In a description of West Connaught, Ireland, by Roderic O'Flaherty (1684), the barnacle is thus mentioned: "There is the bird engendered by the sea, out of timber long lying in the sea. Some call these birds clakes, and solan'd geese, and some puffins, others barnacles; we call them girrinn." Butler tells us, in "Hudibras," of those
"Who from the most refined of saints
As naturally grow miscreants,
As barnacles turn soland geese
In the islands of the Orcades."
The numerous tentacles or arms of the animal inhabiting the barnacle shells, which are disposed in a semicircular form and have a feathery appearance, seem to have been all that could reasonably have been alleged in favor of this strange supposition.
Odd Way to Discover a Dead Body.
In the "Gentleman's Magazine" (February 8th, 1767), is a curious notice of the mode of discovering the body of a drowned person: "An inquisition was taken at Newbury, Berks, on the body of a child nearly two years old, who fell into the river Kennet, and was drowned. The body was discovered by a very singular experiment. After diligent search had been made in the river for the child, to no purpose, a two-penny loaf, with a quantity of quicksilver put into it, was set floating from the place where the child, it was supposed, had fallen in, which steered its course down the river upwards of half a mile, before a great number of spectators, when the body, happening to lay on the contrary side of the river, the loaf suddenly tacked about and swam across the river, and gradually sunk near the child, when both the child and the loaf were brought up with grabbers ready for that purpose."
The Salagrama Stone.
In India the "salagrama" stone is supposed to possess extraordinary powers. It is about the size of a billiard ball, of a black color, and usually perforated, as if by worms. It is believed to be found only in the Gandaki, a river in Nepaul, which, according to the followers of Vishnu, flows from the foot of that deity, but, according to the Saivas, from the head of Siva. The fortunate possessor of this stone preserves it in a clean cloth, from which it is frequently taken and bathed and perfumed. The water with which the ablution is performed acquires a sin-expelling potency, and it is therefore swallowed and greatly prized. This stone possesses many other mysterious powers, and in death it is an essential ingredient in the viaticum. The departing Hindoo holds it in his hand, and, through his confidence in its influence, hope brightens the future, and he dies in peace.
Charm for the Cramp.
Coleridge tells us of a couplet that it was common to repeat in his boyhood, to relieve the foot when asleep, or to cure the cramp in the leg. The sufferer pressed the sole of the foot hard on the floor, and said—
"The devil is tying a knot in my leg!
Mark, Luke and John, unloose it, I beg!"