whole solution in full, without any approximation whatever. The discoverer has been employed, it seems, some years in the prosecution of his object, and only waits a remuneration for his toil, to lay the matter before the public.

This thing may have something at the bottom of it, and it merits examination; but the business looks a little too much like the alchymists' plan of changing lead to gold, which required years for completion, and which few were able to understand, or were permitted to look into. It is, we presume, the same that Mr. A. Y. refers to in his article on this subject in the last number of the Tracts and Lyceum.

0. S.

To the Editor of the Tracts and Lyceum.

I HAVE been interested in reading the communication in the Tracts and Lyceum, concerning the Springfield Somnambulist, and several inquiries respecting her having suggested themselves, which, being answered, might elucidate the philosophy of the mental phenomena of the case, I take the liberty to propose them.

Was the patient, during her paroxysms, ever made acquainted with her then actual state, and if so, what effect had that on her?

How extended was the knowledge she possessed during these paroxysms, and to what things did it relate?

How much of this knowledge was evidently a portion of that which she possessed in her waking hours, and how much, and what part was peculiar to her sleeping state?

How is it probable that particular portions of this peculiar knowledge could have been obtained?

When changes in things under her observation took place during her sanity, how were they regarded by her during her sleeping paroxysms?

Perhaps some of your readers have seen a French story of a Josephine, who was a somnambulist, and who, when in one of these fits, was directed to write a statement of what she was doing, and to sign it. She did so, and on

awaking, recognized her hand-writing, though she had no recollection of writing it. What might be the effect of similar experiments upon the lady in question?

Are the circumstances attending the paroxysms traceable to any peculiar state of some organ or organs of the brain?

Do any of the powers of these organs manifest themselves in a strong and palpable manner, especially such organs as are not powerful during her ordinary waking state?

A READER.

[Furnished for the Tracts and Lyceum.]

THE WHIPPOOR WILL.

HAVING never seen any particular account of the habits of the whippoorwill, and being under the impression that they are not well known, I thought the following remarks might be interesting to some.

The peculiar cry of this singular bird, which resounds in all our groves during the early summer evenings, is familiar to every one; but its object, in making this cry, is perhaps known to few among the acquaintances of this nocturnal visitor.

It seems that it is the call of the bird to its mate. Having lived where they came nightly to the very door, I have had a good opportunity to watch their habits, as far as the dusk of twilight would permit. After the call of whippoorwill had been repeated for some time, another individual would frequently arrive, and then it ceased. There was then heard a kind of croaking in a low and subdued tone, or else a clucking, with intervals of over a second between each note.

From these circumstances, we have good reason to believe that the cause assigned is the true one. From the apparently solitary habits of the bird, and the time at which it comes out from its solitudes of the forest, it would

seem necessary that the bird should have some means of indicating its place to its mate.

A similar provision is assigned to the glow-worm, whose winged partner would with difficulty find its creeping consort, were it not thus provided; and this is no doubt the use of the flickering taper of the fire-fly, which we all have loved from our childhood.

The whippoorwill begins to sing about the first of May, but is not much heard till near the middle. His song gradually dies away in June, and, by midsummer, he is hardly to be heard. He is one of our most singular birds, and, I think, peculiar to our country.

ORNIS.

[From the Advocate of Science.]

TRANSPORTATION OF PERIODICALS.

A WRITER in the Boston Tracts and Lyceum has been indulging in some speculations relating to the conveyance of papers and periodicals over the United States. He objects to the post office system as being too expensive; and more so than necessary, from the rapidity with which the mails are transported: our mail stages carrying a load of 1000 pounds at the rate they now proceed, and at three times the expense of conveying the same load at a moderate rate. He states, that to transport this load, on the present system, the horses are changed every twelve miles. To carry the load thirty-six miles, therefore, twelve horses are required; at the rate of four miles an hour, four horses would transport this load in wagons. Hence, at a moderate speed, a load of magazines and books would be conveyed at one third the cost of transportation by rapid mail stages; and this would greatly promote the diffusion of knowledge.

We do not accord with this writer's project, for several reasons. The first is, because the evil he complains ofthe postage on periodicals-may be remedied by other means, without retarding their progress over the country.

That is, simply by paying no postage at all. The propriety of this measure was under consideration at the last session of Congress; and we can see no good reason why it was not adopted. For sure, there is no race of mortals on earth who labor so hard for the public good, and receive so little encouragement, as the members of our own honorable fraternity; and particularly such as are engaged in conducting scientific periodicals. To our entreaties for patronage, the people will tell us they can understand nothing about science, and consequently it would be nonsense for them to subscribe to our works. They will not believe, that to science they are indebted for the larger proportion of their comforts-to half-starved editors and authors for all their knowledge. As for soliciting assistance from government, in any scientific enterprise, it would be just as rational to ask charity of a miser. We give it credit, however, for opening its heart so much in reply to a reasonable favor, as to tell some of us to call again. But this is not what we began to speak about. If editors were permitted to send their papers through the country free of postage, and to receive their letters with the same bounty, it would conduce more to the diffusion of knowledge, than by transporting them at the rate of four miles an hour from one end of the country to another. In some cases, our Monthlies,' 'Quarterlies' and 'Annuals,' would be months, and quarters and years in reaching their destination. No, no; we prefer the old plan, if it does cost a little more. Admitting the adoption of the one proposed, we can illustrate the effect by an anecdote which happened under our eyes one day, two or three years since, while waiting very patiently at the post office for the mails to be opened. It so happened that one of the mail stages was on the point of starting off, when the driver was hailed by an honest looking farmer, who asked if his stage passed through a town about twenty miles disOn receiving an affirmative answer, he was half way in the vehicle, when, as by an instinctive impulse, he glanced at the horses, whose large, prominent ribs had been advertising for oats a long time past. Here he paused; and the driver, wondering what should keep him

tant.

there, solicited him to proceed. Not I, eheigh,' was the reply; I'll walk there, bein' as I'm in a sort of hurry.' So people will not wait for a four-mile-an-hour cart, when they have those that go five times as fast.

THE African Ant, termites, is celebrated for the high edifices which it rears, in the form of a sugar-loaf, so solid and firm, that wild cattle run over them with impunity, never breaking through. Some of these dwellings exceed twelve feet in height. Internally they are divided into numerous apartments, and have subterranean galleries, says the German Lexicon, connected with them, from the extremities of which, the insects issue, to commit depredations. When the structures are broken open, the soldiers fight with great fury, and bite everything they meet. Each colony of all the different species of ants, say most entomologists, contains but just one perfect male and female. In tropical climates, termites are a terrible scourge, as they destroy every kind of cloth, as well as wooden furniture what is worse, they undermine, completely, the