jewellery; go, sell it to them, and purchase with the price, fuel, an earthen boiler, and two platters. Whilst the old woman was gone on this errand, the damsel brayed the grain in a mortar of arjuna wood, with a pestle of khayar headed with iron, she then winnowed it with the basket, and having well washed it, set it to boil in five times its quantity of water, worshipping the chimney as she placed the boiler. When the rice was swollen up properly, she took the boiler from the fire, and separated the scum, then replacing it, kept stirring it till it was quite boiled; after which, she placed the boiler with the mouth downwards, and extinguishing the fire with the cold water, sent the old woman to dispose of the coals which were unconsumed; with the price procured for them, buying vegetables, ghee, curds, oil, myrobalans, and tamarinds: these she seasoned with condiments: she then placed the scum of the rice-water in a new saucer, and cooling it with a fan added to it perfumes, evaporated on the coals: she then peeled the myrobalan, and added to it lotus perfume, when she directed her nurse to desire Sakti Kumara to bathe. When he was bathed, and had rubbed himself with oil and myrobalan; she laid a plank on a part of the floor well-swept and levelled, on which he sat down she then placed before him on a well trimmed plaintain leaf, two platters. Having given him some water to drink, she served him with two spoonfuls of rice, to which she added ghee and sauce; the rest of the rice he ate with spices, curds, butter, milk, and rice gruel; she finally brought him water to drink pure, cool, and fragrant, in a new jug, perfumed with agallochum. The old woman then re-. moved the fragments, and cleansing the ground with fresh cow-dung, spread her gar ment upon it, on which he went to sleep. When he awoke he expressed his satisfaction, and being contented to seek no further, he married the damsel, and took her along with him, when she found herself unexpectedly a woman of wealth and consequence: she ne vertheless continued to worship her husband as a god; to pay the most assiduous attention to his household affairs; and to superintend the regulation of her family: in this way, she acquired the entire confidence of her spouse, who, leaving all his domestic concerns to her care, tasted in his corporal form the joys of Paradise.

COUCHING FOR CATARACT.

A GREAT deal is said in this country about the operation for removing cataract, which is represented by those who practise it as a sort of mystery, which but few can exercise. This may be true, so far as the English oculists are concerned, but few of them being men

whose education has been such as to render their success any thing short of a miracle. Very different has been the case in India, with Mr. Assistant-Surgeon Richmond, of His Majesty's 4th Light Dragoons, who has for some years held the situation of oculist to the subordinate station of the Bombay resi dency. The couching-needle used by that gentleman is extremely delicate and spearpointed, and the handle not quite an inch long. The success of his practice is surprising, his failures not exceeding one in twenty. The patients who, before the operation, could only distinguish day from night, could, after it, clearly and distinctly point out the figures on the face of a watch, which, considering the advanced age many of them had attained, was as much as could reasonably be expected from them. Mr. R. dispenses with all the usual preparations recommended by authors, and which are certainly calculated to excite alarm in the mind of the patient: he thinks not of chairs, stools, pillows, speculums, &c.; but, with his native assistant to raise the upper eye lids, the patient is seated on the floor of the room, or, provided there be light sufficient, wherever by accident he may be standing. Something is given to him to hold, with the view of diverting his attention; when, kneel ing, Mr. R. introduces the needle, and quickly removes the lens and its capsule from the axis of vision. In this position, and without any support, he operates, if necessary, on both eyes, and uses his right and left hand with equal steadiness and dexte rity. In this way he has restored more than 2,000 blind to sight, and examined more than 3000 cases of cataract. rience has taught him that that operation will be the most successful which disturbs the eye least, is performed with the greatest facility, and is attended with the smallest degree of pain, and that is least likely to excite subsequent inflammation. Couching, Mr. R. observes, is as easily performed as blood-letting; and, when skilfully done, occasions so little pain, that the patient is often not sensible that an instrument has been introduced into the eye. Secondary cataract is always the fault of the operator.

EPIGRAM.

BY S. T. COLERIDGE.

Great expe

SLY Belzebub took all occasions
To try Job's constancy, and patience.
He took his honour, took his health;
He took his children, took his wealth,
His servants, horses, oxen, cows-
But cunning Satan did not take his spouse.
But heaven, that brings out good from evil,
And loves to disappoint the devil,
Had pre-determined to restore
Twofold all he had before;
His servants, horses, oxen, cows-
Short-sighted devil, not to take his spouse!
Keepsake.

the rest after." Now I cannot subscribe to this. I cannot discover what peculiar virtue there can be in sleeping before midnight, otherwise than the sooner to bed, the earlier one could rise. But, for my part, I am of opinion that six hours' sleep are quite enough, rather too much, for any healthy person; and therefore those who do not remain long awake, on going to rest at twelve, might get up at six abundantly refreshed. Too much sleep is more hostile to longevity than too little. Some over anxious persons, who can live as they choose, trouble themselves a good deal about the proper time for breakfast. Were my opinion required, I should say in two hours after rising. But the most unerring, and wholesome guide is, when one feels a sharp inclination for eating. If breakfast be postponed, this nipping appetite will weaken, and one should always take advantage of a keen stomach.-Health Exemplified.

Method of preventing Milk from turning sour.-Put a spoonful of wild horse-radish into a dish of milk; the milk may then be preserved sweet, either in the open air or in a cellar, for several days, whilst such as has not been so guarded will become sour.Quarterly Journal of Science, &c.

Chinese Geography.-Till very lately, the Chinese, in their maps of the earth, set down the Celestial Empire in the middle of a large square, and dotted round it the other kingdoms of the world, supposed to be seventytwo in number, assigning to the latter ridiculous or contemptuous names. One of these, for example, was Siao-gin-que, or the kingdom of Dwarfs, whose inhabitants they imagined to be so small as to be under the necessity of tying themselves together in bunches, to prevent their being carried away by the kites. In 1668, the Viceroy of Canton, in a memorial to the Emperor, on the subject of the Portuguese Embassy, says, "We find very plainly that Europe is only two little islands in the middle of the sea." With such ideas of other nations, it is not wonderful that they should consider the embassies and presents sent to them as marks of submission, and hasten to write down the donors in their maps, as tributaries of the Chinese Empire.

Hindu Sculpture.-A writer in the Madras Gazette, gives the following particulars of the rules adopted by Hindu sculptors :

In a late conversation with a Hindu statuary, I was informed, that the proportions of the human form, as exhibited in all Indian sculptures, are derived from an ingenious rule laid down in the Silpi Sustra, or Principles of the Fine Arts, which is an ancient Sanscrit work. I have compared these proportions with those of some celebrated ancient statues, as given in the Encyc. Brit., and find the rule surprisingly parallel. Their proportions correspond very nearly to those of the Apollo Belvedere, the Grecian Shep

herdess, the Antinous, and some other standard works of Greek sculpture.

The following are the proportions of the Indian artists:--The face nearly round; the width of the breast to equal two faces; and also that of the loins; the waist one face, &c. The same proportions are used in statues of either sex ; but the arms are always (according to European ideas) made disproportionately long.-Asiatic Journal.

on

Universality of Taxation.-Taxes upon every article which enters into the mouth or covers the back or is placed under the foot; taxes upon every thing which is pleasant to hear, see, feel, smell, and taste; taxes upon warmth, light, and locomotion; taxes every thing on earth or the waters under the earth, on every thing that comes from abroad, or is grown at home; taxes on the raw material; taxes on every fresh value that is added to it by the industry of man; taxes on the sauce that pampers the rich man's appetite, and the drug that restores him to health; on the ermine that decorates the judge and the rope that hangs the criminal; on the poor man's salt, the rich man's spice; on the brass nails of the coffin and the ri bands of the bride; at bed or board, couchunt or levant, we must pay. The schoolboy whips his taxed top, the beardless youth manages his taxed horse with a taxed bridle on a taxed road; the dying Englishman, pouring his medicine which has paid seven per cent. into a spoon which has paid fifteen per cent., flings himself back on his chintz bed which has paid twenty-two per cent., makes his will on an eight pound stamp, and expires in the arms of an apothecary who has paid a license of 1007. for the privilege of putting him to death. His whole property is then taxed immediately, from two to ten per cent. Besides the probate of his will, large fees are demanded for burying him in the chancel; his virtues are handed down to posterity on taxed marble, and he is gathered to his fathers-to be taxed no more.

Almanacs.-The stamp duty upon almanacs for 1828, amounts to the sum of 30,1067 3s. 9d. which, at 1s. 3d. each, exhibits a circulation of 451,5937.

Gravel Walks.-The following cheap improvement is recommended in the construction of walks in gardens, lawns, &c. uniting the advantages of great hardness, durability, and freedom from worms and insects. When a new walk is made, or an old one reformed, take the necessary quantity of road scraping previously dried in the air, and reduced as fine as possible, mix with the heap enough of coal-tar from a gas-work, so that the whole shall be sufficiently saturated, and then add a quantity of gravel. With this lay rather a thick stratum as a foundation, and then cover it with a thin coating of gravel. In a short time the walk will be as hard as a rock, not affected by wet or disfigured by worms.

Purification from Sin by Squeezing. Multitudes of pilgrims annually visit Malabar Point, near Bombay, for the sole purpose of squeezing themselves through a narrow cleft in the rock, apparently not wide enough to receive the body of a child, as a sure way of squeezing out their sins!-Graham's Journal.

The Jaculator Fish of Java.-An account is given, in the last number of the Edinburgh Journal, of these extraordinary animals, by a gentleman who found them in the possession of a Javanese chief. The fish were placed in a small circular pond, from the centre of which projected a pole upwards of two feet in height. At the top of this pole were inserted small pieces of wood, sharp-pointed, on each of which were placed

insects of the beetle tribe. When all had become tranquil after the placing of the beetles by the slaves, the fish came out of their holes, and swam round about the pond.

One of them came to the surface of the water, rested there, and, after steadily fixing his eyes for some time on an insect, it discharged from its mouth a small quantity of watery fluid, with such force and precision of aim, as to force it off the twig into the water, and in an instant swallowed it. After this, another fish came, and performed a similar feat, and was followed by the others, till they had seized all the insects. He observed, that if a fish failed in bringing down its prey at the first shot, it swam round the pond till it came opposite the same object, and fired again. In one instance, he remarked one of the animals return three times to the attack before it secured its prey; but, in general, they seemed to be very expert gunners, bringing down their prey at the first discharge. This fish, in a state of nature, frequents the shores and sides of the sea and rivers, in search of food. When it spies a fly settling on the plants that grow in shallow water, it swims on to the distance of from five or six feet from them; and then, with surprising dexterity, it ejects out of its tubular mouth a single drop of water, which never fails to strike the fly into the sea, where it soon becomes its prey.

:

A Periodical Editor.-To know that our hour for toil is come, and that we are weak and unprepared to feel that depression or lassitude is weighing us down when we must feign lightness and mirth; or to mock our secret griefs with show of others not akin, must be the fate of him who labours in such a work. This is not all. When our work is done, and well done, the excitement which the employment had given us is gone, the spirits sink down, and there is a dreadful void in the mind. We feel as powerless as infancy till pushed to the exertion of our powers again; even great success has its terrors. We fear that we shall never do so well again; and know how churlishly the

world receives from us that which will not bear a comparison with what we have given them before. Yet these sufferings have their rewards. To bear up against ill health by a sudden and strong effort, to shake off low spirits, and drive away the mists which lie thick and heavy upon the mind, gives a new state of being to the soul cheerful as the light. To sit at home in our easy chair and send our gay thoughts abroad, as it were, on wings to thousands-to imagine them laughing over the odd fancies and drolleries which had made us vain and happy in secret, multiplies and spreads our sympathies quietly and happily through the world. In this way, too, we can pour out before the world thoughts which had never been laid open even to a friend, and make it feel our melancholy, and bear our griefs, while we still sit in the secret of our souls. The heart tells its story abroad, yet loses not its delicacy; it lays itself bare, but is still sensitive.-American

Common Place Book,

late traveller in Italy," asked a Neapolitan Writing down a Face.-" I once," says a fisherman to sit for me to paint him. He did not in the least understand the nature of my proposition; but after some difficulties on his side, and many assurances on mine that I would not hurt him, he consented, and followed me. When I had finished, his astonishment at beholding his portrait was amusing; and, descending with me to the street, I heard him exclaim to his comrades, that Signore has written down my face.' So high is their idea of writing, that they can imagine no superior or more lofty name, for what appears to them a similar sort of conjuration."

Vehicular State.-When the lamp of life is extinguished, the immortal part, enclosed in an invisible integument, escapes to its aërial habitation. Here communication with one another is conducted either by forming characters on the exterior of the vehicles, or sending out small particles of the fluids, which surround them, or by a thousand methods we have no conception of; and can transport themselves from place to place after the manner of a ship. The vehicles having been in the body for a longer or shorter time, are stamped with the character of the person to whom they may have belonged. Thus we unknowingly fit ourselves for immortality. To this opinion, I have a great predilection on account of the numbers that pass without any preparation, which proves the soul to be formed previous to the body. When a vehicle arrives, the oldest inhabitants instruct the soul in its new duties.-Tucker.

Royal African Titles.-The Sultan of Durfoor is styled the "Buffalo;" "the offspring of a Buffalo;" "the Bull of Bulls;" "the Elephant of superior strength!!!". Bulletin des Sciences Geog.