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export fifty tons of ale called BEER. Whether we are to understand, by this fingular expreffion, that ale and beer were then diftinguished as at prefent, on account of the larger portion of hops with which the latter is fupplied, feems doubtful.

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Such, Mr. Editor, is all the informa-
tion I can at present afford your corre
fpondent: unless a remark or two upon
the price of beer at different periods, be
added.

At a dinner of the Salters' Company,
in 1506, a kilderkin of ale coft as. zd.
Among the difbursements of the Priory
of St. Mary Huntingdon toward the clofe
of Henry the 8th's reign we have
Item, for a doz. and a half of good
ale, agenft the comyng of the
vifitors of our religion
Item, fur 10 doz. and 1⁄2 of good
ale, agent the vifitation of my
Lord of Lyncoln."

In the Domesday Survey, beer, brewers, malt and brewing, frequently occur; and in one of the inquifitions it is ftated braziabat cujufcunque uxor, x. that is, that, "from every man whole wife brewed, the fuperior lord received ten pence :' but I have found no mention of any thing" which an antiquary could interpret haps. I have feen many books of receipts and payments, belonging to the religious of the middle ages, but do not recollect a fingle inftance of their ufe. The Northumberland Houthold book, however, from 1512 to 1525 has a particular mention of hops for breuing, which feems to contradict the old received account, that hops and herefy came into England in the fame reign: fee Baker's Chronicle, among the cafualties of Henry the 8th's reign, viz.

"About the 15th of Henry viii. it happened that diverfe things were brought into England, whereupon this rhime was made: Turkies, Carps, Hopps, Piccarell and Beere, Came into England all in one Year."

This perhaps may relate only to the cultivation of hops, when they were firft planted in England, though the produce might be imported before from Flanders.

The brewing of beer, however, is the fubject of an entire fection in the book I have juft mentioned, an extract from which, as a few copies of the work were printed only by the duke of Northumberland, may be acceptable.

"A Brewyng at Wrefill Fyrfte, paide at Wrefill for vi. quarters of malte aftir vs. the quartir xxx.

Item paide for vi lb. of Hopps for the faide brewynge aftir 14 ob. the lb ix.

Item paide for v score Faggites for the faide brewynge aftir v Faggotts 14, ande after iis.

the C.-xxd.

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s. d.

2 7

15 9

At a dinner of the Stationers' Company
July 5, 1558, a barrel of beer had got
up to 4s. Ed.; and in an inventory of the
Stock in Trade belonging to the Mouth
Tavern, Bishopfgate, 1612,
we find
"Two duffen and 8 bottles of ale reck-
oned at no lefs than 5s. 8d.

I wish your correfpondent fuccefs in
his refearches, and am, Mr. Editor, his
and your obedient Servant,

A PORTER-DRINKER.

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine.

I

SIR,

T is rather furprising, confidering the early attention which must have been paid to the productions of Nature, that our knowledge on this fubject should still be in many instances very superficial and imperfect. A thorough acquaintance with the ftructure or compofition of natural bodies requires much laborious inveftigation, and muft long, perhaps to the end of the world, continue defective; but the history of the more fenfible qualities of animals, vegetables, or minerals, and of the various cifcumftances attending them, which requires only attentive obfervation, it might have been prefumed would have rapidly improved, and readily difentangled itself from any errors whic might have been adopted in its infancy. That this has been the cafe in a great degree, cannot be denied; fome of the many falfities refpecting different fubjects of natural history which formerly passed current, have appeared too extravagant for modern credulity, fuch as the ancient accounts of the Dragon, Pheenix, Unicorn, Mermaid, and other fictitious animals, whofe existence, had it been real, must have been long fince afcertained; the Lynx and the Salamander have been found wholly devoid of the wonderfu qualities afcribed to them, and the ft. ry

respecting

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respecting the Pelican may be pronounced a wilful mifreprefentation. But if thefe accounts have at length been difcarded, we are not without modern wonders of a very fimilar nature; it is not many years fince aftonishment was excited by the defcriptions given of the Barnacle Goofe, the Agnus Scythicus,or Plant-animal, and of that enormous mafs of animal materials the Kraken. The Barnacle Goofe is a large fea-fowl, which it was afferted, was produced, not from the egg of its own fpecies, like all other birds, but from a finall fhell-fish of the multi valve kind. Da Costa in his Natural Hif tory of British Shells, noticing this ftrange conceit, believed not only by the commonality, but even by learned naturalifts, gives an inftance in our countryman Gerard: he firmly believed it, by facts which he fays came within his own know. ledge, and after reciting the ftory in a circumftantial manner, gravely ends his narrative in the following words, "for the truth hereof, if any doubt, may it please them to repair unto me, and I fhall fatisfie them by the teftimonie of good witneffes;" but though firmly believed by great numbers, the story is now well known to be totally unfounded. The Agnus Scythicus, or Plant-animal, was faid to grow in Tartary. It was produced from a feed resembling that of the melon, and grew to about the height of three feet, having feet, hoofs, ears, and the whole head excepting horns, resembling a Lamb. When wounded, a liquor oozed out like blood, and it lived as long as there was grafs or herbage around it; but when these were confumed, it wafted and died. The wolves were very fond of it, &c. Two or three naturalifts have written ferioufly on this fubject; the creature has been shown in different museums; and á figure of it is given in one of the early volumes of the Philofophical Tranfa&tions. It is fcarcely neceffary to add, that the inquiries of travellers concerning it have been fruitlels. The Kraken has been defcribed as an animal of a crab-like form; its back or upper part, when it rifes in the water, being at least a mile and a half in circumference, and its horns fometimes appearing as high and large as the mafts of middle-fized veffels. It has been fuppofed that if it were to take the largest man of war in its arms or claws, it would pull it down to the bottom. The fuppofed existence of this creature refts on the authority of Bishop Pontoppidon, as, fince his time, no further particulars have

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been obtained, except an account which appeared in the newspapers of Auguft 1786, the authenticity of which is very doubtful.

to

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In fome inftances, the love of wonder has engrafted on real peculiarities much imaginary fingularity, as in the accounts which have been given of the Camelion the Cookoo, the Elephant, and the fafcin ating power afcribed to Serpents. W are by no means to difcard fuch accounts as unworthy of examination because they contain a large portion of the marvellous for though an apparent departure from the ufual economy of nature fhould ex cite our caution, it will by no mean warrant a hafty conclufion that it canno be true; so far as competent teftimony of fair reasoning leads us we ought willingly to go, but the moment thele guides for fake us, we should ftop, and confide whether it is not better to fufpend our judgment than to rifk adopting an error Had thefe principles been adhered the animals juft mentioned would proba bly not have acquired fo much celebrity.Let us examine their pretenfions to it The Camelion was faid to live on air; bu on diffection of fome of them, their fo machs have been found full of mal infects. Another quality afcribed to thi creature was that of changing at plea fure the colour of its coat inftantaneously this, however, is only true in a very li mited degree; they certainly have the power of dilating and contracting thei skin, which may cause some alteration i its hue, as may alfo removal from fun fhine to fhade; it may likewife affume different appearance when the creature i irritated or frighted, as we fee in th fleshy appendage of a Turkeys neck, and even in fome degree in the human coun tenance, but beyond this it appears no to poffefs any peculiar qualities. Of th Cookoo we are told, that when the breed ing feafon arrives, it feeks for the net of a Yellow Hammer, a Hedge Sparrow or other small bird, and taking a prope opportunity of the abfence of the lega proprietor, it devours or deftroys th eggs it finds, and lays one of its own i their room, which is hatched by the bir to whom the neft belonged, who rears th young Cookoo as its own offspring: othe accounts include more extraordinary ci cumftances, but they are fo contrary t all that is known of other fpecies of th feathered tribe, that, notwithstanding the have of late been attefted by fome refped table authorities, I cannot avoid fufpect ing that when we are in poffeffion

mo

more full and decifive evidence on the fubject, fome of the particulars will be found erroneous. The Elephant, it was afferted, would never couple in a state of domefticity. This was afcribed to the molt elevated fentiments, which, could they be proved, would indeed place this animal far above the level of the common nature of brutes. Buffon obferves, "that to be agitated by the moft ardent defires and to deny themselves the fatisfaction of enjoying them; to love furiously and preferve modesty, are perhaps the lalt efforts of human virtue; which in this majestic animal are all fuggefted by instinct. Enraged that he cannot gratify his defires without witneffes, his fury, ftronger than his paffion, destroys the effects of the latter, provokes at the fame time his anger, and is the caufe that, in thefe inftants, the Elephant is more dangerous than any other wild animal." The British dominions in India contain thoufands of living witneffes to the fallity of this account. The fafcinating power afcribed to the Rattle Snake and other Serpents, was faid not only to affect Hares, Squirrels, Partridges and the like, ia fuch a manner as to make them run directly into their mouths, but even to extend its influence to the human species. The inquiries of Dr. Barton, and Mr. Rittenhoufe in America, where there must be the beft opportunities for afcertaining the fact, have, however, fhown that this extraordinary circumftance may be relolved into the expreffions of fear common to moft finall animals when their own life or that of their young is in danger.

There are other accounts which cannot be called exaggerations, for, having been built on a ralle foundation, they are found to be wholly erroneous. Of this kind is the opinion which was very commonly entertained previous to the difcovery of the analogy between lightning and the electric fluid, of the fall of Thunder bolts. The form or fubitance of this body, which was fuppofed to be generated in the air during thunderftorms, and to be the inftrument of the mifchief they fometimes occafion, was wholly undetermined, though, from the great number of thunder ftorms which have happened fince the creation, it might have been fuppofed they could not be very fearce in any country. Some years ago I was fhown, by a collector of natural curiofities, feveral stones which he affirmed were thunder-bolts, though they evidently were nothing more than common black Aints which happened to be merely fimilar

in form, and of which many more might have been readily found in almost any of our chalk-pits. This reputed concretion of lightning, or caput mortuum of the explosion, or whatever else it was conceived to be, was not, however, always a flinty fubftance; the Philofophical Tranfactions for 1738 contain an account of a fmall bail of fulphur found after a ftorm in the Ifle of Wight, and fuppofed to have been generated in the air. But we well know the discharge of a thundercloud has no tendency to form fuch bodies, and that if it had, they must have been very frequently found and confe quently well known to us.

The opinion of the petrifaction of Water, appears equally unfounded with the foregoing, although fome years fince it was adopted by naturalifts, and is still current in thofe parts of England where Stalactites and other fparry concretions are found. Dr. Plott (in h's Hiftory of Oxfordshire) speaking of Stalactites, fays, that the very body of the water is turned into stone as it drops down from the rocks. It does not require an acquaintance with modern experiments on the compofition or decomposition of water, to be convinced that an unconfined fluid cannot be petrified, and that, though water is the vehicle in forming sparry concretions and incrustations, it does not enter into their compofition in a greater degree than into that of most other mineral fubftances. The petrifying quality afcribed to the water of Lough-neagh lake in Ireland, arose entirely from the circumstance of confiderable quantities of foffil wood having been found on the fhores of it; but that the water itself contains no fuch quality, has been fully proved by experiments made for the purpofe.

In fome inftances, the improbability of the affected fact justly excites doubts refpecting it, although it may be of a nature which renders it very difficult to afcertain the truth; fuch is the opinion of no venemous animal living in Ireland; which implies the imp obble circumflance of fomething in the foil or climate of that ifland fo effentially different from this country, that animals which 'eel no inconvenience here could not exilt there. We are far from certain that even of the few venemous animals of this country there are none in the interior part of Ireland: but even if this is really the cafe, it may be merely the confequence of its being an ifland, and there may be others equally fortunate in this refpect ;

nor

nor can it be expected that the naturalifts of Ireland will ever attempt to determine the point by the importation of fuch animals; it would be folly to risk the introduction of a dangerous race of creatures, merely to refute an affertion fo highly improbable.

Still more contrary to all probability are the accounts of Toads being found completely inclosed in males of ftone. That an animal to whom motion, refpira tion, and digeftion are natural, fhould be capable of living in a fituation which effectually precludes the exercife of thefe functions, not merely for a few hours, but for years, hundreds of years, or even thousands of years (for to to distant a period must we refer the formation of many kinds of ftone) is a circumftance which must furely startle credulity itself, and caufe us to hesitate in admitting its poffibility on any thing short of the moft full and competent teltimony. I am aware that accounts of this kind are numerous, and that most of the perfons who have given them appear to have had no doubts of what they related. The late learned and accute Mr. Wakefield afferted in your Magazine, that "the fact is unquestionable:" but with the higheft refpect for fuch diftinguished authority, I am till inclined to think otherwife. That life should continue in any animal with out the acceffion of nourishment, during fuch an immense period of time, is in the highest degree improbable. Lizards, fnakes, and fome infects will live a very confiderable time without food; in the courfe of a few weeks, however, the want of nourishment is generally apparent, by the creature becoming thinner and lefs vigorous; I have feen Toads experience the fame effect from a few days confinement without food. Mr. H. Baker (Philofophical Tranfactions 1740) has given an account of a common HouseBeetle which he kept three years without food, and which the whole time appeared frong and vigorous (except that in cold weather it feemed more torpid) but though it appeared to be kept alive merely by air, Mr. Baker had no doubt that in its natural fate it eats more folid food. That the Toad when at liberty feeds on fmall infects, I have had pofitive evidence, as well as that fresh air is neceffary for its refpiration; and furely no one will fuppofe that it can fo materially differ from all other animals as not to require food or air; consequently it must be impoffible for it to continue to exercise the fual functions of an animal in a fituation

where it is effectually deprived of thef effentials. The only fuppofition then which can give any degree of probability to such accounts is, that the animal may almoft immediately after its inclofure fal into fuch a complete state of torpidity as to render air or nourishment unneceffar during an immenfe period of time. I is contrary to all our knowledge of ani mal nature to admit this fuppofition; fo a total fufpenfion of respiration and cir culation implies, or at least muft foon pro duce, an extinction of the vital principle and if thefe powers were not completely ftopt, there must be a confumption of ai and fubftance from which in fo great length of time death would as certainl enfue: nor is it probable that the crea ture fhould be fuddenly awaked out o fuch a profound torpidity, and, on th ftone being cleft, immediately refum faculties which had lain dormant hun dreds of years; yet most of the account relate that on the ftone being broken, th animal crawled about and appeared t have fuffered little inconvenience from it imprisonment, though if you take a Ba or other animal which ufually paffes th winter in a torpid ftate, from its retreat it will for a confiderable time exhibit li tle figns of life, and will in general re quire many days and the application o warmth to enable it to refume its natura faculties. On the whole, there is grea reafon to believe this wonderful story ha arifen entirely from inattention. Toad hides felf during the winter i holes and crevices, and the breaking of ftone may have often disturbed its retrea and given rife to a hafty conclufion tha it came out of the ftone: the account have generally been taken from laboure and ignorant perfons, who prefer relatin a wonder to examining into its reality.

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Some other opinions, which probably on examination, will be found erroneou appear more within the reach of attentiv obfervation, and confequently may b more easily determined: excufe me if mention as an inftance of this kind th relation of the Porcupine fhooting darting its quills at its affailants. Th the creature poffeffes an excellent defen by erecting its quills, must be admitted but the pretended power would destro this advantage, as by irritation it migh be provoked to difcharge all its dart and thus would become a moft defencele creature indeed, in which state it mu remain exposed to all attacks, for it ca not be fuppofed that these ftrong quil would be very fpeedily renovated. Upd

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examining the animal, there appears no ground for believing, that it can voluntarily discharge its quills; and it has been july observed, that it is no more probable, than that an enraged turkey-cock fhould fhoot its feathers.

The accounts of female birds of different fpecies putting out, in advanced age, the plumage of the male, naturally excite fufpicion; there are, however, fome accounts of this circumftance, which appear fo well authenticated, that they demand attention, if they do not pofitively eftablish the fact. It muft, however, be remembered, that the transformation is merely in outward appearance, the lex of the bird remaining (as might be expected) precifely as before.

The opinion which has been very commonly entertained even by many highly refpectable naturalifts, that all the fhells, bones, fragments of marine animals, impreffions of plants, and other adventitious matters, found buried in the earth, at all known depths, are remains of the Univerfal Deluge, is of a nature that its proba. bility may be decided by judicious obiervation, and I believe will be found wholly untenable but I must defer fome remarks on this and other fimilar opinions to a future opportunity.

J. J. G.

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land, in fixty-one degrees and a few minutes north latitude, on the bay of Agdluit. This fettlement has exifted fince the year 1774.

The peninfula which is known by the name of Terra Labrador, extends from the fifty-fecond to the fixty-first degree of north latitude, fo that the most northerly point of Labrador lies nearly under the fame latitude as Cape Farewell, the moft fouthern part of Greenland. Some members of the Moravian Brotherhood . having discovered, in 1752 and 1764, that the Greenlanders and Efkimaux Indians were but one nation, and that they spoke a fimilar language, they gradually formed among the latter (whofe dwellings are

fcattered over a coaft about feven hundred

miles in length,) the following miffionary ftations and communities:-1. Nain, in 1771, fituated in 56° 55′ of north latitude.-2. Another on the ifland Kivallek, to the north of Nain, on a narrow gulf, which the Efkimaux call Okkak, i. e. Tongue.-3. Hoffenthal, in 1782. This millionary fettlement is the most fouthern on the coaft, and Okkak the most northern, lying nearly under the fifty-eighth degree of north latitude.

On the 21st of January, in 1790, the thermometer rofe at Lichtenfels, in Greenland, five degrees above the freezingpoint, though for fome time previous thè cold had been very fevere; the thermometer having, on the 19th of December, 1789, fallen eighteen degrees below the freezing-point but in a few days it again became cold. In the beginning of Auguft there were a couple of exceffively hot days at Lichtenau, and it was impoffible to remain out of doors on account of the immenfe fwarms of flies. Immedi

ately after the 19th of September, the ground in the neighbourhood of New Herrnhut was entirely covered with fnow, and winter already fet in.

During this winter there was much fnow in Labrador, accompanied with intenfe froft, fo that the thermometer of Fahrenheit frequently food at from thirty to thirty-five degrees below o; and at Hoffenthal, on the 6th of January, even at forty degrees. The bay near Nain was not free from ice till the beginning of July.On the 2d of Auguft, there was much lightning in the night at Hoffenthal.The Elkimaux, to whom this was rather an unusual phenomenon, awakened the Miffionaries, fuppofing that the house was on fire

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