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KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



have copied from a book called " Modern Syrians," 

 which will aid your views : — " Do I look like an 

 invalid ?" said my friend Eyoub, chuckling with 

 good humor. Once on a time, a French doctor 

 came to Damascus to seek his fortune. When he 

 saw the luxurious vegetation, he said, This is the 

 place for me — plenty of fever. And then on see- 

 ing the abundance of water, he said, More fever 

 — no place like Damascus ! When he entered the 

 town, he asked the people, " What is this build- 

 ing?" " A bath." " And what is that building?" 

 " A bath." And that overbuilding?" "A bath." 

 " Out upon the baths, they will take the bread out 

 of my mouth," said the doctor : I must seek fever 

 practice elsewhere. So he turned back, went out 

 at the gate again, and hied him elsewhere. There 

 is a sly hint in this, Sir, that we might all take, and 

 turn to account. — J. R. 



The Swarming of Bees. — Is there any use, 

 Mr. Editor, in making a noise to attract bees 

 whilst swarming ? If not, surely the absurd prac- 

 tice might be dispensed with. — Anne P. 



[The practice that now prevails of striking a 

 tin-kettle with an old key, when bees are throwing 

 off a swarm, is an absurdity. It originated in an 

 ancient custom or law, which made it necessary 

 for the owner of a swarm which flew to a distance, 

 to follow them with this kind of " music " (!) in 

 order to establish a claim to them as his property.] 



Bure Air. — You are such an advocate, Mr. Edi- 

 tor, for air, — pure air, and take so much pains to 

 instil into us the necessity for our breathing it, 

 that I offer no apology for sending you the fol- 

 lowing, which I have abridged from Dr. South- 

 wood^ Smith's " Philosophy of Health," giving a 

 description of the functions of the lungs, whilst 

 he also demonstrates the great importance of pure 

 air. It appears that when respiration is performed 

 naturally, there are about 18 respirations in 

 one minute, 1,080 in the hour, and 25,920 in the 24 

 hours. By each inspiration a pint of air is sent 

 to the lungs — that is, 18 pints in a minute ; in the 

 hour more than 2 hogsheads, and in the 24 hours 

 more than 57 hogsheads. When the body is in 

 a state of health, there will be 72 pulsations of the 

 heart in one minute. Every pulsation Bends to 

 the lungs two ounces of blood. Thus, 146 ounces, 

 about an imperial gallon, are sent to the lungs, 

 for the purpose of arterialisation or purification 

 every minute. In one hour there are sent 450 

 pints, in 24 hours nearly 11,000 pints. The blood 

 performs a complete circuit in the system in 

 110 seconds, and 540 circuits in 24 hours. There 

 are three complete circulations of the blood in 

 every eight minutes of time. The object of this 

 beautiful arrangement is to ventilate the blood. 

 A constant supply of fresh air is an absolute ne- 

 cessity of our nature. If we are deprived of it, 

 we die at once. If the air is vitiated we suffer 

 languor, which very often results in disease. — At 

 this season, my dear Sir, I think these remarks 

 may be read with much profit to us all. If you 

 think so, please to insert them. — Heartsease, 

 Hants. 



The First Necessary of Life. — Potatoes con- 

 tain 75 per cent, (by weight) and turnips no less 

 than 90 per cent, of water ; which explains, by 



the way, the small inclination of turnip-fed cattle 

 and sheep for drink. A beefsteak, strongly 

 pressed between blotting paper, yields nearly four- 

 fifths of its weight of water. Of the human 

 frame (bones included) only about one-fourth is 

 solid matter (chiefly carbon and nitrogen); the 

 rest is water. If a man weighing 10 stone were 

 squeezed flat under a hydraulic press, 7£ stone of 

 water would run out, and only 2£ stone of dry 

 residue would remain. A man is, therefore, che- 

 mically speaking, 45 lbs. of carbon and nitrogen 

 diffused through 5 J pailsful of water. Berzelius, 

 indeed, in recording the fact, justly remarks that 

 " the living organism is to be regarded as a mass 

 diffused in water ;" and Dalton, by a series of ex- 

 periments tried on his own person, found that of 

 the food with which we daily repair this water- 

 built fabric, five-sixths are also water. Thus 

 amply does science confirm the popular saying, 

 that water is the " first necessary of life." — Gr. 



Force of Lightning. — A person may be killed 

 by lightning, although the explosion takes place 

 at the distance of twenty miles, by what is called 

 the back-stroke. Suppose that the two extre- 

 mities of a cloud, highly charged with electricity, 

 hang down towards the earth, they repel the 

 electricity from the earth's surface, if it be of the 

 same kind with their own, and will attract the 

 other kind ; and if a discharge should suddenly 

 take place at one end of the cloud, the equili- 

 brium will instantly be restored by a flash at that 

 point of the earth which is under the other. 

 Though the back-stroke is often sufficiently 

 powerful to destroy life, it is never so terrible in 

 its effects as the direct shot, which is of incon- 

 ceivable intensity. Instances, Mrs. Somerville 

 tells us, have occurred, in which large masses of 

 iron and stone, and even many feet of stone wall r 

 have been conveyed to a considerable distance by 

 a stroke of lightning. Rocks and the tops of 

 mountains often bear the marks of fusion from its 

 action, and occasionally vitreous tubes, descend- 

 ing many feet into banks of sand, mark the path 

 of the electric fluid. Some years ago, Dr. 

 Fielder exhibited several of these fulgorites in 

 London, of considerable length, which had been 

 dug out of the sandy plains of Silesia and Eastern 

 Prussia. One found at Paderborn was forty feet 

 long. Their ramifications generally terminated 

 in pools or springs of water below the sand, which 

 are supposed to determine the course of the 

 electric fluid. No doubt the soil and sub strata 

 must influence its direction, since it is found by 

 experience that places which have been struck 

 by lightning are often struck again. A school- 

 house in Lammer-Muir, in East Lothian, has 

 been struck three different times. — Angelina. 



Insects. — Previously to taking any steps for the 

 destruction of injurious insects, it is indispensable 

 that we should be well acquainted with them and 

 their economy, not only in their perfect state but 

 in their different stages. For it might easily 

 happen that we might destroy those most benefi- 

 cial to our fruit and forest trees, and suffer their 

 enemies to remain. Let us take one single in- 

 stance as an example. Entire heaps of small 

 cocoons are seen on the bark of trees, often not 

 larger than the eggs of many butterflies. The 



