Sept. 1, 1867. j II ATID WICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



109 



however, a literal interpretation of the word "giant" 

 should be insisted on, it is not at all impossible to 

 conceive that the gigantic races of Canaan — the 

 Emim and Anakim— took service with the Phe- 

 uicians as mercenaries, in the same way as Goliah 

 and his family appear to have been employed by the 

 Philistines. 



The Greek geographers relate that Carthaginian 

 artificers and husbandmen left the Punic colonies in 

 Northern Spain to settle in Ireland ; and this immi- 

 gration into that country must have been carried on 

 to a large extent, to affect, as it has done, the native 

 language ; for modern Erse is nearly pure Punic. 

 The native legends attribute the iirst colonization 

 of Ireland to three fishermen from Northern Spain ; 

 and it may be that this is true, since Rennell's 

 Current, a branch of the Gulf Stream, runs directly 

 from Biscay to Cape Clear. The Irish bards em- 

 bodied in their songs a tradition that part of the 

 country was once in the possession of settlers called 

 " Phenies," who came from Spain ; and it is thus 

 owing to the dim recollection of the glories of the 

 colonial empire of Carthage that the modern Irish 

 rebels took the name of " Eenians." St. Jerome says 

 that "Poenus," a Carthaginian, is clearly derived 

 from the term "Phenician." 



When we proceed to examine the attributes as- 

 cribed to this Phceuius by the Irish traditions, we 

 discover that they strikingly coincide with the 

 known characteristics of the Phenicians. Eor in- 

 stance, he is said to have loved learning, invented 

 the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin alphabets, and to 

 have held commercial dealings with Syria and 

 Africa. The Phenician race had its two capital 

 cities in Syria and Africa, was the most commercial 

 one on the face of the earth, the reputed inventor 

 of letters, and probably, from its wide dealings, 

 greatly skilled in philology. Even in dress and 

 personal appearance, the likeness between the 

 Irish and the inhabitants of Northern Spain is most 

 marked at the present day. The red cloaks of the 

 women and the variegated plaids of the men, which 

 the Irish formerly wore and the Gael still wear, are 

 the usual articles of dress in Northern Spain. Pro- 

 bably at the time when Ireland was thus occupied 

 by the Phenician colonists, the gigantic elk, auroch, 

 bear, and wolf were alive in the dense forests 

 of the two islands; if not the hyena, mammoth, 

 rhinoceros, and great cave tiger of Britaiu, whose 

 hones have been found in the drift or gravel 

 stratum at Brentford and elsewhere. This last 

 animal was of the feline race, as large as the largest 

 African lion or Bengal tiger — probably some- 

 thing between the two, like the puma, but with 

 stronger-knit limbs. It is not necessary to suppose 

 that the climate was much warmer when it lived 

 here than it is now, since the tiger at the present 

 day often follows herds of antelopes to the verge of 

 perpetual snow in the Himalayas, and goes far into 



Siberia. The large animals of the bovine species, 

 with which our ancestors, to judge from the legends 

 which reach us at the present day (" Guy and the 

 dun cow," &c), had such terrible conflicts, are 

 nearly extinct. The auroch is only known to exist 

 hi two or three imperial forests in Lithuania and 

 Poland; the "ox with the high promontory" of 

 Celtic legends, probably the bison, is now confined 

 to North America, and is being rapidly extirpated 

 there; the indigenous wild ox only survives at 

 Chillingham Park, in Northumberland, and at 

 Hamilton Palace, in Lanarkshire. The wolf is the only 

 animal, of those previously mentioned, of whose ex- 

 tirpation in Britain there is any record in history. 

 The last was killed in Scotland by Sir Ewen Cameron 

 of Lochiel in 1680; in Ireland they survived till 

 1710. 



The bones and antlers of the elk are found in the 

 peat-bogs of Ireland and the Isle of Man, in excel- 

 lent preservation ; but we have no records of their 

 existence in our laud, even in the time of the 

 Romans. 



Nothing is more striking than the similarity be- 

 tween the animals and plants of Northern Europe 

 and North America. This fact seems to point to 

 the union of the two continents at some distant 

 date. Mr. Murray, in his work on " The Distribu- 

 tion of Mammals," tells us that Shetland shows 

 evident signs of having been once inland ; and to 

 make it so again a rise of only seventy fathoms is 

 necessary, which would connect it with America by 

 way of the Paroe Islands, Iceland, and Greenland. 

 In North America we find the dwarfish Esquimaux, 

 who are one and the same people with the Lap- 

 landers of Northern Europe ; and in both continents 

 we find the bison (fossd in Europe), elk, reindeer 

 (called " cariboo " in America), beaver, polar bear, 



and several smaller mammals. 



E. A. Allen. 



BITTEN BY A VIPER. 



npHAT fatal results have followed the bite of 

 -*- the viper, the records of many a country 

 surgeon's note-book, I am satisfied, would show : 

 that death has been the immediate consequence of 

 the bite, in all cases, I am not so certain. That con- 

 stitutional and other predisposing causes, in certain 

 cases, will render a fatal issue inevitable to some 

 persons when so bitten, cannot be doubted ; and so 

 will these causes influence the course and termina- 

 tion of the effects resulting from the infliction of 

 other injuries'upon the human body ; e. g., punctures 

 from rusty nails, thorns of some shrubs, the sting of 

 the wasp or bee, and the bite of the common flea and 

 bed-bug, or other insects. Cases have come under 

 my notice where severe constitutional disturbance 

 and much local suffering and inflammation have 

 resulted from the sting of a bee, inflicted upon the 



