this; and the knowlege of God is religion. On the other hand, Religion is the only motive which can produce right action. - R. HUSSEY, B.D., Letter to T. D. ACLAND, Esq., M.P., On the System of Education to be established, &c., 1839.

...as Christianity is the most perfect kind of knowlege, it must essentially produce the most perfect kind of happiness. It is the golden everlasting chain let down from Heaven to earth; the ladder that appeared to the Patriarch in his dream, when he beheld Jehovah at its top, and the Angels of God ascending and descending with messages of grace to mankind.-J. MASON GOOD, M.D., Book of Nature, Series 2, Lect. 12.

We enter upon life without goodness, without knowlege, and without the active power of thinking. Those excellencies must be obtained by our own endeavors, in the use of certain means. Goodness is the gift of God, to those who ask him for it, through our Saviour Jesus Christ. Knowlege is acquired by attention to what we see, hear, and read. The power of thinking is acquired and improved by the early cultivation and the constant exercise of the understanding.-ISAAC TAYLOR, junr., Elements of Thought, 1822, Ch. 2.

The human mind is prone to form opinions on every subject which is presented to it; but, from a natural indolence, is frequently averse to enquire into the circumstances which can alone form a sufficient ground for them. This is the most general cause of the false opinions which have not

only pervaded Medicine, but almost every other branch of knowlege. When, however, the mind shall be obliged to observe facts which can not be reconciled with such opinions, it will be evident that the opinions are ill-founded, and they will be laid aside. We grant, it does not always happen that men are induced to give up their opinions, or even to think them wrong, on observing facts which do not agree with them; but surely it is the best means of producing this effect; and whatever change may be wrought on the individuals themselves, the world will be convinced, which has fewer prejudices to combat.-M. BAILLIE, M.D., Morbid Anatomy, 1833, Preface.

While a certain creed is established on any given professional subject, most people are disposed to see the phenomena connected with it as they fancy that they should see them, and independent thought and original observation are talents rarely vouchsafed to any one. Professional men of late have been impressed with the idea, that by entirely renouncing the authority of the ancients, they show themselves to be original observers; but such persons are more the slaves of established modes of thought and conventional opinions, than if they were familiarly acquainted with all the authorities in medicine from the earliest time down to the present day; for it is only when possessed of this knowlege, that a man of a well-constituted mind feels that he is fully warranted to exercise an independent judgement of his own. In literature, as in warfare, it is

knowlege which confers true self-reliance. F. ADAMS, M.D., Translation of Hippocrates, 1849, Argument, Articulations.

It has been asserted by persons, whose intellectual powers were of the highest order, and whose industry was as remarkable as their abilities, that more than six or eight hours in each day could not be employed effectively by the generality of young men for the purpose of mental improvement. If this however be the case, and as a general position it probably is not very far from the truth, — in vain does the ambitious student rob nature of that sleep which Providence has made necessary for the renovation of the exhausted powers of our mind, as well as of our body; and in vain also does he attempt to combine simultaneously the efforts of mental attention with bodily exercise, or to pursue his severer studies during the hour of meals: in both which cases, they, who adopt the custom, not only err in employing too continuous an application of the powers of the mind; but in impeding to a certain and often very inconvenient degree the process of natural respiration; and, consequently, of other functions of the body, particularly of digestion. How main a point ought it to be therefore with those who superintend the education of young persons, to avoid the application of too great a strain on the natural spring of the intellectual powers.-J. KIDD, M.D., Bridgewater Treatise, Chap. ii. Sect. iv.

Lord Coke's well known quotation is this :Sex horas somno, totidem des legibus æquis, quatuor orabis, des epulisque duas;

quod superest ultro, sacris largire Camoenis. Which has been rendered by Mr. Croker;

Six hours to sleep devote, to law the same:

pray four, feast two: the rest the Muses claim. But the number of hours which the student may work with advantage, he will soon find out for himself: it should not be less than six. No person really in earnest reads less than this; if properly spread throughout the day, we do not think ten too. much: but this, we repeat, should be determined by the student himself. He should rise early; as every one knows that that is the grand secret for gaining time. We then recommend some reading and some exercise before breakfast.— Manual for Articled Clerks and Law Students, 1837.

Was ever any one almost observed to come out of a tavern, an alehouse, or a jolly meeting, fit for his study, or indeed for anything else requiring stress or exactness of thought? The morning, we know, is commonly said to be a friend to the Muses: but a morning's draught was never so.SOUTH, Sermons, 2 Thess. ii. 11.

To business that we love, we rise betime,
and go to it with delight.—

SHAKSPEARE, Ant. and Cleop. iv. 4.

The early Student ponders o'er

his dusty tomes of ancient lore.

SIR. W. SCOTT, The Betrothed.

There is a depression of strength both in the body and the mind, sufficiently evident. There is not the same alacrity of mind in the evening, nor power of memory, imagination, and judgement, as there is in the morning. This proposition has been controverted by poets and philosophers, who have often praised midnight study. Two things might be objected to them; first, they are not willing to give up their connections with the world for the sake of study; and therefore defer it until everybody else is at rest. Secondly, there is that indolence in mankind, especially in those who consider speculation as their supreme happiness, which makes them wish to defer everything to the last moment. It is easy, however, to refer the fact to the feeling, or in other words, to the experience of all mankind; the alacrity of the mind in the morning, and its dulness in the evening, have, the one been celebrated by poets and philosophers, and the other reprobated.-G. FORDYCE, M. D., Third Dissertation on Fever, Part I.

As for a method of forming a course of studies, every man must consult himself, and choose what he likes best; and that method which is easiest and pleasantest, (in both which cases all men are to judge for themselves,) is for that very reason the properest. Men's minds differ as much as their bodies. Every man not only thinks for himself, but has some peculiarities in his way of thinking distinct from other men; and in studying, it is not so much what a man comprehends, as

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