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Show [ IS8 ] Fair glows her virgin cheek and tnodefl: breall:, A panoply of fcales deforms the rell ; Her quivering fins and panting gills ilie hides, But fpreads her .G.lvcr anns upon the tides ; Slow as fhe fails, her ivory neck fhe laves, And 1hakes her golden treffes o'er the waves. / 2!0 Charm'd round the Nymph, in circling gambols glide Four Nereid-fonns, or £hoot a1ong the tide; Now all as one they rife with frolic fpring, And beat the wondering air on humid wing; Now all defcending plunge beneath the n1ain, 2 I 5 And laih the foam with undulating train; Above, below, they wheel, retreat, advance, In air and ocean weave the 1nazy dance ; Bow their quick heads, and point their diatnond eyes, And twinkle to the fun with ever-changing dyes. 2 20 vVhere Andes, crefied with volcanic beams, Sheds a long line of light on Plata's fi:reams ; [ 159 ] Opes aU his fprings, unlocks his golden caves, And feeds and freights the irn1neafurable waves ; Delighted OcYMA at twilight hours 2 25 Calls her light car, and leaves the fultry bo·wers; Love's ri.G.ng ray, and Youth's feduetive dye, Bloom' d on her cheek> and brighten' d in her eye ; • Ocymumfalinum. I. 225. Saline Bafi!. Clafs Two Powers. The Abbe Molina, in bis Hiftory of Chili, tranllated from the Italian by the Abbe Grewvel, mentions a fpecies of Bafil, which he calls Ocymum falinum: he fays it refembles the common hafil, except that the ftalk is round and jointed; and that though it grows fixty miles from the fea, yet every morning it is covered with [aline globules, which are hard and fplcndid, appearing at a difiance like dew; and that each plant furnill1es about half an ounce of fine fait every day, which the peafants colleB:, and ufe as common falt, but efteem it fuperior in flavour. As an article of diet, fait feems to aCt. fimply as a ·fiimulus, not containing any nourilhment, and is the only foffil fubllance which the caprice of mankind has yet taken into their Homachs along with their food; and, like all other unnatural ftimuli, is not neceffary to people in health, and contributes to weaken our fyftem; though it may be ufeful as a medicine. It feems to be the immediate caufe of the fea-fcurvy, as thofe patients quickly recover by the ufe of frefh provifions; and is probably a remote caufe of fcrophula (which confifts in the want of irritability in the abforbent veffels) and is therefore ferviceable to thefe patients; as wine is neceflary to thofe whofe ftomachs have been weakened by its ufe. The univerfality of the ufe of fait with our food, and in our cookery, has rendered it difficult to prove the truth of thefe obfervations. I fufpeB: that flefh-meat cut into thin llices, either raw o~ boiled, might be preferved in coarfe fugar or treacle; and thus a very nourifhing and falutary diet might be prefented to our feamen. See note on Salt"'locks, in Vol. I. Canto I I. If a perfon unaccuftomed to much fait lhould eat a couple of red herring~, his infenfible perfpiration will be fo much incrcafed by the ftimulus of the fait, that he will find it necdlary in about two hours to drink a quart of water: the effeB:s of a continued ufe of fait io weakening the action of the lymphatic fyftem may hence be deduced. |