female mason-bees build their nests, is the most curious branch of their history.

tually penetrated through this seemingly compact mason-work,

As soon as the first cell is completed, the mason-bee lays the foundation of another. In the same nest she often constructs seven or eight cells, and sometimes only three or four. She places them near each other, but not in any regular order. This industrious animal, after all her cells are constructed, filled with provisions, and sealed, covers the whole with an envelope of the same mortar, which, when dry, is as hard as stone. The nest now is commonly of an oblong or roundish figure, and the external cover is composed of coarser sand than that of the cells. As the nests are almost as durable as the walls on which they are placed, they are often in the following season, occupied and repaired by a stranger bee. Though enclosed with two hard walls, when the fly emerges from the chrysalys state, it first gnaws with its teeth a passage through the wall that sealed up the mouth of its cell; afterwards, with the same instruments, it pierces the still stronger and more compact cover which invests the whole nest; at last it escapes into the open air, and if a female, in a short time, constructs a nest of the same kind with that which the mother had made. To all these facts, Du Hamel, Reaumur, and many other naturalists of credit and reputation, have been repeatedly eye-witnesses.

After choosing a part of a wall on which she is resolved to fix an habitation for her future progeny, she goes in quest of proper materials. The nest to be constructed must consist of a species of mortar, of which sand is the basis. She knows like human builders, that every kind of sand is not equally proper for making good mortar. She goes, therefore to a bed of sand, and selects, grain by grain, the kind which is best to answer her purpose. With her teeth, which are as large and as strong as those of the honey-bee, she examines and brings together several grains. But sand alone will not make mortar. Recourse must be had to a cement similar to the slacked lime employed by masons. Our bee is unacquainted with lime but she possesses an equivalent in her own body. From her mouth she throws out a viscid liquor, with which she moistens the first grain pitched upon. To this grain she cements a second, which she moistens in the same manner, and to the former two she attaches a third, and so on till she has formed a mass as large as the shot usually employed to kill bares. This mass she carries off in her teeth to the place she has chosen for erecting her , nest, and makes it the foundation of the first cell. In this manner she labors incessantly till the whole cells are completed, a work which is generally accomplished in five or six From the hardness of the materials with days. All the cells are similar, and nearly which the mason-bee constructs her nest, equal in dimensions. Before they are cov- from the industry and dexterity she employs ered, their figure resembles that of athimble to protect her progeny from enemies of evShe never begins to make a second en theery kind, die would naturally imagine that first be finished. Each cell is about an inch the young worms are in perfect safety, and high, and nearly half an inch in diameter. that their castle was impregnable. But notBut the labor of building is not the only one withstanding all these favourable precauthis female bee has to undergo. When àtionis, the young of the inason-bee are often cell has been raised to one half or two thirds devoured by the instinctive dexterity of cerof its height, another occupation commences. tain species of four winged insects, distinShe seems to know the quantity of food that guished by the name of ichneuman-flies. will be necessary to nourish the young that These flies, when the mason-bee has nearly is to proceed from the egg, from its exclusion completed a cell, and filled it with provisions, till it acquires its full growth, and passes in- deposit their own eggs in her cell. After to the chrysalis state. The food which is the eggs of the ichneuman-flies are hatched, prepared for the support of the young worm their worms devour not only the provisions consists of the farina or powder of flowers, laid up by the mason-bee, but even her prodiluted with honey, which forms a kind of geny whom she had laboured so hard, and Before the cell is entirely finished, with so much art and ingenuity to protect. the mason-bee collects from the flo vers, and But the mason-bee has an enemy still more deposits in the cell a large quantity of farina formidable, A certain fly employs the same and afterwards disgorges upon it as much stratagem of insinuating an egg into one of honey as dilutes it, and forms it into a kind her cells before it is completed. From this of paste, or sirup. When this operation is egg proceeds a strong and rapacious worn, performed, she completes her cell, and, after armed with prodigious fangs. The devastadepositing an egg in it, covers the mouth of tions of this worin are not confined to one it with the same mortar she uses in building cell. It often pierces through each cell in her nest. The egg is now enclosed on all the nest, and successively devours both the sides in a walled habitation hermetically seal-mason-worms and the provisions so anxioused. A small quantity of air, however, gets ly laid up for their support by the mother. admisssion to the worm, otherwise it could This stranger worm is afterwards transformnot exist. Reaumor discovered that air ac-ed into a fine beetle, who is enabled to pierce the nest, and to make his escape.

pap.

EFFECTS OF KINDNESS.

A few ladies in the city of New-York formed themselves into a society for the purpose of relieving the wants of the wives of the intemperate, where it could be done without encouraging the drunkard-and to place their

children in sabbath Schools.

dition to make my family comfortable." It IS SO. He has continued an industrious, 80possibly be; and his gratitude to the lady ber man- and his wife the happiest, that can who first clothed and led his children to sabbath school is almost unparalleled.

Such was the effect of this noiseless rebuke and such was the reward of those who stretched out their hands to the needy. A family raised from the lowest degradation, to

a state of comfort-and the beart of the A.

bowed down made to sing for joy.

Their first object of compassion was the family of one who for eleven years had given himself entirely to his cups, till his amiable wife and helpless children were reduced to the greatest wretchedness. The ladies called upon her, made known their message, presented her with suitable raiment for her chil- USE OF THE STUDY OF NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. dren to appear in sabbath school, and added Extract from Sir John F. W. Herschells's Preliminary you can do as you think proper respecting Discourse on the study of Natural Philosophy. your husband-acquaint him with the object, or not. Sabbath morning came. A lady, That a man by merely measuring the with faltering steps, descended the cellar, to moon's apparent distance from a star with a take the inmates to school-for she feared little portable instrument held in his hand the incensed husband might pour out his and applied to the eye, even with so unstable wrath and forbid her taking the children along a footing as on the deck of a ship, shall say, with her. As she slowly advanced, all was positively, within five miles where he is, ou a silent. She ventured, and to her astonish-boundless ocean, cannot but appear to permeut, the father was sitting quietly on one sons ignorant of physical astronomy an apside of the room; a son about ten was in a proach to the miraculous. Yet the alternacorner neatly clad, with a testament in his tive of life and death, wealth and ruin, are hand; a little girl of four, fair as the new daily and hourly staked with perfect confiborn rose, was attired in a new suit; and the dence on these marvellous computations. room itself, perfect neatness. She said-are We have before us an anecdote communicathe children ready? when the mother taking ted to us by a naval officer, which shows how the little girl by the hand, led her to the lady impressive such results may become in pracwithout saying a word-for her heart was full tice. He sailed from San Blas on the west at such new and unexpected kindness; and coast of Mexico, and after a voyage of eight they joyfully hasted to the sabbath school thousand miles, occupying ninety days, artogether. The father was a man of sense; rived off Rio de Janerio; having, in that inand low as he had sunk, had not yet lost all terval, passed through the Pacific Ocean, sensibility. That Sabbath was a new day to rounded Cape Horn, aud across the South bim. He saw he had deserted his helpless Atlantic Ocean, without making land, or offspring, and the kind hand of charity had even seeing a single sail with the exception taken them up. He saw them clad in decent of an American whaler off Cape Horn. apparel-not by his industry; and he then Having arrived within a few wecks sail of resolved he would be a fool no longer. His Rio, he set seriously about determining by wife took the bible which he had often for- lunar observations the precise line of the bidden her reading, and he said, “ Sarah will ship's course, and its situation in it, at a deyou read aloud?" she complied. In a few terminate moment-and having ascertained moments he exclaimed, if I again drink an- this within from five to ten miles, ran the rest other drop, may I die in the attempt. A rash of the way by those more ready and comresolve-but it has never been broken. The pendious methods known to navigators, next morning he went in quest of employ-which can be safely employed for short trips found it, and Saturday night brought to his happy wife a handsome sum-placed his children in school-removed from his cellar to a comfortable apartment, and as far as the most assiduous attention and kindness would do it, atoned for all past abuse--and soon saw his happy family comfortable around him. a few weeks from this happy change, the lady who had taken his children to Sabbath school, had called to conduct the little girl to a day school, and was met by the father, who stopped and most politely accosted her, saying "You are taking my little girl to school. I have earned twenty shillings this morning, and I hope I shall soon be in a con

between one known point and another, but cannot be trusted in long voyages, where the moon is the only sure guide. The rest of his tale, we shall state in his own words. "We steered towards Rio de Janerio, for Some days, after taking the lunars above described, and having arrived within fifteen or twenty miles of the coast, I hove to at four in the morning, till day-break, and bore up, for although it was hazy, we could see bcfore us a couple of miles or so. About eight o'clock it became so foggy that I did not like to stand in farther and was just bringing the ship to wind again before sending the men to breakfast, when it suddenly cleared

sion, more than any other single agent, brings
the system into a condition suitable to the
reception of morbid influence; and that the
absence of fear, more than natural strength
of constitution or vigor of health, renders it
insensible to such influence. Infants, from
the limited extent of their reasoning powers
and their observation, are protected entirely
from any of the peculiar effects of the fear of
disease; and the other persons mentioned,
by their familiarity with sickness and its
usual paraphernalia, and by the active part
they are called to take in the care of the dis-

off, and I had the satisfaction of seeing the
Sugar Loaf Rock, which stands on one side
of the mouth of the harbor, nearly right
ahead, so that we had not to alter our course
above a point in order to hit the entrance of
Rio." This was the first land he had seen
for three months, after crossing so many seas,
and being set backwards by innumerable cur-
rents and foul winds. The effect on all on
board might well be conceived to have been
electric, and it is needless to remark, how
essentially the authority of a commanding
officer over his crew may be strengthened
by the occurrence of such incidents, indica-cased, seldom if ever think of any personal
tive of a degree of knowledge and subsequent
power beyond their reach.

From the Boston Medical Journal.

THE EFFECT OF FEAR, IN RENDERING THE
SYSTEM SUSCEPTIBLE OF DISEASE.

hazard. The occasional visitor, on the other hand, unaccustomed to the solemnity, the scenes, and the circumstances of a sick chamber, is awed, embarrassed agitated, perhaps, by the impressive manner, look, movement, and conversation of all present. He sympathizes deeply with his friend, imagines himself in the same condition, fears he There are four classes of persons who en-has already imbibed the seeds of his disease, joy remarkable immunity from infectious diseases, and three certainly of these classes are composed of the very persons who would be thought most hable to suffer from such epidemics-we mean physicians, nurses, children, and that of excellent, kindhearted females, who delight (and to their honor be it told) in going about among the sick, watch ing with them and performing for them numerous friendly offices that alleviate their pains and spare them many an hour of gloomy

solitude.

We

and takes his departure only to have those
fears realized. Every physician knows that
in times of epidemics those persons who ask
with most earnestness & anxiety what means
of prevention they can adopt, are uniformly
the first to require the means of cure.
would impress the fact strongly on the minds
of all.-In sickly seasons live temperately,
and trouble not yourselves about your per-
sonal danger. If your friend is attacked,
and you can serve or console him, think not
of your exposure, but visit and minister to
him, and if you do this with disinterested
zeal, with a ready hand and willing heart,
with a clear conscience and undaunted spirit,
you will find your reward in almost certam
immunity. We know no other protection-
we can give no better council.

PATIENCE.

The famous Dr. Boerhave being once asked by a friend who admired his patience under provocations, whether he knew what it was to be angry, and by what means he had so entirely suppressed that impetuous and ungovernable passion.' He answered with the utmost frankness and sincerity, that he was naturally quick of resentment, but that he had by daily prayer and meditation at length attained to this mastery over himself.

The physician is constantly passing from the open air to the sick chamber, and from the latter again into the former. He is fatigued by his labors, and naturally perhaps of a slender constitution, yet he escapes; while the friend or relative, strong, robust, and living at case in a healthy situation, makes but a single short visit to the patient and imbibes his disease. The nurse under circumstances in one respect the reverse of those above related, lives on day after day, and night after night, in the atmosphere of disease, and yet enjoys a similar immunity. The benevolent watcher, familiar with scenes of distress, and interested in relieving it, seldom suffers in consequence of her anxious toil; and the infant hangs on the breast of its mother while she is suffering from the plague without catching the malady. The causes of this immunity are unqestionably various.The system in some of the cases above stated, becomes gradually accustomed to a PURE religion is a beam of the Father of diseased atmosphere, and less susceptible Lights; it is a drop of that eternal fountain of its peculiar stimulus. But, when we of goodness and holiness, the breath of the view the whole ground, and reflect on the power of God, a pure influence flowing from peculiarities of all the classes that are usually the glory of the Almighty, the brightness of slow to receive infection, and contrast them the everlasting light, the unspotted mirror of with those of the persons most frequently the power of God, and the image of his goodand easily affected by it, we are drawn irre-ness, more beautiful than the sun, and above sistibly to the conclusion that fear, apprehen- |all the orders of stars -Shaw.

་

1

SUPPLEMENT TO THE CONNECTICUT COURANT.

SEPTEMBER 11, 1832.

the float, upon which was fixed the apparatus for managing the diving bell, and with which the hawsers made fast to the sunken gondola, were connected, and thus blasted their hopes. By these disasters the gondola was so shattered, as to render it extremely difficult to get sufficient hold, a third time, to raise such a vast weight, and the enterprise was abandoned.

In descending, a painful sensation was induced on the tympanum, attended with a noise, as Mr. Clifford informed me, not unlike that of a fly entangled in a spider's web, till the adventurers were at the depth of about twelve feet, when, experiencing a sudden shock, they were completely relieved. This painful sensation, the shock, and subsequent relief, were regularly repeated, as nearly as could be judged, every twelve feet. After a few descents, it was perceived that, by being raised a foot or two, every eight or ten feet, the shock was avoided and the men were freed from that painful sensation, which had resulted from the uniformly increasing density of their atmosphere.

The adventurers once made their submarine descent, at the time of high water, when they were seventy two feet below the surface. Two thirds of the cavity of their vessel, as was imagined, without making any admeasurement, was then filled with water.

out of it he was entirely relieved from pain, insomuch that he walked, directly after, six miles, without inconvenience. This was an exertion, which he had not thought himself able to make for several years before.

Could a series of experiments, be instituted, or proper subjects, who will venture to say, that the result would not be such, as to render a submarine descent, in a commodious diving bell, a frequent and favorite adventure?

Observations by Dr. Mease.

The painful sensation in the ear mentioned in the preceding paper, is invariably experienced by those who descend in diving bells; owing to the compression of the condensed air on the membrana tympani, but the means of preventing it, which were discovered by Messrs. Clifford and Tripe, are not mentioned in any of the accounts of diving which I have read, nor do the writers of them notice the " shock" felt by the Portsmouth divers which immediately preceded their relief from the pain. Dr. Hamel of St. Petersburgh states, that he was relieved of the pain by making exertions to admit air through the Eustachian tube into the cars but succeded in accomplishing this at first, only on one side, when the air rushed into the cavity of the right ear and the pain ceased instantly: In a clear day and with an unruffled sea, when in the diving bell, he was not aware of they had light sufficient for reading a coarse the simple way in which it is effected. Dr. print, at the greatest depth. As they mo- Wollaston informed him, that nothing is ved the pebbles, with their gaff, at the bot-wanted but to swallow the saliva, as may be tom of the river, fish in abundance came to the place like a flock of chickens, and as devoid of fear, as if it was a region, where they never had been molested by beings from the extra-aquatic world. From the description of the adventurers, no scenery in nature can be more beautiful, than that exhibited to them, in a sunshiny day, at the bottom of the deep Piscataqua.

It does not appear that the health of either of the men was in the least impaired, by their submarine excursions. Their pulsations, were quick, and their perspiration was very profuse, while under water; and, upon coming out of it, they felt themselves in a fit condition for a comfortable sleep,

One of my principal motives, for giving this account, is, to suggest a fact, which perhaps, is not unworthy of special notice, I offer it respectfully, without comment, hoping it will one day prove a hint to produce some experiments, which may be of importance in the healing art.

Mr. Clifford had, for many years, been afflicted with rheumatic pains. During the several weeks he was engaged in this enterprise, he was remarkably free from this complaint. The first time he descended in the diving bell, he hapened to be considerably affected with his disorder; but, on coming

seen from the following simple experiment. Close your nostrils with the fingers and suck, with the mouth shut: air will come through the Eustachian tube from the ear, and you feel pressure on the membrana tympani, which prevents you from hearing distinctly. As the end of the tube nearest to the mouth, acts like a valve, this sensation will often remain even after you have ceased sucking. To remove it nothing is wanted but to swallow saliva, whereby the action of the muscles seems to open the end of the tube, and then the air rushes in to re-establish the equilbrium; during the descent of the bell Dr. Hamel says that the pain returned, but as he repeated his exertions to open the Eustachian tube the air at intervals found a passage through it, and he obtained relief. Through the left Eustachian tube no air had yet passed and the pain in the left ear was gradually increasing, when about fourteen feet under water, the sensation was as if a stick was forced into the ear from without; at last, during one of the exertions to open the mouth of the tube on that side, the air forced its way with considerable violence through it, and he was relieved from the pain also on that side. I presume the " shock" experienced by the Portsmouth divers, arose from the rushing of the air into and through the