The Strangest Things in the World: A Book About Extraordinary Manifestations of NatureHenry, Thomas R. (Thomas Robert)
History
The Strangest Things in the World: A Book About Extraordinary Manifestations of Nature
Henry, Thomas R. (Thomas Robert)
Animal behavior; Natural history
Snails admittedly are very tenacious of life and can endure extremes of
heat, cold and dessication. Many instances have been cited, some nearly
incredible. In 1846, for example, a desert snail from Egypt was fixed
to a paper tablet in the British Museum in London. Four years later
it was observed that he had discolored the paper in his attempt to
get away. Finding escape impossible he had again retired. This led to
his immersion in tepid water. The creature again came to life. He was
“alive and flourishing” a week later.
There are snail harpists and even singing snails. The former were
described by Rev. H. G. Barnacle, British missionary-naturalist, in a
scholarly paper written in 1848: “When up in the mountains of Oahu, I
heard the grandest but wildest music as from hundreds of aeolean harps
wafted to me on the breeze and a native told me it came from singing
shells. It was sublime. I could not believe it but a tree close at
hand proved it. Upon it were thousands of the snails. The animals drew
after them their shells which grated against the wood and so caused the
sounds. The multitude of sounds produced the fanciful music.”
The singing snails in Ceylon’s blackish Lake Batticaloa were described
by the British naturalist Sir Emerson Tennent: “Sounds came up from
the water like gentle thrills of a musical chord or like the faint
vibrations of a wine glass when the rim is rubbed by a moistened
finger. It was not one sustained note but a multitude of tiny sounds,
each clear and distinct in itself. On applying the ear to the woodwork
of the boat the vibrations greatly increased in volume. The natives
said they were made by singing snails.”
_Vision-Producing Plants_
Among the plants used by California Indians for food, medicine, and
magic is wild tobacco. It is smoked in a hollow elder stick, about
eight inches long, from which the pith has been removed. A few
inhalations of the smoke early in the morning are enough to overcome
the smoker so that he is unable to stand on his feet. He inhales until
extreme dizziness is achieved and then he touches tobacco no more
for the rest of the day. Indians can give no good reason for this
concentrated form of smoking. It is simply the way of their ancestors.
A mixture of plants, the honey of bumblebees, and the red scum off an
iron spring constitute a popular love charm. The mixture is placed
in a buckskin bag and carried under the arm. When the favor of some
particular maiden is desired it is necessary only to secure something
associated with her and add it to the charm. The easiest to get is
a pinch of soil upon which the lady has spat. This is used not only
by lovers but also by husbands wishing to secure the return of errant
wives.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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