upon it while she was asleep. It is even stated that Cardinal Caraffa and a noble Venetian, one of the Barbarage, were confined to their palaces during the rose season, for fear of their lives!

Johannes e Querceto, a Parisian, and secretary to Francis the First, king of France, was forced to stop his nostrils with bread when there were any apples at table; and so offensive was the smell of them to him, that if an apple had been held near his nose, he would fall a-bleeding. Such a peculiar and innate hatred to apples had the noble family of Fystates in Aquitain. Schenck. Obs. Med. 1. vii. 890.

I saw a noble countess, saith Horstius, who (at the table of a count) tasted of some udder of beef, had her lips suddenly swelled thereby, who, observing that I took notice of it, told me that she had no dislike to that kind of dish, but as oft as she did eat of it she was troubled in this manner, the cause of which she was utterly ignorant of.

Bruverinus knew a girl sixteen years of age, who, up to that time, had lived entirely on milk, and could not bear the smell of bread, the smallest particle of which she would discover by the smell.

An antipathy to pork is very common. Shenckius tells us of one who would immediately swoon as often as a pig was set before him, even though it be inclosed in paste-he falls down as one that is dead, nor doth he return to himself till the pig is taken from the table.

Marshal Albret fainted away whenever he saw the head of a boar. Hereupon Bussi forms a sort of ludicrous case of conscience, whether a man who was to fight against the Marshal, should, in honour, be allowed to carry with him in his left hand the head of a boar. I have seen, says Montaigne, some run away at the smell of apples, as if a musket were presented at them; others frightened out of their wits at a mouse, and others not able to abide the sight of cream, or the stirring of a featherbed, without something very unseemly happening to them.

The mildest medicines create in some as great disturbance as if they were the most violent. Manna and senna are dread

fully distressing to some persons. One grain of calomel has been known to produce a salivation of weeks, and to produce an instantaneous eruption. Opium frequently produces violent irritation of the skin, and many judicious physicians never prescribe it to strangers, without inquiring whether they have ever taken it before, and with what effect. Fallopius mentions an abbess of Pisa, to whom he often prescribed pills, who never swallowed them, but crushed them flat with her fingers, which speedily produced an effect.

The odour from ipecacuanha has produced very violent effects. A lady's maid putting her lady's cap into a wardrobe, became instantly affected with nausea. No notice was taken of it, it was considered as accidental. A few days afterwards, going to the same wardrobe for the cap, she was again seized with nausea and sickness. She then said she was sure there must be ipecacuanha there, and so it turned out,-for my lady's husband had bought a box of ipecacuanha lozenges, and had unconsciously left them in the wardrobe.

Experiments on Heated Iron, in reference to the Magnetic and Electric Fluids.-By WILLIAM RITCHIE, A.M., Rector of the Royal Academy at Tain.

(Communicated by the Author.)

In repeating some of the interesting experiments of Professor Barlow on the magnetism of heated iron, I was led to some curious results, which, as far as I remember, have not been previously observed. The magnetic needle I employed, consisted of a piece of steel wire suspended by a single fibre of silk, and thus preserved extreme delicacy. I bent a piece of stout iron wire into the shape ACB, having the portions at AB exactly equal, so that the point of the needle S, could C

be acted on with the same forces when the wire was cold.

N

Experiment 1. Raise two or three inches of B to a white heat, bring AB equally distant from S, and the needle will be drawn towards A. When B has sunk to a red heat, the needle

will be more forcibly attracted towards B, agreeably to the experiments of Professor Barlow.

Experiment 2. Raise B to a white heat, apply the north end of a pretty strong magnet to C, and the needle will be drawn forcibly towards A. When the part B has sunk to a red heat, the point B will become a stronger north pole than A, and the needle will be forcibly drawn towards B.

Experiment 3. Raise B to a white heat, as before, apply the south end of the magnet to C, and the needle will be forcibly repelled by A. When B cools to a red heat, it will now become a stronger south pole than A, and the needle will of course be repelled from B.

It is obvious from the two last experiments, that iron heated to whiteness prevents, in a great measure, the decomposition of the magnetic fluid from C to the remote end of the wire at B; but when raised to a red heat, the decomposition goes on more readily from C to B than it does at the ordinary temperature of the atmosphere. I was now anxious to try whether iron heated to different degrees had similar relations with regard to the electric fluid. To ascertain this, I had recourse to the following experiments:

Experiment 4. I heated the knob of an iron poker white hot, and fixed the other end in the prime conductor of a powerful electric machine, and found that I could not, with a smooth brass ball, draw a single spark from the heated knob. When it began to assume a red heat, a rapid succession of small sparks passed between the two balls; and the sparks gradually struck off at greater intervals and increased in size as the iron cooled.

I was now about to draw the conclusion, that iron, heated to whiteness, was a very imperfect conductor of the magnetic and electric fluids, when this striking relation, which I fancied to exist, was proved, by the following experiment, to be quite imaginary.

Experiment 5. I brought the middle of the poker to a white heat, and having placed it in the conductor, found that I could now draw sparks from the cold knob exactly as if the whole had been at the ordinary temperature of the air. It was cu

rious to observe the effects produced by moving the knob along the whole length of the poker. The sparks were strong at the cold knob, diminished in size towards the middle, when they entirely ceased, and again increased in size towards the conductor.

I endeavoured, in vain, to discover the cause of this striking difference between the hot and cold iron, when I found I was searching for the cause of an effect which did not take place, as the electric fluid was silently drawn away by the smooth ball, exactly as if it had been a sharp point. This is clearly proved by the following experiments:

Experiment 6. Hold a fine polished brass ball opposite the part of the poker brought to a white heat, and not a single spark can be taken from the cold knob, though the electric fluid do not pass in sparks from the heated portion to the brass ball.

Experiment 7. Raise the knob of the poker to a white heat, and it will silently draw off the electric fluid from the prime conductor without the appearance of a single spark. As the ball cools, sparks begin to strike off in rapid succession, as before. The same effects will take place when the experiments are performed with reference to the negative conductor.

Experiment 8. Charge a Leyden jar, heat the knob of the poker to a whiteness, and use it as a discharging rod, and a strong spark will strike off between the knob of the jar and the heated end of the poker, exactly as if it were cold.

From this experiment it appears that, when the tension of the electric fluid is very great, the striking effects of heat in the preceding experiments, entirely disappear.

I was now anxious to try by more accurate experiments whether there existed any difference in the conducting powers of cold iron, and iron raised to a white heat. This I accomplished by the following experiment:

B

Experiment 9. I made a conductor of strong iron wire in the form of BAC, having two brass balls at BC. I then raised a few inches of the rod between A and C to a white heat, fixed it in the conductor, and applied a small brass knob between B and

A

C, till the fluid struck off to the knob equally from B and C. I then allowed it to cool, and on turning the machine, the fluid struck off to both exactly as before. I have thus been unable to detect the smallest difference between the conducting power of cold iron and of iron raised to a white heat :—a result very different from what I at first anticipated.

Modern Improvements in Horticulture,
(Continued from page 275.)

The Flower or Botanic Garden.

THERE is no country seat complete, unless some portion of the grounds be set apart for a flower-garden or pleasure ground. It usually occupies a space near the house, and may be seen from some of the principal windows, but so as not to intercept the view of, or exclude any interesting distant scenery. It is the associating link which connects the high style of artificial decoration of the interior and exterior of the mansion with the natural features of the park. It is laid out in a style, which unites every comfort of walking or reposing, with every trait of beauty, tranquillity, smoothness, and softness; the freshest verdure, the choicest flowers, the gayest colours, the most elegant forms, the most graceful trees, and most ornamental and odorous shrubs, here find a place; and every plant, whether tree, shrub, or herb, is always here in the greatet perfection.

Evergreens generally prevail, to cheer the dreary face of winter; and in some convenient spot are placed stoves for the reception and cultivation of exotics of the torrid zone; greenhouses for the preservation of all beautiful potted plants of the warmer parts of the two temperate zones; and a conservatory for the larger growths (or to allow the larger growth) of tree-like plants from all climes, in which they are planted in the ground, in suitable prepared soil. This lastmentioned building is certainly a superior and most eligible receptacle for plants; the ample space allowed for the roots, stem, and branches, admits of their more free expansion of growth and form, and of the flowers and foliage; and also