The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1824-09-13 00:00:00

MUSICAL 1 ISIL

The following account of a musical phenomenon, sup-
posed to be produced by fish, may not be unacceptable to
our readers. It is taken from lieutenant White's Ilistory
of a Voyage to the China &a, and occurred to him at a
spacious estuary on the Douai river, in Cochin China:—
" Our ears were saluted by a variety of sounds resembling
the deep bass of an organ, accompanied by the hollow gut-
tural (lama of the bull frog, the heavy chime of a bell,
and the tones which if:mg-imam would give to an estor-
mous Jews -harp. This combination produced a thrilling
i sensation on tit,: nerves. and, as we fancied, a tremulous
motion in the vessel. The excitonent of great ettiosity
was visible on every face on board, and many were the sage
speculations of the sailors on this occasion. Anxious to
discover the cause of this gratuitous concert, I went below,
where I found the noise, which I soon ascertained pre-
meth's' from the bottom of the vessel, ineress:d to a full
land uninterrupted chorus. The perceptions which occur-
red tome on this occasion were similar to those produced by
the torpedo or electric eel, which I had before felt; but
whether these feelings were caused by the concussions of
sound, or by actual vibrations in the body of the vessel, I
could neither fluff nor since den nnine. In a few mo-
ments the sounds, which had commenced near the stern of
the vessel, became general throughout the whole length of
the bottom. Our linguist informed us that ouradmiration
was caused by a fish of a flat oval form, like a flounder,
which, by a certain conformation of the month, possesses
the power of adhesion to other objects in a wonderful de-
gree, and that they were peculiar to the Seven Mouths (the
part of the river where we then were); but whether the
noises we heard were produced by any particular construc-
tion of the sonorific organs, or by spasmodic vibrations of
the body, be was ignora: t. Very shortly after leaving the
basin, and ciao iog the branch through which our course
lay, a sensible diminution was perceived in the number of
our fellow-travellers, and before we had proceeded a mile
they were no more heard. On the ship's return down the
river, the same submarine serenade again saluted the ears
of the crew at the saute spot."-7'he Chemist.

.e rmi tleman who la nnw Secretary to the
onassoner of the lonian Isiands is not Rue-
'he French Papers subscribed to a recent
Frederick Adam, but Joseph Rudsdell.
ialf-pay ' • and previous to his appoint-
, to the Lord High Cotnenissiontr' hail
personal stafrof Sir Frederick Adam, as
' staff of the lonian Islands.
an extract from a letter dated Gibraltar,
'he expedition which was fitted out here
:onstitutionaliats against Tarifa, was a
tier erise avd yet it served to show the
stid certainly exists among all the Spa. I We mentioned on Saturday that the individual who hail
of the Mediterranean. Every man of l Men examined by the Commune of the Stock Exchange.
troops which General O'l) noell sent: relative to some transactions in Russian Rondo, had been
Algeswas, joined the Consuittionali,ts. allowed to receive his differences. We find, however, that
ik besotted Ferdinand reigns there will , the Conmeittee passed a resolution dechwing that they did
in that country, and the nr.inent the, not approve of the triode which lie had adopted in settling
he number of his days will be ended." • his account.