210 LOf'AT- JOTTtX(!.S. 



world. There is something even in the roaring of the liquid mass which 

 strikes ns with awe, and a feeling not akin to any other, for it is mingled 

 with pleasure and with fear. What is that vast liquid magazine, whence 

 does it arise, and where are its limits? We cannot compass the breadth 

 and depth, though we span it in the bounding ship, or cast the lead into 

 the waters in vain; and it is then wc sec and compass the might of the Great 

 Creator, "who holdeth the seas in the hollow of His hand." Its very desolation 

 is its charm, for desolation cannot exist without freedom, and the imagination 

 roves in wider circuits, and expands in vast proportions with the impressions 

 which such a scene conveys. Nor let it be supposed that the intimate know- 

 ledge of the details of such a mass of material detracts from its greatness, 

 far from it; it adds to the sublime impression, and it is only He who can 

 compass all the wonder that can see it aright. 



We feel, as we stand wrapt in contemplation, with sea, sky, and cliff for 

 our companions, that this indeed is the proper home of the more ethereal 

 part of man, and there never, I suppose, can be a time when the grosser par- 

 ticles of one nature are more insignificant, and more divided from the purer 

 and more divine. 



August J 1853. ? 



LOCAL JOTTINGS.— No 9. 

 DORCHESTER— DORSETSHIRE. 



BY JOHN aARLAND, ESQ., MEMB: F.NT: SOC:, MEMB: WERN : CLUB. 



The Sivallow, (Hirundo rustica.) — This year, I observed for the first time 

 the arrival of the Swallow on Sunday, April 17th. 



The Cuckoo, Cuculus canorus.) — And of this favourite bird on Tuesday, 

 April 19th. 



^ Thc^Wheatear, (Saxicola oenanthe.) — And of this pretty-plumaged bird on 

 Thursday, the 28th. of April. 



"Agassiz Poissons Fossiles."" — I was rather ^^taken aback" some time since, at 

 a young man whom I knew, and who was just taking a liking to the study of 

 Natural History, coming to me with a catalogue of books, to ask my opinion on 

 one of them he was about to purchase. He said, ''I didn't know that Fossils 

 were poisonous before;" nor did I, he was informed. He then said, "Oh yes 

 they are, and I think I shall buy the book; it is called 'Researches as to 

 Poisonous Fossils.' " I looked, and to my amazement, found it was ^'Agassiz 

 Rechcrches sur les Poissons Fossiles," &c. I should scarcely have thought 

 of mentioning this as a local note, had not the young man been a Dorset 

 specimen of the genus Homo. 



Cochin-China Fowl. — The following very curious circumstance may now be 

 witnessed in this neighbourhood. Between two and three months since, Herbert 



