_Passage through the Isthmus of Panama, Suggested Three Hundred Years Ago._ In the Town Library (_Stadt Bibliothek_) of Nuremberg is preserved an interesting globe, made by John Schoner, professor of mathematics in the gymnasium there, A. D. 1520. It is very remarkable that the passage through the Isthmus of Panama, so much sought after in later times, is, on this old globe, carefully delineated. _A False Conclusion._ Amongst the _deliramenta_ of the learned, which have amused mankind, the following deserves a place:— In 1815 a noted London professor occupied a window which overlooked the college garden. Amid the trees in the latter a number of rooks had taken up their abode. A young gentleman, who lodged in an attic opposite, frequently amused himself by shooting the rooks with a cross-bow. The professor noticed that the birds frequently dropped senseless from their perches, no sound being heard, no person being visible. It was a strange phenomenon, and he set his wits to work to account for the cause of it. At length he became fully satisfied that he had made a great ornithological discovery which would add vastly to his fame. He actually wrote a _learned treatise_, stating what he had seen, and declaring that it was a settled conviction in his mind that _rooks_ were subject to _falling sickness_. _Posies from Wedding Rings._ _Hamlet._—Is this a prologue, or a posy of a ring? The following posies were transcribed by an indefatigable collector, from old wedding rings, chiefly of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The orthography is, in most cases, altered:— Death never parts Such loving hearts. In thee, my choice, I do rejoice. 1677. A heart content Need ne'er repent. All I refuse, And thee I choose. In thee, dear wife, I find new life. This ring doth bind Body and mind. Joy day and night Be our delight. Endless as this, Shall be our bliss. 1719. God alone Made us two one. I change the life Of maid to wife. No gift can show The love I owe. In love abide, Till death divide. _Private Expenses of Charles II._ Malone, the well-known editor of Shakespeare, possessed a curious volume—an account of the privy expenses of Charles II., kept by Baptist May. A few extracts from Malone's transcripts are here subjoined:—