G.W.N.

On the Live Stock of Britain, France, &c.

Dupin, in a work lately published, 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.

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THE NOVELIST.

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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 excellent young man, her manners being as violent and bad as his were good and pleasing, insomuch that no man liked to think of an union with such an infuriate shrew.