34 
THE CABINET OF NATURAL HISTORY, 
from these, they are scattered over various parts of the 
world, until the factors make the final change, by convert- 
ing them into fashionable and necessary ornaments of 
dress. 
In appearance the Beaver much resembles the rat, par- 
ticularly the musk-rat, having the same actions on land 
and in the water, and at a short distance would be taken 
for the latter; but on a closer view, the difference is at 
once seen, by the proportionably larger head, and the 
broad, flattened, and scaly tail of the Beaver. 
NOTES OF A NATURALIST. 
BY JACOB GREEN, M. D. 
PROFESSOR OF CHEMISTRY, IN JEFFERSON COLLEGE. 
The Early Settlement of our Village. 
In many of the newly settled districts of the United 
States, their physical and literary character is undergoing 
continual, rapid, and important changes. A short inter- 
val of time will there often sweep away the external ves- 
tiges of things; the fields, the forests, the village, and 
the population, are sometimes all quickly succeeded by a 
new order of affairs, and with them the memory of the past 
is frequently lost for ever. A few years will sometimes 
effect more in this country, in these respects, than whole 
centuries often produce, in the old world. 
There are many interesting facts connected with the 
early settlement of our village, now fresh in the recollec- 
tions of some of the older inhabitants, and which would 
be highly interesting to those who may come after us, to 
collect and preserve. The rude log cabin is still in ex- 
istence in our neighbourhood, from which the light of 
science first emanated, west of the Alleghanies, a spot 
where the early settler first received the benefits of know- 
ledge, and where he was taught the elements and the bless- 
ings of religion. That spot will ever he held in honoured 
remembrance by the genuine lover of science and piety; and 
many a future antiquary will no doubt visit it, with more 
enthusiasm, than the lofty domes and splendid halls of 
science in the Eastern World. My present object is 
merely to notice two or three anecdotes relating to the 
first habitable edifice erected in this vicinity, and which 
was the commencement of our flourishing town. The 
facts I shall state were received from the venerable 
and virtuous companion of the first settler himself, a 
few hours only before her lips were sealed in eternal 
silence. 
The first partial clearing of land made in the heart of 
the vast forest, which then covered all our surrounding 
hills and vallies, was the identical spot where our Lyceum 
of Natural Science now holds its sessions. But little more 
than fifty years since, the wigwam of the Indian may have 
occupied the spot where now stands this hall of science. 
I was informed, if it were practicable to point out the ex- 
act metes and bounds of the first enclosure of ground made 
in this town, it would exactly include the foundation on 
which our new and noble college edifice is now erected. 
The house first built here was formed in the usual manner, 
of logs — but the roof, instead of being made with boards 
in the way commonly practised by our first settlers, was 
constructed with shingles. In that early day the uses of 
iron were but rarely applied to buildings west of the moun- 
tains, except by the more opulent settlers, as the want of 
beaten roads, and the great weight of the materials, rendered 
it very expensive to transport them from the distant At- 
lantic states. All the nails and iron work of this our first 
dwelling-house, were, however, brought in packs by horses 
over the mountains. The roof, I was told, was the only 
one constructed with nails and shingles in all this neigh- 
bourhood for a considerable time. 
When our first college hall was erected, the old house 
which was the commencement of the town, was removed 
from its first site about fifty yards, to the place where if 
now stands. It has undergone but little change since it 
was first erected, and long may it be preserved as a monu- 
ment of the enterprise and industry of the founder of our 
village. 
The second dwelling was, except the roof, of the same 
rude architecture, as the one we have just described. It 
stood some distance down the hill, just at the north-east 
corner of the main street and the turnpike road. It was 
built for the person who managed the mill, which is on the 
creek at the foot of the town. The old mill has been long 
removed; but the one now in operation is exactly. on the 
same site the original one occupied. All the hill side be- 
tween the first and second dwelling house was, till within 
a few years, covered with a multitude of flowering native 
shrubs and trees. The briar and hazle here spread their 
branches in wild luxuriance — and many persons now 
alive among us can recollect when the tall trees of the 
forest, with vines clustering round their branches, shaded 
the path from one house to the other. 
The romantic hills and vallies of our neighbourhood ap- 
pear to have been in former times the scene of frequent 
savage contention; for numberless arrow-heads and other 
implements of Indian warfare are now found in several 
