The Saint is supposed to have lived in the year 660. The book of her life was printed in 1635, collated from the most authentic documents of the times, which were preserved in the libraries of the convents and monasteries.

It appears that Saint Buno was inspired to visit Winifred's father, who helped him to found a monastery, and as Winifred grew up, she appeared full of divine graces, and being much drawn to a spiritual life, besought Saint Buno to prevail on her parents to permit her to take the veil.— They consented, and gave away her dowry to the poor in alms, rejoicing to find in her such rare beginnings of future sanctity.

One Sunday, Winifred was at home alone, all the family being at Saint Buno's church, and prince Cradouis, son to king Alan, came to the house, pretending he wanted to speak to Lord Thevith her father.-The prince soon made known his criminal desires, and threatened to use force. She with great presence of mind spoke fairly to him, and, retiring to her chamber, ran out a back way as fast as she could towards the church. He, finding she had fastened the door, broke it open, and pursued her down the hill, and overtaking her near the church where her father and the congregation were assembled, with disappointed passion, in great fury struck off her head with his sword. The body fell without the church-door, and the floor of the church sloping down, the head, which fell into the church, rolled on towards the altar. The astonishment of the people did not decrease when they beheld a spring of pure water gush out of the earth where the head had first fallen from the body.

Saint Buno seeing prince Cradouis wiping his sword in the grass, prayed that a divine judgment might arrest him, upon which he dropped down, and his body disappeared, either the earth swallowing it up, or the devil carrying it away. Saint Buno then joined the head to the body; kissed it, breathed into her mouth, and prayed at the altar for her resurrection to life; and before mass was over, the virgin, like one newly wakened out of sleep, wiped her eyes, and rose up-having no mark except a white circle in her skin like a necklace. She afterwards took the veil, and lived many years, a mirror of sanctity, and performing great miracles, spiritual and temporal.

Saint Buno prophesied that the stones of the fountain would always retain the stains of her blood.-It is recorded that a blind maid was restored to sight by washing her head in the fountain.-A man lost

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his horse by the theft of another, for profaning the chapel, and upon repentance discovered the thief, whose arms rotted off. Another who stole a cow, finding that her hoofs made deep marks in the rocks, left her to the owner. Sick children, agues, fevers, &c., were cured by bathing.

THE BEGGARS' DIALOGUE.

(FROM ERASMUS.)

Exposing the Practices, Cheats, and Impostures of crafty Beggars: with the Advantages and Privileges of that Condition of Life.

Irides & Misoponus.

I. WHAT new thing have we got here? I know the face; but the clothes methinks do not suit it. I am much mistaken if this be not Misoponus. I'll venture to speak to him, as tattered as I am. Save thee, Misoponus.-M. That must be Irides.-I. Save thee, Misoponus, once_again.-M. Hold your tongue, I say.-I. Why, what's the matter? may not a man salute ye?—M. Not by that name.-I. Your reason for❜t. You have not changed your name, I hope, with your clothes.-M. No; but I have taken up my old name again.-I. What's that?-M. Apicius.-I. Never be ashamed of your old acquaintance; it may be you have mended your fortune since I saw you, but 'tis not long, however, since you and I were both of an order.-M. Do but comply with me in this, and I'll tell thee what thou'lt ask me. I am not ashamed of your order, but of the order that I was first of myself.-I. What order do ye mean? that of the Franciscans?— M. No, by no means, my good friend: but the order of the Spendthrifts.-I. You have a great many companions sure of that order.-M. I had a good fortune, and laid it on to some tune as long as it lasted; but when that failed, there was nobody would know Apicius. And then I ran away for shame, and betook myself to your college; which I look'd upon to be much better than digging.-I. 'Twas wisely done. But how comes your carcase to be in so good case of late? your change of clothes, I do not so much wonder at.-M. How so?—I. Because Laverna, (the goddess of thieves) makes many of her servants rich of a sudden.-M. You do not think I got an estate by stealing, I hope.-I. Nay, by rapine perhaps, which is worse.-M. No neither by stealing, nor by rapine. And this I swear by the goddess you adore; (that's Penia or Poverty) but I'll first satisfy yon as to my constitution of body, that seems to you so wonderful.

;

1. While you were with us, you were

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morphosis is a working, and to be attentive to't; and then, to take away all doubt,

hope nobody loves me better.-I. The first time that ever I took you for a doctor.M. Why all that dress was nothing but a cheat; daub'd on with frankincense, sulphur, rosin, bird-lime, and blood-clouts; and when I had a mind to't, I could take it off again.-I. Oh! Impostor! and I took thee for the very picture of Job upon the dunghill.-M. This was only a com pliance with my necessities, tho' fortune sometimes may change the very skin too.

I. But now you speak on't, tell me a little of your fortune: have you found ever a pot of money?-M. No; but I have found out a trade that's somewhat better than yours yet.-I. What trade could you set up, that had nothing to begin upon? -M. An artist will live any where.-I. I understand you; picking of pockets, I suppose; the cut-purse's trade.-M. A little patience, I prithee; I am turned chemist. -I. A very apt scholar, to get that in a fortnight, (for 'tis thereabouts since we parted) that another man cannot learn in an age.-M. But I have found out a nearer way to't.-I. What may that be?-M. When I had gotten up a stock of about four crowns, by begging; by great good luck, I met with an old companion of mine, of about my estate; we drank together, and (as 'tis usual) he up, and told me the history of his adventures, and of an art he had got. And we came at last to an agreement, that if I paid the reckoning, he should teach me his art, which he very honestly performed, and that art now is my revenue.-I. Might not I learn it too?M. I'll teach thee it gratis; if it were but for old acquaintance sake.

.

The world, ye know, is full of people that run a madding after the philosopher's stone.-I. I have heard as much, and I believe it.-M. I hunt for all occasions of insinuating myself into such company. I talk big; and wherever I find an hungry buzzard, I throw him out a bait.-I. And how's that?-M. I give him caution, of my own accord, to have a care how he trusts men of that profession; for they are most of them cheats and impostors, and very little better than pickpockets to those that do not understand them.-I. This prologue, methinks, should never do your business.-M. Nay, I tell him plainly, that I would not be trusted myself neither, any further than a man would trust his own eyes and fingers.-I. 'Tis a strange confidence you have in your art.-M. Nay, I will have him to look on, while the meta

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while I'm at a distance; and have not so much as a little finger in it. When the matter is dissolved, I bid him purge it himself; or set some goldsmith to do it: I tell him the quantity it will afford; and then let him put it to as many tests as he pleases. He shall find the precise weight; the gold or the silver, pure; (for gold or silver, 'tis the same thing to me; only the latter experiment is the less dangerous.)

I. But is there no cozenage in all this? -M. An absolute cheat from one end to the other.-I. I cannot find where it lies. -M. I'll shew ye then. First we agree upon the price, but I touch no money till I have given proof of the thing itself. I deliver him a certain powder, as if that did the whole business. I never part with the receipt of it, but at an excessive rate and then I make him swear most horribly too, that for six months he shall not impart the secret to any thing that lives.

I. But where's the cheat yet?-M. The whole mystery lies in a coal that I have fitted, and hollowed for the purpose; and into that do I put as much silver, as I say shall come out again. After the infusion of the powder, I set the pot in such a manner, that it shall be in effect covered with coals; as well as coals under, and about it; which I tell them is a method of art. Among the coals that lie a top, I put in one or more that has the gold, or the silver, in't. When that comes to be dissolved, it runs to the rest, whether it be tin or copper, and upon the separation 'tis found, and taken out. -I. A ready way. But how will you deceive him that does the whole business himself?-M. When all things are done according to my prescription, before we begin the operation, I come and look about to see that every thing be right, and then I find a coal or two wanting on the top; and under pretence of fetching it from the coalheap, I privately convey one of my own, or else I have it ready laid there beforehand, which I can take, and nobody the wiser,I. But what will you do, when the trial is made of this without ye?-M. I'm out of danger, when I have the money in my pocket: or I can pretend that the pot was crack't, the coals nought, they did not know how to temper the fire; and then it is one mystery in our profession, never to stay long in a place.-I. But will the profit of this give a man a livelihood?M. Yes, and a very brave one: and if you are wise, you'll leave your wretched trade of begging, and turn quack too.-I. Now

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ble?

I. But this profession of ours is made pleasant by custom. How many are there that fall off from St Francis, and St. Benedict? but ours is an order of mendicants, that never any man forsook, who was acquainted with it. Alas! you were but a few months with us; and not come yet to taste the comforts of this kind of life.-M. But I tasted enough on't tho', to know the misery of it.-I. How comes it then that our people never leave us?-M. Because they are naturally wretched.-I. And yet for all this wretchedness, I had rather be a beggar, than a prince; and there are many princes, I doubt not, that envy the freedom of us beggars. Whether it be war, or peace, we are still safe. We are neither pressed for soldiers, nor taxed, nor put upon parish duties. The Inquisition never concerns itself with us. There's no scrutiny into our manners; and if we do any thing that's unlawful, who'll sue a beggar? If we assault any man, 'tis a shame to contend with a beggar: whereas neither in peace, nor in war, are kings at ease. And the greater they are, the more have they to fear. Men pay a reverence to beggars, as if they were consecrated to God, and make a conscience of it not to abuse us.-. -M. But then how nasty are ye in your rags, and kennels?-I. Those things are without us, and signify nothing at all to true happiness : and for our rags, 'tis to them we owe our felicity.-M. If that be your happiness, I'm afraid ye will not enjoy it long.I. Why so?—M. Because they say we shall have a law for every city to maintain its own poor; and for the forcing of those to work, that are able to do it, without wandering up and down as they did formerly.-I. How comes that?-M. Be. cause they find great rogueries committed under pretence of begging, and great inconveniences to the public from your order. I. Oh! they have been talking of this a long time; and when Satan is blind, it may be they'll bring it to pass.-M. Too soon perchance for your quiet.

NOTES OF SIR HUMPHRY DAVY'S FIRST LEC

TURES DELIVERED IN DUBLIN, 1810,

ON ELECTRO-CHEMISTRY.

He apologized to the audience for presuming to think he had any thing to offer worthy of interesting them. They had heard in that room lectures on the general

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science of chemistry and electricity, to which he only meant to offer a sequel, and desired the indulgence of those fathers in science, who were much better acquainted than himself with its investigation. The connection of electricity with chemistry, by the improved Voltaic apparatus, had led him to a newly discovered country; but, as he had dwelt there only a short time, he could not profess a knowledge of its boundaries, or of all its phenomena; yet he offered himself to more able experimentalists as an humble guide. The laws by which he found electro-chemistry to act are invariable, and the application of electricity is as universal as that of chemistry!

The great phenomena of a thunderstorm, and of the aurora borealis or australis, are highly lu trated by electrochemistry, and although it has not amounted to proof, the analogy leads to research.

It was only a few years since, that electricity became united to chemistry. The ancients had observed the attraction of amber, and chemistry was studied in Arabia in the eighth century; it entered Europe in the twelfth century, with the return of the Crusaders: but Helmont was the first great observer of nature who divested it of its fable. Baker, Boyle, Newton, Stahl, Kirwan, Black, Cavendish, and Lavoisier, brought it by degrees to its present state. Previous to Helmont, the alchemists, in search of a tincture to transmute base into perfect metals, and to make an elixir of life, for prolonging the age of man, thought to rival the light and heat of the sun, and even to exceed its virtue; but modern chemists command nature by following her laws, and the highest reward of their investigations is, to catch a gleam of that intellectual light which animates and directs all her operations.

England is the birth-place, and Dr. Gilbert the first scientific observer, of electricity in modern times. Harvey and Lord Verulam were contemporaries; Boyle made the electric machine; Franklin gave use and principles to the science, and asserted atmospheric electricity. It was not yet combined with chemistry. The train of facts which led to this discovery was first hinted at by Galvani, who observed the spasm of a dead frog's leg on a plate of copper, when in contact with a silver spoon. His Italian biographer says, that Madame Galvani being sick, he was cooking some frogs for her, and was rewarded for his affection by this noble discovery: he supposed that the animal's

muscles were in the electric state of a Leyden phial. In 1789 Humboldt wrote a quarto volume on the erroneous supposition of an ethereal fluid. Volta said it was electric, and that the zinc and silver, or zinc and tin, were similar in Galvanism to glass and tin in electricity, and that the properties of the Voltaic pile, which he invented, were similar to the electricity of the common cylinder. It is observable in proof of this, that the convulsion of the frog is greater with the electric machine than with the Voltaic pile. The frog, if dead some hours, is unaffected by the electricity; hence it appears to be the remains of life, which are excited to action by the contact of an electric conductor with the crural nerve of the frog.

Bennet shewed that metals became electric by contact. 'If,' says he, 'you touch a plate of copper with the blade of an iron knife, and then apply the knife to the electrometer, a feeble shock is perceived, but it is sufficient to shew that the copper had given a small change to the electricity of the iron.' This experiment is repeated with like effect by amber. If zinc is exposed to water, its surface is soon coated with a white oxide or rust. Fabroni and Dr. Ash observed, that the quantity of this oxidation is much increased in an equal time, if the zinc is in contact with copper! the difference is as 20 to 1;in like manner, iron rusts ten times more in contact with copper, than in contact with glass.

It is remarkable, that one point of contact is as powerful as if the metals were united on one whole surface. Hence, copper-sheathing of ships with iron nails, and pans of iron or copper tinned, are more perishable than if made with but one metal.

(To be continued.)

ON THE NECESSITY OF ANATOMICAL
SUBJECTS.

THE increasing interest excited in the public mind, since the late attempt to pass a bill in parliament for the supply of subjects to our anatomical schools, by the surrender of the bodies of such individuals as die in jails, hospitals, or workhouses, and are not claimed by their relatives, certainly calls for some public investigation into the real merits of the case.

The intended new law, as it now stands, is as revolting to the feelings of humanity, as it is inimical to the principles of natural justice; and strong indeed must be the reasons that can induce the legislators of our free and happy country to pass an act

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which condemns the friendless pauper to a post-mortem examination, from which the refined minds of the legislators themselves would shrink with abhorrence.

Those unfortunate individuals whom poverty or accident reduces to the necessity of becoming patients in our hospitals, are the witnesses of scenes of pain and suffering, often, I fear, unnecessarily inflicted, both in their own persons and those around them, by the attendant surgeons and their assistants, which, with the horribly mysterious accompaniments of instruments, and their frequent use, gives an added pang to the contemplation, that they themselves may be consigned to those regions which exist within the walls, where their mangled remains will be doomed to a degree of ignominy worthy only of a brute, and to which no felons but murderers are exposed.

This highly important subject easily resolves itself into two general inquiries: First, What are the desiderata in our anatomical schools? and secondly, Whether the provisions of the new law are calculated to supply them?

After the numerous discoveries in Anatomy during the last thirty years, both in this country and in France, which have been so accurately described and delineated, it might be naturally supposed, that no further discoveries can be made. In this, however, much still remains unexplored, particularly respecting the lymphatic and absorbent systems, the use of the pancreas, its various ducts, &c. and innumerable other minute particulars, which, however fruitlessly, still engage the inquiry of the learned, as leaving a hiatus in those courses of demonstrative lectures they deliver annually to their pupils.

This is, however, not the only cause assigned for the necessity of the present act. Surgery, and particularly operative surgery, requires, from its very nature, a constant supply of fresh subjects: all the operations in surgery demand frequent repetition by each of the students; nay, I have been informed, on good authority, that the operation of removing the arm from the shoulder requires a practice of twenty times, to perform it without endangering the life of the patient.

These are certainly cogent reasons; but it has been asked, if this be the case, why not send the students to France, where, as the repugnance to dissection is by no means so great, and the consequent supply of subjects more plentiful, their studies might be conducted with much greater facility and with considerably less expense? Unfortunately the answer to this question is to

be found in the Royal College of Surgeons in London, who obstinately refuse to pass a student, however ably qualified, who has derived his knowledge from any source but the dissections and lectures which the London hospitals afford; and from this cruel, not to say unwarrantable jealousy, has arisen the present measure, with all its revolting enactments. Surely the College might be satisfied with the qualifications of the candidate on operative desiderata, (if such only be required,) though obtained in France, since the law protects the profession from the intrusion of foreign competitors. Surely they might concede this branch of study, rather than outrage the feelings of the friendless poor, by fears that add new horrors to the solemn and dreary hours of approaching dissolution.

But there is still another branch of Anatomy which demands attention. I mean morbid anatomy. Bones, muscles, arteries, veins, &c. often exhibit symptoms of disease, which become precedents to future cases; these are at all times desiderata. But does not hospital practice supply these in sufficient variety and abundance, to supersede the necessity of the present Act? These are the only true desiderata that appear to render legislative enactment necessary, since a few subjects, if properly dissected in the presence and under the direction of an attendant surgeon of proper qualifications, would fully suffice for the general course of Anatomy pursued in our schools, assisted, as it should be, by clinical lectures, extemporaneous instructions, and plates and diagrams suspended round the dissecting room.

But is this arrangement observed in the hospital dissecting room? Are the students divided into classes, with their work assigned to each; and a superintendant over each class, to see that the students do their duty properly? Is silence observed in the classes? Is there a superintendant over the whole, to demonstrate facts, and answer such inquiries as arise during the dissection? Lastly, are the hours sufficiently extended to allow the general dissection of a subject for any particular branch, as the muscles, before putrefaction renders its removal necessary? I am no surgeon, no anatomist, but since Anatomy is a science, and one which involves human life, it certainly demands to be studied with correspondent seriousness and system. If this were every where observed, surely the gallows, which affords numerous victims, might, as formerly, supply the tables of our hospitals, without the necessity of the present contemplated disgusting enactments.

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1.

But secondly, Are the intended new laws calculated to supply the above desiderata? I should answer in the negative, and that for the following reasons. Healthy subjects are always to be preferred, and are indeed necessary, as in them all the secretions have kept up a supply of nourishment to the various parts of the body, which present themselves in their full proportions to the operator. Now this can scarcely be expected from the miserable, aged, and feeble inmates of the workhouse, or a prison; much less from the wretched victims of disease derived from the hospital itself. Hence probably arose the horrible design of murdering healthy subjects, pursued by Burke and his gang. 2. The diseases of which these unfortunate persons die, are often contagious, and fatal consequences might ensue from their dissection. Nay, could it be commenced, even in common cases, the state of disease, and consequent exhaustion, in which most of the patients expire, would render the process of putrefaction so rapid, that no perfect dissection, even of the muscles, could be effected. 3. It is much to be doubted if the exertions of the humane do not, as I most sincerely pray they may, by establishing a society, or private subscriptions, for burying the friendless poor, defeat the object of this revolting and cruel measure.

In conclusion, I would observe, that it would even have been better to legalize the importation of bodies from France, though this is revolting to humanity, than to sacri fice our own poor to supply the dissecting tables of our hospitals. Or, as far as morbid anatomy is concerned, have authorized the attendant physician and surgeon to open the body of the deceased, attended by three students and a draughtsman, for the sole purpose of ascertaining the seat of the disease. This last would be a real benefit to science, and could be scarcely liable to any formidable objection from any sensible person. E. G. B.

To the preceding article we add the following paragraph on "Subjects for Dissection," from the Morning Herald.

"An article, evidently intended as a feeler, has been put forth in a morning paper, touching the future renewal of the nefarious dissection project. The paper in question, awed by the power of public opinion, affected to rejoice when a bill to create a market for the sale of the dead bodies of the poor, was knocked on the head, in the House of Lords, last session, and pursued by the honest execration of the public to its ignominious grave. It belongs to a journal not more celebrated for the loftiness of its