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ANNUAL REPORT

OF

THE BOARD OF REGENTS

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION,

THE OPERATIONS, EXPENDITURES, AND CONDITION OF THE INSTITUTION
FOR THE YEAR 1869.

WASHINGTON:
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE.
1872.

CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES, IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
FOorrTyY-FIRST CONGRESS, SECOND SussiOn, July 12, 1870.

Resolved by the House of Representatives, (the Senate concurring,) That ten thousand addi-
tional copies of the Report of the Smithsonian Institution for the year 1869 be printed,
three thousand of which shall be for the use of the Senate, four thousand for the use
of the House, and three thousand for the use of the Institution: Provided, That the
ageregate number of pages of said report shall not exceed four hundred and fifty, and
that there shal] be no illustrations except those furnished by the Smithsonian Insti-
tution.

On the 13th of July, 1870, a message was received from the Senate, by Mr. Gorham,
its Secretary, notifying the House that the Senate had agreed to the said resolution
without amendment.

Attest: EDW. McPHERSON, Clerk.
Per GEO. FRS. DAWSON, Assistant Clerk.

CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES, IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
ForTY-SECOND CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION, May 29, 1872.

The following resolution, originating in the House of Representatives on the 23d
instant, has this day been concurred in by the Senate:

Resolved, (the Senate concurring,) That two thousand extra copies each of the reports
of the Smithsonian Institution, of which the stereotype-plates are now in the Con-
egressional Printing-Office, be printed for distribution by the Smithsonian Institution
to libraries, colleges, and public establishments.

Attest: EDW. McPHERSON,

Clerk.

Ut rd bad a a es

FROM THE

SECRETARY OF THE SMITHSONTAN INSTITUTION,

TRANSMITTING

The annual report of the Smithsonian Institution for the year 1869.

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION,
Washington, March 1, 1870.
Sir: In behalf of the Board of Regents, I have the honor to submit
to the Congress of the United States the annual report of the operations,
expenditures, and condition of the Smithsonian Institution for the year
1869.
I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
JOSEPH HENRY,
Secretary Smithsonian Institution.
Hon. 8. CoLFax,
President of the Senate.
Hon. J. G. BLAINE,
Speaker of the House of Representatives.

ANNUAL REPORT OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION FOR 1869.

This document contains: 1. The programme of organization of the
Smithsonian Institution. 2. The annual report of the’secretary, giving
an account of the operations and condition of the establishment for the
year 1869, with the statistics of collections, exchanges, meteorology, Xe.
3. The report of the executive committee, exhibiting the financial affairs
of the Institution, including a statement of the Smithson fund, the re-
ceipts and expenditures for the year 1869, and the estimates for 1870.
4, The proceedings of the Board of Regents. 5. A general appendix,
consisting principally of reports of lectures, translations from foreing
journals of articles not generally accessible, but of interest to meteorol-
ogists, correspondents of the Institution, teachers, and others interested
in the promotion of knowledge.

THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION.

ULYSSES 8S. GRANT..-.-.- President of the United States, ex officio Presiding Officer of
the Institution.

SALMON P. CHASE..... Chief Justice of the United States, Chancellor of the Insti-
tution, President of the Board of Regents.

JOSEPH HENRY...-..-.- Secretary (or Director) of the Institution.

REGENTS OF THE INSTITUTION.

Sy lie (CISUNS DR ee eee ee eee Chief Justice of the United States, President of the Board,
‘Sb: O10 DY. See eee Vice-President of the United States.

See DO WIEN ss as05/2> 55). Mayor of the City of Washington.

Tis f Ol £2) O04 033) 00 bt Be eee ee Member of the Senate of the United States.
GARRET DAVIS .....---- Member of the Senate of the United States.

H. HAMLIN ..--...-........Member of the Senate of the United States.

Ae dak (GUN 1) i De eee Member of the House of Representatives.

Pee elOLAND: <2) 233--. Member of the House of Representatives.

ish th CONE See ae eee Member of the House of Representatives.

Weer AG ON, 22 ccc005 acces Citizen of New York.

ee WOOLSEY ...-......-. Citizen of Connecticut.

Ibi, LAVAS) VAR ee eee Citizen of Massachusetts.

RICHARD DELAFIELD. .- Citizen of Washington. |

PEPER PARKER, ........- Citizen of Washington. 4 EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.
JOHN MACLEAN ......... Citizen of New Jersey. |

MEMBERS EX OFFICIO OF THE INSTITUTION.

Die Sa GAIN Toe see so o-5 ce President of the United States.

Be ONOWA KS ccc sen, soe dle Vice-President of the United States.
rej d Se) (O18 U.S) DS eae ee Chief Justice of the United States.
Pte is tee ares Soo oso oe Secretary of State.

Gas. DO WLWiibli--. 02. -se Secretary of the Treasury.

Wie). DELEINAPY 23. 5. . -22 Secretary of War.

Gavi ROBESON s255.- Secretary of the Navy.

J. A. J. CRESWELL. ...--- Postmaster General.

din We (C0). eas eee ree Secretary of the Interior.

1B Ue 1a OFS ee pean eee Attorney General.

‘Sh fab JOS a0 ee Aeneas Commissioner of Patents.

ee WEIN occa cacgencs cn Mayor of the City of Washington.

EXECUTIVE OFFICERS OF THE INSTITUTION.

JOSEPH HENRY, SECRETARY,

Director of the Institution.

t

SPENCER F. BAIRD, AssIsTANT SECRETARY,

In charge of Museum, Exchanges, de.

WILLIAM J. RHEES, Corer CLERK,
In charge of Accounts, Printing, and General Business.

DANIEL LEECH, CiLerx,

In charge of Correspondence.

HENRY M. BANNISTER, CLERK,

In charge of Meteorology.

JANE A. TURNER, CLERK,
In charge of Records of International Exchanges.

SOLOMON G. BROWN, CLERK,

In charge ef Transportation.

JOSEPH HERRON,

Janitor of the Musewm.

PROGRAMME OF ORGANIZATION

OF THE

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION.

.

[PRESENTED IN THE FIRST ANNUAL REPORT OF THE SECRETARY, AND
ADOPTED BY THE BOARD OF REGENTS, DECEMBER 13, 1847.]

INTRODUCTION.

General considerations which should serve as a guide in adopting a Plan
of Organization.

1. WILL OF SmiTHson. The property is bequeathed to the United
States of America, ‘to found at Washington, under the name of the
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, an establishment for the increase and diffu-
sion of knowledge among men.”

2. The bequest is for the benefit of mankind. The Government of
the United States is merely a trustee to carry out the design of the
testator.

3. The Institution is not a national establishment, as is frequently
supposed, but the establishment of an individual, and is to bear and
perpetuate his name.

4. The objects of the Institution are, 1st, to increase, and, 2d, to
diffuse knowledge among men.

5. These two objects should not be confounded with one another.
The first is to enlarge the existing stock of knowledge by the addition
of new truths; and the second, to disseminate knowledge, thus increased,
among men.

6. The will makes no restriction in favor of any particular kind of
knowledge; hence all branches are entitled to a share of attention.

7. Knowledge can be increased by different methods of facilitating
and promoting the discovery of new truths; and can be most exten-
sively diffused among men by means of the press.

8. To effect the greatest amount of good, the crganization should be
such as to enable the Institution to produce results, in the way of in-
creasing and diffusing knowledge, which cannot be produced either at
all or so efliciently by the existing institutions in our country.

9. The organization should also be such as can be adopted provis-
ionally ; can be easily reduced to practice; receive moditications, or
be abandoned, in whole or in part, without a sacrifice of the funds.

10. In order to compensate in some measure for the loss of time
occasioned by the delay of eight years in establishing the Institution,
a considerable portion of the interest which has accrued should be added
to the principal. —

11. In proportion to the wide field of knowledge to be cultivated, the
funds are small. Economy should, therefore, be consulted in the con-
struction of the building; and not only the first cost of the edifice shouid
be considered, but also the continual expense of keeping it in repair,

8 PROGRAMME OF ORGANIZATION.

and of the support of the establishment necessarily connected with it.
There should also be but few individuals permanently supported by the
Institution.

. The plan and dimensions of the building should be determined by
the plan of the organization, and not the converse.

13. It should be recollected that mankind in general are to be bene-
fited by the bequest, and that, therefore, all unnecessary expenditure
on local objects would be a perversion of the trust.

14. Besides the foregoing considerations, deduced immediately from
the will of Smithson, regard must be had to certain requirements of the
act of Congress establishing the Institution. These are, a library, a
museum, and a gallery of art, with a building on a liberal scale to con-
tain them.

SECTION I.

Plan of organization of the Institution in accordance with the foregoing
deductions from the will of Smithson.

To INCREASE KNOWLEDGE. It is proposed—

1. To stimulate men of talent to make original researches, by offering
suitable rewards for memoirs containing new truths; and,

2. To appropriate annually a portion ‘of the income for particular re-
searches, under the direction of suitable persons.

To DIFFUSE KNOWLEDGE. It is proposed—

1. To publish a series of periodical reports on the progress of the dif-
ferent branches of knowledge; and,

2. To publish occasionally separate treatises on subjects of general
interest.

DETAILS OF THE PLAN TO INCREASE KNOWLEDGE.
I. By stimulating researches.

1. Facilities afforded for the production of original memoirs on all
penis of knowledge.

2, The memoirs thus obtained to be published in a series of volumes,
in a quarto form, and entitled Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge.

3. No memoir on subjects of physical science to be accepted for pub-
lication which does not furnish a positive addition to human knowledge,
resting on original research ; and all unverified speculations to be re-
jected.

4. Hach memoir presented to the Institution to be submitted for
examination to a commission of persons of reputation for learning in the
branch to which the memoir pertains; and to be accepted for publica-
tion only in case the report of this commission is favorable.

5. The commission to be chosen by the officers of the Institution, and
the name of the author, as far as practicable, concealed, unless a favor-
able decision is made.

6. The volumes of the memoirs to be exchanged for the transactions
of literary and scientific societies, and copies to be given to all the col-
leges and principal libraries in this country. One part of the remain-
ing copies may be offered for sale, and the other carefully preserved,
to form complete sets of the work, to supply the demand from new insti-
tutions.

7. An abstract, or popular account, of the contents of these memoirs

PROGRAMME OF ORGANIZATION. 9

to be given to the public through the annual report of the Regents to
Congress.

Il. By appropriating a part of the income, annually, to special objects
of research, under the direction of suitable persons.

1. The objects and the amount appropriated, to be recommended by
counsellors of the Institution.

2. Appropriations in different years to different objects; so that in
course of time each branch of knowledge may receive a share.

3. The results obtained from these appropriations to be published,
with the memoirs before mentioned, in the tolumes of the Smithsonian
Contributions to Knowledge.

4, Examples of objects for which appropriations may be made.

(1.) System of extended meteorological observations for solving the
problem of American storms.

(2.) Explorations in descriptive natural history, and geological, mag-
Mer and topographical surveys, to collect materials for the formation
of a Physical Atlas of the United States.

(3.) Solution of experimental problems, such as a new determina-
tion of the weight of the earth, of the velocity of electricity, and of
light; chemical analyses of soils and plants; collection and publication
of scientific facts accumulated in the offices of government.

(4.) Institution of statistical inquiries with reference to physical,
moral, and political subjects.

(5.) ’ Historical researches, and accurate surveys of places celebrated
in American history.

(6.) Ethnological researches, particularly with reference to the dif-
ferent races of men in North America; also, explorations and accurate
surveys of the mounds and other remains of the ancient people of our
country.

DETAILS OF THE PLAN FOR DIFFUSING KNOWLEDGE.

J. By the publication of a series of reports, giving an account of the new
discoveries in science, and of the changes made from year to year in all
branches of knowledge not strictly professional.

1. These reports will diffuse a kind of knowledge generally interest-
ing, but which, at present, is inaccessible to the public. Some of the
reports may be published annually, others at longer intervals, as the
income of the Institution or the changes in the branches of knowledge
may indicate.

2. The reports are to be prepared by collaborators eminent in the dif-
ferent branches of knowledge.

3. Each collaborator to be furnished with the journals and publica-
tions, domestic and foreign, necessary to the compilation of his report ;
to be paid a certain sum ‘for his labors, and to be named on the title-
page of the report.

The reports to be published in separate parts, so that persons inter-
al in a particular branch can procure the parts relating to it without
pur chasing the whole.

5. These reports may be presented to Congress, for partial distribu-
tion, the remaining copies to be given to literary and scientific institu-
tions, and sold to individuals for : a moderate price.

The following are some of the subjects which may be embraced in the
reports :*

* This part of the plan has been but partially carried out.

10 PROGRAMME OF ORGANIZATION.

I. PHYSICAL CLASS.

1. Physics, including astronomy, natural philosophy, chemistry, and
meteorology.

2. Natural history, including botany, zodlogy, geology, &c.

3. Agriculture.

4, Application of science to arts.

Il. MORAL AND POLITICAL CLASS.

5. Ethnology, including particular history, comparative philology,
antiquities, &e. .

6. Statistics and political economy.

7. Mental and moral philosophy.

8. A survey of the political events of the world; penal reform, &c.

Ill. LITERATURE AND THE FINE ARTS.

9. Modern literature.
10. The fine arts, and their application to the useful arts.
11. Bibliography.

2. Obituary notices of distinguished individuals.

Ii. By the publication of separate treatises on subjects of general interest.

1. These treatises may occasionally consist of valuable memoirs
translated from foreign languages, or of articles prepared under the
direction of the Institution, or procured by offering premiums for the
best exposition of a given subject.

2. The treatises should, in all cases, be submitted to a commission of
competent judges, previous to their publication.

3. As examples of these treatises, expositions may be obtained of the
present state of the several branches of knowledge mentioned in the
table of reports.

SECTION II.

Plan of organization, in accordance with the terms of the resolutions of the
Board of Regents providing jor the two modes of increasing and diffusing
knowledge.

1. The act of Congress establishing the Institution contemplated the
formation of a library and a museum, and the Board ot Regents, in-
cluding these objects in the plan of organization, resolved to divide the
income* into two equal parts.

2, One part to be appropriated to increase and diffuse knowledge by
means of publications and researches, agreeably to the scheme before
given. The other part to be appropriated to the formation of a library
and a collection of objects of nature and of art.

3. These two plans are not incompatible with one another.

4, To carry out the plan before described, a library will be required,
consisting, Ist, of acomplete collection of the transactions and proceed-
ings of all thé learned societies in the world ; 2d, of the more important
current periodical publications, and other works necessary in preparing
the periodical reports.

* The amount of the Smithsonian bequest received into the Treasury of the

United (Statesisien 22.325 we,6 cists Seale ee ee oe eee ea eee $515, 169 00
Interest on the same to July 1, 1846, (devoted to the erection of the building) 242,129 00
Annualluncometromubtlve Meihiwesten- jones ae nee seek eieeee aiie re eis 30,910 14

PROGRAMME OF ORGANIZATION. TE

5. The Institution should make special collections, particularly of
objects to illustrate and verify its own publications.

6. Also, a collection of instruments of research in all branches of ex-
perimental science.

7. With reference to the collection of books, other than those men-
tioned above, catalogues of all the different libraries in the United
States should be procured, in order that the valuable books first pur-
chased may be such as are not to be found in the United States.

8. Also, catalogues of memoirs, and of books and other materials,
should be collected for rendering the Institution a center of bibliograph-
ical knowledge, whence the student may be directed to any work which
he may require.

9. It is believed that the collections in natural history will increase
by donation as rapidly as the income of the Institution can make pro-
vision for their reception, and, therefore, it will seldom be necessary to
purchase articles of this kind.

10. Attempts should ke made to procure for the gallery of art casts
of the most celebrated articles of ancient and modern sculpture.

11. The arts may be encouraged by providing a room, free of ex-
pense, for the exhibition of the objects of the Art-Union and other
similar societies.

12. A small appropriation should annually be made for models of an-
tiquities, such as those of the remains of ancient temples, &e.

13. For the present, or until the building is fully completed, besides
the Secretary, no permanent assistant will be required, except one, to
act as librarian.

14. The Secretary, by the law of Congress, is alone responsible to
the Regents. He shall take charge of the building and property, keep
a recor d of proceedings, discharge the duties of librarian and keeper of
the museum, and may, with the consent of the Regents, employ assistants.

15. The Secretary and his assistants, during the session of Congress,
will be required to illustrate new discoveries in science, and to exhibit
new objects of art. Distinguished individuals should also be invited to
give lectures on subjects of general interest.

This programme, which was at first adopted provisionally, has be-
come the settled policy of the Institution. The only material change
is that expressed by the following resolutions, adopted January 15,
1855, viz:

Resolved, That the 7th resolution passed by the Board of Regents,
on the 26th of January, 1847, requiring an equal division of the income
between the active operations and the museum and library, when the
buildings are completed, be, and it is hereby, repealed.

Resolved, That hereafter the annual appropriations shall be appor-
tioned specifically among the different objects and operations of the
Institution, in such manner as may, in the judgment of the Regents, be
necessary and proper for each, according to its intrinsic importance and
a compliance in good faith with the jaw.

REPORT

or

PROFESSOR HENRY, SECRETARY OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION,

FOR

HB O:009"

To the Board of Regents:

GENTLEMEN: The Institution intrusted to your guardianship by the
Congress of the United States, has, during the past year, continued its
operations in the line of increasing and diffusing knowledge with una-
bated energy. The sphere of its influence in this country and abroad
has from the first been constantly on the increase, and it is now not too
much to say that no institution founded by the liberality of a private
individual ever attained a wider or more favorable reputation. It is
true, its character is sometimes misunderstood, but this cannot be a
matter of surprise when we reflect that it differs in many particulars
from all other institutions, and that without an attentive perusal of the
annual reports, no adequate idea can be obtdined of its varied field of
labor, or of what it has done and is doing to promote the special objects
denoted in the will of its founder. It is here sufficient to mention that,
besides adding to the sum of human knowledge by its own operations,
and connecting its name with the history of almost every branch of
science, it has become the general agent through which the intellectual
labors of the eastern and western hemispheres are brought into efficient
cobperation. The importance of its labors and the influence of the
international communication which it has established, ean only be pro-
perly estimated by those who are acquainted with the distinctive char-
acteristics of modern civilization, and who realize the fact that it
mainly rests on the development of a knowledge of the laws of nature
and the application of these laws to the uses of life. Science not only
gives man control over the physical elements, and thus tends to eman-
cipate him from the curse of brute labor, but also serves to widen the
domain of his intellectual activities and enlarge the sphere of his moral
sympathies. By an attentive perusal of the following report, I think it
will be admitted by all who are competent to form a proper opinion on
the subject, that what I have claimed for the Institution is not too
much, and that any departure from the general policy which has been
constantly pursued from the beginning, would be attended with unfortu-
nate consequences.

FINANCES.—At the last session of the Board it was resolved that a
memorial be presented to Congress, setting forth the large expendi-

14 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY.

ture to which the Institution had been subjected by reason of the ac-
commodation and maintenance of the National Museum, and asking
that the usual appropriation of $4,000 that had been made on this
account be increased to $10,000; also, that $25,000 be appropriated
toward fitting up the large room in the second story of the main build-
ing, for the better exhibition of the government collections. In accord-
ance with this resolution a petition was prepared, signed by the Chan-
cellor and Secretary of the Institution, and presented to the House of
Representatives by General Garfield, one of the Regents. It was re-
ferred to the Committee on Appropriations, and although forcibly ad-
vocated by the members of the Board belonging to the House, it was not
granted, and only the usual sum was appropriated. The same memo-
rial has, through the Secretary of the Interior, again been presented to
Congress. The reasonableness of this petition must be manifest when
it is considered that $4,000 is the sum which the maintenance of the
museum cost the government when it was in charge of the Patent Office,
and that since its removal to the Institution it has increased to three
times its original size, while the money has depreciated to one-half its
former value. From an accurate analysis of the accounts it appears
that the items directly chargeable to the museum during the past year
amount to $15,000. This sum is exclusive of the interest on $144,000,
which has been expended’ since the fire in the restoration of the build-
ing, principally for the accommodations for the museum. Owing to the
fallin the premium on gold, and the non-payment of interest by the
State of Virginia on bonds held by the Institution, the income during
the past year has been less than the estimate by upward of $2,400. It
has, therefore, been necessary to diminish expenditures in certain direc-
tions, in order to carry out the plan of accumulating a sufficient surplus
in the treasury at the beginning of the year to defray, in cash, as far as
possible, all the current expenses. From the report of the Executive
Sommittee it will be seen that this plan has been rigorously carried out 5
that the balance on hand at the beginning of 1870 was nearly $21,000,
with outstanding bills of $3,000, which is about the amount of indebted-
ness at the commencement of last year. The finances of the Institution
may, therefore, be exhibited as follows:

The whole bequest of Smithson in the United States Treas-

TIDY 2 sc See hee cco cee a ent URE (Sn tO St) 9 $541, 379 63
Additions from savings, &c., also in the United States
Wreasury \. .<Seeieeee ces se eis cee ee ae ee ee 108, 620 37
Virginia State stock, ($72,760,) valued at..........------ 42, 200 80
Sashieone Mami... ose sees ee oo. ee a eae On een ee ee 20, 969 65
Potale’. 20): 0... See ee eee - 713,170 45
Dednetbills dne,. (about) .. 22 esos. eee SENLEE, chan S eyo 2,969 65

Which leaves, as the present capital.........---.- 710, 200 80

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 15

The income from the Smithson fund during the year 1869, including
the premium on gold, was $49,515.

In a late report from the Treasury Department, giving a list of the
appropriations of Congress for the District of Columbia, a large amount
is put down to the Smithsonian Institution. This statement, without
explanation, would give an erroneous impression. From the organiza-
tion of the Institution to the present time it cannot properly be said
that the government has appropriated a single dollar from the public
treasury for the Institution. The principal “appropriations” mentioned
in the report in question were not from the public money, but from the
Smithson fund deposited in the Treasury of the United States. The only
appropriation from the national treasury which might appear to be for
the benefit of the Institution, is that of $4,000, annually made for the
care and exhibition of the Government Museum, and, also, at one time
$10,000, and at another $4,000, to erect cases for the better preservation
of the specimens; and even in these instances, as has been shown, the
Institution was far from being reimbursed for the actual expenditure on
the care of the museum.

COOPERATION WITH GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS.—It has always
been a prominent feature in the policy of the Institution to act in unison
with other institutions, and especially to codperate with the several
departments and bureaus of the general government in all cases in
whieh their respective functions would admit of such codperation.
It is in accordance with this policy that the extensive and rapidly
increasing library of the Institution has been incorporated with that of
Congress, and that a similar arrangement, mentionéd in the last report,
for transferring to the Department of Agriculture the large Smithsonian
herbarium, has been completed. It is also in accordance with this policy
that an arrangement has been made with Surgeon General Barnes by
which all the crania and other of the osteological specimens of the In-
stitution have been transferred to the Army Medical Museum.

These codperations, while they relieve the-Institution from the expend-
iture of more than $10,000 annually, and thus enable it to more vigor-
ously prosecute its researches, to publish a larger number of contribu-
tions, and to extend its system of international exchanges, tend also to
increase the amount of scientific material in the capital of the United
States, as well as to facilitate its employment in the advance and diffu-
sion of knowledge.

This Institution and its collaborators have the use not only of its
books deposited in the Capitol, but also that of those in the National
Library, as may be seen by the terms of the deposit given in a previous
report. Also, agreeably to the terms upon which the plants were trans-
ferred, they are accessible to the public for practical or educational
purposes, and to the Institution for scientific investigation. Further-
more, a botanist approved by the Institution has been appointed, who

16 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY.

is to have charge of the specimens and be ready at all times to give
botanical information that may be required by the general public or by
the Smithsonian correspondents. Moreover, in return for the specimens
transferred to the Medical Museum the Institution receives from the
officers of the army all collections made in ethnology and in special
branches of natural history.

PUBLICATIONS.—The publications of the Institution form an essential
part of its operations and constitute the principal basis of the great sys-
tem of Smithsonian international exchanges. As has been frequently
stated in previous reports, they are of three classes: the Contributions
to Knowledge, the Miscellaneous Collections, and the Annual Reports.
The first consist of memoirs containing positive additions to science
resting on original research, and which are, principally, the result of
investigations to which the Institution has in, some way rendered assist-
ance. The Miscellaneous Collections are chiefly composed of, works
intended to facilitate the study of ethnology, natural history, and mete-
orology. They are designed to facilitate the progress of those who en-
gage in special studies, to which, in their leisure moments, their thoughts
may recur, and in connection with which, while contributing to their
own pleasure, they may advance the cause of science. The Annual

teports, besides giving an account of the operations of the Institution,

furnish, in an appendix, matter of importance to the meteorological
observer and of interest to the general public. The Contributions and
Miscellaneous Collections are published at the expense of the Smithson
fund, while the Reports, with the exception of the illustrations, are
printed by the government.

The following is a list of the quarto publications that have been
printed during the present year:

1. On the Gray Substance of the Medulla Oblongata and Trapezium.
By John Dean, M. D.

2. On the Orbit and Phenomena of a Meteoric Fire-ball, seen July 20,
1860. By Professor J. H. Coffin, LL. D.

3. On the Transatlantic Longitude. By Benjamin A. Gould.

4, The Indians of Cape Flattery, at the Entrance of the Strait of Fuca,
Washington Territory. By J. G. Swan.

5. Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity of the Human Family. By
Lewis H. Morgan.

6. On the Gliddon Mummy Case in the Museum of the Smithsonian
Institution. By Chas. Pickering.

7. A new edition of Brewer’s North American Odlogy.

Of these Nos. 1 to 6, together with Hildreth’s and Cleveland’s Meteor-
ological Observations, previously deseribed, form the 16th volume of
Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, which will be distributed to
the foreign correspondents of the Institution in the next invoice, and,
as soon as an additional number can be bound, to the public institutions
of this countiy.

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. Ly

The following are the titles of the articles of the octavo series that have
been printed during the year, or, are now in press:

1. Land and Fresh Water Shells of North America. Part I By W.
G. Binney and T. Bland.

2. Photographic Portraits of North American Indians in the Gallery
of the Smithsonian Institution.

3. List of Foreign Correspondents of the Smithsonian Institution.
New and enlarged edition.

4, Directions for Collecting, Preserving and Transporting Specimens
of Natural History. Prepared for the use of the Smithsonian Institu-
tion. (New edition.)

_ §. Tables, Meteorological and Physical, prepared for the Smithsonian

Institution. By A. Guyot, P. D., LL. D. (New edition.)

6. Circular in Reference to the Degrees of Relationship among Differ-
ent Nations. (New edition.)

At the request of the Institution the preparation of the Manual of the
Land and Fresh Water Shells of North America was undertaken by W.
G. Binney. The second and third parts of this work were published
some years ago, and have been described in previous reports. The
first part, which completes the work, was issued during the year
1869, and forms by itself a volume of 328 pages, illustrated with many
woodeuts. The work was at first undertaken by Mr. Binney alone, but
he afterward, in this part, associated with himself Mr. Thomas Bland, of
New York. It contains a description of all the species of land shells
known in January 1868, within the geographical limits of North Amer-
ica, from the extreme North to the Rio Grande and Mazatlan. It is con-
sidered a valuable contribution to the study of conchology and is in
great demand among those interested in the pursuit of this branch of
natural history.

From the stereotype plates of these octavo works, from which impres-
sions have been printed and separately distributed in pamphlet form, two
additional volumes of the Miscellaneous Collections have been made up,
and are nearly ready for distribution.

On account of the great outlay for the building during the last few
years, the appropriations for publications have been restricted; yet from
the foregoing it will be seen that we shall be able to distribute in our
next foreign invoice one quarto and two octavo volumes, which, with
the Annual Report, will make four volumes of publications issued dur-
ing 1869.

A brief account has been given in previous reports of the contents of
all the papers forming the 16th volume of Contributions, excepting the
Gliddon Mummy Case, the Indians of Cape Flattery, and the Trans-
atlantic Longitude.

The first of these is by Dr. Charles Pickering, of Boston, one of. the
ethnologists of the United States Exploring Expedition, under Admiral
Wilkes. f It relates to an interesting specimen of Egyptian archeology

=S

18 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY.

presented, in 1842, by Mr. Gliddon, the Egyptologist, to the national
collection now in charge of the Smithsonian Institution, but at that time
in the United States Patent Office. It consists of a part of the lid of
a mummy case procured at Sacara from an Arab. It does not bear any
inscription by which its date can be determined, but it is supposed by Dr.
Pickering to belong to a very early period, and to be among the oldest—
if not the very oldest—of specimens of hieroglyphic writing known.
The earliest writing, of ascertained date, was executed in the third dy-
nasty from 3110 to 3080, B. C.; but, according to Dr. Pickering, the
writings on the mummy case in the Institution are of a style different
from, and clearly anterior to, that executed in the third dynasty. To-
ward the beginning of this era, on the authority of Manetho, writing
was improved, and as all improvements of this kind have tended in the
direction of an increased facility, this mummy case at least seems to
have preceded such a change. The lid was divided by Mr. Gliddon into
three parts ; the first part is the one just described, the second was pre-
sented to the Naval Lyceum of Brooklyn, the third to Mrs. Ward, of
New York. Diligent though unsuccessful inquiry has been made for the
missing parts, in order to have them also figured and described; and
now, through this report, attention is again called to the subject, with
the hope that if the other portions of the lid are still in existence, in-
formation of the fact may be communicated to the Institution. The
part of the lid above described is represented on a large plate which
presents a fac-simile of the figures as to size and color.

The second undescribed paper is that on the Indians of Cape Flattery,
which, there is no doubt, will be considered an interesting contribution
to ethnology. It was prepared, at the request of the Institution, by Mr.
James G. Swan, an agent of the United States government, who had
long resided with the tribe of which he has given an account. This °
tribe occupies the extreme northwestern part of Washington Territory,
opposite Vancouver's Island, from which it is separated by the Strait of
Fuca. The paper contains a full account of the manners and customs
of these Indians, and a description of their implements, utensils, cloth-
ing, modes of travel, fashion of constructing houses, &e. It also gives
a minute account of the festivals and ceremonies of these Indians, and
of the various myths with which these are connected. Among other
singular superstitions is that of the resurrection, as it were, of the flesh
of the body but not of the bones, which are left in the graves; that
the spirit world is in the center of the earth, where the inhabitants are
somewhat incommoded by the want of the osseous part of their bodies.
The memoir is illustrated by a large number of woodcuts, most of them
copied from specimens now in the museum of the Institution. In the
absence of the author of the work it was edited by George Gibbs, esq.,
who has added occasional notes, and also a vocabulary of the Makah
tribe, furnished by Mr. Swan.

The third memoir to be described is the report of Dr. B. A. Gould on

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 19

the Transatlantic Longitude. The principal results of this investigation
were communicated by Dr. Gould to the meeting of the National
Academy of Sciences, during its session in 1867, and the report in full
was presented to the Institution for publication, with the consent of the
Superintendent of the Coast Survey, Professor Peirce, in February
1869. It relates to the determination of the difference of longitude
between England and America, by means of the electro-magnetic tele-
graph. This method was first practically applied in the Coast Survey
of the United States, between places in this country, and received its
full development in this great national work before it began to be used
elsewhere. Previous to the introduction of this method, three others
had been employed on the Survey. First, that of observations of the
time of the culmination of the moon at the two places between which
the difference of longitude, or, in other words, of time, was to be deter-
mined; second, that of observing the times of beginning and ending of
eclipses of the sun and of occultations of known stars by the passage
over them of the moon; and third, that of transporting a large number
of chronometers between England and America a number of times in
succession and obtaining the average difference of time as indicated by
the whole series. The determinations of the transatlantic longitude
which have been obtained by these methods have been generally re-
ferred to the Capitol at Washington and the Observatory at Greenwich,
England, as standard points. From the several methods just men-
tioned, and also from that of the electro-magnetic telegraph, the fol-
lowing results have been obtained :

From eclipses and occultations the difference in time
between the dome of the Capitol and the Greenwich

SUR VeAIMIE Viel 905-2) 5)<) ltos 8 hee 5 = eS einen Ces | Dt Oke AS Oe
From moon culminations the difference is..........-- 5m Sa" 10812
From the transportation of chronometers the difference

CR Ey ore ER Po ama ts = ye Sn a eines ojos 2s 5 8™= 125.30

From the transmission of electricity through the cable,
and the use of the electro-magnetic telegraph, the dif-
fEEPMEC WandOUnd LOINGl. © on 1,2 2 soo eee se oe Tg edad |. ly

By the last method the difference of time between the ends of the.
eable was probably determined within the fraction of a second, but as
the signals could not be sent directly between Greenwich and Washing-
ton, a somewhat greater departure from the actual difference must be
allowed. ‘This difference is, however, very small, not exceeding, per-
haps, a single second.

The process of ascertaining the difference of time, or in other words,
the difference of longitude of two points, by means of the telegraph,
consists in transmitting a series of signals either way through the con-
ductor, and in observing the exact time of the appearance of the signal
at one station, while its time of starting is registered at the other. If

20 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY.

the transmission of the signal were instantaneous, the difference of time
observed would be the exact difference of longitude; but if any time
elapses between the making of the signal at one station and its appear-
ance at the other, the difference of time will be greater than the true
time when the signal is sent eastward, and less than it when sent west-
ward. If the velocity of transmission be the same in both directions,
the true difference of longitude will be obtained by taking the mean of
two sets of differences, the one giving the longitude as much too great
as the other gives it too small.

From experiments on the velocity of transmission of electrical im-
pulses through long conductors, it is probable that the first part, as it
were, of the electrical wave reaches the distant station in an inappre-
ciable moment of time, but that in order to overcome the inertia, and
give perceptible motion to the signal apparatus, an accumulation of
power is required. The time necessary to this accumulation will
depend on the weight, and other causes of resistance in the apparatus,
and also on the intensity of the electrical current; hence, the two instru-
ments ought to have precisely the same degree of sensitiveness, and the
battery during the continuance of the experiment should retain the same
electro-motive power. _

The method of telegraphing, employed with the cable, is that devised
by Sir William Thomson, of Glasgow, and is founded on the applica-
tion of the principle of reflection first applied to instruments of pre-
cision by our countryman, Joseph Saxton, of the Coast Survey. It
consists of a mirror of about half an inch in diameter, to the back of
which is attached a small magnetic needle, the joint weight of the two
being less than one grain, which is suspended, by a single fiber from
the cocoon, in the center of a coil of many spires of fine wire, forming
part of the galvanic circuit. Upon this mirror is thrown a beam of
light through a slit in front of a bright kerosene lamp, and the deflec-
tions of the neédle are noted by the movements of the reflected beam
received upon a slip of white paper. The exquisite delicacy of this gal-
vanometer, as well as the conducting power of the telegraphic cable,
may be appreciated from the result of an experiment in which signals
were sent from Ireland to Newfoundland, a distance of 2,160 miles, by
means of a battery composed of an ordinary percussion gun cap, in
which was inserted a morsel of zine and a drop of acidulated water.

For determining the time in these observations, a small transit instru-
ment, a chronograph, and an astronomical clock were required at each
station, for the accommodation of which a temporary observatory was
erected. The observations on the American side were in charge of Mr.
G. W. Dean, with the assistance of Mr. E. Goodfellow, while those on
the coast of Ireland, as well as the general direction of the enterprise,
were under the charge of Dr. Gould, assisted by Mr. A. T. Mosman.
The use of the cable was freely granted by the Anglo-American Com-
pany, and Dr. Gould received from the astronomer royal, Dr. Airy, and

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 21

the electricians of the company, all the facilities and assistance neces-
sary to the undertaking. The report contains a series of investigations
relative to the time of transmission of signals, and other points, which
zan only be properly understood by a study of the work itself.

The Annual Report for the year 1868 was printed, as usual, by order
of Congress, and the extra number of ten thousand copies ordered. I
would again urge upon Congress the propriety of increasing the num-
ber of copies, since the demand has become so great that it is impossi-
ble, with the number above mentioned, to meet the applications for them
of the correspondents of the Institution or of the constituents of the
members of Congress themselves.

In addition to the report of the Secretary giving an account of the
operations, expenditures, and condition of the Institution for the year,
and the proceedings of the Board of Regents, it contains the following
articles: List of Smithsonian meteorological stations and observers in
North America and adjacent islands, from 1849 up to the end of 1868;
Memoirs of Cuvier, and history of his works, of Oersted, Schénbein,
Encke, and Hodgkinson; Articles on recent progress in relation to the
theory of heat; Principles of the mechanical theory of heat; Continu-
ous vibratory movement of all matter; Radiation; Synthetic experi-
ments relative to meteorites; Catalogue of meteorites in Yale College;
The electric resonance of mountains; Experiments on aneroid barome-
ters; Anniversary address of the president of the Royal Society of
Victoria; Report of the transactions of the Society of Physics and
Natural History of Geneva, and of the Anthropological Society of Paris;
An original communication on drilling in stone without metal, and ona
deposit of agricultural flint implements in Southern Illinois, by Charles
Rau; Notice of the Blackmore Museum, England; Programmes of
several foreign societies; An account of the assay of coins at the United
States Mint; Table of foreign coins; and a complete list of the publi-
cations of the Smithsonian Institution.

INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGES.—The two objects of the bequest of
Smithson, as briefly, though clearly, expressed in his will by the terms
“increase” and “diffusion” of knowledge, are both fully provided for in
the plan of organization. The increase of knowledge is principally effect-
ed by the researches that are instituted at the expense of the Smithson
fund in the various branches of science, and the diffusion of knowledge
by the publication of the results of these researches and their distribution
to all the principal libraries of the world, and still more generally by
the great system of international exchange which has been established.
The effect of this system, in its present enlarged dimensions, in the way
of facilitating direct correspondence between the scientific men of the
Old and New World, can scarcely be overestimated.

During the year that has just closed, 1,734 packages, containing many
thousand different articles, have been transmitted to 1,569 parties in

yap REPORT OF THE SECRETARY.

foreign countries. These packages were contained in 112 boxes, having
a cubical content in the aggregate of 1,033 feet, and weighing 23,376
pounds. The packages were not only from institutions within the limits
of the United States, but also from those in Canada, Central and South
America. The parcels received at the Institution for parties in this
country numbered 2,600, about one-third more than were received during
the preceding year. The separate volumes, parts of volumes, and pam-
phlets contained in these parcels would amount to many times the num-
ber just given, those for the Institution alone amounting, as will be sub-
sequently stated, to 5,555. When it is considered that these works are
the published original records of the discoveries of the day in the various
branches of science; that they mark the progress of man in a higher
civilization, and that the system of exchange tends to unite in one effort,
as it were, the labors of those who are endeavoring to enlarge the bounds
of knowledge, it is impossible to conceive of a system more efficient or
better calculated for realizing one of the conceptions of Smithson, that
of diffusing knowledge among men.

The exchanges thus far have principally been confined to books,
although large numbers of specimens have been sent abroad on the part of
the Institution. Full returns have not yet been asked for these, but one
of the conditions on which the specimens are given is that whenever the
government shall see fit to make provision for the full support of a
national museum, then specimens will be required in return. It is
proper to state, however, that in all cases in which the Institution has
signified its desire to obtain specimens for special investigations, or
for the illustration of a particular subject, such as geology and anthro-
pology, liberal responses have been made.

The Smithson packages, with the single exception of those for Italy,
are passed through all the custom-houses of the world free of duty and
without examination; and this exception will, we think, be removed as
soon as the negotiations now in progress are completed. Efficient aid
during 1869, as in previous years, has been rendered the Institution in
the transportation of its packages to and from the United States, free
of charge, by the following companies, viz: The Pacific Mail Steamship
Company, North German Lloyd, Hamburg American Steamship Com-
pany, General Transatlantic Steamship Company, Pacific Steam Navi-
gation Company, Inman Steamship Company, Cunard Steamship Com-
pany, California and Mexico Steamship Company, Panama Railroad
Company, Mexican Steamship Company, Union Pacific Railroad, United
States and Brazil Steamship Company, North German Lloyd, (Balti-
more line,) and the Atlantic Mail Steamship Company. It gives me
much pleasure to make this public statement in regard to an act which
deserves commendation, not only on account of the liberal spirit which
it manifests, but also on that of the enlightened appreciation which it
evinces of the objects of the Institution. Notwithstanding the aid
which has been thus liberally extended, the cost of the exchanges now
amounts to about $5,000 per annum.

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 23

The following are the centers to which the Smithson invoices are
consigned: Leipsic, care of Dr. Felix Fliigel; London, care of William
Wesley; Paris, care of Gustave Bossange; Amsterdam, care of Frederic
Miller; Milan, care of L. dell’ Acqua; Christiana, care of Professor
Holst, of the University. The packages for Asia, Africa, and Oceanica
are principally sent through London or the American Missionary Socie-
ties. The invoices to South America are forwarded, through the gra-
tuitous services of Mr. Hillier, of the New York custom-house, by
regular trading vessels from that city.

In 1567 a proposition was made to the Institution by the Librarian of
Congress relative to establishing and conducting a system of exchange
of official documents between the government of the United States and
that of other nations. In accordance with this, a cireular was addressed
to the different governments having relations with the United States
for the purpose of ascertaining their views as to such anexchange. In
every case the proposition was regarded with favor, and at the ensuing
session of Congress an act was passed directing that fifty full sets of all
documents published at the Government Printing Office should be set
apart for the purpose in question, and appropriating a sufficient sum to
defray the necessary expenses. Unfortunately, however, Congress
neglected to direct the Public Printer to strike off the copies requisite
for this purpose, in addition to the regular number previously required
for the use of the government, and it was not until recently that the
necessary legislation was procured to remedy this omission. As soon
as the printing and binding of the documents of the last session of
Congress are completed the proposed exchange will be initiated. In
anticipation of the receipt of the annual supply of the documents of
our government, several large packages containing documents of foreign
countries have been already received.

On account of the large additions that have been made of late years
to the number of societies and other parties in correspondence with the
Institution, a new and revised edition of the list of the former became
necessary, and this was prepared during the last year. In order to
insure accuracy in the titles and localities of the various establish-
ments, proof-slips of the list were sent to the leading foreign societies
through our agents, and also to the diplomatic representatives in this
country. In all cases prompt attention was given to our request, and
many important corrections and suggestions were received. This list,
which now numbers 1,587 literary and scientific establishments, is not
only essential to the Institution in addressing its foreign packages, but
also, for a similar purpose, to the libraries and societies in different parts
of the United States, Canada, and South America.

Liprary.—the works, which have been received from all parts of the
world in exchange for the publications of the Institution, after being
recorded are transferred to the National Library, agreeably to the

24 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY.

arangements described in former reports. The following is a general
statement of the number of books, maps, and charts received through
exchange during 1869:

Volumes:

OCHAV ORE ee Sie ic ae ee aie w wloke olen 5,0 eho eRe eon oie 946
QUUPATCOR 2s re ora a oho geo eke erst. wo ae ere 245
FOnO--4- Soe ace eet eby = o> SS ae 43
— 1,234
Parts of volumes and pamphlets:
COA ROS Se Beeson 6 Seer Saab ou Sse eh oa 5 3, 238
JOIN a td Se ee eee SaaS Roe = 709
JA Ge ee eee eS SNARE Cte eS heme 142
—- 4,089
IN Ey OSG NG VEN Gri se eee ameter bial ko Soo oo5 oan eee s 232
EO Galen ae SA 2s een ye 2 Cee pn hr a ene ie 5) D515)

Of the larger donations received during the year in question are the
following:

From Iceland Foundation Library, Reikiavik, 44 volumes and 12
pamphlets.

Swedish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm, 56 volumes and 5 pam-
philets.

From the Emperor of Austria, 8 volumes and 9 charts.

Publie Library, Stuttgart, 118 volumes.

University, Greifswalde, 114 pamphlets, Inaugural Dissertations.

From the Institut de France, 31 volumes.

Ministére de la Marine et des Colonies, Paris, 6 volumes and 40 pam-
phiets.

Commission Impériale de Exposition Universelle de 1867, Rapports
du Jury International, volumes I-XII.

Société de Statistique, Paris, 13 volumes and 28 pamphlets.

Académie de Montpellier, Faculté de Médecine, 22 volumes, Theses.

From the Society of Engineers, London, 8 volumes, Transactions.

British Museum, 9 volumes and 8 pamphlets.

Royal Archeological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, 20 volumes,
Journal,

From the Bombay Government, 15 volumes, Selections from the
Records of the Bombay Government.

National University, Athens, Greece, 37 volumes and 132 pamphlets.

Legislative Assembly of Canada, 17 volumes.

State of Minnesota, 6 volumes, Plate, Documents.

C. M. Hovey, editor Boston Magazine of Horticulture, Botany, &c.,
| 35 volumes.

The Smithson books have been well cared for by Mr. Spofford, the
efficient Librarian of Congress. Several thousand have been bound,

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 25

and a large number are now in the hands of the binder, each volume
being marked on the back with a stamp indicating that it is a Smithson
deposit.

In the arrangement of the National Library the publications of learned
societies, of which the Smithson books principally consist, form one
chapter of the general collection, which occupies the greater portion of
the south wing of the western projection of the Capitol. It is desired
by the Institution, as well as by the National Library, that this collec-
tion should be as complete as possible in the publications of all learned
societies which have existed from their first establishment in Italy, about
the middle of the sixteenth century, until the present time. Through
the kindness of the older societies of Europe a larger collection of their
publications has been made by this Institution than was ever before
formed in this country, or, with few exceptions, in any of the cities of
the Old World. Still, there are many series wanting, and several of
those now in our possession are defective; exertions will therefore be
made, through our correspondents, to supply deficiencies. The value of
the scientific collections as well as of the general library will be much
enhanced by the catalogue of books, and particularly that of subjects now
in progress, and which, as we are informed, will be completed during the
present year. The third volume of the index of scientific papers, pre-
pared by the Royal Society of London, has been printed and will soon
be distributed. The completion of this great work will have an import-
ant influence on the use of the National Library, to which it will be
especially applicable.

The national library has increased sorapidly during the past three years,
that the three-fold space allotted to it in the Capitol is now insufficient for
its accommodation. Further room, as we learn, has been asked for,
and we would suggest that this might be best secured by the erection
of a separate building, in whose plan of construction should be incor-
porated all the latest improvements for the use and protection of books.
But whatever may be done in this way, greater facilities than now
exist for the consultation of the library should be afforded, by making
it accessible in the evenings to those who are precluded from the use of
its collections by their official occupation during the hours at which it
is now open.

GALLERY OF ART.—It was stated in the last report that Mr. W. W.
Corcoran, with an enlightened liberality only commensurate with his
means, had resolved to found in Washington an institution exclusively
devoted toart. This design,which would long since have been carried into
execution, was interrupted by the war, the building erected fer the pur-
pose having been applied to the uses of the government; but weare gratified
in being able to state that the possession of it has been restored to Mr.
Corcoran, and that he has placed it in charge of trustees, who are to fill
vacancies in their board and direct all the affairs ef the establishment.

26 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY.

The gallery will probably be open for exhibition to the public and to
students in art during the present year. The establishment of this col-
lection, as we have said in a previous report, will obviate the neces-
sity of expending any of the funds of the Institution in supporting a
national gallery, and I would suggest that the same policy which has
directed the transfer of the library, the herbarium, and osteological
specimens to the National Library, the Agricultural Department, and
the Medical Museum, be also extended to the Corcoran Gallery. The
Institution has a number of pictures and a large collection of plaster
busts, which are scarcely in place in the midst of specimens of natural
history, but which would produce a better effect in connection with other
works of art of a similar character. There need be no danger as to
impoverishing the Institution by this liberal policy, since it is in reality
but another method of increasing its usefulness.

The saving which is made by transferring the keeping of the library
and botanical collections can scarcely be estimated at less than $12,000
per annum, a sum which adds to the efficiency of the Institution in the
way of increasing, by the exchange of its products, the collections of
objects of nature and art in the national capital, besides adding to the
intellectual wealth of the whole country.

Musium.—During the past year the space occupied by the museum
has been enlarged by appropriating to it the portion of the building
known as the western connecting range, which consists of a room 61
feet long by 38 feet wide. On either side of this room has been erected
a row of (seven) upright cases, and in the middle a series of tables ex-
tending the whole length of the apartment. The upright cases on the
south side have been entirely filled with ethnological specimens from
China and Japan, comprising the presents from the governments of these
countries to the President of the United States. In the cases on the
north side is arranged a large and valuable collection of the dresses of
the Indians of the northwest coast and of the Esquimaux of North
America. The table cases are also filled with ethnological specimens,
among which are many exhibiting the rarer specimens of Indian work-
manship, and also those of prehistoric times, from the explored caverns
of France, presented by Professor Lartet.

During the year 1869, 390 packages, containing many new specimens
and thousands of duplicates, have been received at the Institution, and
of these, as far as time would permit, a single choice series has been
selected for the museum; the remainder are placed aside to be classified
and made up into labeled sets for distribution. In pursuing this policy,
to which the Institution is bound by its office of curator of the govern-
ment collections, it is impossible to restrict the increase of the museum,
and now, notwithstanding the great number of specimens that have
been given away, nearly the whole of the available space in the building
18 filled to overflowing. An appropriation for finishing the large hall in

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. PAY |

the second story is, therefore, very desirable, but as this room is wanted
for the accommodation of the National Museum, and not for the uses of
the Institution, it would be highly improper to finish it by a further en-
croachment upon the capital of the Smithson fund.

We have mentioned in a previous report that the architecture of the
large room, in which the specimens are at present exhibited, is not well
adapted to an advantageous display of many of the articles, since a
considerable portion of the space is occupied by two rows of colossal
columns, between which and the walls the cases, forming alcoves, are
placed. The ceiling, however, of the hall in the second story is to be
attached to the long, iron girders which span the space from wall te
wall, and it will not, therefore, require the introduction of columns. It
is hoped that in the finishing of this room the primary object of its use
will be kept in view, namely, the exhibition of specimens. There is
pleasure in perfect adaptation as well as in wsthetical effect; the two,
however, are not incompatible, and a proper conception of the true
spirit of architecture will never sacrifice the former to obtain the latter.

Since the date of the last report the museum has been increased by
specimens in every branch of natural history and ethnology, especially
in those of ornithology and the products of the explorations of mounds.
An unusual amount of labor has also been expended on the specimens
during the same period. The large number of birds in the drawers, as
well as those on exhibition, have been re-poisoned to prevent the attack
of insects, while those in the cases have been furnished with new stands,
and their plumage brightened by washing them with benzine. The cases
themselves have been repaired and painted. The mounting of the
archeological collections on boards, and the repairing of the articles of
pottery, have been continued, and are now nearly completed. The speci-
mens of quadrupeds belonging to the older collections of the govern-
ment present rather an unsightly appearance, through injury by insects
before they were brought from the Patent Office, and because they were
not well prepared. Many of them, however, are very rare, and should
be kept until better specimens can be obtained.

No small amount of labor is required, in a large museum, to keep up
a descriptive catalogue of the various articles it receives, and to this
work alone the entire time of a clerk might properly be devoted. The
whole number of entries in the catalogue of the National Museum is
now 158,662; and of these 16,265 were made during: the last year, while
of the specimens of the general collection of which no types have been
selected for exhibition many thousands of entries yet remain tobe in-
serted.

By the co-operation previously alluded to in this report, the Army
Medical Museum, the Museum of the Agricultural Department, and the
National Museum are rendered supplementary to each other, each col-
lecting and preserving articles that are not contained in the others.
The Commissioner of Agriculture, General Capron, has shown much

v

28 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY.

zeal and good faith in carrying out the conditions previously mentioned,
on which the transfer of the plants was made, by fitting up a spacious
room with cases which contain 600 separate compartments for the recep-
tion of as many different families of plants, and by appointing a bot-
anist fully approved by the Institution. Dr. Parry, the botanist in
question, was a pupil of Dr. Torrey, and for the last twenty years has
been engaged in various government explorations, mostly in the western
part of the United States. He was warmly recommended by the first
botanists of the country, and, I doubt not, will discharge the duties of
his office to the satisfaction of all interested in the advancement of this
branch of natural history. He has begun to arrange the plants in sys-
tematic order for immediate reference, and finds the number of species
to be about 15,000, included in 25,000 specimens. The additions that
have been made to the collection during the past year, embracing those
which have been supplied by the Institution and the Department itself,
according to Dr. Parry number 8,000 specimens, including 3,000 species.
Besides the specimens of dried plants transferred to the Agricultural
Department, a large and interesting collection of woods, from Mexico
and South America, has been added to the deposit.

LECTURES.—Previous to the fire which destroyed the upper portion of
the main building, in 1865, courses of free lectures were given by the
Institution to the visitors and citizens of Washington. These at first,
or as long as the novelty continued, were well attended, but in time,
owing, in part, to the difficulty of access, in the winter season, to the
building, and the absorption of the public mind by the events of the
war, the interest diminished, while the management of the system be-
came much more difficult, inasmuch as it was impossible to prevent the
introduction of political subjects. The call, however, on the part of the
citizens for lectures has lately been renewed. But it must be evident,
on a little reflection and from past experience, that the original plan
cannot again be adopted without great inconvenience and an expense
not commensurate with the value of the results produced. In order,
however, to assist in the establishing in this city, during the present
winter, of a course of lectures on scientific subjects, and at a low price
of admission, it has been thought advisable to grant a moderate ap-
propriation to the Young Men’s Christian Association, to enable it to
secure the services of distinguished popular lecturers. The building
which has been erected by this society not only serves asan ornament tothe
city, but supplies a want long felt in affording a spacious hall for lec-
tures, conventions, &c. The lectures to which the Institution con
tributed were of a scientific character, requiring expensive illustration,
and, therefore, though they were well attended, they could not have

been given at the low price charged for admission, had not aid been
afforded.

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 29

EXPLORATIONS AND COLLECTIONS IN NATURAL HisToRy.—In tiiis re-
port, as in other of the Smithsonian reports, a distinction is made between
the collections of the Institution and those of the National Museum under
itscharge. Theformer consists of the large number of specimens (in some
instances including hundreds of duplicates of rare as well as of more com-
mon species) which have been collected under the auspices of the Institu
tion or through its special agency. These are studied and classified by
experts for the formation of monographsand the determination of species
and their geographical distribution; or, as is the case in ethnological speci-
mens, are compared for the purpose of tracing anthropological peculiari-
ties; and, finally, made up into properly labeled sets for distribution to
museums in this country and abroad. The organization of explorations
and the collection of specimens would be important parts of the oper-
ations of the Institution were it entirely disconnected from the National
Museum. Natural history and ethnology are interesting branches of
knowledge, and justly merit a portion of the Smithson patronage; but
the National Museum has no just claim on the Institution other than for
a perfect series of all the duplicates collected; and it is too much to ask,
in addition to this, that the Smithson fund should continue to provide
it with house-room, and, in a large degree, with attendance. The dis-
tinction we have made is an obvious one, though it may be difficult, in
some instances, to draw a line between the specimens in the museum and
those of the Smithsonian collections.

Explorations and collections in Natural History have been con-
tinued, as in previous years, by the Institution alone, or in connection
with other establishments. In giving an account of what has been done
under this head, the geographical order adopted in other of the Smith-
sonian reports will be followed.

Northwest Coast of America.—Mr. McFarlane and Mr. McDougal still
continue to collect specimens of the natural products of the Mackenzie
River district. Mr. Ferdinand Bischoff has kept up his researches in
Alaska, first at Kodiak, then at Kenai. Major General George H.
Thomas, of the United States Army, has rendered especial service in
collecting in the same region specimens of coal and of zojlogy. The
remainder of the natural history collections of Mr. Dall, referred to
in the last report, has been received and found of much interest as an
illustration of the natural productions of our new possessions in the
Northwest. His collections in ethnology will be mentioned further on.
Captain C. M. Scammon has continued his explorations, and has pre-
sented interesting collections from Alaska and Puget Sound, in addition
to several communications relative to the natural history and habits of
the seals of the adjacent coast. Dr. Minor has also continued his valu-
able contributions from the same region.

Western United States —The geological survey of the fortieth parallel,
under Mr. Clarence King, referred to in the last report, has been con-
tinued during this year, and the collections made in zodlogy, botany,

30 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY.

mineralogy, and geology, have been deposited in the Institution. They
are now in process of examination, and an account of them will be given
in the valuable report of Mr. King, which Congress has ordered to be
printed. At the last session of Congress an appropriation of $10,000
was made for the continuance of the geological surveys of Dr. F. V.
Hayden. He was instructed by the Department of the Interior, under
whose direction the money was to be expended, to examine especially
the geology, mineralogy, and agricultural resources of the Territories of
Colorado and New Mexico. The exploration began at Cheyenne, Wy-
oming Territory, and was continued through Denver, the silver and
gold mining regions of Georgetown and Central City, the Middle Park,
Colorado City, and Fort Union to Santa Fé, returning to Denver by way
of the San Luis Valley and South Park. In the language of the Secre-
tary of the Interior, “this exploration, though brief and rapid, was emi-
nently successful, and the collections in geology, mineralogy, botany, and
zovlogy were extensive.” These collections have been deposited in the
Institution, from which they will be sent for examination to persons who
have made special study of the branches of natural history and zodlogy
to which the specimens pertain.

Mexico and Central America.—The explorations of Colonel Grayson,
in Northwestern Mexico, spoken of in previous reports, were continued

‘in the early part of the year, and an additional series of specimens
transmitted to the Institution. It is, however, with deep regret we have
to announce that the labors of this enthusiastic and enterprising nat-
uralist were suddenly terminated by death, from fever contracted in an
attempt to explore the Island of Isabella. By his decease the Institu-
tion has lost a highly-valued correspondent, and the cause of science a
successful cultivator. He devoted many years of his life to the devel-
opment of the natural history and physical geography of Northwestern
Mexico and the adjacent islands; and it is much to be regretted that he
had not lived to complete the work in which he was so much interested.
The explorations of Professor Sumichrast, on the Isthmus of Tehuan-
tepec, have been nearly completed, and the large number of well-pre-
served specimens in all branches of zoédlogy, received at the Institution
from this region, attest his continued enthusiasm and persevering indus-
try. From our veteran correspondent, Dr. C. Sartorius, of Mirador,
important collections have been received during the past year.

South America.—Mr. Hudson, of Buenos Ayres, and Mr. Reeve, of
Ecuador, have furnished a continuation of the results of their orni-
thological explorations in these localities, while an interesting series of
the birds of Demerara has been contributed by Colonel Figyeimesy.

Most of the collaborators just mentioned have furnished information
in regard to the physical geography and the inhabitants of the country
from which the specimens were derived, and in this way the Institution
has accumulated a large amount of manuscript material relative to the
natural history, geology, and ethnology of the different parts of North
America, not generally known.

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 31

EXPLORATIONS AND COLLECTIONS IN ETHNOLOGY.—During the past
year the effort has been continued to increase the collections of ethnology
and archeology of the North American continent. It has been considered
of special importance to prosecute this subject, since the remains of
the ancient people who have inhabited this continent are every year be-
coming more rare. The mounds are disappearing in the process of
agriculture, in the construction of railways, or in the extension of cities,
and their interesting contents destroyed or scattered beyond the hope of |
future recovery. A very extensive correspondence on this subject has
been kept up during the year with persons in every part of North
America, soliciting information and specimens, giving directions for
examining mounds and shell-heaps, and in several cases making a small
appropriation for defraying the expenses of special investigations.

Nearly all the explorers mentioned in previous reports have contri-
buted valuable material in this line. During his visit to the Bay of
Fundy, Professor Baird, of this Institution, made extensive explorations
among the ancient shell-heaps and gathered some facts and specimens
of much importance in connection with the subject of the American
Kjoekkenmoedding. In these labors he was assisted by Mr. G. A. Board-
man, Professor H. G. Webster, Professor Nelson, Mr. Elias Kinny, Mr.
Gardner, Mr. Hallett, and also by Captain Treadway, of the United
States revenue service.

As ethnology is a branch of study which, at this time, is occupying
popular attention, it may be proper to give a more detailed account
than usual of the additions that have been made in this line during the
year which has just closed. This account is compiled from the descrip-
tive inventory made by Dr. Foreman, under the direction of Professor
Baird, in a record book of the collections. For convenience of reference
the geographical division is adopted.

British America, Arctic Region.—Mr. Robert McFarlane, stationed at
Fort Anderson, one of the Hudson Bay Company’s posts in the MeKen-
zie River district, with unabated perseverance, has continued making
collections in natural history and ethnology, and has presented to the
Institution, with a liberality which cannot be too much commended, a
great number and variety of articles to illustrate the character of the
people among whom he has so long resided. Intercourse with traders and
others has considerably modified their arts of life, and they now pre-
sent an example of a people in a state of transition from the stone to
the iron age. Among the articles from Mr. McFarlane, which illustrate
this change, are knives of pieces of iron hoops, spear-heads and fish-
hooks of the same material; pipe-bowls of copper and of pewter, and a
drilling apparatus, with an ordinary bow and drills tipped with bits of
steel; boxes, of which the parts are fastened together with wooden
nails, iron being too precious to be used for this purpose; other boxes,
of which the parts are joined in the more ancient fashion by stretching
over them, in a moist condition, a casing of leather.

32 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY.

The greater part, however, of the articles are of a primitive character,
among which, for out-door use, are dog harness, lassos of moose-hide for
large animals, and more slender ones, carrying rounded pieces of bone,
nut size, to entangle the legs of geese; different models of the sledge
for hauling wood and provisions; a stretcher of deer-skin; bows, with
arrows, quivers, and cases; a long line of whalebone for fishing; a net
of sinew, with bone fish-hooks, fishing floats, spears, throwing-sticks,
spear-rests for the deck of the canoe; a whistle or call used in hunting;
snow-shoes and models of canoes; screens of wood to protect the eyes
from snow blink, concave on the inner side, with two very narrow slits
for looking through. Of the articles relative to indoor occupation are
deer-skin boots; white and black wolverine gloves; children’s garments,
neatly made, of soft materials; capuchons, or coverings for the head;
tools, with which this and other work is performed, such as awls, drills,
polishing implements, of either jasper or carnelian, frequently of bone;
a small leather bag of red paint, with pitch or other cementing material.
There are also needles of bone, needle cases of ivory, pouches ornament-
ed with beads, for containing sewing fiber. Bunches of this material,
arranged as if for a chignon, appear to belong to articles used by
women. A rattle of deer or musk-ox hoofs, used in dancing, and bone
implements for gambling, suggest the character of native amusements.

From the same district have been received, through the Rev. W. W.
Kirkby, a leather pouch, filled with quills of the porcupine, which are
used to ornament moccasins, belts, and fire bags; also a fur coat made
by the Dog Rib: Indians. There are not many articles of personal
decoration, except some labrets, thick buttons of white limestone, and
bits of blue glass, cemented together, to be worn in a slit of the corner
of the mouth after the manner of a sleeve button.

Alaska.—The collections of Mr. W. H. Dall in the Aleutian Islands,
at Norton Sound, and in the Yukon region, mentioned in the last report,
have been received. and are found to be very extensive and interesting.
Those from the Aleutian Islands are specimens of native carving in
walrus ivory, which exhibit considerable imitative skill in copying the
forms of objects introduced by white traders. Among them are a table
knife and two spoons, neatly executed. The greater part, however, of
Mr. Dall’s collection are from the various tribes of Esquimaux living on
the shores of Norton Sound, more particularly the articles of clothing
made of furs and leather, prepared from the skins of the deer and other
animals. These consist of outer and inner garments, for both sexes, and
of boots, gloves, and mittens. It would appear from the specimens that
the skins of the larger fishes, and also of the seal, are used for articles
of dress, adapting the material to the change required for winter and
summer. From the region of the River Yukon there are snow-shoes,
moccasins, fur dresses, straw-shoes and boots, for riding and dancing,
all made and used by the Mahlemuts. The domestic implements of
the people are exhibited in a series of spoons or dippers, made of the

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 30

broad horns of the Rocky Mountain sheep, wooden bowls, ladles, platters,
cups, and trays; bags and haversacks made of seal or fish skin, of all
sizes, universally used by the Esquimaux for keeping provisions and other
materials; also earthenware lamps, fire bags with flint, steel, and tinder;
tobaceo pouches, pipes, and snuff-boxes. The articles made of seal-skin
on the coast are imitated farther up the river in the skins of the larger
fishes, the intercourse between the localities being difficult since the pass-
es are held by a few trading Indians, who act as middle men in exchanging
commodities and as guards to prevent access to the coast. From the
Unaleets there are neatly-made housewives of fish-skin, and from the
Pastolic Esquimaux a small workbag woven of grass, ivory needle cases
ornamented with blue beads, and a store of thread made of filaments of
dried sinews. The weapons received are interesting illustrations of the
character and habits of the people. The bows in this collection, used
by the Esquimaux for killing large birds or fish, are of very un-
usual weight, and many of the arrows employed in shooting
the wild goose are tipped with a blunt knob. The sharp arrow-
points are the most beautiful and delicate of any we have seen, and are
of obsidian, green jasper, or glass. The seal and fish lines are of the:
long, flexible stems of a fucus which grows in deep water and equals
whalebone in tenacity and toughness. The harpoons for striking seals
are furnished with a horn or bone termination, carrying a barbed point,
the whole being detachable from the shaft. From the Ekogmut there
are several of these, with others used in killing the whale; also models
of canoes, oars, &c., from the Lower Ingaleeks along the Yukon and the
Unaleets on the coast. In the way of personal ornament there are a
quantity of red paint and a yoke, or necklace, oval pieces of wood or
stone to be inserted in a slit in the lower lip, the nose, or the ear; fin-
ger-rings, principally of stone, of two kinds, one of which is used on
mourning and the other on ordinary occasions.

Aleutian Islands.—From the Aleutian Islands there are in Mr. Dall’s
collection several hideous masks of gigantic dimensions used in the
ceremonies of the people. Dr. T. T. Minor, surgeon United States rev-
enue steamer Wayanda, Captain Howard, commander, who visited
Sitka, Kodiak, Unalaska and some points of the Aleutian group, has
furnished collections exhibiting the dress, occupations, and habits of the
Coloshes, Nuhegags, and Aleutes. The scarcity of stone implements in
this collection is worthy of notice, since but two specimens, a pestle and
axe, are all that were found, and these were regarded as very ancient.
Among the articles are the following: Heavy corded bows for fishing,
armed with three prongs; blunt spears, with. barbs, and fish spears
ornamented with feathers; lines of sea-weed or kelp, with detachable
spear-heads; throwing-sticks, to give a longer leverage in projecting the»
spear. Thereare also chisels for making aperturesin the ice, to which fish)
resort for air; dog sledges, canoes, paddles, reindeer skin overcoats and |

boots; an overall perfectly waterproof, and exceedingly light, made
os

34 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY.

of the intestines of the seal, the edges being sewed or cemented, and
the whole ornamented with tufts of hair or feathers in brilliant colors.
Glimpses of in-door arts and employments are obtained from specimens
of carvings, baskets, woven articles, sewing, paintings, and implements.
together with the ever-present pipe, of which there is one with a deco-
rated stem, carved by a Colosh. The illustrations are further extended
by wooden trays and dishes, ornamented with carved figures of animals ;
water-tight baskets, in which provisions are boiled by dropping red-hot
stones into the water; mats of simple checquer pattern; carved
handles of the black horn of the Rocky Mountain goat, exhibiting an
intricate series of ornaments, and fastened by the aid of heat and pres-
sure to the broader horn of the moose, or of the Rocky Mountain sheep,
to form a spoon or a ladle. Among the carvings is a remarkable series
in walrus ivory of objects in miniature, representing table knives, spoons,
candlesticks, boiling kettles, with covers, copied from objects introduced
by foreigners; also the animals of the country, such as beaver, moose,
whales, seals; a female otter followed by her young; likewise a man
spearing a bear; a group of men attacking a reindeer, and several other
human figures. These miniature specimens of carvings, which are exe-
cuted with great neatness and fidelity, evince a minute observation of
nature, aS well as considerable skill in art. A Colosh painter’s kit
belonging to this collection, contains a number of brushes very neatly
made and of sizes suitable for fine or coarse work. Although the assort-
ment of colors is small, being limited to red, blue, yellow, and black, yet
the whole collection of specimens relative to art shows an advance in
this line beyond anything before observed in the northern races. Among
other articles is the dance rattle, commonly used by the coast tribes, and
consisting of a hollow, oval, wooden box, usually in the form of a bird,
gaily painted, containing pebbles; also head ornaments, of grotesque
form; head dresses, with wooden masks, having distorted features; like-
wise ornaments of stone finely executed, and representing birds, fish, and
Serpents in the form of a ring; besides numerous samples of the same in
wood and bone.

From Lieutenant T. M. Ring, United States Army, stationed at Fort
Wrangel, in Alaska, we have received an important collection of ob-
jects, among which are models of the bardoska, or canoe, with paddles,
of very neat workmanship; the head of a fish spear, and severai bul-
lets made of copper; two fish-hooks of a metal resembling silver,
and halibut hooks of wood ; also two specimens illustrating the form in
which provisions are preserved for winter use, one of which is a spheri-
cal ball of the fruit of Rubus chamamorus, and the other is the com
pressed inner bark of a coniferous tree, which may serve to allay hun-
ger by distending the stomach. A stone hammer and two pestles are
samples of articles still in use, and an ancient barbed and notched bone
fish spear exhibits the forms of similar implements discovered in the
prehistoric caves of Europe. A full series of carved wooden dishes

a

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 35

and of horn spoons illustrate the table service of the natives, while
masks, rattles of wood and of basket-work, neck and lip ornaments of
stone, a dressed doll with a head carved in stone, a human image, and a
bird of the same material, exhibit some of the occupations and amuse-
ments of this primitive people. From Mr. FE. E. Smith, of the scientific
corps of the Western Union Telegraph Company, the Institution has
received a bow and arrows of the Smagamut Indians, for shooting wild
geese ; and from Dr. A. H. Hoff, United States Army, a very fine sample
of the membranous waterproof dresses used by the Alaskans, also a
pair of carved chop-sticksof whalebone. The latter articles were received
through the officers of the Army Medical Museum.

Washington Territory—F rom this quarter we have obtained collections
made by Dr. J. T. Ghiselin, United States Army, stationed in Washing-
ton Territory, consisting of bow, quiver and arrows in use among the
Flathead Indians; also,-a number of arrow-heads and a pair of mocca-
sins, collected among the Cascade Indians; we have also a riding whip,
wedding hat or bonnet, a berry basket, and specimens of food preserved
for winter, consisting of the eggs of the salmon, of the size and cousist-
ence of dried peas. Dr. Whitehead, United States Army, also trans-
mits from the same region some bones exhumed from a shell mound,
and a metal spoon from an Indian grave.

Idaho Territory.x—From among the Nez Percés, Dr. E. Storror, United
States Army, has collected specimens of preserved food, consisting
of the bulbs of the camas, Scilla esculenta, and the kouse bread, an
unleavened mass, an inch thick, of the seeds of wild rice, Zezania aqua-
tica, pounded up with water, and baked. Accompanying these are spear-
heads of flint and iron, strong hair rope or lariat, a woman’s saddle,
blanket, panniers, a drum, a carved pipe stick, and a handsome pipe of
red stone, a skull cap of woven grass, a comb, sewing awl, thread, an
ornamented belt worn by a woman, and a model of a cradle, affording
glimpses of domestic life. Dr. C. Wagner, United States Army, has for-
warded a bow, quiver, arrows, and arrow-heads, obtained from the Snake
Indians; and Hospital Steward E. Lyons, a basket, woven scoop, and
bow and arrow from the same tribe. From Montana, Dr. R. B. Hitz
has transmitted a stone pestle.

Utah Territory.—Dr. H. E. Waters, United States Army, stationed ati
Fort Bridger, in Wyoming Territory, has collected and forwarded some of
the implements of war and the chase used by the Shoshone, Bannock,
Ute, and Navajo Indians, consisting of a bow and arrows, a bow case,
quiver, tomahawk, and war club. The arrows of the Navajos are said
to be poisoned. T'rom Dr. Meacham, United States Army, have been
received fragments of pottery found in the same Territory.

Oregon Territory.—Dr. C. Moffat, United States Army, has presented
a small but interesting collection from Oregon, near the vicinity of
Malheur River and the Stein Mountain. In it we find the bow, quiver,
and arrows of the Malheur River Indians, a drinking cup, fire stick, paint

36 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY.

bag, carved wooden comb, and beads; also a specimen of preserved food,
consisting of camas root, dried and compressed into a thin cake.
These Indians are somewhat away from the beaten route, and everything
from them is of much interest.

California.—From mounds in Alameda County, California, examined
by Dr. L. G. Yates, who has frequently contributed articles of interest
from that State, we have received many specimens of the ancient stone
age, consisting of stone pestles, perforators or awls, sinkers, a phallus,
spindles, a soapstone ladle, stone mortar and pestle, pipe bowls, shell
and perforated stone ornaments, an ancient awl and serrated implements
of bone. The race of Indians at present occupying the country are said
to be entirely ignorant of the art of making these objects and of their
use. From the Pott River Indians, California, Dr. Powell, United
States Army, has sent a bow, quiver and arrows; and from the Pah Utes
of Owen’s Valley, California, we have similar weapons from Dr. Th.
MeMillan, United States Army, who has likewise contributed a war club
of the Mohaves.

Nevada.—Clarence King, esq., director of the United States geological
survey in Nevada, presented a portion of a beautifully worked pestle of
syenite, obtained in Lower California.

Dakota.—The post surgeons stationed at the military posts on the
Upper Missouri, chiefly within the Territory of Dakota, have shown
much zeal in collecting objects to illustrate the pursuits and customs of
the numerous tribes occupying the country bordering on this river.
First among these, in point of interest, are the collections of Surgeon
©. ©. Gray and Dr. Matthews, United States Army, stationed for some
time at Fort Berthold. From the Mandans they have furnished a head
dress mounted with buffalo horns, with an ornamental pendant of dressed
buffalo hide falling behind the head; a war shield of the Gros Ventres,
with bow, case, quiver and arrows, in the highest style of Indian orna-
mentation; a bow of the Arickarees, ingeniously fashioned of an elk
horn; a stone hatchet from the same, together with the scalp taken from -
a Blackfoot Indian; also from the Yanktonnais Sioux, a hoe, made of the
shoulder blade of an elk, accompanied by a wooden saddle and append-
ages, a pad saddle, a whip with a horn handle, parfleche meat case,
sheath for a scalp knife, and a rake of wooden material. The Mandans
and the Berthold Indians generally, are addicted to gambling, and
accordingly in the collection there are dice, and a small basket to contain
them; also the gambling implements in use among the women; and,
finally, a wheel or roulette, the workmanship of Gros Ventres. There are
also domestic implements of the same tribe, consisting of a basket
for carrying provisions, a wooden desk, an earthen pot, implements of
bone for scraping skins, with horn spoons and ladles; several medicine
rattles, indicating the superstitions of the tribe, and a musical instra-
ment of their invention, illustrating the innate tendency to cultivate
the fine arts; while children’s toys, including a popgun, not unlike those

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 37

in use among the whites, show the unity of intellect among races the
most widely separated. A needle case, porcupine quills, and bead orna-
ments, together with a corn bag, illustrating female occupation, are
from Hospital Steward J. E. Jones. “From the same Territory, Dr. J.
P. Kimball, United States Army, has contributed a large number of
objects, such as the bow, quiver and arrows of the Assiniboines;
also of the Sioux, Mandans, and Arickarees; scalpknife, sheath,
and scalp. of Yankton; war club, bonnet, shirt, and leggings,.drum,
and other fighting equipments; a fleshing knife for dressing skins, a
pemmican mallet, wooden cups, dishes, ladles, spoons, pipe and stems,
a peace pipe of the Blackfoot Indians, two pairs of ornamental mocca-
sins, and an ornamented dance rattle. From Fort Wadsworth, Dr. A.
J. Comfort, United States Army, has sent a bow, case, quiver and ar-
rows; a collar made of bears’ claws; an ornamented sheath for knife ;
stone hammer; stone spear and arrow-heads; several riding whips;
the instruments used in games of ball; a perforated horn implement
from a mound; two red stone pipes with carved stems; three ornamented
pouches of beaver and other skins; a stone palm thimble for sewing
with a large needle; a worked quilt, a bunch of perfumed dried grass,
scalp feathers, and a gourd dance rattle, which closes the list. From
the Upper Sioux, Dr. James F. Boughter, at Fort Dakota, has obtained
for the Institution from the Sioux a bow, with case and arrows, leggings,
embroidered with beads; saddle cloths handsomely ornamented, riding
whips, war feathers, knife sheath, moccasins, ear rings, &c., the trap-
pings of the warrior. Dr. A. B. Campbell, United States Army, contri-
butes from the Yanktons a handsome necklace of the claws of the grizzly
bear; a smoking pipe; war club armed with knives; stone war mace;
stone hammer or mallet; a mortar and pestle, the former made of a stout
piece of buffalo hide gathered at the corners; with the usual bow and
arrows of this tribe, and three arrows of the Kaw Indians. From the
vicinity of Fort Randall, Dr. G. P. Hardenburgh has obtained for us
another head dress of buffalo skin with the hair on, and surmounted by
the horns, with a broad pendant of skin furred and feathered to hang
down the neck; also a rubbing stone for dressing skins, and a horn
spoon.

Dr. Gardner, United States Army, has forwarded from the same Terri-
tory a Chippewa bow, quiver and arrows, saddle, drum and sticks, a
Sissiton pipe stick, medicine bag, bow, and a heavy scraper of bone, used
in dressing skins. Dr. W. H. Forwood, United States Army, has contri-
buted a bow, bow case, quiver and arrows of the Cheyennes, also arrows
from the Sioux; Dr. H. G. Schell, United States Army, from near Fort
Laramie, has sent a collection consisting of the bow, bow case, quiver
and arrows of the Ogalalla band of Sioux; Dr. C. S. De Graw, United
States Army, a bow and quiver of the Kiowas; Dr. A. Muller, United
States Army, a hickory war bow of the Yanktons and Sissitons. From
the same tribes a battle ax and pouch has been presented by F. B.

38 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY.

McGuire. Brevet Brigadier General Crane has contributed a pair of
moccasins and a pipe of the chief Little Bear; Dr. A. Muller sends from
Fort Ridgely arrows used by the Yanktons, Sissitons, and Upper and
Lower Sioux. Mr. W. L. Toole, from the same Territory, has furnished
a handsome red stone pipe, stone ax, chisel, and a stone war club or
casse-téte.

Upper Missouri River.—F rom this region, Captain Little, United States
Army; has contributed a slab of sandstone, upgn which the impression of
two human feet are rudely carved. Mr. Leopold Biddle, a stone chisel ;
and Dr. F. V. Hayden, avery perfectly preserved soapstone vessel, frag-
ments of pottery, arrow-heads, and other objects from the site of an an-
cient Pawnee village.

Nebraska.—From Nebraska, Dr.S. M. Horton, United States Army, has
furnished several important and interesting articles from the Ogalalla
band of the Sioux. Among these are a buffalo robe, as prepared by the
Cheyennes; a saddle from the Crow Indians; a Sioux war club; a
pouch, knife and sheath, and a bunch of feathers, used in taking
scalps; specimens of arrows of the Crows, Sioux, Cheyennes, and other
tribes; several pairs of moccasins, and a skin prepared for making
others; a gun case of Sioux construction ; a riding whip; a lariat; pro-
vision case of tanned buffalo hide; tanned skins of the Rocky Mountain
sheep and of the elk, and smaller articles consisting of several stone pipes
from the Arapahoes, a paint bag and a comb, used by the Crow In-
dians, the latter made of the stiff appendages on the tail of a porcupine.

Kansas.—From the vicinity of Walnut Creek in this State, we have
received through Dr. G. M. Sternberg, United States Army, the burial
case and its appendages of a male Cheyenne child about three years of
age. The wrappings enveloping the body, and the articles of dress, or-
nament, or daily use which accompanied it, form the most curious and
interesting assemblage of objects of the kind we have ever received.
The burial case is made of long flexible withes of willow, stripped of the
bark, and lashed together somewhat in basket fashion, built up from an
oval base, five feet in the longer and three feet in the shorter diameter,
the sides and top being arched and rounded, rising about three and a
half feet from the base. An opening on one side is left for the intro-
duction of the corpse and a large number of articles of the greatest
value to the Indians. These articles consisted of seven highly-finished
and valuable buffalo robes; six blankets, white, red and blue; a hood,
ornamented with beads; a cape; several worsted scarfs; belts, orna-
mented with beads and metal disks; a leather belt, covered with metal
buttons; apparently all the child’s wardrobe, as jackets, underclothes,
stockings, moccasins, fur cap, leather gloves; together with a small tin
dish, beads, metal plates, ornaments of German silver, and others made of
the shells of the haliotis, which is not found nearer than the Pacific coast.
There were also several articles which can scarcely be recognized as the
property of so young a child, such as spur straps, tobacco pouches, hide

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 39

lariats, paint bags, and an oblong piece of stout bull hide. It is the
opinion of Dr. Sternberg, that this sepulchral offering of valuable effects
was not solely from the immediate relatives of the deceased, but that
being the lineal descendant of a great chief, and heir to his rank in the
tribe, many families or bands being present at the burial, contributed of
their wealth to signalize their connection with the child’s family, and the
widespread sorrow at the loss they all had sustained. <A full account
of this interesting collection, with drawings of the articles, has been
prepared for publication by Dr. Otis, of the Medical Museum, in the In-
stitution Contributions to Knowledge.

From Fort Harker, Kansas, Dr. E. B. Foyer, United States Army, has
presented a number of the arrows used by the Kaws, Apaches, Chey-
ennes and Kiowas, which are commonly pointed with iron, and have the
feathered end painted with the adopted colors of the band or tribe, so
that they can at once be recognized by Indian scrutiny.

Colorado Territory and Adjoining Regions.—The collection of ethnology
has also been enriched, through the Army Medical Museum, by speci-
mens from the tribes which occupy the plain on both sides of the Rocky
Mountains in Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona. Dr. B. A. Camp-
bell, United States Army, from the first-named Territory, has sent a
singular neck ornament, made of turtle shell, and two fine pouches of
mink skin for holding tobacco. From the Kiowas, Dr. W. H. Forwood,
United States Army, has presented a whip, a pipe, and a medicine rattle;
Dr. I’. G. A. Bradford a tobacco pouch, an earthen water vessel, a Na-
vajo necklace, a pair of Cheyenne moccasins, claws of the grizzly bear,
and a pair of Sioux moccasins. Dr. Lippincott, United States Army,
from the Comanches has presented a whip, and Dr. J. Readles the hat
of a medicine man, and a wooden spur. From Twin Springs, near Fort
Fetterman, Dr. C. Sutherland, United States Army, has contributed
two fine stone lance-heads, and Dr. H. 8. Schell six Sioux arrows. Dr.
P. Moffatt has presented a bow, neatly made and covered on the con-
vex side with the skin of a rattlesnake ingeniously cemented to the
wood. From Mr. James Stevenson, of Dr. Hayden’s corps, we have a
very fine Arapaho saddle, padded and ornamented with beads. To
these may be added several arrows of the Apaches and Comanches,
presented by F. B. McGuire, esq., of Washington City.

In New Mexico, the Navajos are the most troublesome Indians that re-
side within the present boundary of the United States, and in the nu-
merous conflicts between them and our military forces many interesting
objects have been captured. Dr. John Brooke, United States Army, has
procured for us, from Fort Sumner, Navajo bows and arrows, a bridle bit,
and a pair of moccasins; Dr. B. A. Clements, United States Army, a
lot of arrows; Dr. J. T. Weed a saddle blanket, shield, two bows, bow-
case, quiver and arrows, a belt, and a curiously made shield for the
back ; Dr. McKee, United States Army, a bow case, quiver and arrows,
a rough stone implement for dressing skins, and an earthenware dish.

40 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY.

Mr. M. Kayser, of Santa Fé, has contributed from the same tribe a
blanket made of the wool of the native sheep. From the Wachita bat-
tle ground, inthe Indian Territory, Dr. Lippincott, United Stetes Army,
has obtained for us a lot of bows, cases, quivers, iron arrow-heads,
metal tubes for nose ornaments, and finger rings of German silver.
These all belonged to the tribes engaged in the conflict, namely, the Co-
manches, Arapahoes, Wachitas, and Kiowas.

From Arizona, the principal contributions in former years were’ by
Dr. E. Palmer, acting as medical officer at the Indian agency. The ar-
ticles presented last year, by the same explorer, were such as relate
mostly to the domestic occupations of the Apaches—a pouch with bul-
lets, bone for dressing skins, awls for sewing, resin for finishing bows
and arrows, paint bag, with black and red pigments, the former
color being derived from the inspissated juice of the mescal plant,
and curious necklace, woven of strips of the inner bark, complete
the collection. From Dr. John C. McFerran, United States Army, have
been received a battle-ax; and from Dr. E. Coues several Apache ar-
row-heads. From the western part of the Territory Mr. Manning F. Force
has sent a (syenite or porphyry) stone axe of symmetrical shape and
beautifully polished. Mr. Henry C. Force, from the Gila River, has
presented fragments of pottery and shell ornaments, and, from the Mo-
qui Indians, a small, red, earthenware vase. Mr. H. C. Fernald has
given a small stone axe, obtained near the same locality.

From Wisconsin, Dr. R. P. Hoy, of Racine, well known for his re-
searches in aboriginal ethnology, has presented an ancient earthenware
vase, nearly entire, having a conical or sugar-loaf bottom, with frag-
ments of another vessel. Dr. Moses Barratt, of Waukesha, has sent
numerous stone relics, axes, chisels, arrow-heads, and a stone disk; also
an arrow straightener, consisting of two flat pieces of sandstone with
semi-cylindrical grooves, through which the shaft is drawn when the
stones are fitted together. He has also sent fragments, apparently of
brick, which formed part of a wall so ancient as to be attributed to
Aztee workmanship.

In Illinois, the Chicago Academy of Sciences, energetically engaged
in promoting research in aboriginal remains, has had made electrotype
copies of a fine specimen of copper knife, one of which has been pre-
sented, through Mr. H. Shimer, to this Institution; also a similar cast of
a copper chisel, and a cast in plaster of a remarkable terra-cotta image.
From Mount Carmel, [linois, Mr. Robert Ridgway has presented two
fine stone axes, several spear and arrow heads; and from the same place
Mr. Granville Turner has sent a hoe of jasper, three spear-heads of chert,
and a lot of arrow-heads; also from the same State, Dr. Hall has pre-
sented a stone axe, a chisel, and a number of arrow-heads; and J. E.
Kendrick, of Des Moines, has contributed a series of specimens of
pottery. —

From Indiana, Dr. R. M. White, United States Army, has presented

eo Tees

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 41

a curious earthenware pipe and a dress ornament; Drs. MeCoy and
Maxwell, for themselves and friends, a collection of stone hatchets,
spear-heads, and other stone relics. The most remarkable objects, how-
ever, from this State are from near Cannelton, and consist of two stone
mace-heads or casse-tétes, of hard ferruginous quartz, perforated through
their longer axes, polished and finished ina perfect manner. They were
presented by Mr. Hamilton Smith, with other stone relics. From Frank-
lin County, Indiana, Dr. R. Haywood and his friends and neighbors have
favored the Institution with a considerable collection of stone imple-
ments, many of fine workmanship, among which may be enumerated
Stone pestles, axes, chisels, spears, and arrow-heads, stone ornaments,
and pottery.

From Ohio, Mr. W. R. Limpert has contributed a collection, found at
Graveport, of well-finished articles; consisting of a variety of stone pestles,
a mortar for grinding paint, a number of stone knives or chisels, and axes,
a perforated stone disk, over one hundred arrow-heads, a stone awl, and
other miscellaneous objects in stone. From Rev. Dr. Thompson, at
Milnersville, Ohio, we have received arrow-heads collected in his vicinity.

From Kentucky, My. 8. 8. Lyon, whose archeological researches in
1868 were of such interest in the mounds of Union County, has forwarded
additional articles, consisting of shell disks ornamented by carvings, @
fishing sinker of the same material, perforators of stone, and small
masses of galena worked into a rounded bead-like form.

From Tennessee, Mr. S. L. Wilkinson, near Clarksville, has sent five
Spear-points, a large number of arrow-heads, a stone disk, and a mortar
for grinding paint. Dr. Curtis has also favored us with a lot of arrow-
heads from Knox County. We have likewise to record the liberal
douation, by Mr. J. H. Devereux, of a very valuable series of stone im-
plements and other objects, collected by himself, chiefly in Tennessee,
though some of the articles were obtained in other Southern States, as
well as a few from Ohio and Massachusetts. The perfect condition and
fine finish of these articles are remarkable, and they are so numerous as
to fill a separate case. They consist of every variety of form of axes,
chisels, gouges, knives, spear and arrow-heads, pipes, ornaments for the
person, of stone and of pottery articles, many of which are entirely
unique.

From Arkansas, Mrs. Governor Throckmorton, of Little Rock, has
presented a pestle, grinding stone, and two paint mortars; and from the
same State, Mr. J. M. Stanley has sent a quantity of quills of the porcu-
pine, colored for use by the Indians in their embroidery.

In Mississippi, Mr. T. J. R. Keenan, of Brookhaven, has shown zeal
in examining the natural and ethnological curiosities of his vicinity, and
has presented to us a large number of handsome arrow-heads of brown
jasper, a curious cylinder of the same mineral, a stone disk, and a pair
of ear pendants made of silver coins by an Indian boy.

In Louisiana, opposite Vicksburg, Dr. E. Swift, United States Army,

4? REPORT OF THE SECRETARY.

od

has examined the contents of several mounds and Indian graves, from
which he obtained for us many interesting articles, the principal of which
are earthenware vases in good preservation and of curious forms, ap-
proaching that of the vessels common among the tribes of Chili and Peru,
evidently for holding water, most of them having very narrow openings,
and being spherical in shape; also, stone hammers, chisels, pestles,
carved pipes of sandstone, a disk of quartz, bowls and cups of earthen-
ware, &e.

In Texas, Dr. D. H. McEldérry, stationed at Fort Griffin, has assid-
uously collected from the tribes near his post many objects of interest ;
among which we may enumerate three Comanche war shields painted
and ornamented, bows, bow case, arrows, quiver, scalp knife, and sheath,
war drum, tomahawk, and riding whip, all of which belong to a warrior’s
equipment. The other articles are implements for dressing skins;
tinder bag; dance ornaments; two head dresses, one made of Comanche
hair and the other of a bear’s ear; a girdle and pouch made of a Coman-
che’s skin; a square girdle and arm and head ornaments, some of silver
plates, with toy bows and arrows, and two rag dolls decorated with
Comanche hair. Dr. J. Middleton, of Camp Verde, has presented a
saddle obtained from the Kickapoos, and Mr. George Kean, some bony
plates of the Lepidosteus, or great western gar, having been used by the
southern and western Indians as arrow-heads; a fact in accordance with
a statement of William Bartram in his travels in Florida during the last
century.

In Florida, explorations have recently been made in the shell heaps
near Tampa Bay by Dr. William Stimpson and Mr. B.C. Stearns. J*rom
the former we have received a curious shell implement formed of the
columella of the great Fasciolaria gigantea, the use of which is unknown.
From Mr. Stearns, a large soapstone vessel, a stone sinker, a spear-head
and fragments of pottery. Mr. H. Clark, of the same place, has pre-
sented several hammers, a fishing sinker, a number of arrow-heads, and
an earthenware vase.

From Alabama, we have received specimens of arrow-heads, princi-
pally of jasper or agate, and of good finish, presented by Mr. Isaac Slee,
of Baldwin County, and specimens of the same kind from Mr. Henry C.
Force, collected in Northern Alabama, and also specimens of pottery and
arrow-heads presented by Dr. Reynolds, United States Army.

From Georgia, at St. Simon’s Island, a favorite station of the South-
ern tribes, Dr. C. H. Taylor, United States Army, has forwarded a num-
ber of stone axes and arrow-heads, and also pottery from Brunswick
County.

From Virginia, Fayette County, Mr. A. G. Grinnan has presented
a collection of stone axes, hammers, chisels, and a finely formed
fishing sinker made of hematite, of which we have several specimens
from localities widely separated, the weight of the material being its
great recommendation for this service. Mr. E.C. Meade, of Albemarle

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 43

County, has given an Indian hatchet and a lot of arrow-heads. Major
H. C. Williams has presented arrow-heads from Fairfax County; Mr.
Robert Burford, arrow-heads from Isle of Wight County; and from Mr.
C. R. Moore we have received a fine lancé-head, a pipe, pipe-stem, and
arrow-heads, found on the east shore of Virginia.

. From North Carolina, Rev. M. A. Curtis, of Edgecombe County,
has presented two stone axes, a collection of arrow-heads, and specimens
of pottery.

District of Columbia.—From Mrs. M. H. Schooleraft, of the District
of Columbia, to whose liberality we were previously indebted for large
collections, we have received additional specimens of stone hammers, a
stone disk, and other implements. From the Agricultural Department
we have received avery perfectly finished war mace with handle, its
locality being unknown. Contributions of specimens from the Dis-
trict of Columbia, were made this year by Joseph Saxton, esq., of
the United States Coast Survey. They include very numerous examples
of all the usual stone implements, such as axes, chisels, hatchets, gouges,
spear-heads of very great size, tomahawks, several perforated stone im-
plements, disks, a vessel carved out of soapstone, and a great num-
ber of arrow-heads collected on both sides of the Potomac River, and
of every variety of material accessible to the Indians, mostly of quartz
and quartzite, slate, jasper, &c., with a large quantity of pottery frag-
ments.

From Maryland, Mr. F. B. McGuire, of Howard County, has pre-

ented numerous arrow-heads; a lot of the same collected at West
River has been given by Mr. W. Q. Force. Dr. C. Sutherland, United
States Army, has presented a stone battle ax and arrow-heads from
near Annapolis, and Mr. John Cameron, of Prince George’s County, has
given us a collection of over a hundred arrow-heads, neatly arranged
for exhibition. From Charles County, we have received from Mr.
O. N. Bryan, an industrious collector, many objects of this class, such as
stone knives, chisels, spear-points, pestles, hatchets, awls, and a variety
of Indian pottery. J'rom the same vicinity, Mr. James Slagle has pre-
sented arrow-heads and a quantity of fragments of pottery.

Pennsylvania.—Mr. J. H. Mellvaine, an ardent inquirer into the man-
ners and customs of the aborigines, has presented a fine stone ax and
a stone tomahawk from Northumberland County, a flanged stone ring
or wheel; a stone wrought into the form of a bird; a slate chopping-
knife and a breastplate of shells and beads, with specimens of pottery.
From b. Smith, Upper Darby, we acknowledge the receipt of a stone
ax and some arrow-heads; from R. Christ, at. Nazareth, Pennsylvania,
two stone chisels and an ax; from Harry Hoover, a flint knife and
arrow-heads, collected in Clearfield County ; and from Dr. E. Michener
a soapstone dish, a hoe, a number of axes, chisels, pestles, a lot of ar-
row-heads, a tomahawk, and a polished ornament for the neck.

From New Jersey, at Shrewsbury, Mr. Samuel Wilson has sent us a

44 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY.

number of stone axes, chisels, and arrow-heads, a stone tomahawk, paint
mortar, and pipe. From Tuckerton, Mrs. Lewis Blackman has presented
a stone hoe, a sinker, numerous arrow-heads, and other stone imple-
ments. To Isaac Lea, LL. D., of Philadelphia, we are indebted for a
very fine stone ax found in New Jersey.

From New York, Messrs. S. P. Forman and R. Howell,,near Nich-
ols, have contributed ethnological articles, consisting of stone flesh-
ing chisels, arrow-heads, and flint knives; and also, from Mr. Merritt,
near Farmingdale, we have a number of arrow-heads. From Western
New York, Dr. F’. B. Hough, a diligent codperator and accurate observer,
who long since began to make contributions to the Institution, has for-
warded from his extensive collections a number of interesting objects. We
may mention a bowl, or deep dish, carved in soapstone; a stone mortar,
a number of pipe-bowls, pipes, &c., with chisels, spear-heads, gouges,
and an Indian cradle profusely ornamented.

From New England, Mr. 8S. A. Ladd, from the vicinity of Mere-
dith Village, New Hampshire, has contributed a considerable variety of
stone implements, including two of those remarkable chisels, or gouges,
having a curved cutting edge; also straight chisels, spear-heads, pestles,
fishing sinkers, perforated stone ornaments, and arrow-heads. From
Vermont, sent by Messrs. J. M. Currier, W. G. Norris, and R. Wheeler,
we have received a spear-head of native copper, of good workmanship,
but much corroded. The metal of this may have been obtained in barter
from the Indians of Lake Superior, or from others living in Nova Scotia,
where the native metal exists. It was accompanied by a stone hoe, a
flat, triangular implement with acutting edge, of which examples are some-
what rare, stone pestles, and lance-heads. Mr. Fearing Burr has presented
a cast in plaster of the most perfectly shaped pestle yet obtained, which,
at the end grasped by the hand, is worked to a sharp edge or comb,
pointed at one side. It was exhumed from an ancient Indian cemetery
near Hingham. Very large collections of stone implements have been
received from Dr. W. Wood, of Hast Windsor Hill, Connecticut, who
has devoted much time and exhibited great zeal in this branch of
research as well as in others connected with natural history. A liberal
donation is recorded from him of axes, hammers, chisels, spear-heads,
knives, gouges, pestles, perforated stones and hoes, and from these and
other parcels received from him, it may be justly inferred that his vicinity
was densely populated in former times by the savages who wrought
these articles.

Canada, New Brunswick, &e.—Much attention has been excited in the
Dominion of Canada upon the subject of aboriginal remains, chiefly
through the exertions of Principal Dawson, of McGill University, Mon:
treal, from whom a valuable series of Indian pottery, pipes of stone and
earthenware, perforated stone implements, We., has been received.
Professor L. W. Bailey, of New*Brunswick, also has presented several
stone axes, strings of wampum, spear-points, and arrow-heads, which

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 45

were collected in his vicinity. From a long-esteemed correspondent of
the Institution, Mr. W. E. Guest, formerly of Ogdensburg, New York,
now of Canada, have been received a number of curiously-worked bone
implements, chiefly awls or perforators, employed anciently in sewing
leather garments and moccasins. An unknown donor has sent us a fine
sample of the heavy stone mauls used by the mound builders or their
predecessors, in mining the native metallic copper from the Lake Supe-
rior region, where the vast deposits of this metal were resorted to for the
materials out of which to make spears, tomahawks, fish-hooks, sinkers,
and. personal ornaments.

Mexico.—F rom other districts not included within the United States, the
Institution has received important contributions in ethnology. Dr. Sar-
torius, from near Mirador, in Mexico, has sent specimens of the stone im-
plements and ornaments formerly in use among the aboriginal races of
that country. Some of these, namely, the perforated ornaments, beads,
knives, and chisels, are prepared from a variety of jade—a hard green
mineral, held sacred by the natives—and others, such asknives, flakes and
arrow-points, are of obsidian, a material from which long-bladed portions
can be flaked off by a slight pressure on the sides of the core. The tra-
ditional knife for the rite of circumcision among the Jews was of stone,
and the suggestion has been made by Dr. Foreman that the custom
originated with a people living in Asia Minor or Arabia during the stone
age. This collection also contains earthenware images, saucers, incen-
sories, bowls, cups, candlesticks with and without handles, together with
domestic utensils made of dried gourds, which are sometimes converted
into children’s rattles. All these are of modern workmanship and now
in use among the people of the country. From Dr. Sumichrast, also of
Mexico, we have received a perforated stone tube—probably part of a
pipe.

Porto Rico, West Indies—From Porto Rico, George Latimer, esq.,
who has long been a very liberal contributor to the collections of the
Institution, has sent three additional specimens of remarkable elliptical
stone rings, resembling an ordinary horse collar, made from a very hard
syenite rock, and carefully sculptured and polished. It is suggested that
they were placed on the neck of the human sacrificial victims during
religious ceremonies, probably for effecting strangulation before the fatal
stroke of the obsidian knife. One of them is of a different pattern, being
shaped like a horse-shoe, or the letter U, and of more massive propor-
tions. Included in this interesting collection are also several ancient
stone chisels similar to those found in the United States, and a number
of terra-cotta images of grotesque form. ,

From Barbadoes, West Indies, through the kindness of Granville
Chester, esq., we have obtained several ornaments of carved shells and
a hatchet of the same material. Articles made of shell are now exciting
much interest, as this substance seems to have been widely employed at
as early a period as that of the age of the mound-builders.

46 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY.

British Guiana.—P. Figyelmesy, esq., United States consul, has pre-
sented a valuable series of articles in use among the tribes of Indians
now living in the interior of that country, including sets of bows and
arrows, war clubs, a blow-gun, with two cases of arrows poisoned with
the wourali; an emblem of office, consisting of a club and a paddle com-
bined; a stone chisel, and also head dresses, made of brilliant-
colored feathers, bracelets of the green and gold wing cases of a large
species of beetle, (Buprestis,) beaded aprons worn by females, a necklace
of the teeth of the peccary, and a flute constructed of the long bones of
a wading bird.

From Central America, Dr. Earl Flint, while examining the Island of
Ornatepé, in Lake Nicaragua, obtained for the Institution, from ancient
tombs, an idol and three earthenware vases of much interest. From
Chiriqui, an unknown donor has contributed an earthenware vase.

France.—The prehistoric caverns and rock shelters of France, under
the persevering investigation of Professor E. Lartet, have yielded
such a harvest of precious relics, and of ingenious and interesting de-
ductions, as to have conferred on him a world-wide renown. Out of
his abundant materials he has with much liberality presented to the
Institution several cases filled with objects, of which it will suffice to
enumerate a few prominent specimens. Of the animals contempo-
raneous with man in those obscure times, there are bones of the horse,
some of them gnawed by wolves; of the aurochs, rhinoceros, wild goat,
chamois, hyena, reindeer, including a very perfect jaw and teeth of the
cave-bear. Associated with these are two small bones of the human
Skeleton, apparently belonging to the phalanges of the hand. Among
the implements of war, of domestic use, and articles of ornament, are
casts of bone implements, chiefly for making perforations, stone knives,
sculptured horn of reindeer, and bone aigrettes, probably for fastening
skin or fur dresses; also a mortar for grinding grain or fruits, and casts
of arrow-heads, in forms very similar to those of American specimens;
and many flakes of flint struck from the core while making knives,
arrow-points, or other articles. The European flint is better adapted
to this manufacture than any stone found in America, except obsidian.
These flint chips were gathered from fourteen different localities in
France, indicating the prevalence of the art of forming cutting imple-
ments of stone and the density of the population. Professor Lartet
has also contributed several large masses of the breccia which occupies
the floor of the caves, consisting of bones and teeth of animals, flint
flakes, pebbles, and other objects cemented together into a solid pave-
ment. The composition of these masses apparently indicates the great
antiquity of man, since they present the stone implements of his con-
struction embedded in the same materials with the bones of the rhinoc-
eros and other extinct animals. The most remarkable portion of this
collection may, however, be said to consist of the illustrations of the
art of sculpture as it existed among the prehistoric races. The material

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 47

employed was the broad portion of the horns of the reindeer or the
ivory tusks of the elephant. These carvings exhibit a remarkable ap-
preciation of form and composition, undoubtedly derived from constant
observation of the wild animals depicted. They chiefly represent the
more remarkable quadrupeds, such as the elephant, reindeer, bear,
aurochs, &c. These are all exhibited in motion or in striking attitudes,
such as leaping, fighting, or flying from pursuit.

Polynesia.—It is proper here to record an addition to the collections
from Commodore John H. Aulick, United States Navy, consisting of a
large cape or mantle entirely covered with brilliant plumage of scarlet,
gold, and black feathers, derived from birds which are extremely rare
in that country. It was made for the personal decoration of King
Kamehameha on state occasions, and presented by his Majesty to the
commodore when he officially visited the Sandwich Islands, some years
ago. From Commodore Magruder, United States Navy, we have re-
ceived several warlike implements of the Feejee Islands.

METEOROLOGY.—The system inaugurated atthe beginning of the In-
stitution has been carried on as usual during the past year. The whole
number of observers reporting to the Institution during this period has
been 479, and to the Medical Department of the United States Army,
120, making in all 599. Among these, 167 report indications of the
barometer and the other instruments, and the remainder those of the
thermometer, rain-gauge, and wind-vane. Owing to the necessarily un-
settled condition of the army since the war, many changes have taken
place in the posts at which observations are made, and therefore the
permanent, or, rather, normal condition of the whole system has not yet
been established. I say “normal” because, since the observations made
for the Institution are from voluntary observers, and some changes must
take place in the disposition of troops, therefore more or less variation
in the number and locality of points of observation must always occur,
and a condition of absolute permanency is not to be expected. Nearly
all the material that has been collected by the Institution during the
last twenty years is in the hands of computers, with the exception of
that relative to the rain-fall, which has been discussed and of which the
results are now passing through the press. The material relative to tem-
perature has been put in charge of Mr. Charles A. Schott, and will be
completed during the present year, provided the usual number of com-
puters are retained. The discussion of the material relative to the
winds of the northern hemisphere, collected by the Institution from
various sources, is in charge of Professor Coffin, of Lafayette College,
who, with a number of assistants, will press .on the work of its reduc-
tion and discussion as rapidly as the means appropriated for the purpose
will allow. The previous discussion of the winds of the same region by
Professor Coffin, published in the transactions of the Institution, has
been adopted as a part of the basis of the pilot charts of the British
Hydrographic Office, which fact may serve as an indication of the value

48 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY.

attached to the publications of our Institution and to the labors of one
of its collaborators. Few persons not having experience in the matter
could imagine the amount of labor required in the reduction and dis-
cussion of physical observations. In the case of the observations re-
ported to the Smithsonian Institution nearly three millions of figures
have to be gone over. But this is not all. Various hypotheses have to
be provisionally assumed, and the deductions from them tested by com-
parison with the actual results of observations, while many special re-
sults have to be deduced in accordance with previously established for-
mulas. The result of the discussion of the rain-fall, besides being given
in tables, is illustrated by curves and rain-charts. The printing of the
tables is necessarily a slow operation, requiring special care in the cor-
rection of the proof. The printing of the charts has been facilitated by
exhibiting the relative fall of rain in each part of the country by dif-
ferent depths of shading in the original engraving, the distinction being
made more obvious by a second printing in a single color. The rain-
charts are three in number; one exhibits the relative fall of rain for the
whole year; another for the three months of summer; and a third dur-
ing the months of winter. For agricultural purposes the rain-fall in the
summer is most important, but data are given in the tables to ascertain
it for every month of the year.

The distribution of rain is very materially affected by the prevailing
direction of the wind, and this again is modified by the declination of
the sun, a fact which must be evident when we consider that the motive
power of the great currents of the aerial ocean is the greater heat of
the equatorial regions derived from the perpendicular rays of the sun,
which, expanding the air, causes it to ascend and flow over in each
direction toward the poles. The medial line along which this expansion
takes place must move north and south with the sun in his varying de-
clination. If the earth were covered entirely with water, and were at
rest, the currents of the air would be comparatively simple; but, since
the earth isin arapid rotatory motion eastward, the currents which flow
at the surface toward the medial line move on one side from the north-
east and on the other from the southeast, thus forming what are called
the ‘“trade-winds,” while the same currents continued upward and
northward on one side, and upward and southward on the other, cury-
ing eastward, form the great stream of western return-trades which in
the northern hemisphere, in summer, continually flow over the United
States, at a high elevation, and which waft the higher clouds eastward,
giving a similar direction to the principal storms of every season. In
midsummer, when the medial line we have referred to is carried north-
ward by the northern declination of the sun, the upper current reaches
the earth beyond the fiftieth parallel of latitude, and precipitates the
vapor which it brings from the Pacific Ocean in the form of rain on the
western coast of America, to the depth, at Sitka, of ninety inches. As
the sun declines to the south the rain belt gradually descends along the

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 49

coast until it reaches, in diminished quantity, the southern portion of
California. As the sun ascends again toward the north the rain also
gradually returns northward, until it leaves almost entirely, during the
summer, that portion of the western coast south of 50° north latitude,

The primary currents of air we have mentioned are modified by the
varying relative temperature of the ocean and the continents. The
capacity of water for heat being about six times that of land, the latter
becomes relatively much warmer in summer and colder in winter than
the former; and since the air at the surface of the earth tends to flow
from the colder to the warmer region, there must be a tendency of the
wind from the ocean toward the land in summer, and the contrary in
winter; though this may not be powerful enough to reverse the general
currents, it is yet sufficiently so to produce in them the modifications of a
very perceptible character.- In summer, the greater heat of the surface
of the middle portion of North America keeps the return trade-current
at a high elevation, and produces a surface current from the Gulf of
Mexico, which, on account of the motion of the earth, assumes a direc-
tion from southwest to northeast, bearing with it the moisture which is
precipitated in rain, principally throughout the region east of the Mis-
sissippi River. Were the earth at rest the same current would flow
over the whole of the Mississippi Valley to the base of the Rocky Moun-
tains, and the aridity of the western portion of this region would no longer
exist.

In winter, when the upper current, after sweeping across the Pacific
Ocean, ascends along the western slopes of the mountains, it precipi-
tates its moisture on their crest in the form of snow, which, melting in
summer, gives rise to humerous streams which, although not sufficient to
irrigate all the region between the Rocky Mountains and the fertile
country adjoining the Mississippi on the west, may yet, by well-directed
enterprise, serve very much to circumscribe the arid regions in the
Mississippi Valley, as well as to mitigate the droughts of the great in-
terior basins of the mountain system.

In summer, the sun approaching, in its northern declination, a posi-
tion nearly vertical to the extremity of the Peninsula of Florida, heats
the land and produces inflowing and upward currents of air, charged
with moisture, which, perhaps more frequently in the after-part of the
day, falls in copious showers. In winter, on the contrary, the sun being
far south of the latitude of Florida, the surface currents are almost
neutralized, or tend to flow from the land, and, hence, the rain-fall at
this season is much less.

In the region east of the Mississippi, including the whole Appalachian
system, the direction of the surface wind is the same as that of the trend
of the mountains, and hence both sides and crests of the latter and in-
tervening valleys are covered with vegetation.

The region along the eastern coast of the United States is also sup-
plied with vapor from the Atlantic Ocean, which is borne inland in all
cases where an approaching storm gives rise to a wind from an easterly

4s

50 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY.

direction. The preceding sketch gives a general explanation of the
marked contrast between the rain-fall of the eastern and western halves
of the United States.

Most of the records of meteorological phenomena which were made
previous to a comparatively late date had for their object the determin-
ation of, what may be called, the statical condition of the weather in dif-
ferent places, or, in other words, the determination of the average atmo-
spheric pressure, temperature, direction of the wind, and the fall of rain.
A knowledge of these elements is of great importance in ascertaining the
relative climates of different countries, particularly in regard to sanitary
and agricultural considerations. In later years, however, systems of
meteorology have been established having more especially for their ob-
ject the record of the simultaneous conditions of the atmosphere in differ-
ent portions of the earth, and the origin and progress of storms; that is,
to discover, if possible, the dynamie principles which regulate the phe-
nomena of the weather. Systems of this kind have been established in
almost every part of Europe and in several parts of Asia, even in Turkey,
in the East Indies, and in North America. These systems are not only
intended to indicate the laws according to which the atmospheric dis-
turbanees are produced, but, also, to predict, by the aid of the telegraph,
the weather that may be expected within a given time.

The Smithsonian Institution was the first to make use of the tele-
graph for this purpose. The state of the barometer and thermometer
and the direction of the wind were received from the various telegraphic
stations at 8 o’clock each morning and recorded on a large map fastened
to a board, into which small iron pins were driven to support circular
cards of different colors, which indicated the character of the sky and
of the weather—whether cloudy or clear, raining or snowing. On each
card was drawn an arrow, the direction of which could be varied by
suspending the ecard from one of eight holes with which it was pierced.
A glance at this map showed at once the condition of the sky and direc-
tion of the wind over the whole country, and knowing from previous
observation the direction of the movement of storms, the weather could,
in most cases, be predicted, frequently more than a day in advance.
In Europe the prediction of the weather is founded on the probable
direction of the wind at a given place as deduced from telegrams
giving the maximum and minimum pressures of the air as indicated
by the barometer. It has been found from observation that the
wind which may be expected will blow nearly at right angles toa line
joining the maximum and minimum pressure of the air, and that the
face being turned toward the minimum point, the wind will come trom
the left-hand side. This rule, however, may be theoretically deduced
from the movement of the air in the form of a cyclone, but will scarcely
hold true in case of the storms observed in the eastern portions of the
United States. The storms that visit the west of Europe are those
which come directly from the ocean, where the cyclonal character of the

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 51

wind finds little disturbance from inequality of surface, while the storms
on the opposite American coast have their origin far inland, and are sub-
ject to greatchanges of form by mountains or other obstructions in their
passage to the Atlantic Ocean. The system adopted by the Institution
for predicting changes in the weather was interrupted by the war, and
‘since the restoration of peace the “telegraph companies could not be in-
duced to furnish the transmission of the necessary telegrams free of
charge; and as this project was intended as a practical application of
science and would require a much larger appropriation for its support
than could be afforded by the Smithson fund, the proposition to renew
the system has been allowed torest. At the present session of Congress,
however, a resolution was offered by Mr. Paine, of Wisconsin, which
was adopted, authorizing an appropriation of $25,000 for a system of
weather signals, especially along the northern lakes. The general direc-
tion of this system has been placed in charge of the Chief of the Signal
Corps of the Army, General Myer. The plans which have been adopted
for the carrying out of the proposed object have not been communicated
to the Institution. We shall, however, be ready to give any advice or
assistance in conducting the enterprise which may be required, and also
to avail ourselves of any facilities which it may afford us in the study
of the climatology of the northern hemisphere.
Respectfully submitted. :

JOSEPH HENRY.
JANUARY, 1870.

APPENDIX TO THE REPORT OF THE SECRETARY.

Table showing the entries in the record books of the Smithsonian Museum
in 1868 and 1869.

se ee —_ ee

Class. 1868. 1869.

Salas enels nl hy pesca esacmosboses sacbos des Sone Sen She ccc 8, 150 9,708
Mannimalls 22 na cote acec cee ee ceetemteere tele e = ee ctata = aate lait 9, 300 9, 516,
IB nt) aaa a eee Sepiones Bede Oneo coon coe sao coaboraer 95D PDoD doscac 54, 000 58, 976
Reptiles ....-. ---- ------ 2-22 2-2-2 eee ne eee ene renee eee eee eee 7, 200 7, 017
IMSS) eaenes poscupnostos 4 codaao sous soacRondace decc geodon oSsos 5, 625 7, 885
Eggs of birds ..-.--.----- ++ +--+ 2-2 2-22 ee eee rere ree eee 14, 100 15, 500
(ClCH eey og Booo ao O SSA BSab oo coocnecoaasocohosc sqDesquooc 1, 287 1, 287
Wo NG) Sigs 2 pened Sonoe socadeiacedinsn4 Cooponisbre ascaea tase eds sc 18, 500 21,770
IR OWENS gees se oee obo aecn pe soneess obSeCd ascacSchce eno ssan ones 2, 729 2, 725
JATIN ES 5e4 abe sen eoes bons boocodooss coderabhs dase unsostesccs 110 100
IROSSIIS( eee eee eee eae aie none eise miaiete Oe ee eka ne toreere 7, 200 7, 283
IW GY els) eye aeesecs capac soeods> Cade aEba cans cesaccaseecnoudouc 6, 625 6, 977
Ethnological specimens. -----.----------------+-----+-+---+----- 7, 400 9, 233
IDB Bene Send obnd Gcoscn dana sen cop soc ceagpocoau send gesSaC 175 175

INNIS Ss eB aS sooeostcomenseaeouscensoogenesdoues aaseucoe 142, 397 158, 652

The total number of entries during the year thus amounts to 16,255;
of which nearly 5,000 are birds and 1,800 ethnological objects; 1,400
eggs, &e.

Approximate table of distributions of duplicate specimens to the end of

1569.
Distribution to the | Distribution in 186°. Total.
Class.

Species. |Specim’ns.| Species. |Specim’ns.| Species. |Specim’ns.
Skulls and skeletons. 129 163 25 430 154 593
NN GhmvaoG ills Seqooaeese 852 1, 667 33 39 885 1,706
(Binge eee cass ices 10, 008 15, 440 2, 943 3,556! 12,951 18, 996
Reptiles eaee. - is -- 1, 699 2, 822 2 8 1,701 2, 830
MiShess=ee eee ee coe 2, 424 5, 200 10 10 2, 434 5, 210
Eggs of birds. .-----. 4,151 10, 627 230 1, 084 4,381 g/L
SM ses oes ooscccll SPAM ue 5, 421 5, 455 78, 39] 177, 925
iadiabes se 22 eereere 551 G20 | Sacerss fois Sonera er 551 727
Crustaceans’ --.2--.- 1,013 2,516 10 10 1, 023 2, 526
Marine invertebrates 1, 838 5; 152 ils stcee Seo Seeeeeece 1, 838 5, 152

Plants and packages
Of SeCdS')— 2-5, Ssee 13, 658 19: B18 se Seee es wales ee oe 13, 658 19, 218
IOSSIISs Agee creme 3, 401 9, 002 557 982 3, 958 9, 984
Minerals and rocks... 2,118 6, 654 762 1, 120 2, 880 7,774
Ethnology.......--- 1, 107 tMOTA een 47 1, 107 1, 154
EAB SCLS oe is- 2.5 sc/2inimre 1, 420 2, 587 112 259 1, 532 2, 846
Diatomaceous earth. 15 555 11 11 26 566
Mo ballis <ceteisece 117,354 | 255, 909 10, 116 13,011 | 127,470 268, 920

eee en) SS ee

’

Se ee Ce

|

ADDITIONS TO THE COLLECTIONS. — 53
Additions to the collections of the Smithsonian Institution in 1869.

’ Alden, Dr. C. H., United States Army.—One box fossil bones and teeth,
Wyoming Territory.

» Allard, C. T.—Collection of minerals, Mlinois.

VAthens, Greece; Museum of Natural History—Fossil bones from Mount
Pikermi.

el Commodore John H., United States Navy.—Feather cape of
King Kamehamaha, from Sandwich Islands.

Ave y, Adam —Indian spear head, Indiana.

“Baird, Professor S. F.—Skull of mephitis, Massachusetts; portions of
Acie of whale, Grand Manan, New Brunswick; bones, stone imple-
ments, &c., from caves near Carlisle, Pennsylvania; "40 skulls of porpoise,
Bay of Fundy; bones and relies from shell mounds, Maine.

Barnes, Major General J. K., Surgeon General United States Army.—
See Washington, Medical Department United States Army.

v Barrait, Dr. Moses——Indian relics and fresh-water shells, Wisconsin.

Bartholf, Dr. John A., United States Army.—Ardea herodias, Missis-
sippi.

Beales, A. C., hospital steward United States Army.—Box bird skins,
North Carolina.

DLehrens, James.—One box insects, California.

-Biddle, Leopold.—Carboniferous fossil, stone chisel, &¢., Iowa.
v¥ Bischoff, Ferd.—Kight boxes zoélogical collections, from Alaska.

, Blackburn, George and Charles.—One box birds’ eggs, Lowa.
+ Blackman, Mrs. Leah.—One box Indian stone relics, &c., New Jersey.
“Blakeslee, C. T.—One hornet nest, Olio.
Boardman, G. A.—Indian relics from shell heaps of Maine; and 100
skins of birds from Florida.
‘Bolles, Rev. EL. C.—Box of shells, (Zymnea ampla,) Maine.
, Boucard, A.—Coleoptera and reptiles from Mexico.

Breslau, K.; Ober-Berg-Amt.—Collection of minerals and fossils of
Germany.

- Brevoort, J. Carson.—South American deer in flesh.
Bryan, O. N.—Miscellaneous Indian relies, Maryland.

Burr, Fearing.—Cast of Indian stone pestle, Massachusetts.

v Byrne, Dr. C. C., United States Army.—Indian stone scrapers, Ar-
kansas.

‘Cambridge ; Herbarium of Harvard College.—One box seeds of acacia,
&c., Australia.

“Cameron, John.—One card Indian arrow-heads, Maryland.
vv’ Canfield, Dr. C. A.—One box marine animals, and two boxes nests
and eggs, California.

v Capel, J. H.—Bones of elk from Canada.

~ Capron, General H., Commissioner of Agriculture —See Washington, De-
partment of Agriculture.

Carter, Mr.—One box fossils and minerals from near Fort Bridger.

(Charbonnier, Dr. A. V., United States Army.—Minerals and fossils from
Mammoth Cave, Kentucky.

- Chester, Rev. G. T.—Three shell implements, Barbadoes.

y Chicago; Academy of Sciences.—Copy in terra cotta of an image from a
mound, Missouri; electrotype cast of copper-knife from mound in Illi-
nois; cast of ancient vase.

v Christ, Richard.—Egg of Sawwhet owl, Pennsylvania.

By H.—Indian pottery, stone and shell implements, skulls, &c.,
‘lorida.

54 ADDITIONS TO THE COLLECTIONS.

‘ Collett, John.—Three Indian arrows, trilobites, fossil ferns, &c., Indi-
ana.

vv oues, Dr. E.—Two boxes bird skins and osteological collections, North

Carolina.
Orocker, Allen.—Fossils and zodlogical specimens, Kansas.
y Currier, Dr. J. M.—Indian stone relics, Vermont.
Curtis, Rev. M. A.—Teeth of, cyprinoid fish, Indian relics, and Indian
beads from a grave, North Carolina.

‘~ Dall, W. H.—Paper currency from Pekin, China; and 22 boxes zoolo-

gical and ethnological collections from Alaska.
Davis, J. H.—Skin of panther.

v Davis, H.—F¥ossil coralline, (?) Minnesota.

¥ Davis, Dr. Samuel.—Indian stone relics, Indiana.

VDeCrery, P. A—Specimen of magnetic rock, Martinique.

De la Verney, Mr.—Supposed meteorite, New York.
De Oca, R. Montes—Mounted peceary, (Dicotyle torquatas,) Mexico.

VDe Selding, Charles.—Skull of dog, Tennessee ; bit and reins of bridle
from Lima, South America; black slate carved pipe, Northwest Pacific ;
fishing line, hook, and net, Otaheite.

. Deems, J. W.—One box copper and silver ores, &c., Mexico and Cali-
fornia.

u Denny, Henry.—Set of casts of the great seals of England; skull of
dog and portion of pelvis of rhinoceros from Dowkerbottom Cave, Eng-
land; Huplectella speciosa, Philippine Islands; fossil erinoid, ( Woodocrt-
nus,) from York, England.

‘Department of Agriculture, General H. Capron.—Mounted rabbit, nest
of oriole, stone war-club, &c., Pennsylvania.

Destruge, Dr. A.—Two boxes birds, Ecuador.

v Dille, Mr.—Teeth of fossil horse, Illinois.

Dodd, P. 8.—Eggs of tern, merganser and ring plover, Nova Scotia.

\ Edwards, Amory.—Skins of six species of jay, California.

v Edwards, Henry.—Oné box insects, and living Helix arrosa, California,

“Endres, J. R.—Two boxes of humming birds, Costa Rica.

Fauntleroy, Thomas W., per O. N. Bryan.—Indian mortar, axe, &e., Vir-
ginia.

v Fernald, Charles.—Neuropterous insects, California.

Figyelmesey, P., United States Consul.—Three boxes birds, insects, and
curiosities, British Guiana.

’ Flint, Dr. Earl.—Ancient pottery and seeds of the turkey flower,
Nicaragua.

Force, Henry C.—Shell ornaments from Casa Blanca, near Gila River,
with fragments of pottery, stone axe, &e.

Foreman, Stephen.—Indian relics, New York.
-Gardner, E. F.—Indian relies from shell heaps, Maine.
Gardner, Dr. W. H., United Stdtes Army.—indian implements and
relics, Dakota.
/Geisdorf, Dr.—Two skulls of Indians and one beaver skull, Montana
Territory.
Ghisclin, Dr. J. T., United States Army.—Indian implements, &e., Ore-
on.

/ Giddings, Edward.—Skulls of Nisqually Indian and of mammals; ser-
pula, and casts of shells, Washington Territory.

Gilliss, John R.—Skull and other bones of human skeleton, Utah.

VGoss, B. F.—One box birds’ eggs, Wisconsin.

Gray, Dr. C. C., United States Army.—Skeleton of Indian child, Da-
cota.

—————————e

—e.. ror

ADDITIONS TO THE COLLECTIONS. 55

“**vGrayson, Colonel A. J.—Four boxes birds, insects, &c., Mexico.
/Griffith, Amos L.—Nest of humming bird, Tennessee.
“Grinnan, A. G.—Indian stone implements, Virginia.
‘¥ Gruber, Ferdinand.—Six skins Harporhycheus redivivus, California;
and one box birds, Australia and California.
, Hagan, J. W.—Indian stone relics, Kentucky.
Hall, Dr. E—Indian stone relies, linois.
VHancock, B. M.—Birds’ eggs, Lowa.
v Harper, W. J. W.—One box shells, California.
Av Hayden, Dr. F. V.—Ancient soapstone bowl, Wyoming Territory ;
and 22 boxes geological and other collections, Colorado.
vHaymond, Leigh.—Indian stone implements, Indiana.
/Haymond, Dr. Rufus.—One box Indian stone relies, Indiana.
Heverin, John T.—Menopoma alleghaniensis, Missouri.
/ Holmes, Professor IF. S—Phosphate of lime from Ashley River, South
Carolina.
\ Howe, Rev. S. S—Indian pipe and other relics, Dakota and Iowa.
“Hoxie, Walter.—One box birds and birds’ eggs, South Carolina.
‘Hough, Dr. F. B—Bones of Sus from depth ot 18 feet in Loess, and one
box Indian relics, New York and Canada.
vHoy, Dr. P. R.—Skull of a Pottawatomie chief and Indian vase from
mound; also birds’ nests and eggs, Wisconsin.
v Hubbard, Dr. E. W.—Helices trom various localities.
v Hudson, W. H.—Two boxes birds, Buenos Ayres.
VHurt & Bros.—Box iron ore, clay, &c., Virginia.
“Jewett, Colonel H.—Corallines in chalcedony, Florida.
’ Jones, Rev. C. M.—One box birds, Connecticut.
- Keenan, T. J. R.—Two boxes insects, one box shells, Mississippi.
/ Kelley, Dr. A. Way, United States Army.—Fragmert of tooth of mas-
todon, Mississippi.
Kilpatrick, General J.—Mummied child from Arica, Peru.
/Kimball, Dr. J. P., United States Army.—Indian scalps, rattle, &e.
King, Clarence.—Twenty-six boxes and two kegs, geological and natu-
ral history collections from Utah.
Kirkby, Rev. W. W.—One box specimens natural history, birds’ eggs,
&c., Fort Simpson, Hudson Bay Territory.
/ Kluge, Dr. J. P.—Reptiles and insects, Panama.
vKnudsen, Valdemar.—Ninety human erania, Sandwich Islands.
vLadd, S. A.—Twelve Indian stone relics, New Hampshire.
yLartet, Prof. E.—One box prehistoric remains, France.
w Latimer, George—One box bird skins and one box stone implements,
Porto Rico.
/ Lawrence, G. N.—Graculus mexicanus mounted, Cuba.
, Le Carpentier, Jules.—One box beetles, New Mexico.
VLea, Isaac.—Indian stone axe, Pennsylvania; specimen of granite per-
forated by Pholas, Nantes, France.
v Lee, Dr. J—Golden eagle in flesh, Maryland.
/ Leer, James.—Lignite and iron pyrites, District of Columbia.
_Lewis, Dr. James.— One box fresh-water univalves, New York.
v Lewis, 8S. G.—Diallogite and other minerals, California.
V Limpert, W. &.—Indian stone relics and eggs of woodcock, mallard,
&e., Ohio.
yLincecum, Dr. Gideon.—One box Lepidoptera, Texas.
v/ Lincecum, G. W.—Humming birds, and four boxes birds, insects, &c.,
Texas.
v Lockhart, James.—One box insects, Hudson Bay Territory.

56 ADDITIONS TO THE COLLECTIONS.

¥ London; Royal College of Surgeons, through Professor Flower.—Skulls
of lion, tiger, jackall, &¢. j

v Lyons, Dr. W. B.—Fossil Saurians, New Mexico.

_ Lyons, B., Hospital Steward, United States Army.—Indian implements,
Dakota.

‘March, William T.—One box birds, Jamaica.

Matthews, Dr. W., United States Army.—Bird-skins, eggs, &¢., Dakota.

vMaynard, E. J—One box bird skins, Florida,

MeCoughtry, Miss EB. G.—Indian stone implements, Kentucky.

MeOoy, Miss E. M.—Indian arrow-heads, Indiana.

MeCoy and Maxwell, Drs.—Massasauga rattlesnake, Indiana.

-Mellvaine, J. H.—Collection of bird skins and Indian relies, Pennsyl-
vania.

( McKee, Dr. J. C., United States Army.—Navajo bracelet, Indian Terri-
tory.

Me Ween, J. M.—Skull of mound-builder, Indiana.

Merritt, J. C.—Indian arrow-heads, New York.

- Moffatt, Dr. P., United States Army.—Indian implements, Oregon.

Michener, Dr. E.—Indian stone relics and type specimen of Huspiza
townsendii, Pennsylvania.

/ Michener, Captain J—Skin of purple gallinule and ancient relics in
iron and brass, Maine. |

Milborn, Caleb—Carving in ornamental green marble, Delaware.
“Minor, Dr. T. T.—Five boxes ethnology and natural history, two
skeletons of sea otter, and box of Indian curiosities, Alaska.

, Montreal; MeGill University, from Principal Dawson.—One box Indian
antiquities, Indian axes, &ec., Canada.
v Moore, C. R.—Indian pipes, arrow-heads, &c., Eastern Shore of Vir-
ginia.
/Morris, W. F.—Head of diamond rattlesnake, Mississippi.
V Nelson, Peter—Teeth and bones of mastodon, Florida.
“Newsom, W. Lewis.—A cane carved by Andrew Oliver, a revolutionary
soldier, and prisoner to the British in 1783, New York.
«New York; Central Park Commission.—Two living European swans,
New York.
’ Nichols, Dr—Raccoon in the flesh, District of Columbia.
Nixon, J. Sharpe.—One bird (Regulus satrapa) in flesh, Pennsylvania.
‘Norris, H. W.—Indian stone relies, Vermont.
/ Norris, W. G.—Indian stone relics, Vermont.
J Orton, Professor. —Collection of bird skins, Ecuador.

Otis, Dr. George A., United States Army.—lour sets bows, bow eases,
quivers, and Indian trinkets, from the battle-ground of Washita River,
Indian Territory.

v Palmer, Dr. E.—One box birds’ nests and eggs, Fort Wingate.

Parker, H. G.—Bill of white pelican, &c., Nevada.

Parrish, Henry M.—Egg of screech owl, Alabama.

Philadelphia; Academy of Natural Sciences.—Kgg of Alca impennis, or
great auk, Iceland.

‘ Phillips, M. W. S.—Indian stone relics, Kentucky.
Pitch, Captain, through Agricultural Department.—One crab; Caribbean
Sea.

Plumbo, G.—Indian stone relies, Kentucky.

-Plunmer, R., and Comegys, H. C.—Twenty-three bird skins, Con-
necticut.

Portland ; Society of Natural History.—Postpleiscene fossils, Maine.

| Post, Dr. S. A.—Quartz geodes, Syria.

_—_———

ADDITIONS TO THE COLLECTIONS. 57

“Powell, Dr. R., United States Army.—Bow, quiver, &e., Pitt River
Indians, Oregon.
v Ravenel, Dr.—Land shells and alcoholic preparations, Texas.
vReeve, J. F.—Collection of bird skins, EKeuador.
VReinert, Dr. Paul.—Three packages of dried plants, Germany.
“Reynolds, Dr. I. M.—Indian pottery, arrow-heads, &c., Alabama.
w Ridgway, Robert—One box birds, Illinois.
Ring, Lieutenant F. M., United States Army.—Forty-two objects Indian
curiosities, Alaska.
vRobinson, Windham.—Bones of young mastodon, &c., Virginia.
yRothhammer, as . S. M.—One Indian soapstone dish, Florida.
ve Sartorius, Dr. C.—One box specimens of natural histor y and ethnolog
and a specimen of Lystra cerifera, Mexico.
v Saxton, Joseph.—Indian stone relics, seeds, &e., District of Columbia.
vy Scammon, Captain C. M.—Rostrum of sw ord- fish, Pacific Ocean ; one
ie alcoholic specimens, skulls of seals, skins of fur ‘seal, cetacean skulls,
&ce., Pacific Coast.
, Sehliitter, William.—One package birds’ nests, Germany.
v Schultz, Dr. C. F.—Indian stone axe, Pennsylvania. —
/ Sclater, Dr. P. L.—Nine'bird skins, Bogota.
Sessions, Lewis.—Nest and eggs of birds, Connecticut.
Shanks, William.—Indian stone relics, Indiana.
Shimer, H.—Electro copy of an Indian copper knife, Ilinois.
‘Smith, Benjamin H.—Indian stone relics, Pennsylvania.
vSmith, Hamilton.—Two polished Indian implements of quartz, Indiana.
St. John ; 3 Natural History Society —Devonian fossil plants, 2 New
Brunswick.
« Stearns, K. LE. C_—Collections of ancient relies from shell heaps; twenty-
two species of shells in aleohol, Florida.

SY;

WW Sternberg, Dr. G. M., United ‘States Army.—Burial case of an Indian

child, five boxes vertebrate and other fossils, Kansas.
v Stevenson, James.—Arapahoe (Indian) saddle, Wyoming Territory.
v Stimpson, Dr. William —Indian shell implement, Florida.
¥ Storrow, Dr. E., United States Army.—Indian implements and relics,
Idaho Territory.
v Sumichrast, Dr. F.—Three boxes birds, mammals, reptiles, &c., Mexico.
V Swift, Dr. Jom United States Army. —Indian pottery y, stone implements,
pipes, &e., Louisiana.
v Tate, Ralph.—One box shells, Nicaragua.
v Thomas, General G. H., United States Army.—Bones of walrus, and
one box coal, Alaska.
\ Thompson, R. O.—Three fossil shells, Missouri.
vy Throckmorton, Mrs.—Indian stone mortar, Arkansas.
»Todd, Dr. W. ’ H.—Indian relics from shell heaps, Maine.
/ Totten, Dr. G. M.—Cormorant and flying fish, Straits of Magellan.
( Turner, Granville—Indian stone relics, Ilinois.
Unknown.—One box specimens of coal, one box alcoholic specimens
insects.
Vanardale, Henry.—Indian stone hatchet, Indiana.
V Wagner, Dr. Clinton, United States Army.—Squirrel and bird skins
and Indian implements, &e., Idaho Territory.
¥ Wakefield, Dr.—Skin of wren, Campylorhyneus brunneicapillus, Sonora.
Warner, John G.—Specimens of rotten stone, Pennsylvania.
Washburn, Hon. Thomas.—Indian arrow-heads, Indiana.
Washington; Army Medical Musewm.—See Medical Department United
States Army.

58 ADDITIONS TO THE COLLECTIONS.

Washington; Medical Department United States Army.—See Drs. Alden,
Byrne, Cherbonnier, Gardner, Ghiselin, Gray, Kelley, Kimball, Lyons,
W. B., McKee, Moffatt, Otis, Powell, Reynolds, Sternberg, Storror, Swift,
Wagner, White, Whitehead, and Lyons, E., hospital steward, United
States Army. ,

Washington, Agricultural Department United States.—See Capron,
General H., Ravenel, Dr., Geisdorf, Dr.

. Wellstood, Stephen.—Cane made of wood of steamer Charlotte Dundas,
1803, Scotland.

Wheeler, Ruel—Indian stone relics, Vermont.

‘White, Dr. R. H., United States Army.—Ancient pottery from mound,
Alabama.

\ Whitehead, Dr. W. E., United States Army.—Indian implements, Wash-
ington Territory.

‘Whitney, Joseph.cIndian beads, gouge chisel, &c., Maine.

Wilkinson, S. L.—Collection of Indian relics, minerals, plants, Ten-
nessee.

VWilliams, H. C.—Stone implement, Virginia.

/ Wilson, Dr. S. W.—Four living Amphiuma, Georgia.
‘Wilson, Samuel.—Indian stone implements, New Jersey.
‘Wilson, Thaddeus.—Indian stone relics, New York.

Wingate, John D.—Two salamanders and box of insects, Indiana.

v” Yates, Dr. L. G.—Indian skulls and fossil ox bones, and Indian stone
relics, California.

‘Yeager, Mr.—Indian arrow-heads, flint-flakes, &c., New York.

- Young, Nathan.—Specimens in alcohol, Indiana.

LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC EXCHANGES.

Table showing the statistics of the Smithsonian exchanges in 1869.

a x ° O43 8 DB
et ui s = we =3
| oo deus aw of we &
Agent and country. 1. cen . ae og
ou Sa a) Be Shey
ae a = a= er
E z BE | ae | 34
Neate a:
Dr. Felix Fliigel, Leipsic:
MNES ee eee Soicid oS 2 arn:c,,ccietesis < sete 73 G2 bapeasnlleaeseeae banoeoae
Germanys sso ee ase 590 ON eterers a | cer ereeo ee | ieee
Swwlozerland ti sis soon cee ce ersee 60 G5) (2S Sale seeees lee eee
Mate eens eke eh eee eae 723 796 | 42 418 | 10,625
Royal Swedish Society of Sciences, Stock-
holm:
Syed enls.= sae. ot 1s as sas Saneee/eoee 16 19 2 23 500
Royal University, Christiania: Pe
MOEWUYice a cet ses can acts ae we 10 14 1 tas) 250
Royal Danish Society of Sciences, Copen-
hagen :
GOLA Onecce Someone tee Cece eee 1 Di cpa aks Oc Re ee eee
Wonmiarkys ss solos costes esas mess 20 Pe aes steele ar ee satos
Motalres = se <ieises so atae,t we ac cyeee 21 23 3 23 | §25
Frederick Miiller, Amsterdam : i
ELoM and eeu asoee sis oU ee ohonesesese 64 AOS atte eer. ere [aera eee
Be OMe asec ee Ws toca aes etic: 30) Ab) ||) sete elena ss aco] | eet eae =
ovale eA es seme eeceee casa 100 115 6 66 1, 425
Gustave Bossange, Paris:
FEEAINC OMe aerate ces a Seminole ee aelescieee © 186 710k Pose ese en eee |
SPAIN sea a'aSaie tS hase eamecnepo cas cee 7 al SoS ats See eee eae 2
BORO G ale nectvnas~o,o eres ese aes 4 Sie eon o cree. eee
Motaliets. (5c. eter sear aercae 197 217 9 98 2, 500
R. Istituto Lombardo di Scienze e Lettere, |
Milan:
iballivpiires os a sicasaais eefes ues oe ec ranic 83 85 3 33 825
——— !——— ————— ———a
| William Wesley, London:
. Great Britain and Ireland ........... 291 309 16 161 A, 025
University of Melbourne :
Australia and New Zealand ......-... 20 41 4 40 1, 000

Rest.of the worldsst5.P ost) cece 108 | 115 |- 20 160 | 2, 000

Grand totaleee2ses 3. saa eee [509] Pel otae to t0S3 | eeawado

60

LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC EXCHANGES.

Packages reccived by the Smithsonian Institution from parties in America,
Sor foreign distribution, in 1869.

Address.

ALBANY, NEW YORK,

Regents of New York State Univer-

GIR, SSH SA a OOo Raa aricbe oe
ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN.

Professor A. Winchell

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.
ee UME D2 setae see een ace
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.
American Academy of Arts and Sci-

American Social Science Associa-

UOT Die pl pe RT pew gape a BE
American Statistical Association -.-.
Board of State Charities.......-..-
Boston Society of Natural History-
Massachusetts Historical Society -- -
IP GO: ION AMA Se Seto odessa uese
Dre vANGOUldEet ae seein ee eee
Dr. Howe, (Perkins Institute for

(Sina) eee oe Store eee cee oe ee
Si SCUCC eRe sane tsene ee snes

CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS.

American Association for Advance-

ment of Science
Harvard (College... 2 2.02. sse0-%
Museum of Comparative Zodlogy --
ProressonsleeACasslZea-eeee eee eee
ALOR AAIDASSIZicies cies seclecomec Sone
IPTOTESSO CA ayan ayes ee eee

CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA.
Medical Society of South Carolina..
COLUMBUS, OHIO.

Ohio State Agricultural Society -...
Draw Ba Sullivanteees seems eee:
men AWwesquerenx.- 02s. eeeeee eee
DORCHESTER, MASSACHUSETTS.
Dre dward Jarvisiessscess cosneeee
EASTON, PENNSYLVANIA.

Protessorsie Ow Porters ee cee ce eee

No. of
packages.

26

wo

54
24
416

16
14

19

10

Address.

HAVANA, CUBA.
Professor | POcveeseteeeeeas ences
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA.
Institution for Education of Blind.
JANESVILLE, WISCONSIN.
Institution for the Blind......---.
MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN.
Professor L. A. Lapham --...-<---
MONTREAL, CANADA.
Professor J. W. Dawson.-.--.-.---
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE. |
Geological Survey of Tennessee- -.
NEW ALBANY, INDIANA.

Dr. E. S. Crosier

NORTHAMPTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

State Lunatic Asylum
NEW YORK.

American Journal of Mines -...---
New York Lyceum of Natural His-
COLY, <i 562: Pasece ee cssee oes see
American Christian Commission. - -
United States Sanitary Commis-
SOM = ee eee eae eee

TS. -bickmoOreseeesacn soe aes
KH eSteipereceaaets ce er ee ee

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

Academy of Natural Sciences - --.-
American Pharmaceutical Society -
American Philosophical Society - --
American Entomological Society --
Pennsylvania House of Refuge... -

.

No. of
packages.

21

100

10

10

14

LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC EXCHANGES.

Packages received from parties in America, &ce.—Continued.

n

; w oO

2 of

low]

Address. Sad

Ag

a
PHILADELPHIA, PA.—Continued.
Pennsylvania Institute fer Deaf and

Wintihperssssc ses. oes ese o coe 25

uiblie Schools 2. =. -2)..-= So. ne see 1
Society for Alleviating Miseries of

Public Prisons. 25
MOIS ACOA saeco see eee hee 199
Dreeohnels: WMecontesaseesooce. sacs 13

PORTLAND, MAINE.
Natural History Society. -.-..----.| 150

PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY.

PACES DLO WA = 2 acsaccis ts Soa eiceciersiss 12
PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND.
Ki. I. Historical Society .--.---.---- 3

QUEBEC, CANADA.
Literary and Historical Society ---.; 11

SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS.

BIGNESS LUG UGO =: =72) 25 = <i121~ Sia stsloreeiele 149

Peabody Academy of Science...--.- 115
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

California Academy of Natural Sci-

DRGs = de phan Eo ones SOeEEO sece 0
Honnye Hdwards...s.- 522-2 j2anees 2
(Hee GUOWV CLS s/)='5) == 2514 os Swicfeaeeee 1

ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.
macademy-of Sciences:..----..s--lce= 190

Address.

ST. JOHN, NEW BRUNSWICK.

Natural History Society

ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA.
Minnesota Historical Society..--...
SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS.
Professor Hl. Ay Worthen: =2...-----
TORONTO, CANADA.

Canadian institmter sess. .es sees ee
Observatory secon. seacae scene
Dr. C. J. Bethune

WASHINGTON, D. C.

Bureau of Statisties.-.....----.--
Interior Department.............-
Nautical Almanac Office...--..-..-
United States Coast Survey. ..----
United States Agricultural Depart-

MENG) 2.2.35 2c ems acest ee SaaS
United States Department of Edu-

CalblOms 15520552 Leesa eects omer
United States Naval Observatory - -
United States Patent Office..-.--.-
Wallan Es Dalat ere = re eva tee
DrekeaVerelaydens = -oseees semceae
Drs @hCsRarryss oe st enclsele ase
Drh Bb yeougheeonesce ce ae eee

WINNEBAGO, ILLINOIS.
WG De 8f2)0) Vecboconnescpo occ. .ceaeor

Wilken owillksn- researc are meet eee or

61

47

5, 220

62 LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC EXCHANGES.

Packages received by the Smithsonian Institution from Europe, in 1869,
Jor distribution in America.

Address.

ALBANY, NEW YORK.

Albanyalnstimtepeeseces. csi ces eee
Bureau of Military Statistics ...--.
Dudley, Observatory. -.-----.-.----
New York State Agricultural Society
New York State Cabinet of Natural

SHOR ieee aoe cise cease ween ns
_ New York State Library -.-.--.----
New York State University -.....--
Hon. Francis ‘©: Barlow.--.--------
Broressoro dalle. Spee cet cece
Dr homas Hun Seo ee eeccece cee

AMHERST, MASSACHUSETTS.
Aoniherst:Colleses sss. 52 occc4 soe
Professor EH. itehcock 22-224. -2---
Professor. Tuckerman .-.. 2... -.--

ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND.
United States Naval Academy....--

ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN.

University of Michigan..-.--.-.....-
ObsenviacOuyies sates etree eee
DINO EM yaa ao ceese a eee
AO PNAS OMe mek cerca cere ele ait oe

ATHENS, ILLINOIS.
Professor Elihu dalle 2e 25 45 eee
ATHENS, OHIO.

Ohio University -.---- Receretejereretertees
AUSTIN, NEVADA.

Dra Mororcubees 4.2 cecoeeme sete
BALDWIN CITY, KANSAS.

BakerUmiversitive sss ee ose eee
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

Maryland Historical Society- ------
ReabodyaImstinmbtes-seasssesna- ie
University of Maryland-...--.....
ev ues Dalrevmplemsecese arco nee
Professor §. 8. Haldeman. -...-.---.
DirxeiG. MOMs s-c2-eseeoce ee see
Aree ULES <9 toccy ore tayo yaiere siemerets

BETHLEHEM, PENNSYLVANIA.
Dr. Chazles M. Wetherill...........

Address.

kr 0 CO

OF Wwe

PORE EE oO

BLOOMINGTON, ILLINOIS.

Illinois Natural History Society-. -

BLOOMINGTON, INDIANA.

Indiana State University-.........

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

American Academy of Arts and Sci-
ENCES eee ac coe ese eee
American Social Science Association
American Statistical Association --
Board of State Charities.----:-..--
Boston Athenwum. 22223222222...
Boston Mercantile Library Associa-
OMS e seco Saas eee Sere
Boston Society of Natural History~
Bowditch ibranyeeenese a eee
Geological Survey of Massachusetts
Massachusetts Historical Society -.
Massachusetts Institute of Tech-
NolOey. 425 se ioeee = See eRe
Massachusetts Society for Preven-
tion of Cruelty to Animals... ---
Massachusetts Teacheft-----..--.--
New England Historic-Genealogi-
cal Societys sns sss ae 52 ee

|| North American Review.-.-.--.----

Prison Discipline Society ---.-.---
Public inbranyes=-eeeene eee
State Jaibramyse 3. Sees ees
Rev Weak: Alloenie eee eee
Dr Bre wel aesso-13- ote hbo

C. Hovey s2sc2 se Sted eeececeece
Dry Charles4t-Jacksonvesseeee sees
IDS dish UG Onl sss cece sesecon
Missi. Marmodelizencesess nee eee
Johnw Perry ssa eee eteseh ease
AvP. Rockwelleecste tassesonie ser
WB AROS Crs: sete oe eo ser eee
EBs San borneeee ee ceeae aes tree
SP HeS cud dere eae nae ee
RAC uStearngemecemee ses oeeee
Drab SH Storeweetsccise eer eee
Walker, Bullleric Co eaeeceeeeee

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

Long Island Historical Society... .
James Alchurst22 5 4-esce eee
HC Murphy 22eem ee see een ae

BRUNSWICK, MAINE.

BowdomliC@olleseeeenessmassea= =e
Historical Society of Maine -...--.

No. of
packages.

1

ra)
= b)
Se SB NWWOeE Seow ”

ONWwwnwnw

1

—
wwe

—_
me WIRE WOW Ree eee ee

ee we)

it ain

——

LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC EXCHANGES.

Packages received from

So
Oo

Hurope, &e.—Continued.

Address.

BUFFALO, NEW YORK.

Buffalo Historical Society.-..--..---. 1
Natural History Society.--.....--.- i
BURLINGTON, NEW JERSEY.
WrrtGwbInney: <<. 5-.s4c-sscse ee 1
BURLINGTON, VERMONT.
University of Vermont .....-...... 3
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS.
American Association for Advance-

MEM pT OM SCONCE = - o> ic cineia = ao~ 33
Astronomical Journal.............- 2
ianvard: College: 2. -<----2--.2-.-- 108
Herbarium of Harvard College -.... 2
Museum of Comparative Zodlogy.-| 30
Observatory of Harvard College...) 46
dk, INCPISEIG, SS Anne aseenacpEoecopeeoe 3
iRrotessor iu. Avassiz 2... ...---2-.---|. 6
rebels Clank sa 45-2 n 3-22 il
Dire Toh vat (EGU lee So Oe Se aoeoesee 14
IBTOLESSOL ASA, GLAY sas ook ace coils 1
Dik, lal Isp S 35 Se Goce se oseeeodcee 1
re eae LO Vili= 2 Sse aj etnies
re Dnomas) Piymam. + 5-552. <c1ssnc
Wien GA) MAACK Co Ss sec ce sce: sated
PMIDECRUROLC WAY =- sete s-ac0 cee eee ecce
IBTOLESSOL Ub OILGO s.c1- ce one. oan =
Professor Jared Sparks ....---..-..
Professor J. D: Whitney =... ------.-

Dye dig \Wii ye ee Rees eee ec
IEROLESSOL J. VW yManl=— 2.2 2.2.2 =

CENTRE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

Professor H.’J. Clark: . :2-=-...< sie 1
CHAMPAIGN, ILLINOIS.
State Industrial University ...-..--. 1

CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA.
University of North Carolina ....--. al

CHAPPELL HILL, TEXAS.
Soule: Universibyossse-=-lsasccsete 2

CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA.

Charleston Museum -......---.---- 2
Elliott Society of Natural History..| 18
Socicuy Wabrary...<-- Sss-essc sce 1
South Carolina Historical Society... 1

CO C2 CO bet OD et et CO 0 OO

Address.

No. of
ackages.

c

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VIRGINIA.
University of Virginia............ 3

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS,

~~

Chicago Academy of Science.-.---.
Chicago Board of Trade -......-..
Dearborn Observatory .-..-...-.---
Wminersitivess see se ese soe ces
Young Men’s Association Library.
Pr eAndrews sco saaee en ee cis ie oc
Marien Bani eset. on a eee oe
Professor F. H. McChesney ...-.. a
ty Pp OAMOLU anes a Saar eee oe eee

(w)
Oe See ee WR ON

CINCINNATI, OHIO.

| American Medical College.--......
Astronomical Observatory ....-.-:- 3
| Mercamtile: brary =*2-222e-'2-2-2-
|
|
|

PAN aoLOTI EN OTmalles = as Seees here

Ree

CLINTON, NEW YORK.

| Observatory of Hamilton College - 9
Dies Gable We ebeRsy emai e ce ener 2

| COALBURGH, WEST VIRGINIA.

WisEEes Hdiwanrdsinsas eyecare

on

COLUMBIA, MISSOURI.

Geological Survey of Missouri --. -} 2
Nussourl University -2-2ss2s2scrs- 2
Wel re Gots Coe ive Ores ease eee = 4

COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA.

South Carolina College ---.---.--, 1
University of South Carolina -.--..- 1

COLUMBUS, OHIO.

Ohio Educational Monthly-....-.-.
Ohio State Board of Agriculture. . -
Professor Leo Lesquereux...------
John GAC) Norms... 22. 72a s= seen
Dr. William B. Sullivant....-..-.-

pd

CH Aaco-

CONCORD, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

New Hampshire Historical Society - 1
CREDIT, ONTARIO, CANADA.

| Reve Cr Je So pethuneresst is. tooo 16

64.

LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC EXCHANGES.

Packages received from Europe, &e.—Continued.

Address.

DECORAH, IOWA.
Lutheran College.......-..-
DELAWARE, OHIO.

Ohio Wesleyan University...----..-
Dr. Slotner

DES MOINES, IOWA.

Geological Survey of Iowa...-....- |

Towa School Journal
Staverinbranyewe aco sees. ecm tees

DETROIT, MICHIGAN,

Michigan State Agricultural So-

ClOtivh ses eae sepa meric Rents
DORCHESTER, MASSACHUSETTS.

Dr Edward Jarvis 22.20.4000. 28

EASTON, PENNSYLVANIA.

la Fayette College....5.....25-.2.
IEToTessor aC. Lorjers-e e222 soeeee

ENTERPRISE, PENNSYLVANIA.
JOsephyGibbonseseeee eect eee eee
ERIE, PENNSYLVANIA.
Rey,du. G. Olmstead... -ces-.cce.
EVANSTON, ILLINOIS.
OliverMarcy... 22-01-75 anos see osee
FARMINGTON, CONNECTICUT.

Ha ward sNorpon 255 5.ceesee sieeeee
FORT MACON, NORTH CAROLINA.
ir; ENiopiCouespeetee. 22222. scale
FRANKFORT, KENTUCKY.
Geological Survey of Kentucky...
GAMBIER, OHIO.

Kenyon. College 12s 2..2kkus seeeeee

GEORGETOWN, D.C.

Georgetown College

No. of
packages.

Oro

20

oR

(oa

11

| State Library

Address.

GREENCASTLE, INDIANA. .

Indiana Asbury University

eee nese

HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA.

Nova Scotian Institute of Natural
Science

HAMILTON, NEW YORK.

Madison University

HANOVER, INDIANA.

Frank H. Bradley

“HANOVER, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

Dartmouth College. ..-...-...----
Dartmouth Obervatory

HARLEM, NEW YORK.
Dr Seyttarthe-esses qe seeeece ee ae
HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT.

Young Men’s Institute.....-..... 2
Physical Society
Mrs. Samuel Colt. .

mete ew cee eee ee ee

HAVERFORD, PENNSYLVANIA.

Haverford College

HAZLETON, PENNSYLVANIA.

JN. Porter ieecraceetisns see coe
HUDSON, OHIO.
Western Reserve College. ........
INDEPENDENCE, TEXAS.

Baylor University

INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA.

Institution torsclindaeee ese seco
Dri We Wi buttertieldese., ssae ose.

No. of
packages,

a

LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC EXCHANGES.

Packages received from Europe, &c.—Continued.

g
3 &
Address. Su
ae
=
INMANSVILLE, WISCONSIN.
Wisconsin Scandinavian Society- -- 1
IOWA CITY, IOWA.
Grand Lodge of Iowa--.--.---.---- 1
BuAbe,UMILVETSlby ..--s.cs-s-5s55-5- 38
ierotessor G: Hinric¢hs-*=- 222... ---- 5
Dr. Charles A. White .---.. Boje Sats sins 1
ITHACA, NEW YORK.
Goal Collezo. 3.22 222-2... .--; 5, |
JACKSONVILLE, ILLINOIS.
Hnsiitution for Blind: ...----..--..- 2 |
JANESVILLE, WISCONSIN.
Wisconsin Institution for Blind.-.. 4
JEFFERSON CITY, MISSOURI.
Governor of the State of Missouri-. - 1 |
LEBANON, TENNESSEE.
Cumberland University...........- ih |
Professor James Safford.--........- 2
LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY.
University of Transylvania....-...- 1
LEXINGTON, VIRGINIA.
Washington College..-....-..-..-- 1
IY 1261 iC eee 1
Commodore Semmes.-..-....-..--.- 1
LEWISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.
MMOS yeaa 25 Shas. ots il
LITTLE* ROCK, ARKANSAS.
Phate Library sass ees assess cs 34
LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY.
University of Louisville...:....... 1
MADISON, WISCONSIN.
MIMUSEANDON..- - 225 n1-- 2 SS Se et 1
Geologieal Survey of Wisconsis= 1
State Historical Society of Wiscon-
Ren ests Se tac ain) | sees tains eet 10

Address.

MADISON, WISCONSIN—Continued.

State Eabrarys oo. 5-2 2822-288
University of Wisconsin.--....-...
Wisconsin Natural History Society -
Wisconsin State Agricultural So-

ciety

MARIETTA, OHIO.
Professor E. B. Andrews..--.-.-.--

MIDDLETOWN, CONNECTICUT.

Wesleyan University
MILLEDGEVILLE, GEORGIA.

Oglethorpe University

MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN.

German Natural History Society...
Hon. J. A. Lapham

MONTPELIER, VERMONT.

State Library

MONTREAL, CANADA.
Geological Survey of Canada. -.-.--
Natural History Society
P. P. Carpenter
Professor J. W. Dawson-.---.-----
Siz W. E. Logan

wee cee wee eee ew eee wwe

| Dr Sterey Hunt 52.75 ce oe eee

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE.

| University of Nashville....-....-.

Dri JONES <2 8 ares sees Sees ae

NEGAUNEE, MICHIGAN.
Major 2-BoBrooks).<.=-4-:.5-5+ =:
NEW

ALBANY, INDIANA.

New Albany Society of Natural
History ......----.-------------

NEW BEDFORD, MASSACHUSETTS.
John H. Thomson

NEW BRUNSWICK, NEW JERSEY.

| Geological Survey of New Jersey --

Professor George H. Cooke..-..--.-.

fon)
Cr

No. of
packages,

tO

6

66

LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC EXCHANGES.

Packages received from Europe, &c.—Continued.

Address.

No. of
packages.

NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT.

American Journal of Science and

Art
American Oriental Society
Connecticut Academy of Science-. -
NalouColecetcer ese osc recicoe scene
Professor G. F. Brush
Professor J. D. Dana
Professor D) Cy Hatton) -----s2e-2- a
iRrotesson By Wu0OmISs ---cees see ae ee |
Professor O. C. Marsh
IBTOTessOLeAS NEWlOMee =o nce ase eee |
Protessor D: Olmstead-:-2=-..-2=--
PTOLeESROLA be alMeres see eee aoe eee
IP TOLESSORMS soll Meme seer eee
Professor A.C. Twine: 22... 5 ----
Professor A. E. Verrill
Professor Wis Ds Wihttiney eseersees =

ee ee

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA. |

New Orleans Academy of Sciences. -|
NEW OXFORD, PENNSYLVANIA. |
DryiGePheferete sce seer ce. se =e

NORTHAMPTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

Dr. Earle

NEW YORK, NEW YORK.

American Christian Commission... - -
American Ethnological Society ---.. -
American Geographical and Sta-

hisb Cal SOClebyer ee so - eerie re eee
American Institute
American Journal of Mining..-----
American Microscopical Society - -- -
Astor Library

ColumbiaiColleve = 2255 22 sa-ce soe
Herbarium of Columbia College -.- -
Lyceum of Natural History. .------
Mercantile Library Association - --. -
he Nationeezoac .2Ses seer se sees
New York Academy of Medicine...
New York Historical Society ...--.-
Numismatic and Archeological
SOClebywEe tate Peete sas Gee cee
School of vases SOR ee rics eae

Tienes ps ey tae yer
AilbertiS. pickmore.-S2sceeecessoe
Mbomas Blan. 2.255500 5e cee eee
Dr. Brown, (Bloomingdale) -..-----
Dr Jonnie Waltons ss aos ceeeee
BrotessorbC. Days 4-- oases

Captain J. M. Dow

eek 2)
ee ol

RUE WORHWRROM

mon

WR Ree WW ae

i
© &
Address. S ee
Az
New York, N. y.—Continued.
Drs JW Drammen ete ae 2 Seine 5
DrVAS a Mabe meas Seiecei,c oe Aeee 1
General J, ehrémonteesseece coe an €
Dr Gescheldtseates epeete tame. em 1
Henry Grinn ellis ae oe ee re 6
Dr. William A. Hammond....-.-.-- 2
Mir Harlan 52 F< ene eee 1
Rev. GCs Hols saa -5 sere ce eae 1
Dr shrancis Wieber-.=-- 42s i
(ORI DOSEN Se she aeods ssecosneseos 2
IDEs Seam NOW DEREY cr sists eee 7
Drv CNottees sess cosees see ae 3
Baron R. Osten-Sacken-...---. ---. 2
Or Rae Sep eee ee eee os | 1
Messrs. Parker & Douglas--.-..--- 5
Dr Wi. Raymond sj 8 pees 1
Wicton@) Reeve:-ocso semesters 1
| ewiseM Rutherford! 522225 -s-=eee 3
BG. Squier se3 ze oe sce ee 6
Professor George Thurber.--.--.--- 1
Professor John Worrey s2os--=4s== 3
| J. Watts de Peyster :--.---.22-.-- 2
OSWEGO, NEW YORK.
Professor Raphael Pumpelly ------ 3
OXFORD, OHIO.
| Maan Universtbyss-- =... 122 =e 1
OXFORD, MISSISSIPPI.
University of Mississippi --------- 1
Hugene W. Hileard!- 22-2 ---- == 2-- 2
PEORIA, ILLINOIS.
Dr. eBrendellaceee-- ee see eee 1
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.
Academy of Natural Sciences- ---- | 180
American Entomological Society - - | 15
American Journal of Conchology.- -| 1
American Journal of Medical Sci-
€NGCO:. ae anise ene oer eee sees 2
American Pharmaceutical Associa-
bLOME 222 eee ne roe errs ae eee 2A
American Philosophical Society...) 111
Athenweum Cees se. eee 1
Central High School..-......----- | 3
Franklin Institute...... ...-. ----| 23
GirardiColleset tose eer eee 1
Historical Society of Pennsylvania. 7
liMHlouselorehetnoen = aeeeeee = eeee 1
|| Library Company Se eee de 3
Medical Society of Pennsylvania. - t
Mercantile Ibibrary---- =... 25... 1

LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC EXCHANGES.

Packages received from Europe, &c.—Continued.

67

un B «8
o om
Address. sa Address. -&
of ow
4 As
PHILADELPHIA, PA.—Continued. PROCTORSVILLE, VIRGINIA.
North American Medico-Chirurgical | Professor Albert D. Hager ........ 1
LR VIO, Ce Oe ee etme ac 4
Numismatic and Antiquarian Society 3 PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND.
Observatory of Girard College. -.-. 2
Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. i Browns Universivy.s-e- 3.52 8 e 4
Pennsylvania Institute for Blind. 1 || Rhode Island Historical Society. - 3
Pennsylvania Institute for Deaf and evar: Cas welll cesses =a seo2 5. 1
Domibss> Jape sees oss eee ose. hss 1 || Stephen ae Ee ee eee 1
Pennsylvania Society for Prevention Hawan. Ma iSnoweeteascsssee score 7
of Cruelty to Animals.--...-.--.-. 1)
Philadelphia College of Pharmacy. a1 QUEBEC, CANADA.
Rubles Sehools=2- 22.52.32 /55.-22-: 1 ae ee Phage SE aie ln Se
University of Pennsylvania... .... 3 || Literary and Historical Society... 3
WraGe binney2s. f22s22.- 22225 35. 1 || Professor Rossmiassler ......-..-.- }
eblodeetice --5-2.= 2-5 258225205: 2
ig 8s Carey ieee a nine atthe = Sere oe 5 RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA.
ae as. PPE OW a ee i WD rseeRNShers 3827 cosas seks eee 1
ttt tte fee eee eee eee give 77 ‘
oe 0 ee 1 | IPEOTESSOL Wei © uINGITy ae i
ay Ae ler BOT eee TES alae’ : RED WING, MINNESOTA.
W. H. Edwards See oma 2 ee 2 || Hamline University..-:-.-. 22-2: j
NeeM Gabber es 22. fs sous 22 ae 2
Cate Hapegorn 2.252225. 0s S452 1 RICHMOND, VIRGINIA.
pe anO meee a cas oc ee A= Soest aise 1 ‘
Dr. Isaac Hays 0.220022 Boarder nema, 6c ea
HraGeorve EH. Horm : 2. ..<22--2+ 2 Enea LOR apes Ste pe
Dr. John L. Lo Govte.- 0.0 -..] | _R0custen, xew your.
Wr weld y=. = 5.2220 tt eee ee Sis: Ward se .1 as ote oe oe ee 1
Pmeaminesle yi. 22225525 Sete Lessee 2
IbmaveeMargh:. 2225 222 ls Stec sUieee o 1 ROCK ISLAND, ILLINOIS.
Dimdeeac Meirs. 2242.27 505 228s ash 4 4
Dr. S. Weir Mitchell..........-...- | ee Were ae i
BEE shanisoa se. mo) yp St. LOUIS, MISSOURI
WremUMNCISS <6 525% ise wsss Sects oKeay 1 || Deutsches Institut zur ce derung
CoaWeekryony jt <.2s 2<is%2s52-2 522 8 der Wissenchaften.......-.:.:.2 1
professor Wi. Wapmner..%-..--55-22 1 || Journal of Education........-..-- 1
Prot oWOOd. == 252550205 22822 1 || St. Louis Academy of Sciences--.. 113
Wniversitive.= 2s eos gos hn nee 33
PORTLAND, MAINE. brnst von Angelrodt, 2--=-5..-so-- 3
F Professor William Chauvenet ----.- 2
Maine Journal of Education ...--.- bers Geekmee liane s.r s ye ae 4
Portland pony of Natural Mistery.) 39° || DrEfolmes)2 22-5... -.<ben sees 1
Dry Av C ae armlinivs© = 22.225 .20e.c 1 Drs EAS PEOUb ss... =.= ssa eee 1
Maurice: Schuster s3-25- see see ee 2
POUGHKEEPSIE, NEW YORK. Aer Bed Shum anne. ee 8
Observatory of Vassar College-...- 1 ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA.
Bis Mepis Mitchell. os. )+ S22 seca 1
Minnesota Historical Society...... 6
PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY.
SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS.
Collereiof New Jersey ...=..-.---.- 10
1D. RO (0, 6a ae ae 2) || skex Insttutessse2. cscs <,55-.--5: 61
irGlessorran GUYO0U~.. 25. — ~<a 5 ~~~ 8 || Peabody Academy of Science -.--- G

68

LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC EXCHANGES.

Packages received from Europe, &e.—Continued.

a || a
tO | GD
So of © &
Address. 4 § Address. < =
Ag Rae
= y
aoa! aati a
SALEM, MAss.—Continued. | UTICA, NEW YORK.
Dr. A. S. Packard, jr---.----------- 14 | American Juurnal of Insanity. ..-. 4
AWAllberin iss MWWES Sesqngseeesoscooos | IC DISC yes 5 tte 2 Seema ge ao il
| Colonel E. Jewett .....------.---- 1
SALEM, OREGON. |
| WASHINGTON, D. C.
Willamette University ...--..----- | 1 |
President (Grant. =~ - ease ee 3
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA. American Nautical Almanac....-. 8
California Academy of Sciences --.-) 61 | Sete ov a pees ae alee és
Geological Survey of California. -.-- il | pemele See Eee a aes 1
HaG: BlOOMeR a= S221 se sae ee ee eleels Te | esa a eae ae a
ONO Belander ce case he bee ae 1 | Bureau of Statistics .........--.-- 12
Sinan 1 | Census Bureau... .----.---+----- 6
‘T Fea aa. hy pa od 1 Corps of Topographical Engineers.- 1
7 eam iendee papi ear ee RT 3 || Department of Acriculture ~~. - 142
ae Pecnthoren aa Cg eis Tae Le 1 | Department of Education..-...--. 8
i aa ge beara bes Engineer Borean2o--. esac ese se 1
’ Estee Hydrographic Office. ----..----..- 9
SANTA BARBARA, CALIFORNIA, Tmterion Department Pris iis = 2
Alexander Taylor.----..----------- 1 || Library of Congress.-.-...------- | BB:
| National Academy of Sciences. .--.| 38
SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA. Navya Deparhmentes. en -—ere= 1
: ; +p Ordnance Bureaus. ee ee i
University of the Pacilic..--------- | 1 || Quartermaster General’s Office... . 1
y goth vies | Secretary of the Naivy::-2.-.-d25- ]
SAUK RAPIDS, MINNESOTA. Secretary of Sate ee eee jl
dio JEIS RUG OSs anaS5 SosbacononeenSe Sse 6 || Secretary of the Treasury...----. 1
i Secretary Ot. Whaltnae= se eee eee 6
SING SING, NEW YORK. State Department = 2224-2. ce eae 4
: Surgeon General’s Office .-...----- 83
t S 9 ie 2) oT J
Dr. G. J. Pisher -- ~~ 222.2 = =220 cee ‘, || Survey of North American Lakes.. 1
Dr. W. H. Helm =e 3 || ’ ;
Sa aaah aL PE os er Ra 15 | Topographical Bureaw-.---..---=-- 1
e ea | United States Coast Survey..-.-..- 5
BERING aN General Land Office ----.----.---: 6
Geological Survey of Illinois. ..---- 1 || United States Naval Observatory..| 101
Illinois State Agricultural Society -- ft | United States Patent Office..-.... 149
The Schoolmaster, Normal-..-.-.--- 1, War Department..-----.----- 2
Professor A. H. Worthen....-:----- ¥) | Washington Public Schools -.-----. 6
| Colonel He LvAbbott Ss 2.-6-= eee 1
TORONTO, CANADA. 286 Ibe UNE SS S54 e6s056 cosasa ococe 1
; ; 5 IMP roressonio. bom bannd ese. e mesa eee 18
Canadian Institute..-..---.-..----- 8 | fore yes eZ
Literary and Historical Society-.--- 1 | Hon. ‘Henry ‘Barnaitd..----]-27-7 :
Obsenvablotyee ess. i-- = -— l= | ; E
; A ATERVILLE, MAINE.
University of Canada........-----. 1 || 3H a EE) SNE
1D Spree) WWW Os aa ses goassé coos 1 || Waterville Collere se axe ays Serine soe 1
TUSCALOOSA, ALABAMA. | | WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS.
|
University of Alabama .-.-----.----- 1 || American Antiquarian Society.... 11
|
Gopal ErabR aes) Ore, NS INLE NO 59 5 ning sae ages asosod SaseSccnds dbeese casas 238
Motaltaddresses of: 11 tva Cue Sees ele ela aera eee eee 263
501
Total number of parcels to institutions....--.- .------------------------ 3, 245
Total number of parcels to individuals...--..-+--. --------------------- 835

4,130

=— ss

LIST OF METEOROLOGICAL STATIONS AND OBSERVERS OF THE
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION FOR THE YEAR 1869.

B. signifies barometer; P. psychrometer; T. thermometer; R. rain gauge; A. all four instruments;
N. no instrument.

Station.

Name of observer.

BRITISH AMERICA.

St. John, Newfoundland.........

Stanbridge, Quebec, Canada ..-.|

Wolfville, (Acadia College,)
Nova Scotia.

Clifton, Ontario, Canada

Abitibi Post, Hudson Bay Terri-

tory.
St. John, New Brunswick

Winnipeg, Assiniboin....-...--.

MEXICO.
Mirador, Viera Cruz............-

BERMUDA.

Center Signal Station, St.Georges

ALABAMA.

Carlowville, Dallas Co....---.---

Near Havana, Hale Co.....-...- |

Moulton, Lawrence Co....------
Opilika, Lee Co
Mobile, Mobile Co..-.-..---------
Greene Springs School, Hale Co.
Fish River, Baldwin Co......-...

ALASKA.
SUT AD) ..ceage cocshS popes soeeseece
ARKANSAS.
Helena, Phillips Co

CALIFORNIA.

Monterey, Monterey Co.....---.

Mincowbntte COo! (52. 2022<.52 5.5
Watsonville, Santa Cruz Co.....
Murphy’s, Calaveras Co...--.--.
are Island
acayille, Solano Co
Stony Point, Sonoma Co...-..---

Paradise City, Stanislaus Co. .-.|

COLORADO TERRITORY.
Denver, Arapahoe Co..-....--...

Cation City, Fremont Co

CONNECTICUT.

Pomfret, Windham Co.....-.-..-.
Middletown, Middlesex Co.-.-.-..-
Colebrook, Litchfield Co
Brookfield, Fairfield Co
Waterbury, New Haven Co.....
Columbia, Tolland Co....-.-..-.

Caswell, Rey: B.C. ..-..-
Higgins, Prof. D. F..----

| Jones, W. Martin. ...-.-
| Lockhart, James. .-.-----

PeMirardocle) Gree sense
Stewart, James ...-...---

Sartorius, Dr. Charles. -.}

Royal Engineers, (in the
| toyal Gazette.)

Alison, HIE. Mi. D225. |

Jennings, S. K., M.D....
Peters, Thomas M ......
Shields, Miss Ella B..-..
| aleR A tS baN Seeeees aes
| Tutwiler, Prof. H
1 Vian WW Olees = see

Bryant, Gharlés,'--2- 2s"

Canfield; Dr: C. A. <-..--
| Cheney, “Dr. W. F'.:.----
Compton, Dr. A. J...-.-.--

Naval Hospital. -.......-
| Simmons, Prof. J.C...--
Thornton, Dr

S. Y. Sopris.
Macon, Thomas-..------

| Hunt, Rev. Daniel

Johnson, Prot. John:.--.
| Rockwell, Miss C......-
| Roe, Rey. Sanford W....

|

DELAWARE, |

Milford, Kent Co...-.-.-- eee
FLORIDA.
Jacksonville, Duval Co..-.-...-.---

Ocaly Marion Co: 22. 225.2-~<-s.---
Manatee, Manatee Co......-.---

!

| Whittier, Mrs. A.C......

|

| Baldwin Dr. AG SNesbmes:
| Barker, Edward..-...---
| Coachman, B. A

GulmoureAt hese aoe

| Russells Owasso ese

Cutting, Ephraim -...--.|

Wright, J. W.A....._--

| Yeomans, William G..-.!

Byers, William N., and ;

|

19

34

wo

West longi-
tude.

96 25

COO
tbe?
~
-

~

16 15

tea
f=}
oo
ur

75 30

3, 600

10

Instruments.

Hosea hte

No. months
received.

oe

a
WWNWNWONWW

70 METEOROLOGICAL STATIONS AND OBSERVERS.

List of meteorological stations and observers, §c., for the year 1869.—Continued.

oe =) 2 |g
ma 2 = |es
Station. Name of observer. a3 = 5 gq 25
Ez Zoe ah Meee eee
o oO nD oc
Z 2 Ea le
FLoripA—Continued.
is) ‘ wt fo} / “ Feet.
Pilatica we mina CO on. tees oe ye) SSG! INV op VT Diy 2 sce petted 3 3
Port Orange, Volusia Co ......-. 1 Bayes Dri; MEG ands so eee ee ence <deees sleeceioe ope 12
rs.
Lake City, Columbia Co..-...... Ives, Edward R...-.-.-.- 30 10 82 40 184] T.R. 1
Chattahgochie Arsenal, Gadsden | Martin, M......-.....-.. 30 48 84 48 180 | T.R. 9
Co.
Near Pilatka, Putnam Co ....--- Robinson, Gen. Geo. D---| 29 45 82.20 ee Alsat nee lg Be eee q
GEORGIA.
Mocon Bibb © One see. =e a= er ANGER 518 Soca onsce oss 32 50 83 37 339 | T.R 5
AtlantaWalton Coze..-co-2ss.=- Deckner, F., and sons..-| 33 45 84 1,050 | TLR di
St. Mary’s, Camden Co.....--..- labile Is bie (Ae eee 30 50 81 40 PAY te i We. Ys Ff
BNnRcone sib b) COMse nese spses acne Proctor, Miss §. M....-. 32 50 83 30 30/1, 500 A. 3
Penfield, Greene Co..----------- Santord Prot: hee. as eeaee eee [eee = ane = [eee ee Res | ee
MnconsBipbi@o nese seesenee: Whitney, Miss S. J--.--- 32 47 83 47 1,300] A. 5
ILLINOIS.
Elmore, Peoria Co...------------ Adams; With 2s 2eseas: epee eee tt en eS elias et R 10
Near Tiskilwa, Bureau Co -..-.-.- IATdrichs WerTnye =. 2 ses 41 15 89 15 550 T 12
Sandwich, De Kalb Co .---.------ Ballon, INH. aeceee= eee 41 31 88 30 665 JAG 12
Hlmiray Stalk COse25s2ssseee= Blanchard, ©. A..--....-. 41 12 9009S, 4 alzseee= TR: 9
_Andalusia, Rock Island Co..-.-.. Bowman, HE. H .....-.-.- 41 25 9046) = YP 2oe- Bak. 12
Peoria veo aioe. cesses ee eae Brendely Dr eheee- eo ee 40 43 89 30 440 A 12
Springfield, Sangamon Co......- Brinkerhoff, Geo. M.---. 39 48 89733 eee persen aut 12
Chicago, CooliGo ee a Brookes, Samuel .---..---. 41 SUE Sete See Ls 12
Alta, eel Gon a eee: Carey, Danieli.2-o--=- -- 41 45 89) pil seeee a 12
Louisville, @layiCok 22: - 2ase2 525 Chase eDrE D: Heese 38 40 8830" Saale ee T.R. 11
Loammi, Sangamon Conse s25-25 Dudley, Timothy -.----- 39 40 99 680 | T.R. 8
Decatur Macon Co)--2- ssc ss. - Dudley, Timothy -.-.--- 39 40 89510) wanleeeese SR: 3
Mount Sterling, Brown Co ...--- Duncan, Rev. Alexander.| 40 OLAS) leet ee TTR. 12
Golconda,)Pope|Con-2-------- 2. Eldridge, IWEAViSee ress 37 41 SSi46 nea eeeece TRY 2
Pana wohristiani©O-cee--ssece-se Finley, Dr. Thomas ---.| 39 24 21 896 5 i300, seeks Fe
Near South Pass, Union Co... -.. HMreeman wel. Cres tee eee a ser ae 650*| T.R. 9
Manchester, Scott Co....---...-. Grant, John, and C. W..| 39 33 901436 yee A. 12
‘Wapella, De WAttiCore ccs oe: Gratt sh Monise-2 eee 40 11 BORG) ro 6 aS N. 12
Mattoon, ColesCo..-.-------.-.. Henry: \WivEicses-ssese 19395 29)51 OF Wl eee ee 740) “TR. BS
Marengo, MeHenry COP -e-—- = JAMES el. Wie seeaenen | 42 13 88 31 2805) eR. 8
Chicago, (Chole COs Ssaspoccase ane Langgith, John G., J 42 87 30 600 A. 11
Galesburg, Knox COM eeare eee Livingston, Prof. W.. 40 55 S0)25 el earene A. 12
Evanston, Cook Co.-.------------ Marcy, Prof. Oliver -.--- | 42 1 87 38 570 A, 12
Augusta, "Hancock Co..-...----- Meads Dr iS.3- om eaee ee 40 10 OU Vallee A. 12
Ottawa, La Sallei@ozzeeeeea.e se Merwin, Mrs. E. H..-..-.- 41 20 BST 7 ieee eee ER: 10
Belvidere, IBOONEIC Ose yest aie Moss. GiB: cr ocsoeeee | 42 15 88.47 <4 lEete-. ‘RR: 12
Near Wyanet, Bureau Co...-.--.- Phelps, E. S., and Miss | 41 30 BY C5) | saecoe Do. 11
L. E.
Marengo, McHenry Co....-.-.--- Rogers, OfP anda heeeas | 42 14 88 38 842 |B. T. R. 3
King’s Mills, Kane Co...---.-.--. Sp panlding, Dr. A., and | 41 45 88 22 696 rAS 9
rs.
Dubois, Washington Co.----.--. Spencer WiC = ce see seee | sos 89 16 405,:|" Sto: 12
Waterloo, Monroe Co...-----.--- SH ran cise. eee 38 30 SUL2D i pe Rees I Re 5
Winnebago Depot, Winnebago | Tolman, J. W., and Miss.| 42 17 89 12 900) (Beans |e ake,
Effingham, Effingham Co...-..--. Thompson, Dr. W..-.--- 39.3 88 5 592 | T.R 4
Wiarsaw, Hancock Co: -_..--.--- IWihitaker Be 26 ss once. 40 20 (ils Ra Pelee ee OR; 12
INDIANA.
Near Laporte, Laporte Co.-..---- ‘Andrew: Bred. Gil aicae |) a-eee et ees reaee e 184*| T.R. 6
Mount Carmel, Franklin Co -..-. Applegate, J. A. and | 39 22 84 51 900*| T. R. 8
daughter.
Malparaiso, Porter Co -.-.-------- Beer, Rev. Robert ...-..- 41 29 81 Gre a eee R. 2
Vevay, Switzerland Co.....-.-.- Boerner, Charles G..---- | 38 46 84 59 20.5 | 525 A. 12
New Harmony, Posey Co..-..--..- Chappelsmith, John eee 38 08 87 50 350 A.. 12
Laconia, Harrison Co .....------ Crosrer eal: ae ae a 37 47 Sb 50i, sly ieee th) 6
New Albany, Bloyd'Co:-=--5-5- Crosier, TOTS OMS wee ere 38 02 85 32 bos Be OR 2
Spiceland, Henry Co .......--.-. Dawson, William ....-.-. 39 48 85 18 1,025 |B. T. BR.) 10
_Knightstown, Rush Co.......-. Deem, 1p eee ie ie ota 85 24 800 | A. 12
Bloomington, Monroe Co ...----- Dodd, ’Prof.C. M........ 39 15 86 28 al A. 10
Merom, Sullivan Co............. Holmes, Mhomass 522 es3 39 5 87, 40599 ee ee TR. 12
Jalapa, SOD Ss ccl ec: font Irwin, IAT Va Cee 40 40 85.43) ) eeeess a: 5
Muncie, Delaware Co ........... Kemper, G. W. H., M.D.| 40 12 8516 9 jesse. AM o\f ob
Rensselaer, Jasper Co.......---- Loughridge, J. H...-...- | 40 56 figs RSH) LE de 8

* Estimated.

— eo

a ed eee

METEOROLOGICAL STATIONS AND OBSERVERS.

List of meteorological stations and observers, §'c., for the year 1869—Continued.

~]
—

ao a L 2
~ ep a =
alt Ss : s |ae
Stations. Name of observer. ae aks = EB a5
ne ge ee 2 3
° = S) D hes

A a isa) 4 Ia

InpiAnNa—Continued.
- fe) Uy “ (o} / “r Feet
Columbia City, Whitley Co .--.. McCoy, Dr. F. and Miss -| 41 10 Sois0l elses T.R. iL
Lafayette, Tippecanoe Co.-...-.-. ING WwhOlela ie tee sae oe sane eceer |lane ee asain BOER es
Canuelton, Perry Co .........--. Smith, Palmer .-.......- 37 57 86 41 30 36%) | BLS ee
Kentland, Newton Co.....-..-..--. Spitler, Daniel .........- 40 56 87 12 725) |) TOR: 8
Aurora, Dearborn Co..-.-..------- Sutton; George.-.-.....- 39 5 54 84 54 509 ASS 12
Harveysburg, Fountain Co..-...-. Williams, Mrs. Dr. B.C-..| 39 55 SiMe Ge Sel eee TAR: 10
Indianapolis, Marion Co..-....-.. Woolen, Dr. G. V...-....- 39 47 S7a0G 698 ‘A® 12
IOWA.
Boonsboro, Boone Co.....------- Babcock, Hy eeees saeco 42 93 14 P60) | RA a
Lizard P. O., Pocahontas Co ...--. IBLUCE; Okc csesee weiss See 42 30 Cy tay) | M25 5 SRE ig bu 1
Vawter’s Grove, Adair Co ..--.- Bryant AG Pec ec= eee 41 20 94 30 1,500 | T. R. 12
Mount Vernon, Linn Co.....-..- Collin, Prof. Alonzo ..... 42 OM 30FN 2 ieee qv 12
Guttenberg, Clayton Co ....-.--.. Dickinson, James P--.-- 43 90 50 690 a. 12
Near Algona, Kossuth Co ...---- Dorweiler, Py --2.- 55... 43 94 26 1,500 T. 12
Near Newton, Jasper Co ......-.| Failor, A ....--. .------- 42 ODP Al Micros TGR S 5
Clinton, Clinton Co: --.:--..:---.. Farnsworth, P. J..------ 41 47 90 10 630 | T.R. 12
Dubuque, Dubuque Co-.--...---. Horr, Dr. A. and E. W...| 42 30 90 39 51 666 A. 12
Waukon, Alamakee Co-..-..--.-- Hancock He MGs-s- 2 ene- Hectares ton ee ee ee pel | TAR: 9
Fort Dodge, Webster Co ..-.-.-- Jorgenson, C. N .-.--..-- 42 30 Oa eee ANS i 3
West Union, Fayette Co .....-.- McClintock, F .......... 42 58 91 50 1,300*| BT. | 5
Near Fort Madison, Lee Co ..... McCready, Daniel. ------ 40 37 OOS Rs esas Ts 12
Grant City, Sac Co...-.--.-.--.. Miller, E., and Mrs. R...| 42 16 94051365 ||--—-- = TOR: 12
Monticello, Jones Co..-....------ Moulton, M-M ..-..----- 42 15 91 15 800 | TR. 12
Iowa City, Johnson Co......-.-- Parvin, Prof. Thomas § -} 4i 36 53 9130/40" “ease A. 12
Davenport, Scott Co......-.-.--- Sheldon, Prof. D.S ...--- 40 31 90 40 737 A. 8
Waterloo, Black Hawk Co..-.... such dD eee eeeses a oeEeos 42 30 9orS0in. | a Peeece ab 12
Harris Grove, Harrison Co....-. Stern, Jacob B.--.:=:=-- 41 95 928 | T.R. 12
Near Rolfe, Pocahontas Co.-...-- Strong, Oscar [....-...-. 42 50 94 34 1,000*| T. R. 11
Mineral Ridge, Boone Co...-..-- Sulliivant deeb oo. 2280 te 42 6 93 40 1.200%). wR 7
Spring Grove, Hardin Co......-. Townsend, N= .2055---:- 43 32 931200) 0 ee eeee aR 9
Muscatine, Muscatine Co...----- Wialtony dt) sos. oa-26 oe 41 25 91 2 582 PACS
The Woodlands, Floyd Co..-.-.... Wradey,7bh 225.224 shee: 43 930i eV Re aeee iu 12
Independence, Buchanan Co... -. Warne, Dr. George ...-.. 42 25 92 6 940 |B. T.R. 12
Algona, Kossuth Co.......-...-. Warren, James H...-... ASS 94S yh eh + Ate 12
Byron Township, Buchanan Co..| Wheaton, Mrs. D. B .-.-.- 42 29 25 OT 5028" 5 |Seesee RABE 10
Whitesboro, Harrison Co.-..-.-..-- Wiley D. K. and Miss | 41 38 95:40) , 59. lesa Eo Rew ee
Wanton; bentou:Co =... 220... Wood, James ...-.-..... 42 15 92 45 CO rFalf ee Bae ee,
Bowen’s Prairie, Jones Co..----- WooodworthiS 3.222282 POR ETSY cael Ga ceme eT ee 800 |B. 2.) 12
KANSAS.
Olathe, Johnson Co .-...-.-. ----- Beckwith W .----s- -4-- 38 50 O49S0seees eee ORS, ed
Near Ames, Story Co.-..--..--.- Cotton, John M.-....-.- 42 93 30 7 ua
Burlington, Coffey Co ...---.---. Crocker, Allen -..-.-...- 38 8 95 27 825 13, il
Crawfordsville, Crawford Co -....| Daniels, Percy ....--..-- Sir 58) SOS Ie Waleseoee Abe 18%. 6
Neosho Falls, Woodson Co ...... Groesbeck, Mrs. E. W...| 37 C0 eines tetete TORS 9
Atchison, Atchison Co-.--....-... Horn, Dy H. B. and | 39 42 95 1,000} T.R 12
Miss C.
Baxter Springs, Cherokee Co....| Ingraham and Hyland ..| 37 3 94, STEN Pelee TRE 12
Manhattan, Riley Co....--..-- .| Mudge, Prof. B. F .....-.- 39 12 96 40 1,300 |B.L.R.| 12
Near Leroy, Coftey Co .........- Shoemaker, J.G .-...--- 38 6 28 Uy Pa eH) eeesce B: Dos ae
‘Lawrence, Douglas Co ..-...---.- SHOWAerOte Ea elyeee eee 38 55 95 15 e50 A. 12
Leavenworth, Leavenworth Co..| Stayman, Dr. J.---.--.--. 39 20 94 33 ei ERS 12
Near Paoli, Miami Co..-.....-... Wialrad sD ase ep eeeee 38 30 955300 1703 Vileeeeee TOR: 8
Molton Jackson’ Co; --.-.-01----.- Walters, Dr. James ..--. 39 27 95 10 1,172 Ty 12
Council Grove, Morris Co ...--..- Woodworth, Dr.:A ...... 38 40 96304 =) ieee es weven |) whe
KENTUCKY.
Danville, Boyle Co .-.-.-..----.- Beatty, O...-.---------.- 37 40, 84 30 900?) B. T. R.| 9
j@lintoneuckinan Co. ..--.2--2-- Cleland As ee od. 36 40 89°10) rt sles eae AT SaR: 7
‘Louisville, Jefferson Co ..-...-.- aM Eris WWadiey heey nts, | 1D ERS Se Oa = Seana ae A. 4
Pine Grove, Clark Co ...-..-..-.- Martin, Dr.Samuel D'.../ 38 4 |........... 978 | A. 12
Arcadia, Lincoln Co.-.--<.-..--- Shriver, Howard ......-- 37 34 84 30 900*| A. 3
Lexington, Fayette Co .--...---- WalliamsyiNie=--<jens = 38 «6 84 18 950 A. 2
Lexington, Fayette Co........-. AWillitamisy Sikes dees 38 6 84 18 950 IN 2
Springdale, (near Louisville,)Jef-| Young, Mrs. L....--..-. 38 6 55 85 24 13 570 A. 10
ferson Co. be

* Estimated.

72

METEOROLOGICAL STATIONS AND OBSERVERS.

List of meteorological stations and observers, §c., for the year 1869—Continued.

Station.

LOUISIANA.

Benton, Bossier Parish .-....-.--
New Orleans, Orleans Parish... -
Shreveport, Caddo Parish

MAINE.

Houlton, Aroostook Co
Gardiner, Kennebec Co
WormisheVorki@0\-------s--~ o=-
Lisbon, Androscoggin Co
Standish, Cumberland Co
Steuben, Washington Co
Rumford Point, Oxford Co
Williamsburg, Piscataquis Co-.-.
Oxford, Oxtord Co
Cornish, York Co
West Waterville, Kennebec Co. -

MARYLAND.

Annapolis, Anne Arundel Co... .
Frederick, Frederick Co
Emmittsburg, Frederick Co
Woodlawn, Cecil Co
Emmittsburg, Frederick Co
St. Mary’s City, St. Mary’s Co...

MASSACHUSETTS.

Richmond, Berkshire Co
West Newton, Middlesex Co. .--
Newbury, Essex Co.....--..-..:
Lunenburg, Worcester Co
Hinsdale, Berkshire Co
Worcester, Worcester Co
Lawrence, Essex Co
Williamstown, Berkshire Co -.--
Topsfield, Essex Co --..---..--.-
Mendon, Worcester Co......-.--
North Billerica, Middlesex Co...
Kingston, Plymouth Co
Georgetown, Essex Co
Cambridge, Middlesex Co

New Bedford, Bristol Co
Amherst, Hampshire Co
Milton, Norfolk Co

MICHIGAN,

Old Mission, Grand Traverse Co.
Litchfield, Litchfield Co
Otsezo, Alleoan\Cos:--. 3-5.
Ontonagon, Ontonagon Co. ...---
Pennsylvania Mine, Kewenaw

0.

Grand Rapids, Kent Co
Lansing, Ingham Co........-.--
Oshtemo, Kalamazoo Co

Pleasanton, Manistee Co
Muskegon, Muskegon Co
Sugar Island, Alpena Co
Coldwater, Branch Co..........-
Homestead, Benzie Co
Holland, Ottawa Co....-....----
North Port, Leelanaw Co
Monroe, Monroe Co............-
Central Mine, Keweenaw Co..-.-

MINNESOTA.

Afton, Washington Co.-.......--
Sauk Centre, Stearns Co......-:
Minneapolis, Hennepin Co

Name of observer.

Carter, J. 1.
Foster, R. W
Leavenworth, F. P

Fernald, C. H
Gardiner, R. H
Guptill, G. W .--
Moore, Asa P
Moulton, John P
Parker, J. D
Pettingill, W
Pitman, Edwin
Smith, Howard D. .....-
Wiest Silas): ss. oe
Wilbur, B. F

Goodman, William R...-
Hanshew, John K
Jourdan, Prof. C. H
McCormick, James O ..-
Smith, Eli
Stephenson, Rev. J

Bacon, William
Bixby, John H
Caldwell, John H
Cunningham, George A -
Dewhurst, Rev. E
Draper, Joseph, M.D...
Fallon, John
Hopkins, Prof. A
Merriam, Sidney A
Metealf, J. G
Nason, Rev. Elias -.----.
Newcomb, Guilford § ...
Nelson, S. Augustus, -.-..
Perry, Rev. J. B., and
Mrs.

Rodman, Samuel
Snell roi Sess sess
Teele, Rev. A. K

Chase, Dr. Milton
Ellis, Dr. Edwin
Griffith, Richard H

Holmes Dr BiS=-eeesee
Kedzie, Prof. R. C

Pattison, H. A
Paxton, J. W
Southworth, N. L
Steele, George E
Streng, L.
Smith, Rev. George N..-
Whelpley, Miss Helen I.
Whittlesey, S. H

Babcock, Dr., & Mrs. B. F
Bloomfield, Smith
Cheney, William

* Above Concord River.

+ Estimated.

a 4g,
= =g
wale 23
A &
4 E
Oo / n fo} / ul
32 30 93 45
sg2) Si" eae 9345 | 237
46 7 67 49 24
44 53 | 69 45 50
43 40 10 44
44 70 4
43 45 70 30 :
44 3121 | 67 57 34
44 30 70 40
45 21 69 71
44 8 70 33
43 33 70 50
44 30 69 46
38 58 76 29
39 24 77 26 30
39 40 V7 20
39 38 16 4
39 43.15 | 77 26 45
38 10 76 30
42923 * | 73 20
42 21 W117
42 45 10 55
42 35 11 43
43 27 13 7
421617 | 71 48 13
42 4213 | 71 10 13
42 4237 «| 73 12 42
42 38 70 57
42 6 23,23] 71 33 35.97
42 35 9 70 16 30
42 70 45
42 42 “1
42 20 ralab
41 39 70 56
422217 | 72 34 30
42 14 37.30| 71 6 2.30
44 65 85 30
42 045 | 84 46 10
WIE al 4652 |8930 | 620
43 85 40
44 25 56210. cht
“45 212 |83 540 —
“agen ats eo ig0'-oe ie
42 42 86
45 8 85 41
41 58 83 23
AY 37 54
44 50 93
45 5355 | 95 22 2
44 48 93 10

Instruments.

months

received.

oO.

| N

i

he
ole Ol ONoiT e)

ee
He WO HD 1 1D

Bee
wwww

|
;
)
|

METEOROLOGICAL STATIONS AND OBSERVERS.

List of meteorological stations and observers, §c., for the year 1869—Continued.

Station.

MINNESOTA—Continued.

St. Cloud’ Stearns Co...=+..--.--
Rochester, Olmsted Co...-.-.--.
Madelia, Watonwa Co .....-..-..-.
Saint Paul, Ramsey Co.-...-.-.---
White Earth Reservat’n, Becker

Co.
New Ulm, Brown Co.....--....-..
Beaver Bay, Lake Co...-.----.--.
Dibley sibley (Con. =. 2.0 sstec soe:
Koniska, McLeod Co.-........-.

MISSISSIPPI.

Marion, Landerdale Co....--..-.--
Columbus, Lowndes Co.....---.
Near Brookhaven, Lawrence Co.
Natchez, Adams Co...--.-.....-
Grenada, Yalabusha Co......-.-.
Brookhaven, Lawrence Co....--
Near Paulding, Jasper Co..-...-

MISSOURI.

St. Joseph, Buchanan Co........
Harrisonville, Cass Co..........
Jefferson City, Cole; Coz} 3.24224.
Allentown, St. Louis Co.........
Orepon. Holt Co----5 -- 25.6525. -
East Prairie, Mississippi Co ----
Hermitage, Hickory Co.........
Warrensburg, Johnson Co.....-.
TOW a OUR As aie sioaicm 3st amie
Near Rolla, Phelps..-....-.....-
Hematite, Jefferson Co.-........
St. Louis, St. Louis Co..........

Kevtesville, Chariton Co......-.
MONTANA.

Beuton City, Chouteau Co ..-.-.-.
Deer Lodge City, Deer Lodge Co.

Richland, Washington Co.......
Dakota City, Dakota Co...-......
Near Bellevue, Sarpy Co.....---
Meccan BartiCo.2<----.o.\..c072
Glendale, Cass:\Co......---.--.--

Fontanelle, Washington Co...-.
Blackbird Hills, Burt Co..-.-..---
Peru.aNemana(Co). 222... < b-\0
Nebraska City, Otoe Co...-..-.-.
De Soto, Washington Co .....-...
Nebraska City, Otoe Co.........

NEW HAMPSHIRE.

Tamworth, Carroll Co .-.....-..
Siraptord., Coos Col --5- 5.2 ==
Dunbarton, Merrimack Co......
South Antrim, Hillsboro’ Co....
Whitefield, Coos Co.............
Shelburne, Coos Co...-----------
North Barnstead, Belknap - See
Concord, Merrimuck-..-......-...

NEW JERSEY.

Chester Township, Burlington Co
Haddonfield, Camden Co...-.--..

= 4 2
tte 2. 8
Name of observer. as ar 4 5
==} Pend ira
S o
A E ss 4
Oo / ur (9) vy a“ Feet
Garrison, 0: B)..-55..53- 45 36 94-16. sh bashes TRS
Milmine, Alfred ........ 44 OBnab yet Mister ee.
Murphys We aWs.s---- 5 44 94'30..0 uleetece THRs
Paterson, Rev. A.B ....| 44 54 46 94 4 54 800 |} TT. R.
Pyle: Dre eset tee 47 30 CBee ooAooe TR.
Roos; Charles c=. .-.--== 44 16 94 26 S215 RoR:
WiclandM@ressa.22 55 2cee 47 12 96 19 6a) ADRS
Woodbury, C.W.,&C.E.| 44 31 Oe bscsos SRR
Young, Thomas M...... 45 10 940200" Pp aleeees TR.
MORE Wesccees sees 32 25 88 5 S3ilie DR.
Lull, James WSkosessapeo: 35 30 88 29 22 |) Re
Keenan, TPS Siena snietociaes 31 34 90:40) THe See PAR.
McCary, W.. ea eee 31 34 OI D4 An” |S ssses BR
Moore, Mibert eae oe 33 45 SOON IOs /eleteses 4 Dd
Moore, Thomas B....-.-- 31 37 90 15 ASO eluek.
Robinson, Rev. E.8:.... 32 10 89 10 215 A.
Bullard’ Reys:H-:2 2-250 39 45 94535) o5 aoerss TR:
CHrIshian ODD seen eee oe | acemttasee salmon aR:
Weywiepls Nise vasasseens 38 20 92 650) |) Ba:
Mendlerv Asi sacs: x as s2 38 29 90 45 482 tAS,
Karicher (Wace seuce es 39 58 40 95 10 1, 100 A.
Maller tan. 22 ees eae BOND oNete "|| ecsereee ees | eee *PR:
Moore, TOM Wiste smear 37 56 OS Gi: (anlar oe be DR
Pollock, ROVid nh sceees 38 45 93 40 CAO) 1 A ee
Race, Sit ea eS eh 37 30 93: 20 1 OOO8 i eRe
Ruggles, Homer .....--. 37 38 OT33) yan eats ROR
Smith, John M.........- 38 11 90 37 Eyl) aul are
Stuntebeck, Rev. F. H., | 38 37 28 90 15 470 JaNe
and Rev. I. Straetmans.
Wieateby Charles 23 S2 ses: ines seeteers oa terete tele laze Ne cictere Bay
Clevenger, Dr: Si Vis. = 2s} sesh ee eo: | ae sot tian Sele ee = A Roya he
Stuart, Granville ....... 46 40* 112 46 $240) 1) ER:
Bowen, John S.....-.--- 41 22 96 12 1, 350* Ave
STOWE ele ele os ee eos 40 30 OG 30) = eee sa: ays
eae ib fs Peo Dia Deere 41 8 95.467) 7 a eeeee bigate
Caseebrs Ge Cho aceence: 42 G5r 30% Fe tees TR:
Child, Dr. A. L., and | 40 55 96 05 1010) ak
Miss J. E.
(Gas rie elie atom wee oe = St nee es ote ace eicncreceete c [lb ater OR:
Hamilton, Reve ee see 42 10 OGTne |ptostater= T. R.
McKenzie, J. M.....:.-. 40 95 45 1, 000* ey
Petting erwe Wiessaee 40 42 95 45 1 22 5n | elke
Seltz, Charles:...-=22-2- 41 50 96 975) DOR:
ZaManerV Ps asseosas 40 42 95 45 1 225) we vs
BrewstervaAsces-eccnte 43 48 30 184 i) R eee aR:
TRO Wa wiles es sale eye 44 40 a 1 O00) || Rea.
ColbiyatAt ee omaries srt 43 6 71 35 #30) |) PSR:
ErarlineReve Walliams ss bases 22. - lh cen soeeees Eee ING
Kidder, (CRD eer ae eee ae 44 20 TL 15; Wah eee EDGR:
OdeHR AE Si sanersitec. Fas 44 23 71 6 NOOU | es-L Ls
Pitman, Charles H...--- 43 38 71: QT) > > Oe EAR:
Wheeler, De Sposa eset 43 12 71 29 550 AEs
Beans) Mhomasidi..-2-.-- 39 59 Ra 5a) ME SRese Tere
Boadlond). and) clrelsine || Pa aecteemaieta mi lnte oles aeei-rtel-l} > oto =e A.

pincott.
* Estimated.

-]
Oo

months |
!

received.

No.

heed
mem Datel Or tow

12
10

74

METEOROLOGICAL

STATIONS AND OBSERVERS.

List of meteorological stations and observers, §¢c., for the year 1869—Continued.-

~
o
Station. Name of observer. as
ts
A
New Jersey—Continued.,

’ fe) (f “uf
Paterson;-Passaie'Co.----2.-.--- Brooks, William....-.-.-. 40 55
Trenton, Mercer Co. ..--------.- Cook, Ephriam R ..----- 40 14
Newtield, Gloucester Co......-.. CouchsEe De = eee 39 30
Readington, Hunterdon Co...-.-. Fleming, John.-.--- Dodd Beene Bee ee
Mechanicsville, Hunterdon Co -. ee, John ANG Wit sees eee

. Herr.
New Brunswick, Middlesex Co..| Hasbrouck, I. E......--. 40 30
Vineland, Cumberland Co..----- Impram Worn di i 22cm cells eects ce
New Germantown, HunterdonCo} Noll, A. B .-...--..-..-- 42 40
Rio Grande, Cape May Co ...-.- Palmer, Miss J.R-.-.----- 39 16
Newton, Sussex Co.----...----- Ryerson, Dr. Thomas ..-|} 41 2 45
Greenwich, Cumberland Co...-. Sheppard, Miss R. C ..-..| 39 20
Dover MorrisiCo- 5262-2 5-) Shriver, Howard.-.-...-.. 40 54
Newark, Essex Co..-..---.--+-- Whitehead, W. A.....-- 40 45
NEW YORK.

Ardenia Philipstown, Putnam Co Arden, Thomas B....--- 40 20 22
iIMalow Waites: Cossectens.--ereces Baker, Gilbert D ......-. 42 30
South Trenton, Oneida Co .-..--- Barrows, Captain Storrs | 43 10
Palermo, Oswego Co .....------- Bartlett}. Be sess een 43 26
Minaville, Montgomery Co.-.--.. Bussing, John Wee == se = 42 54
Fort Edward, Washing ton Co-.. Cooley, . Prof. James 8...| 43 13
Nyack, Rockland '- 02. Bee, Mo levierny;) Cees 41 4 35
Little Genesee, Allegany Co....| Edwards, Daniel........ 42 015
Newburg, Orange Corse. as -ee 4 | Gardiner, Goel 5 ae eee ae 41 30 53
Near Depauville, Jietersonk Gores Me agss Hy essa eee eee 44 10
Hudson, Columbia Co...-.--.--. Hachenberg, Dr. G. P 42 14
Near Kingston, on the Hudson, | Hendricks, oD Bie 41 50

Uisieno ceo eee
Nichols, Tioga 'Co..-...-..-...:- iHowellsmrobert)...eeeeee 42
South Hartford, Washington Co-.| Ingalsbe, G. M.-...----- 43 18
Buffalo, Erie CRE Laas tag ae ya IGVOsh, Wadley es eee e ose 42 50
Newark Valley, Tioga Co..-...-. Johnson, Rev. Samuel ..|.-----.-----
New York, New York Co......- ions, 1eidaye (Oh JG oe ee a. 4043
Cooperstown, OisesoiCorer er = Keese, G. Pomeroy.-.-..- 42 50
Flatbush, Kings Co BCE Qe IY EKO ei) ODES ME eee eee Se 4037 2 ||
Oswego, Oswego (Ofe ne aae aereene Malcolm, Wi. S.<------.- 43 28
Rochester, Monroe Co ......---- Mathews, H. W...--.-.- 43 08
Locust Grove, Lewis Co........ iMerriams@hCiea-cee.- 43 32 30
Farmingdale, ‘Queens Goreer ani Merritt. Close o-eee eee 40 40 40
Central Park, New: WOrkece oe ose Meteorological observ’y-| 40 45 58
Throg’s Neck, Westchester Co..} Morris, Miss E ..--..... 40 49 15
New York, New York Co.....-.- Morris, Prof. 0. W...--- 40 50 25
Ludlowville, Tompkins Co...--- Mirphiva Cesare cece. a= 42 33
New York, New York Co...--.-- Naval Hospital -........ 40 41 30
North Volney, Oswego Co .----- PAR InICKeh evil tees aaeseee aes
Sloansville, Schoharie Cole Se: Potter iG-eW. cece ee ses 42 41
Germantown, Columbia Co....-- Roe, IRGWAS We acc: Son lbataeeeees
Gouverneur, St. Lawrence Co... RUSselliCa Hiss. oe eeceee 44 19
New York, New York Co....... Rutgers Female College } 40 42
Brookhaven, Suffolk Co.......-. Smith, BE. <A., and | 40 49

daughters.
Cazenovia, Madison Co.......... Soule, “Prot. William . 42 55
Oneida, Madison Co..-....-.---- Spooner, 1 DRS eeeeemarac 43 4
Waterbur g, Tompkins Co...---- Trowbridge sy. - 2 -o ses 42 30
White Plains, Westchester Co..| Willis, O. aR ghatent eet! AND
N. Hammond. St. Lawrence Co... Wooster, CAT eee ease 44 30
Houseville, Lewis Co ........... Yale, Walter D.......-. 43 40
NORTH CAROLINA.

Goldsboro, Wayne Co..-.-..-.--- Adams; Prof. E. W ..-.-- 35 20
Near Statesv ile, Iredell Co ..... Allison, Thomas P...-.-. 35 30
Asheville, Buncombe Co...-.... Aston idiwamrd Iie =-- a-\secaseneeae ed
Raleigh, Wake Cb cl rosea Brewer, Musee eeeee 35 47
Asheville, Buncombe Co......-. Hardy, Din GAB osc e 35 30
Oxford, Granville Co............ Hicks, William R....... 36 23
Attaway Hill, Stanly Co........ Krom, Oars Heace eaneee 30 20
pone sh pune me eet Patrick, Prot sD Se sete soca ecee

rinity College, Rando y 36 45
Mt. Olive, Wayne Co. 2 a Pearsall, E. D......-.- ; 35 45
Kenansville, WDaplin( Cok eeec is Sprunt, Rev. J. M ....-. 34 53

* Estimated.

i]

West longi-

3

tude.

08

Instruments.

=
c
mr

Fai:
rams? bd
a

el
5
Fs

bed

{SHH Hs
Perse:

HB
bad

B.T. RB.

No. months
received.

|

—
TW CW UWMWUN AD

aa

—

WMWWWWW

i)

Pr fed pe ee et
wr a

_
WWM DWI

—

———-

METEOROLOGICAL

List of meteorological stations and observers, §'c., for the year

Station.

Name of observer.

NortH CarotrynAa—Continued.

Guilford Mine, Guilford Co
Raleigh, Wake Co

ono.

New Lisbon, Columbiana Co - --.
Amesville, Athens Co
North Fairfield, Huron Co
Near Bowling Green, Wood Co --
Bethel, Clermont Co
Steubenville, Jefferson Co
Little Mountain, Geauga Co --.-
Westerville, Franklin Co
College Hill, Hamilton Co..-..---
Cincinnati, Hamilton Co
Springfield, Clark Co
Smithville, Wayne Co
Kelley’s Island, Erie Co..-.-.....
Cleveland, Cuyahoga Co
Edgerton, Williams Co-.-...---.--
Ripley, Huron Co.......-.-..--.
Hillsboro, Highland Co
Gilmore, Tuscarawas Co....-.---
North Bass Island, Ottawa Co---
Margaretta Township, Erie Co-.
Jacksorburg, Butler Co.....-.---
Cincinnati, Hamilton Co
Gallipolis, Gallia Co
Martin’s Ferry, Belmont Co....-.
Kenton) Hardin Col: ..:.-----.--
Gambier, Knox Co

Milnersville, Guernsey Co
Toledo, Lucas Co
Marion, Marion Co.-.-.-.--.----
North Bend, Hamilton Co. .-.-.---
Mt. Auburn, Hamilton Co

Williamsport, Pickaway Co
Urbana, Champaign Co
Wooster, Wayne Co

PENNSYLVANIA.

Avondell, Perry Co
uo ca i083 O0--------- == === -
Silver Spring, Lancaster Co
Phenixville, Chester Co
Carlisle, Camberland Co
Plymouth Meeting, Montgomery
Co.
Pocopson, Chester Co
Dyberry, Wayne Co
Harrisburg, Dauphin Co
Near Pennsville, Clearfield Co. --
Blooming Grove, Pike Co
Fallsington, Bucks Co
Harrisburg, Dauphin Co
Mount Joy, Lancaster Co..-..---
Brownsville, Fayette Co
Lewisburg, Union Co
Philadelphia, Philadelphia Co. - -
Whitehall, Lehigh Co
Newcastle, Lawrence Co.....---.
Westchester, Chester Co. ....-.-.
Germantown, Philadelphia Co. -
Williamsport, Lycoming Co---.-.
Philadelphia, Philadelphia Co._.
Johnstown, Cambria Co..-.-.-.---
Reading, Berks Co.-...----------
Abington, Luzerne Co
Canonsburg, Washington Co....
Mooreland, Montgomery Co
Ephrata, Lancaster Co.-.-.--.---

* Estimate.

Wray, Alexander. -.--.-
Taylor, Miss M. H

Benner, J. F
Brawley, E. H

Borrasy Owe .2 soe sae |
Clarke, dohntesce 5 a= |

Crane, G. W
Doyle, Joseph B
Ferriss, E. J
Haywood, Prof. J..-..---
Hammitt, John W...---
Harper, G. W
Herron, Rev. J. H
Hoover, William
Huntingdon, George C..
Hyde, Gustavus A
Knight, A. B
Marsh, Mrs. M. M
Mathews, J. McD
Moore, Sam’l M

Morton, Geo. R., M. D .-!
Neill Thomas: 2-22--e-44

Owsley, Dr. J. B
Phillips, R. C
Rodgers, A. P
Shreve, Miss M. B
Smith, Dr. C. H
Stillwell, C. A.,
others.
Thompson, Rey. D
Trembley, Dr. J. B
True, Dr. H. A
Warder, R. B
White, Miss A. J., and
others.

and

Baker, William E
Bentley, E. T
Brockharise Geo ee <3
Coftman, I. Z
CWOOk@ Wie essen ses

Marline ton Hee. 55
Day, Theodore
Egle, Dr. William H..-.
Fenton, Elisha...-....--
Grathwohl, J
Hance, Ebenezer..-----.-
Heiseley, Dr. J.--.--.---
Hoffer, Dr. J. R.and U. E.
Hubbs, Dr. J. Allen
James, Professor C. 8...
Kirkpatrick, Prof. J. A. .
Kohler, E
McConnell, E. M......-.
Martin, Dr. George. .-...
Meehan, Thomas. -.-.-..
Moyer, H. C

Naval Hospital..........
Peelor, David
Raser, John Heyl.-.----
Sisson, Rodman
Smith, Rev. Dr. William
Spencer, Miss Anna. ....
Spera, William H.......

+t Above Ohio River.

STATIONS AND OBSERVERS.

~]
On

received.

1869—Continued.
ag ac re D
E z a
Ss fee 33 le
=e BE ae eee
3} red e D ]
Z, es a | 8
Cc ‘ “ (o} i} “ Feet.
36 80 990 N.
35 47 78 46 3% Re
|
40 45 80 45 961 |B. T.R
39 Igoe t Sipura R:
41 8 R2 40 660 AG
41 22 83 40 700*| TR.
39 a4 Byte) tb T see
40 45 eG re ey eee B.TR
41 38 81 16 600 A.
40 4 Bae © eae ID
39 19 84 14 45 800 | T.R.
39 6 84 29 3051, B. T. R.
39 53 25 SEPeuiplay © Wines eae Gn ee
40 52 81 51 934 | T.R.
41 35 44 82 42 32 5O7 Ae
41 30 80 :40ne |e Bato.
41 32 e4 45 8310 e Re
41 82 30 965) <A.
SWI; ACP 2, oe eared ewe A.
40 18 81 18 akstiy||) ERE
41 36 82 41 53 22+] TLR.
41 27 82 46 ee IN
39 30 84 17 1152) || eR
Be ey a | een eee tem abe aie B. T. BR.
39 82 | 600| TR. |
40 10 Sores fe Cieees: TOR:
Se eae akeo into a he SA Sls Tes
ADSONRSIN | |b ae tens ya 1,000] A.
|
40 10 81 45 Dey ae? SRE
41 38 SSS 0 se gee BETeR:
40 35 SB (On eee
39 8 (84 35 1 800s]. TeRo |
5a a ues hae gis pe 11,000} A.
39 37 4 Bot ERO al sae se TR:
40 6 83 43 1,015 |B. TR.)
40 48 47 BL S537. =|) Sine eR:
40 26 40 | 77 22 50 515| TR. |
42 | 77 (1,000 | T.R. |
40 51 76 45 eee ats
40 10 | 75 26 HT OO) eee
ere nee Veeseaeesessleees Bede Rs
TAY oie Ohl SOP ee sat Pee ena
39 54 15 37 ) 218; ))) Woe
41 36 7501 Neen eee TR:
40 16 76 15 11,400 | A.
41 fee) meg el aE Bene
41 30 75 ieee | ER
42 12 74 48 30 |B. TR.
40 16 76 15 | ees A.
40 8 76 32 gee 2 Bee
40 80)... a eee ant
40 58 76°58) |. -\Saeeee AC
39 57 30 op iiet GO| A.
40 44 75 28 450%, TT.
40 80 12 be Sap 7
39 57 31.3] 75 36 3 460 | A.
Liter epee mien paras Le) A DE iT
41 19 77 30 583i Bsa
39 56 75 10 36 |B. T. R.
ea RI Ra | ee Se eed yk 1,200] A.
40 20 RST Pee tcae Aner.
41 30 Ui Ss | eh ae TR:
40 16 41 80 10 850 |B. T. R.
40 75 11 250 Wy
40 12 asin pe Miles eee TR:

t Above Lake Erie.

ft ek es
SSORBDNNWWAKWANWWNWAK S|]

a

a

_——

—

_ _
be we

_
ee

ee
ewe

_

od
wwVoake >

76

METEOROLOGICAL

STATIONS AND OBSERVERS.

List of meteorological stations and observers, §c., for the year 1869.—Continued.

: Ms 2s
Station. Name of observer. at Sz
ES Ba
J &
A Se
PENNSYLVANIA—Continued.
[e) / “ lo} / u"
Salem; WayNe1O0- se... a-c- Stocker\n Were se a=) 41 30 78 30
Near Connellsville, Fayette Co..| Taylor, John..--..-/.----- 40 79 36
Beaver, Beaver Cos.-...-2..---- Pavlor. wReveshels eens 40 43 80 23
Franklin, Venango Co-..-.-.--- Tolman, Rev. M. A.....- 41 24 WY 51
Germantown, Philadelphia Co Turner Hrnest, Cn acc sees aceel eee eae
Fountain Dale, Adams Co ...--- Walkera SnC@sacessosncee 39 44 77 18
RHODE ISLAND.
Newport, Newport Co.......--.. | Crandall, W. H.........- 412822 | 12114
SOUTH CAROLINA. |
Auken; Barmwell'Co...----.-.--- Cornish, Rev. John H...} 33 32 81 34
Evergreen, Anderson Co ..--.--- HMarleMbass ane ees 34 30 82 50
Camden, Kershaw Co.......-.--- Macrae) Colinas se es-- 34 17 80 33
Aiken, Barnwell (Oteepacee seaene iRercival, Or Weekes eeee | 33 32 81 34
Wilkinsville, Union Co......-..- Petty, Charles: -.--2 ..-- 34 50 81 36
Horie ViOrkkCoos- oan ere ea Springs, Re cAs i heas es ee 35 81
TENNESSEE.
Lookout Mountain Educational | Bancroft, Rev. C. F. PP...) 35 tell
Institute, Hamilton Co. ‘
Austin; Wilson Co.-..--...:.--- Calhoun Pub Sscnes tee | eaece eee an ee eee eee
Greenville ;Greeni@o---- sence | Doak Ss. & Wi.S ----2- 36 5 82 51
Memphis, Shelby Comes creche Goldsmith, Hl----- =22-. 35 8 90
Trenton, Gibson Co-.--.-<-.---. Grigsby, William T..--. 36 89
Elizabethton, Carteri Cort. e--oe Lewis, Charles H.... .-- 36 25 82 15
Knoxville, Knox Comrwrer ees: Payne, Prot dh kee 36 84
Clarksville, Montgomery Co... -. | Stewart, William M..... | 36 29 87 13
|
TEXAS
EID uSHOn, Ea ERISG Onesie een ee Baxter, Mass Hass 5---2e- 29 50 95 30
Galveston, Galveston Co .....--.| Beazley, Dr. A. H ---..-.- | 29 18 196 6
ceca or ove Plantation, Brazo- | Bostwick, J. B------.---| 29 10 95 56
ria Co
Palestine, Anderson Co...-. ---. IBTOOKS ING Sicas ececeee ee 31 40 95 35
Wear Dallas, Dallas'Co...---..-- Coit, JohnVLe secs. a-ae6 | 32 53 96 45
BellonayhallsiCoresasee cee see eee Combs, Burke ssc Seal seen See al ee eee
Near Gilmer, WpshuriCo--=----- Glaser (J) Miso 2-2. Bene 32 46 94 51
Lavaca, Calhoun Co...-..-....-. Heaton el Deeee sees see | 28 304 96 40+
Waco, McLennan Co........--.- Wicril a Die deesenS soe sel) 8 es 96 50
Austin, Travis Co......-.:....-. | Van Nostrand, J.-...-.. | 30 29 97 46
Mine Creek, Burleson Co.....--. Wade HS Sco 2cseccscee 30 25 97 26
Worktown, WenWwath Co. .sccclce White rieAL Ce ee eno. 97 37
Lockhart, Caldwell Co ........-. pWioodratt Al J.22 eke sl Seall esse deme an leee ean
UTAH.
Coalville, Summit Co...........- Bullock; "Phomas.<scc-a- |) sone sess sel ese
Wanship, Summit Co. ... 2.2.22: Bullock, Thomas.....--. 40 42 111
Harrisburg, Washington Co..... | Whe was (OAIMES 2 ees ace sano ee ee ae eee ee meee
St. George, Washington Conse se iP.6arce vest as) sven 37 il 114
Salt Lake City, Salt Lake Co... 4 Phelps, We Wises neae coe 40 45 111 26
VERMONT.
Panton, Addison’ @o. .------2-2-- | Barto: 1D Clé& Ma Be 22 44 74
Brandon, Rutland Co....-....-.- Buckland sHepeses sees | 43 45 73
Newport, Orleans Co !)/---.-2.)| Currier! Ji, Me-2--. 2222) 44 55 72 20
Lunenburg, Essex Co. .... ae ans Curbing, SEL VAS 2 nec neetoere 44 28 71 41
Woodstock, Windsor Co....-... Doten, H., & L. A. Miller} 43 36 7) 35)
Barnet, Caledonia Co............ Eaton, Dr. oi pee waar | 4418 i2po
Hartford, Wandsori@omeme Eaton, Dresses 43 44 72 20
Randolph, Oranee| Coles eee ee Paine, CUSPE ESTES eae 43 55 72 36
Middlebury, Addison Come ces Sheldon, H. ik oe eet cine 43 59 73 10
Craftsbury, Orleans Co........-- Wild, Rey. EPs ee 44 40 72 30
Castleton; Rutland Co........... Williams, Rev. R.G.....|- Aa ScmiRopand|sheekabncecs
Charlotte, Chittenden Co........ Wing, (Mass) ME 22s. 20a hes SUE aa ee
* Estimated. + Approximate.

Instruments.

No. months

received,

OTE On

Ree eR
COnnr Owner e&

aa
BhWONWNWK CNM UD

be ba

rr
rm

—_ eo

METEOROLOGICAL. STATIONS AND OBSERVERS.

List of meteorological stations and observers, &c., for the year 1869—Continued.

Station.

VIRGINIA.
Mulberry Hill, Isle of Wight Co.
Wytheville, Wythe Co........-.-
Mount Solon, Augusta Co.-...-..
Staunton, Augusta Co.........-.
Cottage Home, Surrey Co..-.---

Mechanicsville, Fauquier Co....
Near Lynchburg, Bedford Co. --.
Prospect Hill, Northampton Co.
Nortolke Nortolk Coz... =< s.<2--
Near Lexington, Rockbridge Co.
Hampton, Elizabeth City Co....
Wytheville, Wythe Co.--...-.-.-.
Ashland, Hanover Co...--...-.-.-
Snowville, Pulaski Co. .-.....-.-.
Powhatan Hill, King George Co.
Near Piedmont, Fauquier Co. ...
Near Vienna, Fairfax Co....-....

WASHINGTON TERRITORY.

Tatoosh Island Light-house,Clal-
lam Co. +
Walla-Walla, Walla-Walla Co...

WEST VIRGINIA.

Huttonsville, Randolph Co.....-.
Romney, Hampshire Co..--.....
Ashland; Cabell'Co--......-..22:
White Day, Mongalia Co........

WISCONSIN.

Embarrass, Waupacca Co.......
Rocky Run, Columbia Co
Madison. Wane CO.-<\--.<s-5-s00.
Holland, Sheboygan Co..-....--.
New Lisbon, Juneau Co. .-...---
Appleton, Outagamie Co..-......
Milwaukee, Milwaukee Co-.....-
Manitowoc, Manitowoc Co.....-
Waupacca, Waupacca Co
Plymouth, Sheboygan Co.-.-..-..-
Edgerton, Rock Co.....-.-------
Bayfield, Bayfield Co.....--....-
BARAD OOO AUK WO sas. eos aac dermne
Bloomfield, Kenosha Co...-....-..

Name of observer.

North lati-
tude

loc Ae eC

Bintord Rees. see ee- 36 50
Brown, Rev. J. A -.--.-- 36 55
Clarke,Dr.J.T.,& Miss B.| 38 17
Covells Ja @s225 <5 =... | 38 8
Jones, Benjamin W...-. 37 10
Martin, William A...... 38 50
Meriwether, Charles I...) 37 18
Moore; | CoRiata a: -sens55 37 22
Naval Hospital. -........ 36 25
Ruiner. Wialyene so ace 37 46
SHErMAN: dla Mie s- asc 37 5
Shriver, Howard. .-...-..-| 36 51
Smith) Prof, ReMi. =< Wel? Bay e8)
Stalnaker, J. W....5-=--- 37
Wayloe, Hdiwe Tess ssses pacer sone
Williams, Franklin -.... 38 50
Williams, H. C., & Miss | 38 53

L. R. Thrift.
Sampson, Alexander M..|...........-
SIMMORSs AUiHen. ase" 46 5
Hay Sacohilssss.e see - 38 45
INGO w elle Wis bias -ce==|esoeete eat
HROttes Geiliieaaceee ee aco 38 30
Sharp; ddr oWeble- asses! jesasoeseenc.
Breeds WiBis es25l2e<cse 41 51
Curtiss; We W222. 2558 43 26
Daniells, Prof. W. W.---| 43 5
De Eycer, Jolinias=.222-2 43 36
Dungan- Ji. Ly... ---5.- 43 45
Boye, tot. WiG@eracsee=- 44 10
Lapham, Dr. I. A..-.-.--. 43 3
Lupps, Jacob: .--....--- 44.7
Mend Ge - = Sassen <- 44 20
MoailersGeaac- feo se 43 44
Shintz Had) scsseseccee 42 30
MaterAndRew. 2-52-22 |2c5eeenoe a.
Wiarte MEG 2. 54256 5.55 43 Si 1
Waliitin oe WE see cael ce seem ee xen

* Estimated.

DEATHS OF OBSERVERS.

Dr. J. Heisely, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, September 18, 1869.
tev. Daniel Hunt, Pomfret, Connecticut, July 2. 1869.

Rey. S. R. Williams, Lexington, Kentucky, July —, 1869.

t=)

West longi-
tude.

30

5 10

TT

2 |g
8 |es
g Se
FE; ao
B=} oO
nD sv
aie
TURN ae
B, LER, 12
eR 4
A. 12
aye 12
IR 2
at 12
B.T.R.| 12
Been ete
Rt
RS pe
We 5
Baw a
MeRe || 512
mIRes| 12
fae 2
7 TR: 5
aise 8
(Roe 2
R. 2
1 a
MeRT A e12
T. 3
Re eke
Teed aati
| ale
Gh 12
at 12
Bee 8
Ae 12
B.T.R.| 12
ms 12
aBS TBR Iie4 | al!
MER |e
Te 9
TRS iy 1s
tae ph

78

METEORLOGICAL REGISTERS.

Colleges and other institutions from which meteorological registers were re-
ceived during the year 1869, included in the preceding list.

State. Institutions. Location.
Novadscolldensss-5-s52-"- AcadiaiCollecera.--ss-eeee eae Wolfville.
INES TPM Sao 5o5nR0 ceases Greene Springs School-) 22-2222. - == Havana.
Arkansasineeccns-osasineo 4], NORMAL School 22: — sees sane eres ae Helena.
Coliforms seesee eae. cee Pacific Methodist College. .---........ Vacaville.
Connecticut )=2--=---- ---- Collegiate Institute...- .-.------....- Waterbury.

Wesleyan’ University 2=-- =---2es-- =~ Middletown.
Geeraibas:=-— ss6->- --<1-2 MerceniUmiy ersibycs oso ses = 1 eee Penfield.
Tilimeraee Yona rs on SUL Lombard University-*..<2-.=4.-..2t-2- Galesburg. ’
Northwestern University....--..---:-| Evanston.
Indiana. -- -- C poweseseoear City Hospital et sies seemeste omer Indianapolis.
Indiana State University. .--.--------- Bloomington.
Owes rs See cece | (Comnelll Colleen. seer ee eae Mount Vernon
| Griswold Colle PERE Ae meee eee Davenport.
| Iowa State University ...--...---.-..- Iowa City.
INAMISAG fe eye) 2 5s See eins | Agricultural College -....-.---......- Manhattan.
State: Universiby- (325 = seso. oe ee Lawrence.
IMGT a se5e eae See arouose Sayresmnstitnte o--- 2-4. =-- 4-4 | exIme ton:
Mamylamdss- pecs oe Mount St. Mary’s College. Re Re ees Emmittsburg.
Massachusetts) :---- 2-2": ApnherstaColleme ccs yen seems Amherst.
State Lunatic Hospital............--- Worcester.
| Williams Colleoe 2a sae 222). oo Williamstown.
Michiganieeer pte seen | State Aoricultural College Beas eens Lansing.
Missouri) a25 soca merc St. Louis Univer SIU Stee eee ea St. Louis.
New Hampshire = 22-22-22 St. Suu 8 School ARE eee ne Ona. Concord.

New Jersey
Wew Mork Siac - 2 ache joel

Pennsylvania

NEMNESSEGes ees s feos ces

4 RU a eae eae ans eg ee Tt
Mermonbsc.s- asthe Pee.
Virginia

WHS COMSIN Sac e osc cc see

| Oneida Conference Seminary

eee tes wee eee ee

Observatory, Central Park
Rockland Female Institute....-.....-
Rutgers Female College-...-..-.- Lets
4 bay inity College
Goldsboro F emale Collepe.24-53 28 o:

| University of North Carolina........-

Kenyon Saiees Sasa ms eaeda Son se eee

Mount Auburn Youn g¢ Ladies’ Institute -

Otterbein University
UibanayUniversityone-s o-a---eoe eee
Woodward High School..-........-.-
Beaver Seminary
Jetierson) Collegenc. 2.25... seeeee eee
Lehigh University
Lewisburg University .....-.--..-----
East Tennessee University
Lookout Mountain Educational Inst. .-
Stewart Colleve 2.222 2o- cease e ee eee
PusculumiColleseessse-2 o.oo
Institution for Deaf and Dumb.-.----.
Normals School: cass. -- =o eeeeeetee
Woodstock Academy Natural erences:
Institute for Deaf, Dumb, and Blind.
Randolph Macon College. nem ee ee
Lawrence University
State-Umiversitiy 7. eee eee ie oee eee

New Brunswick.
New York.
Flatbush.

New York.
Fort Edward.
Cazenovia.
New York.
Nyack.

New York.
Randolph County.
Goldsboro.
Chapel Hill.
Kenansville.
Gambier.
Mount Auburn.
Westerville.
Urbana.
Cincinnati.
Beaver.
Cannonsburg.
Bethlehem.
Lewisburg.
Knoxville.
Hamilton County.
Clarksville.
Greenville.
Austin.
Castleton.
Woodstock.
Staunton.
Ashland.
Appleton.
Madison.

METEOROLOGICAL MATERIAL. 79

METEOROLOGICAL MATERIAL CONTRIBUTED IN ADDITION TO THE
REGULAR OBSERVATIONS DURING THE YEAR 1869.

Académie Impériale des Sciences de St. Petersbourg.—Mémoires. VII
Séries, tome xii, No. 4. Untersuchungen iiber Constitution der At-
mosphire und die Strahlenbrechung in derselben. (2te Abhandlung.)
Von Dr. H. Gylden, 1868. 4° 57 pp.

Académie Royale de Belgique.—Observations des phénoménes périodi-
ques pendant les années 1865 et 1866. (Extrait du tome xxxvii des
Mémoires.) 4° 74 pp. et 60 pp.

Ackermann, Professor.—Newspapers containing articles on tempera-
ture and rainfall of Port au Prince, Hayti.

Australian Horticulturaland Agricultural Society Horticultural Maga-
zine and Gardeners’ and Amateurs’ Chronicle. Containing meteor ologi-

cal observations at Yarella, Concord, New South Wales, by A. Stephen.

Baird, Professor S. F. — Newspapers giving accounts of the great
storms in New England in September and October, 1869.

Bartlett, EH. B.— Review of the weather at Palermo, New York, during
the year 1868. (Newspaper slip.)

Record of periodical phenomena, arrival of birds, &c., at Palermo,
New York, for nineteen years, from 1851 to 1869, inclusive.

Bath and North of England Agricultural Journal.—On the temperature
of the sea and its influence on the climate and agriculture of the British
Isles. By Nicholas Whitley, F. M.S. (Reprinted by permission.) 8°.
36 pp. London, 1869.

Boardman, G. A.—Thermometrical observations made on the St. John

Liver, Florida, between Jacksonville and Enterprise, during the months

of January, February, March, and April, 1869.

Bruins, Dr. C. —Resultate AUS den meteorologischen Beobachtungen
angestellt an den fiinfundzwanzig Kéniglichen Siichsischen Stationen
im Jahre 1867. 4°. 71 pp. Leipzig, 1869.

C. K. Towarzystwa Nankow, Krakow.—Materyaly do klimatografii

- galicyi, zebrani przez sekcyi meteorologiczna komisyi przyograficznej C.
K. Towarzystwa Nankow. Rok, 1867. 8°. 209 pp. Rok, 1868. 85. 253
pp.

Campbell, Prof—Barometrical reports for the months of March, April _
and May, 1869, at Washington College, Virginia.

Clingman, T. L.—Notes on the climate of Western North Carolina.
(Printed slip.)

Coe, Charles C.—Meteorological register kept at Hood’s River, Oregon,
during the years 1865~66-67 and 1868.

Collins, Colonel— Hourly observations of the thermometer from 4 p. m.,
January 4, 1864, to 4 p.m. January 7, 1864, at Fort Laramie, Dakota
Territory.

. Corbett, Hon. H. W.—Weather record for eleven years, at Portland,
Oregon, from 1858 to 1868, inclusive; kept by Mr. Thomas Frazer.
(Newspaper ay )

Crosier, Dr. FE. S.—Meteorological registers for Nov ember and Decem-
ber, 1865, at New Albany, Indiana.

Dall, W. H.—Tr anslation of meteorological register kept at St.
Michaels, Ikagmut, and Nulato, Russian America, during the years 1842
and 1843.

Daubrée, M. A—Expériences synthétiques relatives aux météorites.

‘Paris, 1868. 8°. 68 pp.
Davenport Female College. — Meteorological report from the Daven-

86 METEOROLOGICAL MATERIAL.

port Female College, Lenoir, North Carolina, for the months of May,
June, July, August and September, 1869.

Dove, H. W.—Ueber den Sturm vom 17 November 1866, von H. W.
Dove, aus dem Abhandlungen der Koniglichen Akademie der Wissen-
schaften zu Berlin, 1867, (mit 2 2 Tafeln.) “Berlin, 1868. 4°. 49 pp.

Eldridge, W. V.— Abstract of meteorological observations at Gol-
conda, Pope County, Illinois, during the year 1869.

Ellis, Jacob M.—Review of the “weather at Philadelphia for each
month of the year 1869. (Newspaper slips.)

French, J. B., agent Winnipisseogee Cotton and Woolen Manufacturing
Company. —Register of rainfall at Laconia and Lake Village, New Hamp-
shire, during the year 1869.

Galle, Ey ofessor Dr. J. G.—Ueber die Bahn des am 30 January 1868,
beobachteten und bei Pultulsk im K6nigreiche Polen als Steinregen
niedergefallenen Meteors durch die Atmosphiire von Professor Dr. J. G.
Galle, Director der Sternwarte zu Breslau, 8°. 43 pp.

Goldericke, O. J.—Pamphlets and newspaper slips relating to the
climate, &c., ’ of Colorado Territor Ni

Goulier, C. M.—Etudes géometriques sur les étoiles filantes. Metz,
1868, 8°. pp. 164, (Extrait des Mémoires de ’ Académie Impériale de
Metz, année 1866 et 1867.

Grayson, A. J.—Meteorological observations, and remarks upon the
climate of Mazatlan, Mexico.

Haidinger, W. Ritter von.—Elektrische Meteore am 20ten October, 1868,
in Wien beobachtet. Bericht von W. Ritter von Haidinger, Wirk.
lichem Mitgliede der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften.
(Mit 1 Tafel.) 8°. 12 pp.

Der Meteorsteinfall am 22 Mai 1868, bei Sclavetic. Zweiter Bericht
von W. Ritter von Haidinger, Mitgliede der K Akademie der Wissen-
schaften, (mit 1 Tafel und 5 Holzschnitten.) 8°. 12 pp.

Der Meteorsteinfall von Sclavetic in Croatien, am 22 Mai 1868.
Vorlaufiger Bericht von W. Ritter von Haidinger, wirklichem Mitgliede
der K Akadmie der Wissenschaften. 89°. 7 pp.

Huntingdon, G. C.—Climatalogy of Kelly’s Island, Ohio. (Newspaper
slip.)

Report of proceedings of Lake Shore Grape Growers Association,
containing address by George C. Huntingdon on “ Grape rot and the
weather.” (Newspaper slip.)

Ingram, Dr. J—Record of periodical phenomena at Vineland, New
Jersey, during the year 1868.

James, J. W. —Summuary of meteorological observations during the
year 1869 at Riley, McHenry County, ‘Tllinois. Also sunumary “from
1861 to 1868 inclusiv e, and for each month of 1869,

Jones, Benjamin W.—Synopsis of meteorological observations made
during the winter of 1868 and 1869 at Cottage Home, uy County,
Virginia.

Kaiserliche Academ ie der Wissenchaften, Wien.—Die Temperatur- Ver-
haltnisse der Jahre 1848-’63, an den Stationen des ésterreichischen Be-
obachtungsnetzes, durch fiinftiigige Mittel dargestellt, von Dr. C. Jeli-
nek. 4°. 146 pp., 2 Tafeln. Wien, 1869.

— Erster Bericht der stiindigen Commission fiir die Adria. 8°. 122 pp.
Wien, 1869.

Kongliga Svenska Vetenskaps Academien, Rescue —Meteorologiska
Jakttagelser i Sverige. 1864, Sjette Bandet. Obl. 4°. 192 pp. 1865,
Sjunde. Bandet. Obl. 4°. 186 pp. 1866, Attonde Bandet, Obl. Ato.
182 pp.

.

METEOROLOGICAL MATERIAL. 81

Kaiserlich-Koniglische Central Anstalt fiir Meteorologie und Erdmagnet-
ism.—Jahrbiicher von Dr. C. Jelinek. Neue Folge, iv Band. Jahr-
gang, 1867. 4°. 227 pp. Wien, 1869.

Kaiserlich-Konigliche Sternwarte, Vienna.—Anleitung zur Anstellung
meteorologischer Beobachtungen und Sammlung von Hilfstafeln, mit
besonderer Riicksicht auf die meteorologischen Stationen in Oester-
reich und Ungarn. Von Dr. Carl Jelinek. 8°. 173 pp.

— Normale fiinftiigige Wiirmemittel fiir 88 Stationen, bezogen auf
den 20-jiihrigen Zeitraum 1848~67. Von Dr. Carl Jelinek. 8°. 45 pp.

— Beobachtungen an der K. K. Centralanstalt fiir Meteorologie und
Erdmagnetismus. 8°. 64 pp.

Lapham, Dr. I. A.—Atmospheric tide at Milwaukee, deduced from
hourly observations at the time of new moon in October, November,
and December 1868, and January and February 1869.

— Dates of opening and closing of the Milwaukee River from 1836 to
1869, inclusive.

Tull, James S.—Meteorological registers for 1860 to 1869, (portion of
previous record interrupted by the war ;) also, a table of rainfall from the
Ist of May, 1853, until January 1, 1870.

Loehr, Charles H., United Statis consul, La Guayra, Ecuador.—Statis-
tics from the United States consulate at La Guayra, South America, in-

-cluding particulars in reference to earthquakes, meteorology, &c.

Mapes, H. H.—Manuscript reports of the weather at various points
in Kalamazoo and Allegan counties, Michigan, during each month of
the year 1859. ;

McAulay, John P.—Thermometrical record kept at the Louisiana
State Seminary, Alexandria, Louisiana, during the months of October,
November, and December 1868, and January, February and March 15869.

McCall, C.—Monthly reports on the weather at Cathlamet, Waukia-
kum County, Washington Territory.

Merriam, C. C—Manuscript meteorological report for January and
February 1869, at Leyden, Lewis County, New York.

Merriam, C. L., Leyden, New York.—Newspaper slips containing re-
marks on the weather. Monthly.

Meteorological Observatory, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.—Published
meteorological report for April 1869,

Meteorological Office, London.—Charts of the surface temperature of
the South Atlantic Ocean ineach monthof the year. Folio. 27 pp., 12
charts. London, 1869.

— Report on the meteorology of the North Atlantic, between the paral-
lels of 40° and 50°, as illustrated by eight diagrams of observations taken
on board of the mail steamers running to and from America, with re-
marks on the difference of the winds, &c. By Captain H. Toynbee,
F.R.A.S. 8°. 8 charts. London, 1869.

— Report of the meteorological committee of the Royal Society for the
year ending December 31, 1866. 8°. 72 pp. London, 1869.

Meteorological Society, London.—Proceedings issued monthly. 8vo.

— Meteorology of England for the quarter ending September 30, 1868.
By James Glaisher, president Meteorological Society.

Montrose Natural History and Antiquarian Society, Montrose, Scot-
land.—Report of the directors for 1868, containing a meteorological
register for the year.

Moss, G. B.—Summary of meteorological observations at Belvidere,
Illinois, during the year 1869.

Miihry, Dr. Adolf—Untersuchungen iiber die Theorie und das allge-
meine geographische System der Winde. 8°. 254 pp. Gottingen, 1869.

6s

82 METEOROLOGICAL MATERIAL.

Naturaliste Canadien.—Containing meteorological observations at Port
Neuf and Montreal.

Naturforschende Gesellschaft, Basel.—Verhandlungen der Naturfor-
schenden Gesellschaft in Basel, 1869. Containing: ‘Bericht tiber einige
Blitzschliige. Von Ed. Hagenbach.

Naturforscher Verein zu Riga. —Correspondenzblatt, 16%™ Jahrgang,
1869. Containing meteorological observations at Riga, from September
1867 to July 1868, (new style, ,) inclusive.

Naturwissenschaftliche ‘Gesellschaft, St. Gallen.—Bericht iiber die
Thiitigkeit der St. Galleschen Naturwissenschaftllichen Gesellschaft
wiihrend des Vereinsjahres, 1867~68. Containing: Einige Ertahrun-
gen iiber klimatische Kuren und Kurorte. Von Dr. W. Steinlin.

Nelson, S. Augustus, Georgetown, Massachusetts —Newspaper accounts
of the great storms of September and October, in New England.

Observatoire Impérial de Paris.—Atlas des mouvements généraux de
Vatmospehre. Année 1865; Janvier, Février, Mars. Obl. folio. 90
charts. Atlas métécrologique, 1867.

Observatoire Royal de Brucelles—Annales météorologiques. Brux-
elles, 1868. 4°. 104 pp.

Osservatorio del Real Collegio Carlo Alberto in Moncaliert.—Bulletino
meteorologico del Osservatorio del Real Colligea Carlo Alberto in Mon-

salieri, con corrispondenza del Osservatorio del Seminario di Alesssan-
dria. Vols. i, ii, iii, (1865-66~67—68,) 4°. Vol. i, 120 pp. ; Vol. ii, 112
pp.; Vol. ii, 104 pp.

Paine, R. T.—Meteorological report for October, at Boston, Massachu-
setts, Newark, New Jersey, and St. Paul, Minnesota. (Newspaper slip.)

L -arker, SDs, Steuben, Maine.—Ne ow spaper accounts of the great
storms of September and October, 1869, in Maine.

Printed abstract of meteorological register for 1860, at Portland,
Maine, by Henry Willis. Also newspaper slips for sev eral months of
1859 and 1861.

Pearce, T.—Weather record for September, 1869, at Ela, Polk County,
Georgia.

Petterson, F.., hospital steward, United States Army.—Table of mean
temperature, humidity, and rainfall, at San Antonio, Texas, during the
years 1868 and 1869.

Plantamour, E.—Résumé météorologique de Vannée 1866, pour
Genéve et le Grand St. Bernard; par EK Plantamour. Tiré des Archives
des Sciences de la Biblitiotheque Universelle, Geneve, September 1869,
§°, 232 pp.

— Résumé météorologique de Papper 1867, pour Geneve et Je Grand
St. Bernard. Octobre 1868. 8°. 132 pp.

Real Osservatorio di Modena.—Sui coefficienti ozonometrici, dell’
unidita e della temperatura, nota del Prof. D. Ragona. 8°. 10 pp.

— Sulle oseillazioni reg olari ed ir regolari della temperatura, dal Prof.
D. Ragona. 8°. 12 pp.

Sen Riduzione della pressione atmosferica al medio-livello del mare, per
gli stazioni meteorologiche italiane, del Prof. D. Ragona. 8°. 8 pp.

— Sulle variazioni diurne della temperatura e sul coefiiciente di Kaemtz
in Palermo. Lettera al chiar. Signor A. Quetelet, direttore del Real
Osservatorio di Brussselles, del Prof. D. Ragona, direttore del Real Os-
servatorio di Palermo. Palermo, 1859. 8°. 5A pp.

— Osservazioni su la evaporazione, del Prof. D. Ragona. 4°. 8 pp.

— Riassunta delle osservazioni meteorologiche, eseguite nel Real Os-
servatorio di Modena nell anno 1866, dal Prof. D. Ragona, direttore dell
osservatorio. Stessa. 4° 7 pp.

METEOROLOGICAL MATERIAL. 83

— Sul calcolo dei valori medii in meteorologia, nota del Prof. D. Ragona,
direttore dell Real Osservatorio di Modena. 40, 2 pp.

— Descrizione del barometro registratore del Real Osservatorio di Mo-
dena, del Prof. D. Ragona. 4°. 8 pp.

— Sulle variazione periodicie del barometro nel clima di Milano, me-
moria di G. V. Schiaparelli e G. Celoria. 4°. 31 pp. Tay. iii.

Real Osservatorio di Palermo.—Giornale Astronomico e Meteorolo-
gico, pubbl. dal Prof. D. Ragona. Vol.i, Palermo, 1855. 4°. 375 pp.
Vol. ii, Palermo, 1857. 4°. 391 pp., (three volumes in one.) Vol. iii,
Palermo, 1859. 4°. 375 pp.

Regio Osservatorio dell Universita di Torino.—Bolletino meteorologico
ed astronomico. Anno ii, 1868. Oblong 4°. 76 pp.

Roche, Edouard.—Recherches sur les affuscations du soliel et les mé-
teioroscos miques. Paris, 1868. 49°. 80 pp.

Royal Observatory, Greenwich.—Results of magnetical and meteorolog-
ie observations, 1566. 4°. 503 pp.

Sanford, Professor S. P.—Meterological registers for 1866~67~68, at
Penfield, Georgia.

Sartorius, Dr. C. urvey of meteorological observations at Mirador,
Mexico, during the year 1868.

Sawyer, H., United States consul—Newspaper slips containing meteo-
rological observations at Paramaribo, Dutch Guiana, for the first half
of the year 1569, (January to June, inclusive.)

Schweizerische Naturforschende Gesellschaft, Bern.—Schwei ea:
meteorologische Beobachtungen. 5'* Jahrgang, 1868. 4°. 22 pp, pl. 2
(Also September, November, December, 1868. 4°. pp. 470-622.)

Scottish Meteorological Society.—J our nal for the half year ending June
30, 1868. Large 5°. 47 pp. Journal for the half year ending January,
1869, with tables fer the quarter ending September, 1868. 8°. pp. at.

Shepher d, Smiley—Monthly means, &e., of temperature at Hennepin,
Illinois, for 1869.

Sisson, .—Mean temperature of twenty months, commencing April,
1868, at Factoryville, Pennsylvania, with comparisons of the month of
November with former years.

Smith, G., hospital steward, United States Army.—Meteorological reg-
isters for the months of July and August, 1869, at Camp Date Creek,
Arizona Territory.

Snow, Edwin M., M. D.—Fifteenth registration report, State of Rhode
Island, 1867, (containing meteorological tables, and remarks by E. T.
Caswell. )

Société W@ Agriculture, Sciences, Arts et Belles-Lettres du Département
@ Indre-et-Loive.—Annales. Containing: Observations météoroiogiques
faites 4 Tours, par M. de Tastes.

Société @ Agriculture, Sciences et Arts de la Sarthe—Bulletin. 112™°
série, tome xi, 1867-68. Containing: Observations météorologiques
faites 4 Mans, par M. Bonhomet.

Société W Horticulture deVAllier, Moulins, France. —Annales. Contain-
ing meteorological observations by M. Doumet, at Baleine, Allier, for
a series of years, (1855-’66.)

Société Metéorologique de France.—Annuaire de la Société Météorolo-
giquede France. Tome5™, 1869, tableaux météorologiques, feuilles 7-11,
3°: 39 pp. Tome 6”, 1863, feuilles 1-5. Bulletin des seeances. 8°.
40 pp. Tableaux météorologiques. 8°. 40 pp. Nouvelles météoro-
logiques. Pamphlet. Large 8°. 30 pp.

: Stanley, J. H. S—Monthly reports of the weather (mss.) at Houston,
exas.

84 METEOROLOGICAL MATERIAL.

Stewart, W. M.—Diagram of the annual quantity of rain fallen at
Glenwood, Tennessee, from observations made during the years from
1851 to 1868, inclusive. (The same that is referred to on page 523 of
Professor Safford’s report on the geology of Tennessee.)

Thomas, Rev. C.—Copy of monthly aggregates from the rain register
kept at Fort Garland, Colorado Territory, from April 1853 to Septem-
ber, 1869, inclusive.

Tutwiler, H.—Account of a meteorite-observed near Frankfort, Ala-
bama. (Newspaper slip.)

United States consulate, Valencia, Spain.—Newspaper slips with me-
teorological records made at the Meteorological Observatory of the Uni-
versity of Valencia.

Vacher, Dr.—Carte représentant la mortalité et état météorologique
de Paris en 1865.

Verein der Freunde der Naturgeschichtein Mecklenburg, Giistrow.—Arch-
ive, 22te Jahre, 1869. Containing Uebersecht der aus den meteorolo-
gischen Beobachtungen zu Hinrichhagen im Jahre 1867 gefundenen Mit-
tel, (20 Jahre.)

Vinal, W. I.— Weather record at Vinal Haven, Maine, during a por-
tion of October, 1869.

Warren, W. J.—Record of the weather at Chilukweyuk Depot, North-
west Boundary Commission, from December 29, 1558, to April 24, 1859.

Whitaker, B.—Newspaper slips containing accounts of the weather at
Warsaw, Illinois.

White, Captain A. T., United States revenue marine.—Meteorological
register kept on board of the United States revenue steamer Wayanda,
cruising on the coast of Alaska from May 13 to October 14, 1868.

Williams, Rev. R. G.—Hourly thermometrical and barometrical obser-
vations at Waterbury, Connecticut, and Castleton, Vermont, (in addi-
tion to regular observations on Smithsonian blanks.)

Zeledon, José.—Observaciones meteorologicas hechas en la cindad de
San José durante el primer semestre de 1868. Oficina Central de Esta-
distica, San José.

Observaciones meteorologicas hechas en la cindad de Heredia (Costa
Rica, Setior Rohrmoser) durante el ato de 1868. °

REPORT OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.

WASHINGTON, D. C., February 1, 1870.
The Executive Committee of the Smithsonian Institution respectfully
submits the following statement of the financial condition of Smithson’s
trust fund, and the application of the income for the year ending 31st
December, 1869, with estimates of receipts and proposed appropriations
for 1870:

The bequest of Smithson in the United States treasury is.. $541,379 63
The Regents have added to this investment from savings,

Pa ES SS aus 32 ee ee aerator Sheet he 108, 620 37
Making the Smithson fund in the U.S. Treasury, as a per-

petual loan, at 6 per cent., on the Ist January, 1870.... 650,000 00.
And in Virginia State 6 per cent. registered stock. $53, 500
With unpaid interest to January, 1867.........- 19, 260

$72, 760
The value of which, at the present time, may be estimated

ih Wis VGUE GEL feels reacted chee ct aera aM aes ewit ak eee 42, 200 80
Touiinwested capitalos..22u5 PSR Ree fe oe 692, 200-80
meine, Casi Palace! in: baile Of: 72 5se tse si lo. ese So. 20, 969 65

eee lis. ska ee ee ee ae 713,170 45

RECEIPTS IN 1869.

Interest from the Treasurer of the United States, on
$650,000, at 6 per cent., for the year ending 31st Decem-

“EER, NSTI Mee gis homme gh) yeaa Mat aS, AAO sR eae ae $39, 000 00:
Premium on sale of gold, at 343 and 193 per cent. premium. 10,515 20
Pees PuDlCAbIOnS: 2 oa4s tee we 3 oie oot a sen Pap bonse 235 58.
Sales of old and useless material ....................--- 232 07
Repayment of expenses of explorations and collections. -. 732 15.
Repayment for freights on literary and scientific exchanges. 517 56.

Potalincometor the. year 1869)... ....-- .-..5. 51, 232 56.
Cash balance in bank, January, 1869..................:- 10, 352 74
Amount available in 1869............. sia 9) bee $61,585 30)

In addition to this sum, the Institution received from and accounted.
for to the Department of the Interior the sum of $4,000, appropriated:
by Congress for the preservation and care of the property in the mu-
seum, collected by Government exploring expeditions.

86 REPORT OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.

Statement in detail of expenditures during the year 1869.

Leaves a balance in bank, January, 1870..... Pear

BUILDING.
For reconstruction of parts of building destroyed
Dyefires) be SE Aap oereg ate rare incre ae $1, 764 70
For general repairs of the building -..-....-.- 2,345 25
For foasiane and fixtures, cases, carpets, stoves,
RSG tek cee, on eee ee 2, 520 95
GENERAL EXPENSES.
For meetings of the Board of Regents..-..... $122 00
Forlighting-the binlding: 2... 22.52. 2.2 se aac S 239 13
Horwarmines the building. 2. 362 - .- +. — ee 1,389 77
OE IPOSHAGE = 25.5): ae tsibyerctomtsieiele ocainietieys se pe 289 50
IPOTSSUALIODER Vie ps dee ow Cue ec jolepere haem othe el 437 18
For printing blanks, circulars, receipts, &c.- --. 322 25
For tools, materials for cleaning and incidentals. 328 89
For salaries of secretary, chief clerk, and assist-
AM Pa a aa cteedinia a ae eo ease ie oe sage 505508 7, 814 92
PUBLICATIONS AND RESEARCHES.
‘For publishing Smithsonian contributions, 4to.. $1,987 18
For publishing miscellaneous collections, 8vo.. 3, 037 50
Hor publishing Smithsonian reports, 8vo...-..- 1,458 55
For meteorology, salaries of clerks and comput-
ers, rain gauges, and thermometers.......-..- 1,581 10
For apparatus for researches....:.....-....-- 146 80
For explorations, natural history, and archeol-
ogy in Mexico, Florida, Alaska, New Mexico,
Hudson’s Bay, Alabama, and Nova Scotia. .. G11 54
LIBRARY, MUSEUM, AND EXCHANGES.
‘For purchase of books, periodicals, and binding. $436 04
For literary and scientific exchanges, agencies
at Leipsic, London, Paris, and Amsterdam... 4, 860 94
Yor assistants in museum, janitor, watchmen,
FADOLEES nh) 2 osm eee Oe eo eee eet e meeeatoe 5, 307 50
For incidentals to museum, freight, alcohol, tax-
EW VEY TU Ay 66 CNA ah at Sh be a ee Py Aca ere 3,513 96
or gallery of art: Portrait in oil of the late Dr.
Robert Hare, who gave his collection of chem-
ical and philosophical apparatus to the Insti-
PELEULOBS Soeur a ysi2 SAS etal oe ee ee eee ae 100 00.
‘Expenditures during the year 1869........... Serene
Deducting this amount from the receipts of the
year and cash in bank in January, 1869, viz:
SVCD eho ci are Boe Ne optepi oae Ree ae $61,585 30

86, 630 90

10,943 64

14,218 44
40, 615 65

REPORT OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.

ESTIMATES AND APPROPRIATIONS FOR 1870.
Receipts.

Interest on the Smithson Fund in the treasury of the
United States, $650,000, payable 1st July, 1870, and 1st
January, 1871, at 6 per cent. gold

Probable premium on sale of coin, at 18 per cent

wee alae es me = ae a0 «ow w,

87

$39, 000 06
7, 020 00

Interest on Virginia 6 per cent. stock, 1869, 2 per cent-.-.-- 1, 454 00
Interest on Virginia 6 per cent. stock, 1870, 2 per cent. ... 1, 454 00
pocnauoaseless property, Ges. o22-- a2. 2-2. 5-22-22 = 500 00
meome: forthe: year tS (02 ances ao aa tals ao 49,428 00
APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE YEAR 1870.
Mare omeral expenses.) =... sca neces oes $12,000 00
For publications and researches ......--.-..-- 15,000 00
For museum and collections, not including the
apropriation by Congress for care and pre-
servation of the Wilkes and other explor-
(UE AGS SUSU RS ie be ee a ei 6,000 00
For literary and scientific exchanges........- 5, 000. 00
For building and contingencies.............-. 5, 000 00
43, 000 00

EXAMINATION OF ACCOUNTS.

The committee examined 497 receipted vouchers for payments made
during the four quarters of the year 1869. In every case the approval of
the secretary of the Institution is given on the face of each voucher,
and the certificate of an authorized agent of the Institution is appended
to each voucher, setting forth that the materials and property and ser-
vices rendered were for the Institution and applied to the purposes
stated in the account.

The quarterly accounts-current, bank book, check book, and ledger
were also examined, and showed that the payments were made in con-
formity with the regulations prescribed by the Regents, and that the
cash balance stated in the accounts current for each quarter was in
deposit to the credit of the Institution in the authorized depository,
after all the quarterly accounts charged in the abstracts were paid.

In conclusion, the committee finds that all the expenses of the Insti-
tution have been paid in full to the end of the year, leaving a cash
balance in bank on the 1st January, 1870, of $20,969 65.

All of which is respectfully submitted, by—

: RICHARD DELAFIELD,
PETER PARKER,
JOHN MACLEAN,
Baecutive Committee.

JOURNAL OF PROCEEDINGS

THE BOARD OF REGENTS

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION.

WASHINGTON, D. C., February 3, 1870.

A meeting of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution

was held on Thursday, February 3, 1870, at 7 o’clock p. m., at the Insti-
tution.

Present: Chief Justice Chase, Chancellor of the Institution, Messrs.
Hamlin, Trumbull, Poland, Cox, Maclean, Delafield, Parker, and the
secretary.

The minutes of the last meeting were read and adopted.

Professor Henry, the secretary, announced that Hon. Hannibal Ham-
lin, of the Senate, had been appointed a Regent, vice Mr. Fessenden,
deceased; that Hon. James A. Garfield and L. P. Poland had been
reappointed from the House of Representatives; and that Hon. 8.8.
Cox had been appointed, vice Mr. Pruyn, whose term had expired.

The secretary announced the death of Charles Armistead Alexander,
esq., a valued collaborator of the Institution, whose series of spirited
translations of the eulogies of eminent men, delivered before foreign
academies, have added much value to the annual reports of this estab-
lishment, and have been received in several cases with much commen-
dation by the original authors.

On motion of Dr. Maclean, it was

Resolved, That the Regents of the Smithsonian Institution recognize,

in the death of Charles A. Alexander, esq., the loss of a valued collabo-
rator, and that they sympathize with his friends and relatives in the
bereavement to which they are subjected.

The secretary presented a general statement of the financial condition
of the Institution.

General Delafield presented the annual report of the Executive Com-
mittee relative to the receipts and expenditures during the year 1869,
and the estimates for the year 1870, which was read and accepted.

On motion of Dr. Maclean the secretary was directed to have an in-
surance effected on the east wing and range of the Smithsonian building
to such amount as he may think necessary.

The secretary presented the eulogy on the late Professor A. D. Bache,
which was received and ordered to be printed in the annual report.

General Delafield, for the Executive Committee, reported that they
were still collecting facts and statistics relative to the city canal, and
would hereafter present a further report.

The secretary stated that it was his painful duty to announce that
since the last meeting of the Board the death had occurred of one of its
most distinguished members—the Hon. William Pitt Fessenden.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE BOARD OF REGENTS. 89

Appropriate remarks were then made relative to the services, charac-
ter, and virtues of the deceased, by Messrs. Trumbull, Hamlin, Parker,
and the Chancellor, Chief J ustice Chase.

On motion of Mr. Trumbull the following resolutions were adopted :

Resolved, That the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution
deeply mourn the loss of their distinguished fellow-regent, William Pitt
Fessenden.

Resolved, That in the death of Mr. Fessenden our country has lost a
refined and influential citizen, the Senate of the United States an able,
judicious, honest statesman, and this Institution an active, intelligent,
and learned Regent.

Resolved, That we sincerely condole with the afflicted family of Mr.
Fessenden, and offer to them our heartfelt sympathy in their great
bereavement.

Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be communicated by the
Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution to the family of the deceased.

Resolved, That Chief Justice Chase be requested to prepare a eulogy
on Mr. Fessenden, for insertion in the journal of the Board of Regents.

General Delafield In behalf of the Executive Committee, stated that
they deemed it highly important for the interests of the Institution in
the promotion of science, and due to the secretary for his long and
devoted services, that he should visit Hurope to consult with the savans
and societies of Great Britain and the continent, and he therefore hoped
that a leave of absence would be granted to Professor Henry for several
months, and that an allowance be made for his expenses.

On motion of Dr. Maclean, it was unanimously—

Resolved, That Professor Henr y, Secretary of the Institution, be
authorized to visit Europe in behalt of the interests of the Smithsonian
Institution, and that he be granted from three to six months leave of
absence, and two thousand dollars for traveling expenses for this
purpose.

Judge Poland moved, that in consideration of the extra services which
had been rendered by “Mr. Kthees, chief clerk, since the death of Mr.
Randolph, bookkeeper of the Institution, in auditing and keeping the
accounts for the last three years, he be allowed $350, in addition to $250
already received, or $200 per year.

This proposition was advocated by the secretary, who considered it
just not only in regard to the particular services in question, but also
for his efficiency in the conduct of the general business of the
establishment.

The motion was agreed to.

Adjourned to meet on the 10th instant, at 7 o’clock.

WASHINGTON, D. C., February 10, 1870.

A meeting of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution
was held on Thursday, February 10, 1870, at 7 o’clock p. m., at the
Institution.

Present, Messrs. Chase, Trumbull, Hamlin,, Davis, Garfield, Poland,
Delafield, Parker, Bowen, and the Secretary.

The Chancellor took the chair.

The minutes were read and approved.

Professor Henry presented his annual report, which was accepted.

On motion of General Garfield, it was—

Resolved, That the Executive Committee and the secretary be directed

90 PROCEEDINGS OF THE BOARD OF REGENTS.

to prepare a detailed statement of all the money expended on the
museum during the past year,. distinguishing between the items directly
and exclusively chargeable to the care of the collections of the Govern-
ment, and those of a contingent or indirect character.

Mr. Hamlin presented the following, which were adopted :

Having learned that the chief clerk of this Institution, Mr. William
J. Rhees, is about to resign the office he has filled for seventeen years,
to engage in an active business enterprise—

Resolved, That the Board of Regents highly appreciate his worth as a
man, and his services as an officer of this Institution.

Resolved, That while they regret his resignation of an office which he
has filled with honor to himself and advantage to the Institution, they
hope that he may be equally successful in the career on which he is
about to enter, and that a copy of these resolutions be presented to him
by the secretary.

The Board then adjourned to meet at the call of the secretary.

[Nore.—After this meeting the annual report was submitted to Con-
gress and ordered to be printed; therefore, the subsequent proceedings
of the Board for the session of the beginning of 1870 will be found in

' the next annual report.—J. H.]

Ee

GENERAL APPENDIX

TO THE

REPORL FOR .1369:

The object of this appendix is to illustrate the operations of the In-
stitution by reports of lectures and extracts from correspondence, as
well as*to furnish information of a character suited especially to the
meteorological observers and other persons interested in the promo-
tion of knowledge. |

KEPLER: HIS LIFE: AND WORKS.

By M. Berrranp, Member of the French Academy of Sciences.*

[ Translated for the Smithsonian Institution by C. A. Alexander. ]

The highest laws of the physical world have been established by
geometers; the hypotheses on which those laws rest acquire real import-
ance only after having been submitted to their decision; and yet the
progress of natural philosophy would have been impossible if the great
men to whom they are due, imbued only with a geometrical spirit, had
regarded only its inflexible rigor.

Let us imagine a geometer initiated in the most elevated theories of
abstract science. I speak not merely of a disciple of Euclid and Archi-
medes, but an intelligent reader of Jacobi and of Abel; and let us suppose
that, while a stranger to every idea of astronomy, he ‘should ae
to penetrate by his own independent efforts the eeneral structure of th
universe and the arrangement of its parts. Let us place him, beset ie,
in the most favorable conditions; let us admit that, free in spirit as Co-
pernicus, he reposes iot in the deceptive representations of the Senses
which, veiling from us the movements of the earth, have caused its
immobility to be so long regarded as an axiom: what impossibilities
will present themselves to his imagination! Borne along by an un-
known movement, perceiving no fixed direction, no stable basis on
which to rely for the determination of distances, he finds himself with-
out data for the solution of the problem. Our geometer will attain,
perhaps, to a conception of our own incommensurable littleness; but,
perceiving no certain route, he will stop short by asserting in the name
of a science which he believes infallible, because it leaves nothing to
hazard, that, whatever the genius of man and the resources with which
art may endow his org gans, our path through cua is to him as undis-
coverable as would be that of a grain of dust borne on the wind to the
animaleules which inhabit it.

Happily Pascal has gone too far in asserting that what transcends
geometry lies beyond our reach. This discouraging appreciation takes
no account of a sentiment implanted in the depths of the human soul;
a sentiment which sustained Copernicus after having inspired Pytha-
goras. Outside of all demonstration, in effect man believ es in the har-
mony of the universe andthe simplicit y of its mechanism; and, although
imagination stands in strong contrast to geometry, the history of as-
tronomy presents them to us united in a strict alliance; the former sus-
tained by well-regulated reason, in somesort outstripping truth in order
to reveal, as if by intuition, the beauty and general order of the system
of worlds; the latter exerting its powers to test. the true and_the false,
and by separating one from the other, finally to arrive at certainty.

The situation of the astronomer w ho seeks to divine the sy mmetrical
and regular order of the celestial bodies, presents a certain degree of an-
dlogy with that of the philologist who, with unknown characters before

* Mémoires de V Académie de Sciences de UInstitut Impérial de France, t. xxxv, 1266.

94 LIFE AND WORKS OF KEPLER.

him, strives to reconstruct the words and ideas which they express. Fo1
the philologist as for the astronomer the problem is indeterminate, and
it might be assumed that its solution is arbitrary; what assurance is
there in fact that those strange figures are not simply decorative
designs, capriciously traced without ‘order and without object? And
if they have in reality a meaning, no train of rigorous deductions
can reveal it by leading us from the known to the unknown through a
logical and sure chain of reasoning. It is necessary in such an inquiry
to proceed tentatively, to accept conjectures founded on fugitive and
remote analogies, to establish systems which the further study of facts
will often overthrow, to frame hypotheses which will presently be re-
jected, but which will be patiently replaced by others, and to do this
without discouragement, because the true solution, we may be certain in
advance, will, when once detected and in whatsoever manner obtained,
offer such a character of certainty that no further place will be left for
doubt. The same is the case with the true astronomical systems ; it is
impossible to establish it by a series of rigorous deductions, and
successively to demonstrate its different parts according to the method
of the geometers. But, when a man of genius shall have divined, in
whatever way it may be, the principles which reconcile the uniform and
simple reality with the complex and variable appearances, judicious
minds will at once recognize the truth of the hypothesis, without seruti-
nizing the means which have led to it, and without waiting for the
solid and luminous proofs which, accumulating from age to age, will at
length convert the most refractory by enlightening even the blindest.

It is not my purpose to retrace, here, the history of the efforts succes-
sively made in this direction, which would be the history of astronomy.
From among the great men ‘who, withdrawing the veils which hide it,
have by degrees revealed the universe in its “ ‘full and sublime majesty,”
I have simply selected, in order to sketch the part which he performed,
the most intrepid, persevering, and inspired of them all; by these terms
I designate Kepler.

John Kepler was born at Weil, in Wiirtemberg, 27th of December,
1571, twenty-eight years after the death of Copernicus. His father,
Henry Kepler, who belonged to the noble family of Keppel, was not
worthy of such a son; he several times abandoned his wile, who herself
was of evil reputation, and scarcely gave any attention to his four
children. The early education of John was, therefore, much neglected ;
his mother, who could not read, sent him, it is true, to school, but kept
him at home whenever his services could be turned to account in the
inn, which reverse of fortune had reduced her to the necessity of keep-
ing. The boy’s weak constitution, fortunately, rendered him but little
fit for such employments, and it was decided that he should study theol-
ogy. Atthe age of thirteen he was gratuitously admitted into the
Protestant seminary of Maulbronn; a favor easily obtained, for instrue-
tion was at that time propagated throughout Protestant Germany with
‘a zeal equally liberal and enlightened. “ Itis the head and not the arm
which governs the world,” said the rector of the University of Maul-
bronn, in 1578; “there is need, then, of educated men, and such fruit
does not grow upon trees.”

From Maulbronn, Kepler, who advanced rapidly in his studies, passed
to the seminary of Tiibingen, where he applied himself to theology, but
without giving to it his whole attention. He here composed some Latin
verses on the “ubiquity of the body of Christ, the elegant precision ot
which attracted the admiration of the secretary of the national depu-
ties. Yet, when he quitted, at the age of twenty-two, the school of Ti-

oor

LIFE AND WORKS OF KEPLER. 95

bingen, he was not thought qualified to labor for the advancement of

the church, and, furnished only with a flattering attestation of eloquence

and capacity, he was named professor of mathematics and morais in the
college of Griitz, in Styria.

The Archduke Charles, of Austria, who then governed Styria, pro-
fessed the Catholic religion; but, what was very rare and little ‘to be
expected at that epoch, he extended to heretics an absolute toleranee ;
so that the Protestants, who then constituted a majority of the rich and
enlightened classes, enjoyed full liberty to call to their service for all
offices such of their co-religionists as had been instructed elsewhere.
Hence it was, that Kepler received an invitation to Gritz. Instruction
in astronomy being one of his duties, he was charged with the compila-
tion of an almanac, and it was but natural that in a Catholic country,
he should adopt the Gregorian reform which the Protestants obstinately
rejected ; choosing much rather, as was said, to be at variance with the
sun than in accordance with the Pope. Kepler, who never consented under
the most difficult circumstances to compound for the free expression of his
religious sentiments, separated, on this occasion, from his co-religion-
ists; the question, as he justly urged, was a purely Scientific one. More
than once in his career did he encounter it, and his opinion never varied.
Sixteen years later, in 1613, in order to induce Germany. to accept the
new calendar, he composed, at the instance of the Emperor Matthias, a
dialogue between two Catholics, two Protestants, and a mathematician,
the latter of whom enlightens, and finally convinces the others; put
Kepler was not equally successful with the Diet, to which the question
was submitted, and, in spite of his efforts, the ’ Gregorian reform was
postponed till a long time afterward.

To increase the sale of his almanacs, Kepler did not shrink from in-
serting astrological predictions of political and other events, and, as a
few happened to be realized nearly at the time predicted, not a little
credit accrued to him on that account. His biographers have affirmed,
however, that, superior to the prejudices of his age, he had no faith in
astrological divination, but his correspondence shows that at this epoch,
and even many years afterward, he was persuaded of the influence of
the stars on events of every nature. In one of his letters he makes an
applicatio nof his principles to the newly-born son of his master, Meest-
lin, and announces that he is threatened witha great danger. “IT doubt,’ is
he’ says, ‘“‘ whether he can survive it;” and, in fact, the child died. Just
at that time one of his own children was ‘also taken away; and when,
on occasion of this double bereavement, we find him, with expressions
of affectionate interest for his master, again speaking of the fears which
he had conceived, how is it possible to ae e that he was not in earnest?
But his predictions were not always so exactly fulfilled, and, after being
often deceived, Kepler became less and less credulous. Thus it fared
with astrology as with many other errors which entered his mind with-
out taking root. He said, indeed, that, as the daughter of astronomy,
astrology ought to nourish her mother; and he continued during life
to make for those who asked it, and for a consideration, predictions and
horoscopes conformable to the rules of the art. But, so far from abusing
the credulity of his clients, he avowed to them that, in his opinion, his
conclusions should be regarded as uncertain and suspicious; telling
them, as Tiresias tells Ulysses, (in Horace:) Quicquid dicam aut erit aut
non—(What I may say will or will not come to pass.)

The first scientific work of Kepler is entitled Mysterium cosmographi-
cum, and was composed during the earlier part of his residence at Gritz.

L undertake to prove,” he says in his preface, “that God, in creating

96 LIFE AND WORKS OF KEPLER.

the universe and regulating the order of the cosmos, had in view the
five regular bodies of eeometr y aS known since the days of Pythagoras
and Plato, and that he has fixed, according to those dimensions, the
number of heavens, their proportions, and the relations of their move-
ments.” —

It is impossible not to be struck with the confident ardor of the young
author and his enthusiastic admiration for the wisdom which governs
the world and the majesty of the problems to which his life was to be
consecrated. ‘ Happy the man,” says he, ‘who devotes himself to the
study of the heavens; he learns to set less value on what the world ad-
mires the most; the works of God are for him above ail else, and their
study will furnish him with the purest of enjoyments. Father of the
world,” he adds, “the creature whom Thou hast deigned to raise to the
intelligent contemplation of Thy glorytis like the king of a vast empire;
he is almost comparable to-a god, since he has learned to comprehend
Thy thoughts.” The theory which inspired such transports is to-day
disavowed by science. That brilliant edifice was destined to crumble
away, little by little, for want of sure foundations, and Kepler, at that
epoch, may be likened, according to Bacon’s happy comparison, to the
lark which soars to the skies, but brings back nothing from her excur-
Sions.

He always entertained, however, a great tenderness for this first labor,
and, although he himself has, in a second edition, pointed out grave
errors, he insists that no debut in science was ever more happy. Of
this work little is recollected but some solid and convincing arguments
in favor of the system of Copernicus. Kepler does not hesitate to cen-
sure emphatically, in a note, the tribunal which had dared to place in
the Index of the Lateran the works of the illustrious Pole. ‘When we
have used,” he says, “the edge of an axe upon iron, it cannot serve af-
terward even to cut wood.” The calculations which he executed on this
occasion served, so to speak, to clear the field which was to yield him so
ample a harvest; and the learned world, not less charmed by the agree-
- able and brilliant form of his exposition than surprised by the novelty
of his ideas, became attentive to what the young astronomer night in
future submit to it.

Having acquired a modest competence by his marriage with the young
and fair Barbara Miiller, already the widow of a first and separated
from a second husband by divorce, Kepler seemed permanently fixed in
Styria, and devoted himself, amid general applause, to the study of
the science in which he delighted. His correspondence shows him to
have been, at this epoch, fully satisfied with his labors and in the serene
enjoyment of domestic happiness. This period of sweet tranquillity and
studious leisure makes its appearance in his life as a peaceful oasis,
where he was to repose but for a short time, and which he was destined
never to find again. The Archduke Charles had as successor his son
Ferdinand, who, a far better Catholic than he, chose as generalissimo of
his troops the holy Virgin, and made a vow to exting ish heresy in his

estates; the most sim ple means was to drive out the heretics, and it was
that to which he resorted, Kepler, protected by learned Jesuits, who
knew how to appreciate his merit, was treated with an exceptional in-
dulgence. After having been forced to quit Griitz, he was permitted to
return on condition of observing due prudence and reserve. This, we
must conclude, he did not do to a satisfactory degree; for, shortly atter,
he was banished anew, forty-five days being allowed him to sell or rent
the lands of his wife. It was of such acts, doubtless, that a celebrated
historian was thinking when he wrote that, without disturbance and

»

LIFE AND WORKS OF KEPLER. 97

without cruelty, Ferdinand succeeded in suppressing the Protestant wor-
ship in Styria.

However this may be, Kepler, thus deprived of the means of subsist-
ence and banished from Sty ria, Where numerous friends had surrounded
him, remained unshaken in his faith. The Counsellor Herwart in vain
proposed to him terms of accommodation; his integrity could not be
made to bend. Kepler, so ingenious in his researches, was by no means
so in paltering with his conscience. Unable to yield his reason to the
Catholic creed, he obstinately refused it his homage. The reasons on
which he based his resolution, equally remote from the weakness which
bends to persecution and the arrogance which braves it, are impressed
with a calm and gentle dignity: “I am a Christian,” he writes to Her-
wart, ‘‘attached to the confession of Augsburg by a thorough examina-
tion of the doctrine, not less than by the instruction of my parents.
That is my faith; I have already suffered for it, and I know not the art
of dissembling. Religion is for mea serious affair, which I cannot treat
with levity.” And he continued, without losing heart, to find a refuge
in science, devoting to it his hours of labor, his ‘studious ratchings, the
ardent yearnings of his enthusiastic intellect. But this could not wholly
preclude the bitter thoughts of exile and of poverty; if little concerned
for himself, he could not help feeling how nearly those afflictions touched
those who were dear to him. ‘TI entreat you,” he writes to Meestlin, “if
there is a place vacant at Tiibingen, contrive to obtain it for me; let me
know,” he adds, ‘the price of bread, of wine, and the necessaries of life,
for my wife has not been accustomed to a diet of beans.” It was under
these trying circumstances that he received from the celebrated Tycho-
Brahé, who had become acquainted with his adversity, a proposition to
unite with him in the astronomical labors with which he had been charged
by the Emperor Rudolph. Kepler did not hesitate, and repaired with
his family to Prague.

Nothing could hav e been more fortunate for astronomy than the union
of Kepler with such a man, whose researches, less brilliant perhaps than
his own, are distinguished, by a laborious precision, which no previous
astronomer had ever carried to the same degree of perfection. Kepler,
himself, seems to have foreseen all its adv antages when, speaking of the
observ ations accumulated by Tycho, he wrote the year previous to
Meestlin: “Tycho is loaded with riches which, like most of the rich, he
makes no use of.” He had practiced observation, in effect, for thirty-
five years, without any preconceived idea, while keeping an exact and
minute register of the phenomena of the heavens. These accumulated
results, without directly disclosing the truth, were admirably calculated
to preserve Kepler from error by fur nishing a solid point of support to
the boldness of his inventive genius, and as a limit established in ad-
vance to prohibit its excesses. Having soon afterwards become, by the
death of Tycho, possessor of the precious materials destined to fertilize
his ideas, he was not slow in perceiving that under the confusion of
those elements, which he might justly compare to the scattered leaves
of the Sibyl, was concealed an eternal and immutable order, and he
sought it duringnine years with the unwearied devotion which triumphs
over discouragement, and with the energy which assures success.

But with a view to proceeding in order, he first directed his attention
to the elimination of a cause of error already indicated by Tycho, and
one with which all the astronomical observations are infected: he stud-
ied the laws of refraction.

Hipparchus relates that twice in the same day he had observed the
sun in the equator, and consequently two equinoxes. From this Ptolemy

78

98 LIFE AND WORKS OF KEPLER.

simply concludes that one of these observations is erroneous ; but the
same singularity presented itself on different occasions to Tycho, who,
certain of his own skill and of the precision of his instruments, could
not admit such an explanation. He pointed out the true cause in the
refraction of the luminous rays, which, null at the zenith, acquires at
the horizon its greatest value ; consequently, when the sun is, in the morn-
ing, a little below the equator, the yefraction, by elevating its rays, may
produce the impression of the observation of the equinox. Some hours
later, when the sun is nearing the zenith, the refraction is less, and this
cause of depression, compensating for the distance which the sun has
traversed in its orbit, may cause it to be observed anew in the equator.

Pliny cites another contradiction not less palpable, which, while
equally showing the importance of the phenomenon ofrefraction, should
have led the ancient astronomers to make it the subject of their study.
“ An eclipse of the moon,” he says, ‘‘has been observed at the moment
when the sun was still visible above the horizon.” The moon conse-
quently disappeared although the right line which joins its center with
that of the sun appeared not to encounter the earth. The fact is a con-
stant one; it was observed particularly by Meestlin and by Tycho; yet
there is evidently a necessity that the earth, inorder to eclipse the moon
by its shadow, must be placed in a right line between the moon and sun.
It is undeniable, therefore, that the three bodies are really in a right
line at the moment of the eclipse, and the phenomenon must be ex-
plained by the refraction which brings the two luminaries into an appar-
ently simultaneous opposition above the horizon. It will be seen from
these instances how important it is that this cause of error should be
taken into account in the discussion of observations. The Arabian as-
tronomer Alhazen and the Polonese Vitellion were the first to call at-
tention to this point, and Tycho, who thoroughly felt its importance, gave
still later a table of refractions relative to different inclinations.

The difficulty of such an investigation is readily perceived, not to

say that any direct determination isimpossible. Refraction is the angle
for med by the right line which really connects the luminous body with
our eye, and the line resulting from the direction in which it is per-
ceived. Now, of these two directions the second alone is open to actual
observation; the angle which it forms with the other cannot be meas-
ured, and it is necessary to calculate it by an indirect process. The con-
tinuous observation of a star followed from the zenith to the horizor
might give it; the diurnal movement, the laws of which are not contested,
causes the star, in effect, to describe a perfect circle in the heavens, and
knowing at every instant where it ought to be, we may place to the ac
count of refraction the observed irregularities.

The process followed by Tycho is a little different, but he was far from
attaining the object in view; according to him, the refraction of the
light of the stars completely ceases at 20° from the horizon ; that of the
sun, being more considerable, becomes null only at 45°. This is alto-
gether inexact, refraction follows the same laws for all these luminaries,
and becomes null only at the zenith. Kepler, therefore, took up the
question from the beginning, and composed, under the modest title of
Paratipomena ad Vitallionem, a complete treatise of optics. This work,
though containing serious errors, is truly remarkable for the time when
it was composed. We find therein the correct theory of telescopes, ex-
act rules for determining the focal distance of lenses and the augment:
ative powerofan instrument. Here, for the first time, was given an exact
description of the eye and the explanation of its mechanism; it is here,
finally, that we find an explanation of the cinereous light of the moon, at-

LIFE AND WORKS OF KEPLER. 99

tributed in a spirit of loyalty to his old master Meestlin. Although en-
tirely misled as to an elementary law of refraction, Kepler has here eal-
culated a table of astronomical refractions, which from the zenith to 76°
does not differ more than 9” from that adopted at present, but in ap-
proaching the horizon the deviations become more considerable. We
recognize in this book the hand of no ordinary artificer; its perusal is
embarrassed by few difficulties, and although in its doctrines tares be
mingled in abundance with the good grain, the student who wishes to
prove all things for himself would still find much to repay his labor.
Descartes, who cites it with honor in his Dioptrics, expressly acknowl-
edged the obligations which he owed to it.

But, while striving to attain the objects which he had proposed to
himself, Kepler, as astronomer to the emperor, could not properly re-
main inattentive to the events which were taking place in the skies.
He wrote, in 1606, a long dissertation on a star which had appeared in
the constellation of the Serpent, and which, after having shone with a
brillianey greater than that of Jupiter, disappeared as mysteriously as
it had come. This phenomenon, strange but not unexampled, caused
a great sensation. ‘If I should be asked, ” said Kepler, “ what will
come to pass; what it is that this apparition forebodes? I shall an-
swer without hesitation: First of all a flood of writings, published by
numerous authors, and much labor for the printers. If I should be ae-
cused of having in my dissertation passed too slightingly over the the-
ological and politic al consequences, I shall reply that my charge i imposes
on me the obligation of promoting astronomy to the best of my ability,
but not of fulfilling the office of public prophet. I am glad of it; if I
had to speak freely of all that passes in Europe and in the church, I
should be much in danger of giving offense to all the world, for as Hor-
ace says,

“ Tliacos intra muros peccatur et extra.”*

One would scarcely suppose on reading these lines that they were
written in 1606!

He proceeds to inquire whence this star could have sprung and of what
matter it was formed; but he does not succeed in solving the question,
and concludes only that the blind force of atoms has nothing to do with
it. Of this opinion also was his wife Barbara; Kepler tells us so in one
of those personal digressions in which he sometimes indulges, and
which are so vivid and sprightly that in reading them we almost seem
to hear and see him, and at the same time are so naturally introduced
that we feel no surprise at finding them mixed up with the serious
thoughts on which he is intent. ‘“ Yesterday,” he says, ‘“ fatigued with
writing and troubled in mind with meditations upon atoms, I was called
to dinner, and my wife placed a salad on the table. Do you think, said
I to her, that if tin-plates, lettuce leaves, grains of salt, drops of oil and
vinegar, and fragments of hard-boiled eggs had been floating in space
ever since the creation, in every direction and without order, chance
could have brought them together to-day to form a salad ?—Not so good
aone, Lam certain, replied my fair spouse, nor so well made as this
oue is.”

The treatise on the new star, which contains thirty chapters, leaves
the reader as ignorant as the author himself was and as we to-day are
of the nature and causes of the catastrophe which, from the presumed

* Trojans and Greeks, seditious, base, unjust,
Offend alike in violence and lust.—FRrancts’s translation.

100 LIFE AND WORKS OF KEPLER.

distance of the stars, must have been accomplished in the heavens
and have troubled the systems of the cosmos many ages before the
observations of Kepler.

After nine years of efforts prosecuted with an intense application of
mind which sometimes, as he tells us, had tormented him almost to
madness, diu nos torserat ad insaniam, Kepler succeeded in exactly
representing the movement of Mars by two of the laws which have since
been recognized as applicable to the other planets, and which have im-
mortalized his name. His work is entitled: Astronomia nova, seu Physica
celestis, &c. (The new astronomy, or celestial physics, founded on the
study of the movement of Mars, deduced from the observations of Tycho-
Brahé.) The preface, addressed to the Emperor Rudolph, furnishes a
curious example of the spirit of the epoch, even more than of the genius
of Kepler:

‘“T bring to your Majesty,” he says, “‘ a noble prisoner, a trophy of an
arduous and long doubtful war, prosecuted under your auspices. Nor
do I fear that he will refuse or scorn the name of captive, since it is not
the first time that he has borne it; long ago, as we are informed, the ter-
rible god of war fell ingloriously into the toils spread for him by Vulcan.
Yet, until now, none had more completely triumphed over all human
stratagems; it was in vain that the astronomers prepared every thing
for the struggle; in vain that they brought all their resources into action
and marshalled all their forces. Mars, mocking at their attempts, dis-
concerted their plans and baffled their hopes. Withdrawn in an im-
penetrable secrecy, he succeeded in veiling his skillful evolutions from
hostile observation. The ancients complained of this deceptive strategy
more than once, and that indefatigable explorer of the mysteries of
nature, Pliny, pronounced Mars inscrutable to human eye.

‘‘ For myself, I ought first of all to extol the activity and pertinacity of
the valiant chieftain Tycho-Brahé, who, under the auspices of the Dan-
ish sovereigns, Frederick and Christian, studied every night for twenty
years the procedures of the enemy, in order to discover the plans of the
campaign and the secret of his movements. The observations be-
queathed to me by my predecessor have aided me in dispelling that
vague and indefinite apprehension which is at first felt in the presence
of a mysterious foe.

‘During the uncertainties of the contest how many disasters have
desolated our camp! The loss of an illustrious chieftain, sedition and
desertion among the troops, contagious maladies, all contributed to aug-
ment our distress. Domestic solace and suffering alike interfered with
business ; a new enemy, as I have reported in my book on the late evan-
escent star, precipitated himself on the rear of our army; the veterans
withdrew, the new recruits were untrained, and, worst of all, provisions
were exhausted. Finally, however, the enemy became reconciled to
peace, and by the mediation of his mother, Nature, sent me the avowal
of his defeat. He surrendered on his parole, and Arithmetic and Geo-
metry escorted him into our camp. From that time he has shown that
he can be entirely trusted, and, content with his lot, asks but one favor
of your majesty. All his family is in the sky; Jupiter is his father,
Saturn his grandsire, Mereury his brother, and Venus his bosom friend
and sister. Accustomed to their august society he is ardently desirous of
recovering it, and would wish that like himself they were all received into
your majesty’s common hospitality. To that end it is important to profit
by our success and to pursue the war with vigor; its hazards are at an
end, since Mars is in our power. But I entreat your majesty to remeim-
ber that money constitutes the nerves of war, and to be pleased to order

LIFE AND WORKS OF KEPLER. 101

your treasurer to deliver to your general the sums necessary for the
levy of new troops.”

In commencing the study of the movements of Mars, it was incumbent
on Kepler to ascertain with precision the time of its revolution, which
was not unknown to Tycho, nor even to Ptolemy, who had caleulated it
with nearly equal exactness. It is a problem, in fact, which, notwith-
standing its apparent difficulties, is of easy solution. The imaginary
right line, called the radius vector, which connects the fixed center of
the sun with the movable center of the planet, may be compared to the
hand of a clock, and the time occupied in traversing its vast dial is the
time of the revolution of Mars; the radius vector which unites the earth
with the sun may be regarded as a shorter hand than the preceding
and as turning in the same direction. The movement of the latter is
well known; it makes its circuit ina year. Suppose, now, though it
be not absolutely exact, that the planes of the two orbits coincide; in
other terms that the two hands, of unequal length, move on the same dial-
plate. Placed as we are at the extremity of the smaller, it is easy for
us to note its coincidences with the greater, and the astronomers who
attentively observe the sun and the planet Mars will be able to say at
what moment we are on the line which unites them. It has been long
known that these oppositions of Mars and the sun, or, what amounts to
the same thing, the coincidences of the two hands of the dial, take place
on a mean every 795 days. The longer hand, therefore, makes in 795
days one circuit less than the shorter ; and as the movement of the latter
is known to us, the tyro in astronomy can deduce therefrom the move-
ment, assumed to be uniform ; that is to say, the mean movement of the

other. It is thus that the period of the revolution of Mars has been
found equal to 687 days.

This result being well known to Kepler, he conceived the idea of col-
lating, in the observations of Tycho, those which differed precisely by
that number of days, and for which, consequently, Mars, after having
accomplished a circuit, had returned to the same point of its course.
He thus very ingeniously eluded the difficulty, apparently insurmount-
able, which results from its continual displacement in space. The two
positions of the earth in its orbit being known through the previous
study which had been made of its movement, the line which unites them
becomes the base, at the two extremities of which the inquirer is con-
sidered as placed for the observation of a planet, which, having returned
to the same position, may be regarded as motionless. One of the posi-
tions of Mars will thus be found with the date of two epochs, separated
by an interval of 687 days, on which it has arrived at that place. By
interposing other observations separated from the first by a period of
two or three revolutions of the planet, the same result will be obtained,
a result which furnishes a means of verifying the calculations, and at
the same time, what is still more valuable, a contirmation of the hypoth-
esis adopted for the law of the movement of the earth.

Encouraged by this first success, Kepler recommenced the operation
a great number of times, following the planet step by step, in order, so
to say, to stake out its course through space; but how many points are
needed to determine the geometric nature of a curve? Rigorous geom-
etry answers that, however great the number, it will not sutiice, and
that by any given "points an infinite number of distinct curves of very
different properties may always be made to pass; it is for this reason
that so many tables admirably precise obtained by physicists have never
been found susceptible, notwithstanding their efforts, of being converted
into mathematical laws. The uncertainty and incompetence of science

102 LIFE AND WORKS OF KEPLER.

in presence of such a problem require that patience should come to the
aid of genius. Kepler attempted at first the verification of the hypo-
theses previously admitted, by seeking to place all his pvints on the
same circle; but his efforts were futile; his calculations left errors of
seven to eight minutes subsisting, and he proved that no better could
be done. Bight minutes seem but a small matter; it is about a fourth
of the apparent diameter of the sun; but it is in astronomy especially
that it may be said with truth: He who despises small things shall fall by
little and little. Kepler knew it, and this little error, which he was
unwilling to accept, became considerable by its consequences. “The
Divine Goodness,” he says, ‘has given us in Tycho an observer so exact
that an error of eight minutes is impossible. ” The hypothesis of a cir-
cular orbit was therefore in: admissible; but Kepler does not on that
account despair of victory, nor is his confidence at all shaken. He
fancies that, like the wanton Galatea (in Virgil,) Mars flies to covert,
but in hiding wishes not to escape unseen: .
Et fugit ad salices, et se cupit ante videri.

This is the first line of his fifty-eighth chapter.

After numerous attempts and laborious calculations, Kepler at last
found that an elliptical orbit satisfies all the observations of Tycho;
then it was that, as he, expresses himself in his preface, he regarded
Mars as a prisoner on parole. In a position thenceforth to interrogate
the captive at leisure, he continued to press the inquiry more closely,
by marking the places which the new theory indicated for the future,
and he had the satisfaction of seeing the planet, punctual to the appoint.
ments which he had fixed, respond, so to say, to his summons, as the
stars reply to their Creator in the book of Baruch, which La Fontaine
so much admired: You have called me; behold, I am here!

This complete and persistent conformity furnished the irresistible
evidence of the two celebrated laws which he couid at length announce
with certainty: Mars describes an ellipsis of which the sun occupies a
focus. The areas described by the radius vector are proportional to
the time.

But our statement of the great discovery of Kepler would be incom-
plete did we not particularize two remarkable circumstances which,
coming fortuitously to the aid of his penetration, conducted him with
more facility to the goal from which they might otherwise have turned
him aside.

The movement of the earth, the presumed knowledge of which had
served as a basis for all his caleulations, was theoretically as imperfectly
known as that of Mars. The circle in which he makes our planet move
should be replaced by an ellipsis; but this ellipsis fortunately differs
from a cirele in a sufficiently small degree to render the substitution of
one for the other a matter of indifference for the rate of approximation
to be adopted. Had it been otherwise, the method would have become
inexact, and the numbers, by contradicting one another, would have
warned and discouraged the accurate and conscientious inquirer. The
second circumstance, still more remarkable, perhaps, was the impertec-
tion of the methods of observation and of the instruments of Tycho.
Kepler might affirm, it is true, that an error of eight minutes was
impossible, and this confidence saved everything; had he said as much
of an error of eight seconds, all would have been lost. The internal
organ of judgment, to use an expression of Goethe, would have ceased
to “be in harmony with the external organ of sight, become too delicate
and too precise.

LIFE AND WORKS OF KEPLER. 103

Kepler had, in fact, deceived himself by regarding the important
advantage obtained over the refractory and stubborn planet, as one of
those decisive victories which forever terminate the contest; the great
laws to which he had given expression, eternally true as they are within
due limits, are not rigorous and mathematical. Numerous perturba-
tions cause Mars incessantly to deviate from his path, and release him
from time to time from the frail bonds in which the exulting calculator
thought him entangled forever. For those, it is true, who are enabled
to penetrate more deeply, the irregularities in question, once explained
and foreseen, brilliantly confirm the theory of attraction which they
both enlarge ‘and elucidate; but the premature knowledge of those per-
turbations, a necessary consequence of more precise observations, would
perhaps, by involving the truth in inextricable embarrassments, have
retarded for a long time the progress of celestial nechanics. Kepler
would then have been forced, since the elliptical orbit must have been
rejected on the same grounds with the circular, to seek by direct means
the laws of the disturbed movement, at the risk of exhausting, against
insuperable obstacles, all the resources of his penetration and the
obstinacy of his patience.

Kepler now conceived the idea of penetrating more deeply into the
mysteries of nature and discovering the cause of the movements whose
laws he had revealed. After havi ing destroyed forever the old error of
obligatory circular orbits, he announced the simple and true principle
on which rests to-day all rational mechanics: the natural movement
of a body is always rectilinear; but unfortunately he adds: ‘* Pro-
vided there be not a soul which directs it,” and this restriction mars
everything. Nego ullum motum perennam non rectum a Deo conditum esse,
presidio mentali destitutum. There needs, ace ording to this principle, an
unceasing force to conduct the planet in its cur ved or bit, and this force
resides in the sun. Kepler afiirms this expressly: Solis igitur corpus esse
fontem virtutis que planetas omnes circumagit. It is the doctrine ot
Newton, or to speak more generally, it is truth.

Admirers of Kepler have seen in the two phrases just quoted one of
his highest titles to renown. On this point I cannot agree with them.
Impatient of the mystery of the planetary movements, Kepler has here
not been faithful to the inspirations of his genius; uncertain and irres-
olute, he has attempted on the contrary all kinds of explanations with-
out adopting and vindicating any one ‘of them, and when the true idea
crossed his mind, he was not able to appreciate or employ it.

After having said that the cause of the movement is in the body of
the sun, he supposes that the rotation of that orb is transmitted to the
planets and impels them; he introduces, further, a magnetic force de-
pending on the direction of the axis of the body thus impelled. Views
of an extremely vague kind on the nature of attraction lead him more-
over to believe that it is inversely proportional to the distance, and it
has been remarked that with a very slight modification, his reasoning
would have conducted him to the true law. That does not hinder him
from believing that the planet, being sometimes nearer to the sun, some-
times more distant from it, must be alternately attracted and repelled.
With a contradiction which shows beyond all else the uncertainty of his
ideas, he asks whether the planet, comprising its force within itself, is
not endowed with an active principle which guides as well as moves it,
and without going so far as to accord to it the faculty of reasoning, he
bestows upon it a soul, which, instructed as to the route it must follow
for preserving the e ternal order of the universe, directs and maintains
it therein with unflagging power and exhaustless energy. But how,

104 LIFE AND WORKS OF KEPLER.

upon this hypothesis, does the planet succeed in recognizing its path ?
The expression of its velocity necessarily includes sines, and admitting
even that this soul has a perception of angles, by what mysterious
operation, he asks, could it calculate the sines of those angles? Reeur-
ring, finally, to the idea of a magnetic attraction, he is apprehensive of
a conflict between the magnetic power and the ‘animal power. These
confused reveries in which the genius of Kepler involves itself, make
us involuntarily think of the words we have cited: ‘ Torquebar pane ad
insaniam ;” they add nothing to his glory; it imports little that inter-
polated among these opinions, which are so many errors, he has for once
announced the truth without founding it upon solid reasons. When a
traveler seeks his way in the darkness. of a rayless night, and hesitating
at every step, exclaims anxiously from time to time: Perhaps itis there!
shall we praise his sagacity because he has happened for once to guess
right and has then passed on?

‘It would be unjust, therefore, to claim for Kepler the discovery of
universal attraction, but there is no room for surprise at this. Mechan-
ics, scarcely in its infancy, did not enable him, however clear-sighted,
to test his ideas on motive forces and to transform them into precise:
and calculated theories; the labors of Galileo and of Huyghens were
necessary to prepare even Newton for this, his immortal achievement.

The studies and meditations of Kepler were often interrupted and
constantly troubled by chagrins and embarrassments of every kind.
The heirs of Tycho were entitled to a share in the property of the as-
tronomic tables which Kepler had promised; they complained of his
deferring their publication while he occupied his time with researches
in physies and with empty speculations, while the celebrated astron-
omer Longomontanus constituted himself the organ of their reproaches
and unjust suspicions. Ina letter, at the outset of which he still treats
Kepler as a learned man and a friend of long standing, he accuses him
of indulging an immoderate zeal in the refutation of the theories of Tycho,
of allowing himself to be diverted from the occupations of his office by
the passion for criticising everything, and of breaking, by attacking the
works of his friends, the ties of affection which bound them to him. “If
my engagements had permitted,” says Longomontanus, ‘I would have
gone to Prague expressly to have an explanation with you; but,” he
adds with i increasing acrimony, “of what, after all, my dear Kepler, do
you so much vaunt yourself? All your researches rest on bases estab-
lished by Tycho, in which you have changed nothing. You may per-
suade the ignorant, but cease to maintain absurdities before those who
thoroughly understand the matter. You do not fear to compare the
works of Tycho to the muck of the Augean stables, and, like another
Hercules, announce yourself ready to cleanse them; but no one is
deceived thereby or prefers you to our great astronomer. Your arro-
gance disgusts all sensible people.”

Accusations so remote from truth could not wound Kepler. He
despised all this empty objurgation which re-echoed around him... A
few notes on the margin of the letter from Longomontanus show in
what estimation our philosopher held it. << Pretty abuse,” he writes ;
and again, ‘decent phrases, if you please, to disguise your spleen.”
His reply, in which he declines a useless discussion, display s unbounded
kindliness; it enables us to discern the serenity of his mind and moder.
ation of his character. ‘At the moment when I received your militant
epistle, peace had long been made with the son-in-law of Ty cho. You
and I would resemble, in quarreling, Portuguese and E nglish vessels
which should fight in the Indies when peace was alre ady ratified at

LIFE AND WORKS OF KEPLER. 105

home. . . . . You blame my manner of accusing and refuting. I
yield the point, though I do not think that I have deserved your re-
proaches. From you, my friend, there is no reproof which I do not
accept. I regret that you did not come to Prague; I would have
explained my theories, and you would have returned, I trust, fully satis-
fied. You jeer me. So be it; let us laugh together. But why accuse
me of comparing the works of Tycho w ith the 1 muck-heaps of Augeas ?
You had not my letters under your eye; you would have seen that they
contained nothing of the kind. The name of Augeas has found a lodg-
ment only in your own imagination. Ido not dishonor my é stronomical
labors by scurrilities.” And in concluding: ‘* Adieu,” he says; “ write
to me as soon as possible, to the end that I may know that my letter
has changed your feelings in regard to me.”

The peace with the heirs of Tycho, was but a brief truce; they
addressed themselves to the Emperor himself; but Rudolph, though
incapable as Emperor and King, had an enlightened and sincere love
for the sciences, and put aside all these importunate cavilings. Sur-
rounded, however, with enemies and rebels, the Emperor of Germany
could scarce pay his astronomer some light installments on the con-
siderable amount which he had fixed as his salary, and Kepler, in order
to support his family, was compelled to accept labor of every sort, to
make almanacs, calculate horoscopes, and place his erudition at the
service of every one who could pay for it.

After the death of Rudolph, his successor, Matthias, less favorable
to science and not less embarrassed by the incurable divisions which
distracted the empire, entirely abandoned the observatory of Prague,
so that its labors were interrupted through the failure of the most in-
dispensable supplies. Kepler was constrained to relinquish employ-
ments which no longer yielded him even bread, and to accept the fune-
tions of professor at the University of Linz. It was in this city that
he lost his wife, Barbara. Not long afterward, in order, he said, to give
a mother to his three children, but without atlecting to have m: ide by
doing so any great sacrifice on their account, he married again. After
having compared with much care and subtlety of discrimination, as we
see in one of his letters, the merits and attractions of eleven young per-
sons commended to him by his friends, he espoused Susannah Reut-
linger, orphan daughter of a simple artisan, who had been carefully
educated in one of the most distinguished boarding-schools of the
country. ‘Her beauty, her habits, her form,” he writes, “‘ everything
about her suits me. Patient and industrious, : she will know how to
conduct a modest household, and, though not in her first youth, she is
of an age to learn all that may ’be wanting. ” This marriage was the
oceasion of an important work, in which Kepler shows by a hew example
that his genius, in its cor prehensive survey, embraced all the depart-
ments of science. “As I was about to be married, ” he says in the pre-
face, “and the vintage was abundant and wine che: ap, it was incumbent
on a good father of a family to make provision thereof and replenish
his cellar. Having therefore bought several casks, the vintner, a few
days after, made his appearance with a view to ascertain the price by
me asuring their capacity, and, without making any calculation, plunged
an iron rod into each cask and at once pronounced its contents. ” * Kep-
ler then recalls that on the banks of the Rhine, doubtless because wine
is there more costly, the trouble is taken of emptying the barrel in order
to count exactly the number of quarts it contains. Is the much more
expeditious method practiced in Austria sufficiently exact? ‘This is
a@ question,” says Kepler, ‘‘the study of which is not unworthy of a

106 LIFE AND WORKS OF KEPLER.

geometer newly married;” and, to solve it, he proceeds to discuss pro
blems of geometry which may be accounted among the most difficult
which had been till then undertaken. A singular consequence deduced
is the following:

‘* Under the influence of a good genius who was, no doubt, a geometer,
the constructors of casks have given them precisely the form which, for
a line of the same length as that measured by the gaugers, affords the
greatest possible ¢ capacity ; and, as in the neighborhood of the maximum
the variations are insensible, small accidental deviations exert no appre-
ciable influence on the capacity, the expeditious measurement of which
is consequently sufficiently exact.” This idea respecting maxima, thrown
out in passing, but in such absolute terms, by Kepler, received its devel-
opment twenty years later from Fermat, of whom it is one of the titles
to honor.

Kepler adds: *“* Who will deny that nature alone, without aay process
of reasoning, can teach geometry, when our coopers, guided only by their
eyes and an instinctive sense of ‘the becoming, are ‘thus seen to ‘divine
the form which best comports with an exact measurement?” In con-
formity, at the same time, with his habit of mingling reminiscences of
the classic poets with his scientific labors, he terminates this treatise
on the Art of measuring casks with two verses, imitated from Catullus,
which, freely translated, signify that, when indulging in conviviality,
we should not count the glasses:

Ht quum pocula mille mensi erimus,
Conturbabimus illa, ne sciamus.

This very learned work could be of no assistance to Kepler in the
support of his family, becoming every year more numerous; he was
living, therefore, with great economy and amid continual anxieties for
the future, when afflictions still more poignant came to embitter his
latter years. A letter from his sister apprised him that their mother, at
the advanced age of seventy, had just been cast into prison on an accu-
sation of the crime of sorcery. Ineensed at the impertinent absurdity
of the questions addressed to her by the judge of instruction, Catharine
Kepler had aggravated her position by becoming accuser in turn, and
scornfully reproaching the magistrate with his abuse of office in the
acquisition of sudden wealth. Unhappily, public opinion held her guilty,

and without any precise allegation overwhelmed her with the odium of

all the calamities of the vicinage; especially was general horror excited
when the fact was established ‘that she never looked any one in the face

and had never been seen to shed a tear. These signs of malignity, it is
true, were not conclusive, but as the judges, in impeachments of this
kind, were absolved from the ordinary restraints and had no fear before
their eyes but that of seeming too lenient, the usage was to extort by
torture such confessions as would conduct the victim to the stake.
Kepler hastened to the scene, and for five years of cruel apprehensions
struggled unceasingly for the safety of his mother. Not all the prestige
of his renown, however, nor his earnestness in demonstrating that
‘‘these tests of patience rather than of truth,” as Montaigne expressed
it, involve the judge in a deeper condemnation than that which he pro-
nounces, could avail to hinder the instruments of torture from being
exhibited to the aged Catharine, their uses explained to her, and their
application threatened if her obstinate silence could not be otherwise
overcome. But nothing could shake her constancy; she declared her-
self ready to suffer everything, and her lofty and resigned bearing saved

her finally from the punishment, but not from the “disgrace, which of

course was reflected painfully on her son.

—— a ee

LIFE AND WORKS OF KEPLER. 107

- During these times of trouble and disorder all Germany, agitated, as
it were, by a violent storm, seemed little else than a theater for the evo-
lution of armies and the calamities which accompany them. One of the
most terrible contests which history records, the war of thirty years,
spread desolation and the contagion of deadly maladies through all the
provinces. In this cruel extremity Kepler, who to assist his mother had
renounced the functions of professor, was plunged in an ever-increasing
destitution, against which his ardent spirit struggled without respite.
But a last affliction was in reserve for him: he lost a daughter of the
age of seventeen years. It was now that, bearing up against these dis-
tresses, he sought refuge in those serene regions into which the troubles
of earth do not penetrate, and, casting aside the importunate burden of
obligatory or lucrative labors, devoted all his thoughts to the composi-
tion of a work which, as he tells us, yielded him more pleasure than all
its readers together could -experience in its perusal. Those infinite
Spaces which surround us, whose eternal silence dismayed the sceptical
reason of Pascal, possessed, in the harmonious diversity of movements
which they accomplish, an inexhaustible attraction for the mystical im-
agination of Kepler; and as he thought that he had long heard in the
depth of his soul the perpetual chorus of the mysterious voices of nature,
he endeavored to give it utterance in the strange work entitled, “ Har-
monices mundi, libri quingue,” Five books of the harmony of the world.

He first studies, geometrically, many regular figures, and the analyt-
ical views to which he is led would have sufficed, as one of our most
distinguished colleagues has said, to preserve the work from oblivion.
He reduces his problem to an equation, and interprets with exactness all
its solutions. This, and nothing more, is regarded as within the scope
of science at the present day; but such a result does not satisfy Kepler.
“It is proved,” he says, “that the sides of regular polygons must ne-
cessarily remain unknown, being, from their nature, undiscoverable.
Nor is there anything surprising in the fact that what occurs in the arch-
etype of the world cannot be expressed in the conformation of its parts.”
Proceeding afterward to the consideration of human music, and recalling
the idea of Pythagoras, who, we are told, compared the planets to the
seven chords of the lyre, he aims to show how man, imitating the Cre-
ator, by a natural instinct is led, as regards the notes of his voice, to
make the same choice and observe the same proportion which God has
seen fit to introduce into the general harmony of the celestial move-
ments; the same thought of the Creator being thus translated into all
his designs, of which one may serve as the interpreter and figure for
another.

Seeking harmonies wherever they are possible, Kepler devotes a
chapter to politics: “‘ Cyrus,” he says, “having seen in childhood a man
of tall stature clothed in short tunic, and near him a dwarf habited ina
long and flowing robe, was of opinion that they should exchange gar-
ments in order that each might have what suited his size; but his
master pronounced that each should be left in possession of what be-
longed to him. The two opinions might be reconciled by decreeing that
the first should, after the exchange, give to the dwarf a certain sum of
money. very one,” adds Kepler, ‘clearly sees by this example that a
geometric proportion may be harmonic, such is 1, 2, 4, or the beneficial
arrangement which gives to the tallest the longest robe. An arithmet-
ical proportion may also be harmonic: such is 2, 3, 4, or the useful ex-
change which allows not the dwarf, possessing a long robe, to lose his
property, but enables him to change it into money which he may apply
to a better purpose.”

108 LIFE AND WORKS OF KEPLER.

This passage, which I transiate as closely as pessible, and I need not
say without well comprehending its meaning, will suffice, I think, to
give an idea of the chapter on politics. The last chapter of the work is
oceupied in determining precisely the nature of the planetary concords.
Saturn and Jupiter constitute the bass, Mars the tenor, Venus the con-
tralto, and Mercury the falsetto.

These obscure and chimerical ideas, in which the mind of Kepler
wearies and loses itself, seem the profitless and vain amusement of an
imagination released from the control of reason; we read on with sad-
ness, without venturing to sound the mysterious depths of that great
intellect led, by an inspiration without light, into the pure domain of
phantasy. But in the last pages of the book the genius of the inspired
dreamer awakens of a sudden to dictate to him those bold and august
expressions which have become not less immortal than the discovery
which they herald:

‘“‘Kight months since,” he says, “I had a glimpse of the first ray of
light; six months since I saw the dawn; a few days ago only did the
sun arise in its transcendent glory.. I give myself up to my enthusiasm,
and venture to brave my fellow-mortals by the ingenuous avowal that
I have stolen the golden vessels of the Egyptians in order to raise a
tabernacle to my God far from the confines of Egypt. If I am par-
doned I shall rejoice at it; if it is made a reproach to me I shall bear
it; the die is cast. I write my book; whether it be read by the present
age or by posterity imports little; it may well await a reader; has not
God waited six thousand years for an observer of his works?”

Then, recurring to the precise language of science, he announces the
celebrated law which, binding together all the elements of our system,
connects the greater axes of the planetary orbits with the time of their
revolutions. Nothing can be more unexpected than this vivid light,
which seems to spring out of chaos; the astonished reader asks himself
how it is that these precise rules and mathematical proportions appear
all of a sudden in a world which Kepler seems to have been traversing
as in a dream; how such abrupt clearness succeeds such profound ob-
security, such pure melody the uncertain harmonies which precede it.
There is nothing to-day to inform us. Kepler announces his law; verifies
it, without communicating to us, as was his wont, the history of his
ideas; and then, transported with the full and entire possession of one
of the secrets longest and most ardently sought, he breaks forth into
raptures of thanksgiving, and, not content with the common language
of humanity, borrows the majestic symphonies of the Psalmist: “The
wisdom of the Lord is infinite, so also are His glory and His power. Ye
heavens, sing His praises! Sun, moon, and planets, glorify Him in your
ineffable language! Celestial harmonies, and all ye who comprehend
His marvelous works, praise Him! And thou, my soul, praise thy Cre-
ator! It is by Him and in Him that all exists. That which we know not
is comprised in Him, as well as our vain science. To Him be praise,
honor, and glory throughout eternity!”

And in a note not less animated, and more touching, perhaps, than
the text, he adds: “Glory also to my old master, Meestlin!”

The Emperor Matthias was dead. His successor was his nephew
Ferdinand, of Austria, whose pious energy, intent on extirpating the
Protestant worship in Styria, had, twenty years before, troubled the life
of Kepler. His zeal had not relaxed, and the persecution was rekindled
with inereasing violence: “Whither shall I betake myself?” writes
Kepler to a friend. ‘Should I seek a province already devastated, or
one of those which will not fail soon to be so?” He had fortunately

—— << )

LIFE AND WORKS OF KEPLER. 109

preserved his friendly relations with the most distinguished of the
Jesuits, and, as their influence over the mind of Ferdinand was un-
bounded, they managed, when Wallenstein was named duke of Fried-
land, to have an article introduced into the decree which might secure
Kepler’s safety by attaching him to the duke’s service; it was also stip-
ulated that the arrears of his salary as imperial astronomer should be
paid out of the revenues of the duchy. But new difficulties soon arese:
the gentle-spirited and affectionate Kepler, separated from his wife and
children, could not become reconciled to the tumult and disorder of the
camps. Little fitted for the calling of a courtier, he was deficient in
the assiduity and pliancy necessary to win the favor of a haughty and
imperious master, whose protection was but a disguised servitude.
Wallenstein, seeing with extreme impatience the little faith reposed in
the language of the stars by him whom he considered as his astrologer,
did not long defer the dismissal of Kepler, replacing him by the Vene-
tian, Seni, whose delusive and accommodating science flattered, to the
last, the presumptuous ambition of a soldier who, as Schiller says,
“could searcely tolerate that his will was not authoritative even in the
skies.”

Kepler feared not, in his weakness, to dare the resentment of the all-
powerful man who had imposed his laws on the Emperor himself; he
demanded with pertinacity the payment of the sum stipulated in the
imperial decree; but his strength was exhausted in vain in the numerous
journeys rendered necessary by the prosecution of his claim, and he
died at Ratisbon, in 1629, at the age of fifty-eight years.

By the union of the most opposite qualities, Kepler occupies in the
history of science an altogether exceptional place. By evineing, from
his first steps in the study of astronomy, the presumptuous hope of
deciphering the enigma of nature, and of elevating himself by pure
reasoning to a knowledge of the esthetic views of the Creator, he
seemed at first to wander with an insensate audacity, and without find-
ing soundings or shore, over that vast and agitated ocean where Des-
cartes, pursuing the same object, was destined soon to lose himself
beyond retrieval; but, in the ardent and sincere aspirations of his soul
toward truth, if the curiosity of Kepler disquiets and impels him, it
never delivers him over to the blindness of self-conceit. Regarding as
certain only what had been demonstrated, he was always ready to cor-
rect his determinations by the sacrifice of his most cherished discoveries
as soon as a severe and laborious examination refused to confirm them ;
but what sublime emotions, what utterances of enthusiasm and exulta-
tion, when success has justified his temerity, and by persistent efforts
he has attained his end! The noble pride which elevates and sometimes
inflates his language has nothing in common with the vain-glorious
satisfaction of a vulgar discoverer. Confident and daring when he is
seeking, Kepler becomes modest and simple when what he seeks is
found, and, in the transports of triumph, it is to God alone that he
ascribes the praise. His soul, equally comprehensive and exalted, was
without ambition as without vanity; he coveted neither the honors nor
applause of men; affecting no superiority over the cultivators of sci-
ence, obscure as they now are, to whom his correspondence is addressed,
he never ceases to express the same respectful deference for the aged
Meestlin, whose sole glory in our eyes is that of having formed such a
disciple. When, after having mastered his greatest discoveries, it be-
came necessary for him to descend every day from the most exalted
contemplations to struggle with the vulgar necessities of life, he never
complained at seeing his merit overlooked or disputed, and always

110 LIFE AND WORKS OF KEPLER.

accepted unaffectedly, without murmuring or repining, the labors and
employments, whatever they might be, which would aid him in the
sustenance of his family.

The laws of Kepler are the solid and impregnable foundation of modern
astronomy, the immutable and eternal rule of the displacement of the
heavenly bodies in space; no other discovery, perhaps, has better justi-
fied the words of the sage: He who increases knowledge increases labor ;
no other has given birth to more numerous researches and greater dis-
coveries; but the long and laborious route which led to it is ‘known but
to the few. None of the numerous writings of Kepler are regarded as
classical; his renown alone will be immorta! ; it is written in the heay-
ens; the progress of science can neither diminish nor obscure it, and
the planets, by the always constant succession of their regular move-
ments, will proclaim it from age to age.

[Notr.—Nothing is wanting to the completeness of the above memoir; but, having
been addressed in the first instance to an assemblage of men of science, the learned
author has probably thought it superfluous to give so distinct and formal a statement
of the three laws, as they are called, of Kepler, (Regule Kepleri,) as it may be convenient
for the general reader to have beneath his eye. For this reason, the following brief
exposition of those celebrated astronomical axioms is here transcribed from the Eney-
clopedia Americana.—Tr.

“ The first of these laws is that the planets do not move, as Copernicus had imagined,
in circles, but in ellipses, of which the sun is in one of the foci. For this, Kepler was
indebted to the observations which Tycho had made on the planet Mars, whose eccen-
tricity is considerable, and agrees particularly with the rule; in determining which
Kepler went through an indescribably laborious analysis. The second law is, that an
imaginary straight line from the sun to the planets, radius vector, always de scribes
equal sectors in ‘equal times. By this rule Kepler calculated his tables, imagining the
whole plane of revolution divided into a number of such sectors, and, from this, he
investigated their respective angles at the sun. This was called Kepler’ 8 ’ problem. The
third law teaches that, in the motion of the planets, the squares of the times of revo-
lution are as the cubes of the mean distances from the sun; one instance of the appli-

cation of which law, in the want of other means, is in the determination of the distance
of the planet Herschel from the sun, it having been ascer tained that its time of revolu-
tion amounts to a little more than eighty-two years.”

EULOGY ON THOMAS YOUNG.

By M. ARAGO.

READ AT A PUBLIC SITTING OF THE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, NOVEMBER
26, 1832.

[The previous eulogies which have been published in the appendix to the Smithsonian
report, have been translated for the Institution from the original French. The follow-
ing eulogy, however, is reprinted from a translation by the late Baden Powell, pro-
fessor of natural philosophy in the university of Oxford.—J. H.]

GENTLEMEN: It seems as if death, who is incessantly thinning our
ranks, directed his stroke with a fatal predilection against that class of
our body, so limited in number, our foreign associates. In a short space
of time the Academy has lost, from the lists of its members, Herschel,
whose bold ideas on the structure of the universe have acquired every
year more of probability; Piazzi, who, on the first day of the present
century, presented our solar system with a new planet; Watt, who, if
not the inventor of the steam-engine, the inventor having been a
Frenchman,* was at least the creator of so many admirable con-
trivances by the aid of which the little instrument of Papin has become
the most ingenious, the most useful, the most powerful means of apply-
ing industry; Volta, who has been immortalized by his electric pile;
Davy, equally celebrated for the decomposition of the alkalies and for
the invaluable safety-lamp of the miner; Wollaston, whom the English
called the Pope, because he never proved fallible in any of his numerous
experiments, or of his subtile theoretical speculations; Jenner, lastly,
whose discovery I have no need to extol in the presence of fathers of
families. To pay to such of its distinguished ornaments the legitimate
tribute of the regret, of the admiration, and of the gratitude of all
men devoted to study, is one of the principal duties which the Academy
imposes on those whom it invests with the responsible honor of speak-
ing in its name in these solemn meetings. To pay this grand debt, with
the least possible delay, seems an obligation not less imperative. Gen-
tlemen, the native Academician always leaves behind him, among the
colleagues with whom he has been united by the election of the Academy,
many confidants of his secret thoughts, of the origin and course of his
researches, of the vicissitudes which he has gone through. The foreign
associate, on the contrary, resides far away from us; he rarely joins in
our meetings; we know nothing of his life, his habits, his character,
unless from the reports of travelers. When several years have passed
over such fugitive documents, if we still find any traces of them, we
cannot reckon on their accuracy. Literary intelligence which has not

found a record in print is a sort of coin the circulation of which alters

* This is not the place to enter on the controversy respecting the invention of the
steam-engine. It may, however, be remarked that we may be well content to allow it
to remain a question of degree. Every tea-kettle is a steam-engine. A very slight and
obvious contrivance will enable steam to raise a piston. Let any one define what he
means precisely by the term steam-engine, and the question of priority of invention
will be easily settled.—TRANSLATOR.

te EULOGY ON THOMAS YOUNG.

at the same time the impression, the weight, and the inscription.
These reflections tend to show why the names of such men as Herschel,
Davy, or Volta ought to be mentioned in our assemblies before those
of many celebrated Academicians whom death has snatched from our
more immediate circle. Moreover, I hope that after what I shail be
able to adduce, even in a few minutes, no one will be able to deny that
the man of universal science, whose life I am about to describe, and
whose labors I shall analyze, has some real claims to preference.

BIRTH OF YOUNG—HIS CHILDHOOD—FIRST ENTRANCE ON HIS SCIEN-
TIFIC CAREER.

Thomas Young was born at. Milverton, in the county of Somerset,
June 13, 1773, of parents who belonged to the Society of Friends. He
passed his earliest years at the house of his maternal grandfather, Mr.
Robert Davies, of Minehead, whom the active business of commerce
had not been able to divert from the cultivation of classical literature.
Young could read fluently at the age of two years. His memory was
extraordinary. In the intervals of his attendance at the house of a
village schoolmistress in the neighborhood of Minehead, at four years
old, he had learned by heart a number of English authors, and even
several Latin poems, which he could repeat from beginning to end, al-
though he did not understand a word of the language. The example
of Young, like many others ot celebrity recorded by biographers, may,
then, contribute to keep up the common prepossession of so many good
fathers of families, who see in certain lessons, according as they may be
recited without faults on the one hand, or are badly, learned on the
other, infallible indications of an eternal ‘mediocrity in the one case, or
the beginning of a glorious career in the other. It would, indeed, be
far from our object if these historical notices should tend to strengthen
such prejudices. Thus, without wishing to weaken the vivid and pure
emotions which every year the distribution of prizes excites, we may
remind some, in order that they may not abandon themselves to dreams
which they w rill not realize, and other rs, in order to fortify them against
discouragement, that Picus de Mirandola, the phenix of learners of all
ages and countries, became in mature age an insignificant writer; that
Newton, that powerful intellect of whom Voltaire in some well-known
lines asks the angels whether they are not jealous—the great Newton,
we observe, made but indifferent progress in the classes of his school;
that study had for him no attractions; that the first time he felt the
wish to labor, it was merely to take the place of a turbulent school-
fellow who, by reason of his rank in the school, was seated ona form above
him and annoyed him by kicks; that at the age of twenty-two he was
a candidate tor a fellowship at Cambridge, and was beaten by one Robert
Uvedale, whose name but for this circumstance would have remained
to this day perfectly unknown; that. Fontenelle, lastly, was more inge-
nious than exact when he applied to Newton the words of Lucan, “Ttis
not given to men to see the Nile feeble and at its source.”

At the age of six years Young entered under a teacher at Bristol,*
whose mediocrity was a fortunate circumstance for him. ‘This, gentle-
men, is no paradox; the pupil, not being able to accommodate himself to
the slow and limited steps which his master took, became bis own in-
structor. It is thus that those brilliant qualities developed themselves
which too much aid would certainly have enervated.

*The master, whose name was King, at first kept school at Stapleton, and thence
removed to Townend, both near Bristol. Young’s acquaintance with the surveyor
commenced after he quitted that school. (See Peacock’s Life, p. 5.)—TRANSLATOR.

]
Z

EULOGY ON THOMAS YOUNG. Fis

Young was only eight years of age when chance, whose influence in
the events of man’s life is more considerable than our vanity often allows
us to admit, took him from studies exclusively literary and revealed his
real vocation. A surveyor of much merit in the neighborhood took a
great fancy for him; he took him out into the country sometimes on
holidays, and permitted him to amuse himself with his instruments of
surveying and natural philosophy. The operations by whose aid the
young scholar saw the distances and elevations of inaccessible objects de-
termined powerfully struck his imagination; but soon several chap-
ters of a mathematical dictionary made all that seemed: mysterious in
the matter disappear. From this moment, in his Holyday excursions,
the quadrant took the place of the kite. In the evening, by way of
amusement, the engineering novice calculated the heights measured
in the morning.

From the age of nine to fourteen Young went to a school at Compton,
in Dorsetshire, kept by Mr. Thomson, whose memory he always cher-
ished. During these five years all the pupils of the school were occupied
exclusively, according to the practice of English schools, in a minute
study of the principal writers of Greece and Rome.* Young continually
maintained his place at the head of his class, and yet he learned at the
same time French, Italian, Hebrew, Persian, and Arabic; French and
Italian, from the chance object of satisfying the curiosity of a school-
fellow, who possessed some works printed at Paris, of which he was
desirous to know the contents ; Hebrew, in order to read the Old Testa-
ment in the original; Persian and Arabic, with the view of deciding a
question started at table, whether there were as marked differences
between the Oriental languages as between those of Europe.

I perceive the necessity of mentioning that I write from authentic
documents before I add that, during what might appear so fabulous a
progress in languages, Young, during his walks at Compton, was seized
- with a violent passion for botany; and that being destitute of the
means of magnifying objects of which naturalists make use when they
wish to examine the delicate parts of plants, he undertook to construct
a microscope himself, without any other guide than a description of the
instrument ina work by Benjamin Martin; that to arrive at this diffi-
cult result it was necessary to acquire some skill in the art of turning;
that the algebraic formulas of the optician having presented to him
symbols of which he had no idea, (those of fluxions,) he was for a mo-
ment in great perplexity; but not being willing at last to give up the
enlargement of his pistils and stamens, he found it more simple to learn
the differential calculus, in order to comprehend the unlucky formula,
than to send to the neighboring town to buy a microscope. The ardent
activity of the juvenile Young had led him to exertions beyond the
strength of his constitution. At the age of fourteen his health was
sadly altered. Various indications excited fears of a disease of the
lungs; but'these menacing symptoms at length yielded to the preserip-
tions of art, and the anxious cares of which this maiady made him the
object on the part of all his relations.

It is rare among our neighbors on the other side of the Channel that

“It would appear from Young’s own account that afar more liberal system was
really pursued in this school. Also, the praises of the usher, Josiah Jeffery, should
never be omitted, who initiated Young at leisure hours into a variety of experimental
and practical subjects, which contributed materially to his future success. (See Pea-
cock’s Life, p. 6.)—TRANSLATOR.

t The reader will of course make due allowance in this and many other passages for
the ideas of a foreigner as to English habits. The anecdote of Young’s penmanship
which follows is ditierently given by Dr. Peacock, p. 12. —TRANSLATOR. |

8s

114 EULOGY ON THOMAS YOUNG,

a rich person, intrusting his son to the care of a private instructor, does
not seek for him a fellow- pupil of the same age among these who have
been remarkable for their success. It was in this capacity that Young
became, in 1787, the fellow-pupil of the grandson of Mr. David Barclay,
of Youngsbury, in Hertfordshire. On the day of his first appearance
there Mr. Barclay, who doubtless felt the right of showing himself some-
what exacting with a scholar of fourteen years of age, gave him several
phrases to copy, with the view of ascertaining his ‘skill in penmanship.
Young, perhaps somewhat humiliated by this kind of trial, demanded,
in order to satisfy him, permission to retire to another room; this ab-
sence being prolonged beyond the time which the transcription would
have required, Mr. Barclay began to joke on the want of dexterity he
must evince, when at length he reéntered the room. The copy was
remarkably beautiful; no writing-master could have executed it better.
As to the delay, there was no longer any need to speak of it, for *“‘the
little Quaker,”* as Mr. Barclay called him, had not been content to tran-
seribe the Eaptish phrases set him; he had also translated them into
nine different languages.

The preceptor, or, as they call him on the other side of the Channel,
the tutor, who had to direct the two scholars at Youngsbury, was a young
man of much distinction, at that time entirely occupied in perfecting
himself in the knowledge of the ancient languages. He was the future
authort of Calligr aphia Greca. He was not long , however, in perceiv-
ing the immense superiority of one of his pupils, and he recognized,
with praiseworthy modesty, that in their common studies the true tutor

vas not always he who bore that title. At this period Young drew up,
continually referring to the original sources, a detailed analysis of the
numerous systems of philosophy which were professed in the different
schools of Greeee.t His friends spoke of this work with the most lively
admiration. I know not whether the public is destined ever to see it.
At all events, it was not without influence on the life of its author; for,
in giving himself up to an attentive and minute examination of the sin-
eularities (to use a mild term) with which the conceptions of the Greek
philosophers teemed, Young perceived that the attachment which he re-
tained to the principles of the sectin which he was born became weakened.
However, he did not separate entirely from it till some years afterward,
during his sojourn in Edinburgh.

The little studious colony at Youngsbury quitted the country during
some months in the winter, to reside in London. During one of these
excursions Young met with a teacher worthy of him. He was initiated
into chemistry by Dr. Higgins,§ whose name I can the less dispense with
mentioning, since, in spite of his earnest and frequent remonstrances,
there was an obstinate disinclination to acknowledge the share which
legitimately belonged to him in the establishment of the theory of defi-
nite proportions, one of the most valuable discoveries of modern chem-
istry.

Dr. Brocklesby, the maternal uncle of Young, one of the most popu-
lar physicians in London at the time, justly confident of the distinguished
success of the young scholar, communicated occasionally his productions
to men of science and literature , and to men of the world, whose appro-

*'This seems improbable, as Mr. Barclay’s family were of the same sect.—TRANSLATOR.

+ Mr. Hodgkin.

{ This work is not mentioned by Dr. Peacock.—TRANSLATOR.

§ The share borne by Dr. Higgins in the suggestion or discovery of the atomic theory
has been variously estimated. “For an apparently pertectly fair view of the case, the
reader is referred to Dr. Daubeny’s Atomic Theory, p. 33.—TRANSLATOR.

EULOGY ON THOMAS YOUNG. 115

bation might have greatly flattered his vanity. Young thus found him-
self at an early period in personal relation with those celebrated men,
Burke and Wyndham of the House of Commons, and the Duke of Rich-
mond. The last nobleman, then master of the ordnance, offered him
the place of private secretary. The two other statesmen, although they
wished him also to follow a career connected with the public adminis-
tration, yet advised him first to go through a course of law at Cam-
bridge.* With such powerful patrons, Young might reckon on one of
those lucrative offices which persons in power are not slow to bestow on
those who will spare them all study and application, and daily furnish
them with the means of shining at the court, the council, the senate, with-
out compromising their vanity by committing any indiscretion. Young,
happily, had a consciousness of his powers; he perceived in himself the
germ of those brilliant discoveries which have since adorned his name;
he preferred the laborious but independent career of the man of letters
to the golden chains which they exhibited so temptingly to his eyes.
Honor be to him for such a determination! May his example serve as a
lesson to somany young men whom political ambition diverts from a
more noble vocation to transform themselves into mere officials, but who
might learn, like Young, to turn their eyes to the future, and not sacri-
fice to the futile and tr ansitory satisfaction of being surrounded by per-

sons soliciting favors the solid testimonies of esteem and gratitude which
the public rarely fails to offer to intellectual labors of a high order; and
if it happen in the illusions of inexperience that they should think too
heavy a sacrifice imposed on them, we would ask them to take a lesson
of ambition from the mouth of a great captain, whose ambition knew no
bounds; to meditate on the words which the First Consul, the victor of
Maren @0, addressed to one of our most honored colle: agues (M. Lemer-
cier) on the day when he, quite in accordance with his char: acter, had
just refused a place then of great importance, that of councilor of state:

‘‘T understand, sir, you love liter rature, and you wish to belong alto-
gether to it. I have ‘nothing to oppose to this resolution. Yes; I. my-
self, if I had not become a general-in-chief and the instrument of the
fate of a great nation, do you think [ would have gone through the offices
and the salons to put myself in dependence on whoever might happen
to be in power in the position of minister or ambassador ? ‘No! nos Ti
would have taken to the exact sciences. I would have made my way in
the path of Galileo and Newton; and, since I have succeeded constantly
in my great enterprises, truly I should have been equally distinguished
by my scientific labors. I should have left behind me the remembrance
of great discoveries. No other kind of glory would have tempted my
ambition.”

Young made choice of the profession of medicine, in which he hoped
to find fortune and independence. His medical studies were commenced
in London under Baillie and Cruikshank. He continued them at
Edinburgh, where at that time Drs. Black, Munroe, and Gregory were
in the height of their celebrity. It was only at GOttingen in the fol-
lowing year (1795) that he took the degree of doctor. “Before going

*“Mr. Wyndham advised him not to accept the appointment, and recommended
him rather to proceed to Cambridge and study the law.’ (Peacock’s Life, p. 45.)—
TRANSLATOR.

+The author has omitted that, in 1797, Young entered as a fellow-commoner at
Jimanuel College, Cambridge, and in due time eraduated there regularly in medicine,
a step at that time necessary for his admission to the College of Physicians, in order to
enable him to practice as a physician in London. (See Peacock’s Life, p. 115.) In the
university he was familiarly known by the name of “ Phenomenon Young.”—TRans-
LATOR.

116 EULOGY ON THOMAS YOUNG.

through this form, so empty, yet always so imperatively exacted, Young,
hardly beyond the period of youth, had become known to the scientific
world by a note relative to the gum ladanum; by the controversy which
he sustained against Dr. Beddoes on the subject of Crawford’s theory
of heat; by a memoir on the habits of spiders, and the theory of Fabri-
cius, the whole enriched with erudite researches; and, lastly, by an in-
quiry, on which I will enlarge on account of its great merit, the unusual
favor with which it wasreceived at its first production, and the neglect
into which it has since fallen.
The Royal Society of London enjoys throughout the whole kingdom

a vast and deserved consideration. The Philosophical Transactions
which it publishes have been for more than a century and a half the
glorious archives in which British genius holds it an honor to deposit
its titles to the recognition of posterity. The wish to see his name in-
seribed in the list of fellow-laborers in this truly national collection be-
side the names of Newton, Bradley, Priestley, and Cavendish, has
always been among the students of the celebrated universities of Cam-
bridge, Oxford, Edinburgh, and Dublin* the most anxious as well as
legitimate object of emulation. Here is always the highest point of
ambition of the man of science; he does not aspire to it “unless on oc-

casion of some capital inv estigation ; and the first attempts of his youth

came before the public by a channel better suited to their importance, by
the aid of one of those numerous periodicals which, among our neighbors,
have contributed so much to the progress of human knowledge. Such
is the ordinary course ; such, consequently, ought not to have been the
course followed by Young. At the age of twenty he addressed a paper
to the Royal Society. The council, composed of the most eminent
men of the society, honored this paper with their suffrage, and it soon
after appeared in the Philosophical Transactions. The author treated in
it of the subject of vision.

THEORY OF VISION.

The problem was anything but new. — Plato and his disciples, four cen-
turies before our era, were occupied with it; but at the present day their
conceptions can hardly be cited but to justify the celebrated and little
flattering sentence of Cicero: “ There is nothing so absurd that it has
not been said by some of the philosophers.”

After passing over an interval of two thousand years, we must from
Greece transport ourselves to Italy, if we should find any ideas on the
wonderful subject of vision which merit the remembrance of the histo-

rian, where, without having ever, like the philosopher of Aigina,
proudly closed their school against all who were not geometers, careful
experimenters marked out the sole route by which “it is permitted to
man to arrive without false steps at the conquest of unknown regions of
truth; there Maurolycus and Porta proclaimed to their contempor aries
that the problem of discovering what is presents sufficient difficulties to
render it at least somewhat presumptuous to cast ourselves upon the
world of intelligences to search after what ought to be ; there these two
celebrated fellow-countrymen of Archimedes commenced the-explana-
tion of the functions of the different media of which the eye is com-
posed, and showed themselves contented, as were at a later period
Galileo and Newton, not to ascend above those kinds of knowledge
which are capable of being elaborated or corrected by the aid of our

* And, it might be added, probably to a far more numerous class not of those bodies.—
TRANSLATOR.

EULOGY ON THOMAS YOUNG. DLT

senses, and which have been stigmatized under the porticoes of the
Academy by the contemptuous ‘epithet of simple opinion. Such is
always human weakness that, after having followed with a rare success
the principal deviations which light ander goes in passing through the
cornea and the crystalline, Mauroly cus and Port ta, when very near attain-
ing their object, stopped shor t, as ‘if before an insurmountable difficulty,
when it was objected to their theory that objects ought to appear in an
inverted position if the images formed in the eye are themselves in-
verted. The adventurous spirit of Kepler, on the contrary, did not re-
main embarrassed. it was from psychology that the attack originated ;
it was equally from psychology, clear, precise, and mathematical, that he
overthrew the objection. Under the powerful hand of this great man
the eye became, definitively, the simple optical apparatus known by the
name of the camera-obscura ; the retina is the ground of the picture,
the crystalline replaces the ol: uss lens.*

This assimilation, gener rally adopted since Kepler’s time, remains open
only to one difficulty ; the camera- obscura, like an ordinary telescope, re-
quires to be br ought ‘to a proper focus, according to the distance of ob-
jects. When objects are near, it is indispensable | to increase the distance
of the picture from the lens ; a contrary movement becomes necessary
as they become more distant. To preserve to the images all the dis-
tinctness which is desirable, without changing the position of the sur-
face which receives them, is therefore impossible ; at least, always sup-
posing the curvature of the lens to remain invariable, that it cannot
increase when we look at near objects, or diminish for distant objects.

-Among the different modes of obtaining distinct images, nature has
assuredly made a choice, since man can see with great distinctness at
very differ ent distances. The question thus put has afforded a wide
subject of remark ree discussion to physicists, and great names have
figured in the debat Kepler and Descartes held that the whole ball
of the eye is Se Ge of being elongated and flattened. Porter-
field and Zinn contended that the ery stalline lens was mov able, and that
it could place itself nearer to or further from the retina, as might be
needed. Jurin and Musschenbreeck believed in a change in the curva-
ture of the cornea. Sauvages and Bourdelot supposed also that a
change in curvature took place, but only in the erystalline lens. Such
is also the system of Young. Two memoirs, which our colleague suc-
cessively submitted to the Royal Society of London, include the com-
plete development of his views.

In the first of these the question is treated almost entirely in an
anatomical point of view. Young there demonstrates, by the aid of
direct observations of a very delicate kind, that the crystalline is en-
dowed with a fibrous or muscular constitution, admirably adapted to
all sorts of changes of form. This discovery overthrew the only solid
objection which had, till then, opposed tlie hypothesis of Sauvages and
Bourdelot. That hypothesis had no sooner been announced than it had
been attacked by Hunter. Thus this celebrated anatomist aided the
cause of the young experimenter by the attention drawn to the subject,

*The author seems to have left this illustration incomplete. Kepler’s suggestion of
the identity of the eye with the camera-obscura, after all, does not touch the “difficulty
of the inversion of the image. Nor has it been considered as completely cleared up even
till much later times. The solution w hich, it is believed, is now most generally as-
sented to is this: It is a law of our constitution, dependent on some phy siological
principle unknown, that we refer impressions on the retina to objects existing, or be-
lieved to exist, in the rectilinear direction from which the impression comes to the retina.
Consequently, as rays cross at the pupil, falling on the upper part of the retina a ray
suggests an object lying below, or an inverted image suggests an erect object.

118 EULOGY ON THOMAS YOUNG.

while his labors were as yet unpublished, and not even communicated
to any one. However, this point of the discussion soon lost its impor-
tance. The learned Leuwenhoek, armed with his powerful microscopes,
traced out and gave figures of the muscular fibres in all their ramifica-
tions in the crystalline of a fish. To awaken the attention of the
scientific world, tired with these long debates, nothing less was neces-
sary than the high renown of the two new members of the Royal
Society who entered the lists—one a celebrated anatomist; the other
the most eminent instrument-maker of whom England could boast.
These jointly presented to the Royal Society a memoir, the fruit of their
combined labors, intended to establish the complete unalterability of
the form of the crystalline. The scientific world was not prepared to
admit that Sir Everard Home and Ramsden together could possibly
make inaccurate experiments, or be deceived in micrometrical measure-
ments. Young himself could not believe it, and in consequence he did
not hesitate publicly to renounce his theory. This readiness to own
himself vanquished, so rare in a young man of twenty-five, and
especially on the occasion of a first publication, was, in this instance,
an act of modesty without example. Young, however, had really
nothing to retract. In 1800, after having withdrawn his former dis-
avowal, our colleague developed anew the theory of the change of form
of the erystalline in a memoir against which, from that time, no serious
objection has been brought.

Nothing could be more simple than his line of argument; nothing
more ingenious than his experiments. Young, in the first instance, got
rid of the hypothesis of a change of curvature in the cornea by the aid
of microscopic observations, which were of a kind to render the most
minute variations appreciable. We can say more: he placed the eye in
special conditions where changes of curvature in the cornea would have
been without effect ; he plunged the eye in water, and proved that there
was still the same faculty of seeing at different distances preserved.
The second of three possible suppositions, that of an alteration in the
dimensions of the whole organ, was again overthrown by a multitude
of objections and of experiments which it was difficult to resist.

The problem thus seemed finally settled. Who does not see, in fact,
that if, of three only possible solutions, two are put out of the question
the third is necessarily established; that if the radius of curvature of
the cornea and the longitudinal diameter of the whole eye are invariable,
it must follow that the form of the crystalline js invariable? Young,
however, did not stop there; he proved directly, by the minute phe-
nomena of the changes in the images, that the crystalline really changes
its curvature; he invented, or at least gave perfection to, an instrument
susceptible of being employed even by the least intelligent persons, and
those least accustomed to delicate experiments, and armed with this
new means of investigation, he assured himself that those individuals
in whose eyes the crystalline has been removed.in the operation for
cataract did not enjoy the faculty of seeing equally distinctly at all dis-
tances.*

* This instrument, called an “optometer,” was originally proposed by Dr. Porterfield, .
and consists of a simple and ingenious contrivance for ascertaining the focal length of
the eye, which varies so greatly in different individuals, and often in two eyes of the
same person, and in the same eye under different conditions. Dr. Young greatly im-
proved upon the original construction. It will be founu described in the Lectures on
Natural Philosophy, vol. ii, p.576. The principle of it consists in measuring accurately
the distance of an object from the eye at which perfectly distinct vision is obtained,
and which is determined when the object seen through two small apertures close to
the eye presents only a single image, while in other positions it shows two images.—
TRANSLATOR.

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EULOGY ON THOMAS YOUNG. EES

We might fairly be astonished that this admirable theory of vision,
this combination so well framed when the most ingenious reasonings
and experiments lent each other mutual support, did not occupy that
distinguished rank in the science of the country which it deserved.
But to explain this anomaly, must we necessarily recur to a sort of
fatality? Was Young then really, as he sometimes described himself
with vexation, a new Cassandra, proclaiming incessantly important
truths which his ungrateful contemporaries refused to receive? We
should be less poetical but more true, it seems to me, if we remarked
that the discoveries of Young were not known to the majority of those
who would have been able to appreciate them. The physiologists did
not read his able memoir, because in it he presumes upon more mathe-
matical knowledge than is usually attained in that branch.

The physicists neglected it in their turn, because in oral lectures or
printed works the public demands little more at the present day than
superficial notions, which an ordinary mind can penetrate without diffi-
culty. In all this, whatever our distinguished colleague may have
believed, we perceive nothing out of the ordinary course. Like all those
who sound the greatest depths of science, he was misunderstood by the
multitude; but the applauses of some of the select few ought to have
recompensed him. In such a question we ought not to count the suf-
frages ; it is more wise to weigh them.*

INTERFERENCES.

The most beautiful discovery of Young, that which will render his

name imperishable, was suggested to him by an object in appearance

very trivial—by those soap-bubbles so brilliantly colored, so light,
which when just blown out of a pipe become the sport of every imper-

*Arago, in assigning the probable causes of the neglect of Young’s speculations,
seems to fall short of his usual point and perspicuity. It might be true that his
memoir was neglected by physiologists because it was mathematical, and by parity of
reason it might have been neglected by physicists and mathematicians as being physio-
logical. But it is surely no reason to say that it was neglected by physicists because
the public are superficial, &c. Young may have been in most of his speculations too
profound for the many; but this particular instance of the structure of the eye and
theory of vision is, perhaps, of all his researches, that which can be the least open to
this charge. The subject is not itself abstruse; it is one easily understood by every
educated person, without mathematical atttainments; and the point at issue was a
simple question of fact, requiring no profound physiological knowledge to appreciate
whether the crystalline has or has not a muscular structure capable of changing its
convexity. The real state of the case seems to be very satisfactorily explained by
Dean Peacock, (p. 36 et seq.,) from whose account, as well as from what has been since
written, it appears, after all that has been done both by Dr. Young and others, that
there is even at the present day considerable difference of opinion on the subject.

Perhaps the most comprehensive survey of the whole subject which recent investi-
gation has produced will be found in the paper of Professor J. D. Forbes in the Edin-
burgh Transactions, vol. xvi, pt. i, 1845. After giving a summary view of preceding
researches, and adverting to the prevalent opinion among men of science that the true
explanation yet remains to be discovered, (most anatomists denying as a fact the exist-
ence of the muscular strueture which Young conceived he had proved,) Professor Forbes
proposes as his own view of the cause the consideration of the remarkable variation in
density of the crystalline toward its central part ; coats of different density, being dis-
posed in different layers, may be acted on by the pressure of the humors of the eye
when the external action of the muscle compresses them, and thus increase the curva-
ture of the lens when the eye is directed to a near object, the whole consistence, espe-
cially in the outer parts, being of a gelatinous or compressible nature, and the central
part more solid and more convex. Thus uniform pressure on the outer parts would
tend to make the outer parts conform more nearly to the more convex interior nucleus.

It may be added that many physiologists are of opinion that, after all, there does
not exist a sufficient compressive action on the ball of the eye to produce the etiect
Bupposed.— TRANSLATOR.

120 EULOGY ON THOMAS YOUNG.

ceptible current of air. Before so enlightened an audience it would,
without doubt, be superfluous to remark that the difficulty of producing
a phenomenon, its variety, its utility to the arts, are not the necessary
indications of its importance in a scientific point of view. I have, there-
fore, to connect with a child’s sport the discovery which I proceed to
analyze, with the certainty that its credit will not suffer from its origin.
At any rate, I shall have no need to recall the apple, which, dropping
from its stock and falling unexpectedly at the feet of Newton, develope?’
the ideas of that great man respecting the simple and comprehensiv:

laws which regulate the celestial motions; nor the frog and the touch
of the bistoury, to which physical science has recently been indebted
for the marvelous pile of Volta. Without referring in particular to soap-
bubbies, I will suppose that a physicist has taken for the subject of ex-
periment some distilled water, that is te say, a liquid which in its state
of purity never shows any more than some very slight shade of color,
blue or green, hardly sensible, and that only when the light traverses
ereat thicknesses. I would next ask what we should think of his vera-
city if he were to announce to us, without further explanation, that to
this water, so limpid, he could at pleasure communicate the most
resplendent colors; that he knew how to make it violet, blue, green 5
then yellow like the peel of citron, or red of a scarlet tint, without
affecting its purity, without mixing with it any foreign substance, with-
out changing the preportions of its constituent gaseous elements.
Would not the public regard our physicist as unworthy of all belief,
especially when, after such strange assertions, he should add, that to
produce color in water, it suffices to reduce it to the state of a thin film ;
that “thin” is, so to speak, the synonym of “colored ;” that the passage
of each tint into one the most different from itis the necessary conse-
quence of a simple variation of the thickness of the liquid film; that
this yariation, for instance, in passing from red to green, is not the
thousandth part of the thickness of a hair? Yet these incredible propo-
sitions are only the necessary consequences deduced from the accidental
observation of the colors presented by soap-bubbles, and even by ex-
tremely thin films of all sorts of substances.

To comprehend how such phenomena have, during more than two
thousand years, daily met the eyes of philosophers without exciting
their attention, we have need to recollect to how few persons nature
imparts the valuable faculty of being astonished to any purpose. Boyle
was the first to penetrate into this rich mine. He confined himself,
however, to the minute description of the varied circumstances which
gave rise to these iridescent colors. Hooke, his fellow-laborer, went
further. He believed that he had discovered the cause of this kind of
colors in the coincidences of the rays, or, to speak in his own language,
in the mutual action on each other of the eaves reflected by the two
surfaces of the thin film. This was, we may admit, a suggestion charac-
teristic of genius; but it could not be made use of at an epoch when
the compound nature of white light was not as yet understood.

Newton made the colors of thin films a favorite object of study. He
devoted to them an entire book of his celebrated treatise, the ‘ Optics.”
Le established the laws of their formation by an admirably connected
ehain of experiments, which no one has since surpassed in excellence.
In illuminating with homogeneous light the very regularly-formed
series of bands of which Hooke had already made mention, and which
originated round the point of contact of two lenses. pressed closely
together, he proved that for each species of simple color there exists, in
thin films of every substance, a series of thicknesses gradually increasing,

EULOGY,.ON THOMAS YOUNG. 12?

at each of which no light is reflected from the film. This result was of
capital importance ; it included the key to all these phenomena.

Newton was less happy in the theoretical views which these remark-
able observations suggested to him. Tosay, with him, that the luminous
ray which is reflected is “in a fit of easy reflection ;” to say that the ray
which passes through the film entire is ‘‘in a fit of easy transmission”—
what is it but to announce, in obseure terms, merely the a e fact which
the experiment with the two lenses has already taught us ?

The theory of Thomas Young is not amenable to this c reiar Here
there is no longer admitted any peculiar kind of “fits” as primordial
properties of the rays. The thin film is here assimilated in all respects
to any thicker reflector of the same substance. If at certain points in
its surface no light is visible, Young did not conclude that therefore its
reflection had ceased; he supposed that, in the special directions of
those points, the rays reflected by the second surface proceeded to meet
with those reflected from the first surface, and completely destroyed
them. This conflict of the rays is what the author designated by the
term “interference,” which has since become so famous.

Observe, then, here the most singular of hypotheses. We must cer-
tainly feel surprised at finding night in full sunshine at points where
the rays of that luminary arrive freely; but who would have imagined
that we should thence come to suppose that darkness could be engen-
dered by adding light to light?

A physicist is truly eminent when he is able to announce any result
which, to such an extent, clashes with all received ideas; but he ought,
without delay, to support his views by demonstrative proofs, under “the
penalty of being assimilated to those Oriental writers whose fantastic
reveries charmed the thousand and one nights of the Sultan Schahriar.

Young had not this degree of prudence. He showed at once that his
theory would agree with the phenomena, but without going beyond
mere possibility. When at a later period he arrived at real proofs of it,
the public had other prepossessions, which he was not able to overcome.
However, the experiment, whence our colleague deduced so memorable
a discovery, could not excite the shadow of a doubt. t

* In regard to the theory of the “ fits,” the author here seems to represent Newton’s
view as, in fact, mere tautology ; while in other places he is supposed to have indulged
in a visionary theory on the subject. Newton, however, expressly says: “What kind
of action or disposition this is—whether it consists in a circulating or vibrating
motion of the ray, or of the medium, or something else, I do not here inquire.” (Op-
tics, p. 255, ed. 1721. )

The fact is, Newton in his optical researches expressed the same avowed and syste-
matic dislike in indulging in any gratuitous theories as in his other inquiries. ‘‘ Hypo-
theses non fingo,” was his motto in these as well as in other researches. In adopting
the idea of “ fits of easy reflection and transmission,” we are of opinion that he did not
violate that maxim, and that it was in fact the only legitimate first expression of the
conelision which the facts warranted. At certain points no light appearcd; it was the
legitimate inference, in the then state of knowledge, that none was reflected. But
light was clearly under the same circumstances transmitted ; at a distance a little
greater along the ray, an opposite effect was witnessed; and so on. It was nothing
more than the strict inference that at those points successively something occurred in the
course of the ray which disposed it for, or induced, reflection in the one case, and non-
reflection in the other ; accompanied i in the latter case by like tendency to transmis-
sion. These apparent “fits” must be still acknowledged as phenomena ; the mechanism
by which they are produced is, however, now known to be nothing inherent in the
light, no essential property recurring, but the simple periodicity of conspiring or
counteracting wave action.— TRANSL ATOR.

tIn the retrospective glance which the author thus gives over the progress of dis-
covery previous to the peridd at which Dr. Young first entered on the field, what we
have chiefly to observe is, that up to that date nothing like a connected view of the
physical character of this wonderful agent had been attained ; ; a few isolated specula-

122 EULOGY ON THOMAS YOUNG.

Two rays proceeding from the same source by slightly unequal routes,
crossed one another at a certain point in space. At this point was
placed a sheet of white paper. Each ray, taken by itself, made the
paper more bright at that point, but when the two rays united and
arrived at that point together all brightness disappeared; complete
night succeeded to day.

Two rays do not always annihilate each other completely at their
point of intersection. Sometimes we observe only a partial weakening
of intensity; sometimes, on the other hand, the rays conspire and in-
crease the illumination. Everything depends on the difference in the
length of route which they have gone through, and that according to

{

tions had, indeed, been put forth respecting a theory of emitted molecules on the one
hand, and of waves in an ethereal medium on the other, and a few experimental facts
bearing on the choice between such hypotheses had been ascertained.

The several distinct phenomena of common reflection and refraction, of double
refraction, of inflection or diffraction, and of the colored rings did not seem to be con-
nected by any common principle, nor, even separately considered, could it be said that
they were very satisfactorily explained. It was now the peculiar distinction of Young
to perceive, and to establish in the most incontestable manner, a great principle of the
simplest kind, which at once rendered the wave hypothesis applicable to the two last-
named classes of facts, and thus directly connected them with the former. It is not
always that we are enabled to trace the first rise and progress of the idea of a great
discovery in the inventor’s mind. We cannot forbear from here noticing that Dr.
Young has left on record the progress of the first suggestions which occurred to him
on the subject of interference. The first view which ‘presented itself was that of the
analogies furnished by sound, which, as is well known, is conveyed by means of waves
propagated in air; and in the case of two sounds differing a very little from the same
pitch, produced at the same time, we have not a continuous sound, but beats—that is,
alternations of sound and silence; the waves in the one case conspiring with and reén-
forcing each other, in the other counter acting, neutralizing, and destroyi ing each other.
But in more speci: al reference to light, Dr. Young’s account of the origin ot his ideas is
so clear and striking that we must | give it in his own words: “It was in May, 1801, that
I discovered, by reflecting on the beautiful experiments of Newton, a law aw hich appears
to me to account for a ereater variety of interesting phenomena than any other optical
principle that has yet ‘been made known. I shall endeavor to explain this law by a
comparison: Suppose a number of equal waves of water to move upon the surface of a
stagnant lake with a certain constant velocity, and to enter a narrow channel leading out
of the lake. Suppose, then, another similar cause to have excited another equal series
of waves, which arrive at the same channel with the same velocity, and at the same time
with the first. Neither series of waves will destroy the other, ‘put their effects will
be combined; if they enter the channel in such a manner that the clevations of the
one series coincide with those of the other, they must together produce a series of
greater joint elevations; but if the elevations of one series are so situated as to cor-
respond to the depressions of the other, they must exactly fill up those depressions,
and the surface of the water must remain smooth; atleast, I can discover no alternative,
either from theory or from experiment. Now, I maintain that similar effects take
place whenever two portions of light are thus mixed, and this I call the general law of
the interference of light.”—TRANSLATOR.

For the sake of many readers it may not be superfluous or useless here briefly to
illustrate the application of these theoretical ideas. We have only to imagine in like
manner, in the case of the rays of light, two sets of waves propagated thr ough an ethe-
real medium and coinciding in direction, when it will be easily apparent that just as
in the case of the supposed canal, they may have their waves either conspiring or
counteracting, and consequently giving a point of brightness or darkness accordingly.
Thus, a coincidence in the periods, or an interval of an integer number of entire wave-
lengths would cause the two systems of waves to conspire and reénforce each other ;
a difference of periods of half a wave-length, or any odd number of half wayve- -lengths,
would cause the two sy stems to counteract or neutralize each other. Thus, according
to the thickness, there would be a point of darkness or of brightness for each primary
ray, and the succession of tints would be perfectly explained.

This would directly apply tothe thin films. A ray impinging would be partly reflected
at the first surface of the thin film; partly entering, it would be reflected internally at
its second surface, and emerge coinciding in direction with the first, but retarded behind
it from the thickness traversed i in its undulations either by a w hole or half undulation,
or some multiples of these, thus giving either a point of brightness or one of darkness
accordingly ; or by some intermediate fraction giving an ‘jntermediate shade. And

EULOGY ON THOMAS YOUNG. {25

very simple laws, the discovery of which, in any age, would suffice to
immortalize a physicist.

The differences of route which produce these conflicts between the
rays, accompanied by their entire mutual destruction, have not the same
numerical value for the differently colored primary rays. When two
white rays cross, it is then possible that one of their chief constituent
parts, the red for example, may alone be in a condition fit for mutual
destruction. But white deprived of its red, becomes green. Thus, in-
terference of light manifests itself in the phenomena of coloration.
Thus, the different elementary colors are placed in evidence without any
prism to separate them. We should, however, remark that there does

this would go on alternately at successively greater thicknesses of the film, giving a
succession of such points or bands.

Thus, at two successive F
thicknesses of the plate p,
the incident rays, falling
on it in parallel directions
i i, are reflected partially
from the first surface 77,
and partially from the sec-
ond 77’. According to the *
difference of thickness trav-
ersed, these may be in ac-
cordance giving a point of
brightness as ++, or in dis-
cordance giving a point of
darkness as at o.

If two rays or sets of waves, instead of being exactly superimposed, be supposed to
meet inclined at a very acute angle, in a somewhat similar way they would, at a series
of points, alternately conspire or clash with each other, thus giving rise to a series of
bright and dark points, the assemblage of which will produce bands
or stripes on a screen intercepting the rays. Now, as to actual exper-

imental cases, it was in the application of this latter theoretical idea
that the invention of Dr. Young was peculiarly displayed. The |
former case was that alone which seems to have occurred to Hooke, |

in reference to the colors of thin plates, and even this was in his | |
mind but a very indefinite conception; nor did it seem at first sight | |
readily comparable with such cases as the diffraction fringes, or still | |
less with the internal bands of a shadow observed by Grimaldi. If |
Hooke had imagined any theoretical views of this kind, it was prob- |
ably confined to the one case of the thin films. Young’s great merit |
was the comprehensiveness of his principle; and in following out the
investigation he proceeded at once to such a generalization as evinced
that comprehensiveness, and connected immediately those classes of |
phenomena apparently so different in character—the thin films, the | |
internal bands, and the external fringes. When, as in Grimaldi’s | |
experiment, (since called the phenomena of diffraction,) a narrow
slip of card was placed in a very narrow beam of solar light, dark |
and bright stripes parallel to the sides internally marked the whole || |
Shadow longitudinally, while the external fringes appeared on the
outside at each edge. The general appearance of the shadow of a
long narrow body with parallel sides in a beam of solar light issu-
ing from a minute hole in a shutter, or, what is better, the focus of |
a small lens collecting the rays to a point, is that of ashadowmarked |
with longitudinal stripes and externally bordered by parallel fringes |
or bands of light slightly colored, as seen in the annexed figure.

To exhibit these appearances ordinarily requires the sun’s light.
But the translator has found a very simple method of exhibiting
these phenomena on a minute scale by candle light, by merely placing
a fine wire across one surface of a lens of short focus, and looking through it at light
admitted through a narrow slit parallel to the wire, or even the flame of a candle at a
considerable distance.

Next, as to the theoretical explanation, an inspection of the accompanying diagram
will perhaps help to convey an idea of the manner in which the several sets of waves
are formed, and interfere in the case now supposed.

Young conceived the beam of light as a series of waves propagated onward till, on
reaching the card, they were broken up into two new sets of waves, spreading in circles

124 EULOGY ON THOMAS YOUNG.

not exist a single point in space where a thousand rays of the same
origin do not proceed to cross one another after reflections more or less
oblique, and we shall perceive at a glance the whoie extent of the unex-
plored region which interferences open to the investigations of experi-
menters.

When Young published this theory, many phenomena of periodical
colors had been already offered to the notice of observers, and, we should
add, had resisted all attempts at explanation. Among the number we
night instance the colored rings which are formed by reflection, not 01
thin films, but on mirrors of thick glass slightly concave; the iridescent
bands of different breadtls, with which the shadows of bodies are bor-
dered on the outside, and in some instances covered within, which Gri-
maldi first noticed, and which afterward uselessly exercised the genius
of Newton, and of which the completion of the theory was reserved for
Fresnel; the bows, colored red and green, which are perceived in greater
or less number immediately under the innermost of the prismatic bands
of the rainbow,* and which seemed so completely inexplicable that the
writers of elementary books on physics had given up making mention of
them; and, lastly, the “coronas,” or broad colored circles with varying
diameters, which often appear surrounding the sun and moon.

round each edge as a new center, while part of the original set continued to pass on at
each side. On the principle just mentioned, these would interfere with the new por-
tions on the outside ; and the two new portions would interfere with each other in the
inside of the shadow, in either case giving stripes or bands. To complete the proof,
when an opaque screen was placed so as to intercept the rays on one side, though

abundance of light was presented on the other, yet all the internal bands immediately
disappeared, demonstrating that the effect was due solely to the concurrence of the
light from both sides. The bands produced by light admitted through narrow apertures,
and numerous other phenomena of the same kind, may receive a general and popular
explanation in the same way.—TRANSLATOR,

* This explanation has been recently controverted by Professor Potter.—Philosophical
Magazine, May, 1855. é

EULOGY ON THOMAS YOUNG. 125

If [ call to mind how many persons do not appreciate scientific theo-
ries except in proportion to the immediate applications which they may
offer, I cannot terminate this enumeration of the phenomena which
characterize the several series of more or less numerous periodical col-
ors without mentioning the rings, so remarkable by their regularity of
form and purity of tint, with which every brilliant light appears sur-
rounded when we look at it through a mass of fine molecules or fila-
ments of equal dimensions. These rings, in fact, suggested to Young
the idea of an instrument, extremely simple, which he called an “eri-
ometer,” and with which we can measure, without difficulty, the dimen-
sions of the most minute bodies. The eriometer, as yet so little known
to observers, has an immense advantage over the microscope in giving
at a single glance the mean magnitude of millions of particles which are
contained in the field of view. It possesses, moreover, the singular
property of remaining silent when the particles differ much in magni-
tude among themselves, or, in other words, when the question of deter-
mining their dimensions has no real meaning.

Young applied his eriometer to the measurement of the globules of
blood in different classes of animals; to that of powders furnished by
different species of vegetables; of the fineness of different kinds of fur
used in the manufacture of different fabrics, from that of the beaver,
the most valuable of all, down to that of the common sheep of the Sus-
sex breed, which stands at the other extremity of the scale, and is com-
posed of filaments four times and a half thicker than that of the beaver.

Before the researches of Young the numerous phenomena of colors*
which I have just pointed out were not only inexplicable, but nothing
had been found to connect them with each other. Newton, who was
jong engaged on the subject, had not perceived any connection between
the rings in thin films and the bands of diffraction. Young reduced
these two kinds of colored bands alike to the law of interference. At
a later period, when the colored phenomena of polarization had been
discovered, he observed in certain measures of the thickness at which
they occurred some remarkable numerical analogies, which made it very
reasonable to expect that sooner or later this singular kind of polariza-
tion would be found connected with his doctrine. He had in this in-
stance, however, we must admit, a very wide hiatus to fill up. The
knowledge of some important properties of light, then completely un-
known, would have been necessary to permit him to conceive the whole
Singularity of the effects which, in certain crystals cut in certain direc-
tions, double refraction produces by the destruction of light resulting
from the interference of rays ; but it is to Young that the honor belongs
of having opened the way; it was he who was the first to decipher
these hieroglyphies of opties.t

*Every one may have remarked the threads of a spider’s web occasionally exhibiting
brilliant colors in the sunshine. The same thing is seen in fine scratches on the surface
of polished metal, produced in a more regular way by the fine engraved parallel
grooves in Barton’s buttons. The colors of mother-of-pearl are of the same kind; all
these colors Dr. Young showed were due to interference of the portions of light reflected
from the sides of the narrow transparent thread or groove.—TRANSLATOR.

tIt has been well observed that simplicity is not always a fruit of the first growth,
and accordingly some of the earliest of Young’s researches were complicated by unne-
cessary conditions. Thus, to exhibit the effect of two rays interfering, he at first not
unnaturally transmitted the narrow beam of light through two small apertures near
together. In point of fact, though the real effect is here seen, it is mixed up with
others of a more complex kind. The narrow apertures each exhibited colored fringes
in addition to the interference stripes seen between them. The colored fringes of aper-
tures, unless very wide, are distinct from those formed by one external edge of an
opaque body, the light from each side conspires to the effects in a somewhat complex

126 EULOGY ON THOMAS YOUNG.

EGYPTIAN HIEROGLYPHICS—HISTORY OF THE FIRST EXACT INTER- ~
PRETATION GIVEN OF THEM,

The word hieroglyphic, regarded not metaphysically, but in its natu-
ral acceptation, carries us into a field which has been long the theater
of numerous and animated debates. I have hesitated whether to risk

manner. Ifthe aperture be otherwise than long with parallel sides, the phenomenon
becomes still more complex, and the calculation difficult; few such cases have ever yet
been solved, and some such cases have been dwelt upon as formidable objections to
the theory ; they are simply cases to which the formula, from its mathematical difti-
culties, has not yet been extended.

In all these eases of diffraction an opaque body was used, and it might still be sus-
pected that some action of the edge of that body might be concerned in the result. Nu-
merous experiments of Maraldi, Dutour, Biot, and others were directed to the investi-
gation of this point. Biot showed that an opaque body was not necessary, inasmuch
as the edge of the plate of glass, or even the bounding line of two faces of a glass, cut
at a slight inclination to each other, gave the same fringes ; indeed, Newton also had
noticed something of the kind. Haldat varied the conditions of the edge in every
conceivable way, whether of form or nature, by the influence of magnetism, galvan-
ism, electricity, or temperature from freezing to a red heat, without producing the
slightest difference in the fringes—a result which it would be impossible to conceive
compatible with any idea of an atmosphere of attraction or repulsion surrounding the
edge.

Again: Though we have given the explanation of the external fringes in its simple
and correct form, yet both Young and Fresnel failed in the first instance to see it in
that light, both believing that the reflection of a portion of rays from the edge of the
opaque body was mainly concerned in producing the interference. Subsequent experi-
ments showed that even in eases where that edge reflects any sensible amount of light,
its influence on the diffracted fringes is quite inappreciable. In fact, Young, in a let-
ter to Fresnel, in returning thanks for a copy of a later memoir, in which he had shown
this supposition to be unnecessary, also concurs in abandoning it. It did but compli-
eate and injure the beauty of the result, (Young’s Works, i, 593;) and every doubt
must have disappeared in the minds of those who compared the minute arithmetical
accuracy with which the places of the fringes, as computed from the simple theory
in the investigations of Fresnel, agreed with those actually determined by the nicest
micrometrical measurments.

In enumerating the discoveries of Young in the first establishment of the wave
theory, it is somewhat singular that Arago, whether from accident or design, should
have overlooked one investigation which must be regarded as among the most important.
The great support which the emission theory received inrecent times was that derived
from Laplace’s memoir on the law of double refraction, (1809,) in which, on the prin-
ciple of “least action,” as maintained by Maupertius and applied to the idea of lumi-
nous molecules, he explained the observed laws of ordinary and extraordinary refrac-
tion in Iceland spar. This investigation exercised a powerful influence in favor of the
molecular theory over the minds of the men of science in France, who bowed implicitly
to the authority of Laplace. But the memoir of Laplace was the subject of a very
powerful attack on the part of Dr. Young, carried on in an article in the Quarterly
Review, November, 1809, in which he disputed the mechanical and mathematical
grounds of Laplace’s theory, and showed that the same laws of double refraction
could be far more easily deduced from the undulatory hypothesis. Next to the dis-
covery of interference, this refutation of the strongest point of the emission theory
cannot but be regarded as one of the most material in the development and establish-
ment of the undulatory view.

To the statement of these various cases of interference it should be added, that when
the tints of polarized light were discovered, Young in i#14 applied to the phenomena
the general consideration of interference ; that is to say, he showed that, owing to
the differing obliquities of the paths of the rays within the crystal, they would
be unequally retarded in their passage, and would consequently emerge in con-
ditions, with regard to length of route, respectively of accordance or discordance at
corresponding distances round the central line or axis of the crystal, and thus might
give rise to colored rings. Arago, however, soon noticed that the explanation was
incomplete ; the main point, in tact, remained to be accounted for, viz, why we see no
colors till the analyzer is applied, and why even the previous polarization is necessary
to the result. It was not until about two years afterward that Arago and Fresnel
jointly succeeded in discovering a new law, which not only furnished the complete
solution of the polarized rings, but at length cleared away all the difficulties which,
from the first, had surrounded the idea of polarization itself. For an account of this
see memoir of Fresnel.— TRANSLATOR.

EULOGY ON THOMAS YOUNG. Ye",

offending the feelings which this question hasexcited. The secretary of
an academy occupied exclusively with the exact sciences might indeed,
without impropriety, remit this philological subject to other more com-
petent judges. I also feared, I will avow, to find myself in disagree-
ment on several important points with the illustrious man of science
whose labors it has been so delightful to me to analyze, without having
to add a word of criticism from my pen. All these scruples, however,
vanish when I reflect that the interpretation of hieroglyphies has been
one of the most beautiful discoveries of our age; that Young himself
has mixed up my name with discussions relating to it; that to examine
whether France can pretend to this new title to glory, is to enhance the
importance of the task confided to me at this moment, and to perform
the duty of a good citizen. JI am aware that some may find narrowness
in these sentiments. I am not ignorant that the cosmopolitan spirit has
its good side; but with what name shall I stigmatize it, if, when all
neighboring nations enumerate with triumph the discoveries of their
sons, it should hinder me from seeking, even in the present circle
among those colleagues whose modesty I would not hurt, the proof that
France is not degenerate; that she also adds every year her glorious
contingent to the vast deposit of human knowledge ?*

I approach, then, the question of Egyptian writing, and I do so free
from all prejudice, with the firm wish of being just; with the lively
desire to conciliate the rival pretensions of two men of science, whose
premature death has been to all Europe a legitimate subject of regret.
Lastly, I shall not in this discussion on hieroglyphies transgress the
bounds imposed on me; happy if those who listen to me, and whose
indulgence Lask, may find that I have known howto escape the influence
of a subject whose obscurity is proverbial.

Men have imagined two systems of writing entirely distinct. One is
that employed by the Chinese, which is the system of hieroglyphies ;
the other, at present in use among all other nations, bears the name of
the alphabetical or phonetic system.

The Chinese have no letters properly so called: the characters which
they use in writing are strictly hieroglyphics; they do not represent
sounds or articulations, but zdeas. Thus a house is represented by a
unique and special character, which does not change even when the
Chinese have come to calla house, in their spoken language, by a name
totally different from that which they formerly pronounced. Does this
result appear surprising? Imagine the case of our ciphers, which are
also hieroglyphies; the idea of one added to itself seven times is expressed
everywhere in France, in England, in Spain, &c., by the aid of two cir-
cles placed vertically one over the other, and touching in one point; but
in looking at this hieroglyphic sign (8) the Frenchman pronounces * huit,”
the Englishman “eight,” the Spaniard “ocho.” No oneis ignorant that it
isthe same with compoundnumbers. Thus, to speak briefly, if the Chinese
ideographic signs were generaliy adopted, as the Arabic numerals are,
every one would read in his own language the works which they pre-

*Tn bringing out a part of this chapter on Egyptian hieroglyphies in the Annuaire
for 1836, Arago has added: “The first exact interpretation which has been given of
Egyptian hieroglyphics will certainly take its place among the most beautiful discoy-
eries of the age. Besides, after the animated debates to which it has given birth,
every one would desire to know whether France can conscientiously pretend to this new
title to glory. Thus the importance of the question, and the national self-love prop-
erly understood, unite in encouraging me to publish the result of a minute examina-
tion to which I have devoted myself. Can I, then, be blind to the danger which there
always isin attempting difficult subjects in matters which we have not made the
special subject of our studies ?”

128 EULOGY ON THOMAS YOUNG.

sented to him, without the need of knowing a single word of the lan-
guage spoken by the authors who Lave written them.
It is not so with alphabetical writing.

“He who first taught us the ingenions art
To paint our words, and speak them to our eyes,”

having made the capital remark that all words of a spoken language,
even the most rich, are compounded of a very limited number of
elementary articulate sounds, invented artificial signs or letters to the
number of twenty-four or thirty torepresent them. By the aid of these
signs differently combined he could write every word which struck his
ear, even without knowing the meaning of it.

The Chinese or hieroglyphic writing seems to be the infancy of the
art. It is not always, as has been sometimes said, that to learn to read
it, even in China, occupies the whole life of a studious Mandarin. Reé-
musat (whose name I cannot mention without recalling one of the most
heavy losses which literature has lately sustained) has established, both
by his own experience and by the fact of the excellent scholars he has
formed every year by his lectures, that we may learn Chinese like any
other language. It is not true, as was once imagined, that the char-
acters are appropriated solely to the expression of common ideas; several
pages of the romance of Yu-kiao-li, or The Two Cousins, will suffice to
show that the most subtle abstractions, the quintessence of refinements,
are not beyond the range of the Chinese writing. The chief fault of this
mode of writing is, that it gives no means of expressing new names. A
letter from Canton might have told at Pekin that on the 14th of June,
1800, a great and memorable battle saved France from great peril; but
it would not have been able to express in these purely hieroglyphic char-
acters that this glorious event took place near the village of Marengo,
or that the victorious general was called Bonaparte. A people among
whom the communication of proper names, from one place to another,
could only take place by means of special messengers, would be, as we
see, only in the first rudiments of civilization. These preliminary re-
marks are not useless. The question of priority, which the graphic
methods of Egypt have called forth, thus comes to be easy to explain and
to comprehend. As we proceed, in fact, we find in the hieroglyphies of
the ancient people of the Pharoahs all the artifices of which the Chinese
make use at the present day.

Many passages of Herodotus, of Diodorus Siculus, of Clement of Al-
exandria, have taught us that the Egyptians had two or three different
sorts of writing g, and that in one of these, at least, symbolic characters,
or the representatives of ideas, played a principal part. Horapollon
has even preserved to us the signification of a certain number of these
characters. Thus we know that the hawk designated the soul; the ibis,
the heart; the dove, (which might seem strange,) a violent man; the
jlute, an alien; the number siz, pleasure; a frog, an impudent man; the
ant, wisdom; a running knot, love; &e.

The signs thus preserved by Horapollon form only a very small part
of the eight or nine hundred characters which have been found in the
ancient inscriptions. The moderns, Kircher among others, have en-
deavored to enlarge the number. Their efforts have not given any use-
ful result, unless it be so to show to what errors even the best-instructed
men expose themselves when in the search after facts they abandon
themselves without restraint to imagination. In the want of data, the
interpretation of the Egyptian writings appeared for a long time, to all
sound minds, a problem completely incapable of solution, when, in 1799,
M. Boussard, an engineer officer, discovered in the excavations which

EULOGY ON THOMAS YOUNG. 129

he was making near Rosetta a large stone covered with inscriptions in
three kinds of characters quite distinct.

One of the series of characters was Greek. This, in spite of some
mutilations, made clearly known that the authors of the monument had
ordained that the same inscription should be traced in three different
sorts of characters, viz, in the sacred characters or Egyptian hieroglyph-
ics, in the local or vulgar characters, and in Greek. Thus, by an unex-
pected good fortune, the philologists found themselves in possession of
a Greek text, having also before them its translation into the Egyptian
language, or at least a transcription in two sorts of characters anciently
in use on the banks of the Nile.

This Rosetta stone, since so celebrated, and which M. Boussard pre-
sented to the Institute of Cairo, was taken from that body at the period
when the French army evacuated Egypt. It was preserved, however,
in the British Museum, where it figured, as Thomas Young said, as a
monument of British valor. Putting valor out of the question, the cele-
brated philosopher might have added, without too much partiality, that
this invaluable trilingual monument thus bears some witness to the
advanced views which guided all the details of the memorable expedition
into Egypt, as also to the indefatigable zeal of the distinguished savants
whose labors, often carried on ander the fire of the forts, have added so
much to the glory of their country. The importance of the Rosetta
stone struck them, in fact, so forcibly, that, in order not to abandon
this precious treasure to the adventurous chances of a sea voyage, they
earnestly applied themselves, from the first, to reproduce it by copies,
by impressions taken in the way of printing from engravings, by molds
in plaster or sulphur. We must add that antiquaries of all countries
beeame first acquainted with the Rosetta stone from the designs given
by the French savants.

One of the most illustrious members of the institute, M. Silvestre de
Sacy, entered first in 1802 on the career which the trilingual inscription
opened to the investigations of philologists. He only occupied himself
on the Egyptian text in common characters. He there discovered the
groups which represent the different proper names, and their phonetic
nature. Thus, in one of two inscriptions, at least, the Egyptians had
the signs of sounds, or true letters. This important result found no
opponents after a Swedish man of science, M. Akerblad, in completing
the labors of our fellow-countryman, had assigned, with a probability
bordering on certainty, the phonetic value of each of the different char-
acters employed in the transcription of the proper names which the
Greek text disclosed. There remained all along the purely hieroglyphic
part of the inscription, or what was supposed such; this remained un-
touched; no one had ventured to attempt to decipher it. It is here
that we find Young declaring, as if by a species of inspiration, that in
the multitude of sculptured signs on the stone representing either entire
animals, or fantastic forms, or again instruments, products of art, or
geometrical forms, those of these signs which were found inclosed in
elliptic borders corresponded to the proper names in the Greek inscrip-
tion, in particular to the name of Ptolemy, the only one which in the
hieroglyphic inscription remains uninjured. Immediately afterward
Young said that in the special case of the border or scroll, the signs
included represented no longer ideas, but sounds. In a word, he sought
by a minute and refined analysis to assign an individual hieroglyphic
to each of the sounds which the ear receives in the name of Ptolemy in
the Rosetta stone, and in that of Berenice in another monument. Thus
‘ve sea, unless I mistake, in the researches of Young on the graphic sys-

9s

130 EULOGY ON. THOMAS YOUNG.

tems of the Egyptians, the three culminating points. No one, it is said,
had perceived them, or at least had pointed them out before the Eng-
lish philosopher. This opinion, although generally admitted, appears to
me open to dispute. It is, in fact, certain that in 1766 M. de Guignes,
in a printed memoir, had indicated that the scrolls in Egyptian in-
scriptions included all the proper names. Every one might also see
in the same work the arguments on which the learned orientalist relied
to establish the opinion which he had embraced on the constant pho-
netic character of the Egyptian hieroglyphics. Young, then, has the
priority on this point alone. To him belongs the first attempt which
had been made to decompose in letters the groups of the scrolls, to give
a phonetic value to the hieroglyphics which composed in the stone of
Rosetta the name of Ptolemy. In this research, as we might expect,
Young furnished new proofs of his immense penetration; but, mislead
by a false system, his efforts had not a full success. Thus sometimes
he attributes to the hieroglyphic characters a value simply alphabetical.
Further on he gives them a value which is syllabic or dissylabie, with-
out being struck by what must seem so strange in this mixture of dif-
ferent characters. The fragment of an alphabet published by Young
includes, then, something both of truth and falsehood, but the false
so much abounds that it would be impossible to apply the value of let-
ters which compose it to any other reading than that of the two proper
names from which it was derived. The word impossible is so rarely met
with in the scientific career of Young, that I must hasten to justify it.
I will say, then, that after the composition of his alphabet Young him-
self believed that he saw in the scroll of an Egyptian monument the
name of ‘‘ Arsinoe,” where his celebrated competitor had since shown
with irresistible evidence the word “ autocrator;” that he believed he
had found “ euwergetes” in a group where we ought to read “Cesar.”

The labors of Champollion, as to the discovery of the phonetic value
of hieroglyphics, are clear, distinct, and cannot involve any doubt.
Each sign is equivalent to a single vowel or consonant. Its value is
not arbitrary. Every phonetic hieroglyphic is the image of a physical
object whose name in the Egyptian language commences with the vowel
or the consonant which it is wished to represent.*

The alphabet of Champollion, once modeled from the stone of Rosetta
and two or three other monuments, enables us to read inscriptions en-
tirely different; for example, the name of Cleopatra on the obelisk of
Phil6é, long ago transported into England, and where Dr. Young,
armed with his alphabet, could discover nothing. On the temple of
Karnac, Champollion read twice the name of Alexander; on the Zodiac
of Denderah, the title of a Roman emperor; on the grand edifice above
which it is placed, the names and surnames of the emperors Augustus,
Tiberius, Claudius, Nero, Domitian, &c. Thus, to speak briefly, we

* This will become clear to every one, if we seek, by following the Egyptian system,
to compose hieroglyphics in the French language. A may be represented by (agneai)
alamb, (aigle,) an eagle, an ass, anemone, artichoke, &c.; B, by a balance, a whale,
(baleine,) a boat, &c.; C, by cabana, (badger,) cheval, (horse,) cat, cedar, &c.; E, by
épic, (a sword,) elephant, épagneul, (spaniel,) &c. Abbé, then, would be written in
French hieroglyphics by putting any of the following figures in succession: A lamb,
a balance, a whale, an elephant; or an eagle, a boat, a sword, &c. This kind of writ-
ing has some analogy, as we see, with the rebusin which confectioners wrap their bon-
bons. Thus we see at what stage these Egyptian priests were, of whom antiquity has
so much boasted, but who, we must say, have taught us so little.

M. Champollion calls homophones all those signs which, representing the same sound
or the same articulation, can be substituted indifferently for each other. In the actual
state of the Egyptian alphabet I perceive six or seven homophone signs for A and
more than twelve fpr the Greek sigma.—ARAGo.

EULOGY ON THOMAS YOUNG. lok

find on one hand the lively discussion to which the age of these monu-
ments had given rise completely terminated; on the other, we observe
it established beyond question that under the Roman dominion hiero-
glyphics were still in full use on the banks of the Nile.

The alphabet which had given such unhoped-for results, whether
applied to the great obelisks at Karnae, or to other monuments which
are also recognized as being of the age of the Pharaohs, presents to us
the names of many other kings of this ancient race; the names of
Egyptian deities; we can say more, substantives, adjectives, and verbs
of the Coptie language. Young was then deceived when he regarded
the phonetic hierogly phies as a modern invention; when he advanced
that they served solely for the transcription of proper names foreign to
Egypt. M. de Guignes, and, above all, M. Etienne Quatremére estab-
lished, on the contrary, a real fact, and one of great importance—that
the reading of the inscriptions of the Pharaohs is corroborated by irresist-
ible proofs, while they show that the existing Coptic language was that

of the ancient subjects of Sesostris.
- Wenow know the facts. I may, then, confine myself to confirm, by
a few short observations, the consequences which appear to me to result
from them.

Discussions of priority, even under the dominion of national preju-
dices, will have become embittered if they can be reduced to fixed rules ;
but in certain cases the first idea is everything ; in others, the details offer
the chief difficulties; sometimes the merit seems to consist less in the
conception of a theory than in its demonstration. We then infer how
much the choice of a particular point of view must depend on arbitrary
conditions; and, lastly, how much influence it will have on the definite
conclusion. To escape from these embarrassments, I have sought an
example in which the parts respectively played by two rival claimants
for an invention may be assimilated to those of Champollion and Young,
and which has, on the other hand, united all opinions. This example,
I believe, I have found in the inter ferences, even leaving out of the ques-
tion, as regards the subject of the hieroglyphics, the quotations from the
memoir of M. de Guignes. It is as follows: Hooke, in fact, had an-
nounced, before Dr. Young, that luminous rays interfered, just as the latter
had asserted, before Champollion, that the Egyptian hieroglyphics are
sometimes phonetic. Hooke did not prove directly his hypothesis; the
proof of the phonetic values assigned by Young to different hieroglyphics
could only rest on readings which had not, as yet, been made, and which
could not then be made. From want of knowing the composition of
white light, Hooke had not an exact idea of the nature of interferences,
as Young on his part deceived himself by an imagined syllabic or dis-
syllabic value of hieroglyphics. Young, by unanimous consent, is
regarded as the author of the theory of interferences. Thence, by a
parity of reasoning which seems to me inevitable, Champollion ought
to be regarded as the author of the discovery of hieroglyphies.

I regret not to have sooner thought of this comparison. If, in his
lifetime, Young had been placed in the alternative of being the origina-
tor of the doctrine of interferences, leaving the hieroglyphies to Cham-
pollion, or to keep the hieroglyphics, giving up to Hooke the ingenious
optical theory, I do not doubt he would have felt obliged to recognize
the claims of our illustrious fellow-countryman. At ‘all events, there
would have remained with him what no one could have contested, the
right to appear in the history of the memorable discovery of the inter-
pretation of hieroglyphics in the same relative position as that in which

132 EULOGY ON THOMAS YOUNG.

Kepler, Borelli, Hooke, and Wren appeared in the history of universal
gravitation.

Notre.—We have here put before our readers the literal version of
Arago’s statement respecting the claims of Young in regard to the dis-
eovery of the principle of interpreting the Egyptian hieroglyphics.
Arago’s representations have been, as is well known, greatly called in
question. And though he throughout speaks in a tone of marked
courtesy and candor toward Young, yet it is clear that he espouses the
cause of Champollion with an ardor which many, in this country, believe
has, in some degree, blinded him to the truth of the case. At any rate,
in the vivid and highly-colored sketch here presented by M. ‘Arago, the
reader may need some caution in discriminating the fair share of merit
which may be claimed by the respective parties engaged in the inquiry.
The author’s national partialities may very naturally have had some influ-
ence in biasing his judgment. It is impossible here to enter on details
of controversy. But both as to the actual amount and accuracy of Dr.
Young’s investigations and the relative claims of M. Champollion, the
reader may find it desirable to refer to the extended discussion of the
subject given in Dr. Peacock’s Life of Young. Without the pretension,
or indeed the possibility, of adequately going into this question within
the limits of such a commentary as can be here given, we shall content
ourselves with pointing out to the notice of our readers a few of those
passages in that work in which Dr. Young’s claims are powerfully vin-
dicated. The conclusions turn out such a variety of points of details
that it would be wholly impracticable to attempt any analysis of them
in this place. But the result tends to assign a considerably larger share
of credit in the discovery to Dr. Young than Arago seems disposed to
allow him. Dr. Peacock’s able and elaborate work is doubtless in the
hands of all those who take any interest in a question so important to
the advance of philological and ethnological science as well as to gen-
eral literature. Yet a slight sketch of the chief points referred to may
not be useless.

We may first mention that Dr. Young’s article “‘ Egypt,” in the Sup-
plement to the Encyclopedia Britannica, published in 1819, contains the
most comprehensive survey of his labors and conclusions on the subject
of hieroglyphic literature up to that date. It does not profess to go into
those minutia of critical detail, for which reference must be made to
his numerous other writings on the subject; but as a general and popu-
lar view it will always be consulted with advantage. Nevertheless, the
reader must always bear in mind that in the statements just given much
had to be revised, or even reversed, from the improved disclosures of
his later researches.

Dr. Peacock has alluded but briefly to the views of Arago, and toward
the conclusion of the chapter sums up the representation of the case as
given in the éloge, remarking only that the whole of his previous state-
ments constitute the refutation of it.

The following extract will show the main claims of Young, insisted on
»y his biographer:

“It was Dr. Young who first determined, and by no easy process, that
the rings* on the Rosetta stone contained the name of Ptolemy. It
was Dr. Young who determined that the semicircle and oval, found at
the end of the second ring, in connection with the former, was expressive
of the feminine gender; and it was Dr. Young who had not only first

* Certain portions of the hieroglyphical characters are found surrounded by a ring
or inclosure called by the French cartouches.

EULOGY ON THOMAS YOUNG. 133

suggested that the characters in the ring of Ptolemy were phonetic, but
had determined, with one very unimportant inaccuracy, the values of
four of those which were common to the name of Cleopatra, which were
required to be analyzed. All the principles involved in the discovery
of an alphabet of phonetic hieroglyphics were not only distinetly laid
down but fully exemplified by him; and it only required the further
identification of one or two royal names with the rings, which expressed
them in hieroglyphics, to extend the alphabet already known sufficiently
to bring even names which were not already identified under its opera-
tion.”

Dr. Peacock states that Champollion and Young, while engaged sim-
ultaneously in the prosecution of the researches “connected With these
points, in some instances had opportunities of personal communication
with each other. But Champollion enjoyed especial advantages from
circumstances which placed some of the papyri in his possession, and
thus enabled him to take precedence, in the publication of results;
while his competitor, if he had enjoyed the same facilities, would, no
doubt, have been equally competent to perceive the force of the new
evidence thus adduced, and equally ready to make use of it, even if set-
ting aside some of his earlier inferences and conjectures.

Dr. Peacock, after reflecting with much severity on Champollion, ex-
presses his regret to find so eminent a writer as Chevalier Bunsen,
whose remarks are quoted before, (p. 311,) ‘‘ supporting, by the weight
of his authority, some of the grossest of these misrepresentations,” (p.
337.)

Dr. Young displayed singular modesty and forbearance in his contro-
versy with Champollion, treating him throughout with all the respect
due to his acknowledged eminence, and while mildly reproaching him
with omitting to give him the due credit for his own share in the re-
search, yet in no way insinuating that any discreditable motive led to
the omission. Dr. Peacock, however, thinks a far more stringent tone
of criticism might have fairly applied; he takes up the cause of Young
with a less scrupulous zeal, and, though with perfect good temper, yet
with deeply damaging force of argument and statement of facts, ex-
poses the very unjustifiable nature of Champollion’s assumptions, and
vindicates the claims of Young to his fair and important share in these
discoveries. He dwells onthe tone of assumption in which Champollion
presents himself to his readers as in exclusive possession of a province
of which he had long since been the sole conqueror, and regards every
question raised as to his exclusive rights as an unjustifiable attack to be
resented and repelled, while he studiously suppresses the dates of the
successive stages of the discovery, and thus attacks Young on the as-
sertions made on imperfect knowledge in the earlier stages of his in-
vestigations with the aid of all his own accumulated information ac-
quired subsequently, a proceeding the iniquity of which needs only
stating to stand exposed. As instances of this, it is mentiowed that
Young, in 1816, onthe strength of comparatively imperfect information
then acquired, made some representations respecting the enchorial char
acters in the Rosetta inscription, and their relation to those employed
in the funeral rolls. These Champollion criticises and exposes without
reserve from the more full knowledge he had obtained in 1824, entirely
passing over Young’s own later statement on the same subject, correct-
ing his former views, and from which even Dr. Peacock considers Cham-
pollion himself probably derived a large portion of his own knowledge of
the subject. Dr. Peacock has collected in one point of view Champol-
lion’s main assertions as representing the state of the case. But he has

134: EULOGY ON THOMAS YOUNG.

shown that some of the propositions dwelt upon were, in point of fact,
never maintained by Dr. Young; and it was chiefly by his later re-
searches that the erroneous impressions at first entertained, respecting
the points to which they relate, had been corrected and their true na-
ture established.

In 1821 Champollion denied altogether the existence of an alphabetic
element among the hieroglyphics; but in the following year he
adopted the whole of Young’s principles, and apphed them with one
modification only. The analogy of certain marks in the Chinese hiero-
glyphies to signify proper names, the principle that the phonetic power
of the symbol is derived from the initial letter or syllable of the name
of the object which it represents in the Egyptian language, are among
the chief of those which he borrows without acknowledgment, or claims
without regard to their prior announcement by Young. ‘It would be
difficult,” says Dr. Peacock, ‘‘ to point out in the history of literature a
more flagrant example of dismgenuous suppression of the real facts
bearing on an important discovery.”—TRANSLATOR.

MISCELLANEOUS WORKS OF DR. YOUNG.

The limits prescribed do not permit me even to quote the mere titles
of all the numerous writings which Dr. Young published. Nevertheless
the public reading of so rich a catalogue would certainly have sufficed
to establish the celebrity of our colleague. Who would not imagine, in
fact, that he had before him the register of the labors of several acade-
mnies, and not those of a single individual, on hearing, for instance, the
following list of titles:

Memoir on the Establishments where Iron is wrought.

Essays on Music and Painting.

Remarks on the Habits of Spiders and the Theory of Fabricius.

On the Stability of the Arches of Bridges.

On the Atmosphere of the Moon.

Description of a new Species of Opercularia.

Mathematical Theory of Epicycloidal Curves.

Restoration and Translation of different Greek Inscriptions.

On the Means of Strengthening the Construction of Ships of the Line.

On the Play of the Heart and of the Arteries in the Phenomena of Circulation.

Theory of Tides.

On the Diseases of the Chest.

On the Friction of the Axes of Machines.

On the Yellow Fever.

On the Calculation of Eclipses.

Essays on Grammar, &c.*

CHARACTER OF YOUNG—HIS POSITION AS A PHYSICIAN—HIS ENGAGE-
MENT ON THE NAUTICAL ALMANAC—HIS DEATH.

Labors so numerous and varied seem as if they must have required
the laborious and retired life of that class of men of science, which, to
say the truth, is beginning to disappear, who from their earliest youth
separate themselves from their companions to shut themselves up com-
pletely in their studies. Thomas Young was, on the contrary, what is
usually called a man of the world. He constantly frequented the best
society in London. The graces of his wit, the elegance of his manners,
were ainply sufficient to make him remarkable. But when we figure to
ourselves those numerous assemblies in which fifty different subjects in

* This list, it should be borne in mind, is intended by the author merely as a speci-
men of the vast catalogue which might be made of Young’s writings ; the reader will
find ample details as to his innumerable productions in Peacock’s Life.—TRANSLATOR,

—

EULOGY ON THOMAS YOUNG. 135

turn are skimmed over in a few minutes, we may conceive what value
would be attached to one who was a true living library, from whom every
one could find, at a moment, an exact, precise, substantial answer on
all kinds of questions which they could propose to him. Young was
much occupied with the fine arts. Many of his memoits testify the pro-
found knowledge which he had happily acquired of the theory of music.
He carried out also to a great extent the talent of executing it; and I
believe it is certain that of all known instruments, even including the
Scottish bagpipe, only one or two could be named on which he could
not play. His taste for painting developed itself during a visit which
he paid to Germany. There the magnificent collection at Dresden ab-
sorbed his attention entirely ; for he aspired not solely to the easy credit
of connecting together, without mistake, the name of such or such an
artist with such or such a painting; the defects and the characteristic
qualities of the greatest masters, their frequent changes of manner, the
material objects which they introduced into their works, the moditica-
tions which those objects and the colors underwent in progress of time,
among other points, occupied him in succession. Young, in one word,
studied painting in Saxony as he had before studied languages in his
own country, and as he afterward studied the sciences. Everything,
in fact, was a subject of meditation and research. The university
contemporaries of the illustrious physicist recalled a laughable instance
of this trait of his mind. They related that entering his room one day,
when for the first time he had taken a lesson in dancing the minuet, at
Edinburgh, they found him occupied in tracing out minutely with the
rule and compasses the route gone through by the two dancers, and the
different improvements of which these figures seemed to him susceptible.

Young borrowed with happy effect from the sect of the Friends, to
which he then belonged, the opinion that the intellectual faculties of
children differ originally from each other much less than is commonly
supposed. ‘‘Any man can do what any other man has done,” became
his favorite maxim. And further, never did he personally himself recoil
before trials of any kind to which he wished to subject his system. The
first time he mounted ahorse in eompany with the grandson of Mr. Bar-
clay, the horseman who preceded them leaped a high fence. Young
wished to imitate him, but he fell at ten paces. He remounted without
saying a word, made a second attempt, was again unseated, but this
time was not thrown further than on the horse’s neck, to which he
clung. At the third trial the young learner, as his favorite motto taught,
succeeded in executing what another had done before him.* This experi-
ment need not have been referred to here, but that it had been repeated
at Edinburgh, and afterward at Géttingen, and carried out to a further
extent beyond what might seem credible. In one of these two cities
Young soon afterward entered into a trial of skill with a celebrated
rope-dancer ; in the other, (and in each case the result of a challenge,)
he acquired the art of executing feats on horseback with remarkable
skill, even in the midst of consummate artistes, whose feats of agility
attract every evening such numerous crowds to the circus of Franconi.
Thus, those who are fond of drawing contrasts may, on the one side,
represent to themselves the timid Newton,f never riding in a carriage,
so much did the fear of being upset preoccupy him, without holding to

*This anecdote seems at variance with what is stated on the authority of a Cam-
bridge contemporary of Young in Dr. Peacock’s Life, (p. 119,) that he only: once there
attempted to follow the hounds, when a severe fall prevented any further exbibitions
of the kind.—TRaNSLATOR.

t This practice has been described as that of Newton’s, but the motive assigned by
Arago is novel.

156 EULOGY ON THOMAS YOUNG.

both the doors with extended arms, and, on the other, his distinguished
rival galloping on the backs of two horses with all the confidence of an
equestrian by profession.

In England, a physician, if he does not wish to lose the confidence of
the public, ought to abstain from occupying himself with any scientific
or literary research which may be thought foreign to the art of curing
diseases. Young for a long time did homage to this prejudice. His
writings appeared under an anonymous veil. This veil, it is true, was
very transparent. Two consecutive letters of a certain Latin motto
served successively in regular order as the signature to each memoir.
But Yount communicated the three Latin words to all his friends both
in his own country and abroad, without enjoining secrecy on any one.

Besides, who would be ignorant that the distinguished author of the
theory of interferences was the foreign secretary of the Royal Society
of London ; that he gave in the theater of the Royal Institution a course
of lectures on mathematical physics ; that, associated with Sir H. Davy,
he published a journal of the sciences, &c.? And, moreover, we must say
that his anonymous disguise was not rigorously observed even in his
smaller memoirs; and on important occasions, when, for instance, in
1807, the two volumes in quarto appeared, of 800 or 900 pages each, in
which all branches of natural philosophy were treated in a manner so
new and profound, the self-love of the author made him forget the in-
terests of the physician, and the name of Young in large letters replaced
the two small italics, whose series was then terminated, and which
would have figured in a rather ridiculous manner in the title-page of
this colossal work.

Young had not then, as a physician, either in London or at Worthing,
where he passed the sea-bathing season, any extended practice. The
public found him, in fact, too scientific. We must also avow that his
public lectures on medicine, those for instance which he delivered at
St. George’s Hospital, were generally but ill-attended. It has been said,
to explain this, that his lectures were too dry, too full of matter, and
that they were beyond the apprehension of ordinary understandings.
But might not the want of success be rather ascribed to the freedom,
not very common, with which Young pointed out the inextricable diffi-
culties which encounter us at every step in the study of the numerous
disorders of our frail machine ?

Would any one expect at Paris, and especially in an age when every
one seeks to attain his end quickly and without labor, that a professor
of the faculty would retain many auditors if he were to commence with
these words, which I borrow literally from Dr. Young: ‘No study is
so complicated as that of medicine; it exceeds the limits of human in-
telligence. Those physicians who precipitately go on without trying to
comprehend what they observe, are often just as much advanced as
those who give themselves up to generalizations hastily made on obser-
vations in regard to which all analogy is at fault.” And if the profes-
sor, continuing in the same style, should add, ‘ In the lottery of medi-
cine the chances of the possessor of ten tickets must evidently be greater
than those of the possessor of five,” when they believed themselves en-
gaged in a lottery, would those of his auditors whom the first phrase
had not driven away be at all disposed to make any great efforts to
procure for themselves more tickets, or, to explain the meaning of our
professor, the greatest amount of knowledge possible ?

In spite of his knowledge, perhaps even from the very cause that it
was so extensive, Young was totally wanting in confidence at the bed-
side of the patient. Then the mischievous effects which might event-

nant —-t-

EULOGY ON THOMAS YOUNG. 13¢

ually result from the action of the medicine, even the most clearly
called for, presented themselves in a mass to his mind; seemed to coun-
terbalance the favorable chances which might attend the use of them ;
and thus threw him into a state of indecision, no doubt very natural,
yet on which the publie will always put an unfavorable construction.
The same timidity showed itself in all the works of Young which treated
on medical subjects.* This man, so eminently remarkable for the bold-
ness of his scientific conceptions, gives here no more than a bare enumera-
tion of facts. He seems hardly convinced of the soundness of his
thesis, either when he attacks the celebrated Dr. Radcliffe, whose whole
secret in the most brilliant and successful practice was, as he has him-
self said, to employ remedies exactly the reverse of the usual way; or
when he combats Dr. Brown, who found himself, as he says, in the dis-
agreeable necessity of recognizing, and that in accordance with the offi-
cial documents of an hospital, attended by the most eminent physicians,
that, on the average, fevers left to their natural course are neither more
severe nor of Jonger duration than those treated by the best methods.

In 1818 Young, having been named secretary to the Board of Longi-
tude, abandoned entirely the practice of medicine to give himself up to
the close superintendence of the celebrated periodical work known
under the name of the Nautical Almanac. From this date the Journal
of the Royal Institution gave every quarter his numerous dissertations
on the most important problems of navigation and astronomy. <A vol-
ume entitled “ Iilustration of the Mécanique Céleste of Laplace,” a scien-
tific discussion on the tides, amply attested that Young did not consider
the employment he had accepted as a sinecure. This employment bé-
came, nevertheless, to him a source of unceasing disgust. The Nautical
Almanac had always been, from its commencement, a work exclusively
destined to the service of the navy. Some persons demanded that it
ought to be made, besides, a complete astronomical ephemeris. The
Board of Longitude, whether right or wrong, not having shown itself a
strong partisan of the projected change, found itself suddenly the object
of the most violent attacks. The journals of every party, whig or tory,
took part in the conflict.

We were no longer to view it as a union of such men as Davy, Wol-
laston, Young, Herschel, Kater, and Pond, but an assembly of individ-
nals (I quote the words) “who obeyed a Beotian influence.” The
Nautical Almanac, hitherto so renowned, was now declared to have be-
come an object of shame to the English nation. If an error of the
press was discovered, such as there must be in any collection of figures
at all voluminous, the British navy, from the smallest bark up to the
colossal three-decker, misled by an incorrect figure, would all together
be engulfed in the ocean, &e.

It has been pretended that the principal promoter of these foolish
exaggerations did not perceive such foolish errors in the Nautical
Almanae until after he had unsuccessfully attempted himself to obtain
a place in the Board of Longitude. I know not whether the facet was
so. In any case, I would not make myself the echo of the malicious
commentaries to which it gave rise. I ought not to forget, in fact, that

*This timidity in medical speculation is entirely borne out by the tenor of Young’s
intellectual character, as exhibited in such forcible lineaments in the portrait presented
to us by Dr. Peacock. His mind was essentially cast in a matter-of-fact, positive, demon-
strative mold; hence all subjects of abstract or doubtful inquiry, in which probabilities
alone could be estimated, or when the conclusions were to be the result of meral dis-
crimination, were utterly unsuited to him. His medical character has been viewed,
however, in a much higher light by Dr. Peacock, who has sought to combat the an-
favorable impressions here advanced. (See especially pp. 213, 222.)—TRANSLATOR.

135 EULOGY ON THOMAS YOUNG.

for many years past that member of the Royal Society to whom I allude
has nobly devoted a part of his large fortune to the advancement of
science. This commendable astronomer, like all men of science whose
thoughts are concentrated on one sole object, fell into the error, which
1 do not pretend to excuse, of measuring through a magnifying-glass
the importance of the projects he had conceived. But that with which,
above all, he must be reproached is, that he did not foresee that the
hyperbolic language of his attacks would be taken literally; that he
forgot that at all epochs and in all countries there are a great number
of persons who, having nothing to console them for their littleness, seize
as a prey on all occasions of scandal, and, under the mask of zeal for
the public good, enjoy the delight of being ignoble defamers of those of
their contemporaries whose success has been proclaimed by fame. In
Rome, he whose office it was to insult the triumphant conqueror was
altogether a slave; in London it was a member of the House of Com-
mons from whom the men of science received a cruel affront. An orator
notorious for his prejudices, but who had hitherto vented his bitterness
only against productions of French origin, attacked the most celebrated
names in England, and retailed against them, in open Parliament,
puerile accusations with a laughable gravity. Ministers, whose elo-
quence was exercised for hours on the privileges of a rotten borough,
did not pronounce a single word in favor of genius. The Board ot
Longitude was suppressed without opposition. The next day, it is true,
the wants of an innumerable marine service made their imperative voice
heard, and one of the men of science who had been displaced, the former
secretary of the board, Dr. Young, found himself recalled to his old
labors. Paltry reparation! Would the man of science feel less the
separation from his illustrious colleagues? Would the man of feeling
less perceive that the noble fruits of human intellect were subjected to
tariff by the representatives of the country, in pounds, shillings, and
pence, like sugar, pepper, or cinnamon ?

The health of our colleague, which had already become somewhat
precarious, declined from this sad epoch with fearful rapidity. Skillful
physicians, by whom he was attended, soon lost hope. Young himself
had a consciousness that his end was approaching, and saw it come with
an admirable calmness. Until his last hour he occupied himself with-
out intermission on an Egyptian dictionary then in the press, and which
was not published till after his death. When his powers did not permit
him any longer to sit up or to employ a pen, he corrected the proofs
with a pencil. One of the last acts of his life was to exact the sup-
pression of a small publication written with talent by a friendly hand,
and directed against all those who had contributed to the destruction ot
the Board of Longitude.* Young died surrounded by a family by whom

* The whole account of the transactions connected with the abolition of the Board
of Longitude must be received with some qualification. Arago writes on the subject
in his usual vehement tone, and in the feeling in which the whole affair would
naturally be viewed by a foreigner perhaps not intimately acquainted with the
minute points of the case, and the somewhat different relative position occupied by
the parties in England to that in which they might stand in France. It may be right
very briefly to point out a few particulars in the case, which are necessary for forming
a correct impression of it. The Board of Longitude, originally instituted, as its name
implied, for one specific object, which it was considered had been sufficiently attained,
was, in 1818, remodeled by act of Parliament, when Dr. Young was appointed secre-
tary to the board and superintendent of the Nautical Almanac. The late Mr. F. Baily,
whose eminence in astronomical science may perhaps be dated from that event,
strongly pointed out the numerous defects of the Nantical Almanac. This led to some
controversy of rather a sharp nature between himself and Dr. Young, who defended
the existing system. Other astronomers joined in the desire for these and even more

EULOGY ON THOMAS YOUNG. 139

he was adored, May 10, 1829, barely at the age of fifty-six. Examina-
tion showed that he suffered ‘from ossification of the aorta.

I have not dwelt too long on the task imposed on ine if I have brought
out, as I wished to do, the importance and novelty of the admirable law

extensive improvements, all which (with one slight concession) were steadily opposed
by Dr. Young. Among these advocates for reform were several members of the board
itself, who urged them at its meetings. There was also a very prevalent impression,
even among its own members, that the board was not well constituted, and might
have been capable of much better service to the nation if its functions were less re-

stricted and the selection of its members placed en a better footing. In other quar-
ters impressions unfavorabie to its utility were prevalent, and it can hardly be matter
of surprise that, when the board was itself divided in opinion, the public or the legis-
lature should entertain doubts of its utility, or even hostile feelings toward it. What
were the precise notions of the government, or the machinations by which they were
influenced, it is impossible to say; but it is certain that, in 1828, chiefly through the
influence of Mr. Croker, its dissolution was determined upon and carried by act of
Parliament without any opposition being attempted. Instead, however, of an enlarged
board, with increased powers, three scientific advisers of the admiralty were appointed,
of whom Dr. Young was one, retaining the superintendence of the Nautical Almanac—
a system which has been since remodeled, in accordance with the report of a committee
appointed out of the Astronomical Society:

Dr. Young appears all along to have been affected only by the personal acrimony of
some of the attacks upon himself in relation to the editorship of the Nantical Almanac,
and not at all by any feeling for the Board of Longitude, as Arago would regard it.
That board, as already observed, was divided against itself, and it therefore fell. It
was never ‘upheld on the only’ right ground. Neither the board nor the friends of
science sufficiently urged the strong and irresistible claims which they might have
preferred to the government of the country, that “a council of science,” with extended
powers, properly selected and adequately remunerated, would be the appropriate ad-
junct of the government of a country all whose resources are so powerfully developed
in exclusive dependence on the applications of science.

Tbe government would thus have had the means of sound scientific advice con-
stantly at hand, of which experience proves they are in daily want on every emer-
gency, and which they obtain by asking the gratuitous services of men of science, and
the Crown would have possessed the means of making a graceful acknowledgment of
the services, and paying a just tribute to the genius of men devoted to the higher
branches of the abstract sciences, which are of a nature incapable of themselves of
aftording any kind of remuneration, or, in the ordinary course, leading to any of those
honors or preferments which await eminence in other professions. —TRANSLATOR.

The reader may be referred, for details of the questions here considered, to the fol-
tomas documents:

1. “Astronomical Tables and Remarks for 1822; published December, 1821,” by F.
Baily, esq., with ‘‘ Remarks on the present defective state of the Nautical Almanac.”

2. A reply to these remarks appeared in Mr. Brande’s Quarterly Journal of Science,
April, 1822. (Attributed to Dr. Young.)

3. Practical observations on the Nautical Almanac, &c., by James South, F. R. S.,
1822.

4. Reply to a letter in the Morning Chronicle relative to the government and astro-
nomical science, &c., by the same. 1829.

5. Refutation of misstatements, &c., in a paper presented to the admiralty by Dr. T.
Young, and printed by order of the House of Commons, by the same. 1829.

6. Further remarks on the present defective state of the Nautical Almanac, &e., by
FP. pay esq., FP. R.S., &e. 1829.

Report of the committee of the Astronomical Society relative to the improvement
of “aK Nautical Almanac, adopted by the council of the society, and approved and
ordered to be carried into eftect by the lords commissioners of the admiralty, 1530.
oe of the Astronomical Society, vol. iv, p. 447.)

8. A motion was made in the House of Commons February. 23, 1829, for certain
returns respecting the Board of Longitude and the Nautical Almanac, &e. The re-
turns were made and printed, consisting of: 1. A memorandum of a statement made
to the chancellor of the exchequer for Teforming the Nautical Almanae and estab-
lishment of a new Board of Longitude. 2. A paper read at the board by J. Herschel,
esq. 3. A report on a memorandum, &c., by Thomas Young, M. D. In the last, Dr.
Young makes answer to what he considers objections raised in the “ Memorandum,” and
also replies to those of Mr. Baily and Mr. South. Sir J. South’s pamphlet contains
the Memorandum, the objections raised or inferred by Dr. Young, his replies to them ;
all which are severely criticised. At page 60 is a curious account of some discussions
at Sir H. Davy’s soiree, between Sir J. South and Dr. Young.

140 EULOGY ON THOMAS YOUNG.

of interferences. Young is now placed before your ‘eyes as one of the
most illustrious men of science, in whom England may justly take pride.
Your thoughts, anticipating my words, may perhaps perceive already,
in the recital of the just honors shown to the author of so beautiful.a
discovery, the peroration of this historical notice. These anticipations,
I regret to say, will not berealized. The death of Young has in his own
countr Vv created very little sensation. ‘The doors of Westminster* Ab-
bey, so easily accessible to titled mediocrity, remained shut upon a man
of genius, who was not even a baronet. It was in the village of Farn-
borough, in the modest tomb of the family of his wife, that the remains of
Thomas Young were deposited. The indifference of the English nation
for those se ientific labors which ought to add so much to its elory isarare
anomaly, of which it would be curious to trace the causes. I should be
wanting in frankness, I should be the panegyrist, not the historian, if I
did not : avow that, in general, Young did not sufficiently ace commodate
himself to the capacity of his readers; that the greater part of the writ-
ings for which the sciences are indebted to him are justly chargeable
with a certain obscurity. But the neglect to which they were long con-
signed did not depend solely on this cause.

‘The exact sciences have an advantage over the works of art or imagi-
nation which has often been pointed out. The truths of which they
consist remain constant through ages without suffering in any respect
from the caprices of fashion or the decline of taste; but thus, when
once these researches rise into more elevated regions of thought, on how
many competent judges of their merits can we reckon? When Richelieu
let loose against the great Corneille a crowd of that class of men whom
envy of the merit of others renders furicus, the Parisians vehemently
hissed the partisans of the despot cardinal, and applauded the poet.
This reparation is denied to the geometer, the astronomer, or the physi-
cist who cultivates the highest parts of science. Those who even com-
petently appreciate them throughout the whole extent of Europe never
rise above the number of eight or ten. Imagine these unjust, indifferent,
or even jealous, (for I suppose that may sometimes be the case,) and the
public, reduced to believe on hearsay, would be ignorant that D’Alem-
bert had connected the great phenomenon of precession of equinoxes
with the principle of universal gravitation; that Lagrange had arrived
at the discovery of the physical cause of the libration of the moon;
that since the researches of Laplace, the acceleration of the motion of
that luminary is found to be connected with a particular change in the
form of the earth’s orbit, &c. The journals of science, when they are
edited by men of recognized merit, thus acquire, on certain subjects,
an influence which sometimes becomes fatal. It is thus, I conceive, that
we may describe the influence which the Edinburgh Review has some-
times exercised. Among the contributors to that celebrated journal at
its commencement, a young writer was eminently distinguished, in whom
the discoveries of Newton had inspired an ardent admiration. This
sentiment, so natural, so legitimate, unfortunately led him to miscon-
ceive the ’ plausible, ingenious, and fertile character of the doctrine of
interferences. The author of this theory had not, perhaps, always taken
care to clothe his decisions, his statements, his critiques, with those
more polished forms of expression the claims of which ought never to

* The frequenters of Poet’s Corner need not be reminded that literature and science
are not excluded from their share of funereal honors in Westminster Abbey. M. Arago
here, as in some other passages, may naturally be a little incorrect in referring ‘to

national usages. The delay which occurred in regard to Young’s monument is, how-
ever, not fully explained by Dean Peacock. (See Life of Young, p. 465. )—TRANSLATOR.

EULOGY ON THOMAS YOUNG. 141

be neglected, and which, moreover, became a matter of imperative duty
when the question referred to the immortal author of the Natural Phi-
losophy,* (the Principia?) The penalty of retaliation was applied to him

*Tt seems impossible to make this sentence intelligible, unless we suppose the “ im-
mortal author” spoken of to be Newton, and by consequence that the title Natural Philos-
ophy was a slip of the writer’s pen for Principia. Yet the supposition that the hostility
of the Edinburgh Review was at all called forth by any want of courtesy toward New-
ton in the writings of Young is wholly unsupported by anything in Young’s papers,
in which he cites the views of Newton with the greatest respect. —TRANSLATOR.

Newton’s support of the emission theory of light—The authority of names can never be
of any avail to the truly inductive philosopher; his motto is emphatically “nullius in
verba.” But there has been always a propensity among writers on the subject to dwell
on such authority, and to array great names on either side of any of those controverted
points which have divided the scientific world. Perhaps, where the question is purely
one of opinion, and refers simply to hypotheses upheld for what they are worth as
such, the weight of a name may not be unworthy of due estimation: great experience
and high genius may add value to a pure hypothesis, though it could not to a positive .
conclusion. In regard to theories of light this has been conspicuously exemplified, and
during a long continuance of controversial discussion it has been a matter of triumph
to the opponents of the undulatory theory that the authority of Newton is on their
side. And even Arago, as well as some other supporters of it, have spoken as if regret-
ting that they were thus constrained to put themselves in antagonism to Newton.
They have pictured two rival theories, the one headed by Newton and supported by
Laplace, Biot, Brewster, and Potter; the other upheld in opposition to them by Huy-
ghens, Hooke, Euler, Fresnel, Young, Airy, and all the Cambridge school.

But a very slight inquiry into the real facts entirely dispels this view of the case. In
particular, Dr. Young himself, in proposing his theory, so far from opposing the Newto-
nian views, expressly endeavors to conciliate attention by claiming the weight of New-
ton’s authority on his own side; thus, in his paper ‘On the theory of light and colors,”
(Phil. Trans., 1801,) he commences by highly extolling the optical researches of New-
ton, and then observes, “Those who are attached, as they may be, with the greatest
justice, to every doctrine which is stamped with the Newtonian approbation, will proba-
bly be disposed to bestow on these considerations (i. e., his own views) so much the
more of their attention as they shall appear to coincide more nearly with Newton’s
opinion.” He then proceeds to examine in detail a number of passages from Newton’s
writings, in which the theory of waves is distinctly upheld and even applied with some
precision to the explanation of various phenomena of light, illustrated by their analo-
gies to those of sound.

It is perfectly true that Newton. in the actual investigation of several phenomena of
light, adopts other hypotheses than those of waves, and chiefly the idea of light
(whatever may be its nature) being subject to certain attractions and repulsions, to
certain bendings when approaching near the edges of solid bodies, to certain peculiar
modifications or changes in its nature recurring periodically at certain minute inter-
vals along the length of a ray, to the idea of a ray having “sides” endued with dif-
ferent properties ; in a word, a variety of conceptions which he introduces for the pur-
pose of giving some kind of imaginary physical representation of the modus operandi in
each of the several curious experimental cases which he had examined. In all these
there is no unity or community of principle ; there is at least nothing like the spirit of
theory, no continual recurrence to one leading idea, no perpetual appeal to any one
principle, however imaginary, but an attempt in each isolated case to frame something
like an isolated hypothesis to suit it, and in some way to represent its phenomena,
though without any attempt to connect them with the others. It may perhaps be said
that all these various suppositions agree in supposing light to be material, to be some-
thing emitted from the luminous source. But on a closer examination it seems far
from certain that even this can be maintained. The only part of these investigations,
perhaps, in which anything very positive of this kind is distinctly introduced, is when
Newton investigates the laws of refraction on the express supposition of small mole-
cules attracted by the molecules of the medium. But in this instance it has been truly
observed that, at the time when Newton wrote, no mathematical method existed by
which this kind of action could be reduced to calculation, except those involving the
action of attractive force. To give, then, a mathematical theory of ordinary reflection
and refraction, he was necessitated to make use of thismethod. When he came to in-
vestigate those more recondite phenomena which he (very appropriately to their ap-
parent nature) called “inflection,” the idea most naturally and obviously presented was,
that some power or influence, analogous to attraction and repulsion, existing in the
edge of an opaque body to bend out of their course rays passing very near it, and this
might seem to imply the materiality of those rays. A kind of alternating action of this
sort, which le imagined necessary to account for a part of the effect, would, however,
hardly be reconcilable to the idea of direct emission. It would be a difficult matter

142 EULOGY ON THOMAS YOUNG.

with interest; the Edinburgh Review attacked the man of erudition,
the writer, the geometer, the experimenter, with a vehemence, with a
severity of expression, almost without example in scientific discussion.
The public usually keep on their guard when such violent language is
addressed to them; but in this instance they adopted, at the first onset,
the opinions of the journalist, in which we cannot fairly accuse them of in-
considerateness. ‘The journalist, in fact, was not one of those unfledged
critics Whose mission is not justified by any previous study of the sub-
ject. Several good papers, received by the Royal Society, had attested
his mathematical knowledge, and had assigned him a distinguished
place among the physicists to whom optical science was indebted; the
profession of the bar in London had acknowledged him one of its shin-
ing luminaries; the whig section of the House of Commens saw in him
an efficient orator, who, in parliamentary struggles, was often the happy
antagonist of Canning. This was the future president of the House of
Peers—the present lord chancellor,* How could opposition be offered
to unjust criticisms proceeding from so high a quarter? J am not igno-
rant what firmness some minds enjoy in the consciousness of their being
in the right, in the certainty that sooner or later truth will triumph;
but I know, also, that we shall act wisely in not reckoning too much on
such exceptions. Listen, for example, to Galileo himself, repeating in
a whisper, after his abjuration, “ pur si muove!” and do not seek in
these immortal words an augury for the future, for they are but the ex-
pression of the cruel vexation which the illustrious old man experienced.
Young, also, in writing a few pages which he published as an answer to
the Edinburgh Review, showed. himself deeply discouraged. The
vivacity, the vehemence of his expressions, ill concealed the sentiment
which oppressed him. In a word, let us hasten to say that justice, com-
plete justice, was at length rendered to the great physicist. After sev- -
eral years the whole world recognized in him one of the brightest lumi-

to conceive particles darted through space with such inconceivable velocity as must
belong to those of light, and yet stopping to wave about, in and out, as Newton ex-
presses it, ‘like an eel,” close to the edge of a body, by virtue of some mysterious in-
fluence which it exercises upon them.

Again: the theory of those alternating states, conditions, or “fits,” as he termed
them, at such minute intervals along the length of ray, alternately putting it in astate
to be reflected, and again to be transmitted by a transparent medium, seem very remote
from the idea of a single rectilinear progress of molecules through space following one
another at immense intervals of distance, though in inconceivably rapid succession in
time. It would be easy to extend such remarks; but it will probably be seen, with
sufficient evidence for our present purpose, that neither in profession nor in fact can
Newton’s name be appealed to as at all an exclusive supporter of the material hypoth-
esis of light, even if in other passages he had not distinctly referred to that of undu-
lations; and of these references a large number are quoted from different portions of
his writings by Dr. Young in the paper above cited. In some of these, while he ad-
mits the readiness with which the idea of waves represents the phenomena, he yet
dwells on certain apparent objections which seemed to invalidate that idea.

Upon the whole, it appears that the name of Newton can in no way be legitimately
claimed as a partisan of either theory. Indeed, it is surprising that any claim of the
kind could have been set up as regards the emission theory, after his own distinct
avowal : ;

‘Tis true, that from theory I argue the corporeity of light; but I do it without any
absolute positiveness, as the word ‘ perhaps’ intimates; and make it at most but a very
plausible consequence of the doctrine, and not a fundamental supposition, nor so much
as any part of it.”—(Phil. Trans., vol. x, 1675, p. 5086.)

While in respect to either hypothesis, it is sufficiently evident to those acquainted
with his writings that he never systematically upheld either the one or the other; but
from time to time, as each particular investigation seemed to require, he adopted the
one or the other principle, just as it seemed to give the more ready explanation of the
point before him.—TRANSLATOR.

* Lord Brougham, who held that office when this biography was written.

EULOGY ON THOMAS YOUNG. 143

naries of the age. It is from France (and Young took pleasure in him-
self proclaiming it) that the tirst sign of this tardy reparation showed
itself. I will add that, at an epoch considerably before the doctrine of in-
terferences had made converts either in England or on the Continent,
Young found within his own family circle one who comprehended it.
and whose assent to it might well console him for the neglect of the
pubhe. The distinguished person whom I here point out to the notice
of the physicists of Europe will excuse me if I.complete chis indiscre-
tion by stating the circumstances. In the year 1816 I made a tour ip
England with my scientific friend, M. Gay-Lussac. Fresnel had just
then entered on his scientific career in the most brilliant manner by the
publication of his memoir on diffraction. This work, which, in our opin-
ion, contained a capital experiment irreconcilable with the Newtoniap
theory of light, became naturally the first subject of our discussion witb
Dr. Young. We were astonished at the numerous qualifications which
he put upon our praises of it, until at length he stated to us that the very
experiment which we so much commended had been peblished, so long
since as 1807, in his treatise on Natural Philosophy. This assertion did
not seem to us well founded. It caused a long and minute discussion.
Mrs. Young was present, without appearing to take any part in the con-
versation; but we imagined that the weak fear of being designated by
the ridiculous sobriquet of bas-bleuw rendered the ladies of England very
reserved in the presence of foreigners, and our want of discernment did
not strike us till the moment when Mrs. Young quickly quitted her place;
we then began to attempt excuses to her husband, until we saw her re-
enter the room carrying under her arm a large quarto volume. This
was the first volume of the Natural Philosophy. She placed it on the
table, and without saying a word opened it at page 787, and pointed with
her finger to a diagram in which the curvilinear route of the diffracted
bands, on which the discussion turned, was theoretically established.

I trust I shall be pardoned these little details. Too numerous exam-
ples may almost have habituated the public to consider destitution, in-
justice, persecution, and misery as the natural wages of those who devote
their vigils to the development of the human mind. Let us not, then,
forget to point out the exceptions whenever they present themselves.
If we wish that youth should give itself up with ardor to intellectual
labors, let us show them that the glory attached to great discoveries
allies itself, sometimes at least, with some degree of tranquillity and
happiness. Let us even withdraw, if it be possible, from the history of
science so many pages which tarnish its glory. Let us try to persuade
ourselves that in the dungeons of the inquisitors a friendly voice had
caused Galileo to hear some of the delightful expressions which posterity
has kept sacred for his memory; that behind the thick walis of the
Bastile, Freret might yet have learned from the world of science the
glorious rank which it had reserved for him among the men of erudition,
whom France honors; that before going to die in a hospital, Borelli
had found sometimes in the city of Rome a shelter against the inclem-
ency of the atmosphere, and a little straw on which to lay his head;
and, lastly, that the great Kepler had not experienced the sufferings of
hunger.

NOTE BY THE AUTHOR.—The journals having done we the honor to
mention sometimes the numerous testimonies of good-will and friend-
ship which Lord Brougham had shown me in 1854, as well in Scotland
asin Paris, a word or two of explanation here seems indispensable.
The éloge of Dr. Young was read at a public sitting of the Academy of
Sciences, November 26, 1832. At this period I had never had any per-

144 EULOGY ON THOMAS YOUNG.

sonal acquaintance with the writer in the Edinburgh Review, and thus
all charge of ingratitude must fall to the ground. But could you not,
some might perhaps say, have suppressed entirely, when your paper was
going to the press, all that related to so unfortunate a controversy? I
could have done so, and in fact the idea had occurred to me; but I soon
renounced it. I know too well the elevated feelings of my illustrious
friend to fear that he will take offense at my frankness in regard to
a question on which I have profound conviction that the great extent of
his genius has not preserved him from error. The homage which I
render to the noble character of Lord Brougham, in now publishing this
passage of the éloge of Young without any modification, is, in my mind,
sufficiently significant to render it needless to add a word more.

MEMOIR OF. AUGUSTE BRAVAIS.*

By M. Erm De Beaumont,
Perpetual Secretary of the French Academy of Sciences.

[Translated for the Smithsonian Institution by C. A. Alexander. ]

One of the highest gifts of the human intellect is to lift itself to the
contemplation of the future; to enjoy in advance the benefits which it
prepares for the after-races of mankind; to feel itself already recom-
pensed for long and laborious efforts by the thought that a measure of
glory will, some day, encircle a name which is still unknown.

It is your noble privilege, members of the Academy, to pay this tribute
of the future; to discharge by anticipation the debt bequeathed to
posterity, especially in the case of those whom an untimely death has
precluded from the enjoyment of their success; and when a savant,
prematurely snatched away from his studies, leaves works as yet but
little known, though well worthy of being so, works deprived of the
brilliant retinue with which he would in good time have surrounded
them, these are orphans the guardianship of which peculiarly belongs
to you. Such are the motives which have determined your administra-
tive committee to call your attention to-day to a colleague who, struck
down in your ranks almost at the moment when he had just entered
them, will leave in several branches of the sciences ineffaceable traces
through the labors by which he had earned your suffrages.

Auguste Bravais was born August 23, 1811, at Annonay, in the de-
partment of Ardéche. His paternal family sprang from the neighboring
town of Saint-Peray, where it had enjoyed for several centuries the con-
sideration and esteem which have, in all ages, been associated with long
traditions of honor and loyalty. His father, born in 1764, had completed
his scientific studies at Montpellier, where he had been preparator for
the chemical courses of Chaptal, and had received the degree of doctor
of medicine in 1790. Devoted to natural history, he had successively
solicited permission to take part in the two expeditions sent in 1791 and
1792 in search of La Pérouse, but had been stopped by different obsta-
cles, and finally by the opposition of his family, alarmed at the first
symptoms of the Revolution, by which, like so many others, it was se-
verely tried. When tranquillity reappeared Dr. Bravais established
himself at Annonay, a small town picturesquely situated at the entrance
of one of the gorges of the Vivarais, known for its manufactures of
paper and for having been the country of the celebrated Montgolfier.
Here he was soon recognized as an excellent practitioner, and for forty
years exercised gratuitously the functions of physician of the hospital.
With his devotion to the sick and to the welfare of his fellow-citizens
was always allied in Dr. Bravais an enthusiastic love of botany. He
undertook a flora of the Cevennes and Alps, and maintained a constant
correspondence and commerce of exchanges with the most distinguished
botanists of Paris and Montpellier. It was in this way that he received

10s *Read at the annual public sitting of the 6th February, 1865.

146 MEMOIR OF AUGUSTE BRAVAIS.

one day the seeds of the Dahlia, a plant then new to Europe, and to him
is due the introduction of that fine flower into the center of France.

Dr. Bravais had become one of the most considerable men of Anno-
nay, When he espoused, early in the century, an estimable member of
the ‘ancient and noble family of Thomé, which had given counsellors to
the parliaments of Paris and Grenoble and a lieutenant general to the
armies of the King. A few years saw him surrounded with a family of
four sons and a daughter, of whom the youngest of the sons was our
future colleague, Aug uste Bravais. Their mother died shortly after the
birth of her daughter, and neither she nor the little Auguste could re-
member having seen her. Feeling the approach of death, the thoughts
of Madame Bravais dwelt chiefly on her children, and having long” re-
marked the piety and pure sentiments of one of the female members of
her household, she drew from this person a promise not to quit them.
Never was confidence better bestowed. The excellent creature remained
forty years in the house, and from her the two infants yet in the cradle
received, with the maternal care demanded by their age, those first im-
pr essions of childhood which are never effaced. The rapid development
of their intelligence reflected honor on hers. At the age of three years
Auguste could - read, without its being well known how he had learned
to do so, and there was for him no oveater enjoyment than to gather with
his sister the flowers, the pebbles, the insects of brilliant colors, which
attracted notice in their rambles ; these were the toys of their childish
years.

They were soon capable of following the excursions of their elder
brothers, whom they had seen bringing back every day objects which
stimulated their curiosity. When his occupations permitted, Dr. Bra-

yais himself conducted these explorations. It was a touching t ableau,
that of this young family herborizing, classifying plants, insects, min-
erals, under the eye and direction of its head, at once father and pro-
fessor, whose soul, profoundly religious, habitually lifted that of the
youthful naturalists to the Author of creation. His mind, at once acute
and playful, was well qualified to render attractive the explanations sug-
gested to him by the collections of the day, with which he frequently
mingled classic citations suited to stimulate his children in their studies ;
for it was his good fortune to have himself received, among the Orato-
ians, a solid instruction which contributed to the happines ss of his lite
-and finally conferred consolation on his honored and serene old age.

The memory of this man of worth is still held in veneration at An-
nonay, where more than one of its workmen may even now be seen in-
stinctively to raise his hat on passing before his uninhabited mansion.
His children, while following their different tendencies, preserved the
impressions of their first education. Auguste manifested in good sea-
son a turn for observation, and a decided inclination for indulging it.
When yet a child, he was attentive to atmospheric phenomena. He
night have been seen descending of a morning to the terrace, there to
observe the sky, the wind, the clouds. Still later, when become a little
more learned, he would establish of an evening his observatory on the
balcony, and ‘point out to the assembled family a thousand phenomena
which without him would have passed unperceived, the effects of :cer
tain rays of the setting sun; the moon with the accidents of light which
environ it; the rainbows, the halos, in which he knew not as yet that he
should one day find a title to celebrity.

The paternal residence had for its horizon a mountain of moderate
height, yet sufficient to serve, as we say, for a barometer. It is called
the Roche de Vent. The clouds heaped themselves around it, the snow

MEMOIR OF AUGUSTE BRAVAIS. 147

left its traces, mists sometimes visited it. It played no indifferent par
in this childish existence. Conducted thither by his father and broth-

ers, it became the point to which his yet narrow observations and ex-
peditions were directed, though it required four or five hours to ascend
and return. His ambition, however, § soared much higher when he saw
his brothers return from the P ilat, a ‘mountain well known to naturalists,
bringing thence new flowers, unknown insects, and heard them describe
the splendors of the sun rising behind Mont Blane. He was not ten
years old, and five or six hours were necessary to reach the summit.
Yet, havi ing well pondered his plans, he departs alone one morning, deter-
mined that he also would sleep on the mountaintop, and collect its
plants, its stones, its insects. His absence excited little inquietude at
home, for the sagacity with which he was accustomed to explore the
complicated recesses of the mountains of the Vivarais was well known ;
and, in fact, he returned safely the next morning with the objects
which he had coveted, having drunk at the source of the Gier and seen
the sun rise behind Mont Blane, throwing into magnificent perspective
the long chain of the Alps. Here we see the embryo adventurer des-
tined one day to climb the perilous heights of Mont Blanc itself.

Habits of meditation early announced the aptness which he was to
exert at a later period in the advancement of science. Those who fre-
quented the paternal mansion remember having often met a child
apparently absorbed in profound reflection, and who, to the inquiries
which he excited, would naively answer: I am thinking. And, indeed,
so active and fruitful was this habit of thought that at the age of four-
teen he had completed all the classical and literary courses of the Col-
lege of Annonay. His father now thought proper to send him to Paris,
that he might devote a year to rhetoric and another to philosophy in
the College of Stanislas. The young Auguste carried thither habits of
obedience and modesty which did not prevent him to be an indocile
‘pupil. He pursued w ith the utmost exactness the prescribed studies,
aud succeeded in acquiring that pure, clear, and precise style which
is the usual index of a good education; but he did not evince for classi-
cal studies the ardor for which the premiums at the end of the year are
reserved. His predilections were directed elsewhere. Some books,
hidden at the bottom of his trunk, had escaped notice. These were
works on mathematics ; and these he found means of studying at night.
He solved problems and wrote letters full of intelligence to M. Reynaud,
the modest and learned professor of the College of Annonay, who had
already given him lessons in arithmetic and geometry.

On his return from Paris he was again placed under the charge of M.
Reynaud, of whom he had become rather the friend than pupil, and as he
had been destined by his father for the Polytechnic School, a certain in-
sight into all that is required for admission was afforded him by the
professor in the course of a single year. In 1828, therefore, he ventured
to present himself at Nismes for examination ; but his preparation had
been too rapid, and he was not received. Happily for himself and for
science, the boundaries of which it was his fortune afterwards to extend,
he had fallen into the hands of a discriminative examiner, M. Bourdon,
who, while verifying the insufficiency of his studies, recognized the
aptitude of his genius. This excellent man, to whom many among us
besides owe a debt of gratitude, reflected on the future of this youthful

candidate whom he was obliged to reject, and, with the ingenuous ear-
nestness which he more than once displayed in behalf of students of
whom he augured favorably, pleaded with the father of Auguste, and
succeeded in persuading him that the career of the unsuccessful appli-

148 MEMOIR OF AUGUSTE BRAVAIS.

cant still lay in the polytechnic tine. After this Dr. Bravais no longer
hesitated, but sent his son anew to Paris, where he was placed in the
institution of M. Barbet, then distinguished as one of the best sem-
inaries of preparation for the Poly technic School.

Auguste Bravais pursued at the College of St. Louis, under M. Delille,
the course of special mathematics. At the end of the year he obtained
at the general competition the first prize of mathematics, and was re-

ceived at the Polytechnic School as number two of the list. On pass-
ing inte the first ‘division, after a year’s study, he was classed as first,
and at his exit made choice, with his father’s approbation, of the marine
service. The sea! How many opportunities did that name suggest of
seeing distant shores, of studying nature in its different aspects, and of
continuing, with enlarged knowledge, the studies which had formed the
delight of a happy childhood.

He embarked in January, 1832, on board the Finistére, which then navi-
gated the waters of the Mediterranean ; ; but he soon passed to the brig
Loiret, commanded by M. Bérard, whom we have since counted among
the correspondents of our section of geography, and who was at that
time charged with the exploration of the coasts of Algeria. The Loiret,
on board of which was also M. De Tessan , hydrographical engineer, and
now our colleague, was employed two summers in making the coast sur-
vey of our African possessions, and the work was completed when the
vessel re-entered the port of Toulon, October 25, 1833. The minister of
marine, with a sagacity which does ‘honor to his memory, had composed
of future academicians the official staff of a vessel charged with a scien-
tific mission, and the commander, M. Bérard, in his excellent work, De-
scription Nautique des Cotes de V Algérie, took. occasion to convey to his
assistants, and expressly to M. Bravais, his warm acknowledgments of
the important share which they had borne in the common labor.

The Loiret was next employed in maintaining the communications be-
tween Algiers, Bona, and Oran, being armed on account of the hostile:
disposition of the inhabitants of the shores. In these incessant passages
from one extremity of the Algerine coast to the other, it was necessary
to make many different ports, and M. Bravais, who had been named lien-
tenant in 1834, lost none of these invaluable opportunities of satisfying
his passion for natural history. A floraand fauna, different from those
of the Cevennes, offered a multitude of objects calculated to pique his
curiosity. Magnificent collections of plants, insects, crustacea, fish, ter-
restrial or marine mollusks, rewarded his activity. Of these he made
frequent remittances to Annonay, and sometimes carried thither in per-
son the fruits of his researches, for, since leaving the Polytechnic School,
he invariably passed there all the vacations and furloughs he could ob-
tain. On these occasions of areturn to his native place, he never failed
to revisit his dear mountains, Pilat and Roche de Vent, and resumed,
though on a wider scale, the walks and herborizations which had formed
of old the happiness of the Bravais family. Knapsack on his back, the
young mariner then made long excursions, accompanied by his brother
nearest in age to himself, the “Abbé Camille Bravais, now professor of
natural histor y at the College of Annonay, and keeper of the museum
of that city, composed in great part of his own gifts and those of his
family.

3ut it was with his eldest brother, Dr. Louis Bravais, that our future
colleague devoted himself to the more profound investigations of botany.
At the beginning of the year 1835, the two brothers united in present-
ing to the “Academy a memoir entitled : Essai géométrique sur la symé-
trie des feuilles curvisériées et rectisériées, (Geometrical essay on cur-

ia

MEMOIR OF AUGUSTE BRAVAIS, a. eee

viserial and rectiserial leaves.) This memoir had nothing in common
with the ordinary labors of botany relating to the description of species,
or to botanical geography. As little was it 2 memoir on vegetable phy-
siology in the usual acceptation of the word. It was a work of a wholly
special and original character on the relations of symmetry, presented
by the insertions, at different points of the stem, of the leaves and or-
gans which spring from it. This subject, although MM. Bravais had no
knowledge of the fact, had shortly before been the subject of a memoir
published by two distinguished botanists, MM. Schimper and Alexander
Braun, who had pointed out its importance, and had arrived at some
very curious results. M. Adolph Brongniart, however, in the report
which he made to the Academy in 1837, pronounced that MM. Louis
and Auguste Bravais had brought more precision to the study of the
numerous facts which they had collected than had been before exem-
plified. The subject, moreover, could not be completely elucidated
without a profound knowledge of the helix and of the different spirals
in which the insertions of the leaves are aligned with so remarkable a
regularity, and without a singular dexterity in the management of con-
tinuous fractions, recurrent series, and other mathematical combinations
of a delicate nature. M. Auguste Bravais had employed them, with the
elegant simplicity which is always the stamp of an accomplished mathe-
matician, for expressing the relations of position of the leaves with one
another, and for arriving in a clear and precise manner at consequences
which could not otherwise be obtained except by long and tedious ten-
tatives. These deductions have brought to light, in a degree but little
suspected by many, a regularity of arrangement in the organs of vege-

tables, which, without being precisely analogous to the laws of cry stal-
lography, is equally as precise and admir able.

The brothers still further drew up in common different memoirs on
botany, and it was not at Paris only that their labors obtained a de-
served success. They equally attracted the attention of botanists in
other parts of Europe, and M. De Candolle dedicated to the two authors,
under the name of Bravaisia, a new species of the family of the Bignon-

iace. The objects of natural history which M. Auguste Bravais sent

from Algeria were also highly appreciated. In 1835 he found on the
Island of Rachgoun a serpent which was new to him, the Amphisbena
cinerea, and which he transmitted to M. De Blainville, who testified his
surprise at the occurrence of such an animal in that country. Other
remittances of seeds and living plants, collected in the province of Oran,
earned for him letters of thanks from the administration of the Museum
of Paris, and warm encouragements to complete the herbal of Desfon-
taines, and to continue his researches in botany during the voyages it
was hoped he would undertake to other regions.

The ardor of the young officer was so much increased by this success
as sometimes to make him forget that he was no longer in the peace-
able mountains of the Ardéche or of Dauphiny; it drew upon him, on
several oceasions, the kindly reproaches of his superiors for rashness.
But these reproaches were changed into felicitations when, August 12,
1836, at the head of thirty-seven marines, he extricated the command-
ant and surgeon of the Loiret, surrounded, during a hunting excursion,
by the troops of the Emir.

Unluckily, he did not arrive in time to rescue another officer, whom
the Arabs had already carried off. But from the point where he then
stood M. De France had witnessed the combat, which he describes in his
interesting account of the prisoners of Abd-el-Kader. ** J will not con-
clude,” he says, “‘ without speaking of the bravery, the coolness, and

150 MEMOIR OF AUGUSTE BRAVAIS.

address of my colleague, M. Bravais, lieutenant of the frigate. This
courageous friend commanded the sailors who flew to our succor; he
disposed his troop so skillfully, and fell so vigorously on the enemy,
that he forced them to fly precipitately, and, if conduct and intrepidity
could have saved me, undoubtedly the conduct and intrepidity of M.
Bravais would have secured my release.”

‘ne commandant, being wounded in the arm, could not write, and as
the first lieutenant was prisoner, the duty of making the report upon
the fight, in which two sailors had been re devolved on M. Bravais.
dn drawing up this paper he avoided, as far as possible, under the im-
pulse of his habitual modesty, all mention of himself; hence, while the
minister of marine bestowed praise upon the Loiret, ‘the author of the
report received no decoration, as all around him would have wished.
Yet, in the eyes of those who knew all the details of the affair, the un-
designed omission of the minister reflected more honor on the young
officer than the star itself of the order would have conferred. He re-
ceived that distinction, however, on another occasion, and for services
of a wholly different character.

Nature had largely endowed M. Bravais. With the brilliant officer
and zealous naturalist there was united in him, according to the ex-
pression of M. Cauchy, assuredly a competent judge in such matters,
the true geometer. The former student of the College of Stanislas, who,
in pursuing his course of rhetoric and philosophy, passed the night in
studying books of mathematics, had resumed, on board the Loiret, anal-
ogous habits. With the consent of the superior officers, by whom he
was rightly appreciated, his comrades, themselves highly distinguished,
though with a different turn of mind, replaced him on the quarterdeck
when his watch recurred, and M. Bravais shut himself up in his cabin,
where he spent the night in executing his calculations, or in solving
such problems as pr esented themselves. It was thus that he made the

calculations necessary for the reduction of the hydrographic projection
of the coasts of Algeria; and thus, likewise, that he composed the math-
ematical part of the botanical memoir which he published with his
brother. Thus, too, a career was eventually opened to him of a special
nature, and such as appealed most directly to his natural proclivities.

Among other mathematical labors which M. Bravais had executed on
board the Loiret, he had composed two memoirs, one on the Aethods
employed in taking bearings under sail, and the other on the Lquilibrium
of floating bodies. Having obtained leave of absence from the minister
of marine, he formed from these memoirs two theses which he sustained
before the Faculty of Sciences of Lyons, in consequence of which he
was received as doctor of sciences. These theses attracted just notice,
and the minister subscribed for several copies of the second for the
libraries of the ports. In thus acquiring the doctorate of mathematical
sciences, M. Bravais was conforming to the friendly advice of M. Pois-
son, who, after conducting his examinaton at his exit from the Poly-
technic School, had asked him why he did not enter upon the career of
science. He still followed that advice in presenting to the Academy
several memoirs of analysis and geometry, upon which MM. Poisson,
Sturm, and Savary, made favorable reports,

From this period the minister of marine chose that M. Bravais snould
be released from the clandestine pursuit of science, and assigned him
service in a mission purely scientific. He attached him to the Scientific
Commission of the North, which was under the conduct of M. Gaimard,
and of which M. Victor Lottin, lieutenant, had for several years formed
a part. The commission had been inaugurated under melancholy cir-

MEMOIR OF AUGUSTE BRAVAIS. 151

cumstances. M. De Blosseville, already celebrated for two important
scientific voyages, had received, in 1833, the command of the brig La
Lilloise, charged with the superintendence of the fishery in the seas of
Iceland, and was accompanied, as second in command, by M. LePele-
tier d@Aunay. Both these young officers were animated by an ardent
zeal for discovery, and had promised to effect for the advancement of
science all that was compatible with the objects of their official mission.
After a thorough exploration of the coasts of Iceland, they determined
to reconnoiter the east coast of Greenland, which had been blockaded
by ice forcenturies. Ona first attempt they penetrated, July 29, in the
midst of broken ice, to a distance of about twenty-four een from
Greenland. They could already take the bearings of the mountains, but
their vessel, whose construction was not suitable for an enterprise of
this sort, having undergone great damage from the floating ice, they
had been constrained to disengage them selve es with a view to repairs,
while decided on making afterward a new attempt. There was rea-
son to suppose that, in fact, they had become a second time entangled
in the ice toward the end of August. From the 25th none of the fish-
ing barks had seen the Lilloise.

Mue h solicitude had been naturally excited during the ensuing winter
for the fate of the expedition, and in the spring of 1834 a vessel was
sent in search, whose return without success afforded only new grounds
for anxiety. "In 1835 the attempt was renewed, and the corvette La
Recherche, commanded by M. Tréhouart, was dispatched on a similar
mission. M. Gaimard, who six years before had taken an active part
in the discovery, on the reefs of Vanikoro, of the remains of La
Pérouse’s expedition, generously proffered his services to co-operate in
the search for M. De Blosseville. Desiring at the same time that the
exploration should subserve the interests of science as well as of hu-
manity, he associated with himself several distinguished savants, art-
ists, and men of letters. Such was the nucleus of the Scientific Com-
mission of the North.

All efforts to discover traces of the missing vessel were fruitless ; but
the scientific commission having collected in Iceland the elements of a
magnificent work, the design was embraced of exploring also Spitzber-
gen and Lapland, and of leaving a part of the scientific body to winter
in the latter country, in order to make observations in physics and
meteorology. It was determined to increase the number of savants who
composed the commission, and M. Martins, one of our best botanists
and a distinguished meteorologist, was added to it, together with M.
Bravais and several learned Scandinavians. Instructions were asked
of the Academy of Sciences, and their preparation was confided to a
special commission, whose recommendations were adopted in the sitting
of April 23, 1838.

The Recherche was equipped anew, and, under the command of M.
Fabvre, left the port of Havre June 13, 1838, bearing the greater part
of the "members of the commission and all the material necessary for
their operations. After touching at Drontheim, the ancient capital of
Norway, where she received the Swedish, Norwegian and Danish
savants designated by their respective governments, and at Hammer-
fest, where she landed the stores provided for wintering, the Recherche
turned her head toward Spitzbergen and moored, July 25, in the roads
of Bell Sound, on the western coast of that group of islands, in 70°
30/ north latitude. The savants and officers of marine immediately
addressed themselves to their work. Astronomy, physics, meteorology;
the movements and temperature of the sea ; the vast elaciers dese ending

152 MEMOIR OF AUGUSTE BRAVAIS.

from the tops of the mountains to the bay; the geological constitution
of those naked and declivitous mountains; the scanty traces of vegeta-
tion, very different from that of Algeria, stretched at their foot along
the bes ach, were the subjects of indefatigable study. M. Bravais, habit-
tated from childhood to climbing rocks, was the first to reach the sum-
mit of a peak of difficult access, on which the commission conferred his
name. The officers of the vessel constructed a detailed plan of the
Bay of Bell Sound, in concert, with MM. Lottin and Bravais, who de-
termined the azimuth of the bay, the heighth of the mountains, and the
declination of the magnetic needle.

But summer is of short duration in those high latitudes. On August
5, the commandant judged proper to give the signal of departure, ‘and
the techerche again came to anchor, on the 12th, in the port of Ham-
minerfest. Careful observations of the temperature of the waters of the
sea at different depths were made during the passage by MM. Bravais
and Martins, the former of whom, with Professor Siljestrém, Swedish
physicist, Professor LilliehOék, Norwegian physicist and astronomer,
and M. Bevalet, draughtsman, landed at Hammerfest to winter in Lap-
land. The corvette returned to Brest.

The climate of the western coasts of Norway and of the coasts of
Lapland is of a remarkable mildness in comparison with that of other
points of the globe situated in the same latitude. The tepid waters of
the Gulf of Mexico, borne by the ocean current, known as the Gulf
Stream, diffuse a perpetual warmth and produce there a wholly ex-
ceptional temperature. From this it results that the deep arms of the
sea which, under the name of jiords, penetrate these singularly indented
coasts, are scarcely ever obstructed by ice. Navigation, ‘instead of being
suspended for several months, as in the White Sea and the Baltic, is
there generally open; and this circumstance gives to the c: pints and
excellent ports of the fiords of Lapland a certain strategic importance,
calculated to enhance the scientific interest which the ‘exceptional cli.
mate would of itself inspire. But from its comparatively high tempera-
ture the northern part of the Atlantic Ocean is enveloped, during win-
ter, in almost permanent fogs, whose density is sufficient to shut. out a
view of the heavens. The port of Hammerfest being too near the sea
and exposed to this disadvantage, our physicists chose for their winter
station the village of Bossekop, situated on a narrow shelf at the ex-
treme point of the Altenfiord, an arm of the sea which penetrates the
land to the distance of seventy kilometres, whence it results that the
climate is there colder and the sky more frequently clear than on the
shores of the ocean. At this place the four physicists established, Sep-
tember 1, the numerous instruments, telescopes, theodolites, gigantic
compasses, barometers, thermometers, actinometers, pytheliometers, &e.,
which had been landed from the corvette. These instruments had been
constructed at Paris by the best artists and on the most perfect models.
A small wooden structure, which might be taken down and rebuilt else-
where, formed the astronomical observatory, while five other cabins
served as meteorological and magnetical observatories, &e.

Bossekop is situated in 69° 58/ north latitude, and is therefore 5° 25!
beyond the polar circle. The sun does not rise there every day in the
year, and on that of the winter solstice, at noon, its center is 38° 25/ be-
low the horizon. After the middle of November its disk is no longer
seen entire, the lower part is lost to sight, and the luminary is w holly
invisible after the 17th of that month. For some time a crepuscular
light illumines, toward mid-day, the southern are of the horizon, but
toward the 21st of December even this glimmer vanishes. It r cap-

MEMOIR OF AUGUSTE BRAVAIS. 1B 53

pears in the beginning of January and increases by degrees. Finally, on
the 51st of January, the solar disk begins again to show itself. It pro-
jects a first ray, which is hailed by the universal acclamations of the
population stationed at windows or on eminences to salute the benefi-
cent orb, whose priceless value is better felt after such an absence. On
that day all labor is suspended, felicitations are exchanged, dances ex-
press the common joy, pledges are drunk to the resurrection of the sun ;
it is the time also for settling the bets which have been made on the
rate of watches which, not having been regulated for two and a half
months, are liable to have become deranged. The sun, after this, rises
every day, at first for a few minutes only; but the days gradually
lengthen; at the equinox they are equal to the nights; then the nights
grow shorter, and finally extinct; the sun ceases to set, and a continued
day of nearly three months forms the compensation for the long night
of winter.

The perpetual day of the polar summer has never wanted witnesses ;
but it needed the resolution inspired by an ardent love of science to
await at Bossekop the festival of the resurrection of the sun. More
resolution still was needed to undertake the labors which the commis-
sion was charged with executing at that point. Notwithstanding the
relative moderation of the climate, the thermometer often descends at
Bossekop, not, indeed, to 40 or 50 degrees centigrade below zero, as in
the north of Asia and America, but, according to the observations of
the commission, to 20° or 25°; nor is the depression restricted, as in
our climates, to the last hours of the night. Here the night does not
terminate, and the diurnal variation of the temperature, evidently inde-
pendent of the action of the sun, the maximum occurring at 11 o’clock
in the morning and the minimum at 6 o’clock in the evening, does not
exceed on a mean the tenth of a degree. The wind which at Bossekop
is least cold is that of the north, under the influence of the Northerr
Ocean; while the coldest is that from the south, which bears the frozet.
air of the Scandinavian Alps. The temperature of the air is at its
minimum at the surface of the ground. It rises gradually by some de-
grees to a height of about one hundred metres, and afterward dimin-
ishes agreeably to the usual law. All the elements of the climate were
collected by our physicists through observations made uninterruptedly
at intervals of two hours, and sometimes hourly, on the barometer, the
thermometer, the direction of the wind, the state of the sky, the tem-
perature of the earth at its surface, the magnetic apparatus, &c. All
these determinations, inscribed on registers kept constantly and with
pertect order, have been published in the great work of the Scientific
Commission of the North.

The two marines and two professors divided between them the labor
and the watching, the latter being observed with as much regularity as
on board a man-of-war; but if an aurora borealis presented an extra-
ordinary brillianey there was a general turnout; every one was at his
post. Some drops of coffee, seasonably taken, dispelled the importunate
somnolence of the Lapland night. Of the observers, while a portion
noted every five minutes the positions assumed by the magnetic needle
under the disturbing influence of the aurora, others, in the #pen air,
recorded, watch in hand, the different phases of the phenomenon and
measured the altitudes above the horizon. The adjusting screws of
their instruments often became so cold that it was necessary to cover
them with cloth, without which precaution their fingers would have .d-
hered to the brass through the sudden congelation of the humidity of
the skin.

154 MEMOIR OF AUGUSTE BRAVAIS.

Independently of the detailed journal of observations of the auroras,
printed in the work already referred to, and the splendid plates of the
physical atlas, which represent the most remarkable appearances ob-
served by the "four physicists, M. Bravais has inserted in the same pub-
lication a Mémoire sur les aurores boréales, cited by competent judges as
more precise than anything heretofore written on the subject. The fol-
lowing rapid summary of the contents of this essay may not be without
intérest.

When the first doubtful gleams of an aurora begin to diffuse them-
selves in the sky, there is first perceived at the horizon, a little to the
west of north, a nos segment, which, according to the very probable
conjectures of M. Bravais, is nothing else than the compact mass of
fogs with which the ra Thee waters of the Polar Sea are almost con-
stantly covered. Above the dark See gleams of light like those of
a contl: veration soon make their appearance, simply resulting , perhaps,
from the still distant glow of the aurora reflected on the surface of the
marine vapors. Some time afterward a luminous are is traced above
the segment, its two extremities resting on the horizon, and its culmi-
nating point, which divides it into two equal and symmetrical parts,
being situated most frequently in the neighborhood of the magnetic
meridian. On an average it falls a little to the west of that meridian,
from which it progressively diverges as it becomes more remote from
the northern edge of the horizon, especially when, having passed the
zenith, it approaches the southern horizon, from which in “certain cases
it is distant but a few degrees. Sometimes several different arcs show
themselves at the same time; very often there are two, more rarely three,
but as many as nine have been counted at one time. Their breadth,
which at a mean is from seven to eight degrees, occasionally exceeds
twenty-five degrees, particularly in the culminant part when it passes near
the zenith. Through a combination of measurements this last remark
has led to the conclusion that the arcs of the aurora borealis are flat:
tened parallel to the surface of the earth, and thus one of the means
proper for furnishing the measure of the height at which these ares are
situated above the surface was suggested to M. Bravais.

The height in question had long r before occupied attention, and it had
with reason been thought that it might be calculated from the parallax
resulting from two observations of the same are, made simultaneously
by two observers placed at a known distance. With a view to this
means of determination M. Bravais passed thirteen days of January
1838 at Jupvig, situated fifteen kilometres to the north of Bossekop, in
order to observe the auroras from that point, while his colleagues ob-
served them at the same instants of time from their usual station. The
forms of a great number of ares, and especially those of the most regu-
lar ares, were taken with much care by the commission, and M. Bravais,
by discussing them, through means of elegant geometric constructions
and trigonometric al formulas skillfully reduced to the greatest simpli-
city, has shown that all these arcs, copformably with the hypothesis of
our distinguished correspondent, M. Hansteen, of Christiania, may be
considered as the perspectives of circular rings, having their center on
the terrestrial radius directed toward the magnetic pole, and their plane
perpendicular to that radius. His formulas have given him, for each

case, the elevation of the ring above the surface of the earth, and this
me ans of measurement, combined with the two others already indic: ale
have led him to the conclusion that the ares of the aurora borealis re
situated at an altitude of one hundred to two hundred eA in
the region where the shooting stars and bolides become incandescent

MEMOIR OF AUGUSTE BRAVAIS. 155

and luminous, that is to say, toward the extreme limits of the terres-
trial atmosphere, the extent of which had long been supposed to be less
considerable.

The color of the ares is usually of a uniform yellowish white. They
are of sufficient transparence to allow the stars to be seen through
them, and while the radiance of the most brilliant ares equals that of
stars of the first magnitude, the greater number are only comparable to
those of the second, ‘third, and fourth. The position of each are does
not remain invariable during its whole duration; on the contrary, it
oe with much rapidity, so as to compel the observ er to operate w ith

great quickness, if he would give to the different partsgf the same are
positions exactly corresponding as regards one another. In their move-
ments the ares sometimes approach the zenith and sometimes withdraw
from it, whether toward the north or toward the south. Their edge
nearest to the horizon is usually the best defined. They have not alway Ss
regular forms ; we see them assume a thousand fantastic configurations,
such as that of an undulating searf, or even of a crook. They some-
times show, especially toward the end, a tendency to become decomposed
into short ray s in a direction confor mable to the width of the are.

After the ares, at a rather more advanced hour, appear the rays prop-
erly so ¢alled, which form the second type to which the gleams of the
aurora borealis may be referred. The rays are luminous columns of
much greater length than breadth, the prolongation of which on high
would terminate at the magnetic zenith, the point of apparent concourse
of all the lines parallel to the needle of inclination, and situated, at
Bossekop, only 13° toward the south of the astronomical zenith. The
brillianey of the rays is variable like that of the ares, and generally
more vivid. They are susceptible of two movements; one in virtue of
which the ray prolongs itself toward the zenith or toward the horizon,
the other by which it is displaced laterally and parallel to itself. These
movements are sometimes of an excessive rapidity, and it is not rare to
see the rays dart their light, with a vibratory movement, toward the
zenith, and still more frequently toward the horizon, with extreme viva-
city. When these movements are alternate, the ray seems to gambol
or dance ; hence, the capre saltantes of old authors, the marionnettes of
the inhabitants of Newfoundland, the merry dancers of England. In
general the more rapid the movements the more brilliant become the
rays. The color of these is usually white or pale yellow, sometimes of a
reddish hue. When the vibratory movements of the rays become very
precipitate, the brilliant yellow tint is concentrated in their middle part
and the opposite extremities take the color of violet-red and green, the
red always showing itself on the side to which the ray darts its light.
Occasionally the rays unite with one another at the magnetic zenith to
form a crown either complete or incomplete; and when, in executing
this movement, they lose their usual yellowish tint and glow with an
intenser luster, passing into red and green, the crown presents the great-
est degree of magnificence which the aurora is capable of displaying.
At certain moments the vibratory movements by which the rays are
animated change into a sort of general palpitation in which all the
gleams of the aurora are confounded, the ares as well as rays. It is
the announcement of a diminution more or less proximate of this splen-
did meteor.

The refulgence of the aurora borealis might seem to have been given
to the polar regions as a compensation for “the absence of the sun; for
these arctic lights, barely visible two or three times a year on the hori-
zon of Paris, illumine almost every evening the latitudes from which

156 MEMOIR OF AUGUSTE BRAVAIS.

the star of day is withdrawn. They are no longer observed there dur.
ing the uninterrupted day of summer ; it is at the end of August, and
especially at the period of the autumnal equinox, that their number is
multiplied in Lapland, and their frequency diminishes at the vernal
equinox, and still more toward the end of April. During this interval
of more than six months very few nights are destitute of the auroral
display.

The apparition of the auroras is therefore subject to the course of the
seasons, and it is not less remarkable that even during the hibernal
night the hours of their commencement and of their different phases
maintain a constant relation to the hour of the passage at the meridian
of the sun, which has become invisible. Their appearance always takes
place during the hours which correspond to the night of our temperate
zones. It is generally between ten and eleven in the evening that they
assume the effulgent colors by which some of them are distinguished,
and, in all, their greatest brilliancy corresponds to the same period of
the night. The meteor usually disappears toward morning.

M. Bravais states that by the light of a brilliant aurora he could read
a page printed in small type almost as easily as by the light of the full
moon. When the sun no longer rises, the moon, which af its full is in
opposition with the sun, is seen almost constantly on the horizon, and
the double effulgence of that planet and of the aurora greatly dimin-
ishes the obscurity of the polar night. Irregular as are these lights,
they suffice to enable the Lapps, the Samoieds, and the Esquimaux to
traverse in sleds the limitless snows which cover their country ; and
when the absence of the sun would tend to dull their minds, the fantas-
tic images presented by a fitful illumination serve to arouse their imag-
ination and afford a pabulum on which it is marvellously exercised.

Notwithstanding the movements with which the ares and rays of the
aurora are endowed, it is evident that they follow the movement of ro-
tation of the earth. The aurora borealis is therefore an atmospheric
and not a cosmical phenomenon. Canton, M. Becquerel, and other phy-
sicists, have pointed out the resemblance which exists between the vio-
let-red tints of this meteor and those which electricity displays when
moving in a vacuum. This circumstance, added to the action of the
aurora on the magnetic needle, has led physicists to class it among elec-
tric phenomena. M. Bravais gives his adhesion to this opinion, the
verification of which has been recently corroborated by a remarkable
experiment of our distinguished colleague, M. De La Rive.

After a sojourn of seven months the commission quitted Bossekop,
April 1839, and returned to Hammerfest in order to execute sundry
labors and await the corvette which was to convey them a second time
to Spitzbergen. Vegetation was renewing and developing itself with
that astonishing rapidity which, from the commencement of May, an
almost continual day gives to it in Lapland. M. Bravais could not resist
his passion for herborizing, but unfortunately, in attempting to gather
a plant springing from the crevice of a rock, he sustained a violent fall
and fractured a knee, so that when the corvette bore off his companions
he found himself under the necessity of remaining at Hammerfest until
the end of the polar summer should bring back the other members of
the commission. Far from being discouraged, however, by so vexatious
a mishap, he continued the series of meteorological and magnetic obser-

rations, and as soon as the injury permitted him to walk, labored at the
zompletion of two memoirs commenced during his stay at Bossekop,
one on the tides, and the other on the lines of the ancient level of the sea.

A sojourn of more than a year had enabled him to perfect his obser-

MEMOIR OF AUGUSTE BRAVAIS. 15a

vation of the tides, and having afterward collated his own measure-
ments with those executed at Reikiavik, in Iceland, and Bell Sound, in
Spitzbergen, by MM. Lottin and Laroche-Poncié, and submitted the
whole to a thorough discussion, he determined the units of height of
tide in several ports of the North Atlantic Ocean. He also calculated
for those coasts the value of the semi-diurnal tide and that of the diur-
nal tide for both the sun and moon. He was struck with the relative
importance which the diurnal tide there assumes, and this circumstance,
compared with the analogous fact already observed in the Sea of Kamt-
chatka, led him to infer that the tides of the Atlantic and Pacific
mutually influence one another through the Straits of Behring.

The banks of the Altenfiord, in the environs of Bossekop and Ham-
merfest, as well as at many intermediate localities, present terraces
having almost horizontal surfaces, whose regularity recalls the construe-
tions of fortification, though there is nothing artificial about them. Each
of these terminates at the foot of the rocks in a line marked by erosions
similar to those which the sea produces on its present beach. In each
terrace is easily recognized an ancient marine coast, on which the sea
has beaten for a long time at a well-defined height. At some points
several of these are to be seen, one above the other. M. Bravais occu-
pied himself in a determination of the actual elevation of all these
traces of the ancient level of the sea, and here botany has furnished
him a useful resource. A marine plant, the Fucus vesiculosus, widely
dispersed on those coasts, grows upon the rocks only at a certain dis-
tance beneath the mean surface of the sea, and forms a yellowish zone,
of which the upper limit is well marked and perfectly horizontal. This
line supplied the plane to which M. Bravais referred, by precise level-
ings, the ancient marks of erosion by the sea; and he thus rect ognized
that all these traces of its ancient altitude form five series, more or less
distinct, two of which especially are perfectly unbroken : that these
last are slightly inclined from the interior of the continent toward the
ocean, and that one of them in particular presents two parts of which
the inclinations are different. From this we are authorized to conclude
that these terraces and the ground which supports them have been
lifted above the level of the sea; for, if it were the sea which had sub-
sided, each of the two series of terraces would have been perfectly hori-
zontal. The mobility of the solid crust of our globe is thereby fully
demonstrated. It might be said that the expression, firm as a rock, if
taken in too absolute a sense, embodies an illusion, and that there is
nothing more unstable in the world than the mean level of the sea.

M. Bravais was occupied with these subjects till the moment when
the corvette, returning from Spitzbergen, again arrived at Hammerfest.
The members of the commission then separated for the last time, in
order to return to their respective countries by different routes. M. Bra-
vais associated himself with M. Martins to return by land, and, still
herborizing, traversed, barometer in hand, the plateau of Lapland,
where the two travelers determined with precision the altitudes of the
upper and lower limits of the different zones of vegetation. In this
way they completed, not the Atlantic flora of Desfontaines, as M. Bra-
vais had seemed destined to do, but the admirable labors in botanical
geography of Leopold von Buch and the celebrated flora of Wahlem-
berg.

In the vast forests of Sweden, MM. Martins and Bravais had many
opportunities of observing the Pinus silvestris, (Scotch fir,) of which
those forests are in great part composed, and published at their return
a memoir on the growth of that tree, a work which had been recom-

158 MEMOIR OF AUGUSTE BRAVAIS.

mended by M. De Candolle, and which comprises a mathematical for.
mula for arriving at the probable age of a fir-tree whose diameter is
known. At Stockholm they carefully compared their meteorological
instruments, and particularly their barometers, with those that were
employed for quotidian meteorological observations. This comparison
was repeated in all the capitals and great cities through which they
passed in returning to France, and their instruments having been com-
pared before their departure, as they were at their return, with those of
the Observatory of Paris, a means was thus created of reducing to en-
tire harmony, and of referring in some sort to the same diapason, the me-
‘eorological observatious which are prosecuted in a large part of Hurope.

Having returned to Paris in January 1840, they addressed to M.
Arago a detailed letter on the labors of the Commission of the North,
which was inserted in the Comptes-Rendus of the Academy. Their efforts
were justly appreciated and well-earned rewards conferred on them, M.
Bravais receiving on his part the decoration of the Legion of Honor,
and authority to wear that of the Swedish Order of the Sword. In his
capacity of marine officer he was charged by the minister with the duty
of collecting, jointly with M. Lottin, all the observations on general
physics made by the commission, and superintending the publication.
He was permitted at the same time to occupy a chair in one of the fae-
ulties of science, then lately created in different cities of France, and
was pamed professor of mathematics applied to astronomy in that of
Lyons, of which faculty M. Tabereau, his future brother-in-law, the dis-
tinguished founder of the school of La Martiniere, was dean. Among
the observations made by M. Bravais at the Observatory of Lyons
many would deserve to be cited, particularly one on a magnificent ap-
pearance of the zodiacal light 1 in the month of February 1842. The re-
searches incident to a preparation for his new functions led also to the
composition of an important memoir on the movement of translation of
the sun, which he addressed to the Academy of Sciences, in 1843. From
the profounder theorems of mechanics on the mutual attractions of the
stars and the sun, he here establishes that the proper movement of our
total system is towards the star 7 of the constellation Hercules.

Elected, on hisarrival, a member of the Academy of Lyons, M. Bravais
bore, with his father and two of his brothers, a very active part in the
labors of the scientific congress assembled in that city, and laid before
it in detail various important considerations on the meteorology of the
south of France. He also contributed efficiently, with MM. Lortet and
Fournet, to the establishment of the Hydrometric Society of Lyons,
widely known for its important and useful labors. With these occupa-
tions was united an assiduous co-operation in the production of a work
entitled Patria, which he edited during the three years of his residence
at Lyons, in conjunction with MM. Lalanne, Le Pileur, and Martins.
This work, undertaken with a view to utility, presents, in a condensed
and portable form, a miniature encyclopedia of every thing relating to
France which it is most desirable to have for immediate reference. The
articles in this collection on geography, physies of the soil, as well as
many others compiled by M. Bravais, must always be regarded as models
of conciseness and lucidity.

But Lyons is not remote from Switzerland and Savoy; the sight of
the sumiits of the Alps, those old friends of his childhood, the sight of
the eternal snows, which recalled to him Spitzbergen and Lapland, easily
awakened in M. Bravais his instincts as a traveler. In 1841, after the
close of his first course, he undertook a journey into Switzerland, and
in order to render it subservient to the continuation of his meteorologi-

MEMOIR OF AUGUSTE BRAVAIS. 159

cal labors, he established himself on the Faulhorn, in company with his
elder brother, M. Louis Bravais, and his friend M. Martins.

The Faulhorn is an isolated mountain, elevated 2,680 metres above
the sea and placed like a belvidere in face of the highest mountains of
the canton of Berne, the Eiger, the Ménch, the Jungfrau. Every sum-
mer thousands of tourists ascend this peak, in order to enjoy the mag-
nificent view of the snows and glaciers of the Oberland. The inn estab-
lished to receive them became the meteorological station of MM. Martins
and Bravais. They re-established there the Observ atory of Bossekop,
and from the 17th of July to the 5th of August made a series of obser-
vations similar to those of Lapland, saving the absence of the aurora
borealis. Nor was natural history forgotten ; familiar with mountains
and with the application of physics to the geography of plants, the re-
searches of our savants were rewarded by an ample harvest gathered on
the acclivities and in the environs of the Faulhorn. Experiments in
physics also, of high interest, were instituted by MM. Bravais and Mar-
tins. M. Dumas, our distinguished colleague, had caused to be pre-
pared at Paris several glass balloons provided with taps, in which as
complete a vacuum as possible had been established. These balloons
were filled with the air which enveloped the summit of the mountain,
then closed with the greatest care, and sent back to M. Dumas. Analy-
sis showed that the air inclosed in these balloons contained the same
proportions of oxygen and nitrogen with the air taken at Paris; whence
it resulted that, contr ary to the opinion formerly entertained by Dalton,
but controv erted by Gay-Lussac and Humboldt, the constituent pro-
portions of the air do not vary with the height. M. Bravais devoted
the evenings, when the sky was sufficiently clear, to the study of ere-
puscular phenomena. His ‘observations, united with those of other me-
teorologists and submitted to calculation, furnished him a new measure
of the height of the atmosphere, equal at least to one hundred kilo-
metres, a result quite approximate to that which had been given him by
the auroras of Bossekop.

In 1842 the meeting at the Faulhorn was repeated, and the same series
of meteorological observatious were continued, but MM. Bravais and
Martins applied themselves moreover to researches in physics of a new
order. M. Peltier, one of our most distinguished and most exact phy-
sicists, snatched away too soon from science, joined them on this occasion
and united with M. Bravais in measuring the temperature of ebullition
of water under different barometric pressures. The object of these
studies was to perfect the tables which serve to determine the elevation
above the sea, from the degree of the thermometer at which water enters
into ebullition, a method of less inconvenient application than the baro-
metric method.

MM. Bravais and Martins, aided by M. Camille Bravais, who now
replaced the elder brother, made also important experiments on the
propagation of sound. Mortars were fired on the Faulhorn and on the
shore of the Lake of Brienz, 2,041 metres lower down, the flash being
visible and the report heard from each station at the other. The per-
ception of the ight might be regarded as instantaneous, and by measur-
ing with a seconds watch the retardation of the. sound, the velocity of
its propagation was determined. It was thus found that, for dry air,
at the temperature of melting ice, the velocity of the propagation of
sound, whether ascending or ‘descending, is 332 metres 4 centimetres
per second. This result accords with that of the celebrated experiments
made between Villejuif and Montlhéry, when sound was propagated
horizontally.

160 MEMOIR OF AUGUSTE BRAVAIS.

In 1843 M. Bravais made no excursion; it was for him a year of mourn-
ing. His eldest brother, M. Louis Bravais, his coadjutor in the memoiz
on the symmetrical arrangement of leaves, died at the commencement
of summer, after six months of suffering, borne with Christian resigna-
tion, in the midst of which he occupied himself, to his last day, with
researches in botany. This painful separation slackened but transiently
the labors of M. Auguste Bravais. He speedily returned to them with
his accustomed ar dor, and the year following entered upon a new ex-
pedition, the last and perhaps the most remark able of those which it
was given him to accomplish.

The supposition is not improbable that two of our distinguished per-
petual secretaries, always pleased at meeting one another on neutra
ground, had, about that time, exchanged some words on the subject of
M. Bravais. M. Arago had, from the tribune of the Chamber of Depu-
ties, cited him as one of the officers who, by their knowledge, reflected
most honor on our marine, even comparing him, in his extemporization,
with the geometers of antiquity. M. Villemain, then minister of public
instruction, enlightened also by our learned colleague M. Pouillet, had
the merit of comprehending the expediency of an adventure which
would crown, by the ascent of Mont Blane, the previous labors of M.
Bravais, and drew upon the budget of his department for the expenses
of this difficult enterprise.

De Saussure was the first physicist who had made the ascent of Mont
Blanc; M. Bravais was the second. He shared this distinction with his
friend M. Ch. Martins, and with Dr. Pileur, his collaborator in editing
the Patria.

It was with no little interest that learned Europe had heard that M.
De Saussure, already celebrated for his travels in the Alps, had suc-
ceeded in carrying his barometer to the summit of Mont Blane, and had
fixed the height of the mountain at 2,450 toises. He had made at the
same time several experiments in physics, which have never ceased to
hold an honorable place in all treatises on meteorology. But physics
had made great progress in the space of fifty-seven years; it had be-
come time to renew the experiments of De Saussure, and to add new
ones, of which no idea could exist in his time. Such was the path which
the enlightened liberality of M. Villemain now opened to the hardihood
and skill of the three modern physicists.

Having left Paris, July 16, 1844, with a complete series of instruments
of better construction than had ever before been employed in a work of
this nature, the travelers stopped at Geneva in order to compare them
with those ‘which are there daily employed, with a care and dexterity
worthy of the country of De Saussur e, and arrived at Chamouni, where,
in 1757, this last-named savant had been obliged to wait four weeks for
weather propitious to his undertaking. M. Bravais and his companions
were scarcely more favored. <A first and second attempt failed from
atmospheric accidents, which were not unattended with danger, but at
length they arrived, August 28, for the third time at a wide “plateau ot
snow, 880 metres below the summit of the mountain, where their instru-
ments had been permanently fixed for three weeks, under shelter of a
smali tent. The night passed cold and calm, and next day, the obser-
vations of the morning being completed, the adventurers proceeded, at
ten o'clock, to climb to the top of Mont Blane. This was reached, with-
out any extraordinary difficulties, at forty-five minutes after one o'clock.
The wind was blowing with great force from the northwest; the ther-
mometer marked 7° below zero. The sun shone brightly, but vapors
veiled the more remote parts of the vast horizon, which extends from

—s

MEMOIR OF AUGUSTE BRAVAIS. 161

the Cote @Or to the mountains of Liguria. The circumjacent mountains,
on the contrary, were seen with great distinctness. After throwing a
glance on this magnificent panorama, MM. Bravais, Martins, and Le
Pileur hastened to arrange their instruments—barometer, thermometer,
hygrometer, psychrometer, pyrheliometer, actinometer, compass; the
instrument for measuring the horizontal magnetic intensity; another
for measuring the inclination of the magnetic needle; another for measur-
ing the temperature of ebullition of water; instruments for observing
the tints of the sky and transparence of the atmosphere, &c., another for
measuring the electric intensity. The genius of De Saussure had sug-
gested a part of the same experiments, but his extemporized instruments
were less complicated than those of to-day, whose precision is paid for
by the minute precautions which their management exacts.

During the five hours passed on the summit of Mont Blanc, our three
physicists had time to derive from their instruments all they were ¢a-
pable of yielding, and to collect a series of measurements which left
little to desire. At the approach of evening, the principal experiments
in physics having been nearly terminated, M. Bravais established the
theodolite, and, assisted by M. Le Pileur, who wrote the angles at his
dictation, commenced a survey of the horizon, measuring the angle of
depression of each of the mountains which formed 1k, and the azimuth
which expressed the direction in which it was seen. This circuit of the
horizon of Mont Blanc, which had never before been made, (for De
Saussure had confined himself to general remarks,) will remain a valua-
ble monument for geodesy and geology. The work was almost finished,
and nothing remained to be taken but the least interesting parts of the
panorama, when the process was interrupted by a phenomenon which
equally surprised the eight persons (guides and travelers) then assembled
on Mont Blanc, because, in none of the ascents previously made, had
any one ventured to remain there till the setting of the sun.

“ At forty minutes after six,” says M. Bravais, in the little work which
contains his tour @horizon, “the sun approaching the moment of its
disappearance, we cast our eyes on the side opposite to the luminary,
and saw, not without wonder, the shadow of Mont Blane projected on
the snow- covered mountains in the eastern part of our panorama. I
took the summit of that shadow with the thedolite, and obtained the
depression of —1°. A minute afterwards it was—0° 48’, ascending
in proportion as the sun declined. We still remained some ten minutes
occupied in packing our baggage, and rather anxious to descend on ac-
count of the shortness of twilight on high mountains. * * * J have
delineated ia the panorama the form then presented by the shadow of
Mont Blane. It rose gradually into the atmosphere, as though this were
a canvass on which it was just portraying itself. The separation of the
shadow and the light was strongly defined in its outlines, and it thus
continued to ascend, rising above the mountains of the Valley of Aosta,
until it attained the height of 19, still remaining perfectly visible. The
air above the cone of shadow was of that rose-purple tint which, in fine
sunsets, is seen to color the western sky, while the border of this tint,
along the line of separation, presented a more intense hue of red, con-
tributing greatly to enhance the splendor of the phenomenon.

‘Let the mountains of the great Valley of Aosta be now conceived
as also simultaneously projecting their shadows into the atmosphere ;
the outline of their mighty spires distinctly visible; dark, or rather
faintly green below, but soaring up into that expanse of rose-colored
light from which they were separated by a band of deeper hue; to this
be added the precision of the cones of shadow, and especially of the

lls

162 MEMOIR OF AUGUSTE BRAVAIS.

outline of their crests, and, finally, the effect of the laws of perspective,
causing all these lines to converge toward one another and toward the
reflected summit of Mont Blane, where our own shadows might also be
supposed to find a place; still but an incomplete idea can be formed of
the grandeur of the meteorological phenomenon which, for those few in-
stants, displayed itself before us. It might seem as if some invisible
being, seated on a throne edged with fire, received the homage of bright-
winged angels who, on their knees, bent in adoration toward him.

“At the view of so much magnificence, our arms and those of our
guides remained inactive, and cries of enthusiasm burst from our lips.
I have seen the splendid auroras of the north, with their zenith-crowns
of variegated and moveable columns, not to be equalled in effect by the
richest displays of pyrotechny; but the sight of the shadow of Mont
Blane on the sky appears to me more august by far. After indulging
for ten minutes in the contemplation of this spectacle, we were forced
again to think of returning. Fortunately, the full moon, rising brightly
above the eastern horizon, sufficed for that stage of our journey which
conducted us again to our tent, where we arrived after fifty minutes
of very rapid descent.”

This poetic sally enables us to judge whether the cold of twelve de-
grees, which then existed on Mont Blane, and the management of grad-
uated instruments, had chilled the imagination. We may be sure that
observers who, at the close of the day, remained accessible to such vivid
impressions, had neglected, during its course, nothing which formed the
special object of their toilsome and perilous ascent; and we may say,
without further commentary, that skiliful physicists who have employed
fifteen hours of assiduous labor to conduct, on the top of Mont Blane,
the operations of the best instruments known, who, moreover, have oc-
cupied four days in following their action on the plateau near the sum-
mit, could not fail to have put us in possession of scientific documents
of high value, before which a multitude of doubts and uncertainties
must disappear.

Having completed, at their tent on the grand plateau, the four days
of observation, the travelers descended, September 1, to Chamouni.
Here they rejoined M. Camille Bravais, who had been meanwhile en-
gaged in making, every two hours, corresponding observations at the
same point where M. Theodore de Saussure, since so celebrated for his
investigations in vegetable physiology, had co-operated in like manner
in the labors of his distinguished father, while the latter was operating
on Mont Blane. Nor were others indifferent to the issue of the ascent.
For a month the father and sister of M. Bravais had gone, every day,
to seat themselves at a spot, in the entrance of the Vale of Annonay,
whence Mont Blane and the snowy crests of the Alps may be seen, and
whence he had himself in childhood often contemplated them. They
had not failed to be there on the 29th of August, but the zone of vapors
which, from Mont Blane, obscured the plains, hid everything from their
view. The same disappointment existed at Lyons. With the best tele-
scopes the adventurers could not be perceived on the top of the great
mountain, and the preparations made by learned colleagues, MM. Ta-
bareau, Fournet, Lortet, and other eminent physicists, with a view to
codperate in the enterprise by their own observations, remained for the
most part unfruitful.

The professor of astronomy had secured for himself, through the
amenities of intercourse, a large share in the affection of the faculty.
Lively, though reflective, in disposition, full of kindness, of delicacy,
and disinterestedness, M. Bravais knew how to enjoy the success of

MEMOIR OF AUGUSTE BRAVAIS. 163

others, and no shade of rivalry ever found access to him. Always dis-
posed to render service and to give counsel, when asked for, he fulfilled
his own duties with the most scrupulous exactness. His lectures drew
a numerous auditory, for they were enlivened by the associations which
the variety of his studies and experiences presented without effort to
his mind, and to which his vivid imagination gave an endlessly diversi-
fied expression. In spite of the aridity supposed to be inherent in
mathematical pursuits, his conversation was picturesque and sportive,
and often heightened by sallies in which science allied itself with poetry.
It was never without regret, therefore, that his colleagues of Lyons heard
him speak of withdrawing. Yet, this M. Bravais was bound to think
of, for the publication of the voyage of the Scientific Commission of
the North was advancing, and w ith that would finish the mission with
which he had been charged by the minister of marine. To remain at
Lyons would have been to renounce his career as an officer in that
branch of service, and he sometimes thought of requesting to be sent
on some new voyage. Those who justly saw in him the ideal of the
scientific traveler could not forbear from encouraging him to do so, but
an unforeseen circumstance put an end to these deliberations.

Our distinguished colleague, M. Lamé, had just relinquished the chair
of physics in “the Polytechnic School to oce upy the place of examiner of
graduates. The council, with great unanimity, designated M. Bravais
to succeed him. The latter, therefore, a naval lieutenant, Was nominated
to replace M. Lamé, chief engineer of mines, in a school which furnishes
as well officers to the marine as engineers to the corps of mines and of
civil constructions.

The preparation of a course so high as that with which he was now
charged, gave, for some time, a particular direction to the studies of M.
Bravais, and he delayed not to publish several excellent memoirs on
atmospheric optics and the molescular constitution of bodies. A year
after his ascent of Mont Blane he presented to the Academy a memoir
on the white rainbow, which completed in a very happy manner one of
the most admirable theories of physics.

Until these latter ages mankind had seen in the rainbow a sign of
hope, without knowing the causes of its appearance. Theodorich, De
Dominis, Descartes, had explained its formation by the refractions and
reflections undergone, in drops of rain, by the rays of the sun. Newton
had completed this explanation by the consideration of the unequal
refrangibility of colors; but none of these eminent physicists, and none
of those who after them had been occupied with the details of the
phenomenon, had explained in a satisfactory manner the formation of the
white rainbow, which is sometimes seen to make its appearance on fogs of
little elevation and not far remote from the spectator, with a rx radius
sensibly inferior to that of the ordinary rainbow. It was reserved for
M. Bravais to demonstrate that if a cloud is formed of small hollow
spheres in which the thickness of the watery envelope is comprised be-
tween thirty-eight and fifty-five-hundredths of the radius of the internal
vacuum, it must form a white luminous are of thirty-four to forty degrees
of radius, and consequently not so large as the ordinary rainbow of the
first order, whose radius is 42° 20/. In ordinar Vv clouds the envelope of
the elobules of vesicular vapor is thinner than that required by the
theory of the white rainbow, whence it results that it is not formed.
It is only to be seen on heavy fogs attached to the surface of the land
or sea. True, this white rainbow is not one of those phenomena which
strongly captivate the imagination; but it is enough for the honor of
our colleague to remark that all physicists and Newton himself had left

164 MEMOIR OF AUGUSTE BRAVAIS.

it without explanation. His memoir has filled a gap in the labors of
the first masters of science.

The rainbow is not the only phenomenon which describes on the vault
of the heavens geometrical figures more or less brilliant, more or less
vividly colored. Parhelions and halos, less frequent, but not less strik-
ing than the rainbow, are formed under circumstances so visibly differ-
ent, that, far from appearing of good augury, they have been regarded
by the amazed populations as signs of divine wrath. Mariotte had pro-
posed to attribute these luminous apparitions to the action exerted on
the rays of the sun or moon by the frozen particles which remain, for
some time, suspended in the atmosphere before falling in the form of
snow orrain. But Huyghens had combated this explanation, and, for
more than a century, it had been left in abandonment. Brandes, Young,
Galle, Kiimtz, and other celebrated physicists, however, had recurred to
it with better success. | But M. Bravais has removed all doubts by rep-
resenting by formulas, reduced with the ingenuity of which he possessed
the secret to great simplicity, the course of the reflected and refracted
rays, and by deducing from their discussion the forms, however strange,
of the observed phenomena.

According to the greater or less depression of the temperature of the
elevated regions of the atmosphere, the vapor is there condensed into
water which gives rain, or into particles of ice which produce snow, sleet,
or hail. The ice crystallizes in regular hexagonal prisms, which, in their
most elementary form, are terminated by plane faces perpendicular to
the axis of the prism. The prism is sometimes much elongated, some-
times, on the contrary, extremely short. In the first case the frozen
particles formed in the air are small needles of microscopic diameter;
in the second they are small hexagonal or stellate plates, of a thickness
hardly measureable. In both cases these little crystals are very light.
They dance in the air like those grains of dust which are seen quivering
by myriads in a sunbeam. They fall, however, though slowly, in air
perfectly calm. Although microscopic, they have forms of the utmost
exactness, for the regularity of crystallization is never more admirable
than in the smallest particles of matter.

When the frozen particles are acicular prisms, the luminous rays pro-
ceeding from the sun or the moon, in being refracted across two faces
not contiguous of the prism, under the angle of minimum deviation, are
broken and pursue their route, by making with their first direction an
angle of about 22°. In this case, if the small prisms quiver in the air,
a colored are is produced comparable to a rainbow, but of 22° only of
radius, of which the luminous body occupies the center and in which
the red band is situated on the inner side. This is the halo of 22°, the
most frequent of all. If the small prisms, or only a part of them, fall
gently through tranquil air, and take a vertical position, there is
formed, on each side of the sun and at the same height, an image of
that body which is called a parhelion, and which is distant from it, very
nearly as is the are of the halo, about 22°. The rays of light which
are refracted, at the angle of minimum deviation, across a diedral
angle of 90°, like that which results from the rectangular incidence of
the faces of the hexagonal prism on its bases, are more strongly deflected
than in the preceding case and produce the halo of 46°. If the prisms
are vertical, they give rise to horizontal circles, decked with very lively
colors, which are tangents to the upper part or to the lower part of the
halo of 46°.

When the frozen particles have the form of small, very thin hexagonal
plates, the diedral angles of 90°, presented by the outline of their base,

MEMOIR OF AUGUSTE BRAVAIS. 165

concur in the formation of the halo of 46°; and should their fall through
tranquil air render one of their diagonals vertical, the parhelion of 46° and
the anthelion make their appearance. Therays reflected, without disper-
sion of colors, on the vertical faces of the prisms and hexagonal tablets
produce the parhelic circle of M. Babinet, which is brilliant but colorless.

Other combinations may be conceived, almost all realized in nature ;
moreover, the microscopic crystals of ice, besides their principal faces,
sometimes present secondary facets, which also give rise to refractions
and reflections, the effect of which is to break the ray of light, in each
case, under a special angle. The analysis of all the possible cases of
this kind, and the complete explanation which results therefrom of all
the phenomena observed, even the most singular and most rare, fur-
nished M. Bravais the subject of the consummate memoir which is fresh
in the admiration of learned Europe.

Considering the phenomenon under all points of view, M. Bravais
completes the study which M. Arago had given to the polarization of
light in halos properly so-called, by extending it to all the parts of me-
teors of this nature.

Equally skilled as an experimenter, and versed in the management
of analytic formulas, he conceives an ingenious apparatus which, by the
rapid rotation of a transparent prism with vertical axis, represents with
much exactness the multitude of needles or vertical flakes of ice sus-
pended in the atmosphere, whose horizontal movement, dispersed in all
directions, produces the greatest number of atmospheric iluminations.
By means of this new instrument, and of artificial light, we are able to
reproduce in a cabinet of physics most of the phenomena of meteoro-
logical optics.

In Lapland and on Mont Blane M. Bravais had had numerous oppor-
tunities of observing the crystalline forms of snow. He had often met
with admirable ecrystallizations of congealed water, and had always de-
seribed them with a peculiar predilection. In his memoir on halos he
employs the notations and formulas which represent the erystalline sys- .
tem of the ice, as one perfectly conversant with them and thoroughly
master of their principle. But he did not stop there, and his studies
eventually extended to the whole science of crystallography.

In his view crystals are assemblages of molecules, identical as regards
one another, and similarly oriented or arranged, which—being reduced
in thought to a single point, their center of gravity—are disposed in
rectilinear and parallel rows, in each of which the distance of two points
is constant.

The points of an assemblage are aligned in rows, corresponding to an
endless number of different directions; but the knowledge of three rows
not parallel and not comprised in the same plane is sufiicient completely
to determine the assemblage of which they form a part. An infinitade
of assemblages entirely different may be conceived. By a profound
mathematical study M. Bravais had succeeded in discovering the de-
grees of symmetry, more or Jess great, of which they are susceptible.
He finds the axes and the planes of symmetry which they may present,
and establishes that according to the number and arrangement of these
axes and planes of symmetry, the assemblages possessing them are divided
into six classes. By adding to these the asymmetric assemblages, in
which there exist neither axes nor planes of symmetry, we have seven
classes of assemblages. Thus are evolved the most simple and general
laws of the symmetry observed in crystals, and the adoption, in crys-
tallography, of seven crystalline systems is a necessary consequence. Of
this Haiiy had had an indistinet perception; but he concluded that two

166 MEMOIR OF AUGUSTE BRAVAIS.

of the systems might be blended in a single one, and after him all erys-
tallographers had admitted six crystalline systems only. M. Bravais
demonstrates that it is necessary to return to the number seven, and this
demonstration, accompanied by all the light which results from a ge-
ometric analysis so profound as his, is no slight addition to the immor
tal creation of Haiiy. Lagrange and Laplace had followed, in 1784, the
lessons of the ingenious investigator of crystals, but had been content
with simply admiring them. The grounds of the beautiful science due
to his genius had never been studied from so high a point and with so
much generality as in the memoir of M. Bravais on the systems formed
by points ; a memoir to which our illustrious Cauchy has, in a remarka-
ble report, given his most unreserved sanction.

You do not expect me, gentlemen, to enter here into the detail of pro-
ceedings, though simple, yet rigorous, by which in a second memoir, en-
titled Hiudes crystallographiques, replacing empirical rules by the theo-
rems of geometry, M. Bravais deduced from his fundamental results
all the formulas of crystallography with that marvellous facility which
denotes almost infallibility in the radical solution of the difficulties of
a subject. Being limited as to time I shall restrict myself to the state-
ment that in the second part of this memoir, ceasing to regard the mo-
lecules as points and considering them as small bodies, which he calls
atomic polyhedrons, he throws light upon the relations which exist be-
tween these latter and the various crystalline systems. He reduces to
simple laws the phenomenon, until then almost unknown, of the hemi-
hedral, upon which our learned fellow-member, M. Delafosse, in a justly
celebrated memoir, has diffused unexpected light. M. Bravais demon-
strates that he could exhibit twenty-five cases of hemihedral forms, of
which only eleven had before been discovered, though these were for a
long time amply sufficient to exercise the sagacity of erystallographers.

Not forgetting dimorphism, one of the claims of Mitscherlich to dis-
tinction, nor the curious discoveries previously made by our ingenious
fellow-member, M. Pasteur, M. Bravais, in a third memoir, gives the
results of his equally successful labors on the peculiar form of erystal-
lization exhibited in a mineral called macle and hémitropes, which had
been in their turn a stumbling-block to the crystallographer. About this
time he was also at work upon investigations relative to the connection
of atmospheric optics and crystallization, as well as composing various
memoirs upon subjects entirely different, but relating for the most part
to meteorology, some of which are not the less remarkable from being
outside of this branch of physical geography.

He was endowed with a remarkable facility for all kinds of intellect-
ual labor, and he possessed the rare faculty of occupying himself at the
same time with the most varied subjects: hydrography, navigation,
astronomy, atmospheric optics, physics, properly so called, geometry,
crystallography, pure analysis, and natural sciences, were at once the
subjects of his investigations. It might be said of him, notwithstand-
ing the apparent opposition of words, that the universal was his spe-
clalty.

All his memoirs have received honorable notice in our ‘ Comptes-
Rendus,” and met with merited success by their publication in the most
esteemed scientific transactions of the day. They continually present
ingenious and frequently profound conceptions, which are well worthy
of special attention, but which, for want of time, I am not at present
able to specify. The works of Bravais, taken in their totality, are of
immense extent, and Lam forced to limit myself to a sketch of the prin-
cipal treatise. , As an astronomer, called upon to give an abridged idea
of the firmament, can only speak in detail of the stars of the first mag-

eee chee |

MEMOIR OF AUGUSTE BRAVAIS. 167

nitude, so I must be content merely to mention among the works of M.
Bravais those which form his chief claim to the approbation of the
Academy.

By his investigations on erystallography he associated his name with
that of the immortal Haitiy; from his ascension of Mont Blane he con-
nected it with that of De Saussure; in his work on Lapland he was the
worthy continuator of the celebrated voyages of Leopold von Buch, and
of the profound studies of Hansteen. His memoirs upon halos, parhe-
lions, and upon the white rainbow, completed in the most happy manner
the theories of Mariotte, of Huyghens, and even of Descartes and New-
ton. After such achievements, gentlemen, the name of M. Bravais could
no longer remain separated from those of the members of the Academy.
In the beginning of the year 1854, by the death of Admiral Roussin, a
place was made vacant in the section of geography and navigation which
M. Bravais was elected to fill. You were right in supposing that this
was in your ranks the most befitting place for a sailor and a traveler
who had enriched by so large and so varied a mass of observations the
domain of physical geography.

Admitted to a seat in the Academy, M. Bravais testified his gratitude
by his assiduity, by the number and importance of his communications.
Still he did not enjoy as he would have done several years previous, the
honor, long and ardently desired, which crowned so worthily an ex-
tended career of labor illuminated with flashes of genius. He was no
longer what he had been; a visible change was wrought upon him. A
veil of sadness was thrown over that countenance, marked with open-
ness, modesty, and amiability. At the close of the year 1847 M. Bra-
vais was united in marriage to Mademoiselle Antoinette Moutié, of
Paris; and he found in this union all the charms of a new life. His
time divided between the pleasures of family intercourse and the con-
tinuation of his works, he had never labored with more ardor nor taken
a more active part in scientific enterprise. Independently of his innu-
merable publications, he had assisted in establishing the Annuaire Meé-
téorologique de France, and was one of the principal founders of the
Meteorological Society, which, at its first session, in 1852, elected him
its annual president. But the year 1853, which preceded his election to
the Academy, was for him one of disastrous auspices. At the com-
mencement of this fatal year he lost his father, the venerable friend
who, having been his first teacher, continued deeply interested in his
labors, regarding them with tenderness mixed with noble pride. Almost
at the same time his only son was taken from him by an epidemic of which
the fatal influence was particularly felt at Parisamong children. This was
a mortal blow, from which he never recovered. Peculiarly susceptible
to family affection, which was the charm and support of his life, with
his father disappeared the enchantment of his earliest and sweetest re-
membrances. One brother died soon after; he had-lost another ten
years previous. With his beloved child vanished forever the joys of pater-
nity—labor still remained for him, and he applied himself without re-
laxation. He was stimulated by the desire to reply to the kind wel-
come of the Academy, and by the counsels of his friends, who endeavored
to win him by work from tle remembrance of .his griefs. He finished a
number of memoirs containing important results, and evidently went
beyond his strength. Unceasing labor soon began to tell upon him.
Sleep fled from his eyelids during the night, and overpowered him
during the day. This was in accordance with his feelings. He wished,
as in his cabin of the Loiret, to consecrate his nights to work; he even
desired, as in Lapland, to vanquish sleep by coffee; but his organs no
longer retained the flexibility of youth.

168 MEMOIR OF AUGUSTE BRAVAIS.

Madame Bravais was convinced that labor would be a salutary diver-
sion for her husband, while at the same time she dreaded excessive
fatigue. ‘Tenderness came to her aid and prompted her to resort to a
plan to avoid this evil.. It was a charming and at the same time heart-
rending sight to see her as early as four o’clock in the morning assisting at
his table; forgetting her own ‘eriefs, by turns endeavoring to moderate
his ardor, and to aise his waning cour age. But the evil continually in-
creased, the work no longer amounted to any thing; memory was at
fault; he could no longer recover the ingenious ideas which he liad pre-
viously remembered without committing ‘them to paper. He wished to put
the last touches to a lar ge memoir upon mirage, which would have com-
pleted his labors on meteorologic: al opties, and which, with his usual
modesty, he pronounced the most imperfect of his wor ks. He corrected
it; he curtailed it; he spoiled it, and, alas, finally made the sad discovery
that it was impossible for him to complete it. The darkness of the night
seemed to shroud the intellect hitherto so active and brilliant; he lett
the Polytechnic School for ever, and we ceased to see him among us.

A well-known disease developed itself, accompanied with fever and
great suffering. He was sustained in this trying period by deep re-
ligious sentiments, the unalterable sweetness of his character manifest-
ing itself in a wonderful resignation.

Madame Bravais went with him to Versailles. She obtained quarters
at the entrance of the park, and later near the Bois de Vaucresson and
of Lamarche, changing her residence as often as was needful, in order
to obtain new and picturesque situations. This at first seemed to please
him, but at length ceased to produce any effect. He still took quite long
walks with his friends, who remained faithful to him in his misfortunes,
particularly with Doctor Bérigny, collaborator in the Annuaire Meétéo-
rologique, whose unceasing devotion continued to the end. He retained
his stre neth, and pre eserved all the sweetness and kind expression of his
countenance, but his memory was gone beyond recall. He recognized
neither objects nor individuals, perhaps even did not always know dis-
tinectly the one who became to him a tender mother, consecrating her life
to relieving his sufferings, and administering to his wants.

Some g glimpse of light occasionally pierced through this cruel night,
and gav e rise to hopes which unfortunately were destined soon to vanish.
One day he saw, on entering his chamber, his uniform as a marine
officer, hanging over a chair; his face brightened, and a tear escaped
from his eye. Another day he smiled on receiving a bouquet of wild
flowers, which his sister had gathered for him and laid upon his knee.
This was the last smile of cur fellow-member; he passed away on the
30th of ora) 1863.

Madame Bravais only left her pillow to pray near his coffin. The
tomb alone ceracated her from one to whom for seven years she had
been as a guardian angel. Having lost all whom she loved on earth,
her only son and her husband, she felt as though there was no longer
a place for her in the world. She embraced a religious life in a convent
belonging to one of the most austere orders, where | happily she has found
consolation in her devotion and in the assurance which has been given
her that the threads which were broken upon earth will be united in
Heaven.

Gentlemen, may the honor which you bestow to-day on the remein-
brance of a dearly beloved husband penetrate into this asylum of grief,
and become a balm for a wound which even time will not have power
to heal. The voice of the heart is heard under these sacred vaults,
where the voice of the world may not penetrate.

MEMOIR OF C. F. P.-VON MARTIUS.*

By CHarzes Rav.

The family of the celebrated botanist and ethnologist, to whose mem-
ory this sketch is dedicated, traces its origin back to Galeottus Mar-
tius, a famous physician and astrologer, born in 1427, at Narni, in
Umbria. About the year 1450 he occupied a professorial chair at
Padua, but, persecuted by the Inquisition on account of reformatory
tendencies and compelled to leave Itaty, he subsequently went to the
court of the learned King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary, who ap-
pointed him his counsellor and librarian. The descendants of Galeot-
tus mostly spread themselves over Germany, and many are known to
have pursued learned professions, thus forming an ancestry worthy of
their distinguished successor.

Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius was born on the 17th of April
1794, at Erlangen, Bavaria, where his father, Ernst Wilhelm Martius,
owned an apothecary establishment, holding at the same time the po-
sition of honorary professor of pharmacy in the university of that city.
A man of superior general acquirements, he was especially interested
in botany, and has left some writings relative to his favorite study. At
the advanced age of ninety, he published an interesting and well-writ-
ten book, containing recollections of his long and eventful life. He
died in 1849, in his ninety-third year.

His eldest son, the subject of this sketch, was carefully educated at
home and in the schools of Erlangen. At an early age he already dis-
played the germs of those talents which afterward made him conspicu-
ous in the world of letters, and, when still quite young, he manifested
a determined resolution to devote himself to a scientific career. Though
his juvenile inclinations leaned toward natural history, he also exhibited
much taste for the study of ancient classics, a tendency which, nurtured
by skillful teachers, not only developed and strengthened his intel-
lectual capacities, but also enabled him, when in after years he
composed many of his writings in Latin, to express himself in
that language with a precision and elegance not often met with
in our time. In fact, during his whole life the reading of Latin
and Greek authors formed one of his principal recreations. When
only sixteen years of age, Martius was admitted, in 1810, as a
student in the university of his native town. He had decided to
prepare himself for the medical profession, chiefly because this study
afforded him the widest field for indulging in his love for natural
sciences. His favorite branch, botany, was then taught at Erlangen by
a pupil of Linnzus, the learned Schreber, who does not seem, however,
to have been gifted with a happy method of. imparting information ;
hence Martius and his fellow-students felt more attracted by the lectures

* Norre.—It is but fair tostate that most of the facts contain ed in this sketch have been
furnished by C. F. Meissner’s Denkschrift auf Carl Friedr. Phil. von Martius, (Munich,
1869.) The article Carl Philipp von Martius, sein Leben und seine Leistungen, in the
Ausland, (No, 38, 1869,) has also been used.

170 MEMOIR OF C. F. P. VON MARTIUS.

of other professors of the university, such as Hildebrandt, Harless,
Goldfuss, Vogel, Wendt, and others who flourished at that period. In
1814 Martius received the diploma of doctor medicine, having passed
with honors the examination necessary to obtain that grade. His in-
augural dissertation was a critical catalogue of the plants in the botan-
ical garden of Erlangen.* In this first literary attempt, which forms an
octavo volume of 210 pages, he followed the classification of Linnzus.
Shortly afterward we find Martius among the éléves of the Royal Acade-
my of Sciences at Munich, deeply engaged in botanical studies, and
appointed assistant to Schrank, the conservator of the botanical garden.
An excellent opportunity being thus offered to the young botanist of
enlarging the knowledge already acquired, he devoted himself with en-
thusiastic zeal to a pursuit that harmonized so well with his taste.
While in this position he published his Flora Cryptogamica Erlangensis,
(Norimberge, 1817,) a work already begun at Erlangen, which embraced
his first independent investigations, and attracted by its merits consid-
erable attention from competent botanists. His superior talents, com-
bined with an indefatigable industry and excellent personal qualities,
could not fail to endear him to the older members of the Academy, men
eminent in their special departments of science, who exerted a most bene-
ficial and lasting influence on his mind. Indeed, he was placed in an
enviable position ; fortune smiled on him and smoothed his path to dis-
tinction. One circumstance, however, must be particularly mentioned
in this place; for it is that on which his future success in life chietly
depended. The King of Bavaria, Max Joseph I, an ardent lover of
botany, frequently visited the botanical garden of his capital, on which
occasions he usually selected Martius for his companion and guide.
Thus becoming acquainted with the young naturalist’s acquirements
and talents, he honored him with his special favor, and seized upon
the first opportunity of showing his good will in a practical manner.
This excellent monarch had for some time conceived the plan of sending
scientific explorers to South America, and in 1815 he had already con-
ferred with the Academy in relation to this matter; yet two years
elapsed before the realization of his design. In 1817, when the Austrian
Archduchess Leopoldina, the bride of the crown-prince of Brazil, after-
ward Emperor Dom Pedro I, was about to depart for the New World,
Metternich caused some Austrian savants, charged with scientific labors
in Brazil, to be added to the suite of the princess. The Bavarian gov-
ernment, wishing to profit by this occasion, asked, and was granted,
permission to send in the same vessel two naturalists, who, upon their
arrival in South America, were to carry on their investigations inde-
pendently of the Austrian corps. For this purpose Max Joseph selected
as botanist his gifted protegé Martius, then a young man of twenty-
three, and Johann Baptist von Spix, a member of the Academy, who
was to take charge of the zoological department. On the 2d of April,
1817, the party left the harbor of Trieste in the Austrian frigate Austria,
and touching at Malta, Gibraltar and Madeira, reached Rio Janeiro,
after a prosperous voyage, in the middle of July. One may easily
imagine the feelings of the two travelers, especially of the youthful and
enthusiastic Martius, when they stood upon the soil of the wonderful
country that lay before them with all its treasures of nature—the very
El Dorado of a naturalist, then far less explored than at the present
time, and promising the richest harvest in every field of natural science.

On the 8th of December, 1817, the two Bavarian savants set out on
their expedition into the interior. Having first visited the province of

* Plantarum Horti Academici Erlangensis Enumeratio. Lrlange, 1814.

MEMOIR OF C. F. P VON MARTIUS. Ea

San Paolo, they passed in a northeasterly direction through the prov-
ince of Minas Geraés as far as Minas Novas; then through the Serra
Diamantina, touching the province of Goyaz, when they turned again
toward the northeast and proceeded to San Salvador, the capital of the
province of Bahia. They arrived there in November 1818. After a
short sojourn at this place, and having visited the Botocudos and other
adjacent Indian tribes, they continued their journey toward the north,
traversing the provinces of Pernambuco, Piauhy, and Maranhao, until
they reached San Luiz, situated at the mouth of the Itapicuru. From
there they went by sea to the estuary of the Amazon River, arriving at
Para in June 1819. They then ascended this mighty stream for more
than two-thirds of its length, as far as Tabatinga, close to the frontier
of Peru. The travelers having separated for awhile to visit different
parts of this region, Martius explored one of the tributaries of the
Amazon, the Rio Japura, (Yupuraé) until he arrived at the cataract
Salto Grande de Araracoara, which impeded a further advance. The
larger affluents of the great river, the Rio Negro and Rio Madeira, were
likewise explored some distance, the latter as far as the districts of the
Mundruci and Mauhé Indians. It must be remembered that the navi-
gation of those waters, which is now greatly facilitated by steam ves-
sels, had then to be performed in hired or purchased boats, which, being
manned with Indian rowers, afforded hardly room for the travelers and
their ever increasing luggage, and offered no other protection against
the burning equatorial sun and the heavy rains but a slight cover con-
structed of boughs. Amid a multitude of inconveniences, and some-
times exposed to real danger, they had to keep their journals, and to
prepare and preserve the natural objects obtained during their excur-
sions on the banks; yet the collections they brought back, which now
enrich the museums of Munich, bear evidence of their great success.*
Descending the Amazon, they arrived again in Para in the middle of
April 1820. Two months afterward they embarked for Lisbon, and
reached Munich in December 1820, after an absence of nearly four years.

The expedition of Spix and Martius certainly ranks among the most
important enterprises undertaken for scientific purposes in this century.
Their explorations extended over a distance of nearly one thousand
four hundred geographical miles, and have, like the travels of Alex-
ander von Humboldt, furnished the material for numerous works em-
bracing many departments of science; indeed, the period of nearly half
a century, which has elapsed since the return of the naturalists, was
not sufficient for fully developing, and giving to the scientific world, all
results of their researches. Since La Condamine descended the Ama-
zon, Spix and Martius were the first learned Europeans who visited
those mighty waters; and though others had previously explored cer-
tain portions of Brazil, the country, on the whole, still remained com-
paratively unknown. Hence the importance of the Bavarian expedi-
tion. The names of Spix and Martius are intimately connected with the
natural history and ethnology of the empire, and will be gratefully
remembered in future times by all those who take a scientific interest in
that country, or wish to inform themselves concerning its condition in
the early part of our century.

* Besides valuable mineralogical and geological specimens, their collections embraced :
mammals, 85 species; birds, 350; amphibia, 130; fishes, 116; insects, 2,700; arachnidae
and crustaceans, each 50; plants, about 6,500. The latter, mostly represented by sev-
eral specimens and carefully preserved, constitute now the most valuable portion of
the royal herbarium at Munich. The botanical garden also received its share, partly
in living plants, partly in such as were raised from the collected seeds. The whole
was placed under the care of the Academy.

172 MEMOIR OF C. F. P. VON MARTIUS.

The Brazilian voyage laid the foundation of Martius’ future success.
On the very day of their return, he and Spix were decorated by the
King with the civil order of Bavaria, and shortly afterward Martius was
elected a member of the Royal Academy, and appointed second con-
servator of the botanical garden. At the age of twenty-six Martius
already enjoyed a reputation which, in common life, is usually only
acquired by men of riper years; for not many are favored with advan-
tages such as were offered to him. His sojourn in a country perfectly
new to him, and hence the necessity of acting independently, had made
him self-reliant and practical, while the number of objects constantly
claiming his attention had served to quicken his power of perception,
and to develop all those qualities which, when combined, constitute the
true naturalist. His experiences in the wilds of Brazil were to him a far
better school than many years spent in constant closet-study.

His return from Brazil marked the beginning of a long-continued lit-
erary activity, resulting in highly important works, to which reference
will be made hereafter. As an event of this period we have also to
record his marriage with an accomplished lady of noble descent, a union
which gave him a “home and a family, and promoted in no small degree
the happiness of his existence. The domestic circle was to him through-
out life an asylum of peace and contentment, where he rested from his
professional labors, enjoying the society of his family and of numerous
friends who loved to gather under his hospitable roof. <A great change
occurred in Martius’ position in the year 1826, when King Ludwig I,
who had ascended the throne of Bavaria, transferred the university of
Landshut to Munich, and appointed him professor of botany. Six years
later, the first conservator of the botanical garden, Von Schrank, being
then’ very old, retired from office, and Martius was installed i in his place.
He was eminently qualified for discharging the duties now incumbent
on him. Perfectly acquainted with his science, he possessed the faculty
of presenting it in an easy and attractive manner. He spoke with ele-
gance and fluency, and sometimes, when carried away by the subject,
his eloquence even partook of a poetical character. For practical de-
monstration the botanical garden, carefully superintended by Martius, and
the herbarium, afforded ample means, to which must be added frequent
botanical excursions undertaken in company with the students, with
whom he entertained very amicable relations, gaining their affections
no less by conscientious instruction than by the benevolent, paternal
friendship he bestowed on them. Among the number of his pupils who
became prominent, may be named Alexander Braun, Hugo von Mohl,
Carl Schimper, O. Sendtner, C. H. Schultz-Bipontinus, and Spring.

In 1840 Martius was elected secretary of the physico-mathematical
class of the Academy, an honorary office imposing much labor, which
he performed until his death with care and punctuality, and oreat ad-
vantage to that scientific body. By this position he was charged with
all correspondence and literary exchanges with other learned institu-
tions, and whenever a foreign or resident member of the Academy died
it was his duty to deliver an address commemorative of the life and
merits of the deceased. These eulogies have been much admired for
the excellent style in which they are composed, and the skill displayed
in the general treatment. They are deemed fully equal to the celebrated
éloges by Cuvier and Flourens.*

* The eulogies read by Martius are contained in an octavo volume of 619 pages,
entitled Akademische Denkreden von C.F. Ph. von Mar tius, (Leipzig, 1866.) Those of a
later date (on Faraday, Brewster, Flourens, &c.) were published in the transactions of
the Academy of the year 1868.

; ee

MEMOIR OF C. F. P. VON MARTIUS. 173

For the rest, the professional career of Martius is not marked by any
striking incidents. Lectures, literary labors, and the superintendence
of the botanical garden fully occupied his time, and his t#avels, after
the American voyage, extended not farther than France, Belgium, Hol-
land, England, and Switzerland. Heused to spend his summer vaca-
tions in the picturesque Bavarian mountains, especially at Schlehdorf,
on the Kochel-See, where his hospitable house formed a rallying-place
for his numerous friends, who remember with feelings of gratitude the
days passed there amid delightful natural scenes and in a highly intel-
lectual, refined society. Though of a vigorous constitution, Von Martius
was in later years subject to those chronic indispositions which usually
result from the sedentary habits of men of letters, and he found himself
therefore obliged to resort repeatedly to watering places, especially to
the mineral springs of Kissingen. The salutary effect derived from the
use of these waters was in some measure counteracted by the bustle
and distractions peculiar to such localities; for, meeting there distin-
guished friends, and being, moreover, naturally inclined to social life,
the mental excitement produced was rather unfavorable to the improve-
ment of his physical condition.

In the year 1854 an unexpected event caused the premature termina-
tion of Martius’ official activity. It was decided by the government
that the glass building for the industrial exhibition then to be held at
Munich should be erected within the area of the botanical garden,
which had but lately undergone great improvements at a sacrifice of
much time and labor. It was in vain that Martius remonstrated against
a measure which threatened his beloved institution with serious disad-
vantages, and when he found his objections unavailing, he finally re-
signed, deeply disappointed, both his professorship and the superintend-
ence of the botanical garden.

The literary activity of Professor Von Martius was very great. The
writer has in his possession a printed list of his works and minor writ-
ings, which embraces no less than one hundred and sixty titles. A
number of these publications are written in the Latin language, and
most of them, of course, relate to botany, his specialty in science; but
there are also valuable contributions to ethnology among them. In
treating of his merits as an author, it is proper to mention first the nar-
rative of the Brazilian voyage performed by him and Spix.* This is a
substantial and most carefully prepared work, in three quarto volumes,
accompanied by an atlas of large size. The volumes appeared respect-
ively in 1823, 1828, and 1831; Spix, however, died in 1826, and hence
the two last volumes were almost entirely written by Martius alone.
Every one who examines this work must be struck by the vast amount
of varied information it contains, for the travelers directed their atten-
tion not merely to the natural history of Brazil, but investigated also
with searching care everything else within their reach which they
deemed worthy of inquiry. The nature of the country, its productions,
different races, social condition, commerce, agriculture, mining, statis-
tics, &c., are treated with a surprising minuteness, and, where the sub-
ject is of an elevated character, in a superior style, which has repeatedly

* Reise in Brasilien, auf Befchl Sr. Majestiét Maximilian Joseph I, Kénigs von Bayern, in
den Jahren 1817, 1818, 1819 und 1820 gemacht, und beschrieben von J. B. von Spix und C.F.
Ph. von Martius. Three vols., 4to; Munich, 1823-31; with an atlas.

There is an English translation of the first volume by H. E. Lloyd; London, 1824,
2 vols., 8vo.; plates reduced to the size of the volumes.

174 MEMOIR OF C. F. P. VON MARTIUS.

elicited the praise of Goethe, the great master of German composition.
In fact, certain portions of the work, such as give the impressions pro-
duced upon the travelers by the sublime natural scenes of Brazil, have
passed into collections containing model pieces of German prose.* The
large atlas, ornamented with a well-executed ailegorical title-page,
comprises maps, orographical diagrams, panoramic views of mountain
chains, landscapes, representations of typical animals and plants, and
quite a number of plates illustrating the domestic and hunting life, the
feasts, dances, and ceremonies of the aboriginal inhabitants. Their
fabrics and arms are figured on two plates. In addition, there are many
faithfully executed, large portraits of Indians of various tribes, exhibit-
ing their peculiar features and the curious manner in which they dis-
figure their ears, lips, and chins by the insertion of ornaments. Of
particular interest are some plates containing representations of figures
sculptured on rocks, as affording the means of comparing the pictogra-
phy of the Brazilian aborigines with that of other indigenous inhabit-
ants of the American continent.

On the whole, the narrative of Spix and Martius is one of the most
important and comprehensive works of travel published in modern
times, equaling in merit the researches of Humboldt relative to Mex-
ico and other parts of America. It will remain a lasting monument of
the zeal and perseverance of its authors, and an honorable testimo-
nial to the enlightened prince who brought about its realization.

Simultaneously with the account of their travels, Spix and Martius
began to prepare their strictly scientific works on the botany and zoo-
logy of Brazil; the former department, of course, being in charge of
Martius, while Spix treated the subject of zoology. But as Spix had

* We cannot refrain from inserting here, as a specimen, the description of evenings
spent at the country house of Mr. Von Langsdorft, near Rio Janeiro:

“Nothing can be compared to the beauty of this retreat when the most sultry hours
of the day are past, and gentle breezes, impregnated with balsamic perfumes from the
neighboring wooded mountains, cool the air. This enjoyment continues to increase as
the night spreads over the land and the sea, which shines at a distance, and the city,
where the noise of business has subsided, is gradually lighted. He who has not per-
sonally experienced the enchantment of tranquil moonlight nights in these happy
latitudes can never be inspired, even by the most faithful description, with those teel-
ings which scenes of such wondrous beauty excite in the mind of the beholder. A
delicate, transparent mist hangs over the country, the moon shines brightly amidst
heavy and singularly grouped clouds; the outlines of the objects which are illuminated
by it are clear and well defined, while a magic twilight seems to remove from the eye
those which are in the shade. Scarce a breath of air is stirring, and the neighboring
mimosas, that have folded up their leaves to sleep, stand motionless beside the dark
crowns of the manga, the jaca, and the ethereal jambos; or sometimes a sudden wind
arises, and the juiceless leaves of the acaju rustle, the richly flowered grumijama and
pitanga let drop a fragrant shower of snow-white blossoms; the crowns of the ma-
jestic palms wave slowly over the silent roof which they overshade, like a symbol of
peace and tranquillity. Shrill cries of the cicada, the grasshopper, and the tree-frog
make an incessant hum, and produce by their monotony, a pleasing melancholy. A
stream, gently murmuring, descends from the mountains, and the macue, (Perdrix guya-
nensis,) with its almost human voice, seems to call for help from a distance. Every
quarter of an hour different balsamic odors fill the air, and other flowers alternately
unfold their leaves to the night, and almost overpower the senses with their perfume ;
now it is the bowers of paullinias, or the neighboring orange grove, then the thick
tufts of the eupatoria, or the bunches of the flowers of the palms, suddenly bursting,
which disclose their blossoms, and thus maintain a constant succession of fragrance.
While the silent vegetable world, illuminated by swarms of fire-flies, as by a thousand
moving stars, charms the night by its delicious effluvia, brilliant lightnings play
incessantly in the horizon and elevate the mind in joyful admiration to the stars,
which, glowing in solemn silence in the firmament above the continent and ocean, fill
the soul with a presentiment of still sublimer wonders. In the enjoyment of the
peaceful and magic influence of such nights, the newly-arrived European remembers
with tender longings his native home, till the luxuriant scenery of the tropics has
become to him a second country.”—(English translation, vol. i, p. 160.)

MEMOIR OF C. F. P. VON MARTIUS. 175

died in 1826, the assistance of Agassiz, Perty, and Andreas Wagner
was required to continue the zoological labors, which resulted in the
publication of several folios with beautifully executed plates. We men-
tion the following:

New species of Brazilian monkeys and bats, by Spix.* New spe-
cies of lizards, snakes, turtles, and frogs, by Spix.t New species of
birds, by Spix.t Fluviatile testaceans, by J. A. Wagner.§ Fishes, by
Agassiz.|| Insects, by Perty.]]

In treating of the Brazilian flora,** Martius first confined himself to a,
selection of the plants collected by him, which he described in two
works, entitled Nova Genera et Species Plantarum Brasiliensium tt and
Icones Selecte Plantarum Cryptogamicarum Brasilie.tt In the prepara-
tion of the first volume of the first-named work, which describes the
phanerogamous plants, he was assisted by his too-early-deceased col-
league Zucearini. The object of the Icones Selecte, &c., is indicated in
the title. To the latter work Hugo von Mohl contributed an excellent
treatise on the structure of the stems of tree-ferns. Both works are
highly esteemed. They contain full and precise descriptions of single
plants as well as of whole series and groups of kindred species; and it
is particularly worthy of notice that many of these monographic trea-
tises have laid the foundation of a thorough knowledge of the plants
to which they relate. The drawings of whole plants and their anatom-
ical details are executed with a degree of faithfulness and art surpass-
ing almost anything of asimilar character that had previously appeared
in the literature of botany.

As early as 1823 Martius began the publication of his “ Natural His-
tory of Palms,”§§ a work which is considered his most important contri-
bution to botany, and that by which he has most conspicuously linked
his name for future times with that science. <Atthe first sight of these
majestic trees, which Linneus already had designated as the “ princes
of the vegetable kingdom,” he conceived the plan of making them the
object of his special observation and scientific treatment. He, there-
fore, studied with attention the many species of palms he saw during
his travels in Brazil, and collected after his return from that country
with the utmost diligence all the material concerning the palms of other
parts of the world, which was required to render his work complete.
He thus succeeded, after the labor of many years, in producing a mono-
graph unique in its kind, which caused Alexander von Humboldt to
exclaim, ‘As long as palms are known and mentioned, the name of

* Simiarun et Vespertilionum Brasiliensium Species Nove. Ed. J. B. de Spix. Monachii,
1823. Large folio, with 38 colored plates.

+t Animalia Nova, s. Species Nove Lacertarum, Serpentum, Testudinum, Ranarum, quas in
Itinere per Brasiliam a. 1817~20 suscepto, collegit et descripsit J. B. de Spix. Monachii,
1824-39. Folio, with 95 colored plates.

t Avium Species Nove quas in Itinere per Brasiliam a. 181720 suscepto collegit et descrip-
J. B. de Spic. Monachii, 1824~25. Two volumes folio, with 115 and 118 colored
plates.

§ Testacea Fluviatilia que collegit J. B. de Spix, descripsit J. A. Wagner, edd. F.
a Paula de Schrank et C. F. P. de Martius. Monachii, 1827. Folio, with 29 colored plates.

|| Selecta Genera et Species Piscium quos —— collegit et pingendos curavit J. B. de
Spix, digessit L. Agassiz, ed. Martius. Monachii, 1829. Folio, with plates.

§| Delectus Animalium Articulatorum que —— —— collegerunt Spix et Martius, descripsit
Max. Perty, ed. Martius. Monachii, 1830-34. Folio, with 40 colored plates.

** Not being a botanist himself, and consequently unacquainted with most of the
works mentioned hereafter, the writer keeps closely to the statements given by Pro-
fessor Meissner in his Denkschrift.

tt Monachii, 1823-30. Three volumes folio, with 300 colored plates.

tt Monachti, 1826-31. Small folio, with 76 colored plates.

§§ Historia Naturalis Palmarum. Monachii, 1823~50, Three volumes imperial folio,
with 245 plates, partly colored.

176 MEMOIR OF C. F. P. VON MARTIUS.

Martius will not be forgotten!” Certain specialties embraced in this
large work were treated by skillful co-laborers: the anatomy, by H. von
Mohl; the fossil palms, by Unger; anda part of the morphology by
Alexander Braun and O. Sendtner.

While the preceding works were commenced and in progress, Martius
entered upon another literary undertaking of still larger extent, namely,
the systematic enumeration and description of the whole flora of Brazil.
But as a labor of such magnitude could not be carried out without the
assistance of persons in high stations, the patronage of King Ludwig I,
of Bavaria, and of the Emperor of Austria, Ferdinand I, was success-
fully solicited, and the work commenced under their auspices.* The
Emperor Dom Pedro LI, of Brazil, afterward united his aid to that of the
two German sovereigns. At the outset Martius had secured the co-
operation of competent botanists, each of whom was to take charge of a
certain portion of the work; and their united efforts resulted in the
publication of the Flora Brasiliensis,} one of the greatest literary achieve-
ments of our time. The work was commenced in 1840, and though yet
far from completion, already consists of forty-seven parts, with more
than eleven hundred plates in folio. Notwithstanding the ample mate-
rial which Martius had at his command, the researches necessary to
arrive at full and satisfactory results extended over many botanical col-
lections of Europe, and everything in the shape of manuscripts and
drawings bearing on the subject was critically examined and used when
found available. The immense work connected with the editing of the
Fiora prevented Martius from participating conspicuously in the botan-
ical labors themselves; yet he has furnished two entire monographs
(Anonacee and Agavee) and many highly valuable additions relating
to the geographical distribution and the use of the plants deseribed.
In view of the important bearing of this publication upon the develop-
ment of the vegetable resources of Brazil, the ambassador from that
country to the court of Vienna lately spent some time at Munich, in
order to confer with Professor Von Martius concerning the completion
of the work. The Brazilian government agreed to pay 100,000 florins
for that purpose; but as Martius was already far advanced in years, he
thought it expedient to appoint, in the person of Dr. Hichler, a successor
to superintend the publication in case of his decease. Thus the work
will suffer no interruption.

* Tt must not be left unnoticed that the patronage of the Emperor of Austria in this
case was owing to the influence of Prince Metternich. This much-abused statesman,
it is well known, took a lively interest in the promotion of science. His letters to A.
von Humboldt, contained in the correspondence between Humboldt and Varnhagen
von Ense, bear witness to the fact.

+ Flora Brasiliensis, s. Enumeratio Plantarum in Brasilia hactenus detectarwm quas — —
ediderunt C. IF’. Ph. de Martius et St. L. Endlicher. Vindob. et Lips., 1840~69, fase. 1-47,
folio . The first nine parts were edited by Martius and Endlicher; the rest, after
Endlicher’s death, by Martius alone.

t Of Martius’ numerous less extensive publications relating to botany we will men-
tion only the following:

Herbarium Flore Brasiliensis. Monachii, 1837-40.—Systema Materie Medica Vegetabilis
Brasiliensis. (8°: Leipzig, 1843.) This is a systematically arranged enumeration of the
plants used for medicinal purposes by the inhabitants of Brazil. The preparation,
manner of application, and effects are carefully described. This work has been trans-
lated into the Portuguese language by H. Velloso d’Oliveira. Rio de Janeiro, 1854.

Specimen Materie Medice Brasiliensis (in vol. ix, of the Memoirs of the Academy of
Sciences.) A number of articles likewise relating to the medicinal plants of Brazil and
their uses were published in Buchner’s Repertorium der Pharmacie,

Worthy of especial mention is a publication on the potato-rot: Die Kartoffel-Epidemie
der ietzten Jahre (Munich, 1843. 4°. With plates.) Martius was the first who noticed
in the diseased fruit a microscopic fungus, called by him Fusisporium solani. He
accounted for the spreading of the rot by the transmission of the spores of that fungus
to sound potatoes.

MEMOIR OF C. F. P. VON MARTIUS. 1G

Having given some account of Martius’ more important botanical
labors, we will briefly allude to his great merits as an ethnologist.
During his travels in South America he became deeply interested in the
aboriginal tribes, and collected, in conjunction with his traveling com-
panion, many valuable facts relating to their mode of life, relationship,
languages, migrations, &c. It has already been stated that a consider-
able portion of the “Travels in Brazil,” by Spix and Martius, is devoted
to the ethnology of that country. Martius, however, published subse-
quently several valuable treatises relating to ethnological subjects,
which will be mentioned hereafter; but his most important ethnologi-
cal work, entitled Beitrige zur Ethnographie und Sprachenkunde Amerikas,
zumal Brasiliens, (Leipzig, 1867,)* which was published shortly before
his death, and therefore contains his matured views, deserves particu-
lar notice. The Beitridge comprise two octavo volumes, the first of 802,
the second of 548 pages. An ethnographic map is added to the first
volume. Its contents are:

1. Die Vergangenheit und Zukunft der amerikanischen Menschheit,t a
lecture delivered in 1838, at a meeting of German naturalists and phy-
sicians, and first published in 1839.

2. A republication of the admirable treatise Von dem Rechtszustande
unter den Ureinwohnern Brasiliens,i first published in 1832. This is cer-
tainly one of the most interesting essays ever written on American
ethnology, although Martius’ view of a degeneration of the Brazilian
Indians from a higher state of civilization may be contrary to the
opinions of many anthropologists.

3. The remainder of the volume (pp. 145-801) is taken up with a
description of the native tribes who inhabit Brazil and the adjacent
regions. It is minute, accurate, and vivid, much more full than Waitz,
and enriched by numerous personal observations. Martius is a believer
in the gradual extension of the Tupi language and blood from the head-
waters of the La Plata northward, quite to the Antilles and Baha-
mas. §

The second volume, entirely devoted to South American languages
contains over a hundred vocabularies, which are arranged in alliea
groups exhibiting the affinity of tongues. Being of the utmost import-
ance in tracing the relationship of nations, they furnish highly valuable
material to the student of American ethnology. Many of these vocab-
ularies are from manuscript sources. In rendering the aboriginal words
the Latin, Portuguese, German, and French languages have been
employed. The articles Pflanzennamen in der Tupi-Sprache|| and Thier-
namen in der Tupi-Sprache, first printed, respectively, in 1858 and 1860,
are repub.ished with additions in this volume.

Besides the above-mentioned ethnological essays reprinted in the
Beitrige, Martius, as stated, has left some other contributions of kindred
character, which appeared in periodical publications. We give here the
following titles translated into English: On the sculptures on Mount
- Gabia,” near Rio Janeiro.** On Buschmann’s work—‘ The traces of the

* Contributions to the ethnography and philology of America, especially of Brazil.

t The past and future of the American race.

t On the civil and social condition of the aborigines of Brazil.

§ In a letter which Martius addressed, shortly before his death, to Dr. D. G. Brinton,
of Philadelphia, he expresses himself on this point even more decidedly than in the
Beitriige.

|| Names of plants in the Tupi language.

4; Names of animals in the Tupi language.

, = Ueber die Sculpturen auf dem Berge Gabia bei Rio de Janeiro. (Gelehrte Anzeigen, 1845,
Nos. 38, 39.) '

128

178 MEMOIR OF C. E. P. VON MARTIUS.

Aztec language in Northern Mexico.”* The physical condition, dis-
eases, physicians, and remedies of the aborigines of Brazil.t On the
‘preparation of the arrow-poison Urari among the Juri Indians on the
Rio Yupura, in North Brazil.{ The creation of the Negro: a Brazilian
legend.§

The time intervening between Professor Von Martius’ retirement from
official duties in 1854 and his death was to him no period of repose; ||
on the contrary, having now more leisure at his command, he devoted
himself exclusively to scientific labors. Much of his time was taken up
in editing the Flora Brasiliensis, and his position as secretary of the

Royal Bavarian Academy demanded his constant care and attention.
Only one year before his death, at the age of seventy-four, he published
the Beitrdge, his most important contr ibution to American ethnology.

He was one of those few whose merits are duly acknowledged and
appreciated during their life-time. He maintained intimate relations
with many of the most distinguished men of our time, and most learned
societies of note counted him among their members. Numerous works
are dedicated to him; his name is perpetuated in the scientific denomi-
nations of plants and animals; even a mountain in New Zealand, Mount
Martius, is called after him. Medals were struck in his honor, and
crowned heads manifested their esteem by decorating him with the
insignia of their orders.

Martius enjoyed the full possession of his mental faculties to the last
moment of his life, and even his physical appearance betokened no con-
siderable degree of decline; it was only during the years immediately
preceding his death that his altered features and somewhat stooping
figure indicated the changes which advanced age will produce upon the
strongest constitution. But the lively expression of his eye, his ani-
mated conversation, and the interest he took in everything that passed
around him, gave evidence of his unimpaired mental vigor. In the fall of
1868. being then in his seventy-fifth year, he made a journey to Berlina
and Dresden to visit his son and his old friends. He returned in good
nealth, and nothing intimated his approaching end. But shortly after-
ward, having been exposed to a severe storm, he was attacked by a febrile

ndisposition, which, increasing, developed itself into inflammation of
he lungs. His strength sank rapidly, and on the 13th of December,
1868, after an illness of nine days, his earthly career was closed by an
easy death. Fresh palin leaves decorated, signifies antly, the coffin in
which his mortal remains were conveyed to their last place of rest.

* Ueber Buschmann’s Werk: Die Spuren der Aztekischen Sprache im nérdlichen Mexiko.
(Gel. An., 1860, Nos. 41-43.)

t Das Naturell, die Krankheiten, das Arztthum und die Heilmittel der Urbewohner Bra-
siliens. (Buchner’s Repertorium der Pharmacie, vol. 33, p. 289, &c.)

{ Ueber die Bereitung des Pfeilgiftes Urari bei den Indianern Juris am Rio Yupurda in Nord-
brasilien. (Buchner’s Rep. d. Pharm., vol. 36, 1830, p. 337, &c.)

§ Die Erschaffung des Negers, eine Brasilianische Volks-Sage. (Augsburger Allgem. Zeit.,
1839.)

|| ‘‘ Der Ruhestand war fiir ihn kein Stand der Ruhe.”—Meissner’s Denkschrift, p. 24.

NOTICE OF THE LIFE AND SCIENTIFIC LABORS OF STEFANO
MARIANINI,

By Carto MATTEvccr,
President of the “Italian Society of Sciences, founded by Anton Mario Lorgna.”

[Translated for the Smithsonian Institution. ]

It is not such a eulogy as is usually pronounced for the members
whom the Italian Society of the XL may have lost that I at present
undertake. This several reasons forbid, not the least of which is my
own unskillfulness in the polished style of composition which such labors
demand, joined to a conviction that the highest eulogy of those who
have consecrated their lives to science consists in the record of the
progress which it owes to their exertions, and the part reserved for them
in its history. I shall speak, therefore, with the utmost brevity of the
simple habits, the pure and unassuming spirit, the integrity of character,
and the great scientific activity of Marianini, although these qualities
constitute in themselves the best eulogy of the man, and shall dwell at
somewhat greater length on his principal labors in physies.

Marianini was born at Mortara, a small town of Piedmont. He was
professor of physics at Venice, and more recently in the University of
Modena; he was a corresponding member of the Institute of France,
and president of the Italian Society of the XL for many years.

The first work by which he attracted the attention of the learned was
an Lssay on electro-metrical experiments,* a work which I remember to
have heard spoken of, at the time, in terms of the highest praise by
Arago. It appeared at Venice in 1825. On account of the original ex-
periments with which it is replete we need not hesitate to pronounce it
the most important production of the author. When it is considered
that in various chapters of this essay all parts of electro-dynamics and
of the pile are treated by methods and with instruments which were
then barely beginning to be known, we need not be surprised if the re-
sults at which Marianini arrived at that time have not remained in
science as he himself obtained them forty years ago. If we except the
discoveries of elementary laws and of physico-mathematical theories, .
this is the lot which befalls, after a certain number of years, even those
who have opened new fields in physics.

Marianini, in this essay, began by studying the relation between the
intensity of the current of a battery and the extension of the elements
and tension of the electro-motors: that is to say, the number and nature
of the pairs which compose the pile. He then proceeded to experiment
on the relative electro motive power of conductors of the first class, and
studied the phenomenon of the secondary current, respecting which he
has left us some valuable experiments. In the third chapter of the essay
are comprised many original researches on the conductive capacity of
liquids for electricity. It is beyond doubt that this treatise marks a
great progress in our knowledge on the most obscure and difficult points

* Saggio di esperienze elettro-metricha.

180 LIFE AND SCIENTIFIC LABORS OF STEFANO MARIANINI.

of dynamic electricity; and the discovery then made by Marianini, which
may in some measure be considered as the experimental basis of the
theory of Ohm, is still a fundamental one, namely, that the action of
simple electro-motive machines on magnets, to use his own words, is di-
rectly proportional to their surface, and that ina cireuit having a resist-
ance quasi null in comparison with that of the battery, the current of
a pile of a single pair has the same intensity with that of any number
of pairs whatever.

In the same chapter the author studies the phenomenon of metallic
diaphragms interposed in a liquid stratum to the passage of the current.
The catalogue which is given in the essay of conductors of the first class,
according to the decreasing order of théir relative electro-motive power,
is established with much exactness, and may even now be said closely
to approximate the truth.

In speaking of the conductibility of liquids, a subject in regard to
which the physicists of our own day well know the difficulty of arriving
at exact measurements, Marianini proves for the first time, what has
never since been contradicted, that the conductibility of liquids increases
with the temperature ; that this augmentation is less in liquids endowed
with a great conductibility, and that a heated liquid preserves for a certain
time in growing cold a greater conductibility than it first had at a given
temperature. Here he finds by experiment that the resistance of a
liquid stratum increases with the thickness of the stratum, and shows
by many researches the augmentation of the effects of a battery by
increasing the size of the plate of copper which incloses the zine. There
are also contained in the chapter on the conductibility of liquids some
experiments, among which I will cite, as worthy of being varied and
extended, that of the conductibility communicated by certain salts and
organic compounds to a liquid such as alcohol, which is itself scarcely
a conductor.

In 1826 Marianini read before the Atheneum of Venice a memoir on

titter’s battery, and on secondary polarity, in which by many well--
devised experiments he more conclusively proved, what had been as-
serted by Volta, that the polarities of secondary batteries depended on
the alterations which the current of the pile produces in the surface of
the metallic disks of Ritter’s column. In fact, after these disks have
been washed and wiped dry. the column remains as active as before.

More recently Marianimi undertook the study of electro-physiological
phenomena, and in the memoir presented to the Academy of Roveredc
in 1827, and which was translated in the Annales de physique et de
chimie, t. XL, p. 225, the experiments are described on which is founded
the law, still known in Germany as the law of Marianini, that the elec-
tric current in traversing the nerves in the direction of their ramifica-
tion, or the direct current, as Nobili called it, excites a contraction when
it enters and a sensation when it ceases to pass; and that, on the con-
trary, when the current is inverse or traverses the nerves in the direction
contrary to their ramification, a contraction is produced at the instant
at which it ceases to pass, and a sensation at that when it begins to
traverse the nerves. In this memoir, Marianini distinguishes the con-
tractions produced by electricity into tdiopathic contractions, which are
excited whatever be the direction in which the current traverses the
muscles, and sympathetic contractions depending on the direction in
which the current traverses the motor nerves. In a second memoir, in
which he treats specially of the voltaic alternations, he shows that these
depend on the diminution of excitability of the nerves, produced by the
passage of the current in a certain direction. Among these experiments,

LIFE AND SCIENTIFIC LABORS OF STEFANO MARIANINI. 181

we must not fail to recall that by which Marianini obtains the shock at
the opening of the circuit, although in the act of closing the circuit by
means of the finger or other unmoistened body, this shock be not ob-
tained. He subsequently occupied himself with the application of his
studies on electro-physiology to the cure of certain cases of paralysis,
and is, perhaps, the only physicist who has studied this subject with
suitable attention, and obtained by electricity the restoration in some
cases of those afflicted with this disorder.

Among the numerous memoirs of Marianini, we must also cite as
worthy of remembrance and full of ingenious experiments, those with
which he sought to sustain the theory of the electro-motive force of
Volta and to combat the chemical theory of the pile. Although it be
scarcely necessary to say that at present the latter theory is with reason
generally embraced, there are, nevertheless, some experiments of Maria-
nini which show that there are certain cases in which distinct signs
present themselves of the electro-motive force as understood by Volta,
without the appearance of any phenomena of chemical action to which
those signs might be attributed.

It remains, finally, to cite a long series of memoirs in which our col-
league studied the magnetizing force of the electric discharge of the
Leyden jar, as well as the inductive discharges. For the prosecution
of these experiments, Marianini commenced by inventing a re-electro-
meter, aS he called it, which even now might be of service in many
researches, and which consists of an iron wire surrounded by one of
copper winding spirally about it, and placed above a compass in a direec-
tion perpendicular to the magnetized needle. A discharge from the jar,
however weak, now passes by the spiral and magnetizes the iron wire,
and the needle of the compass is deflected ; the direction of the deviation
indicating the.direction of the discharge. In this memoir a great number
of experiments are described, by which it is proved that, after the mag-
netization generated by an instantaneous discharge, if the magnetization
be annulled either by mechanical means or by contrary discharges, the
iron acquires a susceptibility of being magnetized in the first direction,
and loses the susceptibility of being magnetized in the opposite direc-
tion. The author has studied with much sagacity all the other condi-
tions of this phenomenon, namely, the thickness of the iron wires,
the capacity of the Leyden jar from which the discharge is obtained,
and compares the effects of a bundle of fine iron wires with those of a
large and full cylindrical wire.

In continuation of these studies, Marianini proceeded to experiment
on the effects produced by metallic envelopes in diminishing the mag-
netizing action of electric currents on the iron placed in the interior of
those envelopes, and demonstrated that the effects depend on the action
of the inductive discharge developed in the envelopes. He proceeded
afterwards to the study of inductive discharges; discovered the induc-
tions of the second and third order, which had been found at the same
time by Henry, in America, and saw that the Leyden-electric induction
was exerted also between liquid conductors.

These notices, by which we have certainly had no thought of render-
ing justice to the various labors of Marianini, will serve at least to show
how assiduous and productive was the scientific life of our lamented
2olleague, and how admirable an example that life, prolonged as it for-
tunately was, offers, in its unobtrusive and tranquil course, to the youth
of Italy—how imperishable an honor it will always reflect upon our
country. :

FLORENCE, April 1, 1867.

ON THE CHEMISTRY OF THE EARTH.

By T. SterRy Hunt, LL. D., F. BR. S.

In the following pages I have endeavored, at the request of Professor
Henry, to give a brief summary of certain views in chemical geology
which have been put forward by me in various scientific journals dur-
ing the past twelve years, the germ of them having appeared in a com-
munication to the American Journal of Science in January, 1858. In _
addition to the foot-notes, I have appended a list of my principal pub-
lications on the subject, where those who desire to follow up the various
questions here suggested will find them treated more at length. The
last three of these papers are in part reprinted in the present abstract.
I take this occasion to say that the views here embodied will be devel-
oped in a work on the chemistry of the globe, the preparation of which

is now well advanced.
T. STERRY HUNT.
MONTREAL, January 6, 1870.

List of the principal papers, by Mr. T. Sterry Hunt, relating to Chemical Geology.

On the Chemistry of the Primeval Earth. American Journal of Science, January,
1858.
On the part which the Silicates of the Alkalies may play in ft: MMotandinitines of
Rocks. Proc. Royal Society of London, May 7, 1857, and American Journal of Science,
March, 1858.

On the origin of Feldspars, and on some points of Chemical Lithology. American
Journal of Science, May, 1858.

On the Theory of Igneous Rocks and Volcanoes. Canadian Journal of Toronto,
March, 1858.

On some points in Chemical Geology. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society,
November, 1859.

Review of the last-named paper. American Journal of Science, July, 1860.

On Gypsums and Magnesian Rocks. American Journal of Science, September, No-
vember, 1859.

On the History of Lime and Magnesia Salts. American Journal of Science, July,
1866. é

Contributions to Lithology. American Journal of Science, March, May, July, 1864.

Chemistry of Natural Waters. American Journal of Science, March, July, Septem-
ber, 1865.

Chemistry and Mineralogy of Metamorphic Rocks. Dublin Quarterly Journal,
July, 1863.

Ovigin of some Magnesian and Aluminous Rocks. American Journal of Science,
September, 1861.

La Chimie de la Terre. Comptes-Rendus de ’Académie, June 9, 1862.

The Earth’s Climate in Paleozoic Times. American Journal of Science, 1863.

On some points in American Geology. American Journal of Science, May, 1851.

On the Chemical Geology of Mr. David Forbes. Geological Magazine, February,
1868.

On the Chemical Geology of Mr. David Forbes. Chemical News, February, 1868.

The Chemistry of the Primeval Earth. Lecture before the Royal Institution, May,
1837.

Volcanoes and Earthquakes. Lecture before the American Geographical Society.
April, 1869,

On the Probable Scat of Volcanic Action. Geological Magazine, June, 1869.

CHEMISTRY OF THE EARTH. 183

CONTENTS OF SECTIONS.

1-3, classification of the sciences; 4, objects of chemical geology; 5, nebular hypo-
thesis ; 6, dissociation ; 7, 8, the sun; 9, the cooling earth; 10-13, its solidification ;
14, relations of solution to pressure ; 15, on the ear th’s crust; 16,17, probable composi-
tion and relation of earth’s crust and atmosphere ; 18, fixation of carbonic acid, its
effect on climate; 19, chemical influence of vegetation ‘as a reducing agent ; origin of

carbon and sulphurets ; 20, origin of limestones, dolomites, and gypsums ; 21, silicated

waters; 22, relations of potash and soda; 23- 26, disintegration of silicated rocks ; at;
their division into two groups ; 23, chemically- -formed aluminous and non-aluminous
ailicated rocks; 29, changes in composition of sediments; 30, 31,metamorphism of
rocks ; 32, chemical alter ration ; 33, molecular alteration; 34, porosity of sediments,
sheir ¢ondensation ; 35, ultimate result of chemical metamorphism ; 36, theory of vol-
zanic action; 37, views ‘of Keferstein and Herschel ; 38, the primitive crust ; 39, internal
heat ; 40, 41, "influence of pressure; 42, 43, types of igneous rocks ; 44, origin of granites ;
15, indigenous and exotic rocks ; endogenous rocks or vein- -stones ; ; 46, filling of mineral
veins ; ‘47, source of metals, and theory of metalliferous deposits ; 48, e earthquakes ; 5 AQ;
voleanoes } 50, 51, their distribution ; 52, causes of subsidence and accumulation of sedi-
nents ; theory of. mountains ; 53, origin of lavas; 54, relations of sedimentary deposi-
tion to voleanic phenomena ; ancient volcanoes ; 3 95, modern voleanoes.

§ 1. In approaching the study of the chemistry of the earth, or what
may be designated chemical geology, it becomes necessary to define the
natural objects of that complex study to which is given the general
name of geology, and also to consider its connection with the various
sciences. To this end, some notions as to the order and the relation of
these sciences may not be out of place. Following the classification
established by Comte, we distinguish between the abstract sciences, which
deal with laws, and the conerete sciences , Which have to do with things.
In their order the abstract sciences form ‘anh ascending series, according
to the degree of complexity of their phenomena, “so that each science
depends on the truths of all those which precede it, with the addition of
peculiar truths of its own.”—(J. 8S. Mill.) At the base of this series are
thus placed—lst, Mathematics, with its successive divisions of number,
geometry and mechanics; 2d, Abstract Astronomy, which considers, in
addition to these, gravitation, taking cognizjnce of number, extension,
equilibrium, and motion; 3d, Physics, comprehending the laws of weight,

cohesion, sound, light, electricity, 2 and magnetism ; 4th, Chemistry, which
treats of the relations to one another of the different forms of mineral

matter, and their transformations under the physical agencies of light,
heat, and electricity; 5th, Biology, or Physiology, to which belongs the
study of the laws of or eanized g growth and development; 6th, Psyc hology,
which considers the laws of mental phenomena; and, 7th, Sociolog, gy, or
the laws of human society.

§ 2. Parallel with these abstract sciences is a series of concrete or his-
torical sciences, dealing not with laws and general principles, but with.
objects and facts. Of these concrete sciences the first is Descriptive
Astronomy, which is the natural history of the planetary and stellar
worlds, treating of their movements, dimensions, and cosmical relations.
Coming, in the next place, to the history of our own planet, the study of the
accidents of its surface and its interior gives rise to Physical Geography
and to Structural and Dynamical Geognosy ; while the bodies which it
presents to us are naturally divided into two great classes, the inorganic
or mineral kingdom, and the or: ganic, including the vegetable and ani-
mal kingdom. The study of these two classes gives rise to two great
branches of natural history, Mineralogy and Organography, t the latter
including Botany and Zoology. The concrete science of mineralogy has
for its subject the natural history of all the forms of unorganized mat-

184 CHEMISTRY OF THE EARTH.

ter; that is to say, those substances which are exempt from biological
laws , but come within the domain of physies and chemistry. Chemical
change implies disorganization, and all so-called chemieal species are
inorganic, that is to say, unorganized, and belong to the mineral king-
dom, w hose natural history is thus physical and chemical, while that of
the vegetable and animal kingdoms is biological.*

§ 3. It might, at first sight, seem foreign to our present subject to
speak in this connection of the moral, social, and political history of
mankind, dependent upon the laws of psychology and sociology. It is,
however, to be remarked, that while in the abstract order each science
is independent of that which follows it in the series, it is far different in
the concrete sciences. This is seen in the familiar example of the de-
pendence upon each other of the animal, vegetable, and mineral king-
doms, and it is evident that man puts in movement agencies which are
constantly at work modifying alike physical veography and the rela-
tions of the mineral, vegetable, and animal world to such an extent that
human history must not be disregarded in the study of the lower reigns
of nature.

§ 4. From what has gone before it will be evident that under the com-
mon term of geology are generally confounded two distinct branches of
study ; the first or abstract division being that of the physical, chemical,
and biological laws which have presided over the development of the
globe, and the second or concrete division, the natural history of the
earth as displayed in its physical structure, stratigraphy, mineralogy,
paleontology. The name of geognosy, employed by some authors, may
very appropriately be retained for the latter, while that of geology is
restricted to the former division. It is proposed in the following pages
to consider briefly some of the more important points in the chemical
history of the globe; in doing which it will be necessary to notice also
its astronomical and phy sical histor y, and the relations of organic life, in
so far as they are concerned in the chemical history of the earth in its
various stages of development. The scheme thus embraced is so great
that in the limits of the present essay nothing more can be attempted
than a sketch which shall embrace some of the most. striking facts in
the history of the forming globe considered as a condensing nebulous
mass, in the chemistry of the air, sea, and earth in past ages, and in the
relations of the central heat to the superficial portions of the earth, by
which we shall endeavor to explain certain facts in dynamical geology,
such as the great movements of the earth’s crust and the phenomena of
ear rthquales and volcanoes.

§ 5. The nebular hypothesis, as it is called, which supposes that our
scleat system and all the worlds of space have come from the condensa-
tion of diffused vapors, has received strong confirmation from the dis-
coveries made by the spectroscope. We now know that there exist in

he heavens nebule consisting of luminous gas; that is to say, vaporous
matter shining by its own light, which we may, with great probability,
regard as the “primal matter out of which, as the elder Herschel sug-
gested, suns and planets have been formed by a process of condensation.
By the aid of the telescope and the spectroscope we find in the heavens,
planets—bodies like our earth, shining only by reflected light; suns,—
selfluminous, radiating light from solid matter; and, moreover, true
nebule, or masses of Juminous vapor. These three forms represent
three distinct phases in the condensation of the primeval matter, from
which our own and other planetary systems have been formed.

*T. S. Hunt, on the Objects and Method of Mineralogy. American Journal of Seé~
ence, [2,] xl; 203. '

CHEMISTRY OF THE EARTH. 185

This nebulous matter is conceived to be so intensely heated as to be in
the state of true gas or vapor, and, for this reason, feebly luminous
when compared with the sun. It would here be out of place to discuss
the detailed results of spectroscopic investigation, or the beautiful and
ingenious methods by which modern science has shown the existence in
the sun, and in many other luminous bodies in space, of the same chem-
ical elements that are met with in our earth.

§ 6. Calculations based on the amount of light and heat radiated from
the sun show that the temperature which reigns at its surface is so great
that we can hardly form an adequate idea of it. Of the chemical rela-
tions of such intensely heated matter modern chemistry has made known
to us some curious facts, which help to throw light on the constitution
and luminosity of the sun. Heat, under ordinary conditions, is favor-
able to chemical combination, but a higher temperature reverses all
affinities. Thus, the so-called noble metals, gold, silver, mercury, &c.,
unite with oxygen and other elements ; but these compounds are decom-
posed by heat, and the pure metals are regenerated. A similar reaction
was many years since shown by Mr. Grove with regard to water, whose
elements—oxygen and hydrogen—when mingled and kindled by flame,
or by the electric spark, unite to form water, which, however, at a much
higher temperature, is again resolved into its component gases. Hence,
if we had these two gases existing in admixture at a very high tempera-
ture, cold would actually effect their combination precisely as heat would
do if-the mixed gases were at the ordinary temperature, and literally it
would be found that “frost performs the effect of fire.” The recent re-
searches of Henry Sainte-Claire Deville and others go far to show that this
breaking-up of compounds, or dissociation of elements by intense heat
is a pr inciple of universal application ; so that we may suppose that all
the elements which make up the sun or our planet would, when so in-
tensely heated as to be in .that gaseous condition which all matter is
capable of assuming, remain uncombined, that is to say, would exist
together in the condition of what we call chemical elements, whose fur-
ther dissociation in stellar or nebulous masses may even give us evi-
dence of matter still more elemental than that revealed by “the experli-

ments of the laboratory, where we can only conjecture the compound
nature of many of the so-called elementary substances.

§ 7. The sun, then, is to be conceived of as an immense mass of intensely
heated gaseous and dissociated matter, so condensed, however, that not-
withstanding itsexcessive temperature, it has a specific gravity not much
below that of water; probably offering a condition analogous to that
which Cagniard de la Tour observed for volatile bodies when submitted
to great pressure at temperatures much above their boiling point. The
radiation of heat going on from the surface of such an intensely heated
mass of uncombined gases will produce a superficial cooling, which will
permit the combination of certain elements, and the production of solid
or liquid particles ; these, suspended in the still dissociated vapors,
become intensely luminous, and form the solar photosphere. The con-
densed particles, ¢ carried down into the intensely heated mass, again
meet with a heat of dissociation, so that the process of combination at
the surface is incessantly renewed, while the heat of the sun may be
supposed to oS maintained by the slow condensation of itsmass; a dim-
inution by ,J;;th of its present diameter being sufficient, according to
Helmholtz, t 0 Oo maintain the present supply of heat for twenty-one thou-
sand years.

§8. This hypothesis of the nature of the sun and of the luminous
process going on at its surface is the one lately put forward by Faye,

186 CHEMISTRY OF THE EARTH.

and, although it has met with opposition, appears to be that which ac
cords best with our present knowledge of the chemical and physical con-
ditions of matter, such as we must suppose it to exist in the condensing
gaseous mass which, according to the nebular hypothesis, should form
the center of our solar system. Taking this, as we have already done,
for granted, it matters little whether we imagine the different planets
to have been successively detached as rings during the rotation of the
primal mass, as is generally conceived, or whether we admit with Cha-
cornac a process of aggregation or concretion operating within the
primal nebular mass, resulting in the production of sun and planets.
In either case we come to the conclusion that our earth must at one time
have been in an intensely heated gaseous condition such as the sun
now presents, self-luminous, and with a process of condensation going
on at first at the surface only, until by cooling it must have reached the
point where the gaseous center was exchanged for one of combined and
liquefied matter.

§9. Here commences the chemistry of the earth, to the discussion of
which the foregoing considerations have been only preliminary. So
long as the gaseous condition of the earth lasted, we may suppose the
whole mass to have been homogeneous; but when the temperature be-
came so reduced that the existence of chemical compounds at the center
became possible, those which were most stable at the elevated tempera-
ture then prevailing, would be first formed. Thus, for example, while
compounds of oxygen with mercury, or even with hydrogen, could not
exist, oxides of silicon, aluminium, calcium, magnesium, and iron might
be formed and condensed in a liquid form at the center of the globe.
By progressive cooling, still other elements would be removed trom the
gaseous mass, which would form the atmosphere of the non-gaseous
nucleus. We may suppose an arrangement of the condensed matters
at the center according to their respective specific gravities, and thus
the fact that the density of the earth as a whole is about twice the mean
density of the matters which form its solid surface may be explained.
Metallic or metalloidal compounds of elements, grouped differently from
any compounds known to us, and far more dense, may exist in the cen-
ter of the earth. The condensing effect of pressure as we approach the
center of the globe has, however, been regarded by some as far more
than sufficient to account for the considerable mean density of the planet,
and, according to Dr. Young, would be sufiicient to reduce a mass of
granite, transported to the earth’s center, to one-eighth of the bulk
which it occupied at the surface, which would give to the earth a mean
density equal to twelve or thirteen times that of water. This considera-
tion has led a recent writer to conclude, with Herbert Speucer, that our
earth and the other planets may be only shells of varying thickness,
inclosing a central cavity filled with vaporous matter, by which hypoth-
esis may be explained their apparently feeble density. It is, however,
a matter of indifference, so far as our argument is concerned, whether
the process of condensation commenced around such a central cavity,
or at the center of the globe itself.

§10. The processes of combination and cooling having gone on until
those elements which are not volatile in the heat of our ordinary fur-
naces were condensed into a liquid form, we may here inquire what
would be the result, upon the mass, of a further reduction of tempera-
ture. It is generally assumed that in the cooling of a liquid globe of
mineral matter, congelation would commence at the surface, as in the
case of water; but water offers an exception to most other liquids, in-

CHEMISTRY OF THE EARTH. 187
asmuch as it is denser in the liquid than in the solid form. | Hence, ice
floats on water, and freezing water becomes covered with a layer of
ice, which protects the liquid “below. Some metals and alloys resemble
water in this respect. With regard to most other substances, and
notably the various minerals and earthy compounds like those which
may be supposed to have made up the mass of the molten globe, the
case is entirely different. The numerous and detailed experiments of
Charles Deville, and those of Delesse, besides the earlier ones of Bi-
schof, unite in showing that the density of fused rocks is much less than
that of the crystalline products resulting from their slow cooling, these
being, according to Deville, from one- seventh to one-sixteenth heavier
than the fused mass, so that if formed at its surface they would, in.
obedience to the laws of gravity, tend to sink as soon as formed.

§11. The stony materials of the earth’s crust then, unlike ice and cer-
tain metals, expand in melting and contract in passing into the solid
state. The melting of ice is a process of condensation, and hence pres-
sure favors its liquefaction, causing it to melt at a lower temperature
than it would otherwise do; but for bodies with which melting is a pro-
cess of expansion, pressure produces an opposite effect, namely, that of
augmenting the fusing point. These conclusions of James Thompson
and William Thompson have been experimentally verified by Bunsen,
Fairbairn, and Hopkins. It results from this physical law that the
effect of pressure upon materials like molten rocks would be such that
solidification at a depth from the surface would take place at a temper-
ature much higher than that required for their solidification at tlie sur-
face. Hence, in opposition to the notion of a congealed layer, like a
sheet of ice, resting upon the surface of a molten globe, Hopkins, and
with him Scrope, supposes solidification to have commenced at the cen-
ter of the liquid mass and to have advanced toward the circumference.
Mr. Hopkins concludes that the pressure existing at great depths must
have induced congelation of the molten mass at temperatures at which,
under a less pressure, it would have remained liquid. Before the last
portions became solidified, there was produced, it is conceived by Mr.
Hopkins, a condition of imperfect liquidity, preventing the sinking of
the cooled and heavier particles, and giving rise to a superficial crust,
from which solidification would proceed downward. There would thus
be inclosed between the inner and outer solid parts, a portion of
uncongealed matter, which, according to him, may be supposed still
to retain its liquid condition, and to be the seat of volcanic action,
whether existing in isolated reservoirs or subterranean lakes, or whether,
as suggested by Scrope, forming a continuous sheet surrounding the
solid nucleus.

12. This view of the constitution of the globe, or one analogous to
it, has found favor with many theorists. Professor N. S. Shaler, of
Harvard, who, in a recent essay on the formation of mountain chains,
in the proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History, has
adopted it, concisely states it as follows: ‘The earth consists of an
immense solid nucleus, a hardened outer crust, and an intermediate
region of comparatively slight depth, in an imperfect state of igneous
fusion.” In this connection iti is curious to remark that, as lately pointed
out by Mr. J. Clifton Ward, Halley was led, from the study of terres-
trial magnetism, to a similar hypothesis. He supposed the existence of
two magnetic poles situated in the earth’s outer crust, and two others
in an interior mass, separated from the solid envelope by a fluid
medium, and revolving, by a very small degree, slower than the

188 CHEMISTRY OF THE EARTH.

outer crust.* The same conclusion was subsequently adopted by Han-
steen.

§15. Apart from these considerations, however, many of the best
modern physicists and geologists have found numerous reasons for
rejecting the popular notion which regards our globe as a liquid molten
mass covered by a layer of twenty or thirty miles of solidified rock.
The deductions of Hopkins from the phenomena of precession and nuta-
tion, those of Pratt from the crushing force of immense mountain masses
like ‘those of the Himalaya, and those of Sir William Thompson from the
tides, showing the great rigidity of the earth, all unite to prove that
the earth, if not solid to the center, must have a firm and solid crust
several hundred miles in thickness. Under these conditions, if there
still exist a liquid center, it must, so far as superficial phenomena are
concerned, be as inert as if it were not. Weare thus prepared to accept
the conslusions to which the line of argument in § 11 leads us, and admit
that our globe solidified from the center.

§14. It is, then, with the superficial portions of the earth, alone, that
we have to do from the moment of its solidification; and as in the sub-
sequent pages of our history air and water must play an important part,
it becomes necessary, bofore going further, to consider briefly the nature
of the process of aqueous solution and its relations to pressure. Solu-
tion may, for our present purpose, be defined as a chemical union between
two or more bodies, of which one is liquid, resulting in a liquid product,
and accompanied by a change of volume.t In ordinary cases, as in that
of most bodies dissolving in water, this change is in the direction of con-
densation, and hence, as might be expected, pressure exerts an influence
similar to that in the liquefaction of certain bodies by fusion, explained
in §11.. Pressure facilitates the liquefaction of ice, which is attended
by condensation, and acts in like manner in the case of solution, so that
the solubility of salts in water, as shown by the experiments of Sorby, is
increased by pressure. We can searcely doubt that these phenomena
of fusion and solution come under one general physical law, and that
for all those bodies which contract in dissolving, (to which there are
but few exceptions,) their solubility in water must be augmented by
and in proportion to the pressure. As expressed by Mr. Sorby, mechani-
cal is thus converted into chemical force. ¢

§15, Reverting now to the solidified globe, in whose superficial por-
tions and in the surrounding gases and vapors were present all the
chemical elements with which we have to do, it is necessary to consider
briefly its physical and its chemical condition at this early period.

The formation of a crust at the surface of the viscid layer which still
enveloped the solidified mass of the globe, as conceived by Hopkins,
is readily admissible; but that this process commenced when the remain-
ing envelope of liquid matter was yet so deep that the refrigeration up
to the present time has not been sufficient for its entire solidification
is not probable. Such a crust on the cooling superficial layer would,
from the contraction consequent on the further refrigeration of the
liquid stratum beneath, become more or less depressed, corrugated, and

*'The elevated temperature of the interior of the globe would probably offer no ob-
stacle to the development of magnetism. In a recent experiment of M. Tréve, com-
municated by M. Faye to the French Academy of Sciences, it was found that molten
cast iron when poured into a mold, surrounded by a helix which was traversed by an
electric current, became a strong magnet when liquid at a temperature of 1,300° C.,,
and retained its magnetism while cooling. (Comptes-Itendus de V Académie des Sciences,
February, 1869.)

t T. S. Hunt, Thoughts on Solution, American Journal of Science, [2,] xix, 100.
¢ Bakerian Lecture for 1863, L. E. and D, Philosophical Magazine, February, 1864.

CHEMISTRY OF THE EARTH. 189

broken up, thus causing the extravasation of the yet unsolidified portion,
which wouid contribute to the vast amount of mineral matter brought
within the chemical influences of the surrounding atmosphere. Further
contraction from cooling would render this material more or less porous
and permeable, preparing it for that process of combined mechanical
and chemical disintegration which would result from the action of the
acid liquids afterwards to be precipitated from the atmosphere.

§16. We have next to consider the chemical constitution of this irregu-
lar surfaced and broken-up crust of anhydrous and primitive igneous
rock, which is now everywhere buried beneath the products of its disin-
tegration. It is evident that, with the exception of those which were
still in a gaseous form, it must have contained all the elements which
now make up the known rocks of the earth’s crust. If we conceive these,
together with the air, the ocean, and its dissolved salts, now to react
upon each other under the influence of an intense heat, it will enable us
to form some notion of the chemical relations of the elements of the
globe at the time when they were cooling down from that condition of
igneous vapor which we suppose to have been that of our planet at an
early stage in its history. To the chemist it is evident that from such
a process applied to our globe would result the oxidation of all carbona-
ceous matter, the conversion of all carbonates, chlorides, and sulphates,
into silicates, and the separation of the carbon, chlorine and sulphur in
the form of acid gases, which, with nitrogen, watery vapor, and an excess
of oxygen, would form an exceedingly dense atmosphere. The resulting
fused mass would contain all the bases as silicates, and would probably
nearly resemble in composition certain furnace-slags or basic voleanic
glasses. Such we may conceive to have been the nature of the primitive
igneous rock, and such the composition of the primeval atmosphere, which
must have been one of very great density. Under the pressure of a high
barometric column condensation would take place at a temperature
much above the present boiling point of water, and the lower levels of
the half-cooled crust would be drenched with a highly heated solution
of hydrochloric acid, whose decomposing action would be powerfully
aided by the temperature. The formation of chlorides of the various
bases, and the separation of silica, would go on until the affinities of the
acid were satisfied, while there would result a sea-water holding in the
solution, besides the chlorides of sodium, calcium, and magnesium, salts
of aluminum and other metallic bases. At a later period the gradual
combination of oxygen with sulphurous acid would eliminate this from
the atmosphere in the form of sulphuric acid. The atmosphere being thus
deprived of its volatile compounds of chlorine and sulphur, would ap-
proach to that of our own time, but differ in its much greater amount
of carbonic acid. It will be remarked that from the affinities which
would come into play in the conditions above supposed, all the elements,
with the exception of the noble metals, nitrogen, chlorine, the related,
haloids, and the hydrogen combined with these, would be united with
oxygen. The volatility of gold, silver, and platinum, would keep them
still in a gaseous condition at temperatures where silicon, and with it
the baser metals, were precipitated in the form of oxides.

§17. The process just described ceased with the separation from the
air of the compounds of sulphur and chlorine, and then commenced
the second stage in the action of the atmosphere on the earth’s crust,
by which, under the influence of carbonic acid and moisture, its com-
plex aluminous silicates dre converted into a hydrated silicate of alum-
ina or clay; while the separated lime, magnesia, and alkalies, being
changed into bicarbonates, are conveyed to the sea in a state of solution.

190 CHEMISTRY OF THE EARTH.

The first effect of these dissolved carbonates would be to precipitate
the dissolved alumina and the heavy metals, after which came the de-
composition of the chloride of calcium and the formation of carbonate of
lime and chloride of sodium. This action of carbonic acid is still going
on at the earth’s surface, slowly breaking down and destroying the
hardest rocks, and, aided by mechanical processes, transforming them
into clays; although the action, from the comparative rarity of carbonic
acid in the atmosphere, i is now less energetic than in earlier times, when
the abundance of this gas, and a higher temperature, fav ored the
chemical decomposition of the rocks. But now, as then, every clod of
clay formed from the decay of a crystalline rock corresponded to an
equivalent of carbonic acid abstracted from the atmosphere, and to
equivalents of carbonate of lime and common salt formed from the
chloride of calcium of the sea-water.

It is very instructive, in this connection, to compare the composition
of the waters of the modern ocean with that of the sea in ancient times,
whose composition we learn from the fossil sea-waters which are still to
be found in certain regions, imprisoned in the pores of the older stratified
rocks, and are the source of many of our saline mineral waters*. These
are vastly richer in salts of lime and magnesia than those of the present
sea, from which have been separated, by chemical processes, all the car-
bonate of lime of our limestones, with the exception of that derived from
the sub-aérial decay of calcareous and magnesian silicates belonging to
the primitive crust.

§18. The gradual removal, in the form of carbonate of lime, of the
carbonic acid from the primeval atmosphere, has been connected with
great changes in the organic life of the globe. The air was doubtless
at first unfit for the respiration of warm-blooded animals, and we find
the higher forms of life coming gradually into existence as we approach
the present period of a purer air. Calculations based upon the proba-
ble amount of limestone in the earth’s crust, lead us to conclude that
the amount of carbon thus removed in the form of carbonic acid has
been so enormous, that we must suppose the earlier forms of air-breath-
ing animals to have been peculiarly adapted to live in an atmosphere
which would probably be too impure to support modern reptilian life.

Growing plants under the stimulus of light possess, as is well
known, the power to absorb carbonic acid, appropriating the carbon and
liberating oxygen. The importance of this agency in purifying the
primitive atmosphere was long since pointed out by Brongniart, and
our great stores of fossil fuel have been derived from the decomposition,
by the ancient vegetation, of the excess of carbonic acid of the early
atmosphere, which, through this agency, was exchanged for oxygen gas.
In this connection the vegetation of former periods presents the curious
phenomenon of plants allied to those now growing beneath the tropics
flourishing within the polar circles. Many ingenious hypotheses have
been proposed to account for the warmer climate of earlier times, but
are at best unsatisfactory, and it would appear that the true solution
of the problem may be found in the constitution of the early atmosphere,
when considered in the light of Dr. Tyndal’s beautiful researches on
radiant heat. He has found that the presence of a few hundredths of
carbonic acid gas in the atmosphere, while offering almost no obstacle
to the passage of the solar rays, would suffice to prevent almost entirely
the loss by radiation of obscure heat.

The aqueous vapor which our atmosphere contains exerts a powerful

*T.S. Hunt. Contributions to the Chemistry of Natural Waters, American J ournal
of Science, [2.] XX XIX, 184.

CHEMISTRY OF THE EARTH. 191

influence of the same kind, allowing the sun’s rays to reach the earth,
but preventing to a great extent the loss by radiation of the heat thus
communicated. When, however, the supply of heat from the sun is in-*
terrupted at night, the radiation which goes on into space causes the
precipitation of a great part of the watery vapor from the air, and the
earth, being thus deprived of its protecting shield, becomes more and
more rapidly cooled. If now we could suppose the atmosphere to be
mingled with some permanent gas which should possess an absorptive
power like that of aqueous vapor, this cooling process would be in a
great measure arrested, and an effect would be produced similar to that
of a screen of glass, which keeps up the temperature beneath it, both
directly by preventing the escape of radiant heat, and indirectly by
hindering the condensation of the aqueous vapor in the air confined be-
neath. Such a gas is carbonic acid, and the large amount of it which
existed in the atmosphere during former geological periods must have
aided greatly to maintain the elevated temperatures which then existed
at the earth’s surface. Without doubt the greater extent of sea and the
absence or rarity of high mountains contributed much to the mild eli-
mate of former geologic ages; but to these must be added the influence
of the whole of the carbon since condensed in the forms of carbonate of
lime and coal, which then existed as a transparent and permanent gas
mingled with the atmosphere surrounding the earth, and protecting it
like a dome of glass. To this effect of carbonic acid it is possible that
other gases may have contributed. The ozone which is mingled with
the oxygen set free from growing plants, and the marsh-gas which is now
evolved from decomposing vegetation, may, by their absorptive powers,
which are far greater than that of carbohic acid, have contributed
greatly to maintain a high temperature at the earth’s surface in early
times.*

§ 19. The part which vegetation has played in the chemical history of the
globe has not been limited to the purification of the atmosphere. It
seems to have been the great agent through which solar force has effected
a partial deoxidation of the thoroughly burned or oxidized materials of
the primitive world. By means of growing plants: carbonic acid and
water are reduced, giving rise to the various forms of carbon and to
hydrocarbonaceous bodies, and these have been the agents by which the
sulphates of the metals have been deoxidized, and sulphur, native
metals, and metallic sulphides produced. It is moreover by the reducing
action of decaying organic matters that the peroxide of iron is partially re-
duced and removed in a soluble form from sediments, to bé afterwards
deposited in the form of iron ore. The evidences of this reducing and
dissolving action of organic matter are met with not only in the fire-
clays and iron-stones of the carboniferous system, and among secondary,
tertiary, and modern deposits, but on a grand scale in the Laurentian
system, where great thicknesses of sediments are found almost destitute
of iron, while beds of iron ore more extensive than at any subsequent
periods are evidences of the abundance of organic matters at that early
time. If these are not more frequently preserved in the form of an-
thracite and graphite, it is because the amount of peroxide of iron dif-
fused through the sediments of the period furnished the oxygen neces-
sary for the oxidation of the carbon. Inasmuch as the ores of these old
rocks, in their present forms of hematite and magnetite, are very insolu-
ble, and represent so much iron withdrawn from the terrestrial circula-
tion, it is evident that the proportion of this element, existing in a dif-

*'T, S. Hunt, On the Earth’s Climate, ete., American Journal of Science, [2, ] xxxvi, 396,
1863.

192 CHEMISTRY OF THE EARTH.

tused aid oxidized state in recent sediments, must be less in those of
more remote times.* ,

To the chemist the presence of graphite, or of a metallic sulphide in
a rock, affords clear evidences of the intervention of organic life; and
these indirect evidences are met with not only in the oldest known strati-
fied rocks, those of the Laurentian system, but in the eruptive
diorites, which rise from beneath them, and are pyritiferous. Thepresence
of graphite, native iron, and sulphurets in most aérolites, not to mention
the hydrocarbonaceous matters which they sometimes contain, tells us
in unmistakable language that these bodies come from a region where
vegetable life has performed a part not unlike that which still plays on
our globe, and even lead us to hope for the discovery in them of organic
forms which may give us some notion of life in other worlds than our
own.

§20. Animal life has played in the chemical history of our planet a
part much less important than vegetation, since it is entirely depend-
ent for support upon the products elaborated for it by plants, and by
chemical forces. ‘Thus, although many limestones are made up chiefly,
and even wholly of the calcareous remains of marine animals, these
did no more than appropriate from the water the carbonate of lime
generated by the chemical actions explained in §17. If the waters of
the present ocean do not deposit carbonate of lime, it is simply because
the amount of it now generated by the slow decomposition of the solid
rocksis not more than is required for the living organisms which it con-
tains. Let these become extinct and the supply of carbonate of lime,
which would still continue, would soon cause deposits of precipitated
carbonate of lime. Such acondition of things existing in past ages, in
limited basins, has given rise to sediments of this kind, which constitute
some of the finest statuary marbles.

The waters charged with the products of the sub-aérial decay of rocks,
convey to the sea, as we have seen, bicarbonates of alkalies, lime, and
magnesia; but from the reaction of these on the chloride and sulphate of
calcium in the ocean waters carbonate of lime alone separates, since bi-
carbonate of magnesia decomposes chloride of calcium with formation
of magnesian chloride. When, however, in a closed sea-basin all of the
chloride of caleium is decomposed, the chloride of magnesium is attacked
by the alkaline carbonates, and the resulting carbonate of magnesia is
separated, mixed with the carbonate of lime which had accompanied
these. ;

When into a similar closed basin, or an evaporating salt lake in a dry
region, holding sulphate of magnesia, there is conveyed a water charged
with bicarbonate of lime, there results a double decomposition, giving
rise to sulphate of lime and bicarbonate of magnesia. The latter, being
the more soluble salt, remains dissolved, while the sulphate of lime erys-
tallizes out in the form of gypsum, but at a later period is deposited as a
hydrated carbonate of magnesia, generally mixed with carbonate of lime.
To effect this reaction it is necessary that there should be present such an
excess of carbonic acid as to keep the magnesia in the condition of bi-
carbonate until the gypsum has crystallized out, inasmuch as dissolved
sulphate of lime is readily decomposed by carbonate of magnesia. This
condition can only be attained by especial precautions in the atmosphere
of our period; but by operating in an atmosphere more highly charged
with carbonic acid, the production of gypsum and magnesian carbonate
by this reaction is readily effected. We may hence conclude that it
was the more highly carbonated atmosphere of early periods which

* Geology of Canada, 1863, p. 573.

CHEMISTRY OF THE EARTH. 193

favored the accumulation of the great beds of gypsum and magnesian
limestones which generally accompany the salt deposits of past geologi-
cal periods. The hydrated magnesian carbonate, whether the con-
comitant of gypsum, as in this case, or of chloride of sodium, as in the
former reaction, unites chemically with the associated carbonate of lime,
and gives rise to dolomite or magnesian limestone.*

§ 21. The action of carbonated alkaline waters ou tne salts of the sea
under ordinary conditions thus gives rise to carbonate of lime, and it is
only under peculiar circumstances that magnesian carbonate is sep-
arated. The case is, however, changed with silicated alkaline waters
coming from deep-seated silicated rocks, which undergo a decomposi-
tion without the intervention of the atmospheric air, and hold dissolved
silicates of alkalies and of lime. These reacting on the magnesian salts
dissolved in sea-water give rise to magnesian silicates, which are very
insoluble. Hence we frequently find deposits of magnesian silicates
in sediments, while silicates of lime are comparatively rare. In the
solubility of bicarbonate of magnesia and the insolubility of the cor-
responding lime salt, and in the insolubility of magnesian silicate and
the solubility of silicate of lime, we find a simple explanation of the geo-
logical relation of calcareous and magnesian silicates and carbonates.t

§ 22. The relations of the alkalies, potash and soda, require some
consideration in this connection. The silico-aluminous compounds of
potash possess a much greater degree of stability than those of soda.
This is exemplified in the case of rocks which contain, side by side,
orthoclase and albite, or oligoclase, when it is often found that the soda-
feldspar has undergone decomposition from a loss of a portion of its
alkali and partial disintegration, while the orthoclase or potash-feldspar
remains unchanged. It is well known that waters holding large portions
of potash salts in solution, exchange the potash for soda when filtered
through a stratum of earth in which the amount of potash is, neverthe-
less, as great or greater than the soda; and we find that in natural spring-
waters, which often contain considerable amounts of alkaline carbonates,
the proportion of potash to the soda is as small as in the ocean. Sur-
face-waters bearing the unfiltered wash of the land carry considerable
portions of potash to the sea, but it is constantly removed, partly, at
least, by the agency of fucoids, which, as Forchammer has shown, like
land-plants, take up large amounts of potash, and subsequently, by
their decay in contact with the argillaceous mud, restore the alkali in an
insoluble form to the earth. The formation of glauconite, a peculiar
silicate rich in potash, which has been going on in the bottom of the sea
from avery early period to the present time, has also been constantly
withdrawing the potash from the ocean, so that soda is still the predomi-
nant base in its waters.

§ 23. The changes of silicated rocks under the influence of water,
carbonic acid, and the products of decaying organic matter, present
several points of interest. The chemical decomposition of feldspars con-
sists in the removal of their protoxide bases, alkalies, and lime, together
with a portion of silica, leaving as a final result a hydrous silicate of alu-
mina or clay. This change is favored by mechanical division, and Dau-
brée has shown that by the prolonged attrition of the particles of granite
under water, the softer and cleavable feldspar is, in great part, reduced
to an impalpable powder, while the uncleavable quartz forms rounded
grains of sand, the water at the same time dissolving from the feldspar a

hy e Hunt, On the Salts of Lime and Magnesia. American Journal of Science, [2,]
xl, 49.
,/ 2.8. Hunt, American Journal of Science, [2,] x1, 49.

13s

194 CHEMISTRY OF THE EARTH.

certain portion of alkaliand silica. The soda-feldspars, being more easily
decomposed and disintegrated by atmospheric influences, are broken up
by mechanical agencies more readily than the potash-feldspar. The same
is true of silicates like hornblende and pyroxene, which are less hard than
the feldspars. From the mechanical and chemical disintegration of
ordinary crystalline rocks, which consist chiefly of these various minerals,
together with quartz, there will result a coarse sandy sediment, in which
quartz with more or less orthoclase will prevail, while the finer mud
will contain only the more minutely divided particles of these, together
with partially decomposed soda-feldspar, clay, and the comminuted
hornblende and pyroxene.

§ 24. This process is evidently one which must go on in the wear-
ing away of rocks by aqueous agency, and explains the fact that while
quartz, or an excess of combined silica, is, for the most part, wanting in
rocks which contain a large portion of alumina, it is generally abundant
in those rocks in which potash-feldspar predominates. The coarser and
more silicious sediments are readily permeable to infiltrating waters,
which gradually remove from them the soda, lime, and magnesia which
they still contain, and, if organic matters intervene, the oxide of iron,
leaving at last little more than silica, alumina, and potash, the elements
of granite, trachyte, gneiss, and mica-schist. On the other hand, the finer
sediments, whose origin, simultaneous with the coarser, we have just
explained, resisting the penetration of waters, will retain all their soda,
lime, magnesia, and iron-oxide, and containing an excess of alumina,
with a small amount of silica, may, by their metamorphism, give rise to
basic lime and soda-feldspars, and to pyroxene and hornblende—the
elements of diorites and dolerites.

25. The disintegration of alkaliferous rocks, however, frequently
takes place under such conditions as to be more mechanical than chemi-
eal, and it may often happen that sediments still retaining a considerable
amount of combined soda become mingled with carbonates of lime and
magnesia. The reaction which then goes on between the liberated
alkaline silicate and these earthy carbonates gradually effects the con-
version of these into silicates, while the alkali is eliminated in the form
of soluble carbonate of soda, giving rise to alkaline mineral waters, which,
as I have shown, are abundantly generated in sediments where feldspathic
matters and earthy carbonates are intermingled. It is only from rocks
destitute of these carbonates that silicated alkaline waters can issue.

§ 26. A decomposition more exclusively chemical is observed particu:
larly among the crystalline schists of tropical and semi-tropical regions,
where a process of disintegration often destroys the cohesion of the
rocks to a considerable depth. This change, which has been but imper-
feetly studied, is probably dependent in great part on the action of the
soluble products of vegetable decomposition, aided by the elevated tem-
perature. It, however, requires careful investigation; and a considera-
tion of the causes which have induced it, and the extent to which it may
have in former periods prevailed on the earth’s surface, is of great geolo-
gical importance, since the immense erosion of which geognosy afiords
us evidence, and which seems so difficult to explain if we conceive the
rocks to have been as hard as we now find them in many regions, becomes
more easily intelligible if we suppose the cohesion of the crystalline rocks
to have been previously much weakened by decay.

§ 27. The operation of the mechanical and chemical agencies which pre-
side over the disintegration of pre-existing rocks naturally divides the
insoluble products into two types, approaching in chemical composition,
as we have shown, to granites, gneiss, and mica-schist, on the one hand

CHEMISTRY OF THE EARTH. 195

and to diorites and dolerites onthe other. These correspond to the two
classes of igneous rocks designated by Bunsen as the trachytie and
pyroxenic types.

§ 28. There is, however, a third source of silicated rocks, to which
some allusion has already been made in speaking of the production of
magnesian silicates by direct precipitation, as the result of chemical
changes in solutions. In this way have been formed, besides these and
related protoxide silicates, other silicates, including alumina. This base
in certain conditions as yet but imperfectly understood, passes into
solution in water, and has given rise to complex silicates, including pro-
toxide bases. As I have elsewhere expressed it, not only steatite, pyrox-
ene, hornblende, and serpentine, but chlorite and, in many cases, garnet
and epidote, have had their origin in the crystallization and molecular
re-arrangement of natural silicates, generated by chemical processes in
aqueous solutions at the earth’s surface. To these must be added other
silicates, containing alkalies, chiefly potash, such as glauconite, and a
hydrous silicate of alumina and potash which has the composition of
pinite or agalmatolite and forms beds in the sedimentary rocks of dif-
ferent geological periods. Evidences abound of the solution of alumina,
and of the generation, as chemical precipitates, of various aluminiferous
silicates. These, like the similarly-formed protoxide silicates, are in
most, if not all cases, highly basic, and moreover, from the mechanical
conditions of their production and deposition, are found associated and
even intermingled with the finely-divided basic sediments of mechanical
origin. The aluminous silicates thus formed, though mineralogically
important, are probably small in amount when compared with the great
mass of argillaceous sediments.

§ 29. The chemical changes which are wrought in the silicated rocks
during their mechanical disintegration are, as we have seen, chiefly the
elimination of the alkalies, especially the soda, in a soluble form from
its aluminous compounds, and the separation and accumulation of the
oxide of iron. The decomposition of the silicates of lime and magnesia
which takes place is, toa great extent, compensated for by the regene-
ration of similar compounds by the reaction already explained, but the
mean composition of the argillaceous sediments of any geological epoch
will depend not only upon the age of a formation, but upon the number
of times which its materials have been broken up, and the length of the
periods during which they have been exposed, in an unmetamorphosed
condition, to the action of water, carbonic acid, and vegetation, If, how-
ever, we may assume that this action, other things being equal, has on
the whole been most complete in the newest formations, it is evident
that the chemical and mineralogical composition of different systems of
rocks must vary with their antiquity, so that we may find in their com-
parative study a guide to their respective ages. Silicious deposits, and
chemical precipitates, like the carbonates and silicates of lime and mag
nesia, may exist, with similar characters, in the geological formations of
any age,* not only forming beds apart, but mingled with the less perme
able silico-aluminous sediments of mechanical origin. Inasmuch as the
chemical agencies giving rise to these compounds were then most active,
they may be expected in greatest abundance in the rocks of the earlier
periods. In the case of the more permeable and more highly silicious
sediments already noticed, (§ 24,) whose principal elements are silica,
alumina, and alkalies, the deposits of different ages will be marked
chiefly by a progressive diminution in the amount of potash and in the
disappearance of the soda which they contain. In the oldest or least

* Geology of Canada, Report, 1866, page 230.

196 CHEMISTRY OF THE EARTH.

lixiviated rocks the proportion of alkali will be nearly or quite sufficient
to form orthoclase or albite with the whole of the alumina present, but
as the alkali diminishes, a portion of the alumina will crystallize, upon
the metamorphism of the sediments, in the form of a potash-mica, such as
muscovite or margarodite. While the oxygen-ratio between the alum-
ina and the alkali in the feldspars just named is 3:1, it becomes 6:1 in
margarodite and 12:1in muscovite. The appearance of these micas in an
aluminous rock denotes, then, a diminution in the amount of alkali, until
in some strata the feldspar almost entirely disappears, and the rock be-
comes a quartzose mica-schist. In sediments still further deprived of
alkali, metamorphism gives rise to schists filled with crystals of kyanite or
of andalusite, simple silicates of alumina, into which alkalies do not en-
ter, at least in noticeable quantities; but, in case the sediment still retains
oxide of iron, staurolite and iron-garnet take their place. The matrix
of all these minerals is generally a micaceous schist. The last term in
this exhaustive process appears to be represented by the disthene and
pyrophyllite rocks which occur in some regions of crystalline schists.
In conformity with what has just been pointed out, it will be seen that
these aluminous silicates destitute of alkalies do not occur in the oldest
known sediments; in those of the Laurentian system, in which also mica
is found in comparatively small quantities, nearly all the alumina present
being in the form of orthoclase or albite.*

§ 30. By metamorphism in geology is understood the change of chem-
ical and mechanical sedimentary deposits into crystalline stratified
rocks. The conversion of these sediments into definite mineral species
has been effected in two ways: First, by molecular changes—that is to
say, by a erystalline arrangement of particles of definite compounds
previously formed ; and, secondly, by chemical reactions between the ele-
ments in heterogeneous sediments, giving rise to new compounds, which
become crystalline in their turn. Pseudomorphism, which is the change
of one mineral species into another by the introduction or the elimina-
tion of some element or elements, presupposes metamorphism, since only
definite mineral species can be the subjects of this process. To confound
metamorphism with pseudomorphism, as Bischof and others after him
have done, is therefore an error. It may be further remarked that
although certain pseudomorphic changes may take place in some min-
eral species existing in veins and near to exposed surfaces, the alteration
of great masses of silicated rocks by such a process is as yet an unproved
hypothesis.

§ 31. The cases of local metamorphism in proximity to intrusive rocks
go far to show, in opposition to the views of certain geologists, that
heat has been one of the necessary conditions of the chemical change.
The source of this heat is generally admitted to be from below, but to
the hypothesis of alteration by ascending heat Naumann has objected
that the inferior strata in some cases escape change, and that, in descend-
ing, a certain plane limits the metamorphism, separating the altered
strata above from the unaltered strata beneath, there being no apparent
transition between the two. This, taken in connection with the well-
known fact that in many cases the intrusion of igneous rocks causes no
apparent change in the adjacent unaltered sediments, shows that heat
and moisture are not the only conditions of metamorphism. I showed,
by experiments in 1857, that, in addition to these conditions, certain

* For a discussion of this subject see my paper on The Chemical and Mineralogical
Relations of Metamorphic Rocks, Dublin Quarterly Journal of Science, J uly, 1853; also
Geology of Canada, 1863, page 561, and chap. XIX, of the same work.

CHEMISTRY OF THE EARTH. 197

chemical reagents might be necessary, and that water impregnated with
alkaline carbonates and silicates would, at a temperature not above 100°
centigrade, produce chemical reactions among the elements of many
sedimentary rocks, dissolving silica and generating various insoluble
silicates.* Subsequent experiments by Daubrée confirmed these results
of mine, and both together showed the agency of heated alkaline waters
to be sufficient to effect the metamorphism of sediments by the two
modes already mentioned, namely, by molecular changes and by chem-
ical reactions.

§ 32. Daubrée further showed, by his observations on the thermal
alkaline spring at Plombieres, that its waters, at a temperature of 70°
centigrade, had in the course of centuries given rise to the formation of
zeolites and other crystalline silicated minerals among the bricks and
mortar of the old Roman baths. The influence of similar waters may
account for many cases of local metamorphism, but is utterly inadequate
to explain the complete and universal alteration of great areas of sedi-
mentary rocks, embracing many hundreds or thousands of square miles.
On the other hand, the study of the origin and distribution of mineral
springs shows that alkaline waters, whose action in metamorphism I
first pointed out, and whose efficient agency Daubrée has since so well
shown, are confined to certain sedimentary deposits and to definite
stratigraphical horizons, above and below which saline waters wholly
different in character are found impregnating the strata. This fact
offers a simple solution of the difficulty advanced by Naumann, and a
complete explanation of the theory of metamorphism of deeply-buried
strata by the agency of ascending heat, which is operative in producing
chemical changes only in those strata in which soluble alkaline salts are
present.

§33. Wehave said that the metamorphism of sediments includes both

hemical and crystallogenic changes. The gradual transformation of
amorphous precipitates under water into crystalline aggregates, so often
observed in the laboratory, appears to depend upon partial solution and
re-deposition of the material, which must not be entirely insoluble in the
surrounding liquid. If the solvent power of this be reduced, the dis-
solved portions are deposited on certain particles rather than others.
By a subsequent exaltation of the solvent power of the liquid, solution
of a further portion takes place, and this, in its turn, 1s deposited
around the nuclei already formed, which are thus augmented at the
expense of the smaller particles, until these at length dis sappear, being
gathered to the crystalline centers. Such a process, which has been
studied by H. Deville, suffices, under the influence of the changing tem-
perature of the seasons, to convert many fine precipitates into erystal-
line aggregates, by the aid of liquids of slight solvent powers. A simi-
lar agency may be supposed to have effected the erystallization of buried
sediments, and changes in the solvent power of the permeating water
might be due either to variations of temperature or of pressure. Simul-
taneously with this process one of chemical union of heterogeneous
elements may go on, and in this way, for example, we may suppose the
carbonates of lime and magnesia become united to form dolomite or

magnesian limestone. (§ 20.)

§ “34. When the sedimentary strata have thus been rendered crystal-
line by metamorphism, their permeability to water and their alterability
thereby become greatly diminished; and it is only when again broken
down by mechanical agencies to the condition of soils and sediments
that they once more become subject to the chemical changes which have

*T. S. Hunt, American Journal of Science, [2,] xxiii, 407; xxv, 287-437.

198 CHEMISTRY OF THE EARTH.

been described in § 23. While the crystalline stratified rocks are but
slightly porous the unaltered strata hold large quantities of water in their
pores. The mean of thirty-six determinations upon sandstones, shales,
limestones, and dolomites from twenty-five different localities among
the unaltered paleozoic sediments of Canada showed that 7.75 volumes
of water were held in 100 volumes of the thoroughly-moistened rock.
The proportion varied from less than 1.0 per cent. in the more compact
limestones, to 10.0 and even 21.0 per cent. in the sandstones, an amount
which is greatly exceeded in some more recent limestones.* <A large
proportion of the ocean’s waters is thus imprisoned in the vast volume
of unaltered sediments, and set free when these become metamorphosed,
a process which is attended with a corresponding reduction of volume.
In addition to this, moreover, the clays and other hydrated silicates lose
a large part of their chemically-combined water during metamorphism,
and become changed into crystalline compounds of increased density.
This becomes obvious when we compare the specific gravity of such
species as garnet, epidote, chloritoid, staurolite, andalusite and kyanite
with that of the unaltered sediments in the midst of which they are gen-
erated. From this condensation, then, as well as from the mechanical
contraction consequent upon the expulsion of water, the metamorphism
of sediments is attended with a very considerable diminution of bull,
which is not without geological significance. It results from the exper-
iments of Sorby (§ 14) that such chemical changes as are accompanied by
condensation or diminution of volume are favored and accelerated by
pressure, Which may thus become a direct agent in promoting meta-
morphism as well as solution.

§ 35. The crystallization which takes place in sedimentary rocks not
unfrequently effaces more or less completely the traces of their stratified
and sedimentary origin, as is seen, for example, in many gneisses, which
are scarcely distinguishable from granite. The study of such rocks,
moreover, affords abundant proof that this alteration has been attended
with such a softening that the material has been molded by pressure,
forced into fissures or openings in less fusible or less heated strata, and
thus taken the form of what is designated as eruptive rocks. The action
of heat upon sedimentary rocks is not, however, confined to condensa-
tion, crystallization, and softening; strata in which carbonates, sulphates,
chlorides, and carbonaceous substances are mingled with silicious and
argillaceous matters, will, at a sufficiently-elevated temperature, in the
presence of water, undergo such changes as must liberate carbonic acid,
hydrochloric acid, and sulphuretted hydrogen, which are the common
gaseous accompaniments of volcanic action. From these considerations
we are led to a rational theory of voleanic and eruptive rocks, which we
conceive to have their seat, not in an uncongealed portion of the once
liquid globe, but in the more deeply-buried portions of that disinte-
erated crust whose origin has been explained in § 14.

§ 36. The history of this theory forms an interesting chapter in
geology. Asremarked by Humboldt, a notion that volcanic phenomena
have their seat in the sedimentary formations, and are dependent on the
combustion of organic substances, belongs to the infancy of geology.
To this period belong the theories of Lémery and Breislak, (Cosmos, v.
443; Otte’s translation.) IKeferstein, in his Naturgeschichte des Brdkor-
pers, published in 1834, maintained that all crystalline non-stratified
rocks, from granite to lava, are products of the transformation of sedi-
mentary strata, in part very recent, and that there is no well-defined

* Geological Report of Canada, 1866, p. 233.—American Journal of Science, [2,]
Xxxix, 183.

CHEMISTRY OF THE EARTH. 199

line to be drawn between neptunian and volcanic rocks, since they pass
into each other. Voleanie phenomena, according to him, have their
origin, not in an igneous fluid center, nor in an oxidizing metallic
nucleus, (Davy, Daubeny ») but in known sedimentary formations, where
they are the result of a peculiar kind of fermentation, which erystallizes

and arranges in new forms the elements of the sedimentary strata, with
an evolution of heat as a result of the chemical process, (Nat urgeschichte,
vol. i, p. 109; also Bulletin de la Société Géologique de France, [1], vol.
vii, p. 197.) In commenting upon these views, (American Jour nal of
Science, July, 1860,) I have remarked that, by ignoring the incandescent
nucleus as a source of heat, Keferstein has excluded the true exciting
cause of the chemical changes which take place in the buried sediments.
The notion of a subterranean combustion or fermentation, as a source of
heat, is to be rejected as irrational.

§ 37. A view identical with that of Keferstein, as to the seat of vol-
canie phenomena, was soon after put forth by Sir John Herschel, in a
letter to Sir Charles Lyell, in 1836, (Pr oceedings of the Geological Society
of London, ii, 548.) Starting from the suggestion of Scrope and Babbage,
that the isothermal horizons in the earth’s crust must rise as a conse-
quence of the accumulation of sediments, he insisted that deeply-buried
strata will thus become erystallized by heat, and may eventually, with
their included water, be raised to the melting point, by which process
gases would be generated, and earthquakes and volcanic eruptions follow.
At the same time the mechanical disturbance of the equilibrium of pres-
sure, consequent upon a transfer of sediments, while the yielding surface
reposes on matters partly liquified, will explain the movements of eleva-
tion and subsidence of the earth’s crust. Herschel was probably ignorant
of the extent to which his views had been anticipated by Keferstein; and
the suggestions of the one and the other seemed to have passed unnoticed
by geologists until, in March, 1858, I reproduced them in a paper read
before the Canadian Institute, (Toronto, ) being at that time acquainted
with Herschel’s letter, but not having met with the writings of Kefer-
stein. I there considered the reactions which would take place under
the influence of a high temperature in sediments permeated with water,
and containing, besides silicious and aluminous matters, carbonates, sul-
phates, chlorides, and carbonaceous substances. From these, it was
shown, might be produced all the gaseous emanations of volcanic dis-
tricts, Ww hile from aqueo-igneous fusion of the various admixtures might
result the great variety of eruptive rocks. To quote the words of my
paper just referred to: ‘‘ We conceive that the earth’s solid crust of
anhydrous and primitive igneous rock is everywhere deeply concealed
beneath its own ruins, which form a great mass of sedimentary strata,
permeated by water. As heat from beneath invades these sediments, it
produces in them that change which constitutes normal metamorphism.
These rocks, at a sufficient depth, are necessarily in a state of igneo-
aqueous fusion; and in the event of fracture in the overlying strata,
may rise among them, taking the form of eruptive rocks. When the
nature of the sediments is ‘such as generate great amounts of elastic
fluids by their fusion, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions may result,
and these—other things being equal—will be most likely to occur under
the more recent formations.” (Canadian Journal, May, 1858, vol. iil, p.
207.)

§ 38. The same views are insisted upon in a paper “On some points in
Chemical Geology.” (Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, Lon-
don, November, 1859, vol. xv, page 594,) and have since been repeatedly
put forward by me, with further explanations as to what I have designated

200 CHEMISTRY OF THE EARTH.
above, the ruins of the crust of anhydrous and primitive igneous rock. This,
it is conceived, must, by contraction in cooling, have become porous and
permeable, for a considerable depth, to the waters afterward precipitated
upon its surface. In this way it was prepared alike for mechanical disin-
tegration, and for the chemical action of the acids, which, as shown in § 16,
must have been present in the air and the waters ofthe time. It is, more-
over, not improbable that a yet unsolidified sheet of molten matter may
then have existed beneath the earth’s crust, and may have intervened in
the voleanie phenomena of that early period, contributing, by its extra-
vasation, to swell the vast amount of mineral matter then brought within
aqueous and atmospheric influences. The earth, air, and water thus made
to react upon each other, constitute the first matter from which, by
mechanical and chemical transformations, the whole mineral world known
to us has been produced.

§ 39. It is the lower portions of this great disintegrated and water-im-
pregnated mass which form, according to the present hypothesis, the
semi-liquid layer supposed to intervene between the outer solid crust
and the inner solid and anhydrous nucleus. In order to obtain a correct
notion of the condition of this mass, both in earlier and later times, two
points must be especially considered, the relation of temperature to depth,
and that of solubility to pressure. It being conceded that the increase
of temperature in descending in the earth’s crust is due to the transmis-
sion and escape of heat from the interior, Mr. Hopkins showed mathe-
matically that there exists a constant proportion between the effect of
internal heat at the surface and the rate at which the temperature in-
creases in descending. Thus, at the present time, while the mean tem-
perature at the earth’s surface is augmented only about one-twentieth of
a degree Fahrenheit, by the escape of heat from below, the increase is
found to be equal to about one degree for each sixty feet in depth.
If, however, we go back to a period in the history of our globe when the
heat passing upwards through its crust was sufficient to raise the super-
ficial temperature twenty times as much as at present, that is to say,
one degree of Fahrenheit, the angmentation of heat in descending would
be twenty times as great as now, or one degree for each three feet in
depth, (Geological Journal, viii, 59.) (The conclusion is inevitable that a
condition of things must have existed during long periods in the history
of the cooling globe when the accumulation of comparatively thin layers
of sediment would have been sufficient to give rise to all the phenomena
of metamorphism, vuleanicity, and movements of the crust, whose origin
Herschel has so well explained.

§ 40. Coming, in the next place, to consider the influence of pressure
upon the buried materials derived from the mechanical and chemical dis-
integration of the primitive crust, we find that by the presence of heated
water throughout them, they are placed under conditions very unlike
those of the original cooling mass. While pressure raises the fusing
point of such bodies as expand in passing into the liquid state, it depresses
that point for those which, like ice, contract in becoming liquid. The
same principle extends to that liquefaction which constitutes solution ;
where, as is with few exceptions the case, the process is attended with
condensation or diminution of volume, pressure will, as shown by the ex-
periments of Sorby, augment the solvent power of the liquid. Under the
influence of the elevated temperature, and the great pressure which pre-
vail at considerable depths, sediments should, therefore, by the effect of
the water which they contain, acquire a certain degree of liquidity, ren-
dering not improbable the suggestion of Scheerer, that the presence of five
or ten per cent. of water may suffice, at temperatures approaching red-

CHEMISTRY OF THE EARTH. 201

ness, to give to a granitic mass a liquidity partaking at once of the charae-
ter of an igneous and an aqueous fusion. The studies by Mr. Sorby of
the cavities in crystals have led him to conclude that the constituents
of granitic and trachytic rocks have erystallized in the presence of liquid
water, under great pressure, at temperatures not above redness, and con- -
sequently very far below that required for simple igneous fusion. The
intervention of water in giving liquidity to lavas, has, in fact, long been
taught by Serope, and notw ithst uding the opposition of plutonists like
Durocher, Fournet, and Riviere, is now very generally admitted. In
this connection, the reader is referred to the Geological Magazine for Feb-
ruary, 1868, page 57, where the history of this question is discussed.

§ 41. It may here be remarked that if we regard the liquefaction of
heated rocks under great pressure, and in presence of water, as a pro-
cess of solution rather than of fusion, it would follow that diminution
of pressure, as supposed by Mr. Serope, would cause not liquefaction,
but the reverse. The mechanical pressure of great accumulations of
sediment is to be regarded as co-operating w ith heat to augment the
solvent action of the water, and as being thus one of the efficient causes
of the liquefaction of deeply-buried sedimentary rocks.

§ 42. That water intervenes not only in the phenomena of voleanic
eruptions, but in the crystallization of the minerals of eruptive rocks,
which have been formed at temperatures far below that of igneous fusion,
is a fact not easily reconciled with either the first or the second. hypoth-
esis of volcanic action, but is in perfect accordance with the one here
maintained, which is also strongly supported by the study of the chem-
ical composition of igneous rocks. These are generally referred to two
great divisions, corresponding to what have been designated the trachy-
tic and pyroxenie types, (§ 27,) and to account for their origin, a Ssepara-
tion of a liquid igneous mass beneath the earth’s crust into two layers
of acid and basic silicates was imagined by Phillips, Durocher, and
Bunsen. The latter, as is well known, has calculated the normal com-
position of these supposed trachytic and pyroxenic magmas, and con-
ceives that from them, either separately or by admixture, the various
eruptive rocks are deriv ed; so that the amounts of alumina, lime, mag-
nesia, and alkalies sustain a constant relation to the silica in the rock.
If, however, we examine the analyses of the eruptive rocks in Hungary
and Armenia, made by Streng, and put forward in support of this view,
there will be found such discrepancies between the actual and the eal-
culated results as to throw grave doubts on Bunsen’s hypothesis.

§ 43. Two things become apparent from a study of the chemical na-
ture of eruptive rocks: first, that their composition presents such varia-
tions as are irreconcilable with the simple origin generally assigned to
them ; and second, that it is similar to that of sedimentary rocks whose
history and origin it is, in most cases, not difficult to trace. We have
already pointed out (§ 27) how the natural operation of mechanical and
chemical agencies tends to produce among sediments a separation into
two classes, corresponding to the two ereat divisions above noticed.
From the mode of their accumulation, however, great variations must
exist in the composition of the sediments, corresponding to many of the
varieties presented by eruptive rocks. The careful study of stratified
rocks of aqueous origin discloses, in addition to these, the existence 01
deposits of basic silicates of peculiar types. Some of these are in great
part magnesian; others consist of compounds like anorthite and labra-
dorite, highly aluminous basic silicates, into which lime and soda enter,
to the almost complete exclusion of magnesia and other bases ; while in
the masses of pinite or agalmatolite rock we have a similar aluminous

202 CHEMISTRY OF THE EARTH.

silicate, in which lime and magnesia are wanting, and potash is the pre-
dominant alkali, (§ 28.) In such sediments as these just enumerated
we find the representatives of eruptive rocks like peridotite, phonolite,
leucitophyre, and similar rocks, which are so many exceptions in the
basie group of Bunsen. As, how ever, they are represented in the sedi-
ments of the earth’s crust, their appearance as exotic rocks, consequent
upon a softening and extravasation of the more easy liquefiable strata
of deeply-buried formations, is readily and simply explained.

§44. In this connection a few words may be said about the popular
notion which makes granite the substratum of all stratified formations,
and even identifies it with the supposed primitive crust of the globe.
That this crust is everywhere concealed beneath its own ruins, and, more-
over, that its composition must have been very different from evanite,
we have endeavored to explain, (§16.) The Laur entian, the oldest known
system of rocks, includes in its vast volume great inter stratified masses
of gneiss, often closely resembling granite, and it is extremely probable
that these, softened and extravasated, may form the eruptive granites
which break through more recent systems of strata. These ‘eranitic
gneisses are, however, clearly stratified, and hold, moreover, intercalated
beds of quartzite and of limestone, often of great volume, and including
the remains of an animal organism—the Foz zoon Canadense. The pre-
dominance of feldspar, which gives the granitic character to the alumi-
nous rocks of early periods, has already been explained in §29 as result-
ing from the great abundance of combined alkalies in these ancient
rocks. The presence of quartz, an essential element alike in gneiss and
granite, would suffice to show that granite is in all cases a secondary or
derived rock, formed under aqueous influences—even had Sorby not
shown that the minute crystal-cavities in the quartz of granitic rocks
contain liquid water which must have been introduced at the time of
erystallization. Quartz has not only never been met with as a result of
igneous fusion, but it is clearly shown by the experiments of Rose that a
heat even much less than that required for the fusion of quartz destroys
it, changing it into a new substance, which differs both in chemical and
physical properties from quartz. We have pointed out in §16 the chemi-
eal process by which it may be supposed that silica was set free from
the primitive silicated mass, under conditions which would permil its
conversion into quartz.

§45. The rocks mentioned in preceding sections are, as regards their
geognostical relations, divided into stratified or indigenous and erupted
or exotic rocks, the latter being looked upon as the results of the soft-
ening and displacement of the former. Besides these, it is necessary to
distinguish a third kind of rock-masses, which, like the latter, occupy
fissures in previously-formed rocks, but are unlike them in origin, and
have been deposited from aqueous solutions. The most familiar form of
these is met with in the vein-stones of quartz, calcite, barytine, and fluor,
which are often the gangue of metallic ores. <A careful study of the
various kinds of veins and their relations leads us, however, to admit
that almost all the mineral species which occur in the preceding classes
of rocks may exist in vein-stones, which, from the mode of their produc-
tion, we have designated endogenous rocks. Caleareous veins in the
Laurentian rocks may contain all the mineral species of indigenous lime-
stones, and quartzo-feldspathie veins are made up of aggregates which
are familiarly designated as granites. To these, in fact, belong all those
so-called granitic veins which are marked by containing fine crystalli-
zations or rare mineral species. When, as is often the case, these marks

auins

CHEMISTRY OF THE EARTH. 203

cre wanting it is sometimes difficult to distinguish in hand-specimens
between indigenous, exotic, and endogenous granites.

§46. The deposition of these mineral species from solution has donubt-
less taken place under considerable degrees of heat and pressure, which
could only exist at great depths in the earth’s crust. Waters charged
with mineral elements by percolation through deeply-seated strata rise
through fissures in these and deposit along the channels their dissolved
matters, a process not so much the result of cooling as of that decrease
of solvent power which must follow the diminution of pressure in accord-
ance with Sorby’s conclusions.*

§47. As pointed out in §17, the first precipitates from the water of the
primeval sea must have contained oxidized compounds of most of the

‘heavy metals. These early deposits, by mechanical division or by solu-
tion, became subsequently diffused, and entered into the composition of
later sedimentary strata. Removed from these by watery solution, the
metallic compounds have been, in different ages, brought to the surface
to be deposited in some cases as oxides or carbonates, or reduced by the
action of organic matters to the state of sulphurets or native metals, and
mingled with the contemporaneous sediments in beds or in disseminated
grains. During the subsequent alteration of the strata, these metallic
mnatters, being taken into solution, have been re-deposited in fissures in
the metalliferous strata, forming veins, or, ascending to higher beds, have
given rise to metal-bearing veins in strata not themselves metalliterous.
The metals of the sedimentary rocks are now, however, for the greater
part, in the form of insoluble sulphurets, so that we have only traces or
them in a few mineral springs, which serve to give a faint notion of the
agencies at one time at work in the sediments and waters of the earth’s
erust. Like the iron, (§19) these metals have been in great part with-
drawn from the terrestrial circulation. The frequent occurrence of these
metals in waters which are alkaline from the presence of carbonate of
soda, is significant, when taken in connection with the metalliferous
character of certain dolomites, which probably owe their origin to the
action of similar alkaline springs upon basins of sea-water, (§20.) The
intervention of intense heat and fusion or sublimation to explain the
origin of metallic ores is uncalled for. The solvent powers of water
and of various saline, alkaline, and sulphuretted solutions at high tem-
peratures, in connection with the notions above enunciated, will sufiice to
form the basis of a rational theory of metallic deposits.t

§ 48. The consideration of the nature and origin of endogenous rocks
has led to a digression to discuss the theory of metalliferous veins, which
the plan of this essay did not permit us to treat before. We now resume
the line of inquiry followed from § 36 to § 43, and proceed to consider the
phenomena of volanoes and earthquakes in accordance with the notions
already put forward.

Viclent movements of the earth’s crust are confined to certain regions
of the globe, which are at the same time characterized by volcanic

* Of this a remarkable example was afforded in 1866 at Goderich, in Ontario, where,
at a depth of 1,000 feet, a bed of rock-salt was met, from which for a time a saturated
or rather supersaturated brine was obtained. As an evidence of this, I saw a cube of
pure salt, one-fourth of an inch in diameter, which had formed upon and around a pro-
jecting point of an iron valve in the pump, above the surface of the ground. The liquid
beneath a pressure of 1,000 feet of brine, equal to about 1,200 feet of water, or 36 at-
mospheres, having taken up more salt than it could hold at the ordinary pressure, de-
posited a portion of it as it reached the surface, and actually obstructed thereby the
action of the pump. After a few months of pumping, however, the well ceased to afford
a fully saturated brine.

+ American Journal of Science, [2,] xxxi, 405, and xl, 213.

204 CHEMISTRY OF THE EARTH.

activity ; from which it is reasonably inferred that the phenomena of
earthquakes and voleanoes have a common origin. The discharge
through openings in the earth’s crust, of ignited stony matter, generally
in a fused condition, and the disengagement of various gases and vapors,
accompanied by movements of elevation or subsidence of consider able
areas of the earth’s surface, sometimes rapid and paroxysmal, and at-
tended with great vibratory movements, are evidences of a yielding crust
of solid rock resting upon an igneous and fluid mass below. To the
same conditions are also to be ascribed the slow movements of portions
of the earth’s surface, shown in the rise and fall of continents in regions
remote from centers of voleanie activity. The unequal tension of the
yielding crust and the sudden giving way of the overstrained portions
are probably the immediate cause of earthquake phenomena; the seat
of these, according to the deductions of Mallet, is to be found ‘at depths
of from seven to thirty miles from the surface.

§ 49. A brief description of the phenomena of volcanoes will here be nec-
essary. Volcanoes are openings in the earth’s crust through which are
discharged solid, liquid, and gaseous matters, generally in an intensely
heated condition. Sometimes the ejected material is solid, and consists
of broken, comminuted rock, or the so-called voleanic ashes. Oftener,
however, it is discharged in a more or less completely fused condition,
constituting lava, which is sometimes fluid and glassy, but more fre-
quently pasty and viscid, so that it flows slowly and with difficulty.
The ejected materials, whether liquid or solid, build up volcanic cones
by successive layers—a fact which has been established by modern
observers in opposition to the notion come down frem antiquity, that
voleanic hills are produced by an uprising or tumefaction of previously
horizontal layers of rock by the action of a force from beneath. First
among the gaseous products of volcanoes is watery vapor; water ap-
pears not only to be involved in all voleanic eruptions, but. to be inti-
mately combined with the lavas, to which, as Scrope has shown, it helps
to give liquidity. The water at this high temperature is retained in
combination under great pressure, but as this pressure is removed passes
into the state of vapor, a process which explains the swelling up of lavas
and their rise in the craters of the volcanoes. Besides watery vapor,
carbonic and hydrochloric acid gases, and hydrogen, both free and com-
bined with sulphur and with carbon, are products of voleanoes. The
combustion of the inflammable gases in contact with air sometimes
give rise to true burning mountains—a name which does not properly
belong to such as give “out only acid gases, steam, and incandescent
rocky. matters, which are incombustible.

§ 50. The escape of elastic fluids from lavas gives to them a cellular
structure, but when slowly cooled under pressure, as seen in the dykes
traversing the flanks of volcanoes, the stony materials assume a more
solid and erystalline condition, and resemble the older eruptive rocks
found in regions not now volcanic. These include granites, trachytes,
dolerites, basalts, &c., and are masses of rock which, though extrava-
sated after the manner of lavas, became consolidated in the midst of
surrounding rocks, and consequently under considerable pressure, (§ 37.)
Their presence marks either the lower portions of volcanoes whose
cones have been removed by denudation, or outbursts of liquefied rock
which never reached the surface. The escape of such matters, and the
formation of volcanic vents, are but accidents in the history of the
igneous action going on beneath the earth’s surface. We shall, there-
fore, regard the extravasation of igneous matter, whether as lava or
ashes at the surface, or as plutonic rock in the midst of strata, as, in its

CHEMISTRY OF THE EARTH. ~ 905

wider sense, a manifestation of vuleanicity, and for the elucidation of our’
subject consider both those regions characterized by great outbursts of
plutonie rock in former geologic periods and those now the seats of vol-
eanic activity, which, in these cases, can generally be traced back some
distance into the tertiary epoch. To begin with the latter, the first and
most important is the great continental region which may be described
as including the Mediterranean and Aralo-Caspian basins, extending
from the Iberian Peninsula eastward to the Thian-Chan Mountains of
Central Asia. In this great belt, extending over about ninety degrees
of longitude, are included all the historic volcanoes of the ancient world,
to which we must add the extinct volcanoes of Murcia, Catalonia, Au-
vergne, the Vivarais, the Eifel, Hungary, &c., some of which have pro-
bably been active during the human period.*

Besides the great region just indicated, must be mentioned that of
our own Pacific slope, from Fuegia to Alaska, from whence, along the
eastern shore of Asia, a line of volcanic activity extends to the terrible
burning mountains of the Indian archipelago. Volcanic islands are
widely scattered over the Pacific basin, and volcanoes burn amid the
thick-ribbed ice of the Antarctic continent. The Atlantic area is in like
manner marked by voleanic islands from Jan Mayen and Iceland to the
Canaries, the Azores, and the Caribbean Islands, and southward to
Ascension, St. Helena, and Tristan @’Acunha.

§ 51. The continents, with the exception of the two areas already
defined, present no evidences of modern volcanic action, and the regions
of ancient voleanic activity, as shown by the presence of great out-
bursts of eruptive rocks, are not less limited and circumscribed. In
northern Europe the chain of the Urals, an area in central Germany,
and one in the British Islands are apparent, and in North America
there appear to have been but two volcanic regions in the paleozoic
period—one in the basin of Lake Superior, and another, which may be
described as occurring along either side of the Appalachian chain to the
northeast, including the valleys of the lower St. Lawrence, Lake Cham-
plain, the Hudson and Connecticut Rivers, and extending still further
southward. The study of the various eruptive rocks of this region
shows that volcanic activity in different parts of it was prolonged from
the beginning of the paleozoic period till after its close.

§ 52. The theory of Keferstein and Herschel, explained in § 37, shows
in what manner volcanic phenomena may be directly dependent on the
accumulation of sedimentary strata. It has already been shown that
both temperature and pressure combine to produce in the lower portions

* Tt isa most significant fact that this region is nearly co-extensive with that occupied
for ages by the great civilizing races of the world. From the plateau of Central Asia,
throughout their westward migration to the pillars of Hercules, the Indo-European
nations were familiar with the volcano and the earthquake; and that the Semitic race
were not strangers to the same phenomena, the whole poetic imagery of the Hebrew
Scriptures bears ample evidence. In the language of their writers, the mountains are
molten, they quake and fall down at the presence of the Deity, when the melting fire
burneth. The fury of His wrath is poured forth like fire; He toucheth the hills and
they smoke; while fire and sulphur come down to destroy the doomed cities of the
plain, whose foundation is a molten flood. Not less does the poetry and the mythology
of Greece and Rome bear the impress of the nether realm of fire in which the volcano
and the earthquake have their seat, and their influence is conspicuous throughout the
imaginative literature and the religious systems of the Indo-European nations, whose
contact with these terrible manifestations ef unseen forces beyond their foresight or
control could not fail to act strongly on their moral and intellectual development,
which would have doubtless presented very different phases had the early home of
these races been the Australian or the eastern side of the American continent, where
volcanoes are unknown and the earthquake is scarcely felt. (From a lecture before
the Amer. Geographical Society, April, 1869.) °

206 CHEMISTRY OF THE EARTH.

of the sedimentary material a condition of igneo-aqueous fusion. It
would be foreign to our plan to discuss in this place the agencies which,
from early geologic periods, have been effecting the transfer of sedi-
ments, alternately wasting and building-up continents. One, however,
requires notice in this connection, namely, the contraction of sediments
consequent upon chemical changes, as already explained in § 34, which
must result in subsidence. Such an effect may also result from the ex-
travasation of great volumes of liquefied rock, and in either case the
depressed portion of the surface becomes a basin, in which sediments
may subsequently accumulate, and by their weight upon the yielding
stratum beneath continue the process of subsidence. While the lower and
more fusible strata becomes softened, the great mass of the more silicious
rocks, losing their porosity, become cemented into a comparatively rigid
mass, and finally, as a result of the earth’s contraction, or to counter-
balance the depression of some other region, are uplifted as a hardened
and corrugated continental mass, from whose irregular erosion results
a mountainous region.*

§ 53. Those strata which, from their composition, yield, under the
conditions just described, the most liquid products, are, it is conceived,
the source of all plutonic and voleanic rocks. Accompanied by water,
and by difficultly coercible gases, they are either forced among the fis-
sures which form in the overlying strata, or find their way to the sur-
face. The variations in the composition of lavas and their accompanying
gases in different regions, and even from the same vent at different
times, are strong confirmations of the truth of this view. As explained
in § 39, the semi-liquid layer of water-impregnated material constitutes
a plastic bed, upon which the stratified sediments repose. These, by their
irregular distribution over different portions of the earth, determined,
after a lapse of time, in the regions of their greatest accumulation, vol-
canic and plutonic phenomena. It now remains to show the observed
relation of these phenomena, both in the earlier and later times, to great
accumulations of sediment.

§ 54, If we look at the North American continent, we find along its
northeastern portion evidences of great subsidence and an accumulation
of not less than 40,000 feet of sediment along the line of the Appalachi-
ans from the Gulf of St. Lawrence southward, during the paleozoic
period, and chiefiy, it would appear, during its earlier and later portions.
This region is precisely that characterized by considerable eruptions of
plutonic rocks during this period, and for some time after its close. To
the westward of the Appalachians, the deposits of paleozoic sediments
were much thinner, and in the Mississippi valley are probably less
than 4,000 feet in thickness. Conformably with this, there are no traces
of plutonic or volcanic outbursts from the northeast region just men-
tioned throughout this vast paleozoic basin, with the exception of the
region of Lake Superior, where we find the early portion of the paleozoic
age marked by a great accumulation of sediments, comparable to that
occurring at the same time in the region of New England, and followed
or accompanied by similar plutonic phenomena. Across the plains of
northern Russia and Scandinavia, as in the Mississippi valley, the
paleozoic period was represented by not more than 2,000 feet of sedi-
ments, which stil lie undisturbed, while in the British Islands 50,000
feet of paleozoic strata, contorted and accompanied by igneous rocks,

* For a discussion of this subject and the theory of mountains, including the views
of Professor James Hall, see the author on American Geology, American Journal of
Science, [2] xxi, 406.

CHEMISTRY OF THE EARTH. 207

attest the connection between great accumulation and plutonic phe
nomena.

§ 55. Coming now to modern volcanoes, we find them in their greatest
activity in oceanic regions, where subsidence and accumulation are still
going on. Of the two continental regions already pointed out, that
along the Mediterranean basin is marked by an accumulation of meso-
zoie and tertiary sediments, 20,000 feet or more in thickness. It is evi-
dent that the great mountain zone, which includes the Pyrenees, the
Alps, the Caucasus and the Himalayah, was, during the later second-
ary and tertiary periods, a basin in which vast accumulations of sedt-
ments were taking place, as in the Appalachian belt during the paleozoic
times. Turning now to the other continental region, the American
Pacific slope, similar evidences of great accumulations during the same
periods are found throughout its whole extent, showing that the great
Pacific mountain belt of North and Sovth America, with its attendant
voleanoes, is, in the main, the geological equivalent or counterpart of
the great east and west belt of the eastern world.

It is to be remarked that the volcanic vents are seldom immediately
along the lines of greatest accumulation, but appear around and at cer-
tain distances therefrom. The question of the duration of volcanic
activity in a given region is one of great interest, which cannot, for
want of time, be considered here. It appears probable that the great
manifestations of volcanic force belong to the period of depression of
the area of sedimentation, if we may judge from the energy and copi-
ousness of the eruptions of island volcanoes, although the activity is
still prolonged after the period of elevation.

As regards the geological importance of volcanic and earthquake
phenomena, their significance is but local and accidental. Volcanoes
and earthquakes are and always have been confined to limited areas of
the earth’s surface, and the products of volcanic action make up but a
small portion of the solid crust of the globe. Great mountains and
mountain chains are not volcanic either in their nature or their origin,
though sometimes crowned by volcanic cones; nor are earthquakes and
volcanoes to be looked upon as anything more than incidental attend-
ants upon the great agencies which are slowly but constantly raising
and depressing continents.

ON THE ELECTRICAL CURRENTS OF THE EARTH.

e

By CARLO MATTEUCCI.

[Translated for the Smithsonian Institution, from the “ Memoirs* of the Ttalian Society of
Sciences founded by Anton Mario Lorgna.” |

The object of this memoir is to describe a long series of experiments,
commenced in 1863 and only interrupted by brief intervals, on the phe-
nomena called electric currents of the earth, meaning by those words the
electric currents which circulate in a mixed circuit formed of a metallic
line and of a terrestrial stratum, and which do not depend on causes
known and existing either in the metallic part of the circuit or in its
extremities communicating with the ground. The conclusions arrived
at in this inquiry do not comprise, to any great extent, an explanation
of these currents founded on a known physical theory, or the thorough
knowledge of the laws of the phenomena. We trust, however, that the
results obtained are of sufficient importance and exactness to recom-
pense the long and persevering efforts which were necessary to obtain
them. We hope also to be pardoned by any one who shall undertake
seriously to study this subject, if we have not carried these researches
to such a point as might be desired, since it must appear evident from
the experiments made that the means requisite to extend and complete
them exceed the resources of a private individual.

HISTORICAL PART.

Even from the time when the galvanometer was discovered—that is
to say, Shortly after the celebrated experiments of Oersted and Ampere—
phenomena of electrical currents are cited as having been obtained by
introducing the extremities of the instrument into different points of a
terrestrial stratum.

We believe that Fox was the first who observed the deviation of the
needle of the galvanometer, on inserting the copper points attached to
the ends of the wire of this instrument in various places of a mineral
vein of copper. Becquerel, soon after Fox, published a long series of
experiments on the electric currents, which he obtained by sinking the
electrodes of the galvanometer in earth taken in different conditions of
humidity and of composition.

It is scarcely necessary to say that all these experiments were but
different cases of the general principle of the galvanic pile; that is to
say, of heterogeneity in the metallic laminz in contact with the ground
and the liquids with which the ground was imbued at the points in.
contact with the electrodes. It would be easy, even supposing the em-
ployment of homogeneous electrodes, by which electric currents are not
produced through their immersion in water, to exhibit distinct signs of
electric currents by using liquids of different chemical composition or
of different temperature in contact with the electrodes. This would be

* Serie terza: Tomo 1, Parte 1.—Firenze, 1867.

ELECTRICAL CURRENTS OF THE EARTH. 209

a manner cf repeating, by using the earth as an intermediate conductor,
the experiments tried, especially by Nobili, many years ago, on the
reciprocal chemical actions of different liquids. The same may be said
of electric currents obtained with electrodes in which may be formed the
so-called secondary polarizations.

These different modes of obtaining electric currents in a mixed circuit
have nothing to do with the study | in which we are engaged, if not on
account of the very important and indeed indispensable know ledge of
the causes of error which are apt to intrude into the experiments by
which we seek to discover and to study the electric currents of the
earth, independently of those causes.

L believe that the first case of electric currents proper of the earth,
which may be called, as has been done by Airy, spontaneous terrestrial
electric currents—at any rate, if not the first observed, certainly the first
described and published—was that which was discovered on the night
of the 17th of November, 1847, at Pisa, by means of the telegraphie
wires, and which was described in a letter directed to Arago and pub-
lished in the Comptes-rendus of the Academy of Sciences of Paris. This
fact consisted in the existence of an extraordina ry electric current which
circulated with such intensity and constancy as to keep the armatures
of the electro-magnets of the apparatus in a state of attraction during
the whole time that a magnificent aurora borealis was apparent in the

heavens. The same phenomenon was soon afterwards observed in the:

United States, and since that epoch the observations have been frequent
of electric currents in the wires of the telegraph associated with the
appearance of the aurora. When it is considered that we know, on the
other hand, the constant relation which exists between the aurora

borealis and the indications shown by the instruments which serve to.

measure the magnetic force of the earth, it is impossible Be to recog-

nize all the importance of these studies. And in fact, after these.
observations, there was no delay in directing special researches to the:

existence of electric currents of the earth and their laws, independently
of. the apparitions of the aurora borealis.

We must be content, on the present occasion, with briefly referring:

to the researches made previously to our own, ‘and which are due to.

Baumgarten, Barlow, Lloyd, and Walker, but especially to Lamont,
who, beyond the rest, has extended and varied these investigations.
Whoever has studied the memoirs of these observers with the attention
due to the importance of the subject, and to the authority of their
authors, will find it difficult to avoid the conclusion that the uncertain
results obtained, results so little accordant among themselves, are prin-

cipally attr ibutable to the method of experimenting and to the disturbing:
causes necessarily introduced by that method. The greater part of the-

experiments were executed with telegraphic circuits, ‘and therefore with
a metallic line established in conjunction with other metallic lines

worked for the purpose of correspondence, and traversed by the electric:

currents of the offices at the moment of the experiment. We know
that the wires of telegraphic lines are never so perfectly insulated from

one another and from the earth that there shall not be signs of the:

current in the lateral wires when the circuit is closed with one of the
same wires. Moreover, the communications of the metallic lines with
the earth are now made with a lamina of copper immersed in pits, the
wires being at one time connected with the iron tubes of pumps, at
another with iron railways. In the memoirs which we have referred to

there is generally no indication of the mode in which the lines were:
constructed, nor as regards their insulation or their connection with the

l4s

210 ELECTRICAL CURRENTS OF THE EARTH.

earth. Nor in most cases are we informed whether or not the numbers
reported were obtained by experiments made, as is quite probable, at
the time when the lines were in service for telegraphic correspondence.

It would be useless, we think, to enlarge critically upon the experi-
ments to which we allude or the results obtained. To such criticism
a distinguished Swiss physicist, M. Dufour, of Lausanne, has lately
devoted himself, and we content ourselves with citing, in his own words,
the conclusion to which he has arrived: “It is quite evident that if
researches are to be undertaken respecting the electric currents of the
earth, offering any solid guarantee of exactness, it is necessary to employ
special lines and such as are absolutely independent of the telegraphic
reticulation.”

Among our predecessors in these researches, Lamont alone seems to
have bestowed some previous attention on the method of experimenting
and on the causes of error incident to the methods followed. Hence
the eminent astronomer of Monaco confesses that he had not yet found
in these experiments a point of departure sufficiently secure, and closes his
memoir with the admission that what he had published up to that time
ought to be regarded only as a few general and preliminary indications. In
a word, I do not think it an exaggeration to affirm that it would be
impossible, from all the researches which I have cited, to draw the
demonstration of the existence of the phenomenon of an electric current
which circulates in a metallic line extended along the earth. and insu-
lated from it, having its extremities sunk in the ground, independently
of the heterogeneity of the electrodes and of the various causes of error
introduced into those experiments; meaning by that phrase causes
-already known, and which have nothing to do with a proper electric
‘stratum of the earth.

METHOD OF EXPERIMENTING.

The description of this method should embrace the metallic part of
‘the mixed circuit, the communications between the extremities of the
metallic line and the ground, and the instruments used to detect »and
-measure the current.

Metallic line.—IJ. will state, in the first place, that none of the experi-
‘ments described in this memoir have been executed upon a wire per-
taining to a telegraphic line composed of several other wires. When-
‘ever I have used a telegraphic line, it has consisted of a single wire;
-and the experiments were made either during months when the tele-
graphic service was not conducted by that wire, or at hours when that
Service was known with certainty to be suspended. Before commencing
the experiment the line was examined throughout its course, and pro-
tected by the removal of any possible contact with the boughs of trees
‘or the walls of houses, and by the renewal of the solderings of the
junctions. The line was formed of the usual iron wire of telegraphic
connections, 3 or 4 millimetres (} of an inch) in diameter. Its extremi-
‘ties were united to the instruments, and the electrodes sunk in the
ground by means of a piece of copper wire covered with gutta-percha,
freshly soldered outside of the telegraphic offices, and all communieca-
tion was interrupted between the line and the usual wires entering
the offices. The insulation of the line was always tested before com-
mencing the experiment, and was always such as not to impart
during dry days a sensible deviation to a galvanometer of 2,000 coils.

In many of the experiments which we shall report, a copper wire, 2
millimetres (,4, of an inch) in diameter and covered with gutta-percha,

ELECTRICAL CURRENTS OF THE EARTH. 21k

was used; which wire was in some cases stretched upon the ground,
in others ” sunk at a slight depth beneath the surface of the earth,
but oftenest suspended on slender rods of wood, like those employ ed
for field-telegraphs.

Elcetrodes.—This is naturally the part of a mixed cireuit requiring
the greatest attention, and I have been able to avoid causes of error in
this respect from the assurance, which I had obtained in the experi-
ments of electro-physiology, that electrodes of amalgamated zine, im-
mersed in a saturated and neutral solution of sulphate of zine, do not
excite between them an electric current, and do not acquire secondary
polarities by the passage of a voltaic current.

The electrodes which I have employed are rectangular plates of lami-
nated zinc, from 6 to 8 centimetres (24 to 3 inches) in width, and from
12 to 16 (5 to 6 inches) in height, perfectly amalgamated and joined to
the metailic line by means of a circuit-breaker with two holes, into one
of which enters the wire and into the other the extremity of a projee-
tion on the plate of zinc. This plate is immersed in a saturated and
neutral solution of sulphate of zine, contained in a porcelain cylinder
like that of Grove’s battery. In the selection of these cylinders care
must be taken to reject those which are so porous as to admit too readily
of the percolation of the liquid.

The porcelain cylinder thus prepared is immersed in well or spring
water, which should be the same at both extremities. [or the reception
ot the water in which the cylinders are sunk, I have used different con-
trivances. Sometimes, after having formed in the ground a sort of pit,
varying in depth from a half metre to two metres, I have made in the
bottom of this pit a cavity, shaped like a capsule, from 10 to 12
centimetres (4 to 5 inches) wide, and of such a depth that the por-
celain cylinder, when introduced, should reach with its rim the level
of the bottom of the pit. Then, in order that the water poured into
this kind of capsule may not be too speedily absorbed by the ground, I
line the capsule with a stratum of tempered potter’s earth, such as is
used in earthenware manufactures. At other times I have used flower-
pots, which are sunk in the ground, the earth being compressed around
the vessel. In some cases, finally, the porcelain cylinder was inserted
and fixed in a large piece of cork, so that the cylinder might remain
floating on the water of a well, but almost entirely immersed therein ;
the copper wire covered with gutta-percha, which is joined to the plate
of zine, is wound around a small cord, by means of which the floating
body is made to descend in the well.

I have made many experiments to assure myself of the homogeneity
of the electrodes thus prepared. It is very easy to obtain this homo-
geneity and to preserve it with porous cylinders. We begin by having
a certain number of such cylinders, quite new, and by filling them to
the same height with a solution of sulphate of zinc; we select those
which do not readily imbibe the liquid or allow it to escape, and im-
immerse simultaneously two of those thus selected, after they have been
well dried with a clean towel, in a vessel filled with the same water. In
this way, even with a galvanometer of 20,000 coils, we promptly find
the two electrodes perfectly homogeneous. It happens, however, not un-
frequently, that, if the cylinders are left in the water for some time or
withdrawn and again immersed, a certain current will be observed to arise
between them. If the cause of the difference which has thus originated be
attributable to the plates of zinc, which is the rarer case, it is necessary
to reamalgamate them ; if, on the other hand, the heterogeneity be due to
the porcelain cylinders, we must withdraw ‘these from the ‘water, dry

212 ELECTRICAL CURRENTS OF THE EARTH.

them repeatedly with a cloth, and renew the water in which they are
immersed. To procure homogeneous vases of terra-cotta for containing
the water in which the porous cylinders are to be immersed is more
difficult, and in order to succeed we must leave them to imbibe water
for several days, and then prove them ; but even then there are scarcely
to be found, among many, two between which signs of heterogeneity do
not present themselves.

In some experiments I have been accustomed to excavate a hole of

moderate dimensions at the two extremities of the circuit, and to fill’

-ach hole with the same earth, into which the terra-cotta vase was then in-
troduced. Most frequently T have s satisfied myseli, before commencing
the experiment, that there was no current between the electrodes, by
sinking the two vases in two holes of. moderate size made in contiguity
with one another. I have also, whenever it was practicable, reversed
the position of the two earthen vases and noted the difference, if there
were any, of the deviations obtained in the two cases, in order to dis-
cover whether the heterogeneity of the vases was notice able, and to
what extent in the current Tpteeeeak

I have sought finally to ascertain whether, in any case, it would be
possible to substitute for the electrodes which I have described two
plates of copper sunk in the ground, which would be much more simple

and convenient ; and I have found that, whatever might be the state of

these plates before submitting them to experiment, that is to say before
using them, either in a different condition of purity or oxidation as they
most frequently occur, there was always realized, from the first, with
the galvanometer of 2 "000 coils, a very strong deviatior n, of which it was
impossible to foresee thedirection. It ‘constantly occur red, however, that,
on keeping the cireuit closed and leaving the plates of copper buried and
undisturbed in the earth, this deviation slowly diminished, and afte1
eighteen or twenty hours became comparatively insignificant. At this
juncture, it was only necessary to stir slightly one of the plates, or to
press the contiguous earth, or to throw a little water on the spot where
the two plates” were sunk, in order to excite a deviation, which would
afterwards very gradually disappear. It was also found "that on with-
drawing the plates from the ground, when the deviation had ceased, the
latter reappeared, if the plates were replaced in the earth either at the
same or at any other point. It is scarcely necessary to say that when
a current was made to pass, with electrodes of copper, across the mixed
circuit, the effects of secondary polarity were realized.

In conclusion: there would be no security in the results if, in these
experiments on the electric current of the earth, electrodes of copper
were used without the proper precaution; but by employing those elec-
trodes only after they have been left buried for twenty-four hours in the
earth and with a closed circuit, the proper currents of the earth are ob-
tained with the same deviation and the same constancy as with elec-
trodes of zinc, and even with greater intensity; and this probably
through the greater extension and depth of the electrodes of copper in
comparison with those of zine.

Galvanometer.—Unfortunately I have not been able always to use, in
these protracted experiments, the same galvanometer ; nevertheless, in
two of the most important series I have constantly used a galvanometer
of 2,000 coils, with a distinetly astatic system, and which underwent no
variation in the whole series of experiments.

When I have wished to ascertain the electric state of the atmo-
sphere, I have used a thin wooden rod, 6 or 7 metres, (20 or 23 feet) in
height. At the upper extremity of this rod a porcelain insulator was

|

ELECTRICAL CURRENTS OF THE EARTH. 213

fixed, which bore a small arm of iron with a diminutive pulley. By
means of a silk thread and of the pulley, I elevated a copper wire cov
ered with gutta-percha, which, at the upper extremity, was terminatec
by a large uncovered portion coiled spirally, into which I introduced a
sort of cornet, formed of divers layers of touch-wood, and kindled it at
the moment of the experiment. The lower extremity of this copper wire
was united to the ball of an electroscope attached to a dry galvanic
pile.

EXPERIMENTS WITH A MIXED CIRCUIT OF A LENGTH NOT GREATER
THAN A KILOMETRE* LN A HORIZONTAL STRATUM.

Experiments under these conditions have been often tried, by placing
the electrodes of zine sometimes in contact; sometimes at distances
varying from 10 to 20, 50, and 109 metres. It is, in fact, by these ex-
periments which I am accustomed to make previously to undertaking
those with much longer circuits, that I satisfy myself that there is no
heterogeneity between the electrodes of zinc formed in the manner above
described. Ihave been thus enabled many times to ascertain that if
on such an occasion there was a slight deviation it depended on the
vases of terra-cotta, and that there was no regularity in the currents
thus obtained on transporting the vases to different distances within
the above limits. In fact, the current is sometimes found to increase on
a wider separation of the vases than to diminish or even disappear, and
sometimes to an inverse order on the removal of the vases to still greater
distances. In these cases I have always succeeded in recognizing that
there was a difference in the physical qualities of the ground. Thus a
current arises if one electrode be placed in a soil charged with loam,
and the other in an argillaceous soil; and in operating on the sands
adjacent to the sea, a current supervenes if the electrodes be stationed
at different distances from the beach. But the effects of these differ-
ences of soil are only manifested when in contact with the vases con-
taining the electrodes. Hence, if it be found that a current exists be-
tween two points at a distance of 15 or 20 metres (49 or 66 feet) from
one another, we may be sure of causing it to cease by excavating at
those points two holes, which need not have a diameter of more than one
metre, (3 feet,) and filling them with the same earth, into which the
vases with the electrodes are then to be introduced. It is advisabie,
therefore, to pursue this course when operating with mixed circuits at
great distances, provided it be not previously ascertained, as I have al-
ways attempted to do when practicable, that the deviation remains in-
variable on reversing the position of the electrodes and their vases. In
order to remove all doubt as to whether the earth in which the electrodes
were sunk might not influence the results found when the circuits were
very long, I have been accustomed to make, at each of the extreme sta-
tions, four or five holes at a distance of 10 or 20 metres (33 or 66 feet)
one from another, and to proceed forthwith to the proof of homogeneity
by changing the position of the vases.

I pass now to a description of the experiments made on such mixed
circuits as are much longer than those just described, on circuits, namely,
having the full length of a kilometre, (3,281 feet.) With a view to ex-
periments of this kind, I selected a large, horizontal meadow, adjacent
to the Arno, and forming part of the Cascine of Florence. The earth of
this meadow, at least to the depth of the 25 or 30 centimetres (10 or 12
inches) requisite for imbedding the vases of the electrodes, possessed

* Kilometre = 1093.6389 yards.

214 ELECTRICAL CURRENTS OF THE EARTH.

apparently the same physical qualities, being, in fact, an arenaceous
formation, as is commonly the case in the neighborhood of rivers. The
electrodes of zine were placed successively at the distance of half a metre,
(20 inches,) then of 11 metres, (36 feet,) then of 148, (328 feet,) then of 750,
(2,461 feet,) then of 1,060, (3,477 feet: Ateach of these stations I exea-
vated four or five holes, in order to vary in every instance the position
of the electrodes. The experiments were made by successively advane-
ing and then returning to the same holes; by Bietc hing the skein
(metassa) of copper wire covered with gutta- percha, in conjunction with
its head, (?) to one of the electrodes, and then recovering the skein and
turning back again. The copper wire covered with gutta-percha was at
one time stretched upon the ground, at another suspended upon poles,
at another buried in the grass. - It is superfluous to add that, in making
these experiments, all the precautions above described were employed,
in order to obtain and preserve the homogeneity of the electrodes.

The result obtained from these experiments, many times repeated,
with every precaution to secure exactness, was that in a nixed circuit,
jormed of a metallic line and a stratum of earth, horizontal, or as nearly
so as possible, of a length not greater than a kilometre, (5,281 feet,) under a
clear sky, and with the air calm, there is no proper current of the earth dis-
coverable with a galvanometer of 2,000 coils. Yet, in a circuit of this
length, I have noticed, on days of storm and atmospheric disturbance,
sudden deviations under the action of the electric discharges.

EXPERIMENTS WITH A MIXED CIRCUIT, OF THE LENGTH OF SIX KIL-
OMETRES, IN A STRATUM NEARLY HORIZONTAL.

With the aid of the corps of engineers, I was enabled to establish on
the great plain of San Maurizio, distant 2 Ds 2 kilometres (134 miles) from
Turin, a plain set apart for military maneuvers, two mixed circuits,

each of which consisted of a stratum of earth and of a copper wire, 2
millimetres (#4; of an inch) in diameter, and covered with gutta- percha.
One of these wires was stretched in the direction of the magnetic merid-

ian, the other in a plane perpendicular to that meridian. Both wires
had about the same length, namely, 6,400 metres, (4 miles.) The copper
wire was suspended upon small wooden poles, such as are used in field
constructions of telegraphic lines. At the extremities of the two lines
a hole was excavated, of a rectangular form, with a depth and length
of 2 metres, (7 feet,) and a width of 1 metre, (3 feet ;) in the bottom of
this hole a cavity, or capsule, such as has been above described, was
constructed, having a width and depth of 50 centimetres, (1 foot,) and
lined with clay, so as to allow no filtration of water. The four cavities
were then filled with the same water, which was that of a copious waste-
pipe of one of the canals which traverse the plain; in this water the
porcelain cylinders, with the electrodes of zinc, were immersed.

The first experiments were directed to a verification of the equal con-
ductibility of the two mixed lines. It should be premised that the two
metallic lines, north-south and east-west, were interrupted about mid-
way, and entered at that point into a small chamber, where I had sta-
tioned the galvanometers. In the greater number of the experiments I
used a galv ranometer of 1,500 coils, “with an astatic system; unluckily,
this instrument sustained some injuries in being transported, when the
experiments were finished, to Turin, so as to be no longer capable of
being operated with.

To measure the conductibility of the two mixed circuits, I caused the
current of a good Daniell’s battery to pass, first in one, and then in the

ELECTRICAL CURRENTS OF THE EARTH. 215

other, and determined with a rheostat the conductibility of the two cir-
cuits. The difference between the two was, from the first, very small,
and it was only necessary to excavate by a centimetre, (ate of an inch, )
or thereabouts, the two holes of the line which had the greater resist-
ance, in order to render both of equal and constant resistanee. Proof
of homogeneity was also made by filling two large holes, whic h had
been excavated in close contiguity, with the same earth procured in
forming aa holes at the extremities of the lines. In theholes thus filled
I formed the two capsules already described, and introduced therein the
usual electrodes; when these were in operation, having been first weil
prepared, no current was found on the introduction of the electrodes
into the holes.

After these preliminary arrangements J commenced a series of observ-
ations which were continued about a month, from the 12th of March to
the 15th of April, 1864, being the season eenerally of clear skies and of
cool and dry air; there were two or three days of astrong rie wind
and one of storm with rain. For the space of ten days the observations
were never interrupted night or day, and two soldiers who relieved one
another were stationed as “a guard ateach hole. The galvanometer used

was one of 1,500 coils and gave a fixed deviation of 60°, with a Daniell’s
battery introduced into one of the mixed circuits.

The following were the results obtained from the long series of ob-
servations made in the manner and at the time indicated :

1. In mixed circuits, formed of a copper wire, and a stratum of earth
very nearly horizontal and about 6 kilometres (4 miles) long, there is
always an electric current which circulates with intensity and in deter-
minate directions according to the direction of those circuits in regard
to the magnetic meridian ; “this current cannot be absolutely attributed
to the heterogencity of the electrodes, or of the terrestrial strata in con-
tact with those electrodes.

2. These currents have an intensity which increases in proportion to
the depth at which the electrodes are sunk beneath the surtace of the
earth, from 50 centimetres (20 inches) to 2 metres (7 feet.) This greater
conductibility possessed by the mixed lines in pr oportion to the depth to
which the electrodes are sunk, explains the variation discovered in the
intensity of the electric currents of the earth under these circumstances.
This result is in conformity with that which is observed after rain, and
which is due to the greater humidity of the ground in contact with the
electrodes.

3. When the cavities in which the electrodes are sunk have a depth
of 2 metres (7 feet) or more, or when the electrodes are immersed in the
water of wells, the extension of the lamin of zine and the diameter
of the porous vases have little influence on the intensity of the terres-
trial currents.

4, Inthe circuit extended along the magnetic meridian or south-north,

the electric current had always a constant direction and an intensity
which varied very feebly while manifesting a certain period, For a
month, several hundreds of varied observations showed that the terres-
trial current was always directed in the metallic part of the circuit trom
south to north, and that the needle of the galvanometer never became
fixed at zero nor in the opposite quadrant, and that its oscillations were
always small and very slow.

5. On comparing with one another the slightly unequal deviations ob-
tained in nine entire days of constant observation, it results that the
current in the south-north circuit presents in twenty-four hours two
maxime and two minima of intensity. ‘The two minima occur, one in

216 ELECTRICAL CURRENTS OF THE EARTH.

the day, and the other in the night, at very nearly the same hours,
namely from 11 to 1 o’clock. After 1 o’clock at night the current in-
creases, and from 5 to 7 o’elock in the morning a maximum is noticed ;
in the day this maximum oscillates between 3 and 7 o’clock in the after-
noon. The differences between the minimum and maximum of intensity
are a litte greater than that between 1 and 2.

6. In the circuit perpendicular to the magnetic meridian the results
are very different and subject to great variations. It frequently oceurs
that the needle is seen to remain at zero, or oscillates to one side or the
otber of that point, moving from 2° to 3° and even to 14° and 15° on
the same side. The direction of the current most frequentiy observed
in this cireuit was from west to east in the metallic part. In general
the needle is never fixed and sometimes executes very wide and rapid
oscillations.

7. It was never noticed that the differences of temperature, which
fluctuated between zero (32° F.) and + 18° (65° F.) and + 20° C. (68° F.),
the varying humidity of the air, or even rain, had any influence on the
direction of the current existing in the circuit extended along the mag-
netic meridian.

8. These results were not varied on changing the position of the
metallic portion of the circuit—that is, on using. the metallic line ex-
tended on the ground or suspended on poles.

EXPERIMENTS ON MIXED CIRCUITS OF A LENGTH VARYING FROM
200 METRES TO MANY KILOMETRES, THE ELECTRODES BEING SUNK
IN THE GROUND AT A GREATER OR LESS DIFFERENCE OF ELEVA-
TION.

The first experiments of this kind were made on the hill of the Villa
della Regina, near Turin. The mixed circuit established there was
composed of an iron wire insulated in the usual manner, and about 609
metres (1,969 feet) long in a straight line, with a direction intermediate
between S. EK. and N. W.: the two extremities of this wire were united
to the usual electrodes of zinc sunk in the ground at a difference of
level of 150 metres (492 feet.) In these experiments also the pits in
which the electrodes were sunk had been filled with the same earth,
and the capsules or cavities already described were then formed and
lined with clay. In some of the experiments, the porcelain cylinders
and the zine electrodes were suspended in the water of two wells in the
manner before stated.

The experiments have been continued month after month, at different
seasons of the year, and not rarely the needle of the galvanometer has
been observed for entire days at very short intervals of time. J have

constantly found in the circwit in question an ascending current in the metal-_

lic line, of an intensity which in clear and calm days was constant or
manifested very inconsiderable oscillations.

The position of the electrodes was frequently changed, by placing
lowermost that which was highest, and vice-versa, yet the current
never varied in direction, and very slightly in intensity. For a certain
time the galvanometer used in these experiments was that of 1,500 coils,
which had served me on the plains of San Maurizio, in the experiments
with the circuits of 6 kilometres, (4 miles,) and the intensity of the current
was always found to be much greater than that realized in the circuit
of 6 kilometres. The ascending hill-current was, with this galvanome-
ter from 20° to 25°, while that realized in the circuit of 6 kilometres, and
where consequently the resistance was much greater, never exceeded
from 5 to 6 degrees in the line of the magnetic meridian. The intensity

ELECTRICAL CURRENTS OF THE EARTH. PA

of the ascending current was not altered by the substitution of the
copper wire covered with gutta-percha for the insulated iron wire, nor
were any differences noticed when the wire was extended on the ground
covered with grass or with snow.

I have seen the intensity of the current increased by placing the
electrodes in the ground at a depth of 10 centimetres (4 inches) below
the bottom of a pit from 1 to 2 metres (3 to 7 feet) deep; and while in
excavations of inconsiderable depth, the ascending current has marked
from 15° to 16°, in those much deeper, and in weils, it has indicated
more than 20°. When the electrodes are in a very superficial stratum
the deviation is less fixed than when they float in the water of wells.
In the latter case the deviation remains constant from hour to hour, if
the day is clear and calm, nor is it changed by reversing the position of
the electrodes in the wells.

It may, I think, be of use to cite here a series of numbers which
exhibit the deviations realized on certain days of July, 1564, with elee-
trodes sunk in excavations having a depth of 2 metres (7 feet.) The
atmospheric electricity was of moderate intensity and constantly posi-
tive; the sky in part clear, and in part overcast. The galvanometer
with which I operated was one of 2,000 coils.

S24 ofA
Sl ata>. penis
5 2 e8aae
Day. Horr. B= | State of the sky. Day. Hour. | 22 52 | State of the sky.
aos | 6358
baba Baba
A A
Degrees. Degrees
S Roth is Sy] ie re 0 i i eee Electricity + abun-|| July 16 | 12.20 p.m. 25
7.30 a.m. | 23 to 26 dant; sly clear, | iS yesh 25
7.45 a. m. 23 to 26 and 27° C.,(80° F.)| 2.30 p.m. 23
8 a.m.| 23to24 Bye jesuith 19
8.12 a. m. 22 to 23 4.50 p.m. 30
8.18 a.m. | 23 > pm. 28
8.20 a.m. | 24 5.30 p. m. 27
8.30 a. m. 23 to 24 G6 p.m. 28
9 a.m. | 23 to24 | Electricity positive ie gibi 27
9.20 a.m. | 23to025 minimum. 7.30 p.m. 28
10 am 25 Si) pam: 2e ‘
10'30'asmy |) 22)--->- Clouds sparse and | 8.30p.m.] 28
11 am.| 24 + 27°C. Oe prey] 27....| Storm
11.30 a.m 24 9.30 p. m. 28
12 m. 23 10.30 p. m. 27
12.30p.m. | 25 July 17 | 95.30 a.m. 29_...| Fair and calm af-
1 m. | 24t025 8 a.m. 30 ter the storm of
1.30 p.m. | 23 to 24 9 am. 34 the night.
2 p.m. | 24 9.15 a. ma. 35
2.30 p.m. | 27 9.35 a.m. 35
3 In. | 24 10 a.m. 35
3.18 p.m.| 23 to 24 10.30 a. m. 34
3.30 p.m. | 28 10.50 a.m. 33
4 p.m. 16 ii a.m. 33
4.30 p.m. 17 11.10 a. m. 34
5 p.m 18 11.30 a.m. 33
6 ). ™. 18 11.40 a.m. 33
6.30 p.m. | 19 a2) Me 31
pss 420 12.20 p. m. 31
7.30 p.m. | 21 to 22 12.30 p. m. 31
8 p.m. | 22 1.30 p.m. 29
8.30 p.m. | 24 Peo hit 2
9 p.m. 20 2.30 p.m. 26
9.30 p.m. 22 3.30 p.m. 25
10 p.m.| 24 4.10 p.m. 24
10.30p.m. | 295 4.35 p.m. 28
i p.m..}) 20 4.40 p.m. 28
Julyid| 4 am. | 25 5.25 p. m. 27
7 am. | 23to024 6.30 p. ma. 28
9.30 a.m. | 25 Ut apie 25
10 am. | 24 7.15 p.m. 25
1 am. | 25

218 ELECTRICAL CURRENTS OF THE EARTH.

Tt is impossible to discover in the numbers here reported any relation
between the intensity of the terrestrial current and the hour of the
day. The augmentation observed at the close of the 16th day, and in

‘the morning of the 17th, was probably owing to the rain which fell in
that interval, and in fact this result never fails to be obtained when we
sprinkle two or three buckets of water around the electrodes. In the
first hours of each of the days cited, I assured myself of the homoge-
neity of the electrodes by immersing them simultaneously in the water
and from time to time reversing their position. The most important
precaution is that of frequently ascertaining that the water maintains a
constant level in the cavities in which are immersed the porcelain ecylin-
ders of the electrodes.

I further report the numbers obtained in one of the observations
which I conducted with the electrodes suspended in two wells, one at
the top, the other at the base of the hill before mentioned. These num-
bers were obtained with the galvanometer of 1,500 coils. In this exper-
iment the position of the electrodes was twice inverted.

Se Fe

BEE E52

oe Oonm

ga cae

ae Sad

Day. Hour. AS = State of the sky. Day. Hour. == | State of the sky.

gea 858

Bao Bae

ao a oe

gas £32

Degrees. Degrees

July 25 | 12.15 a. m. 32...) Clear. July 25} 2. p.m. 40
2.24 a.m 32 2.30 p.m. 42
9.30 &.m 40 Bn oe 00 40
5.00 a. ™ 42 4 pm: 40
6.20 a.m A2 2 (p.m. 40
7.45 a.m 40 8.30 p. m. 40
8.30 a.m 40 Spm: 40
10 am 42 9.30 p. m. 40
ll am 40 10 p.m. 40
fm: 40 10.30 p. m. 41
12.30 p. m. 40 July 26 | 12.30 a.m. 41

It is evident from the above that the deviation produced by the use
of electrodes floating in the water of wells is more constant than that
resulting from their employment when sunk, as we have described, in
the earth, for in the latter case the water in which the cylinders are
immersed is continually decreasing. I ought here to observe that,
having taken advantage of a well, situated midway on the slope of the
hill of Torin. repeated these experiments with the same length as
before of the metallic line, and in one case with a stratum of earth ex-
tendmg from the base to about the middle of the hill, and in the other
case from the middle to the top, the electrodes being all the time im-
mersed in wells; in the experiments in which the terrestrial circuit was
thus about half that before used, the fixed deviation of the ascending
current was 10°; much less therefore than that obtained between the
base and summit of the hill,

I deem it proper further to describe the principal results derived from
an uninterrupted series of experiments made through all the months of
last summer, in the hills around Florence. The line was composed of
the usual copper wire covered with gutta- percha, suspended upon poles
and interrupted about midway of its entrance into the laborator y, where
the two ends were immersed simultaneously with the wires of the gal-
vanometer of 1,500 coils, in two small vases filled with quicksilver. In

ELECTRICAL CURRENTS OF THE EARTH. 219

many experiments I have used another but similar line, which enabled
me to test, by comparison with one another, the two electrodes immersed
in close contiguity, now in the lower station, now in the upper. The
electrodes were the usual plates of amalgamated zinc, immersed in the
solution of sulphate of zine contained in porcelain cylinders, which ecyl-
inders were immersed in turn in well or spring water cont: ined in two
vases of terra-cotta, buried in the earth. It is useless to state that
these electrodes were first tested, and that every precaution was used
to ascertain their homogeneity. At the two extremities, after selecting
a soil having very nearly the same qualities, I excavated two holes, w ith
a width and depth of one metre, (3 feet,) which I filled with the same
earth, and into the holes thus prepared introduced the vases with the
two electrodes. On each day of experimenting, I began and finished
by reversing the position of the vases, in order ‘to assure myself that
the deviations were independent of the electrodes, and that, when tested
in contact, the latter were perceptibly homogeneous. The ‘difference ot
evel betwe een the two electrodes was about 55 metres, (180 feet.)
ee eiiemecnsly with the observations of the electric currents in the
circuit, I studied at the extreme stations the atmospheric electricity in
the way already described. On clear and calm days I have always
found very strong signs of positive electricity near the upper station,
and no signs or very weak ones of the same electricity in the valley
below, near the lower Station; indeed, at this station the same thing
occurred even in stormy weather. At the upper station the signs
changed according to the intensity and distance of the existing storm,
as we shall again mention. I select the numbers obtained on the 2d,
od, and 4th days of July, when the air was warm and dry, and the
weather calm with the exception of a distant storm which was observed
on the 3d, some hours after midday. On the 2d, from morning until 10
at night, the current continued to ascend in the metallic line, and re-
mained fixed at between 15° and 16° during the morning, and between
11° and 12° in the afternoon. The results of the 3d were the following:

Hour. Deviation. Hour. Deviation. || Hour. Deviation. Hour. Deviation,
Degrees. Degrees. Degrees. Degrees.
8 a.m-..|/ 13 to 14 2.32 PD. M-.-- 18 3.12 p.m... 15 4.40 p. m.. 17
9.42 a.m...) 15 2.40 p. m.- 18 3.43 p.m... 18 5.40 p. m-.- 18
12 ms S- 8 2.45 p.m. 18 3.50 p.m... 18 8.50 p. m-.- i4
LG puto. =| 12 2.48 p.m... 15 ee Ohare 15 9.30 p. m-. 30
1.30 p.m.-} 12 to 13 3.) (pome= 18 4:20 p.m. -- 18 10.15 p. m.. 15

The electrodes having been left in place all night, the current was
found the next morning, fixed at between 14° and 150, and the same
deviation remained on reversing the position of the electr odes.

I report also the numbers obtained May 30, on which day a peculiar
storm occurred, a strong sirocco wind having prevailed, while for some
time the sky Was covered with dense clouds traversed by electric dis
charges in the distance. Kain also fell.

220 ELECTRICAL CURRENTS OF THE EARTH.

[ey A oo | es |
S.A ot A
Pus ne)
Bas BAS
oH on”
Sea ae
m8 + iS
Hour. S oe State of the sky. Hour. Sus State of the sky.
a. 45 Be =
ode one?
ape ae
ae baS
Ooay Oo
A A
Degrees. Degrees.
aca eee eee Rain for some time. 2.10 p.m. (*)
8 am.| 18to ee 2.15 p.m. (*)
9.14a.m.| 23 2.30 >p. m. (*)
12s 0 Re cerer Strong wind. 2.36 p.m, (*)
12:20p.m.| 21 {02-40 /p.um ie lO ease Heavy rain, which lasts until
12.30p.m.} 20 2.50p.m.}| 10 4p. m., with thunder and
12.37p.m.| 18 2.53p.m.} 15 lightning, and dense black
12.45p.m.| 29 3 prm.| 20 clouds on the line.
1 p.m.| 20 3.10p.m.| 20
1.15p.m.} 15 3.15p.m.} 20
1.20p.m.} 10 \{ 3.18p. tm.) 22
1.30 p.m. 8 3.29).m.)| 20
1.40 p.m. 5 3.29p.m.| 23
1.45p. m. (*)..-.| Stormy clouds, very low and || 3.30p.m.} 20
1.50 p. m. (*) menacing, flashes of light- || 3.35p.m.} 25
2.5 p.m. (*) ning, thunder and rain. 3.38p.m.| 25
2.8 p.m.| (*)

(*) Needle oscillates between 5° and 0°.

Up to this moment the needle oscillated slightly; but afterwards,
under the action of the storm, the needle made great oscillations, though
always to the side in which the current maintains it, and at the close of
the day the deviation seemed fixed at about 60°. It has already been
said, that on July 2, with a clear sky and the air warm and dry, the
deviation was re- established and fixed at between 15° and 16°.

During a storm on the 7th I kept the electroscope in exercise for a
length of time at the intermediate station, and constantly realized great
oscillations of the needle, even to zero, when the instrument gave signs
of negative electricity or very weak sigtis of positive electricity. Under
strong winds also these oscillations were verified. Again, the usual
deviation of the ascending current increased slowly or rapidly, according
as the electroscope indicated a corresponding augmentation in the signs
of positive electricity, or a sudden aug mentation of the same electricity
at the moment of a flash of lightning In many other series of experi-
ments, which I deem it needless to report, I have always found in calm
and clear days a deviation nearly constant, a result which I have never
witnessed during storms nor even on clear days during high winds and
great oscillations of the atmospheric pressure.

I proceed to describe the experiments executed upon a mixed cireuit
in which the metallic conductor, an iron wire of 3 millimetres, (4 inch,)
and well insulated, had a length of about 45 kilometres , (28 miles. ) The
two extreme stations, which were Pontedera and Volter ‘a, Were at a dif-
ference of elevation amounting to 540 metres, (1,772 feet. ) The experi-
ments were performed in the nights of the 11th and 23d of July, under
a calm and serene sky, commencing at 7.30 p.m. and terminating at
4.45 a.m.

In the line between Pontedera and Volterra the telegraphic offices are
closed at night; and in order to be more certain that no current of the
telegraph could be introduced during the experiments on the line, I pro-
vided for an interruption of the latter at each extre emity, at the distance
of a pole or two from the office; at the point of interruption I soldered a
piece of copper wire covered with gutta-percha, which at the station of
Volterra descended immediately into the earth, where it was united to

ELECTRICAL CURRENTS OF THE EARTH. 224

the electrode of zine sunk in the ground in the usual manner, while at
the station of Pontedera, where the galvanometer was placed, tle above-
mentioned wire proceeded to one of the ends of the galvanometer, while
the other end was made to communicate with a copper wire covered
with gutta-percha which terminated at the earth and united with the
other electrode of zine.

The following are the numbers obtained from the two experiments,
in both of which the constant deviation of the needle indicated the usual
ascending current in the wire:

|
Juuy 17. | JULY 23.
Hour. Deviation. Hour. Deviation. Hour. Deviation. Hour. Deviation.

| | |
7.30 p.m-- uly 11.30 p.m. - 10 ea a pataeo 6 {peer ernie. 20
Bi ip-an: i 1 a.m. - 15 || 15 pane 20 | 10.15 p. m--| 10
8.30 p.m... 13 || 1.30.4. m_- 15 || 8.30 p.m-.-.| 39 to 40 || 12.30a.m-_. 25
9 p.m. 10 2 1. M2. - 14 | 8.45 p-m--.. 28 || 2-35 a. m-.- 40
9. 30 p.m. 12 2.30 a. m-- 15 9). tspamilst |i 88 I) SS Gears 36
10.15 p.m 10 3 a.m-- 18 || 9.20p.m-.-} 10 SHG HYE RS ries 38
10, 30 p.m. 12 1 ai eae 2 9.25 p.m. 20 |
ie) ps mH. 10 4,30 a.m... 8 || 9.30 ews 22 |
11,15 p. m- 16 || 4.45 a.m 10 9. 49 p. m- 30

In these experiments, especially in that of the night ef the 11th of
July, the deviation had been constant in the interval between one obser-
vation and another, and the variations took place very slowly. But
this constancy was not so absolute as that noticed in the previous
experiments with a short cireuit; the needle in these experiments
between Volterra and Pontedera havi ing constantly exhibited a sort of
tremulous oscillation in an are, which was never greater than one
degree. Moreover, as well in the experiments of the 1ith as in those
of ‘the 23d of J aly, it was observed that, thrice on the former and four
times on the latter n night, at various intervals of time, the deflected
needle, which had seemed fixed, suddenly descended to 0° and oscillated,
oftenest for a few seconds, but on one occasion for about an hour in the

opposite quadrant, never taking a fixed direction, and returning by a
rapid movement to its stationary position under the ascending current.
These extraordinary movements of the needle, I am perst adec 1, though
without being able absolutely to affirm it, were independent of the errors
of the experiments, even counting among these the case of a voltaic
current introduced for a moment into the cireuit at Volterra, where Iwas
not present.

The last series of experiments which I shall report, relates to observa-
tions made on a long telegraphic line from Ivrea to Courmayeur, first in
October, 1864, and again in November, 1866. These experiments were

made in three different sections, of which that line is composed. The
first, between Ivrea and St. Vin cent, nearly parallel to the ineridian, is
36 kilometres (22 miles) in length, with a difference of level between the
extremities of 281 metres, (922 feet.) The second section between St.
Vincent and Aosta is 25 kilometres (16 miles) long, and the difference
of level, 83.metres, (272 feet.) The third, between Aosta and Courmayeur,
at the extremity of the valley at the foot of Monte Bianco, is 27 kilo-
metres (17 miles) long, and the difference of level of the two extremities
642 metres, (2,103 fect.) In 1864 the experiments were made separately
in the three sections of the line; in those of 1866, only two sections,
that, namely, between Ivrea and Aosta, and that between Aosta anc

220 ELECTRICAL CURRENTS OF THE EARTH.

Courmayeur, were brought into requisition. The wire was the usual
iron one, from 3 to 4 millimetres (4-inch) in diameter.

Before the experiments, the entire line had been inspected, repaired,
and insulated with care, so that there was no sensible movement in the
needle on introducing a current into the line, while the opposite end
was insulated in the air. I employed the usual electrodes of zine, im-
mersing them in the water of wells when L could, or introducing them
into holes made in the ground and filled with identically the same water,
which was that of the Dora. Between Ivrea, St. Vincent, and Aosta,
the experiments were always made in the night, when the telegraphic
offices were closed; in the last experiments between Aosta and Cour-
mayeur, where the telegraphic service ceases in September, the experi-
ments might be made with confidence at any hour of the day. The
results obtained in the first series of experiments, as heretofore de-
scribed in the Comptes-rendus of the Academy of Paris, (September 19,
1864,) were as follows: The electric currents obtained in the three lines
of the valley of Aosta, notwithstanding the much greater resistance of
the metallic portion of these. lines in comparison with the line of 600
metres, (1,969 feet,) on which I had operated in the hills near Turin,
gave with the same galvanometer much stronger currents, measured by
the deviations more or less fixed of 40°, 60°, and even 80°, instead of
20° to 25° at most obtained in the shorter Jine. At all times, when the
deviations became fixed—and this was sometimes the case, even for the
space of an hour—the deviation indicated an ascending current in the
metallic line. But a certain tremor of the needle was noticed, and from
time to time, as in the experiments between Pontedera and Volterra,
the needle descended suddenly to 0°, about which it oscillated, or even
passed into the opposite quadrant, returning afterwards to the fixed
deviation prescribed by the ascending current of the wire. In this case,
also, [ have every reason to believe, though I will not absolutely affirm
it, that no voltaic current was introduced at such moments into the
earcuit So as to produce the oscillations in question.

The experiments made in November, 1866, were conducted under
better conditions when the correspondence between Courmayeur and
Aosta had been suspended for two months. In these I was assisted by
Signor Eecher, adjunct of the chair of physics in this museum, to whose
zeal and love for science it is due that even under unfavorable cireum-
‘stances of weather and place, especially in the winter, all possible pre-
cautions were used in order that the experiments might yield exact
results. At each extremity of the line three similar vases of earth were
sunk <n a formation of nearly identical qualities at a certain distance
from one another, and the current was measured by transferring in
succession the electrodes of zinc immersed in porcelain cylinders and
ascertained to be homogeneous, now to one and now to another of the
earthen vases, all of which, at either extremity, were filled with water
from the same source.

The experiments between Aosta and Courmayeur were made on the
3d of November, 1866, at 8 o’clock in the morning; the atmospheric
electricity at Courmayeur was feebly positive; snow had fallen in the
night on elevated places, and the clouds were dissipated only at the
rising of the sun. At 8.45, the line was tested in order to ascertain its
insulation, which was found to be perfect. The experiments yielded
the following results:

ELECTRICAL CURRENTS OF THE EARTH. 220

I
aes
S
iy wo
Ba eee :
= nod Observations.
. de So
EI e a5
5 2 Bos
& AlH

9.15 a.m. | 30°] 20°—43° | The extreme holes used which we will call No. 1 and No. 1.

9.30 a.m. | 41 | 30 —51 | Needle nearly firm, oscillating only between 38 and 45.

9.45 a.m. | 52 | 50 —55 | Needle nearly immovable.
10 27 bad oe dl ee Be ees The communications being withdrawn the needle goes to 0°; they are restored
between holes No. 1 Courmayeur and No. 2 Aosta.

10.10 a.m. | 50 | 40 —55

10.20 a.m. | 51 | 49 —54 | Needle nearly firm.

10.30 a.m. | 52 | 50 —53 | Slow oscillation

LOPAQFseetnies | 04 |!) - 525558 Absolutely firm.

UN) is) rel ee eee Sigus of positive electricity stronger than in the morning.
10.58 a.m. | 54 | 45 —60 | Very feeble oscillation.

iit Beapiita| eee hoses eee Communications being withdrawn the needle goes to 0°; restored between

hole No. 3 Aosta and No. 2 Courmayeur.

11.10 a.m. | 52 | 46 —60 | Needle nearly firm.

11.20 a.m. | 52 | 46 —60 | Idem.

11.35 a.m. | 47 | 30 —5l_ | Between holes No. 3 and No. 3 of the two sides needle oscillates.

11. 45 a. m. | 45 ; 25 —50 | Idem.

Tis S|) 35 aeeoo eee Communications removed and restored between hole No. 1 Aosta and No.3
Courmayeur.

p.m. | 36 | 30 —50 | Small oscillations.
p-m. | 34 | 20 —42 | Almost quiet.

5 p.m. | 36 | 20 —48 | Oscillations; the holes are No. 1 and No. 1 of the two sides.

20 p. m. | 38 | 29 —50 | Light oscillations.

25 p.m. | 42 | 35 —50 | Scarcely oscillates.

1.

1.

is

1.

aI

IASI 5 Ses Gees Eee ae Communications removed and replaced between No. 2 Aosta and No. 1 Cour-
mayeur.

1.35 p.m. | 45 | 40 —52 | Light oscillations.

HAC sate |) 49) | ee Needle tirm.

MEAD Te | Om | oa emo Idem ; between the holes No. 2 on both sides.

lation obit oe eee Idem.

MMM aT! eee le cts ose ic Holes No. 2 on both sides.

2.08 p.m. | 48 | 40 —52 | Nearly firm; holes No. 3 on both sides.

‘hel kaye hice Hl eee ee Needle firm.

2.

20 p.m. | 50 | 45 —53 | Light oscillations.

It is proper to add that at the two stations of Aosta and Courmayeur,
two electrodes of copper were also in operation, consisting of two plates
of that metal, with a surface of about a third of a square metre, and
buried at a depth of about one metre. These plates were employed as
electrodes after having been buried for two days. On the day of the 3d
of November, with these electrodes of copper, and at intervals of some
hours, there was a nearly fixed deviation in the same direction with
those of the electrodes of zinc, and indicating, from 12 o’clock to 12.48
successively 65°, 70°, 69°, and from 2.40 to 3.30, 69° and 68°. All the
deviations above reported indicated an ascending g current in the metallic
portion of the circuit.

I shall only cite, in addition to the above, the experiments made on
the line between Ivrea and Aosta, having a length of about 160 kilo-
metres, (99 miles,) and a difference of level between the extremities equal
to 364 metres, (1,194 feet.) These experiments were conducted precisely
like those just described at length, between Aosta and Courmayeur,
and were executed during the days of the 5th and 6th of November.
The atmospheric electricity, always positive, was at Aosta considerably
more intense than in the experiments made at Courmayeur.

The current which circulated in this line was constantly an ascending
one in the metallic part of the circuit, and for many hours the dey iation
oscillated between 40° and 50°. On the second day the air was per-
fectly serene, the sun lustrous, and the signs of atmospheric electricity
constantly progressive. The needle remained deflected for several
hours, and apparently fixed between 60° and 64° by an ascending cur-
rent in the metallic line. Here also the plates of copper, sunk in the

24 ELECTRICAL CURRENTS OF THE EARTH.

ground at the depth of a metre, (3 feet,) were tried as electrodes, and
the deviation obtained, the needle continuing nearly immovable, was
from 64° to 659,

GENERAL CONCLUSIONS.

The experiments described in this memoir point to the following con-

Bene

1. If a metallic line be insulated from the ground or suspended at'a
certain height, or in actual contact with the ground, and its extremities
be sunk in the earth, in good communication with the latter by means
of perfectly homogeneous electrodes, with a certainty that there does
not exist any electro-motive force between the parts of the metallic cir-
cuit, or between the earth and the electrodes, it will be found that there
is in that line a constant circulation of electricity, whenever the line,
having a rectilinear length of at least 6 kilometres, (4 mniles,) has its ex-
tremities sunk very ne: arly at the same elevation and in a horizontal
stratum, or, if the length of the line be much shorter, when its extremi-
ties are sunk in the ground at a different degree of elevation.

2, When a metallic line has a length of 6 kilometres, (4 miles,) and
its extremities are sunk in a horizontal stratum, there is in that line a
current having a constant direction from south to north, if the line be
extended on the meridian; if the wire be extended in anh equatorial di-
rection, the signs of the electric current which circulates therein are
very variable and without a fixed direction.

3. In a metallic line much shorter, say 300 metres (954 feet) to com-
mence with, there is a constant circulation of electricity, if the extremi-
ties are sunk i in the ground at a different elevation as regards one an-
other. In that case , the current is one constantly ascending in the me-
tallie line.

4, This ascending current has an intensity which, notwithstanding
the greater resistance of the circuit, increases with the length of the
circuits, and increases also with the difference of level of the points at
which the extremities of the line are sunk. But in circuits which are of
considerable length, and in which there is a great difference of altitude
between the extremities, the intensity of the ascending current is not
so constant as in short circuits.

These results change in the presence of storms, and also in great at-
mospheric perturbations; in such cases the intensity of the terrestrial
current, and likewise its direction, are subject to very considerable va-
riations.

Hypothesis respecting the origin of the terrestrial current.—I shall be
very brief on this point, as these researches are still deficient in that ex-
tent which would be requisite for success in interpreting a phenomenon
necessarily obscure and highly complicated when submitted to rigorous —
investigation.

When we consider that the resistance to the electric current of a ter-
restrial stratum is nearly null, and that it does not vary with the length
of the stratum, it is not easy to see an analogy between these currents
and derived currents properly so called.

Associated as the terrestrial currents are with the apparition of the
aurora borealis, and with the great variations of terrestrial magnetism,
the probability naturally suggests itself of an intimate relation between
these currents and the causes of the magnetism of the earth, as well as
of the electric state of the earth itself and of the air. If, as has been

»roved by experiment, the earth is a body charged with negative elec-
tricity ; if, as in effect is the case, the tension of this electric state of the

ELECTRICAL CURRENTS OF THE EARTH. 225

earth increases with the altitude of terrestrial points, it can be con-
ceived that a metallic line, one extremity of which touches the bottom
of a valley and the other a summit, should be traversed by an ascending
electric current, with an intensity proportional to the difference of the
electric potentialities of the two points. Since, then, the electric state
of the earth varies even in clear and calm days at the various hours of
the day, the electric current of the earth also might derive, from that
law of atmospheric electricity, its origin in metallic lines, touching the
ground with their extremities, ‘provided the lines be very long ones.

But phenomena so obscure and complex demand great reserve in any
attempts which are made to explain them, and it is only from those new
and persevering researches which we invoked at the beginning of this
memoir, that greater light can be hoped for in regard to a phenomenon ot
so much importance in terrestrial physics.

15 8 69

LECTURES ON THE PHENOMENA OF FLIGHT
IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.

By M. Marry, of the College of France.

[ Zranslated from the Revue Des Cours Scientifiques, for the Smithsonian Institution. ]

We shall occupy ourselves on this occasion in the discussion of a
question which is connected with our first studies on motion, as one of |
the functions of life, namely, with the— :

NATURE OF FLIGHT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.

Flight is a process of locomotion, in some cases indispensable and in
others accessory to the life of an immense number of living beings. It
is not confined to insects and birds that live habitually in the air, or to
certain mammals, such as bats, but is also common to animals which
are essentially confined, by their organization, to a terrestrial or aquatic
life, such as flying and dragon fish, gecko-lizards, and, above all, to ptero-
dactyles, a race at present extinct. The field on which we are about to
enter is very extensive; and although it has been long cultivated, it
would not be surprising if we should find that it has not been entirely
exhausted, or that it is still capable of yielding new facts.

In beginning, for the first time, the study of locomotion, we should
address ourselves to the origin of the phenomena connected with the
subject, and we would pause upon the elementary apparatus which is
its special organ, namely, muscular fiber, and also upon the elementary
function of this indispensable organ, namely, muscular contraction. We
have, however, considered these in their general application to motion
in previous lectures, and need only recall them to mind in this place.
The evident manifestation of animal motion is the production of a
change of place, or locomotion; but what we are now to consider espe-
cially i is aerial locomotion or flight.

Animal motion presents a series of complex phenomena; for exam-
ple, when we bend a finger, and examine the series of events which
occurs in the production of the desired result, we find, at the beginning,
first, the operation of the will, or a psychical action ; Secondly, the trans-
mission of the influence of the will, or a nervous action; thirdly, the
contraction of the muscles, or muscular action; and, fourthly, the motion
of the finger, which is a mechanical action. In the study of these phe-
nomena with which shall we commence? <A philosopher of the past, a.
Spinozist, would not hesitate in answering, but would say at once, the
logical order should be observed; the examination of the action of the
will should be first made; and the other phenomena deduced from the
result of this, as the primary cause. But this method is the one which
the modern school of science rejects. The investigators of our day re-
verse this order, and, instead of descending from causes to effects, ascend
from effects to causes, from more simple and evident phenomena to those
which are more complex and hidden. If we first attempt to grapple with

PHENOMENA OF FLIGHT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 227

the psychical phenomena in the series we have mentioned, we shall find
ourselves at once encountering difficulties far beyond our power to over-
come. If it be true, as has been said, that all investigation, when reduced
to its ultimate element, is measurement, how can that be investigated
which is beyond the reach of all measurement? What unit will serve to
express in figures the phenomena of intelligence, will, and sensibility ?
These, although similar in some respects, and belonging to the same gen-
eral class of phenomena, are so heterogeneous to others with which they
are associated as to admit of no comparison. Physiologists, therefore,
address themselves, as we have said, at first to the study of the phenom-
ena which offer the most easy study, and these are almost always the
last terms of a series of acts such as those which I have mentioned.
Each successive discovery, then, facilitates further advance, ani enables
the investigator to rise toward results which at first appear unattainable,
and to elevate himself almost to the level of those questions on which
speculative philosophy has spent itself in fruitless efforts. We, therefore,
commence with the study of muscular action. The first step in this
was made when the unattainable influence of the will was replaced
by the electrical stimulus; muscular contraction then commenced to be
studied by itself, separate from all extraneous influences.

You know of what assistance in studies of this kind is the application
of the graphic method with the registering apparatus. It was by means
of this method, and the instrument called the myograph, that Helm-
holtz, in 1850, prosecuted his admirable researches on muscular action,
and I was enabled to add my contributions to the theory of muscular
contraction. The myograph enables us to note the exact instant when
the phenomenon begins, its duration, and extent ; while the curve traced
on the cylinder makes known all the circumstances of its production.
Now, the possibility of noting the precise instant of the muscular con-
traction furnishes us with the means of the examination of the second
of the acts which form the object of our researches, namely, the trans-
mission of the nervous force.

Up to a very recent date, even as late as 1845, it was thought that
sensitive impressions were transmitted to the brain from the extremi-
ties, and that the impulse of the will returned with the rapidity of
lightning, the time necessary for the transmission being regarded as
infinitely small; and, indeed, some physiologists, Miiller among others,
contended that this point never could be settled by science. The honor
of falsifying this prediction belongs to Helmholtz, who carried out, in
1850, a programme of experiments, suggested by Du Bois-Raymond
five years before. He proved that the time taken ,by nervous force to
traverse the length of a specified nerve could be accurately measured.
After him, Valentine, Du Bois-Raymond, Donders, and Marey repeated
the experiments, and considerably simplified the method of operation.

In all the researches the plan which was followed consisted, first, in ex-
citing a nerve in the neighborhood of the muscle to which it belonged,
and determining the interval which elapsed between this irritation and the
contraction which resulted from it; secondly, in stimulating the nerve at
a greater distance from the muscle, and determining how much longer con-
traction was retarded than in the former case. This delay necessarily
follows from the greater distance which the nerve-impulse has to traverse
in the second case, and thus indicates the rapidity of this agent along
the nerve which has been operated upon, or, in other words, furnishes the
means for the deduction of the absolute velocity of the nervous im-
pulse. Helmholtz found that about 0.00175 of a second was occupied
by anervous impulse in traversing a distance of forty-three millimeters,

998 PHENOMENA OF FLIGHT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.

which corresponds to a velocity of twenty-six meters per second. This
velocity, however, varies somewhat with the conditions of the organ on
which the experiment is performed. I shall not dwell on these points,
which are already published, but shall call your attention to this re-
markable fact, bearing directly upon our thesis, namely, that the meas-
urement of the nervous transmission enables us to rise to the study
of psychical action. ‘ Has thought no longer the infinite rapidity
which has been habitually attributed to it, and is it possible to measure
the time necessary for the formation of an idea or a determination of
the will?” Such are the terms in which Donders expresses the prob-
lem.

The first researches on this interesting subject are due to the astrono-
mers. Toward the year 1790 a curious fact was announced by Maske-
lyne, who stated that in the estimation of the passage of stars across
the thread of a meridian telescope, there was a constant discrepancy
between his observations and those of his aid, Kinnebrock. Later,
Bessel, comparing the observations of other astronomers with his own,
perceived that most of the observers signalized the passage of stars a
little later than he did, the difference in some cases being more than
a second. These observations attracted the attention of astronomers
generally. They commenced to study the phenomenon under the name
of the personal equation, and to ascertain its absolute value. ‘To illustrate
the method of obtaining this: result, we shall only describe the process
lately invented by M. Wolf, of the Paris observatory. He arranged a
luminous bull’s-eve, a kind of artificial star, so that it moved at a uni-
form rate along a curved line, resembling the trajectory of a true star.
At the moment this luminary actually passes before the thread of the
telescope, or at the moment when its center coincides with the central
thread, it closes the circuit of a galvanic battery; at this precise instant,
an electric current, excited by the completion of the circuit, records the
passage of the star ona revolving cylinder. Moreover, the observer, at
the moment when he perceives the passage of the artificial star before the
thread of the telescope, by pressing a spring, records the instant on the
same chronograph. The interval between the two signals, estimated in
fractions of a second, measures the lapse of time between the real pas-
sage of the star and the estimation of its passage by the observer. This
is the absolute value of the personal equation, which remains nearly the
same for each observer, unless, being aware of it, he endeavors to cor-
rect it. M. Wolf reduced his error from three-tenths to one-tenth of a
second.

From a physiological point of view, we may ask, What is this personal
equation? The astronomers, Bessel and Faye, have suggested the hy-
pothesis that an intellectual operation is necessary for transmitting by
a signal a perceived sensation. The phenomenon has not the less gen-
erality from having been at first signalized by astronomers, and it may
be said that a certain time always elapses between the instant of occur-
rence of a phenomenon and the signal of an attentive observer that he
perceives it. The duration which separates the impression from the
signal of the reaction has been called the physiological period. We owe
very curious observations upon the variations of this physiological
period to M. Hirsch, (of Neufchatel,) and especially to M. Donders, and
his pupils. y

Thus, the signal of reaction being always the same—for example, a
motion of the hand, as in closing a galvanic current—it is observed that
the signal is produced more rapidly if the impression is made upon the
sense of hearing than if it is exercised upon the sense of sight, and still

PHENOMENA OF FLIGHT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 229

more quickly by tactile irritation. If the impression is on the eye, the
reaction of the hand takes place in one-fifth of a second; if it is on the
ear, in one-sixth of a second; and on the skin, in one-sev enth of asecond.,
Thus the physiological periods are among themselves as the numbers
one-fifth, one-sixth, one-seventh. But does this period of, for example,
one-seventh of a second, which elapses between the moment when the
skin is irritated and that when the observer moves his hand, corre-
spond entirely to a psychical act? We answer no; it is necessary that
the sensory impression should have time to reach the brain; cerebral
perception and volition being then accomplished, time is required for the
motor impression to reach the muscle and determine its motion. Nor
is this all. The impression once produced passes through the nerve
with a known velocity, but this impression is not instantaneously pro-
duced; it needs time to take form, to be completed before becoming
ready to traverse the nerve. It is not sufficient, therefore, to deduct
from the total duration of one-seventh of a second, the duration of the
passage of the sensory nerve-force and of the motor nerve-force, to con-
clude that the remainder appertains to the psychical act. These experi-
ments do not exhaust the subject. They do not make known the dura-
tion of the cerebral act, nor even whether it has a duration.

M. Donders instituted in the meanwhile a series of experiments des-
tined to remove all doubts. His method consists in augmenting the
physiological period until the measurement of the intercalated intel-
lectual operation can be clearly observed.

The following is the plan of one of his experiments:

First case.—The observer knows that an electric shock will be given
to his right foot, while the signal of reaction is to be given by the right
hand.

Second case.—The observer does not know which foot will receive the
irritation, and is instructed to give the signal by the hand of the irri-
tated side.

The physiological period measured in the two cases was longer in the
latter by about one-fifteenth of a second. It is clear, all the other con-
ditions being the same, that the difference in question represents the
time necessary to determine upon which side the irritation had taken
place, and to direct to the right or left side, conformably with the idea
acquired, the action of the will. Consequently the solution of a di-
lemma reduced to the most simple form is a cerebral action existing
during one-fifteenth of a second. It is thus experimentally established
that a cerebral action has a duration. We finally become assured that
this duration is augmented in proportion as the psychical action be-
comes more complicated, and that it is diminished when the action be-
comes simplified.

Instead of exciting the organs of touch, Donders next experimented
as follows on visual irritation :

First case-—The observer executes a movement with the right hand
upon the appearance of a white light.

Second case—A white light anda red light are employed, and the sig-

nal of reaction is to be given with the right hand for the white light,
and with the left hand tor the red light. Under these conditions 1 the
solution of the dilemma consumes in the mind a more considerable
time. On the contrary, in the case of auditory stimulation, the dilemma
was solved by the mind in less time than in the ease of visual stimula-
tion. The author of these researches attributes this superiority of one
sense over another to a facility derived from habit or exercise ; and, in
fact, repetition tends to equalize the action in the case of the two hands.

2930 PHENOMENA OF FLIGHT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.

The elementary psychical action which we have examined has not yet
attained the greatest degree of simplicity. Since, in the solution of the
preceding dilemmas, two operations of the brain can be distinguished—
first, the distinction between different impressions ; second, the volition of
an act chosen from among other acts—Donders asked himself if it might
not be possible to determine separately the time appertaining to each of
these two terms. The following is the experiment which he instituted
to attain this object:

First case—An observer was warned that a vowel would be pro-
nounced, and was directed to reproduce the sound heard.

Second case.—The observer in this second arrangement was directed
to respond only toa single vowel—i, for example—and to keep silence for
ail others pronounced. His effort was then entirely directed toward the
recognition of i, the vocal organs were placed in the proper position, and
the impulse of the breath alone was needed to emit the corresponding
sound. We readily comprehend how much the second term of the psy-
chical action is simplified under these conditions. The will having only
to apply itself to the production of such a sound, rather than any other,
reacts, so to speak, without a previous judgment, and the signal follows
the act of volition as simply as can be imagined. We naturally observe
that this restricted operation occupies less time than the first by the
amount of time necessary to respond to each sound with its equivalent,
and this difference corresponds to the action no longer required by the
brain.

The preceding considerations indicate sufficiently the path which we
have to follow. Having to study the function of aerial locomotion, we
shall examine the organ which serves to accomplish it, namely, the
wing. It is by the movements of their wings that animals sustain and
direct themselves in the air. They strike the atmosphere with repeated
blows, and the reaction of this fluid on the surface which they expose
serves for the propulsion of the entire body.

I.—FLIGHT OF INSECTS.

The first subject which presents itself for our investigation will be
the inquiry as to the frequency of the motions of the wings of in-
sects. Here we encounter the first difficulty. The movements of the
wings are so rapid in most cases that the eye cannot count or follow
them. There are very few insects which fly slowly enough to render
this direct determination possible. Among the most common we may
mention the white butterfly which is frequently met with in our fields,
the cabbage Pieris. This insect, which has a jerking flight, seldom exe-
cutes more than eight or nine movements of the wing in a second; while
those insects whose flight is directed with precision and without jerks
toward a determined point generally execute hundreds of strokes of
the wing in a second. Thus, in the majority of cases, direct observa-
tion cannot follow the wing of insects. We observe a body in motion,
but we only perceive the extreme limits of its oscillation ; it may, how-
ever, be said that these limits are seen with great precision. But
that observation may be facilitated, it is necessary that the subject of it
shall be placed in a favorable situation. We take, for example, one of
those Macroglossa (sphynx moths) which frequently serve as the subject
of experiments on account of their large size and the readiness with
which they are obtained. Fastening its body with a pin between two
strips of cork in such a way that it shall not turn around upon the
axis which pierces it, and that the motion of its wings alone shall be en-

PHENOMENA OF FLIGHT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 231

tirely free and placing it before us, the wings being in motion, we
perceive two oblique lines, which mark the limits of passage of each of
its wings, while their intermediate positions continue to escape the most
acute observation.

It is hardly necessary to give an explanation of this fact. Every time
that a body in rapid motion changes its direction to return on its steps
and to traverse in a contrary direction the road which it has already
traveled, a moment arrives when its motion, before change of direc-
tion, becomes absolutely nothing; this point of cessation, this dead-
point, is the extreme limit of oscillation. This is why the impression
is produced before the wing has left the limiting position, and at the
moment when the impression is about to be effaced the wing has had
time to make a complete oscillation and to return to its point of depart-
ure, so that the new impression is confounded with the old one, and the
eye experiences a continuous sensation, the result of the fusion of the
intermittent sensations. But since the optical method is insufficient to
inform us of the frequency of the vibrations of the wings, we must
have recourse to another process. I may say, in advance, that the
graphic process is the most exact of any we possess, and you shall be
the judges of the results it will afford us. However, before broaching
this new subject I cannot dispense with saying a few words on an inge-
nious method based on the observation of the sound which insects pro-
duce during their flight, and which we may designate as the acoustic
method.

Every one has heard the sound which insects produce while flying.
If this vibratory buzzing is due to the strokes of the wing, and if they
result from its alternate motion back and forth, as the sound of the reed
results from the vibration of a metallic lamina, then in ascertaining the
pitch of the sound the number of alternate vibrations to which it cor-
responds willbe known. Jor this, a tuning-fork, or a piano, is sufficient,
with which we can compare the pitch of the sound produced by the
insect. This method would be very conclusive if the principle upon
which it rests was incontestably established. But on this point there is
a difference of opinion among naturalists. First, a number of sounds
produced by insects can be definitely excluded, which are certainly not
produced by the vibration of the wings. Certain coleoptera, for exam-
ple, produce sound by rubbing the last upper segments of the abdomen
against the elytra.* T. Lacordaire cites, among the insects which emit
sound in this manner, the Necrephori, the Copri, the exotic Scarabi, anda
host of lamellicorn beetles not found in Europe. Almost all the lamelli-
corns produce a deep sound by rubbing the peduncle of their mesothoraxt
against the prothorax{ in which itis inserted. Certain of the Cicindelide,
the Oxycheila tristis, the Melasomide, the Cacicus americanus, rub their
thighs or their hinder legs against the border of their elytra, pro-
ducing in this way a peculiar noise. Ollivier, in the first volume of his
entomology, mentions the fact that the female of a Cape of Good Hope
insect, the Moluris striata, calls the male by rubbing a granular protuber-
ance upon the lower part of the second segment of the abdomen against
extraneous objects. Finally, among the crickets one part of the anterior
wings. thinner than the rest, forms a kind of drum or tympanum ; one
of the nervures which traverses this drum is armed with denticles, on
which, during the alternate motion of the wings one over another, the

~

* Elytra: the hard outer wings of beetles.

t Mesothorax: the second segment of the middle or leg-bearing division of the body
of a beetle.
t Prothorax: the first segment of the same.

932 PHENOMENA OF FLIGHT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.

salient border of the opposite wing is rubbed in such a manner as to
sound the drum and produce the noise familiar to every one. It will be
understood that at present we eliminate all these sounds, the origin of
which is evidently different from that of the vibrations of the wings,
and confine ourselves to the very great number of cases in which the
buzzing of the insect is manifestly produced by the rapid strokes of
these organs.

Chabrier and Lacordaire report that a portion of the wings of most
insects can be destroyed without a cessation of the sound. ‘ In portions,
as pieces of these organs are cut off, the sound becomes sharper, and sen-
sibly more feeble, especially when we leave only a stump remaining. If
this last be removed, which can only be done by a considerable laceration
of the muscles which attach it to the thorax, the buzzing ceases entirely.”
“Tf,” concludes the author, “the buzzing were entirely due to the wings,
we could not cut off with impunity three-quarters of these organs.” © This
objection confirms the hypothesis which it apparently was intended to
disprove. In effect, since the sound is elevated in the same ratio in
which the vibrating wing is diminished in length, is not this phenomenon
entirely analogous to that which we observe when we have shortened
a vibrating rod? The modification produced in the sound being the
same in both cases, should not the mechanism of its production be iden-
tical? Atleast the facts cannot be regarded otherwise, if the vibra-
tions of the wings are really the cause of the buzzing.

Theauthors whom we have justcited haveindicated an entirely different
cause for the acoustic phenomena. They have attributed them to the
air which enters the trachex, and which, passing rapidly outward, puts
in vibration the little sealy organs which surround the base of the stig-
mati.* And they cite, in confirmation of their views, this fact—that the
buzzing also ceases if the surface of the body of the animal is covered
with gum so that the excess of air to the respiratory canals is prevented.
The lips of the stigmati act as the lips of the glottis do in superior animals,
and the buzzing of the insect, therefore, becomes a true voice. Whatever
may be the fate of this explanation, the result which we desire remains
the same. We see, in effect, that in the motions of the wing there is,
as it seems, only a single active period—that in which it is lowered,
brought down; the elevation takes place in consequence of the elas-
ticity of the pieces of the thorax strongly stretched by the contraction
of the muscles which pull down the wing. At the same time that this
tension is produced, the volume of the thorax is amplified and the incur-
sion of air is the immediate result of this increase of capacity. The air
must then enter and leave the trachez at each stroke, and the vibra-
tions it produces (whether proceeding from the wing membrane or from
the stigmati) correspond exactly to the movements of the wing.

The acoustic phenomenon, if it is not the consequence of the vibra-
tion of the wings, is at least synchronous with it. It can inform us,
therefore, in all cases of the frequency of the strokes. When the buz-
zing of an insect, flying with a uniform rapidity, is observed, we find that
the pitch perceptibly does not remain the same; when the insect ap-
proaches the ear the pitch is elevated, and is lowered when the insect
flies from us. Something analogous takes place when a tuning-fork in
vibration is moved rapidly to and from the ear; the sound becomes.
elevated and then lowered, and the difference may attain a quarter or
even half a tone. It is necessary, therefore, to take care that the in-
sect experimented on should always be at the same distance from the

* Stigmati: the spiracles or openings in the external integument of insects, through
which respiration is carried on.

PHENOMENA OF FLIGHT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 233

observer. This perturbatory phenomenon has been perfectly explained
as follows: The vibrations, without doubt, are all produced at equal in-
tervals of time, and, therefore, when the instrument remains at the same
distance from the ear, the same time elapses between the several im-
pulses on the tympanum. But when the fork is made rapidly to ap-
proach the ear the impulses are crowded together, and consequently the
pitch rises ; when, on the contrary, the fork is rapidly removed from the
ear the impulses are wider apart, and the sound deepens. Every one
has remarked, in traveling by rail, that if a locomotive whistles while
passing in an opposite direction, the sharpness of the sound increases
as it approaches, and becomes deep when it has passed and is rapidly
becoming more distant.

II. The movements of the wing of insects.

To arrive at a complete comprehension of the mechanism of flight of
insects, I have said that we should, in the first place, resolve a certain
number of practical questions which should serve us as steps to reach a
definite conclusion. I could present you immediately with the final
result of the experiments by which I have elucidated this subject for
myself, and the theory which expresses them, but I prefer to proceed
otherwise. I shall enter on an examination of the facts and into the
details of the experiments, in order that my hearers may participate
more completely in the studies which we pursue together, for I am per-
suaded that there is as much profit in knowing how to arrive at a result
as in knowing the result itself.

1. We have begun to study the motions of the wings, and the first
question which presents itself is the frequency of these motions. On
this point direct observation is of little assistance; the acoustic method,
which consists in determining the frequency of the strokes of the wing
by the pitch of the buzzing of the insect is more efficient, but we have
seen that even the principle of this method has been contested, and that
its application presents difficulties. The graphic method remains to be
considered. This method consists in making the wings themselves
record the strokes which they execute. When an insect is held in
captivity by force which it cannot overcome, after trial it ceases
a useless resistance; it resigns itself and abstains from all efforts to
escape, its wings remain immovable, and in this way the observer who
hopes to study their motions finds himself disappointed. But there are
different methods of awakening the insect to its original activity; it
is sometimes sufficient to pinch the antenne lightly; this irritation of a
very sensitive organ succeeds with the Macroglossa. Among the wasps.
the end may be attained by titillating the feet, or by holding them all
together with a pair of forceps, and then releasing them suddenly, except
one, by which the animal isheld. The captive supposes that it is at liberty,
and makes an effort at flight which last about thirty seconds, or long
enough to be observed. There is, however, another difficulty. The captive
insect, when willing, cannot fly like an insect at liberty, because the exter-
nal conditions are not the same. It experiences a greater resistance ir.
proportion to the traction which it exerts upon the bond which holds it ;
to a free insect the relation is such as a boat held by an obstruction
bears to one sailing freely, or as a horse which drags a load to one re-
lieved from harness. This resistance modifies its behavior considerably,
and obliges us to distinguish between the two different conditions of
free flight and flight in captivity. It is indispensable to establish these

distinctions, in order to appreciate at their true value the results to

234 PHENOMENA OF FLIGHT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.

which we are conducted by the graphic as well as the other methods which
we may employ.

The apparatus on which the wings record their motions is the ordi-
nary registering apparatus, consisting of a metal cylinder covered with
smoked paper, to which a uniform rate of motion is imparted by clock-
work. Let us suppose that, instead of the motions of the wings, we
would simply register the oscillations of a vibratingrod. For this pur-
pose the extremity of the rod is furnished with a little style which
touches the blackened paper with its point, and, as the different parts
of the movable cylinder pass successively before the point, the soot is
detached from the places which it touches anda trace produced. If the
rod is not in vibration, it makes a long white rectilinear trace without
sinuosities, a straight line which, rolled upon the cylinder, constitutes a
circumference. If it is in vibratory motion, its trajectory will be a
curved line, of which the sinuosities indicate all the circumstances of
the motion, its phases of elevation, it depressions—in a word, all its
movements—and consequently all the oscillations which the vibrating
rod executes in space will be faithfully reproduced on the paper. If
we would ascertain the frequency of the oscillations, it is sufficient to
know the rate at which the cylinder revolves. Ordinarily a tuning-forlk
is employed, of which the number of vibrations is previously known, as,
for example, one hundred vibrations per second. This is made to write
its vibrations upon the registering cylinder below the line traced by the
vibrating rod, of which the number of vibrations are desired. The
comparison of the two tracings shows at once the number of the motions
of the tuning-fork back and forth ; that is to say, how many hundredths
of a second correspond to one oscillation of the rod; the number of mo-
tions of the vibrating body during a given time is thus known with
great exactness.

It is not, however, as easy to obtain the tracing from the wing of an
insect as from a vibrating rod, and this for several reasons. In the first
place it is very difficult to fix at the extremity of the wing a writing
style; however light it may be, the rapidity of the motion to which it
is submitted is sufficient in most cases co throw it off. If, however,
after many trials and much precaution we are able to retain it in its
place, a permanent cause of perturbation still exists from its very
presence. Under the influence of this incumberance the extent and fre-
quency of the strokes of the wing are evidently diminished. It is easy
to convince onrselves of this by taking a Macroglossa and fixing it in the
manner which we have previously described ; that is, immovably between
two strips of cork, by means of a pin. Looking down upon it we per-
ceive the extreme limits traversed by the wing above and below which
we have called the dead-points. If some substance is applied to the
surface of the wing, we see by the effect of this burden, in diminishing
the play of the organ, the two limits of oscillation approach one another,
and the extreme upper position, which just now was almost vertical, in-
clines toward the horizontal. We may finally remark that it is only at
the cost of considerable chafing against the surface of the moving
cylinder that we can obtain a complete tracing of the movement of the
wing. The wing cannot touch the cylinder except during a very short
instant of its stroke; that is, the instant when the wing reaches pre-
cisely the distance from the body of the animal to the cylindrical sur-
face. The spherical figure which the margin of the wing describes in
space cannot have more than one point in common with the blackened
eylinder. We can, therefore, only obtain, as the whole impression, a
series of points at more or less regular intervals; and, if a more pro-

PHENOMENA OF FLIGHT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 235

longed contact is desired, it can only be by curving the wing and _ fold-

ing “it upon itself, and consequently the natural curve which the or-
canization of the insect obliges it to traverse will be falsified and
altered. In any case the friction against the blackened surface will re-
tard the motion, and although the retardation which it causes may be
neglected when it is opposed to bodies of large size, such as a tuning-
fork or a vibrating rod, it cannot be when the vibrating object is the
delicate membrane which constitutes the w ing of aninsect. Again, the
friction, although exceedingly small, is found ‘fully comparable with the
forces which come in play in the motion of the wing, and its interven-
tion notably alters the action of the latter. Experiment has confirmed
these views. In one case an insect executing the motions of flight, and
rubbing its wings somewhat roughly against the paper, furnished 240
movements per second; by diminishing more and more the contact of
the wing with the cylinder, there have been obtained 282, 305, and 321.

If, therefore, we would have a faithful representation, it is necessary to
renounce the idea of obtaining those beautiful, regular, and continuous
lines which are produced by the tuning-fork or vibrating rod, and content
ourselves with interrupted lines, half-strokes represented by fragments,
or even only isolated dots , the periodical return in these incomplete
markings of definite forms per mits us to infer the repetition of similar
oscillations, and hence to determine their frequency. The operation is as
follows: With a delicate pair of forceps we hold the insect by the lower
portion of its abdomen, in such a position that one of its wings at each
movement shall lightly touch the blackened paper. Each of these touches
takes off a portion of the soot which covers the paper, and, as the cylin-
der turns, new points incessantly present themselves to the contact of
the wing. A figure is thus obtained, formed of a series of points or
short strokes of “perfect regularity if the insect has been maintained in

a fixed position.
Fig. 1.

AUN NRANA YARAN YU) VS ARAN SAR RA RS Sea SA WDD AANE AAT ED AYA AQ
ot AAS x

SRANDNS YAY EDT AS Spt AMAADAAASA BRAM DMT |

SnANAUAAN AURA AAR AI, RAR MAAR ARANAD?

>

Showing the frequency of the wing-strokes of a drone, (the three upper lines,) and
of a bee, (the lower line.) The fourth line is produced by the vibration of a tuning-
fork, furnished with a style, which executes 250 double v ibrations per second.

Fig, 2.

Tracing produced by the wing of a drone rubbing a little more strongly on the paper
than in the preceding figure.

We have obtained a large number of these tracings in which the wing
has only touched the surface of the registering cylinder, and has left

236 PHENOMENA OF FLIGHT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.

only a point as a mark in each of its vibrations. I exhibit a number of
these, and trust as soon as the return of spring permits us, to pro-
cure insects to show you the experiments by which these tracings have
been produced. Those which you are now examining have enabled me
to determine the frequency of the strokes of the wings of the following

insects:
Strokes

per second.
COT TE ace ie wa, nya. = indeney\ aie epee eI eT EE ete ee ee 330
Fm DIG Bees pte ao. ioc - + wrcseun peieyhiee sore ee Ine ee ee eee 240
FLOM ERED C Reticence sa sni2 9:5, atten Sg oe excuse & kc eC ER ae eee 190
WSIS Se eo rss. pact mreeiese cant Ses wae) Se iene oe aE a ee 110
EX MALOU (MECLCT OQLOSSOL)S Simin oo nye to career Nae epee eee ee 72
Dragonpily, | Labellula). ee ee See ee eg ei ee en 28
CapGa me DUGbOLILY - <i: ccac cece e vee scene ition oe oe ee 9

Certain authors have estimated this number of vibrations by the
acoustic method, but there is a notable discrepancy between the above
figures and those which they have deduced from the pitch of the sound
that these insects produce in flying. In the case of the common fly, T.
Lacordaire has computed the number of the vibrations of its wings at
600 per second, that is to say, twice as many as our figures exhibit.
Has there not been a misunderstanding here, as is frequently the case,
in the use of the word “vibration?” “Some persons wrongly consider
the raising and depressing of the wing as two vibrations, and reserve
the term of ‘simple vibrations” for one or the other of these isolated
motions. On the contrary, if we follow the usage most generally
adopted, the two motions together, by which the body is again in its
original position, should be considered as a single vibration.

The previous observations which we have made on free flight, and
on flight under restraint, somewhat curtail the range which we are
tempted to accord to these numbers. The animal, according as it desires
to move with a greater or less rapidity, can change at will not only the
extent of its wing-strokes, but also, to a certain extent, their frequency.
Fatigue may exercise an analogous influence to that of the will; after very
rapid motions, the exhausted animal diminishes the number of its strokes,
which sometimes falls to a fourth or a fifth of its normal value. It con-
tinues to relax them more and more until a period of repose and repara-
tion permits it to resume its usual flight; nevertheless the examination
of these numbers suggests some general considerations. We have
reason to think that each of the muscular contractions which determine
the drawing down of the wind is the result of a single impulse, (Zuckung
of the Germans,) although in man contraction is due to successive im-
pulses which are merged in one another when they are produced more
frequently than 30 times in a second. Among insects the limit of fusion
of impulses is infinitely more remote, and ends with leaving the wing
immovable in a sort of permanent tetanic contraction. It is easy to
assure ourselves of this by means of living insects, or better, by means
of the artificial insect which I have constructed. When the impulses
become too rapid, their extent diminishes; at this moment they no longer
serve for the propulsion of the animal, whose wings appear quite immov-
able or merely agitated by a light tremor. Nevertheless, the number of
muscular waves which the fibers of insects will admit without inter-
mingling, a number which in the fly amounts to 300 per second, forms a
physiological fact, very interesting to note. Among other animals the
limit is not so remote; ; among birds fusion is produced after 75 impulses ;
among mammals after 30, and among reptilia after only 4. These dif-

PHENOMENA OF FLIGHT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 237

erences correspond, in virtue of the relations which I have long since
explained to you, to analogous differences in the rapidity with which
the elementary impulse traverses the muscular fiber of these different
animals. The muscular fiber of the insect will then be characterized,
physiologically, by the property which it possesses of furnishing a con-
siderable number of distinct impulses, as well as it is anatomically
characterized by its relative size and its striation.

The graphic process which enables us to judge of the frequency of
the strokes, also permits us to show the perfect synchronism of the play
of the wings. For this purpose it is necessary to choose an insect
of which the amplitude of the wing-vibrations is large, so that in their
moment of greatest elevation they may nearly meet above the dorsal
region of the animal. If the insect is placed near enough to the regis-
tering cylinder, the dorsal region turned toward the blackened surface,
it is clear that at the moment when the wings approach each other they
will leave their traces on the paper, thus describing a series of loops and
curves, of which the perfect correspondence proves the synchronism of
the motions from which they originate.

Simultaneous tracings of the wings of a wasp in short flight. The perfect syn-
chronism of the two wings will be observed.

Furthermore, we can convince ourselves that a sort of necessary con-
nection exists between the motions of the two wings. If we throw an
insect violently upon the ground, so that it is stunned and can no longer
execute voluntary motions, we observe that, by producing motions in
one of the wings, the other follows, to a certain extent, the movements
inflicted on its fellow. If one of the wings of an insect is depressed, the
other also bends down; if one be raised the other elevates itself. Cer-
tain species, especially the wasp, lend themselves very readily to this
experiment. According to Chabrier, the author of an extensive work
on the mechanism of the flight of insects, synchronism cannot fail to
exist. This author considers the depression of the wing as the only
effective portion of the stroke ; its elevation is a passive phenomenon due
to the action of physical forces. In fact, after the depression each dor-
sal are of the thorax is deflected like a bent bow, and when the muscu-
lar contraction ceases the bow springs back in virtue of its elasticity,
and the wing israised. Now, if the pressure did not act simultaneously
on the two extremities of the bow it could not be flexed as it is, and the
mechanism which we suppose would be impossible. The reality of this
synchronism is, then, a strong proof in favor of this manner of under-
standing the motion of the wing.

After having determined, in a general manner, the frequency of the
vibrations of the wing, we seek to know the variation produced in the
number of these vibrations by agents capable of influencing the activity
of the animal. In the first rank of such agents must be placed heat and
cold. We know that warm, dry weather is essential to insects, espe-
cially coleoptera, to enable them to fly well; special observation has
confirmed this fact. Weare able to state that, within certain limits, the
frequency of the strokes is augmented with an increase of the tempera-
ture, and that they become slower under a gradual increase of cold.

238 PHENOMENA OF FLIGHT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.

II.—FoRM OF THE MOTIONS OF THE WINGS.

After having studied the frequency of the vibrations of the wings,
it is necessary to study their form. Jor the end which we desire to
obtain—that is, to arrive at a theory of the flight of insects—the most
important element to comprehend is that which we now proceed to in-
vestigate, namely: The form of the trajectory which the wing describes
wm space instead of the rapidity with which this trajectory is described.
In order to arrive at this determination we shall have recourse to two
processes which will reciprocally correct each other—the optic method
and the ordinary graphic method.

Optic determination of the movements of the wing—When a brilliant
body moves with rapidity it leaves upon the retina a kind of luminous
train which acquaints us with the trajectory through which the body
has passed. Children sometimes amuse themselves in producing the
most varied figures by brandishing in the air a stick having one end on
fire. It is on this principle that the apparatus known in physics under
the name of Wheatstone’s calidrophone is founded. ‘This is a rod, fast-
ened upright on a heavy foot, to which complex vibrations may be given,
and to the ends of which a brilliant metallic bead has been affixed. If
the rod is put into vibration the brilliant bead describes in space lumin-
ous figures which vary with the different combinations of the vibratory
motions. If a brilliant spangle can be attached to the extremity of the
wing of an insect, this spangle, traversing without cessation the same
points in space, leaves a continuous luminous figure, exempt from the
imperfection which is caused by friction in the case of the graphic cyl-
inder. The extremity of an insects wing can thus be rendered brilliant
without mutilating it in any way; it is sufficient to place upon it a drop
of varnish, to w hich a small piece of gold-leaf is applied. The varnish
dries so rapidly that the insect cannot throw off this little reflector of
light, and nothing more is necessary than to hold the animal in a fixed
position to observe the play of light upon the small brilliant surface.
Under these conditions the bee and the wasp furnish a well-marked
“ figure of eight.”

Aspect of a wasp, the extremity of whose primary wings has been gilded. The animal
is supposed to be placed in a ray of light.

PHENOMENA OF FLIGHT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 239

The figures of eight are more or less widened or compressed according
to circumstances. Sometimes the point of the wing seems to move
almostin one plane. In the dragon fly (Libellula) a figure of eight is also
observed, but much more elongated; the loops are narrow and laterally
compressed. With the Macroglossa galium it sometimes seems as if the
preceding form had disappeared, and is replaced by a sort of ellipse.
However, in examining it closely it is soon perceived that this ellipse is
surmounted by a little loop, very slightly developed, relatively to the
curve which supports it. It seems that one of the loops is enlarged at
the expense of the other, but this last has not entirely disappeared, and
the vestige what remains testifies to the persistence of the figure of eight
which is encountered in most other cases, and which may serve as the
general type.

Changes of the plane of the wing.—The luminous figure which the gilded
wing of an insect gives in its motions also shows that, during the alter-
nate motions of flight, the plane of the wing changes its position in
relation to the axis of the body of the insect. During the period of
elevation the upper face of the wing is directed backward, while it turns
a little forward during its descent. In fact, if we gild a large extent of
the upper face of the wing of a wasp, taking care that the gilding shall
be limited to this face, it is seen that the insect, placed in a ray of
light, gives the figure of eight with a very unequal intensity on the two
sides of the image, as is seen in the preceding figure. It is evident that
the cause of this phenomenon is found in a change of the plane of the
wing, a change in consequence of which the angle of incidence of the
solar rays, while favorable during the ascent of the wing, is unfavorable
during the descent. Ifthe animal is turned so that the luminous figure
is observed inversely, the figure of eight presents, in an inverse position,
the striking inequality of its two halves, catching the light in a portion
which was just before without it, and losing it where it had previously
shone. We further find, in the employment of the graphic method,
new proofs of the changes of plane in the wings of insects during flight.
This change of plane is of great importance, for in this rests, as we
Shall see, the immediate cause of the propulsion of the body of the an-
imal by the application of the motive force.

Method of contact.—Does the extremity of the wing really describe
this double loop which we perceive, or is this form the resuit of an opti-
cal illusion—a play of light? Though such an objection is hardly
probable, it is necessary to refute it. To assure myself more entirely
of the reality of the displacement of the wing than the optic method
rendered perceptible, I have introduced, while the wing was in motion,
the extremity of a little bodkin into the interior of the loops of the fig-
ure of eight, and I have established that in the interior of these curves
free spaces really exist, of a funnel shape, in which the bodkin pene-
trated without encountering the wing, while if I attempted to touch
the intersection where the lines cross the wing immediately struck
against the bodkin, and flght was interrupted. Still greater precision
can be brought to bear on the appreciation of these motions, and, know-
ing that the wing describes a double loop, it may also be known in what
manner it transverses the branches. It is sufficient to bring near to
the wing in motion a leaf of paper blackened on both sides; the wing,
in pursuing its course, strikes against one of the sides of the paper, and
the trace which it leaves testifies to the manner in which the motion is
accomplished.

Graphic method.—This method is not applicable to our problem with-
out important modifications. We have just seen that it is difficult to

240 PHENOMENA OF FLIGHT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.

obtain tracings of any extent, because the wing cannot remain long in
contact with the blackened cylinder, which it leaves and approaches
successively. Under these special conditions it is necessary to have
resource to an artifice, and since it is impossible to obtain a satisfactory
trace at a single stroke, we should try to divide the difficulty and sepa-
rate the operation into several periods. The preceding experiments sim-
plify the interpretation of the tracings very much, and we can _recon-
struct the figures which the optic method has indicated from the slender
elements which they afford. I have considered in the complete course of
the wing of an insect, such as is represented in Fig. 4, three distinct
zones, of which I have obtained the tracings separately; an inferior
zone, corresponding to the lower portion of the figure of eight, a median
zone, and a superior zone corresponding to the middle and upper parts
of this figure. Bringing together the tracings obtained in these three
zones I have been able to reconstruct the entire curve. In registering
the tracings of the median zone, figures much resembling each other
are obtained, presenting the two crossed lines shown in Fig. 5.

Fig. 5.

Trace of the median course of the wing of the Macroglossa galiwm, (Bedstraw sphynx-
moth.)

The multiple tracings of the figure are formed by the fringed extrem-
ity of the wing, which presents many small points. The upper portion
is in the form of a loop, as well as the part which corresponds to the
lower course of the wing, and these three parts successively obtained
give, when united together, the complete representation of a figure of
eight, such as is obtained in acoustics in registering by Keenig’s method
the vibrations of a Wheatstone’s octave rod; that is, a rod which vi-
brates twice transversely for each longitudinal vibration. The slower
motion of the cylinder produces the condensation of the end of the
tracing.

Fig. 6.

Foe EN * . ihe 5 a J

NSE Qae a e Teh

2

Trace of a Wheatstone’s octave rod.

The experiments can also be varied by obtaining, not the tracing of
the point of the wing, but that of the anterior border of this membrane,
striking laterally against the cylinder. It is clear that in describing the
upper loop, this edge will approach the cylinder, then deviating ; in a
similar manner it will describe the lower loop, so that in its complete
course it will rub twice against the blackened surface, and leave two
white traces separated by an interval. This is observed in Fig. 7.

PHENOMENA OF FLIGHT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 241

This figure shows from the tracing of the wing of a wasp the upper
loop and the whole extent of one of the branches of the figure of eight.
The median portion of this branch is onty dotted on account of the
feeble friction of the wing. We may, therefore, be permitted to con-
clude that if the trace of an insect’s wing could be obtained entire at
one operation, the same figure would be presented which we have seen
described in space by the gilded spot on the wing of the wasp, namely,
a figure of eight, which our ingenious acoustician, Koenig, was the first
to obtain with a spiral Wheatstone’s rod, making two horizontal to one
vertical oscillation.

It now appears to me sufficiently established that in the more ex-
tended motions of flight the wings of insects describe a figure of eight
in space. Furthermore, that the luminous figure which a speck of gold
on a wing presents in its motions has shown us that the periods of
ascent and descent of the wing are accompanied by a change of plane
in that organ. It is this fact which will shortly enable us to explain the
mechanism of flight in insects.

ITI. MECHANISM OF THE FLIGHT OF INSECTS—HOW THEY PROPEL
THEMSELVES.

The preceding lessons have been devoted to the study of the frequency
and the form of the strokes of the wings of insects. You have seen
that the frequency varied in different species, and in passing from the
butterfly, for example, to the house fly, or the gnat, the variations may be
considerable. The flight of the butterfly is slow, the strokes of its wings
succeed each other at considerable intervals, propelling it by bounds
and jerks, and producing an irregular and capricious flight. The gnat
darts with rapidity straight at its object, emitting along its path a clear,
sharp, strident sound. Between these two extremes we find all inter-
mediate stages. Turthermore, the same insect, under different condi-
tions, varies the rapidity of its motions within extensive limits; when
free from all restraint its movements are rapid and precipitous, but
when captured they are immediately relaxed, anc although the fre-
quency of the movements of the wing varies, the form of the motion
does not change. It is in all cases the same, always a double loop, a
figure of eight. Whether this figure be more or less apparent, whether
its branches be more or less equal, matters little; it exists, and an
attentive examination does not fail to reveal it.

Before drawing from this fact the conclusions which it warrants; before
extracting from it the solution of the problem with which we are occu-
pied—that is to say, the mechanism of flight—let us rapidly review the
history of the question, and see how far previous authors have advanced
in its solution. Without going further back, we find in the work ot
Borelli a chapter devoted to this subject, in which be considers the force
which the bird or insect must employ to sustain or move itself in space.

168

242 PHENOMENA OF FLIGHT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.

He estimates that this force is enormous; that it is, in the case of the bird,
more than ten thousand times greater thanthe weightof itsbody. We still
find this exaggeration in recent works. The academician Navier, falls
into an analogous error, and after him M. Babinet accords, in his turn,
a power to the inhabitants of the air far superior to that with which
they are gifted by nature. However, by the side of these errors we find
a great number of correct ideas, since confirmed by observation. Borelli
knew that the principal motion of the wings was an elevation and depres-
sion, executed in a vertical plane, and he asked himself how it was pos-
sible that this motion, which, it seemed to him, could only serve to ele-
vate the animal or to depress it, should nevertheless contribute to onward
motion. For this, it was necessary that the vertical force should be
changed into a horizontal force. Examples of this transformation are
frequent. If a wind blowing horizontally strikes against a flat board
inclined forward at an angle of, say, forty-five degrees with the horizon,
the action of the wind will tend to throw it backward and upward; or,
if the board is moving forward with a momentum, it will tend to elevate
it. We have here anillustration of a well-known principle of mechanics
—the resolution of a single force by an inclined plane into two forces—
which gives in part an explanation of the flight of insects and of water
birds. But insects have four wings instead of two. Is the office of these
four organs the same ; and if not, in what do they differ? Borelli‘does
not treat of this question. It it discussed, however, in a particular
case, by an anonymous author, who has left us an interesting manu-
script on the habits of bees. This work, intended to complete and to
correct the work of Réaumur, came from the Condamine Library, and
belongs to M. Harnet. The author has observed bees at the moment
when they hum at the mouth of the hive, trying to enter it and deposit
their treasure. In examining the play of light on their trembling wings,
he thinks that he saw the upper pair alone alternately raised and
depressed, while the lower pair were animated only with a feeble hori-
zontal motion. Here the question seems to have been abandoned,
although the interest with which it is now regarded is far from incon-
siderable. Beside the interest which it offers from the purely scientific
point of view, in the mechanism of a function as widely employed as
aérial locomotion, still another interest is attached to this study. The
insect and the bird realize one of the oldest and most unsuccessful aspi-
rations of the ambition of man. All space belongs to them; they go and
come in the aérial ocean, while he is chained by his weight to the earth.
Man has sought by various methods to escape from this confinement.
The knowledge of the processes by which nature attains the end to
which he aspires, would perhaps have spared him many fruitless attempts
and loss of much time and great waste of invention. In 1823 a work
appeared in which this question of aérial locomotion is treated ex professo,
and no longer in an incidental manner. The author, the Chevalier de
Chabrier, studied the conditions of mobility of the wing, and arrived at
the solution of an important question: how muscular action is trans-
mitted to this movable organ. Is it directly, or by some intervention?
The muscle, responds Chabrier, is not directly attached to the wing; it
acts upon the arch of the back. When it contracts, the curvature of this
arch is augmented; when it relaxes, the back returns to its original
curve, like an unbent bow. In the motion of the wing, therefore, there
is only one active period, the moment of depression; the period of ele-
vation is passive. Elasticity, therefore, plays an important part in this
function. Here, as in all mechanical organs, it absorbs and then gives
out power; it regulates speed and produces continuity of motion.

PHENOMENA OF FLIGHT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 243

But Chabrier was soon earried away by an exaggeration similar to
that of Borelli and of Navier, though in a contrary direction. Accord-
ing to him, an insect needed an insignificant force for its propulsion in
space. No effort was necessary to sustain it in the atmosphere; the ani-
mal floated there like an inflated balloon. In order to fly, it filled its
multitude of respiratory canals with air, and this, becoming heated, raised
the animal as it elevates a hot-air balloon. It is not necessary to say
that this conception of an aerostatic insect is an error. Without doubt
an insect, before attempting a flight, lays in a quantity of air by a sud-
den respiration, but this provision of air contributes only an insignifi-
cant part toward the end which Chabrier assigned it.

The greater portion serves to prepare the organs of flight for the opera-
tion of their function. Jurine, of Geneva, in particular has shown that
the nervures of the wing membranes aresmall tubes, which only acquire
the rigidity and extension necessary to flight by inflation with air. We
must refer to another contemporary, Strauss Durckeim, to find the ele-
ments of the theory to which my observations have conducted me. In
his book on the Theology of Nature, a vast chaos of ingenious ideas, in
which some profound, among many puerile, thoughts are to be found, there
are many facts essential to the solution of our problem. Strauss
Durckeim has conceived the ideal type of the insect-wing, the diagram-
matic wing; that is to say, has reduced the organ to its essential parts.
It consists of a rigid nervation or frame-work in front, a flexible web
behind; this is all the apparatus. An apparatus thus constituted pos-
sesses the essential requisites for flight; otherwise constituted it will not
serve this purpose, as is the case with the false-wing of the Phryganida,
which has its principal nervation behind. It is enough that such a
structure should be made to rise and fall successively; the forward
‘border being ridged and the other flexible, it naturally disposes itself in
an inclined position, receiving the reaction of the air obliquely, and
thus transforms a part of the vertical impulse into a horizontal force.
The two parts of the wing above mentioned are both indispensable in
the same degree their respective offices complement each other in pro-
ducing a single result. Ingenious experiments, due to M. Girard, throw
light upon these facts. Destroy the anterior nervation, without remov-
ing the thin membrane, and the insect cannot fly ; destroy the flexibility
of the membrane by covering it with gum, and flight also becomes im-
possible. Here we cannot urge the objection that the superincumbent
matter interferes by its weight like a burden which weighs down the
animal; for, following out the experiment, we see that as scon as the
coating becomes dry, small fissures are produced, flexibility reappears,
and with it the possibility of flight returns. These observations assist
us in comprehending the part which the anterior portion of the wings
of the Phryganide play; which constitute the analogue of the stiff
nervure, while the hinder wings represent the flexible membrane. 'The
two wings of an insect thus complement each other.

I shall not further prolong this retrospect. I have limited it to the
essential ideas entertained by our predecessors, and to those which will
serve us in the future. The preceding experiments, joined to those
which you have seen performed under your own eyes, seem to me to
establish the following facts, namely: The motions executed by an
insect during flight are limited to an elevation and a depression of the
wings. It is true that other motions take place in the wings of insects.
They are seen to move backward, and in repose to extend parallel to
the axis of the body. We also see insects moving their wings backward
and forward in preparation for flight. But these motions are not directly

244 PHENOMENA OF FLIGHT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.

connected with aerial locomotion. The dragon-fly, (Libellula,) which pro-
pels itself so rapidly, exhibits none of these lateral movements; its wings
move exclusively in a vertical plane, as if they turned on a hinge. But
we have seen, in the optic method, that the course of the wing in
space can be followed by gilding its extremity, and placing it in a ray
of sunlight. Now this arrangement furnishes us with a figure of eight,
and we further know. that during each complete vibration the wing
changes its inclination twice. ‘These movements are not controlled di-
rectly by the muscles. They are the mechanical effects of the resistance
of the air acting alternately on the upper and lower surfaces of the
Wing in its alternate movements. When the wing leaves the upper
limit of its position, it inclines neither to one side nor to the other, its
plane being parallel to the length of theanimal. But when the impulse
of the air is exercised, or as soon as the wing begins to be depressed,
the rigid portion, the anterior nervation resists flexure, while the flex-
ible membrane which follows it gives way; drawn down by the nerva-
tion which lowers it, elevated by the air which uplifts it, this membrane
takes an intermediate position ; it inclines about 45°, more or less, accord-
ing to circumstances. The wing continues its dow nward motion thus
inclined toward the horizon. Thus the reaction of the air, which com-
bines its effect and acts perpendicularly upon the surface which it strikes,
can be decomposed into two-forces, a vertical and a horizontal force; one
serving to elevate, and the second to propel the animal. After this
first period the wing membrane will have arrived at the end of its
course; the direction of its motion is changed, its action is reversed.
A moment of repose, infinitely short, separates these two phases, during
which the wing resumes its normal position parallel to the axis of the
body. ‘The nervure draws it up again, the air resists as before, and
from this conflict results a position between the horizontal and the ver-
tical—an inclination of 45°. This second period contributes as did the
first, to locomotion. How remarkable is the simplicity of apparatus by
which the desired end is attained!

The horizontal force which is generated by the inclination of the plane
of the wing is transmitted to the body of the animal and helps to push
it forward. But as the body of the insect does not instantaneously take
up the motion which is imparted to it, a part of this force is expended
in curving the nervure of the wing which, at the same time that it is
lowered, is pushed forward. Here is an artificial w ing of large size con-
structed in accordance with the type which we have ‘described ; ; an an-
terior nervation represented by a stiff rod, with a membrane behind
formed of paper pasted upon its edge. Try to strike down an object
immediately before you, and you will not succeed. If you strike at an
object before you with a downward blow the wing will be resisted by the
air, and it will deviate greatly from the point at which you are aim-
ing. From this devi ating motion of the wing from the change of plane
which it effects, the looped figure which it describes evidently results.
It is the combination of these motions which generates the ‘figure of
eight previously described. We can now safely say that the two. exper-
imental facts are now interpreted by our theory.

A very slight differenee has been observed between the two sides of
the wing in certain insects; the lower surface is less polished than the
upper; it is furnished with rugosities, hairs, or points, which, according to
Chabrier, give more hold on the air and reduce the loss of force by slid-
ing. This disposition may contribute to insure the predominance of the
useful effect of the lowering over the elevating motion. Furthermore,
this predominance of the depressing -action of the wing does not exist

———

PHENOMENA .OF FLIGHT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 245

in all insects. These find that force as well in the period of elevation of
the wing as in the period of its depression, turning almost horizontally
the plane in which their wings move. The numerous varieties which
the mechanism of flight presents among the species of insects which we
have observed will be studied later; they do not conflict with the funda-
mental principles which I have just announced.

The mechanical conditions which we have just passed in review I have
realized in a theoretical apparatus, from which I have obtained the same
results as afforded by living insects. This artificial insect is represented
by Fig. 8.

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i)
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oa
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= =
= =
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= 2)
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=| a
fo9) Mh = ed
en A | 2 °
Fs Hi} ~
eH il MH = =
fl!) y = m2
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HY S “4
Hh = cond
. AI 3
A Z| >
I] = CS)
Hi) SI Ss
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Se

=n

246 PHENOMENA OF FLIGHT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.

An air-pump, moved by a rotary apparatus, alternately compresses
and relaxes the air in a tube which traverses the central pivot of the
apparatus, where a sort of mercurial gasometer hermetically seals it
while permitting the free rotation of the arms. The horizontal branch
is hollow, and conduets the air into the apparatus, which is’ closed by a
hollow metallic drum, of which the two circular faces are closed by two
sheets of rubber. By the play of the air-pump these two sheets are
inflated or contracted both together. They communicate the rapid mo-
tions of elevation or depression to the wings by two angular levers.
The wings, presenting, like those of an insect, conditions of unequal
flexibility, decompose the resistance of the air, and impart to the appara-
tus a rapid rotary motion around the central pivot.

Imagine two artificial wings, as nearly alike as possible, both inserted
on one of these little drums, which I have frequently described. They
receive through this drum absolutely synchronous motions of eleva-
tion and depression. This apparatus is fixed at the extremity of an arm
balanced by a counterpoise, and turning upon a pivot. This arm is
hollow, furnishing a canal by which the effect of inflation can be trans-
mitted to the movable drum of the wings. We may consider the drum
as representing the body of the insect, “and nothing prevents us from
really giving it the shape of this animal. The rigid | nervures, furnished
with flexible membranes disposed to the right and left, will be the two
wings, and the animal, instead of being free, will be fixed at the extrem-
ity of a movable rod ; ’ there is, therefore, only a single motion possible,
which is that of turning around the pivot, carrying the attached rod with
it. In effect, if I put the aix-pump in motion, the artificial insect moves,
flaps its wings, and really flies. At each stroke there is a change of
plane of the alar membrane; at each stroke the point of the wing de-
scribes a figure of eight; and in a general way this theoretical animal,
this ar tificial insect, reproduces all the par ticulars which the obser vation
of real insects has revealed to us.

This apparatus affords many other advantages besides those of veri-
fying theoretic ideas. It enables us to make new experiments, to which
living 2 beings will not lend themselves. We can change one of the con-
ditions, for example the form of the wings, their extent or the rapidity
of the ‘stroke, or any other of the circumstances, while all the others
remain constant; we may thus discover the intluence w hich each of them
singly may have on the mechanism of flight. It is by such experiments
that we can assure ourselves of the following fact. In the course tra-
versed by the wing there is only one region. useful in the propulsion
of the insect; that is the median region. In the two extreme portions
the wing has not experienced that change of plane which renders its
action effective. Thus we see if we diminish the extent of the motions
of the wing, the tractile power produced by the apparatus diminishes
considerably, and finally ceases altogether. If the membrane of the
wing is too broad, another phenomenon results. The hinder edge of the
wing remains almost immovable in space, especially during motions of
smell amplitude; the nervure only is animated with rapid motion. The
air, therefore, is ‘struck by planes inclined inversely to those which act
upon it in normal flight, so that the apparatus retrogrades and turns
around its pivot in a direction contrary to its usual motion.

Experimental flight also shows the adaptation of certain forms of
wings to obtain the most rapid translation of motive force. These are
precisely the forms which we find in nature. The nervure of insects
does not carry the wing membrane back to its point of insertion. Those
parts near the ar ticulation have little vitality; they contribute very little

PHENOMENA OF FLIGHT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 247

toward a useful result, embarrassing the neighboring parts, without com-
pensation of any kind. The membrane should not exist except when
vitality itself exists in a corresponding degree. Finaily, the extent which
the alar membrane should have, to best utilize the disposable force, can
be determined experimentally. M. de Lucy has compared, in the case
of a certain number of animals, the surfaces of the wings to the total
weight of the body. He finds an extent of 30 square e millimeters in 2
gnat weighing 3 milligrams; 1,663 square millimeters in a butterfly
weighing “twenty centigrams; 750 square centimeters in a pigeon w eigh-
ing 290 grams; 4,506 square centimeters in a stork weighing 2,265 grams;
§,543 square centimeters in an Australian crane, weighing 9,500 grams.
But to facilitate the comparison it is necessary to reduce these figures
to a common measure; and, in spite of the barbarous phrases to which

they lead us, we obtain:
Sqnare meters.

ihe kalooram of the gnat represents . ..-.<..---2--s=rsesse-e 10. 0
Pheloalosram of the butterfly represents... -..-<-.- + .<<<.2%-.- 8.0
Thedsiorram Of tie pigeon represents ..... - +. 2-<- -/stpeee =< 2. 586
The kilogram Othe STOCK TEPLeseMts auc... d.-2/s = be eine cenelepy y= 1. 988
The kilogram of the Australian crane represents:......-.-...-- 0. 859

The extent of the wings, therefore, is not proportionate to the size
of the animal. A wing being given, a maximum rapidity of stroke cor-
responds to it. To augment the rapidity of the stroke, in hope of indef-
initely accelerating the rate of flight, would be illusory; it is possible
to accelerate it up toa certain point, ‘but beyond this maximum limit
additions become useless. Increasing progressively the action of the
air-pump, the strokes of the wings are more rapid, and at first the rapidity
of flight will be augmented. Continue the increase, and the rate of flight
diminishes. The amplitude of the motion also experiences a consider-
able reduction, so that at the limit the wings appear motionless, or
animated only by a slight quivering. Passing this extreme linit, the
apparatus retrogrades. A given wing then corresponds to a fixed rate of
progressive strokes; for, by the effect of inertia, the frequency of the
strokes is increased ‘only at the expense of their extent, and, when the
extent diminished, the propelling force diminishes with it. I leave to
yourselves the task of explaining these facts, which are the simple con-
sequences of the principles I have previously explained. ITalso leave to
you the comparison of the mode of progression of insects with the other
modes which are seen in other animals or in various mechanical contriv-
ances. You will discover almost everywhere the mechanism of the
revolution of forces on the principle of the inclined plane. You will find
it in the motion of the tail of a fish, the principal organ of its locomo-
tion; in the sculling motion of a waterman’s oar, and even in the screw
of a steam propeller.

IV. FLIGHT OF BIRDS.

By the simple inspection of a bird’s wing it is easily seen that its
mechanism for flight is not the same as that of an insect. Let the
manner in which the feathers of birds are laid, one over another, be
observed, and it will be evident that the air resists the motion of the
wing only from below, so that in an inverse direction it finds an easy
passage between the long beards of the feathers, which, in this motion,
are no longer pressed together. This well- known arrangement, the
effect of which Prechit* has clearly pointed out, has led to the belief

* Untersuchungen tiber den Flug der Végel. 8vo. Vienna, 1846.

248 PHENOMENA OF FLIGHT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.

that to sustain the bird against gravitation the wing needs only to
oscillate in a vertical plane, in consequence of the predominance of the
resistance of the air acting from below over that acting conversely.

Before discussing the value of this hypothesis, it is necessary to
ascertain whether the wing of a bird really oscillates only in a vertical
plane. We thus find presented to us, as at the beginning of our studies
on the flight of insects, questions which experiment alone can answer.
The problem nevertheless presents itself here under definite conditions.
From its much larger body than that of the insect, and from our better
knowledge of its ‘anatomical conformation, the bird offers to us the
means of. study and experiment of another description. I shall exhibit,
as far as possible, the nature of the muscular force of the bird, and the
influence which the particular arrangement of its muscles and the form
of its wings exerts upon flight. The methods of myography renders
the analysis of the different forms of motion produced by wings so easy
that it has been of great assistance in these researches.

Comparative anatomy exhibits the analogue of the anterior limbs of
mammals in the bird’s wing. Reduced to its skeleton the wing presents,
like the human arm, the humerus, the two bones of the fore-arm, and a
rudimentary hand in which the metacarpals and phalanges are to be
found. The muscles also offer numerous analogies with those of the
anterior limbs of man. Among others, some have such an analogy of
aspect and function that they can be designated by the same names.
In short, in the case of birds, the muscles which attain the greatest
development are those which act in extending or flexing the hand on
the fore-arm, the fore-arm on the humerus, and, finally, of moving the
humerus, that is to say, the whole arm upon ’the articulation of the
shoulder.

Among most birds, especially of the large kinds, the wing appears to
remain always extended during flight. So that the extensor muscles of
the different parts of the wing serve to give that organ the posture
necessary for flight, and to maintain it in that position, while the motive
work is executed by other and much stronger muscles than the pre-
ceding, viz, the pectorals. All the anterior portion of the thorax of
birds is occupied by powerful masses of muscle, and above all by a great
muscle which, from its being attached to the sternum, the sides, and
the humerus, is evidently the analogue of the great pectoral muscle of
man and other mammalia. Its office is clearly to draw down the wing
quickly and strongly, and to take sufficient hold on the air to sustain as
well as to move the whole body of the bird. The middle pectoral is
found below the great pectoral; without an analogue in other kinds of
animals, this muscle serves to raise up the wing. Lastly, the small
pectoral passes externally from the sternum to the humerus; it is an
accessory of the great pectoral. It is well known that the strength of a
muscle is in proportion to its volume, and as the pectoral muscles of a
bird are about one-sixth of its total weight, we readily comprehend
that it is upon these powerful organs that the principal duty in the act
of flight devolves. Borelli endeavored to deduce from the volume of
these muscles the force which the bird employs in flying, and coneluded
that this equals 10,000 times the weight of the body. I will not stop to
refute the error of Borelli, which so many others have called in ques-
tion, while they endeavored to substitute for the figures of the Italian
physiologist estimates which will scarcely be more easy to prove.
The great discrepancy which exists between the different estimates of the
muscular power of birds shows that the attempts at measurement were
pre:nature. If we would make a true estimate to-day of the power

PHENOMENA OF FLIGHT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 9A9

exerted by birds during flight, it would be necessary in the first place
to demand from physiological experimentation all the facts of the prob-
lem. The estimate in question presupposes an acquaintance with the
motions of the wings, with their form, their extent, and their rapidity
at each instant; it also supposes a knowledge of the extent of the
_ surface of the wings, their curve, and the angle at which they strike
the air. This problem, then, will perhaps be the last which we can
hope to solve; but we can study at present, from other points of view,
the strength of the muscles of the bird, and estimate some of the char.
acteristics with which it is manifested.

A measure of the maximum effort which the muscles of birds can de-
velop can already be obtained experimentally. This measure may indeed
fail to correspond with the efforts developed in flight, but it may prevent
us from falling into the exaggeration which would attribute to the mus-
cles of the bird a force superior to the maximum effort of which they
are capable.

Of the static force of the muscles of birds.—In physiology the static force
developed by a muscle is meastred by seeking the maximum weight
which this muscle can raise. This determination has been made by
Weber,* on the muscles of the frog; by Henke and Knortz,t and since
by Koster,i on the muscles of man. The maximum weight in these ex-
periments was about one kilogram per square centimeter of muscular
section, according to Weber ; of five to Henke and Knortz; of seven, ac-
cording to Koster. If the estimates of Borelli, and even those of Navier,
were correct, we ought to find in the muscles of birds a much more
considerable static torce. On the contrary, it does not appear to me
that this force surpasses that of the muscles of the mammalia. I have
already shown that the weight of one kilogram, placed on the wing of
a pigeon at the articulation of the arm with the fore-arm, cannot be
raised by the voluntary efiorts of the animal; also, in certain experi-
ments in which we hold a bird immovable, an excellent means of testing
the weight consists in putting the bird on iis back, the wings extended,
and attaching to each wing a bag containing a kilogram of “shot.

I wished, however, to have a more precise measure of the strength of
the péctoral muscles. For this purpose «a hoodwinked harrier was
placed on its back in the position just described. The application of the
hood plunges these animals into a sort of trance, during which all sorts
of operations can be performed on them without their betraying any
unpleasant sensation, except by reflex movements, I denuded the | great,
pectoral and the humeral region, tied the artery, and disarticulated the
first joint, removing the remainder of the wing. I then fixed a cord te
the extremity of the humerus, and at the end of this cord the basin of
a balance, into which shot was poured. The body of the bird being
perfectly motionless I excited the muscle by inducing interrupted cur-
rents of electricity, and while artificial tetanus was produced, an assist-
ant added more shot, until the force of contraction of the muscle was sur-
mounted. At this moment the weight supported was 2 kilograms, 380
grams. Now, the arm of the lever at the end of which this weight had
been placed was of the same length as the humerus, that is, about 9 cen-
timeters, the measurement being the length between the attachment of
the cord and the center of motion of the humeral articulation. The arm
to which the power is applied is evidently much shorter, and is more
difficult to measure. In the first place, the attachment of the great

——.

* Wagner’s Handworterbuch der Physiologie.
t Die grosse der absoluten musskelkraft in "Heule and Pfeufer te SOX TV.
t Archives neérlandaises, 1866, p. 11.

250 PHENOMENA OF FLIGHT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.

pectoral muscle extends about 3 centimeters in its longest direction. If
we supposed the muscular force applied to the middle of this line of
attachment, the leverage of the power would be about 17 millimeters.
The weight lifted and the muscular exertion, both multiplied by their
respective leverage, are equivalent to each other. It follows that the
real value of the power of the bird is 3 which gives 12*.600 for
the entire force of the great pectoral muscle. Dividing this number by
9¢4,7, which represents the surface of the section of the muscle, we
obtain for each bundle of muscle of the bird, having one square centi-
meter of sectional surface, a power of 1,298 grams.

The small result which I have obtained may be affected with certain
causes of error. In the first place, I had not eut the tendon of the
middle pectoral muscle which elevates the wing. It may therefore be
objected that, as the electric currents have radiated throughout the
deeper regions of the thoracic muscles, and have excited the elevator
muscle of the wing of which the action is antagonistic to that of the
great pectoral, that is to say, acting in the same direction as the weight,
has sensibly diminished the force necessary to neutralize the power of
the former muscle. It may also be said that the electric agent cannot
produce as powerful an effort in the muscle as that evoked by the will.
Admitting that these objections are all well founded, let us double, or
even quadruple the force which I have assigned to the muscle, and still
we shall not equal the result that Koster attributes to the specific force
of the muscle of man. Thus, in spite of the want of precision in the
experiments which I have made, I believe the proofs can be found in
them that there does not exist in the muscles of birds a notably greater
power than that found in those of other animals.

One of the most striking peculiarities of the action of the muscles of
birds is the extreme rapidity with which in them is evolved torce. Of the
different kinds of animals of which I have determined the character of
their muscular action, the birds have exhibited the most rapid move-
ments. The curve of motion which a muscle produces can be registered
by myography, and thus the duration of its contraction and relaxation
can be estimated. If we make use of electricity or any instantaneous
motor, on the nerve of a muscle, or on the muscle itself, a motion is
evoked of which the duration varies according to the species of animal
experimented upon. This motion, which I have called the muscular
shock, to distinguish it from the prolonged contraction which takes place
under other circumstanees, lasts in the muscles of the tortoise a second
or more; in man it lasts at least six or eight hundredths of a second,
and in birds it endures about four-hundredths of a second. This rapidity
is an indispensable condition of flight. In fact, the descending wing
can only obtain sufficient hold on the air by moving with great speed.
The resistance of the air to a plane surface pressing upon it sensibly
increases as the square of the velocity with which the plane descends.
To have powerful muscles would be of no use to the birdif they acted
slowly; their foree would be wasted for want of resistance, and no
results would be produced. It is otherwise with terrestrial animals
which run or gallop over the ground; they definitely utilize their mus-
cular force in work by reason of the great resistance which they en-
counter. Rapid motion is necessary even to fishes; the water in which
they exist resists in proportion to the rapidity with which it is struck by
the tail and fins. If the muscular action is quick in the case of fishes,
it must be much quicker in that of birds, which move in a much more
rarefied medium. To explain the production of such rapid motion as

PHENOMENA OF FLIGHT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 258

that exhibited in the motion of birds, it must be admitted that the
chemical action which takes place in the substance of the muscle, and
which generates heat and motion as in a machine, is produced more
rapidly in the muscles of birds than in those of any other class of
animals. I must be permitted here to insist on the consideration of the
molecular phenomena of which the muscles are the seat, since we shall
thus obtain more light upon our subject. Extending to organized beings
the principle of the conservation of forces as well as the identity of
power and heat, modern physiologists admit that a combustion takes
place in the muscles as in the furnace of steam-engines. This combus-
tion or chemical reaction liberates the forces which the separate atoms
contain, and renders them evident under two forms, heat and mechanical
energy, Which are in one sense the complements of each other. When-
ever a muscle contracts without raising a weight or otherwise expending
power, it becomes sensibly heated. If it raises a weight, or otherwise
expends power, it exhibits less heat, and this loss of heat, if it could be
measured, would correspond to the mechanical equivalent of the work it
has performed. It is true that we cannot estimate exactly the heat that
a living muscle disengages during contraction, for the circulation of the
blood carries off to different parts of the body more or less of the heat
generated. All the experiments of Béclard, Heidenhain, Hien, and
others, tend to prove that the production of heat diminishes in propor-
tion to the increase of power expended in work. This is enough to
authorize the application of the principle of the conservation of forces to
physiology, a principle, moreover, thoroughly justified by human reason.
Two methods may be adopted in explaining the production of power
from the chemical action which takes place in the muscles. Either the
chemical action which we have called combustion liberates force sim-
ultaneously in the two forms of heat and power, or, as in the steam-
engine, heat is first produced to be afterward partially converted into
power. Certain facts render this last hypothesis extremely probable.
We can detect, in some cases, in a muscle, the transformation of heat
into power. The phenomena are manifested in the following manner:
When the muscle of a frog is detached and movements are excited in it
by electricity, submitting it, meanwhile, to a gradual increase of tem-
perature, it is seen that the amplitude of the movements produced
decrease up to a certain point, and that an instant arrives when the
muscle will not react at all. This loss of muscular irritability is produced
at about 53° Centigrade. If the muscle is gradually cooled it is seen to
resume its irritability. What has taken place? If the motions of the
gradually heated muscle be carefully registered side by side with a
number of shocks, it is seen that the decrease of their amplitude is due
to the fact that the muscle when heated does not return to its normal
length after contraction. The minima of the curves are gradually in-
creased, showing that the weight lifted by each shock does not descend
again completely. The power exhibited during the contraction of the
muscle is not entirely expended by the time the incomplete relaxation
follows, and a certain amount of reserved power remains, of which the
cause seems to be the permeation of the muscle by heat. And when the
muscle, heated above 33°, becomes inert, it is because it has obtained
through the action of heat all the contraction of which it is susceptible,
that is, it has expended all the power of which it is capable. Figure 9
shows the different phases of this phenomenon.

While the muscle is cooling a contrary result is produced, namely,
the subtraction of an amount of heat equivalent to an amount of power
expended, that is to say, a relaxation of the muscle and a descent of the

252 PHENOMENA OF FLIGHT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.

weight which it had raised. India-rubber possesses properties very
analogous to those of muscular tissue, in regard to the transformation
of hee it into power. Take a strip or cord of non-vuleanized rubber and
attach to ita weight. It stretches, a negative power is developed, and

Fig. 9.

Showing the effect of heat on muscular contraction. (The figure should be read from
right to left.) The first trace caused by the shock is quite high. The second is not
so high, but this is partly due to the point from which the tracing starts, being more
elevated, as well as the horizontal line from which the mark of “the shock extends.
This elevation of the point of departure proves that the muscle was in a state of con-
traction from the influence of heat. The same effect is more and more evident up to the
fifth tracing, when the muscle is cooled, and in its return to its original length the
tracings of the shocks regain their normal size.

conformably to the mechanical theory of heat you can perceive a notable
increase of temperature in the rubber. Conversely, submit the rubber
to an increase of temperature, and it will be seen to contract and lift the
weight. But under these conditions the amount of power Rodeees by
the rubber is very small. It may, however, be rendered greater. About
two years ago, Dr. Ranvier gave me an account of the followi ing experi-
ment: He stretched a piece of rubber until it was fifteen or twenty
times as long as before, and thus produced in it a passive state, in
which it remained elongated even when traction was no longer exerted
upon it. While in this state, if the rubber was touched with a warm
body, it became considerably thickened at the pcint of contact by the
contraction of the part, and returned to its original length and thick-
ness. Placed in the hollow of the hand the passive thread twisted like
a worm, and resumed its normal length and size in a few moments.
Part of the phenomena exhibited in the experiment of Dr. Ranvier was
readily explained. The heat applied to the rubber was transformed
into power by it; but what was the passive state into which the rubber
had been brought before the effect above described could have been

produced? In repeating the experiment and considering the facts more
attentively, I soon perceived that the duration of the traction to which
percha was submitted played an important part in the production of the
passive state. If I stretched the thread to twenty times its original
length and instantly relaxed it, it readily retur ned to its original
condition; but if the contraction was prolonged thirty seconds, a minute,
or longer, the thread left to itself contracted only partially. It became
partly passive, and much more completely so when the traction was
more prolonged. Now, the influence of the duration of the traction can

PHENOMENA OF FLIGHT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 253

be rationally explained, if we recollect that the rubber becomes heated
when stretched. We may then naturally suppose that the heat which
appears upon its surface will disappear by degrees if the traction be
prolonged ; and if heat is necessary for the contraction of the rubber to
its original dimensions, it will not contract entirely if a proportion of
the heat disengaged in stretching has been dissipated. If this theory
be correct, it will be easy to rapidly produce a passive condition of the
rubber by quickly depriving it of its sensible heat. This is precisely
what takes place. Stretch a thread of rubber, and plunge it into cold
water, and it can instantly be taken out in a passive condition, frozen,
so to speak, in a state of elongation. Heat it, and it returns to its
original dimensions with the development of power. I hardly doubt
that the physicist can obtain in the power thus developed the exact
equivalent of the heat absorbed.

We have strayed away from our subject, but we shall return to it with
enlarged ideas which will enable us to analyze more completely the ac-
tion of the muscles. In fact, we have in the employment of the percha
a sort of schema of the muscle. Now you are aware of what assistance
can be derived from theoretical apparatus in the study of certain phe-
nomena which are presented with too much complexity, in the case
of living beings, to be understood readily. The rubber will assist us
to comprehend the manner in which the work of the muscles is per-
formed in animals in general, and especially in the birds with which we
are now occupied. Take two cylinders of rubber of the same dimen-
sions and weight, stretch them to ten times their original length, and
cool them in that condition. If we restore to these two cylindrical
threads the amount of heat which they had lost, both in contracting
will perform the same amount of work in a similar manner; that is,
both will lift the same weight to the same height. Next, taking two
cylinders of the same weight, but of unequal diameter, one, let us sup-
pose, being ten times as thick but only one-tenth as long as the other;
stretch each ten times its normal length and cool it; both will still be
able to do the same amount of work, but no longer in the same manner.
The short, thick cylinder, for instance, will raise a weight of 100 grams
a distance of one centimeter. The long, thin cylinder will not support
so great a weight at all, but if loaded with a weight of 10 grams will
raise it a distance of 10 centimeters. The measure of a mechanical
power is obtained by multiplying the weight raised by the height
through which it is raised. This product being the same in the two
cases, the same amount of power, therefore, has been expended, but not
in the same way. So, in the cylinders of rubber which have been
stretched in proportion to their length, and from which the same amount
ot heat has been withdrawn, the amount of power produced by the res-
titution of this heat will be proportioned to the weight of the rubber ;
the weight lifted to the diameter of the rubber, and the height to which
the weight will be lifted, to the length of the rubber. All that weknow
of the function of muscle tends to prove that the power exhibited
by it is governed by the same laws. Thus, the amount of contraction
of muscles depends on the length of their fibers, while the maximum
power which they are capable of exerting is proportional to the diame-
ter of the bundle of muscular fibers. For example, in the case of hu-
man muscles, the short, thick deltoid muscle is capable of but little
contraction, but exerts great force ; the long, thin muscles of the fore-
arm, on the contrary, cannot develop the same power, but by their os-
seous attachments the extent of their contraction is much greater. If
we suppose these two muscles to be of the same weight, they can do an

254 PHENOMENA OF FLIGHT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.

equal amount of work, but in the different ways which pertain to the
difference in their structural condition.

If we study the form of the great pectoral muscle, or that whcih pro-
duces the downward stroke of.the wing in different species of birds, we
shall see that this muscle presents much variation in form. In some
eases it is long and narrow, in others short and thick. We shall see
that this anatomical difference corresponds to important differences in
the character of flight. It is enough to observe the flight of a duck and
of a marsh harrier to be struck with the great difference in the move-
ments of the wings of these two birds. The duck elevates and depresses
its wings very much, describing with each of them an are of more than
90°. The extent of these movements in the harrier, on the contrary, is
very small; when it is observed in profile the point of wing is hardly
seen to pass below the shadow of its body. This difference in the type
of flight has struck some observers with such force that they have divided
the birds into rowers and sailors. The first are those which strike the air
with their wings in flying as a boatman strikes the water with his oar ;
the second class exposing the surfaces of their wings to the wind like the
sails of a ship, fly in a sort of passive condition, utilizing the currents of
the air in sustaining and directing themselves. We shall see hereafter
that there is a reality in this
distinction; at present we
Shall only accept the incon-
testable fact that certain
species of birds impart a
great amplitude to the
movements of their wings,
while others move them
only through a very small
extent. ,

I have dissected a wild ZZZ&z
duck and a harrier to show Wwe
you the form of the pecto- WS
ral muscles. In the duck
the great pectoral is quite
long, while in the harrier it
is very short, but the trans-
verse section of the muscle
of the harrier is much larger
than that of the duck. Ifwe
consider only the relative
length of the pectoral mus-
cles we see that it varies,
as it should do according
to the theory; that is, it is
aoe dea eee penis ; Skeleton of the wing and sternum of a frigate-bird.

: 3 /“ The extreme brevity of the sternum is seen I pro-
which the bird executes in portion to the great length of the wing.
flying.

But to what does this unequal development in the thickness of the
pectorals correspond? It would appear to correspond to a greater
muscular exertion in the harrier than in the duck. How can this exer-
tion be demonstrated? If we compare the birds which have short and
thick pectorals with those which have long and thin ones, we see that
tho surface of the wings is very large in the former, while it is very

PHENOMENA OF FLIGHT IN

THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 255

small in the latter. We know that the resistance of the air against a
surface acting with a certain rapidity is in proportion to the extent of

Fig. 11.

BADCURE AL.

ee =

Skeleton of a flamingo, (after Milne Ed-
wards.) The wing is very large, and the ster-
num very short.

that surface; other things being
the same, a greater exertion is re-
quired to move a large wing than
one of less superficial extent.
Everything goes to show, then,
that the difference in the form
of the pectoral muscles in differ-
ent birds accords with the differ-
ences presented in the manner
in which they perform their re-
spective work. Two birds of the
same weight perform the same
labor in flying, and apparently
should have muscles of the same
weight; butif the muscular masses
present the differences in form
which we have indicated, we see
that the work is done in different
ways. The birds with small
wings increase the small resist-
ance which these offer to the air
by moving them through a large
extent of space, while those with
large wings equalize the resist-
ance by traversing a shorter dis-
tance with them.

But, it may be said, nature
might have attained these differ-
ent methods of flight by giving
muscles of uniform organization
toall birds. It would have been
sufficient to have given different
positions to the point of attach-
ment of the great pectoral to the
humerus, or, in other words, to
vary the length of the arm of the
lever in proportion to that of the
resistance. Comparative anat-
omy shows that this is not the
case. In birds, the great pecto-
ral is always attached close to
the articulation of the shoulder.
The absolute distance which sep-
arates this attachment from the
center of motion of the humerus,
seems to vary only in accordance
with the form of the bird, and
not according to the relatively
greater or less extent of the
wings. This last depends princi-

= pally upon the length of the fore-

arm and its appendages. It is
not necessary to dissect many
birds of different kinds to prove
the constancy of the law which I

256 PHENOMENA OF FLIGHT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.

have sought to establish with regard to the relations of the alar surface
with the length of the great pectora muscle.

The inspection of the skeleton furnishes the principal elements of this
verification. Passing through that part of the zodlogical collection in
the museum which is devoted to the exhibition of the skeletons of birds,
you will come away convinced of the relation between the extent of the
wing and the length of the great pectoral muscle, as shown in the length
of thesternum. You see by Figs. 10, 11, and 12, how osteology furnishes
the necessary proofs of this statement.

In birds the de- Fig. 12.
velopment of the
bones of the wing
gives us a_ suffi-
ciently correct idea
of the extent of sur-
face presented by
these organs when
covered with feath-
ers. Compare the
prodigious length of
the fore-arms in the
albatross with those
of the duck, guille-
mot, or diver; the
proportion of the
bones will give at
the first glance the
superiority in_ re-
gard to flight of the
albatross in the
greater extent of its
wings. Comparing
the sternum of dif:
ferent birds you will
find it large, but
very short, in the -
albatross. On the
contrary, in the
duck, the diver, and Skeleton of a penguin. The wingis very short, and the ster-
the guillemot, the "™™ very long.
sternum, though narrower, is comparatively very long. The lateral
channels, which lie on each side of its keel, represent, in one sense,
a hollow mold of the pectoral muscles. You can thus verify by the
skeletons of hawks and other rapacious birds, the fact that short,
thick muscles appertain to large wings; and by the skeletons of ducks,
swans, and diving birds, that small wings possess more slender but
larger muscles. This brings us to the considerations which I have pre-
viously brought forward. We now see how we can measure the power
developed by a flying bird. It is necessary to know the resistance
which the air presents to the surface of its wing, and to multiply this
resistance for each stroke by the distance which it traverses. Still the
problem is not as simple as one might suppose, atter this announcement.
All tends to the belief that the.rapidity with which the wing strikes the
air is not uniform, and that it has increasing and decreasing phases, to
which the relative resistance of the air corresponds. To know the exact

PHENOMENA OF FLIGHT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 257

nature of the movements of a bird’s wing is the question now presented,
and this will be the object of our next experiments.

Form of the bird.—All those who have studied the flight of birds have
ealled attention, with great propriety, to the form of these animals,
which renders them eminently suited to flight. They have seen in it
the conditions necessary for perfect stability in the midst of the air.
They have well understood the office of those great surfaces formed by
the wings, which sometimes serve as a parachute to enable the animal
to descend very slowly, while at others these surfaces glide over the
air, following the plane of their inclination, and permitting the bird to
descend obliquely, or even to rise, or, as we Shall see, to advance with
motionless wings. But many observers have gone so far as to assert
that some species of birds have an entirely passive flight, and that, sub-
mnitting their wings to the action of the wind, they obtain a force suffi-
cient to propel themselves in any direction, even against the wind itself.
It seems to me important to discuss, in a few words, this essential point
in the theory of flight.

The stability of the bird has been fully explained; there is nothing to
add to the remarks which have been made on this subject. The attach-
ment of the wings is situated exactly at the most elevated part of the
thorax of the bird, and consequently when the extended wings take
hold on the air the weight of the body is to be found below this surface ot
suspension. It is known also that in the: body itself the lighter organs,
the lungs and air saes, are above, while the denser mass of the intestines
is Situated below. Lastly, the thoracic muscles, so heavy and thick,
occupy the lowest point of the system, so that the densest portion of the
body is placed as much below the point of suspension as possible. The
bird which descends with outstretched wings, therefore, always has its
ventral region lowest; it does not need to exert itself in order to preserve
its equilibrium, but takes this attitude passively, as does the parachute
when let fall through the atmosphere, or as the shuttlecock which falls
back upon the battledore. But this vertical descent of which I have
spoken is exceptional; the descending bird is almost always actuated
by a motion previously obtained, so that it slides obliquely upon the air
as does a light body of large superficial extent when placed in the above
mentioned situation. Mr. J. Pline has carefully studied the different
kinds of sliding which may occur in this manner, and has even repro-
duced them by means of avery simple and easily-constructed theoreti:
eal apparatus. Take a square sheet of paper and fold it midway, so as
to form a rather obtuse angle, as in Fig. 13; then, with a little wax,
fix in this angle a small metal rod, furnished with two balls of the same
weight, and the result will be an apparatus which will possess stability
in the air.

If the center of gravity is exactly in the center of the apparatus, it
will be seen to fall vertically when dropped into the air, with the edge
of the angle downward. If the center of gravity is displaced by taking
away one of the two balls, instead of falling vertically, it will pursue an
oblique course and slide over the air with an acceler ‘ated motion. The
trajectory of the apparatus in this case will be described in a vertical
plane if the two sides of the apparatus are perfectly symmetrical; if
this is not the case it will be deflected toward the side of least resist-
ance. This effect, easily comprehended, is identical with that produced
in the course of a ship by the resistance of the rudder. It can also be
produced in a vertical plane, so that the trajectory of the apparatus
mnay present a curve with a superior or inferior concavity, according to
the conditions of its projection.

17 s69

25¢ PHENOMENA OF FLIGHT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.

All thin curved bodies tend to slide upon theair in the direction of
the radius of their special curve. If we bend the anterior or posterior
edge of our little apparatus at a certain point in its oblique course, we
shall see it rise, notwithstanding the force ef gravity, though its motion
soon ceases. What has happened in this case?

Fig. 13.

<<)
ee ieee
Oo -O— EE EES earl
factor dl ati

Representing to the left Pline’s apparatus placed in equilibrium by means of two
equal balls at the extremities of the rgd which les at the bottom of the angle of the
bent paper. This, as is indicated by the lower representations of the rod, falls verti-
cally. To the right the same apparatus, with only a single ball, is represented. It
descends in a parabolic curve, represented by the dotted line.

When there has been but little rapidity in the fall of the object, the
curve of its surface remains motionless, because the air offers resistance
only in proportion to the rapidity with which they move. Therefore,
when this rapidity has been sufficiently great a steering effect is pro-
duced, which elevates :
the anterior extremity ea
of the object and in- v - j
parts an ascending
motion toit. But very
soon the weight, which Q
was the motive power
of the apparatus, be- |,
comes a_ retarding |
force, and in propor-
tion as the object as-
cends its motion be-
comes slower, and
finally ceases. After
this, retrogradation

begins, taube 5 al pes The posterior corners of the two planes of the apparatus
by another LIS? and have been bent upward and inward, so that after a descend-
so on, until by suc- ine curve the apparatus rises, as the dotted line indicates.
cessive oscillations the

apparatus finally reaches the earth. I may add that if a slight con-
cavity is given to the object below, the reverse takes place, and we see
at a certain moment the trajectory sharply deflected downward, and
the object strikes the earth with great violence. In the second ease,
at the moment when the steering effect is produced, the weight is in a
favorable position for a precipitate descent, and opposed to the ascend-
ing reaction.

PHENOMENA OF FLIGHT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 259

I emphasize these effects because they are frequently produced in the
flight of birds. The old treatises on falconry describe the interesting
evolutions of the birds employed in hunting. Without going back
further, we find in Huber (octavo, published at Geneva in 1784) a deserip-
tion of the curvilinear movements of the falcon, to which they gave the
name of passades, and which consisted in an oblique descent of the bird,
followed by arise in its course. ‘The bird,” says Huber, “when about
to strike the earth, carried away by its own rapidity, would be dashed
to pieces if it did not call into action‘a certain faculty which it possesses,
stronger than its descending motion, to rise even high enough to make
a second swoop. This motion is sufficient, not only to arrest its descent,
but even to carry it without effort as high as the elevation from whic mn
it came.”

Fig. 15. There is certainly exaggera-

tion in the statement that the
bird remounts as high as the ele-
vation from which it descended
without further effort. The re-
sistance of the air must over-
come part of the force acquired
during the descent, and which
is transformed into ascending
force. We see, however, that
the phenomena above described
is confirmed by observation, and
that it has been considered in
some sort as a passive act in
which the bird expends no mus-
q cular power. The act of hover-

The posterior corners of the paper have been 12S 1 some cases presents a
bent downward. After passing through a para- eveat analogy with the phenom-
bolic curve the object takes a veryrapid descend- ena just acces W hen some
TH BAHT Ree birds, pigeons for instance, have
used their wings during a certain distance, the wings are seen to be
perfectly quiet “during a few seconds eliding through the air, either
horizontally or rising or falling. The descending motion has the long-
est duration; in fact itis only an extremely pr olonged descent in which
motion is maintained by the force of gravity, w hich « diminishes it in the
horizontal or: ascending plane. In these latter forms the wing, more or
less obliquely directed, takes hold on the air like the toy kite, with this
difference, that motion is imparted to this by pulling the string when
the air is calm, while the bird utilizes momentum previously acquired by
an oblique descent or previous strokes of the wings.

I have already said that observers have admitted that certain birds,
which they call sailors, can sustain and direct themselves in the airby
means of the wind alone. This theory appears paradoxical. It is in-
comprehensible that a bird, motionless in the wind, should not yield to
the resistance of the air through which it elides.. If the passades. or
swoops which the falcon executes can sometimes ¢ carry it against the
wind, this can only be a transient effect, compensated for by being car-
ried away by the wind more rapidly in another moment. However,
this theory has been sustained with great talent by some observers,
especially the Count d’Esterno, the author of a remarkable memoir
on the flight of birds. ‘Every one,” he says, “can see some birds
practicing this method of flight; to deny it is to deny self-evident
facts.” I myself have noticed this mode of flying, but it has seemed

260 PHENOMENA OF FLIGHT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.

to me that it is executed in general under the following special
conditions: Along the cliffs of the coast of Normandy I have seen the
gulls and sea-mews performing their evolutions without moving their
W ings. I have seen the daws and rooks flying in the same manner
around old cathedrals. But the same birds, when they left these
special stations, have always appeared to me to use the rowing method
of flight; that is to say, making regular strokes of their wings, some-
times interrupted in the daws by swoops of short duration. I then
sought to determine the direction of the wind, and this is what seemed to
me to occur: When a bird finds itself in the neighborhood of a cliff,
where the air is calm or agitated by eddies in a contrary direction to
the prevailing wind, it can pass successively from the calm to the agitated
air, and convel rsely. A sea-mew surrendering itself to the force “of the
wind, receives an impulse which carries it with a certain rapidity, and
itt by simply turning, the bird enters a region of calm air, it can utilize

the impulse which the wind has given it in returning to the height
which it had left. Plungingagain into the zone of agitated air, it recom-
mences the evolution which I have just described, without moving its
wings, except to give them different inclinations. The daws and rooks
appear to me to find the same conditions around the cathedral towers.
The authors who have reported the most curious cases of sailing flight
have observed them in mountainozs regions. It is a condor in the
Cordilleras, or an eagle in the Pyrenees. The sailing flight has often
been described of certain birds of prey, who, in the middle of a plain,
rise and turn without moving their wings. I myself have often seen
harriers fly in this manner, but I have alway s determined, also, that in
this case the spiral which they describe is altered by the wind, and
that the birds are definitely carried to leeward with a more or less rapid
motion.

Even when reduced to these limits the influence of the wind.on the
flight of birds is very difficult to explain. It is complicated by very
different conditions in which the motion acquired by the bird, opposed
from various directions by the force of the wind, gives rise to the most

varied combinations of motion. It is also known that in the upper
regions of the air various currents exist, Sometimes even in a contrary
direction to those which obtain near the surface of the earth, so that the
bird, passing from one to another, find forces which carry it in opposite
directions.*

Finally, the question of sailing flight seems to me one of the most
difficult to solve. It would be temeritous to absolutely condenm the
opinion of observers upon such vague theories and ideas as we possess
upon the subject.

One of the most interesting points in the conformation of birds con-
sists in the determination of the relations of the extent of the alar sur- |
faces to the weight of the animal. Is there a constant relation between °
the weight and these surfaces? This question has been the cause of
numerous controversies. It has been already shown that if birds of
very different kinds, yet of the same weight, be compared, the wings of
some species are fotmd to have four or five times the extent of others.
The birds which have large wings are usually those which have been
called “sailors,” while those which have the wing short and narrow are
generally classed as “rowers.” But if we compare two “rowing” birds
with two “sailing” birds; if, for still closer comparison, we take them

*The late Mr. Espy suggested that the phenomenon of sailing in the flight of birds
is due to upward currents of air which take place in warm w eather, or beneath clouds,
and especially up the side of a mountain against which the wind is blowing.—J. H.

PHENOMLNA OF FLIGHT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 261

from the same family, in order that the only differences shall be those of
form, a somewhat constant relation will be found between the weight of
the bird and the surface of its wings. But the determination of this
relation should be based upon certain considerations, which have long
escaped the attention of naturalists. Mr. de Lucy sought to measure
the surface of the wings and the weight of the body in all flying
animals. Now, to establish a common unit ‘among animalsof such different
kinds and forms, he reduced all the measures to an ideal type, of which
the weight should always be one kilogram. Thus, after having proved
that the gnat, which weighs three milligrams, possessed wings with a
surface thirty millimetres square, he concluded, in the types represented
by the gnat, the kilogram of animal was suppor ted by an alar surface of
ten square inillimeters. By making a comparative table of the measures
taken from a great number of animals of different kinds and various
forms, he arrived at the tollowi ing figures

» J aes | = F
Species. Weight. Wing surface. Surface per kilogram.
i 5 8 s
Clio hee Laie ar 3 milligrams...) 30 sq. millimeters-...| 10 sq. millimeters.
13 Ui) (1 ty ae a eee 20 centigrams.| 1,663 sq. millimeters.| &4 millimeters.
Pigeon....----.-.-------| 290 grams -.-..| 750 sq. centigrams.. -| 2, 586sq. centimeters.
Stork 2): eee eee 2,265 grams .-| 4,506 sq. centimeters-| 1, 998sq. centimeters.
Australian crane- -.--.--- 9,500 grams ..| 8,545 sq. centimeters.| 899 sq. centimeters.
|
|

From these measurements, in spite of variations in detail, the evi-
dent result is obtained, that animals of large size and great weight
sustain themselves with a much smaller proportional alar surface than
smaller animals. <A similar result already shows that the office of the
wing in flight is not merely passive, for a sail or parachute sbould al-
ways have a surface proportioned to the weight which acts upon it;
considered, on the contrary, from its true point of view, that is to say,
as an instrument for striking the air, the wing of the bird should, as
we shall see, present a relatively smaller surface in birds of large size
and great weight. The astonishment exhibited at the result of the de-
terminations made by Mr. de Lucy disappeared when it was remem-
bered that there was a geometr ical reason why the alar surface could
not increase in proportion to the weight of the bird. In fact, if we
take two objects of the same shape, two cubes, for example, of which
one shall be twice as large in diameter as the other, each one of the
faces of the larger cube will be four times as large as the corresponding
face of the smaller, while the weight of the greater cube will be eight
times that of the lesser one. For all similar geometrically solids, the
linear dimensions having a stated relation to each other, the surfaces
are as the square and the weight as the cube of their similar linear di-
mensions. Two birds of similar form, but having, one of them, the
spread of the wings from tip to tip twice as greatas in the other, will
have respective wing surfaces in the proportion of 1:4, and weight as
1: 8 M. P. Demondésir, who applied these principles before me,
thought that he had found in them a reason for the smaller size of
birds are capable of flight, while those of a larger kind, such as os-
triches and cassowarys, do not fly; he observes that if these birds had
as large wings as the heron, in proportion to their weight, they could
not fold them completely, and would drag them as long and embarrass-
ing appendages. ‘These observations would be correct according to the
theory of “sailing” flight, but in “‘rowing” flight, the ainplitude of the

262 PHENOMENA OF FLIGHT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.

stroke of the wing, increasing in proportion to the size of the bird, mul-
tiplies the resistance which the wing meets from the air, and the reac-
tion bears a similar proportion to the weight of the birds themselves.
Dr. Hureau de Villeneuve, upon the same principle, has sought to de-
termine the alar extent which would enable a bat of the same weight
as aman to fly. He found that each*of its wings would be less than
three meters in length.

A remarkable work by Hastings* has appeared this year on the rela-
tive extent of the wings and the weight of the pectoral muscles in the
different species of flying vertebrate animals. The author first shows
that among birds the existence can be established of a certain relation
between the surface of the wings and the weight of the body. But we
should be eareful to compare only comparable elements; that is to say,
the length of the wings, the square roots of the alar surfaces, and the
cube roots of the weight among different birds. Let J be the length of
the wing, a its area, and w the weight of the body, we can compare
among themselves 1, Va, Vw.

Examining different types of bird, Hastings made weights and mea-
surements, from which the following table is extracted :

Weight. | Surface. Helavon, bea
Species.

w. a. Ya Vw — 3Yw.

Wamnsyar mania Sees A= 25 -ackicl . oe. wees 565. 0 541 2. 82
aoe ts\sihia tier eae Oe ee | rae 508. 0 321 2. 26
1 ETT ii Cee 6 2s eee gp ea, ag te 495, 0 262 2.05
ING@URPONUGLEUCA J eco sons ate eee cen 275.5 144 1.84
ausimrdliinin dishes Gass eae: 2 . oe a | O70 331 3.13
Machetes momar. fist =. psbe ses ads ane. 190. 0 164 2523
Te ea an YC LEN EL NS ee pe ee ear 170.5 101 | 1. 81
Al Uiwtbic alias at le 0 t peels ae Si en ae, elaine apie 103.4 101 2.14
MRO IMOR Ue ee eens ee cee. eas eee. eee ai 83.8 106 gst
Simenmshyall oapiseeews., 14 22.2 Seek es 86. 4 85 2. 09
Bombyeila, garnala ‘su52-\je -haeretind wow Joes 60. 0 44 1. 69
DN OMIA AIG OT Sree ae Me 2a aaa eee 32.2 75 2. 69
EUR a) Ole Seer sce eee ne ee Be oe 14.5 31 2. 29
TIM AISPINUS:. hes sos s-sseee eee ee le 10.1 20 + 2.33
PAT Me Crono GUusr...-Lj2seo- .SS9- Po. -2e hee 2 oeil 24 2.54

The weight of the pectoral muscles is, on the contrary, in simple pro-
portion to the total weight of the bird, and in spite of the differences
which correspond to the different degrees of aptitude to flight with
which each species is endowed, we perceive that the proportion of the
weight of the pectoral to the total weight is about one-sixth in the
greater number of birds.

Each animal capable of sustaining itself in the air must develop a
force proportional to its own weight, and should possess an amount of
muscle proportioned to this weight; for, as we have seen, if the chemi-
cal action which takes place in the wings of birds be always of the
same nature, this chemical action and the power which it generates will
be proportionate to the size of the muscular masses. Now, how is it
that the wings of birds in which the surface varies as the square of the
linear dimensions suffice to move bodies of which the variation is in
proportion to the cubes of these dimensions? Here it is necessary to

* Archives Neérlandaises, t. iv. 1869.

PHENOMENA OF FLIGHT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 263

bring in the theory of power; that is to say, of resistance multiplied by
the square of the distance through which it acts in a given time, admit-
ting a uniform rate for the downward stroke of the extremity of the
wing in two birds to be compared, and which have the proportion of
1:2 in their linear dimensions. The surface of the wings of the larger

Fig. 16.

Tl

|

i

It one case a small India-rubber tube transmits

gnals,

periods of elevation and depression of the wing, with their relative durations,

g of a pigeon by double si

gistering the motion of the win
ascular action; in the other the

Apparatus for re

the record of the mi
are noted by an electric signal.

bird will be, as we have already said, four times as great as that of
the smaller one; now, as the resistance of the air against surfaces
meving at the same rate is proportionate to their extent, if we call the
resistance experienced by the wing of the small bird r, that for the
large bird will be 4r. But these birds, in the downward stroke of their
wings, do not execute motions of equal amplitude. In the large bird,

264 PHENOMENA OF FLIGHT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.

each point of the wing will travel twice as far as the similar part of the
smaller bird. If we call the space traversed g, the resistance 7, which
the wing of the small bird APL O CILIA, we shall have rg for the work
done by the wing, and 472g or 8 rg for the work done by the bird.
We see, then, that this work increases in the same proportion as the
weight of the animals we are comparing.

Another conclusion results from the preceding considerations. If we
admit that the wing possesses the same velocity in both birds, the dura-
tion of the stroke will increase with the space traversed by the wing;
that is, it will be proportioned to the linear dimensions of the bird.
Observation confirms this view by showing that large birds make fewer
strokes than small ones do. We have not yet been able to determine
exactly the number of strokes of the wings of birds to ascertain if their
frequency presents an exact inverse ratio to the size of the animal, but
it is easy to see that it is in this manner that the frequency of the wing-
strokes of birds varies.

The graphic method, which is easily employed in determining the
frequency of the wing- strokes of insects, cannot be similarly employed
with birds. It is necessary to adopt some method of transmitting
signals from the flying bird to the registering apparatus. Tor this pur-
pose, I have first used the electric telegraph, which furnishes the means
of solving the following questions: 1. What is the frequency of the
strokes of the wings of a bird? 2. What are the relative durations of
the periods of elevation and depression of the wings? The experiment
consists in placing at the extremity of the wing an apparatus which
breaks or closes an electric circuit at each of the alternate motions,
while at the further part of the circuit is placed an electro-magnetic
apparatus, which makes a trace upon a turning cylinder. Tig. 16
shows this method of studying the flight of a pigeon, together with
another method of transmitting signals. In this figure the two wires
are separated from each other.

The writing style traces a crenulated line of which the changes of
direction correspond to a change in the direction of the motion of the
wing.

In order that the fight may beas free as possible, a fine, flexible cord,
containing two wires, establishes the communication betw een the bird
and the writing telegraph. The two ends of the two wires are attached
to a very small, light apparatus which, from the resistance of the air,
executes a kind of valvular motion. When the wing is elevated the
valve opens, the circuit is broken, and the line traced by the telegraph
rises. When the wing descends the valve closes; the circuit is also
closed, and the line is depressed.

Applied to different kinds of birds, this apparatus registers the fre-
quency of the strokes of the wing in each. The number of species
which I have as yet been able to study is very small; I have, however,
obtained the following results:

Number of vibrations of the wing per second.

SAECO We 2 ee re re aS a cs en et eee ee 13
Mevatal CUD K SS Ce ane ee Ree LS oe oe ae 9
emer. ok SL as A A ee ee sare Ne ee | ON cee ee eee 8
Hen- hawk, Buteo vulgaris, ahawk called in England and France the

“isnemara” Or *husapa’ sO oe os See De Ren ee ' 5B
MU recerememig 2 Si), SPL OP Eee Se 2 ed ee el ee eee

- 7a
Harrier, Circus rufus, marsh harrier of England, buse of France.... 3

PHENOMENA OF FLIGHT IN THE AMIMAL KINGDOM. 265

The frequency of the strokes varies according as the bird is starting,
is in full motion, or at the end of its flight. Some birds, as we know,
have periods when the wing is motionless, and when they move by
means of the momentum acquired.

It is interesting to observe the relative duration of the periods of
ascent and descent of the wings. Contrary to the opinion expressed by
some observers, the descending period is generally longer than that of
elevation. The inequality of the two periods is especially evident in
birds which have large wings and make few strokes. Thus, while the
periods are almost equal in the duck, which has very narrow wings, they
are unequal in the pigeon, and much more so in the harrier.

The following figures exhibit the results obtained from several species
of birds:

Proportional dis-
— Total distance traversed during one com- tance.
ee plete oscillation of the wing. SS
Ascent. | Descent.
WMOGle Wess 2.2 oc cs2- 6.66 centiémes per second ...-..-..--.- 3.0 3.66
BIS COM «S225. ome amie 2 7.5 centiémes per second.........---.-- 3.0 4.5
GMS coos wis ods. 21.5 centiémes per second.....-...-..-- 8.5 13.0

It is more difficult than might be supposed to determine the precise
instant of the change of direction in the line traced by the telegraph.
The attraction of the magnet and the relaxation have an appreciable
duration, if the blackened cylinder turns with sufficient velocity to
measure the rapid motions which we seek to analyze. The inflections
of the line traced by the telegraph then become curves, of which it is
somewhat difficult to determine the precise origin. There is therefore
a limit to the precision of the measurements which can be made by the
electric method. I think that we cannot approximate by this method
nearer than 5), of a second to the duration of a motion. ;

Another kind of signal allows the estimation of the frequency of the
stroke at the same time that it furnishes indications of the successive
action of the principal motive muscles of the wing.

Myographic method.—In 1867 I indicated a myographic method which
might be applied without mutilating the animal upon which the experi-
ment was performed. It consists in employing the swelling of a muscle
to afford evidence of its changes in length—that is to say, by its con-
traction or relaxation. Muscles, not being sensibly compressible, cannot
change their length without at the same time changing their transverse
diameter. A rapid or short, feeble or energetic contraction of a muscle,
hence, is accompanied by an increase in diameter, affording the same
features of rate or intensity. At each descent of the bird’s wing the
great pectoral muscle thus exhibits an increase of size, which can bg
indicated by the registering apparatus.

I have made use of flexible air tubes of India-rubber in transmitting
these effects, a method which has enabled me at times to register at
some distance the beating of the heart, the pulse, and the motions of
respiration.

The bird flies in an inclosure fifteen meters square and eight meters
high. ‘The registering apparatus being placed in the center of this
enclosure, twelve meters of rubber tubing are enough to establish a con-
stant communication between it and the bird. <A sort of corset is applied
to a pigeon, (see Fig. 16.) Under this corset, between it and the pectoral

266 PHENOMENA OF FLIGHT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.

muscle, is placed a little contrivance intended to exhibit the swelling of
the muscle. It consists of a small, shallow metal basin containing a
spiral spring and is closed over by a thin sheet of rubber. This basin,
thus closed, communicates with the transmitting tube.
Any pressure applied to the Fig. 17.

face of the apparatus depresses
the rubber. The air is forced
out of the basin and escapes by
the tube. Ifthe pressure ceases,
the air reénters the basin in con-
sequence of the elasticity of the
spring which raises the rubber.
An alternate inspiration and as-

piration is by this means estab- A ve nie muy ee oe
wat . Jnevatin We: : pparatus for exhibiting the contraction o
lished in the tube, and the mo the thoracic muscles of birds. The upper con-

tion of the air transmits to the yex face is formed of a sheet of rubber, held
registering apparatus a signal of up by aspiral spring, and is applied to the mus-
the more or less intense pressure oe eas toes Gee io ee mie the opr.
rhip ~ rarta Set, carrieS tour: eho re caug in
rege + a the cloth and hold the apparatus in its place.
registering apparatus I have used in all my experiments is also com-
posed of a basin, covered by a rubber membrane communicating with
the transmitting tube. The motion imparted to the first basin is
transmitted by the air to the rubber cover of the second. The motions
of the membrane of the receiving apparatus, amplified by a lever, are
written on the smoked cylinder. Figure 16 represents the general
arrangement of the experiment in which the electric telegraph and trans-
mission by air are exhibited together. We see the pigeon under ex-
periment furnished with its corset and apparatus for showing the move-
ments of its pectoral muscles. The transmitting air-tube ends at the
registering apparatus, which writes on a revolving cylinder. At the
extremity of the pigeon’s wing is an arrangement which opens or closes
an electric circuit as the wing rises or falls. The two wires of the cir-
cuit are represented separately, and two cells of Bunsen’s battery are
seen in their connection, with the helix, which, furnished with a lever,
registers the telegraphic signals of the motions of the wings. One pre-
caution is indispensable—the rubber tube which connects the bird and the
apparatus must be prevented from stretching. When the bird flies it
raises more or Jess of the tube, and if this is elastic it will become elon-
gated by its own weight, producing a rarefaction of the air contained
in the two receptacles, and the registering lever will trace muscular
curves on a decending line. To prevent this inconvenience, the tube
may be tied here and there to the telegraphic cord by means of ligatures,
taking care that the tube is a little longer than the cord, and that
it is not subjected to traction. These precautions being taken, nothing
«prevents the successful transmission of signals. No trouble need be
taken in regard to the elasticity of the tube in a transverse direction;
its walls are so thick that their elasticity is not brought into play by the
feeble changes of pressure to which the air they contain is subjected.
The bird is let loose at one end of the inclosure, the dove-cote in which
it is ordinarily kept being placed at the opposite end. The bird
naturally flies toward the latter. During its flight the tracings repre-
sented by Fig. 18 are obtained.
The trace is seen to differ according to the kind of bird experimented
upon. However, in all the traces we perceive the periodical return of
two motions, a and b, which are produced in each vibration of the wing.

PHENOMENA OF FLIGHT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 267

Fig. 18.*

|

AC AVAVAN TAVAVAVAUAY

Fig. 18. Myographic tracings of the pectorals, obtained from various kinds of birds
during flight. I. Tracing of the tuning-fork to be used in measuring the absolute
duration of each muscular motion; this tuning-fork vibrates 200 times a second. II.
Tracing of the muscles of a pigeon obtained, as in Fig. 16. UI. Tracing of a wild
duck. IV. Tracing of a hen-hawk. Y. Tracing of a harrier.

Fig. 19. Line a represents the electric tracing of the ascent and descent of the wing
of a harrier, as furnished by the apparatus. Line 6 is a tracing of a tuning-fork vibrat-
ing 200 times a second. Line ¢, correction of the electric tracing, which latter does not
represent the changes with sufficient abruptness in the figure (a) obtained directly from
the wing. Line d, tracing of the action of the pectoral muscles in the harrier by the air
apparatus; a’, period of elevation of the wing; b’, period of depression. Line e will
be hereatter referred to; it represents the vertical oscillations of the bird during flight.

268 PHENOMENA OF FLIGHT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.

What is the signification of these two muscular actions? It is readily
seen that the undulation a corresponds to the action of the muscle which
elevates the wing, and bd to that of the muscle which depresses it.
This can readily be proved by comparing the trace of the, muscular
action in the electric trace of the elevation and depression of the
wing. These two tracings, placed one under the other, show that
the period of elevation of the wing agrees with the extent of the
undulation a, and the period of depression with the undulation b.

But to establish this agreement we must take the unequal rapidity of
the transmission of the electric and aérial signals into account. We
may consider the electric transmission as instantaneous, while the aérial
transmission is at the same rate as the rapidity of sound through the
air, that is, 334 metres per second. If the points of the two svyies are
placed vertically one above another, the tracings will not be exactly
superposed, but the electric signal will precede the other by a distance
corresponding to a certain fraction of a second, according to the length
of the tube which has been employed. We can even compute, from the
length of the air-tube, the amount of retardation, but it is more certainly
ascertained by a special determination for the particular tube which
may be in use. Ina previous experiment, motions were simultaneously
transmitted by the tube and by electricity, and the discrepancy de-
termined. In the apparatus which I am using, the constant discrepancy
is .04 of a second. I should therefore set back the electric signals by
a corresponding distance, in order that they may agree with the signals
transmitted by the air-tube. Fig. 19 shows the superposed tracing
from a harrier after correction.

It is easy to understand how the undulations a and b are produced in
all the tracings of the muscles of birds. In fact there exist two distinct
planes of muscles, in the upper part of the region investigated, near the
end of the sternum. The most superficial is formed by the great pec-
toral which lowers the wing, the deeper by the median pectoral or eleva-
tor of the wing, the tendon of which passes behind the bifurcation of
the sternum to attach itself to the head of the humerus. The two sup-
perposed muscles act by their swelling upon the apparatus applied to
them. The median pectoral swells when it contracts, signalizing the
undulation a by its action; the great pectoral signalizes the lowering of
the wing in the undulation b in a similar manner.

We can verify the correctness of this explanation by a very simple
experiment. Anatomy shows us that the median pectoral is narrow, and
only covers the inner portion of the great pectoral along the keel of the
sternum. So if we displace the little apparatus which reveals the motion
of these muscles, and carry it further outward, it will occupy a region
where the median pectoral does not cover the great pectoral, and the
tracing only presents a simple undulation, which corresponds to 6 in the
figures.

It is, therefore, sufficiently demonstrated that the undulations a and
b, in the muscular tracings of the birds upon which I have experimented,
correspond exactly to the principal elevating and depressing muscles of
the wing; but we cannot attach much importance to the form of these
tracings for deducing the precise nature of the motion effected by the
muscle. In fact, these motions appear to override one another. So the
relaxation of the median pectoral is probably incomplete when the great
pectoral commences toact. Weshould expect no more from these tracings
than they naturally furnish, that is to say, the number of vibrations of
the wing, the greater or less regularity of its movements, the equality,
inequality, and energy of each of them. Restricting the inquiry within

PHENOMENA OF FLIGHT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 269

these limits, the experiments show that the strokes of the wings of birds
differ in frequency and amplitude in the different moments of flight.
At starting the strokes are fewer but more energetic; they attain, after
the first two or three, a regular rhythm, which they lose at the moment
when ‘the animal is about to alight.

Kos We shall find in other experiments more
complete indications of the variation of the
movements of the wing during the different
periods of flight.

Such are the certain indications which can be
derived from the method of signalizing estab-
lished between the flying bird and the regis-
tering apparatus. Butif it is wise to guard
our conclusions by more rigorous experiments,
it may at least be permitted us to attempt
to discover whether the tracings ot these mus-
cles cannot furnish us with further informa-
tion in regard to the motions from which they
are derived. I have elsewhere demonstrated
that the form of the motion produced by a
muscle when it is excited varies according to
the resistance which this motion encounters.
Thus, in applying the myograph to the muscle
of a frog, I have seen that if contraction be
impeded by an obstacle the duration of the
muscular shock becomes greater on account of
that obstacle. Theory, also, would foretell us,
that if the muscle presents certain modifica-
tions in the different phases of its contraction,
the result of unequal resistance overcome at
different periods, the swelling of the muscle
should also present the same phases. If the
tracing is the exact impression of the motions
produced by the muscle, it can inform us of
the nature of the resistance which the wing ot
the bird encounters in the different phases of
one of its vibrations.

Let us take the most simple example. <As
the median pectoral and great pectoral are very
unequal in size, we may suppose that if the
resistance is equal in the two periods of ele-
vation and depression, the duration of the for-
mer would much exceed that of the latter;
and, as exactly the contrary is the case, we
may conclude that the rising wing dves not
strike the air but cuts it, apparently with its
edge, so that the resistance to the elevation
is very feeble, and is very strong to the de-
pression of the wing. Now, if we examine the tracing of the depression
of the wing we shall find there, within certain limits, the expression of
the different amount of resistance which the wing encounters in the dif-
ferent phases of its depression. It is necessary by previous experiments
to determine the effect of certain special kinds of resistance, which we
may call elastic resistance, in order to better understand the significa-
tion of different forms of muscular motion. :

This tracing

ght.
arge number of strokes to be

pigeon during 4 flight of fifteen

Fig. 20.
y slowly, allowing the record of a 1

plitude and frequency in the wing-strokes of a
d traces indicate the movements at the commencement of fli

To the left the extende
was recorded on a cylinder which moved yer

Showing the difference in am
compressed into a small space.

meters.

270 PHENOMENA OF FLIGHT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.

Let us take the muscle of .a frog, apply it to the myrograph, and ex-
cite contraction in it by means of electricity. The form of this con-
traction varies in the following manner, under the influence of different
kinds of resistance opposed to the action of the muscle: If a weight
be suspended to the muscle it gives the tracing a, Fig. 21. If it en-
counter an absolute obstacle to all further diminution of length, after
a few instants of contraction it gives the trace b. Finally, if it encoun
ters an elastic obstacle, as a rubber thread, which presents a surmount
able resistance, the muscle gives the curve ¢. It seems as if these dif
ferent forms were sufticient to characterize the nature of the resistance
that the contraction of the muscle has had te overcome.

In the first case it is the inertia of a body ; now this body, submitted
to the muscular force during a limited period, should have an acceler-
ated motion at first and then a diminishing motion. This is precisely
what the form of the curve a indicates. In the second case it is not
necessary to explain how the horizontal line which forms the summit of
the curve b, expresses the cessation of all contraction in the presence of
an absolute obstacle. Lastly, in the curve c, the presence of an obstacle
is betrayed by a deflection of the curve; that is, by a change in the
rapidity of the motion which produces it; but the contraction does not
cease because the obstacle is not insurmountable, but it becomes slower
on account of the greater resistance presented.

I have been able to convince myself that in the above-mentioned
experiments the swelling of the muscle presents the same phases as its
change of length. In fact, [have transmitted to the myograph the mo-
tion produced by the swelling of the musele, and have obtained tracings
.dentical with the preceding. Finally, wishing to know if the appara-
tus which I have used would faithfully transmit the different phases of
the swelling of muscle, I made the following experiment: I applied
the little drum which had served to obtain the tracings from the
birds (Fig. 18) to my own biceps muscle, fixing it exactly in place by
means of a bandage, and put it in communication with the registering
apparatus. I then made sudden voluntary motions, as similar as I could
make them to each other, but applied to overcome various forms of re-
sistance. In one ease I lifted a weight; in another my hand was abso-
lutely arrested in upward motion by being placed beneath a heavy
table; in still another I tied my hand to a fixed object with a rubber
band which, by a short flexure of my fore-arm, required the utmost
efforts of the muscle to stretch it.

Now the tracings Fig. 21.
which express the Ragga oy
swelling of the bi- fig
ceps in these three fim
experiments repro-
duce the three types i
represented in Fig.
21, and show very
clearly that volun-'
tary exertions had im
been subjected to OR
different torms of resistance. I tried to force upon the muscles iden-
tical motions in each case, which was always a short, vigorous flexure,
but the nature of the resistance modified these muscular actions which
were intended to be similar to each other, and imparted to them the vari-
ous phases and durations which are exhibited in the figure. This being
settled, let us return to the muscular tracing of the great pectoral of

PHENOMENA OF FLIGHT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 272

the bird. I have said that the exact commencement of this motion is
undetermined, the elevator of the wing not having fallen into repose
before the depressor commences to act, and if we would represent the
probable curve of the action of these two muscles from that which the
myrograph obtains for us, it will be necessary for us to complete the
tracing by means of dotted lines as in Fig. 22.

Fig. 22.

Trace of the action of a harrier during flight: a, action of the elevating muscle ; }, of
the depressing muscle. The dotted lines which descend to the axis of the curve com-
plete the probable form of the motions of the two muscles of the wing.

Thus reconstructed, the form of the curves of the elevator and de-
pressor reveals the nature of the resistance which each of these mus-
cles has encountered. The curve a of the median pectoral is that of a
muscle acting on a weight; it seems to indicate that the inertia of the
wing is the only obstacle which the elevator muscle has to overcome.
The curve b shows us a deflection, during part of which the contraction
of the muscle takes a slower motion; it is here that the resistance of
the air is interposed. These things happen, then, exactly as in the
experiments which I have made upon my own muscles and those of the
frog. But you may ask why the deflection of the curve is not produced
sooner; and if the depressor muscle can rapidly contract for a certain
period before encountering sufficient resistance from the air to impede
its motion. This is just what happens; we have the proof of it in the
anatomical disposition of the attachments of the great pectoral muscle.
We shall see hereafter how the motion of the humerus around its articula-
tion is produced ; at present I will only say that in the first part of its
action the great pectoral in contracting produces a pivot-like motion of
the wing upon the head of the humerus, and that in this first motion
the muscle does not experience the resistance of the air which retards
its contraction an instant later.

The reader will perhaps consider that an inordinate number of de-
ductions are made from the forms of the curves of the muscles; but
those who will familiarize themselves with the use of the registering
apparatus, and in particular with the myograph, will soon be convinced
that chance does not enter into the formation of the curves, but that the
details should find their explanation in the dynamic conditions of the
production of muscular power,

Motions exccuted by the wing of a bird during flight.—W e have seen,
in regard to the mechanism of the flight of insects, that the fundamental
experiment has been that which has shown the trajectory of the point of
the wing in each of its evolutions. The knowledge of the mechanism of
flight flows, so to speak, naturally from this first idea. The same deter-
mination is equally indispensable for the flight of birds, but the optic

212 PHENOMENA OF FLIGHT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.

method is here inapplicable. The motion of a bird’s wing, while too
rapid to be followed by the eye, is not sufficiently rapid to form a
persistent impression of its entire trajectory upon the retina. The
graphic method, which I have hitherto employed, only furnishes
impressions of motions which happen to follow a straight line, and it is
only by combining this rectilinear movement with the revolving cylinder
with a smoked surface that the expression of the rapidity with which
the motion is effected at each instant is obtained.

The problem is to find the means of registering on an immovable
plane all the motions which the point of a bird’s wing makes in space,
as if a style had been placed at the end of the wing, and this style
traced or rubbed on a piece of paper by its side. It is still further
necessary to have a figure of the same nature as the luminous figure of
the gilded wing of an insect, that the piece of paper on which the trace
is to be made shall remain motionless in regard to the center of motion
of the wing of the flying bird, or in effect that it shall follow the bird in
all its phases of impulsion through space.

Now, physics teach us that all motion susceptible of registration in
one plane can be generated by the rectangular combination of two
rectilinear motions. The tracings obtained by Koenig by arming a
vibrating Wheatstone’s rod with a style, the luminous figures of musical
chords which M. Lissajous has produced by the reflection of a ray of
light from two vibrating mirrors perpendicular to one another, are well
known examples of the formation of a plane figure by means of two
rectilinear movements. Thus, admitting that the motions of elevation
and depression of the wing can be transmitted at one time, as well as
the back and forward motions of this organ, by supposing that a writing
style can simultaneously receive the impulse of these two motions, per-
pendicular to eavh other, this point will write on the cylinder the exact
figure of the motions of the bird’s wing. I tried at first to construct an
apparatus which would thus transmit such a motion to a distance and
register it, without concerning myself with the way in which I might
apply this rather weighty mechanism to the bird.

Fig. 23 represents this provisional apparatus, the description of
which is indispensable for the comprehension of the second mechanism,
which I shall deseribe hereafter. Upon two solid feet, carrying vertical
supports, are seen two horizontal arms parallel toeach other. These are
two aluminium levers which, by the transmitting apparatus to be
described, should both execute the same motions. Each of these levers
is mounted on a ball-and-socket joint, or double articulation, which
permits all kinds of motion; thus each lever can be carried above,
below, to the right or to the left. It can by its point describe the base
of a cone of which the joint will be the apex. In fact, it will execute
any kind of motion which the experimentor may choose to impart to it.
It is also necessary to establish the transmission of motion from one
lever to the other at a distance of ten or fifteen meters. This is done
by means of a process with which the reader is already familiar—the use
of drums and air tubes.

The lever, which is seen at the left in the figure, is fastened by a
metallic arm articulated at one of its extremities to the membrane of a
drum placed below it. In-.the vertical motions of the lever the mem-
brane of the drum rises or falls by turns, producing a throbbing motion
of the air in another drum through a long tube, which establishes a
communication between them. In the apparatus to the right in the
ugure, the second drum is placed above the corresponding lever articu-
lated with it, and faithfully transmits all the motions which have been

PHENOMENA OF FLIGHT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 273

imparted to the first drum to the left. These movements will be in the
same direction in both levers on account of the inversion of the position
of the drums. If we depress the first lever it presses down the mem-
brane of the drum below it, inducing a pressure which lifts the mem-
brane of the second drum, and consequently lowers the second lever
conversely; the elevation of the first lever produces an influx of air,
which raises the membrane of the second lever.

Fig. 23.

Ng

y another lever around one of

Soe

Apparatus intended to transmit to a lever at a distance all the motions executed b

its extremities,

Proceeding in the same manner to transmit motions in a horizontal
plane, I have placed at the right of one of the levers and at the left of
the other a ee with the membrane in a vertical plane, which imparts

8

274 PHENOMENA OF FLIGHT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.

lateral motions to these levers. These motions are transmitted by a
special air-tube, as before. In the apparatus thus constructed, if we
move the end of one of the levers with the finger, the other lever will
be seen to execute the same movements with perfect fidelity. The only
difference consists in a slight diminution of amplitude. This happens
because the air contained in the tubes and drums is slightly compressed,
and in consequence does not transmit the whole of the motion which it
receives. It is easy to remedy this defect, if it be one, by placing the
ball-and-socket joint a little nearer the point whence the motion is
transmitted to the second lever. But it is better not to attempt too
great amplification, because the friction is thus augmented and the
force which should overcome it is diminished. ’

After having determined that the transmission of such motion can be
effected in a satisfactory manner by means of this apparatus, I have
sought for the means of tracing these movements upon a plain surface.
The difficulty which before presented itself, when I endeavored to apply
the graphic method to the study of the wing-strokes of insects, again
appeared, but this time there was no means of eluding it, and I con-
tented myself with partial tracings. The point of the second lever de-
scribed a spherical figure in space which could not be tangent, except as
a point, to the smoked surface, which should receive the trace. In conse-
quence, I should have to register the projection of this figure on the
plane. Helmholtz had also encountered the same difficulty in the con-
struction of his myograph, and had solved it by causing the point of
the writing style to rub continually on the smoked surface by means of
a weight. But as I could not attach a weight to the extremity of my
lever, I resolved to the following expedient, shown at the end of the
lever, in Fig. 24. It is large at
the base in order to resist all
lateral deviations from friction ;
this base is fixed on a vertical
piece of aluminium which is
attached to the extremity of
the lever. In this way the
point of the contrivance, which
performs the office of a style, is
situated exactly opposite the
end of the lever whose motions
it registers. If the lever be
elevated and takes the position
indicated by the dotted lines in Fig. 24, in traversing this space it has
described the are of a circle, and its extremity will be no longer on the
same plane as before, but the elasticity of the contrivance will have
carried the point of the style forward, and it will therefore continue to
be in contact with the plane upon which it is tracing. Thus the lever
elongates or shortens according as the case requires, and its point con-
tinually rubs upon the plane. I should add that the surface upon which
the tracings are received is of finely polished glass, and that the con-
trivance which I have used is so delicate that the pressure which it
exercises produces scarcely any friction.

The apparatus being thus constructed, it must be submitted to verifi-
cation, to ascertain whether the motions are faithfully transmitted and
registered. To do this both levers of Fig. 23 are furnished with simi-
lar styles, placed against the same smoked glass; and moving one of
the levers with the hand, for instance, so as to write my name, the
other lever should reproduce the same signature. It frequently hap-

Fig. 24.

Elastic point tracing upon smoked glass.

PHENOMENA OF FLIGHT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 275

pens that the transmission is not equally good in both directions, which
is perceptible by the deformity of the transmitted figure, which is in-
creased more or less in height or breadth. This deficiency can always
be corrected, since it is due to the membrane of one of the drums being
stretched more than that of the other, and hence yielding less easily to
pressure. It is very easy to equalize the tension by tightening the mem-
brane of the other drum until the figure traced by the first lever is
identical with that traced by the second.

The modifications by means of which I have rendered this trans-
mission applicable to the study of the motions of the wing of a flying
bird, are as follows:

The apparatus
necessarily being
heavy, it required
a large bird to carry
it. Strong adult
harriers served for
the experiments. I
fixed a light strip
of wood upon the
bird’s back, upon
which the appara-
tus was placed, by
means of a kind of
corset, which left
the wings and feet
free. That the le-
ver might faithfully
execute the same
motions as the
bird’s wing, the
joint of the lever
should be placed
in contact with the
humeral = articula-
tion of the harrier.
As the presence of
the drums by the
side of the lever
does not permit this
immediate contact,
I had recourse to a
parallelogram,
which transmitted
to the lever of the
apparatus the
movements of a
long arm of which
the center of mo-
ra Pe tion was very close
to the articulation of the bird’s wing. Finally, to obtain an identity of
motion between the arm and the harrier’s wing, I fixed on the bastard
wing, that is to say, on the metacarpal portion of that organ, a well cut
screw-vise, furnished with a ring, through which passed the steel arm
of which I have just spoken.

Ds

o
~

Fig.
Harrier flying with the apparatus, which transmits the motions described by the extremity of its wing.

276 °HENOMENA OF FLIGHT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.

Fig. 25 represents the harrier flying with the apparatus in ques-
tion; below hang the transmitting tubes of the registering apparatus.

After a great many fruitless attempts and changes of construction of
the apparatus, which, being very fragile, broke at almost every flight of
the bird, I succeeded in obtaining satisfactory results. During flight
the registering lever described a kind of ellipse, but I was obliged to
give up registering this figure upon a stationary glass. The motions
of the wing differing at different moments of flight, the style did not
pass over the same points, and I obtained a very confused tracing. I
then resolved to use a glass moving horizontally at a uniform rate in
order to obtain an extended figure, which I could afterward submit to
a geometric correction, and thus obtained as it should be, if traced on a
stationary surface, a figure for each instant of flight.

Figure 26 represents one of the numerous
tracings which I have thus obtained. The per-
fect uniformity of these tracings gives me en-
tire confidence in their correctness. ‘To ana-
lyze the meaning of this curve, it is necessary
to know how the bird flies, how the apparatus
is arranged, and in what direction the smoked
glass moves while receiving the tracing. The
observer being placed opposite the glass, on
the smoked side, sees it move from the right
to the left; between the glass and himself is a
tracing apparatus, with the lever rubbing upon
the smoked surface directly in front of him.
The bird flying from right to left, in a plane
parallel with that of the glass, carries the lever
of the apparatus on his right wing, so that the
respective levers of the two machines are al-
ways parallel to each other. This being
known, the tracing should be read from left
to right. We have seen that the tracing con-
sists of a kind of ellipse, which the motion of
the glass extends into a spiral. The move
ments, more extended at the beginning of
flight, gradually lose a little of their ampli-
tude, and retain a uniform character for some
time.

This figure somewhat resembles that which
we obtain from a Wheatstone’s rod, according
to the unison which traces the ellipse which
its point describes upon a surface moving from
right to left. Fig. 27, showing the tracing
of this rod, admits the comparison of the
two.

The wing of a harrier thus describes a sort ox
ellipse, but it is necessary to determine more
exactly its shape, and to correct the error caused
by the motion of the glass plate.

Such a correction is impossible, unless we know the elevation attained
by the wing at the end of successive and equal intervals of time. This
once obtained, if we trace parallel horizontal lines representing the
position of the wing at each of these successive moments, these lines
will cut the descending curve at points which correspond to the succes-
sive equal intervals of its course. It is clear that if these successive

‘FYSIB JO JUSUIOUL YORE 4B SULA oY} Jo yuIod oy} Jo osmoo oy] Suyuesordoy
"96 ‘SIA

PHENOMENA OF FLIGIT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. Al ig

points of the curve have been produced at equal intervals of time, each
of them, under the influence of the motion of the glass plate, will have
a constant deviation toward the right, bearing a stated relation to the
preceding point. The correction thus consists in carrying the second
point back toward the left twice this amount, the third point three times
Fig. 27. this amount, and

,»soon. The ascend-
ing portion of the
m curve should also be
fs submitted to this
correction, and sim-
ilarly each part of
ai thetracing. But it
wis precisely the
mi beight which the
fer) Ving attains in the

' ane ‘ _. different ascending
Ellipse traced by a Wheatstone’s rod upon a turning cylinder. and descending mo.
tions of its course which we do not know; but this want can be sup-
plied by the apparatus in the following manner:

Since the principle of this mechanism is founded upon the transmission
of two motions, perpendicular to each other, vertical and horizontal, it
suffices to suppress the transmission of the horizontal motion to obtain
the eurve of elevation immediately ; that is to say, the expression of the
height of the wing at each instant of its course. For this I obstruct the
tube of lateral transmission, let the bird fly, and obtain the curve of the
heights of the wing at each moment.

The correction being made, and Fig. 26 being selected to show the
course of the point of the wing during one of its evolutions, and pro-
jected upon a stationary plane, we obtain Fig. 28.

Fig. 28. The arrows indicate the direction in which the wing
moves.
a 6©>-: Is this the form characteristic of all birds; or is it
a only that of the harrier, in the conditions of flight
# in which it has been placed ?

The last supposition appears to be the most prob-
able; we can see, even while comparing the form of
the tracing at different instants of its flight while
under experiment, that the ellipse is greater and more
open in the first strokes of the wing than in the last.
It is, however, necessary to except the second stroke
of the wing, which has given me a narrower ellipse
Pe Acme tied than any other, in all the experiments which I have
duced from the motion op Made. Ido not know to what this special form is to
the tit be attributed, but have thought it worth while to men-
tion it on account of its constancy.

Of the rotation of the humerus and the changes of the plane in the wing
during flight—The wing of a bird, like that of an insect, must meet
with a sufficient resistance from the air in its motion upward and down-
ward to incline its flexible portion, namely, that’ which forms the webs
and coverts. This cause does produce a change of the plane of the
wing, but there is another even more powerful, for it places the wing at
the outset of the depressing motion in a favorable position for the double
propulsion which is produced. I refer to the pivot motion which the
humerus executes around its axis at each contraction of the great pec-
toral, It is enough to examine the bony crest on which the large tendon

278 PHENOMENA OF FLIGHT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.

of the great pectoral is inserted, and to consider that this crest is situ-
ated on the anterior edge of the humerus, to comprehend that the action
of the great pectoral, whose fibers are carried backward and downward,
should produce a rotary motion of the humerus around its longitudinal
axis. The conformation of the humeral articulation is perfectly adapted
to this motion. Finally, the existence of this rotation is rendered still
more necessary by the resistance which the air presents to the back of
the wing and opposes to the descent of its feathered portion. We can
demonstrate the existence of this motion and measure its extent by
means of the registering apparatus. But I have thought it best to defer
these researches, especially as they necessitate the construction of spe-
cial apparatus, which would require numerous experiments, and would
produce, after all, results of very slight importance. In fact, we are
enabled to deduce from the attachment of the muscles the nature of
the motion which they produce, and this deduction is especially easy.

I have always sought to verity the existence of this rotary motion of
the humerus, and to measure its extent, by the application of electricity
to the muscles of the bird. In the experiment for measuring the static
power developed by tlie contraction of the great pectoral muscle, previ-
ously described, I noticed that at each excitement of this muscle the
humerus executed a rotary motion upon its axis. I fixed in the humerus
a rod, perpendicular to its axis, and was enabled, by the angle formed
by the two positions of this red, to demonstrate that the rotation in the
harrier corresponded to an angle of thirty-five or forty degrees. It
seemed that the limits of this angle were fixed by the attachments of
the median and great pectoral muscles. If traction be exerted upon
the two antagonistic muscles of a newly dissected bird, it will be seen
that the median pectoral raises this member so that its upper face is
turned somewhat backward. The action of the great pectoral changes
this position of the wing completely, and carries its upper face strongly
upward and even a little forward. These expressions, upward and
downward, are relative to a plane cutting the bird into a dorsal and a
ventral half; but this plane, doubtless, is not entirely parallel with the
horizon during flight. But it is certain that the resistance of the air
should give a much more pronounced deflection to the feathers during
the more rapid descent of the wing.

The most difficult to measure of the influences which change the plane
of the bird’s wing is that which relates to the pressure of the air on the
feathers. Perhaps it may not be impossible to devise an apparatus
capable of measuring it, but it so varies with the variations of the
velocity with which the wing is lowered, that any measurement which
might be obtained would be enly the expression of a particular case.
It is very probable, on the contrary, that the change of plane due to the
action of the pectoral muscles is a much more constant phenomenon.
We can infer the action of the two motions of the bird’s wing from what
has been said of the mechanism of the flight of insects. It is evident
that the descent of the wing will have the double effect of raising the
bird and of imparting to it a horizontal motion. As to the ascent of the
wing, its office cannot be the same, because the imbrication of the
feathers does not offer a resistant surface to the air.

Everything tends to show that the ascending wing cuts the air with
its anterior edge, but, as we shall see, another phenomenon occurs which
uplifts the body of the bird during the elevation of the wing; this is
the transformation of the impulse which the bird has acquired during
the lowering of the wing. This impulse is changed in rising, by a mech-
anism analogous to that which raises the toy kite.

PHENOMENA OF FLIGHT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 279

In a remarkable study of the flight of birds, M. Liais has been led,
through observation and deduction, to adopt this theory, to which the
experiments about to be described, I trust, will add new proofs in its
favor.

Before leaving the subject, it is necessary to mention the existence of
certain other motions in the flight of small birds. I refer to the folding
and unfolding of the wings. But the existence of these motions does
not seem to be constant, and the eye cannot perceive the least trace of
them during the flight of the large birds upon which I have experi-
mented. I shall, therefore, omit the study of these motions, and of their
possible effects, and restrict my conclusions on the mechanism of flight
to a certain number of determinate species of birds.

The study of the motions of the wings of birds during flight necessa-
rily includes the effect produced by each of these movements. Weare
tempted to deduce these effects from the nature of the motions which
generate them, but it is safer to obtain the solution of this complicated
problem from experiment. Two distinct effects are produced during
flight: first, the bird is upheld against the force of gravity ; second, it
is propelled horizontally. Is the bird in the air sustained at a constant
elevation, or is it rather subject to oscillations in the vertical plane?
Does it not exhibit, by the intermittent effect of the strokes of its wings, a
series of ascents and descents, the frequency and extent of which can-
not be observed by the eye? Is not the bird also subjected to a varia-
ble velocity in its horizontal course? Does it not receive a jerking
motion from the action of its wings? These questions can be solved by
experiment, in the following manner: Since we possess the means by
which distant motions produced by pressure exerted upon a drum filled
with air are made to record themselves, we must seek to connect the
movements which we would study with a pressure of this kind. The
oscillations which the bird executes in the vertical plane should be made
to produce alternately strong or feeble pressure on the membrane of the
drum, according as the bird rises or falls. The same should be done in
seeking the variations of its horizontal velocity. Suppose that a flying
bird carries upon its back a light metallic drum, like the one already
described; that the membrane of this drum be turned upward, and that
this instrument be put in communication with the registering appara-
tus by means of along tube. Ifthe membrane of the drum freely par-
takes of the motions of the bird it will not produce any displacement of
the air in the apparatus, and the registering lever will remain motion-
less. But if we prevent the membrane from partaking of all the motions
of the bird, if we can give it a tendency to remain at rest while the
drum is moved, motion will be produced in the air with which the drum
is filled, and the signals will be registered by the lever. Now, we can
vroduce this tendency to remain at rest upon the membrane by loading
it with an inert body, such as a disk of lead.

Fig. 29 shows the drum with an inert mass upon its membrane.
This mass is formed of disks of lead, of which a certain number can be
added or taken off, until the apparatus responds satisfactorily to the
motions of vertical oscillation imparted to it. In this arrangement the
movements in the horizontal plane are without influence upon the appa-
ratus. If the drum is suddenly raised, the inert body, not participat-
ing in this elevation, depresses the membrane exactly as if the mass
itself had been depressed, and the drum had remained motionless. Con-
versely, when the drum descends, the inertia of the mass resists the
motion, as if it or the membrane had been raised and the drum had
remained motionless. We may remark that the movement of the lever

280 PHENOMENA OF FLIGHT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.

is in the same direction as that of the drum; that is to say, if the drum
be raised, the lever also raises itself. Itmay happen, with an apparatus
of this kind, that in the motion of the wings rubbing may be produced
on the membrane of the drum, which will make confusion in the signals.
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‘network, as seen in Fig. 29, The drum is there represented in the
hand, held by the transmitting tube connecting with the registering
apparatus. Ifthe drum is moved in the vertical plane, the lever is seen
to move in the same direction, at the same instant of time, and with an
amplitude proportionate to the motions of the hand. If, on the con-

PHENOMENA OF FLIGHT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 281

trary, we give the mass a lateral motion, no effect is produced upon the
lever, and no signal is made. But it may be said that an inert mass
placed on an elastic membrane tends to execute vibrations peculiar to
itself, and that the apparatus will transmit these vibrations of the mass
of lead and the membrane which carries it independently of the oscilla-
tions of the bird. How shall we get rid of this complication? The law of
vibrations teaches us that the duration of the double period of each of
them varies with the weight of the vibrating body, and with the elastic
force of the lamina which carries it. The greater the mass, and the
feebler the elasticity, the longer will be the period of vibration. Now,
the motions which we are studying are rather frequent, some birds
making eight or ten strokes of the wing per second. If we arrange it so
that the period of oscillation of the mass of lead itself is much longer
than that of the bird, we shall no longer be troubled by the complica-
tion of these interfering motions. By employing a heavier mass and a
less tense membrane, a good transmission of motions, which are not too
slow, may be obtained, for instance, such as last less than half a second.
It is not necessary, either, that the instrument should be applied to the
study of the oscillations of all species of birds.

But to make sure of the accuracy of the apparatus it should be veri-
fied by the method much like that which I have used to correct all my
apparatus. This consists in making, directly by hand, the tracing of
the motion which I have imparted to the weighted drum, and observing
whether the registered motion was the same as the first.

Experiments made upon different kinds of birds, ducks, harriers, hen-
hawks, and owls, have shown me that, in relation to the intensity of the
oscillations in the vertical plane, very varied types of flight exist.

Figure 30 shows tracings, furnished by different kinds of birds, upon
a cylinder turning at a uniform rate, and contrasted with a tracing pro-
duced by a tuning-fork making 100 vibrations per second. These
tracings enable us to estimate the absolute and relative duration of the
oscillations of flight in these different birds. It follows from these
figures that the frequency and amplitude of the vertical oscillations vary
a good deal with the kind of bird under consideration.

To better comprehend the cause of these variations, let us register at
the same time the vertical oscillations of the bird and the action of the
muscles of its wing. If we make this double experiment upon two birds,
differing in their manner of flying, such as the wild duck and the har-
rier, the tracings represented by Fig. 31 will be obtained.

The duck presents two energetic oscillations at each revolution of its
wing; the one at b, at the moment when the wing relaxes, is easily
understood; the other, at a, at the moment when the wing rises. To
explain the ascension of the bird, during the time of elevation of the
wing, it seems to me indispensable to call in the action of the boy’s kite,
previously alluded to. The bird, moving forward with acquired velocity,
presents its wings to the air in an inelined position, similar to that of
the kite, and thus transforms its horizontal force into an ascending one.

The flight of the harrier presents the ascension which accompanies the
elevation of the wing, in a smaller degree. May not the cause of this
difference be recognized as a smaller relative inclination of the wing
toward the horizon ?

Determination of the different phases of the evolution of the wing, to which
the vertical oscillations correspond.—The interpretation of these curves
throws light at once upon the experiments made on the variations of the
transformation of velocity in the bird, at different moments, during
the evolution of the wing.

282 PHENOMENA OF FLIGHT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDO

Fig. Line 1. Chronographic trace of a tuning-fork, vibrating 100 times a second:
2. Vertical oscillations of the wild duck during flight. 3. Oscillations of the hen-hawk
4. Of the screech-owl; and 5, of the harrier.

Fig. 32. Simultaneous tracing of both kinds of oscillations executed by a harrier
during flight.

PHENOMENA OF FLIGHT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 283

But, before going further, we may remark that the preceding experi-
ment furnishes a very precious lesson in the theory of flight. In fact, if
the bird executes a series of ascents and descents, the duration of the
descending period will approximately inform us of the amount of the
positive work which the bird must perform to rise again to the height
from which it fell, and we see that the duck, which makes nine vibra-
tions of the wing per second, executes two vertical oscillations during

Fig. 31.

In the upper half is seen superposed the muscular tracing, and that of the vertical
oscillations in a wild duck. Below the undulation a, which indicates the elevation of
the wing, is seen a vertical oscillation; and another, below b, which indicates the low-
ering of the wing. In the lower portion are the same tracings obtained from a harrier;
here the oscillation at a, which corresponds to the elevation of the wing, is less marked
than in the duck.

each vibration, or eighteen in a second. Each oscillation 1s composed
of a rise and fall, so that each descent of the bird cannot last more than
one thirty-sixth of a second. Now, if we substract the effect produced
(as in a parachute) by the outspread wings of the bird, we find that a
body which falls during one thirty-sixth of a second traverses only fifty-
two millimeters. This fall repeated eighteen times a second constitutes
a total rise of 9.56 centimeters, necessary to maintain the bird in the
same horizontal plane during one second.

In the tracing of the harrier, the descents are less than in the wild
duck, probably on account of the large surface of the wings of this bird.

Determination of the variations of the rapidity of flight——The second
question to be solved relates to the determination of the various phases
of rapidity of flight. The solution can-be found in the following man-
ner: If the weighted drum be placed upon the bird’s back in a vertical
plane perpendicular to the direction of flight, it will be insensible to
vertical oscillations, and will only indicate those of forward and back-
ward; also, by turning the membrane of the drum forward it is clear
that if the advance of the bird is accelerated, the retardation of the
weight on the translation of the annaratus will produce a crowding of
the air in the second drum, and a: « elevation of the registering lever,
while a relaxation of the effort of the bird will bring about a descent of

284 PHENOMENA OF FLIGHT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.

the registering lever. Experiments upon the kinds of birds previously
mentioned furnish tracings analogous to those of the vertical oscilla-
tions. If it is true, as I suppose, that the vertical oscillation of the
bird at the moment of raising the wing be due to the upward trans-
formation of velocity, by obtaimng, simultaneously, the tracing of the
vertical oscillations and those of the variations of velocity, we shall
have the means of confirming this theory. When obtaining at one
time the two kinds of oscillations in the flight of a harrier, I have seen
that the phase of descent of the wing resulted both in the elevation ot
the bird and the acceleration ef its speed. This effect is the necessary
consequence of the inclination of the plane of the wing at the moment
of its descent, as we have previously shown in the flight of insects. As
for the phase of elevation of the wing, it is proved that during the
slight ascension which it produces the speed of the bird is diminished.
In fact, the curve of the variations of rapidity falls as soon as the bird
begins to rise. This is, then, a confirmation of the previously suggested
theory of the upward transformation of the speed of birds. Thus by
this mechanism the descending stroke of the wing creates the force
which produces the two oscillations of the bird in the vertical plane.
The downward stroke directly produces the ascent which is synchro-
nous with it, and indirectly by creating the velocity which prepares for
the second vertical oscillation.

Simultaneous tracing of the two kinds of oscillation of the bird.—Instead
of representing each kind of oscillation separately, I have thought that
it would be more instructive to obtain a single line which, by its curves,
should represent both of the movements which the body of the bird
executes in its course through space. The method which has been used
to obtain the curve of the point of the wing, with some modifications can
be made to furnish a simultaneous tracing of both kinds of motion. '
For this both drums must be connected with the same inert mass, and
placed at right angles to each other. Turning back to Fig. 23, which
shows the two levers connected by tubes which transmit to the one all
the motions executed by the other, when any motion is imparted to the
first lever, the second lever reproduces the same motion in the same
direction. Now, let us charge one of the levers with a mass of lead,
and, taking the support of the apparatus in the hand, make it describe
some motion in a plane perpendicular to the direction of the lever. We
see that the lever No. 2 executes directly opposite movements. In
fact, since the motive force which acts on the membranes of the drums
is simply the inertia of the mass of lead, and since this mass is always
behind the motion given to the apparatus, it is clear that if the whole
be raised the mass will keep the lever down; if the whole be lowered,
the mass will raise the lever; if it be carried forward, the mass will hold
back the lever, &c. Now, the second lever, executing the same motions
as the first, will give curves which are directly the opposite of the mo-
tion which has been given to the support of the apparatus. This being
settled, now for the experiment: For this I take the apparatus repre-
sented on the back of the harrier in Fig. 25; I remove the rod which
receives the motion of the wing, and the parallelogram which transmits
it to the lever. I keep only the lever connected with the two drums and
the mounting which attaches it to the bird’s back. I fix a mass of lead
on this lever and let the animal fly. The tracing obtained is repre-
sented by Fig. 32.

The analysis of this curve is at first sight extremely difficult. I hope,
uowever, to succeed in showing its ‘signification. It is traced on the
cylinder under the same conditions as Fig. 26, showing the different

- PHENOMENA OF FLIGHT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 285

motions of the point of the wing. The glass plate moves from the right
to the left; the tracing is read from left to right. The head of the
bird is toward the left; this flight is in the direction of the arrow.
We can divide this figure by vertical lines passing through homologous
points, cutting it either at the top of the loops or at the summit of the
simple curves, as represented at the points aand e. Each of these divi-
sions incloses similar elements, although their development is unequal in
different parts of the figure. For the present we shall neglect these
details.

It is evident that the periodical return of similar forms corresponds
to a return of the same phases in an evolution of the bird’s wing. The
division a e thus represents the different motions of the bird during an
alar evolution.

Let us recollect that in the curve which we are analyzing all the mo-
tions are the reverse of those which the bird really executes. The two
vertical oscillations, the great and the small, should then be represented
by two downward curves. It is easy to recognize them in the great
curve abc and the smallcurveede. Thus the bird rises from a to J, falls
from } to c, again rises from ¢ to d, and re-descends from d toe; but these
oscillations encroach on each other, producing the loop ed. The oscilla-
tion ¢ de partly covers the first anteriorly. This is a proof that the indica-
tions of the curve are the reverse of the true motion; for, at this
moment, the bird recedes, or, at least, relaxes its course. As the appa-
ratus is only sensible of changes of velocity, it is clear that the tracing
does not take the uniform rapidity of the bird into account, but indi.
cates acceleration as a forward movement and retardation as a retro-
grade movement. This figure, then, sums up all the preceding experi-
ments which we have made on the motions of the bird in space. It is
here seen that the bird at each evolution of its wings rises and falls
twice, successively ; that these oscillations are unequal; the larger, as
we know, corresponding to the depression of the wing, the smaller to
its elevation. It is also seen that the ascent of the bird during the
raising of the wings is accompanied by a retardation of its speed, which
justifies the theory by which this ascent has been considered as made
at the expense of the bird’s acquired velocity. But this is not all; this
curve also shows us that the motions of the bird are not the same at
the beginning and end of flight. We have seen already (Fig. 20)
that the first strokes are more extended than the others; we now see
that at first—that is, at the left of the figure—the oscillations produced
by the descent of the wing are also more extended. But theory fore-
told that the oscillation of the elevation of the wing being derived from
the acquired speed of the bird should be very feeble at the beginning
of flight when the animal has acquired but little impetus. The figure
shows us that this does happen, and that at the beginning of flight the
second oscillation (which forms the loop) is very insignificant.

At last, then, we are in possession of the principal facts upon which
the study of the mechanical power developed by the bird during flight
can be established, and we see that it is during the descent of the wing
that the Se motive force which sustains and directs the bird in space
is created.

THE NORTHERN SEAS.
By M. BaBiInet, of the Academy of Sciences.

[ Translated for the Smithsonian Institution. ]

Thanks to modern voyages, particularly since the many and praise-
worthy expeditions in search of Sir John Franklin, we have to-day the
assurance that the arctic pole is surroanded by a narrow and continu-
ous sea, bounded on one side by the eternally congealed polar space,
and on the other by Northern Europe, Siberia, or Northern Asia, and
lastly all of America in the higher latitudes. A navigator starting from
Dunkirk, on the meridian of Paris, might proceed straight to the pole

without encountering land, but stopped by the never melted barrier of

ice; if he turned to the right toward the east, he would leave to the left
and north Spitzbergen, and to the left and south, North Cape. Passing
over the White Sea, he would leave the Polar Sea of Europe at Nova
Zembla; then coasting along Siberia, he would come into the somewhat
less contracted basin beyond Behring’s Strait. Then passing along
Northern America, and descending considerably in latitude, he would
at last arrive at Lancaster Sound, through which the American Polar
Sea empties into the great canal, separating Greenland trom the New
World. There the navigator would be obliged to descend greatly to-
ward the south, in order to attain the point of Greenland, after having
traversed almost the entire polar circle. After passing through Davis
Strait he would enter the basin between Europe and America, termi-
nating the northern Atlantic, which has for its limits Labrador, New-
foundland, Great Britain, Norway, the polar circle, Iceland, and. lastly
Cape Farewell, at the extremity of Greenland. This northern basin of
the Atlantic, which communicates at the east and west with the glacial
seas, has for companion and analogue the northern part of the Pacific
Ocean, enclosed by Kamtchatka, Bebring’s Strait, Russian and
British America. It is not fully determined whether the Pacific sends
through Behring’s Strait a current of temperate water into the
American glacial sea, as the Atlantic does to the glacial sea of the Old
World, through the passage separating Cape North from Spitzbergen.
As to the existence of a current, following the course we have just
described as pursued by the imaginary navigator, compassing the
polar regions and moving always to the east, it is an undoubted fact, it
seems to me, and at the seasons when the maritime regions traversed
by this current are frozen, it nevertheless continues its course under the
ice. It should be observed that a similar current flows from the west
toward the east, making the circuit of the other pole of the earth; but
as the domain of the latter consists entirely of shoreless seas, it follows
its course without interruption toward the east, and accomplishes its
revolution without change of distance from the pole, its direction un-
altered by projections of land, like that of Greenland, which greatly
complicate the mechanical circumstances, and modify the course of the
two great oceanic rivers (an expression of Homer) which I have added
to the five great currents noticed in the admirable work of M. Dupeny of

THE NORTHERN SEAS. 287

our institute, and confirmed by the map of M. Findlay, published in
England in the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society.

The northern basin of the Atlantic is, as I have just said, entirely
analogous to the northern basin of the Pacific. The whale, the seal, the
porpoise, and fisheries in general, attract the same European and
American navigators. The warm currents, ascending from the equator,
produce upon the eastern and western shores of each the same climate
and the same vegetation.

Upper California and Oregon rival Western Europe, and when the
hardy settlers of the Anglo- Saxon race have peopled the more northern
shore of the Pacific basin, it will equal the Norwegian coast, where,
according to Horace,

Ubi Scandia dives
Halecas totum mittit piscosa per orbem.

‘¢ Where rich Scandinavia catches herring for the whole world.” One of
our statesmen has predicted that here will be the seat of civilization in
1957.

M. Avago has often said, quoting Napoleon I, that the most powerful
of all rhetorical figures is repetition. I therefore repeat what I have
written before, that the superiority of northern climates over those of
the south is due to the fact, that almost all the temperate water of the
great warm current of the equatorial region ascends to the north, as in
the Atlantic, by the Gulf Stream, giving to Norw ay the rich culture which
was the admiration of the observers of ‘La Reine Hortense in 1856, and to
Oregon the giants of the vegetable world, trees of 100 metres (330 feet) in
height. Look at the map of M. Duperrey, who has discovered one of the
three currents which carry the warm water of the equator to the south.
Observe those three currents, that of the Indian Ocean, the South Pa-
cific, and Australia; mark the small amount of water carried by them
only a short distance from the equator toward the antarctic pole, while
the two great and powerful currents of the Atlantic and of the northern
Pacific take from the equator even almost the entire mass of water of
che warm current encircling the intertropical world, to transport it. to
latitudes in our hemisphere equal or superior to those of the north of
Scotland.

Notwithstanding the contents of many original memoirs upon the
question of the excess of temperature of the northern over the southern
hemisphere, what a display the world of compilers still make of worn-
out lumber, of superannuated opinions, relative to the causes which
render our latitudes immensely superior in climate to those of the south.
We complain of the inadequacy of literary criticism in our day, but
what may not be said of scientific criticism, when we see the finest minds
led by the best accredited works,in ignorance of the actual state of
science, to repeat the echoes of the meteorological data of 1800!

These preliminary remarks were necessary to show the importance of
all investigations made, or to be made, in the northern basin of the At-
lantic. The fishers of the Scandinavian shores, and the whaling expe-
ditions to Newfoundland, and the seas separating Greenland from
America, follow routes so uniform, and deviate.so little from the line
leading directly to the scene of their labors, that one is surprised at the
incompleteness of the records of their frequent passages. They work for
money, not for science ; the field is theretore open to more disinterested
explorers, and it is astonishing how much more information may be ob-
tained from a single expedition of an intelligent tourist, than from the
periodical emigration and return of the seamen of commercial Europe.

288 THE NORTHERN SEAS.

The short voyage of Prince Napoleon stands first perhaps in importance
for facts collected on our polar seas. Claude has said that not to be born
aking is to bea fool. It is at least a great mistake for an explorer not
to bea prince. The working force, intellectual and personal, of the great
astronomical observatories is spoken of as that of a fall of water or a steam-
engine; may we not ina like manner calculate how many facts, observa-
tions, drawings, and specimens of all kinds could be collected in a short
time by an intelligent leader, with a select corps of seamen and scientists,
aided by every desirable means and commanding circumstances, rather
than being controlled by them? An immense volume of eight hundred
pages in which there is nothing superfluous, scarcely suffices to contain
the results of the rapid excursion of 1856. The archeological, descrip-
tive, political and economical parts of the observations find no place in
this volume, although they should have been included in its records. If
to this already very voluminous record could be added an accurate de-
scription of the rich collections brought back by the expedition, a num-
ber of curious facts might still be drained from it, and valuable samples
given of the harvests ready to be reaped by local collectors or future
travelers.

The publication describing the expedition of La Reine Hortense to
‘the northern seas is divided into two distinct parts. The first consists
of a rapid and sprightly narration of the events of the voyage from the
oil mines of England to the country of Scottish clans; then to Iceland,
Jan Mayen and Spitzbergen, to Greenland, the Faroe and Shetland Is-
lands, and lastly to the Scandinavian shores. A distance of twelve thou-
sand miles, accomplished in three or four months, is reviewed by the
reader in six hundred pages. Then follow some scientific notices, in small
text, which I think may be considered very valuable acquisitions to the
knowledge of the globe. The nautical record of M. Du Buisson, and the
geological reports of MM. Chancourtois and Ferri-Pisqani, are especially
remarkable for the number and interest of the scientific observations
they contain. I observe with pleasure that the last mentioned of the
three authors named has not fallen short of the estimate I formed of his
capacity, as we discussed together the future labors of the expedition,
and when he was not yet before the public. With the mention of MM.
De La Ronciere, Laroche-Poncié, and others who have not contributed to
this volume, but whose observations are not less valuable than those of
the authors of the scientific notices, it is evident that with a minimum
of time the members of this expedition have accomplished a maximum
of useful labor. It isa matter of regret that an especial article, among
these excellent notices, had not been devoted to the magnetical observa-
tions, but they undoubtedly will be published hereafter. It is hardly neces-
sary to say, that I will adhere to these scientific notices in what I am
about to say concerning the voyage of La Reine Hortense in the north-
ern seas, and two English publications relative to those regions.

In regard to the currents of the ocean, several facts previously indi-
cated have been confirmed by this expedition, but in a question so com-
plicated and so debated very definite information is required. We see
the warm current leave America, pass below Newfoundland, and arrive
at Norway, after coasting along the south of Ireland, and passing through
the groups of the Faroe and Shetland Islands. This benevolent dispen-
sation of the tropical seas then proceeds northward, and at the latitude
of Upper Scandinavia divides into two parts. One half we shall not fol-
low far; it passes into the glacial seas of Europe and Siberia, of which
it somewhat modifies the climate. The other ascends, or did ascend two
centuries ago, to Spitzbergen, and renders that region habitable by bears,

THE NORTHERN SEAS. 289

seals, porpoises, and whales; then this part of the Gulf Stream turns to
the left, descends toward Jan Mayen and Iceland, and passes between
the latter island and the eastern shore of Greenland. By this retarn
current floating wood is carried from the Gulf of Mexico and stranded
upon the northern shore of Iceland; a deserted ship seen twice by the
expedition proved its direction and rapidity, which coasting along the
eastern shore of Greenland it also brings to Iceland large fields of ice, de-
tached from the belt which renders the island of Jan May en inaccessible,
and perhaps extends to Spitzbergen. This gloomy bordering of ice, which
prevents the mariner from approaching the shore to which it adheres, is
called * fast” or land ice, the debris broken off by the waves or by storms
forms the field ice; which is generally not very thick, and the salt wa-
ter of which it is composed loses somewhat of its saline properties
in solidifying. The icebergs have an entirely different origin, they are
the offspring of the glaciers, and are exclusively formed of ‘fr esh water.

They are often several hundred {feet in height, only about an eighth of
which appears above the surface of the water some of them are almost a
thousand feet in diameter and are the most formidable moving masses
to be found in nature. These flotillas of ice mountains are principally
encountered in the arm of the sea separating Greenland from America.

They descend with the current which passes through Davis Strait, and
are sunk so deeply into the sea that very often they are carried by the
current against the wind. It is a singular spectacle to see the berg ad-
vance contrary to the superficial current produced by the action of the
wind, which the English call the “drift.”. There is a kind of eddy, formed
by the current descending Davis Strait, which eddy or counter-current
ascends northward along the west coast of Greenland, and here may be
seen many of these floating mountains whirling about. It may readily
be conceived that these enormous masses, borne southward by the eur-
rent, would not melt before reaching the route pursued by the transat
lantic steamers between New York and Engiand. They are the terror ot
captains and passengers. A sailor is constantly on the watch, and at
regular intervals calls out to the captain * No icebergs, sir.” The loss
of many large vessels, which have suddenly disappeared, with no indi-
cation of a storm at the time, has been justly attributed to these float.
ing rocks, which no marine chart can record. It is a difficult matter to
sail ciear of an iceberg in foggy weather. From the observations taken by
the expedition of La Reine Hortense, relative to the course of the desert-
ed vessel, which floated round the southern point of Greenland, and was
stranded in one of the bays on the west coast of that country, following
the eddy formed by the current from Davis Strait, I should judge that
M. Duperrey and M. Finlay carry the Gulf Steam too far below Iceland,

extending too much the counter-current between that island and Green-
land, for according to their charts the disabled vessel descended south-
ward entirely out of the latitudes of the land ice, near which it was first
seen.

If you were to open the memoir of Dr. Rink, of Copenhagen, vage 145
of the twenty-third volume of the Royal Geogr aphical Society, you would
see there represented frozen rivers emptying into the sea, deep valleys
filled with ice, like our Alpine glaciers. When these masses of ice, im-
pelled by an irresistible force, which causes them to flow like ductile
metal, are no longer sustained by the land and project out into the sea,
they break off with a loud noise and thus nature forms her icebergs.
One of these fragments, says Dr. Rink, if stranded on the shore would
form a mountain over a hundred feet high. The explorers of La Reine
Hortense saw some three times the height of Mount Valérien above the

198

290 THE NORTHERN SEAS.

Seine. Tmagine that mountain, seen in perspective by the gay promen-
aders of the Bois de Boulogne, a mass of hard and compact ice, and some
faint conception may be formed of these floating giants, which descend
Davis Strait toward Newfoundland and the United States. I say this ice
is hard and compact. La Reine Hortense tried cannon balls upon some
of the impudent little bergs, which paraded before her, without in the
least disturbing their promenade. Just as in ghostly legends a spectre,
shot through the heart, says coolly to his trembling antagonist “ Fire
away.”

The expedition set the good example of throwing into the sea blocks
of wood, with a hole in them, containing a vial with a paper inclosed,
on which was recorded the date and the geographical position of the
place where the bottle was dropped. Several of these indicators have
been picked up and transmitted to the French admiralty, with the date
and place of their landing. To test the current flowing toward the east
and passing along Siberia, a number of these bottles should be thrown
into the strait which, eastward of the White Sea, divides the continent
from Nova Zembla, and they will reappear in Behring’s Strait, where it
has been said whales have been caught still carrying the harpoons with
which they had been pierced in the Spitzbergen Seas.

The expedition has proved by unanimous testimony the deterioration
of the climate of Greenland, {celand, and Spitzbergen. In Greenland,
at a short distance from the shore, there is now only one immense
glacier, like those of the Alps. Mountains and valleys have disappeared
under the level of snow and ice, and the astronomers of Mars and
Venus, who draw or photograph our planet, must be astonished by this
superabundance of arctic snow, which never melts, even when that of
Russia, Siberia, and Canada has disappeared in the rays of the summer
sun.

The “ fast” ice which to-day surrounds the island of Jan Mayen, half
way between Iceland and Spitzbergen, renders inaccessible the east
coast of Greenland, and sometimes extends to the north coast of Ice-
land, a circumstance which never happened in former times. Whalers
no longer go to Spitzbergen, whose seas are as depopulated as its plains,
-where the snow has ceased to melt. What is the cause of an effect so
disastrous, which threatens at some future time, more or less remote,
to drive from Iceland the starving population of about sixty thousand
inhabitants, which it feeds to-day, or rather does not feed, since it is by
fishing that the Icelanders mostly obtain the insufficient nutriment by
which they are barely sustained, even with the assistance of the Danish
government? If the fast ice should inclose Iceland, as it has the island
of Jan Mayen, what would become of the Icelanders ?

Hypotheses have not been wanting to explain this deterioration of the
climate of Greenland, now buried under a compact mass of ice and
snow, fifteen or sixteen hundred feet in depth. It has been generally
observed that the shores of the Baltic, of Scandinavia, Iceland, and
Greenland, are rising. In one of the bays of the latter country, the ex-
pedition found water-worn pebbles at an elevation never attained by
the present sea. The ancient banks of the Norwegian shore are in some
localities three hundred feet high. It has been supposed that the rising
of the bottom of the sea may have arrested the ice descending from the
north, and caused the present accumulation between Iceland and Green-
land. This hypothesis, I think, is not admissible. The belt of ice bor-
dering Greenland does not, in the least, resemble the masses of ice which
the winds and currents sometimes accumulate in the gulfs of the polar
seas. I think the true cause of the deterioration of the climate of the

THE NORTHERN SEAS. > 291

Atlantic polar seas is the diminution of the Gulf Stream, the rising of
the bottom of the sea, giving less depth to the bed of the ‘current, tends
to lessen it. Formerly the temperate water ascended to Spitzbergen,
giving life to the cetacea, birds, and quadrupeds of its rugged peaks,
and then descended toward Iceland. This circwation of warm water,
I say, being diminished, no longer compensates, as in former times, for
a too close “proximity to the pole, and the climate of this entire basin
has in consequence deteriorated. We may boldly affirm that the eur-
rent passing around North Cape is lessening, and if it were sounded with
a thermometer, as did M. De Laroche-Poncie a few years ago, it would
be found to lose every ten years in heat, consequently the shores of the
White Sea must undergo a similar decrease of temperature. Nothing
has ever been done seriously and in concert to make us acquainted with
our world meteorologically. Should an inhabitant of the moon—a Lu-
nite, did any such exist—be transported to us here below, we could tell
him the distance from point to point in the moon; the height of its
mountains, ite form of its craters, the clefts in its soil, the undulation
of its plains, the level of its plateaux, the flow of its streams of volcanic
lava, and even the effect of the solar heat during its semi-monthly nights
and days. But, unhappily, if he wished the inhabitant of the earth—
this magician who knew so much about the moon—to enlighten him in
regard to physical geography, he would be greatly surprised to hear his
learned man respond to almost every question, ‘‘I do not know.” The
Lunite would form a poor opinion of a people who, while confessing the

importance, knows so little of the causes of the meteor ological changes
controlling the fertility and the productions of the soil, upon which de-
pends the material subsistence of the human race.

Le Reine Hortense records this important observation: In 1856 the
wind in the latitude of 50° or 60° blew constantly from the east, while
in the preceding years the contrary was the case. It was the relapse of
the current which caused such great inundations in France in 1858, and
the return of the wind to its normal direction restored to the seasons of
Kurope their natural course. The prediction for 1857 which I drew from
these facts was accomplished; but although I boldly announced it in
August in an address before a formal session of the five academies, I must
confess i am much more confident now than I was then in the acuteness
of my conjecture. My confreres, the astrologers, may be encouraged to
predict at random. «If they make mistakes their blunders will be over-
looked, while at a successful guess the world will cry, ‘“‘a miracle!” In
1846 I foretold a rainy winter, on account of the position of the whales
off the bank of Newfoundland. My prediction was verified and highly
honored; but when from some other circumstances I made a prophecy
concerning the following season, meteorology gave me the lie direct.
When to “the congratulations upon my sagacity in regard to 1846, 1
opposed my mistake for 1847, nobody remembered that checkmate. The
human mind seems to be such a friend of error, that when it is not indi-
vidually deceived, it is enchanted if some one will take the trouble to
delude it.

As to the question whether the regions under discussion will continue
to degenerate, or whether an unfavorable period may not be followed by
a favorable one, I answer there is very little hope of the latter; and here
are my reasons for such an opinion: In attributing to the rising of the
bottom of the Icelandic Sea, the diminution of the warm current by
which France and England profit, as they receive a larger share of the
temperate water of the Gulf Stream, the question arises whether this
rising will cease or continue. Now, itis to be presumed that if the cause

292 THE NORTHERN SEAS.

which at the commencement of the present order of nature condemned
to sterility Scandinavia, Iceland, Greenland, and the western coast of
Europe, still preserves a residue of action; that the effect of such a ea-
tastrophe should be very slowly completed, is in accordance with the
mechanical law controlling the interaction of flexible bodies—and there
are no other in nature. Place a weight upon the end of a spring and
the latter will be bent to a certain ‘extent, but leave the weight upon
it and still more flexion will be added to ‘the effect already obtained.
Notwithstanding assertions to the contrary, I maintain that along the
coast of France the continent from century to century is slowly rising
and that the ocean in consequence seems to retire.

The rich collection brought back by Prince Napoleon, and exhibited
for several months in the Palais Royal, offers a useful hint to observers
m general. The specimens from England, from the Faroe Islands, from
Greenland, and even those from Norway, ‘were arranged separately. ihe
a list of the minerals which are found at each place had been added, the
representation of each locality would have been complete. The light
shed by this short and rapid voyage on every point would, of course, be
greatly increased by local observers stationed along the route traced.
Science, however, is thankful for any addition, however small, to her ac-
quirements. It is a mathematical axiom, “that there is something more
valuable than a thousand pieces of gold—that is, a thousand and one
pieces of gold.”

The physical constitution of Iceland and of Greenland, in the publica-
tion under consideration, is discussed in two short articles from master
hands. I see nothing in them to dispute, and I may say, nothing to be
added, in spite of the axiom just repeated. Honor be rendered tor them
to MM. Ferri-Pisani and Chancourtois, both of our polytechnic school.
In regard to the ice of Greenland I must remark upon the mournful
condition of a land invaded by snow which is perpetual, or which melts
only during a very small part of the year. The heat of the sun in sum-
mer cannot affect the soil, since its action is absorbed in melting the
stratum of frozen water ; and in the cold season, on the contrary, the snow
and ice decreasing indefinitely in temperature, t take away from the soil
even the small amount of heat it may have retained. Thus, for example,
in the Auvergne Mountains I have found places where the ground was
perpetually frozen even when free from snow. The small “streams of
water just under the soil were at a temperature about zero, and at a
certain depth they were even colder. Thus, also, during the constant night
of an aretic winter the ice which covers the unfortunate country of
Greenland, decreasing constantly in temperature, transmits its caidaeed
to the adjacent soil; whereas in melting under the oblique and feeble
rays of the summer ‘sun, its temper ature never rises above zero, and the
soil therefore receives no heat above zero, while the cold which has been
transmitted to it may have been fifty or sixty degrees below that of the
melting ice. Surround a thermometer with ice and place it alternately
for an hour in a place twenty degrees above and then in a place twenty
degrees below zero, and you will ‘find the mean will be below zero. The
experiment may be made more conveniently with wax, spermaceti, or a
stearine candle, and by the selection of two places, one above and the
other below the melting point of the substance employed. If a naked
bulb thermometer is used, the two effects will be exactly counter-
balanced.

The action of the interior of the earth upon its exterior envelope—a
fact fully established by Humboldt—is brought into full light by the geo-
iogical notices of the voyage. If we add to the igneous tuid, the exist-

EE

THE NORTHERN SEAS. 293

ence of which is admitted by all the world, the circumstance indicated by
Laplace, namely, that the interior fluid below the lava upon which floats
the continents is in a state of an elastic liquid, that it is a kind of com-
pact gas, having for measure of its immense elasticity at the center the

weight of half the thickness of the globe, all mechanic: al difficulties disap-
pear. The erosive action of steam and of gases is admirably treated in
these notices of the voyage. Asto the supposition formerly entertained,
that steam might have raised the beds of continents, this could only have
taken place when the thickness of the solidified er ust was equivalent in
weight to fourteen or fifteen hundred atmospheres; that is to say, to the
maximum tension of steam. So that when the solid envelope was more
than six kilometres (4 miles) in depth it could no longer be ruptured by
the subterranean steam. We now know that this envelope is more than
fifty or sixty feet in thickness. I have recently received from the royal
astronomer of Scotland, Mr. Piazzi Smith, son of the admiral who has
rendered that name so illustrious, a series of admirable photographs of
the lava of the peak of Teneriffe. We still seem to see here in these
excoriated masses the effect of the corrosive gases driven out by the
laboratory of volcanic action, through the fissures formed by the trem-
bling of the earth. In relation to these terrestrial convulsions, produced
by chemical action, we involuntarily recall the death of Pliny, suffocated
in the dense gaseous eruption of Vesuvius, in the first century of our
era.

I leave with regret the picture of the primeval world given in one of
the scientific notices. If this excellent article were developed it would

make two fine volumes. The technical words, even, are rendered intel-
ligible. It shows us the earth progressing in form in proportion as it
cools, and pictures the ulterior forms of things.

Et rerum paulatim sumere formas.

It contains a representation—a very good one, I should think—of the
mode of action of the great geyser of Iceland, so closely observed by M.
Descloizeaux, which from time to time hurls into the air a column of
boiling water "equal in diameter to the orifice of the pits of a large mine,
and in height to the towers of Notre Dame. Banks and Solander cooked
their fish init. The merry band of Prince Napoleon, sobered no doubt by
a ride of several hours on the gallop in the rain, followed by a bivouac in
damp clothing, with the exception of a punch made of the boiling water,
indulged in none of the eccentricities suggested by solemn British
phlegm. Our Frenchmen found at the geyser a tourist, a young Lord
Dufferin, with his tent, who had been waiting several days for one of
the paroxysms of the volcanic well. Itseems the arrival of our travelers
decided the geyser; the fountain of boiling water shot up into the air
higher than could be measured by the eyes of the spectators, who were
stationed too near. The drawing of this beautiful phenomenon em-
bellished the public exhibition in. the Palais Royal. ‘Can it be cor-
rect?” asked the visitors, who examined this accurate crayon sketeh.
In specifying what a gey ser is, according to the theory which Captain
Ferri- Pisani offers in regard to this voleanic eruption, I cannot do better
than compare it to an enormous manoscope of water, above the boiling
point, when hurled into the air by the subterranean steam produced by
the voleanic fires. Happily it falls directly back into the tube from
whence it was momentarily expelled. After this excursion a bill of 220
franes had to be paid for the grass eaten by the hundred horses of the
cavaleade. Grass is very rare and very dear in Iceland. But I must
confine myself to scientific facts.

294 THE NORTHERN SEAS.

In connection with Iceland and the voleanic world, I may as we'l
explain here the formation of Fingal’s Cave, of which my readers have
probably seen numerous engravings. In this deep grotto, which is
entered by a boat, immense basaltic columns rise to the right and left
of the explorer to a great height, and support a roof formed of the
/pendant remains of similar columns. The theory of the formation of
this natural curiosity is not more complicated than that of our ordinary
eaverns. In the latter the primitive disturbance of the locality raised
the rocky mass in one unbroken piece, except at the part corresponding
to the mouth of the cave. There the stratum of rock disturbed did not
follow the part lifted up, and a separation consequently ensued between
the portion raised and that remaining in place. This isso evidently the
case that. traces may be found by close, examination of the former
juncture of the rock forming the floor of the grotto, and that of its roof;
corresponding creases and salient points in each attest their former
union. Now suppose the same operation to take place in a locality
covered with the beautiful basaltic columns formed by the contraction
and solidification of the primeval lava. If while the larger part of the
colonnade was elevated, a portion refused to follow the general move-
ment, a cavity would be formed, the upper parts of the immobile col-
umns would form the roof, and the lower parts which retained their
original position would constitute the floor of the cave. Caverns of this
kind exist in the sides of the basaltic hills, disturbed by the action of
the ancient volcanoes of Auvergne. In most eases, as in the cave, or
rather the caves of Fingal, for there are several of them, the basaltic
rock attained its greatest elevation immediately back of the opening of
the grotto, which is consequently higher in front than at the back. Open
moderately the long jaws of a hunting dog, and his beautiful teeth
above and below will give a very good idea of the divided trunks of the
basaltic columns forming the ceiling and pavement of the grotto, while
his two fangs, extending from jaw to jaw, represent very well the
columns which have remained intact, and support the vault formed by
those which have been separated into two parts.

The theory in regard to the fossil wood of Iceland, as given in the
exposition of the voyage of La Reine Hortense, appears to me well
worthy of confidence, and, as usual, one truth leads to another. If, for
example, we admit that this wood was brought to the island by marine
currents, the various elevations at which it is found may afford a
valuable indication of the rising of the ground. The report of the
expedition is silent in regard to the rising of the Faroe Islands. When-
ever a good measure is initiated by an expedition it finds continuators,
and science is as much benefited by the work induced, as by that
actually accomplished. Natural philosophy does. not lack encourage-
ment and appreciation, and it pays in renown every attempt to assist
its progress. It has been said science has no special public, but the same
may be said of the pulpit and the bar.

Trance ought not to forget that she is the Areopagus of glory. “IfI
dared,” said Frederick the Great in a letter to Maupertuis, on the 12th
of March, 1750, “I would say confidently to you Frenchmen what Alex-:
ander said to the Athenians: What pains I take to be praised by you!”

It is evident from the nautical report that if La Reine Hortense was
not crushed by the ice, it was not the fault of the temerity of the navi-
gators, which was counteracted, it is true, by a most active and judi-
cious supervision. The poor Saxon, which carried supplies of coal, did
not escape as well. She suffered from the touch of a very gentle ice-
berg. Happily she was not utterly destroyed. I congratulate myself

THE NORTHERN SEAS. 295

upon having remonstrated with the expedition upon the imprudence of
such a cruise along the fast ice, which always produces fog. Howeve,
our mariners, more skillful even than imprudent, have returned, and
given us a beautiful volume, which does not contain the half of what
they could tell us. One thing is to be regretted, that is, the small num-
ber of soundings taken. The question of transatlantic communication
by means of a submarine telegraph renders very important the deter-
mination of the depth of localities where the cable may be laid. The
depths measured were generally great.

Another voyage, that of an American, a visit to the people of the
north, would deserve more than a simple mention of it by me if science
held in it a more prominent place. Mr. Brace’s book possesses the rare
advantage of being written by a tourist who saw more than the inside
of inns. He sought the people at home, to borrow a word from the
title of his book. It is interesting to view the Scandinavian country
through the eyes of a citizen of the United States, and I repeat that the
author has brought us more than any other in contact with the people
of every grade. “Paris seen in eight days” is the title of the guide-
book given to strangers. Could anything be more absurd? Between
an excursion to Versailles and an exhibition at the Royal Theater, we
receive a visit from an English family, out of health, but with a fearful
amount of curiosity to satisfy. After a few words about their over-
whelming fatigue, they set out again to see more, if seeing it can be
called. An English tourist is reported to have said to a compatriot, on
coming out of the picture gallery of the Louvre, “Ah! my friend, what
an admirable collection; I have taken an hour to see it, and you know
I walk fast.” But joking aside, Mr. Brace’s work deserves to be trans-
lated into French. It possesses all that can be favorably said of a book
of travels. The number of those who publish works of this kind is to
that of real observers, as the number of true poets is to that of mere
verse-makers.

Let us now conclude this review of the voyage of La Reine Hortense.
The captain of the vessel, and the officers supporting him, under the
direction of the head of the expedition, have given proof ofa high degree
oi genius for arctic exploration. France should not allow such talent to
be dormant. We know in what estimation Napoleon the First held lucky
men; he considered them especially skillful. Now our mariners were
very lucky and also very skillful. Their ability ought to be employed,
and that in the line of their specialty. See what a very interesting
region remains to be explored.

In entering into the glacial sea on our meridian, but on the other side
of the world, which is at noon when we are at midnight, through Beh-
ring’s Strait, we find, by ascending to the north and west, in the Siberian
Seas, a basin extending to the islands called New Siberia, which has
been but little explored. It is here that from time immemorial the race
analogous to the Esquimaux of Europe and America have sought, every
winter, the antediluvian ivory which rolls upon our billiard boards, in
conjunction with that of the contemporaneous elephants of Asia and
Atrica. ‘These islands were the catacombs of the primitive animal world.
I had hoped that Prince Demidoff, who promised us an expedition by
land to Siberia, would have given us the key to this great enigma of
nature; but a maritime expedition would be much more efficacious... An
especial commission should be sent to Nijney-Kolymsk and the island
discovered by Liakof in 1770. Something ought to be added to the
knowledge obtained in 1804 of the mammoth preserved intact by the
cold.. Treasures of organic archeology are hidden in the three or four

296 THE NORTHERN SEAS.

islands of the group mentioned. If, according to M. Guizot, seconded
by Mr. Airy, France is the pioneer of science, she ought not to be igno-
rant of what it is in her power to know.

J have not noticed various questions concerning the aurora borealis,
terrestrial magnetism, gravity, and physical geography, which this ex-
pedition might solve, and I ask pardon for not having given these sug-
gestions as those of MM. Duperrey and Petit-Thouars, whose names
would have much more weight than my own; but in the domain of
science the sovereign empire is that of truth. One curious fact among
the observations of La Reine Hortense I omitted to mention, which is,
that in the arctic seas visited the magnetic needle, which here points to
the north, turned to the west, or even worse than that. M. Duperrey
should be furnished with the means of publishing his magnetic charts,
which extend to 1860, and of thereby giving to the twentieth century,
now so near, data for which not only that but centuries to come will be
grateful.

REPORT ON THE TRANSACTIONS OF THE SOCIETY OF PHYSICS AND OF NAT-
URAL HISTORY OF GENEVA, FROM JUNE, 1868, TO JUNE, 1869.

By Dr. H. C. LOMBARD.

[Zranslated for the Smithsonian Institution from the memoirs of the society: Geneva, 1869.]

Tam about to perform the last act of the presidency with which my
highly respected colleagues have been pleased to honor me, by render-
ing an account of our transactions and of the changes which have
occurred in our society during the academical year which now draws to
an end.

Death, that visitor who is almost always unlooked for, has robbed us
of several members, emeriti or honorary. In the first category, we
recall M. Isaac Macaire, who, after being long one of our mem mbers in
ordinary, was, at his own request, classed in the number of the emeriti.
In the second category, or that of honorary members, we have to record
three individuals whose labors have contributed gre eatly to extend the
boundaries of the natural and physical sciences, and whom we had the
honor to number among our correspondents. I speak of MM. Von Mar-
tius, Matteucci, and Forbes. But if our ranks have sustained some
losses, the vacancies thus left have been promptly filled, not, indeed,
by savants already numbered, like the honorary members just named,
in the first class, with whom our new colleagues would not excuse me
for instituting a comparison, but by four members in ordinary, most
of them young, and bearing names endeared to us by more than one
title. One of these, Professor De La Harpe, already an adjunct of the
society under the title of associate, became a member in ordinary in the
course of the winter, after having read an original essay on a question
of mathematics. Of the three others, who are still of an age which
promises a longer career than remains for most of us, one has taken,
after several years interval, the place of a colleague regretted by each
of us. It is with great satisfaction, therefore, that we have enrolled in
our society a second Dr. Jean Louis Prevost, devoted, like his prede-
cessor, to the researches of experimental physiology. The second of our
young members, M. Ernest Favre, in taking his place among us, renews
the tradition of those geological researches which earned an honored
name for his father, Professor Alphonse Favre. Finally, if the last of
our young members, M. Edouard Sarasin, has no direct ascendants in
the cultivation of the sciences, he numbers warm friends in those pur-
suits, who will aid him in opening a path of his own in the physico-chem-
ical studies to which he has earnestly devoted himself.

After this sammary review of our losses and acquisitions, let us recur
to the former and brietly recount the labors of those whom death has
removed from us.

M. Isaac Francois Macaire was born, in 1796, at Geneva, where he
fulfilled the customary circle of academic studies. He succeeded his
father as pharmaceutist, and availed himself of that circumstance to
apply more especially to chemistry and the natural sciences. We need
not recall here the obligations of chemistry to the laboratories of phar-

298 SOCIETY OF PHYSICS AND NATURAL HISTORY OF GENEVA.

macy; it is sufficient to name Scheele and Sir Humphrey Davy. Our
late colleague found, in Pyrame De Candolle, Gaspard De La Rive, and
Alexander Marcet, friends and enlightened counsellors, by whom the
first steps of his scientific career were greatly facilitated. Received,
when very young, as a member of our society, (1821,) he furnished fre-

quent communications, which were printed in the Annales de Chimie et

de Physique or in the Bibliotheque Universelle. His first essays were
chiefly directed to the analysis of minerals and to researches in vegeta-
ble physiology, in connection with which he gave especial attention to
the autumnal coloration of leaves. His inquiry respecting the phospho-
rescence of the lampyris or glow-worm was widely noticed, as was also
a memoir relative to the action of poisons on sensitive plants, which
formed a sequel to the analogous researches of M. Franck Marcet. In
conjunction with the latter, Macaire conducted many interesting invest?-
gations on the composition of organic substances and on certain special
questions in chemistry. Named, in 1836, adjunct professor of medical
chemistry, he gave at the academy a course of toxicology, as he had
previously given courses on applied chemistry, before the Society of
Arts, of which he was a member from 1830. He was, in addition, one
of the most assiduous collaborators of the Bibliotheque Univer selle, for
which he prepared numerous scientific articles, as well original as bib-
liographieal.

Summoned in the midst of his sciéntifie career to take part in the
state councils, he yet found time, notwithstanding his many administra-
tive occupations, to cultivate his favorite science. Isaac Macaire be-
longed to that generation of savants, daily diminishing in number, who
were the first pupils of the distinguished professors ‘by whom Geneva
was adorned during the early years of the restoration, and who, conse-
quently, bore a part in the awakening of the scientific movement of
that era. The sacred fire then kindled was guarded by him with all
that ardor for science which was the predominant characteristic of the
period. He loved to recur to those happy times of his youth when the
eminent men whom Geneva then possessed diffused an atmosphere of
intellectual good-fellowship which it was grateful to breathe.

Of our three honorary members removed by death, the oldest was Dr.
Charles Frederic Philippe Von Martius, who was born at Erlangen in
1794, and who became a member of our society in 1821. The name of
this celebrated botanist is associated with his great scientific expedition
to Brazil and with the publication of numerous and highly esteemed
works which have largely extended our knowledge of the flora of the
tropical regions. After having traversed the most remote parts of that
vast empire and ascended the River Amazon to the frontiers of Peru, M.
Von Martius, in company with M. Von Spix, transmitted to Kurope ‘the
rich collections now deposited in the royal museum of Munich. ‘The
premature death of M. Von Spix threw the whole burden of editing and
publishing this scientific exposition on M. Von Martius; hence he was
obliged to call to his assistance several collaborators and, among others,
our fellow-countryman, M. Agassiz, who thus led the way, by the de-
seription of the fishes of Brazil, to that more prcfound knowledge of this
immense empire which he has acquired in a more recent expedition; an
expedition in which every facility for his studies as a naturalist was
placed at his disposal by the liberality of the authorities of the country,
no less than by the pecuniary aid of a wealthy citizen of the United
States.

But what has earned a distinguished name for Von Martius, besides
his analytical genius, his admirable descriptions, his spirit of general-

EE —— eS

SOCIETY OF PHYSICS AND NATURAL HISTORY OF GENEVA. 299

ization, are three great works, any one of which would have sufficed to
confer celebrity as a botanist. The Nova genera et species plantarum
Brasiliensium forms three volumes in folio, illustrated by three hundred
plates executed with great care. The Historia naturalis palmarwn is
also composed of three volumes in folio, embellished with two hundred
and forty-five plates, mostly colored, and some of them representing
jandscapes which show, together with the aspect of certain palms, the
part which they fulfil in the vegetation of different countries. Lastly,
the Flora brasiliensis, a work also in folio, embellished with plates, has
reached its sixteenth volume, and will be continued under the care of
Dr. Eichler and the auspices of the Brazilian government.

Such are a few of the works of M. Von Martius. It will be understood
from this very incomplete enumeration why I felt authorized to say
just now that our society was honored by counting so distinguished
a botanist in the number of its honorary members. M. Von Martius
was permitted to continue his scientific labors to a very advanced age,
retaining to the last the vivacity of his mind and that love of study
which enabled him to accomplish so many valuable labors. But it has
been our privilege to appreciate in the savant.the man of kind feelings
as well as shrewd observation through the extracts which Professor De
Candolle has communicated to us from his letters, in which humor dis-
putes the palm with originality, while he expresses his thoughts some-
times in French, sometimes in Latin; commencing a phrase in one of
those languages and finishing it almost without transition in the other.

M. Von Martius breathed his last December 13, 1868, at the age of
seventy-five years, encircled with the esteem of his fellow-citizens and
the respect of the botanists of all countries.

The career of Carlo Matteucci was shorter, for he died at the age of
fifty-seven years, when a long continuance of his scientific and admin-
istrative labors seemed still to await him. Devoted, like his predeces-
sors and compatriots, Galvani, Volta, Nobili and Melloni, to the study
of electrical phenomena, Matteucci communicated a strong impulse to
the science which he cultivated with so much zeal. From the first, the
chemical phenomena of voltaic. electricity attracted his attention, and
he demonstrated, in 1835, that the interior chemical work of the pile
is equivalent to its exterior work. He studied successively the propa-
gation of electricity in liquids, whether in a state of, continuity or
separated into compartments by metallic diaphragms. But it was espe-
cially by his researches on animal electricity that the name of Matteucci
was rendered illustrious; researches which, first directed to the torpedo
and the electrogenous apparatus of that fish, which he discovered to be
under the influence of the fourth cerebral lobe, were afterward extended
to other electrical animals, resulting in the detection of the curious
phenomenon designated by him as inducted contraction. These researches
in electro-physiology had led M. Matteucci to recognize, not only in
electric animals, but in all others, a muscular current whose direction
and intensity he made the subject of exact study. Otven in conflict.
as regards these delicate inquiries, with a German savant, M. Dubois-
Raymond, he was under the necessity of greatly varying his experi-
ments in order to arrive at a clearer demonstration of the phenomena
which served as a basis for his Treatise on the electro-physiological phe-
nomena of animals, published in 1844, and his Course of electro-physi-
ology, published in 1857. The death which we are thus called to record
is that of an eminent physiologist no less than distinguished physicist.
His name was enrolled in our society in 1834, and most of us preserve
a lively recollection of his kindliness of manner and of the judicious

¢

300 SOCIETY OF PHYSICS AND NATURAL HISTORY OF GENEVA.

remarks with which he accompanied the reading of the memoirs at the
sessions in which we had the pleasure of meeting him.

At the mention of Professor James David Forbes we find ourselves
in some sort at home, since, besides not a few investigations in pure
physics, a great part of the researches of this learned Scotchman had
for their object our mighty Alps, with the glaciers which cover their
summits and descend into their valleys. It was from’ no superficial
inspection that Forbes described the geology of these mountains and
the movement of the glaciers; like de Saussure, upon whose labors he
seems to have modeled his own, he has given us his Travels in the Alps,
founded upon very numerous exenr sions, as stated by himself in a pre-
face written in 1843: ‘It was my privilege to receive, in earliest youth,
the most vivid impressions from the contemplation of mountain scenery,
and I have renewed those impressions in after-life, by traversing the
chain of the Alps twenty-seven times by twenty three different passes,
and exploring all the lateral valleys of the great central group of
Europe.” It was through these multiplied excursions, which were
repeated nearly every year since 1543, that. Forbes was enabled to
deduce his theory of the movement of glaciers, which he compares to
a river descending slowly into the valley. But his explorations were
not limited to the Alps; they were extended to the volcanic regions,
both ancient and recent, ‘of the Gulf of Naples and of Ardeéche, as well
as to the glaciers and fiords of Norway. Unhappily, the first germs of
consumption were developed in his system during these last-mentioned
excursions; and it was this disease which conducted him to the tomb,
December 31, 1868, at the age of fifty-nine years, after long sufferings,
partially alleviated by intervals of comparative good health.

Professor Forbes was a member of our society from the year 1833.
He was often present at our sittings, giving us the earliest fruits of the
observations which he had just made in the neighboring Alps and com-
municating them to the public through the medium of ‘the Bibliotheque
Universelle, as well as the scientific “collections of his native country.
Some idea of the great intellectual activity of one who died when still in
the flower of his age may be formed from the fact that his biographer,
M. Reikie, has recorded the titles of one hundred and forty-two works
or memoirs which he had published; of these I shall cite but one as
specially interesting us, namely, a biographic notice of our colleague,
Professor Necker.

After these biographical and administrative details let us pass to the
proper labors of our society, and commence with the physical and math-
ematical sciences.

§ 1—ASTRONOMY.

Professor Gautier has continued to make the society acquainted with
the progress of astronomy, and particularly with that remarkable class
of recent investigations to which the employment of the spectral method
has given rise. ‘The observations of the eclipse of the 18th of August,
1868, as well as the study of the constitution of the sun, and other ce-
lestial bodies, have formed the subject of the greater part of his com-
munications. M. Soret has also occupied our attention with the chem-
ical composition of the solar atmosphere, the exterior strata of which
seem to contain only hydrogen and not a multiplicity of gases or vapors,
a fact which has been brought forward by certain persons as an objec-
tion to the theory by which M. Kirchoff has explained the black stripes

SOCIETY OF PHYSICS AND NATURAL HISTORY OF GENEVA. 301

of the spectrum. But if it be admitted that in an assemblage of gases
each of them may act singly, it would follow that the atmosphere of hy-
drogen, by reason of the feeble specific gravity of that gas, must ex-
tend much further than those of the other vapors, and form, consequently,
the exterior envelope of the sun.

§ 2.— METEOROLOGY.

Professor Gautier read to us an extended notice on the fourth year of
the thermometric and pluviometric observatrons made at the seventy
Swiss meteorological stations, and also on some other analogous labors
of MM. Wolf, Plantamour, Marguet, Hirsch, Fretz, &c. This notice,
forming a sequel to those which M. Gautier had drawn up on the first
three years of observation, has been published in the number of the Ar-
chives des sciences physiques et naturelles tor November, 1868.

The meteorology of different regions has formed the subject of some
interesting communications. Professor Marcet has related to us his im-
pressions regarding the climate of Egypt, where he had resided for sev-
eral months. He was especially struck, in ascending the Nile, at the
excessive differences which exist between the maxima and minima,
according to the hours of the day. In the month of January it was
very difficult to support the heat of the sun at 27°, (80° F.,) or even at
22° or 23° (72° or 73° F.) Thisis referable, doubtless, to the extreme
dryness of the air. It scarcely ever rains, in fact, in Upper Egypt and
Nubia. The assertion of Herodotus that it had not rained at Thebes
since the time of Psammetichus, that is to say during five centuries,
is, no doubt, exaggerated, but it is not the less true that rain is
extremely rare in those countries. The dragoman of Mr. Marcet had
seen rain fall but once in fifteen or sixteen years. The radiation
produces an extreme coldness at the rising of the sun. It.appears that
at Ismaila, where many plantations have been formed since labor was
commenced on the canal of Suez, it rains more frequently than of old.
In higher Egypt and Nubia the sky is almost always clear. M. Mar
cet observed clouds, but he believes that it was a misty appearance pro-
duced by the Kamsin.

A summary of meteorological observations made at Hayti during five
years was communicated to us by Professor Gautier; the extremes of
temperature observed in that space of time were 15°, 5°, and 38°, (6°,
41°, and 100° F.) M. Gautier has received the commencement of ob-
servations made, at his instance, on the coast of Labrador by the Mo-
ravian missionaries, to whom he had sent thermometers prepared and
regulated at Geneva.

Professor Plantamour recounted to us the anomalies of temperature
observed at Geneva during the month of December, 1868. The mean
was 79.14, (45° F.;) being 69.14 (43° F.) higher than for the previous
forty-three years. During that period there had been but two months
of March and a single November in which the temperature was higher,
So high a temperature had not been experienced for any month of Feb-
ruary, nor «@ fortiori of January, but, again, there had been six Aprils
in the same series of years which were colder. There fell in December
155 millimetres (6 inches) of water, a quantity-greater than that of all
the years since 1826, with the exception of 1841. According to M.
Wolf, of Zurich, the quantity of water collected at several stations of
East Switzerland, especially at those of considerable elevation, from the
middle of September to the end of October, 1867, exceeded a metre, and
cases occurred in which the quantity of water falling in the course of

302 SOCIETY OF PHYSICS AND NATURAL HISTORY OF GENEVA.

twenty-four hours amounted to 30 and 40 centimetres, (12 and 16 inches.)
The inundations occasioned by falls of water so exceptional cannot be
attributed solely to the removal of the forests from the mountains, how-
ever unfavorable such clearings may be. Lastly, mention was made of
the shower of mud observed at Naples by Professor Claparede. The
clouds, on that day, had a peculiar aspect and seemed to be formed of
dust; muddy spots were left on the windows by the drops of rain. Gen-
eral Dufour had witnessed at Corfu showers of mud which the inhabit-
ants attributed to the wind of Africa.

§ 3.—MATHEMATICS AND PHYSICS.

Pure mathematics has been the subject of but a single memoir, which
was read to us by Professor De La Harpe. It is the first part of a trea-
tise on the formation of powers, in which the author demonstrates that
the higher powers are formed by differences. He gives the formulas
designed for the calculation of high powers and designates them by the
general name of formula of the monome. This memoir was accompanied
by models intended to facilitate the understanding of the demonstrations.

The geodesic labors undertaken by Swiss savants have been continued
during the year 1868. Professor Plantamour has communicated to us
the result of the Swiss levelings, which embrace the whole of the west-
ern part from Geneva to Basle. MM. Plantamour and Hirsch have been
engaged in determining for the different stations the numbers as referred
to the stone of Niton, which serves as the point of departure, while the
primitive data simply give the difference of level between two consecu-
tive stations. The number of points for which the amounts have been
thus established is 626. To that end, it was necessary to make a com-
pensation for the errors in the system composed of a series of polygons,
each of which ought to be exactly closed. One of the causes of error in
a leveling of precision, the influence of which is very considerable in a
country so broken as ours, is the variableness in the absolute length of
the sights, according to atmospheric circumstances, the temperature,
hygrometric state; and, from direct and numerous comparisons, this
variation may amount to a ten-thousandth of their length, more or less.

M. Plantamour gave an account of observations which he had made
during a sojourn of nearly two months at Weissenstein with a view of
determining the astronomical co-ordinates of that station. He also read
a memoir on the.latitude of the Righi Culm from observations made at
that locality in 1867. The latitude was determined as well by the circum-
meridian zenithal distances of stars as by observations of their passage in

‘the prime vertical. The number obtained is sensibly greater than that
indicated in the triangulation of Switzerland, which had been deduced
from the latitude of Berne by the calculation of triangles. The diifer-
ence is easily explained by the attraction of the neighboring chain of
the Alps situated to the south of the Righi.

The effects of lightning on trees have been studied by Professor Col-
ladon in the case of sixteen poplars, three oaks, a fir tree, and a vine.
The poplars which were struck were seamed with furrows, greatly shat-
tered, and stripped of bark and liber in the two lower thirds of the tree,
the upper third being most frequently exempt from injury, probably in
consequence of the greater conductibility of that portion of the branches
and foliage. The poplar of Italy especially attracts lightning, for M.
Colladon has seen it struck in preference to neighboring oaks and elms,
though the latter were taller than the poplars. The effects of lightning
on oaks are very different from those just described: the upper parts

SOCIETY OF PHYSICS AND NATURAL HISTORY OF GENEVA. 303

are always killed, and one or two furrows may be traced descending from
the summit to the soil. To the right and left of the furrow are seen
two strips of alburnum deprived of bark, the width of which increases
as they approach the ground. The effects of the lightning which fell,
on the 17th of July, on a fir tree in the city of Nyon were very remark-
able. The stroke was preceded by the appearance of a luminous ball
which moved along the surface of the ground at three or four yards
from the tree, an electric phenomenon often described by physicists and
in particular by Arago. The fir was about 16.50 metres (54 feet) in
height. In its upper part the leaves were scorched to the half of their
length. The trunk showed no injury in its upper half, but below there
were several very deep fissures and ten or twelve brownish and circular
spots from 3 to 5 centimetres (1 to 2 inches) broad, where the bark had
been removed. The vine struck, in July, 1868, presented a regular cirele
of 14 to 15 metres, (45 to 50 feet,) comprising about three hundred and
fifty stems, on which nearly all the leaves were mottled with reddish
and olive-colored spots. The intensity of this coloration increased on
approaching the center. The props were neither burned nor broken.
Dr. Miiller, who examined the branches and leaves of the vine-stocks
reached by the lightning, found that there was no modification of the
cellules in the interior, and that the effect had taken place on the nitro-
genized matter, and especially on the cambium.

The memoir of M. Colladon was accompanied with designs, samples,
and strips of the bark, which greatly contributed to the understanding
of the effects of lightning on the trees. Professor De La Rive cited
some observations in confirmation of those of M. Colladon. He thinks
that the spots observed are analogous to those of every electric dis-
charge, and which are also circular. Their appearance would seem
referable to the presence on the trunk of some foreign substance.

Professor De La Rive communicated to us the result of the observa-
tions of M. Wild on the absorbent poweér of light by atmospheric air,
and gave us the analysis of the most recent investigations of M. Becque-
rel and M. Tyndall om the physical and chemical phenomena of light.
He called our attention to the observations which have been made at
the observatory of Greenwich on the agreement of magnetic and galvano-
metric curves. These curves are nearly identical, the only difference
being the following: A point of a curve of the galvanometer always pre-
cedes the corresponding point of the curve of the magnetometer.

M. Ed. Sarasin communicated the result of his researches on the
phosphorescence of rarefied gases after the passage of the electric spark,
and particularly on the part borne by oxygen in these phenomena,
(Archives, March, 1869.)

Professor Marignac detailed his experiments on the heat of the vola-
tilization of ammoniacal salts. He has arrived, by prolonged and minute
researches, at the conclusion that it is exceedingly probable that the
salts of ammonium are, in great part, decomposed into their elements
when volatilized, (Archives, November, 1868.)

Professor Wartmann, besides several reports on the memeirs pub-
lished by other savants, gave an account of two luminous phenomena
which he had had an opportunity of observing: First, a magnificent
solar spectrum on the surface of the lake, seen on the road from Her-
mance, a phenomenon which could only be explained by a refraction fol-
lowed by a reflection of the solar rays by the waves; secondly, a lumi-
nous vertical column after the setting of the sun. This meteor, of which
he published a notice in 1846, is susceptible of explanation by vertical
prisms of ice held in suspension in the atmosphere.

304 SOCIETY OF PHYSICS AND NATURAL HISTORY OF GENEVA.

M. Soret communicated the results of-recent observations on solar
radiation, the intensity of which at Geneva during several days of March
was very considerable and exceeded that which he had observed in
summer at an altitude of 3,000 metres, (10,000 feet.) The same member
presented a memoir on the polarization of the blue light from water,
which has, under this condition, an almost complete analogy with the
light from the sky, (Archives, May, 1869.)

§ 4.-CHEMISTRY.

M. Antoine Morin stated to us the result of his experiments on the
alloys of gold, silver, and copper, a subject which intimately concerns
our manufactures of jewelry and horology. The most usual alloys are
not only compounds but a true chemical combination, notwithstanding
the difference of density of the gold and copper. There needs but simple
fusion and remelting three or four times to obtain an alloy so homoge-
neous that the law allows only a deduction of ;,3,, for those of gold and
copper and of 5355 for those of silver and copper. For this there is
required a special force, which is chemical affinity, the influence of
which is demonstrated by a change in the molecular state of the metals
alloyed. In calculating the specific weight of alloys, we find a number
greater by an eighth or a ninth than the real density of alloys of gold,
and by a sixth or a seventh than the alloys of gold and native silver of
Colombia. The difference is insignificant for alloys of silver and copper,
but the homogeneity of the ingots is obtained with more difficulty. The
augmentation of volume of the metals which enter into the alloys of
gold with silver and copper is not the only indication of a chemical com-
bination. The proportions which have been adopted in practice for
jewelry of 18 and 14 carats are closely approximate to the atomic num-
bers which would form combinations of a definite proportion. The
hypothesis that there is chemical union, and not simple mixture, seems
to be confirmed by the analysis of natural alloys. In most of these the
metals are found in quantities corresponding to the exact numbers of
equivalents.

M. Morin has also been engaged in verifying the cause of the rochage
which forms an accident in founding, and which consists in a rupture
of the solidified crust of the metal accompanied by a jet of that which is
in fusion. He thinks that the rochage is a phenomenon of a chemical
nature, as the metal ejected has not the same composition as the rest of
the ingot.

§ 5—GEOLOGY AND PALEONTOLOGY.

Professor De La Rive communicated to us a letter of Professor A gas-
siz on the existence of ancient glaciers of considerable height and extent
in the greater part of North America, particularly in the region of the
prairies.

Professor Favre described the great moraines which the ancient gla-
cier of the Rhine has deposited even in Wiirtemberg. He gave an
account, based on the researches of two geologists of Lyons, (MM. Fal-
san and Chartre,) of the erratic blocks deposited by the glacier of the
Rhone between Geneva and Lyons, of the geological constitution of
Mount Cervin, as studied in two successive ascents by M. Giordano, of
the discoveries of M. Chartre relative to the question of prehistoric man,
&e. He exhibited to us a small erratic block of red porphyry, found in
the environs of St. Julien, and, on several occasions, occupied our atten-
sion with the remarkable repository of smoky rock-crystals, found at the

SOCIETY OF PHYSICS AND NATURAL HISTORY OF GENEVA. 305

glacier of Tiefen, near Gallenstock, in the canton of Uri. A fine group
of these crystals has been given by Madame Revilliod De La Rive to
our new library and will form one of the ornaments of the Revilliod hall.
M. Ernest Favre read a memoir on the fossil mollusks of the environs |
of Lemberg, in Gallicia. The fossils described were furnished by two
principal repositories: Nagorzany and Lemberg. At the latter, the
formation is constituted by a very fine and compact calcareous marl,
forming a bank which exceeds 145 metres, (476 feet.) The rock of Na-
gorzany is a yellow, hard sandstone, in thiek banks, alternating with
strata of soft limestone. M. Favre has recognized in his fauna one hun-
dred and seventy well-distinguished species ‘of mollusks. The cephalo-
pods abound at Nagorzany. They comprise eighteen species, of which
the most characteristic is the Belemnitella mucronata. Here also the
gasteropods are numerous and varied, amounting to one-half of the
fauna. At Lemberg they are represented by only twenty-six small and.
scanty species. Of the acephala, forty-six species are found at Lember g
and thirty-two at Nagorzany. The brachiopods number eleven species,
four of which are common to both localities. The fossil mollusks found
in Gallicia: characterize the lower part of the chalk @ Belemnitella mucro-
nata, and, consequently, the senonian formation, presenting the greatest
analogy with the chalks of Westphalia, Lunebur; g, and the Isle of “Rugen,
as well as with the senonian formations of Limburg, Hainault, and the
basin of Paris, which all number species common with those of Lemberg g,
M. De Loriol presented a memoir which he has recently published i in
conjunction with M. Gillieron on the urgonian stratum of Tanderon.
The fauna of this stratum forms a transition between that of the neoco-
mian and that which characterizes the lower urgonian stratum. This
fauna comprises a great number of Spongitaria as well as numerous indi-
viduals of a Comatula with single arms, pertaining to the new genus
Ophiocrina.
§ 6.—BOTANY.

The most prominent fact which has distinguished our sessions, so far
as botany is concerned, has undoubtedly been the liberal donation which
Madame Delessert and her two daughters have made to the city of
Geneva of the rich and celebrated herbarium of the Baron Francois
Delessert.

This collection forms one of the twenty or twenty-one largest herba-
riums in existence, and it is especially remarkable on account of the
great number of specimens described and mentioned by ancient or mo-
dern authors. Independently of the types described by Lamarck, La-
billardiére, Richard, Palisot, De Beauvais, and others, which are in the
general herbarium, it comprises moreover that of the Burmans, which
includes the types of the older botanists, especially those of Thunberg
and of the Burmans themselves, besides a-herbal of Lapland, collected
and named by Linneus. The plants of India, arranged by Wallich,
form one of the most extensive collections which exist on the continent.
This Delessert herbarium will be found in future in convenient prox-
imity with the rich collections of MM. De Candolle and Boissier, which
were already of easy access to botanists, so that the one will be com-
pleted by the others, thus affording facilities for the most thorough
study.

It is to M. Alphonse de Candolle; than whom no one can better appre-
ciate the importance of this gift to our city, that Iam indebted for the
above particulars. It was from him also that the society received, on
‘the authority of a letter from M. De Gelaznow, director of the Agricul.

20s 69

306 SOCIETY OF PHYSICS AND NATURAL HISTORY OF GENEVA.

tural School of Peter the Great, a statement regarding the large quan-
tities in which the white truffle exists in the interior of Russia.

_ Dr. Miiller gave an account of the investigations of MM. Bornet and
Thuret respecting the fecundation of the Floridee, from which result
two exceptional facts in the vegetable kingdom: First. The effect of the
male element takes place here on a complete cellule, provided with a
cellulose membrane, and not on a protoplasmatic rudimentary cellule.
Second. The result of the fecundation does not show itself in the cellule
which has received the contents of the antherozoids, the formation of
the fruit or cystocarp being produced at some distance in another part
of the female individual. To Dr. Miiller also we were indebted for the ex-
hibition of specimens of a rare aquatic plant, of a fine rose-purple color,
found at Evian on the pebbles at the bottom of a spring of alkaline and
slightly ferruginous water. The plant is the Hildebrandtia rosa, var.

fluviatilis, Kutz, which, by its fructification as well as color, belongs to
the class, almost exclusively maritime, of the Floridez. On this occa-
sion the Rev. M. Duby spoke of another alga, which, as observed by
Dr. Welwitsch, covers at certain periods with a black crust the rocks on
the western coast of Africa.

M. Duby read a note, accompanied by plates, on certain species of
exotic or little-known cryptogams. He describes fourteen new species,
and five but little known, pertaining to seven different genera. Of the
new species one comes from the East Indies, three from ‘Brazil, one from
New Caledonia, four from Mexico, three from Chili, and two from Aus-
tralia. On this occasion M. Duby stated that two new genera which
have been introduced seem to be of doubtful authenticity ; . these are the
genera Amstremia and Dicraniella, which differ very little from the genus
Dicranum. The genus Campilopus has been separated from the genus
Dicranum by the two following characters: First, because the capsule
is gyrose at the base; second, because the gale of fructification are
fimbriated at the base. Other botanists hold these characters to be of
no great value, and maintain that in the same genus species are found
in which the galea is fimbriate, and others in which it is not so.

M. Duby has examined the microscopic vegetables which have covered
our lake at certain points and which were presented by M. De Saussure, |
on the part of Dr. Forel de Morges. They are grains of chlorophyllum
formed in the alge and deposited during rainy seasons on the soil, whence
they are borne by the waters to the lake. Dr. Miiller gave an account
of a memoir of,M. Schumann on the Desdemiacew of the high Tatra.

The extraordinary warmth of the month of December, 1868, occasioned
in the month of February, 1869, the florescence wholly exceptional of
forty-six different species which have been observed in our environs by
M. Reuter.

§ 7. ZOOLOGY—PHYSIOLOGY.

Madame Delessert and her daughters have merited our gratitude not
alone by the gift of the valuable herbarium already mentioned, but by
the rare collection of shells with which they have enriched our museum,
and which will be one of the finest ornaments of our future academic
buildings. This collection has not only the merit of being very rich in
remarkable specimens, but possesses a special scientific - value in hay-
ing served as a basis for the labors of Lamarck, who himself named
most of the shells then existing in the Delessert collection. The entire
donation has arrived without accident in our city and been deposited
provisionally in the municipal school of Saint Gervais. Two of our

SOCIETY OF PHYSICS AND NATURAL HISTORY OF GENEVA. 307

members, MM. De Loriol and Lunel, had repaired to Paris in order to
superintend the packing and transportation.

M. De Saussure presented us a memoir which he has just completed on
the Orthoptera of the museum of Geneva. The author thinks that there
has been an error heretofore in the appreciation of the segment in the
Blatte described as the first abdominal segment, and that this segment
pertains to the thorax. This opinion is not shared by M. Claparede,
who has often observed the soldering of certain segments, and who
points out the difficulty of determining in dried insects whether the
segments are severed or not. M. De Saussure has, moreover, favored us
with a view of sundry specimens of Phasoni, which have no defense
against their natural enemies, and only escape by a complete immobility,
which causes them to exactly resemble twigs of dead wood.

Professor Claparede read to us an interesting memoir on the Zwmbrici,
which will be printed in the Zeitschrift fiir wissenschaftliche Zoologie. He
communicated the recent discovery of an Italian savant who has recog-
nized in the coloring matter furnished by an Annelid of the Gulf of Na-
ples the chemical product lately detected in coal and designated by the
name of Aniline. He has verified the presence of the same coloring
principle in the Floridee and in the Murex brandaris ; it was this latter
mollusk which supplied the ancients with their purple.

M. de Candolle presented a paper of M. Reinsch, inspector of mines at
Gotha, who states that he has recognized microscopic organic remains,
both animal and vegetable, in certain granitic rocks which have been
reputed until now to be of an igneous or eruptive nature. In connec-
tion with this subject, Dr. Miiller mentioned a phenomenon which has
some analogy with the preceding; the existence, namely, of organized
living creatures in the water of the geysers of California, at a tempera-.
ture of 95°, (202° Fahrenheit.)

M. De Saussure gave an account of researches into the deep-sea faunas,
which M. De Pourtales, who accompanied M. Agassiz in his voyage to.
Brazil, has recently published.

Dr. William Marcet communicated his inquiries into the anesthetic
effects of the inhalation of protoxide of nitrogen. He thinks this gas.
by no means entitled to the name of exhilarating. The ancesthesis is ob-
tained in a very marked manner when the gas is respired for one or
two minutes, but it does not continue beyond two minutes ; after which
every unpleasant symptom ceases completely. If, however, the inhala-
tion be unduly prolonged, syncope and very serious accidents supervene.
Dr. Sharpey, of London, who was present at the sitting, confirmed these’
results; he was confident that the inhalation of the gas for two min-
utes at most is completely exempt from danger, and consequently very
useful for short operations, such as the extraction of a tooth. But itis
very hazardous to prolong the inhalation beyond two minutes.

The president of the society recounted the results of a scientifie in-
vestigation, at which he had assisted, having for its object the employ-
ment of protoxide of nitrogen as an anestheticagent. The recognition
of its properties as such was unanimous, and its harmlessness, provided
the inhalation be not prolonged, was likewise admitted. But its em-
ployment was proscribed if the operation should require more than one
or two minutes. The persons treated after this method in the presence
of Dr. Lombard, presented no grave symptom nor any acceleration of
the pulse or respiration. The insensibility appeared to be complete,
judging from the representations of those upon whom the operation was
performed and who were interrogated with care by several physicians
who assisted in the experiments.

308 SOCIETY OF PHYSICS AND NATURAL HISTORY OF GENEVA.

Dr. Prevost communicated to us his researches in experimental physi-
ology relative to the seat of the sense of smell. This memoir has been
published in the March number (1869) of the Archives des sciences phy-
sigues et naturelles. He also made us acquainted with the experiments
which he had performed at Paris and Berlin in the extirpation of the
spheno-palatine ganglion, an operation which, in the opinion of Dr.
Schiff, must suppress the sense of taste in the anterior part of the
tongue. The experiments in question gave, however, a negative result.
M. Prevost also recalled the experiments of Dr. Waller on the atrophy
of the peripheral nerves when separated from the central trunk. <Ac-
cording to this learned physiologist, if the vidian branch of the lingual
nerve received gustatory nervous fibers, this branch would be atrophied
after the section of the spheno-palatine ganglion; this, however, has
not been found to be the case by M. Prevost, who has always found it
unimpaired after the operation.

Dr. Dor gave an account of new experiments made with a view to de-
termine the velocity of the transmission of sensations.

Dr. Gosse presented skulls found by Dr. Forel de Morges in an an-
cient cemetery near Saint-Prex. These skulls are artificially deformed
for the purpose of producing a frontal depression. Similar cases had:
been previously observed by M. Troyon near Lausanne, and by M. Gosse
near Regny. This flattening of the front by means of a board was a
national custom among certain tribes, and especially among the Avari.
Depressed skulls have been found at Vienna, in the Crimea, and at Van-
couver’s Island. A traveler in China relates that they occur also in
Mongolia, in very ancient skulls. A memoir published at St. Peters-
burg designates them by the name of macrocephalic, but this term might
create some confusion with the Macrocephali of Hippocrates and Strabo,
among whom the object was rather to produce protrusion of the frontal
bone. This frontal depression causes ordinarily a certain degree of
prognathism ; it does not impair the functions of mobility, but simply
lowers the grade of intelligence.

Such is a summary review of the facts which have occupied our ses-
sions. It will be seen that they are alike numerous and varied, and
furnish renewed testimony of the scientific zeal which still subsists
among us. May our unpretending labors have the effect of enlarging
the field of human knowledge, and consequently of promoting the dif-
fusion of light in our country. We shall thus have accomplished, as far
as depends on us, the purpose which presided at the foundation of our
Society ; a society which already counts nearly eighty years of existence.

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CORONADO’S MARCH IN SEARCH OF THE “SEVEN CITIES OF CIBOLA” AND
DISCUSSION OF THEIR PROBABLE LOCATION.

By Brevet Brigadier General J. H. Smuupson, Colonel of Engineers, U. S. A,

The early Spanish explorations in Mexico in search of the “‘ seven cities
of Cibola” have always been of great interest to students of American
history. Recent publications have drawn my attention anew to the
vast geographical field embraced in the toilsome march of Vasquez de
Coronado and his adventurous followers, and, having in years past been
engaged officially in the United States service in exploring that remote
region, I have been tempted to reinvestigate the grand enterprise of the
Mexican government in 1540, and venture to offer the following essay as
an expression of my well-considered views, derived, in early life, from
observation of the field itself, and confirmed by careful study of all the
authorities within my reach. Besides this, friends, in whose opinion I
trust, believe’ that my reconnoissances of a large part of the country
traversed by Coronado and his followers give me some advantages in
the discussion of this subject over other investigators, who have not been
favored by personal inspection and scientific location of the important
points embraced in the adventurers’ march, so that I now submit my
conclusions with less diffidence than I should have done had I not re-
ceived in advance their cordial encouragement.

I must acknowledge my indebtedness to the library of the Peabody
Institute of this city, to the library of the Historical Society of Mary-
land, and to the private library of the president of this last-mentioned
society, Colonel Brantz Mayer, all of which have been thrown open to
me in my researches. I must also express my particular obligations to
Colonel Mayer for the very valuable aid he has afforded me in the pre-
paration of this article, by the use of his excellent translation (yet in
manuscript) of Ternaux Compans’ version of the “ Relation du Voyage
de Cibola,” entrepris en 1540, par Pédro de Castaiieda de Nagera,” pub-
lished in Paris in 1838.

The arrangement of the following essay is, first, a brief narrative of
the march of Coronado from the city of Mexico to the “‘ seven cities of
Cibola” and the province of Quivira, together with an account of the ex-
peditions of his subordinate officers, naval and military; and second,
the discussion of the subject of the location of the important places
visited in the several expeditions; and, in order to a clear understanding
of the text, I accompany.it with a map, for which, under my direction
as to details of route, I am indebted to Mr. N. H. Hutton, civil engineer,
whose knowledge of New Mexico and Arizona, derived from his associa-
tion with Generals Whipple and Parke, as assistant engineer, in their
explorations in New Mexico and Arizona in 1853-756, has been of mate-
rial service to me.

In the year 1530, Nuno de Guzman, president of New Spain, was in-
formed by his slave,an Indian, from the province of Tejos, situated
somewhere north from Mexico, that in his travels he had seen cities so
large that they might compare with the city of Mexico; that these

310 ) CORONADO’S MARCH.

cities were seven in number, and had streets which were exclusively oc-
cupied by workers in gold and silver; that to reach them a journey
of forty days through a desert was required; and that travelers pene-
trated the interior of that region by directing their steps northwardly
between the two seas.

Nuno de Guzman, confidently relying on this information, organized
an army of four hundred Spaniards and twenty thousand Indian allies
of New Spain,* and set out in search of these seven wonderful cities;
but, after reaching the province of Culiacan, he encountered such great
difficulties on account of the mountains he had to cross that he aban-
doned the enterprise, and contented himself with colonizing the prov-
ince of Culiacan. ‘

In the mean time, the Tejos Indian who had been his guide dying, the
seven cities remained only known by name, till about eight years after-
ward, when there arrived in Mexico three Spaniards named Alvar
Nuiiez Cabeca de Vaca, Andrés Dorantes, and Alonso del Castillo
Maldonado, accompanied by an Arabian negro named Estevanico, (Ste-
phen.)t These persons had been wrecked with the fleet which Pam-
~ * Gastaiieda’s Relations, Ternaux Compans’ Collections, Paris, 1838, p. 2. Hakluyt,
quoting from a letter written by the Viceroy Antonio de Mendoga to the Emperor
Charles V, says: ‘“Nufio de Guzman departed out of the city of Mexico with 400
horsemen and 14,000 Indians.” (Hakluyt’s Voyages, vol. ili, p. 436, new ed. London,
1810.)

+ This is according to Castaiieda’s account ; but according to that of Cabeca de Vaca,
Ternaux Compans’ Collections, these persons arrived in New Spain in 15386, or six in-
stead of eight years after Nuno de Guzman’s expedition. Their adventures were so
remarkable I cannot refrain from saying something about them :

Pamphilo de Narvaez sailed from the West Indies early in 1528, with four hundred
men, eighty horses, and four ships, for the purpose of exploring the country of Florida,
of which he had been made goverrror. He seems to have reached the harbor of Santa
Cruz (supposed to be Tampa Bay) in April of that year, and on the Ist May debarked
with three hundred men, forty of whom were mounted, for the purpose of exploring
the interior of the country. His course was northwardly, and generally parallel to
the coast. On the 26th June he reached an Indian town called Apalache, where he
tarried twenty-five days. He then journeyed in nine days to a place called Aute.
Continuing his course thence westwardly for several days, his men became so dispirited
from finding no gold, and on account of the rough treatment of the natives, that they
returned to Aute, where, hearing nothing of their ships, which had been ordered to
coast along with them and await their arrival at some good harbor, they constructed
five small boats, in which two hundred and fifty of the party (all who had not died or
been killed by the natives) embarked, steering along the coast westwardly for Panuco,
on the coast of Mexico. At length they reached the mouth of a river, the current of
which was so strong as to prevent their making headway against it, and whose fresh
water was carried out some distance into the gulf. About seven days after, while making
their way with great difficulty westwardly, the boat commanded by Cabega de Vaca
was cast on an island, called by them Malhado, (Misfortune.) A day or two after this
Cabeca de Vaca’s boat and all the others were capsized in a storm off the island of
Malhado, except that of the governor of Narvaez, which seems to have drifted out
to sea, and, with its crew, was never afterward heard of. Those of the party that
were not drowned remained on the island of Malhado and main land adjacent for six
years, and endured from the Indians, who had enslaved them, the greatest indignities.
From this cause, and from starvation and cold, the greater portion of them died. At
length four of them, (those mentioned in the text above,) all that probably survived,
escaped from their bondage, taking in their flight a northern course, toward the
mountains, probably, of Northern Alabama. Thence their course was westwardly
across the Mississippi (which was doubtless “‘ the great river coming from the North,”
spoken of by Cabeea) and Arkansas rivers, to the headwaters of the Canadian, which
they seem to have crossed just above the great cation of that river, (where Coronado
crossed it in his outward route to Quivira, of which more in the sequel;) thence
southwestwardly through what is now New Mexico and Arizona to Culiacan, in Old
Mexico, near the Pacific Coast, which they reached in the spring of 1536. (See narra-
tive of Alvar Nufiez Cabeea de Vaca, translated by Buckingham Smith, Washington,
1851; and, in confirmation of the above specified crossing of the Canadian River,
“The Relations of Castafieda, by Ternaux Compans,” p. 120.) - ;

Mr. Albert Gallatin, in his essay, vol. 2, pp. 56,57, Transactions of American Ethno-

CORONADO’S MARCH. Sit

philo de Narvaez had conducted to Florida, and after crossing the
country from one sea to the other had reached Mexico.

The tales they told were quite marvelous. They stated to the then
viceroy, Don Antonio de Mendoga, that they had carefully observed the
country through which they had passed, and had been told of great and
powerful cities, containing houses of four or five stories, &c. The vice-
roy communicating these declarations to the new governor, Francisco
Vasquez de Coronado, the latter set out with haste to the province of
Culiacan, taking with him thrée Franciscan friars, one of whom, by
name Marcos de Ni¢a, in the language of the chronicler Castaneda, was
theologian’and priest. As soon as he reached Culiacan he dispatched
the three Franciscans, with the negro Stephen before mentioned, on a
journey of discovery, with orders to return and report to him all they
could ascertain by personal observation of the seven celebrated cities.
The monks, not being well pleased with the negro on account of his
excessive avarice, sent him in advance to pacify the Indians through
whose country he had previously passed, and to prepare the way for the
successful prosecution of their journey. Stephen, as soon as he reached
the country of the “seven cities of Cibola,” demanded, as Castatieda
says, not only their wealth but their women.

The inhabitants not relishing this killed him and sent back all the
others that had accompanied him, except the youths, whom they retained.
The former, flying to their homes, encountered the monks before men-
tioned, in the desert sixty leagues from Cibola.* When the holy fathers
heard the sorrowful intelligence of the death of Stephen, they became
so greatly alarmed that, no longer trusting even the Indians who had
accompanied the negro, they gave them all they possessed except the
ornaments used in the celebration of the mass, and forthwith returned,
by double-days’ journey, without knowing more of the country than the
Indians had told them. The monks returning to Culiacan, reported
the results of their attempted journey to Coronado, and gave
him such a glowing description of all the negro had discovered and of
what the Indians had told them, “‘as well as of the islands filled with
treasure, which they were assured existed in the Southern sea,”+ that he
decided to depart immediately for Mexico, taking with him Friar Mar-
cos de Niga, in order that he might narrate all he had seen to the vice-
roy. He also magnified the importance of the discovery by disclosing
it only to his nearest friends, and by pledging them to secrecy.

Arrived at Mexico, he had an interview with the viceroy, and pro-
claimed everywhere that he had found “the seven cities” searched for
by Nuiio de Guzman, and busied himself with preparing an expedition
for their conquest. Friar Marcos having been made, through the infiu-
ence of the monks, the provincial of the Franciscans, their pulpits re-

logical Society, states that the river referred to above, whose current was so strong
and which Narvaez’s party could not stem, was the Mississippi; but this is not the view
of Mr. Smith, who has laid down the routes of Narvaez and party as extending no
further west than Leaf River, which lies to the eastward of the Mississippi River. His
idea, however, that the island of Santa Rosa, at the mouth of Pensacola Bay, was
Malhado, I think erroneous, for the reason that Cabecga de Vaca expressly says this
island was “half a league broad and five leagues (or seventeen miles) long,” whereas
Santa Rosa Island, according to the maps, is as much as forty-seven miles long. It is
possible, however, that by accretions the island may,yhave attained this length since
Cabeca de Vaca was wrecked upon it.

*So says Castafieda; but Marcos de Niga, in his account of his journey, distinctly
states that he approached so near the city of Cibola that from a high elevation he could
see the houses, and gives quite a particular description of them. (Relation of Friar
Marcos de Nica, Ternaux Compans’ Collections, p. 279.)

tCastaneda’s Relations, Ternaux Compans, p. 16.

312 CORONADO’S MARCH.

sounded with the marvels of discoveries to such an extent that in a few
days three hundred Spaniards and eight hundred Indians were assem-
bled for the enterprise. Among the former were a great many gentle-
men of good family, and probably there never had been an expedition
in which there was such a large proportion of persons of noble birth.
Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, the governor of New Galicia, was pro-
claimed captain general, because he was the author of the discovery,
and the Viceroy Mendoca did all he could to foster the enterprise.

Believing that if the army marched from the city of Mexico in a body
the Indian allies would probably suffer, the viceroy appointed the town
of Compostella, capital of New Galicia, one hundred and ten leagues
from Mexico, as the place, and Shrove Tuesday, 1540,* the time of ren-
dezvous. The troops having left Mexico, he ordered Don Pedro d’Alar-
con to depart for La Nativitad, on the coastof the “Southern Sea,” and
with two vessels to go to Jalisco to take the supplies which the soldiers
could not transport. After performing that duty he was to follow the
march of the army along the coast, for it was believed, according to the
then received accounts, that the army would never be distant from the
vessels, and would always be in easy communication with them by
means of the rivers.t

All these dispositions having been made, the viceroy departed for
Compostella with a large body of gentlefolks. Everywhere he was re-
ceived with great éclat, and when he reached Compostella he found the
army well lodged and entertained by Christoval VOnate, captain general
of that country.

He reviewed the troops, by whom he was received with great rejoic-
ing, and the next day after mass harangued them. He told them of
their duties and of the advantageous result that this conquest would
produce, not only on their fortunes, but by the conversion of the nations
they would conquer, as well as for the service of his Majesty, who on
his side promised them his bounty and additional favors. Finally he
caused every one to be sworn on a missal containing the Holy Evangels
not to abandon their general and to obey all his commands.

The next day the army with banners flying took up the line of march.
For two days the viceroy accompanied it, and then returned to Mexico.
No sooner, however, had the viceroy left the army than it began to ex-
perience all the hardships incident to a wild, mountainous country. The
baggage had to be transported on horses, and, as many soldiers had
never been accustomed to load them, they made sorry work of it. The
consequence was that a great deal of their baggage was abandoned, and
in order to get along at all many a gentleman had to become a mule-
teer, and they who shirked from this necessary labor were regarded by
their companions as lacking spirit.

Coronado arriving at Chiametta with his army, met at that point
Captains Melchior Diaz and Juan de Saldibar, who with a dozen reso-
lute men, by Coronado’s orders, had explored the country as far as Chi-
chilticale, which is on the border of the desert and two hundred leagues
from Culiacan.t These officers gave in secret to the general such:a dole-

* Castaneda’s Relations, Ternaux Compans, p. 24. Castafieda says 1541, but, as Ter-
naux Compans has remarked in a note, he evidently must have made a mistake, for the
letter of the viceroy to the Emperor Charles V, reporting the organization and progress
of the expedition, bears date April 17, 1540.

t According to “Los Tres Siglos de Mexico, tom. I, Mexico, 1836,” p. 129, ‘‘ Mendoga
dispatched Alarcon, with two ships, to observe the coast as far as the 36th degree of ,
latitude, with instructions to make frequent embarkations and to join the army at that
height.”

t Castaneda gives in one place two hundred leagues as the distance ; and in another,
two hundred and twenty leagues. See his Rel. Ternaux Compans’ Col., pp. 12, 29.

’
CORONADOS MARCH. 313

ful account of the country they had passed through, that, it leaking out,
many in the army began to-lose heart ; and it was only by Friar Marcos
de Nica insisting upon it, that the country was a good one, and that
they should not leave it with empty hands, that they were persuaded to
continue the march.

The day after Easter, the army took up its march for Culiacan, at
which place they were well received by the citizens and furnished with
all necessary supplies. This was the last town inhabited by Spaniards,
and, therefore, the last from which they could gather provisions, except
from the Indians with whom they might meet in their further march.
It is represented by Castaneda, as being two hundred and ten leagues
trom the city of Mexico.*

After resting a couple of weeks at Culiacan, Coronado led the advance
of his army, consisting of fifty cavaliers, a few infantry, his particular
friends, and the monks, leaving the rest of the army with orders to march
a fortnight after, and to follow his path. As Castaftieda, describing his
progress, expresses it, “‘ when the geperal had passed through all the
inhabited region to Chichilticale, where the desert begins, and saw that
there was nothing good, he could not repress his sadness, notwithstanding
the marvels which were promised further on. No one save the Indians
who accompanied the negro had seen them, and already on many occa-
sions they had been caught in lies. He was especially afflicted to find this
Ohichilticale, of which so much had been boasted, to be a single, ruined,
and roofless house, which at one time seethed to have been fortified. It
was easy to see that this house, which was built of red earth, was the
work of civilized people who had come from afar.

“On quitting this place they entered the desert. At the end of fif-
teen days they came within eight leagues of Cibola, on the banks of a
river which they named Vermejo, in consequence of its red and troubled
water. Mullets resembling those of Spain were found in it. It was
there that the first Indians of the country were discovered; but when
these saw the Spaniards they fled and gave the alarm. During the night
of the succeeding day, when not more than two leagues from the village,
some Indians who were concealed suddenly uttered such piercing cries
that cur soldiers became alarmed, notwithstanding they pretended not
to regard it as a surprise; and there were even some who saddled their
horses the wrong way, but these were men who belonged to the new
levies. The best warriors mounted their horses and scoured the coun-
try. The Indians, who knew the land, escaped easily, and not one of
them was taken. On the following day, in good order, we entered the
inhabited country. Cibola was the first village we discovered; on be-
holding it the army broke forth with maledictions on Friar Marcos de
Niga. God grant that he may feel none of them!

“ Cibola is built on a rock; this village is so small that, in truth, there
are many farms in New Spain that make a better appearance. It may
contain two hundred warriors. The houses are built in three or four
stories; they are small, not spacious, and have no courts, as a single
court serves for a whole quarter. The inhabitants of the province were
united there. It is composed of seven towns, some of which are larger
and better fortified than Cibola. These Indians, ranged in good order,
awaited us at some distance from the village. They were very loth to
accept peace; when they were required to do so by our interpreters,
they menaced us by their gestures. Shouting our war-ery of Sant Lago,
we charged upon and quickly caused them to fly.

* Castaneda’s Rel., Ternaux Compans’ Col., p. 149.

314 ; CORONADO’S MARCH.

‘‘ Nevertheless, it was necessary to get possession of Cibola, which was
no easy achievement, for~the road leading to it was both narrow and
winding. The general was knocked down by the blow of a stone as he
mounted in the assault, and he would have been slain had it not been
for Garci Lopez de Cardenas and Hernando d’Alvarado, who threw them-
selves Before him and received the blows of the stones which were de-
signed for him and fell in large numbers; nevertheless, as it is impos-
sible to resist the first impetuous charge of Spaniards, the village
was gained in less than an hour. It was found filled with provisions
which were much needed, and, in a short time the whole province was
forced to accept peace.”* :

The main army, which had been left at Culiacan under the command
of Don Tristan d’Arellano, followed Coronado as directed by him,
every one marching on foot, with lance in hand and carrying supplies.
All the horses were laden. Slowly and with much fatigue, after estab-
lishing and colonizing Sonora, and endeavoring to find the vessels under
Alarcon already referred to, by descending the river, in which they
failed, the army reached Cibola. Here they found quarters prepared
for them and rejoiced in the reunion of the troops, with the exception
of certain captains and soldiers who had been detached on explorations.

Meantime, Captain Melchior Diaz, who had been left at Sonora, placed
himself at the head of twenty-five choice men, and under the lead of
guides directed his steps towards the southwest in hopes of discovering
the coasts. His course was probably down the Rio Sonora, and not
finding the vessels there he doubtless marched northward, keeping as
close to the coast as the rivers would permit him. After traveling
about one hundred and fifty leaguest it appears he arrived in a country
in which there was a large river, called Rio del Tizon, whose mouth was
two leagues wide. Here the captain learned that the vessels under
Alarcon had been on the sea-coast, at a distance of three days’ journey
from that place. In the language of Castaneda, ‘*‘ When he reached the
spot that was indicated, and which was on the bank of the river more
than fifteen leagues from its mouth, he found a tree on which
was written ‘Alarcon has come thus far; there are letters at the foot of
this tree’ They dug and found the letters, which apprised them that
Alarcon, after having waited a certain length of time at that spot, had
returned to New Spain, and could not advance further because that
sea was a gulf; that it turned around the Isle of the Marquis, which had
been called the Isle of California, and that California was not an island,
but a part of land forming the gulf”t

It appears that after a good deal of difficulty and a threatened attack
from the natives, the party crossed the Rio del Tizon, on rafts, some five
or six days’ travel higher up, and continued its journey along the coast.
Quoting from Castafieda, ‘“ When the explorers had crossed the Rio del
Tizon, they continued following the coast, which at that place turns to-
ward the southeast, for this gulf penetrates the land directly toward
the north, and the stream flows exactly toward the mouth from north
to south.Ӥ No better description could be given of the relative posi-
tion of the Gulf of California, with respect to the Rio Colorado flowing
into it from the north, than the foregoing.

This expedition was terminated by the death of Melchior Diaz, which
occurred in a very singular manner, as follows: “ One day a greyhound
belonging to a soldier attacked some sheep which the Spaniards were

* Castaneda’s Relations, Ternaux Compans, pp. 40, 41, 42, 43.
+ Castaneda’s Relations, Ternaux Compans, p. 49.
t Castaiieda’s Relations, Ternaux Compans, pp. 50, 51. § Ibid, p. 104,

CORONADO’S MARCH. - 3t5

driving with them to serve as food in case of need, when Captain Mel-
chior Diaz threw his lance at the beast, in order to drive him off. Un-
fortunately the weapon stuck in the eround with the point uppermost,
and as Diaz could not rein in his horse, who was at a gallop, quickly
enough, it pierced his thigh through and through, and severed his blad-
der." The soldiers at once decided to retrace their steps, taking their
wounded chief with them. The Indians, who were always i in rebellion,
did not cease attacking them. The captain lived about twenty days,
during which he was borne along with the utmost difficulty. When,
at length, he died, all his troops returned in good array, (to Sonora,)
without the loss of a single ae and after traversing the most dan-
gerous places.”*

In this connection it may be interesting to give some account of Alar-
con’s discovery of the Rio Colorado. It will be recollected that he was
ordered by the Viceroy Mendo¢a to follow the march of the army with
his vessels along the coast of the Southern Sea, as the Pacific Ocean
was then called. From his relation to the viceroy t I gather the following:

On the 9th of May, 1540, Fernando Alareun put to sea from La Na-
tivitad,in command of two ships, the Saint Peter and the Saint Cath-
erine. He put into the ports of Xalisco and Agnaival, (respectively the
ports of Compostella and Culiacan,) and finding Coronado and his army
gone from this last-mentioned place, he continued his course northwardly
along the coast, taking with him the ship St. Gabriel, which he found
there laden with supplies for the army. At length arriving towards the
upper end of what was till then believed to be a strait separating an
island from the main land, but which he discovered to be a gulf, (the
Gulf of California,) he experienced great difficulty in navigating, even
with his small boats; ; and there were some in the expedition, he remarks,
who lost heart and were anxious to return, as did Captain Francisco de
Ullva, with his vessels, in a former voyage of discovery. Alarcon, it
seems, however, had the necessary pluck, “and, agreeably to the orders
of the Viceroy Mendoga, he was determined to make his explorations as
thorough as possible. After incredible hardships he managed to get
his vessels to the bottom of the gulf, (“aw fond du gulfe.”) Here he
found a very great river, the current of which was so rapid, that they
could scarcely stem it. Taking two shallops and leaving the others with
the ships, and providing himself with some guns of small caliber, on
the 26th of August, 1540, he commenced the ascent of the river by haul-
ing the boats with ropes. On his way he meta large number of Indians,

* Castaiieda’s Relations, Ternaux Compans, p. 105.

+ Ternaux Compans’ Coll., p. 299-348.

tThe most reliable information in relation to the Colorado River will be found in the
report of Lieutenant Ives’s ascent of that stream i in 1858. {Be Doc. No. a 36th Con-
gress, 1st session.) -

“From his account the region at the month of the Colorado is a “ate expanse of mud,
and the channels that afford. entrance from the gulf are shifting and changeable. For
30 miles above the mouth the ‘navigation is rendered periodically dangerous by the
strength and magnitude of the spring tides.

“Between the tide-water and Fort Yuma, which is 150 miles from the mouth, the
principal obstructions are sand-bars, continually shifting, having in some places but
two feet of water upon them. There are no rocks, but snags are numerous although
not very dangerous.

‘For 180 miles above Fort Yuma the navigation is similar. The river passes through
several chains of hills and mountains, forming gorges or cations, sometimes of a con
siderable size. In these there is generally a better channel than in the valley.

“Tn the next 100 miles orayelly bars are frequent, with many stretches of good river
and although the bad places are worse, the channel is better than below. For the sue
ceeding 50 Yniles there are many swift rapids. The river bed is of coarse gravel aud
sand, and there are some dangerous sunken rocks. The Black Caton, which is 25 miles

316 CORONADO’S MARCH.

who made signs to him to return down the river, but by good manage.
ment he so appeased them that he was enabled to reach a distance
above the mouth of the river, such that in two and a half days, on his
return to the ships, on account of the swiftness of the current, he made
the same distance he had in fifteen and a half days in ascending the
river. On this expedition he learned from the Indians he met, some
particulars of the death of the negro Stephen, before referred to, at
Cibola, and of there being white persons like themselves at that place,
who doubtless belonged to Coronado’s army. Alarcon was, however,
unable to communicate with the army on account of the desert inter-
vening between them, and the great distance they were apart.

refitting all his shallops this time for a second voyage up the river,
he left its mouth on the.14th of September, but was no more successful
in this than in his former expedition in communicating with Coronado.
Having, therefore, reached as far up the river as he thought expedient,
he planted a cross at that point, and deposited at its foot some letters,
in the hope that some persons of Coronado’s army, searching for news
of the vessels, might fing them. These letters, it has already been stated,
were found by Melchior Diaz ‘on the Rio del Tizon, called by Alarcon
the “‘ Bon Guide,” after the device of his lordship Don Antonio de Men-
doca, and at the present day the Rio Colorado.

At the end of Alarcon’s relation to the viceroy he reports that he
found the latitude, as given by the “patrons and pilots of the Marquis
del Valie,” wrong by two degrees; that he had gone further by four de-
grees than they, and that he had ascended the river a distance of eighty-
five leagues.* _ This report of Alarcon’s is very interesting from its great
particularity and the many incidents it gives of the expedition; it shows
also that he was fully equal to the trust committed to him, and that
no explorer could have done more to carry out the orders of the Viceroy
Mendoga.

We will now return to the army under Coronado, at Cibola. This
general immediately set to work to explore the adjacent country. Hear-
ing there was a province in which there were seven towns similar to
those of Cibola, he dispatched hither Don Pédro de Tobar with seven-
teen horsemen, three or four soldiers, and Friar Juan de Padilla, a Fran-
ciscan, who had been a soldier in his youth, to explore it. ‘The rumor
had spread among its inhabitants that Cibola was captured by a very
ferocious race of people who bestrode horses that devoured men, and as
they knew nothing of horses, this information filled them with the greatest
astonishment.” They, however, nade some show of resistance to the
invaders in their approach to their towns, but the Spaniards charging
upon them with vigor, many were killed, when the remainder fled to the
houses and sued for peace, offering, as an inducement, presents of cotton
stuff, tanned hides, flour, pine nuts, maize, native fowls, and some
turquoises.

These people informing the Spaniards of a*’great river on which there

long, is now reached, and in it the rapids are numerous and difficult. Calville is some
six miles above the head of this canon.” (Letter of General A. A. Humphreys, Chief
of Corps of Engincers United States Army, to Secretary of War, June 24, 1868, in his
annual report for 1868, part 2, p. 1195.)

* Alarcon’s orders from the Viceroy Mendoga, as before stated, in a note, were to
explore as high as the 36th degree of latitude. According to his own account of the
distance he went up the Rio del Tizon, (Colorado,) he must have explored as far as
about the 34th degree, and if he went no higher up than where Melchior Diaz found
the tree, at the foot of which were letters from Alarcon, showing that there was the
highest point to which he had attained, the highest latitude he reached must have been
only about the 33d degree.

+ Castaneda’s Relations, Ternaux Compans, p. 59.

CORONADO’S MARCH. 317

were Indians living, who were very tall, a report of the same on his
return to Cibola was made by Don Pedro de Tobar to Coronado, who
sent out another party consisting of twelve men, under Don Garci-Lopez
de Cardenas, to explore this river. It appears from Castaneda’s Rela.
tions that the party passed through Tusayan again on its way to the
river and obtained from its inhabitants the necessary supplies and
guides. 4

After a journey of twenty days through a desert it seems they reached
the river, whose banks were so high that, as Castafieda expresses it,
“they thought themselves elevated three or four leagues in the air.”
For three days they marched along the banks of the river, hoping always
to find a downward path to the water, which from their elevation did
not seem more than a yard in width, but which according to the Indi-
ans’ account was more than half a league broad. But their efforts to
descend were all made in vain. Two or three days afterward, having
approached a place where the descent appeared practicable, the cap-
tain, Melgosa Juan Galeras, and a soldier, who were the lightest men in
the party, resolved to make the attempt. They descended until those
who remained above lost sight of them. They returned in the afternoon
declaring that they had encountered so many difficulties that they could
not reach the bottom; for what appeared easy when beheld from aloft,
was by means so whsn approached. They added that they compassed
about one-third of the descent, and that from thence the river already
seemed -very wide, which confirmed what the Indians stated. They
assured them that some rocks which were seen frgm on high, and did
not appear to be scarcely as tall as a man, were in truth loftier than the
tower of the cathedral of Seville.*

Castaiieda, after describing the further progress of the exploring party,
goes on to say: “The river was the Tizon (Colorado.) A spot was
reached much nearer its source than the crossing of Melchior Diaz and
his people (before referred to;) and it was afterward known that the
Indians which have been spoken of were the same nation that Diaz saw.
The Spaniards retraced their steps (to Cibola) and this expedition had
no other result.”t

During the march they met with a cascade falling from a rock. .The
guides said that the white crystals hanging around it were formed of
salt. They gathered and carried away a quantity thereof, which was
distributed at Cibola.t

*For 300 miles the cut edges of the table land rise abruptly, often perpendicularly,
from the water’s edge, forming walls from 3,000 to 6,000 feet in height. This is the
great cation of the Colorado, the most magnificent gorge as well as the grandest geo-
logical section of which we have any knowledge.

Again, the cation of the Colorado at the mouth of Grand River is but a portion of the
stupendous chasm which its waters have cut in the strata of the table lands, and of
which a general description has been given. At this point its walls have an altitude
of over 3,000 feet above the Colorado, and the bed of the stream is about 1,200 feet
above the level of the sea, or 500 feet higher than those in the Black Canon. A few
mniles further east, where the surface of the table lands has an altitude of nearly 7,000
feet, the dimensions of the cafion become far more imposing, and its cliffs rise to the
height of more than a mile above the river. (Report of Lieutenant Joseph C. Ives,
Corps of Topographical Engineers United States Army, upon the Colorado River,
185758, Senate Ex. Doc. 30th Congress, 1st session. Geology, chapter v, p. 42; Chap-
ter vi, p. 54.)

t Castafieda’s Relations, Ternaux Compans, p. 64.

tLieutenant Ives speaks of having found salt on the Flax River, which Cardenas,
party undoubtedly crossed or followed :

“At noon to-day we came to the object of our search—a well-beaten Indian trial’
running toward the north. Camp was pitched at the place where it strikes the Flax
River, and it is the intention to make the second attempt to-morrow to penetrate the
unexplored region. Near by are several salt springs, and scattered over the adjacent
surface are crystals of exccllent salt.” (Report of Lieutenant Ives, p. 117.)

318 CORONADO’S MARCH.

IT have thus briefly described the explorations which were made by
Coronado. and his captains, as far as Cibola, on the northern edge of the
great desert northward of Chichilticale; the branch expedition of Mel-
chior Diaz from Sonora northwestward to and around the head of the
Gulf of California, after crossing the Tizon (Colorado,) in search of the
vessels; the exploration of the river Tizon, by Alarcon, in boats
for a distance of 85 Spanish leagues,* or about 290 miles, above its
mouth; the expedition of Don Pedro de Tobar from Cibola to Tusayan,
lying to the northwest of Cibola twenty-five leagues; and the exploration
of Don Garei Lopez de Cardenas from Cibola through Tusayan west-
wardly to the deeply cafioned river Tizon. I shall now give in as few
words as I can some account of Coronado’s subsequent explorations to
the eastward of Cibola.

While the discoveries above mentioned were being made, some In-
dians living seventy leagues towards the east, in a province called Cicuyé, »
arrived at Cibola. There was with them a Cacique, surname Bigotes
(Mustaches) on account of his wearing these long appendages. ‘They
had heard of the Spaniards, and came to offer their services and their
friendship. They offered gifts of tanned skins, shields, and helmets,
which the general reciprocated by giving them necklaces of glass beads,
and belis, which they had never before beheld. They informed him of
cows, because one of these Indians had one painted on his body.” Cas-
taneda goes on to say, but “‘“we would never have guessed it, from
seeing the skins of these animals, for they are covered with a frizzled
hair, “which resembles wool;”+ thus showing that they certainly were
buffaloes.

The general ordered Captain Hernando d’Alvarado to take twenty
men and to accompany these Indians, but to return in eighty days to ren-
der an account of what he might have seen. Alvarado departed with
them, and “five days after they arrived at a village named Acuco, built
on arock. The inhabitants, who are able to send about two hundred
warriors into the field, are the most formidable brigands in the province.
This village was very strongly posted, inasmuch ‘as it was reached by
only one path, and was built upon a rock precipitous on all its other
sides, and at such a height that the ball from an arquebuse could searcely
reach its summit. It was entered by a stairway cut by the hand of man,
which began at the bottom of the declivitous rock and led up to the vil-
lage. This stairway was of suitable width for the first two hundred
steps, but after these there were a hundred more much narrower, and
when the top was finally to be reached it was necessary to scramble up
the three last toises by placing the feet in holes scraped in the rock, and
as the ascender could scarcely make the point of his toe enter them he
was forced to cling to the precipice with his hands. On the summit

“there was a great arsenal of huge stones, which the defenders, without
exposing themselves, could roll down on the assailants, so that no army,
no matter what its strength might be, could force this passage. There
was on the top a sufficient space of ground to cultivate and store a large
supply of corn, as well as cisterns to contain water and snow.”

The Indians here, as at Tusayan, traced lines on the ground, and for-
bade the Spaniards to pass over them; but seeing the latter disposed

*Common Spanish league equals 3.42 American miles. "(United States Ordnance
Manual.)

+ Castaneda’s Relations, Ternaux Compans, p. 68. “Tl est ici la question des bisons, que
VYauteur nomme toujours vacas. Je me servirai dorénayant du mot de bison.” (Note
by Ternaux Compans.)

{ Castaneda’s Relations, Ternaux Compans, pp. 68, 69, 70.

)
CORONADOS MARCH. 319

for an attack, they quickly sued for peace, and presented to their con-
querors a supply of birds’ bread, tanned deer-skins, pine-nuts, seeds,
flour, and corn.

Three days’ journey thence Captain Alvarado and party reached a
province called Tiguex, where, on account of Bigotes, whom the inhab-
itants knew, they were received very kindly; and the captain was so
well pleased with what he saw that he sent a messenger to Coronado
inviting him to winter in that country, which pleased the general greatly,
as it made him believe that his affairs were growing better.

Five days’ journey thence, Alvarado reached Cicuyé, a village very
Strongly fortified, and whose houses had four stories. He reposed here
with his party some days, when he fell in with an “Indian slave who
was a native of the county adjacent to Florida, the interior of which
Fernando de Soto had lately explored.” *

This Indian, whom they called il Turco, (the Turk,) on account of his
resemblance to the people of that nation, spoke of certain large towns,
and of large stores of gold and silver in his country,+ and also of the
country of the bisons, (buffaloes.) Alvarado took him as a guide to the’
bison country, and after he had seen a few of them he returned to Tig-
uex to give an account of the news to Coronado.

In the order of events, Coronado, who had remained at Cibola with
the main body of the army, hearing of a province composed of eight
towns, took with him thirty of the most hardy of his men and set out
to visit it on his way to Tiguex.- In eight or eleven days (the narrative
is here obscure) he reached this province, called Tutahaco, which ap-
pears to have been situated on the Rio de Tiguex, below the city of Tig-
uex, for Castafieda expressly states that he afterward ascended the
river and visited the whole province until he arrived at Tiguex. The
eight villages composing this province were not like those of Cibola,
built of stone, but of earth. He also learned of other villages still fur-
ther down the river.

“On his arrival at Tiguex, Coronado found Hernando d’Alvarado
with the Turk, and was nota little pleased with the news they gave
him. This Indian told him that in his country there was a river two
leagues wide, in which fish as large as horses were found; that there
were canoes with twenty oarsmen on each side, which were also pro-
pelled by sails; that the lords of the land were seated in their sterns.
upon a dais, while a large golden eagle was affixed to their prows. He
added that the sovereign of this region took his siesta beneath a huge
tree, to whose branches golden bells were hung, which were rung by
the agitation of the summer breeze. He declared, moreover, that the
commonest vessels were of sculptured silver; that the bowls, plates, and
dishes were of gold. . He called gold acochis. He was believed because
he spoke with great assurance, and because when some trinkets of cop-
per were shown him he smelt them, and said they were not gold.
He knew gold and silver very well, and made no account of the other
metals. The general sent Hernando d’Alvarado to Cicuyé to reclaim
the golden bracelets which the Turk pretended had been taken from
him when he was made prisoner. When Alvarado arrived there the
inhabitants received him kindly, as they had done before, but they pos-

*Castafieda’s Relations, Ternaux Compans, p. 72. The basin of the Mississippi River
and tributaries, in former days, were included in Florida by the Spaniards. (See note,
p- 90.) on

+The country of Quivira, which Coronada, as will be seen in the sequel, visited, and
which, being adjacent to Florida, as stated above, must have been situated in the coun-
try tributary to the Missouri or Mississippi, and not near the Rio Grande, as some com-

mentators haye supposed.

320 CORONADO’S MARCH.

itively affirmed that they had no knowledge of the bracelets, and they
assured him that the Turk was a great liar, who deceived him. Alva.
rado, seeing there was nothing else he could do, lured the chief, Bigotes,
and the Cacique under his tent, and caused them to be chained. The
inhabitants reproached the captain with being a man without faith or
friendship, and launched a shower of arrows on him. Alvarado con-—
ducted these prisoners to Tiguex, where the general retained them more
than six months.”*

This affair seems to have been the beginning of Coronado’s troubles
with the Indians, which were subsequently increased by his exacting
a large quantity of clothing, which he divided among his soldiers.

Two weeks after Coronado left Cibola for Tiguex, agreeably to his
orders, the army under the command of Don Tristan d’Arellano took up
its march from that place for Tiguex. The first day they reached the
handsomest, and largest village. in the province, where they lodged.
“There they found houses of seven stories, which were seen no-
where else. These belonged to private individuals, and served as
fortresses. They rise so far above the others that they have the appear-
ance of towers. There are embrasures and loop-holes from which lances
may be thrown and the place defended. As all these villages have no
streets, all the roofs are flat, and common for all the inhabitants; it is |
therefore necessary to take possession, first of all, of those large houses
which serve as défenses.” +

The army passed near the great roek of Acuco, already described,
where they were well received by the inhabitants of the city perched
on its summit.

Finally it reached Tiguex, where it was well received and lodged.
The good news given by the Turk cast their past fatigues into oblivion,
though the whole province was found in open revolt, and not without
cause, for on the preceding day the Spaniards had burnt a village; and
we have already seen that the imprisonment of Bigotes and the Turk,
and the exactions of clothing by Coronada, had also very greatly exas-
perated them. The result of all this was that the Indians generally re-
volted, as they said, on account of the bad faith of the Spaniards, and
the latter retaliated by burning some of their villages, killing a large
number of the natives, and at last laying siege to and capturing Tiguex.
This siege lasted fifty days, and was terminated at the close of 1540.4

After the siege the general dispatched a captain to Chia, which had
sent in its submission. It was a large and populous village, four leagues
west of the Tiguex River. Six other Spaniards went to Quirix, a prov-
ince composed of seven villages. All these villages were at length
tranquilized by the assiduous efforts of the Spaniards to regain the
confidence which they had justly lost by their repeated breaches of
faith ; but ne assurances that could be given to the twelve villages in the
province of Tiguex would induce them to return to their homes so long
as the Spaniards remained in the country; and no wonder, for no more
barbarous treachery was ever shown to a submissive foe than had been
shown to these Tigueans by these faithless Spaniards.

So soon as the Tiguex River, (Rio Grande,) which had been frozen for
four months, was sufficiently free from ice, the army took up its march
on thé 5th of May, 1541, to Quivira, in search of the gold and silver which

_—

*Castaneda’s Relations, Ternaux Compans, pp. 76, 77, 78.

tCastaneda’s Relations, Ternaux Compans, p. 80.

tCastaneda says 1542, evidently an error, as may be ascertained by accounting for
the time consumed by the army in its march from Chiametla, which it left on the next
day after Easter, 1540. (See ante, p. 12.)

CORONADO’S MARCH, 321

the Turk had said could be found there. Its route was via Cicuyé,
twenty-five leagues distant. The fourth day after leaving Cicuyé and
crossing some mountains it reached a large and very deep river, which
passed pretty near to Cicuyé, and was therefore called the Rio de Cicuyé.
Here it was delayed four days to build a bridge. Ten days after, on
their march, they discovered some tents of tanned buffalo skins, inhabited
by Indians who were like Arabs, and who were called Querechaos ;
continuing their march in a northeastwardly direction they soon came
to a village in which Cabeca de Vaca and Dorantes (mentioned in the
first part of this paper) had passed through on their way from Florida
to Mexico.* The army met with and killed an incredible number of
buffalo.t and after reaching a point 250 leagues (850. miles) from Tiguex,
the provision giving out, Coronado, with thirty horsemen and six foot-
soldiers, continued his march in search of Quivira, while the rest of the
army returned to Tiguex under the command of Don Tristan d’Arellano.
The narrative goes on to say: “The guides conducted the general to
Quivira in forty-eight days, for they had traveled too much in the direc-
tion of Florida. At Quivira they found neither gold nor silver, and
learning from the Turk that he had, at the instance of the people of
Cicuyé, purposely decoyed the army far into the plains to kill the horses,
and thus make the men helpless and fall an easy prey to the natives,
and that all he had said about the great quantity of silver and gold to
be found there was false, they strangled him. The Indians of*this
region, so far from having large quantities of gold and silver; did not
even know these metals. The Cacique wore on his breast a copper plate,
of which he made a great parade, which he would not have done had he
known anything about those precious metals. The army, as stated
above, retreated to Tiguex before reaching Quivira. They took as
,guides some Teyans, through whose country they were passing, and
were led back by a much more direct way than that they pursued in
coming. These Teyans were a nomadic nation, and being constantly in
the pursuit of game knew the country perfectly.” It is narrated they
guided the army thus: Every morning they watched to note where the
sun rose, and directed their way by shooting an arrow in-advance, and
then before reaching this arrow they discharged another; in this way
they marked the whole of their route to the spot where water was to be
found, and where they encamped. ‘The army consumed only twenty-

*It will be recollected that it was on information given by these persons and two
others, Maldonado and the negro Estevan, that this expedition was founded. (Seo
ante p. 310.)

t The following minute and graphic description of the buffalo, seen by Coronado and
his army, is taken from Gomara, as quoted in Hakluyt’s Voyages, vol. iii. ‘‘These oxen
are of the bigness and color of our bulls, but their horns are not so great. They have
a great bunch upon their fore- shoulders, and more hair upon their fore part than on
their hinder part; and it is like wool. They have, as it were, a horse mane upon their
back bone, and much hair, and very long from the kneesdownward. They have great
tufts of hair hanging down their foreheads, and it seemeth they have beards, because
of the great store “of hair hanging down at their chins and throats. The males have
very long tails, and a great “knob or flock at the end, so that in some respects they
resemble the lion, and in some otherthe camel. They push with their horns, they run,
they overtake and kill a horse when they are in their rage and anger. F inally, itis a
fierce beast of countenance and form of body. The horses fled from them, either be-
cause of their deformed shape, or else because they had never seen them. Their mas-
ters have no other riches nor substance; of them they eat, they drink, they apparel,
they shoe themselves; and of their hides they make many things, as houses, shoes,
apparel, and ropes; of their bones they make bodkins ; of their sinews and hair, thread ;
of their horns, maws and bladders, vessels; of their dung, fire; and of their calf skins,
budgets, wherein they draw and keep water. To be short, they make so many things
of them as they have need of, or as may suffice them in the use of this life.”

21 s69

322 CORONADO’S MARCH.

five days on the journey, and even then much time was lost. The first
time it had taken thirty-seven days.” *

“On the road they passed a great number of salt marshes where there
was a considerable quantity of : salt. Pieces longer than tables and four
or five inches thick were seen floating on the surface. On the plains
they found an immense number of small animals resembling squirrels,
and numerous holes burrowed by them in the earth.”t These animals
were most unquestionably the little prairie-dogs whose villages have
been so naively described by Washington Irving and George Wilkins
Kendall. On this march the army reached the river Cicuyé, more than
thirty leagues, below the place where they had before crossed it by a
bridge. They then ascended the river, by following the banks, to the
town of Cicuyé. The guides declared that this river, the Cicuyé, (no
doubt the Pecos,) at a distance of more than twenty days’ journey,
threw itself into that of Tiguex, (the Rio Grande,) and that subsequently
it flowed toward the east. Castafleda goes on to say: “It is believed
that it (the Tiguex) joins the great river of Espiritu Sancto (Mississippi
River) that the party of Hernando de Soto discovered in Florida.Ӣ

The army under Arellano reaching Tiguex, on its return from the
prairies in the month of July, 1541, this officer immediately ordered
Captain Francisco de Barrio-Nuevo to ascend the Rio de Tiguex (Rio
Grande) in another direction with some soldiers on an exploring expe-
ditien. They reached the provinces, one of which, comprising seven
villages, was called Hemes; the other, Yuque-Yunque.

Twe enty leagues (68 miles) further in ascending the river, they came to
a large and powerful village named Braba, to which the Spaniards gave
the new title of Valladolid. “It was built. on the two banks of the river,
which was crossed by bridges built with nicely-squared timber.” § The
country was very high and cold. From Braba the exploring party re-
turned to Tiguex. Another party, it seems, went down the Rio de Tig-
uex (Rio Grande) eighty leagues, where they discovered four large vil-
lages, and ‘reached a place where the river plunged beneath the ground;
but inasmuch as their orders confined them toa distance of eighty leagues,
they did not push on to theplace where, according to the Indians’ accounts,
this stream escapes again from. the earth with considerably augmented
volume.” ||

* Castanieda’s Relations, pp. 133, 154.

+ Castaneda’s Relations, Ternaux Compans, p. 134.

{“ VARIOUS NAMES OF THE MISSISSIPPI RrveER.—I remember to have seen in the
course of my reading the following Indian, Spanish, and French names applied to the
river Mississippi ; and it may be well to record them in your magazine for preserva-
tion, and probably to be augmented in number by other students of American history :

“Indian names. —Mico—king of rivers; Mescha-Sibi-Mescha, great and Sibi River;
Namosi-Sipon—Fish River ; Okimo-chitto—Great Water path—a Chocté name ; Missee-
seepe; Meact-chassipi—old father of rivers, according to Du Pratz; Malbouchia,
according to Iberville.

“ Fyench._—Riviere de St. Louis; ; Riviere de Colbert ; Mississippi.

“ Spanish.—Rio Grande; Rio Grande del Espintu Santo; Rio de la Eulata; Rio de la
Palisada; Rio de Chuchaqua.

“The Vernci Ptolemy of 1513 lays it down, or, at least, marks a river without a narne,
at the site of its embouchure. Orbus Typis, 1515; Piieda’s map, 1519; other Ptolemies,
1525; Cabec¢a de Vaca saw it in 1528. De Soto crossed it in June, 1541, and died in
Louisiana, on the west bank of the Mississippi, opposite the mouth of the Big Black

River, May 21, 1542.
“BRANTZ MAYER.
“ BALTIMORE, October 15, 1857.”
—(See Historical Magazine, vol. 1, p. 342.)
§ Castaneda’s Relations, Ternaux Compans, p. 139.
|| Castaneda’s Relations, Ternaux Compans, p. 140. Mr. Albert Gallatin, commenting
on this passage, says: ‘The assertion that the river was lost under ground was amistake.

CORONADO’S MARCH. 393

We shall now return to Coronado, whom we left at Quivira. It appears
that, in consequence of his not arriving at Tiguex at the expected time,
Don Tristan d’ Arellano set out in search of him with forty horsemen.
At Cicuyé the inhabitants attacked Don Tristan, by which he was de-
layed four days. Hearing of the approach of Coronado, he contented
himself with guarding the passes in the vicinity of the village till the
arrival of the general. Castaneda says that, ‘“ notwithstanding he had
good guides, and was not incumbered with bageage, Coronado was forty
days in making the journey from Quivira.”* From Cicuyé he journeyed
to Tiguex, where he went into winter quarters, with the intention in the
spring of pursuing his discoveries by pushing his whole army toward
Quivira.

“When winter was over Coronada ordered the preparation to be made
for the march to Quivira. Every one then began to make his arrange-
ments. Nevertheless, as often happens in the Indies, things did not
turn out as people intended, but as God pleased. One day of festival
the general went forth on horseback, as was his custom, to run at the
ring with Don Pedro Maldonado. He was mounted on an excellent
horse, but his valets having changed the girth of his saddle and having
taken a rotten one, it broke in mid-course and the rider unfortunately
fell near Don Pedro, whose horse was in full career, and in springing
over his body kicked him in the head, thus inflicting an injury which
kept him a long while in bed and placed him within two fingers of
death.”+ .

The result of this was that being of a superstitious nature and hav-
ing been foretold by a certain mathematician of Salamanca, wlio was
his friend, that he should one day find himself the omnipotent lord of a
distant country, but that hé should have a fall which would cause his
death, he was very anxious to hasten home to die near his wite and
children. From this time, Castaneda states, that Coronado, feigning
himself to be more ill than he was, worked upon his soldiery in so subtle
a way as to induce the greater part of them to petition him to return to
New Spain. They then began openly to declare their belief that it was
‘better to return, inasmuch as no rich country had been found, and it
was not populous enough to distribute it among the army. The general,
finding no one to oppose him, took up his line of march on his return to

This was, undoubtedly, the place in latitude 31° 39’, where the Rio del Norte, cutting
through the mountains, empties into a deep and impassable cation, from which it emerges
some distance below, as has been before stated.” (See Transactions of American Ethno-
logical Society, vol. ii, p. 71.)

Mr. Gallatin, though usually very judicious in his remarks, I think is at fault here.
The cause of the river disappearing at the point referred to, and then appearing again
further down, was not on account of its entering a cafion, which the Spaniards could
have noticed and not been deceived about, but because the Rio Tiguex, (Rio Grande, )
like most of the rivers which I have seen on the plains and in New Mexico, is liable,
when very low, to be lost in its sandy bed, and then to appear again further down, where
the sand is not sufficient to absorb it. It is on this account, as I have seen, when the
heat of the sun added its potent influence to cause a river to disappear through the
day, that during the night, when this influence did not prevail, it would again appear
a running stream.

Humboldt refers to a disappearance of the Rio Grande, which appears to have taken
place about the same locality, and also attributes it to a wrong cause. “ The inhab-
itants of Paso del Norte preserve the memory of a very extraordinary event which
occurred in the year 1752. They saw, all at once, the river become dry, thirty leagues
above, and more than twenty leagues below, El Paso; the water of the river precipi-

tated itself in a newly- formed crev asse, and did not appear again above ground until
you reach the Presidio de San Elezario.” - (Humboldt’s Essai Politique Sur le Royaume
de la Nouvelle Hispagne, edition 1811, p. 303.)
* Castafieda’s Relations, Ternaux Compans, p. 142.
t Castatieda’s Relations, Ternaux Companse, p. 202.

324 CORONADO’S MARCH.

Mexico in the beginning of April, 1542. He returned by the way of
Cibola and Chichilticale, as he had come. At length, after skirmishing
with the Indians, in which a number of their men and horses were killed.
the army reached Culiacan. From this place Coronado departed for the
city of Mexico, to make his report to the viceroy, only about one hun-
dred of his army continuing with him. ‘Castaneda says! he was badly
receiyed by the viceroy, who nevertheless gave him a discharge; yet he
lost 4is reputation and soon after his government of New Galicia also.’”*

Thus ended this great expedition, which for extent in distance tray-
eled, duration in timeyextending from the spring of 1540 to the summer
of 1542, or more than two years, and the multiplicity of its codperating
branch. explorations, equaled, if it did not exceed, any land expedition
that has been undert ‘aken in modern times.

Having given a general account of the routes pursued by Coronado
and his army and of the track of the transport vessels under Alar-
con, I will now proceed to fix definitely, so far as I have been enabled,
the position of the several important places mentioned by Castaneda
and other chroniclers.

The first important point after leaving the city of Mexico is Compos-
tella, where the army rendezvoused preparatory to its setting out on its
expedition. This point reached, the army, in an organized. condition,
took up its line of march along the foot of the west base of the Sierra
Nevada in the direction, west of north, as far as Sonora, on the Sonora
River; from this place its course was most probably more directly
towards Chichilticale, or northerly, through the mountains, as far as
the plains of the lower portion of the Rio Santa Cruz, over which it
continued its march to Chichilticale.

The towns of Compostella, Culiacan, Cinaloa, and Sonora, points of
the routes, are laid down from the “ military map of the United States,”
recently issued from the office of the Chief of Engineers United States
War Department. The other points are laid down from data obtained
as follows: Chiametla, from ‘ American Atlas, by Mr. Thomas Jeffreys,
London, A. D. 1775;” Petatlan, 30 leagues north of Culiacan according
to Castanteda,t and four days’ journey ‘according ¢ to Jaramillo.t

With regard to the position of the town of Corazones, it is difficult, on
account of the vagueness of the narratives of Jaramillo and Coronado, to
fix it. Jaramillo speaks of it as having been situated about five days’
journey northwardly from the Yaquemi River, and conveys the idea
that it was near or on the Rio Sonora.§ Castaiieda says, ‘in the lower
part of the valley of Sonora is that of the Corazones, inhabited by
Spaniards.” || Again, “Don Tristan decided to found and colonize a
town called San Hieronimo de los Corazones ; but seeing that it could not
prosper in this valley, he transferred it to a place called Senora,

* Castaneda’s Relations, Ternaux Compans, p. 227. Gomora says, “It grieved Don
Antonio de Mendoga very much that the army returned home, for he had : spent about
three-score thousand pesos of gold in the enterprise and owed a great part thereof still.
Many sought to have dwelt there, but Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, who was rich
and lately married a fair wife, would not consent, saying that they could not maintain
nor defend themselves in so poor a country and so far from succor. They traveled
about 900 leagues in this country.” (The rest of the voyage to Acuco, Tiguex, Cicuic,
and Quivira, from the General History of the West Indies, by Francis Lopez de Gomora,
as quoted by Hakluyt, vol. iii.)

+ Castaneda’s Relations, Ternaux Compans, p. 223.

t Jaramillo’s Relations, p. 365.

§ Jaramillo’s Relations, Ternaux Compans, p. 366.

|| Castaneda’s Relations, p. 157.

CORONADO’S MARCH. 325

(Sonora,) and it has been so called to this day.”* Again, in another
part of his Relations, describing the places between the Sonora River
and Chichilticale, he informs us that “it was forty leagues from Sonora
to the valley of the Suya, where was founded the city of San Hier-
onimo.”t Now, my idea is, that the town of Corazones on the Sonora
River was Sonora, so called because it was eminently the town of the
province of Corazones, in which it was situated; and that San Hieronime
de los Corazones was situated, according to,Coronado, ten or twelve
leagues from the sea,t and, as above stated, forty leagues from Sonora,
on the Suya River; which would place it about where I have located it,
on a river which is now called the San Ignacio.t

From Sonora the march was, according to Jaramillo, four days to the
Nexpa River. Jaramillo says: “After leaving Sonora we made a journey
of four days in a desert, and arrived afanother stream, which we under-
stood was called Nexpa. We descended the stream two days, and we
quitted it to the right at a foot of a chain of mountains, which we
foilowed two days. They told us that it was called Chichiltieale. After
having left the mountains we came to a deep creek, the banks of which
were escarped. After quitting this stream, which is beyond the Nexpa
of which I have spoken, we took a northeast direction,” &e.||

Now the Nexpa, the stream they descended two days, I believe was
the Santa Cruz, running in a northerly direction, (the proper direction
of their march;) the mountains, at the foot of which they also traveled
two days, were the “ Santa Catarina Mountains ;” and the stream which
they then reached was the Gila, whose deep bed and escarped banks so
‘exactly correspond with the description given by Jaramillo.]

The next important place was Chichilticaie. Here was the Casa
Grande of which so much had been reported, and here the army com-
menced its march northeastwardly across the great desert, on the far
side of which were the seven cities of Cibola. That the Casa Grande
was so situated, with regard to Cibola, there is no dispute; but of its
exact location there is some question.

Castaneda says: ‘At Chichilticale the country ceases to be covered
with thorny trees, and changes its aspect; it is there the gulf terminates,
and the coast turns (C'est la que le golfe se termine et que la céte tourne ; }
the mountains follow the same direction, and they must be crossed to
reach the plains again.”**

* Castaneda’s Relations, p. 44. + Ibid., p. 158.

t The sea (Gulf of California) returneth towards the west, right against the Corazones,
the space of ten or twelve leagues. (Coronado’s Rel., Hakluyt, vol. iii, p. 448.)

§ In this connection it may be pertinent to remark, that San Hieronimo de los Cora-
zones, which seems to have been a sort of depét, was transferred to Sonora; but appears
still to have been kept as a post, for we are told that some of its garrison deserted it,
for, among other reasons, that they looked on it as useless, “for the road to New Spain
passed by a more favorable direction, leaving Suya to the right.” This will account
for two routes being laid down on the accompanying map between Sonora aud the
Nexpa River.

|| Jaramillo’s Relations, Ternaux Compans, pp. 367 and 368.

‘| Mr. E. G. Squier supposes the Nexpa to have been the Rio Gila. His language is:
“ Allowing 30 miles to the day’s march, which is about the average under favorable
circumstances, we have 120 miles as the distance between the point on the Sonora
_ River left by Coronado in his advance and Chichilticale, between longitudes 109° and
110°. This is, according to the best maps, about the distance between the Sonora River
and the Gila, called Nexpa by the chronicler.” (American Review for November, 1848,
Dy Os)

} I cannot agree with Mr. Squier in the foregoing statement, for the reason that the
distance between the Sonora River and the Gila, according to the latest map issued by
the Engineer Department of the Army, is not 120 miles, but as much as 290 miles; and,
therefore, as many as eight or ten days’ journey instead of four.

** Castaneda’s Relations, Ternaux Compans, p. 160.

326 CORONADO’S MARCH.

Now this certainly shows that Castaneda believed Chichilticale was
situated at the head of the Gulf of California. But according to Coro-
nado’s report to the viceroy Mendoga, this assuredly was not the case;
for he says: “I departed for the Corazones, and always kept by the sea-
coast as near as I could judge, and, in very deed, I still found myself
the farther off, in such sort that, when I arrived at Chichilticale, I found
myself ten days’ journey from the sea, and the father provincial (Marcos
de Nica) said that it was only five leagues distant, and he had seen the
same. We all conceived great grief, and were not a little confounded,
when we saw that we found everything contrary to the information
which he had given to your lordship.”*

In another place, Coronado states that the transport ships which had
been ordered to codperate with him had been seen off the country of
the Corazones, on their way to “discover the haven of Chichilticale,
which Marcos de Nica said was in five-and-thirty degrees.”}

The above certainly shows that both De Nica and Castaneda at one
time believed that Chichilticale was at the head of the gulf; and it is
probable that both the transport vessels and army were ordered to
communicate with each other at that point, on the supposition that it
was a good harbor, and would be a capital place for a depot of supplies
before entering the great desert, But Coronado’s report effectually
explodes the idea of its having been found such; and if there were more
proof on this point needed, it would appear in the fact that neither
Alarcon, who commanded the fleet and passed up the Colorado River in
search of the army, nor Melchior Diaz, who explored all around the
head of the gulf, make any mention of having seen the place, which
they most assuredly would have done had they passed anywhere near it.

But where was the exact location of Chichilticale? In my opinion it
was on the Rio Gila at Casa Grande, in latitude 33° 4/ 21” north, and
longitude 111° 45’ west from Greenwich, and the following are my
reasons therefor:

It is distinctly stated by Castaieda that the place was marked by a
Casa Grande, which, though then in ruins on account of having been
destroyed by the natives, had evidently been used as a fortress; that it had
been built of red earth, and was evidently the work of a civilized people
who had come from a distance.t

Now, the first ruin to be seen on the Gila, ascending it from its mouth,
and the only one along its whole course which bears any resemblance
to that mentioned by Castaneda, and of which we have any record, is
that described by Father Font, who, with Father Garces, saw it in 1775,

*Hakluyt’s Voyages, vol. iii, p. 448. tIbid.

{ Castaneda’s Relations, pp. 40, 161, 162. Mr. Morgan, in a foot-note to his paper
before referred to, says: “There is no ruin on the Gila at the present time that answers
the above description,” and seems to have come to this conclusion, because Captain A.
R. Johnston, United States Army, in his journal, (U.S. Ex. Doc. No. 41, 1848, p. 596,)
says, “The house was built of a sort of white earth and pebbles, probably containing
lime.” Emory merely says, ‘* The walls were formed of layers of mud,” (Thirtieth Con-
gress, First Session, Ex. Doc. No. 7, p. 82;) and Bartlett in his Personal Narrative, p.
272, informs us that ‘The walls are laid with large square blocks, and the material is
the mud of the valley mixed with gravel.”

Mr. N. H. Hutton, civil engineer, assistant to Lieutenant Whipple, in his explorations
for the Pacific Railroad in 1853-54, and at present my assistant, assures me that he has
seen the locality and the ruins, and that the Casa had evidently been built of the earth
in the vicinity, which is of a reddish color, though in certain reflections of the same the
building appeared whitish, on account of the pebbles contained inthe mass. Castaneda
in his Relations, p. 41, says: “Cette maison, construite en terre rouge;” and p. 161,
“La terre de ces pays est rouge.” In addition, what more natural than that
Emory and Bartlett, finding the color of the building nothing different from that of the
soil in that region, should fail to say anything about it?

CORONADO’S MARCH. B2T

on their journey to Monterey and the port of San Francisco, and which
same ruin was subsequently visited and described by Emory, of the Corps
of Topographical Engineers, in 1847.

Father Font’s description of it is as follows:

“On the 3d of October, 1775, the commandant ordered us to halt, in
order that we might visit the Casa Grande, known by the name of Monte-
suma, situated one league from the Rio Gila. Wewere accompanied by
some Indians, and by the governor of Uturituc, who related to us on
the way the tradition he had received from his ancestors about this
house, some of the particulars of which are doubtless fabulous and others
again true.

“* The latitude of the locality we found by an observation of the sun to
be 33$°.

“The Casa Grande, or palace of Montesuma, must have been built five
hundred year’s previously, (in the thirteenth century,) if we are to believe
the accounts given by the Indians; for it appears to have been con-
structed by the Mexicans at the epoch of their emigration when the
devil, conducting them through different countries, led them to the
promised land of Mexico. The house is seventy feet from north to south,
and fifty from east to west.* The interior walls are four feet in thick-
ness; they are well constructed; the exterior walls are six feet thick.
The edifice is constructed of earth, in blocks of different thickness, and
has three stories. We found no traces of stairways; we think they
must have been burnt when the Apaches burnt this edifice.” t

Emory’s description, evidently of this same building—for the old maps
place Father Font’s Casa Grande on the Rio Gila, just above the Pima
village, where Emory locates it—is as follows: ‘ About the time of
noon halt, a large pile which seemed the work of human hands was
seen to the left. It was the remains of a three-story mud-house sixty
feet square, pierced for doors and windows. The whole interior of the
house had been burnt out, and the walls much defaced.”

This description, though not precisely the same as that of Father
Font, yet is sufiiciently close, with the identity of the location, as before
stated, to show that they have reference to the same building. Now,
Emory by astronomical observation found the latitude of his camp near
this locality to be 33° 4/ 21” north, and the longitude west from Green-
wich 111° 45’. Father Font, as before stated, determined the latitude
to be 335°: but as Emory had, without doubt, far superior instruments,
his results are preferable.

We have then, as we think, located Chichilticale, the site of Casa

Grande, with a strong probability of accuracy.

* On Squier’s map of Coronado’s route, accompanying the paper on this
subject, in the Transactions of the Ethnological Society, (vol. 2,) by
Albert Gallatin, I perceive that he makes Coronado to cross the Gila at
Casa Grande, but places the latter in about latitude 32°, and longitude
110°; or more’ than a degree too far south, and nearly two degrees too
far to the east. Now, as Juan Jaramillo, who was a captain in Coro-
nado’s expedition, in his report says the general direction of their march
from Chichilticale to Cibola was northeast,§ a line drawn from Chichil-

* A Spanish foot is 0.91319 of an English foot. (United States Ordnance Manual.)

t Journal of Father Font, of the college of Santa Cruz of Queretaro. Appendix VII, |
Casteneda’s Relations, Ternaux Compans’ Collections ; see also Humbolit’s ‘ Essai Poli-
tique Sur la Royaume de la Nouvelle Espagne,” edition of 1811, pp. 36, 297, 292.

t Notes of a military reconnoissance made by Lieutenant Colonel William H. Emory,
Corps of Topographical Engineers, in 1846-47, with the advance guard of the Army of
the West, p. 82.

§ Juan Jaramillo’s Relations, Ternaux Compans’ Collections, pp. 368, 369

328 © CORONADO’S MARCH.

ticale as laid down on Squier’s map would not pass through or near

Zuni, (identical on his map with Cibola,) as it ought to do, but more

than a degree to the eastof it; thusshowing his position of Chichilticale
manifestly erroneous.

Again, onthe map of kh. H. Kern, accompanying “ Schoolerafi’s History
of the Indian Tribes of North America,” he places Chichilticale as much
as a degree of latitude south of the Gila and in longitude 109°, Here

‘again a line in a northeast direction from Chichiltic vale would not pass,
as it should, through or near Zuni, (identical, as Kern thinks, with Ci-
bola,), but more than two degrees to the eastward of it ; which also shows
his position of © hichilticale > very considerably out of the Way.

The next and most important inquiry is the exact locality of the seven
cities of Cibola. Gallatin, Squier, Whipple, Professor Turner, and
Kern, have contended for Zuni and its vie ‘inity. Emory and Abert, on '
the contrary, have conjectured that Cibolletta, Moquino, Pojnati, Cover 0,
Acoma, Laguna, and Poblacon, a group of villages some ninety miles to
the eastward of Zuni, furnish the site of the seven cities; and Mr, Mor-
gan, as I have before remarked, in the North American Review for
April, 1869, has advanced the idea that the ruins on the Chaco, lying
about one hundred miles to the northeast of Zuii, more completely
satisfy all the conditions of the problem which the accounts of Coron-
ado’s journey, by Castaneda and others, have imposed on its solution.
Tomy mind, however, Zuni and vicinity present the strongest claims
to being considered the site of the renowned cities, and the followi ing
are my reasons therefor :

It seems that from Chichilticale to Cibola, the direction of Coronado’s
route, according to Jaramillo, as before remarked, was generally north-

east ; and from Coronado’s report L extract in relation to it as follows.
He is speaking of what occurred after leaving Chichilticale :

“T entered the confines of the desert, on Saint John’s day eve, and to
refresh oursformer travels we found no grass, but worser way of moun-
tains and bad passages where we had passed already ; and the horses
being tired were greatly molested therewith; but after we had passed
these thirty leagues, we found fresh rivers and g grasses like that of Cas-
tile, &c.; and there was flax, but chiefly near the banks of a certain
river, which, therefore, was called Ei Rio del Lino, that is to say, the
River of Flax ; we found no Indians at all for a day’ s travel, but after-

ward four Indians came out unto us in peaceable manner, saying that
they were sent ov er to that desert place to signify unto us that we were
welcome.” *

In addition to the foregoing, Castaiieda says that in about fifteen days
from Chichilticale “ they arrived within eight leagues of Cibola, upon
the banks of a river they called the Vermejo, on account of its red
color ;”+ and Jaramillo remarks that in approaching Cibola “ always in
the same direction, that is to say, toward the northeast, they came to a
river which they called the Verme jo; that here they met one or two In-
dians, who afterwards they recognized as belonging to the first village
of Cibola; and that they reached this village in two days from when
they had first met them.”

Now let any one consult the accompanying map, reduced from the
latest map issued by the Engineer Bureau at Washington, and he will

* Hakluyt’s Voyages, vol. iii, p. 449.
+ Castaieda’s Relations, Ternaux Compans, p. 41.
¢ Jaramillo’s Relations, Ternaux Compans, p. 369.

CORONADO’S MARCH. 329

see that Coronado’s march from Chichilticale, or Casa Grande, must
have been very nearly coincident with the route there laid down, to wit:
in a northeasterly direction for the first thirty leagues, over the rough
Pinal and Mogollon Mountains; and then getting on the tributaries of
the Rio del Lino, or Flax River, where he found “fresh water and grasses,”
he followed up the Vermejo, or Colorado River, to Cibola, or Zuni of the
present day and its vicinity, where he found the other six cities. The
distance by such route, between Chichilticale and Zuni, would be about
270 miles, or require a journey of 17 days, (about 16 miles a day,) the
time it took Coronado to accomplish the distance ;* and this agrees quite
exactly with the distance, 80 leagues, as given by Castaneda in another
place. t

But there are other good reasons for this belief. At Zuni and its
vicinity, within a distance of about 16 miles, and on the banks of the
Vermejo, or Little Colorado River, there are the ruins of as many as six
pueblos, all showing that they were once built of stone; and, with the
present Zuni, doubtless they constituted the “seven cities” which, ac-
cording to Coronado, were all built “within four leagues together,” ¢
and according to Castafieda were “situated in a very narrow valley be-
tween des Montagnes Eecarpées,”§ which may have been intended to
mean escarped mesas, or table lands, just as close in the valley of the
Little Colorado or Rio de Zuni.

In my report to the Chief of Topographical Engineers of my recon-
noissance made in the Navajo country in 1848, I described Zuni as fol-
lows: “The pueblo of Zuni, when first seen about three miles off, appeared
like a low ridge of brownish rocks, not a tree being visible to relieve
the nakedness of its appearance. It is a pueblo or Indian town, situ-
ated on the Rio de Zuni. This river at the town has a bed of about 150
yards wide. The stream, however, at the time we saw it, only showed a
breadth of about 6 feet and a depth of a few inches. It is represented
as running into the Colorado of the West. The town, like Santo Do-
mingo, is built terrace-shaped, each story—of which there are generally
three—as you ascend being smaller laterally, so that one story answers,
in fact, for the platform of the one above it. It, however, is far more
compact than Santo Domingo, its streets being narrow, and in places
presenting the appearance of tunnels or covered ways, on account of
the houses extending at these places over them.” ||

‘Lieutenant A. W. Whipple, Corps Topographical Engineers, visited
the ruins of old Zuni in 185354, and in his report to the War Depart-
ment thus describes the place: “We took a trail and proceeded two
miles south to a deep caiion, where were springs of water. Thence by
a zigzag course we led-our mules up the first bench of ascent. At vari-
ous points of the ascent, where a projecting rock permitted, were barri-
cades of stone walls, from which, the old man (his guide) told us, they
had hurled rocks upon the invading Spaniards. Having ascended,
according to our estimate, 1,000 feet, we found ourselves upon a level
surface covered with thick cedars. The top of the mesa was of an irregu-
lar figure a mile in width, and bounded on all sides by perpendicular
cliffs. Three times we crossed it, searching in vain for the trace of a

* Castaneda’s Relations, pp. 41, 42.

t{Ibid., p. 182.

t Coronado’s Relations, Hakluyt, vol. iii, p. 451.

§ Castafieda’s Relations, Ternaux Compans, p. 164.

| “Journal of a military reconnoissance from Santa Fé, New Mexico, to the Navajo
country, made by Lieutenant J. H. Simpson, Corps of Topographical Engineers, in
1849,” United States Senate Ex. Doc. No. 64, 31st Congress, 1st session, 1850 ; also, Lip-
pincott, Grambo & Co., Philadelphia, 1852, pp. 89 and 90.

330 CORONADO’S MARCH.

ruin. But the guide hurried us on half a mile further, when appeared
the ruins of a city indeed. Crumbling walls from 2 to 12 feet high were
crowded together in confused heaps over several acres of ground. Upon
examining “the pueblo we found that the standing walls rested upon
ruins of ereater antiquity. The primitive masonry, as well as we could
judge, must have been about 6 feet thick. The more-recent was not
more than a foot, but the small sandstone blocks had been laid in mud
mortar with considerable care.” *
Now I take it that old Zuni was one of the seven towns of Cibola,
called by Coronado ‘“ Grénada, because it was somewhat like to it ;”t and
the narrow winding way, ascending which Coronado was knocked down
by stones hurled upon him by the : defenders,t was in all probability the
very zigzag approach mentioned by Whipple, and which he found so |
difficult in his ascent to the ruins.

The other six towns were doubtless Zuni of the present day, and those
whose ruins are to be found still further up the valley, showing they had
been stone structures, and to which I refer in my report before referred
to, as follows: “‘ Within a few yards of us are several heaps of pueblo
ruins. Two of them, on examination, I found to be of elliptical shape
and approximating 1,000 feet in cireuit. The. buildings seem to have
been chiefly built on the periphery of an ellipse, having a large interior
court; but their style and the details of their construction, except that
they were built of stone and mud mortar, are not distinguishable in the
general mass. The areas of each are now so overgrown with bushes and
so much commingled with mother earth as, except on critical examina-
tion, to be scarcely distinguishable from natural mounds. The usual
quantum of pottery lies scattered around. The governor of Zuni, who
is again on a visit to us, informs us that the ruins I have just described,
as also those seen a couple of miles back, are the ruins of pueblos which
his people formerly inhabited.Ӥ

There are other circumstances of relative position of places which
point most indubitably to the same conclusion, as follows: Castaneda
repeatedly states that Cibola was the first inhabited province they met
going north from Chichilticale after they crossed the desert, and the last
they left before entering the desert on their return to Mexico. Again,
the present relations to each other of Zuni and the Moqui Pueblos, and
also of Acoma, perched on a mesa height, in regard to courses and dis-
tances tally sufficiently near with the positions of Tusayan and Acuco,
as given by Castaiieda, namely, the former northwest 25 leagues and the
latter eastwardly five days’ journey from Cibola,|| as to make it exceed-
ingly probable that they refer to the same localities.¢ Again, Castanedo,

* Pacific R. R. Reports, vol. iii, pp. 68, 69.

+ Coronado’s Relation, Hakluyt, vol. iii, p. 451.

t“Cependant il fallait s’emparer de Cibola ce qui n’était pas chose facile, car le
chemin qui y conduissat était étroit et tortneux. Le Général fut renversé d’un coup
de pierre en montant 4 Vassaut,” &c. Castaneda’s Rel., Ternaux Compans, p. 43.

§ Sali s Journal, p. 97.

|| Castaneda’s Relations, Ternaux Compans, pp. 58, 67, 68, 69, 70, 165.

4]Mr. Squier, in his article on the “ Ancient Monuments, &e. Py fal "New Mexico and Cal-
ifornia,” in American Review for November, 1848, gives the position of Tusayan from
Cibola, both northeast and northwest from Cibola, and on his map accompanying Mr.
Albert Gallatin’s Essay, in the Transactions of the American Ethnological Society, vol.
ii, he has placed it in a northeast direction. The proper direction of Tusayan with
regard to Cibola is northwest. (See Castafieda’s Relations, Ternaux Compans, p. 165.)
Besides Cardenas, on his way to the Rio del Tizon, (Colorado,) passed through Tusayan
from Cibola, which makes it all very natural if Tusayan was northwest from Cibola,
but would not be so if it was in a northeast direction, as laid down on Mr. Squier’s
map.

: CORONADO’S MARCH. 33

describing the valley in which the province of Cibola was situated, -
says, ‘‘Cest une vallée trés-etroite entre des montagnes escarpées,”*
which is an exact description of the valley of the Rio de Zuni, confined
between the walls of inclosing mesas. Again, Jaramillo says “ this first
village of Cibola is exposed a little towards the northeast, and to the
northwest in about five days’ journey is a province of seven villages
called Tusayan,f all of which exactly accords with the exposed position
to the northeast of old Zuni and correctly describes the location of the
Moqui villages.

But there is some historical evidence upon this point which I consider
irrefragable, and which certainly makes Zuni and Cibola identical places.

Referring to the relation of a notable journey made by Antonio de
Espejo to New Mexico, in 1583, to be found in Hakluyt’s Voyages, vol.
iii, I read as follows: ‘‘Antonio de Espejo also visited Acoma, situated
upon a high rock which was about 50 paces high, having no other en-
trance but by a ladder or pair of stairs hewn into the same rock, whereat
our people marveled not a little. ;

*“ Twenty-five leagues from hence, toward the west, they came to a
certain province called by the inhabitants themselves Zuni, and by the
Spaniards Cibola, containing a great number of Indians, in which pro-
vince Francisco Vasquez de Coronado had been, and had erected many
crosses and other tokens of Christianity, which remained as yet stand-
ing. Here also they found three Indian Christians who had remained
there ever since the said journey, whose names were Andrew de Culia-
can, Gaspar de Mexico, and Antonio de Guadalajara, who had about
forgotten their language, but could speak the country speech very well;
howbeit after some small conference with our men they easily under-
stood one another.”

Now turning to Castaneda’s Relations, where he gives an account of
Coronado’s leaving the country for Mexico, I find his language as fol-
lows: ‘* When the army arrived at Cibola it rested for a while to pre-
pare itself for entering the desert, for it is the last point inhabited. We
left the country.entirely peaceful; there were some Indians from Mexico
who had accompanied us, who remained there and established them-
selves, (il y ent méme quelques Indiens du Mexique qui nous avaient ac-
compagnés, qui y restérent et s’y établirent.”)t

Thus it would seem that the two accounts. of Espejo and Castaneda
correspond in such a manner as not to leave the slightest doubt that
Zuni of the present day is the Cibola of old. Coronado left three of
his men at Cibola, who were found living there by Espejo and his party
forty years afterwards; they had nearly forgotten their original lan-
guage, but yet, after awhile, managed to converse with some of Espejo’s
men. What more natural, and, indeed, what could have been a more
interesting topic than the adventures of these men; how they got there,
and whether Zuni was veritably the far-famed Cibola that forty years
previously had excited the attention of the governments of New and
Old Spain. Espejo, under the above circumstances, reporting that the
Spaniards called Zuni Cibola, certainly could not have meant anything
else than that he believed it veritably such. I have been thus particu-
lar with regard to this testimony, for the reason that Mr. Morgan, in his
essay already referred to, while he recognizes the historical fact of Zuni
having been called by the Spaniards, according to Espejo’s Relations,
_ Cibola, in 1583, yet advances the idea that after all Espejo probably

* Castafieda’s Relations, Ternaux Compans, p. 164.
t Jaramillo’s Relations, Ternaux Compans, p. 370.
$Castaneda’s Relations, Ternaux Compans, p. 217.

332 CORONADO’S MARCH.

. only meant to express that they conjectured the places to have been
identical.

It seems to me that what I have advanced shows most conclusively
that Cibola and Zuni are identical localities, and nothing could be said
which could make it more certain; but as corroborative I will state that I
have seen in the excellent library of the Peabody Institute of Baltimore
an atlas entitled “‘The American Atlas, or a Geographical Description
of the whole Continent of America, by Mr. Thomas Jeffreys, Geogra-
pher, published in London in 1773.”. On map No. 5 of this atlas, Zuni
and Cibola are laid down as synonymous names, and the locality they
express is precisely that of Zuni of the present day.* Again, on a
“ Carte contenant le Royaume du Mexique et La Floride,” in the “‘ Atlas
Historique par Mr. © * * * avec des dissertations sur VHistoire de
‘chaque etat par Mr. Guendeville,” tome vi, second edition, published
in Amsterdam, 1752, I find Zuni and Cibola laid down as synonymous.

In this connection it may be proper to observe that the claims of Ci-
boletta, Moquino, Poquate, Covero, Acomo, Laguna, Poblacon, as con-
jectured by Emory and Abert to/be regarded as the seven cities of
Cibola, are rendered null by the historical fact mentioned by Castaneda,
and also by Jaramillo, that the latter were situated on the Rio Vermejo,
(Little Colorado,) a tributary of the Southern Ocean;t and also by the
circumstance of the army, on its march from Cibola to Tiguex, finding
Acuco (Acoma) five days’ journey to the eastward of Cibola, a cireum-
stance which could not have taken place if Acuco (Acoma) were one of
the seven towns of Cibola. Besides, Castafeda, in enumerating the
villages dispersed in the country, expressly states that ‘‘ Cibola is the
first province; it contains seven villages; Tusayan, seven; the rock of
Acuco, one, &¢.,t which certainly shows that Cibola and Acuco were
separate and district provinces.

Again, I cannot see that the ruins of the Chaco, which, according to
my explorations and reading are probably, on account of their extent
and character, the most remarkable yet discovered in this country, have
any just claims, as advanced by Mr. Morgan, to be regarded as the seven
cities of Cibola;§ first, for the reason that they are not, as required by
historical fact, situated on the Rio Vermejo, (Little Colorado,) or tribu-
tary of the Rio del Lino or Flax River; second, they are not so situated
with regard to the desert passed over by Coronado, between Chichilticale
and Cibola, as to make the statement of Castaneda pertinent, to wit,

* On this atlas is indorsed, ‘‘ Presented to the Peabody Institute by the Hon. John P.
Kennedy, April 1, 1864. By this map the great dispute between Daniel Webster and
| Lord Ashburton (relating doubtless to the northeastern boundary) was settled, particu-
larly by nap No. 5.”

+‘ All the streams we met, whether rivulet or river, as far as that of Cibola, and I
believe even one or two days’ journey beyond that place, flow in the direction of the
South Sea, (Mer du Sud,) meaning the Pacifie Ocean ;” further on they flow to the
North Sea, (Mer du Nord,) meaning the Gulf of Mexico. Jaramillo’s Relations, Ternaux
Compans, p. 370.

{ Castaneda’s Relations, Ternanx Compans, pp. 181, 182.

§ Mr. Morgan, in his essay before referred to, having already made large extracts
from my report to the Government on these ruins, I deem it unnecessary to say any-
thing further in relation to them than to refer the reader for a more detailed account
to said report. It is interesting, however, in this connection, to present the following
extract from Humboldt’s Essai sur le Royaume de la Nouvelle Espagne, page 305, which
in all probability refers to these very ruins: “The Indian traditions inform us that
some twenty leagues to the north of Moqui, near the embouchure of the river Zejuannes,
a river of the Navajos, was the first resting place (demeure) of the Aztecs after their
sortie from Atzlan.” Again, on his map accompanying his Essay, is the following:
“Premiere demeure des Azteques sortés d’Atzlan en 1160, tradition in certaine,” in lon-
gitude about 112°30”, latitude 37°.

CORONADO’S MARCH. 335

that Cibola was the first village to be met after passing the desert, and
the last on leaving the peopled country to enter the desert; third, the
Moqui villages (undoubtedly Tusayan) do not lie to the northwest from
the ruins on the Chaco, as they should ‘do if these ruins were Cibola, but
to the south of west; and fourth, the route of Coronado’s army eastward
from there to Cicuyé, by the way of Acuco, (Acoma,) would have been
very much and unnecessarily out of the proper direction.

Mr. Morgan mentions the fact stated by Coronado, that it was eight
days’ journey from Cibola to the buffalo range. ‘This, he thinks, could
very well have taken place on the hypothesis of the Chaco ruins having
been Cibola, but not on the supposition of Zuni. But the distance of
Zuni to the buffalo range east of the Rio Pecos is aul about 230 miles,
which certainly could ‘have been reached in eight days, allowing the
journey he does of 30 miles per day.

But to proceed with the principal points of Coronado’s route eastward
from Cibola. I believe that all authorities who have written on the
subject concur in the view that the Pueblo of Acoma, or Hak-koo-kee-
ah, as it is now called in the Zuni language, is the Acuco of Colorado. *

The singular coincidence of the names, as well as the striking resein-
blance of the two places as described by Castaneda and Abert, which
cannot be predicated of any other place in New Mexico, together with
the proper relation of Acbma to Zuni (Cibola) and Tiguex in distance
_ and direction, all show that they are identical. t

The next province Coronado entered was that of Tiguex. Mr. Gallatin
has located it on the Rio Puerco. His language relating to it is as fol-
lows: ‘‘Having compared those several accounts (of Castafieda and
Jaramillo) with Lieutenant Abert’s map and with that of Mr. Gregg, it

* Lieutenant Colonel J. H. Eaton, United States Army, writing on this subject, re-
marks: “In a conversation with a very intelligent Zuni Indian I learned that the
Pueblo of Acoma is called in the Zuni tongue Hak-koo-kee-ah, (Acuco,) and this name
was given to me without any previous question which would serve to give him an idea
of this old Spanish name. Does not this, therefore, seem to give color to the hypothesis
that Coronado’s army passed by or near to the present Pueblo of Zuni, and that it was
their Cibola, or one of the seven cities of Cibola.” (Schooleraft’s History of the Indian
Tribes of the United States, part iv, p. 220.)

t The following graphic description of Acoma is from Abert: ‘“ After a journey of 15
miles we arrived at Acoma. High on a lofty rock of sandstone, such as I have de-
scribed, sits the city of Acoma. On the northern side of the rock the rude boreal blasts
have heaped up the sand so as to form a practical ascent for some distance; the rest of
the way is through solid rock. At one place a singular opening or narrow way is
formed between a huge, square tower of rock and the perpendicular face of the cliff.
Then the road winds round like a spiral stairway; and the Indians have, in some way,
fixed logs of wood in the rock, radiating from a vertical axis, like steps. These afford
foothold to man and beast in clambering up.

“We were constantly meeting and passing Indians, who had their ‘ burros’ laden
with peaches. At last we reached the top of the rock, which was nearly level, and con-
tains about sixty acres. Here we saw a large church, and several continuous blocks of
buildings, containing sixty or seventy houses in each block. (The wall at the side that
faced outward was ‘unbroken, and had no windows until near the top. The houses
were three stories high.) In front, each story retreated back as it ascended, so as to
leave a platform along the whole front of the. story. Sees platforms are guarded by
parapet walls about three feet high. In order to gain admittance you ascend to the
second story by means of ladders. The next story is gained by the same means; but
to reach the ‘azotia, or roof, the partition walls on the platform that separates the
quarters of different families have been formed into steps. This makes quite a narrow
staircase, as the walls are not more than one foot in width.” (Report of Lieutenant J.
W. Abert, Corps Topographical Engineers, of his examination of New Mexico in the
years 1846~47, Ex. Doc. 41, 30th Congress, Ist session, pp. 470, 471.)

/

aoe CORONADO’S MARCH.

appears to me probable that the Tiguex country lay, not on the main
Rio Norte, but on its tributary, the Rio Puerco and its branches, and
that the river which the Spaniards called Cicuyé, and on which they
were obliged to build a bridge, was the main Rio del Norte.”*

Mr. W. H. Davis, author of ‘El Gringo; or New Mexico and Oe
People,” published in 1853, takes the same view.

Mr. Squier believes the Rio de Tiguex to have been the Rio Grande,
and the Rio de Cicuyé the Pecos, but locates Tiguex on the Rio Grande,
above the mouth of the Puerco. Messrs. Kern and Morgan take the same
view.

According to my investigations I believe the Rio Tiguex to have been
the Rio Grande, and the Rio de Cicuyé the Rio Pecos; but while I am
willing to admit there are some grounds for the hypothesis that Tiguex
was located on the Rio Grande above the mouth of the Puerco, yet I
think there are still stronger grounds for the belief that it was situated
on the Rio Grande below that river.

Castaneda says, ‘‘ Three days’ journey from Acuco (Acoma) Alvarado
and his army arrived in a province which was called Tiguex.”t

Again, ‘The province of Tignex contains twelve villages, situated on
the banks of a great river in a valley about two leagues broad. It is
bounded on the west by some mountains, which are very high and cov-
ered with snow. Four villages are built at the foot of these mountains
and three others upon the heights.”{

Now, as Coronado and his army marched eastward § from Acuco,
‘Acoma,) and they accomplished the distance in a three days’ journey
and then came toa large river, on the banks of which was situated the
province of Tignex, it is clear that as the Rio Grande is the first large
river to be met eastward from Acuco (Acoma) at a distance varying
from sixty to eighty miles, depending on the route taken, this was the
great river referred to, or the Rio de Tiguex.

The idea of Mr. Gallatin and Mr. Davis that the Puerco was this river

is, I think, entirely untenable, for*the reason that this river in its best
stage is only about one hundred and twenty miles long, and frequently,
as I myself have observed, so dry that its existence ‘could only be in-
ferred from its dry bed and the occasional pools of water to be met
along its track. It certainly, then, could not with any propriety be
called a great river, as the Rio de Tiguex was represented to be.

Tn addition, we jearn that the euides who conducted the army back
to Cicuyé, on its return from its search after Quivira, declared that the
Rio de Cicuyé threw itself into the Rio de Tiguex more than twenty
days’ journey (or over four hundred miles) below where they struck it ;”||
which would have been an absurdity if the Tiguex were the trifling Rio
Puerco, and the Cicuyé the Rio Grande, as Mr. Gallatin supposed; but
which is all very plain on the hypothesis that the 'Tiguex was the Ttio
Grande, and the Cicuyé the Pecos.

But where was the exact location of the province of Tiguex?

It was certainly below Hemez and Quirix, (San Felipe,{]) for the chron-

* Transactions American Ethnological Society, vol. 2, p. 73.

t Castaneda’s Relations, Ternaux Compans, p. 71.

t Castaneda’s Relations, Ternaux Compans, pp. 167, 168.

§ Ibid, p. 67.

|| Castaneda’s Relations, Ternaux Compans, p. 135.

7 On the old maps, as also on Humboldt’s, illustrating his “ Nouvelle Hispagne,” I
notice the pueblo of San Felipe is laid down as “§. Felipe de Cuerez,” which I am in-
formed is its name at this day. Indeed, Gregg, speaking of certain pueblos in New
Mexico, says, “ those of Cochiti, Santo Domingo, | San Felipe, and perhaps Sandia, speak
the same tongue, though they seem formerly to have been distinguished as Queres ”
(Commerce of the Prairies, 2d edition, vol. i, p. 269.)

CORONADO’S MARCH. 335
icler states that farther to the north (from Tiguex) is the province of
Quirix, which contains seven villages; seven leagues to the northwest
(which may mean from Quirix or Tiguex) that of Hemez, which con-
tains the same number, &c.;* the text says, “‘nord-est,” but this is
evidently a mistake, as the oldest maps extant place Hemez where it is
now situated, on the Rio de Hemez, to the west of the Rio Grande.

The foregoing would seem to show conclusively that Tiguex was sit-
uated below Quirix, and possibly, under one of the constructions given
above, only seven leagues or twenty-four miles below Hemez, whicn
would place it on the Rio Grande just about the mouth of the Rio de
Hemez, or about 80 miles above the mouth of the Puerco, where the
authorities above given have placed it. But yet the extract before
given from Castaneda expressly states also that the “ Province of Tig-
uex was situated upon the banks of a great river (Rio de Tiguex) in a
valley about two leagues broad, and bounded on its west by some very
high, snowy mountains,” &c. Now, the only locality which will answer
this description is that part of the valley of the Rio Grande bounded on
its west by the Socorro Mountains, situated just below the mouth of the’
Puerco. These are the first mountains to be met in descending the river
from Santo Domingo, or from even above that pueblo, (ail the intervening
heights being merely table-lands and therefore not so elevated as to be
termed snowy,) and they fix the locality, in my judgment, as I have.
before stated, below the mouth of the Puerco.

I have, therefore, on my map located the province of Tiguex on the
Rio Grande below the Rio Puerco, at the foot of the Socorro Mountains.
which bounds it on its west; and itis somewhat confirmatory of this
position that on the map No. 5 of ‘Thomas Jeffreys’ Atlas,” before re
ferred to as excellent authority, I find Tigua, no doubt intended for the
same place, or province, located in the valley of the Rio Grande, just
where I have located Tiguex, namely, at the foot of the Socorro Moun-
tains.

The next important place in the route of Coronado from Tiguex was
Cicuyé. Castantedo says: “After a journey of five days from Tiguex,
Alvarado (with his detachment of twenty men) arrived at Cicuyé, a
very well fortified village, the houses of which are four stories high.”t
Again, ‘The armyquitted Tiguex on the 5th of May (1531) and took the
route to Cicuyé, which is twenty-five leagues distant.”t Jaramillo states
the direction to have been “ northeast.”§ In another place Castaneda
remarks that ‘ Cicuyé is built in a narrow valley, in the midst of moun-
tains covered with pines. It is traversed by a small stream, in which we
caught some excellent trout.”||

Now, all this points, as I believe, to the ruins of Pecos, on the Rio
Pecos, as the site of Cicuyé, and in this I agree with Mr. Squier and
Mr. Kern. These ruins are in a northeast direction from the supposed
position of Tiguex, and about five days’ journey distant. They are
also situated in a narrow valley in the midst of mountains covered
with pines, and the site is traversed by a small silvery stream, in which
may be caught some excellent trout. I certainly know no other place
that in so many respects suits the conditions of the problem; but the

—_——-

* Castafieda’s Relations, Ternanx Compans.

t Castanieda’s Relations, Ternaux Compans, p. 71.
t Castaneda’s Relations, Ternaux Compans, p. 113.
§ Jaramillo’s Relations, Ternaux Compans, p. 371.
|| Castatieda’s Relations, Ternaux Compans, p. 179.

336 CORONADO’S MARCH. .

following remark by Castafeda has perplexed investigators not a little.
He remarks, that ‘‘ when the army quitted Cicuyé to go to Quivira we
entered the mountains, which it was necessary to cross to reach the
plains, and on the fourth day we arrived at a great river, very deep,
which passes also near Cicuyé. Jt is for this reason we call it the Rio
de Cicuyé. Here we were obliged to build a bridge, which employed us
four days.”*

The difficulty has been to reconcile the statement that Cicuyé (Pecos)
was on or near the Rio Cicuyé, and yet that after four days’ travel, after

‘traversing some mountains in a northeasterly direction, the army should
again cross it by a bridge.

Now all this, I think, can be reconciled by reference to the accom-
panying map, on which ‘will be found laid down a route, the only ee I
believe, existing at the present day between Pecos and Las Végas, on
the Rio Gallinas, a tributary of the Rio Pecos, where the plains com-
mence.t The general direction of the road is northeast. It traverses
some very rough mountains, and the distance between the two laces is
about fifty miles, which might have necessitated, considering the rough-
ness of the route, a journey of four days, as the conditions require. Be-
sides, the Gallinas is liable to be flooded from the melting snows of the
neighboring sierras in the month of May and fore-part of June; this
naturally would make necessary at such times a bridge to cross it.
Emory, speaking about Las Végas and its vicinity, says: *“* As we emerged
from the hills into the valley of the Végas, our eyes were greeted for
the first time with waving corn. The stream (the Gallinas) was flooded,
and the little drains by which the fields were irrigated full to the brim.”z

My idea is, then, that this stream being a tributary of the Pecos and
larger than the latter at Cicuyé, (Pecos,) it was, in all probability,
called for those reasons the Rio de Cicuyé, though the place by this
hame was situated distant from it on another branch of the same river,
where the ruins of the Pecos village are now to be seen.

I will also state, as strongly confirmatory of this location of Cicuyé,
that on map No.5 of the “American Atlas, by Thomas Jefireys, pub-
lished in 1775,” twice before referred to, I find laid down, in about the
present locality of Pecos, a place named ‘ Sayaqué,” which might well
answer for Cicuyé.

But where was Quivira? “the last” (place,) as Castafleda remarks,
‘which was visited by Coronado.” Mr. Squier, on his map, before re-
ferred to, has the route pursued by Coronado laid down as extending
indefinitely in a northeastwardly direction, from Cicuyé (Pecos;) but
still, in his essay before referred to, says ‘‘ there is no doubt that Vas-
quez Coronado penetrated, in 1541, to the region of Gran Quivira, vis-
ited and described by Gregg eS that is the Quivira which on modern
maps is laid down in latitude about 34° north, and longitude 106° west
from Greenwich, or about 100 miles directly south from Santa Fé. Lieu-
tenant Abert and My. Kern have expre essed the same thing; the latter
locating Coronado’s routé, not in a northeast direction from Cicuyé and
extending about six hundred miles, as required by the stasements of Cas-
taneda, Coronado, and Jaramillo; but in a direction almost directly the
reverse—at first eastw ardly and ‘then westwardly, so as: to make him
reach a place called Quivira in modern times, but located only about

* Castaneda’s Relations, Ternaux Compans, pp. 115, 116.

+ This is the only route which for years has been taken by travelers and others from
Fort Leavenworth to Santa Fé

t Emory’s Report, Ex. Doe. No. 7, 30th eee ai Ist session, p. 26.

§ American Review for November, 1848, p. 6

CORONADO’S MARCH. 337

one hundred miles from Cicuyé (Pecos,) and that almost in a due south
direction.

Mr. Gallatin says, ‘‘Coronado appears to have proceeded as far north
as near’ the 40° of latitude,” * in search of Quivira.

Again, quoting from him, ‘“ Quivira, (referring to that about one hun-
dred miles south from Santa Fé, in latitude 34° and longitude 106°,) about
fourteen miles east of Abo, was not visited by Lieutenant Abert; but
its position was correctly ascertained. It is quite probable that the
place now known by that name was the true Quivira of the Indians at
the time of Coronado’s expedition. But whether deceived by a treach-
erous Indian guide, as they assert, or having not understood what the
Indians meant, which is quite probable, the Spaniards gave the name
of Quivira to an imaginary country situated north and represented as
abounding in gold.” t

Now, it is something singular that, so far as I have been able to inves-
tigate, there is no such place as Quivira laid down on the old maps in
the locality where modern maps show it—namely, in latitude 34°, lon-
gitude 106°; but there is a place of that name laid down on these maps
in about latitude 40°, as high as Coronado located it. I am therefore
inclined to believe that at the time of Coronado’s expedition the former
Quivira did not exist. At all events, it is scarcely credible that such a
remarkable city as Quivira was represented to be, so fall of gold, &c.,
situated as it was, only about fifty miles from Tiguex, the headquarters of
Coronado’s army, and which might have been reached in two days, could
have been kept from the knowledge and observation of the army for
about a year and a half, during all the time that a portion of it was sta-
tioned at that place.

Again, Gregg, (an excellent authority,) speaking of the ruins of Qui-
vira, remarks: ‘* By some persons these ruins have been supposed to be
the remains of an ancient pueblo, or aboriginal city. That is not proba-
ble, however, for though the relics of aboriginal temples might possibly
be mistaken for those of Catholic churches, yet it is not to be presumed
that the Spanish coat of arms would be found sculptured and painted
on their facades, as is the case in more than one instance.” t

No; Iam of opinion that Coronado and his army marched just as Cas-
taneda, Jaramillo, and Coronado have reported; that is, generally in a
northeast direction, over extensive plains, through countless herds of
buffaloes and prairie-dog villages, and at length, after getting in a man-
ner lost, and finding, as the chronicler says, they had gone “ too far
toward Florida,Ӥ that is, tothe eastward, and had traveled from Tiguex
for thirty-seven days, or a distance of between 700 and 800 miles, their
provisions failing them, the main body turned back to Tiguex; and
Coronado, with thirty-six picked men, continued his explorations north-
wardly to the 40° of latitude, where he reached a province which the
Indians called Quivira, in which he expected to find a city containing
remarkable houses and stores of gold, but which turned out to be only
the abode of very wild Indians, who lived in miserable wigwams, and
knew nothing about gold.

* Transactions American Ethnological Society, vol. ii, p. 64. ~

t Ibid., p. 95.

t Gregg’s Commerce of the Prairies, 2d ed., p. 165.

§ On some of the old maps Florida embraces all the country west of the Rio Grande
and south of Canada. See “ Atlas Historique, par Mr. C * * * ; Avec des dissertations
sur Histoire de Chaque état, par Mr. Gnendeville,” before alluded to, published in
1732. Again, Hakluyt remarks: ‘The name of Florida was at one time applied to all
that tract of territory which extends from Canada to the Rio del Norte.” (See his
introduction to “ The Discovery and Conquest of Peru by Don Fernando de Soto,” p. 10.)

22 s 69

338 CORONADO’S MARCH.

Coronado’s description of the region is as follows: “The province 0:
Quivira is 950 leagues (3,230 miles) from Mexico. The place I have
reached is the 40° of latitude. The earth is the best possible for all
kinds of productions of Spain, for while it is very strong and black, it
is very well watered by brooks, springs, and rivers. I found prunes
like those of Spain, some of which were black, also some excellent grapes
and mulberries.” *

Jaramillo, who accompanied Coronado to Quivira, speaking of this
region, says: “* This country (Quivira) has a superb appearance, and
such that I have not seen better in all of Spain, neither in Italy nor
France, nor in any other country where I have been in the service of
your Majesty. It is not a country of mountains; there are only some
hills, some plains, and some streams of very fine water, (des ruis-seaux
de fort belle eau.) It satisfied me completely. I presume that itis very
fertile and favorable for the cultivation of all kinds of fruits.”t

In another portion of his Relations he mentions having crossed a
large river, to which they gave the name of “ Saint Peter and Saint
Paul,” which very probably was the Arkansas, and after traveling sey-
eral days farther north, they came to the province of Quivira, where
they learned that there was a still larger river farther on, to which they
gave the name of * Teucarea,” and which I believe to have been the
Missouri.¢

Again, Castaneda says: “It is in this country (that of Quivira) that
the Espiritu Sancto, (Mississippi, ) which Don Fernando de Soto discoy-
ered in Florida, takes its source. * * * * The course of this river
is so long, and it receives so many affluents, that it is of prodigious
length to where it debouches into the sea, and its fresh waters extend
far out after you have lost sight of the land.’’§

All the authors who have written on this subject seem to have
discredited Coronado’s report that he explored northwardly as far as
the 40° of north latitude; but not only do the reports of Castaneda and
Jaramillo bear him out in his statement, but the peculiar description of
the country as given by them all—namely, that it was exceedingly rich ;
its soil black; that it bore, spontaneously, grapes and prunes, (wild
plums;) was watered by many streams of pure water, &c.; and the cir-
cumstance of this kind of country not being found anywhere in the
probable direction of Coronado’s route, except across the Arkansas
and on the headwaters of the Arkansas River; all this, together with
the allusion to a large river, the “ Saint Peter and Saint Paul, ” (proba-
bly the Arkansas,) which they crossed before reaching Quivi ira, in lati-

* Following the orders of your Majesty (Don Antonio de Mendoga, ) I have observed the
best possible treatment toward the natives of this province, and of all others that I
have traversed. They have nothing to complain of me or my people. I sojourned
twenty-five days in the province of Quivira, as much to thoroughly explore the country
as to see if I could not find some further occasion to serve your Majesty, for the guides
whom I brought with me have spoken of provinces situated still farther on. That
which I have been able to learn is, that in all this country one can find neither gold
nor any other metal. They spoke to me of small villages, whose inhabitants for the
most part do not cultivate the soil. They have huts of hides and of willows, and
change their places of abode with the vaches (buffaloes.) The tale they told me ‘then
(that Quivira was a city of extraordinary buildings and full of gold) was false. In
inducing me to part with all my army to come to this country, the Indians thought
that the country being desert and without water, they would conduct us into places
where our horses and ourselves would die of hunger; that is what the guides have
confessed. They told that they had acted by the advice of the natives of these coun-
tries. (Coronado’s Relations, Ternaux Compans, pp. 360, 361.) —

t Jaramillo’s Relations, Ternaux Compans, p. 378.

{ Jaramillo’s Relations, Ternaux Compans, pp. 375, 377.

§ Castaiieda’s Relations, Ternaux Compans, p. 195.

CORONADO’S MARCH. 339

tude 40° north; and to a still larger river further on (probably the Mis-
souri)—makes it exceedingly probable that he reached the fortieth degree
of latitude, or what is now the boundary between the States of Kansas
and Nebraska, well on towards the Missouri River; and in this region I
have terminated his explorations north on the accompanying map.*

In regard to the return route of the army of Coronado, which he
dispatched to Tignex before he reached Quivira, it is expressly men-
tioned that they passed by some salt ponds, and, as I believe they are
only to be found in that region of country between the Canadian and
Arkansas Rivers, on the Little Arkansas River, a tributary of the latter,
in about latitude 37°, and longitude 99°, I have located this’ route as
passing by these ponds, with some probability of its being correct.t

Another point of the return route of the army was where it struck
the Rio Cicuyé, about thirty leagues below the bridge, where it had
crossed it on their outward march.t

Besides the provinces I have endeavored to locate there were a num-
ber, as I have already stated, visited by Coronado, or his officers, which
were situated on the Rio Tiguex, (Rio Grande,) or some of its tribu-
taries, as follows: Quirix, containing seven villages; in the Snow Mount-
ains, seven; Ximena, three; Chea, one; Hemes, seven; Aguas Calien-
tes, three; Yuque-yunque of the mountain, six; Valladolid or Braba,
one; Tutahaco, eight.

Quirix was unquestionably San Phelipe de Queres of the present day;
Chea, Silla; Hemes, Hemez ; Aguas Calientes, the ruins which I have
seen at Ojos Calientes, twelve miles above Hemez, on the Rio de Hemez;
and Braba, Taos. The situation of all the places named accord so well
with that given by Castaneda as to leave but little doubt that they are
-entical.

In addition, in relation to Braba, Castaneda states that it was the last
town on the Rio Tiguex, north, and was “built on the two banks of a
stream which was crossed by bridges built of nicely-squared pine tim-
ber.” Gregg, speaking of Taos, which is the last pueblo on the Rio
Grande north of Santa Fé, says: “There still exists a pueblo of Taos,
composed for the most part of but two edifices of very singular con-
struction, on each side of a creek, and formerly communicating by a
bridge. The base story, near 400 feet long and 150 wide, is divided into
numerous apartments, upon which other tiers of rooms are built, one
above another, forming a pyramidal pile of fifty or sixty feet high, and
comprising some six or eight stories.”"§ The identity, therefore, of the
two places I think certain.

All the vilages along the Rio de Tiguex, (Rio Grande,) explored by
Castaneda, were included in a district thirty leagues (102 miles) broad
and one hundred and thirty (442 miles) long.

Castafieda, speaking of the origin of the people who inhabited these
regions, says: “ This circumstance, the customs and form of government

* This hypothesis is also strengthened by the fact that the Turk who guided Coro-
nado stated that he was “a native of the country on the side of Florida,” that is,
toward the east from the Rio Tiguex, (Rio Grande,) in the valley of which he was at
that time; that in his country was “a river two leagues broad,” &c.; and that when
he reached Quivira he told the Spaniards “that his country was still beyond that.”
(See Castaneda’s Relations, Ternaux Compans, pp. 72, 77, 131.)

t See ante, p. 40.

{ Between the outward and return route the Canadian River is deeply canoned for
fifty miles, which doubtless necessitated the army on its return either to cross it where
it did when going to Quivira, or at least fifty miles below that point; and doing the
latter, it naturally struck the Pecos proportionally lower down from the bridge.

§ Gregg’s Commerce of the Prairies, 2d ed., vol, ii, p. 277.

340 CORONADO’S MARCH. /

of these nations, which are so entirely different from those of all the
other nations we have found up to the present time, prove that they
came from the region of the Great India, whose coasts touch those of
this country on the west. They may have approached by following the
course of the river after crossing the mountains, and may have there
fixed themselves in the locations that seemed most advantageous to
them. As they multiplied they built other villages along the banks,
until the stream failed them by plunging into the earth. When it
reappears it flows toward Florida. It is said that there are other villages
on the banks of this river, but we did not visit them, preferring, accord-
ing to the Turk’s advice, to cross the mountains to its source. I believe
that great riches would be found in the country whence these Indians
came. According io the route they followed they must have come from
the extremity of the Eastern India, and from a very unknown region,
which, according to the conformation of the coast, would be situated far
in the interior of the land betwixt China and Norway. There must, in
fact, be an immense distance from one sea to the other, according to the
form of the coast as it has been discovered by Captain Villalobos, who
took that direction in seeking for China. The same occurs when we
follow the coast of Florida; it always approaches Norway up to the
point where the country ‘des baccalaos,’ or codfish, is obtained.”*

The foregoing reflections seem crude to us who are better informed
with regard to the geograpby of the earth’s surface; but when we con-
sider that in the days of Castafieda the whole of that portion of the
continent lying east of the Rio Grande was called Florida, and but lit-
tle, if anything, was known of the exact relations of the northern part
of our continent with the other portions of the world, they do not appear
irrelevant.

Tn conclusion, I think it proper to observe that the “ Relations” of
Coronado, Castaneda, Jaramillo, and Alarcon, though somewhat vague in
style, and therefore requiring a great deal of study to comprehend their
meaning with certainty, are nevertheless written in a straight-forward,
natural manner, and are manifestly entitled to credence whenever they
describe what came under their observation. When, however, they
describe the tales of others their narratives partake the character of
the marvelous; but, even then, if we carry along with us the idea that
they do not mean to deceive, but only to give expression to what might
possibly be trne—but which they do not assert to be so—their narratives
must be regarded not only as truthful, but as meritorious, and emi-
nently deserving of careful study and reflection.

* Castaneda’s Relations, Ternaux Compans, pp. 183, 184.

THE SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS CONDITION

OF

THE LOWER RACES OF MAN,

AN

ADDRESS TO THE WORKINGMEN OF LIVERPOOL.

By Sim Jonn Lusegock, Lart., M.P., FR.S.

GENTLEMEN: The subject on which I have been requested to address
you this evening is one of much interest, but also of such vast extent,
that I shall make no apology for entering at once upon it, without any
introductory remarks. I will only observe that I do not propose to de-
scribe the arms or implements, houses or boats, food or dress of savagés,
all no doubt very interesting, but which time will not permit me to dis-
cuss; my object will rather be, if possible, to illustrate the mental con-
dition and ideas of the lower races of men, a subject necessarily of great
interest to the philosopher, but also of immense practical importance to
an empire like ours, which extends to every quarter of the globe, and
contains races of men in every stage of civilization.

Even those who consider that man was civilized from the beginning,
and look upon savages as the degenerate descendants of much superior
parents, must still admit that our ancestors were once mere savages,
and may find therefore much interest in this study; but it no doubt ap-
pears far more important to those who think, as I do, that the primitive
condition of man was one of barbarism, and that the history of the human
race has, on the whole, been one of progress.

I do not of course suppose that every people must necessarily advance;
but those who do not, will assuredly be replaced, sooner or later, by
more worthy races. Nor does progress take place alike, or pari passu,
inallnations. The Greeks, though very advanced in arts, were extremely
backward in other respects. Even the most civilized races show traces,
and often more than traces, of their former barbarism.

Nor do I mean that our modern savages in all respects reproduce the

.condition of our ancestors in early times; on the contrary, even the
Australians have now codes of laws and rules which have grown up
gradually, and cannot have existed originally. I feel satisfied, however,
that from the study of modern savages we can gain a correct idea of
man as he existed in ancient times, and of the stages through which our
civilization has been evolved.

As regards their habits indeed, and the material conditions of life,
savages differ greatly. The Esquimaux, in the land of ice and seals,
the hunters of the American forests and prairies, the beautiful island-
ers of the still more beautiful islands in the Pacific, the Tartars of the
Siberian steppes, the Negroes of tropical Africa, necessarily differ
greatly in their diet, their clothes, their houses, &c.; but, on the other
hand, as regards ideas and customs, the case is different, and we find

*

342 SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS CONDITION OF

very remarkable similarities even in the most distinct races and the
most distant regions of the globe.

I propose, therefore, on the present occasion, more especially to call
your attention to the social or family relations, and the religious ideas
of the lower races. —_: i

Our ideas of relationship, founded as they are on marriage, seem so
‘ natural and obvious, that we are at first inclined to regard them as
having been original and common to them; this, however, as I shall
attempt to show you, would be a mistake. Indeed, the position ot
woman is, among the lower savages, melancholy in the extreme, and
precludes all those tender and sacred feelings to which so much of our
best and purest happiness is due.

Again, the religion (if so it can be called) of savages differs greatly ;
nay, in some respects, is the very opposite of ours.

The whole mental condition of the savage, indeed, is so dissimilar
from ours that it is often very difficult for us to follow what is passing
in his mind, or to understand the motives by which he is actuated.
Many things appear natural, and almost self-evident to him, which pro-
duce a very different effect upon us. ‘‘ What,” said a Negro once to Bur-
ton, ‘‘am I to starve while my sister has children whom she can sell?”
Thus, though savages always have a reason, such as it is, for what they
do and what they think, these reasons often seem to us irrelevant or
absurd. Moreover, the difficulty of understanding what is passing in
their minds is, of course, much enhanced by the differences of language.

These have produced many laughable mistakes. Thus, when Labil-
lardiére inquired of the Friendly Islanders (whose language we now
perfectly understand) what was their word for 1,000,000, they seem to
have thought the question absurd, and gave him a word which has no
meaning; when he asked for 10,000,000, they said ‘ looole,” which I will
leave unexplained; for 100,000,000, ‘ laownoua,” which means ‘non-
sense;” while, for still higher numbers, they gave him, in joke, certain
coarse expressions, which he has gravely recorded in his table of nu-
merals.

A mistake made by Dampier led to more serious results. He had
met some Australians, and apprehending an attack, he says, “I dis-
charged my gun to save them, but avoided shooting any of them, till,
finding that we were in great danger from them, and that though the’
gun a little frightened them at first, yet they had soon learned to despise
it, tossing up their hands, and crying pooh, pooh, pooh; and coming on
afresh with a great noise, I thought it high time to charge again and
shoot one of them, which I did.”

Thus, this wretched savage lost his life because Dampier did not
remember that pooh, pooh, or puff, puff, is the name which savages, like
children, apply to guns. ;

Again, the modes of salutation among savages are sometimes very
curious, and their modes of showing their feelings quite unlike ours.

Kissing seems to us so natural an expression of affection, that we.
should expect to find it atl over the world. Yet it was unknown to the
Australians, the New Zealanders, the Paponans, the West African
Negroes, and the Esquimaux.

The Polynesians and the Malays always sit down when speaking to a
superior. In some parts of Central Africa it is considered respectful to
turn the back to a superior.

Captain Cook asserts that the inhabitants of Mallicolo, an island in
the Pacific Ocean, show their admiration by hissing ; the Todas of the
Neilgherry Hills, in India, are said to show respect by raising the open

e

LOWER RACES OF MAN. 343

right hand to the brow, resting the thumb on the nose; it is asserted
that among the Esquimaux it is customary to pull a person’s nose as a
compliment; a Chinaman puts on his hat where he should take it off,
and among the same curious people a coffin is regarded as a neat and
appropriate present for an aged person, especially if in bad health.

Under these circumstances we cannot wonder that we have very con-
tradictory accounts of the character and mental condition of savages.
Nevertheless, by comparing together the accounts of different travelers,
we can, to a great extent, eliminate these sources of error, and we are
much aided in this by the remarkable similarity between very different
races. So striking, indeed, is this likeness, that different races, in sim-
ilar stages of development, often present more features of resemblance
to one another than the same race does to itself in different stages of its
history.

Some ideas, indeed, which seem to us at first inexplicable and fantas-
tic, are yet very widely distributed. I will only allude to two.

Probably every Englishman who had not studied other races, would
be astonished to meet with a nation in which, on the birth of a baby,
the father and not the mother was put to bed and nursed.

Yet, though this custom seems so ludicrous to use, it prevails very
widely.

Father Dobritzhoffer tells us that among the Abigrones of South
America, “no sooner do you hear that a woman has borne a child, than
you see the husband lying in bed, huddled up with mats and skins, lest
some ruder breath of air should touch him, and for a number of days
abstaining religiously from certain viands; yeu would swear it was he
who had had the child. * z * Thad read about this in old times,
and laughed at it, never thinking I could believe such madness; and I _
used to suspect that this barbarous custom was related more in joke than
in earnest, but at last I saw it with my own eyes among the Abigrones.”

Other travelers mention the existence of a similar custom in Green-
land, in Kamtchatka, in parts of China, in Borneo, in the north of Spain,
in Corsica, and in the south of France, where it was called “faire la
convade.”

It is of course evident that, a custom so ancient and so widely distri-
buted must have its origin in some idea which satisfies the savage
mind.

Several explanations have been suggested. Professor Max Miiller
says, ‘It is clear that the poor husband was at first tyrannized over by
his female relations, and afterward frightened into superstition. He
then began to make a martyr of himself, till he made himself really ill,
or took to his bed in.self-defense.”

Lafitau, to whom we are indebted for an excellent work on the manners
of the American Indians, regards it as arising from a dim recollection of
original sin, rejecting the explanation given by some of the savages
themselves, and which I have little doubt. is the correct one, that they
do it because they believe that if the father is engaged in any rough
work, or was careless in his diet, the infant would suffer.

This idea, namely, that a person imbibes the characteristics of an ani-
mal which he eats, is very widely distributed. The Malays at Singapore
used to give a large price for the flesh of the tiger, not because they
liked it, but because they believed that the man who eats tiger will be-
come as wise and powerful as that animal. The Dyaks of Borneo have
a prejudice against the flesh of the deer, which the men may not eat,
though it is allowed to the women and children. The reason given is that
if the men were to eat venison, they would become as timid as deer.

.

344 SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS CONDITION OF

The Caribs will not eat the flesh of pigs or of tortoises lest they should
get small eyes. The Dacotahs of North America eat the liver of the dog,
that they may become as wise and brave as that animal.

The New Zealanders, after baptizing an infant, used to make it swal-
low pebbles, so that its heart might be hard and incapable of pity. So
also after a battle, they used to cook and eat the bravest and wisest of
their fallen enemies, expecting thus to secure a share of their wisdom
and courage.

Another curious idea very prevalent among savages is their dread of
having their portraits taken. The better the likeness the worse they
wiitk for the sitter; so much, life could not be put into the copy except
at the expense of the original.

Once, when a good deal annoyed by some North American Indians,
Kane got rid of them instantly by threatening to draw them if they
remained.

Catlin tells an amusing but melancholy anecdote in illustration of this
feeling among the same people. On one occasion he was making a like-
ness of a chief named Mahtocheega, in profile. This, when observed,
excited much commotion among the Indians. ‘ Why was half his face
left out?” they asked, ‘Mahtocheega was never afraid to look a white
man in the face.” Mahtocheega himself does not seem to have taken
any offense, but Shonka, a hostile chief, took occasion to taunt him.
“The Englishman,” he said, ‘knows that you are but half a man; he
has painted but one-half of your face, and knows that the rest is good
for nothing.” This taunt led to a fight, in which poor Mahtocheega was
killed, and the whole affair was very unfortunate for Mr. Catlin, who
had much difficulty in making his escape, and lived some time in fear of
his life. i

We cannot wonder that writing should appear to the savage even.
more mysterious and uncanny than drawing. .

Carver allowed the Canadian Indians to open a book wherever they
pleased, and then told them the number of leaves on each side. The
only way they could account for this, he says, ““was by conelnding that
the book was a spirit and told me whatever I asked.”

Further south the Minnatarrees, seeing Catlin intent over a copy of
the New York Commercial Advertiser, were much puzzled, but at length
concluded that it was a cloth for sore eyes. One of them eventually
bought it at a high price.

This belief in the mysterious character of writing has led to its being
used in many parts of the world as:a medicine.

The Central Africans are a religious people according to their lights,
and have great faith in the efficacy of prayers. When any one is ill,
they write a text out of the Koran on a board, wash it off, and make
the patient drink it. The French traveller, Caillié, met with a man
who had a great reputation for sanctity, and who made his living by
writing prayers on a board, washing them off, and then selling the
water, which was sprinkled over various objects, and supposed to
improve and protect them. It was soon observed that the charms were
no protection from fire-arms; but that did not the least weaken the faith
in them, because they said, as guns were not invented in Mohammed’s
time, he naturally provided no specific against them.

ORNAMENTS.

Savages are passionately fond of ornaments. If in the very low races
the women are often wholly undecorated, this is only because the men
keep all the ornaments to themselves.

THE LOWER RACES OF MAN. 345

As a general rule, we may say that races inhabiting hot climates
ornament themselves; those of colder countries, their clothes. In fact,
all savage races who have much of their skin uncovered, delight in
painting themselves in the most brilliant colors.

Although perfectly naked, the Australians of Botany Bay were,,as
Captain Cook quaintly puts it, “ very ambitious to be fine.” Through
the nose they wore a bone, as thick as a man’s finger, and five or six
inches long. This was of course very awkward, as it prevented them
from breathing through the nose; but they submitted cheerfully to the
inconvenience for the sake of the appearance.

They had also necklaces made of shells neatly cut and strung together,
earrizgs, bracelets of small cord, and strings of plaited human hair,
which they wound round their waists. Some also had gorgets of large
shells hung round their neck; and on all these ornaments they placed
a high value.

They also painted themselves, red and white being the principal colors.
The red was laid on in broad patches; the white generally in stripes,
or on the face in spots, often with a circle round each eye.

Spix and Martius thus describe the ornaments of a Coroado woman,
whom they saw in Brazil: “On the cheek she had a cirele, and over
that two strokes; under the nose several marks resembling an m; from
the corners of the mouth to the middle of the cheek were two parallel
lines, and below them on both sides many straight stripes; below and
between her breasts there were some segments of circles, and down her
arms the figure of a snake was depicted.” She also wore a necklace of
monkey’s teeth.

Indeed, savages wear necklaces and rings, bracelets, and anklets,
armlets and leglets; even, if I may say so, bodylets. Round their
bodies, round their necks, round their arms and legs, their fingers, and
even their toes, they wear ornaments of all kinds. Lichtenstein saw
the wife of a Beetuan chief, in South Africa, wearing no less than
seventy-two brass rings.

Nor are they particular as to the material—copper, brass or iron,
leather or ivory, stones, shells, glass, bits of wood, seeds or teeth—
nothing comes amiss. In the Louisiade Archipelago, McGillivray saw
several bracelets made, each of a human lower jaw, crossed by a collar
bone; and other travelers have seen brass curtain rings, brass keyhole
plates, lids of sardine cases, and other such incongruous objects, worn
with much gravity and pride.

Many races are very careful about their hair. The Feejee Islanders
train it into elaborate wigs, which take some years to arrive at perfec-
tion, so that they cannot sleep as we do, but are compelled to use neck-
rests. The islanders north of Australia, though among the lowest of
savages, are in the habit of dyeing their hair red.

Not content with hanging things on their bodies wherever nature has
enabled them to do so, savages often cut holes in themselves for the
purpose.

The Esquimaux, from Mackenzie River westward, make two openings
in their cheeks, one on each side, in which they wear stone ornaments
shaped like a large shirt-stud, and which may be called cheek-studs.

Throughout a great portion of Western America, and in parts of
Africa, it is the custom to wear a large piece of wood in the lower
lip. A small hole is made in the lip during infancy, and it is then
enlarged by degrees, the size of the lower lip being the principal criterion
of beauty.

Other races, in the same manner, enlarge the lobe of the ear, until it

-

346 SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS CONDITION OF

sometimes reaches the shoulder. Others file the teeth in various man-
ners. Dr. Barnard Davis has a Dyack skull from Borneo, in which the
six front teeth are each ornamented by having a small brass pin driven
into them.

Ornamentation of the skin, again, is almost universal among the
lower races of men. In some cases every individual follows his own
fancy; in others, each class has its own pattern.

Thus, the Bormouese of Central Africa have twenty cuts or lines on
each side of the face, one in the center of the forehead, six on each
arm, six on each leg, four on each side of the chest, and nine on each
side just above the hips. This makes ninety-one large cuts, and the
process is said to be extremely painful, especially on account of the heat
and flies.

The most familiar example, however, of this mode of ornamentation
is the tattooing of the New Zealanders, which also causes much inflam-
mation of the skin and great suffering.

Many other cases might be given in which savages ornament them-
selves, as they suppose, in a manner which must be very painful.

Even the shape is forcibly altered by some races of men. Thus the
Chinese cripple their ladies by preventing the growth of the feet; and
some of the American races even entirely alter the shape of the head,
by tight bandages applied to the newly-born infant, a process which one
would have expected to affect the intellect, though, as far as the existing
evidence goes, it does not appear to do so.

LAWS.

Those who have not devoted much attention to the subject have
generally regarded the savage as having, at least, one advantage
over civilized man, that, namely, of enjoying an amount of personal
freedom greater than that of individuals belonging to more civilized
communities.

There cannot be a greater mistake. The savageis nowhere free. All
over the world his lite is regulated by a complicated set of rules and
customs as forcible as laws, of quaint prohibitions, and unjust privileges—
the prohibitions generally applying to the women, and the privileges to
the men.

The Australians, says Mr. Laing, “instead of enjoying perfect per-
sonal freedom, as it would at first appear, are governed by a code
of rules and a set of customs which form one of the most cruel tyrannies
that has ever perhaps existed on the face of the earth, subjecting not
only the will, but the property and life of the weak to the dominion

of the strong. The whole tendency of the system is to give everything .

to the strong and old, to the prejudice of the weak and young, and more
particularly to the detriment of the women. They have rules by which
the best food, the best pieces, the best animals, &c., are prohibited to
the women and young men, and reserved for the old. The women are
generally appropriated to the old and powerful, some of whom possess
from four to six wives; while wives are altogether denied to young men,
unless they have sisters to give in exchange, and are strong and
courageous enough to prevent their sisters from being taken without
exchange.”

In Tahiti “the men were allowed to eat the flesh of the pig and of
fowls, and a variety of fish, cocoa-nuts, and plantains, and whatever was
presented as an offering to the gods, which the females on pain of death
were forbidden to touch, as it was supposed they would pollute them.

~

THE LOWER RACES OF MAN. . 347

The fire on which the men’s food was cooked was also sacred, and was
forbidden to be used by the females. The baskets in which their pro-
vision was kept, and the house in which the men ate, were also sacred,
and prohibited to the females under the same cruel penalty.”

“No believe,” says Sir George Grey, “that man in a savage state is
endowed with freedom, either of thought or action, is in the highest
degree erroneous.”

Moreover, if savages pass unnoticed many actions which we deem
highly criminal, on the other hand they strictly forbid others which we
regard as altogether immaterial. Thus the Mongols of Siberia think it
wrong to touch fire with a knife, to use one for taking meat out ofa
pot, to cut up wood near a hearth, to lean on a whip, to pour liquor on
the ground, to strike a horse with the bridle, or break one bone against
another.

Even in the choice of their wives, savages in many cases have rules
which greatly restrict their power of selection.

In Australia (where, by the way, the same family names are common
over almost the whole continent) no man may marry a woman of the
same name as his own, even though she may be no relation whatever.

In Eastern Africa, Burton says that “some clans of Somal Arabs will
not marry one of the same family.”

Throughout India we find that the hill tribes are divided into septs
or clans, and that a man may not marry a woman belonging to his own
clan.

The Kalmucks of Tartary are divided into hordes, and a man may not
marry a girl of his own horde. ‘The bride,” says Bergman, “is always
- chosen from another stock; among the Derbets, for instance, from the
Torgot stock, and among the Torgots from the Derbet stock.”

The same custom prevails among the Circassians and the Samoyeds
- of Siberia. The Ostyaks and Yakuts also regard it as a crime to marry
a woman of the same family, or even of the same name.

Among the North American Indians every tribe is divided into clans,
generally from three to eight clans in each tribe, and no man is allowed
to marry a woman of his own clan.

Again, far from being informal or extemporary, the salutations, cere-
monies, treaties, and contracts of savages are characterized by the very
opposite qualities.

Eyre mentions that, in their intercourse with one another, natives
of different Australian tribes are exceedingly punctilious. Mariner
gives a long account of the elaborate ceremonies practiced by the Ton-
gans, and of their almost superstitious regard for rank. Thus, the king
was by nomeans the man of highest rank. The Tooitonga, Veachi, and
several others preceded him. Indeed the name Tooitonga means liter-
ally “ Sovereign of Tonga;” the office, however, was wholly of a religious
character, the Tooitonga being regarded as descended from the gods,
if not as a deity himself.

The Egbas, a Negro race of West Africa, are described by Burton as
extremely ceremonious, and have a great variety of salutations, appli-
cable to every possible occasion. If an inferior meets a superior, there
are several modes of showing respect. Captain Burton calculates that
every one spends at least one hour a day in these troublesome ceremonies.

In the religious ceremonies of Tahiti, Williams mentions that ‘ how-
ever large or costly the sacrifice that had been offered, and however
near its close the most protracted ceremony might be, if the priest omitted
or misplaced any word in the prayers with which it was accompanied,
or if his attention was diverted by any means, so that the prayer was

348 SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS CONDITION OF

‘hai’ or broken, the whole was rendered unavailable; he must prepare
other victims, and repeat his prayers over from the commencement.”

Again, in Feejee, which is inhabited by a totally different race, we
are told that public business was conducted with tedious formality.
Old forms are strictly observed and innovations opposed. An abun-
dance of measured clapping of hands, and subdued exclamations, charac-
terize these occasions. Whales’ teeth and other property are never
exchanged or presented without a tedious ceremonial.

But little consideration is required to show that this is quite natural.
In the absence of writing, evidence of contracts must depend on the tes-
timony of witnesses; and it is necessary, therefore, to avoid all haste
which might lead to forgetfulness, and to imprint the ceremony as much
as possible on the minds of those present.

Among the lower races of men the chiefs scarcely take any cognizance
of crime. As regards private injuries, every one protects or revenges
himself. Thus, among the North American Indians, even in cases of
murder, the family of the deceased only punish tbe aggressor if they
ean. The chiefs and rulers do not feel called on to interfere. Indeed,
it would seem that the object of legal regulations was at first not so
much to punish the offender as to restrain and mitigate the vengeance
of the aggrieved party.

The amount of legal revenge, if I may so call it, is often strictly regu-
lated, even where we should least expect to find such limitations. Thus,
in Australia* ‘crimes may be compounded for by the criminal appear-
ing and submitting himself to the ordeal of having spears thrown at him
by all such persons as conceive themselves to have been aggrieved, or
by permitting spears to be thrust through certain parts of his body,’
such as through the thigh, or the calf of the leg, or under the arm. The
part which is to be pierced by a spear is fixed for all common crimes,
and a native who has incurred this penalty sometimes quietly holds out
his leg for the injured party to thrust his spear through.” So strictly
is the amount of punishment limited, that if, in inflicting such spear
wounds, a man, either through carelessness, or from any other cause,
exceeded the recognized limits, if, for instance, he wounded the femoral
artery, he would in his turn become liable to punishment.

Such cases as these seem to throw great light on the origin of the idea
of property. As soon as any rules were laid down regulating the nature
or amount of revenge for disturbance in possession, or when the chief
thought it worth while himself to settle disputes so arising, and thus,
while increasing his own dignity and influence, to check quarrels which
might otherwise prove injurious to the tribe, the natural effect would be
to develop the idea of mere possession into that of property.

Since, then, crimes were at first regarded as mere personal matters,
in which the aggressor and his victim alone were interested, every
crime, even murder, might be atoned for by the payment of a sum of
money.

Among the Anglo-Saxons every part of the body had a recognized
value. Thus, the loss of a front tooth was valued at six shillin gs; that
of a beard was reckoned at twenty shillings; while the breaking ol a
thigh was only put at twelve, and of a rib at three; facts which “show
both the high value of money, and also the importance attached by our
ancestors to their personal appearance. Moreover, these payments had
reference to the injury done, and had no relation to the crime as a crime.
This is, no doubt, the origin of the great difference in the penalties

* Sir G. Grey’s Australia, s. 2, p. 243.

THE LOWER RACES OF MAN. 349

inflicted by ancient laws on manifest and non-manifest thieves, that is,
on offenders caught in the act, and those only detected after delay.
Thus, in the old Roman law the manifest thief, who was caught in the
act, or with the goods still upon him, became the slave of the person
robbed; while the non-manifest thief was only compelled to pay twice
the value of what he had stolen. |

The same principle occurs in the German and in the North American
Indian laws, thus following the rule of private vengeance, and the pro-
portion of revenge likely to be taken by an aggrieved person under such
circumstances.

The severity of early codes, and the uniformity of punishment which
characterizes them, is probably due to the same cause. An individual
who felt himself aggrieved would not weigh very closely the amount of
vengeance he was entitled to inflict; and as it would be the object of
» early lawgivers to encourage resort to the public tribunals, and to dis-
courage private vengeance, they would naturally feel it undesirable that
the penalty imposed by law should at first be much less than that which
custom allowed the party aggrieved to take for himself.

MARRIAGE AND RELATIONSHIPS.

Another subject on which savages entertain notions very different from
ours is that of relationships. All our ideas of relationship are founded
on marriage and on the family. We regard a child as related equally
to its father and its mother; we make no difference between a father’s
brother and a mother’s brother on the one hand, a father’s sister and a
mother’s sister on the other. They are respectively uncles and aunts.
But among savages it is not so. The relationship to the clan almost
supersedes that to the family. The position of the women is very unfor-
tunate. They are treated like slaves, or almost like domestic animals.
Thus, in Australia, little real affection exists between husband and wife,
and young men value a wife principally for her services as a slave; in
fact, when asked why they are anxious to obtain wives, their usual reply
is, that they may get wood, water, and food for them, and carry what-
ever property they possess.

The position of women in that country seems, indeed, to be wretched
in the extreme.

“Few women,” says Eyre, “will be found upon examination to be free
from frightful scars upon the head, or the marks of spear weunds about
the body. I have seen a young woman who, from the number of these
marks, appeared to have been almost riddled with spear wounds.” And
it seems that, if they are at all good-looking, their position is, if possible,
even worse than otherwise.

Even in marriage, there is, among the lowest races of men, little
feeling of love; many of the lower languages are sadly deficient in terms
of affection. Pure love-songs are almost unknown, or very rare, among
the lowest races of men. From the nature of their dwellings, there is
much less privacy than among ourselves; the clan feeling is strong,
and the tribe generally has an interest in the produce of the chase or
fishery of each. These and other circumstances strengthen the feeling
for the tribe as against that for the family.

Many instances, indeed, are recorded among the lower races of men
where marriage may be said to be unknown, and where children must,
therefore, be regarded as related by tribal rather than family connections.
Traces of this state of things exist in some cases long after the actual
condition has ceased to exist.

Thus, even in our own language, words which now indicate relation-

\

350 SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS CONDITION OF

ship had, originally, no such signification: the word daughter, for in-
stance, meaning literally ‘‘milkmaid,” and thus dating back to a time
when our ancestors did not recognize the “family” as it now exists
among us. Mr. Morgan has pointed out a very interesting illustration
of the same fact in the language of the Sandwich Islands. The word
‘‘waheena” gtands equally for wife, wife’s sister, brother’s wife, and
wife’s brother’s wife. So again, ‘kaikee,” child, also signifies brother’s
wife’s child and wife’s brother’s wife’s child. The same ideas of relation-
ship are indicated by the application of the word “ kana,” t. e. husband.

That this does not arise from mere poverty of language is evident,
because the same system discriminates between other relationships we
do not distinguish from one another.

Perhaps the contrast is most clearly shown in the words for brother-
in-law and sister-in-law. Thus, if a woman is speaking, the word for
sister-in-law =husband’s brother’s wife, is punalua, and for sister-in-law=
husbands sister, kaikoaka; but brother-in-law, whether sister’s husband
or husband’s brother, is kana=husband. On the contrary, when a man
is speaking, the word for sister-in-law=wife’s sister or brother’s wife, is
waheena=wife ; but brother-in-law=wife’s brother, is katkoaka, and for
wife’s sister’s husband, punalwa. Thus, a woman has husbands and
sisters-in-law, but no brothers-in-law, while a man has wives and brothers-
in-law, but no sisters-in-law. The same idea runs through all other
relationship, cousins being regarded as brothers and sisters. So again,
while the Romans distinguished between father’s brother = patmas, and
mother’s brother = avunculus; and again, father’s sister=amita, and
mother’s sister=matertera; the two first in Hawaian are makua kana.

Thus, the idea of marriage does not in fact exist in the Sandwich
Island system of relationship. Uncleships, auntships, cousinships, are
ignored, and we have only grandparents, parents, brothers and sisters,
children, and grandchildren.

Here it is clear that the child is related to the group. It is not
specially related either to its father or its mother, who stand in the same
relation as mere uncles and aunts, so that every child has several fathers
and several mothers.

To our English ideas, the question of the origin of marriage seems
devoid of difficulty, nay, even of significance. The married state is one
with which we are so familiar, it is so interwoven with all our family life,
all our sense of social duty, that we are apt to regard it as universal and
aboriginal. This, however, is not the case. Facts like those just refer-
red to—and, if time permitted, many others might be given—show that
the condition of the lowest races of men is that not of individual marriage
as it exists among us, but of communal marriage, if I may call it so.
Even, however, under the system of communal marriage, a man who had
captured a beautiful girl in some marauding expedition would wish to
keep her to himself. She did not belong to the tribe; they had no right
to her; he might have killed her if he had chosen; and if he preferred
to keep her alive, it was no affair of theirs; she was as much his indi-
vidual property as his spear or his bow. Hence a form of individual
marriage would rise up by the side of the communal marriage. This
theory explains the extraordinary subjection of the woman in marriage;
it explains the very widely distributed custom of “exogamy,” or that
custom which forbids marriage within the tribe; the necessity of expia-
tion for marriage, as an infringement of tribal rights, since, according
to old ideas, a man had no right to appropriate to himself that which
belonged to the whole tribe; and, lastly, the remarkable prevalence of
the form of capture in marriage.

THE LOWER RACES OF MAN. 351

Among the rudest races capture is far more than a form, and it is
customary for men to steal women by force from other tribes.

Hearne, who knew the North American Indians thoroughly well, and
whose statements have been confirmed by subsequent travelers, as for
instance by Franklin and Richardson, assures us that among the North-
ern tribes, it has ever been the custom for the men to wrestle for any
woman to whom they are attached; and of course the strongest always
carries off the prize. ‘‘A weak man,” he adds, ‘is seldom permitted to
keep a wife, that a stronger man thinks worth his notice,” which, he says,
“keeps up a great spirit of emulation among the young men.” It must
be observed that this is not regarded as any arbitrary exercise of power,
but it is a recognized right that a strong man may carry off the wife of
a weaker one if he can; and it would appear that even the women acqui-
esee in this custom without a murmur.

I will now give a few instances, in order to show how widely this
custom of marriage by capture prevails among the lower races of men,
and that traces of it linger even among those higher in the scale of civ-
ilization.

In Australia, the ardent lover steals on the dark object of his affections,
knocks her down with his club, and drags her off in triumph. This
violent affection is not resented by the relations of the woman, if they
are not able to rescue her at the moment. On the contrary, she is recog-
nized as the legal wife of her captor.

In Bali, one of the islands between Java and New Guinea, it is stated
to be the practice that girls are stolen away by their lovers, who carry
them off by force to the woods; when brought back from thence the
poor female becomes the slave of her rough lover, by a certain compen-
sation being paid to her relatives.

Speaking of the Khonds, a tribe in India, Major General Campbell
mentions that, on one occasion, hearing loud cries, he went to see what
was the matter, and found a man carrying off a girl, while twenty or
thirty friends protected him from the attacks of a number of women, who
were attempting to rescue the bride. The struggle continued until the
bridegroom reached his own house, and General Campbell was assured
that, among the Khonds, marriages were always solemnized in this
manner.

Among the Kalmucks of Central Asia the marriage ceremony is even
more romantic. The girl is put on a horse and rides off at full speed.
When she has got enough start the lover starts in pursuit; if he catches
her, she becomes his wife; but if he cannot overtake her, the match is
broken off; and we are assured, which I can well believe, that no Kal-
muck girl was ever caught against her will.

Again, among the Ahitas of the Philippine Islands, when a man
wishes to marry a girl, her parents send her before sunrise into the
woods. She has an hour’s start, after which the lover goes to seek her.
If he finds her and brings her back before sunset, the marriage is ac-
knowledged ; if not, he must abandon all claim to her.

‘The aborigines of the Amazon Valley,” says Wallace, ‘have no par-
ticular ceremony at their marriages, except that of always carrying
away the girl by force, or making a show of doing so, even when she
and her parents are quite willing.”

M. Bardel mentions that among the Indians round Conception, in
Chili, on the other side of the Andes, after a man has agreed on the
price of a girl with her parents, the recognised mode of proceeding is
that he surprises her, or is supposed to do so, and carriés her off to the
woods for a few days, after which the happy couple return home.

352 SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS CONDITION OF

As regards Europe, we find just the same thing; the Romans had a
similar custom, and traces of it occur in Greek history. ;

So deeply rooted is the feeling of a connection between force and
marriage, that we find the former used: as a form long after all necessity
for it as a reality had ceased to exist; and it is very interesting to trace,
as Mr. McLennan has done, the gradual stages through which a stern
reality softens down into a mere symbol.

For, as communities became larger and more civilized, the actual cap-
ture became inconvenient, and, indeed, impossible. Gradually, therefore,
it sunk more and more into a mere form,

In North Friesland the bride makes a show of resistance, and is lifted
by mock force into the wagon which is to take her home.

Hence, no doubt, the custom of lifting the bride over the doorstep,
which occurs or did occur among the Romans, the redskins of Canada,
the Chinese, and the natives of Abyssinia. Hence, also, perhaps our
custom of the honeymoon; and hence, also, may be, as Mr. McLennan
has suggested, the slipper is thrown in mock anger after the departing
bride and. bridegroom. ‘The latter suggestion is indeed very doubtful;
still it is remarkable how persistent are all customs and ceremonies con-
nected with marriage. Thus our “bridecake,” which so invariably
accompanies a wedding, and which must always be cut by the bride,
may be traced back to the old Roman form of marriage by “‘ confarreatio,”
or eating together. So also among the Iroquois, the bride and bride-
groom used to partake together of a cake of sagamite, which the bride
always offered to her husband. Again, among several of the Indian Hill
tribes, the bride prepares some drink, sits on her lover’s knee, drinks
half herself, and gives him the rest.

It requires strong evidence, which, however, exists in abundance, to
satisfy us that marriage was, in its origin, independent of all sacred and
social considerations; that it had nothing to do with mutual affection
or consent; indeed,‘ that all appearance of consent was forbidden; so
that it was symbolised not by any demonstration of warm affection on
the one side, and tender devotion on the other, but by brutal violence
and unwilling submission.

Yet, as already mentioned, the evidence is overwhelming. Marriage
by capture, either as a reality or as a form, has been shown to exist in
Australia, and among the Malays, in Hindostan, Central Asia, Siberia,
and Kamtchatka, among the Esquimaux, the northern redskins of
America, the aborigines of the Amazon Valley, in Chili and in Tierra,
del Fuego, in the Pacific Islands, in the Philippines; among the Arabs,
Negroes, and Cireassians ; and, until lately, in various parts of Northern
Europe. i

I will now proceed to the consideration of the statement that the
second stage in the development of the idea of family consists in the
recognition of relationship to the mother, that to the father being still
overlooked.

In almost all tropical countries polygamy is very frequent; the chiefs
especially take to themselves a large number of wives. In Western
Africa, for instance, the king of Ashantee made it a point of honor to
have always 3,333 wives. Among hunting races, though polygamy is
less prevalent, men who are powerful, either physically or socially, fre-
quently appropriate to themselves the wives of those who are weaker.
Hither of these conditions—either the multiplicity of wives, or frequent
changes, would weaken very much the tie between father and child.
Hence, probably, the curious fact, that in many parts of the world a
man’s property does not descend to his own children, but to those of his

THE LOWER RACES OF MAN. 353

sister; relationship, and, consequently, inheritance, being held to descend
in the female line, and not in the male, as among ourselves.

This is the case among the Negroes of Guinea, among the Berbers in
North Africa, and the Arabs in the East. It occurs among several of
the Hindostan tribes, among the Battas of Sumatra, the red Indians of
North America, the black islanders of the Pacific, and elsewhere.

Obviously, however, as civilization progressed, and the moral feelings
became stronger, a feeling of opposition to these arrangements would
arise. As family life became more developed, the affection between
father and child would become stronger; and as property became more
important, men would wish their goods to descend to their own children,
who would themselves obviously desire to inherit their father’s property.

And as man, like a pendulum, always passes from one extreme to
another, so, having long considered that children were related to their
mother, but not to their father, when they recognized the relation on
the paternal side, they went into the other extreme, and neglected that
to the mother.

How completely the idea of relationship through the father, when
once recognized, superseded that through the mother, we may see in the
very curious trial of Orestes—the son of Agamemnon and Clytem-
nestra—as recorded by an ancient Greek poet.

Clytemnestra murdered Agamemnon, whose death was avenged by
Orestes. For this act he was fabled to have been prosecuted before
the Greek gods by the Furies, whose duty it was to punish those, and
those only, who had slain their relatives.

In his defense Orestes asked them, why they did not punish his
mother, Clytemnestra, for the murder of her husband, Agamemnon,
and when they answer that marriage does not constitute blood-relation-
ship, he pleads that, by the same rule, they cannot touch him, because,
he says, a child is a relation to his father, but not to its mother.

This view, which seems to us so unnatural, was nevertheless supported
by Apollo and Minerva, and being adopted by a majority of the judges,
led to the acquittal of Orestes.

Hence we see that at first the feeling of clanship prevailed rather
than that of family, and that children were regarded as related to the
tribe rather than to their parents; that, secondly, they were considered
to be related to the mother, but not to the father; thirdly, to the father,
but not to the mother; lastly, and lastly only, as among ourselves, to
both father and mother.

‘We see, therefore, that the lowest savages are entirely deficient in the
idea of marriage and of family, and that the position of women is
wretched in the extreme. The ideas of relationship, founded on mar-
riage, have only gradually been acquired, and thus civilization has
raised the position of woman, and making her a helpmeet instead of a
slave, has purified and softened all the conditions of social life. The
higher position of woman is one of the points in which we see most
clearly the enormous advantage of civilization over barbarism.

RELIGION.

The religious condition of the lower races of mankind is one of the
most difficult, although, at the same time, most interesting portions of
_ Iny subject.

It is most difficult, partly because it is far from easy to communicate
with men of a different race on such an abstruse subject; partly because
many are reluctant to discuss it; but mainly because, even among those
nominally professing the same religion, there are always in reality great

498

354 SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS CONDITION OF

differences; individuals—as I shall endeavor to show you is also the
case with nations—acquiring continually grander, and therefore more
correct ideas, as they rise in the scale of civilization.

Still, as new religious ideas arise, they do not destroy, but are only
superinduced upon the old ones; thus the religion of the ancestors be-
come the nursery tales of their descendants, and the old Teutonic deities
of our forefathers are the giants and demons of our children.

It has hitherto been usual to classify religions either according to
the name of the founder or the objects worshipped. Thus one division
of the lower religions has been into Fetichism, defined as the worship of
material substances; Sabeism, that of the heavenly bodies, the sun,
moon, and stars; and Heroism, or the deification of men after death.
This and other similar systems are simple, and have certainly some ad-
vantages, especially as regards the lower races of men and the lower
forms of religion. They are not, however, really natural systems; there
is no real difference between the worship of the sun and that of a rock
or lake. No doubt to us the sun seems a grander deity, but of the main
facts on which that opinion rests the savage is entirely ignorant.

Moreover, Heroism is found among races as low in the scale of civili-
zation as either Fetichism (in the above definition, which, however, I.do
not adopt) or Sabeeism, and indeed the three forms of religion indicated
above may coexist in one people, and even in the same individual. The
true classification of religions should, as it seems to me, rest, not on the
mere object worshipped, but on the nature and character ascribed to
the deity.

It is a much disputed question, into which I will not now enter,
whether the lowest races have any religion or not.

However this may be, it is at least clear that the religion of the lower
savages is very unlike that of most advanced races. Indeed, in many
respects it is the very opposite. Their deities are evil, not good; they
may be forced into compliance with the wishes of man; they require
bloody, and rejoice even in human, sacrifices; they are mortal, not im-
mortal; part of nature, not the creators of the world; they are to be
approached by dances rather than by prayers; and often approve of
vice rather than of what we esteem as virtue.

The ideas of religion among the lower races of man are intimately
associated with, if indeed they have not originated from, the condition
of man during sleep, and especially from dreams.

Sleep and death have always been regarded as nearly related to one
another. Thus, in classical mythology, Somnus, the god of sleep, and
Mors, the god of death, were both fabled to have been the children of
Nox, the goddess of night.

So, also, the savage would naturally look on death as a kind of sleep,
and would expect and hope—hoping on even against hope—to see his
friend awake from the one as he had eften done trom the other.

Hence, probably, one reason for the great importance ascribed to the
treatment of the body after death.

But what happens to the spirit during sleep? The body lies lifeless,
and the savage not unnaturally concludes that the spirit has left it. In
this he is confirmed by the phenomena of dreams, which consequently
to the savage have a reality and an importance which we can scarcely
appreciate. During sleep the spirit appears to desert the body, and,
as in our dreams, we seem to visit other countries and distant regions,
while the body remains as it were lifeless; the two phenomena were
naturally placed side by side, and regarded as the complements one of
the other.

THE LOWER RACES OF MAN. 355

Henee, the savage considers the events in his dreams as real as those
which happen when he is awake, and hence he naturally feels that he
has a spirit which can quit the body—if not when it likes, at least under
certain circumstances.

Thus, Burton states, that, according to the Jorubans, a Western A fri-
can tribe, ‘dreams are not an irregular action and partial activity of
the brain, but so many revelations from the spirits of the departed.”

So strong , again, was the North American faith in dreams, that on
one occasion, when an Indian had dreamed that he was taken captive
and tortured, he induced his friends to make a mock attack upon him,
and actually ‘submitted to very considerable suffering, in the hope that
he would thus fulfill his dream.

The Greenlanders also believe in the reality of dreams, and think that
at night their spirit actually goes hunting, visiting, courting, and so on.
It is of course obvious that the body takes no part in these nocturnal
adventures, and hence it is natural to conclude that they have a spirit
which can quit the body.

Lastly, when they dream of their departed friends or relatives, savages
firmly believe that they are visited by the spirits of the dead, and hence
believe, not indeed in the immortality of the soul, but in the existence
of a spirit which survives, or may survive, the body.

Again, savages are seldom ill; their sufferings generally arise from
wounds ; their deaths are ener ally violent. “AS an external injury
received, say, in war, causes pain, so when they suffer internally, they
attribute it to some enemy within them. Hence, when an Austr alian,
perhaps after too heavy a ‘meal, has his slumbers ‘disturbed, he is at no
loss for an explanation, and supposes that he has been attacked by some
being whom his companions could not see.

This is well illustrated in the following passage from Captain Wilkes’s
voyage: “Sometimes,” he says, “ when “the Australian is asleep, Koin,
as they call this spirit, seizes upon one of them and carr ies him off.
The person seized endeavors in vain to cry out, being almost strangled.
At daylight, however, Koin departs, and the man finds himself again
safe by his own fire side.” Here it is evident that Koin is a personifica-
tion of the nightmare.

In other cases the belief that man possesses a spirit seems to have been
suggested by the shadow. Thus, among the Feejeeans: “Some,” says
Mr. Williams, “ speak of man as havieg two spirits. His shadow is ‘called
the ‘dark spirit, which they say goes” to Hades. The other is his like-
ness reflected in water or a looking: glass, and is supposed to stay near
the place in which a man dies. Probably this doctrine of shadows has
to do with the notion of inanimate objects having spirits. I once placed
® good-looking native suddenly before a mirror. He stood delighted.
‘Now,’ said he softly, ‘I can see into the world of spirits.’”

But though spirits are naturally to be dreaded, on various accounts,
it by no means follows that they should be conceived as necessarily
wiser or more powerful than man. Of this our spirit-rappers and table-
turners afford us a familiar illustration. So also, the natives of the
Nicobar Islands put up scarecrows round their villages to frighten away
hostile spirits. The natives of Kamtchatka insult their deities if their
wishes are unfulfilled. They even feel acontempt for them. “If Kutka,”
they say, “‘had not been stupid, would he have made inaccessible moun-
tains and too rapid rivers ?”

The Lapps made images of their gods, putting each in a separate box,
on which was written the name of the deity, so that each might know
its own box.

356 SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS CONDITION OF

The Kyoungtha, of Chittagong, are Buddhists. Their village temples:
contain a small stand of bells, and an image of Boodh, which the villa-
gers generally worship morning and evening; ‘ first,” as Captain Lewin
states, “ringing the bells to let him know they are there.” The Sinto
temples of the Sun Goddess in Japan also contain a bell, intended, as
Bishop Smith tells us, “to arouse the goddess, and to awaken her atten-
tion to the prayers of her worshippers.”

Casalis states that when a Kaffir is on a marauding expedition, he
gives utterance to those cries and hisses in which cattle-drivers indulge
when they drive a herd before them, thinking in this manner to persuade
the poor divinities of the country they are attacking, that he is bring-
ing cattle to their worshippers, instead of coming to take it from them.

Many other illustrations might be given, but these are sufficient to
show how low and degraded is the savage conception of the Divine
nature. Gradually, however, as the human mind expands, it becomes
capable of higher and higher realizations.

I will now describe very shortly the religions of some savage races,
beginning with the lowest, which may be called Animism.

The religion of the Australian, if it can be so called, consists of a
belief in the existence of ghosts, or spirits, or at any rate of evil beings
who are not mere men. This belief cannot be said to influence them by
day, but it renders them very unwilling to quit their camp-fire by night,
or to sleep near a grave. They have no idea of creation, nor do they
use prayers; they have no religious forms, ceremonies, or worship.
They do not believe in a Supreme Deity, or in the immortality of the
soul, nor is morality in any way connected with their religion.

An interesting account of the religious condition of the northern
natives has been given by a Mrs. Thomson, a Scotchwoman, who was
wrecked on that coast, and lived alone with the natives for nearly five
years, when she was rescued by a English ship. The Australians all
over the continent have an idea that when the blacks die they turn into
whites. Mrs. Thomson herself was taken for the ghost of a woman
named Giom, and when she was teased by the children, the men would
often say, ‘Leave her alone, poor thing; she is nothing, only a ghost.”

This, however, did not prevent a man named Baroto making her his
wife, which shows how little is really implied in the statement that the
Australians believe in the existence of spirits. In reality they do no
more than believe in the existence of men slightly different from and
somewhat more powerful than themselves.

FETICHISM.

The Fetichism of the Negro is a step in advance, because the influence
of religion is much raised in importance. Nevertheless, from one point
of view, Fetichism may be regarded as an anti-religion; for the Negro
believes that by means of the Fetich he can coerce and control the
deity.

Indeed, Fetichism is mere witchcraft. We know that all over the
world would-be magicians think that if they can obtain a part of an
enemy, or even a bit of his clothing, they thus obtain a control over
him.

Nay, even the knowledge of the name is supposed to confer a certain
power. Hence the importance which savages attach to names. Thus,
for instance, the true name of the beautiful Pocahontas, a celebrated
Virginian chieftainess, was Matokes; but this name was carefully con-
cealed from the English, lest it should give them a power over her. Tor

THE LOWER RACES OF MAN. 357

the same reason the Romans carefully concealed the name of the patron
saint of their city.

In other cases it was thought sufficient to make an image to represent
the original. Thus, even in the 11th century, and in Europe, some
unfortunate Jews were accused of murdering a certain Bishop Eberhard,
by making a wax figure to represent him, and then burning it, whereby
the bishop died; this indeed was a common form of witchcraft.

Now, Fetichism seems a mere extension of this belief. The Negro
supposes that the possession of a Fetich representing a deity makes
that deity his slave.

A Fetich, therefore, differs essentially from an idol. The one is
intended to raise man to the contemplation of the deity; the other to
bring the deity within the control of man. Aladdin’s lainp is a familiar
instance of a F etich; and indeed, if witchcraft be not confused with
religion, Fetichism can hardly be called a religion.

The low religious conceptions of the Negroes are well illustrated in
the general belief that the Fetich sees with its eyes as we do; and so
literally is it the actual image which is supposed to see, that, when the
Negro is about to do: anything of which he is ashamed, he hides his
Fetich in his w aisteloth, so that it may not be able to see ‘what is going
on. Fetichism, strictly speaking, has no temples, idols, priests, sacri-
fices, or prayer. It involves no belief in creation, or in a future life,
and, @ fortiori, none in a state of future rewards and punishments: it is
entirely independent of morality.

TOTEMISM.

The next stage in religious progress is that which may be called
Totemism. The savage does not abandon his belief in Fetichism, from
which indeed no race of man has yet entirely freed itself, but he superin-
duces on it a belief in beings of a higher and more mysterious nature. In
this stage everything is deified—stones, rivers, lakes, mountains, the
heavenly bodies, even animals and plants.

Various theories have been suggested to account for the origin of the
deification of such objects. I believe that it arose principally in this
way: A chief being named after some tree or animal, say the Black
Bear, or the Eagle, his family would naturally take the same name.
They would then come to look on the animal after which they were
named, first with interest, then with respect, and at length with a sort
of awe.

In Australia, we seem to find the Totem, or, as it is there called, the
‘* Kobong,” in the very process of deification. Sir George Grey tells us
that each family takes some animal or plant as its sign or ‘ Kobong.”
No native will intentionally kill or eat his “‘ Kobong,” which shows that
there is a mysterious feeling connected with it; but we are not told that
in Australia the Kobong is regarded as a deity.

In America, on the other hand, the redskins worship their Totem,
from which they believe themselves to be actually descended.

If we remember how low is the savage conception of a deity, we shall
see that the larger and more pow erful animals do, in fact, to a great
extent, fulfill his. idea.

This is especially the case with nocturnal animals, such as the lion
and tiger. As the savage crouching by the side of his camp-fire at night
listens to the cries and howls of the animals prowling round, or watches
them stealing like shadows among the trees, what wonder if he weaves
mysterious stories about them, and eventually fancies them something
more mysterious than mere mortal beings.

358 SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS CONDITION OF

The worship of the serpent is very prevalent. Its bite, so trifling in
appearance, and yet so deadly, producing fatal effects rapidly, and ap-
parently by no adequate means, suggests to the savage almost irresisti-
bly the notion of something divine, according to his notions of divinity.

There were also some lower, but powerful considerations, which tended
greatly to the development of serpent-worship. The animal is long-
lived, and easily kept in confinement; hence the same individual might
be preserved for a long time, and easily exhibited at intervals to the
multitude. In Guinea, where the sea and the serpent were the principal
deities, the priests encouraged the worship of the latter expressly, as we
are told, because offerings presented to the sea were washed away by
the waves, which was not the case with those offered to the serpent.

It is somewhat more difficult to understand the deification of inani-
mate objects. In fact, however, savages scarcely believe in the exist-
ence of inanimate objects. Chapman mentions that the Bushmen in
South Africa thought his big wagon was the mother of his small one.
Hearne tells us, that the North American Indians never hang up two
nets together, for fear they should be jealous of one another, and that
they prefer a hook which has caught a big fish to fifty which have not
been tried.

The South Sea Islanders not only believed that their animals had
souls, but also that this was the case with inanimate objects. Hence,
the savage broke the weapons and buried with the dead, so that their
souls might accompany that of their master to the land of spirits.
Hence, also, on one oceasion the king of the Koussa Kaffirs having bro-
ken a piece of iron from a stranded anchor, died soon after, upon which
the Kaffirs immediately concluded that the anchor was alive and had
killed their king.

Some such accident probably gave rise to the ancient Mohawk notion,
that some great misfortune would befall any one who spoke while cross-
ing Saratoga Lake. A strong-minded English woman on one occasion
purposely did so; and, after landing, rallied her boatman on his super-
stition; but I think he had the best of it after all, for he at once replied,
that the Great Spirit was merciful, and knew that a white woman could
not hold her tongue.

We find, indeed, the worship of lakes and rivers, or traces of it, all
over the world. Even our own island is full of saered wells and springs,
and Scotland and Ireland especially abound with legends about water-
spirits. I have myself seen a well in Rosshire hung round with the
offerings of the peasantry, consisting principally of rags and half-pence.

The worship of upright stones is also very widely distributed. This
form of worship has been explained by M. Dulaure as arising from the
respect paid to boundary stones. I do not doubt that, in the case of
some particular stones, it may have so arisen. The heathen deity,
Hermes, or Termes, was evidently of this character, and hence we may
explain the peculiar and apparently antagonistic peculiarities attached
to him.

‘‘Mercury or Hermes,” says Lempriére, ‘‘was the messenger of the
gods; he was the patron of travelers and shepherds; he conducted the
souls of the dead into the infernal regions, and not only presided over
orators, merchants, and declaimers, but was also the god of thieves,
pickpockets, and all dishonest persons. He invented letters and the
lyre, and was the originator of the arts and sciences.”

It is difficult at first to see the connection between these various
offices, characterized as they are by such opposite peculiarities. Yet
they all follow from the custom of making boundaries by upright stones.

THE LOWER RACES OF MAN. 359

Hence the name of Hermes or Termes, a boundary or terminus, while
the name of the corresponding Roman deity, Mercury, is connected with
the word “march,” or boundary, whence our title of marquis, meaning
originally a person to whom was intrusted the duty of guarding the
“ march,” or neutral territory, which in the troublous times of old it
was customary to leave between the possessions of different nations.

These marches, not being cultivated, served as grazing grounds; to
them came merchants to exchange on neutral ground the products of
their respective countries; here also, for the same reason, treaties were
negotiated; here also international games and sports were held. Up-
right stones were used to indicate places of burial; and lastly, on them
were inscribed laws and decrees, records of remarkable events, and the
praises of the deceased.

Hence Mercury, represented by a plain upright stone, was the deity
of travelers, because he was alandmark ; of shepherds, as presiding over
pastures; he conducted the souls of the dead into the infernal regions,
because even in the very early days upright stones were used as tomb-
stones; he was the god of merchants, because commerce was carried on

mainly at the frontiers; and of thieves out of sarcasm. He was the
messenger of the gods, because ambassadors met at the frontiers; and
of eloquence, for the same reason. He invented the lyre and presided
over games, because contests in music, &c., were held on neutral ground ;
and he was said to have invented letters, because inscriptions were
engraved on upright pillars.

Stone-worship in its lower phases has, however, I think, a different
origin, and is merely a form of that indiscriminate worship which
characterizes the human mind in one phase of development.

Fire, again, is worshipped all over the world. In ancient times it
was far from being so easy to light a fire as it is now that we have lucifer
matches and various other appliances for the purpose. In some parts
of Tasmania and Australia the natives, if their fires went out, preferred
to go long distances to get a fresh spark from another tribe rather than
attempt to light one for themselves.

In somewhat more advanced communities, as, for instance, in some of
the North American tribes, and in the familiar instance of Rome, certain
individuals were told off to keep a fire continually burning. Thus would
naturally arise the idea that this fire was something sacred and holy.
The name of the slassical goddess of fire, Vesta, or Hestia, means lit
erally a hearth.

The worship of fire naturally reminds us of that of the heavenly bodies,
and especially of the sun and moon. When once the idea of religion
had arisen, no one can wonder that they should be regar ded as deities. To
us indeed this worship seems to contain much that is grand; and while
many writers have refused to believe it possible that man could ever
really have worshipped animals and plants, almost all have regarded that
of the sun and moon as natural and appropriate.

Yet the sun and moon do not appear to have suggested the idea of
divinity to the savage mind by any other process than that already
alluded to in the case of animals. The lowest races have never raised
their minds to the contemplation of the sun or moon as deities. This
worship commences only in the stage above Fetichism, that is to say, as
a form of Totemism; but it reaches its greatest importance at a sub-
sequent stage of religious development. Before quitting Totemism, it
may be well to observe that even objects most inappropriate, according
to our ideas, have been deified by various races.

Thus, in Central India, the Todas are said to worship a buffalo bull,

360 SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS CONDITION OF

pouring out libations of milk, and offering prayers to it. The Kotas
worship two silver plates, which they regard as husband and wife. They
have no other deity. The Kinumbas worship stones, trees, and ant-hills.
The Toreas, another neighboring hill tribe, worship especially a gold
nose-ring, Which probably once belonged to one of their women.

Many other inanimate objects have also been worshipped. Debrosses
mentions an instance of a king of hearts being made into a deity.

The South Sea Islanders, who represent a distinctly higher phase of
civilization than the hill tribes of Hindostan, or the red Indians of
North America, present us also with a higher form of religion. Their
deities are conceived as more powerful. In many islands there are tradi-
tions of a powerful being whoraised the land from below the waters, and in
Tonga, until lately, it is said that the very hook was shown with which
this was effected; still the deities cannot be regarded as creators,
because both earth and water existed before then. Neither was the
religion of the South Sea Islanders connected with morality. Their
deities were not supposed to reward the good or to punish the evil. In
the Tonga and other islands the common people were not supposed to
have souls at all. In Tahiti the natives believed in a future life, and
even in the existence of separation between the spirits, some going to a
much happier place than others. This, however, was not considered to
depend on their conduct during life, but on their rank—the chiefs going
to the happier, the remainder of the people to the less desirable locality.

The Feejeeans believe that, as they die, such will be their condition
after death. Moreover, the road to mould, or heaven, is long and diffi-
cult; many souls perish by the way, and no diseased or infirm person
could possibly succeed in overcoming all the dangers of the road.
Hence, as soon as a man feels the approach of old age, he notifies to his
children that it is time for him to die. A family consultation is then
held, a day appointed, and the grave dug. Mr. Hunt gives a striking
description of such a ceremony once witnessed by him. A young man
came to him and invited him to attend his mother’s funeral, which was
just going to take place. Mr. Hunt accepted the invitation and joined
the PL OueSSIO but was surprised to see no corpse. He asked where the
mother was, when the young man pointed out his mother, who, in Mr.
Hunt’s els was walking along ‘tas gay and lively as any of those
present.” When they arrived at the grave, she took an affectionate
farewell of her children and friends, and then cheerfully submitted to be
strangled.

So “general, indeed, was this custom in the Feejee Islands, that in

many villages there were literally no old people, all having been put to
death ; and if we are shocked at the error which led to such dreadful
results, we may at least see something to admire in the firm faith with
which they acted up to their religious “belief.

It will be observed that, up to ‘this stage, religion is entirely deficient
in certain characteristics with which it is generally regarded as inti-
mately associated. The deities are mortal; they are not ere ators; no
importance is attached to true prayers; virtue is not rewarded, nor vice
punished; there are no temples or priests; and, lastly, there are no
idols. .

Up to this stage, indeed, we find the same ideas and beliefs scattered
throughout the whole world, among races in the same low stage of men-
tal development.

From this point, however, differences of circumstance, differences of
government, differences of character, materially influence the forms of
religious belief, Natives of cold climates regard the sun as beneficent,

THE LOWER RACES OF MAN. 361

those of the tropics consider him as evil; hunting races worship the
moon, agriculturists the sun; again, in free communities thought is free,
and, consequently, progressive; despots, on the contrary, by a natural
instinct, endeavor to strengthen themselves by the support of spiritual
terrors, and hence favor a religion of sacrifices and of priests rather
than one of prayer and meditation.

Lastly, the ghar acter of the race impresses itself on the religion.
Poetry especially exercises an immense influence, as, for instance, has
been well shown by Max Miiller and Cox to have been the case with the
Greeks, the names of the Greek gods reappearing in the earlier Vedic
poetry as mere words denoting natural objects. Thus, Dyaus, in ancient
Sanscrit, means simply the sky; and the expression, the “sky thunders,”
meant originally no more than it does with us. The Greeks and
Romans, however, personified Dyaus, or Zeus; thus, they came to
regard him as a deity, the god of thunder, the lord of heaven, and thus
built up a whole mythology out of what were at first mere poetical
expressions. Time, however, does not permit me to enter on this inter-
esting part of the subject. I trust, however, that what I have said shows
that the opinions of savages, as regards religion, differ essentially from
those prevalent among us. ‘Their deities are scarcely more powerful
than themselves; they are evil, not good; they are to be propitiated by
sacrifices, not by prayer; they are not creators; they are neither omnis-
cient nor all-powerful; they neither reward the good nor punish the
evil; far from conferring immortality on man, they are not even, in all
cases, immortal themselves.

Where the material elements of civilization developed themselves with-
out any corresponding increase of knowledge, as, for instance, in Mexico
and Peru, a more correct idea of Divine power, without any correspond-
ing enlightenment as to the Divine nature, led to a religion of terror,
which finally became a terrible scourge of humanity.

Gradually, however, an increased acquaintance with the laws of nature
enlarged the mind of man. He first supposed that the deity fashioned
the earth, raising it out of the water, and preparing it as a dwelling-
place for man; and subsequently realized the idea that land and water
were alike created by Divine power. After regarding spirits as alto-
gether evil, he rose to a belief in good as well as in evil deities, and
gradually subordinating the latter to the former, worshipped the good
spirits alone as gods, the evil sinking to the level of demons.

From believing only in ghosts, he came gradually to the recognition
of the soul; at len gth uniting this belief with that in a beneficent and
just being, he connected morality with religion, a step the importance
of which | it is scarcely possible to over-estimate.

Thus we see that as men rise in civilization their religion rises with
them ; that far from being antagonistic to religion, without science, true
religion i is impossible.

The Australians dimly imagine a being, spiteful, malevolent, but weak,
and dangerous only in the dark.

The Negro’ s deity is more powerful, but not less hateful. Invisible,
indeed, but subject to pain, mortal like himself, and liable to be made
the slave of man by enchantment.

The deities of the South Sea Islanders are some good, some evil; but
on the whole, more is to be feared from the latter than fo be hoped ‘trom
the former. They fashioned the land, but are not truly creators, for
earth and water existed before them. They do not punish the evil, nor
reward the good. They watch over the affairs of men; but if, on the
one hand, witchcraft has no power over them, neither, on the other, can

362 SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS CONDITION OF

prayer influence them; they require to share the crops or the booty of
their worshipers.

Thus, then, every increase in science—that is, in positive and ascer-.
tained knowledge—brings with it an elevation of religion.

Nor is this progress confined to the lower races. Even within the last
century, science has purified the religion of Western Europe by rooting
out the dark belief in witchcraft, which led to thousands of executions,
and hung like a black pall over the Christianity of the Middle Ages.

Yet, in spite of these immense services which science has confessedly
rendered to the cause of religion, there are still many who look on it as
hostile to religious truth, forgetting that science is but exact knowledge,
and that he who regards it as incompatible with h#s religion, practically
admits that his religion is untenable.

Others, again, maintain that although science or religion cannot indeed
be at variance, yet that the teaching of scientific men, or rather of some
scientific men, is in open hostility with religion.

What justification is there, however, for thisidea? No scientific man,
so far as I know, has ever been supposed to have taught anything which
he did not himself believe. ‘That surely was their right—nay, their duty ;
their duty alike to themselves, to you, for their devotion to truth is
their best claim to your confidence—nay, to religion also, for nething
could be more fatal to religion than that it should be supposed to require
the suppression of truth.

No, the true spirit of faith looks on the progress of science, not with
fear but with hope, knowing that science can influence our religious con-
ceptions for good only.

Whether, then, as some suppose, science is destined profoundly to
modify our present religious views, or not—into which question I do
not now wish to enter—no one heed on that account regard it with appre-
hension or with distrust.

Far from it, we must be prepared to accept any conclusions to which
the evidence may lead; not in the spirit of resignation or of despair, but
in the sure and certain hope that every discovery of science, even if it
may conflict with our present opinions, and with convictions we hold
dear, will open out to us more and more the majestic grandeur of the
universe in which we live, and thus enable us to form nobler and there-
fore truer conceptions of religious truth.

The time, then, has surely now come, when scientific men need no
longer stand on the defensive, but may call on the state, which is now
making a great effort to establish a national system of education, and
has ever shown itself ready to assist in the prosecution of scientific
research—may call on the clergy, who exercise so great an influence—
no longer to ignore in our elementary and other schools the great dis-
coveries of the last thousand years, but to assist us in making them
more generally known to the people of this country; confident that a
better acquaintance with the laws which regulate the beautiful world
in which we live would not only diminish the evils from which we suf-
fer, and add greatly to the general happiness, but also tend to develop
our moral nature—to elevate and purify the whole character of man.

PRINCIPLES AND METHODS OF PALAEONTOLOGY.

By Tuomas Henry HuXLeEyY.

[The following article was published, in 1865, in “ A Catalogue of the Collection of
Fossilsin the Museum of Practical Geology,” &c. Although evidently written, at least
in part, long before its publication, it still remains one of the clearest and most com-
plete summaries of the subject yet published, and as the want of such a summary has
been frequently expressed, it is here reproduced. On account, however, of its length,
certain passages of simple local interest have been omitted.—H. ]

I.—PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS.

The formation of the collection of fossils in the Museum of Practical
Geology has been a necessary result of the operations of the geological
survey of Great Britain, whose officers have been engaged for many
years past in determining the structure of the British islands; that is, in
ascertaining what is the nature and the order of superposition of the
various irregular masses or regular ‘“ strata,”* piled one upon another,
which compose these like all other parts of the earth’s crust.

Tf rocks and stones were soft and easily cut, nothing would be easier
than the solution of these questions. It would be merely necessary to
make a sufficiently deep vertical cutting of the country in any required
direction, and the true order of the beds would be at once visible on
the walls of the section. But it is needless to say that in practice cut-
ting into rocks is a very difficult and a very expensive operation, and
that the making of such artificial sections as these, for geological pur-
poses, is wholly out of the question. The geological surveyor is, there-
fore, obliged to trust very largely to the accidental occurrence of natural
sections, such as are afforded by the sea cliffs or the scarped hills which
may occur in his line of work, and to such artificial aids as are inciden-
tally yielded by the sinking of shafts or the cutting of railroads.

It becomes, consequently, of essential importance to him to possess a
means of identifying the beds which he finds in one section with those
in another. Similarity or dissimilarity of mineralogical composition will
not always help him, as this quality not only varies in the same stratum,
but is similar in widely different strata; so that beds of limestone in one
place may correspond as regards age and position with sandy or clayey
strata elsewhere. On the other hand, the continuity of a stratum be-
tween any two points examined would be clear and decisive as to its
identity at the two points, but this evidence, for the reasons just stated,
is but rarely attainable; and where, as so frequently happens, the strata
have been disturbed from their original position, widely separated,
or partially destroyed between the two points, it becomes hopeless to
seek for any such proof. Were there no other test of the nature of a
stratum at any given point than its mineral character, and its continuity
with some other stratum whose place in the series was known, we might

*Srratum.—A single layer of the earth’s crust, whatever its composition, is techni-
cally termed a stratum. For simplicity’s sake, the often highly irregular masses of
igneous rock which enter largely into the composition of the earth’s crust, and which
might not technically be termed “strata,” may be left out of consideration.

364 PRINCIPLES AND METHODS OF PALAEONTOLOGY.

have a series of local topographies, but no science of geology; nor could
those great laws ever have been established by which the geologist,
acquainted with the surface rock of a country, is enabled to predict with
much confidence what may, and what cannot, be found beneath it.

These laws are in truth entirely based on the study of the “fossils ”
contained in the rocks; it is upon this science of fossils, or ‘ palaeon-
tology,”* that another and most important method of determining the
nature and order of the strata rests. Universal experience has shown
that every series of strata contains assemblages of fossils which are
peculiar to and characteristic of it; which are usually found in it, and
never found out of it; and observation has further demonstrated that
the strata thus characterized are arranged in an order of superposition
which is everywhere constant. It follows, therefore, that the fossils con-
tained in a stratum of rock are capable of revealing to us, at once, the
position of that stratum in the whole series, and of informing us what
lies above and what below it.

A common example will illustrate the practical value of the informa-
tion thus obtained.

It is shown by experience that in these islands extensive beds of good
workable coal are never found below that particular series of strata
termed, collectively, the ‘ carboniferous formation.” Nevertheless, fos-
silized vegetable matters occur in other strata, and have not unfre-
quently misled owners of estates into undertaking ruinously expensive
and wholly fruitless mining operations, which would never have been
commenced had they availed themselves of the information afforded by
the fossils of the surface rocks. For it is clear that a preliminary exami-
nation of these fossils will show at once whether they belong to strata
below the carboniferous rocks or above them. If the former be the case,
then the sinking a shaft is absurd, as every blow of the pickaxe must

take the miner, in reality, further away from the object of his search;
if the latter, on the other hand, success is at any rate possible, though
the expediency of making the attempt will depend upon many contin-
gencies.

Now it is clear that, if the fossils contained in the rocks constituting
the surface in every district of Great Britain had been examined, it would
be possible, by coloring a map of these islands in such a manner that all
those parts whose fossils indicated their inferiority to the carboniferous
formation should be blue, and all those which lay above it should be red,
to indicate at once to the miner where his search for coal might possibly
be successful, and where it must necessarily fail. And, furthermore, if
the fossils on which the coloring was based were placed i in a museum
for public inspection, it would be open to every one to examine for him-
self the evidence on which the map stood, and to satisfy himself of the
accuracy of this part of the work of the surveyors.

What is here supposed to be done with reference to this one set of
beds—the carboniferous formation—has, in effect, been performed by
the labors of the geological surveyors of Great Britain for all the strata
which enter into the composition of the British Islands. The place
where each constitutes the surface rock is marked by an appropriate
color on the maps of the survey. The fossils which have served as the
standards of comparison in determining the nature of the strata are
open to general inspection in the Museum of Practical Geology. In one
sense, therefore, the collection of fossils is simply the product of and
key to the maps of the survey.

* PALAEONTOLOGY. —Derived from three Greek words, signifying “ancient” and
“being ” and “discourse.” The science of ancient beings.

PRINCIPLES AND METHODS OF PALAEONTOLOGY. 365

Important as it is, however, to the welfare and prosperity of the
country that an accurate record should exist of the composition of its
share of the earth’s crust, whence the miner, the metallurgist, and the
mineralogist extract so many products of the ‘utmost value to man, and,
indeed, indispensable to the maintenance of his present complex state
of civilization to suppose that this immediate and so-called “ practical”
object of the collection is the only, or even the most important, end
that it subserves, would be as great an error as that of the barbarous
Oriental, who sees nothing but a convenient stone quarry in those mas-
sive pyramids, on whose walls the instructed Eastern traveler reads the
history of an ancient world, and learns the more, the more knowledge
and capacity he brings to the inquiry. In truth, the history, not merely
of one but of a series of ancient worlds, is written upon the rocks which
compose the solid coating of the globe in signs the meaning of which is
decipherable with far more ease and certainty than that of “hieroglyphic
or cuneiform inscriptions ; or we might say that, as it is the custom in
these times to deposit the coins and medals of the age under the founda-
tion stones of a building, so the Great Artificer has, as he laid each
course of stone in the world’s foundations, deposited coins and medals of
His striking, the remains of the then existing system of organic life,
the bones and shells of the contemporaneous living beings.

But a history in an unknown tongue can be profitable only to those
who will take the trouble to acquire : a knowledge of the construction of
the language, and of the signification of its words and signs. Now,

natural history, or the science of the structure and habits of living
beings, is the grammar and dictionary of the language of fossils. To
understand all ‘that fossils teach, natural history must have been the
study of a life; but a clear comprehension and careful recollection of a
few of its simpler principles will be suflicient to enable a person of in-
telligence, unversed in science, to appr ehend the wider bearings of the
collection. To afford this assistance is the sole object of the pres-
ent explanatory preface. It is intended to awaken even a casual visitor
to a sense of the profoundly interesting problems which the collection
forces upon our consideration ; to enable him to comprehend how it is
that the naturalist reads here, as plainly as if it were stated in to-day’s
paper, and with considerably more faith than he would place in any
mere human affirmation, that the earth has undergone a great series of
changes, stretching over enormous periods of time; that its living popu-
lation has not always been what it is now, but that the present kinds of
animals and plants have been preceded by others widely differing from
them, and these by others, and so on, for an indefinite series of altera-
tions; that these changes have been accompanied by constant altera-
tions in climate and in the level of the land and sea; finally, that the
period of time of which these records furnish the history is inconceiva-
bly immense.

These are weighty articles of belief, and nothing can seem, at first, to
be less likely than that the accumulation of oddly marked and shaped
stones, which are visible on the shelves around, should contain abund-
ant evidence of their validity and truth; but so it is. How it is, will
be rendered clear by what follows.

I].— BRIEF EXPOSITION OF THOSE PRINCIPLES OF NATURAL HISTORY
WHICH ARE OF THE MOST IMPORTANCE TO °*THE UNDERSTANDING
OF FOSSILS.

It has been stated that natural history is the key to palaeontology, and
hence, before attempting to learn the meaning of fossils, it is necessary

366 PRINCIPLES AND METHODS OF PALAEONTOLOGY.

to be acquainted with those principles of biological science which bear
most directly upon the subject:

1. The most important of all the generalizations of natural history,
and, indeed, one of the most brilliant. additions which the progress of
modern science has made to human knowledge, is the law that all ani-
mals and plants are associated and arranged according to certain fixed
laws.

Thus, to select an example from the animal kingdom: There is an
immense variety of hoofed ruminating animals, antelopes, sheep, oxen,
deer, giraffes, camels; but notwithstanding the extreme difference in
the aspect of these well-known creatures, the anatomist discovers that
os exhibit a great number of common characters. Thus—

. All possess a backbone, or vertebral column, separating the great
wetter of the nervous system from those of the alimentary and circu-
latory apparatus, and the latter is situated on the ventr al, front, or
downward face of the body; none have more than two pairs of limbs;
the chief central nervous sy ‘stem is not pierced by the alimentary canal.

b. All have a heart with four cavities; possess lungs and a midriff or
diaphragm ; and have two facets on the hinder part of the skull, for ar-
ticulation with the foremost bone of the spinal column. In all, each
half of the lower jaw is in a single piece, and is articulated directly
with the skull by a convex head; they all possess mammary glands for
suckling their young.

@; The teeth are in all more or less deficient in the front part of the
upper jaw; they all possess complex stomachs, and not more than two
completely developed long bones in the middle region of the fore and
hind feet.

It would be easy to make a drawing embodying all these peculiari-
ties, and that drawing would stand in ‘precisely the same relation to the
group of “ ruminants” (technically called “ Ruminantia”) as the ground
plan of a single house does to the street which the architect means to
build of houses of that size and general form. The superstructure of
each house may, if the architect pleases, be totally different in style,
without in any way interfering with his general plan; and similarly, in

each particular ruminant, the : common plan is preserved, while the de-
tails of the “ elevation,” the size, the figure, the proportions, the orna-
mentation in the way of color and horns, vary to an immense extent.

Having thus acquired a notion of the “common plan” of the rumi-
nantia, it F will be found, on turning to other equivalent groups or “ orders”
of the Mammalia, (or animals which suckle their young,) that a corre-
sponding common plan may be found for each; and when all these
common plans are compared together, it will be discovered that there are
certain respects in which they agree. All mammalia, in fact, possess the
anatomical characters enumerated under the preceding heads a@ and 6.
Hence, a drawing exhibiting these features would serve as a “common
plan” of the mammalia, and the common plans of the orders of mammals,
ruminantia,* carnivora, &c., might be regarded as modifications of the
plan of all mammals in the ‘same sense as each ruminant is a modifica-
tion of the common plan of allruminants. But now, if we were to extend
our researches further, and compare mammals w ith birds, reptiles, am-
phibia, and fishes, we should discover a still more remarkable fact, viz:
that all these creatures, and only these of all living things, possess the
character enumerated ‘under the first head. Hence, a drawing or dia-
gram embodying these characters would represent the common plan of

* Strictly speaking, the group Ruminantia is only a part of the modern order Artiodae-
tyla, but it was convenient here to use the term in its old sense and value, or rather
sub-order Artiodactyla of the order Ungulata.)

PRINCIPLES AND METHODS OF PALAEONTOLOGY. 367

these animals, which are collectively termed the Vertebrata ; and it would
stand in the same relation to the common plans of birds, mammals, rep-
tiles, amphibia, and fishes, as the ruminant plan did to oxen, sheep, and
antelopes.

By earrying investigations of this kind into the rest of the animal
kingdom it has been shown that every animal whatsoever is a modifica-
tion of one or other of five great common plans—the plan of the Vertebrata,
that of the Annulosa, that of the Celenterata, and that of the Protozoa.
This division of the animal kingdom is not generally adopted in this
country; that most prevalent recognizes the branches Vertebrata, Ar-
ticulata, Molusca, Radiata, and Protozoa.

It is most important, however, not to form a wrong idea as to the real
import of these ‘“‘“common plans.” We must regard them simply as de-
vices by which we render more clear and intelligible to our own minds
the great truth that the parts of living bodies are associated together
according to certain definite laws, Why it is that an animal which
suckles its young should invariably possess a double articular surface at
the back of its skull, should have the articular surface of its lower jaw
convex or flat and not concave, and should always be provided with
hairs and never with feathers, we know as little as why the earth turns
from west to east, and not from east to west; but if the morphological
law which expresses this invariable coexistence, or correlation, of organic
peculiarities has been as regularly verified by our experience as the as-
tronomical law, we may, for all practical purposes, reckon as securely
upon the constancy of one relation as upon that of the other.

It is, indeed, remarkable to how great an extent we may depend upon
these laws, and how seemingly unimportant, and in the present state of
physiology inexplicable, many of the most constant correlations of ani-
mal parts are. Thus the profoundest of “teleologists”* will, probably,
hesitate to attempt to account, by any physiological reasoning, for the
above-stated invariable occurrence of true hairs in those animals only
which suckle their young and have two occipital condyles; but, never-
theless, if a single hair be placed before a naturalist he will be able, in
many cases, not ‘only at once to decide that the animal to which it belongs
possesses a backbone, has four limbs, suckles its young, has a heart with
four distinct cavities, possesses lungs; but he may beable to go into minute
details as to the structure of its brain, "and the arrangement ‘and number of
its teeth. How does he know these things? Simply because experience
teaches him that the structure of the hair in question is found as a constitu-
ent part of only one particular plan of organization, and, therefore, may be
depended upon as an indication of all the other pec uliarities of that plan.
Just as w hen a particular characteristic fossil is found we may predi-
cate what other fossils will be found in the same bed, without having
the least idea of the why and the wherefore of the association; so the
apparently trivial and unimportant hair indicates, we know not why, all
the other structural peculiarities which experience shows to be associated
with it. We shall find the application of these truths by and by in con-
sidering the methods by which fossils are determined.

Important consequences flow from the fact that the forms of living
beings are modeled upon common plans, and, from the kind of relation
which oes between any actual form and its plan. Thus the vertebrate
plan, as has been seen, undergoes five modifications, each of which con-
stitutes the common plan of a large assemblage of animals—ot mammals,

* TRLEOLOGY The douts ‘ine of final causes. “ Teleologist,”’ one who seeks for the final
causes of phenomena.

368 PRINCIPLES AND METHODS OF PALAEONTOLOGY.

of birds, of reptiles, of amphibians, and of fishes; and if we select any
of these subordinate plans we find it again modified so as to constitute
the plans of the minor subdivisions of these great assemblages. The
reptilian plan is modified in one way to form the plan of the turtle tribe,
in another to constitute that of the crocodiles, in another that of the
lizards, of the snakes, and so forth. And, in like manner, the common
plan of any great division of the animal kingdom is seen, in nature, to
be modified into a series of more and more altered and s specialized plans,

each of which is common to the members of a progressively smaller sub-
division of the group, until at length we arrive at the smallest assem-
blage of beings w hich can be said to possess a particular common plan;
or, in other words, which exhibits characters common to all its constitu.
ents, and not possessed by those of any other group.

lt is by reason of these singular relations among the forms of living
beings that what is termed a “natural classification” is possible. In the
ordinary business of life, whenever it is necessary to recollect and have
at command a multiplicity of objects, we “classify” those cbjects; we
arrange them in groups or packets dis stinguished by particular marks
and havi ing a particular order. Thus itis ‘that the merchant art ranges
his wares, the librarian his books, the lawyer his papers; and the
naturalist, in like manner, would find it utterly impossible to grapple
with the details ot the two or three hundred thousand distinct forms of
living beings, which are the object of his study, unless he could in some
way classify and arrange them.

Now the aim of classification may vary. Many persons imagine that
natural history is the knowledge of the names which have been affixed
to animals and plants by men of science; and the wish of such persons
is to have a classification so contrived as to enable them, with the least
possible trouble, to ascertain what name has been affixed to an object,
or, better still, to determine that no name has been given to it, when
they have the satisfaction of baptizing it themselves. These “natural-
ists,” necessarily, desire in a classification only a good index and diction-
ary of the names of animals and plants, and it matters not by what marks
they designate their groups so long as those marks are easily discovera-
ble and readily remembered. Thus, plants might be divided according
to the number of stamens in the flower, while animals might be classed
ane ne to the number of their teeth, the shape and number of their
legs, &c.; and arrangements of this kind, if skillfully made, might have
no small value and use in helping us to discover what animals and plants
are, and what are not known, but it is clear they would be purely arbi-
trary; there would be no necessar y relation between the members of the

various groups beyond the single point in which they agree; in other
words, the classification would “be ‘‘artificial” and not “natural. a

But the low conception of the objects of the science of natural history,
from which such artificial classifications flowed, has given place to other
and higher views, and with it all artificial systems have become exploded,
or relegated to their proper place as mere aids to the memory. The nat-
uralist of the present day, in fact, stands to him of the past in the relation
of a Niebuhr, a Hallam, ora Guizot, to the gossiping compiler of achronique
scandaleuse, or, at best, to a Froissart or a Burnett. Without despising
the importance of a knowledge of the names and habits of living beings,
he sees beyond this, and overruling it, a higher and a nobler aim—the
investigation of the laws of life, of the principles discoverable amid the
multiform structures of living beings, and of the relations in which they
stand to one another and to the surrounding universe.

For such objects an artificial classification is useless, if not obstructive.

PRINCIPLES AND METHODS OF PALAEONTOLOGY. 369

The laws of life can only be obtained by observation of the facts of life
and generalization from those facts, and the philosophical naturalist
seeks that classification which shall best enable him to remember facts
and generalizations already won, and shall most efficiently assist him to
obtain others.

As Cuvier has well expressed it, modern classification endeavors to
throw the facts of the structure of living beings into the fewest possible
general propositions. Each living being, therefore, has been compared
with all others, and those from which it is not separated by any constant
difference are grouped together as one “species.” The different species
have next been compared, and those which agree in some one or more
characters, while they differ from all others in these characters, are
arranged into a larger group, called a “genus.” By a like procedure,
genera have been erouped into “families ;” these into “orders,” orders
into “classes,” and classes into “subkingdoms,” which last are the pri-
mary subdivisions of the animal and vegetable “kingdoms” respectively.

The resemblances and differences upon which the groups are founded,
being based on a comparison of the whole organization of living beings,
are thorough and fundamental, and, as it were, indicated by nature her-
self. Hence this mode of classification has been termed “natural,” in
contradistinetion to those previously referred to, the divisions of which
are founded on insulated and superficial relations.

But it is obvious that if animals and plants were not constructed upon
common plans, it would be impossible to throw them into groups
expressive of their greater or less degree of resemblance, such as those
of the natural classification. In fact, the doctrine of “‘common plan”
and of “natural classification” are but two ways of expressing the great
truth, that the more closely we examine into the inner nature of living
beings, the more clearly do we discern that there is a sort of family
resemblance among them all, closer between some, more distant between
others, but still pervading the whole series.

There is yet another way in which this doctrine has been expressed.
In every group there is some average form, some form which occupies a
sort of central place, around which the rest seem to arrange themselves;
and this form may therefore be taken as the representative of the group,
as the nearest actual embodiment of the common plan. Such a form is
commonly called the type of the group; and in this sense an antelope
might be termed the type of the Ruminantia j; a dog of the Carnivora.
It is in this sense that the word “type” will be used in these pages; but
it is proper to remark that the term is not uncommonly applied to the
most characteristic and marked form of a group. In this sense a cat
rather than a dog would, perhaps, be selected as a typical carnivore.

The phrase “family resemblance” has been used above, and it, perhaps,
expresses better than any other the sort of likeness which exists among
the members of anatural group; specific and generic alliance having the
same sort of relation as brotherhood and cousinhood. But it is import-
ant to remember that the classification of animals and plants stands on
its own basis, and is entirely independent of physiological considera-
tions. For the purposes of the classifier it is wholly immaterial whether,
as some maintain, ‘‘species” are immutable and have taken their origin
independently of one another, directly from the hand of the Creato MT ;
or whether, as others think, they are indefinitely modifiable, and have
all resulted from the changes induced by external influences upon some
common stock. If all forms of living beings were fossil, and we knew
nothing about life, the natural classification of animals and plants would
be exactly what it is now; except as it might be affected by the resulting

248

370 PRINCIPLES AND METHODS OF PALAEONTOLOGY

deficiencies in our knowledge. At the same time, the inquiry into the
permanence or modifiability of species is, in itself, of the highest i import-
ance and interest; and it will be necessary to advert to the bearings of
the little definite evidence we at present possess upon the subject i in
some of the following pages.

(Here follows in the original, on pages xix—xxix, a review of the
sub-kingdoms and classes of animals: but as there are several disputed
points, and as the author himself has since modified his views, they are not
reproduced.)

The Protozoa, as a whole, are evidently simpler in structure and less
variously endowed than the Cehlenterata; the Cehlenterata than the
Mollusca or Annulosa; and none of the last approach either birds or
mammals in complexity.

Again, a lamprey is a simpler animal than a horse, a worm than a bee.

These indubitable facts are commonly expressed by the phrase that
the simpler animals are lower and less perfect than the higher, and this
indeed, in one sense, they truly are. But we should greatly err in sup-
posing ‘that less perfection implies imperfection; or in imagining that the
less perfect animal is in any way unfitted for the conditions under which
it lives. Were it so, its race would necessarily sooner or later cease to
exist. If we look closely into the matter, it will be found that by “less
pertect” and “low in the scale of life,” one of two things is meant, either
firstly, that the creature of which the assertion is made is a less compli-

cated apparatus; or secondly, that the parts of which it is composed
differ from one another comparatively little in form and structure.

It is worth while to consider each of these cases more fully. Every
animal (indeed it might be said every living thing) has in the gross the
same kind of work to do: it has to take in the ‘food necessary for its
support; it has to change this into other products and to mold them into
its own peculiar form. Lastly, it has to exhibit that kind of reaction
upon external impressions which is known as ‘‘ irritability.” Absorption,
metamorphosis, and irritability, these are the three great “ functions”
of all animals.

Now the difference between one animal and another, as to the mode
in which the functions are performed, is very similar to the difference
which exists between one human society and another, as to the mode in
which the affairs of life are carried out. All human wants may be
summed up in two words: sustenance and freedom; but the mode in
which men secure the satisfaction of their wants varies with the perfec
tion of their social state. In savage life every man procures his own
food, and relies for his security from constraint upon the strength of his
ownarm. But this state of thingsis manifestly incompatible with any
great advance, either in those arts which minister to the physical, or in
those which satisfy the moral nature. If a man has to find his food
every day he will not spend much time in cooking it; and if he is liable
to be attacked by an eneiny at all hours, he is pretty sure never to at-
tain to much eminence as a painter or a violinist. By the necessity of
the case, then, where every man has to do everything for himself, noth-
ing will ‘be done very well; no man will be much better than another,
and none will be very far above the level of mere animal existence.

Contrast this state of things with that which obtains among the
active members of a highly civilized society, such as our own. Hach
devotes himself to one occupation, striving to earry out that in the best
possible manner; and trusting to others who devote themselves to other
specialities for the satisfaction of all the rest of his wants. There is a
“division of labor ;” the wants of mankind are split up, as it were, into

PRINCIPLES AND METHODS OF PALAEONTOLOGY. rf

a hundred subdivisions, and every man charges himself with the satis-
faction of one of these subdivisions, hoping that, in exchange, his own
ninety-nine wants will be satisfied by others. So that, in one sense, a
hundred civilized men may be said to be the equivalent of but one sav-
age; while, if, on the other hand, we regard the nature of the products
of civiliz ition, and balance the sum of the work done on each side, the
advantage on the side of civilization is infinite.

It is precisely this division of the physiological* labor, the organism,
which constitutes the first of the two great kinds of difference between
animals. Some Protozoa have no definite aperture for the taking in of
food, no muscles, and no limbs. Every part of the body-wall may serve
in turn as mouth or locomotive organ. In others there is a mouth, but
no definite alimentary canal, and the contractile locomotive apparatus
is limited to one part of the body. In the Celenterata the mouth and
digestive cavity are permanently appropriated to that office, though not
separate from the rest of the cavity of the body. The motor organs are
still more definite and serve as organs of prehension and offense. In
the Mollusca the digestive cavity is permanent and completely separated
from the walls of the body. A blood system is developed to carry the
nutritive matter to all parts of the body. Another portion of the organ-
ism is converted into muscle, and can do little but contract ; another
has nothing to do but to form shell; another, the nervous system and
organs of sense, is charged with the sole duty of putting the different
parts of the organism in relation with one another, and with the external
world. Thus, in the mollusk, each part of the organism is charged with
a special function, and, to the same extent, has become dependent on
others. The stomach that digests depends on the blood for its own
nourishment. The muscle that enables the animal to seize its prey
would perish without the aid of the stomach and the blood, and would
be ineffectual without the nervous system which guidesit. The mollusk
does no more in the long run than the Amaba; it absorbs food, it modi-
fies it, and it exhibits irritability, but the manner in which it does all
these things is infinitely superior, and enables it to display powers of
which the Ameba exhibits no trace.

It is needless to pursue the argument further, or it would be easy to
show that the difference between man and the mollusk, as physiological
machines, is of the same kind as that between the mollusk and the pro-
tozoon ; in short, physiological periection is in proportion to the division
of the labor of the whole organism among organs specially adapted to
particular offices. :

The other sense in which perfection is attributed to living beings is
morphological.t The Mollusca, asa whole, are more perfect than the
Celenterata, because they exhibit a greater number of specialized and
diversiform parts and organs, quite irrespective of the functions of
those parts and organs; and the vertebrata, in their fundamental char-
acter, the possession of a true primordial internal skeleton, exhibit a
oreater complexity of structure than any mollusk, or any annulose
animal.

It of course usually happens that physiological and morphological
complexity go hand in hand, but it should be remembered that the con-
junction is not a necessary one. ‘The lowest vertebrate animal, for in-

* PuyYsIOLOGY.—The science which treats of the forces exerted by living beings
irrespective of their forms; except so faras these contribute to the exertion of these
forces.

+t MorpHoLoGy.—The science which treats of the forms of living beings without re-
gard to their functious.

ole PRINCIPLES AND METHODS OF PALAEONTOLOGY.

stance, is in some morphological respects more complex than the highest
mollusk, but physiologically it is less so.

One other commonly-used phrase, expressive of the relation between
different kinds of living beings, requires explanation, as its employment
in an erroneous sense has led to grave errors. There is a current im-
pression that the lower animals correspond with the embryonic condi-
tions of the higher; that, in the course of their development, the lower
animal advances up to a certain point and then stops, while the higher
@9es8 On.

This notion, however, is entirely incorrect; there is no known adult
animal w hich would be 1 egarded by any naturalist as of the same species
with any early condition of another animal, if the two were submitted
to him for comparison. In no stage of their existence would a compe-
tent naturalist regard embryonic reptiles, or mammals, as fishes; in no
stage would he take an insect for a worm, or a cuttlefish for any lower
mollusk. The whole of this idea, the truth of which has been assumed
so often in geological speculations, rests upon a misunderstanding of an
undoubted tact, namely, that there is a time in the development of each
when all members of a sub- kingdom resemble one another very closely,
and that they remain alike for a longer or shorter period according to
the closeness or remoteness of their affinity. Thus there is a time when
the embryo of a fish could be hardly distinguished from that of a rep-
tile, a bird, ora mammal. But the embryo ‘fish sooner becomes unlike
a mammal "than the embryo reptile or bird; and the embryo quadru-
pedal mammal remains longer like a human embryo than does that of a
fish or reptile.

Thus all animals in their youngest condition have, for a longer or
shorter time, a similar form, from which each div erges to take its spe-
cial configuration; if one may So say, they travel alone the same road for
a shorter or lon ger distance, and then each goes aside to its own place.
But this is a very different matter from any one form being an arrest
of development of another. Of two men traveling together along the
great North road, one may be going to Newcastle and the other to
York. But it would be a very insufficient and erroneous description of
the journey of the one to say that is was merely that of the other cut
short.

3. The next great principle of natural history of which some definite
notion must be obtained, is the doctrine of what is called the “ distribu-
tion” of living beings. It is a matter of familiar experience that ele-
phants, lions, and rhinoceroses are not at present indigenous in Gree
Britain; and humming birds, crocodiles, and flying fish are as strange
to us as are the white bear, the ermine, and the musk ox. Nevertheless,
the latter animals are found abundantly in more northern latitudes,
while the former swarm within the tropics. Were any one to visit the
countries in which the white-bear and the crocodile respectively abound,
he would discover that there was a certain northern limit beyond which
the crocodile was never seen; and, on the other hand, that the white
bear never ranzes south of a given ‘latitude. In other words, the white
bear and the crocodile are found within, or are distributed over, certain
limited spaces of the earth’s surface, and lines drawn on a globe’ so as to
inclose these spaces, would indicate the “ geographical distribution” of
these animals.

There are hardly any species of animals and plants which are not in
like manner confined withim limited geographical areas, and hence if we
were to set out from England, and travel either due south or due north,

PRINCIPLES AND METHODS OF PALAEONTOLOGY. ate

we should find that a gradual change would take place in the fauna*
and flora of the countries traversed, their inhabitants differing more and
more widely from those of this country, the more nearly they approxima-
ted either the pole or the equator. Nor is this result other than might
be naturally expected, for we know how closely dependent the health and
strength of animals and plants are upon the amount of heat, ght, and
moisture to which they are exposed; and in traveling dre north or due
south, these climatal conditions necessarily become very greatly altered.
A corresponding change in the flora and fauna is observed when, in a
mountainous country, we ascend from the plains to the line of perpet-
ual snow; and the animal and vegetable inhabitants of the sea in like
manner vary in character and abundance at different depths. But these
cases also seem readily intelligible, for elevation has much the same
effect on climate as northing; and every fathom of increased depth in
the sea corresponds with a certain diminution in the amount of light
and a certain alteration in temperature.

Again there seems to be no difficulty in understanding why, as we
find to be the case, terrestrial animals and plants differ from those whose
existence is spent in the water; nor why, among purely aquatic crea-
tures, the inhabitants of fresh water are usually widely different from
those of the sea. The discrepancy in form seems quite in harmony with
the discrepancy in external circumstances.

But there are some other facts connected with distribution, the cause
of which is by no means so obvious. If the traveler, instead of moving
to the north or to the south of this country, journeyed east or west, keep-
ing as nearly as possible within similar climatal conditions, he would,
nevertheless, still find that the successive faunas and floras through
which he passed were widely different; and if a voyager were to cir-
cumnavigate the globe between the parallels of 40° and 60° 8., touch-
ing at ports in the continents of Africa, Australia, and America, the

differences between the indigenous animals of each country would be
immense, and altogether out of proportion to the changes in climatal
conditions.

The globe, then, may be marked out by boundary lines, some of which
run northerly and southerly, and others easterly and westerly, into a
number of districts or ‘‘ provinces,” each of which is characterized by a
peculiar assemblage of animals and plants. And again, each district
might be subdivided by lines parallel with the horizon, into zones of
depth and of height, in each of which a certain group of this assem-
blage would flourish. It must be remembered, however, that neither
zones nor provinces are capable of a strict limitation, there being always
a border-land between every two, in which the inhabitants of both are
mixed.

The phenomena of distribution in depth are particularly worthy of
attention, from their bearing on geology; for it is obvious that if we
are enabled to lay down certain rules with regard to the depth at which
particular forms live, we shall be able, when we find these forms in an
ancient sea-bed, to form a judgment as to the depth of that sea-bed, and
hence, in many cases, to gather valuable indications as to the proximity
or distance of dry land. Every one who has walked along the sea shore
is familiar with certain forms of life—barnacles, limpets, periwinkles,

*The term “ Fauna” is applied to the whole of the animal inhabitants, ‘ Flora” to the
whole of the plants, of a district or country. Thus, the fauna of Africa means all the
animals found in Africa; the flora of India, the flora of Kent, means all the plants
found in India and Kent respectively. In speaking thus it will be understood that the
“indigenous” animals and plants, or those which naturally exist in a country, are alone
referred to.

374 PRINCIPLES AND METHODS OF PALAEONTOLOGY.

dogwhelks, shore crabs, which cover the rocks between high and low
water marks. During calm weather he might imagine that these consti-
tuted the chief inhabitants of the sea; but should a heavy gale of wind
set in landwards, he is soon undeceived, for the waves, tearing up the
sea bottom at depths greater than those which are ordinarily, “exposed
by the recession of the tide, cast on shore vast numbers of new crea-
tures, such as whelks, sandstars, corallines, and great masses of sea-
weed. with whole colonies of animals attached to them, which habitually
remain in the deeper regions.

Not satisfied with such accidental revelations, modern investigators
have systematized and extended the explorations of marine depths by
means of the use of the “dredge,” a simple apparatus, long used by
oyster fishermen to procure their merchandise, and, of course, equally
applicable to the dragging up of other inhabitants of the floor of the
sea.

It results from a long series of such observations that at least five
zones, each characterized by peculiar forms of animal or vegetable life,
may be distinguished at different depths. They are, 1st, the “littoral”
zone, Cor responding 2 with the interval between high and low watermar ks;
2d, the “cireumlittoral” zone, extending from Jow water mark to the
lowest limit at which the coral- like plant Nullipora is found, a depth, in
our latitudes, of between fifteen and twenty fathoms; 3d, the “median”
zone, characterized by the abundance of Polyzoa and Sertularide which
it exhibits, and by the predominance of carnivorous forms among its
Mollusca; it extends in our seas to about fifty fathoms; 4th, the ‘ infra-
median,” and, 5th, the *“‘abyssal” zones lie beyond this, but can be hardly
said at present to be well defined. It is in them that our corals and
Brachiopoda flourish. Much attention has of late been paid to the
investigation of the deep sea animals and plants, and numerous species
have been found at very great depths. As might have been expected,
from the greater uniformity of physical conditions at such depths, the
same species have been found at very distant localities, and exhibit a
wide geographical range in latitude as well as longitude. Another
peculiarity more marked even than could have been anticipated i is the
affinity and even identity of many species with tertiary and cretaceous
forms.

The extreme limits of vegetable and of animallife are not known. The
higher Alga, such as sea weeds and Nullipora, are, in our own latitudes,
not found below twenty fathoms; but it is not improbable that the
Diatomacee flourish at the furthest limits of life.

Both the number of species and the number of individuals of animals
diminish at greater depths. A greater profundity than two hundred
fathoms is not to be reached within a very considerable distance of any
part of the British coasts; but in both northern and southern seas living
animals have been drawn up from more than three hundred fathoms (or
1,800 feet) below the surface. It is important to remark that the inhab-
itants of these and still greater depths, however diminished in number,
do not appear to become degraded in organization, but consist of Crus-
tacea, Echinodermata, Gasteropoda, Lamellibranchiata, Polyzoa, and Acti-
nozoa, of types quite as elevated as those which are found i in more shallow
waters, but they are frequently less brilliantly colored than the latter.
While the laws of distribution, as they have been at present determined,
therefore, do not enable us to say precisely at what depth living animals
can no longer exist, nor even to trace the influence of depth in modity-
ing their forms, they seem, nevertheless, to point to certain assemblages
as characteristic of certain ranges of depth. For instance, limpets and
periwinkles appear to be absolutely characteristic of shallow water, being

’

PRINCIPLES AND METHODS OF PALAEONTOLOGY. 375

found but a very short way beyond tide marks. The lower limit of the
plant Nullipora, on the other hand, seems to mark in all seas the line of
demarcation between moderate depths (under one hundred fathoms) and
great depths.

We must remember, however, in attempting to apply these generali-
zations, that as yet distribution in depth has hardly been fairly worked
out, even in temperate latitudes, and that before we can safely enunciate
laws of general application, a vast number of observations must be made
in both tropical and arctic climates.

The fact of the apparently capricious limits which have been assigned
to many animals has been alluded to above. That all animals are
adapted to the conditions in which they live is a truism, for if they were
not so adapted they would not live, but die; but the strange fact is that
we do not always find animals in those conditions for which they are
adapted. Atthe present day millions of horses run wild over the Pampas
of South America, and these great plains are overspread with a peculiar
kind of thistle; there can be no doubt, therefore, that the climatal and
other conditions of this part of the American continent are eminently fa-
vorable to both horses and thistles. Nevertheless, at the period of the
discovery of the Americas, neither the horse nor the thistles existed in
these regions.

In like manner, eighty years ago, neither horse, nor ox, nor sheep
grazed the wide pastures of Australia; now they flourish and run wild
there. The same is true of New Zealand. The little fresh-water muscle,
the Dreissena, now so common in our canals, having swarmed over
the whole country, is a recent importation from Eastern Europe. Con-
ditions most favorable for its existence have existed for ages, and yet it
only now reaches them artificially. However trite may be the assertion,
therefore, that animals are fitted for their conditions, the converse propo-
sition, that conditions imply the existence of creatures fitted to flourish
in them, is manifestly untrue.

Again, the existing distribution of animal life furnishes good grounds
for exercising the greatest caution in reasoning from the population of
one area, however vast, to that of another. A “naturalist might be per-
fectly acquainted with the indigenous animal inhabitants of all South
America and Australia, and yet not know that there were such things in
the world as the elephant, the rhinoceros, the hippopotamus, the giraffe,
the lion, the tiger, the horse, the ox, the ‘sheep, or the goat. He might
be fully’ acquainted with the population of all the enormous area which
contains Australia and the Pacific Islands, and yet not only be ignorant
of the animals just mentioned, but might never even have heard of bears,

eats, monkeys, ruminants, sloths, or ant. eaters. Finally, the exclusively
African naturatist might fairly conclude from his own experience that
great quadrupeds abound everywhere, and that there are no such things
as kangaroos or opossums.

The commonest facts in distribution, therefore, teach us that it is
never safe to apply conclusions based upon the investigation of a limited
area, however large, to the animal inhabitants of the rest of the world.

There is yet another caution necessary in reasoning from the facts of
distribution. It should be well borne in mind that the connection between
a given form and the conditions in which that form flourishes is, in the
great majority of cases, unknown to us. The laws of distribution are
for the most part purely empirical; they are merely the expression of
observed facts, of the reason of which we know nothing. If we observe
species A always in a warm climate and species B always ina cold one,
we may conclude if we find specimens of A and B that the climates in

376 PRINCIPLES AND METHODS OF PALAEONTOLOGY.

which they flourished were respectively warm and cold. The force of
the conclusion will depend upon the extent of our previous observation
with regard to A and B. In practice, and within certain limits, such a
conclusion is probably valid, but it is a very different matter if the ar-
gument is put, as it more commonly is, thus: Species A and B are
found respectively in hot and cold climates; therefore species a, which
is very like A, though not the same, and species 6, which is very like
b, though distinet, indicate that the climates in which they flourished
were respectively warm and cold.

This argument, it is obvious, is only valid on the assumption that cer-
tain amount of similarity of form implies similarity of necessary condi-
tions; and the question immediately arises: How much similarity of
form implies how much similarity of condition?

In the present state of science no definite answer can be given to this
question. It is not understood why some genera are well-nigh universal
in their distribution, others limited in their area. No comparison of the
osteology of the arctic fox and of the jackal, of the pola’ bear and of the
black bear, of the musk ox and of the buffalo, would enable the ana-
tomist to tell which of these species inhabits an arctic, and which a
warmer climate. And on the other hand, though the existing species
of hippopotamuses, rhinoceroses, and elephants are now exclusively in-
habitants of warm climates, it is certain that very similar species
formerly flourished in climates at least.as cold as that of England, if not
much colder.

That these difficulties beset the enunciation of laws of distribution of
general application, indicates what is tolerably certain on other grounds,
that the existing ar rangement of living beings on the surface of the globe
is a complex re esult, the product of thei inter: action of a number of distinct
causes. It is pretty clear, indeed, from what we know of life, that the
presence or absence of any particular living being, on any given spot of
the earth’s surface, must depend on these conditions:

1st. The mode and place of origin of that kind of living being.

2d. Its powers of voluntary migration.

3d. The extent to which it has undergone involuntary migration in
consequence of changes in the distribution of sea and land, currents, &e.

4th. The range of ‘climatal and other conditions under which alone it

can exist. /

If we had these data for each species, its distribution would be a matter
of calculation. But unfortunately they are not yet ascertained for any
species whatsoever; nor is there, with regard to one or two, that agree-
ment among men of science as to the probabilities of the case which
would be desirable.

Thus, respecting the first condition, no one has ever witnessed the
origin of a species, nor is there any scientific evidence as to the mode or
place of origin of any living thing.

As to the hypothetical views, all the possible alternatives have their
advocates. There are those who suppose that all living beings were
created at once, in one spot, whence they have subsequently migrated ;
but persons of sound intellect, acquainted with the facts, usually attach
themselves to one of two other views. On the one hand, some conceive
that all living beings were created as we find them, and where we find
them; or that, at any rate, they are the descendants of a stock created
within a distance not greater than can be overcome by the voluntary or
involuntary migration of the species. Those who entertain this view
usually suppose that a species once created can only be modified to a
very limited extent.

PRINCIPLES AND METHODS OF PALAEONTOLOGY. 318

On the other hand, their opponents maintain that there is no evidence
that species were created as we find them, but that there is reason to
believe that all living things are the result of the gradual modification
of one or more primitive forins.

Passion and the odium theologicum are too often allowed to enter into
the discussion of these views. The triumph of either, except so far as
it is the triumph of truth, is to the man of science, however, a matter
of profound indifference; and in this spirit the arguments on both sides.
are thus shortly summed up:

a. Those who maintain the first view urge that all evidence tends to
show that, in the ordinary course of things, living beings can only take
their origin from pre-existing living beings; so that, even if the indefi-
nite modifiability of species were admitted, it would yet be necessary to
suppose a direct creative interposition in order to account for the first
germ of all; and if we admit one direct interposition, it is said, there is
no difficulty in admitting twenty or twenty thousand. To this it is
replied, that, although there may be no greater difficulty in the one case
than in the other, yet the assumption of creative acts, being in reality
nothing more than a grandiloquent way of expressing our ignorance of
the real connection of the phenomena, and our incompetence to conceive
their origination, every reduction in the number of such assumptions is
a clear gain to science.

It is furthermore urged that the direct creation of a species is an
occurrence which not only has no scientific evidence in its favor, but is,
in the nature of things, incapable of being supported by such evidence.
For, suppose that ina glass of water, perfectly free from a trace of organic
matter, a new species of fish were suddenly to make its appearance
before the eyes of half a dozen naturalists, not one of them would believe,
or would be justitied in believing, that this was a direct creation out of
nothing. Philosophically it would be illogical, and religiously it would
be mere superstition to believe that which is in direct contradiction to
our universal experience of the modes of action of the Creator..

b. It is affirmed that, in some cases, animals and plants of the same
species inhabit such completely separated regions that their origin,
except by independent creation, within their present area is inconceiv-
able. One of the strongest cases of this kind is that afforded by a
marine crustacean, sometimes seen in our fish markets, the Norway
lobster, (Nephrops norvegicus.) This animal is found on the shores of
Norway and of the northern parts of the British islands, but not on our
southern shores, nor on the Atlantic coast of France, Spain, or Portu-
gal; it reappears, however, at Nice in the Mediterranean, and abounds
in the Adriatic about Venice.

There appears to be no doubt that the northern and the southern
forms are specifically identical, and it is naturally asked, how could
these isolated detachments of one species have migrated to such widely-
separated points without leaving some colonies on the only road which
is open to them, viz., the western shores of Europe? And if their
present distribution is not to be accounted for by migration, how is it
explicable, except by supposing that the stock of each detachment was
created where we find it ?

Were the limits of the land and sea fixed and unchangeable, were
there no such things as geological change, the problem might seem to
be insoluble. But the instability of the land and the consequent inces-
sant alteration of dry land and deep sea at the very same points of the
earth’s surface, are the first lessons of the student of geology. This
being the case, however, the argument at once loses its force; for if by
the submergence of Central Europe the Mediterranean and the North

378 PRINCIPLES AND METHODS OF PALAEONTOLOGY.

Seas ever communicated, the Nephrops would readily have spread from
Norway to the Adriatic, or vice versa ; and when the central mass of
Europe rose again, the area of its distribution would be cut in two, and
the northern and southern fragments only left.

That this is the explanation of the apparent anomaly would be proved
if Nephrops norvegicus were found fossil in any of the strata constituting
the present land of Central Europe. So long as this is not the case it
can only be regarded as hypothesis more probable than that of special
creation at two points, and hence excluding the necessity of adopting
the latter.*

Many cases of distribution which have been supposed to be similar
to that of Nephrops, and adduced as such by the advocates of many
centers of creation, have been shown to be not really of the same nature,
the widely separated forms not being in reality of identical species.

c. The great question, however, upon which the two schools of natu-
ralists divide is: Are species permanent? In other words, is it possible
that any conditions operating through any amount of time upon any
number of generations of a species A, shall give rise to a distinct spe-
cies B?

In this, as in all other instances where thinking men entertain flatly
contradictory opinions, the difficulty of coming to a mutual understand-
ing appears to arise in a great measure from the want of a clear appre-
hension of one another’s meaning. In the present case it is probable
that no two persons attach precisely the same signification to thé word
“ species.”

Most naturalists admit, indeed, fhat species have a distinct physiolo-
gical character, viz: that the intermixture of two species will not pro-
duce a fertile race, even if it gives rise to any progeny at all; but, un-
fortunately, this test is, from the nature of the case, practically inappli-
cable, not only to the great majority of living animals and plants, but
to all fossils.

In practice, therefore, the naturalist is obliged to neglect the physio-
logical characters of a species, and to confine himself entirely to those
which can be founded on form and structure. In this sense a species
is the smallest group to which distinctive and invariable characters can
be assigned.

If, to use a seemingly paradoxical expression, all living beings were
extinect—if they were represented by a limited number of fossils, and
lay before us as things to be arranged and classified, the practical appli-
cation of this definition of species would have no difficulty. Sooner or
later the whole organic world would be sorted out into the smallest
parcels which could be characterized by a definition, and these would
be “ species.”

It is obvious that the task would be equally easy were all living
beings absolutely immutable; if every member of a species were exactly
hike its fellows, and if all progeny precisely resembled its parentage.

If every dog, for example, were precisely like every other dog, and
every puppy exactly similar to its parents, there could be no difficulty
about defining the species dog, nor could there be any hesitation in
deciding whether a given animal belonged to the species dog or the
species wolf.

Unfortunately for scientific ease, no such immutable forms exist in
nature. Like everything else in the world, a living being is a compro-

*Species of the genus Nephrops have, curiously enough, been found fossil in Central
France (department of the Yonne) at a point about half way between the northern and
southern area of N. norvegicus.

PRINCIPLES AND METHODS OF PALAEONTOLOGY. 379

mise, a resultant of all the forces which act upon it; and though, like
a planet, it tends with an immense force to move in a course of its own,
yet, like that planet, it is affected and perturbed more or less by all sur-
rounding conditions.

Hence, inasmuch as no two living beings can ever possibly have been
subjected to precisely the same conditions, it is not wonderful that no
two ever were, or ever will be, precisely alike; nor is it strange that
species vary in proportion to the variety of the conditions to which they
are exposed.

It is needless to do more than refer to facts which le within every
one’s experience. No person is unaware of the difference in the result
produced when two seeds from the same plant, or two animals from the
same brood, are exposed to Widely different conditions in respect of light,
warmth, and nourishment.

In all such cases, however, the modification is limited in amount, and
no modification of conditions will so mask the characters of the species
as to prevent their recognition in either the stunted or the overgrown
individual. For every individual, therefore, it can hardly be doubted
that specific characters are permanent and immutable. Do what =
will with a sheep-dog puppy, you will not turn him into a wolf.

It is obvious, ther efore, that thus far the influence of conditions ean
be shown to have no appreciable effect in permanently modifying spe-
cies; for, if the offspring of the modified individual were in all respects
like its parent before the modification of the latter, it is clear that the
whole influence of the modifying conditions would only bring ‘c co the
same point as the parent; that the modification in any numer o% gene-
rations would go no further; and that when the influence uf these con-
ditions was removed, the species would at once return te its primitive
and typical form. Thus , Suppose a pair of sheep-dog puppies could be
converted into ereyhounds by a peculiar course of food and training ;
for anything which has been yet stated they would produce puppies
which would only become grey hounds under a like course, and if lett
to themselves, would resume their pure and unchanged sheep-dog char-
acter.

Now, in nature this is not the case, by reason of the great fact of
hereditary transmission. Every living ‘being i is, it has been said above,
the resultant of all the forces which ‘act upon it; the statement is in-
complete unless we add: and which have acted upon its parents

The forces in question are divisible into two classes: the one more
powerful, intrinsic, impressed upon the germ, and causing that germ
invariably to tend toward the production of a given form ; the other
weaker, extrinsic, consisting of all those assisting, modifying, or even
destructive influences which reside in the surrounding universe, apd
which are called external conditions. ;

For every individual living thing, this distinetion into intrinsic and
extrinsic forces is absolute; but the law of hereditary transmission
obliges us to admit that it may not be so for a series of generations.
For hereditary transmission means simply, that a modification under-
gone by a parent more or less affects its offspring—the offspring tending
to reproduce that modification. Thus in the imaginary instance given
above, the offspring of the modified sheep-dog, even if placed in entirely
indifferent conditions, would have a tendency to assume greyhound char-
acters. The intrinsic force of that germ, its tendencies, would be thus
far modified by the influence exerted by external conditions on its parent.
The operation of an extrinsic force on one generation may become in the
next an intrinsic force.

380 PRINCIPLES AND METHODS OF PALAEONTOLOGY.

But it is obvious that if once the influence of hereditary transmission
in modifying the tendencies of the germ (and no one denies it) be ad-
mitted, it is very difficult to sav where the modification of a given species
shall stop.

Here, therefore, is the battle ground of those who admit and those
who deny the indefinite modifiability of species. On the one side are
adduced the two indubitable facts, firstly, that certain unquestionable
modifications of one and the same species, such as the dog, are, as
Cuvier says, more different than any wild species of the same natural
yenus ; secondly, that the admission of indefinite modifiability reduces
the production of species to the ordinary course of nature, and accounts
equally well for all the phenomena with any other hypothesis.

On the other side are the equally unquestionable truths that specific
characters are retained under even extreme modifying influences with
great tenacity, and that artificially produced modifications tend, if left
to themselves, to return, more or less nearly, to their primitive specific
character. It may be doubted, however, if these propositions are really
inconsistent with the doctrine of indefinite modifiability.

At present the evidence before the naturalist can hardly justify him
in declaring his absolute adhesion to either view, but according as he
inclines one way or the other, so will it be probable that his views as to
the limits of species will vary. He who leans to the hypothesis of indefi-
nite modifiability will tend to neglect, and he who inclines to that of
the fixity of species will tend to exaggerate, minute differences. As the
sase now stands, those who wish to adhere to the golden mean must put
their trust in common sense, a perception of the ‘needs of science, and
that sort of tact which can be gained only by incessant practical work-
ing at species.*

4, So much for those laws of natural, history which help us to under-
stand what the various forms of: living beings are, and how they vary.
The next most important question is, do animals and plants, as they die,
perish and leave no trace behind, or what becomes of them ?

The answer to this question must be different according to the par-
ticular kind of animal or plant to which reference is made. The fungus,
which springs up in a night, dies, decays, and is swept away as rapidly ;
and the soft. marine jelly. fish or worm may leave no more permanent
traces of its existence. Carnivorous and herbivorous animals, again,
destroy and efface all recognizable signs of the existence of multitudes
even of those living beings which are, physically and chemically, better
qualified to endure. Again, though it be a fact that the great majority
of both animals and plants are provided with parts sufficiently hard and
indestructible to resist the ordinary causes of decay for a very consider-
able time, nevertheless exposure to damp and change of temperature in
the case of the remains of land animals, and the incessant wear and tear
of watery action among aquatic creatures, would sooner or later destroy,
or so deface as to render unrecognizable, the trunks of the hardest
wooded trees and the most solid bones and shells; and this would take
place in a space of time which, however long to us, is a very brief period,
geologically speaking, were it not for the very simple but. efficient
preservative agencies which are brought into play by the very same
causes.

The hard parts of terrestrial animals and the remains of land plants
are, indeed, to a great extent destroyed by their exposure to the condi-

* Tt should be noted that these pages were written before the appearance of Mr.
Darwin’s book on the “Origin of Species,” a work which has effected a revolution in

biological speculation.

PRINCIPLES AND METHODS OF PALAEONTOLOGY. 381

tions enumerated above; but it occasionally happens that accidental
floods sweep them away into low grounds, hollows, or caves, where they
“rest and become covered up with the fine mud deposited as the waters
subside; or living animals may be swallowed up in peat-mosses and in
Swamps; or their remains may be exposed to the action of springs
highly charged with caleareous matter, and thus become coated with
carbonate of lime; or the wind may envelop them in drift sand; and in
all these instances they will be more or less effectually protected from
further change.

The imbedding and preservation of the exuvia of those marine ani-
mals and plants which are not destroyed by the carnivorous and herb-
ivorous races, on the other hand, is hardly a matter of chance, but must
always inevitably take place. The sea is incessantly wearing away the
shores against which it beats, and the shallow grounds over which its
currents and tides race, undermining and cutting them away, and grind-
ing the fragments down by their mutual friction into boulders, shingles,
pebbles, sand, and mud. It then carries away the finer materials, and
spreads them over the deeper and quieter portions of its bed, where
they are arranged in successive layers, which gradually rise into banks
of mud and sand. Brooks and streams, constantly bringing down sim-
ilar materials from the higher grounds inland, add to these deposits, or
form similar ones peculiar to themselves, thus giving rise to the “ deltas”
and the “bars” found at the mouths of most rivers. In all the
quieter and not too deep parts of the sea bed, therefore, it is as if a con-
stant though very slow rain of fine earthly particles were going on, and
consequently every dead shell, every undestroyed bone, which is left on
the bottom, is souner or Jater covered up and protected from further
destruction. Just as the showers of fine ashes which fell from Vesuvius
seventeen centuries ago so covered up and protected the remains of
Herculaneum and Pompeii, that even now the smallest relics of Roman
daily life are preserved for our inspection, so may the muddy deposit
now taking place over alarge extent of the present sea bottom preserve,
for the inspection of future generations, the remains of the creatures at
present living and dying there.

For the sake of clearness it has been provisionally assumed that, in
all these instances, the organic bodies have been preserved by being
enveloped in masses of inorganic matter ; that the mud which forms the
bottom of seas and rivers is, in all cases, pulverized rock brought from
other localities. It is very rare, however, to find mud purely of this
character, and there are some remarkable accumulations at present
taking place, of which every particle is derived from organisms which
have once lived, the apparent mud, in which the large organisms are
imbedded, being nothing but a mass of shells of minuter forms inter-
mingled with fragments of larger ones.

5. Most important consequences flow from a recognition of the fact
that the modes of preservation of the remains of animals and plants
last described far outweigh every other in importance and extent. This
may be made more clear by again using the instance of Pompeii and
Hereulaneum as an illustration. Suppose that long aiter these cities
were buried others had been built over them by some of the many bar-
barian invaders of Italy, during the decline of the empire, and that
after a while Vesuvius had entombed these under another shower of
ashes; and that these had, after a few hundred years of existence, un-
dergone a like fate, so that the whole of this part of Italy was buried’
under volcanic accumulations, on the surface ef which flourished the
villages and vineyards of a race ignorant of the existence of a previous

382 PRINCIPLES AND METHODS OF PALAEONTOLOGY.

condition of things. And now suppose a well to be sunk, or an excava-
tion made for some purpose or other, down to the original foundation
of Pompeii; the digger would pass through three layers of volcanic
accumulations, separating the foundations of as many cities, differing
in the style of their architecture, in their sculpture, their paintings, and
their utensils, and clearly showing that they belonged to three separate
nations. It would be quite clear, again, to the excavator, that t he high-
est city must be the latest and last built, the lowest the earliest ; and he
could arrive at no other conclusion than that three several races had
flourished and perished, one after another, on this very spot in ancient
times. For how great a space of time each race had remained, and
what was the absolute antiquity of any one, or of the whole, he would
be unable to say; but their relative antiquity—the chronology of the
series, would be plainly indicated by the order of their superposition.

Exactly the same reasoning is applicable to the beds of mud and
sand which are now accumulating and gradually hardening into rock at
the bottom of our present seas. Those layers which are at present being
deposited, necessarily lie above those which were formed in the same
locality a year ago; and these, above those of the preceding year;
while, on the other hand, they will be covered up by deposits of future
years. Therefore, it follows, that if ever the present sea beds are up-
heaved, so that their composition may be examined, the future observer
will find the beds containing the remains of marine animals and plants
superimposed upon one another, in precisely the same order as they are
now being formed, the oldest at the bottom, the youngest at the top; he
will be furnished by their order of superposition with an accurate rela-
tive chronology of the changes which are now taking place; but without
the introduction of other considerations, he will, of course, be unable
to assign the absolute period at which any bed was deposited, or the
time occupied in the formation of the whole.

The antiquarian called upon to estimate the probable absolute age of
the oldest of the cities in the imaginary case stated above, would be
guided by what he knew of the time required to build cities; by his-
torical evidence as to the conditions under which nations replace and
-extirpate one another; and by physical considerations based upon a
knowledge of the mode and rate of the formation of voleanie accumula-
tions of a given thickness; but even then, he would, probably, prefer to
state the minimum rather than the maximum antiquity. And so the
future naturalist, should he have no other light than the strata now
forming themselves afford, can only be guided, in his estimate of their
antiquity and of the period occupied in their formation, by his knowl-
edge of the average duration of animal life, and of the rate at which
sediment of a given thickness can be deposited. He may as well as-
sume the remains before his eyes to be accidental “ sports of nature”
at once, as speculate upon any other foundation.

Just as our only means of comprehending the civil history of the
past is to apply to ancient times those principles which a careful study
of the actions and motives of our contemporaries leads us to believe are
of universal application to mankind, so, in endeavoring to interpret
the monuments of the ancient world of geology, we must be guided by
what we know of the present creation; and thus having learned what
living creatures now exist, how they are constructed, and how their re-
mains are becoming imbedded in the rocks now forming, we are ready
to enter upon the inquiry as to what forms of life animated the ancient
worlds, how they were constructed, and how their remains have beep
handed down from those remote ages.

PRINCIPLES AND METHODS OF PALAEONTOLOGY. 383

6. There are yet one or two collateral points which require discussion.
Supposing that the present bed of the ocean were upheaved and be-
came exposed to view, so that we could examine the organic contents of
all the strata of mud and sand which have accumulated and hardened
into stone for the last four or five thousand years, ought we to expect to
find, at any one spot, a complete and unbroken series of the remains of
all the creatures that have ever lived there? Assuredly not. In the
first place, it has already been explained that there are many animals
entirely devoid of parts sufficiently hard to be preservable, and of them
every trace would have disappeared. It is important to remark that a
naturalist who should have become acquainted with the present animal
creation only in this way, would be ignorant of the existence of many
genera and families, of some orders, and even of one or two entire
classes; but no sub-kingdom would be without abundant representa-
tives, and, therefore, he would be perfectly acquainted with all the great
types of org ganization at present existing. There would necessarily be
defects in his knowledge, bui these defects would by no means interfere
with his obtaining a very clear and just, though not complete, idea of
the present state ‘of things.

But there are other and more formidable sources of imperfection in
our palaeontological knowledge. Not only does the very nature of some
animals present an insuperable bar to the preservation of a complete
record of organic life in the rocks contemporaneously formed, but it is,
to say the least, excessively improbable that a complete series of even
those organic bodies which are preservable should be found at any one
spot. For modern research teaches that the level of the land is con-
stantly changing; slowly but surely, some countries are rising, while
others are becoming depressed ; and there is good evidence that, in some
parts of the world, several alternative movements of elevation and de-
pression have taken place within a comparatively modern period. Now,
whenever the bottom of the sea becomes dry land, or the dry land sinks
to the bottom of the sea, there must obviously be an interruption in the
series of living inhabitants, aquatic forms replacing terrestrial, or vice
versa. Thus, should the sea bottom be raised into dry land, and then
depressed again so as to be covered with fresh deposits, the whole mass,
when subsequently elevated and exposed to view, will exhibit a break
in the series of marine organic remains, corresponding in magnitude
and importance with the interval during which the sea bed remained in
the condition of dry land. It is probable that there is not a single spot
on the earth’s surface which has not been thus subjected to many altera-
tions of elevation and depression, and, hence, we may safely infer that
no single series of superimposed strata can contain a complete series of
even those forms of past lite which have flourished in that one region.

But, if this be true of those marine animals whose chances of preser-
vation are greatest, whose hard parts contain so little animal matter as
to be not worth attack on the part of predacious organisms, which are
sufficiently dense to resist the destructive agencies to which they must
almost necessarily be exposed before they are protected by sediment,
and whose locomotive powers are insufficient to enable them to escape
by migration the imminent fate threatened. by changes of level, how
much more fortuitous must be the preservation of those remains which,
like the bones of the marine Vertebrata, contain much animal matter,
and are comparatively soft, or which belong to entirely terrestrial crea-
tures. And, in fact, it is among the rarest of occurrences to find the
bones of a dead wild qnadruped, or bird; or to dredge up from the sea
bottom a relic of a fish or of a porpoise, abundant as these animals are
‘n our seas.

584 PRINCIPLES AND METHGDS OF PALAEONTOLOGY.

We turn to the examination of the collection of fossil remains, then,
bearing this truth clearly in our minds, that at best it contains only an
imperfect record of the past; that it is a history, some of whose leaves
are certainly torn out—we know not how many or how few—though,
judging by the present condition of things, we surmise that their teach-
ings would not contradict any duly limited deduction from the informa
tion we derive from other sources.

Il.—APPLICATION OF NATURAL HISTORY TO THE ELUCIDATION OF
FOSSILS, OR “* PALAEONTOLOGY.”

1. An important question meets us on the threshold, as it met those
who first directed their attention to fossils: How do we know that these
curiously-formed bodies, often to all appearance of one substance with
the rock in which they are imbedded, really are the remains of creatures
which have lived? How do we know that they are not what the ancients
supposed them to be, lusus nature, sports and freaks of inorganic nature,
produced in blind imitation of living bodies, just as the hoar frost on the
window panes simulates the foliage of a tree?

We know that fossils are the remains of animals and plants by pre-
cisely the same common-sense reasoning as that which led Robinson
Crusoe, seeing the impression of a human foot on the sand, to conclude
that a man had been there. The foot mark might by possibility have
been an accident, a lusus nature, but pending the proof that it was so
the precautions of the shipwrecked mariner exhibited the soundness of
his judgment. We cannot experimentally prove that fossils are truly the
remains of dead animals and plants any more than we can expezimentally
demonstrate that the utensils recently brought home from the arctic re-
gionsreally belonged to the crew of the “ Erebus” and “Terror ;” but all the
facts, the condition in which the things were found, the marks upon them,
agree with this hypothesis, and none oppose it. On like grounds, our be-
lief that fossils are the remains of beings which once lived has acquired
firm hold and remains unshaken; the conditions under which they are
found, and all their marks, agree with the hypothesis; while increasing
knowledge, so far from shaking, is incessantly, and in very wonderful
ways, strengthening the foundations of this as of every truth.

2. The extent to which it enables us to reason to the unknown is com-
monly, andin a great measure justly, regarded as one of the best tests of
the truth or falsehood of a scientific theory, and none has ever more bril-
liantly stood the application of this test than that now referred to. Tor-
if fossils really are the remains of living beings we may reasonably ex-
pect, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, that the animals and
plants of which they are the exuvia came under the operation of the same
great law of the invariable correlation of organic peculiarities, which has
been shown above to be manifested in the present creation, and it might
be fairly anticipated that the same logical process which enables us to
reason from the structure of the hair of arecent animal to its whole frame,
or from the peculiarities of the wood of an existing plant to its fruit, and
the minor particulars of its embryology would be equally available when
applied to the extinct inhabitants of the world.

The magnificent researches of Cuvier first practically demonstrated
the justice of these surmises, and showed that the laws of correlation of
parts deduced from the observation of living animals hold good to a won-
derful extent among the extinet forms; so that to one as thoroughly
acquainted as he was with the details of animal organization, an isolated
fragment of a fossil bone, or an odd tooth, was, frequently, sufficient to

PRINCIPLES AND METHODS OF PALAEONTOLOGY. 385

indicate the general affinities of the animal to which it belonged; and to
justify him in making those wonderful predictions of what would be the
nature of its other parts, which were so often to be verified in the course
of future investigations.

One of the most remarkable examples of such successful prediction is
that which Cuvier himself mentions as ‘a very singular monument of
the force of zoological laws, and of the use which may be made of them.”
From the famous gypsum quarries which furnished so many occasions
for the display of his genius and knowledge a block was brought con-
taining the imperfect remains of the skeleton of a smail animal; the
shape ‘of the lower jaw and the characters of the teeth were such as are
alone known to exist in the order of marsupial animals, of which the
opossum and the kangaroo are the most familiar examples. But. all
known Jlarsupialia possess two remarkable appendages to the ‘ pelvis”
or bony girdle of the hips, which are termed the ‘‘marsupial bones,” be-
cause they are connected with the pouch in the female. Here was a law
of invariable correlation of anatomical peculiarities (certain teeth and
certain forms of jaw being always associated with the presence of these
bones) of universal application to living animals; woald the law hold
good for the fossil? Cuvier was so confident that it would, that he in-.
vited some friends to witness the picking away of the stone from the:
region where he believed the marsupial bones would be found, and the
result verified his expectation, for the bones were discovered just in that.
very situation.

3. It will be easily understood, however, that the whole of this train
of reasoning is only valid on the assumption that a certain uniformity
-has prevailed in organic nature; that the structures which we find in-
variably associated now were invariably associated in earlier times; that,
in short, the great laws which are expressed by our conceptions of com-
mon planus have always remained the same. We know of no reason, save
the invariable occurrence of the co-existence, why a peculiar form of jaw
should always be accompanied by the existence of marsupial bones; and.
just as certain animals now exist in which the marsupial bones are
present, while the peculiar structure of jaw is absent, soit is quite within
the limits of possibility that, at an earlier period of the earth’s history,.
animals might have existed possessing the peculiar jaw, but deprived of.
the marsupial bones. Of course, in this case iaaioe r’s reasoning would
not have been conclusive, and his prophecy might not have been veritied.

In point of fact it would not be safe in all cases to regard the laws of
invariable anatomical correlation, deduced from the observation of the
existing animal world, as applicable, without reservation, to the members.
of extinct faunas. No generalization from the structure of existing ani-
mals could be better established than that biconcave vertebre are found, :
throughout the spinal column, only in fishes and perennibr anchiate;
amphibia, or hollow bones of a certain form are characteristic of birds,.
and yet we should be led into most erroneous conclusions by reasoning
without hesitation from these data, to the structure and afiinities of the:
animals to which certain vertebre and certain bird-like bones found in:
the mesozoic strata belong. In fact, while experience shows, with a con-
stantly increasing weight of proof, that the great laws of the construction,
of animals have been identical throughout ali recorded time, and while,
therefore, when we possess any clear indication that a fossil animal:
belongs to any one of the great groups, we may safely predict that i
will exhibit all the other characteristic peculiarities of that group;
must be careful to remember that in many of the smaller groups Brit
nations of organic peculiarities have existed of a very different nature:

258

386 PRINCIPLES AND METHODS OF PALAEONTOLOGY.

from those which now obtain; and we must, therefore, be content to
regard many of the established generalizations as only approximatively
correct.

As a general rule, however, it is very true that the more we learn of
the world of fossils, the more clearly does the conviction force itself
upon our minds, that from the earliest times of which we possess a ree-
ord to the present, no change has taken place in the general scheme of
the organic world. There are perhaps 15,000 established species of
extinct animals, but among them there is not one whose plan of con-
struction differs so far from any now known, as to require the estab-
lishment of even a new class for its reception. Different naturalists will
estimate the number of classes of animals now living variously; but
they may be safely assumed to be at least five-and-twenty distinct mod-
ifications of the five great primitive common plans; and yet so com-
parativeiy slight has been the change since the earliest times, that the
whole extinct ; world will not supply | us with a six-and-twentieth modifi-
cation. If we descend to the next smaller divisions, to the orders, the
same fact becomes apparent; at the very lowest estimate there are
not fewer than between a hundred and thirty and a hundred and forty
orders of animals, and out of these, at the most, not more than fourteen
or fifteen are represented only by extinct forms; that is to say, in the
whole range of geological series not more than ten or twelve per cent.
-of ordinal types, different from those which now exist, having come into
being.*

4. The history told by the records of the organic world is in perfect
harmony with that which is written on the face of inorganic nature.
The thickness of the crust of the earth, down to the greatest depths to
which man has been enabled to penetrate, is to a great extent composed
of strata of rock, the physical and chemical peculiarities of which
evince their identity with the products of the present operations of
nature. Beds of conglomerate containing round pebbles demonstrate
that the sea beat against and broke up its rocky boundaries then as
now, rounding and polishing the fragments by incessant friction as it
wears them on any modern shingle beach ; fine-grained limestones and

sandstones show that, then as now, the finer products of their attrition
were carried away and deposited, in the form of beds of mud, upon the
deeper and quieter parts of the sea bottom. Vast and frequent inter-
ruptions in the regular series of bed prove that, in ancient times as at
present, the solid crust oscillated, so that what was dry land became
‘covered by the sea, and what was sea bottom remained for long ages
‘dry land. And, finally, in like manner as we know that, within the
period of which man is cognizant, all these changes have gone on in an
‘excessively slow and gradual manner, rapid and convulsiv e action being
altogether exceptional, so we have the clearest proof that the time repre-
sented by the vast succession of ancient strata is enormous and almost
inconceivable, and that gradual and regular change was, then as now,
the rule, catastrophe and convulsion the exception. Nevertheless, as
‘in the ancient organic world we have found that there is a certain amount
of departure from what might be called the by-laws of the present cre-
ation, so it is quite possible that, in the physical world of past times,
changes may have now and then taken place with a rapidity and a
violence to which the minute experience of man affords no parallel. An
Ichthyosaurus is, in one sense, a sort of animal catastrophe, and as we
are all well assured of the occurrence of this one wide deviation from

*The number of orders is here purposely taken at an extreme minimum; while the
highest possible value is given to the extinct groups.

PRINCIPLES AND METHODS OF PALAEONTOLOGY. 387

existing manifestations of the vital forces, so we must not be too sure
that corresponding departures from the usual order of the physical
world have not occurred in past times.

The same analogies which demand this caution, however, fully justify
us in concluding that throughout all geological time the great physical
forces have obeyed similar laws. The gravitation of matter, its hard-
ness, the effects of heat and of chemical affinity upon it, have been the
same, we have every reason to believe, from the Cambrian age to the
present, and, as a consequence, it cannot be doubted that the vital
actions of the trilobites were governed by the same physiological laws
as those by which we now live and move and have our being. For,
leaving the phenomena of consciousness out of the question, physiology
is but an application of physics and chemistry.

5. Now, just as the restorations of the palaeontologist imply his confi-
dence in the uniformity of the great laws of morphology throughout all
time, so the chronology of geology, the basis of the whole science, rests
upon a like assumption with regard to the general uniformity of the
laws of physics and chemistry. It would be ridiculous to argue from
the superposition of ancient “beds, unless we assumed that their col-
stituent particles gravitated in the same way then as now; the identity
of mineral character of two beds could prove nothing, without the as-
sumption that the laws governing chemical changes have always been
the same; and, in like manner, we can reason on “the general habits of
ancient living beings only on ‘the assumption that the great laws of
physiology were the same then as now. No half measures will avail ;
we must be prepared either to assume the general uniformity of ancient
and modern action, or we must give up the problem, for no other hy-
pothesis affords the least criterion of truth, or the slightest check upon
the play of the imagination. But if we may argue from like effects to
like causes, then geological chronology is as much a matter of science,
and capable of being tested as thoroughly, as any other case of succes
sion.

The arguments on which these chronological, considerations are
founded are simple and intelligible enough. Tt has been already proved
that, in the present state of things, the lowest of any series of beds which
have been deposited from water is of necessity the oldest. If, then,
the great acaiieny of the ancient strata have also been deposited from
water, if they are nothing but the hardened muddy beds of ancient seas
and lakes, (a fact of which there is abundant evidence ,) then the same
law necessarily applies to them—the lowest stratum is the oldest, and
the superjacent beds have all been deposited during a subsequent period.
The argument applies with equal force to the whole crust of the earth,
and if we could tell how much time was required for the formation of
each bed, we should, by adding all the periods together, arrive at the
smallest possible interval which can have elapsed since the deposition
of the oldest bed. We have no data sufficient to enable us to say, with
any approximation to accuracy, how long it takes to deposit sufficient
- mud or sand to form, when hardened, a layer of rock two feet thick;
but we are quite safe in saying that neither lake nor sea ever deposited
that amount upon its bed in the course of a year.* Now the total
measured thickness of ancient strata, deposited ithe from fresh or
salt water, is not less than 60,000 feet, (or about twelve miles,) so that,

* Exceptional deposits, as, for instance, by earthquake floods, are here left out of
consideration, as they can have had but little influence on the sum total of the aqueous
formations. The total thickness of the latter here assumed is midway between the
estimates of Professor Phillips and Sir C. Lyell.

388 PRINCIPLES AND METHODS OF PALAEONTOLOGY.

even assuming them to have been deposited, without interruption, at a
rate faster than any sea or lake deposits mud now-a-days, we should
still require a period six times as long as that of which any human
record exists, for their formation. But, in truth, when we take into
account the probably immensely greater ‘time required for the formation
of two feet of sedimentary deposit, the vast amount of rock which has
been formed and subsequently swept away by denudation, so that it is
not reckoned in estimating this total thickness of the strata, and the
possibility that masses of strata, which will requite interpolation in the
general series, lie hidden from our view in parts of the world which
have not yet been examined, or under the present bed of the sea, the
most sober calculator will hardly venture to limit the factor by which
even a period of thirty thousand years should be multiplied to give the
whole period recorded by the monuments of geology.

The conelusions here drawn from the facts of physical geology are in
perfect unison with the chronological indications afforded by fossils.
Beds many feet in thickness, composed of the remains of marine ani-

mals, their shells unbroken and undisturbed, and sometimes covered
with parasitic growths, (just like recent dead shells which remain long
undisturbed at the bottom of the ocean,) are constantly met with. Here
and there are thick strata, composed. of nothing but the remains of
microscopic plants and animals, which must have required a vast time
for their aggregation ; elsewher e, the vestiges of huge coral reefs testify
that innumerable generations of their slowly-2 erowing fabricators must
have lived and died undisturbed, in one locality; and, in some places,
enormous accumulations of the bones of large vertebrata, each individ-
ual of which must have required many years to attain its full growth,
tell the same tale.

The two great astronomical truths to which the general mind has
always found the greatest difficulty in assenting are, first, the doctrine
that the seemingly fixed earth moves, while the apparently moving sun
stands still; secondly, that the earth is but a particle, and the diameter
of the system to which it belongs insignificant when compared with the
vast space which separates one of the greater heavenly bodies from
another. Geology presents two corresponding truths, as hard to believe
and yet as well founded. ‘The first is, that the seemingly fixed land is
subject to incessant oscillations, while the sea, so mobile on the small
scale, remains in reality comparatively unchanged. The other is, that
our historical period, even if we include the widest limit to which tra-
dition would carry the records of our race, is but an insignificant portion
of the countless ages which have elapsed since the animals, the remains
of which are exposed to view in the Lower Silurian eases of this collec-
tion, lived and died, and were buried in the oozy bed of the ocean of
that period.

We are, therefore, compelled to believe that a general uniformity has
prevailed in the operations of physical and vital nature throughout all
time of which we haveany record ; but just as the generally uniform and
regular movement of the celestial bodies is quite consistent with minor
and subordinate perturbations, so the proved uniformity of action of
the causes in operation in the physical world by no means excludes the
possibility of occasional sudden and immense changes, or “catastrophes,”
as they have been called; nor does the equally evident general uniformity
of plan predominant throughout the ancient fauna and flora in any way
interfere with very great and important deviations from those which
now exist.

REMARKS ON THE “CARA GIGANTESCA” OF YZAMAL IN YUCATAN,

By Dr. ArTHUR SCHOTT.

Of the many remarkable relics of ancient Maya civilization, the little
town of Yzamal, situated about thirty miles east of Mérida, has a con-
siderable share. One of the most valuable, because mythographically
most eloquent, is the so-called “Cara Gigantesca,” (gigantic face,) a colos-
sal work in stucco on the east side of a solidly built stone dam, running
north and south between various sacred mounds, or “ kues,” as the
Mayas call them, and of which the historians of the Spanish conquests
mention ten or eleven as in existence almost intact, shortly after the
subjugation of the peninsula.

Stephens, in his ‘‘ Incidents of Travel in Yucatan,” also speaks of
the curious face on the wall, which he had visited in the courtyard of
Senora Mendez. This author, however, devoted only a few cursory re-
marks, together with an equally unsatisfactory illustration, to a subject
which well deserves the close attention of the antiquarian.

There is nothing in the features of the image which should be desig-
nated as stern and harsh, as Mr. Stephens has done, for the only strange
feeling this face may produce is caused by the colossal scale in which
the whole work is projected. Otherwise the face, with its oblong, oval
outline, exhibits what the Spanish define as a “ cara angosta,” (narrow
face,) in opposition to the broad, square type of the common Indian of
the land. The features are rather feminine, which is only a generally
recognized peculiarity of the American aborigines. The whole face ex-
hibits a very remarkable regularity and conforms strictly to the univer-
sally accepted principles of beauty, which have been handed down to
the art of the present day by the masters of ancient Greece. <A verti-
cal line drawn over the forehead, nose, and chin, divides itself naturally
into three equal parts, each of which corresponds exactly to the frontal,
nasal, and maxillary regions. ‘The opened mouth, bringing the upper
teeth almost into full view, together with the rounded nostrils and the
slightly elevated tip of the nose, impart to the whole a singular expres-
sion, which is certainly not accidental, but agrees strictly with the sup-
posed purpose for which this face was made, and which will be more
manifest by the following remarks.

The outline of the face or head varies from the Greek oval by ap-
proaching nearer to a rounded oblong, for the cheek and jawbones
are rather more developed than the rules of classic beauty would admit.
The head-dress in the shape of a mitre is encircled just above the fore-
head by a band, which is fastened in front by a triple locket or tassel.
A singular deviation from nature is exhibited by the ears, which are
made to project forward. Under the chin three flat stone plates pro-
ject, while the space on both sides of the head is filled up with numer-
ous arabesque curves of various kinds. The whole of this remarkable
piece of stucco work occupies a space of about ten feet square.

There is little doubt but that this work in its time must have served
as a sort of altar, upon which the offerings of burnt incense were de-

390 THE “CARA GIGANTESCA” OF YZAMAL IN YUCATAN.

posited accompanied by the prayers of the devotees. Mr. Stephens
also held this opinion not only on the strength of certain popular tra-
ditions, but by virtue of some direct historical accounts of the Mayas.
The blackened and charred ‘marks on the three stone plates below seem
to corroborate this assertion. Whether the image was once intended
to represent a deity or demi-god cannot now be proved to a certainty,
but its nature can reasonably be guessed at, so that it may properly be
taken as a representation of Ytzamatul himself, who was the semi-divine
founder and legislator of the ancient realm of Ytzmal, now Yzamal. In
order to enable the reader to judge for himself, an extract from the
early history of the Maya confederation in Yucatan may be acceptable.

After the fall of the first Maya empire during the eighth century of
our era, When Chichen Itza, the then center of civilization, lost her
prestige as the principal city, Ytzmal became the foremost place in the
country. Here ruled Ytzamatul, the son of the true, living God, as he
was believed to have been. None ever knew whence he had come, for
whenever asked as to his origin be invariably answered: ‘“ Ytzen caan,
Ytzen muyal,” which means, “Tam the dew of heaven, the substance of
the clouds.” It is, perhaps, also not improbable that this king’s name
was more a title than a real name, for in the Maya idiom it em-
bodies a whole sentence within a single word, the meaning of which
is, “He who receives and possesses the grace.’ Be this as it may,
this name makes it obvious that its royal bearer must have been con-
sidered by his people as a semi-divine mediator between heaven and
earth, an idea by no means novel in the history of human civilization.
The real existence of such a personage is, in a strictly historical sense, of
little importance, but is noteworthy for the ethnographer, that the tradi-
tional divine or semi-divine nature of the rulers and founders of empires
is such a constant occurrence in semi-historical ages, as to be invariably
found in some form at the commencement of the history of every nation.

Ytzamatul, with his superior nature, according to Maya traditions,
did not fail to enjoy the unbounded love and equally profound respect
of the nation over whose destinies he presided. His wisdom as a states-
man and legislator, as well as his never failing justice as dispenser of
the laws, gained for him so much the admiration of every one of his sub-
jects, that after his death the honor of an apotheosis was accorded to
him ; and in order to do full justice to his memory, and to give tangible
proof of the general veneration for the departed chief, his royal body
was divided into various portions, over each of which a seyulchral tem-
ple was erected. These sanctuaries soon became converted into so many
places of worship, where the pious could offer their prayers and suppli-
cations. The names of some of these temples, each crowning at that
time an artificial mound cailed “ kues,” have been preserved by several
of the Spanish historians. Among them one appears which was called
“ Kinich Kakmo,” that is, “‘ Sun with the face ;” another, “ Kabul,” which
means, “ The working (creating) hand.”

Tradition has it that in both these temples sacred fires and sepulchral
lamps were burning day and night. Oracles were also pronounced there,
and the faithful brought thither their sick and de ad, which in many in-
stances became restored to health and life again by the miraculous in-
tereession of Ytzamatul’s sacred memory. These places were said to
have become thus famous and renowned, not only throughout the whole
of the peninsula, but also far beyond its limits, whence a continuous
pilgrimage was kept up. Hundreds and thousands joined in pious pro-
cessions from Cuba, Hayti, and Jamaica, as well as from the interior of
Guatemala, Tabasco, and Chiapas. In order to facilitate such religious

THE “CARA GIGANTESCA” OF YZAMAL IN YUCATAN. 391

national intercourse, terraced and paved highways were constructed
leading out from Yzamal toward the four cardinal points. Of these
colossal structures, many remnants can still be seen in various parts of
the country, while other portions of them are lying hidden in the almost
impenetrable woods and wilds, covering at present the main part of the
surface of the country. In the very vicinity of Yzamal a considerable
piece of such an ancient road can be examined within the limits of a
village called “ piticum,”* (pronounced Tziticum,) distant two Spanish
leagues west of Yzamal.

Among the details of our present relic, the head-dress, a mitre in form
of an obtuse cone, with its symbolic adornments, at once indicates the
sublime dignity of a sovereign, or, at least, of the supreme dispenser of
the nation’s laws. The cincture encircling it, together with its triple
locket or tassel in front, is the emblem of universal power and divine
perfection, such as was always and invariably attributed to a sovereign
before monarchism had passed its zenith of popular belief. According
to the ideas of the ancient nations of this continent, as well as of those
of the eastern hemisphere, a single band around the forehead was the
badge of a nation’s ruler. The mighty kings of ancient Persia, for in-
stance, wore nothing else, and it was only in after times that from such
a simple adornment | the golden ring , the diadem, or crown, originated.
Among the numerals the sacred three has ever been considered the mark
of perfection, and was therefore exclusively ascribed to the Supreme
Deity, or to its earthly representive—a king, emperor, or any sovereign,
who, allegorically, stood between God and the nation, and was generally
believed to be a descendant of the former. For this reason triple em-
blems of various shapes and applications are found on sundry objects of
royal adornment, but especially on such as belts, neckties, or any encir-
cling fixture, as can be most frequently observed on the works of ancient
art in Yucatan, Guatemala, Chiapas, Mexico, &c., whenever the object
has reference to divine supremacy.

Behind and on both sides from under the mitre, a short veil falls
upon the shoulders so as to protect the back of the head and the neck.
This particular appendage vividly calls to mind the same feature in the
symbolic adornments of Egyptian or Hindoo priests, and even those of
the Hebrew hierarchy. Among the many fragments of ancient seulp-
ture and architecture strewing the extensive area of Mayapan, at one
time the metropolis of Maya empire, several heads of the same appear-
ance, and adorned in the same way, occur, though varying a little in
some unessential particulars. The same is the case with sculptured
heads found at the celebrated Uxmal, (pronounced Ushmal.) A mitre,
in shape exactly like those here referred to, also marks one of the resting
stations of the Aztec migration, as can be seen on the Historic-Hiero-
glyphic Table, which, as a valuable relic of that interesting nation, is
preserved in the national museum in the city of Mexico.

Apparently more difficult to understand in our Yzamal work of art
seems to be what is fixed in place of the ears, together with the adorn-
ments filling up the space on both sides of the head. To decipher these
enigmatic delineations, we have, besides the direct explanations of the
older commentators of Mexican history , and especially those of Clavi-
gero, the general character of similar mythographical representations
of other ancient and modern nations of this continent as well as those
of Asia, which all exhibit the strictest similarity if not congruency, even
in detail, if idiographically compared.

* The inverted C (Q) is adopted by the Spanish in the Maya grammar to represent
the sound of tz, and can so be conveniently employed.—TuE AUTHOR.

392 THE ‘“‘CARA GIGANTESCA” OF YZAMAL IN YUCATAN.

Among the ancients of Mexico and Peru it was considered a_ princi-
pal requisite for a sovereign, or even a lord of lesser powers, that he
should never fail at any time to first receive the high commands of
Heaven, which with all theocratic nations formed the base of all secu-
larlaw and justice. Itwas likewise indispensable for him to listen impar-
tially to the supplications of those whose destinies Providence had
placed in his hands. Without the most scrupulous observance of such
sacred duties no monarch or lord could rightfully and for any length of
time enjoy the high prerogatives of his exalted station. The history of
the Toltecs and Aztecs, like that of the Mayas in Yucatan, records sev-
eral examples of reckless monarchs and transgressing rulers, against
whom an indignant nation rose up in the defense of the outraged laws.
Such revolutionary movements terminated, almost without an exception,
in the loss of crown and life by the accused, and in most cases with an
entire breaking up of the empire itself. The Toltecs on such an ocea-
sion lost their whole prestige in the valley of Mexico. The Mayas, their
immediate descendants in Yucatan, repeated the same twice. Here the
first enactment of popular wrath ended with the destruction of the
realm of Chichen Itza, the oldestin that peninsula. The licentiousness
and proiligacy of two brothers ruling at the same time, under a sort of
duumvirate, was the cause of the uprising of the nations which cost
the two princes their lives and the supremacy of that realm. In a
Sinilar way the kingdom of Mayapan, the then center of Maya glory
under the dynasty of the ‘‘ Cocomes,” came to its end by atwenty years’
war, the cause of which was the most insulting neglect of the nation’s
laws on the part of the rulers of Mayapan, while all the other con-
federate powers, and especially those of the kingdom of Uxmal had risen
to satisfy the offended people. The destruction of Mayapan, a large
fortified city of nearly three Spanish leagues in circumference, took place
about a hundred years before the first Spanish invasion of Yucatan.

Deaf to the sacred word of the law and deaf to the prayers of the suf-
fering subjects, these supreme lords of the nation, forgetful of their ob-
ligations, forfeited crown and life, and their defections, like an untied
knot, necessarily weakened the very foundation of the whole political
structure. Itis, therefore, but natural if the contemplative mind of those
ancient nations, in their ever apparent symbolism, laid such stress upon
the hearing organ of their rulers.

The ideological view of this particular, confessedly so taken by the
Peruvian, Mexican, and Maya, may also explain the singular customs
among the former, where the Incas and the high nobility used to arti-
ficially enlarge their ears by wearing in them from early boyhood heavy
gold rings and other trinkets. The extraordinary size of the external
hearing organs, by themselves so much appreciated as a mark of high
distinction, did not fail to bring them into ridicule with the Spanish
conquerors, who nicknamed them “ Orejones ”—that is, “‘Big ears.”

Whether or not the Mayas ever extended symbolism to such a degree
as to subject parts of the living body to a similar official disfiguring is
not known; but a hyperbolic shaping of the ears or other members of
the body on the persons of high distinction can be frequently observed
throughout the representations of their graphic arts, and our present
relic furnishes an unmistakable example of it.

Here two orbicular plates with perforated center take the place of the
ears. Tour knobs in high-relief, probably with reference to the four
cardinal points, divide these rings, or perhaps wheels, into so many
equal quadrants. Rings and wheels signify among the glyphies of the
Aztecs and Toltecs, and consequently also of the Mayas, the space of

THE “CARA GIGANTESCA” OF YZAMAL IN YUCATAN. 393

one year, as can be seen everywhere on their calendar or monumental
slabs. If made tetramerous, as are the present ones, they may have
particular reference to their quadriennial cycle, called by them ‘Katun,
and may serve here as a symbol of space and time combined. The ex.
act connection of thought betweet sign and the ear of a ruler can only
be suggested.

Leaving theorizing ‘to the reader, it may be well to call attention to
similar ideographies “which were used i in ancient Asia and Europe. The
Greek, for instance, attributed to Saturnus and Kronos a wheel as a
symbol. The name of the latter as well as his attributes clearly have
reference to time. Both Kronos and Saturnus are, again, identical
with Krodo and Satar, of the heathenish Saxons, who combined with
these personifications the same ideas as did the Greeks, who received
the elements of their theogony from that of older Asiatic nations.
Krodo, like Kronos, was represented with a wheel. The Greek also asso-
ciated Saturnus, as the judging ruler in the realm of death, with Neme-
sis, Adrastea, as his consort. Various representations of the ancient
Orient show both these personifications—that is, Saturnus holding the
scale of Nemesis, and she having his wheel at her feet.

Though a direct idiosyncratic correlation between Asiatic and Ameri-
can symbolism cannot be proved here, the example may at least be
accepted as one of those numberless instances which comparative eth-
nography should never overlook.

The two loopknots atlixed, one above the right and the other below
the left ear, are again the symbols of pledge or obligation, and may here
indicate the bearer’s duty to receive the grace from above and listen to
the prayers of the afflicted below.

The diversely-shaped curves filling up the space to both sides of the
head represent, according to Clavigero’s direct statements made else-
where, the prayers and invocations of the devoted. They curl up like
smoke and incense while seeking entrance to the ears of the paternal
monarch, such as history and tradition represent Ytzamatul to have
been.

In the earliest records of the Maya nation, in regard to the realm of
Yzamal, no other ruler of such a sublime nature is mentioned, though it
seems that in various epochs other sections of this widely-extended theo-
cratic confederacy severally claim such primordial legislators, more or
less modified in name and form, but all said to have been gods or demi-
gods. Thus, Chichen Itza had her Zamna, Mayapan her Cuculean, which
latter seems to have been of still higher rank, and is, in form and
nature, the Maya equivalent for the Mexican Quetzalcoatl.

The mythical halo surrounding the historical record of Ytzamatul
seems to have so much overshadowed the memory of his successors in
office that it would be rather hazardous to connect the image on the
wall with any other personage but with that first ruler and legislator of
Yzamal, or, better, Ytzmal, as it was called before this name was his-
panized by. the European conquerors,

There can be but little risk in referring the “ Cara gigantesca” in its
colossal size to arepresentation of the one who, according to his people’s
belief, ‘Receives and possesses the grace,” as the name of Ytzamatul is

‘said to signify.

FORESTS AND THEIR CLIMATIC INFLUENCE.

By M. BEcQUEREL, Member of the French Institute.

[Translated for the Smithsonian Institution.* ]
FORESTS CONSIDERED IN A CLIMATOLOGICAL POINT OF VIEW.

Forests exercise several kinds of influence over climate ; but, to appre-
ciate them properly, it is necessary to define what we understand by
climate.

The climate of a country, according to Humboldt, is the union of the
phenomena, whether calorific, aqueous, luminous, aerial, electrical, &c.,
which impress on that country a definite meteorological character, dif-
ferent from that of another country situated under the same latitude
and placed in the same geological conditions. Accordingly as one of
these phenomena predominates, the climate is said to be warm, cold, or
temperate, dry or humid, calm or variable. Heat, however, is regarded
as exerting the greatest influence; after this follow the quantities of
water which fall in different seasons of the year, the humidity or dry-
ness of the air, the prevailing winds, the number and distribution of
storms in the course of the year; the serenity or nebulosity of the air;
the nature of the soil and that of the vegetation which covers it, accord-
ingly as this is spontaneous or the result of culture.

1. What is the part which forests fulfill as a shelter against the winds
or in retarding the evaporation of the rain-water? 2. What is the
influence of trees on the water imbibed by the roots and on that which
exudes by the leaves, as modifying the hygrometric state of the ambient
air? 3. How do they modify the calorific state of a country? 4. Do
forests exert an influence on the quantity of water which falls, and on
the distribution of rains in the course of the year, as well as on the
system of running waters and those of springs? 5. How do they inter-
vene for the preservation of mountains and of slopes? 6. Do forests
serve to withdraw from storm-clouds their electricity, and thus to mod-
erate their effect on neighboring and unwooded regions? 7. What is
the nature of the influence which they are capable of exerting as regards
the public health ?

‘rom this series of questions it will be seen how much caution is to
be observed before we pronounce on the influence which the disboscation
or clearing away of the forests of a country may exert on its climate.
It is necessary, first, to know the geographical position, the geological
constitution of that country, its latitude, its proximity to or remoteness
from the sea, the nature of its soil and that of its subsoil, according as
one or the other is permeable or impermeable, siliceous, calcareous, or
argillaceous—elements which must all be taken into consideration.
These questions, with the exception of a few, not being susceptible of .
solution a priori, exact, of course, a special examination and experi-
mental study, without which we incur the risk of pronouncing an opin-
ion not in accordance with that of one who may have considered the

*Trom the Atlas Météorologique de V Observatoire Impérial. Folio, Paris, 1867.

FORESTS AND THEIR CLIMATIC INFLUENCE. 395

subject from a different point of view, or embraced but a part of the
question. Let us adduce the proofs:

The action of forests on the climate of a country is very complex, for
it further depends, first, on their extent, their elevation, the nature of
the soil, and of the subsoil; second, on their orientation or direction
with regard to the winds, whether warm or cold, dry or humid; third,
on the age at which they are cut, on their species, that is to say, whether
the leaves be-caducous or persistent, seeing that the radiating and ex-
halant properties are not the same at all seasons; fourth, on the season
of rain, whether in summer, autumn, or winter; fifth, on the proximity
of pestilential marshes, &e.

Whatever be the action exerted by a forest, it will of course bear a
relation to its extent, for a tree or group of trees does not act like a
large mass; a single tree indicates, by the shade which it throws on the
surrounding soil, that its presence is injurious to the culture of plants
to a distance which depends on its height; the loftier the forests, the
greater the extent of the shade; the shade depends only on the skirt of
the forest, and to a certain degree on the density of that skirt.

The height of the trees, if the forest has a certain density, may be
an obstacle to the wind, according to their position in regard to the di-
rection of the latter. It is well understood that forests principally act
as a Shelter only in relation to the lower winds; the obliquity of these
is to be taken into consideration, as will be seen hereafter; the depth
of the forest supplies to a certain extent the compactness in which it
may be deficient. This action will be developed further on. The nature
of the soil claims consideration according to the proportions of elay,
lime, and silex which enter into its composition. In the ease of dif-
ferent combinations of these constituents the effects are quite different,
much depending also on the circumstance whether the subsoil be per-
vious or impervious. All soils, as is well known, may be reduced to the
four following divisions: —

; 1. Pervious subsoil;
2. Impervious subsoil.

3. Pervious subsoil ;

4. Impervious subsoil.

IPOEVIOUSY SOLE 4. esses oe es eee

impervious! soil ’.2432.)se=s5e~ ono 52-6 ;

The roots of trees, by penetrating into the soil and subsoil, separate
the particles and thus facilitate the escape of the surface waters; the
older the trees and the more ancient the preserves, the more deeply do
their roots penetrate, and the greater the facility consequently with
’ which the waters traverse the subsoil.

Let us examine the effects of the four kinds of soil above enumerated
on the vegetation of forest trees. First case. With a pervious soil and
pervious subsoil the waters never stagnate, be the soil wooded or not.
Second case. With a pervious soil and impervious subsoil, stagnation of
the waters takes place when the soil is not wooded—of this Brenne and
Sologne are examples; if it be wooded and the subsoil have not too
great a depth, the waters readily percolate by help of the roots which
traverse it; in the contrary case they remain stagnant. Third case. The
soil impervious, the subsoil pervious: this soil suits only certain species
other than the oak. Fourth case. Soil and subsoil impervious: with this
soil forest culture agrees least of all; yet are there certain species which
can live and develop themselves therein. The roots of trees, therefore,
by making their way into the soil, fulfill an important part in the distri-
bution of the waters of a country. MM. Gras and Alphonse Surel,
from numerous observations made in the higher Alps, explain as fol-
lows the effect produced by forests situated on the sides of mountains.

396 FORESTS AND THEIR CLIMATIC INFLUENCE.

When a sloping surface is overrun by vegetation, first by low plants,
then by trees, the roots entwine with one another and form a net-work,
which gives consistency to the soil; while the branches, furnished with
their leaves, protect it from the violence of rain-storms. The trunks,
with the offshoots and brush-wood. which surround them, multiply
points of resistance to the currents which would otherwise furrow the
earth. The effect of vegetation, therefore, is to give more solidity to
the soil, and to distribute the w aters over the whole surface. The soil,
being divided by the roots and covered with a spongy humus, absorbs
a part of the waters which cease to flow over the declivities. It is thus
that the woods act as a shelter against the force of rains in mountainous
countries.

The action of forests as a shelter in regard to winds is not absolute;
for the effects depend on the height to which the wind blows. If this
height does not attain that of the forest, the wind is arrested at every
moment by the trees; loses its velocity; and, if the forest has a sufficient
density, will have wholly ceased by the time it reaches its limit. When it
blows to a height greater than that of the trees of the forest, the latter has
no action except on the lower stratum of the current of air, unless its
direction be inclined; above the forest, the upper mass of air which has
encountered no obstacle, and which has a horizontal direction, continues
with the same velocity. The action, then, of a forest as a shelter, is
limited.

Forests may act in still two other ways: when they happen to lie in
the direction of a violent current of air, at a maximum of saturation
with vapor, a part penetrates into the mass, the other part is dispersed
in all directions by the obstacle presented to its passage; the portion
which rises, if it encounters a colder stratum of air, yields its vapor to
precipitation, and a fall of rain ensues. Again, when a current of humid
air charged with pestilential miasms penetrates into a forest of a certain
extent, it is altogether divested of them. It has been observed in the
Pontine mar shes that the interposition of a screen of trees preserves all
thatis behind it, while uncovered tracts are exposed to fevers. The trees,
therefore, sift the infected air by removing its miasms. This fact has
been reported by M. Rigaud de Lille, in his work on malaria.

M. Hardy, director of the government nurseries at Algiers, has
announced facts which clearly ‘show the influence that trees may exer-
cise as a Shelter. There exist in Algiers three groups of frutescent or
shrubby plants; the first being formed of trees with caducous leaves,
poplars, alders, &e., which grow in ravines and on the banks of streams
the second comprising the agave, the cactus, the palms, &c.; the third
consisting of vegetable species with persistent leaves, such as the olive,
the carob, the wild laurel, &c. M. Hardy has remarked that the trees
of the first group which are indigenous grow rather in breadth than in
height, and that they constantly pre esent a large and flattened top; if
some species happen to attain considerable altitude under the most
favorable conditions for their development, they are observed to grow
with vigor for some time, but arrived at the height of the trees of the
country, the top becomes dry and the branches then extend themselves
horizontally. Effects of this kind are to be seen in the poplars planted
at Bouffarich, in the center of the plain of Mitidja, under conditions of
humidity of soil which leave nothing to be desired for this species, and
yet these trees are incapable of surpassing the height of from 10 to
12 metres, (33 to 39 feet.) There are found, it is true, specimens which
rise higher and still seem not to suffer at the top, but these are situated
at the base of a steep hill whose crest is much more lofty than the
trees.

FORESTS AND THEIR CLIMATIC INFLUENCE. 397

This inability of the vegetation to rise beyond a certain height, which
is far from being that at ‘which the tops of such trees ordinarily stop,
evidently proves that there exists, at a greater or less elevation, a stra-
tum of air in which development in height is impossible, This effect
must be attributed to the air current of the desert, which is warm and
dry; all trees which grow in Algeria are subject to its influence. The
trees of the third group, the cypresses, the cedars, &c., which brave
this intluence, rise to a very consider able height.

The principles above set forth suffice to ‘show the part which for-
ests may play as a shelter, and within what limits they act. We are
naturally led to examine the value of the contradictory opinions re-
specting the effects of their removal, enunciated by Arago and Gay-
Lussac, in the commission appointed i in 1836 to consider the expediency
of adopting article 219 of the forest code. “If the screen of forests on
the maritime border of Normandy or Brittany,” said M. Arago, “ were
levelled, these countries would become accessible to the west winds,
the temperate winds coming from the sea. Hence there would be a
diminution in the cold of the winter s. If a similar forest were cleared
away on the eastern frontier of France, the glacial wind of the east
would there be more powerfully propagated, and the winters would be
more rigorous: the destruction of a screen ofthis sort in the one and the
other situation would, therefore, have produced effects diametrically op-
posite.”

In principle M. Arago was right, but not absolutely, for the effects de-
pend on the locality where the forests are situated, on their altitude,
and on various other causes.

M. Gay-Lussac used very different language: “In my opinion,” he
said, ‘no positive proof has thus far been obtained that woods have of
themselves any real influence on the climate of a large country or of a
particular locality, and especially that they have a different influence
from that of all kinds of vegetation. It might be asked if the evapora-
tion of water is the same on a naked soil and one covered with vegeta-
tion. The questions are so complicated when considered under a eli-
matic point of view, that the solution is very difficult, not to say im-
possible. Another advantage in wooded soils which I do not dispute,
is to promote the abundance of springs of water. And all, in facet, that
tends to arrest the flow of rain-water and to enable it to infiltrate slowly
into the earth, instead of passing off in torrents, is favorable to such
springs. But. once more, this advantage attributed to woods is pos-
sessed, in perhaps the highest degree, by a herbaceous vegetation ;
the close and numerous blades, the comose and interlaced roots, com-
pose a thick and spongy mass which admirably intercepts the move-
ment of the water, retains it, and yields it up by little and little.”

On the other hand, M. Beugnot, reporter for the commission named
in 1851 to revise, as far as was needful, the forest code in matters re-
lating to clearings, denied, though with less authoritativeness than
MM. Gay-Lussae and Arago, the influence exercised by great masses of
wood on the climate of a country. In hisreport he remarks: ‘ The de-
partments of La Loire-Inférieure, La Manche, Le Pas de Calais, Le Nord,
La Somme, Le Maine-et-Loire, are among those which are least wooded,
Is the climate less salubrious than that of the Landes, of the Gi-
ronde, of Loiret, of Cher, and Loiret-Cher, which are among the most
densely wooded?” ‘We arrive,” he adds, ‘atthe same conclusion, on
comparing together the different countries of Europe; consequently
the clearing away of woods is in nowise injurious to the salubrity of
the country.”

398 FORESTS AND THEIR CLIMATIC INFLUENCE.

Less proof it would be impossible to bring to the solution of a question.
We shall proceed to discuss each of these opinions; not contenting our-
selves, like their authors, with adhering to generalities, but by a resort
to facts and experiments, the sole means of arriving at a solution.

M. Arago was right in saying that forests served as a shelter against
winds, but he did not say within what limits, and yet therein, as we shall
show, lies the whole question. The Alps, by reason of their situation
and height, protect certain parts of the coast of the Mediterranean, es-
pecially those about Nice and Hyeres, from the cold winds of the north.
The same chain of mountains renders exceptional also the climate of
Lake Maggiore, Lake Como, and the neighboring districts. Nothing
like this would occur, at least over so great an extent, if, in place of the
Alps, which are several thousand metres in height, there were moun-
tains of an ordinary altitude or mere hills; for, the protected surface, as
will be seen, depends on the elevation of the mountains. Now, the ae-
tion of forests, composed of the loftiest trees, having at most a height
of from 30 to 40 metres, (100 to 130 feet,) cannot be different from that of
simple hills. Their mass supplies in this case the compactness in
which they are defective.

“Inthe plains of Orange,” says M. Gasparin, (Traité d’ Agriculture, t.
1, p. 196,) “the north wind which passes over the mountains of Dauphiné
strikes the earth at an angle of about 15° ; whence it follows that a height
of 200 metres (656 feet) protects a space of 2,160 metres (7,087 feet,) a
border always reserved for the most valuable crops, and such as most
shun the cold. Under the influence of such a shelter, the mean tem-
perature of the year is raised by more than 1°; whence it is that the
orange tree flourishes in the open grounds at Ollioules and Hyeres,
while it cannot stand the winters of Marseilles; hence, too, the temper-
ature of the air at the Lakes Como and Garda permits the cultivation
of the olive, which dares not show itself in the plains of Lombardy.”

We will cite still another example which furnishes an idea of the ex-
tent which may be protected by a shelter of slight elevation. In the
valley of the Rhone, where the mistral frequently blows, a simple hedge
2 metres in height (7 feet) is capable of protecting a space of 22 metres
(72 feet) in breadth, a limit which, as M. Gasparin observes, should
serve as a guide in the discussion. It is by means of such shelters,
which are greatly multiplied in this valley, that the cultivation of le-
guminous plants is possible, as it could not be without this expedient.
In the open plains of Provence, hedges of still greater height are ob-
tained by planting theeypressand thelaurel. All theseshelters, though of
little elevation, protect large spaces when the lower currents of cold wind
are horizontal. In this cennection, we should not forget to mention the
different aspect presented by the two faces of the Pyrenees; the tract
on the side of Spain, which is exposed to the winds of the south, is
arid, while that which looks toward France is covered with pastures
of fine vegetation.

The examples which we have just cited suffice to show that the action
of forests, even when composed of trees of the tallest growth, is limited
and cannot consequently extend to an entire country, as is maintained
by M. Arago. .

M. Gay-Lussac is still less explicit, for he only propounds questions,
or gives their solution a priori without proofs in support of it. Heasks,
for example, whether the evaporation of water is the same on a naked
soil as on one covered with vegetation; ‘he asserts, on the other hand,
that the influence attributed to trees upon the system of waters per-
tains in the highest degree to the herbaceous vegetation. The examin-

FORESTS AND THEIR CLIMATIC INFLUENUE. 399

ation of these questions requires that we should take into consideration
the following data:

Schubler has proved that all earths do not possess the same property
of imbibition. In 100 parts of earth desiccated to 40° or 50°, the num-
bers found, for the quantities of water absorbed, are these :

DSIleeOQUS'SANOe ey tes Se Sees es Dye Sener: Clays so amen wee e see noes ii
Walcarsousinanl=-25 282505 o. ho eine ars 29 Fine calcareous earth .----..---.---- 85
IBarrent clave seen sss . G22 3 beste AQ WEMUMTUG)s seas 5-38 on ance aig te aaa ok 19

Caleareous and siliceous sands are the substances, therefore, which
have least affinity for water, while humus is that which has most. The
state of division, as will be seen, has an influence on the conditions of
fine calcareous earth. It is impossible to separate, in the present case,
the property of imbibition from that of aptisude for desiccation, to
which regard must be had in evaporation. Experiment proves that 100
parts of the water of saturated earth lose in four hours, at 139.75
(57° I.) of temperature:

PITCE DUS ISAM Mls) 22) =,2cnjeis ices e oe 88.0 Argillaceous earth.......--.. Seiscin OLD
eAlGAneOUS SANG 4-45 55st sim == icant (a9) EPMO: Cha Yen = aes Sel aera ee aa 31.9
[SiR CEN See ae eee ee ee 52.0) ime ins fine) pow deresa= sss == 28. 6
Monimlerel yen snes <5 fe et ek ee AS. 7 | MEuIMush < Sac ee a: SS eee cee 20815

It will be seen from this that siliceous sand is the substance which
allows water to escape most easily, while humus is that which retains
it longest. Caleareous sand loses water less easily than silicious sand.

We will further mention the results obtained by Melloni in experi-
ments relating to the refrigeration undergone by certain substances
under the influence of nocturnal radiation, and which should be taken
into consideration :

Ratioin the

Substances. etfects of re-

j frigeration.

RIGS AUER NLOObW LEAVES <6 2,5.cl2 aoc. wc 2 oie Saha weemeee osceeee See 103
‘SPs rb TESTS ETS OS ae ee ee icles ee eg i ee eee oe ee Seagal 108
WO stG1DG: Coit Nee ee oodéeoseoes tneor ees esas ton ceobec cies isacesaeoncs 92

Now, the absorbing power being equal to the emissive power, it must
be admitted that the substances will in the same time acquire heat in
the same ratio. Such are the elements which enter into the solution of
the question, or rather questions, proposed by M. Gay-Lussae.

When rain falls on the soil, the upper strata first become saturated,
then the excess of water passes to the lower stratum, which likewise
becomes saturated until the excess of one stratum completely saturates
that which is beneath it. When the upper stratum becomes dry through
evaporation in the air, it resumes, from that which is below, what it has
lost, as does the latter from the third stratum, until all the water pri-
marily absorbed is dissipated. As to the evaporation, it is evidently
less, all else being equal, on a wooded surface than on a merely sodded
one.

M. Gasparin (Traité @ Agriculture, t. I, p. 116) has made experiments
on the subject we are considering, and finds, on comparing the evapor-
ation of a surface of water with that of.a surface of earth completely
saturated, in the month of August, and at a temperature of 23° to 269°,
(73° to 79° F.,) the following results as the ratios of one to the other.

400 © FORESTS AND THEIR CLIMATIC INFLUENCE.

Evaporation Evaporation
from the| from the
water. | earth.

Millimetres. Millimetires.

Furst days sscscicteetece ee Seb cee » Steck eee eee 15. 0. Avell
Second: days so. ee eres eee Se eee eee ee 13.7 .o
ln 0 ALG Ty ea ae rahe ah fol RE Relate he eek ae a lal 11.5 1.8
BHourhh: dain. =e chee ethene see oe ees demise reer 12.0 1.3
ittihs Gl ayy ceed ef gee a ca Lie eb Ok mee 1633
Siscths (iy se lie 2 seen ates = otonch Sit ee ee eee 11.0 2
Séventhvdaye 2. teers os = oe et anes eee etna 9. 4 1.3

Evaporation, therefore, proceeds rapidly in the earth at first, but, as
we see, becomes finally very feeble.

The series of experiments we have above reported show that evapor-
ation must vary considerably with the nature and physical state of the
soil, a consideration to which no regard has heretofore been paid; thus,
lands covered with low vegetation, or with woods, and whose soil is
composed of humus mixed with sand, lime, or clay, absorb more water
than those which do not contain humus, and retain it consequently
longer than the latter. The effects vary according to the proportions of
the different elements which compose the soil. The infiltrations are
greater in wooded lands than in sodded, the roots dividing them to a
greater depth, and thus facilitating the passage of the waters which
are not arrested except by some impervious stratum. The branches of
trees provided with leaves not only form an obstacle to the evaporation
of the water resting on the surface, but the leaves are further constantly
surrounded by an atmosphere of vapor proceeding from exhalation, and
which prevents evaporation, in so far as this exhaled water suffices for
the saturation of the air; during all this time the infiltration continues
in the earth. Herbaceous plants, being deficient in mass, do not pro-
duce the same effect; in fact, whoever has been in places wooded in
part, and in part covered with sod, must have remarked that, after rain
and exposure for some time to the sun, the sodded spaces had become
dry, while the wooded were still damp.

Let us speak now of the water taken up by the roots, and of that
which is exhaled in the air. The roots of trees, as is proved by the
experiments of Hales, Dutrochet, Mirbel, and M. Chevreul, draw in a
great quantity of water charged with the divers elements which go to
constitute the sap; the surplus of the water is exuded by the leaves,
and continually maintains in the ambient medium a humid atmosphere.
The water imbibed proceeds not only from the superficial strata, but,
moreover, from the more or less deep strata into which the roots pene-
trate, and which furnish little or no water to herbaceous vegetation;
these strata are fed by subterranean currents of water often coming from
a great distance. Further, this water which existed in the deeper strata,
being effused into the atmosphere, afterwards falls as dew, fog, or rain,
and thus augments the quantity of water which the surface of the soil
receives even at remote distances.

The quantity of water imbibed by the roots is such that it is difficult,
in fact, to make anything grow near trees. Several causes prevent it.
The earth which envelopes the roots nearest the surface is eften in a
certain state of desiccation; it loses by degrees its nutritive principles, ©
its lime, &c.; it becomes dense, and, no longer containing aught else
than clay and sand, acquires compactness, and is then more permeable.

FORESTS AND THEIR CLIMATIC INFLUENCE. 401

It has now been shown, 1st, that there exists a difference between eva-
poration on a naked and on a sodded soil; 2d, that there is such a difter-
ence also in regard to a sodded soil and a wooded one, with the advantage
in favor of the latter that it better facilitates infiltration of the water;
3d, that the quantity of water imbibed by the roots does not parch the
soil, since, after exhalation, it again falls in the state of fog, dew, or
rain. Desiccation only takes place when the soil is exhausted.

Let us see now to what point the conclusion of M. Beugnot, that the
clearing away of woods is never prejudicial to salubrity, has its founda-
tion in fact. This conclusion is true if the soil is siliceous or calcareous
and the subsoil permeable; but it is not so if both are argillaceous, for
the roots are no longer present to facilitate infiltration, unless indeed
drainage is used to remove the stagnant water. Of this, Sologne, La
Brenne, and Dombes are examples. Nor is it true if the woods which
are removed existed in the proximity of swamps producing pestilential
miasms, like the Pontine marshes.

Let us next consider the calorific influence of forests. This influence
has been established as follows by Humboldt and the meteorologists:
They sereen the soil from solar radiation, preserve a greater humidity
therein, and promote the decomposition of the leaves and twigs, which
are converted into humus; they produce frigorific effects through the
strong aqueous transpiration of the leaves, and by multiplying, through
the expansion of the branches, the surfaces, which, acquiring heat by
the action of the solar radiation, are again chilled by the nocturnal
radiation. In relation to this latter action, positive experiments demon-
strate that the stratum of air in contact with a prairie or a field covered
with grass or with leafy plants is cooled, all else being equal, under the
nocturnal radiation, to the amount of several degrees, sometimes from
6° to 7° or 8° (10° to 15° F.) below the temperature of the air atsome metres
higher up; while nothing similar takes place on a denuded surtace, which
erows warm or cool according to the nature of the parts composing the
soil. We will add, however, that, inasmuch as the leaves as well as the
trunk and branches acquire heat under the solar influence and preserve
during the night a portion of that heat, this effect must naturally coun-
terbalance that resulting from the nocturnal radiation. Until now, no
account has been taken of this effect of solar radiation upon trees,
although it exerts a considerable influence on the temperature of the
air beyond the woods as within them. To explain the calorific influence
of trees on the temperature of the air, it is necessary, therefore, to join
to the older observations those which have been more recently made on
the temperature of the air at different heights in the neighborhood and
at the periphery of trees.

Humboldt and Bonpland, recumbent on the grass during the fine
nights of the tropics in the plain of Venezuela and the lower Orinoco,
experienced a humid coolness when the strata of air at a height of 1 or
2 metres (3 or 7 feet) had a temperature of 26° to 279, (79° to 80° F.)
In the equatorial and tropical regions, where the nocturnal radiation
acts with so much force by reason of the serenity of the sky, the increase
of temperature, as we ascend, is manifested as in middle latitudes, but
to a much greater height. Hence, in the equatorial zone, no change is
observed in the vegetation from the level of the sea to the height of 600
metres, (1,969 feet;) and beyond this, even toan altitude of 1,200 metres,
(3,937 feet,) we still recognize the flora of the tropical zone.

We can now explain why, under our latitudes, certain products of
culture fail in the depressions of the surface and succeed upon hills,

268

402 FORESTS AND THEIR CLIMATIC INFLUENCE.

and for what reason vegetables are overtaken by frost in low situations
and are exempt from its effects at heights a little more elevated. M.
Martins observed a fact of this kind in the Botanie Garden of Mont-
pelliér. Laurels, figs, olives, nearly all perish in the lower parts of this

garden, while, under conditions of shelter wholly similar, they are safe
at an elev ation greater by only a few metres. Do we not know also
that vines planted on the acclivities of hills produce better wine than
those which grow at the bottom, on account of a more perfect maturity ?

Experiments which we have made with the electric thermometer
evince quite satisfactorily this remarkable property, that the tempera-
ture of the air rises from 1.33 (4 feet 4 inches) above the soil to 21™.25
(68 feet 10 inches) at the summit of a chestnut tree, and probably from
this summit upward to a certain height whose limit has been fixed by
M. Martins and other meteorologists; for the leafy periphery of trees
must be supposed to act like the soil covered with low plants, by reason
of its great absorbing and emissive power. The mean differences
between the temper atures of the two stations have been verified at the
Jardin des Plantes, during several years:

Bromel233 OO smMeiress= seep eeoe ee ee eee eee OS Al0

HromplGpmeiresstoylin 2b: saan ees ee eee 0°.580 ;
clearly showing the influence exercised by low plants and the periphery
of trees on the temperature of the ambient air through the effect of
calorific radiation. Let us now inquire what the-influence of the body
of the tree—that is to say, of the trunk and branches—may amount to.
Every body, not excepting trees, immersed in air grows warm or cold,
and partakes consequently, more ‘or less, in the variations of the temper-
ature experienced by the ambient medium, the effects produced depend-
ing on the state of the surfaces of the body, on its conducting power,
and its specific heat.. The experiments whose results we are about to
report, as detailed in several memoirs which we have had oceasion to
present to the academy, (1861—64,) furnish the clearest proof of the
above proposition. Some of those results are as follows:

On examining the variations of temperature in the interior of a maple,
0™.4 (14 inch) in diameter and situated in a group of other trees, it was
found that, during the months of August, September, and October, the
mean temperatures presented no sensible ‘lifference with that of the air
except in September, although the variations in the tree were in amount
very nearly one-half of those of the air.

The temperature in a tree is far from being the same in all its parts.
If the leaves and branches promptly assume an equilibrium of tempera-
ture with the air, not the less promptly does the trunk conform there-
with, and that to a depth of 0™.1, (4 inches.) The effects are different in
trees exposed to the solar radiation, according to the proximity or re-
moteness of objects which absorb and radiate heat: a plum tree placed
near a wall, 2 metres (7 feet) thick, was covered, in the month of July,
with leaves and fruit; the tree was 6 metres (20 feet) in height, and in
diameter, 0.35, (13 inch.) The difference between the maximum ane
minimum of temperature had, for several days, been from 24° to 2
and the temperature at the interior of the tree had ascended to 370
(99° I'.;) such a state of things could not long exist without weakening
the tree, hence the leaves withered by degrees, the fruit fell off, and
everything announced the approach of death, which took place a month
later; thus was produced an effect which gardeners call a heat stroke,
(coup de chaleur.)

We see, therefore, that a tree becomes heated in the air like an inert
body, and the more rapidly in proportion as its mass has less volume

FORESTS AND THEIR CLIMATIC INFLUENCE. 403

and its bark a more considerable absorbing power; so true is this that
when the trunk of a plum tree was enveloped to the height of 2 metres
(7 feet) with tin, which possesses strong reflecting properties, the tem-
perature of the air being perceptibly the same as in the preceding case,
the difference between the maximum and minimum descended from
139.07 to 59,2. (25° to 10°.) It will be seen from this that the tempera-
ture had become more uniform in the plum tree. On removing the en-
velope, the difference between the maxima and minima increased and
became what it had been before.

Metallic envelopes or those of straw diminishing in trees the varia-
tions of temperature and rendering the movement of heat more regu-
lar, it will readily be conceived that the nature and thickness of the
bark must exert a great influence on the calorific state of trees. Ex-
periments made on the Opuntia and on other plants tend to show that
the leaves and small branches are promptly brought into an equilibrium
of temperature with the ambient air. On comparing the mean temper-
ature of the air with that of the interior of a chestnut tree having a
diameter of 0™.5, (20 inches,) it has been found that the mean of the
temperatures observed in the tree, during a period of thirteen months,
was superior by 0°.36 to that of the air at its surface, and by 0°.83 to
the temperature of the air at the north and in the shade; this difference
is owing probably to the fact that the thermometer was placed to the
north and sheltered from the sun, while the tree was shielded from the
north winds by a neighboring building, and was exposed moreover to
the solar radiation. Experiments made on other trees show that the
principle of equilibrium of temperature between the air and the trees
shifts with the lapse of more or less time, and so much the more rapidly
as the variations in the air are less frequent. In winter and autumn
the difference is at a minimum, and in spring and summer it is at a maxi-
mum. The maximum of temperature in the air takes place, according
to the season, between 2 and 3 o’clock in the afternoon, while in
the tree it occurs after sunset. If regard be had to the seasons, it will
be found that it is in summer especially that the maximum is more
marked; it does not occur till about nine o’clock in the evening.

The heat disengaged in the organs and tissues of plants interposes
but very feebly as regards their proper temperature, which is almost
wholly of extrinsic deriv ation ; for its principal cause. we must look to
the solar radiation and the temper rature of the air. The diurnal varia-
tion of temperature in the air is easy to determine, since it is the ditier-
ence between the maximum and minimum of the day. To find this
variation in a tree is a matter of difficulty, but we may arrive at it, in
at least an approximate manner, by the following means:

Observations on temperature were made at Geneva, from 1796 to 1800,
at the rising and setting of the sun, and at 2 o’clock p. m., in the air to
the north and in the interior of a chestnut tree 0™.6 (24 inches) in
diameter; the maxima and minima could be obtained by combining the
temperature 28 at 2 o’clock and at the rising and setting of the sun, the
maximum taking place about or after the setting of the sun, aS was said
above, and the minimum about the time of its rising; the difference
obviously gives the variations within the tree. By discussing the varia-
tions thus obtained in the air and in the tree, it was seen that, during
the years 1796, 1797, and 1798, the variations were, on a mean, more than
five times greater in the air than in the tree.

In the observations made at the Jardin des Plantes, from December,
1858, to July, 1859, it was ascertained that the means of the variations
of temperature in the air and in the tree were in the ratio of 3°.80 to

404 FORESTS AND THEIR CLIMATIC INFLUENCE.

0°.81, that is to say, that they were 4.7 times greater in the air than in
the tree, instead of 5.89 as was realized at Geneva. This difference
depends evidently on the bad conductibility of the wood, which does not
permit the variations of temperature in the air to be rapidly transmitted
into the tree; it is easy to conceive that variations in the air distinctly
marked, but of short duration, cannot become appreciable in the tree.

The leaves and young branches of trees, and the humbler plants which
cover the meadows, existing ¢ under the same conditions as regards warm-
ing and cooling, produce the same effects of radiation; it is in the boughs
of a certain bulk and in the trunks, therefore, that we must study the
influence exerted by the proper temperature of the plant on the ambient
temperature. A green stem should be considered, in fact, as a body
covered with an envelope possessing a great emissive and absorbent
power, by virtue of which its temperature is lowered or elevated inces-

santly through the effect of the radiation into space or of the solar radia-
tion; ; but when the parenchymatous tissue is replaced by a cortical tissue,
the lignum which is beneath being humid and a worse conductor in a
transverse than longitudinal direc tion, the movement of heat is then
effected very slowly, and brisk changes of temperature are no longer
observed in the interior as in the case of the young branches. From the
above it will be seen that the variations being much less in the stem of
a tree of a certain volume than in the air, if the temperature of the air
varies even to a wide extent, but the variations are at the same time of
brief duration, the calorific state of the tree is but little affected thereby.
In the contrary case, the tree finally assumes an equilibrium of tempera-
ture with the air.

Hivery vegetable has need of a certain degree of heat in order for its
tissues to perform their functions; when the temperature rises gradually,
the parts dilate; the evaporation and circulation of the sap is acceler-
ated; the lowering of the temperature produces contrary effects. On
the other hand, alternations ot heat and cold give a new activity to vege-
tation; thus under the tropics, the great variations of temperature during
the day and night, in that part of the air which envelops the trees, being
equally manifested i in the interior of the trees, this state of things proves
eminently favorable to the forest vegetation.

The atmosphere is the source from which all plants derive the heat
of which they have need in order to germinate, develop themselves, and
accomplish all the phases of their existence. The mean temperature of
a place, the daily variations and the extremes of the temperature of the
air, are the calorific elements to be principally taken into consideration
in the phenomena of vegetable life and in researches relative to the calo-
rific influence of forests and of woods in general upon climate. The
heat produced in the tissues in which the transformation of the sap is
effected does not act sensibly on the temperature of vegetables; at least
it is not appreciable by our instruments; what they possess is bor-
rowed.

We have ourselves undertaken several series of observations on tem-
perature in different localities, both within the woods and without, to a
certain distance, in order to ascertain the influence which forests exerz
on the mean temperature. The results which we shall obtain will form
the subject of another memoir.

It is proper here to remark that plants possess of themselves the fac-
ulty of resisting for a certain time an extreme degree of refrigeration
without suffering organic lesion, as we have ascertained in a series of
experiments which leave no doubt on that point. We have been thus
led to believe that there exists in the organization of vegetables a cause

FORESTS AND THEIR CLIMATIC INFLUENCE. 405

independent of conductibility, which strives against a reduction of tem-
perature below zero, and preserves them for a certain time from the dis-
astrous effects of excessive cold. The action varies with the diameter
of the tree, and probably with the species to which it pertains.

In northern regions the temperature of vegetables compared with
that of the air is very remarkable. M. Bourgeaud, under the 58th de-
gree of latitude, at places where the temperature descends in winter
below the degree of congelation of mercury, that is to say to more than
— 40°, has substantiated the following facts: First. In the Populus bal-
samifera and Abies alba, during eight months, from November, 1857, to
June, 1858, at 9 o’clock in the morning, the moment at which he sup-
posed the temperature to be very nearly a mean, the mean temperatures
of the air and the tree were the same; which accords with the observa-
tions above spoken of, and is in conformity with the principle that the
temperature of plants unceasingly tends to form an equilibrium with
that of the ambient air, notwithstanding the efficient causes which are
incessantly in action to increase or diminish it. Second. The monthly
temperatures presented little difference in the tree and in the air, al-
though there were very great differences in the maxima and minima;
in the month of January, for example, the maxima and minima were in
the air + 6°, (45° F.,) and — 34°.60, (— 29° F.,) and in the poplar
— 29.20, (28° F.,) and — 29°.70, (— 21° F.) Third. During the eight
months of observation the mean temperature in the soil, at a depth of
0".913 (3 feet) and 0™.609, (2 feet,) was twice as high as in the air.

The thaw takes place ordinarily in May, spring at once commences,
and soon after summer arrives; the rapidity of vegetation is such that
the cereals sown in the month just mentioned are reaped toward the
end of July; blossoms appear on the poplar when the temperature of
the air is at +13°.47 (56° I.) and while the earth still freezes at a depth
of 0™.609, (2 feet,) and 07.913, (3 feet.) The leaves display themselves
in the first days of June, when the roots are buried in strata of earth
where the temperature is still at zero, (32° F.;) like effects are produced
when the branches of the vine are introduced into a conservatory while
the stalks and roots are in the ground outside; the buds and even leaves
begin to be developed when it is freezing externally at 8° and 10° below
zero, (18° and 14° above zero I.) We have here anew proof of the
influence of the temperature of the air upon that of trees, showing that,
even when the roots are in frozen earth, vegetation may proceed under
that influence. The Populus balsamifera and Abies alba, as well as other
species, undergo exposure to a cold of —40°, without injury to their
organization, but the roots of these trees are in strata of earth which
are not sensibly reached by the frost. A proof that there is here a cer-
tain resistance to cold is the fact that the greatest minima of temper-
ature, being — 34°.60, (— 29° I.) in the air, were, in the poplar, only
— 299.70, (— 21° F',) and that the temperature has been twice as high
in the tree as in the air.

After having stated the relations which have been found to exist
between the temperature of the air and its variations, as compared with
those of vegetables, it remains for us to show what temperature of the
air has been realized above trees of large growth, such as a chestnut
21™.25 (70 feet) in height, at the summit of which had been placed one
of the solderings of an electric thermometer in contact with the leaves.
Multiplied observations have demonstrated that the temperature of the
air above the chestnut tree depends chiefly on the calorific state of the
leaves and branches which warm or cool the ambient air more or less,
according as they have been exposed a longer or shorter time to solax
radiation, or to nocturnal radiation.

406 FORESTS AND THEIR CLIMATIC INFLUENCE.

A tree (trunk, branches, and leaves) must, as has been said above,
become warmer or cooler, like all bodies immersed in air, according as
the sun is above or below the horizon. In the first case, it grows warm
from the effect of the solar radiation; in the second, it grows cool from
that of the nocturnal radiation, and this process goes on until the tree
acquires an equilibrium of temperature with the surrounding medium.
When nocturnal radiation commences, if the sky be without clouds, in
proportion as the upper branches and leaves become cool, those which
are underneath yield up their heat in succession to those above through
the process of radiation. From this it will readily be conceived that
the strata of air which envelop the tree retain during a great part of
the night a temperature higher than that of the strata of air which are
remote from it.

A tree which has been warmed by the effect of solar radiation so far
acts as a body imparting warmth to the air, that, when a rain occurs
suddenly, the temperature of the air is more lowered at some distance
from the tree than immediately around its periphery. Of this we will
cite an exemplification. On the 9th of May, at one o’clock, after a strong
insolation or free exposure to the sun’s rays, the following temperatures
were observed :

Temperature above the chestnut tree ..--- oa 2 AE Te eae 19934 (O7ORE)
Temperature abjaicertaimidistance = 23-5522 -<- sc --eeeee eee eee) 18S.3)) (ODOR)
WitleTeN CO ssjsc 2 coscceceiseceee Soe ee eee oee soc ene ser eri cee ppl cela Coe)

Half an hour afterward, a rain fell, and the temperatures changed:

Temperature above the chestnuttree=- ec. -=s-=-s22-= eee aeons 179.5 (64° F.)
Temperature beyond hy eae se Js si-eieeu ees -loelso as oie e pele ee eee eel one ae (OU mnE))
DUTSTON CO ane, sso cie eins) sates ssi jee iain Saecle = Say eee ey sae eee am AOE)

Thus, in the interval of half an hour, the air which surrounded. the
tree had been cooled by only 1°.9, (3° F.,) while that which was a little
distant from it was cooled to the extent of 39.1, (6° F.;) it follows
that the tree had radiated heat so as to impart warmth to the ambient
atmosphere. The sun having reappeared after some moments, the
temperature at both stations rose, but somewhat less above the chest-
nut tree than at a certain distance from it. These temperatures, at 3
o’clock, were as follows:

Above the tree. se 2. = eacie coe cmb iocimamer- Secmmcine seis eee ee COC On (OO SME)
Abia Cerbain GIStance. = 25 ses = sesh eles oe Seine eee Cees eee eee LO SIO (ORE)

Difference ccs oc cjdecsotese: Se tesace ts Ueto mee 2o-2Us sees esl Ga (orks)

To give an idea of the warmth imparted to the air through the pres-
ence of leaves, we will take, for an example, the temperature of the air in
July, 1863, at 9 o’clock in the morning, and at 3 and 9 o’clock in the
evening; for the monthly mean the following results were obtained:

HS). CHOLXS Leph yr rlee nao BeNOR OA SHaSaeS sae Sab eeaSad sos SoS SSS eabe PHI}. (GALE Ss)

Atroroelock an theleventne S25 cesses te sry a an ee 2627700 (SUSE:
Atiowlock in thetevening: cies bee sees cee shea eee eee eee eaeee 19°.20 (67° F.)

Here we see that the temperature of the air was at its maximum at 3
o’elock, and that it had diminished by nearly a fourth at 9 in the even-
ing. The radiation of the internal heat of the trunk and branches of
the tree continued, on the other hand, to repair the losses sustained by

FORESTS AND THEIR CLIMATIC INFLUENCE. AQT

the leaves subjected to the influence of the nocturnal radiation until 6
o’clock in the morning, when the temperature was found to be the same
at 1™.33 (4 feet) above the soil to the north and south, at 16 metres (53
feet) and at 21™.25 (69 feet) on the summit of the tree. This is the
period of the day when the celestial radiation has ceased to be prepon-
derant, and when there is an equilibrium between the effects of the ter-
restrial radiation and those of the celestial radiation.
In July, 1864, the results obtained were:

NGrOLO CLOCK 1M Ge MMOLMIN OM «oe sam act tisse es alates Sim ae eisai ccrevoreroes 219:04 (70° FB.)

A aroclocke in the 6vening 2is: 1 Pe se ee see ae seeeee sae ees 209.94 (78° F.)
Ange clocksrin the 6yening 55 sjSss stab et Wee ean eee et cen ve 19°.00 (76° F.)

The progressive reduction again continued till 6 o’clock in the morn-
ing, when the temperature was the same at 1™.33 (4 feet) above the soil
to the north and south, and also at 16 metres (53 feet) above the soil,
and was equal to 15°.50, (60° F.) If the months of January, 1863 and
1184, be taken we have—

1863. 1864.
igo CLOCK In the mMOnnIN es a— a= eee eeeeceeise ano Od a 0on nS) —0°.05 (31° F.)
AO ClOCKeIml the GVENINO eas so= eyo een eon Oral (ADORE) +3°.30 (38° F.)
Ao Clock-im the 6veningr--2s.es-seeeaaaeee. OCLs, (410m) 0°.00 (32° EF.)
Aine Clockaun) the MOrminot sss 225) s2e5s 202.5 | Soel9) (38° Ey) —1°.08 (30° F.)

It is thus seen that, whether we take the trees with or without leaves,
the heat acquired during the day diminishes till 6 o’clock in the morn-
ing.

We see now that it may be assumed as an ascertained fact that trees,
exposed to the solar and celestial radiation, impart heat or cold to the
contiguous strata of air, a property which had not previously been sus-
pected; it was supposed, on the contrary, that the evaporation which
takes place by means of the leaves was always a source of refrigeration ;
this may indeed exert an influence, but it is not the predominant cause.
This question, however, will be resumed in another memoir.

The experiments above spoken of were made on isolated trees, but
the results have been the same on groups of trees sheltering one another,
so as to form an obstacle to the direct action of the sun; only the ele-
vation of temperature in the trunk has been found to be less, all else
being equal, than when the tree was isolated. In fact, forests, coppices,
and groups of trees must observe the same laws as the single chestnut
tree; but the effects of heat, of which we have been speaking, vary ac-
cording to the height of the trees, the extent of their branches, and the
mass of leaves with which they are charged. What consequences
should be inferred in relation to the influence exerted by forests on
the local climate? This question we shall answer on another occasion.
We shall content ourselves here with saying that it is necessary to
have regard to the nature of the soil, as to whether it be dry or humid,
to the greater or less facility with which the air circulates, to the ex-
posure and other indeterminate causes which vary according to locali-
ties. But from the fact that the wood, under the influence of the solar
radiation raises the temperature of the ambient atmosphere, and lowers
it under the effects of the nocturnal radiation, must we not infer that
the stratum of air which has been heated gives rise during the night to
a double current; an upper one of warm air and a lower one of cool air
which descends toward the ground? It may be that the warm air,
being driven by lateral currents, has a tendency to ameliorate the tem-
perature of surrounding parts.

Under the tropics, and especially under the equator, where the solar
rays act with the more force as they are less inclined, trees must pro-

408 FORESTS AND THEIR CLIMATIC INFLUENCE.

duce in a high degree the effects indicated above; effects which the
neighboring strata of air cannot fail to manifest. On the other hand,
the nocturnal radiation, which is very great under a sky almost without
clouds, must act powerfully in hastening the refrigeration of the leaves.

The following fact is, to a certain point, referable to the heat which
woods emit when they have been warmed by solar radiation. Every
one knows that at noon of a hot summer day the air in dense woods is
almost of a stifling heat. It is usual to attribute this effect to the
absence of currents of air, and that, to a certain extent, may be true;
but a concurrent cause of no little efficiency is the fact that, when the
leaves and branches of trees have for some time been exposed to the
calorific action of the sun’s rays, they themselves become foci of heat.

We have thus explained the sort of influence exerted by trees on the
temperature of the air which surrounds the trunk and branches; yet we
cannot confidently deduce the conclusion that the mean temperature of
the place is further ameliorated by this state of things. To aid us in
solving this question, it is necessary to consult the observations of tem-
perature made in wooded and unwooded places, situated under the same
latitude, having the same geological conditions, and at the same height
above the level of the sea.

Jefferson, in a work translated (1786) by the Abbé Morellet, drew,
from observations made at Williamsburg and Monticello, (Virginia,) the
conclusion that, since the clearing away of the forest, a very sensible
change had taken place in the climate; the heat, as well as the cold,
had become less vehement than before, as was testified by persons of
no very advanced age. The snows, he says, are less frequent and less
abundant, often not remaining in the valleys more than two or three
days, and very rarely a week, while, within the memory of the living,
they are known to have been frequent, deep and durable. By old per-
sons it is stated that the ground was covered with snow three months
in the year, and that rivers, which now freeze very rarely, were usually
congealed every winter. These assertions, it will be seen, are based on
testimony against which we must be on our guard, for it may well be
that years of extraordinary inclemency were taken for those of an
average temperature. Let us turn to observations which inspire more
confidence, such as those discussed by M. Boussingault, and made by
MM. Boussingault himself, Humboldt, Roulin, Rivero, &e., in localities
comprised between the 11th degree of north latitude and the 5th degree
of south latitude, where the celestial radiation prevails, during the
night, in all its force.

The mean temperature, by reason of the slight variations in the
course of the year, is immediately given by that which is presented by
the earth, in the shade, at 3 decimetres (1 foot) below the surface. Ob-
servations show that the temperature of the torrid zone varies from
269.5 (80° F.) to 289.4, (83° I*.,) and that the abundance of forests and
humidity tend to the refrigeration of the climate, while dryness and
aridity produce contrary effects. These effects have been observed at
different heights on the Cordilleras, where we find the mean tempera-
tures of temperate regions. It has been asked whether this is the case
in localities wooded and denuded of wood, situated beyond the tropics,
where the mean temperatures being the same, the means of summer and
winter are different? No observation has yet been made as to this point.

Observations subsequent to the preceding tend to show, on the con-
trary, that disboscation on a great scale does not sensibly change the
mean temperature. Humboldt has collated a great number of thermo-
metric observations made at different points of North America, in order

FORESTS AND THEIR CLIMATIC INFLUENCE. A409

to ascertain if the mean temperature had undergone changes after a con-
siderabie lapse of years. For about sixty-three years, from 1771 to 1834,
he tells us, thermometric observations had been maintained at thirty-
five militar y posts, so that we have far more exact ideas on the climate
of North America than existed in the times of Jefferson, Barton and
Volney.

These stations were distributed over a space of 40° of longitude ie
extended from the point of Florida and Thompson’s Island, “under 2
35/ of latitude, to Council Bluffs, on the Missouri. On discussing i
observations communicated to him, Humboldt arrives at the following
conclusions :

These observations, he says, tend to demonstrate, contrary to an
opinion quite generally adopted, that, since the first establishment of
Europeans in Pennsylvania and Virginia, the climate, on either side of
the Alleghanies, has not, in consequence of the destruction of numbers
of forests, become more uniform, more mild in winter and cool in sum-
mer, than it was before; nev ertheless, as Humboldt himself acknowl-
edges, denudation ought’ to ameliorate the mean temperature by effect-
ing the disappearance of three frigorific causes; first, the protection of
the ground from the solar radiation and the maintenance of a greater
humidity ; secondly, the production of aqueous transpiration by the
leaves; thirdly, the multiplication by the expanded branches of the
surfaces which are cooled through the effect of nocturnal radiation. M.
Boussingault, as we have previously seen, has arrived at contrary con-
clusions, indicating that the abundance of forests and the humidity
thence resulting tend to render the climate cooler, and that dryness or
aridity produces an opposite effect.

It might be, however, that, the mean temperature remaining the same,
the distribution of heat in the course of the year may be changed, and
that thus the climate may have been modified; but it will not suffice to
invoke the authority of documents relating to cultivation at the present
time, for these documents will not bear a serious examination, as we
have shown in our treatise on climates.

Still, it is possible that a step in advance may be made by taking into
consideration observations which have thus far not received due atten-
tion. The observations regarding temperature which we have made in
the interior of single trees and at the periphery of their branches show,
as has been already said, that trees are affected like all bodies exposed
or unexposed to solar radiation ; that is to say, that they are heated or
chilled according to their absorbent, reflecting, and conducting powers.
These observations evince, moreover, that their calorific state depends
in great part on the solar action. W hat can we thence infer in relation
to the influence of trees on the temperature of the air and the changes
which that temperature undergoes as the effect of denudation ? These
changes result not only from the cause of which we have been speaking,
but fur ther, we repeat, from the nature of the soil, according as it is dry
or humid, caleareous, sandy, or argillaceous. Let us analyze the effects
which may thus be produced.

We will first consider a wooded soil: The trees, as has been just stated,
become heated or cool; but what results from this when the soil is dry
and when it is humid? If the former, it will be without influence ; if it
is humid, the evaporation of water will maintain a constant humidity,
the decree of which will depend on the temperature which the trees have
acquired and which will be independent of that resulting from the exu-
dation by the leaves. The humidity caused by trees, when other things
are equal, will be greater in wooded countries with an argillaceous

‘

410 FORESTS AND THEIR CLIMATIC INFLUENCE.

foundation which retains the water, because the roots do not pierce the
subsoil or do so with difficulty, than in sandy formations which favor
the infiltration of water. In the latter case, the humidity proceeds
solely from the transpiration of the leaves.

What occurs when a country is cleared of its woods, supposing the
soil either pervious or impervious? The effects which result depend on
the composition of the soil and on its absorbent, radiating, and conduct-
ing powers. Of these an idea may be formed from the researches of
Schubler. Commencing with the calefaction of lands exposed to the
sun, the following are the relations which are found to exist between
different soils:

Maximum temperature of the up-

per stratum, the mean tem-

: : ‘ perature of the air being 100°.
Designation of earths. I =

as

Humid soil. Dry soil.
Degrees. Degrees.
Siliceous sand, yellowish gray -:-.-.-.--.--2--.-... 37.20 44,75
Caleareous sand, whitish/eray ---22---2-2---2----- 37. 38 44.50
Bure, oypsumMtnes eee cance eee amet Sem nelscaeete 36, 55 43. 62
Boor yellowishvclayceeseeeris-e ass oot eee cess teeee 36, 75 44,12
Bertie claire. be ae eee tem ners eect eee 37, 25 44,50
IWWihiherCal Came Ouse ait lens setae teeters ere aes aries tetete 36. 63 43. 60
Grayish=blackehimus@= ote se sericea ee etestio te “ner 39. 75 47, 37
Grayish-black garden mold......-.---.-..-20.su.-- 37.50 45, 25

It will be seen that color and humidity are the causes which exert the
greatest influence. The differences of temperature due to these causes
and that of the ambient air may, for the same soil, amount to 14° or 15°.

If we pass to the capacity of retaining heat, it will be found that all
else being equal, the siliceous and calcareous sands, compared in equal
volumes with the different argillaceous earths, with lime finely commi-
nuted, with humus, with arable and garden earths, are the soils which
conduct heat more imperfectly. This is the reason why sandy formations,
in summer, preserve, even during the night, an elevated temperature.
We may conclude from this that when a sandy tract is cleared of wood
the local temperature must be raised, and with the greater reason, inas-
~ much as the cause of refrigeration exists no longer. After the sands come
in succession argillaceous, arable and garden soils, and finally humus,
which occupies the last rank. Representing by 100° the capacity which
calcareous sand possesses of retaining heat, the following are the ratios
observed:

Degrees

Caleareous: Bands442i4 225. Styne oo Sske Bese Se ee a ee ee 100
PLTCCOUS SAME a2 eras ok he Sao ecto cen he UR Aa ae 95.6
TOUT ACEO US: abba ees aes ee re ta rs ae ee 68. 4
AMMO HOLL 22 Pek EE Be BT GE D8 ARS (ag eee eet eee ee 64.8
IIMS: 53 cic SERRE eRe LAS ee ee Se eee 49,0

It has been further established that the capacity of retaining heat is
proportional to the bulk of the particles. It is on this account that
land covered with siliceous stones grows cool more slowly than siliceous
sand, and that pebbly soils are better adapted for maturing the grape
than chalky and argillaceous formations which cool rapidly. From this

FORESTS AND T'HEIR CLIMATIC INFLUENCE. 411

it appears how important it is, in the examination of the calorific effects
resulting from disboscation, to have regard to the physical properties of
the soil, when it is once denuded. Here probably is to be found the
reason why the conclusions which Humboldt has drawn from the ther-
mometric observations made at stations in North America, no attention
having been paid to the nature of the soil of the denuded surface, are
not the same with those at which M. Boussingault has arrived by taking
that condition into consideration.

It has been competently proved, then, that the disboscation of a soil
formed of a siliceous, pebbly sand, must raise the mean temperature of
the air more than any other formation, at the same time that it causes
the disappearance of a source of humidity; while, if the soil is argilla-

ceous, whether dry or humid, the capacity of warming the air and re-
taining heat is, relatively to the former, in the ratio of 68.4 to 100.
The calorific effect must be considerably less from the denudation of a
dry formation.

We see now in what manner we should consider the influence of disbos-
cation on the temperature of the air. The effects, however, are so com-
plex that we can only determine the resultant by the help of diurnal
observations of temperature; it is necessary besides to collate the max-
imum and minimum temperatures, which play a very important part in
the constitution of climates, and to have regard to the nature of the soil.
We shall resume this question on an early occasion.

The following illustration is of a nature to give an idea of the influ-
ence which forests may exert on the climate of a vast region. The
presence of extensive forests in the tropical portions of the African con-
tinent, situated under the meridians of the western part of Europe,
would probably modify the ascending current of warm air which at
present results from the heating of a sandy surface, and which descends
upon the middle latitudes of Europe. If, in the lapse of centuries, the
sands of the Sahara should become covered with woods, these sands
would not be heated to so high a degree as at the present epoch ; con-
sequently the winds of the south, which now mollify our climate, hav-
ing no longer so high a temperé ature, would render it more rigid. To be
satisfied of this it is sufficient to consider the state of things on the
American continent, where the tropical regions are occupied by vast
forests, immense savannas, or great water-courses; the descending cur-
rents of warm air cannot moderate the climate of countries situated in
the middle latitudes of North America as much as the warm currents
coming from the Sahara mitigate the countries of the eastern conti-
nent situated under the same latitudes. And here is precisely the rea-
son why the western continent, under corresponding latitudes, is colder
than ours, judging from the objects of culture and the course of the
isothermal lines in each.

Nor does it suffice to study the calorific influence of the extirpation of
woods upon climate; it is further necessary to inquire into the action
which it exerts on the sources of streams, and the physical effects pro-
duced in mountainous countries on a denuded soil, as well as those re-
sulting from such denudation in argillaceous and humid formations.
Another observation we will make, as not being without some import-
ance: It has been previously seen that a tree ‘becomes warm or cool
like an unorganized body, and that in proportion as the leaves are cooled
at night by the effects of the nocturnal radiation, the loss of heat is
repaired by a radiation transmitted by the trunk ‘and branches; this
state of things, which has not been hitherto noticed by physici sts, hin-
ders the air from being chilled as much as if the calorific radiation of

412 FORESTS AND THEIR CLIMATIC INFLUENCE.

the trees had not taken place. The influence of woods in cooling the
air is not as great, therefore, as has been supposed. The state of the
soil, moreover, singularly modifies that influence.

EFFECTS OF THE CLEARING AWAY OF FORESTS ON SPRINGS AND
WATER-COURSES.

The effects of disboscation on the sources and quantities of living
water which irrigate a country are of most important consideration, and
hence require serious attention. The difficulty in verifying these effects
is the greater inasmuch as it is impossible to say, a priori, whether a
forest or portion of a forest, destined to be cleared away, contributes to
supply such or such a source, such or such a river. Springs are owing,
in general, to the infiltrations of rain-water in a pervious formation,
through which this water sinks until it meets with an impervious stra-
tum, flowing over the latter when it is in an inclined position, and event-
ually rising in streams or fountains. The water of wells has the same
origin. Large springs are ordinarily found in mountainous regions.

Forests also contribute to the formation of springs, not only by reason
of the humidity which they produce, and the obstacles which they op-
pose to the evaporation of the water which falls on the surface, but fur-
ther because of the roots of the trees, which, by dividing the soil, render
it more pervious and thus facilitate infiltration. A great number of
illustrative examples have been cited, but we shall here adduce only a
few. which may be regarded as among the most remarkable.

Strabo informs us that it was necessary to take great precautions to
prevent the country of Babylonia from being submerged. The Eu-
phrates, which begins to swell, he tells us, at the close of spring, when the
snows melt on the mountains of Armenia, overflows at the béginning of
summer, and would necessarily form vast accumulations of water on the
cultivated lands were not the superflux turned aside by means of trenches
and canals. This state of things exists no longer. M. Oppert, who
some years ago traveled through Babylonia, reports that the volume of
water convey ed by the Euphrates i is much less than in past ages, that
inundations no longer occur, that the canals are dry, the marshes ex-
hausted by the great heats of summer, and that the country has ceased
to be insalubrious. This retreat of the waters can only be attributed,
as he found means to satisfy himself, to the clearing away of the forests
on the mountains of Armenia.

The effects in question, though denied by some, are not the less in-
contestible, as is shown by examples which I proceed to report and
which rest upon observations worthy of entire confidence.

De Saussure (Voyage dans les Alpes, t. ii,ch. 16) long ago pointed out
the diminution of water in the lakes of Switzerland, especially in Lakes
Morat, Neufchatel, and Bienne, as a consequence of the clearing away
of the forests. Choiseul Gouffier was not able to distinguish in the Troad
the River Scamander, which was still navigable in the time of Pliny.
Its bed is now entirely dry; but the cedars also, which covered Mount
Ida, whence it took its source, as well as the Simois, exist no longer.

M. Boussingault, (Annales de Chimie et de Physique, t. xiv, p. 113,)
who studied this subject during his sojourn in Bolivia, selected as the
subject of his observations the lakes situated in the plains or on differ-
ent steps of the mountains. The valley of Aragua, province of Vene-
zuela, situated at a short distance from the coast, has a very favorable
climate, and is of great fertility. It is closed in on every side, the rivers
which traverse it having no issue toward the ocean; by their union

FORESTS AND THEIR CLIMATIC INFLUENCE. 413

they form the Lake of Tacarigua or Valenciana, which, at the time when
Humboldt saw it, had been undergoing for some thirty years a gradual
desiccation, the cause of which was unknown. Oviedo, the historian of
Venezuela in the sixteenth century, relates that the city of Nueva Va.
lencia was founded in 1555, at the distance of half a league from the
Lake of Tacarigua, from which, when Humboldt was there in 1800, it
was distant 2,700 toises, (34 miles,) a proof of the retreat of the waters
confirmed by a number of facts. According to the celebrated traveler
just named, the diminution of the waters was directly attributable to
the clearing away of numerous forests.

In 1822, M. Boussingault learned of the inhabitants that the waters
of the lake had exhibited a very sensible elevation; lands which were
before cultivated were then submerged. It is to be noted that, for the
term of twenty-two years previous, the valley had been the theater of
bloody contests during the war of independence; the population had
been decimated, the lands had remained untilled, and the forests, which
grow with prodigious rapidity under the tropics, had eventually occu-
pied a great part of the country. We see here the influence of woods
on the quantity of water which flows or settles ina country, since lakes
which had been exhausted by the removal of forests were again replen-
ished by their restoration.

M. Boussingault cites several examples which lead to the same con-
clusion in regard to the influence exerted by great masses of wood on
the living waters of a country. We shall quote two of the most remark-
able. In 1826, the metalliferous mountains of Marmato presented only
some miserable cabins inhabited by negro slaves. In 1830, this state
of things no longer existed; there were numerous work-shops and a
population of 3,000 inhabitants. It had been found necessary to level
much wood: the denudation had proceeded but for two years, and already
a diminution was perceptible in the volume of water available for the
labor of the machines. Yet a pluviometer proved to M. Boussingault
that the quantity of water which had fallen in the second year was
greater than that which fell during the first. This fact tends to show that
disboscation may diminish and occasion the disappearance of sources,
though, from that circumstance, no inference is warranted of the fall of
a less quantity of rain. The second example is derived from the table-
lands of New Grenada, at an elevation of from 2,000 to 3,000 metres,
(6,500 to 9,800 feet,) where there is a temperature during the whole
year of 14° to 16°, (57° to 61°F.) The inhabitants of the village of
Dubaté, situated near two lakes, which were united sixty years ago,
have witnessed the gradual subsidence of the waters, insomuch that
lands which, thirty years since, were under water are now subject to
culture. The examination of local conditions and other investigations
made by M. Boussingault, convinced him that this change was due to
the disappearance of numerous forests which have been cut down. At
the same time other lakes, such as that of Tota, at a short distance from
Fuquené, situated in localities where the woods have been undisturbed,
have undergone no diminution of their waters. M. Desbassyres de
Richemont has also discovered that there exists in the Island of Ascen-
sion, at the foot of a mountain, a fine water source, which became dry
in consequence of the denudation of the neighboring heights, but has
been restored since the forest was again allowed to grow.

To complete the documents which may serve for the elucidation of
this question, there are still some important observations to be brought
forward. M. Berghaus (Cours d@ Agriculture de M. de Gasparin, t. ii, p.
146) finds that the volume of water in the Oder and the Elbe underwent

414 FORESTS AND THEIR CLIMATIC INFLUENCE.

diminution, from 1778 to 1835 in the first of these rivers, and from 1828
to 1836 in the second, and that this diminution was so sensible that,

should it proceed at the same rate, it would be necessary at the lapse
of a certain period to change the construction of boats; here, however,

statistical observations evince that this fact cannot be attributed to the
extermination of the forests of the mountains. In order to explain it,

inquiry has been made whether the quantity of rain falling in the different
parts of Hurope has not undergone a corresponding Giminution, but the
hypothesis has not been sustained. In fact, since 1689, during which
interval the quantity of rain falling at Paris has been observed, : a slight
augmentation, rather than any diminution, has been verified. Cesaris
has recognized the same increase for the city of Milan from 1763 to the
present epoch; and a similar result appears, in regard to Rochelle and
the basin of the Rhone. The supposition of a diminution of rain being
hence untenable, it has been surmised that possibly the number of rain-
falls may have changed, a conjecture founded on the generally admitted
fact that a great rain furnishes more water to the river courses than the
same quantity distributed over several days with intervals of dryness.
But the discussion of the observations has afforded no confirmation of
this view. It has been found necessary to fall back upon the changes
produced in climates by the progress of cultivation.

It may happen, as has sometimes been the case, that concussions of
the earth dry up the sources of streams, but this is not common. A
great number of facts demonstrate, on the other hand, that the diminu-
tion is often an almost immediate sequence of extensive clearings. We
would point especially to the instance already cited of the water-courses
of Marmato. Nor are there other examples undeserving of a passing
reference. The Romans were able to bring to Orleans the waters of the
fountain of Etuvée, which at the present time is entirely dried up. Ex-
tensive excavations, made within a few years, have brought to light the
foundations of Roman constructions where no source of water any “longer
exists; a stream, moreover, to the east of Orleans, which contributed
to the defense of the city during the siege in 1428, and which was cor-
siderable enough to turn mills, has completely disappeared. Now, on
that side of Orleans there were great forests, which have been cleared
away. In consequence of these clearings the wells of the city have
continued to yield less and less water, so that the municipal adminis-
tration has been obliged, within a few years, to incur an expense of
300,000 franes ($60,000) in order to bring potable water from the source
of the Loiret.

In the canton of Chatillon-sur-Loing there is a commune called Sainte-
Geneviteve-des-Bois, which would appear to have been once a tract of
forest, but which presents to-day only small groves scattered here and
there. A stream formerly flowed at the foot of the town where at pres-
ent exists only its dried bed, never containing water except in winter.

In discussing the important question of the influence of disboscation
on water-courses, we arrive at the following conclusions: 1. Extensive
oo diminish the quantity of spring or flowing water in a country;

It cannot yet be determined whether that diminution should be attrib.
‘ea to the less considerable quantity of rain which falls, or to a greater
evaporation of the pluvial supply, or to both causes united, or to some
new distribution of the water derived from rains; 3. The cultivation
practiced in an arid and denuded country dissipates a part of the flowing
waters; 4. In countries which have undergone no changes in cultivation
the quantity of water in streams or from sources appears to be always
the same; 5. Forests, while preserving such waters, economize and reg-

FORESTS AND THEIR CLIMATIC INFLUENCE. A15

ulate their discharge; 6. The humidity which prevails in woods and the
function of the roots in making the soil more pervious, should be taken
into consideration; 7. The clearing away of forests in mountainous coun-
tries exercises an influence on the streams and springs in the lowlands,
especially in the latter; 8. Hence the action of forests upon climate is of
a highly complex nature.

With the means of securing salubrity now at our disposal, there is no
occasion for apprehending unhealthy swamps as the result of the extir-
pation of forests. Nor need it be inferred that the denudation of a
country entails sterility. As examples, England and Spain may be
cited, which present, the one only 2 per 100 of wooded surface, the other
3.17 per 100. The former has a marine climate, marked by the frequent
prevalence of southwest winds charged with vapor to the point of satu-
ration, which produces fogs on the least lowering of the temperature.
Spain has not a similar climate, but its most fertile parts are those
watered by large rivers, while the great table-lands are absolute deserts.

From what has been said the question presents itself whether the ex-
tirpation of a great forest in the vicinity of a fertile plain possessing
only springs of water, might not give reason to fear the desiccation of
these springs in whole or in part and the consequent impoverishment of
the country? The denudation of an arenaceous country may lead to the
desolation of the neighboring plains through the incursions of the sand,
as may easily be conceived from the explanation given by M. Chevreul
of the formation of downs in the Landes of Gascony; the sand is here
driven by the winds until it encounters an obstacle, when a barrier is
formed which arrests the discharge of the waters; these moisten the
base of the heap, and by capillary action cause the particles of sand to
cohere and become fixed to the soil; the winds remove only the upper
part, which, being carried forward, continues to form new downs until
the plain in the end is wholly overwhelmed with sand.

A forest, interposed in the passage of a current of humid air charged
with hurtful miasms, sometimes preserves from their influence any tract
which is thus sheltered; while uncovered regions, as is exemplified in the
Pontine marshes, are exposed to the baleful influence. Trees, therefore,
tend to purify an infected air by absorbing or obstructing its pestilential
constituents. Still another kind of action is exercised upon climate by
the presence of forests: the trees of lofty growth which compose them
withdraw electricity from the clouds, and thus to some extent neutralize
the disastrous effects of storms.

The restoration of forests upon the mountains is an operation of prime
necessity for the preservation of the latter; its advantages result: 1st,
from the increased facility with which the rain-waters penetrate into the
soil and even the subsoil, being traversed by roots which promote infil-
tration; 2d, from the effects produced by the resistance which forests
oppose to the passage of masses of air saturated with vapors in motion,
which promptly descend in rain on being forced upwards and compressed
by the obstacle; 3d, from the humidity which generally prevails in the
interior and in the vicinity of woods and which gives place to a precipi-
tation of dew when the temperature of the air is lowered.

Of the transformation of lands from which the forest has been re-
moved into marshes, some striking examples may be cited, and those
not in Asia Minor, of which mention has been made elsewhere, but in
France itself. It is to be observed that when trees are cut down, the
roots of course die and the soil becomes more compact. La Brenne,
situated between the Indre and the Creuse, presents a circular surface
of more than 200 kilometres (125 miles) in circumference, or nearly 80,000

416 FORESTS AND THEIR CLIMATIC INFLUENCE

hectares, (197,680 acres.) The soil of this country, which is argilo-sili-
ceous, rests on asubstratum of impenetrable clay which resists the infil-
tration of water; it is thickly covered with pools, to which are attributed
the intermittent fevers prevalent throughout the district. Tenor twelve
centuries ago it was occupied by forests interspersed with meadows,
watered by running streams and fountains, and there existed then neither
pools nor Swamps; on the contrary, it was renowned for the fertility of
its pastures and the amenity of its climate. The disappearance of the
forests was succeeded by collections of stagnant water which took pos-
session of thé now unproductive and worthless soil, and this to such an
extent that in 1714, the tract of Bouchat-en-Brenne alone counted no
less than one hundred and nine of them. (Piganiol de la Force, Descrip-
tion de la France.) A like state of things appears in Sologne, which rep-
resents a surface of 450,000 hectares, (1,112,000 acres,) and which has
become proverbial for its insalubrity. The deplorable condition in which
we see it did not always exist. Historical documents show that a great
part of this country was of old clothed with woods. Their extirpation
has been succeeded by accumulations of water, fens, and the attendant
malades. At the present day the removal of the forest need not involve
so calamitous a consequence, for modern ingenuity has placed at our
disposal the means of restoring salubrity and fertility to swamps and
moor-lands of even long standing.

The effects produced in mountains clearly evince the action of roots
in promoting the infiltration of rain-water and the alimentation of
sources. In a mountainous country the extirpation of forests promptly
leads to the formation of torrents. Of this the Alps furnish numerous
examples. When, in fact, vegetation is left to develop itself freely on
the sides of Inountains covered with the detritus of rocks from the sum-
mit, dense forests of spruce and larch quickly oceupy their flanks, and
the interlacing roots form a net-work which binds and protects the soil.
If clearings are inconsiderately made in the direction of the slopes the
waters follow the course of the openings, and, carrying with them the
vegetable deposit, rapidly excavate furrows. These furrows extend with
time, and end by forming torrents. Nothing of this sort occurs where
the woods have not been felled. All the eastern part of the department
of the Hautes-Alpes presents numerous results of this kind.

We thus see that the presence of a forest on a surface of steep inclin-
ation counteracts the formation of torrents, while disboscation exposes
the soil to their ravages. This effect it is easy to explain when the soil
is once occupied by vegetation, first by the humbler plants, then by
trees whose roots, forming a sort of feltigg, give consistence to the
ground at the same time thatthe branches and leaves break the force of
heavy rains. The trunks, the off-shoots, the brush-wood, multiply ob-
stacles in the way of the currents which would otherwise furrow the
earth. The effect of vegetation, therefore, is to give more stability to
the soil and to distribute the waters over its whole surface, so as to pre-
vent their following the drains in a mass, as would be the case if the
earth were denuded. The soil, being divided by the roots and covered with
a porous humus, absorbs a part of the waters which cease to flow down
the slopes and are conveyed by percolation to the low grounds, where
they serve to feed streams and fountains. Such are the benefits resulting
from the presence of forests on mountains and inclined surfaces exposed
to torrential rains.

ON ME TE ORT TE S:

EXTRACT FROM A DISCOURSE, FEBRUARY 7, 1869, BEFORE THE SOCIETY OF NATURAL
History OF WISCONSIN, BY Dr. Fr. BRENNDECKE.

[ Translated from the German for the Smithsonian Institution. ]

* * * As furnishing the finest exemplifications of the Widmannstiiten
figures, as well as the purest and rarest kinds of siderites, may be cited
the meteorite of Braunau, the meteorite of Seclisgen, the Putnam
meteorite of Georgia, and the Dérflinger meteorite found here in Wis-
consin. According to the classification made by Professor Shepard, the
last belongs to the order of the taniastic siderites, (ribbon siderites.)

sesides this specimen, there has been adduced by Professor Shepard
only one example of the order in question, which was found, in 1801, at
the Cape of Good Hope.

In a report which, in the beginning of September, 1868, I had the
honor, at the instance of the Wisconsin Society of Natural History, to
lay before it, respecting the iron meteorite found in that State, and which
coutained the results of an exploration of the locality where the meteorite
was found, conducted by Mr. C. Dorflinger and myself, it was stated that,
in July, 1868, there was presented to the museum of the society, by its
secretary, Mr. Doérflinger, a piece of iron of sixteen pounds weight,
which had been found in Washington County, Wisconsin, by parties
engaged in cultivating a farm. This piece, upon scientific investiga-
tion of its physical properties by Mr. Dorflinger, proved to be genuine
meteoric iron. The surfaces ground and polished with a view to its
examination, when treated with nitric acid, exbibited Widmannstaten
figures of the greatest beauty and distinctness. A qualitative chemical]
analysis, conducted by the director of the mineralogical section of the
society, Dr. G. Bode, confirmed the discovery. The place where the
mass of meteoric iron was found is in section 33, Washington County,
Wisconsin, on a small farm belonging to a farmer named Louis Korb.
In the fall of 1858, Korb, gn working his farm, struck with his plow
against some hard object, which lay about ten inches under the earth.
The supposed stone proved to be a mass of metallic iron of sixty-two
pounds weight. The representation of this mass, as regards both its
magnitude and form, lies before the society in the drawing executed
by Mr. Dorflinger, at the place of discovery.

In the years immediately following that last mentioned, Korb found
similar but smaller pieces of meteoric iron to the number of four, as I
am informed, within a circuit of from two to three rods from the place
where the first and larger mass was lying. One of these pieces is the
iron meteorite of sixteen pounds weight presented by Mr. Dorflinger to
the society. A second piece I procured, in conjunction with My. Dorflin-
ger, at Cedarburg, where it had been kept until then. This weighs
seven and three-quarter pounds. <A third piece we obtained from the
printing office at West Bend, where it had been for several years, but

278

418 METEORITES.

withoutthe least recognition of thenatureof the mineral by any one either
there or at Cedarburg. A fourth piece should have been at the Korb
farm-house, but is not now to be found. The mass of sixty-two pounds
weight has, for a short time past, been in the cabinet of natural history
of I. A. Lapham, who succeeded in purchasing it.

The place where these meteorites were found, and its environs for a
mile in circumference, form a hilly tract quite thickly covered by forest
trees. The soil of this hilly district is a caleareous or argillaceous loam.
Everywhere in the region are to be found fragmentary angular stones,
often several feet in diameter, and also round and smooth ones, all of
the oldest formation, which come from the so-called azoic rocks in the
north of Wisconsin, and which are interspersed in the quaternary dilu-
vium. This last forms a calcareous belt, thirty-six miles wide, along the
shore of Lake Michigan to Green Bay, and is regarded as belonging to
the Niagara and Clinton limestone formation.

These drift rocks (Triimmergesteine) often cause the cultivator great
labor in reclaiming the land. It is customary to see large pyramids of
stones heaped up in the fields, which the farmer has dragged together,
with no little trouble, before he can till the soil. This is the case at
Korb’s farm to a very extraordinary degree. To the quartzose and
granitic rocks strewed over this region, at an earlier time, and lying
uncovered or close under the soil, it is probably to be ascribed the fact
that the masses of meteoric iron whieh have been found had not to be
withdrawn through any very deep excavations of the ground.

As Korb, and probably many others of the vicinage, had been led by
the finding of these iron meteorites to conjecture the "existence of rich
treasures of iron ore within the earth, I sought the more strenuously to
remove the disbelief in the cosmical origin of the bodies in question,
especially as that origin had not at the time received the incontestable
confirmation of chemical analysis.

Close to Korb’s farm lies another on which is found, in the midst of
a wood, a small and very deep pond in the moor land. Near to it isa
ferruginous spring. On closer observation I found that this was nothing
more than water flowing from the moors, and soon becoming stag-
nant through an overgrowth of decaying plants—showing a slight i im-
pregnation of iron—less even than much of the water drank at Mil-
waukee. Only a few hundred steps from this, also in the forest, is a

vather large and very deep pond, surrounded by a quaking and scarcely
passable bog, some four hundred feet long and two hundred wide. The
pond is called Burns’s Lake. The whole scenery makes a dreary and
uncomfortable impression on the mind. I have generally t failed to find
hereabouts minerals containing iron, though Iron Ridge stretches from
Dodge County almost to the borders of Washington County.

According to Dr. G. Bode’s report, submitted to the Wisconsin Society
of Natural History, he has taken the samples for the careful chemical
analysis which he has executed from the piece weighing sixteen pounds.
This piece is externally covered with a brown, almost polished coat of
oxide of iron, imparting but slight coloration ; within, it is nearly of the
whiteness of silver; it is very soft, but of great toughness. The so-
called Widmannstiiten figures, characteristic of meteoric iron, admit of
being produced with great distinctness.

The specific weight of the mass amounts to 7.3272. One hundred
parts contain, of iron, 89.22 per cent.; of nickle, 10.79 per cent.; of
phosphorus, 0.69 per cent., and a trace of cobalt.

The composition of all meteoric iron masses, thus far examined, is
very Similar. Of nine different analyses, known to him, Dr. Bode states

METEORITES 419

the average contents in nickle at 10.30 per cent. The relative quantity
of phosphorus is, in nearly all, higher than the above. On the other
hand, most of the iron-meteorites contain traces of other substances
mentioned before.

From the absence of other constituents, the meteoric iron discovered
in Wisconsin is the purest which has been hitherto found; it is distin-
guished for its beauty, and only one other meteoric iron mass now known
shares in an equal degree the characteristic of its species.

REMARKABLE FORMS OF HAILSTONES RECENTLY OBSERVED
IN GEORGIA.

[Extract from a letter from Staatsrath Abich to Chevalier W. von Haidinger. From
the Journal of the Austrian Meteorological Society, vol. iv, p. 417. ] i

I take this opportunity of giving you a preliminary notice of two hail-
storms, of both of which I was fortunate enough to be a witness. The
phenomena were of so unusual a character that they are well worthy of
a full and precise account.

They took place within fourteen days of each other; the first on the
27th May last, at 3 p. m., the second on the 9th June, at6 p. m. The
localities were not far asunder, being both in the neighborhood of Tiflis,
near Beloi Kliutsch. The morphological characters of the hailstones,
which were very large, as much as sixty or seventy millimetres (24 inches)
in diameter, were as remarkable as they were dissimilar. On the first
occasion they were oblate spheroids, resembling Mandarin oranges, while
their structure seemed almost or eanic. On the second there was a fall
of actual ice crystals, an occurrence which has never before been noticed,
at least as far as I could discover from the literature within my reach.
The stones were not mere lumps, exhibiting indistinct crystalline forms,
but spheroidal bodies of definite crystalline structure, overgrown along
the plane of the major axis by a series of clear crystals exhibiting vari-
ous combinations belonging to the hexagonal system. The commonest
forms were those which occur in calcite and specular iron. Of the for-
mer type, by far the most abundant were combinations of the scalen-
ohedron, with rhombohedral faces ; crystals of fifteen to twenty millime-
tres (? inch) i in height, and corresponding thickness, prettily grouped with
combinations of the prism and obtuse rhombohedra. The terminal plane

was also occasionally noticeable. Some which fell at the beginning of
the storm were flat, tabular, crystalline masses, thirty to forty millime-
tres (14 inch) in diameter, resembling the so-called “ eisen-rose,” which
occurs at St. Gotthardt.

The stones, when picked up duit fresh, showed sharp edges, with
faces which were for the most part slightly curved like those of diamond;
however, those which I took to belong to the scalenohedron were per-
fectly plane.

I was in the open air when each of the storms began, and was able to
gain shelter before I received any injury. This was. fortunate, for the
damage done, even to large trees, was very serious.

Tre ached home in a quarter of an hour, and found a pail full of the
largest stones, which had been collected as soon as the first fright had
passed over. My house was not much damaged. Isat down at once
and drew ten of these remarkable forms, which had scarcely undergone
any alteration.

I have often thought over our conversations about hail, and I see that
if [ now applied all the theories which have ever been br oached to the
facts which have come under my own notice, not a single one of them
will give me any light toward their explanation. I would ask how such
a regular growth of crystalline masses, reminding us in their character

REMARKABLE FORMS OF HAILSTONES. 421

ef the drusy crystals of calcite from Andreasberg, can be reconciled
with the violent atmospheric commotion which we suppose to accoin-
pany the formation of hail. We say in naturé nihil fit per saltus, and I
believe it. The growing crystalline mass must*have been suspended
for along time ina very cold stratum of aqueous vapor before it reached
the earth.

[The two subjoined cuts are copied as closely as. possible from the
original drawings. |

I would only add, by
way of a hint, to explain
what cannot be shown by
such imperfect drawings,
y that where the flat sphe-
> roidal forms, resembling
specular iron, in the cen-
ter of the drawing, exhibit
shading, the crystals were
not always opaque. The
ring surrounding the nu-
cleus had a milky appear-
ance, owing to small air
bubbles, as had the nu-
cleus itself in most instan-
ces. Many of them, how-
ever, had a clear nucleus.
This could easily be seen
next morning, when the
stones had all melted
down to cakes of about an
inch in diameter, occa-

AMWYreS 3
} AO an
OAS

Ay sionally taking the shape
ee of a regular hexagon.

\ The milky ring round the
? central point was clearly
distinguishable as a sort
of fibrous web composed
of the finest air cavities
traversed by threadlike

pores. Insomecases there
Actual representations (of the natural size) of two of the hail- was no ring, and the nu-

stones which fell in Georgia on the 9th June, 1869, drawn at ;
the time by Staatsrath Abich. cleus was seni-opaque.

The shading round the border of the large circle is only intended to
mark the smooth spheroidal form of the central mass. The actual
crystals were attached parasitically to its edge, or else inserted in w
sort of socket, as I found when the stones thawed down. (See a, Fig.
i)
All the stones contained fine air pores, pear-shaped or worm-like,
running from the center to the circumference. The drawings are as
near as possible natural size.

ERUPTION OF THE VOLCANO OF COLIMA IN JUNE, 1869.

COMMUNICATED BY Dr. CHARLES SARTORIUS.

To the northwest of the town of Colima rise, above lower mountains,
two lofty voleanic peaks, the more easterly, capped with snow, being
5,790 metres (12,434 feet) in height, the more westerly, with a conspicu-
ous crater, 3,580 metres, (11,745 feet.) The latter had an eruption in the
year 1818, but had since remained in repose, though thin clouds of
smoke often ascended from its suminit.

On the 12th June, 1869, a dense smoke issued from the crater and at
night a bright light was visible at its mouth; detonations like the dis-
charge of distant artillery were heard, but no concussion of the earth
took ‘place. On the 13th'there was observed from the hacienda (farm) of

San Marcos, four leagues distant from the volcano, on its northeast side,
at the foot of the steep cone, a glowing heaving (Anschwwellung) of the
surface, which continued to increase, and displayed intensely luminous
clefts, from which were ejected smoke and red-hot stones, extending in
the direc tion of the snowy peak above mentioned.

The civil engineer, Ricardo Orosco, ascended the volcano on the 15th
of June, accompanied by two servants and a guide. At 6 o'clock in the
morning he left San Marco’s, and reached at 12 o’clock a plain at the
foot of the steep cone, where he left the horses. A heavy storm was
prevailing, the temperature of the air being 10° Réaumur, (55°F.) On
a second small plain upon the northeast side of the mountain was the
new upheaval, which ascended to the scarp of the cone and stretched
in the direction of the snowy peak, the latter being 4,500 metres (22
miles) distant. The upheaval in question seemed to be some 30 metres
(114 feet) high and 230 metres (754 feet) broad, forming a flattened arch.
The appearance was that of a wild mass of volcanic, red-hot rocks
heaped one upon another and coustantly in motion, not unlike freshly
burnt lime when sprinkled with water. The rocks which rolled down
were, on cooling, of a gray color. A piece broken off rang like glass
and was vitreous and porous. In the middle of the upheaved mass the
movement was strongest; there large clefts and intense light were dis-
played, while engulfed stones, which were swallowed up in great masses,
were followed by a noise as of violent wind and by clouds of smoke,
sometimes blue, sometimes yellow. The temperature of the air in the
vicinity was 42° R., (126° F.) The stones in the midst of the heaving
mass seemed to be softened, though not melted, and no flow of lava
took place. Orosco ascended the cone in order to observe the phenome-
non trom above. This cone is very steep, and consists of sand and vol-
canic rubble. aoe temperature on the summit, which was reached at
2 o'clock p. m., was found to be 4° k., (41° IF.) From hence the whole
of the new anne: wal could be surveyed. In the middle of it the most
vehement movement was in progress, attended by the constant upheay-
ing and descent of rocky masses, fire, and blue and yellow columns of
smoke.

The upper (ancient) crater has a diameter of 150 metres, (492 feet,)

ERUPTION OF THE VOLCANO OF COLIMA. 423

descends in a cone-like form, and shows around its circumference many
fissures and rifts. From the center and walls arose a dense sulphnrous
vapor. The gases from the new theater of eruption had a smell ‘ike
that of burning stone-coal.

The descent was very toilsome on account of the rolling stones. At
3.30 p.m. the horses were reached, and at 9.30 the hacienda of San
Marcos, where many were waiting to learn the result of the expedition.
The report of Orosco was, that the district was threatened with no dan-
ger, as no lava was issuing, and the fissures being open gave no reason
to fear any explosion from the tension of confined vapors. Later ex-
plorers of the volcano found a fissure from the new upheaval to the up-
per peak, one to three feet wide and about three feet in depth, but
neither heat nor vapor issuing from it. The latest reports inform us
that the same phenomena in general continue to present themselves, but
that such volumes of fetid gases issue from the fissure, that the inhabi-
tants of the district were “forced to leave their abodes. Cows and
sheep were killed thereby, so that it was found necessary to drive away
the herds from the neighborhood of the voleano.

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CONTENTS OF THE REPORT FOR 1869

Resolunoniot Consress to print the report. .=--.-. 252 -2-< sss coe e o> seen ee
Letter from the Secretary submitting report to Congress -:_...------------ -=:-
List of Regents and members ex officio Of the Mnshielon = s2 26s. ee ee ess
Executive officers of the Institution..............-2..--2--+c-0+eeereeeees cree
PEL OL OL LOCOANI AA OW. i aie oes trace Saeco See eee aoe meee
IRI PCQUERIE: GQ) BET G1 0 SPR) OY G24 td Wy. 2) Gee ee Re en eee ea 2k ee
PCC EAS Aes ee A ae Rees Rae Oe eee 0 Ae, See iers teed
Coéperation with Government Departments .----..-......-.------------
PUD CANONS js 8s fcr sao tae ee oe eaters oe Ror gee ae one nearer
Enihennanonnl Gxchan cess 6202.5 Us sins yl oe er ee
1 Git] FG es Ne ee a RSI Si OR ee Stain ning re Cheek ne
Ree T OTP A Oct St otis mesa tate On ae ee cet) ae eM ats See ae ee
Minsemines Aes. Sosa os Sconce e Saecieoe eee eae ease tee ee eee ee epee
IEGHINES toeiou cai a ia ae = 2s Se clo eae aie a Se a eee ate Seis eee Pe a
Explorations and collections in natural history .----..----------.-------
Explorations and collections in ethnology -..-..-.---...-.-=-2-==+.-.---:
INeTEOTOlO Mya se ee clone See eee eee ee a Oo oe eee
AHN xe Osh Ne ORL OR MEET SHOR RITA W222 5 ooo 2st eee ae ae ee aee
Hniaessin Winseun record ebooks-.— 202 snc 22 Acces ee ae ee eee
Distmbution of duplicate sperimens)>: 25-222 ---. 2554-22-20 se eee ee
A Gi ONS tO bho COUECtONS =a. .-= escuela ie Oe ee eee eee
1 Statistics of literary ard scientific exchanges-:.. ..:-----.----=2- -¢---<
ete Packages sent from America for foreign societies ....:----..---.--+-----
. Packages received from foreign Te Le ae Pe ee RE Ey Oe ‘
8 List of meteorological stations and observers..--...-...-----------.-----
Colleges and institutions furnishing meteorological observations... ..---
, iMeteorolovical material received 1m 1869". 32... 222. - 22225222 ce se see ae
Pot OB eb, eh WU DEVit: COMMPMINE = 222 ac aoe ee a eee
IRECeIp isan SO 9S oo.) eee etna see see eaten oak ok eee
HE PenU sures; Ms LEGO amen has esos, poten eae ae Seine aay ee eee
Estimates and appropriations for 1870........--- ee ate Hi eee Pato ee tee
Heamination’ Of Accountse. so-255 ss)-macs oss ones Se one ese een aero
JOURNAL OF PROCEEDINGS OF THE BOARD OF REGENTS.........--.-

GENERAL APPENDIX.

nPanie.) hissimeand works: By M. Berthrand= 5.2225 222.2. 922.522 522 46 ees
hmmOerONn Teomis YOUNG. By M: Arago)-:. £225: 2-2 tet 2so4-oeslee ne ees
Mrmorr or AUGUSTE BRAVAIS. By M. Elie de Beaumont -.--..-.---.---.------
Mav Oor Cob. 2) Von MAnrrus. By ChasiRanm’: 2255-6 2255 Jose ee
Lirr AND SCIENTIFIC LABORS OF STEFANO MariAnini. By C. Mattencci- ----
GHEentistiny OnvTHE BARTH. By ©: Sterry Hunt..3- 22-22-2525. -2 2. sess
ISEECIRICAL CURRENTS OF THE EARTH. By C. Matteucci ........-.-------.--
PHENOMENA OF FLIGHT IN THE ANIMAL KinGpom. By M. Marey...--.-.---.-----
MapPONORTAERN SEAS. By M- Babinet..-. 225.2. 0s2225- 2-20 a2 sass see ones
REPORT ON THE TRANSACTIONS OF THE SOCIETY OF PHYSICS AND OF NATURAL

History OF GENEVA, JUNE, 1868, TO JUNE, 1869. By Dr. H. C. Lombard... --
Coronapo’s MARCH IN SEARCH OF TOE “SEVEN CITIES OF CIBOLA” AND DiIs-

CUSSION OF THEIR PROBABLE Location. By General J. H. Simpson, U.S. A.
SocraL anp ReLicious ConpiTIoN OF THE Lower Races or MAN. By Sir

iin Toile 656 Bones Sos ocrIRAe aoe mer eaens Ant oaarEomacnicet sea! = cmnicbor ESE
PRINCIPLES AND METHODS OF PALZONTOLOGY. By T. H. Huxley-.---.-...----
REMARKS ON THE “ CarRA GIGANTESCA” of YZAMAL, IN YUCATAN. By Dr. Arthur

SHINDUT wee 2 JOSS Se Re OOOO EA OAR nae pee ABE er scene aboetEeeooes

FORESTS AND THEIR CLIMATIC “INPLUENCE. By: M. Beequerelis asses. 2 =< Se
LETTE DATES, TBA LDS a Oy ep Ba eh ohale (eV ee Re Re ee oa ee Soe sacce
REMARKABLE Forms or Hait-STones IN Georat. By S. Abich.----.-----.-

BRUORSION OF TI VOLC:NO Or Conia. By CU. Sartorius...--...-.--..5--..-

4126 CONTENTS.

ILLUSTRATIONS
Pago.
Phenomena of flight in the animal kingdom : ‘
Fig. 1. Tracings of wing-strokes of a drone and of @ bee sic-.-.c+-se-n-eeseee =) 205)
Hig. 2. Tracings Of will SoLavdron.°s 45 cite enas ae teneme cere eee he ee eee 235
AEE Bb Tracings of wing Ola wasp! inshoritlioht=es=-- ere eee eseee meee weeeee 237
Fig. 4 A spech Gta NvaSpi- cease ee 24 yates saree eee ea ere CECE epee se eee ae 238
Fig 5. Tracing of wing of Macroglossa galium, (Bedstraw sphynx-moth)- .----- 240
Fig. 6. Trace of a Wheatstone’s octave rod...-......-. Ste Sinise erate ee aes A - 240
Riov 7s racine Of wit Of vaNwas pi yo. soe ae ae tein tee eee eee ae ae alt
Fig. 38. Representing the artificial insect, or scheme of flight of insects ..-.---- 245
Fig. 9. Effect of heat on muscular contraction .......-...-22++-2s2-0-0-20 202 252
Fig. 10. Skeleton of the wing and sternum of a frigate-bird--..--...----..----- 254
1D Ue Sheela ro aNone py iP WeMbhA ORs Ser oc abba ee oso cass sab bosceeSonccsas ae aeOD
[Bikey IOS SUNG roe Ole Eby oleiked abide RASS AN ooo aaa oes Bos ancegeS 4 ess0 sees asus bes = 256
Big. 3. Pline!s'apparatus: ss: seco asccae aaseses a= sek ene eeee re eee eee eer 258
Fig. 14.“ CE Sat ot RRR Sh gc ee Oe Rp ee eae ee 258
Taree HE ete sate ichalnso, fee Goch te tare ome pe eee RAE ea ety oh a 259
Fig. 16. Apparatus for registering the motion of the wine Of a pigeon... 2-2. 203
Fig. 17. Apparatus for exhibiting the contraction of the thoracie muscles of birds 266
Fig. 18. Myographic tracings of the PCCtOLAIS! =) sence Cee ae eee ee lee See 267
Fig. 19. Electric tracing of ascent and descent of wing of the harrier....-.....- 267
Fig. 20. Difference in amplitude and frequency in wing-strokes of a pigeon-...- 269
Fig. 21. Tracings to express swelling of the biceps muscle....-...------------- 270
Fig. 22. Trace of the action of a harrier during uilightiseoeee ences eee rp eeaes wil
Vig. 23. Apparatus to transmit motions to a lever at a distance.........--.---- 273
Figs. 24. Hlastic point tracing upon smoked @lass...-.......--+.---.----------- 274
IDG ay lebinaetthwiaree Valse Mya RMNINU coaea oem e cece coaseesbesco esse ecoccces | SIR
His. 26. Representing course of the point of the wing-.------2-J-..2---- .--2-- 276
Bio 27. llipsertraced yaa) wiheatstone’s m0 (ese ee ee tol eee neat 2717
Fig. 28. Course in space of the extremity of the wimg......---.--.-....-.----- 277
Fig. 29. Apparatus for transmitting oscillations........--- Hise Beate Ae 1 = SP eS 230
Fis. 30: Chronographice trace of a tuning-fork, d¢_..-.2.-2- 222 --- eee cee == 282
Fig. 31. Oscillations of the wing of a duck, barrier, &c.---- ay ieee Are AS fered Se ie Dick
Misys? OscillationsoL they wins Of a Wantensses eee eee eee see 282
Remarkable hail-stones in Georgia:

Fig. 1. Natural size representation of hail-stone...--.-....----.---- Becesscocas (Aull
Fig. 2. Natural size rspresentations of hail-stone.....-.......-- sysicrsinte eras reeyeree =) e421

INDEX.

Page
Abich, S., account of remarkable hail-stones ........- sees t eee ee eee ee ore 420
Ly BR Aa Sy CST OKO) DR) ee er ee eee es (ee ne ates oo ais OO 87
MetpnnsOrekier SmUbnsOMlOn, CXCNUNP ES. 2-05-25 seen ence [ce ome wee oe meee 23
Aericuibural Department, cooperation with: ---.--.-2-s22-- 2222 222.222 -eee 26, 27
BAAR HCO LE CHIOUS PROMS a1toe mista es, de Sec ale ais Sse ree aie eee ae 42
ASH eOUECUONS MOMs. as =a seas ct ols le lees cL eee eae othe aoe 32
UCM eS MCs: <COMeChONS Tomita. s5 4 Lok ool kesoseene see se eee ne ee BE
Alexander, Colonel C. A., death.of, and resolutions relative to ...............-- 88
UEANSavLONS Dysm asses eee moe eee ee 93, 145
PNP EL TUDE SLOT MU CUUN.e ston see eee a2 cla cic See ce Sk ee eee eae 389
eypendix, general .._......---..-.-25s-----5 SdcHS6 ee pegebecso sac aceosscos psec 91
PRG AUECMAGHS sro CONZTESS< £2 25-3 Seat bos se. eae oo ee ae ee ee 15
Beem nnnions ron the year te) .22 2 Pca 2a enna sccm tne Sete ee eae ee 87
RA CO MeO VON EHOMAS! MOUNG = oot cas cyacws os one a eee ese ac ee eee see 111
Arizona, collections from ...-..--.-..-- Remini RBar s ee Sores Cee Ee ae ee 40
AS SCO Oe MONS wan OMI me ae se cle ae koe ain rap aoe el thre a ee 41
MEM Medical wMuseum, COOpPeramon with 2-5. ..5--sesccosseese ss ee one oa ee 26, 27
Pome ues vcO le Mrs OOTCOLMA = +3 - Cara oes Stes Stes eee nes coe eee 25
LON WoW Site: DNICO REE ONES BL OURIS (ey: Set eae een ee ea Meer t ae Be a A 226
Bache, Professor A. D., eulogy on, accepted .----.-.---: Sea ta eee See See ee 8&8
Baird, Spencer F., assistant secretary in charge of museum, exchanges, &c-..-. 5
CX PLOT AblONS ID Yate oes tele = Serna s ee nate ok wera ee ee ee 31
Banmisher, Menry., clerk in chaurre of meteorolomy =... 2-2. ---s4s--- 22 lee 5
REG mnnes ACOMeCHIONS TOMY -ote see os = =< sion owes el Oe Ae es Done 45
Becquerel, M.; on forests and theiriclimatice influence-----.-==--2-- 2-222. .cee 394
Beriurind- Mite and=worls of Kepler: 2<.-2: 5.2.22) Sos2o- 5522 nese ese e eee 93
Pianeva ey. (x.,ckiit ane tresh-water Shells. .2.4--c:s2ccd.s225 este eenlcenstee ile;
LEI SAS U7 C0) PR ee a eee EE ease 247
BIsenotie le COMBCLIONS D\isnoss: me seae ee ecs eemsecl nomen ete eee eee eee 29
pita hhomas land anditresh=water shells 2s: 2.) 2-2) -2sns2 2 soe ee eee ee 17
owen, Eons. J., acts of, as Regent. 22:22. --..2.--- Sete combs ok (a ME eee obs 89
Bravais, Auguste, memoir of, by Elic de Beaumont.-..-....--.....-::.-..2--- 145
Brenndecke, F’., on meteorites........-..--- Sake hain otic cee Cet rece eee AIZ
Breet Mrs Ws OOlOMVerE eas aS s52 fea Stee cas Se as eee eee eee sdeeees 16
artis Gilat cOllechlOns EON 22.2220 25 cco eces eee ees oe ener tee 46
‘Brown, Solomon’G., clerkin charge of transportation-.-...-....=------2----..+- 5
SEEN Ie RCOLECmONS NOM) esas Ste ne Lo aro ek oye Se ore Se ners yee eee 36
SGT, COMCCMONS ROM eee ee eeee ot Eas oss kiene steel Sane eee home Ree eee 44
Silt report co We prepared: relative (0-22-92 <os lees bee eaten seme eee es 88
Gupron, General EH botanicaliarrancements: by 2.2.2.2. 22:22:42.2 oe 2-2 ose cee ari
Pesnenstantesch of Yadmal- in Yucatan: 2s-25 222. 2.22 12 sis geese es aeeee eae 39
CEnieMeAMeLICy, COMECCHONSMEOM sss. s. su alcn + os eee seme een eee eee ee ces ae 46
Cie Miei JUSTICE S.Jb., acts Of, as Recent !...<..2 2225+ s5es soeeee see seo aeeeee 88, 89
@temicuysotthe earth. By i. Sterry Hunt: =-2 302.222. see oe oo = oes eens 182
Cibola seven cities of, discussion of location of-..+.5. 22-5 -225---2-222---..---- 309
Cleveland, P., meteorological observations ...-..-..--..---- Seen ane r 16
Oilignathe and fOrests!..222-22c20-52- 5282s 555052 32 Saale ee emeee Hen Seer eee 3o4
Coffin, J. H., meteoric fire-ball .............-- sosrose cons = Sob aoa scanass secs ae 16
MeveOrolooical INVesol@ablONS 2 2-520 ls aati ee ae ee 47
Colima, account of volcano of... -.---- Wee Og) SOAS Se 7 SeoSup ine CoOMasesedocc 422
SE CMECHONS Mall au MISGOLY c 9 tyao isa oe- ooee Fabel ee coe aoe tere Sue meeee ee 29
Collections mint OF ACTIONS) bO 2222 o52. 25-2 enon Se Sees oc eek eee osama eae 53
CaloraloicoueemOnSALOM=-2- =. Jsscse2cssodacs5 segs este cece Se SrUEAseetees 39
Coneress, orders to print extra copies of report 2-2-4 4222 -- eee oon e eae 3
RE POLGSUI MN LCCUTOe se sae (aes aaicine oe emia ee eaters SE clgban Sac d S0n5 3
Steno We Nth Gallery of. . oot S23 sees ntacasdls. oe beeen sae se 25
Coronado’s mzrch in search of the “seven cities of Cibola.” ByGeneral Simpson. 309
Coxmiounsao acts Ol, asiReventass as. 5.2655 to Jecteeoeeeeeieeee ee saa oae 88
Pin ECOMEC HONS: IRON 22.5 oss e a ea Se eee ae cs Ba ot teas eee ee ee 36

BEE ele (COMCEMIONS NY =. aos 222 oe 24 odo coal cored amare jsew ae oa ceaeaee 29, 32

428 INDEX.

Page.
Davis, Hon. Garret, acts of, as Regent.--......-.-.-- smeslecme sews S quiclceeineeeer &9
Meany GW. ,OUSCLVAbIONS Wy visas escent sacs Semin Soe eee eee eee 20
Dean John, medullayobloneataness.. 27 eee. 2a ee eee eee eee : 16
De Beaumont, memoir of Bravals, Dyes ones eee ee ee eee eee eee 145
Delaheld) General Richard yacts\of, asthe cen ase 4- oe ee eee ae eee nee eee 88, 29
reportiof executive:commitiee= ss. 225-22 eee a7
Districtor Columbia, collecions trom ses === eee eee en ee 43
Decuments, exchaneeor withitoreion! naimOns asec ose eee ee eee 23
Donatrons-to: library :228 soe els 5 8 te nore eae Nea teeter yee ere antes orn ee 24
LOIN ESE Obie OMOMU Oe eames aeis was soko ad ules soa eko see Shel tebe Soul 52
Hilectricalicurrentsiof ihe Camu ce er yee ee are ee Bee ty lie!
Meciro-MeuIicallexperim embsiOte INT ep mT eyes nee ae een ra ee 179
MstimatesiandlapproprrawlOns tor WSs) seers eee yas aeons 87

Bthnolocy, colléchionspin 5-2 soos astm e see sone eee ee ee nee eee 3
ixchan ses accoumboieystem! Olesesec see selene Seee eee se neeee eae 21
EXCHANGES eSUabISUICSIOle = eee ee ee Seek eee cee ea 5 aie eater aE, Base 59; 60, 62
d BRCM) COLAHI AMY Ley IRE) NOM ag Gass seas ado stuEaeeses Hookas secu cn oceeseatee pox)
CC MGNVS! OL CELSO patie wl mis tit tts eat ae as eo 5
1 Bore Nevos in meK Ss Cre TH ove) JbmkstA UU joa NE) oe ooo saceosmese obSse5 seas oseeos ese 86
Explorations, account of Pe aad oes IS ET IS oe 29
Fessenden, Hon. W. P., death of and resolutions relative to..---..--.--.---.--- 89
eulogy on, to be prepared by Chief Justice Chase.....-. th)
Hinancesnecamm bron serje ne oe misono ee om ate oe aap Ae eae a er ee 1153
Binancialicondition of omighconian LnShiiilOnis see eee ee ae eee 85
Flight in the animal kingdom, phenomena of.----..--- ose a Bs tae tos fs ah cere 226
Blorida-scolllectionsetromlsmce eas cee oe een ee ee eee 42
Renrelonregrresp ome emis fa ulve ns trl unt th ae rere ee 17
IORI, IDI CH MNO Oe CAL ONE tes Sees s se boss oseose ose see coon ssadee - 4 ol
Borestsandacheinichimintienmitlienmces sence es eee ae eee ee eee uA
irance 7collcctionstiromis.. sassce acc ae saan acts See en oe ee eee 46
(Capaieikel latory do lta, MOUS OLE BIG INEM Soogs cco coda coc oood Gees seeu abe con dose 89
Geology. chemi calisns s ses ee crerc omae oryeee sm are eee a te en anne ee 182
Georaia, collections trom... <0). 5-0. Joc 5. eet ree eee oe ae eae ee 42
remaxkaDlewdnail=StOnES Mo. .sor se ae a ae ee ta ieee a se 420
Gliddonumiuminty} case 22. 2 29.8 ooh ae ee es, ee Oe ee et ae eas ee ee 17
Goodtellosy ice <ObSer ation Says apne ee eee ee eee era eee oe 20
Gonld BAU ura sarbnlambye, Loic ticle een) ees se eee eee 16, 19
Government Depariments, cooperationny iu ssss eee ee eee ae eee 15
GraysonvAcn Is ex ploriblOns | biyjsse ye see eee ace See eee en ee 3
Hail-stones, remarkable. Account of, by S. Abich.---.. ..-..--2.. -..-..-- eee eel
yenanliin labors aly, AYCHS Oh YS Nae Roo canoanesar sodeasanes cecgse ceueseuceeo- 83, 89, 90
Hayden rah). Vi vexplorationsiyi--5 44. ss ssc eee Sees eee eee eee 30
Heights meteorolowrealstationss2 2222 .cocs 6 Game Scie nee Sea eie aie 6Y
Isley, VOSS pla, Cborwiiore Git wits IhoeNTNMNOD 5 Soo Se eonece Aeehsa cess seasen Gessec 5
letter to; Conoressiz a: Pisco = Semi aeaae ots see eee eee eee 3
TEport Lor SOO os o2 8 saya seks ones LO pee eee eee 13
resolution of Regents authorizing visit to Europe....-.----.---- 89
Herbariilmyaccountoteccceae ae te eee Se eee aes eee eee eee Eee 28
Heron oseph, janitor ol jhe Museule.ss-o ccs -ee eee ee eee eee eee 5
Enldnechvasssk. gm ereorolocicallolservablonswe sar oe eee eee eceee eae eee eee 16
Jali ls@uor's\ Bane Coan pea xg poo NY Go Scaa odode soanes essen seco Sono Seok 31
Jelibbir, Its SWOHAy RONEN Me Aya ON Wb CHE sos ca 55a Baan Scessoeccosessee soccdosne 182
histiot papers: by,,om chemicalimeolooy sss] aeee = eee 182
Huxley, T. H., principles and methods of paleontolovy....--..+-4---+.-+-c<---- 363
idaho -collectionswirom'= hes a35 2o:caeee se <= Acres ene ee ene a 35
illinois; vcollections arom? 22%. sso ae =o se aes ee eee eee 40
liidexior Sciembihie papers aco Se fee meres Gyse od yea ee ee eee eee 25
indiana. collections) fomMesre.ccmacesc asec eee se es ote eee Ieee eee 40
Ilan dhienmes ons (Cine Mensa, 1Bwayyenl Gano ccad ccac anos aan seco noses pone ussedns i8
Inivams photo snap hie qo ralGs tO fee arses eee eee ee ere 17
IMSects wiltohisOh ac tits B ase, os ois hee es seee cae e eee eee eee Sees eee es 230
Tnstipniion, aNEem pers exOMClorOle «wee eee eee eee see eee 4
Insuranceofeasy wine, and rane authorized ass. y-oe) a2 eeee ees eee eee eee 58
Jour Uo thes onrd Of Re empty s secs aera an eee ear e eee e eae a 83
Kansas, collections from.......-- ee eee eee SEO eG oe Mesa auate 38
Kentuelayicollertions trombes eo. ae =e se ee eee ee a ee Sains 41
Kepler, soln yiisiiteland works: Bye Berglicam (ees =e sees ee ee 93
Kine Clarence explorations by 225-4 aos aeee cee eee ee ee ee eee 29,35

Lartet, E.,,collections from 7... :. 2.5. 22) cin. see eee eee ee eee eee 46

INDEX. 429

Page
Ma guaree Ol MOLOTO)O M1 CA StATLONS)atom erp cinrer tre clarion tee aes este eo eeel eee : 69
Lectures, aid granted Hepes ec eens a, Ge eae al aia a ee eae 28
Lectures on flight in the animal kingdom Be er ee ee re eee at A LS 226
Leech, Daniel, “clerk in char ge of correspondence Rats Shin ae DO ean se ee 5
Library, Snr eon esas. te eae To, 20 leeee yoy Uae aes 2 23
ieombard, Dr H.C., report of Geneva Society .: 22.20 02 - i 2bcce cece sesh deals 297
Longitude of meteorological stations .... ..- Be ee ee ee For eae 69
Longitude, RMMEAleT Wei Gewecke ee BEE aL Sone eyes ee ee 19
piste PeCOlectiOns fnOM. coe ac cscs 2 See ome ee ae ese ee eho eae eee 4]
Lubbock, Sir John, social and religious condition of lower races of man ....---- 341
Maclean, Rey. Dr. John, acts of, as s Regent Dich oh: Bia head Pe) ah, Dia 2 a es Re ie eee 88, 89
Maclean, John, report of executive omitted cx seers 2 lo ky Sa en 87
Man, social and religious condition of lower races of. By Sir John Lubbock... 341
Peayiann seOlecttons FLOM. — = Ao. G Sia Sos each ee a be awk Sus oe alee 43
MeamieanGels Catone Of. Mantaminl 2545 55555545 5 seecissee el nee a ee eee eee aoe 17
onelectrical currents on the:earth, 2-25. 2 s2ee-5oce =) eee re nee 208
Marey, M., phenomena of flight in the animal kingdom ...--....--.-...-----.--- 226
Marianini, stetano, life and. scientific labors-of. 2222. .22~52 2.252. -2ss-eeee eo ceee 17
MarhitgnG. 2. ob. von,memoir of by Chas: Ras s5o525 5.2 $ssceocke os ece ous ashe 169
Mancouibecmmel yeUrsDTenNOOC KOs oss snce= 2 tac eGo om Sop cele seit eee 417
Mereorolocical- material received im) 6695. 2. sss. (seas 22 es sec ene ee 79
Meteorological stations and observers in 1869 ...... ..---..----..---- ese tahs 69
MELcOrolooy ACCOUM Ol SYStOM.- <2 fcc - coon scene meant sin sere cei See eee 47
Mim Come ON eCuLONS il OMe aan mee Saou owe Sale Pees Se oe ae oo eee 45
MAsSISSIppi, cOlleChONS MOM. 256 22225. in coe abscesses ae soe = yee eae Ss eee 41
Morean slic. systems of COnsSAangUINI by =. <5=5.5<.202seetesctee-- esses eee eee 16
MoOSMr HPN edt ODSCEVAHONS DY sass wm cepimc.sanieteh os abe Se zcise seca cee ee eee P 20
UIA CSC, A LESCLUPULON Olea fas ay sje nana sineem ois aia 2 SEs SESI. Je) ee es Saeco ee 18
Mase um ee Count OL OPClLahlONS Wiss -sayaoe ele Sas Sae were tse es Se eee 26
AC ETOTS LOPLI OOO Sere ses 2. eee aca nn cckine cee Se Stee ee eae eens 53
distribution of duplicate specimens...... ..........-.---------------: 52
CUGLeSAIMreCOLMMOO Kgs. ssf 5 a ecce Kole eee sens Sos eee ee 52
MaereaGeneral, meteorological Sysbeml. 32.2 2-5 sos cea lio cas stein nee eee ace oil
National Academy AECL Pac a OO CaP aE Pr SHORE MIRE Tae FE HON NS 19
vem eM SOR ys CITC MONS: 12sec sie eye mineeremisineeter ess aan a leeorsieiye = see nen 17
Nationa) history, Geneva society, transachons eee -- 4. -22- easiness o-oo = 297
Wehuicka cGlechons trom 213.0% Jos Seco sccce eee ce deve cence se teseetaewenas 38
ewae2. COUECKIONS (TOM 25 2 -esceg Use oe sao ees eeke eee testes ee eae seeeoee 3
eae RUNAS TICK. COMCCHONS TLOD. omic cia a sence eee tonces Suse be ee ens s coop ae 44
Wena e non t GONeCHONS MOMs same los sao bene ao = |= 2 eae ena ere me oem omen 44
New Jersey, collections from.-.-.-. gssmess Mista has tinct Ghana swore oes aes moe 43
NewaMexico, collections fOMml 25. 220.2.2 5.252556 scscss cee scnines Soadeclosese soe 39
MewaVvork-COllecthons trom: |. 3.) 52255 o2.scc2 acs cistoccs cuneate eas aswewensees 44
Mecca carolina, collections (LOMi.- 22 4 a2=.5--1 == Sod tenner as, eee ape eee 43
Woniherm, Seas: 2 =..-<<2-2--5ec6 A SOC Choe eee een teas Bah 286
OhrorcollechtOUsutOMuss a. sae ssc 5 655 ecole oe ncas seas se eae ss eens aces = 41
agony COleCHLONS LOM -ereeeree eae mo be ope nee eee ear ea eee 35
Paleontology, principles and methods of, by T. H: Huxley. --.........--.------ 363
Parker, Hon. Peter, SYS OMGILI NeC th ask Se BaP ee cemecso pees Sheeds Jeres soaeere 285/89
TEPOULMOLexecuulye COMMITEE) ===) js 2) = 4) eae 87
Ate Or O10. arranvemenh Of hervariim Dy 2 =. <= <9 ep - =e ee 28
Beunavivania COlechOns MOM | 525. nce see see aslo eae oe ey ee ieee 43
Photographic moLiraits of North American Indians. 22 o2— 22-2 seen esa a i 17
Physics, Geneva sociehy, GLANSACHONS: c.e sacs = sa-)=22 21a sabe cine oe Sao eamie skeeerere 297
Pickering, Dr. C., Gliddon MIMI (CASQhaa sees Sasa see Scene eee =e onal
Rolin Hons Pacts of, as Regent: 2225 S- 25 52 occcon sas vesincoee eee ee 88, 89
Iein hans, mee ioe aie ie Se 5 naa Ano pees cease esse cneess se sees ecco saaoce = 47
Portonico: collechons from. 2.2 - 2524. esee 2 2 ace sec eisass 2sesee Lo ie ripe 45
Pann oy resolution oO CONSTESS.--- ---—-.-2- ees === == * Seon : 2
Programme of organization of the Smithsonian Institution........-....------- 6
Babhcuriane of the Inatitubion.._.....-...-222s2-02- 1-2---22=-es20 scene ap eeee 16
POSED RTM CONCILION OLs2 2220 Jae cae aoe Gee a ee as eee ssa ieee ean ee eeee = 341
Leann, USO CS nal WTS Sees eee Beene enone see ooe or cease eee ke 48
Ltt Bill (en ess te TORR te AOE ene ae BD eee et Seen Cems Soecoces Coetd. Saar 48
Rae AS Memon OL. Ee sbs Von Martins: se. face ook Sac Som Sees see we 169
Receipts and expenses Of thewnstitutions iy 1369 eee = ease coe acyemee ne soe ee 85
Tie 272A ORE Te] bye) Worst UMN NCS) SRC RO Eee or eee ooo cane soorer sass 5oo5 ease soos Se 4
Rezents, jm Gerobret Webs oe ce ooo amen a cr ebecno sesso mpaces gececnesos 83

Relationship among different nations..........--...---2. ..--- smo Cec ~ peeve are 17

430 INDEX.

Page
Report, contentsiol, for USGS io sees ene eo naw nee lee ieee tp ree 21
Report of the executive commibioe... i. 6.-cosissscdece sone sent teenn ee eee 85
Resolution of Congress ordering extra copies of report.....-..-.-.-.-----.----- 2
oot of Board of Regents—
on death of Charles A. Alexander ..2..c.-0-ssccae coone~-aeenctessebee 8&8
acceptance of report of executive committee....-.----...----..------- 88
(imeciing insurancelonieast) WN Oe ec aer see e kee er eee eee 88
eulogy on Professor Bache, to be printed in report...--.-.-----.-.----- 88
on death of Hon. Walliam P. Pessenden 2-2. -eesee == see ease eae 89
requesting Chief Justice Chase to prepare eulogy on Mr. Fessenden..--. 89
authorizing, Professor Menry, CO vast ETO pe = sche eee eee eel 89
allowance fOMextlalSOLVICES see emee seeee ele eee eet tee eer aes 89
accepting annual reportof the Seeretaryaso--- 2-6 =o) ee ee ee 89
detailed statement of expenses of museum to be made by executive
committee;and Secretary <n cacinys once see oeeiosiat ecemieetic arse aeee 89, 90
relativeno Mn. Jwhees, chief iclerkess -.2cecese teseeeeeeeeee seers 89, 90
Rheessewilliam7J., chief: clerles.slsa5 jsscecseisa~ soc oe ace eeaees sere ee ee ase 5, 89, 90
Sartorius, Dr. C., account of eruption of volcano of Colima.-.-.--...----.-.----- 422
Schott, CA. mefeorolopical sinvestioationses. cee. --- ==> Seles eee ee eee 47
Shells; manual of ose. 225. Joaecencceioe eabiee sa wee aoec eae cm ceoe eee oe eee 17
Sional*Corps, meteorolocicall system: oa. ae so-so ee eee 51
Simpson, General J. H., discussion of location of “seven cities of Cibola”.-..-- 309
SMUG SoM pwillllO Mie ci te cree cinta tstnintn tase ators ersiom ia iaiaiie le a Tate ts cute ee eer ee eee 6
SumIichrasteDr9b exp loratlons DY, 22s. -ooess esece cle ence es eee eerie 5)
Swan) JG. Indiansiot Cape, Mlattenye -- s--s-aicis reacts eee ee eee 16,18
Pablessimereorolocieall and) physically eee a are ara oielen eee ele ee eee ile/
Melesraphicidetermimnahonot, longibud Ope sesaee see ae senate ee eee eee 19
Telesraphicundicanons\ot sweater ecs aces cece eee ae ese eee see eee eee 50
Melerraphine soy, Ablanhiccable met hodiote- ses. er ase eee eee eee eee eee 20
Tennessee; collections tom. =.= fesse cee aes =e eee c= see elses ---ge--- 41
Texas collections frome cee. lacs oe cei gets avieyaictae a aoe Sic eee eae ae onetaraye eee eases 42
Thomas, General G. H., collections by abies aewiee Cais chee ott Clee tne aera 29
Transactions of Geneva Society of Physics and Natural History......--..-----. 297
Transportanonrtacimiiesyoramled <=. ny-ecec c= oe seer ease ee ese eee eee 22
Abrevbom) TyoUUIS Veloso bes ENC shore, Bish aexeOhh Gano See e eB od sae Aaa paso eae sasencces coec 88, 89
Murner; Jane A., clerk im) charge Ofmmecords of exchan@es =. 52--)2-2=5- ss4)- ee 5
Utah <collectionsirom™® 2. ec =o oo teeta l= aioe eran oe a rere levae een eet veto ae pees 35
VirpiniacollechonsHrom (22a. = a eee ne sein a se ws aial-sekeeis ake lsat eee eee 42
Voleanoiof/Colimaxeruptioniots.-. pees soo oeesine eae se aceeeeteee eee coe ee 422
‘Von Martius). Hh. Psmemoirofizs asec oete: seco <i seenees aca ore ee aeeaeenee 169
Washinetonvlernitony, collections tromress eas a= — aa eee eee 30
Wieatherspredictionsee ets ts cis con einen recto tere eis ereeccten see ere 50
Wasconsin;scolléections romps se cse.ccewace ccetce soso aac oee ie eeeet eeeeee ee 40
Young, Thomas, eulogy on, by Arago ....-.------ 22 -22- ---- ese eer - seen ee eee oe 111
Yucatan, ancient TeliCs) ims | ssec See aS sccm) sisaia weteaiom sae sae adlawedee scene eseeee 389

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