wrecked travelers on the wide world of night. Conscience, most terrible when dark and dreadful secrets roam through the troubled soul-moping in darkness that may be felt, even when the bright sun fills the earth with joy and gladness-even this restless monitor is allowed a respite from its untold toil; and the gnawing worm awhile lies dormant, as though tired of its daily task. Enter the condemned convict's cell at midnight, even his last mid The Steal softly to the couch of that doomed one, as he sleeps his last earthly sleep. What untold agony is suspended in that blessed unconsciousness. prison clock has announced the morning's first hour, but he still sleeps. The warning voice of time again and again speaks out, but he wakes not yet. Without, there is a hum of many voices, and a perpetual noise of footsteps-it is the approach of mortals more sleepless than the murderer, gathering to witness his disgrace and agony. How the crowd thickens. The noise grows louder and louder, and jesting and vulgar joy have pervaded the dense mass. But still the poor helpless sinner sleeps, and the broad light of day has penetrated his cell ere he awakes, for the last time, to ponder over the future. From Colburn's New Monthly Magazine. THE AQUEDUCT O F SEGOVIA. FROM THE GERMAN OF ROSALIE KOCH. arches there is one single stone wanting, and the legend relates, that the hand of man can not succeed in filling up this gap. The whole construction of this splendid aqueduct marks so stupendous a conception, that in former times it was looked upon as a work of supernatural power. It has defied for two thousand years the ravages of time, and from generation to generation the following legend of its origin has been handed down: SEGOVIA, a rather important town in | bastian. In the last of these enormous Spain, is remarkable for an aqueduct, 200 feet high, and 2535 feet long, entirely built of black granite, the blocks of which are firmly bound together, as if for eternity, although without mortar and cement. The spring which supplies this aqueduct with water takes its source in the mountains of Fuenfria, situated rather more than three hours' drive from the town. From this distance, considerable though it be, the pillars and arches begin, rising higher and higher, until, towering far above the gable-ends of the houses and the hill of Segovia, they at length offer their refreshing gift to the inhabitants of the town upon the great square of St. Se There lived once at Segovia a pious old clergyman, who had adopted and brought up in his house the daughter of an unfortunate sister of his, who had been long dead. Martha had to attend to the house hold affairs, the kitchen and the washing, | ashamed of herself; "one ought not to and to do every thing herself without the jest on such subjects. Who could the assistance of a maid-servant; for the good strange gentleman have been? I wonder priest shared his slender income so liberal- if he has called to see my uncle?" ly with the poor, that he was obliged to be as economical as possible in his own home. She was about to take up her pitcher, and set off along the well-known road, but she started on perceiving that the jugs were already filled to the brim with pure, clear water. "Lord of Heaven!" cried she, in great anxiety, "if that man really were the prince of hell, and I have promised him my soul merely because I was too lazy to do my duty! What have I done, thoughtless being that I am!" And she hid her face in her hands, and wept bitterly. In those times there was not a single spring in Segovia, and the inhabitants were forced to take a two hours' walk in order to fetch water into town. This was a great task to Martha; for, notwithstanding the fatigues of a day spent in active employment, she had every evening to wend her weary way to the mountains of Fuenfria, with one pitcher upon her head, and the other under her arm, to bring In the anguish of her heart she related water for the following day's use. Never- the matter to her uncle. He was shocked theless, she liked to have her room always in the extreme. At length, however, he clean, and to have the neckhandkerchiefs said: and collars of the worthy pastor beautifully washed. One evening, after a warm and fatiguing day, Martha was particularly impatient and dejected at this task. "Ah!" said she, thoughtlessly, "I would give my very soul if I had not to run so far every day to fill those pitchers afresh with water." "Done! Agreed!" suddenly exclaimed a finely-toned voice behind her. She started, and, on looking round, she beheld an elegantly-dressed gentleman, smiling as he contemplated her. The last rays of the evening sun beamed through the small window in the kitchen, and poor Martha fancied that the velvet mantle of the stranger shone blood-red. "Take courage, your thoughtlessness shall not draw you into the power of the wicked one! Pray to God for help, and forgiveness of the sin which you have committed, unfortunate girl! Then with a loud voice summon into your presence the Prince of Darkness. I shall remain near you, and support you!" With fear and trembling Martha did as the old man commanded her, and immediately the stranger appeared in the middle of the room; but this time he was not dressed in silks and velvets, nor had he a sword by his side; he looked rather like a bricklayer, and held a spade in his hand. "What do you want with me ?" asked he, impatiently; "I have fulfilled your wish, and need not serve you further." She was at first terrified at the unexpected appearance of a gentleman, not being able to understand how he could have come there; but as her visitor had no-said, in a solemn tone: thing terrible about him, and wore a hat and sword like a cavalier of rank, she took courage and said, smiling, "Yes, so be it, if these pitchers are filled with spring water, without my having to move them from this spot. I am much too tired today!" The pastor at this moment stepped forward from the shadow of the door, and "I have a word to speak to you, for the soul of this child, which you seek to win, is confided to me. Who has given you power over her?” "Herself!" answered the stranger, severely. "She is still young, and has no will of her own yet," declared the pastor. "Not at all," was the sneering reply; "the girl has had teaching and religious instruction enough, and knows right well the meaning of what you term sin." The good old man shuddered, and made the sign of the cross, but the fiend continued unmoved: "Come what may, she now belongs to me. She will either keep her word, and then I shall take her soul for the service | which I have rendered her in saving her unpleasant trouble; or she will break her word, in which case she will as assuredly fall into my power, for she will have told a falsehood, and will therefore be condemned. You who are a priest must certainly know that lying is a great sin." The pastor became very uneasy at these words, for he could not help thinking that the devil was right. Still he would not let him have the soul of the unhappy girl; she should not be lost to her rightful Lord and Master; and in his grief he began to pray aloud. This seemed little to please Satan, for after reflecting a short while, he said: "You must admit that my right to your niece is well founded, and that I can insist upon the contract without further conditions; but to show myself amiable toward you, and that you may see that I am not so bad as people say I am, I will render you another service still, and bring the water from the mountain of Fuenfria even to your door.” "And how long shall the water flow?" demanded the man of God, listening eagerly. "As long as one stone of Segovia stands upon the other. But it is a great and difficult undertaking, and I require time to accomplish it! Shall the soul of the young damsel belong to me after I have achieved this vast work?" Martha was frightened to death when she heard these words; she knew that the pious old man had never yet broken his word. She therefore stole softly up to him, and clasped her hands in supplication. He whispered to her to be comforted, and to step into the next chamber, and put back the clock a whole hour. Martha slipped out quickly, and after obeying the pastor's commands, she fell upon her knees in the little chamber, illuminated by the bright moonlight, and prayed God fervently to pardon her criminal folly, and save her from the power of the Evil One. "Well! the matter is now settled be. tween us," exclaimed the stranger in the inner room. "In three days, Segovia shall have water in abundance." "No, not in three days, but in three hours," answered the clergyman, decidedly. If the work be not finished before sunrise our bargain is at an end." "Impossible!" cried Satan. "Are you not aware that it is already late?" "The clock is just striking midnight," said the man of God, and the large clock in the next room struck twelve full strokes. "I only agree on this condition." "Midnight already!" muttered Satan. "The sun rises about ten minutes to three! Ah! I have not a moment to lose. I require one hour to detach the granite from the rock, thirty minutes to cut the stone in pieces, and to convey it to the spot; the rest of the work is to sketch the plan, that will take also an hour, and twenty minutes suffices to execute it. Well, it shall be done; but remember, an honest man is as good as his word!" "An honest man is as good as his word!" answered the old pastor, calmly, notwithstanding his face was deadly pale, and cold drops of perspiration ran down his temples. The mysterious guest immediately vanished. Martha knelt in prayer in the small chamber; the aged priest supplicat ed before the picture of the Saviour of sinful mankind. When the sun rose on the edge of the horizon, and the inhabitants of Segovia one after another awoke from their slumbers, they beheld, with as much joy as astonishment, a miraculous work. The aqueduct was completed all to one stone, which was wanting in the last arch; for, as the mysterious architect had just taken the last stone in his hand to fill up the gap, the glorious sun made its appearance above the gray edge of the horizon. One moment later, and the victory had been his; but the Almighty had graciously listened to the fervent prayers of the two supplicants. Martha's soul was saved! S LOUIS AGASSIZ. Ar the head of our present number, and beautifully embellishing it, stands the very truthful portrait and striking likeness of Professor Agassiz, which we are sure will be very gratifying and acceptable to all our literary and scientific readers. It was photographed and engraved while the letter-press of this number was being printed. The skill and accuracy of the artist, Mr. Sartain, in its execution, will be very manifest to all who are familiar with his speaking countenance and the almost playful smile which seems hovering about his lips. We subjoin a brief biographical notice chiefly as we find it in printed form. Louis Agassiz, one of the most eminent naturalists of the present day, was born May 28th, 1807, at Orbe, in the Pays de Vaud, in Switzerland, where his father was a clergyman. He received his education successively at the Gymnasium of Biel, the Academy of Lausanne, and the Universities of Zurich, Heidelberg, and Munich; in which last institution he took his doctor's degree. From his youth upward, he exhibited a passion for the study of nature. At Heidelberg and Munich his attention was chiefly occupied with the subject of comparative anatomy, and, at the latter place, Martius, on the death of Spix, who had accompanied him to Brazil, intrusted, in 1826, to Agassiz the description of one hundred and sixteen species of fishes from among those which are the fruits of his journey; many of them belonging to genera altogether new. He was for many years Professor of Natural History at Neufchâtel. "About the year 1847, he accepted an invitation to become professor at Harvard University, and he is now Professor of Natural History at Cambridge, Mass. His public career as a naturalist dates from 1828, in which year he published descriptions of two new fishes in the 'Isis' and 'Linnæ,' two foreign periodicals devoted to natural history. In 1829, he assisted Spix and Martius in describing the genera and species of fish found in the Brazils. In the same year also, we find the great transcendental anatomist, Oken, bringing Agassiz's discoveries before the Berlin meeting of German naturalists. From this time till now, his publications upon various departments of ichthyology have been constant and most important. Amongst the most valuable of these contributions to the knowledge of fishes, may be reckoned his researches upon fossil fishes. The results of these researches have been published in various forms in the natural history journals of the day, and in the transactions of scientific societies. The most important of these labors have been directed to the strata of Great Britain, so many of which are rich in the remains of fishes belonging to the past periods of the world's history. In 1834, he published a paper on the Fossil Fish of Scotland,' in the Transactions of the British Association for the Advancement of Science.' Since that time, he has published several valuable papers in the same transactions. In 1843, appeared in the same place his 'Synoptical Table of British Fishes,' arranged in the order of the geological formations. In the volume for 1842, a report appeared on the 'Fishes of the Old Red-Sandstone,' and in 1844, a report upon those found in the London clay. Agassiz was the first to propose the division of fossil fishes according to the forms of their scales, and has thus placed in the hands of the paleontologist a ready means of distinguishing, by their scales alone, fishes belonging to the Cartilaginous and Osseous tribes. His papers on this subject will be found in the 13th and 14th volumes of the second series of the 'Annales des Sciences Naturelles,' in the 'Comptes Rendus' for 1840, and in the 28th volume of the Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal.' His researches have not, however, been confined to fossil fishes; and numerous papers scattered through the scientific periodicals of Europe and America attest his knowledge of recent as well as fossil forms. "Another family, in both their recent and fossil forms, has attracted the attention of Agassiz, and these are the Star Fishes, or Echinodermata. His researches | ject are numerous, and will be found in upon this family have resulted in a great the Transactions of the British Associawork containing illustrative figures, enti- tion' for 1840, in the third volume of the tled 'Monographes d'Echinodermes Vi-Proceedings of the Geological Society,' vans et Fossiles,' and published in parts, in the eighteenth volume of the Philosofrom 1837 to 1842. Several papers on phical Magazine,' (third series,) and in this family attest the zeal and care with the sixth volume of the 'Annals and Mawhich he has studied these animals, which gazine of Natural History.' have, through successive periods of time, played an important part amongst the organic beings of the globe. "Although the attention of Professor Agassiz has been chiefly directed to objects not requiring microscopic investigation, he has successfully investigated many of the forms of Infusoria, which are only seen by means of this instrument. He was not only one of the earliest to confirm Mr. Shuttleworth's curious discovery of the existence of animalcules among the red snow of the Alps, but also to point out the existence of higher forms of animal life (such as the Rotifera) than had been suspected by that observer. In some recent researches upon the habits and structure of animalcules, he has even proposed to abolish the class of Infusoria altogether, endeavoring to show that all these beings may be placed amongst the Polypifera, Rhizopoda, plants, and ova of higher animals. "His researches upon fossil animals would naturally draw his attention to the circumstances by which they have been placed in their present position. The geologist has been developed as the result of natural history studies. Surrounded by the ice-covered mountains of Switzerland, his mind naturally was led to the study of the phenomena which they presented. The moving glaciers, and their resulting morains, furnished him with facts which seemed to supply the theory of a large number of phenomena in the past history of the world. He saw in other parts of the world, whence glaciers have long since retired, proofs of their existence in the parallel roads and terraces, at the bases of hills and mountains, and in the scratched, polished, and striated surfaces of rocks. Although this theory has been applied much more extensively than is consistent with all the facts of particular cases by his disciples, there is no question in the minds of the most competent geologists of the present day, that Agassiz has, by his researches on this subject, pointed out the cause of a large series of geological phenomena. His papers on this sub "In his writings, Professor Agassiz shows a strong tendency to generalization; and if a suspicion has grown up of the unsoundness of his views in certain departments of natural history inquiry, it has arisen from this peculiar mental disposition. He has embraced the doctrine of the successive creation of higher organized beings upon the face of the earth, and a paper of his on this subject will be found in the thirty-third volume of the Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal.' A more detailed account of his views on this subject will be found in the 'Outlines of Comparative Physiology,' written by Professor Agassiz in conjunction with Mr. A. A. Gould. This work, originally published in America, has been republished in England, with notes and additions by Dr. T. Wright. It is unnecessary to say here that these views have upholders and opponents in England. Amongst the most distinguished of the former are Professor Owen and Professor Sedgwick, whilst the latter number amongst them the late Professor Edward Forbes and Sir Charles Lyell. Both parties are equally opposed to the theory of organic development, as proposed in an anonymous work called The Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation.' Professor Agassiz has written in this controversy with great sagacity, and brought his researches on the 'Embryology of the Salmonida' to bear upon the argument. This work was published at Neufchâtel, in 1842. "Amidst all his original labors, Professor Agassiz has found time to devote himself to the general literature of natural history. In 1842, he published his 'Nomenclator Zoologicus,' which contains the systematic names of the genera of animals, both living and fossil, with references to the authors and the books in which they are described. He also laid the foundations of the great work entitled 'Bibliographia Zoologiæ et Geologiæ,' which has been published in England, edited by the late Hugh E. Strickland and Sir W. Jardine, Bart., in the series of works issued by the Ray Society. It consists of four |