he gravely said, "The light of the sun is not a fluid; for it cannot be agitated by the wind. It is not a solid; for it is impossible to separate a single particle from it. It consists not of fire; for it is not to be extinguished in water. It is not a spirit; for it is visible. It is not a body; for it cannot be felt. It has not even a locomotive power; for it does not agitate the lightest bodies. It is evidently therefore a nonentity." In fine, this philosopher, by incessantly contemplating the sun, and reasoning upon its light, had lost his eyes, and, what is worse, his understanding. He imagined, not that his sight was lost, but that the sun no longer existed. His conductor was a Negro, who, having seated his master under a cocoa-tree, took up one of its nuts from the ground, and began to make a lamp of its shell, a wick of its rough filaments, and to extract from its kernel a little oil for his lamp.While the Negro was thus employed, the blind man, sighing, said to him; "There is no longer then any light in the world?" "There is the light of the sun," answered the Negro. "What is the sun?" replied the blind man. "I know no more of it," returned the slave," than that its rising is the beginning of my labour, and its setting the end of it. The light of the sun is of less consequence to me than that of my lamp, which enlightens my cottage, and without which I could not serve you in the night." Then taking up his lamp, "This, said he, is my sun.' At this conversation, one of the villagers, who walked with crutches, began to laugh; and supposing that the blind man had been born so, he said to him "Know that the sun is a globe of fire, which rises every day in the sea, and sets each evening in the west, in the mountains of Sumatra. This you would see as well as all of us, if had the you enjoyment of sight." A fisherman then said, "It is very evident that you have never been out of your village. If you had legs, and were to make the tour of the island of Sumatra, you would find that the sun does not set in these mountains, but that it leaves the sea every morning, and returns to it in the evening to refresh itself. I constantly see this myself, on whatever part of the coast I may be fishing." An inhabitant of the Peninsula of India then said to the fisherman, " Is it possible that any man endued with common sense, can imagine the sun to be á globe of fire, that it leaves the sea every morning and returns in the evening to be extinguished? You are to know then, that the sun is a divinity of my country, who traverses the heavens every day in his chariot, making a circuit round the golden mountain of Merouwa; and when he is eclipsed, he is swallowed up by the serpents Ragou and Ketou, from which he is delivered by the prayers of the Indians on the banks of the Ganges. It is a very ridiculous pride in an inhabitant of Sumatra, to suppose that the sun shines only on the horizon of this island. Such an idea could never enter into the head of a man who had navigated any thing larger than a canoe." A Lascar, the master of a coasting vessel then at anchor, here observed, that it was still a more ridiculous pride to believe that the sun preferred India to every other country. "I have " he continued, made several voyages," "in the Red Sea, on the coast of Arabia, to Madagascar, and to the Molucca and Phillippine Islands; and I know that the sun illumines all these countries as well as India. He makes no circait round a mountain; but he rises in the isles of Japan, which, on that account, are called Jepon or Ge|| puen, which signifies the birth of the sun: and he sets far to the west, behind the British isles. I am certain of this; for I was told so, when a boy, by my grand-father, who had sailed to the very extremities of the ocean." He was proceeding, when one of our crew interrupted him: "There is not a country," said he, "in which the course of the sun is better known than in England. I can inform you then, country. All nations imagine, that in their respective temples, they enclose that glorious Being whom the visible universe cannot contain. But is there a temple comparable to that which God himself hath erected, to collect all men, as it were, in one communion? All the temples of the earth are but im that it rises and sets no where. It constantly makes the circuit of the earth. I am very certain of this; for we are just returned from a like circuit round the globe, and we met the sun every where." Then taking a stick from one of his auditors, he traced a circle on the sand, and endeavoured to show the course of the sun from trop-itations of the universal temple of na ic to tropic; but being unable to explain himself, he appealed to the pilot of his own ship for the truth of his assertion. This pilot was a sensible man, who had attended in silence to the dispute; but when he saw that the whole company were attentively waiting for his opinion, he thus addressed them: "My friends, you are mutually deceiving each other. The sun does not turn round the earth, on the contrary, the earth turns round the sun, presenting to it every twenty-four hours, the Isles of Japan, the Moluccas, Sumatra, Africa, Europe, and many other countries. It does not shine for a single mountain only, for an island, a horizon, an ocean, or even for the whole earth; but it is in the centre of the universe, whence it enlightens, not only the earth but five other planets, some of which are much larger than the earth itself, and at a far greater distance from the sun. Such for instance, is the planet Saturn, 30,000 leagues in diameter, and distant from the sun 285 millions of leagues; not to mention their attendant moons, which reflect the solar light to the most distant planets. You would each have an idea of these sublime truths, were you to take a nocturnal view of the heavens; and if you did not foster the silly pride of believing, that the sun was made for a single country only." Thus spoke, to the great astonishment of his auditors, the pilot who had made a voyage round the world, and attentively observed the heavens. "It is the same," added the disciple of Confucius, "with God as with the sun. Every man believes that he exclusively possesses the Deity, in his own chapel, or, at least in his own ture. In the greatest part of them we find places for absolution, and vases of holy water, columns, cupolas, lamps, statues, inscriptions, books of the law, sacrifices, altars, and priests. But in what temple is there a sacred vessel so capacious as the sea, which is not contained in a shell? columns so noble as those of the trees of the forest, or of the orchards loaded with fruit? A cupola so sublime as the firmament, or a lamp so resplendent as the sun? where can we behold states so interesting as numbers of rational beings, who mutually love, and aid, and hold converse with each other; Insrciptions more intelligible, or more devout than the bounties of nature? A book of the law so universal as the love of God, resulting from a grateful sense of his goodness; or as the love of our fellowcreatures, so intimately connected with our own welfare? Sacrifices more affecting than hymns of praise to the Universal Parent and Benefactor of all; or than the tender sensations with which we regard those, with whom it is our duty to participate in all the blessings of existence? In a word, an altar so sacred as the heart of the good man, of which God himself is the priest? Thus the more exalted the ideas which man entertains of the omnipotence of God, the better will he become acquainted with him; and the greater the degree of indulgence with which he treats his brethren of mankind, the more will be imitate his goodness. Let not him then who enjoys the light of the Deity dif fused throughout the universe, despise the superstitious man, who perceives only a small ray of it in an idol, nor even the atheist who is totally depri ved of it; lest, as a punishment of his pride, he meet with the fate of this philosopher, who wishing to engross to himself the light of the sun, became blind, and was reduced to submit to the guidance of a poor Negro and his lamp." Thus spoke the disciple of Confucius; and the whole company in the coffee-house, who had been disputing on the excellence of their respective religions, now mused in silence on what had fallen from his lips. stant efforts to pronounce all sorts of words. The surgeon from whom we have the particulars, hopes that in three or four months the two subjects will speak perfectly. It is evident that, they must be instructed like children, who begin to make the first efforts to articulate. Mr. Deleau informs us, that he is constructing an instrument, which will afford the happy facility of finishing the operation in three minutes, by which its success will be more certain. By means of this instrument he will raise on the tympanic membrane CURE OF TWO PERSONS DEAF AND enough of substance to prevent the ne DUMB. The "Narrateur de la Meuse," a French paper, contains the following article or cure of two deaf and dumb persons, who recovered their hearing and speech. This novel and successful operation was performed by a young practitioner, a doctor of medicine, of the faculty of Paris, ex-surgeon to the 4th regiment of cuirassiers, established at Mibie, (Mense.) The two deaf and dumb, who underwent the operations (whereby he perforated with dexterity and success the meatus auditorius) are Mademoiselle Biver de St. Mibiel, aged sixteen years, and the Sieur Toussaint, son of the assistant magistrate of Hans-sur-Meuse, aged twenty-eight years. The young girl is doing extremely well. It is more than a month since she underwent the operation. Her left ear is entirely healed, and the opening made to the tympanum always continues, which is absolutely necessary. She takes notice of the least sounds, and begins to articulate words in a very satisfactory manner. Her vivacity pleases, and her figure changes for the better. She is incessantly humming various airs which her sisters teach her. The young man of Hans-sur-Meuse, who was operated upon a short time since, hears as well as his comrades, and even more lively. His right ear is finer than his left-he makes con cessity of introducing probes into the perforation during from thirty to forty days. He is of opinion, that he can restore the hearing of all those who have been deprived of it by the obstruction of the eustachian organ, and by the obesity of the membrane of the tympanum. PUZZLING LAW QUESTION. The following authentic anecdote goes far to disprove the declaration of the wise man of old, that "there is nothing new under the sun:" The papers of Stockholm relate a private transaction which has given rise to a law suit, the circumstances of which embarrass the most celebrated jurists. The case is as follows: The wife of a peasant was carried off by a natural death. The widower made all the arrangements for her interment, conformably to the established usage of the country; but he put into the coffin only a large log, and carried the body of the defunct into a wood, where he used it as a bait for catching wolves. He at last succeeded in killing a monstrous wolf, and several foxes, on the body of his wife. The civil authority, considering his conduct as reprehensible, commenced a prosecution against him; but it appeared that it was one of these unforeseen cases not provided for by any law. The question to be determined was, NEW MACHINE. the head with a musket, which he had charged with three bullets. This monster is supposed to have been a species of the Boa, so common on the neighbouring continent, and was found to measure 13 feet from the head to where a kind of tail appeared formed, which was between 14 and 15 inches; the circumference of the body was from three to four feet. When first disco being roused, raised its body erect, and must have had a most formidable appearance. An attempt, we understand has been made to preserve the skin, which we hope may be successful; and we shall endeavour to procure some further particulars of this singular ani A new invented machine for pro-vered, it lay in a kind of coil, but, on pelling a vessel in a calm, at sea, was recently tried at Boston, on board the United States' frigate Constitution, in the presence of a number of officers of the navy. Its success was equal to the most sanguine expectations of the inventor, and those who were witnesses of the experiment. Its power on the frigate was sufficient, in the opin-mal, from our friends in the windward ion of all the officers present, to have country for our next publication.— propelled her at the rate of three miles When it came, or how conveyed hithan hour, had it been calm; as against er, is, of course, only matter of conjeca fresh southerly wind, a flood tide, and a chain cable astern, it considerably slackened the cable by which she was riding, and evidently forced the ship ahead. The inventor, (sailing-ving excited much conversation, and master Briscoe Doxey, of the United States' navy) has so arranged the capstain and messenger to this machine, that the whole disposable force of the ship can be at once applied to it; and the most favourable results are confidently expected from its future use. In a St. John, N. B. paper of the 1st inst. received by the schooner Nancy, we find the following article, taken from a WestIndia paper. BOA CONSTRICTOR. Kingston, St. Vincent, March 17. A most singular circumstance occurred last week, in the Charaib country, when some negroes, who were working near Sandy Bay, discovered an immense serpent, hitherto wholly unknown as existing in any of these islands, and which, after attacking the man by whom it was first discovered, and alarming several others, who had gone in search of it, was finally killed by one of the party, who shot it through ture. March 24. The appearance of a large snake, in the northern part of this island, ha public curiosity not being satisfied with the accounts given of that animal, I have requested the intelligent gentlemen who saw it, to give an accurate description of it, in order that we might assign its place in the scale of animals, and so remove the anxiety that always attends a phenomenon, which is either new, or of a doubtful nature. Those gentlemen have not only done this, but have politely presented me with such parts of the creature as have escaped the rage of those who killed it, or the negligence of those employed to preserve its exuviæ. The result of my inquiry I send you for your journal. The serpent killed at Sandy Bay, on the 6th inst. is a species of the Boa of Cuvier, who places the genus in the second tribe of the second family of the order Ophidians, of his class of reptiles. Its character, deduced fromthe order, the genus and the species, is the following: the jaw bone, the palate bones, and the other bones of the mouth, are attached to each other and to the cranium, by elastic ligaments, which, by stretching, allow the dilatable throat to receive bodies of dimensions larger than the mouth, in its ordinary or quiescent state. Each upper and lower jaw bone, and each palate bone, is furnished with a row of sharp, fixed, unpierced teeth, curved backwards, so that the mouth contains six nearly parallel rows of teeth, four above, and two below. The windpipe is very long, and there is but one lung. The tail is reprehensible, and has at its root two horny hooks or claws, something like the spurs of a cock. Along the back there runs a broad chain, formed of large, irregular, hexagonal, blackish spots, alternately with others which are pale, and of an oval shape; scales under the body and tail, single and traversal. Such is the Boa, as described by Cuvier, and such exactly is the description of the animal found at Sandy Bay. It was fourteen feet long; and its greatest diameter, when jejune, was seven inches: when killed it was gorged, apparently with a kid or a lamb. This species of snake is very common in the southern continent of America, where it sometimes grows to the length of 30 or 40 feet, and is a formidable foe to sheep, deer, goats, and (according to some accounts) even to cattle. Its usual haunt is the bank of a river, where, clinging by the tail to the bough of a tree, it allows its enormous bulk to float lazily on the surface of the stream, or coils itself up in the foilage of the tree, and there waits, in patient ambush, the arrival of any unfortunate animal which chance or thirst may bring that way. It then darts upon it, and drags it to its tree, encircling both tree and animal in its folds, breaks all the large bones, and reduces the carcase to a soft pulpy mass, which it covers with slimy saliva; it then strains its extensible jaws and throat, and by a tedious process transmits the whole volume to its stomach. During digestion, which continues many days, it is quite torpid A a a and defenceless, and becomes an easy prey to the lord of the creation. This, then, Sir, is the animal that has been among us. Is it indigenous, or is it imported? Nothing of the kind has hitherto been seen in this or the neighbouring island. This is a strong presumption of its previous non-existence here. Three months before its discovery, a tree, belonging to the region where this creature is known to abound, was driven on our shores, not 200 yards from the spot where it was killed. This is a presumption that it is imported. Shall we theu say, that it was a passenger on the tree? Shall we imagine, that some flood of the Oronoco or Essequibo has swept tree and snake into the ocean? and that some envious southerly gale has wafted them to the shore of St. Vincent ?* It is possible! It is probable! If so, let us fervently hope that the reception which he has met with, may be a warning to his countrymen to stay at home, and cease to disturb the repose of this peaceful island. * The length of the way is not an im portant objection. The slowness of digestion, and of the other natural functions, would enable it to sustain a voyage of much greater length. It is not amphibious nor venomous. AGRICULTURE. INDIAN CORN. Much damage often occurs by the wire worm, and other small worms, destroying the kernel or sprout of corn soon after it is planted; the following is a remedy: At the time of planting, drop in each hill a piece of cob. The worms will work in this, and not touch the corn. From a North Carolina paper. I have been for several years in the practice of selecting my seed corn in the field, before gathering my crop, from such stalks as bore two ears, |