alyzes and explains the flower just plucked, who frequently accompanies his pupils in their botanical rambles, who points out to them the localities of the various natural families, and teaches them a facility in discovering latent specimens, which only long practice or much and excellent oral instruction can give. The scholar should also be encouraged to seek for specimens, which he has not before examined, in his own solitary walks, to search the books himself for a description of them, and to refer to the science and skill of his instructer to correct the results at which he may have arrived. Without instruction, on the one hand, he will be led into many embarrassing errors, and without personal exertion in collecting and analyzing specimens, he will make little real progress. Neither should any student of botany neglect to prepare an herbarium, and to fill it with a more or less extensive collection. Its uses for the purpose of reference and comparison are many and great. But such full directions are given on this subject in most elementary works, that it is unnecessary to describe the manner of preparing plants for preservation. Another practice auxiliary to an accurate knowledge of botany, is, drawing the outlines of the most remarkable plants with the lead pencil, or if the individual possess sufficient acquaintance with the art, of making a more perfect delineation by painting. For a good representation of the forms of leaves and stems, the following method, practised by some, but perhaps not generally known, is extracted from the Artist's Assistant. 'To obtain the true shape and fibres of a leaf-Rub the back of it gently with any hard substance so as to bruise the fibres, then apply a small quantity of linseed oil to their edges; after which press the leaf on white paper; and, upon removing it, a perfectly correct representation of every ramification will appear, and the whole may be coloured from the original.', INTELLIGENCE Boston Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. [Our readers may recollect that mention has been made, in several of our last numbers, of the contemplated establishment of a society in Boston, intended to embrace the advantages of the Lyceums existing in other places, but adapted to the peculiar circumstances of a city. The following constitution embodies, it is thought, what is essential in a plan for the object proposed. We are happy to transcribe it not only as an interesting article of intelligence, but as furnishing the requisite hints, when needed, for devising similar institutions in other cities.] A number of gentlemen who feel interested in the promotion and diffusion of useful knowledge, have held several meetings to consider the expediency of forming an Association for the purpose of advancing these objects; and the undersigned have been appointed a Committee to form such an Association, and to recommend it to the patronage of the friends of popular education. From infancy to the age of seventeen, the means provided in this city by public munificence and private enterprise, are ample. From seventeen to the age when young men enter on the more active and responsible duties of their several stations, sufficient opportunity does not appear to be afforded for mental and moral cultivation. At this period of life, when the mind is active and the passions urgent, and when the invitations to profitless amusements are strongest and most numerous, it is desirable that means should be provided for furnishing at a cheap rate, and in an inviting form, such useful information as will not only add to the general intelligence of the young men referred to, but at the same time will prepare them to engage more understandingly, with a deeper interest, and with better pros pect of success, in the pursuits to which their lives are to be devoted. The existing deficiency of such means is clearly a subject of regret ; and the undersigned are of opinion that this deficiency may be most easily and fully supplied by courses of Lectures delivered in different parts of the city, under the auspices of a Society, whose sanction may secure to the Lecturers employed, the confidence and resort of the public. It is proposed that the first courses of Lectures should be given to those who are engaged in Trade and Commerce; and that they should include the subjects of Universal Geography and Statistics, and of the Moral, Natural, Political, and Legal Sciences, so far as they may be connected with commercial transactions. Should the attempt to convey such instruction be as successful as similar efforts in other cities have been, it is hoped that the Lectures may be made more general in their objects and in their application. With this exposition, the undersigned present the following Constitution for the signature of all those who are interested in the wider diffusion of useful knowledge. Charles Lowell; William Russell; J. Greely Stevenson; Horatio Robinson; George H. Snelling; Edward Brooks; Chandler Robbins, Jr.; George Bond; Abbott Lawrence; Samuel Swett; James Bowdoin; Henry F. Baker; Samuel T. Armstrong; Enoch Hale, Jr.; William J. Loring; Edward Wigglesworth; Charles C. Nichols; Thomas B. Curtis; John Lowell, Jr,; James Russell; Nathan Hale; Walter Channing; Israel Thorndike, Jr.; Charles P. Curtis; Isaac P. Davis; William Sturgis; Norman Seaver; William E. Channing; Charles G. Loring; Samuel H. Foster. CONSTITUTION. I This Association shall be called the 'Boston Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge.' And its object shall be to promote and direct popular education by lectures and other means. II 1. Any adult may become a member of this society, with all the privileges thereof, by an annual payment of two dollars, and by signing this Constitution. Minors may become members, in so far as to have the right of attending the lectures, by signing the Constitution, and paying one dollar annually. Membership shall cease by neglect of paying the annual assess ment. 2. The payment of twenty-five dollars shall constitute membership for life, and immunity from all assessments. 3. The payment of fifty dollars shall constitute a person 'Patron,' shall exempt him from all assessments, and give the right of two tickets, one of which shall be transferable. 4. Honorary members may be chosen by a majority of the votes of those present at any meeting of the Society. III 1. A meeting of the Society shall be held annually on the first Friday in April. 2. Special meetings may be called by the President, when directed by the Board of Managers, or by the written request of ten mem bers. IV. 1. The officers of the Society shall be a President, two Vice Presidents, a Recording Secretary, a Corresponding Secretary, a Treasurer, and ten Directors; who together shall constitute the Board of Managers. 2. These officers shall be chosen by the written or printed ballots of a majority of the members present at the annual meeting; and shall hold their offices until others are chosen. V. 1. The President, or in his absence one of the Vice Presidents, or in their absence a President pro tempore, shall preside at all meetings of the Society and of the Board of Managers; which shall be conducted agreeably to parliamentary usage. 2. The Recording Secretary shall notify all meetings of the Society, and of the Board of Managers, and shall keep a record of their proceedings. 3. The Corresponding Secretary shall conduct the correspondence of the Society, under the superintendence of the Board of Managers. 4. The Treasurer shall collect and receive all dues, and donations in money; pay all drafts on him when signed by the Recording Secretary, and countersigned by the President or either of the Vice Presidents; and keep a regular account of the financial concerns of the Society, an abstract of which, with satisfactory vouchers, he shall exhibit at each annual meeting, and whenever called upon by the Board of Managers. He shall give such security for the faithful discharge of his trusts, as the Board may require. 5. To the Managers shall be confided all the concerns of the Society, with authority to establish courses of Lectures, to appoint Lectur ers, and fix the compensation, the time and the place; and in general to devise and execute such measures as may best promote the objects of the Association. 6. They shall exhibit the records of their proceedings at every meeting of the Society. They shall have power to fill vacancies in their Board from members of the Society, and to make by-laws for its government. VI. This Constitution may be altered at any meeting of the Society, provided that public notice of an intended change is given one week previous to the meeting, and that two thirds of the members present approve the alteration. Lyceum in Plymouth. [Through the kindness of a friend, we are enabled to present to our readers the following lecture on a very interesting and useful subject, delivered at the above institution, by the author of a recent publication embracing a more extensive treatise on the same topic.] Essay on the Honey Bee. THE science of natural history is eminently important to the civilized world, and ought to be duly appreciated and thoroughly understood. The study and pursuit of its various branches is fraught with instruction to mankind, evincing the subserviency of the products of nature to his will and industry. It is an interesting and laudable source of enjoyment, by which the mind is expanded, and the heart warmed and animated to a grateful contemplation of that Aimighty source from which all our blessings are derived. The science embraces the three kingdoms of nature, the animal, vegetable, and mineral; to all of which mankind are indebted for materials of indispensable utility to the arts and sciences. There are in the insect tribe four species which contribute essentially to our comfort and convenience. The honey bee produces a luxury for our table, and wax useful for various purposes in the arts. The silk worm spins a material for a fabric to adorn our persons. The cochineal affords a brilliant colouring drug, and the cantharis is appropriated to useful purposes in medicine. Who calls on rules the sightly hexagon to form: A cuuning architect, that at the roof Begins her golden work, and builds without foundation. How she toils! and still from bud to bud, from flower to flower, That rather pilfer, than your bread obtain By honest means like these, look here and learn How good, how fair, how honorable 't is To live by industry. The busy tribes of bees, So emulous, are daily fed with heav'ns peculiar manna, 'Tis for them, (unwearied alchymists.) the blooming world Nectareous gold distils; and bounteous heaven, Still to the diligent and active good, their very labour makes No one among the infinite variety in the insect tribe has been considered more deserving the attention of mankind than the little busy bee,' by some called the honeyfly. The study of its history and character is truly delightful to the mind that contemplates the mysterious operations of nature, and traces its wonderful phenomena up to nature's God. The natural history of the bee, has, from remote antiquity, arrested the attention of philosophers, divines, moralists, and the inquisitive mind of all denominations of men. We have the precept of the wise man, 'Go to the bee, thou sluggard, consider her ways and be wise.' The native instinct of these little insects, their uniform habits of industry and economy, their wisdom and sagacity, and the peaceful regularity which prevails in their communities, afford a subject most truly sublime and instructive, and which has in all ages been deemed a fertile source of admiration. In their native undomesticated state, bees resort for residence, to cavities in hollow trees, and to clifts of rocks in the mountains, where they congregate in communities, propagate and rear their progeny, and store up the produce of their labour as stock in common for winter subsistence. But mankind, coveting the produce of their labours, have reduced them to the condition of domesticated animals, and share with them in the luxury which could not be obtained from any other source. An immense multitude of bees are made subservient to the convenience of man, and are by him provided with tenements suited to their condition. There is no branch of husbandry, the cultivation of which furnishes for our table a more innocent and grateful luxury, than that of the bee, nor any part of natural history better calculated to raise our contemplations to that divine wisdom which creates and sustains the immense variety of species in animated nature. Among the ancients, the history and economy of these interesting insects engrossed the attention of such minds as Democritus, Aristotle, Columella, Varro, Virgil, and many others. In modern times a general taste for entomology has obtained; and the history of the bee has received the investigation of a host of naturalists of the highest authority, by whom the Apiarian science has been greatly improved and promoted. This insect, however diminutive, could not have existence but by the same Almighty power which created the leviathan of the deep, and the rhinoceros, and the lion of the eastern forest. It has been wisely ordained by the great author of all things, that the tribe of insects which live in congregated society, and some quad |