that infant choir, and reflecting that but for the Christian love which has watched over them, their voices might still have uttered nothing but groans, and their souls remained ignorant of God, their Maker.

Dr. Guggenbühl has the advantage of being aided in his work by an admirable assistant. This man has the happy faculty of descending, with the utmost simplicity, patience, and benevolence, to the level of his stupid little scholars; and then with inimitable perseverance, he labours to excite some mental emotion. However slight that may be, he seizes upon it eagerly whenever it appears, and keeps his hold of it as of the end of a thread, which will certainly enable him to draw out more. He then carefully proceeds, eliciting most gradually the feeble manifestations of thought and feeling, which are thenceforth strengthened by skilfully managed exercise.

As to the physical management of the children-in addition to the daily use of baths, as mentioned above, much importance is attached to the occasional employment of electricity, and to frictions with some aromatic herbs. But perhaps no remedial agent is so powerful in contributing to the restoration of health as the constant breathing of the pure air of the mountain. In some of the goître cases, and in the rickety cretins, medicine is used freely, particularly the iodide and other salts of iron, quinine, and cod-liver oil.

It is when the convalescence is established that especial attention is given to the religious instruction of the children. Not but that at any time after the commencement of intellectual activity the truths of the gospel may be received, to the comfort and edification of the spirit struggling with its cumbrous load of a morbid body, but only that, humanly speaking, and in general, the cretin is not able to give due heed to his spiritual concerns, nor to appreciate the importance of divine revelation.

The faculty of distinguishing right from wrong (or the force of conscience) shows itself strongly in some of the cretins, and it has been almost always remarked that when once their intelligence is awakened, they comprehend far more easily the existence of a God than that of a material object-of a table, for instance.

The manifestation of the power of the Creator in the works of nature, which are so magnificently displayed around, is also quickly received into their hearts. Those who have witnessed, the astonishment, the joy, the admiration, of the cretin children at the sight of a glorious sunrise, or sunset, of a summer rainbow, or a beautiful storm amidst our Alpine heights, would feel the truth of the remark made by Diesterweg, that "many a man has felt ashamed of the indifference and insensibility with which he has coldly beheld the finest phenomena of creation, when he has seen the ecstasy, the attentive consideration, and the transports of children."

It is said in one of the Reports of the Institution :—

"We have never found it necessary to call the attention of ours to such sights. The works of nature have become to them a sort of teaching of higher things, and led them naturally to the thought of a heavenly Father, whose love is over all, and whose will it is, that none perish, but that all come to the knowledge of the truth.'

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Memory is always more or less developed in cretins.

"A boy now with us, of eleven years of age, in spite of the very decided state of cretinism that he was in when he came, and also of a defect in his speech, learns verses of the Bible and short sentences very easily, and remembers them most remarkably. "Cretins are also often good mechanics. They can draw, can build card houses with wonderful dexterity, and enjoy other amusements of the same kind.

"Their quickness of sensation is extraordinary, their impressions violent; sometimes gay and happy, at others sombre and sad, and there are days in which they are incapable of receiving any good feeling, and seem to have stopped short in every thing. These difficulties, however, though they recur constantly, are forgotten when their progress is

visible, and when they show us by their happiness, their cheerfulness, and their tender affection, that they are grateful for the trouble bestowed upon them for their temporal and spiritual welfare.

"In general, cretins have a great horror of animals, and a predilection for inanimate playthings, dolls, flowers, &c. &c. Their food is also an object of much excitement.” "L, a girl of six months old, was brought to us in a fearful state. Her body was a complete skeleton, out of all proportion, and covered with a cold, wrinkled skin. Her face was white as death; and her shrivelled forehead and cheeks gave her the appearance of an old woman, which was increased by the strange expression of her little, dark, brilliant eyes, full of meaning.

"It was July when she came, the season of the year the best fitted, from the elasticity of the air and the splendour of the sunshine, to produce an amelioration in the state of our invalids. Thanks to these kind influences of nature, and to our unwearied care, she made as rapid progress in her recovery as she had done in her decline. In three months' time her deformities began to disappear, her skin became soft and warm, the wrinkles vanished, and her countenance, losing its aged look, grew younger every day. The awakening of the mind soon followed the second spring-time of her body, and showed itself by her smiles and manner of noticing everything around her.

"The gradual change that took place in her in a year can only be compared to that of passing from a mummy state into that of an animated being.

"After eighteen months spent on the Abendberg, she returned to her native village of Lutzeldorf, where, as we learn from her pastor, Bitrius, she continues perfectly well, and is beginning to talk.

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she

C—was four years old when she came to us, with every symptom of confirmed rachitic cretinism. Her nervous system was so completely out of order, that the strongest electric shocks produced scarcely any effect upon her for some months. Aromatic baths, frictions, moderate exercise, meat regimen and milk, were the means of restoring her. Her bones and muscles grew so strong, that in the course of a year could run and jump. Her mind appeared to advance in proportion to her body, for she learnt to talk in French and also in German. The life and spirits usual in children of that age at length burst forth, and she was as gay and happy as before she had been cross and disagreeable.

"She was peculiarly open-hearted, active, kind, and cleanly. She learnt to read, write, cypher, sew and knit; and, above all, she loved to sing.

"It is now two years since she left us, and we had the happiness of hearing lately that she continues quite well and goes to school.

"This is an important fact, because in her family there is a strong tendency to cretinism, and the climate of the canton of the Valais, where she is, is fatal to all development.

"M—was a year and a half old when confided to us, half paralyzed and in a most deplorable state, unconscious of anything around her. It took at least nine months to reanimate her a little, when she began to show some signs of intelligence. Hers were the extremes of laughter and of tears-of rapture and despair of attention and inattention. The perfect gloom of night which enveloped the mind of this child at length gave way to a dawn of intelligence, which announced the awakening of all her faculties. At three years old she had very correct notions of right and wrong, of God and of her Saviour; and after a stay of four years amongst us, this poor child, who seemed doomed only to vegetate all her life, was sent home with every indication of a healthy mind, as well as of a healthy body.

"A very different subject was sent to the Hospital. Her rosy her fine intelligent expression, would have deceived any one.

cheeks, her bright eyes, Nevertheless, at three

years old she could not stand, and cried whenever the attempt was made, and resisted all our efforts to restore animation. We were not, however, to be discouraged, and all at once, as if by magic, she began to articulate a few words, and some months afterwards she could repeat little sentences. In the course of the following year, when in the Valais, we had the satisfaction of seeing this dear child considerably improved in body and mind; showing us, in her infantine way, as much affection as she could, and that she had not in the least forgotten her friends of the Abendberg.

"The little countess of A- came to us at seven months old, in July, 1840, in a dying state. Violent cramps, inflammation, and hooping-cough, all seemed to conspire to carry her off at once.

"My only desire was to render her last moments easy, and, to that end, I gave her the essence of hyosciamus in considerable quantities, when, to our astonishment, the worst symptoms disappeared. Her head was of an enormous size; her face pale and deadly; she could neither stand, move, nor articulate, when arrived at the usual age, nor feed herself; and yet she comprehended certain things, and her hearing was acute. "We pursued a strict regimen for a long time with her; the open air, milk diet, meat, aromatic baths, frictions, and iodine taken inwardly.

"When we compare her present state with what she was two years ago, her firm manner of walking, her readiness of pronunciation, her healthy look, the proportion that there now is between her body and her head, her merry voice, her cheerful manner, we cannot but feel assured that we have hit upon the proper manner of treating her. Her head has stopped growing, while her body continues to develop itself."

"We will mention another form of cretinism, which we will distinguish by the name of dumb. The hearing of the dumb cretins is excellent, but their tongue seems tied by some physical cause. This class of persons have in. general very deformed bodies, but are lively, with quick eyes and great powers of attention, and are clever in expressing themselves by pantomimic gestures.

They abound in the valleys on the shores of the Rhine, where there are sometimes as many as thirty of them in a population of fifty inhabitants.

"One of these unfortunate beings, L- B, nine years old, was sent us from Payerne, his native town, which contains many cretins, deaf and dumb persons, and others affected with infirmities of the same kind. As to intellect, he was like a child of eighteen months old. Tall, strong, and well made, he had no more ideas in his head when he came to us than children of that age have.

"I imagine that this sort of dumbness proceeds in part from want of energy of mind; for though we succeeded with much difficulty in making him speak, by a system of sounds, yet for a long time he only made noises like those of a child of two years old, and even now he prefers employing the childish pantomime to the use of speech, and has to be constantly reminded of it.

"He does, however, progress a little, can join some words together, and, we trust, will in time become a clever workman."*

. What benevolent mind will not exult in the success already gained, or hope that it will be as the first-fruits of a glorious harvest?

See also pamphlets on the subject by Drs. Twining, Wells, and Coldstream.

CHAPTER XVII.

CASCADE OF GIESSBACH-THE VALLEY OF LAUTERBRUNNEN-THE STAUBBACH-THE

JUNGFRAU,

It is well for the tourist to make an excursion on the lake of Brienz, for the purpose especially of visiting the fall of the Giessbach. The steamer from Interlachen will take him to the base of the rock, by ascending which, the fall is seen.

The Giessbach is undoubtedly one of the finest cascades in Switzerland, whether we regard the extent of the falls or the beauty of the scenery around. There are actually six falls; the first is scarcely seen from below, but the rest are all in full view from the auberge which has been erected on the summit of the rock, which is ascended from the lake. The first two falls are over the bare rocks, but at the second the cascade enters a wood, and pursues its subsequent course amid dark foliage. It affords a peculiar gratification to cross the intervening valley, and to ascend the height down which the cascade falls, as it may then be seen and heard as its waters descend close to the visitors. For this enjoyment there are two facilities, as a rustic bridge spans the bed of thei torrent above its fifth fall, and there is a cavity behind the fourth fall, which may be easily entered. The effect of the view from this recess is very striking; the scenery being contemplated through a silvery veil that half hides, and half illuminates, the objects that are within the sphere of vision. A little boat wafted us from this cascade to Kienholz, at the end of the lake. The water was very muddy, owing to the influx of the Aar, but the boatman eagerly swallowed large draughts of it, from a wooden scoop, which he kept for the purpose of baling the water out of his boat. The lake of Brienz, it may be observed, is enclosed by mountains; its general aspect is solitary and peaceful. There are scarcely any houses on the banks, which are, in fact, mountain sides, and extremely steep. The river Aar runs through the lake, and connects it with the lake of Thun. The little town of Brienz is on the northern side.

Already we have alluded to these convulsions of nature, of which our engraving furnishes an example. The fragment which it represents forms part of one of the projections of the Schwartzhorn, called the Winkelfluch. One portion has already fallen away, and fresh fragments detach themselves every time it is bad weather. The débris fall into the valley of Meringen, close to the spot where the Aar flows into the lake of Brienz. The rock, which the engraving represents, and which will doubtless not be long before it detaches itself, may be about 650 feet in circumference; it is covered with large and beautiful fir-trees, which will fall with it. To some of the peasants it seems sufficiently firm for them to feed their goats there; but the goat-herd never ventures on it, except when compelled to do so. The chasm which surrounds the rock is of a rather unequal breadth. The height to which this half-detached fragment rises is at least 900 feet above the valley. It is about ten minutes' walk from the Giessbach. Thus the mountains themselves, those monuments of nature, which one is tempted to call eternal, as compared with those of men, are subject to degradation and destruction. There is not one which does

not present at its base traces of its ruin. Some geologists have pretended that, since the beginning of time, the mountains have already lost half their primitive elevation. But, to confine ourselves to the narrow space of historical times, and to the region of the Alps, how many more or less considerable falls of rocks enable us to guess what has happened in previous times, and what may not yet be feared in the future!

The first part of the way to Lauterbrunnen lies among corn-fields, and just before entering the valley is the ruined castle where Manfred is said to have lived. The valley of Lauterbrunnen is certainly one of the most delicious valleys in Switzerland; nowhere is seen such luxuriance of vegetation at the base of the mountains. Wherever there is a morsel of earth, some little shrub says, This earth is mine, and forthwith covers it. A naked,

dry rock rolls down from the mountain top; hardly has it stopped in the valley when the wind covers it with dust; rain comes and fixes it on the surface. Soon a little moss springs up; an acorn falls on it, the little oak appears, extends its thousand clinging roots, which wind along the turns in the rock till at length they reach the earth. Then the mass of stone is prisoner for centuries; the oak, which henceforward receives its food from the common mother, plants itself imperiously on it, like the talon of an eagle on a stone, grows day by day, and year by year, till at last it seems as if it would withstand every storm and convulsion.

About half a league up the valley is the Scheinige Platte, a mountain, whose red and rounded summit bears the marks of the primitive waters. It was from this summit,