Amongst the various afflictions which have been produced on nervous persons and young children, by being suddenly frightened, it is probably not generally known that loss of hearing is not one of the least unfrequent. In Mr. Curtis's new work on the Diseases of the Ear, two cases are related in which children were alarmed: in the one instance, by being put into a dark cellar by a servant, and in the other by being frightened by an elder sister; and in both of these cases the effect was such that total deafness ensued. The former case was attended with the loss of speech. These cases are mentioned to show the danger and impropriety of children being frightened by servants or others, as it is an evil the effects of which remain a long time, sometimes until death--not unfrequently producing fits, and a long train of diseases.--_From a Correspondent_. * * * * * AFRICAN EXPEDITION. The literary and scientific world will hear with much interest that two enterprising individuals, of the name of Colthurst and Tyrwhitt, gentlemen by birth and education, are about to proceed immediately to Africa at their own expense, with a view of exploring the interior of that country. Their intention is to proceed from Benin, on the western coast, through to Egypt, their object being to solve the problem of the mighty Nile. They have our best wishes for the success of so noble and spirited an enterprise.--_Times_. * * * * * RETROSPECTIVE GLEANINGS. * * * * * ANCIENT NAVY OF ENGLAND. History mentions a great fleet of Julius Caesar; a fleet of King Edgar, consisting of 3,600 sail; a fleet of Lewis, son to Philip King of France, of 600 sail, that arrived at Sandwich, to assist the English Barons against King John;--but those, doubtless, were but as so many cottages to castles, in respect of the present ships of war. Henry the Eighth, in the fifth year of his reign, built a ship, then accounted the greatest that had ever been seen in England, and named it Henry Grace de Dieu, or the Great Henry: it was of a thousand tons. In the eighth year of King James was built, by the Londoners, a ship of 1,200 tons, and called the Trades Increase; which being lost in the East Indies, King James caused another to be built, of 1,400 tons; which being given to Prince Henry, was by him named The Prince.