on these occasions, will be prepared to hear that ] the psalms were sung from the collection published at Cambridge in 1640, by Messrs. Weld and Eliot, ministers of Roxbury, and Mather of Dorchester, the first book printed in America, and used by the early church. The Psalm at the close of the afternoon service, was, after the ancient manner, line by line, alternately read and sung by the minister and choir. The following is the hymn written for the occasion by Hon. John Q. Adams. THE HOUR-GLASS. Alas! how swift the moments fly! The burden of a song. See childhood, youth, and manhood pass, And age with furrowed brow; Time was-Time shall be, drain the glass But where in time is now? Time is the measure but of change: No present hour is found, The past, the future fill the range Where then is now? In realms above, Where sits enthroned I AM. Then, Pilgrim, let thy joys and tears On Time no longer lean; But henceforth all thy hopes and fears, We observe that the second centennial celebration of the town of Quincy, occurs in May next. It was common in the first settlements for the Church to be gathered before the civil system was matured. In the following effusion, the reader will recognize that Deautiful simplicity of thought and tender sentiment, which constitute the true pathos of elegiac verse. This is the first of a series of similar poems which the author has kindly contributed to the pages of our periodical, and which will appear in consecutive order, under the title of "Songs of Death.". [ED. FAM. MAG. [For the Family Magazine.] SONGS OF DEATH-NO. I. THE SISTERLESS. BY JOSEPH L. CHESTER. [Written in the Album of a dead sister, immediately after the decease of another.] I. Sweet sister! art thou dead? I seem to feel Thy gentle presence near me, as I sit Within the room where I was wont to steal NEW YORK, September 20, 1839. THE MINERAL KINGDOM. HORNBLENDE. ZIRCON. This rare and beautiful mineral derives its name from the French word jargon, which was originally applied to all those gems, which, on THIS mineral forms a very important constitu- being cut and polished, had somewhat the appearent in the granitic masses which appear to form ance of the diamond. The common Zircon apthe giant ribs of our globe. It is of a greenish proaches to a gray colour, and is mostly procured black colour, and consists of silica and alumina from the island of Ceylon. The primitive form with magnesia. Its peculiar teint is principally of Zircon, according to Hayuy, is composed of derived from oxide of iron, of which it contains two four-sided pyramids, applied base to base. from twenty to thirty per cent. Hornblende The accompanying figures furnish good views of sometimes passes into mica; and if the component its ordinary crystallized forms. parts of the two bodies be compared by chymical analysis, the principal difference will generally be found to consist in the hornblende containing the largest proportion of iron. Those granitic chains which contain the largest quantities of hornblende, usually split into immense blocks, separated from each other by natural seams, and appearing like Hornblende. the ruins of edifices constructed by a race of Titans. The crystalline character of this mineral is delineated in the above diagrams. ZEOLITE. Zeolite. Zircon. Zircon is found in company with the hyacinth, with which it is frequently confounded, but from which it materially differs in its colour and crystallized form. From the diamond it is distinguished by its crystallization, greater weight, and conchoidal fracture; and from most other gems by its peculiar power of refraction. These charac teristics can only be easily indicated by absolute comparison; and this points out the great advantage of cabinet collections of specimens in mineralogical pursuits. Indeed, the great increase of knowledge in this branch of science, may be mainly traced to the increase of "natural history collectors," as the practical students in the great Book of Nature are usually called. ONYX. This is one of the forms of the common calcedony, and it is usually marked by an alternation of white, black, and dark brown layers. The ancients attributed wonderful properties to the onyx stone, and imagined that it would cure many diseases if worn on the finger, and on this account it sometimes fetched enormous sums. OPAL. Zeolite or Mesotype as it is sometimes called, is a mineral, of which there are several varieties; the acicular zeolite is of a gray or reddish-white colour. It occurs in massive, and in distinct conThere are few minerals that have been more cretions, which are both massive and granular. highly valued than this gem. The principal colIts two ordinary forms are exhibited in the annex-our of the common opal is white and semi-transed cuts. parent, with a brilliant lustre. The fire opal on There is a very curious peculiarity in this min- the contrary is of a hyacinth-red colour, and both eral, which it shares with some others, but which kinds are found in every part of the world. Wood phenomenon it is singularly well fitted to exhibit. opal is the only other species of this mineral that If the zeolite be heated it shows very distinct is usefully employed. It varies considerably in electrical symptoms, and retains this property for its color, and, as its name implies, much resemsome time after it has cooled; thus one extrem-bles the branches of trees. It is principally found ity of the crystal exhibits an excess of electricity, in Hungary, and when cut into plates, is employwhile the opposite end is in a negative state. ed by the jeweller and lapidary. Fine specimens are found in Dunbartonshire, and some other parts of Scotland; it is also found in this country. The other forms of zeolite are more rare, and excite but little interest. Suprises are like misfortunes or herrings-they rarely come single. Do. do. Do. Do. steak Do. with mustard Do. do. Stewed On the sixth of June, 1822, Alexis St. Martin, a young Canadian, eighteen years of age, of good health and robust constitution, was accidentally Do. wounded by the discharge of a musket. charge consisting of powder and duck-shot was Do. old, hard, salted received in the left side, at the distance of one Pork steak yard from the muzzle of the gun. It literally blew Pork fat and lean Do. recently salted Do. off integuments and muscles to the size of a man's hand, fracturing and carrying away the anterior Do. half of the sixth rib, fracturing the fifth, lacerating Do. the lower portion of the left lobe of the lungs, Do. the diaphragm, and perforating the stomach. Dr. Mutton, fresh Beaumont, of the American army, then stationed Do. at Michilimackinac, in Michigan, was called to Veal attend him, and by his skill and perseverance the Do. wound was healed and the man restored to health, Fowls, domestic Do. Ducks, do. although the aperture or orifice into the stomach was never closed up, but remained open about one Do. inch in diameter. This afforded Dr. Beaumont an excellent opportunity for experimenting upon the digestive process of the human stomach, which he did not fail to improve, during a number Soup, beef, vegetables, and bread Boiled of years, by an immense variety of very curious Do. and interesting experiments, and the following Do. beans table is the result of his experiments; and is doubtless the best standard of the comparative or mean time occupied in the digestion of different articles of food, ever yet presented to the public, as the whole is founded upon actual observation and not hypothesis. TABLE do. wild Cheese, old, strong marrow bones Do. barley Hash, meat and vegetables Showing the Mean Time of Digestion of the Different Aponeurosis Articles of Diet. 3 30 3 Do. 3 30 Broiled 3 Beans, pod Bread, wheaten, fresh corn for digestion. Dumpling, apple Do. 1 45 Apples, sour and hard Tapioco Milk Do. 2 Do. do. mellow Do. Gelatine Pig's feet, soused Turnips, flat Tripe, soused Potatoes, Irish Brains do. Venison steak Spinal marrow Cabbage, head Turkey, domestic Do. with vinegar Do. do. Do. do. Goose Pig, sucking Liver, beef's fresh Lamb, fresh Chicken, full grown Eggs, fresh Hard boiled Do. do. Fried Roasted Do. do. 1 30 Custard Baked 2 45 3 30 3 30 2 15 2 55 SCIENTIFIC NOTICES. INTENDING to collect, in brief and simple notices, the principal discoveries in science and improvements in art that have been made, during this and the preceding year, we commence with the following:[New Era. MICROSCOPIC ANIMALCULE THE CAUSE OF PUTREFAC- A memoir upon this subject has lately been presented to the French Academy of Science, by M. M. Beauperthuy and Adet de Roseville, the results of whose observations are as follows: 1st. When any animal substance is put into he has several times felt what he thinks was a circumstances which favor putrescence, there is slight electrical shock, when touching a chameleon observed, after a certain time, varying according in his possession with the forefinger and thumb to temperature and moisture of the atmosphere, applied to the opposite halves of the animal. The the formation therein of a number of animalcules; doctor adds: "I think it not unlikely that the and that before any insipid or musty smell, (mark-nervous currents may directly cooperate in afing the first period of the putrid fermentation) is fecting the changes of color in the chameleon, or perceptible; and even before the liquid presents such tissues of other animals as are subject to any sign of an acid or alkaline state. These an- discoloration from various affections. The eximalcules, which at first have the shape of mona-periments of Mr. Matteucci shew that such chandes, and then assume that of vibrios, derive their nourishment from the substance in which they are developed, and multiply it with the greatest rapidity. 2d. At a more advanced period, when the liquid reddens litmas paper, the microscope shews us animalcules in immense number, and especially upon the brownish pellicle with which the surface of the liquid is covered. A considerable number of crystals are also to be seen mixed with the animalcules; and still there is no kind of unpleasant odour. 3d. Somewhat later the fluid is observed to be more and more charged with detached particles of the animal substances which had been plunged into it; all these particles are formed of agglomerated animalcules attached to some fragments of the decomposing tissue, and this is the first epoch at which an odour begins to exist, faint at first, but speedily putrid. 4th. In the fourth and last period the animalcules shew themselves in tens of thousands, and the time arrives in which the whole mass becomes completely organized, and consists of nothing else than these elementary beings. By this time the liquor has become alkaline, and is extremely fetid. THE SALAMANDER. ges may be effected by the animal electricity, on the accession of certain chymical substances; and we need only suppose that such substances are mixed with the juices of the chameleon, (one of them oxygen certainly so,) and that these juices are instrumental in completing the electrical circle, in order to account more fully for the phenomenon in question. "My own observations on these changes all tend to prove that they depend altogether on the degree in which the nervous system is stimulated or inactive. The principle is called into operation by more remote causes, as heat, light, and mental affections; and is instrumental in creating other and more immediate causes, as by causing the cutaneous tissues to become filled with gaseous fluids and liquids, or by affecting the possible chymical actions and reactions which may take place in various ways, under the influence of the nervous currents, according to their intensity or quantity." NEW ANOMALOUS REPTILE. Mr. John Natterer, the industrious collector, who has lately returned to Vienna, from South America, has described in the Annals of the Vienna Museum, (ii. p. 167,) under the head of Lepidosiren paradoxa, a new anomalous reptile, which M. Paravey has communicated to the French has much the appearance of an eel, but is coverAcademy of Sciences, that a fossil salamander, ed with large netted scales, and the body is furin the collection of Professor Van Breda, at Ley-nished with four simple elongated tapering legs; den, about three feet long, contains in the part the front pair being placed on the back edge of corresponding with the abdomen, the fragments of the upper part of the spiracles, and the hinder frogs, eels, &c. thereby affording a proof that an- pair on the under side of the hinder part of the tediluvian species fed upon the same substance as body. The jaws are furnished with strong trunthe salamanders of our times. A large salaman-cated teeth, and the vent, which is circular and der brought by M. Siebold, from Japan, still plaited, is placed on the left of the centre of the lives in the museum, and is principally fed on under side of the body, just behind the base of the frogs. The abovementioned traveller brought the male and female into Europe, but the latter was devoured by the former, after he had been for some time without food. This salamander is described in the Japanese Encyclopædia, in which M. Paravey finds the same fables which exist in Europe concerning the insensibility of the animal to fire. The same stories concerning the chameleon are also found in this Encyclopædia, and bring further conviction to M. Paravey, that a very ancient centre of civilization has existed, whence come the ideas concerning art and science, which have been transmitted to us by the Greeks and Romans, and are also to be found in Chinese books. NERVOUS CURRENTS IN THE CHAMELEON. Dr. Weissenborn, in an interesting inquiry into the phenomena of the chameleon, states that left hind leg. It was discovered in the Brazils, near the river Amazon, and grows to three feet in length. They had two specimens in the Vienna Museum; one of which has been submitted to Professor Thomas Bischoff for dissection. HABITS OF THE TRITONIA. Dr. Grant has noticed this interesting Scottish mollusc to emit, at intervals, a very peculiar and audible sound which proceeds from the mouth of the animal; "and, at the instant of the stroke we observe the lips suddenly separate, as if to allow the water to rush into a small vacuum formed within. The sounds may possibly be a means of communication between these animals; or, if they be of an electric nature, they may be a means of defending from foreign enemies, one of the most delicate, defenceless, and beautiful gasterpods that inhabit the deep." VICTORIA REGINA. The Victoria Regina. mate, soil, and productions of British Guiana,' says, "This new world of vegetables has never THE forests and rivers of Guiana present an al- been explored or investigated: many of the plants, most unexplored field for scientific research. Mr. indeed, have been made known botanically, that is Waterton, in his amusing Wanderings,' has done to say, so far as mere descriptive botany goes, or something to render their varied treasures famil- the notation of external forms." "Not only," he iar to the public; and one might have thought adds, in another place, "in respect to numberless that his book of itself was sufficient to tempt hun- products useful in medicine and the arts, but likedreds to tread in his footsteps. But it is not ev-wise numerous fruits and nutritive vegetables, ery naturalist or botanist who can kill a "modern Python," or ride "on the back of a cayman close to the water's edge." Although some persons may think that a few of this traveller's lively descriptions have a tinge of the marvellous, one cannot but sympathise with that genuine adventurous spirit in which he travelled the magnificent forest of Demerara and Essequibo. "Alone and barefooted," he tells us, "I have pulled poisonous snakes out of their lurking-places; climbed up trees to peep into holes for bats and vampires, and for days together hastened through sun and rain to the thickest parts of the forest to procure specimens I had never got before. In fine, I have pursued the wild beasts over hill and dale, through swamps and quagmires, now scorched by the noonday sun, now drenched by the pelting shower, and returned to the hammock to satisfy the cravings of hunger, often on a poor and scanty supper." Dr. Hancock, in a little pamphlet on the 'cli Europe has yet to become acquainted with these fruitful regions of South America." The engraving given above shows that there are also most extraordinary "vegetable wonders" to be found in Guiana. The two engravings have been copied from the original drawings by permission of the Botanical Society. This new genus, which is allied to the water-lily, has been named Victoria Regina," by permission of the Queen. Its discoverer R. H. Schomburgk, Esq., transmitted the original drawings and a description to the London Botanical Society. His communication, which was read at a meeting of the society on the seventh of September, 1837, is dated "New Amsterdam, Berbice, May eleventh 1837." New Amsterdam, the capital of an almost unknown British colony, stands on the east bank of the Berbice river. Mr. Schomburgk says, "It was on the first of January this year, while contending with the difficulties nature opposed in different forms to our |