

202 KIDD’S OWN JOURNAL. 

the changes varying from four to six months. 
There may possibly be something in the 
raw sugar and treacle which tends to pro- 
mote the acetous change. 
The Professor exhibited specimens of the 
different kinds of mould to the meeting: 
some in sirup of different kinds, and others. 
in the vinegar which had been formed. 
Several members of the society expressed 
their opinions on the subject. Dr. Greville 
remarked, that he had no doubt of the 
Vinegar Plant being an abnormal state of some 
fungus. It is well known that many fungi, 
in peculiar circumstances, present most re- 
markable forms; and Dr. Greville instanced 
the so-called genus Myconema of Fries, as. 
well as the genus Oxonium. Even some of | 
the common toad-stools, or Agarics, present | muh bu 
‘intensity will extinguish sight; yet is it no 
anomalous appearances, such as the absence 
of the pileus, &c., in certain instances. The 
remarkable appearances of dry-rot in dif- 
ferent circumstances are well known. 
Although sirup, when left to itself, will 
assume the acetous form, still there can be 
no doubt that the presence of the plant 
promotes and expedites the change. Pro- 
fessor Simpson observed that the changes | 
in fungi may resemble the alternation of 
generations, so evident in the animal king- 
dom, as noticed by Steenstrup, and others. 
In the Medusce there are remarkable changes 
of form; and there is also the separation of | 
buds, resembling the splitting of the Vinegar 
Plant. Mr. Embleton remarked that in the 
neighborhood of Embleton, in Northumber- 
land, every cottager uses the plant for the 
purpose of making vinegar. 
Thus much for the history of the plant. 
Our good friends must now make themselves 
practically acquainted with its curious pro- 
perties. 
Let us, in conclusion, observe, that the 
remarkable mode of propagation possessed 
by the Vinegar Plant—in the absence of re- 
productive organs—by means of dividing into 
laminee, is quite in accordance with the meris- 
matic division which many of the lower alge 
propagate. The more we examine into its 
nature, the more pleased we shall be with the 
powers it possesses of longevity and fruit- 
fulness. 

REMEMBRANCE. 

’Tis something, if in absence we can trace 
The footsteps of the past; it soothes the heart 
To breathe the air scented in other years 
By lips beloved,—to wander through the groves 
Where once we were not lonely ; where the rose 
Reminds us of the hair we used to wreathe 
With its fresh buds,—where every hill and vale, 
And wood and fountain, speaks of time gone by, 
And Hope springs up in joy from Memory’s 
ashes ! 


SENSE AND NONSENSE. 
Intoxicating drinks are called by total- 
abstinence men,—poisons. ‘This is nonsense. 
‘Poison,’ says Wilkinson, “is one thing, 
and stimulus is another.” 
Poisons destroy the structure, or subvert 
the functions of the body; stimuli kindle it 
into life and exhaust it into repose, or even 
death, if their action be excessive. The sleep 
of the night is Nature’s recovery from the 
excitement of the day. The sleep of death 
is the spirit’s recovery from the lifetime. Our 
machines are meant to wear out, and stimuli 
are the wearers. The organs of the body 
and mind live by stimuli, which in temperance: 
animate, and, in excess, destroy them. 
Light is the stimulus of the eye, but its 
poison, even when its glare is destructive. 
We do not “totally abstain” from light, 
though a part of our brethren have weak eyes, 
and are ordered into dark rooms, Sound, 
which in voice and music makes the ear alive, 
deadens hearing when too loud, and destroys 
the sense. In short, the sensible world is: 
one great excitement to carry man beyond 
his first organic water. 
Joy, too, the wine of the soul, will kill by 
its abundance and unexpectedness; and yet it 
is next uf kin to the life that its over-muchness 
withers. High truth intoxicates those not fit 
to drink it; causing oftentimes madness from 
its misapprehension and abuse ; causing still 
more frequently need of rest, to recover 
from its dazzling revelations. We repeat 
that man lives by stimuli; any of which, 
administered in too great a quantity, too 
often, or too fast, may cause destruction or 
suspension of life. Yet none of them is, there- 
fore, a poison. Just as little can we so deno- 
minate alcohol, from the fact ofits producing 
intoxication or death. For, every stimulus 
carried to excess has the like effects; and 
in all the cases, excess is reprehensible, but 
the stimulus natural. Our Saxon word 
Drunkenness bears no poisonous sense ; it is 
merely the far-gone past participle of Drink 
made substantive. 
In truth, poison differs from stimulus as 
medicine from food; for poisons in little doses 
are medicines, and food in its greatest concen- 
tration is stimulus. The plainest food will kill 
intoo great quantity. And then again, medi- 
cinal substances, as coffee, tea, &c., come into 
dietetic use. Yet we cannot infer that food 
and medicine are the same thing, though they 
touch each other, and are not incompatible at 
the extremes. 
The corollary that we draw, is, that total 
abstinence contains no: universal argument ; 
that it is an admirable strait-waistcoat for 
many of us; that abstinence is a needful 
discipline for every one at the most of times, 


