KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



123 



ment of some, and, may be, to their profit. If you 

 should not find tins dissertation too lengthy, please 

 give it a corner. — Bombyx Atlas. 



Cure for Rheumatism, Scalds, and Sprains. — 

 Can you tell me any really efficient remedy, for 

 giving relief from suffering in the above cases ? 

 I have noticed your remarks about the wadding 

 as a panacea for lumbago, and have seen it tried 

 in several instances with complete success. I am 

 aware that the simplest remedies are generally the 

 best, and shall indeed feel glad if you can aid me 

 in my present inquiry. — Charles W. 



[You are right. Simple remedies are always 

 the best. Provide yourself with some of " Mea- 

 sam's Medicated Cream," and apply it freely 

 according to the directions therewith given. We 

 need say no more, as the experiment is so inex- 

 pensive, and so easily made. We had a severely- 

 sprained hand not long since, and by using this 

 only once, we derived wonderful benefit. In cases 

 of rheumatism, too, its virtues can hardly be 

 sufficiently estimated. Its chief recommendation 

 is, the, power it possesses of thoroughly cleansing 

 the skin ; thus assisting insensible perspiration 

 and inducing a healthy state of body.] 



Early Spring. — Whilst I now write (Feb. 6), 

 our blackbirds, thrushes, missel-thrushes, chaf- 

 finches, &c, are in full voice. They have been 

 rehearsing for some time. Several of the cock 

 birds are now fighting outside my window — in an 

 arbutus tree, hard by. The wood-pigeons build 

 in the firs and evergreens close to our house. 

 One nest was not ten feet from the end of it. 

 The squirrels also are very busy building their 

 nest just over our front gate, in a large red cedar 

 tree. They may be seen running about on the 

 lawn, almost any day ; and as they are not allowed 

 to be molested, they make this place their head- 

 quarters. It is very interesting to see them 

 playing round the trunk of a noble elm, which 

 grows on the lawn, about sixty feet from the front 

 door ; they generally have a brood in the shrubbery, 

 close to the drawing-room windows, and are very 

 constantly passing on the gravel in front. I will 

 shortly send you an interesting account of a tame 

 one that I had, which lived in the house for above 

 eighteen months, and then died. It will be 

 another illustration of the "effects of kindness." — 

 C. F. T. Y., Stockleigh Pomeroy, Devon. 



[Thank you. Send us the paper on the Squir- 

 rel by all means. It will be most acceptable.] 



Influence of the Moon in Tropical Climates. — I 

 find the following interesting remarks, in "Martin's 

 Historyof the British Colonies." It is worthy 

 a place in the columns of Our Own. — Whilst con- 

 sidering the climate of tropical countries, the 

 influence of the moon seems to be entirely over- 

 looked; and surely, if the tides of the vast ocean 

 are raised from their fathomless bed by lunar 

 power, it is not too much to assert that the tides 

 of the atmosphere are liable to a similar influence ; 

 this much is certain, that, in the low land of 

 tropical countries, no attentive observer of nature 

 will fail to witness the power exercised by the 

 moon over the seasons, and also over animal and 

 vegetable nature. As regards the latter, it may 



be stated, that there are certainly thirteen springs 

 and thirteen autumns in Demerara in the year ; 

 for so many times does the sap of trees ascend to 

 the branches and descend to the roots. For 

 example, wallaba (a resinous tree, common in the 

 Demerara woods, somewhat resembling maho- 

 gany, ) if cut down in the dark, a few days before 

 the new moon, is one of the most durable woods 

 in the world for house-building, posts, &c. In that 

 state, attempt to split it, and, with the utmost 

 difficulty, it would be riven in the most jagged 

 and unequal manner that can be imagined. Cut 

 down another ivallaba (that grew within a few 

 yards of the former) at full moon, and the tree 

 can be easily split into the finest smooth shingles, 

 of any desired thickness; or into staves for making 

 casks ; but, in this state, applied to house-building 

 purposes, it speedily decays. Again, bamboos, 

 as thick as a man's arm, are sometimes used for 

 paling, &c. : if cut at the dark moon, they will 

 invariably endure for ten or twelve years; if at 

 full moon, they will be rotten in two or three 

 years. Thus it is w T ith most, if not all, of the forest 

 trees. Of the effects of the moon on animal life, 

 very many instances could be cited. I have seen 

 in Africa, newly-littered young perish in a few 

 hours, at the mother's side, if exposed to the rays 

 of the full moon ; fish become rapidly putrid ; and 

 meat, if left exposed, incurable or unpreservable 

 by salt, — the mariner, heedlessly sleeping on the 

 deck, becoming afflicted with nyctolopia or night 

 blindness ; at times the face hideously swollen, if 

 exposed during sleep, to the moon's rays; the 

 maniac's paroxysms renewed w r ith fearful vigor at 

 the full and change ; and the cold damp chill of 

 the ague supervening on the ascendancy of this 

 apparently mild yet powerful luminary. Let her 

 influence over this earth be studied ; it is more 

 powerful than is generally known — Emily P. 



The Bed Men of North America. — The whole 

 number of red men still surviving in North 

 America is estimated at 400,000 ; and of these it 

 is calculated that 18,000 still linger in the country 

 east of the Mississippi — that is to say, in the 

 organised territories of the Union. There are 

 said to be about 150,000 Indians in California and 

 New Mexico, 12,000 in the Utah or Mormon 

 country, 23,000 in Oregon, 63,000 in the Plains 

 and Kocky Mountains, 29,000 in Texas ; and 

 about 110,000 in Minnesota and along the Texan 

 border. — Lector . 



Effects of Spring on the Sap in Trees. — The 

 fact that physiologists differ in their opinions as 

 to the circulation of the sap in plants, and the 

 consequent phenomena exhibited in their eco- 

 nomy, is, of course, conclusive evidence that the 

 subject is not thoroughly understood. This being 

 admitted, no apology is necessary in offering, for 

 the consideration of those interested in the sub- 

 ject, some opinions, the result of facts — or, at 

 least, what appear to me as facts — gleaned from 

 recent investigation. I have often observed in 

 examining the stools from which Oaks have 

 recently been cut in spring, a diversity of appear- 

 ance; caused by the rising sap, which continued 

 to exude for some time after the trees were felled. 

 Thus, some would show that, at the time of 

 felling the tree, the sap had risen exclusively 



