S P E I N G. 



How pleasant is the opening year ! 



The clouds of winter melt away, 

 The flowers in beauty reappear, 



The songster carols from the spray. 

 In darkness, through the dreary length 



Of winter, slept both bud and bloom; 

 But Nature now puts forth her strength, 



And starts renew'd as from the tomb.— Dr. Mom. 



ROM the earliest ages 

 concerning which we 

 have any reliable records, 

 the motions of the 

 heavenly bodies have 

 been a source of interest 

 and an object of contem- 

 plation to the members of the 

 human family. Wherever man has 

 emerged from a condition in which 

 his thoughts and desires have been 

 limited to the bare supply of his 

 immediate wants, there the phe- 

 nomena of the starry vault above 

 him have awakened reflection, and 

 stimulated inquiry, impressing 

 him by their grandeur and excit- 

 ing his curiosity by the mystery 

 surrounding them. Thus the 

 cradle of civilization seems also 

 to have been the cradle of astronomical science : — 



Chaldean shepherds, ranging trackless fields, 

 Beneath a concave of unclouded skies, 

 Look'd on the Polar Star, as on a guide 

 And guardian of their course, that never closed 

 His steadfast eye. The planetary five 

 With a submissive reverence they beheld ; 

 Watch'd from the centre of their sleeping flocks 

 Those radiant Mercuries, that seem'd to move. 

 Carrying through ether, in perpetual round, 

 Decrees and resolutions of the gods. 



Not so, however, with the periodic phenomena of 

 the world below. The weather, it is true, has been 

 the subject of many popular observations, which have 

 been embalmed in proverbs and predictions of all 

 degrees of accuracy. But the atmospheric changes, 

 and the phenomena of the vegetable and animal 

 kingdoms, which mark the course of each successive 

 year, have received but little attention that is deserv- 

 ing of the name, even from those under whose im- 

 mediate notice they have been constantly taking 



No. 17. 



place. This is not difficult to account for. The objects 

 and events of which we speak are less conspicuous 

 and impressive in the eyes of a casual observer than 

 the radiant glories of the solar and stellar systems ; 

 and the succession of changes is less marked in its 

 progress and effects. In most cases they do not force 

 themselves upon the attention, and in very many 

 they entirely escape the notice of the untrained 

 observer. For observation is an art, and one of the 

 worthiest contributions to popular education would 

 be a series of works such as was commenced some 

 years back, and to which the late Sir H. De La Beche 

 contributed a manual, entitled " How to observe — 

 Geology." "The great majority of mankind," said 

 Dr. George Wilson, of Edinburgh, "do not and 

 cannot see one fraction of what they were intended to 

 see." The habit of careful observation is invaluable, 

 and will well repay any pains spent in its acquisition. 

 What delight and solace did White of Selborne find 

 in noting the never-ending series of phenomena, of 

 whose existence nine out of every ten men would 

 have been entirely unconscious ; and how must this 

 rare faculty have reconciled him to a lifelong resi- 

 dence in an obscure village, where many would have 

 died of ennui ! 



Gilbert White's record of his observations exerts 

 even now an influence upon not a few thoughtful 

 minds, and there is ample evidence that a goodly 

 number of amateur students of nature are educating 

 their powers of vision to some practical purpose. 

 Iu the hope of interesting such, to some small 

 extent, the present notes are written. 



Every one is aware that the temperature of any 

 given spot is a constantly varying amount, and that 

 this is the case whether daily or yearly changes 

 be the subject of consideration. Each morning the 

 thermometer rises, and falls again as evening comes 

 on ; in like manner, the opening year brings a sensible 

 increase of heat, which declines when the brightness 

 of summer passes away. 



