THE FARMER AT HOME. 



221 



inhabitants of Norway Lapland, and above all Iceland, use it exten 

 sively as an alimentary substance, the latter regarding it as the gift 

 of a bountiful Providence, which sends to them this bread in that 

 frozen clime. It is submitted to no other preparation than repeated 

 steepings in cold water, drying, and powdering ; after which it is 

 either made into cakes or boiled in milk. The excellence of Iceland 

 Moss depends upon its freshness, and freedom from accidental impu- 

 rities, which should be carefully removed before it is used. 



IDLENESS. In China it is a maxim, that if there be a man 

 who does not work, or a woman that is idle, in the empire, somebody 

 must suffer cold or hunger ; the produce of the lands not being more 

 than sufficient, with culture, to maintain the inhabitants ; and there- 

 fore, though the idle person may shift off the want from himself, yet 

 it must fall somewhere. The court of Areopagus at Athens, punished 

 idleness, and examined every citizen how he spent his time. The 

 intention was that the Athenians, knowing they were to give an 

 account of their occupations, should follow only such as were laudable, 

 and that there might be no room left for such as lived by unlawful 

 arts. 



INCOMBUSTIBLE CLOTH. M. Magellan informs us that the 

 Romans enclosed dead bodies in cloth of this kind. In 1756 or 

 1757 he tells us, that he saw in the Vatican a large piece of asbestos 

 cloth, found in a stone tomb, with the ashes of a Roman, as appeared 

 by the epitaph. The under-librarian, to show that it was incombus- 

 tible, lighted a candle, and let some drops of wax fall on the cloth, 

 which he set on fire with a candle in his presence, without any det- 

 riment to the cloth. Its texture was coarse, but much softer than he 

 could have expected. 



INCUBATION. Birds, fishes, insects, worms and reptiles, as is 

 well known, lay eggs, from which the young animals are produced 

 by means of warmth. The four last named classes leave the fecun- 

 dation of the eggs to the warmth of the sun ; birds employ the warmth 

 of their own bodies for this purpose. The process which they use is 

 called incubation. All known birds, with the exception of the 

 cuckoo, discharge this office themselves. The cuckoo deposits its 

 eggs in the nest of the hedge-sparrow and other small birds. The 

 ostrich, contrary to the common opinion, sits upon its eggs, the male 

 in company with several females, day and night. Birds in general 

 become comparatively tame during this period. Others defend their 

 nests with the greatest courage. The domestic hen boldly encounters 

 the largest dog. Only a few birds living in a state of freedom, allow 

 their nests to be disturbed. Many desert them entirely, if a man has 

 displaced the esfgs during their absence ; for instance, the canary 

 bird. The gradual development of the young bird in the egg has 

 been observed, particularly in the case of the eggs of the domestic 

 hen. 



