vessel is advertised, the places are speedily engaged. It is a natural impulse in the mind of man to seek to better his condition. America gains, and we hope Ireland does not lose by these emigrations. Those who go out leave more room for those who remain, and the state of our population is such as to be able advantageously to bear those drains. Ireland is relieved of a superabundant population, and America gains useful citizens to people her widely extended territories. It is a mistaken maxim in the system of govern ing, to suppose that one nation loses, when another gains. Exchange in Belfast on London this month has been pretty steadily at 9 to 94 per ct. NATURALIST'S REPORT. From February 20, till March 20. Aloft in air, upborne on daring wing, The towering Lark, ascending, hails the spring; BACHELOR. Winter at all times accompanied with melancholy sensations, has been during the late months clad in more than usual dreariness, continual hurricanes covered the ocean with horrors, and our shores presented scenes of distress, almost without a parallel in the history of any winter. It is not without reason, therefore, that we hail the present fine weather, rejoice with the soaring Lark, and the various songsters of our groves, and view the opening buds and expanding flowers as harbingers of a still finer season. Feb. 22...Snowdrops (Galanthus Nivalis) in full flower. 25...Saw a specimen of Mountain Finch or brambling, (Fringilla Montipingilla) caught near Belfast during the snow. 27...Single blue and double red Hepatica (Anemone Hepatica) flowering. Black-bird (Turdus Merula)....Yellowhammer (Emberiza Citrinella) singing. March 2...Mezereon (Daphne Mezereon) flowering...Common Yellow Crocus (Croeus Mosiacus), and Purple Stripped White (Crocus biflorus) almost full blown. 5... Frogs (Rana temporania) croaking. 6...Flesh coloured Heath (Erica herbacea). 8...Two leaved Squill (Scilla bifolia) flowering. 12... White Dogs tooth Violet (Erythronium Dens Canis)...Sweet scented Violet (Viola odorata)...Nettle Butterfly (Papilio Urtica)...Humble Bees (Apis terrestris) and Female Wasps (Vespa Vulgaris) appearing. 14...Dwarf Daffodil (Narcissus minor) flowering. 17...Barren Strawberry (Fragaria sterilis)...Figwort (Ranunculus Ficaria) flower ing...Field fares returned, METEOROLOGICAL REPORT. From the 20th February to the 20th March. It was not until the 8th of March, that we could flatter ourselves with a termination to the very wet and tempestuous weather which has prevailed since the beginning of November. Since that time it will be seen by the diary, that the fine weather has been almost uninterrupted by a disagreeable day, and we have now reason to hope that a long period of pleasant sun-shine will make amends for the late uncomfortable winter. 8, 9, ...Gentle showers. 10, 17, ............Fine dry days. 18, 20, ............Dark, with light rain. During the month of February, the Thermometer during the morning never higher than 44, and was not below 39°. On the 2d and 4th of March, it was as high as 50, and on the 20th it was as high as 51, and it has always been up above 36, at 8 o'clock, although slight hoar frost appears about sun-rise, The Barometer was on the 22d of February, 28.5, on the 26th 28.6; the rest of the time it has varied from 29, which it was on the 25th of February, to the height of 30.4, which it was on the 12, 13, 14, and 15th of March. The wind has been observed S.E, 4...S.W. 14...S. 2...W. 3......N.W. 3...N.E. 5 times, so that southerly has been much the most prevailing. MEDICAL REMARK. ABUSUS OPTIMI, PESSIMUM. There is a set of people in the East, particularly in Egypt, who have long possessed the art of rendering the bites of the most poisonous serpents perfectly harmless, and who are accustomed to walk, in religious processions, with numbers of vipers coiling about their necks, arms, and bodies, playing with them all the time as with fillets of ribbon, and mocking their fury. These magicians, or physicians, are often of the female sex, and their art is said to consist in breaking the teeth of the animal, and, by that means, dispersing the poison collected at their sockets, in a small bag, or follicle. Happily this island is exempted, by the kindness of nature, from the necessity of such practitioners. But if we be free from venomous reptiles, and animal poisons, there is a prodigious number of persons, of all descriptions, ages, and sexes, who are fond of playing with the most active mineral poisons, and children even on the breast, are taught to swallow them, from time to time, till one would think they used sweet mercury for a nourishment, rather than for the cure of a disease. CALOMEL is the popular poison at present; an active and excellent remedy, when used in proper circumstances, and at proper intervals; but the abuse of the best medicines is, in no instance, more remarkable, as the wan and woeful visage of children in the higher ranks of life, often testify. A medicine, in one or two instances, works an unexpected cure; if the patients be people of distinction, the medicine acquires celebrity, and takes the lead of its shop-mates. Calomel, a milder and more mitigated form of that most active mineral poison, Corrosive Sublimate, is at present the fashionable drug, as Bilious is, and has been, for some time past, the fashionable character of disease. Although this medicine may certainly by its action on the biliary ducts, be well adapted to relieve from an excess of bile, and in consequence be justly entitled to the appellation of a Chologogue, yet the frequent recurrence of this very stimulus, very certainly tends of itself to the increased secretion of bile, and adds to the permanence of the very complaint for which it operates as a temporary relief. And thus, as in all cases of habitual stimulus, the bilious habit is often created, instead of being cured. Indeed the prevalent tendency of the practice of physic to the general, and indis. criminate use of purgatives, in almost all diseases, or inclination to disease, lays a foundation, we fear for weakness in the visceral organs, of itself the proximate cause of many disorders. The excessive quantities of Calomel which have been administered even to children, in seyeral complaints, as we find related, from time to time, in our periodical publications, are indeed so surprising, that we are really glad to find in general, such powerful prescriptions are reserved for cases almost alwaysfound desperate, and incurable, and thus less doubt is liable to be entertained that the disease, and not the drug, produced the mortal event. For the honour of physic I shall not recount the quantities of this single medicine which have been prescribed. And all that I wish to observe is, that Calomel, in small doses, is very usefully employed as an occasional stimulus to the excretories of the liver, as upon the whole of those of the alimentary canal, but that the perpetual use of it, particularly in large doses, often, creates those diseases of the abdomen, for which it would, if well administered, at proper intervals, have proved a cure; and that a deep and lasting mercurial impression on the system, should it happen to take place in the use of this medicine, aggravates the symptoms of that chronic debility and want of tone in the moving fibres, which is the prevalent cause of disease. CELESTIAL PHENOMENA. FOR APRIL, 1811. The Moon is on the meridian at 52 minutes past 6, being then in the line between the 2d of the Twins, and the 1st of the lesser Dog, but nearer to the latter star. 9 she is 34 degrees, 16 minutes from the first of the Lion. At On the 5th she is on the meridian at 42 min. past 9, being directly under the body of the Lion. The 4th and 8th being considerably above her to the east of the meridian, and the 1st, 3d, and 6th at a greater distance from the meridian westward. We distinguish the 2d of the Lion to the east of the 4th and 8th, below which is the 2d of the Virgin, to which star she is directing her course, at 9 she is 401 from the 1st of the Virgin, and 50 degrees 38 minutes from the 2d of the Twins. On the 10th she rises nearly with the 1st of the Balance, and passes before midnight the line before the 1st and 2d of the constellation, being by much the nearest to the former star. On the 15th she rises in the morning over the Small Stars in the head of the Archer, her distance from Saturn being now considerably increased. On the 20th she passes the ecliptick in her descending node, but, for obvious reasons, without an eclipse. On the 25th, we perceive the Moon again in a very conspicuous situation, in the head of the Bull, above Aldebaran, Jupiter being on the other side, but at a greater distance from this star. The horizon, from about west to a little beyond west-north-west, will be splendid about an hour and a half after sun-set. At nine she is 41 degrees, 4 minutes, from the 2d of the Twins. On the 30th, she is seen in the barren space between the Crab and the Lion, just above the two first of the former constellations, being thus between the small stars in the head of the Lion, and those in the head of the Hydra, but much nearer to the latter Star. At 9 she is 67 deg. 56 min. from the 1st of the Virgin. Mercury is in his superior conjunction on the 10th, and of course will be too near the Sun to be visible before that time, except by the very keen observer; and not by others till towards the end of the month. The Moon passes him on the 23d. Venus is a morning star, but though at a considerable distance from the Sun, she is not in a favourable position; for besides being in the 11th sign, she is on the first near her descending node, and her latitude of course is, after a few days, increasing to the south of the ecliptick. Her motion is direct about 24°, being at first to the west of the 8th of the water-bearer, and her path lies through a dreary region. On the 1st she is about 10 degrees above the horizon, and on the 25th about 8 at Sunrise. The Moon passes her on the 19th. Mars is on the meridian at a quarter past 3, on the morning of the 1st, and at 48 min. past 2 on the 20th. His motion is direct to the 20th, when he is stationary, and of course during the whole month it is very slow, the change in the triangle formed by him, the 2d of the Scorpion, and Antares, varying little each night, particularly about the 20th. He rises on the 1st a quarter before midnight, and every night earlier, the Moon passes him on the 12th. Jupiter is on the meridian at 10 min. past 3 in the afternoon of the 1st, and 19 minutes past 2 of the 19th, of course his duration above the horizon after sun-set decreases very fast every night. On the 1st he sets near 11 o'clock. His motion is direct through 64°, being 1st between the Pleiades and the most western of the Hyades, and he passes the line between the Pleiades and the Aldebaran. As at the end of the month, Mercury, Jupiter, Aldebaran, and Orion, grace the western horizon, the most inattentive will feel their admiration excited in their evening walks. The moon passes Jupiter on the 25th. Saturn is on the meridian at 7 minutes past 5, on the morning of the 1st, and at 4 on the 18th. He is stationary on the 4th, after which time his motion is slowly retrograde. We shall note therefore, that he did not enter the eastern branch, of the milky way, and that he slowly returns back towards the western, moving only about half a degree. Mars and Saturn being within 20 degrees of each other, will mark the lower heaven between the south-east and the meridian, very early in the morning. The Moon passes Saturn on the 14th. Herschell is on the meridian at 25 min. past two in the morning of the 1st, and 5 minutes past one of the 20th. His motion is retrograde through somewhat more than a degree, approaching towards the two thirteenths of the Balance, being at the end of the month, within a degree and a half of these stars to the east of them. When on the meridian on the 1st, he is directly under the 2d of the Balance; and if we cast our eyes eastward, the 2d of the Scorpion, Mars, and Saturn, fix our attention. The telescopic observer will have his eye frequently directed to these Planets during this month. The Moon passes Herschell on the 11th. ERRATA... Page 129, col. 1, line 38, for linnen read linen.-p. 130, col. 2, line 20, for audable read audible-after p. 139, the three following pages are wrong numbered; for 190, 191, 192, read 140, 141, 142...p. 171, 7th line from the bottom of the page, for gerat, read great. 7 BELFAST MONTHLY MAGAZINE. No. 33.] APRIL, 30, 1911. [Vol. 6. COMMUNICATIONS ORIGINAL AND SELECTED. But when we see, instead of this necessary work going forward, the same course of wrong conduct pursuing every day, and no hopes of amendment, the mind sickens at the melancholy prospect, and is led to enquire, To what purpose is the multitude of your fasts?" It is m vain for any, in either public or private life, to attempt to atone for guilty actions, by assuming at stated times a devotional appearance, and conforming to certain ceremonials, whilst the heart is not made better, nor even possessing a wish to be so, It is to me a mystery, how those in power can conceive, that by setting apart a particular day, now and then, for the purpose of what is called a public fast, any good is gain ed or any evil averted, the people are not made better, nor is a single burthen lightened thereby. Let the eye turn almost which way it may, a gloomy scene presents itself to the view. War, with innumerable evils in its BELFAST MAG. NO, XXXIII. train, spreading horror and devastation on all that comes within reach of its baneful breath, the fair face of nature is desolated, and the earth groans under the weight of accumu lated evils arising from the borrid system. Even in places far remote from the immediate scene of action, the The ambition of the great, and the consequences are dreadfully felt. schemes they adopt to uphold their warlike measures, encompass the earth with cruelty, and torrents of human blood are shed to satisfy (and still unsatisfied) the unbounded ava rice of a few. flect on the miseries entailed on your Look to this, ye rulers, and refellow-men, by your unwise schemes. of your fasts? To what purpose is the multitude The farce will not take, the measure will not avail, it is only adding sin to the heap already overgrown by the accumulation of evils. Think not by such means to atone for the wrongs buse of power, or for the immensibrought on the country by the a ty of human blood shed in the prosecution of your ambitious pursuits. Prayers mingled with the blood of our fellow-creatures, ascendeth not God of peace, who delighteth not with acceptance, neither will the in iniquity, receive such a fast as ye have chosen. of real reformation to remove evil A virtuous exertion in the cause from the land, and to undo the heavy burdens, would be of more avail, than ten thousand such fasts as we have seen. M m N. S. |