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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[June 1, 1S69. 



Quilkin and Padgey-pow.— These terms, which 

 are mentioned by " E. H. W." as having been in 

 nse until lately in West Cornwall to signify respec- 

 tively the frog and the lizard, are genuine Celtic 

 words, and are both to be found in the Cornish 

 glossary at the end of Dr. Borlase's renowned 

 "Antiquities of Cornwall." In 1S66 I showed^ a 

 frog to a poor man from the neighbourhood of St. 

 Austell. He did not even know it by the term 

 " frog," but said it was what in his parts was called 

 a "quilkin."— W. B. Tate, 4, Grove Place, Denmark 

 Hill. 



Eat Mischief.— The inclosed is an extract from 

 the list of presents to the museum of the Royal 

 United Service Institution, Whitehall Yard, as 

 appears in their journal, No. LIL, 1868. I send it, 

 thinking that it may interest your readers: — " Rat's 

 Nest and Young.— The nest was set on fire by a 

 lucifer match, ignited by the old rat as she worked 

 it into her nest. A fire was nearly caused thereby 

 on board H.M.S. Revenge. Lieut. A. H. Gilinore, 

 R.N."— W. Dickinson. 



Egg Deformity.— I have lately received an in- 

 teresting monstrosity of the lapwing's egg [Vanellus 

 crista t us) taken on Flixton Wold, near Scarborough, 

 April, 1869. The chief characteristic is its diminu- 

 tive size, measuring only l'OO inch in length, by "87 

 inch in breadth. The average size of the ordinary 

 egg appears to be about 170 inch in length, and 

 T20 inch in breadth, and the average weight ?r«blown 

 about 450 grains ; whilst the weight of the monstro- 

 sity was only 102 grains. The yolk of this egg 

 was very small. The specimen also differs much 

 from the ordinary type in regard to shape, being 

 very rounded at the smaller end, very unlike the 

 usual pointed form of the eggs of this species. I 

 am informed by a naturalist that monstrosities of 

 the lapwing's egg are not common, but he does not 

 hesitate to giveliis opinion that it is the egg of that 

 bird. If any of your readers may possess smaller 

 specimens of the' egg it would be interesting to 

 know. — /. H. A., Scarborough. 



Turtledove. — It is an article of "folk-lore" 

 in the North of England that turtledoves pair for 

 life, and that on the death of one the other pines 

 away. Erom Lope de Vega's play "La Dama 

 Melmdrosa " we find the same idea is current in 

 Spain. 



Lisardu. The turtledove, when widowed, will not sing, 



Nor wed again, nor perch on the green boughs. 



Tiberio. Then pray where dees she perch ? 



Lisardo. On withered, boughs, 

 On thorns. 



libcrio. On thorns? Egad, you're right! The dove 

 Affords a faithful illustration of your state. 

 For certainly — if we may judge by signs — 

 So restless are they and so fidgety — 

 Widows do sit on thorns. 



— John Hanson, Linton-on-Ouse. 



The Hedgehog.— Your graphic description of the 

 untimely end of the hedgehog through the larva of 

 the blow-fly reminds me of what I have noticed 

 more than once in my garden, where a colony of 

 hedgehogs has been long established. Last autumn 

 a young one was brought into the house so swarm- 

 ing with fleas that it was drowned to get rid of the 

 pests, as a dog would keep attacking it, and became 

 equally infested, much to our annoyance. The 

 fleas, after inflicting but one bite on those of human- 

 kind who became troubled with them, speedily died. 

 They were longer in the body than the ordinary flea. 

 —B. C, F.R.C.S. 



Hemlock. — I believe the Rev. S. A. Brenan 

 will find that when this plant is eaten with 

 impunity by Russians in their own climate, they 

 always take very good care to boil it in several 

 waters, and hence we may readily understand how 

 this process, and not the difference of either soil or 

 clime, renders it non-injurious. The poisonous 

 properties found in so many of our plants are 

 entirely destroyed (dissipated is, I think, the proper 

 word) * by the application of heat. Linngeus's 

 anecdote respecting the old Norland woman, who, 

 to his intense horror, boiled some aconite leaves in 

 broth, must be familiar to all who have read his 

 " Lapland Tour." The great botanist, after noticing 

 the strange fact that although four persons partook 

 of this terrible compound, " none of them seemed 

 one penny the worse," remarks "that the active 

 principle in the aconite, as in most of the Ranuncu- 

 laceae, is extremely volatile, and dispersed in a 

 great measure by heat." Doubtless this is likewise 

 the case in the hemlock, although it belongs to a 

 different natural order. The arum {Arum macula- 

 turn) furnishes us with another example. It is 

 exceedingly poisonous, yet Portland sago is made 

 from it : repeated washings, and then the agency of 

 heat, deprives the powder prepared from its roots 

 of all acrimony. Depeud on it — 



Every green herb, from the lotus to the darnel, 

 Is rich with delicate aids to help incurious man. 



I asked, when told of the notice in the Pall Mall 

 to which Mr. Brenan alludes, Did Mr. Harley, like 

 the pilgrim of old, boil the peas? — Helen E. Watney. 



Blood. — I see it stated in all the books that 

 blood consists of white as well as red globules. I 

 am afraid I shall draw a hornets' nest about me if I 

 venture to doubt upon this subject ; 1 take it for 

 granted it is right because so many say so, but I 

 cannot satisfy myself about it. It spoils the 

 globules to put water to them, unless some salt is 

 put into it, but I never try anything but the blood 

 itself. It is rather difficult to put the blood on a 

 slip of glass so as to see the globules properly, as 

 their shape is so easily destroyed. The state of the 

 globules is considerably affected by the state of the 

 health. The best way to see them is to put a drop 

 of blood on the glass, and then shake it off, when 

 the perfect globules will be seen at the edge. 

 Unless it be carefully done, you may see few of the 

 coloured ones, but only because the health is not 

 right, or they are injured. The imperfect ones look 

 apparently colourless, but on a good specimen you 

 can find few white ones, for by carefully observing 

 the globules the red spot may be observed in every 

 state of distinctness till it quite disappears. The 

 perfect ones have a bright red centre, surrounded 

 by a bluish ring, and the circumference transparent. 

 They must be somewhat convex, as I have seen the 

 flame of a candle inverted in them. I always fancy 

 it is from seeing the imperfect ones mixed with the 

 perfect ones that causes it to be considered there 

 are two kinds, and, the health certainly has an 

 effect upon the colouring matter. When once 

 obtained they will keep for years. Now how can I 

 tell when I see a white globule that it is not an 

 altered red one ? as 1 can trace them down, down, 

 till 1 can see no colour.— E. T. Scott. 



Eish Moth. — The pretty Lepisma is, I am sorry 

 to say, a sad injurer to the covers of books, both 

 inside and out, if the place where they are kept is 

 at all damp. I fancy the paste has something to 

 do with it, though they don't confine themselves to 

 the pasted paper. — E. T. S. 



