ously lubricated with viscous matter: but those that have scales, as snakes and lizards, have the skin almost dry. HENRY. And are not their secretions often poisonous ? PAPA.-In some instances: the gecko of Egypt produces from its toes a noxious fluid of considerable activity. I have read of persons being nearly poisoned by eating some cheese over which it had passed. HENRY.-The gecko, I think, is a species of lizard, with feet formed something like those of a fly, so that it can adhere to the ceilings of houses and support itself in an inverted posture. PAPA. It is. Many reptiles produce singular and specific odours, as well as secretions, especially when irritated in the water newts the smell has been compared to that of chopped parsley; in toads to garlic; in the crocodile there is a very strong smell of musk, and several tortoises have this musk-like smell. A singularly fetid odour is also produced by the rattle-snake when it is angry. ANNA. Is it true, Papa, that the Salamander can live in the fire? PAPA.-What do you think, Anna? The fabulous notion of the ancients that it is produced from fire, and that if thrown into the greatest conflagration, it would check its progress, probably arose in an age when me delighted more in inventing fables than in discovering truth, from its power of extinguishing a few coals whe placed on them by means of the milky fluid which it se cretes; but the contortions of the body sufficiently attes the pain produced by this cruel experiment, which is soo fatal, if prolonged. MAMA. The absorption of water by the skin of t frog, is as singular, I think, as the secretions you a speaking of. I have read, that when placed on mois ened paper, frogs can absorb the moisture so rapidly, nearly, under certain circumstances, to double their weight in two hours. PAPA. It has been stated that they do not drink, but that they take in all their fluid in that way; which is probably the case. ANNA. I am going to ask another question: can the chamelion change its colour when it pleases? - PAPA. Not to the extent that some poets and moralists describe. Its changes, however, are in reality very remarkable, especially when the animal passes from the shade into the sun, or the reverse; and also when it is touched, or any thing is placed around it. Indeed, reptiles with naked skins, generally can exhibit changes of colour at certain seasons and under peculiar circumstances: the green iguana, the agame, and the green lizard are sometimes green, and sometimes of a brownish hue; the common tree-frog of Europe exhibits its various tints, from the brightest emerald green to grey, bluish, violet, or brown: and other frogs and salamanders also change their colour at particular seasons. HENRY.-What is supposed to be the reason of these changes of colour? PAPA. Some suppose, that in the chamelion it is owing to a power the creature has of extending its lungs, and consequently the skin of its body to such a degree as to render it transparent, and thereby of exhibiting the mixture of the bile with the blood; which is very apt to take place when it is exposed to the sun, or when it is made angry. This power of expanding the lungs, however, is not peculiar to the chamelion, but is a singular faculty belonging to other reptiles. HENRY.-Are the organs of sense perfect in reptiles? PAPA.--It does not seem clear that they possess the sense of touch; that is, the power of recognizing by any parts of their skin the figure, hardness or softness, roughness or smoothness of bodies: to the impressions of heat and cold, there is no doubt of their being sensible. Nor is it certain that they have the sense of taste; VOL. IX. E indeed, as they swallow their prey whole, there seems to be little room for the exercise of it. Their smell also, if a judgment may be made by the structure of the nostril, is very imperfect: but their sight and hearing are, I believe, pretty good. HENRY.I should think their sight is good, for some of them have very beautiful eyes: I have often admired those of the toad. PAPA.-The toad's eye is extremely beautiful; and indeed many other reptiles have large and bright eyes: but they vary in this, as well as in other respects. There is a singular peculiarity in the eyes of the chamelion: they are quite independent of each other, and may be seen moving at the same time in different directions; one of them will frequently be directed forward, while the other is attending to something behind, or downward, while the other is looking upward. The eyelids of reptiles are more various than their eyes. Serpents have none; crocodiles and tortoises have three, of which the third is vertical, as in birds; frogs have also three. Some lizards, and among them is the chamelion, have a kind of circular veil which shuts over the eye like a cap, and which is divided by a narrow horizontal slit, through which the bright pupil appears, as if bordered with burnished gold. MAMA. That is something like the artificial defence employed by the Laplanders, and other northern nations for securing their eyes against the excessive reflection o light from the snow, by means of a narrow slit in a thi hollow piece of board. PAPA. It is. HENRY.-You say, Father, that serpents have eye-lids; how are their eyes lubricated and defended? PAPA. Part of the epidermis, or outermost skin the body is stretched before the eye, from which it separated by a small quantity of water; so that the moves behind it, as behind a window. It is remarka that serpents have no gland, like most other animals, the secretion of this water; but that in some of them, at least, there is a singular structure, probably designed to supply this deficiency; an oval cavity is found placed at the inner angle of each eye, which appears intended as a reservoir for fluid, and which may be filled by the falling of the dew, or the moisture shaken off from the grass through which the snake passes. ANNA. You say that reptiles can hear, Papa, but I have never seen any ears on any of those I am acquainted with. PAPA. None of them have any external ear; the tympanum or part on which sounds are received is level with the head, and is covered with the skin or scales. HENRY.-The noises that many of them make proves that they can hear. I suppose they utter sounds, as most other animals do, from the lungs. PAPA. Those that utter any do: but many among them are completely dumb. Some however are noisy enough; frogs especially. The bull-frog of North America makes a hoarse croaking, like the bellowing of a bull; and the frogs of our own country are, you know, sometimes ludicrously called Dutch nightingales and Boston waites, from the disagreeable noise they make. MAMA.-If what the traveller Bartram says, be true, crocodiles utter the most prodigious sounds, particularly in the spring. He says, that the noise resembles distant thunder, shaking the country and making it re-echo far and wide; and that when they are thus bellowing by hundreds and thousands at a time, we might suppose that some violent shock agitates the globe, and shakes it to its very foundations. PAPA.-Humboldt tells us, that the cry of young crocodiles resembles that of cats. ANNA. I would rather take the word of travellers respecting the noises of these terrific reptiles, than hear them for myself. - MAMA. And so would I, were I in India. I do not think I should agree in opinion with those who tell us that the variety of notes in the hissing of different species A FEW REMARKS ON THE DEVOTIONAL READING OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. SECTION THE SIXTH. On the reading of the Historic Scriptures. It is when our minds are more particular in search of knowledge, we shall probably feel disposed to turn to the historic parts of the Old Testament. Most necessary indeed they are, to enlighten our understandings, and clear away the mystery in which we find ourselves enveloped, on first awaking from the stupor of thoughtlessness and indifference. And not at first only. To the end of time we continue to be at intervals arrested and astounded at the contradictions and incongruities that are within us and around us; and are fain to have recourse to the divine explanation of man's first fall and disobedience, its circumstances and effects, with all the after-haps of this bad beginning; and the way, and th purpose in which the world has been since prevente from becoming a consistent whole of wickedness an misery. The progress of God's mercy and man's in quity, those two great sources of seeming confusionfor it is confusion only to our imperfect vision-ca alone explain the mystery that involves at once the ch racter and the fate of man. And with the habit some |