there riseth suddenly a fly, which sometimes
moveth, as if it took hold on the walls of the
furnace; sometimes is seen moving in the
fire below; and dieth presently as soon as it
is out of the furnace. Which is a noble
instance, and worthy to be weighed; for it
showeth that as well violent heat of fire as
the gentle heat of living creatures will vivify,
if it have matter proportionable. Now, the
great axiom of vivification is, that there must
be heat, to dilate the spirit of the body; an
active spirit to be dilated; matter, viscous
or tenacious, to hold in the spirit; and that
matter to be put forth and figured. Now, a
spirit dilated by so ardent a fire as that of
the furnace, as soon as ever it cooleth never
so little, congealeth presently. And (no doubt)
this action is furthered by the chalcite which
hath a spirit that will put forth and germinate,
as we see in chimical trials." In Sylvester's
translation of Du Bartas (Book I.
c. vi.) we find this phenomenon thus alluded
to.

So, of the fire, in burning furnace, springs
The fly Perausta with the flaming wings:
Without the fire it dies; within it, joys,
Living in that which each thing else destroys.

As a companion to this strange fact (if it
be one), Bacon tells us, on the authority of
the ancients, of "a worm that breedeth in old
snow, and is of colour reddish, and dull of
motion, and dieth soon after it cometh out of
snow: which should show that snow hath in
it a secret warmth, for else it could hardly
vivify. And the reason of the dying of the
worm may be the sudden exhaling of that
little spirit as soon as it cometh out of the
cold which had shut it in."

So, the cold humour breeds the salamander;
Who, in effect like to her birth's commander,
With child with hundred winters, with her touch
Quencheth the fire, though glowing ne'er so much.
DU BARTAS.

It is related that Dr. Darwin once preserved
a piece of vermicelli under a glass
case until it became endued with motion;
and a tale was once current respecting a
snake which was supposed to arise from the
hair of a horse dropped into stagnant water.
This tradition (which was regarded as of
sufficient importance to be elaborately disproved
by Dr. Lister in the Philosophical
Transactions) has furnished Shakspeare with
an allusion in Antony and Cleopatra (Act. i.,
scene 2), and has thus, probably, been saved
from oblivion:

Much is breeding,
Which, like the courser's hair, hath yet but life,
And not a serpent's poison.

Coleridge accounts for this marvel by supposing
that the amimalculæ contained in the
stagnant water may collect round the horsehair,
and impart to it a wormy motion.

Analogous to the foregoing is the well-known
story of the Soland geese or barnacles,
found in the Western Isles of Scotland, and
in Jersey, and "whose equivocal generation
from a rotten piece of wood, tossed in the sea
and impregnated with nitre and salt, is
generally received for a truth, and attested by
persons of good credit; who affirm they have
frequently seen these birds sticking to the
plank in different forms, and according to the
progress of nature; some in the size and
figure of mushrooms; others farther advanced
towards their species; and some perfectly
fledged." * It was said that the flesh
of these birds tasted of fir; but the whole
thing is explained by what has been alleged
by some observers—namely, that the eggs of
this species of goose are deposited by the
mother in old logs of wood, and there
hatched. The attestation of the miracle by
persons of good credit is a noticeable feature
of the story. How often have we, in doubting
any marvel of the present day, been
knocked on the head by these same persons
of good credit! For it is observable that
every nine days' wonder, however huge and
unwieldly, is sure to be backed up by the
emphatic asseverations of persons of good
credit; and the believers make a great deal
of that kind of evidence. It must be admitted
that there is no small amount of strategical
skill in this method of disputation; for the
argument is at once removed from the ground
of abstract principles to that of personality;
and you find yourself suddenly placed in the
disagreeable position of seeming to impugn
the character of some unknown A. or B.
You are then accused of being very unfair;
and the adversary, with a grand flourish of
trumpets, withdraws exultingly. And yet,
in the end, nonsense is certain to find its
level—persons of good credit not withstanding.
* Collier's Dictionary, Supplement, 1727.—Art.
Jersey.

The account given of the goose phenomenon
by old Gerard, in his Herbal
(fifteen hundred and ninety-seven), differs
somewhat from that already quoted. He
says: "There are in the north parts of Scotland
certain trees, whereon do growe shellfishes,
which, falling into the water, do become
fowles, whom we call barnakles; in the
north of England, brant geese; and in Lancashire,
tree geese." Mandeville speaks of a
tree, somewhere in the far east, the fruit of
which changes into birds:

So, slow Boötes underneath him sees,
In the icy isles, those goslings hatch'd of trees;
Whose fruitful leaves, falling into the water,
Are turn'd (they say) to living fowls soon after.
So, rotten sides of broken ships do change
To barnacles: oh, transformation strange!
'Twas first a green tree; then a gallant hull;
Lately a mushroom; now a flying gull.
DU BARTAS.

In Isaac Walton's Complete Angler (Part
i., chap. 5) we find an opinion quoted from
Pliny to the effect that some kinds of flies,
worms, and other insects, have their birth or