a stove heated by the hot mineral water, and
turning the eggs every day. The first trial was attended with success,
and no failure was experienced in four repetitions of it.

* * * * *

_Lake Erie._

The height of Lake Erie above the Atlantic Ocean, has been ascertained to
be 565 feet. The barrier which contains it is so low, that, were it only
to rise six feet, it would inundate, on its northern and western borders,
seven millions of acres, now partly occupied by towns, villages, and
farms; and it is estimated that a further rise of six or eight feet would
precipitate a vast flood of waters over the state of Illinois, from the
south end of Michigan; the great Canadian Lakes then discharging also
into the Mexican Gulf.--_Brande's Journal._

* * * * *

_The Cuckoo_

Has done more for our music than musicians may be willing to allow; but
it is no more than justice to a despised bird to say, that from it we
have derived the minor scale, whose origin has puzzled so many; the
cuckoo's couplet being the minor third sung downwards.--_Mag. Nat. Hist._

* * * * *

_Immense Fir-tree._

In the Museum of Natural History at Strasburg, is shown the trunk of a
silver fir-tree, from the forest of Hochwald, at Barr, in Alsatia. The
tree was 150 feet high, with a trunk perfectly straight and free from
branches to the height of 50 feet, after which it was forked with the one
shoot 100 feet long, and the other somewhat shorter. The diameter of the
trunk at the surface of the ground was 8 feet; estimated age 350
years.--_Ibid._

* * * * *

_The Weather by Frogs._

The editor of the _Magazine of Natural History_, in his Notes during a
recent tour on the continent, says, "at Schwetzingen, in the post-house,
we witnessed, for the first time, what we have since seen frequently, an
amusing application of zoological knowledge, for the purpose of
prognosticating the weather. Two frogs, of the species **_R_ana arborea,
are kept in a crystal jar, about 18 inches high, and 6 inches in diameter,
with a depth of three or four inches of water at the bottom, and a small
ladder reaching to the top of the jar. On the approach of dry weather,
the frogs mount the ladder; but, when moisture is expected, they descend
into the water. These animals are of a bright green, and in their wild
state here, climb th