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tion in animals is the effect of a depraved taste, produced by their intercourse with man; for those which never have been within the sphere of such intercourse, yet manifest this disposition.

Cattle, on some parts of the sea coast of our island, though they cannot subsist wholly on salt water, yet will watch the recess of the tide, and feed on marine productions. This is a regular practice among them in the Hebrides, in places where the pasture is less luxuriant. The wild asses that inhabit the deserts of Persia, in the neighbourhood of the Caspian Sea, are tempted to visit the borders of that salt water lake, in order to lick up salt from its banks, or to enjoy the delicious draught afforded by its waves. A particular account of this disposition we have in Professor Gmelin's account of the Onager, or Wild Asses, that he bought for the Empress of Russia, and that were sent to Petersburgh after the Professor's death. The account was drawn up by Professor Pallas from Gmelin's papers.

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The female-which, only, survived the journey often passed two days without drinking, especially in moist weather, or when very heavy dews fell. She also preferred brackish water to fresh-she loved bread sprinkled with salt; and sometimes would eat a handful of salt. I was told, that, when at Deibent, she always ran to drink of the Caspian Sea, though fresh water was nearer to her. She also selected plants impregnated with saline particles: and, on the whole, she manifested a decided desire for this tasteful gratification.

May I transgress so far, by way of digression, as to remark, that, in that exquisite epitome of natural history, the book of Job, this inclination of the Wild Ass is marked, though it does not appear in our public translation? Job, xxxix. 5.

Who hath sent out free the Wild Ass?-Parah. Or who hath loosed from bands the Wild Ass?Orud.

is ordered, that with the meal, of whatever kind, they are fed with daily, a few grains of salt should be added. Salt, says the writer, is of essential service to all cattle, and to every kind of fowl. It prevents diseases, and renders the flesh of animals more wholesome. Those to whom it is given shew their enjoyment of it by their sprightliness after having received it.

The writer proceeds: Especially this year's experience has convinced me of the usefulness of salt. The constant dryness that we have experienced has deprived the cattle and poultry of their succulent food; they grazed on a herbage void of all relish. They have even been foddered in the shed, as if it were winter. The salt that I have given them has imparted some relish to their food, and has tended to obviate the disadvantages connected with the absence of humidity. I have also given salt mingled with bran to rabbits; and they have thriven upon it remarkably. It has also preserved them from that disorder which is occasioned by the formation of a bladder in the stomach, which fills with water, and suffocates them. I have also given salt to late fallen lambs, which have come forward so well, in consequence, as to be ready for shearing at the same time as those born in February and I have observed with great satisfaction that the yolk was much stronger on the wool, than on that of those to which no salt had been given. In the southern countries, the shepherds, before they lead out their flocks, scatter salt on stones placed for that purpose: the sheep scramble "headlong on to these stones. or four times in a month.

:

This is done three

The scab, also, is much less frequent in those parts than in our own country; the custom of giving salt contributing greatly to this exemption.

If such be the beneficial effects of this mineral on the animals, our fellow-creatures, we may naturally expect it should produce

For whose habitation I have allotted the wilder- analogous effects on man; and, indeed,

ness,

And the saltings for his dwellings?

These saltings are in our version rendered "barren land," by which this very descriptive particular is overlooked.*

It is very well known, that the Merino breed of sheep have a regular allowance of salt distributed to them statedly; and that this is supposed to contribute essentially to the permanence of their health. It is thought also to contribute to their cheerful

Dess.

Among the directions lately given for the fattening of poultry, by a French breeder, it

* Vide Scripture Illustrated, on Job,xxxix.

that it does so we have sufficient evidence ; but I know no more remarkable or decisive instance of its extensive influence on the health of the public than what has lately been observed in France.

Many physicians, men of distinguished reputation and well known skill, affirm, pothat since the French revolution, sitively, the more customary and regular use of salt among the poorer classes of the people, by of its present cheapness, hasVERY GREATLY DIMINISHED CONTAGIOUS

reason

DISEASES. This is surely a very important consideration; for if the public health be affact, which demands inquiry, and marked fected by the dearness of this article, occa sioned by taxation, then it will follow that a statesman, to deserve well of his country,

should possess other information, and other talents, than those which may distinguish a mere financier.

I do not presume to think that these particulars, though of curiosity and importance, will justify old Homer in his epithet of divine given to salt; I presume we must seek the reason of that in other principles: of which, if you please, hereafter. For the present, having, as the Arabs say, " discharged the dart of my intention from the bow of my purpose," I conclude by subscribing myself, Yours, &c.

HERMIT.

P.S. It may, on some occasion, he of use among your readers to know a simple and easily procurable remedy for a species of accident to which we are all liable: accept, therefore, the following recipe; it may hap pily disappoint a doctor by anticipation, and the apprehensions of affection by its efficacy.

Salt, moistened with as small a quantity of water as possible, is said to be an effectual remedy against the inflammation occasioned by the stings of bees and wasps. A wasp be. ing swallowed, unperceived, by a person while drinking a glass of beer, stung him with all its power inside of his throat; this simple remedy, Salt, effected his recovery, although his gullet was swelled, and his breathing was so strongly affected and interrupted from the violence of the pain, &c. as almost to suffocate him.

COMPARISON OF PART OF THE ORIGINAL SCENERY IN MILTON'S ALLEGRO, WITH THE POETICAL IDEAS THAT HE DREW FROM IT.

Nature is the deity both of poets and painters. They draw from her inexhaustible sources the most delightful as well as the most faithful of their images. It is pleasant to trace the track they have pursued, the train of thought that has led them to the results we so greatly admire. One opportunity of this is within the reach of many of our readers, since to Oxford and its neighbourhood they can be no strangers; for a very happy illustration of a passage in Milton's Allegro we are indebted to the pen of the late Sir William Jones, in a letter addressed to Lady Spencer.

"It is well known that Milton resided for a time, and composed several of his earliest productions, at a farm-house in a small village situated on a pleasant hill, about three miles from Oxford, called Forest Hill, because it formerly lay contiguous to a forest, which has since been cut down. The poet chose this place of retirement after his first marriage, and he describes the beauties of his retreat, in that the passage of his L'Allegro :

Sometime walking, not unseen,

By hedge-row elmes on hillocks green.

While the ploughman, near at hand,
Whistles o'er the furrow'd land,
And the milkmaid singeth blythe,
And the mower whets his scythe;
And every shepherd tells his tale,
Under the hawthorne in the dale.
Straight mine eye hath caught new pleasures,
Whilst the landscape round it measures:
Russet lawns, and fallows grey,
Where the nibbling flocks do stray;
Mountains, on whose barren breast,
The lab'ring clouds do often rest;
Meadows trim, with daisies pied,
Shallow brooks, and rivers wide;
Towers and battlements it sees,
Bosom'd high in tufted wees.

Hard by, a cottage chimney smokeş,
From betwixt two aged oaks., &c.

It was neither the proper season of the year, nor time of the day, to hear all the rural sounds, and see all the objects mentioned in this description; but, by a pleasing concurrence of circumstances, we were saluted, on our approach to the village, with the music of the mower and his scythe; we saw the ploughman intent upon his labour, and the milkmaid returning from her country employ

ment.

"As we ascended the hill, the variety of beautiful objects, the agreeable stillness and natural simplicity of the whole scene, gave us the highest pleasure. We at length reached the spot, whence Milton undoubtedly took most of his images; it is on the top of the

hill, from which there is a most extensive prospect on all sides: the distant mountains that seemed to support the clouds, the villages and turrets, partly shaded with trees of the finest verdure, and partly raised above the groves that surrounded them, the dark plains and meadows of a greyish colour, where the sheep were feeding at large; in short, the view of the streams and rivers, convinced us that there was not a single useless or idle word in the above-mentioned description, but that it was a most exact and lively representation of nature. Thus will this fine passage, which has always been admired for its elegance, receive an additional beauty from its exactness. After we had walked, with a kind of poetical enthusiasm, over this enchanted ground, we returned to the village.

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tleman who was last in possession of the estate. The tradition of his having lived there is current among the villagers: one of them shewed us a ruinous wall that made part of his chamber, and I was much pleased with another, who had forgotten the name of Milton, but recollected him by the title of The Poet."

It must not be omitted, that the groves near this village are fainous for nightingales, which are so elegantly described in the Pensoroso. Most of the cottage windows are overgrown with sweet-briars, vines, and honey-suckles; and that Milton's habitation had the same rustic ornament, we may conclude from his description of the lark bidding him good-morrow,

Thro' the sweet-briar, or the vine,
Or the twisted eglantine:

Accordingly, young Cimarosa was placed with one of these, where his employment was that of fetching in the bread intended to be baked in his master's oven. The celebrated singer Aprilo, was one of his customers. He belonged to that class of singers, which the courtesy of dilettanti has denominated musici; and had carried his art to that extent, as almost degenerated into abuse. Young Cimarosa, in whom the taste for music began to shew itself, had observed the time when Aprilo usually exercised his vocal talents accompanied by the epinette, (a small piano, or harpsichord, placed on a table) and this was the time he fixed on to fetch Aprilo's bread. On such occasions, secreting himself in a corner of a passage adjoining the apartment of the singer, he attentively listened to this charming virtuoso, during the whole time of his practice; and in some measure forgot the errand he was sent on. Aprilo having for a pupil a young girl named La Teresina, about eight years of age, whose rising musical talents he admired, and therefore wished to cultivate, our young hero was so much fascinated with her lesson one day that he totally her master's apartment, had more than once forgot his business. Teresina, on quitting surprised the youth, lost, as it were, in a musical reverie; and by her interrogations, had prevailed on him to acknowledge his irresistible infatuation by that science which he was afterwards to exercise with so much celebrity. As he was a young man of good appearance, the young lass often indulged herself in prat tle with him. She questioned him. Why are you so continually concealing yourself in We remember a pleasing picture by Jones, this dark hole?-Because I listen with extacy. a View of this Farm House, Milton's Retire-Are you so fond of music?-I love it enment: Mortimer added the figures, which re-thusiastically. Do you understand music? presented hay-makers, as described by the-No, my father is not rich enough to inpoet. This may prove a hint, perhaps, to some emulative landscape engraver.

for it is evident, that he meant a sort of honey-suckle by the eglantine; though that word is commonly used for the sweet-briar, which he could not mention twice in the same couplet.

We may add, that Milton has been accused of coining" one verse for another's sake," in the couplet,

Then to come, in spite of sorrow,
And at my window bid good morrow.

but if, as tradition has asserted, he retired
hither from a contagious sickness, then he
may rationally be supposed to have alluded to
real sorrows; and his sensibility becomes an
additional heightening to his poetry.

PARTICULARS OF THE LIFE OF THE CELE-
BRATED MUSICAL COMPOSER, CIMAROSA.

A comic opera under the title of Cimarosa having been brought out at the Parisian Opera, the French papers have availed themselves of the opportunity to furnish some account of that celebrated composer. The particulars are comained in a letter from an intimate acquaintance of his, who resided long with him at Naples, and speaks from personal knowledge.

Don enico Cimarosa was son of a shoe-maker at Naples. His father had destined him to be a baker. The then prevailing custom in that eity was, for the inhabitants to knead their own bread, yet they were not allowed to bake it themselves, but were obliged to send it to one of the parochial ovens belonging to the privile, td company of city bakers.

dulge me with a master.-Do you think he would let you come to one of our Conservatories, if you had free admission?-Powerful friends are necessary for that; we have none such.-But supposing my master, Sig. Aprilo, should procure your adinission?-Ah, that would complete my happiness: could I but become a teacher of music! could I in my turn but compose such beautiful pieces of music as those which I never hear without feeling the greatest enthusiasm and emotion ! No, I shall never enjoy such happiness Have you a good voice? Do you sing?Sometimes. I suppose you would be very well satisfied, continued Teresina, with simplicity, if you could sing as well as Aprilo.— I wish I could; replied Cimarosa, gazing at her with the eyes of a young man of seventeen; then with a downcast look continuing, I wish I could sing as well as he, but nof exactly like him. Teresina, was too young to observe this distinction; but she reported this conversation to her master, who ordered Ci

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dence, that the fire began in a warehouse filled with hides, newly tanned, which was under his apartment; and to which the origin of that accident was generally attributed. By this calamity Cimarosa was deprived of all the fruits of his well known economy; and was even in danger of losing his life.

The foregoing is a short sketch of the debut of Dominico Cimarosa. I wish that some amateur, who had the happiness of accompanying him in his musical tour from Naples to St. Petersburgh, would favour the public with the later circumstances of his life and labours and a list of his numerous works, with which he has enriched the various states of Europe; and which are so justly celebrated for their merit and origi nality.

marosa to be admitted to him, the next time he came to fetch the bread; which direction his little protectress did not fail to see duly executed. After Aprilo had inquired respecting his family, his means of subsistence, and his fondness for music and singing, he wished to make a trial of his voice. Cimarosa, who, by means of a relative had often Visited the theatre of Florentino, where operas are performed in the dialect which is commonly spoken at Naples, and where this relation of our juvenile Apollo wrought as machini t, began one of the airs which the celebrated Cavacsiello used to sing, in such an original manner, and imitated his tone of voice so correctly, and with so much additional humour, that it entirely overcame the gravity of the theatrical critic. Aprilo burst into a loud laugh, and was enraptured The son of Cimarosa is also a composer of at this specimen of the young man's talents. merit. The following particulars were pubThe bent of his genius appeared so evidentlished some time ago in the Neapolitan newsto Aprilo that he lost no time in sending for papers. Cimarosa's father, whose consent was necessary for his son's admission into the Conservatorium de la Pieta. Here he studied the first principles of his new profession; but, afterwards becoming desirous of improving his talents, he left that institution, at the expiration of the stipulated time, and placed himself under the direction of Nicolo Piccini, the most celebrated Neapolitan composer of the time.

Shortly after his leaving the Conservatorium he married. My readers expect, without doubt, that his choice fell on his former protectress, the little Teresina; the same person, who, by inducing Aprilo to notice his juvenile exertions, had been the cause of his subsequent rise. Ah, reader! I sincerely participate in your wishes; for my narrative would then acquire a much greater degree of interest; such an incident would have given it a romantic air, and thereby would have qualified it for being presented on the stage, in the shape of an opera vaudeville, or rather, of a comic opera, composed from our hero's own music, of which we have such a considerable quantity in store. But, this was not the case. Whether, at the time of his marriage, Teresina was dead, whether she had bestowed her hand on another, or whether she had adopted a different mode of life, is a circumstance unknown to me but the fact is, that Cimarosa married simply the daughter of a mechanic. His wife having died some time after, he obtained permission of the Pope to marry his sister-in-law, of whom he had became enamoured, while his former wife was yet living.

I was not at Rome, at the time when the fire happened which not only destroyed his apartment, but the whole of the premises where he resided; but I have been told by a person, in whom I can plače implicit co..

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A piece of music was lately performed at the church de la Pieta, composed by the son of the immortal Cimarosa, a young man nineteen years of age. It was highly applauded, as well on account of its force of expression, as in consequence of the new and original ideas it contained. The celebrated Paisiello, who was present, pressed the young composer in his arms; and congratulat ed him in the following words: Follow "the glorious footsteps of your father, and, "if possible, surpass him in excellence."

PARTICULARS OF THE SKELETON OF THE
MAMMOTH, EXHIBITED IN LONDON,
ABOUT FIVE YEARS AGO.

To the Editor of the Literary Panorama.

SIR-You lately * gave an account of the discovery of a Mammoth in the Frozen Sea, and the long process of rendering that discovery available to the interests of science. It is earnestly to be hoped, that we shall receive further particulars of that creature's construction and form, with engravings, by which we may be enabled to compare it correctly with the structure of other animals its rivals in bulk; as it is well known that several varieties of these massy creatures are enuinerated by naturalists. In the meanwhile I send you some particulars of that skeleton which was exhibited some time ago in London and which I saw and examined with considerable attention. There is no reason to believe that it was of the same species as the Siberian mammoth but the sight of one of equal dimensions is an argument in favour of the existence of the other, though that be not within the reach of our inspection.

. Comp. Panorama, Vol. IV. p. 1181.

The name of Mammoth bones was first given by the Russian peasants to some large bones found in Siberia, and the term, although fabulous, was universally adopted; it was afterwards used in describing those large bones, &c. (although different from those extant in Siberia) which were discovered on the banks of the Ohio; several of which are in the British Museum.

This skeleton was dug up from a morass in the county of Orange, State of NewYork, North America) about 60 miles N. N. W. from the city of New-York, where it was accidentaly discovered by farmers who were digging shell marle for the purpose of All the bones were found within a suall space of each other, most of the large ones properly articulating, but some of the smaller ones detached. Bones of the same kind found on the Ohio, are generally petrified.

manure.

and is certainly part of the head of an animal of the ox kind, it must have belonged to a creature as large as the elephant; of this cast the pith of the horn is 21 inches in circumference.

The Megatherium, a large skeleton 6 feet 6 inches high, and 12 feet 8 inches long, found in South America, and now in the King's Museum at Madrid, by a drawing of it which has been exhibited, appears to have belonged to a different species.

I am not ignorant that Cuvier has attempted to distinguish and identify many species of large animals which he supposes to be now extinct, but I find some difficulty in granting the extinction of so many, as there appears to be a sufficient portion of the earth's surface yet unexplored by us, in which some of them may hereafter be found to reside. If it could be supposed that these large creatures were inhabitants of the ocean, as at the poles, for The teeth of this animal are formed like instance, this would increase the chance of those of all carnivorous animals, which are finding them yet existing. Late discoveries, always covered with a crust of enamel, and and visitations of almost all parts of the globe fit into each other so as to prevent any by the dauntless prows of British navigators, grinding motion; instead of the enamel run-I must own, are unfavourable to this idea; ning in veins through the tooth, like those of the elephant, horse, ox, &c. which are calculated for grinding vegetable substances. The tusks are different in form and substance from those of the elephant; the spinal pracesses, over the shoulders, are immensely large, so that the back must have been sharp like that of the hog; the ribs are short, narrow, and placed edgewise, unlike those of other animals, (those of the elephant are broad and flat); the thigh bones, instead of being round, are broad and flat, a mark of great strength and proportionate activity; the tail appears to have been long, broad, and flat; the scapula is very peculiar; and the bones of the fore-legs in particular remarkably large and heavy.

This skeleton is 11 feet high, 17 long, and 5 feet 8 inches wide, the under jaw alone weighs 63 lbs. and the whole skeleton about 1000 lbs. Many bones and teeth have been occasionally found of a much larger proportion. This therefore, is evidently, one of ordinary size, although much larger than a common sized elephant.

Another thigh bone, of a different subject, 3 feet 9 inches long, and 18 inches in circumference, found near the Ohio, was exhibited with the skeleton-Also, a single tooth of a Maininoth, 18 inches in circumference, 4lbs. 10 ounces in weight, with a part of the jaw-bone out of which it was taken. Dr. Wistar, Professor of Anatomy at Philadelphia, has tooth of this kind weighing 7 lbs.

By a plaster cast from a bone now in the possession of the Philosophical Society at Philadelphia, which was found near the Ohio,

nor is the question of any consequence to an
enlightened mind, theological or philosophi
cal; certainly of none, in the opinion of
yours, &c.
A NATURALIST.

Oct. 1808.

THE GATHERER.

I am but a Gatherer and Disposer of other Men's
Stuff-WOTTON.

No. VI.

The Benevolence of Jesus. From the Persian of Nizami. Translated by A. Y. When Jesus the Messiah, was travelling over the world to gain knowledge, he bent his steps by the entrance of a small market place.

At the time of his passing a wolf-dog had fallen down in a pathway before him; and its life had just escaped, from the prison of its body.

This circumstance drew together an immense crowd of gazers, who, like carrioneating vultures, came to look at the dead body.

After having gazed for some time, one of the by-standers said: "The disgustfulness of this carcase brings offence to our brain, like wind on a lamp."

Another said: "That observation is not altogether just it is blindness to the eye, and torment to the heart."

:

After the same manner, every one of the by standers had something to say; but all they uttered was fraught with malevolence, against the head of the departed beast.

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