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PIETRO DELLA VALLE - FORBES - WESLEY.

mony; make them into a pill with honey,
or any other convenient vehicle, and give
it to the dog immediately. In all probabi-
lity an abundant evacuation will succeed,

from which alone the cure sometimes re-
sults. This medicine, however, should not
be solely relied on, but should be followed
up by pills of about the size of a very large
marrow-fat pea, given half-hourly. These
pills are to be made of pure camphor, dis-
solved sufficiently to be worked into a mass,
by means of a few drops of spirit of wine,
which should be added drop by drop, as it
is very easy to render the camphor too li-
quid. A short time will decide the case:
if the medicine take proper effect, the jaws
will be freed from that slimy, ropy excre-
tion occasioned by the disease; and in its
stead a free discharge of saliva will ap-
pear, rather inclined to froth like soap-suds.
I can only assure the reader, that I have
more than once saved the life of dogs by
these means, although they were so far gone
as to snap at me while administering the
medicine."—Oriental Sports, Vol. 2, p. 197.

[The Tail of the Flying Fish.] "THE lower half of the tail in the flying fish is full twice the length of the upper. "I have by the hour," says CAPTAIN Tobin, "watched the dolphins and bonitos in pursuit of them; when without wholly immersing themselves, which would have proved fatal to them, they have disposed in their progressive motion the lower part of the tail in such a manner as to supply their wings with moisture so as to support them above the surface. I never saw one exceed the distance of one hundred yards without being obliged to dip for a fresh supply."

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[Change of Colour in the Camelion.] THE Camelion, according to HASSELQUIST,

(p. 216,) seldom changes colour unless it is angry, and then from iron grey to a yellow or greenish hue, evidently occasioned by gall.

Prunus cerasus.

THE gum of the cherry-tree is as valuable as gum arabic. HASSELQUIST relates that more than a hundred men during a siege, were kept alive for near two months, without any other sustenance than a little of this gum, kept in the mouth and suffered gradually to dissolve.

[Age of the Tortoise.']

AMONG the inmates of the Banian hos

pital at Surat, Mr. FORBES mentions a tor

toise which was known to have been there

seventy-five years.

[Puff-ball,-a Styptic.]

JOHN WESLEY asserts that the powder of the ripe Puff-Ball will stop the bleeding of an amputated limb.

Rosa canina-Dog-rose-Hep-tree.
THE leaves of every species of rose, but

especially of this, are recommended in the
giving out a fine colour, a sub-astringent
Eph. nat. curiosor. as a substitute for tea,
taste, and a grateful smell, when dried, and
- PILKINGTON'S
infused in boiling water..
Derbyshire.

1 WHITE says in his Natural History of Seltill by tradition it was supposed to be an hunbourne, "In a neighbouring village one was kept dred years old." Seventh Letter to Daines Barrington.-J. W. W.

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[The Scorpion the Cure of his own Poison.] "THE capuchin, as we were conversing by the window of his apartment, put his hand incautiously on the frame, and, suddenly withdrawing it, complained of a painful puncture. A Turk, who was with us, on examining the wall, found a scorpion of a pale green colour, and near three inches long, which he crushed with his foot, and bound on the part affected, as an antidote to its own poison. The smart became inconsiderable after the remedy was applied; and as no inflammation followed, soon ceased. The sting, if neglected, produces acute pain attended with a fever and other symptoms for several hours; the malignancy of the virus as it were decaying, the patient is left gradually free. Some preserve scorpions in oil in a viol, to be used if that which commits the hostility should escape, though it seldom happens but in turning up a log or stone another may be found to supply its place."-CHANDLER's Travels in Greece.

[The Oak-rod, a Means of producing Yeast.] “A ROD of oak, of four, five, six or eight inches about, twisted round like a wyth, boiled in wort, well dried and kept in a little bundle of barley-straw, and being steeped again in wort, causeth it to ferment,

1 JEREMY TAYLOR says, "We kill the viper and make a treacle of him." vol. vi. p. 254. The original word is "Theriacum,"-whence the French Theriaque, and the English treacle,-now parti

cularly applied to the dregs of Sugar, and other

dregs of the Sugar-tub. "Any sovereign remedy was at this time" (i. e. in the 13th century) "called treacle."-ELLIS's Specimens of English Poetry, vol. 1, p. 89. Hence QUARLES says in his Emblems,

"If poison chance to infest my soul in fight, Thou art the treacle that must make me sound." Book v. Embl. xi.

PLINY's words are "Fiant ex viperâ pastilli, qui theriaci vocantur à Græcis."-Nat. Hist. lib. xxix. c. 4. J. W. W.

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and procures yeast: the rod is cut before the middle of May, and is frequently used to furnish yeast, and, being preserved and used in this manner, it serves for many years together. I have seen the experiment tried, and was shewed a piece of a thick wyth, which hath been preserved for making ale with, for about twenty or thirty years." MARTIN'S Account of the Western Islands.

He says elsewhere-“The natives preserve their yeast by an oaken wyth, which they twist and put into it; and for future use, keep it in barley-straw."

[Attraction of Clouds.]

"COLONEL MACKENZIE who watched the approach of a monsoon on the summit of the Bednore hills, distinctly observed the clouds, in rolling along, frequently to diverge from their direct course, apparently attracted by some hills more powerfully than by others of equal or superior height; and every successive cloud diverging in the same line. This phenomenon appears to merit farther investigation, and may be found to explain why places similar in situation have unequal proportions of rain."WILKES, Historical Sketches of the South of India, vol. 1, p. 449. N.

[Antagonistic Action of all Simples and
Nostrums and Panaceas.]

"A HAPPY truce, if a happy truce; and an honourable triumph if durable. I say if and if, because I have known many a truce like scammony, that weakeneth the liver; or cassia, that enfeebleth the reins; or agarick, that overthroweth the stomach, -the stomach that must work the feat. And who hath not, either by experience, or by hear-say, or by reading, known many a triumph like senna, that breedeth wind; or rhubarb, that drieth overmuch; or euforbium, that inflameth the whole body,—the body that must strike the stroke. Take

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GABRIEL HARVEY - FIENNES - BARROW.

away the overthrowing or weakening property from truce, and truce may be a divine scammony, cassia, or agarick, to purge noisome and rebellious humours. Oh that it might be such a purge in France! Correct that ventosity or inflammation that accompanieth triumph, and lo, the gallantest physic that nature hath afforded, wit devised, or magnanimity practised to abate the pride of the enemy, and to redouble the courage of the friend. No tobacco or panacea so mightily virtuous as that physic."GABRIEL HARVEY'S New Letter of Notable Contents.

[Large double-cropped Strawberry.] THERE is a large garden strawberry which gives two crops. The second crop the fruit is flat like a button. In 1697 it grew in Sir Charles Woolsley's gardens, at Woolsley

in Staffordshire.-MRS. FIENNES'S MSS.

[Nutritive Powers of the Fuci and Alga.] "ALL the gelatinous substances derived from the sea, whether animal or vegetable, are considered by the Cochin Chinese among the most nutritious of all aliments; and on this principle various kinds of Algæ or seaweeds, particularly those genera which are known by the names of Fuci and Ulvæ, are included in the list of their edible plants.

various productions. The chin-chou jelly of China may probably be made, in part, of the Fucus Saccharinus; for it would appear, from samples brought to England, that the leaves from which this jelly is made are taken from three or four distinct species of this extensive genus.

"There is reason indeed to believe that most of the species both of the Fuci and the Ulve might be employed for similar purposes. From the shores of Robben Island, at the Cape of Good Hope, the slaves are accustomed to bring away baskets of a species of Fucus, whose leaves are swordshaped, serrated, and about six inches long. These leaves being first washed clean and sufficiently dried to resist putrefaction are then steeped in fresh water for five or six days, changing it every morning; after

which if boiled for a few hours in a little water they become a clear transparent jelly, which being mixed with a little sugar and the juice of a lemon or orange, is as pleasant and refreshing as any kind of jelly whatsoever. And as few countries perhaps can boast of a greater number of species of the Fuci and Ulve than are found on the coasts of the British islands, future generations may discover those nutritive qualities which many of them contain, and not limit the use of them as articles of food to a few species, which is the case at present; for excepting the Esculentus or Tangle, the Saccharinus, better known in Iceland than in Britain, the Palmatus or Dulse, which the "In the populous islands of Japan the Scotch say is not only rich and gelatinous, natives of the sea-coasts derive part of their but communicates to other vegetables with sustenance from various kinds of sea-weeds, which it may be mixed, the fragrant smell and from none more than that species of of violets, and that species of Ulræ well Fucus which is called Saccharinus. It would known on the coast of Wales by the name appear from Mr. Thunberg's account of its of Laver, all the rest seem to be neglected.” leaves being used to ornament and embel--J. BARROW, Voyage to Cochin-China, &c.

lish packages of fruit or other presents offered to strangers, that this plant is there in high estimation, being considered perhaps as the representative of those resources of sustenance which the sea so amply supplies to such nations as from choice or necessity may be led to avail themselves of its

[Sand-filtering.]

"I TOOK a quantity of fine sand, washed it from the salt quality with which it was impregnated, and spread it upon a sheet to

BRUCE - ACERBI - BARROW-WITHERING.

dry; I then filled an oil-jar with water, and poured into it as much from a boiling kettle as would serve to kill all the animalculæ and eggs that were in it. I then sifted my dried sand, as slowly as possible, upon the surface of the water in the jar, till the sand stood half a foot in the bottom of it: after letting it settle a night, we drew it off by a hole in the jar with a spigot in it, about an inch above the sand; then threw the remaining sand out upon the cloth, and dried and washed it again. This process is sooner performed than described. The water is as limpid as the purest spring, and little inferior to the finest Spa."-BRUce.

[Sea Calves and Seals of the Gulph of
Bothnia.]

"THE Only animals that inhabit those deserts (the frozen gulf of Bothnia) and find them an agreeable abode, are sea calves or seals. In the cavities of the ice they deposit the fruits of their love, and teach their young ones betimes to brave all the rigours of the rudest season. Their mothers lay them down, all naked as they are brought forth, on the ice; and their fathers take care to have an open hole in the ice near them, for a speedy communication with the water. Into these they plunge with their young, the moment they see a hunter approach: or at other times they descend into them spontaneously in search of fishes, for sustenance to themselves and their offspring. The manner in which the male seals make those holes in the ice is astonishing; neither their teeth nor their paws have any share in the operation, but it is performed solely by their breath."-ACERBI's Travels.

Cameleopard.

MR. BARROW is mistaken in saying that since the time of Julius Cæsar when the Cameleopard was publicly exhibited in Rome, this animal had been lost to Europe till

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within the present century. "The accounts given of it," he adds, "by ancient writers were looked upon as fabulous."—(South Africa, vol. 1, p. 316.)

[Fish stunned by the Striking of the Ice.]

"IN autumn when the frost begins to set in, the fisherman courses along the rivers, and when he observes a fish under the ice in shallow water, he strikes a violent blow with his wooden mallet perpendicularly over the fish, so as to break the ice. The fish stupified by the blow communicated to it by the water, in a few seconds rises quite giddy to the surface, where the man seizes it with an instrument made for the purpose."-ACERBI's Travels.

[Medicinal Effects of the Elder Tree.] "SHEEP which have the rot will soon cure themselves if they can get at the bark and young shoots of the elder.”—WITHERING.

"ANY tree or plant which is whipped with green elder branches will not be attacked by insects.”—Phil. Trans. vol. 62, p. 348.

[How to get Fresh-Water on the Sea-shore.]

"DIGGE a pit upon the sea-shore, somewhat above the high-water marke, and sinke it as deepe as the low-water marke; and as the tide commeth in, it will fill with water, fresh and potable. This is commonly practised upon the Coast of Barbarie, where other fresh water is wanting, and Cæsar knew this well, when hee was besieged in Alexandria: for by digging of pits in the sea-shore, hee did frustrate the laborous workes of the enemies, which had turned the sea-water upon the wels of Alexandria; and so saved his armie, being then in desperation. But Cæsar mistooke the cause ;

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LORD BACON - PILKINGTON — WITHERING-CARVER.

for he thought that all sea-sands had naturall springs of fresh-water. But it is plaine, that it is the sea-water; because the pit filleth according to the measure of the tide: and the sea-water passing on straining thorow the sands, leaveth the saltness."LORD BACON, Natural History, Century 1, p. 1.

THE Indians of Tabasco who would admit the Spaniards into their houses, said that if the strangers "woulde needes have water, they might take river water, or else make welles on the shore, for so did they at theyr neede."-Conquest of the Weast India.

Prunus Spinosa. Black-thorn. Sloe-tree. "THE young leaves of the black thorn

are recommended as a substitute for tea.

Letters written upon linen or woollen with the juice of the sloe will not wash out.”— PILKINGTON'S Derbyshire.

and the violet, the most delightful bird and the sweetest flower. There are other natural objects which, having been the delight of my own childhood, I regret for the sake of my children. That green-gold beetle, the most splendid of British insects, which nestles upon roses, is unknown here; and the varieties of butterflies are by no means so numerous as in the southern counties.-ROBERT SOUTHEY.

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[Sulphureous Rain like Ink.]

"In the year 1762, in the month of July, it rained on this town and the parts adjacent, a sulphureous water of the colour and consistence of ink; some of which being collected into bottles, and wrote with, appeared perfectly intelligible on the paper, and answered every purpose of that useful liquid. Soon after, the Indian wars already spoken of broke out in these parts. I mean not to say that this incident was ominous of them, notwithstanding it is well known that innumerable well attested instances of ex

Oxalis Acetosella. Wood Sorrel. Cuckow-traordinary phænomena happening before

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extraordinary events have been recorded in almost every age by historians of veracity; I only relate the circumstances as a fact of which I was informed by many persons of undoubted probity, and leave my readers, as I have hitherto done, to draw their own conclusions from it.". CARVER, Travels through the interior Parts of North America, &c. p. 153.

[The Balachaun and the Nuke-mum of the Tonquinese.]

"BALACHAUN is a composition of a strong savour, yet a very delightsome dish to the Tonquinese. To make it they throw the mixture of shrimps and small fish into a sort of weak pickle made with salt and water, and put into a tight earthen vessel or jar. The pickle being thus weak, it keeps not the fish firm and hard, neither is it probably

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