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is propagated by fresh nuts buried about six inches in a warm bed. When the shoots appear, they are carefully taken up, and planted in separate tubs, where they are permitted to remain. As the roots shoot deep and wide, the cocoa-nut palm will not bear transplanting when it becomes older.

NOTES FOR THE BLACK Board.

I. THE COCOA-NUT WITH ITS HUSK is the fruit of a palm, called the cocoa-nut palm.

II. CHARACTER OF THE PLANT.--Sixty to ninety feet high. Branches or fronds, about fifty in number, in a head at the top of the stem. Each cluster of flowers is succeeded by ten or twelve nuts. The veins of the leaves are simple, petals threecharacters of endogens.

III. PLACES WHERE FOUND. Within the tropics. East and West Indies.
IV. PARTS AND PRODUCTS-

(a) Husk. Brushes, beds, mats, sail-cloth, cables.

Nut.Shell.

(b) Kernel.

Ovate. Three holes at the base. Drinking vessels made of it.
Yields milk, oil, candles.

{When unripe, like cream.

(c) Sap. Toddy. Toddy-drawers. Arrack. Sugar.
(d) Stem. Huts, drums, cradles, gutters and boats.
(e) Leaves. For thatching.
Yield much potash.

For writing on.

(f) Flowers and Young Plant. V. PROPAGATION IN ENGLAND. only when young.

Oars and fences made of them.

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N.B. Recapitulate the items of information from these notes.
Stoke Newington.

LESSON FOR A SENIOR CLASS.

THE GULF STREAM.

E.

INTRODUCTION.-Almost every part of the ocean is more or less in motion: large bodies of water in motion on land are called rivers; in the ocean they are called currents. Of all the currents of the ocean, the most remarkable is that which flows through the Strait of Florida, along the shores of the United States, and thence towards Europe. From its source, it is named the Gulf Stream.

DESCRIPTION.(1) Course.-Commencing between Bahia Honda and the Tortugas Islands, it flows due E. to Punta de Ycacas; here the bank of Cuba deflects it N. E., so as to pass Sal Cay and strike against the Bahama banks, which with the Florida peninsula conducts it due N.; in this direction it reaches Charlestown, where banks deflect it N. E. to Cape Hatteras. From here it describes a large circular sweep across the Atlantic to the Azores, and is dispersed over the ocean.

(2) Extent.-About 3,000 miles long: width varying-in the narrowest part of the Strait of Florida, 36 miles; having been left free in the open Atlantic, it has acquired a width of 75 miles at Cape Hatteras, and from thence its breadth gradually increases to nearly 200 miles. Its warm water extends much beyond what may be considered the stream, as, for instance, to Newfoundland and Spain.

(3) Velocity.—Greatest, near four miles an hour. Where and why? As it expands, the speed gradually decreases till it is imperceptible.

(4) Temperature.-In the first half, 124° above the surrounding ocean; in latter, 71°. The reason is, that its waters have been accumulating heat throughout the equatorial current, the Caribbean Sea, and the Gulf. The effects are, the prevalence of vapours on its surface to restore equilibrium between the elements; sudden

variations in the temperature of the Central States of the American Union, according as the winds bring the air from the arctic regions, or from the region of the stream; and the moderation of our own climate in the winter.

USE. In navigation, little sailing in it vessels reach Europe about five days sooner than they would out of it; but the loss in the wear and tear of the ship by the gales which sometimes oppose the current, is greater than the gain. After passing Maternillo Bank, the navigator, therefore, for the most part avoids it. Why does he not avoid the Strait also? Could he? Why? It is also one of Nature's provisions to prevent putrefaction in the sea-a use common to all currents.

CAUSE OR EXPLANATION.-(1) The Trade Winds. Every one has seen two currents produced in a cup of coffee by blowing across the centre. Most will have noticed the little waves on a pond rolling to the leeward when the wind blows: on the same pond a more careful observer might have seen that the waters were very slightly elevated in the same direction. Waters in this way accumulate towards the Straits of Dover from the Channel; even so much as to be considered as one of the causes why the low parts of London are sometimes inundated. This, of course, only takes place with a south-west wind. Now, the Trade Winds blow constantly and with great power across the Atlantic, westward. What will be the consequence?

(2) Inertia of the Ocean.—If a vessel of water be placed before the class, and it be suddenly moved, the water will be elevated in that part of it opposite in direction to the motion. It is evident that this elevation is in proportion to the velocity; and that were the motion continued, the elevation would, though not to the same extent as at first, also continue. This is owing to a well-known law in physics-viz., the law of inertia-that matter at rest resists all forces tending to move it, and matter in motion resists all forces tending to increase, retard, destroy, or change the direction of that motion.* Other instances? (Backward tendency of water from a twirling mop, of sparks from a wheel-rocket.) This property is sometimes called a force, and is found in every substance, solids and fluids; and operates in the Atlantic as well as in the vessel before us-in the air as in the sea-on the mountain as in both; and the motion of the earth round its axis exemplifies its influence. Which way does the earth turn? Which way, then, will the ocean and the air which rest upon it absolutely turn?

But the property of the water (matter), inertia, will tend to destroy some of this motion; and the ocean not being fixed immoveably to the earth like a mountain, or confined by the land, this property will actually destroy some of it.

Which, then,

will revolve the faster, the land or the water? The consequence? A relative motion opposite to the earth's: i. e., westward. This is the only one of the two motions of the water which we perceive.

(3) Conformation of the American Coast.-This is the particular cause of the Gulf Stream: how, must be elicited from the class :-If there were no America, what would become of the current? If America presented a straight front, what then? As it is, the equatorial current is turned by the land, with all its force, into the Caribbean Sea, and ultimately the Gulf of Mexico.

Hence we have winds, inertia, and the coast combining to raise the level of the waters in the Gulf of Mexico; and we have two sources of power to give the stream the great volocity which it has in the Strait: viz., Momentum and Pressure from Elevation. J. B.

We do not deem it necessary to carry this cause any further in this lesson; or the question naturally suggests itself here, Why has not the ocean-there being no friction to retard it, except that of the winds already mentioned-acquired, after the lapse of ages, the same velocity as the denser parts of the globe? The answer is, that the waters coming from the poles and from around Capes Horn and Good Hope are subject to a motion of less velocity by the rotation of the earth, than when they arrive nearer the equator: hence the cause of their motion westward is their resistance to the change of motion in degree and direction, Thus we might trace the reasons to their original sources.

THE TEACHER'S WORK.

"Who that has experience of children will not have observed how wonderfully they reproduce the characters of those with whom they have lived; and how they retain in manhood the impressions of their childhood and their youth. By nature they are imitative.

"Coming into the world more helpless than any other living beings born into it, with instincts of the lowest order, and with everything to learn, they are made imitative. They are destined to form themselves upon the models to whom God has entrusted the responsibility of their nurture, and to be shaped by the circumstances which surround them; and not more certainly does the metal take the form of the mould into which it is poured, than the child receives and retains the impressions of its early years. It can never be the same in manhood as it would have been under other circumstances, and with a different nurture.

"The children in your schools cannot be the same men and women as they would have been if you had not been their teachers. It is impossible that they should grow up to be the same men and women as they would have been if, in those schools, they had had other examples than yours placed before them; if they had had other guidance than yours; if they had listened to other precepts than yours.

"How constantly do we thus find-nay, how invariably-of those who are pillars in the Church, whose influence and example are blessings to the community, and who are the support and stay of society, that they have been nurtured in some pious household, gathered instruction round the knees of some wise and godly parent, or formed themselves on the bright example of some earnest, dedicated, and faithful teacher; in short, that the way in which they walked, when they became men and women, was the way in which they had been trained to walk as children? And what a school of Christian discipline is this to the teacher himself! To know that to whatever extent he may himself be enabled to walk in the path in which he desires that, when they grow up, the children of his school should walk, he will to that extent be training them to walk in that path, and that when they are old they will not depart from it. My friends, if there be any path of life in which a man has advantages for walking heavenward, it is that in which it is his duty to lead children. If there be any condition of life favourable to the growth of Christian graces and holy affections in the heart of man, it is that of a teacher. This life is spent amongst those of whom our Lord spake when, having called unto him a little child, and set him in the midst of His disciples, He said, 'Verily, I say unto you, except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.'"-From a Lecture addressed to the Metropolitan Association of Church Schoolmasters, by the Rev. Canon Mosely, M.A.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR.

SIR,-Should your limited space allow, perhaps a short account of the proceedings of the " Elementary Teachers' Association" may be useful to those readers of the "Record" who are interested in the objects of such societies. I think, no one will question the value of Teacher's Associations after the admirable letter of "W. R. B." in the last "Record," who has evidently exercised much thought upon the subject, and deserves the thanks of teachers for his letter, and the Editor of the "Record" for the insertion.

Your readers will perceive by the "Agenda" inserted in the last number, that the Elementary Teachers' Association strives for the practical, rather than the theoretical, as we have found by experience that we are more benefited as teachers by what can be done, than by what can be said. We employ our monthly meetings in actual teaching, friendly discussions, and the reading of papers upon educational subjects. Our teaching includes an analysis of a reading from the Third Book, and a collective lesson upon some

common object. Our discussions are conducted with much spirit, and are often fraught with much that is valuable both in remark and suggestion. Our essays are very useful, inasmuch as we are compelled to compress our matter in consequence of limited time.

I should have liked to insert a sketch of an admirable analysis given by our president, Mr. Langton, but I must not presume upon your space. Suffice it to say, that he successfully showed how to conduct a reading lesson so as to develop style, and that it was possible to cultivate a taste in the children for good reading, without burdening them with technical rules. The analysis was equally valuable, and highly suggestive to those who look upon this subject as something more than an irregular fire of questions upon the subject of the lesson.

The following is a black-board sketch

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DEPOSITORY.-RECENT PUBLICATIONS.

POETRY AND PROSE: being a Supplement to Daily Lesson Book. No. III.This volume consists-I. Of a few concise lessons on the art of reading, accompanied with exercises on inflection, aspirates, expression, &c. II. Of a large number of poetical selections, chronologically arranged, including choice extracts from the principal poets, from Chaucer to Longfellow, each extract being prefaced by the dates of the author's birth and death, and a list of his principal works. III. Of a series of prose readings, comprising passages from Bacon, Addison, Professor Wilson, and other writers noted for the purity of their English style. The book is designed to occupy an intermediate place in relation to the Third and Fourth Book of the series. The extracts, like those of the Third Book, are specially intended to improve and refine the taste, and to serve as the basis of sound and practical moral lessons. But they are much longer, extending in several cases over two or three pages, and are adapted for pupils somewhat more advanced.

THE SCIENCE OF ARITHMETIC. By JAMES CORNWELL, PH.D., and JOSHUA G. FITCH, M.A.-This volume comprises all the ordinary rules of arithmetic, from the simplest exercises in notation to the theory of logarithms and its application to the solution of questions in compound interest and annuities; with abundant examples of a practical and commercial character. But it has been chiefly designed as a handbook of the principles of arithmetic. All the fundamental truths or axioms on which the rules depend, are systematically arranged, printed in italics, illustrated by numerical examples, and concisely expressed in a symbolical form. A large number of exercises and questions have been added, with especial view to test the pupil's knowledge of the theory of arithmetic. The work is intended to meet the wants of the higher classes in schools, and to assist teachers in giving a more disciplinal and scientific character to their instructions on this important subject.

THE RELATIVE IMPORTANCE OF THE SUBJECTS TAUGHT IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. By JOSHUA G. FITCH, M.A., Vice-principal of the Training College, Borough Road. This lecture has already appeared in "The Record," but has been reprinted in a separate form at the request of many teachers.

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

We intend in future to devote a larger proportion of our space to the communications of teachers on practical subjects connected with school work. Masters and mistresses of British Schools are invited especially to forward us any accounts of changes in their plans, or of facts which come within the range of their own experience, and are likely to be interesting to their fellow-teachers. "THE RECORD " has been enlarged to its present size with a view to give room for the insertion of such communications; and they will, therefore, always be very welcome in future. Teachers of the Society's schools, who may change their residence, are requested to forward information of such change to the Resident Superintendent at the Institution.

A collection of specimens of natural productions and objects illustrative of manufacturing processes is in course of formation, for the use of students in the Normal College, in the Borough Road. Any contributions to such a collection, from friends of the Society in the mining and manufacturing districts, will, if addressed to the Resident Superintendent at the Institution, be exceedingly acceptable.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN SCHOOL SOCIETY.

LEGACIES, AND NEW ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTIONS AND DONATIONS.
From September 1st, 1854, to November 30th, 1854.

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Remittances from Auxiliary Societies and Corresponding Committees, &c., from
September 1st, 1854, to November 30th, 1854.

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Subscriptions and Donations will be thankfully received by SAMUEL GURNEY, ESQ, Treasurer, 65, Lombard-street; Messrs. HANBURYS and Co., Bankers to the Society, 60, Lombard-street; and at the Society's House, Borough-road.

Printed by JACOB UNWIN, of No. 8, Grove Place, in the Parish of St. John, Hackney, in the County of Middlesex, at his Printing Office, 31. Bucklersbury, in the Parish of St. Stephen, Walbrook, in the City of London: and Published by PARTRIDGE, OAKEY, & Co.. 34, Paternoster Row, in the Parish of St.-Faith-under-St.-Paul's, in the City of London.- MONDAY, JANUARY 1, 1855.

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