CANCER CANNON. 



355 



and must be renewed daily, until the nestlings can 

 feed themselves. The hen has generally three 

 broods in the year, but will hatch five times in the 

 season, each time laying six eggs. 



The process of moulting, which takes place five 

 or six weeks after they are hatched, is frequently 

 fatal to them. The best remedy yet known is to 

 put a small piece of iron into the water they drink, 

 keeping them warm during the six weeks or two 

 months which generally elapse before they regain 

 their strength. 



Canaries are also subject to repletion from super- 

 abundance of food, to epilepsy, to asthma, to ulcers 

 in the throat, and to extinction of the voice. Re- 

 pletion and ulcers may be cured by confining the 

 bird to the cooling diet of water and lettuce-seed. 

 For epilepsy it is usual to inflict a slight wound in 

 the foot. Asthma may be cured by plaintain and 

 hard biscuit soaked in white wine. For extinction 

 f voice, the cure ought to be hard yolk of eggs, 

 chopped up with crumbs of bread, and for drink a 

 little liquorice root, or a blade of saffron in water. 

 In all cases and at all times the bird should have 

 plenty of water to bathe in. 



Canaries are bred in immense numbers, both for 

 amusement and commerce, in France, Tyrol, Ger- 

 many, and in this country : those from Germany are 

 in the least esteem, from their living only one or 

 two years in this country, although the cock of this 

 variety is an approved songster. 



CANCER, (a.) At the sitting of the Academy 

 of Sciences, Paris, January 13, 1838, MM. Bau- 

 pherthuy and Adelde-Roseville addressed to the 

 academy a detailed note on the animalculae which 

 are found in the contiguity of cancerous ulcers. 

 These observations have proved the presence of 

 animalculae in all the cancers which they have ex- 

 amined. These gentlemen have sought the means 

 which are best fitted to destroy the animalculae, 

 and their experiments have led them to the follow- 

 ing results: Brandy, the tincture of iodine, con- 

 centrated solutions of the double chloride of mer- 

 cury, of the chloride of gold, of arsenic, of the salts 

 of copper, of the nitrate of silver, the laudanum of 

 Sydenham and Rosseau, kill the animalcule in- 

 stantaneously. Solutions of the same agents, in 

 the dose of two grains to the ounce, do not make 

 their action felt on the animalculae before the end 

 of a quarter of an hour or twenty minutes, but de- 

 stroy them insensibly after a space of time more or 

 less long. 



CANNON, (a.) A great improvement has re- 

 cently been effected in the construction of cannon, 

 by which these engines of war will probably be- 

 come infinitely more destructive than formerly. 

 The improvement, strange to say, was for the 

 first time put to the test in Turkey, under the 

 patronage of the late sultan, who was entirely 

 pleased with it. The inventor is a young man, 

 named John W. Cochran, son of a merchant in 

 New Hampshire, United States, of whom and of 

 his invention the following particulars are given in 

 the American periodicals: 



" Mr Cochran was brought up to no particular 

 business. At the age of sixteen, he discovered a 

 strong taste and passion for mechanical experiments, 

 and was constantly occupied in the construction of 

 machinery, which his father approving of, encour- 

 aged, and expended several thousand dollars in hi 

 behalf, in the cost of the different kinds of appar- | 

 atus required. When only eighteen, he made the 

 discovery in question, but did not perfect it until , 



three years after. He then went to France ana 

 England, and exhibited his model cannon to Louis 

 Phillippe and William IV. While at Paris in 

 1833-34, he was requested by the Turkish ambas- 

 sador to explain it to the Turkish minister at Lon- 

 don, and accordingly went to Woolwich, and per- 

 formed a series of experiments before the latter 

 personage, which gave so much satisfaction, that 

 he urged Mr C. to visit the sultan at Constantino- 

 ple, and for that purpose provided him with the 

 most flattering recommendations to the court of 

 the sublime porte. Mr Cochran arrived at Con- 

 stantinople, February 11, 1836, was received with 

 great distinction, and introduced to the sultan by 

 the grand vizier. His Turkish majesty was highly 

 pleased with the experiments made with the model, 

 told Mr Cochran he was satisfied it would be gen- 

 erally adopted, and requested him to cast a twelve 

 pounder on the same principle. He was provided 

 with elegant apartments in Pera, raised to the dig- 

 nity of master of cannon, and furnished with as 

 many workmen as he required for the accomplish- 

 ment of his task. Mr Cochran, however, finding 

 there was no good foundry or mechanics, was 

 obliged to undertake the work with his own hands ; 

 and though not brought up to the business of mak- 

 ing machinery of any kind, by dint of much labour 

 and perseverance made himself all the necessary 

 implements, the augurs and the wooden apparatus 

 for boring with horse power, and the preparations 

 required for procuring the proper castings. He 

 succeeded entirely to his wishes, and cast and 

 bored three cannon, two of one pound each, and 

 the third, a twelve pounder, which last was finished 

 in a style as perfect as he could have desired. On 

 the 14th September following, he proved this last 

 piece to his entire satisfaction, in the presence of 

 all the Turkish government, who were delighted 

 with its execution, and made a highly flattering 

 report to the sultan. He fired it off in the pre- 

 sence of those officers to their utter astonishment 

 a hundred times in fifteen minutes. The sultan, 

 when he heard of it, could scarcely believe it, and 

 directed Mr Cochran to perform the same experi- 

 ments in his presence. The most extensive pre- 

 parations were accordingly made for this important 

 trial, which was to take place at Tarache, on the 

 European side of the Bosphorus. 



" No less than three thousand troops were assem- 

 bled at this spot. The sultan at the hour appoint- 

 ed came over from his summer residence on the 

 Asiatic shore, rowed in one of his splendid vessels, 

 and preceded by a long line of other boats of the 

 same description. As the vessel was nearing the 

 wharf, Mr Cochran, at the suggestion of Halil 

 Pacha, the sultan's son-in-law, and commander in 

 chief of the land forces, fired off a salute of twenty- 

 one guns (the customary number), with the experi- 

 mental cannon, which consumed less than two 

 minutes, and struck the assembled multitude with 

 amazement. As the sultan at this moment stepped 

 on the wharf, Halil, accompanied by the grand 

 vizier and other dignitaries, ran to his majesty, and 

 the former making the usual salaam of kissing the 

 sultan's foot, announced to him with feelings of ex- 

 ultation that could scarcely be repressed, the won- 

 derful success of the machine-cannon, as they ap- 

 propriately named it. The sultan, arrived at his 

 tent, sent for Mr Cochran, and after a short con- 

 ference, in which Mr Cochran conversed chiefly in 

 the Turkish language, which he had partially ac- 

 quired, the sultan, renewing his expressions of 

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