There is now exhibiting in one of the Saloons of "The Egyptian Hall," in
Piccadilly, an interesting collection of zoological rarities, stated to
have been assembled by M. Villet, at the Cape of Good Hope. Some of the
specimens, especially the birds, are really beautiful; none but the
smallest being cooped up in glazed cases; but many are effectively
placed on branches of trees, whilst the quadrupeds are arranged with
still better taste. Among the latter is a fine Hippopotamus, the
Behemoth of Scripture. We are happy to hear this exhibition has already
been numerously visited, since it augurs well of public taste and
intellectual curiosity.
_Conchology._
Akin to the preceding exhibition in its claim to popular attention, may
be noticed a pleasing collection of shells, now open to the public, a
short distance from Somerset House. To the mere tyro in zoology, shells
are attractive as the elegant sports of nature, in the beauty,
splendour, and intricacy of their colours and structure; while their
scientific arrangement is one of the most delightful pursuits of refined
minds.
_Grafting._
The quince, used as a stock, has the property of stunting the growth of
pears, of forcing them to produce bearing branches, instead of sterile
ones, and of accelerating the maturity of the fruit.
_Sirocco Wind._
The depressing effects of the corroding wind of a hot Sirocco can only
be conceived by those who have suffered from them; the unwonted dulness
with which it overcasts even the most active mind; the deep-drawn sighs
it will elicit; and if there be one melancholy feeling which presses on
the heart more heavily than another, it is the ample developement which
it enjoys during the prevalence of this enervating breeze. It seldom,
however, blows with force; it is rather an exhalation than a wind. It
scarcely moves the leaves around the traveller, but it sinks heavily and
damply in his heart. A stranger is at first unaware of the cause of the
mental misery he endures; his temper sours as his spirits sink; every
person, and every circumstance, annoys him; it affects even his dreams;
sleep itself is not a refuge from querulous peevishness, and every
motion is an irritating exertion.
_Polar Expedition._
The government of the United States has appointed an expedition, under
Capt. Reynolds, to explore the northern coasts. A Captain Cunningham is
mentioned to have traversed the country from St. Louis in the Missouri,
to St. Diego, St. Pedro, in California.
_Lithography._
From an article which has appeared in a late number of the "Biblioteca
Italiana," it appears that Sermefelder was not the original discoverer
of the art of Lithography, but Simon Schmidt, a professor at the Cadet
Hospital at Munich.
_Small Pox._
Within the last twelve months, only 503 deaths have occurred from small
pox within the Bills of Mortality; whereas, in the preceding year 1299
persons are recorded as having fallen victims to that loathsome
disease.--_Vaccine Institut. Report._
_China_.
A valuable museum of the products of Chinese skill and industry has
recently been exhibited at Rome, in which the progress made by a people
of whom so little is known, and civilization and the arts, is
demonstrated. The manufacture of bronzes, porcelain, gold work, and
casts in copper, has arrived in China at an approach to perfection which
the most advanced European nations would find it difficult to surpass.
Some of the Chinese vases may really be compared to those of the finest
time of Greece. The sculptures and the paintings, even with reference to
anatomical precision, are as highly finished as ours.--_Literary
Gazette_.
_Recovery from Suspended Animation_.
A case is reported in a recent number of the _Bulletin Universel_, by a
French physician, M. Bourgeois, showing the importance of never
abandoning all hope of success in restoring animation. A person who had
been twenty minutes under water, was treated in the usual way for the
space of half an hour without success: when a ligature being applied to
the arm, above a vein that had been previously opened, ten ounces of
blood were withdrawn, after which the circulation and respiration
gradually returned, though accompanied by the most dreadful convulsions.
A second, and a third bleeding was had recourse to, which brought about
a favourable sleep, and ultimate recovery on the ensuing day.
_Iron_.
It is a singular fact, that the value of the iron annually produced in
England greatly exceeds the value of the silver annually produced in
Peru.
_Hair_.
At a recent meeting of the Academy of Sciences, at Paris, M. F. Cuvier,
in a memoir on the generation of feathers, spines, and hair, introduced
the following curious conclusion:--"I consider the organic system which
produces hair as analogous to that of the senses, and even as forming
part of them; for the hair is in a great number of animals a very
sensitive organ of touch. It is not only in mustaches that we have a
proof of it, but on the whole surface of the body. The slightest touch
of a hair is sufficient in cats, for example, to make them contort their
skin and shudder, as they do when they find something light attached to
the hair, and that they wish to shake off."
_Population of England_.
The United Kingdom of Britain and Ireland contains 74 millions of acres,
of which at least 64 millions of acres may be considered capable of
cultivation. Half an acre, with ordinary cultivation, is sufficient to
supply an individual with corn, and one acre is sufficient to maintain a
horse; consequently, the united kingdom contains land enough for the
sustenance of 120 millions of people, and four millions of
horses.--_Edmunds on Political Economy_.
_Singing_.
The following passage from a letter by the late _Carl M. Von Weber_
appears to be worthy of the attention of dramatic and other singers:--
"Every singer imparts, though unconsciously, the colouring of his own
individual character to the dramatic character which he sustains. Thus,
two singers, the one possessed of a slight and flexible voice, the other
of an organ of great volume and power, will give the same composition in
a manner widely different. The one will, doubtless, be more animated
than the other; and yet both may do justice to the composer, inasmuch as
both mark the gradations of passion in his composition, faithfully and
expressively, according to the nature and degree of power possessed by
each. But it is the duty of the music director to prevent the singer
from deceiving himself, by following too exclusively what at first
appears to him most suitable. This caution is particularly necessary
with respect to certain passages, but the effect of the whole piece
should not suffer for the sake of some favourite roulade, which the
singer must needs introduce."
_Culture of Turnips._
Until the beginning of the eighteenth century, this valuable root was
cultivated among us only in gardens or other small spots, for culinary
purposes; but Lord Townshend, attending King George the First on one of
his excursions to Germany, in the quality of secretary of State,
observed the turnip cultivated in open and extensive fields, as fodder
for cattle, and spreading fertility over lands naturally barren; and on
his return to England he brought over with him some of the seed, and
strongly recommended the practice which he had witnessed to the adoption
of his own tenants, who occupied a soil similar to that of Hanover. The
experiment succeeded; the cultivation of field turnips gradually spread
over the whole county of Norfolk; and in the course of time it has made
its way into every other district of England. The reputation of the
county as an agricultural district dates from the vast improvements of
heaths, wastes, sheepwalks, and warrens, by enclosure and manuring--the
fruit of the zealous exertions of Lord Townshend and a few neighbouring
land-owners--which were, ere long, happily imitated by others. Since
these improvements were effected, rents have risen in that county from
one or two shillings to fifteen or twenty shillings per acre; a country
of sheep-walks and rabbit-warrens has been rendered highly productive;
and by dint of management, what was thus gained has been preserved and
improved even to the present moment. Some of the finest corn-crops in
the world are now grown upon lands which, before the introduction of the
turnip husbandry, produced a very scanty supply of grass for a few lean
and half-starved rabbits. Mr. Colquhoun, in his "Statistical
Researches," estimated the value of the turnip crop annually grown in
this country at fourteen millions; but when we further recollect that it
enables the agriculturist to reclaim and cultivate land which, without
its aid, would remain in a hopeless state of natural barrenness; that it
leaves the land so clean and in such fine condition, as almost to insure
a good crop of barley and a kind plant of clover, and that this clover
is found a most excellent preparative for wheat, it will appear that the
subsequent advantages derived from a crop of turnips must infinitely
exceed its estimated value as fodder for cattle. If we were, therefore,
asked to point out the individual who, in modern times, has proved the
greatest benefactor to the community, we should not hesitate to fix upon
the ingenious nobleman, whom the wits and courtiers of his own day were
pleased to laugh at as "Turnip Townshend." In something less than one
hundred years, the agricultural practice which he introduced from
Hanover has spread itself throughout this country, and now yields an
annual return which, probably, exceeds the interest of our national
debt.--_Sir Walter Scott--in the Quarterly Review._
_Coals in the East._
The Dutch newspapers state, that extensive coal mines have been
discovered in Sumatra and Bantam.
_Naphtha_
Has been found to burn much better than other oils in mines where bad
air prevails, and is less injurious to the health of the workmen. Oil of
colza and tallow are extinguished, where naphtha, petroleum, and oil of
bone, continue burning.
_Fossils._
Plates of above 600 fossil bones, (remains of a former world) recently
discovered in the neighbourhood of Issoire, in France, are preparing for
publication. They belong to more than 50 species of animals, now
extinct; among which are elephants, horses, tapirs, rhinoceri, eleven or
twelve kinds of stags, large cats, oxen, bears, dogs, otters, &c.
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