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diff --git a/old/65828-0.txt b/old/65828-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 5a7541f..0000000 --- a/old/65828-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,2214 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Chambers's Journal of Popular -Literature, Science, and Art, Fifth Series, No. 26, Vol. I, June 28, -1884, by Various - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature, Science, and Art, Fifth - Series, No. 26, Vol. I, June 28, 1884 - -Author: Various - -Release Date: July 12, 2021 [eBook #65828] - -Language: English - -Produced by: Susan Skinner, Eric Hutton and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was - produced from images generously made available by The - Internet Archive) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHAMBERS'S JOURNAL OF POPULAR -LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND ART, FIFTH SERIES, NO. 26, VOL. I, JUNE 28, -1884 *** - - - - - -[Illustration: - -CHAMBERS’S JOURNAL - -OF - -POPULAR - -LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND ART - -Fifth Series - -ESTABLISHED BY WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS, 1832 - -CONDUCTED BY R. CHAMBERS (SECUNDUS) - -NO. 26.—VOL. I. SATURDAY, JUNE 28, 1884. PRICE 1½_d._] - - - - -OUR HEALTH. - -BY DR ANDREW WILSON, F.R.S.E. - - -III. SOME FOOD-DANGERS, AND HOW TO AVOID THEM. - -In connection with the subject of food and health, an important topic -naturally intervenes in the course of such discussion, in the shape -of the relation which impure foods bear to the production of illness -and disease. Pure air and pure water are required by natural and -common consent as necessities of existence; but the purity of the food -we consume is no less a paramount condition of physical well-being. -Food-impurities may be ranked under diverse heads. Adulteration -of foods is thus a common cause of illness. The food, rendered of -poor quality, does not contain the necessary amount of nutritious -material; or it may impart disease from its being impregnated with -matters foreign to its composition, and which have been added thereto -for purposes of unfair trade-profit. For example, when one hears -of alum and sulphate of copper being added to bread, it is evident -that a serious form of adulteration is thus practised; while equally -reprehensible modes of procedure are known to be in vogue when flour is -treated so as to yield more than its legitimate quantity of bread; when -rice, potatoes, and other starchy matters are added to the bread in the -course of manufacture; or when flour of damaged or inferior quality -is used. Similarly, when milk is adulterated with water, treacle, -turmeric, and so forth, a cause of ill-health is clearly discovered. If -tea be ‘faced’ with black-lead, or with Prussian-blue, turmeric, and -China clay, there can be no question of the fraudulent and dangerous -nature of such a practice; and when we read of preserved green peas -being largely adulterated with sulphate of copper, and that a one-pound -tin of green peas has been found to contain two and a half grains of -this poisonous compound, it becomes evident that legislation directed -against this worst of frauds—food-adulteration—is both necessary and -highly requisite as an active feature of social law. - -Into questions connected with the adulteration of food, we need not -enter. Such topics necessarily belong to the sphere of the analytical -chemist and of the sanitary inspector. Where adulteration is suspected, -the wisest course for the public to pursue is carefully to note the -place and date of purchase of the suspected article—full evidence on -this head is necessary—and to supply the sanitary authorities of the -town or district with a sample of the substance in question. This -clue will be followed up independently by the authorities; and if -adulteration be present, means will be taken to substantiate the charge -and to prosecute offenders. There should be no leniency shown where -cases of food-adulteration can be satisfactorily proved. Such practices -form the worst of all frauds; they involve not merely commercial -dishonesty, but include fraud against the health and well-being of the -community and nation at large. - -Other forms of food-impurity are well known, and demand attention -from the public; inasmuch as, by the exercise of ordinary knowledge, -many of these latter dangers to health may be avoided. Of impurities -in water, we shall treat hereafter; hence nothing need be said at -present regarding this class of food-dangers. Our milk-supply and -our meat-supply, however, are matters over which every householder -may and should exercise supervision. Special dangers attach, for -example, to the incautious treatment of milk. If milk is suspected to -be adulterated, or of poor quality, the determination of the error or -fraud is a matter of scientific examination; and with regard to the -detection of milk-dangers, arising from disease-contagion, the same -remark holds good. It is indeed unfortunate that the first information -we usually receive regarding a milk-supply which is thoroughly impure -or hurtful, is derived from the effects of such diseased matter on -the human frame. In this case, we are unfortunately able only to -prevent the spread of an epidemic of disease—the prevention of the -epidemic itself is impossible, save, indeed, by the vigilance of the -dairyman or farmer in keeping the milk he sells free from all source -of contamination. Epidemics of typhoid fever, for instance, are, as -a rule, only made known by the occurrence of a series of cases in a -given district. On being traced out, these cases are usually found to -have been supplied with milk from one and the same source. When the -surroundings of the dairy or farm are inspected, sewage-contamination -is usually found. Leakage of drains into a water-supply is a common -occurrence; and as this infected water is used in cleansing the -milk-vessels, the origin of the epidemic is clearly enough accounted -for. In some cases, dairies have been found to be constructed in a -thoroughly insanitary manner, and cleanliness—the first condition -where milk is concerned—is by no means always observed. The remedy for -these errors and negligences in connection with this all-important -article of diet, lies in one direction only—namely, a system of rigid -and continuous dairy inspection. Such inspection is never complained -of by those tradesmen who take a pride in their occupation, and who -endeavour, by ordinary attention to business, to secure the purity of -the milk they sell. It might be added also, that if other articles -of food are duly liable to official examination, and if the articles -sold by grocer and butcher are duly supervised and examined, there is -no reason why the premises of the dairyman should not be similarly -inspected. We do not, as a rule, contract serious illness from impure -coffee, or even from a poor quality of butcher-meat; but a dirty dairy -and an infected milk-supply may, in a single day, sow the germs of a -fever which may prostrate a village or community, and entail all the -misery and hardship which serious illness inevitably carries in its -train. - -The domestic care of milk is a second topic to which the attention of -the householder should be directed. It cannot be too clearly borne in -mind that milk, of all fluids, is singularly apt to absorb deleterious -matters. Sewage-emanations and other gases, paint, metallic matters, -&c., are all readily taken up by milk. Hence the absolute necessity -for seeing that when milk is received into our homes, it is stored in -a safe and sanitary position. Milk should never be stored in metallic -vessels in the first place; and it should not be kept in cupboards or -other receptacles which are situated in the neighbourhood of sinks, -closets, or open drains. Too frequently, such carelessness in the -home-treatment of the milk-supply leads to illness, which is all the -more serious, because its origin is unsuspected. - -With regard to the liability of milk, taken from cows suffering from -various diseases, to produce illness in man, many and varied opinions -exist. A general rule, and one in the observance of which great safety -exists, is, that milk from an animal in any way affected with disease -should never be sold to the public. Where uncertainty exists, it is a -matter of sheer common-sense to err on the safe side, and to incur no -risk whatever. It is only fair to add, that milk from cows suffering -from ‘foot-and-mouth’ disease has been consumed in many cases without -injury resulting. But opposed to this fact, we find cases in which -the use of such milk has been followed by throat-ailments and other -troubles in man. The milk of over-driven cows—‘heated milk,’ as it is -called—has been known to produce colic and diarrhœa in children. It -is also probable that while some persons in robust health may escape, -others are liable to be affected by milk taken from diseased animals. -Pigs to which the milk of cows, ill with ‘foot-and-mouth’ disease, -has been given, are seized with that disease in a few hours. The safe -rule, therefore, appears to be that already mentioned. If a cow is -affected with any disorder or disease, the milk of the animal should -not be consumed by man. Only by attention to this rule can outbreaks of -disease in man be avoided, and the public safety fully secured. - -The flesh of animals is liable to acquire under certain conditions -diseased properties. Hence, it is necessary that we should be on our -guard against such sources of illness. Thus, certain fevers to which -pigs, sheep, and cattle are subject render their flesh unfit for human -food; and there are certain parasites inhabiting the flesh of fish -which may also be productive of disease when the meat in question has -been eaten by man. - -Good meat in a fresh state should be firm and elastic to the touch. -The characteristic odour of fresh meat should be present, and the -meat-tissue should be dry, or at the most merely moist. The appearance -of good meat is marbled, and its action on blue litmus-paper is -acid—that is, it turns the blue paper to a red colour. Bad meat, on the -other hand, is usually extremely moist, or even wet; it has a sodden -feel, and the presence of dark spots in the fat is a suspicious sign. -The marrow of the bones, instead of being light red in colour, as in -fresh meat, is brown-tinted, and often shows black spots. Tested by -litmus-paper, bad meat is either neutral or alkaline, and turns red -litmus-paper to blue, or does not alter either red or blue test papers. -The odour of bad meat is highly distinctive; and its colour, as a rule, -is suspiciously dark. - -Regarding those animal-diseases which are believed to unfit the flesh -for human use, considerable diversity of opinion exists. For example, -the flesh of animals suffering from _pleuro-pneumonia_ is regarded, -almost universally, as unfit for consumption; although opinions exist -which regard such flesh as harmless. Here, as in the case of milk, -already alluded to, it is probable diversity of opinion arises from the -different conditions under which the results of eating such flesh have -been studied. In some cases, it is true, no evil results have accrued -from this practice; Loiset showing that during nineteen years, at least -eighteen thousand oxen suffering from pleuro-pneumonia were killed and -used in Lyons, as food, without any known evil results. But it should -be remembered that the disease has its advanced as well as its initial -stages; and in any case the opinions expressed with regard to the -harmless character of the flesh, can only apply to cases in which the -animals have been killed in an early phase of the disorder. The disease -known as ‘braxy’ in sheep presents a similar conflict of opinions. Over -fifty per cent. of young sheep in Scotland are stated by Mr Cowan in -his Essay (1863) to perish from this disease. The disorder is a fever, -attended by very characteristic symptoms; but ‘braxy mutton’ is eaten -nevertheless by Scottish shepherds with impunity—although an important -precaution is observed in this case by steeping the mutton in brine for -six or eight weeks, and then drying it. The chief danger which appears -to arise in man from the use of diseased meat is the development of -blood-disorders and of blood-poisoning. ‘Carbuncular disease’ has -increased in Scotland since 1842, when pleuro-pneumonia first appeared; -and this affection has apparently increased since lung-diseases in -animals have become common. On the whole, then, it may be urged that -even with opinions of weight which allege the harmless character, -in certain cases, of the flesh of diseased animals, there are risks -involved which make the rule, that meat under such circumstances should -be rejected, a highly safe and commendable practice both for public and -trade attention. - -In the case of the _parasites_ which may affect meat under certain -circumstances, there is fortunately no diversity of opinion to be -encountered. The question of ‘braxy mutton’ may be debatable; in that -of meat infested with parasites, no argument is permissible. All -parasitic animals are liable to induce disease of more or less serious -character in man; hence, if meat can be proved to be so infested, it -should be summarily rejected. - -The most common parasites which man is liable to acquire from flesh of -various kinds are certainly _tapeworms_, which have been frequently -described, and the dangers from which are well known. More serious in -its nature is the _Trichina spiralis_, a minute worm, found chiefly in -the muscles of the pig. This worm, if eaten by man with pork, develops -with great rapidity within the human digestive system, and produces -enormous numbers of young, which, boring their way through the tissues -to the muscles of the patient, cause serious and often fatal illness. -Once in the muscles, no further change ensues to the worms, which -simply degenerate into mere specks of lime. It is this _trichina_ -which produces the disease known as _trichinosis_. Fatal epidemics of -this disease are not uncommon on the continent, especially where the -unsanitary practice of eating uncooked or dried sausages is greatly in -vogue. - -Regarding the prevention of the diseases caused by parasites, one -stringent rule should be invariably kept in mind—namely, that all -flesh-meat should be _thoroughly cooked_ before it is consumed. The -practice of eating underdone meat and smoked provisions is attended -with great danger. A degree of heat sufficient to cook meat thoroughly, -may, as a rule, be trusted to destroy parasitic life which the flesh -may contain—although, of course, no one would sanction the employment -as food of any meat known to be parasitically infested. To this -necessary precaution may be added the advice, that drinking-water -should never be taken from ponds, lakes, canals, or rivers in which -vegetable matter grows freely, as such water is liable to contain -parasitic germs; and all vegetables used for food, and especially -those used raw—as in the case of salads—should be thoroughly washed -before use. Our dogs being liable to harbour certain forms of internal -parasites highly injurious to man, should also have their health and -feeding inspected and supervised. And it may be lastly mentioned, by -way of encouragement in sanitary reform, and in the care and selection -of our flesh-foods, that as far back as the reign of Henry III. the -desirability of securing meat free from parasites was clearly known. -In the reign of that monarch, butchers who were convicted of selling -‘measly pork’ were sentenced to exposure in the pillory as a punishment -for their misdeeds. - - - - -BY MEAD AND STREAM. - - -CHAPTER XXXV.—THE MAID WAS IN THE GARDEN. - -Madge was glad that it was in her power to comfort Philip, most glad, -because, in spite of the relief which he found in her presence, a vague -fear was beginning to creep into her mind that somehow this power was -slowly weakening. Was it his fault or hers? Was it the knowledge that -the confidence which they had desired to keep perfect between them -was no longer perfect? Was it the knowledge that she had accepted a -secret which could not be shared with him that, disturbing her mind, -suggested changes in him which had no existence? Maybe, maybe, and yet -... relieved as he had been for a little while, there was no mistake, -there was no mistake about the weary look in his eyes when he was going -away, or about his nervously lingering manner of saying ‘Good-night,’ -as if he were afraid to leave her, lest the bogeys which had arisen in -his path should seize upon him the moment he should be alone. - -She had many bitter reflections that night before she went to sleep: -first, about the position in which she was placed against her will; and -next about the customs which allowed a woman so few opportunities to -give practical assistance to the man she loved. If he had been only a -labourer and she a washerwoman, then she could have been of some real -value to him. As it was, she must stay at home, await his coming when -the struggle was over, give him sympathy when he was in difficulty, and -nurse him when he was sick. That was all. She wanted to be by his side -in the heat of the struggle, helping him with hands and head as well as -heart. She wished that his enterprise had assumed some other form than -its present one, so that she might have had a full share in the actual -work of it. To her it was absurd that, because she wore petticoats and -happened to be above the necessity to earn a living, she should be -excluded from his office, or go to it under the penalty of bringing -ridicule upon him. She knew how many times in those weary chambers, and -in that weary office during this period of worry and disappointment, he -must long for her to cheer and steady him as only she could do. - -As for Wrentham, she had not much faith in him, although, having no -specific charge to make against him, and aware of Philip’s confidence -in him, she remained silent. She could only have said: ‘I do not -like him;’ and Philip would have laughed at her, or chid her for -being ungracious to his friend. She had not forgiven Wrentham for the -accident with the horse; and she was not yet satisfied about it, for -she could not forget what Uncle Dick had said in his passion. - -‘If I wanted to kill anybody, do you know what I’d do?—that is, -supposing I could go about it in cold blood. Well, I’d keep a -mettlesome mare in the stable for three or four days, feed her high, -and then ask the man I wanted to hurt to take a ride on her. Five -hundred to one but he’d come back in a worse plight than Philip did. -And that’s what I’d have said the man was trying on, if they hadn’t -been such close friends.’ - -Uncle Dick did not repeat this angry exclamation; but Madge could not -forget it, and the remembrance of it made her this night the more -discontented that she could not be always with Philip during the ordeal -through which he was passing. - -However, there was one way in which she might render him practical -assistance; that was, by setting Caleb Kersey’s mind at ease, and so -enabling him to serve his master with a light heart, which is always a -brave one. She had delayed speaking to Sam Culver until she could tell -him that Caleb was not only working steadily but was successful, and -could offer Pansy a comfortable home. She would not wait any longer: -she would speak to them both in the morning. That thought helped her to -sleep. For the time, the more serious business which she had to do with -Mr Hadleigh held only a distant place in her mind. - - * * * * * - -Caleb had not been making progress in his wooing, and when he became -aware of that fact, he grew discontented with the nature of things in -general and especially with himself. The discontent with the condition -of his fellow-labourers which had earned for him an ill repute amongst -the farmers, had some grains of reason in it. There was no doubt that -the majority of the labourers had large families and scant fare; that -their cottages were in many instances examples of the deplorable state -of ruin into which roof and walls may fall and still be reckoned fit -for human habitation; whilst in harvest-time, when there was an influx -of labouring men, women, and children from the large towns and from -Ireland, the lodging arrangements were disreputable. But in the present -case, he could discover no reason to justify his discontent, and that -made him feel bad. - -He had never been a regular churchgoer, and for some time he had -ceased going altogether; but lately he had become so punctual in his -attendance, that the beadle-sexton, the clerk, with old Jerry and young -Jerry Mogridge, had held more than one consultation on the subject in -the taproom of the _Cherry Tree_. They shook their heads very wisely, -and thought that there must be something wrong about this sudden -conversion. But the vicar, who had as quick an eye for every face in -his congregation as the thorough shepherd has for every sheep in his -flock, was pleased, and concluded that there was some good spirit at -work in the Agitator’s mind. He would not speak to him yet. He knew how -easily a hesitating sheep may be frightened away by over-zeal on the -part of the shepherd. He would wait until the man felt quite at his -ease. - -So, in a distant corner of the church, Caleb sat Sunday after Sunday, -his eyes fixed on the back of Pansy’s hat, and brightening when any of -her movements enabled him to catch a glimpse of her face. At first he -merely dawdled along the road in the wake of Pansy and her father on -their way home, until they entered the gates of Ringsford. There it -was Sam’s custom to halt and gossip with the gatekeeper; whilst Pansy -hastened home by a bypath through the trees, in order to have dinner -ready for her father. Then Caleb, by hurrying to the home-field and -crossing it, would catch another glimpse of her before she entered the -cottage. - -He was ashamed of dogging their steps in this fashion, and could -not help himself. Several times he made up his mind to speak to the -gardener, and find some excuse for walking along with them; but he -could not yet muster courage to grasp so much joy, although it was well -within his reach. One bright day, however, he was as usual standing in -the porch to see Pansy as she went out, and receive from her as usual a -bashful glance and timid smile, which made the food he lived on for the -week, when he was almost startled by her father speaking to him: - -‘Come up the road a bit wi’ us, Kersey, if you have naething better -ado.’ - -Caleb muttered that he was ready, and muttered still more awkwardly to -Pansy that he hoped he saw her quite well. - -‘Quite well, thank you,’ was the demure reply; and there was no further -conversation. - -She took her place on one side of her father, Caleb walked on the -other. But she was there quite close to him, and—although decidedly ill -at ease—he began to feel a degree of content which he had not known for -many days. - -The gardener had been amongst those who had observed Caleb’s conversion -in the matter of church attendance, and being already sensible of the -young man’s intelligent appreciation of his flowers, he was willing to -credit him with having turned over a new leaf, and had charitably set -aside his doubts of him. - -‘Man, Kersey,’ said Sam, as soon as they were free from the crowd, ‘I -have got one of the bonniest geraaniums that ever mortal set een on, -and I want you to see it for yoursel’. I wouldna have asked you to come -on the Sabbath, if it hadna been that I can never get sight of you on a -week-day noo.’ - -‘I don’t suppose there can be any harm in looking at the flower,’ -said Caleb, restraining the much more decided opinion he would have -expressed on the subject if Pansy had not been there, or if he had been -able to guess what she might have thought of it. One strong principle -of his creed was that the more beautiful things men look at, the more -refined their natures will become, and that for this purpose Sunday was -the most appropriate day. - -‘That’s just my opinion,’ was the satisfied comment of the gardener; -‘and I wonder you that’s fond o’ flowers, dinna take to studying them -in earnest. Do you know anything at all about botany?’ - -‘Nothing,’ was the honest and regretful reply, for it was not easy to -confess absolute ignorance in her presence. - -‘Then you’ll just have to come whiles to see me, and I’ll learn -you something about it. You will have to come especially in the -spring-time; and it’s wonderful how soon you’ll find a real pleasure in -it—especially in the geraaniums.’ - -In this way Caleb became a prospective pupil of the gardener, and after -this he walked home with the father and daughter every Sunday. And -Pansy became more and more shy in his presence, and blushed more deeply -at his coming; whilst his heart swelled and throbbed, and the words he -wanted to speak played tantalisingly about his tongue, but found no -voice. By-and-by there was a curious change in Pansy. Her shyness and -her blushes disappeared: she spoke to him in much the same manner as -she did to Jacob Cone or Jerry Mogridge or any of the other men about -the place. At first he was disposed to be pleased with the change, -for it seemed to make him more at home when he visited the cottage. -Presently he began to fancy that she tried to keep out of his way, and -he did not understand it. Then one day she had a basket of flowers to -take up to the house for the young ladies, and Caleb accompanied her. -As they neared the house, he surrendered the basket to her, and he had -only done so when they met Coutts. - -‘Ah, early birds!’ he said, with his cynical smile; ‘good-morning.—Will -you give me a flower for my button-hole, Pansy?—Thank you. That is a -very pretty one—it will make me think of you all day.’ - -He passed on, and Pansy was blushing as she used to do when Caleb spoke -to her. - -Caleb drew a long breath, and with it inhaled the poison which -distorted all his thoughts. He spoke no word; but the gloom which fell -upon him spoiled him for work, and checked his visits to the cottage -until he heard that warning cry from Philip: - -‘Trust her, man; trust her. That is the way to be worthy of a worthy -woman.’ - -The words seemed to rouse him from a wretched nightmare and to clear -his eyes and head. The words kept ringing in his ears, and when he -peered through the black span which lay between this day and the one on -which Pansy gave Coutts Hadleigh the flower, he felt that the darkness -was due to films on his own eyes, not to change in the atmosphere. - -He straightened his shoulders and raised his head: he was able to look -his future in the face again. - -‘I will trust her,’ he said to himself bravely. When he went to Gray’s -Inn in obedience to his master’s instructions, he had only to say: -‘Thank you, sir; you have done me a deal of good, and I’ll do what you -tell me.’ - -‘Spoken like the sensible fellow I always believed you to be,’ rejoined -Philip, much relieved. He would have rejoiced, but he was at the time -too much distracted by his own affairs to be able to feel elated by -anything. ‘There will be no more sulks, then, no more losing heart and -seeing mountains in molehills?’ - -‘I hope not.’ - -‘That’s right; and ... look here, Caleb. I have a notion, from -something you said, that I know the man you have been worrying yourself -about. Take my word for it, if my guess is right, he is much too -cautious a fellow—to put it on no higher ground—and too careful of -himself, to be a poacher. He likes a joke, though; and if I were you, -I would not let him see that he was making me uneasy. You understand—he -might for the fun of the thing get up some hoax.’ - -Caleb thought he understood, and at anyrate the main point was quite -clear to him—he was to trust her. And he kept faith with himself in -that respect. Whenever she seemed cold to him, he blamed himself for -bothering her at the wrong time. She had other things to take up her -attention—all the work of the cottage, many odd jobs to do for her -father, besides the hens to look after and their eggs to gather for -the breakfast-table of the Manor. When she seemed to be trying to keep -out of his way, he set it down to the fact that she had something -particular to do. He found excuses for every change, real or imaginary, -that had come over her manner of treating him. Come what might of it, -he would trust her. - -Then there was a bright forenoon on which Philip sent him out to -Ringsford to fetch a small box, and he had an hour to spare before he -had to start for his return train. So he went over to the cottage. The -sun was gleaming whitely on the little green in front, and the grass -was sparkling with frozen dewdrops. There was Pansy—eyes in their -brightness rivalling the flashing dewdrops, cheeks aglow with healthful -exercise, and sleeves tucked up above the elbows—hanging out the -clothes she had just taken from the tub. - -Caleb halted at the corner of the green. He had never in this world -seen anything so graceful as that lithe figure moving actively about in -the clear sunlight casting the clothes over the lines, now reaching up -on tiptoe to place a peg in some high place, and again whipping up her -basket and marching farther along with it. - -She had covered one long line and taken a clothes-pole to raise it. -That was a feat of strength, and Caleb sprang to her side. - -‘Let me do that for you, Pansy.’ - -‘Gracious!’ was the startled exclamation; and at the same moment he -planted the pole upright, the clothes thus forming a screen between -them and the vine-house where Sam Culver was at work. - -‘You didn’t expect to see me here at this time of day,’ he said, -laughing, but already beginning to feel awkward, and looking everywhere -except where he most desired to look—in her face. ‘I had to come down -for this box; and as there was time enough, I thought I’d come round -this way.’ - -She laughed a little, too, at her scare, and then began to hang out -more clothes on another line as hastily as if she had not a minute to -spare. He looked on, his eyes glancing away whenever she turned towards -him. She also began to feel a little awkward, and somehow she did not -fasten the pegs on the line with such deft firmness as she had done -before he made his presence known. - -‘Father is in the vine-house,’ she said by-and-by, compelled to seek -relief by saying something. - -‘I wish you would let me do something for you,’ was his inconsequent -reply. - -‘Something for me!’ - -‘Yes, carry the basket—anything.’ - -‘The basket is empty, and I have to go back to the washhouse.’ - -‘I will go with you.’ - -‘But there is nothing to do except wring out the clothes.’ - -‘Let me help you with that.’ - -‘Pretty work it would be for you!’ This with a nervous little laugh, -which she evidently intended to convey an impression of good-natured -ridicule. - -‘It doesn’t matter what it is, so being it is for you.’ - -She stooped quickly, seizing one handle of the basket; he took the -other, and they lifted it between them. He looked straight in her face -now, and he fancied that the colour faded from her cheeks. - -‘Father is in the vine-house,’ she repeated, looking in another -direction. - -‘I want to tell you something, Pansy.’ He was a little husky, and -unconsciously moved the basket to and fro. - -She knew what he wanted to tell her, and she did not want to hear—at -least not then. - -‘I can’t stay—I must run in now.’ She tried to take the basket from him. - -‘Don’t go yet. I made up my mind to tell you when I was standing over -there looking at you. I was meaning to do it many a time afore, but -just when I was ready, you always got out of my way, and I couldn’t say -it when you came back.’ - -‘I wish you’d let me go. I don’t want to hear anything—I’m in a hurry. -Won’t father do?’ - -She was nervous; there were signs even of distress in her manner, and -she could not look at him. - -‘Ay, your father will do,’ he answered earnestly, ‘if you say that I -may tell him we have agreed about it.’ - -‘About what?—No, no, no; you must not tell him that. We are not agreed. -We never will agree about _that_.’ - -She was frightened, dropped the basket, and would have run away, but he -had caught her hand. He was pale, and although his heart was hammering -at his chest, he was outwardly calm. - -‘Don’t say never, Pansy,’ he pleaded in a low voice; and she was -touched by the gentleness of it, which contrasted so strangely with -the manner of the loud-voiced orator when speaking to a crowd on the -village green. ‘I’ve scared you by coming too sudden upon you. But -you’ll think about it, and you’ll give me the right word some other -time.’ - -‘There is no need to think about it—I cannot think about it,’ she -answered with tears of mingled vexation and regret in her eyes. - -‘But you’ll come to think about it after a bit, and I’ll wait—I’ll wait -until you come to it.’ - -‘I never will—I never can.’ - -‘You’re vexed with me for being so rough in my way of asking you. I -couldn’t help that, Pansy: but I’ll be patient, and I’ll wait till you -come round to it or ... until you say that you can’t do it because your -head is too full of somebody else.’ - -Pale and earnest, his lips trembled as these last words passed them. -She uttered a half-stifled ‘Oh!’ and ran into the cottage. He stood -in the bright sunlight looking after her, and the gloom fell upon his -face again. There was something in that cry which seemed to tell him -that her head was already too full of somebody else for him to find the -place he yearned to hold in her thoughts. He knew the somebody. - -(_To be continued._) - - - - -THE CHARR OF WINDERMERE. - - -The confined localisation of this delicate fish renders its natural -history somewhat difficult to ascertain. As little, or even less, -is known of its proceedings during a great portion of the year -as of the salmon itself during its sojourn in the sea. There are -several varieties of the charr in the Lake district of Cumberland, -Westmoreland, and Lancashire; but undoubtedly they are merely the same -fish changed by circumstances and general surroundings; just as the -common trout varies in appearance, size, and condition according to the -nature of the water in which it is found and the food obtained there. -Charr are found in many of the Scotch and Irish lochs; whilst in the -English Lake district they are more or less plentiful in Windermere, -Coniston, Buttermere, Hawes-water, Ennerdale, Crummock-water, -Goats-water, and one or two other tarns or meres. In the first-named -lake it is by far the most numerous; and Coniston holds a good supply, -though Sir Humphry Davy, writing thirty years ago, says: ‘The charr -is now scarce in Coniston, and quite extinct in Ullswater.’ Now it is -occasionally found in the latter; whilst in the former it is plentiful, -and, with a comparative discontinuance of the working of the lead -mines, the wash from which polluted the water, is increasing. Large -quantities of very fine fish were taken during last year. It is similar -pollution which has destroyed the fish in Ullswater. For this beautiful -lake, let us hope for a return of the olden times, when charr and trout -and skellies ‘peopled’ its waters, over which the kite and golden eagle -often flew, and down whose slopes the red-deer from Martindale fells -may even now find its way to quaff a morning’s draught. As regards -edible qualities, the Windermere and Coniston charr are the best; those -of Hawes-water and Goats-water being smaller and of inferior quality. - -Local history tells us that the love of a dainty dish induced the -monks of Furness to stock Windermere with charr, which were obtained -from some lake in the neighbourhood of the Alps; hence the fish is -still known as _Salmo alpinus_; but the correct nomenclature is _Salmo -umbla_. The same history or tradition tells us that this fish was -placed there only about two centuries ago. Against this, a manuscript -has recently been discovered, bearing date 1535, to the effect that a -certain Jacques Tallour was permitted ‘to catch and tol the fayre fish -charr in Wynandermer, and also his son Gerald.’ There is no reason to -doubt that the charr is as likely to be indigenous to some of our lakes -as our ordinary trout. During a considerable portion of the year, the -charr frequent the deepest parts of the lake, feeding upon and finding -nourishment in the minute crustaceans and larvæ found in such places. -In this respect the nature of this fish is actually the reverse of -that of the trout, which delights in the shallows, and feeds on the -flies and moths hatched on the gravel-beds and elsewhere. Nature would -doubtless ‘people’ Windermere, Coniston, and other lakes with that fish -which could best live in its deepest parts, and this fish is the charr. -Probably, specimens were removed from here to smaller sheets of water, -in some of which, however, it fails to thrive, though breeding and -increasing in numbers. There is a vast difference in appearance between -the charr of Windermere and the charr of Hawes-water: the latter thin -and flabby; the former elegantly shaped, and more graceful in outline -than the trout, not so fat and podgy as many of our spotted beauties -are; a general and a uniform shade of pinkness appears, as it were, to -shine through the skin; in some specimens, as it approaches the belly, -this hue becomes a deep red; hence the ‘red-bellied charr.’ It has, of -course, other distinctive differences, as in the shape of gill covers, -number of fin rays, &c., which have often been described. - -Unfortunately, our charr is mostly a bottom or mid-water feeder, -and cannot take high rank as a sporting fish; but on the table it -excels. In size it varies from a pound in weight downwards, though -larger specimens have often been caught. The usual size is about -three fish to the pound of sixteen ounces; though in Hawes-water and -Goats-water, about eight to the pound is considered the usual run. In -both these tarns the charr rises pretty freely at the fly, indicating -an insufficiency of food below the surface; and it is this bottom-food -which gives to them the excellent condition and flavour they attain in -the deeper and larger lakes. The same may be said of the gillaroos, -found in some of the Irish lochs. - -It is surprising that more attention has not been given to the -artificial rearing of charr. Some years ago, the Windermere Angling -Association hatched and turned into that lake some thousands of the -young fish; but the earliest note we have of their artificial rearing -was by Dr Davy, then living at Lesketh How, Ambleside. This took place -about thirty years ago, and was done in the most rough-and-ready -fashion. Still the infant fish were produced from the milt-impregnated -ova; and a few days after hatching, and with the ‘sac’ still in -attachment, the delicate ‘infants’ were transferred to Easedale tarn. -Too young to defend themselves, the fry no doubt perished. Yarrell -says that in the autumn of 1839, several charr, of some half-pound -weight each, were placed in Lily Mere, not far from Sedbergh. Twelve -months later, two of these fish, when retaken, were said to have been -two pound-weight each! They were served at the Queen-dowager’s table -at Kirkby-Lonsdale. These reputed large charr were no doubt trout, for -which the mere in question was famous. A few years since, charr were -placed in Potter Fell tarn, which is connected with the river Kent -(Westmoreland) by a small runner. One of these charr was caught with -fly in the river itself, some miles from the tarn. It had increased -in size from about four to some seven ounces in the space of twelve -months. It was kept alive, and in due course returned to the Potter -Fell. This is evidence that charr may live in a stream, and in the -absence of suitable bottom-food, adopt the habits of the trout, and -rise to the fly. On this account, they are worth cultivation; and -their delicacy and fine flavour make them more valuable than the best -trout—a fact which should be an inducement to their propagation. Potted -charr is considered amongst the greatest fish-dainties that can be set -before the gourmet. - -The charr is usually taken in nets, though often caught with artificial -baits, trolled at varying depths, after the style of the paternoster -used in perch-fishing. Commencing at the beginning of March, the -fishermen know the water the charr frequent, and soon find at what -depth they lie in shoals or schools. As the season becomes warmer, the -charr approach nearer the surface; and in genial weather, towards the -end of May or beginning of June, are at times seen basking near the -surface of the lake; not feeding, but ‘bobbing’ their noses out of -the water, causing rises or bubbles, which in calm weather are easily -discerned by the fishermen. If possible, the shoal is surrounded by -a net or nets, and a rare capture ensues. Upwards of one hundred and -eighty pound-weight of charr has thus been taken at one haul; and when -one considers they are worth wholesale from sixteen to eighteen pence -per pound, the employment cannot fail to be a lucrative one. We cannot, -however, commend the practice of netting, which is not sport, but -wholesale destruction. - - - - -SILAS MONK. - -A TALE OF LONDON OLD CITY. - - -IN FOUR CHAPTERS.—CONCLUSION. - -The streets in the old city are dark and deserted as the detective -and Walter Tiltcroft hasten through them towards Crutched Friars. The -street-lamps cast limited spaces of light upon the fronts of lofty -warehouses and counting-houses, leaving limitless spaces of shadow -about and above. The windows of these mansions have the blankness of -blind eyes; the great, black, massive office-doors are firmly closed; -and the greater doors of the warehouses are fastened with huge padlocks -and chains, like prisons, or places with dead secrets made safe in the -custody of night. Not a word is spoken. The two men, earnestly bent on -their search, walk along with the echoes of their footsteps sounding -loudly in their ears; while the tap on the pavement of Fenwick’s stick -falls with a musical ring, as though it were gifted with the power, -like a magic wand, of chasing the echoes away. When they presently -stop at the entrance to the counting-house of Armytage and Company, -the detective produces a latchkey, opens the door, and leads the way -into the house. As soon as Walter has entered and the door is closed -behind him, Fenwick draws forth a dark-lantern, which he flashes -unceremoniously in the young clerk’s face. ‘I call this light,’ says -Fenwick, ‘my eye.’ - -Walter stares at it, and blinks. - -‘It has peered into and pierced through many a dark deed.—Catch hold!’ - -Walter, with trembling expectation, takes the lantern. - -‘Throw the light upon the keyhole!’ cries Fenwick. ‘I will open the -door.’ He rattles, as he speaks, a bunch of keys. - -‘Which keyhole first?’ Walter asks. - -‘The strong-room.’ - -Walter shows the way. They pass through the clerks’ office and reach -the iron-bound door of the strong-room. The keyhole is rusty with age; -and when Fenwick stoops and applies the key, there is a grating sound -inside the lock like the grinding of teeth. As soon as the door is -thrown open, Walter, with quick-beating heart, flings the light forward -into the room; that strange fancy coming over him that his eyes will -encounter the ghostly form of the old miser, as he had imagined him -that afternoon, wrapped in the white shroud, dancing round his heap of -gold. But finding nothing except dark walls, he boldly steps in. The -high stool beside the old desk, where he has so often seen Silas Monk -sitting and poring over large ledgers, is vacant, and the ledgers are -lying about on the desk, closed. - -‘Now,’ says Fenwick, ‘give me the lantern.’ - -Walter complies, and the detective flashes the light about from ceiling -to floor. Suddenly the two men are startled by a stifled cry. Fenwick -casts his lantern angrily upon Walter’s face, as though he suspects him -of having uttered it. The clerk’s eyes are terror-stricken, and his -face deadly pale. - -‘What’s that?’ asks the detective. - -Walter clutches at Fenwick’s wrist. ‘It is the cry which I heard this -afternoon.’ - -‘What do you mean?’ - -The light of the lantern is still on Walter’s face as he answers: ‘I -was seated at my desk. The cry came from this room; but I thought it -was a fancy. At that moment Mr Armytage sent for me, and I was afraid, -if I mentioned it, that the clerks would laugh at me.’ - -‘Why?’ asks Fenwick, with surprise. ‘Do you believe in ghosts?’ - -‘N—no,’ says Walter with some hesitation. ‘But that cry did seem rather -ghostly too.’ - -‘Nonsense! It is Silas Monk.’ - -‘But it sounded,’ continued Walter, ‘as though it were in this room.’ - -‘That’s true.’ - -‘Then it must be his ghost; for there is no living being here except -ourselves.’ - -Fenwick again flashes the light from ceiling to floor, as though to -make sure of this. Then he says: ‘Kneel down, my lad. Place your ear to -the ground, and listen.’ - -Walter quickly obeys; and for some minutes a dead silence reigns in -the strong-room. The beating of his heart is all that Tiltcroft hears; -and all that he is otherwise conscious of is that Fenwick’s ‘eye’ is -watching the side of his face uppermost on the floor as he lies there -listening. Their patience is presently rewarded. Their ears are filled -with another cry, pitiable and more prolonged. - -Walter springs to his feet. ‘It is there!’ he cries. - -‘Below?’ - -‘Yes; directly beneath our feet.’ - -The detective begins to examine the flooring. Inch by inch the ‘eye’ -wanders over the ground. An antique threadbare drugget is moved on -one side; packets of papers, ledgers, and lumber are shifted from one -corner to another. At last Fenwick lights upon a circular hole about -the size of a crown-piece, scarcely an inch deep. ‘Ah!’ cries he, ‘now -we are on the track.’ He takes from his pocket a penknife, scoops -about, and turns up a ring attached to the floor. He puts his large -muscular thumb into this ring, and gives a jerk. A patch three or four -feet square in the boarding is detached. ‘A trap-door!’ cries Fenwick. -‘Stand clear.’ - -So it proves—a trap-door, which the detective quickly raises, revealing -pitch-darkness in the opening. - -‘Go below,’ says Fenwick; ‘I’ll follow.’ - -Walter looks down, hesitating. But when the light is thrown that way, -and he observes that there are steps leading into the obscurity, he -takes the lead. The descent seems endless; for he moves slowly, as -Fenwick, coming after him, throws the light upon him. Walter hears -the hard breathing of the detective, and it sounds so strange in the -stillness that he holds his own breath to listen. Suddenly the light -from the lantern falls upon something which glitters on the ground on -all sides. - -‘Gold!’ cries Walter. His feet touch the ground. He stoops and picks up -a handful of sovereigns. ‘The place is a vault, and it is paved with -gold.—What’s that?’ He points to something in one corner like a human -form. - -The detective steps forward and bends down, throwing the light upon -a ghastly wrinkled face. The small eyes glitter like the gold, as -though they had caught the reflection, and the long lean fingers are -clutching sovereigns and raking them up. Fenwick touches the miser on -the shoulder. ‘What is all this?’ asks he. ‘Have you lost your senses?’ - -The old man utters a cry of distress which has in it a ring of madness. - -‘Speak to him, my lad,’ says Fenwick. ‘He will perhaps recognise your -voice.’ - -Walter kneels and takes the old miser’s hand. ‘Mr Monk,’ says he, ‘do -you know me? I am Walter Tiltcroft, your friend.’ - -Silas Monk looks up, bursts into a wild fit of laughter, and then falls -back senseless. - -The detective lifts the old man in his strong arms as though handling -a child. ‘Ascend the ladder!’ cries he quickly to Walter, ‘and show a -light; not a moment must be lost in getting the old man home.’ - - * * * * * - -Silas Monk was taken back to his tumble-down dwelling in the -dismal row, and was tended with all possible care by his devoted -grand-daughter. His recovery to a certain point was rapid. But the -mental condition was curiously impaired. His brain had lost its force; -no recollection of the past survived. His memory seemed to have fled -into darkness, and to be resting there and sleeping—a darkness into -which it was safer not to admit a single ray of light. This was the -bitter irony displayed by nature when granting to this old miser a -further extension to his lease of life. For time out of mind, Silas -Monk had been governed by a master-passion—his only thought that of -hoarding gold. The glitter, like sunlight, had pierced his cold heart, -and had helped to keep it beating; and it would almost seem as though -the warmth which this gold had driven into his veins still lingered -there, and helped to sustain vitality, even when the memory which had -given birth to all this agitation was dead. - -It had been thought advisable by those who study the mysterious -workings of the mind, that gold should be concealed from the sight of -Silas Monk, and, if possible, even the sound of it, in order that his -memory might rest dormant and his life be prolonged. - -One evening the old man was seated in his armchair before the fire, -with closed eyes. Rachel sat on a low stool at his feet, holding his -hand. On the other side of the hearth was Walter Tiltcroft. - -‘Walter,’ said the girl in a low voice, ‘you hardly know how happy I -am, now that grandfather can give me all his love. He thinks no more -about his’——She stopped, and looked up at her grandfather’s face, -frightened that even the mention of gold should reach his ears. - -‘Ah!’ cried Walter with a sigh, ‘how many are there, I wonder, in this -old city whose minds would be less disturbed if that precious word was -forbidden to be uttered in their presence? Does not your grandfather -already look less pale and haggard than he did a few weeks ago?’ - -‘Indeed, he does,’ replied Rachel. ‘He remembers both of us when we are -near him. He seems to need nothing now except our affection.’ - -Walter took the girl’s disengaged hand and said: ‘Rachel! Let me be -near you and him. Why should we not be one, and watch over grandfather -together?’ - -At the young man’s words, a look of rapture crossed the girl’s face. -‘Dear Walter,’ cried she, ‘that is all I wish for in this world!’ -She spoke like a true and tender woman—from her heart. Seated there -by that homely fireside, with the only two beings who were dear to -her, she never thought, or cared to think, that all the gold which -Walter Tiltcroft and the detective had found in the vault below the -strong-room in Crutched Friars would one day belong to her—that, when -her grandfather died, she would be a great heiress—worth, indeed, some -thousands of pounds. All she thought of, with that look of rapture in -her face, was that she had gained Walter Tiltcroft’s love. - - * * * * * - -Meanwhile, Joe Grimrood having been accused of the robbery in Crutched -Friars, was tried, and convicted. Thereupon, he made a full confession. -For some days before committing the theft, he had watched Silas Monk -from the scaffolding, after the rest of the workmen had gone. Through -a chink in the old shutter he had observed every movement of the old -miser. He had seen Silas Monk raise the trap-door which led into the -vault; he had seen him descend with his lantern, and bring up bag -after bag of gold, and pour it out on the desk before him. Watching -in Crutched Friars, after having been shown to the door by Walter -Tiltcroft, he had seen the young clerk leave the premises. Re-entering -the house by means of a key which he had taken the precaution to -forge, he had gone straight to the strong-room, where he had met -with unexpected resistance. Silas Monk had displayed, according to -Grimrood’s statement, almost supernatural strength; defending his -gold as a tigress defends her young ones, with a savage leap at the -workman’s throat. When utterly exhausted, Grimrood had carried Silas -down into the vault and had closed the trap-door upon him. Then, having -placed all the gold with which the desk was covered, into the bags, -the burglar had decamped, making his way to the docks, and securing a -berth on board an emigrant ship which was on the point of departure for -the high seas. - -Thus it happened that, but for the shrewdness and energy of the -detective, Joe Grimrood would have started on a voyage to Australia -with, as it appeared, nearly a thousand pounds in hard cash belonging -to Silas; and the old miser himself would in all probability have been -left to die in the vault under the strong-room in Crutched Friars, -and ‘the mystery of Silas Monk’ would have remained a mystery to the -present day. - -All this occurred some years ago. Silas Monk is long dead; and Walter -Tiltcroft, who married the old miser’s grand-daughter, is now a -merchant-prince. He purchased, soon after the death of Mr Armytage, a -partnership in the great firm; and thus the gold which old Silas had -hoarded up in Crutched Friars proved the means, to a great extent, of -making Walter Tiltcroft’s fortune. - - - - -SOMETHING ABOUT THE HONEY-BEE. - -BY A BEEKEEPER. - - -To ascertain the kind of flower, plant, or shrub which the honey-bee -mostly prefers, is worth care and consideration. Having been a keeper -of bees for some years, I think it may be useful to make known -the results of my experience and observations in Somersetshire, -Hertfordshire, and Middlesex. - -I will suppose that I have purchased a new stock and hive, bar-frame -for preference, and caused it to be removed from the market-gardens -around Middlesex to a country town in Hertfordshire. My bees on arrival -examine their prospect, and what an estate-agent may call their -‘outlook,’ very minutely, going even over the walls and trees adjacent -to their own hive, and taking trial-trips of flight into the air, -straight up—very like the rising of a skylark from a field—and dropping -again almost as suddenly. Having to some extent, after a day or two, -mastered the topography of the district, they will, if on a warm day -in February, commence upon the crocuses, and work only upon them—not, -as some may suppose, dodge about irrespective of the kind of flower. -Although the casual spectator may see bees upon every description of -open flower upon one and the same day, yet they are winging their way -from different hives. Our bees have commenced on the crocus. The day -following this, they will try the common field dandelion; and the next, -the white arabis of the garden culture. Then the black-thorn; later -on, the currant and gooseberry blossoms, and the sweet ‘may’ of our -hedgerows; and of trees—lime, palm, chestnut come next. - -The hive should face the south, and the alighting-board occupy as free -a space as possible. Water should be given, even during winter—inside, -if frost is severe. - -Some beekeepers suppose that colour attracts the bee; others, that -they possess acutely the sense of smell; and much has been written on -the subject. But our readers are to suppose that we are keeping bees -between us, and that I am relating my own experiences, which point to -this—the preference of these intelligent insects for some plants over -others. I have tried to educate my bees, by inducing them on certain -days to gather from flowers presented to them in small bunches upon -the alighting-board of their hive. In two instances I succeeded. One -was with white clover, which I picked in a field a mile distant. This -appeared to cheer the bees greatly, and drove away their listlessness -and inactivity. After making an examination of my offering, they began -work in earnest; and this stimulant had the desired effect of inducing -an idle community to work well. The second experiment was much more -demonstrative. Early in the morning, before the workers came forth, -I placed by the alighting-board some bunches of alder-flower. I had -shortly the satisfaction of seeing the outgoing bees return with little -white trousers of pollen, and I watched their flight to an alder tree -at a corner of the garden, not far from their hive. This was conclusive. - -Now for some descriptions of preference shown by bees. I have grown -garden-peas of various descriptions near my hives without inducing the -bees to notice them. Yet they will greedily gather from French beans or -scarlet runners the whole day, till long after sunset. In spring-time, -the yellow gorse on uncultivated spots forms a very strong attraction -for the honey-bees; yet they never touch the blossom of the laburnum, -which to ordinary mortals smells much the same. The cultivated hyacinth -they do not care about, although they gather from the wild sort in -the woods and shady groves. Bees show great preference for the pollen -of some sorts of lilies, yet are wholly indifferent to the lily of -the valley. They gather from the field-daisy, yet are careless of the -cultivated sort. - -Stocks they prefer to pinks, and lavender to either; also the small -flower of the borage delights them; yet wild foxglove possesses little -charm. I have heard that bees like monkshood, and will gather from it, -but I have never seen them do so. If they did, their honey would be -poisonous. Bees are passionately fond of clover and certain vetches, -and they will desert any garden flowers for such natural feeding. -Wild thyme and heather, which improve the flavour of the honey, bees -perfectly revel in. Garden primroses, they do not care much for; and -auriculas, however gaudy in colour, form no kind of attraction. The -polyanthus they have a languid liking for. I have seen the wild-bees -attack the cowslip; but not the honey-bee of our hives. I saw a bee -once upon a cultivated rose; it was only resting. I have likewise a -distinct remembrance of seeing many upon the wild-rose and dog-rose, -wild clematis, honeysuckle, and blackberry blossom. - -The situation of our hive cannot always be in such a flowery land; and -the beekeeper will do well to study the different flora and trees in -the immediate neighbourhood of his hive, and endeavour to supply any -deficiencies of pollen-bearing plants, as well as to give a gentle -hint to the inhabitants of his hives of any honey-bearing plant from -which he especially wants them to gather. Of course, in wild heather -districts, there is no need to resort to planting or sowing for the -bees; they will in such places always take care of themselves. In -Somersetshire, bees find honey from the many miles of apple-orchard -stretching away to the mild county of Devon; and farmers well know that -a good bee season, with a warm and early spring, means a plentiful -show of fruit in the autumn for cider. In and around Middlesex, there -are market and fruit gardens; and in Hertfordshire, grazing and clover -lands, besides hedges lined with limes and hawthorn, and later on, -honeysuckle. - -It is always a good plan to send late swarms of the hive into -heather-bearing counties; for the bees being young, and having every -inducement to work for the approaching winter, will store better than -hives which have been ‘swarmed’ and deprived of honey, the colonies -of which are worn or fatigued with the long-continued gathering of a -summer in more southern counties. It must likewise be remembered that -bees cannot gather, or rather will not do so, late in the autumn, when -the cold prevents them sealing over with wax the top of the cell. - -And now, a last word as to the preference of our bees for certain -flowers over others, which we would imagine, with our limited powers -of the sense of smell and taste, would be preferred by these insects, -and for which we have the greater amount of regard. I have seen, upon -the approach of a bee to any flower, that it flies around the calyx -almost always before alighting upon the flower itself. This is a -cursory examination; and with its antennæ outstretched and quivering, -it is evidently scenting the honey contained within. Should this prove -a fruitful flower and of the flavour required, the bee settles on -the centre of the stamen, and clutching it with its four front-legs, -steadies itself with its longer outstretched two hindermost ones, and -withdraws the nectar by its proboscis, the rings of the body assuming -a vibratory motion the while. The bee’s proboscis is a most important -instrument. It is composed of forty cartilaginous rings, each of which -is fringed with minute hairs, having also a small tuft of hair at its -extremity, where it is somewhat serrated. Its movement is like the -trunk of an elephant, and is susceptible of extension and contraction, -bending and twisting in all directions. Thus, by rolling it about, -it searches out the calyx, pistil, and stamen of every flower, and -deposits its nectar upon the tongue, whence it passes into the gullet -at the base. The gullet or first stomach is the honey-bag. No digestion -takes place here. In shape, it is like an oil-flask, and when full, -contains about one grain. It is susceptible of contraction, and is so -arranged as to enable the insect to disgorge its contents into the -cells of the hive. A short passage leads to the ventricle or true -stomach, which is somewhat larger. This receives the food from the -honey-bag, for the nourishment of the bee and the secretion of wax. -Dzierzon says that the honey which a bee can take into her stomach will -enable her to subsist for a week under some circumstances, while under -others she will die of hunger within twenty-four hours. This opinion -of Dzierzon settles my conviction, that in the selection of the kind of -food which will enable the bee to live longest, the true guide is to be -found in the flowers for which it has the strongest preference. - - - - -BOOK GOSSIP. - - -The Norman Conquest is one of the great outstanding and predominating -facts in English history. It occasioned a sudden break in the life of -the English people, and its influence is felt in their character and -institutions even to the present day. A hundred and fifty years before -that event, the long black ships of the Norse pirates entered the wide -mouths of the Seine and the Loire, and their crews, the rudest of the -rough barbarians of Denmark and Norway, sacked the towns and pillaged -the churches of the country which was afterwards to be called by their -name. They had no science, no arts, no culture. Their physical strength -was their glory; and their weapons of war, their defence at home, -served also as their passport into the lands of the stranger whom they -plundered and slew. But they had a remarkable power of adaptation. -However foreign to them the environment into which their hardy courage -had brought them, they did not long remain untouched by it. Without -losing their own native hardihood and fearlessness, they quickly -absorbed into them the spirit of the peoples and institutions among -which they had taken root; and before a century had passed over their -heads in France, they had already become one of the great political -forces of Europe. It was this people, brave, warlike, and with strong -practical sagacity, who landed on the English shores in 1066, and -shattered the Saxon arms on the slopes of Senlac. The battle at ‘the -hoar apple tree,’ where Harold lay dead with the Norman arrow deep in -his brain, marks the beginning of a new epoch in England. - -The history of that great event, with its antecedents and consequents, -has rarely been better told than it is by Mr Wm. Hunt, in the new -volume of the ‘Early Britain Series,’ entitled _The Norman Conquest_ -(London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge). As compared with -the work of Freeman, this is in bulk but a small book; yet it contains -within it all that thousands of readers would desire to know of the -history of the Conquest. The author is extremely well-informed on his -subject, and his scholarly little book gives evidence not only of -original research but of much original thought. The pictures he draws -for us of the England that preceded the Conquest, and of the England -that followed it, are sketched with a fullness and beauty of detail -which amply exhibit the capacity and preparedness of the author for -the task which he undertook, and which he has executed so well. His -extensive reading has enabled him to take advantage of the results -obtained by all the best and more recent investigators in this section -of European history; and the Northmen both before and after their -descent on France, as well as the Saxon tribes and Danish hordes that -scoured our coasts centuries before, are portrayed with a quick and -living touch. Still more interesting is the story of the Normans after -their taking possession of England; and the strange manner in which -the Saxon head eventually conquered the Norman hand—the Saxon language -and institutions arising in more than their original vitality and force -out of the ashes, as it were, of a temporary death—is here narrated -with admirable clearness and coherency. The book is one of the best of -the very valuable series to which it belongs. - -⁂ - -The same publishing house issues another learned little volume on -_Anglo-Saxon Literature_, by Mr John Earle, Rawlinson Professor of -Anglo-Saxon in the University of Oxford. It belongs to the series -bearing upon ‘The Dawn of European Literature,’ and is rich with -the results of the best modern scholarship on the early history and -growth of our language. The time when Latin and Greek formed the -chief essentials of learning is fast receding into the past, and -these languages are having a place assigned them more consistent -with the necessities of the modern world, which is not tolerant of -the acquisition of a kind of knowledge that in great part is archaic -and useless. Under the influence of this change, our own language is -rising into an importance which it could never attain so long as it -was regarded simply as a vulgar tongue, and the historical study of -English is becoming one of the most popular as well as one of the most -useful pursuits of our philologists. The great English Dictionary of -the Philological Society is only one evidence of this; for individual -scholars, during the last twenty years, have done not a little to lay -bare to us the inner structure of our language, and the changes and -modifications to which it has been subjected in the course of its long -descent. - -In the little work under review, Mr Earle states that Anglo-Saxon -literature is the oldest of the vernacular literatures of modern -Europe. The materials of this early literature are found chiefly in -written books and documents; but they are found also in such subsidiary -sources as inscriptions on churches and church towers, sun-dials, -crosses, and even on jewellery. One of the most remarkable in this last -category is what is known as the Alfred Jewel. It was discovered in -Newton Park, near Athelney, in 1693, and in 1718 had found its way to -the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, where it still is. It consists of an -enamelled figure enshrined in a golden frame, with a golden back to it, -and with a thick piece of rock-crystal in front, to serve as a glass to -the picture. Around the sloping rim the following legend is wrought in -the fabric: ÆLFRED MEC HEHT GEWYRCEAN (‘Alfred me commanded to make’). -‘The language of the legend,’ says the author, ‘agrees perfectly with -the age of King Alfred, and it seems to be the unhesitating opinion -of all those who have investigated the subject that it was a personal -ornament of the great West-Saxon king.’ Mr Earle traces the language -from the Heathen Period—that is, from the time previous to the English -conversion to Christianity, about 597 A.D.—down to the times that -immediately succeeded upon the Norman Conquest, and gives examples -of the language during these six centuries, with translations of the -various passages adduced. All who have an interest in the study of the -English tongue, and of the changes superinduced upon it by contact -with other European vernaculars, will find Mr Earle’s volume a ready -and efficient guide. - - - - -THE MONTH: - -SCIENCE AND ARTS. - - -Projects for cutting waterways across isthmuses follow one another with -such amazing swiftness, and the project is in most cases so quickly -followed by realisation, that it would appear that before many years -have passed, all the available peninsulas of the world will have been -operated upon and transformed into islands. Our French neighbours -are at present discussing the feasibility of a gigantic undertaking -of this nature, which, if carried out, will unite the Bay of Biscay -with the Mediterranean. This projected canal, which is to be of such -dimensions that the largest ships afloat can make use of it, is to have -one entrance near Bordeaux, and the other at Narbonne. This short-cut -across France will obviate the necessity of the tedious voyage round -Spain and through the Straits of Gibraltar, and will undoubtedly be a -boon to shipping, and especially to British vessels; but the scheme is -at present only on paper. It remains to be seen whether the undertaking -is possible; by which is meant, in these days of engineering marvels, -whether it will pay. - -Like most other canal projects, this one is by no means new; indeed, a -canal already exists almost along the same line of route—namely, the -Canal du Midi, which finds an outlet at Cette in the Gulf of Lions, and -joins the river Garonne at its other extremity at Toulouse; the entire -navigable distance from Bordeaux to Cette being three hundred and -thirty-two miles. The existing canal only accommodates small vessels, -and the entire journey is by no means a rapid one, for there are more -than a hundred locks to be encountered, which gradually raise the boats -to a level of nearly eight hundred feet above the sea. Whether the -engineers of the new undertaking propose any novel means of battling -with this difficulty of level, we do not know; but it will be readily -seen that the undertaking has not the simplicity of a simple cutting, -such as the Suez Canal presents. Another formidable obstacle to the -work is the presence of certain rivers which flow right across the -track. In the present case, these are crossed by aqueducts. But what -would be the size and cost of aqueducts which would give passage to the -floating palaces which have taken the place of the small vessels of -days gone by? - -Coming nearer home, a project has been mooted for cutting a channel -from the river Tyne to the Solway; and another across the low land -which separates the Forth from the Clyde. It is true that in the latter -case a narrow passage already exists; but what is required is—according -to the opinion of a former President of the Liverpool Chamber of -Commerce, who writes to the _Times_ upon the subject—a channel which -will allow the passage of our largest merchantmen and ships of war, -so that in case of need the efficiency of our naval defences may be -practically doubled. In case of war, the advantages of quick transport -of our ships from one coast to the other is obvious, and may in a -manner be compared to the undoubted advantages which we reap from being -able to convey information quickly from place to place by telegraphic -agency. - -Some very interesting Roman relics have recently been unearthed in the -bed of the river Rhone at Geneva, where some engineering works are in -progress. The most interesting of these is a Roman altar furnished -with an inscription to the effect that the writer, a certain soldier -of the twenty-second legion, who had been shipwrecked in the waters -hard by, had raised this altar to the god of the waves, Neptune, as a -thank-offering for his escape from death. We have also to record a far -more valuable find near Rome itself—at Subiaco, where several priceless -statues supposed to have been sent by the Emperor Nero to that place -for the decoration of his villa there, have been dug up. In Britain -too, a Roman villa has just been laid bare at Woolstone, Berkshire, -where, in addition to many tesselated pavements, several graves of -the Anglo-Saxon period have been found. In London, our knowledge of -the Roman city which lies beneath the busy metropolitan streets has -been much enriched by numerous discoveries made during the recent -excavations for the completion of the Underground Railway. There is -little doubt that interest in things antiquarian is rapidly increasing -on all sides. This is not only apparent from the attention which every -fresh discovery receives, but is indicated in a most satisfactory -manner by the circumstance that the University of Cambridge has given -archæology a recognised position among the subjects for the classical -tripos examination, and has just opened a Museum which will give an -impetus to studies of the kind. - -Although interest in matters archæological shows a healthy increase, -we have to regret a decrease of interest in another important branch -of knowledge. The Royal Geographical Society, which has just held -its anniversary meeting, has had to deplore, by the mouth of its -President, Lord Aberdare, that the Council have failed in their attempt -to introduce the efficient study of geography into the curriculum of -our great public schools, such as Eton and Harrow. Prizes have been -offered; but there were few who cared to compete for them. This seems a -very extraordinary state of things in a country which is always proudly -pointing to its possessions as being so large that the sun must always -shine upon some part or other of them. But the fault probably lies with -the teachers more than with the pupils. The members of the Geographical -Society evidently understand this, for they are now about to institute -an inquiry into the systems adopted for geographical instruction in -continental schools, from which, if all reports speak truly, we may -well take a lesson. - -Professor Monier Williams’s recent lecture on India, delivered -before the University of Oxford, was full of interesting particulars -relating to the great progress in every way which that vast country -had experienced under British rule. But perhaps the most interesting -portion of his remarks was that relating to the new route to India -which will probably be opened, and which it is expected will lead -to great development of intercourse between our Eastern and Western -possessions. This route will consist of a journey from London to -Odessa; thence by steamer across the Black Sea to Batoum; then by -Russian railway—a thirty-six hours’ journey—to Baku on the Caspian; -and a day’s voyage across the Caspian to Michaelovsk. At this latter -place is the terminus of the Central Asian Railway, which some months -ago was complete for one hundred and forty-four miles, and which will -eventually land the traveller at the gate of India—Herat. The journey -from Calais to our Indian frontier will be possible in nine days, so -long at least as we remain friends with Russia. Professor Williams -considers that we shall be bound to extend our railway from its present -limit at Quetta, through Candahar, so as to meet the Russians at Herat. -He thinks that we can meet them there as friends rather than enemies; -and all will agree in trusting that his words may come true. - -During the past year, the progress made by the British Ordnance Survey -has been greater than in any previous period, an area of more than two -and a half million acres having been mapped. It is expected that the -survey of the entire kingdom will be complete by the year 1888, and -that the publication of the maps will be finished two years later. A -largely increased staff of surveyors and draughtsmen has been engaged -to insure this acceleration in the work, and considerable time has been -spent in instructing their assistants in their duties. The maps are -reduced to the six-inch scale, and are reproduced by the zincographic -process. All particulars of the work are contained in a recently -published Blue-book. - -The long-continued dispute as to the right of the telegraph department -to erect posts and wires over our crowded city streets has at last been -set at rest, and the Postmaster-general can, with certain restrictions, -do much as he likes about the matter. The Telephone Companies, who -are new-comers and have no statutory powers, have yet to fight the -question. We must for many reasons deplore the circumstance that -additions will still be made to the metallic spider-webs which cover so -many of our fine metropolitan streets. It has been suggested that the -lines could be made to follow the contour of the roads, and could be -hidden under eaves and behind coping-stones so as no longer to offend -the eye, or to present the risk of danger to life, which they now -undoubtedly do. This innovation would doubtless mean a great deal of -difficulty to telegraphic engineers, and would be naturally opposed by -them, for there is a sweet simplicity about a suspended wire; but the -gain to others would be great. - -The International Health Exhibition, London, which follows so closely -upon the Fisheries Exhibition, and occupies the same spacious site, -bids fair to be a success, although it can hardly be expected to be -quite so popular with the multitude as its predecessor. Still, there -is much to attract the far larger part of the community who long for -amusement rather than instruction, and as the financial success of -the undertaking must be dependent upon such visitors, the caterers -cannot be blamed if they have admitted within their walls many exhibits -which, by the widest stretch of the imagination, can hardly be -associated with the subject of health. For more thoughtful visitors, -there are Conferences upon all manner of questions connected with -Domestic Sanitation, questions of which the majority of people are at -present profoundly ignorant. There will also be papers read upon the -subjects of Meat-supply; Food-adulteration and Analysis; School-diet; -School-life in Relation to Eyesight; Posture in Schools; Epidemics in -Schools; and numberless other matters of social interest. As these -Conferences are under the care of different Societies and Associations, -which exist only to increase our knowledge regarding the different -subjects indicated, and which have in most cases been at work for -many years, we may be sure that much good will accrue from these -discussions. Following the procedure of the Fisheries Exhibition, a -number of pamphlets will also be issued, dealing with the multifarious -sections of the Exhibition. - -Although, as we have more than once pointed out, the general adoption -of the electric light for domestic purposes cannot be looked for in -the near future, it can easily be installed for special occasions. -An account has recently been published of a ball at a private house -in London where the rooms were illuminated during the evening by -one hundred and twenty incandescent lamps. These lamps were fed -by secondary batteries, which arrived in two vans, and which were -subsequently accommodated in an adjoining coach-house. The batteries -had been previously charged at a place ten miles distant. This use -for the light may possibly become common in cases where cost is not a -matter of first consideration. - -Another phenomenal diamond has fallen to the lot of a fortunate digger -at the Kimberley mine, South Africa. Its weight is three hundred and -two carats; but, unfortunately, it does not possess that purity of -colour, or rather absence of colour, which is the first desideratum in -a diamond. Its value is said to be about three thousand pounds; whereas -the far smaller Porter-Rhodes gem, found in the same mine about three -years ago, was valued by its owner at one hundred thousand pounds. But -the popular notion is that the value of a thing is what it will fetch, -and there are certainly very few persons in the world who would lock up -such an enormous sum for the doubtful advantage of possessing such a -thing. - -A document, which should be widely known, was recently issued by the -Board of Trade, in the form of a Report of the first year’s experience -of the Boiler Explosions’ Act of 1882. This Act, we may remind our -readers, provides that an inquiry should be held into the cause of -every boiler explosion, with a view to their prevention if possible. -The causes of the forty-five casualties of this description which were -inquired into, and which resulted in the loss of thirty-five lives -and injuries to as many more, were entirely preventable. One of the -assistant-secretaries to the Board goes so far as to say that ‘the -terms “inevitable accident” and “accident” are entirely inapplicable -to these explosions, and that the only accidental thing about many -of them is that the explosions should have been so long deferred.’ -The prevailing cause of the disasters is the unsafe condition of -the boilers through age, corrosion, wasting, &c.; and a noticeable -feature in many cases is the absence of any effort on the part of the -steam-user to ascertain the condition of the boiler, and consequently -of any attempt to repair, renew, or replace defective plates or -fittings. - -The authorities of Kew Observatory have undertaken a duty which will -be hailed with satisfaction by all watchmakers and watchowners in the -kingdom. They will undertake for a small fee to test the virtues of -any watch left in their care, and with every watch so tested, will -issue a statement of its going powers, under varied conditions of -position, temperature, &c. They will also award to watches of superior -excellence certificates of merit, which certificates will possess an -equal value with documents of the same nature which have for years -been granted by the Geneva and by the Yale College Observatories. The -Swiss and Americans have long enjoyed these facilities for obtaining -independent testimony as to the qualities of their watches, and it -is only surprising that a movement has not been made before in this -direction here at home; for English-made watches, in spite of foreign -competition, are still much sought after. - -A new method of dealing with road-sweepings and the contents of -domestic dust-bins is now on its trial in New York, and seems to be -very successful. The rubbish is carted, to the extent of forty loads -a day, to a wonderful machine, which separates the paper, rag, iron, -glass, coal, and cinder into different heaps. These are afterwards -sold, with the exception of about four hundred pounds of coal and -cinder, which are used for firing the engine attached to the machine. -The remaining refuse—of no use to anybody, and too often, under -existing systems, a possible source of disease—is reduced by fire to -impalpable ash. It has been the custom in New York for many years to -carry their rubbish out to sea and to discharge it outside the harbour. -Pilots and others have long protested against this procedure, and -affirm that the approaches to the harbour’s mouth are gradually being -silted up by the accumulation of dirt thrown in. The experiment will be -watched with interest by all those who acknowledge the importance of -improved sanitation in our large towns and cities. - -Moon’s Patent Quicksilver-wave Gold Amalgamator is the imposing title -of a clever machine which has been introduced to obviate the serious -loss of gold which is inseparable from previously existing methods of -treating the ore. From the discovery of gold in California in 1848 -to the end of 1882, the value of the gold found there was nearly -two hundred and thirty-seven million pounds sterling. It is said on -competent authority that this vast amount is less than fifty per cent. -of the gold known to be in the ore treated, more than half the precious -metal escaping in particles so fine that the machines employed could -not intercept them. In this new machine, the crushed ore, mingled with -water, is thrown in small quantities into a moving wave of quicksilver, -and not merely across a quicksilvered plate, as under the old system. -The tiniest spangles of gold are by this means speedily absorbed by or -amalgamated with the liquid metal, the two being afterwards separated -by heat in the usual manner. In one mine where Mr Moon’s machine is in -use the increase of yield is estimated at forty pounds sterling per -week, so it would seem that the cost of the appliance is soon repaid -to its purchaser. - -A very convenient combined seat and easel for the use of sketchers -has lately been brought under our notice. It packs into a very small -compass; it will hold a large picture; it fully justifies its name, -‘The Rigid,’ and actually weighs only four pounds. Its price is -moderate, and it is to be had of Messrs Reeves, London. - -Referring to a recent article in this _Journal_ on ‘Some Queer Dishes,’ -in which it was stated that the cuttle-fish is used for food in Japan -and elsewhere in the Pacific, a Portuguese correspondent writes to us -that in Portugal the cuttle-fish is used as an article of food. It is -opened, and then dried; and may be seen hanging up for sale in the -shops. The people, he remarks, consider it a delicacy; and it is, when -properly cooked, very rich and nourishing. - - - - -OCCASIONAL NOTES. - - -NEW POSTAL ORDERS. - -The system of Postal Orders, instituted in 1881, has proved so -successful, that it has been found desirable to make certain -alterations and extensions therein, with a view to affording further -facilities to the public for the ready transmission of small sums of -money through the post. On the 2d of June, a new series of Postal -Orders were issued, the former series being entirely withdrawn. The new -Postal Orders are of fourteen different denominations, instead of ten, -as formerly; and the amounts of the various denominations, together -with the rates of poundage chargeable thereon, are as follows: - - _s._ _d._ _d._ - 1 0 0½ - 1 6 0½ - 2 0 1 - 2 6 1 - 3 0 1 - 3 6 1 - 4 0 1 - 4 6 1 - 5 0 1 - 7 6 1 - 10 0 1 - 10 6 1 - 15 0 1½ - 20 0 1½ - -There can be no doubt that these classes will prove extremely useful -to the public generally, more especially as any amount of shillings -and sixpences up to twenty shillings can be transmitted by means of -only two of the above-named classes of orders. A novel feature, too, -is introduced, whereby postage-stamps not exceeding fivepence in value -are to be allowed to be affixed to the back of any one Postal Order to -make up broken sums—a feature which, it needs not much of the spirit -of prophecy to anticipate, will extensively be taken advantage of. By -this useful concession, any sum up to a pound can now be sent through -the post by means of Postal Orders, and in no case are more than two -orders required to make up the exact desired amount. It will be noticed -that the former twelve shillings and sixpence and seventeen shillings -and sixpence orders are not included amongst the new denominations -of Postal Orders; but their abolition will cause no inconvenience, -as these two denominations were of all the orders of the old series -probably the least used; and where such amounts are desired to be sent -under the new series, they can be made up by using two orders, the -poundage on which will be no more than is now charged for each of -the denominations referred to—namely, twopence. In several cases, the -poundage has been reduced, a benefit that will probably be the best -appreciated of all. A ten shillings and ten shillings and sixpence -order now only costs one penny; and the orders for fifteen and twenty -shillings have been reduced to three-halfpence, instead of twopence, -as heretofore. Compared with the former money-order rates, the Postal -Order system is remarkably cheap, and on this score, will undoubtedly -commend itself more than ever to popular favour; and it is extremely -probable that for small sums the money-order system will in future be -very little if at all used. Indeed, the Postal Order system, with its -ready convenience and cheapness, seems likely to supersede all other -methods of transmitting sums of a pound and under. - -The Act under which these changes have taken place also authorises the -issue of Postal Orders on board Her Majesty’s ships, a boon that the -seamen concerned will not be slow to appreciate. The system is also -to be extended to many of the colonies as opportunity occurs. It is -indeed now in operation in Malta and Gibraltar, where it has met with -much popularity, owing to the fact, no doubt, that the same rates are -charged on Postal Orders issued there as on Postal Orders issued in -this country. If we compare these rates with those charged on foreign -and colonial money orders, it can readily be imagined that the system -will be hailed with unmixed satisfaction by the colonies where it is -shortly to be instituted. - - -NEW METALLIC COMPOUND. - -Delta-metal, a new metal said to be not unlikely to rival steel under -certain conditions, has, according to the _Hamburg Correspondent_, been -lately submitted to the Polytechnic Association in Berlin. Delta-metal -contains iron in addition to the ordinary constituents of brass. It -takes on an excellent polish, and is much less liable to rust than -either steel or iron. When wrought or rolled, it is harder than steel, -but not when cast only. It can be forged and soldered like iron, but -not welded. It melts at about one thousand seven hundred and fifty -degrees Fahrenheit; and at from one thousand three hundred to one -thousand five hundred degrees it is remarkably malleable, and in this -condition can admirably well be pressed or stamped. For founding, it is -also well suited. The price is somewhat higher than that of the better -kinds of brass. It should be found specially serviceable for objects -exposed to rust and requiring great hardness. At present—not to mention -other cases—the small steamers for the exploration of Central Africa -are being made of delta-metal. - - -HARBOUR OF REFUGE FOR EAST COAST OF SCOTLAND. - -We have before alluded to the operations of the Committee appointed -by the Government to take evidence as to the most suitable place for -a harbour of refuge on the east coast of Scotland. The Report of the -investigators has now been published, with their final recommendations. -The towns and harbours of Wick, Fraserburgh, Peterhead, Aberdeen, -Arbroath, and Montrose, are severally reported upon, and the -advantages and disadvantages of each stated, with the result that the -reporters unanimously recommend Peterhead as the site of the proposed -harbour of refuge. That town is situated almost midway between the -great natural harbours of the Firth of Forth and Cromarty Firth, and -its bay is well adapted as a place of shelter. Its anchorage also is -excellent, the bottom of the bay being of mud with a sandy surface, -affording a good holding-ground. The harbour is to be constructed by -Scottish convict labour. - - -SUBTERRANEAN FISH. - -A fact of much interest to students of natural history is vouched -for by Cavalier Moerath, a civil engineer, formerly of Rome, and now -visiting this country. This gentleman has devoted much labour and -attention to the improvement of water-supplies in Italy. In sinking for -water with one of Norton’s Abyssinian Tube Wells, he tapped a spring -from which was pumped a tiny living fish. This fish had passed into the -tube well through the ordinary perforations of about one-eighth of an -inch. Examination proved it to have no eyes, clearly indicating that -it belonged to an order intended to inhabit subterranean waters. The -occurrence was certified to by two other gentlemen who were present -when the fish was pumped up. - -The site of the well is Fontano del Prato, near the old city of Cori, -between Rome and Naples, and the depth is about seventy feet. The soil -from which the fish came was fine sand. The strata passed through above -this sand were volcanic loose earth, clay and water, other volcanic -earth, rocks and sand, and clay. The temperature of the water was -low—about forty degrees Fahrenheit. The water was fresh. The fish, we -are informed, has been preserved in spirit, and is to be brought to -England, when it will probably be exhibited at the Health Exhibition in -London. - - -THE FASTEST PASSAGE ON RECORD. - -This great feat has just been achieved by the Guion line steamer -_Oregon_, which left New York on the 26th of April last, and arrived -at Queenstown at 5.16 on Saturday morning the 3d of May, making the -trip in six days sixteen hours and fifty-seven minutes, which is the -fastest homeward trip yet recorded. This is the more remarkable from -the fact that she had to traverse over a hundred miles at least out of -her course to avoid the icebergs, those pests of the North Atlantic. -Passengers who embarked at New York on Saturday the 26th April were -landed at Liverpool on the evening of that day week. The _Oregon_ is -another of those naval masterpieces for which the industry and skill of -Scotland are so justly celebrated, and is considered one of the finest -steamers afloat. Her highest score of miles run in one day was four -hundred and thirty-six. - - -A CANINE ‘COLLECTOR.’ - -That dogs can be taught the performance of tricks or acts showing a -remarkable amount of sagacity and intelligence, no one will pretend to -doubt, for it is a fact patent to all. But that a dog could become a -‘collector,’ and a collector of money too, is at first sight somewhat -startling. Yet such is the fact. A splendid and thoroughbred Scotch -collie, known as ‘Help,’ has been actually trained as a collector of -money for charitable contributions, or subscriptions, for the ‘Orphan -Fund of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants.’ His tutor -has been one of the guards of the night-boat train on the London, -Brighton, and south-coast line. He is described as a dog not only of -great beauty, but of gentle and winning ways, possessing marvellous -intelligence and a generous disposition. In his capacity as collector -he has travelled over the greater part of England, always returning -home to the headquarters in the City Road, London, with the proceeds -of his charitable efforts. Last year, he is reported to have crossed -the Channel, having been taken over by the captain of the steamer -_Brittany_, and introduced by him to Her Majesty’s consul at Dieppe. -In this port he is stated to have collected about six pounds ten -shillings; and on returning home he seems to have made a rather -profitable stay at Newhaven, where he collected nearly seven pounds. -In February last it was reported in the newspapers that Help had been -killed at a level crossing at Middlesborough, in Yorkshire, where he -had been run over by an ‘express’ train. This, however, turns out to -have been a mistake. A handsome Scotch collie _was_ killed as stated, -and as he resembled Help very much, the story got about that the canine -‘collector’ had lost his life on the line. But Help is at this moment -actively following his charitable avocation, in which, we believe, he -excites more interest than ever. And long may he continue to carry -on his useful career of helping the fatherless and the afflicted. -It would be interesting to know the plan or system employed for the -dog’s operations; in other words, how it is done. The animal must, of -course, always be in charge of somebody, otherwise, when he had done a -fair day’s work in collecting money, there are numbers of unprincipled -people who would speedily ease the collie of his subscriptions, if they -did not take his life as well. - - - - -WILD-FLOWERS FROM ALLOWAY AND DOON. - -BY ALEXANDER ANDERSON. - - - No book to-night; but let me sit - And watch the firelight change and flit, - And let me think of other lays - Than those that shake our modern days. - Outside, the tread of passing feet - Along the unsympathetic street - Is naught to me; I sit and hear - Far other music in my ear, - That, keeping perfect time and tune, - Whispers of Alloway and Doon. - - The scent of withered flowers has brought - A fresher atmosphere of thought, - In which I make a realm, and see - A fairer world unfold to me; - For grew they not upon that spot - Of sacred soil that loses naught - Of sanctity by all the years - That come and pass like human fears? - They grew beneath the light of June, - And blossomed on the Banks of Doon; - The waving woods are rich with green, - And sweet the Doon flows on between; - The winds tread light upon the grass, - That shakes with joy to feel them pass; - The sky, in its expanse of blue, - Has but a single cloud or two; - The lark, in raptures clear and long, - Shakes out his little soul in song. - But far above his notes, I hear - Another song within my ear, - Rich, soft, and sweet, and deep by turns— - The quick, wild passion-throbs of Burns. - - Ah! were it not that he has flung - A sunshine by the songs he sung - On fields and woods of ‘Bonnie Doon,’ - These simple flowers had been a boon - Less dear to me; but since they grew - On sacred spots which once he knew, - They breathe, though crushed and shorn of bloom, - To-night within this lonely room, - Such perfumes, that to me prolong - The passionate sweetness of his song. - The glory of an early death - Was his; and the immortal wreath - Was woven round brows that had not felt - The furrows that are roughly dealt - To age; nor had the heart grown cold - With haunting fears that, taking hold, - Cast shadows downward from their wing, - Until we doubt the songs we sing. - But his was lighter doom of pain, - To pass in youth, and to remain - For ever fair and fresh and young, - Encircled by the youth he sung. - - And so to me these simple flowers - Have sent through all my dreaming hours - His songs again, which, when a boy, - Made day and night a double joy. - Nor did they sink and die away - When manhood came with sterner day, - But still, amid the jar and strife, - The rush and clang of railway life, - They rose up, and at all their words - I felt my spirit’s inner chords - Thrill with their old sweet touch, as now, - Though middle manhood shades my brow; - For though I hear the tread of feet - Along the unsympathetic street, - And all the city’s din to-night, - My heart warms with that old delight, - In which I sit and, dreaming, hear - Singing to all the inner ear, - Rich, clear, and soft, and sweet by turns, - The deep, wild passion-throbs of Burns. - - * * * * * - -The Conductor of CHAMBERS’S JOURNAL begs to direct the attention of -CONTRIBUTORS to the following notice: - -_1st._ All communications should be addressed to the ‘Editor, 339 - High Street, Edinburgh.’ - -_2d._ For its return in case of ineligibility, postage-stamps - should accompany every manuscript. - -_3d._ MANUSCRIPTS should bear the author’s full _Christian_ name, - Surname, and Address, legibly written; and should be written on - white (not blue) paper, and on one side of the leaf only. - -_4th._ Offerings of Verse should invariably be accompanied by a - stamped and directed envelope. - -_If the above rules are complied with, the Editor will do his best to -insure the safe return of ineligible papers._ - - * * * * * - -Printed and Published by W. & R. 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