132 SCIENTIFIC ILLUSTRATIONS [Glu 



An unseen influence the stream of genius. The minds which 

 are moved by that current plough their way in splendour through 

 all the world's superficial opposition. T. 



The Perpetuating Power of Genius. 



At Knaresborough in Yorkshire is a dripping well, which 

 appears to convert everything into stone. It actually covers 

 over everything with a coating of stone-like material, which of 

 course takes the form of the objects which it encrusts. Mr. 

 Frank Buckland examined, amongst other things, a pheasant, 

 birds' nests and eggs, all beautifully preserved under a stone-like 

 cover. The reason of the petrifaction is that the surrounding 

 rocks of the dripping well are composed of magnesium lime- 

 stone, and the lime becomes dissolved in the spring water. So 

 highly charged, indeed, is it with mineral matter, that in a 

 gallon of water there are of carbonate of lime 23 parts, sulphate 

 of magnesia 1 1 parts, and sulphate of lime 132 parts ; and a 

 pint weighs 24 grains heavier than common water. The water, 

 by giving up its mineral treasures to all the things within its 

 reach, confers upon them the perpetuity of stone. The well 

 of human genius possesses a similar power to confer per- 

 petuity.' Poetic men have placed all sorts of objects within its 

 influence, and have given them endless duration. Burns 

 brought a " field mouse ; " Coleridge, " an ass ; " Wordsworth, 

 "a kitten;" Byron, "many ladies;" Bulwer Lytton, "the 

 bones of Raphael;" Thomas Moore, "a pretty rose-tree;" 

 Tennyson, " a goose ; " Milton, his " deceased wife ; " and many 

 other men who are not poetic many other things, and v they 

 have been perpetuated by genius, all of them, even to Charles 

 Lamb's " roast pig," perpetuated as effectually as if they had 

 been petrified by stone in the well at Knaresborough. cu. 



Gluttons and Geese. 



The glutton and the goose are alike in many respects. In 

 these days of liver complaints we will take an example of their 

 anatomical resemblance. Look at the size of the liver in the 

 case afforded by the celebrated Strasburg geese. By feeding 



