lished, with a view to promote the numbers
and breeds of the live stock of France, states, that, in Britain, the
animal power is eleven times as great as the manual power; while in
France it is only four times as great; hence, French labourers receive
from animals only a third part of the aid yielded by them in Britain. He
also states, that Great Britain consumes three times as much meat, milk,
and cheese, as France. The following is the number of horses for every
1,000 inhabitants in the countries mentioned. Hanover, 193; Sweden, 145;
Canton de Vaud, (in Switzerland,) 140; Great Britain, 100; Prussia, (six
provinces) 95; France, 79. Numbers, however, give a very imperfect idea
of the relative amount of horse power, the breeds being so various in
the different countries.

_Supposed Nervous System in Plants._

M. Dutrochet, in a volume on the moving powers which act in organized
bodies, affirms, that there are seen on the walls of the cellular and
fibrous tissue of vegetables, small semi-transparent globular bodies
and linear bodies, which become opaque from the action of acids, and
are rendered transparent by that of alkalies. He considers these small
bodies as the elements of a diffused nervous system, to the action
of which he ascribes the movements of plants, arising from what is
denominated by him the _nervomotility_.--_From the French._

* * * * *

THE NOVELIST.

* * * * *

THE MARRIAGE LESSON.

[We are indebted to the last Number (4) of the _Foreign Quarterly
Review_ for the following lively nouvelette, from the _Conde Lucanor_ of
the Infante Don Juan Manuel, written in the beginning of the fourteenth
century. It has much of the _naivete_ and light humour peculiar to the
Spanish novelists, and, to quote the ingenious reviewer, "besides its
own merit, possesses that of some striking resemblances to Shakspeare's
_Taming of the Shrew_."]

In a certain town there lived a noble Moor, who had one son, the best
young man ever known perhaps in the world. He was not, however, wealthy
enough to enable him to accomplish half the many laudable objects which
his heart prompted him to undertake; and for this reason he was in great
perplexity, having the will and not the power. Now in that same town
dwelt another Moor, far more honoured and rich than the youth's father,
and he too had an only daughter, who offered a strange contrast to this
excel