262 A NEW THEORY OF THE CENTRAL HEAT OF THE EARTH. sess, regarding the phenomena presented by bodies when they assume the spheroidal state, we are indebted to the laborious investigations of M. Boutigny. The chief points of interest in relation to the present inquiry observed by him are the following-water being selected as the example of the body exhibiting, when heated, the spheroidal state. Few phenomena are more familiar than that of water, when placed at ordinary temperatures in a metallic or other vessel, wetting its surface and spreading over it, and we are equally familiar with the effect of elevation of temperature in such circumstances, in dissipating the water in vapor. If, however, instead of raising the temperature of the vessel, after the addition of the water, the vessel be first raised to a temperature of not less than 340° Fahrenheit, and some water be then projected into it, the liquid does not, as might be expected, wet or spread over the vessel, and then pass into a state of violent ebullition, but, as it were, rolls itself up and suddenly forms a globule or sphere, like a dew-drop, and moves about from side to side of the vessel which contains it. The water in these circumstances is said to have assumed the spheroidal state. The sphere of water is not in contact with the heated vessel, but executes its movements at a sensible distance from its surface. The temperature of the water, moreover, is not at its boiling point, and therefore evaporation proceeds slowly, so that a measured quantity of water which would by ordinary ebullition at 212° be dissipated in vapor in one minute, if in the spheroidal state in a vessel at 240° Fahrenheit would take 50 minutes to evaporate. Such are the chief phenomena attending, or characteristic of, this singular condition of matter. Boutigny made similar observations upon many other liquids, as well as on various solids, and arrived in consequence at the following conclu sions: 1st. That all bodies can pass into the spheroidal state. 2d. That the temperature of bodies in the spheroidal state, whatever be the temperature of the vessel which contains them, is invariably inferior to their point of ebullition. 3d. That there is no contact between bodies in the spheroidal state and the surfaces of the heated vessels on which they are placed. 4th. That bodies in the spheroidal state exhibit absolute reflection in regard to heat. The foregoing conclusions are the results of experiments performed in heated shallow vessels, into which the substances to be acted upon were projected. This, however, is not the only way in which the experiment can be performed. If a rod of platinum be raised to a white heat, and then plunged into water, for a time no hissing sound is heard, such as attends the quenching of red-hot platinum in water, nor is there any burst of steam such as accompanies sudden ebullition. This is in consequence of the water assuming the spheroidal state, and being repelled by the white-hot metal. After a certain interval, however, the temperature of the platinum falls sufficiently to allow the liquid to wet it, and then, for the first time, the hissing sounds and bursts of steam, characteristic of sudden ebullition, are observed. In such an experiment as the one just recorded, the condition of the water next the hot metal is the same as that of drops of the same liquid thrown upon a heated surface, and the water is said to as sume the spheroidal state in the former as well as in the latter case, although in the first it does not exhibit itself in a single sphere, or in several perfect spheres. In what follows I shall have occasion to refer to each of these manifestations of spheroidicity. Thus much then premised, I shall now proceed to the more immediate object of this paper, viz.,— the application of the results of the observations on bodies in the spheroidal state to the physical constitution of the globe. I assume that our globe at the present time consists essentially of three distinct portions:— 1st. A central nucleus in a state of igneous fusion. 2d. A crust at a comparatively low temperature, the inner side of which is in the spheroidal state. 3d. A space between the crust and the central nucleus, possibly filled with vaporized mineral matter. The arrangement of these several portions, and their connection one with another, may be better understood by reference to the constitution of an egg, which bears a strong analogy to it in point of arrangement, though differing in shape. The yolk of the egg represents the mass of matter in a state of igneous fusion; the white of the egg, the space between the heated mass and the crust; and the shell of the egg, the crust of the globe. When referring to the experiment with the platinum rod, I stated that when it was heated to the required temperature and plunged into water, the liquid did not touch the rod, but was seemingly repelled by it, and that, therefore, a space intervened between the rod and the water. In the proposed theory, I make no difference in point of assumed arrangement, but merely the substitution of one kind of matter for another. In the experiment there are the heated rod, the space, and the water in the spheroidal state; in the globe there are the hot nucleus, the space, and the crust, the inner side of which is in the spheroidal state. The crust of the globe, as thus circumstanced, will be influenced by two great forces, viz.,—gravitation and spheroidal repulsion; the former tending to draw the crust towards the central nucleus, the latter repelling it from it. The crust will, therefore, have assumed the position where the equilibrium of the two forces is established. I do not enter at present into the consideration of the relative dimensions of the several portions of the globe, but, considering the rapid increase in temperature from the surface of the crust towards the interior, it is not likely that the crust will exceed twenty-five miles in thickness. The innermost layers of the crust will possess a high temperature which will gradually decrease towards the surface of the earth. There is one important feature which all bodies in the spheroidal state present, and which I wish to bring prominently forward. I refer to the remarkable property of total reflection of the heat incident upon them. The effect of this property must be to make the inner surface of the crust of the globe (which, it will be remembered, is in the spheroidal state) equivalent in every direction to an immense concave mirror, whose temperatur will be very slightly affected by the heat which falls upon it. Such a condition of matters is manifestly compatible with the presence of a much higher temperature at the central nucleus than at the inner surface of the crust, and necessitates a The mechanical theory has thus, it would seem, for its foundation, the supposition of a central nucleus in a state of liquidity in physical contact with the crust. As this theory has been assumed to be untenable, for the reasons alluded to at the begining of this paper, any explanations of volcanic phenomena based upon it must inevitably fall to the ground. much slower cooling of that crust, and consequently | considers that "all volcanic phenomena are probof the nucleus which it robs of heat, than would be ably the result of a permanent or transient connecthe case if the power to reflect heat were not tion between the interior and the exterior of our characteristic of the spheroidal condition of matter. planet. Elastic vapors press the fused oxidizing And seeing that at a certain, though varying, distance substances upwards through deep fissures. Volfrom the surface of the earth, there is an invariable canoes therefore are intermittent earthsprings."* temperature in every latitude, the spheroidal condition of the inner surface of the crust must be considered permanent, so long as our present cosmical arrangements continue unchanged; for as the crust has long ceased to vary in temperature, except within a small distance from the surface, there is no force at work which can deprive the inner surface of the crust or the central nucleus of heat, and, therefore, none which can diminish their spheroidicity. They must be regarded as two surfaces constantly exchanging the same amount of heat, and prevented, in consequence, like two equally warm radiating bodies on Pictet's theory, from undergoing any change in temperature. Such is the theory by which I seek to reconcile the coëxistence in our globe of a central heat and fluidity, and a cold solid crust. The harmony of this theory with the known density of the globe may now be advantageously alluded to. In a former part of this paper I stated that, in order to reconcile the mean density of the globe with that of its constituents, it was requisite that some powerful expansive agent, or a space filled with vapor, should be accounted for, so as to lower the mean density of the earth. Many objections have also been made to the sufficiency of the chemical theory, to account for the phenomena in question. These objections have received considerable weight, from the circumstance that the talented chemist who advanced the theory afterwards saw reason to relinquish it. If, however, his principal reasons for doing so be carefully considered, and recent scientific discoveries be brought to bear upon them, there seems, I think, every probability that the chemical theory will be found to be a more satisfactory one than its promoter latterly considered it. The following sentence, quoted from Sir Humphry Davy's works, will explain his reasons for losing faith in the theory referred to:-"There are, however," says Davy, "distinct facts in favor of the idea that the interior of the globe has a higher temperature than the surface; the heat increasing in mines the deeper we penetrate, and the number of warm sources which rise from great depths in almost all countries, are certainly favorable to the idea." In the spheroidal theory of the earth there are two different ways by which the density may be lowered, 1st, by the dilatation of the central fluid consequent upon its high temperature; and, 2d, and more particularly, by the space which inter- From the above quotation, which embraces the venes between the central nucleus and the external substance of all objections as yet brought forward, crust. The former, viz., the expansion of the it would appear that they are founded upon the materials in the liquid state, would go but a small fact, deduced from observation, that there is an way in lowering the globe's density; when, how-internal heat for which at the present time no ever, the space which this theory necessitates is taken into consideration, there is ample room afforded by which the density of the globe, as a whole, might be more or less lowered. satisfactory explanation can be given by the advocates of the chemical theory. That chemistry has as yet failed to give the explanation referred to, is beyond doubt, but that this should render null and The other planets are probably in the same con-void the probability of the chemical theory accountdition as the earth, in so far that each has a liquid ing for volcanic phenomena, is carrying the infercentral nucleus at a distance from the enclosing ence rather too far. No substantial objection has, crust, and, in consequence, a lower density than it so far as I am aware, been brought forward against would have if solid to the centre; but in our igno- the probability of volcanic phenomena being caused rance of the chemical composition of the central by chemical action and reaction; whereas many portions of our own globe, and of the entire mass objections have been directed to show that the proof the other heavenly bodies, as well as of the temperature which characterizes their inner portions, we are without the data necessary for calculating what their specific gravity should be to accord with the requirements of the Spheroidal Theory. duction of the central heat by chemical means was untenable, and then the inference was drawn that both effects were the result of one cause, and that what failed to account for the one could not account for the other. Internal heat and volcanic phenomena I ascribe I shall now proceed to offer a few remarks re-to two different causes; and while I believe that garding the principal theories which have been promulgated, in order to give an explanation of the causes of volcanic phenomena. chemical action is quite competent to account for volcanic phenomena, at the same time I conceive that the internal heat is not directly due to this The theories referred to are respectively termed force, but is the inevitable consequence of the matter the mechanical and the chemical; the former as-composing the crust being at such a short distance suming that volcanic eruptions are but the exuda- from the central nucleus. In the spheroidal theory tion of the interior fused mass through the crust-of the earth such an internal heat is fully accounted the latter believing that they can be accounted for by the chemical action and reaction of certain elementary substances. for, in the proximity of the crust to the central nucleus. But while the heat of the inner portion of the crust is attributable to the central nucleus, there is no physical contact, and therefore little or * Views of Nature. Humboldt, p. 373. + Collected Works of Sir H. Davy, by Dr. John Davy. Humboldt-Consolations in Travel, Dialogue 3, p. 295. The adherents of the mechanical theory have put forward many suggestions, in order to account for the propelling power by which the molten mass could be ejected through the crust. no possibility of fused matter being ejected from the central sphere through the crust. Before proceeding further, I shall here make reference to an experiment, as the results which it gives appear to illustrate what occurs in volcanic phenomena. If a shallow vessel of copper be raised to a temperature of about 400° Fahr., and some drops of nitric acid be projected into it, the nitric acid (like water placed in the same circumstances) instantly assumes the spheroidal condition, and rolls about the capsule without any visible chemical action upon it. During the time that the nitric acid is in the spheroidal state, there seems to be a complete cessation of that violent chemical action which characterizes the meeting of nitric acid and copper at ordinary temperatures. The duration of the spheroid of nitric acid depends on two circumstances; first, that the heated vessel be directly kept at the required temperature by lamp or otherwise; and, secondly, that there be a moderate quantity of liquid. For, should the copper vessel be reduced in temperature, either directly, by withdrawing the source of heat, or indirectly, by adding more liquid than the heated vessel can possibly keep in the spheroidal state, the nitric acid will wet the surface of the copper, violent chemical action will be the consequence, and volumes of nitric oxide gas be given off. From the above experiment it would appear that ist. There is no chemical action between bodies in the spheroidal state and the hot surfaces over which they are placed. 2d. That chemical action instantly takes place when the vessel is directly reduced in temperature, or an overplus of liquid added; in other words, when physical contact is determined between the two bodies. In applying the preceding experimental results to volcanic phenomena, I assume, that there exist contiguous to the volcanoes of our globe (either formed or in the act of formation) basin-shaped cavities, more or less deeply seated, the under part of which is composed of metallic bodies at a high temperature. Water, either from lakes, &c., at the surface, or from subterranean reservoirs, finds access to one of these cavities. The first portion which descends instantly assumes the spheroidal condition-more water enters, and still it is spheroidized-the stream continues, till, in course of time, an immense volume of water is there rolling and tossing about, but not yet touching the metallic surface; ultimately, however, the balance is overturned, the liquid touches the metallic basin. An immense volume of water is thereby quickly converted into steam; while at the same moment chemical action on a large scale speedily ensues between the liquid and the metallic bodies-the latter action giving rise to heat quite sufficient to fuse large portions of mineral matter. The almost instantaneous generation of large volumes of vapors and gases, and these promptly augmented in bulk for some time, would soon produce a force quite able to raise large tracts of land, and, when a vent was made or obtained, would eject the fused mass as seen from the craters of some modern volcanoes during the term of an eruption. no additional quantity of water could be projected into the basin-shaped cavity from the water-stream; when, however, the whole of the water in the cavity had been converted into the gaseous condition, and the force had gradually spent itself, then the water would once more begin to percolate into the cavity. Of course, some time would elapse after the last drop of water was rendered gaseous before the pressure of the gases would allow the water to issue from its course; during this time the basinshaped cavity would be regaining, from the surrounding hot matter, any heat which it had lost during the eruption. Matters would thus again resume their former aspect; the water would once again become spheroidized in the subterranean cavity, there rolling and tossing about, but waiting the appointed time, when the balance will be overturned, and the striking phenomena characteristic of a volcanic eruption will again show themselves. ON THE INCREASE OF THE NAIL AND THE Hair IN MAN.-By M. Bertholdt (L'Institut., No. 846, 93.)-The growth of the nails in children is more rapid than in adults, and slowest in the aged. It goes on more promptly in summer than in winter, so that the same nail which is renewed in 132 days in winter, requires only 116 in summer-a fact depending on the vis vitalis, which seems to be proportional to it. The increase in the nails of the right hand is quicker than for the left; moreover, it differs for the different fingers, consequently, most rapidly for the middle finger, with nearly equal rapidity for the two either side of this, slower in the little finger, and slowest in the thumb. For the middle finger of the right hand, the nail grew 12 millimeters in 106 days; for the small finger of the left hand required 88 days more than for those of the right, and also there were produced in this time 3 millimeters less than on the right hand. The growth of the hair is well known to be much accelerated by frequent cutting. It forms more rapidly in the day than at night, and in the hot season than in the cold. But it is difficult to determine the precise rates. It results from the tables accompanying the memoir of M. Bertholdt, that the growth of the hair and nails, as well as that of the epidermis, pertains to the secretions, and not to the organic structure proper. For (1,) the quantity of each formed, corresponds very nearly with that of the peripheric secretions, especially with transpiration, it increasing in summer, whilst, on the contrary, the growth and nutrition of the body are most rapid in winter, so that the weight of a man, as was observed by Sanctorius, Liennig, and Reil, is greatest in winter; (2,) the growth of the hair being least during the night accords with the diminution of all the secretions, as that of transpiration, the formation of carbonic acid, the urinary, lacteal, and bilious secretions. Great was reading the life of the Emperor Trajan, he ONE day, says tradition, when Pope Gregory the could not help, in contemplating his eminent virtues, deploring his sad condition, as he considered that the emperor, being a heathen, could not be saved. He therefore entered into a church and prayed to God so earnestly for the soul of Trajan, that it was revealed to him that God had hearkened to his prayers, and had delivered Trajan from the tortures of hell; but he was commanded never again to pray for an infidel By the above theory we are put in possession of a method by which a very powerful and long-continued force can be generated, and brought to bear upon volcanic phenomena. When the vapors began to be produced, the water-course would be dammed up, so that during the term of an eruption or a pagan. From Bentley's Miscellany. WOLVES. ZOOLOGICAL NOTES AND ANECDOTES. We rustled through the leaves like wind, MAZEPPA. A PECULIAR interest attaches to the wolf, from the close analogy which in all its essential features it presents to the faithful companion of man. So close, indeed, is the analogy, that some of the ablest zoologists, the celebrated John Hunter included, have entertained the opinion that dogs, in all their varieties, and wolves, have descended from a common stock. With the exception of an obliquity in the position of the eyes, there is no appreciable anatomical difference between these animals. The question is one of difficulty; but we believe we are correct in stating that the majority of the highest authorities agree in the belief that these animals are not derived from a cominon parent, but were originally distinct, and will ever so continue. There are several species of wild dogs known, quite distinct from the wolf; and although the opportunities have been numerous for dogs resuming their pristine form, by long continuance in a savage state, no instance has ever occurred of their becoming wolves, however much they might degenerate from the domestic breed. The honest and intelligent shepherd-dog was regarded by Buffon as the "fons et origo," from which all other dogs, great and small, have sprung; and he drew up a kind of genealogical table, showing how climate, food, education, and intermixture of breeds gave rise to the varieties. At Katmandoo there are many plants found in a wild state, which man has carried with him in his migrations, and wild animals, which may present the typical forms whence some of our domestic races have been derived; among these is a wild dog, which Mr. Hodgson considers to be the primitive species of the whole canine race. By Professor Kretchner, the jackal was regarded as the type of the dogs of ancient Egypt, an idea supported by the representations on the walls of the temples. This question, however, of the origin of the canine race, is so thoroughly obscured by the mists of countless ages, as to be incapable of direct proof. Philosophers may indulge themselves with speculations; but in the absence of that keystone, proof, the matter must rest on the basis of theory alone. The following are some of the chief differences between wolves, wild dogs, and domestic dogs. The ears of the wild animals are always pricked, the lop or drooping ear being essentially a mark of civilization; with very rare exceptions, their tails hang more or less and are bushy, the honest cock of the tail, so characteristic of a respectable dog, being wanting. This is certainly the rule; but, curious enough, the Zoological Gardens contain at the present moment, a Portuguese female wolf which carries her tail as erect and with as bold an air as any dog. Wolves and wild dogs growl, howl, yelp, and cry most discordantly, but, with one exception, do not bark; that exception being the wild hunting-dog of South Africa, which, according to Mr. Cumming, has three distinct cries; one is peculiarly soft and melodious, but distinguishable at a great distance; this is analogous to the trumpet-call," halt and rally," of cavalry, serving to collect the scattered pack when broken in hot chase. A second ery, which has been compared to the chattering of monkeys, is emitted at night when the dogs are excited; and the third note is described as a sharp, angry bark, usually uttered when they behold an object they cannot make out, but which differs from the true, well-known bark of the domestic dog. The common or European wolf is found from Egypt to Lapland, and is most probably the variety The wolves that formerly haunted these islands. of Russia are large and fierce, and have a peculiarly savage aspect. The Swedish and Norwegian are similar to the Russian in form, but are lighter in color, and in winter, totally white. Those of France are browner and smaller than either of these, and the Alpine wolves are smaller still. Wolves are very numerous in the northern regions of America; "their foot-marks," says Sir John Richardson, "may be seen by the side of every stream, and a traveller can rarely pass the night in these wilds without hearing them howling around him."* These wolves burrow, and bring forth their young in earths with several outlets, like those of a fox. Sir John saw none with the gaunt appearance, the long jaw and tapering nose, long legs and slender feet, of the Pyrenean wolves. India, too, is infested with wolves, which are smaller than the European. There is a remarkably fine animal at the Zoological Gardens, born of a European father and Indian mother, which, in size and other respects, so closely partakes of the characteristics of his sire, that he might well pass for pure blood. Among the ancients, wolves gave rise to many superstitious fictions. For instance, it was said that they possessed "an evil eye," and that, if they looked on a man before he saw them, he would forthwith lose his voice. Again, we find the Roman witches, like the weird sisters of Macbeth, employing the wolf in their incantations :— Utque lupi barbam variæ cum dente colubræ HOR., Sat., viii., lib. i. This he that in Arcadia there lived a certain family of the There was a myth prevalent among the ancients, Antæi, of which one was ever obliged to be transformed into a wolf. The members of the family cast lots, and all accompanied the luckless wight on whom the lot fell, to a pool of water. swam over, and having entered into the wilderness on the other side, was forthwith in form a wolf, and for nine years kept company with wolves; at the pool, and was restored to his natural shape, the expiration of that period he again swam across only that the addition of nine years was placed upof the wolf contained a hair, which acted as a love on his features. It was also imagined that the tail philter and excited the tender passion. The myth wolf, arose from the simple circumstance of their of Romulus and Remus having been suckled by a nurse having been named Lupa-an explanation *Fauna Boreali-Americana, p. 62. which sadly does away with the garland of romance | county. In the reign of Athelstan, these pests that so long surrounded the story of the founders had so abounded in Yorkshire, that a retreat was of Rome. The figure of the wolf at one time built at Flixton in that county, "to defend pasformed a standard for the Roman legions, as saith sengers from the wolves, that they should not be Pliny, "Caius Marius, in his second consulship, devoured by them." Our Saxon ancestors also ordained that the legions of Roman soldiers only called January, when wolves pair, wolf-moneth ; should have the egle for their standard, and no and an outlaw was termed wolfshed, being out of other signe, for before time the egle marched fore- the protection of the law, and as liable to be killed most indeed, but in a ranke of foure others, to wit, as that destructive beast. wolves, minotaures, horses, and bores.' arts. The dried snout of a wolf held, in the estimation of the ancients, the same rank that a horse-shoe does now with the credulous. It was nailed upon the gates of country farms, as a counter-charm against the evil-eye, and was supposed to be a powerful antidote to incantations and witchcraft. New-married ladies were wont, upon their weddingday, to anoint the side-posts of their husbands' houses with wolves' grease, to defeat all demoniac These animals bore, however, but a bad character when alive; for, exclusive of their depredations, it was imagined that if horses chanced to tread in the foot-tracks of wolves, their feet were immediately benumbed; but Pliny also says, "Verily, the great master teeth and grinders of a wolf being hanged about an horse necke, cause him that he shall never tire and be weary, be he put to never so much running in any race whatsoever." When a territory was much infested with wolves, the following ceremony was performed with much solemnity and deep subsequent carousal :-A wolf would be caught alive, and his legs carefully broken. He was then dragged round the confines of the farm, being bled with a knife from time to time, so that the blood might sprinkle the ground. Being generally dead when the journey had been completed, he was buried in the very spot whence he had started on his painful race. There was scarcely a filthy thing upon the earth, or under the earth, which the ancients did not in some way use medicinally; and we find Paulus Ægineta recommends the dried and pounded liver of a wolf, steeped in sweet wine, as a sovereign remedy for diseases of the liver, &c. A curious notice of the existence of wolves and foxes in Scotland is afforded in Bellenden's translation of Boetius.* "The wolffis are right noisome to tame beastial in all parts of Scotland, except one part thereof, named Glenmorris, in which the tame beastial gets little damage of wild beastial, especially of tods (foxes); for each house nurses a young tod certain days, and mengis (mixes) the flesh thereof, after it be slain, with such meat as they give to their fowls or other small beasts, and so many as eat of this meat are preserved two months after from any damage of tods; for tods will eat no flesh that gusts of their own kind." The last wolf killed in Scotland is said to have fallen by the hand of Sir Ewen Cameron, about 1680; and, singular to say, the skin of this venerable quadruped may yet be in existence; in a catalogue of Mr. Donovan's sale of the London Museum, in April, 1818, there occurs the following item :-"Lot 832. Wolf, a noble animal in a large glass case. The last wolf killed in Scotland, by Sir E. Cameron." It would be interesting to know what became of this lot. The pairing time is January, when, after many battles with rivals, the strongest males attach themselves to the females. The female wolf prepares a warm nest for her young, of soft moss and her own hair, carefully blended together. The cubs are watched by the parents with tender solicitude, are gradually accustomed to flesh, and when sufficiently strong their education begins, and they are taken to join in the chase; not the least curious part is the discipline by which they are inured to suffering and taught to bear pain without complaint; their parents are said to bite, maltreat, and drag them by the tail, punishing them if they utter a cry, until they have learned to be mute. To this quality Macaulay alludes when speaking of a wolf in his "Prophecy of Capys:" When all the pack, loud baying, Our English word wolf is derived from the Saxon wulf, and from the same root, the German wolf, the Swedish ulf, and Danish ulv, are probably derived. Wolves were at one time a great scourge to this country, the dense forests which formerly covered the land favoring their safety and their increase. Edgar applied himself seriously to rid his subjects of this pest, by commuting the punishments of certain crimes into the acceptance of a number of wolves' tongues from each criminal; and in Wales It is curious to observe the cunning acquired by by commuting a tax of gold and silver, imposed on wolves in well inhabited districts, where they are the Princes of Cambria by Ethelstan, into an annual eagerly sought for destruction; they then never tribute of three hundred wolves' heads, which Je- quit cover to windward; they trot along just within naf, Prince of North Wales, paid so punctually, the edges of the wood until they meet the wind that by the fourth year the breed was extinct. Not from the open country, and are assured by their so, however, in England, for, like ill weeds, they keen scent that no danger awaits them in that increased and multiplied here, rendering necessary quarter-then they advance, keeping under cover the appointment, in the reign of the first Edward, of hedgerows as much as possible, moving in single of a wolf-hunter general, in the person of one Peter Corbet; and his majesty thought it not beneath his dignity to issue a mandamus, bearing date May 14th, 1281, to all bailiffs, &c., to aid and assist the said Peter in the destruction of wolves in the counties of Gloucester, Worcester, Hereford, Shropshire, and Stafford; and Camden informs us that in Derby, lands were held at Wormhill by the duty of hunting and taking the wolves that infested that * Holland's Plinie's Naturall Historie, ed. 1635. file and treading in each other's track; narrow roads they bound across, without leaving a footprint. When a wolf contemplates a visit to a farm-yard, he first carefully reconnoitres the ground, listening, snuffing up the air, and smelling the earth; he then springs over the threshold without touching it and seizes on his prey. In retreat his head is low, turned obliquely, with one ear forward the other back, and the eyes glaring. He trots *Edit. Edin. 1541, quoted from Magazine of Natural History. |