the Reader would go on with ease and pleasure to himself, without the assistance of any other GUIDE, than the work before him. The ancient EGYPTIANS, the fathers of WISDOM:-the ATHENIANS, learned and accomplished cultivators of every elegant ART ;— the wise ROMANS, the zealous imitators of enlightened GREECE ;— How came these nations to shine like constellations through the depths of that universal mist which involved the rest of antiquity?— By the attainment of KNOWLEDGE. How came the PYTHAGORASES, the PLATOS, the ARISTOTLES, the As there are many branches of KNOWLEDGE, some of which are easy, and others difficult of attainment, the easier should be acquired first; by this course, the difficulty of the latter will be considerably diminished, as the faculties will become more and more capable and vigorous by their gradual exertion. If the contrary course be adopted, the mind will be embarrassed, and the attain-XENOPHONS, the LIVYs, to appear as conspicuously in the page of ment of KNOWLEDGE will be rendered no less irksome than limited. By following up the PLAN here proposed, the "ROAD to KNOWLEDGE" will be as easy, as the END will be profitable and delightful. Uneducated reason may be likened to gold hidden in the MINE, which is of no use until brought to light; when, being formed for circulation, it becomes, not only useful to its possessor, but universally beneficial. So it is with the MIND of MAN, as long as it remains uncultivated; but, when it is expanded by EDUCATION, it imbibes KNOWLEDGE, which, by general diffusion, is rendered useful as GOLD, for thereby MAN becomes civilized, the inlets to happiness are opened, and SOCIETY is formed on a firm, advantageous, and lasting basis. Most persons are capable of acquiring all the KNOWLEDGE they may reasonably desire; and those who shall pay attention to the instructions which will be furnished in this WORK, will readily accomplish so desirable an object: and as the present is not an age for indulging IGNORANCE, we hope our advice will be well received, and, that "THE GUIDE to KnowlEDGE" will prove beneficial. He who feels emulous of procuring for himself that becoming distinction in SOCIETY which, in the present age, can alone be obtained by mental superiority, must use commensurate means to the attainment thereof, which will depend principally upon his own exertions. It may not be improper to observe here, that there exists more useful and real KNOWLEDGE among the middling classes of soCIETY, at the present day, than could have been met with, some few ages ago, in the universities. For the greater part of the KNOWLEDGE of those times consisted in subtle distinctions, laborious disquisitions, and endless disputes about words, rather than things. The great diffusion of KNOWLEDGE, which we observe at present among all ranks in SOCIETY, first took its rise from the publishing those admirable ESSAYS-"The SPECTATOR," "The TATLER," and "The GUARDIAN;" in which learned subjects, instead of being written in LATIN, were presented in ENGLISH, in such a familiar style, as people of plain common sense might readily comprehend. Nothing constitutes a greater disparity between one being and another, than different degrees of "KNOWLEDGE." The MIND of the uneducated is almost an absolute void; such are, for the most part, wrong-headed, extremely obstinate, and very similar to brutes; while that of a wise MAN is a Magazine richly stored with important truths, which serve to conduct [him through the mazes of a difficult life to a glorious and happy END. But all endowments and acquisitions must have a beginning, and KNOWLEDGE must be gained progressively, in proportion as the MIND is capable of receiving it. Time was when SIR ISAAC NEWTON did not know the letters of the ALPHABET; and the time may possibly come, when the meanest of our READERS, if he make a proper use of his natural abilities, and study to gain KNOWLEDGE, may arrive at an equal degree of eminence with that great Philosopher. "If we look back upon times past, or if we take a view of the present state of the WORLD, nothing so fills the imagination, or engages the attention, as the conspicuous and illustrious honours of KNOWLEDGE and LEARNING. history, as do stars of the first magnitude in the vast fields of ether ?—By the attainment of KNOWLEDGE. What makes this country to differ so much from the aspect it had when JULIUS CÆSAR landed on its coast, and found us a horde of painted savages, roaming naked through the woods?—The attainment of KNOWLEDGE. How does it happen, that the NEGROES of AFRICA, and the wild INDIANS of AMERICA, live in brutal obscurity and ferocious discord? FROM THE WANT OF KNOWLEDGE? But we must observe, that LEARNING and KNOWLEDGE cannot be acquired by committing a few scraps of good things to memory, nor be gained by the light reading of any work that does not contain the first principles of the science on which it treats. But to attain" KNOWLEDGE," we must habituate ourselves to ex amine, reflect, compare, and view, in every light, all kinds of objects worthy of consideration. As a knowledge of the world is absolutely necessary, and of the utmost importance to every individual, we purpose, in the course of our work, to give a full description of every part of the GLOBE, and of all things, animate and inanimate, thereon, which are worthy of observation. We will lead our READERS from one country to another, from city to city, and from town to town; describe their ancient and present state, the buildings with which they are adorned, the monuments of antiquity for which they are remarkable, and the religion, manners, and customs of their inhabitants; their manufactures, and the trade they have with other nations. We will conduct them to the MUSEUMS of the curious, and display the works of ancient and modern ART, together with the various productions of NATURE, there collected from all parts of the WORLD. BIOGRAPHY will also obtain a conspicuous place in our work. We will endeavour to place the actions of great and virtuous men in the most striking point of view, in order to excite the rising generation to imitate their examples; the surest method of inducing youth to become an honour to their country, and worthy members of SOCIETY. It is impossible, in an announcement like this, to enumerate every particular we design for our pages; but what we have already mentioned, it is hoped, will be sufficient to afford the READER some idea of what may be expected in the numbers of "The Guide to KNOWLEDGE." It is intended that this work shall be published early every Saturday morning, in such portions, that its READERS, by employing a few leisure hours, may easily peruse, and make themselves masters thereof, before the publication of the succeeding number. In the course of a year, these numbers will form a very handsome volume, which may be bound up, and referred to at all times for AMUSEMENT and INSTRUCTION. Hence, it may be deservedly considered as a cheap and invaluable "FAMILY LIBRARY," containing a mass of USEFUL INFORMATION, which, duly considered cannot fail to advance the interests, and augment the happiness, of those to whom it is addressed.. THE subject that deserves our first consideration, and utmost attention, is the improvement of the human MIND,-by EDUCATION. But as the "FIELD OF LEARNING" is so very extensive, the object of it, of so much importance, the lights in which it may be viewed so various, and the METHODS by which INSTRUCTION can be given, so numerous, it requires such a SYSTEM as shall meet the advanced state of the TIMES, so as to prove equally beneficial to all ranks of SOCIETY. Our LEGISLATORS frame Laws for the suppression of vice and immorality; our DIVINES preach from the PULPIT against the vices that stain the characters of MEN; but do Laws and Preaching effect a reformation of manners?-To this inquiry, EXPERIENCE would not give a very favourable answer. The reason is obvious; the attempts are directed to the wrong bjects.-Laws can only check the public effects of vicious prin ciples, but can never reach the principles themselves; and preach ing is not very intelligible to people, till they arrive at an age when their principles are rooted, or their habits firmly established. To attempt to eradicate old habits, is almost as absurd, as it would be to lop off the branches of a huge OAK, in order to root it out of a rich soil.-The most that such clipping will effect, is to prevent a further growth. The only practicable method to reform mankind is to begin with CHILDREN; to banish, if possible, from their company, every low bred, and immoral character. Virtue and vice will not readily grow together, but they will grow where they are planted, and when one has taken root, it is not easily supplanted by the other. The great ART of correcting MANKIND, therefore, consists in prepos sessing the youthful MIND with good principles. For this reason, the welfare of SOCIETY requires that the EDUCA and space beneath; and still preserve that superiority, which their facilities and opportunities afford them the means of acquiring. And surely no one will affirm, that EDUCATION among the GREAT has arrived at a ne plus ultra: they, too, must go onwards, to 110N of Youth should be watched with the most scrupulous attention. EDUCATION, in a great measure, forms the moral characters of MEN, and MORALS are the basis of GOVERNMENT. EDUCATION should, therefore, be the first care of a LEGISLATURE; not merely in the institution of SCHOOLS, but in furnishing them with the best TEACH-wards the perfection of that KNOWLEDGE which shall fit them to ERS. A good SYSTEM OF EDUCATION should be the first article in the CODE of all political regulations; for it is much easier to introduce an effectual SYSTEM for establishing good MORALS, than to correct, by penal statutes, the ill effects of a bad SYSTEM. We are so fully persuaded and convinced of the correctness of what we have expressed, that we shall almost adore that great man, who shall change our practice and opinions, and cause to be adopted that SYSTEM OF EDUCATION, which shall equally improve all ranks of SOCIETY, and thereby produce universal peace and harmony amongst men. One great defect in our SCHOOLS is, the want of proper BOOKS, such as shall be adapted for the several classes of Society; but those could be readily supplied, if a proper SYSTEM OF INSTRUCTION were only established. It is said, however, by many very intelligent, benevolent, and very worthy persons, that the system of general INSTRUCTION has been already carried too far, and, that by provoking a spirit of inquiry into the moral and physical state of SOCIETY, which EDUCATION naturally induces, we open a source of discontent, that will excite among the lower ranks, envy towards their superiors, and consequent insubordination;—so that they will be more ready to examine into the rights and titles of those who possess affluence, elevation, and authority, than to recognise and obey them. This sentiment is as old as antiquity can carry us back, even into the darkest ages of the WORLD, and had it been able to stem the current of intellect, GOTHICISM and VANDALISM would still have held dominion over the sterile faculties of the human MIND; they might have sat on their ebon throne, amidst a world of darkness, on which the "SUN OF SCIENCE" had never darted a single ray; but the thing was, as it is now, quite impossible; no obstacle can prevent, or even impede that progress, which is evidently a grand design in the scheme of CREATION, and part of that ascending SERIES which rises from TERRESTRIAL to CELESTIAL INTELLIGENCE, Connecting MAN with immortality. sway the SCEPTRE of INTELLECT, and RULE over an enlightened PEOPLE, and this will preserve the dignity and honor of their race, and ensure the respect and obedience that a discerning population will always pay to WORTH and WISDOM. Is this impossible?Let those who seek a solution of the question look to HISTORY and they will find, that improvement in KNOWLEDGE has been concomitant with the higher and lower degrees and conditions of MEN in all ages. In the feudal times, were not the NOBLES of the LAND proportionally more IGNORANT, as well as their vassals and villains, than the NOBILITY are now? Yet ignorant as those BARONS were, they preserved their rank and authority, because their subjects were in the same state of semibarbarism. But, would it have been, had one ORDER stood still, and the other advanced in refinement and KNOWLEDGE? the state of SOCIETY would have been preposterous, and must have fallen to pieces; both proceeded in a parallel course, and both preserved the same comparative distance, and have so done to the present time. Have the GREAT lost their dignity thereby, or changed place with the enlightened PEASANTRY? On the contrary, they now receive the honours that REASON awards, instead of the slavish homage that IGNORANCE mechanically paid. If, then, KNOWLEDGE has progressed without destruction to distinctions of rank, and without spoliation, why should we apprehend any thing of the kind, now that improvement goes on; and to what extent who shall say? for there is no definable limit to the power that moves the mighty MACHINE, and that replenishes the Sensorium of the UNIVERSE. In the second place, it must be observed, how little is to be dreaded from the ambition of an instructed PEOPLE; since so very few attain to eminence in LEARNING, considering the paucity of time (as is readily shown by the engraving), that can be spared from the duties oflife, that scarcely any surmount the difficulties that weigh them down to the level of their origin. Should, however, one or another, occasionally, soar above his class, and gain a higher station, the example may create emulation, and who would regret the excitement of a laudable feeling, or the elevation of a meritorious individual? There is yet another argument in favour of KNOWLEDGE, which is this:-KNOWLEDGE, if properly inculcated, teaches MAN to perform his duties, and as he regards his own RIGHTS, so to respect the RIGHTS of others; without these wise maxims that WISDOM suggests, a MAN may learn to be CUNNING, but truly he has no claim to legitimate KNOWLEDGE. All HISTORY, if properly studied, contributes to sustain this conclusion. The retrospect of causes and effects evidently de 'But, it is objected, that there is danger in giving KNOWLEDGE to the labouring poor, because it will have a tendency to create a desire to live in mere ease and idleness, and an unwillingness to pursue the avocations that require bodily labour, or to fulfil the menial capacities to which they may be subjected; thus an erroneous jealousy arises, lest knowledge and numbers united should subvert the order of things, and by violence, usurp the rights and privileges of the favoured few. This fear will vanish, when we consider that MEN are more easily guided by REASON than by RESTRAINT, and that consent is a lasting tie, while coercion continues no longer to bind than till the opportunity of a release occurs. Again, as IGNORANCE is often attended by obstinacy and stu-monstrates, that IGNORANCE has been the means of producing pidity, the removal of these must necessarily qualify the operative or the servant to perform his offices much better, and more satisfactorily to his employers, than he could, were it requisite to guide and direct him like a mere animal AUTOMATON. And as to the idea of aspiring to the possession of power by pulling down the exalted in rank from their stations, and seating themselves in their places, two things will effectually interpose to prevent any such occurrence by means of popular insurrection; first, because, by the increase of KNOWLEDGE the higher ORDERS may and ought to advance in a like, or rather, duplicate ratio, with the lower, so as to leave room most of the evils and miseries which MANKIND have suffered, ever since they have been able to record the actions and events of their own times and countries; and that, as KNOWLEDGE advanced, SHE brought in her train, not only the ARTS, that embellish LIFE, but also, all those soCIAL VIRTUES, that soften the asperities of our sublunary path, and introduce a CONCORD, and SYMPATHY among us unknown to the rude ages of Antiquity. If in the engraving? And why should not the same privileges be * Is not this already the case as is shown in the circles 2 and 3 granted to the circle marked No. 5. this be so, and who can deny it? why should we wish to halt, in the MARCH, or stand still in the way, every step of which has given us such proofs of its being "THE ROAD TO HAPPINESS?" Not one, surely, would wish to go back, for on what era can he fix of the past, that shall be comparable to the present, with respect to the real enjoyments of LIFE. But the "LAW OF NATURE" suffers no rest, we must advance or recede; behind us is DARKNESS, before us, the DAY, on which "THE SUN OF SCIENCE" shines: let us seek its genial RAY, and prosper by its INFLUENCE.V equals ihr 4 od sends 16.1 20 ACCOUNT OF A COLONY OF CARPENTER ANTS. BY PROFESSOR RENNIE, OF KING'S COLLEGE, LONDON. [JULY 7, human mechanism. It cannot be the result of vision, from the It is not a little remarkable, that all the wood which is worked NEST OF THE WOOD ANT, WITH THE GREATER SPOTTED Dad WOOD ANTS (Formica fuliginosa)ly acron I had brought into my garden at LEE, in the beginning of June, a large piece of a willow tree, which had been very curiously worked out by the species of ANTS usually called the Emmet (Formica fuliginosa, LATREILLE). The tree, indeed, from which it had been taken, appears to have been destroyed in a great measure from the extensive excavations of these little Carpenters. Yet the portion of the tree which I have seems to be singularly strong, when the great number of the cells and their peculiar structure is taken into con-sideration. The walls of these cells are literally as thin as writing paper, though not quite so smooth and even, and they are seldom quite parallel, but arranged, some perpendicularly, and others slanting in various directions, worked out, it would appear, upon no previous design, but begun at any given point, and only limited in extent by the worker discovering his approach to one adjacent. The tact with which they chisel away the wood with their jaws, so as to come so near the next cell without actually cutting into it, cannot well be accounted for on any of the common principles of population-almost inconceivable by those who have not witnessed Another singularity respecting this colony was its innumerable it. I have, in several instances, seen the commencement of an pulation, except herself and some half dozen eggs, collected into a ant colony by a single female, with no appearance of a future polittle cell. The contrast between this and the colony in the willow tree was as striking as between the hut of a cottager and the crowded houses and dense population of LONDON or PEKIN. I think I am under, rather than over, the mark, in estimating the population of this colony in question at one million; and as it was impossible to see one-fourth of the ants at the same time, it might be double or treble that number. tree, that the ants could be seen at work; yet the younger Huber, I imagine it might be possible so to glaze a section of this who was anxious to accomplish this, did not succeed in any device he could contrive. In consequence, he remarks, of the labourers always working in the interior of trees, they dislike the light, and are desirous of being screened from observation; and hence they could not be induced to work when the light was admitted; in the same manner as I found another ant (Ponera contracta, LATREILLE), mistakenly supposed by M. Latreille to be blind, would only work when exposed to the light, till the intrusion of a single ray was entirely prevented. Accordingly, when M. work under his eye, they always abandoned the spot to seek some Huber exposed them to the light, under the notion of making them new asylum, and spurned the honey and sugar which he offered them for nourishment. sity to the inspection only of their excavations; by carefully de- composing portions of which I hope to acquire some knowledge of | “I found, in other portions, avenues opening laterally, which in- lisardes, and other suche. And all that the Pellycane eateth, he # 辔 # ** Also of the pellycane the glose speaketh super spalmum; and the "There is much greater irregularity in the stories excavated out "In the instances in which the work occurs less regularly, it. ments." From these circumstantial details of M. Huber, it will be ap- Quarantine Station, near Rotterdam, 23d June, 1832. ANCIENT HISTORY. The first engraving represents a Pelican feeding her young CURIOUS OLD ACCOUNT OF THE PELICAN. A pellycane is a byrde that is called Porphiris, LEUIT xi. and * MODERN HISTORY. THE PELICAN (Pelecanus Onocrotalus).—The Pelican is a sin-. The Pelican feeds upon living fish; and to enable her to catch bill. Thus accoutred, the Pelican sallics forth; majestically committing |