Account of the Nuremberg Boy, Caspar Hauser, who was shut up in a Dungeon from the fourth to the sixteenth year of his age.

ABOUT twenty-five years ago public curiosity and the solicitude of the scientific world, were powerfully excited by the discovery of the wild man of Aveyron, who was surprised in the woods leaping from tree to tree, living, in a naked state, the life of a baboon rather than that of a man, emitting no other sounds

than imitations of the cries of animals which he had heard, or those which made their escape from his breast without the emotions of pleasure or suffering. A phenomenon of nearly a similar nature has for the last fifteen months engaged the attention of the learned in Germany. But in this case there do not exist the entire liberty, and the wild and erratic life, which degraded the intellect of the unfortunate being just mentioned. There has, on the contrary, been a state of absolute constraint and captivity. Hitherto nothing had transpired in France respecting this singular phenomenon, and we should probably have still remained ignorant of it, had it not been for the attempt at assassination made a month ago upon this unfortunate creature, now restored to social life; and, as would appear, pursued by the same villain who, for twelve years, had kept him buried in a dungeon. A person of high rank, and distinguished by the superiority of his mind, has addressed to us the following letter, which reveals, in some measure, the entire history of this unfortunate being, Our correspondent has seen and conversed with this mysterious young man. We have thought it right to publish his letter in the same spirit which dictated it, that is to say, less as the recital of an extraordinary and touching adventure, than as a subject of moral and psychological study. At the moment when we were sending this letter to press, we received the Nouvelle Revue Germanique, which is printed at Strasburg, and in which the same facts are translated, from the Hesperus, one of the best of the German journals. But we have in addition, the assurance of authenticity and the observations made on the same subject by a person who, by profound study, has been familiarized with all the great questions of philosophy.*

"to the EDITOR OF LE GLOBE.

was haam; (the provincial pronunciation of heim, home,) to express the desire of returning, to his dungeon.

"When it appeared evident from the state in which the young man was, that the statement contained in the letter was true, he was confided to the charge of an enlightened professor of the most respectable character, and, by a decree of the magistrates, was declared an adopted child of the city of Nuremberg. "Previous to my return to France, I had determined to visit that city, the only large town in Germany which I had not seen. This was about the end of last September. I was furnished with a letter to one of the magistrates, who, from the nature of his functions, had the charge of superintending the education of Caspar Hauser. It was this person who brought him to me; and, by a privilege which I should not have ventured to claim, the last moments of a residence devoted to the examination of the curiosities of this great monument of the middle age, afforded me an opportunity of seeing a very rare, if not unique, subject for the study of human nature. We beheld a young man, below the middle stature, thick, and with broad shoulders. His physiognomy was mild and frank. Without being disagreeable, it was no way remarkable. His eyes announced weaknes of sight, but his look, especially when a feeling of internal satisfaction or of gratitude made him raise it towards the skies, had a heavenly expression. He came up to us without embarrassment, and even with the confidence of candour. His carriage was modest. He was urged to speak, to give us an account of his emotions, of his observations upon himself, and of the happiness of his condition.

"We had no time to lose, for our horses were already harnessed. While I was reading an account composed by himself, in which he had begun to retrace his recollection, he related to my travelling companion whatever had not yet been recorded in it, or replied to his questions. I shall, therefore, first present the details of the narrative, and then mention what was repeated to me of a conversation of which I heard only a part.

ing German was that of a foreigner, who has "His manner of speaking and of pronouncexercised himself for some years in it, The motion of the muscles of the face indicated an effort, and was nearly such as is observed in deaf and dumb persons who have learned to speak. The style of the written narrative resembled that of a scholar of ten or eleven years, and consisted of short and simple phrases, without errors in orthography or grammar. The following is a brief account of it:

"In the month of May, 1828, there was observed at the entrance of one of the gates of the city of Nuremberg, a young man who kept himself in a motionless attitude. He spoke not but wept, and held in his hand a letter addressed to an officer of the regiment of Light Horse, in garrison in the town. The letter announced that from the age of four to that of sixteen years, the bearer had remained shut up in a dungeon, that he had been baptized, that his name was Caspar Hauser, that he was destined to enter the regiment of Light Horse, and that it was for this reason that the officer was addressed.

"On being questioned he remained silent, and when further interrogated he wept. The word which he most frequently pronounced

The letter is probably the production of the celebrated Cousin.

"His recollections disclose to him a dark dungeon, about five feet long, four broad, and very low; a loaf of bread, a pitcher of water, a hole for his wants, straw for a bed, a cover

terial, and some ribbons, with which he amused himself in decorating them. He had no recollection of hunger, but he well remembered being thirsty. When he was thirsty he slept, and on awakening the pitcher was found full, When he was awake he dressed his horses with the ribbons, and when his thirst returned he slept. The man who took care of him always approached him from behind, so that he never saw his figure. He remained almost constantly seated. He recollects no feeling of uneasiness. He is ignorant how long this kind of life lasted; and when the man began to reveal himself and to speak to him, the sound of his voice became impressed upon his ear. His words are indelibly engraved upon his memory, and he has even retained his dialect. These words ran exclusively on fine horses, and latterly on his father, who had some, and would give them to him. One day, (I make use of this word although it is improper, for to him there were neither day, nor time, nor space,) the man placed upon his legs a stool with paper, and led his hand in order to make him trace some characters upon it.

son.

When the impulse given by the man's hand ceased, his hand also stopped. The man endeavoured to make him understand that he was to go on. The motion being without doubt inopportune, the man gave him a blow on the arm. This is the only feeling of pain which he remembers. But the stool greatly embarrassed him, for he had no idea of how he should put it aside, and was utterly unable to extricate himself from this prison within a priOne day, at length, the man clothed him, (it would appear that he wore only a shirt, his feet being bare,) and taking him out of the dungeon put shoes upon him. He carried him at first, and then tried to make him learn to walk, directing the young man's feet with his own. Sometimes carried and sometimes pushed forwards, he at length made a few steps. But, after accomplishing ten or twelve, he suffered horribly, and fell a crying. The man then laid him on his face on the ground, and he slept. He is ignorant how long these alternations were renewed; but the ideas which he has since acquired have enabled him to discover, in the sound of his conductor's voice, an expression of trouble and anguish. The light of day caused him still greater sufferings. He retains no idea of his conductor's physiognomy, nor does he even know if he observed it; but the sound of his voice, he tells us, he could distinguish among

a thousand.

"Here ends the narrative, and we now come to the conversation. During the first days which he passed among men, he was in a state of continual suffering. He could bear no other food than bread. He was made to take chocolate: he felt it, he told us, to his fingers' ends. The light, the motion, the noise around him, (and curious persons were not wanting to produce the latter,) and the variety of objects which forced themselves upon his observation, caused an indescribable pain, a physical distemper, but this distemper must have existed

in the chaos of his ideas. It was music that

afforded him the first agreeable sensation: it was through its influence that he experienced a dispersion of this chaos. From this period he was enabled to perceive a commencement of order in the impressions by which he was assailed. His memory has become prodigious: he quickly learned to name and classify objects, to distinguish faces, and to attach to each the proper name which he heard pronounced. He has an ear for music, and an aptitude for drawing. At first he was fond of amusing himself with wooden horses, of which a present had been made to him, when he was heard continually to repeat the word horses, beautiful horses (ress, schone ress). He instantly gave up, when his master made him understand that this was not proper, and that it was not beautiful. His taste for horses has since been replaced by a taste for study. He has begun the study of the Latin language, and by a natural spirit of imitation, his master being a literary man, he is desirous of following the same career.

"So extraordinary a phenomenon could not fail to inspire, independently of general curiosity, an interest of a higher order, whether in observing minds or in feeling hearts, and the women especially have expressed their feelings towards him in little presents, and

letters of the most tender kind. But the multitude of idle visits they made to him, and especially these expressions of tender feeling, were productive of danger to him, and it became necessary to withdraw him from so many causes of distraction, and to lead him into retirement. Accordingly, he now lives retired in the bosom of a respectable family. Pure morals, an observing mind, and a psychological order, preside over his education and instruction, in proof of which, he has made immense progress in the space of the last sixteen

months.

"Here, then, by the inexplicable eccentricity of a destiny without example, we have presented, and perhaps solved a problem,

which from the Egyptian king mentioned by Herodotus, down to the writers of novels, to the Emilius of Rousseau, and the statue of Condillac, has exercised the imagination of men, and the meditations of philosophers. "It is evident that in the profound darkness, the absolute vacuity in which Caspar Hauser was for twelve years immersed, all the impressions of the first four years of his life were effaced. Never was there a tabula rasa like that which his mind presented at the age of sixteen. You see what it has been capable of receiving. But the metaphor is false, for you see how it has reacted.

"In proportion as the sphere of his ideas enlarged, he has made continual efforts to pierce the shades of his previous existence. They have been useless, at least as yet. "I incessantly try," said he to us, " to seize the image of the man; but I am then affected with dreadful headachs, and feel motions in my brain which frighten me." I have told you that his figure, his look, and his port, bore the expression of candour, carelessness and contentment. I asked him if he had, either in his dungeon, or after coming out of it, experienced feelings of anger. How could I, said he, when there has never been in me (and he pointed to his heart,) what men call anger. And this being from whom, since the com. mencement of his moral existence, had emanated all the gentle and benevolent affections, has all these illusions dissipated by the violence of an assassin. Happy, perhaps, had it been for him had he fallen under it, or should he yet fall! And yet, if, after having been struck by the murderer, he drags himself mechanically and squats in the corner of a cellar, as if he would again enter his cave, he who, in the first moment of his social existence, had no other wish than that of being led back to it, to see him now become a social man to such a

degree, that his first cry is to supplicate that he be not again led to it!

"This assassin, I only know, as yourself and as the public know, through the medium of the newspapers. The young man, they say, thought he recognised in him the voice of his conductor. It is probable that the conductor is the assassin; but it is also possible that the young man may be deceived; for in that so well remembered voice, were concentrated all his ideas of evil. Be this as it may, it is as a psychological phenomenon that I have presented his history, and not as an adventure, respecting which every one may form his own conjectures. All that I can say is, that the functionary who presented him to us, and who, by the duties of his office, was charged with directing the inquiries, has informed me that for a moment they imagined they had found traces of a discovery; but these traces had ended in nothing else than the rendering it probable that the place of his imprisonment is to be found in a district at the distance of about ten leagues from the city of Nuremberg."-Le G.obe, 21st November.

CARDING AT WASHINGTON. THE following amusing description of the origin and progress of visiting cards, is extracted from the "Banner of the Constitution."

One would suppose that the sending around of cards in an empty carriage, is the most ridiculous burlesque in the world. Mr. Raguet insists, however, with some humour, that there is a species of domestic economy in it—and no doubt it saves the time of the lady in going round with the cards of ceremony. There is still, however, a greater improvement in the economy of visiting, introduced into London more than twenty years ago. Mr. Southey in his Espriella's Letters, giving an account of the English system of visiting, says, that the lacqueys of London instead of going round with the cards, agree to meet at a certain coffee house at a certain hour, and there and then exchange their cards-paying away such as they have for others, and receiving in re

turn what are intended for their own masters or mistresses. Thus a great deal of convenience is produced. by this labour-saving process and those, who wish to inform their friends that they are still alive, and wish to be on acquaintance and visiting terms, give the necessary information without the trouble of sending round carriage or courier.-American Daily Advertiser.

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and fleeting; the former perpetual and lasting. In one case as soon as the door is shut behind your back you are forgotten: out of sight, out of mind. But in the other, you are stuck up over the mantel-piece, among a crowd of other sensible people like yourself, to be gazed at by the social visiters of the family, and are thus made to add to the glory and dignity of the gentleman who has had the good fortune to be carded by you. No longer is your card Of all the labour saving inventions that disfigured like a child's spelling book, by dogs' have yet been discovered, there is none which ears, but each person called upon is to be comexceeds what, in Washington, is called card-plimented with a separate card, from each ining. The term is technical, belonging to the dividual caller, so that a pack of cards is somescience of etiquette, and although it is an im- times hardly enough to while away a morning provement which is very familiar to the fashionable people in all our cities, yet it is not so to all those for whom this lucubration is intended; and we shall accordingly, for their benefit, give a brief history of the rise and progress of this very sensible and time-saving

art.

In the days of our great grandfathers and great grandmothers, when the intercourse of society was carried on upon the true principles of sociability,-when it was lawful for Mrs. A. to send her compliments to Mrs. B., with a message, that if she, Mrs. B., was not engaged, Mrs. A. would come and drink tea with her,it was the custom for any one, who wished to see a friend, to go to his house, knock at the door with his knuckles, and if his friend was not at home, to say to his wife, or daughter, or any one else who should happen to come to the door, that he would call again. This was the genuine old fashioned mode of visiting, and although it has long since been exploded, as a vulgar and anti-good-society custom, yet we presume it still exists in many parts of the country, amongst persons who venerate the good old usages of their forefathers.

The first step towards refinement in this particular, which characterized the incipient march of mind, was leaving the name of the caller, without any signification of his intention to call again. But as sometimes a bungling cook or chambermaid, would come to the door, who could not remember names, it became expedient, in order to prevent mistakes. that the caller should take his pencil out of his pocket-book, and write his name upon any piece of paper which he might happen to have about him.

To this improvement succeeded cards, which announced the commencement of a new era in the science of visiting. At first the name was written on the card with a pen. Copperplate printing soon followed, and with it, all the embellishments which could be contrived, such as gilt edges, embossed and polished surfaces, and all the various tastes as to size and shape, Roman letter, script and German text, in ink or gold leaf, according as the different fancies of people suggested. These cards were left at the houses of the persons called upon after learning that they were not at home, and if the visit was intended to kill more than one bird with a stone, the card was disfigured by hav ing one, two, or three of its corners turned down.

This custom continued for a considerable time, but as society extended, and large parties became fashionable, it was found impossible to pay personal visits to every body of five

hundred to whom invitations were intended to be sent. The expedient of carding was then resorted to, which is simply dropping a card with those that you do not care six pence about, without taking the trouble to inquire whether or no they are at home. To this admirable invention, succeeded the still more admirable one, of saving even the trouble of carding a man with your own hands. An empty carriage may perform the job as well as a full one, and in the present advanced state of the science, a gentleman may sit in his chamber, and without stirring a foot from the fire, may visit the whole city.

But the visiting by cards has an advantage over a personal visit. The latter is temporary

with.

Somebody will perhaps ask, "what has carding to do with political economy?" We reply, that it has a vast deal to do with domestic economy, which is a kindred science, and as it saves time and hack hire, it is of incalculable advantage to those who have neither leisure nor money to spare in a city like Washington, where the population is so very much scattered, and where no one can pretend to pay visits to all whom they wish, or are obliged to see. We think, that an opportunity is afforded for the establishment of a new branch of American Industry, which would require no tariff law, to give it proper encouragement, and we should not be surprised, some of these days, to see signs stuck up in various parts of the city"Visiting by proxy done here."

And whilst upon this subject, we will make a suggestion, for which we think we will receive the thanks of a number of those who are liable to first visits, which is, that strangers be particular in putting their address on their cards. From the want of necessary precaution, visits are often not returned; for it is too much to require of the person called upon, who generally has some business to attend to, that he should not only return a visit, but that he should waste his time hunting up the lodgings of the person calling. We know, that great complaints exist on this subject.

1

I'D BE AN EDITOR.

A PARODY-BY HERODOTUS NIB, ESQ. Air-" I'd be a butterfly, born in a bower.” I'D be an editor, mew'd in a garret, Where cobwebs in dusty magnificence hang, With a steady arm chair, and no rivals to share it,

And a hat full of politics, verses and slang, I'd never fret about talents or merit,

I'd never cowskin, or challenge, or flout; I'd be an editor mew'd in a garret,

Ready to wear my coat either side out, I'd be an editor-I'd be an editor,

Luck to the coat, be it inside or out.

O, I would pilfer the wit of my betters!

Scissors should minister all to my need; Then I should look like a rare man of letters, If duns did not warrant the title indeed, He who has wealth, must be watchful and wary;

He who has office, look out for his nose, I'd be an editor; here high and airy, Rock'd on sublimity-when the wind blows. I'd be an editor-I'd be an editor,

Rock'd in my garret, and safe in my nose. What though you tell me that more kicks than dollars,

Fall to the vender of typical lore, Yet are the purses of gentlemen scholars Free to the bottom-and who could ask more?

Some in life's winter may toil to discover

Favours from fortune which never will rust, I'd be an editor, living above her,

Seeking for nothing but glory and-TRUST! I'd be an editor-deuce take the creditorWriting for glory and printing on trust!

Miscellany.

Preservation of Firemen exposed to Flames. -The Chevalier Aldini of Milan has been earnestly occupied in the construction of an apparatus, or rather clothing, intended to preserve persons from injury who are exposed to flames. The apparatus has lately been fully tried at Geneva, and an account of it, and the trials, given in the Bibliothèque Universelle. A union of the powers possessed by a metallic tissue to intercept flame, with the incombustible and badly conducting properties of amianthus, or other substances, has been made in the apparatus; and the latter consists of two distinct systems of clothing, the one near the body composed of the badly conducting incombustible matter, and the other, or external envelop, of a metallic tissue.

The pieces of clothing for the body, arms, and legs, are made of strong cloth which has been soaked in a solution of alum; those for the head, the hands, and the feet, of cloth of asbestos. That for the head is a large cap, which entirely covers the whole to the neck, and has apertures in it for the eyes, nose, and mouth, these being guarded by a very fine copper-wire gauze. The stockings and cap are single, but the gloves are double, for the purpose of giving power of handling inflamed or incandescent bodies.

M. Aldini has, by perseverance, been able to spin and weave asbestos without previously mixing it with other fibrous substances: the action of steam is essential in the bending and twisting of it, otherwise the fibres break. The cloths prepared with it were not of close texture, but loose: the threads were about onefiftieth of an inch in diameter, and of considerable strength: cords of any size or strength may be prepared from them. M. Aldini hopes to be able so to prepare other fibrous matters, as to be able to dispense altogether with this rare and costly material.

The metallic defence consists of five principal pieces: a casque, or cap complete, with a mask: this is of such size as to allow of sufficient space between it and the asbestos cap, and is guarded before the face by a visor, so that the protection is doubled in that part; a cuirass, with its brassets; a piece of armour for the waist and thighs; a pair of boots of double wire-gauze; and an oval shield, five feet long, and two and a half wide, formed by by extending gauze over a thin frame of iron. The metallic gauze is of iron, and the intervals between the threads about one-twenty-fifth of an inch each.

When at Geneva, M. Aldini instructed the firemen in the defensive power of his arrangements, and then practised them, before he made the public experiments. He showed them that a finger enveloped first in asbestos, and then in a double case of wire gauze, might be held in the flame of a spirit-lamp or candle for a long time, before inconvenient heat was felt; and then clothing them, gradually accustomed them to the fiercest flames.

The following are some of the public trials made. A fireman having his hand inclosed in a double asbestos glove, and guarded in the palm by a piece of asbestos cloth, laid hold of a large piece of red hot iron, carried it slowly to the distance of 150 feet, then set straw on fire by it, and immediately brought it back to the furnace. The hand was not at all injured in the experiment.

The second experiment related to the defence of the head, the eyes, and the lungs. The fireman put on only the asbestos and wire gauze cap, and the cuirass, and held the shield before his breast. A fire of shavings was then lighted, and sustained in a very large raised chaffing dish, and the fireman approaching it, plunged his head into the middle of the flames, with his face towards the fuel, and in that way went several times round the chaffing dish, and for a period above a minute in duration. The experiment was made several times, and those

who made it said they suffered no oppression | or inconvenience in the act of respiration. The third experiment was with the complete apparatus. Two rows of faggots, mingled with straw, were arranged vertically against bars of iron, so as to form a passage between, thirty feet long, and six feet wide. Four such arrangements were made, differing in the proportion of wood and straw, and one was with straw alone. Fire was then applied to one of these double piles; and a fireman, invested in the defensive clothing, and guarded by the shield, entered between the double hedge of flames, and traversed the alley several times. The flames rose ten feet in height, and joined over his head. Each passage was made slowly, and occupied from twelve to fifteen seconds; they were repeated six or eight times, and even oftener, in succession, and the firemen were exposed to the almost constant action of the flames for the period of a minute and a half, or two minutes, and even

more.

When the course was made between the double range of faggots without straw, the fireman carried a kind of pannier on his back, prepared in such a way as to be fire-proof, in which was placed a child, with its head covered by an asbestos bonnet, and additionally protected by the wire gauze shield.

Four firemen made these experiments, and they agreed in saying, that they felt no difficulty in respiring. A very abundant perspiration came on in consequence of the high temperature to which they had been exposed, but no lesion of the skin took place except in one instance, where the man had neglected to secure his neck by fastening the asbestos mask to the body dress.

No one present could resist the striking evidence of defence afforded when they saw the armed man traversing the undulating flames, frequently hidden altogether from view by them as they gathered around him.

The fact that in M. Aldini's apparatus a man may respire in the middle of the flames is very remarkable. It has often been proved, by anatomical examination, that in cases of fire many persons have died altogether from lesions of the organs of respiration. It would appear that the triple metallic tissue takes so much of the caloric from the air as it passes to the lungs, as to render its temperature supportable; and it is known, by experiments in furnaces, that a man can respire air at 120 or 130° C. and even higher. Perhaps also the lesions referred to may have been due to aqueous vapour, which is often produced in great abundance in fires where endeavours are made to extinguish them by water, for such vapour would transfer far more heat to the lungs than mere air. Hence in every case, and however guarded, firemen should enter houses in flames with great prudence, because the circumstances are not the same as in the experiments just described.

It is remarked that several suits of this defensive clothing should be provided, not to clothe many persons at once, but that, in endeavouring to save persons or valuable things in cases of fire, the fireman should not approach again and again in heated clothing, but have a change at hand. The Grand Duke of Tuscany has ordered six suits for the city of

Florence.

M. Aldini showed several experiments relative to the extinguishing power of his preparations before the Société de Physique de Genève. One consisted in placing an asbestos cloth of loose texture over a flame either of wax or alcohol; the flame was intercepted as well as it could have been by a piece of wire gauze. This experiment is supposed to favour the objections made to Sir H. Davy's explication of the theory of the wire gauze safetylamp; but there seems to be a mistake in the idea which has been taken of that theory. Sir H. Davy never explained the effect of his lamp by absorption of heat from flame dependant upon the good conducting power of the

tissue alone, but by the joint action of absorption and radiation. There is no doubt that cloth of asbestos is an admirable radiator, and that this power, with its conduction, is probably sufficient to explain the effects upon Sir H. Davy's theory.

Fresh Water Springs at the Bottom of the Sea-These springs occur near the islands of Bahrain and Arad, which are situated on the south side of the Persian Gulf. Bahrain is low and more fertile than any island in that gulf. Many fine groves of date trees are scattered over it, and perhaps the purest fresh water is to be found at a large pool having a spring near it, within two or three miles of the town of Monama. When Captain Maughan left Bahrain in 1828, the island was in the possession of the Ootoobies, a powerful tribe of Arabs from the desert opposite. About one and a half or two miles to the north-east lies the little island of Arad, merely a low sandy islet, with a few date trees upon it, and a hamlet composed chiefly of fishermen's huts. The harbour for shipping is formed between Bahrain and Arad islands, from which project extensive reefs of rocks. The depth of the harbour is from three to four and a half fathoms, with a sandy bottom. On the western and north sides of Arad, at some distance from the beach, are springs of fresh water gushing from the submarine rocks, where the salt water flows over them at the depth of a fathom or two, according to the state of the tides. Some of the fresh water springs are close by the beach, and here the fishermen fill their jars or tanks without difficulty, but many of the springs are distant from the shore; and whenever the fishermen on the bank near them require water, they bring their boat close over the spring, and one of the crew dives under the surface of the salt water with a leathern mussuck, or tanned skin of a goat or sheep, and places the neck or mouth of it over the spring. The force of the spring inmediately fills the bag with fresh water, and the man ascends without difficulty to the surface, and empties his cargo into a tank, and he descends continually to replenish his mussuck, until the tank be filled. Captain Maughan was told that some of the springs are in three fathoms water. The mussuck they use may contain from four to five gallons; the people who generally fish about these islands are pearl divers, accustomed to dive in twelve and fourteen fathoms water for pearls. They are a quiet, and, if not molested, a harmless race of Arabs; during the summer they wear but little cloth ing. There are also springs of fresh water under the sea near the north-eastern part of Bahrain island. From all that Captain Maughan could learn, above thirty springs of fresh water have been discovered in the sea in the neighbourhood of Bahrain and Arad.

The sandy beaches of the neighbourhood are composed of the usual sea-sand, chiefly composed of broken corallines and shells. The nearest highland is the coast of Persia opposite, about Cape Verdistan, Kongoon, Assiloo, &c.; and it is composed chiefly of sandstone, black coarse marble, and gypsum. The vegetation is scanty, merely a few shrubs, mostly a species of balsam, skirting the sides of the mountains. The land about El Katiff on the main, twenty miles further to the westward of Bahrain, is of moderate height, and not of any considerable extent. All the coast to the eastward of Bahrain is very low and sandy, until it joins the mountains over Cape Mussendom.

On the Lofty Flight of the Condor -Next to the Condor, the Lammergeier of Switzerland and the Falco destructor of Daudin, which is probably the same as the Falco Harpya of Linnæus, are the largest flying birds.

The region which may be considered as the habitual abode of the Condor, begins at a height equal to that of Etna, and comprehends strata of air at an elevation of from 9600 to 18,000 feet above the level of the sea. The

largest individuals that are met with in the chain of the Andes of Quito, are about fourteen feet from the tip of one wing to that of the other, and the smallest only eight. From these dimensions, and from the visual angle under which this bird sometimes appears perpendicularly above our heads, it may be judged to what a prodigious height it rises when the sky is clear. When seen, for example, under an angle of four minutes, it must be at a perpendicular distance of 6876 feet. The Cave of Antisana, situated opposite the mountain of Chussulongo, and from which we measured the bird soaring, is situated at a height of 12,958 feet above the level of the Pacific Ocean. Thus, the absolute height which the Condor attained, was 20,834 feet, an elevation at which the barometer scarcely rises to 12 inches. It is a somewhat remarkable physiological phenomenon, that this bird, which for hours continues to fly about in regions where the air is so rarefied, all at once descends to the edge of the sea, as along the western slope of the volcano of Pichincha, and thus in a few minutes passes as it were through all the varieties of climate. At a height of 20,000 feet, the air-cells of the Condor which are filled in the lowest regions, must be inflated in an extraordinary manner. Sixty years ago, Ulloa expressed his astonishment at the circumstance that the vulture of the Andes could fly at a height where the mean pressure of the air is only 14 inches. It was then imagined, from the analogy of experiments made with the pneumatic machine, that no animal could live in so rare a medium. I have seen the barometer fall on Chimborazo to 13 inches 11 2-10ths lines. My friend, M. Gay Lussac, respired for a quarter of an hour in an atmosphere whose pressure was only 0m 3288. At heights like these, man in general finds himself reduced to a most painful state of debility. In the Condor, on the contrary, the act of respiration appears to be performed with equal ease, in mediums where the pressure differs from 12 to 30 inches. Of all living beings, it is without doubt the one that can rise at will to the greatest distance from the earth's surface. I say, at will, because small insects are carried still higher by ascending currents. Probably the height which the Condor attains is greater than that which we have found by the calculation mentioned above. I remember that on Cotopaxi, in the plain of Suniguaicu, covered with pumice, and elevated 13,578 feet above the level of the sea, I perceived that bird at such a height, that it appeared like a black dot. What is the smallest angle under which objects weakly lighted are distinguished? The diminution which the rays of light undergo by passing though the strata of the atmosphere, has a great influence upon the minimum of the angle. The transparency of the air of mountains is so great under the equator, that, in the province of Quito, as I have elsewhere shown, the poncho or white mantle of a person on horseback is distinguishable at a horizontal distance of 84,032 feet, and consequently under an angle of 13 seconds-Humboldt, Tableaux de la Nature, t. ii. pp. 72-78.

Rice Flour. Some notice of the preparation of this article for domestic purposes, was made in the daily prints a week or more since. Through the polite and friendly attention of colonel Vanderhorst, we have been favoured, not only with a specimen of a very superior ar

* Astronomical Observations made by order of the King of Spain, p. 109.

+ It is probably one minute. In 1806, a balloon, which was four fathoms in diameter, was seen with the naked eye at Berlin to fall at a distance of 40,200 feet. It was then under a visual angle of 2' 4". But it could have been distinguished at a much greater distance, notwithstanding the constitution of our northern atmosphere.

In my memoir on the diminution of heat, and on the lower limit of perpetual snow.

ticle prepared under his own direction, but | orange-coloured flowers of the Castilligen. At with the proper manner of making use of it. a height between 14,000 and 15,000 feet, on We do not know that we can do a better ser- the same mountain, above the region of grassvice to our southern trade, than by giving es, &c. they found, under a block of porphyry, these various modes of its preparation, in order many moths, some dead, others alive, which to overcome a difficulty in the use of it, arising appear to have been carried upwards into this entirely from a general ignorance of the arti- snowy region by an ascending current of air. cle in its present form. Our readers will ob- In the same dreary region, a live species of serve that we do not arrogate to ourselves the beetle was found, which, from its nature, must framing of these valuable prescriptions. We be considered a native of this lofty situation. never boiled rice in all our lives: though we have some little credit for ability in encountering it in a different way. But the ladies, to whom we are specially indebted on more occasions than one, have graciously informed us where we have been in fault. For the making of rice bread, then, you are required to

Boil a pint of rice soft-add a pint of leven, then three quarts of the flour-put it to rise in a tin or earthen vessel until it has risen sufficiently-divide it into three parts-then bake it as other bread, and you will have three large loaves.

To make Journey or Johnny Cake.*-To three spoonsful of soft-boiled rice, add a smali tea-cup of water or milk-then add six spoonfuls of the flour, which will make a large journey cake or six waffles.

To make Rice Cakes. Take a pint of soft boiled rice-a half-pint of milk or water, to which add twelve spoonsfull of the flour-divide it into small cakes and bake them in a brisk oven.

To make Wafers.-Take a pint of warm water, a tea-spoonful of salt; add a pint of the flour, and it will give you two dozen wafers.

To make Rice Puffs.-To a pint of the flour add a tea-spoonful of salt, a pint of boiling water; beat up four eggs; stir them well together, put from two to three spoonsful of fat in a pan; make it boiling hot and drop a spoonful of the mixture into the fat as you do in making common fritters.

To make Pap Pudding.-To a quart of milk add a pint of the flour; boil them to a pap, beat up six eggs, to which add six spoonsful of Havana sugar and a spoonful of butter, which when well beaten together add them to the milk and flour; grease the pan in which it is to be made, grate nutmeg over the mixture and bake it.

After all this is done, the sooner they are eaten the better.-Charleston City Gazette.

We have seldom heard a more singular apology for setting fire to a building than that which was offered by a school-boy, by whose agency it appears, the school house in Augusta, Maine, was lately burnt to the ground. He is represented as a child of "simple wit," and the only reason he gave for the incendiary act, was, that he had "had schooling enough this cold weather." The house is said to have been very old, and few would have regretted its destruction if the books of the scholars had been saved. But they were all lost with the exception of those belonging to two or three boys, including the one mentioned above. His statement of the manner in which he lighted the fire is, that the wood did not burn quick, so he piled up the books and set them a blazing, "and," said he, "I burnt Bill Pettingill's first, 'cause he's all the time a plagueing me."-Boston Commentator.

Humming-Bird and Insects at a great height on the Volcano of Orizaba.-Schiede and Deppe, on their ascent of Orizaba, observed, at a height of 10,000 feet above the sea, the Humming Bird (Trochilus) flying round the

Species of Mussel exclusively employed as Bait in the New Foundland Cod Fishery-The utility of the inhabitants of shells (shell-fish) to mankind is well known. The following fact, as it is connected with an important branch of commerce, is a further proof of the value of these animals in an economical point of view. It was communicated to M. Sander Rang by Bellanger, the captain of a French frigate, and is inserted in Sang's valuable work on the Mollusca. The captain, endeavouring to ascertain how it happened that the French codfishers on the banks of Newfoundland were not so successful as the Americans, discovered that it was owing to these latter employing, as a bait, the animal of a species of mya (mussel,) which abounds on several parts of the American coast; and he was the more confirmed in the truth of this fact, by observing that the French fishers, towards the conclusion of the season, purchased from the Americans the remaining portions of their bait, in order that they might the more speedily complete their cargo. Bellanger, who is well versed in conchology, examined this mya very carefully, and found that it was a species met with abundantly on the coasts of the French channel. To our readers interested in the kinds of bait used in the Newfoundland fishery, we recommend the perusal of Mr. Cormack's valuable communication, vol. i. of the new series of this Journal.-Edin. Phi. Jour.

Method of detecting the Adulteration of Tea. -The Chinese frequently mix the leaves of other shrubs with those of the tea-plant; this fraud is easily discovered by adding to an infusion of it a grain and a half of sulphate of iron. If it is true green tea, the solution placed between the eye and the light assumes a pale bluish tint; if it is bohea tea, the solution is blue, inclining to black, but if it is adulterated, it shows all the colours, yellow, green, and black.-Desmarest's Chemie Recreative.

THE LITERARY PORT FOLIO.

It is intended that this journal shall contain such a variety of matter as may make it acceptable to ladies as well as to gentlemen; to the young as well as to the old. While we shall take care that nothing be admitted which would render the work unfit for any of these classes, we shall endeavour to procure for it sufficient ability to entitle it to the attention of all of them. To these ends we have secured an abundant supply of all foreign and domestic journals and new books-and we ask the assistance of all who are qualified to instruct or amuse the public. Upon this assistance we depend in a great degree for our hopes of success, for however the abundant stores to which we have access, may enable us to supply matter highly interesting to our readers, we think it of even more importance to give them something peculiarly hence-adapted to the present time and circumstances; some. thing from home.

We have a strange notion that this should be neither Johnny nor journey, but Jenny cake. We have not the slightest question but that it was called so by some rustic lover in compliment to his mistress, who possibly excelled in the art of preparing it. Let it then, in future, be called Jenny cake; and whoso shall forth call it by any other masculine appellative, let him not partake of the delicacy.

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