The gourmands have discovered, that the fishing for white bait
in the Thames is not by many degrees so destructive of the fry of other species of the °any tribesj as the legitimate fishiug. by the common nets. THE FRENCH Cumn.—There was a private view yesterday of the child whose eyes bear the very singular impress of the letters on a franc piece. The letters "Napoleon Empereur," are distinctly visible in the iris of the child's eyes; they are of a pale blue colour, and, as is stated, considerably larger than when they were first observed, in consequence of the growth of the child. It was not said whether the sight of the child had been in any degree affected by the singular marks, nor when they were first observed. The impression is accounted for in two ways; one is, that the mother, whea pregnant, received as a present, a franc piece of the Emperor, which she was in the habit of frequently gazing on ; the other, that there was in the roont where she sat a medal of the Emperor. These causes, or rather pretended causes, have their origin in a theory which is, we believe, now scouted b every person of common sense, as well as by all medical writers. Doubtles we do frequently find lusus nature of a very extraordinary kind. Numerous gems have been found at various times, and in various places, bearing the impress not only of human features, but even exhibiting resemblances of real persons. In the same way, in the colours of flowers, mid in the variegated lines of shells, letters, or what approach the form of letters. The classical reader need not be reminded of the flower into which according to the Lath' fabulist the son of Telamon was converted, and which bore thenceforth the first two letters of his name—at—nor of the reveries in which holy men have indulged in respect to the singular stamen of the passion flower, lf, therefore, one or two letters had been traceable on one of the eyes of the child in question, we might have attributed them safely to a sport of .Nature, in disposing the ramifications of the small blood vessels that spring front the cor. nea ;' but how explain the apparently miraculous occurrence of 16 letters, arranged in regular order, expressing a name still used as a political password in France, and that on each eye ? We are not acquainted with any process, certainly, by which the delicate membrane that covers tile eye can be operated on so as to stain it permanently; nor, until we heard of this child, did it ever occur to us that such a process was possible. We are, however, now placed in this position—either we ntost believe, in the face of all that has ever been discovered of the laws of animal life, that Nature has pencilled these letters on the eyes of this child—or, in ignorance we admit, of what has been attempted, and of what may be accomplished in such a case, to believe that the letters derive their origin, not from the undefined and undefinable working of inappreciable causes, but from some operation of human ingenuity. Every one knows that the skin of the body can be coloured by various means, of a very simple kind, and certainly nothing would lead us to conclude that to colour the skin of the eye is impossible. That Nature should colour it in the way in which she is represented to have done in time child in question, is, perhaps, as nearly impossible as any thing that we can well be called on to helieve.—New Times.
Before time philosophy of this question can be settled, there is an issue of fact to be tried—are the letters" Napoleon Empereur" really visible in the eyes of the child exhibited at the Royal Bazaar ? We have not yet qualified ourselves to give evidence to the fact ; but the Times could see only a vague sort of "N," and it suspects that they who profess to see more are indebted to their imaginations.
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