My next acquaintance was Professor Rogers, the head of the Technological Institute of Boston. A great deal has been spent by the city on the building in which this Institute is housed, and in providing it with an able staff of professors; and it has proved thoroughly well adapted to the teaching of all the different branches upon which it undertakes to give instruction. These are Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Mechanics, and Drawing, particularly as required by machinists, engineers, builders, and architects. Its objects are entirely practical; but it would be a gross mistake to depreciate them on that account. The knowledge imparted here is necessary for certain trades and professions; and it is better that this knowledge should be communicated well and correctly, than that it should be picked up imperfectly. It is better that those who carry on any business that is based on scientific principles should be familiar with its principles, than that they should go through life working merely by the rule of thumb. In the programme of the Institute Professor Rogers’s department is Physics; but in fact the Technological Institute is Professor Rogers, and Professor Rogers (for he is so devoted to it that it has become a part of himself) is the Technological Institute, plus a great deal that is good, and refined, and generous. [Sidenote: _Literary Society at Boston._] I spent an evening with Mr. Norton, the editor of the ‘North American Review.’ I was much pleased with all that I saw of Boston society, but this evening at Mr. Norton’s recurs to my recollection with especial distinctness. He, as the editor of the leading Review of the New World must for many years have had his finger on the literary pulse of America, and must know better than any other person what American writers can do, and what the American public appreciates. I was glad to hear that Mr. Norton contemplated spending twelve months in England with his family, though I regretted that he should find that a year of rest and of change of climate was necessary for him. It seemed to me, that both he and Professor Rogers were much overworked, and were also suffering from the withering aridity of the climate. A great part of the population of New England appears to be affected by the same cause—their vital organs are going through a process of desiccation. I trust that both these good and true workers in the literary society of Boston will before long be indebted for their restoration to health and strength to the moister and more merciful climate of the old country.