604 The Potato a Heathen. [December, 



namely, the smashing to fragments a slab of iron a tun weight and 

 4^ inches thick — no walls yet constructed would stand before its 

 terrible projectile force; and it is not too much to say of the gun, 

 that, within range of the finest line-of-battle ship in the world, one 

 charge would be sufficient to completely destroy the largest ship 

 that ever sailed. 



The mere flight of the ball as seen close to the gun is no test of 

 its power. He who would wish to see the effect of the missile must 

 go to a distance of a little beyond 1\ miles. The ball can be dis- 

 tinctly observed in its career, although the noise made in its rapid 

 transit through the air may affect even a strong nerved person, and 

 cause him to believe himself on unsafe ground. As soon as the 

 ball drops, it tears up the ground for some distance, and sends the 

 sands many yards high in the air. It then plunges on in its course, 

 and continues to do so until it is fully spent. The excavation made 

 in the ground on its first descent is two or three feet deep. Slung 

 on Mr. Julius Roberts' principle, at an angle of 15 to 25 degrees, 

 the ball could be projected a much greater distance, while its de- 

 structive effect would be greatly increased. If such a gun were em- 

 ployed against a place like Odessa, where all the public buildings 

 and all the principal houses are bomb proof, a few hours would suf- 

 fice to level it. — Liverpool Mercury, 



The Potato a Heathen. — A correspondent, more hurt than in- 

 dignant, writes to us upon our recent disparagement of the potato — • 

 declaring it to be a household god which we have rudely thrown from 

 his pedestal to set thereon the new idol of hominy. This finding of 

 a fictitious yet plausible substitute for so genuine and valuable a 

 staple of feed, will, he thinks, tend to lessen the interest in the 

 growth and scientific study of it, and so diminish the one indispen- 

 sable dish on every table. We sit rebuked. Praised be potatos 

 for ever. But in claiming any manner of pious standing — household 

 godliness — for this vegetable, does our correspondent know that he 

 exvs^ ^ndi thvii the potato is a heathen f- Does he know that it has 

 been battled against by the church, as an unworthy infidel ? We 

 must inform him that iScotland at one time made the growth of the 

 potato illegal, hecause it is not mentioned in the Bible ! In an article 

 on the history of it, (which we saw some time since in the Quarterly 



