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a delicate network. The number of these fringed branchial arches is ordinarily four on each side; they are united below to the os hyoides, and above to the bones of the head, and are moveable, and allow of the currents of water, driven down by the action of the mouth, to flow freely through them, so as to lave every fibril. The concave, or anterior margin of each arch is always more or less studded with tubercles, or tooth-like projections; and those in the herring, and some others, are lengthened into slender spines. Their use appears to be, to prevent food taken into the mouth, from being forced out through the gills, with the streams of water sent through them. See the next engraving, in which the gills of the herring are displayed in their natural situation, with the operculum entirely removed: a, the gill fringes on the posterior margin of the arch; b, the anterior slender spires directed forwards. The heart in fishes is entirely devoted to serving the branchia with blood; it consists of an auricle and a ventricle, with the addition of a capacious reservoir, for the reception of the blood returned from the body, previously to its admission into the heart. It is seated beneath the bones of the pharynx and the branchial apparatus, c

The course of the circulation is as follows:-the blood being received into the

auricle a, from the sinus above men

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tioned, is thence carried to the ventricle b, through an orifice guarded by valves; and thence it is sent through the branchial artery c, which is enlarged, and extremely muscular at its base, to the branchiæ, or gills, where the artery divides into as many branches as there are arches, and each branch runs in a groove along the convexity of each arch, sending off a still finer branch to every fibril; this again ramifying into a mesh of most delicate tubes. These tubes gradually terminate in capillary veins, which ultimately merge in a vein on the arch, in the same groove as that in which the artery is seated, and then leaving the gills, they assume an arterial structure, and uniting together, mount towards the spinal column, and form an aorta, whence the duly oxygenated blood is carried, by the action of this aorta, to all parts of the system. But even before leaving the gills, these veins begin to present an arterial character and function, and give arterial vessels to the head and parts adjacent, before they have conjoined to form the aorta.

There is, then, no systemic heart in fishes, as mammalia; it is simply a branchial heart, and the aorta performs the functions of the left ventricle in mammalia, as well as that of the aorta also. The connexion of the heart with the gills will be now understood. in the fine blood vessels of the fringe of the branchia that the blood is subjected to the action of the oxygen of the water, and from these gills the vital fluid is immediately carried to the general system.

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The number of aquatic respirations in fishes is between twenty and thirty in a minute; and the surface of the branchia, over which the blood is distributed for subjection to the action of the water, is surprisingly great; more so, indeed, than might at first be imagined. Dr. Munro calculated, that the whole gills of a large skate presented a surface equal to 2,250 square inches, or to the whole external surface of the human body.

The cartilaginous fishes present many differences in the structure and arrangement of the gills, from the ordinary groups; but to follow out the subject would lead us beyond our limits. Here, then, we close, but surely not without having perceived something in the various points of organization described, demonstrative of the power and wisdom of the God of creation, whose glory and praise are in all his works.

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THE YEZIDEES.

THE passage of the Tigris transferred me from Mesopotamia into Assyria, and I stood upon the ruins of Nineveh, "that great city," where the prophet Jonah proclaimed the dread message of Jehovah to so many repenting thousands, whose deep humiliation averted for a time the impending ruin. But when her proud monarchs had scourged idolatrous Israel, and carried the ten tribes into captivity, and raised their hands against Judah and the holy city, the inspired strains of the eloquent Nahum, clothed in terrible sublimity as they were, met their full accomplishment in the utter desolation of one of the largest cities on which the sun ever shone. "Nineveh is laid waste: who will bemoan her?-She is empty, and void, and waste.-Thy nobles shall dwell in the dust: thy people is scattered upon the mountains, and no man gathereth them," Neh. ii. 10; iii. 7. 18.

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Where her gorgeous palaces once resounded to the strains of music and the shouts of revelry, a few black tents of the wandering Arab and Turkomân are now scattered among the shapeless mounds of earth and rubbish, the ruins of the city, as if in mockery of her departed glory; while their tenants were engaged in the fitting employment of weaving "sackcloth of hair, as if for the mourning attire of the world's great emporium, whose "merchants" were multiplied above the stars of heaven." The largest mound, from which very ancient relics and inscriptions are dug, is now crowned with the Moslem village of Neby Yunas, or the prophet Jonah, where his remains are said to be interred, and over which has been reared, as his mausoleum, a temple of Islâm.

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Soon after leaving the ruins of Nineveh, we came in sight of two villages of the Yezidees, the reputed worshippers of the devil. Large and luxuriant olive groves, with their rich green foliage and fruit just ripening in the autumnal sun, imparted such a cheerful aspect to the scene as soon dispelled whatever of pensive melancholy had gathered around me while treading upon the dust of departed greatness. Several white sepulchres of Yezidee sheikhs attracted attention as I approached the villages. They were in the form of fluted cones or pyramids,

standing upon quadrangular bases, and rising to the height of some twenty feet or more. We became the guests of one of the chief Yezidees of Baasheka, whose dwelling, like others in the place, was a rude stone structure, with a flat terrace roof. Coarse felt carpets were spread for our seats in the open court, and a formal welcome was given us, but it was evidently not a very cordial one. My Turkish cavass understood the reason, and at once removed it. Our host had mistaken me for a Mahommedan, towards whom the Yezidees cherish a settled aversion. As soon as I was introduced to him as a Christian, and he had satisfied himself that this was my true character, his whole deportment was changed. He at gave me a new and cordial welcome, and set about supplying our wants with new alacrity. He seemed to feel that he had exchanged a Moslem foe for a Christian friend, and I became quite satisfied of the truth of what I had often heard, that the Yezidees are friendly towards the professors of Christianity.

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They are said to cherish a high regard for the Christian religion, of which clearly they have some corrupt remains. They practise the right of baptism, make the sign of the cross, so emblematical of Christianity in the east, put off their shoes and kiss the threshold when they enter a Christian church; and it is said that they often speak of wine as the blood of Christ, hold the cup with both hands, after the sacramental manner of the east, when drinking it, and, if a drop chance to fall on the ground, they gather it up with religious care.

They believe in one supreme God, and, in some sense at least, in Christ as Saviour. They have also a remnant of Sabianism, or the religion of the ancient fire worshippers. They bow in adoration before the rising sun, and kiss his first rays when they strike on a wall or other object near them; and they will not blow out a candle with their breath, or spit in the fire, lest they should defile that sacred element.

Čircumcision and the passover, or a sacrificial festival allied to the passover in time and circumstance, seem also to identify them with the Jews; and altogether they certainly present a most singular chapter in the history of man.

Their system of faith has points of

the offerings of centuries. The Yezidees here call themselves Daseni, probably from the ancient name of the district, Dasen, which was a Christian bishopric in early times. Their chief place of concourse, the religious temple of the Yezidees, is said to have once been a Christian church, or convent. The late Mr. Rich speaks of the Yezidees as "lively, brave, hospitable, and good humoured;" and adds that, "under the British government, much might be made of them." Can nothing be made of them under the gospel? and will not the effort be made? Mosul is a central position from which to approach them, and they may well form an important object of attention for a mission in that city. The Nestorians claim them as a branch of their

strong resemblance to the ancient Manichean heresy; and it is probable that they are a remnant of that heretical sect. This idea derives support from the fact, that they seem to have originated in the region where Manes first laboured and propagated his tenets with the greatest success; and from the coincidence of the name of their reputed founder or most revered teacher, Adde, with an active disciple of Manes of the same name and place of abode. If Adde of the Yezidees and of the Manicheans was one and the same, the circumstance at once reconciles their remains of Christian forms and sentiments, with the testimony of the Syrian and Nestorian Christians around them, to their Christian origin, and throws important light upon the early history of this remarkable people. Their Chris-church; and there are other reasons tian attachments, if not their origin, should at least plead strongly to enlist the sympathies of Christians in their behalf, while it holds out cheering encouragement for us to labour for their good.

That they are really the worshippers of the devil can only be true, if at all, in a modified sense, though it is true that they pay him so much deference as to refuse to speak of him disrespectfully, (perhaps for fear of his vengeance; and, instead of pronouncing his name, they call him the "lord of the evening," or "prince of darkness;" also, Sheikh Maazen, or Exalted Chief. Some of them say that Satan was a fallen angel with whom God was angry; but he will at some future day be restored to favour, and there is no reason why they should treat him with disrespect. It may be found that their notions of the evil being are derived from the Ahriman of the ancient Magi, and the secondary or evil deity of the Manicheans, which was evidently ingrafted on the oriental philosophy. Some of the ancient Nestorian writers speak of them as of Hebrew descent.

The Christians of Mesopotamia report that the Yezidees make votive of ferings to the devil, by throwing money and jewels into a certain deep pit in the mountains of Sinjar, where a large portion of them reside; and it is said that when that district, which has long been independent, was subjugated by the Turks, the pasha compelled the Yezidee priest to disclose the place, and then plundered it of a large treasure,

why they might well be included in our labours for the improvement of that people. Many of the Nestorians speak the Koordish language, which is spoken by the Yezidees, and they would prove most important and valuable coadjutors in our labours for their conversion, while, at the same time, an opportunity would at once be afforded for the development of the missionary zeal which once so greatly animated the Nes torian church, and which we aim and expect, by the blessing of God, speedily to revive.

The precise number of the Yezidees it is difficult to estimate, so little is known of them; but it is probable that we must reckon them by tens of thousands, instead of the larger computations which have been made by some travellers who have received their information merely from report. Still they are sufficiently numerous to form an important object of attention to the Christian church; and I trust, as we learn more about them, sympathy, prayer, and effort will be enlisted in their behalf. It will be a scene of no ordinary interest when the voice of prayer and praise to God shall ascend from hearts now devoted to the service of the prince of darkness, "the worshippers of the devil!" May that day be hastened on.-Dr. Grant.

THE LARCH.-No. II.

NOTWITHSTANDING the extensive plantations of this valuable tree, which now abound in every part of our island, it is

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into the garden on a heap of rubbish ; but being there refreshed by the pure air, the fostering rain, and mountain breezes, they revived, took root in the ground, and became flourishing plants. Another account states, that the larches at Dalwick, planted by the grandfather of the present sir J. Nasmyth, are the oldest in Scotland, having been planted in 1725, while it was not till upwards of ten years after that a Mr. Menzies brought with him, either in his portmanteau, or on his saddle, a few small plants of the larch, as presents to the duke of Athol, five of which he left at Dunkeld, and eleven at Blair Athol. But Headrick, in his survey of Forfarshire, mentions three larches of extraordinary size, standing at Lockhart, on the Clyde, near Lanark, though so covered with lichens, that they exhibited scarcely any signs of vegetation. The tradition concerning them was, that they were plant

scarcely two hundred years since we find | it spoken of as rare and nursed up, but with a few, and those only lovers of variety." Evelyn mentions it as if there were then but one in the country, "of goodly stature, growing at Chelmsford, in Essex." Like every other invention, or introduction, that is more beneficial to posterity than calculated to excite public attention or renown, the exact period and circumstances attending the first introduction of the larch into Scotland are involved in much obscurity. History records the exact date and hour at which a bloody victory was achieved, and the minutest circumstances of the career of some famous sovereign, or mighty conqueror, dignified as the great, the glorious, the renowned; while events fraught with blessings to mankind, are permitted to transpire unacknowledged, unrecorded. But history, thus written, is but a transcript of the natural heart of man, and confirms the Scripture declara-ed there by the celebrated Lockhart, of tion, that "the carnal mind is enmity against God." How widely different is the estimate formed by Him who knoweth the hearts of all men, of characters and circumstances from that which man would make ! It was in the days of the "mighty men which were of old, men of renown," that "it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart." It was not the triumphs of a Cesar, or the resistless conquest of the Macedonian madman, that the Saviour consigned to immortal and universal fame; but the simple act of a humble female, who did "what she could" to manifest her love to his name. It is to "patient continuance in well doing," he decrees the reward of "glory, and honour and immortality;" and those whom before an assembled universe he will own as his blessed ones, and call to inherit his kingdom, are not the rich, the noble, or the wise, the triumphant hero, the man of science, the patriot, sage, or poet; but they whose labours of love, through faith in his name, have extended to their suffering fellow creatures.

The popular account of the introduction of the larch into Scotland, where it first became naturalized among us, states, that about 1727, several orange trees, and other plants, from Italy, were sent to the duke of Athol, and all planted in the hothouse at Dunkeld. Among these were seven larches, which naturally languished in such a situation, and, to all appearance, died. They were thrown

Lee, who having been employed by
Cromwell, as ambassador to France,
after the Restoration retired for safety
abroad. He spent some time in the
north of Italy, and having there ob-
served the great use made by the Vene-
tians of larch timber for ship and house
building, on his return home, brought
some plants in pots, which he nursed for
some time in a greenhouse, till they all
died under this treatment, excepting these
three, which, in desperation, he at last
planted out in the garden. Contradictory
and difficult to reconcile as these state-
ments are, it is, however, universally own-
ed, that by whomsoever imported, or how
first brought into Scotland, the dukes of
the house of Athol were the individuals who
first made extensive larch plantations in
the country, and devoted personal atten-
tion and patient investigation, to introduce
and multiply the tree among us.
be true that the man who causes an ear
of corn to grow where it never grew be-
fore, deserves to be called a benefactor to
mankind, these noble individuals, (and
more especially the late duke,) whose en-
terprising efforts, and unremitted exer-
tions, have shown how the barren moun-
tain sides and waste moorlands may be
converted into plantations and forests
yielding abundant wealth to their pos-
sessors, have purchased for themselves
a more honourable title, and enwreathed
their brows with a yet more noble and
durable coronet, than those bequeathed
by their princely ancestors; for what

If it

glory and honour can be compared to that of rendering an incalculable and imperishable benefit to the land of our birth? The history of these plantations, at Athol and Dunkeld, is interesting in no common degree; but our limits will not permit even an abridgment of the account of them, published in the transactions of the Highland Society, drawn up from documents furnished by the late duke. Suffice it to say, that no name stands so deservedly high, on the list of successful planters, as that of John, duke of Athol. His grace planted, between the years 1786 and 1826, only forty years, no less than eight thousand and seventy-one acres, of heretofore barren ground, solely with the larch. Before that time, from the scarcity of plants, and doubt as to the results, the larch had been only planted among other trees, and never at a greater height than six hundred feet. But though the first adventurers in larch plantations, the praise worthy example has been long since followed, and even surpassed by other landed proprietors. In 1820, the Society for promoting Arts, etc., awarded to the duke of Devonshire, a gold medal, for planting 1,981,065 forest trees, of which 980, 128 were larch.

The present value of larch timber is from 1s. to 2s. 6d. per cubic foot. An English acre of larch, contains about three hundred trees, at twelve feet apart; and allowing each tree to contain only one load of timber, namely, fifty cubic feet, at the very lowest computation, would produce about seven hundred pounds of clear profit. Besides this, where the object is to obtain clean straight timber for naval purposes, from two to three thousand plants are originally planted to the acre, and gradually thinned out in the course of thirty years. The average produce of these thinnings would be about twelve pounds an acre, of which, after defraying the expenses of thinning, and the original outlay in planting the ground, seven pounds would remain clear profit. It is computed that three thousand loads of timber are required to build a seventy-four gun ship; ten acres of larch, therefore, would supply the quantity, and if we take into account, that the ground on which it is grown, is unfit for any other purpose, it will be seen that we have not overrated the value of this tree.

Nor is it merely in the pecuniary returns from its timber, that the larch

abundantly repays its planter. By the annual decomposition of its leaves, it creates, in the course of time, a soil fit for pasturage, where none existed before; or where the ground was solely covered with heath and furze, they are eradicated by means of its close and matted shelter. No tree is equal to the larch in improving the ground on which it stands. In oak coppices, the pasture is only worth five or six shillings an acre for a few years after every clearing; under the beech or spruce fir, it is deteriorated; but beneath the larch, where the ground was not worth a shilling an acre, the pasture, after the first thirty years, when the trees are finally thinned out, is worth from eight shillings to ten shillings an acre. In the account of the Athol plantations is a statement, proving that, independently of the value of the timber on it, the pasturage alone, thus improved, will more than repay the whole original outlay in fencing and planting, even when calculated with five per cent. compound interest. The process by which this improvement is effected is interesting, as described by sir T. D. Lauder. "The larch being a deciduous tree, sheds upon the earth so great a shower of decayed spines every autumn, that the annual addition, thus made to the soil, cannot be less than from one-third to onehalf of an inch, according to the magnitude of the trees. The result of planting a moor with larches, then is, that when the trees have grown so much as to exclude the sun, and diminish the air and moisture on the surface, the heath is soon exterminated; and the soil gradually increasing by the decomposition of the spines or leaflets, annually thrown down by the larches, grass begins to grow as the trees rise in elevation, so as to allow greater freedom for the circulation of air below." The grasses thus produced, are at first coarse and unfit for pasture; but as the trees are gradually thinned, others succeed, which possess a softness and luxuriance not often acquired in open situations.

As an ornamental tree, the larch is no despicable addition to the English sylva. Its light and elegant form, feathering to the ground like a pyramid, of the loveliest green, and enlivened, in the early spring, by its tufts of crimson-coloured catkins, which, in form, colour, and size, have been compared to wood strawberries, contrasts well with the rugged scenes which it delights to beautify and

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