40 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



Mr. G. looked shocked; but the "child," as her 

 aunt called her, was not so easily put down by 

 looks. She accepted the frown on that reverend 

 brow as a challenge. 



" Dr. Johnson," she blurted out, " called sponges 

 ' the cradles of organic life.' There is a great deal 

 that is most interesting to be found in connection 

 with the animals found on the sea-shore. Yes, 

 Aunt, I am sure of it. Do you think such men as 

 Kingsley, Gosse, Lloyd, and a whole host of others, 

 clever, great minds, would have devoted their time 

 to a 'meagre subject,' and 'nasty, ugly things'? 

 If you could but see the brilliantly beautiful 

 flowers of the ocean in their native homes, — the 

 shallow pools and on the rock-sides, or even in a 

 good aquarium, you would never call them 

 'ugly' again." 



" Your aunt said crabs were ugly, Miss Hetty, 

 and I quite agree with her. A good heavy crab, 

 well dressed, is a very nice dish ; but those little 

 crabs we see crawling about on the shore are ugly 

 things." 



"Then you will call the seaweeds nasty; the 

 lovely feather-like Brijopsis, the exquisite Corallines, 

 the bright crimson Delesseria, and the delicate lacy 

 Rhodymenia." 



" Good morning, Mr. G.," cried the Aunt, rising 

 quickly from off her chair. " Come, Hetty, I am 

 ashamed of you ; but you'll excuse her, she is such 

 a child." "Exit Miss P., followed by the indignant 

 Hetty. 



I was once staying in a country house with a 

 party of people. One of the ladies wrote for the 

 papers ; another, a married dame of high degree, 

 wrote novels, high-life, fashionable-society books. 

 There was naturally a great contrast between the 

 effusions of the two — one matter of fact, the other 

 high-flown and imaginative. I do not think the 

 writer on natural history envied the other authoress 

 at all ; she seemed tacitly to recognize the superior 

 power of fiction ; and I have heard her lament her 

 utter inability to write a readable tale ; so the little 

 incident I am going to gossip about was quite an 

 unmerited piece of womanly spite. 



"VVe had just come in from a drive. " Mamma," 

 cries young Hopeful, "do you know there is a new 

 writer in The Meadow this week ? " 



"Is there?" said mamma, languidly, as if the 

 fields of earth were beneath her notice ; but Miss 

 A. looked curious,— The Meadow was one of her 

 papers. 



"Yes, mamma, and it is about birds. Do you 

 know, I think Lord P.'s kitchen-maid wrote it." 



" I dare say :>hc did, dear. Those are the class of 

 people who write for the papers." 



The rudeness of (he speech was so gross that a 

 dead silence ensued. Miss A. coloured, and say- 

 ing she must take off her hat, left the room. 



Next day I brought in five newly-hatched little 



yellow chicks from the hen-house in my garden- 

 apron to the drawing-room. 



" What darlings ! " cried one. " Dear little fluffy 

 things !" said another. 



Mrs. drew near. I exhibited my treasures. 



" What are they ? " she asked. 



"Chickens ! " replied several voices. 



She drew herself up stiffly. She thought she 

 was being hoaxed in some way. 



" Oh no ; young chickens are like young birds or 

 young white mice ; they have no feathers on them for 

 some days after birth." 



This was so intensely comic that I could not 

 resist saying, "I refer you to Lord P.'s kitchen- 

 maid, if you doubt my word that these are young 

 chicks. She is sure to be well upon such subjects." 



Auother time I saw a young lady run away from 

 an enraged turkey-cock, crying out that a wild beast 

 was attacking her ; and on being told the name of 

 her furious foe, she exclaimed : 



" That a turkey ! oh no, my good man," address- 

 ing the farm-servant, " I know a turkey too well ; 

 have seen too many at papa's table to believe that 

 nonsense." 



Nor is it very long since I saw a very pretty, but 

 rather affected girl, in a perfect rage with the family 

 doctor, because he would not believe that her 

 brother's pet slow-worm had stung her finger with 

 what she called " his poison-faug," and made it 

 inflame so badly. 



He assured her again and again that it was im- 

 possible, that the reptile had no poison; but she 

 left the room in disgust, saying, " I shall drive over 



to Dr. T [a neighbouring M.D.] ; he will not 



tell me that a snake can't sting." 



Beaumaris. Helen E. Watney. 



The Law of Earthquakes.— Mr. F. R. Cape, 

 of Philadelphia, has been studying the law of earth- 

 quakes. Writing to the Post of that city, he says : 

 "For four years the earthquake periods have been 

 announced, and I believe in all, or nearly all cases, 

 verified. The recent earthquake periods were an- 

 nounced to friends in Troy, New York, with the 

 remark that the principal October combination of 

 earthquake forces was one of great violence. The 

 first ran from the 12th to the IStli, second from the 

 25th to November 3rd. They are of two kinds, the 

 premonitory and final shocks. It is but possible 

 that the general slump on the 20th was the adjust- 

 ment of one massive crust to the conditions result- 

 ing from the derangements of the first period. 1 

 rather think, however, that they were only premoni- 

 tory of the approaching latter period, to occur about 

 the last week of the present month. Tidings of 

 earthquakes occurring, especially in shock localities, 

 will be duly reported for that period, and your play- 

 ful hint on the subject has prompted me to inform 

 you beforehand, as I do with the utmost confidence." 



