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KIDD'S OWN JOUKNAL. 



dicine told me, he intended to use it this season; 

 but how, he did not state. I have made some 

 experiments (on a very small scale, it is true, but 

 I hope sufficient to prove it to be successful); of 

 these I shall speak but of one, as they were all 

 attended with the same results. I caught twelve 

 common house-flies, putting them into a wide- 

 mouthed bottle ; in this I suspended a very small 

 vial, containing about twenty drops of chloro- 

 form. I then closed the large bottle; and 

 in about eight seconds, all were quite still; 

 to all appearance dead. I then removed them 

 into a glass, to watch their recovery. In a 

 quarter of an hour two had flown from the glass, 

 across the room, though very " daftly." The 

 others were tumbling about quite " half seas 

 over;" but in forty -five minutes all of them had 

 taken wing, and as far as I was able to judge, 

 none the worse. Now as soon as a swarm of 

 bees take possession of a hive, almost the first 

 thing they do is to stop up all the crevices, ex- 

 cluding at the same time both air and wet. In 

 like manner, chloroform, introduced at the en- 

 trance in a small tray, covered over with muslin 

 (such as is used for feeding during winter) would 

 have just the same influence in stupifying them 

 sufficiently to remove the honey ; or let you make 

 any alteration in the hive during suspended ani- 

 mation. When a lad, Mr. Editor, I was just in 

 my element, climbing the fells after curious 

 flowers or stones, and creeping (stalking-fashion) 

 behind a fell, to watch the red deer ; in winter, 

 hunting the fox on foot, among some of the most 

 splendid scenery in my own dear and native 

 Cumberland. But now I am obliged to attend 

 to business in this great City; therefore my 

 wings are, as you plainly see, completely 

 clipped. ^ I thank you much for being the means 

 of my enjoying many spare moments to advan- 

 tage, by reading your Journal ; in every succes- 

 sive number of which I am glad to see'the most 

 wonderful improvement. — Pegasus. 



Interesting Particulars of the Cuckoo. — In our 

 " Preston Pilot," Mr. Editor, is the following:— 

 As I know the particulars to be " facts," I 

 gladly send them to Our Journal. "About six 

 weeks ago, the station-master at the Lostock sta- 

 tion observed a young bird fluttering along one 

 of the railway slopes, a short distance from the 

 junction station at Lostock, about two miles from 

 this town, up to the East Lancashire line. On 

 coming up to it he found it to be a young cuckoo, 

 which had strayed from a titlark's nest close by, 

 in which the parent bird had deposited the egg, 

 and where the young cuckoo had been hatched 

 by the titlarks. An extempore cage was imme- 

 diately made from an old tea chest, the cuckoo 

 was placed in it, and a netting was fixed across 

 the front. The cage was then moved away from 

 near the nest, and the titlarks gradually followed 

 and fed the cuckoo through the meshes of the net. 

 Eventually the cage was suspended, at a con- 

 siderable height from the ground, against the 

 south side of the bridge which crosses the line at 

 the station ; and the titlarks, at the present time, 

 continue to feed the cuckoo from morning till 

 night. It is now six weeks since the bird was 

 caught, and during the whole of that time its 

 food has been provided for it by its foster parents, 



not the least thing having been given to it by any 

 person. The hen lark appears the most atten- 

 tive, and is untiring in her exertions to provide 

 for their protege, which has already attained a 

 bulk three times the size of either of his watchful 

 attendants. We saw the bird one day this week ; 

 and during the ten minutes that we were there, 

 the hen lark visited the cage some four or five 

 times with a worm or other food, which the 

 cuckoo received from it through the netting. The 

 circumstance is one which few, if any, of our 

 readers have ever before had an opportunity of 

 witnessing." — This is a very pretty little anecdote, 

 which will, I am sure, interest your readers. — 

 Edward J., Preston. 



The Hedgehog. — A paragraph is going the 

 rounds, Mr. Editor, to the effect that " a gen- 

 tleman in Norfolk" (a wide specification!) 

 having lost many fowls, laid in wait for the thief. 

 One night he secured him, and detected him in 

 running about after the fowls, one of which he was 

 seen to capture. The thief and enemy was a 

 hedgehog. Do you believe this ? — William P. 



[Assuredly not. It is " a weak invention of 

 the enemy." We will hear no such charges 

 brought against our good friend, the hedgehog. 

 We love him dearly. He hunt fowl, and 

 devour them ! The " gentleman in Norfolk" is a 

 " hungry penny-a-liner!'' a far greater " enemy 

 to fowls," we guess, than the poor hedgehog! ! !] 



Damp Walls. — Several weeks ago, a corre- 

 spondent, J. P., applied to us to know if we could 

 advise him how to remedy the nuisance of damp 

 walls. We were not at the time aware of any 

 recipe for the purpose, but we happened to meet 

 with a paragraph the other day in a respectable 

 work, which we shall here transcribe, in order to 

 afford our correspondent the opportunity to put 

 it to the test: — " A hall, of which the walls were 

 constantly damp though every means were em- 

 ployed to keep them dry, was about to be pulled 

 down, when M. Schmithall recommended, as a 

 last resource, that the walls should be washed 

 with sulphuric acid (vitriol). It was done, and 

 the deliquescent salts being decomposed by the 

 acid, the walls dried, and the hall was afterwards 

 free from dampness." 



Platonic Affection. — Is there, Mr. Editor, any 

 such thing as " Platonic affection?" I am told, 

 you are just the person to set such a matter 

 right. I confess I am " wavering," and need 

 advice. — Primrose. 



[Primroses and Platonic affection, fair maiden, 

 are dangerous associates. Platonic friendship, „ 

 we understand; the world is made up of it. 

 " Affection" must not be allied to such an adjec- 

 tive. Friendship, — modern friendship — is cold ; 

 no icicle can be colder; but affection is all fire. 

 It is dangerous to play with it. You cannot 

 take it "on trial." It burns you if you trifle 

 with it; and upsets all your serenity of mind. 

 Think therefore, twice, before your heart betrays 

 itself. Once caught, your fate is sealed. If any 

 person, other than your own sex, is trying to 

 persuade you to enter upon a " Platonic affec- 

 tion " for him, — avoid him as you would a pesti- 

 lence. He is sailing under false colors. No, 



