148 Cornucopia. [March 1, 



SPOMGES. Ill 1723, one Villers, a Parisian 



A mechanical principleof iriilabiniy Quack, told liis friend in confidence, 

 seem fo be indicated in (he sponge, (iiat liis uncle who had lived alriKist an 

 >v!ii('h contracts and loses its elasticity hundred years, and wiio died only by 

 and (esture, if hot water be j)Ouved on accident, had left him a certain prepa- 

 it while it is imbued with cold water, ration which had the virtue of prolong- 

 .SR\TIMENTAL ANECDOTE. ing a man's life fo l.")0 years, if he lived 



Fahlun, the niineralo<;ist lately wit- temperately. He was eucouraafed to 

 nesscd an incident which partakes of sell it at a crown the bottle, and the sale 

 tile romantic. In ojjeninjr a commu- was prodigious. It was nothing more 

 uicafioii between two mines, the corpse than the water of the Seine, mixed 

 of a miner was found completely pre- with a little nitre. By taking his ad- 

 served, and in a state of softness, being vice as to temperate living, many per- 

 impregnated witli t!ie vitriolic \Viiter of sons who drank this medicine lived to 

 the mine. When exposed to the open great ages. At last i(s composition 

 air it became stiff. The features were was discovered, and Villei's"s practice 

 not recognized ))y any person present : and reputation weie at an end. 

 but tradition had prolonged the recol- Tliis man is praised by Voltaire, who 

 lection of tlie accident by which he says that while he excited men to tem- 

 had been involved in the bow(;ls of the perance and virtue, he could only be 

 earth more than half a century. Fur- reproaclied for st'lling the water of the 

 thcr inquiiy was dropped ; when, sud- Seine at too iiigh a price, 

 denly, a decrepid old woman, leaning ORAXOK BOOVEN. 



on h(^r crutches, ad'-ancerl, and dis- Tiie Zealand (lag consisted of three 

 covered that the body ^^■as tiiat of a stripes, whit'', blue, and orange. M'hen 

 young man to whom she had been en- the house of Orange possessed (he reins 

 gaged by promise of marriauc fifty of government over the United States, 

 years before ! She threw herself on the tlie Orange sti'ipe was placed uppermost 

 body of her former lover, and b(Mlewed on the flag, but when the pensionary 

 it with mnny tears; fainting with joy de Witt was at the helm, the orange 

 to have again bflield (he object of her stripe was placed below the other: 

 affection, before she descended to the hence 0/rt///c ZJdoiww, was the rallying 

 tomb. cry of those who were attached to the 



BRITANNIA ON COPPER COIN. house of Orange. 



To Charles IT. for his partiality to MEDICAL QCACKERY. 



liis accomplished cousin, Frances S(e- Dumoulin, one of the first medical 

 wart, we owe the elegant representation practitioners in France of his time, ob- 

 of Britannia on our copper coin: he served at his death, that he left behind 

 admired and even idolized (his cele- him two great physicians: "Regimen 

 brated be.auty, and assailed her with and River Water." 

 compliments. It was from one of the libraries. 



medals struck to perpetuate his admi- Among modern libraries, the four 

 ration of her delicate symmetry, that la'"gest are supjwsed to be the Emperor 

 Britannia was stamped in the form she of Austria's, at Vienna ; the Vatican 

 still bears on our halfpence and farth- library; the librarj' of the Grand Duke 

 ings. of Tuscany, at Florence; and tliat 



parliamentary majority. belonging to the French nation at 



In February, 1780, Sir G. Saville Paris, 

 moved for a full disclosure of the Pen- Of ancient libraries, the Alexandrian 

 sion List. It was resisted by the mi- was the most celebrated. Among the 

 nister, who moved and carried an other ancient libraries, that of Lncullns 

 amendment, by which the secret part is said to have been very considerable, 

 of the list was still kept in the dar/c as was also that of Trajan, which was 

 The minority on that question was called after him the Ulpian library. 

 188: the majority only two more, viz. One of the most elegant was founded 

 190; and composed as follows: at Rome by Simonicus,, preceptor of 



Pensioners, avowedly so 6 the Emperor Gor.lian. It is said to 



Contractors 14 have contained 8000 select rolls, and 



Placemen - 94 that the apartment in which they were 



Sons of do. and other very near deposited was paved with gilt marble. 



connections 26 The walls were composed of glass and 



Membersunder no t'?«'d^« influence 50 ivory; and shells, cases, presses, and 



desks, made of ebony and cedar. 



190 lines 



