the centre of the lens, and coincides with its axis, suffers no refraction, but continues onward in the same straight line be; and the ray c takes the direction cf. If these rays had passed through the glass in the opposite direction, namely, from def, and converging towards the point c, then the interposition of the lens would have caused them to move in the parallel lines ab c, after passing through it. We are now prepared to explain how a concave glass is serviceable in assisting the vision of short-sighted persons. Suppose the rays of light abc to proceed from some distant object, (which the eye of a short-sighted person placed at e is unable, without the aid of spectacles, to distinguish ;) then in passing through the concave lens to the eye, they become so refracted as to appear to emanate from an image of the (distant) object formed at c; thus a shortsighted person is enabled, by the use of such glasses, to see distant objects as if they were close at hand. It is now easy to understand how those persons who cannot read without bringing the paper close to their nose, or walk the streets in safety, to observe the approach of carriages, may receive essential service from the use of concave spectacles, representing the most distant objects as very near; the image being formed within a few inches' distance. These images are much smaller than the objects themselves, as this shaped glass reduces instead of magnifies its apparent dimensions; but this by no means prevents distinct vision; and a small object near, may appear greater than a large object at a distance. Persons whose sight is short have occasion, then, for concave glasses, which represent objects as nearer; and those whose sight is long, need convex glasses, which represent to them objects as at a greater distance. THE BOA. THE latins, as it is said, gave the term boa to serpents of extraordinary magnitude, because they fancied that they drained the udders of the cattle in their pastures; and although this supposition is erroneous, the name is still retained by modern naturalists, because it is convenient and long established. It was, however, first applied by Linnæus to the huge monsters peculiar to the hotter climates of the globe, which far surpass the longest snakes existing in the most southern parts of Europe. The largest of these terrific reptiles, known in our quarter of the globe, are the quartre-raies, (coluber elaphis,) and the serpent of Esculapius, (coluber Esculapii.) The first, which is supposed to be the boa of Pliny, is sometimes found to attain the length of eight or ten feet; the other, which the ancients represented in the statues of Esculapius, is not so long, but thicker than the preceding: they are both found in Italy, Hungary, Illyria, and other parts of Europe adjacent to the East. But what are these to the serpents which are produced in the inter-tropical latitudes? We speak not of those whose bite is fatal, whose teeth instil a deadly poison into the smallest puncture which they inflict, but of those whose gigantic powers render them formidable to the largest quadrupeds, and whose name is a bye-word of terror. Fancy cannot paint a more formidable, a more terrific object, than a monstrous serpent: nothing can she conceive whose attack man or other animals can less successfully combat. Imagine yourself, for a moment, enveloped, as if by magic, in the folds of such a monster. His sinewy form, thirty feet in length, is twined around you; his weight bears you to the earth; the combined energy of thousands of muscles acting on so many levers, and every lever, every point on the strain upon youcrushes in your chest, stifles your feeble cries, breaks your vainly struggling limbs, and reduces you to a bruised and mangled corpse; and all this takes place so rapidly, so suddenly, that hope of succour is as vain as are your despairing struggles: should your companions hear your moans, your death is sealed ere they can bring assistance; if, indeed, panic has not deprived them of their reason. To avoid or to escape the attack of such a being, requires no ordinary presence of mind: nor, indeed, armed with any weapons, not excepting fire-arms, would it be safe to venture unsupported against an enemy of such tremendous powers. These huge snakes act the tiger's part, they take their prey by stratagem; for what animal would go near them, were it aware of their presence? Hot steaming morasses, the swampy margins of rivers, the borders of lakes, the tangled underwood, that skirts the dark marshy forest; (places where a rank and luxuriant vegetation affords them adequate concealment,) are their favourite abodes. There they lurk, half floating on the water, half stretched upon the land, or partly twined around some rugged trunk, to the bark of which their colours assimilate. Patient to wait, undaunted to attack, rapid as an arrow or a flash of lightning to dart upon their victim, what can escape? They throw their bodies in folds and knots around that of their prey so instantaneously, that the eye cannot follow the action; and so great is their strength, that the solid bones of the ox snap beneath their efforts. Thus fares it with the deer, or the antelope, that comes to drink; crushed to an undistinguishable mass, it becomes the food of its hideous enemy, who, slowly untwining his tortuous length, proceeds to lick it with his quivering tongue, and besmear it with glutinous saliva, which distils abundantly from his ravenous jaws, capable of expanding to a most extraordinary degree this done, he proceeds to suck in the yet warm flesh; and as he gorges the mass, sinks gradually into a state of lethargic stupor. Many of our readers are acquainted with the fact, recorded in history, which relates to one of these huge serpents, against whose enormous force Regulus was obliged to employ the most effective military engines then known. This serpent occupied a certain situation on the banks of the river Begrada, between Utica and Carthage, and had destroyed many soldiers, who had gone to the spot for the purpose of procuring water. Darts hurled at him made no impression on his scales. The machines for throwing huge stones were obliged to be brought up, and at length a stone of prodigious size struck him on the back, and laid him prostrate on the earth. Regulus took the skin to Rome; and it is said to have measured one hundred and twenty feet; it remains, however, uncertain what this measure exactly meant. Diodorus Siculus relates, that in Egypt, under one of the Ptolemies, an enormous serpent, thirty cubits long, was taken alive, though not without the greatest difficulty. The monster was in the habit of couching very much at his ease, on the margin of the water, where, folded in a circle, quite motionless, with the head just raised, (so that he could discern the approach of any animal which might come to quench its thirst,) he waited in expectation of his victim. Stimulated by the hope of gain, some hunters resolved to seize him alive, and carry him to Alexandria. Two perished in the first attack: still the courage of the men was unabated, and they planned to block up the entrance of the cave to which the animal was accustomed to retire, and to place near this haunt a net, composed of cordage, duly proportioned to the creature's strength. Into this snare he fell; frightened by the men who presented themselves suddenly in a body, advancing on him with their weapons, and making a noise with loud clashing instruments. After useless efforts to break his bonds, he was taken to Alexandria. The accounts to which we have alluded, though, perhaps, exaggerated in their details, serve to show the acquaintance of the ancients with these giants of the snake tribe; and sufficiently demonstrate the terror which their powers had universally inspired. Nor are the accounts which modern travellers give, at all calculated to remove the impression. Linnæus applied the term boa, as we have said, to those mighty, but not venomous snakes which are met with in the hotter climates of the globe. The term boa is now, however, restricted to a group peculiar to the inter-tropical regions of America: while to those of Africa, India, and the Indian islands, the term python is given; because they exhibit characteristics of their own, clearly separating between them and their American relatives, with whom they agree in size, habits, powers, and ferocity. These preliminary observations we shall follow up in our next number, by a short account of the celebrated boa constrictor. BREAD. THE substances used for making bread, it need scarcely be stated, have been oats, barley, rye, and wheat; although, in early times, the latter was prized as a luxury, in comparison with its present consumption. The changes in the substances of bread it may be important to notice, inasmuch as they throw considerable light upon the comforts of every class of the people at the periods of such changes. The earliest bread was a kind of porridge or pudding, of flour or meal mixed with water, and boiled; and when the method of kneading it into dough became common, the bread was nothing more than a kind of tough unleavened cake. The baking of these cakes, instead of being left to any particular set of men, as a distinct profession, was one of the principal concerns of the matrons; in those simple times, the most dignified ladies did not disdain to employ their fair hands in kneading the dough;and the modern title of lady originated in her being the lof-dien, or server of bread. In this first stage of the art of baking, the use of ovens was unknown; and the cake, when properly kneaded, was toasted either upon a warm hearth, or upon a gridiron. Such was the bread of the Anglo-Saxons; and a literal proof of their baking it before the fire is preserved in the accredited anec dote narrated in nearly every History of England, wherein Alfred is said to have let the neatherd's loaves burn on the hearth, or on a stone. Indeed, the bakestone is among the earliest domestic contrivances: it was first of stone, whence its name. It was next made of sowmetal; but, nevertheless, was still called a bakestone, though the use of stones for baking was still retained. In Wales, bread is or was lately baked upon an iron plate, called a girdle; wherefore it was named girdle-bread. A few notices of the use of corn in England will show the reader how superior is the security from dearth in the present to former ages. A writer of the time of Edward III. states, that when the new corn began to be sold, no beggar would "eat bread that in it beanes were," but "of coket, or else clene wheate." The latter then lowered extraordinarily in price; as in 1317, after an abundant harvest, wheat fell from eighty shillings* to six shillings and eightpence per quarter. Immediately after the harvest, the people bought their store of corn at a cheap rate of the farmers; for there were no corn-dealers in those days; but the consumers becoming improvident, the supply fell short before the arrival of the following harvest, and prices advanced out of all proportion. Thus, in a document dated Colchester, 1296, we find almost every family provided with a small store of barley and oats, usually about a quarter or two of each; but wheat and rye are seldom mentioned. The corn was usually ground at home in a handmill or quern; although wind and watermills were not uncommon. The quern was the ancient mill. In Wickliff's translation of the Bible, in Matt. xxiv. we read, "Two schulen (shall) wymmen by gryndynge in one querne;" and in the present version of the Bible the word querne" is changed to "mill." Such a quern is common to this day in Eastern 66 * Equal to more than forty pounds a quarter at the present day; which enormous price shows how great the scarcity must have been. countries. Harrison, writing in the reign of Elizabeth, says that his wife ground her malt at home upon her quern, (or mill.)-Domestic Life in England. DIFFERENCE OF NATIONAL CUSTOMS. WITH the Chinese, the left takes precedence of the right, as the place of honour; and white instead of black is the appropriate badge of mourning. From the peculiar construction of their compass, perhaps, which they call che nan chay, "a chariot pointing towards the south," they do not number the cardinal points in our order, but always mention the south before the north. HOLINESS. BELIEVERS, as they were in the primitive times holy in their lives, so they professed this still to be the foundation of their holiness-Christ hath died, Christ is risen, Christ is in heaven; therefore we must live so and so and this was their great profession. It dasheth all the carnal gospellers in the world. It would shame men out of their sins, or out of their profession of Christ. If Paul were alive, he would show the deepest abhorrence of him that will say he believeth in Christ, who died and rose again, and yet lived in sin, Rom. vi. 1, 2, 2 Cor. v. 14, 15.—Goodwin. The especial procuring cause of hoWe are liness is the mediation of Christ. not in this matter concerned in any thing, let men call it what they please, virtue, holiness, or godliness, that hath not a special relation unto the Lord Christ and his mediation. Evangelical holiness is purchased for us by Him, according to the tenour of the everlasting covenant; is promised unto us on his account, actually impetrated for us by his intercession, and communicated to us by his Spirit. And hereby we do not only cast off the moral virtues of the heathens from having the least concernment herein, but all the principles and duties of persons professing christianity, who are not actually and really implanted into Christ. For He it is who of God is made unto us sanctification, 1 Cor. i. 30, John xv. 5, Luke xxii. 32.— Owen. * Obtained by intreaty. JOHN DAVIS, 56, Paternoster Row, London. Price d. each, or in Monthly Parts, containing Five Numbers in a Cover, 3d. W. TYLER, Printer, Bolt-court. Fleet-street The Boa Constrictor beginning to uncoil itself, having destroyed its victim THE BOA CONSTRICTOR. THIS gigantic snake, to which the epithets, king, emperor, divine, as indicating its fancied superiority over all other reptiles, have been given, is a native of the marshes, and luxuriant margins of the rivers and fresh-water lakes of inter-tropical America: there it reigns, a destroyer of life, the terror of man and beast. The swiftness of the deer is no protection, the monkey is not safe among the branches, nor the larger fish in the water. To climb, to swim, to dart along the ground, are among the endowments of this powerful reptile; and he avails himself of each of them in It was from the display of such varied powers, combined with a nature turn. VOL. III daring, ferocious, and blood-thirsty, that "On a blue throne, with four huge silver snakes, "This great power, this indomitable force, its gigantic length, the lustre of its scales, the beauty of its colours, have in spired," says M. de Lacépède, speaking 3 A of the boa, "a sort of admiration, mingled with affright in most people, but little removed from a savage condition; and as all that produces terror and admiration, all that appears endowed with a great superiority over other beings, hardly fails to create, in minds little enlightened, the idea of a supernatural agent, it was not without religious fear, that the ancient inhabitants of Mexico regarded the divine serpent.' Whether they thought that an enormous mass, executing movements so rapid, could not be stirred but by a divine inspiration, or that they only regarded this serpent as a minister of the omnipotence of Heaven, it became the object of their worship. They gave it the title of emperor, in order to designate the pre-eminence of its endowments. The object of their adoration, it became that of their particular attention; none of its movements, thus to speak, escaped them; none of its actions could be to them a matter of indifference. As its protracted piercing hiss caught their ear, they listened with religious trembling; for they deemed that these sounds, these signs of the various passions or feelings of a being, which they regarded as marvellous and divine, must be connected with their destiny. It has happened, by chance, that these hissings have been much stronger, and more frequent, on the approach of violent tempests, pestilential diseases, cruel wars, or other public calamities. Indeed, it is frequently the case, that great physical calamities are often preceded by a violent heat, an extreme dryness, a particular state of the atmosphere, a high electrical condition of the air, by which the snakes would be excited, and led to utter hissings more strong than usual; and thus did the Mexicans regard those of the divine serpent, as forewarnings of the greatest evils; and heard them not without the utmost consternation." A fearful picture of the blind and impious adoration paid to the ferocious boa, is finely drawn by Southey, in his poem of "Madoc:". "Forth from the dark recesses of the cave, The serpent came !-the Hoamen at the sight What, then, was human strength, if once involved Within those dreadful coils? The multitude Snake worship was not, however, limited to the Mexicans; it appears to have been practised in various parts of the earth, from a very early period; and to have been attended with bloody sacrifices. Like the rest of its race, the boa glutted with food, becomes torpid and inanimate, and is then easily killed. The native inhabitants account its flesh as excellent food; and use its tough, scaly skin as an ornamental vestment. In cold and temperate climes the snakes become torped, and hybernate during the winter; but, in the torrid regions, there is no reason for supposing this law to be in operation. It would appear, however, that during the rainy seasons, the boa and other snakes are less alert and less mischievous than at other periods. When the rainy season is over, the boa casts its skin, (epidermis,) regains a new robe, is invested with the richest colours, appears endowed with renewed strength and vigour, and is all energy and courage: it is then doubly dangerous to venture near his retreat. The eggs which the female deposits among the herbage are said to be remarkably small in proportion to the volume of the animal; their greatest diameter being not more than two or three inches. The great vitality of the serpent tribe is not the least extraordinary part of their history; and the boa enjoys this organic property in a high degree. The head, separated from the body, will not only live for a considerable time, but snap, with innate ferocity, at any object presented, and violently retain hold of whatever it has seized: this we have ourselves witnessed in the case of the viper of our own country, the only poisonous reptile we possess. Happy for us is it, that the woods and meadows of our land neither teem with gigantic boas, nor with the smaller, yet more terrible race of snakes, whose bite is certain death. Three, or at most four, species of snake inhabit England. 1. The viper, (of which there are suspected by some to be two species, but this is very doubtful,) whose bite is fatal to small animals, and sometimes even to man; though the constitution of man and the dog usually struggle through: 2. the blind, or slow worm, a sluggish, harmless, little snake, very abundant in some places and, 3. the common, or ringed snake; very active, an inveterate enemy to mice, young birds, &c. It |