KIDD'S LONDON JOURNAL. 



255 



be to impede its progress ; and my en- 

 deavors to stem the current of his discourse, 

 were as vain as those of one who should 

 attempt to turn the course of a cannon ball 

 with a bodkin, or to blow against the falls of 

 Niagara. 



" You are drinking Madeira, I perceive," 

 he remarked, " [ shall be happy to join you, 

 not that I drink now-a-days, I have abjured 

 it long ago, ever since my last duel. You 

 must have read the account of it in the 

 papers — -Trigger and Storks ? No ! I'll tell 

 you how it occurred. It was after dinner at 

 the mess, one evening ; the wine had circu- 

 lated pretty freely, and there was a great 

 deal of conversation. Lieut. Storks, amongst 

 others, was violent — rampant, as I may say, 

 in his conversation. He was always a fiery 

 little fellow — fine fellow, though — but ex- 

 tremely absurd — ignorant, wo fully ignorant. 

 He would have it that Virgil was a Latin 

 poet, and that Galileo was not a Swede ; and 

 went so far, upon my attempting to set him 

 right on these points, as to call me a pre- 

 sumptuous and ignorant coxcomb. You 

 inquire, I perceive, what 1 did upon this pro- 

 vocation ? Threw the contents of my wine- 

 glass into his face ; that was all — I give you 

 ray word. 



" The next morning, Major Fireball burst 

 into my room, and shaking me by the 

 shoulder, vociferated — ' Trigger, you must 

 fight. Honor calls.' ' Fight, my dear fel- 

 low,' said I, starting up in bed, •' fight? fight 

 for what ? ' ' No apology received — never 

 make apologies in the army — compelled to 

 fight a man who could take off a pin's head 

 at twenty paces.' " 



" Well, Sir, you went out of course ? " 



li Went out, Sir, of course ; and winged 

 him, Sir — winged him, by Jupiter ! " 



" How, Captain : then he fired in the 

 air ? '; 



" Fired in the hair, rather, my dear boy, 

 ha ! ha ! shaved off my left whisker, I assure 

 you. Do you know, there is one thing I 

 never could avoid doing. I did it in this 

 same business with Storks. I have heard 

 some of our old fighting Colonels and Majors 

 laugh at the notion : but I assert, Sir, that 

 no man ever feels a bullet whizzing past him, 

 but he bobs, Sir, he bobs. When I first went 

 into a field of battle, I stuck my head firmly 

 between my shoulders, and said I to myself, 

 hang me if I do bob ; but I could not help it 

 — no man could help it. You hear a ball 

 coming past you on the left — you bob — 

 thus ; — another conies whizzing on the 

 right — you bob — so : — must bob — depend 

 upon it." 



I thought this a favorable opportunity of 

 expatiating on the Captain's courage, more 

 especially exemplified, I thought, in the mo- 

 desty with which he detailed his exploits, and 



the frank avowal he had made of his bobbing 

 propensity. 



" Courage, my dear fellow, courage," he 

 interposed, "is of two qualities, negative and 

 positive — and of two descriptions, animal and 

 moral. I enjoy both in perfection. Now, 

 I'll tell you a circumstance that does not 

 seem, at first sight, to reflect much credit on 

 my courage — my animal courage ; but mark 

 the moral intrepidity — pray discover the 

 noble bravery — a contempt of custom. You 

 must know, Sir, I was at one time paying 

 certain little delicate attentions to a young 

 lady — fine girl — noble creature — with as 

 pretty a four hundred a-year as man could 

 desire to see in a quarterly course of pay- 

 ment. Well, Sir, there was another — a hated 

 rival — countenanced by the mother, a venem- 

 ous old basilisk, killing to look upon — you 

 know the sort of person I speak of. In the 

 meantime I was creating an interest in the 

 right quarter — mark me — making the post- 

 office echo with my sighs, and casting sheep's 

 eyes out of a calf's head, as the poet says, 

 ha ! ha ! This of course was gall and worm- 

 wood to my rival, but honey and treacle to me. 

 (To be Concluded next Week.) 



ANIMALCULES,-— 

 Their Organisation, and Functions. 



The globules of blood in animalcules, small 

 as they are, are exceeded in minuteness by 

 innumerable creatures whose existence the 

 microscope has disclosed, and whose entire 

 bodies are inferior in magnitude to the glo- 

 bules of blood. — Microscopic research has 

 disclosed the existence of animals, a million 

 of which do not exceed the bulk of a grain 

 of sand, and yet each of these is composed 

 of members as admirably suited to their 

 mode of life as those of the largest species. 

 Their motions display all the phenomena of 

 vitality, sense, and instinct. In the liquids 

 which they inhabit, they are observed to 

 move with the most surprising speed and 

 agility ; nor are their motions and actions 

 blind and fortuitous, but evidently governed 

 by choice and directed to an end. They 

 use food and drink, by which they are 

 nourished, and must therefore be supplied 

 with a digestive apparatus. They exhibit 

 muscular power far exceeding in strength 

 and flexibility, relatively speaking, the larger 

 species. They are susceptible of the same 

 appetites, and obnoxious to the same pas- 

 sions as the superior animals, and though 

 differing in degree, the satisfaction of these 

 desires is attended with the same results as 

 in our own species. Spalanzani observes, 

 that certain animalcules devour others so 

 voraciously that they fatten and become 

 indolent and sluggish by over-feeding. After 

 a meal of this kind, if they be confined in 



