the past. The
intellectual triumphs and achievements which are the goal of one age are
indeed no more than the starting-point of the next; but the links of
connection must be preserved unbroken. The conditions of a successful
and symmetrical development of the mental powers are substantially the
same in every land and time, and there are great principles which,
however variously we may apply them, can never in themselves be violated
or discarded with impunity. So far as the new education so strenuously
advocated in our day honors and observes the eternal laws of the mind,
we can afford to contemplate the new ventures with equanimity, if not
with hope; but there is reason to fear that the almost unlimited freedom
of individual choice as to subjects of study accorded to young and
inexperienced minds in colleges where new departures have been taken is
scarcely compatible with the compliance those laws rigidly require.

HISTORICAL RECORD.

[_By sending to the editor brief contributions suitable for use in this
department, readers will greatly add to its completeness and value._]

Jan. 25.--About one hundred and fifty members of the Old Colony
Historical Society were present at the society rooms in the State House,
and listened to the concluding portion of Hon. Colin M. Ingersoll's
paper entitled "Leaves from the Diary of a Young Man in St. Petersburg,
1848-49." Among those present were ex-Gov. English, Hon. C. B. Bowers,
ex-Mayor Robertson, Rev. Mr. Leonard, Dr. Ayers, Judge L. E. Munson,
Capt. C. H. Townshend, and many other well-known gentlemen, besides a
party of friends of Mr. Ingersoll from New York. The paper was a rare
treat. A vote of thanks was tendered the speaker, on motion of ex-Mayor
Robertson, and interesting remarks were made by Prof. Baldwin.

* * * * *

Feb. 10.--The annual dinner of the Washington Association of the Bowdoin
Alumni took place at Welcker's. Some thirty-five persons sat down, among
them Hon. Hugh McCulloch, Hon. L. D. M. Sweet, Senator Frye, Hon. W. W.
Rice, Judge W. B. Snell, Gen. Ellis Spear, Col. J. H. Gilman, U.S.A.,
Rev. J. S. Sewall, D.D., Gen. John Marshal Brown, Mr. Israel Kimball,
and Rev. S. M. Newman. The following officers were elected: President,
Commodore Horatio Bridge; Vice-Presidents, Israel Kimball and Judge
William B. Snell; treasurer, I. N. Whitney; Corresponding Secretary,
Prof. J. W. Chickering, and Recording Secretary, James C