12 



THE CABINET OF NATURAL HISTORY, 



To the Editor of the Cabinet of Natural History. 

 A NEW PROPERTY OF THE FETID MATTER OF THE SKUNK. 



While perusing the history of the Skunk, in the second 

 volume of your work, I was reminded of a circumstance 

 that happened in this neighbourhood, and which was re- 

 lated to me by an eye-witness. 



Two men were hunting Skunks, for the purpose of ob- 

 taining their fur, and being labourers, from necessity were 

 obliged to spend the night in that occupation. They had 

 seen several, but had been unsuccessful in taking any. One 

 of them, however, perceived something indistinctly in a 

 crevice of the rocks, and approached to examine it. He 

 stooped over the place with a stick in his hand to aid in 

 ascertaining the description of the animal before him. He 

 disturbed it with the weapon, and received in his eyes the 

 fetid matter of a Skunk. So violent was the pain, that he 

 roared out "help!" and it wholly deprived him of sight 

 for some hours. His companion, (the narrator of the cir- 

 cumstances,) led him to a brook, not far distant from the 

 scene of the disaster, in whose limpid waters he washed 

 his eyes, and under this treatment the pain began gradually 

 to diminish, and the power of sight to return. It was fol- 

 lowed by an inflammation which lasted for several days, 

 but then subsided. 



His sight was so improved that objects were distin- 

 guished in the night as perfectly as in the day. What 

 power this fluid has to improve the vision I am ignorant 

 of; and this simple tale is all I have heard to establish the 

 truth of that power; and in this perplexed condition, I 

 would ask, if any one has seen or known of any other 

 instances of the effect of this fluid on the human system. 



X. Y. Z. 

 Geneva, N. Y. Feb. 4th, 1833. 



TEST OF THE PERCUSSION PRINCIPLE. 



The question as to the using of percussion locks in 

 the army, is about to be decided in France. By experi- 

 ments made in the Hanoverian army, it appears that out 

 of 340 muskets, with percussion locks, consuming to- 

 gether 27,000 cartridges, there were only 21 missed fire 

 from the failure of the priming, and 72 from the defect of 

 charge, making in all 93: while out of the same number 

 of muskets, with flint locks, 206 shots failed from the 

 priming, and 599 from the charge, in all 806. Still further 

 experiments were made both in the exposing to a constant 

 rain, by wetting the inside of the cup, and by putting wa- 

 ter in the touch-hole. The result was, that the guns, after 



being exposed to the injuries of the weather, or even a 

 constant rain, were much more to be relied upon than 

 those with flint locks. Marshal Soult, who had been for 

 a long time impressed with the advantages to be derived 

 from the use of percussion guns, resolved to renew the 

 above experiments in France, — and last year a committee 

 of officers, by his direction, repeated all the experiments, 

 and their report completely establishes the supremacy of 

 the percussion lock. At this moment, however, nearly 

 2,600 muskets of all the different kinds have been fitted 

 up with percussion locks in order to make a grand and 

 last trial. 



WILD TURKEY. 



MELEAGRIS GALLOPAVO. 



[Vol. III. Plate II.] 



Meleagris Gallopavo, Ch. Bonaparte, Synops. of Birds 

 of the United States, p. 122. — Ch. Bonaparte's 

 American Ornithology, vol. i. p. 79, pi. IX. — Audu- 

 bon's Ornithological Biography, p. 1, vol. i., pi. I. 

 vol. i. 



Meleagris Gallopavo, Linn. Syst. I. p. 268, sp. 1. — 

 Gmel. Syst. I. p. 732, sp. 1. — Lath. Ind. p. 618, sp. 

 1. — Wilson, Am. Om. VI. Index, p. xvii. — Ste- 

 phens' Cont. of Shaw's Zool. XI. Part i. p. 156. 



Gallopavo Sylvestris Novse-Anglise. a New-England 

 Wild Turkey) Ray, San. p. 51, sp. 3. — Catesby Caro- 

 lina, I. App. p. xliv. 



Meleagris Americanus, the Wild Turkey, Bartram, 

 Trav. p. 290. 



Dindon, Buff. Ois. II. p. 132, pi. III. PI. Enl. 97, 

 dom. — Temm. Hist. Nat. des Pig. et Gall. II. p. 374. 

 — Gerardin, Tabl. Elem. d'Orn. II. p. 103, pi. XXI. 

 fig. 2. 



Wild Turkey,- Clayton, Virginia, Phil. Trans. XVII. 

 p. 992. — Lawson, Carolina, p. 149. 



American Turkey, Lath. Syn. II. Part n. p. 676, 

 sp. 1. 



Domestic Turkey, Penn. Brit. Zool. I. sp. 97. — J. 

 Doughty's collection. 



The most beautiful and interesting bird of North Ame- 

 riea, is the Wild Turkey; and for usefulness, and the de- 

 licacy of its flesh, is not surpassed, if indeed equalled, by 

 any other individual of the feathered tribe on the whole 



