POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



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guide the machine by horizontal and vertical 

 rudders. The machine may be started by 

 causing it to descend an inclined plane, and 

 then to move horizontally, when its course is 

 that of a scaling bird, and the power is ap- 

 plied, with the rudders, to keep up and direct 

 the motion. Few persons who have seriously 

 considered the subject now doubt the pos- 

 sibility of aerial navigation on the principle 

 of " heavier than the air." But the construc- 

 tion of a practicable machine demands a va- 

 riety of gifts and resources not to be found 

 in one man: there must be an inventor, 

 a mechanical engineer, a mathematician, a 

 practical mechanic, and a syndicate of capi- 

 talists. 



Tbc Earliest Historical Art. The earliest 

 condition of art in Egypt, says Prof. W. M. 

 Flinders Petrie, stands in a far different light 

 from that of the history of art in other coun- 

 tries. In the first place, it is as early as, or 

 earlier than, any other source of art that we 

 know. Other countries have largely bor- 

 rowed from Egypt or from Mesopotamia, 

 but these two great deltas have not had any 

 external influence acting on them ; they 

 stood far in advance of the civilization of 

 the rest of the world in the early ages, and 

 their art appears to be the outcome of the 

 first stable and well-organized governments 

 that were known. Tranquillity and the com- 

 mand of large resources were needful before 

 any great progress could be made in archi- 

 tecture or the imitative arts ; and no land 

 appears to have enjoyed such conditions be- 

 fore the dawn of the historical period in 

 Egypt. We have, then, to deal with a state 

 of things in which art was, in the course of 

 actual growth, free from the influence of 

 any external guidance, and with only its 

 own antecedents to build upon. This art 

 also stands apart in the fact that all traces 

 of its origin and rise are absent. We are 

 still as much ignorant as ever of the course 

 of its development. Where the tentative 

 stages are to be found which led up to the 

 triumphs of the fourth dynasty is as yet a 

 mystery. Certain sculptures, which are un- 

 doubtedly very early, have been assigned to 

 the second and third dynasties solely on ac- 

 count of the style. But there is no absolute 

 evidence of the date of a single sculpture or 

 a single block before the first king of the 



fourth dynasty, Snefru (the predecessor of 

 Khufu, or Cheops), under whom we find 

 some of the most perfect works that ever 

 were executed. In one line, however, there 

 are remains of an earlier style. The rock 

 carvings of Upper Egypt certainly date back 

 to a long prehistoric age an age when the 

 ostrich and the elephant were familiar in 

 Egypt. But these rude figures have no re- 

 lation to the art of historical times ; and we 

 should as soon learn the history of the Par- 

 thenon from the weapons of the stone age in 

 Greece as trace the Egyptian schools in the 

 rude carvings of the primitive man. 



Pnblie Parks in Massachusetts. The 

 Trustees of Public Reservations of Massa- 

 chusetts is a chartered body established for 

 the purpose of providing a ready instrument 

 by means of which any person or body of 

 persons may insure the preservation of any 

 beautiful or historical place in the State. 

 This may be accomplished by putting the 

 tract in its hands. It also receives money 

 for the maintenance and adornment of such 

 places. As the years pass, a variety of 

 motives are found to inspire the giving of 

 lands into the hands of the trustees. The 

 largest recent instance of this confidence is 

 the gift of twenty acres of fine woodland in 

 Stoneham by Mrs. Fanny Foster Tudor, now 

 deceased, named by her desire, in memory 

 of her daughter, Virginia Wood, for which a 

 maintenance fund the Virginia Wood Fund 

 has been collected and invested by other 

 friends. It appears, from facts collected by 

 Mr. J. B. Harrison respecting the present 

 provision of open spaces in Massachusetts, 

 that the large areas of undivided common 

 lands which were once to be found in most 

 of the townships of the Commonwealth have 

 all been allotted or sold to individuals, except 

 in Nantucket, where there still remain at 

 least one thousand acres open to the pub- 

 lic. The Park Board and Water Board of 

 Lynn have lately restored to public owner- 

 ship about two thousand acres of woodland 

 which was once a common of this large 

 kind. The smaller commons which the first 

 proprietors of townships almost invariably 

 laid out for " training fields " and sites for 

 " meeting houses " appear to be still the only 

 public open places in most of the townships 

 of the State. Some of them have been en- 



