ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE. THIS DEPARTMENT OF OUR JOURNAL is one of its most interesting, as well as valuable features. Amusement, instruction, mental improvement, and all the Social Virtues, are here concentred. Whether the subjects introduced be on Natural History, Popular Science, Domestic Economy, the Fine Arts, or Matters of General Interest,-ALL are carefully digested, and placed before our readers in the winning garb of cheerfulness, good temper, and a determination to please. Our amiable correspondents enter readily into our naturally-playful disposition, hence are their contributions divested of that dry formality which cannot be other than repulsive to a true lover of Nature. Our columns, be it observed, are open to ALL amiable writers.] You are It was more than half fledged, and could flutter to the distance of two or three yards. I then carefully replaced it. The best remains to be told. Master Tom and his wee wifey were looking on all the time,-evidently pleased, and proud of the notice taken of their children! I imagine the cause of these birds instinctively building beneath a branch, to originate in their fear of the Magpies,-for whom they entertain the greatest aversion; and at the sight of whom they raise a peculiar note or cry of alarm. I agree with you, and your correspondents, that Master Tom does not build in the laurestinus, although he delights in hiding himself among their leaves. I shall have some very curious sites of nests (chosen during the last season) to show you, when you come down again. They will form an interesting theme for comment in future numbers of OUR JOURNAL.-PUSS. [Thank you,-Pussy. The little facts you have here brought under notice are particularly interesting. They will doubtless elicit more pleasing anecdotes of this garden-pet. We have a host of them domesticated with us. The murderous guns of our neighbors, right and left, drive them to us as to a sanctuary. They instinctively feel they are at home."] Snow Pancakes.--At the present season, when eggs are scarce and snow plentiful, I think we ought all to try a dish of these cheap luxuries. I call them "luxuries," for such they really are. Away with eggs! say I. Snow beats them hollow. It is better and cheaper. Experto crede. But how are they made? Listen. Mix your batter with the usual quantity of milk and flour; and for each (imagined) egg, put in two tablespoonfuls of snow, heaped up,-pyramid fashion. Stir the whole well; and then proceed as in the ordinary way. Great care must of course be taken in frying them; and when fried,—only think of the treat!-C. F. T. Y. Notes on the Blue-headed Tit-mouse-Knowing what very great favorites (or rather what very great little favorites) the blue-caps (Parus ceruleus) are with you and your readers, I record in the pages of OUR OWN JOURNAL Some of my observations on the habits of their race. quite right as to the situations they generally choose for their nests, but there are exceptions to be met with. You know the large fir tree on our lawn. Well; in that very tree have I found, at different times, no fewer than three nests. Master Tom did not, however, build in a hole or chink. No. In every instance, the nest was immediately beneath a branch,-nearly at its extremity. The first I espied, made me tremble for its safety. The branch on which it was built projected over the garden path; and was so near the ground, that the fear of its being discovered caused me much anxiety. However, so cunningly was it concealed from the view of passers-by, that the parents contrived to carry off a 'happy little family" in perfect safety. The second nest was also constructed in this tree; and fortunately at too high an elevation for the cruelty of men and boys to reach it. Another "happy family" were safely brought out of this snug abode. Pretty little creatures! How rejoiced we all were to note the perfect happiness of the papa and mamma, whilst their tiny darlings were practising all sorts of the most diverting tricks. The third nest, I discovered on the 8th of August, 1852. I remember it was on the Sunday previous to your coming down to us. Had the rain not fallen so heavily, it was my intention to have called your particular attention to it, whilst we were in the garden. How very artfully Master Tom had concealed his whereabout! No stranger to his peculiar habits could ever have "wormed out" his secret. Oh-no! But you know I am of a sex that is naturally "curious;" and a girl not readily to be baffled when my heart is set upon any particular object [Quite right,-Puss-y.1-sit So, my suspicion being awakened, I watched Master Tom carefully, and fairly dodged him in More of the Domestic Cat.-" Still harping on and out of the tree; till we seemed to understand my daughter!" Well; let the truth be told. Our each other. When he knew that he was out- feline friends, among their other short comings, are witted,-all was quite right. Then did I pre- often too, with justice, taxed with being savage sume on our acquaintance,- -or rather friendship. murderers of pet birds. Many a cat has hung Perched upon a table, and provided with a garden- from a branch, or gone over a bridge with a rope rake, I drew gently down a certain branch, and a stone, after being caught crouching beside bearing a lovely burden. What a snug little an empty and open cage with fatal yellow feathers palace was there built upon that branch! And strewed around; while in the cases of milder now,-seven beautiful little heads met my gaze, masters or mistresses, many a bitter tear has pro-all packed in a space inconceivably small. Of bably been shed over the mangled remains of course every member of our family wanted a sight! "poor Goldy, who would eat out of your hand; To gratify them, I removed one of the nestlings. or poor Bully, who piped so beautifully the [Thanks-gentle Sir. Pancakes have ever been our delight from infancy, and we have often marvelled "why" Shrove Tuesday should not be kept all the year round. Well; it is again near at hand; and let us hope that snow is as near. We vow and our vow is sacred-that the first gathering of snow we can collect shall speedily be heard hissing in combination with lemon (we love lemon), in our domestic frying-pan. We will lunch at home,-dine at home,-sup at home; and make our elf a pattern of good-nature the livelong day. If the treat be what we anticipate, we will gladly "report progress; and ask leave to again."] a perfect Jesuit. You are never sure of her. Whilst lying in your bosom, she is perhaps quietly planning how to destroy (unobserved) the dearest of your pet canaries. We would quite as soon admit an emissary of the Church of Rome into our family as a cat,-if that cat had any private view to carry out. We are not at all surprised at the complaints we receive from so many families about losses by cats; nor do we pity the sufferers. How can we? It is their own fault entirely.] Life in Man and Beast.-We are too much in the habit, my dear sir, of taking it for granted that all creatures live at the same rate. But, if we consider analogy, we shall be forced to admit that some animals live "faster," and some slower" than ourselves. Life, like every thing in nature, is comparative. The ephemera of a summer-day may, in the circumscribed compass of a few hours, run through a whole life-time of joy and sorrow; all the history of a life being compacted into so small a space of time that years become minutes. Life is not a state of rest; but of incessant operation. It is a continual circulation of action and being. It is a compound of working powers. maintained by one principle, for one end. Every thing bodily in man is subject to changes and alterations. Every thing on which the vital principle exercises its action is in a continual alternation of increase and decrease; of loss and reparation. Scarcely have a few years elapsed before our substance is entirely renewed,again re-created from the surrounding elements! You will call me a "female philosopher." Be it so! I love OUR JOURNAL at all events; and am delighted to see how it ranges over the world, doing good without end. A Happy New Year to it, and to its Editor!-EMILY P., Carshalton. Well; dumb though we be, 'Banks and Braes.'" To cure cats of the propensity to attack pet birds has always, therefore, been a matter of effort; and a variety of expedients such as heating the bars of the cages, and burning the cat's nose against them-are more or less in request. Some of these are cruel, and none of them I believe to be really needful. The first thing to be done, to keep cats from birds, is to take care that the cats are well fed, and that no hungry fit may occasionally prompt a breach of moral duties; the second is to familiarise the two classes of creatures, and accustom them to each other's presence. Most birds are killed by cats with empty stomachs, and by those who have not undergone the sort of socialising process which I have described. I have seen people drive away cats for merely looking at caged birds. This is quite a mistaken plan. Unless the passion of hunger be roused in the creature, ten to one it is only satisfying its curiosity by the mere contemplation of the "little warbler." At all events, in my own experience, without any particular training, except kind treatment, and often putting the cages, with their occupants, on the table for the cat's inspection, the creatures appear to have got so companionable that I have no scruple in leaving some half-dozen birds within the reach of three cats. The animals frequently sit and look at each other; and a green parrot, with a great talent for biting, has regularly a snap at any whisking tail or incautious paw which may be found within the limits of her very powerful organ. Sometimes this creature will sit quietly on a cat's back, and people have wondered how it was tamed and taught to do so. There was no taming or "teaching" in the case; further, indeed, than good feeding, and, as it were, making the creatures acquainted and familiar-the birds with the beasts. The cat, to win his affection, must be more sedulously attended to than the dog. There is no doubt, indeed, that the grati- | tude of the one creature is far more easily evoked "Expressive silence muse thy praise !" than that of the other. A dog will often follow a It is highly gratifying to find so many fair hands stranger along a street, if tempted by a bit of and tender hearts at work for us. We acfood. Dog stealers are tolerably well acquainted knowledge it gratefully. May thy example be with the fact; but a cat will do nothing of the followed by many others, possessed of hearts like sort. Dogs yield to the first kind word or friendly thine! pat. The majority do so, at all events; cats do not fling their friendship away so lightly. True, when won, it is neither so trusty, so pure, nor so elevated as the dog's; but the peculiar character of the creature-its coy, yet by no means fickle nature-its suspicious, yet, under certain circumstances, confiding disposition-its peculiar refinement of taste-(a dog gobbles its meat, like a coalheaver over a steak. A well-brought-up cat takes dinner coolly, like a gourmet over a patè de foie gras) and, finally, the general grace and gliding ease of posture of the creature-its peculiar cleanliness, and its marked adaptability for household purposes-all these qualities ought, surely, to elevate puss a step higher in social estimation than it has yet ascended.—A. B. R. [Oh,- Emily! let Eggs of a Bullfinch sucked by a Slug,-A curious "Fact."-In the month of May, last year, I found a bullfinch's nest (containing four eggs) built in a rose-bush, which was trained over an arch in one of our garden paths. Being anxious to save the young, I was careful not to go near the place; lest I should scare the old ones, who were for several days to be seen constantly near their nest. A short time afterwards, I missed them; and thinking it possible that they had been disturbed by the cats, I examined the nest, and to my great surprise found in it a huge slug Limax ater) in the act of sucking the eggs; three of which he had finished, and was then operating on the fourth. In each of the eggs that were [Admitting much of the above to be true, we sucked, was a small hole (about the eighth of an cannot allow that dogs generally are so easily inch in diameter), through which he had abstracted cajoled as is here hinted at. A good dog is very the contents. On raising him up with my finger, faithful, and will not follow a stranger. Nor do I found his mouth inserted into a small hole, we at all approve of cats (under any circum- similar to those in the others, through which he had stances) being domesticated where there are sucked the yolk and nearly all the white. Having birds in the family. The cat is a vile deceiver-caught this gentleman flagrante delicto, he was executed by Lynch law. Never having heard of such a circumstance before, I send it for the information of yourself, and your many entomological readers.-C. F. T. Y., Stockleigh Pomeroy, Crediton. Changes-Knowing the sentiments of "Our Editor," and his ceaseless aim to make people "think;" I send for insertion in OUR OWN, some very impressive lines, which have a voice worth listening to. How true it is that "Little things (your favorite theme!) make up our sum of human happiness! The tree that's lopp'd, in time may grow again; Not always fall of leaf,-not always Spring; A chance may win what by mischance was lost; Worcester. GILLY-FLOWER. tounding cures by Mesmerism in the Hospitals at Calcutta; as also in England. Why will they not investigate?-why will they continue to refuse to visit and examine? The "reason" is surely obvious. The Mesmeric influence, rightly directed, is one of great power; this has been proved, times out of number, by the cure of many obstinate states of disease which defy the power of medicine. Indeed, its legitimate use is in the cure of disease, and the alleviation of pain; in the giving a sound and fortifying sleep when opiates are of no use. Public exhibitions of Mesmeric and Electro-Biological experiments cannot be too much condemned [Arrant "humbugs" are all these pseudodoctors, and charlatans]. If medical men go there to investigate (more especially if prompted by a cavilling spirit), they had better stay at home. An exhibition-room is not the place for patient physical and psychical study. Let them divest themselves of bigotry and prejudice, and watch the good that is daily effected. Then will they soon convince themselves (if they are not already convinced) of the existence of a power more potent, and less dangerous than chloroform. They will learn that operations which could not all-possibly be performed under chloroform, can be safely commenced and triumphantly completed in the deep mesmeric sleep. Their continued opposition to Dr. Elliotson has but ended in their shame; whilst he is now universally recognised as a public benefactor. The advancement of scientific truth, cannot now be stifled. The evidence of the clusive to all who perseveringly seek for it, as the existence of a mesmeric influence is quite as conevidence on which philosophers and men of science believe in the wonders of electricity, galvanism, or magnetism. This mesmeric influence is of great permeating power. As the magnet attracts the needle through glass; so, bodies in a state of disease attract or draw from the mesmerist his life-giving mesmeric influence. Hence the exhaustion sometimes felt by mesmerists. I believe that we all possess this power, but not all in the same degree. And ere long it will be proved, that it varies in men not only in degree, but in quality. It appears to me, from observation and experiment, that the power admits of classification. Men and women-I mean human beings, differ so much in temperament and in mental conformation, that their mesmeric emanations cannot but receive a character. The intensity, character, and quality must differ; and the judgment of the experienced mesmerist should direct where, when, and how to use them. In a paper like OUR JOURNAL, it is impossible to do justice to so important a subject. [We can only allow it to be introduced incidentally.] We are waiting for true physicians. In time they will appear, and command their natural position. Thus much prefatory. All who have studied mesmerism know, that inferior animals are in various degrees as susceptible to the mesmeric influence as human beings. This proves that the imagination cannot be the actuating cause. Not long since, a horse was cured of lock-jaw by the mesmeric passes. (By the way, can any of your readers enlighten us on the subject of" Horse-whisperers?") Miss Martineau cured a cow of a dangerous disease by the mesmeric influence. Birds, both wild and tame, have often been placed in the deep mesmeric sleep; and fish have been subjected Cats, their Sensitiveness to Mesmeric Influence. I note in your last, that a want of leisure has prevented your going into the philosophy of this interesting inquiry; and that your pen cannot discharge one-twentieth part of its required duties. How should it? Well then; let me help you. Most cordially do we thank you; and accept the proffered service.] I do so cheerfully; for it is a subject in which I take particular pleasure. Electricity is now engaging the attention of all the world. Europe in particular is making rapid strides in a knowledge of its wonderful powers. The Electric Telegraph faithfully transmits our messages, and with the rapidity of thought. It will no doubt bear its part in helping on a moral revolution. There is a body of evidence in existence, waiting to be examined as to the truth of its miraculous influence. You are well aware of the progress now making by professional mesmerists, despite the sneers of our great physicians" (so ca led), and our soi-disant philosophers who rank as eminent men." Why will not these individuals investigate the truth of this science, and wait patiently to learn more of its wonderful powers? [For the best of all reasons: medicine would then become " no mystery." Lord Burleigh's head when shaken would mean nothing." Gravity would not "go down;" and the physician's coffers would become gradually exhausted. Good sense would soon banish superstition; and "fancy" the physician's idol-would give way to the enjoyment of ruddy health. This will never do!] Hitherto, their medical press has shamefully distorted facts, and refused publication of the as to its influence. [We can speak oracularly about sweet mother, - Nature. So do I. So do we all. this; having had the most pleasing proofs of it.] 1 Only think of what she is planning in her have often produced curious and very marked effects slumbers, of which, recently, you sang so upon CATS, and have always found them remark- sweetly! Was there ever such a mother? Surely ably sensitive to the mesnieric power. In some, not. How I do long to gaze upon her earliest the passes appear to produce a state of great irri- work, the realisation of her "first impressions! tability. In others, contrary effects are excited. I Then,-to trip after her, morning by morning, have very lately succeeded, after much opposition day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute! from pussy, in completely entrancing her. Now, But I will not be impatient. Whilst she is finishas in human beings who are sensitive the upwarding her refreshing nap-her face beaming with mesmeric passes are sometimes dangerous, and productive of very curious states,-so, in all cats, backward passes from the tail to the head produce irritation. I have frequently heard it remarked, that black cats are highly electrical, and that a cat taken into a dark place, and rubbed backwards, will emit electrical sparks. I am not quite disposed to believe that these sparks when seen are thrown off by the cat. There may sometimes be a curious sympathetic attraction between a cat and a human being, and the sparks seen may possibly be mesmeric, not electric. Van Helmont (from whose works I think it more than likely that Mesmer obtained much of his knowledge) states, that a cat thrown into the lap of a magnetised patient, will produce convulsions. Some few years ago, watching by the bedside of a dying friend (a gentleman who had always expressed a dislike to cats, and who during his long illness could not bear the presence of one-in fact his lady was compelled to banish the cat from the house), I was much astonished by his remarking to me, in a voice expressive of fear and much agitation, that a cat was in the house. On my telling him that it could not be so (for that some days previously I had requested his wife to send the cat away), he spoke more earnestly,-imploring me to go and see; for that he felt there was one in the house. I left his room accordingly; and found, down stairs, a strange cat. Of course I sent the animal away; and he immediately felt relief. It is often said, that cats go away to die. Indeed I have known many (after much bodily suffering) to suddenly disappear. What influences them? Where does their instinct lead them ?-JOHN JAMES BIRD. [This inherent Mesmeric power over man and animals ought to be no secret. If time permitted, we feel sure we could be pleasingly eloquent on the subject, and entertain our readers with a detail of our interesting experiments this way (even from boyhood), that would hold them spellbound. It is this cherished power(felt and enjoyed) that blesses us with so many dear, kind friends. Opportunity will bring our little secret" on the tapis some day; and we will try and impart it. It is" worth knowing."] The Charms of Flowers.--Oh,-my best and dearest of Editors (excuse my rapture, for the coming season" makes my whole existence, as you say, fairly "poetry")-is not the very name of a flower in early spring quite enchanting? It is so suggestive of all that is fresh and lovely in nature! When you come down to Henley, and walk with our "happy family" (for we all love you) by the side of our picturesque river-I have lots of walks in store for you!-how we will revel in scenes of beauty, and engage in conversation on those topics in which you so much delight! [Positively, our brain reels!] You love our love and beauty, let us, too, pleasingly dream of what awaits us, and worship Nature's God for his goodness to us children of men. Oh, those gems that sparkle in Nature's diadem-the rich embroidery, and the glittering adornments of her gayest and her simplest robes-the pearls, the rubies, the diamonds, the sapphires, the gorgeous jewels that enrich and beautify her fair person! Are they NOT sweet flowers? WHO does not love flowers? The highest and the lowliest, the rich and the humble; those who are gifted with high intellect, and those of limited capacity,-all unite in this one sweet sense of the beautiful. It is a sad house that has no flowers in it! Aye; and that is a hard and harsh soul which can let the beautiful summer-time glide away, and find no pleasure in looking upon this choicest gift of nature. We may expect to find-and we do find, the exquisite blossoms of our own land, and rare exotics, in the lordly dwellings of the rich. Yet we see the humbler, but not less lovely, in the homes of the poor; all as carefully tended and cherished as their means and limited time will permit, even though it be one small flower in a little pot, struggling for life in a smoky garret.— HONEYSUCKLE, Henley. [Really, Honeysuckle,-if you paint your pictures after this fashion, we fear we shall be oftener found at Henley than at our proper post. A desk, a stool, an "attic" dwelling, a dreary look-out below (slightly relieved by an old dirty flower-pot above, occupied by a faded China-aster), and the frantically-horrible sounds ground by an Italian nondescript out of the bowels of an organ (!) in the street these are our present prospects. And yet you sing to us about nature and flowers, till our very heart aches! Let that "little spare room" be got ready,-s'il vous plait.] Longevity of the Ass.-Some people say it is impossible to state the average duration of this animal's life. [It is so. Others say, you rarely, if ever, meet with a dead one. [This, too, is another curious fact.] Be that as it may, I send you an interesting account of an animal who has lived to the age of seventy. It is taken from the Bury Post:-"A donkey has just died at Fornham, All Saints, having attained the venerable age of seventy years and upwards. It formerly belonged to the Cornwallis family, and was ridden by the Lady Ann, after whom it was named; but a few years ago, being parted with on account of its then old age, it came into the family of Mrs. Browne, of Fornham, through whose kindness it had for a long time lived a life of ease, ranging at large over the fields; it latterly had been fed on bran and soft food, in consequence of its inability to eat grass, the teeth being completely worn away.' Surely the longevity of this donkey argues well for the kindness of its mistress; and let us hope the circumstance will, if recorded, induce others to be similarly humane and generous.— BOMBYX ATLAS.-Tottenham. [These animals, if kindly used, live to an almost incredible age. Some thirty years since, we saw a donkey at work in Carisbrooke Castle, Isle of Wight. It used to draw up the bucket from the deep well there (shown to visitors); and had been, we were told, in that occupation some sixty years. Its age was stated to be about eighty-four. We heard, a few years subsequently, that it was dead,-not from age, but from an accident. We should imagine that from thirty to forty years of age would be a fair average calculation.] Still forms a very pleasing object to the passer-by. Notes during a Short Ramble near Dorches ter.—On a day in the early part of this month (December), feeling inclined for a little fresh air, (having been closely confined in the office for many days), and the morning being clear after a fine frost, I took a stroll in fair company round Stafford; returning home by Stinsford. Although Winter has arrived, so many objects of local interest to a lover of nature are to be observed within this short distance, that I cannot refrain from giving your readers a brief statement of the incidents. We first passed through Fordington, a parish of which I can only say it bears not a little resemblance to the far-famed "St. Giles's, in olden time;" before the hand of improvement and progress (fortunately never ceasing) had swept away the impurities of that place. I hope to live, to be enabled to record the like result with reference to Fordington. We then cross a bridge on the Wareham road, over the South Western Railway, adjoining a very deep cutting through the chalk, and famous for numerous and good specimens of fossil remains, discovered here in great profusion. We next pass through a turnpike gate, en route to Stafford; and thence up a pretty incline, leaving the picturesque little parsonage house of Winterborne Came on the right. From the top of this hill, standing on one of the Tumuli for which our county is remarkable (tombs, doubtless of the Romans), a noble view of a large extent of country meets the eye, with Kingston House (now the seat of James Fellowes, Esq., formerly of William Morton Pitt, Esq., Member of Parliament for the county), Bockhampton, and Stafford. in the foreground, and Clyffe House, Tincleton and other villages, and the railway meandering through the valley, in the distance. Proceeding onward, after listening to the rushing engine with a long train of carriages, we again cross the railway over another bridge. And just below, we enter the fields, through which the road leads; forming part of the Froome estate. The mansion has been lately rebuilt, and is occupied by the owner, John Floyer, Esq.; one of the M.P.'s for the county. It is a very interesting structure, in the Old English style; and surrounded by some splendid trees, bearing the remains of the last year's nests of a colony of rooks, many of which were flying slowly over the fields, on the look-out for prey. We then get Dorchester, Dec. 26, 1853. into a pretty lane, with hedges and rivulets on each side; till we arrive at the large bridge over the river Froome, near the quiet village of Bock--Zeuzera hampton, which, with its new school-house, &c-, specimen of this moth in July last, taken from MARCUS ANDRONICUS. "Alas! my Lord, I have but killed a fly." TITUS ANDRONICUS. collec "But how, if that fly had a father and mother? That with his pretty buzzing melody, killed him!" Insect Observations. Esculi: JOHN GARLAND. Notes on Lepidoptera. I saw a fine female |