20O 



THE GENESEE FARMER 



June 25, 1*31 



MISCELLANIES. 



Rail RoAD.-Among modern improve- 

 ments, none promise to have a wider- 

 spreading or more powerful influence, 

 physical and moral, on our country, than 

 the invention ofrail roads. — On these, lo- 

 comotive engines can be propelled at 

 the amazing speed of from thirty to fifty 

 miles an hour ; a speed exceeding that of 

 the fleetest race horse, and approach- 

 ing nearer to that of birds than any thing 

 which a century ago, we should have 

 ventured to dream of. 



The introduction of steamboats on the 

 magnificent rivers that water our conti- 

 nent has changed the whole face of tiiis re- 

 public. It has been, in familiar phrase, 

 the making of the Western Country. It 

 has conveyed thousands to people the wild 

 forests, and extended easy commercial 

 intercourse to the very farthest limits of 

 civilization. It requires not a prophet's 

 sagacity to predict, that the change on 

 land by rail-roads will not be less than 

 lias been that on water by steamboats. — 

 Towns and villages now far removed 

 from each other will be brought, as it 

 were, close together ; for how can we 

 think a neighbor thirty miles off at. a 

 distance, when we know that three quar- 

 ters of an hour can bring him to our side? 



The influence of these facilities for 

 communication among our fellow-citi- 

 zens is not merely one of commercial 

 convenience or physical improvment ; it 

 has a moral effect also, and a very bene- 

 ficial one. Travelling,every one admits, 

 is eminently conducive to human im- 

 provement. That which affords facili- 

 ties for travelling, therefore, — that which 

 brings man into frequent contact with 

 man, thus dispelling local prejudices, and 

 narrow predilections — is surely of impor- 

 tant moral influence on our race. 



We are glad to see the stir, therefore, 

 which is now making to checker our 

 country with lines of rail-roads. Next 

 to the spread of knowledge, (and indeed 

 most conducive to that spread) is the fa- 

 cility of intercourse between nations and 

 states. It furnishes to the traveller ma- 

 terials for comparison ; it supples him 

 with subjects for thought ; it affords him 

 the raw material out of which to form ra- 

 tional opinions and correct views of man 

 and of society 



This may seem, to some, a farfetched 

 anticipation ; but a little reflection, we 

 think, will suffice to bring conviction, 

 that it is fully warranted by experience 

 and analogy. — There is nothing roman- 

 tic, though at first sight it may so appear, 

 in believing that not only steam carriages, 

 but knowledge and moral improvement 

 will have their speed increased by the 

 introduction of rail roads JV. F. Sent. 



THE EYE. 



The nature of the eye as a camera ob- 

 scura, is beautifully exhibited by taking 

 the eye of a recently killed bullock, and 

 after carefully cutting away or thinning 

 the outer coat of it behind, by going with 

 it to a dark place, and directing the pu- 



pil towards any brightly illuminated ob- 

 jects ; then through the semi-transparent 

 retina left at the back of the eye, may 

 be seen a minute but perfect picture of all 

 such objects, a picture thereof, formed 

 on the back of the little apartment or ca- 

 mera obscura, by the agency of the con- 

 vex cornea and lens in front. Under- 

 standing from all this, that when a man 

 is engaged in what is called looking at an 

 object, his mind is, in truth, only taking 

 cognisance of the picture or impression 

 made on his retina, it excites admiration 

 in us to think of the exquisite delicacy of 

 texture and sensibility which the retina 

 must possess, that there may be the per- 

 fect perception which really occurs of 

 even the separate parts of the minute im- 

 ages there formed. A whole printed 

 sheet of newspaper, for instance, may be 

 represented on the retina, on less surface 

 than that of a finger-nail ; and yet not 

 only every word and letter be separately 

 perceivable, but even any imperfection of 

 a single letter. Or, more wonderfully 

 still, when at night an eye is turned up 

 to the vault of heaven, there is portray- 

 ed on the little concave of the retina, the 

 boundless concave of the sky, with every 

 object in its just proportions There a 

 moon in beautiful miniature may be sail- 

 ing among her white-edged clouds, and 

 surrounded by a thousand twinkling stars; 

 so that to an animalcule supposed to be 

 within or near the pupil, the retina might 

 appear another starry firmament with all 

 its glory. If the images in the human 

 eye be thus minute, what must they be 

 in the little eye of the canary bird, or of 

 another animal smaller still ! How won- 

 derful are the works of nature ! 



Colour op the Sea. — If we look in- 

 to the sea where the water has consider- 

 able depth, we find that its colour is a 

 peculiar shade of green; but if we take up 

 a glass of the water which thus appears 

 green, we shall find it perfectly limpid 

 and colourless. The reason is, that the 

 quantity contained in the glass reflects to 

 the eye too small a quantity of the col- 

 our to be perceivable ; while the great 

 mass of water viewed when we look into 

 the deep sea, throws up the colour in 

 such abundance as to produce a strong 

 and decided perception of it. — Lard, Ca- 

 binet Cijclo. 



Colour of the Air. — The atmos- 

 phere is in the same circumstances ; the 

 colour, from even a considerable pro- 

 portion of it, is too faint to be percepti- 

 ble. Hence the air which fills an ap- 

 partment, or which immediately sur- 

 rounds us when abroad,appears colourless 

 and perfectly transparent. But when we 

 behold the immense mass of atmosphere 

 through which we view the firmament, 

 the colour is reflected with sufficient 

 force to produce distinct perception. — 

 But it is not necessary for this that so 

 great an extent of air should be exhib- 

 ited to us as that which forms the whole 

 depth or thickness of the atmosphere. — 

 Distant mountains appear blue, not be- 



cause it is their colour, but because it 

 is the colour of the medium through 

 which they are seen. — lb. 



Remarkable tenacity of Life in an Otter 

 " As the spring was approaching, we re- 

 turned to the Lake of the Woods. Ice 

 was still in the lake when we arrived on 

 the shore of it ; and as I with my com- 

 panions, was standing on the shore, I saw 

 an otter, coming on the ice, at a distance. 

 !I had often heard the Indians say, thai 

 | the strongest man, without arms of some 

 : kind, cannot kill an otter. Pe-shauba,- 

 and other strong men and good hunters, 

 had told me this, but I still doubted it. — ■ 

 I now, therefore, proceeded to test the 

 truth of this common opinion. I caught 

 the otter, and. for the space of an hour 

 or more, exerted myself, to the extent ol 

 my power, to kill him. I beat him, and 

 kicked him, and jumped upon him, but 

 all to no purpose. I tried to strangle 

 him with my hands ; but lying still for a 

 time, he would shorten his neck,and draw 

 his head down between my hands, so 

 the breath would pass through ; and I 

 was at last compelled to acknowledge 

 that I was not able to kill him without 

 arms. There are other small, and ap- 

 parently not very strong animals, which 

 an unarmed man cannot kill. Once,while 

 on a war party, in a sort of bravado, I 

 had tried to kill a pole-cat with my na- 

 ked hands, but I had nearly lost my eves 

 by the means. The liquid which he 

 threw upon my face, caused a painful in- 

 flammation, and the skin came off". The 

 white crane, also, is dangerous, if ap- 

 proached to near ; they can, and some- 

 times do inflict mortal wounds with then 

 sharp beaks." — Tanner's J\'arrative. 



HANGING OF WINDOW BLINDS. 



A correspondent of the National Intelli 

 gencer says: — " It is surprising to me that 

 the mode of hanging window blinds univer- 

 sally practised in Fiance, should not havt 

 been introduced in our hot and sunny cli- 

 mate. There, the blind is hung by hinges 

 at the top, and opens by being pushed out 

 from below to any distance agreeable, in- 

 stead of being bung on the side and open- 

 ing perpendicularly. By our present modi 

 the blinds cannot be opened without admit- 

 ting the sun; but by (tie French mode, the 

 blind may be opened, the air admitted, rind 

 the sun at the same time excluded — the win- 

 dow being still shaded, though the blind be 

 open. Let any one try this plan on a south 

 ern exposure, and be will find its superiori- 

 ty. Another advantage is that the blind is 

 more easily and quickly opened and shut ; — 

 and a further superiority is, you can have 

 your blinds open without losing the pleas- 

 ure of privacy in your apartment. We taki 

 unfortunately, all our fashions from Eng. 

 land, and if England had adopted the 

 French mode ol hanging window blinds, we 

 should long ago have copied it. But the 

 English climate, requiring the admission of 

 all the little sunshine nature gives it, forbids 

 the adoption of the French mode, and we 

 therefore, have rejected it, although our cli 

 mate renders it more desirable than even 

 Fiance itself. I pray our builders to eon 

 ;ider the snhject. 



