34 



THE CABINET OF NATURAL HISTORY, 



from these, they are scattered over various parts of the 

 world, until the factors make the final change, by convert- 

 ing them into fashionable and necessary ornaments of 

 dress. 



In appearance the Beaver much resembles the rat, par- 

 ticularly the musk-rat, having the same actions on land 

 and in the water, and at a short distance would be taken 

 for the latter; but on a closer view, the difference is at 

 once seen, by the proportionably larger head, and the 

 broad, flattened, and scaly tail of the Beaver. 



NOTES OF A NATURALIST. 

 BY JACOB GREEN, M. D. 



FBOIESSOl OF CHEMISTRY, I1T JEFFEBSON COLLEGE. 



The Early Settlement of our Village. 



In many of the newly settled districts of the United 

 States, their physical and literary character is undergoing 

 continual, rapid, and important changes. A short inter- 

 val of time will there often sweep away the external ves- 

 tiges of things; the fields, the forests, the village, and 

 the population, are sometimes all quickly succeeded by a 

 new order of affairs, and with them the memory of the past 

 is frequently lost for ever. A few years will sometimes 

 effect more in this country, in these respects, than whole 

 centuries often produce, in the old world. 



There are many interesting facts connected with the 

 early settlement of our village, now fresh in the recollec- 

 tions of some of the older inhabitants, and which would 

 be highly interesting to those who may come after us, to 

 collect and preserve. The rude log cabin is still in ex- 

 istence in our neighbourhood, from which the light of 

 science first emanated, west of the Alleghanies, a spot 

 where the early settler first received the benefits of know- 

 ledge, and where he was taught the elements and the bless- 

 ings of religion. That spot will ever be held in honoured 

 remembrance by the genuine lover of science and piety ; and 

 many a future antiquary will no doubt visit it, with more 

 enthusiasm, than the lofty domes and splendid halls of 

 science in the Eastern World. My present object is 

 merely to notice two or three anecdotes relating to the 

 first habitable edifice erected in this vicinity, and which 

 was the commencement of our flourishing town. The 

 facts I shall state were received from the venerable 

 and virtuous companion of the first settler himselfj a 



few hours only before her lips were sealed in eternal 

 silence. 



The first partial clearing of land made in the heart of 

 the vast forest, which then covered all our surrounding 

 hills and vallies, was the identical spot where our Lyceum 

 of Natural Science now holds its sessions. But little more 

 than fifty years since, the wigwam of the Indian may have 

 occupied the spot where now stands this hall of science. 

 I was informed, if it were practicable to point out the ex- 

 act metes and bounds of the first enclosure of ground made 

 in this town, it would exactly include the foundation on 

 which our new and noble college edifice is now erected. 

 The house first built here was formed in the usual manner, 

 of logs — but the roof, instead of being made with boards 

 in the way commonly practised by our first settlers, was 

 constructed with shingles. In that early day the uses of 

 iron were but rarely applied to buildings west of the moun- 

 tains, except by the more opulent settlers, as the want of 

 beaten roads, and the great weight of the materials, rendered 

 it very expensive to transport them from the distant At- 

 lantic states. All the nails and iron work of this our first 

 dwelling-house, were, however, brought in packs by horses 

 over the mountains. The roof, I was told, was the only 

 one constructed with nails and shingles in all this neiah- 

 bourhood for a considerable time. 



When our first college hall was erected, the old house 

 which was the commencement of the town, was removed 

 from its first site about fifty yards, to the place where it 

 now stands. It has undergone but little change since it 

 was first erected, and long may it be preserved as a monu- 

 ment of the enterprise and industry of the founder of our 

 village. 



The second dwelling was, except the roof, of the same 

 rude architecture, as the one we have just described. It 

 stood some distance down the hill, just at the north-east 

 corner of the main street and the turnpike road. It was 

 built for the person who managed the mill, which is on the 

 creek at the foot of the town. The old mill has been long 

 removed; but the one now in operation is exactly on the 

 same site the original one occupied. All the hill side be- 

 tween the first and second dwelling house was, till within 

 a few years, covered with a multitude of flowering native 

 shrubs and trees. The briar and hazle here spread their 

 branches in wild luxuriance — and many persons now 

 alive among us can recollect when the tall trees of the 

 forest, with vines clustering round their branches, shaded 

 the path from one house to the other. 



The romantic hills and vallies of our neighbourhood ap- 

 pear to have been in former times the scene of frequent 

 savage contention; for numberless arrow-heads and other 

 implements of Indian warfare are now found in several 



