bodies, and of those physical wants of their
system which they absolutely must supply,
if they would live vigorous lives and long
ones. They must know better than to let
their children's lives fall and be broken by a
carelessness really more gross than that of
servants who break plates and dishes.
Lessons upon the nature and requirements of
the human body should be given in all
common schools. Man, in a state of nature,
needs not to establish and prolong life by
discussing how he lives; but man living in
civilised society, exposed to twenty thousand
circumstances that divert attention from the
natural and healthy instincts of the flesh,
must use the same wit that has produced
another atmosphere of life, in ascertaining—
as he can with ease— how to bring it into
harmony with all his physical requirements.
The preservation of robust health should not
be, and is not, inconsistent with enjoyment of
the most refined happiness that civilisation
brings.

It is a pressing want of civilisation, then,
that a correct knowledge of the leading
truths of physiology should be communicated
in all schools. This truth has been partly
recognised by government in England and
America, but it is not yet recognised fairly
by the public anywhere. Mr. George Combe
of Edinburgh contributed a paper on the
subject to the recent Conference of the National
Association for Social Science. He was not
himself able to be present at Birmingham;
but the paper, printed for private use, and
for convenience of reading, was to be read
for him by a friend in the educational section.
His friend began, when he was stopped, first,
by an objection that the paper was in print.
That difficulty was got over; but it was then
suppressed upon the ground that it was out
of place, since physiology had nothing to do
with education. And so the section did not
hear what Mr. George Combe had to say.
The paper has been since published; we
have read it, and are disposed to second
heartily all its suggestions. Mr. Combe does
not want children to be taught as if they
were in training for the medical profession.
His desire is, that they should know enough
to understand clearly how our bodies are
affected by our daily habits, what is apt to
produce healthy or unhealthy action in each
vital organ— how to economise the force of
the machine they are for ever working, and
to hinder it, under all sorts of social accidents,
from getting out of gear.

We have said that the wisdom of this
proposition has been partly recognised
by government. The Committee of Council for
Education in England and the Commissioners of
Education in Ireland are co-operating with
the Board of Trade in the introduction of
physiology into schools, and it should interest
all teachers to know that nine beautifully
executed diagrams, illustrative of such a
course of study in our common schools, have
now been published by the Board. Dr.
Hodgson has, moreover, applied his
consummate talents as a teacher, to the spread
of this sort of instruction. That gentleman's
lectures in Edinburgh during the three
winters, marked quite an era in the spread of
physiological knowledge. In our schools it
is a novelty; but for the last six years it has
been emphatically recognised by the legislature
of Massachusetts.

NUMBER FIVE, HANBURY TERRACE.

I WAS a stranger among some eight or nine
hundred pitiless schoolfellows: a country
bumpkin amid the sharp lads of that focus of
sharp school practice, Christ's Hospital.
Moreover, the natural wateriness of eyes that
had so lately bade adieu to all familiar objects
was increased by a cold in the head, and my
misery was not alleviated by a short allowance
of halfpence to expend in the one
licensed shop, which is supposed to contain
all the objects of a Blue-coat boy's desire.
Then I felt ridiculous in petticoats, and
the thick regulation shoes which form part
of that graceful costume, hurt my ankles; and
my heels were swollen with chilblains. The
lump of gingerbread, which I stood gnawing,
was plentifully bedewed with my tears, and
sometimes choked me, between the descent of
a morsel, and the ascent of a sob.

"Don't waste your time telling me of your
rules and regulations," said a quick, flat,
irritable voice at the gate. " I want mee nephew,
and — " Looking up, I beheld that awful
functionary, the porter, stretching out one arm,
with solemn indignation, to bar the way
(but vainly) against the little wiry figure that
coolly ducked under it with a quick, springy
step, her black silk bag hanging by steel
chains, and her baggy umbrella firmly clasped
by the handle. She paused, looked round,
and defied the porter with a withering look
and the end of her sentence: — " And I'll
find him!"

Her search did not take long; her quick eye
soon picked me out, and she exclaimed: "I
declare that poor, starved little fellow with the
red head, is the image of — " She interrupted
herself again, pounced upon me, asked my
name, and patted my damp red head
with a diminutive hand, nearly lost
in a large brown glove, the finger ends of
which dangled vacantly about. "Yes— of
mee poor Ellen! Sure I'd know you
anywhere to be her son! Did you ever
hear tell of your mother's aunt Honoria,
from Ireland? Well, I am aunt Honoria.
Ah! I niver thought I'd live to see a grand-
nephew of mine in yellow stockings and a
petticoat. Bless ye, mee poor child! What
are ye crying for ?"

The tone in which she spoke was a sort of
flat singing. Her utterance was so rapid that
her words would have jostled each other out
of all order, except for her habit of stopping