is race, are all familiar; who has felt them all,
seen the good and evil of them all, and, with a calm deliberation, can
testify at last, that the great Power of the Universe has so
constrained and ordered the uncertainties and perils of our lot, as
not only to reconcile all its apparent contradictions with the ends of
moral discipline and benefit, but to make even the darkness of
calamity flash rays of brightness and of hope. Thus, along with an
enlarged knowledge of men and things, he gives us the wisest counsel
about our conduct and proceedings in the world, and also the most
encouraging conclusions with regard to our final destiny and
prospects.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] 1. _Friends in Council: a Series of Headings and Discourse
thereon_. New Edition. Two vols. 2. _Companions of my Solitude_.
Pickering. London: 1851.

JELLY-FISHES.

We inscribe at the head of this paper the popular name of a class of
beings, which, though simple in their organisation, are full of
interest to the zoologist, and attractive to the common observer from
the singularity or beauty of their forms, and, in many cases, the
brilliancy of their colouring. The ocean, throughout its wide extent,
swarms with myriads of gelatinous creatures--some microscopic, some of
large dimensions--which deck it with the gayest colours by day, and at
night light up its dreary waste with 'mimic fires,' and make it glow
and sparkle as if, like the heavens, it had its galaxies and
constellations. These are the jelly-fishes, or sea-nettles
(_Acalephae_), as they are often called, from the stinging properties
with which some of them are endowed. The commoner forms are well
known, for the beach is often strewn with the carcasses of the larger
species. On fine days in summer and autumn, whole fleets of these
strange voyagers appear off our coasts. Their umbrella-shaped,
transparent disks float gracefully through the calm water, and their
long fishing-lines trail after them as they move onward. At times,
multitudes, almost invisible to the naked eye, tenant every wave, and
give it by night a crest of flame; while other kinds measure as much
as a yard in diameter. The _Acalephae_ present the greatest variety of
form and colour, as well as of size, but they are all of the most
delicate structure, frail, gelatinous, transparent. Some are so
perfectly colourless, that their presence can with difficulty be
detected in the water.

The following description, by Profes