especially when we consider their minuteness, is calculated to fill us
with adoring admiration of the skill of "the Great Workmaster." Take an
example from the _eyes_, which are of several kinds, evidently designed
for distinct modes of vision, of which we, who have but one sort of
eyes, can form no adequate notion. The bee and many other insects have
on the crown of the head a number, usually three, of simple glassy
eyes, set like "bull's-eyes" in a ship's deck; and besides these a
great compound eye on each side, consisting of a multitude of lenses
aggregated together upon the same optic nerve. The microscope reveals
to us that the compound eye of an ant contains fifty lenses; that of
a fly, four thousand; that of a dragon-fly, twelve thousand; that of
a butterfly, seventeen thousand; and that of a species of _Mordella_
(a kind of beetle), the amazing number of twenty-five thousand. Every
one of these regular, polished, and many-sided lenses; is the external
surface of a distinct eye, furnished with its own iris and pupil, and
a perfect nervous apparatus. It will thus be seen that each hexagonal
facet forms a transparent horny lens, immediately behind which is a
layer of pigment diminishing to a point in the centre, where it forms
a pupil; that behind this a long six-sided prism, answering to the
crystalline and vitreous humours in the human eye, extends, diminishing
to its lower extremity, where it rests upon the retina, or network
expansion of the optic nerve. Some of the minuter details of this
exquisite organisation are still matters of conflicting opinion; but
these we omit, as our purpose is rather to convey to our readers a
general idea of the structure of this complex organ of vision. "This
also cometh forth from the Lord of Hosts, which is wonderful in counsel
and excellent in working."
FIRST COIN WITH BRITANNIA ON IT.
[Illustration: [++] Roman Coins.]
In process of clearing away the foundations of Old London Bridge many
antiquities were discovered; it had been the great highway over the
Thames from the Roman era, and numerous relics were obtained, varying
in date from that period to our own. We here engrave such specimens
of Roman coins that were found as belong to the Britannic series. The
large central coin is one struck by Hadrian, and remarkable for the
figure of Britannia, the first time impersonated as an armed female
seated on a rock. It is the prototype of the more modern Britannia,
reintroduced by Charles II., and which still appears on our copper
money. The smaller coins are such as were struck, during the reign of
Constantine the Great, in the City of London, and are marked with the
letters P. LON., for "Pecunia Londinensis," money of London.
EXTRAORDINARY FORMATION OF THE TWIN-WORM.
An extraordinary creature was discovered by Dr. Nordman, infesting the
gills of one of our commonest river fishes--_Cyprinus Brama_--and to
which he gave the appropriate appellation of the Twin-worm (_Diplozoon
paradoxum_). It is not more than one-fourth of an inch in length, but
consists of two bodies, precisely resembling each other, united by
a central band, exactly in the manner of the Siamese youths, whose
exhibition excited so much attention in England and America a few
years ago. We might have supposed that, like the human monstrosity
in question, the Twin-worm was formed by the accidental union of two
individuals, if abundant observation had not proved that this is the
common mode of life belonging to the species.
Each portion of the animal is complete in all its organs and economy;
possessing its own sets of suckers, its own mouth, its own digestive
canal, with its tree-like ramifications, its own perfect generative
system, and its own elaborate series of vascular canals,--every organ
or set of organs in the one-half finding its exact counterpart in the
other.
It scarcely detracts from the marvellous character assumed by this
"Twin-worm," that, according to recent observations, the two halves
have already enjoyed a phase of existence as distinct individuals. The
organic union, or "fusion" of two such individuals, is necessary to
the development of the generative system, which, up to that event, is
wanting in each constituent half.
MILL AT LISSOY.
[Illustration: [++] Mill at Lissoy.]
The above picturesque sketch represents the "busy mill" at Lissoy,
better known as "Sweet Auburn--loveliest village of the plain"--the
scene of Goldsmith's beautiful poem of the "Deserted Village." Lissoy,
about six miles from Athlone, stands on the summit of a hill at the
base of which is the mill that forms the subject of our sketch. The
wheel is still turned by the water of a small rivulet, converted,
now and then, by rains, into a sufficient stream. The mill is a mere
country cottage, used for grinding the corn of the neighbouring
peasantry, and retains many tokens of age. Parts of the machinery are,
no doubt, above a century old, and are probably the very same that left
their impress on the poet's memory.
A CASTLE BUILT FOR A GROAT.
The castle of Monkstown, near Cork, is reported by popular tradition to
have been built in 1636, at the cost of only a groat. To explain the
enigma, the following story is told:--Anastatia Goold, who had become
the wife of John Archdeken, determined, while her husband was abroad,
serving in the army of Philip of Spain, to give him evidence of her
thrift on his return, by surprising him with a noble residence which he
might call his own. Her plan was to supply the workmen with provisions
and other articles they required, for which she charged the ordinary
price; but, as she had made her purchases wholesale, upon balancing her
accounts, it appeared that the retail profit had paid all the expenses
of the structure except fourpence! The Archdekens were an Anglo-Irish
family, who "degenerating" became "Hibernices quam Hiberniores"--more
Irish than the Irish themselves--and assumed the name of Mac Odo, or
Cody. They "forfeited," in 1688, having followed the fortunes of James
II.
BATTLE OF WATER-SNAKES.
The following story is narrated by Mr. St. John, in his "Letters of
an American Farmer." After describing the size and strength of some
hemp-plants, around which a wild vine had formed natural arbours,
he thus proceeds:--"As I was one day sitting, solitary and pensive,
in this primitive arbour, my attention was engaged by a strange
sort of rustling noise at some paces distance. I looked all around
without distinguishing anything, until I climbed up one of my great
hemp-stalks; when, to my astonishment, I beheld two snakes of a
considerable length, the one pursuing the other with great celerity
through a hemp-stubble field. The aggressor was of the black kind, six
feet long; the fugitive was a water snake, nearly of equal dimensions.
They soon met, and in the fury of their first encounter, appeared in an
instant firmly twisted together; and whilst their united tails beat the
ground, they mutually tried, with open jaws, to lacerate each other.
What a fell aspect did they present! Their heads were compressed to a
very small size; their eyes flashed fire; but, after this conflict had
lasted about five minutes, the second found means to disengage itself
from the first, and hurried towards the ditch. Its antagonist instantly
assumed a new posture, and, half-creeping, half-erect, with a majestic
mien, overtook and attacked the other again, which placed itself in
a similar attitude, and prepared to resist. The scene was uncommon
and beautiful; for, thus opposed, they fought with their jaws, biting
each other with the utmost rage; but, notwithstanding this appearance
of mutual courage and fury, the water snake still seemed desirous of
retreating towards the ditch, its natural element. This was no sooner
perceived by the keen-eyed black one, than, twisting its tail twice
round a stalk of hemp, and seizing its adversary by the throat, not by
means of its jaws, but by twisting its own neck twice round that of the
water snake, he pulled it back from the ditch. To prevent a defeat,
the latter took hold likewise of a stalk on the bank, and, by the
acquisition of that point of resistance, became a match for his fierce
antagonist. Strange was this to behold; two great snakes strongly
adhering to the ground, mutually fastened together by means of the
writhings which lashed them to each other, and stretched at their full
length; they pulled, but pulled in vain; and in the moments of greatest
exertion, that part of their bodies which was entwined seemed extremely
small, while the rest appeared inflated, and now and then convulsed
with strong undulations rapidly following each other. Their eyes
appeared on fire, and ready to start out of their heads. At one time
the conflict seemed decided; the water snake bent itself into great
folds, and by that operation rendered the other more than commonly
outstretched; the next minute the new struggles of the black one gained
an unexpected superiority; it acquired two great folds likewise, which
necessarily extended the body of its adversary in proportion as it
had contracted its own. These efforts were alternate; victory seemed
doubtful, inclining sometimes to one side, sometimes to the other,
until at last the stalk to which the black snake was fastened suddenly
gave way, and, in consequence of this accident, they both plunged into
the ditch. The water did not extinguish their vindictive rage, for by
their agitations I could still trace, though I could not distinguish,
their attacks. They soon reappeared on the surface, twisted together,
as in their first onset; but the black snake seemed to retain its
wonted superiority, for its head was exactly fixed above that of the
other, which it incessantly pressed down under the water, until its
opponent was stifled, and sank. The victor no sooner perceived its
enemy incapable of further resistance, than, abandoning it to the
current, it returned to the shore and disappeared."
FATES OF THE FAMILIES OF ENGLISH POETS.
It is impossible to contemplate the early death of Byron's only child
without reflecting sadly on the fates of other females of our greatest
poets. Shakspeare and Milton, each died without a son, but both left
daughters, and both names are now extinct. Shakspeare's was soon so.
Addison had an only child--a daughter, a girl of some five or six
years at her father's death. She died, unmarried, at the age of eighty
or more. Farquhar left two girls, dependant on the friendship of his
friend Wilkes, the actor, who stood nobly by them while he lived. They
had a small pension from the Government, and having long outlived
their father, and seen his reputation unalterably established, both
died unmarried. The son and daughter of Coleridge both died childless.
The two sons of Sir Walter Scott died without children--one of two
daughters died unmarried, and the Scotts of Abbotsford and Waverley
are now represented by the children of a daughter. How little could
Scott foresee the sudden failure of male issue? The poet of the "Fairie
Queen" lost a child when very young by fire, when the rebels burned his
house in Ireland. Some of the poets had sons and no daughters. Thus we
read of Chaucer's son,--of Dryden's sons,--of the sons of Burns,--of
Allan Ramsey's son,--of Dr. Young's son,--of Campbell's son,--of
Moore's son,--and of Shelley's son. Ben Johnson survived all his
children. Some, and those amongst the greatest, died unmarried--Butler,
Cowley, Congreve, Otway, Prior, Pope, Gay, Thompson, Cowper, Akenside,
Shenstone, Collins, Gray, Goldsmith, and Rogers, who lately died. Some
were unfortunate in their sons in a sadder way than death could make
them. Lady Lovelace has left three children--two sons and a daughter.
Her mother is still alive to see, perhaps, with a softened spirit, the
shade of the father beside the early grave of his only child. Ada's
looks, in her later years--years of suffering, borne with gentle and
womanly fortitude--have been happily caught by Mr. Henry Phillips,
whose father's pencil has preserved to us the best likeness of Ada's
father.
JEFFERY HUDSON, THE DWARF OF THE COURT OF CHARLES I.
The celebrated dwarf of whom we here give a sketch, was born at Oakham
in Rutlandshire in 1619, and about the age of seven or eight, being
then but eighteen inches high, was retained in the service of the
Duke of Buckingham, who resided at Burleigh-on-the-Hill. Soon after
the marriage of Charles I., the king and queen being entertained at
Burleigh, little Jeffery was served up at table in a cold pie, and
presented by the duchess to the queen, who kept him as her dwarf.
From seven years of age till thirty he shot up to three feet nine
inches, and there fixed. Jeffery became a considerable part of the
entertainment of the court. Sir William Davenant wrote a poem on a
battle between Jeffery and a turkey cock, and in 1638 was published
a very small book, called a "New Year's Gift," presented at court by
the Lady Parvula to the Lord Minimus (commonly called Little Jeffery)
her Majesty's servant, &c. &c., written by Microphilas, with a little
print of Jeffery prefixed. Before this period Jeffery was employed on
a negotiation of great importance; he was sent to France to fetch a
midwife for the queen; and on his return with this gentlewoman and her
majesty's dancing-master, and many rich presents to the queen from her
mother, Mary de Medicis, he was taken by the Dunkirkers. This was in
1630. Besides the presents he was bringing for the queen, he lost to
the value of L2,500 that he had received in France on his own account
from the queen-mother and ladies of that court.
[Illustration: [++] Jeffery Hudson.]
Jeffery thus made of consequence, grew to think himself really so.
He had borne with little temper the teasing of the courtiers and
domestics, and had many squabbles with the king's gigantic porter.
At last, being provoked by Mr. Crofts, a young gentleman of family,
a challenge ensued; and Mr. Crofts coming to the rendezvous armed
only with a squirt, the little creature was so enraged that a real
duel ensued; and the appointment being on horseback, with pistols,
to put them more on a level, Jeffery, with the first fire, shot his
antagonist dead on the spot. This happened in France, whither he had
attended his royal mistress in the troubles.
He was again taken prisoner by a Turkish rover, and sold into Barbary.
He probably did not long remain in slavery; for at the beginning of
the civil war, he was made a captain in the royal army, and in 1644
attended the queen to France, where he remained till the restoration.
At last, upon suspicion of his being privy to the Popish Plot, he was
taken up in 1682 and confined in the Gate-house, Westminster, where he
ended his life in the sixty-third year of his age.
CHURCH AT NEWTON, IRELAND.
[Illustration: [++] Doorway of the Church at Newton, Ireland.]
The ancient doorway, of which, on account of its singular beauty, we
give a sketch, belongs to the church which was built by the first of
the Montgomeries at Newtown in Ireland. Though the church is a fine
and beautiful example of architecture, no attempt whatever has been
made to preserve it from sinking into ruin. The Montgomeries, ancient
lords of this district, were the descendants of that Montgomery who
accidentally killed Henry II., of France, at a tournament. Some years
after the sad event, which was confessedly a mischance, he was taken
by Catherine of Medicis, put to the torture and beheaded; with the
additional penalty of having his children degraded to villeinnage; on
his way to execution, he pronounced this noble and memorable sentence,
in reference to the punishment inflicted on his children, "If they
have not the virtue to raise themselves again, I consent to their
degradation."
INTERESTING CALCULATION.
Some years ago, an eminent zoologist gave the following table as
his estimate of the probable number of existing species of animals,
deduced from facts and principles then known. Later discoveries tend to
increase rather than to diminish the estimate.
Quadrupeds 1,200
Birds 6,800
Reptiles 1,500
Fishes 8,000
Insects 550,000
Worms 2,500
Radiata 1,000
Polypes, &c. 1,530
Testacea 4,500
Naked Testacea 600
making an aggregate of 577,600 species.
VITALITY OF SUPERSTITION.
In the "Annual Register" for 1760, an instance of the belief in
witchcraft is related, which shows how superstition lingers. A dispute
arose in the little village of Glen, in Leicestershire, between two
old women, each of whom vehemently accused the other of witchcraft.
The quarrel at last ran so high that a challenge ensued, and they both
agreed to be tried by the ordeal of swimming. They accordingly stripped
to their shifts--procured some men, who tied their thumbs and great
toes together, cross-wise, and then, with a cart-rope about their
middle, suffered themselves to be thrown into a pool of water. One of
them sank immediately, but the other continued struggling a short time
upon the surface of the water, which the mob deeming an infallible sign
of her guilt, pulled her out, and insisted that she should immediately
impeach all her accomplices in the craft. She accordingly told them
that, in the neighbouring village of Burton, there were several old
women "as much witches as she was." Happily for her, this negative
information was deemed sufficient, and a student in astrology, or
"white-witch," coming up at the time, the mob, by his direction,
proceeded forthwith to Burton in search of all the delinquents. After
a little consultation on their arrival, they went to the old woman's
house on whom they had fixed the strongest suspicion. The poor old
creature on their approach locked the outer door, and from the window
of an upstairs room asked what they wanted. They informed her that
she was charged with being guilty of witchcraft, and that they were
come to duck her; remonstrating with her at the same time upon the
necessity of submission to the ordeal, that, if she were innocent, all
the world might know it. Upon her persisting in a positive refusal to
come down, they broke open the door and carried her out by force, to a
deep gravel-pit full of water. They tied her thumbs and toes together
and threw her into the water, where they kept her for several minutes,
drawing her out and in two or three times by the rope round her middle.
Not being able to satisfy themselves whether she were a witch or no,
they at last let her go or more properly speaking, they left her on
the bank to walk home by herself, if she ever recovered. Next day they
tried the same experiment upon another woman, and afterwards upon a
third; but fortunately, neither of the victims lost her life from this
brutality. Many of the ringleaders in the outrage were apprehended
during the week, and tried before the justices at quarter-sessions. Two
of them were sentenced to stand in the pillory and to be imprisoned for
a month; and as many as twenty more were fined in small sums for the
assault, and bound over to keep the peace for a twelvemonth.
SMALL FEET OF THE CHINESE LADIES.
The compression of ladies' feet to less than half their natural size is
not to be regarded as a mark, or as a consequence, of the inferiority
of the sex; it is merely a mark of gentility. Various accounts are
given of the origin of this custom. One is, that an emperor was jealous
of his wife, and to prevent her from gadding abroad, put her feet in
iron stocks. Another is, that a certain empress, Tan-ke (B.C. 1100),
was born with club-feet, and that she caused the emperor to issue an
edict, adopting her foot as the model of beauty, and requiring the
compressing of female infants' feet so as to conform to the imperial
standard. While a third account is, that the Emperor Le-yuh (A.D. 961)
was amusing himself one day in his palace, when the thought occurred
to him that he might improve the appearance of the feet of a favourite
concubine. He caused her feet to be so bent as to raise the instep
into an arch, to resemble the new moon. The figure was much admired
by the courtiers, who soon began to introduce it into their families.
It is said that another emperor, two hundred years later, placed a
stamp of the lotus-flower (water-lily) on the sole of the small shoe
of his favorite concubine, so that at every step she took she left on
the ground the print of the flower; hence girls with small feet are
complimented at the present day as "the golden lilies." The operation
of bandaging and compressing the feet is very painful; children cry
very much under it. Mortification of the feet has been known to result
from the cruel practice. Custom, however, imposes it as a necessary
attraction in a woman. An old gentleman at Canton, being asked the
reason why he had bandaged his daughter's feet, replied, that if she
had large feet she could not make a good marriage.
WONDERFUL CONSTRUCTION OF THE SEA-URCHIN.
Professor Forbes informs us that in a moderate-sized Urchin there are
sixty-two rows of pores in each of the ten avenues, and as there are
three pairs of pores in each row, the total number of pores is 3,720;
but as each sucker occupies a pair of pores, the number of suckers is
1,860. He says, also, that there are above three hundred plates of one
kind, and nearly as many of another, all dovetailing together with the
greatest nicety and regularity, bearing on their surfaces above 4,000
spines, each spine perfect in itself, and of a complicated structure,
and having a free movement in its socket. "Truly," he adds, "the
skill of the Great Architect of Nature is not less displayed in the
construction of a Sea-urchin than in the building up of a world!"
IVORY SCEPTRE OF LOUIS XII.
[Illustration: [++] Ivory Sceptre.]
The above engraving represents an ivory sceptre, or Main de Justice,
which was made at the early part of the sixteenth century for Louis
XII., King of France. The three parts 1, 2, 3, screw together and form
the sceptre. Fig. 4 is the hand on the top of the sceptre, given on
a larger scale, showing the ring set with a small pearl, worn on the
third finger. Fig. 5 is the inscription on the sceptre; it is engraved
in relievo upon three of the convex decorations, and commences on the
lowest one.
TOMB OF CAECILIA METELLA.
[Illustration: [++] Tomb of Caecilia Metella.]
Of the tombs of Consular Rome nothing remains except perhaps the
sarcophagus of Scipio; and it is only on the eve of the Empire that we
meet with the well-known one of Caecilia Metella, the wife of Crassus,
which is not only the best specimen of a Roman tomb now remaining to
us, but the oldest building of the imperial city of which we have
an authentic date. It consists of a bold square basement about 100
ft. square, which was originally ornamented in some manner not now
intelligible. From this rose a circular tower about 94 ft. in diameter,
of very bold masonry, surmounted by a brace of ox-skulls with wreaths
joining them, and a well-profiled cornice: 2 or 3 courses of masonry
above this seem to have belonged to the original work; and above this,
almost certainly, in the original design rose a conical roof, which has
perished. The tower having been used as a fortress in the middle ages,
battlements have been added to supply the place of the roof, and it
has been otherwise disfigured, so as to detract much from its beauty
as now seen. Still we have no tomb of the same importance so perfect,
nor one which enables us to connect the Roman tombs so nearly with the
Etruscan. The only addition in this instance is that of the square
basement or podium, though even this was not unknown at a much earlier
period, as for instance in the tomb of Aruns. The exaggerated height
of the circular base is also remarkable. Here it rises to be a tower
instead of a mere circular base of stones for the earthen cone of the
original sepulchre. The stone roof which probably surmounted the tower
was a mere reproduction of the original earthen cone.
POGONIAS.