CRABS. 27 



shells may not become more valuable than the appe- 

 tising fish they once contained ! We see no reason 

 why the dormant sprite, who lies hid in the coat of 

 sea mail, should not be roused from his long sleep and 

 set to work with the other kobolds who do the will of 

 the mighty magician chemistry ; and little dreams the 

 fascinating belle, who has been made " beautiful for ever,'' 

 how much those same kobolds have had to do with 

 the process. Bismuth, from the deep-mine cavern, gives 

 to the skin the pearly white so much prized : the 

 cochineal bug, from the prickly cactus thickets, the 

 roseate hue (" The Turkish Bloom of Health'') which is 

 said, in the flowery language of the advertisers, to im- 

 part to the cheek the attractive lustre of the ripe peach. 

 The elegant mauve dress, ribbons, and gloves, are " tinc- 

 tured " by a toiling imp residing in gas tar. " Lovely 

 things " in green too are industriously turned out by two 

 quaint, but rather dangerous and miscliievously dis- 

 posed gentlemen of the elfish crew, Messrs. Arsenic 

 and Copper, who work in partnership, and whose at- 

 tractive joint productions some time since poisoned a 

 number of the sea-green nymphs of a Parisian ballet. 

 How far more appropriate and safe would it have been 

 to draw from the rich stores of king Neptune the 

 materials with which to dye the drapery of the stage 

 mermaid and seaside beauty, and we hope ere long to see 

 " the new lohster-shell green,'' under some tremendously 



