THE FARMER AT HOME 227 



All travellers who have heen in the countries where the jackals 

 are found, mention the ravages they commit, and, their dreadful noc- 

 turnal cries, which, answered as they are by all their companions, 

 produce the most appalling effects. Their voice has often been 

 described as more terrific than the howl of the hyaena or the roar of 

 the tiger, and deprives of repose all hearers who have not been long 

 accustomed to it. The jackal can be tamed with tolerable facility, 

 but always preserves an extreme timidity, which he manifests by con- 

 cealing himself on hearing the slightest unusual sound, or at the sight 

 of a person he is unaccustomed to. This fear is different from that 

 of most wild animals, and he closely resembles a dog in fear of chas- 

 tisement, for he will offer no resistance when he is touched. 



The most celebrated commentators on the Bible, consider the three 

 hundred animals, to whose tails Samson tied firebrands, were jackals. 

 This opinion is grounded on the great number of these animals found 

 in Syria, and on their assembling in large flocks ; whereas the fox is 

 comparatively scarce, and is always solitary. The jackal has been 

 popularly termed the lion's provider, from an opinion that it rouses 

 the prey for that quadruped. The fact appears to be, that every crea- 

 ture in the forest is set in motion by the fearful cries of jackals ; the 

 lion and other beasts of prey, by a sort of instinct and the call of appe- 

 tite, attend the chase, and sieze such timid animals as betake them- 

 selves to flight at the voice of this fearful pack. Buffon gives the 

 following description of the jackal ; It unites the impudence of the 

 dog with the cowardice of the wolf, and participating in the nature of 

 each, is an odious creature, composed of all the bad qualities of both. 



JANUARY. The first month of the year, among the western 

 nations, is from the Latin word Januarius a term given to it from 

 Janus, one of the Roman divinities ; or rather perhaps from Janua, 

 a Latin word signifying gate, the first month being, as it were, the 

 gate of the year. Numa Pompilius made January, Romulus March, 

 the first month in the year. 



JAUNDICE . Is a disease of which the distinguishing peculiarity 

 is, that the whole skin becomes yellow. It proceeds from some dis- 

 ease about the liver or its communication with the bowels. The 

 internal symtoms are those of all disorders of the digestive organs, 

 except that the water is dark and loaded with bile, while the bowels 

 appear to be deprived of it. The yellow color is first perceptible in 

 the whiter parts of the body, as the white of the eye, and soon over- 

 spreads the whole body. There is often an extreme itching and 

 prickling over the whole skin. After the disease has continued long, 

 the color of the skin becomes gradually deeper and darker, till the 

 disease becomes, at last, what is vulgarly called the black jaundice. 

 This appearance arises from the bile being retained, from various 

 causes, in the liver and gall-bladder, and. thus* being absorbed and 

 circulated with tie blood. It may be produced by obstacles to the 



