he
mucus which had lubricated the parts, and at this time he looked quite
sufficiently disgusting. He then stretched out his neck, and at the same
moment the muscles seemed to push the prey further downward. After a few
efforts to replace the parts, the jaws appeared much the same as they did
previous to the monstrous repast."

THE MAGIC MAZE. (FROM COLBURN'S MONTHLY MAGAZINE.)

The Germans are said to be a philosophical and sagacious people, with a
strong _penchant_ for metaphysics and mysticism. They are certainly a
_leichtglaeubiges Volk_, but, notwithstanding, painstaking and persevering
in their search after truth. I know not whence it arises--whether from
temperament, climate, or association--but it is very evident that a large
portion of their studies is recondite and unsatisfactory, and incapable of
being turned to any practical or beneficial account. They meditate on
things which do not concern them; they attempt to penetrate into mysteries
which lie without the pale of human knowledge. It has been ordained, by an
inscrutable decree of Providence, that there are things which man shall
not know; but they have endeavored to draw aside the vail which He has
interposed as a safeguard to those secrets, and have perplexed mankind
with a relation of their discoveries and speculations. They have pretended
to a knowledge of the invisible world, and have assumed a position
scarcely tenable by the weight of argument adduced in its defense. What
has puzzled the minds of the most erudite and persevering men, I do not
presume to decide. Instances of the re-appearance of persons after their
decease, may or may not have occurred; there may, for aught I know, be
good grounds for the belief in omens, warnings, wraiths, second-sight,
with many other descriptions of supernatural phenomena. I attempt not to
dispute the point. The human mind is strongly tinctured with superstition;
it is a feeling common to all nations and ages. We find it existing among
savages, as well as among people of refinement; we read of it in times of
antiquity, as well as in modern and more enlightened periods. This
universality betokens the feeling to be instinctive, and is an argument in
favor of the phenomena which many accredit, and vouch to have witnessed.

I inherit many of the peculiarities of my countrymen. I, too, have felt
that deep and absorbing interest in every thing appertaining to the
supernatural. This passion was implanted in my