and entirely new. Altho'.gh the square form is best adapted for this kind of valves, yet they will answer better for the round pump than the common box. The valves to fit the round pump should be of a semi-elliptical form. The base of the valve should be half the diameter of the semi-ellipsis. In other respects, they are constructed like the triangular valves; the upper valves being prevented from pressure on the sides of the pump by a check-bolt, or any other more convenient substitute which practice may point out.

All ship pumps, except the chain pump, are very liable to choke, which often renders them useless. As common pumps are constructed, the column of water in the lower part of the pump moves with more than twice the velocity of that which moves in the chamber or upper part. Consequently, gravel, sand, grain, &c. &c. might be raised by the velocity of the water in the lower part of the pump, when, in the chamber or enlarged part of it, the water would not move with sufficient velocity to discharge what entered at the bottom. The effect would be that of choking the pump, by the settling of the gravel, &c. around the boxes. The body of the triangular valve pump being of an equal diameter, excepting at the very bottom, where it is a little enlarged, will not be liable to choke; since any matter which is light enough to enter with the water at the bottom, will be discharged at the top, the velocity of all parts of the column being the same.

The manner of working these pumps has been found by experience to be less laborious than any other. All parts of the body are made to act at the same time, simply by walking fore and aft on the ship's deck, as described in the plate. (See Plate, fig. 1.) The usual velocity with which a man moves is found to be about the same as that with which a column of water would move most advantageously. This being the case, it will admit of a direct pull, which is the simplest and most free from friction of all others. In this mode of pumping, men can work all day without spelling, as at any other labour.

The blowing or admission of air below the lower box, as is common to atmospherical ship pumps, often renders them almost or entirely useless. The valves in this pump being placed quite at the bottom, no air can enter below, the water preventing it.

We shall now proceed to describe the triangular valve pump, as worked on board the American navy. (See Plate.)

Fig. AA are two square pumps of an equal diameter. BB are the upper or moving valves, being attached at each end of a chain or rope of such a length as to allow one pair of the valves to be at the bottom of one pump, while the others are at the top of the other. The chain or rope runs over the pulleys EE, and around the uprights FF. The men walk fore and aft, alternately raising the valves the whole length of the pump. The valves in one pump are descending, while, in the other, they are ascending. Figs. 2, 3 and 4 are different views of the triangular valve.

The Manner of Working a Pump by the Ship's Way or Motion. This kind of pump is better calculated to work by the ship's way or motion than any other, as the working valve is not confined to any part of the pump, and will accommodate itself to all the variations of the roll or pitch of the ship.

The pitch of the ship is the most favourable for self-working pumps. They may also be worked by the roll or way of the ship.

The pump may be worked by the pitch of the ship, by simply suspending a hogshead of water over the stern of the vessel. This hogshead is attached to the pump-rope, which leads through a derrick over the stern. The length of the pump-rope should be so adjusted that, were the ship without motion, the upper valves should be half way down the pump. Suppose the ship to pitch six feet, the valves would work three feet below, and three above the centre of the pump. The more the ship pitches, the longer the stroke.

The hogshead is prevented from dragging when the ship is under way, by two guys. The operation will be thus: when the hogshead rises by the sinking of the stern of the ship, the rope will slack up, and the valves will sink, by their own weight, in the pump; and when the stern rises, the weight of the hogshead will draw up the valves, and discharge in proportion to the length of the stroke.

The ship may be pumped by the roll, by rigging a derrick over the side. This mode will answer in a calm only. The valves must be half way down the pump, when the ship is on an even keel.

In order to work the pump by the way of the ship, a log chip, of about two and a half feet square, is made fast by a guy from each corner of the log-chip to the pump-rope, which passes over a derrick fixed at the stern. The log-chip, when let down into the water, presents itself at right angles with the surface of it, if properly balanced by a weight at the bottom edge. To the log-chip a line is fixed at the upper edge, and as soon as it bas drawn the valves to the top of the pump, it should be tripped and drawn in. This can be done by one man, if the ship does not sail too fast. As soon as the valves are down to the bottom of the pump, the trip-line must be slacked. The valves are again drawn up and the water discharged, as before.

The ancients rode their horses without bridles (Hearne in Leland's Itinerary, vol. 1. p. 128); wherefore when Misson, vol. 2. p. 414, speaks of a brazen horse, without a bridle, at Naples, as an emblem of liberty, he was certainly mistaken in that point, as was king Conrad, who had the same conception, and put a bit in the horse's mouth.

COURSE OF STUDIES PURSUED AT OXFORD.

NOTHING Seems less understood, or more industriously misrepresented, than the course of studies, which this university reformed aud settled some years ago, and which is now pursued even more vigorously than at the time of its first institution. I propose to explain very minutely its several parts; and to throw in occasionally such remarks as seem necessary to meet the objections, which are now and then alleged by hasty and superficial observers. A plan of studies sketched on paper is, I am aware, often very fallacious: and nothing is more easy than to mislead the public by a plausible statement of this kind. I have myself seen outlines drawn, divided into studies of the first year, of the second year, and so on, which appeared to comprehend almost all one could desire to learn, either in literature or science: but the persons who execute this plan must be more fortunate than common, if the materials on which they operate are capable of bearing it. In a university, one fourth part of which changes every year, the new comers differ so widely in age, in capacity, in disposition and turn of thought, in previous knowledge and attainments, that it seems inconceivable how they can be classified in this manner, without a sacrifice, not of extreme cases-for that must happen in all comprehensive plans-but of something worth preserving and improving in all. The books and the portions of science allotted to the first year are such as many, by the most diligent study during four years, can never go beyond; while others come so ripe and forward as to be quite to begin where the former end. The facility, again, of learning; the rate of advancement, varies in such wide proportions, that no fair classification can be founded on this basis. It is idle to think that any system of education can equalize the powers of different minds. The nominal rank and precedence of the student, like rank in all the liberal professions, must be determined chiefly, not by his merit, but by his standing: the habits of society, the mixed and entangled interests of life, require it: but in obtaining this rank, it may be contrived-and it is the great secret of liberal education so to contrive it-that emulation shall be an active, steady, and commanding principle. Compulsion in such cases is ridiculous. It scarcely succeeds even in a nursery; and, as we advance in years, is less to be wished for, and is in fact less practicable. Constant admonition, the consciousness of an overseeing eye, the fear of reproof, and the hope of praise, are indeed of service, are even necessary to overcome the desultory habits of youth, to check its wanderings, to fix its resolutions, and keep it to its purpose. These, however, are secondary and incidental powers: they serve to refit and keep the machinery in order; but the great spring, which moves and invigorates the whole, is emulation.

According to the last regulations, the university honours are obtained in the following manner.

When the student is about two years' standing, he is subject to a public examination, which admits him, not to the degree of bachelor of arts, but to that intermediate step, which still retains its old title of sophista generalis. The old exercise was a logical disputation in the public schools, on three philosophical questions, which had long dwindled into an insignificant form, before the present exercise was substituted in its room. At this previous examination, he is expected to construe accurately some one Greek and one Latin book at least: the most difficult works are not required or encouraged, as there is no competition between the candidates, and an accurate grammatical acquaintance with the

structure of the two languages is the point chiefly inquired into. Xenophon, Homer, Herodotus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Demosthenes, among the Greeks; and Virgil, Horace, Sallust, Livy, and Cicero, among the Latins, are the most usual books. Besides this, he is examined in some compendium of logic (generally Aldrich's), and in Euclid's Elements of Geometry. It is not thought reputable for a candidate to have omitted either of these branches, but one of them is absolutely required; and in all cases he is made to translate a passage from some English author into Latin. All this is done in public. Eight candidates may be examined in one day, who are all present during the whole time; and there is commonly a numerous attendance of junior students. Indeed there must of necessity be an audience, because every candidate is bound to attend one examination before he is examined himself. The number, however, far exceeds what the statute requires, and the school is often quite full. The examiners are three in number, annually appointed by the university, and sworn to the faithful performance of their duty.

If the student fails on this occasion, it passes sub silentio. He does not receive his certificate at the close of the day; and he may present himself again the next term.

After having passed this examination, his studies are directed more steadily to the other, where the honour he acquires will depend entirely on his own exertions. He cannot present himself till after the third year is completed, and it is common to defer it till the end of the fourth year. He is then examined first in the rudiments of religion: a passage in the Greek Testament is given him to construe, and he is tried, by questions arising out of it, whether he has a proper view of the christian scheme, and of the outline of sacred history. He is expected to give some account of the evidences of christianity, and to show by his answers that he is acquainted with the thirty-nine articles, and has read attentively some commentary upon them. He is examined again in logic, the object being chiefly to see that he has just and firm conceptions of its leading principles; and on this occasion, selections from the Organon are often introduced.

The examination then proceeds to rhetoric and ethics. Upon these subjects the celebrated treatises of Aristotle are chiefly used; and whoever is master of them knows what an exercise of the mind it is to acquire a thorough insight into the argument, and what a serious discipline the student must have undergone, who has accomplished this point. The accurate method observed in each treatise renders it not a perplexing, but merely an arduous task: the precision of the language, the close connexion of the reasoning, the enlarged philosophical views, and the immense store of principles and maxims which they contain, point them out as the best calculated perhaps of any single works for bringing into play all the energies of the intellect, and for trying, not merely the diligence of the scholar, but the habit of discrimination which he has formed, the general accuracy of his thoughts, and the force and vigour of his mind. If it be at all of use to divide, to distinguish, and to define, to study clear arrangement and order, to discern connexion, and to comprehend a plan composed of many widely separated parts, hardly any works can be named, so well adapted to all these purposes. To these is often added, at the option of the student, the treatise on Politics, which is in fact a continuation and completion of the ethical system.

Besides these treatises of Aristotle, Quintilian, as belonging to rhetoric, and the philosophical works of Cicero, especially that De Officiis, as belonging to ethics, are admitted. And these last, as being of easier attainment, are of course the choice of many candidates. But neither of them are strictly indispensable.

In examining viva voce almost two hundred candidates every year, nearly in the same departments, much skill and care is requisite, lest a certain routine of questions be introduced, which a student may learn, and give to them some plausible answers, without having drawn his knowledge from the original source. Nothing but practice and constant vigilance, joined to a familiar acquaintance with the several books, can effec tually guard against this abuse. And hence to a by-stander the examination may often seem vague and desultory, when the design only is, to probe the candidate here and there, and to ascertain that his reading has been serious, not loose or superficial, or, as might sometimes happen, none at all.

At this examination the student presents what number of classical authors he pleases, provided they be not less than three, and those of the higher order, including both languages. It is not unusual for those who aim at the highest honours to mention Homer, Pindar, one, two, or three of the Greek tragedians, and Aristophanes. Thucydides is seldom omitted. The other historians, and the orators, are also included, according as the student's line of reading has been. Of Latin authors, besides the poets of the Augustan age, Livy, Tacitus, Cicero, Juvenal, and Lucretius are the most usual. In the books that he names, he is expected to be well and accurately versed; and although great encouragement is given to an enlarged range, yet a hasty and unscholarlike manner of reading, however extensive it may be, will not obtain reward, and is in fact much 'discountenanced.

Besides the questions proposed viva voce, many others in the different branches of the examination are put, and answered on paper, while other things are going on. And in this manner also the candidate's knowledge of latinity is tried.

The mathematical examination is quite a distinct business. It is conducted indeed at the same time, but is chiefly done on paper, if the student has advanced far in those studies; although for every candidate, who presents himself in mathematics, there is an oral examination, in which, with a table of diagrams before him, he is called upon, not to give full and long demonstrations, but, as the examiner turns over a corresponding table, to answer questions relating to the properties of figures, and the mode of proving certain theorems. The soundness of his scientific studies is thus made known; and he has problems, which require time and close attention, to solve at his leisure on paper, while the examination passes on to others.

It must be well known to every one who has had experience in life, that, notwithstanding this formidable array of books and sciences, great numbers of candidates must be allowed to pass, whose attainments in both are, from various causes, very inconsiderable. Still if the system be so conducted as to encourage exertion, it would be absurd to reject those of the most moderate pretensions, who have passed through their period of residence with good conduct, and a tolerably regular attention to the prescribed studies. Nothing but extreme incapacity, extraordinary want of school education, or gross idleness at the university, will absolutely exclude a student from his degree at the regular time. Of this description some few are found every year. But even these are not finally rejected; they may appear at the following examination, and, unless the same insufficiency is again observed, generally pass. Only six candidates can be examined in one day: and every candidate must produce a certificate of having attended two entire days of some former examination before he can be admitted."