mit of this portion of the chalky battlement formerly | the description to be wrought to the utmost excellence overhung its base, and, as Gloster forcibly expresses it, of poetry. He conceives that it is unnatural for the looked fearfully in (not on, as it has often been printed,) mind when one is looking down a precipice, to be made the confined deep. Shakspeare's Cliff, however, has to occupy itself with the observation of particulars, innow lost this distinguishing peculiarity. So many por- stead of being overwhelmed by the one great and dreadtions have successively fallen from it that, instead of ful image of irresistible destruction. It is to be consibending over the sea, it now retires at the top towards dered, however, as Mr. Mason has well remarked, that the land; and, as may be observed in the engraving, Edgar is here describing only an imaginary precipice, or, part of the precipice is broken off into a declivity. at least, not one which he was actually looking down Another effect has been, that its height is considerably from. The passage is to be read with a recollection of diminished, and the look down is not now so fearful as the character, or assumed character, of Edgar; and it must have been in Shakspeare's days. whatever exaggeration there may be in it which is not sanctioned by the spirit of poetic representation, may be very fairly set down to the over-excited fancy and exalted language in which, as "poor Tom," the speaker throughout indulges. Some of the lines, however, independently altogether of this dramatic reference, are of exquisite beauty. What, for instance, can be more musically descriptive than Having led his father some way farther on, Edgar at length pretends to have brought him to the neighbourhood of the Cliff. He then exclaims, "Come on, Sir, here's the place:-Stand still; how fearful The crows and choughs that wing the midway air There has been some disputation among the commentators as to the poetical merits of these lines; and Dr. Johnson has chosen to say that he is far from thinking or, "The crows and choughs that wing the midway air"? -The murmuring surge, 66 That on the unnumber'd idle pebbles chafes, These words bring the scene, not only to the eyes, but The gathering of samphire, we may add, was actually pursued as a trade in Shakspeare's days. The herb was much used as a pickle. [Shakspeare's Cliff.] THE MIRAGE. sonal observation; and shall then state the principles on which the phenomena are explained. THE mirage is a very curious optical delusion, by which, I speak, not only from the reports of others, but from perinstead of a simple perception, approximated, multiplied, and generally vertical images of an object are exhibited to the eye. We shall endeavour to describe some of the appearances presented-particularly that of the siraub, or, "water of the desert," of which we are enabled to There are few travellers in the East who do not forcibly describe and feelingly complain of the suffering endured from the want of water, in traversing the desert plains of Egypt, Syria, and Persia: and to complete | and well-defined, that the hill itself did not appear the appalling statement, it is only necessary to add, that it is precisely in those districts where the traveller is exposed to the most intense agonies of thirst, that his wants are mocked by the illusion which it is our present object to describe. Conceive an European in those countries travelling with 66 "Some great caravan, from well to well, Winding as darkness on the desert fell," where the ground beneath him resembles the hot ashes of a forge, and the atmosphere is felt as the vapour of a furnace. No river, spring, or lake has been seen for many days; and the water in the skins is quite exhausted, or so much reduced that a drop is more precious than gold. Every eye is dim; every tongue, swollen, parched, and rent, cleaves to the roof of the mouth; and the Arabs begin to talk of killing the camels for the sake of the water contained in their stomachs. In such circumstances it is easy to imagine the delight with which, in the heat of the day, the traveller perceives before him one or more lakes, reflecting on their clear surface the palm-trees, the hills, or any other objects around or within it, by which the uniformity of such a plain may be broken. He cannot make audible the joyful cry of "water! water!" but puts his beast to its speed, and wonders, perhaps, that none of the natives, whose wants are equal, seem similarly excited by the appearance. But he soon finds, to his great astonishment, that he cannot reach the water for which he longs, even as the hart panteth for the water-brooks." The shore of the lake recedes as he approaches, and its dimensions are consequently contracted until, if he proceeds, it disappears, and is frequently formed anew at a distance beyond him.. Pausing to consider the phenomenon with more attention, the traveller, if an intelligent person, will identify the appearance with what he has heard of the siraub; but the most attentive consideration will not enable him to detect, in the exhibition, any circumstances different from those which would be presented by real water. Sometimes the clear, calm azure reflects the objects around with the greatest precision and distinctness; and often the whitish vibratory volume exhibits the contours of the reflected objects as badly terminated, with that sort of indecision which always accompanies such representations in water slightly ruffled by the wind. Local circumstances sometimes contribute to give more striking effect to the illusion. In Lower Egypt, for instance, the villages, in order to avoid the effects of the inundation of the Nile, are built on small eminences, scattered through a plain of vast extent. Towards the middle of the day, when the ground was heated, each village often appeared to the French army, during the campaign in that country, as if surrounded, to the distance of a league, by a lake, in which, underneath the village, a distinct reversed image of it was represented. This illusion is altogether so perfect and so strong, that, in our own case, after repeated experience, we always, in the first instance, took the siraub for real water, unless when, from local knowledge or the circumstances of the place, we knew its existence to be impossible or unlikely. In other circumstances the images are exhibited without the concomitant illusion of water; and of this a very curious example was observed by Dr. Vince, at Ramsgate, on the 6th of August, 1806. Between that place and Dover there is a hill, over which the tops of the four turrets of Dover Castle are usually visible to a person at Ramsgate. But, on this occasion, Dr. Vince not only saw the turrets but the whole of the castle, which appeared as if it had been removed and planted on the side of the hill next to Ramsgate, and rising as much above the hill on that side as it actually did on the other; and this image of the castle was so strong through it. It should be observed that there is almost six miles of sea between Ramsgate and the land from which the hill rises, and about an equal distance from thence to its summit; and that the height of the eye above the sea in this observation was about seventy feet. This phenomenon is not confined to the land. It is, perhaps, more frequently observed at sea; and indeed the very term (mirage) by which it is denominated originated with the French sailors. At sea the mirage is usually noticed under the form distinguished by the term "suspension." The object is then represented as above the water, painted, as it were, on the sky. Of this species of mirage we can find no instance more striking than that which was observed by Captain Scoresby, 28th of January, 1820, in the Greenland seas. The sun had shone during the day without the intervention of a cloud, and his rays had been unusually ardent. About six o'clock, P.M. a light breeze sprung up, and most of the ships navigating at the distance of ten or fifteen miles, amounting to about eighteen or nineteen sail, appeared then to undergo a change of magnitude and form; and, when examined from the mast-head with a telescope, exhibited some very extraordinary appearances, differing in almost every point of the compass. One ship had an inverted image above it; another had two distinct images in the air; a third was distorted by elongation, the masts being nearly of twice the proper height; and others underwent contraction. All the images of the ships were accompanied by a reflection of the ice, in some places in two strata. The images of the mirage are commonly vertical,— that is, presenting the appearance of one object above another, like a ship above its shadow in the water. Sometimes, however, though very rarely, they are horizontal or lateral, that is, one or more images are represented on the same plane with the object. This form of the phenomenon has been observed on the Lake of Geneva by M. Provost, and, on the 17th of September, 1818, by MM. Jurine and Soret, whose account we shall quote as the most distinct of the two. A bark near Bellerive was seen approaching Geneva by the left bank of the lake, and at the same time an image of the sails was seen above the water, which, instead of following the direction of the bark, separated from it, and appeared to approach Geneva by the right bank of the lake; the image moving from east to west, while the bark moved from north to south. When the image separated from the object it was of the same dimensions as the bark, but it diminished as it receded, so that when the phenomenon ceased it was reduced one half. This remarkable class of optical illusions is accounted for, as follows:-Whenever a ray of light strikes obliquely a medium less refracting than that in which it was previously moving, it is turned back into the original medium, and a direction is given to it precisely similar to that which would have been the result of a reflection taking place at the common surface of the two mediums. Now the sand of the desert, or the surface of the sea, being heated by the rays of the sun, communicates a portion of its warmth to the stratum of air immediately superposed, which then dilates, and becomes consequently less dense, and, therefore, less refracting than the superior strata. In this state of 'hings when an observer regards an object a little elevated above the horizon, the rays, which in coming to him traverse a layer of air of uniform density, will exhibit it in the natural position, while the light directed obliquely towards the surface of the earth will be bent downward, and so come to the eye as if from an object placed inversely and below the former. This explains the inverted image below the object; but our limits will not allow us to apply the principle to a detailed explanation of all the forms of the phenome non which we have stated. We must therefore con- to discourage and do away the custom of offering it as a tent ourselves with repeating that these effects result token of friendship or hospitality. For a number of from a partial alteration in the density of the atmo-years this society was considerably active and decidedly sphere, and the unusual operations to which the light useful; and its influence has been more or less salutary is in consequence subjected in coming to the eye. It till the present time. But no great and striking prois not necessary that the alteration should be a decrease gress was made in the cause of Temperance till the forof density, since, as the two opposite states of the at- mation of the American Temperance Society in 1826. mosphere produce the same effects, the mirage at sea is The object of this latter society, from its commenceoften occasioned by the increase of density in the lowerment, has been to do away all use of ardent or distilled stratum of the atmosphere from the quantity of water spirit as drink; to promote temperance by means of which it holds in solution. entire abstinence from alcohol. The members of this We do not until 1797 find any but the most super-society, and the members of societies auxiliary to it, are ficial notices of the mirage. In that year Mr. Huddart | pledged to abstain from the use of ardent spirit, except and Mr. Vince communicated instances of the pheno-as medicine. Through the agency, direct and indirect, menon to the Royal Society, and inquired into the causes of the American Temperance Society, great and surwhich produced such illusions. Subsequently M. Monge prising changes have taken place in this country in relain Egypt, and Dr. Wollaston in England, simultation to the use of ardent spirit; and the subject has neously occupied themselves in the same researches, attracted the attention of most of the nations in Europe. and, arriving at the same conclusions, their labours The almost universal use of ardent spirit in this established the theory of the mirage on its present country arose principally from three causes: first, from basis. The latter philosopher, to whom science is so the love of excitement natural to our race; secondly, much indebted, indicated very simple means for the from the cheapness and ease with which excitement artificial production of the most remarkable peculiarities could be obtained from a small quantity of alcohol; and of the illusion. He usually employed fluids for this thirdly, from the very general belief, that the use of a purpose; but we shall adduce one very easy experiment small quantity, or, in other words, the temperate use of of a different character. Dr. Wollaston took a red hot it, was really beneficial. From this last cause, however, poker and looked along the side of it at a paper 10 or more than from all other causes, no doubt, arose the 12 feet distant. A perceptible refraction took place at prevailing use of ardent spirit, and, of course, almost all a distance of three-eighths of an inch from it. A letter the evils of intemperance and drunkenness in the more than three-eighths of an inch distant appeared country. The belief, that a moderate use of it was erect as usual; at a less distance there was a faint good for the stomach, the spirits, the blood, and physical reversed image of it; and still nearer to the poker was a strength, had taken, as is well known, strong and deep second erect image. Sir David Brewster has also since hold upon the public mind. Everybody knew and contributed to extend our knowledge of the subject, and admitted, that it was wrong and injurious to drink succeeded in obtaining very natural and beautiful imi- much; but almost everybody was satisfied at the same tations of the phenomena of the mirage, by the simple time, that it was right and wholesome to take a little. method of holding a heated iron over a mass of water. Now this belief was either correct or incorrect. If As the heat descends through the fluid there is a regular correct, the proper course was to drink ardent spirit variation of density, which gradually increases from the moderately; and it was the proper business of Tempesurface to the bottom. If the heated iron be withdrawn rance Societies to exert their influence to keep the temand a cold body substituted in its place, or even if theperate users temperate, and to bring the intemperate air be allowed to act alone, the superior strata of water will give out their heat so as to have an increase of density from the surface to a certain depth below it, Through the medium thus constituted, all the phenomena of unusual refraction may be seen in the most beautiful manner, the variation of density being produced by heat alone. Sir David Brewster has also produced the same effects with plates of glass; and in applying the heat in different ways to them, the remarkable phenomenon of Dover Castle has been readily imitated. TEMPERANCE. (From the "American Almanac for 1834.") users to the same practice. But if the belief in question was grossly incorrect, then the proper course was, not only to call the public attention to the enormous and growing evils of intempêrance, but if possible, to undeceive the public mind concerning the nature and use of ardent spirit; and thus to lay the foundation broad and deep for the ultimate and entire suppression of the use of it as a common drink. Fortunately for the cause of humanity, the truth on this subject was at length not only perceived, but felt; and through the active labours of the friends of temperänce, within the last seven years, vast numbers have been fully convinced that distilled spirit used as a drink is not good but injurious and poisonous; that the use THE evils of intemperance and drunkenness have been of it is not fitted to the physical constitution or moral known and lamented ever since the means of intoxica-condition of the human family. tion were discovered; but since the method was found out of extracting alcohol from fermented vegetable juices, these evils have been multiplied a thousand fold. In this country, more than twenty years since, the use of distilled spirit, under different names, had become so general, and the vice of intemperance so prevalent, as to excite the fears of patriots and Christians, not only for the national morals, but for the existence of all our institutions of government, learning, and religion. In the year 1813 a society was organized in Boston by the name of the ' Massachusett's Society for the Suppression of Intemperance.' The objects of this Society, as expressed in its constitution and first report, were to suppress the "too free use" of distilled or ardent spirit as drink; to substitute some other and wholesome drink for labourers in the place of this "poison;" and All sorts of arguments, bearing upon the subject, have been brought forward to change the public mind; but the most successful argument has been that derived from personal experience. All that have been in the habit of using ardent spirit, whether moderately or immoderately, and have exchanged the habit for that of entire abstinence from it, have declared, without a known exception, that they are decidedly better without it than they ever were with it. This argument, from personal experience, is plain, practical, and perfectly unanswerable. It can be understood without studying books of anatomy, chemistry, or medicine. It can be brought to the test by every drinker of ardent spirit, temperate or intemperate, who will take the pains to try it. And the friends of temperance maintain, that the experience of the vast num 1834.1 THE PENNY MAGAZINE. bers who have tried it and found it perfectly satisfactory, I to have been, as now, the slaves or the companious of Since the formation of the American Temperance It is stated in the Sixth Report of the American Temperance Society, that, since the temperance reformation commenced in this country, more than 2000 persons have discontinued the business of making ardent spirit, and more than 6000 left off selling it;-that more than 5000 drunkards, having ceased to use intoxicating drinks, have become sober men; that 700 vessels are now navigated without using it; and though they visit every clime, at all seasons of the year, and make the longest and most difficult voyages, the men are uniformly better in all respects than when they used it; that out of ninety-seven vessels belonging to New Bedford, Massachusetts, seventy-five sail without ardent spirit; and that, on account of the increased safety to property, it has become common for insurance companies to insure those vessels which carry no spirituous liquors for a less premium than others. The reformation has exerted a visible and most happy influence on a great many towns and villages; on manufacturing establishments of various kinds; on communities engaged in agricultural employments, and on the labouring classes of all pursuits. Of these classes, the least exhausted by fatigue, the most cheer ful and happy at the close of the day, and the most refreshed and invigorated when the morning returns, are they who make no use of distilled spirit as drink. of way But notwithstanding much has been done in the reform, very, very much remains to be done. The use of ardent spirit as drink is still a great national calamity, as well as national sin; and great impediments still lie in the way of its removal. Advantage of Activity.-As animal power is exhausted exactly in proportion to the time during which it is acting, as well as in proportion to the intensity of force exerted, there may often be a great saving of it by doing work quickly, although with a little more exertion during the time. Suppose two men of equal weight to ascend the same stair, one of whom takes only a minute to reach the top, and the other takes four minutes, it will cost the first little more than a fourth part of the fatigue which it costs the second, because the exhaustion is in proportion to the time during which the muscles are acting. The quick mover may have exerted perhaps one-twentieth more force in the first instant to give his body the greater velo, which was ...s load four afterwards continued, but the slow supported times as long.-Arnott's Elements of Physics." If there are some animals which seem created expressly for the use of man,-animals whose interests are united with his, or which constitute no mean portion of the wealth of civilized nations, and in fact require the care of man as much as man requires their invaluable services, there are on the other hand a few which yield reluctantly to his supremacy, are in bondage to rigid discipline, and wear with impatience the yoke of servitude, subdued by fear alone. These, nevertheless, he has made subservient to his will, and that rather by availing himself of their strong instinctive propensities, than by modifying in any degree their fixed and unalterable character. This is itself no easy task, and in order to accomplish it, it is requisite that the animal be taken young, and subjected early to a due system of education, in order that habits of obedient submission may be formed, and that the fear of man may grow with its growth. These reflections suggest themselves as we Both are carturn from the contemplation of the dog to that of the chetah, or hunting leopard of India. nivorous; both prey upon the flesh of slaughtered In the dog, animals; both are naturally ferocious; and both are used by man in hunting down his game. however, we find an aptness and a docility which render him less the slave than the friend and companion of his master, whose actions and looks he watches with solicitude, and to whom he evinces unshaken fidelity. The character of the chetah is the counterpart of all this; such as it is when in a state of freedom, that is it also when in bondage. The chetah (felis jubata) belongs to the typical genus (felis) of the "carnassiers of Cuvier, though in one point it offers a slight departure of form from the group with which it is associated we allude to the semiIf we examine the retractile condition of the talons, talons of the lion or tiger, we find them capable of being withdrawn into a sheath, so that unless when brought into action they are completely hidden. This retractability results from the mechanism of the joint uniting the last phalangal bone to the one which precedes it, so that the former bone, which is partially encased in the talon or hooked nail, is allowed to pass by the inner side of its predecessor. The retraction is involuntarily effected by a lateral ligament, which acts as a sort of spring, and by the natural action of the extensor muscles of the fore-arm operating by means of tendons on the bones to which these formidable engines are attached. Now, in the chetah, the talons are at best but partially retractile from the laxity of the ligaments, and, consequently, are more worn and blunted at the points than is the case in the lion, tiger, or panther; besides this, the paw is less rounded and eatlike, and, in fact, more approaching that of the dog in THE CHETAH, OR HUNTING LEOPARD. THE state of domestication, or rather, perhaps, of sub-its general form than is to be found in any other of the jugation to man, in which many animals (and we allude more especially to those of the class mammalia) are and bred, constitutes not only a curious and born interesting feature in the review we take of nature, but affords a wide subject for speculation and inquiry. Some animals, as far as we may trace back the records of history, appear from the earliest dawnings of society genus. In anatomical conformation, however, as well as in disposition, the chetah is strictly feline. The chetah is a native of India, where it is trained for the chase; and also of Africa. It is as large, or nearly so, as the leopard, but is superior in height, owing to the length of its limbs, which are slender and tapering; its body also is less robust, and reminds one, the blinds are removed, and the chain taken off. He immediately crouches and creeps along with his belly almost touching the ground, until he gets within a short distance of the deer, who, although seeing him approach, appears so fascinated, that he seldom attempts to run away. The chetah then makes a few surprising springs, and seizes him by the neck. If many deer are near each other, they often escape by flight; their number, I imagine, giving them confidence, and preventing their feeling the full force of that fascination, which to a single deer produces a sort of panic, and appears to divest him of the power, or even inclination, to run away or make resistance. It is clear that they must always catch them by stealth, or in the manner I have described, for they are not so swift even as common deer." To this account we may add that, should the chetah miss his aim, he desists from further pursuit, and slinks back to his master, who replaces the hood, and reserves him for another chance. When he is successful, the ferocity of his nature at once displays itself, so that, to recover the prey, the keeper is obliged to be extremely cautious, enticing him with meat carried for that purpose. These beautiful creatures are rare in collections in this country: but the menagerie of the Zoological Society contains three or four fine specimens. [Chetah.] The Office of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge is at 59, Lincoln's Inn Fielda. LONDON:-CHARLES KNIGHT, 22, LUDGATE STREET. Frinted by WILLIAM CLOWES, Duke Street, Lambeth, |