The following directions for training messenger vigeons are extracted from an Arabick work printed at the imperial press at Paris, under the title of: "The Messenger Pigeon more rapid than Lightning, and swifter than the Clouds. By Michael Sabbagh." As soon as the young pigeons are fledged, they must be taught to feed from a person's hand, and to drink from the same person's mouth. For this purpose take up the young pigeon, and with your hand gently throw back its head, open the bill, and put two or three grains of corn into its mouth. When you think it has eaten enough, take some water into your mouth and make it drink by introducing its bill. Afterwards place it on the floor and play with it, teaching it to follow you. This exercise ought to be repeated twice or thrice a day, with the view of accustoming the animal to be handled. When the pigeon is strong enough to fly a little, if it be a male, you should place it beside a female which has received the same training. As soon as they can fly well, they may be put into a cage and sent to the place to which it is intended they should afterwards carry messages. The cage ought to be uncovered, that they may see the road. As soon as they have arrived, the "owner of the place to which they are sent will keep them shut up for a month at least, taking care to play with them and handle them every day. It will be proper to continue this treatment for two months, when the birds will have been accustomed to this second place of residence. One at a time may then be let loose, and not both together, for the following reasons: 1st, If you set one of them only at liberty, nothing will stop it on its way, neither corn nor trees will detain it for a moment, ́while the desire of returning to its companion will quicken its speed. 2dly, If any thing has occurred to detain it, either from its having visited a strange pigeon-house or any other cause, you have only to turn out its comrade, which will soon bring it back. 3dly, If you have a male without a female, or vice versâ, there is reason to fear that the bird will on some occasion meet an agreeable companion; and of course neglect its master and its errand. For these reasons I think it indispensable that messenger pigeons should always be paired. As soon as a pigeon has arrived with a letter at the place of its destination, it should be immediately set at liberty once more with the answer. If kept long from its mate, it would in all probability die of grief, or refuse to undertake similar mission in future. a After the letter has been attached in the way to be subsequently explained, the person charged with despatching the pigeon ought to carry it to a distance from the houses into the fields, directing his face towards the place to which the letter is to be sent. The first time a pigeon is employed on this service, it will be proper to follow it for about a quarter of an hour, lest it should alight on some tree from which it must be driven. Some persons are in the habit of attaching the letter to the male pigeon only, and letting him loose along with a female belonging to the place to which he is to be sent. When both arrive at their place of destination, the female must be confined and the male sent back to his own mate with the answer. This precaution is had recourse to in order to accustom the pigeons to go and come. The letter intrusted to the pigeon ought to be written on very fine paper. All superfluous words must of course be avoided. The letter is generally placed flat under the wing, but in my opinion it would be more advantageous to fasten it to one of the sides; in the first place, because the weight of the letter would be less felt; and secondly, it would be less liable to fall by the flapping of the wings when the animal flies. By placing the letter under the wing it is preserved from rain and other accidents. It may be fastened by a small pin to one of the strongest feathers, the pin being passed through the letter and fastened at both ends by a piece of thread crossed over it. The point of the pin should be kept outwards that the sides of the bird may not be pricked. Care should also be taken that no part of the letter should hang out, lest the flight of the pigeon be retarded. The nest or pigeon hole should be so constructed that the bird may be laid hold of without any struggle, or without being fatigued. ANECDOTE OF THE LATE DUTCHESS OF NORTHUMBERLAND. MR. GRAY, the elegant author of The Elegy in a Country Church Yard, being in London, before his promotion to modern history in the university of Cambridge, and when his circumstances were so cramped that he could indulge himself in very few gratifications, went with a friend to a private sale of books, in which the lots were very large. Amongst the rest, there was a very elegant book case, filled with an excellently chosen collection of the best editions of the French classicks handsomely bound, the price one hundred guineas. Mr. Gray had a great longing for this lot, but could not afford to buy it. The conversation between him and his friend was overheard by the dutchess of Northumberland, who, knowing the other gentleman, took an opportunity to ask who his friend was. She was told it was the celebrated Gray. Upon their retiring, she bought the book case and its contents, and sent it to Gray's lodgings, with a note, importing that she was ashamed of sending so small an acknowledgment for the infinite pleasure she had received in reading the Elegy in a Country Church Yard, of all others, her favourite poem, From the Philosophical Magazine, for October, 1809. WILLIAM JACKSON HOOKER, Esq. F. L. S. of Norwich, has lately returned from Iceland, where he spent the summer in investigating the natural history of that interesting country. He travelled with a retinue of Icelanders as far up the country as the perennial snow would permit, collecting numerous specimens of quadrupeds, birds, insects, plants, minerals, &c. making drawings of the most important objects of curiosity; and also purchasing, in different places, many Icelandick books, weapons, dresses, &c. at great cost. Mr. Hooker visited the Geysers, or hot spouting springs, and pitched his tent for some time, in their neighbourhood, watching the most favourable opportunities for making draw ings of them. We regret to add, that nearly the whole of this gentleman's labours were lost, by the disastrous circumstance of the vessel, in which he embarked for London, taking fire soon after they were out of sight of the island, and being burnt to the water's edge. The crew and passengers were saved by a vessel which providentially came in sight soon after the fire began, Mr. Hooker, after whom the president of the Linnean Society named his new genus of mosses, is already well known to the lovers of natural history as the discoverer of Buxbaumia aphylla, as well as by his scientifick drawings for the valuable work on Fuci, by his friend, Dawson Turner, Esq. of Yarmouth; and his descriptions of several new mosses gathered by Dr. Buchanan, during his journey to Nepal, published in the last volume of the Linnean Transactions, ing oil, and handled liquid lead, &c. was scarcely announced, when this interesting phenomenon engaged me so much, that I left no means untried by which I might be enabled to form an opinion of it. First, it was indispensably necessary to ascertain the fact, by assisting assiduously at the experiments which Senor Lionetto, otherwise called the incombustible man, presented to the publick. I approached as near to him as possible, that I might observe minutely whatever was most particular in his experiments, of which the following is an account. Memoir on the Incombustible Man; or the pretended Phenomenon of Incombustibility. Translated from the Italian of Louis Sementini, M. D. chief Professor of Chymistry in the Royal University of Naples.* I HAVE undertaken this short treatise after performing several experiments in the presence of some of my learned friends, on the pretended incombustibility. It is extraordinary, that in examining all the phenomena which Senor Lionetto has exhibited to the publick, no one has mentioned the most extraordinary of them, his proposal to enter an oven (I know not at what degree of Reuamur's thermometer) with a piece of raw mutton in one hand and an egg in the other, &c. But, if the phenomenon does not exist, what reproach should I not merit for having hazarded an examination of an imaginary fact? Dr. Horstis fell into this errour, in wishing to give a physical explanation of the golden tooth of the boy from Silesia, without first ascertaining if the phenomenon really existed, or was the effect of illusion, as the fact was afterwards publickly known to be a deception. Now returning to the proposal of the oven, without entering into any sublime theory, I can venture to assure any person whatever, that Lionetto never entered an oven, nor will he enter one near us. This I shall repeat till the very moment in which myself and others may see him enter it; so well persuaded am I that he cannot realize his proposal, if the oven has no particular construction which alters its nature and effects. There are, indeed, some instances of persons having suffered the action of a very high temperature for some time; but there is a great difference between a place simply heated where the air had access, and a close oven. MEMOIR, &c. The arrival of a man calling himself incombustible, who treated hot iron in various manners, drank boil Senor Lionetto commenced the proof of his incombustibility by putting over his head a thin plate of red hot iron, which, at least in appearance, did not alter his hair. The iron had scarcely come in contact with it, when a considerable quantity of dense white vapour was seen to arise. A second plate of red hot iron was likewise passed over the whole extent of his arm and leg. With another red hot iron he struck his heel and the point of the foot repeatedly. In this experiment the contact of the fire was longer than in any of the preceding. From the soal of his foot so much vapour was disengaged, that being very near the experimenter, my eyes and nose were sensibly affected. He also put between his teeth a heated iron, which, although not red hot, was still capable of burning. It was announced that he had drunk half a glass of boiling oil; but in fact, I found that he had never drunk such a dose, and that he had performed this twice by introducing a little into his mouth, not more than the third part of a spoonful, at a time. It was likewise said that he * For this curious memoir we are indebted to Dr. Wollaston, Sec. and F. R. S. We have frequently had occasion to notice the performances of Senor Lionetto, in our former volumes, but the above is the only scientifick account as yet published. [Philosophical Magazine. had washed his hands and face in boiling lead; but he now practised such an experiment only in rapidly bathing the extremities of his fingers in liquid lead, and also carrying a very small portion of it on his tongue. He afterwards passed a piece of red hot iron over his tongue, without showing the least painful sensation. His tongue which I was able distinctly to observe in this often repeated experiment, was coverd with a crust similar to what is seen on the tongues of persons in fevers; that is to say, it was covered with a kind of paste of a dirty gray colour. He exposed his foot again to the flame of burning oil, but kept it at a certain distance. In short, he threw sulphurick, nitrick and muriatick acids on inflamed charcoal, and immediately exposed his face over the vapours which arose from those acids, keeping a small part of it in that situation. The experiment with which Senor Lionetto is accustomed to terminate his exhibition, is that of passing through the skin of his arm a thick gold pin, which he does without feel ing the least pain. In this proof of his insensibility, I observed that the pin entered his skin with difficulty, requiring such a force as if it had to perforate dressed leather. Now, although at first view this fact seemed to have no relation with the others practised by means of fire, yet it appeared to me to throw some light on the examination of the phenomena relating to the pretended incombustibility. From these experiments, which I have seen so often repeated, I fancied that Senor Lionetto's skin had become so insensible, from the effect of repeated frictions with some substances fit to produce such a change, by stimulating excessively the nerves and the vessels of the skin, and by recent usage, that it was capable of impeding in a certain degree the free passage of calorick. Besides the action of such substances, I thought that the force of habit must always have added to such a disposition, and that even the frequent impression of the fire should have contributed not a little to produce such insensibility in his skin. The experiment of the pin which he put through it, was to me no light argument of its hebetude. These opinions, however, were merely the effect of a system dictated by reason, and a knowledge of the laws of animal life: but had I not known the means used to render the skin incombustible, nor had any other knowledge of the subject, I should not have been able to give a plausible explanation of the more surprising phenomena; such as the red hot iron which he so often passed over his tongue without suffering any painful impression; and much less with such a system could I account for the boiling oil which he swallowed: neither could I imagine how he had prepared the internal surface of the oesophagus or of the stomach; and in what manner he could suffer the action of almost red hot iron, which he put between his teeth, on the enamel of which it is not possible to preserve any mixture. Instead, therefore, of uselessly wasting time in simple conjectures, Í resolved to adopt the best experimental art which I knew, trying on myself the action of all the means proper to benumb the cutaneous nerves, and to clothe the skin with a substance which was a nonconductor of calorick. Few substances belonging to chymical compositions, or to other natural bodies, appeared to me proper for the purpose which I had in view. The sharp sensation which was excited by the vapour disengaged by the contact of the fire with the incombustible membrane, and the chymical reason, induced me first to have recourse to acid substances, and to some of the acidulous salts. It would be too tedious to relate in detail all the various substances and experiments which I made. With some of them I attempted to rub my skin, which, after the liquids dried, was always sensible in the same degree to the action of the fire. The unfortunate result of my first experiments did not discourage me; persuaded that by the effect of only one rubbing, it was not possible to change the skin in such a manner as to render it insensible to the action of fire. I therefore repeated oftener on the same part the frictions with the same substance, and perceived the effect, that it gradually became less and less sensible to the action of calorick. On one part of my body I repeated the frictions so often with dilute [allungato] sulphurous acid, that I was finally able to pass a plate of red hot fron over it without any injury. I afterwards discovered that dilute sulphurick, nitrick, and muriatick acids, would equally produce the same effect; but the sulphurous acid is preferable to all the others, as it produces the speediest and most certain effect. I next tried the action of acidulous sulphat of alumine and potash, or the alum of commerce, a substance distinguished for its property of preserving bodies from the action of fire. In making a saturated solution of this salt, I discovered how much greater styptick powers it had acquired by being strongly agitated or boiled [bollirte sulla spugna*.] With the fluid thus prepared, I rub bed one part of my arm several times, and did not before obtain such decided results; so that I have ever since used this solution. These essays, however, were only the rudiments of a knowledge of the phenomenon, the examination of which was still incomplete. An accidental combination afterwards induced me to undertake a new series of experiments, by which I might be enabled to give a more clear explanation of all the more difficult operations executed by Lionetto. Wishing to examine if washing the almost incombustible part would make it lose the quality it had acquired, I rubbed it with hard soap, washed and dried it with a cloth, and applied the same plate of red hot iron. I then discovered, to my surprise, that the skin of that part not only preserved the same insensibility to the action of red hot iron, but had even become stronger than at first. I again rubbed the same part with soap, without wiping it with the cloth, and passed over it the iron very red. hot, without feeling any painful sensation, or even having the hair burned. Remembering the crust which I observed on Lionetto's tongue, I determined to rub mine with the same soap; in consequence of which it became equally insensible to the action of fire. I began with pieces of iron slightly heated, raising them gradually till they were perfectly red hot. I made a soft paste of soap triturated in a mortar, and water saturated with acidulous sulphat of alumine and potash [alum] agitated or boiled as above; and spreading this composition on my tongue, the experiment succeeded completely. Still more simple I found the process of first bathing the tongue with sulphurous acid, and afterwards rubbing it often with a piece of soap. The experiment succeeded still better if, after bathing the tongue with this acid, I covered it with a thin stratum of sugar reduced to impalpable powder, and rubbed it afterwards with the soap in the same manner. The sugar in this case, like a mordant, made a greater quantity of soap attach to the tongue, and adhere more solidly. By this mode of operating, the solution of alum, or of dilute sulphurous acid, may be adopted at pleasure to benumb the nerves of the tongue, and the soap is a most efficacious means of obstructing [rifrangere] the action of calorick, the propagation of which it almost perfectly inpedes. Of all the known substances, * Does the author mean burnt alum, i. e. alum boiled per se on an iron shovel, withou water? |