clearer glass. Mais révenons à nos oiseaux, or rather, à nos poissons. We offered our sceptical friend to procure a glass bowl, and to place in it a number of fish; undertaking to tame every one of them so effectually, within a fortnight, that they should one and all recognise us. This satisfied him; and he promised, if we succeeded, he would acknowledge our power. That was kind of him-very. To work we went. Thirteen sprightly minnows were introduced into a glass bowl, and we changed the water regularly every morning.; removing them in a closely-meshed net, and tenderly replacing them when the bowl was again ready for their reception. It is not necessary to enter into particulars here, how we accomplished our purpose. A second Cæsar, we exclaimed-“ Veni, vidi, vici!" We were indeed "a Triton among the minnows." Within the prescribed time, every one of our finny friends had made our acquaintance; coming to the top of the water whenever we placed our head over the bowl, leaping some distance out of the water in the exuberance of their delight, and positively listening to us attentively whilst we whistled to them a lively air. More than this: when we placed one of our fingers in the bowl, each graceful inhabit ant swam affectionately round it; rubbing his sides against it, and evidencing a degree of pleasure hardly credible unless witnessed. We converted the infidel, it is true; but we shortly afterwards lost the society of our little friends. They perished during the heat of that same summer. In our next, we shall introduce to our readers' notice that universal pet-the CANARY. ANIMALS AND THEIR YOUNG. IN TWO CHAPTERS.-CHAPTER I. THERE is a marked difference in the number of the eggs laid by different species of birds. This forms one of the many remarkable provisions by which animal reproduction is protected and controlled by fixed laws. The pigeon lays only two eggs at a time, but it rears several broods in the season. Most birds, however, only rear one brood in the year, and as a general law it is found that birds of prey produce their young much more sparingly than others of the feathered tribe. The eagle and the vulture lay only two eggs, and rear but one brood in the season; the hawk, the owl, and other rapacious birds, in like manner increase slowly, and are found in their most favorite localities only in very small numbers, compared with those on which they are accustomed to prey; while the feeble little wren lays frequently as many as nineteen eggs, and rears the whole brood! Yet a curious instinct seems to control this important law of reproduction, We are familiar in the case of the domestic hen, with the fact that, in the spring, when she begins to lay, if left undisturbed she will provide a nest, and having there deposited a certain number of eggs, she then ceases to add to their number, and proceeds to the maternal work of incubation. If however the eggs are removed, the hen continues to lay others to an almost unlimited extent. Nearly the same is the case with birds in their natural state. If their eggs are left untouched, they lay only the fixed number; but if these are destroyed or removed, they and the black-bird for example, has been known to lay seventeen will repeatedly replace them. The yellow-hammer, eggs; when they have been removed, one at a time, from the nest, without abstracting the whole. The bird at length deserted the nest and died. When chickens are hatched, a total change of duties devolves on the parent birds. The voracity of the young is extreme, their appetites being adapted to their rapid growth and development. A young sparrow will cat its own weight of food in a single day; we may theredevolve on the parents after the brood is hatched, to provide for a nestful of such clamorous and greedy offspring. The instinctive care of the parent bird, however, is shown in the selection of the proper food, and in some in its preparation, as well as in the regulation of the requisite supply. fore conceive the unwearied care and toil which The pigeon, for example, is specially remarkable for one provision of its internal organisation. brane with the internal surface smooth; but a The crop in its ordinary state is a thin memtotal change occurs in it preparatory to the hatching of the young brood. The crop then increases to a thick and glandular bag, having the internal surface rough and irregular; and within this all the food of the young pigeon undergoes a preparatory process of a very peculiar kind. A milky fluid of a greyish color is secreted by the glands and poured in upon the grain and seeds, which have been collected in the crop to undergo the needful preparation for suiting them to the delicate digestive organs of the young pigeon. The whole apparatus bears a considerable resemblance to the provision by which quadrupeds are nursed in the earliest stage of existence, on their mothers' milk. The fluid secreted in the female lacteal glands, by means of which the offspring of quadrupeds are supplied with food admirably adapted for their nourishment in the earliest stage of their existence, is one of the most important differences between birds and beasts, in the propagation of their species; accompanying as it does the production of the one from eggs: while in the other, the same process is carried on in the womb, and the young are brought forth alive and fully formed. The same laws, however, which regulate the balance of numbers between rapacious birds and those on which they prey, control the reproductive powers of quadrupeds. The lion and tiger bear only once a-year, and rarely bring forth more than two or three young ones at a time. They are also, like all the great cat family, entirely unsocial, so that their ravages are in no case multiplied either by the union or the sagacity displayed in the combined operations of the dog or wolf. Each with his female partner, occupies a solitary den, usually concealed in some obscure retreat in the wide jungle or forest. Were it otherwise, it would seem nearly impossible for any other creatures to live in a region occupied by them, so that they must speedily effect their own destruction by the annihilation of their whole means of subsistence. The bound with which the tiger springs from his ambush, and dashes himself on his prey, is astonishing and terrible, and may be said to be irresistible in its effects. Man appears as a mere puppet in the clutch of this ferocious animal, which has been known, as in the case of Sir Hector Monro's unfortunate son, to dash into the midst of a party of armed men, and paralysing the whole by its sudden and tremendous roar, to carry off with ease its victim, apparently indeed scarcely feeling any impediment from the weight of a full-grown man. Even the great Indian buffalo is borne down by this ferocious beast, and dragged off through the jungle without any violent exertion of its enormous strength. To such voracious animals, a large district is needed for the range of a single pair, where the flocks of the herbiverous animals abound, and where the immense preponderance in the number of the latter shall prevent the violent inroads of their dread foe from becoming so frequent as to scare them from the district. PHRENOLOGY FOR THE MILLION. "He who opposes his own judgment against the consent of the times, ought to be backed with UNANSWERABLE TRUTHS; and he who has TRUTH on his side is a fool, that of the body; and especially in proportion to the nervous mass. Here we find ourselves associated with the boar, the bear, the horse, the ox-with the camel, dolphin, elephant, and the stupid Sloth. A man like you, possesses more than double the quantity of brain in a stupid bigot; and at least one-sixth more than the wisest or the most sagacious elephant. By this, we are led to admit the second principle here laid down. III. and IV. The Faculties are not only distinct and independent of the Propensities; but also the Faculties among themselves, and the Propensities among themselves, are essentially distinct and independent: they ought, consequently, to have their seat in parts of the Brain distinct and independent of each other. mind alternately act and repose; so that one, Proof 1. We can make the qualities of the after being fatigued, rests and refreshes itself, while another acts and becomes fatigued in turn. 2. The dispositions and propensities exist man, as also in animals of the same kind. among themselves, in variable proportions in 3. Different faculties and propensities exist separately in different animals. 4. The faculties and propensities develop themselves at different epochs; some cease, without the other diminishing, and even while the other increases. 5. In diseases and wounds of certain parts of the brain, certain qualities are deranged, irritated, or suspended; they return by degrees to their natural state, during the curative process. I do not imagine myself a man sufficiently great to establish anything by bare assertion. I must endeavor therefore, to establish each one of these facts by proof. Nevertheless, some timid minds will object thus: If you allow that the as well as a Coward, if he is afraid to own it because of the currency or multitude of OTHER MEN'S OPINIONS."-functions of the mind are produced by corporeal DEFOE. I adduce the following proofs:-1. The functions of the mind are deranged by the lesion of the brain: they are not immediately deranged by the lesion of other parts of the body. 2. The brain is not necessary to life; but as nature creates nothing in vain, it must be that the brain has another distinction; that is to say, 3. The qualities of the mind, or the faculties and propensities of men and animals, are multiplied and elevated in direct ratio to the increase of the mass of brain, proportionally to means, or by certain organs, will you not assail the spiritual nature and the immortality of the soul? Condescend to hear my answer. The naturalist endeavors to penetrate the laws of the matetruth can be in contradiction with an established rial world only, and supposes that no natural truth; he now finds, that neither the mind nor body the Creator; but he can draw no conclusion as can be destroyed without the immediate order of to spiritual life. He contents himself with perceiving and teaching, that the mind is chained in this life to a corporeal organisation. Thus much in general: but for details, I answer in the following manner. In the preceding the instrument by which he acts. That which objection, the Being who acts, is confounded by I laid down respecting the lower Faculties, that is to say, of the inferior organs of the functions of the mind, in numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, takes place also with it in regard to the external senses. For example, while the fatigued eye reposes, we can listen attentively; the hearing may be destroyed, without the vision being impaired; some of the senses may be imperfect, while others are in full force; worms are entirely destitute of hearing and sight, but they possess a perfect touch; the new-born puppy is for several days both blind and deaf, while his taste is perfectly developed; in old age, the hearing generally diminishes before the sight; while the taste almost always remains unimpaired. Hence results the proof of the existence of the senses by themselves, and of their independence, which no one doubts. Has any one ever drawn the conclusion, that the mind ought to be material or mortal, from the essential difference of the senses? Is the mind which sees, different from the mind that hears? I extend the comparison a little farther he is mistaken, who thinks that the eye sees, that the ear hears, &c.;-each external organ of sense is in communication by nerves with the brain; and at the commencement of the nerves, is a proportionable mass of brain which constitutes the true internal organ of each sensitive function. Consequently, the eye may be never so sound, the optic nerve may be never so perfect, and yet, if the internal organ is impaired or destroyed, the eye and the optic nerves are of no avail. The external instruments of sense have, consequently, their organs also in the brain, and these external instruments are only the means by which the internal organs are put in relation with external objects: it is for these reasons, that it never entered the head of Boerhaave, nor of Haller, nor of Mayer, nor even of Lavater, who seeks for the qualities of mind in the head, and of character in the body, that anything could be inferred against the doctrine of the immateriality and immortality of the soul, from the difference and independence of the faculties and propensities, and of their internal organs. The same mind which sees through the organ of sight, and which smells through the olfactory organ, learns by heart through the organ of memory, and does good through the organ of benevolence. It is the same spring which puts in motion fewer wheels for you, and more for me. In this way, the general functions of the brain are established.* I now proceed to prove, that we can establish the assistance and the relation of many faculties and propensities, by the formation of the cerebral development. By which means will be demonstrated, at once, the functions of the different cerebral parts. V. Of the Distribution of the different Organs and their various Development, arising from different forms of the Brain. Among the proofs in support of this principle, I point out the differences of conformation between carnivorous, frugivorous, and omnivorous animals. Then I show the cause of the difference between different species of animals, also the cause of accidental differences of species and individuals. If any of our readers have the pleasure of personally knowing Dr. ELLIOTSON, the most eminent and skilful physician of modern times, let them hear him speak on "Phrenology" and the organisation of the human brain. His devotion to science, properly so called, and the admirable manner in which he resolves and explains the fundamental laws of Nature, place him on an eminence that very few, if any of his brethren, can ever hope to reach. His abilities, and his researches into truth (the results of which he has not hesitated to make publicly known), have naturally procured him many enemies; but their ignorance only serves to augment his triumph.ED. K. J. VI. From the Totality and the Development of Here I take the opportunity to show, that an organ is the more active, the more it is developed, without denying other exciting causes of its activity. But how is all this to lead us to a knowledge of the different faculties and the different propensities, by the formation of the skull? Is then the form of the skull moulded upon that of the brain? VII. From the Formation of the Bones of the Head, until the most advanced period of life, the form of the internal surface of the Skull is determined by the external form of the Brain: we can then be certain of the existence of some Faculties and Propensities, while the external surface of the Skull agrees with its internal surface, or so long as the variation is confined to certain known limits. Here I explain the formation of the bones of the head, and I prove that, from the moment of birth, they receive their form from the brain. I speak afterwards of the influence of other causes upon the conformation of the head; among which causes we may rank continual or repeated violence. I show that the organs develop themselves, from the earliest infancy, until their final completion, in the same proportion, and the same order, as the manifestation of the I show, faculties and natural propensities. besides, that the bones of the head take on their different forms in the same proportion, and in I show finally, the gradual the same order. diminution of our faculties, by the diminution of the corresponding organs, and how nature deposits in the vacant spaces new portions of bony matter. All these things were heretofore unknown in the doctrine of the bones of the head. By these, is the first step taken for the determination of the particular functions of the different parts of the Brain. PART IL Application of general principles. Establishment and determination of the Faculties and Propensities existing of themselves. As I suppose a particular organ for each one of our independent qualities, we have only to establish what are the independent qualities, in order to know what are the organs which we may hope to discover. For many years I met great difficulties in this research, and at last I am convinced that, as in everything else, we take the nearest and surest road if we lay aside our artificial logic, and allow ourselves to be guided BY FACTS. I make known to my readers some of the difficulties which it was necessary to surmount. They may solve them, if they have more penetration than I have. (To be continued Weekly). TRUE HAPPINESS.-That state of life is most happy, wherein Superfluitics are not required, and Necessaries are not wanting. PRIVATE LETTERS.-Of these we daily receive such immense quantities, that we must really beg the writers to excuse our not replying to them. Our time is more profitably occupied. All vacancies, as they are called, are filled up. Let this general answer suffice. CORRESPONDENTS sending in any "facts" connected with Science or Natural History, are requested in every case to append their names and places of abode. In no instance, however, will their names be published without their express sanction. NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS AND OTHERS.-It having been deemed expedient, to meet the views of the Trade, that this Journal should always be published by anticipabear in mind that they must give us an extra "week's grace," and wait patiently till their favors appear. All persons who may send in MSS., but which may not be "accepted," are requested to preserve copies of them, as the Editor cannot hold himself responsible for their return. tion, CONTRIBUTORS AND OTHERS will be so kind as to To obtain this Paper without any difficulty, our readers need only ORDER it to be sent to them by any of their local Booksellers or Newsvendors. It is published simultaneously with all the other weekly periodicals. KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. Saturday, March 20, 1852. ANOTHER month has rapidly rolled away; and its successor heralds in, this day, our Twelfth Number and Third Part. We shall now soon be in our teens." If we Many pleasing changes in the prospects of this JOURNAL have taken place since our last Monthly Address to our distant friends, -and these are mainly attributable to themselves. It is true we may have had some little to do with them, as regards certain new features of interest in our Paper; but we claim no merit on that score. want aid, we must try and deserve it. It would appear that the candor with which we have stated from week to week the many unfair difficulties which have beset us, has enlisted the best sympathies of very many of our subscribers, more particularly those residing in Scotland and Ireland, where our presence is most heartily and enthusiastically welcomed. A lady, quite a stranger to us, writes (from Edinburgh) that, as promises are easily made and as easily broken," she has proposed and carried out the following scheme,-viz.: collected within a few days among her own immediate connection, six weekly subscribers, who each hope to obtain other six subscribers by their own individual exertions, thus carrying out the wholesome principle at compound interest among their friends and acquaintance (let us hope) ad infinitum. Quid fœmina non possit! or, freely rendered -Victory! thy name is Woman. Our kind patroness then suggests, that "if every one of your subscribers were to do the same thing (and, she adds, they must surely be luke-warm if they do not), the success of your JOURNAL would be secured in a single week, and your mind rendered happy." This is quite true. What womanly tact do we see here; and how much fine feeling! It is positively more welcome than the offer of a well-filled purse. There yet, however, remains one thing to be done; and that is, to order the local bookseller to procure the required number of our Paper regularly, and to see him enter the order in his Books, before leaving him. If he refuse to procure them, our London Publisher (Mr. Berger) will forward them direct by post. Any numbers of our JOURNAL, not exceeding 1 lb. weight, will now travel free for the all-but nominal cost of 6d. postage. Our friends continue to express their wonder that a Periodical like ours, so much wanted and so much liked by the public, should be so unfairly opposed. Nor can they, any more than ourselves, offer any valid reason for it. It is admitted by all lovers of Natural History, that a work like this, when a careful INDEX shall have been prepared, will be indispensable for Reference. All difficulties in MANCHESTER we are happy to say, are now overcome. attributable to the efficient and kindly aid of Mr. Abel HEYWOOD, Oldham-st. In EDINBURGH, too, and in DUBLIN, we are going a-head. Mr. John MENZIES at the former, and Mr. Edward MILLIKEN at the latter, are immortalising us daily by their joint efforts. In GLASGOW, our friends are legion; yet have we no efficient agent there. Will Messrs. MURRAY and SON kindly number themselves among our bodyguard? Then shall we be nobly represented in these three great cities. Let us now only add the hope, that the example set by our "Lady Bountiful" in Edinburgh may be faithfully followed all over the known world! To meet the views of many much-valued Correspondents, who attribute great importance to the formation of an INDEX for our Work-we purpose issuing at an early day, the FIRST QUARTERLY VOLUME, neatly bound, with a Titlepage, Index, &c. The idea is an admirable one, and it will give immense satisfaction in the country. ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE. Irish Bipeds, Feathered and Unfeathered.-I send you herewith a copy of the Cork Examiner, bearing date February 25th. In it, headed as above, is an attack upon your JOURNAL by a party signing himself "J. A. B." The letter is of course too long for you to copy into your JOURNAL, but, at all events, you will take some notice of it. It is evidently penned by an Hibernian, who is a plain-spoken native, and one who can see nothing, as the saying is, that is beyond his nose. However, at heart, he does not appear to be a bad fellow. Deal gently with him.-S. W. ning; they must, consequently, be aware that no man can keep up with it in speed. We may easily imagine, that if the partridge had a longer step, its speed would be consequently augmented. The ostrich moves like the partridge, and has this additional advantage; and I am quite certain those I am speaking of would have distanced the fleetest race-horses that were ever bred in England. It is true that they would not hold out so long as a horse, but they would undoubtedly be able to go over the same space in less time. I have frequently witnessed what I am now speaking about, and this affords an idea of the prodigious strength of the ostrich, and shows how useful the animal might be made, had we but the method of "breaking and managing him, as we do the horse."-F. M., Abington. [Several other correspondents have kindly supplied us with a copy of the said Cork Examiner. The letter is indeed a long one, and the writer evidently as ignorant of us as we are of Pugnacity of the Robin.-A short time since, him. He quarrels with us for having said, at whilst at my country residence at Broomfield, in page 43, that the reason why certain birds do Somersetshire, I met with the following strange not visit Ireland is their dislike for such a "dis- occurrence:-Attached to a house just opening tracted" country, and the reason for their not into a pitched court-yard, is a room furnished singing there, ditto. Our remarks had reference with two windows, one of which is grated and to a very interesting correspondence between a open, and the other is glazed; through this open gentleman residing in Ireland, and ourselves, window, robins and other small birds were in the many months ago, when the habits of certain habit of passing into the room, which, being kept birds were discussed seriatim. We will re-print generally undisturbed and the door locked, this correspondence in our next JOURNAL. The afforded them an occasional refuge from the inletters will tend to throw much light upon what clemency of the weather. At times you might may now appear misty; and we imagine they see two robins, one of them being within and the will abundantly pacify our, at present, wrathful other without the room, pecking at each other, disputant. We hope, ere long, to make him one with the glazed window between them, and of our best friends. By the way, we have sent a seemingly much amused with their play. One long letter of reply to the Cork Examiner; so that day I had occasion, in the summer time, to look all friends who may reside in that neighborhood for something in this room, and, accompanied by may at once look out for it. Our letter, be it one of my sons, I unlocked the door with the observed, contains no part of, and has no re-intention of entering, when two robins, which ference to, what will appear in this JOURNAL.] were both within the apartment, being disturbed, flew out through the open grated window, and then making a circuit through the air, pitched together on the ground of the court on which we were standing, and at about ten yards' distance from us. They then, apparently, commenced a most furious fight with each other, and shortly one of them fell on his back, stretched out his legs, and seemed perfectly dead. The other instantly seized him by the back of the head, and dragged him several times round and round a circle of about seven or eight feet in diameter. My son, with a view to stop their savage amusement, was about to spring forward, when I gently arrested him, to see the issue. Much to my astonishment, after being dragged a few rounds, the fallen and apparently dead bird sprang up with a bound, and his antagonist fell in his turn upon his back, and stretched out both legs with consummate adroitness, in all the mock rigidity of death; when his late seemingly dead opponent in like manner seized him by the head, and after dragging him a few rounds, they both sprang up and flew away. I have seen strange sights in my life, in which birds and beasts have been the actors, but none equal to this.-A. C. Immense Speed of the Ostrich.-Seeing some interesting remarks connected with the ostrich, at pages 3 and 25 of your valuable JOURNAL, I beg to add some additional particulars of that singular bird. If we can place any confidence in travellers' tales, the ostrich is swifter than an Arabian horse. When Mr. Adamson resided at Pador, a French factory on the south side of the river Niger, he says that two ostriches (which had been about two years in the factory), afforded him a sight of a truly extraordinary nature. These gigantic birds, though young, were nearly the full natural size. They were so tame, that two little blacks mounted together on the back of the larger of the two. No sooner did the animal feel their weight, than he commenced running as fast as possible, carrying them several times round the village, nor was it possible to stop him otherwise than by obstructing the passage. The sight, says Mr. Adamson, pleased me so much, that I wished it to be repeated. He then directed a full-sized negro to mount the smaller animal, and the two little boys mounted the other. The burden did not appear at all disproportioned to their strength. At first they started at a pretty sharp trot; but, when they be- A Husky Canary.I have a valuable canary. came heated a little, they expanded their wings, He sang well until he moulted. He has since and moved with such fleetness, that they seemed remained silent. He breathes with difficulty, and scarcely to touch the ground. Most people must his feathers are irregular. His mouth is never have seen, some time or other, a partridge run-fairly closed; and his eyes are moist, as if from |