1854. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



397 



ANIMAL LIFE. 



Incapable as water may seem to be of aflfording 

 anything like solid nutriment, yet there are some 

 tribes of animals that appear capable not only of 

 8ubsii?ting upon tliis, but upon even the still less 

 eubstantial diet, — air. Leeches and tadpoles, be-i 

 sides various kinds of fishes, (among which is the; 

 gold-fish,) will live upon water alone. Numer- 

 ous experiments have been made by philosophers 

 to test the truth of this matter beyond peradven- 

 ture. Rondelet kept a silver-fish in pure water 

 alone for three j^ears, and at the end of that pe- 

 riod it had grown as large as the glass globe that 

 contained it. Several species of the carp kind, it 

 is said, have a similar power ; and even the pike, 

 one of the most voracious of the finny tribes, will 

 thrive upon water in a marble basin. All kinds 

 of amphibious animals are particularly tenacious 

 of life, and not only frogs and toads, but tortoises, 

 lizards, and serpents, are well known to have ex- 

 isted for months, and even years, without other 

 food than water, and, in some cases, only air. It 

 Is stated on good authority that a person once 

 kept two horned-snakes in a glass jar for two 

 years, without giving them anything. It was not 

 observed that they slept in the winter season, and 

 they cast their skins as usual about the 1st of 

 April. Lizards have been found imbedded in chalk 

 rocks, and toads have teen discovered in wood, 

 blocks of marble and other situations, where, to 

 all appearance,they must have been entombed for 

 many years. Snails and chameleons, it has been 

 repeatedly asserted, will live upon air alone. It 

 is als(? said that spiders will live on the same light 

 diet, and that, though they will devour other food, 

 they really do not need it to support life. La- 

 terille confirms this statement by an experiment 

 ■which he made with a spider, by sticking it to a 

 cork, and precluding it from communication with 

 anything else for four successive months ; and, at 

 the end of that time it was as lively as ever. A 

 writer in the Philosophical Transactions states 

 that he kept a beetle in a glass confinement for 

 three years, without food. The larva9 of ants are 

 not only supported on air, but actually grow in 

 bulk. It would appear however from experiments 

 made by M. Goldberry, 1786, that the usually 

 received opinion that the chameleon feeds on air 

 is a vulgar error. lie subjected seven of them to 

 this ordoal, and they all died save one, in three 

 months and twenty-three days. So it would ap- 

 pear that they could survive, like many other an- 

 mals, for a time upon the oxygen the atmosphere 

 affords, but could not subsist upon it continuously 

 The instances wehavecited, however, are sufficient 

 to show that some animals require very little, and 

 in some cases not any, of what we usually denom 

 inate food, to support existence. Numerous in 

 stances might be cited where persons have sur- 

 vived for many days without nutriment. A wo- 

 man condemned to death, in the reign of Richard 

 III., lived forty days without food or drink. A 

 young lady, sixteen years of age, is mentioned in 

 the Edinburgh Medical Essays for 1720, who was 

 thrown into such a violent tetanus, or rigidity of 

 the muscles, by the death of her father, that she 

 ■was unable to swallow for fifty-four days, and 

 when she came into the natural state again, she 

 declared that she had no sense of hunger or thirst. 

 A still more extraordinary account than tliis is re- 

 lated of a man who, upon recovering from an in- 



flammatory fever, had such a dislike to food of all 

 kinds, that for eighteen years he never tasted any- 

 thing but water. All will recollect the case of 

 the sleeping man from Rochester, who was exhib- 

 ited in this city last summer, and who had not 

 partaken of food for a long time. Cats have been 

 known to live over two years without drinking. — 

 N. Y. Sunday Times. 



THE NIGHTS. 



BY BABRY CORNWALL. 



O, the summer night 



Has a smile of light. 

 And she sits on a sapphire throne ; 



Whilst the sweet winds load her 



With garlands of odor, 

 From the bud to the rose o'erblown. 



But the autumn night 



lias a piercing sight, 

 And a step both strong and free ; 



.\nd a voice for wonder, 



Like the wrath of the thunder. 

 When he shouts to the stormy sea. 



And the winter night 



Is all cold and white, 

 And she singeth a song of pain. 



Till the wild bet hummclh. 



And warm spring cometh. 

 When she dies in a dream of rain. 



O, the night, the night, 



'Tis a lovely sight, 

 Whatever the clime or time. 



For sorrow then soareth, 



And the lover outpoureth 

 His soul in a star-bright rhyme. 



It bringeth sleep 



To the forests deep, 

 The forest-bird to its nest", 



To care, bright hours. 



And dreams of flowers, 

 And that balm to the weary— rest ! 



Chambers'' Journal. 



For the New England Farmer. 



ARE LIGHTNING RODS HUMBUGS 1 



A writer in a late number of the Farmer, in 

 answer to inquiries from a correspondent, describes 

 the manner in which lightning rods should be con- 

 structed, and says, buildings protected by such 

 rods are never injured by lightning. The follow- 

 ing item appears in a late N. Y. paper : — "The 

 house of Mr. Gushing, of Genesee, same county, 

 was struck by lightning during a storm on Thurs- 

 day, June 22. What is singular in the case is, 

 the house was protected by three silver pointed 

 lightning rods, of most approved construction, 

 which rods it seems attbrded no protection." The 

 editor of the Farmer says other cases similar are 

 known. The destruction of life and property by 

 lightning, is becoming very frequent, of late. 

 Storms are more frequent — houses and barns are 

 burned, cattle destroyed, human !)eings instantly 

 killed. As a defence and protection from the storm, 

 many are putting up rods to their buildings wliich 

 we are assured will certainly prevent injury by 

 lightning. Are they humbugs? One says the rods 

 should pass througli glass rings ; the Country 

 Gentleman savs that is all nonsense, wooden sup- 

 ports are just as gt)od. Will not some scientific 

 writer, who is thoroughly acquainted with the 



