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Sudden athwart the gloom the lightning's glance,
As quick reflected by the placid lake,
With lucid air darts bright! Anon sublime
In awful majesty the thunder rolls;
Onward it rolls, and louder roars,

In bursting peals successive heard afar,
Re-echoed oft by rocks and caverns deep
From all the neighb'ring hills-till circling round,
Still gaining force, again it bursts a peal

That stuns the ear. Rocks dashed on rocks are heard
Rattling around. The stoutest heart, appalled
With wild dismay, scarce dares to eye the gloom:
Deep seamed with frequent streaks of moving fire,
Darting in rapid gleams from cloud to cloud!
The clouds are seen in wildest tumults mixed:
And now a mighty flash with fearful glare
Wide opens half the sky! The heavy rain,
Pouring in streams, resistless rushes down,
Ploughs the red mould, and bears it to the main!
Nature convulsed, the everlasting hills
Appear to totter, and the total wreck
Of all terrestrial objects seems at hand!

DR. CRIRIE.

OBSERVATIONS on the MICROSCOPE,

[Concluded from p. 160.]

If decayed cheese be examined by the microscope, it will be seen to swarm with a multitude of small transparent animals, of an oval figure, terminating in a point, something in the form of a snout. These insects are furnished with eight scaly articulated legs, by means of which they move themselves very heavily along. Their head is terminated by an obtuse body, in the form of a truncated cone, where the organ through which they feed is apparently situated. The greater part of their bodies is covered with several long sharp-pointed hairs. It is found that there are another kind of mites that have only six legs: they are all extremely tenacious of life; for, Leeuwenhoek says, that some of them which he had attached to a pin before his microscope, lived in that state several weeks.

Nothing can be more curious than the appearance exhibited by mouldiness, when viewed through a microscope. If looked at by the naked eye, it seems nothing but an irregular tissue of filaments; but the magnifying glass shows it to be a forest of small plants, which derive their nourishment from the moist substance which serves them as a base. The stems of these plants may be plainly distinguished; and sometimes their buds, some shut and some open. They have much similarity to mushrooms, the tops of which, when they come to maturity, emit an exceedingly fine dust, which is their seed. Mushrooms, it is well known, are the growth of a single night, but those in miniature, of which we are speaking, seem to come to perfection in a much less space of time than that; hence we account for the extraordinary progress which mouldiness makes in a few hours. Ano

ther curious observation of the same kind is, that M. Ahlefeld, seeing some stones covered with a sort of dust, had the curiosity to examine it with a microscope, and he found that it consisted of small microscopic mushrooms, raised on pedicles, the heads of which, round the middle, were turned up at the edges. They were striated also from the centre to the circumference, as certain kinds of mushrooms are. He further remarked, that they contained, above their upper covering, a multitude of small grains, shaped like cherries, somewhat flattened, which he suspected were the seeds; and finally he observed, among this forest of mushrooms, several small red insects, which probably fed upon them.

The lycoperdon, or puff-ball, is a plant of the fungus kind, which grows in the form of a tubercle, covered with small grains, very like shagreen. If pressed, it bursts, and emits an exceedingly fine kind of dust, which flies off under the appearance of smoke. If some of the dust be examined with the microscope, it appears to consist of perfectly round globules, of an orange colour, the diameter of which is only about

theth part of the thickness of a hair, so that each grain of this dust is but the bath part of a globule, equal in diameter to the breadth of a hair.

The farina of flowers is found to be regularly and uniformly organized in each kind of plant. In the mallow, for example, each grain is an opaque ball, covered over with small points. The farina of the tulip, and of most of the liliaceous kind of flowers, bears a striking resemblance to the seeds of the cu cumber: that of the poppy is very like grains of barley, with a longitudinal groove in them.

There are certain plants, the leaves of which seem to be pierced with a multitude of small holes. Of this kind is the hypericum, or St. John's wort. Now, if a fragment of this be viewed with a good microscope, the supposed holes are found to be vesicles, contained in the thickness of the leaf, and covered with an exceedingly thin membrane; and these are thought to be the receptacles which contain the essential and aromatic oil peculiar to the plant.

The view exhibited by those plants which have down, such as borage, nettles, &c. is exceedingly curious. When examined by a microscope, they appear to be covered with spikes. Those of borage are, for the most part, bent so as to form an elbow; and though really very close, they appear, by the microscope, to be at a considerable distance from each other. The entire appearance is very similar to that of the skin of a porcupine.

If a needle be viewed through a microscope, though exceedingly fine, the point will appear quite blunt, more like a peg, broken at the end, than a sharppointed steel needle. The edge of the finest set razor, when seen through a microscope, will appear more like the back of a penknife, full of irregularities, than what it really is. In these respects, the works of art, when carried to the highest pitch of perfection, will not bear to be compared with the operations of nature. The latter, exposed to the microscope,

instead of losing their lustre and high polish, appear so much the more beautiful and perfect in regularity and order. When the eyes of a fly are illuminated by means of a lamp or candle, and viewed through this instrument, each of them shows an image of the taper with a precision and vivacity which nothing can equal.

There are two kinds of sand, viz. the calcareous and the vitrifiable: the former, examined with a microscope, resemble large irregular fragments of rock; but the latter appear like so many rough diamonds. In some instances, the particles of sand seem to be highly polished and brilliant, like an assemblage of diamonds, rubies, and emeralds.

Charcoal is a fine object for the microscope: it is found to be full of pores, regularly arranged, and passing through its whole length.

Cut down your hie medowes whiles wether is faire,
The knots of your fruite trees luie naked and bare:
Thrust sickle in some part of your hard corne,
But first let the moneth be well nigh outworne.
Walke warely I will thee,

For ill smelles may kill thee.

July God sende thee calme and fayre,
That happy baruest we may see:
With quyet tyme, and healthsome ayre,
And man to God may thankful bee.

DESCRIPTION OF FRUIT TREES.

[Continued from p. 165.]

PEAR TREE (pyrus communis).-This fruit tree grows to a considerable height, with upright branches, but the twigs or smaller branches hang down. The leaves are oval, pointed, and serrated or sawn at the edges. The younger leaves have a downy substance underneath, and also along the edges. The wild pear tree, from which all the orchard and garden varieties are produced, is thorny. Pear trees

are propagated by budding or grafting them upon stocks of their own kind, which are commonly called free stocks; or upon quince stocks, or white thorn, upon all of which they will readily take; though the quince stocks are generally preferred, as they check the luxuriant growth of the pear tree, and greatly improve the flavour of the fruit. They should be

planted in a strong soil, but never in dry or gravelly ground. The pear tree is of the same genus as the apple; and although the latter has long obtained a decided preference, still the usefulness of the pear tree and the excellence of the fruit are deservedly noticed by the elegant poet, who condescended to celebrate the superior virtues of its rival-relative :—

'What though the pear tree rival not the worth
Of Ariconian products? yet her freight

Is not contemned, yet her wide-spreading arms
Best skreen thy mansion from the fervent dog
Adverse to life; the wintry hurricanes
In vain employ their roar, her trunk unmoved
Breaks the strong onset, and controls their rage.
Chiefly the bosbury, whose large increase
Annual in sumptuous banquets claims applause,
Thrice acceptable beverage!-

Be it thy choice, when summer heats annoy,
To sit beneath her leafy canopy

Quaffing rich liquids! Oh! how sweet t'enjoy
At once her fruits and hospitable shade!

The numerous sorts of this fruit now grown in our orchards have been accidentally raised from seed, and are generally distinguished by the size and flavour of the fruit. The following are the best and the most remarkable:-The little musk pear, or the supreme, which is generally produced in large clusters. This fruit is rather round than long, and has a short stalk. The skin is yellow when ripe, and the juice has a musky flavour; but it will only continue good for a few days, and should always be gathered before it becomes very ripe. The red Muscadelle is a large early pear of great beauty; the skin is of a beautful yellow, striped with red, and the flesh

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