chimney, what can be more grateful than that feeling of sober and sheltered security, with which we look round upon the comfortable chamber and the scene of domestic hilarity? my embarrassment to-day, and it remains to be seen whe ther I determined well. My visitor proved to be a very young man, Charle is the son of a veteran, who retired more than twenty year d'Essine, who generally visits me only on Sundays. H ago, into the interior of La Sologne, to a small estate where he employed himself in educating his children. If finish that of his oldest son, it was necessary to send his to Paris, to the care of some of his old friends in metropolis, amongst whom I rank myself. The yo has taken a fancy to me; he comes to see me regul every week, and his frequent visits are doubly gradi to me, as they prove that the counsels of age and m sons are not irksome to him. Our conversations are profitable to him alone; if I relate to him what happe ages ago, which he never knew, he reminds me of whats pened yesterday which I have forgotten; for the effect in producing fond associations, and kindling benevolent sympathies. Even the sound of the waits, rude as may be their minstrelsy, breaks upon the mid watches of a winter night with the effect of perfect The English, from the great prevalence of rural harmony. As I have been awakened by them in that still habits throughout every class of society, have always and solemn hour "when deep sleep falleth upon man," been fond of those festivals and holydays which agree- have listened with a hushed delight, and connecting ably interrupt the stillness of country life; and they them with the sacred and joyous occasion, have alwere, in former days, particularly observant of the most fancied them into another celestial choir, anreligious and social rites of Christmas. It is inspiring nonncing peace and good-will to mankind. To read even the dry details which some antiquaries How delightfully the imagination, when wrought have given of the quaint humours, the burlesque page upon by these moral influences, turns every thing to ants, the complete abandonment to mirth and good-melody and beauty! The very crowing of the cock, fellowship, with which this festival was celebrated. It heard sometimes in the profound repose of the country, seemed to throw open every door, and unlock every "telling the night-watches to his feathery dames," was heart. It brought the peasant and the peer together, thought by the common people to announce the ap-mory of the aged is like their eye-sight; they see and blended all ranks in one warm generous flow of proach of this sacred festival:— joy and kindness. The old balls of castle and manor houses resounded with the harp and the Christmas carol, and their ample boards groaned under the weight of hospitality. Even the poorest cottage welcomed the festive season with green decorations of bay and holly-the cheerful fire glanced its rays through the lattice, inviting the passenger to raise the latch, and join the gossip knot huddled round the hearth, beguiling the long evening with legendary jokes and oft-told Christmas tales. "Some say that ever 'gainst that season comes So hallowed and so gracious is the time." Amidst the general call to happiness, the bustle of the spirits, and stir of the affections, which prevail at this period, what bosom can remain insensible? It is, indeed, the season of regenerated feeling-the season for kindling, not merely the fire of hospitality in the One of the least pleasing effects of modern refine- hall, but the genial flame of charity in the heart, and ment is the havoc it has made among the hearty old he who can turn churlishly away from contemplating bolyday customs. It has completely taken off the the felicity of his fellow-beings, and can sit down sharp touchings and spirited reliefs of these embellish- darkling and repining in his loneliness when all around ments of life, and has worn down society into a more | is joyful, may have his moments of strong excitement smooth and polished, but certainly a less characteristic and selfish gratification, but he wants the genial and surface. Many of the games and ceremonials of Christ- social sympathies which constitute the charm of a mas have entirely disappeared, aud, like the sherris merry Christmas.—Sketch Book, by Geoffrey Crayon, sack of old Falstaff, are become matters of speculation | Gent. and dispute among commentators. They flourished in times full of spirit and lustihood, when men enjoyed CHRISTMAS DAY life roughly, but heartily, vigorously: times wild and Is a festival of the Christian Church, observed on church to ashes. LE PAYS LATIN. the events and objects that are at a distance. I had object in making my young student talk, and whilgy were at breakfast I wished him to give me an acc of the life he leads at Paris. His recital gave mo faithful picture of the habits and morals of a truly el mable class of young men, those who, devoted an studies, inhabit, unobtrusively, that part of the m polis which has acquired the name of the Pays lam (or Latin District) from its containing the remains ancient University, the college of the Sorbonne, and veral learned assemblies. I shall give his narratia, je haps, more correctly, by letting him speak in ti person. "You know that my father has a large fly which he allows me, will not enable me to live in sp that his fortune is small, and that six guineas a mot I am intended for the bar; my own taste leads me study of natural philosophy: to be able to atter at th same time the Inscriptions à l'Ecole de Drait, and the lectures at the Jardin des Plantes,† I found it was eqtally necessary to economise my time and my income. On my | arrival at Paris, I took possession of a small sper which one of my college friends, older than myset, hat engaged for me, in the boarding-house where he re at the top of the faubourg St. Jaques, I pay for th seven shillings and sixpence a month, therefore y judge how splendid it must be. I do not know whethe you are aware that the Rue de la Parchemiseric, whe reside, would be inhabited only by makers of parch and book-binders, were it not (besides the house of t widow Desaint) for some pretended boarding-he one of which I am an inhabitant; it may be know black board, on which is written, in red letters, the l de Berri. Represent to yourself a house, built d wars in the reign of Charles VII.; at least, if we lieve an inscription, carved on the lintel of the parti entrance, which you enter by a dark passag still darker staircase, by means of which you to the sixth story, provided you do not leave bas greasy cord, that serves as a support and guide to this labyrinth. At the top, exactly ninety-seven steps from the the street, you will find my apartment (the same pa contains eight all alike) it is turnished with a bed it o coloured stuff, a table of walnut wood, covere common cloth, two straw-bottomed chairs, a FOL enware stove, which may be fed for two days w ter of a faggot; add to these a bason and jug delft ware, a candlestick and a writing-desk, and Shorn, however, as it is, of its ancient and festive honours, Christmas is still a period of delightful excitement in Eugland. It is gratifying to see that Original Translation, from l'Hermite de la Chaussée have a correct idea of the apartment of a la d'Antin.] home-feeling completely aroused which holds so power- stantly resolved that, whatever might be the station or pro- One good active girl, from Picardy, waits on all the in the Hotel de Bert; she makes our beds, and accounts with the washerwoman; she has the candles, and the keys of the house doors, always locks precisely at half-past nine. She chases for us, every morning, the piece of fr Brie, which serves each of us for his breakfast. 18 • The Instruction given to the students in the Law t The Botanic Garden, at Paris ited upon. knowledge, that for fifteen-pence a month, which it cost of us, we cannot expect to be better or more agreeably We have five and twenty students in our house; it may ve as a specimen of the whole university. We all go at the same time, some to the Medical School, or the Hospitals, others to the French College, or the Jardin des antes, to attend the different lectures. Six of us at the Law School, and we also count amongst us four ang theologicians, who attend regularly the theological putations at St. Sulpice. How can our right to the de of the learned district be disputed, when at day break behold the crowds of day-scholars going to their classes, books under their arms, and their breakfasts in their ds; the pupils of the Polytechnic School, going to a military walk; the professors and masters going meir pupils: the bookworms rummaging and upsetting baskets of books in the Passage des Jacobins? Add is, the troops of printers' devils, with their paper caps, bookbinders loaded with books, passing along the ts, and you will have a tolerably correct idea of the lation of the Pays Latin. EsMy day is divided between my duties and my plea. e an! both equally laborious. After a lesson on the an law, explained by the learned Berthelot, I run to Botanic Garden, to listen to the ingenious geological otheses of M. Faujas. M. Delvincourt's learned comtary on the code Napoleon, is succeeded by the eloat lectures of M. Cuvier on comparative anatomy. I ime to attend to the instructions of Cotelle, Pigean, alage, without losing the demonstrations of Haüy Desfontaines I study with equal ardour (I cannot with equal pleasure) Domat and Linnæus, Jussieu Justinian. You will see that I have profited by Poor and's maxim, which you have repeated to me so often: thou love life? then do not squander time; for the stuff life is made of." Most of my companions it as usefully. feall meet at dinner in the Rue des Mathurins, at dinn of the Black Head, close to the Sorbonne, in use of the famous Dr. Cornet, and, I believe, in the room where, two centuries ago, the censure was on the book of the Frequente Communion. For Jshillings a month, we are supplied, at four o'clock, modest repast, to which a good appetite forms the uce. Our daily recreations are as innocent as our ments: at the library of St. Genevieve we spend y-hours; at the Luxembourg we take our walks; little reading-room in St. Michael's-square, we winter evenings. I ought, however, to acknowthat the last Sunday in every month is a real galawe dine at two shillings a head at the famous restauEdon; from there we go the Café Procope; and es, if I must confess every thing, we treat ourith a pit-ticket to see the first piece at the Odeon." concludes the young student's narrative. I have almost from his dictation. We spent the day He dined with me; and I then took him to the theatre, to see the Bourgeois Gentilhomme. It televen when I took him home; we had, conse involves much chirurgical knowledge; and shuffling, which | Germany. He drops away at last in some is useful in all branches of the profession. The good obscure painted Cloth, to which himself player will rely more on tricks than on honours. The propriety of never omitting to call, is inculcated on the made the Verses, and his life, like a Canne physician, while the maxim of returning your partner's lead, adumbrates that good understanding between doctor too full, spills upon the bench. He leaves and apothecary, which may be termed the Holy Alliance twenty shillings on the score, which my of London practice. Some practitioners have played well. fact, and may thus increase the general knowledge of the at matrimony. Pope Joan conveys a curious historical Hostesse loses. student. There is a game mentioned by Doctor Rabelais, under the name of Flux, which I am ignorant of; but I doubt | not, if it were investigated by your learned collaborators, it would throw light on the nature of cathartics. The same astute physician mentions the name of Pille; but the word, with aim (in French) is not taken in the sense of pilula, but is the imperative of pillar, to rob, strip, or or pillage. In English, it might be called bill, and refers to the mode of making a charge. Blind hookey, the cæca rapacitas of the Latins, is a game venerable for its antiquity, and truly medical. Put the fool to bed, is a game little used; but it conveys an useful instruction as to the mode of dealing with a patient. Sed quid plura de hoc joco addam? REVIVIANA. MICRO-COSMOGRAPHIE; or, a Piece of the WORLD DIscovered; in ESSAYES, and The CHARACTERS. By DR. JNO. EARLE. Eighth Edition. London: printed by R. D. for P. C. 1664. [CONTINUED FROM OUR LAST.] 45. A POT POET is the dregs of wit; yet mingled with good drink may have some relish. His Inspirations are more reall then others; for they do but fain a god, but he hath his by him. His verse runs like the tap,. and his invention as the barrel, ebs and flows at the mercy of the Spiggot. In thin drink he aspires not above a Ballad, but a Cup of Sack inflames him, and sets his Muse and Nose a fire together. The Presse is his Mint, and stamps him now and then a sixpence or two in reward of the baser coyn, his Pamphlet. His works would scarce sell for three half-pence, though they are given oft for three Shillings, but for the pretty Title that allures the Countrey Gentleman : for which the Painter maintains him in Ale a fortnight. His Verses are like his Cloathes, miserable Cento's and patches, yet their pace is not altogether so hobling as an Almanacks. The death of a great man, or the burning of a house furnish him with an argument, and the nine Muses are out streight in mourning Gowns, and Melpomene cries Fire, Fire. His other Poems are but Briefs in Rime, and like the Greeks Collections, to redeem from poor captivity. He is a man now much imploy'd in commendations of our Navy, and a bitter inveigher against the Spaniard. His frequent'st Works go out in single sheets, and are chanted from Market to Market, to a vile tune, and a worse throat, whil'st the poor arious games of cards (says a witty writer in the Country wench melts like her Butter to hear Sem particularly designed for the use of medical them. And these are the Stories of some men Ders, and may be called the microcosm of mediIn whist there is the necessity of cutting, which of Tiburn: or a strange Monster out of much trouble in rousing the servant girl, who she would not have opened the door to any body Charles; and that, within the memory of man, thad ever returned home so late in the Hotel de Z. The Bouquet. here only made a nosegay of culled flowers, and have phi nothing of my own but the thread that ties them." MONTAIGNE. MES PLAYED BY MEDICAL MEN. [To be continued in our next.] SEPULCHRAL INSCRIPTIONS. NO. XIV. COMPRISING CURIOUS EPITAPHS, MONUMENTAL INSCRIPTIONS, &c. WHETHER REMARKABLE FOR SINGULARITY, ODDITY, OR BEAUTY. Selected from various sources, expressly for the Kaleidoscope. "Here lies the great :-false marble, where? 95.-In the Church-yard of Dunkeld, in Scotland. 97.-On Mr. Fenton. By Mr. Pope. While George in sorrow bows his laurell'd head, And bids the artist grace the soldier dead, We raise no sculptur'd trophy to thy name, Brave youth! the fairest in the lists of fame. Proud of thy birth, we boast th' auspicious year; Struck with thy fall, we shed the gen'ral tear; With humble grief inscribe one artless stone, And from thy matchless honour date our own. 99.-The late Sir John Trollope caused his grave to be dug some years previous to his death, and at the head a stone was placed perpendicularly, with the following lines: I, Sir John Trollope, Made this ground roll up; When God shall call my soul up, My body shall fill the hole up. 100.-On Mr. Gay. By Mr. Pope. Of manners gentle, of affections mild, In wit a man, simplicity a child With native humour temp'ring virtuous rage, Form'd to delight at once and lash the age; Above temptation in a low estate, And uncorrupted e'en among the great; A safe companion and an easy friend, Unblam'd through life, lamented in his end. These are thy honours! not that here thy bust Is mix'd with heroes, or with kings thy dust, But that the worthy and the good shall say, Striking their pensive bosoms, "Here lies Gay. (To be continued.) The Fireside. "VIVE LA BAGATELLE." "In order to employ one part of this life in serious and important ments." JOHN LOCKЕ. "There is a time to laugh and a time to weep."-SOLOMON. At this festive season of the year, when amusement and good fellowship are the order of the day, we need offer no apology for giving a prominent place at our literary banquet to Old Christmas, crowned with holly and ivy, and associ. ated with all our earliest, purest, and dearest recollections. Several of the contributors to the Kaleidoscope, whose original communications are in reserve, will cheerfully concede their pretensions for a while in favour of our hoary-headed jovial annual visitor; and our juvenile readers will hail his visit with rapture, knowing that their old friend has in his pocket a whole budget of riddles, enig. mas, puzzles, and, as Sir Mark Magnum says, "all that sort of thing, and every thing in the world." Of all recreations for young people, we know of none that contributes more effectually or more usefully to their stock of innocent amusement than enigmas, and even conundrums, of which more anon. Under the form of the enigma, the most useful truths, both in morals and natural philosophy, may be conveyed in the most pleasing and effectual manner; and, in this respect, they resemble those fables from which we have derived so much amusement and instruction in early life, that we do not hesitate to class this species of allegory amongst the most powerful agents in the formation of the moral character. editor be at? leisure hour serves no other purpose, it would be eminent We are not of the number of those who bow in to the dictum of Mr. Walker; and, in extenuation of contumacy in this respect, we have to observe, that weg in many instances, "appeal from Philip drunk to Phi sober;" that is, from Walker to Walker. His work passed through numerous editions; and, if any per will take the trouble to compare the early wi the later copies, he will find that he has, at vaina delivered very opposite judgments upon one and de sam word. On the supposition, therefore, that he tak5 pace with the changes effected in our motley large time and fashion, we take it for granted, that his rec decisions must be received as law in preference to more early opinions. To return from this digression, we take occasion to adh that the eleventh conundrum in Momar'ı budget was dis aimed at a very common inaccuracy of another descripter which, although it is termed a vulgarism, prevails are the fashionable than in the lower circles; where, s on the stage, we have often heard the phrase, “Bett you and I." Having been led into this long digression, by may apology for a practice in which we ourselves indulge, by way of relaxation from somewhat lucubrations, we shall conclude our preface with repe our convictions, that the enigma and conundru adapted to exercise the ingenuity, to convey in an attractive form, and to improve the ear, by r it alive to all those nice gradations of shade which guish polished from vulgar conversation. ANSWERS TO THE ENIGMAS IN OUR LA The conundrum, as we have just observed, is not with- 1. Curtain-2. Mirror-3. Birch Rod Ring Draught-board-6. Much ado about nothing. ENIGMAS. [Continued from our last.] TO THE EDITOR. SIR,-Sitting round the fire the other eur amused ourselves with manufacturing the inclosed. years, so you w of the contributors were young haps insert them, though they do not bear the "absolute wisdom." JEMIN Were my first taken from me I could no longer move variety, If I choose my whole for a residence I should be an ales Bond and first guard your door or your chest, third is a particle much in request, hale is a name that is rather uncommon. give one hint more, it belongs to a woman. 16. My first a reptile small you'll see, In classic story named, My woful next by poverty Is generally claimed, My third you'll find a pronoun small. My whole d'ye wish to know, Go to the kitchen garden walk, And there you'll see me grow. et season when cares are knit up like a sleeve, whole, in rain contest, once yielded her breath, W she fell from her station harmonious in death. 18. first is black, or blue, or green, And has a language all its own, next in many a school is seen, and feit, too, hark yon dunce's moan, by whole you'll find my first surround, nd often aids its power to wound. 19. by first is civility often displayed, whole, when the shadows of evening increase, 20. My first of my second's a part, 21. My second in my first is often made, And there the body of my whole was laid. 22. my first see young Phelim, at Donnybrook fair, 23. ith lofty step and high o'er-arching brow, hold my first, and make obeisance low; ehold the staple on yon miser's wall, *ere hangs my next the guardian of his all; tient and pour, my wretched whole jogs on, De persecuted friend of Joan or John. 24. My first does of poverty speak, I think you will presently see. My first is composed of rain and snow, 26. Poets have sung, that, at my grandsire's birth, Venus and Juno take me in their train, 1 meet my enemy with loaded gun; Snatched from the bowels of a fiery cave, P. S. I find my little ones are 13 in number; so that you have what is called the long dozen, which may make some amends for the quality. 29. My whole is spherical, and 'neath the ground, Grows from a quarter ounce to half a pound; But cut it in two parts, just in the middle, One half will be a POUND. Come, solve the riddle. 30. Why does a celebrated valley in Switzerland resemble the promissory notes of the swindling Mersey Bank Company ?* 31. Why does a brunette's face resemble a wet day? 32. Why does a considerable part of Lord Lonsdale's estate belong to me? 33. Why is the pronoun we but in an indifferent state of health? 34. Why is the wall of St. Peter's Church-yard like a scandalous tale? 35. Why is a fellow devouring ham and eggs like a well-known species of Latin verse? 36. Why is a state of nakedness like the song of "Home, sweet home?" 37. Why are very old persons necessarily prolix and tedious? 38. Why is two like vice? 39. Why does O, as it stands in its order amongst the vowels, resemble a very common colloquial vulgarism? 40. If a man shams hanging himself, why does he resemble a conjuror? 41. If a brutal fellow were beating a poor ass, and the ass could speak the Cockney dialect, what word would it choose which would express the act, and at the same time plead for mercy? Whatever may be Momus's solution of this conundrum, we can assure him the Mersey Bank is very ill calculated to make us laugh; for we are even at this moment called upon. to pay about £70 for spoiling their trade in this part of the country.-Edits. 42. The Wonderful Prophet.-There is now arrived in Liverpool, a prophet, whose generation in this world I faint, grow sickly, languish, droop, and die. was before Adam. He was with Noah in the ark; with Christ before he was crucified. He knew not his father; The following is a copy of a charade of more than neither did he repose on the breast of his mother.common point, written by the authoress of the much. He goes barefooted like a friar. He wears no hat. His admired one on the letter "H," long erroneously ascribed coat is not dyed, neither knit, woven, nor spun. It is to Lord Byron. It has appeared in one or two magazines neither silk, hair, linen, nor woollen, yet of a very fine only, if my memory be accurate, and perhaps you will colour and gloss. He walks boldly in the face of his enenot object to insert it in the Kaleidoscope, and as a parti-mies, without gun, sword, or stick; yet has such a weapon as never man had or used, to defend himself with from cular obligation the one alluded to, "It was whispered in his foes. He is often abused by wicked men; yet takes heaven," &c. of which I am very desirous to possess a it patiently. He lets all men alone with their religion. a correct printed copy. At a scason his voice is well understood by those of all nations, and all sorts of people. He declareth the day of the Lord is at hand. As he prophecies, the doors fly open. Poor women have reason to rejoice that such a prophet is come to set before their foolish husbands a pattern of sobriety. He is one whose saying has ever been found true. He takes but little rest; and is admired by all for vigi lancy. He sleeps in no bed or chair, but always standing or cruching; neither doth he put off his cloathes. He eats no flesh; neither doth he drink anything strong, but water entirely. His diet is moderate. He takes no money if offered him. His voice is shrill and powerful. He never preached but one sernion, and was so convincing to a good man of his sins, that it drew tears from his eyes, and he was never easy till he was really converted. He is neither the wandering Jew, nor the son of Noah, nor an old Levite; nor St. John, as some may think he is. 28. Inscribed on many a learned page, Long time my first has stood: Till clothed with flesh and blood. My second is a glorious prize, Ye gods! how they would scamper! The salique law reversing; AT, HT, His S T, Oneli E SK. AT: Hari Neg. Scientific Records. [Comprehending Notices of new Discoveries or Improvements in Science or Art; including, occasionally, singular Medical Cases; Astronomical, Mechanical, Philosophical, Botanical, Meteorological, and Mineralogical Phenomena, or singular Facts in Natural History; Vegetation, &c.; Antiquities, &c.; List of Patents ;to be continued in a series through the Volume.] GEOLOGY OF THE DELUGE. (From the last number of the Edinburgh Review.) Reliquiae Diluviana; or, Observations on the Organic Remains contained in Caves, Fissures, and Diluvial Gravel, and on other Geological Phenomena, attesting the Action of an Universal Deluge. By the Rev. WILLIAM BUCKLAND, B.D F.R.S.F.L.S. Member of the Geological Society of London, &c. &c. and Professor of Mineralogy and Geology in the University of Oxford. 4to. pp. 303. 27 plates. London. J. Murray, 1823. [CONTINUED FROM OUR LAST.] presented several ledges or landing places, strewed with floods. the author to add to the descriptions previously given pebbles in the earthy sediment, and the important fact, the the German caverns, are, principally, the occurrence no bones whatsoever were discovered in any part of th naked or solid rock; the whole being confined, in ever a point upon which a different statement had frequent case, to the mud deposited in the lower part of the cavitie been made. The general state of their interior agre with that of Kirkdale, in presenting, 1st, A false for stalagmite; 2dly, A bed of loam or diluvial mud, inte spersed with pebbles, angular stones and bones, but w out any alternation of stalagmite; 3dly, Beneath this m is the actual floor, which is sometimes polished, as the trampling of the inhabitants. "In these caverns which seem to have been densh the introduction of the mud, the bones increase in tity as we descend to the lower vaultings," or cella which are choked up with the confused mass of pebbles and mud. In some places this mass is consis by calcareous infiltrations, into a hard osseous-bre resembling that of Gibraltar, but not so red, in which leries have been dug, to extract the bones; and artificial galleries only, it is true, that the roof and have bones adhering to them,-for in the natural bers, there is not a single bone except upon the p. 111. It would appear that secondary Limestone, of almost every age, has been universally pervaded by fissures more The detailed account of the German caves is very or less cavernous; and that the phenomena connected with them, as the occasional absorption of rivers, &c. are every prominent circumstances. The section of the Bid tertaining; but we have space only for some of the where alike. The mode of the formation of these cavities shows, that the entire cavity must have been filled, has not yet been explained; but it must have been of very time, with a fluid suspending a considerable prope ancient date: and it can easily be imagined, that if a tract composed of beds containing such vacuities were torn up another important fact in this investigation; being situated partitions, which, in passing through the cavern, A suite of cavities in the same neighbourhood establishes mud for the interior is traversed by a series d and furrowed by a deluge, the newly formed valleys would near the edge of a high cliff, and far above the possible in-cessary to mount and descend by ladders; and cut the branching fissures in the most varied and irregu-fluence of any floods from the nearest brooks and rivulets: uniformly, on their tops, a deposit of mud, over lar manner; so that the mouths of the remaining portions of the original caves would frequently open on the so that it is impossible to ascribe to their agency, the a crust of stalagmite like that upon the mal sides of the valleys; and sometimes, where they had at enormous deposite of ochreous mud which the cavern con- general floor. In the figure already given, tains. first been open to the surface at considerable distances heights far above the access of any of the existing river- above them expressing the situation of the mud, Several of the caves in Germany also occur at partitions are represented at DD, the do from their former places of communication with it, and as white crust the incumbent coat of stalagmite the same operation also conveyed more or less of the cuspended matter into the cavities, those which opened imme- ago in the limestone of Plymouth, had been supposed to name from the abundance of fossil teeth that A remarkable series of caverns, discovered a few years Zahnloch (the hole of teeth) in Franconia, which diately upwards would be frequently blocked up. furnish an instance of complete enclosure, within the sub-extracted there, has within it an insulated black stance of a solid rock, of the remains of the same ani- about six feet high, which stands "likes mals, which had in every other case been found in situa- and is described as having its surface palie tions communicating with the surface. These caves also bably by the friction of the skin and of have been examined by the author in company with Mr. which it was inhabited. Kuhlochis the Warburton; and his account of them, which is very full amined by the author, excepting that of and satisfactory, corrects this erroneous opinion; and ex- which the animal remains have escaped the plains the causes of the deception, which arose merely from luvial action; and the only one," he adds," the intersection of the cavities, in places distant from their could find the black animal earth, said by other i original openings. The remains last discovered in the occur so generally; and for which many appe Plymouth caves have been described with great accuracy mistaken the diluvial sediment in which the by Mr. Clift, and represented by that gentleman with his universally imbedded! The facts respecting usual skill, in the Phil. Trans. (1823). Among these, ordinary accumulation are very curious. the skull of which afforded those indications of extraor- of which are nearly equal to those of the were the bones of an hyæna, remarkable for its great size, true, that in this single cavern (the size and dinary muscular power in the animal to which we have large church) there are hundreds of carto already alluded. animal dust, entirely covering the whole floor. The story of a cave at Paviland, near the Worm's Head, which must average at least six feet; and on the coast of Glamorganshire, is remarkable from its multiply this depth by the length and breadth giving an account of part of a human skeleton which was vern, will be found to exceed 5000 cubic feet. found there. The cavern is on the sea-shore; and where of this mass has been again and again dug over the floor is beyond the reach of the sea, it is covered with of teeth and bones, which it still contain loam, containing fragments of limestone, recent sea-shells, though in broken fragments. The state the teeth and bones of the elephant, and of several other different from that of the bones we findi quadrupeds, introduced by diluvial action; and of a wo-other caverns, being of a black, or, more man, who, it would appear, had formerly inhabited the ing, dark umber colour throughout; and cave, and whose age and occupation may possibly receive readily crumbling under the finger into a some light from the remains of a British camp existing on der, resembling mummy powder, and being the hill immediately above. The author thinks it proba- nature with the black earth in which they are ble that she was buried, with her habiliments, in the ca- The quantity of animal matter accumulated vern, about the time of the Roman occupation of Britain. is most surprising, and the only thing of the Mr. Buckland begins his account of some of the most witnessed; and many hundred, I may say thou remarkable of the caves in Germany, which he himself dividuals must have contributed their remains, examined during the summer of 1822, by stating, that this appalling mass of the dust of death. It Not long after the author's examination of the cave "there prevails throughout them all, a harmony of cir- great part to be derived from comminuted and above described, a second cavern was found at Kirkdale, cumstances exceeding what his fullest expectations would bone; for the fleshy parts of animal bodies which was examined in the presence of Mr. Buckland, have anticipated: all tending to establish the important their decomposition, so small a quantity accompanied by Sir Humphry Davy and Mr. Warburton. conclusion, of their having been once, and once only, sub- earthy residuum, that we must seek for the It contained no bones; but the floor was covered with mitted to the action of a deluge, and that this event hap- mass principally in decayed bones. The cave mud, six feet in depth, partially glazed over with stalag-pened since the period in which they were inhabited by the that the black earth lies in the state of loose mite: and it agreed in every respect with the first. The wild beasts." p. 108. rises in dust under the feet; it also retains absence of bones, the author justly remarks,-the mud The chief difference between the state of these caves and proportion of its original animal matter, that it being present,-adds to the probability, that it was the in- those of England seems to be, that the mouths of the ally used by the peasants as an enriching strumentality of the hyænas, and not of the waters, that former have in some instances remained open, and that adjacent meadows." introduced the animal remains in the former instance. they have been again occupied, in their postdiluvian state, About the same time also with this second cave, a great by animals; and would, at this moment, probably have irregular crack or chasm was discovered in the limestone been tenanted by wild beasts, had not the progress of rock of Duncombe Park, near Kirkdale, terminating up-human population extirpated them from that part of the wards in a small aperture, and lying like a pitfall across globe. The annexed sketch is a supposed verticle section, along the course of such a cave as we have now described, and at right angles to a valley into which it opens; A, representing the supposed place of the entrance, before the excava tion of the valley; B, the actual entrance in the face of a cliff on its side; and C, a tabular passage which probably may have once communicated with the surface, but is now closed above. As the agents concerned in the production of the phenomena we have just described, were of universal operation considerable uniformity, in the resulting appearances, was to be expected in every quarter of the globe: and the author has accordingly found, that the caves and fissures themselves which he has examined, in England and Germany, are every where of the same construction. The next point of inquiry was, whether the nature and circumstances of their contents were the same, in other caves and in other places, as at Kirkdale; and here too the evidence is very complete and satisfactory; but we can mention a few only of the more remarkable circumstances. the path of animals; the crack itself, descending obliquely, The circumstances which this examination has enabled pp. 137-8. The peculiar form of this cavern may perh the undisturbed state in which the interior hast narrow passage which leads into the great cham a • The term Breccia is applied to angular fragment (or bone) united by a stony cement. |