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Show : ! f 194 see the queen of nature in her jewels, and gain both health -and time by the sight. One of the most beautiful displays of dew is that on the web of a spider; and perhaps that of the sceptre spider, or large mottled garden spider, is one of the best, as the web is large and strong, and the rainbow tints of the web are seen along with the glitter of the dew-drops, if the proper light is chosen -and a.nv one may catch it by moving from side to side a little. At a more advanced period of the season, the drops freeze, and the main braces of the web may be taken by the ends and examined like little strings of seed pearls. The spider is not on the web in the dew, and it is dead, or in its winter retirement, before the frost. DEW ON THE SPil)ER'S WEll. Before the heavy dews of late autumn set in, the spiders have an vanished from the gardens, but their ~ - BREATHING AGAINST THE WIND. 195 webs remain for a considerable time after, and if the frosts are constant, they may be observed for a great part of the season, not only gemmed with the little pearl drops of ice, but absolutely bristled with hoar ~rost .. ~he quantity of. these webs in gardens and 11elds IS u~mense; and It would be a curious inquiry to ascertam what purposes the wrecks serve in the economy of nature,-as it is part of the economy of nature that no portion even of the refuse of her works is lost. The most durable of those webs is that of the great garden spider. There is one little matter connected with the formatim~ ~f ~ew which is worthy of being known, ~ecause It Is, m so far, conducive to the preservation of health. Every one must know that in ordi .. nary states of the atmosphere wind very much pro .. motes eva_po~ation; and many must have felt the ~ffects of s1ttmg near an open window, or otherwise m a '' draught" or current of air : and that those currents are most injurious when they act partially on the bo~y. The reason is, that the current evap .. orates moisture _from, a_nd ~auses to shrink, that part of the body agamst whiCh It sets so that the circu .. lation in t~e capillary ve~sels whi~h join the arteries to the. vems, and also m the small lymphatics, is more Impeded there than in the rest of the body That unnatural resistance, of course, causes an un: nat~ral acti?n, and stiff-necks and other local rheu .. matte affectiOns are the consequence. It is matter of common observation, too, that the danger is greatest when one sits with one's back to the dr~ught, and that it is least when the face is turned to It. The. fact is, that the draught produces Ii ttle bad effect, If any at all, if it blow only on the face; and one can bear to look a whole day out at a win .. dow, the draught at which would produce a stiff~ neck, or even a cold, if the back were exposed to it for an hour. Now the back of the head and the neck have no means of protection against the effects |
