ON LONGEVITY. congregated the worthies of the revolution; and at this "key to the northern country" Kosciusko for some time made his residence. Here Arnold formed his plans of treason, and hence despatched Andre on his fatal journey. Here amid the mounds which mark the redoubts of Fort Clinton, arises a monument sacred to the memory of the brave Polish officer; and not far distant is another, erected by General Brown in honor of Colonel Eleazar D. Wood, who fell at the sortie of Fort Erie in 1814. We might multiply our records of the past deeds of bravery and patriotism which this classic spot brings to recollection, and point to the headquarters of Washington at Newburgh; to the crest of Beacon Hill, whereon fires were lighted during the stormy period of our war for liberty; but in so doing we should digress too far from the object of this article-a brief notice of the Palisades, a portion of which is represented in our engraving. The Palisades are so named from their perpendicular position, and resemblance to columns forming an enclosure. They extend from a point a little north of Hoboken, New Jersey, on the western side of the river, to near Slote creek, a distance of over twenty miles; and present a wall varying in perpendicular height from two, hundred to six hundred feet. They form a part of a basaltic ridge which rises at Be rgen Point in New Jersey, and gradually increase in height till some of its summits reach an elevation of more than a thousand feet above tide-water. This ridge curves round Tappan Bay, leaving on the margin of the cove a limited but pleasant champagne country, which is in a high state of cultivation. The ridge varies in width from an eighth of a mile to three miles, forming a handsome region of arable table land. 35 of slag: the basaltic brescia or traptuff, consisting of pebbles and angular grains cemented; and the columnar basalt in prismatic polygons, sometimes articulated, consisting of hornblend, feldspar, and epidote, with which compact and radiated prehnite is sometimes blended. This wall of "eternal masonry" is beautifully contrasted by the finely-cultivated country on the eastern side of the river, which rises in a gentle slope from the water's edge, and presents at a glance a rich agricultural region, adorned with tasteful mansions. Although here the superior grandeur of the Highlands is wanting, yet the pleasing combination of the majestic and beautiful renders this portion of the scenery of the Hudson river inferior to no other. ON LONGEVITY. T is remarkable that amid all that has been Isaid and written on the subject of living a long time, and the rules laid down to attain it, we are as yet far from making the slightest approaches toward a rationale of the real causes which are productive in this matter. Nostrums have been sold without number; and books have been written, entitled "Art of prolonging Life," &c., which would seem to indicate, at first sight, that great discoveries had been made on the subject, and the whole at length reduced to rule; but all vanishes and disappears when we come to consider the true import of the expression. It does not mean the The Palisades are divided into numer-art of prolonging the patient's life, but the ous vertical fissures, which give them the doctor's-not that of the reader, but that of appearance of detached columns. In these the author. The wondrous regimen is laid fissures are frequently found alluvial de-down, not for the sake of the inquirer, but posites, from which vegetation shoots forth, for the sake of himself, who, feeling his the only relief to their bare and mason-life in danger of being shortened, from dework appearance. These basalt rocks ficient culinary resources, hit upon this comprehend almost every variety of form- book as a means of prolonging it, and which ation: the amygdaloid, containing cellules, he therefore very properly calls "Art of sometimes empty, and sometimes filled, prolonging Life," &c. and often presenting the warty appearance But although we are ignorant of the ra than the marshes of Missolonghi, or the simoom, poison-swept deserts of the East. Climate, however, except in extreme and peculiar cases, has much less specific influence than we are aware. If any one tionale in this case, as we are of all the great processes of nature, we know there are some things that must exert a powerful influence upon it-such as temperance, a pure air, regular exercise, an easy mind, to which we may add the influence of re-thinks that in this or that particular place ligion, and attention to whatever has to do with the inner chymistries of nature, and the laws of organized bodies. Self-denial and virtue are better than all medicines. And yet we are met at every step with things that puzzle and perplex us. Do we speak of temperance? We are reminded of Parr, who is described as anything but a temperate man, and yet lived above a century and a half; and of Louis Cornaro, who lived a hundred years, although for half that time he had been habitually guilty of such irregular excesses, that his physicians thought it impossible he should live any longer. Do we speak of comfort and regular living? Parr, as mentioned above, and Jenkyns, who lived a hundred and seventy years save one, depended upon charity, which they had to encounter all weathers in soliciting, and which often turned out to be so precarious, that they were not able to obtain it; though this perhaps would fall in with the ideas of some French physicians, who recommend one starvation day in every week, to empty those hollow tubes, and give new impulses to those strings and strainers which Addison so beautifully takes notice of. We are not told whether the old gentlemen leaped or not; but if they had to beg all they lived on, and to fetch it in person, it might be a substitute, and thus they would fall in with the notions of other Frenchmen, who recommend leaping and active exercise before leaving a room, and thus cut short in their beginnings all such like distempers as they supposed to arise from sediment. Do we mention climate as a means of longevity? It is allowed that some climates are distinguished for an insalubrity that shortens human life, while other climates have a tendency to promote it as while there are no nonagenarians to speak of on the coast of Sierra Leone, the inward parts of Norway are said to be so pure, that the inhabitants live till they are tired even of life. The coast of Devonshire, and the sweet vales of Montpelier, are far more congenial to the human frame man must necessarily inhale the principle of long life, let him cast his eye over the following table, and note the variety of climate in which the several individuals existed, and he will see how things stand in the Old World; and by turning to this continent statistics, he will see how they stand in the New: In this table, which might have been greatly extended, are included places of almost every variety of soil and climate. Venice, built literally in water; France, with its mild and genial warmth; the fierce and biting winds of Norway; and even the West Indies, proverbial for heats and moisture, being almost specific, as is thought, in cutting down the human stamina-have alike permitted longevity. Jane Reeve lived to a hundred and three, in the marshy county of Essex. Hippocrates lived to a hundred and four, in the delicious island of Cos. Albuma Marc reached a hundred and fifty, in the sultry interior of Ethiopia; and Drakenberg reached to within four years of that time, on the steril mountains of Norway. Such contrasts seem to indicate that climate, except in extreme cases, and where the air is poisoned by the decay of organic matter, or such like causes, has little or no specific influence on longevity, and bid defiance to all efforts at philosophizing on the subject. ON LONGEVITY. If we ask old men the means by which they came to live so long, they give us such different directions in different cases, it is evident they know nothing at all about the matter. Some attribute it to their being much in the open air; some to an extreme regularity in diet and regimen ; some to moderate but regular proportions of wine; some advise scarcely to drink at all, not even of that great distillery which God built originally for Adam, the produce of which he might possess without danger, and sip without sorrow: but all amounts to nothing. Some, as Cornaro, advise us to weigh our food, than which nothing can be more absurd; for if this were desirable, surely the Almighty would have blessed us with a pair of scales, or some kind of feeling within that we might know when we had swallowed four, ounces-instead of which he has given us a feeling that we might know when we had swallowed enough and this is the true time to leave off. This, however, is certain, that every temporary shock which health receives, does something to impair the durability of the human frame; and if so, every act of intemperance, though men feel it not at present, will be found to shorten the duration of the body. And though we may be told of Parr and others, who, though often intemperate, lived to a great age, yet who can say how long they might have lived, if they had conducted themselves on a different plan? There can be no question that their occasional excesses injured them, and that materially; and Parr, it is well known, was cut off at last by intemperance for being sent for to the king, who wished to see such a monument of antiquity, he indulged in the bounties of a palace, and then went home and died. These men lived a long while, not in consequence of their intemperance, but in spite of it, and would have lived much longer but on that account. The means known, so far, of promoting longevity, have been usually concentrated in short, pithy sayings-as," Keep your head cool, and your feet warm"- "work much, and eat little," &c.: just as if the whole science of human life could be summed up and brought out in a few words, while its great principles were 37 kept out of sight. One of the best of these sayings is the one given by an Italian in his hundred and sixteenth year, who being asked the means of his living so long, replied with that improvisation for which his country is remarkable : "Con mangiar brocoli, Portar a i pedi zoccoli, In tetto capallo, Pochi pensieri in cervello." "When hungry, of the best I eat, And dry and warm I keep my feet; I screen my head from sun and rain. And let few cares perplex my brain.” The following is about the best theory of the matter: Every man is born with a certain stock of vitality, which can not be increased, but may be husbanded. With this stock he may live fast or slow-may live extensively or intensively-may draw his little amount of life over a large space, or narrow it into a contracted one; but when this stock is exhausted, he has no more. He who lives extensively, drinks pure water, avoids all inflammatory diseases, exercises sufficiently but not too laboriously, indulges no exhausting passions, feeds on no exciting material, pursues no debilitating pleasures, avoids all laborious and protracted study, preserves an easy mind, and thus husbands his quantum of vitality-will live considerably longer than he otherwise would do, because he lives slow; while he, on the other hand, who lives intensively-who beverages on liquors and wines, exposes himself to inflammatory diseases or the causes that produce them, labors beyond his strength, visits exciting scenes and indulges exhausting passions, lives on stimulating and highly-seasoned food, is always debilitated by his pleasures, devotes himself to severe and long-continued study, is fretfully and peevishly anxious-is a very poor candidate for a long life, because he lives fast as too intense a flame consumes rapidly the oil that supported it; and a fire continually blown is exhausted and goes out. In the midst of his days, he is surprised to find the living principle is expended; and a disease, manageable enough in any other case, in his case is unmanageable. He has been drawing so frequently, and such large sums, from the bank of nature, he has drawn out his whole stock, and closed his account. rive at any satisfactory conclusion; for in their general habits, and their partialities for those sections of the country that produce some peculiar and favorite food, there appears not the slightest difference; and since their size and strength are nearly equal, we can see no good reason for the great disparity in point of numbers. Both the black and gray squirrels are migratory and erratic in their habits; for at particular seasons of the year some sections of the forests will literally swarm with them, while at other times in the same situations but a few solitary stragglers may be seen, leaping from branch to branch in the tops of the tall forest-trees. Reader! it is by keeping these princi- | the case we have never been able to arples in view, and not by any little sayings and recipes for long life, that you learn the great art, if it is an art, of longevity. It is not by " keeping your head cool and your feet warm"-nor by "working much and eating little"-nor by "keeping the mouth shut and the eyes open"-nor by measuring your drink, weighing your food, adjusting your exercise, as for a racehorse, that you are to live a long life. It is by keeping these principles in viewhusbanding your little stock of vitality, avoiding what excites and exhausts, not going too often to the bank, living little in much instead of much in little, living extensively, not intensively, not living fast, but living slow; and that by submitting to the principles of the gospel, you will best accomplish all these objects, and learn, moreover, the art of living for ever. BLACK AND GRAY SQUIRRELS. QUIRRELS, as might naturally be supposed, are exceedingly numerous in many of the forests of North America, so that squirrel-hunting is one of the favorite and more refined species of sporting among such as devote a day or two to "hunting-frolics" on particular occasions; not solely for the sordid purposes of gain, but partly as a recreation from other and very different employments. Black and gray squirrels are the most commonly sought after; for, in addition to the fact of their being the most abundant, they are greatly esteemed as an article of food, and their skins are of more value than those of any of the other sorts. A party of five or six sportsmen will often kill two thousand or three thousand squirrels of various sorts in a two or three days' excursion; but your regular backwoods bear and wolf hunter rarely condescends to make war upon this species of small game. Black squirrels are far more abundant than gray ones, but why this is The foresight (or by whatever name that instinctive peculiarity common to a large portion of the brute creation may be designated) of the gray squirrel is very remarkable; for although it is more shy and timid than either the black or red ones which frequent the same localities, yet when a season of absolute famine has been approaching, it will run greater risks in committing little depredations upon the granary or corn-crib than would either of the other species. In two or three seasons, when there was an entire failure of beechnuts, chestnuts, and the other sorts of food that these provident inhabitants of the wilderness chiefly subsist upon during the long winters, we had opportunities of becoming convinced of the fact as before stated. "Until the autumn was advancing," says a writer, "I had scarcely seen a gray squirrel in the neighboring woods, but in the month of October I observed a few of them paying occasional visits to my barn and granary; and, not wishing my grain to be stolen or destroyed with impunity, I shot two or three of the earli est intruders. On those occasions I invariably found them carrying off fifteen or twenty grains of Indian corn within the cavities of their cheeks; and being provided with comparatively small cheekpouches wherein to stow away the pilfered property, it showed to what inconvenience they would subject themselves in order to procure a little stock as the means of sustaining life through a long and rigorous winter. Whether or not the few that had first visited my ɲremises had |