Natural History of Selborne & Observations on Nature, Band 2

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Appleton, 1895

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Seite 65 - Against this accident, to which they were continually liable, our provident forefathers always kept a shrew-ash at hand, which, when once medicated, would maintain its virtue for ever. A shrew-ash was made thus : — Into the body of the tree a deep hole was bored with an auger, and a poor devoted shrew-mouse was thrust in alive, and plugged in, no doubt, with several quaint incantations long since forgotten.
Seite 195 - Of glory obscured ; as when the sun, new risen, Looks through the horizontal misty air Shorn of his beams ; or from behind the moon, JOHN MILTON. 345 In dim eclipse, disastrous twilight sheds On half the nations, and with fear of change Perplexes monarchs.
Seite 127 - Swinging slow with sullen roar; Or if the air will not permit, Some still removed place will fit, Where glowing embers through the room Teach light to counterfeit a gloom, Far from all resort of mirth, Save the cricket on the hearth, Or the bellman's drowsy charm To bless the doors from nightly harm.
Seite 64 - ... ineffectual. Having occasion to enlarge my garden not long since, I cut down two or three such trees, one of which did not grow together. We have several persons now living in the village, who, in their childhood, were supposed to be healed by this superstitious ceremony, derived down perhaps from our Saxon ancestors, who practised it before their conversion to Christianity.
Seite 79 - Earth-worms, though in appearance a small and despicable link in the chain of Nature, yet, if lost, would make a lamentable chasm.
Seite 160 - ... methods which instinct effects by one alone. Now this maxim must be taken in a qualified sense ; for there are instances in which instinct does vary and conform to the circumstances of place and convenience.
Seite 94 - Resounds the living surface of the ground, Nor undelightful is the ceaseless hum To him who muses at noon." "Thick in yon stream of light a thousand ways, Upward and downward, thwarting and convolv'd, The quivering nations sport.
Seite 6 - Each species of hirundo drinks as it flies along, sipping the surface of the water; but the swallow alone in general washes on the wing, by dropping into a pool for many times together: in very hot weather house-martins and bank-martins also dip and wash a little. The swallow is a delicate songster, and in soft sunny weather sings both perching and flying; on trees in a kind of concert, and on chimney-tops...
Seite 138 - When one reflects on the state of this strange being, it is a matter of wonder to find that Providence should bestow such a profusion of days, such a seeming waste of longevity, on a reptile that appears to relish it so little as to squander more than two thirds of its existence in a joyless stupor, and be lost to all sensation for months together in the profoundest of slumbers.
Seite 79 - LANDS that are subject to frequent inundations are always poor ; and probably the reason may be because the worms are drowned. The most insignificant insects and reptiles are of much more consequence, and have much more influence in the economy of Nature, than the incurious are aware of...

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