NPW FlVGT.AND FARMFR. 



101 



From the J^'tw York Minerva. 



CORAL REEFS. 

 Capt. Bazil Hall, in his voyagp to the Lnn- 

 clioo Islands, remarks that "the •examination of 

 a coral reef, ihiring the differt-nt stages of one 

 tide, is particularly interestins;. When the lid" 

 has left it for some lime it hecomes dry, and aji- 

 pears to he a compact rock, exceedingly hard 

 and ragged : hut as the tide rises, anil the wav e^ 

 begin to wash over it, the coral woims protrude 

 themselves from holes which were before invis- 

 ible. These animals are of a great variety of 

 shapes and sizes, and in such prodigious num- 

 bers, that, in a short time, the whole surface of 

 the rock appears to be alive and in motion. 

 The most common worm is in the form of a 

 star, with arms from four to six inches long, 

 which are moved about in rapid motions, in all 

 directions, probably to catch food. Others are 

 so sluggish, that they may he mistaken for pie- 

 ces of the rock, and are generally of a dark co- 

 lor, and from four to live inches long, and two 

 or three round. When coral is broken, about 

 high-water mark, it is a solid hard slone, but if 

 any part of it be detached at a spot which the 

 tide reaches every day, it is (ound to be full o( 

 worms of difTerent lengths and colors, some be- 

 ing as fine as a thread, and others resemble 

 snails, and some are not unlike lobsters in shape, 

 but soft, and not above two inches long. The 

 growth of coral appears to cease where the 

 worm is no longer exposed to the washing of 

 the sea. Thus a reef rises in the form of a cau- 

 liflower, till its top has gained the level of the 

 highest tide, above which the worm has no 

 power to advance, and the reef, of course, no 

 longer extends itself upwards. — The other parts, 

 in succession, reach the surface, and there stop, 

 forming, in time, a level tield, with steep sides 

 all round. The reel, however, continually in- 

 creases, and being prevented from going higher, 

 extends itself laterally in all directions. But 

 this growth being as rapid at the upper edge as 

 it is lower down, the steepness of the face of 

 the reef is still preserved." 



The accumulation of habitations thus formed 

 by these apparently insignificant animals, some- 

 times reach to an immense extent, and consti- 

 tute tha basis of many islands in the China seas, 

 and in the Pacific ocean. To rear a stupend- 

 ous fabric from the very depths of the ocean, 

 and raise it several feet above its surface, is a 

 task which might appal the mo^t powerful and 

 civilized nations; yel it is performed with ease 

 by an insect so small, and to ajipearance so 

 helpless, that we are at first inclined to discred- 

 it the fact. But this is not all : in preparing 

 their own habitations, these seemingly con- 

 temptible creatures prepare a future abode for 

 man. When part of the coral reel is once rai- 

 sed above the reach of the tide, and is thus se- 

 cured from the inroads of the sea, the insect 

 abandons its labors in this direction, and ele- 

 vates the other parts of the mass until the 

 whole has reached the same heiglit. Seaweeds, 

 which are then thrown on the barren and rug- 

 ged mass, decay, and aided soon after by the 

 dung of sea fowls, become the ground work of 

 i'uture vegetation. Mosses succeed ; manure 

 and seeds are brought at the same time, and by 

 the same individuals ; until at length a bed of 

 vegetable mould is formed, capable of produc- 



ing pi int'i anil trees. Thissimplr process seems 

 to be that by which nature enlar'.jps the land, 

 and prepares a place on which man tnay fix his 

 residence. 



From the Medical ^Idviser, 



THE DISEASE OF LOVE. 



It is a serious fact, that a greater number of 

 voung girls between the ages of fifteen and 

 eiufhleen, and of young men between eighteen 

 and twenty-four, fall victims to what they call 

 love, than to any other particular class of dis- 

 ease ; and more particularly in England and 

 Ireland than in any other country on earth. — 

 This is from the force of impri'ssinns peculiar 

 to these countries, and of comparative recent 

 growth, — the eflect produced by a certain class | 

 of romance writers. These writers give an obliq- 1 

 uitv to the young mind, which leads to destruc- ! 

 tion. Scarcely has a young girl laid down herj 

 "• Reading made Easy," than she becomes a 

 subscriber to some trashy lil>rary, and the hours 

 which, in the country, or in a land where edu- 

 cation is unknown, they would employ in jump- 

 ing about in the open air, are now consumed 

 with intensity of thought upon the mandlin mi- 

 series of some ha|)less heroine of romance, the 

 abortion of a diseased brain. Her " imitative- 

 ness,'''' as Spurzheim would pbrciiolegically ob- 

 serve, becomes developed, and she fixes on her 

 favorite heroine, whom she apes in every thing 

 — sighing for her sorrow and moaning to be as 

 miserable. She fixes immediately upon some 

 figure of a man — some Edwin, or Edgar, or 

 Ethelbert — which she thinks will harmonize 

 with the horrors of the picture, and she then 

 enjoys her tears and her tori ores to her heart's 

 satisfaction. Langour, inaciion, late hours, late 

 rising, and incessant sighing derange her digest- 

 ion — paleness, loss of appetite, and general de- 

 bility follow — the cause continues, the effects 

 increase, and hectic fever puts an end to the 

 romance. We have known a young Iri'h lady 

 who read herself into this situation. She was 

 at the age of thirteen, as lively, as healthy, and 

 as fine a little, promise of womanhood as that 

 country ever produced. When the Leadenhall 

 street troop of romances crossed her way, an of- 

 ficer of a very different sort of troop became 

 her hero. She would " sit in her bower" (the 

 second floor window) and gaze — and gaze — and 

 gaze upon hia steed, his helmet and its stream- 

 ing black-haired crest, as he passed to mount 

 guard, until she sobbed aloud in ecstacy of mel- 

 ancholy. She never spoke to this " Knight," 

 nor did she even seek to have an acquaintance 

 — lest, perhaps, a formal proposal, a good leg of 

 mutton dinner and all the realities of domestic 

 happiness might dissipate the sweet romantic 

 misery she so much delighted in. A year pass- 

 ed over — " she pined in thought, and with a 

 green and yellow melancholy," entered a con- 

 vent (for that is the climax of romance), where 

 she died in a few months! 



Curiosity. — The Falmouth (Mass.) paper of 

 Oct. 1st, says, " We were shewn, a few days 

 since, a limb of an apple tree about five inches 

 in length, with two 3 inch branches, which con- 

 tained FOURTEEN good souud Apples, the smallest 

 girting 7 inches in circumference, and the larg- 

 est 9 inches. — The apples are called the Tom- 

 lin-Sweetings." 



Frovi CobbeWs Writings on Jlgncullure. 

 PENNSYLVANIA V/Ai'iONg 

 Owing to the great strengh of the white oak 

 and the locust, a wason or a cart in America, 

 is quite a different thing from what it is here. 

 Englishmen are, when they first go to America, 

 astonished lo see such enormous loads put upon 

 carrias'p'' which appear to them so slender. — 

 The difference between the strength of iron, of 

 Swedish iron too, and that of locust and white 

 oak (in proportion lo the size of the two) h 

 not greater, if it be so great, as the difference 

 beUveen the strengh of the locust and white 

 oak, and the wood of which English carts and 

 wagons are made. A Pennsylvania wagon is 

 loaded with barrels full of fine tlour, at three 

 hundred or four hundred miles westward of 

 Philadelphia. It carries from three to four 

 tons weight. It comes over rocks and along 

 roads upon which an Englishman would not be- 

 lieve it possible for an em|ity wagon to go. It 

 has two hor-es abreast next the wagon, with a 

 pole between them; two horses abreast be- 

 fore them, and one horse in front. The left 

 hand pole horse has a saddle on him. This 

 horse the driver occasionally rides; and with 

 this enormous load you see it rattling down hills 

 and over rocks at a full trot. Tliese wagons 

 last for many years ; and I venture to say, that 

 a wagon of the same size, timbers of the same 

 size, carrying the same load, going the same 

 pace and upon the same roads, and made of the 

 ordinary English materials, would be knocked 

 to pieces, would be broken down at least, be- 

 fore they had performed a tenth part of one 

 single journey. 



.flnalysis of the Male Fern Root. — Mr. Morin, 

 of Rouen, informs us that this root, which is 

 successfully employed as an anthelmintic, owes 

 it virtue to a fatly substance, capable of being 

 converted into a soap, of a nauseous smell re- 

 sembling that of the root, of a very disagreeable 

 taste, and heavier than water. The roots con- 

 tain also gallic and acetic acid, some sugar, tan- 

 nin and starch, a gelatinous matter insoluble in 

 alcohol or water, some woody matter, and the 

 salts usually found in ashes. M. Morin believes 

 this substance to be composed of a fixed and 

 volatile oil; but he has not yet obtained suflS- 

 cient proof of this. 



It is stated in a Brussels paper, that vinegar 

 is a specific remedy against hydrophobia. The 

 discovery is said to have been accidentally 

 made by a poor man at Udine, the capital of 

 Frioul, who was attacked by hydrophobia, and 

 was cured by drinking a quantity of vinegar, 

 which was given him by mistake instead of an- 

 other potion. Count Leonissa, physician at 

 Padua, being informed of this care, tried the 

 same remedy on a patient, who was brought to 

 the hospital of that city ; he administered a 

 pound of vinegar in the morning, another at 

 noon and a third in the evening, and the pa- 

 tient, it is stated, was speedily and effectually 

 cured. 



Remsciiation. — A man in Union Township, 

 Pa. by the name of Montgomery, very suddenly^ 

 died to all appearance, and was laid out, but 

 soon exhibited signs of life, which led to suc- 

 cessful exertions for his restoration. 



