HIRERNATION. 29 



dropped into a glass they clinked like stones. Notwithstand- 

 ing, they revived. The chrysalids of the cabbage butterfly 

 had been exposed to a temperature of 0° Fahrenheit, became 

 completely frozen, and yet produced perfect insects. Indeed, 

 the circumstance that creatures of a much more complex 

 organization than insects, namely, serpents and fishes, have 

 been known to recover after being thoroughly congealed, is 

 sufficient to dispel any doubts on this head. 



The scattered observations of the writer have been supple- 

 mented by citations from authorities other than those who 

 have received specific mention. 



MIZZEN: 



AN ETYMOLOGICAL NOTE, 



BY HENRY L. BROOMALL. 



Kluge's German Etymological Dictionary gives the follow- 

 ing account of this word : 



" Besanmast, m., mizzenmast, Besansegel, n., mizzen-sail, 

 from Du. bezaan, mast nearest the stern of a ship, which is 

 connected with Eng. mizzen, Fr. mizaine, Ital. mezzana (the 

 Rom. word a deriv. of Latin medius, is properly middlemast.)" 



Mizzen is phoneticalty derived from the stem of the Latin 

 medhis, as thus outlined by Kluge. The etymologists and 

 lexicographers agree in this origin of the word, and agree also 

 in the explanatory assertion that the mizzen owes its name to 

 a so-called middle-mast or middle sail. This semasiology 

 seems obvious to them because Latin mcdiiis means middle 

 and one of the three masts of a ship may be described as the 

 middle mast. 



Nautically and historically, however, the " middle " mast, 

 which I assume is the landsman's term for mainmast, is the 

 very mast with which the mizzen has nothing to do. To the 

 sailor this needs no demonstration. For the student mav be 



