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XCV. SWALLOWS.

The swallows of Sweden, at the approach of winter, plunge into the lakes, and remain there asleep, and buried under the ice, till the return of spring. Then, awakened by the returning heat, they leave the water, and resume their usual flight. While the lakes are frozen, if the ice be broken in certain places which appear darker than others, the swallows are found in great quantities, cold, asleep, and half dead. If they are taken out, and warmed by the hands or before a fire, they soon begin to exhibit signs of life: they stretch themselves out, shake themselves, and soon fly away. In other places they retire into the caves, or under the rocks. Between the town of Caen and the sea, along the banks of the Orne, there are many of these ca***verns, where, during the winter, clusters of swallows have been found suspended, like bunches of grapes, from the roof of the cavern. The same thing has been long ago observed in Italy.

XCVI. SPOTS IN LEAVES.

In summer, when, after some days of fine weather, a storm happens, accompanied by a slight shower, and the sun appears immediately afterwards resuming his usual strength, his beams produce upon the flowers and leaves an effect similar to that of a burning glass, marking them here and there with round spots. Naturalists have been much puzzled about the cause, but the truth, I think, is this:-During fine weather, a certain portion of dust is deposited by the wind upon the foliage, as well as on other places. When the shower falls upon the dust, the drops collect together, and assume a rounded form, as we may observe within doors, on a dusty floor, when we

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thian and Tartar race. The descendants of Tamerlane, a Tartar prince, reign at this moment in Judea; and the great empire of China has been conquered within a century by the Tartars. The Circassian Mamelukes reigned in Egypt when they were conquered by Selim, Emperor of the Turks.

XCIV. SOUND.

Sound is a strong movement of the air, which we perceive by the impression made on the tympanum of the ear.* When the sonorous body is struck and agitated, it communicates to the surrounding air the movement impressed upon it, and this movement takes place by means of undulations similar to those which we observe on water when a stone is thrown into it. The quicker and more frequent these undulations are, the acuter the sound is; as the sound of the treble string of a violin is more acute than the bass, only because, its movements being more rapid, it produces quicker and more frequent undulations. For if, by relaxing the cord, we render its movements slower, the undulations it produces will also be slower, and the sound less acute. This being properly understood, it is easy to perceive the causes of consonance and dissonance. When the undulations produced by two cords are equal, and coincide exactly at the same moment, the result is unison, or the most perfect of concords. If they never coincide at all, they produce complete discord. If they occasionally coincide at certain regular intervals, they produce the different concords which constitute the charm of music.

• We quote this article; not from its novelty. but its clearness and brevity.

XCV. SWALLOWS.

The swallows of Sweden, at the approach of winter, plunge into the lakes, and remain there asleep, and buried under the ice, till the return of spring. Then, awakened by the returning heat, they leave the water, and resume their usual flight. While the lakes are frozen, if the ice be broken in certain places which appear darker than others, the swallows are found in great quantities, cold, asleep, and half dead. If they are taken out, and warmed by the hands or before a fire, they soon begin to exhibit signs of life: they stretch themselves out, shake themselves, and soon fly away. In other places they retire into the caves, or under the rocks. Between the town of Caen and the sea, along the banks of the Orne, there are many of these ca***verns, where, during the winter, clusters of swallows have been found suspended, like bunches of grapes, from the roof of the cavern. The same thing has been long ago observed in Italy.

XCVI. SPOTS IN LEAVES.

In summer, when, after some days of fine weather, a storm happens, accompanied by a slight shower, and the sun appears immediately afterwards resuming his usual strength, his beams produce upon the flowers and leaves an effect similar to that of a burning glass, marking them here and there with round spots. Naturalists have been much puzzled about the cause, but the truth, I think, is this:-During fine weather, a certain portion of dust is deposited by the wind upon the foliage, as well as on other places. When the shower falls upon the dust, the drops collect together, and assume a rounded form, as we may observe within doors, on a dusty floor, when we

sprinkle a little water upon it. Now these little globules of water collecting upon the leaves, act like convex glasses, and produce the same effect. If the shower happens to be heavy, and to last for some time, the same effect is not produced, because the dust is by degrees washed off, and the drops of rain, losing their globular form, spread over the leaf, and cease to exert their caustic effect.

XCVII. LOVE.

Love is not merely a mental affection, but also a bodily malady, like a fever. It has its seat in the blood and animal spirits, which are always extremely agitated; and may, I have no doubt, be subjected to a methodical treatment; such as strong sudorifics, and copious bleedings, which, by carrying off with the humours this irritation of the spirits, would purge the blood, calm its emotion," and restore it to its natural state. An illustrious Prince, who was seized with a violent attachment to a lady of great merit,+ was obliged to set out for the army. During his absence, his passion was kept alive by remembrance and frequent epistolary correspondence, till the close of the campaign, when a dangerous malady, which attacked him, reduced him to the last extremity: All the usual remedies, suited to the distemper, were applied, and the prince recovered; but without recovering his love, which had been fairly carried off by his medical treatment and an antiphlogistic regimen.

• Condé.

† Mademoiselle Vigean.

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CHEVREANA.

[Or the life of Urban Chevreau, the author of this collection, little is known. He was born at Loudon in 1613, and was afterwards secretary to Christina of Sweden, whom he had the art to reconcile to the Catholic faith. After his return from Sweden, he became preceptor to the Duke of Maine, and died in 1701, aged nearly 88.

The Chevræana, which was published during the author's life, and received his own corrections, has the character of being more accurate than most works of this class. It contains many valuable corrections of the mistakes of some of its predecessors, and exhibits a very judicious mixture of serious and lively articles.]

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ALL the rhetoricians speak of the hyperbole, and if Aristotle is to be believed, it is a figure of speech suited only to a person enraged, or to children who exaggerate everything. I suppose, according to this maxim, that the man who said that his estate was no larger than a laconic epistle, must be set down either as a child or a very irascible personage. I remember an acquaintance of M. de Calprenede (the author of Cleopatra) remarking to M. de Sercy, the bookseller, who showed him that romance, "This author boasts of having a large mansion and an extensive forest: I assure you, on my honour, that he has not wood enough to

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