in a different manner to the ova, and subsequent tadpole. Mr. J. Higginbottom, of Nottingham, who has paid great attention to this subject, has clearly proved the development of the tadpole to the perfect toad, in situations wholly deprived of light. This I have, through his kindness, several times witnessed. My present remarks are intended to show that, occasionally, frogs and toads are reproduced in localities where it would be impossible for the intermediate stage of tadpole to have any existence. 1. Toads deposit spawn in cellars, and young toads are afterwards observed. Last summer several masses of spawn were procured from my cellar, having been found deposited amongst decaying potatoes, &c., and, subsequently, young toads were noticed. The cellar is free from water, and at a considerable distance from any brook.2. Young toads are observed among hot-beds. In the kitchen-garden at Highfield House (which is entirely walled round), young toads have been noticed round the cucumber and melon beds. The gardeners have been in the habit of bringing toads to these beds to destroy the insects; these have continued amongst the warm, damp straw, all summer. It is after these beds have remained three or four months, that the young ones have been noticed. Toads would have to travel half-a-mile to reach this garden from the brook or lake; and also to mount a steep hill, besides taking the opportunity of coming through the door. Toads, so small, are not seen in any other part of the gardens.3 Young toads and frogs are observed in abundance at the summit of another hill, whilst quite small. During the past summer, especially in the month of July, very many young toads and frogs were seen amongst the strawberry plants; apparently from a week to a month old. These might possibly have travelled from a brook, a few hundred yards distant; yet it is strange that, with the exception of these beds, no young toads could be found elsewhere in the garden. A number of full-grown toads are mostly to be seen about these beds.-4. Young frogs, dug out of the ground in the month of January. In digging in the garden amongst the strawberry-beds (near where so many toads were observed last summer), in the middle of January in the present year, a nest of about a score young frogs were upturned. These were apparently three or four weeks old. This ground had been previously dug in the month of August, and many strawberry plants buried. It was amongst a mass of these plants, in a state of partial decomposition, that these young ones were observed.-5. Young frogs are bred in cellars, where there is no water for tadpoles. In mentioning the subject to Mr. Joseph Sidebotham, of Manchester (an active botanist), he informed me that young frogs; and, in fact, frogs of all sizes, were to be seen in his cellar, amongst decaying dahlia tubers. The smallest of them were only about half the ordinary size of the young frog, when newly-developed from the tadpole. He further stated, that there was no water in the cellar; and no means of young frogs entering, except by first coming into the kitchen, a mode of entry, if not impossible, highly improbable. Mr. Sidebotham never found any spawn. It seems probable from the above, that frogs are occasionally born alive in situations where no water can be found for the spawn to be deposited in; and that toads are either reproduced in the same man

ner, or from the egg directly. The latter mode seems most likely; owing to spawn having been found previously to the young toads. Mr. Higginbottom tells me, that the same remark on the birth of the Triton, without the stage of tadpole, has been mentioned to him.-E. J. LOWE.

The Sole. The common sole, probably from the comparative smallness of its size, is seldom, if ever, caught by bait; only by the trawling-net. Soles are found in great abundance on the coast of England, from Sussex to Devonshire, and on the shores of various counties of Ireland. The sole is full of roe in February, and approaches the shore to spawn about the end of that month, or the beginning of March; after which, it is extremely soft and watery, and unfit for use. After spawning, the sole retreats into deep water; and in the course of six weeks or two months, recovers its strength. Like the rest of the finny tribe, its flavor is finest when caught in deep water; before the roe or milt is much developed. But in consequence of its being rather shy of bait of any kind, it is not then easily taken. This fish, it is said, thrives in fresh water; where it will grow to double the size of the salt-water sole. It is in good season throughout the entire year, with the exception of the months of February, March, and April.— HENKY R.

Butter. The largest quantity of butter from a given weight of food, and the richest milk, are yielded by the milk of the smaller races. The small Alderney, or Jersey, West Highland, and Kerry cows, give a richer milk than even the small Ayrshire. But the small Shetlander is said to surpass them all. These breeds are all hardy, and will pick up a subsistence from pastures on which other breeds would starve. The quantity of butter yielded by different eows in the same yard, and eating the same food, is sometimes very different. Some will yield only three or four pounds, a week; while more will give eight or nine pounds, and a few fifteen pounds a week. As a rare instance, I may mention that a cow has been known in Lancashire to yield upwards of twenty-two pounds in seven days.-PROFESSOR JOHNSTONE.

Average Duration of Life.-Professor Buchanan makes the following observations upon the average duration of life-the effect, in part, of the improvements in medical science. He says that, in the latter part of the sixteenth century, onehalf of all that were born died under five years of age, and that the average longevity of the whole population was but eighteen years. In the seventeenth, one-half the population lived over twentyseven years. In the latter forty years, one-half exceeded thirty-two years of age. At the beginning of the present century, one-half exceeded forty years; and from 1838 to 1845 one half exceeded forty-three. The average longevity of these successive periods has been increased from eighteen years in the sixteenth century, up to forty-three and seven-tenths by our last reports.—D. Č.

Reading at Dinner.--A very frequent cause of nervous affections originates in intense or unseasonable application of the mind-such as in reading while at dinner. By this untimely exercise of the

creatures; and to this very day their mother tries to brood them. She never once deserted them, although she has now laid an egg daily for many weeks; and she is a living example that nature is not so unnatural as some people try to make out. To see this hen, and her over-grown children, crowding together on one perch, is a curiosity. W. J., Camden Town.

A Word fitly Spoken.-You did quite right, my dear sir, to give your readers a hint that they ought to try and increase the circulation of OUR JOURNAL. It is not correct that it should be borrowed and lent out from family to family. For my own part, I converse with you so naturally and so delightfully once a month, that although I have not yet had the pleasure of seeing you, I feel we are quite "one." We seem to be old, familiar friends; and why should it not be so? OUR JOURNAL was established for this very purpose.* This induces me on principle,—to say nothing of interest, to exert myself for the good cause. I am canvassing bravely among my friends, and hope that so good an example will be cheerfully followed by your other legion of friends. I can see no reason can you?-why you should not have ten thousand subscribers.-JOHN GARLAND, Dorchester.

are

[No indeed! "The more the merrier," is an adage we are "naturally" anxious to keep up. It is this borrowing and lending system that does all the injury. A kind young lady residing in Lancaster, writes us, that all the world in those parts in love with OUR JOURNAL." She adds, we are ten in family; and when our copy is thoroughly read (we read every line of it), we send it round during the month to at least a dozen other families. So that you really ARE appreciated." Have our readers ever heard of a "mistaken kindness?" Surely this is one! We cannot understand the extreme meanness of people who are in good circumstances. They seem to enjoy everything with a rich gusto, that costs them nothing! Fie, upon such a principle of action! We blush-yes, we blush to know that any person who "loves OUR JOURNAL can be possessed of so paltry a spirit. We trust that such people will never publicly acknowledge that they are of the "happy family " about whom we so frequently speak. Oh,-no! But let us thank you, sir (which we do most heartily), for the honest expression of feeling that marks the materiel of which you are made. For such readers, we could write on for ever. We have your heart. Ere long (we hope) you shall have our hand. Nous verrons.]

A Word in favor of the much-abused Race of Cuts. I really must bring under the notice of your readers (and more particularly under the notice of your truly amiable correspondent Puss),

By the way, on looking over our Note-Book the other day, we found a number of little complimentary remarks touching OUR JOURNAL, cut, at different times, from the public papers. An idea suggested itself, that we should print them. They will be found in our Advertising Columns. They say far more for us than we dare say for ourself.-ED. K. J.

a certain article which appears in No. 638 of the "Illustrated London News." It is headed "A Chapter on Cats." I know not who the author is, but the paper is most charmingly written. It is also so truthful-so naturally truthful, throughout, that it really must be read by all who love animals for their amiability. I know you are no friend to cats (indeed you have given us good reasons for your particular antipathy), but still I know you are not hard-hearted, and that you are ever ready to give praise where praise is due. Can you-and if so, will you print this article in OUR JOURNAL? Such a gem surely ought to be "set" in your pages. My own experience so fully verifies all the pretty facts that are adduced, that I feel the more anxious to see them brought prominently forward. The cat is a very ill-used animal-little understood, but capable of great affection. A. B. R. (the writer of the article I allude to) is surely 66 one of us. May we live to see many more such papers from so graceful a hand!—ВомBYX ATLAS, Tottenham, August 18.

[Our good friend's wish has been anticipated in a former page. We have not thought it just to appropriate all the article that he alludes to; but we have made a few excerpts from it, adding a little commentary of our own. A. B. R., if of the genus homo, is a trump." If A. B. R. be a woman, she is an angel. There are few angels amongst us; let us prize them highly--and "when found, make a note of!"]

A Hint about Standard Rose Trees.-I offer to the lovers of standard roses a little plan of my own-it has succeeded admirably. An artificial prop to standard roses is unsightly, and it is both exposed to decay in the run of time, and to disasters from the raging of the wintry blast. In order to do without this prop, plant three standard roses (the longer the stem the better) in an equilateral triangle. If on a slope, one leg must be longer than the other two. They may be from eight to fourteen inches apart. Bring the stems together at the top, and bore a hole through each of them, a little below where they have been budded. Then, through these holes, thread a copper wire, such as is used for soda-water bottles, and bring the heads of the three plants quite close together, making the ends of the wire fast. This is all. You have here a group so firm and strong, that it can never break down, or ever require an artificial support. I made four groups last autumn. They are now in fine blow, and are much admired.-CHARLES WATERTON, Walton Hall, Aug. 4.

Benefits from Sprinkling Plants with Water.— I am very anxious to have the opinions and experience of the readers of OUR JOURNAL on this subject. I have always been accustomed to sprinkle the floor of my greenhouse, and the foliage of my plants with water, under the idea that they were greatly benefited by the operation; and I cannot help fancying that I have seen good result from the practice. But I have been told lately, that I am mistaken; that plants do not absorb water by their leaves, in any quantitity at least; and that, moreover, when the external air is colder than the atmosphere of the house, the vapors produced will rise to the glass, and there

be condensed, not benefiting the plants at all. I should like to know what more experienced readers think of the matter.-E. H. C.

First and Last Love:

"First love" is a pretty romance,

Though not quite so lasting as reckoned; For when one awakes from its trance, There's a great stock of bliss in a "second." And e'en should the "second" subside, A lover should never despair; For the world is uncommonly wide, And the women uncommonly fair. Those poets their rapture may tell, Who never were put to the test: A "first love" is all very well, But, believe me, the "last" love's the best! J. B. [A wag, residing at Liverpool, has sent us the above, requesting to have our opinion of the sentiHow shall we give it, so as to steer clear of offence? Let us observe that the human heart is very capacious-so then, let every one of our loves (we will not say how many) be carefully packed up in that heart, and lovingly tended. There is no matrimonial question" raised; there fore we speak out "like a man!" When we walk in a garden filled with beautiful flowers, whose aroma almost overpowers our senses with delight, how can we dare to give any decided preference? We love them all best-of course!]

ment.

Smoky London,"with a Gleam of "Hope."Your metropolitan readers, and those in the country also, who have any sympathy with us in the privation of light and pure air (which in this city of smoke we are called to endure), will be glad to hear that the House of Commons has passed a bill which provides that, on and after the 1st of August, 1854, all manufactories, and also all the steamers on the river, from London Bridge to Richmond, shall consume their own smoke. "The smoke-protectionists, however," the Times tells us, are looking very black; they have a vested interest in compelling us to consume their smoke. It is true they do not like smoke themselves; the brewer, whose lofty chimney is a volcano always in a state of eruption, lives twenty miles out of town, where his moss-roses are not cankered, and where his gardener gets the prize for the best basket of pansies at the neighboring flower-show. Once a week he gets on the rail, and comes up to town just to see how the chimney draws, and how the till fills; and then runs off, thanking his stars that he lives where he cannot smell his own grains or swallow his own smoke." But in spite of "vested interests," the nuisance is doomed twelve months more, and it will be in a great measure annihilated.-R. M.

Unqualified Medical Practitioners.-From a table which has been compiled, in the Medical Times and Gazette, comparing the number of practitioners in medicine, according to the census of 1841, with the number of qualified practitioners in the Medical Dictionaries of 1851-it would appear that the former amounted to 33,339 persons, the latter to 11,808, leaving 21,531 persons practising in one or more departments of medicine,

without due qualification. In England, according to the census, there was thus a practitioner to every 543 of the population; in Wales, to 822; in London, 1 in every 272; in Scotland, 1 in 593; and in the British Isles, 1 in 510; while, taking the numbers in the Medical Directory, the proportion of qualified men to population was, in England, 1 in 1527; in Wales, 1 in 2893; in London, 1 in 714; in Scotland, 1 in 1614; and in the British Isles, 1 in 2215. The following observations are abridged from an article in the same periodical on this important subject-In the table are included "Chemists and Druggists," and there is sufficient reason on the face of it for so doing. It appears that, deducting the chemists and druggists from the grand total, it would leave 22,495 persons practising medicine according to the census, or 10,687 more than appear in the Medical Directories. Thus there is chemist and druggist in Great Britain to every 2 medical practitioners. This warrants the assumption that "chemists and druggists are themselves practitioners to a great extent. Indeed, the experience at assizes and before coroners' juries, where detection and conviction are the exceptions, sufficiently attests the fact. We therefore include them in the gross total. "Keepers of lunatic asylums " have been omitted, though a large number of them would legitimately appear. It is worthy of observation that, under the head of "keepers of lunatic asylums," 216 of them are females, and many of these under 20 years of age. In Birmingham, there was 1 "herbalist under 20 years of age; 2 "keepers of lunatic asylums' under 20; 14 female leach-bleeders; and I female physician. One female "dentist" in Taunton; i "physician" in Norwich under 20; 2 "medicine vendors" in the Tower Hamlets under 20; 1 "midwife" in Preston under 20; 1 “physician" in Canterbury under 20; 2 "physicians' in Bristol under 20; 1 female "chemist and druggist" in Colchester under 20; 1 “physician" in Darlington under 20; and 1 female "surgeon" in Cornwall under 20.-Is not this, Mr. Editor, a very curious table? We find no fewer than 216 females (under 20 years of age) keeping "lunatic asylums;" one chemist and druggist to every two medical practitioners!! The "bills of mortality are heavy. Is it to be wondered at !—AMICUS.

["Where ignorance is bliss," &c. We must not, my dear Sir, inquire too closely into matters of every-day life. If we did, we should (four-fifths of us) die from fright!]

Boring Shells.-Several shells have the singular capability of boring the softer rocks of marble, and limestone, and reefs of coral-for the purpose, it would seem, of eluding their natural enemies. This habit is remarkable in some species of mussels, such as the Mytilus lithophagus and the M. rugosus.-W.

The Tree Mignonette.-This may be readily produced. Place a young plant in a pot, with a stick from 16 to 20 inches long to tie it to. Continue to strip off the lower branches as it grows, until you get a stem of the required length. It may be kept through the winter in the window of

a moderately-warm parlor. The seeds should be picked off as soon as they are formed.-HEARTSEASE, Hants.

Remedy for Sprains.-Accidents of this sort are not unfrequent; and perhaps none are more liable to them than the laboring class of people. They happen most generally in the joints of either the upper or lower limbs, accompanied with much pain and swelling, and inability to use the limb. The remedy is simple, and within the reach of every one. Cloths, wet freely in a strong and cold solution of salt and water, applied and persevered in, generally effect a speedy cure. If necessary to make a shift, and the part is very painful, apply the leaves of garden wormwood, wet in spirits. Should the part injured remain weak, as it sometimes does in severe sprains, a safe remedy is to pump or pour on cold water freely for a few mornings. ANGELINA.

The Weeping Cypress.—I have a plant of this celebrated Chinese tree in my garden, which is growing very vigorously. It is now about 2 feet high, but as yet shows no disposition to weep-a circumstance with which I am a little disappointed. Can any reader inform me whether it has been found to assume the weeping form in any garden in this country ?-E. H. C.

Prolific Swarming of Bees.-I have lately noticed in the newspapers some account of an extraordinary hive of bees in the possession of R. Turner, of Fell House, near Whitton Gilbert, "which cast four times in fifteen days." I am most happy to inform you that not one of my hives has performed such an extraordinary feat. I have no desire for such an increase in my hives; on the contrary, I try my utmost to prevent my bees from swarming at all, and have so far succeeded as not to get on an average more than ONE Swarm from eight stocks of bees. The most prominent feature in my Temple Hive is the convenience for giving the bees access to four glass surplus hives; thus enlarging the hive to double its size. These glass hives may be removed as they are filled, and replaced by empty ones. Thus, by enlarging the parent hive, I prevent the necessity of swarming. It was on this same principle that I have taken seventy-four pounds of pure honey from one stock in the same season, leaving the parent hive well stored with honey for winter consumption; and it is to this humane system of bee-culture that I invite the attention of all lovers and admirers of that truly interesting and valuable insect, the honey-bee.-W. J. PETTITT, Dover.

Surprising "Effects" of the Heat in America. -I have heard you say, Mr. Editor, that your mental workshop is at the extreme top of alofty house, in a private street. No doubt the sun, just now, streaming through your window, dries up your brain. Should then your forthcoming JOURNAL not be so bright as usual, we can readily excuse you; and to help you out, I send you the following, "cut and dried." It is copied from an American paper, just received." Gentle readers! As you sprawl on your sofa this pleasant forenoon, or make an inverted Z of yourself by propping your chair-back against the wall, you probably

think it must be 'easy' to read. Did you ever plough, hoe corn, or plant cabbages? We have been engaged in all these rural exercises; and we have also swung the scythe and cradle under the sun of the hot south; and we solemnly declare that the physical labors aforesaid are mere recreations, in comparison with the exhausting toil of writing for the press, in a close office with a south-western aspect, when the thermometer is in the neighborhood of the nineties. The vigorous ideas that should find their way by electric telegraph from the brain to the pen, liquify on the road, and ooze out in big globules of perspiration; while the more delicate fancies evaporate by the insensible' process. Excuse, therefore, the shortcomings of genius under the sudorific influence of the summer solstice; for be assured that the vertical sun, however it may dulcify and mature cherries, plums, and other fruitful plumpitudes,' is by no means favorable to the development of intellectual products."-I will not say the above is elegant, but it is "pithy."-WHIRLIGIG.

[We are as thoroughly fried as our brother Editor, good Mr. Whirligig; but we defy any amount of heat to keep us from our work. Nothing but a special "invite" to superintend a pic-nic party could do that; unless indeed it were a snug little projected water-party, to certain meadows we wot of near Hampton Court. Such a temp tation might peril the interests of the JOURNAL for a single day-more especially if the gentle freight, borne by that gliding skiff, were of our own selecting.]

66

Oh, Tempora! Oh, Mores!-Did you ever see VENUS in petticoats, my dear Sir; or the Greek Slave tucked up in flounces-wearing our national dorsal excrescence as a support "-under her sufferings? If not, go over in two ships" to New York, and visit the "Great Exhibition" there. An appeal has been made to the authorities, by the delicate inhabitants of the city, to clothe in suitable apparel all the nude figures that have entered the building. This, they say, is needful, lest the morals of the people should be defiled, and the rising youth "get used' Nature in her own dress. Every leg is to be covered, every neck to be cased, every body to be swaddled. No arms are to be exposed. So averse are the good citizens to nakedness in every form, that the bare-headed busts (the originals having had no hair) are to wear hats; and the words "naked fact" (used fifteen times in the printed Catalogue) are to be expunged forthwith. I am going over on purpose to see this funny sight. Will you go with me?-WALTER, Cambridge.

to see

[WALTER! you must not go. We will give you a "retainer" of 100 guineas to remain where you are. We cannot do without you. That's a fact!]

Thermometers.-Can you tell me the rule observed for the comparison of the three thermometers? If so, will you oblige me by so doing?JAMES H.

[To reduce degrees Centigrade above zero to degrees Fahr., multiply by 1.8, and add 32. To reduce degrees Cent. below zero to degrees Fahr., multiply by 1.8 and subtract from 32. To reduce degrees Reaumur above zero to degrees Fahr.