2i6 The Scottish Naturalist. 



"The 'old biography' referred to appeared in an octavo volume, of 

 some 300 or 400 pages, entitled ' Curiosities of Biography, or Memoirs 

 of Remarkable Men' (no author's name given), which was published at 

 Glasgow byGrifhn & Co. in 1845. il * s a collection of the lives of dwarfs, 

 giants, fat men, misers, &c. , and is evidently in the main a reprint of much 

 older matter. Bisset's life occupies 2.\ pages. I suppose the book is now 

 entirely out of print. I saw it in 1856, and at that time copied Bisset's 

 life. But I may state that I have incorporated the whole of the biography 

 in my articles— for there are two of them. Several notices of Bisset have 

 occasionally appeared in periodicals. There was one, I understand, about 

 a year ago, in Land and Water, and one, a number of years ago, in Hogg's 

 Instructor. It is remarkable that no notice of him appears in Chambers's 

 Book of Days, though that work contains an account of some ' Animal 

 Comedians' in London about the same time. The well-known work, 

 'Wilson's Wonderful Characters,' never mentions Bisset." 



In April, 1874, an accident, fatal to a young lady belonging 

 to a well-known family in the Carse of Gowrie, occurred on the 

 Public Bridge of Perth — a runaway ox having butted her so 

 suddenly and seriously against the parapet wall as to have 

 speedily caused death. So at least said the Newspaper ac- 

 counts, whicli differed in their details, though all were correct 

 in the essential facts. Desirous, for many reasons, of ascer- 

 taining the simple facts of the case, particularly in reference to 

 the mental state of the accused animal — for 1 have a strong 

 conviction that at least the majority of such accidents are due 

 to man's culpability in his treatment of over-driven, footsore 

 cattle, infirm both in body and mind — I appealed to Mr. 

 Melville Jameson, the Procurator-Fiscal for the city and county, 

 for permission either to read, or to be present at, the deposi- 

 tions of the witnesses in the event of there being any judicial 

 investigation. He promptly replied as follows : — 



"County Buildings, 

 "Perth, 23d April, 7874. 



"Accident to Miss . — The circumstances did not render it 



necessary for me to conduct any criminal investigation, and no depositions 

 were taken from any of the witnesses. Had an inquiry been instituted, I 

 would have been glad to have suggested your name to the Crown Office as 

 a professional witness in the special facts to which your attention has been 

 directed." 



For a series of years the " People's Journal" (Dundee), has 

 signalised itself by offering Prizes to youth of both sexes — 

 especially to those still attending school — for Essays and poems 

 on various popular subjects. The prize essays and poems are 

 published in the Christmas No. of the "Journal," and constitute 

 a special kind of Christmas literature. The subjects proposed 



