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Bell, we see that the head of the malleus is so Our readers will now have traced clearly the proarticulated with the body of the incus, that the cen-gress of a sound to the stapes, the last of the chain of tre of motion of the incus is in a line drawn through the centre of its body, and consequently, that the extremity of the long process, to which we see the os orbiculare and stapes attached, moves through a greater space than that which receives the impulse of the head of the malleus. Thus a very small degree of motion, communicated by the head of the malleus to the body of the incus, must be greatly increased in the extremity of the long process of the incus, and, consequently, this mechanism of the bones essentially assists in giving strength to the vibration which is transmitted inward to the great seat of the nerve."

bones, which they will please distinctly to observe is placed accurately upon the foramen ovale, or oval hole of the labyrinth, in the same way as a seal rests upon its impression: When it has reached this point, the oscillations of the bones are given off to the membrane, which, like another tympanum, is stretched across the oval hole, and from it communicated to the fluids which fill the vestibule. The tremours in the labyrinth are then carried in an undulating wave through the semicircular canals, and thence into the spiral passages of the cochlea, in both of which, it will be remembered, the auditory nerves are expanded, and which now receive the aerial vibrations, and communicate them to the brain.

We have frequently tested this adaptation of the ear for the perception of the lowest sounds in the following manner, and have received very high grati- But the function of hearing is not yet complete : fication by the result:-In the stillness of a summer's the walls of the labyrinth being composed fully of day, when it is usually considered that all sounds bone, some contrivance is wanting to get rid of the are at rest, and when indeed they are so to a com-vibrations after they have struck the nerves. In the mon observer, we have sat ourselves down by a cavity of the tympanum we observed that two holes hedge, closed our eyes, and listened to the silence. communicated with the labyrinth, the foramen ovale, Immediately thousands of miniature melodies have or oval hole, and the foramen rotundum, or round peopled the empty void, and the very silence has hole. The latter of these answers this important become eloquent. The trill of the butterfly's wing, purpose. When the sounds have done their office, the notes and peculiar noises of multitudes of in- and reached in the scala of the cochlea the end of sects, the vibrations of a leaf, and the low gratula- their journey, they collectively strike against the tory notes which loving birds emit, all became membrane which closes this hole, and are given off distinctly audible. Indeed, we have almost fan-to the air in the tympanum. Now, it will be rememcied we could hear the unfolding of the buds and bered, that we mentioned a third aperture in the flowers. tympanum, communicating with the mouth through the eustachian tube; and as the air in the tympanum by this means is enabled freely to interchange with the atmosphere, it is at the same time enabled easily to dissipate the worn-out sounds which it receives from the foramen rotundum.

The kind Creator does not, however, stop here; for as we might have been incommoded by the inability to perceive very low sounds, so also we might have suffered from loud, sudden, or piercing ones; but for all these he has made complete provision. In the case we have described, the object to be attained was the increase of sound; but in that which we are about to explain, the end is to diminish it. This is effected by a combination of two very simple operations; first, by a relaxation of the tensity of the tympanum, just as we would slacken the string of a bow; and, secondly, by abridging the amount of leverage in the bones. The immediate agents in producing these changes, are four little muscles : the first, which is called the tensor tympani, is fastened into the body of the malleus, and by pulling the long handle of that bone, draws the tympanum inward, and, of course, tightens and prepares it for the reception of low sounds; but when a sudden irruption of sound shakes the air, the contrary effect is produced by a relaxation of the muscle, and the tympanum, loosened from its grasp, becomes comparatively flaccid, and in that state transmits a deadened, muffled impression of the offensive noise to the brain. But to ensure an immediate and sufficient relaxation of the tympanum, it has not been left to the action of this muscle alone; a second one has been added, called the laxator tympani which arises from the temporal bone, and is inserted into the handle of the malleus, and at once pulls it forward, and of course aids, while it ensures, the desired alteration. A third muscle is also inserted into the malleus, and a fourth into the stapes, and by their joint action, modify the degree of motion in the bones, and limit the quantity of sound which they transmit.

Thus is the sense of hearing made complete; and thus is man blessed by his Maker with the power of perceiving upwards of twenty thousand simple sounds: a glorious alphabet! which we may be allowed to say, should never be prostituted to any lesser use than its GREAT AUTHOR'S PRAISE.

[The Sense of Smelling in our next.]

For the Family Magazine.
THE WISH.-BY MRS. LYDIA BAXTER.
Oh! could I dwell in some lone spot,
Where fragrant breezes blow,
With a pure rill before my cot,
Passing in murmurs low;
Where sweetest flowers arise to greet
The rays of morning's sun,

And peace and plenty smiling meet

My cheerful board alone!

Oh! could I dwell with one kind friend,

In such a place as this,

Whose sorrows with my own should blend,
And sweeten all my bliss-

I would not ask for India's mines,

Nor princess' gay attire;

But sweet content a wreath should bind
Around my brow entire.

New York, May 16th, 1836.

[graphic]

LIVING COSTUMES.

[Foulah Blacksmith.]

THE above illustration represents a blacksmith at nis daily avocation in Freetown. In the Foulah suburb of the capital of Sierra Leone, we see artisans sedulously employed in various trades: making sandals and war-pouches, platting straw for hats, or writing Koran verses for sale. Their blacksmiths work ingeniously and well, in spite of the want of such tools as an American smith would consider indispensable. Sitting on the ground, the Foulah holds his strange rude bellows between his legs, and contrives to heat his metal in a little heap of glowing charcoal. These bellows are of simple construction: A couple of calabashes, with a hole at the top of each, crowned with a band of loose goatskin or calfskin, and connected together by two hollow bamboos inserted into their sides and uniting at an angle, where another single straight bamboo is fixed to serve as the nose. In working the apparatus, the Foulah grasps a skin in each hand: one he holds tightly, and strikes it down on the calabash, so that the air is forced through the tube at the side; at the same time he is raising the other open skin to its utmost stretch, so as to contain as large a volume of air as possible: he then closes it with a firm hand and dashes it down: alternately raising and depressing, he maintains a uniform current of air through the single bamboo. The gaudy-peaked cap, the curled ringlets on the shoulders, and the abundance of cotton drapery falling to the ground during the operation, make the smithy of Foulah a sight worth seeking.

At the island of Tombo, I was shown the lock of a rifle, which had been beautifully repaired by one of these men, who had never seen any excepting the fractured one in question: he had made a new bridle, and long examination was necessary to discover

what part had been substituted. On first beholding a pair of fine steel spectacles, the astonished Mahometan lifted his hand in extreme wonder at their fine workmanship and spring, and, looking at me, uttered the wonted Bismullah! (in the name of God!) yet he subsequently repaired them neatly and effectually. Silver rings of portentous dimensions, shieldshaped and stamped with abstruse hieroglyphicks, are favourite specimens of their art. In steel and leather-work, the Foulahs excel. To do them justice, however, they are great knaves. Peace be to them! It is worthy of remark, that the blacksmith and the tailor are two of the honourable professions or castes : and when in the wild country of the Timmanees, I have stood by the royal hovel of one of the great king Ali Carlie's sons, a convert, and watched the cross-legged prince, plying his coarse needle, as indefatigably and as regally as did his late majesty of Spain, of pious memory, when embroidering the garment for the virgin. His royal highness of Magbelly, however, was more selfish in his pursuits, being simply occupied in repairing an antique pair of his own trowsers. Such peaceful tastes, such industrious habits, such economical practices, are commendable especially in a prince.

White Man's Grave.

Benevolence.-IT was remarked by Cicero, that man resembled God in nothing so much as in doing good to others. Benevolence is one of those virtues which redeem the human character from the thraldom of sordid selfishness, and is indeed, as Shakspeare terms it, like the gentle dew from heaven, refreshing and cheering the kindred virtues of the heart, while it diffuses life and fertility over the "place beneath."

LADIES' DEPARTMENT.

AMUSEMENT AT HOME.

four inches and a quarter at M and N, draw lines from I through M and N to mect the outer arc at K and L. Now mark off an additional slip O P about To make Card-board Flower-stands.-PROCURE an inch wide, to serve as an overlap when glued four round pieces of deal-wood, from a turner, for together, and the figure is complete, unless you wish the bottom of the flower-stands, each half an inch in to have the top finished off with a vandiked or thickness, and having a sloping edge, like the sides scolloped edge, in which case, before it is cut out, of a saucer, but not so much aslant. The card- the form of the vandike must be drawn in the folboard, on which the paintings are done, is now to be lowing manner. Determine the height, and mark it marked with a pair of compasses, making the upper off at a, through which draw an arc as before; now line parallel to the lower. Perhaps the most satis- ascertain the middle point of the arc C K, this may factory plan will be to form a pattern upon a stiff be very quickly done by lightly placing one leg of sheet of common cartridge-paper, to avoid the risk the compasses on the point C, and with the other, of spoiling the paintings. This may readily be done having fixed upon the centre as near as the eye can in the following manner :-draw a straight line, A B, judge, turn the compasses alternately from C to K, to down the middle of the cartridge-paper, then measure see how much you are out; by repeating this once the height of the flower-pot placed on the wooden or twice you will find the exact centre, which mark at bottom, and mark it on the upper part of A B, as at b; divide 6 K in the same manner as at c, and c K CD; you must next measure the width across the as at d; now run the compasses along the arc from K top of the flower-pot, adding about half an inch, to L. making a puncture at every step, and you will otherwise you will not be able to get it out when you find that you have very correctly divided it into sixteen wish; divide the measurement in half, with a pair portions. To find the points for the top of the vanof compasses, and placing one leg on the point C, dike, I again halve these portions as at e f, and with make a mark on each side, as at E and F; the a long straight rule carry lines from I through e and smaller diameter of the wooden bottom must be f, making pencil-marks at g h, and so all along the treated in the same manner, and marks made as at arc. It will much assist the operation if a stout pin G and H on each side of D; then, with a long ruler, draw straight lines through E G and F H, and you will find that they both pass through the line A B at the same point I. Draw through D the arc MG HN with the compasses; but as they will not be sufficiently long to describe the upper arc, you can take a long slip of Bristol board, about an inch wide, and fixing one end with a drawing-pin to the point I, make a small hole through the other end at the proper distance to fall upon C; insert the point of a pencil through it, and describe the arc K E FL:

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be stuck perpendicularly into the table through I, against which one end of the ruler may rest, and turn as on a centre. If you then draw lines from point to point the figure is finished; and it may be cut out with a pair of scissors. This pattern may then be placed over each of the drawings, and a pencilline carried all around it; placing it so carefully as to let the drawings be straight in the middle.

If you like to trace the outline of this form upon transparent tracing paper, you can place that over the paintings, and trace the form with black paper; or a more simple plan still will be, to place the paper, out of which the form was cut, and mark a pencilline round as much of it as is left whole from cutting out the form; or perhaps it will please you still more if you place your pattern on another part of the cartridge-paper, and after drawing a line round the whole, cut it out so as to leave the opening entire, when it may be placed over the drawings without any uncertainty. With some strong gum, thick paste, or thin glue, the ends are to be joined together. It is now to be placed on a board or table, and a flat ruler laid upon the pasted parts, with some lead weights on that, to press it well while wet; in about two hours it will be set enough to admit of being removed without the risk of separating, and the piece of wood for the bottom may be put in, by applying thin glue to the lower part of the cardboard inside, where the wood will touch it, and also to the edge of the wood. This must be done as quickly as possible, lest the glue become dry, which it will do rapidly. To set the bottom in its proper place, without touching and soiling the sides, fix a tracer firmly into the middle of the wood, and lower it down carefully until it reaches the bottom of the card-board.

Before the card-board is joined together in its circular form, a piece of drawing paper, one half of which is notched all along, is to be pasted on the inside of the card-board, letting the notched part hang below the card: it may then be bent into its round form and fastened, and when dry, the notched

paper is turned within, and being well gummed or pasted, put on to the stand, the separate pieces of paper pressed down, and a book, or something heavy, laid on the top until it is dry, to keep it close together.

The most simple of the cements we have mentioned, is liquid gum, which is made from the best gum arabick procured at a chymist's. The difference in the quality of this article is discovered by its colour, the whitest being the best. Put a tablespoonful of gum into a teacup, and pour about two of the same spoonfuls of water over it, and one spoonful of pale vinegar, and leave it for a day, then stir it well with a spoon, and pour it into a bottle for use. The vinegar is serviceable, both in dissolving the gum and in preserving it from becoming mouldy. The most frequent errour, in making liquid gum, is that of putting too great a proportion of water, and thus lessening its adhesive quality. To make good paste, take a large spoonful of flour and put it into a basin, then add as much cold water as will moisten it, and mix it thoroughly with a spoon; add a little more cold water until it is of the consistency of cream: pour this into about half a pint of boiling water, stirring the water at the time with a spoon; add half a teaspoonful of powdered alum, and let it boil about two or three minutes, stirring it all the time, when it will be fit for use. The alum will preserve it for weeks. To make glue fit for cardboard work, either common or Indian glue may be used. Put a piece of about the size of a small finger into a teacup, half full of cold water, and let it remain for twenty-four hours; it may then be placed over a small saucepan of boiling water for half an hour, when it will be melted and fit for use. There should be enough water in the saucepan to touch the bottom of the cup when placed on it. If the common glue be used, a little powdered white sugar, about as much as will lie on a sixpence, may be added to prevent its drying too rapidly.

which principaily give shape to the limbs. Almost every muscle is fixed to two different bones by its extremities; and its middle generally passes more loosely over one or more joints which it is destined to move.

Of the peculiar mechanism of muscular motion, it is enough here to say, that these muscles receive nerves which communicate with the lesser brain, (the cerebel or organ of the will); and when that organ wills a movement, it, through these nerves, excites those muscles, which are to be the means of the peculiar operation, to shorten and swell up. Now, as the muscles cannot bring their fixed extremities nearer to each other without also bringing, along with these, the bones to which they are attached, the intermediate joint or joints are bent, and motion takes place in the limb, or throughout the body. Such is the general mechanism of all our greater motions.

OF THE VERTEBRAL COLUMN IN PARTICULAR.

One of the most important portions of the body is the vertebral column, spinal column, or backbone, as it is commonly called.

The backbone is a pillar composed of twenty-four short bones, called vertebræ, having somewhat cylindrical bodies before, a bony ring in the middle, an irregular projection on each side, and a prominence in the centre which is felt distinctly from the neck and down the back. These are placed one upon another, the smaller being always uppermost; and they extend from the large bones that support the body, when sitting, to the lowest part of the head.

These small bones, or vertebræ, are connected together by the whole of the flat upper and under surfaces of their bodies, a thick cartilage or gristle being interposed between every two; this gristle is capable of being compressed; and hence a person is taller in the morning, after a good night's rest, than in the evening, when this cartilage has been pressed down by the weight of the head. The vertebræ are

OF THE STRUCTURE OF THE BODY, AS CONNECT- also connected by the apposition of certain lateral

ED WITH EXERCISE.

OF THE BODY GENERALLY.

In relation to the purpose of exercise, the body may be regarded as composed of many levers, connected with, and moveable upon, each other in various degrees.

The bones more especially constitute the levers, upon which all the greater motions depend.

The joints, or articulations, at once connect these levers, and facilitate their motion.

To form these joints, the ends of the bones are rounded, remarkably smooth, and lubricated with a peculiar liquid; are surrounded by protecting capsules or bags; and are united, laterally or otherwise, by ligaments or bands, which limit the direction of their motions. Between some of their ends exist also moveable cartilages, by which their motions are extended, and all shocks which pass through them are diminished.

The muscles, generally disposed in pairs on each side of the body, are the moving powers.

These bundles of muscular fibres form the layers and masses of flesh, which lie between the skin and the various bones which cover the neck, the back, the sides, the pelvis or haunches, and hips, and

projections or processes. They are maintained in their relative position by means of small bundles of strong and elastick ligamentous fibres, attached firmly to the margins of their bodies, and to the projections of every two bones.

The position of the backbone, or spinal column, thus formed and connected, is, in all its lateral relations to the plain on which we stand, perfectly perpendicular; but it is naturally curved, forward and backward.

While, by the cartilaginous connexion of the bodies of the vertebræ, and by the disposition of some parts of the projections that have been mentioned, joints are formed, and provision is made for the column being bent in every direction, other projections allow certain muscles at once to take firm hold, and greatly to increase their purchase in actually bending the spinal column.

The moving power of the vertebral column is composed of these muscles. Being chiefly attached to the sides and back of each vertebra, they form two considerable masses of fleshy fibres placed one on each side of the ridge in the middle of the back.

These masses exert such balancing power over

every separate bone, or vertebra, in relation to or upon that placed immediately beneath it, as to keep the whole pile at rest and upright, in regard to its lateral aspect. They bend it also both laterally and backward. It is chiefly by other muscles on the forepart of the body that it is bent forward. By the whole, it may be bent in any requisite direction within certain limits; and after performing its various inflections, it is, by means of its elastick ligaments and other muscles, enabled to regain the vertical position.

Thus, each of the four-and-twenty vertebræ, or small bones of the spinal column, is a lever, whose support is the upper surface of the somewhat larger vertebra upon which it rests.

natural or artificial caves, great numbers of which are still to be found in Palestine, Syria, Egypt, and Persia. In the mountainous country of southern Palestine there are abundance of natural caves in the rocks, which might easily be formed into commodious sepulchral vaults; and where such natural caves were wanting, sepulchres were hewn in the rock for such families as were able to incur the necessary expense; for this was the mode of sepulchre decidedly preferred by those who could obtain it. The arrangement and extent of these caves varied with circumstances. Those in the declivity of a mountain were often cut in horizontally; but to others there was usually a descent by steps from the surface. The roofs of the vaults are commonly arched; and sometimes, in the more spacious vaults, supported by colonnades. These rocky chambers are generally Having very briefly described this column, it is spacious, being obviously family vaults, intended to here especially necessary to observe, that the bones receive several dead bodies. Niches, about six or of adults owe their solidity to an earthy material, seven feet deep, are usually cut in the sides of the called phosphate of lime; but that the bones of vault, each adapted to receive a single corpse ; but in infants contain very little of this matter, and are, some vaults, small rooms are cut in the same manner; accordingly, very soft and flexible. In proportion, and in others, stone slabs of the same length, are however, as more earthy matter is added, the bones fixed horizontally against the walls, or cut out of of children become harder and less flexible; and the rock, one above another, serving as shelves on this hardening increases till the prime of life, when which the corpses were deposited: in others, howno trace of the soft part, or cartilage, on or in which ever, the floor itself is excavated for the reception of the bony matter was deposited, can be observed. The progress of this hardening of the bones may, by various causes, be accelerated or retarded. This, obviously, is important in relation to the constrained positions to which girls are subjected.

IMPORTANT CIRCUMSTANCES TO BE NOTED.

the dead, in compartments of various depths, and in the shape of a coffin. Some of the bodies were placed in stone coffins, provided with sculptured lids; but such sarcophagi were by no means in general use; the bodies, when wound up in the graveFarther, in youth, all the bones are formed of vaclothes, being usually deposited without any sort of rious distinct pieces, and these pieces long continue coffin or sarcophagus. The vaults are always dark, very imperfectly connected. Every one has remark- the only opening being the narrow entrance, which ed the soft places in the heads of infants; the bones is usually closed by a large stone, rolled to its of the head not being perfectly formed at birth. So, mouth; although some of a superiour description are too, every long bone consists of three separate shut by stone doors, hung in the same manner as pieces during early youth, and these do not become the doors of houses, by pivots turning in holes, in perfectly consolidated till the age of sixteen, the architrave above, and in the threshold below. eighteen, or later. This also is important in relation to the constrained positions to which girls are subjected.

Some of these vaults consist of several chambers, one within another, connected by passages. The innermost chambers are usually deeper than the Not only do these causes of flexibility exist in the exteriour, with a descent of several steps. When bones in general, but, in relation to the vertebral there is more than one chamber, the outermost seems column, or backbone, the substance is liable, by to have a sort of anteroom, the walls being seldom long-continued pressure or extension, to be perma- occupied with sepulchral niches or shelves. This nently altered in thickness at any part, and thereby cave of Machpelah became, after the purchase by to alter also the direction of the vertebral column. Abraham, the family sepulchre of the Hebrew paThroughout the centre of this flexible spinal column triarchs; and it is reasonable to conclude that it was also, there exists a somewhat three-sided tube, for the of superiour size, and contained more than one purpose of containing the portion of the nervous apartment. The Spanish Jew, Benjamin of Tudela, system, improperly denominated the spinal marrow, visited the place about six hundred and fifty years a nervous and brainy production, on which the sen- ago; and as his account is precise and interesting, sation and motion of the body and limbs depend, we quote it from "Purchas his Pilgrimes," 1625:and which is connected superiorly with the greater "I came to Hebron, seated in a plaine; for Hebron, brain before, and the lesser behind. The last two the ancient metropolitan citie, stood upon an hill, but facts are of the greatest importance, considered in it is now desolate. But in the valley there is a field, relation to the constrained positions to which girls wherein there is a duplicitie, that is, as it were, two are subjected.

ILLUSTRATIONS OF SCRIPTURE.

In the twenty-third chapter of Genesis, and the nineteenth verse, we find the phrase," the cave of the field of Machpelah." This chapter affords the earliest notice of the practice, which was formerly very prevalent in the East, of depositing the dead in

little valleyes, and there the citie is -placed; and there is an huge temple there, called Saint Abraham, and that place was the synagogue of the lewes, at what time the country was possessed by the Ismaelites. But the Gentiles, who afterwards obtayned and held the same, built sixe sepulchres in the temple, by the names of Abraham, Sara, Rebecca, Iacob, and Lia [Leah]. And the inhabitants now tell the pilgrimes that they are the monuments of the patri

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