538 



Corniteopia^ 



[July 1, 



delburg,' iu Zealand, playing in their 

 father's shop, remarked, that when they 

 put two speetacle-gl asses one before the 

 other, and looked through them both 

 at the weather-cock of a neighbouring 

 steeple it appeared laiger than nsual. 

 The father, struck with this singnla- 

 rity, thought of adjustin^j two glasses 

 on a board by means of brass rings 

 which might be brought nearer to each 

 other, or farther otT at pleasure. Thns 

 he was enabled to see bett(ir, and at a 

 great distance, and at length pioceedcd 

 to place the glasses iu a tube, and thus 

 formed a telescope." There are still 

 other opinions on the origin of this in- 

 strument, but the testimony of such a 

 man as JDes Cartes in regard to James 

 Mctiits ought to have great weight. 



The microscope, an insti-ument found- 

 ed on the same principles as tlio tele- 

 scope, was invented byCorn: lius Dreb- 

 bel, a native of Alkmaar, tlie town 

 where MeUus. the inventor of the tele- 

 scope, resided. The first of these in- 

 struments appear<;d about 1618 or 1620. 

 Thei-e have been long disputes on this 

 subject, and some writers have endea- 

 voured greatly fo depreciate the merit 

 of Drebbel ; but the truth is, he "re- 

 ceived an excellent education at his 

 native place,fand \ias well versed in all 

 the physical knowlede;e of his time. 



STREET MEETING. 



A Sunday uewspaptn', a few years 

 ago, gave the following characteristic 

 specimen of what he calls " that an- 

 tient formula, whicli may be termed 

 An Engtishynaii's Dialogued' 



A. (Advancing) " How d'ye do, Brooks?" 



B. " Very well, thauk'ee; how do you 

 do ?" 



A. " Very well, thauk'ee ; is Mrs.*rooks 

 well ?" 



B. " Very well, I'm ranch obliged t'ye. 

 Mrs. Adams and the children are well, I 

 hope ?" 



A. " Quite well, thank'ee." 



(A pause.) 



13. " Rather pleasant weather to-day." 



A. " Yes, but it was cold in the morning." 



B. " Yes, but we must expect that at this 



time o'year." 



(Another pause, — neckcloth twisted and 



switch twirled.) 



A. "Seen Smith lately ?" 



B. " No, — I can't say 1 have ; — but I 

 have seen Thompson." 



A. " Indeed — and how is he ?" 



B. " Very well, thank'ee." 



A. " I'm glad of it .Well, — good morn- 

 ing." 



B. " Good morning.'' 



Here it is always observed, that the 

 speakers, having taken leave, walk faster 

 tkan usual forsoujc hundred yards. 



SINGULAR WORM. 



A worm of a very curious nature, has 

 been found by the cook of the King's 

 Arms, in Dock, Plymouth, on opening a 

 cod-fish, destined for an entertainment. 

 It is about four inches long, and shaped 

 like a soal, with a motith apparently 

 intended to act as a sucker: but what 

 renders it more remarkable, is a cloth- 

 ing of the most dazzling; green fettliers, 

 equal in brilliancy to those of (he pea- 

 cock, on the back, which gives it a 

 very singular aspect. Between the 

 fealhers arc sharp quills, resembling 

 those on ' the fretful porcupine,' but 

 comparatively smaller. The animal 

 would seem too large to feed on the cod, 

 but might rather be considered as a 

 parasite, which is a frequent attendant 

 on the fish species. ,,i'. i.io' jjji 



HOPS, ■j-p ' .,' .„;',,!„ 



In 1.^519 the brewers wwe ortWen by 

 the Corporation of Shrewsbury, '■ not 

 lo use (hat tcicked and pernicious' tveed. 

 Hops, in their brewings, vmder a pe- 

 nalty of 6s. 8d." — One pound of Buck- 

 bean it is said, will bitter one strike of 

 malt for fresh drink, and give it a very 

 agreeable flavour. The roots at this 

 time are as good as the leaves in the 

 month of June. The Gentian Moot is, 

 also, averred to be a much better bitter 

 than the Hop, at the same time that it 

 is not so pernicious, the latter possessing 

 no intoxicating quality. 



CAB.4XIS. 



An ingenious book h.is been published 

 by an eminent anatomist of tliis name, 

 entitled Rapports dti Physique «t du 

 Moral de P Homme. The work has al- 

 ready gone (hrough four successive edi- 

 tions in Paris, and conveys in a popu- 

 lar form the supposed discoveries of 

 modern medicine concerning the in- 

 fluence of the animal economy on ideas 

 of the mind. This author teaches : 

 " that the brain should be considered 

 as an organ specially destined to pro- 

 duce thought, as the stomach and in- 

 testines are destined to produce diges- 

 tion, the liver to secrete bile, and the 

 parotids and maxillary and sublingual 

 glands to elaborate saliva. When im- 

 pressions reach the brain they stimu- 

 late its activitj^, as aliments which 

 enter the stomach provoke (he gastric 

 juice and those movements which fa- 

 vour their dissolution. Thought, there- 

 fore, is a phenomenon iu a great degree 

 analogous to digestion ; and the brain 

 is a sort of apparatus for digesting im- 

 pressions, which are returned meta- 

 morphosed into ideas ; in a word, it is 

 a tissue 



