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  • Nov. 1, 1794
  • Page 43
  • ON THE VARIETY OF CONJECTURES CONCERNING THE APPEARANCE AND DEPARTURE OF SWALLOWS.
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The Freemasons' Magazine, Nov. 1, 1794: Page 43

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On The Variety Of Conjectures Concerning The Appearance And Departure Of Swallows.

nights , is known to come hither from the parts of the continent which are contiguous to our channel , when the swallows leave us . Many of these annual visitants have been said to resort constantly to the same habitations , and one , in particular , being supposed ( as I remember to have seen in some accounts ) to occupy the same nest which was suspended for some years undisturbed under the beam of an old barnhave been supposed to take their winter quarters not far

, up from their summer stations . Now , supposing their migration , which at present is equally probable with their continuance here ( for that is not proved ) , might it not be said , that , though we are ignorant of the places from which they migrate , Providence may have directed part of the same family to the veiy spot where the 3 ' first received their existence ? I part ;

say , for , if all that are bred here in a summer were either to awake again at the return of spring from their torpid state , on one supposition , or to return from distant climates , on the other , the superfcetation would be so prodi gious ( for there is such a forbearance shewn to the swallowtribe , that , except a few from wantonness , not many are destroyed , and even their nests are unmolested ) that there would not be food

, enough , even among the innumerable tribes of insects , to support them ; and , instead of being a benefit to mankind , they would prove the greatest nuisance . But it is not seen that their multitudes do so accumulate from one year to another ; on the contrary , nearly the same number of nests are built in our chimneys , and under our roofs ,

in the following as in the preceding summer . The particular food of which they come in pursuit is sufficient to maintain annuall y the colony sent out ; and , when they take their leave of us no greater flights are found hovering round our houses in any succeeding year than in those which went before . Either , thereforea certain number of the different kinds die in their several

-^ repo sitories , and the remainder are suffered to revive , to destroy the myriads of animalculaa that would otherwise destroy the fruits of the earth ; or , which is much more probable , the same wise Providence which proportions the'births of males to females in the human race , and appoints , for purposes unknown to us , different species of animals , through the whole scale of created beingsto be the of othersan

, prey , allotted number return to us from their retreats to more hospitable climates , to continue a succession which may be sufficient to lessen the various despoilers of the earth ' s productions , but not to'injure or offend us with their increasing multitudes .. , I very much fear , Sir , that the notion of these tribes of swallows being secreted in holes and caverns , and at the bottom of lakes and

rivers , is adopted with a view of accounting for their stated appearance among us without the necessity of providential interference . Mr . Buffon , the celebrated French naturalist , has endeavoured to explain tlie geometrical regularity of the hexagonal cells of bees , by saying that the animal , in the formation , of his cell , is so pressed by the adjoining labourers in the hive , that tlie space left to each mustun-, avoidably produce a hexagon . But why do they not produce circles ,

“The Freemasons' Magazine: 1794-11-01, Page 43” Masonic Periodicals Online, Library and Museum of Freemasonry, 10 June 2025, django:8000/periodicals/fmm/issues/fmm_01111794/page/43/.
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Title Category Page
THE FREEMASONS' MAGAZINE, OR GENERAL AND COMPLETE LIBRARY. FOR NOVEMBER 1794. Article 1
1st EPISTLE OF ST. PETER, 17th VERSE. Article 3
MASONIC PRECEPTS: Article 6
MEMOIRS OF THE FREEMASONS AT NAPLES. Article 11
BRIEF HISTORY OF THE RELIGIOUS AND MILITARY ORDER OF THE KNIGHTS TEMPLARS OF ST. JOHN OF JERUSALEM. Article 15
MR. TASKER'S LETTERS Article 21
Untitled Article 23
TIPPING BROWN, M. D. Article 24
TO THE EDITOR OF THE FREEMASONS' MAGAZINE. Article 26
EXAMPLES OF THE VIOLENCE WITH WHICH THE LEARNED HAVE CONTENDED ABOUT TRIFLES. FROM D'lSRAELI'S "CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE." VOL. II. Article 28
EARLY THEATRICAL MYSTERIES. Article 30
MAGICAL SUPERSTITION. Article 31
DETACHED THOUGHTS, Article 32
ON DESPAIR. Article 33
ON MILITARY DISCIPLINE. Article 34
ON WISDOM. Article 35
A CURE FOR THE BITE OF A VIPER. Article 35
ON THE COMPARATIVE MORALITY OF THE ANCIENTS AND MODERNS. Article 36
ON THE TREATMENT OF ANIMALS. Article 39
ON THE VARIETY OF CONJECTURES CONCERNING THE APPEARANCE AND DEPARTURE OF SWALLOWS. Article 42
AUTHENTIC AND INTERESTING NARRATIVE OF THE ADVENTURES OF THE MUTINEERS Article 44
ANECDOTES OF CHAPELAIN, A GREAT MISER. Article 51
POETRY. Article 52
WHISKY: AN IRISH BACCHANALIAN SONG. Article 53
CONTEMPLATING THE PERIOD OF ALL HUMAN GLORY, AMONG THE TOMBS IN WESTMINSTER-ABBEY. Article 55
ODE TO FEMALE FRIENDSHIP. Article 56
STRICTURES ON PUBLIC AMUSEMENTS. Article 57
PROLOGUE TO EMILIA GALOTTI. Article 59
EPILOGUE. Article 59
MONTHLY CHRONICLE. Article 62
LIST OF GENTLEMEN NOMINATED AS SHERIFFS FOR 1795. Article 67
COUNTRY NEWS. Article 68
PROMOTIONS. Article 70
Untitled Article 70
Untitled Article 70
BANKRUPTS. Article 71
Untitled Article 72
LONDON : Article 72
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS TO CORRESPONDENTS. Article 73
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Page 43

Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.

On The Variety Of Conjectures Concerning The Appearance And Departure Of Swallows.

nights , is known to come hither from the parts of the continent which are contiguous to our channel , when the swallows leave us . Many of these annual visitants have been said to resort constantly to the same habitations , and one , in particular , being supposed ( as I remember to have seen in some accounts ) to occupy the same nest which was suspended for some years undisturbed under the beam of an old barnhave been supposed to take their winter quarters not far

, up from their summer stations . Now , supposing their migration , which at present is equally probable with their continuance here ( for that is not proved ) , might it not be said , that , though we are ignorant of the places from which they migrate , Providence may have directed part of the same family to the veiy spot where the 3 ' first received their existence ? I part ;

say , for , if all that are bred here in a summer were either to awake again at the return of spring from their torpid state , on one supposition , or to return from distant climates , on the other , the superfcetation would be so prodi gious ( for there is such a forbearance shewn to the swallowtribe , that , except a few from wantonness , not many are destroyed , and even their nests are unmolested ) that there would not be food

, enough , even among the innumerable tribes of insects , to support them ; and , instead of being a benefit to mankind , they would prove the greatest nuisance . But it is not seen that their multitudes do so accumulate from one year to another ; on the contrary , nearly the same number of nests are built in our chimneys , and under our roofs ,

in the following as in the preceding summer . The particular food of which they come in pursuit is sufficient to maintain annuall y the colony sent out ; and , when they take their leave of us no greater flights are found hovering round our houses in any succeeding year than in those which went before . Either , thereforea certain number of the different kinds die in their several

-^ repo sitories , and the remainder are suffered to revive , to destroy the myriads of animalculaa that would otherwise destroy the fruits of the earth ; or , which is much more probable , the same wise Providence which proportions the'births of males to females in the human race , and appoints , for purposes unknown to us , different species of animals , through the whole scale of created beingsto be the of othersan

, prey , allotted number return to us from their retreats to more hospitable climates , to continue a succession which may be sufficient to lessen the various despoilers of the earth ' s productions , but not to'injure or offend us with their increasing multitudes .. , I very much fear , Sir , that the notion of these tribes of swallows being secreted in holes and caverns , and at the bottom of lakes and

rivers , is adopted with a view of accounting for their stated appearance among us without the necessity of providential interference . Mr . Buffon , the celebrated French naturalist , has endeavoured to explain tlie geometrical regularity of the hexagonal cells of bees , by saying that the animal , in the formation , of his cell , is so pressed by the adjoining labourers in the hive , that tlie space left to each mustun-, avoidably produce a hexagon . But why do they not produce circles ,

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