"He 66 Josephus, when deserted by his a grace or prayer for Christians at the soldiers through the intrigues of John end of the fifth book of the Apostolical of Gischala, while governor of Galilee, Constitutions, which seems to have showed his sense of the disgrace they been intended both for before and after had put upon him as their general, in meat. the following striking manner: leaped out of his house to them, while they were going to set it on fire, with his clothes rent, and ashes sprinkled on his head, with his hands tied behind him, and his sword hanging at his neck." At this humbling sight, they pitied his situation, repented of their fault, and returned to their duty. This suspending the sword from the neck is several times mentioned in Sir John Malcolm's History of Persia, as the mark either of degradation or deep supplication; and the same thing may be said of those who, with sackcloth on their loins, and ropes on their necks, supplicated the conquerors for mercy." In describing the entertainments of the Jews, we find this notice. "The most ancient example that is, perhaps, to be met with of a grace, or short prayer before meat, is at a feast which Ptolomy Philadelphus gave to the seventy-two interpreters; and it is thus mentioned by Josephus: "When they were thus sat down, he (viz. Nicanor, who had been appointed by Ptolomy) bade Dorotheus attend to all those that were come to him from Judea, after the manner they used to be ministered unto in their own country. For which cause he sent away their sacred heralds, and those that slew the sacrifices, and the rest that used to say grace; but called to one of those that were come to him, whose name was Eleazar, who was a priest, and desired him to say grace, who then stood in the midst of them, and prayed, That all prosperity might attend the king, and those that were his subjects.' Hereupon an acclamation was made by the whole company, and when that was over they began to sup." The next example we have is the practice of the Essenes both before and after meat in Josephus' Jewish War. The next is that of our Saviour, in Mark viii. 6. John vi. 11, 23, and St. Paul, Acts xxvii. 35; and the next is the form of 3E ATHENEUM VOL. 7. 6 Having said this much as to the probable manner in which the ancient Jews might have lived, I shall add from Buxtorff that of the modern Jews, in those countries especially where they are most populous. They are very particular, he informs us, not only in the selection of the articles of food, but in the manner of preparing them. As to the selection of food, those beasts only are eaten which have the hoof divided, and chew the cud, as oxen and sheep; fishes that have fins and scales, &c. They do not eat the fat of the inwards and kidneys; have a book with directions for killing; and the butcher who can fulfil them gets a certificate from a Rabbi as to his qualification for the business, which commonly procures him much employment. The certificate is as follows: "To day (in such a month and year) I saw and examined the excellent and remarkable N, the son of N, and found him skilled in the art of killing, both by word and hand, therefore I permit him to kill and examine cattle; and whatsoever he hath killed and examined, may be freely eaten, on this condition, that for a year to come he shall once every week peruse diligently the directions for killing and examining; the second year once a month: and during the rest of his life once every three months only. Attested by Rabbi M." In examining the faults of cattle, particular attention is paid to the lungs; and if the butcher is found negligent, he is admonished the first time, and his certificate taken from him the second: With respect to their manner of preparing their victuals, their culinary utensils are either bought new, or if of metal or stone, at second hand, they undergo the purification of fire and water. They have two kinds of vessels for the kitchen and table, the one for flesh, and the other for preparations of milk. The vessels for milk have three distinct marks, because Moses had thrice said, "Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk." Sometimes, however, they write the words, Heleb, milk, and Besher, flesh, to show the distinction. They have also two knives to each, the one for flesh, and the other for cheese and fish: if they use the one instead of the other by mistake, it undergoes a strict purification. Preparations of flesh, and preparations of milk, are not cooked together on the same fire, nor brought to table at the same time, and they have distinct table cloths for each. He who eats of flesh, or of broth made of flesh, ought not to eat cheese for an hour after, and those who affect piety abstain for six hours; but if he eat cheese first, he may eat flesh immediately after. If fat fall into a dish of milk, it becomes unclean; but flesh may be never so fat and yet eaten. The eggs of clean birds only are eaten. Flesh and fish are not brought to table at the same time-they even wash the mouth between them, or eat fruit, or a crust of bread. No milk that has been drawn by a Christian, or cheese or butter that has been made by one, is permitted; and they refrain from drinking from a cov ered well, for fear of poisonous animals. As to their preparation of bread, we may remark, that as it is said in Num. xv. 20, "Ye shall offer up a cake of the first of your dough for a heave offering." Therefore at every baking they separate a portion called Helè, which, as they cannot now offer to the Lord, they throw into the fire. The size of a grain of barley is sufficient; but the wise men had fixed on the 40th part for private families, and the 48th for bakers. These last, however, are considered only to have been binding while the temple stood, and the priesthood required maintenance, for a small portion now is reckoned sufficient, and they even find no difficulty in some countries of eating bread that hath been baked by Christians. Indeed, when we inquire into the customs of modern Jews, we find them much affected by local circumstances; for the Jews in Germany have usages different from those in Britain, and the same may said of other places. be From the Imperial Magazine. THE WONDERFUL FORMATION OF MAN. Concluded from p. 501. HAVING formed such a being, being in such a situation. He would we should begin to wish that we had provided for its continuance; for we shall perceive that its operations are attended with a waste of its component parts. How then shall we provide for its continuance ? be in the same unhappy state as poor Polydorus, whose sufferings we have all of us shuddered at. We must have something different from these. We will place a bag (which we will form chiefly of cellular substance, with some muscular fibres and some nerves) in the inside of the body, which shall have the power of reducing various substances sent into it, into a fluid of the same nature, which shall be fit, with some little further preparation, for the support of the body. We will call this bag, the stomach. We will provide this bag with some tubular appendages of the same materials with itself, which we will call intestines. From these intestines numberless little vessels shall arise, which shall suck up the nourishing fluid: but where shall they carry it? Why, we will have near the middle of the body a roundish hollow muscle: we will call it the heart. It shall have pipes passing from it, which shall divide into smaller ones, and go to every part of the body. The little vessels rising from the intestines, which we will call lacteals, shall bring the nutritive matter, and pour it into the heart. The heart shall contract, and send it through the pipes, to every part of the body. But before this can take place, some previous process is required. The blood received from the stomach must first pass through the lungs, for purposes which will be soon explained. But let us go on as we were going, and our ideas will speedily become cor rect. Some of the matter sent by the heart through the pipes, shall remain in every part of the body, and take on itself the nature and disposition of the part to which it is applied. But as we have not used the whole of what came from the heart, we must provide means of returning it; and this we will do by another set of pipes which we will call veins, and which shall arise from every part of the body, shall unite into one or two large ones, and carry back the blood to the heart. Now, parts of our body are constantly becoming effete and useless where they are, but if we can carry them into our circulating fluid, and modify them a little, they will perhaps again serve some purpose; and moreover, we will have an apparatus for carrying such as are absolutely useless out of the circulation, and out of the body altogether. To bring these parts into the circulation, we must have another set of vessels distinct from the veins, which we will call absorbents. They shall take up particles of the body, and carry them towards the heart. They shall be of the same nature with the lacteal vessels, which rise from the intestines, and indeed shall be joined with them, as they go towards the heart. We have then but one set of vessels going from the beart, the arteries, and two going towards it, the veins, and the absorbents, among which latter the lacteals are reckoned. But we need not have separate entrances in the heart for the veins and absorbents; the absorbents shall pour their liquid into a vein near the heart. We have now then brought our blood to the heart from every part of the body, where it has received a fresh supply from the stomach; but the old blood is altered in some of its properties, and is utterly unfit for the purposes of life, until it has undergone the action of the air. How shall we contrive this,-we find that our single heart is insufficient. We must have as it were two hearts :one shall receive the blood in the state just mentioned, and send it into an apparatus where the air may effect the necessary change in it-the lungs. The other heart shall receive the prepared blood from the lungs, and send it for the purpose of nourishment to every part of the body. The first heart, we have said, shall receive the blood from every part of the body with the fluid of the absorbents, and send it into an apparatus for giving it air. This apparatus shall be called the lungs. They shall be bellows, and shall be formed of a number of vesicles, membranous bladders, which shall admit the air, and on which the bloodvessels shall be spread, so that the air shall come in contact, or nearly so, with the sides of the vessels; which will be found sufficient to produce the necessary change in it, When this change has been effected, veins shall receive the now perfect blood from all the small arteries of the lungs,and carry it to the second heart, which contracting shall send it anew to every part of the body. This is one circulation. This is the discovery of the immortal Harvey: after philosophers for many ages had been contented with absurd theories of the motion of the blood, supposing it like the flux and reflux of the tide, and so forth. Though we have formed two hearts to simplify the circulation, yet we will join them together, as their motions may go on at the same time: we will call the whole, the heart of the animal; and the two hearts, the two sides of the heart. Let us impress it on our memories, that one side of the heart receives the prepared blood from the lungs, and sends it to nourish the body; and the other side receives the blood from all parts of the body, and sends it to the lungs to be again prepared. Such are the general and easy no tions which a person who would gain a knowledge of Physiology and Anatomy should first fix in his mind. A frame of bone, to give figure, strength, and points of attachment, and action for the moving powers, hollow, and full of oil, where such a structure is admissible; its parts moveable by means of joints, which are two ends of bone tipped by cartilage, joined by ligament, and besmeared with synovia, which synovia is secreted, and prevented from escaping by a membranous bag fixed around the ends of the bones. To move these bones, ropes called tendons are attached to them; and to these ropes muscular fibres are fixed, which shortening them selves, draw the most moveable towards the least moveable piece of the frame; the muscular fibres subservient to the will by means of nerves passing from the brain to them. To unite the muscular fibres to each other, cellular substance is made use of, of which also membranes, blood-ves sels, great part of the stomach and intestines, and of almost every soft part of the body, is formed. The muscles are not very sensible. But the body is surrounded by a very sensible membrane, the skin; exceedingly full of nerves, sent from it to the brain; which give notice to the mind, when any thing destructive to the body approaches. Fat also is placed by way of cushion, where motion is great; and is used to fill up interstices, and make the surface of the body smooth and beautiful. The support of the body is effected by a bag, the stomach, forming several sorts of food into a nutritious fluid. This fluid is taken up by absorbing vessels, opening into the appendages of the stomach, the intestines. These absorbents meet those coming from every other part of the body, and all joining together, pour their fluid into the blood, as it is returning to the heart. through arteries is submitted to Veins return it The heart sends it to the lungs, where it the action of the air. from the lungs to the other side of the heart, which sends it through arteries to every part of the body: from every part of the body veins receive it, and carry it back towards the heart, being joined in their way by the supply from the intestinal absorbents, together with the fluid of the other absorbents of the body. The heart sends it again to the lungs to be again perfected. From the Literary Gazette. THE HERMIT IN THE COUNTRY. No. I. IAM so partial to Scotland that I al- dom and fresh air in the land of cakes ways peruse even the humblest tri- and heather. bute in its praise with great pleasure. A couple of letters on the subject having accidentally fallen into my hands, I accordingly lay them before my readers, that they may sympathize in the delights of a cockney, escaping from the noise and dust of Cheapside, to free EDINBURGH. Letters from Mr. Peter Prig, traveller to the house of Clumph and Company, to his friend in London. "Dear John,-What an advantage travelling gives a man over the rest of his neighbours! A fellow who stands like a fixture behind his compter, has no chance of enlarging his mind, whilst the traveller who shakes off the London dust from his trowsers, divests himself of prejudice and the vernacular tongue together, and becomes not a citizen of London, but a citizen of the world; he is easily naturalized (not neutralized as Mrs. Clumph would call it) any where, because he is himself a child of nature, and takes his mother for his guide. I was never so much convinced of this, as after sojourning a while in the Caledonian metropolis, that Emporium of Science, the great northern mart, as we say. How you untravelled Cocknies do mistake the Scot! You think Sandy a heavy, uncouth, uncultivated sly creature: he is nothing of all this. Well then you consider the Aberdonian to be a sharp, tricky, slippery, selfish fellow: this is equally false. He may have a bit of these ingredients in his composition; but he is just as honest as ourselves, much pleasanter and easier to deal with, but that's not to my purpose,-sink the shop! my will, and I have no will of my own near such a sweet creature as you.' "Tut," cried Jeannie, "I canna be fashed wi' you; you speak over high English for me, but my mistress will be at you in a moment." What this meant I knew not, but I was resigned. Her mistress came in-as lady-like a woman as ever I saw, and treated me with the most courtly respect and attention; I was half reconciled to Scotland already. 66 "At this moment a barbarous fellow entered with come awa' lassie; fire my chops weel, and be dune as quick as possible, where awa's the guid wife?" What gibberish! "I hope," thought I to myself, "that they wont attempt to fire my chops; but I'm determined, for the fun of the thing, to have a complete Scottish dinner. I therefore ordered a sheep's head and a haggis, with the view of seeing as much of the country manners as I could, and I left the third dish to the landlady's good taste, calling for whiskey by way of beverage. Now, John, the sheep's head was singed, and had whole turnips around it; so that it looked like a blackamoor's head garnished with snow balls; 'twas the most disgusting thing I ever saw. At this moment my epicureanism got the better of my politeness and knowledge of the world, and I cried, with an oath, "take away that monster of a thing!" "Oh! said a pert hussey, with coal black eyes, and auburn hair, (a very pretty girl too) "you dinna like sheep's heed, ablins you'll hae enough o' that at hame!" Devilish sharp, thought I— "On my first arriving on the Scottish borders, I was brimful of prejudice, and was prepared to quiz Sandy, as much as I could; and to mark the decided inferiority betwixt him, and ourselves. How my heart and my reason smite me for such an unwortby thought! kindness and hospitality have taken their revenge of me, in this point. The first savage sound which assailed my ears, was," come, Ben." For this familiarity I took the liberty of observing, that I did not stand nick names, that I was neither Ben nor Dick, and that I thought the address more free than welcome. The chambermaid stared; she was a pretty girl; and blushing modestly and enchantingly, she replied, "I hope, Sir, no offence; will you step in to the fire ?" "No, my dear;" replied I," for if I did, I should burn myself; and as it is, I am between two fires, a noble one of Scotch coal, and your bright eyes, which is the most ardent of the two." "What's your wull," replied Jeannie (such was her name.) "Why, love, I have not made""" Bonny lassie," said I, (for I am an "She now brought me some decentish barley broth, and a boiled fowl, which was tol lol, but overdone; some very fine fish, and a bottle of as good port as any in the Lord Mayor's cellar. This made me a little easy; and the active bucksome style of the lass quite struck my fancy. I had, however, only seen her face. Looking down I beheld her naked feet, which quite turned my stomach; but I was determined to be condescending, and to make myselt agreeable to the natives; so smiling, |