stroyed nor divided. Water was the only substance that seemed to him to possess invariable or unchangeable existence, hence he concluded that water was the original element, the beginning of things. His observations convinced him that this was a scientific fact, for while water was essential to all life, growth, and change, it remained unchanged. Even the gods were born of water. Indeed he had no notion of any universal spirit of intelligence or power back of or above this element. Anaxagoras, a disciple of Thales, is credited with some vague notions concerning a creative intelligence, but he doubtless derived them from Hesiod's Theogony, and not from the philosophy of his master, Thales. The most vigorous thinker after Thales, was unquestionably Anaximenes, who flourished in the fifth century before the Christian era. He pursued substantially the method of Thales, but his observation led him to the conclusion that air, and not water, was the original element. He found himself surrounded by an invisible element, and not only surrounded, but permeated; he felt it within him, it seemed to move him, and to be the source of his life; he found by experience that he could not exist without it, yet this substance or element was so subtle that he could not see it, yet so powerful as not only to support life, but uproot trees, and produce the most fearful and ravaging phenomena; he therefore concluded that air, and not water, was the original element in nature; the alpha and omega of all things. It surrounded the entire world, and in his opinion all things rested upon it, lived in it, and existed by it. But little improvement was made upon the ideas of Thales and Anaximenes until the advent of Socrates, who invented what is termed the subjective method of reasoning as opposed to the objective. He was the first to attempt a solution of the moral relations and obligations of humanity; he placed small store by objective phenomena, but exalted moral ethics to the first place in his system of philosophy. This was a grand revolution from materialistic atheism to theistic philosophy. Ideas were everything, facts mere transient emblems of small significance. This world was but the birthplace and primary school of immortals; man, a prospective God, bounded and limited here by his physical relations, and in his physical aspects, free only in thought and aspiration, and capable of complete development and perfect happiness only in the life beyond. Wisdom, virtue, liberty, temperance: these were the fundamental principles of his ethical system, and the cultivation of these the chief duty of man and the hope of a grand eternal and happy immortality, based on God's immutable justice, the chief source of contentment and reward of virtue. Socrates was succeeded by his most distinguished disciple, Plato, to whom we are indebted for the preservation of his master's ideas, as well as for the grand elaboration of the Socrato-Platonic philosophy, the grandest the world has known, and the fundamental principles of which will not only live, but be glorified and canonized in the hearts of the people, when Thales, Anaximenes, Aristotle, Epicurus, and even the modern scientists who affect to despise it, have passed out of history. It is a significant fact that the inevitable tendency of all philosophies, based upon objective science is to exalt sensuous and sensual pleasures, and give peculiar importance to the affairs of this life not only,but to doubt, if not absolutely deny, the immortality of the soul, and to ignore the moral government of the universe; while the subjective and ethical systems of Plato and the schools, based upon the fundamental ideas of his system, promote moral and intellectual culture and the love of virtue, and all the nobler sentiments of humanity. It is a fact proven by history and sustained by observation, that correct principles of social science have their base in subjective philosophy, while all the heresies of politics, sociality, and of religion proper, cluster about the materialistic doctrines of Epicurus, Bacon, Spencer, and Comte. 66 In making this statement, I wish it distinctly understood that I do not assert that these men were themselves immoral, though Pope says of Bacon, He was the wisest and the meanest of mankind." Epicurus was a good man-there can be little room for doubt on that point. Even his foes admit that his life was pure as the life of the average Greek philosopher, and his friends represent him as chaste, temperate, modest, and self-sacrificing, in habit a moral man; yet, perhaps the modern world has not produced a man whose influence upon society has been so damaging as that of Epicurus. His school took the form of a sect, and so successful was he as a teacher, that his disciples increased rapidly, not only in Athens, but in other cities of Greece, and also in Rome. I am sure most of you are ready to say that this creed is in the main sound, and I admit that few creeds have been constructed that are less objectionable on their face. I further admit, that if it could be confined in its acceptance to men and women occupying the intellectual and moral plane of its author, this creed would do no hurt to society. With such the closing sentence of the last article redeems the whole from grossness and the probability of abuse. Their passions and appetites are servants, standing back of the seat of reason, ready to do its bidding, waiting its commands. With the majority, however, reason and moral perception are subordinate to passion and appetite; and these, while excellent servants, are the worst possible masters. They are untamed beasts reveling in the freedom of license; wild studs, that if not constantly kept well in hand The creed of Epicurus may be stated dash recklessly and furiously on to dein brief, as follows: struction. Socrates, Plato, and their disciples taught the people that this life is but a stepping - stone to a higher; that the pleasures of sense, though not to be despised, are small as compared to the greater joys of the spiritual powers, and the nobler objects of a life that is endless. And their teachings had a wholesome influence upon society. They made men and women better, hence happier. T. A. BLAND, M.D. [Conclusion in March.] Ist. The universe consists of space and matter; 2d. Matter is composed of eternal indivisible atoms of various sorts; 3d. Every organic being, whether vegetable or animal, is composed entirely, soul and body, of this material substance, brought together by some accidental or fortuitous circumstance; 4th. All knowledge is derived from sensations, and all sensations are produced by images or emanations flowing from external objects; 5th. The gods live in a state of passionless repose, remote from this world, taking no interest in its affairs, but being indifferent alike to vice or virtue (Cicero is of the opinion that Epicurus had no faith in the existence of the gods, but that he did not dare to openly PHILOSOPHY.-Philosophy and religion say so, lest he should share the fate of Socrates); 6th. As we know nothing of any life but this, we should make the most of our opportunities for happiness here, by gratifying our passions and appetites to the fullest extent consistent with temperance and moderation, to go beyond which is to defeat the object sought. DIFFERENCE Between RELIGION AND are both useful, but the difference between them is similar to that of man and his Creator-the one is human, the other Divine. Philosophy cheers our brightest moments-religion our darkest. The one is a creature of time, the other of eternity. Philosophy may be termed the hope of life; religion is the life of hope. meet with thieving as a profession. Like in the gorges, cañons, and other almost all savages, the Apache dislikes work, although he is not as lazy as some of his Northern fellow Indians, and so he presents the anomaly of uniting activity with barbarism, his thievish propensity being at the bottom of the activity." Leaving others to do the work, he cares not whom, the agriculturists of the river bottoms or the towns-people of the north, he turns Ishmaelite, pounces upon those near and more remote, and if pursued, retreats across the "journeys of death," as the Mexicans call them, and finds refuge impregnable natural fortresses of the mountains. The number of the Apaches, owing to the difficulty of estimating it, is variously stated from 7,500 to 25,000, the latter being the opinion of Mr. Cremony, who lived in their country eight years. In physique they are of medium stature, slim, ill proportioned, but very quick in movement, and remarkably tough and enduring. Their features are described as repulsive and expressionless, flat and approaching the Mongol type, while their heads are covered with a mass of coarse, rusty black hair, which is permitted to grow as it will, excepting, however, that hanging over the forehead, which is cut square across above the brows. the general type of the Apaches, male and female, as secured by Mr. Conkling for his recent work on Arizona. Since the effort on the part of the Government to place these Indians upon reservations they have changed somewhat in disposition and habit, although they do not ex In dress they are somewhat more pretentious than other neighboring tribes, and they wear more covering than former-hibit an encouraging tractability under ly. Most are clothed with articles made of coarse cotton cloth, that material having for the most part taken the place of deer-skin, with a blanket and straw hat. On the feet they usually wear high moccasins of buckskin, and the smallness of the foot resulting from this longcontinued practice has always distinguished their trail from that of other Indians. The accompanying illustrations show settler and miner. any system of restraint thus far tried. THE THE HABITANT OF LOWER CANADA. HE people of Lower Canada live much in the simple fashion of their forefathers, who early settled the country. An interesting description of them is contributed to the December Atlantic, from which we make an extract. There is much to be admired in the life and habits of these people, aside from their adherence to tobacco and liquor, although in their use of that they are examples of temperance when compared with the fastgoing American: 'The habitant is a model of thrift. He grows his own tobacco, makes his own 'beef' moccasins, and manufactures his own whisky. His wife spins the wool out of which is made l'etouffe du pays, a kind of frieze, in which he clothes himself. His house is a picture of neatness. The outside is whitewashed at least twice a year; the inside is swept and garnished until it is as bright as a new pin. The floor of pine boards is scrubbed and sanded every day. The walls are hung with pictures, somewhat gaudy as to color, of the Pope, St. Cecilia, St. Joseph, and St. Anne, and photographs of the parish priest and of the children who are away in New England or Minnesota. Over the broad fire place, in which huge logs blaze in wintertime, hangs the family fusil, the old flintlock a sire carried under Montcalm, and now used to kill an occasional bear, and to fire a feu de joie on St. Jean Baptiste day and other great occasions. Near it are medals brought from Rome by the priest or the bishop, and the rosary that has come down as an heirloom in the family. The house is decorated with sampler work of saints and angels, for which the women are famed. A crucifix hangs above the fusil, and in settlements near a church the house is always supplied with holy water. The patriarch of the family sits in the ingle-neuk, puffing blasts of smoke from his long pipe up the bellowing chimney, and sporting the toque, an old-fashioned red night-cap with a brilliant tassel, which his fathers before him wore under the ancien regime. The good wife, in mantelet of calico, skirt of homespun blue, and neat Norman cap, is at the spinningwheel; the eldest daughter, soon to marry the honest husbandman in the next clearing, is weaving her linen outfit at a handloom. The pot in which the pea-soup, the staple dish, is made, is gurgling on the fire; a smaller pot contains the pork; |