Lancaster gazette. [volume] (Lancaster, Mass.) 1828-1830, 1828-10-07
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS,

On the borders OF the stream, now CALI
ed by this name, (as tradition saith) there
formerly dwelt good old lady, of rather
gossipping disposition, and who was pos~
sessed of an Unsuitable curiosity to learn,
and an uncomfortable desire to be the
first to communicate, all the wonderful
news in the vicinity. Among other things,
she was prodigiously fond of hearing of
all the lamentable cases of sickness far
and near, and seemed to live on the pains
and aches, the grpes and grumbles" of
her fellow creatures. With this fondness
for the sad and horrible, she never failed
to run out when the doctor was passing,
and bawl as loud as she could" Doctor
scho s SICK ?" This she repeated so often,
that at length the man of medicine grew
tired of her opportunities, and invented
hundred stories of impossible and improba-
BILE cases, with which he amused himself
and ridiculed the old woman's love of the
! marvellous, but which she swallowed with
the same avidity as she did the Westmin-
ster Catechism.
| At one time he told her he had been to see
patient who had the Mortal Borborigmus,
and that he had cured him completely by
taking out his "insides" and washing
them in soap suds and vinegar. GO Is it pos
sible, Doctorw exclaimed the old woman.
"weli, l hope the man will have a clean
conscience after this"
AT another time the doctor told her he
had called to see a child that was born
without any tongue. 80 me p cried the
old lady show will the poor thing ever
talk lis it boy or gal, Doctor ?'' /" Al
girl" he replied. "Ah, WE'LL" said she,
q" [ ant bit aieared then but what it will
talk well enough
On third occasion he told her he had
been to visit woman who was bitten by
a rattlesnake. He said the patient was a
great snuff taker and She was one day
picking up blackberres, the snake which
was concealed among the briers being
highly enraged at the smell of sunf,
sprang from his lurking place and seized
the woman by the end Of the nose. 60
Lord !" CALCULATED the sympathizing lis
tener, and giving her own nose a thorough
wipe, didn't it kill the woman 20 No,
by Jove," returned the doctor, "but it
killed the snake.''
But to return to the etymology. The
doctor from being so often questioned by
the old lady, who s sick ~ at last began
to call the neighbourhood of her residence
Who s sick !; and when asked by his own
neighbours, (which way are you ridingto-
day, Doctor 2" would reply jocularly, "I'm
going to Who's SICK" This appellation
was atfirst caught from the doctor and fami-
liarly used by his neighbours, and afterwards
by those more remote; and thus not only
the neighbourhood of the old lady, but in
process of time the whole stream and the
valley on its borders, came by slight al
teration in the spelling, to be called by
the name of HoOsick.--Berk. american.
BEAUTIFUL CHEMICAL EXPERIMENT.
The following beautiful chemical exper-
iment may easily be performed by lady,
to the great establishment of the circle OF
her tea party. Take two or three blades
OF red cabbage, cut or tear them into
small bits put into basin and poor on a
pint of boiling water, let it stand an hour,
then decant the liquid into chrystal bot
| tie; it will be of a fine blue colour. Then
take four wine glasses, into one put two
or three drops of sulphurick acid, or five
or SIX drops of strong vinegar into anoth-
er put five or six drops of solution of So
da; into third put as much of strong
solution Of alum, and let the fourth re-
main empty. The glasses may be prepar-
ed some time before. Fill up the glasses
from the crystal bottle, and the LIQUID
poured into glass containing the acid
will quickly change colour, and become
beautiful red, that into a glass contain-
ing the soda fine green, and that into
the alum fine purple, whilst that poured
into the empty one will, of course, remain
unchanged. BY adding a little vinegar
to the green, it will Immediately change
to red; and on adding little of the So
luton of soda to the red, it will assume a.
fine green thus showing the action of
acids and alkalies OH vegetable blues.
We extract the following curious anec-
dote from Casanova's Memoirs %
While at St. Petersburgh I was present
at scene which much surprised mel
mean the blessing Of the waters of the
river on the day of Epiphany, at time
when the ice on the Neya was five feet
thick. They christen children by Dip
ping them in hole which they had cut
in the ice. 1t happened on this occasion,
that the Bishop who performed the cere-
mony of baptizing, let child fall out of
his hands into the water, and it Instantly
disappeared. The Bishop, without at all
endeavouring to recover the child, turned
coolly round, and desired the attendants