
KIDD’S OWN JOURNAL. 

The remark that I shall make on these cobweb- 
like appearances, called gossamer,* is, that strange 
and superstitious as the notions about them were 
formerly, nobody in these days doubts that they 
are the real production of small spiders, which 
swarm in the fields in fine weather in autumn, 
and have a power of shooting out webs from 
their tails, so as to render themselves buoyant 
and lighter than air. But why these apterous 
insects should that day take such a wonderful 
aérial excursion, and why their webs should at 
once become so gross and material as to be consi- 
derably more weighty than air, and to descend 
with precipitation, is a matter beyond my skill, 
If I might be allowed to hazard a supposition, I 
should imagine that those filmy threads, when 
first shot, might be entangled in the rising dew, 
and so drawn up, spiders and all, by a brisk 
evaporation, into the regions where clouds are 
formed ; and if the spiders have a power of coil- 

* Gossamer has been long noticed both by 
poets and naturalists. It is now known to be 
produced by ‘several kinds of spiders, particularly 
the flying ones. Mr. Murray, who has given 
much attention to the economy of these insects, 
says, they have the power of projecting their 
threads to a considerable distance, and by this 
means transporting themselves from the ground 
to any elevation in the atmosphere, or from the 
apex of one object to another. He is of opmion 
that the threads of their web are electric, or so 
influenced by that subtle element, that buoyancy 
is imparted, and the baseless shrouds of this aérial 
voyager are, together with their fabricator, raised 
into the higher regions of the air. 
Most spiders, when crawling over uneven sur- 
faces, leave behind them a thread; serving as a 
cable, or line of suspension, lest they should fall, 
or be blown from their eminence; so that nearly 
the whole surface of the ground is covered with 
the network of these singular animals. Besides 
the ground spiders, other wanderers contribute 
to these accumulations, which, however delicate, 
are at the same time durable. That this tissue is 
always on the increase, may be noticed by follow- 
ing a plough for a short space ; for no sooner has 
it finished one ridge, than the fresh mould turned 
up is equally interlaced with innumerable threads, 
which glisten in the sun’s rays, and can only 
be accounted for by the circumstance mentioned 
by Mr. Murray—that during fine weather the air 
is filled with these excursive webs of the aranea 
aeronautica. ‘The spider is often seen at the end 
of its thread, with extended limbs; balancing 
itself like a bird, and invariably floating before | 
the wind. The same gentleman, however, says, 
he has seen threads projected in a close room, 
where there was no current of air to carry them 
in a direct line, which is an interesting fact. 
Mr. Murray thinks that electricity, either posi- 
tive or negative, is an active agent in the move- 
ment of the spiders’ webs; which opinion has 
been combated by Mr. Bakewell, who asserts 
that they have not the power of propelling their 
webs without assistance from the wind, and that 
the cobwebs seen floating in the air are raised 
from the surface of the ground by the action 
of air, highly rarefied by a cloudless sun.— 
Kp. K. J. 



131 
ing and thickening their webs in the air, as Dr. 
Lister says they have [see his Letters to Mr. 
Ray], then, when they were become heavier than 
the air, they must fall. 
Every day in fine weather, in autumn chiefly, 
do I see those spiders shooting out their webs and 
mounting aloft ; they will go off from your finger, 
if you will take them into your hand. Last 
summer, one alighted on my book as I was read- 
ing in the parlor; and running to the top of the 
page, and shooting out a web, took its departure 
from thence. But what I most wondered at was, 
that it went off with considerable velocity in a 
place where no air was stirring; and I am sure 
that I did not assist it with my breath. So that 
these little crawlers seem to have, while mount- 
ing, some locomotive power without the use of 
wings, and to move in the air faster than the air 
itself. 
Selborne, Tune 8th, 1775. G. W, 
THE LATEST AMERICAN NOTIONS. 
THE WIFE OF A LITERARY MAN. 
' [FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT. | 

TrutH, like a single point, escapes the sight, 
And claims attention to perceive it right. 
POMFRET. 
The creatures of Man’s art may catch the eye; 
But Truru’s sweet nature captivates the soul. 
CUMBERLAND. 


A WOMAN, MY DEAR SIR, FIT TO BE THE 
WIFE OF A LITERARY MAN, must indeed bea 
woman. She must combine in her character 
all those pleasing attributes which we often 
find described, but so rarely meet with in 
real life. 
She must be neither selfish in feeling, vain, 
prodigal, nor passionate. She must be one 
who will not marry where she cannot respect; 
one who, when she has consented to lay aside 
her virgin honors, will love her husband 
with a devotion that shall waive every other 
consideration but that of her duty to God. 
She must be even more than this; she must 
be self-sacrificing in disposition, and be 
willing to endure much loneliness ; and also 
learn, if she have not already learnt; to have 
a fondness for her husband’s pursuits, in 
which case she will receive a return that will 
be dearer far than all the world can offer. 
A man of literary pursuits sins against 
himself and the woman he marries, if he takes 
one who is but a votary of Fashion—whose 
empire is in the drawing-room, and not in 
the seclusion of domestic life. And if he 
marry a literary pedant, he will be still more 
unfortunate; unless the pedantry be that of 
a young, active, and inquiring mind, which 
is pleased with its first essay into the regions 
of learning. She should not resemble the 
first wife of Milton, whom the poet married 
from sudden fancy. Unable to endure his 
literary habits, and finding his house too 
solitary for her romping disposition, she 
beat his nephews, and conveyed herself away 
at the expiration of the honey-moon! Nor 

