MISCELLANEOUS COMMUNICATIONS. 151 



■wrould be suffered to rot on the bookseller's shelf only proves the benighted 

 state of the English with regard to this noble instrument. We had proposed 

 skimming the pages of this little 1 8mo., but when we reached the passage 

 where the author observes that " next to the swell in importance was the intro- 

 duction of pedals" we shut the book, observing to ourselves that no real love 

 of the organ could have actuated the compiler to pen his little catch-penny. 

 —Ed. 



Effects of Phussic Acid on a Rabbit At the conclusion of a lec- 

 ture delivered at Maidstone, by Dr. Robinson, on poisons, the effect of 

 prussic acid was tried upon a Rabbit. Three drops were administered from 



a glass — the surface of which most probably abstracted half the quantity 



and the animal immediately exhibited the usual symptoms of rapidly ap- 

 proaching dissolution. In order to give it a chance of recovery, however, a 

 few drops of ammonia were administered, without apparent benefit. A con- 

 stant stream of cold water was then poured upon the base of the skull and 

 along the spine, when the animal very shortly exhibited signs of resuscita- 

 tion. It was then wrapped in warm flannel. In a quarter of an hour it was 

 sufficiently recovered to walk. Dr. Robinson mentioned that this mode of 

 treatment had been discovered by accident. A Cat, which had been annoy- 

 ing to the apprentices of a chemist, was poisoned by them with prnssic acid. 

 By mere chance, however, it fell under a stream of cold water which was 

 pouring from a pump, the effect of which was its gradual resuscitation. Be- 

 nefiting by this hint, the same means have been applied to more than one 

 human subject who had taken prussic acid. No instance, however, had be- 

 fore come within Dr. Robinson's knowledge where an animal had been re- 

 stored after the symptoms this Rabbit exhibited. The Rabbit is now in full 

 health and vigour. 



Organized Beings — The reports of the Academy of Sciences in France 

 have been filled by the voluminous papers of M. Isidore Geoffroy St. 

 Hilaire, M. Moquin Tandon, and M. de Serres. The first treats of the pos- 

 sibility of extending our knowledge of the natural history of man by the 

 study of domestic animals, which, according to the author, will, from its 

 strong affinity [aiialoffij ?— Ed. An.] with the subject, elucidate many impor- 

 tant effects. The second concerns the formation of vegetables, proceeding 

 either from a centripetal or a centrifugal force. The third has for its subject 

 the development of the genus Rotellina. One and all are based upon the 

 system of M. Geoffroj' St. Hilaire; that is, the unity of the creation, or the 

 existence of but one great type. — Athenceum. 



The Basilisk — This reptile is of a very harmless nature, though by 

 some means or other inheriting a most formidable name. The application 

 of the fabled names of antiquity, such as the Cockatrice, the Dragon, and the 

 Basilisk, to the realities of modern Natural History, is not only absurd, but 

 must, in some instances, lie attended with bad consequences. Men read with 

 horror, in their boyish days, of the terrible powers of Dragons and the deadly 

 venom of Cockatrices and Basilisks; venom so deadly that it not only killed 

 ail else upon which the terrible creatures looked, but if they hapjiened to 

 meet the reflection of their own withering glances from a mirror or a pool of 

 water, they could not escape the death-stroke of their own looks. These ter- 

 rific qualities make a deep impression upon the youthful mind; and as the 

 name is the index to all the terrors, the repetition of it necessarily suggests 



