ustrations of the _Pilgrim's Progress_.]

VARIETY OF AMBER.

There is a variety of amber, of the opacity of white wax, with a
very slight yellowish tinge. It is found intermixed with yellow
amber, in thin bands of some breadth. When the magnificent pile of
buildings called Fonthill Abbey was exhibited to the public, before
the sale of its curious and costly furniture, it contained an amber
cabinet, as beautiful in workmanship as material. It was
quadrangular, and about fifteen inches by twelve at the base,
standing on four legs, that raised it about half an inch from its
pedestal. It was pyramidal in form, about fourteen inches high, and
divided into eleven stages. These were separated by a ledge of
yellow amber, about one-eighth of an inch in thickness, projecting a
little over the under stage, like a cornice. The front of each stage
was ornamented with recumbent figures in white amber, in relief.
Some parts were at least one-eighth of an inch in thickness. The
effect was much like that of the white figures on the purple ground
of the well-known Portland Vase. Each stage had the appearance of
opening as a drawer. The top was flat, and the whole of the yellow
amber beautifully transparent.

HAVE SERPENTS TASTE?

Some naturalists have surmised that serpents have no sense of taste,
because the boa-constrictor in the Zoological Gardens swallowed his
blanket. Chemistry may, however, assist us in solving the mystery,
and induce us to draw quite an opposite conclusion from the curious
circumstance alluded to. May not the mistake of the serpent be
attributed to the marvellous acuteness of his taste? Take this
reason: All vegetable substances contain starch, all animal
substances contain ammonia; now it is most probable that the snake
detected the animal quality--the ammonia--in the wool of the
blanket, and he therefore naturally enough inferred that his bed was
something suitable to his digestive organs. It is certain that he
committed an error of judgment, but that error may be traceable to
the subtilty of his taste rather than to its obtuseness. We throw
out this suggestion as a specimen, if nothing better, of what
contradictory inferences may be drawn from a single fact, and as a
hint of how much caution is necessary in arriving at absolute
opinions, even when the evidence is apparently most unmistakable.

AN AMERICAN EDITOR.

He is a dangerous man to be trifled with. The grand hickory-stick