382 



KIDD'S OWN JOUENAL. 



more furious; the hope of conquering him grew 

 fainter. At length, while the attention of the 

 monster was directed towards us, the mate came 

 upon him in an opposite direction, and dealt him 

 a death wound. This relieved us of a burden of 

 anxiety, which indicated itself in the pallid 

 countenances, and nervous agitation of the boat's 

 crew. He was very reluctant to yield, and the 

 struggle was long and violent If a cat has nine 

 lives, as is sometimes remarked, that fellow had 

 nineteen. Before night his blubber was in the 

 try-pots and his jaw was stripped of its covering. 

 On extracting the teeth, the cause of his singular 

 movement was revealed. The cavities in several, 

 contained a large number of worms an eighth of 

 an inch in length. The teeth were perfectly 

 sound, but the marrow or nerve of the tooth, 

 which was an inch in diameter at the lower 

 extremity, was in many of them entirely consumed 

 by the insects that seemed to have bred there. — 

 An awkward customer, this, Mr. Editor! The 

 capture reads well in print, but it must have been 

 " another thing' ' to witness it. — James L., 

 Brighton. 



Chemistry of Nature and Art. — There are 

 some very pretty facts, Mr. Editor, scattered over 

 the periodical, entitled the " Scientific Ameri- 

 can." I have selected some gems, as being 

 worthy of a " setting " in Our Journal. The 

 writer says, — u Within a very short period 

 chemistry has made many discoveries in the pro- 

 duction of artificial odors. Some of the most 

 delicate perfumes exhibited at the ' World's 

 Fair ' were made by chemical artifice, from 

 cheap and otherwise offensive matters. Here- 

 tofore, the scents of shrub3 and flowers used by 

 the rich, the fair and gay, have been obtained 

 from emulsions of those flowers and shrubs them- 

 selves. But now, from the foetid fusil oil, the 

 practical chemist has obtained an ether oil, which 

 has the perfume of sweet pears. This is obtained 

 by distilling it with sulphuric acid, acetate of 

 lead, and alcohol. Sweet-scented apple-oil is 

 obtained in the same manner, only the bichro- 

 mate of potash is employed instead of the acetate 

 of lead. An oil, fragrant as the pine-apple, is 

 obtained from a soap made with butter, and 

 distilled along with alcohol and sulphuric acid. 

 An oil which imitates that derived from almonds, 

 and which is so extensively used for scented 

 soap, is made from offensive coal oil, distilled 

 along with nitric acid. Dr. Hoffman, one of the 

 jury of chemists at the Great Exhibition, was 

 deeply impressed with the importance of these 

 discoveries; and in a letter to Liebig, he par- 

 ticularly directs his attention to them. The com- 

 ponent parts for the production of pear oil, ho 

 states, are one part by measure of fusil oil; two 

 parts of sulphuric acid; six alcohol; and two 

 parts of the acetate of lead. The oil of bitter 

 almonds, is quickly made by having a glass 

 worm with two tubes; through one of which, 

 flows nitric acid; and through the other, benzole. 

 When they meet, they unite ; forming the nitrate 

 of benzole, which is the substitute for the oil of 

 bitter almonds. The most extravagant prices 

 have heretofore been asked and obtained for 

 strong-scented oils. Their prices must soon 

 come down to a more moderate standard. Che- 



mistry has demonstrated the fact, that the per- 

 fumes of flowers are only ether oils; but the 

 flower is still the most skilful chemist, for it 

 neither finds its acids, alkalis, fats, nor alcohol 

 ready made — it collects them from the air, the 

 earth, and the falling rain. This new branch of 

 chemistry should arrest the attention of our che- 

 mists; for there can be no doubt of the fact, that 

 an endless variety of perfumes can be obtained 

 by the distillation of oils, fats, acids, alkalis, and 

 alcohol together. The chemist cannot produce a 

 single blade of grass. In the true sense of the 

 term — although it is so named — there is no such 

 thing as " organic chemistry.'' He only works 

 with non-vitallic matter; but, at the same time, it 

 is certainly a triumph of science to imitate 

 Nature ia any of her productions. This the 

 chemist has done, in those new productions which 

 we have described."— This may truly be called 

 — a wonderful ase! — Observator. 



THE MISCHIEF OF FUN. 



It may be doubted whether malignity 

 itself occasions greater mischief in the world 

 tha.Ti.fun. If society may count up its thou- 

 sands of victims to the venomous propen- 

 sities of the envious and the revengeful, so 

 may it also reckon its thousands of martyrs 

 to propensities the very opposite to theirs — 

 victims to passions the most joyous and 

 guileless — to feelings the most sportive and 

 child-like ; in short, to a taste for frolic — to 

 a love of fun. The malice of an enemy is 

 sometimes not more dangerous than the 

 gamesomeness of a friend ; the slanderous 

 tongues of the envious and the vile often 

 prove far less sharp and fatal, far less pro- 

 ductive of permanent misery to the innocent, 

 than the jocularity of a prankish old fool of 

 a nurse, or the light-hearted sally of an af- 

 fectionate but deplorably-stupid parent. 



There is plenty of tragedy in this life, 

 acted in earnest ; but there is a good deal of 

 real poisoning done "in jest." People toill 

 sport jokes that are no jokes. To every 

 domestic circle into which this page may 

 penetrate, the subject will perhaps suggest 

 some recollection of disasters more or less 

 serious that have arisen from silly and un- 

 thinking frolics, prompted more especially 

 by that for which human nature has so in- 

 tense, so enlightened, and so philanthropic 

 a relish — the fun of frightening people. We 

 hope it may be from no bitter or melancholy 

 experience that the reader concurs with us 

 in seeing " no fun in it." The merry laugh- 

 ing face of this species of " fun," has proved 

 a death's-head ere now ; the figure of " fun " 

 has turned out to be a hideous hobgoblin 

 with outstretched arms — a finger-post point- 

 ing to the next lunatic asylum. If the fatal 

 consequences that frequently ensue from 

 these practical jests admitted of any feeling 

 in the mind, associated however remotely 



