If it be but the comprehensive name
For good and true and beautiful, we claim
In the same camp of war with them to dwell,
And, side by side, attack the hosts of hell.

“But you reck nothing of the terms you use;
Their choicest meanings daily you abuse;
Heaps upon heaps of errors you bequeath
To those ambitious of the scholar's wreath.
A lesson from the ancient heathen learn,
And from their allegory truth discern:
With ivy wreath they deck their god of wine;
Around his brow its supple stem they twine.
The mournful ivy climbs the crumbling hall,
To hide decay it decks the tottering wall;
Deceitfully it hides what wastes away,
And from its victim shades the heavenly ray.
So you, who are the child of classic lore,
Revere your venerable source no more;
The noble form on which alone you lean
You shadow over with a deathly green."
Warmly he spoke, the while his kindling eye
With levelled orbit viewed the starry sky;
Its cloudless azure, pure in every part,
Increased th' impatience of his pulsing heart.
With rapid hand he signified a stár
Among the spheres that glittered from afar.

"Know you Astarte in Sidonia famed
Beyond all goddesses by Hesiod named?
She they declare to be the queen of heaven,
Dian another name to her was given;
Of the Ephesians she the favorite love,
They feared her wrath above the nod of Jove.
She is but one of all those distant spheres
The scientific mind of man reveres.
Why need I name these wonders of the blue?
Astronomy was never dear to you.

But as I speak the dawn steals o'er the east;

Aurora comes in rosy garments drest.

Her nimble fingers lift the veil of day,

Fit admonition to our long delay."

They turned away, and toward the campus moved With steps elastic, as their age behooved.

AN EXPOSITION

OF THE SCIENCE OF

PHYSIOGNOMIC-CRANIOLOGY,

together with

An Examination of the Crania of the Class,

in reference to

PROGNOSTICATIONS OF THE FUTURE.

F. W. EDGAR.

Mr. EDGAR, on being introduced to the audience, said: Ladies and Gentlemen: My classmates have chosen me to pry into the future. It is natural that they should desire to know what part they are to play in the world's great drama. Some of my predecessors, among the class-prophets, consulted wizards and witches; some visited such beings as old St. Anthony, who is said to reside in a cave not far from our city; others received their messages in dreams. These things may satisfy the superstitious and the credulous, but in prophecies originating with such doubtful authority, I put not a whit of faith. And I warn you, my fair audience, believe them not.

It seems strange to me, that we should rely on science and philosophy in every other department of knowledge, and yet summon the magic art to unfold futurity. We call upon Geology: "O Geology, what of the past ?" She unearths the records made by the elements long before man was, and reads to us from her great stone book descriptions of pre-Adamite hills and forests, of beasts and birds, and fish and unnamed things almost too wonderful for our credence. We ask, "How lived, how spoke, how thought our Indo-European ancestors?" History is silent, but the Linguistic science patiently constructs, from the varied and scattered fragments of speech, a faithful portrait of our fathers' mode of life. We look on this picture, and are satisfied. We wonder what the world is doing at the present moment,-and instantly, through a thousand magnetic nerves, come trembling whispers from every corner of the earth. And then, forsooth, we cry,-"O necromancy, tell us of the future."

This is a shame in the nineteenth century. We reason from effect back to cause, and from cause to effect. History has been repeated in ages past; will it not be repeated in ages to come? We know the past, we know the present; can we not determine the future? The child is the father of the man, youth is but a shadow of coming manhood. Character is plainly written on the face. The quality and powers of intellect are shown by variations in the cranium.

Early in my Freshman year my attention was directed to this subject. I have studied it with a great deal of pleasure, all through my college course, although it was not in the curriculum. I found it more interesting than conic sections or even my beloved Calculus. It was more inspiring than Astronomy. I saw more in it than in Optics. In ingenuity, it far surpasses Comparative Philology, and in hair-splitting, Metaphysics is scarcely its equal.

Since I commenced this fascinating study, I suppose I have examined about three million, one hundred and twenty-seven thousand, eight hundred and one subjects. Allow me to spend a few moments in expounding this science before I proceed to examine the members of the class.

Although Physiognomic-Craniology, as this science is called, has much in common with Phrenology, the two must not be confounded. Under the guidance of the principles of Physiognomic-Craniology, we cannot only point out the mental characteristics, but, in addition, are able to tell the disposition and the future course of life of an individual.

The fundamental principles of this science are:

1st. Each faculty, propensity, and desire, has a special seat in the brain, and its prominence is denoted by the protuberance of that portion of the skull which covers it.

2d. Disposition and tendency is denoted by the features and the contour and expression of the face.

3d. Caeteris paribus, the brain power, varies directly as the facial angle.

4th. Cultivation or neglect produces change in the cerebral organs, which change is shown by a corresponding increase or decrease of these cranial protuberances. Changes may be produced in the features and in the facial angle by similar causes. 5th. The future of an individual may be predicted, with con

siderable certainty, by a correlation and comparison of the cranial protuberances and the features, taking into consideration, also, the general contour of the head.

I have been in the habit of spending my college vacations in the Cannibal Islands; where I had every facility for the study of this science. I fortunately became quite a favorite with one of their chief men, my lord Anthropophago, who gave me permission to visit the government slaughter-houses. I had diagrams made by their most distinguished artists, of some of the heads which I examined. During the senior vacation I succeeded in obtaining several new drawings. I shall illustrate the important points which I have mentioned, by means of these diagrams, as the subject will thus be more clearly understood.

The speaker, after a thorough explanation of the absurd caricatures which he was pleased to term diagrams, proceeded to examine the crania of the class. As he examined, he announced, the results to the audience. After the examination, he said

Ladies and Gentlemen: I have now examined the cranium of each man in the class, and predicted his future from such protuberances as I could find thereon. Some heads are large, some small; some skulls seem very thick and hard, others are wonderfully soft. In some, the moral qualities are entirely wanting; in others, they are developed to an alarming degree. Some of these subjects are the homeliest I ever laid eyes on, while others, to say the least, are not Apollos Belvedere. A few seem inclined to go to the dogs, but the majority have a star-ward tendency. Brains, as well as success in life, seems to be a decidedly variable quantity.

How we shall be scattered over the earth, for

Some will go to Brazil or China,

Some to Egypt or to Rome,

Some to Greenland's icy mountains,

Some will always stay at home,

that is, if every one follows his nasal organ, and carries his bumps with him, and my predictions are fulfilled.

In the name of the class, I thank you for the interest you have

taken in other people's business. Your sympathy has been exceedingly gratifying.

My classmates, I have examined your heads; it remains for you to examine your hearts. I advise you to do it immediately, for you may soon lose them, if, indeed, many of you have not already traded them off. I hope that those who are now inclined to barter, may drive good bargains; and that the others will soon hang out the sign, for sale, over the door of their tender affections. Do not permit people to steal your hearts or to swindle you; trade even. May you all, in matrimonial matters, have a bright and happy future.

TREE ORATION.

E. BRYAN.

The present enjoyment of any privilege is seldom conducive to a just appreciation of its value; and often the deprivation of our advantages alone can truly define our estimation of them. Apparently, man is so constituted as to be incapable of cognizing all the elements which go to make up his happiness, except when they cease to exist as such. Hence, in the hour of parting, the objects of our unconscious affection become inexpressibly dear. This is so universal, that, the world over, the language of parting has become trite: yet the emotions of the last farewell will ever continue fresh.

Four years ago we met, a band of strangers, on the threshold of Lafayette. From our several pursuits in life, a common object brought us together, and common aims soon bound us heart to heart. Thenceforth we have pursued a common course of life. Together we have accomplished its many tasks, together encountered its frequent trials. With the kindly word of cheer, or the hearty tribute of praise, we have shared in common our failures and our triumphs: and thus, while the years passed slowly by, our mutual friendship ever deepened. To-day, a band of friends, we stand again upon the threshold of our Alma Mater. Unmindful of the flight of time, we have revelled in the enjoyment of these pleasant associations, while imperceptibly the far-off Future has glided into the fleeting Present, and this again into