156 



KIDD'S LONDON JOUKNAL. 



" The Thrush (of all the throng 

 Sweetest), lets loose her silver words, and sends 

 A message to the linnets near, his friends : " 



and after the tedious confinement of Winter, 

 " life renew' d at all its thousand fountains ?■" 

 The mildness of the climate in this part of 

 Devonshire, unlike that mentioned in your 

 " Natural History of Song Birds " at page 81, 

 renders the months of January and Febru- 

 ary particularly beautiful ; and the time of 

 flowering of many of our Wild plants is so 

 much earlier than our Botanical works men- 

 tion, that I think it worthy of record in 

 your valuable little Journal. I will first 

 remark that on Christmas day last, T found 

 blooming as beautifully as ever, specimens of 

 the Wood Strawberry {Fragaria vesca) which 

 by the bye is scarcely ever out of flower 

 here — the Ox-Eye Daisy — {Chrysanthemum 

 leucanthemwn) — the Red Campion (Lychnis 

 reopertina or divica) and Germander Speedwell 

 {Veronica chamcedrys). The same day, wild 

 ducks {Anas boschas) were flying over the 

 Biver Dart. 



As early as 8th January, that " bonny 

 peasant lass," the primrose {Primula vul- 

 garis), who 



" Doth haunt the hours of Spring, 

 A wood nymph brightening places lone and green," 



was in flower in some situations, recalling 

 Blanco White's beautiful remark on seeing 

 primroses carried by his window. " They 

 were primroses— new primroses — so bloom- 

 ing, so fresh, and so tender, that it might be 

 said their perfume was received by the eye," 

 and about the same time, the woods were 



"All golden with the never bloomless'furze, 

 "Which now blooms most profusely."" 



Coleridge. 



Who can wonder at Linnaeus falling on his 

 knees when he first saw this beautiful shrub, 

 and thanking God for producing it ? On 

 17th January, the Galanthus nivalis (snow- 

 drop) was in flower, (double specimens are 

 frequently found,) and the same day I heard 

 the cry of the green Avoodpecker (Picus 

 viridis) which is considerably earlier than I 

 have remarked it in former years. On the 

 29th, the Periwinkle {Vinca minor) enlivened 

 the hedges with its delicate blue flowers, and 

 in a ramble this clay, (February 7) a warm 

 sunny day — with occasional showers, and 

 cold ones too, making one feel that 



" Winter lingering chills the lap of [Spring "], 



I found on a moist rock, the Golden Saxi- 

 frage (Chrysosplenium oppositifolium), its 

 pretty pale yellow flowers almost hidden 

 amongst the green leaves which encircle 

 them: it derives its name from Chrijsos, gold ; 

 and Splen the spleen ; a disease which this 

 plant was supposed to cure. The Dog's Mer- 

 cury {Mercurialis per ennis) too was just coming 

 into bloom— -a green flower — named after the 



god Mercury, who is said to have discovered 

 its virtues. It is rather an inconspicuous 

 plant, but well worth examination ; the 

 Leontodon taraxacum (Dandelion) I no- 

 ticed for the first time, and the sweet violet 

 {Viola adorata) — 



"The virgin Violet, 

 That nun, who nestling in her cell of leaves, 

 Shrinks from the world in rain^:" 



also the Ivy-leaved Speedwell {Veronica 

 hedenfolia) and Lesser Celandine (Vicaria 

 verna). About 6 o'clock the same evening, 

 I for the first time remarked the common 

 Bat — March or April being the usual time of 

 its appearance. 



' ' On the mountains 

 By the fountains, 

 In the woodlands dim and grey ; — 

 Flowers are springing, souls are singing, 

 On heaven's hills— and ye are they !" 



W. Howitt. 



MODERN « MIRACLES!" 



Electro-Biology, 



It is curious to watch the progress of 

 Humbug ; not only in remote parts of the 

 country, but even in the great City of Lon- 

 don, where folk ought to be wiser. 



To enumerate the whole, or even a tenth 

 part of the humbugs of the day, would fill 

 one entire page of our Journal; let us 

 therefore select one only to fire at ; and that 

 shall be Electro-Biology, a " flash word " for 

 Mesmerism. 



On a recent visit to the Hanover Square 

 rooms, we found a person rejoicing in the 

 name of Darling, — "Doctor" Darling we 

 believe he called himself, practising some of 

 the greatest follies of which any man could 

 be guilty ; and we are pleased to say that a 

 great part of his audience seemed cognisant 

 of the fact. 



Everybody now-a-days knows something 

 of the principle of "Mesmerism," — and few 

 can be ignorant that, as a curative process 

 (apart from all dabbling with mental pheno- 

 mena), much, very much good has been ef- 

 fected by it. Indeed, we have ourselves, on 

 several occasions, released persons from 

 intense suffering, by merely doing what any- 

 body else could do — passing our hands over 

 the seat of pain without attempting to produce 

 sleep. There is nothing " miraculous " in 

 this; but it is a humane and delightful dis- 

 covery in modern science, and it is gratify- 

 ing to know that such curative power does 

 exist in our system. This by the way. 



We found on the platform three indi- 

 viduals, of the masculine gender ; and " Doc- 

 tor " Darling trying hard to convince them 

 one by one, that black was white, white was 

 black, and cold water was vinegar, &c. &c. 

 &c. His patients said "no,"— very fre- 



