KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



397 



myself in 1799, and flowered in 1802. We raised 

 numerous varieties from seed up to 1816; gene- 

 rally selling them to Messrs. Lee, who sent them 

 out under their own naming. I can vouch for 

 the truth of the above. — The above can hardly 

 fail to interest all who love the Moss Eose. — 

 Snow-duop. 



A Sparrow hilled by the Electric Wires. — On 

 Monday last, Mr. Editor, at the Stockport 

 station, a sparrow was observed to alight upon 

 one of the wires of the electric telegraph. The 

 bird did not exhibit the slightest symptoms of 

 uneasiness; but, on the contrary, kept hopping 

 about and chirping, as sparrows are wont to do, 

 for about a minute. It then fell suddenly upon 

 the ground, and died in about five minutes after- 

 wards. This was, no doubt, produced by the 

 shock which the bird received from the electric 

 current passing along the wire, and which was 

 sufficient, in this case, to suspend animation. — 

 J. B., Stockport. 



A Live Mussel said to be imbedded in Sand.— 

 The following, Mr. Editor, is recorded in the 

 last number of the Preston Pilot. If true, it cer- 

 tainly is very curious. A few days ago, as some 

 men were making the necessary excavations for 

 the sewerage in a field below the Ormskirk parish 

 church, on the Southport-road, one of the men 

 found a mussel lodged in a bed of sand, about 

 six feet from the surface. The fish was alive 

 and healthy. The sand in which it was found 

 was of a light and porous nature, similar to that 

 on the sea-shore, and quite unlike the soil by 

 which it was surrounded. It must have been 

 lodged there for a vast number of years. It re- 

 quires strong faith to believe this, — does it not? 

 — James L., Northallerton. 



[We cannot attempt to put this forth as a 

 " fact,' 1 but record it as an on dit.'} 



The Cheese Mite.— A very minute apterous in- 

 sect, of the acarus genus. It is so small as to be 

 very nearly microscopic. It accumulates, in great 

 multitudes, upon dry decayed cheese ; and by an 

 extraordinary perversity of taste, it constitutes, in 

 the estimation of many gourmands, a grand re- 

 commendation of the putrid caseous masses which 

 it overruns and inhabits! How it gets into cheese 

 is not known. A colony of it, as seen through a 

 microscope, are interesting objects of both curious 

 and scientific observation. But how they can be 

 pleasant subjects of mastication, or desirable 

 tenants of the human stomach, none but gour- 

 mands and gross feeders are able to conceive. A 

 cheese-mite has eight legs; and between two 

 claws, on the foremost four of these, is along- 

 necked vesicle which possesses great capacity of 

 inflation and contraction. When the mite sets 

 down its foot, the vesicle inflates. When the 

 creature lifts up its foot, the vesicle contracts. — 

 W. T. 



[Decayed cheese, eaten in excess, is little bet- 

 ter than poison.] 



The Cocoa-nut Crab. — M. Darwin, in his 

 " Voyage Round the World," thus describes a 

 crab which lives upon cocoa-nuts, and which he 

 found on Keeling Island, in the South Seas: — 



'* It is very common on all parts of this dry land, 

 and grows to a monstrous size. It has a front 

 pair of legs, terminated by strong and heavy pin- 

 cers, and the least pair by others which are nar- 

 row and weak. It would at first sight be thought 

 impossible for a crab to open a strong cocoa-nut 

 covered with the husk; but M. Liesk assures me he 

 has repeatedly seen the operation effected. The 

 crab begins by tearing away the husk, fibre by 

 fibre, and always from that end under which the 

 three eye-holes are situated. When this is com- 

 pleted, the crab commences hammering with its 

 heavy claws on one of these eye-holes, till an 

 opening is made. Then, turning round its body, 

 by the aid of its posterior and narrow pair of pin- 

 cers, it extracts the white albuminous substance." 

 I think this is as curious a case of instinct as ever 

 I heard of, and likewise cf adaptation in struc- 

 ture between two objects apparently so remote 

 from each other in the scheme of nature, as a crab 

 and a cocoa-nut. — William T. 



How to make Old Oak. — The appearance of old 

 oak maybe obtained by exposing any article of new 

 oak to the vapors of ammonia. Every variety of 

 tint may be procured, according to the duration 

 and temperature of the volatile compounds. A 

 new oak-carved arm-chair, exposed to the vapors 

 of ammonia, will, in about twelve hours, have all 

 the appearance of its having been made 200 years 

 before.— E. B. 



Confined Air. — A schoolboy carrying about 

 him a pocketful of marbles, carries enclosed in 

 these playthings, air sufficient in quantity, and 

 sufficiently noxious in quality, to p event him, if 

 he received, it into his lungs, from ever playing at 

 marbles any more. Again, from a very small 

 quantity of reel-lead, so much air of another kind 

 may be extracted, as, if the boy were to breathe 

 it, when almost dead from the effects of his mar- 

 ble dose, would rekindle the expiring embers of 

 life, and give him the power and disposition to 

 roll his mortal and innocent bullet about again. 

 — Lector. 



PHILOSOPHERS AND PHILOSOPHY. 



The word " philosopher" had its origin 

 in the modesty of the first who bore the 

 name. " Call me not wise," said he, " but a 

 lover of wisdom." 



Words, by long use, become warped from 

 their original meaning, and are put out of 

 shape by means of an ignorant handling; so 

 that, now-a -days, the term philosopher gives 

 intimation rather of the possession than of 

 the mere love of wisdom. Ancient philoso • 

 phers courted wisdom, were humble suitors 

 to her. Modern philosophers have married 

 her ; she has become bone of their bone, and 

 flesh of their flesh ; and philosophy now sig- 

 nifies wisdom gained, not merely wisdom 

 sought. To give any one the name of a 

 philosopher, is a compliment ; to assume it, is 

 an arrogance. Philosophy, however, such as 

 it is, is now so exceedingly common, that the 

 arrogance of its assumption is greatly abated, 



