1825.] 
ounce” pressing upon him, A.B.C. 
labours under a great mistake. The 
fact is quite contrary; but the whale, 
being altogether surrounded by the 
same element, perceives none. 
The supposition, in p. 22, seems to 
be not only indefensible, but not very 
apposite. It would appear, that neither 
A.B.C. nor Capt. Scoresby are anglers ; 
or they, being accustomed to fill the 
largest fresh-water fish with a_single 
hair, would not see any thing very mar- 
vellous or incomprehensible in the fact 
of a whale “ being drawn up to the sur- 
face” of the ocean, “ even by thestrength 
of the harpoon-line, which is not larger 
than a man’s finger,” though oppressed 
with a weight, of his native element, 
exceeding sixty of the largest ships of the 
British navy! Upon reviewing this para- 
graph, I would ask, not what becomes 
of Mr. Scoresby’s, but what becomes of 
A.B.C.’s philosophy and calculation ? 
I might easily multiply remarks on 
this topic; but, hoping that some of 
your numerous and able correspondents 
will further elucidate it, I shall take 
up no more of your time and space.— 
Your’s, &c. D. ELF. 
—>——_ 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
Sir: 
7. NOWING the high character 
which the Monthly Magazine has 
amongst the periodicals of the day, I 
cannot but regret, that nearly four 
columns of No. CCCCVI. should be 
occupied by the flippant and “great 
nonsense,” which A.B.C. has applied to 
the extract from an able and truly scien- 
tific work, by Capt. Scoresby, in p. 21. 
The other extract which this writer 
makes from Dr. Blair, correctly stating, 
that fluids press not merely downwards 
(as, two or three times, A.B.C. attempts 
to make it be believed that Mr. Scoresby 
meant), but wpwards and sideways also, 
completely answers this writer’s cavils, 
against the alleged ease with which the 
carcase of a whale is, sometimes, drawn 
up from a great depth in the sea, by the 
harpoon-line. The enormous pressure 
on the external surface of the whale, 
and also on all those internal parts of 
its body to which the water has access, 
when at great depths, may well be sup- 
posed distressingly to compress the ani« 
mal’s fluids, flesh and bones, and pro- 
duce the exhausting effects to which 
Mr. Scoresby has so often been an 
attentive witness.— Your’s, &c. 
Joun Farry, 
London, Feb. 5, 1825. 
Farey’s Defence of Captain Scoresby. 
103 
P.S.—The want of date and place to 
the next correspondent’s letter (p. 23), 
deprives it of its chief value. I sincerely 
hope that no one may be induced to try 
the sponge-musk, mentioned in p. 73, as 
a security against the foul air of wells, 
or other places: the attempt may cost 
them their lives. The philosophy here, 
is equally bad with that which would 
jilter sea-water to render it fresh !— 
[See your 56th volume, p. 37.] 
277274 cubic inches (see p. 74) is the 
contents of the Imperial gallon, fanci- 
fully equated to the bulk of 10 lbs. of 
water, instead of 1-8th part of a Win- 
chester bushel, or 268°8 cubic inches, 
which ought to be the future British 
gallon, because the bushel is far more 
importantly and extensively IN usE, than 
any other measuring-vessel whatever. 
—<zza——— 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
Danisu Trapitions and SuPERSTITIONS, 
(Continued from No. 406, p. 26.) 
The Devil in the shape of a Hare. 
N the year 1573, Joachim von Ha- 
gen, Lord hereditary of Nubel, went 
out to hunt on a Good Friday ; and as 
he, during service-time, rode with his 
dog along the shore by Hattlund; the 
devil came in the shape of a hare, and 
allowed himself to be hunted about by 
the dog. Then the devil sprung over a 
large stone or rock, in which are yet to 
be seen the prints of his feet ; but the 
hound, in endeavouring to follow him, 
tumbled over the stone, and broke his 
neck. Then the same hare sprung back 
again, and was pursued by the youth, 
until it once more bounded over the 
stone; and the hunter, who was coming 
behind, ran himself and his horse against 
the rock, and both fell down dead. 
The Devil runs away with a Lady. 
Dame Christina Von Hagen, a noble 
lady of Holstein, and widow of Otto 
Rantzow, was walking with several 
distinguished females before the castle- 
gate of Lubeck; and upon her going 
somewhat aside from the other's, she 
was suddenly carried off by the devil ; 
so that she was never seen again, alive 
or dead. Her waiting-woman confessed, 
that this lady was acquainted with the 
black art, and was very fond of reading 
mysterious books. 
The Devil steals Swine. 
At the time Peter Bass was super- 
intendent of Upper Moen, a peasant 
who resided there lost a sow, with her 
litter of nineteen pigs. He sought for 
them every where in the neighbourhood, 
but all to no purpose. After the sy 
te) 
