Massachusetts spy and Worcester advertiser. [volume] ([Worcester, Mass.]) 1823-1825, 1824-12-22

81 know very well that those who
are commonly called learned women,
have lost all manner of credit by their
impairment talkativeness and cohceit of
themselves.-It' is a wrong method and
jill choice of books that makes them just
so much the worse for what they have
read. "-Swifi's Letterto Young Lady.
All my dearest Maria Louisa! you
who are still enjoying at the Institution
the lectures of the most elegant of all
professors you who twice week have
an, opportunity of Witnessing his ingeni-
Gus experiments in pneumatics, acros-
tatics, and hydrostatics, while he explains
all the different 'ologies of the alphabet,
from. anthology to zoology you who
are, perhaps, at this moment inhaling
the gas of paradise, how do ] envy you
your sensations and associations Most
joyfully do / sit down to perform my
promise of writing an account Of my
journey TO Worthing, not to indulge in
the frivolous tittle-tattle to which so
many OF our sex are addicted, but to at
tempt scientific journal worthy of our
studies, and of the opportunities afforded
us by our constant attendance at so many
of the learned lectures in London.
Nothing occurred on the road worthy of
particular mention; the indications of
the barometer, the mean temperature of
the thermometer, and the contents of
the pluviometer, will be found in the
tables which we have agreed TO inter-
change weekly. In the meadows
through which we occasionally passed,
/ observed several fine specimens of
the mammaia class of quadrupeds, such
rs the Dos taurus, or common OK; the
oDis. artes. Of Linnaus, or sheep; the
equus caballss, or horse the asinus, or
ass, both Jenny and Jack and the
cnPrGG hircus, or common goat, both
Billy and Nanny. By-the-by, these vul-
gar methods of discriminating genders
are very unscientific, and may often lead
to mistakes. Learned language cannot
be too precise.
In the hedges recognized some Gu
rious flowers, particularly the BELLS Of
the order pOlggomia superfua, vmgo the
daisy; the cardamine, TO which Shakes
peare has given the vulgar name of the
lady's smock the caItha, or marigold,
with its radiated Discus flower, to
which the lower orders assign coarser
appellation culverkeys, mentioned in
Walton's Angler; mobridate mustard,
or charlock; the primula, or primrose
Vioiets, (you remember Shakespeare's
sweet lines,
"Violets dim,
But sweeter than the lids Of Juno's eyes,
Or Cytherea's breath;''l
lolium and fs,maria, or darnel and filma-
tory, ingredients in the wreath Of the
p broken hearted Ophelia together with
several fine specimens of the carlruts,
or common thistle.
On our arrival at Worthing, we dined
with our friends the Tomkins family,
where we had the scapula of the oUis, OF
shoulder of mutton, with sauce Of
macerated cepe, two birds ofthe gillina-
ceous tribe served, with sisymbrium, or
watercresses, and the customary vege-
tables of brassica, lactuca and spinaeia,
through none Of which the aqueous fluid
had been sufficiently allowed to perco-
late. There was also soup, which re-
tanned so considerable portion of Gallo
ric that it scalded my palate epidermis,
and the piper nigr,im, or black pepper,
with which it was seasoned, occasioned
a very unpleasant degree of Utilization
in the whole of the oral region. In the
afternoon, the water in the kettle not
having been raised to 2l2 of Fahrenheit,
or that point at which evaporation COM
mences, the thea viridiS, or green tea,
formed an imperfect decoction, in which
state | believe its diaphoretic qualities
are injurious. Mrs. Tomkins declared
that she never drank any thing herself
but the simple element; but informed
Aer that if she meant water, it was by
no means simple element, but com
pounded of oxygen and hydrogen; and
avai!ed myself of this opportunity for
instructing her that atmospheric air is
also a mixture, containing about seventy
three parts of azotic, and twenty-seven
of oxygen gas, at which the ignorant
creature only exclaimed, I" Well, | have
seen myself good many red gashes a.
cross the sky, particularly at sunset"
She was dressed in gown woven from
the hlamentS of the phalena bombyr, or
silkworm, dyed in red tincture of the
small insect called cOccus ihcus by Lin
nauS, which is found on the bark of the
querc~s cocfea. BY way of changing
the conversation, which was turning up
on Miss T--'s proficiency in music,
asked her in alusion to the geological
controversy, whether she preferred the
Vulcanian or the Neptunian systems,
when the silly girl replied with stare,
that she had not heard either of the