Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 422

M.H. Deschamps says, that there is a 'certain sign of death,' which, if attended to, will entirely prevent risk of that much-dreaded accident—premature interment. It is a certain green tinge which always makes its appearance on the abdomen, even before the cadaverous smell, and is a positive evidence that decomposition has begun. There are some people to whom the knowledge of this fact will be a satisfaction; but if, as is popularly supposed, bodies are not unfrequently buried alive, how is it that we never hear of a revival in a dissecting-room? Then, on another point of physiology, M. Payerne states, with regard to the distress experienced by many persons in the ascent of a high mountain, 'that the lassitude and breathlessness felt in elevated places appear to proceed, not from an insufficiency of oxygen, but rather from the rupture of the equilibrium between the tension of the fluids contained in our organs and that of the ambient air, whatever be the way in which the rupture is produced.' And, to close these physiological matters, M. Chuart begs the Académie to include among their premiums for rendering arts or trades less insalubrious, one for 'different inventions designed to diminish the frequency of accidents which take place in coal-mines from explosions of gas.' How much such inventions are needed, recent events in our own coal districts but too painfully demonstrate.

Our Meteorological Society may perhaps take a hint from M. Liais's suggestion as to the 'possibility of applying photography to determine the height of clouds, and to the observation of shooting-stars;' and M.F. Cailliaud, director of the museum at Nantes, says something not uninteresting to naturalists—namely, that the statements commonly made, that all molluscous animals perforate stone by means of an acid, is not the fact with regard to Pholades and Tarets. He observes, that although a workman would be amazed on hearing a proposition to pierce calcareous stone with the shell of a Pholas, yet he himself has done it, and holds the success to be a proof that the animal can do the same. The idea of the acid might be accepted, while it was proved that the creatures were to be found only in limestone; but now that he has sent to the Académie specimens of gneiss and mica schist, containing pholades, on which the acid has no effect, he conceives that they must have entered by boring. They have also been found in porphyry—a fact of which Brongniart said, many years ago, that nature had concealed the explanation, and we must wait for a solution. Whether M. Cailliaud's solution be the true one or not, is a point that will soon be verified or disproved by geologists and naturalists, who are never better pleased than when an inquiry, which may lead to new views of nature, opens before them.

That the age of great books is not past, is proved by an arrival from America—the United States' government having presented to several public and private institutions in this country, a large, handsome quarto, which contains, to quote the whole title, Historical and Statistical Information respecting the History, Condition, and Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the United States, collected and prepared under the Direction of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, per Act of Congress. The preparation and arrangement of this work having been intrusted to Mr Schoolcraft is a sufficient guarantee for its value. It throws much light on the Indian tribes of North America, and rectifies many erroneous ideas and impressions concerning them and their origin. Perhaps you will allow me to give you, in a few words, the author's views on this part of the subject. He considers the ancient monuments, found in parts of the United States and in Mexico, to have originated within five hundred years of the dispersion from Babel; that the Indians are the Almogic branch of the Eber-ites; and that the ancient monuments do not denote so high a degree of civilisation as is generally supposed. It is only since the discovery of America by Europeans that anything like certainty attaches to the history of the natives. The Mohicans 'preserve the memory of the appearance and voyage of Hudson, up the river bearing his name, in 1609;' and among other tribes similar traditions are retained. In the wrong-headedness and persistence of idea, the Indians entirely resemble the Oriental branches of the great Semitic family; and the evidence shews that originally they crossed over from Asia at Behring's Strait, a voyage still performed in canoes to the present day. One of the titles of Montezuma was Lord of the Seven Caves; and the caves in which tradition says the traverse took place, are taken to be the caves or subterranean abodes still used by the Aleutian islanders. This was current among the Aztecs in 1519, and the voyage of the United States' Exploring Expedition has furnished a philological proof of connection, in the peculiar termination of nouns in tl, which is common to the inhabitants of Nootka Sound, as it was to the Aztecs. The more the Indians are studied, the more does everything about them appear to be Eastern—their language, religion, calendar, architecture, &c. Their worship of fire in the open air, avoiding the use of temples, is precisely that of Zoroaster, as is also their leading doctrine of two spirits—good and evil—ruling the world; and the allegory of the egg of Ormuzd has been found in an earthwork on the top of a hill in Adams's County, Ohio. 'It represents the coil of a serpent, 700 feet long, but it is thought would reach, if deprived of its curves, 1000 feet. The jaws of the serpent are represented as widely distended, as if in the act of swallowing. In the interstice is an oval or egg-shaped mound.' This repetition of a symbol is considered as further proof of Eastern derivation.

Do not suppose, however, that this is a sample of the whole volume, for ample details and information are given on all matters connected with the Indians—their arts, habits, pursuits, pictorial literature (so to speak), sports, and agriculture. Some idea of their capabilities in husbandry may be gathered from the fact, that in Michigan, ancient 'garden-beds' have been discovered, extending for 150 miles along the banks of rivers. Students will find a mine of information in this book, which, though but the first of a series, contains nearly 600 pages—a rare feast for ethnologists.

The Royal Irish Academy in Dublin have published a report of their proceedings, which comprise reports on rain-falls, meteors, ancient urns, and other Irish antiquities, besides Roman and Carthaginian; on hygrometry, chiefly with regard to the pressure of the dew-point; and on artificial islands. Of the latter, it appears that several exist in different parts of Ireland; but the one to which attention is particularly directed is near Strokestown, Roscommon. The lake Clonfinlough having been drained by the Board of Works, the structure of the islet, which had long occupied its centre, was laid bare. It proved to be about 130 feet in diameter, constructed on oak piles, forming a sort of 'triple stockade,' with stems laid flat towards the centre for a floor, over which earth, clay, and marl were heaped, with two flat irregular stone-floors covering the whole at different depths below the surface. Two canoes were also found, each hollowed out of a single tree, and a great collection of miscellaneous ornaments and domestic utensils—all of which being illustrative of different periods of Irish history, will receive due attention at the hands of Irish antiquaries. Visitors to the Society's Museum will be gratified to know that Mr Petrie is preparing a catalogue of that valuable and interesting assemblage of rarities. He is to begin with the Stone Period, and come down to the Bronze and Iron, according to their respective dates, with dissertations prefixed. This is following the good example set by your Scottish Society of Antiquaries.

It is a fact honourable to the society that they do not confine their honours exclusively to contributors to their own 'Transactions.' At their late anniversary, they gave their gold medal to the Rev. J.H. Jellett, for his labours in treating the noblest mathematical subjects in a way to make them intelligible to students. As the president said in his address: 'Descending from the more desirable position of an inventor to the humbler but more useful one of enabling others to place themselves on a level with himself, by compiling for their use an excellent elementary treatise, he has conferred on his species a benefit of the highest order,' in a work which otherwise was 'as little likely to be given to the world as it was desirable that it should be so.'

It is time to close; but I must first clear off a few miscellaneous items. The Admiralty Report concerning the Arctic expeditions is canvassed pretty freely, and with significant hints that justice has not been rendered in its conclusions. We can only hope that really efficient commanders will be sent out with the expedition that is to be despatched in April or May next; if not, it will be abortive, as the others have been, and we shall never know what has become of Franklin. It appears that the news of Collinson's ships being on their return is unfounded. It was communicated from the United States, and has been contradicted; and for all we know to the contrary, Collinson and his coadjutor Maclure may come home next summer by way of Baffin's Bay. There are now 226 telegraph stations connected with the central establishment in Lothbury, behind the Bank of England. Of these, 70 are principal stations, at which the attendance is day and night; and in the whole, a distance of 2500 miles is embraced, with 800 more over which the wires are now being stretched. The charges for transmission of messages have been lowered with a beneficial result, the business of the telegraph having greatly increased. There must be a still further reduction before the 'thought-flasher' becomes as generally available here as it is in America. It is now in real earnest going to Ireland. A ship has been despatched to fetch Cleopatra's so-called 'needle:' the Panopticon at length has found a local habitation, and is assuming a tangible form in the shape of bricks and mortar: ocean steamers are more than ever talked about; and every month a new one, better than all before, is launched: gold, too, is a favourite topic; and Australian and Californian mining-shares are plentiful in the market; so also are those of Irish Waste-Land Improvement Companies, who, in addition to the reclamation, propose to grow beet-root, flax, and chicory. At last we have got one or two penny news-rooms—not so good, however, as yours in Edinburgh; and a project is mooted to establish reading and waiting rooms combined, in different parts of the capital. There is talk, too, of central railway termini, of new bridges, new streets, and of converting Kennington Common into a park—how soon to be realised remains to be seen.

THE TURN OF LIFE

From forty to sixty, a man who has properly regulated himself, may be considered as in the prime of life. His matured strength of constitution renders him almost impervious to the attacks of disease, and experience has given his judgment the soundness of almost infallibility. His mind is resolute, firm, and equal; all his functions are in the highest order; he assumes the mastery over business; builds up a competence on the foundation he has formed in early manhood, and passes through a period of life attended by many gratifications. Having gone a year or two past sixty, he arrives at a critical period in the road of existence; the river of death flows before him, and he remains at a stand-still. But athwart this river is a viaduct, called 'The turn of Life,' which, if crossed in safety, leads to the valley, 'Old Age.' The bridge is constructed of fragile materials, and it depends upon how it is trodden whether it bend or break. Gout, apoplexy, and other bad characters are also in the vicinity to waylay the traveller, and thrust him from the pass; but let him gird up his loins, and provide himself with a fitting staff, and he may trudge on in safety with perfect composure. To quit a metaphor, the 'Turn of Life' is a turn either into a prolonged walk or into the grave. The system and power having reached their utmost expansion, now begin either to close like flowers at sunset, or break down at once. One injudicious stimulant—a single fatal excitement, may force it beyond its strength—whilst a careful supply of props, and the withdrawal of all that tends to force a plant, will sustain it in beauty and in vigour until night has entirely set.—The Science of Life, by a Physician.

NERVE

An Indian sword-player declared at a great public festival, that he could cleave, vertically, a small lime laid on a man's palm without injury to the member; and the general (Sir Charles Napier) extended his right hand for the trial. The sword-player, awed by his rank, was reluctant, and cut the fruit horizontally. Being urged to fulfil his boast, he examined the palm, said it was not one to be experimented on with safety, and refused to proceed. The general then extended his left hand, which was admitted to be suitable in form; yet the Indian still declined the trial; and when pressed, twice waved his thin, keen-edged blade, as if to strike, and twice withheld the blow, declaring he was uncertain of success. Finally, he was forced to make trial, and the lime fell open, cleanly divided: the edge of the sword had just marked its passage over the skin without drawing a drop of blood!—Sir Charles Napier's Administration in Scinde.

WIRE USED IN EMBROIDERY

In the manufacture of embroidery fine threads of silver gilt are used. To produce these, a bar of silver, weighing 180 ounces, is gilt with an ounce of gold; this bar is then wire-drawn until it is reduced to a thread so fine that 3400 feet of it weigh less than an ounce. It is then flattened by being submitted to a severe pressure between rollers, in which process its length is increased to 4000 feet. Each foot of the flattened wire weighs, therefore, the 4000th part of an ounce. But as in the processes of wire-drawing and rolling the proportion of the two metals is maintained, the gold which covers the surface of the fine thread thus produced consists only of the 180th part of its whole weight. Therefore the gold which covers one foot is only the 720,000th part of an ounce, and consequently the gold which covers an inch will be the 8,640,000th part of an ounce. If this inch be again divided into 100 equal parts, each part will be distinctly visible without the aid of a microscope, and yet the gold which covers such visible part will be only the 864,000,000th part of an ounce. But we need not stop even here. This portion of the wire may be viewed through a microscope which magnifies 500 times; and by these means, therefore, its 500th part will become visible.—Lardner's Handbook.

CHEAP LIVING

In the interior of Bulgaria and Upper Moesia, the low price of provision and cattle of every description is almost fabulous compared with the prices of Western Europe. A fat sheep or lamb usually costs from 1s. 6d. to 2s.; an ox, 40s.; cows, 30s.; and a horse, in the best possible travelling condition, from L.4 to L.5 sterling; wool, hides, tallow, wax, and honey, are equally low. In the towns and hans by the road-side everything is sold by weight: you can get a pound of meat for a halfpenny, a pound of bread for the same, and wine, which is also sold by weight, costs about the same money. In Servia, pigs everywhere form the staple commodity of the country. I have seen some that, would weigh from 150 lbs. to 200 lbs. or more offered for sale at 300 Turkish piastres the dozen; in the neighbourhood of the Danube they fetch a little more. The expense of keeping these animals in a country abounding with forests being so trifling, and the prospect of gain to the proprietor so certain, we cannot wonder that no landowner is without them, and that they constitute the richest class in the principality. In fact, pig-jobbers are here men of the highest rank: the prince, his ministers, civil and military governors, are all engaged in this lucrative traffic.—Spencer's Travels.

MOUNTAINS IN SNOW

Cold—oh, deathly cold—and silent, lie the white hills 'neaththe sky,Like a soul whom fate has covered with thy snows, Adversity!Not a sough of wind comes moaning; the same outline, high andbare,As in pleasant days of summer, rises in the murky air.Very quiet—very silent—whether shines the mocking sunThrough the wintry blue, or lowering drift the featherysnow-clouds dun:Always quiet, always silent, be it night or be it day,With that pale shroud coldly lying where the heather-blossoms lay.Can they be the very mountains that we looked at, you and I?One long wavy line of purple painted on the sunset sky;With the new moon's edge just touching that dark rim, likedancer's foot,Or young Dian's, on the hill-side for Endymion waiting mute.O how golden was that even!—O how balm the summer air!How the bridegroom sky bent loving o'er its earth so virgin fair!How the earth looked up to heaven like a bride with joy oppressed,In her thankfulness half-weeping that she was thus overblest!Ghostly mountains! 'Silence—silence!' now is aye your soundlessvoice,Lifted in an awful patience o'er the world's uproarious noise;O'er its jarrings and its greetings—o'er its loving and itshate—Silence! Bare thy brows all dumbly to the snows of heaven,and—wait!'

1

Or the Adventures of a Lost Family in the Wilderness. By Captain Mayne Reid. London: Bogue. 1852.

2

Notes from Life.

3

Ibid.

4

Literary Remains.

5

Lectures on the History of France.

6

Namely, Jacques van Artevelde, 'the noblest and the wisest man that ever ruled in Ghent,' and whom the factious citizens slew at his own door.

7

Duke of Burgundy, in the last scene of Part II.

8

Beginning:—

'Rocks that beheld my boyhood! Perilous shelfThat nursed my infant courage! Once againI, stand before you—not as in other daysIn your gray faces smiling; but like youThe worse for weather.'…

How sweet the lines:—

The sun shall soonDip westerly; but oh! how little likeAre life's two twilights! Would the last were first,And the first last! that so we might he soothedUpon the thoroughfares of busy lifeBeneath the noon-day sun, with hope of joyFresh as the morn,' &c.—Act II. scene ii.

9

Preface to Notes from Life.

10

Levana, of which an able translation was published by Messrs Longman in 1848.