. 
1810.]) 
In the village of Merton, in Oxfordshire, 
a young swallow was caught about four 
years ago, and a very sinald light bell 
fastened round its neck by a thin band 
ef leather. It was turned loose, and re- 
mained about the spot all the Michael- 
mas following, when it disappeared with 
its fellows. Next spring the bell was 
heard. among the first arrivals; and the 
bird remained ull the end of the season. 
He agein made his appearance the third 
season; but his music ceased about the 
middle of the summer, from which it is 
conjectured that he had attracted the 
attention of some person and was de- 
stroyed. The second fact, which rests 
en the authonty of a clergyman resident 
near the spot, is, that many thousand 
swallows have been taken from the sand- 
pits and cliffs on the suuth-west coast of 
Anglesex in a torpid state, during severe 
weather. It is stated to be a common 
observation of the country, that as the 
days grow shorter and colder, the swal- 
lews become more numerous, which is 
accounted for by the arrival of strangers 
to take up their winter quarters. 
Considerable quantities of poppy seeds 
have lately been bought up in different 
parts of the country, and the expressed 
eil from them sold at the price of Fio- 
rence oil. Major Cocurane, of Jlad- 
dington, was the first person who stated 
the advantages arising from the cultiva- 
uuon of poppies, and that seven ounces 
of fine saiad oil were furnished by ex- 
pression from two pounds of the seed. 
The success of the various institutions 
for the relief of the indigent blind, has 
suggested the idea for the relief of the 
opulent who labour under the privation of 
sight, on a plan similar to that by which M. 
Haty atParis, some years ago, taught them 
reading, wriuing, arithmetic, music, and 
the rudiments of the sciences in general. 
At the concluding lecture for the sea- 
son at the Royal Institution, the large 
Voltaic apparatus, consisting of 2000 
double plates, four inches square, was 
. put in action for the first time. The 
efiects of this combination, the largest 
that has been constructed, were of a 
very brilliant kind. The spark, the light 
of which was so intense as to resemble 
that of the sun, strack through some lines 
of air, and produced a discharge through 
heated air nearly three inches in length, 
and of a dazzling splendour, Several 
bodies, whicli had not been fused before, 
were fused by this flame: the new metals 
discovered by Mr. Tennant, iridium and 
the alloy of indium, and osmium. Zircon 
and alumine wege likewise fused; char- 
Literary and Philosophical Intelligence. 67 
coal was made to evaporate, and plume 
bago appeared to fuse in vacuo. 
coal was ignited to intense whiteness by 
it in oxymuriatic gas, and volatilized in 
it, but without being decomposed. & 
large Leyden battery, containing twenty- 
four coated jars, was charged by a mo- 
mentary contact of the wires, to a deyrea 
that requifed from twenty to thirty turns. 
of Nairne’s machine of eight inclies dia- 
meter. Ali the electrical phenomena of 
the passage of electricity to a distance, 
the discharge through a Torricellian va- 
cuum, the attractions and repulsions of 
light bodies, were demonstrated in-a 
istinct way by means of this apparatus. 
It is hoped that the application of so 
powerful an instrument, and such easy 
methods of producing the most intense 
heat, will lead to some new facts in ana- 
lytical science. 
At a late meeting of the Royal Society 
was read the translation of a paper by 
M. Deticcie, describing the real nature 
and properties of the celebrated Bohan 
Upas, or poison-tree of Java. The aue 
thor, a French physician, and a member 
of the National Institute of Evypt, trans- 
mitted this paper from the East Indies 
to the Royal Society, by an English lady. 
The botanical account of the plant in 
question he received from one of the 
French naturalists who accompanied Cap- 
tain Baudin, and who resided some tine 
in Java, where he visited the interior of 
the country, and with much difhculry 
prevailed on the natives to show him 
the different poison-plants, which they 
carefully conceal, for the purpose of 
using them in war. Hence the many 
fabuloussaccounts that have been circu- 
lated respecting the fatal influence of the 
Upas; which, in the langeage of the 
Javanese, signifies vegetable poison, and 
is applied only to the juice of the Bohan 
tree, and another plant with a twisted 
stem. The former is a large tree, which 
the writer considers as a new genus; 
the latter, yielding an equally powerful 
poison, is of the woodbine family. The 
Upas, or juice, is extracted by an inci- 
sion made in the bark with a kuife, and 
being carefully collected, is preserved by 
the natives to be employed in their wars. 
As to its diffusing noxious effluvia in the 
atinosphere, and destroylug vegetation 
to a considerable distance around it, the 
absurdity of these stories is sufficiently 
exposed by the fact that the climbing 
species requires the support of other 
plants to attain its usual growth, Dr, 
Delille made several experiments with 
the upas on dogs and cats. An incision 
; wah 
Chars - 
