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180 BURKE’S WEEKLY FOR BOYS AND GIRLS. MACON, GA., DEC. 7, 1867. Contents of No. 23. Jack Dobell; or, A- Boy’s Adventures in Texas— Chapter XY. —original page 177 Poetry —All Thy Works Praise Thee 178 Poetry —Rosette and the Whispering Fairy—ori ginal 179 The Bob-o-link—illustrated—original 179 Editorial— A Sunday School Paper for Nothing: South ern Boys and Girls Monthly; The Effects of Hunger; To Correspondents; Read This; The Little Girl who Told the Truth 180—181 The Dog and the Shadow—illustrated 181 Do it Well 181 Poetry —The Wig, Cane and Hat—illustrated 182 Marooner's Island, by the Rev. F. R. Goulding— Chapter XV., —original 182 A Little Help—original; Liquid Glue ; Caution to the Young; A Schoolmaster and his Pupil 183 Our Chimney Corner—illustrated 184 CRANDALL’S BUILDING BLOCKS. W 1 large consignment of j j these admirable blocks for i fM 1 . children, which we will JMpLjRI They are pu- up in neat sfllliiifesr. and substantial boxes, each several buildings made To the boy or girl who will send us three subscribers to Burke’s Weekly, and $6, we will send a set worth SI50: for four subscribers, and 88, we will send a set worth $2; and for five subscribers, and 810, we will send a set worth $3. Address J. W. BURKE &C 0„ Publishers, Macon, Ga. Postage on the “Weekly.” The postage on the Weekly, when paid quarterly or yearly, at the office of delivery, is five cents a quarter or twenty cents a year. ♦<*>«. A Sunday School Paper for Nothing. #NTIL further notice, we propose to send the Weekly and either one of the fol lowing Sunday School papers, for one f, year, to all new subscribers who remit us $2 00: The Sunday School Visitor , (Methodist,) published at Nashville, Tenn.: The Child's Delight , (Baptist,) published at Macon, Ga. ; The Children's Guest , (Episco pal,) published at New York ; The Children's Friend , (Presbyterian,) published at Richmond, Va. ; or The Childs World , published by the American Sunday School Union at Philadelphia. 1 hese papers are all beautifully illustrated, and filled with stories and poems calculated to improve the mind and heart. Any one of our present subscribers who has paid us $2 for a year’s subscription, will be enti tled to receive either one of these papers by send ing us an additional name and $2. Southern Boys and Girls Monthly. We are under obligations to the editor for a complete file of this excellent publication. It is ably edited and handsomely illustrated, and is de serving of a large share of Southern patronage. — Terms, $1 50 per annum. Address, Rev. E. P. Baird, Editor, Richmond, Ya. We will send Burke's Weekly and the Southern Boys and Girls Monthly one year for $3. BTJRKE’B WEEKLY. The Effects of Hunger. is impossible to say how long it will take fvsp starvation to effect its end, but it has been ascertained liow much waste will prove fatal. ?Chossat, a celebrated French writer, after repeated experiments, asserts that death en sues whenever the waste of the system reaches two-fifths. Thus, an animal weighing 100 pounds will die when it is reduced to 60 pounds weight. Life may cease before that point is reach ed, but it cannot, ordinarily, survive beyond it. But sometimes the average loss is greater than 40 per cent. For instance, a case is reported of a very fat pig which was buried for one hundred and sixty days under thirty feet of chalk, and it was ascertained that his weight fell, during this period, 75 per cent. Fishes and reptiles perish at the same limit of weight as other animals, but they require twenty-three times as long to reach it. A bird, for instance, during warm weather will per ish in a week, while a frog will survive, without food, twenty-three weeks. It appears, also, that the body wastes daily “ one twenty-fourth of its entire weight,” and that one twenty-third of its entire weight is necessary daily in the way of food, to repair this waste. Actual experiments establish the fact that car nivorous, or flesh-eating animals resist starvation longer than the herbivorous, or vegetable eating ; and birds of prey longer than those feeding on seeds and fruits. “The carnivorous animal eats voraciously when food is within reach, but having satisfied his appetite, lie remains several hours before again feeling hungry, and in a state of na ture the intervals between his meals are necessari ly variable, because his food is neither abundant nor easy of access. The herbivorous animal, on the other hand, has his food constantly within reach, and is almost always eating, because an immense amount of vegetable food is needed to furnish him with sustenance. The lion and the cat become inured to long abstinence ; the rabbit or the cow scarcely know the feeling. It is clear, therefore, that the one will better endure long fasting than the other.”* Experiments have shown that the average dura tion of life without food in birds and animals ex ceeds nine and a half days—the longest being twenty and a half days, and the shortest a little more than two days. The young always die first, and the adult before the aged, and this is true of men as well as of animals. Some of the simpler animals exhibit remarkable powers of endurance. A spider pinned to a cork was found alive after four months, and a stag-beetle kept in a box with out food for three years, at the end of that time flew away. A scorpion not only survived the voy age from Africa to Holland, but lived without food for nine months afterwards. In these cases, how ever, “ the animals were quiescent, and did not waste their substance by the ordinary activities.” In man “we find that death arrives on the fifth or sixth day of total abstinence from food and drink.” But there are exceptions to this rule. “Much depends on the peculiar constitution of the individual, his age, health, and other condi tions. Some die on the second and third days ; others survive until the tenth, eleventh, and even the sixteenth days. Considerable difference will also result from the different situations in which they are placed whether of quiescence or activ ity, of temperature, moisture, etc.* Some wonderful cases of abstinence from food * Physiology of Common Life. f Lowes. are reported, but they are not always reliable. A young girl is said to have gone without food sev enty-eight days, during which time she only suck ed lemons. A woman is said to have remained four months without food, and another lasted a whole year. ‘‘A Scotchwoman is reported to have lived eight 3 ears without taking anything except a little water on one or two occasions.” A case of ten years fasting is also mentioned in many books, and a celebrated writer, who took precau tions against deception, says that a girl named “EvaFlegen neither ate nor drank during six years. But all these stories are surpassed by that of a woman who remained fifty years without food; it is added, however, that she sometimes took skimmed milk.” But these stories must all be taken with allow ance, as they are, most of them, certainly oppos ed to the plainest teachings of physiology; be sides, many of these wonderful cases have been subsequently proved to be impostures. It is safe, therefore, to conclude that whenever the loss of weight of an animal reaches a certain point, death ensues, and, “curiously enough, an insufficiency of food causes death at precisely the same point, viz; when the original weight is reduced to three fifths. Men, therefore, reduced to an insufficient allowance, whether from famine, shipwreck, or siege, will inevitably perish unless the allowance be increased ; it will be as if they had received no food at all, only it will be longer before they suc cumb.” An important lesson is contained in this fact. To Correspondents. jVUR little friends continue to mix up their I communications to us in such a way that y/ we are sometimes unable to use them. f Remember, that a request to send the paper, or to change the address, or to send a missing number, must not be mixed up with matter for the Chimney Corner, for the chances are ten to one that the letter goes on our business file, and never gets on the “Chimney Cor ner” file. We try to systematize our business, but have no time to copy any portion of the large number of letters which reach us, in order to.-ep arate matters which could easily be kept separate by the writers. Bear this in mind, little friends, and if, in future, you send us matter for publica tion mixed up with matters of business, don t blame us if you never hear from the former. ♦♦♦ Read This. QfOfVIANY a boy or girl eats a dollars worth j| of candy or sweetmeats, buying them little at a time, and when they are gone the pleasure is gone with them, Jhe same amount expended in paying tor the Weekly will give solid enjoyment and instruction for six months. Think ol this, little reader, and advise your school mates to sum their dimes for an investment which will furnish a new pleasure each week, and at the end of the year give them a large and handsome volume tor the library. When you send your own name, or an) other, be careful to give us the name of the P°-j office and State also. It is best to add the lu address at the bottom of your letter. JNames may be added to clubs at an) tin during the year, at the regular club rates.