may be practised, and the prejudices which that education may inculcate. Let us, however, be assured that the moral world is governed by the same Great Power as the external creation, from whose determined laws we cannot deviate without injury and danger to ourselves and others. If this be the case, the instructions we receive ought to be such as would teach us to know right from wrong, and how far, through life, our conduct accords with the principles under which our education has been conducted. In this discussion it is not my intention to speak, directly or indirectly, of religious instruction; and although I hold that religious education is essential to the well being of society, I nevertheless leave all matters of belief to the discretion of parents, as regards the principles upon which their children should or should not be educated.

What we have to treat of on this occasion is the charac

ter of training a young man should receive, whose only inheritance is a sound mind and a strong constitution, in the various stages of his early life, and how his powers should be cultivated for his own happiness and the benefit of those with whom he has to live. Viewing the subject. in this light, it will be necessary to divide it as follows:

1st.-Elementary Teaching and Physical Training.

It has been rightly observed that a sound foundation is essential to a secure superstructure; and this truism applies as forcibly to the development and cultivation of the human mind as it does to material constructions.

What should therefore first engage our attention, from infancy up to five years of age, is to nurse and encourage the growth of the body, to strengthen the muscles, and thus to establish a sound foundation for the higher powers of intellect by ensuring to the recipient a vigorous and hardy constitution. During this period the mind receives impressions as a child, which in after life will influence its conduct as a man; and very much will depend upon the mother, or those that have the care of infancy, that these impressions be of the right sort, and that they have a direct tendency to virtue, and those dispositions of character which influence the future fortunes of the man. In this early stage of what can scarcely be called tuition, but which nevertheless forms the nucleus of a system, it must be borne in mind that a healthy body is the twin sister of a sound mind, and that any neglect or injury to the former is sure to affect the latter, and weaken the powers we are anxious to cultivate. In future developments, how much therefore depends upon the mother, and how very important it is that we should have good mothers possessing all the qualifications necessary to bring up their children, and prepare them for the reception of those