92 
REVIEWS. 
[Nature and Art, March 1, 186" 
men, who lived in tlie immediate neighbourhood, to 
watch its decay, and if any osseous or cartilaginous 
part remained, it might be preserved ; it rotted, 
however, entirely, and left no remains. It could 
not be less than nine months before it entirely dis- 
appeared, and the travellers were obliged to change 
the direction of the road for nearly a quarter of a 
mile, to avoid the offensive and sickening stench 
which proceeded from it.” Vast fields of medusae 
are at times encountered at sea, extending for 
miles in every direction. 
We have had an opportunity of sailing through 
some of these vast assemblies, and examining 
them. On one occasion, in the Indian Ocean, we 
encountered incalculable numbers of the red 
species, the “ Brit” or “Bret” of the whalers. 
Nearly the whole of one day was occupied in passing 
through fields of these curious organisms, whilst the 
whales, who were following up and feeding on the 
floating millions, came up to blow in all directions 
around our ship, tossed their flukes in the air, and 
resumed their banquet, regardless of our close 
proximity. 
Dr. Scoresby has made a curious calculation in 
order to show the innumerable number of medusae 
at times found inhabiting comparatively limited 
spaces of ocean. He says, when speaking of a 
specimen of olive-green sea he was engaged in 
examining: — “The number of medusae in the olive- 
green sea was found to be immense. They were 
about one-fourth of an inch asunder ; in this pro- 
portion, a cubic inch of water must contain 64 ; a 
cubic foot, 110,592; a cubic fathom, 23,887,872; 
and a cubical mile about 23,888,000,000,000,000. 
From soundings made in the situation where these 
animals were found, it is probable the sea is up- 
wards of a mile in depth ; but whether these sub- 
stances occupy the whole depth is uncertain. Pro- 
vided, however, the depth to which they extend be 
but 250 fathoms, the above immense number of 
one species may occur in a space of two miles 
square. It may give a little conception of the 
amount of medusae in this extent, if we calculate 
the length of time that would be required, with a 
certain number of persons for counting this num- 
ber : allowing that one person could count a mil- 
lion in seven days, which is barely possible, it 
would have required that 80,000 persons should 
have started at the creation of the world, to com- 
plete the enumeration at the present time. 
Some species of these strange organisms, as the 
Acalephce, or sea-nettles, possess the power, of 
stinging severely those who incautiously handle 
them. Some are remarkable for the length and 
beauty of their long twining tendrils and delicate 
crystalline fishing-lines. “ The Portuguese man-of- 
war,” in all her grace and loveliness, lures us on to 
voyage with, and gossip about, her, but the task, 
although a pleasant one, must be postponed until 
our next expedition to the gardens and pleasure- 
grounds of the sea. 
REVIEWS. 
India, Ancient and Modern. Delineated in a Series of 
Water-colour Drawings made on the Spot by William 
Simpson. The literary portion of the work by J. W. 
Kaye. Day & Son (Limited), G-ate-street, Lincoln’s Inn 
Fields. 
rpO the student of the beautiful the first views of India 
A. must be full of delight. He may imagine himself to 
be transported to some realm of enchantment, as he finds 
himself, for the first time, among the vivid verdure of the 
fantastic tropical foliage, or opposite the graceful dome 
and slender minarets of some fanciful Eastern edifice. 
Both nature and art are here adorned in fashions, charm- 
ing in themselves, and interesting from the completeness 
with which they differ from those of the Western world. 
The broad-leaved plantains, with their clusters of yellow 
fruit, the fan-like palms, the tall cocoa-nut trees, the 
feathery bamboos, the wide-spreading banyans, almost 
resembling the Druidical oaks of old England, with their 
dark twisted tendrils drooping, like bewitched rain-drops, 
to the ground,- — the tamarinds, guavas, and hosts of other 
trees, present to him Dame Nature in a dress totally 
new to him ; unless he has studied the specimens in the 
palm-house in Kew Gardens, or in that which was the 
pleasant tropical compartment of the Crystal Palace. 
Then, as he comes upon a little temple nestling in a grove 
of trees, from whence fly bright green parrots scared at his 
intrusion ; or approaches the grander structures of Eastern 
art, with their airy forms and delicate embellishments, or 
massive proportions and quaint ornamentation, he will 
understand how widely the fancies of man’s mind are varied 
by local influences. As he penetrates into the narrow 
streets and bazaars of the towns, under the carved bal- 
conies and fretted work of the flat-roofed houses, he will 
not perceive the slightest vestige of European manners. 
Every sight, sound, and smell will be essentially the pro- 
perty of the East ; and even the method of sitting adopted 
by the natives will appear particularly strange to him, as 
they neither sit upon chairs like ourselves, nor cross-legged 
like the Turks, but squat upon their ankles after the fashion 
of monkeys. And it is decidedly mirth-inspiring to the new 
arrival, to see two of them thus sitting together in one of 
the low stalls of a bazaar and chatting volubly, while they 
negotiate the sale of grain, or of an earthenware pot or 
shawl ; or while the one, in his capacity of barber, is occu- 
pied in shaving the head of the other, leaving only the tuft 
of hair by which the angel is eventually to convey him to 
Paradise. 
The crowds in the streets will be in numerous and 
picturesque varieties of Eastern costume. Some will be 
attired in tawdry silks and brocades ; more will be dressed 
in white or coloured cotton, with turbans and red slippers ; 
more will be black and naked except a scanty covering 
round the waist. Then there will be Baboos, or Hindoo 
gentlemen, frequently employed as scribes and the like, 
in long white robes, with their heads only covered by 
their own short, curly black hair, and their bare dusky 
legs and feet in European patent leather shoes ; Parsees 
with their eccentric chimney-pot-resembling- head-pieces ; 
women with rings through their noses and heavy silver 
ornaments on their arms and ankles, dressed in a style 
