222 



KIDD'S LONDON JOURNAL, 



grumbling at the small value of his corn. Well 

 is it for us that an all -wise Director sits at the 

 helm of affairs ! If the reins of power were in 

 our hands, we should, Phaeton like, make a 

 sad mess of it indeed ! Let me volunteer now 

 on the part of my prote'ge', to withdraw the re- 

 cord, and enter a new plea of " guilty." The 

 trembling defendant can then be brought up at 

 once for "judgment;" and after being repri- 

 manded (if such be deemed at all necessary), I 

 urge his immediate discharge. We shall all of us 

 hear his lovely voice somewhere this summer, 

 as we journey about in the neighborhood of corn- 

 fields; and never shall any of us repent having 

 let the " divine attribute of mercy " interfere 

 on his behalf. " Use every man according to 

 his deserts, and who would escape whipping?" — 

 W. Kidd, Hammersmith, May 20, 1851. 



Irish Larks — If Mr. Kidd means to say tha^ 

 there are no larks in Ireland, or that they do not 

 sing, I am happy to assure him that they not 

 only abound, but sing gloriously. I have never 

 indeed heard the like in any other land. I 

 have a suspicion, too, that the nightingale, nacht- 

 i-gallen (old German — to sing a'nights) comes 

 sometimes, but rarely, rarely. — H. M'Cormac, 

 M.D., Belfast, July 16, 1851. 



Irish Larks, Sfc. — If Dr. M'Cormac will have 

 the politeness to read my passing remarks upon 

 the " skylark in Ireland " once more, — he will 

 find I spoke of their frequenting that " strange 

 land" in armies, — not of there being none to 

 be found there, — far otherwise. As for their 

 singing " gloriously," I ventured playfully to 

 doubt this on the authority of a worthy contri- 

 butor to the Gardeners' Chronicle, who, under 

 the nom de guerre of " A Shilmalier," stated that 

 in Ireland guns were in constant requisition . to 

 slaughter them by the million. Nay, — he even 

 solicited my " kind aid " in inventing some 

 means to annihilate their race altogether, and so 

 save his crops from total destruction. My 

 remark, therefore, that they rose upon the wing 

 with " every disposition " to sing, but minus the 

 power, is hardly incorrect, — for the moment they 

 opened their sweet mouths, an explosion took 

 place from below and great was their fall. Vox 

 audita perit ! They sang their own requiem in 

 one short stanza. As for your correspondent's 

 shrewd u suspicion " that the nightingale does, 

 though "rarely,'' visit Ireland, — all I can say is, — 

 let us charitably hope so. Such a voice, in such 

 a country, ought to carry all before it. If other- 

 wise, let us drop on it the tear of " pity." — W. 

 Kidd, July 24, 1851. 



Irish Larks. — If Mr. Kidd will venture him- 

 self in Ireland — though " such a land," having 

 dropped all his " tears" (since, thanks to Eng- 

 lish and Irish management, we do not need to 

 import any), I shall kindly welcome him ; and 

 some dewy morning, if in spring, treat him to a 

 concert of Irish larks that shall ravish his very 

 soul with joy ! — J. M'Cormac, M.I)., Belfast, 

 Aug. 9, 1851. 



verdict — for the defendant. 



THE ELECTRIC FLUID,— 

 Is it Attracted by Color? 



The effects of lightning have seldom or 

 never perhaps been more singularly de- 

 veloped than in the instance of a cow, the 

 property Gf Mr. Samuel Purser (a tenant of 

 Lord Leigh's) on Frogmore Farm, near 

 Morton-in Marsh. After a thunderstorm, 

 which occurred in the middle of the day, and 

 lasted about two hours, one of a number of 

 dairy cows, all well in the morning, was ob- 

 served to be standing in the pasture with her 

 legs straddling apart, indicative of serious 

 indisposition. On being approached and ex- 

 amined, she was found to be stiff and hide- 

 bound, and it was with some difficulty that 

 she was got home and placed in a stall 

 where she was bled and drenched. Her color 

 was red and white. In a few hours, all the 

 red hair in every part of her skin, came off, 

 leaving the white hair whole and fast ; the 

 animal continuing very ill. Those parts of 

 the shin which had borne red hair, became 

 raised at the edges, and eventually withered 

 and scaled off. Every atom of red hair, and 

 also of hide underneath it, came off, leaving 

 exposed the raw flesh underneath. After a 

 time, and dressing the raw parts with 

 " goose-greese" a cicatrised skin grew over 

 the parts, and the cow eventually recovered 

 its health ; but no hair came again, nor was 

 the new skin like hide. In some parts of 

 the animal, the red hair extended to the size 

 of a pocket handkerchief, and in others ran 

 to the width of a finger only. All those 

 parts of the cow covered with white hair 

 remained uninjured, either in the hair or 

 hide. It is remarkable that there was no 

 appearance of the hair having been singed, 

 even on those parts which were destroyed. 

 The cow's milk being dried up, she was 

 fatted and slaughtered by Butcher Ellis of 

 Morton-in-Marsh. 



The evidence in support of the conclusion 

 that electric fluid was the immediate cause 

 of this extraordinary ailment in the beast, 

 extends no further than probability. The 

 owner of the cow, his immediate neighbor, 

 Mr. Richard Rimell, and the adjoining 

 farmers (all tenants of Lord Leigh, on his 

 Loughborough estate), had no second opinion, 

 but that the cow had been struck by light- 

 ning. It is to be regretted however, that 

 so interesting a case should not have been 

 made public at the time, so as to have drawn 

 the attention of scientific people to the pheno- 

 mena. — R. D. 



The Advantage of LiviNG does not consist 

 in the length of days, but in the right improve- 

 ment of them. As many days as we pass without 

 doing some good, are so many days entirely 

 lost. 



