for any man, and it would be far more like the thing if she married Sir Andrew."

"Her cousin?" said Miss Birrrell. "Only second; neither of them could do any better. She's more the manager of his house than his aunt Amelia; he could not get a bonnier lass or a better if he searched broad Scotland, and she couldn't get a finer man. And then he's poor, and she's well-provided for "

"It's the one consideration that would keep Sir Andrew Schaw from thinking of her as his wife."

"Quite so, but that need not prevent her from thinking of Sir Andrew. for a husband," said the banker's wife; and alarmed to find gossip already so Blackwood's Magazine.

close on what she thought a secret of her own, Miss Birrell produced a cup of tea and changed the subject.

At supper that night the lawyer had an intuition of some restlessness in 'Tilda's mind. "What's the very latest news?" he asked, and she told him of Norah's new employment.

He heard of it with no great satisfaction. "But I suppose she'll find him somebody," said he. "If she played her proper cards she would not waste her time with Maurice."

"Pooh!" said Miss "Tilda. "You men! You cannot see the very nose in front of you; it takes the like of me and Mrs. Semple"

But not another word on the subject could he get out of her.

It has ofttimes been remarked that custom blinds the perceptions. Hence a great many things that if seen in England would awaken criticism or excite admiration, in other climes pass almost without notice, owing to the familiarity that breeds not always contempt, but sometimes indifference. Doubtless the same argument holds good also in our own country, and we are blind-with a stubborn British blindness-to many of our faults and a few of our perfections. But it is not my intention here to treat of Metaphysics or to deal with the habits and institutions of the English or any other people. Many objects quite independently of man and man's presence -which are commonly to be seen in the remoter world, and which there, from the staleness of custom, fail to arouse more than casual interest, are to the home-stayer the occasion of absorbing interest. For example, locusts and locust-life form a most attractive

topic to the resident of Great Britain who has not seen them; but to those who suffer annually from the depredations of the gauzy-winged insect, it is regarded, not with indifference, it is true, but as a pest to be ruthlessly exterminated. In like manner about the Will-o'-the-Wisp there is a halo of romance or superstition, which vanishes when the phenomenon has been often observed and its explanation is understood.

To the untravelled Englishman there are few things more fascinating than the fire-fly, and when he beholds one for the first time he is apt to betray greater enthusiasm than is usual to his phlegmatic temperament. And in truth there is something enchanting about the luminous beetle. Even the eye of custom must brighten as it looks upon the flitting night-light. In a warm climate, on a summer evening, they may be seen by the hundred, at times passing overhead like shooting

stars, at others playing among the trees, or again crawling through the long grass and dense vegetation. Generally the light they emit is of a yellowish hue; but, in crossing the pampas of South America, I have seen them of almost every color of the rainbow. And an impressive sight it is: above, 'the great black dome of heaven, studded with myriad stars; all around, the heaving pampa, its grass-robed surface undulating in the gentle breeze; pervading all, the silence of night, broken only by the tramp-tramp of the horses' hoofs and the clicking of innumerable insects. But the earth assumes the semblance of a jewelled mantle, for its bosom is begemmed with sparkling lights. Rubies vie with the lustre of emeralds; amethysts would put to shame the yellow brilliance of pure gold. Expressed in plainer language, thousands of fire-flies crawl slowly amid the pampa-grass, in search, no doubt, of the parasites that constitute their food.

Most people, to whom the opportunity is given, have the curiosity to catch a few of these strange insects, in order to examine their appearance more closely and with a view to discovering the source of the mysterious light. Viewed by day, the creature itself is a very ordinary-looking beetle; by night it is no less clumsy in form, its unsheathed wings being barely large enough to support its cumbrous body. Therefore, in flight, its motion is not rapid. Its whole charm is concentrated beneath its tail, which is the source of its luminosity. This is, as already intimated, sometimes very considerable. A watch held near to a fire-fly caught in a spider's web will easily show the time. Half-a-dozen placed under a glass shade in a dark room will emit sufficient light to enable one to read a book; though I would not recommend this method of illumination in a general way, as it is very trying VOL. LI. 2605

LIVING AGE.

to the eyes. Each insect only gives out its light intermittently, which occasions a painful glimmer. If one be seen crawling in the grass and be irritated with a stalk it turns on full power, as if to discover the cause of the annoyance; but it soon reaches the end of its resources, and the light fails and for a time it cannot renew it. Argentine girls on summer evenings, when there is a baile (dance) in the patio at the country-house, often imprison one or two fire-flies beneath the lace of their mantillas, and thus supplement the brightness of their eyes by the added lustre of the lantern-bearing beetle.

It may as well be at once confessed that science is not very clear on the subject of the cause of luminosity in fire-flies and other creatures of that ilk. But a sort of explanation can be given which helps to an understanding, without really going to the root of the matter. The light is said to be due to a property possessed by certain substances, and known as phosphorescence, though phosphorus is often not one of the ingredients composing them. But people generally are acquainted with the light-giving power of phosphorus, and most boys have at times amused themselves in the dark by rubbing a "strike-anywhere" match on their damp palm to produce a faint radiance. So phosphorescence becomes a convenient term to represent this property of emitting light. Now from the essences in its body this little insect combines, by means of a system of involuntary organs, a substance of a phosphorescent nature, which, in the form of an excretion, provides it with the glow from which it derives its name. To a similar cause the glowworm, occasionally seen in some parts of England, owes its dimmer power, which is due to properties identical with those possessed by luminous paint.

Why nature should have endowed the fire-fly with this light is another question, and one which leads into the realm of speculation. Three suggestions have been put forward, and perhaps the truth may lie in a combination of all three. It is said by some that the use of the light is to guide the insect in its search for food, which it mostly finds among the roots of plants or in the course of its flight through the air. In the former case it

might conceivably be of assistance; but in the latter the light would be more likely to act as a danger signal, warning the prey of the approach of an enemy, in which case it could hardly be said to aid the fire-fly. On the other hand, there are many night-birds which are especially partial to insects of the beetle kind, but which -it has been observed-carefully avoid swallowing the fire-fly; which fact would seem to indicate that they found the latter unpalatable or were scared by the glowing beacon. In this instance the light would form a sort of protection to the insect, though acting as a warning to its prey. It has also been suggested that, as in the glowworm, it is a sex attraction; but while in the latter the light is a monopoly of the male sex, with fire-flies it is found equally in both sexes, which reduces the value of the argument. But whichever of these explanations we accept-whether we regard the phosphorescent glow as a signal to others of their own kind, or as a warning to their prey and a protection for themselves against their foes, or as an aid in the search of food-one thing is perfectly clear, that it serves in the scheme of nature some definite useful purpose; for nature never wantonly fritters away her energy.

In some parts of the Argentine Republic there is frequently found a phenomenon which is not unknown in England, and which goes in the latter

In

country by the name of the "Will-o'the-Wisp" or "Jack-o'-Lantern." former times a great deal of superstition was attached to the "luring fire," or "Ignis Fatuus" as it was called by the more learned; and it is only of recent years that science has afforded it a satisfactory explanation. Most people are even now better acquainted with weird stories of a mysterious light, carried by an unseen hand, and hovering here and there over the surface of some treacherous morass, than with the facts of the phenomenon. One remembers hearing of travellers, lost on the moors and overtaken by the unexpected approach of night, rejoiced at seeing in the distance what they take to be the flash of a lantern. They dash in pursuit, eager to come up with the bearer and under his guidance to recover the proper path. But suddenly the light disappears from view, and they pause, wondering which way to turn. A moment later and it appears once more not in front, as was expected, but away to the left or to the right. Half-bewildered, the wanderer resumes his quest, again to meet with disappointment. For the shifty beacon gleams anew in some different direction, and the futile pursuit is ever repeated with the same result. And so the uncanny game continues, either until dawn restores the world to reality and the mind to its proper balance; or till, with a despairing scream, the hunter of the "luring fire," is engulfed in an oozy swamp, from whose embrace there is no escape.

In Ireland, where the Will-o'-theWisp is often seen, the stories of him and his pranks have been still further elaborated. It is the pixies who, with mischievous intent, deliberately entice the benighted wanderer to destruction; and while he is sinking in the muddy slime they dance around him in wicked glee till it has closed over his head. when-puff!-they

change into thin circles of smoke which rise in phosphorescent rings above the spot.

Referring to the superstitions with regard to Jack-o'-Lantern, an actual experience of my own comes to mind, although it has only an indirect connection with the subject under consideration. I was staying at a house in Ireland, close to a mountain of inconsiderable dimensions, called Ben ma Chree. Irish readers will pardon me if the spelling of the name is not perfect, and if I am wrong in interpreting it as "Love of my Heart." From the top of this mountain a magnificent view is to be obtained of Carlingford Lough and the embayed coastline of County Down. Having revelled in the sight and drunk my fill of the exhilarating air, I began at dusk to descend the rocky slope. The descent is not easy, for besides innumerable masses of granite blocking the way, the peaty soil is mostly obscured with spongy heather, which gives but precarious foothold. About half-way down, in turning to avoid a boulder, I caught sight of a moving figure about thirty yards to the left. On approaching nearer it proved to be a little old man not more than four and a half feet high, dressed in peasant's clothes and carrying a bundle of sticks and a lantern. As he had not the appearance of being a keeper, I, thinking him probably a poacher, advanced to ask him his business. But another boulder stood in the way, and when this had been skirted the little man had disappeared and was nowhere to be found.

Dismissing the incident from my mind, I continued my homeward course, and would probably have thought no more of the matter, had not the conversation that evening at dinner recalled it to my memory. Beginning to relate the facts, I noticed that everybody at table became unex

At a

pectedly quiet and attentive. pause in the narration the hostess broke in breathlessly

"Tell me! Was the little man carrying anything?"

"Yes," was the reply, "a lantern and a faggot of sticks."

"Ah!" exclaimed a chorus of voices, "you have seen little Johnny of the Mountain."

According to subsequent explanations it appeared that there was no such real man living anywhere in the neighborhood; but that it was a pixy, seen occasionally and only by those who were to be immune from his devilments. He inhabited the heart of Ben ma Chree, and issued at dusk with his lantern, which at nightfall he would light, and would amuse himself till dawn with elfin sport in the swampy land at the foot of his mountain. It may be added that the people of the place believed in him and his wiles as firmly as in the articles of their religion, and it was futile to make efforts to disturb their convictions.

I make no pretence of being able to put forward a satisfactory explanation of little Johnny of the Mountain; he is a subject better fitted for investigation by the Psychical Research Society than for the theories of practical science. But the circumstances of the lantern and the pranks played about the bogland naturally suggest the Willo'-the-Wisp and point to some connection between the two. If I had ever previously heard of the old gentleman I should have put the manifestation down to a trick of the imagination; but the strangest fact is that what I saw coincided exactly with the stories current.

Setting aside the superstitions prevalent anent the Will-o'-the-Wisp, it is beyond dispute that there is some basis for the widespread accounts of his misdeeds. It has been remarked above that in the Argentine Republic the

"Ignis Fatuus" may often be observed. A few years ago, when travelling through some of the marshlands along the banks of Paraná River, I had exceptional opportunities of studying the subject. One day, in crossing a pantano, or oozy swamp, on horseback, I noticed bubbles of gas rising to the surface, and remarked to my companion that there was a Will-o'-the-Wisp in the course of making. To satisfy the latter, I dismounted and applied a lighted match to a bursting bubble; there was an immediate small explosion and a flash of flame, visible even in the sunshine. The experiment was repeatedly tried, invariably with the same result in a greater or less degree. An inflammable gas was evidently being produced by decomposition in the bog; but the perplexing question was, how did it become ignited without the aid of a match, so as to create the "luring fire"? I had my own theory, but my companion was sceptical; and it was not until a few days later that opportunity arose of putting the theory to the proof.

We were then starting on a night journey from Posadas, and as, at the commencement, an extensive swamp had to be crossed, the services of a gaucho had been requisitioned as guide. In places the crossing was dangerous, for there was but one passable track, recognizable only by an experienced camp-man; so we had to travel in Indian file, the gaucho leading. Even

thus our horses sometimes sank nearly to their girths in the slimy mire. As we proceeded we frequently saw on either side a sudden gleam of light skimming over the surface of the bog, and later on the phenomenon was several times exhibited close at hand. The disturbance of the mud occasioned The Oxford and Cambridge Review.

by our passage no doubt released the gases which were being distilled in the swamp; for, rising at times from the very flanks of our startled horses, there would be a flash of fire, accompanied by a sharp report and often followed instantaneously by a bright, lambent flame. Coincidently a pungent odor, resembling that of stale fish, was strongly noticeable; and, though demonstrated in somewhat alarming fashion, the whole mystery of the Will-o'the-Wisp became at once clear.

Marsh gas (known to chemists as methane) was being evolved from decaying vegetable and other matter in the bog. But though inflammable and burning with a bright yellow light, it requires some extraneous means of ignition. This was supplied by decomposing animal matter, of which no doubt there would be a plentiful supply buried in the mire, and the phosphuretted hydrogen yielded by the bones would occasion the fishy smell which is a proof of the presence of this gas. When the bubbles of the latter rise to the surface they burst and spontaneously ignite on coming into contact with the air, a thin, ribbon-like ring of smoke rising above the spot. The formation of this gas alone would be sufficient to create a Will-o'-the-Wisp; but the illusion of a flashing lantern is made more complete when marsh grass is also present, as is usually the case. The latter, being heavy, will on a still night lie long on the face of the water or swamp without dispersing, and when ignited by an explosion of phosphuretted hydrogen it causes a yellow, lambent flame of great luminosity, which, viewed at a distance, affords an imposing spectacle of the Will-o'-theWisp.

J. Barnard-James.