Retrospective Criticism, 81 



to a greater degree of cold than about 32° Fahr., and it is well 

 known that the want of it, and of the consequent uniform 

 temperature, renders it so difficult to preserve Alpine plants 

 through our own milder and more variable, winters, where 

 they are often left unprotected to severe frosts,, or liable to 

 rot off by exposure to unseasonable warmth and, moisture* 



It is also a modification of the same law of radiation, as 

 connected with colour, which has gjiv^ty ^tj^fi ( /iajiy^pf B h^i 

 climates a black or swarthy skin ; though dark colours, from 

 their more rapid absorption of heat, may, at first sight, be 

 thought the worst calculated to relieve the body, as we know 

 from experience that a black dress is hotter than a white one. 

 The fact is, that we think more of the external heat of the 

 sun and atmosphere than of the internal heat of the body. 

 But here, again, let us consider the real state of the circum- 

 ?*nnces, and the object to be attained. The temperature of 

 the air, even within the tropics, is but seldom, and then. but 

 for a few hours out of the twenty-four, above that of the 

 human body, or about 98° Fahr. According to a general law, 

 there is a constant tendency in all material substances to im- 

 part a portion of their caloric to contiguous ones of a lower 

 temperature. It therefore follows that the greater heat within 

 the body has generally a tendency to radiate into the atmo- 

 sphere; and therefore the more effectual is the apparatus 

 provided for this purpose, the more rapid and copious will be 

 the escape. The object in view, it must be borne in mind, is 

 to relieve the system from the accumulation, of excessive heat; 

 and a dark or black skin, from its superior absorbing and 

 conducting powers, is manifestly the best adapted for this 

 function. — J. & Bowman, The Court, near Wrexham, Dec, 



1 slvr/an ^aonsioa hnutan.lo hteft gntoiiBdorra bna aaalbauod 

 Animals direct their Actions by a Species of Reasoning, — 



A correspondent from Donegal (Vol. V. p. 582.), speaking of 



the Loxia Cbccothraustes, grosbeak,, vulgarly but significantly 



called cross-beak, says, " I shot a pair of these birds, a few 



days ago, in fine plumage : the first instance, I believe, of 



their occurring in Ireland." There was a flight of these 



birds in my plantations for /weeks in 1813 or 18 14,, an account 



of which was sent at the time to the Belfast Magazine, It 



would be advisable to memorial such accidental visits, which 



may be likened to the forced .passage formerly of the Welsh 



to America, if Mr. Southey is to be credited, or of Tuwarri 



and his party, who, not long since, were certainly driven in 



their canoe six hundred miles out of their course. 



Few circumstances have more attracted the curiosity of 



mankind than the passage of birds, I mean their periodical 



Vol. VI — No. 31. g 



