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Now was their foolish blunder clear;
They showed themselves in day;
And soon the Flesher's deadly fears
And dread were chased away.
A hearty breakfast crowned the board,
And laughter loudly at it roared.
At parting all swore solemnly
The blunder to conceal,
But lately when I made a feast
Of venison and veal,

The parson in a merry mood
The whole truth did reveal.

ON THE INCUBATION OF BIRDS.

MR EDITOR,

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THE remarks of your correspondent A, in your April Number, in answer to my Strictures," contained in your Number for February, excited in my mind no small degree of surprise. Had I been aware, that A. had access to the same sources of information, I would not have occupied the pages of your valuable Magazine with the quotations which I transmitted. I would rather have been disposed to censure him, for insinuating that the field into which he had entered, had never been investigated by other observers. As the subject is curious, I hope you will insert the following additional strictures, especially as I promise to close the controversy with the present communication.

In the third number of his "Curious Facts," he says, 66 I should not have ventured to state my boyish recollections in opposition to the observations of a MONTAGU, of which I was perfectly aware." Now, if your correspondent A. was perfectly aware that Montagu had tried a variety of experiments on various birds, in order to illustrate this department of the history of incubation, why did he make use of such expressions as those which he employed in his first communica

tion?

Before stating the observations which he had made, proving, that if a bird's nest be robbed of one egg daily, the bird will be induced to lay more than her usual number, A attempts to prepare the reader for something unheard of and unrecorded. "I was struck with many singular discoveries (for such I still consider them to be) that have not as yet been explained, or even hinted at, in any scientific work which I have perused on the subject." At the close of the

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observations, and with reference to the facts which he had brought forward, he says, They have often puzzled me, more particularly as I have not seen them noticed in any work on the natural history of birds." How any man could say all this, and then acknowledge that he was perfectly aware of the observations of Montagu, (who had investigated the subject, and published the results sixteen years ago,) I cannot comprehend.

In order to give additional weight to his boyish recollections, for I cannot call them by any other name, A. states the result of some inquiries which he made on the subject in Holland. But we presume not to set a value on this additional prop to his opinion, which he has erected, in the shape of the testimony of Dutch poul

terers.

The belief which he has thus expressed, that most early birds, among whom "I reckon the lapwing, breed twice in the season, if they are not interfered with," can never be brought forward to prove so important a point as the one in question, especially as, with the exception of the pigeons, he will find some difficulty in establishing the truth of the assertion.

His last additional argument is thus stated, " Of this I can assure Physicus, that the ovarium of the lapwing contains the germs of a great many more ova than four." Now, it is known to every one who has paid any attention to the physiology of birds, that, upon killing a female in the spring, one may easily count, not only the eggs destined to be laid during the following season, but all those which the bird is capable of producing in any after period.

This doctrine is very plainly laid down by Willoughby in his "Ornithologia," p. 8; and your correspondent A. should have been aware that Montagu, in the introduction to the Ornithological Dictionary, and only six pages from the passage on incubation, with which he professes to be acquainted, has the following remarks:

But, notwithstanding, only a portion of the ovaries are impregnated at the same time, yet the stimulus to love considerably increases the size of all the eggs in the ovarium." Your correspondent A. may easily satisfy himself on this subject, by an examination of the first hen brought to his

table. If she be young, and killed during the season of laying, he may

ORIGINAL LETTER AND POEM BY RO

BERT BURNS.

December 1787.)

observe between four and five hundred (No date, but supposed November or germs in the ovarium,-a number which no hen ever brought to maturity in any one season.

How does it happen that A. should, in the midst of his discoveries, which have not even been hinted at, bring forward questions respecting the cuckoo, which have been answered up wards of twenty years since? It would be trifling with the general reader to repeat these answers here. Let A. examine Dr Jenner's paper on the subject in the Philosophical Transactions, Vol. LXXVIII., or the copious

extracts from the same in the first vo

lume of Bewick's "British Birds," and we trust he will be satisfied, or, let him read again the introduction to Montagu's Ornithological Dictionary," and he will see the subject

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very candidly discussed.

A, with the utmost confidence, informs us, that he believes "it is no uncommon occurrence for a chicken, that is evidently the offspring of the partridge and common hen, to make its appearance." The characters furnished by the markings of the head, and the arrangement of the feathers in the tail, separate the partridge from the pheasant, with which the common hen is connected, and would enable any one to detect a hybrid product.

Have these characters been resorted to, or has A. been satisfied with the evident resemblance indicated by the

colour of the feathers?

The anecdotes which your correspondent A. has related with respect to the hen and ducklings, and the greyhound and pointer, are certainly curious. We only regret that they are given upon hearsay evidence. Many such anecdotes have been related to us, which, upon inquiry, we have found to be exaggerated or groundless. Our credulity having been often imposed upon, we are, therefore, inclined to be a little sceptical.

It is much to be wished that your correspondent, who has evidently never studied natural history as a science, would communicate his own observations, instead of the accounts of others, lest we be provoked to conclude, that he has adopted a wrong title for his communications,-calling them "Curious Facts," when they are only doubtful anecdotes. May 7, 1818. PHYSICUS.

SIR, The enclosed poem was writ

ten in

last time I had the pleasure of seeing of consequence your suggestion, morning's sleep, but did not please you. It cost me an hour or two of next fort, till the other day that I gave me; so it lay by, an ill-digested efit a critic brush. These kind of subjects are much hackneyed; and, betribe over the ashes of the great, are sides, the wailings of the rhyming cursedly suspicious, and out of all character for sincerity. These ideas

have done the best I could, and, at all damped my Muse's fire; however, I events, it gives me an opportunity of declaring that I have the honour to be, Sir, your obliged humble servant,

ROBERT BURNS.

To Charles Hay, Ësq. Advocate.
Monday morning.

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IN a former communication, I gave you some account of John Spence, the ingenious mechanic at Linlithgow. The particulars of his history therein mentioned were communicated to me by a gentleman who had conversed with him. I have now, however, had an opportunity of conversing with him myself, and am happy to find, that the whole of the former communication was substantially correct, (which I had no doubt it would be,) with the exception of one or two minute particulars, which, by his desire, I now beg leave to rectify. He desires me to say, then, that, although bred to the business of a shoemaker, he was not under indenture to that trade. He was put to it by his father, who was a tanner, at 12 years of age, and after eight days instruction he was making shoes on his own account. By this he means, not that he was master of the trade in eight days, but that he was then left to the resources of his own ingenuity, and acquired the art without farther actual superintendence. His father's intention was to connect him in business with himself; but, as formerly mentioned, he never liked the employment, and his father's views were never realized.

In the next place, the steam-engine which he kept belonged to a gentleman

.

in Linlithgow. He went to Glasgow, as formerly stated, to endeavour to get into employment in some of the manufactories there, but was unsuccessful; and on this account he returned to Linlithgow, and was employed in keeping an engine in that town, which he did with extreme delight to himself, although his friends were unable to conceive what pleasure he could find in such an employment.

In the third place, in saying that he passed the mail-coach in his selfmoving car, as formerly noticed, he does not mean that he outstripped the coach on the road. The expression (which was his own) was intended merely to convey the idea that he met the mail-coach, and passed it on the road going in an opposite direction, the guard, driver, and passengers, being astonished as he passed.

From his anxiety to have these very minute and really unimportant parti culars correctly stated, I am certain you will receive, with the most entire confidence, the following additional particulars of his history, and I hope they will be found sufficiently interesting to merit a place in your instructive Miscellany.

In answer to the question at what time he began first to direct his attention to mechanics, he said, "From three or four years of age I was exceedingly fond of mechanical inventions, and I never could get the ideas of them banished from my mind." He says, that he never studied the subject in books; because he found, on attempting to do so, that he derived no instruction from reading, on account of not understanding the terms. He has studied mechanics, however, extensively in another way, viz. by visiting many and various machines, by observing them in motion, and by thinking on the principles developed in their construction. He cannot, however, he says, well understand a scientific description, or easily communicate his own ideas by description to others. When he has invented any particular piece of mechanism, he constructs a model of it, and thus at once satisfies his own mind on the practicability of the principles, and conveys his ideas to other minds.

Besides the inventions formerly noticed, he enumerated the following, as additional productions of his ingenuity. When 11 years of age, he

1818.]

Further Account of John Spence's Inventions.

invented and constructed a model of a loom, the whole working apparatus of which was set in mction by a winch, or handle at one side. It was contrived on the same principle as the looms subsequently constructed in Glasgow to be wrought by the steam-engine, but had less machinery. He gave the model to a gentleman of Stirling, and has never heard what became of it. May not some hints have been taken from this model in constructing the subsequent steam-looms in Glasgow? In 1814, he had become so utterly disgusted with the trade of a shoemaker, that he could continue in it no longer. Often would he throw the shoe from his hand in indignation, when his mind was diving deep into the principles of mechanics, and accuse fortune for dooming him to such despicable drudgery. As often would he draw down the sage advices of his spouse, who regarded him as the dupe of a heated imagination. She, however, allow me to mention, appears to be a very respectable woman, and now, when she is convinced that her husband is a genius, not only tolerates his flights above the regions of St Crispin, but is pleased with the notice which he has attracted, and gives her full concurrence to his making the most unlimited use of his extraordinary powers in the way in which nature seems to have intended they should operate. Tired, as already said, and sick at heart of making shoes, he, in 1814, conceived the idea of becoming a weaver. He had then in view to erect looms to be wrought by a water wheel; and thus promised himself both profit and pleasure from his change of profession. Accordingly, his first object was to learn the trade of a weaver. This was soon accomplished. He constructed with his own hands the whole apparatus of a loom, except the hiddles and reed, got a professional weaver to put in the first web, and without any other instruction made as good cloth as those regularly bred to the business. This scheme, however, was never prosecuted farther.

His last effort has been in making a farther improvement on his invention of a perpetual motion. He has simplified the apparatus, and now shows a horizontal wheel, set full of needles, attracted constantly round by the magnetic power, and which, he says, will move as long as the axle of the

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wheel lasts, or the magnetic virtue remains. He sets a very high value on this invention, and prizes it much above all the other products of his genius.

I hope the interest of these details will plead my excuse for trespassing so far on your limits. Allow me still to add a few observations on what may perhaps be termed the philosophy of this man's mind. As soon as I was satisfied of the truth of the preceding statements, I was convinced that there was something very extraordinary in the genius of this individual; and I searched the works of the greatest writers on the philosophy of the mind for an explanation. The high reputation of our countryman, Mr Dugald Stewart, led me to his writings, and the great fame of Drs Gall and Spurzheim attracted me to theirs. In Mr Stewart's Elements of the Philosophy of the Human Mind, part I. sect. 4, entitled, "Of Invention in the Arts and Sciences," he says, "To these powers of wit and fancy, that of invention in the arts and sciences has a striking resemblance. Like them it implies a command over certain classes of ideas, which, in ordinary men, are not equally subject to the will; and, like them, too, it is the result of acquired habits, and not the original gift of nature." With this passage in view, I examined John Spence particularly as to the manner how, and time when, he had acquired such extraordinary" habits of association;" but, as already mentioned, he dated the first impulses of invention from the age of three or four years, and said, that every circumstance in his life had tended to oppose the formation of such habits rather than to favour them; and yet that his powers had exerted themselves in spite of every opposition. Again, as to having obtained

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a command over certain classes of ideas, which, in ordinary men, are not equally subject to the will," he rather complained that he had not command over this class of ideas, for, in his own words, he says, "I could not banish them from my mind."

My next object was to examine the developement of his head, according to the system of Drs Gall and Spurzheim. I had attended Dr Spurzheim's lectures in this city, and had a general knowledge of the position of the

different organs. I, therefore, examined the parts of the head where the organs of "constructiveness" lay, and was rather surprised to find what appeared to me a small developement. As Dr Spurzheim always declared that one fact, in his estimation, was better than a hundred arguments, I thought this fact worth the communicating to him. Accordingly, I wrote an account of John Spence's powers of mind, and of his inventions, and mentioned that the organs of "constructiveness" in his head appeared to be by no means largely developed. This communication was sent to my brother, who waited upon Dr Spurzheim with it, and the following is the Doctor's answer. The letter is dated Paris, 10th May 1818. He says, "The shoemaker you speak of in the letter to your brother deserves a particular attention. It is certain that No. 7. (the organ of constructiveness) only constructs, and does nothing but construct. A mechanical genius wants organs of size and weight. Is the shoemaker large between the eyebrows, or at the root of the nose? Are the cheek bones prominent to conceal No. 7? 2dly, I find that the zigomatic process varies much, and modifies the external appearance of No. 7. If the process be flat or depressed, No. 7. lies higher; if it be large, No. 7. lies deeper," &c.

I presume that most of your readers know, that, according to Dr Spurzheim's system, a great developement, with corresponding activity, of the organs of the various faculties of the mind, is accompanied with a proportional power or energy of the manifestations of these faculties. Hence, if the mind manifest great powers in a particular department of science or philosophy, or in any particular way, the organs of the faculties on which such manifestations depend should be found large and active. It is another principle of this system, that, as great power in the manifestations of the mind depends on the size and activity of the organs, and size and activity depend on natural endowment, so every great genius is formed by the fiat of his Creator, and that neither education, nor" habits of association," will ever confer the powers, for instance, possessed by Spence. The faculties may be cultivated, and much improved by education; yet, unless Nature lay a

substratum of greatness, no efforts will ever produce transcendent excellence in any department of philosophy or science. If Spurzheim's system was founded on Nature, therefore, here was a case in which, if ever, it ought to correspond with the facts

With the foregoing remarks of Dr Spurzheim in my hand, I resolved to put his system to the test, and availed myself of the first opportunity of seeing Spence, to examine his head at the parts pointed out by the Doctor. I read the observations to Spence, and explained my object, and he entered most readily into the spirit of the investigation. On casting my eyes, accordingly, to his forehead, I was at once struck with the uncommonly large developement of his head," betwixt the eyebrows, and at the root of the nose." Although Spurzheim had seen him personally before he wrote, he could not have described the great peculiarity of Spence's head, which distinguishes it from that of others, better than he does in saying, " Is he not large between the eyebrows, or at the root of the nose?" Spence at once perceived the uncommon appearance of his own head, when it was pointed out to him in a mirror. I was anxious to ascertain the precise dimensions of his forehead, across the eyebrows, to compare them with others, but was at a loss how to effect my purpose. He said, quite in his own style, " Take a pair of compasses, and a foot-rule." The idea struck me as a little odd, to measure genius by the inch; but this was a singular case, and one might be permitted to use a singular method of investigating it. I, therefore, adopted his suggestion, and the following is a note of the dimensions which I took:

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