28 Nonsense versiis Knowledge. 



his opinion, cause the potato-rot. Another, an M.D., gives an account of 

 finding six insects in the black wart of the plum, which " belonged to the 

 larva species," and which he kne^v to be poisonous, because they " seized 

 the point of his lancet " (with which he was whittling down the wart) " with 

 venom ; " and which he hzew to be the cause of the wart, because he found 

 them m it. 



In various papers going the rounds at the present time, we find a state- 

 ment to the effect that a French chemist has made an analysis of the air 

 we breathe, in the following lucid and serious style. A bottle of ice was 

 placed upon a dish, and taken into a theatre at ten o'clock at night. The 

 condensed moisture which collected in the dish had the smell and taste 

 of the water of the most deadly fever-marshes. This water was clear at 

 first, but in a week became filled with fine animalculae. A little later, these 

 had reached a larger size, and the big ones were seen pursuing and de- 

 vouring the little ones. Still later, at the end of two months, the water was 

 thick with animalculce : various forms were seen, the work of destruction still 

 going on. At last, but three " hideous monsters " were visible, still fight- 

 ing ; and, at the end of three months, "the water became clear and miasmatic 

 again." These attempts of would-be savans to instruct the community are 

 scarcely less painful than amusing when we reflect upon the eagerness with 

 which the public seizes upon and drinks in every item of information in 

 the various branches of science, while it is for the most part unable to dis- 

 criminate between the nutritious and the poisonous ingredients of this men- 

 tal pabulum. By what means can we disseminate a knowledge of Nature, 

 save by a careful revision of the raiost searching character applied to each 

 work, each chapter, each page and paragraph, before placing the subject 

 before the public ? Again : there crawl periodically into the various journals 

 a certain class of items, which are evidently prepared by some rural editor to 

 fill a blank in his daily or weekly issue. To this class belong the ac- 

 counts of various reptiles, chiefly serpents and lizards, which are said to 

 reside in the human stomach ; statements of deaths from the bite or sting 

 of divers innocent larvas, or spiders ; detailed histories of supposed spon- 

 taneous generation of certain animals in decaying substances. The truths 

 of Nature are sufficiently strange in themselves, and replete with wonder 

 to the faithful student of their mysteries, without any attempt at artificial 



