48 



THE CABINET OP NATURAL HISTORY, 



As hov'ring o'er the scarlet bloom, 



Or resting on a lily's stem, 

 Does fancy in the rich perfume 



Bring thoughts of love with them? 



And when I see thee quickly dart 



On whirring wing from flower to flower, 



Say, is thy little constant heart 

 Quick beating for thy true love's bower ? 



Go, haste thee, then, sweet bird of love, 

 And quickly sip the rich repast ; 



For birds, as well as mortals, prove 

 That joys the sweetest, seldom last. 



Go, sparkle on thy short-lived day, 

 'Mid Flora's treasures bright, 



Like zephyrs wing thy wanton way, 

 For ah ! too swiftly comes thy night. 



And when at eve thou leav'st my porch, 

 Go lead thy little love to rest ; 



The fire-fly be thy hymen's torch, 

 A full blown rose thy tiny nest 



TO PREVENT HYDROPHOBIA. 



The saliva of the mad dog, has the property, when in- 

 serted under the skin, of communicating hydrophobia to 

 other animals, and to man. M. Coster has been able, by 

 the use of Chlorine, to decompose this deadly poison, and 

 render it harmless, preventing the approach of hydropho- 

 bia in animals bitten by dogs decidedly rabid. There 

 can be no doubt of the accuracy of the experiment on 

 which this statement is predicated. 



From this the most important practical results follow: 



Make a strong wash by dissolving two table-spoonfuls 

 of the chloruret of lime in half a pint of water, and instantly 

 and repeatedly bathe the part bitten. The poison will 

 in this way be decomposed. It has proved successful 

 when applied within six hours after the animal has been 

 bitten. 



From what we now know of the powers of Chlorine, it 

 is not too much to hope for, that it may prove an antidote 

 to every case of poison, provided it be applied in season, 

 and before the system is fatally affected. 



It appears highly probable that hydrogen, from its being 

 the lightest and most subtle of all known ponderable 

 bodies, may enter into the composition of such active 

 agents as poison. Fontana examined the poison of the 

 viper and of other animals, but we know not whether, as 

 in prussic acid, hydrogen is the active principle. In the 

 present No. it appears that Chlorine destroyed the effect 



of prussic acid, the most active poison known, even after it 

 had gone far towards producing death. It is therefore credi- 

 ble, that it may destroy other poisons, having a similar 

 constitution; and we can readily understand the modus 

 operandi in such cases; for Chlorine takes hydrogen from 

 every combination, and of course destroys the peculiar 

 character of the compound. Prussic acid itself consists of 

 nothing but the ordinary elements of animal matter, such 

 as are daily used for food; but in the acid they are 

 combined in a peculiar manner, and the withdrawing of 

 hydrogen from it, at once subverts the combination, and 

 renders it harmless. 



The practical use which we would make of the facts 

 which we know, and of the theoretical views which we en- 

 tertain is, that Chloride of Lime should be kept in every 

 family ready for instant use in the multiplied cases in 

 which it is applicable. — Silliman's Journal. 



EFFICACY OF AMMONIA IN CURING THE STINGS OF BEES, 

 AND COUNTERACTING OTHER POISONS. 



BY Dtt. CHURCH, OF C0OPEHSTOWJT, IT. T. 



A young man in this place had accidentally overset a 

 hive of bees, and before he could escape, they had settled, 

 in great numbers, on different parts of his body and limbs, 

 and stung him very severely. It was about half an hour after 

 the accident happened, when he came to my office irt 

 great agony, and he had scarcely time to give an account 

 of it before he fainted. I immediately applied the ammo- 

 nia to the parts that had been stung, his legs, arms, and 

 breast. He directly recovered from his faintness, and ex- 

 perienced no pain or other inconvenience afterwards. 



It is several years since I first used the aqua ammoniae, 

 to counteract the effect of the bites of insects and stings 

 of bees, and it has invariably produced instant relief — gene- 

 rally complete. I have often seen children crying in ex- 

 cessive pain from the sting of a bee, and on the application 

 of the ammonia they would immediately cease complaining 

 and become cheerful; so complete and sudden is the relief 

 it produces. I always use it for musquito bites, and they 

 never trouble me farther. I was led to the use of it in these 

 cases, from the instantaneous effect it was said to have in 

 counteracting the operation of prussic acid. In the second 

 number of the American Journal of Medical Sciences, 

 (Philadelphia,) for last year, it will be seen that Dr. Moore, 

 of Alabama, used it with great success in the cure of ve- 

 nomous serpents. I have sometimes noticed that the ap- 

 plication is more efficacious than at others, and I think it 

 must be on account of its being sometimes carbonated and 

 at others not. — lb. 



