Insect which destroys Horses. S8^ 
ears ; hence it is supposed the poison is communicated inward- 
ly. Whether this be true or not, thelnost fatal consequences 
result. It is singular, that from the time of its first appear- 
ance, it has never extended for a greater distance than forty 
miles in one direction, and usually it is confined to fifteen miles. 
In no other part of the country has it ever been seen. From 
this fact, it would seem probable that the cause of its existence 
is local. But what it is, none can tell. After the warm wea- 
ther commences, it disappears as effectually from human obser- 
vation as if it were annihilated. Towards the close of Decem- 
ber, it springs up all at once into being, and resumes the work 
of destruction. 
A fact so singular, I could not have ventured to state with- 
out the best evidence of its reality. All the circumstances here 
related are familiar to hundreds, and were in almost every 
man’s mouth when I passed through the country. In addition 
to this, they were confirmed by the account which I received 
from Colonel John M^Kee, a gentleman of much intelligence 
and respectability, who is the present agent of the General 
Government for the Choctaw Nation. He has consented to 
obtain specimens of the insect for examination when it returns 
again ; and will, I hope, accompany the transmission with a 
more perfect description than it has been possible for me to 
communicate. 
Art. XXIX.— 07Z the Phosphorescence of Minerals. By Da- 
vid Brewster, LL. D. F. R. S. Lond. and Edin. 
The phosphorescence of minerals seems to have been first 
mentioned by Benvenuto Cellini, in his Treatise on Jewellery 
which was published early in the 16th century. He there in- 
forms us, that he had seen a carbuncle shine in the dark, and 
that a coloured stone of the same kind had been found in a 
vineyard, near Rome, by the light which it emitted in the night. 
In the year 1663, Mr Boyle observed, that a diamond gave out 
a light almost equal to that of a glow-worm, by the influence of 
Due Tratfati deW Orijiceria. 
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