
KIDD’S OWN JOURNAL. 

it is well-known that the yellow-billed sprat, the 
bottle-nosed cavalla, rock-fish, and at times the 
king-fish, are sometimes poisonous, and cause 
immediate death—yet that the sea surrounding 
Anegada abounds in perfectly wholesome fish of 
these kinds; and that whilst frequent cases of 
poisoning by fish occur in the neighboring 
islands, not a single instance has ever been 
known in Anegada, where the, in other places, 
poisonous kinds are eaten with impunity. Mr. 
W. Hamilton confirms this account of the poison- 
ous nature of some of these fishes when taken 
off various of the West-India Islands; stating 
that the yellow-billed sprat at St. Kitt’s and 
Nevis, for eleven months in the year, is a most 
deadly poison; whilst in the twelfth, he thinks 
in April, it is perfectly wholesome. So fatal is 
peat enegro eile bias /beemikenonm) toes pae, ’"Mongst the proud piles, the work of human kind. 
whilst eating it! This quality must render it a 
questionable luxury, even in the wholesome 
season. Again, all the fish taken on the north- 
west of St. Kitt’s, and between it and St. Hus- 
tatia, is said to be poisonous; although fish of the 
very same kind, found on the other coasts of the 
island, is harmless. Mr. W. Hamilton properly 
directs attention to the noxious effects of fish in 
a certain stage of decomposition ; but fairly re- 
marks that the facts respecting the periodicity of 
the poisonous nature of some fishes are left un- 
touched by this. Again, what is the truth re- 
specting the alleged poisonous properties acquired 
by fish, &c., when exposed to the moon’s rays 
in tropical seas, yet which will remain perfectly 
wholesome if sheltered from these rays? Facts, 
not notions, on these points, would be very wel- 
come to the scientific world, if the residents in 
those islands, or frequenters of those seas, would 
direct their attention to them, and communicate 
the results of their investigations.—H. J. 
Eingravings Copied by means of Iodine.—M. 
Niepce de St. Victor investigated some few years 
since, the action of various vapors on the surfaces 
of drawings and engravings ; and then noticed that 
the vapor of iodine adhered to the black parts of 
an engraving, in preference to the clear white 
spaces, in such a manner, that the impression 
might be transferred to paper imbued, or to glass 
covered with a solution of starch ; but that these 
copies were fugitive. From recent experiments, 
he finds that these copies may be rendered per- 
manent by dipping the design, thus transferred to 
the starched glass or paper, into a solution of nitrate 
of silver; when it disappears. It is then to be ex- 
posed to the light for a few seconds, whereby the 
iodide of silver, formed by the action of the silver 
solution on the iodine-starch compound, is rapidly 
colored, owing to its superior sensitiveness to the 
action of light, in comparison to the nitrate ; and 
when the glass or paper, after this exposure, is 
plunged into a solution of gallic acid the design is 
developed, after which it must be washed with 
hyposulphite of soda like other photographs, to 
render it unalterable. Another process is described 
by M. Bayard, who exposes the engraving to the 
iodine vapor, then places it in contact with a plate 
of glass covered with sensitive albumen, which 
yields a negative, and from this plate he procures 
positive impressions by the ordinary methods 
adopted by photographers; he by having, those 



119 

means, successfully copied some valuable old en- 
grayings, without their being in the least degree 
distorted.—H. 
Hymn of the City :— 
Not in the solitude 
Alone, may man commune with Heaven, or see 
Only in savage wood 
And sunny vale the present Deity ; 
Or only hear his voice 
Where the winds whisper and the waves rejoice. 
Even here do I behold 
Thy steps, Almighty !—here, amidst the crowd 
Through the great City rolled, 
With everlasting murmur, deep and loud— 
Choking the ways that wind 
Thy golden sunshine comes 
From the round Heaven, and on their dwelling 
hes, 
And lights their inner homes— 
For them thou fill’st with air the unbounded 
skies, 
And givest them the stores 
Of ocean, and the harvests of its shores. 
Thy spirit is around, 
Quickening the restless mass that sweeps along ; 
And this eternal sound— 
Voices and footfalls of the numberless throng— 
Like the resounding sea, 
Or like the rainy tempest—speaks of Thee. 
And when the hours of rest 
Come, like a calm upon the mid-sea brine, 
Hushing its billowy breast— 
The quiet of that moment, too, is thine ; 
It breathes of Him who keeps 
The vast and helpless City while it sleeps. 
Bryant. 

Plants in Bed-Rooms.—A silly paragraph has 
been going the rounds of the daily papers, to the 
effect that plants, or flowers in bed-rooms, are not 
injurious! It is well to correct this silly state- 
ment. Let any one try the experiment for one 
single night. Flowers not only part with carbonic 
acid at night, but they give forth a very power- 
ful odor, which has a violert effect on the nervous 
system of very many persons. The air of a bed- 
chamber is sufficiently vitiated by its human 
occupants. There needs not the presence of other 
vitiating objects !—Amicus. 
[Your observations are perfectly just. It is to 
be regretted, that the public papers should fill 
up their columns with such nonsense as they do. | 

Reproduction of the Toad and Frog, without 
the intermediate stage of Tadpole.—The following 
brief remarks on the Toad (Bufo vulgaris) and the 
Frog (Rana temporaria), may perhaps be received 
with some degree of interest, as they are, I believe, 
contrary to the generally-received notion of the 
procreation of these reptiles. Ray, and most 
naturalists, consider toads and frogs as oviparous 
animals; yet it is apparent that they are vivi- 
parous as well. Or if they do not bring forth their 
young alive, they have the power of reproduction 



