and of Rural Improvement, during 1835. 627 



all over the country is, the formation of normal schools for the 

 education of schoolmasters ; and for this government has already 

 voted the means. Dr. Reid, in Edinburgh, has lately been 

 giving a lecture, the main object of which was, to prove that the 

 most beneficial results would spring from the " introduction of 

 physical science as an early branch of general education, with 

 illustrations of the plan proposed for instituting a series of illus- 

 trations in the theory and practice of chemistry in all schools 

 and academies, including those departments more especially 

 which are adapted to awaken the mind of the junior pupil to the 

 nature of the material world, and to a more precise knowledge 

 of those chemical phenomena which are daily forced upon his 

 attention." As a proof of what may be effected in this way 

 among young females, we may refer to a report on the Ladies' 

 Day School, of Stuart Street, Edinburgh, given in the Scotsman 

 of Nov. 14. ]^835, and quoted as a note to the Preface of the 

 Eighth Volume of our Magazine of Natural History. 



For the Improtiement of Roads some legislative measures have 

 passed ; but there is still wanting one to prevent new roads 

 which are being made, or existing roads which are being altered 

 or improved, from having a greater slope than vSome fixed stand- 

 ard, say 1 in 36. Till such a law is passed, and carried into 

 execution throughout the country, there must of necessity be an 

 aristocracy among travellers ; for, on roads having hills steeper 

 than the slope we have mentioned (viz. 1 in 36), the traveller 

 with one horse can never come into competition with him who 

 travels with two : not that, under any circumstances, as much 

 can be done by one horse as by two horses on the same road ; 

 but that, on a road of the slope of 1 in 36, one horse will draw 

 or carry half of what two will ; while, on roads of a greater slope, 

 it is known from experience that this is not the case : and the 

 fact may be accounted for from the friction of the wheels on the 

 road being equal, and the weights unequal. The man, there- 

 fore, who travels in a two-wheeled carriage with two horses, as a 

 commercial traveller, or for pleasure, has an undue advantage 

 over him who can only travel with one horse. We say an 

 undue advantage, because, though it is just that he should benefit 

 from the additional capital employed in the form of the second 

 horse, it is not so that he should profit by the inattention of the 

 legislature in neglecting the roads ; a neglect which operates on 

 the poor man, like a tax on poverty. 



The Railroads that are going on or projected, amounting in 

 number to upwards of thirty, argue an extraordinary spirit of 

 improvement; and the mind is almost lost in contemplating the 

 effect which they, when executed, will soon have on every part 

 of this country, and, by imitation, on every other. 



The Improvement of Furniture, Domestic Utensils, and Clothing 



