VOL. 4.] Nature's Diary-Animalcules on Frozen Plants. June their winter coat was but beginning to fall off, and many of those we killed were still nearly white. We also saw many white bears, but only succeeded in killing one. Here you wil be sorry to learn, that, on the afternoon of the 30th June, having accompanied Captain Buchan and the purser in pursuit of rein-deer, I unfortunately received the fire from the rifle of the latter, at the distance of thirty yards, the ball of which struck the upper and inner part of the left knee bone. We continued at anchor in Fair Haven about seven or eight days, during which time, we (the two ships) succeeded in killing about forty-five or fifty deer, the weight of which averaged at least 120 pounds. We again put to sea, hoping, that as the season was now more advanced, we should be able to penetrate towards the north.... Having discovered some partial openings in the ice, we forced our way in; and on this occasion we gained the highest northern latitude we were destined to reach, viz. 80. 32. Here we were again completely surrounded and blocked up, in which state we remained during a period of three weeks! But alas! if during this long time any thing extraordinary presented itself, I was unable to witness it; such, however, did not appear to be the case. At length, on the 29th July, after immense labour and fatigue, we succeeded once more in getting into open water, little aware of the catastrophe which was to befal us on the approaching morn. We had gained an offing of eight or ten miles from the packed ice, when, about four o'clock, A.M. on the 30th of July, a dreadful gale of wind came on, blowing directly on the ice. In a few hours we found ourselves in an awful situation, unable to weather the ice on either tack, and drifting fast upon the main body of it, which the wind and swell had now rendered to every appearance a solid mass. We knew not what to do; there was no time for deliberation; and to prevent the ship from driving broadside on, the only alternative we had was to put the helm up, and, if possible, to force her head into the ice. The scene must have been awful beyond description; to me it was truly dreadful. A little after nine o'clock, the word was given to put the helm up; an awful pause succeeded, the most solemn dread pervaded every countenance; to all human probability there were but a few moments betwixt us and eternity; and every individual, with the most dreadful anxiety, watched the moment when the ship should receive the first shock. The concussion was tremendous. The sea was running awfully high; and, at the instant of coming in contact with the ice, it THE 481 threatened every moment to swallow us up. Our ship continued to receive the most dreadful shocks; but, in the course of half an hour, had forced herself in, probably about two or three times her own length. The immense masses of ice, which now surrounded the ship in every direction, served, in a great measure to shield us from the violence of the sea; and we were now so firmly wedged, that the ship comparatively had lit tle motion. During the whole of this dreadful scene, conceive the horrors of my situation; prostrate on the bed of sickness, and almost incapable of raising my head from the pillow, ignorant of our situation, and not a soul to speak to every officer and man having been on deck throughout, and too much concerned for their own preservation to think of me. When the ship first struck the iee, the shock forced me against the upper part of my bed-place, and then threw me nearly out of it. I scrambled, and used every exertion of which I was capable, to get from my bed, but it was all in vain....I could not move. At length the assistant surgeon came to me. I was much relieved, as well as astonished, on learning that we were on the ice, having been assured in my own mind, that we must have struck on a reef of sunken and unknown rocks. Fortunately the gale soon moderated; but we found ourselves in a sinking state....all the pumps going, and unable to keep the ship free. We now expected every moment to go to the bottom. The following morning was providentially fine, and the ice had somewhat separated; with the utmost exertion of every soul on board, we succeeded in getting the ship out of the ice, and were able on the following morning, to reach Smeerenberg harbour, Spitzbergen. Our ship being now in such a shattered condition, every idea of wintering was at an end; and it became a question whether the ship (the larboard side, in several places, being literally stove in) was sea worthy; or if, every thing considered, and under all the circumstances, it would be prudent to risk our lives in crossing the Atlantic. Having got into Smeerenberg harbour, however, it was found that we possessed the means of materially strengthening our vessel, after the completion of which, it was determined that we should proceed to England. We accordingly sailed from Smeerenberg harbour, Spitzbergen, about the beginning of September; and, after examining the state of the ice to the westward, we arrived on the coast of England about the 10th of October, without encountering any thing remarkable during our passage home. [See page 490.] From the London Time's Telescope. HE amusement to be derived from inspecting the minuter parts of the creation is endless. The numerous animalcules found on frozen vegetables, and imbedded in ice on the banks of 3 N ATHENEUM VOL. 4. ponds, we have already alluded to. We shall now pursue the subject. Sir John Hill thus describes the animalcules found on a frozen plant, when viewed through a microscope:-' Of 482 Nature's Diary for March-the Woodlark. all creatures, the most minute are in general the most voracious. I could observe the reptile hunting every part of the plant for lesser creatures, feeding on its juices, and devouring them insatiably. The winged race, on the upper part of the plant, were employed in a very different manner. The cold had pinched these, and seemed to threaten them with destruction; and they were avoiding its rigour, by burrowing themselves hiding places between the two membranes of the leaves. I saw several of them busied in different stages of this operation: some were just making the opening with their fore feet, and the pointed extremity of their trunk, the proper use of which was to draw in their nourishment; others were half got into their more forward holes; others had completely hid themselves; and some of them I could even trace to a great distance from the place where they had entered. The juices of the plant are the proper food of this insect, and its means of coming at them is by wounding the vessels with this instrument at its head. All this could be done in security while they were under covert, and, on a slight view, blind as themselves to the future, I was congratulating them on their safety. While I was making the observation, the drippings from the eaves of the houses proclaimed a thaw. The consequences of this, I immediately recollected, must, of necessity, be a rising of the little brook from whence these plants had been taken, and where a number of them were left peopled in the same manner: the melting of the snow which had fallen during the drier state of the air, must of necessity swell its waters to many times their former extent, and the whole plants must be submerged in them under this state, though, while shallower, their tops had appeared above the surface. Nature, which had destined the inhabitant of the upper portion of the plant to feed on a vegetable thus liable to be covered with water, and had not given it organs to subsist under that fluid, had bestowed on it wings, by means of which to avoid the danger. [VOL. 4 The creatures of this species, however, which had been the objects of my late observation, had, instead of this means of escape, under the numbing influence of the frost, preserved themselves from that threatened death, by burying alive in the very substance of the plant; and the result must be, their perishing by the submersion of the whole from the effects of the swelled stream. Thus they preserved themselves from the frost to be destroyed by the thaw; but with this difference in the general economy of nature, that by the former means they would have perished uselessly, but by the latter they afforded, in their death, a supply of food to the reptile inhabitants of the same plant, who would, perhaps, otherwise have perished of hunger from the destruction of the same frost among their more immediate food.' Insects so minute, the view Poor Susan has passed by the spot, and has heard A mountain ascending, a vision of trees; Green pastures she views in the midst of the dale, The mist and the river, the hill and the shade; And the colours have all passed away from her eyes. VOL. 4.] Nature's Diary-The Chaffinch-Bees-Forest Trees. 483 The chaffinch sings. A curious instance is recorded of a chaffinch having built its uest in a block or pulley of the mast of a small vessel lying at Greenock, which was followed by both birds. This singular circumstance has been woven into a pretty little poem, by Cowper.* Towards the close of the month, bees (apis mellifica) venture out of their hives.t • Within the cavity aloft Their roofless home they fixed, Formed with materials neat and soft, Bents, wool, and feathers mixt. Four ivory eggs soon pave its floor, With russet specks bedight— The vessel weighs, forsakes the shore, And lessens to the sight, The mother-bird is gone to sea, As she had changed her kind; But goes the male?-far wiser he Is doubtless left behind. No-soon as from ashore he saw The winged mansion move, He flew to reach it, by a law Of never-failing love; Then, perching at his consort's side, INVOCATION TO THE BEE. Go while summer suns are bright, With every rich and various sweet; But when the meadows shall be mown, There, for thee, in autumn, blows Ah, no!-throughout the winter drear DESCRIPTION OF FOREST TREES. Box (buxus sempervirens).—The common box-tree, which has oval leaves, is rarely found wild, except at a few places, where it grows in woods and thickets, as at Box-hill, in Surry; Boxley, in Kent; Boxwell, in the Cotswould, Gloucestershire; also in the chalk-hills near Dunstable. There are two other species, the angustifolia, or narrow-leaved box; and the suffruticosa, or Dutch box; but the sempervirens only is indigenous; that and the angustifolia grow in great abundance upon Box-hill, near Dorking, Surry, where there were formerly large trees of this kind. Various have been the disquisitions concerning the antiquity of this plantation, which, for any thing that appears to the contrary, may have been coeval with the soil. The late Sir Henry Mildmay, when in possession of this estate, sold the box upon Box-hill for fifteen thousand pounds; the purchaser was to be allowed fourteen years to cut it down. In 1802, forty tons were cut. Of the first species of box there are two or three varieties, which are propagated in gardens; and this, as well as the second, may be either raised from seeds or cuttings.* * MY BOXEN BOWER. By John F.M. Dovaston, Esq. I love my little boxen bower, The climbing sunbeams shed their sheen; In summer's heat or winter's storm: Within my little boxen bower Should I leave my boxen bower, 484 Varieties: Critical, Literary, and Historical. Many articles of turnery, and musical instruments, are manufactured from box-wood. In Paris, combs are made of no other material than this wood; and the quantity imported annually from Spain into that city is estimated at ten ⚫ thousand livres. Box admits of a beautiful polish, and is much employed in articles of furniture. CHESNUT (fagus castanea).—There is no plant cultivated in England that is more valuable than the chesnut; as it grows to considerable height, and its wood, if kept dry, is extremely durable. This ornament to the country is, at the same tine, of great utility for domestic purposes. The chesnut is of great service for hop-poles; hence, few large chesnut-trees are to be found in our forests. Near Cliffe, in Northamptonshire, are some very fine ones. The chesnut may strongly be recommended to those who intend to form plantations, whether for ornament or use, as a tree which, for durability, beau D WOMEN. VOL. 4 ty, and stature, will amply, and in a very short time, repay all the labour and expense that may be bestowed on its culture. The wood of the chesnut is peculiarly excellent for casks, as it neither shrinks, nor changes the taste or colour of the liquor. It is also converted into various articles of furniture, and, when stained, may be made to resemble, in beauty and colour, the finest mahogany. So great is the longevity of this tree, that proofs have been adduced of its living 7 or 800 years. It is commonly called the Spanish chesnut, because it arrives at the greatest perfection in the southern parts of Europe, particularly in Spain. In the latter country, indeed, it affords the chief sustenance of the poor, who make flour from the nuts; which are also eaten, roasted or stewed, as a delicacy, by the higher classes. In England the fruit of the chesnut is fit only for hogs and squirrels. VARIETIES. From the London Monthly Magazines. IDEROT says, that "when writing on women, we should dip our pens in the rainbow, and throw over each line, instead of sand, the powder of the butterfly's wing." This counsel is not easy to follow; for it is not given to every one to dip their pen in the rainbow; but those writers who have not the genius of Diderot, must be content to throw over each line the dust on the butterfly's wing, which certainly ought to be sufficient to empower us to speak very agreeably of women. Montaigne speaks sweetly of women where he says, "Women are more willingly, as well as more gloriously chaste, when they are beautiful." In the last century as well as in the present, people have been declaiming continually against prejudice, and, in particular, against that attached to birth. But no one has ever yet taken upon himself to examine if it is true, that women, in the full prime of life, whatever may be their merit or information, ought, for the good of their country, to confine themselves merely to the conducting their household affairs? Would it not be difficult to prove that it is vexatious for a superior talent to be buried in the son of a cobbler, and that it is not equally lost in a woman? The wife of every private individual is declared incapable of occupying the most trifling public employment, and, notwithstanding, in every kingdom of the world, except in France, when they are of royal race, they are judged capable of governing kingdoms; and these kingdoms go on like the rest-sometimes wrong, sometimes right. As, in general, women are not gifted with large hands and broad shoulders, it is evident they were never intended for war; and we regret, on their account, the melancholy empire of the VOL. 4.] Varieties: Critical, Literary, and Historical. Amazons. But their gentleness, the charms of their behaviour, their conciliating spirit-do not they render them particularly suitable to some employments? For example, in negotiations! Since the time of the Marechale de Guébriant, several have been entrusted with secret missions, and have acquitted themselves with success. We have lately witnessed one (universally regretted) who, of her own accord, happily employed her active mind in this kind of way, with as much success as glory. Why, then, this formal exclusion, so obstinately maintained? Why this malediction on one half of the human race? Every woman of an age to please and to persuade, ought to carry this question to the sittings of the Chambers; as, heretofore, the Roman dames, conducted by the daughter of Hortensius, carried to the senate their eloquent representations. Our best orators might be puzzled to answer these. We find in the letters of Balzac, an author now almost forgotten, a remarkable passage on women, which ought to be read by every young person. I cannot terminate this article better than by quoting it: "There are women, who, provided they are but chaste, think they are privileged to do harm; and believe that, if exempt from one vice, they have every virtue. I confess, that the loss of honour is the worst misfortune that can happen to a woman; but it does not follow because she has preserved it that she has done an heroic action; and I see nothing to admire because she did not choose to live unhappy and disgraced. I never heard it said that a person deserved praise for not having fallen into the fire, or for avoiding a dangerous precipice. We condemn the memory of a suicide; but there is no recompence given to those who do not kill themselves. And thus a woman who glories in being chaste, glories in not being dead, and for having a quality, without which she would have no rank in the world, and where she would only remain to assist in the punishment of her name, and to see the infamy of her memory. An 485 honest woman ought not so much to consider vice as evil, but as impossible; nor so much to hate it, as not to understand it. And if she is really virtuous, she will sooner believe that there are griffins and centaurs, than licentious females; and will rather believe that people are slanderers, and common fame a liar, than that her neighbour is not true to her husband. She will pity those who are abused by others; and when she is told of a woman committing a crime, she will satisfy herself with calling her unfortunate."-Translated from Madame de Genlis's Dictionnaire Des Etiquettes, &c. &c. ORIGIN OF THE FIGURE OF BRITANNIA. To Charles's (the Second) partiality for his graceful and accomplished cousin, Frances Stuart, we owe the elegant representation of Britannia on our pence and farthings. He admired, and even almost idolized this celebrated beauty, but could not seduce her, as he was base enough to essay, though he assailed her with compliments which he considered were likely to succeed; and it was from one of the medals struck to perpetuate his admiration of her delicate symmetry, that Britannia was stamped in the form she still bears on our copper coinage.-N.Mon. Nov.'18. THE MOON. Dr. Thomas Forster has of late noticed a phoenomenon which ought to engage the attention of philosophers; namely that the moon appears on rising, particularly about the time of the full, to have the power of dispersing the clouds, and clearing the atmosphere. He was first admonished of this circumstance by some French sailors while crossing the channel from Calais; and it had likewise been cursorily noticed to him by Mr. Herschel, of St. John's, Cambridge. For some time past, whenever circumstances afforded an opportunity of observing clouds about the time of the moon's rising, they have shortly been much diminished in volume, or wholly evaporated. This fact is best observed in the neighbourhood of the |