Salisbury Plain, when a boy, keeping sheep, called to him--"Sir, you had
better make haste on, or you will get a wet jacket." Newton looking
round and observing neither clouds nor speck on the horizon, jogged on,
taking very little notice of the rustic's information. He had made but a
few miles, when a storm suddenly arising, wetted him to the skin.
Surprised at the circumstance, and determined, if possible, to ascertain
how an ignorant boy had attained a precision and knowledge in the
weather, of which the wisest philosophers would be proud, he rode back,
wet as he was. "My lad," said Newton, "I'll give thee a guinea if thou
wilt tell me how thou canst foretell the weather so truly." "Will ye,
sir? I will then," said the boy, scratching his head, and holding out
his hand for the guinea. "Now, sir," having received the money, and
pointing to his sheep, "when you see that black ram turn his tail
towards the wind, 'tis a sure sign of rain within an hour." "What,"
exclaimed the philosopher, "must I, in order to foretell the weather,
stay here, and watch which way that black ram turns his tail?" "Yes,
sir," replied the boy. Off rode Newton, quite satisfied with his
discovery, but not much inclined to avail himself of it, or to recommend
it to others. W.G.C.

_Primitive Lamp_.--The inhabitants of the Landes, in the south of
France, being cut off from the rest of the world, have it not in their
power, except when once or twice a year they travel to the nearest towns
with their wool, to purchase candles; and as they have no notion how
these can be made, they substitute in their place a lamp fed with the
turpentine extracted from the fir-trees. The whole process is simple and
primitive. To obtain the turpentine, they cut a hole in the tree, and
fasten a dish in it to catch the sap as it oozes through, and as soon as
the dish is filled, they put a wick of cotton into the midst of the
liquor, and burn it as we do a lamp. W.G.C.