HANDBOOK FOR SOUTHPORT,
MEDICAL AND GENERAI.,
WITH
COPIOUS NOTICES OF THE NATURAL HISTORY
OF THE DISTRICT.
BY DAVID H. McNICOLL, M.D.,
MSHBEB OF THE BOYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIAKS ; PHYSXCIAN
TO THE 80X7THFOET SEA-BATHIKa INFIBirABY.
SECOND EDITIOl
y^^rrj Jo/
LONDON: ^-^
JOHN CHURCHILL, 11, NEW BURLINGTON STREET.
MDCCCLXI.
SOUTHP0RT:
PRINTED BT JOHNSON AND OBBBN,
VISITER OFFICE.
PREFACE.
The rapid sale of the first edition of this little Handbook
is sufficient evidence of the growing popularity of Sonthport
as a sanitary resort. It has also imposed upon me the duty of
improving these pages, which I have done as fer as my ability
and leisure would permit.
I need not apologise for the Natural History occupying so
large a portion of the following pages. The motiye has been
a desire to encourage useful and agreeable mental occupation
on the part of those visiters whose stay is more or less pro-
longed, and whose minds would, in the absence of some
external object of thought, turn and prey upon themselves.
This continual contemplation of their own condition — the
result of the depression attendant upon disease, and absence
from the ordinary engagements of life — ^needs to be carefdly
guarded against, and I have not thought it out of place in a
medical work to suggest a substitute.
yi FBEFAGE.
The mode of procedure has been first to record the result of
personal enquiry and observation, and then to compare these
with previous attempts of the same kind. In this I have
received the most essential aid from my venerable Mend
Mr. Graves, who has been my frequent companion in exploring
expeditions, and my constant adviser in difOlculties arising
from contending authorities. The Botanical list thus procured
was collated and enriched by comparbon with a MS. list
kindly furnished by Dr. J. B. Wood, of Broughton, whose
extensive knowledge of the plants of this locality and original
labours in certain, departments of general Botany, are well
known. Mr. Henry Aughton's list, as it is called (though
disavowed by him), has been consulted, and he has cheerfully
answered all enquiries put to him. Several plants are entered
on his sole authority. The list of Birds was made on the
same plan of combined observation and testimony, the valuable
list of Mr. Tyrer being freely used for the purpose. I have
to acknowledge, with thanks, the assistance for which I am
indebted to James Glover, Esq., J.P., and to Mr. J. A.
Robinson, the latter of whom has obligingly famished me with
the chapter on Excursions in the neighbourhood of Southport.
My special aeknowiedgments are also due to Mr. Chades
fi. Brown, who has found time (as may always be. done where
FBEFAGE. Vll
there is the will) to combine due attention to bnsineBS with
pursuits of a refining and elevating tendency, and without
whose aid the List of Shells would have been much less
perfect.
South Lawn, Southpobt,
June nthj 1861.
CHAPTER I.
— — - Through days and weeks
Of hope, that grew by stealth,
How many wan and faded cheeks
Haye kindled into health 1
Hie old, by thee reyiyed, hare said,
" Another year is oars I **
And way-worn wanderers, poorly fed.
Hare smiled upon thy flowers.
WORDSWOBTH.
OMODT MD OaOWTH OP SOTTTHPOaT,
SouTHPOET is sitoated on that part of the west coast of
Lancashire which lies between the mouths of the Mersey and
the Eibble. This coast presents to the eye an almost con-
tinnous range of sandhills, with a broad belt of leyel sand of
varying extent, stretching from this hilly boundary to the
water. It is distant, by rail, 18 miles from Liverpool, 32
from Manchester, 27 from Bolton, and 17 from Wigan. The
nearest town is Ormskirk, 11 miles to the east, and the chief
external peculiarity of its church, which possesses both a
tower and a steeple, can be generally seen from many parts of
Southport, the intervening country being perfectly level. The
geographical position of Southport is 53^ 38' 40^ north latitude,
and 2^ 59' 45' west longitude.
2 A HANDBOOK FOR SOUTHPORT.
As to the etymology of the name of the parish, !N'orth
Meols, there has been some controversy. Mr. Glazebrook,
who in the year 1809 wrote the first Guide to Southport,
indulged in a very far-fetched and extravagant speculation.
" The sand," he says, " from its minuteness and similarity in
appearance to mealy flour, must have suggested the name of
Meols;" and he adds, "if this is the case, the spelling is
according to the provincial pronunciation, without any refer-
ence to the word from whence it is derived." This is a
somewhat Hibernian explanation, and although it is an
historical fact that potatoes were first grown in this part,
being procured from a wreck which occurred on the coast, yet
we cannot be convinced that the name is derived from any
resemblance to the mealiness of the succulent vegetable, or of
any kind of com. Mr. Baines states it to be a Saxon word,
meaning sandhills. In Kersey's " Dictionarium Anglo-
Britarmicum," London, 1708, we find ^^iffilealg or §BLBlt%^
the shelves or banks of sand on the sea-coasts of !N"orfolk."
In a subsequent and enlarged edition of Mr. Glazebrook' s
Guide, he says, " A suggestion which appears to me highly
probable, was lately made, viz., that it was perhaps derived
originally from two Greek words, Mi;, not, and A\9, sea, i,e.y
me-ah, " not sea," or " no longer sea." This will never do ;
a parish more innocent of Greek than !N'orth Meols in the
olden time it is impossible to conceive. Mr. Baines' s explana-
tion is doubtless the correct one.
The chief points in the gradual and rapid progress of
Southport towards its present prominent position in public
favour, are soon told. We have only to suppose the sandhills
of Birkdale prolonged until they meet those at the north of
ORIGIN OF THE FLAOE. 3
the town^— a succession of connected valleys, with pools
of water and a variegated carpeting of moss, extending along
the present site of Lord-street, with here and there a narrow
road leading to the shore — ^and we have a picture of the plac^
as it might have been seen any time till near the end of the
last century. The cottages of a few fishermen stood then, as
now, about half a mile back from the beach, and the narrow
footpaths which led thither were seldom trod by any but
these industrious strugglers with the fickle ocean.
But even at that period the advantage of sea-bathing was
not unknown in the cure of disease, and the invalids of
Manchester and the neighbouring manufacturing towns were
occasionally sent to this part of the coast for the purpose.
They chiefly resided at Churchtown, and in the cottages
dotted over the country side, and were conveyed in carts or
other vehicles, when the tide served, to their appointed
bathing-places at The Hawes, the name by which this part
of the coast was then known. As the visiters increased in
numbers, the inconvenience of thus travelling two or three
miles over rough unformed sandy roads began to be felt, and
as in such cases some far-seeing or enterprising man is
generally wanted to play the part of an obscure Columbus, such
an one appeared in the person of a Mr. William Sutton. He
was host of one of the two inns at Churchtown, and was
accustomed to provide accommodation and conveyance for the
visiters of whom we have spoken. About the year 1792, to
the amazement, and it would appear to the amusement, of his
neighbours, he began to build a small wooden house, which,
gradually enlarged to very moderate dimensions, became the
first inn for the accommodation of the public, under the name
4 A HANDBOOK FOR SOUTEPORT.
of the Eiag's Arms, afterwards changed to the Original
Royal Hotel, and which remained till the construction of the
new road to Birkdale, about five or six years since, necessi-
tated its removal. The popular name of Mr. Sutton waa
" The Duke," and it will surprise no reader that the result
of his enterprise, then thought to be in the highest degree
romantic, was named the "Duke's Polly." Not only, how-
ever, was he doomed to experience the usual fate of those
who are in advance of their times, as shown by this nick-
name; but his future history was in accordance with that
of too many of his class. After living to see the place which
he founded become a thriving village, without partaking
of the prosperity around him, he died in 1841, in very
reduced circumstances.
The ornamental lamp-post at the end of Lord-street stands
upon part of the grounds of the Original Hotel, and is a
memorial of the enterprising but unfortunate ** Old Duke."
The name of Southport was given by Mr. Barton, a retired
surgeon from Ormskirk, and one of the earliest admirers of the
place, at the entertainment given by Mr. Sutton on the occasion
of the opening of his house. Notwithstanding the doubts
entertained of the prudence of Mr. Sutton, it was soon found •
that a real want existed, which he had only partially met.
Marine cottages soon began to multiply, at first for the
acconmiodation of more visiters, and presently individuals
whose families had derived benefit from the salubrity of the
place erected permanent residences. Amongst these we find
the names of Mrs. "Walmsley, Mr. Barton, Mr. Nevill, &c.,
whose example was speedily followed by others too numerous
to mention. The demand for accommodation rapidly in-
FOKMATION OF THE TOWN. 5
creasmg, anotlier inn was deemed necessary, and the Union
Hotel was bnilt about the year 1807. The first row of
buildings erected with a special view to the reception of com-
pany upon a scale of any importance, was the Union
Buildings in 1807. This movement was followed by the
appearance of Wellington Buildings in 1818, by which time
numerous private houses had appeared, and Southport had
taken its place upon the fall tide of prosperity, which has
had no distinct check since then, although the ratio of its
progress has been greater in the last few years.
The most important step taken towards the formation of the
foture town, was in 1825, when an Act of Parliament was
obtained by the lords of the manor, the necessary arrangements
for the purpose being entrusted to the then agents, whose
successor, Mr. Eichard Wright, has for many years held the
position of agent to the owners of the soil, and has ably
carried out their views. The chief feature in these plans was
the formation of Lord-street, which is a wide central Broad-
way, a mile and fifty yards long, and is acknowledged to
be one of the finest architectural vistas anywhere to be seen.
It reaches from Peter-street to the boundary of Birkdale, and
when, in the evening, lighted up by gaslights, fifty yards
apart, it presents an unusually interesting coup d'teil arising
from its great length, its remarkable straightness, and its
being so level that it is stated there is not more than one inch
of elevation or depression between the ends. Although there
are many exceptions, the houses are mostly of an early and
old-fashioned class, but when the leases ML out, as they are
now rapidly doing, the great advantage of so fine a frontage
and the ample space of ground left about the houses, will no
6 A HANDBOOK FOR SOUTHPORT.
doubt lead to the erection of a superior class of buildings.
When this takes place, and especially should an oft-repeated
suggestion of regularly planting one or both sides with trees
be acted upon, no town in England will present an avenue
more attractive and splendid.
The houses in Southport are arranged in five parallel lines
of streets — ^the Promenade and New Bath-street, between
Lord-street and the shore ; and the remaining two, Hoghton-
street and Scarisbrick-street, on the landward side of that
main artery. There is a great regularity in all the new
buildings, and the prevalence of bay windows does some-
thing to break what would be otherwise an unpleasant
uniformity.
The Promenade faces the shore, and is remarkable both for
the handsome elevation of the houses built thereon, and for the
facilities it affords for enjoying the bracing breezes, as they
come wafted from the wide and open sea, bringing health and
vigour on their wings. It was about the year 1834, that
Peter Hesketh Fleetwood, Esq., projected and first caused to
be constructed " a wall and sea-fence, with a footpath, walk,
or Promenade, and a distinct carriage and horse road," extend-
ing about four hundred yards along from Nevill-street towards
Coronation- walk, and he leased for ninety-nine years the land
fronting the intended Promenade, covenanting with the lessees
to keep the same in repair during the said term. Sir Henry
Bold Hoghton, the owner of the land in continuation along
the Promenade to Coronation- walk, appears shortly afterwards
to have leased the same to a Mr. Hill upon somewhat similar
terms. In the year 1837, Sir H. B. Hoghton leased to the
Yictoria Baths Company the land from Nevill-street to Sea-
THE PROMENADE. 7
bank-rosid, the Company covenanting within ten years to
"bnild a good and substantial sea-wall, of such and the like
materials, strength, and durability, as the sea-wall lately
erected by Peter Hesketh Fleetwood, Esq., and maintain and
keep the same in repair during the said term/' Charles
Scarisbrick, Esq., in or about 1843, purchased the fee simple
in remainder of all the property before mentioned, and there-
upon became possessed of aU. control over the same. Mr.
Scarisbrick also purchased the leasehold interest of several of
the lessees under Mr. Hesketh Fleetwood, and the entire
interest of Mr. Hill, the sole lessee under Sir H. B. Hoghton,
and thereby became bound to construct the sea-wall, and keep
the same and the Promenade and carriage-drive, from Kevill-
street to Coronation- walk, in repair. Some portions of the
land between !N^evill-street and Coronation-walk have since
been leased by Mr. Scarisbrick or sold in fee; and the respective
lessees or purchasers have consented to " uphold, maintain, and
keep in good, sufficient, and substantial order and condition,''
the present wall and sea-fence or slope, and also to "maintain
and keep the present footpath, walk, or promenade, and also
the carriage and horse road or drive." In Kovember, 1845,
the Baths Company purchased from Mr. Scarisbrick the rever-
sion of the land leased to them by Sir H. B. Hoghton ; and,
at the same time, entered into similar covenants for keeping
in repair the sea-wall, promenade, &c., together with "the
posts, chains, and rails." In order more effectually to enable
Mr. Scarisbrick to enforce all these covenants, a high rent was
reserved on each plot, but which ceased to be payable when
and so long as the covenants were duly performed. The
Promenade was long allowed to remain in a dilapidated condi-
8 A HANDBOOK FOR SOUTHPORT.
tion, but its effectual reparation having been very satisfactorily
completed, its fature management has been taken by the local
authorities, and it is now a delightful place of resort for the
purposes which its name indicates. Erom end to end, the
Promenade is nine hundred and sixty yards long ; and, with a
tiled footpath £rom the boundaries of the houses, a carriage
drive, and a well-laid asphalted walking way, there are few
such esplanades to be found in England. Erom the Promenade
a splendid view is obtained of varied objects of attraction
and interest. Seaward, vessels may continually be descried
ploughing their way through the great waters, and giving life
and beauty to the scene. The Isle of Man can occasionally be
distinguished in a north-westerly direction, but the oppor-
tunities for seeing the island are rare, and perhaps the less
frequently they occur the better, as the phenomenon is said
to be invariably followed by tempestuous weather. The
Cumberland and Westmoreland mountains are distinctiy seen
looming in the distance, the Black Coombe, which is 1919
feet above the level of the sea, into which it appears to dip,
being the most conspicuous of the whole range. The hillp in
the neighbourhood of Lancaster, with Longridge Eell, range
about north-east; and in a more easterly direction Bivington
Pike marks the horizon. These hills, Mr. Glazebrook tells
us, form part of that grand chain of hills extending north and
south from the borders of Scotland to the centre of Derbyshire.
The different portions of this chain are at present known under
various local names, but the Eoman colonists of Britain, whose
attention so prominent a feature in the physical geography of
the island could not escape, denominated them the Penine
Alps, as appears from the following passage in Eichard of
THE PIER. 9
Cirencester's description of the Eoman state of Britain; he is
treating of the Boman province Maxima, which includes all
the northern counties of present England : — ** Totam in aqudUi
fere partes pravindam dividunt mantes Alpes Penini dicti. Si
ad flwoium Trivonam smgentee^ continud eerie per miUiaria
septentrionem deeurrent,^* ^* The mountains called the Penine
Alps divide the province into almost equal parts. These,
rising near the river Trent, run towards the north in a continued
line for 150 miles." Turning' to the west, the bold range of
Welsh mountains rivets the attention and delights the eye.
Snowdon is seen to
I Lift its awfnl form,
Swell fit>]n the vale, and midwaj leave the storoL
On the Promenade there are two Hotels, the Yictoria and the
Eoyal; the Baths Company's extensive premises are also
situated here, and the commodious building erected for the
Strangers' Charity stands in a line with the houses on the
Promenade.
The project of a Pier, to extend to low water or there-
abouts, was mooted some ten years ago, when a prospectus
was issued and a tolerable number of shares were taken up ;
the affair, however, ultimately languished, to be revived
under more auspicious circumstances in 1858. In the latter
part of that year a few energetic tradesmen and gentlemen
again met for the purpose of establishing a Pier Company, for
which the '^ Limited Liability Act'' gave great facilities.
After some preliminary meetings, at which various projects
were discussed, it was at length resolved to recommend an iron
pier; a public meeting of the inhabitants was accordingly
called at the Town HaU, on the 17th March, 1859, Dr. Wood,
c
10 A HANDBOOK FOR SOUTHPORT.
diairman of the Cominissioners, presiding. The report pre-
sented by the committee to this meeting, recommended the
erection of ** a pier or promenade, to commence from near the
centre of the western portion of the present promenade, and
extending thence to low water, a distance of twelve hundred
yards." The report further recommended a plan fiimished by
Messrs. J. and W. Galloway, of Manchester (the invention of
James Brunlees, Esq., C.E., of London), as most suitable, the
estimated cost of which was about £8,000, and from calcula-
tions it was thought would produce a revenue of nearly nine
per cent. A large number of shares at £5 each were imme-
diately subscribed for, and the company was speedily registered,
estimates advertised for, and eventually that of Messrs.
GaUoway accepted. The works were commenced, and had
proceeded to a considerable distance, when it was found that a
portion of the lattice bars was too weak, and the services
of W. Pairbaim, Esq., F.E.S., the eminent civil engineer, of
Manchester, were caUed in to devise some new mode for
strengthening the pier. His plans were adopted, the weak
portion of the work taken down, and re-erected in a more
substantial, and therefore more costly manner. The capital
of the company was consequently increased from £8,000 to
£10,000. The whole additional capital was immediately
subscribed for.
A brief description of the Pier may not be out of place,
inasmuch as there is no similar structure existing, with the
exception of two viaducts at Morecambe Bay. The iron piles
are seven inches in diameter, the sunken pile having a disc or
shoe of eighteen inches in diameter at its lower end, with a
small aperture through the same. In sinking these piles
LOCAL NOMENGLATUBE. 11
kydrauHc power was used, by forcing down a stream of water
obtained from the Waterworks pipes, which were laid down
the shore for the purpose, through the pile — a quicksaad was
formed underneath, and the pile rapidly sank to the requisite
depth, being guided in its descent by a moveable framework.
Two other lengths of piles are screwed to the sunken pile,
each seven feet long ; the piles are in rows of threes, the two
outer piles slightly inclining inwards; they are strongly
secured together by iron tie-rods ; the rows of piles are fifty
feet asunder, and the total length is three thousand six
hundred feet, terminated at the sea-end by an enlarged plat-
form one hundred feet long by thirty feet wide ; the width of
the footpath is fifteen feet clear, and is formed of planks
seven inches broad by three thick, placed one inch apart,
except at the shore and platform ends, where they are only
half an inch apart. A substantial hand-rail and very light
iron work serve as a protection against any accidents. The
toll tower is built of ashlar, and forms a neat appendage to
the fairy-like structure which is a credit to its promoters and
an ornament to the town.
The most strange perplexity has arisen from the increased
numbers of the few families by whom this solitary neighbour-
hood was, in the first place, peopled. These descendants
of the aboriginal inhabitants demand a passing notice.
"Wrights, Balls, and Eimmers (Eymer is the orthography in
the old parish register) now abound in distracting confasion,
and there is no doubt that these three names are those of the
families which originally settled on these shores. They are
supposed to have subsisted by following the occupation of
fishing, as many of the inheritors of their names do to the
12 A HANDBOOK FOR SOUTHPORT.
present day. It is said that up to a recent period, the pri-
vilege of descent firom the veritable '* old stock " was highly-
prized and religiously respected, and that " outcomelings"
(as strangers or new settlers were once designated) were
regarded with compassionate condescension. This and the
more questionable feelings of jealousy and suspicion by which
it was too often accompanied, have, however, been most effec-
tually rubbed out by constant contact with fresh importations.
As an instance of the strange complications which are the
consequence of the number of families who bear the same
name, we may mention the fact that in one society, having
about three hundred members, there are no less than seven
"WiUiam Balls, and Wrights and Eimmers without end. They
are distinguished from each other by numerals attached to
their names, in the order of their respective seniority of
membership ; but it is still requisite, for the sake of perfect
identity and distinction, to resort to an ingenious practice of
mentioning the names of their progenitors for generations
gone by. Thus it is common to meet with " Tommy's Jem's
Davy's Jem," and " Nell's Dick's Tom." " Katty's Dick " is
a well-known warrener, and " Dicky-under-th'-hill " was a
respectable farmer. So accustomed are the native Meols^men
to this mode of discrimination that many of them would puzzle
long to direct you to John Wright, and wonder whoever such
an individual could be, whilst the person meant might be
their own parent, and very readily discoverable und^ such an
appellation as " PrisciUa's John."
The means for the moral improvement and education of the
inhabitants are provided in gratifying abundance. There are
four Churches, auxiliary to the Pariah Church, as well as a
THS STBANGEBS' CHABITT. 13
Itoman Catholic, a Wealeyaa^ and an Independent Chapel, and
a Friends' Meeting House; and we beHeye that all have
attached to them Sunday Schools, and most of them Day
Schools. The decorum and quietness obseryable on Sundays
strikes most strangers, and the amount of crime with which
the local magistracy have to deal is small indeed when the
number of inhabitants is considered.
Although it is not needful to specify those institutions
which are common to other localities, there are two so peculiar
to the place that they deserve special reference ; these are, the
Sea Bathing Infirmary, or Strangers' Charity, and the Marine
Fund.
The Strangers' Charity dates from a very early period in
the progress of Southport. In the year 1806, some benevolent
ladies, among whom the late Mrs. Halsall, Miss Leigh, and
Miss Johnson were prominent, established a charitable fund
on a small scale, with a view to enable the poor from the
larger towns to receive the benefit of sea air and sea bathing,
by a weekly payment towards their expenses. The name of
Miles Barton was early connected with the infant institution,
and the late Thomas Bidgway, Esq., of Horwich, near Bolton,
became so active a Mend of the Charity, as to be called its
founder, and shortiy after, Mr. iN'evill, of Wigan, gave to it
much of his time and energy.
From these small beginnings the institution has continued
to grow and prosper, until it has become the second of the
kind in the kingdom, being exceeded in extent only by the
Margate Royal Sea Bathing Infirmary. It numbers among
its active supporters some of the most philanthropic characters
in several of the larger towns, and is aided by many of the
14 A HANDBOOK FOB SOUTHPORT.
great landholders and extensive manufecturers in the county,
as well as by many of the clergy. During the past year,
1454 patients partook of the advantages it has to oflfer. Its
medical service is performed by two Physicians and three
Surgeons. Since the erection of the new Building in Seabank-
road, in May, 1853, till recently, the mode of carrying on the
institution has been this : — each patient was admitted for a
period of three weeks, by virtue of a reconmiendation from
his patron, and became entitled to lodging, medical attendance,
medicines, and hot and cold sea-baths, with an allowance of
five shillings a week for his food, for the preparation of which
ample accommodation was afforded ; in case of the building
being full, and the patient having to lodge out, seven shillings
a week were allowed. The system has recently been improved,
the food being provided for the patients, thus doing away with
the improvidence and inaptness in making provision so prevalent
amongst the labouring classes. Each recommendation costs
twenty-four shillings, and may be renewed at the expiration
of the term in favour of the same person, if the case will
justify it, and the patron is willing. The business is conducted
by a Board, who sit every Thursday for the admission of
applicants, under the presidency of the indefatigable Treasurer,
Mr. George Darwell, who succeeded his brother, the late
lamented Mr. James Darwell, in that onerous office.
The Marine Eund was established at Southport, in the year
1817. Like other charities it has its office-bearers, who are
responsible for its integrity and administration.
The following extracts will put the reader in possession of
the motives of its originators, the course adopted for its estab-
lishment, and the principal rules passed for its management: —
THE MABINE FIJNB. 15
** The object of this Charity is to reward the inhabitants of
this Parish who save, or attempt to save, Lives and Property
in cases of shipwreck, and who give assistance to vessels in
distress.
"For this purpose it is proposed annually to solicit the
contributions of those who visit Southport, and it is hoped
that in the course of a few years a fund will be created the
interest of which will be su£G[cient to meet the claims that
may be made.
" 1. A reward will be given for the life of each person
saved from a wreck.
" 2. A reward will be given of £2 10s. to the first boat that
reaches a vessel in distress, or gives effectual assistance.
" 3. A reward will be given to the second boat of £2, and
to the third the sum of £1 Is.
" 4. Independent of the sum each boat may be entitled to, a
farther reward will be given for every life saved, as expressed
in the first rule.
"5. The Committee reserves to itself, in every instance, the
power of increasing or diminishing, or entirely withholding
premiums, according to the circumstances of the case."
Subscriptions to a greater or less amount continued to be
received up to the year 1837. The principal sum, which may
be said to have gradually increased, more especially of late, is
now £500. The caUs upon this excellent Charity have varied
of course in frequency, but scarcely a single year since its
foundation seems to have passed, in which at least one suc-
cessful claim to its bounty has not been established.
Greatly improved arrangements have now been made in
connection with the saving of life from shipwrecks on this
16 A HANDBOOK FOR SOUTHPORT.
coast. Southport has recently been made a station of the
Royal "NTational Life-Boat Institution. The price of a new
boat and transporting-camage having been generously placed
at the service of the society by James Knowles, Esq., Eagley
Bank, Bolton, the managers decided to adopt Southport as a
station, on condition that local efforts should be made towards
the cost of the requisite building, and the annual expenditure
to be incurred ; this appeal was followed by a subscription
somewhat over £200. A double crew will be selected, and
the men will be exercised four times a year. The erection
has been placed in a convenient spot a little to the south of
the Promenade.
The Eoyal National Life-Boat Association has turned its
attention to the important question of the approach of storms,
as indicated by the readings of the barometer, together with
the course of the wind, and has published certain data which
have in practice been found tolerably correct. They have also
induced Messrs. Zambra and !N'egretti to prepare a coast
barometer, giving these special indications. With the view
of giving effect to this admirable design, and for the advantage
of the new life-boat crew, John Femley, Esq., of Birkdale,
has generously placed one in a piUar on the Promenade,
near the bridge, and opposite the entrance to the Pier, that
being the spot most frequented by those fishermen who would
form the life-boat crew. The barometer is placed on the side
opposite the sea, a drinking fountain on the one opposite
the South Promenade, and on the two other sides are engraved
the instructions which are necessary in order to understand
the indications of the barometer. Readings of the instrument
are intended to be taken twice a day, so as to form a permanent
THE NEIGHBOURHOOD. 17
record of atmospheric Tariations. The design is Venetian,
and is executed in Yorkshire stone, with Aberdeen granite
columns and carved caps at the four angles, standing on a
dado or plinth, and supporting the upper part with a circular
pediment on the two corresponding sides, on the top of which
is placed a rane, the base supported by oarved dolphins. The
front face towards the sea (in which the barometer is placed)
is recessed, the side feices being similarly treated. The drinking
fountain is a basin of granite, lined at the back with Minton's
encaustic tiles.
The present owners of the land on which Southport, and,
in fact, the whole Township of I^orth Meols stands, are the
representatives of the late Charles Scarisbrick, Esq., of
Scarisbrick Hall, and the Eev. Charles Hesketh, M.A., the
latter of whom is Kector of the Parish. The Hesketh family,
who were the builders of Meols Hall — ^now a farm-house in
the occupation of Mr. Thomas Baker, — were the original
proprietors of the soil. Mcholas Hesketh died, leaving only
two daughters, between whom the estate was left in moiety.
One of these daughters married into the family of Bold, of
Bold Hall, and the other into the Fleetwood family, of Eossall
Hall. A division was thus made for the first time, and the
arrangement remained undisturbed until the time of Peter
Patten Bold, Esq., who, by verbal agreement, exchanged some
farms with his co-proprietor. Eobert Hesketh, Esq., (the
father of the present Rector) and Mary Patten Bold (afterwards
the Princess Sapieha) made some farther exchanges. After
the death of the Princess, the estates came into the possession
of Sir Henry Bold Hoghton, Bart., and his wife Dorothea ;
and Peter Hesketh, Esq., (the present Sir Peter Hesketh
D
18 A HANDBOOK FOR SOUTHPORT.
Fleetwood, Bart.) inherited his father's interest in the parish.
Between these two owners a systematic arrangement for the
exchange of land, so as to avoid the intricate intermixture of
farms and fields, was effected, and subsequently (in the year
1825) sanctioned by Act of Parliament. Sir Henry Bold
Hoghton's eldest son afterwards sold his Meols estate to the
late Charles Scarisbrick, Esq., of Scarisbrick Hall, who took
possession in February, 1844 ; and somewhere about the same
time the Bey. Charles Hesketh purchased his brother's interest
in the property.
The immediate vicinity presents no scenes of picturesque
beauty to captiyate the eye. Excepting the sandhills, the
country around is perfectly flat, the vegetation is scanty, and
the trees are of small diniensions, often bending away from the
sea. Nevertheless, the views of distant mountain scenery,
both from the Promenade and from the inland side of the
town, are pleasing and interesting, and when seen in early
morning or on a clear evening, have a peculiar charm. To a
stranger, the series of deep cuttings through the mosses,
forming part of a vast system of drainage, forms one of the
most remarkable peculiarities of the district. They all converge
towards Crossens, where is the outlet of the waters from the
flat land as well as of the former Martin Mere. This last
inland lake was formerly of great extent, and was called by
Leland, three hundred years ago, ^'the greatest meare" of
Lancashire. Camden, forty years after, says, '^ "NesLr the mouth
of the Dougless is an extensive meer called Merton, which
discharges itself at a mouth of its own, and presently after
meets the Bibble in its estuary." The various attempts at the
drainage of this large mass of water, of which little besides the
BRAINING MABTIN MERE. 19
nam^ now remains, axe amongst the most inteiesting nairatiyes
of the gradual improvement of engineering science on record,
though we can do little more than refer to them. The first
serious attempt to drain Martin Mere was made by Thomks
Fleetwood, Esq., of Bank Hall, who, in the year 1692, obtained
an Act of Parliament for the purpose. He began his operations
by making a canal or sluice, 24ft. wide, from the Bibble mouth
through an embanked saltmarsh, and then through a moss or
bog, in I^orth Meols, about a mile and a half in length ; and
this canal he continued through the lowest part of the mere.
To prevent the sea from rushing up the canal and overflowing
the mere, which was 10ft. lower than high water-mark at the
spring tides, he erected in this canal, near the sea, a pair of
flood gates, which shut when the sea water rose higher than
those in the canal, and opened again by the sluice stream when
the sea retired. Some further operations took place in 1714,
and the measures then adopted promised effectually to dry that
land which had probably been inundated ever since the deluge.
Three years afterwards Mr. Fleetwood died, entertaining the
belief, which his family fondly cherished, that he had effected
the great object of his life ; and a monument is erected to his
memory in the parish church of North Meols, bearing a Latin
inscription, which announces that <' he wished his remains to
be bliried here, because he had drained and made into solid
land the immense Martinensian marsh, having taken off the
water by a fosse to the neighbouring sea." The inscription
adds, that '' he executed this work, which our ancestors durst
not attempt, and which posterity will scarcely believe, at a
very great expense, and with a view to the public good, not
his own." It will be easily supposed that the expense was
20 A HANDBOOK FOR SOUTHPORT.
indeed great, when it is stated that not fewer than 2000 work-
men were sometimes employed upon this gigantic undertaking.
Eight ancient British canoes were found during the progress
of the drainage (one is now in the British Museum), some
containing plates of iron. About the same time, some other
ancient remains were discoyered, of which Dr. Leigh has
given engravings in his Natural History of Lancashire, with
the remark, " I look upon them to be the greatest relics of
antiquity in the universe."
Unhappily, all Mr. Fleetwood's labours were in vain ; a few
years after his lease expired, the flood gates and walls at the
entraace of the canal were washed down by an unusually high
tide, and things appear to have gradually reverted to their
ancient state.
The late Thomas Eccleston, Esq., of Scarisbrick, undismayed
by the failure of this enterprise, began operations with a
similar view, in the year 1781, the account of which will be
found in the 7th volume of the " Transactions of the Society
for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufacture, and Commerce."
The success of the plan was such that, in the year 1784,
several acres of the reclaimed land were sown with spring
com, and yielded a tolerable produce. The year after, barley
and oats were sown, and sold for £11 the Cheshire acre, the
purchaser to cut and carry off the crops at his own expense,
though a few years before the land did not let for more than
four shillings the acre.
We cannot enlarge upon the subsequent means adopted to
recover a vast acreage of valuable land. It is sufficient to say
Martin Mere exists now only in name.
VILLAGE OP CHTJKCHTOWN. 21
The village of North Meols, or more generally Churchtown,
the parish church being situated here, is about two miles from
Southport, and is much frequented during the season for its
extensive strawberry gardens. The church is a plain stracture, .
and contains^ amongst other monuments, four marble tablets
to the memory of as many members of the Fleetwood and
Hesketh families, one of them by I^ollekens. North Meols
Hall, a lofty brick building, formerly the residence of the
Heskeths, lies a little to the south of the church, and is
occupied as a farmhouse. The village consists of one large
irregular street of houses, principally thatched. Many of the
inhabitants are engaged in fishing and agriculture, whilst
others are occupied in silk weaving, under the direction
of agents from Ormskirk and Preston; an occupation one
would hardly have expected to find in a locality so far
removed from manufactures.
CHAPTER II,
When the extent of benefit which may be derired from occasional
change of air, both to the physical and moral constitution, is duly
estimated, no person whose circumstances permit will neglect to avail
himself of it. — Sib James Glask.
SOTITIPORT AS A EESORT FOR INVAIIDS.
GENEBAL BEMABKS ON CLIMATE— GEOLOGY OF THE DISTBICT
LOCAL CLIMATE OP SOUTHPOET.
These can be no doubt that the British Islands only existed
in former times subject to the rigours of a Polar climate. At
this period our island was a scattered archipelago of murky
misty islets, its chief phenomena the mighty crushing glacier,
and the electrical flashings of Boreal lights. By what means
and through what processes they have been brought to their
present state is in some measure open to conjecture — ^the most
probable being changes in ancient sea levels, and the estab-
lishment of strongly defined ocean currents from the mass of
heated water round the Equator.
The position of the British Islands on the map, and the
extraordinarily mild temperature they enjoy, are so contradic-
CLIMATE OF THE SEA SIDE. 23
tory that it might puzzle the theoriBt, as well as the practical
man, if he attempted to explain it, -without taJdng into his
calculation the above all-important cosmical influences. Within
a few degrees of the region of perpetual snow, it has an atmos-
phere equal to that of any part of the temperate zone. To tell
the nervous, the consumptive, or the hypochondriac that they
are living in a country about the same distance from the Arctic
Circle as are the inhabitants of Labrador and Kamtschatka
would at the least add an extra chill; to tell the delicate
invalid hastening to the sheltered coast of Devonshire that he
is fixing his winter dwelling to the northward of the latitude
of the Banks of Newfoundland, would certainly impart an
unwelcome shock to his sensibilities ; but isothermal lines are
not coincident with parallels of latitude, and the modifying
circumstances of climate do more than correct the evils of
position — they very often introduce a bland and salubrious
element in situations of the most unpromising description.
The insular position of these islands, after aU, would be of
little avail had they not some more vital bond of union with
more genial climes. That magic '^ circle of marriage with all
nations " would form but an icy bond were there not some
deep mysterious hidden currents bringing life and warmth to
our coasts. The extent of influence possessed by the great
gulf-stream in these climatic modiflcations is not yet ftdly
understood ; but there can be no doubt that it has had a large
share in the changes to which we refer.
A nation and its destiny may be linked by very slender
threads. Should any deep mysterious but all-potent cause
ever throw those mighty activities into new and unaccustomed
channels, thereby producing startling changes of local climate.
24 A HANDBOOK FOR SOUTHPORT.
the historian's fancy-sketch of the meditatiye New Zealander
may be realised by means of agencies of which he never
dreamed.
It may be stated generally that the sanitary condition of
most towns in this country is not altogether dependent upon
their aspect, population, manufactures, &c. It is probable that
the substratum on which they are placed has more to do with
the singular discrepancies found in the Eegistrax General's
Reports, in regard to the ratio of mortality, than is commonly
believed. In this way we may account for at least a portion of
the difference between Liverpool and Manchester, Birmingham
and Bath, Glasgow and Bristol, &c.
The effect of proximity to the sea in softening and wanning
a climate has long been recognised. Owing to the penetrability
of water by radiant heat, and the perpetual agitation and
intermixture of its superficial strata, its changes of temperature
are neither so extensive nor so sudden as those of the land.
An island is always found to possess a milder air than land in
the same parallel of latitude forming part of a continent.
"Where the island or coast is at the same time distant from
mountainous country, the amelioration is still more striking.
On this subject Sir Charles Lyell well observes, — " The ocean
has a tendency to preserve everywhere a mean temperature,
which it communicates to the contiguous land, so that it
tempers the climate, moderating alike an excess of heat and
cold. The elevated land, on the other hand, rising to the
colder regions of the atmosphere, becomes a great reservoir of
ice and snow; arrests, condenses, and congeals vapour, and
communicates its cold to the adjoining country. For this
reason, Greenland, forming part of a continent which stretches
CLIMATE OF THE SEA SIDE. 25
northward to the 82nd degree of latitude, experiences under
the 60th parallel a more rigorous climate than Lapland under
the 72nd parallel." In addition to this general result of
proximity to great masses of the ocean, some localities derive
additional benefit from certain great marine currents which
transport their waters from about the Equator. It is generally
believed that the water encircling our shores during the winter
months is some degrees warmer than our atmosphere. It is
also considered that the west coast of our island is milder than
the east coast. Why this should be so is not easily explained,
without bringing into the question the qualifying influences
supposed to be deriv6d frt)m the currents of heated water
setting from the Equator. !N'either from the winds that blow
nor the sun that shines can these differences be accounted for.
It is not a theory but a positive fact that a portion of the gulf
stream impinges on the west coast of Ireland, bearing abundant
traces on its bosom, in the shape of tropical weeds and plants,
of the hot latitude from which it has travelled. There is,
indeed, little doubt that these shores would enjoy a much
milder cHinate than they do at present did they not contribute
to the sea so many large rivers fresh from the hills, serving to
put a barrier of cold water round our shores, and absorbing
the surplus heat from the warm currents. Many significant
data might be procured if proper observations were made at
such parts of our coasts as are favourable to the required
experiments. Many of our fashionable summer resorts on the
coast would be found to owe the peculiar mildness of their
climate to the proximity of these , currents, and to the absence
of any great outlet of fresh water into the sea.
26 A HANDBOOK FOR SOUTHPORT.
The data deriyed from some observations on the channel
waters off Southport, though as yet too limited in number to
lead to any decided generalisation, tend to strengthen this
view. Any strong sea currents setting over the west coast of
Ireland would be deflected towards the estuary of the Mersey,
and as the currents of the Dee and Mersey would prevent
them ascending those channels, these waters would be pressed
towards the north, and would tend to scoop out a wide bay on
that part of the coast, as we And has been done.
The fact has been proved, that while the deep sea water in
the channels remains of an average temperature, that of the
flood tidal-water coming over the banks is higher than either
the sea or the air. Having no fresh water to meet (we speak
of that part of the coast directly opposite Southport, and out
of the influence of the Mersey and the Eibble) it gives out its
surplus temperature, and is probably one cause of the mildness
and salubrity of Southport in the winter.
The scanty supply of trees, and those of small dimensions,
found near the sea side, though to some extent it mars the
beauty of a neighbourhood, is in reality of considerable
saoitary importance, and is an instance of those compensating
arrangements so often found in nature. The growth of large
trees implies the presence of much moisture in the ground,
and is the cause of much moisture and coldness in the
atmosphere. Any impediment to the free circulation of air,
or any screen which shades the earth from the solar rays,
becomes a source of humidity; and wherever dampness and
cold have begun to be generated by such causes, the con-
densation of vapour continues. This is especially the case
where the aqueous vapour in the atmosphere is great, and the
GEOLOGY OF THE DISTRICT. 27
direct rays of the sun are powerful. Humidity is always
found to be increased, and to be more unifonnly diffused
throughout the year, in proportion to the gradual spreading of
wood. The evidence in support of these statements is ample ;
thus in Barbadoes and Jamaica the feUing of forests has
greatly diminished the quantity of rain; the climate of
Tuscany has become warmer in winter and colder in summer
from the same cause ; and the rapid clearing of the country in
the "United States of America is gradually producing the same
results. Although it is doubtful whether the mean temperature
has been raised in these cases, there can be no doubt that the
extreme temperature of midsummer and midwinter hare been
brought nearer to each other. In this way the diminution of
forests has been followed by results similar to those which
follow the drainage, on a large scale, of any tract of moist
country. The beneficial effects of the lessening of extreme
vicissitudes of temperature upon the human frame must be
readily apparent.
Southport is situated upon the edge of a series of recent
deposits overlying the western edge of the Trias or 'New Red
Sandstone of the south of Lancashire. The rocks of the latter
form the high ground towards Ormskirk and Liverpool. The
extent of these diluvial deposits is perceptible in the low flat
land extending from Waterloo to the north of Southport.
From sections in the course of streams and in artificial
openings we find four or five feet of peat or dark vegetable
soil, reposing upon sand for a considerable depth down to the
New Red Sandstone. The surface of the peat beds appears to
dip towards the sea, and is usually covered with sand to the
extent of three or four feet near the coast line. More inland.
28 A HANDBOOK FOB SOUTHPOBT.
the peat beds form the surface of the ground, turf being there
collected for fuel. At Ponnby the peat is seen upon the
shore, and in other places numerous stumps of trees indicate
the site of an ancient forest.
It has usually been considered that a general subsidence of
the mainland is necessary to account for the changes of level
which have undoubtedly taken place along this part of the
coast; and it has been supposed that a great part of the
western coast of Britain has subsided several feet within
historical times, but we believe the data for such a conclusion
to be entirely limited to alluvial deposits, such as those now
under consideration. That many variations of the surface
have occurred in these islands no geologist can doubt ; but in
the present case we think the subsidence may be of a merely
local character, resulting firom the sinking and contraction of
the loose sands underneath the peat beds.
It may be safely concluded that the sand has originally
accumulated from the combined effects of the winds and
currents heaping it up until dry, its surface becoming clothed
with vegetation ; a deep soil gradually accumulated afterwards,
covered with forest trees. The position of this vegetable soil
is now so low and so little above the level of the sea, that
there can be no doubt but that the subsidence it has undergone
obstructed the drainage and destroyed the forest.
After a careful consideration of the subject we cannot find
any evidence that the subsidence has extended beyond the
boundary of the alluvial deposits — ^the degree of it increasing
as we approach the sea. The peat beds dip towards it,
and in some places are imder the rise of spring tides,
so that a sinking or contraction of the underlying sands
GEOLOGY OP THE DISTBICT. 29
seems to be the only cause to which the phenomenon can be
attributed.
The few feet of sand usually covering the peat beds near the
shore is merely blown sand, such as are the sand hills, the
tendency of the winds and currents being still to heap and
deposit sand along this part of the coast.
The above general remarks upon the circumstances which
modify all climates, and upon the local pecidiarities of South-
port, must be borne in mind in proceeding to consider the
claims which that place possesses as a resort for invalids.
Sharing as it does with the most favoured summer resorts
those advantages derived from immediate proximity to the
sea, it has certain well-marked and more immediately local
advantages which few other places possess in an equal degree.
Foremost amongst these we place its open sea aspect, yet
well sheltered position on the coast. Situated near the bottom
of a deep sandy bay, it has all the advantages enjoyed by
other neighbouring watering places, without the exposure to
bleak and piercing winds attaching to some towns on the
north west coast. It is bounded on the north and north east
by a chain, or rather a crescent of hills, which shelter it in
great part from the east and north east winds, the prevalence
of these being limited to the months of Apnl and May.
Secondly, we notice its having two or three well-marked and
distinct climates; the tide receding a considerable distance
leaves a large expanse of sand to be heated by the sun — ^which
has the effect of warming the sea-breeze passing over it —
giving to Southport that of which few, if any other, watering
places can boast, viz., a bracing sea atmosphere, and yet one
thoroughly dry. Whether the air immediately in contact with
30 A HANDBOOK FOR SOTJTHPORT.
the sand, while parting with its moisture, does not take up
some of the peculiar constituents only found in sea water ; or
whether a stratum of dry air passing over an extended sandy
surface, at a high velocity, has not its force of electrical tension
highly increased and condensed — are questions worthy of
consideration, both of which have been adduced as explanatory
of the peculiar sanitary effects of Southport in some diseases.
The relative electrical state of the earth and the atmosphere,
affords the great fluctuating health-scale to which man in his
present physical state is subject. Whether it be fine or
whether it be wet, is in all probability dependent upon the
greater or less readiness with which the atmosphere surround-
ing us parts with the electricity it may possess, in alternation
with the earth's supply of the same important element. Any
agency which induces the atmosphere to part with its due
quota, is a provocative of disease.
In addition to oxygen and hydrogen in the atmosphere,
there is another element lately discovered, to which the name
of ozone has been given. When electrical or galvanic machines
are in action, the peculiar smell of ozone is readily dis-
tinguished. Prom this circumstance, it is thought that its
production is closely connected with the electrical condition of
the atmosphere. It is supposed to be a product of the partial
decomposition of water, or a binoxyde of hydrogen. At any
rate it is always found most plentifully over the surface of the
sea, and may be considered as the secret potent element that
gives life and health by its presence, and whose absence is
always a concomitant and precursor of disease. It must exert
a powerful influence in the atmosphere, as all noxious effluvia
and miasms are destroyed by its presence, its deficiency or
ATMOSPHERIC ELECTRICITY.- 31
absence serving to account for the prevalence of cholera, fevers,
epidemics, &c. It may be regarded as the great purifier of
the air, and, owing to its continual exhaustion by oxydating
processes, it is difficult to discover its presence in towns or
cities, or where there is much vegetation. It is found most
plentifully, as before stated, on and near the sea.
This substance possesses more powerful oxydizing qualities
than any other compound ever discovered. It is constantly
produced in the atmosphere under all circumstances which
determine either electrical or chemical change.
The necessity for some such agent will be rendered evident,
when it is remembered that the atmosphere is constantly
receiving exhalations from the earth and its inhabitants.
Without a provision for the removal of these, they would
speedily render it more injurious to all forms of life than
carbonic acid gas itself, though to that alone we have been
in the habit too commonly of attributing atmospheric dete-
rioration.
The principal property of ozone is to combine with and
change in the most rapid manner all animal matter — except
albumen in its fresh state — ^thus constituting it the natural
provision intended to correct those deleterious exhalations
which the air receives, into innocuous matter. The atmos-
phere, artificially charged with ozone, immediately deprives
the most putrid solid or fluid bodies of their disagreeable
smeU, and even sulphuretted hydrogen is instantly decomposed
by it. When any epidemic such as cholera is raging, the
atmosphere always shows a diminished quantity of ozone, and
such diseases are directly attributed to that fact. The primary
effect is seen in the great mass of vegetation covering the
32 A HANDBOOK FOB SOUTHPORT.
earth's surface, giving off under an atmosphere of low electrical
tension new and abnormal exhalations, which, with the organic
poison &om the masses of human beings congregated in large
towns, find their way into that atmosphere, when deficient in
the important element intended to keep such deleterious
exhalations in check. Eespecting the ravages of cholera, it is
a remarkable fact that Birmingham and Berlin have almost
entirely escaped, owing, probably, to the metallic manu-
factures in the neighbourhood which are supposed to elicit
ozone.
Eetuming again to the climate of Southport, we may
remark, that having two water lines, at great distance apart,
each has its own distinctive quality ; that at high water mark
having all the characters of the stronger and more stimidating
one at low water, but in a more modified and milder degree.
Beyond this inner line, and more in the line of the streets of
the town, the sea breeze is found still more softened; the
atmosphere is buoyant, and remarkably free from impurity and
humidity. Our being able to avail ourselves of the varied
qualities of these distinct climates, according to the changing
circumstances of the invalid, is of great practical importance
in the treatment of disease. Nor should the patient himself
neglect to study and observe these differences, which, though
apparently trifling, are capable of helping or retarding the
progress of his cure. An injudicious walk on the Promenade,
in cold weather, has often undone the work of weeks ; whilst,
on the other hand, from the want of suitable guidance, the
period of convalescence has been needlessly prolonged, from
an undue fear of exposure to a bracing atmosphere.
LOCAL CLIMATE OF SOUTHFOBT. 33
The character of the soil, and of the suiroundiiig coimtry,
adds greatly to the sanitary value of Southport. Being skirted
on three sides by ranges of sandhills, it is not only sheltered
torn east and north winds, but the soil, consisting chiefly of
sand, retains no moisture or rain on its surfieu^, a heavy ML of
rain leaving no trace after a very short time. The fall, indeed,
is slight in comparison with that of the surrounding country, a
circumstance partly accounted for from the vicinity of the hills
— ^these latter attracting the rain clouds ere they reach the coast.
The absence in its immediate vicinity of any considerable body
of fresh water, is another climatic advantage, very few places
having the same extent of country free from running or
stagnant water. The fsicility thus afforded for taking exercise,
is of the utmost importance to invalids. In localities situated
upon the clay, a heavy shower, for even a short time, involves
the withdrawal of out-door exercise for a day or two, in
consequence of wet roads and atmospheric evaporation. Under
such circumstances, which of course are of frequent occurrence,
the invalid is either compelled to encounter the risks attendant
upon wet feet and breathing a damp air, or he is precluded
from the muscular exercise upon which depends the healthy
condition of all the animal functions.
The atmosphere of Southport is remarkably free from
malarious influences ; epidemics rarely occur, and when they
do, they are seldom malignant unless when imported from
large towns. It exerts upon visiters a sedative and composing
influence. In some temperaments, for the flrst few days, it
induces diarrhoaa, in others the opposite condition.
It is proper to remark here, that notwithstanding the truth
of the above statement as to the dryness of the air, it is not so
F
34 A HANDBOOK FOB SOUTBOPOBT.
excessire as to be irritating to the skin or mucous surfaces.
Such a condition would be nearly as injurious as the opposite
extreme of excessive humidity. Even during the prevalence
of the east and north-east winds, those most unpopular of the
subjects of Boreas, the irritative effect is not greater than is
found in other localities, much less indeed than on the east
coast of England, whilst the prevailing westerly winds come
softened by the vast expanse of the ocean. It is not easy to
account for this stopping short of the extreme of dryness, but
in the opinion of my Mend Dr. Formby, whose knowledge of
this part of the coast is beyond that of any other physician, it
is in some way connected with Martin Mere, HalsaU Mere,
and the other meres which chiefly lie to the east of Southport,
and appear to temper and soften the atmosphere in their
neighbourhood.
The absence of fogs in a place situated on the sea coast is
somewhat remarkable. And yet such is the case to a singular
extent. So general is the opinion of the original inhabitants
on this point, that in order to account for the appearance of a
fog occasionally during the last few years, they resort to the
amusing explanation that they are in some way connected
with the arrival among them of so many families from
Manchester and Liverpool — an explanation which, however
quaintly put, has this modicum of truth in it, that the
increased number of houses has diminished the radiating
surface of sand, upon which the general absence of fog no
doubt in some measure depends. The only explanation I can
suggest is that the sea fog is divided before it reaches this
deeply indented coast, and is drawn up the channeLs of the
Mersey and the Eibble, leaving the bay in which Southport is
LOCAL CLIMATE OF SOUTHFOBT. 35
situated dear. The traveller to liverpool will frequently
enter a fog at Formby or Crosby, which accompanies him to
town, leaving his home in Southport perfectly dear from
anything of the kind. The character of the soil will account
for the rarity of land fogs.
In the absence of extensive meteorological data, there is one
mode of determining the curative influence of climate of not
less importance, and which has been too much overlooked, to
which we must briefly allude ; that is, the effect of any given
dimate upon the health of the native population. It is evident
that much may be learnt upon this point by ascertaining the
nature and amount of disease which prevails in a locality, and
the proportionate number of its cases of longevity, as compared
with other places. By observing the peculiar nature of the
dimate, and its influence upon the stationary inhabitants, we
are led to discriminate also in the choice of cases of disease
likely to be beneflted by being sent to such locality. If, in
any climate, we And that its agency is decidedly of a relaxing
kind, and that it proximately acts by modifying the tone of
organs, we would, d priori, infer that such a climate would be
unsuitable to that kind of diseased action, depending upon
general want of tone and a low state of functional energy. But
again, if in any climate we And that acute inflammatory
affections — ^for instance, of the mucous membranes of the air
passages — are a common disease with the natives, it would not
seem to be a wise or logical proceeding on the part of a
physician, to send to such a climate a stranger who was likely
to be affected by these very maladies. ]^ow if these principles
are applied to the case of Southport, we believe that everything
advanced in favour of its climate will meet with the fullest
conflrmation. That the climate is at once bracing and sedative.
36 A HANDBOOK FOB SOUTHFOBT.
may be gathered from the physical and moral history of its
native population. If we take as a type of these, the fishermen,
we find them broad and fieshy in their frames, phlegmatic in
temperament, slow in their movements, and (though this must
be attributed to something better even than a good climate)
remarkably decorous and staid in their conduct. With
reference to the number of case» of longevity amongst the
natives, it is unnecessary to dwell upon the hct, since it is
generally admitted, and, indeed, is capable of easy proof.
The rapid rise of Southport from its original insignificant
position to its present elevated rank among English watering
places, speaks more for it than any panegyric, however
laboured or elegantiy expressed. That a place which but a few
years ago was littie else than a knot of fishermen's huts,
should in so short a period of time exhibit such an amazing
change, is indeed wonderful, and can only be explained by the
advantages of its situation, the convenience and safety of its
bay for bathing, sailing, &c., and by the healthful bracing
atmosphere that surrounds it.
In respect to its shore, the sea water is quite pure, the
sands under foot are soft, yet firm, and entirely free from
obstruction; the declivity is so gradual as to be almost
imperceptible, a great desideratum to the weak and fearful,
and especially in the case of children. The bay is so well
sheltered by nature, that it is very rarely such weather occurs
as to prevent bathing ; in many places there are long inter-
ruptions to bathing from the turbulence of the sea, to the
great disappointment, loss of time, and expense of those to
whom such delays may be both annoying and injurious.
The above natural advantages have been much increased by
art. The village, now rapidly acquiring the dimensions of a
LOCAL CLIMATE OF SOUTHPOBT. 37
fair sized town, is planned with much taste, many of the
buildings being of a superior class and possessing architectural
beauty. The streets are long, wide, aud well constructed;
they are arranged at right angles, thus facilitating yentilation,
light, and cleanliness. The majority of them, by directly
communicating with the shore, afford a free passage to the
wholesome sea-breeze. It is now under contemplation to
extend the sewerage and adapt it to the increasing require-
ments of the place.
In concluding this chapter I will quote the picture of an
imaginary climate for the consimiptive, as drawn by the
eminent physiologist, Br. W. B. Eichardson, leaving such readers
as are acquainted with Southport to judge how &i it meets the
case. Certainly it MLs in regard to enticing scenery, but that
can hardly be considered an essential: —
<<I BhaU recommend no particidar place as a resort for
consumptives, for I wish not to enter into disputation on this
point. But here is the formula for an hypothetical con-
sumptive Atlantis. It should be near the sea-coast, and
sheltered from northerly winds; the soil should be dry; the
drinking water pure ; the mean temperature about 60^, with
a range of not more than ten or fb^en degrees on either side.
It is not easy to fix any degree of humidity ; but extremes of
dryness or of moisture are alike injurious. It is of importance
in selecting a locality that the scenery should be enticing, so
that the patient may be the more encouraged to spend his time
out of doors, in walking or riding exercise ; and a town where
the residences are isolated and scattered about, and where
drainage and cleanliness are attended to, is much preferable to
one where the houses are closely packed, however small its
population may be."
CHAPTER III.
See the wretch that long has toit,
On the thorny bed of pain,
Again repair his vigour lost,
And walk and ran again.
The meanest flow*ret of the rale,
The simplest note that swells the gale.
The common air, the earth, the skies.
To him are opening Paradise!
Grat.
EITECT OP THE CLIMATE UPON DISEASE.
6ENEBAL CLAIMS AS A SANATOBIUM.
"When we consider the physical results of a change of residence
from a humid atmosphere to a mild dry one; — that such a
change promotes the equable distribution of the circulating
fluids over the whole system, increases the activity of the
capillaries of the surface, and in the same proportion diminishes
the congestion of internal organs; that the continued action
of a bland atmosphere upon the delicate surfaces of the
respiratory tubes, lessens irritation and assists in the more
efficient production of those changes of the blood so essential
to health ; — we shall see sufficient reasons to account for its
importance as a means of recoyery in yarious forms of illness.
CONSUMPTION. 39
Kor can we omit to recognise the incidental advantages
which attach to such a step. The hope engendered by a new
movement taken towards recovery ; the cessation of business
cares and anxieties, novel scenery, new associations, and the
other incidents attendant upon a change of residence, — all
these circumstances have a powerful effect upon the weakened
frame. And when the locality chosen is appropriate to the
particular ailment under which the patient actually labours,
or with which he is threatened, and especially when the
measure has been taken in an early stage of the complaint, the
result is often of the most valuable kind, and justifies all that
has been said by those who place change of air among the
foremost of our remedial agents.
The diseases in which change of climate is most expedient,
are chronic bronchitis, asthma, emphysema, strumous diseases,
consumption, chronic rheumatism, chronic dyspepsia, idceration
of the fauces, clergyman's sore throat, &c., and to these
complaints the climate of Southport is especially adapted. The
advantages of a prolonged residence on this part of the coast,
in connection with the more immediate treatment of disease,
are such as arise from its marine position, and from the
constant operation of its peculiar local climate.
The most direct and certain remedy in many chronic
complaints, is the habitual breathing of an air containing a
maximimi amount of oxygen. The proportion of the con-
stituents of atmospheric air remain the same on the highest
mountain as in the deepest vale, the principal difference being
the amount of carbonic acid mixed with it in different localities.
Owing to the pressure of the superincumbent atmosphere,
air increases in density the nearer we approach the level of the
40 A HANDBOOK FOR SOUTHPORT.
sea, and it is evident that we inhale at every breath a greater
amount of air, and, consequently, a greater amount of oxygen,
than at a few hundred feet higher. One great secret of the
cure of chronic cases at the sea side, therefore, is the being
able, without extra exertion or effort, to receive into the lungs
an additional amount of oxygen. The effect of this is to
rouse and sustain the nervous system, and to expedite and
perfect the aeration of the blood in the lungs, by means of the
more rapid combustion of carbon, thus creating a greater
demand for nourishment, as shown by the vigorous appetite
which so generally follows a removal to the sea side. The
same principle is called into operation by the hydropathist,
who must have hiUs to climb or he gets little or no result.
The exertion requisite for ascending a hill necessitates an
accelerated circulation, which gives the increased amount of
oxygen to the blood. It is obvious, however, that many cases
of disease do not admit of such exertion, and there is an
absolute necessity for exercise upon the level ground.
As might be expected &om what has been already stated,
the climate of Southport is peculiarly adapted to the prevention
or relief of consumption. In the earKer stages, particularly,
before tubercles have actually formed, its effects are often most
surprising. As this is essentially a blood disease, and as the
tsea air is one of the most efficient agents in the improvement
of the vital fluid, the prolonged residence of young persons
threatened with this fearful malady, has in numerous instances
perfectly re-established their health ; or in the case of those
who possess an hereditary tendency to the disease, has post-
poned the accession of fatal illness. When the lung has been
more or less affected by tubercidar deposit, the favourable
DISEASES OF THE CHEST. 4l
conditionB found in this climate have often, with very little
medical interference, arrested the progress of the mischief,
and, by giving every advantage to the great restorer, Nature,
there have resulted the loss of cough, the diminution of
expectoration, the gaining of flesh, and the return of bodily
anS mental strength.
The same residts are found to take place in many cases of
chronic bronchitis, attended with excessive secretion and
exalted sensibility of the pulmonary mucous membrane. The
relief in these cases, &om a change from, a cold and moist to a
mild and dry climate, especially when aided by a judicious use
of some of the preparations of iron, is, perhaps, more marked,
because often more rapid than in any other morbid condition.
It may be stated, in general terms, that the same external
circumstances that prove advantageous in consumption, are of
equal value in this complaint also.
I have witnessed the most beneflcial results, also, in
emphysema of the lungs ; the tonic and sedative effects of the
atmosphere, which exerts a favourable influence upon the air
passages, reducing the secretion, improving the breathing,
restoring sleep, — and, these ends attained, the general health
gradually and surely improves.
In internal congestions, particularly pulmonary, in heart
diseases, asthma, and indeed whenever there is imperfect
circulation of the blood, or difficulty of breathing, the extreme
purity of the air is found to add greatly to the comfort of the
invalid, and where the disease is of short standiag, and
circumstances are favourable, this locality is highly conducive
to a cure. In the aged, in whom there is reason to believe
that structural change has already taken place, disease has
a
42 A HANDBOOK FOR SOUTHFOST.
apparently stood still for years, and a degree of comfort has
been experienced to which the patient has long been a
stranger, while living on a clay soil, or in the neighbourhood
of copious vegetation.
In chronic rheumatism, and general or partial paralysis,
the recovery is fequently very remarkable. That it should
be so in the former case will be understood when we remember
the dryness of the atmosphere, and the injurious effects of
damp upon the sufferers from rheumatism. The relief of
paralysis is probably due, not only to the improvement of the
general health, but to the relief of pressure upon the nervous
centres, arising from a light and pure atmosphere. The
importance of so pure an atmosphere, possessing such physical
peculiarities, in diseases of a more general nature, is suf-
ficiently obvious. The unwholesome conditions to which
the dwellers in pent-up cities and unhealthy districts are
habitually exposed, lead to the production of a low tone of the
general health, and proclivity to disease, which disable them
from resisting any prevailiDg cause of epidemics. The com-
parative freedom from epidemics hitherto enjoyed by the
inhabitants of Southport, affords the best illustration of the
converse of this truth.
The climate of this place, in conjunction with sea-bathing,
has a peculiarly beneficial effect, in certain forms of cutaneous
affections, which are extremely distressing to the patient, and
are often among the least satisfactory cases with which the
physician has to deal. Among these may be mentioned acne,
psoriasis, lepra, and troublesome chronic eczema. The capillary
vessels partake of the improved tone communicated to the
system at large, while the sub-acute inflammation of the skin
CtJTANEOUS AFFECTIONS — SCBOFULA. 43
is at once soothed and subdued by the application of the
sea water.
Of the large class of cases of disease which are comprised
under the general term of scrofula, a lengthened residence by
the sea side is acknowledged to be by far the most important
means of cure. The number of young children with feeble,
ricketty frames, idcerating glandular enlargements, and droop-
ing pallid countenances is lamentably large. The local
complaints under which they suffer, are only the symptoms of
constitutional degeneration, which requires the long-continued
employment of constitutional measures for its removal or
improvement. A marine atmosphere, sea-bathing, warm
clothing, nourishing diet, and other hygienic measures are
the essential remedies. The special advantages which South-
port offers in these cases, over other sea side resorts, are
the dryness of its atmosphere and its walks, the safety of its
sea-bathing, and the unfailing occupation which children find
in digging in the sand.
It might be supposed that the advantages of a sea side
residence, as well as the other special local advantages offered
by Southport, were of little importance in diseases of the
stomach and bowels, and in affections of the digestive organs
generally. Such a supposition, however, would be erroneous.
Many forms of dyspepsia are greatly relieved by a change from
a raw cold climate to a warmer locality, in conjunction with
the utmost attention to diet, and regular exercise either on
horseback or on foot. In those cases of dyspepsia, particidarly,
where the mucous membrane of the stomach is irritable, the
improvement is very marked. The same may be said of
similar states of the intestinal membrane, in chronic diarrhoea.
44 A HANDBOOK FOB SOUTHPOBT.
It would be impossible to particiLlarise the affections of the
liver and other organs which have been benefited by this
cUmate, or which, at all events, have seemed to owe their cnre
to a long continuance of its influence. As one instance out of
many, I present the reader with the following case, which is
not only interesting in itself, but has additional value from
being the personal experience of a medical man, whose judg-
ment must necessarily be better than one unacquainted with
the nature of disease.
''J. P. S., setat 30; form, spare and delicate; temperament,
nervo-bilious ; habits, temperate ; has undergone much mental
and physical labour ; riding or driving long distances, daily,
in the exercise of professional duties; much night work.
Early in the year 1851, began to experience violent inter-
mittent pain in the epigastrium ; sometimes simulating heart-
bum, more frequently of a dull boring character, generally
limited to one spot, and attended with sense of weight and
oppression, — relieved temporarily by warm food or drinks.
Pyrosis sometimes preceded the pain, but frequently seemed
to result from it; affording, however, no mitigation to the
symptoms. Appetite not much affected in the absence of the
pain, which did not come on at any stated period before or after
meals. Bowels variable, alternately loose and constipated;
much flatulence, frequent eructations of sulphuretted hydrogen.
Tongue clean; indented at the side; cracked transversely,
papillsB prominent. Pulse generally regular but feeble, not
affected in frequency during the paroxysms ; nights disturbed
and restless. At this period of my ailment, which was
conceived to be Gastrodynia, from mal-assimulation, I resorted
to alkalies, combined with bitters, afterwards bismuth and
A CASE IK ILLUSTRATION. 45
hydrocyanic acid. The attack generally came on and dis-
appeared without apparent cause ; during the remission of the
pain I speedily regained flesh and strength. It generally
recurred every five or six weeks, and lasted several days. In
1853, after a succession of attacks of variable severity and
duration, I became much worse. The intermissions were
shorter; the pain much aggravated in intensity — sometimes
occupying a space intermediate between the umbilical and
epigastric regions, and conveying the sensation of an intensely
acrid fluid, acting upon a raw, abraded surface, which a florin
might cover. At other times it was much diflPused, extending
to the right hypochondrium and dorsum of the back, assuming
a character which baffles description. Much distension and
flatulency accompanied it, and sounds similar to the roUiug or
dropping of fluid were often heard by myself and attendants,
especially when I assumed the recumbent position. It was
generally worse in the night, my sufferings fi:«quently obliging
me to pace my room or rise up suddenly in bed in restless agony,
my hands pressed upon or rubbing my stomach ; the peristaltic
movements of the latter being often visible, especially during
violent paroxysms. Appetite variable and capricious ; nausea
seldom absent ; food when taken often aggravating the pain ;
Pyrosis now more frequent, and succeeded by vomiting of
yeast-like fluid in very large quantities, very acid and effer-
vescent, sometimes boiling over the receptacle. Urine alkaline,
larger in quantity during the paroxysms, generally pale and
of low specific gravity. Great mental and physical prostration;
countenance pinched and anxious. During the latter period,
I availed myself of the opinions and advice of several medical
friends, and, at their suggestion employed, at different stages
46 A HANDBOOK FOB SOUTHPOBT.
of my disease, (now pronounced to be ulceration of the stomach,
in conjunction with sarcinaB ventriculi,) the following remedies :
local depletion, counter-irritation, nitre, muriatic acid, quinine,
oxyde of silver, creosote, and more recently cod liver oil, and
hyposulphite of soda. The former I could not persevere in, as
it kept up a constant nausea. At times, I imagined the latter
reduced the quantity of fluid vomited, and arrested the
fermentation ; it had, however, no effect upon the pain; indeed,
I often found it necessary to encourage vomiting to reKeve the
latter, and the more perfectly I succeeded, the more permanent
was my relief. At this stage, alkalies induced pyrosis and
aggravated the pain.
In October, 1854, during an interval of moderate health, I
was called out several nights successively. To this circum-
stance, and exposure to cold, was attributed an attack of
peritonitis which followed and confined me to my room for
five weeks. Under the ordinary treatment, with the early
use of stimulants, I recovered slowly and unexpectedly. From
this time my stomach symptoms progressed in severity, and I
became utterly wretched from their continuance. Pain and
vomiting were now almost constant, excessive prostration and
debility ensued, and the attacks at length confined me to bed
five days out of seven. My own impression and that of
my medical Mends was, that I was the subject of some obscure
organic disease implicating the liver. Despairing of relief
from other measures, I now resorted largely to opiates, alone
or combined with magnesia and compound kino powder, with
temporary alleviation to my sufferings. Throughout my
illness, I was scrupulously carefd in my diet. In August,
1856, in consequence of increased pain and debility, I was
A CASE IN ILLUSTBATION. 47
obliged to relinquish my practice, and came down to Southport,
while the removal of my family was accomplished: I now
felt excessive languor and sense of serious illness impending.
Opiates, latterly, merely subdued the pain sufficiently to make
it endurable, and although there was no apparent swelling
externally, I experienced a feeling of extreme fulness and
distension, continuous nausea, and repeated vomiting. The
vomited matter now assumed a dark tinge; this change I at
first ascribed to some black currant jelly I had taken. On the
day following, however, (August 8th,) whilst conversing with
a medical friend, I was seized with vomiting, to the amount
(as I was afterwards informed) of several quarts ; the fluid
being dark, and porter-like. Small quantities passed also by
the bowels. I was now quite blanched, and for some time in
a hopeless, insensible state, and was only restored by the
presence of mind and anxious exertions of my friend, who
administered brandy repeatedly, applying mustard cataplasms
to the heart and extremities. On the second day, turpentine
and ammonia were prescribed, followed by quinine and nitro-
muriatic acid, with alteratives and anodyne. I returned home
in November, feeling better than I had done for several years,
and quite hopeful that the crisis of my sufferings had passed.
In about a month, however, after my return, I began to
experience the sad forewamings of a relapse, and from that
period to July, 1857, during which I had Kved in perfect
retirement, I underwent a series of attacks similar to those
above related. Having formerly experienced much benefit
from visiting Southport, I decided, as a ' dernier ressort ' to
reside there ; removed late in July, scarcely able to travel from
excessive debility. My sufferings still continued without
4S A HANDBOOK FOB SOUTHFOBT.
abatement up to December, when after a fortnight's intense
pain, which opium, belladonna, and chloroform failed to
relieve, diarrhoea came on, the evacuations being similar in
character to the fluid vomited in August, 1856. Under watch-
ful care and judicious treatment I again recovered. From this
time my health steadily improved, and I now enjoy entire
freedom from pain of any description. My own conviction is,
that had I removed to Southport earlier, my sufferings would
have been much curtailed."
The above case is one of a numerous class, in which the
beneficial effects of a suitable climate are recognised, without
the mode of its operation being very apparent. No particular
necessity would seem to have existed from the nature of the
case, either for a dry or a saline atmosphere. The country
district from which the patient came was not an unhealthy
one, and the purity of the air of Southport could not have
been the sole cause of the beneficial result. In such instances
we must be content to rest upon the fact without being able
to explain its rationale.
The forms of dyspepsia which seem to derive most benefit
from the climate of Southport, are those which present the
following symptoms : Digestion is slow and painful, accom-
panied by a sense of uneasiness at the pit of the stomach, a
feeling of weight, and frequently severe pain coming on after
a meal. This commences from a quarter of an hour to three
hours after taking food, and is often attended with heartburn.
There is also much flatulence, the gas emitted having the
odour of sulphuretted hydrogen, or, more commonly, commu-
nicating a sour taste to the mouth ; constipation is habitual ;
the appetite lost or diminished ; the tongue little altered in
ATMOSFHEBIG CHANGES. 49
appearance; great sensibility to pressure over the stomach,
sometimes limited to a very small space. With these local
symptoms, we find an enfeebled and languid condition of all
the functions, a pale countenance, the body emaciated, the
extremities cold, the skin harsh and dry; the intellectual
faculties impaired, and the muscular force diminished, so
that mental and bodily exertion are equally difficult. Such
are the symptoms which are continually presenting themselves,
and which seldom fail of relief, if, during his residence, the
patient will pay a moderate attention to his diet, exercise,
clothing, &c., and to those general sanitary rules which have
been a thousand times repeated, and therefore need no further
reiteration in these pages.
I would here give a few words of caution, with particular
reference to those who suffer from affections of the throat and
chest. Although, as has been said, there are few days in which
an invalid cannot contrive to get walking exercise, it must be
mentioned that the changes of temperature during the same
day are frequently very considerable. It is needful, therefore,
carefully to avoid going out either too early or too late in the
day. During certain portions of the winter, there are not
more than two or three hours intervening between the chills
of morning and of evening, and this interval should be
chosen for out of door exercise. It is also desirable, indeed,
absolutely necessary, in more serious cases, that the patient
should keep his rooms at an equable temperature, say of about
65*^, and this should be done both by day and by night. The
great and sudden change from a warm sitting-room to a cold
bed-room, is continually frustrating the best contrived attempts
to bring about a cure.
H
CHAPTER IV.
Hope, like the glimmering taper's light,
Adorns and cheers the way,
And still, as darker grows the night,
Emits a brighter raj*
Goldsmith.
SUGGESTIOirS FOR INYAIIDS.
In the outset of some remarks I propose to offer to those who
have left their homes in pursuit of healthy it is necessary to
dwell somewhat at large upon the importance of maintaining
a hopeful state of mind. Though it is said,
** Hope springs eternal in the human breast,"
it is not easy to cherish and retain that feeling under circum-
stances of declining strength^ of long continued or oft returning
pain, and isolation from all the habits and excitements of
accustomed duties. The nervous depression which chronic
illness naturally induces, often leads an invalid to take a moro
gloomy view of his condition than the facts will justify. Of
course there are cases where a reasonable hope of recovery can
no longer be entertained ; and in all cases of protracted iUness,
it is the duty of a Christian to prepare for the most solemn
issue, that it may be also the most welcome and most bleflsed.
OOMSUUPTION OFTBN OURABLE. 61
But there aze speoial reasons, derived from the iJiherent
powers of the s3rBteni and amply confirmed by experience,
which afford sufficient ground for a chastened hope, even in
circumstances of undoubted gravity. The chief illustt^tions I
shall adduce, are taken from one of the most formidable com-
plaints which afflict humanity — Consumption. Pathological
&cts show that recovery from Consumption may take place in
all its stages, whether the disease is in the form of small
tubercles sprinkled through the lung, when it is aggregated in
masses, and even wben, by softening, a cavity of greater or lest
extent has been formed. There is conclusive eiddence that
tubercle does occasionally become absorbed. Moreover, the
cavities may be healed by cicatrisation ; by contraction with
calcareous or chalky concretions; or by the formation of a
thick fibro-cellular lining membrane, the cavity remaining,
though harmless.
These evidences of the fact of recovery in Consumption, are
found in cases where death has occurred from other diseases ;
but we have equally valid testimony during the life of some
wbo have been its subjects. There are many who have
presented all the rational signs or symptoms of Consumptive
disease, and every year adds to the number. Some have
recovered from the first stage, and, doubtless, many more such
might be recorded, if the nature of the complaint were better
appreciated by the public, and earlier attention paid to declining
health, previous to the appearance of special chest symptoms.
In the second stage, the recovery has been equally conclusive,
and the physical signs have been reduced to mere roughness of
the respiratory sounds with prolonged expiration. In another
ease, wbere there was spitting of blood and a cavity in the
62 A HANDBOOK FOB 80VTHF0BT.
lung, there was recovery of the general health and remoyal of
the cavity. In another, in the third stage, the cavity remained
open, but contracted, and the health was restored. In another
case, where there were evidences of extensive disease and
cavity, similar improvement took place in the system at large,
and almost all signs, previously recognised by the stethoscope,
were removed. Many cases where the disease has been
arrested, are on record.
It must not be supposed that these successful attempts of
nature to check the progress of this formidable complaint, are
of very rare occurrence. Dr. Williams states that he found
phthisical lesions in the lungs of half the adults beyond the
age of forty that he had examined, showing that many escape
the disease notwithstanding its seeds are in their frames.
Professor J. H. Bennett found concretions and puckerings of
the lungs in twenty-eight out of seventy-three bodies. Eog^e
states, that of one hundred aged persons who died at the
SalpStri^re, fifky-one had concretions and other traces of
tubercular disease of the lungs. In five of the cases he found
cicatrices of cavities which had healed ; and he states, that in
the course of a single year, he had been able to collect ten or
twelve incontrovertible examples of the same kind. Nor is
this fortunate issue confined of necessity to cases in which the
disease has been of very limited extent; for Dr. Bennett has
recorded the case of a man who, at the age of twenty-two,
laboured under all the symptoms of deep decline, but recovered,
and died at the age of fifty of an affection of the brain. The
upper portions of both lungs contained cretaceous tubercles,
and were puckered, and the cicatrix at the summit of the right
lung, was from a quarter to three-fourths of an inch in breadth.
FEBSIYEBANCE IN A CVRATIYE PLAN. 53
and three inches in length. When we remember the tendency
which all cicatrices have to contract, it will be evident that
one of this kind must have resulted from a cavity of very
considerable size.
If these things be so, and we are entitled to entertain a
reasonable shore of hope even in the case of so formidable a
disease as Consmnption, with how much greater propriety may
this be done in most other complaints ? In a former part of
this little work, a case has been given of recovery from serious
disease of the digestive organs, and it would be easy to enumerate
instances in which other portions of the body were involved.
Advanced life, in connection with disease, affords less ground
for hope ; but in early and middle life, we do well to have
faith in the reparative powers of nature, assisted by the
resources of art, especially when the system has not been
undermined by a previous career of debilitating excesses. As
an instance of the life-protracting influence of modem thera-
peutic agents, we may mention that Dr. J. B. "Williams (than
whom no man is better qualified to speak on the point, and
who draws his inference from 9000 cases,) has recently
asserted, that the average duration of Consumption, formerly
estimated at two years, may under improved treatment by
cod-liver oil, be fixed at four years.
Few things are of more importance in the management of
chronic disease, than that a rational and well-considered plan
of treatment should be pursued with perseverance, and for a
sufficiently lengthened period. And yet the anxieties of the
invalid frequently lead him to err on this point. Not reflect^
ing that his present condition has been the result of a long
continued divergence from the standard of health, in some one
54 A HA19DB00K FOR SOUTHPOBT.
or more of the funetions or org^s, before there reBulted what
form* his actual disease— he forgets, or does not understand,
that the healing powers of nature, however encouraged and
aided by art, when they have really begun to remedy the evil,
can only return to the healthy condition at a similar pace.
He lays himself open, consequently, to every promising offer
of a royal road to recovery. Systems surround him on every
side, promising the speedy fulfilment of his most ardent
wishes, their olaima endorsed by this and that enthusiastie
friend. Comparisons are made between his case and others,
based upon the slightest resemblances^ and without even the
attempt to ascertain how far those resemblances are real or
only apparent.
The mingling of truth with falsehood which we find in
medical heresies, is the real source of their success. A system
of pure error could not exist for a day. But when a portion
of truth is recognised in an otherwise false system, it conceab
its real nature as a whole, owing to the difficulty of discri-
minating in matters so alien to an invalid's ordinary pursuits.
But it must be admitted that the present state of medical
heresies is to some extent a legacy horn the former system
of medical practice, and which we are afraid has stiU its
adherents. We see at present a state of things which cannot,
we sincerely believe, be altogether accounted for by the
weakness and credulity of the public ; we cannot but attribute
something to the mystery and excessive medication of former
times. The public were greatly to blame for the mystery,
since they persisted in attributing a power to the medical maTi
beyond all reason ; they were to blame in leading to an undue
use of medicine, since th^y supposed that in that alone
FOLLY OF QUAGKEBT. 55
oonsisted his power to do them good ; and if one declined to
prescribe for them, they went to another. But still the pro-
fession were consenting parties. There was a want of confidence
in the force of truths when urged with simple earnestness.
Had the profession been sufficiently alive to the danger of
reaction in the public mind; had they calculated upon the
growing intelligence of society ; had they sacrificed their im-
mediate interests to the permanent welfere of the profession,
they would have prevented the present discreditable state of
things. We are not now speaking of vulgar quackery : that
must always exist while the masses are ignorant and unreAeet^
ing, and thus exposed to become the prey of designing men.
"We allude to those fashionable systems which are followed by
so many otherwise thoughtful and intelligent men and women,
who are not to be led astray by mere credulity, but require
some one guiding principle, of which they must be convinced*
This has been with many the conviction that the former
practice of over-drugging with medicine was wrong. Satisfied
of this fact, they have dwelt upon the discovered truth so long,
as to have littie thought to expend upon the foundations of the
system they have adopted. They know themselves to be right
on one point of the enquiry, and they too lightly assume the
correctness of the rest. Tired of so much physic, they fix upon
water, a remedial agent of good repute, and erect a temple of
health in which she is the exclusive goddess. As hydropaths,
they can, at least theoretically, get rid of the drugs they so
much detest. Or, if unprepared absolutely and ostensibly to
" throw physic to the dogs," they tamper with their reason so
far as to substitute a semblance for a reality, and, having
minutely subdivided the " dummy," swallow it with the
56 A HANDBOOK FOR SOUTHPORT.
greatest possible gravity. Prove to them, if they will listen, —
which they will seldom consent to do, — that their fundamental
principle is a falsehood ; remind them that, for the production
of every positive eJffect, there is required an exactly adequate
cause ; show them that their great conclusive arguments, their
reputed cures, are but prime examples of the logic of post hoc,
ergo propter hoc, and that the same syllogism would equally
establish all the competing systems of quackery that now exist,
or have ever existed ; do all this, and more, yet they fall back
upon their first strong conviction, and behind that entrench-
ment stand, till events prove to them the fallacy into which a
partial truth has led them.
There is one point, not bearing exclusively upon the condition
of the actual invalid, but of more general interest, to which I
must allude, — ^that is the subject of prophylactic medicine, or
that department which has reference to the prevention of
disease. That this department should have received so littie
attention, is indeed surprising. It is a popular saying, that
"prevention is better than cure;" but both patients and
physicians have been content to leave the matter in its
proverbial form, so far as any systematic carrying out of the
principle is concerned. Very scanty notices of this subject are
to be found, and those very widely dispersed, in medical
writings. It is so much the custom virtually to limit the duty
of the physician to the cure of disease, that this noble sphere
for the exercise of his skill and ingenuity is practically
ignored. And yet it is probable that, in a large proportion of
those who die of chronic disease, the seeds of such disease have
been implanted by the time they have attained their fortieth
year. Would it not be wiser to make the first rudimentary
5?
appearanoe of anything in Hie shape of local or general
derangement into a easus heUi, ithe gtonnd of a regolar attaek,
rather than to wait till affenjsiye hostilities appear in the form
ci pahifdl symptoms ? An nnwonted sensation, or a marked
change of fimctiony amounting in neitiiar case to positive
inconTenienoe or distress, T^Jy nevertheless, be sKgniificant of
approaching ill, since we know that here also, *' <9oming events
cast their shadows before/' It is reasonable to suppose that
snitaible antidotal means might often be devised, based upon
ike physiological changes going on, to prevent those stmctoial
alterations which are snre to follow abnormal action long <!on-
tinned. This, however, can only be called prophylactic in an
accommodated sense ; but we would go farther, and urge tite
necessity of a true prophylaxis. The transmission of hereditary
tendencies to disease is of constant occuirence; individual
peculiaritieB are ofben attended by a proclivity towards certain
forms of physical derangement; a misguided early training
may have warped the firame in an evil direction; certain
employments or modes of life lead without Ml to injurious,
but wall known, results. All these, and many others that
might be naentioned, are instances in which a carefol system
of preventative measures, not taken up and applied intet-
mittingly, but dovetailed, so to speak, into the economy of life,
would seem to be the dictate of true wisdom. We are so much
in the habit of thinking that m^i must die of disease, that a
healthful old age is looked upon as something remarkable,
something for the attainment of which no i^ecial effort can be
made. No legitimate object of human desare can £ul of at
least partial accomplishment, where proper means are properly
brought to bear upon it; and yet few would be found to
I
58 A HANDBOOK FOR SOUTHPORT.
contend either that a healthy longevity is not such a legitimate
object, or that it is not generally left to the merest hap-hazard.
No better instance can be given of what a due attention to
prophylactic means can accomplish, than the case so well
described by Dr. Watson, in his admirable Lectures on the
Principles and Practice of Physic : " The late Dr. Gregory, of
Edinburgh, used always to mention in his lectures the case of
Dr. Adam Eerguson, the celebrated historian, as affording one
of the strongest illustrations he ever met with, of the benefit
that may be derived from timely attention to the avoidance
of those circumstances which tend to produce plethora and
apoplexy. It is, perhaps, the most striking case of the kind on
record. Dr. Perguson experienced several attacks of temporary
blindness some time before he had a stroke of palsy, and he did
not take these hints so readily as he should have done. He
observed, that while he was delivering a lecture to his class,
the papers before him would disappear — ^vanish from his sight,
and appear again in a few seconds. He was a man of fcdl
habit, at one time corpulent and very ruddy ; and- though by
no means intemperate, he lived fully. I say, he did not attend
to these admonitions, and at length, in the sixtieth year of his
age, he suffered a decided shock of paralysis. He recovered,
however, and from that period, under the advice of his Mend,
Dr. Black, became a strict Pythagorean in his diet, eating
nothing but vegetables, and drinking only water or milk. He
got rid of every paralytic symptom, became even robust and
muscular for a man of his time of life, and died in full posses-
sion of his mental faculties at the advanced age of ninety-three,
upwards of thirty years after his first attack." Sir Walter
Scott describes him as having been, '' long after his eightieth
EFFECTS OF MENTAL EXCITEMENT. 59
year, one of the most striking old men it was possible to look
at. His firm step, and ruddy cheek, contrasted agreeably and
unexpectedly with his silver locks; and the dress he wore,
much resembling that of the Flemish peasant, gave an air of
peculiarity to his whole figure. In his conversation, the
mixture of original thinking with high moral feeling and
extensive learning, his love of country, contempt of luxury,
and especially the strong subjection of his passions and feelings
to the dominion of his reason, made him, perhaps, the most
striking example of the Stoic philosopher which could be seen
in modem days."
But inmioral indulgence of the passions and appetites, and the
more obvious infractions of the physical laws, with the neglect
of wise precautionary measures, are not the only points upon
which it is needful to take warning. The intellectual and
emotional nature of man is subject to laws quite as stringent as
those which regulate his bodily Amotions. The injurious
influence of mental excess is not less positive than that of
physical, though not so obvious. It may be difficult to persuade
the busy man on 'Change that the growing dyspeptic symptoms
which trouble him are the direct result of the state of turmoil
to which his brain has been exposed for months and years
together ; and yet the fSact is certain. The student of law or
divinity who strains his faculties to the utmost, without
allowing them the repose necessary for their recruitment, is
not only sinning against his own body, but is adopting the
best plan to thwart his own cherished objects. The popular
minister, whose whole soul is in his work, and who is com-
pelled to keep his intellectual powers on full stretch to meet
the requirements of his position, while his life is passed in a
60 A HANDBOOK FOB SOUTHPOBT.
Bticoession of nervouB excitements, exposed to altemationB of
heated rooms and cold night air, is undoubtedly doing a great
work, but he does it at a great cost. He will hardly lire to
build up the Church by his matured wisdom, or exhibit the
passive virtues of the aged Christian. The list of highly
gifted ministers of various Churches who have been lost to
mankind when in the full vigour of their intellectual and
moral strength, by a systematic neglect of the most ordmary
sanitary rules, is sad to contemplate. The subject is one of
great delicacy, and I would only further suggest that the
moral government of God is perfectly harmonious in all its
parts, and that the M£lment of a duty in one direction never
necessitates opposition to the Divine intention in another.
Intellectual labour, pursued in the quiet of the study, if
too long continued, and not sufficiently alternated with out-
door exercise, is fertile of ill effects. The maladies thus
induced are extremely varied, and not seldom are attributed to
any cause but the right one. They may take the form of a
direct injury to the over-worked organ, the brain, and may
proceed onward along the parallel lines which lead respectively
to insanity or paralysis. But more generally they will assume
one of the Protean forms of dyspepsia, and lead to impaired
nutrition or structural change. Sydenham considered that
one of the most severe fits of gout he ever experienced, arose
from great mental labour in composing his treatise on that
disease ; and the student of literary history will call to mind
many instances, where the completion of some intellectual
masterpiece has been speedily followed by the death of the
master. The late gifted Hugh Miller is one of the many
instances of this fetct. It is to be lamented^ that those who
DISBASBS OF OLD AGE. 61
" intermeddle with all knowledge," and who are the appointed
instructors of mankind, should so often neglect that knowledge
with which their own mental and physical comfort is closely
connected, and the acquisition of which would multiply their
capahilities of usefulness to the race.
If prophylactic measures have an important bearing upon
the subject of the prolongation of life, not less important is
the proper treatment of advancing age. Although an individual
may escape destruction from causes that are accidental and
extraneous, he nevertheless bears about him natural and internal
causes of decay, inevitable in their progress, and leading to one
certain result. With the germs of life are intermixed the
seeds of death ; and, however vigorous the growth of his
bodily frame, however energetic the endowments of its maturity,
we know that its days are numbered. To mark the gradual
succession of the phenomena which attend these changes is
deeply interesting. In youth, all the powers of the system
are in excess of its demands, and the body increases in bulk.
In course of time, the processes of reparation and decay
approach nearer to an equality, and at length are exactly
balanced. By a wonderful system of adjustments the balance
is kept perfect, often for many years, until, at last, old age
steals on by slow and imperceptible degrees. The relative
proportions of the fluids and solids are altered, the solid tissues
become condensed, muscular substance appears almost changed
into tendon, flbrous structures either lose their flexibility
and become too rigid for use, or are changed into bone. Th&
smaller arteries are obliterated, and the heart undergoes
structural change ; functions are feebly performed, the chemical
condition of both solids and fluids becomes altered, the skin
62 A HANDBOOK FOB SOUTHPOBT.
grows dark and oormgated; and, as the various signs of decay
increase, — ^the tottering step, the bent form, and the palsied
movement, — we perceive that the individual has entered upon
that period, when, in the sublime language of Scriptiire, ''the
keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall
bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few,
and those that look out of the windows be darkened, and the
doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of the
grinding is low, and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird,
and all the daughters of music shall be brought low ; also when
they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in
the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grass-
hopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fiEdl ; because man
goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets :
or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken,
or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken
at the cistern. Then shall the dust return to the earth as it
was ; and the spirit shall return unto Gbd who gave it."
When and how this descent towards the tomb shall take
plcuse, is in the hands of Him who measures out our days, and
appoints our outgoings and incomings. Human science is
impotent in presence of the general evidences of decay. But
where the stress of disease is so localised as to threaten
destruction before these marks of decay have become general,
she can sometimes relieve that stress; she can suggest the
compensations required by altered circumstances; she can
endeavour to remove the obstinacy which persists in retaining
habits no longer applicable or safe; she can erect barriers
against anticipated evils; she can sooth the irritability of
weakness, and assuage the violence of pain. At all events,
THE INEYITABLE END. 63
her ministers can never be more legitimately employed than in
the struggle to prolong human life ; and their efforts will be
more or less effectiye, in proportion to the attention they may
give, not only to actual disease, as it affects the different
periods of life, but also to its first incipient manifestations.
And it is to this dawning stage of illness, before the eyil has
attained any considerable power, that we would draw the
attention of those whom it concerns. We would advise that
practical effect be given to the maxim — *^ prevention is better
than cure."
Leaves have their time to fall,
And flowers to wither at the North-wind's breath,
And stars to set — bat all —
Then hast all seasons for thine own, O Death !
We know when moons shall wane.
When snmmer-birds from far shall cross the sea,
When autumn's hue shall tinge the golden grain;
But who shall teach us when to look for thee ?
Is it when spring's first gale
Comes forth to whisper where the violets lie?
Is it when roses in our paths grow pale?
Thej have one season — all are ours to die I
Thou art where billows foam,
Thou art where music melts upon the air;
Thou art aroimd us, in our peaceM home,
And the world calls us forth — and thou art there.
Leaves have their time to fall.
And flowers to wither at the North-wind's breath,
And stars to set — ^but all —
Thou hast all seasons for thine own, O Death !
Hbicans.
CHAPTER V.
This is the purest exercise of health.
The kind refresher of the sommer heats;
* * * •
Even from the bod/s purity, the mind
Receives a secret sympathetic aid.
Thomboh.
ON SEA BiTHnra.
The importance of bathing as a hygienic and therapeutic agent
has been recognised by all nations, at all periods of history .
its practice existed as well amongst nations basking under the
heat of a tropical sun, as amongst the hardy inhabitants of the
unthawed regions of the north. By the former it was employed
as a religious obseryance or a mode of luxury, by the latter with
a view to health, or to counteract the effects of intense cold.
The histories of Greece and Eome fiimish abundant evidence
of the extent to which bathing was practised by these nations.
So fSeiscinating to them was the luxury of the bath that it was
eustomary to employ it at their festive entertainments, and it
was considered essential to the eoldt of public rejoicings.
Establishments for this purpose were constructed, vieing with
each other in magnitude and splendour, as may be seen from
the ruins which still excite the wonder and admiration of the
traveller.
SUPBBIORITT OF SEA-BATHINO. 65
The importance of bathing cannot be overrated if we con-
Bider that the skin upon which it operates performs the several
functions of absorption, secretion, and excretion, and that upon
its surfiEice the bloodvessels and nerves terminate. It has also a
wide range of sympathies^ in which are included the alimentary
canal and air passages, and it co-operates also with those great
emunctories of the circulating system, the lungs, the Hver, and
kidneys, aiding them in the elinunation of noxious matters.
Hence the absolute necesaiiy that there should be no impediment
to the performance of its functions.
Sea-bathing has many advantages over ordinary bathing.
The sea may be considered practically as a medicated bath,
containing, besides well-known saline constituents, iodine and
bromine in minute proportions, which latter exert a peculiar
action upon the glandular and absorbent system. The sea is
also the habitation of innumerable organic beings, who live
aind die there; it therefore becomes impregnated with subtle
and volatile aiiimal particles, which extraordinarily increase
the stimulating powers of sea water. We conclude, therefore,
that open sea-bathing, where it can be borne by the invalid, is
preferable, as in home or in«door bathing, although all the
elements of sea water may be present, there is still the absence
of a saline atmosphere, of the shock of the waves, the agitation
of the water, and the electric and magnetic currents which are
evolved, and exert a stimulating effect upon the system. It
will be weU to enlarge a little on these topics.
Sea-bathing on the British coasts (for its action is very
difiSdrent in the tropical waters of a warm climate) owes its
^ciency to the combined influences of cold, of the saUne
partioieaf which ent^ into the composition of sea water, and of
66 A HANDBOOK FOR SOUTHPORT.
the shoeh produced bj the impulsion of the waves. In order
to understand its effects we must endeavour to form a just
estimate of the power of each one of these agents separately.
The first impression produced by the cool temperature of the
sea, which even in summer rarely exceeds 67^, is powerfully to
stimulate the numerous sensitive nerves of the skin. As all
our organs are under the influence and direction of the nerves,
every part of the body must therefore be excited and stimulated
by the sea-bath ; as when a beU is struck, the vibration extends
over every part of the metal. Sea-bathing goes far beyond
the mere local action on the skin, its immediate effect being a
general stimulation of the whole nervous system. The sudden
application of cold to the surface is followed by a shrinking of
the skin and contraction of the tissues. As the result of this,
the capacity of the bloodvessels is diminished, and a portion of
their contents suddenly thrown upon the internal organs.
Hence follows the participation by the nervous system in this
sudden congestion, causing a more energetic action of the
heart, and consequent rush back to the surface. This is the
state termed reaction — ^the first and final purpose of every form
of cold bathing. Beaction is known by the redness of surface,
the glow and thrill of comfort and warmth, which follow the
bath. By it the internal organs are relieved, respiration is
lightened, the heart is made to beat calmly and freely, the
mind feels dear, the tone of the muscular system is increased,
the appetite is sharpened, and the whole organism feels
invigorated.
The stimulating effects of the saUne eamtituenU in sea water
form the second agent acting remedially. These, which consti-
tute about one fifby-fifth part of its weight, produce a powerful
EFFECTS OF SEA-BATHING. 67
stimiilfliit effect upon the skm, and determine a more copious
flow of blood to that organ, assisting the primary reaction,
and shortening and diminishing its depressing effect. Owing
to these qualities of sea water, one may bathe in the sea at a
lower temperature than in fresh water. Eeaction, even in
robust constitutions, is much longer in making its appearance
after bathing in rivers ; but in the sea, even on a calm day,
and to a weakened constitution, it is almost instantaneous, and
much more powerful. It has been supposed by some that the
absorption by the skin of a portion of the saline ingredients
may tend to increase these effects.
To illustrate the influence of the third element in a sea
bath, viz., the shock produced by the impulsion of the waves,
we need only refer to the effects of a douche bath to form an
adequate idea of the difference experienced between bathing in
a calm and in an agitated sea. The shock of the waves in a
rough sea is, in fact, an extensive douche bath, which, by
striking a great part of the body at once, makes all the more
powerful impression upon the economy.
The general result of sea bathing, both on the healthy and
invalid subject is to stimulate nutrition and improve the
functions of every organ, increasing the vitality of the blood
and improving the various secretions of the body. The urine
becomes more saturated, the action of the wlrin is augmented,
the liver pours out a greater quantity of bile, and a more
active respiration consumes a greater quantity of carbon. In
consequence of this increased activity, the system gradually
purifies itself of a mass of worn-out particles, which were
tolerated so long as the body was in a languid state, but
which, under the stimulus of increased energy, it casts off as
.
68 A HANDBOOK FOB SOUTHPOBT.
an oppressLve load. Thus, we see the strengthening process
giving rise to an alterative action in the diseased frame;
swollen and indurated glands, scrofulous tumours, cutaneous
eruptions, and other morbid deposits, are re-absorbed, and
thrown out by the system.
There are certain conditions which require to be attended to,
with regard to the differences of strength, constitution, and
temperament, in individual cases. The first caution required
is not to continue the immersion too long. Even in vigorous
subjects, prolonged unmersion is yery apt to be followed by
injurious effects, the danger being greater in proportion to the
coldness of the bath. After the first shock on entering the
water, a feeling of warmth and a genial glow is perceived ; if
the bather quits the water before this stage passes away, the
whole surface of the body will partake of the sensation; if
immersion be prolonged farther than this, the blood is driven
to the internal organs, the nervous energy is depressed, and
reaction being prevented, injurious consequences are liable
to ensue.
One of the first of these is weakness of nervous energy^ with
irregularity of muscidar contraction. No doubt most of the
accidents that occur in bathing, and are generally referred to a
supposed seizure of orampi arise from this cause, viz., the
enfeebling effect of undue cold upon vital action. This is
perceived in the difficulty of fastening the dress when the
hands are chilled. Hence persons of a spare and daider haMt
of body, even though they be good Bwinuners, should be
cautious of venturing into deep water, especially at an early
period of the season, when the water at the surface is no true
indication of its temperature beneath. Even when the results
OAUnONB AS TO BATHINa. 69
of too long an immersion ore not bo directly injurious, the
system suffers from other evidences of defective reaction, such
BB a sense of chilliness, which continues throughout the day.
Though cold never injures the body when acting as a stimulant,
yet, in delicate and convalescent persons, the sensations of the
bather must be specially regarded in relation to its mode,
duration, and degree. The time occupied in bathing in cold
"water by invalids, though varying according to individual
cases, should ilot, as a general rule, exceed a few minutes, say
fipom two to ten. Before entering the water, a smart walk
should be taken along the shore, so as to produce a comfortable
glow, and assist the reaction. Persons in mediate health may
remain in the water a longer time, in this respect being
governed by their own experience ; but they must not omit
the use of active exercise, both during and after the bath.
When the bather is suffering from nervous exhaustion from
bodily fatigue, when the skin is cold and covered with moisture,
or where there has been violent perspiration from the effects of
medicine or exercise, the effect is sometimes to overpower the
system rather than to rouse it to reaction. Care must also be
taken not to allow too long a time to elapse in the preparation
for the bath, and particularly not to hesitate too long before
plunging iato the water. It is in this cold stage that there
may be danger, for the excitement has already passed away,
afid the system cannot resist the depressing influence of the
cold. If the surface of the skin be dry, and the heat some-
what above the natural standard, little is to be feared from
immersi(m into a lower temperature.
The next important question is the proper time for bathing.
In delicate subjects, injury is frequency caused by cold bathing
70 A HANDBOOK FOR SOUTHFOBT.
at a time when the vital powers are too languid to admit of the
necessary reaction, — before a meal, or after any great fatigue,
for example. The rule for the invalid should be, not to bathe
either just before or just after taking food, nor after too long a
walk. A bath early in the morning, before breakfast, exerts a
more powerful effect than one taken at a later hour of the day,
and requires proportionate energy and strength in the bather.
As a general rule, both bathing and exercise, on an empty
stomach, will be found unsuited to the invalid, and the best
time will be the period between breakfast and dinner, taking
care to avoid the other evil of bathing on a full stomach, which
is dangerous to persons of full habits, or advanced in years,
exposing them to the risk of congestion of the brain or even
apoplexy. Two hours after breakfast and three hours after
dinner should elapse before bathing is ventured upon.
Too frequent bathing is to be avoided. Bathing, like aU
other stimulants, depends principally upon its occasional use
for its legitimate effects. The evils resulting from too frequent
bathing are nearly equal to those resulting from too long
immersion. The practice of bathing every day is not to be
recommended. For persons of a delicate constitution and
reduced habits of body, a bath every third or fourth day is
sufficient ; after a short period it may be tried every other day.
If the system be very weak and reduced, it is advisable to
take a few preparatory warm sea-water baths, having the
temperature daily reduced, so as to pave the way for bathing
in the open sea ; or a system of preliminary partial sponging
with cold sea-water may be adopted, increasing the surface
wetted daily, and commencing with the chest and back. As
the good results of sea-bathing depend very materially upon
SEA-BATHINa NOT SUITABLE IN AGE. 71
Becuring the proper aqiount of reaction, where this is not
attainable in the ordinary way, means should be used to bring
it about ; for this purpose the flesh-brush, or horse-hair gloves,
or what is perhaps better still, "Walton's metallic flesh-brush,
may be used, both before and after the bath, — applying friction
more particularly over the stomach, chest, and back, l^o
doubt the best mode of using the bath is that of quick
immersion. As cold bathing has a constant tendency to propel
the blood towards the head, it ought to be a rule to wet that
part as soon as possible ; by due attention to this circumstance,
there is reason to beUeve that violent headaches might often
be prevented.
There are many reasons why aged people should bathe with
great caution. The tendency to disease of the brain increases
as age advances, and it is very important that sudden and
violent excitement be avoided ; the strictest moderation should
be maintained in every kind of mental and physical effort. In
youth and manhood the waste resulting from the exercise of
mind and body is soon repaired ; but after the maturer years
of life are passed, a point is reached when what is lost
is lost for ever — any attempts to force either mind or body
only leads to exhaustion. The warm bath is much more
likely to be productive of good results in persons so situated,
especially when the system is reduced from disease or over-
exertion.
As a general rule, it may be said that wherever organic
disease or change of structure exists, sea-bathing is injurious ;
debility, either nervous, or muscular, being the type of those
diseases in which it proves beneficial. As a practice, the most
delicate as well as the most robust may be so trained as to
72 A HANDBOOK FOR SOUTHFOBT.
enjoy and receive benefit ftom it ; but there are some constita-i'
tions, more than others, which are liable to feel its ill effects.
Such are those who are plethoric and of a bilious tempera-
ment, whose natural habit of body is to make blood rapidly.
Where the venous and arterial systems are in a constant state
of tension, sea-bathing would be found too stimulating a
remedy, tending to produce a momentary congestion of blood
in some parts of the body, thus producing unequal distribu-
tion, and a strain or pressure on certain organs. Of course,
the above remark applies more particularly to constitutions
weakened by disease. Sea-bathing is no doubt enjoyed as
much by persons of a full habit and biHous temperament as by
others, and as safely, when properly trained to it.
Although the sea-bath is allowed to be useful in local con-
gestion arising from debility and loss of vitality in an organ,
yet even in these cases care and attention are required to
prevent the weakened organs from becoming permanently
injured by the quickened but unequal distribution of blood to
the part. Individuals with a feeble action of the heart, or
subject to spitting of blood, or in whom a state of active in-
flammation is present, should be particularly careful to use the
bath with moderation, and to take advice before venturing on it.
Aa preparatory to bathing in the open sea, the warm sear
water bath is universally applicable. By its means invalids
may gradually prepare themselves for the more stimulating
and invigorating influences of the cold bath, who might not
otherwise have been able to withstand the shock. Thus em*
ployed, it is better to diTninish the temperature of the bath
iflve or six degrees each time, trying the eflect of applying
cold to the back while immersed in the bath. Persons whose
ADVANTAGES OF 8EA-BATHINa. 73
nerves are very irritable and cannot easily bear the shock of
the first dip in cold water, and cannot bear the loss of animal
heat, should not try the experiment more than once, nor need
they reHnqnish the good to be obtained by bathing. In the
graduated scale of the temperate, tepid, and warm bath, a very
little attention will enable them to hit the right medium, and
they will thus possess a tolerable substitute for the open sea.
In addition to this preparatory use of tepid and tepid sea-
water bathing, it acts also as a sedative, promoting diaphoresis
and determining from int^nal organs. It is advantageous in
nervous affections, rheumatism, gout, in certain cutaneous
diseases, and in hepatic dyspepsia.
CHAPTER VI.
How wond*rons is this scene! where all is formed
With number, weight, and measure! all designed
For some great end! where not alone the plant
Of stately growth, the herb of glorious hue,
Or foodful substance; not the labouring steed.
The herd and flocks that feed us, not the mine
That 3rields us stores for elegance and use;
The sea that loads our tables, and conveys
The wanderer man from clime to clime;
The rolling spheres that from on high shed down
Their kindly influence: not these alone
Which strike e*en eyes incurious; but each moss
Each shell, each crawling insect holds a rank
Important in the plan of Him who framed
This scale of beings; holds a rank which lost
Would break the chain, and leave behind a gap
Which nature's self would rue.
Stillingflbbt.
NATTmAL HISTORY OF SOTTTHPORT AND ITS EFraLOSS.
The Natural History of Southport, surrounding as it is with
sheer sand, extending inland for some miles, would appear to
offer Httle variety in its objects, yet it possesses a Fauna by no
means contemptible. Of Quadrupeds we have but few ; of
Birds an extensive variety ; of Keptiles none of the family of
snakes, but an abundance of other kinds ; of Eishes the variety
is not great ; of Insects we have a considerable number, and
NATURAL HISTOBT OBJECTS; 75
flome of great beauty and rarity. The Kst of M oUusks is a
slender one, and the Shells found on these shores axe neither
beautiful nor of great diversity, but of Cockles the number is
immense, so much so, that tons are frequently sent off at a
time ; and of Shrimps the almost daily capture is enormous.
Among the sandhills, at yarying distances inland, there are a
vast number of shells, of which we find no living representa-
tives on the shore, obviously deposited at some distant period,
when the sea extended over a large tract of country now of
considerable elevation.
In Botany, the plants common to uncultivated hills and
marshy places near the sea-coast are in great profusion and
variety, principally flowering plants ; of Ferns but few, not more
than ten or twelve kinds. Mosses are numerous, and include
several kinds which have hitherto been found only in the neigh-
bourhood of Southport ; of other Cryptogamic plants there is
an extensive assortment, so that at all seasons we are able to
procure botanical subjects of one kind or another.
"We have but few Fossils in this neighbourhood, excepting
the great quantities of submerged wood found in all directions
around us. In Geology there is but little variety in this
immediate locality, but at the distance of eight or ten miles a
great change takes place in the aspect of the country and its
products ; the sand disappears, and extensive mosses or hills of
considerable elevation, formed in most cases of deep alluvial
soil, with rocks of the old red sandstone, succeed, and the
botany consequently differs fram that of the sand.
Alterations are constantly occurring in the appearance of the
surrounding neighbourhood, from the subsidence or elevation
of some of the sandhills. In one instance, a tract of country
76 A HAIlDBOaK FOB SOUTHPOBT.
between Biikdale and Ainsdale, with a fsam and its aooonb-
paniments have been entirely buried, and the only vestiges
now to be seen are the tops of some trees. The site has
obtained the name of the ''Lost Farm;" in fact, werardy
have a storm of wind, of long continuance, without a marked
change taking place in the aspect of the hills.
On the shore, a little below the surface, is an immense deposit
of peat, extending to a considerable depth, in which the
remains of submerged trees abound; this extends to the mouth
of the Mersey, and breaks out again on the opposite Cheshire
shore, at 'New Brighton, and continues till it meets the Bee, at
Hoylake, and, crossing this estuary, reappears on the Welsh
coast. In this extent of peat, numerous animal remains are
found, particularly in the vicinity of Leasowe Castle ; some
very perfect specimens, obtained in that neighbourhood, dre in
the possession of the Hon. Lady Cust, particularly the skull
and horns of a species of ox fJBos primogmiuajy quite unknown
in the recent state. ^Numerous other kinds have been exhuitied
in that locality, but we have not heard of any having been
met with on this side of the Mersey.
We now proceed to ennmentte the Mammalia found about
Southport, limiting our notices to such as are met with within
a distance of ten miles. A fledr collection of the ll^atural
History products of Southport may be seen at the nursery
gardens of George Davis, Aughton-road, Birkdalls, who has
for some years sedulously collected in Natural History in com-
bioation with his pursuits as a gardener ahd dealer in plants.
IfAlffKATJA of SOTTTHPOBI!.
Common Bat ( VespertiUo murinus). The species is common,
and generally appears about the end of June.
HAHMAUA OF SOUTKPOBT. 77
GrtBat Bat {VeipertiUo Noetulo), This is less frequently seen
thsoi the pi^ceding ; it flies high, and may often be heard
to trtter a shrill sqneak -while on the wing.
Edred Bat ( Ve^pertiUo awr%twt\ Not abundant,' but is to be
Bden at dn^ flying about with the common kind, from
which its "flight differs greatly.
Hedgehog {Erinaeeus mropcBus). Eound occasionally in shady
banks and woody districts, though it is not common in
the vicinity of Southport.
Common Shrew {Sorex araneuB). Frequently to be met with
in the marshy places among the sandhills. Whether from.
disease, or from some cause not evident, this species is
often found dead in the places it usoally frequents ; we
have fomid four dead ones in a morning's walk.
"Water Shrew {^Sorex fodiens). Considerably larger than the
preceding species ; is common in marshes, readily takes
water, and has a very foetid smell. Cats will often kill,
but will not eat the shrew-mice, but they are greedily
devoured by owls.
Mole {Talpa europcea). Very common in fields and cultivated
places.
Weasel {Mustela vulgaris). This lively little animal is not
abundant, but is occasionally seen under hedges and
banks.
Ermine or Stoat {Mustela Urmina). This species is very rarely
seen in this district in its white or winter coat, when it
is the ermine ; in its summer dress it is not very rare,
frequently visiting the warrens and poultry-houses. In
changing from its brown colour to white, it always
retains the black e:£tremity of the tail.
78 A HANDBOOK FOB SOUTHPOBT.
Polecat, or Foumart {Mustela Futorius). This is a much
larger animal than any of the preceding species ; it has
an offensive smell, and is very destructive in warrens and
amongst poultry ; it is but rarely met with in this locality.
Common Otter {Lutra vulgaris). It is more than probable
that this species may be occasionally seen in this neigh-
bourhood, though we have never met with it. Various
places within a few miles have the name of Otter
appended, as Otterstye -bridge, on the Scaiisbrick-road.
Common Seal (Phoca vituUna). It is occasionally met with
by the fishermen off Southport, and some time ago a live
one was shown about the town in a cart as a curiosity.
Common Mouse {Mus Museulus), Too common.
Field Mouse {MtM syhaticus). Found frequently.
Black Eat {Mm rattus), 19'ot common, but is occasionally
found in the vicinity of granaries, and farm buildings.
Brown Eat {Mus decumanus). Common.
Common Squirrel {Sciurus vulgaris). This is rare, being only
found in woody situations. I am told it used to be found
in Eufford Wood.
Hare {Lepua timidtu). Abundant.
Eabbit {ZeptM cumciilus). Abundant.
Common Dormouse {Myoxm avellanartus). Only to be found
in woody, sheltered situations; has been met with at
Ormskirk and Eufford.
Water Vole, or Common Water Eat {Arvicola agmtica). Very
common in ditches and water courses.
Field Vole, or Short-tailed Field Mouse {Arvicoh agrestis).
Is common in gardens and cultivated groimds, and is very
destructive in young plantations.
CHAPTER VII.
Ten thousand warblers cheer the day, and one
The live-long night; not these alone, whose notes
Nice-fingered art mast emulate in vain,
But cawing Books, and Kites that swim sublime
In still repeated circles screaming loud:
The Jay, the Fie, and e*en the boding Owl
That hails the rising moon, have charms for me.
COWPBB.
BIRDS OF SOTJTHPORT.
The elegance of form and disposition of coldnrs in Birds must
strike the least observant, while their habits and economy are
fraught with constant interest ; each kind, from the largest
eagle to the minute wren, being famished with the means
and appliances best adapted for their support and for the
preservation of their oflfepring. There are no general rules by
which the various kinds exert their energies for the accomplish-
ment of certain purposes, essential to their well-being ; each
species pursues its own particular mode with undeviating
perseverance and instinctive accuracy. In building their
nests each forms a structure peculiar to its species, and
the materials of which they are composed are always the
same, while in point of situation very Httie variation is
observed. Those kinds that build in holes, either of trees or
walls, or in bushes, as the Blue Titmouse and Chaffinch,
80 A HANDBOOK FOR SOUTHPOBT.
constantly assimilate the materials of the exterior of their
nest to the surrounding ohjects. If the tree or wall be coated
with lichens, the outside of the nest is covered with the
same; if with green moss, this substance enters so largely
into the fabric of the nest as to afford much security. Some
species can scarcely be said to form a nest, but merely scrape
a hole in the ground, as the Gulls and Terns, and that in so
superficial a manner as to be barely sufficient to prevent the
eggs rolling away. As a means of preservation, the eggs of
most birds that build or nestle on the ground, are so nearly of
the colour of the surrounding objects that they easily escape
notice ; this kind of protection is afforded to a large number
of our native birds. Among the aquatic birds, some build
floating nests, as the Water Hen and Coot ; others interweave
a leaf or stem of a growing plant, so contrived that the nest
rises or falls according to the increase or decrease of the water,
an instance of which is found in the Grebes.
I^ot the least interesting circumstance in the history of
birds is their migrations. This is in consequence either of a
failure of their necessary food, or change of temperature : some
are unable to sustain the wannth of our summers, as many of
the Duck tribe ; others are not fitted for passing the winter
in our northern clime, as the Swallow family; such as feed
on insects resort to warmer countries, as the Cuckoo. Those
species which Sequent our shores during winter, have their
bodies covered with a thick coat of down, which enables
them to brave the severest weather. So thickly are som«
of the species clad, that they appear twice their real bulk,
and with but few exceptions are so buoyant that no rough-
ness of the water wUl sink them, The total number of
LAND BIRDS OF SOUTHFOBT. 81
dpecies either constantly residing or visiting Southport, is
about one hundred and twenty or thirty ; the constant resi-
dents are few, but they axe frequently changing their localities,
80 that, with the exception of shore birds, we can scarcely
calculate what species we may meet with at any time of the
year, except during the breeding season.
The followiQg list, we believe, will be found to be a pretty
perfect record of the birds hitherto noticed in this neighbour-
hood. If any reader observes the absence of that favourite,
the Nightingale, we may remark that it has not often, if ever,
been found north of the Trent.
L1I7I) BIBDS.
Kestrel {Faleo Tinnunmlm), Very common on the sandhills,
where they prey on young rabbits, small birds, and
reptiles. This species may be readily known when on
the wing, by its constantly hovering over its destined
prey, from which circumstance it has obtained the name
in many places of the Wind-over.
Sparrow-Hawk {Falco Nims), Occasionally seen on the
sandhills; feeds principally on small birds and young*
rabbits. Mr. Graves remarks, "The kite, the ring-
tailed harrier, and the moor buzzard are said to be often
seen on the meres and mosses. I have occasionally seen
various kinds of hawks in this neighbourhood, but at
such a distance as to prevent my ascertaining the species."
Merlin {Falco JEsalon). This elegant little species is frequently
met with in pursuit of larks, and so determined is it
while pursuing its prey, that I have known it pounce
into a room where a small bird had taken refage through
an open window.
M
82 A HANDBOOK FOB SOUTHPOBT.
Short-eared Owl {Strix hraehiotus), Not uncommon on Martin
Mere, and other mosses and meres in the vicinity. It is
more frequently seen during dark days than either of the
other kinds of Owl, hunting over fields in search of mice,
shrew-mice, and small birds; it is an autumnal and
winter bird.
Brown Owl (Strix ohm). Usually known as the Screech Owl ;
not abundant, but may sometimes be met with in the
slacks among the hills.
Bam or White Owl {Strix flammea). This is the most com-
mon species in the neighbourhood of Southport, and is
often seen on fine moonlight nights hunting over the
fields in search of any small animals it can find; it
swallows its food whole, and rejects the fur and feathers
it may have devoured, in the form of pellets.
Greater Butcher Bird (Lanius Excuhitor), This is of rather
rare occurrence ; it is found on the sandhills, apparently
searching for lizards; these it transfixes on thorns and
tears to pieces. It is very fierce, and pursues any small
bird that may approach its place of resort. It builds its
nest in trees, and is in the spring the terror of its lesser
neighbours.
Eed-backed Shrike, or Lesser Butcher Bird {Lcmius Colhrio).
Mr. Graves has given me the following interesting state-
ment : "I have repeatedly seen this species in the vicinity
of Southport ; in one instances it had a large insect in its
biU, and was a considerable time in search of something
on which to impale it, which was at length accomplished
by transfixing it on the indurated spines of a dead thistle.
At another time, I watched a pair that were hunting for
lANB BIBDS OF SOUTHFOBT. 63
insects and grubs in a potato field among the hills;
they were not shy, and repeatedly passed so olose to me
that I conld be qnite certain of the species."
Hooded Grow ( Corvus Comix). Seen occasionally during the
autumn and winter months, resorting sometimes to the
shore, and at others frequenting ploughed fields, attend-
ing on agricultural operations.
Book {Corvus frugiUgus), Very common.
Jackdaw ( Corvus Monedula). This species is not common, but
may be occasionally seen about Halsall and Scarisbrick,
in company with rooks and gulls, and about Formby,
associating with galls and terns.
Magpie ( Corvus Pied). Only an occasional visiter.
Common Hoopoe ( l^mpa epops). " A rare straggler. A few
years ago, late in the summer, an individual of this
species was shot in Birkdale, and brought to me alive,
having only its wing broken. It walked about apparently
without fear, erecting its crest. I have not heard of
another being seen in the district." — Mr. Tyrer.
Cuckoo {Cueulus eanorus). Very common, I may say nu-
merous ; I have seen as many as seven at a time among
the hills. Mr. Tyrer remarks, ** the Cuckoo lays its eggs
generally in the nest of the pipit lark." In the South
of England, it is not unusual to find the Cuckoo's egg
deposited in the nest of the hedge sparrow and pied
wagtail.
Greater Titmouse {Parus mqfor). Has been seen £requently
in Peter-street through the sunmier.
Marsh Titmouse {Parus pahistris). Frequently seen on the
willows and poplars so common in this neighbourhood,
and is to be met with during the whole year.
84 A HANDBOOK FOR SOUTHPOBT.
Blue Titmouse {Farus cmrukm). Very commoiL.
Long-tailed Titmouse (Farus caudatus). This was not in Mr.
Tyler's list, but has been since given to me with two or
three others as an addition. A pair has been seen
repeatedly by Mr. Graves in his garden during the
summer, accompanied by six or seven young ones. They
probably winter with us. They have been seen at
intervals as late as the end of November.
Starling, or Chepster {Stumus vulgaris). Very common.
Missel Thrush, Storm Thrush, or Eain-bird {Iktrdus vismorus).
Common; acquires the name of Storm Thrush from its
habit of singing during storms ; feeds on berries of ivy,
privet, &c.; also on snails and slugs.
Fieldfare {Twrdut pilaris), Not abundant, but often seen
where there are trees of the mountain ash, haws, &c.; it
usually arrives during October and leaves us early in the
spring.
Song Thrush {Ttirdus musicwi). This universal fSavourite is
common. It has, with other species, the curious habit
of carrying snails to some particular or favourite stone,
against which it readily breaks the shell and so obtains
the slug. In the marshes among the sandhills, many of
these stones may be found, surrounded by fragments of
shells, particularly those of the wood snail (^Helix
nemoralis).
Eedwing {Turdua iUaeus). Frequents the same places as the
fieldfare, with which it congregates, and consumes the
same kinds of food.
Blackbird {Ikirdus m&nda). Not abundant, but may fre-
quently be seen in the valleys among the sandhills,
LAND BIBBS OF SOUTEFOBT. 85
breaking the snails like the song thrush; frequents
plantations and orchards.
Eing Ousel {Turdu8 torquatus), ''A mere straggler; some
few years ago I shot a solitary female in the Birkdale
sandhills."— ifr. Ikfrer.
Bose-coloured Ousel {Pastor roseus). Montagu states that,
about Ormskirk, it appears almost every season. Kone of
my ornithological friends have met with it.
Greenfinch {Zoxia chloris). Very common.
Common Bunting {JEmheriza miUaris), Very abundant.
Tellow Bunting, or Tellow Hammer {Mnberiza dtrineUa),
Common.
Marsh Bunting, or Beed Bunting {Emberi%a Schosnieulus),
Frequently met with in small flocks among the reeds and
tall rushes, in the slacks between Ainsdale and Eormby
point.
Snow Bunting {Mnheri%a nivalis). Occasionally among the
reeds during the winter months, resorting to the same
places as the last named species ; in very severe weather
it may sometimes be seen in the neighbourhood of farms,
in company with other small birds.
House Sparrow {Fringila domestica). Abundant everywhere.
Chaffinch, or Spink {Fringih Calehs), l^ot abundant, but
usually found in the vicinity of houses.
Gbldfinch {Fringila cardueUs). This is rare ; one winter it fre-
quented Peter-street, and it has also been seen behind
the Eectory, and at Birkdale, feeding on the seeds of the
carline thistle.
Brown Linnet {Fringila eanahina). Common.
86 A HANDBOOK FOB SOUTHFOBT.
Bedpole (^Fringila hnaria). Occasionally seen in small flocks
among the furze bushes, in the Birkdale and Ainsdale
hiUs.
Spotted ily-catcher {Mmeieapa gri9ola). Wot abundant.
Mr. Qrayes says, "a pair have been constant visiters
in my garden during the past summer, and most Hkely
have a nest near at hand. For hours together the one
or other would perch on a dead branch, flying at each
passing insect and returning to the same spot. It has a
very lively but short note, and was quite disposed to
become familiar. They disappeared early in October."
Skylark {Alauda arvensis). Yery abundant.
Titlark (Alauda pratensis). Not uncommon, frequenting
flelds and grassy spots among the sandhills.
Pipit Lark {Alauda triviaUs). Common.
Pied "Wagtail {MotacUla YareUf), Very common.
Yellow Wagtail {MotadUaJkwa), Common in summer.
Grey Wagtail {MotaeiUa hoarula). Occasionally appearing in
the summer in small flocks, and are as little shy as the
robin.
Lesser Petty Chaps, or Chiff-Chaff {Sykta Hippolais). l^ot
abundant, but often seen near Ainsdale.
Hedge Sparrow, or Dunnock {Sylvia modularM). Very common.
Whitethroat {Sylvia einerea). 19'ot uncommon.
Sedge Warbler, Eeed Wren {Sylvia SdUearia). Common.
Bobin Bedbreast {Sylvia rt^ecula). Common.
Wheatear {Sylvia (Enantke), Very abundant among the hills
round Southport. It is frequently captured in horse-hair
snares placed in holes between sods. ''They are most
abundant in summer, but I once liberated one that was
LAND BIRDS OF SOTJTHFORT. 87
snared as late as the begiiming of December ; it was a
Ml-grown male bird. I took another out of one of the
snares that appeared to have been a prisoner some days,
as it was dead^ no donbt starved. They probably remain
during the winter, as they have been seen on the shore,
turning over the seaweed left by the receding tide." —
Mr, Qra/oes,
Whinchat {Syhia ruhetra). Very common.
Stonechat {Sylvia rubtcola), Eare, but may sometimes be met
with in Birkdale and Ainsdale, frequenting the tops of
ftirze and other bushes.
Vren {Syhia Troylodytes). A winter visiter in this neigh-
bourhood, seldom seen in the summer. ''I had never
observed it to breed here till the summer of 1858, when
a pair made their nest and reared their young in a hole in
the thatch of the cowhouse at Bow-lane. In the winter
there are generally Vrens about the homestead, aad on
fine days one may be often seen perched on the top
of a post trilling his shrill ditty." — Mr, 2k/rer, in a
note to me.
Golden Crested "Wren (Sykia reyuhs). This beautiful little
bird may often be seen in Manchester-road on to Church-
town. Its small size and the quickness of its movements
will account for its not being more frequently observed.
They probably breed here, as they have been seen from
June to late in the season.
Yellow WiUow Wren {Sylvia Trochilm), Kot uncommon.
Blackcap, or Mock Mghtingale {Sylvia atricapilla). An
abundant summer visiter, resorting to gardens and in-
closures. Mr. Graves says, "a pair have been constant
88 A HANDBOOK FOR SOUTHPORT.
attendants on my garden operations ; they often alighted
on the upper branch of a tall willow, and poured forth
their delightfcd note for a considerable time; while
singing, each bird jerked up its tail in a manner similar
to that of the wheatear."
Swallow {Hirundo rustica). Abundant.
Martin {Hirundo urhica). Mr. Tyrer does not consider the
Martin common in this locality.
Sand Martin {JSwundo riparia). Very common.
Swift, or Deviling {JSirundo opus). Very common.
Bing-Dove, or Cushat {Cohtmha paiumbtu). Occasionally seen
in considerable numbers, consorting with rooks, jackdaws,
gulls, and other birds, in ploughed fields about Scarisbrick,
Halsall, and the adjacent mosses; during winter they
may be often seen in fields of turnips, the leaves of which
are a favourite food.
Pheasant {Phaaianus colehieus). Is rarely seen in the imme-
diate neighbourhood of Southport, and when met with is
only a straggler &om some of the preserves a few miles
distant.
Partridge (Ferdix einerea). Ngty abundant.
QuaQ {Perdix eotwmix). Said to be frequently met with on
the sandhills, at most times in the year ; it is described as
a sunmier visiter. I have not been so fortunate as to fall
in with it, though once or twice I imagined I heard its
peculiar note, between Birkdale and Ainsdale. During
the autumn and winter they are often exhibited on sale,
having been procured a few miles inland, by persons who
obtain a livelihood by snaring birds for the market.
MARSH AND SHORE BIRDS. 89
WADEBS.
Birds whose legs are lore above the knees.
Cominoii Heron, or Heronshaw {Ardea mqfor). This is occa-
sionally seen on the shore, as also on the meres, but it is
only a straggler.
Bittern, or Bog-Bumper {Ardea stellaris). More frequently
heard than seen ; it usually frequents extensive bogs and
meres ; its noise may be heard at a considerable distance,
resembling a heavy note on a drum or other hollow
substance.
Curlew {I^umenitis arquata). Frequent on the shore, parti-
cularly about the Bibble on the north and the Alt on the
south ; in autumn it is often met with in stubble fields,
searching for slugs, snails, worms, and any grain that may
be scattered about.
Whimbrel {Ifumenitts phmptM). Kot uncommon; it is less
than the Curlew, its bill not so much curved ; it feeds on
similar substances and resorts to similar situations, and
much resembles the Curlew in arrangement of its colours.
Woodcock {Scolopax rustioola). Scarce in the immediate
neighbourhood of Southport, but it is to be found oc-
casionally about Martin Mere, Ormskirk, Halsall, and
Formby. Mr. Tyrer says, " Some years ago I shot a
solitary individual in the sand hills."
Common Snipe {Scolopax galUnago). Frequent in the mosses.
Jack Snipe, or Judcock {Scolopax galUmda), Common.
B«dshank {Scolopax caUdris), Common in the marshes from
September to early in the following year. I believe some
breed in Martin Mere, as I have seen them on the mere
in the months of May and June.
N
90 A HAin)BOOK FOR SOUTHFOBT.
Common Godwit {Seolopax lapp<miea). Frequent on the meres
and salt marshes.
Black-tailed €k)dwit {Seolopax Umo»a). Once or twice this
bird was exposed for sale in the market, with the Bed-
shank and other shore birds. I have not met with it aUye.
Common Sandpiper (JVinga hypohueos). Kot abundant, but
often seen during the summer months.
Dunlin, Purre, Oxeye, or Sea-lark {;Trmga alptna). Common;
a few breed in this neighbourhood.
Little Stint, or Sandpiper {Trtnya minuta). Common in
autumil, on the meres.
Knot {Tringa Panutiis). Arrives here about the beginning of
autnmn and abides during winter. I ihispect that some
breed on Martin Mere, as they may occasionally be seen
in April and May.
Turnstone {D^tnga interpret). Resides here during autumn
and winter, resorting to the shore, salt marshes, and
meiies ; a few probably breed h^re, as they have been met
with in the middle of May:
Buff, MAI.E; Beeve, feualb {Tringa pugnax). Formerly very
abundant, but fix>m'the draining of the mosses are now
comporatiyely rare. Their flesh is^ esteemed a great
delicaoy/ and numbers are aonually caught and fattened
for the table. It is likely that a few remain through the
" year, ks afber the breeding, season is over the males lose
their ncff, which* is their distingoishiiig mark, and can
theii scarcely be reeognised from some of their dosely-
allied congeners. •
Austrian. Fratincdle {Ghureoh torquata), A specimen of this
rare bird was shot near Orlmddrk, in 1807 ; it was long
HABSH AND SHdB£ BIBDB. 91
in the possession of the late Lord Derby, and is now in
the Museum, liyerpool.
Grey Plover {Frinffa squatarola). Not uncommon in winter.
Lapwing, Tu-it, or Pewit {Tringa va/neVm). Conddered in
this locality as a summer bird, but we believe it merely
changes its place of resort for a short time, as we have
seen them within a few miles of Southport almost every
month in the year.
Golden Plover ( CharadntM phwialU). Not uncommon in the
slacks about Ainsdale, during summer and winter; it
may have been considered a distinct species in the winter
season, as at that time it loses all the black on its back
and breast.
Dottrel {Charadrii4s mortnellm). This pretty bird regularly
visits the fields and mosses round Southport, in its migra-
tions to and from the north ; they are stupid birds, and
will suffer you to go close to them if you only keep in
motion.
Ring Plover ( Charadrtm JStaticula). Common on the sandhills
about Birkdale and Ainsdale ; some breed in the marshes
among the hills.
Sanderling ( Calidris or&fMrta). Not uncommon.
Curlew-billed Sandpiper {Seohpax pygmea). We have not
met with this species, but Mr. Tyrer says, '* An autumn
visiter, not imcommon; individuals of this species are
occasionally taken in snares on the mere in September and
October, it also associates with Purres on the shore."
Water Bail {RoHub aquaticm). Found occasionally on the
mosses and meres, but is not a common bird near South-
port.
92 A HANDBOOK FOB SOUTHFOBT.
Corncrake, or Landrail {EaUus erex). Preqnents fields and
cultivated grounds, but is not common.
Oyster Catcher, Sea-pie, or Sepoy {Somatopus Ostralegus),
Yery common on the shore during winter, also on the
salt marshes, where they are taken in nets.
WATEB Brans — with pinnated feet.
Red Phalarope (TVwya hyperhorea). Very rare ; an individual
was shot in 1832.
Grey Phalarope {IVinga lohata). This is not so rare as the
last species, but we have not been so fortunate as to meet
with it. Mr. Tyrer says, *' it is occasionally met with in
stormy weather, ubout the equinox, in the puddles on
the marsh."
Bald Coot {FuHea atra). Occasionally on Martin Mere, and
in the various sluices and water courses through the
mosses.
Common Gallinule, or Water Hen {GalUnuh chloropus).
Erequents the same places as the Coot, but is more an
inland bird.
Spotted Water Hen ( OalUntda Porzana). Not uncommon on
the meres and mosses round Southport.
Crested Grebe {Podieeps cristatm). This, the largest of the
British Grebes, is a rare visiter. Mr. Graves has seen
two or three in rather severe weather, close in shore,
at Pormby Point, and in the Mersey, off Pormby Life-
boat House.
Eared Grebe {Podieeps auritus). Rare, but has been met with
on Martin Mere.
liABSH AUB SHORE BIRDS. 93
little Grebe, Dabchick, or Little Douker {Fodieeps minor).
Is occasioiially seen in the ponds and cuttings flowing
into the Eibble, at Crossens. Mr. Graves has seen it in
the yieinity of Halsall.
WEB-FOOTED BIRDS.
Avocet {Becurvirostra Avoeetta). This is apparently a very
rare visiter. Mr. Graves saw a flock of four or Ave birds
between Crossens and the Banks.
Eazor Bill {Aka torda). Two specimens have been found
dead on the shore, one at Ainsdale, the other opposite
the Fleetwood Arms.
Auk, Puffin, or Coultemeb {Alca Arctiea), The remains of
one were found on the shore ; it had probably been shot
at sea and floated in by the tide.
Little Auk {Mergulua mehmohucoB), This rare little bird
sometimes visits our shores ; Mr. Tyrer mentions having
had two brought to him, picked up on the sands.
Foolish Guillemot ( Uria Troile). I have seen this bird at sea
off Southport, in flocks of four or six ; they dive so
rapidly that they are difficult to obtain, but are occasion-
ally found entangled in the Ashing nets.
Common Cormorant {Felicanus Carlo). This species is usually
met with in rocky places. Mr. Graves saw a fine speci-
men perched on the ridge of a sandhill near Pormby Point.
Gannet, or Solan Goose {Sula Bassana). Frequent off the
coast during the winter months.
Scoter, or Black Douker (Anas nigra). Earely comes to shore,
though often seen off Southport; it is one of the few
ducks scarcely fit for human food.
94 A HANDBOOK FOE SOUTHPOBT.
Golden-eyed Duck {Anas elanpda). Not common, but may
often be seen in the market.
Pochard, or Bed-headed Widgeon {Anas /Mna), Bare.
Scaup Duck {Anai marila), Not common.'
Tufted Duck {Anas fulifftda). Not common.
Sbieldrake (Anas Tadoma). Not common ; has been known
to breed in the Ainsdale hills.
Shoveller Duck {Anasclypeata), Bare. We have met with
this very distinct species twice, both inland, one near
Scarisbrick, the other on Martin Mere.
Wild Duck, or Mallard {Anas Bosehas). Common on inland
lakes and ponds.
Pintail Duck {Anas acuta). Common.
Widgeon {Anas Penelope). Common.
Teal {Anas crecca). Yerj common in firesh water inlets.
Wild Swan {Anas Cygnus ferus). Only seen during very
severe weather, and then but rarely.
Wild or Grey Goose {Anas anser). Often seen during severe
weather; at times it may be met with on Martin Mere.
Barnacle Gh)ose {Anas Bemtela). Occasionally seen during
stormy weather.
Brent Goose {Anas Brenta). A common visiter on stubble
fields and cultivated lands.
Goosander,- maxe, {Mergus Merganser)] Dun Diver, female,
{Mergus Castor). Not uncommon, and frequently sold as
wild ducks, but the fiesh is rancid, and quite unfit for
food.
Bed-breasted Goosander {Mergus serrator.)
8mew {Mergus albeUus). This I have only seen in the market,
but more frequently than the other kinds of Mergus.
ICABSH AND SHORE BIBDS. 95
Northern Diver or Loon {Colytnhus glaeiaUs). A specimen
was brought into Southport during one winter, having
got entangled in the nets; it was a splendid bird, and
was sold to a bird-stuffer from Manchester.
Eed-throated Diver or Loon {ColymhuB septemtrionaUs), Is
not uncommon off the coasti and is occasionally taken in
the nets.
Stormy Peiarel, or Mother Oarey^s Chicken {ProeeUaria pe-
' hgiea), Thi« bird of ill omen is often found dead on the
shore, after severe gales of wind.
Gveater Elack^-backed Gull {Larm fMtrinus). Common, both
young and adult ; they do not attain their full plumage
tiU after the third year.
Lesser Black-backed Gull {Larua fuBmui). Frequent.
Herring Gull {La/rus argentatus). Common.
Common Gull {Zarus eanus). Very abundant, resorting with
other species to fields and ploughed lands.
Kittiwake {Zarus Risaa). Less common than the preceding.
Black-headed Gull {LaruB ridihundus). Yery common, both
on the shore and inland.
Black-toed Gull {Zarus Crepiditus). ''A rare straggler,
probably the young of the Arctic Gull ; an individual
was shot on the marsh a few years ago, in September,
the weather stormy." — Mr,Tyrer, "We are unacquainted
with it.
Arctic Gull {Larw ParoBiticwi). Mr. Tyrer remarks, that
this also '<is a rare straggler, and that an individual of
the species was killed at Martin Mere, a few days
previous to the above-noticed specimen of the Black-toed
Gull being obtained."
96 A HANDBOOK FOR SOUTHPORT.
Sandwich Tern (Sterna Boy 8%%), Not abundant.
Eoseate Tern {Sterna DougaUi), Frequently seen with the
Common Tern, about the sandhills at Pormby Point, and
Ainsdale, and in the slacks among the hills, where it
breeds in company with other species.
Common Tern, or Sea Swallow (Sterna Eirundo), Very
common in the above-named localities.
Black Tern (Sterna nigra). "We have seen a few of this,
associating with other species, among the Ainsdale hills.
Lesser Sea Swallow, or Little Tern {Sterna minuta). Occa-
sionally seen with the other species, in the same localities.
CHAPTER VIII.
There, where the glaacons sea-reed nods,
Binding the sand with mTriad tortuous roots,
In torrid spots, devoid of life, or voice
Save the quick grasshopper*s perpetual shrill.
The agile Lizard hasks, or flits away,
Bapid and silent as an emerald raj.
B. Cabbington.
EBFTIEES MD AMPHBIA OF SOUTHPORT.
The true Keptiles are cold-blooded oviparous vertebrata,
respiring air by lungs exclusively^ and undergoing no meta-
morphosis. Only two species are found here, the green and
brown sand lizards. The scale-clad body and round tail,
without crest, indicate their strictly terrestrial habits, and
distinguish them £rom the amphibious tritons. The Amphibia
were included by Cuvier among the Reptiles, but modem
naturalists elevate them to a group of equal rank, intermediate
between the reptiles and fishes. The class we are now
considering offers us ^' the only instances of animals possessing
two sets of respiratory organs; one adapted to breathe air, and
the other to aerate the blood by exposing it to water." Like
many insects, they undergo a metamorphosis most interesting
to the physiological student, changing from the form of a
water-breathing fish, with digestive organs fitted exclusively
98 A HANDBOOK FOR SOUTHPORT.
for vegetable food, to that of a reptile breathing by lungs, and
" manifesting the most voracious carnivorous appetite/' These
phenomena are common to the frogs, toads, and tritons, and as
specimens may be obtained from every pond, we would
earnestly recommend the young naturalist to watch the process
of metamorphosis for himself. The spawn abounds in stagnant
pools about the beginning of April. It forms jelly-like masses^
fall of black bead-like dots, which are the ova. The young
tadpole swims by the vibrations of its long flattened tail, like
a true flsh. The head is rounded and fringed on each side
with tufts of giUs ; these are soon withdrawn, and covered by
folds of skin, resembling the gill-covers of fishes. The gills
and tail of the tadpole form most beautiful microscopic objects.
The circulation of the blood is very distinctly displayed through
the clear integument. The tadpole increases in size, and at
length two small tubercles are observed behind the head, the
germs of the hinder extremities. These gradually elongate,
and the rudimentary toes are formed. " Meanwhile, the fore
legs are also budding out in the same manner, and gradually
assume their distinct and ultimate form. During this process
the development of the body goes on at the expense of the
tail, which is gradually removed by absorption." The gills
in like manner disappear, and the young frog, now perfect in
all its parts, seeks the land and begins to respire air by true
lungs.
The visiter to Southport will listen to few sounds more
remarkable than the bell-like notes arising from the swamps at
eventide. They are loud and persistent, sometimes, during the
summer months, so as to be a source of annoyance to some
invalids located near the salt flats. To others, however, they
BEFTILES OF SOUTHPOBT. 99
are far from unpleasing. The tones are peculiar, reBembling the
hoarse croak of the bull-frog, and forcibly remind the trayeller
of the night-calls of tropical climes. Some uncertainty exists
to which species these sounds are to be referred. Probably
the Natterjack is the vocalist, because, as swamps abound
throughout the country, and frogs are numerous enough,
similar choruses would be heard elsewhere, if they originated
with the common species.
EEPnUES.
Common Erog {Eana temporarta). The Frog is too well
known to need description ; the species varies greatly in
colour, from a bright olive yellow to almost black. The
Erog deposits its spawn in large jelly-like masses; its
young in the tadpole state are produced early in the year,
but the time of their quitting the egg is deferred or
accelerated by the cold or warmth of the season ; as they
appear, many are greedily devoured by newts, large
aquatic beetles, and even by full-grown frogs.
Common Toad {Bu/o vulgaris). This is less numerous than
the following species; it frequents gardens and dark
shady places ; its aspect is by no means agreeable, but it
is quite harmless, is easily tamed, and soon feeds from the
hand. Its spawn is deposited in long strings or chains,
usually two lines together, of several feet in length, and,
like the tadpole of the Frog, is dependent on the tempera-
ture of the season for the time of its development. It
feeds on slugs, worms, and winged insects, particularly
bees and wasps ; in very dry seasons we have known it
almost bury itself in sand, in which it scrapes a hole, and
100 A HANDBOOK FOB SOUTHFOBT.
having got into it, draws the sand around it so as to be
ahnost hidden. It is commonly found alone, whilst the
next species is usually met with in companies.
Natterjack Toad {Bufo cdamita). Beadily distinguished from
the Common Toad by its active movements. It is of a
brighter colour, with a distinct yellow line along the
back ; the female is generally larger and of paler colour,
with spots more clearly defined than in the other sex.
These are not only numerous in fresh water pools and
ditches, but also in plashy places within the influx of the
sea ; that such circumstances are not unusual or accidental
is clear from the quantities of spawn found with them,
frequently several yards in length. The spawn is found
from about the middle of April to the end of May. The
development of the young depends on the temperature of
the weather ; they are very noisy, and when congregated
in large numbers their loud croaking may be heard to a
great distance.
Sand Lizard {Laceria agilis). A beautiful species, and more
often met with than 'the following kind. It makes its
appearance earlier than the Common Lizard; we have
met with it on the Birkdale sandhills about the middle
of April.
Nimble Lizard, Viviparous or Common Lizard {Zootooa vwi-
pa/ra). This is a very brilliant species ; during dry and
warm weather it is to be found on most of the sandhills
round Southport ; it bears a great degree of heat ; we
have known it basking in the sun reclining on a stone
which was so hot as to be quite uncomfortable to touch.
Worms and 8lug8>are its t^ommon food, and we have often
BEPTILES OF SOUTHFORT. 101
seen it spring up and catch a passing insect ; it is easily
tamed, and will then take flies or worms from the hand.
Warty or Eongh-backed Water Newt (IHton pahtstris). Is
common on most of the marshes, and may be easily known
by its dark, almost black, colour ; feeds greedily on water
insects and the tadpoles of the Frog and Toad.
Common Smooth Newt {Lissotritan punetatus), Frequent
under stones and in damp cellars and out-houses; is
sluggish in its movements; its food small worms and
slugs.
There is a tongae in eyery Iea(
A Toice in every rill —
A Yoice that speaketh everywhere,
In flood and fire, through earth and air !
A tongue that's never still I
'Tis the Great Spirit, wide difiused
Through every thing we see^
niat with our spirits communeth
Of things mysterious — ^life and death,
Time and eternity I
Anontxovb.
CHAPTER IX.
It was the blush of morn, earth's choral hour,
And the green grass was yeil*d with gossamer,
Silken as faery tanics seen in dreams,
And set with dew-pearls, fairer far than ours!
What loom can emulate the Spider's craft,
Or weave, as they have woven thus, all time?
We call them loathsome, cruel — who can look
Upon the jewell'd Diadema, thron'd
Within her complex armature of toils,
And fail to wonder? Who hath arm'd this race
With all the lithesome serpent's fatal craft?
Set them by glebe and woodland, pool and cave,
The ancient, peerless hunters of the world?
B. Cabbinoton.
AMCMDA MD CRUSTACEA OP SOUTHPOET.
Some of my readers may require to be told that Spiders,
though popularly regarded as insects, are yet not so, scien-
tifically considered. They form a department of l^atural
History not hitherto often pursued, though there is much in
their habits, their nidification, and their modes of entrapping
their prey that is highly interesting, as well as great beauty in
the colours of some of the smaller species.
ARACHNIDA OF SOUTHPORT. 103
I have been very fortunate in obtaining the help, in this
department, of oiie of the greatest authorities in this country,
the Eey. 0. Fickard-Cambridge, to whom is due the entire
credit of this list of our local Spiders, and to whom I beg to
express my acknowledgments for this and other acts of
kindness.
The following remarks by Mr. Cambridge are valuable, as
being explanatory of the principles on which the list has
been compiled : — " I do not pretend to say that this is a perfect
list, for on one side of Southport lies a vast tract of fen or
moss land, which I have hardly ever had time to search at all ;
but the ground I have searched, principally the sandhills
along the coast, has been ransacked pretty thoroughly ; and,
therefore, as the area is so much the more confused, the list is
perhaps of so much the greater value. The relative abundance
of species in any locality is also, I think, of importance ; but
the words we commonly use to denote their abundance or the
contrary are generally so vague, and used or understood by
different naturalists in so different a sense, that I will just in
a few words try to explain the value of the general terms
' rare,' ^ common,' &c., appended to the names in the list, as I
use and understand them.
<^ The term very common is used to denote that the species
may be taken, in its season, in the locality in question, as we
should say in popular language, *in any numbers,' that is,
that a hundred or so might be captured during an afternoon of
four or five hours, and this without any special search for it.
" Common denotes that, in popular language, *a great many'
might be taken in the above time, that is to the number of, say,
forty or fifty, and this with but slight search specially for it.
104 A HANDBOOK FOB SOUTHPOBT.
^^ JFi'eqtimt denotes that a score or so might be taken, in the
same time, with an ordinarily careful search for it.
'< ^of rare denotes that a close search mil generally procure
what we call ^ a few/ that is, &om five to ten or a dozen.
'* Occasional denotes that during the time stated, and with
careful search for it, two or three may be captured.
" JRare would show that a specimen only would be likely to
be obtained, as we should say, ' once now and then ;' that is,
about once out of several afternoons' very careful search.
" Very rare would denote, that one or two specimens in the
run of a season would be all that a carefcd search and open-
eye for it would obtain."
To assist those who may be disposed to collect in this branch
of iN'atural History, it may be well to state the mode of
preserving Spiders. Specimens should be put up in small
glass tubes fiUed with spirits of wine, or what is better still,
in small bottles, having a slight constriction or neck near the
mouth, so that the cork can be compressed and the rapid
evaporation of the spirit prevented.
In the following list it will be seen that out of the two
tribes of the order Araneidea known to inhabit Great Britain,
but one is represented ; of the families making up this tribe,
nine out of ten are represented (the tenth, however, contains
but one British genus and one British species); and out of
twenty-eight genera composing the families, eighteen are
represented; and lastly, out of two hundred and seventy
species contained in the twenty-eight genera, eighty are
represented.
ARACHNIBA OF SOUTHPORT. 105
FAMILY LTCOSIDiE.
GENTJS LYCOSA.
Agretyea. Frequent ; among grass and herbage on banks and
sides of ditches, &c.
Campestris. ]^ot rare ; in same places as the last.
Andrenivara. Very rare ; on sandhills.
NhaU%. Common ; on sandhills. New to Britain.
Rapax, Frequent ; in company with Agretyea.
Pieta. ]^ot rare ; on sandhills.
Saceata. Frequent ; on moss land, &c., among grass.
Obscura. Occasional ; in company with the last.
Exigua, Very common ; almost everywhere.
dmbrica. Not rare ; among grass in the slacks, but yet very
local.
Piratiea. Frequent ; in same localities as Camhriea.
FAMILY SALTICIDiE.
OENTJS SALTICUS.
Seenieus. Not rare ; on walls, posts, and palings in sunshine.
^arms. Bare ; on trees, among grass, stems, and on walls.
Florieola, Very rare ; at grass roots on north sandhills. New
to Britain.
Frontalis. Frequent ; at roots of grass and rubbish, on bank
sides.
Cupreue. Yerj rare ; in company with Frontalis.
JBlaekwaUii. Very rare ; a single adult female of this large
handsome species, new to Science, was captured on a gate
close to the shore, on the south side of the town, by the
Bey. Hamlet Clarke, in September, 1855.
106 A HANDBOOK FOR SOUTHPORT.
FAMILY THOMISID^.
GEBTTS THOMISirS.
Crtstatus, Occasional ; on the ground and at grass roots.
Audax. Yery rare ; on the ground and at grass roots.
OEiniS PHILODBOMTTS.
Cespttteola. Frequent ; on dwarf willows on sandhills.
Ohhmgw, Common ; at roots and on stems of star-grass, &c.
FAMILY DEASSID^.
GEKHS BBASSUS.
Fumihu. Bare; on bare sandhills and at roots of grass.
New to Britam,
Clavator, Yery rare ; under ledges of sandhills and under
stones. New to Science,
CupreuB. Frequent ; at roots of grass and moss.
Nitem, Not rare; among rubbish on dry bank sides, &c.,
and the adult males running on roads, &c., in spring.
OKNTITS GLI7BI0KA.
Hohsericea, Occasional ; in angles of summer-houses, and in
curled leaves, &c.
Ama/tantha. Frequent ; at roots of star-grass, and in curled
leaves.
Epimehs, Bare ; in curled leaves and holes in posts, &c.
eENirS ASGTBONEIA.
Aquatioa. In dykes, among water-weed and rubbish.
FAMILY CINIFLONID^.
GEBTTS CINIFLO.
Atrox, Not rare ; under ledges of sandhills, overgrown with
dwarf willow.
ARA.CHNU)A OF BOUTHPORT. 107
SimiUs, In onthouses, &o., not rare ; yery closely allied to
Atrox. This is one of our common house spiders.
eEinrs sbqatis.
Bmigna, Yery rare ; at tips of shoots of plants, &c.y in a
web, and running on paths in spring.
Latem. Eare ; running on ground in spring.
FAMILY AGELENID^.
GEinrS AGELENA.
Labyrinthioa. yetj common ; sitting in a tube in the centre
of a wide-spread net : aU. oyer the wilLow-grown sandhills.
Brunnea. Not rare ; at roots of star-grass and weeds, &c.
GENUS TEGENAEIA.
dviUs. Frequent ; in outhouses and old buildings. This and
Ciniflo SmiUa are our two common house spiders.
FAMILY THEKIDIID^.
GENUS THEBIDIOK.
Zineatum. Common ; almost eyerywhere.
Quadripunetatum, Bare ; la summer-houses and unused rooms.
ITervosum, Not rare ; on bushes, &c., ia a web.
IHetum. Not rare; on hollies, and ia greenhouse at Mr.
Johnson's, Birkdale.
Tartans, Frequent ; ia company with the two last.
OaroUnum. Common, though local; ia many spots among
dwarf willows and herbage on the sandhills.
Pattens, Eare ; on Scotch firs on the moss, at Kirkby.
Variegatum, Occasional; among grass and weeds on dry
bank sides, near Churchtown, with its beautifal and pear-
shaped nest.
FiUpes. Bare ; beneath seaweed on shore.
108 A HANDBOOK FOB SOUTHFOBT.
FAMILY LINYPHIID^.
eENUS LDTTPHIA.
Mimtana. Frequent ; on Scotch firs, &c.
Marginata. Frequent ; in hedges, and in angles of outhouses.
FratemiB. Frequent ; on low plants in woods, &c.
FiiUginea. Bare ; among star-grass, &c., on sandhills.
Minuta, Not rare ; among star-grass, &c., on sandhills, aad
in porches and unused rooms, &c.
AUioeps, Frequent ; among star-grass, &c., on sandhillB.
Tenuis, Common ; among star-grass, &c., on sandhills.
Terrioola, Common; among star-grass, &c., on sandhills:
very closely allied to Tenuis.
Anthradna, Bare ; among star-grass, &c., on sandhills.
JPulla. Bare ; among star-grass, &c., on sandhills.
Erieaea, Frequent ; among star-grass, &c., on sandhills.
Tenella. Yery rare; among star-grass, &c., on sandhills.
The male adult new to Science,
GENUS NESIENE.
Bicohr, Frequent ; at roots of star-grass on sandhills.
Oracilis, Occasional ; running on walks, rails, and pavements.
Comuta, Occasional ; among grass, &c., on sandhills.
Apicata, Yery rare ; among grass, &c., on sandhills.
Longipalpis. Common ; among grass, under sea-weed, and on
pavements.
Fusoa, Bare ; under sea-weed in autumn.
Agrestis, Bare ; under sea-weed in autumn.
Vigilax, Yery rare ; among grass on sandhills.
Trilmeata, Common ; among grass on sandhills.
Variegata. Frequent ; among grass on sandhills.
ARACHNIDA OP SOUTHPOBT. 109
eEKUS WALCKENA£BA.
Aggeris, Common; at bottom of rubbish and grass on dry
bank sides, near Chnrcbtown. New to Science,
Monoceros. Yery rare ; among grass and moss on sandhills.
New to Britain,
Fastigata, Yery rare; among grass aad moss on sandhills.
New to Britain.
GENUS PACHTONATHA.
Clerchii. Frequent ; under the ha-ha wall, Formby Parsonage.
Begeerii. Frequent ; among grass in sandhills, and on roads,
&c., in spring.
FAMILY EPEIKID^.
OEinrS EPEULA.
Quadrata, Frequent ; on bushes, &c.
ApocUsa, Common ; on herbage, &c., at edges of dykes.
Solers, Yery rare ; among dwarf willows on sandhills.
SimiUs, Common ; in balconies, windows, and greenhouses.
Cahphylla, Occasional ; on bushes and dwarf willows, &c.
CfMt0'hitina, Eare ; on bushes and dwarf willows, &c.
JncUnata. Yery common ; everywhere.
Biadema, Yery common ; everywhere.
GENtJS TETBA.GKATHA.
JExtmsa. Frequent ; among herbage in damp places and over
water, &c., stretched at fuU length in its web.
110 A HANDBOOK FOR SOUTHPOBT.
CKUSTACEA.
The name Crustacea is derived from Crusta, a crust or hard
shell. The animals are ammlose or articulated, with jointed
legS; possess a double or complete circulatory system, and
respire by means of bronchiae or gills. The external shell,
like that of insects, is composed of a dense homy substance
called Chitine, often strengthened, as in the crab and lobster,
by the deposition of carbonate of lime.
The body possesses, notwithstanding the unyielding carapace,
considerable freedom of motion, from its jointed structure.
The typical number of rings is twenty-one, but these are often
soldered together, as we observe in the crab, so that their
relations are obscured. The Crustacea have the power of
casting the shell at intervals, and renewing it, as the increased
growth of the body requires. Otherwise, from the unyielding
nature of the carapace, the included animal could not increase
in size.
Long-legged Spider Crab {SUnorhynehus Phdangium), This
curious species is sometimes found on the sands near low
water mark; all the specimens we have found have been
weakly and damaged, though living.
Slender Spider Crab {Stenorhynchm tenuirostrUi). Has con-
siderable resemblance to the preceding, but is more
slender in its parts. It has little pubescence on the legs,
and is less abundant than the former.
Scorpion Spider Crab {Inaehm JDorsettensis). All the Spider
Crabs have a general resemblance to each other; in this
species the rostrum is much shorter than in the above,
and the colour is of a much duller hue.
CRTTSTACEA OF SOUTHPOBT. Ill
JBf/a8 loraneus, A specimen fomid near where the Whitworth
guns were placed ; when the legs were extended, it
covered a space of four inches and a half by three in
width. Its colours were not obscured, though it had
various shells and zoophytes adhering to it.
Harbour Crab ( Carctnus Moenas) is the most abundant kind
found on the shore. It is sometimes eaten as food by
the poor ; though small, its flavour is good.
FortumntM variegatm. The shell of this species may be found
on the sands, but we have not seen it in the living state.
Velvet Swimming Crab {Portunus puber). Bare ; only one
specimen, and that in an exhausted state, has been found
to my knowledge.
Cleansing Swimming Crab {Portunus JDepurator), Common ;
is very active, and swims with great rapidity, burying
itself in the sand as the water recedes.
Common Pea Crab {Pinnotheres Ptsum), Besides in shells,
oysters, scallops, cockles, &c. The sexes vary much
in appearance, and have, until lately, been considered as
distinct species ; the female is the P. varians of authors.
Angular Crab {Gonoplax cmgidata). This rare species was
found by Mr. Graves beyond the end of the Pier. The
colours were brighter than in most other kinds.
Masked Crab ( Corystes Casswelaunus), Is a common species,
and may be found at most seasons. In the female the
front legs are less than half the length of those of the
male.
Common Hermit Crab {Pagurus Bemhardus). The most
abundant species on our shore, generally inhabiting the
shell of the common whelk ; when left dry it contrives to
112 A HANDBOOK FOB SOFTHPOBT.
turn the mouth of the shell downwards. It is very
pTignacious ; we are tmacquaiiited with its enemies, bnt
have met with great numbers with the abdomen and all
the posterior parts eaten away.
PaguriM tdidianus f We name this species with some doubt,
having met with numerous specimens inhabiting the
shells of nattea monilifera, which have a strong resem-
blance to the figure of this species in Bell's '^BiitislL
Crustacea. ''
Norway Lobster {Nephrops Norvegiem), This beautiful species
is given on the authority of James Glover, Esq.
Common Shrimp ( Crangon wHgaris),
Common Prawn {Pandahu annuUeomts). Occasionally taJ^en
by the shrimpers, but not common, and much smaller
than on the south coasts.
i&Gnute Porcelain Crab {PoreeUana longicomis). This nunute
species is often found on the sponge-like base of the
Lobster' s-hom Coralline ; it is obtained from the size of
mustard seed to a quarter of an inch in diameter, and
varies in colour from a dull pale red to a brilliant scarlet,
intermixed with golden yellow.
Mgns Chamosleon. A specimen was found by a Mend just as
this sheet was going to press.
Pyehnogonitm Uttorale. A suctorial crustaceaa. J. 0.
CHAPTER X.
I care not, Fortune, what jon me deny;
Ton cannot rob me of free nature's grace;
You cannot shut the windows of the sky
Through which Aurora shows her brightening face;
You cannot bar my constant feet to trace
The lonely shore at dewy mom and eve.
Let health my nerves and finer fibres brace,
And I then: toys to the great children leave;
Of nature, feeling, yirtne, nought can me bereave.
Thoxsok.
MOimSCA OP SOFTHPOaT.
The Hollasca belong to the Invertebrate diyidon of the
Animal Kingdom. They are destitute of internal skeleton,
and have soft bodies, often protected by an external shell, as
in the banded snail of onr Bandhillfl (H$lix n&moraUaJ, and the
common Cockle. But the shell cannot be regarded as essential
to our idea of a molluscous animal, for of two species closely
allied in structure, e,g., the snail and slug, it is often present
in one, and absent or very imperfectly developed in the other.
The MoUusca are further distinguished from the Articulata
and Kadiata, by the want of symmetry in the two halves of
Q
114 A HANDBOOK FOR SOUTHPORT.
the body, and the absence of joints or articulations, and lateral
locomotive appendages.
The majority of onr Shells are divided into two classes —
Bivalves and Univalves. The Bivalve is a shell in two parts,
a right and left valve, connected by a hinge. The Univalve
is a conical or spiral shell, many of them being closed by an
opercnlnm, which is a plate attached to the foot of the animal,
corresponding in shape to the mojith of the shell. '' The
MoUusca, though nearly all sedentary in their habits, are in
their earlier stages swimming animals, being provided with
cilia which enable them to move freely about. Aided by
these and the ocean currents, they are dispersed, sometimes to
immense distances, until they meet with conditions suitable to
their growth. It is a remarkable fact that the Bivalves, at
this period of their lives, have eyes, to aid them in their
movements." Thus there is a natural means by which their
over accumulation in any particular part is prevented. After
a few days of this free and sportive life, they begin to settie
down to the conditions and localities each is destined to
occupy. The Limpet attaches itself to the rock, between high
and low water mark; the Cockle, the Mya, and the Bazor
Fish bury themselves in the sand and mud ; the Teredines
attack and burrow into the sides of ships or the hardest wood,
and by their silent and ceaseless operations undermine some of
the most important works of man ; the Pholas excavates itself
a home in the rocks and cliffs, by what means science has
failed to discover ; the Mussel forms itself a byssus or cable,
by which it is attached to rooks and timber, and one species
spins itself a silken nest. Some tribes retain the power of
moving about; the Pecten and the Pinna take flying leaps
MOLLirSCA OF SOUTHPORT. 115
through the water by rapidly opening and closing their valves,
the large river Mussel pushes itself along with its foot, and
the Cockle jumps along the sand. The Univalves are provided
with a large muscular foot, by which they crawl along the
bottom of the sea, or upon the aquatic plants and seaweeds.
They have a head, eyes, a mouth armed with jaws, and
a tongue, called a lingual ribbon, which is covered with a
variable number of minute silieeous teeth. They feed upon
confervsB, seaweedB, and zoophytes; many of them are carni-
vorous, attacking each other and the quiet bivalves. With
their file-like tongue they rasp a small hole through the shell,
and then devour the helpless inmate ; this will explain to the
sheU-gatherer wby so many of the shells he picks up on the
shore have little round boles drilled through them.
The Bivalves live upon the animalculsB and microscopic
vegetable matter in the surrounding water ; it is carried into
the digestive cavities of the animal by currents caused by the
action of their ciliary apparatus. A stranger coming to
Southport for the purpose of collecting shells would probably
be very much disappointed on his first visit to the shore, as
there are certainly very few shells to be found in the im-
mediate vicinity of the town. The best collecting ground is
from Birkdale to Formby at high water mark, and on the
banks near low water — at high water mark, during the period
of the highest tides, especially after heavy west or south-west
gales, and near low water on the slopes of banks, during low
tides. It is also well to examine the shore at extreme low
water during the times of the highest tides of the year, as at
those parts which are not often left uncovered by the water,
Mf/a trunoata is occasionally found, with its long and curious
116 A. HANDBOOK FOB 80UTHP0BT.
Byphonal tabe, alive and perfect. Several minute species may-
be found by collecting the broken shell and sand from the
ripple marks and the slopes of banks, and examining a small
quantity at a time in a shallow dish of water, at home.
Bredgingy unless at a very considerable distance out, is un-
productive; scarce anything con be brought up but species
which may be commonly found on the shore.
A collector may make a very pleasant excursion by taking
the train to Formby, crossing the sandhills to the shore, about
a mile distant, and walking back to Southport, in all from,
eight to nine miles. A great many shells and other marine
curiosities may be found during the walk, and it avoids an
otherwise fatiguing return journey.
The following list of marine shells includes all that are
foxmd here. If it were restricted to such as are really natives
of the locality, it would be comparatively small ; many species
are washed up here from considerable distances, and a few are
procured from fishermen, who get them in their nets, when
dredging from forty to sixty miles out. The land and fresh
water shells are all natives, and may be met with near tiie
town. They are found in a variety of situations amongst the
moss, and low plants and grass on the sandhills ; under stones,
in hedge banks, ponds, ditches, and streams. Several species
may be taken by a simple trap ; if a few stones, or brickbats,
are placed in the little vallies amongst the hills, and examined
the following day, two or three species may frequently be
found under each.
MOLLUBOA OF SOVTHFORT. 117
MAMNE SHELLS— (BIVAXYES).
ACEPHALA LAMELLIBRANCHIATA.
PHOLADIDJS.
Fholas crUpata, Bare; small living speciinens have been
found in pieces of rotten wood washed up by the tides,
and large singLe yalves occasionally. The nearest habitat
for this species is IQlbre Island, at the mouth of the Dee,
where fine living specimens may be found burrowing ia
the red sandstone rock at extreme low water.
Fholas Candida. Occasionally washed up alive, during very
heavy gales ; siugle valves, common at all times.
GASTBOGHJSNIDJB.
8axiea/oa rugosa. Very rare; has been found burrowing in
pieces of the Zoophyte Alcyonium digitatum, and also
attached to Modtola Modiolua when brought up from deep
water by the fishermen.
MYADiB.
My a truncata. Kot uncommon. Pine specimens may sometimes
be taken at extreme low water, during high spring tides.
Mga arenaria. Single valves are not uncommon; perfect
sheUs are very rare.
CO'BJSUUrDM.
Corhuh nucleus (the Little Basket). Occasionally found at
high water mark, and on slopes of banks nearer low water.
One valve is larger than the other ; the smaller one has
the appearance of being pressed into the larger, a feature
by which the species may be instantly recognised.
AJKATTSIDM.
Thracia phascoUna, One of our most beautifcd shells; rather
abundant afber high tides, and very fine.
Thracia convexa. Very rare, and single valves only.
118 A HANDBOOK FOB SOUTHPOBT.
80LKNJLD2.
Solen marginaiuB (Sword Shell). Bare, and generallj smgle
yalyes ; the shell is from four to six inches long, three-
quarters of an inch broad, with a grooye indented at the
hinder margin.
SoUn siliqua (Bazor SheU). Good perfect shells haye been
fonnd but rarely ; single yalyes occasionally. This species
sometimes attain to a great size, nine or ten inches long,
and one and a half inches broad. In many parts of the
kingdom it is used as an article of food, and considered
yery delicate eating ; it liyes buried in the sand at low
water, from one to two feet deep. They are caught by
pushing crooked wires down the hole and hauling them
up, or a little salt is dropped down the hole, which rather
incommodes the animal, and he rises up to see what is the
matter, when he is seized ; but if it is thrown upon the
sand, it will yery quickly work its way down again with
its powerful muscular foot.
Solen ensis (the Scymitar). Yery abundant and fine. It is
from three to four inches long, and curyed like a bow.
Solen ensU (Yar. Magna), Precisely the same as the preceding,
but double the size, and yery rare.
Solen peUuddus, Found attached to bunches of coralline ;
rather scarce ; from one and a half to two inches long,
and a quarter broad ; the hinge margin is straight, the
outer margin bowed. A noyice would perhaps mistake the
young Ceratisolen Ugumen for this species ; the difference
is easily known by the position of the hinge ; in all the
SoUne it is near one end ; in C, legumen it is in the centre
of the hinge margin.
MOLLUSCA OF SOUTHPORT. 119
solecubudjb.
C^ratisoUn UgufMn (the Peas Pod). This is a long flat shell,
as its name denotes ; it lives buried in the sand at extreme
low water ; rather common.
TELLINU)^.
Fsammolia f&rroemk (Sunset Shell). A flat elongated oval
sheU, rounded at one end, and squarish at the other end,
and prettily rayed with pink from the hinge to the front
margin ; it is common as a British species, but rare here ;
it is sometimes found perfect, attached to bunches of
coraUines.
Tellina tenuis. Common; but a very pretty species, being
variously coloured rose, pink, yellow, white, &c. ; it is a
flat or compressed shell, rounded in front, attenuated
behind, about one inch long and flve-eighths wide.
Tellina fahula. Abundant ; one valve of this species is smooth,
the other, upon close examination, will be found to be
marked with very fine concentric lines, which cause it to
be slightly iridescent. They are mostly about three-
quarters of an inch long, and half an inch wide, very
much compressed, rounder in point, attenuated behind,
niuch more so than Tellina tenuis, and nearly white.
TeUina solidula, one of our commonest shells, varying in colour
through aU the shades from crimson to yeUow ; it is a
roundish, solid shell, from one quarter to three quarters
of an inch in diameter.
Syndosmia alba, A pretty oval, shining, rather pellucid, white
shell, moderately plentifdl.
8crohicularia piperata, I^ot uncommon; found in the greatest
numbers opposite the Promenade, especially after a heavy
120 A HANDBOOK FOR SOUTHPORT.
sea, when it is washed up ^m the mud in which it
hurrows. It is yery flat, round, white, and yaries in size,
from one half to one and a half inches in diameter.
DONACTDJE.
JDonax anatintM (Wedge Shell). Common ahout low water
mark, and often yery fine. Although one of our com-
monest shells, it is not the least handsome, being a light
oliye colour outside, and frequently a brilliant clouded
violet within.
MACTBIDJB.
Maetra 8ubtruncata, Bather common, and generally small.
It is white, solid, and somewhat triangular in shape.
Maetra sttdtorum. Yery common and fine. Sometimes at
low water they lie in groups of hundreds together, within
spaces of a few yards. The gulls break immense numbers
to get at the animals.
Zutraria ellipUca, Single valves occasionally met with;
perfect shells, very rarely. It is a large, oblong, rather
flat shell, gaping or open at the extremities.
yiENEBIDJS.
Venm striatula. Common. Triangular, and looking at the
shell edgeways, it is heart-shaped, has highly raised
concentric lines, and is sometimes handsomely marked
with rich brown rays.
Vinua ovata. Yery rare. Similar in shape to a cookie, but
small and white, and the sculpture much finer.
Ludnopsis undata. Moderately common. A roundish shell,
white, slightly tinged with rust colour; it varies from a
quarter to three quarters of an inch in length and
breadth.
H0LLV8CA OF S0T7THF0BT. 121
OTPfilKIDJB.
Cyprina Islandiea. Perfect shells of this fine species are
rarely to be met with ; single yalyes not uncommon.
OASDIADM,
Cardnm rusUcum. A large species of the Cockle tribe, with
thick radiating ribs, bristling with tuberculoiis spioes.
Single valyes are common; perfect double specimens may
sometimes be met with after high tides.
Cardtum edtde (Common Cockle). A very common shellfish
about Southport at all times. In 1858, a cockle-bed
or ^' scour," as it is locally termed, was discoyered about
fiye miles north-east of the town, where the cockles were
so numerous as to be literally ahoyelled up with spades;
the yield for seyeral months was from ten to jQfteen tons
a-week. It is scarcely possible to realise the prodigious
numbers taken from the bank, as a ton contains about
80,000 iudiyidual cockles.
LTJOUflDiB.
Lueina Uuooma. Extremely rare; haye only found one or
two single yalyes.
KSLLIADA.
Mmtaduta ferruginoBa. Yery rare, and single yalyes. It is a
small white, oyal, semi-transparent shell, about three
sixteenths of an iuch long, generally stained with rust-
colour. This and the following species are found by
collecting and washing the sand and broken shell from
the ripple-marks and slopes of banks.
Montaeuta Udentata. Moderately common. A minute white,
oyal, almost transparent shell; about one-eighth of an
inch long.
122 A HANDBOOK FOR SOUTHPORT.
HTnUDJE.
MyttktB edidiB (Common Mnssel). Common. Sometimes in
great numbers attached to pieces of wood or seaweed.
Modiola modiolus (Horse Mussel). Sometimes brought up by
the Miermen, and frequently very large, from five to six
inches in length.
Modiola harhata (Bearded Mussel). I^ot uncommon. Some-
times picked up along high water mark. Fine specimens
have been found buried in large pieces of Alcyonium
digitatum ; they are also occasionally brought up by the
fishermen.
Cr&neUa ddseors. Eare. Has been found at low water, and
burrowing in A, digitatum.
ABCADiE.
Nuoula nucleus. Not common. Generally single valves;
attached to bunches of coralline. It is a small dull olive-
coloured shell, the inside pearly white, and about twenty
minute teeth on the margin at one side of the hinge, and
ten at the other side.
OSTSRADJE.
Peetm maximus (the Great Scallop). Great numbers of this,
our largest British biyalve, are brought up by the
fishermen.
Peeten opercularis (the Common Scallop, or Fan Shell). Not
uncommon, but generally small ; it is a handsome species,
varying much in colour, being sometimes yellow, orange,
crimson, brown, purple, white, or mottled.
Ostrea eduHs (the Oyster). Not very common on the shore ;
occasionally brought up by the fishermen.
H0LLU8GA OF SOUTHPOBT. 123
Anomia ephippium. Occasionally found upon ModioU modiolus.
This is a curious Mollusk ; it is attached to shells, rocks,
and stones by a muscle projected through an orifice in
the lower valve, near the hinge ; it is a lustrous pearly
sheU, and adapts itself to the shape of the body to which
it is attached.
U]STVALVES.
GASTEROPODA PROSOBRAN CHIA TA.
PATELLTDwS.
Patella vulgata (Common Limpet). Eare, and when found
very much worn.
T^-RTfT AT.TA-n ae.
DmtaiUwn entaUa (Tooth SheU). Some years ago this was a
common sheU, but now is only occasionally found, and
generally attached to corallines. Fine specimens are
about an inch and a half long, tubular, tapering to the
posterior en4, and slightly curved ; perfectly white.
Brntalmn Tarentinum. The same remarks apply to this
species, as to 2). entalts, with the exception of the specific
differences. It is a thicker and straighter shell, the
posterior end marked with very fine raised lines, length-
wise, so fine, as to require the aid of a microscope to
discover them ; they are the principal characteristic mark
of the species.
nsSUBELLIDJB,
JSmarffinula reticulata. Bare. Found at high water mark,
and amongst corallines. In shape it is like a cap of
Liberty, and has a slit in the front margin.
124 A HANPBOOK FOB 801JTHF0BT.
TBOCHIABiB.
ly-Qchtu %%%yphinM$ (Top Shell). Moderately common. A cone-
shaped Bhelly granulated in narrow spiral bands.
LiriOBiircDJS.
Littorina Uttorea (Periwinkle), l^ot common. It is one of
the most abundant shells on rocky coasts.
Littoi^ina rudis. Bare. A smaller and lighter coloured shell
than the last.
Bisioa mtrea. Kare. Minute, shining white. Found by
collecting and washing sand, as previously stated.
Riiioa tUva, Very common. In walking along the shore we
frequently see patches of what the stranger would
suppose to be black sand; if a portion of it is taken
up, it will be found to be a mass of these small shells.
JRi88oa eastanea. Bather rare. It is found amongst JR, ulv(By
and is similar in shape and colour, but very much larger.
TurriteUa communis (the Common Cockspur). Very common
on most parts of the shore.
CESITHIAJDJS.
Apporhaii pes-pelecani (the Bird's-foot Shell). A handsome
and not an uncommon species. The lip is extended out
in such a way as to resemble a bird's webbed foot, from
which its specific name is derived.
SCALABIADJB.
Sealaria Turtonis (Wentle Trap, or Double Cockspur). Not
uncommon. A handsome shell, turreted in shape, the
whorls round and distinct, and crossed lengthwise with
rather flat, pale brown, moderately dose ribs.
HOLLUSCA OF SOTJTHFOBT. 125
Sealaria eammunia (Common Wentle Trap). Moderately
common. Same shape as the preceding, but the whorls
more distinct, and the ribs thicker and more prominent.
PTILiJUDELLTDiE.
AeUa iupranitida. Eare. A pretty but very small shell, from
one-tenth to three-tenths of an inch long, conical or
turreted in shape. Good specimens are ornamented with
raised spiral lines or ridges. It is considered rather rare
as a British species. Found by coUecting and washing
the sand, as previously stated.
JStdima poUta. Very rare. Lanceolate or tapering in shape,
being about five-eighths of an inch long and one-eighth
broad at the base ; colour, a shining porcelain white.
JEuUma subulata. Not uncommon. Yery narrow, finely
tapering, light brown, with spiral bands of a darker
shade.
Cfhemnihia eUgantiuima, Yery rare. A minute, white, spiral
shell, with elevated oblique ribs on the whorls. Some-
times found along with A. supranitida.
Odostomia interstincta. Bare. Found with the above. It is
a minute species, requiring the aid of the microscope to
identify it. It is perfectly white, with longitudiniil ribs
on the whorls.
NAUCIDiB.
Natica nwniUfera* Commonu A handsome shell, being
globular in shape, highly polished, and ornamented
with a spiral band of brown spots.
Natiea nitida. Not common. Similar to JV. mantltfera, but
smaller, about a quarter of an inch in diameter, and not
quite so globular, the spiral a little more produced.
126 A HANDBOOK FOR SOUTHPORT.
MURICIDiB.
Mwrex erinaoeus (Sting Winkle). Not uncommon, though
generally rather small.
N(M8a inorasiata (Dog "Whelk). Rare, though common as a
British species. In shape it is similar to the common
Whelk, about half an inch long, with thick longitudinal
ribs.
Pwrpwra lapilJm, I^ot common. Being naturally an inha-
bitant of rocky localities, the specimens are often much
worn when they arrive here. It is fusiform in shape,
very solid, and about an inch long. The animal secretes
a milky fluid, which in former timds was used in the
production of a rich purple dye.
Bucdnum undatum (Common Whelk). Moderately plentifiil ;
very flne specimens may sometimes be found after storms.
This is a common shell all round the British coasts. In
many parts it is taken in great numbers, and used for
bait; and quantities are sent to the London markets,
where they are boiled and eaten.
Fmm lalandiem. Very rare ; generally weather-worn.
Fusm anttquiM. Common after heavy gales, in company with
the Whelks, from which it may be known by the canal
being more elongated, and the shell generally smoother
and more tapering. The flshermen sometimes bring up
splendid specimens from deep water, measuring from six
to seven inches long, and perfectly white.
coioniE.
Mmgelia graciUi, Very rare ; one or two specimens have
been found near low water.
, MOLLUSCA OF SOUTHPORT. 127
CTP!RiELAJ)^ .
CypruM Europcea (Cowrie). ISTot common. It is about the
size and shape of a coffee berry, with raiBed lines or ribs
across ; a pale flesh colour.
GASTEROPODA OPISTB OBRANCHIATA.
The Mollusks of this order may be termed sea-slugs, since
the shell, when it exists, is usually small and thin, and
wholly or partially concealed by the animal.
BI7IiIiII)j£!.
Cyliehna eyUndracea (the Paper Eoll). Named from its
cylindrical shape. Eare on this coast. It is about half
an inch long, and three sixteenths of an inch wide;
white and shining.
Cyliehna ohtusa. Similar to the above, but half the length.
A few years since this was plentiful close to the town ;
it is now more abundant four or Ave miles to the west,
at high water mark.
TomateUa fasetata. Yery abundant. It is not unlike a
shuttle in shape, but broader in proportion, and
beautifully coloured with bands of pink and white.
Scaphand&r liynarius. Many years ago this was not an
uncommon shell on our shore ; it is now extremely rare.
PhUine aperia. Common. An extremely thin, white, trans-
lucent shell, without spire, and a wide open mouth.
CEPHALOPODA DIBRAN CEIATA,
SEFIADiB.
Sepia officinalis (the Common Cuttle Fish). The internal shell
of this mollusk is occasionally washed up in considerable
128 A HANDBOOK FOR SOTJTHFOHX.
numbers during heavy gales in the winter. It is from
six to eight inches long, and three inches wide, oval, and
extremely light in proportion to its bnlk. The class
Cephalopoda ranks the highest in the mollnsca, as in the
complexity of its organisation it approaches most nearly
to the vertebrated animals. It is named from the loco-
motive organs being arranged round the head ; when in
the water, or crawling amongst rocks or on the strand,
it has the appearance of being head downwards. The
Sepiadae have eight short lanceolate, and two long
tentacular arms. The large and prominent eyes are
situated undemeatK the arms, one on each side ; above,
in the centre of the circle of arms, is a strong homy beak.
The arms and tentaculse, besides being organs of loco-
motion, serve to catch and hold their prey; and, as they
are covered with small suckers, they are enabled to
maintain so tenacious a hold, that any unfortunate crab
or fish with which they come in contact is leffc without
escape. Whilst possessing such powers of offence, they
are gifted with most singular faculties of defence. Like
the chameleon, they have the power of changing their
colour, to delude their foes; they also possess an ink bag,
from which, when pursued, they eject a quantity, which
envelops them in a black cloud, and covers their escape.
The contents of the ink bag is collected, and forms the
brown pigment, sepia, used by artists.
Sepia lisseridlis. A single specimen of the internal shell or
bone of this rare species has been found on the Southport
shore. It is much smaller than 8, offieinaUa, lanceolate
in shape, the point curved a little outwards, and the base
slightly inwards.
. MOLLUBOA OF SOtTTHPORT. 129
LAND AND FRESH WATER SHELLS.
ACEPHALA LAMELLIBRANCHIATA,
CntCLADIDJB.
€ycla» rivmla (River Cycle, or TVesh Water Cockle). Found
in many of the streams and ditches about Southport, but
small; in the canal at Bursoough Bridge they are
abundant and fine. In shape it is similar to a young cockle,
but more compressed ; finely striated, greenish brown in
colour, with a narrow yellow band round the margin.
Cydas cornea (Homy Cycle). In ahnost any ditch. It is a
round dumpy shell, generally dark brown, varying in
size from one eighth to half en inch in diameter.
Cffolas mlyculata (Capped Cycle). Found sparingly in a
stream by the first bridge beyond Churchtown, along the
road to Martin Mere. Jt is a very transparent shell,
about a quarter of an inch long ; the umbones — the parts
above the hinge— very prominent.
Fmdtum (mnumm (River Pera). Not uncommon in ditches
on the moss, and on the Martin Mere road, beyond
Churchtown^ but very small, rarely measuring more than
one eighth of an inch long ; it is common and very fine
in the canal at Burscough Bridge. In shape it is obliquely
oval, with minute raised ribs.
Anodonta cygnea (Swan Fresh Water Mussel). Common in
many of the streams and ditches on the moss, varying
from two to four inches in length, oval in shape^ olive or
brown outside, bright pearly within. It is a common
British shell ; individuals have been computed to contain
as many as 600,000 young in their gills.
130 A HANDBOOK FOB fiOUTHPOBT.
GASTEROPODA PROSOBRANCHI AT A.
PALUDINIDJE.
Pahidina LUUri (Marah Shell, or Eiver Snail). Not un*
common in many of the ditches on the moss. At the
approach of winter it bniies itself deep in the mud, and
makes its appearance again with the warm days of April.
It is a very handsome shell, transparent horn colour,
with three dark brown spiral bands. Fine specimens are
one and a half inches high, and one and quarter inches
wide at the base, with five or six very convex volutions.
When the animal is retracted, it is closed by an oper-
culum, a sort of trap door, which should always be fitted
in the shell when the animal is taken out. It is both
useful and ornamental in an aquarium, the animal being
beautifully sprinkled with golden spots, and it feeds
mostly on the confervas growing on the sides of the glass.
JBithinia tentactUata (Tentacled Bithinia). Common in most
ditches on the moss ; the sheU is about a quarter of an
inch wide at the base, and half an inch high, with five
rather flat volutions of dark brown or yellowish horn
colour, the aperture closed by an operculum.
Vahata pisctnalts (Stream Yalve Shell). Shell globular, with
an elevated obtuse spire, the volutions well rounded and
distinct ; the aperture is closed by a valve or lid. It is
common in the large drains on the moss.
Vahata cristata (Crested Valve Shell). Not uncommon in the
same situations as the preceding, but a very difierent shell
in appearance, not being more than one-eighth of an inch
in diameter \ discoid, flat above, and concave or umbilicate
breath.
IfOLLUSCA OF BOTTTHFOBT. 131
GASTEROPODA PULMONIFERA,
UMACIDiB.
Arion empiricorum (Black Arion). Common in the fields after
rain, and in damp weather ; as moisture is an absolute
necessary of the creature's existence, it is rarely seen in
very dry weather. This is the common jet black snail ; it
varies in colour according to locality. It is found in
woods, of many colours — ^white, yeUow, orange, and
reddish brown. It is essentially a vegetable feeder, but
will sometimes regale itself with a dead worm. It has
no distinct shell.
Limax agrestk (Milky Slug). A small dark or reddish grey
slug. Common in fields, hedge banks, and gardens ; it is
a voracious vegetable feeder. The shell is a small squarish
oval, white calcareous plate, slightly convex above,
situated underneath the skin of the shield, a little behind
the head. The animal when extended measures from
one to one and a half inches long, and when irritated
it pours out a white milky fluid from the pores all over
its body.
Zmax cinereus. Kot so common as the preceding; found
amongst grass in damp situations, under logs of wood,
about outhouses and gardens. It is a large, dark grey
slug, sometimes nearly black, measuring from three to
five or six inches long, and proportionally bulky; the
back and tail coarsely wrinkled, and mucus colourless.
The shell is internal, and from a quarter to one half inch
long, and half that width, sUghtly convex, rather pearly
white and sometimes tinged with pink.
132 A IULN9B00K FOR SaUTKPOST.
KKLICIDJE.
ViMna peUucida (Transpareint Glass-bubble). Smalli ex-
treiaeLy tlim and transparent^ very highly polished, and
of a pdle watery gre«a colour. Not uncomm(Hi amongst
moss and under stones in the Birkdale sandhills.
ZmU9 dUoriiM (Ghirlic Smail). Found under stones in the
sandhills, but rather rare. It is about a quarter of an
inch in diameter ; upper side slightly convex, very bright,
shining, rather transparent, yellowish honi colour; the
species is easily recognised, as when the animal is irritated
with a touch, it emits a very strong odour of garlic.
Zmites nitidulm (Dull Snail). Yery rare and small, has been
Ibund amongst moss, on the hills at the end of ^* Peter's
dack."
&mt$s pwnM (Delicate Snail). Very rare. Amongst moss in
the Birkdale hUls. Shell small, about one-sixth of an
inch in diameter, depressed, transparent, yellowish white,
rather shining, and sli^tly wrinkled.
JSeUx nemorahs (Girdled Snail). One of our cammonest shells,
being found everywhere amongst the sandhills; at the
same time it is the most beautifdl. It is very variable
in its colour and markings^ beijig sometimes white, yellow,
pink, reddish, or brown^ or mariLed with five or fewer
rich chocolate bands.
SeUx caperata (Black-tipped Snail). Common in Birkdale,
particularly on the sandhills between the two roads at
the entrance to the Park.
Selix Impida (Bristly Snail). Sparingly found in the hedges
of the fields near the Bectory, also in Birkdale. It is
about a quarter of an inch in diameter, five or six whorls.
HQLLUSCA OF SOUTHPORT. 133
slightly convex, horn oolouredy and covered with very
fine short bristles.
JEeUx pukheUa (White Snail). Not uncommon in l^e hills,
amongst moss, at both ends of the town. It is a beaatifal
Httle shell, less than one eighth of an inch in diameter ;
a pure opaque white, and sometimes brownish, rather
fiat above, a small umbiUicus beneath, the mouth refiexed,
and a little ildckened round the margin.
HisUx ptUchella (var. Coatata), Found with the preceding.
The sam(3 size and ^apa, of a pale brown tint, and
ornamented with raised radiating ribs, only visible under
the magnifying lens.
HeHx roiundata (Badiated Snail). Yery rare ; amongst grass
and under stones in the sandhills. Nearly a quarter of
an inch in diameter, under side almost fiat ; grey, with
dark brown spots.
JffeUx pygnma (Figmy Snail). Very rare ; found in damp
situations, imder pieces of wood or stones. Very minute,
convex on both sides ; shining, brown, semi-transparent.
Fufa nmseonjm (Margined Chrysalis Shell). Moderatdy
common ; amongst moss and low plants <m the sandhills.
As the name denotes, the pupss are shaped like a
chrysalis. This species is about one-eighth of an inch high ;
shining, dark brown, the mai^in a little refiected, with a
thiek white band round the outside, and a idngie minute
tooth in the centre of the aperture on the body whwl.
Pu^^a ^<^^«^ (Toothless Whorl Shell). Bather scarce. Found
in the same situations as the proceeding ; about the samo
size and colour, but without tooth; the edge ci the
aperture or lip simple, without margin or rib.
134 A HANDBOOK FOB SOUTHPOBT.
2hAa hihriea (Common Yamislied Shell). I^ot uncommon in
the sandhillB and fields behind the Eectory, but oftener
dead and eroded than living. The shell is about a
quarter of an inch high, cylindrical oblong, reddish
brown, very bright and glossy.
Sucetnea putria (Common Amber Shell). Bather abundant in
a small watercourse, in the Birkdale hills, half a mile
beyond the church, and under the bridge by the boundary
stone, on the Scarisbrick road.
TJMTf MA-n M.
Fhysa fontinaUa (Stream Bubble Shell). Bather plentiM in
the river ISTile, and in the streams on the moss. The
mouth of this shell opens to the left hand, by which
characteristic it is easily recognised; it is very thin,
transparent, brown colour, and highly polished.
Fhyaa hypnorum (Slender Bubble Shell). In the same localities
as the above, but not quite so frequently. It has the
same characteristics, with the exception of being longer
and narrower in proportion.
Flanorhis albus ("White Coil Shell). Moderately common in
the stream by the first bridge on the Martin Mere road ;
dark coloured, finely striated, concave underneath, slightly
BO above ; the outside coil rapidly enlarging.
Flanorhis vortex (Whorl Coil Shell). Common in many
ditches and stagnant pools ; a thin light brown shell, with
six or seven volutions, about three eighths of an inch in
diameter, flat above, and sUghtly concave beneath.
Flmorhis epirof'his (BoUed Coil Shell). Found with P. vortex^
but not so commonly. It is light brown, slightly con-
cave on both sides, six volutions.
I
I MOLLUSCA OF SOUTHPORT. 135
Planorhis cantorttu (Twisted Coil Shell). In many ditches on
the moss. The whorls are very closely coiled and very
I narrow, the upper surface rather flat, the underneath
deeply concave.
I Zimnaus pere^er (Puddle Mud Shell). In every ditch, pond,
and stream, where it may be commonly found crawling
about the bottom.
Idmnaus stagnalis (Lake Mud Shell). Fine specimens may be
found in ditches in Birkdale Park, and in ditches on the
Scarisbrick road and on the moss. It is a handsome
shell, light brown, an inch and a half high, the body
whorl large and open, the spire of six or seven volutions
taperiQg to a fine point.
LimncBua truneatulua (Ditch Mud Shell). ISTot uncommon in
most ditches on the moss, generally at the surface of the
water, close to the side. Shell dark brown, about a
quarter of an inch high.
lAmnaus pdlustria (Marsh Mud Shell). Bather common in
ditches on the moss, in Birkdale, and in the neighbour-
hood of Churchtown. Shell dark brown, about three
quarters of an inch high, body whorl longer than broad,
the spire gradually tapering to a point.
Ancylus flmiatulus (Common Eiver Limpet). Yery rare.
Found on stones in a stream on the moss. The shell is
about a quarter of an inch in diameter and height, cone-
! shaped, with the apex curved backwards and near one
end. Semi-transparent, light greenish horn colour;
inside, bluish white, shining.
CHAPTER XI.
And here were coral bowers,
And grots of madrepores,
And banks of sponge, as soft and fair to eje
As e'er was mossy bed
Whereon the wood-nymphs lie
With languid limbs in summer's snltiy hours.
SOUTHET.
ZOOPHYTES OF SOUTIPORT.
The term Zoophyte is applied to all those productions which,
bearing a strong resemblance to vegetables in form and some
other particulars, are yet of an animal nature. The more
arborescent of them are often called CoraUines, a name which
is peculiarly appropriate, being a derivative of the word Coral,
to which they are intimately allied, and by means of which
such gigantic changes are dedly being effected. Islands and
continents are being raised from the deep abysses of the ocean,
to be hereafter clothed with vegetation, and probably made
the seat of a busy population — and these mighty results are
being brought about by the agency of minute creatures,
ZOOPHYTES OF SOUTHPORT. 137
scarcely perceptible to our unaided sight, but whose operations,
though slow, silent, and invisible, are yet certain and
increasing : —
Unconscious, not unworthy, instruments,
By which a hand invisible was rearing
A new creation in the secret deep.
Omnipotence wrought in them, with them, by them;
Hence, what Omnipotence alone could do
Worms did. I saw the living pile ascend,
The mausoleum of its architects,
Still dying upwards as their labours closed;
Slime the material, but the slime was turned
To adamant by their petrific touch;
Frail were their frames, ephemeral their lives —
Their masonry imperishable.
MONTQOMBBT.
Amongst the many recent cultivators of this interesting
department of natural history, the name of the late Dr.
Johnston, of Berwick, stands pre-eminent ; his excellent work
on the British Zoophytes has done much to exalt the subject
and to difPase a more general taste for its cultivation.
'^ Zoophytes," to adopt the language of Br. Johnston,
''present to the physiologist the simplest independent structures
compatible with the existence of animal life, enabling him to
examine some of its phenomena in isolation, and free from the
obscurity which greater complexity of anatomy entails. The
means of their propagation and increase are the first of a series
of facts on which a theory of generation must arise; the
existence of vibratile cilia on the surface of the membrane,
which has since been shown to be so general and influential
among animals, was flrst discovered in their study, and in
them is flrst detected the traces of a circulation carried on
T
138 A HANDBOOK FOR SOUTHPORT.
independently of a heart and vessels. The close adhesion
of life to a low organization; its marvellons capacity of
redintegration ; the organic junction of hundreds and thousands
of individuals in one body, the possibility of which fiction
had scarcely ventured to paint in its vagaries, have all in this
class their most remarkable illustration."
I^ot much more than a century has elapsed since the true
nature of these productions was first discovered ; prior to that
period various opinions were entertained respecting them. By
one class of persons — aad these were by far the most numerous
— ^they were regarded as the undoubted subject of the vegetable
kingdom, and were so arranged aud classified in the various
systems of the most learned botanists of the day. Nor is this
to be wondered at, when we consider the striking resemblance
which these objects bear to vegetables both in form and habits;
some of them being eminently arborescent in their mode of
growth, and being fixed by roots, either imbedded in the
sand, or attached to rocks, stones, and other substances, in
the same manner as seaweed, and consequently being, incapable
of locomotion, except in the brief period of their embryonic
life, a character at that time considered essential to constitute
an animal, being possessed in common with all the animals
then known.
By a second set of persons, at the head of whom stands the
illustrious linnsBus, all the homy and flexible zoophyta were
considered to hold a station intermediate between the animal
and vegetable kingdoms, partaking of the nature of both. The
Lithophyta were, however, arranged by him in the animcd
kingdom, on the supposition that lime was always an animal
product. ''The animalcules of the Lithophyta, like the
ZOOPHYTES OF SOUTHPORT. 139
testaceous tribes/' he said, ^* fabricated their own calcaieous
polypidom, forming the whole mass into tabes, each ending
on the surface in pores or cells, where alone the animal seems
to dwell ; but the polypes of the proper zoophyta, so fax from
constructing their plant-like polypidoms, were, on the con-
trary, the productions or efflorescences of it ; just as the flowers
do not make the herb or tree, but are the results of the
vegetative life proceeding to perfection. Polypes, according
to this fancy, bore the same relation to their polypidom that
flowers do to the trunks and branches of a tree — ^both grew
by vegetation; but while the one evolved from the extremities
blossoms, which shrunk not under external irritation, and
were therefore properly flowers, the other put forth flowers,
which, because they exhibited every sign of animality, were
therefore, with reason, considered animals." In a letter to
Ellis he remarks, alluding to the Zoophytes, ''they are,
therefore, vegetables, with flowers like small animals.'' In
his "Diary" he fttrther remarks that they are "vegetables
with respect to their stems, and animals with respect to their
florescence."
Zoophytes were deemed by another party to be of mineral
origin. This theory was particularly advocated by Henry
Baker. "The rocks in the sea on which these corals are
produced," he says, "are undoubtedly replete with mineral
salts, some whereof, near their surface, being dissolved by
the sea water, must consequently saturate with their saline
particles the water round them to a small distance, where,
blending with the stony matter with which the sea water
always abounds, little masses will be constituted here and
there and affixed to the rocks. Such adhering masses may
140 A HAia)BOOK FOB SOUTHFORT.
be termed roots, which roots, attractmg the saline and stony
particles, according to certain laws in nature, may produce
branched or other figures, and increase gradually by an
apposition of particles becoming thicker near the bottom,
where the saline matter is more abounding, but tapering or
diminishing towards the extremities, where the mineral salts
must be fewer iu proportion to their distance from the rock
whence they originally proceed ; and the different proportions
of mineral saline particles of the stony or other matter where-
with they are blended, and of marine salt, which must have a
considerable share in such formations, may occasion all the
variety we see. Nor does it seem more difficult to imagine
that the radiated, starry or ceUuiar figures along the sides of
these corals, or at the extremities of their branches, may
derive their productions from salts incorporated with the stony
matter, than that the curious delineations and appearances of
minute shrubs and mosses on slates, stones, &c., are owing to
the shootings of salts intermixed with mineral particles ; and
yet these are generally allowed to be the result of mineral
steams and exhalations."
It is scarcely necessary to observe, that all these theories,
however ingenious and interesting, are yet untenable; the
beautiful and poetic hypothesis of Linnaeus is, however, tli©
nearest approximation to the truth. We learn from Dr.
Johnston's " Introduction to the British Zoophytes," on the
authority of M. de Blainville, that Perraute Imperato, an
apothecary at Naples, was the first naturalist distinctly to
publish, as the result of his own observations, the animality
of Corals and Madrepores ; and he is said to have accompanied
the description of the species which fell under his notice with
ZOOPHYTES OF SOUTHPOKT. 141
illustrative figures of considerable accuracy, notwithstanding
his ^'Historia Naturale" was published so early as the
year 1599.
This discovery, however, had no result, since there is
evidence of its entire rejection and ultimate neglect by those
who studied nature. It is to John Ellis, a London merchant,
in the middle of the last century that we are indebted for
having placed the animality of Zoophytes beyond aU doubt or
controversy. "There was nothing unformed or mystical in
Ellis's opinion. Certain marine productions, which, under
th© names of Lithophyta and Ceratophyta, had been arranged
among vegetables, and were still very generally believed to be
so, he maintained and proved, with a most satisfactory fulness
of evidence, to be entirely of an animal nature, the tenements
and products of animals similar in many respects to the naked
fresh-water polype. By examining them in a living state,
through an ordinary microscope, he saw these polypes in the
denticles or cells of the Zoophyte ; he witnessed them display
their tentacula for the capture of their prey ; their varied
actions and sensibility to external impressions and their mode
of propagation; he saw, farther, that these little creatures
were organically connected with the cells, and could not
remove from them, and that although each ceU was appro-
priated to a single individual, yet was this imited by a tender,
thready line to the fleshy part that occupies the middle of the
whole coralline, and in this manner connected with aU the
individuals of that coralline. The conclusion was irresistable :
the presumed plant was the skin or covering of a sort of
miniature hydra, — a conclusion which Ellis strengthened by
an examination of their covering separately, which he said
142 A HANDBOOK FOB SOUTHPOBT.
was as much an animal structure as the naib or horns of
beasts, or the shell of the tortoise : for it ditfers £rom sea-plants,
properly so called, such as the Algae, Euci, &c., which afford
in distillation little or no traces of a volatile salt ; whereas the
corallines afford a considerable quantity, and in burning yield
a smell somewhat resembling that of burnt horn and other
animal substances, which of itself is a proof that this class of
bodies, though it has the yegetable form, yet is not entirely of
a vegetable nature."
It would be foreign to the nature of this work to enter into
the minute anatomy, development, or classification of the
various tribes of Zoophytes. The subject has been investi-
gated with great industry and success by recent observers, and
for a summary of our present knowledge we would refer
students to Dr. Carpenter's work on the Microscope, Lands-
brough's "Popular History of British Zoophytes," and the
classical work of Br. Johnston.
Spmgia mamilaris (Mpple Sponge). We were much gratified
in obtaining this interesting species in a living state, Jefb
on the sands after a very heavy gale of wind. It con-
tinued to eject water from the summits of the projecting
parts for several days after it was found. It is the only
sponge we have been able to procure on this shore
retaining its vitality.
EJy&ractinia eehinata. A very common and abundant species,
found coating a variety of old as well as Hving shells, on
which it is most abundant, such as Buednum undatum^
(the Common Whelk), and the Natica mmiUfera, It has
been stated that most of the shells encrusted by this
ZOOPHYTES OF SOUTHPORT. 143
polype, are tenanted by the Hermit Crab ; we have
frequently found them so, but it does not hold good as a
general rule; in several instances we have found this
species growing on Mya trunoata,
Caryne pusilla f On seaweeds, old shells, and frequently on
other zoophytes. The species are all very small, aud are
only accidentally to be met with.
Uudendrium rcmeum, Erequently thrown ashore after heavy
gales, adhering to old shells^ stones, and occasionally on
the stems or roots of the larger kind of seaweed.
Midendrium ramosum. This and the last species are rarely
obtained with Uving polypes, except from deep water, in
five to twenty fathoms. It is often brought up in the
trawl nets.
Ikihtdaria indimsa (Tubular Coralline). This curious species
inhabits deep water, and is commonly thrown ashore
attached to stones and shells ; we have frequently obtained
specimens with the living polypes on, by following out the
receding tide. After strong winds it is to be met with
in great abundance on the shore, and they are obtained
by dredgiag in from five to twenty fathoms with the
living polypes, and may be kept alive in the aquarium
for a considerable time, if well supplied with sea water.
It grows from three or four inches to a foot or more in
height. Is of a duU horn colour, and grows mostly in
dense clusters. The polypes are of a bright red colour,
and are usually thrown off after a few days' continuance,
and are soon renewed. The species varies considerably
in general appearance, being in some instances quite
straight and entire, in others much curved and branched.
144 A HANDBOOK FOR SOUTHPORT.
Tuhularia Lwryna, A very delicate species, and much clus-
tered; of a lighter colour than the preceding, hut is
smaller and more transparent. Is found at times in
ahundalice, on the rejectamenta left hy the receding tide.
It forms tufts from one to two or three inches in height,
and to obtain the polypes aHve must be procured from
deep water.
Tvhuk/ria gradUs, A heautifcd species, much resembling
T. inddvisa, but more slender. Its polypes are larger and
brighter coloured than in that species. It usually attains
the height of three or four inches, growing on other
species of zoophytes, and is only to be obtained alive from
deep water. It is not abundant here, though, like numerous
other kinds, it is cast ashore during severe weather.
HeUcina heUcinum (Herring-bone Coralline). This beautiftil
species is to be met with in very considerable abundance
at certain seasons, but is only found after rough weather;
in May and September we have found it with the living
polypes,, adhering to shells and stones. It is so much
like a diminutive dry tree, that it is frequently passed as
a decaying vegetable.. After stormy weather it may be
found in considerable quantities from Pormby to Crossens.
Ssriularia polyzonias. A very pretty and not uncommon
species, affording a beautiful microscopic object. Is
mostly found on stones, shells, and seaweed. It varies
from one to several inches in height, is of a pale fawn
colour, with the vescicles of a clear colourless substance,
giving out prismatic reflections. We have found it
lining the inside of the Cardium aouleatum (the Ppckly
Cockle).
ZOOPHTTIS OF 80UTHP0RT. 145
89rii*larta rosacea (Lily or Pomegranate-flowered Coralline).
On shells, stones, corallines, and seaweeds. A most
beautiful species, and found in tolerable abundance on
the receding of the tide. It is from one to two inches
in height, is extremely delicate and slender ; of a dusky
straw colour, sometimes with a rosy tint ; it creeps along
the substance on which it grows, and is to be met with
on the sands from Pormby to Crossens.
8$rtularia aUetina (Sea Eir). One of our more beautiM
zoophytes. It is very abundant ; parasitic on stones and
shells in deep water, and after high tides or stormy
weather is thrown in great quantities on the shore, but
rarely obtained with living polypes, except when dredged
up from deep water. Is frequently quite encrusted with
serpulsB and small mussels ; at times coated with various
species of Lepralia and Celepora.
Seriularia fallax, A small but very elegant species. Not
abundant; but to be found attached to oysters and
scallops, and left ashore by the retreating tide. A native
of deep water.
Sertularia tamaruca (Sea Tamarisk). Frequently found after
spring tides or rough stormy weather. Is attached to
shells and stones ; at times forming clusters eight or ten
inches in height. "When recently left by the tide and
with polypes Uving, its general colour is bright amber, but
soon changes to a dull brown. Is an inhabitant of deep
water, and is occasionally brought up in the dredge-net.
We sometimes see it exposed in the market, growing on
oysters.
146 A HANDBOOK FOR SOUTHPOBT.
SerUdaria fiUeula (Fern Coralline). This common^ but
beautiful species, is frequently found with its polypes
alive growing on seaweed, and, like the last species, is
much encrusted with Lepralia and Serpulse ; it will lire
for a considerable time if well supplied with sea-water,
and with the animals inhabiting the shells form beautiful "
microscopic objects.
Sertularia opereulata (Sea Hair). A common and very elegant
species, growing in small dense tufbs on shells and seaweed,
and being found in shallow water, is moi:e easily obtained
with living polypes than some other species.
Sertularia argentea (Squirrel's Tail Coralline). Very common,
growing on oyster and other shells, and on the roots and
stems of the larger fuci. Some of the most beautiful
specimens obtained were parasitical on the shells of Fholas
eandtda. From its dense mode of growth, and the length
and softness of its branches, it has acquired the name of
SquirreFs Tail Coralline. After high tides, or stormy
weather, it is thrown ashore in large masses along the
entire coast ; it is but rarely found with living polypes^
except when dredged up from deep water.
Sertularia eu^ressina (Sea Cypress). Is occasionally found on
the shore afber strong westerly winds; it is an elegant
species, and is procurable by deep dredgiog.
Thuiaria Thuia (Bottle Brush CoralUne). A very ourious
species, frequently found on the recess of the tide^
growiag on shells and stones. It varies much in size,
from a few inches to nearly a foot in length, and,
except when procured from deep water, it is rarely found
with living polypes.
ZOOPHYTES OF SOUTHFOBT. 147
Thuiaria artictdata (Sea Spleenwort, or Polypody). On ahells
and stones, sometinies in considerable abundance, at other
tunes not a specimen is to be found on the shore for many
weeks together ; it is to be obtained from deep water,
growing in clusters on the base of Antennidaria. We
have kept them alive for a considerable tune.
AnUnntdarta antennina (Lobster's Horn Coralline, or Sea
Beard). Parasitic on shells and stones in deep water,
forming dense clusters ; it is a beautifcd species, and is
often dredged up from the scallop bank, off Southport.
We have obtained some specimens, nearly ei^teen inches
in length ; its colour, when first obtained, is bright, but
it soon changes to a dull horn colour. In the sponge-like
base of one of the larger specimens we obtained a number
of very minute crabs, some not exceeding hemp seed in
size, and the largest about the third of an inch long, of a
brilliant red colour ; some of the females had bundles of
ova nearly as large as their bodies.
Antenmdaria ramosum (Branching Lobster's Horn Coralline;.
This is nearly allied, if not a variety of the preceding.
Large specimens are procured from deep dredging in the
same localities as the last species.
Phimularia faUata (Sickle Coralline). A beautiful species,
abundant on the receding of the tide.
Fkimularta erUtata (Crested Coralline). Frequently thrown
ashore growing on the Hatydrys siliquosa (the Podded
Seaweed), in great profusion ; also on other kinds of fiici,
shells, and stones : the vesicles form a beautiful micro-
scopic object, and axe readily obtained. They may be
gathered in profusion in the months of March and April,
148 ▲ HANDBOOK FOB SOUTHFOBT.
and again in the end of August and September, often
parasitic on Flumularia faleata.
Plumtdaria setaeea. Common on shells and other corallines,
and the coarser kinds of fdci, and growing in loose
tufts. It is found in shallower water than some other
kinds, and is consequently more readily obtained with its
Hying inhabitants.
Plumularia pennatula, A very elegant and delicate species,
sparingly found on this shore ; probably often overlooked
from its diminutive size. Eine specimens are found
growing on Cardium aculeatum.
Plumularia myriophylhim (Pheasant's Tail Coralline). This is
one of our most beautiful Zoophytes, when in perfection ;
its colour is nearly amber, with something of a metallic
lustre. It is not common, but we have repeatedly found
it at Southport.
Plumularia fruteseens (Shrubby Corraline). This species we
have several times picked up on the shore; it has a
considerable resemblance to small specimens of ITaleeium
halecinum, but is darker coloured: the most distinguishing
character is its vamished appearance. It attains the
height of four inches, but with us seldom exceeds two or
three ; grows on shells and stones, and is but seldom found
except after severe storms, or very heavy spring-tides.
Zaomedia Bichotoma (Sea-thread Coralline). Growing on stems
of fuci, seaweeds, and on other Zoophytes; is of very
slender form, but extends a foot or more up the stalks
and over the shells on which it is located. It is found in
large masses, along with its numerous congeners, after
strong winds or high tides.
ZOOFHTTES OF SOUTHPOBT. 149
Zaomedia gmietdata (Xnotted Sea-thread CoraUine). Much
resembling the last species, but generally more upright in
its growth ; is found on the stems of fdci, and, under
similar circimistances, with the other species.
Zaomedia gelatinosa. Has much resemblance to the other two
species, but is generally smaller and more diffuse in its
mode of growth ; found on sheUs and the stems of the
larger seaweeds ; likewise on sticks that have laid long in
the water.
Campanularta voluhiUs (Small Climbing Ck)ralline). A small
but interesting species, frequently growing on other
corallines, unoccupied crab and other shells. We have
found the shell of Corystea Cassivelaunua, or Masked Crab,
completely coated with this species.
Ccmpanalwria verticellata (Horse Tail Coralline). Occasionally
thrown ashore, growing on shells; likewise on the
Tubfdaria indivisa.
Ahymium digitatum (Dead Man's Hands, or Toes; Cow's
Paps). Abundant on these shores at most seasons, grow-
ing in all kinds of strange and grotesque forms (rarely
two specimens alike,) on shells, stones, &c. Its usual
tint is a fall cream colour, at times with a faint rosy hue,
and retains its general aspect when dried, only some-
what shrunken. To obtain the polypes alive it is necessary
to procure it from deep water, where it is found incrust-
ing or attached to stones and shells ; we have not been
able to keep it alive beyond a few days.
Actinia meBemhryanthemum. Prom the nature of our shores it
would seem a very unlikely locality for this interesting
family, yet occasionally species are to be found in great
150 A HAin>BOOK FOR SOUTHPOBT.
numbers, aad among them this species is firequentlj
numerous. It usually is found in little pools left by the
receding tide, where the sand but slightly coyers either
clay or peaty soil ; we have kept them alive for a consider-
able time, but they require a frequent change of water.
It is about an inch and a half in diameter, but has the
power of depressing itself almost to flatness ; its colour
varies considerably, from dull pale red to liver colour,
streaked and blotched with green and blue— the latter
colour predominates. The tentacles are commonly of a
paler red than the body, interspersed with some quite blue.
Actinia dlha (White Sea Anemone ?). Mr. Graves has found
specimens which he thinks may be this species, although
it is said to be confined to the rocky coasts of Cornwall.
The specimens varied from half to three fourths of an
inch in diameter ; the colour was dirty white, with white
lines or continuous strings of white oblong spots; the
tentacles were nearly colourless, with white patches, and
in some instances the pelucid tentacles seemed to contain
numerous rows of minute white bead-like spots. They
are not so sensitive to the touch as other species, and
were found from May to the end of August.
Actinia eoreaeea. Sometimes found in considerable numbers.
It buries itself in the mud and sand, but lives for some
time in clear water. Its colours are full dull red, blotched
and marked with green and dark brown; the tentacles
are white, olive, and red intermixed, and when expanded
in broad sunshine are truly beautifiil, extending consider-
ably beyond the body on all sides, frequently measuring
two inches or more in diameter. When at rest the
ZOOPHYTES OF SOUTHPOBT. 151
tentacles are all drawn inside, and the exterior surface of
the animal so nearly resembles the mnd and saad on
which it is fixed, that it may be readily overlooked.
Actinia crassicornis. This is the largest of onr native Actinias,
often attaining four or five inches in diameter.
Actinia Bellis. A beautiful but very diminutive species,
variable in its appearance and colours. We have been so
fortunate as to obtain it once in this locality. Its colour
is a compound of bright red, white, and ash colour, with
a few yellow spots : is abundant on the Cornish coast, and
probably in other places, but, as it is mostly hid from
view by seaweed, it escapes general observation.
Actinia dianthtts. This beautiful species is very rarely found
on this coast ; we have only met with two or three, and
they in an injured state ; they were attached to stones,
much bruised, and scarcely evinced any signs of life;
they were unable to retract their external Mnge, except
partially.
TuhvUpora serpens (Small Purple Eschara). Found abundantly
on the shore, growing on various zoophytes ; in consider-
able quantities on Flumularia falcata, Sertularia ahietina^
and numerous other species, as well as on shells thrown
ashore from deep water.
Crisia ehumea (Tufted Ivory Coralline). On seaweeds and
other zoophytes, forming beautiful little tuffcs of a dear
white colour, frequently in strong contrast with the
substance on which it is parisitical.
Crisia denticulata. Is larger than the preceding, from which
it is principally distinguished by its black joints, though
these are not always evident.
152 A HANDBOOK FOR SOUTHPORT.
Gemellaria loricdlata. An abundant species, found at all times
on the shore on the receding of the tide ; varies from three
to eight inches or more in height, growing in dense tufts.
Cellepora pumtcosa, Yery common, growing on other corallines,
stones, and seaweed ; it forms little patches on the stems
of Flumularta falcata, 8ertularia ahietinay and various
other species, appearing like little pieces of white coral,
often slightly tinged with rose colour.
Zepralia. This genus, of which there are from forty to fifty
British species, is found on every shore encrusting shells,
stones, zoophytes, and on almost every substance thrown
ashore by the waves. Their forms are very elegant, but
being in all cases microscopic, do not claim the general
attention the beauty of their appearance deserves.
CeUularia scruposa (Creeping Stony Coralline). Common on
shells, corallines, fiustra, and the larger seaweeds. It is
a small species, but is interesting for the microscope.
CeUularia reptan% (Creeping Coralline). Yery common on the
same substances and in similar situations to the preceding.
CeUularia plumosa, A large species, often several inches in
height, is much branched, and is frequently found on our
shore on the recess of the tide.
Memhranipora pihsa. Grows abundantly on other corallineB ;
we have it on CeUularia scruposa, Fhtmularia faHetUay
SerttUaria ahietinay and various others.
Memhranipora memhranacea. Common; often investing ^/f»^a
foliacea.
Fiustra foliacea (Broad-leaved Horn Wrack). This common
species must have been noticed by all visiters to the sea
shores, but has commonly been called seaweed. It is of
ZOOFHTTBS OP SOUTHPOKT. 163
a pale sandy colour, differs considerablj in the shape and
size of its fronds, and abounds in parasites of yarious
kinds, among which are several other species of Flustra.
It inhabits deep water, and is but rarely obtained with
Hying polypes, except when dredged up, attached to
shells or stones.
Flustra trunctata. Frequently mixed with the aboye species,
which, in general appearance, it much resembles, but is
narrower, and the tips of the fronds appear as if cut
straight off. Affects the same situations aa the common
kind.
Flustra (meukiris (Bird's-head Horn Wrack). An interesting
species, fiimished with numerous appendages, closely
resembling the head and bill of a bird ; it is commonly
found growing on the Flustra foUaoea. It requires the
aid of a microscope to see the construction of its yarious
parts, but well repays a close examination. Kot abundant,
but may frequently be met with on other flustra, corallines,
and sheUs, from deep water.
Flustra membranacea. Often found coating seaweed, shells,
and other zoophytes. It forms a thin crust, which, when
dry, readily crumbles to powder.
Salicornariafarciminoides (Bugle Coralline). After tempestuouB
weather this beautiful species is to be found in considerable
abundance, mixed up in the bundles of zoophytes that
are left by the retreating tide. It is one of our most
elegant corallines, and seems more local than some kinds ;
it acquires two or three inches in height, and often occurs
on oyster and scallop sheUs, is an inhabitaat of deep water,
and is at times faintly tinted with rose or purple colour.
CHAPTER XII.
There's beauty all around our paths,
If but our watchfol ejes
Can trace it 'midst fanMliar tMingtt
And through their lowly guise.
Hbmans.
FOBAMIIflPEBi. OF SOlITHPOaT.
The Foraminifera are perhaps the most prized of microscopic
objects, and have deservedly attracted no small share of
attention from modem naturalists.
The exquisite beauty, grace, and complication, displayed in
their calcareous sheUs, fill the mind with wonder, when we
consider the simplicity of their animal structure.
Until recentl J the j were allied with the Ammonites, among
the Cephalopoda. But the study of recent specimens under
the microscope has proved the inhabitant of these lovely shells
to be among the simplest of known organisms ; little more in
fact than an atom of vitalized gelatine, ranking with the
simpler Frotozoic forms.
The Foraminifera belong to the section Ehizopoda, or ** root-
footed," from the tendency of the animalcules to protrude from
the body slender foot-like processes, by means of which they
progreis and absorb their food.
FORAMINIFERA. OF BOUTHFOBT. 155
The species vary much in form. Indeed, Dr. Carpenter,
one of the most careful observers of the group, inclines to the
opinion, that aU the forms are referrible to a very few original
types, modified in the course of time by diversity of habitat,
and other causes retarding or fiEtvouring growth.
The following list of Southport species is taken from
the monograph of Professor WilUamson, on the British
Foraminifera.
Lagena vulgaris typiea,
Lagena vulgwriB var. clavata.
Lagena vulgaris var. perluoida,
Lagena vulgaris var. striata,
Lagena vulgaris var. gracilis.
Lagena vulgaris var. substriata,
EntosoUnia glohosa tgpiea.
Mttosolenia glohosa var. Uneata.
JSntosolenia marginata var. hmda.
EntosoUnia squamosa tgpiea.
Nodosaria radicula.
Nodosaria pyrula.
DentaUna suharouatula igpiea.
CristeUaria subarcuatula.
Nonionina Jeffiresii,
FolgstomeUa unhilicutula.
PlanorhuUna vulgaris,
BuUmina pttpoides.
Polymorphina lactea tgpica.
Polymorphina lactea var. ohlonga.
Polymorphina lactea var. communis.
SpirilHna foUacea.
CHAPTER XIII.
I hare earod weak stomachs bj engaging the persons in the study of
Botany, and particnlarly in the inrestigation of ovr natiye plants.
Dr. CULLEN.
Abundant and dirersified above
All number, were the sources of delight;
*****
One made acquaintanceship with plants and flowers,
And happy grew in telling all their names.
Pollock.
FLOWEBIIf& PIMTS OF SOUTHPORT.
No BEAKCH of natural history affords more real pleasure than
the study of Botany ; and whether pursued as mere amuse-
ment, or for scientific purposes, it is alike valuable. The
healthful exercise of collecting plants in their native localities,
and the amusement afforded by the research, mentally and
bodily, tend to that renovation of the physical powers for
which the valetudinarian seeks the healthful shores of South-
port. Though no striking or picturesque scenes are to be met
with, the range of hills by which it is partially surrounded is
BO interspersed with valleys and marshy land, in addition to
the mosses and meres more inland, that a very extensive field
FLOWBBINa PLANTS OF SOtTHPORT, 157
for botanical pursuits is opened to the student, and no slight
pleasure is to be found in aecumulatmg the beautiful floral
treasures of its neighbourhood.
A botanist rambling among the sandhills will obserye
numerous plants usually described as affecting chalky districts,
in the southern parts of the kingdom ; some that are natives
of the highest hills or mountains are abundantly found here.
Some plants will be found in great profusion that are of rare
occurrence in other localities; others that are found in dry
and chalky places are here to be met with in wet or marshy
spots, so that the Flora of Southport will be found much
more extensive than might have been expected from the
monotonous sand by which it is surrounded. Some of those
mentioned in the list can only be esteemed as outcasts ftom
neighbouring gardens, or have been carted away with manure,
and finding a congenial soil, grow spontaneously in various
places. Of those kinds whose seeds are ftimiflhed with a
pappus, as the Dandelion, a considerable variety are found that
are not common to other parts of this kingdom, but we are
not aware of any plants except mosses that are exclusively
natives of this place.
Of grasses the most abundant is the Marram or Starr Grass,
which luxuriates on the sliore and on the hills, where it is
planted, with Wheat Grass, Sand Carex, and other creeping
kinds, to prevent the sand from being swept away by the
winds. Agriculturally these grasses are worthless, but the
cottagers cut the stems of the starr-grass for maMng mats, &c.
An error exists with respect to the cutting of this species, and
persons are liable to a fine or imprisonment for so doing ;
whereas mowing it is of the greatest benefit, the strength of
158 A handbook: for southport..
the plant being thus thrown into the root. In some instances,
where it had been cut, the root extended from fourteen to
twenty feet, and the crown of the roots had comparatiyely
little foliage. The various dwarf willows also largely contribute
to bind the sands : excepting willows, none of the trees found
in the immediate neighbourhood of Southport are indigenous,
and but few kinds thrive so well as when growing on
other soils.
ITotwithstanding such an extent of shore, there is but a very
scanty supply of that beautifal tribe of plants known as sea-
weeds. Few are natives, but after heavy winds, particularly
from the south-west, many are brought to shore, though in a
broken and injured state. Of the larger and coarser sorts,
which abound in the Isle of Man, immense quantities axe
brought here with every severe gale, but the beautiful red
kinds, so abundant on the rocks and shores of Mona, are of
very rare occurrence. The Sea-wrack, or Zoatera marina,
often appears in great quantities. Mosses are abundant, but
as the greater number produce their fruit during the winter
months, they are not likely to be sought for by convalescents.
They are a numerous and beautifal family, their structure
affording most interesting objects for microscopic investigation.
PLANTS OP SOXTTHPOET.
Common, or Jointed Glasswort {SaUoomia herhaoea). A
common species, abundant on our shores, frequently
gathered and sold in the market as Samphire, for pickling.
This, however, must not be confounded with the true
Samphire fCrithmum maritimumj, a plant found only on
almost inaccessible rocks on the sea-coast, as alluded to
by Shakspeare, in King Lear.
FLOWERINa PLANTS OF 80UTHP0RT. 159
Mare's-tail {Hippuris vulgaris). In most of the ditches and
water-courses in this vicinity; a peculiarly interesting
plant, and an instance of the siniplest form of flower
known. The only British species.
Common Privet {Idgustrum vulgare). In hedge-rows, &c.,
common ; found only truly wUd on precipitous Hmestone
cMs and rocks, generally near the sea.
Thyme-leaved Speedwell ( Veronica serpglUfolia). The name
of Yeronica is from that of a female saint.
Marsh Speedwell ( Veronica Bcutellata). In ditches, abundant.
Water Speedwell ( Veronica AnagalUs). Common.
Brooklime ( Veronica Beccahunga). Sometimes used as a salad.
Common Speedwell ( Veronica officinalis). Common.
Mountain Speedwell {Veronica montana). Less abundant
than the preceding.
Germander Speedwell ( Veronica Chamadrys). Abundant on
banks, and in fields and woods, enlivening the scenery
with its splendid blue flowers ; it is particularly orna-
mental on rockeries.
Ivy-leaved Speedwell ( Veronica hederifolia). Common.
Green Procumbent Field Speedwell {Veronica agrestis),
Conmion.
Wall Speedwell ( Veronica arvenis). Common.
Common Butter-wort {Finguicula vulgaris).
Bladder-wort ( Utricularia minor). W.
Gipsy-wort {Zgcopus europtms). Used by the wandering
tribes to dye their skins.
Common Enchanter's Nightshade {Circosa Lutetiana). W.
Ash-tree {D^axinus excelsior). "W.
Ivy-leaved Duckweed {I^mna trisulca).
160 A HANDBOOK FOB SOUTHFOKT.
Greater Duckweed {Lemna poJyrhim),
Lesser Duckweed {Lemna minor).
Prickly Twig-rush {Cladium ma/rucu9)» In marshy places,
but rare.
Sweet Yemal Grass {Anthoxa/nthm odoratum). This is very
^graut, particularly whilst drying, aud is the principal
species affording the delightful fragrance to newly mown
hay.
Small Marsh Valerian ( Valeriana dioica).
Great "Wild Yalerian {Valeriana opdnalia). Both species
abound in wet situations; the latter is in considerable
request for medical purposes.
Lambs' Lettuce, or Com Salad {Fedia olitoria). Used as a salad.
Yellow Iris, or Fleur de luce {Iris psued-acorm), Yery
abundant. This was the old symbol of the Bourbons, and
was fbrst called Meur de Louis.
Black Bog-rush {Schosnus nigricans). Wet places, but rare.
Beak-rush {Rkyncospora alba). "W.
Bristle-stalked Club-rush {ScirptM aetacem).
Lake Club-rush, or Bull-rush {Scirpm hcmtris). In marshes
about Formby, but not abundant.
Sea Club-rush {Sdrjma maritimus).
Wood Club-rush {Seirpm syhatiem,) W.
Broad-leaved Blysmus {Blysmm campreama). Abundant from
Birkdale to Formby.
Karrow-leated Blysmus {Bhfamtia rufita). Occasionally found
on the salt marshes.
Creeping Spike-rush {Meocharia pahatria).
Many-stalked Spike-rush {Eleooharia muUicauUa).
Chocolate-headed Spike-rush (Uleocharia paneiflora).
FLOWERINO PLAirrS OF SOUTHPORT. 161
ScaLj-fitalked Spike-rash {Eleoeharts etMpitoM).
Least Spike-rush {JSleoeharis aeieularts), Qt.
floating Spike-msh {Eleochmis fluitam),
Hare's-tail Cotton-grass (Eriophorum vaginatum).
Broad-leaved Cotton-grass {Eriophorum polystaehiim).
Common Cotton-grass {Ertophorum cmgwUfoUim). In the
marshes, meres, and mosses ; very common.
Mat-grass {Nardm strieta). On all our salt marshes.
Meadow Fox-tail Grass (Akpecurua praUtmi). One of the
most productiye and yalnable of our natiye grasses.
Slender Fox-tail Grass {Ahpecurui agrestis).
Floating Fox-tail Grass (Alopeeunu fluitam), Yery abundant
in wet places; when growing on dry ground it becomes
much smaller. ,
Cultivated Canary Grass {Fhahrts omarwuii).
Beed Canary Grass {Phakria arundinaeea).
Sea«reed, Star-grass, or Bent {Ammophila arundmaeea). Most
usefdl in binding the sand together; frequently it
extends its roots twelve or fourteen feet; it is specially
protected by law.
Common Cat's-tail Grass {FKUum prat0M$).
Sea Cat's-tail Grass (PA^Mm armoritm). Both kinds abundant
on the sandhills.
Purple-flowered Small-reed ( CaUmagroaUa kmeohta). Moist
places; common.
Wborl-grass {Catabroaa aqmUea), Varies greatly in size ; it
is one of the sweetest of our native grasses.
Brown Bent-grass {Affrostts eantna). Abundant on the salt
marshes, as well as on meres and bogs.
Comm<m Bent-grass {AgroiU% wHgarit).
T
162 A HANDBOOK FOB SOUTHFOBT.
Marsli Bent-grass {Agrostk alba). Both very abimdaiit.
Crested Hair-grass {KoeUria eristata). On the sandhills.
Tufbed Hair-grass {Atra cmpitosa). Moist places; abundant.
Silvery Hair-grass {Aira caryophylla).
Early Hair-grass {Air a praeox). Both species very common
on the sandhills.
"Wood Melic {Melica uniflora). "W.
Purple Melic-grass {Mollinia ecBrulea), Used in some parts for
making besoms ; common on the sides of water courses.
Creeping Soft-grass {Hblous mollis). Easily distinguished
from the following by the tufts of hair on the knots of
the stalks.
Meadow soft-grass {JSbleus lanatus). Both kinds common.
Oat-like Grass {Arrhmatherum avenaceum). Plentiful.
"Water Meadow-grass {Foa aquatica). Scarce in this vicinity,
but abundant in the south and east of England ; found on
the banks of ditches and ponds, forming the principal
crop of grass in the fenny countries.
Floating Meadow-grass {Foa fluitam). Is much relished by
cattle, and is abundant, but from the situations it affects
is of little account with the agiicultarist.
Creeping Sea Meadow-grass {Foa marifima). Common in
salt marshes.
Eeflexed Meadow-grass {Foa distam).
Procumbent Meadow-grass {Foa proeumbma). Common from
Eormby Point to Crossens, in parts only occasionally
overflowed by the sea.
Hard Meadow-Grass {Foa rigida). Common on walls and dry
uncultivated plax^es.
Dwarf Wheat Meadow-grass {Foa Miaoea).
FLOWERING PLANTS OF SOUTHFOBT. 163
Rough-stalked Meadow-grass {Foa trmaUs),
Smooth-stalked Meadow-grass (Foa prafeMta). These two,
with Alopecunu pratensU, constitate the bulk of our grass
crops, and arc to be found in all good meadowfl. For
green pasturage they are invaluable to the cultivator.
Annual Meadow-grass {Poa annua). Abundant ever3rwhere.
Decumbent Heath-grass {Triodia decumhena).
Quaking-grass {Bri%a media), Yery abundant.
Bough Cock's-foot Grass {Dactylia ffhmerata).
Crested Dog's-tail Grass {Cynosurua cristata), A valuable
pasturage gra^s, of common occurrence.
Sheep's Pescue-grass {Featuca cvina). Occasionally on the
sandhills, both in its common and oviparous states.
Hard Fescue-grass {Featuca duriuscula). Abundant near
the sea.
Creeping Fescue-grass {Featuca rubra).
Barren Fescue-grass {Featuea hromoides). Kot common.
"Wall Fescue-grass {Festuca Ifyurua). G.
Single-glumed Fescue-grass {Festuea uniglumis). Common on
the sandhills from Birkdale to Formby.
Meadow Fescue-grass {Festuea pratenm). A valuable grass ;
common. It is esteemed equal to the Poaa before-named.
Barren Brome-grass {Bramus Bterilue). Yery common in hedge
rows.
Hairy "Wood Brome-grass {Bromus aaper). W.
Smooth Eye Brome-grass {Bromus seeaUnus). Sometimes met
with, but not common.
Soft Brome-grass {Bromus molUs). Most abundant.
Smooth Brome-grass {Bromus raeemosus). Fields; common.
Yellow Oat-grass {Avena Jhvescens). In fields and sandhills.
164 ▲ HANDBOOK FOB 80UTHF0BT.
Wild Oat {Avena fatm). W.
Biistle-pointed Oat-grass (Avma sMposa). W.
Beed {Fhragmites etmmums). In great demand for economical
pniposes, snch as garden screens, latching, biick-
making, &c. The leayes are employed by the poor for
mat making, and the flowers afford a nidm for a consider-
able yaiiety of insects, particularly the smaller kinds of
moths ; it is naturally an aquatic, but grows abundantly
in com-flelds in the neighbourhood, where in deep draining
the roots haye been spread oyer the land.
Upright Sea Lyme-grass {JSlymus armariw), Q,
Used like the starr-grass to bind the sands.
Wall Barley-grass {Hardeum mwrimm), A.
Meadow Barley-grass (Hard^um pratmse).
Creeping Wheat-grass, Couch-grass, or Twitch {THUeum'
repem).
Eushy Sea Wheat-grass {Tritieum juneeum). Host abundant
along the coast, even within tide-mark.
False Brome-grass {Braehypodium syhaUeum).
Perennial Darnel, or Bye-grass {ZoUum perenne).
Sea Hard-grass {Lepturua incurvatm). Sparii^y on the
shores aboye high-water mark.
Water-blinks, or Chi(^weed {MimUa fontam). Wetandbo^iy
places; common.
Wood Teazel {IHpMm» tyhetitm), A.
Field Enautia {KnauUa arvmuit).
Deyil's-bit Scabious (Sedbioaa suecisa).
Small Scabious {Scahiosa Oobmharia). Less abundant than
the last species, but not rare.
Yellow Bed-straw {OaUum vertm). Very common.
FLOWBBINa PLAIVTS OF SOUTHFOBT. 165
White Water Bed-straw {Oaliufn pahaire), FlentiM in wet
fiituatioiis.
Rougli Marsh Bed-straw {OaUum uUgxnowm),
Cross-wort {OaUum orueiatum). W.
Smooth Heath Bed-straw {GaUum %aasaUle).
Great Hedge Bed-straw {€hiUwm moUuffo).
Goose-grass, or Gleayers ( €Mmm Aparine). Formerly seyeral
of these species were in general use for stuffing beds,
cushions, &c., from whence they derive their English
name. The root of the Yellow Bed-straw was much
used in dyeing, and affi>rds a finer red than madder. The
seeds of Goose-grass have been used instead of coffee.
Wood-ruff {Asp&nda odarata).
Blue Sherardia, or Field Madder {Sh&rardia anfenaia). Common
on the roads and waysides.
Greater Plantain {Plantago mqfor). A great fayourite with
small birds ; common everywhere.
Bibwort Plantain {Phntago hneeolaia). Abundant.
Sea-side {Phntago mantma).
Buck's-hom Plantain {Phntago toronopua).
The two last species very abundant on the coast and &r
inland.
Mouse-tail {Cmtunetdua minmua).
Allseed {Radiola milUgrana).
PeUitory of the Wall {Pair%0kvr%a offidnaUt). Churchtown ;
not uncommon on old walls.
Field Ladies' Mantle {Alehemtlla arwHsisy Yery common.
Great Burnet {Sangutsorha offieinaUa), Yery abundant in moist
meadows, between Churchtown and Crossens.
Fennel-leaved Pondweed {Potamogeton pecUnaius).
166 A HANDBOOK FOB SOUTHPOBT.
Small Pondweed {Potamogeton pmilluB),
Grass-leaved Pondweed {Potamogeton gramtneus).
Curled Pondweed {Potamogeton erispus).
Perfoliate Pondweed {Potamogeton perfoliatus).
Shining Pondweed {Potamogeton luoens) ?
Eeddish Pondweed {Potamogeton rufescens).
Sharp-pointed Broad-leaved Pondweed (Potamogeton natana).
Oblong-leaved Pondweed {Potamogeton eompresium). Is a
variety of Potamogeton ptmllus ?
All the Pondweeds are abundant wherever thej gain
a footing, and speedily choke up slow streams or ponds.
Their leaves are beautifully reticulated, and afford a
nidus and food to a great variety of insects and snails.
Sea Euppia {Etippia martttma). Common in many of the
salt water courses.
Procumbent Pearlwort (Sagtna proeumhens).
Annual Small-flowered Pearlwort {Sagina apetala).
Sea Pearlwort {Sagina maritima). Common on the coast.
Yiper's Bugloss {Echium vulgare). Abundant at Birkdale, and
all along the coast to Pormby.
Gromwell {Lithoapermtim officinale). In fields near Ainsdale
station.
Bastard Alkanet, or Com Gromwell {ZithospermtMn arvense).
About Ainsdale.
Borage {Borago officinaHa). Scarcely a native^ but has become
common from being the outcast of gardens.
Small Bugloss {Lycopeis arvensia).
Forget-me-not {Myoaotia pdhtatria).
Tufted Water Scorpion-grass {Myoaotia empitoaa).
Field Scorpion-grass {Myoaotia arvenaia).
FLOWEBING PLANTS OF SOUTHPORT. 167
Early Scorpion-grass {MyoBotis eolUna).
Yellow and Blue Scorpion-grass {Myosotis versicolor). Common
on waste places, walls, and in many parts of the sandhills.
Hound's tongue (Cynofflosmm ofictnale). Plentiful.
Scarlet Pimpernel {Anagdlis arvenais). Sometimes found
with white or blue flowers.
Bog Pimpernel {AnagdUs tenella), A very delicate plant.
Great Yellow Loosestrife {Lysimachia vulyaria. Tormerly
common, but from the draining of the land not now often
found.
Wood Loosestrife, or Yellow Pimpernel {Lysimachia nemorum).
In woods, and moist shady places, common.
Moneywort, or Herb Twopence {Lysimachia Niimmularia),
Primrose (Primula vulga/ris). Yery common; in the neigh-
bourhood is found a variety of the common primrose on
a stalk, like the oxlip or cowslip, particularly about the
Eectory, also with purple flowers.
Oxlip {Primula elatior) ? In damp meadows.
Cowslip, or Paigle {Primula veris).
And I serye the fairy qneen
To dew her orbs npon the green;
The Cowslip small her pensioners be;
In their gold coats spots yon see;
Those be freckles, faiiy favours,
In those freckles live their savours;
I must go seek some dew-drops here
And hang a pearl on every Cowslip's ear.
Shakspbabb.
Water Yiolet {JSbUonia pahtstris). This is one of the most
beautiful of our aquatic plants, and is well adapted for
aquaria ; grows abundantly in most of the water-courses
and ditches round Southport.
168 ▲ HANDBOOK FOB 80UTHP0BT.
Buckbean, or Marsh Trefoil {Mmi/anthes trifoliata).
Oft where the stream meandering glides,
Our beanteons MsinrANTHES hides
Her clnitering, fringed flowers;
Nor, *mid the garden's sheltering care,
Or famed exotics, rich and rare,
Forple or roseate, brown or fair,
A plant more lorely towers.
The Buckbean, both in form and colour, rivals many
foreign plants oultiyated in this country at great expense
and trouble. It keeps in bloom for some weeks. The
easiest mode of culture is to obtain roots early in the year,
and plant them in a garden pot, which for the Ebttonia
should be submerged; for the Menyanthesy keeping the
pot oonstantly standing In water, will answer very well.
Found abundantly in wet places round Southport.
Common Centaury {ErythniM eewkmrvum).
Dwarf-branched Centaury (Mrythraa pukAetta).
Dwarf-tufted Centaury {Mrythraa UnaHfoUa).
Broad-leaved tufbed Centaury {Eryihr€sa latifoUa)
All the species are common on the shores, salt marshes,
and among the sandhills; the first and last species vary
greatly in size, being often only an inch in height and
frequently attaining 10 or 12 inches and more ; the other
two species are very dwarf, rarely exceeding two or three
inches. The whole are beautifal, varying from a full rose
colour to pure white; they are intensely bitter, from
which circumstance they acquired the name of OaU of
the Earth.
Thorn Apple (Datura Sinmonium)' In waste places; but a
doubtful native.
FLOWESma PLANTS OF SOUTHPORT. 169
Henbane {Eyoscyamus niger). Probably an outcast &om gardens.
Woody Mghtshade, or Bitter-sweet {Salanum Jhdcamara),
Common by the aides of ditches,
(harden Nightshade (Solanum nigrum). In waste grounds.
Great Mullein ( Verhascum Thapsui). A.
Small Bindweed {Convohuhs arvmsis).
Woody Bindweed {CalyaUgia Septum). Common, though less
so than the preceding.
Sea Calystegia, or Bindweed {Calystegia SoldaneUa). This
beautiful species is abundant on the sandhills skirting
the shore.
Brookweed (Samolus Valerandi), Common in all the marshy
places among the hills.
Annual Sheep's Scabious {Jamne montana). On dry sandy
places remote from the sea ; particularly abundant on the
moss about Halsall.
Round-leaved Bell-flower, or Hare-bell {Campanula rotundd-
folia). On the sands, often with pure white flowers.
This is unquestionably the plant to which the poet
refers —
E'en the light Haxbbbll raised its head,
Elastic fh)m her airy tread; —
and not the Hyadnthm nan scriptus.
Giant Bell-flower, or Throatwort ( Campanula latifolia), W.
Ivy-leaved Bell-flower ( Campanula hederifoUa). A.
Honeysuckle, or Woodbine {Lonieera Periclymenum). Common
in hedges and copses.
Hairy Yiolet {Viola Mrta). Found sparingly among the
sandhills.
Sweet Yiolet {Viola odorata). W.
170 A HANDBOOK FOB SOUTHFOBT.
Marsh Yiolet ( Viola pahiutris). Yerj common in moist boggy
ground all round Southport.
Dog's, or Scentless Yiolet ( Viola eanina).
Dwarf Yellow-spurred Yiolet ( Viola flavieomis).
Pansy Yiolet, or HeartVease ( Viola tricolor).
Yet mark'd I where the bolt of Cupid fell;
It fell upon a litUe western flower —
Before milk-white; now purple with love's wound —
And maidens call it LoYB-uf-lDLBNBSS.
Fetch me that flower; the herb I showed thee once;
The juice of it on sleeping eyelids laid.
Will make a man or woman madlj doat
Upon the next live creature that it sees.
SHJkKSPEABB.
Yellow Pansy ( Viola Udea).
Common Gooseberry {Ribes ^rossularia). In hedgerows, but
can scarcely be considered wild.
Common Ivy {JBedera helix). Abundant.
And can those flowers, that bloom to fbde.
For thee a fitting wreath appear?
No! wear thou, then, the Ivr-braid,
Whose leayes are never sere.
It is not gloom J ; brightlj plaj
The sunbeams on its glossy green;
And softtj on it sleeps the raj
Of moonlight, all serene.
It changes not, as seasons flow
In changeM, silent course along;
Spring finds it verdant, leaves it so;
It outlives summer's song;
Autumn no warm or russet stain
Upon its fadeless glory flings;
And winter o'er it sweeps in vain.
With tempest on his wings I
Bbrnabd BABT<nr.
FLOWERINa PLANTS OF SOUT&POBT. 171
Sea Milkwort, or Black Saltwort {Ghux maritma). Most
abundant in all the salt marshes.
Marsh G^tian {Gmtiana Fneumommthe), A.
Autumnal Gentian {Qmtiana Amarella),
Field Gentian {Gentiana cimpestru).
Both species very abundant about the sandhills.
Wild Celery {Apium grmeolens). A.
Wild Carrot {Daucus earota).
Upright Hedge Parsley {TmUs AnthrisctM), Common in
waste places.
Spreading Hedge Parsley {IbriKs mfeeta).
Knotted Hedge Parsley {Ibrilia nodosa).
Cow Parsnip, or Hogweed {JETeracUum Spondylium).
Common Wild Parsnip {Pastinaea satwa).
Hemlock {Conium maeulafum).
Garden Angelica {AngeUea ArehangeUca). Sparingly on the
moss, near Halsall, far away from any house or
garden. G.
Wild Angelica {AngeUea sykesMs). By the sides of water-
courses, common.
Meadow Pepper Saxifrage {Silam pratemis).
FooFs Parsley {(Ethusa Cynapiwn). A very poisonous plant ;
not abundant.
Water Dropwort {(Enanthe fistulosa). Abundant in ditches
and places occasionalLy overflowed.
Callous-fruited Water Dropwort {(Enanthe ptmpineUoides). W.
Hemlock Water Dropwort {(Enanthe erocata). W.
Broad-leaved Water Dropwort (Stum latifoUum)}
Procumbent Water Dropwort {8ium nodiflorum).
Narrow-leaved Water Dropwort {Sitm augustifoUum).
172 A HANDBOOK FOB 80UTHF0BT.
Least Water Dropwort (Sum inundaibtm).
All the Dropworts are aquaticSy and some kinds are
yery abundant in ditches, so much so that many of the
watercourses are quite choked with them ; the broad and
narrow-leaved are poisonous, and all the others are to be
suspected.
Earth-nut {Bunium flexuomm). The tuberous root is eaten
by children, and is greedily deyoured by pigs.
Burnet Saxifirage {PmpineUa 8dxifrag%a),
Gk)ut-weed, or Herb Gterarde {JEgopodium Podagraria), In
damp situations ; not uncommon.
Bough Chervil ( ChoerophyUum temulentum). Yery abundant.
Wild Beaked Parsley {Anthr%seu8 syhesirii). In banks and
hedges ; very common.
Common Beaked Parsley {Anthriscus vulgaris).
Shepherd's Needle, or Yenus's Comb {Seandix peeten). In
cornfields and cultivated ground ; abundant.
Common Alexanders {Smymium Ohuatrum)}
Sea Holly, or Sea Eringo {JEryngium marUmum). Yery
abundant on the shore, and among the sandhills bordering,
frequently attaining a large size ; the root is sometimes
bleached and forms a substitute for asparagus, and has
been long used, when candied, as a sweetmeat.
White Eot, or Marsh Pennywort {JSydrocotyle vulgaris).
Annual Sea-side Goosefoot (Sucsdea maritima).
Many-seeded Gbosefoot {Chenopodium polysperimmy
Ditto do. var. A. and B.
Good King Henry, or Mercury Gbosefoot ( Chenopodium Banm
JSenricus),
Bed Goosefoot {Cfhmopodium rubrum)^
FLOWEBINa PLANTS OF SOUTEFOBT. 173
Oak-leaved Goosefoot ( Ch&ncpodium ghmeum)}
Many of the species are abundant in banks, hedges, &c.,
along the shores ; those with large leaves are frequently
used as potherbs, and as substitutes for spinach.
Prickly Saltwort (Salsola Kali), Abundant on the shore.
Common Elder {Samhueus nigra). In hedge rows.
Grass of Parnassus (PafTUtasia pahutris).
Famassian grass, with chaliced bloom,
And globes nectareoas, like the earl's
Bich coronet, beset with pearls.
A very beautifal and highly interesting plant, most
abundant in this neighbourhood, though not generally
dispersed through the kingdom, and in many places quite
unknown ; the nectaries at the base of the petals are very
beautifiil microscopic objects.
Thrift, or Sea GilMower {Armeria maritima). With white
and red flowers; abundant.
Spreading Spiked Sea-Pink {Statiee Limonium). W.
Eemote-flowered Sea-Pink {Statiee rariflora).
Purging Elax (Zinum oathariieum). Yery common.
Eound-leayed Sun-dew (Brosera rotundifoUa),
Spathulate-leaved Sun-dew {Dros&ra hngifoUa). On the
mosses and about the meres.
Great Sun-dew {Drosera AngUoa), "W.
Water Purslane {PepUB Fortula). Common in places occasion-
ally overflowed.
Wild Hyacinth, or Blue-bell (Agraphia nutam). In woods
and shady places ; common.
Broad-leaved Garlic {AlUtm uraintmy W.
Star of Bethlehem {Omithogahm umheUatum). A.
174 A HANDBOOK FOB SOUTHFOBT.
Lancaahiie Bog Asphodel {Nartheeium omfroffum).
Hard Euah {Juneus glaueus).
Soft Eu8h {Juneui effiMm).
Commoii Eufih {Junem eonglomeratwi),
LesBor Sharp Sea-Ensh {Junew maritimwi).
Shaip-fLoweied Jointed Enah {Jkmcus aeutijhnu).
Shimng-firdted Jointed Eush {Jiineus lampoearptuf).
Lesser Bog Jointed Ensh {Juncus uHginosua).
Toad Eush {Juneus hufaneus),
Eound-fruited Ensh {Juneus compresitui). Yar. etmoiw. W.
Heath Ensh {Junoum squarroms). The mshes are fouhd in
boggy places, some in salt marshes, and abound in all the
mosses and meres.
Great Hairy Wood Ensh {Imula syhatiea),
Broad-leayed Hairy Wood Eush {Lu%ula pdosa).
Field Wood Ensh {IJuzula eampeHrU). The Wood Enshes are
very common on the sandhills; they do not affect situations
so near the sea as the true Enshes.
Great Water Dock {Rumex Mf/drolqpathum).
Curled Dock {Rumex cnspus).
Bloody-yeined Dock {Rumex tangmnmts).
Sharp Dock {Rumex aoutua).
Broad-leaved Dock {Rumex ohtusifoUus).
Golden Dock {Rumex maritimus).
Common Sorrel {Rumex aeetoea).
Sheep's Sorrel {Rumex aeetoaeUa).
Both kinds of Sorrel are common, and are frequently
used as salad.
Marsh Arrow-grass {IHghehin pahnstre).
FLOWEBINa PLANTS OF SOUTHFOBT. 176
Sea-side Aiiow-grass {H^iffhehm maritmum).
Both kinds very common.
Greater Water Plantain {AUuna PUntago). Abundant in
ponds and ditches.
Lesser Water Plantain {AUsma ranuneuhides). Common in
stagnant water.
Creeping Lesser Water Plantain. Var. B.
Common Maple {Acer oampestris), W.
Not indigenous.
Perfoliate Yellow-wort ( CMora perfoUata), Yery abundant.
An excellent bitter.
Cross-leaved Heath {JEnca tetraUx).
Fine-leaved heath {Urica cineria).
Common Ling, or Heather {CaUuna wdgaris).
These three plants abound in all the mosses and meres.
Bilberry, or Wortleberry {Vaeeinnm myrtilkui).
Marsh Wortleberry, or Cranberry ( Vaednium oxyeoeem).
Evening Primrose {(Enothera biennis). Grows all round
Southport, particularly at Birkdale, but not indigenous.
Hairy Willow-herb, or Codlings and Cream {JEpilohiijm hir-
sutum). In most ditches and watercourses.
Small-flowered Willow-herb (.^nlohium parviflorum).
Broad Smooth-leaved Willow-herb {JSpilohium montanum).
Square-stalked Willow-herb {Epikibiwn tetragonwn),
Nairow-leaved Marsh Willow-herb {JBpilohium palusfre),
Enot-grass {Folyyonum avieidare).
Bobert's Enot-grass {Pofyyanum JRoberU).
" This, which we have long been acquainted with,
grows abundantly on both sides of the Mersey, sometimes
extending three or four feet in length.'^ — G.
176 A HANDBOOK FOB 80UTHF0BT.
Buckwheat {Fofy^onum Fagopynm), The seed affords excellent
food for poultry ; it was probably originally introduced
for agricultural purposes.
Climbing Buckwheat {Polygonum Cofwokulus). The seeds
are smaller than the last, and are much sought after by
Hmall birds.
Amphibious Persicaria {Polygonum amphibium).
Ditto ditto Yar. A. and B.
All common on the sides of ponds, or floating on the
surface.
Spotted Persicaria {Polygonum P&rmaria).
Pale-flowered Persicaria {Polygonum LapathifoUum).
Small Creeping Persicaria {Polygonum minus). Common on
footpaths by the sides of watery places.
Biting Persicaria {Polygonum JSydropiper), Very common in
wet situations, and may be readily known by its pendant
spikes of flowers.
Tuberous Moschatel {Adoxa mosehafeUina). In banks and
shady places abundant, diffrising a pleasant musky odour.
Flowering Euah, or Water Gladiole {Butomus umheUatus).
This is one of the most showy of our native aquatics, and
weU deserves a place in all artiflcial waters.
Yellow Bird's-nest (Monotropa JSypopithys). Abundant in
marshy grounds, interspersed with dwarf wiUows.
Bound-leaved Winter-green {Pyrola rotundifolia). This, and
the Pyrola mariiima are met with in considerable abun-
dance in the low marshy places among the sandhills from
Birkdale to Formby, likewise at Lytham; it is a very
local plant, and probably in no part of this kingdom is so
abundant as in the places above named. It is so beautiful
FLOWBRINa PLANTS OP SOUTHPORT. 177
that it merits a place in every garden; it is of easy
cultiyation, growing in almost sheer sand with a little
peat earthy and must be kept constantly moist.
Sea Winter-green {P^frola marUima),
Knowel {Seleranthus annuus), A.
Opposite-leaved GK)lden Saxifrage {Chrysospknium oppositi-
foUum), Frequent in watery places.
Common Soap-wort {Saponaria offidnaUi). On banks, foot-
paths, and roadsides round Southport ; a double variety
is cultivated in gardens.
Bladder Campion {Silene inflaia). Common on the shore.
Sea-Campion, or Catch-fly {Silene maritima). This much
resembles the last species, has larger flowers and smaller
leaves, though frequently can scarcely be extinguished.
English Catch-fly (Silene AngUea), In flelds near the Ainsdale
Station.
Night-flowering Catch-fly (Silene nocfiflora). In borders of
flelds and by the sides of the Bailway from Birkdale to
Crosby.
Unlike Silbnb, who declines
The garish noontide's blazing light;
Bat when the evening crescent shines.
Gives all her sweetness to the night
Wood Stitchwort {Stellaria nemorwn).
Common duckweed, or Stitch- wort {Stellaria media).
Greater Stitch-wort {SieUaria holostea).
Lesser Stitch-wort (Stellaria graminea).
Glaucous Marsh Stitch-wort {SteUa/ria ghuea).
Bog Stitch-wort {SteUaria uUginosa).
Water Mouse-eared Chickweed {Malaehium aquaticum).
178 A HANDBOOK FOR BOUTHFORT*
Seanside Sand-wort {JSonehmga peploides).
lliree-nerved Sand-wort {Armaria trinervis). Moist ebady
places, not uncommon.
Thyme-leaved Sand- wort {Arenarta SerpiUifdUa), Dry places,
firequent.
Purple Sand-wort {Arenaria rubra).
Sea Spurry Sand-wort {Arefnaria gptrgularia). With the last
specieB common on the sea-shore.
Marsh Andromeda {Andromeda pohfoUa). W.
Wall Penny-wort {Cotyledon umhUieus), Pound spaiingLy
aboiat 'Scarisibridk and its yicinity.
Bitmg Stone-crop> or Wall Pepper {Sedum acre). Abundant
on tiM sandjialls.
En^idi Stime-crop {Sedam AngUdwn). A.
Wood Sorrell {OxaUs aeetoeella). In woods and shady places.
Com Cockle (Agroatemma Githago),
Bagged Bobin^ or Cuckoo-flower {Lyaknie JUe-caeiiM).
Bed afeoA White Campion {Lyehms dmca).
Bed and White Campion. Yar., £. Both varietieB are
abundant in banks and cornfields.
Broad-leaved Mouse^ear CMokwtsed {Ceraatdum mlgaium).
Narrow-leaved Mottse'^ar CSbickweed ( Oerastitim meosum), G.
Little Mouse-ear Chickweed ( Cerastium semi-decandrum). ^
Four-deft Mouse-ear Chid^weed {Cerastmn ieirandrum).
These species are ttbundaat in waste places, sides <^ fields^
and on the sandhills.
Sea-side Sandwort-spurry {Spwguhria marina).
Com Spurry {Sperpdaria arveneis).
Knotted Spurry {Spergularia nodoea). Common like the laflt,
but affecting moister sitoationfi.
FLOWSBJNa PLANTS 07 SOUTBFQBT. 179
Purple Loosestrife {Lythrum saUeana). In moist ditches and
£elds round Southport.
Common Agrimony {Agrimonia Mipaioria), Occasionally
among the sandhills.
Dyer's Eocket, or Yellow-weed {Seseda luteQla}*
Shrubby-base Eocket {Reseda firuiieukaay
White Eocket {Reseda Ma). This grows with the last species
on the Southport shore, but has either been sown or is
the outcast of gardens.
Common House-leek (Sempervwum teetorwm). This species
was formerly held in high estimation in rural pharmacy.
The expressed juice of the leaves^ mixed with nulk, is
often applied iu cutaneous eruptions.
Wild Bullace {Prtmm eommume). OccadGiuilly in hedge-
rows.
Blackthorn, or Sloe {Ftwfim epinoea). Hedges, frequent*
Hawthoni, Whitethorn, or Hay {Craks^ Oa^emtha).
Abundant, sometimes with pink flowers.
Crab Apple {Pyrue Malus).
Mountain Ash, or Eowan (Pynw auciiparia). W*
Meadow-sweet (Spicera tUnaria). In moist places.
Eumet-leaved Eose {JRosa epinasiesma). Conunon on many
^ of the Randhillfl.
vog Eose {Roea emina).
Ditto. Yar., A., B., C, & D. Common in hedgee^ and borders
of woods.
Downy-leaved Eose {Rosa tamentosa). A.
Easpberry {Rulmi idoms). Found occaeionaUy in waste
places.
180 A HANDBOOK FOB SOUTHFOBT.
Commoii Bramble or Blackberry {Rubua frutieo8Us), Very
common.
The primrose to the grave is gone;
The hawthorn flower is dead;
The yiolet bj the moss'd grey stone
Hath laid her weary head;
Bat thoo. Wild Be^mblb! back dost bring
In all their beanteons power,
The fresh green days of life's fair spring,
And boyhood's blossomy hoar.
Scom'd Bramble of the Brake! once more
Thoa bidst me be a boy,
To gad with thee the woodlands o'er.
In freedom and in joy.
Elliot.
Hazel-leaved Bramble {Euhua corylifdlitui).
Dewberry {Rubus oasim). This species may be readily known
horn the foregoing by its constantly trailing on the
ground ; the firoit is larger, of a deep blue colour, and
though large has fewer grains or seeds composing the
berry.
B«d-fniited Bramble {Ruhus 9ubereetu%), W.
Hornbeam-leaved Bramble {Ruhus earpinifoliua). W.
Buckthorn-leaved Bramble {Ruhus rhamnifoUus). W.
Large-leaved Bramble (^Ruhm macrophylluij, W. ^
Koehler's Bramble {Rubus KoeU&ri), W.
Wild Strawberry {Fragaria vesca). Occasionally among the
sandhills, and abundantly on uncultivated ground between
Birkdale and Ainsdale.
Purple Marsh Cinque-foil ( Camarum palmiri). On boggy and
marshy ground, abundant.
Silver-weed {PotentiUa ammna).
FLOWEBINa PLANTS OF SOUTHPORT. 181
Hoary Cinque-foil {Fotrntilla argmtea).
Creeping Cinque-foil {Potmtilla reptans).
Strawberry-leaved Cinque-foil {Potentillajragariastrum). All
the species are very common on banks in uncultLyated
places and meadows.
Common Tormentil {Potentilla officinalis).
Trailing Tormentil {FotmtUla TarmeniiUa). Both kinds very
common.
Common Avens, or Herb Bennet (Geum urhamm). In ^oody
or shady places, not abundant.
Long Frickly-headed Poppy {Papav&r Arg&mone), Fields and
waysides, common.
Common Red Poppy {Papav&r rhoMui). Very common.
Long smooth-headed Poppy {Pap€fv&r dubium). Common.
Yellow Homed Poppy {Qlaudum hteum). Sparingly along
the shore to Formby.
Common Celandine {Chelidonium mqfus).
Common Celandine. Yar., B.
Both kinds by road sides, in various places.
"White Water Lily {Nymphcsa dUba), Common in many of the
pits and water-courses round Southport.
YeUow Water Lily {Nuphar hdea). Abundant in most of
^ the ditches and water-courses, intermixed with the
preceding.
Greater Meadow-rue {Thalietrum majus), Eare; in ponds
about Scarisbrick.
Common Meadow-rue {ThdUctrum fiwmm). Plentiful near
Martin Mere.
Wood Anemone {Ammone nemarosa). Common in woods and
shady places.
182 ▲ HANDBOOK FOB SOUTBFOBT.
Water Crowfoot {Ranunculus aquatUu), CosuaoB in all the
ponds and pools round Southport.
Water Crowfoot. Var., B. and C.
Ivy-leayed Crowfoot {Banuneulm hsd&raemu). In moist places
subject to occasional inundation.
Great Spearwort (Banuneulua Ungud), This, the most showf
of the British Banunculi, is found in Qonsiderable abun-
dance in ditches round Birkdale.
Lesser Spearwort {Ba/nuncuJm flammuU). Very common in
wet places where water stagnates.
Pilewort Crowfoot, or Lesser Celandine {Ranunmlm Ficaria).
Celery-leaved Crowfoot {Banuneukis seehratua).
Upright Meadow Crowfoot {Rmunmlm aeria).
Creeping Crowfoot {BoM^neidua repem).
Bulbous Crowfoot {BanunotHm hMama),
Pale Hairy Crowfoot {Ranunouku hirautuB).
Small Flowered Crowfoot {fia/nunouhia parviflortui), W.
The above species are found abundantly in fields and
meadows, and are known by the popular name of Butter-
cups. All the kinds are acrid and highly poisonous
frequently blistering the mouths of cattle that inad-
vertently feed upon them.
Uarsh Marigold ( Cdtha paluatria).
Marsh Marigold. Var., B.
Both kinds are abundantly met with in most wet meadows
and by the sides of ditches.
Hairy Mint {Mentha agmtica).
Tall Bed Mint {Mentha aativa). 0.
Bushy Bed Mint {Mmtha arvenaia). G.
All the kinds are common in moist places.
FLOWERING PLANTS OF 80UTHP0RT. 183
Wild Thyme {Thymus serpyUum), Common in dry spots.
"Wood Gtermander, or Sage {Teu^ium scorodonia).
Common Bugle {Ajuga reptans), Abimdant, and frequently
with white flowers.
Black Horehoimd {Battota nigra).
Mother-wort {lAonurus Cardiaea), A.
White Horehotmd {Ifarrubium vulgar e).
Yellow Weazel-snout, or Archangel {Galeohdohn luteum). In
waste places about Scarisbrick.
Common Hemp Nettle ( Galeopsis Tetrdhit). In fields, varying
in colour Kke the preceding.
Large-flowered Hemp-nettle {Galeopsis versicolor), A.
White Dead JN'ettle {Zamium album).
Purple Dead iN'ettle {Zamium purpureum).
Henbit Dead I^ettle (Zamium amplexieaule).
Wood Betony {Betonica officinalis), W.
Hedge Woimd-wort {Stachys sylvatiea).
Marsh Wound-wort ( Stachys pahstris). Common in moist and
shady places.
Com Wound-wort {Stachys arvensis), W.
Ground Ivy {Nepeta GUeoma), Abundant.
Wild Basil (^(Mamintha CUmpodium),
Self-heal {Prunella vulgaris).
Self-heal, white flowered var.
B0I& kinds common round Southport.
Common ^kuil-cap {Scutellaria galericulata). On the mosse^r
Yellow Yiscid Bartsia {Bartsia visoosa).
Common Bartsia {Bartsia odontitis).
Eye-bright {Euphrasia oficinalis).
Common Battle {Ekinanthus crista-galU).
184 A HANDBOOK FOB SOUTHPOBT.
Marsh Louse-wort, or Tail Bed Battle {Fedundaris palu8tris).
Pastnre Louse-wort, or Dwarf Bed Battle {Fedicularia
iyhatioa). Abundant in marshy places.
Yellow Toad-flax {Linaria vulgaris). Banks and hedges.
Knotted Fig-wort (Sorophularia nodosa). W.
Water Fig-wort, or Water Betony {Serophukria aquatiea).
Purple Foxglore {Digitalis purpurea). Abundant.
Purple Sea Bocket ( Cakile maritima,) On the shore.
Lesser Wart Cress {Senehiera eoronopus). Occasionally in dry
places, by roadsides. G.
Shepherd's Purse ( CapseUa hursa^astoris).
I^aked-stalked Teesdalia {Teesdalia nudieaulis), Yery abun-
dant in sandy places round Birkdale.
Mithridate Pepper-wort (Lepidium campestre).
Smooth Pepper-wort {Lepidium Smythii). Occasionally found
in com fields.
Common dcurvy-Ghrass ( CocMearia ojfieinalis). G.
English Scurvy-Grass {Cochlearia Angliea),
Danish Scurvy-Grass {CocMearia Daniea),
AU the kinds common on the shore and salt marshes.
Water Badish {Armorada amphibia).
Horse Badish {Armorada rusticana). Found occasionally,
but probably the outcast of gardens.
Common Whitlow-grass {Drdba vema), Yery common.
Bitter Lady's-Smock ( Cardamine amara). Common in wet places
Meadow Lady's-Smock, or Cuckoo-flower ( Cardamine pratensis)
Yery abundant ; sometimes with purple flowers.
When daigies pied, and yiolets bine,
And Ladt-Shooks all silver white,
And cackoo-bnds of yellow hue,
Do paint the meadows with delight
Shakspbabb.
PLOWEMNO PLANTS OF SOTJTHPORT. 185
Hairy Lady's-Smock (Cardamine hvrsuta).
Hairy Tower-Mustard {Arahis hirmta). Not common.
Bitter Winter-Cress, or Yellow Rocket {Barharea vulgaris).
Water-Cress {Nasturtium officinale). Very abundant.
Creeping iN'asturtiiun {Nasturtium syhestre). Sides of ditches,
and places subject to inundation. G.
Marsh Nasturtium {Nasturtium terrestre). In similar places
to the last species.
Hedge-Mustard {Sisymlrium ofmnaile). Abundant.
Pine-leaved Hedge-Mustard, or Elaxweed {Sisymbrium Sophia)
Common Thale-Cress {Sisymbrium Thalianum).
Garlic Treacle Mustard, Jack by the Hedge, or Sauce Alone
{AUiaria officinalis). Yery common.
Common Turnip {Brassica Bapa).
Wild Mustard, or Charlock {Sinapis arvensis).
White Mustard {Sinapis alba). G.
Common Mustard {Sinapis nigra).
Wild Eadish, or Jointed Charlock {RapJumus Rapha/nistrum).
Hemlock Stork's-bill {JErodium cicutarium).
Hemlock, with white flowers.
Both varieties very abundant.
Bloody Crane's-bill {Geranium saviguineum). Occasionally
among the sandhills.
Strong-Scented Crane's-bill, or Herb Eobert {Geranium roberti-
anum).
Strong-scented Crane's-bill, or Herb Bobert, white variety.
Dove's-foot Crane's-bill {Geranium moUe).
Jagged-leaved Crane's-bill ( Geranium dissectum).
Long-stalked Crane's-bill {Geranium columbinum).
Common Mallow {Mdha sylvestris).
BB
186 ▲ HANDBOOK FOR SOUTHFORT.
Dwarf Mallow (Maha rofundtfoUa).
Musk Mallow {Maha mosehata).
Musk Mallow, white varietj.
Both varieties common on banks and hedge-rows, about
Crossens.
White Climbing Corydalis {CarydaUs elavundata).
Bamping Fumitory {Ikmaria capriolata).
Common Fumitory {IkAtnaria officinalis).
Common Fumitory. Yar* A. and B.
All the yarietieB are common in waste and barren spots.
Common Milk-wort {Poly gala vulgaris).
Common MiLk-wort, with purple, pink, and white yarieties.
Furze, Whin, or Oorse ( Ulex europoeus).
Fringing the fence or shadj wold.
With bla2se of vegetable gold.
The FuBZB.
The name of Furze is deriyed firom the Anglo-Saxon
name of the plant : Whin is deriyed from the Welsh,
and GU)r6e from the Anglo-Saxon word dgnifying aogry
or irascible, on account of its paioful prickliness.
Dwarf Furze ( Ulex Ifanus), Abundant on the mosses about
Halsall.
Hairy Green-weed (Genista Angliea), Common on the sides
of water-courses about Martin Mere, Crossens, and Banks.
Common Broom {Sarothamnus seopa/rius).
Common Best Harrow ( Ononis arvensis).
Best Harrow. Yar. proeurrens and spinosa.
The common kind is yery abundant, and is often inter-
spersed with the other yarieties.
Kidney Yetch, or Lady's Finger {AnthyUs vuheraria).
FLOWBWNa PLANTS OF SOUTHPOBT. 187
Bitter Yetch {Orchua tuberosa).
Bough-podded Yetchling {Lathyrm hirmtus). Scarce, but is
occasionally found between Southport and Scarisbrick. G.
Meadow Yetchling {Zathyrus pratensis).
Tufted Yetch ( Vma eracca).
Common Yetch ( Vieia sativa). Sides of fields and footpaths.
And where profuse the Wood-Ybtgh clings
Bound ash and ehn in yerdant rings,
its pale and azure-pencilled flower
Should caBop7 Titania's bower.
Sir Waltbb Scott.
Narrow-leaved Crimson Yetch ( Vieia anguitifoUa),
Spring Yetch {Vida htht/roides), Not plentiftd, but occa-
sionally found by waysides.
Hairy Tine-Tare ( Vida hirsuta).
Smooth Tine-Tare ( Vida tetrasperma).
Bush Yetch ( Vida sepium). W.
Common Birdsfoot {Omithoptu perpudllus).
Saintfoin {Onohryehis sativa). Abimdant on some of the sand-
hills north and south of the town.
Yellow MeKLot {MeUlotm offidndHs),
White-flowered MeHlot {MeUlotus l&ueantha).
Both kinds abundant by the road-sides, fix>m Crossens to
Banks.
White Trefoil, or Dutch Clover {Ik-ifoUum repens).
Subterraneous Trefoil {I^ifolium mbterrarmm). This species
acquires its name &om the seed vessel after the flowering
is past burying itself in the soil, where the seeds often
vegetate whilst adhering to the parent plant. Is sparingly
found, mostly in dry elevated situations. G.
Common Purple Trefoil, or Clover {Trifolium praUme),
188 A HANDBOOK FOR SOUTHFORT.
Zigzag Trefoil (TrtfoUum medium). Very abundant ; may be
known from the preceding by its long narrow leaves, and
zigzag mode of growth.
Hare's-foot Trefoil {H^ifoUam arvense).
Strawberry Trefoil [Trifolium fragiferum).
Hop Trefoil {^TrifoUum ii^ocvmben%).
Lesser Yellow Trefoil {TrifoliumfiUforme), G.
Bird's-foot Trefoil {Lotus corniculatus). Very abundant.
Greater Birds' s-foot Trefoil (Lotus mafor). Common, growing
very large by the sides of watery places.
Black Medick, or ITonsuch {Medieago htpuUna).
Spotted Medick {Medicago maculatd).
Both frequent.
Square-stalked St. John's Wort {Hypericum quadranguhm).
By the sides of ditches.
Perforated St. John's Wort {Eypericum perforatum). On
banks and shady places. It obtains its name not from
being perforated, but from being covered aU over with
pellucid spots which give it the appearance of being bo.
Imperforate St. John's Wort {Eyperieum dubium). Not un-
common, but less plentiful than the preceding.
Small Upright St. John's Wort {Hypericum pukhrum). On
banks.
Trailing St. John's Wort {Hypericum humifusum).
Marsh St. John's Wort {Hypericum elodes). Common in
Martin Mere, and on the mosses about Scarisbrick and
HalsaU.
Yellow Goat's-beard {TVagopogon pratensis).
Bristly Ox-tongue (Hehninthia echioides). Occasionally found
by the sides of the railway from Ainsdale to Formby. G.
FLOWERING PLANTS OF SOUTHPORT. 189
Com Sow-Thistle {Sonchtis arvmm).
Common Sow-Thistle {Sonchus oleraoeus). Very common.
lyy-leayed Wall Lettuce {Laetuca mwraUti). On the skirts
of woods and plantations, sometimes on old walls ; not
abundant.
Common Dandelion {Leontodon Taraasaeum),
Marsh Dandelion {Leontodan palustre),
Eough Hawk-bit {Apargia hupida). Abundant on banks and
dry places.
Dandelion Hawk-bit {Apargia autumnaUs), ' Occasionally
found on the sandhills.
Hairy Thrincia {Thrinda hirta). On sandhills and in peaty
fields.
Mouse-ear Hawk-weed {BJi^aeeum pihseUa).
Narrow-leaved Hawk-weed {Jlieraceum umheUatum).
Shrubby Broad-leaved Hawk-weed {Eieraceum horede), Not
unfrequent in plantations and imcultivated grounds.
Smooth Hawk's-beard ( Crepia virens).
Long-rooted Cafs-ear {Hypochoeris radioata).
Common Nipple-wort {Lapsa/na communis).
Wild Succory, or Chicory ( Cichoriwn IntyhuB), Very common
in the south of England ; was introduced here some years
ago at what obtained the name of the Chicory Farm, on the
Scarisbrick road, and though it has ceased to be cultivated
for commercial purposes, it is still found in the vicinity.
Common Burdock {AreUum Lappa).
Common Burdock. Yar. B.
Both varieties are very common.
Musk Thistie {Carduus nutam). Yery abundant in places
where bricks were burnt, in the Scarisbrick road.
190 A HAia)BOOE FOB SOUTHPORT*
Welted Thistle ( Carduua aoanthoides).
Slender-flowered Thistle ( Cdrdmu tmuiflorus). Very commony
with white and purple flowers.
Milk Thistle {Car&uim marianm). Found sparingly round
Southport.
Spear Flume Thistle ( Cnieua la/noeolatuB).
Marsh Plume Thistle ( Cniem paH/ustru),
Creeping Plume Thistle {Cnieua cvrvemUi). Abundant in
meadows and fields, where it is a great pest to the agri-
culturist.
Meadow Plume Thistle {Cnieua pratenais). Common on wet
boggy places that are often overflowed, as Martin Mere,
and CTTnilar situations. G.
CarHne Thistle {CarUna vulgaria),
I^odding Bur-Marigold {Bidena eemud),
Trifid Bur-Marigold {JBidena tripartita).
Both species very common by the sides of ditches and
water-courses.
Sea Wormwood {Artemiaia maritima). Very abundant.
Common Wormwood {Artemiaia Alainthium),
Mug-wort {Artemiaia vulgaria).
Marsh Cudweed ( GfnaphaUum uliginoaum).
Least Cudweed (j^'/o^o mmmes). Dry sandy places; common.
Narrow-leaved Cudweed {Filago GaMiea), Sandy places, on
banks between Churchtown and Crossens. G.
Common Cudweed {Nlago Oermmiea). On barren places where
the turf has been removed, and road sides ; common.
Blue Flea-bane {Erigeron aeria).
Butter-bur {Petaaitea vulgaria). Common by the sides of
streams, and in fields that have been reclaimed from bogs.
FLOWERING PLANTS OF SOUTHPORT. 191
Coltsfoot {Tussiloffo Farfara).
Common Groundsel {Senecio wlgivris).
Stinking Groundsel {Senecio visoosus), G.
Mountain Groundsel {Senecio eyhatieus). On dry places in
the sandhiUs.
Hoary Eag-wort {Senecio tenuifolius).
Common Eag-wort {Senecio Jacohm),
Marsh Eag-wort {Senedo aqmtum).
Sea Starwort {Aster TripoUum),
Gk>lden Eod {SoUdago Virgcmrea). Frequent in uncultivated
places and neglected fields.
Common Flea-bane {Fulicaria dyeenterica).
Common Daisy {BelUs perennis).
On waste and woodland, rock and plain,
Its humble buds unheeded rise;
The rose has but a summer's reign.
The Daisy never dies.
Great "White Ox-eye ( Chrysanthemvm Uueanthemum).
Com Marigold, or Yellow Ox-eye {Chrysanthemum segetum).
Abundant in uncultivated fields.
Common Feverfew {Matricaria Farthenium).
Com Feverfew {Matricaria inodora).
WMChsmoTOile {Matricaria Chamomilla). Found occasionally.
Com Chamomile {Anthemis arvensis). In fields and waysides ;
not frequent.
Stinking Chamomile, or May-weed {Anthemis Cotula).
Sneeze-wort Yarrow {Achillea ptarmica). Abundant in wet
places.
Common Yarrow, or Milfoil {Achillea millefolium).
Brown Enap-weed ( Centawrea jaoea). Scarce. G.
Black Enap-weed {Centawrea nigra).
192 A HAin)BOOK FOB SOTJTHFORT.
Com Blue-botfie ( Centcmrea Cyanut),
Greater Enap-weed {Centaurea acabiosa). Barren places, road
sides, and iincultiYated places ; common.
Green-winged Meadow Orchis ( Orohta Morio),
Early Purple Orchis ( Orchis maaeula).
Marsh Orchis {Orchis latifoUa), Very abimdant in all the
damp places abont the sandhills, varying in colour from
white to a deep purple.
Spotted Palmate Orchis ( Orchis mactdafa). Common ; in great
variety of colour.
Ihagraxd GjmDBdema. {Ghfmnadenia conopsea). The only place
where this beautiful plant has been met with, is in a
field near the Ash Tree, where it was found by James
Glover, Esq. G.
Green, or Frog Habenaria {Mabenaria viridis). Eare. G.
Butterfly Habenaria {Eintbenaria hifoUa), Very abundant in
moist spongy bogs, Martin Mere, and the mosses about
Scarisbiick.
Fragrant Lady's Tresses {NeoUia spiralis). This elegant little
plant is found in considerable abundance, growing on the
slopes of hiUocks between Southport and Birkdale ; it
ofben does not make its appearance for two or three con-
secutive years, and then it is met with in great profusion*
Its scent is very fine, and in warm close evenings may
be called powerful; it is easy of cultivation, requiring
less water than most of its congeners.
Common Twayblade {Listera ovata).
Broad-leaved Heleborine {JSpipactis laHfoUa). Found in the
same places, but less abundant than the following species.
Ovate-leaved Heleborine {JE^ipaetis ovaia).
FLOWBIONa PLANTS OT SOUTHFOfiT. 193
Manh Heleborine {EpipaeHs pakuMti), Abundant in all the
marshy places around Southpor^ ; it yajries in cdoor fi'om
BiiUied white to a deep purple, and £pom two or three
inches in height to a foot.
Sun Spurge {Miphorhta heUoseopia),
Sea Spurge {Miphorhta paraUa), Abundaat on the shore and
on the hills round Birkdale.
Portland Spurge {Mtphorhta portlandiea), Found in the same
localities and in equal quaQtities with the last qsecies.
Petty Spurge {Miphorhta pephts).
Wood Spurge {Mtphorhia Amygddoid^s), Bare; in planta^
tions both north and south of the town. G.
Water Star-wort ( CaUitriehe vema).
Water Star- wort {Callitriehe aufumnali»).
Both kinds abundant in stzreams and water-courses.
Homed Pond-weed {ZannicheUia pahtatris)*
Grass-wrack {Zbsiera ma/rina). This is found at times in
large quantities on the shore, but eyidently not growing
in the yicinity. It moetly appears after strong westerly
winds, and is probably brought £rom the Isle of Man, on
the north and east of which it is very abundant.
Great Gat's-tail, or Beed-mace {Typha laUfoUay Abundant
in ponds and slow streams.
Lesser Gat's-taU, or Eeed-mace {Typha anguatifoUa),
Brauched Bur-B.eed {Spa/rgcmium ramosumy
Unbranched Bur-Beed {Sparganvum simplex). Common, but
less abundaat than the precediag.
Sea Carex {Ccvrw arenaria).
Soft Brown Carex {Carex intermedia).
Little Prickly Carex {Carex stelMata).
cc
194 A HANDBOOK FOB SOUTHPOBT.
Oval-spiked Garex ( Coflrex waits). In bogs ; abTmdant. G.
Mnd Carex {Carex Umosa) ?
Cypenis-like Carex {Carex pseudo-eyperus). Abundant in
most streams ronnd Southport.
Pale Carex {Ca/rex paUesoem).
Yellow Carex {Carex flmay
(Ederian Carex {Carex (Ederi),
Tawny Carex {Carex fulva). G.
Vernal Carex {Carex precox).
Glancous Heath Carex {Carex reewoa).
Slender-beaked Bottled Carex {Carex ampuHacea).
Creeping Separate-headed Carex {Carex dioiea). W.
Flea Carex ( Carex puUcaris). W.
White Carex (Cbr«a:(jwr#«). "W.
Distant-spiked Carex {Carex remota), W.
Great Carex {Carex vulpina). W.
Great-panided Carex {Carex panundata). "W".
Common Carex {Carex Goodenovit). "W.
Long-bracteated Carex {Carex externa) . W.
Loose Carex {Carex distane).
Pink-leared Carex {Carex pafueea), W.
Pendulous Wood Carex ( Carex ayhatica). W.
Great Pendulous Carex {Carex pendtda). W.
Round-headed Carex {Carex ptluUfera). W.
Hairy Carex {Carex hirta). W.
Lesser Common Carex ( Carex pahidosa) . W.
The Carices generally affect wet situations, and are to be
found abundantly in most of the bogs and marshy places
around Southport, as also on the shore and low sandhills
bordering the shore.
FLOWERINa PLANTS OF SOUTHPORT. 195
Plantom Shore-weed {Littorella laemtris).
Commoii Alder {Alnm glutinosa).
Small Stingiiig Nettle ( Urtioa ttrena).
Great Stinging Nettle ( Urtioa dioiea).
Eoman Nettle ( Urtica piMifera). A.
Common Horn-wort {CeratophyUum demersum).
Unarmed Horn- wort {CeratophyUum submersum).
Spiked Water Milfoil {MyriophyUum spicatum).
Wliorled Water Milfoil {Myriophyllum vertietllatum).
Both species are occasionally found in stagnant waters.
Spotted Aram {Arum maeulatum), A.
Salad-Burnet {Foterium Sanguisorha),
In moist meadows and reclaimed fields.
Common British Oak {Quercus Bohwr).
SeBSLle-£niited Oak {Quercm sesailiflofa).
Beech {Fagus sykatiea).
Chestnut {Castanea vulgarisy
Common Birch {Betida Ma),
Hornbeam {Carpinus Betidus),
The forest trees in this list are not to be found here wild ;
but with scarcely an exception are in a state of cultivation.
The Crab Apple and the Mountain Ash are common
in plantations; but cannot be considered as natives of
Southport.
Common Hazel Nut {Caryltts Avellana).
Hedges aad coppices.
Almond-leaved Willow {Salix amygdalina.)
Crack WiUow {SaUx fragiUs.)
Common White Willow {Saiix alba.)
196 A HANDBOOK FOA SOUfHF(»tT.
Downy Moimtain Wiflow {8aUx a/renaria,)
To name the uses of the Wnxow tribes
Were useless task. The basket's yarioas forms
For yarions purposes of household thrift;
The wicker chair, of size and shape antique;
The rocking couch of sleeping infancy;
These, with unnumbered forms and kinds,
Giye bread to hands unfit for other work.
G]
Sweet Gfde, or Diifcoh Myrtle {Myriea ^ak). Oh the mosseft,
and ahundantly about Halsall and Martin Mere.
Hop {Eumulm Lupulm). Common in hedge rows.
Black Bryony {Tamm aonmunia). Abundant in hedge rows.
Great White Poplar {Populm Ma}*
Afifpen {Fopulm tremuh).
Black Poplar {Populus nigra).
Perennial or Dog's Mercury {MercurialM permnis).
Common Frog-bit {JSi/drooharis Mor^m-BantB).
Spreading Halberd-leaved Orache {Atr^x paimUy
Spreading JN'arrow-leayed Orache {Airiphx angusHfoUa).
Both kinds very abundant in waste places.
Grass-leaved Sea Oraohe (^Atriplex MUoraU%)>.
Spreading-fruited Otw^ {Atriplew rosea) . W.
CHAPTER XV.
Nature never did betraj
The heart that loved her; 'tis her privilege
Through aU the years of this ora* fife to lead
From joy to joy; for she can so inform
The mind that is within ns, so impress
With quietness and beauty, and so feed
With loffy thoughts, that neither evil tongues,
Bash judgments, nor the sneers of selfish men,
Kor greetings where no kindness is, nor aH
The dreaiy intercourse of daily life
j^iall e'er prevail against us, or disturb
Our eheafia/aith that aU thai we behold
b /ua qf biernnge.
CEYPTOaAMIC PLAUTS OF SOTITIPOET.
CsTPTOGAVio Botany includes those parts of the vegetable
world which are called flow^less plants^ and are propagated
without the aid of seed lohes or cotyledons. They are
destitute of true flowers, and are withotit stamens and pistils.
Tti6 embryo Is a oell, >called a sp^nre, oontaisiu^ granular
raaitter, g&cnmsAkm. tatk^ig place in any part df its surface,
and not &«m fixed poisitik They ^ioe divided tato two great
divisions, called Aetogens and l^aUogeois.
The Acrogens aie tike mM advaoicad of tke flowerlesB
piUmts, and firom reeent observatioiis, ike existence of sextoiUty
among them is highly probable. They are divided biio (1)
198 A HANDBOOK FOB SOUTHFOBT.
the Equisetacese, or Horse-tails; (2) the EUices, or Ferns;
(3) the Lycopodiacese, or Clab-mosses ; (4) the MarHiliaceae,
or Pepper-worts; (5) the Musci, or Mosses; and (6) the
Hepaticae, or Liver-worts.
The Thallogens have neither stem nor leaves, and are
reproduced by spores. They constitute the lowest forms of
vegetable life, and sometimes it is doubtful whether they
belong to the botanist or the zoologist. They are divided into
three orders — (1) the Lichens ; (2) the Fungi, or Mushrooms ;
and (3) the Algae, or Seaweeds. The species which these
include are almost innumerable.
FEENS Airo FEEN ALLIES.
Common Polypody (Poh/podium vulga/rey On banks, trunks
of trees, and old walls ; common.
Hale Shield Fern {Aspidium Jtltx-mas). Common on banks,
and in woods and coppices.
Prickly-toothed Shield Fern {Aspidium spinulosum),
Speading-leaved Shield Fern {Aapidium dilatatum).
Lady Fern, or Female Spleen-wort {Asplenium filix-f amino).
Where the copsewood is the greenest,
Where the fountain glistens sheenest,
Where the morning dew lies longest,
There the Ladt-Fbbn grows strongest
All these species are often found growing together on
banks, particularly on the shady sides of ditches and
cuttings through the mosses. They abound in the vicinity
of Martin Here, Scarisbrick, and Kalsall.
Common Brake, or Bracken {Pterts aquiUna).
Hard Fern {BUchnum horeale). On banks about Formby and
Altcar.
CRTPTOaAMIC PLANTS OF SOUTHPORT. 199
OBmund-Royal, or Flowering Fem {Osmunda regalia). Grows
abundantly on the sides of cuttings through the mosses,
and by the road side froim Southport to Scarisbrick, and
largely in the mosses about Halsall.
Common Moon- wort {Botrychium Luna/ria),
Adder's-tongue ( Ophioglossum vulgatum).
Lesser Alpine Club-moss {Lyeopo&ium adagirmdes).
Com Horse-tail {^Equisetum arvense).
Smooth Naked Horse-tail {^Equiaetum limosum).
Harsh Horse-tail {Equisetum palustre).
Rough Horse-tail {I!qui8etf4m hyemaU),
Yariegated Bough Horse-tail {Equisetum vartegatum).
All these species are found in moist places ; some grow in
deep water, sending their long roots far into the mud ;
others possess so much flint in their composition that
they are used for polishing both wood and metal.
MOSSES. •
Pottia M&imu. Common on the shore.
Brytm atre-purpureum. Not rare.
JBryum Marrattu Very abundant on the south shore. April,
1861. B. C.
JBryum eolyphyUum, BuUrush slack and other moist hollows
among the sandhills, at Birkdale.
Bryum Wa/rneum. With the last species.
Bryum laeuatre, Mr. Wilson re-discovered this moss, which
had not been found since 1801, in one or two hollows
among the south sandhills, July, 1860.
Bryum uUgtnomm. By the side of a ditch, Birkdale Park.
J. Nowell.
200 A HANBBOOX: FOB aOUTHFOBT.
Btyum neodamenee. This species, new to the Eiigliish flora,
was discoyered by Mr. Wilsoa, last autumn (1860), near
the BuUxosh alack.
Bryum himum. Common in. bogs,
Bryum roseum. Near Birkdale Station.
Mnium ctispidatum, K^ar Birkdale Station.
Mntum affim. Wet places, Birkdale.
Meesia vUginoaa, Moist flats, Birkdale.
Amhlyodon dealbatus. With the last.
Catoaeopium nigritum. Sides of ditches, and moist places
among the sandhills.
Hypnum albicans. Common.
Hypnum soMrostsm, i'lats among the sandhills; rare.
Hypnum MegapoUtanum. Near Birkdale Church. B. C.
North shore ; rare. J. Nowell.
Hypnum aduncum. This and the foUowing oclienr ajb ^ullrosh
slack, aad other boggy places.
Hypnum revohens,
Hypnum Kheiffii.
Hypnum LyeopodoidM,
Hypnum speciosum, Near Birkdale Station ; rare.
Hypnum polyyamum. Abundant.
Hypnum giganteum. Wet];^es; rarev
Hypnum ehdM. Bogs, &c.
Jungermania eompressa. In fruit near Ainsdale Station, Aprils
1861. J. Nowell.
Freima commutata. Moist places.
BlyUia ZyelUi. Growing with the following in moist hollows.
FetalophyUum Balfsiu
CHAPTER XVI.
> ** Oh I thou most courted, most despised,
And but in absence only prized.
These are thj walks, oh sacred health!
The monarch's bliss, the beggar^s wealth;
The seasoning of all good below;
The sovereiga friend in joy and woe."
SnO&ESTIONS FOE EXGHESIONS.
Although; not bo highly favoured as many towns, yet there
are, within a tolerably short journey, some few places well
worthy a visit team any sojourner in Southport, and to these,
the mode of reaching them, and their principal objects of
attraction, we purpose devoting a few brief notices.
Chubchtowit. — ^This antiquated village possesses no parti-
cular attraction of itself; nevertheless, no one should plead
guilty to the charge of not having visited it. To the invalid
the ever-useful donkey-carriage presents an easy mode of
travelling the two miles which it is distant from Southport.
To those who wish to *'run and read," a well-appointed
omnibus does the distance in some half hour, stopping alter-
nately at the good and old-established hostelries of the Hesketh
202 A HANDBOOK FOR SOUTHPORT.
Aims and the Bold Arms ; while to the pedestrian three or
four distinct paths are open, all equally pleasant : the first of
these lies directly in continuation of Lord-street, and leads
through a somewhat sinuous valley between ranges of sand-
hills; the valley itself being carpeted with verdure, and
abounding with many of the plants peculiar to such a position.
Gkdly-coloured butterflies and sand lizards abound in this
locality, and countless numbers of rabbits at sundown disport
themselves ia all directions. There is no danger of not finding
what we will assume is to be the terminus of the walk, for
the spire of the venerable church is an excellent landmark.
On the route several cottages will be passed, and by the
<< click, click" which falls upon the ear, we may know that
the loom is at work — and most probably on some choice and
elegant piece of satin, which ere long may encircle the graceful
form of some of our famed Lancashire Witches. The church
has recently been considerably enlarged, and a memorial
window — as a token of respect to the Rev. Charles Hesketh,
the rector — ^has been placed therein, at a cost of upwards
of one hundred pounds. It has nothing remarkable of a
monumental character, save a marble tablet by NoUekens, to
the memory of one of the Hesketh family. The churchyard
abounds in numerous instances of the longevity of the
inhabitants. A new school has been erected in connec-
tion with this church, on a large scale, and will repay an
inspection. There are some other places of worship in the
village, none of which, however, call for any special remark.
A large brick mansion, some distance ftom the church, is
known as Meols Hall, once the seat of the Heskeths, now
occupied by a flourishing agriculturalist. A fair, and mock
GROSSENS. 203
mayoralty, is held here on the Monday and Tuesday nearest
the 20th of Augast. Adjacent to the church are situated
some celebrated strawberry gardens, which are noted for the
almost fabulous quantities of fine fruit they produce in
favourable seasons, and also as being held by the immediate
descendants of Mr. Sutton, before mentioned as the founder of
Southport. These gardens are yisited by great numbers of
persons during the fruit season, and every attention and
accommodation is provided for the public, whether their
inclinations lead to << strawberries and cream," or merely to
the possession of a choice bouquet of real old-fashioned
flowerfr— which
** Grow among balm, and rofiemary, and me."
** The shining pansy, trimmed with golden lace;
The tall topped lark-heels, feathered thick with flowers;
The woodbine, climbing o'er the doors in bowers;
The linden tnfts, of many a mottled hue;
The pale pink pea, and monkshood darkly blue;
The white and pnrple gillyflowers, that stay
Lingering in blossom summer half away;
The single blood walls, of a Inscions smell,
Old-fashioned flowers which hoosewiyes love so well;
The oolmnbines, stone blue, or deep nut brown.
Their honeycomb-like blossoms hanging down;
Each cottage garden's fond adc^ted child.
Though heath still claims them, where they yet grow wild;
With marjoram knots, sweet briar, and ribbon grass.
And layender, the choice of every lass."
Further distant in the same direction is Cbosseks— formerly
Gross-sands— having a church and resident incumbent ; and still
farther is Bakks — a few scattered domiciles — so called from
204 A HANDBOOK TOR SOUTHPORT.
the banks or embankments erected to keep off the encroach*
ments of the. sea. To the botanist we cannot too highly
recommend the walk along the banks from Crossens towards
Southport. In addition to the delightful sea breeze, he will
find plenty of occnpation on the slopes, which are the habitat of
hundreds of wild flowers and mosses.
BnucDAUE. — This rapidly increasing suburb of Bouthport
consists principally of detached or semi-detached villas, and is
fast rising into favour amongst permanent residents. The air
is somewhat more bracing thaa in Southport, and is well-suited
for persons in good health. A cricket club is open in the
summer months, which visiters may joiu on certain conditions^
and a beautiful bowling-green is attached to the Park Hotel,
which is the terminus of a visiter's ramble (except by rail)
in that direction. An excellent asphalted road forms a
pleasant means of reaching Birkdale. AU trains stop at the
station, to take up and set down passengers. The distance by
railway is one mile, by road a littie more.
EosMBT. — This village is distant from Southport about eight
miles, by the railway ; it may also be reached by walking or
driving along the sands, which are perfectiy safe. A church
has been recentiy erected near an ancient burial ground in the
sandhills. The dates of some of the primitive head-stones are
very remote. Formby Hall is occupied by Miss Formby, the
descendant of a very ancient family; it was built m the
fifteenth century.
Incb Bltjitdell. — This place is justiy noted. Ince Hall,
about ten nules from Southport, (by the Crosby Railway,) was
formerly occupied by the descendants of a fcunily who had
been lords of the manor from the time of the conquest. The
HALSALL ASB LTDUTE ABBBT. 205
estates are now held by Thomas Weld Blundell, Esq., to
whom they were bequeathed by Charles Blimdell^ Esq. In
the grounds is a model of the Pantheon at Eome, but only
two-thirds the size ; within it is placed a rare and valuable
assemblage of ancient statues, busts, bas-rolievos, sarcophagi,
urns, and other valuables; also, a large collection of pictures.
The whole of these were accumulated by Henry Blundell, Esq.,
who also erected the building in which they are contained. It
is right to observe, that permission to view this most interesting
exhibition is only to be obtained under special circumstances.
TTATrf^ATiT. JOSTD Ltdiatb Abbet. — ^In a south-easterly direction
from Southport, distant respectively about six miles and nine
miles, are the villages of Halsall and Lydiate. They can
only be reached by special conveyances, but both may well
form a summer day's excursion. Leaving the Ormskirk road,
before reaching the bridge crossing the canal, we emerge into a
beautiM lane, bounded by well-cultivated fields, and luxuriant
though not lofky trees. Before reaching Halsall Church,
whose spire has been a conspicuous object on the journey,
some fragments of an ancient ecclesiastical building may be
seen in the grounds attached to the rectory. The church
itself contains several monumental marbles and effigies. The
village of Halsall contains nothing else worthy of note, except
Halsall Hall, a large old-feuahioned brick building, occupying
the site of an ancient family seat of the HalsaUs. Proceeding
onwards towards Lydiate the road for some distance is on the
red sandstone rock, which here crops out to the surface, and
quarries have been formed for working the same. Lydiate
Hall, on the right of the road, is an ancient building with
wood and plastered front, painted in ornamental designs— black
206 A HANDBOOK FOB SOUTHPOBT.
and white. According to Baines, '< one of the upper rooms
has been used as a Catholic chapel ever since the Beformation;
for this purpose the edifice called Lydiate Abbey, a picturesque
ruin, a little south of the hall, was intended by its founder,
one of the Irelands. Oyer the arch of the porch is their coat
of arms, a cheyrin between six fleurs-de-lis, and on the spring
of the arch are the initials of John Ireland, who lived in the
commencement of the reign of Henry YIII. The remains
consist of a castellated tower, with pinnacles and buttresses,
partly wrapped in ivy. The parapet of the south wall is
castellated, and beneath are buttresses separating the four
windows of the south side, which are divided by chipstones
into squares with arched heads. In several parts of the east
window fi^agments of glass have been found in the mortar,
whence it may be inferred that the chapel was finished, in
opposition to the opinion which has been expressed, that it was
discontinued. The interior is overgrown with brambles and
grass, amongst which two or three decayed gravestones are
discerned, bearing inscriptions which are now scarcely legible."
A main stem of the ivy, which so beauti^illy mantles this
interesting ruin, was divided by some Yandal very recently.
Immediately adjoining the Abbey is a burial groiind, more
recently formed, for the Catholic population of the district. A
new and elaborately built chapel has also been lately erected,
principally through the munificence of the late Charles
Blundell, Esq., of Ince Hall. Beyond Lydiate, and still
nearer Liverpool, is Befton, and its ancient church, said to
have been erected upwards of seven hundred years, and con-
taining a number of monuments to the Holyneux family. On
the west of Sefton are the villages of Cbosby and Watbbloo.
BUBSCOUaH AND LATHOM. 207
BuBSCOTreH. — ^Distant about one and a half miles from
Ormskirk, are the ruins of the once famous Abbey or Priory
of Burscough : very little, however, remain standing ; they
are situated in a meadow, on the left of the line of railway, on
the route to Ormskirk. This was for a long period the
burial place of the Derby family.
Laihom. — ^This interesting locality may be visited either
vid Ormskirk, distant three miles, or by alighting at l^ewburgh
Station, on the Manchester line of railway, from which it is a
pleasant walking distance. The route to the park takes the
visiter through Lathom Wood — ^a most agreeable change to the
pent-up denizens of our manufacturing towns— with its lofty
elms, beeches, and sycamores ; in the wood is the site of an
old stone quarry, still, however, occasionally worked ; but the
ivy has completely covered the engine house, and converted
the otherwise smoke-begrimed building into a fitting ornament
for this secluded deU. A stream runs through the wood,
crossed by a rustic bridge, in the interstices of which grow the
beautifril little A^hnium-ruta-muraria, also the Scolopendron;
indeed, there is ample work for the botanist, who may be sure
of securing a well-filled vasculum. Large iron gates separate
the park from the wood, and Lathom House may be seen at a
short distance. The present mansion, which has recently
been re-modeUed, is not the Lathom House so well-known by
its heroic defence, by the celebrated Countess of Derby, in
1644 — ^that mansion having been razed in the last century.
The siege of Lathom continued from 27th of February, in that
year, until the 27th of May, the besiegers losing 500 killed
and 140 wounded, whilst the besieged only lost six men. In
the following year, however, the siege was again renewed, and
208 A HANDBOOK FOR SOUTHFOBT.
after a gallant and BUCcessM .stand under Colonel Bostome,
the garrison were obliged to suocumb, their ammunition being
all expended. ''In 1714, this estate was transferred by
mamage to Lord Ashbomham, by whom it was sold to Mr.
Hemy Fiimese, who, in 1724, disposed of it to 8ir Thomas
Bootle, Knight, of Melling, in this county. His niece, and
heiress, married Eichard Wilbraham, Esq., of Bode Hall, in
Cheshire.'* The estate is now in the possession Lord Skel-
mersdale, who succeeded to the title of his grandfather when
a minor. The park was the scene of great rejoicings in 1858,
on the occasdon of his lordship coming of age. If the visiter
passes through the park, the walk may be prolonged to
Ormskirk, noted principally for the irregularity of its church
having both a spire and a steeple — ^popularly, but, no doubt
incorrectly, accounted for, as the work of two maiden ladies,
who each embellished the church after their own style of
architecture. The more probable theory, however, is, that
the church originally possessed a spire, and that the huge
tower (mne yards square inside) was erected to place therein
a portion of the bells removed from Burscough Priory at its
suppression. According to an inscription, on a brass plate,
within the church, a family named Mosock, had had thdr
burial place there for 385 years. This is dated 1661. The
ancestors of the present Earl of Derby have also, for a lengthy
period, had their burial place within this edifice, though, we
believe, no more of the family will be interred therein. On
the high road from Ormskirk to Southport, about three or
four miles from the former, are the well, reservoir, and works
of the Southport "Waterworks Company. An order, easily
obtainable, will be required to get admission; but they are
MVINaXON PIKE. 209
well worthy of a visit) &om their compactness, and as being
one of the most modem specimens of hydraulic engineering.
EiTDfGToir Pike ajstd its Lakes. — ^Although more distant
from Southport than the places previously named, yet, as the
excursion may easily be made in a day, it may fiaarly be within
our scope to introduce Eivington Pike and its no less famous
Lakes, amongst the objects of interest to our visiters. Eiving-
ton lies east from Southport, and probably the best mode of
reaching it is by rail to Bolton ; thence . on the Bolton and
Preston line to Adlington, distant about seven miles. From
hence, by a beautiful and gradual ascent, we proceed towards
the " Pike ;" having walked some three miles, we at length
reach the Great Anglezark Lake or reservoir, the first of the
series of these lakes, which, as is well known, supply Liver-
pool with water, by means of huge iron pipes reaching from
hence to that town, some forty miles. The Anglezark is
about one mile and three quarters in length, and bears a great
resemblance to Windermere, the embankment causing the lake
to appear in a valley. It varies very materially in width, but
is altogether an immense sheet of water, and a stranger would
little suppose that it was an artificial production. A road
crosses the foot of the Anglezark, and also the next reservoir,
which is smaller than the first, dividing the mass of water
into three parts, all however connected by massive stone- work
channels or weirs. At the head of the central lake is the
elegant mansion of Peter Martin, Esq., of Bolton, commanding
a most extensive view. A little island opposite is the
retreat of sundry aquatic birds, including some fine swans.
Reaching the division between the second and third lakes, a
good wide road takes over the valley to the " Pike " side, and
£E
210 A HANDBOOK FOB SOUTHPORT.
immediately before us is Rivington Church. This ancient
edifice was built by Bichard Pilkington, lord of the manor of
Eivington, whose third son, James, was master of St. John's
College, Cambridge, and one of the six divines for correcting
the Book of Common Prayer ; for which and other services he
was, in 1560, created Sishop of Durham, being its first
Protestant prelate. He died at Auckland, January 23rd, 1575,
in the 55th year of his age. This bisho]^ founded and endowed
the free school of Queen Elizabeth at Eivington with lands
and rents. The school (near the church) is for the '^ bringing
up, teaching, and instructing children and youth in grammar
and other good learning, to continue for ever." And by the
terms of the letters patent, the school is open to ''all our
faithful and liege people, wheresoever they be." The path to
the church is steep. A detached little building in the church-
yard contains the bell or bells of the church. Higher up the
hill is a Unitarian Chapel, and the most rural of burial
grounds ; many of the graves have gay little parterres on their
summits, and the whole indeed seems '' a place for the weary
to be at rest." Leaving the chapel to the left, a road across
the side of the hill leads to a most romantic spot, known as
'*8haVs Clough." This is a hilly gorge, overhung with
large trees, whose roots have insinuated themselves into the
interstices of the shaly rock; many of the trees have been
thrown down, tearing away with them large portions of the
rock itself into the channel below. 'Adown this gorge runs a
streamlet of the purest water, and the margins of the pools
are an entangled mass of wild fiowers, ferns, and mosses. The
Golden Saxifrage f Chrysoplmium oppositifoUumJ is especially
abundant in the early part of* the summer ; also the Lesser
RIVINaTON PIKE. 211
Celandine (RanuneuJm fioariaj, bearing its starlike blossoms
by thonsands —
—"The first gilt thing
That wears the trembling pearls of spring."
The Wood Anemone (Anemone nemorosaj, with its white
solitary flowers, slightly purplish on the exterior, literally
covers the hill side and portions of the " Clough." Here also
is truly the Wood Sorrel's home fOxdUa aeetosMa) with its
delicate
- ** Flowers shrinking from the chilly night,
Drooping and shut up; but with fair morning's tonch»
Rise on their stems all open and upright"
Proceeding up the glen we come upon a little waterfall,
streaming down from, the cleft rocks above, the water bright
and shining as molten silver, and, when falling on the shelving
rocks below, seeming like pounded diamonds, so glittering in
the sun's rays, which manage here and there to obtain
admittance through the dense mass of foliage above and
around us. To gain the summit of the '^ dough " almost
requires the agility of an Alpine goat, it is so precipitous.
Having reached the top of the hill, the pedestrian may, before
ascending the 'Tike," take his rest at a modest-looking
hostelry, called by the painter, the '^ Sportsman's Arms."
Hence we can reach the hill, or "Pike," in about twenty
minutes. From here, on a clear day, the prospect is most
extensive, and not the least interesting is the splendid range
of lakes at our feet, computed to contain 120 days' consumption
of water, at the rate of 24,000,000 gallons per diem! From
this point there is also an excellent view of the filtering beds
of the waterworks. Northward and eastward is a large tract
212 A HANDBOOK FOB SOUTHPOBT.
of wild moorland. On the summit of the Pike is a square
stone tower, bearing date 1733. Descending the hiU, we pass
Jacob's Well, which, from overflowing, causes the vicinity to
partake of the nature of a swamp. If not deemed too lengthy,
the pedestrian may return to Southport, vtd Horwich, to
Lostock Junction, a pleasant but rather circuitous walk after
the day's ramble, which, we believe, wiU be found one of
the most interesting in this locality, should the weather prove
favourable.*
AsHTjEST Beacon and Paebold Hill. — The route to these
places is by the Manchester Eailway to Newburgh. Ashurst
Beacon is on the right of the line of rail ; Parbold on tlie left.
At the foot of Ashurst is the river Douglas, and the village of
Dalton. Ashurst Hall, built some time in the flfbeenth century,
is a large building now used as a farm house. It was, in
1751, bought by Sir Thomas Bootle, of Lathom, ancestor of
the present Lord Skelmersdale. From the top of the bill there
is a most extensive and varied prospect. In the time of the
French revolutionary war, according to Baines, a beacon was
erected on the high hill of Ashurst, when the danger of
French invasion was proclaimed by the prime minister to be so
near, that we were not to calculate the time of the enemy's
arrival by months and weeks, but by days and hours, and men
were placed day and night upon the watch-tower to announce
the landing of thp invader. Fortunately the torch was never
lighted, and the women of England, who for seven centuries
have never seen the smoke of the enemy's camp, were not
doomed to see the Kght even of their own beacon. The
* Abbreviated from a previouslj published accoant hj the Writer.
LTTHAM AJXD BLACKPOOL. 213
building is formed of strong masonry, with the entire absence
of any material in its composition that is inflammable.
Paeboio) Hill is also surmounted by a stone structure, and
though inferior in altitude to Ashurst, nevertheless commands
an extensive prospect. Here are large stone quarries, by
which Southport is extensively supplied. At the foot of the
hill runs the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. At some little distance
from Parbold is Wrightington Hall. The park abounds
with game and deer, and is renowned for its beautiful scenery.
Lttham and Blackpool, &c. — These rival watering places,
situated at the north of the Eibble, claim a passing notice,
inasmuch as now that the Southport Pier to low water is
completed, they wiU both reasonably fall within the range of
a day's excursion, should any spirited steamboat proprietors
think fit to make use of the faciUties which the said pier will
give for embarking and landing passengers. Lytham consists
chiefly, as Southport formerly did, of a main street, running
east and west on the banks of the Eibble, which is here of
considerable breadth. It contains some excellent inns, numerous
lodging-houses, a good market, and a Promenade. The shore,
unlike that of Southport, is of a pebbly character, by no
means so desirable as a sandy bathing ground.
Blackpool dates its origin as a sea-bathing place somewhere
about one hundred years ago. It is exposed to the open sea,
which recedes but a short distance from the foot of the
Promenade. Little can be said in favour of the older portions
of the town, though improvements are proceeding; but the
modem mansions, villas, and buildings are worthy of admira-
tion. There is a great influx of visiters during the season,
which, however, is by no means so lengthy as our own.
214 A HANDBOOK FOR SOUTHPORT.
Further to the north we have the still more modem
watering-place of Fleetwoob-xtfon-Wybe, also haying con-
siderable claims on our notice, both as a place of resort for
bathing, and also commercial purposes; and — ^but we must
travel no further, or we shall take the round of the county,
for in these days of railway speed where may we not go to
and return from within the range of a long summer's day ?