KIDD’S OWN JOURNAL, 

are his haman years, and pass swiftly by. He 
is then healthy and happy—he labors cheer- 
fully and rejoices in his existence. The eigh- 
teen years of the ass come next, and burden 
upon burden is heaped upon him; he carries 
the corn that is to feed others ; blows and kicks 
are the wages of his faithful service. The 
twelve years of the dog follow, and he loses 
his teeth, and lies in a corner and growls. 
When these are gone, the ape’s ten years 
form the conclusion. ‘Then Man—weak and 
silly, becomes the sport of children! 

PROLIFIC POWERS OF VEGETATION. 

Ir we cast our eyes on the surface of the earth, 
we shall be convinced of the prolific powers of 
vegetables, and of the lower order of animals, with 
relation to those of a higher class. One single 
plant of elecampane shall frequently produce, in 
one season, three thousand seeds; the poppy, three 
thousand four hundred ; the sun-flower, four thou- 
sand ; the tobacco plant has been known to bring 
to maturity forty thousand three hundred and 
twenty seeds. 
The astonishing power with which God has 
endued the vegetable creation to multiply its 
different species, is more especially manifested in 
the elm. It is stated by Dr. Clark, that this tree 
produces upwards of one thousand five hundred 
millions of seeds, and each of these seeds has the 
power of producing the same number. How 
astonishing is this produce! At first one seed ig 
deposited in the earth; from this one a tree 
springs, which, in the course of its vegetative life, 
produces one thousand five hundred and eighty- 
four millions of seeds—this is the first generation. 
_The second generation will amount to two 
trillions, five hundred and ten thousand and fifty- 
six millions. The third generation will amount 
to fourteen thousand six hundred and fifty-eight 
quadrillions, seven hundred and twenty-seven 
thousand and forty trillions! And the fourth 
generation from these would amount to fifty-one 
sextillions, four hundred and eighty-one thousand 
three hundred and eighty-one quintillions, one 
hundred and twenty-three thousand one hundred 
and thirty sex-quadrillions !—sums too immense 
for the human mind to conceive. And when we 
allow the most confined space in which a tree can 
grow, it appears—that the seeds of the third 
generation, from one elm, would be many myriads 
of times more than sufficient to stock the whole 
superficies of all the planets in the solar system! 
If it were not therefore for the destruction which 
vegetables sustain by the various animals to which 
they afford nourishment, and to whose use they 
subserve,—not only the bosom, but the surface of 
the earth would form a vast animated column. 

THE TRUE LADDER OF KNOWLEDGE. 

/ LIFE, A VAPOR. 

Wuenre are the modest violets gone, 
That grew so faintly sweet ; 
And, as the Queen of May passed on, 
Were strew’d beneath her feet ? 
Maiden! Spring not long can stay ; 
Violets must fade away. 
Where are the flowers I loved the best, 
The glowing roses—say ! 
That decked the village maiden’s breast, 
And peasant’s hat so gay ? 
Youth! the Summer months must fly, 
And the brilliant roses die. 
Then lead me to the streamlet’s brink— 
In murmurs soft and low, 
It bids the thirsty blossoms drink 
That on the margin grow. 
The sun was fierce—the wind was high— 
The streamlet’s pebbled bed is dry. 
Show me the bower I loved of old, 
To rest in, unperceived, 
Where tales of simple love were told— 
By simple hearts believed. 
The leaves are gone—the flowers are dead— 
The cool and fragrant shade has fled. 
The gentle maid, who, when she met 
My gaze, her eyes ne’er raised, 
But on the timid violet 
(Her own sweet emblem) gazed— 
Beauty withers ; and the maid 
Like the leaves and flowers, must fade. 
But where is he who passed his hours 
Lost in a pleasing dream ? 
Who sang the shepherdess—the flowers— 
The arbour—and the stream? 
Fancy flies—life soon is o’er— 
The Youthful Poet is no more! 
THE HUMAN FRAME. 

Tue number of hinge and other joints in the 
human frame is nearly one hundred and fifty; and 
we see the wisdom ofthe Great Creator displayedin 
this structure and connexion of the bones. What 
if the point of the knee could move in every direc- 
tion with that of the shoulder? Do we not see 
that when we walked, the legs would have 
dangled about strangely, instead of moving back- 
wards and forwards in one direction only? And 
isitnot plain that we never could have stood 
firmly on the ground? 
In like manner, how very inconvenient it would 
have been to have our finger-joints move one way 
as well as another! On the contrary, how confined 
and cramped would have been the motion of the 
arm, if the shoulder had been like the knee, and 
had only permitted the arm to swing backwards 
and forwards, without our being able to carry it 
outward from the bory! 
The builders of machines have sometimes made 
joints in their machinery very much like the 
shoulder-joint ; but it is doubtful whether they ever 
Tuoucn there were many giants of old, in | could have contrived such, if they had not first 
physics and philosophy, yet I say, with Didacus | looked at the bones of a man, or some other 
Stella: ‘A dwarf, standing on the shoulders of a | animal; for other animals have these various 
giant, may see further than the giant himself.” | sorts of joints, adapted to their peculiar wants, as 
| — Bourton. well as Man. 

