Part 6

Dissolve five or six bits of mastic, as large as peas, in as much spirits of wine as will suffice to render it liquid; in another vessel dissolve as much isinglass, which has been previously soaked in water till it is swollen and soft, in French brandy or in rum, as will make two ounces, by measure, of strong glue, and add two small bits of gum galbanum, or ammoniacum, which must be rubbed or ground until they are dissolved; then mix the whole with a sufficient heat. Keep it in a phial stopped; and when it is used, set it in hot water.

_Death of Col. Boon._--Col. Daniel Boon, the first white man that ever settled in Kentucky, lately died at his residence, near Franklin, Missouri, at the age of 98. He had 4 brothers and three sisters, of the following ages:--

Samuel Boon 88, Jonathan B. 86, Squire B. 76, George B. 83, Mrs. Wilcox 91, Mrs. Smith 83, and Mrs. Grant 84.

_Council Bluffs._--A letter from Brigadier General Atkinson, stationed at Council Bluffs, states that at least 10,000 bushels of Indian corn, 4000 of potatoes, a like quantity of turnips, and about 250 tons of hay had been raised and harvested at that station during the last season. As a sample of the crop of Indian corn, an acre was measured, which gave upwards of 102 bushels. The turnip crop was much injured by the grasshoppers, and it is stated that if these insects had appeared three weeks sooner they would have totally destroyed the crop of corn. It would seem that they are often very formidable in that quarter, frequently cutting off the crops entirely. The most of the Indians in that country are friendly. One or two tribes however, indicate some signs of hostility. They were much delighted with the exhibition of the steam boat, and as much intimidated by a display of the powers of the artillery, on an occasion when a large concourse of them were assembled at the Bluffs.

_Double-jointed Indian._--A Detroit paper of November 10, says, a Mr. Robinson lately brought to that place an Indian from the country Mackinaw who has double the usual number of joints in the human frame. He is unable to stand, but can give himself locomotion by being placed in a large wooden bowl, which he is enabled to whirl or roll about on level grounds. Mr. R. also gives an account of an Indian in that country that is entirely covered with hair, his face as well as every other part of his body, and that on his arms and legs the hair is several inches in length.

_Population of Baltimore._--In 1790 the number of inhabitants in this city and its precincts, was 13,503.--In 1800, 26,514--In 1810, 46,555, and by the present census 62,627.

_A New Sect of Christians_ are said to have lately appeared at Marietta, (Ohio) who call themselves Halcyons. They believe that Aaron's breastplate, called by the Jews Urim and Thummim, which has long been lost, must be retrieved before the resurrection of the dead.

_Ivory Paper._--The Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, in London, have voted thirty guineas to Mr. S. Einsle, for his communication on the use of artists. He produced, before the Committee of his Society several specimens of his ivory paper, about the eighth of an inch, and of superficial dimensions, much larger than the largest ivory: the surface was hard, smooth, and perfectly even. On trial of these, by some of the artists, members of the society, it appears that colours may be washed off the ivory paper more completely than from ivory itself, and that the process may be repeated three or four times on the same surface, without rubbing up the grain of the paper. It will also, with proper care, bear to be scraped with the edge of a knife, without becoming rough.

_Vegetable Antidotes to Poison._--Dr. Chisholm in a paper read to the Society at Geneva, states, that the juice of the sugar cane is the best antidote known for arsenic. It has been tried upon various animals in the West Indies with complete success.

The American Academy of Languages and Belles Lettres, at New York, has offered a premium of not _less_ than 400 dollars and a Gold Medal, to the author, being an American Citizen, who, within two years, shall produce the best written history of the United States, calculated for a Class Book.

_Increase of Population in America._--In 1810, the population of the United States was 7,323,903. By the recent official report of the secretary of the treasury, it appears that our population progresses in the ratio of 34 per cent, in ten years. Proceeding on this basis, for the next 80 years, which will terminate this century, we shall find the following result.

In 1820 9,827,265 Inhabitants. 30 13,168,534 40 17,545,844 50 23,644,433 60 31,584,633 70 42,325,903 80 56,716,716 90 76,000,399 1900 101,840,534.

Such a review as this ought to produce a salutary influence on all the busy actors who now figure on the American theatre.

The probability is, that not one mortal now in being, of mature age, will be seen on the face of the earth in eighty years; although many of our youth will reach that proud era of American glory. What a solemn responsibility devolves on all the conspicuous actors of the present day, since this generation is destined to influence the happiness of one hundred millions of free born Americans in the short span of 80 years! This reflection offers to the contemplative mind, an extensive range.

_Drought._--A letter, from a gentleman in Virginia, says that the drought has been greater there the last summer, than has been known for many years: on inquiry respecting its extent, he was informed by a facetious old farmer, that "he had to drive his stock thirty miles to water, but the worst of all was, he had to _cross a river_, in his way, and pay the _ferryage_."

_Square Miles of the States._--In Vermont, the number of square miles is 10,237 New Hampshire, 9,491 Maine, about 40,000 Massachusetts, is 6,250 Rhode Island, about 1,580 Connecticut, 4,674 New York, 45,000 New Jersey, 8,320 Pennsylvania, 46,800 Delaware, 2,120 Maryland, 14,000 Virginia, 70,000 North Carolina, 48,000 South Carolina, 24,080 Georgia, 62,000 Kentucky, 50,000 Tennessee, length 400 miles, breadth 400 Ohio, 39,128

The States of Louisiana, Indiana, Illinois, and Alabama, the number of square miles of each, not ascertained. There are 22 States in the Union, each of which have a Legislature, who make all the laws necessary for the government of each State distinct from that of the United States.--

[_Boston Gazette._

_Advice and Caution._--When old persons enveigh against the vanity and nonsense of the world in order to check the wishes and curiosities of young persons from making their experiments also, they remind me of the indifference with which a man hands a newspaper to his neighbour, after an hour's enjoyment of it, saying, "There's nothing in it, sir." The poet speaks more philosophically on this subject.

--For youth no less becomes The light and careless livery that it wears, Than settled age his tables and his weeds Importing health and graveness.

[_Hamlet._

_Drawing the wrong tooth._--One of the most curious applications of galvanism to the useful purposes of life, is its recent employment as a means of distinguishing bad teeth from good. The test which galvanism has now supplied to remedy the frequent mistakes made by dentists, who, instead of ridding you of a bad tooth, will draw the best tooth you have in your head, is considered to be one of infallible certainty in its application. The method is thus described by Professor Aldini, the nephew of Galvani. "He (the dentist) first insulates the patient, and then places in his hands an electric chain; he then applies a small piece of wire, and draws it gradually over the surface of the tooth; he then applies it to the next tooth in the same manner, and proceeds in the like method with the rest until he comes to the diseased tooth, which is discovered by violent pain being produced, and an involuntary emotion in the body. It has always been remarked when the tooth is extracted, that it exhibits a careous part, which in its proper situation was not visible." Need we add, that after the discovery of so simple a test, drawing a wrong tooth ought to be made felony at least?

_Chemistry applied to industrious Economy._--A new method of killing animals, without causing them pain, has been adopted in London: they are made to expire by means of nitrogen gas. By this means the meat is rendered much more fresh, of a more agreeable taste, and may be preserved for a greater length of time. A great number of the butchers of London already employ this process.

_Olives, Curious Fact in Botany._--Letters from Provence, mention the total failure of the olive plantations in that part of France. It has, indeed, been remarked, that for upwards of half a century, the olives have shown a tendency to emigrate. The soil of Province now appears to be entirely ruined, and no hope is entertained there of the future cultivation of olives. For the last fifty years, none of the young shoots have risen to above five or six feet high. It is the same in the adjacent countries, which have all suffered more or less from the cold of late years.--Two fifths of these plants have been cut down to the very roots; and three years will scarce suffice to enable them to attain maturity. The olives of Marseilles and Var were some time ago in excellent condition; but all have perished.

_Rein-deer._--Two rein-deers were brought last November, from Lapland, and are living at liberty at a country seat near Ghent. They bear the difference of climate and the variation of temperature well, and have produced a well-formed female fawn. This is the first example of these animals having become tame and producing their species so far from their own country.

_Domestic sewing silk_, of various colours, gathered, from worms raised in Connecticut, and spun there, and said to be of the very best quality, has recently been publicly exposed for sale in Albany.

_William Griffith, Esq._ of Burlington, N. J., a gentleman highly recommended by the veterans of the bar in this city, has issued proposals for printing a new work to be called the 'LAW REGISTER'--to make one volume of at least 500 _closely_ printed pages, royal 8vo. for five dollars, per annum, payable on delivery. Subscriptions to be addressed, (post paid,) to Mr. David Allison, Burlington, N. J.

_On the increase of sounds during the night._--It has been remarked, even by the ancients, that the intensity of sound is greatly increasing during the night.--Humboldt was particularly struck with this fact when he heard the noise of the great cataracts of the Orinoco in the plain which surrounds the Mission of the Apures. This noise is three times greater in the night than in the day. Some writers have ascribed this to the cessation of the humming of insects, the singing of birds, and the action of the wind upon the leaves of trees: but this cannot be the cause of it at the Orinoco, where the humming of insects is much greater in the night than in the day, and where the breeze is never felt till after sunset. Humboldt, therefore, ascribes it to the presence of the sun, which acts on the propagation and intensity of sound, by opposing them with currents of air of different density, and partial undulations of the atmosphere, caused by the unequal heating of different parts of the ground. In these cases the waves of sound are divided into two waves, where the density of the medium suddenly changes, and a sort of _acoustic mirage_ is produced, arising from the want of homogenity of the air in the same manner as the _luminous mirage_ is produced from an analogous cause.--_Ann. de Chim._

_Gil Blas and Don Quixote._--These very ingenious and diverting authors seem calculated to please readers of very different descriptions. I have observed that literary men are most delighted with Don Quixote, and men of the world with Gil Blas. Perhaps the preference of Don Quixote in the former may be ascribed to the sympathy which learned readers feel for the knight, whose aberrations of intellect originated from too intense an application to books of his own selection, and from whims which his own brains engendered.

_Learned Ladies._--A person who frequently attended the Royal Institution, and who was both astonished and delighted with the numerous attendence of the fair sex at these scientific lectures, observed with a smile somewhat Sardonic, that he saw great advantage arising from that circumstance, as he was sure that for the future the sciences would no longer have any secrets.

_Baron Smyth's Riddle._--Some men of the greatest talents have taken delight in composing or endeavouring to unravel riddles. Dean Swift is a case in point. Sir William Smyth, the learned Irish Baron of the Exchequer, at one time spent two days and nights in considering the answer to this conundrum: Why is an egg underdone, like an egg overdone? He would not suffer any one to give him the answer, which he at last discovered. It is a tolerable pun enough. Because they are both _hardly_ done.

_Disputants._--How often men who love argument in conversation follow victory, and not truth. In order to entrap the adversary, a brilliant illustration is substituted for argument, to amuse the opponent, and divert him from the line of his reasoning. Bird catchers carry a light with them to intice their prey into their nets, and so the leathered tribe are allured to their captivity. High-flying disputants who are thus led aside by false lights are not uncommon.

GOVERNORS.

_In the different states, are chosen as follows:_

New Hampshire, annually, in March, by the people.

Massachusetts, annually, in April, by the people.

Maine, annually, in January, by the people.

Rhode Island, annually, by the people, though this state retains its original charter of 1663.

Connecticut, annually, in April, by the people.

Vermont, annually, in September, by the people.

New York, once in three years, in April, by the people.

New Jersey, annually, by the council and assembly.

Pennsylvania, once in three years, in October, by the people.

Delaware, once in three years, in October, by the people.

Maryland, annually, in December, by the general assembly.

Virginia, annually, by joint ballot of the general assembly.

North Carolina, annually, "by the Senate and House of Commons."

South Carolina, once in two years, by the "Senate and House of Representatives."

Georgia, once in two years, by the general assembly.

Louisiana, once in four years, by the people.

Kentucky, once in four years, by the people.

Ohio, once in two years, by the people.

Tennessee, once in two years, by the people.

Mississippi, once in two years, by the people.

Indiana, once in three years, by the people.

Alabama, once in two years, by the people.

From which we find that ten states elect their governor annually, six once in two years, four once in three years, three once in four years--23 states; and that the _people_ have a direct _voice_ in the election, in all the states, except six.

[_Bost. Gaz._

_Dreaming._--Mr. Andrew Carmichael has published a very ingenious theory of dreaming. He enumerates no less than seven different states of sleeping and waking--1. When the entire brain and nervous system are buried in sleep; then there is a total exemption from dreaming. 2. When some of the mental organs are awake, and all the senses are asleep: then dreams occur, and seem to be realities. 3. When the above condition exists, and the nerves of voluntary motion are also in a state of wakefulness; then may occur the rare phenomenon of somnambulism. 4. When one of the senses is awake, with some of the mental organs; then we may be conscious, during our dream, of its illusory nature. 5. When some of the mental organs are asleep, and two or more senses awake; then we can attend to external impressions, and notice the gradual departure of our slumbers. 6. When we are totally awake, and in full possession of all our faculties and powers. 7. When under these circumstances we are so occupied with mental operations as not to attend to the impressions of external objects; and then our reverie deludes us like a dream.

_Druids._--We learn that the ancient Druids reckoned their days not by the course of the sun, but by that of the moon. Perhaps some learned ladies of this age have adopted the almanack of the Druids, and regulate their days or rather nights, by this planet; and the dame of fashion, like the Satan in Paradise Lost, never thinks of the sun, but to address him in the lines of that immortal bard.

"To tell him how she hates his beams."

FOR THE RURAL MAGAZINE.

The present condition of the Aborigines of this country is specially fitted to awaken the sympathy of every feeling heart. They where once the exclusive proprietors of this immense continent; but successive inroads have been so rapidly made on their rights, that they have been dwindled, as to power and numbers, into absolute insignificance. Our ancestors fled from persecution and tyranny, and sought in this region an asylum, in which, they might enjoy civil and religious liberty. _They were not disappointed._ They were received with kindness and hospitality by the natives, a fact, which we their descendants should never forget. And what return has too frequently been made for this generous conduct?--Unjust and inhuman treatment,--the introduction of ruin amongst them--And generally, the pernicious influence of bad example. Notwithstanding these painful circumstances some of them occasionally visit the land of ONAS, to light the calumet of peace and brighten the chain of friendship, which uniformly subsisted between him and their fathers. A journey of this kind was recently made to Philadelphia by a number of Cherokee warriors. The earthly career of one of them, was terminated in this vicinity, and his exequies were performed by his brethren on the 6th of August last, in the woods back of Bartram's gardens. This incident, has furnished the subject of the following stanzas.

THE CHEROKEE'S GRAVE.

Calm be thy slumbers thou heart broken stranger, And downy the hillock which pillows thy head, The grave is a refuge from sorrow and danger, Were wrong and oppression pursue not the dead: Though far from thy cabin, thy kindred, and nation. Unwept and unhonour'd thy relics repose, Ere sleep with her poppies shall steal o'er creation. Oft a requiem will hallow the even's still close: And he who may wander at that witching hour, On the banks of the Schuylkill the greenwood among, Shall listen with rapture as night's shadows lower. To a soul thrilling anthem by mortals unsung. And there shall a cenotaph rise to the glory, Which gilds with mild halo the temples of PENN. Whose laurels still bloom in their records of story, As the friend of the Indian,--the noblest of men. But ere the wrapt minstrels evanish for ever, May the _Great Spirit_ grant them the heart cheering boon, That the lucid example he furnished,--may never, Be 'merg'd in the darkness which rests on the tomb: That so long as the rivers replenish the ocean, And still while with verdure the spring crowns the trees, The heart of the white man may feel sad emotion, When the woes of the Indian shall sigh in the breeze. Calm be thy slumbers thou heart broken stranger. And downy the hillock which pillows thy head, The grave is a refuge from sorrow and danger, Where wrong and oppression pursue not the dead.

E.

HOPE.

Come flattering Hope! now woes distress me, Thy flattery I desire again; Again rely on thee to bless me, To find thy vainness doubly vain,

Though disappointments vex and fetter, And jeering whisper, thou art vain, Still must I rest on thee for better, Still hope--and be deceived again.

ANGLER.

When smiling in the pride of May, The meads are green, the blossoms gay, When fleecy clouds the sky adorn, Across the dew-bespangled lawn, The angler hies with nimble pace, Eager to snare the finny race. The glowing landscape charms his eyes, Within his ardent bosom rise Fond hopes, that numerous watery spoils, Ere night, will crown his pleasing toils. But ah! ere he his art can try, And throw the well-dissembled fly, Wherein the swift meandering brook The trout may seize his fraudful hook; Soon in his mind with fear dismay'd, The landscape darkens into shade, Black gathering clouds obscure the skies, The winds in hollow murmurs rise, The rains in copious streams descend, And all his fairy visions end. The Angler now, with rapid feet, Hastens to find a dry retreat, And homeward takes his dripping way, Sad disappointment's pensive sway, Still he resolves, the following morn, Again to trace the verdant lawn, Again to try his angle's wiles, And trust the weather's tempting smiles. HOPE, like the limpid stream he loves, With various course, still onward moves; Though rising high, or sinking low, Yet never ceases it to flow.

THE MOTHER'S LAMENT.

_By Bernard Barton._

Pale and cold is the cheek that my kisses oft press'd, And quench'd is the beam of that bright-sparkling eye; For the soul, which its innocent glances confess'd, Has flown to its God and its Father on high.

No more shall the accents, whose tones were more dear Than the sweetest of sounds even music can make, In notes full of tenderness fall on my ear; If I catch them in dreams, all is still when I wake,

No more the gay smiles that those features display'd Shall transiently light up their own mirth in mine; Yet, though these, and much more, be now cover'd in shade, I must not, I cannot, and dare not repine.

However enchantingly flattering and fair. Were the hopes, that for thee, I had ventur'd to build, Can a frail, finite mortal presume to declare That the future those hopes would have ever fulfilled?

In the world thou hast left, there is much to allure The most innocent spirit from virtue and peace: Hadst thou liv'd, would thy own have been equally pure, And guileless, and happy, in age's increase?

Temptation, or sooner or later, had found thee; Perhaps had seduc'd thee from pathways of light; Till the dark clouds of vice, gath'ring gloomily round thee, Had enrapt thee for ever in horror and night.

But _now_, in the loveliest bloom of the soul, While thy heart yet was pangless, and true, and unstain'd; Ere the world one vain wish by its witcheries stole, What it could not confer, thou for ever hast gain'd

Like a dew-drop, kiss'd off by the sun's morning beam, A brief, but a beauteous existence was given; Thy soul seem'd to come down to earth, in a dream, And only to wake, when ascended to heaven!

CHURCH FELLOWSHIP.

_By James Montgomery._

People of the living God! I have sought the world around, Paths of sin and Sorrow trod, Peace and comfort no where found; Now to you my spirit turns, Turns,--a fugitive unblest; Brethren! where your altar burns, O receive me to your rest.

Lonely I no longer roam Like the cloud, the wind, the wave, Where you dwell shall be my home, Where you die shall be my grave, Mine the God whom you adore, Your Redeemer shall be mine; Earth can fill my soul no more, Every idol I resign.