No. 1. 



Hollow Horn. 



But the usual mode is to boil homminy 

 twice a week, and put it into a wooden or 

 stone vessel, and set it in a cool place to pre- 

 vent its becoming m'usty. When wanted 

 for use, take the quantity necessary for break- 

 fast or dinner, and havmg put a small quan- 

 tity of lard into an oven, let it become hot; 

 put in the homminy and mash it well, adding 

 some salt ; when well heated it is ready tor 

 the table. Some persons allow it to bake at 

 the bottom, and turn the crust over the hom- 

 miny when put on the dish. Be careful to 

 have no smoke under the pot while boiling, 

 or when frying it for the table. Few things 

 require more care or nicety in their prepara- 

 tion than homminy. 



(These pints were all measured with the 

 common tin cup.) 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 



I am happy to find that subscriber is so 

 well pleased with his r/ort/c— that it fits him 

 so completely — and with all, that he is so 

 sensible that he stands in need of its covering. 

 As he finds its protection necessary to the 

 preservation of his comfort, I will not be so 

 cruel as to attempt to wrest it from him. I 

 can heartily respond to his kind feelmgs and 

 " thank him very much for his simile of the 

 norlh wind, — I never should have thought of 

 so apt a likeness." — Strong and penetrating, 

 as the truth always is, to him it may have 

 seemed " loud," from the manner in which it 

 penetrated and forced conviction on his mind. 

 It may have seemed " rough" from the man- 

 ner in which it lifted the skirts of his cloak 

 and e.xposed " the folly of (his) pretending 

 to a knowledge of the absence of things." 

 Hence he was led to compare it to a storm 

 of wind. The term " empty," however, 

 seems quite inconsistent with the other attri- 

 butes which he has given it and must have 

 been misapplied. 



Subscriber seems a little discomposed at 

 my saying that it was " animal matter, not 

 the bone which he found rotten" — and places 

 his dictum UY>on it. "I examined the piths 

 or bones and knew them to be rotten, or I 

 should not have made the statement." This 

 is too great an assumption of infallibility for 

 him to make after having complained so 

 much of my "positive maimer." There 

 could have been no deception in appearances 

 — no error in judgment — no oversight of ac- 

 companying circumstances — his penetrating 

 eye and comprehensive judgment must have 

 been infallibly correct. " He knew them to 

 be rotten." Appearances no doubt satisfied 

 him that they were rotten — he believed them 

 to be rotten and as a matter of fact asserted 

 that " he knew them to be rotten." All this 

 does not prove that tliey were bona fide rot- 



ten. The same appearances might not have 

 satisfied me that they were so. It is often a 

 nice and delicate observation in pathology to 

 determine such a question. 1 will avail my- 

 self of his suggestion to introduce " a more 

 agreeable manner of investigation." Instead 

 of denying his assertion I will only say that 

 I doubt its truth. I doubt the minuteness 

 and accuracy ot his observations being equal 

 to the difficulty of determining the fact. 



I may perhaps be excused for informing 

 Subscriber what he probably does not know — 

 that bones rot more readily and rapidly — in 

 the sense in which he uses the term — in liv- 

 ing than in dead animals. Bony caries or 

 rotting is an ulceration of living bones pro- 

 duced" by the action of the absorbent vessels 

 which take up and carry off" the bony matter. 

 It is completely a vital action — a process 

 which does not belong to dead matter. After 

 death the membranous and vascular mate- 

 rials in the bone first becomes decomposed or 

 rotten. By long exposure to the agents of 

 decomposition the gelatine, which is mucli 

 more intimately associated with the earthy 

 matter of the bones, is gradually destroyed. 

 But the phosphate of lime or calcareous base 

 of the bone remains with little or no altera- 

 tion either of substance or form for a long pe- 

 riod. In very spongy bones, this earthy sub- 

 stance may be left so loose and cellular after 

 the more obvious animal matter is removed, 

 as to be readily crushed or crumbled by ex- 

 ternal violence. For the same cause it may 

 be so infiltrated with tlie decomposed ele- 

 ments of the soft parts as to appear black or 

 to emit an offensive odor. Subscriber has, no 

 doubt, seen this condition of the pith of horns, 

 but it affords no evidence that they were 

 " rotten" — so far from it, that a little exposure 

 to the bleaching influence of sun and rain 

 would probably have restored them to a ichite, 

 sound state. 



Had Subscriber been really sincere in his 

 aversion to a " war of words," I doubt whe- 

 ther his last essay would ever have been 

 written. 



I At p. 241, he says, " Observer challenges 

 those who oppose him to produce the horn. 



I I ask him to look at the horn he lias described 

 j^ * * here is an admission of all that is neces- 

 sary * * * the horn is hollow in the sense in 



I which we understand the question." But at 

 ;p. 372, he strongly enough accredits himself 

 1 with the discovery of the horn and in a sort 

 jof mock triumph says, " as I have given Ob- 

 ' server information that has enabled him to 

 'find a hollow horn for himself I feel pretty 

 much out of danger from his challenge, and 

 hope that he will not expect me to continue 

 the discussion on the mere existence or non- 

 existence of the hollow horn." 



Having thus slipped the noose and ran 



