times fixes itself upon them in such a manner, that both of them fall and perish together; for its obstinacy is so great, that it will not relinquish its hold of an adversary even after it is dead.-It may, however, be tamed. The flesh has a strong disagreeable taste, but is eaten by the Indians.

A recent number of the Salem Register says, that M. Buffett, a distinguished French Naturalist, has arrived at that port, with a rare and valuable collection of birds and quadrupeds. He has spent several years in travelling through the states of South America, particularly Brazil, and in his researches has discovered much to add to the cabinet of the Naturalist Among the quadrupeds on board the Clio is a female Ant-Bear or Ant-Eater. This animal is seldom if ever seen in this country, and we believe this is the second one that has lived to reach here. It is about seven feet in length and two high, and is perfectly harmless, although it has strength sufficient to master a tiger. When she lies down to repose, her tail serves as a shield from the weather, it being large enough to cover the whole body-when viewed in this situation she resembles a straw mat spread upon the ground. Its food consists entirely of eggs. M. Buffett has the carcass of the young, which died on the passage, preserved in spirits, which is a great curiosity.

Curious Typographical Anecdote.-It is well known to literary people, that, in preparing works for the press, it is usual for the printer, after the proof sheets have been seen by the author, to go over them again, and clear them of what are called typographical errors, such as wrong spellings, inaccu racies of punctuation, and similar imperfections. In perform ing this office for a celebrated northern critic and editor, a printer, new dead, was in the habit of introducing a much

greater number of commas than it appeared to the author the sense required. The case was provoking, but did not produce a formal remonstrance, until Mr. W- -n himself accidentally afforded the learned editor an opportunity of signifying his dissatisfaction with the plethora of punctuation under which his compositions were inade to labor. The worthy printer, coming to a passage one day which he did not understand, very naturally took it into his head that it was unintelligible, and transmitted it to his employer, with a remark on the margin, that "there appeared some obscurity in it." The sheet was immediately returned, with this reply, which we give verbatim. "Mr. J. sees no obscurity here, except such as arises from the quantity of commas, which Mr. W- n seems to keep in a pepper-box beside him, for the purpose of dusting all his proofs with."

American Vines.-There is perhaps no vegetable in America that strikes the mind with greater surprise than the wild vine. I have seen one with a stem nine inches in diameter, and heard of others measuring eleven inches. Some detached trees have their tops closely wreathed with the vines in a manner that forms an elegant and umbrageous canopy, into which the eye cannot penetrate. In the woods they overtop the tallest trees, and from thence hang the pendulous twigs almost to the ground, or pass their ramifications from the branches of one tree to others, overshadowing a considerable space. In many instances their roots are at the distance of several feet from any tree, and their tops attached to branches at the height of sixty or eighty feet, without coming in con tact with the trunks of trees, or any intermediate support To make the case plain, I have only to say, that the positions of some of those vines have a near resemblance to the stays, and some other ropes of a ship. The question, how they have erected themselves in this manner, is frequently put, Boats that descend the Ohio are often moored without any other cable than a small vine. If a notch is cut in the stem of the vine in the spring season, clear and tasteless water runs out, not in drops, but in a continued stream. I have several times quenched my thirst from sources of this kind.-Flint's America.

Adventure with a Bear. The Kennebec Journal relates a story of a land speculator, who while hunting for a timber lot, climbed up on the stump of a tree, which having been cut in a very deep snow, was about nine feet high. His object was to attain a position where he could see all the pine trees near by, and to look for a navigable stream to float his logs. The stump was hollow, but our land buyer was so intent upon the fortune he expected to make, that he became careless of his footing, like the milk-maid in the fable, and in the midst of his golden visions he stepped backward and fell plump into the hollow tree. In vain he tried to ascend. There he was pent up, with not a living soul in ten miles of him. His horrid fate seemed inevitable. He thought no more of bonded lands, but abandoned himself to despair, and a lingering death by starvation. The wind sighed mournfully among the trees, whose branches waved over the inaccessible mouth of his Wooden cavern. No other sound was heard, from man or beast or bird-when suddenly he was aroused by a scratching outside. The next moment the hole above him was darkened by some dense body descending towards him. It proved to be an enormous black bear. As soon as the shaggy posteriors of the animal came within reach of our hero, he grasped the long hair firmly with both hands. Bruin, not knowing what sort of a bedfellow he had to deal with, scratched with all his might for the top of the stump, and drew the land buyer up with him.

"A little Learning is a dangerous Thing."-Then make it greater. No learning at all is surely the most dangerous thing in the world; and it is fortunate that, in this country at least, it is a danger which cannot possibly exist. After all, learning is acquired knowledge, and nothing else. A man who can read his Bible has a little learning; a man who can only plough or dig, has less; a man who can only break stones on the road, less still, but he has some. The savages in one of the islands in the South Sea, stood with great reverence round a sailor who had lighted a fire to boil some water in a saucepan; but as soon as the water began to boil, they ran away in an agony of terror. Compared with the savages, there is no boy in Europe, of the age of ten years, who may not be called learned. He has acquired a certain quantity of practical knowledge in physics; and, as this knowledge is more than instinct, it is learning; learning which differs in degree only from that

which enables a chemist to separate the simple metals from soda or potash.

The geographer Malte Brun remarks, that in many cities of the United States, that which is called a mob scarcely exists. Now it will be found that in these cities education has been unstintedly bestowed upon all classes, down to the very lowest.

The Good Providence of God.-The more narrowly we examine the works of nature, the more and more are we convinced that the whole order of the universe is the result of plan, or a previous design on the part of a Deity. Perhaps the cause for ordure, or putrescent matter having a bad smell, has never occurred to the minds of many individuals; yet that bad smell has been given for the wisest of purposes. It is in order that the objects producing the offensive scent may be carried out of sight and buried; and by being thus deposited under a covering of earth, assume new properties, and be the means of yielding a rich crop of new food. Here, then, it is demonstrated, that cleanliness, or the removal of every description of nuisances from the doors of cottages, and other places in the vicinity of the dwellings of man, is expressly ordained by God Almighty himself, and that he who is remiss in doing so absolutely resists the beneficent will of the Divinity.-Chambers.

JEREMY TAYLOR'S NIGHTLY PRAYER

For himself and his friends, was for God's merciful deliverance and preservation

"From the violence and rule of passion, from a servile will, and a commanding lust; from pride and vanity; from false opinion and ignorant confidence;

"From improvidence and prodigality; from envy and the spirit of slander; from sensuality; from presumption and from despair;

"From a state of temptation and hardened spirit; from delaying of repentance and persevering in sin; from unthankfulness and irreligion, and from seducing others;

"From all infatuation of soul, folly and madness; from wilfulness, self-love, and vain ambition; from a vicious life and an unprovided death."