The wild wall-flower has a bushy stem, from one to two feet high, large flowers, appearing in May and June, with rich yello petals. It grows on old buildings and high walls. Of this ant Moir says, with enthusiasm, "The wall-flower-the wall-flower, How beautiful it blooms! It gleams above the tower, Like sun-light over tombs: It sheds a halo of repose Around the wrecks of Time ;-- In the season of the tulip-cup, When blossoms clothe the trees, The bee is on the wing. And on the hawthorn by the road Rich is the pink, the lily gay: The rose is summer's guest; Bland are thy charms when these decay,- The cabbage bore a name among the Greeks which arose from the seed resembling that of the radish, while that used by the Romans, Brassica, still employed by botanists, is supposed to be derived from præseco, because it was cut off from the stalk. Another Latin name for it was caulis, on account of the goodness of its stalks, and from which the English name cole, colwort, or colewort is derived. The word cabbage, by which all the varieties of this plant are now imperfectly called, means the firm head or ball that is formed by the leaves turn ing close over each other; hence the saying the cole has cabbaged, the lettuce has cabbaged. The cant-word used in speaking of tailors, who formerly worked at private houses, intimates that they rolled up pieces of cloth belonging to their customers, instead of the list and shreds which they claimed as their due. Gerard is the oldest English author who has written fully on this useful vegetable. He mentions the white cabbage cole, the red cabbage cole, the curled cabbage cole; and says the Savoie cole is among the headed coleworts or cabbages. He says also," the swolen colewort of all others is the strongest, and which I received from a worshipfull marchant of London, Master Nicholas Lete, who brought the seed out of France, who is greatly in love with rare and faire flowers and plants; for which he doeth carefully send into Syria, having a servant there at Alepo, and in many other countries; for the which myself and likewise the whole lande are much bound unto." The same writer adds: "Rape cole is another variety; they were called in Latin caulo-rapum and rapo-caulis, participating of two plants, the coleworts and turnips, from whence they derive their name. They grow in Italy, Spain, and some places in Germanie, from whence I have received seeds for my garden." This variety has long become one of our hardiest field-plants. The German cabbage is grown to so great a size in Holland that a single head often weighs forty pounds, and remains per fectly sweet and tender. LESSONS IN NATURAL HISTORY.-No. VII. [Order CARNIVORA, specics CANIS LUPUS.] THE wolf is larger, stronger, and more muscular than the dog. His colour is generally pale gray. His powers of scent are very delicate, his hearing is acute, and his habits always cautions. He never carries his tail curled upwards, and his pace is marked by hesitancy and indecision. The track of a wolf is readi. y distinguished from that of a dog by the two middle claws being close together; while in the dog they are separated the marks, however, when the wolf is at speed, and the middle toes are separated, can be determined by the claws being deeper, and the impression more hairy; the print is also larger and narrower, and the ball of the foot more prominent. Wolf-hunters commonly assert that the animal is weak in the loins, and, when first put to speed, that his hind quarters seem to waver; but, when warmed, that he will run without halting, from the district where he has been hunted, taking a direct line for some favourite cover, perhaps forty miles or more in distance. On these occasions he will leap upon walls above eight feet high, cross rivers obliquely with the current, even if it be the Rhine, and never offer battle unless he be fairly turned; then he will endeavour to cripple the opponent by hasty snaps at the fore-legs, and resume his route. "As to attacking the wolf," said a shepherd to Mr. Barrow, when he was in Spain; "it is no very pleasant task; he has both teeth and claws, and dog or man who has once felt them, likes not to venture a second time within his reach. These dogs of mine will seize a bear singly with considerable alacrity; though he is a most powerful animal; but I have seen them run away howling from a wolf even though there were two or three of us at hand to encourage them." Another shepherd said: "A dangerous person is the wolf, and cunning as dangerous: who knows more than he? He knows the vulnerable point of every animal; see, for example, how he flies at the neck of a bullock, tearing open the veins with his grim teeth and claws. But does he attack a horse in this manner? I trow not." "Not he," said the first shepherd, "he is too good a judge; but he fastens on the haunches, and hamstrings him in a moment. Oh! the fear of the horse when he comes near the dwelling of the wolf. My master was the other day, riding above the pass, on his fine Andalusian steed, which had cost him five hundred dollars: suddenly the horse stopped, and sweated, and trembled, like a woman in the act of fainting; my master could not conceive the reason, but presently he heard a squealing and growling in the bushes, whereupon he fired off his gun, and scared the wolves, who scampered away; but he tells us that the horse has not yet recovered from his fright." At one time the wolf was the plague and terror of our island. The Saxons, it is said, called January, "wolf-monat," or wolf-month, because the wolves of our ancient forests, impelled by hunger at this season, were wont to prowl and attack man himself; the inferior animals, on whom they usually preyed, having retired or perished from the inclemency of the weather. Then, laws were made with a view to the destruction of this animal, retreats were built in the northern districts to secure passengers from its attacks, and taxes were paid in wolves' heads. King Edgar, to encourage the destruction of these animals, commuted the punishment of criminals, in many cases, into a requisition of a certain number of wolves' tongues from each, according to the degree of the offence. A Welsh prince who paid tribute to him, was oppressively ordered to produce annually, instead of money, a hundred wolves' heads. Nor was this a solitary instance of rigorous enactment; for, as Somerville says, "Cambria's proud kings (though with reluctance) paid Then, too, kings and chiefs adopted the name of the wolf or have been recognised by it, either in consequence of their ravages, or from a desire to appear truly formidable. Such was the case among the Saxons, and hence we read in history of Ethelwolf, or noble wolf; Berthwolf, or illustrious wolf; Eadwolf, or prosperous wolf; and other combinations of the same kind, which are similarly significant. Though endeavours were long made to exterminate the wolf and lingered still longer in the Islands of Scotland. The last in England, it maintained its ground there for many centuries, wolf is said to have fallen in Lochaber, by the hands of Sir Ewen Cameron, of Lochiel. Thomson thus pictures the ravages of these creatures in other lands :- "By wintry famine roused from all the tract And wavy Apennine, and Pyrenees And tear the screaming infant from her breast." The wolf combines cowardice with ferocity, and when not impelled by hunger, conceives every object is a snare to entrap him. Thus, in Lapland, if he comes on a reindeer, tied to a post to be milked, he will not venture to approach it, lest the animal should be tied there as a decoy; yet no sooner is the deer set at liberty than he commences a pursuit, and destroys it. But should the deer become irritated and stand at bay, the wolf is instantly intimidated. Mr. Lloyd, who has written on the "Field Sports in the North of Europe," gives us a still more striking fact. A peasant, when one day in his sledge, in the neighbourhood of St. Petersburg, was pursued by eleven wolves. At this time he was only about two miles fromhome, towards which he urged his horse at the very top of his speed. At the entrance to his residence was a gate, which happened to be closed at the time, but the horse dashed this open, and thus himself and his master found refuge within the courtyard. They were followed, however, bynine out of the eleven wolves; but, very fortunately, at the companion, who stood farther on, and was, I believe, less in the demon's way than I was; she had nearly passed him, when suddenly she turned half round, and snapped at him. I shall never forget what followed; in a moment a dozen wolves were upon him, tearing him limb from limb, with howlings like nothing in this world; in a few moments he was devoured, nothing remaining but the skull and a few bones; and then they passed on in the same manner as they came. Good reason had I to be grateful that my lady-wolf took less notice of me than my poor comrade." The Spanish soldier in calling the wolves demons spoke in accordance with a widely-extended superstition. The old Saxons spoke of the weir-wolf under the idea that he possessed some evil spirit; and the peasantry of many of the districts of France call him still the loupe garon for the same reason. Wolves are still very frequently seen at Ecomoy and Marjet, in the department of the Sarthe, France. Not long ago, a shewolf seized a child by the frock, and dragged it away, in the presence of its mother, who followed it to its den, where she found her child in the midst of nine cubs, without any injury. The cubs were instantly killed by the neighbours, but the dam escaped. WOLVES. instant these had entered the enclosure, the gate swung, back on its hinges, and thus they were caught as in a trap. From being the most voracious of animals-now that they found escape impossible-they became completely changed; so far, indeed, from offering molestation to any one, they unk into holes and corners, and allowed themselves to be al ughtered almost without making resistance. "Worse than the he-wolf," said a soldier to Mr. Barrow, "is the female. I was once travelling over the hills of Galicia, when we heard a howl. These are wolves,' said my companion, 'let us get out of the way;' so we stepped from the pati, and ascended the side of a hill a little way, to a terrace, where grew vines, after the manner of Galicia; presently appeared a large gray she-wolf, snapping and growling at a troop of demons, who followed close behind, their tails uplifted, and their eyes like firebrands. What do you think the perverse brute did? Instead of keeping to the path, she turned in the very direction in which we were; there was now no remedy, So we stood still. I was the first upon the terrace, and by me she passed so close that I felt her hair brush against my legs; she, however, took no notice of me, but pushed on, neither look ng to the right nor left, and all the other wolves trotted by me without offering the slightest injury, or even as much as look ng at me. Would that I could say as much for my poor E.CUILLAUMOT Strange as it may seem, a wolf, when taken young, is capable of being tamed. The celebrated naturalist, Count de Buffon, brought up several of these animals. He states, that when young, or during the first year, they are very docile, and even caressing; and if well fed,' will neither disturb the poultry, nor any other animals; but, that at the age of fifteen months or two years, their natural ferocity begins to appear, and they must be chained to prevent their run ning off, and doing mischief. The count brought up a wolf till it was eighteen or nineteen months old, in a courtyard, along with fowls, none of which it ever attacked; but, for its first essay, it killed the whole in one night, without eating any of them. Instances, however, are not wanting in which the effect of early training has continued. Not long ago, there was in "The Garden of Plants" in Paris, a black wolf. He was brought when very young, and presented to Mademoiselle Devousel, the step-daughter of the famous Baron Cuvier. This lady found him so tame, that she desired he might have a dog as a companion, and be entirely fed on broth and cooked meat. Her orders were obeyed, and the animal retained all his gentleness and docility. He never saw her without stretching his paws through the bars to be shaken; and when she let him loose, he was accustomed to lie down before her, to lick her feet, and to show every mark of joy and affection. The Scripture account of this animal corresponds precisely with the description given above of his ignoble cunning, and his rapacious nature. These are alluded to in the patriarch's character of the tribe of Benjamin, in Genesis xlix. 27: "Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf: in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil." It is well known, that whenever an earthquake takes place in volcanic regions, new springs burst forth in several spots; or, former wells have their volume of water much increased, and others have the temperature of their water greatly raised. It is on this account that these hot wells are considered under the head of volcanic action; for it is evident that such springs are of a mixed character, partly igneous, and partly aqueous. The water which issues from our common springs derives its amount of warmth, either from the heat of the sun, or from the temperature of the rocks through which it has sunk or percolated. There are, however, many springs whose temperature cannot be ascribed to the sun and atmosphere, for their temperature, varies from that of the surrounding air to that of boiling water. Two theories have been applied to the explanation of As thermal springs play an important part in the formation which influences their waters is a b thermal springs. According to one, their water is supposed to rise from very great depths; depths at which the rocks are intensely heated by subterranean fire. The other supposes that the heat of these deeplyseated rocks is communicated upward through fissures, until it meets and heats that water which has perco lated from the surface, and causes it to ascend in another direction. The illustrious chemist, BERZELIUS, ascribes the origin of thermal springs to the waters of the atmosphere percolating through the soil and the underlying rocks, and descending downwards until they reach volcanic heat, and that then they are forced upward charged with the various substances with which they have combined in the strata below. Another great chemist, VON HOFF, supposes, on the contrary, that the heat not from volcanic action, are deeper in the interior of the earth, and which are themselves the causes of volcanoes and earthquakes. of the crust of the earth, a knowledge of their phenomena is but from those fiery processes which Representing the supposed Reservoir and Pipe of a Geyser in Iceland. MY d What do you think? Is the high temperature of these thermal springs owing to this deep subterranean heat or not? One would think that it is; for they are found in almost all situations, not only in districts where volcanoes are now active, but in the regions of extinct volcanoes, as in central France, and also even in spots which are very far removed from all volcanic points. As, also, they are found in ranges of mountains which have evidently been upheaved by the force of subterranean heat pressing upward, it is a fair inference that the heat of the springs which issue at the sides of such mountains is derived from the heat beneath. Take the following for instances. The Geysers are situated in the south-west division of IceIn some of the higher regions of the Himalaya, in India, a spring is formed on the banks of the river Jumna so hot, that the hand cannot be kept in it many moments. Also at Jumnotri, a place 10,483 feet above the level of the sea, nearly three times the height of Snowdon or Ben Nevis, thermal springs rise through crevices in a rock of granite, the heat of which is so near the boiling point, that the finger cannot be kept in it two seconds. These thermal springs are found to rise in almost all kinds of rock, such as granite, gneiss, limestone, lava, &c. Though they are not limited to volcanic points, they are most abundant in districts where violent earthquakes have occurred, and where great disturbance and dislocation of strata has taken place. To give an enumeration of the situations on the globe where thermal springs are found, belongs rather to physical geography than to geology. I will, however, point you to a few spots where these springs are accompanied by very remarkable phe nomena. land. About one hundred of them play within a circle of twe miles. These rise in a thick bed of lava derived probably from Hecla, a volcano whose summit can be seen from them at the distance of some thirty miles. Fig. 22 represents what is called the "Great Geyser." It rises out of a spacious basin which surrounds a vent or a well. The basin consists of a mound which has been formed around this well by siliceous or flinty matter which has fallen from the spray of the water, and which has settled as a circular incrustation. The diameter of the whole basin is 56 feet in one way and 46 in another. In the centre of the basin is the well, shaft, or pipe which goes down seventy-eight feet deep and which is from eight to ten feet in diameter. At interval this basin is quite empty, but usually it is filled with water at boils as if in a kettle on the fire. Before an eruption of the Geys takes place the sounds of a rushing water is sometimes hear in the chasms beneath the surface; for here, as in the dist ts of Etna, rivulets and brooks flow in subterranean char els formed in porous and cavernous lava. The Geysers jet and rest alternately, and but few of them play for more than five minutes at a time. At intervals they throw up an immense quantity of hot water and steam. When an eruption of the boiling water begins, subterranean noises are heard which resemble the distant discharges of cannon, and these are repeated rapidly but irregu At the Ozark Mountains in North America, there is a valley between two slate hills, where there is a magnificent burst of about seventy hot springs, and varying in temperature from 120° to 140° Fahrenheit. It is remarkable that about, and even in, some of the hottest of these springs, vegetables and confervas grow and thrive; and also that on the floor and at the sides of such hot wells, little insects are seen sporting in gaiety and glee. These confervas are diminutive, and thread-like plants which spread themselves in fine filaments. This fact must be inter-larly. esting to you, as it will help you to understand how such aquatic plants could come into quartz pebbles, and into chalk, as the microscope has revealed to us. At Salzburg, in the Alps, there is a hot well called Bad Gastein. In that hot water, not only are aquatic animals and vegetable found, but even a fresh water shell called limneus pereger enjoys itself at the heat of 117° Fahrenheit. At La Trinchera, in the district of Valencia, South America, there is a spot where thermal springs and wells of cold water are within forty feet of each other. This phenomenon illustrates the great variety of courses which waters take among the strata below. Von Humboldt says that the hot wells at this place are so copious as to form a rivulet which, during the greatest droughts, is two feet deep and eighteen wide. The temperature of the well is 1940, and eggs were boiled by it in four minutes. The springs issued from granite, were strongly impregnated with sulphuretted hydrogen, and deposited a sedíment of carbonate of lime. At forty feet distance were wells of fresh water of the ordinary temperature. The waters which came to form these two classes of wells so near each other must have been derived from widely different sources, and must have undergone different influences. Having stated to you a few of the remarkable facts connected with thermal springs, I will now try to explain to you how they become heated, and how they find their way to the surface. Before the eruption actually takes place the water heaves and rises several times in the well or the pipe to which I have referred, and then a column of water jets up suddenly from the basin to the height of ten or twelve feet, accompanied with clouds of steam. The first column rises as if it had burst, or had been snapped from the water below. The next jet rises about fifteen feet, and then a quick succession of about eighteen jets in five minutes take place, which rise about fifty feet high. After the last jet, which is the most furious of all, the water suddenly disappears from the basin, and sinks down through the pipe or well in the centre. It sinks about ten feet, and then begins to rise gradually. Its temperature in this state is about 209 Fahr. There have been many instances in which these jets of boiling water have risen in columns from a hundred to a hundred and fifty feet high. A great rush of steam almost always follows the subsidence or disappearance of the water in the well. I will now try to explain to you the means by which this water is boiled, and the principles on which it is thrown up in jets attended by steam. Before I do so, examine our next diagram, fig. 23. Imagine a bed to be a mountain mass of lava, a mile square. From the surface ab there are fissures, EE E, through which atmospheric water is percolating to a cavern a B. What I have said in the last lesson about an enormous mass of ice I have intimated that, most probably, they are heated by being found under a bed of lava, will assist your conception communications of hot steam which rises from rocks below. how such subterranean caverns may be produced. The perFacts seem to intimate that this is the case. In the neigh-colating water settles like a lake at B. At the bottom of the bourhood of Naples, and in the Lipari Islands, there are spots mass, ed, there are also fissures through which hot steam is where fissures, crevices, or holes are formed, from which jets constantly rising from incandescent rocks below. The curof steam are issuing and have issued for centuries. From these rents of hot steam reach the water B, through the fissures or fissures no water comes, but only steam, and that of a heat rents FF. This steam gradually raises the temperature of the above the boiling point. The Italians call these jets of steam water until it boils, and then fills the cavity a with steam "stufas." Now, where does this hot steam come from? It under high pressure, as in the boiler or tube of a steam-engine. comes, undoubtedly, from subterranean heat. The expansive force of the steam in a now presses with greater power on the water B, and drives it up the fissure D, until it runs over the edge of the basin at c, where the silex or flint which it holds in solution settles and forms a mound. When a portion of the water B has been so driven up, the pressure of the steam at A becomes expanded, and forces upwards the whole of the water at B; the steam rushing with it at the same time with great violence, and the play is closed with a cloud of mere vapour. Suppose this steam to be rising from deeply-seated rocks intensely heated. Before it reaches the surface it becomes condensed by passing through strata percolated by cold water. The result will be, that it will heat the water and cause it to rise in thermal springs. If this rising steam be not what NEWTON calls the "vera causa," the true cause of the phenomenon, it is, at least, an adequate cause. For, if the expansion of elastic fluids at great depths be sufficient to hurl up heavy columns of lava to the summits of volcanic mountains, it can surely raise columns of water to a still greater elevation. Whatever your doubts on this subject may be, they must all vanish on a visit to the Geysers of Iceland; for they furnish an instance of aqueous eruption, in which steam alone is the moving agent. Fig. 22 will give you a representation of one of them, It will be manifest to you that if the pipe CD be by any means choked up, even for a short interval,, a great increase of heat must take place in AB-the water is made to boil more violently-the elastic steam struggles with more might, and a new eruption both of water and vapour takes place. It is also found that when stones are thrown, by travellers or spectators, into the pipe while the steam is rushing out, they are imme diately hurled up, projected to a great height, and commonly strata. After running downwards to great depths, it reaches shattered into fragments. Several philosophers have tried to account for the action of Geysers, and to imitate their phenomena, by means of humble instruments. In 1832 Sir J. Herschel read a paper to the Geological Society, in which he shows that the Geyser jets may be imitated by heating red-hot the stem of a tobacco-pipe. The bowl was to be filled with water, and the stem to be a little inclined to allow the water to run through it. The water will not escape in a stream, but by a succession of explosions or jets. In this case, precisely as in that of the Geysers, there is first a jet of steam, then a jet of water mixed with steam, and, as the pipe cools, a jet almost wholly of water. A German chemist has imitated the same phenomena, by a tin tube six feet high. On the top of the tube is a wide basin. Both the basin and the tube are filled with water, which is heated by fire below. This instrument is represented by fig. 24. Compare this with the statements made under fig. 23. Fig. 24. An apparatus for imitating the eruptions of the Geysers of Iceland. When you think of the vast number of thermal springs on the globe, and consider that their waters are more constant in all seasons than those of cold water, the question naturally arises-Where does all this water come from? or, how can regions of volcanic heat send forth such incessant supplies of water? It is a common belief that all the waters of the clouds sink into the soil, break out in wells and rills, and eventually reach the ocean. If this belief or opinion be right, it is impossible to account for the inexhaustible quantity of water flowing in thermal springs. Facts contradict this opinion. In boring deep near sea-shores it is often found that streams of fresh water are met with at a depth many hundred feet below the level of the sea. Where does this water go to? It is probable that it sinks, and sinks far below the bottom of the sea. If fresh water percolates rocks at such a depth, it is much more likely to be the case with the salt water of the ocean. It is likely that sea-water, under great pressure, in some places sinks beneath the floor of the ocean through porous or fissured rocks sufficiently heated to convert it into vapour, which, in passing through colder strata, condenses again into water of high temperature. This inference seems warranted by the fact that thermal springs are most abundant in volcanic districts, where the heat is likely to be nearer the surface; or in districts where earthquakes have produced fissures which communicate between subterranean heat and the surface. LESSONS IN GERMAN.-No. X. SECTION XIX. VERBS of the Old Conjugation (commonly called irregular verbs) differ from those of the New, not only in respect to terminational variations, but also in regard to changes of the radical vowels. Ex.: 3ch fomme, I come; ich fam, I came; ich schreibe, I write; ich schrieb, I wrote; ich sehe, I see; ich sah, I saw. (See § 77; also list of irregular verbs, § 78. 1). The form of the past participle, in verbs of the Old Conjugation, frequently differs from that of the infinitive, only by the augment Ex.: Infinitive, kommen. Past participle, ge fommen ge. |