would be made, if it were removed from the
heads of our policemen, postmen, and all
street officials who wear uniform. We do
not mean that policeman Z. 1 would set a
fashion to her Majesty's more fashionable
lieges; but there would be so many cylinders
less in a street view, so many innovations
more; the public eye would be made more
familiar with change; and, in the face of such
a demonstration, private men who might be
first to walk in the amended hats would not
look singular. Be this as it may, however, we
do hope that hatters can be active. Others,
who deal in dress, create demand for change.
Why, then, are hatters immutable?

THE PRICE OF TIME.

WHEN we have passed beyond life's middle arch,
With what accelerated speed the years
Seem to flit by us, sowing hopes and fears,
As they pursue their never-ceasing march!
But is our wisdom equal to the speed
Which brings us nearer to the shadowy bourne,
Whence we must never, never more return?
Alas! the thought is wiser than the deed!
"We take no note of time but from its loss,"
Sang one who reasoned solemnly and well;
And so it is; we make that dowery dross
Which would be treasure, did we learn to quell
Vain dreams and passions. Wisdom's alchemy
Transmutes to priceless gold the moments as they fly.

FISH DINNERS.

JUSTICE to Fish! Justice to salmon, turbot,
herring, trout, sole, pilchard, perch, cod,
eel, mackerel, mullet, dorey, carp, tench, pike,
flounder, sprat, and as many more as the sea
furnishes. The surface of the sea is vast, and
we have dwelt before upon the populousness
of the ocean,* a vast plain of food that needs
no ploughing, but yields incessantly
spontaneous harvests. And yet here we live
surrounded by these ocean-fields, here we live in
an island, we absurd people, and we don't eat
fish. What if we taste it now and then? to
gather some ripe ears of wheat as we pass
through the corn-fields, is one thing, to reap
their harvest is another. Justice to fish! for
the increased use of fish as a cheap article of
diet we have pleaded before, and we intend
now to gossip farther on the subject. Under
one general head "fish," we shall include
crustaceans and molluscs, which, though
commonly called shell-fish, are not fish to the
scientific man; they are fish, however, to the
man who dines, and it is for men who dine
that we are speaking now—for some men who
may wish to get at small expense a comfortable,
wholesome dinner.

* In an article, entitled " A Popular Delusion," in the
first volume of " Household Words," page 217.

There are few things living in the water that
are not at least innocuous when cooked and
eaten. Varieties of flavour granted, there is
probably no fish, that is a fish, unfit for food.
Of fishes that are not fishes, we mean shell-fish
and other occasional inmates of the water,
few are unwholesome. Near the Indian
Archipelago the water is said to contain a
species of sea-snake, which it is certain death
to handle. That makes the catching of them
hazardous; but if caught and cooked, they
might, no doubt, in that state be eaten.
Some fishes sting, and many molluscs do so;
but their power of injuring does not outlast
their life. A mollusc called the sea-hare,
frequenting the coast of Italy, is famous in
the chronicles of ancient Rome, as furnishing
the deadliest ingredient of poisons. It was said
to form a chief part of Locusta's toxocological
collection. It stank, however, and its smell
betrayed it. It tainted the victim's breath,
and produced marked symptoms, easily
recognised; so that it was not a particularly
prudent thing to poison with it. In truth this
creature, when alive, inflicts a severe sting,
and it is very fetid; its noxiousness after
death, however, is extremely doubtful. Much
that was said of it is probably a Roman
legend, like our legend of the poisonous
corner in cockles and mussels. That a legend?
doubtingly, asks a hater of shell-fish. We
answer, certainly it is a fact that several
kinds of shell-fish have at various times
produced cutaneous or other disorders, even
death. There was a mussel tragedy at Leith
some time ago; but, on investigation, it
was found that the poisonous mussels had
been taken from the corner of a dock into
which sewer- water ran; and very frequently it
happens that sewer water runs over the shore
on which these animals are gathered. Other
inquiries have also made it probable that
shell-fish, in such and similar positions, acquire
a disease attended with enlargement of their
liver, and that in this condition they are
poisonous. Other conditions may produce a
like disease; but be that as it may, there is
no doubt that of a healthy cockle, or a healthy
mussel, all parts may be eaten by a healthy
man; always—need we add?—excepting the
shell. In fact, it is a rule to which there
are but few exceptions, if any, that animal
flesh in any form is capable of being used
as food by animals. But as the diet of
the Esquimaux must differ from the diet
of the Indian, and the diet of the sound
must differ from the diet of the sick, so each
nation must judiciously select its food, and
each individual must regulate his diet.
Stomachs are various as faces; each has its
own form of expression. What is wholesome
food to Peter may be nightmare to his
brother Paul.

There is a feeling of strong dislike which
restrains us from eating many things that
would be wholesome and nutritious.
Sometimes this springs from whim or
misconception, or an eccentricity of stomach caused
by the long habit of employing other articles
of food. Such is the objection to fish common
in England, and this feeling may be overcome.