"Such is its power, that if a star of the first magnitude were removed to such a distance, that its light would be three millions of years in reaching us, this telescope would, nevertheless, show it to the human eye. Is it to be wondered at, then, that, with such an instrument, grand discoveries should be made? It has been pointed to the heavens; and, although in the beginning of its career, it has already accomplished mighty things. There are nebulous spots in the heavens which have baffled all the instruments hitherto constructed, but this telescope resolves their true character completely. Among the wonderful objects which have been subject to its scrutiny, is the nebula in the constellation of Orion. I have had an opportunity of examining it. It is one of the most curious objects in the whole heavens. It is not round, and it throws off furious lights. From the time of Herschel it has been subjected to the examination of the most powerful instruments--but it grew more and more mysterious and diverse in its character. When Lord Rosse's great telescope was directed to its examination, it for a long time resisted its power. He found it required patient examination--night after night, and month after month. At length, a pure atmosphere gave him the resolution of its constitution; and the stars of which it is composed burst upon the sight of man for the first time!" ------------------ ORIGIN OF REFLECTING LIGHTHOUSES. In the last century, at a meeting of a society of mathematicians at Liverpool, one of the members proposed to lay a wager, that he would read a paragraph of a newspaper, at ten yards' distance, with the light of a farthing candle. The wager was laid, and the proposer, having covered the inside of a wooden dish with pieces of looking-glass, fastened in with glaziers' putty, placed his reflector behind the candle, and won his wager. One of the company marked this experiment with a philosophic eye. This was Captain Hutchinson, the dockmaster, with whom originated the reflecting lighthouses, erected at Liverpool in 1763. ------------------ WASTE OF HUMAN LIFE. In 1825, there was opened in Cochin-China a canal, 23 miles long, 80 feet wide, and 12 feet deep. It was begun and finished in six weeks, although carried through large forests and over extensive marshes. Twenty thousand men worked upon it day and night; and it is stated that 7,000 died of fatigue. ------------------ LIFTING HEAVY PERSONS.