Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

be formed, by mixing together spermaceti 26,880 children born, no less than 9,751 cerate and finely pulverized supertartrate of potass, in such proportions as to make it of a very firm consistence; of which a piece the size of a nutmeg, or larger, according to the extent of the surface affected should be well rubbed on the part with the palm of the hand, every night, for three or four minutes; the head should be well washed with soap and water every third night, previously to the application of the ointment.

Internal medicines are seldom requisite in this advanced stage, except where the character of the affection is irregular, or there is a peculiarity in the constitution of the patient; in which cases some modifica tion of treatment will necessarily be required: these variations will readily be made by any respectable practitioner.

The above plan, if diligently pursued for from three to six weeks, will rarely disappoint the expectations of those who try it,

even in the most inveterate cases.
Aug. 15, 1823. JOSEPH HOULTON.

RATS.

The brown or Norway rat, which abounds in the Hebrides, after a shower, goes down upon the rocks, while the limpits are crawling about, and, by a sudden push with its nose, detaches them from the rock for food. Should the first effort fail, another is never attempted against the same individual, now warned, and adhering closely to the rock; but the rat proceeds instantly to others still off their guard, until enough of food has been procured.

THE PIGEON POST OFFICE, established in Belgium, and which was set up to rival the telegraphic system, has experienced a severe check. Of 65 of these winged messengers, which set out on the 9th of August from Lyons, for Verviers (near Liege), one only arrived the same day at its destination. Four more have since appeared; but nothing has been seen of the remaining sixty. It is thought (says the foreign writer who tells the story), that preferring repose to the love of country, these voyager-pigeons, in spite of themselves, have fallen into the hands of masters who will not use them as they would horses.

[blocks in formation]

were bastards; or more than 36 illegitimate children out of every 100: the marriages were 7,157, and the deaths 23,269: in every instance there is, in these returns, a near approach to equality between the males and the females, except as to the still-born children, of which 792 were males, and only 626 females, which seem a singular result.

SPINNING MICE.

They laugh at every thing in France. The recent calculation as to the possibility of employing mice in spinning cotton, has produced the following facetious paragraph in one of the French provincial Papers :"It has been announced thas a mouse em

ployed in treading a little wheel for the purpose of spinning cotton, and in doing so, making as many steps in a day as are equal to four post-leagues, would produce a profit, clear of all expenses, of eight francs a year; and it has been asked, "What might not be accomplished by two or three thousand mice? This new impelling power will form an epoch in the present age of industry." A few feet from me is a squir rel, whose size and the quickness of whose revolutions would, if I mistake not, make him worth a hundred mice, for such a purpose; putting out of the question the much larger spindle that be would turn. According to my calculation, which is founded on that respecting mice, if 100 mlce would yield an annual profit of 800 francs, a single squir rel would yield as much; and if a manufac-. turer were to employ 100 of these working quadrupeds, his annual gains would be 80,000 francs; besides their wages paid to them in food.-Should that sum be thought too large, I consent to its reduction to a half, which would still be a handsome profit. It is evident, therefore, that if the labour of mice is compared with that of squir rels, the advantage is in favour of the latter. In publishing this important discovery, I may perhaps draw upon myself the animadversion of mice, but cats will do me justice."

VILLAGE LIBRARIES.

We are glad to see plans of Village and Neighbourly Libraries again afloat, and we once more recommend them to the zea lous support of our readers. They comtional schools commence a system of gene plete the education of the people. The naral instruction, which these perfect. The good effects of schools are lost if books are not provided for subsequent amusement duced into every village or neighbourly and instruction; and these may be introcircle for ten or twelve guineas, and kept up at a guinea or two per annum. books should not be of a canting or gloomy description, but should illustrate History, Geography, Biography, Natural Knowl edge, and Voyages and Travels. We have seen a computation that there already exist in the United Kingdom not less than 340 permanent subscription libraries, 1900 book societies of circulation, and double the num

The

ber of village libraries, the annual purchase of books by the whole exceeding sixty thousand pounds, and supplying one hun dred thousand persons. with reading of a solid and instructive character. Besides these means of enlightening the public, there are above 1000 circulating libraries, which supply sentimental reading to the female sex; and, in the three kingdoms, not short of 2,500 shops, which subsist wholly or chiefly by the sale of books. All these serve more or less as antidotes to su

perstition and political slavery; and, while they exist and flourish, a million of men in the liveries of power, the corruptions of parliament, and the chicanery of law, cannot cheat us of those rights and privileges on which depend our national energies and social prosperity. Behold this true picture of Britain, all ye foreign nations who sigh for liberty, and seek to enjoy it in paper constitutions. These may please the eye of speculative philosophy, but the genius of freedom will never fix her abode except among an educated population; and, whenever a paper constitution is promulgated, it should be accompanied simultaneously by the instruction of the whole population, and by the multiplication and activity of printing presses. If France had thus been instructed by Napoleon, the vile Cossacks would never have polluted her soil :and, if Spain had been educated, her population would have risen en masse on the armed banditti who now spread desolation through her fertile provinces.-Mon. Mag.

SHOOTING.

A son of W. Thurman, of Catten, tailor, about 15 years of age, being about eight weeks ago employed in shooting small birds which were in the upper branches of a tree on his father's premises, the barrel of the piece burst, by which he was struck to the ground: and the report of the explosion being heard, he was found by some of the family apparently lifeless. On removing him into the house, it was perceived that he was not dead; and the best medical assistance being promptly resorted to, it was discovered that one of his eyes had been forced in by some part of the gun, and though animation was restored, he was incapable of speech; and any kind of nourishment was with difficulty forced down. In this painful and perilous state he continued during the space of five weeks, at the end of which time the part of the gun which the explosion had forced into his eye, made its way through into his mouth, and by put ting in his fingers he brought it away; when, to the astonishment of all who witnessed it, there was the breech of the barrel, the screw, and part of the wood of the stock, the whole of which had, ever since the accident, been making its way through the internal cavities of the nostrils, and which, on being weighed, was found to be of the weight of nearly two ounces; since which time (except the loss he has sustained of one of his eyes) he is in a fair way of recovery.

CRUELTY TO ANIMALS.

Rational

against cruelty to animals begins to be actThe good effects of Mr Martin's Law ed upon through the nation, and must tend to produce sentiments of humanity among persons who hitherto have treated animals as they would blocks of stone. beings, as they call themselves, are nevertheless so irrational as never to reflect on the love of life and the feelings of creatures not exactly in their own form; and this total absence of the faculty of thinking in nine of every ten of the human race is the cause of the numberless cruelties practised on beings as sensitive as ourselves. To the immortal honour of Mr. Martin, he has, unaided, been indefatigable in carrying his own Law into action, and has brought to punishment some of the brutal bipeds who abuse cattle in Smithfield, and who ill

We are

treat that noble animal the horse.
fect to respect the great moral law, suffer it
sorry to find that even Christians, who af-
to operate only in regard to objects whose
reaction they fear. They generally do as
they would be done unto when men as pow-
erful as themselves, and under equal pro-
tection of the law, are concerned; but,
when the object is defenceless, and under
no legal protection, they then skin, boil,
and roast alive, without remorse, and in-
flict other tortures too horrible to describe.
The God of all must view these matters dif-
ferently.

Balloon speculators are again in activity, but managed with such small dexterity, as to prove, either that the parties were pretenders, or that the art retrogrades. The plan of filling with gas from the streetpipes much facilitates and cheapens the process, yet several failures in time, or ascent, have recently taken place, and even common accidents have not been guarded against.

Nevertheless it appears, that, however high the parties ascend, and however low the barometer falls, the gas is still sufficient for the purposes of respiration : and the most remarkable, and perhaps unaccountable phenomenon, is the rapidity of progress compared with the ascertained velocity of winds, one of our recent aeronauts having gone over thirty-five miles in eighteen minutes.

ENGRAVING.

Lithography and engraving on wood are working great changes in the general features of literature. We have just seen a small map from the office of Mr WILLICH, from writing on stone, which proves the great capabilities of that art in a new line. And in regard to wood, in which Mr. BEWICKE, the reviver, was a few years since the only artist, there are now in London twenty or thirty masters, and twice as many apprentices, in full work. Steel engraving, introduced by Messrs. PERKINS and HEATH, is also becoming general for school and popular books, which require tens of thousands of impressions; and we are indebted to Mr. READ for the introduction of

a metal harder than copper, and not so susceptible of the action of oil, from which 10 or 20,000 good impressions may be taken of delicate subjects. In fact, between stone, wood, and steel, and Read's hard metal, the old material of copper plates seems likely to be abandoned. The great work of "Nature Displayed," which has just ap: peared, contains no less than 260 plates; but the whole are fine specimens of steel, hard metal, or wood, and calculated to yield fifty thousand good impressions, whereas copper would not have afforded above 2000. Hence we get richly ornamented books 100 per cent. cheaper than

heretofore.

A MAJOR LONGBOW.

At the time when Matthews is making the world laugh with his Longbow stories, the following parallel may amuse:-"A friend, (says the relator,) lately returned from abroad, calling on me one morning, I inquired if he had seen any thing very particularly interesting in his travels? He replied, No; with the exception, perhaps, of a curious mode they have in Siberia of procuring the skin of the Sable. Their fur is in the greatest perfection in the depth of winter, at which time the hunter proceeds to the forest armed with a pitcher of water, and some carrion-meat; he deposits the bait at the foot, and climbs himself to the top of a high tree. As soon as the animal, attracted by the scent, arrives, the man drops some water on his tail, and it instantaneously becomes frozen to the ground! On which, descending from his situation with incredible rapidity, his pursuer with a sharp knife cuts him transversely on the face. The Sable, from the excess of pain, taking an extraordinary spring forward, runs off, and (his tail being fast to the ground) out of his skin, of course, leaving it a prey to the hunter!! Upon expressing a slight doubt as to the probability of this mode of skinning the animals, my friend assured me that he never could have believed it had he not frequently beheld it himself."

Berlin, August.

Dr. Ehrenberg and Dr. Hemprich, the Prussian naturalists travelling in Egypt, are not now coming back to Europe, as some journals have reported. On the contrary, they are on the point of undertaking a new expedition, which they have been enabled to do by the farther support given them by his Majesty the King of Prussia. In a letter from Suez, dated June 8, this year, they give the following outlines of their plan. They intend first to visit the coasts of the Red Sea, and to make the longest stay at Tor and Akaba. They will then embark for Mocha, from which place they will make excursions (carrying with them as little baggage or incumbrance of any kind as possi

ble) to the Abyssinian coast, and the islands about Bab-el-Mandeb. After this they will go to Suakim; and, if circumstances permit, they will endeavour again to penetrate to Nubia and Sennaar, in order to make themselves better acquainted with the fruitful countries, which they saw there on their first journey, and of which they only partially skirted the frontiers. They purpose then to return to Cairo by way of Cosseir and Gineh.

LITERARY NEWS.

The name of the forthcoming Waverley novel is announced to be St. Ronan's Well.

Capt. Parry's Journal of his Second Voyage for the Dicovery of a North-West Passage, is already in the press, and will be published, with maps and numerous plates, in December.

A new work, from the pen of Miss PORTER, author of "Thaddeus of Warsaw," &c. will shortly appear, in three volumes, entitled Duke Christian of Luneberg, or Traditions from the Hartz.

Mr. Roscoe has been long engaged on a variorum edition of Pope, and it may be expected to make its appearance the ensuing winter.

The Library of Napoleon was lately sold in London. Many of the books had notes by himself, and they fetched high prices. His ornamented walking-stick fetched thirty-seven guineas.

At the sale of Mr. Nollekin's works, his head of Sterne fetched 58 guineas, and of Fox 145 guineas.

The Golden Cross, Charing Cross, and the adjoining buildings, are to come down, and a splendid building erected on its scite like the Pantheon at Rome.

The Assembly of Rabbis and Elders of Plosko, in Poland, came lately to a determination to allow the Jews to celebrate their Sabbath on the Sunday. The Polish Israelites are generally allowed to surpass their brethren of other countries in intelligence, attending to moral and useful instruction, rather than to cabalistical and talmudical dogmata.

AMERICAN BOOKS.

The shops of Messrs. MILLER and of SOUTER, who import American books, prove, by the variety and importance of the novelties which they exhibit, that American literature is beginning to stand on its own legs. Thus far it could not be avoided that the transatlantic presses should merely reflect the literature of the mother country; but the improved capital of American booksellers begins to enable them to encourage original works, and, although the names of the writers are seldom classical, and their pronomens are often puritanical, consisting diahs, Hezekiahs, and the like, yet their of Zacharialis, Emanuels, Elkanahs, Jedigood sense and originality, and the genius of liberty do the rest.

SPIRIT

OF THE

ENGLISH MAGAZINES.

BOSTON, JANUARY 15, 1824.

・A

(Lit. Gaz, Nov.)

THE NORTHERN EXPEDITION.

MPLE as was our account of this interesting Expedition in our former number, it may readily be supposed that many little anecdotes and curious particulars, which could not all be remembered at once, will continue to occur to the voyagers, and be communicated to their friends. As such materials come into our possession, we shall feel a pleasure in laying them before our readers; and accordingly now continue, by way of supplement, the brief history of the Esquimaux, &c. for the beginning of which we have been gratified by so many cheering testimonies of public approbation.

Among the wonders carried out by our ships, the two which excited the greatest astonishment and delight in the breasts of the ignorant Natives, were the loadstone and a scaramouch of six or eight inches in length. The attraction of needles, &c. by the former was an object of never-failing surprise; and the dancing of the latter, by pulling the string between its feet, was still more a matter of never-ending delight, The Esquimaux loved much to see it made to perform; but if allowed to cause its evolutions with their own hands, their raptures were extravagant, and they would play the puppet for hours together.

After leaving Hudson's Bay, with the exception of one family seen by the boats, none of these people were met with till the tribe of 50 appeared 37 ATHENEUM VOL. 14.

in February, tho' traces of their dwellings, many of them recent, had been observed every where about the islands. Yet when they first came into contact with the strangers, they betrayed no fears or suspicions; but came boldly on board the vessels, one of them even carrying an aged man upon his back to show him the amazing sight. When the trilling presents, on which they set so high a value, were given to them, they leaped and shouted like mad-folks uttering the oddest noises. Of course equal confidence was displayed by our countrymen, who immediately returned the visit to the huts of their new neighbours, about a three miles' walk, and were received with similar demonstrations of joy by men and women. Thus began the intercourse, which lasted till the Expedition left these frozen shores; not, we must tell, however it may shock rigid morality, without leaving memorials of their voyage in the shapes of some half dozen little Anglo-esquimaux, whose descendants will perhaps puzzle philosophers five hundred or a thousand years hence. We are not informed whether any sailors' uniforms were bequeathed, to distinguish these Parvenus when they grow up; but the natives themselves are not without the vanity of dress, and some paternal cares of this kind would have been grateful to the lovely mammas of the semi-tars. We remark that they paid some regard to dress, because, when they were ma

[merged small][merged small][graphic][merged small][merged small]
« AnteriorContinuar »