Year: 1874

OUT OF Doors. BY Rev. J. G. Wood. London
Longmans, Green Co.


This is bracIng. healthy book, written by q 70.
bust man. In earliest infancy he acquired the
habit OF close observation and taste for outdoor
life. With microscope In hand he was accustomed
for hours to watch the movements OF whole classes
OF insects which common eyes never sec. one can
hardly read this volume without feeling that he
must spend his last penny In an aquarium. Life
seems TO be hardly worth the having II one has
not q pet toad and stock Of bluebottle nes to
feed him wtthal or frog who has just begun 70
know his name, or little newt who every now
and again strips his own skin on and swallows H.
at least dozen or two OF spiders, those plucky
little pugilists who are always ready for q fight.
That Mr.. Wood must be fine specimen
OF the physical man is evidenced BY the incidental
way IN which he speaks OF . half-mile swim as
matter Of daily occurrence. We DO not wonder
that he can produce book after book In q rapid
succession that would send most men to the hos
pital with congestion OF the BRAIN If he Is able
to perform such physical feats as are suggested by
this incident. His encounter with q medura,
CLASSIFIED scienuncally as the cvanea capSllata,
offers such q plausible explanation OF certain
deaths by drowning commonly attributed to the
cramp. and is wtrhal SO interesting as sho wing
the general style Of the writer, that we reproduce
.
while swimming on the Margate coast saw at q
distance something that looked ike a patch OF
sand, occasionally visible and occasionally covered
as 1t were, by the waves Knowing the coast pretty
well and thinking that no sand ought to be
in such locality, l swan toward the
strange object, and had got within some eight or
ten yards OF 1t before finding that IL was composed
OF animal substances. naturally thought 1t must
be the refuse OF some animal shat had been thrown
overheard, and swan away from it, not being
anxious to come in contact with so unpleasant
substance. While still approaching it 1 had
noticed q slight tingling In the toes OF the left
loot; but as invariably su1er from cramp In
those regions while swimming took the pins and
needles sensation for symptom Of the accus-
toned cramps and thought nothing Of 1t. AS I
swan on, however, the tingling extended further
and further, and began to feel very much ike the
sting Of a nettle. Suddenly the truth nashed
across me, and MADE for shore as fast as could.
On turning round for that purpose I raised
my right arm out OF the water and found
that dozens of slender and transparent
threads were hanging from 1t. and evidently at
tached to the medura, now some forty or fifty
feet away. The flaments were slight and delicate
as those OF SPIDERS web but there the simihtude
ceased for each was armed with q myriad
poisoned darts that worked their way into the
tissues and affected the nervous system ike the
sting OF wasps. Severe, however. as was this
pain II the least part Of the torture inflicted
by these apparently Insignificant weapons. Both
the respiration and the action OF the heart be-
came affected, while at short intervals sharp
pangs shot through the chest, as II bullet had
passed through heart and lungs, causing me to
1all as II stuck by leaden MISSILE" 1t Is not
strange that Mr.. Wood warns battling against the
attacks OF the cv1neG Capellatd The whole vol
ume has an interest Tor the general reader which
VIII insure . ready and large sale.