range of scenery, to be drawn away, and the attention so much distracted that the arrangement cannot be perceived. Let any one who doubts this, take a look at a bed of Verbenas, or any other gay-colored plants, backed by a dense mass of Rhododendrons or other evergreens, at a distance of eight or ten yards; and on another which has an extensive sweep of grass beyond it, with nothing to check the eye from ranging away; and he must at once see that in the former case the beauty of the colors will make a much greater impression than in the latter. The same will be the case in an arrangement of many beds; there should be a boundary, in many places high enough to produce shade, so that the attention may be concentrated on the flowers and their arrangement. White and light flowers should be furthest from the eye; scarlet and white look well in juxta-position; but the scarlet should be nearest the spectator, and the white backed by something dark. We have still much to learn on this interesting subject. Scarlet and yellow also look well side by side, and a very fine effect is produced in certain situations by a large bed of scarlet geraniums, with a few plants of dwarf yellow dahlias intermixed at from four to five feet apart. A very little common sense exercised in this matter, would work quite a reformation in some of our so-called "flower-gardens."—AMELIA. The Wedding Ring :— Pretty, simple, shining thing, Made for tiny finger fair, Death alone should part thy tie; From thy tempting let me fly- That were bound by "Love" before; Many hands by it are twined, That its twining will deplore: And from them I warning bring Yet if heart and hand unite, And if soul to soul be given, Then the solemn nuptial rite Is a sweet foretaste of heaven! Then, persuasively I'll sing, Maidens, TAKE the wedding-ring! T. J. O. wood, give out their odor only when heated by friction. Meteorological causes have a great influence on the odors of living plants. Dew or gentle rain, with intervals of sunshine, seems to be the circumstance best fitted for eliciting vege table perfumes. Light has a powerful influence on the odor as well as the color of flowers. Plants when etiolated by keeping in darkness, generally lose their odor. In certain cases, the perfumes of plants are developed only in the evenning. White flowers present the larger proportion of odoriferous species: the orange and brown flowers often giving a disagreeable odor.J. B. ANECDOTES OF GOLDSMITH-No. II. (Continued from page 215.) He sallies forth as a student of MedicineHocus-pocus of a boarding-house-Transformation of a leg of mutton. WHILE Oliver was thus piping and poetising at the parsonage, his uncle Contarine received a visit from Dean Goldsmith, of Cloyne, a kind of magnate in the wide, but improvident, family connection, throughout which his word was law, and almost gospel. This august dignitary was pleased to discover signs of talent in Oliver, and suggested that as he had attempted divinity and law without success, he should now try physic. The advice came from too important a source to be disregarded; and it was determined to send him to Edinburgh to commence his studies. The Dean having given the advice, added to it, we trust, his blessing, but no money. That was furnished from the scantier purses of Goldsmith's brother, his sister (Mrs. Hodson), and his everready uncle Contarine. It was in the autumn of 1752 that Goldsmith arrived in Edinburgh. His outset in that city came near adding to the list of his indiscretions and disasters. Having taken lodgings at haphazard, he left his trunk there, containing all his worldly efforts, and sallied forth to see the town. After sauntering about the streets until a late hour, he thought of returning home; when, to his confusion, he found he had not acquainted himself with the name either of his landlady or of the street in which she lived. Fortunately, in the height of his whimsical perplexity, he met the cawdy, or porter, who had carried his trunk, and who now served him as a guide. He did not remain long in the lodgings in which he had put up. The hostess was too adroit at that hocus-pocus of the table, which often is practised in cheap boarding-houses. No one could conjure a single joint through a greater variety of forms. A loin of mutton, according to Goldsmith's account, would serve him and two Odors of Flowers.-The peculiar odors of fellow-students a whole week. 'A brandered plants depend on various secreted volatile mat- chop was served up one day, a fried steak ters, which are often so subtle as to be incapable another, collops with onion sauce a third, and so of detection by the ordinary chemical means. on, until the fleshy parts were quite consumed. Nothing is known of the causes which render one Finally, a dish of broth was manufactured from flower odoriferous and another scentless. In the bones on the seventh day, and the landlady some cases the odors of plants remain after being rested from her labors.' Goldsmith had a gooddried, but in general they disappear. Some humored mode of taking things, and for a short leaves, as Woodruff, become scented only after time amused himself with the shifts and exdrying; and certain woods, as Teneriffe Rose-pedients of his landlady, which struck him in a TIME is the most undefinable yet paradoxical of things. The past is gone, the future not come, and the present becomes the past, even while we attempt to define it; like a flash of lightning, it at once exists and expires. Time is the measurer of all things, but is itself immeasurable. It is the grand discloser of all things, but is itself undisclosed. Like space, it is incomprehensible, because it has no limit; and it would be still more so if it had. It is more obscure in its source than the Nile, and in its termination than the Niger. It advances like the slowest tide, but retreats like the swiftest torrent. It gives wings of lightning to pleasure, but feet of lead to pain. It lends expectation a curb, but enjoyment a spur. It robs beauty of her charms, to bestow them on her picture; and builds a monument to merit, but denies it a house. It is the transient and deceitful flatterer of falsehood; but the tried and final friend of truth. Time is the most subtle yet the most insatiable of depredators, and by appearing to take nothing, is permitted to take all. Nor can it be satisfied, until it has stolen the world from us, and us from the world. It constantly flies, yet overcomes all things by flight; and although it is the present ally, it will be the future conqueror of death. Time, the cradle of hope, but the grave of ambition, is the stern corrector of fools, but the salutary counsellor of the wise-bringing all they dread to the one, and all they desire to the other. Yet like Cassandra, it warns us with a voice that even the sagest discredit too long, and the silliest believe too late. Wisdom walks before it, opportunity with it, and repentance behind it. He that has made it his friend, will have little to fear from his enemies; but he that has made it his enemy, will have little to hope from his friends.-W. S. SALT. LIKE all that is necessary for our preservation, comfort, and enjoyment, salt has been bestowed by an unsparing Hand, that scatters its blessings far and wide-blessings that ought to be more gratefully acknowledged from their profusion, but which are, alas! from that very circumstance, taken as matters of course. Culinary salt, or, as it is termed in chemistry, chloride of sodium, in a natural state, both in a solid form and dissolved in water, is in astonishing abundance. It is in solution, not only throughout the vast ocean, but in various lakes, rivers, and springs; and in a solid form, under the names of rock salt and fossil salt, it is found over a great extent of the globe. In Calabria, Hungary, Muscovy, and Poland, it is in enormous quantities. A bed of salt was discovered between Dienze and Marsal, 150 feet from the surface, and others thickness. On the road from Paris to Straslying below, to the depth of 300 feet, and of vast burgh, by Metz, there is a stratum of salt, which was ascertained to extend over a rectangular space of twelve or fourteen square miles. In the province of Valencia, in Spain, there is a mountain of salt, called Cardoma, 500 feet high, and nearly three miles in circumference. The salt mines which have been worked ever since the middle of the thirteenth century, near Cracow, in Poland, are calculated still to contain a sufficient supply of salt for the world for many thousand years. In these vast (mines, chapels, crucifixes, and the images of saints, have been hewn out of the solid rock salt; lights are constantly burning before them, and the crystals reflect back the rays which illuminate the subterraneous passages and spacious galleries with the most brilliant lustre. Some hundreds of men are employed in working out these mines, and abide in them with their families, forming a community apart from other men, subject to laws and regulations of their own framing. Many among them have never emerged from the obscurity in which they were born, and can form no idea of the aspect of nature, beyond the aisles through which they wander. THE INTELLECTS OF CHILDREN. "Grown persons," says the Hon. Mrs. Norton, "are apt to put a lower estimate than is just on the understandings of children." She is right. It is so. They very foolishly rate them by what they know; and children know very little; but their capacity of comprehension is great. Hence the continual wonder of those who are unaccustomed to them, at the old-fashioned ways of some lone little one, who has no play fellows-and at the odd mixture of folly and wisdom in its sayings. A continual battle goes on in a child's mind, between what it knows and what it comprehends. Its answers are foolish from partial ignorance, and wise from extreme quickness of apprehension. The great art of education is so to train this last faculty, as neither to depress nor over-exert it The matured mediocrity of many an infant prodigy, proves both the degree of expansion to which it is possible to force a child's intellect, and the boundary which nature has set to the success of such false culture. Most precocious children die early, or, if they grow up to maturity, they become little better than idiots. Gentleness will do much; coercion will make a child obstinate and dull. The world is full of examples of both. ADVICE IN THE CHOICE OF A WIFE. In choice of wife, prefer the modest, chaste; Lilies are fair in show, but not in smell; The sweetest looks by age are soon defaced, Then choose thy wife by wit and living well; Who brings thee wealth and many faults withal, Presents thee honey mixed with bitter gall. SIR JOHN OF BOURDEAUX. ORIGINAL POETRY. CONTENTMENT BETTER THAN GOLD. BY HELEN HETHERINGTON. SWEET Contentment! thou'rt a treasure; Smiles insure a welcome there! Reap'd in bitterness and pain. Do they Peace and Hope destroy! GOLD they worship, love, and cherish, Dearer far than life or health; Thousands of its victims perish, In the base pursuit of WEALTH. To sustain the "wants" of life; Care and sorrow ne'er depart; Sad forebodings fill the heart. Fawning sycophants! caressing, With the hope to gain the store! How much better is the blessing Of the helpless, needy poor! Let the Miser hoard his treasure, Heaping GOLD with every breath; Sad delusion! short liv'd pleasure! ALL must be resigned at DEATH! Envy, Murm'ring, fierce Resentment, Let us banish from our home; Whilst the Blessing of Contentment SHALL BE OURS WHERE'ER WE ROAM, CONTENTMENT. CONTENTMENT produces, in some measure, all those effects which the alchemist usually ascribes to what he calls the philosopher's stone; and if it does not bring riches, it does the same by banishing the desire of them. If it cannot remove the disquietudes arising from a man's mind, body, or fortune, it makes him easy under them. SELECT POETRY. WOMEN AND FLOWERS. LET every lady cherish flowers: By them, unlike man's ruder race, The rose repays thee all thy smiles- Dew on the chalice of its wiles Yon bright carnation,-once thy cheek, And back it gives thy blushes meek, That balm has treasur'd all thy sighs, That snow-drop touch'd thy brow,Thus not a charm of thine shall die, Thy painted peɔple vow. THE CHILD WE LIVE FOR. It would be unwise in us to call that man wretched, who, whatever else he suffers as to pain inflicted, or pleasure denied, has a child for whom he hopes, and on whom he doats. Poverty may grind him to the dust; obscurity may cast its darkest mantle over him; the song of the gay may be far from his own dwelling; his face may be unknown to his neighbors, and his voice may be unheeded by those among whom he dwellseven pain may rack his joints, and sleep may flee from his pillow. Yet has he a gem with which he would not part for wealth defying computation-for fame filling a world's car, for the luxury of the highest wealth, or for the sweetest sleep that ever sat upon a mortal's eye. COLERIDGE. NOTICE TO OUR SUBSCRIBERS. STAMPED COVERS for VOLUME I. of OUR JOURNAL, price 1s. 2d., also a copious INDEX, TITLE, and PREFACE to VOLUME I., price 3d., are Now READY, and may be had of our Publisher, Also VOLUME I., price 5s. cloth; Post-free, 5s. 6d.; and Vol. II., Part 1, price 4s. 6d. cloth. LONDON: Published for WILLIAM KIDD, by WILLIAM SPOONER, 379, Strand, (to whom ALL. Letters, Parcels, and Communications, Addressed to "the Editor," and BOOKS FOR REVIEW, are to be forwarded); and Procurable, by order, of every Bookseller and Newsvendor in the Kingdom. Agents: Dublin, John Wiseheart; Edinburgh, John Menzies; Glasgow, John M'Leod; Liverpool, Miss Meyrick, Hanover Street, and J. Evans, 216, Falkner Street; Manchester, Abel Heywood, Oldham Street. CITY AGENT: J. ALLEN, 20, Warwick Lane, Paternoster Row. Sold also by BERGER, VICKERS, PURKESs, and all the Wholesale Dealers. London: M. S. MYERS, Printer, 22, Tavistock Street, Covent Garden. THE UNIVERSAL FAMILY PAPER FOR INTER-COMMUNICATIONS ON NATURAL HISTORY-POPULAR SCIENCE-THINGS IN GENERAL. Conducted by WILLIAM KIDD, of Hammersmith,― AUTHOR OF THE FAMILIAR AND POPULAR ESSAYS ON "NATURAL HISTORY;" "BRITISH SONG BIRDS; "BIRDS OF PASSAGE;" "INSTINCT AND REASON;" "THE AVIARY," &c. wwwwwwww "THE OBJECT of our worK IS TO MAKE MEN WISER, WITHOUT OBLIGING THEM TO TURN OVER FOLIOS AND QUARTOS.-TO FURNISH MATTER FOR THINKING AS WELL AS READING."-EVELYN. No. 42.-1852. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 16. THE NATURE OF SOUND:-No. II. (Continued from page 146.) MANY EXPERIMENTS HAVE BEEN MADE on the capability of water to transmit sound. The Abbe Nollet among others, took much pains to decide the question. By practice he acquired such management of himself under water, that he could hear the sound of the human voice, and even recognise airs of music. When he struck together two stones which he held in his hands, his ears were shocked almost beyond bearing; and he even felt a sensation on all the surface of his body, like that produced when a piece of metal held in the teeth is struck by another piece of metal. He observed also, that the more sonorous bodies, when struck under water, gave a less vivid impression than others less sonorous. These experiments were successfully repeated by the late Dr. Monro, of Edinburgh. All bodies are not equally fitted for pro ducing sound. Those which have the greatest degree of elasticity, appear to be the most sonorous. It is owing, indeed, to the great expansible force and elasticity of the air, that gunpowder and the electric flash, by rending it, and forming a vacuum, occasion the loud sounds which often strike us with terror. The cracking of a wagoner's whip affords a good illustration of the sound of thunder or any other explosion. The sudden jerk of the end of the whipcord displaces a portion of air, and forms an empty space into which the adjacent air violently rushes. The air which formed the several sides of this empty space, thus collapsing with a shock, produces the sound. The changes which take place among the minute particles of bodies, in consequence of the vibrations from which sounds arise, are remarkably different in metals, in wood, and in musical strings. This can be illustrated in the case of metals, by repeating the experiments of Dr. Chladni, of Berlin, who took VOL. II. PRICE 3d. Or, in Monthly Parts, Price 1s. 1d. plates of different metals, and having strewed them with fine sand, caused them to sound by drawing over their edge the bow of a violin. In these experiments, the sand is found to arrange itself according to the vibra tions produced, and it is curious that the form which the sound takes is different in different metals. Anybody can easily repeat those experiments-with sheet lead, sheet iron, copper plates, &c. In the case of musical strings, as in other sounding bodies, the quicker they vibrate the more sharp is the sound; and this does not depend at all on the slowness or quickness with which you strike them, but on the tension and thickness of the string. We are told, but on the authority of what experimental calculation we know not, that the gravest sound which the ear can perceive is formed of two thousand vibrations in a second; and the sharpest sound, of twelve thousand. In the pianoforte and the harp, the high treble notes are produced by short, small, tight strings; and the deep low bass notes by strings which are long, thick, and little stretched. On striking a bell, or a musical string once, we may hear by minute attention, first the fundamental sound or note; secondly, the octave, or eighth note above; thirdly, the twelfth; and, lastly, the seventeenth. These are called harmonic notes. It is from the vibrations of several strings taking place in a certain order, that agreeable or disagreeable feelings are excited. The sounds producing these opposite feelings, are said to be harmonious or to be discordant. For example, if the vibrations of two strings are performed in equal times, the same tone is produced by both, and they are said to be in unison. Again, if one string vibrate in half the time of another, the first vibration of the latter will strike upon the ear at the very same instant as the second vibration of the former. These will accordingly agree or harmonise; and their concord is by musicians termed an octave or eighth, because there are eight distinct tones inclusive, between the tones of the two strings. If the second vibration of the first string strike the ear at the same instant with the third vibration of the second string, the compound sound or concord is termed a fifth, for a similar reason. When the vibrations of two or more strings strike the ear at different instants, they are said to jar, or produce discord. To make this explanation of harmony and discord the more intelligible, the following simple experiment may be made: Suspend a ball of thread, and poise it in the air, giving it a push with your finger. If you wish to carry on the swinging motion, you must wait till the ball is on the point of turning before you give it another push. If you touch it in the middle of a swing, you will cause it to stop. This is exactly the case with the air, which is swung by a harp string, or put in motion by a flute; for in this respect, wind instruments are the same with the harp. The first case illustrates harmony-the last discord. NOTES OF A NATURALIST. THE FISHES OF CUMBERLAND. "I in these flow'ry meads would be; So sang Izaak Walton, father of fishermen; but, unfortunately for my fame, I am by no means worthy to rank among his sons. The truth is, that I never used, or tried to use a line but once, on a fine summer's day in the Lammermuirs, and caught just nothing. But to my subject. Perhaps no county possesses more keen anglers than does Cumberland. Go into an inn, and the discourse, nine chances out of ten, turns upon fishing, and the comparative merits of different flies, grubs, roe, bracken clocks, and other adjuncts of the piscatorial science. The opportunities afforded by the lakes and becks of this county, tend in no small degree to foster "that solitary vice," and amply reward the sportsman. I can merely here enumerate a few of the different fishes found in the waters of the country. To begin, then, with the sea-fisheries, by which not only is pleasure sought, but profit as well the Irish Sea, a little below the mouth of the Solway Firth, is the scene of the fisherman's labors, and rewards his toil with all the ordinary fish of such localities, such as plaice, haddock, herring, &c. The latter are often very large; but though fat, are decidedly inferior in flavor to the produce of Loch Fyne, and bear a strong resemblance to the fish of the east coast of Scotland. Occasionally too an unwelcome visitor, in the shape of a shark, finds his way into the nets, and in his struggles to free himself, he emancipates not a few of his lesser brethren. A young one, measuring four and a-half feet, was lately exposed for sale in Keswick market, and found its way to the collection of a gentleman in the neighborhood. It was a specimen of the white shark; and when opened, seemed, by its empty stomach, to have been about to catch when caught. It is to the lakes or rivers, however, that the angler for pleasure betakes himself, when his day's toil is at an end, or perhaps before we well know it is daylight. The perch, or as it is usually called the bass, is one of the commonest fishes; delighting in the shallows-where it basks in the sun's rays, eludes the murderous attempts of its enemy the pike, feeds on worms, minnows, or even its own young. The perch (Perca fluviatilis) is the type of the first order of fishes, being the spine-finned: and is perhaps one of the prettiest of the whole order. It seldom attains to a large size, only now and then reaching half a pound weight. Its eyes are furnished with a beautiful bronze-colored iris; the body is banded with black; and the fins on its lower part and tail are of a rich vermilion tint. The back, however, is to my mind the most interesting, from the form of the dorsal fin. This is double, and covers twothirds of the back. The first division is supported by about fourteen bony spines, most of which extend beyond the membrane, making it rather a dangerous task to extricate them from the claspnet in which they are caught. The second, or lower dorsal, is smaller, and of a more delicate texture than the first, and is generally reddish. I have sat many a sunny day watching the sly motions of these little creatures, and felt all an angler's joy, without his bane. Perch are common in all the lakes, and are taken with either worm, minnow, or in a clasp net. They are seldom caten, being employed as bait for pike. The pike (Esox lucius) is very plentiful in most of the lakes; I may say, with the exception of Ullswater, in all of them. This is a pretty fish. Its weight often reaches as high as twenty pounds, or more. They have a long, drawn-out appearance; and from the back fin-I dislike technical terms-being placed so near the tailfin, and right above the lower belly fin, it looks, when swimming, like a wooden cross tumbled into the water. Pike are sometimes caught by the rod; the more usual method, however, is by means of floats or trimmers. A cylinder of wood, about three inches long, is tied to the end of a line; and the hook is baited with a living perch, which swims about until seized, and hook and The hook is inperch are both swallowed. serted in the flesh, between the divisions of the dorsal or back fin. A party of three or four get on the lake about three o'clock in the morning, and set their floats. They then keep cruising about till afternoon, taking up the fish as they get struck. The quantity of floats employed by such a boat's crew is usually about forty: and sometimes as many as twenty pike are thus procured, varying from two pounds weight upwards. Should any floats be left on the water, the party who finds them returns them to the owner (his name is always branded on it), but retains the fish for himself. Eels are not unfrequently thus taken, but are less prized. Rod-fishing is the most legitimate sport; but the aim is always some of the salmon tribe. |