FOL. 4.]

natives of these hitherto unknown regions. The weapons they used for willing the smaller species of whales were the horns of the sea horse or unicorn.

RE-ANIMATION.

The Gazette de Santè contains the following interesting suggestions to the Humane Society of Paris" In general, death is proved only by symptoms of putrefaction ---relief should be administered in all cases of persons taken in a lifeless state out of water, or in a state of lethargy from any other cause, until symptoms of putrefaction shall have appeared. In persous taken lifeless out of water shortly after submersion, the principle of life is not always extinct, but only suspended as in cases of lethargy. It has been proved by experiment, that several hours' submersion in water does not always cause death. The appearance of a red, violet, or black colour on the face, cold of the body, and stiffening of the limbs, are not decisive symptoms of death.”

.......

MOREAU.

On the spot where Moreau was mortally wounded, about a mile and a half from Dresden, the Emperor Alexander has erected a simple but solid monument to his memory. It consists of one large square stone of Saxon granite, on the top of which is a huge helmet of iron resting upon a sabre. On one side of the monument is an inscription in German, of which the following is a translation--Moreau, the Hero, fell by the side of Alexander, 27th August, 1813."

EXTRAORDINARY SOMNAMBULISM.

On the 17th inst. John Hogarth, of Firebank, a young man, who for some time since has gone to Howgill school, arose from his bed fast asleep, and went a distance of two and a half miles before he awoke, when he found himself sitting in Howgill Chapel porch, adjoining the school! He afterwards went above a mile, to a friend's house, to borrow some clothes, as his only covering was a shirt and a night-cap. He had not received any injury, though the air was frosty, excepting in his feet, which were bruised. The following day, on the road by which he went, were found his Greek Testament and Bible, which he had been reading the night before, according to custom; and a slate was also found at the school door. It appears that he had called to see a friend as usual by the way, and on approaching the door, he said, "What! are you in bed yet?" and being asked what he wanted, replied, "I am going to school, sure," and marched off.

SUFFOCATION.

Several instances have lately occurred of the fatal effects of carbonic acid gas, upon persons who had inhaled that pernicious air. The manner in which this gas operates, in causing suffocation, has not been distinctly ascertained; but it is generally supposed to produce an instantaneous irritation of the Jarynx or wind-pipe, and, by shutting that organ, to suspend the power of respiration. It is probable, however, that it has a more diffused influence over the system, and that its action, as a sedative, extends to the lungs, and even to the heart itself; as Bergman,

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the celebrated Swedish chemist, ascertained, that animals deprived of life by this subtile poison, present no signs of irritability the moment they become lifeless,...a sufficient proof of its paralyzing influence over the nervous system. But in whatever manner it produces its deadly effects, the instances of these are so numerous, as to render it extremely desirable to be acquainted with some method by which we may either check its operation, or counteract its destructive properties. If the caustic alkalis, or slaked quicklime, could readily be procured, solutions of these substances sprinkled into wells, cavities, vats, &c. containing carbonic gas, would speedily absorb the deleterious air, and thus prevent its destructive consequences upon persons, who, not aware of their danger, had incautiously ventured into such places. But when accidents of this kind occur, these substances can seldom be obtained either quickly enough or in sufficient quantity to answer the purpose in view, so that, in general, life would be gone before we could avail ourselves of their chemical properties. In these circumstances we beg to suggest, that probably the most effectual remedy for the evil is to pour water from a commou watering-pan into the place containing the noxious air. This will produce a two-fold effect: the water dispersed in drops will be in the most favourable circumstances for absorbing the gas, while it carries down with it a large portion of pure air, upon the principle of the water-blowing machine. The quantity of water necessary for the purpose will not be so great as to endanger suffocation by drowning; and at any rate, the person exposed to it, would have a greater chance of surviving, if he were completely immersed in water, than if he were to remain the same length of time surrounded by an atmosphere of carbonic acid gas. Not a moment should be lost in pouring in the water, and if no watering-pan is at hand, the water should be laved in expeditiously with the hand. To some of our readers it may be necessary to state, that the suffocating air extricated from fermenting liquors, and burning charcoal, is the same as the air we have denominated carbonic acid gas.

LAMB PLANT.

The most extraordinary of the curiosities of Little Tartary is, the Lamb of Muscovy, which grows between the two great rivers the Don and the Wolga. This plant is remarkable for possessing a great portion of the animal nature. It is for this reason it is called the Animal plant; as also Zoophytes, and, in the Russian language, Bonarets.-The fruit is of the size of a gourd, or melon; it has the figure of a sheep, all the limbs of which are discoverable. It is fastened to the earth by the navel, upon a stalk of two feet in length. It always leans towards the grass, and the plants that grow round it, and changes its place as much as the stump will suffer. When the fruit comes to maturity the stalk dies; it is covered with hairy skin, frizzled like that of a lamb just lambed, and the skin serves it as a fur to defend it from the cold. It is further observed that this plant never dies till it can no longer find any grass to nourish it. The fruit yields a juice like blood, when it is taken from the stalk:

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and has the taste of mutton. The wolf is as fond of this plant as of real mutton; and the Muscovites make use of it, in order to surprise those animals.

IMPORTANT CAUTION TO FEMALES.

A young lady in France had the fatal babit of cleaning her ears with pins; a trifling humour was the result, which terminated lately in a cancer. The brass and quicksilver used in the preparation of pins may easily account for this circumstance, and which render them so very pernicious to the teeth when used as tooth-picks.

DEAFNESS CURED.

Mr. CURTIS has commenced for the third season his interesting Course of Lectures on the Structure and Diseases of the Ear. In the introductory part the Lecturer pointed out the vast advantage derived by a sole attention to one object; and in remarking the great improvements which of late years had taken place in medicine and surgery, he observed these improvements had not extended to the Diseases of the Ear, as it had done to the other organs of sense; hence there are more deaf persons in this country than in any other of the same population. He dwelt with much propriety on the great benefit de rived from the establishment of the Royal Dispensary for this class of diseases, and instanced the issue of several forlorn cases; one of which we noticed of a boy born deaf and dumb, who obtained the use of hearing and speech: besides this, he mentioned several other cases which were under cure, and where considerable progress had been made; one of them, a deaf and dumb man, 28 years of age, who is now enabled to hear sounds distinctly. It is too general an opinion, be remarked, that all children who do not acquire their speech at a proper period in consequence of deafness, are supposed to be born deaf and dumb; this occasions a neglect of their situation, while the deafness is not organic, but merely temporary; for it is well known, that at birth and a considerable time after, a viscid mucus fills the ear in the same manner as the meconium does the intestines; and until this original layer or deposition is removed, the child appears perfectly deaf, and not unfrequently has all the appearance of idiotism. The attention to this subject opens a wide field for investigation and improvement; and we think too much encouragement cannot be given to an individual who has taken up a line of practice hitherto neglected, with a zeal which is creditable to his humanity and feelings, and with a success which speaks high for his talent and knowledge of the subject; for it is Jamentable to see, by the last Report of the Deaf and Dumb Institution in Scotland, that no less than 800 persons are in this forlorn state; and in England and Wales, calculating by the proportion of population, it is clear there must be near double that number.

CARRIAGES WITHOUT HORSES. Mr. Charles Drais, who, according to the testimony of credible witnesses, had already, in July last, with one of the latest improved carriages, without horse, invented by him, Zone from Manheim to the Swiss relay-house, and back again, a distance of four hours

[VOL 4

journey by the posts, in one short bour; has, with the same machine, ascended the steep hill from Gernsback to Baden, which generally requires two hours, in about an hour, and convinced a number of amateurs, assembled on the occasion, of the great swiftness of this very interesting species of carriage. The principle of the invention is taken from the art of skating, and consists in the simple idea of a seat upon wheels driven forward by the feet acting upon the ground. The fore part ( vorhandene ausfishrnug) in particular, consists of a riding seat upon 2 double-shoed wheels running after each other, so that they can go upon the footways, which, in summer, are almost always good. To preserve the balance, a little board,covered and stuffed, is placed before, on which the arms are laid, and in front of which is the little guiding pole, which is held in the hand to direct the route. These machines will answer very well for couriers and other purposes, and even for long journies; they do not weigh 50 pounds, and can be had with travelling pockets, &c. in a very handsome and durable form, for a mere trifle.

JUVENILE CULPRITS.

Since 1814 down to the present time (Sept. 1818), there have been committed to Newgate 496 juvenile culprits, of whom only 14 ever belonged to the National Schools.

ANOTHER CRUSOE.

The following curious account has been taken from a Bombay paper :---“ Mr. Powell, commander of the Queen Charlotte, informs us of the interesting circumstance of his having recovered from a rock, 21 miles N. W. of Nooabeevah (one of the Marquesas,) a man that had been its solitary inhab itant for nearly three years. His account stated that early in 1814, he proceeded thither from Nooaheevah, with four others, all of whom had left an American ship there, for the purpose of procuring feathers that were in high estimation among the natives of Nonaheevah; but losing their boat on the rock, three of his companions in a short time perished through famine, and principally from thirst, as there was no water but what was supplied by rain. His fourth companion continued with him but a few weeks; when he formed a resolution of attempting to swim, with the aid of a splintered fragment that remained of their boat, to the island, in which effort he must, no doubt, have perished. They had originally taken fire with them from Nooaheevah, which he had always taken care to keep continually burning. The flesh and blood of wild birds were his sole aliment; with the latter he quenched his thirst in seasons of long droughts, and the skulls of his departed companions were his only drinking vessels. The discovery made of him from the Queen Charlotte was purely accidental; the rock was known to be desolate and barren, and the appearance of a fire, as the vessel passed it on the evening, attracted notice, and produced an enquiry, which proved fortunate for the forlorn inhabitant of the rock, in procur ing his removal to Nooaheevah, whither Mr. Powell conveyed him, and left him under the care of Mr. Wilson, who had resided there for many years, and with whom the hermit had had a previous acquaintance.”

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SALMON FISHERY.

A committee has been appointed, and a subscription entered into, for the laudable purpose of preserving the brood of fish in the river Mersey. A fisherman of Runcorn was lately convicted, and paid the penalty of 101. for taking young salmon, and using unlawful nets, called mallingers, which, together with his boat, were forfeited.---The importance of protecting this fish from premature destruction is strongly marked by the singular fact in natural history, that, like the swallow, it returns each season to the self-same spot to deposit its spawn. This has been proved by Monsieur de la Lande, who fastened a small piece of copper to the tails of some of them, and then set them at liberty, and found that they returned to the same place for three succeeding seasons. The rapid growth of this fish is astonishing, which appears from the testimony of a gentleman at Warrington. A salmon taken on the 7th of February then weighed seven pounds and three quarters; being marked with scissors on the back, fins, and tail, and turned into the river, was again taken on the 17th of the following March, and was then found to weigh seventeen pounds and a half.

STONE FROM THE MOON.

At the village of Slobodka, in the government of Smolensko, there fell on the 29th of July, 1818, an aerolite, with such violence from the air, that it penetrated nine werschoks deep into the ground. The stone weighed 71b. has a rough surface, and through the dark brown mass that covers it glimmers the proper substance of stone itself, which is of a grey colour, and sprinkled with metallic sparkles.

THE RHINOCEROS.

It has been questioned if a musket-ball would penetrate the hide of a rhinoceros. An opportunity lately occurred of making the experiment on the carcass of an old animal of uncommon size, which had been killed near Givalpara, on the border of the wild country of Asam, a spot where rhinoceroses abound. After repeated trials the bullet was found always to fly off, for the skin being very thick and extremely loose, it was constantly by that means put out of its course. In that part of the country there are many rhinceroses, and elephants in vast numbers. So numerous a flock was seen crossing the Burhamputa River, at a breadth of two miles, that the channel seemed full; nor was the end of the line perceptible, although they had been some time passing. A boat, going down the river, was obliged to put about, as it was impossible to get by them; and it was a considerable time before the line had left the jungles of the eastern side, whilst the jungles on the western side prevented their course being traced by the eye.

The people of the country say, that the rhinoceros is much an overmatch for the elephant; as the former being very nimble, gets round the elephant, makes his attack in the same manner as the wild boar, and rips up the belly of his antagonist.

FORGERY.

The number of persons executed for Forgery in in England from 1790 to 1818, is 146.

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SIGNOR BELZONI, THE TRAVELLER. Died at Cairo, Signor Belzoni, an Italian antiquary, who, by his recent discoveries among the ruins of Egyptian grandeur, has enriched the British Museum with several valuable relics. The name of this gentleman is favourably known to every man of taste and science in Europe. He had been for some years incessantly and indefatigably employed in Egypt, in connexion with Mr. Salt, the enlightened British consul, in tracing the monuments of antiquity, in which his efforts bave been attended with the most brilliant success. He had laid open the front of the great sphynx, and made many interesting and surprising discoveries. With a sagacity and perseverance seldom equalled, he opened the great temple at Ipsambul, which was covered with sand to the depth of fifty feet. At Thebes he made many surpri sing discoveries, and thence brought away the magnificent head of the statue of Memnon, which is now deposited in the British Museum. His surprising discoveries of the Egyptian catacombs, in one of which he discovered an exquisitely beautiful sarcophagus of alabaster, nine feet five inches long, by three feet nine inches wide, sounding like a bell, and transparent as glass, and ornamented with hieroglyphics and figures in intaglio. The most extraordinary, however, of M. Belzoni's labours, and that which most displays his sagacity and firmness, and the enthusiasm of his character, is the opening of the second pyramid of Ghiza, known by the name of Cephrenes' pyramid. Herodotus was informed that this pyramid had no subterraneous chambers, and his information being found in latter ages to be generally correct, may be supposed to have operated in preventing that curiosity which prompted the opening of the great pyramid of Cheops. M. Belzoni, however, perceived certain indications of sufficient weight to induce him to make the attempt.

THE ALGERINES.

De Witt, the Dutch statesman and political writer, says, in his book called "the Interests of Holland,"---“ that, although the Dutch ships loaded to the Mediterranean should be well guarded by convoys against the Barbary pirates, yet it would by no means be proper to free that sea of those pirates ; because (says he) we should hereby be put upon the same footing with the Eastlanders, English, Spaniards, and Italians; therefore it is best to leave that thorn in the sides of those nations, whereby they will be distressed in that trade; while we, by our convoys, engross all the European traffic and navigation to Holland."---(See Macpherson's Commerce, vol. 2, page 472.)

This was in 1557, and King James I. in his turn, encouraged the Algerines against the Dutch, and allowed them shelter in the British ports, and to sell their prizes; so that in six months the Dutch lost thirty rich merchantmen.

The Algerines, it would appear, have not, therefore, been alone to blame; but, supposing, as is likely, that there has always been that sort of connivance which De Witt recommends, surely the end might have been attained without dragging the people taken to slavery. It is even plain that the

My days are passed away as the swift ships. YES!..dark is the storm-beaten Mariner's way

As o'er the blue bosom of Ocean he glides, But darker the tempest of life's fleeting day, And colder the storm that hangs over its tides. Poor wand,rer! thy rest is the rest of the grave; No hour shall thy dawning of pleasure restore, For the beam that at morning illumin'd the wave, Now sinks into darkness, and lights thee no more. And thus shall the Soul that is bound to the world, And drinks the bright draught of its pleasures awhile,

At eve be afar on its dark waters hurled,

The slave of its fondness, betrayed by its smile!

Yet how can the bosom unheeding resign

The hopes it has cherished, the joys it has known, Should no beam from on high, with effulgence divine,

Shed its light on the path where we wander alone?

O Thou! who with goodness increasing, divine,
Dost calm the rude waves of the merciless sea,
May this bosom, whatever its trials, be thine,
And, where'er it shall wander, be fixed upon
Thee!
W. S.

TIS midnight. Eyeless Darkness like a blind
And haggard witch, with power to loose and bind

The spirits of the elements at will,
Draws her foul cloak across the stars, until
Those Demons she invoked to vex the waves
Have dived and hid them in their ocean-caves:
And they are fled-though still the mighty heart
Of Nature throbs: and now that hag doth start
(Her swarth cheek turning pale in bitter spite)
For thro' her brow she feels the cold moonlight
Shoot like a pain, as on a western hill
The setting Planet of the night stood still,
Just parted from a cloud: no more the blast
Wailed, like a naked spirit rushing past
As tho' it sought a resting place in vain :-
The storm is lull'd: and yet, it is a pain
To tell what wreck and ruin strew'd the shore-
Each wave its freight of death or damage bore?
Here, stained and torn, a royal flag was east ;
There lay a broken helm, a shatter'd mast ;
And oh, the saddest relic of the storm,
Yon wave conveys a seaman's lifeless form!

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"Tis morn-the waning mists with shadowy sweep
Draw their cold curtains slowly from the deep:
"Tis morn-but gladness comes not with her ray:
The bright and breathing scene of yesterday
Is gone, as if that swift-consuming wing
Had brush'd the deep which smote Assyria's king,
And left his Host, like sear leaves, withering!
The sea swells full, but smooth-to Passion's thrill,
Tho' spent her tempest, heaves the young heart still:
A bleakness slumbers o'er it-here and there
Some desolate huli, forsaken in despair,
Drives idly, like a friendiess outcast thing
Which still survives the world's abandoning:
Where are her sails-her serried tiers' display--
Her helm-her wide flag's emblem'd blazonry→→
Her crew of fiery spirits-where are they?

Far scattered groups, dejected, hurried, tread
The beach in silence, where the shipwreck'd dead
Lie stiff & strain'd: among them(humbling thought!)
They seek their friends-yet shrink from what they
sought,

As on some corse the eye, recoiling, fell-
Though livid, swoln-but recognized too well!
Apart, disturbed in spirit, breathless, pale-
Her unbound tresses floating on the gale--
A Maiden hastened on:-across her way,
As tho' he slept, a lifeless sailor lay:

She paused, and gazed a moment-shuddered, sank
Beside that victim on the wave-washed bank--
Bent shivering lips to press his haggard cheek,
But started backward with a loathing shriek!
Fond wretch! thy half-arted eyes discover
The cold and bloodless aspect of the Lover!

Their tale is brief. The youth was one of those
Who spurn the thought of safety or repose
Whilst Peril stalks the deep: where' displayed,
The flag which sues for succour has their aid-
The foeman's or the friend's ;-no pausing then
To question who implore them-they are men!
A noble race--and, tho' unfamed, unknown,
A race that England should be proud to own!
He, with a few as generously brave,
Had heard the death-wail rising from the wave,
And in an ill-starred moment sought to save.
The life-boat reached the foundering ship..her crew
With greedy haste secured the rope it threw ;
And, in the wild avidity for life,

Rushed reeling in: alas, that fatal strife
But seal'd their doom! the flashing billows roar
Above their heads-one pang-they strove no more?

He did not love unloved; for she who prest
That clay-cold hand so madly to her breast,
Believed his vows: and but for Fortune's scoru
Young Love had smiled on this their bridal morn :
But oh, his years are few who hath not felt
That, while we grasp, the rainbow bliss will melt;
That hopes, like clouds which gleam across the

moon,

Soon pass away, and lose their light as soon!
The weltering mass she folds, but yesternight
Heaved warm with life-his rayless eye was bright-
And she whose cheek the rose of rapture spread,
Raves now a maniac--widow'd, yet unwed:
And reckless wanderings take the place of woe→→
She fancies joys thas glow not, nor can glow;