One would naturally,be led to imagine that when the high spirit of Italy began to be felt in the world, and the design of Florence, the outline of Rome, and the coloring of Venice were the words by which the progress of painting was known, that an exalted taste for the art would have been formed in France, whose inhabitants, ever eminent for their ingenuity, were on terms of familiar intercourse with the nations of Italy. Such however does not appear to have been the fact; and the French school of painting, without possessing any distinctive character, has fluctuated from master to master, according to the person who happened to be in fashion at the time.

The earliest practice of the art, that seems to have been exercised in France, was in the decoration of their church windows with portraits, armorial bearings, and subjects of sacred history, stained in brilliant colors in the glass, or enameled on copper for the vessels of the altar. The most ancient are done in black and white, simply representing scriptural subjects curiously executed; many of them are remarkable, not only for extreme delicacy of workmanship, but as interesting compositions, descriptive of the state of art in the early ages, and of the manner and history of the times, of which they are, in ‘general, representations. The art continued to improve, and towards the commencement of the fourteenth century had attained great perfection, and actually possessed many of the qualities of good painting.

The stomach is a membranous sac, in form, when distended, not unlike a bagpipe. The stomach is much larger towards the left side than towards the right. It has two orifices, one towards its left side, where the esophagus or gullet enters, called the cardia, and another towards the right, called the pylorus, which opens into the intestines. The great extremity of the stomach is situated in the left side of the abdomen, and for the most part immediately under the diaphragm; the left orifice is almost opposite to, and very near the middle of the bodies of the lowest vertebra of the back. The small extremity of the stomach does not reach fully to the right side of the abdomen, but ends obliquely backward towards the other orifice, so that the pylorus lies about two fingers’ breadth from the body of the vertebra, immediately under the small portion of the liver, and consequently lower down and more forward than the cardia. The stomach is connected to the omentum, and by means of the omentum, on the left side, to the spleen.

The orifices of the stomach are placed in the recesses on each side of the spine, to which the body of the stomach is closely applied, so as, in a manner, to be beat around it. The orifices of the stomach are therefore placed further back than its body, and also a little higher, though when the stomach is distended, its body rises nearly to a level with its orifices. The body of the stomach is distinguished into two curvatures; the concave surface, which is applied around the spine, is called the lesser curvature, and that which is convex, and is turned forwards and downwards, the greater.

This is an American grape, a native of Dorchester, South-Carolina, and was introduced to this state by Mrs. Isabella Gibbs, the lady of George Gibbs, Esq., of St. Augustine, who then resided at Brooklyn, Long Island, and, in honor of that lady, has been called Isabella Grape. It is a dark purple fruit, of a large size, oval form, and juicy, and equals some of the European wine grapes; and, lor vigor of growth, and an abundant yield, exceeds any other yot cultivated in this country, and requires no protection during the winter season. General Joseph Swift, of New-York, informed me, that a single vine in his garden produced above eight bushels during several successive seasons.

This grape promises to take an important stand in this country for the purpose of making wine, as it possesses all the requisites to insure success in making wine of a fair quality, or for making brandy equal to that of France. I have made wine from it which tar excels any American wines I have ever yet tasted, and which has met the same decision from some of the most accurate judges in our country. Indeed, this grape, of which but a single vine existed in any garden in 1816, and which I, at that time, met with in the possession of the gentleman before mentioned, and deemed worthy of notice and a name, has now become disseminated to the remotest parts of the Union, and been sent to a number of the countries of Europe.

The best hunters, perhaps, in the kingdom, come out of Yorkshire, especially the East Riding; a few remarks on their management, therefore, may be interesting and useful.

The first essential for breeding sound “blood” horses is to have a regularly kept stud of brood mares, whose duties shall be simply confined to the breeding. These should be carefully selected both for form and blood, and as they have no other duty to perform, they should be chosen and retained with a view to that alone. The second essential required is a dry and bracing but not bleak atmosphere, with the paddocks thoroughly under-drained. The third essential is, that the stables and boxes are well arranged, both as to aspect and ventilation. Counties where the atmosphere is moist, and where fogs prevail, are altogether unfit for a breeding stud.

As a general rule, any gentleman commencing a breeding establishment, will avail himself of such accommodation as he possesses, but it will generally happen that a trifling alteration, made with judgment, will improve the existing arrangements. The buildings of a breeding-farm should be surrounded with small paddocks, lying, if possible, to the south of the stables, so as to secure a southern exposure. The paddocks, being chiefly required for exercise, need not be large, but they should be free from holes, and the fences should be of such a description as to render accidents impossible. The buildings, whether boxes or hovels, should be perfectly dry and well ventilated; the doors should be four feet wide, and so formed as to prevent mares in foal from injuring themselves,—rollers on each door-cheek, covered with canvas, is a useful precaution here.

This school is not materially distinguished from the preceding, though its pupils seem to have carried to a still greater extent than the Flemish, the principle of taking nature as they found her, without much regard to selection or embellishment. Far from excelling in the beauty of heads and forms, they seem to delight in the exact imitation of the lowest and most ignoble; and we frequently find the scenes of their pictures laid in taverns, workshops, and watch houses. They are fond of representing the rustic revels of villagers; their pictures are crowded with figures, just as they happen to come; the expressions of their heads are sufficiently marked, but it is the expression of passions which debase instead of ennobling human nature.

It must be acknowledged, at the same time, that the Dutch painters have succeeded in several branches of the art, and, if they have chosen low subjects of imitation, they have represented them with great exactness; and truth must always please.

The Dutch artists challenge the praise of extreme neatness of execution and beauty of finish, and understand well the gradation of colors. If they have not succeeded in the most difficult parts of the chiaro-scuro, they at least excel in the most striking, such as, light confined in a narrow space, night illuminated by the moon or by torches, and the fire of a black smith’s forge. They have likewise distinguished themselves by the representation of perspective, of clouds and sky, of marine subjects, animals, fruit, flowers, and insects; they excel in miniature painting; and, in short, everything which requires a faithful imitation, color, and a delicate handling, is well executed by the Dutch painters.

The hair is composed of two parts, a root and a tube or stem filled with a pulpy matter. The root is of an oval form, and composed of a soft pulp, enclosed in a semi-transparent bag, open at the lower end, to receive nerves and blood-vessels, and at the upper, to give exit to the hair. The root is fixed in the inner or true skin, by which it is nourished by the blood and other fluids. The roots of the hair exist in great abundance over the whole body, and what is remarkable, in every individual, many more roots exist than have hairs growing from them; hence, hairs often appear on the noseband ears in men, .where none generally exist, and on the arms and face in women.

The roots of the hair are destroyed by diseases, or ulcers, which affect the organization of the cutis. The hairs do not rise perpendicularly from their roots, but pass, very obliquely, through the two outer coats of the skin. This fact explains the direction and flat position of the hair on the eyebrows and head, the reason why they are pulled out with such difficulty, and the uneasy, and even painful sensation, occasioned by combing the hair in a direction contrary to that in which it passes through the cuticle. Each hair is formed of ten or twelve smaller hairs, which unite at the root, and form a hollow tube, somewhat like a very fine stalk of grass, and also, like some kinds of grass jointed at intervals.

Of all the fruits cultivated in the United States there is none more generally esteemed than the grape; yet, in the middle and northern states, this fruit is seldom met with in perfection except in cities. The Proprietor having attended particularly to the cultivation of the grape for twenty years past, can confidently assure those who wish to have this fruit in perfection, that they may depend on their vines producing well if they will attend to the following directions; for although a season may sometimes occur when the cold and wet will retard the ripening of the fruit, yet even in the worst seasons a tolerable crop may be calculated on.

There are two causes why the cultivation of the vine has not been successful throughout the country, attention to which is indispensably necessary : the first is, the proper selection of those kinds which are suitable to the respective climates, and which in this latitude should come to perfection by the middle or end of September; the second is, they want of attention to the culture requisite for ripening the wood, which in cities is effected by the dry warm air with, little or no care, but in the country requires art and attention to produce the desired effect. I have, therefore, given the following list of grapes, with brief descriptions of their qualities, &c. followed by a general comment on the culture and properties of the vine, which I hope may be considered as useful to those not fully conversant with the subject.

Breeding horses is carried on with one of three objects, by the fanner and professional dealer for purposes of profit, by noblemen and gentlemen of property to replenish their private stud, and keep up the breed of horses in their respective localities, and by the farmer and private gentleman from the circumstance of their possessing a mare

which is a favorite, and whose race they wish to perpetuate, or one for whom there is no employment, and they take the chance of her dropping a valuable foal; or, what is still more usual, she has had an accident, and they wish to make the most of her, without giving much attention to her fitness for the purposes of propagation. We shall endeavor to throw together a few practical instructions for the benefit of each of these classes. The first portion of our remarks will apply to each of these classes of breeders, the latter portion more particularly to the breeders of blood stock and hunters.

There are no specific rules for the breeding of horses which apply to that class of animals alone—at least so far as is generally at present understood. One and the same great principles apply to the horse, the cow, the sheep, and the pig,—only the object in breeding the one is essentially different from that of the other. The sheep and the pig must be bred to feed—the cow to feed or to milk; but the horse must be bred to goor pull. Hence, while the organs of nutrition and re-action are sought for in the former class of animals, those of respiration and locomotion are those most desired in the latter.

He received his first instructions from a painter at Nuremberg, after which he became a disciple of Ermels, a landscape painter, whose manner he followed, though he did not neglect the study of nature. In search of improvement he traveled into Italy, but the climate not agreeing with his constitution, he returned to Switzerland, where, amid the infinite variety it affords of plains and mountains, rocks and precipices, water-falls and rivers, he furnished himself with subjects for compositions. Being indefatigable in surveying the beauty, wildness and magnificence of nature in these romantic regions, he made a multitude of noble designs, which procured him high reputation, and amply supplied his demands. The vivacity of his imagination was quite equalled by his freedom of hand, and singular readiness and became the scholar of Joseph Werner; upon which he changed his early manner, and by studying after the antique, proved a good designer.

At the age of nineteen he went into Italy and stopped first at Mantua, where he copied the works of Guilio Romano; at Verona and Venice, he studied Titian, and, while in the latter city, became intimate with Tempesta, for whom he painted the figures in his landscapes. He also copied many of the works of Bassano, Titian, Tintoretto and Paul Veronese, and critically observed the peculiarity of taste, coloring, or pencil, which constituted the excellence of each. From Venice he visited Rome, where he improved still more by the productions of Raphael, Guido and the Caracci. Here also he obtained the friendship of Carlo Maratti, who, pleased with his manner in coloring and design, assisted him with his advice, and, observing him inclined to paint portraits in miniature, dissuaded him from it, and recommended him to adopt works of a nobler character.

Tendons are the shining, white and firm substances by which one end of a muscle is attached to a bone. Tendons are somewhat different in appearance and arrangement, in different parts of the body. In the greatest number of instances, they are in the form of round cords, of greater or less size. They are inelastic, and, in a healthy state, insensible. They are formed by a prolongation and condensation of the cellular substance, which is interposed between the minute fibres of the muscles. The tendons may be compared to ropes, by which the muscles are enabled to act upon a portion of bone, situated at a considerable distance from them.

A membrane is an expanded thin substance, lining and covering the different parts of the body. The membranes are of different kinds, varying in structure, appearance, and functions. They are named from the fluids which lubricate their free surfaces, serous, mucous, &c. The membranes are extremely liable to inflammation, which alters, if it be not speedily removed, their structure, and changes the nature of the fluids which they secrete. Most of the inflammations which occur within the body are seated in membranes.

Serous membrane. — The serous membrane forms the envelopes of the brain, lines the thorax and abdomen, and covers nearly all the organs contained in these two cavities. It is a thin transparent membrane, its free surface being smooth and shining, of a silvery white appearance; it is constantly lubricated by a thin serous fluid; in consequence of which it receives its name.