a brilliant invention encircles the head of the inventor with rays of imme

diate glory.

The defects in the natural character of the French, are to be counteracted by the progress of civilisation, and more especially by inducing, among all ranks, a greater taste for what an Englishman calls the solid comforts of life. To improve the country people to the utmost in a physical point of view, it is necessary that they should eat a greater proportion of animal food, drink better wine, cider, or beer, and that their houses should be more commodiously planned, and more fully stocked with furniture. The introduction of an improved agriculture, and of useful manufactures, will effect both these objects; and if, while this improvement is taking place, care be taken to educate, not slightly, but effectually, every individual, so as to elevate the moral character and taste of the laborious classes, and prevent them from falling into that state of degradation and misery which is connected with improved agriculture and the extreme of manufacturing industry in England, every thing will be attained which the friends of human nature could desire.

The grand principle wanting to develope every other in France, is general and effectual education. Not an education which merely teaches a slight knowledge of reading, writing, and arithmetic, such as was formerly open to every body in Scotland; but a system of instruction commencing in the third or fourth year of infancy, in the manner of what are called infant schools, and continued alike to males and females to the age of fourteen or fifteen. During this period every thing worth knowing may be taught, and a style of manners and morals formed and impressed in such a way as to remain during future life. Every one submitted, so to speak, to this degree of education, will not profit from it alike; and it is in the nature of things, and suitable to the constitution of society, that this difference should exist; but every one, even the most intellectually obtuse, will know how to read, write, and count, and take a certain tone of manners and moral habits, which will fit them for some one useful capacity or other, and render them agreeable and honest to any who come in contact with them.

We never contend that all will benefit equally from education, however well or however long they may be subjected to it; all we insist on is, that all should be subjected to a certain degree of it during a certain length of time. We would, if possible, put every human being on a level in point of knowledge, morals, and manners: we know we cannot do this, because the original faculties of man are opposed to it; but we would give to all a fair and full chance of developing their faculties to the utmost, and, having done this, we would leave individuals to work their way in the world subject to the influence of all that it contains. Supposing education to be a fluid, we would immerse every male and female child in it (and for very important reasons, in addition to that of humanising all ranks, in the same vessel), during a certain length of time, that the body of each might imbibe according to its powers of absorption.

Being taken out, those of the poorest parents, and who at the same time, in consequence of natural defect, had imbibed least of the education fluid, would fall into the ranks of house servants, male and female, or would engage as sailors or soldiers; those who, in consequence of a little more native intellect, had absorbed a little more fluid, but who were still of the poorest parents, would take the grade of labourers, agriculturists, and gardeners, the females following dress-making, or other light trades, or becoming body-servants to ladies of rank; those whose parents had some little property, whatever quantity of fluid they might have absorbed, would commence their business education, by being apprenticed to some trade or manufacture, the females becoming governesses and teachers; those a little higher, when taken out, would commence their professional education, with a view to law,

physic, the fine arts, &c., by being sent to college; and the same of the children of persons of rank and independence, whose education would be completed by a course of travelling and residence in other countries.

It may to some, perhaps, seem frivolous or ridiculous to enter into such details: but we have considered them necessary, in order to prevent ourselves from being misunderstood; and lest any one should think that, because we wish to bring all men and women, as near as their natures will admit, to a level in point of knowledge and manners, we wish to subvert the existing orders and ranks of society. We contemplate nothing of the kind. According to the above system, the servant and the labourer will be as completely subordinate to their masters as at present, though under such a system of education the servant would necessarily know more then. than the master does now. All the contemplated difference between the present state of society, and that which high and equal education and man-. ners would produce, would be a much more general diffusion of humanity, sympathy, and happiness.

To produce this state of things, it appears to us essentially necessary that the education for the lowest class of society should be enforced by government. At first sight, it appears inconsistent with approved principles to maintain such an opinion; for, if education be of so great an advantage, why should not individuals be left to pursue it as they do every other good? Our answer is, that this reasoning will apply to all those classes of society who are in easy circumstances; but that we do not think it will ever apply to the lowest class in any country, however highly civilised that country may be. The lowest class may, in all times and places, be considered as treading the brink of misery; the only means of preventing their precipitation into the gulf, is by the continual exercise of their labour. Now, the temptation of poor parents, or of a poor widow or widower, to make use of the labour of their children as soon as the physical strength of the latter permits, is, or appears to us to be, too great to be continually before them without their falling into it. We think, therefore, that for a perfect system of education to be effective, whatever may be the state of the country to which it is applied, it will always be necessary to compel the lowest class to send their children to school during a certain period, as in Germany (Vol. I. p. 483.); and that it will always be advantageous to have a law, rendering it illegal to employ any one who could not show a certificate of having attended this period, as in the same country. For the class above the lowest, perhaps the law declaring it illegal to employ any person without a certificate might suffice; and, for all, the higher classes, we should say, admit none as officers in the army or navy, to public or state employments, or to what is called good society, who were not known to have taken a degree at some university, or to have done. something equivalent. We have elsewhere shown* that, in a properly educated and highly civilised nation, the name of every individual, when he or she had completed the prescribed education, or, in other words, were intellectually born into society, ought to be published in a local newspaper or gazette, in the same way as physical births into the world are at present. In order that a system of education, to be applied generally, may effect all that it is capable of effecting, we think that it should be conducted on what we shall call the Natural History System; i. e. that it should be totally

* Des E'tablissemens pour l'éducation publique en Bavière, dans le Wirtemberg, et à Bade; et Remarques sur les Améliorations à introduire dans ces établissemens pour les faire adopter en France, en Angleterre, et autres pays. Paris, pamph. 8vo, 1829. The essence of this work will be given in the Gardener's Magazine.

1

freed from peculiar religious instruction. Experience shows that, where mankind are allowed to think at all, they will never be brought to think alike on so indefinite a subject as religion; and, therefore, in a school to which the children of persons of all religions are to be sent, instruction in any one particular religion must necessarily be omitted. But morality, which, in most countries, is more or less taught as dependent on religion (most erroneously, in our opinion), must not be omitted; and this is what' we would teach on what we call the Natural History principle; i. e. simply with reference to the good it produces to man in his worldly character. There are a sufficiency of motives exclusively belonging to this life, to produce all the charitable, generous, honest, and honourable actions taught by the laws of Christianity, or by any other laws. These motives are independent of abstract opinions, and refer simply to the rewards and punishments, from the grosser to the most refined, of this life. Being, therefore, more certain, they must be safer to build on than any system of promises and threats, on the fulfilment of which the party, however firmly he may* believe and conscientiously he may act at one time, may at another have doubts, and so far change his opinion as to be left without any other guiding principles than those to which we allude. It were better, therefore, to begin with these motives, because, being mattters of fact, they cannot be denied or overturned; while religious principle can, in due time, be superadded. We have entered into details on this subject in the pamphlet referred to, and therefore shall not here repeat them; but we cannot help adding, that almost every execution that we read of in the newspapers confirms us in our opinion. It is common among the Protestants to express horror at the idea of absolution being given for moral offences by a Catholic priest; but is not the idea of absolution as certainly obtained by the Protestant murderer, on the scaffold, by some other process? It is ascertained that the Catholic banditti of Italy trust for salvation entirely to this idea, and will it be said that Protestant sinners are exempt from some corresponding influence? Might not a stranger to both systems of Christianity say, there must be something radically wrong, either in the principles of your religion, or in its administration, which, in its application, admits of the most horrid murderers that ever existed, when brought to punishment, dying on the scaffold full of happiness and joy, instead of being overwhelmed with a sense of remorse, or a feeling of infamy?

The liberal and enlightened party in France are at present intensely occupied with the subject of general education; and we most sincerely hope that they will not rest short of establishing it in as perfect a manner, and on as firm a basis, as the present enlightened age and the existing state of political harmony admit. They will, by this means, and by means of the rapid improvements which they are making in agriculture and manufactures †,

sects.

Let no reader take alarm at this assertion, which has nothing to do with religion, as such, but merely the introduction of one particular kind of religion into a school composed of children whose parents are of various› The principle contended for is already acted on by the School Society of Ireland. (Gard. Mag., vol. v. p. 84.) It was also set out with in the London University; though we regret to see, in a letter signed by Dr. Lardner and Mr. Dale, in this (Feb. 12.) day's Times, that a sort of accommodation to existing opinions has been made by these gentlemen, which we cannot but consider as derogatory to the University, whose chair of moral philosophy ought to have been sufficient for every purpose proposed to be effected by the divinity lectures of Mr. Dale.

+ See two excellent articles in the Foreign Quarterly Review (arts. i, and xi.), attributed to Professor M'Culloch. These articles, written in the best spirit, alike merit the perusal of thinking men in both nations. See also the

not only raise themselves to a degree of civilisation and happiness hitherto unattained, but, by their example, effect the same object for England, Ger. many, and all other countries.

To return to our legitimate subject, we hope to show, in future Numbers, that the time we spent in Paris, and generally the whole of our four months' tour, has not been without profit to our readers; and conclude by stating that Rana arbòrea, Vallisnèria spiralis, Wistària Consequàna, An-› drómeda arborea, and other plants and animals which we brought from Carlsruhe (Vol. I. p. 481.), arrived safe at Bayswater.- Cond.

GERMANY.

The Congress of the German Naturalists. In all ages and countries, men who have followed the same pursuits have felt themselves to be united in interest and happiness, and have sought to realise this union, and strengthen it, by actual personal associations. In the earliest ages, these unions or societies were few and comparatively local, and they must generally have been confined to nations speaking the same language. With the progress of things, the circle of these associations has extended wider; and the probability is, that, in time, every society whose objects do not interfere with established religions or governments, will reckon amongst its members people of all nations. The fairs and games of the earliest ages indicate the infancy of this state of things; and the voluntary annual meetings of the naturalists, of the military men, of the musicians, and of the students of Switzerland, in the different towns of that country, and of the German naturalists and medical practitioners, in the different towns of Germany, indicate its present state.

The Congress of the German naturalists owes its origin to Professor Schweigger at Halle, and Professor Oken at Jena, who traced the plan, in 1818, that was first carried into execution at Leipsic, in 1822. There were then only eight members present; but Professor Blumenbach was among them, and they resolved to meet every year, on the 18th of September, this period falling in the middle of one of the two long vacations of the German universities." The sessions are held alternately, one year in a town of the north, and the next in one of the south of Germany; always fixing, by a majority of voices, the place for the next session; and the president and secretary having there their abode, to make the necessary arrangements for the meeting. Other regulations have not been wanting; and, since that time, the Congress has assembled successively at Leipsic, Halle, Würzburg, Frankfort, Dresden, and, last year, in Munich, where its members were most nobly received by the King of Bavaria, the greatest patron of the arts in our times. Then they resolved to meet, in 1828, at Berlin; and the Aristotle of the modern age, Baron Alexander von Humboldt, was chosen president; and M. Lichtenstein, Professor of Natural History at the same university, honorary secretary." " (For. Rev. and Cont. Misc. for Oct. 1828, p. 505.) The Prussian government did all that the officers of the Congress suggested, in order to make the stay of its learned guests at Berlin as comfortable as possible. The Meeting lasted a week, and the following is a statement of the countries from which the members came who were present: -The whole number was 467, of which Berlin alone supplied 197, the rest of Prussia, 127; Saxony, 31; Bavaria, 12; Hanover, 7; Wurtemberg, 3; the ' other States of the German Confederation and Switzerland, 55; the Austrian States, 1; Sweden, 12; Denmark, 7; Poland, 5; Russia, 2; England, 2; France, 2; Norway, 1; and Naples, 1.

Journal d'Education et d'Instruction, de M. le Comte de Lasteyrie. Paris, svo, monthly.

Baron humboldt delivered a discourse at the opening (which has been printed), and another at the close, of the Meeting. Various memoirs were read by different members; and, amongst them, one by M. Reinwardt (of Leyden), on the characters of the vegetable kingdom in the Indian Archipelago. The project of a new edition of Pliny's Natural History was dis- ́ cussed. It was stated that the King of Bavaria had sent a young scholar to collate the MSS. at Florence and in Paris, and that the King of Saxony had promised his assistance to obtain a collection of those at Madrid, in the Escurial, and at Toledo; and a hope was expressed that the Prussian government might defray the expense of a collation of the Vossian Codex, at Oxford. Professor Lichtenstein said that the Berlin Academy had made such great sacrifices for an edition of Aristotle, that it could do nothing on this occasion. Professor Oken, on this, suggested that every member present should subscribe a dollar, as a fund towards the expenses of the projected edition of Pliny, which was done, to the number of about 400.

The following is an extract from the opening speech of Baron Humboldt, as given in the Foreign Review and Continental Miscellany: :-"In every place where the German language is resounding, where its philosophical structure exercises its influence on the minds and on the feelings of the nation, from the highest top of the Alpine mountains of Europe down to the other bank of the Vistula, where astronomy is raised to new splendour in the country of Copernicus, in every place of the large regions inhabited by the German nation, we make it our business to enquire into the secrets of the powers of nature, displayed in the ample vault of heaven, in the deepest problems of mechanics, in the bowels of the terraqueous globe, or in the finest tissues of organic beings. Protected by magnanimous princes, this Society has increased every year in interest and in extension. Every difference produced by diversity of faith and of political constitution has vanished here. Germany reveals here its intellectual unity; and this unity weakens none of the ties attaching us to the constitution or the laws of our birthplace, in the same manner as the knowledge of truth, and the performance of duty, are the final scope of morals. It is this separation in life, this emulation of mental efforts, which the glorious annals of the German nation prove to be productive of the highest achievements of humanity, of science, and of the fine arts.

"The principal purpose of this Society does not consist, like that of other academies forming a close corporation, in the communication of memoirs, in giving a number of lectures, all written to be printed, after some time, in their Transactions. No; its principal purpose is to encourage the intercourse of men cultivating the same field of science; the oral exchange of ideas making them more impressive and stimulating in the shape of facts, of opinions, or of doubts; and in the formation of relations of friendship; illustrating the science, agreeably tempering the habits of life, and giving forbearance and amenity to the manners.

"Truth cannot be discovered without difference of opinions; for it is never known at once in its whole extent, nor simultaneously by the whole of mankind. Every step appearing to lead the naturalist towards his distant goal, brings him only to the entrance-door of new labyrinths. The quantity of doubt is not diminished; it spreads only, like a movable mist, over other regions. Those who call a golden age the times when diversity of views, or, vulgarly speaking, the disputes of men of learning, will be settled, have no idea of the wants of science, and of its uninterrupted progress, and are like those who, with lazy self-complacency, defend, from year to year, immutably the same opinions."

The Meeting of next year will be held at Heidelberg. Baron Humboldt mentioned, in his farewell discourse, that he should be unable to attend, as he calculated that he should be then on his travels in Asia, most probably in the heart of Siberia. Report speaks in the highest terms of the excellent