the water-vapor, thus using the remedy twice in twenty-four hours, which will materially hasten the desired effect.
Among the large number of things that have been recommended, each one has its peculiarities; some natures derive more benefit from the one; others, again, from another, a fact which makes it advisable to leave the choice of the agent to be used to some physician who is acquainted with the constitution of the patient; for all agents which are powerful and useful may cause great injury if indiscreetly applied.—Translated for the Popular Science Monthly from Die Gartenlaube.
| SKETCH OF J. J. AUDUBON. |
WHEN Audubon's fame was just beginning, "Christopher North" (Professor Wilson, of the University of Edinburgh, and editor of "Blackwood's Magazine") wrote, under the form of a dialogue between himself and the Ettrick Shepherd (James Hogg, the poet), as follows:[1]
"North. What a pity, James, that you were not in Edinburgh in time to see my friend Audubon's exhibition!
"Shepherd. An exhibition o' what?
"North. Of birds painted to the life. Almost the whole American ornithology, true to nature as if the creatures were in their native haunts in the forests, or on the sea-shores. Not stiff and staring like stuffed specimens, but in every imaginable characteristic attitude, perched, wading, or a-wing—not a feather, smooth or ruffled, out of its place—every song, chirp, chatter, or cry made audible by the power of genius.
"Shepherd. Where got he sae weel acquaint wi' a' the tribes—for do they not herd in swamps and woods where man's foot intrudes not—and the wilderness is guarded by the rattlesnake, fearsome watchman, wi' nae ither bouets than his ain fiery eyne?
"North. For upward of twenty years the enthusiastic Audubon lived in the remotest woods, journeying to and fro on foot thousands of miles—or sailing on great rivers, great as any seas—with his unerring rifle, slaughtering only to embalm his prey by an art of his own, in form and hue unchanged, unchangeable—and now, for the sum of one shilling, may anybody that chooses it behold the images of all the splendid and gorgeous birds of that continent.
"Shepherd. Where's the exhibition now?
"North. At Glasgow, I believe—where I have no doubt it will attract thousands of delighted spectators. I must get the friend who gave a glance over 'Selby's Ornithology' to tell the world at large
- ↑ "Noctes Ambrosianæ" ("Blackwood's Magazine"), No. XXX, January, 1827.
