sufficiently large, keeping the water clear, and in removing those which are unhealthy as soon as they are discovered.

THE MEDICINAL LEECH.

Leeches, when applied to the skin, frequently show little inclination to bite, and many plans have been resorted to, to induce them to commence operations, such as bathing the part with milk, &c.; but these methods may be considered useless, and the best plan appears to be, to wash the part clean, and this is the more necessary when any embrocation has been previously applied; but the surest way is to puncture the place slightly, so as to cause the blood to appear. If the little surgeon, before it is fully gorged, appears lazy and unwilling to proceed, it can be usually roused by being sprinkled with a little cold water.

After a leech has fallen off, it is usual to sprinkle salt on it to induce it to disgorge the blood it has swallowed; but as the salt frequently blisters its body, it has been recommended by Dr. Johnson of Edinburgh, from whose work on the Leech, we have obtained most of the preceding information, to apply a small portion of vinegar to the head of the Leech,

instead of salt.

It was long a matter of dispute as to whether Leeches were produced from eggs or born alive, but it is now ascertained that the ova are developed in a singular case, having some resemblance to the cocoon of a silk-worm. The following engraving represents this case, of its natural size: fig. 1. shows the perfect case or cocoon, and fig. 2. the aame opened, with the young Leeches contained within it; it is said that, at times, there are as many as thirteen or fourteen in one case. This cocoon is formed by the parent animal, and by it deposited in the mud or clay which composes the bed of the pool it inhabits. Fig. 1.

Fig. 2.

The fact of the young Leech being produced from these cocoons, although only latterly ascertained by naturalists, was long since well known to the dealers in Leeches on the French coast, who avail themselves of this knowledge of their habits, to multiply them for the purpose of sale.

It was by these means the leech-dealers of Bretagne, and particularly in Finisterre, replenished the ponds in which they preserved those leeches which were intended for the Paris market.

About the month of April or May, according to the nature of the season, they send out labourers, provided with spades and baskets, to the little muddy marshes, where they are known to exist in abundance. These workmen then set about removing those portions of mud that are known to contain cocoons, which are afterwards deposited in sheets of water previously prepared for their reception; here the young leeches quit the cocoons, and are allowed to remain six months, when they are removed to larger ponds.

The subjoined graphic account of the mode of taking Leeches at another part of the French coast, is translated from the Journal des Hôpitaux:

The country about La Brenne is, perhaps, the most un interesting in France; the people are miserable-looking, the cattle wretched, the fish just as bad, but the leeches are admirable. If ever you pass through La Brenne, you will see a man pale and straight-haired, with a woollen cap on his head, and his legs and arms naked; he creeps along the borders of a marsh, among the spots left dry by the surrounding waters, but particularly wherever the vegetation seems to preserve the subjacent soil undisturbed; this man is a leech-fisher. To see him from a distance, his woe-begone aspect, his hollow eyes, his livid lips, his singular gestures, you would take him for a patient who had left his sick bed in a fit of delirium. If you observe him every now and then raising his legs and examining them one after the other, you might suppose him a fool; but he is an intelligent leech-fisher. The Leeches attach themselves to his legs and feet as he moves among their haunts; he feels their presence from their bite, and gathers them as they cluster about the roots of the bull-rushes and sea-weeds, or beneath the stones covered with green and glutinous moss. Some repose on the mud, while others swim about; but so slowly that they are easily gathered with the hand. In a favourable season it is possible, in the course of three or four hours, to stow ten or twelve dozen of them in the little bag which the gatherer carries on his shoulder. Sometimes you will see the leech-fisher armed with a kind of spear or harpoon; with this he deposits pieces of decayed animal matter in places frequented by the leeches; they soon gather round the prey, and are presently themselves gathered into a little vessel half full of water; such is the leech fishery in Spring.

In Summer the Leech retires into deep water; and the fishers have then to strip themselves naked, and walk immersed up to the chin. Some of them have little rafts to go upon; these rafts are made of twigs and rushes, and it aquatic plants. At this season, too, the supply in the pools is no easy matter to propel them among the weeds and is scanty, the fisher can only take the few that swim within his reach, or those that get entangled in the structure of his raft.

It is a horrid trade in whatever way it is carried on. The leech-gatherer is constantly more or less in the water, breathing fog and mist, and fetid vapours from the marsh; Some indulge in strong liquors to keep off the noxious inhe is often attacked with agues, catarrhs, and rheumatism. fluence, but they pay for it in the end by disorders of other kinds. But with all its forbidding peculiarities, the leech fishing gives employment to many hands; if it be pernicious, it is also lucrative. Besides supplying all the neighbouring medical men, great quantities are exported, and there are regular traders engaged for the purpose. Henri Chartier is one of those persons, and an important personage he is when he comes to Meobecq or its vicinity; his arrival makes quite a fête, all are eager to greet him.

Among the interesting particulars which I gathered in La Brenne relative to the Leech-trade, I may mention the following. One of the traders, what with his own fishing and that of his children, and what with his acquisitions from the carriers, was enabled to hoard up 17,500 leeches in the course of a few months; he kept them deposited in a place, where in one night they all became frozen into a solid mass. But the frost does not immediately kill them; they may generally be thawed into life again. They easily indeed bear very hard usage. I am told by one of the carriers that he can pack them, as closely as he pleases, in the moist sack which he ties behind his saddle, and some times he stows his cloak and boots on the top of his sack. The trader buys his Leeches without distinction, big and little, green and black, all the same; but he afterwards sorts them for the market. Those are generally accounted the best which are of a green ground, with yellow stripes along the body.

A GOOD conscience is more to be desired than all the riches of the East. How sweet are the slumbers of him, who can lie down on his pillow and review the transactions of every day, without condemning himself! A good conscience is the finest opiate.-KNOX.

LONDON:

JOHN WILLIAM PARKER, WEST STRAND. PUBLISHED IN WEEKLY NUMBERS, PRICE ONE PENNY, AND IN MONTHLY PAKTS PRICE SIXPENCE.

Sold by all Booksellers and Newsvenders in the Kingdom.

THE town of Woolwich, at present so well known on account of its naval arsenal, was originally a small fishing village of little note. Its advantageous situation on the banks of the Thames, being only eight miles from London, and more particularly the great depth of the river at this spot, capable at all times of the tide of floating the largest vessels, have been the cause of its gradual increase in importance. These favourable circumstances were noticed as far back as the reign of Henry the Seventh, who had a large vessel built here, of a thousand tons burden. It was not, however, until the time of Henry the Eighth that any regular dock-yard was established at Woolwich. After his death the establishment was greatly increased by Queen Elizabeth, and since then it has been progressively improved and enlarged. In the reign of Charles the First, a large vessel was built, of 1637 tons burden, which was formidably armed, and superbly gilded: from its destructive powers, it was called by the Dutch, with whom we were then at war, the "Golden Devil.”

Woolwich, up to the time of George the First, continued simply noted for its dock-yard; but in the reign of that monarch, the foundry for cannon was removed from Moorfields, where it had previously been carried on, to the Warren that adjoins the town. The cause of its removal was a dreadful accident, which occurred by the explosion of the moulds, which were in a damp VOL. XIII.

state, at the time of filling them with the melted metal. From this time Woolwich gradually assumed the character of a naval arsenal.

The appearance of the town itself, at least of the older buildings, is far from prepossessing; that part, however, which adjoins Charlton and the common, must be excluded from this censure.

It is to the public buildings that Woolwich owes its importance. The dock-yard extends along the bank of the river, for a mile in length: it contains, besides the dwellings for the officers, a smithery, in which there are two steam-engines, one of twenty and the other of fourteen horse power, the largest being employed in working two large lift- hammers, weighing nearly four tons each; these are raised by machinery, nine inches at each stroke, from thirty to fifty times in a minute: these hammers are employed in forging large anchors, and other iron work connected with ship building; the smaller engine is attached to the blowing apparatus, by which the fires of the forges are excited.

There are two dry docks, one double, and several slips, in which vessels of the largest size are built. A large basin, 400 feet long, and 290 feet in breadth, is also within the enclosure of the dock-yard, together with a mast-pond, a boat-pond, and numerous storehouses, and other buildings necessary for the work. men. 415

of these terrible instruments of war, as a proof of the great force with which they are driven.

This rocket was first used at the bombardment of Copenhagen, and is so celebrated in modern warfare, that it deserves a more particular description.

The case of the Congreve-rocket is formed of iron instead of paper, and many advantages arise from this circumstance; the resistance of the air to its passage is less, on account of the combination of a greater weight, with a smaller diameter, so that the range of the missile is extended; the hard pointed end of the rocket also enables it to penetrate solid substances. The case of the rocket is formed of a cylinder of very soft iron, which is dovetailed together and soldered; if it is three inches in diameter, the thickness of iron requisite is but the fifteenth of an inch, and so in proportion. The inside of the case is lined with cartridge paper, pasted in. The pointed conical head is also of iron, but much thicker, and, according to the service it has to perform, is armed with hooks or otherwise.

The uses to which these rockets have been applied, are various; if they are intended to set fire to buildings, they carry with them a case containing highly combustible substances, which can be ignited after the lapse of any space of time, by means of a slow match; in other cases they are loaded with shells or grape shot, which, when they explode, commit dreadful havoc.

The distance to which a rocket will reach, of course depends on its weight and the charge with which it is loaded; it may be stated at from two to three thousand five hundred yards. In discharging the Congreverocket, metal tubes, fixed in a frame, are used: these tubes are of sufficient size to allow the rocket free motion. The inclination at which the tubes are placed directs the course of the missile; for these rockets are not fired perpendicularly, but in a slanting direction, according to the distance they are intended to reach.

Specimens of the different kinds of shot are found near these last: as canister-shot, consisting of a tincase, filled with a number of bullets or small round shot. Grape-shot, nine or more small round shot tied up in a canvas bag and corded round; the number of the balls being generally odd, gives the mass something the appearance of a bunch of grapes.

CHAIN-SHOT,

BAR-SHOT.

Chain-shot consists of two round shots linked together by a jointed bar of iron. Bar-shot, connected by a solid bar of iron, instead of one jointed. The two last are used for the purpose of dividing the masts and spars of an enemy; besides others of various forms and sizes contrived for the destruction of life. There are models, also, of several large cannon, one taken at Agra that weighed sixteen tons, and another at Beejapoor weighing forty tons. The models of guncarriages are very numerous, from the rudest to the most perfect. Those representing the Russian artillery are accompanied by models of the horses by which they are drawn, and of the mode of harnessing them.

A BALLAD.

SIR EUSTACE sate, at midnight's hour,
Within his tent alone,

And the spell of memory's silent power
Was o'er his spirit thrown:

It bore him from Salem's leaguered wall
To her he had left in his castle-hall.
For Ermengarde, his only child,
The beautiful and young,
Had often at that hour beguiled
His spirit as she sung;
Bidding her father's heart rejoice

With the magic sound of her silver voice.
And on his harp he used to play

To her in that old hall;

He had brought his harp with him away, But now 'twas silent all;

It hung in his tent by the cresset's lignt,
And his eyes as he viewed it with tears were bright.
That cresset's light grew pale and dim,

On his ear a sound there stole,
The echo of a dirge like hymn

Poured for a parted soul:

And the strings of that harp, which in silence slept,
As if by a spirit's hand, were swept.
He shed no tear, he heaved no sigh,
And not a word he said;

He knew, from that mystic melody,
Her soul from earth was fled :

So he threw by his lance, and sword, and shield,
And at break of day left the tented field.
He reached once more his castle hall,
He entered the chapel fair;

A marble tablet hung on its wall,

And a withered rose was there :
He knelt him down, and in silence prayed,
And died a monk in the cloister's shade.-

-BARTON.

LIFTING OF THE KREMLIN BELL.

IN the month of July, 1836, a successful attempt was made to raise the enormous beil which had been so long buried in the earth, in the Kremlin, at Moscow. This bell, one of the wonders of Moscow, was cast in 1733, at the command of the Empress Anne, by a Russian founder, Michael Motorine. It is, according to Clarke, 21 feet 4 inches high; at two feet from the bottom its circumference measures 67 feet 4 inches; its diameter at that height is consequently about 21 feet 6 inches. Its thickness, at the part intended to be struck by the hammer, 23 inches. The Russians estimate the weight at 12,000 poods, which is nearly 200 English tons. The reputed elegance of its form, composed of gold, silver, and copper, contributed to make the style of its bas-reliefs, and the richness of its metal, it remarkable as a specimen of the advanced state of the art of casting in Russia, at the epoch of its execution.

M. Montferrand, a gentleman greatly distinguished in Petersburgh by the numerous works he has executed, was intrusted with the direction of the operations. As the bell was lying in a cavity in the ground, and more than thirty feet below the surface, a large excavation was made to clear it. Over this was constructed a strong and lofty scaffold for the attachment of the blocks, and for the temporary suspension of the bell at a proper height. At half-past five in the morning, the authorities of Moscow, and a large number of spectators being assembled on the spot, prayers were offered up for the success of the attempt, and the operations commenced on a signal given by M. Montferrand. Six hundred soldiers instantaneously set-to at a large number of capstans. The enormous weight was mastered, and the bell was soon seen to rise slowly in the pit. Forty-two minutes elapsed during its elevation to the necessary height. No accident occurred. The first operation being finished, the next was to build a platform beneath the suspended bell. This was completed in eight hours, and the bell lowered upon it. On the following day it was placed on a sledge, and drawn by means of an inclined plane, up to the pedestal intended to support it, and there finally left, on the 26th of the same month.

This colossal work of art is, after all, but a mere curiosity.

Its use as a bell is impossible, from a fracture, about seven feet high and two feet wide, in the lower part, where it is 23 inches thick. The cause of this gigantic injury rests entirely upon conjecture.-Magazine of Popular Science. See Saturday Magazine, Vol. III., p. 117.

WRITING MATERIALS.

No. VIII.

ON INKSTANDS.

estimated her rare talents, which were also employed to commemorate the gift in the following beautiful lines, entitled,

PETRARCH'S INKSTAND.

By beauty won from soft Italia's land,

Here Cupid, Petrarch's Cupid, takes his stand.
Arch suppliant, welcome to thy fav'rite isle,
Close thy spread wings, and rest thee here awhile;
Still the true heart with kindred strains inspire
Breathe all a poet's softness, all his fire;
But if the perjured knight approach this font,
Forbid the words to come as they were wont;
Forbid the ink to flow, the pen to write,

And send the false one baffled from thy sight. The discovery of the sepulchred cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, has tended to throw much light on the domestic manners and customs of the ancient inhabitants of Italy. In the museum at Naples are preserved large quantities of domestic implements, and among the rest, of writing materials. The information they convey has already assisted us in the present series, and the following figures will give the reader an accurate idea of the Inkstands of the Romans.

Fig. 2 represents a double Inkstand, formed of two cylinders joined together; the one intended for black and the other for red ink: each cylinder is furnished with a cover. Near this stand lies the calamus or reed, cut to a point, which served the purpose of a pen.

PETRARCH'S INKSTAND.

THE above sketch will convey a tolerably correct idea of the beautiful Inkstand of Petrarch, whose genius and classical purity of mind diffused a lustre around him. which contributed greatly to promote the revival of learning, and the love of the arts and the elegancies of life, in the fourteenth century. We can fancy him composing some of his immortal poetry, or transcribing some of the manuscript works of minds congenial with his own, with the above Inkstand before him: thinking of the golden age of Augustus, of Horace, Virgil, and Ovid: thinking as they thought; imbibing a full draught from the same Pierian spring; enjoying similar honours, (for Rome crowned him with laurel and with myrtle,) and enduring similar pains.

I delight, (says Petrarch,) in my pictures; I take great pleasure also in images; they come in show more near unto nature than pictures, for they do but appear; but these are felt to be substantial, and their bodies are more durable. Amongst the Grecians, the art of painting was esteemed above all handicrafts, and the chief of all the liberal arts. How great the dignity hath been of statues, and how fervently the study and desire of men have reposed in such pleasures, emperors and kings, and other noble personages, nay, even persons of inferior degree, have shown, in their industrious keeping of them when obtained.

The fine arts and literature constituted the charm of his life. In reference to his books, many of which were transcribed by himself, the admirable art of printing not being then invented, he says,-" Great is my delight in beholding such a treasure. **** I have great plenty of books: where such scarcity has been lamented, this is no small possession: have an inestimable many of books."

Fig. 2.

However much we should desire to linger on the character of Petrarch, we must forbear, and return to the subject of the present article. The possessor of the Inkstand of Petrarch, is Miss Edgeworth, a worthy owner of so great a treasure. It was presented to her many years ago, by one who justly

We come now to notice the Inkstands of our own time.