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THE
EDINBURGH, NEW
PHILOSOPHICAL JOURNAL,
Sa THE
PROGRESSIVE DISCOVERIES AND IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE
SCIENCES AND THE ARTS.
CONDUCTED BY
ROBERT JAMESON,
REGIWUS PROFESSOR OF NATURA STORY, LECTURER ON MINERALOGY, AND KEEPER OF
THE MUSEUM IN THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH};
Fellow of the Royal Societies of London and Edinburgh; of the Antiquarian, Wernerian and Horti-
cultural Societies of Edinburgh; Honorary Member of the Royal Irish Academy, and of the Royal
Dublin Society; Fellow of the Linnean and Geological Societies of London; Honorary Member
of the Asiatic Society of Calcutta; of the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall, and of the Cam-
bridge Philosophical Society; of the York, Bristol, Cambrian, Northern, and Cork Institutions;
of the Royal Society of Sciences of Denmark: of the Royal Academy of Sciences of Berlin; of the
Royal Academy of Naples; of the Imperial Natural History Society of Moscow; of the Imperial
Pharmaceutical Society of Petersburgh; of the Natural History Society of Wetterau; of the Mi-
neralogical Society of Jena; of the Royal Mineralogical Society of Dresden; of the Natural His-
tory Society of Paris; of the Philomathic Society of Paris; of the Natural History Society of
Calvados; of the Senkenberg Society of Natural History ; of the Society of Natural Sciences and
Medicine of Heidelberg; Honorary Member of the Literary and Philosophical Society of New
York; of the New York Historical Society; of the American Antiquarian Society ; of the Aca-
demy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia; of the Lyceum of Natural History of New York; of
the Natural History Society of Montreal, §c. Sc.
JANUARY...APRIL 1830.
TO BE CONTINUED QUARTERLY.
EDINBURGH:
PRINTED FOR ADAM BLACK, NORTH BRIDGE, EDIN BURGH ;
AND LONGMAN, REES, ORME, BROWN, & GREEN.
LONDON.
1830.
Neill & Co. Printers, Edinburgh.
ag
CONTENTS.
Arr. I. Biographical Memoirs of M. Hatxe’ and M. Corvi-
sartT. By Baron Cuvier, - -
II. Notice regarding the Salt Lake Inder, in Asiatic Rus-
sia. Communicated by Lieutenant J. E. ALExAN-
pER, 16th Lancers, K.L.S. M. R.A.S. Corres.
Mem. S.A. E. &e. - - -
III. On the Discovery of a new Species of Pterodactyle, and
of Fossil Ink and Pens, in the Lias at Lyme Regis ;
also of Coprolites or Fossil Faces in the Lias at
Lyme Regis, and Westbury-on-Severn, and else-
where, in formations of all ages, from the Carboni-
ferous Limestone to the Diluvium. By the Rev.
W. Bucxtanp, D.D. F.R.S. Pate G. S. and
Professor of Geology and moe aay in he*Univer-
sity of Oxford, = - - -
IV. On the Chemical Conte. aud Temperature of
Springs, in reference to the Rock Formations in their
Vicinity. By Dr and Prof. Gusravus Biscuorr,
VY. Examination of some Minerals. By M. Victor
HartTwa.tu, - = = ee
VI. Analysis of Pyrophyllite, a new Mineral. By M. R.
Herman of Moscow, = is
VII. Additional Remarks on Active was ve Ro-
BERT Brown, F.R.S. &c. -
VIII. On the Tripang, or Bicho de Mar, or Sea-Slug of In-
dia, the Holothuria tubulosa of naturalists. By
Cuar Les CouiieR, formerly Staff-Surgeon in Cey-
lon, now Inspector of Hospitals in the Mauritius.
Communicated by Sir, Jams M°Gricor. Witha
Plate, “ - 2 = = aif
IX. Observations on the ancient. Roads of the » Peruvians.
By Joun Giuures, M.D. MTW.S. -
X On the Stomach of the Manis pentadactyla of Cey-
lon. By C. T. Wurrerietp, Esq. Assistant-
Surgeon, Royal Artillery. Communicated by Sir
James M°Gricor. With a Plate, -
Page
18
21
26
38
40
41
¢
46
53
58
Pic. .
ii CONTENTS.
Art. XI. Repetition of M. Dutrochet’s Experiments on the
Mimosa pudica. By Roperr Spirra, Esq. one
of the Presidents of the Plinian Natural History
Society, - - - - - 60
XII. Additional Remarks on the Climate of the Arctic
Regions, in Answer to Mr Conyspeare. By the
Rev. Jonn Fuemine, D.D. F.R.S.E. Com-
municated by the Author, - - 65
XIII. On a peculiar Noise heard at Nakuh, on Mount
Sinai, . = = : = 74
XIV. On the Constitution of the Territory of Rome, with
some general Observations on the Geognostic Cha~
racter of Italy. By Professor F. Horrman. With
a Coloured Map, - - = = 76
XV. On the different Colours of the Eggs of Birds. By
M. GuocEr, - - - - 98
XVI. On the Chemical Nature of the Equisetz, or Horse-
tail, - é 2 = = 100
XVII. On Parasitic Animals, and on a new Genus of that
Family, - - = - ae OE
XVIII. On the ancient Forests of Scotland. By Parrick
F. Tyruer, Esq. F.R.S. E. F.A.S. &e. - 105
XIX. Salt Wells and Springs of Inflammable Gas in China, 108
XX. Remarks on the Ancient Flora of the Earth, - 112
XXI. On the relative Conductibility for Caloric of different
Woods, in the direction of their fibres, and in the
contrary direction. By MM. Ave. pz xa Rive,
and ALPH. DE CANDOLLE, - 4 131
XXII. Account of the Nuremberg Boy, Caspar Hauser,
who was shut up in a Dungeon from the fourth to
the sixteenth year of his age, - - 134
XXIII. Fresh-water Springs at the Bottom of the Sea, 140
XXIV. On the Lofty Flight of the Condor, - - 142
XXV. Notes in regard to the Geology of Cherry Island
and Spitzbergen. By Professor Krinuavu of
Christiania, = - = - 144
XXVI. Is the Domestic Cat originally a native of this
Country, 2 = - - 146
XXVII. Account of a new species of Mineral named Poly-
basite ; and Observations ou Zinkenite, 148
XXVIII. On the Egg of the Ornythorynchus, - 149
XXIX. On the Philosophy of Nature, - - 152
CONTENTS. iil
Art. XXX: Observations on the Daily Periodical Growth of
Wheat and Barley. By M. Ernest Mayer,
Professor at’ Konigsberg, - - 154
XXXI. Plan for ascertaining the Rates of Chronometers
by Signal. By R. Waucnorg, Esq. Capt. R.N.
Communicated by the Author, - 160
XXXII. Notice of GozTHE’s Essay on the Metamorphoses
of Plants, - - - 162
XXXIII. Observations on the Affinities of Vellosia, Barba-
cenia, Glaux, Aucuba, Viviana, Deutzia, and of
a new Genus of the Order Rubiacee. By Mr
Davin Don, Libr. Linnean Society, &c. 164
XXXIV. Description of an Economical Apparatus for Heat-
ing Apartments. By Jonn Harr, Esq. 175
: XXXV. On the anomalous Structure in the Leaf of Rosa
: berberifolia. By Mr Davin Don, Libr. L. S. 175
: XXXVI. Comparative View of the Secondary Rocks in the
Alps and the Carpathians. By A. Bove’, M.D.,
M.W.S. F.G.S. &c. - - - 176
: XXXVII. Description of several New or Rare Plants which
| have lately flowered in the neighbourhood of
: Edinburgh, and chiefly in the Royal Botanic
Garden. By Dr Granam, Professor of Botany, 183
XXXVIII. Celestial Phenomena from Jan. 1. to Mar. 1. 1830,
calculated for the meridian of Edinburgh, Mean
Time. By Mr Grorce Innes, Aberdeen, 187
XXXIX. Proceedings of the Wernerian Nat. Hist. Society, 189
XL. Screntiric INTELLIGENCE.
METEOROLOGY.
1. Extreme Dryness of the Atmosphere of Greece, and rising
of the Land there. 2. Winter Climate of Rome very fa-
vourable for Consumptive Patients. 3. Climate of the Sou-
thern Hemisphere. 4. Dr Gerard’s Travels in Thibet, 190-2
HYDROGRAPHY.
5. Ice-Islands off the Cape of Good Hope. 6. Colour of Rivers, 193
MINERALOGY.
7. Impressions of Gems, &c. in Siliceous Sinter. 8. Notice of
magnificent Rock Crystals, and rose-coloured Fluor-spar.
9. Magnificent rose-red Fluor-spar. 10. Price of Selenium, 193-4
GEOLOGY.
11. Observations made on Mount Caucasus by M. Kupfer, 12.
iv CONTENTS.
Gigantic Plant of Craigleith Quarry. 13. On Tertiary de-
posites. 14. Chalk in the United States. 15. Number of
species of Fossil Shells in the Paris Basin. 16. More Caves
containing Bones of extinct Animals, mixed with works of
art. 17. Natural History Society of Switzerland. 18.
Bones of the Paleotherium in Molasse. 19. Geognostical
situation of the great deposite of Lead-glance and Calamine
in Silesia, - - - - - 194-8
BOTANY.
20. Oak Trees liable to be struck by Lightning. 21. Potato at
a great height on the mountain Orizaba. 22. Method of
detecting Adulteration of Tea. 23. Culture of the Vine
in Mexico, - - - - - 199
ZOOLOGY.
24. Periodical appearance of shoals of Herrings in Loch Roag.
25. Notice of the Comparative Anatomist Bojanus. 26.
Royal Medal presented to Mr Charles Bell. 27. Anatomi-
cal, Physiological and Pathological Researches in regard to
Veins. 28. Cross of the Anas clangula and Mergus albel-
lus. 29. Remarkable Birth. 30. Thompson’s Zoological
Illustrations. 31. The third volume of Poli’s great work,
and on the animal of Argonauta Argo. 32. Humming Bird
and Insects at a great height on the Volcano of Orizaba.
33. Spur on the wing of the Rallus crex.. 34. An Electrical
Molluscous animal. 35. Species of Mussel exclusively em-
ployed as Bait in the Newfoundland Cod Fishery, 199-204
ARTS.
36. Improvement in the Smelting of Iron. 37. Artificial Ultra-
marine, - - - - 4 e 905
Arr. XLI. List of Patents granted in England, z ib.
XLII. List of Patents granted in Scotland, a 208
TO CORRESPONDENTS.
The Editor regrets that want of room prevents his noticing the books
transmitted until next Number.
The Memoir illustrative of Plate IV. shewing Isogeothermal Lines, and
Plate I. of Tripang and Manis, are unavoidably delayed till next Number.
At p. 31, vol. viii. in Major Morrison’s paper, is the following statement :
« Each vessel being furnished with from 100 to 120 nets, each net being 4€
feet in length, which are joined to each other with great facility, and whem
in the sea present a curtain from 14 to 16 feet in depth;” for which the Ma-
jor now requests the following may be substituted: “ Each vessel, when
equipped for the taking of Mackerel, having from 100 to 120 nets, each net
being 40 yards in length, which are joined to each other with great facility,
and are 18 feet in depth; and for the taking of the Herring, are furnished
with from 46 to 60 nets, each being 30 yards in length, and 27 feet in depth.”
Art. I.
II.
iil.
IV.
VI.
VIL.
VIII.
“CONTENTS.
Page
Biographical Memoir of Sir Bensamin THomson, =
Count Rumford. By Baron Cuvier, = 209
Observations on the Action of the Mineral Acids on Cop-
per, under different circumstances. By Joun Davy,
M.D. F.R.S., Physician to the Forces. Commu-
nicated by Sir James M¢Gricor, Director-General
of the Army Medical Board, - - 229
On the Mean Temperature of the Atmosphere and of
the Earth, in some parts of East Russia. By Pro-
fessor A. T. Kurrer. With a Plate of Isogeother-
mal Lines, = > e - - 233
On peculiar Noises occasionally heard in particular
Districts, with some further Remarks on the produc-
tion of these Sounds. Communicated by the Au-
thor, = 2 = = = 258
. On the Geographical Characters and Geognostical Con-
stitution of Spain. By Professor HausMANN of
Gottingen. Communicated by the Author, - 267
Description of an Apparatus for Evaporating Fluids,
and also for separating Salts from their aqueous so-
lution by Crystallization without the aid of the Air-
pump. By P. A. Von Bonsporr, Professor of
Chemistry in the Alexander University in Finland, 278
Observations on the Theory of Capillary Action given
in the Supplement to the Encyclopedia Britannica.
By Epwarp Sane, Esq. Teacher of Mathematics.
Communicated by the Author, = = 280
Account of the Larva of a supposed C&strus Hominis,
or Gad-Fly, which deposites its Eggs in the Bodies
of the Human Species; with the particulars of a Case
communicated by Dr Hix of Greenock, -
Arr. IX.
CONTENTS.
Description of the Apparatus or Signal-Post for re-
gulating Chronometers. By R. Wavucuorg, Esq.
Captain R.N. Witha Plate. Communicated by
the Author, - - - - 288
X. On Miargyrite and Jamesonite, © - é 292
XI. On the relative Age of the different European Chains
of Mountains, . -* - - - 293
XII. Observations on the Fontaine Ronde, a Periodical
Spring on the Jura. By M. Durrocuer, 307
XIII. On the Height of the Perpetual Snows on the Cor-
dilleras of Peru, . - - - 311
XIV. Observations on a paragraph in the last Number of
XV.
XVI.
XVII.
XVIII.
XIX.
XX.
XXI.
XXII.
XXIII.
the Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal. By
W. J. Broperip, Esq. F.R.S. Communicated
by the Author, - - 312
On supposed Vegetable Remains in Chalk. By Gi-
DEON Manrevy, Esq. F.R.S. Ina Letter to
the Editor, - - - . 313
Notes regarding the Serpentine Rocks on Dee Side.
By the Rev. James Farquuarson. Communi-
cated by the Author, - - - 314
On the Hya-hya, or Milk-Tree of Demerara. Ina
Letter to Professor JAmzxson from JAMES SmirH,
Esq. - - - - - 314
Notes relative to the dried specimen of the Hya-hya.
By G. A. W. Arwnort, Esq. F.L.S. F.R.S. E.
&e. - - - - - 319
On the Formation of the Earth. By the late Sir
H. Davy, - - - - 320
Lectures on the History of the Natural Sciences.
By Baron Cuvier, - - = 326
" Lectures I. & II. Earliest History of the Human
Species, ~ - - - = ib.
Lecture III. Egypt, : - - - 334
Lecture IV. Greece, - - - 342
On the Heights of the most remarkable Summits of
the Cordillera of the Andes in Peru, - 350
On the Chemical Constitution of Brewsterite. By
Anrtuur ConnE.Lt, Esq. F.R.S.E. Communi-
eated by the Author, - - - 355
Queries respecting the Natural History of the Sal-
mon, Sea-Trout, Bull-Trout, Herling, &e. By Sir
Witwiam Jarpine, Bart. F.R.S.E. M.W.S. &e. 398
CONTENTS. iil
Arr. XXIV. On the various Preparations of Milk, particularly
of Mares’ Milk, used by the Kalmuck Tartars, 360
XXV. Analyses of Limestenes from the Quarries be-
longing to the Earl of Elgin, near Charlestown
in Fifeshire. By Rev. A. RopERTSON junior,
Inverkeithingy Communicated by the Author, 364
XXVI. A Uniformity of Climate prevailed over the Earth
prior to the time of the Deluge? - 366
XXVII. Notes on the Moth named Saturnia Luna—the
Domestication of Foreign Butterflies—and the
Geographical Distribution of Insects. Com-
municated by James Witson, Esq. F. R.S. E. 368
- XXVIII. Account of several New Species of Grouse (Te-
trao) from North America, - = 372
XXIX. Description of several New or Rare Plants which
have lately flowered in the neighbourhood of
Edinburgh, and chiefly in the Royal Botanic
Garden. By Dr Grauam, Professor of Bo-
tany in the University of Edinburgh. With
a Plate illustrative of the germination of the
Nepenthes distillatoria, - = 377
XXX. Celestial Phenomena from April 1. to July 1.
1830, calculated for the Meridian of Edin-
burgh, Mean Time. By Mr Grorce Innes,
Astronomical Calculator, Aberdeen, = 381
XXXI. Proceedings of the Wernerian Natural History
Society, - - = - 384
XXXII. Screnrivic INTELLIGENCE, - = 385
METEOROLOGY.
1. Climate of Britain. 2. Winter of 1829-30. 3. Meteoro-
logical Table kept at Kinfauns Castle. 4. Meteorological
Tables for Aberdeen. 5. Latitude of Calton Hill. 6.
Mysterious Sounds. 7. Effects of Electricity on Rocks.
8. Meteoric Lron of Atacama, - - 385-396
MINERALOGY.
9. Perishable Nature of Works of Man, 2 — 396
iv CONTENTS.
GEOLOGY.
10. Norway has not been materially elevated above the level
of the sea for the last 800 years. 11. Fossil Insects in
lower Oolite, at Solenhof. (12. Antique Green Porphyry.
13. Durability of Stones, = - - 391, 392
BOTANY.
14. On Columba Root, = = - ~ 393
ZOOLOGY.
15. Nature of Respiration. 16. Cuttlefish Fishery. 17. Ana-
tifera Vitrea or Vitreous Barnacle. 18. Mortality among
Leeches. 19. Belemnites, - = = 394, 395
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
20. A Concise System of Mathematics, in Theory and Prac-
tice, for the Use of Schools, Private Students, and Prac-
tical Men. By Alexander Ingram, "sq. Edinburgh, 396
21. An American Dictionary of the English Language. By
Noah Webster, LL. D. = P- = < ib.
22. French edition of Berzelius’ Chemistry condemned, 397
Arr. XXXIII. List of Patents granted in England, from 15th
September to 2lst November 1829, 398
XXXIV. List of Patents granted in Scotland from 17th
December 1829 to 3d March 1830, = 399
THE
EDINBURGH NEW
PHILOSOPHICAL JOURNAL.
Biographical Memoirs of M. Hauix/* and M. Corvisart.
By Baron Cuvier.
1. Biographical Memoir of M. Haute’.
Jean Nort Hate’, born at Paris, on the 6th January 1754,
was of a family, several of whom had become distinguished in
the arts}. His father, grandfather, and one of his uncles, had
been excellent painters, and he had himself applied to drawing
with great success. ‘This inclination was naturally favoured by
a pretty long residence at Rome with his father, who was di-
rector of the French Academy in that city, and, in fact, he
studied there, with great assiduity, the monuments of ancient
art, and the works of the great artists of the sixteenth century ;
but, among his father’s acquaintance, he at the same time met
with two men of science, the French Franciscans, Jacquier and
Lesueur, the commentators of Newton, and their conversation
opened to his mind another prospect. He was always characte-
rized by a remarkable accuracy of judgment; and the sciences
founded on calculation and experiment, offered to this predomi-
nant quality of his mind greater attraction than the arts, whose
principal source will always be a lively imagination, and a great
* Read at the Royal Institute of France on the 11th June 1827.
+ Claude Guy Hallé, his grandfather; Noel Hallé, his father; the two
Restouts, Jouvenet and La Fosse, his kinsmen. In the number was also”
the poet La Fosse, the author of Manlius.
OCTOBER—DECEMBER 1829. A
Q2 Biographical Memoir of M. Halle.
degree of sensibility. On his return, a domestic example con-
firmed him in this new pursuit.
Anne Charles Lorry*, one of the most able and most es-
teemed physicians at the end of the last century, was his ma-
ternal uncle. Charmed with the steadiness he discovered in
his young friend, he wished to make him his pupil and succes-
sor, and soon gained him entirely to medicine. In vain did the
protectors of his family hold forth to him brilliant expectations
in the finances ; nothing could shake his resolution, and, after
attending the schools in conformity to the established rules, he
took his first degrees in 1776.
The knowledge and clearness of understanding, of which he
gave proof in his first exercises, so much distinguished him, that,
even before he had in form received the doctor’s cap, the
founders of the Royal Society of Medicine wished to have him
as a companion in their labours ;—a precocious honour, which
afterwards prevented him from obtaining in the Faculty the title
of Regent Doctor. The same affront has been offered to Four-
croy, and other individuals of the highest merit, and from the
same motive,—the childish jealousy which led the Faculty to
consider the Royal Society as a rival body, and which induced
them to vow an implacable hatred against those of their own mem-
bers, who had consented to let their names be inscribed on the
lists of the Society. It will be remembered that this antipathy ex-
cited the most ridiculous dissensions among the physicians of the
capital, and gave rise to a multitude of odious libels and satires ;
but what may already give a favourable idea of the gentleness
and modesty of M. Halle’s character, as well as of the esteem
which these qualities inspired, is, that, in productions, in which
men of the highest reputation were not spared, he was less
abused than any of his brethren. Keeping, in fact, at a dis-
tance from all intrigue, thinking only of the elucidation of his
art by whatever aid the sciences could yield to it, but never va-
luing himself on his successes or his discoveries, and not seeking
a popular reputation, he did not offend the vanity, or interfere
with the interest, of any one. The study of medicine appeared
to him sufficient to occupy a lifetime. Nothing that relates to
* Son of Francis Lorry, and brother of Paul Charles Lorry, both profes-
sors of the Faculty of Law. .
Biographical Memoir of M. Hallé. 8
man as a physical and moral agent, was, in his opinion, uncon-
nected with that noble science ; and, in the disinterested feelings
towards it which he experienced, he viewed as marks of imbeci-
lity all endeavours to gain the estimation of a public, destitute
of every thing that would qualify them to judge. He, there-
fore, remained constantly beside his patients, or in his closet,
observing the progress of natural history, chemistry, natural
philosophy, and even of political economy and the welfare of
all ranks, not less than of physiology and anatomy; but al-
ways considering these sciences in their relations to the health
of the species, and to that of individuals. It will readily be un-
derstood that, after forming to himself so enlarged ideas of me-
dicine, after prescribing to himself so extensive a course of
study, he would not be in haste to bring himself forward to
public view ; and, in fact, excepting his labours at the Society
of Medicine, of which he was one of the most industrious mem-
bers *, and the care which he bestowed on the publication of
some writings of his uncle +, he does not seem to have brought
forward any work, or to have engaged in any public employ-
ment, up to 1795, when he had already passed his fortieth year.
Stull, while he was thus laboriously improving himself, he had
“ We find, by him, in the Collection of Memoirs of the Royal Society of
Medicine, a Report on the Properties and Effects of the Root of Tooth-wort in the
Treatment of Itch ; Observations on the Phenomena and Variations which the
Urine presents in a State of Health ; and on two examinations of dead bodies,
which presented phenomena very different from those which the disease
seemed to indicate. In the first there was a scirrhous induration of the sto-
mach ; in the other a disorganization of the kidneys. A Memoir, On the Effects
of Camphor given in large Doses, and on the Property which that substance pos-
sesses of being a Corrective of Opium; reflections on secondary fevers, and on
the swelling which takes place in small-pox, and several interesting reports
on questions submitted to the Society, especially those on police; as it regards
the salubrity of towns. He gave, in particular, in 1784, an interesting Re-
port, On the Nature and Effects of the Mephitic Air of Privies, when the sub-
ject to be examined was the preservative the oculist Janin pretended to
_ have discovered in acetic acid. It was printed separately in 1785.
+ In 1784, he published an edition of Lorry’s work, entitled, De Precipuis
Morborum Mutationibus et Conversionibus ; and inserted in the Memoirs of the
Royal Society, the observations of the same author, On the Volatile and Odo-
rous Parts of Medicines, derived from Vegetable and Animal Substances. Ata
later period he published an edition of the writings of Bordeu, On the Glands
and Cellular Tissue.
Ag
4 Biographical Memoir of M. Halle.
not lived without benefit to others. His practice had gradually
extended, but it was of a singular kind. The easy circum-
stances which his family had long enjoyed, allowed him to visit,
by preference, the sick poor; and this he did assiduously. He
aided them by his gifts as much as by his advice; and, inge-
nious in his charity, concealed his bounty from those by whom,
from delicacy, it would not have been accepted. More than
one person in distress, on recovering from sickness, found all his
expenses paid, and learned, only by importunate inquiry, that
every thing had been provided by his physician. His charity
gained a great reward, and that which best suited him, the
ability still to exercise it at the period when it became most
necessary. His father and grandfather had received the ribbon
of St Michael, and the ennoblement that always accompanied
admission into the order, brought him under the decree of
banishment, when the Convention commanded the nobles to
leave Paris; but, as the physician of the poor, he was excepted
from the rule; and he had then another kind of calamity to re-
heve. 'To avert dangers that threatened every one, and, when
it was possible, to provide the means of escaping them, became
in his eyes duties not less sacred than those of his profession.
He penetrated into the prison of Malesherbes, brought him con-
solation, and received his last farewell. He drew up, at the ~
Lyceum of Arts, the petition soliciting the pardon of Lavoisier.
A thousand other services, where the chief condition was secrecy,
but which time has in part revealed, occupied him during these
two years, which were ages of misery and disgrace.
At length the period arrived when M. Hallé was called to
teach, aad to’advance, by his writings, the art to which he had
devoted himself. | Fourcroy, entrusted, in 1794 and 1795,
with the establishment of a school of medicine, conferred on
him the chair of Medical Physics:and Health. Not long after,
im 1796, when the Institute was formed, he was named a mem-
ber of the Section of Medicine and Surgery ; and, in 1806,
Corvisart, fully occupied with his duties near the chief of the
government, selected him as his. coadjutor in his chair at the
College of France, and soon left it to him entirely.
At the Institute, M. Hallé shewed: himself not less active
than he had been before at the Society of Medicine... Among
a
Biographical Memoir of M. Halle. 5
us he successively treated the greatest questions of medical
science, whether in the reports that were asked of him, or in
memoirs in which he explained his own views. His reports on
the cowpox are the most important of all. He had upheld it,
in some degree, frum the time of its introduction, in 1800, and
had made known its beneficial effects. In 1812, when these
had been established by an experience of some duration, he re-
examined the subject, shewed the nature of the exceptions,
ascertained their causes, and thus contributed to gain, for that
admirable preservative, the confidence that was due to it. He
may be regarded as one of its most successful promoters ; and
France will name him with the Woodvilles and the Rochefou-
caults. On this account, Italy, too, owes him especial gratitude.
In 1810, he was summoned to extend vaccination in the state
of Lucca and in Tuscany ; and the public experiments he made
there, together with the detailed account he gave of them, for-
warded its popularity in that country.
In his lectures at the faculty, M. Hallé viewed medicine as a
subject of observation, and dwelt chiefly on those phenomena of
the animal economy which can be referred to the known laws of
the physical sciences. Physicians have, according to him, too
much undervalued the application of these sciences. ‘* The
problem of nature,” says he, “ is a compound of the known and
the constant, with the unknown and the variable; and it is a
great error to imagine, that, to resolve it, to obtain the value of
the unknown, and to fix the shades of the variable, the constant
and calculable elements are to be neglected.” In this lay the
fundamental principle of his course. He did not publish his
lectures, but the articles which his pupils extracted from them,
for the Dictionnaire des Sciences Médicales, will serve to afford
some idea of the whole course *. In these articles are seen com-
bined the most enlarged views, a sound judgment, and vast
erudition. He always keeps pace with the advance of the
sciences, and brings them to his subject in the most ingenious
manner.
His erudition was still more eminently displayed in his lectures
* Especially the articles Hygiene, Matiére de Hygiene, Alimens, Bains,
Percepta, Electricité, Physique Medicale, Afrique, Europe, &c.
6 Biographical Memoir of M. Halle.
at the College of France, in which he, as it were, shewed the
other side of the picture of medical science, where the economy
is viewed in its intimate changes; and physical considerations
must almost always be in a great measure renounced. He took
for his subject the history of experience in medicine, from the
first written monuments of the art, and began his course with an
interpretation of the works of Hippocrates, not that he, like so
many moderns, by whom they have been scarcely understood,
wished to exhibit them pedantically, as collections of infallible
oracles, to which nothing could be added, and from which no-
thing could be taken away ; but because he saw in them the first
attempts of genius to reduce to rules an order of facts which
seem to consist only of exceptions, and because the just and
profound views which, notwithstanding some errors, are in these
works, in so great number, excite the higher admiration from
having been formed at a period when all was unknown beyond
what is evident from the immediate observation of diseases.
An intimate acquaintance with the Greek language, and assi-
duous study of the philosophers and physicians of antiquity,
had suggested to him happy explanations of several obscure
passages in the Father of Medicine; and it is much to be regret-
ted that neither his notes, nor those of his auditors, have been
found sufficiently ample for the reproduction of this course, at
least in its principal articles, as has been done with respect to
his course on the study of health.
His design was to follow the progress of observation in all
ages, to shew how new facts have led to more correct general
principles, and how, on the other hand, science has almost always
been retarded by systems. It was a kind of experimental logic,
in which he exercised his pupils, and they could have had no
better master than he who, from his childhood, had been so dis-
tinguished by his sound judgment.
Nothing was wanting in M. Hallé as to knowledge to make
him an excellent professor. He was thoroughly versed in all
the accessory sciences, and had read in their original language
the works of all the great physicians. His own experience was
immense, and directed according to the surest method; but it
is not generally at the age of forty that one can acquire the fa-
cility of elocution indispensable to fix the attention of a nume-
—
Biographical Memoir of M. Hallé. 7
gous auditory. He was not an exception, and there will appear
little cause of surprize when we reflect how few there have been
among the many eminent individuals successively chosen for our
deliberative assemblies. Nevertheless, what was unpleasant in
his delivery was redeemed by the profoundness of what he
taught; and perhaps it was this very depth, the vast extent of
his knowledge, and his multiplied views of objects, that contri-
buted to render his lectures less agreeable to most young people.
At first, a student would have only simple and clear rules, and
ignorance alone could establish such in medicine. But M. Hallé
had also pupils of talent and sagacity, who, not having allowed
themselves to be repelled by those circumstances, had reason for
congratulation, as they have since expressed on every opportu-
nity. From this select number have come many of the able
physicians and distinguished professors who are now the‘orna-
ment of the Faculty.
M. Hallé’s practice also was in some degree affected by this
great extent of his knowledge. He knew too much not to have
doubts in all cases, and in acute diseases nothing is so vexatious
as doubting. The sick, as well as those about them, in general,
like physicians whose practice is decided. He was therefore
preferred for chronic diseases, where it is not necessary to form
an immediate opinion. In this kind of practice he enjoyed the
highest reputation; and those who may not choose to rely on
the decision of the public, will at least trust to the judgment of
a physician, whose right to judge in such a case will not be dis-
puted. Corvisart, in bequeathing to Hallé the portrait of Stoll,
wrote that he left this gift to him as the physician whom he
most esteemed.
He had above all, in a high degree, the talent of making him-
self beloved by his patients. Most of them were no longer of
the class toward whom he could exercise his charity, but bene-
volence can assume all forms. Those of whom he took charge
became in a manner his children. They saw in him a friend or
relation, rather than a physician. When he could not relieve
them, he withdrew their mind by agreeable conversation from
the depressing thoughts which would have aggravated their
disease, and even frequently, when their circumstances were
not such that he could have the most natural pretext for
8 Biographical Memoir of M. Hallé.
shewing his generosity, he was at pains to find others. I do
not merely say that he accepted nothing from his professional
brethren or his pupils—this were a common case; but he also
refused any thing from artists, because, being the son and
grandson, the nephew and grandnephew, of well-known painters,
he considered himself as one of their family; he received no-
thing from churchmen, because, if they had only what was ne-
cessary for them, they ought not to reduce it—and if they had
more, it belonged to the poor. Such reasons he never wanted ;
one almost required to be privileged, in order to make him ac-
cept a recompense; but there was another privilege, the great-
est of all in his eyes—that of persons who were unable to recom-
pense him. They were preferred to every other. Returning
home one day exhausted with fatigue, he was told that a lady
had come to consult him. He sent to request her to apply to
some of his brethren. But she dared not, because she had no-
thing to give. ‘ Oh! in that case,” said he, ‘‘ I have no right
to send her away.”
This generosity pervaded his whole conduct. He always
gave up the whole profits of his works to the young men who
had assisted him in collecting materials for them. Being en-
gaged to draw up the new Codex, what was assigned him by
the goyernment for this labour, he laid out in completing the
Cabinet of the Faculty.
Happy in the good he did, in his fortune, and in his
family, M. Hallé seemed moreover to possess the blessing
which increases the enjoyment of every other. His health was
most robust: only sometimes he was troubled by oppressions
arising from an excess of blood, but they were speedily removed
by bleeding. A stone, however, suddenly manifested itself in
hhis bladder. At this critical moment, when so many other men
would have thought only of themselves, his careful charity re-
mained unaltered. Before having the operation performed, he,
with difficulty, visited some poor individuals whom he had main-
tained, fearing that his long absence would seem to them to
proceed from forgetfulness. The operation was successful ; but
there took place a new congestion in his chest, which, almost
suddenly, carried him off on the 11th February 1822. He was
only sixty-eight years old; and if the ingenious modes lately
Biographical Memoir of M. Corvisart. 9
devised for the treatment of this cruel disease had been but a
little sooner known, he would probably still have been full of
activity and life. In the Academy his place was filled by M.
Chaussier, and in the College of France by M. Laennec, who
has himself been in his youth removed from an art which he
had already benefited, and to which he gave promise of still
more important discoveries.
2. Biographical Memoir of M. Corvisarr.
JEAN Nicoias Corvisart, the associate in office, and constant
friend of M. Hallé, was only one year younger. He was
born on the 15th February 1745, at Dricourt, a village in the
department of the Ardennes, whither his father, an attorney at
Paris, had retired, during one of those banishments of the par-
liament, which the quarrels of that body with the clergy so fre-
quently occasioned during the reign of Louis XV. The duties
of an attorney, exercised with talent and probity, yielded sure
profits, and would have enriched M. Corvisart, the father ;
but he is said to have had a passion for painting, without
knowing much about it, and, what he gained by defending his
clients, he laid out in purchasing bad pictures. Being not more
skilled in human nature, he, for a long time, persisted in wish-
ing his son to follow his own profession, and kept him for whole
days copying law papers. ‘The young man, who was of a lively
and ardent disposition, felt that he had been born for less mo-
notonous occupations. A vague uneasiness disquieted him, his
law studies became every day more insupportable, and, per-
haps, he would have fallen into great irregularities, had he not,
on one of those festive rambles in which he indulged himself,
whenever he could escape the eye of his father, entered by
chance the lecture-room of Anthony Petit, one of the most elo-
quent men who have been professors of anatomy and medicine
during the eighteenth century. On hearing the impressive dis-
course of that master, and attending to the majestic develop-
ment of ideas, whose novelty equalled their extent, the young
Corvisart recognised the profession for which he was designed.
He longed to study the animal economy, and for, this purpose
he determined to be a physician. From this moment, dispatch-
10 Biographical Memoir of M. Corvisart.
ing early in the morning the writings which his father had pre-
scribed for him as the work of the day, and requesting the
clerks, his companions, to keep his secret, he occupied all the
hours that he could spare in attending the lectures of Petit,
Louis, Dessault, Vicq d’Azyr, and our estimable fellow mem-
ber M. Portal. His father at length perceiving his want of
assiduity, inquired into the cause of his conduct, and discovered
it; but, finding that it was now too late to restrain him, he per-
mitted him to direct his whole attention to his new career.
The Academy has possessed many members, whom an irresisti-
ble propensity has thus led to escape from the more humble
plans which their relations had formed for them, and this per-
severance in seeking a profession, in defiance of all obstacles»
would undoubtedly be a good test for the choice of one; but
how many young persons would be found whom these obstacles
would not completely arrest, or who would not enter on courses
worse than idleness or irresolution ?
The mode of teaching medicine was then very far removed
from the extent and regularity which it has since attained. The
Faculty of Paris, an ancient body, organized in the middle
ages, had scarcely made any change in a system of government
that dated back five centuries. With the title of Doctor, all
its members received the right of teaching; but they did not
become bound to teach. It was only by chance that a sufficient
number ever devoted themselves to the task of insuring a regu-
lar course of lectures to youth. Some professorships were, in-
deed, instituted in the Faculty, but their fee was wretchedly
small. The professors were changed every two years, the
younger doctors being made to occupy these chairs in regular
succession. They hastened to get through the drudgery, in
order to acquire the title of Regent Doctor, and, entering on
office without the preparation of study, they retired without
having formed themselves by practice. Besides, there were no
public lectures at the beds of the sick. In order to see a few
patients, the students accompanied the elder physicians in their
visits; afterwards, when these elder physicians were unwell, or
too much busied with practice, they acted for them, and thus
they continued, till at length they, too, slowly attained their pro-
fessional rank. 1
SE
Biographical Memoir of M. Corvisart. ll
M. Corvisart, to whose ardent genius this tedious progress
could not fail to be singularly disagreeable, had yet the patience
to conform ‘himself to it in every point; but he chose his mas-
ters as a man destined to become one himself. Desbois de
Rochefort, chief physician of La Charité, and Dessault, chief
surgeon of the H6tel-Dieu, in the healing art two of the most
eminent men of their time, became his principal patrons. It
is well known that Desbois de Rochefort had the great merit of
first shewing the example of regularly delivering clinical lec-
tures in his hospital. Under his guidance, M. Corvisart for
several years occupied himself in the observation of diseases,
and in the opening of bodies. For this task he had a real pas-
sion. The melancholy spectacles which it displays, the dangers
to which it is liable, neither repelled nor discouraged him. A
puncture which he had received while dissecting, brought him
almost to the point of death, and he is said to have escaped only
through the assiduous care which Dessault lavished on him.
He also, at a very early period, delivered in his own house lec-
tures—not on medicine properly so called (for he did not think
that so young a doctor could conscientiously do so), but on
anatomy and physiology ; and his ‘perspicuity and ardour at-
tracted a crowd of hearers. Nothing more was wanting to him,
but to be himself at the head of an hospital, where he could
freely pursue the views which his growing experience suggested
to him. The first masters of the art judged him worthy of one,
and he thought himself on the point of attaining this object of
his wishes, when a cause the most trifling in the world kept him
back for several years. The customs ‘and dress of physicians
were scarcely less antique than the system of government of the
Faculty. If Moliére had made them lay aside the gown and
the pointed cap, they had at least preserved the full-bottomed
wig, which no one else any longer wore, and it was on entering
into office that they had to muffle themselves in it. It is af-
firmed that M. Corvisart and M. Hallé were-the first who gave
the scandal of not assuming it, and that this levity, as it was
called, proved very hurtful to them. It is at least certain, that,
on the occasion of which we speak, it was the cause of M. Cor-
visart’s disappointment, and that through the person from whom
he had least reason to expect it. A celebrated lady, whose hus.
12 Biographical Memoir of M. Corvisart.
band was the cause, at least the incidental cause, of the greatest
innovations that have taken place in France since the establish-
ment of the monarchy, had just founded an hospital, and M.
Corvisart ardently wished to obtain the charge of it; but he
presented himself in his natural hair, and this innovation she
dared not take upon herself to countenance. At the first word
she declared to him that her hospital should never have a phy-
sician without a wig, and that it was for him to choose between
that head-dress and his exclusion. He preferred keeping his
hair.
By a happy contrast, and when probably he had not greater
expectations, it was a monk who, on another occasion, did him
more justice. On the death of Desbois de Rochefort, which
happened in 1788, the superior of the ecclesiastics attached to
the Hépital de ]a Charité, a man held in great estimation for
his wisdom and his zeal in favour of the sick, and who had
‘ been daily witness of M. Corvisart’s assiduous cares, employed
his credit in getting him attached to that house, and succeeded
in the endeavour. From this time, M. Corvisart, continuing
the clinical instructions of his predecessor, saw all the young
physicians attend his lectures. He excited admiration by pos-
sessing in an eminent degree the talent of discovering from the
first moment the nature of diseases, and of foreseeing their pro-
gress and event. His fellow-practitioners were not slow in do-
ing him full justice, and he was already considered as one of the
first masters in the capital, when, in 1795, Fourcroy procured
a chair to be founded for him in the New School of Medicine.
Two years after, in 1797, he was appointed to the professorship
of medicine in the College of France, and there found himself
in the capacity of teaching the art in a theoretical point of view,
-as he had hitherto shewn it practically. The same pupils who
heard him in the one school explain the general principles, went
to see in the other their happy application, and in all things
found him correct, ardent, and obliging in the highest degree.
In every thing, his pleasing eloquence, his lively temper, his sure
and quick tact, excited the highest admiration. If any one had
a feeling of repugnance tc an art condemned to witness such
melancholy scenes, he had only to hear M. Corvisart for some
time to become an enthusiast in it.
Biographical Memoir of M. Corvisart. 13
Already all Europe rung with his fame, when, in 1802, he
was raised to the highest post in his profession, and yet this
elevation was not alone the result of his renown. Every one
remembers that it was put to the proof, and that, on being
called into consultation respecting an affection of the chest,
which threatened the chief of the government, he first discovered
its cause, and effected its removal.
His success, however, had not inspired him with an implicit
faith in medicine. It is even said that the mistakes which, not-
withstanding his great sagacity, sometimes happened to him,
gave him the greatest vexation, and made him, in those mo-
ments of discouragement, speak ill of his art; nor did he, like
those works in which it was pretended to assign precise charac-
ters, and a regular progress to each disease, and from which
young persons might form of medicine an idea similar to that
afforded by the physical sciences, properly so called, and still
Jess those in which it is presented in a deceitful simplicity, under
the idea of referring diseases and remedies to a small number of
forms,—it was not thus that he viewed it. Organized beings
have their certain laws, each of them conforms to the type of its
species ; but the disorders which introduce themselves into their
organization, are subject to endless combinations ; each day this
may assume a different complication ; and it is from the whole
symptcms of each moment, taken together, that they are to be
judged of, and combated. Nor did any one pay more attention
to these sensible signs. The best physician, according to him,
was he who had succeeded in giving to his senses the greatest
delicacy. He did not attend solely to the pains felt by the pa-
tient, to the variations of his pulse, or of his respiration. A
painter could not have better distinguished the shades of colour,
nor a musician all the qualities of sounds. The slightest altera-
tions of the complexion, of the colour of the eyes and lips, the
different intonations of the voice, the smallest differences in the
muscles of the face, fixed his attention. Even the variations
of the breath and transpiration were carefully measured by him,
and, in the judgment which he formed, nothing of all this was a
matter of indifference. ‘The innumerable openings of bodies
which he had made, had enabled him to remark the correspon-
dence of the slightest external appearances with the internal le-
14 Biographical Memoir of M. Corvisart.
sions. He is said to have distinguished, at the distance of several
beds, the disease of an individual that had just come to the
hospital; and, with respect to the disorganizations of the heart,
and great vessels in particular, he had attained to a truly won-
derful accuracy of divination. His decisions were irrevocable,
like those of destiny. Not only did he predict the fate that
awaited each patient, and the period at which the catastrophe
was to happen, but he gave, beforehand, the measure of the
swellings, dilatations, and contractions of all the parts ; and the
opening of the bodies scarcely ever refuted his announcements.
The most experienced, it is said, were utterly astonished by
them.
His two principal works, the Treatise on the Diseases of the
Heart *, and the Commentary on Auenbrugger, are celebrated
testimonies of the manner and genius of M. Corvisart. In the
first, the inflammations of the pericardium, the dropsies which
fill its cavity, the thickening and attenuation of the walls either
of the heart in general, or of each of its cavities, the hardening
of its tissue, its ossification, its conversion into fat, the contrac-
tion of its orifices, its tumours, its inflammations, and its rup-
tures, are presented, together with their melancholy symptoms,
and their fatal results, with an order and clearness that nothing
in medicine can surpass. This book so occupied the minds of
the young physicians who were eager for instruction, and their
imagination was so powerfully struck by it, that, for some time,
it is said, they saw nothing but diseases of the heart, as at other
times they have seen every where gravel, bile, asthenia, or in-
flammations. The effect which it would have on the sick would
be still more cruel. His epigraph itself, Heret lateri lethalis
arundo, tells how disheartening the reading of it is ; but medical
books are not made for those who are not physicians ; and it is
well that those who are so, should know positively when nothing
remains for them to do. This unhappy certainty prevents
them at least from tormenting their patients with useless reme-
dies.
In the Commentary on Auenbrugger, it is the diseases of
* Essay on the Diseases and Organic Lesions of the Heart and Large
Vessels, extracted from the Clinical Lectures of M. Corvisart, and published
under his inspection by M. E. Horeau, 1 vol. 8vo. Paris, 1806, 2d edition.
Biographical Memoir of M. Corvisart. 15
the chest, the fluids which fill its cavity, the tumours which
obstruct the bronchia, or the cellules of the lungs, that he
teaches us to distinguish, by the different sounds which the walls
of that cavity emit when struck. The form given to this work
ought to be remarked as the proof of a noble generosity. In it
M. Corvisart sacrificed his fame, a kind of property of which
men are less disposed to be lavish than of any other, to a de-
licate feeling of justice towards an unknown individual, and one
who had been long dead. He had already, from the suggestions
of his own mind, made most of the experiments contained in this
commentary, and had intended to collect them in a single work,
when there fell into his hands a dissertation, published in 1763,
by a physician of Vienna, translated in 1770 by a French phy-
sician, and yet almost entirely forgotten, in which he found
part of what he had observed. J could have sacrificed Aven-
brugger’s name, says he, to my own vanity, but I did not
choose to do so: it is his beautiful and legitimate discovery that
I wish to revive. ;
These words of themselves describe a character. No one, in
fact, was more free, more open, more unassuming; nor could
any person be less occupied with himself. Placed so near the
man whose word was all-powerful, and at the time when so
many prerogatives were brought back by little and little, which
were of advantage only to those who were decorated with them,
how easily could he have obtained for himself the restoration of
the ancient privileges conceded to first physicians, so lucrative,
but so useless, it may even be said so hurtful, sometimes to the
real progress of medicine. But he was sensible that at the
height which the sciences had reached, the exclusive influence
of one individual, were he the most skilful in his profession,
could only restrain their flight. So far was he from wishing to
gain any pre-eminence, that he did not take a higher rank in
his hospital than was due to him in point of seniority. On the
other hand, contrary to the example of those zealous persons
who think they shine so much the more when they are sur-
rounded only by obscure individuals, he appointed to the dif-
ferent situations in the medical house the physicians who en-
joyed most reputation in the city. There were in the number
some who had written and spoken against him; for even this
16 Biographical Memoir of M. Corvisart.
was not to him a motive of hesitation. Those whose memory
alone remained to be honoured, the Bichats and the Dessaults,
obtained, at his solicitation, monuments, the only mark which
he wished to leave of the favour which he enjoyed. I forget
he has given another,—in founding, at his own expense, in the
Faculty, prizes for the young persons who distinguish them-
selves by good clinical observations. It has been remarked,
that many men, on attaining distinction, have remembered the
obstacles which poverty opposed to them in their early years,
and, by a very natural feeling, have sought to render less diffi-
cult the progress of some of their successors. M. Corvisart was
led to this the more willingly, that, to his enthusiasm for his
profession, he joined a true friendship for those who were pos-
sessed of the same feeling. He was jealous of none of his fel-
low practitioners, and always did them whatever services lay in
his power. His greatest pleasure was to see himself surrounded
by young physicians who exhibited talent, and it was not with
his advice, and with his lectures alone, that he encouraged
them ; he made them partake the enjoyments of his fortune, and
the diversions which a secret inclination to melancholy appear
to have rendered necessary to him. It is said, that, when he
had performed the duties of his profession, if he did not give
himself up to the amusements of gay and enlivening society, he
fell into depression of spirits, and painful melancholy ; that in
him the active and busy physician of the morning, became in
the evening a man of pleasure, who would not permit either his
art or his patients to be spoken of,—a disposition unfortunately
too common among men of ardent genius, and which greatly
diminished the services which M. Corvisart might have rendered
to science. Without hurting his zeal for teaching, which iden-
tified itself with his passion for his art, it made him a rather ne-
gligent academician, and an unproductive author. After ha-
ving keenly desired to be admitted among us, he scarcely ever
assisted at our meetings. His treatise on the diseases of the
heart, although his own in the ideas and in all that forms the
essence of a work, did not come from his pen, but was drawn
up by.one of ‘his pupils, M. Horeau ; and if it may be regret-
ted that any one should require such diversions, he was a fortu-
Site
t .
Biographical Memoir of M. Corvisart. 17
nate man, who, amid all his amusements, was capable of leaving
such a monument.
It is asked, and the question naturally suggests itself with
respect to many others, if, on the frequent occasions when pro-
fessional duty brought him near a man whose power was unli-
mited *, he had not some opportunities of giving him advice that
might have been useful to himself, and have perhaps spared
some of the blood of Europe? It is certain that he did not al-
low himself to sink so much as many personages who appeared
externally in a higher position, and that whenever, for example,
the master shewed a disposition to banter him on his profession,
a smart reply quickly checked the attempt ; but it is also cer-
tain, that he never conversed about any thing of general interest.
On matters of indifference, every familiarity was allowed him ;
but a cold look, or a harsh word, stopped him the moment he
tried to break this circle. He himself related, that, at the pe-
riod of a birth, which, coming especially from such a marriage,
seemed calculated to satisfy the most ambitious hopes, he per-
mitted himself to ask if any thing more could be desired. Tow-
jours Champenois Docteur ! was the only reply he received, and
the speaker turned his back.
M. Corvisart had applied on himself his inexorable talent of
foresight, and had obtained from it but a very melancholy
augury. His conformation, and the instance of his father, had
given him a presentiment of the apoplexy which threatened
him, and which did not fail to come on nearly at the time that
he had foretold it. This cruel disease at first only affected his
motions ; his judgment remained sound, and the first use which
he made of it was to renounce all exercise of his art, and give
himself up entirely to repose. But this precaution delayed only
for a very short time an attack which proved fatal. He died
on the 18th September 1821, leaving no family.
His place in the Academy of Sciences has been filled up by
M. Magendie, and his chair in the College of France had for
several years been occupied by M. Hallé.
* Bonaparte.
OCTOBER—DECEMBER 1829. B
( 18 )
Notice regarding the Salt Luke Inder, in Asiatic Russia. Cowwi-
municated by Lieutenant J. E. ALExanpErR, 16th Lancers,
K.L. S. M. R. A. 8S. Corres. Mem. S. A. E., &e.
THE country and desert of the Kirguis, in which is the Lake
Inder, is very imperfectly known, owing to the great danger at-
tending travelling in that region, from the Nomade tribes of
Kirguis and Tartars, who move about like the Arabs, plunder-
ing caravans and travellers. ' A German botanist of the name
of John C. G. Herrmann, who, some years ago, left St Peters-
burgh for the south of Russia, and has never since been heard
of, once visited this lake: from some memoranda of his *, and
other sources, I have been able to collect what follows.
On descending the River Ural, formerly known by the name
of the Jaik, and in the direction of the Military Cordon, there
is situated the advanced post called Gorski or Inders-Koigor,
about 800 versts distant from the town Uralsk, capital of the
Ural Cossacks. The Gorski post is singularly situated on the
right bank of the river, and faces the Lake Inder, which con-
tains such an abundant supply of salt of the first quality, that
it would suffice for the consumption of all the Russias, if the
difficulties attending the carriage of it were not almost insur-
mountable ; and this is the reason why the preference is given
to the salt of the Lake Geldon or Elton, where those difficulties
do not exist, though the salt of this lake is very inferior to that
of Lake Inder.
This great magazine of salt is situated at about 26 versts in
the Kirguis desert, in lat. 48° 30’, and long. 69°. It is elevated,
above the level of the River Ural, and the shores are surrounded
by low hills of sandstone, on which there is scanty vegetation, and
afew shrubs. The lake, which lies as in a basin among the hills,
is twenty versts in length, and nine broad, and is an oval in appear-
ance. ‘The bottom is an immense stratum of salt, covered to an
imconsiderable depth with water. The saline stratum has several
orifices in it : down one of these (sixteen inches in circumference),
“ My friend Mr Prescott of St Petersburgh, well known to the botanical
world, purchased some time ago the Herbarium and MSS. of Hermann.
On the Salé Lake Inder. 19
a plum line was lowered, and no bottom was found, with 180
feet of cord. The water impregnated with salt, which rests on
the solid stratum, is so shallow that one can traverse the lake in
every direction, either on foot or horseback. At the end of summer
the water is all dried up, and the lake is covered with salt as
white as snow recently fallen, and of great purity.
Those who live on the north side of the Cordon, use the salt
of this lake, but those who are more to the eastward, use the
salt of the lake in the Russian territory, being afraid to ven-
ture into the desert to supply themselves with the superior salt
of Inder. The lake has several salt springs in it, and to the
distance of ten or twelve versts round it, the water is so impreg-
nated with salt, that neither man nor beast is able to swallow it.
The plants and insects that are found here are also peculiar
to the place ; but I have not been able to collect much informa-
tion regarding them, for it seems to be impossible to spend that
time in the vicinity of the lake, which is requisite for a thorough
investigation of it. The disposition of the Kirguis is so hostile,
and their hordes are so numerous, that, notwithstanding Her-
mann was accompanied with a numerous escort, and field pieces,
it was impossible to make the tour of the lake. Indeed, 2000
Kirguis kebeeks or tents were pitched on the banks of the
River Kara Kiel, which runs parallel with the lake, at a few
versts distance : these they could not pass, and consequently on-
ly saw the centre of the lake, the salt of which, from the ex-
amination of specimens, was crystallized in cubes.
From Mr Prescott, I learn that the vegetation of the lake
hears a strong resemblance to that of the Caspian Sea, and of
the salt and sandy steppes around it. ‘The low bushes are prin-
cipally of the tribes of Polygonee and Salsolew, numerous
species of Salsola, Salicornia, Calligonum Palasia, Tamariz
and Atraphaxis. ‘There are, however, some, as I said before,
peculiar to the place; such as Leontia vesicaria, Molucella tu-
berosa, and Megacarpeca lacineata, all curious in their structure.
For the short period during which it was possible to visit the lake,
the most interesting herbaceous plants observed were : numerous
Cruciferae, Ranunculi, Ala, Amaryllis tatarica, Astragali,
Carex physodes, and anew genus, near Frittillaria, called Rhi-
nopetalum by Dr Fischer, from its curious wba appendage
BQ
20 On the Salt Lake Inder, in Asiatic Russia.
to the upper sepal. There can be little doubt, if circumstances
would admit of a thorough investigation of the shores of the lake
at any future period, that great botanical treasures might be ex-
pected.
An officer in the Russian service told me that he was at the
lake in the month of May, and saw large herds of antelopes
on the sand hills, likewise quantities of snipes near the salt
pools ; and swans, cranes, ducks, and flamingos, which seemed
to resort to the lake to drink the water. He also said that he
had a servant who was bitten there by the minute worm of the
marshes, called the Siberian Plague, which can be no other than
the Furia infernalis, of the existence of which some naturalists
doubt. Ivan, the servant, had been out all day, and in the
evening, when he returned to the tents, his master observed
that there was a red spot on his cheek, and that it was slightly
swelled. His master knew what had happened, and told him,
that, if he did not take care, he would be dead in three days;
and that the only remedy was to perforate the skin of the cheek
diagonally, and in different directions, with an awl, and to rub
snuff into the wounds. Now, Ivan was a Kirzack, or Russian
of the old faith, who cross themselves in a different manner from
the others—have a number of superstitious rites and ceremonies
—have no priests, the laity officiating by turns, and each man
carries with him his own plate, knife and spoon, as they will
not eat out of the vessel of another. Among other things, they
will not touch snuff, consequently Ivan made up his mind to
die ; and next morning his head was swelled to an immense size.
But his master did not wish to lose him, so, pretending to pre-
pare some herbs for him, he got an awl, and pierced his cheek
in a slanting direction, under the skin, and rubbed in snuff,
and repeated the operation; and though the servant was in a
high fever for two days, yet at last the swelling and fever sub-
sided together, and he recovered. Children frequently die from
the bite of this worm, which, in Siberia, is greatly dreaded.
Sr PETERSBURGH,
30th June 1829.
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( a)
On the Discovery of a new species of Pterodactyle, and of Fossil
Ink and Pens, in the Lias at Lyme Regis ; also of Coprolites
or Fossil Faces in the Lias at Lyme Regis, and Westbury-
on-Severn, and elsewhere, in formations of all ages, from
the Carboniferous Limestone to the Dilwvium. By the Rev.
W. Bucxtann, D.D. F.R.S. F.L.S. F.G.S. and Pro-
fessor of Geology and Mineralogy in the University of Ox-
ford.
IN the course of the last session of the Geological Society of
London, several papers on the above subjects were communi-
cated by Professor Buckland, the substance of which is collected
in the following notice ; the papers themselves being in course
of publication in the Transactions of the Society.
I. Piterodactyle—This specimen of pterodactyle was dis-
covered in December last, by Miss Mary Anning, and belongs
to a new species of that extinct genus, hitherto recognised only
in the lithographic Jura-limestone of Sollenhofen, which the
author considers as nearly coeval with the English chalk. The
head is wanting, but the rest of the skeleton, though dislocated,
is nearly entire; and the length of the claws so much exceeds
that of the claws of the Pterodactylus longirostris and_brevi-
rostris (of which the only two known specimens are minutely
described by Cuvier), as to shew that it belongs to another spe-
cies, for which’ the name of Pterodactylus macronyx is pro-
posed ; it is about the size of a common crow, and a drawing
of this fossil by Mr Clift accompanies the paper. The author
had for some time past conjectured, that certain small bones
found in the lias at Lyme Regis, and referred to birds, belong
rather to the genus Pterodactyle. This conjecture is now veri-
fied. It was also suggested to him, in 1823, by Mr J. S. Mil-
ler of Bristol, that the bones in the Stonesfield-slate, which have
been usually considered as derived from birds, ought to be at-
tributed to this extraordinary family of flying reptiles: Dr
Buckland is now inclined to adopt this opinion, and is disposed
to think still further, that the coleopterous insects, whose elytra
occur in the Stonesfield-slate, may have formed the food of the
3
22 Professor Buckland on Pterodactylus Macronyx,
insectivorous pterodactyles. He conceives also, that many of
the bones from Tilgate Forest, hitherto referred to birds, may
belong to this extinct family of anomalous reptiles: and, from
their presence in these various localities, he infers that the genus
pterodactyle existed throughout the entire period of the de-
position of the great Jura-limestone formation, from the lias to
the chalk inclusive, expressing doubts as to the occurrence of
any remains of birds, before the commencement of the tertiary
strata.
II. Fossil Ink and Pens.—An indurated black animal sub-
stance, like that in the ink-bag of the cuttle-fish, occurs in the
lias at Lyme Regis ; and a drawing made with this fossil pig-
ment, four years ago, was pronounced by an eminent artist to
have been tinted with sepia. It is nearly of the colour and
consistence of jet, and very fragile, with a bright splintery frac-
ture; its powder is brown, like that of a painter’s sepia; it oc-
curs in single masses, nearly of the shape and size of a small
gall-bladder, broadest at the base, and gradually contracted to-
wards the neck. These ink-bags are attached to the remains of
two unknown mollusce ; one apparently an orthoceratite, the
other a loligo.
1. In the first of these the ink-bag is surrounded by a thin
envelope of brilliant nacre, which formed the lining of a shell,
having the external shape and wavy surface of an orthoceratite.
In the most perfect specimen the author possesses, the upper
chamber is nearly five inches deep, and two inches in diameter ;
within it was lodged the ink-bag and other soft parts of the ani-
mal’s body ; the bottom of the cavity terminates in a series of
circular transverse plates, like the chambered alveolus of a be-
lemnite, packed close on each other like a pile of watch-glasses.
The uppermost ‘of these plates is in immediate contact with the
base of the ink-bag, the rest diminish rapidly in size, and nearly
in the same proportion in which the plates diminish in the be-
lemnite ; beyond the lowest of them, no elongation of the shell,
nor traces of any sheath, have yet been found; the external .
shell, in most specimens, has entirely perished, but its nacre is
always preserved, and is usually compressed to a thin flat sack
1
and on Fossil Pens and Ink, and Coprolites. 23
surrounding the ink-bag; the author proposes to designate this
fossil by the name of Orthoceras-belemnitoeides.
2. In the newly discovered Loligo from the lias, the ink-bags
are in contact with the horny remains of a pen somewhat like
that of the Loligo vulgaris, but having a thin plate of cellular
spongy carbonate of lime immediately beneath, and adhering to
the horny plate of the pen ; for this species, the author proposes
the name of Loligo antiqua,
III. Coprolites or Fossil Faces.—Dr Buckland has ascer-
tained from an extensives series of specimens, that the fossils
locally called Bezoar stones, which abound at Lyme Regis, in
the same beds of lias with the bones of ichthyosaurus, are the
feeces of this animal. In size and form they resemble elongated
pebbles or potatoes, varying generally from two to four inches
in length, and from one to two inches in diameter ; some few
are larger, others smaller. Their colour is dark grey, their
substance like indurated clay, and of a compact earthy texture,
and Dr Prout has ascertained, that their chemical analysis ap-
proaches to that of Album graeecum. Bones and scales of fishes
occur abundantly in these feecal bodies ; the scales are referable
to the Dapedium politum, and other fishes that occur in the lias ;
the bones are those of fishes, and also of small ichth yosauri.
The interior of these coprolites is arranged in a spiral fold,
coiled round a central axis; their exterior also bears impressions
apparently received from the action of the intestines of the
living animals. In many of the entire skeletons of ichthyosauri
found in the lias, compressed coprolites are seen within the ribs
and near the pelvis ; these must have been included within the
animal’s body at the moment of its death. Dr Buckland has
ascertained further, that the circular bodies, resembling the
bony rings of the suckers of cuttle fish, occur in the coprolites
mixed with the scales and bones above mentioned. AjJl these
bodies appear to have passed undigested through the intestines
of the ichthyosauri ; and Dr Prout has also found that the black
varieties of coprolite owe their colour to matter of the same na-
ture with the fossil ink in the lias; hence it follows, that the
ichthyosauri fed upon the sepiz of. these ancient seas as well as
on fishes, and on the young of their own species. The author
24 Professor Buckland on Pterodactylus Macronyz,
has also ascertained, by the assistance of Mr Miller and Dr
Prout, that the small round black bodies, having a polished
surface, and resembling pebbles of jet, which occur mixed with
bones in the lowest strata of the lias on the banks of the Severn,
near Bristol, are varieties of coprolite: they appear to be co-
extensive with this bone-bed, and occur at many and very dis-
tant localities. He has also received from Mr Miller similar small
black feecal balls from a calcareous bed, nearly at the bottom of
the carboniferous limestone at Bristol. This bed abounds with
teeth of sharks, and with bones, teeth, and spines of other fishes ;
and the coprolites in it may have been derived from small rep-
tiles, or from fishes; and, in the case of the lias bone-bed, from
the molluscous inhabitants of fossil nautili, ammonites and be-
lemnites. In a collection at Lyme Regis, there is a fossil fish
from the lias, which has an ichthyo-coprus within its body ; and,
in Mr Mantel’s collection of fishes, from the chalk near Lewis,
there are two specimens of the Amia Lewesiensis, each contain-
ing a coprolite within its scales and ribs: to these the author
proposes to assign the name of Amia-coprus. He also pro-
poses to designate the so-called bezoars, which are derived from
the ichthyosauri, by the name of Ichthyosauro-coprus ; and the
Album greecum of the fossil hyenas by the name of Hyzna-
coprus. Dr Buckland has also recently ascertained the exist-
ence of coprolites in the Oxford oolite near Weymouth, and in
the Kimmeridge clay near Oxford. About four years ago he
found, in Mr Mantell’s collection of bones of various reptiles
from the Hasting’s sandstone of Tilgate Forest, balls of feecal
matter, differing in shape from those of the ichthyosaurus. To
some of these reptiles he refers the coprolites in question; and
conjectures that Sauro-copri will be found, wherever the remains
of saurians are abundant. Dr Buckland has also coprolites
found by Mr Richardson, in the green sand of Wiltshire, and
by Miss Anning in green sand near Lyme.
As soon as Dr Buckland had established, by a series of were
mens, that the balls of ichthyosauro-coprus were composed of a
lamina of earthy phosphate of lime, wrapped spirally round it-
self, it occurred to him that this structure is so similar to that
of the supposed fir-cones or iuli in the chalk and chalk-marl, that
he immediately conjectured these so long misnamed iuli, to be
and on Fossil Pens and Ink, and Coprolites. 25
also of fecal origin. On examination, he found many of them
to contain scales of fishes, and to bear on their surface impres-
sions derived from the intestines in which they were formed ;
and Dr Prout’s analysis proves their composition to be the same
as that of other coprolites. The spiral intestines of the mo-
dern shark, ray, and dog-fish, afford an analogy that may ex-
plain the origin of their spiral structure, as well as that of the
spiral structure of many coprolites at Lime Regis; and the
teeth and palates of sharks, and other cartilaginous fishes, that
abound in the same chalk-marl with them, render it probable
that the supposed iule have been derived from some of these
animals. Until this poimt can be fully established, it is pro-
posed to designate them by the name of [uloideo-coprus.
‘There are several fine specimens of this Iuloideo-coprus from
the quarries of Maestricht, in the collection of Colonel Houlton
of Farley Castle, near Bath. Dr Buckland has also discovered
a coprolite among fossils he possesses from the London clay ;
and has found two other varieties of the same substance in a
collection lately made at Aix, in Provence, by Mr Murchison
and Mr Lyell. One of these coprolites is in the shale of the
fresh-water coal formation at Fuveau; the other in the insecti-
ferous marl-bed above the gypsum at Aix. Dr Buckland con.
cludes that he has established, generally, the curious fact, that,
in formations of all ages, from the carboniferous limestone to
the diluvium, the faeces of terrestrial and aquatic carnivorous
animals have been preserved. The examples he produces from
the carboniferous limestone, the lias, the Hastings sandstone,
the green sand, the chalk-marl and chalk. The Maestricht
rock, the London clay, the fresh-water deposites at Aix, and
the diluvium in caverns, are taken respectively from the several
great periods into which geological formations are divided.
They are important, as shewing a continued tranquil condition
of the earth’s surface to have prevailed for some time, where-
ever they occur abundantly.
A letter from Dr Prout to Professor Buckland, was read on
the 3d of April 1829, stating that he has made an analysis of
the coprolites from Lyme Regis, and Westburn-on-Severn, and
found the composition of all of them to be very similar, viz.
phosphate of lime, and carbonate of lime, together with minute
6 On the Chemical Constitution and
variable proportions of iron, sulphur, and carbonaceous matter,
The relative proportions of the principal ingredients, appear
to differ somewhat in different specimens, and even in different
parts of the same specimen; hence no formal analysis has been
attempted : but the phosphate of lime may, perhaps, be esti-
mated to constitute from about one-half to three-fourths of the
whole mass.
Dr Prout conceives this composition to prove that the basis
of these coprolites is bone ; and that Professor Buckland’s opi-
nion, that they are of facal origm, or of the nature of Album
ereecum, offers a very satisfactory explanation of their occur-
rence, and accounts at once for their chemical composition, their
external form, and their mechanical structure. Dr Prout has
also examined all the most important specimens of coprolite
that are mentioned in Dr Buckland’s papers, and concurs with
him in believing them to be all derived from digested bones.
The Guano, or dung of sea-birds, on the coast of Peru, and
islands adjacent, affords an analogous example of the preserva-
tion of recent fseces, in beds and masses, which are stated to be
sometimes fifty or sixty feet in thickness. This Guano, how-
ever, differs chemically from any fossil coprolites that have been
examined by Dr Prout, and contams much urinary matter.
Dr Buckland proposes to add this Guano to his series of co-
prolites by the name of Ornitho-coprus.
On the Chemical Constitution and Temperature of Springs, in
reference to the Rock Formations in their Vicinity. By
Dr and Prof. Gustavus Biscuorr *.
THE facts stated in our work quoted below, ‘shew an evident
connexion between the volcanic ridge of the Westerwald, 'Tau-
nus, &c., and the numerous springs found there. Our mineral
waters at Geilnan, Fachingen, and Selters, as well as several
others in these mountains, experimented on by different che-
mists, are remarkably distinguished by their containing dif-
ferent salts of soda, such as the carbonate, sulphate, and mu-
* Dr Gustavus Bischoff, uber die Vulkanischen Mineral quellen Dentsch.
jands und Frankreichs, 1 vol, 8vo. Bonn, 1826,
Temperature of Springs. Q7
riate. What is more natural than to inquire, Are these salts of
soda also found in other springs, which rise in other volcanic
ridges? _Berzelius has already preceded us in the exposition
and answering of this question,
This excellent chemist says*, that, as the atmospheric wa-
ter, which enters pure into the earth, reissues charged with the
carbonate, sulphate, and muriate of soda, these salts must be
a universal and common product of volcanic activity. But
who, he continues, if he considers the immense yolcanic masses
which surround Carlsbad, from Engelhaus to Schlackenwerth,
will hesitate to apply this conclusion to the springs of Carlsbad ?
He then shews the great similarity between a great part of the
north of Bohemia, and particularly where the mineral waters
are most abundant, and the provinces of Auvergne and Vivarais,
in France. He says, that even here, between the lava-streams,
which have flowed from the extinguished volcanoes surrounding
the Puy de Dome in Auvergne, in all directions, into the
plains of Limagnes, a greater or less number of warm springs
issue, which are rich in the carbonate, sulphate, and muriate of
soda, and even deposite carbonate of lime. Berzelius mentions
several of these springs, which bear great resemblance to Carls-
bad, and observes, that whenever we recede from the volcanic
district, no spring of that peculiar composition is to be met
with; but they reappear when we reach Cantal, which is also
volcanic ; and that, finally, the alkaline natron springs appear
- in Vivarais (department of Ardeche). This chemist, in conclu-
sion, remarks, that he is far from maintaining, that all natron
springs, saturated with carbonic acid, with or without a propor-
tion of iron, must necessarily have the same origin : to be jus-
tified in maintaining such a position, researches would be re-
quired, which have not yet been made, and which could be
effected by no single naturalist. I agree with Berzelius in
thinking, that a more exact investigation of the environs of
such springs, will render more apparent to us their connexion
with ancient volcanic appearances; and I have endeavoured to
* Researches on the Mineral Waters of Carlsbad, Téplitz, and Konigs-
wart, in Bobemia, by J. Berzelius. From the Transactions of the Royal
Academy of Sciences of Sweden for 1822; translated by Gustavus Rose,
with some illustrations by Gilbert, in his Annalen der Physik, vol. xxiv,
p. 113, and 276.
98 On the Chemical Constitution and
prosecute the inquiry, as far as was possible, from the present
state of our knowledge of the geognostical relations of those
countries, with the chemical constitution of whose springs we
are acquainted. What has already been done in these districts
permits of an extent being given to these researches, which
could scarcely have been expected, and yet many observations
may easily have escaped me. But I flatter myself, that what
follows will answer the above question in the affirmative in a
general way.
As this is the most proper place, I will first shortly treat of
those inquiries and considerations of other naturalists, which
have any relation to the subject.
The older naturalists almost unanimously attributed the heat
of warm springs to subterranean fire, or, at least, to the same
causes which produce this fire. On the erroneous view, that
they all contained sulphuretted hydrogen gas *, was founded the
supposition, that the water of these springs previously flowed
over beds of iron pyrites, and, by their action on them, ob-
tained both their sulphuretted hydrogen gas and their elevated
temperature.
Becher+ assumed, in reference to Carlsbad, that water, hold-
ing common salt in solution, flowed over a burning bed of py-
rites, the sulphuric acid of which changed the muriate into
the sulphate of soda. Berzelius has demonstrated } the untena-
ble nature of this assumption, which does not once refer to the
origin of the carbonate of soda.
Klaproth §, who at once saw the difficulties of Becher’s hypo-
thesis, believed, that the Carlsbad waters were heated by a large
bed of coal, set on fire by iron pyrites; and that iron pyrites,
coal, limestone, and salt-springs, were the raw materials out of
which nature elaborated these hot mineral waters. But Leopold
von Buch ||, on geognostical, and Berzelius 4], on chemical
grounds, have respectively shewn the untenableness of this pro-
position.
The latter observes, that however easy it is to be convinced
* Parrot, Grundriss der Physik der Erde und Geologie. | Riga and Leipzig,
1815, p. 315.
+ New Treatises on Karlsbad, by David Becher, 2d edit. 1789. p. 20.
+ Swedish Academy for 1822, p. 173. § His Beitrage, vol. i. 346.
|| Bergmannische’s Journal for the year 1792, p. 383, especially p. 412.
§ Swedish Academy, p- 177.
Temperature of Springs. 29
that these explanations are insufficient, yet it is difficult to sub-
stitute a more probable one in their place. We know, says Ber-
zelius, that near many active volcanoes hot springs pour forth im-
mense quantities of water. We may conclude, from their tempe-
rature, that their channels pass near the centre of volcanic action,
from which they acquire their heat. Their water, besides, holds
in solution many ingredients which are foreign to that of or-
dinary springs ; for instance, the above mentioned salts of soda,
and a much greater quantity of silica than is found in ordinary
springs. The hot springs of Iceland are a well known ex-
ample of this. The circumstance of these waters, in some places,
containing sulphuretted alkali, he views, as shewing, that, on
the spot where the water dissolved this salt, the operation of
the volcano had not extended far enough, to oxidise all the
oxidizable substances, or had withdrawn itself, before its action
was completed. He now makes use of extinguished volcanoes,
in which the crater has been’ closed by congealed lava, filled
with ashes, sand, and rubbish, and the glowing focus has gra-
dually cooled. But there is found, as he correctly remarks,
not the smallest loss of temperature by radiation, but the
warmth can only escape through the mass of the surrounding
rocks, and as these are known to be the worst conductors of
heat, thousands of years might be required ere they reached the
mean temperature of the earth. But the springs existing near
a voleano continue, after its extinction, to flow through their
former canals only so long as the water existing is supplied from
the atmosphere, and must issue forth to the surface as formerly,
warm and saliferous, as long as they meet in their course with
salts to dissolve, and as long as the places through which they
flow are heated by the proximity of the still warm focus of the
extinguished volcano, &e. &c.
Against this view of Berzelius, Von Hoff* observes, that we
can by no means attribute such a small conducting power to
the materials of which the interior of the earth, or earth’s crust,
consist, as that for thousands of years they should preserve such
a temperature as that must be which can produce the phenome-
na we observe in such springs when they come under our ob-
servation at the surface; for, from the mean density of the
* Geognostical Observations on Carlsbad, 1825, p. 33.
30 On the Chemical Constitution and
earth, by calculation, we may suppose its interior to consist of
materials of the densest kind, which are the best conductors of
heat. But were this not the case, Von Hoff continues, yet
the continued exit of so considerable a quantity of heat, as
that which the sprmgs of Carlsbad discharge from the earth,
must produce a considerable cooling in its interior, if the
warmth was not continually generated. But since we have
known these springs there has not been the smallest gradual di-
minution of temperature, or any of the other effects, nor, conse-
quently, of the activity of the process; on the contrary, their
force during the last century, since which their phenomena have
been more accurately observed, and viewed by more experienced
naturalists than formerly, has continued undiminished, and in
this period several new and permanent hot springs have burst
forth, without those already existing having ceased yielding water
of the same quality as before.
That these objections are weighty cannot be denied ; but as
throughout nature, when we attempt to estimate things on the
large scale, for which a sure criterion is wanting, false conclu-
sions may easily be made; while, on the contrary, quantities
found by incomplete experiments may more certainly guide us,
I instituted the following experiments.
I brought basalt in a wind furnace, to the strongest white
heat, till it began to melt, and then suddenly plunged it into a
measured quantity of water, of a known temperature, contained
in a cylindrical vessel, constructed of cast brass, on which was
fitted an air-tight cover of the same metal. Immediately after
the immersion of the glowing basalt in the water, the cover was
applied, in order to prevent the escape of steam, and bythat means
of heat. On a thermometer, inserted in an opening of the
cover, the bulb of which reached the water, 1 observed the in-
crease of temperature as long as the hissing noise of the glow-
ing and gradually cooling basalt was heard. The following
are the results :—
1. A piece of basalt, 9 oz. weight, heated to a bright red,
was plunged in 93.75 oz. of water, of 17°.7 R. The tempera-
ture of the water increased to 31°.2 R.
2. A second piece of basalt, 9 oz. weight, was heated till
some melted portions dropt off, and immediately put in 112 oz.
———
Temperature of Springs. 31
of water, of 26.°6 R., by which the temperature was raised to
37.°5 R. When subsequently weighed it was only 7 oz.
3. A third piece of basalt of 14.5 02. weight, was not heated
so strongly as the preceding, although it was melted in different
points, and was placed in 112.5 oz. of water, at 29° R., which
was raised to 48° R. The basalt afterwards weighed 13.6 oz.
4. A fourth piece, of 22 0z., was heated very strongly, but
without beginning to melt. It raised the temperature of 112.5 oz.
of water at 37.°5 R. to 62.°3, and then weighed 21 oz.*
In order to compare the results of these experiments with one
another, we will reduce the weight of the basalt employed to
16 0z., or 1 civil pound, from which we gather, that, in the
same quantity of water the elevation of temperature bore an
exact relation to the mass of the glowing basalt. We will set
aside the first experiment, as in it a smaller quantity of water
was used. We then find 16 oz. of basalt raised the tempera-
ture of 112.6 oz. of water,—
From the second experiment, half melted, = - 24.°2 R:
third a little less melted, - 22.931
fourth white heat, without melting, 18.°67
These results shew a conformity which we should not have
expected ; for the degrees of temperature diminish just as the
heat in each succeeding experiment was supposed to be less.
If we admit the first experiment, which produced the greatest
increase cof temperature, we may assume, that 1 lb. of half melt-
ed basalt can raise the temperature of 7 lb. of water 24° R.;
consequently, 2 lb. would raise the same quantity 48° R. If
we now take the mean temperature of the atmospheric water
which supplies the hot springs of Carlsbad, at + 11° R., we
then find that 2 lb. of half-melted basalt can raise '7 Ib. of wa-
ter from 11° R. to 59° R., which is the temperature of the
* In these experiments the increase of temperature of the water must
certainly be regarded as too little, from the inevitable loss of heat out of the
vessel, partly by conduction, partly by radiation, and this loss must, of course,
have been greater the higher the temperature of the water. This may partly
have caused the less elevation of temperature in the second and third experi-
ments, as the water was already heated by the preceding one. Any way,
however, this loss of warmth was small, for I afterwards observed, that 10’
elapsed before the thermometer fell 1° R., and, in a much shorter time, the
basalt had given off its heat to the water.
82 On the Chemical Constitution and
Sprudel fountain at Carlsbad, as determined half a century ago
by Becher, and more lately by Berzelius.
Now, the quantity of water which issues from the whole of
the openings of the Sprudel is 46373 eimers in an hour, which
gives 469503.85 Vienna pounds *; consequently,
Tn 24 hours, : ‘ z . -11,268092.4 Ib.
365 days, - - - - Ad 12853726
5 centuries, = - - 2,056426.863000
7000 years, - - - 28,1 89976,082000
For that is necessary,
m
In 24 hours, - - - - 3,219454,9 Ib.
365 days, - - - 1175,101065
5 centuries, - - - 587550,532285
7000 years, - - - 8,225707,452000
of half-melted basalt to raise the water discharged by the whole
Sprudel from 11° to 59° R. If we take the specific gravity of
basalt at 2.9 and 1 Vienna pound = 0.0177 Vienna cubic feet :
then would the mass of half-melted basalt required to heat
that quantity of water for 7000 years, occupy a space of
Sepo 707 ko2.00’ . 0.0177 = 5020,517996 Vienna cubit feet.
In order to form a rough idea of this mass, we will compare
it with the cubic contents of the highest mountain in the Bohe-
mian Mittelgeberge, the Donnerberg, at Milleschau. From a
calculation given below, the cubic contents of this mountain,
consisting entirely of clinkstone, is = 16,354, 166,666 cubic fect.
The above mass of basalt, which, from the hypothesis, would
be necessary for the heating of the whole Sprudel Fountain at
Carlsbad, since the days of Adam, according to the sacred
writings, would scarcely be the third part of this mountain.
But this calculation presumes that the basaltic mass of the
surrounding mountains, on the extinction of volcanic activity,
was as strongly heated as the basalt itself, or that it derived no
warmth from within for 7000 years, which cannot be admitted.
We have also founded our calculation on the supposition, that
* Compare Gilbert’s Annals, v. Ixxiv. p. 198. I have omitted the spe-
cific gravity of the Carlsbad water, as we have only to do with approxima-
tive quantities.
Temperature of Springs. 33
the temperature of the Carlsbad water was formerly no higher
than at present *. On the other hand, the atmospheric water
imbibed by the earth may be heated at great depths by a high
temperature existing there, so that it may reach the glowing
masses much warmer than 11° R., which we have assumed.
But we cannot comprehend in our estimate all these possible
cases; it is sufficient that we have got an approximation. We
may easily, at pleasure, increase or diminish the results, and in-
quire whether we are at liberty to assume the existence of such
masses of basalt, or other rocks, in a half-melted state, or even
at a white heat, in the interior of the earth? This much can-
not be doubted, that, when we keep in view the immense masses
of volcanic mountains which we find on the surface of the earth,
and which we must admit have at one time been melted in its
interior, from which they were projected, that even much larger
masses of volcanic rocks may now exist in the interior of the Bo-
hemian Mittelgebirge, and other volcanic ridges, in a melted, or,
at least, in a glowing condition? And, if even a part of their
warmth should be abstracted from such glowing masses by the
surrounding mountains, nothing prevents us supposing, that, in
such an event, warmth enough should still remain for the heat-
ing of the water. But this conducting power of heat can hardly
be very considerable, even for a period of a thousand years;
for our forges, which frequently go throughout the whole year,
do not require a very thick wall of stone to confine much of the
heat. And then we must look at the weak conducting power of
volcanic products, which the followmg will prove. Monticelli
and Covelli found, on the 15th January 1822, in a crater of
Vesuvius, which vomited fire, a layer of snow, one foot thick,
which had fallen two days before+. They could even touch
with the hand the outside of the edge of a canal formed of con-
gealed lava, in which the glowing rock was still flowing t.
Now, although, as shewn trom the preceding calculations and
observations, the possibility of the heat of hot springs being de-
* Compare Von Hoff, p. in art. 35.
+ Of Vesuvius in its activity during the years 1821, 1822, 1823, &c. from
the Italian, by Néggerath and Pauls, 1824, p. 15.
$ Idem, p. 3%, and Néggerath’s Observations, p. 39.
OCTOBER—DECEMBER 1829. c
34 On the Chemical Constitution and
rived from a long extinguished volcanic point of the earth’s
crust, still retaining its heat in its interior, cannot be denied ;
yet the view of Von Hoff, of an undiminished activity of volea-
nic operations in the interior, under hot springs, is not thereby
affected. We would, therefore, regard warm springs as stand-
ing in more intimate connexion with those processes in the inte-
rior ofthe earth, which produce volcanic eruptions and earth-
quakes, and view their high temperature and the mixture of
different gases and substances, and their violent issuing forth, as
the effects of this process of decomposition *. Von Hoff finds
support for this view in the fact, that those points of the earth
which yield a constant and considerable discharge of mineral
waters, gases, vapours, &c., seem to be peculiarly exempted, if
not from all internal commotions, at least from the more violent
eruptions and catastrophes. _ Thus, it is not known that Carls-
bad ever experienced a proper earthquake, for the most violent
eruptions of the Sprudel cannot be considered as such. A phe-
nomenon has lately rather tended to establish the conjecture,
that Carlsbad is protected from any proper earthquake by its
continual evacuations of hot gas and water. ‘This town, and its
environs, felt nothing of the pretty strong earthquake, which,
in January and February 1824, extended from the base of the
Saxon mountains into the circle of Elnbogen, to within two
miles of Carlsbad-+. Records are not wanting of an internal
motion of the earth in the circle which contains the warm springs
of Wiesbaden, Schlangenbad, Ems, Bertrich, and Aachen, and
many accompanying cold ones; but these earthquakes were as
rare, as weak, and insignificant .
Comparing the grounds which favour the hypothesis of warm
springs having a similar origin with earthquakes and volcanic
eruptions,—either that their warmth is in consequence of long
extinguished volcanic activity in the place of their origin, or of
a volcanic process still existing at a great depth, with the hy-
pothesis which deduces this temperature from burning beds of
* Von Hoff on Carlsbad, p. 56, 57. Hallaschka in Kastner’s Archiv, vol. i.
turlichen Veranderungen der Erdoberfliche, 1824, part ii. p. 89.
+ Von Hoff’s Geschichte der durch Uberlieferung nachgewiesenen Na-
p- 323.
~ Von Hoff’s Geschichte, p. 313.
‘|
|
Temperature of Springs. 35
iron-pyrites and coal, the former has by far the greatest pro-
bability ; and it is not to be denied, that, in a geological point
of view, it is an elevating consideration, if we ascribe similar
origins to volcanoes and earthquakes, and to mineral springs ;
and so deduce the destructive effects of the former, and the be-
neficial effects of the latter, from a common cause.
Keferstein, also, in his Geological Observations on the Hot
and Warm Springs of Germany *, lays down the principle,
that the regular production of hot vapours and springs is con-
nected with volcanic activity, although the volcano be at rest
and shew no eruption ; and that volcanic action does not consist
in the combustion of beds of coal, but in terrestrial operations
seated deep under the oldest formations. He observes on this,
that basalt, which is connected with systems of volcanoes, 1s so
grouped in Germany, that its localities may be viewed as a
basaltic parallel, which traverses the north of Germany from
west to east; and in which line also, all the hot springs of the
north of Germany are situated ; and that the few basalts besides
this, which occur in Germany, accompany the north base of the
Alps. This northern basaltic parallel, he finds, corresponds
to a more southern, which traverses the south of France, the
Alps, Hungary, and Transylvania. No basalt is found in the
Alps themselves; but he thinks it probable that the Alps rest
on a volcanic basis, that, in them, the volcanic phenomena may
have been limited to some earthquakes, which may have been
the more formidable, as it seems that the great mass of the
mountains may have prevented the eruption of the lavas +, in-
stead of which, hot springs haye burst a passage for themselves
in many places. He shews that the greater number of them are
seated in the Alps ; some surround their immediate base (as also
some portions of basalt); few arise in the further outskirts of
the Alps. He lastly informs us, that the hot springs of Ger-
many, and the adjoining countries, issue from the oldest forma-
tions, gneiss, granite, and clayslate; and that, where this is not
the case, these older rocks are so situate in the vicinity, that we
* His work Teutchland Geognostisch-geologisch dargestelt, &c. vol. fi-
pt. 1. p. 1.
+ Compare Von Hoff’s Geschichte, &c. p. 334.
36 On the Chemical Constitution and
may infer them to have a connexion with the springs. That
this is the case in several other parts of the world, he shews by
several examples.
If we now bring under our view what the above has taught
us regarding hot springs, we come to the three following general
conclusions :—1. We find~hot springs and exhalations of hot
gases and vapours near all active volcanoes, whence we conclude
them to be intimately connected with volcanism. We also see,
that permanent hot springs appear when the proper eruptions,
which occur only from time to time, have ceased *. 2. We also
find warm springs near extinguished volcanoes, as well as those
mountains whose igneous origin is no longer disputed: But it
appears that the temperature of hot springs is higher near active
than extinguished volcanoes. 3. We lastly find warm springs
in primitive mountain chains, which present on their surface no
voleanic products; but which some geologists regard as raised
by the general volcanism of the earth, at the period of its great-
est activity +.
From what we have said before of hot springs, coming under
heads 1. and 2., we may so lay down the principle, because hot
springs, which we regard as the products of volcanic action, ap-
pear in the neighbourhood of active and extinguished volcanoes ;
we also infer, from what has been previously said of such
springs in primitive mountains, which shew no volcanic produc-
tions, the existence of volcanic activity at a greater depth.
I have already hinted at the fact, that the temperature of the
earth increases with the depth. So far we are obliged to admit
voleanic action at a great depth {, to which the atmospheric wa-
* Vesuvius and Etna have a number of hot springs. The now dormant
volcano on Ischia has hot springs. In the volcanic district of the Lake of
Agnano, the Piscarelli are 93°. Iceland is quite filled with hot springs, of
which the Geyser, of 80°, is best known. The volcanic West India Islands
shew the same phenomenon : likewise the volcanoes in Java, in Japan, where
the springs of Ungino have a temperature of 100°; in America, &c. Kefer-
stein, wt antea, p. 49. Also Von Hoff, ut antea, vol. ii. p. 379, 481, 485, 518;
548.
+ Von Hoff, ut antea, pp. 552.
+ Compare Von Hoff, ut aniea, p. 366, 367, and 549.
Temperature of Springs. 37
ter must sink to acquire its heat; yet nothing prevents its being
warmed by the high temperature at that depth, independent of
volcanic fires ; and, in such a heated state, again appearing at the
surface, if it must still rise so high; for, if the channels through
which it flows become once heated, their walls would conduct
little heat outwards *. Berzelius seems inclined to attribute this
origin to the tepid, non-alkaline, but partly saline, and slightly
sulphureous waters, which spring from a granitic soil, in which
we find no volcanic remains +.
I rest satisfied here with merely having pointed out this pos-
sible cause cf the warmth of springs ; for it would be difficult,
in a field where we have merely grounds of probability, to pro-
nounce any thing decisive.
I now resume the thread of my investigation.
Keferstein and Von Hoff have endeavoured to shew that hot
springs constantly accompany volcanic ridges, but without pay-
ing any attention, in their observations, to their chemical consti-
tution. Berzelius has, from the occurrence of mineral waters
which contain soda saturated with carbonic acid, in the volca-
nic districts of the Bohemian Mittelgebirge, in Auvergne and
the Vivarais, inferred their connexion with volcanic agency.
I have also observed this connexion in the mineral waters ana-
lyzed by me, at Geilnau, Fachingen, and Selters ; and which I
will now endeavour to point out in the great basaltic or vol-
canic mountain chain, which begins in the Eifel, and extends
to the Riesengebirge. I divide this basaltic chain into seven
separate groups, and describe those springs containing carbonic
acid, saturated with soda, with their relation to the geognostical
* A remark naturally deduced also regarding springs warmed by volcanic
activity.
+ If we look at the numerous existing observations on the temperature
in the interior of the earth (see Annales de Chimie and de Physique, v. xiii.
p- 183), we will observe a considerable increase of temperature at compara-
tively trifling depths. ‘Thus Gensanne found in the mines of Giromagni,
at Befort, in a difference of depth of 332 metres, a difference of temperature
of 10°.2 C. viz. in a depth of 433 metres + 22°.7C. In the mines of Corn-
wall, the temperature, at a depth of 348 metres, was-+ 26° ; while, at the sur-
face, it was 4+ 15°. Von Humboldt found in a mine of New Spain, in America,
at a depth of 502 metres, 4+33°.8 C., while the mean annual temperature is
there 16°C. We see from this, that water, which has sunk to no great depth,
may be heated from 22°.7 C. to 26° or even 33°.8 C.
38 M. Hartwall’s Examination of some Minerals.
character of the rocks from which they rise, or which surround
them. By way of appendix, I will present, in the eighth and
ninth groups, the springs belonging to this class in Auvergne,
the Vivarais, and in the Pyrenees *.
‘
Examination of some Minerals. By M. Victor Hartwatt +.
1. Fergusonite.
Tuts mineral, named in honour of Robert Ferguson, Esq. of
Raith, occurs near to Kikertaurvak, not far from Cape Farewell,
in Old Greenland. On account of its near resemblance to Yt-
tertantalite, it was referred to that species, until Haidinger, by
a careful survey of its crystals, proved it to be a new species.
Being analysed, it afforded to me the following constituent parts :
Per Cent. Oxygen.
Tantalic Acid, 0.5521 47.75 5.49
Ytter Earth, 0.4743 41.91 8.34
Oxide of Cerium, 0.0582 4.68 0.59
Zircon Earth, 0.0350 3.02 0.79
Oxide of Tin, 0.0120 1.00
Oxide of Uranium, 0.0110 0.95
Oxide of Iron, 0.0040 0.34
99.65
The proportion of the oxygen of the bases is to that of the
acids nearly as 2:1. This relation, although not perfectly cor-
rect, is as much so as could be expected from the analysis of so
compound a mineral. Hence if we consider the combinations of
*“'Tantalic acid, and oxide of tin with zircon earth, oxide of ura-
nium and iron, as accidental mixed parts, there results for the
Fergusonite the following formula :—
Ys a
C Ta
The Fergusonite, therefore, differs from the yttrotantalite, in
* For the details referred to above, we must refer to Dr Bischotf’s va-
luable work.
+ From the Vetenskaps Academiens Handlingar, Jahrg, 1828.
M. Hartwall’s Eaamination of some Minerals. 39
composition, the latter having its composition represented by the
following formula :—
Ys ) Yt
Cé hes
2. Manganesian Epidote or Pistacite.
The mineral found at St Marcet in Piedmont, and known to
mineralogists under the name Manganesian Epidote, was refer-
red to the epidote genus, on account of its series of crystalliza-
tions.
This mineralogical determination it was desirous to have
confirmed by chemical analysis ; and, further, chemists were cu-
rious to know the particular state of oxidation of the manga-
nese and iron which it contains. The following is the analysis
of Hartwall :—
Per Cent. Quantity of Oxygen-
Silica, - « = 0.4425 38.47 19.35
Alumin - - - 02030 17.65 8.34
Lime, - - - =~ 0.2490 21.65 6.08
Peroxide of Manganese, _ 0.1620 14.08 4.17
Peroxide of Iron, - 0.0760 6.60 2.02
Magnesia, pk OSE 1,82 0.70
100.27
I have inferred, says Hartwall, by the calculation of the result
of the analysis, that the manganese and iron occur in the mineral
in the state of peroxide. This is proved not only by the dimi-
nished quantity of the isomorphous alumina along with them,
but also by the reddish-brown colour of the mineral. Accord-
ing to these data, the formula is as follows :—
AL. J
Cae). is on
i Si + 2Mn [ Sz
(HOH)
Analysis of Pyrophyllite, « New Mineral. By M. R. Her-
MANN of Moscow.
Tus mineral occurs in the Uralian Mountains, and is known
to mineralogists under the name Radiated Tale. But its rela-
tions before the blowpipe are different from those of indurated
talc. _ Heated betore the blowpipe, without any re-agent, it di-
vides in a fan-shaped manner into a swollen mass, which occu-
pies: twenty times the space of the original specimen. ‘The
pounded mass is quite infusible. If heated in a glass-retort,
there condenses, on the upper part of it, a water which does not
attack the glass, and which, on evaporation, leaves no silica.
Soda dissolves the mineral with effervescence, into a clear yel-
low glass. Phosphoric salt dissolves it into a colourless glass,
leaving a siliceous skeleton. It acquires a blue colour with so-
lution of cobalt. By these characters the mineral is well mark-
ed, and is distinguished from talc, particularly by its relations
with solution of cobalt, its aqueous contents, and its fan-
shaped splitting by heating. But in order to obtain a more dis-
tinct conception of this mineral, I subjected it to analysis. Ac-
cording to this, it contains in the 100 parts
5.62 Water, - - - 5.00 Oxygen.
59.79 Silica, < Fs ore BROT
29.46 Alumina, .. 2 ~ 98.95
4.00 Magnesia,- - - 1.55
1.80 Oxide of Iron.
Trace of Oxide of Silver.
We see from this analysis, that the oxygen of the water
amounts to a third, and the oxygen of the silica the double of
the oxygen of the bases. The mineral thus analysed, therefore,
corresponds to the following formula :—
MS? + 3AQDP + IOH.
The name Pyrophyllite is given to it on account of its exfo-
liation on exposure to heat.
Gabbe *)
Additional Remarks on Active Molecules. By Roserr Brown,
F. R. S. &c.
Axzour twelve months ago I printed an account of Microscopi-
cal Observations made in the summer of 1827, on the Par-
ticles contained in the Pollen of Plants; and on the general
Existence of active Molecules in Organic and Inorganic Bodies.
In the present supplement to that account, my objects are, to
explain and modify a few of its statements, to advert to some of
the remarks that have been made, either on the correctness or
originality of the observations, and to the causes that have been
considered sufficient for the explanation of the phenomena.
In the first place, I have to notice an erroneous assertion of
more than one writer, namely, that I have stated the active
molecules to be animated. This mistake has probably arisen
from my having communicated the facts in the same order in
which they occurred, accompanied by the views which presented
themselves in the different stages of the investigation ; and in
one ease, from my having adopted the language, in referring to
the opinion of another inquirer into the first branch of the sub-
ject.
Although I endeavoured strictly to confine myself to the
statement of facts observed, yet in speaking of the active mole-
cules I have not been able, in all cases, to avoid the introduc-
tion of hypothesis ; for such is the supposition, that the equally
active particles of greater size, and frequently of very different
form, are primary compounds of these molecules,—a supposi-
tion which, though professedly conjectural, I regret having so
much insisted on, especially as it may seem connected with the
opinion of the absolute identity of the molecules, from what-
ever source derived.
On this latter subject, the only two points that I endeavour-
ed to ascertain, were their size and figure: and although I was,
upon the whole, inclined to think that in these respects the
molecules were similar from whatever substances obtained, yet
the evidence then adduced in support of the supposition was far
from satisfactory ; and J may add, that I am still less satisfied
now that such is the fact. But even had the uniformity of the
molecules in those two points been absolutely established, it did
49 Mr Brown on Active Molecules.
not necessarily follow, nor have I any where stated, as has been
imputed to me, that they also agree in all their other properties
and functions.
I have remarked, that certain substances, namely, sulphur,
resin, and wax, did not yield active particles, which, however,
proceeded merely from defective manipulation ; for I have since
readily obtained them from all these bodies: at the same time I
ought to notice that their existence in sulphur was previously
mentioned to me by my friend Mr Lister.
In prosecuting the inquiry subsequent to the publication of
my observations, I have chiefly employed the simple micro-
scope mentioned in the pamphlet, as having been made for me
by Mr Dollond, and of which the three lenses that I have gene-
rally used, are of a 40th, 60th, and 70th of an inch focus.
Many of the observations have been repeated and confirmed
with other simple microscopes having lenses of similar powers,
and also with the best achromatic compound microscopes,
either in my own possession, or belonging to my friends.
The result of the inquiry at present essentially agrees with
that which may be collected from my printed account, and may
be here briefly stated in the following terms: namely,
That extremely minute particles of solid matter, whether ob-
tained from organic or inorganic substances, when suspended in
pure water, or in some other aqueous fluids, exhibit motions for
which I am unable to account, and which, from their irregulari-
ty and seeming independence, resemble in a remarkable degree
the less rapid motions of some of the simplest animalcules of
infusions ; that the smallest moving particles observed, and
which I have termed Active Molecules, appear to be spherical
or nearly so, and to be between 1-20,000dth and 1-30,000dth
of an inch in diameter ; and that other particles of considerably
greater and various size, and either of similar or of very dif-
ferent figure, also present analogous motions in like circum-
stances.
I have formerly stated my belief that these motions of the
particles neither arose from currents in the fluid containing them,
nor depended on that intestine motion which may be Ps BREACH
to accompany its evaporation.
These causes of motion, however, either singly or combined
with others,—as, the attractions and repulsions among the par-
Oe
Mr Brown on Active Molecules? 43
ticles themselves, their unstable equilibrium in the fluid in which
they are suspended, their hygrometrical or capillary action, and
in some cases the disengagement of volatile matter, or of minute
air-bubbles,—have been considered by several writers as suffi-
ciently accounting for the appearances. Some of the alleged
causes here stated, with others which I have considered it un-
necessary to mention, are not likely to be overlooked or to de-
ceive observers of any experience in microscopical researches ;
and the insufficiency of the most important of those enumerated,
may, I think, be satisfactorily shown by means of a very simple
experiment. .
This experiment consists in reducing the drop of water con-
taining the particles to microscopic minuteness, and prolonging
its existence by immersing it in a transparent fluid of inferior
specific gravity, with which it is not miscible, and in which eva-
poration is extremely slow. If to almond-oil, which is a fluid
having these properties, a considerably smaller proportion of
water, duly impregnated with particles, be added, and the two
fluids shaken or triturated together, drops of water of various
sizes, from 1-50th to 1-2000dth of an inch in diameter, will be
immediately produced. Of these, the most minute necessarily
contain but few particles, and some may be occasionally obser-
ved with one particle only. In this manner minute drops,
which if exposed to the air would be dissipated in less than a
minute, may be retained for more than an hour. But in all
the drops thus formed and protected, the motion of the particles
takes place with undiminished activity, while the principal causes
assigned for that motion, namely, evaporation, and their mutual
attraction and repulsion, are either materially reduced or abso-
lutely null.
It may here be remarked, that those currents from centre to
circumference, at first hardly perceptible, then more obvious, and
at last very rapid, which constantly exist in drops exposed to the
air, and disturb or entirely evercome the proper motion of the
particles, are wholly prevented in drops of small size immersed
in oil,—a fact which, however, is only apparent in those drops
that are flattened, in consequence of being nearly or absolutely
in contact with the stage of the microscope.
That the motion of the particles is not produced by any cause
acting on the surface of the drop, may be proved by an inver-
44 Mr Brown on Active Molecules.
sion of the experiment; for by mixing a very small proportion
of oil with the water containing the particles, microscopic drops
of oil of extreme minuteness, some of them not exceeding in size
the particles themselves, will be found on the surface of the drop
of water, and nearly or altogether at rest ; while the particles in
the centre or towards the bottom of the drop continue to move
with their usual degree of actwity.
Bymeans of the contrivance now described for reducing the size
and prolonging the existence of the drops containing the par-
ticles, which, simple as it is, did not till very lately occur to me,
a greater command of the subject is obtained, sufficient perhaps
to enable us to ascertain the real cause of the motions in ques-
tion.
Of the few experiments which I have made since this manner of
observing was adopted, some appear to me so curious, that I do
not venture to state them until they are verified by frequent and
careful repetition.
I shall conclude these supplementary remarks to my former
observations, by noticing the degree in which I consider those
observations to have been anticipated.
That molecular was sometimes confounded with animalcular
motion by several of the earlier microscopical observers, appears
extremely probable from various passages in the writings of
Leeuwenhoek, as well as from a remarkable paper by Stephen
Gray, published in the 19th volume of the Philosophical Trans-
actions.
Needham also, and Buffon, with whom the hypothesis of or-
ganic particles originated, seem to have not unfrequently fallen
into the same mistake. And I am inclined to believe that Spal-
lanzani, notwithstanding one of his statements respecting them,
has, under the head of Animaletti d’ultimo ordine, included the
active molecules as well as true animalcules.
I may next mention that Gleichen, the discoverer of the mo-
tions of the particles of the pollen, also observed similar mo-
tions in the particles of the ovulum of zea mays.
Wrisberg and Muller, who adopted in part Buffon’s hypo-
thesis, state the globules, of which they suppose all organic bodies
formed, to be capable of motion ; and Muller.distinguishes these
moving organic globules from real animalcules, with which he
Tl ee A
Mr Brown on Active Molecules. 45
adds, they have been confounded by some very respectable ob-
servers.
In 1814, Dr James Drummond of Belfast, published, in the
7th volume of the Transactions of the Royal Society of Edin-
burgh, a valuable paper, entitled ‘ On certain appearances ob-
served in the Dissection of the Eyes of Fishes.”
In this Essay, which I regret I was entirely unacquainted
with when I printed the account of my observations, the author
gives an account of the very remarkable motions of the spicula
which form the silvery part of the choroid coat of the eyes of
fishes.
These spicula were examined with a simple microscope, and
as opake objects, a strong light being thrown upon the drop of
water in which they were suspended. The appearances are mi-
nutely described, and very ingenious reasoning employed, to show
that, to account for the motions, the least improbable conjecture
is to suppose the spicula animated.
As these bodies were seen by reflected and not by transmit-
ted light, a very correct idea of their actual motions could hardly
be obtained ; and with the low magnifying powers necessarily
employed with the instrument and in the manner described, the
more minute nearly spherical particles or active molecules which,
when higher powers were used, I have always found in abun-
dance along with the spicula, entirely escaped observation.
Dr Drummond’s researches were strictly limited to the spl-
cula of the eyes and scales of fishes ; and as he does not appear
to have suspected that particles having analogous motions might
exist in other organized bodies, and far less in inorganic mat-
ter, I consider myself anticipated by this acute observer only to
the same extent as by Gleichen, and in a much less degree than
by Muller, whose statements have been already alluded to.
All the observers now mentioned have confined themselves to
the examination of the particles of organic bodies. In 1819, how-
ever, Mr Bywater, of Liverpool, published an account of Micro-
scopical Observations, in which it is stated that not only organic
tissues, but also inorganic substances, consist of what he terms
animated or irritable particles.
A second edition of this essay appeared in 1828, probably
altered in some points, but it may be supposed agreeing essen-
46 Mr Brown on Active Molecules.
tially in its statements with the edition of 1819, and which T have
never seen, and of the existence of which I was ignorant when
I published my pamphlet.
From the edition of 1828, which I have but lately met with, it
appears that Mr Bywater employed a compound microscope of
the construction called Culpepper’s, that the object was examined.
in a bright sunshine, and the light from the mirror thrown so
obliquely on the stage as to give a blue colour to the infu-
sion.
The first experiment I here subjoin in his own words :—
“¢ A small portion of flour must be placed on a slip of glass,
and mixed with a drop of water, then instantly applied to the
microscope ; and if stirred and viewed by a bright sun, as already
described, it will appear evidently filled with innumerable small
linear bodies, writhing and twisting about with extreme activity.”
Similar bodies, and equally in motion, were obtained from
animal and vegetable tissues, from vegetable mould, from sand-
stone, after being made red hot, from coal, ashes, and other in-
organic bodies.
I believe that in thus stating the manner in which Mr Bywa-
ter’s experiments were iN I have enabled microscopical
observers to judge of the extent and kind of optical illusion to
which he was liable, and of which he does not seem to have been
aware. I have only to add, that it is not here a question of
priority ; for if his observations are to be depended on, mine
must be entirely set aside.
On the Tripang, or Bicho de Mar, or Sca-Slug of India—the
Holothuria tubulosa of Naturalists. By Cuanves Coiiren,
formerly Staff-Surgeon in Ceylon, now Inspector of Hospitals
in the Mauritius. Communicated by Sir James Macericor.
With a Plate. :
Havine had many opportunities of observing this species,
and thinking that, although its organisation is already known
in a general sense, a complete account of it may be interesting
to naturalists, I submit the following memoir on the subject*.
* A beautiful memoir on the structure of the Holothuria tubulosa by
Tiedemann was published in.1816. Enrr.
¥
¥
:
ie
Mr C, Collier on the Sea-Slug of India. aT
Some advantage is derived from it, as an article of commerce,
in Ceylon ; for, after being dried, it is exported in large quantities
to China*. The animal is found throughout the year on this
coast, attached to rock, or lying on the sand, surrounded by
species of Haliotis, Patella and Lepas, in shallows close to the
shore. Its surface is of a deep black colour, soft and gelatinous
to the feel, and studded over with papillary bodies +, by means
of which, it attaches itself to objects, and probably absorbs the
water, with which its cavity is always more or less distended. Its
length and circumference vary exceedingly ¢, both from age and
rapid but partial contraction. The extremity where the mouth
is situated is flat, compared with the opposite end, where the
anus is, and which is tapering. Through this latter aperture,
the water contained within the sac is thrown with considerable
force. It can withdraw, as M. Lamarck has observed, all its
external organs§ ; and it can, besides, expel through the posterior
opening, or by rupture, through the outer covering, all its inter-
nal organs, leaving the empty sac (as it may be termed) to part,
after a few hours, with the signs of vitality |.
The mouth Qj is strengthened with a calcareous or cartilaginous
* This employment of it has been alluded to by Linnzeus, for he in-
quires: An heec quee, teste Ill. Pailas, siccata, Sinensibus in cibum cedit ?
Syst. Nat. part vi. p. 3139.
+ The apices of these papillary bodies are white, and flattened, or rather
concave and perforated. They resemble, excepting in size, those which are
extended along the branches of the asterias, and described minutely by M.
Cuvier, in his Legons d’Anatomie Comparée, vol. i. p. 407.
+ An individual is sometimes found eighteen inches long. Crawford says,
some of the Tripang or Holothuriz are as much as two feet in length, and
from seven to eight inches in circumference. The length of a span, and the
girth of from two to three inches, however, is the ordinary size. En1r.
§ Les Holothuries sont tres contractiles, elles font rentrer, facilement et
completement, tous leurs organes exterieurs, tels que leurs tentacules, leur
bouche meme, leurs papilles, et leurs tubes aspiratoires. Hist. Nat. des
Anim. sans Vert., vol. iii. p. 73.
1 This expulsion has not, so far as I know, been noticed by authors, but
it follows so uniformly the least violence, or removal for a short period from.
the habitat, that a view of the parts in sitw can very rarely be obtained. It
is noted by Tiedemann.—Eprvr.
4] Linnzeus supposed that, as in the asterias, there was but one opening
for the alimentary canal :—“ Holothuria omnes, maris incolz, per apertu-
ram anteriorem nutrimentum hauriunt et faeces expellunt ; per posteriorem
aquam ingressam ejiciunt.”” Syst. Nat. part vi. p. 3140.
48 Mr C. Collier on the Sea-Slug of India.
serrated ring*, and surrounded by twenty pinnated tentacula (ten-
taculis racemosis, Linn), Connected with and opening intoit are
many small, transparent, oblong bodies, (one of which, always dis-
tended with fluid, is larger than the others) which, in the opinion
of M. Cuvier t, are secretory organs. The alimentary canal {,
and its retaining membrane (mesentere membraneux, Cuv.), have
been already described in the Lecons @ Anatomie Comparée ;
but the term Cloaca §, which has been employed, is applicable,
not to the termination of the intestine, which is smaller than the
rest of the canal, but to the kind of sac, formed by the transverse
membrane, into which the bowel opens.
The vascular system || is so intricate and peculiar, that it is
indeed difficult, even after patient labour, to form a clear and
connected view of its constitution. The following is the result
* M. Cuvier decides, but hastily I think, that this apparatus serves only
as a point of attachment for the longitudinal muscles :—‘* Les Holothuries
ont bien Vouverture de la bouche entourée d’un anneau, formé de dix piecés
demi-osseuses, mais elles servent seulement de point d’apui aux muscles lon-
gitudinaux du corps, et aux tentacules recouvertes par la peau interieure de
la bouche, et ne contenant aucune dent, elles ne servent point a la mastica-
tion. Vol. iii. p. 336.
+ Les Holothuries ont tout autour de leur bouche des sacs oblongs et
aveugles, qui débouchent dans cette cavité, et qui ne peuvent manguer d’y
verser quelque liqueur analogue a la salive. ol. iii. .p. 340.
+ The alimentary canal is of the same caliber, exceedingly delicate in its
texture, about four times the length of the animal, and disposed in three lines
of unequal length ; that is, it descends, returns to the right, erosses, and again
descends to the anus. The tenuity (and consequently apparent unfitness for
their office) of the tunics of the intestine, is found in some testaceous mol-
lusca also, and in those more particularly (as Murex tulipa and sazatilis, and
Trochus niloticus ) which inhabit coarse shells. In the last mentioned species
the parts can seldom, with all care, be displayed without injury, and yet
very rough matter (as coral, and shells comminuted and entire) has tu pass
along them. Fluid is found within the intestine, between portions filled
with solid matter; and this fluid, like that within the cysts, which are ap-
pended to the mouth, appears to be, from taste and appearance, sea-water.
§ L’anus s’ouvre dans le grand cloaque situé a l’arriére du corps, et qui
n’est separé de la cavité de l’'abdomen, que par une valvule. Vol. iv. p. 143.
|| M. Cuvier bears testimony to the difficulty of this branch of the sub-
ject :—“ Je suis contraint d’avouer que, malgré tous mes efforts, je n’ai pu
encore parvenir 4 me faire des ideés certaines, sur l’organization des Echino-
dermes, 4 V’egard du systeme vasculaire.” Vol. iv. p. 414. T have not been
able, I confess, even with the subject before me, to follow this able anato-
mist’s demonstration.
Mr C, Collier on the Sea-Slug: of India. 49
of my investigations. A large vessel can be traced from the
summit of the membranous expansion, close to the entry and
termination of the intestine, to the lung *, and is there seen to
ramify ; and from the lung arise distinct groups of vessels, which
unite into one, and this again immediately divides into many short
branches, like vasa brevia, which pass directly to and encircle
the contiguous intestine ; and it sends one branch upwards,
which may be followed to the mouth, and another downwards,
which is lost on the second line of the intestine. A branch, too,
is sent to the organs, which are, as is supposed, for reproduction.
This would appear to be the distribution from the lung. Now,
the pulmonary vessel is joined, at its origin, by another, which
descends, gradually enlarging, along the floor of the covering,
and by a vessel besides + of extreme tenuity, from off the intes-
tine at the anus, which may be traced enlarging as it recedes
from this point, along the whole course of the canal. This junc-
tion of the three vessels forms a sac between the lamina of the
membranous expansion, and into this sac, if I may trust my dis-
section, the vessels open; but as no impelling power can be de-
tected, the further transmission of the fluid is not apparent.
The nervous system is so obscure, that I confess I know no-
thing about it.
Connected by a vessel with the lung and the intestine, is a large
mass}, constituted by a congeries of long circular worm-like
* The lung is of a reddish-brown hue, and appears like ramifications of
vessels, among very loose cellular fibre, charged with fluid.
+ The course of this vessel may be worth notice. It passes from the
mouth, enlarging to about the centre of the oesophageal or first line of the
canal, and then bifurcates, sending one branch under the lung to the oppv-.
site line of the intestine, which again bifurcates, and then completes the
whole course of the canal ; it empties itself, being, as was observed, of ex-
treme tenuity, at the anus, into the pulmonary vessel. If it be a returning
vein, it is singular that it should be smallest where it joins the apparent ori-
gin of the circulation.
+ The quantity and the form are alike in two individuals found together,
while the colour thus differs. Does this variation depend upon any period
of particular activity of the organ? M. Cuvier considers that as an ovary,
and conjectures that the white filamentous bands have some relation with
male organs:—‘‘ Je crois que ces sont les ovaries de ces animaux: mais on
obgerve aussi, vers leur anus, des filamens blanchatres, nombreux, semblable
OCTOBER—DECEMBER 1829. D
50 Mr C. Collier on the Sea-Slug of India.
bodies, which, in some individuals, are red, and in others greyish
white. And attached to this mass by cohesion, is a loose con-
geries of white, narrow, delicately serrated, filamentous particles,
which are so glutinous as to adhere to objects, and are highly
elastic. Some of these filaments are often seen issuing, as it were,
from the posterior opening ; and they are always first protruded.
In small and apparently young individuals, these parts are
scarcely to be discerned. If these be the sexual organs, the mode
of reproduction and the kind of influence which may be mutual-
ly exercised, seem to be beyond the reach of observation, and te
admit, therefore, of no elucidation.
The covering without is, as has been observed, black, beset
with papilla, and it gives off a slight purple tint, such as that of
Murex Tulipa ; within, it is furnished with delicate transverse
fibres, and broad muscular bands, which are extended from the
posterior extremity, and attached to the gristly circle of the
mouth, or to the summit behind the mouth. A membrane is
extended across the posterior extremity, and beneath it hes the
contracted termination of the intestine ; and within its laminze
commences apparently the system of the circulation.
The Tripang, Sea-Slug, or Holothuria Trade in India. By
the Eprror.
This animal is used very extensively by the Chinese for
culinary purposes. They make of it a very rich and palatable
soup, and dress it in different kinds of stews. There are va-
rious modes of curing it. It is first gutted, and the water
pressed out of it, and then laid in dry lime, called by the na-
tives chunam ; afterwards, according to the circumstances of
the fishing station, dried in the sun, or on stages, by means of
fires of wood under them. It is a most important article of
commerce, and is the most considerable article of the exports of
the Indian islands to China, unless, perhaps, pepper. ‘There
are fisheries, as they are called, of Tripang, in every country of
the Indian Archipelago, from Sumatra to New Guinea. It
& des vers, et formés chacun d’un fil mince, assez elastique, contourné en spi-
rale, et Se laissant dé’rouler. Ces organes auroient ils quelque rapport avec le
sex male?” Vol. v. p. 200. The ovary-like mass weighs, in some indivi-
duals, nearly two ounces. ;
Mr C. Collier on the Sea-Slug of India. 51
has also, within these last few years, been discovered abund-
antly on the coasts of Ceylon and the Isle of France, and is no
doubt general throughout those seas. It has, as we are in-
formed, already been sent from thence to China, where it finds
a ready market; although, from its being unskilfully prepared,
it is classed with the lowest qualities of the riod Sieg. When
the Chinese can be employed in fishing and preparing it, there
is little dowbt that it will ferm an important article in the com-
merce of those countries with China, as it can be got in any
quantities. Judging from the extent and population of China,
and their taste for such articles, where, along with the birds’
nests (a peculiar product of the Archipelago), it forms as indis-
pensable an article of luxury as the tea of China does to this coun-
try, especially among the higher orders, it will not be an easy
matter to glut the market with it.
Being found principally on coral reefs, and never on flat mud
dy shores, the most considerable fisheries are consequently to the
eastward from Celebes te New Guinea and Australasia, where
the form of the land is the most favourable. The animal is
caught on ledges of coral rock, usually at the depth of from
three to five fathoms. The larger kinds, when in shallow water,
are occasionally speared, but the most common mode of taking
them is by diving for them in the manner practised for pearl
oysters, and taking them up with the hands. The most produc-
tive are the fisheries among the Aroe Islands, and those in the
Gulf of Carpentaria, and generally on all the north-west coast of
New Holland. Upwards of forty vessels, of from twenty to fifty
tons, leave Macassar annually for the coast of New Holland,
besides others that go elsewhere in the same trade. A vessel of
twenty tons, manned by twenty-five hands, is considered to be
successful, if she have obtained seven thousand pounds weight of
Tripang. It is, says Crawford, the capital of the Chinese resi-
dent merchants which sets these adventures on foot, as they ad-
vance to the undertakers from two to four hundred Spanish
dollars, according to the extent of their equipment, securing to
themselves the refusal of the cargo.
The holothuriz, as already mentioned, vary in size, but their
quality or value in the market does not depend on size, but up-
3 pa 2
52 Mr C. Collier on the Sea-Slug of India.
on properties which are understood only by those who have had
a long experience of the trade. The Chinese merchants are al-
most the only persons who possess this skill; even the native
fishers themselves, as Crawford remarks, being often ignorant
on the subject, and always leaving the cargo to be assorted by
the Chinese on their return to port. The commercial classifi-
cation made by the Chinese, is curious and particular. In the
market of Macassar, the greatest staple of this fishery, not less
than thirty varieties, are distinguished, varying in price from
five Spanish dollars per picul (picul is 1332 Ibs.) to fourteen
times that price, each being particularized by well-known names.
It is evident from this account, says Crawford, that the Tripang
trade is one in which no stranger can safely embark, and it is
consequently almost entirely in the hands of the Chinese. The
quantity of Tripang sent annually to China from Macassar is
about 7000 piculs, or 8333 cwt. The price in the market of
China varies from eight Spanish dollars per picul, to 20, to 50,
to 75, to 110, and to as high as 115, according to quality.
The whole quantity sent to China from Macassar, and other
parts of India, may be estimated at 14,000 piculs. ‘Taking
this quantity at the low average of 40 dollars a picul, and va-
luing the dollar at 4s. 3d., its entire value, m a commercial
view, is L.119,000. Notwithstanding this enormous export to
China, we do not understand that its value in the market has
ever been materially affected by the quantity imported, an evi-
dent proof that the demand of the market still exceeds the sup-
ply. When we reflect that the opium, pepper, birds’ nests,
sharks’ fins, tripang, and various other articles, the products of the
countries under our controul, which are fully as indispensable to
the Chinese as the teas of China are to Europe, the fear so much
entertained of the Chinese interdicting our trade with that empire
is quite preposterous. In short, these few articles of luxury
give us the command of the Chinese tea market. ‘The celestia}
empire cannot exist without its trrpang and birds’ nests.
( 53 )
Observations on the Ancient Roads of the Peruvians. By Joun
Gituies, M. D. M. W.S., &c. Communicated by the
Author *.
My attention was first directed to these roads in J anuary
1825, when, with the view of examining the celebrated silver
mines of Uspallata, I was induced to pay a visit to the owner
of one of these who was likewise the proprietor of the neighbour-
ing Valley of Uspallata. It being then the hottest season of the
year at Mendoza, his family had removed with him to his resi-
dence in the valley, to enjoy the cool air of the mountains.
Attached to the house were to be seen all the machinery and
other requisites for grinding and amalgamating the silver-ores ;
some people were then employed in reducing the ores which
had been previously collected, the whole being under the super-
intendance of Don Jose Arroyo, a native of Peru, somewhat
advanced in life, and whom I found intimately acquainted with
the topography of his own country, and the customs most pre-
valent among them. He had taken an active part in the revo-
lutionary proceedings in Peru against the dominion of Spain,
and as Peru was still in the hands of the Spaniards, he had
then, like many others of his countrymen, taken refuge in one
of the neighbouring provinces, which had been more fortunate
in their endeavours against the mother country.
While enjoying the hospitality of my friends, I took advan-
tage of the occasion to visit all the most interesting objects
which presented themselves in the neighbouring mountains and
valley, and, among others, at the recommendation of the Peru-
vian already mentioned, was induced to visit the western side
of the valley, at which place there existed, as he had been some
time previously informed, very distinct traces of these ancient
roads, usually known by the name of Camino del Inga, or road
of the Incas, some instances of which he had previously wit-
nessed in Peru ; and the result of my visit was such as gratified
me far beyond my expectations.
On first seeing these roads, I was much surprised at finding
* Read before the Wernerian Natural History Society, December 5. 1829.
f
54 Dr Gilhies’s Observations on
them in such high preservation, that their extent and dimen-
sions could be distinctly traced to a great extent, although there
is every reason to conclude that they have been rarely trodden
on by the foot of the traveller, since the discovery and conquest
of these countries by the Spaniards, now more than 300 years
ago. I cxamined the road in several places, af some distance
from each other, and found it to measure fifteen feet in breadth.
‘The principal preparation which it seemed to have undergone
was that of levelling, and the removal of all impediments, such
as shrubs, large stones, &c.; its surface consisted principally
of the soil, gravel, and small stones, which characterized the
surrounding district, and seemed altogether to constitute a
road sufficient for all the purposes of communication, in a coun-
try where it is so little liable to injury from the elements, and
to a people who made all their journeys on foot, and possessed
no other beasts of burden except the llamas and alpacas, none
of which, it is probable, ever accompanied them to such a dis-
tance from their native country. The circumstance which ap-
peared the most remarkable, was the total absence of every kind
of shrubs from the line of road, unless where it had been crossed
by some occasional mountain torrent, or more permanent water-
course, which, carrying down with it some of the neighbouring
shrubs, had left them there to take root: with this exception,
its surface exhibited no other vegetation, except occasional tufts
of grass, or of some herbaceous plants. Such inconsiderable
encroachments of vegetation, during so long a period of time,
may at first sight appear somewhat extraordinary, yet is easily
accounted for in a climate such as that which characterizes
the Valley of Uspallata, where it seldom rains, and where
scarcely any dew falls; so that there generally does not exist
sufficient moisture to nourish any other than a scanty vegeta-
tion, consisting of some thorny and resinous shrubs, with a few
patches of grass, and other less conspicuous plants. This re-
markable difference in the vegetation of the line of road, and
the surrounding country, renders the former particularly evi-
dent, more especially when viewed from the elevated part of
it, which approaches the base of the mountains, where it is
called La Punta del Cerro Negro, From this situation it may
be twaced, as far as the eye can reach, in one continued line,
the Ancient Roads of the Perwoians. 55
proceeding in the direction, by compass, of north by west. Un-
less where nature has presented almost unsurmountable obstacles
to their doirig so, they seem, in forming these roads, to have
invariably followed the most direct course, disregarding ordi-
nary inequalities in the surface, which might have been avoided
by an inconsiderable detour.
In the subsequent conversations which I had with the Peru-
vian and other travellers on this subject, I ascertained that very
distinct traces of these ancient roads are not only to be seen in
many parts of Peru, but are frequently met with along the line
of the Cordillera, which proceeds from Uspallata to Potosi in
Peru, but only in such places where they have not been effaced
by coming in contact with more modern roads. It may be dis-
tinctly traced from the place where I first examined it, along
the whole extent of the Valley of Uspallata, which is said to
terminate at the river of St John’s (Rio de San Juan), upwards
of 100 miles to the northward. It has also been traced as far to
the southward as the Valley of the Tenuyan, about 34 degrees
of south latitude, where, on the following year, when passing
the Cordillera, by the pass of the Planchon, I made a fruitless
attempt to discover it, none of my guides being sufficiently ac-
quainted with the localities of the valley, to be able to point
it out tome. From this valley, I have not yet been able to
trace its course further south, either personally or by the testi-
mony of others; yet I have little doubt, that, by a careful in-
vestigation, it might be ascertained to continue much farther to
the south. From the Valley of Uspallata it takes rather a cir-
cuitous course to reach the Valley of the Tenuyan: on leaving
La Punta del Cerro Negro, it runs southward, and soon inclines
more to the westward, until, at Los Ranchillos, it leaves the
Valley of Uspallata, and joins with the high road to Chile, which
skirts the northern side of the Rio de Mendoza, as far as La
Punta de las Vacas, passing in this route by Picheuta and Tam-
billos, places whose names are of Indian origin. At the latter
place are still to be seen the ruins of some habitations, supposed
by many to have been used by the Peruvians during their
journeys; but, by others, and perhaps with more probability,
as having been erected to give temporary shelter to the negro
staves, who were formerly carried from Buenos Ayres across
56 Dr Gillies’s Observations on
the mountains, by this road, for the supply of Chile and Peru.
At La Punta de las Vacas, the Incas road again leaves the
high road, and may be traced across the river of Mendoza, and
along the Valley of Topongato, to the foot of the lofty moun-
tain of that name, by which, it passes into the Valley of the
Tenuyan. j
The early Spanish writers on these countries give details re-
specting these royal roads of the Incas; and, among other
things, state, that from Cusco there existed a double line of
these roads, over an extent of about 500 leagues, towards Quito,
the one being made along the plains, at great trouble and ex-
pence, to obviate the difficulties presented by a sandy and loose
soil, and the other along the mountains, in which cases ridges
were levelled and valleys filled up, the latter: being preferred in
summer. ‘These roads were twenty-five feet wide, and, at regu-
lar distances, had palaces, store-houses, and other habitations,
for the use of the officers of the royal house and of the revenue.
From Cusco these roads also proceeded in a southerly direction,
dividing into several branches, one of which passing through
Potosi, was continued by the route now called Camino del Des-
poblado, along the Cordillera of the Andes, belonging to Salta,
La Rioja, San Juan, and Mendoza, the continuation of which
is seen at Uspallata. This branch must have been originally
formed for the purpose of communicating with the Araucanian
Indians, and the other nations inhabiting Chile, and those tribes
which inhabit the country along the eastern side of the Southern
Cordillera of the Andes, and from thence to the Southern At-
Jantic Ocean and Cape Horn, all of whom are of quite a diffe-
rent race, and speak a language very different from the Quichoa,
or language of the Peruvian Indians. The cause why they
seem to have preferred this route to any other, may be suppos-
ed to haye been the greater abundance of water and other con-
veniences for travellers, than along either side of the mountains ;
these, in many places, being very scarce on the eastern side, and
are altogether awanting on the western, where the desert of
Atacama, bounded on the one side by the Pacific Ocean, and on
the other by the Andes, is quite impassable. Besides, the moun-
tain route may be presumed to have been safer, more free from
interruption, and more centrical for the purpose of communica-
:
the Ancient Roads of the Perwoians. 57
tion with the various nations inhabiting both sides of the Andes.
It is evident, from. the size of these roads, and the precision
and care with which they have been formed, that their inter-
course with these nations must have been considerable ; and they
are calculated to convey to us high ideas of the energy and civi-
lization of the Indians of Peru, before they had any knowledge
of European costoms. At the present day, the Peruvian Indians
are so tenacious of the customs and habits of their ancestors,
that they generally prefer travelling on foot to every other mode,
and thus, from constant habit, are capable of performing on foot
very long journeys in a short space of time, without exhaustion,
and with very little nourishment. To this cause may with jus-
tice be ascribed the circumstance of the Spanish officers, during
the late war of independence, having so effectually retained this
part of the new world under the dominion of the mother coun-
try; almost the whole of their infantry was composed of these
Indians, with whom they were able to make such long and ra-
pid marches, as rendered them, in a mountainous country, su-
perior in point of mobility to any other force which could be
brought against them. Some of these Indians, who are called
Cholos by the people to the south, even now occasionally travel
on foot from Peru, along these mountain routes, to visit Chile,
Mendoza, and other places, where they carry on a petty traffic with
gums, and various vegetable products of their own country, and
a few articles of their own manufacture. This mountain route,
in a considerable part of its extent, is also at the present day
frequented by such of the inhabitants of Mendoza and San Juan
as convey troops of mules for sale, and carry brandies and other
articles of produce to Upper Peru, or Bolivia, as it is now called.
This road is considered by them to be the most direct, and pre-
ferable to any other, on account of the plentiful supply of water,
fire-wood, and pasture for their mules; and it is probable that,
in time coming, it will be much frequented for similar purposes,
This route is traversed in various parts of its extent, by a num-
ber of passes across the Cordillera of the Andes, among which,
north of that of Uspallata, may be mentioned, the Pass of Los
Patos, celebrated as the road by which General San: Martin
crossed with his army from Mendoza to Chile before the battle
of Chacabuco. Further to the north are situated the respective
58 Dr Gillies on the Ancient Roads of the Peruvians.
passes which communicate between San Juan and Coquimbo,
and between La Rioja and Copiapo, which latter place is situ-
ated on the southern boundary of the desert of Atacama; and
in that part which is denominated E] Despoblado, it is crossed
by the road which communicates from Salta to the port of Co-
bija, at the northern extremity of the Atacama desert. This
latter place has of late risen to some importance, having, under
the name of El Puerto Lamar, been erected into a free port by
the government of Bolivia, for the introduction of goods into
that country, so as to avoid the heavy transit duties and other
charges to which they are subjected, on passing through the port
of Arica and other parts of the Puertos Intermedios, which be-
long to the Peruvian Republic, or the government of Lower
Peru. This spot, which is the only place where the Republic
of Bolivia communicates with the Pacific Ocean, notwithstand-
ing all the encouragement given to it by an almost entire exemp-
tion from duties, is yet so scantily supplied with water for the
use of man and beast, that it can never become a place of exten-
sive population. ‘
On the Stomach of the Manis pentadactyla of Ceylon. By C.'T.
WauiteErieLp, Esq., Assistant-Surgeon, Royal Artillery.
Communicated by Sir James Macgrigor, Director-General
of the Army Medical Department, &c. &c. With a Plate.
A rew weeks ago, while engaged in the dissection of an indi-
vidual of the Edentated family, Pangolin, “ Manis pentadac-
tyla” (or trivially, Scaly Lizard), I observed, within its stomach,
a cyst, which, as it was filled with a vast number of worms of
the Ascaris genus, I was led to consider as a deviation from
the natural structure of the organ. But having since examined
the stomach of two cther individuals, in which the same features
were found, that conclusion has been necessarily abandoned.
This structure appears to me, from its peculiarities, to deserve
the notice of those engaged in the pursuit of comparative ana-
tomy; and Baron Cuvier having described distinctly, in his
Anatomie Comparée (vol. iii. p. 387.),the form, division, and
pyloric granular structure of this stomach, and yet left unno-
=
=
:
Edina aes
PLATE I.
External Vetw of Stomach of Manis pentadactyla.
Published by.ABlack Edin! 1830.
ppAponpuyuad siunyy Jo
the Manis pentadactyla of Ceylon. 59
ticed the part here more particularly alluded to, I am induced
to offer the following observations on the subject :—
The stomach of the pangolin in situ, differs but little in out-
ward appearance from the stomach of many of the mammalia,
its division into two cavities being scarcely perceptible ; but its
muscular fibres are stronger and more apparent, particularly in
the cardiac portion, and some may be traced readily to the py-
Jorus. When laid open, however, the two cavities are very
evident, and are distinguished, not only by the thickness and
strength of their parietes, but also by their lining membrane.
The membrane of the cardiac portion is rugous, or puckered
into numerous irregular folds ; and the membrane of the pylo-
ric portion resembles the thick coriaceous lining of the gizzard
of the gallinacea. In this part may be observed numerous open-
ings, the excretory ducts of a large granular structure which is
there situated. Between these two portions of the viscus is
situated the peculiar cyst-like structure, the form, exact posi-
tion, and aperture of which may be better understood by a re-
ference to the accompanying Plate I., than by any verbal de-
scription. It is lobulated, and resembles the convolutions of
the cerebrum, covered with the pia mater. It occupies nearly
the centre of the large curvature of the stomach, and projects
into its cavity ; is of an elliptic form, with its long diameter placed
transversely, and is covered by the inner membrane of the
stomach, which is here smooth. In the centre of the side to-
wards the pylorus, is a large opening, leading into a cavity, and
thence into several chambers, which are constituted by the lobe-
like structure I have described. The margin of this opening
is studded with follicular glands, which are continued in a chain
towards the pylorus; and the inner surface is highly vascular,
and secretes a ropy mucous fluid.
Insects, particularly ants, form the principal food of the pan-
golin, and of many others of the edentated family, and for ob-
taining these, its long and delicate tongue, for penetrating into
small cavities, seems to be well adapted. But it may be as
sumed, that insects are not its only food, and that there is
strength and provision as great as with the gallinacea, for tritura-
ting and digesting grain or roots, and the very strong and talon.
like nails (well adapted for turning up the earth), with which
60 Mr Spittal’s Repetition of Dutrochet’s Experiments
the fore-feet are furnished, would seem to favour the conclu-
sion.
Within the stomach there was a quantity of sand, gravel,
and small pebbles, but there were no traces of food. In one
instance, within the lobulated body, there was, as I have already
noticed, a vast number of living ascarides; but, in a second
instance, a few only were found, and in a third there were
many. Are these worms taken in from without, or are they
generated within the viscus? If generated there, do they find
a retreat within the chambers of the central cavity, during the
early and triturating process of digestion ?
Repetition of M. Dutrochet’s Experiments on the Mimosa
pudica. By Rosert Srrrrat, Esq. one of the Presidents of
the Plinian Natural History Society.
As I have not observed any notice of M. Dutrochet’s experi-
ments on the Mimosa pudica having been repeated in this
country, perhaps the following communication, containing an
account of some of these which I performed during the summer
of 1828, and. again during the summer of 1829, may not be
altogether uninteresting.
'To give an idea of the opinion of this philosopher on the
structure and functions of the sensitive plant, I shall, before de-
scribing the corroborative experiments, present, in a few words,
a general view of those points which most concern the present
topic, that what follows may be the better understood.
After much research, M. Dutrochet concludes that the Mi-
mosa pudica possesses the elements of a diffused nervous system,
more especially developed in the leaves and bourrelets situated
at the base of the petioles. This nervous apparatus, he ob-
serves, is seen on the walls of the cells and tubes of the plant, in
the form of small semitransparent globular and linear bodies,
which become opaque from the action of acids, and transparent
from that of alkalies. He believes that all the motions of the
sensitive plant are spontaneous, or depend on an internal princi-
ple, which receives the impressions of external agents, and that
the nervous apparatus mentioned conveys those impressions, or
is the seat of what he terms nervimotility.
~ on the. Mimosa pudica. 61
To prove, then, that impressions made at one part of the plant
are conveyed to other parts, following M. Dutrochet, I concen-
trated the rays of light by means of a lens on one of the extreme
leafets, and found that immediately afterwards this leaflet, with
its fellow on the opposite side, closed; and that the impression was
conveyed down the petiole was evident, from the leaflets below
closing in succession downwards ; then the leaflets of the second-
ary petioles on each side closed from below upwards, or towards
the extremity of the leaf; shewing whence the impression came,
and its course. Much about the same time, the secondary peti-
oles supporting the leaflets approached each other in a lateral
direction ; then the primary petiole bent itself down towards the
ground. Sometimes this was all that happened, and occasionally
the impression did not go so far; but generally when the sun-
shine was bright, it was conveyed to the other leaves of the plant,
for the most part to those above and below first, then to the
next in vicinity ; sometimes, however, the impression was mani-
fested first in those leaves at a considerable distance from that
on which the stimulus was applied ; the first effect on which was
the bending of the petiole towards the ground, the next the ap-
proaching of the secondary petioles, and, lastly, or about the
same time, the closing of the leaflets in pairs, in each of the
secondary petioles, from the base towards the extremity of the
leaf; the motion being reversed in regard to that in the leaf
stimulated. Such, then, were the general effects of the concentra-
tion of the sun’s rays and other stimuli on the leaves of the
sensitive plant. The Mimosa pudica, however, frequently closes
all its leaves in the bright sunshine, the primary petiole being
then, as far as I have observed, generally in an erect position,
the leaflets and secondary petioles only being flexed; the same
happens at night, with considerable flexion of the primary
petiole ; also in cold weather, and on the application of many
stimuli. I remember several years ago, being very much asto-
nished at the effect produced by cold water on the Mimosa pudica.
During bright sunshine, I poured a quantity of cold water imto
a plat in which the flower-pot, containing the plant, was standing;
immediately after which, the leaves rapidly flexed themselves to-
wards the ground ; the secondary petioles and then the leaflets
closed.. That it was by the roots that the impression was con-
62 Mr Spittal’s Repetition of Dutrochet’s Experiments
veyed was evident, from the effects manifesting themselves at
the lower part of the stem first, and proceeding progressively:
upwards. I have tried other stimuli, such as caustic and a
heated iron-wire, which perhaps answers best. It is more con-
venient in experimenting, for it may be had at any time, which
cannot be said of the bright sunshine, more especially in this
country, and does not destroy the leaves like caustic, it not being
necessary to touch, nor even to apply it so near as to scorch them;
it also appeared to me to act more certainly than any other sti-
mulus in causing the flexion of the leaves, and its impressions
seemed to be generally conveyed further than those of any
other. After the application of these stimuli, the leaves became
erect, but not for a considerable time, longer or shorter, aecord-
ing to the state of the atmosphere, which appears to have great
influence on their action, this beimg always m most perfection
during warm moist weather, and bright sunshine. The leaves,
on becoming erect, I have always found as sensitive as before
the application of the stimuli mentioned, but Professor Graham
has found that this property is completely destroyed, for a much
longer period, by the application of the vapour of hydrocyanie
acid to the leaves of the plant, than after other stimuli.
The part of the plant which conveys these impressions, M.
Dutrochet believes to be situated in the woody fibres alone. I
have not repeated all his experiments to prove this, having been
unable to procure plants sufficiently large for the purpose, but
I performed one, and that in the following way: I removed all
the cellular structure composing the external part of the bour-
relet, and left only the small bundle of woody fibres in the
centre, having previously supported the leaf so treated, with a
glass rod. On applying the heated iron-wire or lensto the leaf, af-
ter this operation, the impression was conveyed to the other
parts of the plant, and the usual consequences of such an applica-
tion took place, apparently little, if at all, impaired in intensity.
M. Dutrochet, in another experiment, reversed that just de-
scribed ; that is, he removed the central bundle of vessels, and
left only the external cellular part of the bourrelet, after which
he found, on applying similar stimuli, that these impressions
were not all conveyed ; but this experiment I have not repeat-
ed: it is a very delicate one, and can only be done in large
plants.
on the Mimosa pudica. 63
The next experiments are concerning the organs of motion
in the sensitive plant,—as to the kind of motion, it is by what
M. Dutrochet terms incurvation,—the meaning of which will easi-
ly be understood by the following experiments, which I have re-
peated, tending to prove what part of the sensitive plant it is
which possesses this power. He states that the moving power
of that plant is situated at the basis of the primary petioles, the
secondary petioles, and also at the basis of each of the leaflets.
This organ of motion then, which he terms a bowrrelet, is the
little oblong swelling situated at the different places mentioned.
To prove that it does possess the powers attributed to it by M.
Dutrochet, following him, I removed the whole of the cellular
substance of the bourrelet at the base of a primary petiole, leav-
ing merely the central bundle of vessels: it was not every leaf
which could supportitself after this operation, but afew did so, and
the better after the removal of a portion of the leaf, so as to les-
sen its weight ; and it was impossible to excite any motion in the
primary petioles of such afterwards, although otherwise the leaf
appeared quite healthy, and motion was excited as usual in the
other bourrelets. This then proves, that the bourrelet is the or-
gan of motion; and the next question is, How do the flexion
and extension of the leaves take place? This is solved by the
following experiments :—
I removed the upper half of the bourrelet at the base of one
of the primary petioles, with a sharp knife ; immediately after
this, the leaf, instead of flexing itself towards the earth, which
was always the, case with those leaves in which the bourrelet
was uncut, after the same extent of agitation which necessarily
arises during the performance of the operation, remained for a
time in the same position in which the leaf happened to be
when this was performed, but soon began to move gradually
upwards, and there it remained stationary while the plant was
sufficiently supplied with water; for this, as M. Dutrochet re-
marks, has a great effect on the motion, which is supposed by
him to occur, in consequence of an afflux of fluid to the one or
other side of the bourrelet, according to circumstances. The
application of a drop of water to the cut surface, in general
caused a rapid movement of the leaf upwards, and to a greater
extent than usual ; and no agitation or stimulus short of such as
64 Mr Spittal on the Mimosa pudica.
destroyed its. vitality, could cause the leaf, after this opera-
tion, to flex itself towards the ground. ‘This experiment, then,
proves that the portion of the bourrelet which raises the leaf, is
not the upper half, but that it is forced up by the action of the
lower half alone.
To shew the action of the upper, I removed the lower half
of the bourrelet in the same manner as formerly mentioned, con-
cerning the upper, immediately after which, the leaf bent itself
towards the ground, and there it remained, and never rose again,
although otherwise quite natural. The descent was always more ra-
pid after this operation than the ascent of the leaves after the re-
moval of the upper half of the bourrelet, as in the former ex-
periment ; and this no doubt is caused by the assistance which
gravity gives to the force downwards; but it is manifest that
there is a force pushing downwards, for, on simply inverting the
flower-pot containing the plant carefully, the leaves operated on
will be found to beonly slightly raised from the earth, the effect of
gravity beinginsuchacasereversed. 'Thisexperiment, then, proves
that the lower part of the bourrelet does not cause the descent of
the leat, but that this is confined to the upper half alone, the mo-
tion being caused by incurvation downwards, as the contrary is pro-
duced by incurvation upwards, in consequence of the occasicn-
al turgescence of these parts, excited by the stimuli mention-
ed. After these operations the leaves remained in a healthy con-
dition for a considerable time, generally for many days, but
were rendered less able to bear the heat of the mid-day sun.
The leaves of the Mimosa pudica, like the leaves of most
plants, turn themselves towards the light, and this is effected in
theplant under consideration by the action of the bourrelet, which
possesses a lateral incurvation toa slight extent ; and in remov-
ing the upper or under portions of the bourrelet, in the experi-
ments described, if the incision happened to be a little to either
side, the leaves were invariably twisted upwards or downwards,
and to one or other side of the stem.
Such, then, are repetitions of a few of the experiments of M.
Dutrochet, on this very interesting plant, and the conclusions to
which they lead are quite in unison with those of the author
himself. There are many more however, just as interesting,
which at some future opportunity I propose to consider.
Additional Remarks on the Climate of the Arctic Regions, in
Answer to Mr Conypeare. By the Rev. Jonn Fiemine,
D.D. F.R.S.E. (Communicated by the Author.)
Tue remarks which I communicated in the April number of
this Journal, ‘ On the value of the Evidence from the Animal
Kingdom, tending to prove that the Arctic Regions formerly en-
joyed a milder Climate than at present,” were not intended to of-
fend any class of readers, and did not seem likely to provoke any
angry discussion. My surprise was therefore considerable, when
I found, in the following Number of the Journal, an “ Answer”
to my paper, by the Rev. Mr Conybeare, in which the author
has betrayed a degree of irritation incomprehensible in the pecu-
liar circumstances of the case, and has exhibited such a want of
accurate information, sound judgment, and good taste, as to re-
call the character which Martin Lister gave of certain geologists
in his day: —‘* It is to be observed (says he) where men are
most in the dark, there impudence reigns most: they are not
content fairly to dissent, but to insult every body else.” Indeed
the whole character of the paper differed so much from the esti-
mate I had previously formed of Mr Conybeare’s attainments,
that I was disposed to indulge the hope that he would, upon due
consideration, do himself justice by voluntarily avowing the mis-
takes into which he had been betrayed. His silence, however,
has left me no other course to pursue, than the painful one of
exhibiting him to the readers of this Journal in a light which
will probably fill their minds with surprise, and perhaps his own
with mortification.
In the paper which has given rise to this discussion, I at-
tempted to point out the value of Analogy as an instrument of
research in Natural History, and the danger arising to geolog
in particular, from confounding the terms genus and species.
The important question which I proposed to solve, was thus
stated :—‘* Supposing ourselves acquainted with the habits and
distribution of one species of a genus, can we predicate, with any
degree of safety, concerning the habits and distribution of the
other species with which it is generically connected ?” In order
to proceed with due caution, I investigated the three following
conditions :—“ 1. If two animals resemble each other in struc-
OCTOBER—DECEMBER 1829. E
66 Dr Fleming on the Climate of the Arctic Regions,
ture, will their habits be similar? 2. If two animals resemble
each other in external appearance, will their habits be similar ?
3. If two animals resemble each other m form and structure, will
their physical and geographical distribution be similar?” The
numerous facts which were produced under each of these heads,
justified the reply in the negative. When I read the title of Mr
Conybeare’s paper, “‘ Answer,” &c. I was at first struck with the
boldness of the attempt to outargue demonstration, and did ex-
pect that he would have ventured on the examination of the dif-
ferent points I had discussed, and have endeavoured either to dis-
prove my facts, or to combat the soundness of the conclusions
which I had drawn from them. I regret to find, however, that
it did not suit the tactics of my opponent to pursue so straight
a course. He seems to have been aware of the impregnable
nature of the positions which I had taken up, and wisely kept
at a distance, resolved, however, to practise a little desultory
skirmishing, to convince his friends that his spirit is not wholly
subdued. 'To soothe his feelings, by giving him employment,
I shall put a few light troops in the pursuit, ordering them to
trace every step he has taken ; fight him wherever he pleases to
make a stand; and, should he offer to surrender, to give him
honourable terms, not on account of his dignified conduct since
the commencement of the campaign, but in consideration of his
former good character, and the efforts he has made to restore the
Eualio Sauri; but, above all, his connection with our esteemed
ally, ‘“« The Geology of England and Wales.”
The first paragraph of the “ Answer,” begins with what Mr
Conybeare probably imagined I would value as a compliment,
and ends with a sentence intended for condemnation. In natural
history, I am styled “ a diligent and meritorious compiler ;”
while, in geology, my “ information is evidently extremely h-
mited.”
Falsus honor juvat, et mendax infamia terret,
Quem, nisi mendosum et mendacem.
With the value or extent of my compilations from the works of
naturalists, or from the book of Nature, Mr Conybeare is in igno-
rance, as the sequel will demonstrate ; and he is in the same state
with regard to my geological labours, or the extent of my collec-
tion of organic remains. Is it not probable that an individual who
permits himself to praise or to censure an author whose works he
in Answer to Mr Conybeare. 67
has never read, may be equally dogmatical in reference to things
he has not studied ? I am censured, at the same time, for pre-
suming to differ from Baron Cuvier, and from all the most emi-
nent names in geological research. I did not expect that my
right to judge would have been called in question. When the
page of Nature is accessible to me, I value the lesson which
it yields; and, when backed by such authority, I dare to call
nonsense by its true name, even when uttered by a Cuvier or a
Conybeare.
My opponent feels himself obliged by the ** interests of scien-
tific truth,” to object to my “ estimate of the value of the evi-
dence derived from the Animal Kingdom, as to the former tem-
perature of the northern regions, as altogether insufficient and
superficial.” Doubtless it was unnecessary, on the part of Mr
Conybeare, to have replied to such a paper, if the author had
no authority, and his statements no weight ; and still less neces-
sary to make the reply as lengthened as the original, if all he
had to destroy was “ superficial.” It seems, however, that this
character attaches to my remarks, because I had been too much
under the influence of the inductive philosophy. I had, it would
appear, tried the value of the standard, in the first place, by a
number of particulars with which T was acquainted, and which
injured its value, when I ought to have asswmed the standard as
correct, and thereby been enabled to degrade my opposing facts
to the rank of trifling exceptions. I was so much occupied, it
seems, in the examination of the particulars of the argument,
that I became insensible to the value of its cumulative character.
But my object was to prove that the particulars in this cumu-
lative argument were of no value, because different species were
assumed as identical in distribution, when we only knew that
they resembled each other generally in structure. Now,-it is
this general resemblance in structure which has induced Mr
Conybeare to conclude that all the analogies invariably lean one
way,—all point to the “ products of warmer climates as the only
beings with which the tenants of our strata hold affinity.” Mr
Conybeare (as well as many other geologists of reputation who
have not attended to the first principles of zoology) does not
seem to be aware of the origin of this affinity, the character
of which, on this account, it seems necessary to state in this
E2
68 Dr Fleming on the Climate of the Arctic Regions.
place, however briefly. There are more species of animals in
tropical than in arctic countries, and better collections of spe-
cimens of these in our public establishments. Whenever, there-
fore, we attempt to trace the resemblance of a new, recent, or
extinct animal to those which have been identified, we may
expect to find analogous forms most readily where the species
and the specimens are most numerous. All this leaning one way
may point out generical affinity, but, in reference to the point
at issue, the physical distribution of species, it offers no assistance
whatever. My views “ of the doctrine of chances,” therefore,
do not probably differ much from those of my opponent, who
does not seem to be aware that he throws with loaded dice, and
that the ‘* cumulative” evidence which is cast up, though highly
useful to the systematical zoologist, has hitherto betrayed the
unsuspecting geologist into error.
I am at a loss to comprehend in what way Mr Conybeare
has any right to censure me, on account of the difference of
my “ geological notions, from the speculations of Professor
Buckland.” I am not aware of any remarkable difference in
geological opinion betwixt us, with the exception of the ‘ di-
luvian hypothesis.” The views of Cuvier, on this subject, I
have always considered as erroneous, and I did regret that so
acute and energetic a geologist as Professor Buckland should
‘have been deceived by them. The learned Professor’s zeal for
a favourite vision, led him to provoke me to a reply in the 28th
Number of the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, April 1826,—
a reply which my friends assure me gave the death-blow to the
diluvian hypothesis. Certain at least it is, that, since that time,
with the exception of a very few individuals who may still be
found on stilts, amidst the “ retiring waters,” the opponents
of the hypothesis have become as numerous as were formerly its
supporters, and the period is probably not far distant, when the
“ Reliquiz diluvianze” of the Oxonian geologist will be quoted
as an example of the zdola specus.
When we examine any genus of animals or plants, we find
the species differing more or less in habit. Whatever species
we assume as the type, the others will be found varying more
or less in form, and in their relation to heat and moisture. If
we consider the typical species as limited to a certain isothermal
line, others will be found departing therefrom; and in many
Dr Fleming on the Climate of the Arctic Regions. 69
groups will be found species linked together by external resem-
blance, yet widely separated by geographical distribution. In
every genus, whether limited or extensive, there is a leaning
this way, (even in the Palms, to which Mr Conybeare rather
incautiously alludes), though this cumulative evidence has been
strangely overlooked. These plain truths, familiar to every one
in the least degree acquainted with the laws which regulate the
distribution of animals, constitute the foundation of my argu-
ment, though it has been unaccountably perverted by my oppo-
nent. He exhibits me as stating that, “‘ because some genera are
not limited, therefore no genera are so limited,” or * because,
in certain widely diffused genera you cannot argue from the ha-
bits of some of the congenerous species, to the rest, therefore
you cannot argue thus in any genera whatsoever.” Now, such
views of the subject never entered into my mind ; and most cer-
tainly I was never guilty of sending such nonsense-to the press.
The reader will search in vain for it in my paper of April last.
It has been said, that, “‘ when a man has the framing both of
his own argument and that of his antagonist, he must be a
very unskilful logician if he do not come off with advantage.”
But though the “ narrow system of Oxford logic,” in which
my opponent states that he has ‘* unfortunately been trained,”
may have dictated to him such a mode of proceeding, com-
mon candour should have exercised a counteracting influence ;
and common prudence should have restrained him from putting
on record such a proof of his limited acquaintance with the in-
fluence of climate as the following, in which, by a singular mis-
take, he attributes the habits of the individuals of a species, to
the species of a genus: “ Nature has limited by the laws of
climate, not only species but genera ;” “ so that although some
stray species may be found beyond the general limits, yet these
are very rare, and always attest, by their dwarf size, how un-
congenial is their habitation.”
Before proceeding to the consideration of what Mr Conybeare
supposes to be the proofs of the accuracy of his views, I may
notice the censure he passes on my “ philosophical boldness,”
because I ventured to state that Cuvier had boasted too confi-
dently of analogy as a guide ; and, because I quoted the re-
semblance of the sheep and the sow, in the general form of their
feet, while a great difference existed in the digestive organs.
70 Dr Fleming on the Climate of the Arctic Regions.
Mr Conybeare should have compared the feet of the two spe-
cies before he ventured to write on the subject. I might, have
quoted several other, examples, from the same source, but I
shall at present only supply one other. .Cuvier has declared’
that “ the smallest articulating surface of bone, or the smallest
apophysis, has a determinate character, relative to the class, the
order, the genus, and the species to which it belonged ;_ inso-
much, that when one possesses. merely a well preserved extre-
mity of a bone, he can, by careful examination, and the aid of
a tolerable analogical knowledge, and of accurate comparison,
determine all these things with as much certainty as if he had
the entire animal. before him.” Yet in spite of this piece of
silly gasconading, the learned anatomist is forced to admit, in
reference to the fossil bones of the genus Horse, ‘“‘ It is not pos-
sible to say whether it, was one of the, species now existing or
not, because the skeletons of these species are so like each other,
that they cannot be distinguished by the mere comparison of
isolated fragments.” Analogy is thus at fault; for surely re-
markable differences prevail in the external appearance, habits,
and distribution of the Zebra, the Ass, and the Horse.
We admire the boldness with which Mr Conybeare ventures
to proceed from generals to particulars ; and he commences by
displaying the extent of his knowledge regarding the distribu-
tion of the Lamelliferous Polyparia, constituting the genus Ma-
drepora of Linnzus. After all his researches, he has discover-
ed that a single species lives in the seas of Norway, and he tri-
umphantly exhibits this “ solitary tenant of colder seas,” in
contrast with the “* hundreds of species inhabiting warm la-
titudes.” (‘There is a considerable numerical exaggeration here,
which I leave to its author to correct.) In a note to this
paragraph, he adds, that an English Caryophyllea had been
described by Mr Broderip, in the Zoological Journal for April
1828. Mr Broderip, it is true, imagined that “ the hard
parts of this indigenous species do not appear to have been
any where described ;” but had Mr Conybeare been acquaint-
ed with the history of British zoophytes, he might have
corrected this mistake, by pointing out that I myself had pub-
lished (in the 2d volume of the Wernerian Society’s Memoirs)
a description of the same species, fourteen years previous to
April 1828 ; and I may add, that Dr Leach saw my specimens
Dr Fleming on the Climate of the Arctic Regions. T1.
so early as }812. Personally unacquainted, apparently, with
the physical distribution of the Lamelliferous Polyparia, Mr
Conybeare endeavoured to gain the requisite information, by a
process which indicated his incompetency for the task. In or-
der to ascertain the number of species, he consulted Lamarck’s
Catalogue, (Histoire Naturelle des Animaux sans Vertébres, we
presume), which is not offered as complete, nay, where the au-
thor expressly says, “ J’ai cite d’un premier jet et presque sans re-
cherches, sous chaque genre, tantot un petit nombre d’espéces,
tant6t un nombre beaucoup plus grand.” In ordinary circum-
stances, any zoologist wishing to ascertain the ‘productions of
the northern regions, would have consulted those authors in
whose writings the species have been deseribed, instead of a con-
fessedly imperfect compiler. Mr Conybeare must surely have
heard of the ‘* Systema Naturz” of Linnzeus, where the Ma-
DREPORA ramea is recorded as a native of Norway, as well as
prolifera. If he could not have obtained a sight of the ‘ Sys-
tema,” he might have consulted the ‘* Elenchus Zoophytorum”
of Pallas, and he would have found similar notices. But he
should not have contented himself with even such compilations,
** Lubuit enim imtegros adire fontes, atque haurire.” In the
** Prodromus Zoologiz Danice” of Miller, he would have found
notices of the following as northern species, M. interstincta, da-
micornis, muricata, prolifera, virginea, ramea. In the Fauna ;
Greenlandica of Fabricius, M. damicornis and parasitica are re-
corded. Had he even imposed on himself the less irksome task
of ascertaining the number of British Species, and ever opened
my ‘ British Animals,” he would have found three species in-
dicated as natives of our own seas, (p: 598). He would thus
have discovered nine species inhabiting the colder seas, instead
of his “ solitary tenant,” and saved himself the pain of owning
his connexion with the following flippant remarks: “ How will
Dr Fleming account for the gradual disappearance of this family
in our latitudes ? Why does a page of our natural history, once
so rich, now present a total blank ?”
I have thus redeemed a pledge given at the beginning of this
paper, that Mr Conybeare lauded me as a compiler, when he had
not at all examined my alleged compilations; and I may now add,
that he appears to have been unacquainted with the animals
3
72 Dr Fleming on the Climate of the Arctic Regions.
about which he was speculating, and even with the authors by
whom they have been described.
Mr Conybeare next passes on to the Crinoidea. There is a
large species, a native of the West Indian seas, and a species
inhabiting our own seas, so minute (surely he has never seen
Thompson’s figure or description !) ‘ that it cannot be ascer-
tained to belong to the family at all, without a powerful lens.”
All the fossil species are large, and hence the analogy he sup-
poses is in his favour. But Mr Conybeare should have been
aware, since the discovery of the Encrinus Milleri of that in-
defatigable zoologist the Rev. Lansdown Guilding, that there
is a small species as well as a large one in the Caribbzean seas,
and that in consequence of the facts ascertained by Thompson
and Guilding, the Pentacrinus and Comatula must be united
in one group, a circumstance which the frontispiece of Miller’s
Crinoidea might have intimated; and he may, at the same time,
be informed, that a large and well developed species of the lat-
ter is now before me from North Lat. 73°.
My opponent very prudently passes over the bivalve and
unchambered univalve shells, and makes a stand under the pro-
tection of the Nautilide. ‘ The few existing species of this
class (he says) are confined to warm latitudes.” Where did he
learn this dogma, uttered with so much complacency? In
Turton’s Conchological Dictionary there are 24 species, and in
my “ British Animals” 39 species of the class, enumerated as
natives of our own seas! ‘ Turpe est in patria vivere et pa-
triam nescire.”
Having hitherto conducted the chace in a more rapid man-
ner than was probably suitable to the resources of the pursued,
- we shall slacken our pace for a few moments while we discuss
the merits of his arguments derived from Reptiles. Of the Cro-
codilide, he says, “* This family actually includes many species,
and is exclusively limited to warm latitudes.” Some of the
species are certainly natives of warm latitudes, but there is here
a leaning observable in some species towards colder regions.
The crocodile of the Nile can surely bear a greater degree of
cold than the one which inhabits Senegal, though probably less
than the caiman of the Mississippi, for, according to Cuvier,
** cette espéce va assez loin au nord ; elle remonte le Mississippi
jusqu’ a la Riviere Rouge. M. Dunbar et le Docteur Hunter
ene
ich 1 el
GEOGNOSTICAL SKETCH OF ROME - wat ___ Fin? new Phit Sour Vol. Spi
5,
PLATE H.
(Wart Marine
[J Sandetone
)Granuter tagu \Veleanie
hetdal Tagyu
Firmation
Formation
Sandy Mart & Clay | Fechwater
= A : \Zirmation
GB Fisecntine
Porta
Tiburlina
Porta Castelle
Vaeptiee
Pincius near to the Porta del Popolo
Dr Fleming on the Climate of the Arctic Regions. 73
en ont rencontré un individu par le 32° et demi de latitude nord,
quoiqu’on fut au mois de Decembre, et que la saiscn fut assez
rigoureuse.” If, then, we have an existing species capable of
living in a temperate river, where is the foundation of the claim
of the extinct species to be regarded as exclusively the inhabi-
tants of warm latitudes? The geographical positions of their
remains may be considered as an index of the physical distribu-
tion of the species.
* The existing Chelonians,” says Mr Conybeare, “ with a few
minute exceptions, are all confined to warm latitudes.” He
ought to have enumerated these minute exceptions, stated the
number of species natives of Europe, and the different stragglers
which have visited the British shores, aye, the Ultima Thule ;
and we have no doubt that his pen would never have recorded
the passage now quoted.
Mr Conybeare gives “ a list of the animal genera actually li-
mited exclusively to warm latitudes, but occurring fossil in this
country.” He admits that certain genera afford no indications
as to temperature whatever, and affects to overlook. the value
of the evidence which they furnish in determining the laws of
physical distribution. But to what extent will his selected ani-
mal genera aid him? His first example is the Elephant. This
genus is at present confined to warm latitudes; therefore he sup-
poses every fossil species must have flourished in a warm lati-
tude. It is not my intention to repeat the arguments already
advanced, to prove the falsity of this conclusion, for the scanti-
ness of Mr Conybeare’s zoological attainments prevents him
from comprehending their value. But I will introduce him to
Baron Cuvier (whom he has designated “ the first philosophical
authority,” but whose writings he does not appear to have exa-
mined), who will tell him, in the first volume of his incompa-
rable work ** Recherches sur les Ossemens Fossiles,” that the
extinct elephant or mammoth was not a dwarf ; that it had a co-
vering suited to a cold climate, (p. 197); that it possibly could
support a temperature too low for the existence of Indian species ;
that it is even probable that it was so constituted as to prefer a
cold climate, (p. 200) ; nay, so satisfied is Baron Cuvier of the
visionary nature of the views entertained by the school to which
Mr Conybeare belongs, that he says, “ Ainsi toutes les hypo-
theses Pun refroidissement graduel de la terre ou @une varia-
74 On a peculiar Noise at Nakuh, on Mount Sinai.
tion lente, soit dans Vinclination, soit dans la position de laxe
du globe, tombent @elles-mémes, (p. 203, see also p. 88).
Mr Conybeare closes his paper with the following passage :
« J will also add, that the bones of Cetacea, which might at first
sight seem to indicate a cold ocean, either belong to species re-
sembling those of the Mediterranean (the Rorqual), or to ex-
tinct genera (the Ziphius), or are considered by Cuvier as
doubtful.” So far, however, is this state of thecase from be-
ing a correct one, that Baron Cuvier has enumerated ten fossil
species : one is like a species native of the Ganges, a second has
no close affinity with any known species, while the remaining
eight bear a resemblance to the species at present natives of the
British seas! Some of the species referred to by Cuvier as
analogous, the Narwal, for example, are not likely, in our day
at least, to dwell in the Mediterranean, even under the protec-
tion of my opponent.
I have thus replied to Mr Conybeare’s paper, when proba-
bly I might have been employing myself otherwise to greater
advantage. But the interests of truth seemed to require of me
to point out the vast difference between confident assertion and
the deductions of science ; and to attempt to convince my oppo-
nent that the physical distribution of animals is ‘* a subject (to
reply in his own terms) in which his own information is evident-
ly extremely limited ; and yet one without an intimate acquaint-
ance with which, it is impossible to conduct to a satisfactory
conclusion the discussions upon which he has chosen to enter.”
On a peculiar Noise heard at Nakuh, on Mount Sinai.
[x is known from the reports of travellers, that a low sandstone
hill, which runs along the east coast of the bay of Suez, about
three hours from Tor in Sinai, gives rise to a remarkable
phenomenon. Here, where the ridge is about 150 feet high,
there is a steep acclivity named Nakuh, facing the coast, from
which there is heard to proceed a striking and very penetra-
ting noise. Seetzen, who, in the year 1810, first noticed this
circumstance, says that at: first it somewhat resembles the tone
of an CEolian harp, afterwards that of a hollow top, and lastly
was so loud that the earth seemed to shake. To the imagina-
On a Peculiar Noise at Nakuh, on Mount Sinai. "5
tion of the Arabians, it resembles the tones of El Nakuh, a
long board, suspended in a horizontal position in the Greek
monasteries, and there used instead of a bell, a mode of calling
together the devout now nearly prohibited: hence also pro-
bably the tale that a monastery is concealed in the hill.
Seetzen, although he has not attempted a full explanation
of this sound, maintains that it 1s produced by the grating
of the coarse dry sand along the surface of the rock. This
very obvious explanation does not appear to have been consi-
dered satisfactory, for we find an English traveller, Mr Gray,
who visited this place in 1818, of another opinion, He consi-
ders the grating of the sand not as the cause, but as an effect, of
the sound, and maintains, in common with some other travel-
lers, that the sound must, from the existence of hot-springs, viz.
those of Hamam Faraulm, in the neighbourhood, be of volcanic
origin, although he can give no other reason for this opinion.
It is certainly not easy, and probably without experiment
not possible, to shew how the rolling or sliding of sand down
an inclined plane, could produce the remarkable noise heard at
Nakuh. Notwithstanding this, the opinion of Seetzen has been
confirmed by Professor Ehrenberg, who, in the year 1893, also
visited this remarkable place. He ascended from the base of
the hill, over its cover of sand, to the summit, where he ob-
served the sand continually renewed by the weathering of the
rock ; and convinced himself that the motion of the sand was
the cause of the sound. Every step he and his companion
took caused a partial sound, occasioned by the sand thus set in
motion, and differmg only in continuance and intensity from
that heard afterwards, when the continued ascent had set loose
a greater quantity of sand. Beginning with a soft rustling, it
passed gradually into a murmuring, then into a humming noise,
and at length into a threatening, of such violence, that it could
only be compared with a distant cannonade, had it been more
continued and uniform. As the sand gradually settled again,
the noise also gradually ceased. From the account of Seetzen,
it is also known that this noise is often heard when animals run
across the sand; also when the wind blows violently, or when
loose masses of rock set the sand in motion.
The sand of Nakuh is rather coarse granular, and composed
of fragments of transparent quartz.
TB)», )
On the Constitution of the Territory of Rome, with some Gene-
ral Observations on the Geognostic Character of Italy. By
Professor F. Horrman. With a coloured Map.
A. Peculiarities of the Roman Territory, arranged according
to the Differences of the Formations.
Tue rock formations on which Rome stands, are extremely
worthy of the attention of the geologist. Few parts of Italy,
certainly few of those which have been thoroughly investigated,
contain, in so comparatively narrow a compass, such numerous
and varied phenomena, and which are of so much importance
with regard to the history of this earth ; and, if Leopold von
Buch, upon these grounds, was justified in saying, on his first
examination of this country, that this classical spot was as im-
portant to the naturalist as to the historian ; this assertion has,
since then, been only the more confirmed, since we have here
before us a district which has repeatedly, and for a length of
time, occupied the talents and acuteness of so excellent an ob-
server. The inquiries of Leopold von Buch himself, the pre-
vious incomplete exposition of Breislak, which has been in part
set aside by his successors; and, above all, the laborious re-
searches of the meritorious Brocchi, upon the Roman territory,
will all be welcome and instructive guides to those who shall in
future direct their attention to a subject still by no means ex-
hausted; and the aim of this memoir will be fulfilled, if we suc-
ceed in presenting a compressed, but clear view, of the most im-
portant eeognostical relations discovered by the foregoing natu-
ralists, to the judgment of the reader.
We shall commence with a relation of the individual facts eli-
cited by the labours of these distinguished philosophers ; and
then proceed to deduce those conclusions to which these ele-
ments may lead us. But it will be, perhaps, most in accord-
ance with our design, first to make the following observation.
A single glance upon the form of the surface of the space
included within the walls of ancient as well as modern Rome,
informs us, that we may conveniently regard this little territory
as formed of three quite distinct portions. A broad open val-
ley, intersected by the numerous windings of the river; on the
right, a high, uniform, and nearly continuous chain of hills,
Observations on the Geognostic Character of Italy. 77
with steep declivities and level summits ; on the left, on the
contrary, a low broken hilly region, the different eminences of
which are either completely isolated from one another by diffe-
rent intersecting prolongations of the valley, or constitute long
narrow ridges, which terminate in the valley by a soft and gentle
declivity.
It is extremely satisfactory to the geologist, that here, as in
so many other cases, the differences in the external physiogno-
mical characters of this district, stand in close and intimate con-
nexion with the nature of the rocks which constitute its interior.
Three formations, formed at very different epochs, and un-
der very different circumstances, concur in the formation of the
district. Once covered by the sea to a considerable depth, the
fundamental rock was formed from the products of the univer-
sal ocean ;—pierced and ruptured by volcanoes, this received a
covering of matters taken from the interior of the earth’s crust :
and, later still, it was overflowed to a surprising depth by fresh
water, which covered it with deposites, partly from a state of
chemical solution, and partly from a state of mechanical suspen-
sion. It appears, then, most proper to begin with the traces
left by the sea, the most general of all these forming powers, on
the surface of the district; then pass to the operation of volca-
noes; and, finally, conclude with the most local and circum-
scribed phenomena, those referable to fresh water.
I. Agency of the Ocean.
*
The chain of hills on the right bank of the Tiber, the lengthened ridges of
the Janiculus and the Vatican, both mere prolongations of Monte Mario, the
highest point of this part, belong, in the most essential part of their mass, to
the products of the ancient ocean. ‘The uppermost stratum is a thick bed of
a peculiar sandstone. A yellow siliceo-calcareous sand is pretty plentiful at
the Vatican, in the garden of Belvidere, and before the Porta Angelica, to
the left behind the city wall. It uninterruptedly forms the whole declivity
of the Janiculus, on the side next the Tiber, as far as the exposed state of
the rock allows us to judge of its internal constitution ; and, on the opposite
brink, along the wall between the Porta St Spirito and the Port St Pan-
crazio, fully half the height of the precipice, eighty feet high, in the hollow of
the Valle d’Inferno. This sand is often a mere loose unconnected mass,
more or less evidently formed of fragments; on the contrary, it is often ce-
mented by the intervention of a basis, into a regular horizontally stratified
conglomerate. Brocchi takes notice of a collection of fragments of limestone,
in front of the Porta Angelica. According to this author, fragments of lime-
stone and flint, mixed with loose sand, is seen behind the city-wall, between
78 On the Constitution of the Territory of Rome, with
the Porta Portese and St: Pancrazio, as also on that part of the Janiculus,
where the botanic garden is situate ; at the Villa Sante, and in many other
places in the vicinity. Leopold ven Buch particularly describes similar re-
lations at the Vatican, before the Porta Fabbrica, going up to the Osteria
Cruciano. We see here sand and fragments several times regularly alter-
nating with one another, and united by a calcareous, often obviously sparry
cement, full of scales of mica, into a fine grained sandstone, and coarse con-
glomerate strata. The sandstone itself is abundantly mixed with little sil-
ver-white and black plates of mica, and is consequently very splendent, and
its predominant cement gives it an argillaceous aspect ; yet its mass effer-
vesces strongly with acids. In the conglomerates, on the contrary, whose
calcareous cement is much purer, we can evidently distinguish fragments of
red and white quartz, much greyish-white and blackish-grey Appenine lime-
stone, blood-red jasper, flint, flinty slate. Similar relations are described
by the same observer, on the opposite side of the Janiculus, in the above
mentioned hollow between the Porta S. Spirito and Porta Portese. The
sandstones and conglomerates are here frequently marked by a greater abun-
dance of a siliceous cement, by which they are changed into a pudding-stone,
of a peculiar appearance, forming pieces which are easily recognised in the
working of the sand-pits, by their superior hardness, and which immediately
detach themselves. Brocchi informs us also of a solid sandstone bed on the
Janiculus, near the wall of S. Pietro, in Montorio ; and on the Monte delle
Crete ; on the Janiculus to the west of the wall, where it is found in com-
pany with a very fine breccia, with a calcareous cement. Breislak saw the
same appearance on the Monte dei Fornaci, close to the hills of the Vatican.
In this superior stratum of our oceanic formation, we seldom meet with
organic remains ; yet they belong, it appears, entirely to the great shell de-
posite, which covers the summit of Monte Mario, at the Villa Mellini; and
in which, according to Brongniart, the most abundant, as well as the most
entire, are large oyster-shells, which bear the nearest resemblance to the Os-
trea hippopus. The learned Abbate Gismonde also found here a petrifaction,
which had been previously described by Brocchi, in his Conchiliologia foss Sub-
appenina, a Patella of the genus Emarginula. Brocchi mentions, that, on digging
the foundation for the saloon of the Museum of Pius Clement, a bone was
found, which was thought by Brongniart to be the metatarsus of a Paliothe-
rium. The remains of the fossil mammalia, which Brongniart appears inclined
to refer to this genus, we constantly found in the environs of Rome, and, ac-
cording to the express testimony of Brocchi, in the fresh-water deposites.
Under the sandstone there regularly occurs, when we can observe the struc-
ture of the rock, a large mass of blwish-grey clay-marl. Its fracture is fine
earthy and large conchoidal; when moist, it becomes workable, and there-
fore is a true Figuline marl. It is found uninterruptedly in the hollow
which separates the Janiculus from the Vatican, covering both the bottom
of the valley and the declivities of the adjoining hills to a considerable height.
Brocchi describes it as behind the sacristy of St Peter, on the Vatican, and
at the Monte delle Crete, an appendage of the Janiculus. The ancients for-
merly used the marl of the Vatican for potter’s work, as is shewn by the
verse of Juvenal (Sat. V-):
*« Et Vaticano fragiles de monte patellas.”
Observations on the Geognostic Character of Italy. 79
Many clay-pits are now sunk for the same purpose, on the Monte delle
Crete, and at the Monte dei Fornaci, which discover to us the interior of
the mountain. Leopold Von Buch gives us a particular description of it,
from which we gather, that the marl has a decidedly stratified disposition,
and separates into beds of even a foot and a-half in thickness, which are al-
ternately, dark and light coloured. In its upper strata, the marl regularly
alternates with the beds of the above described sandstone and its breccia,
which is a proof of its contemporaneous formation. Its interior contains a
much greater number of organic remains than the sandstone. Brocchi de-
scribes, behind the sacristy of St Peter, numerous fragments of shells, Den-
talia, Telline, and pieces of the cover of the Lepas Balanus. There are, like-
wise, numerous remains of plants, which seem to have belonged to branched
Fuci; Brocchi also found in it bituminous wood, traversed by slender veins
of iron-pyrites. Flaminus Vacca even mentions, that large pieces of it were
found in the clay, on digging the foundations of the church of St Peter. On
the Monte delle Crete, are also found numerous remains of marine shells,
even in the beds of clay which alternate with the sandstone. The same is
mentioned by Breislak at the Monte dei Fornaci.
II. Volcanic Agency.
If we have seen the heights on the right bank of the Tiber, formed
throughout the greatest part of their mass of a marine formation ; on the other
hand we find, in the hilly country on its opposite side, viz. the seven hills of
Rome, and the flat country partly connected with them to the south of the
city, the predominant rocks to be the products of volcanic operations. The
rock, which is here most abundant, and which forms the main substance of
these hills, is a large continuous deposite of volcanic tuff, tufa of the Italian
naturalists, and separated, by Brocchi, from ‘ofa—the fresh water deposite.
This species of rock, which is so abundant in many parts of Italy, and in the
vicinity of every volcano, is distinguished from proper lavas by its never hay-
ing been seen in the form of a couwlée, or stream *.
* The nearest point to Rome, at which true lava is met with, is in the hill
of Capo di Bove, two miles from the Porta St Sebastian, where it is quar-
ried, and under the name of Selcea, or Selee Romano, forms the paving
stone of the city. It is a true basaltic lava, with a blackish-grey colour
sharp-edged fracture, formed, according to Fleuriau’s acute observations, of
an internally crystallized granular aggregate of augite, leucite, magnetic iron,
different zeolites, &c. (Journ. de Phys. 1795, ii. p. 59.) In its cavities are
contained many small cubical mellilites, with a white fossil, which appears
felspar ; and, lastly, zeolites. The whole mass, evidently rests on peperino.
Leopold Von Buch believed this hill to stand isolated and unconnected with
any active volcano. Breislak concludes from it, the existence of a hypothe-
tical crater, which he thought to have discovered in the midst of the seven
hills of Rome ; and that its connection with it was destroyed by the hands of
man. But the researches of Riccioli have shewn it to be the termination of
a long stream, the origin of which can be traced into the Alban Hills, along
the Via Appia, the pavement of which often rests on it.
Within these some years, another locality of this rock has been observed, on
80 On the Constitution of the Territory of Rome, with
Brocchi, in his account of the geology of Rome, distinguishes it into two
kinds, differing essentially from one another.
Ist, Lithoidal Tufa or Steintuf. Is of a reddish brown colour, with orange spots,
owing to pieces of a slaggy pumice-like lava. Its fracture is earthy and almost
conchoidal, and is so hard as to be capable of being used as a building stone.
It contains white mealy leucites, whose gradual transition into the fresh
crystallized substance, has been satisfactorily shewn by Von Buch ; scales of
brown mica, crystals of black and green augite, and, more rarely, small por-
tions of felspar. Now and then are found round blocks, and angular frag-
ments of limestone imbedded in it. A fine grained variety can be distin-
guished, which would appear a homogeneous mass, were it not mixed with
numerous scales of black and silver white mica.
It usually appears in the form of large beds, from four to six feet thick,
traversed by long, vertical, and oblique fissures, which have probably arisen
from the contraction of the mass during the process of drying. The fine
granular variety, again, has the peculiarity of having a disposition to the slaty
structure, on account of the linear arrangement of the scales of mica.
Of the ancient Roman monuments, the Cloaca maxima is built of it, not
of peperino, as is usually stated ; also the part of the under structure of the
Tabularium of the Capitol, which is seated on the Hill, whilst its outer co-
vering is of peperino. The same hill contains ancient tufa quarries. In the
ruins of the passages in the theatre of Marcellus, we see it cut into blocks
shaped like bricks ; in the same way are formed the squares of tufa in the
fortress of the Gzetani at the tomb of Cecilia Metella, and at the corner
tower of the new Capitol.
It appears to be the Lapis quadratus of the ancients, which the Romans, at
least in early periods, employed in paving the streets. Squares of tufa are
very often found forming the foundation of the basalt pavement, as is seen in
several parts of the city wall: for example, at the Porta St Lorenzo. Of the
two kinds of ¢ophi which Vitruvius mentions as occurring in Campania, the
Tophus niger seems to be the black stone of Piperinum, which is used in se-
veral of the buildings of Pompeii, but the Tophus ruber is the Roman tufa.
The place on the Via Flaminia, on the other side of the tomb of Naso, where
the tufa was quarried, and which now bears the name of Pietre Rossa, was
called by the ancients Sara rubra.
In the dwelling-houses are found squares of a greyish yellow tuff, with
pieces of yellow pumice, e. g. in the ancient cellar of the house No. 66, in the
Longara, and in the foundations of the Papal garden, on the way from the
Lavator del Papa to the Quartero Fontane. Brocchi did not find this kind
any where in situ.
The points where this kind of tufa exists within the city walls, are, com-
paratively few in number. It forms the chief mass of the Capitoline Hill
and is here exposed, both by the precipice of the Tarpeian rock, and by the
the left hand of the road to Ostia, a mile behind the Tre Fontane. It has
exactly the appearance of the lava at Capo di Bove, and contains crystals
of Gismondi’s Abrazite, which is most probably a variety of Harmotome.
It is rather a mechanical aggregate of volcanic slags, of lapillo, sand, and
ashes, which, carried to a distance from the craters from which they were eject-
ed, have been deposited in their present situation.
4
Observations on the Geognostic Character of Italy. 81
subterranean galleries, which were formerly used for quarries. On the Av-
entine hill it appears in the Vigna Lovati, opposite St Prisca, where a quarry
has been opened, from which, as Von Buch mentions, were extracted the
stones for the foundations of the palace Braschi. The stone here, from its
hardness and fracture, as well as colour, resembles bricks so much, that it
might easily be mistaken for them, did not we see it rising before us into a
precipice 60 feet high. Count Dunin Borkowski has, in his description of this
place, compared the lithoidal tufa from the pits of the Monte Verde, before
the Porta Portese, with a claystone porphyry. In the Vigna d’Asti, as well
as on the Aventine, Flaminio Vacca has already mentioned the occurrence of
this tufa, and also round St Saba. It further appears on the Celian Hill, in
the subterranean passages to the east of the church of St Giovanno e Paolo,
where are found the remains of an ancient Roman edifice ; and not far from
thence, at St Giovanni in Laterano, in the vault No. 22. Brocchi, too, saw it
on the Esquiline Hill, in the section laid bare by the subterranean passages
of the church St Francesco di Paolo, full of fragments of lava, and traversed
by variously contorted veins of fatty clay. It is abundant outside Rome,
nearer it at Monte Verde than at. Ponte Nomentron, Torre Pignatara, be-
fore the Porta Maggiore, and, finally, at Ardea, and along the Via Ardeatina.
2d, Granular Tufa, Brockeltuf. It is very different from the preceding :
colour blackish brown, or yellow brown; light; very friable, consisting of
large loosely connected grains, with white particles of mealy leucite; frag-
ments of augite; scales of mica, and, at times, containing blackish-grey
masses of lava.
With regard to the degree of solidity, texture, and colour, it offers great
varieties, according as it is more or less decomposed. It has either entire-
ly the character of Japillo, and is only not so dry and less meagre to the
feel than that which is now ejected from volcanoes, or it is extremely friable,
loses the porous texture, and crumbles down into an earthy mass. It is still
more affected by filtrating moisture, which changes it into a kind of clay,
which adheres to the tongue ; is viscid, and from which the leucite has van-
ished, whilst the augite and mica remain. It is this same earth which, near
Velletri, at the foot of Monte Artemisio, is used for the construction of
bricks; and at St Agata, in Campania, between Molo di Gaeta and Capua,
for potter’s ware. ‘The rude sepulchral urns, at the lake of Carnevoli, in the
Albano, are formed of the same volcanic clay.
This tufa sometimes forms a peculiar variety, when it is very much de-
composed, which Brocchi calls earthy tutf, Tufa terroso. (It is worthy of at-
tention, that what Brocchi calls, in his catalogue raisonnée, Tufa terroso, is al-
ways this, which has been since called Granular Tufa; the lithoidal tufa, on
the other hand, corresponds to the pietroso of his catalogue. It is of a yellow
colour, much lighter, and so friable as to crumble down into a fine powder,
which absorbs water with a hissing noise, giving out, at the same time, an
earthy smell. Of such a description is especially the tufa described by
Leopold von Buch, (ii. p. 31.) This tufa, as well as the former, consists of
distinctly separated beds, and appears, like it, intersected by large crevices,
which divide it into more or less regular parallelopipeds. At Monte Pincio,
OCTOBER—DECEMBER 1829. EF
82 On the Constitution of the Territory of Rome, with
and close to the Basilica of St Lorenzo, outside the gate, it presents impres-
sions of the leaves of land-plants ; and, in the latter place, it is pierced by nume-
yous tubular canals, which indicate. the previous existence of branches and
stems of trees. Similar appearances are further seen in a hill at Monte Sacro,
at the ancient Via Salara, near the Wine Mountain of the Jesuits ; and under
the city walls, between the Porta St Giovanni, and the Amphitheatrum
Castrense.
With regard to the relations and positions of this species of tufa, the most
essential points to be observed are the following: It is, in general, much
more extensively diffused than the lithoidal tufa, and forms the principal
mass of the Pincio, of the Quirinal, the Viminal, and the Palatine. In the en-
virons of Rome it is equally abundant ; and all the catacombs of Rome are
dug in it, with the exception of those of St Valentino." ‘
Many points, with regard to its relations, set in a clear light its position
with regard to the other formations of this district. Without doubt the
most important of these is its occurrence on the heights of the right bank of
the ‘Tiber. Here the volcanic rock every where covers the above de-
scribed marine formation. ‘Leopold von Buch first enumerates a stratum of
tufa, six feet thick, on the highest point of the Vatican, immediately over the
sandstone of the Osteria cruciuno, at the Vigna of Guiseppe Frangioni. It
couitains many small pieces of true peperino, round masses of a mixture of
augite and leucite, similar to that of the Rocco di papa in the Alban Hills ; and,
more rarely still, small pieces of basalt. Above this, lies a remarkable stra-
tum of portions of an ash-grey pumice-stone, of the size of a walnut, and
which floats in water, which may be shewn to extend to pretty considerable dis-
tances in this quarter. Just the same, or extremely similar, are its relations,
not only at the base of this hill, but also at the Janiculus. A greenish-grey
granular tufa is here exposed, among other places, at the Porta di Sto Spirito,
under the walls of the garden Barberini, and here it covers an aggregate of
pumice-stones, cemented by a basis of a whitish tufa. The ridge, which is
here separated from the rest of the hill by a little valley, as well as.the op-
posite declivity in the court-room of the Papal court, is almost volcanic. Such
rocks also appear on the summit of the Janiculus. Besides, where the different.
tributary streams of the Tiber have furrowed this elevated plain, a similar
succession of strata is seen, as below the Villa Frangioni. A granular tufa, or
T. terroso, of a brownish colour, is seen right opposite the Porta St Pancrazio,
at the upper margin of the hill, in which lie imbedded large pieces of pumice-
stone, in a state of good preservation ; and also before the gate to the left
in the city wall, accompanied by pumice-stone, and pieces of a yellow spongy
lava. ‘These are the same strata which extend from here to the summit of
eee ee ee eee ee
* These catacombs are the Arenarie of the ancients,which, according to
Brocehi, was the denomination, in former times, as well as now, of the puz-
zolano pitsat Frosinone and Segni le Arenare, for the puzzolano earth is no-
thing else than a variety of this tufa, probably the Avena nigra of Vitruvius, (ii-
p. 4, 6.) whilst the Arena rufa, which occurs in other parts of Vitruvius, is, per-
haps, connected in reality with the red puzzolano, which is now esteemed
the best, and is found at St Paolo, near the Three Fountains. Both kinds
were used for cement in the ancient edifices.
Observations on the Geognostic Character of Italy. 88
Monte Mario, of which Brocchi (tab. ii. p. 1, 4.) has given a very instruc.
tive section. It is principally the Tufa terroso which is here predominant.
On the left bank of the Tiber, where the granular and lithoidal tuffs occur
together, the latter is superimposed on the former. There are examples of
this on the Esquiline, where the subterranean passages of the convent of St
Francesco de Paola have afforded a very instructive section ; also of the Ca-
pitoline Hills under the Tarpeian Rock. Yet Brocchi expressly mentions
that this relative position is by no means of regular occurrence. The reverse
is seen before the gates of Rome, in the rocks round the tomb of Naso, as
well as elsewhere.
There is no undoubted superposition of the volcanic tufa on the marine
formation on this side the Tiber. The only point where, in this part of the
city, a foreign deposite is found under it, is the singular discovery of Brocchi
at the Tarpeian Rock. We there see, in the large subterranean passages of
the Hospital della Consolazione, lowermost, a thick stratum of brown mica-
ceous clay, in which a compact limestone of the same colour forms some even
beds one or two feet thick. To this suceceds a mass of sand and clay six
feet thick, and over it ten feet of granular tufa, above which, to the summit
of the rock, is the lithoidal tufa. Brocchi is much inclined to refer the fun-
damental bed to a marine formation; on the grounds advanced by him, it is
certainly very probable. Other local appearances besides this, would indi-
cate that the proper fundamental stratum of the Seven Hills of Rome is a sub-
terranean prolongation of the marine formation, from the right to the left
bank of the Tiber. It is the sounding for wells in this part of the city which
lead to this general result from a comparison of their depths, although now
we can hardly draw any conclusions regarding the strata through which they
have been pierced. From Brocchi’s observations, which we have collected
for that purpose, it follows that the most of these wells, some of which are
even placed on the summit of the hill, reach the water almost universally at
a depth which comes near to the level of ancient Rome, from ten to twenty
feet under the level of the modern city. The volcanic tufa itself can hardly
retain the water, on account of its porous structure ; and it, therefore, must
meet at this depth with a stratum of clay or marl, which prevents its sinking
deeper ; similar to the strata on the Vatican and Janiculus, whose abundant
springs are mentioned by all who describe this place, appear at the surface.
The position of the volcanic tufa, with respect to the fresh.water formations,
which we will now describe, is also remarkable. *
* In passing, we may be permitted to touch upon two minerals foreign
to the Roman soil, but which, often alternating with the lithoidal tufa,
hold an important place in the architecture of the ancients. These are
the Gabine and Alban stone. We will comprise both best under the
name Peperin, (Peperino, Pepperstone.) The Gabine differs from the
Alban only in containing less augite and mica, and consists of a collection
of angular pieces of grey and reddish brown lava, traversed by cale-spar,
aud at times containing small rolled limestone masses. Both it and the
Alban Peperino are well distinguished from the Roman tufaceous rock. In
the Peperino (says Von Buch) every thing is almost fresh, entire and un-
broken, splendent ; in the tufa dull, and broken down; the former more re-
F'2
84 On the Constitution of the Territory of Rome, with
III. Agency of Fresh Water.
The plain of Rome, or the portion of the city intersected by the Tiber,
and which is bounded by the marine formation to the north, and by the vol-
canic hills to the south, belongs to the products of stagnant fresh water to a
considerable height on the sides of the valley, and pretty far up the lateral
valleys which separate the seven hills from one another. These waters over-
flowed this region at a period when, after the retreat of the sea, and after
the cessation of volcanic irruptions, the present river dug its bed. The pre-
vailing substances are loose unconnected masses of clay, sand, and boulders,
which were left behind, covering a considerable surface, after the retiring of
the water; yet its presence has, in many points, formed a beautiful stone
of a firmer consistence, peculiarly characteristic of this country; of which
are formed all the ornamental parts of the masterpieces of ancient architec-
ture, and the constant production of which can even now be observed: it has
obtained the name of Lapis Tiburtinus, or Travertine. The argillaceous strata
of the valley, whose general distribution has been shewn by the laborious
researches of Brocchi, by means of numerous borings, are particularly im-
portant on this account, because they cannot be penetrated by the waters
which issue forth from the adjacent hills, and are consequently the means of
supplying the numerous wells in the lower part of the city. The clay is
constantly mixed with a small portion of carbonate of lime, and, as it always
effervesces with acids, is a true argillaceous marl, (Marna argillosa). Its
colour is yellowish grey. It is constantly interspersed with small silver-
white scales of mica, and contains here and there small pieces of augite and
small quartz fragments ; it greedily absorbs water; is plastic, and hardens
in the fire. ‘Treated with acids, it gives an insoluble residium, which, when
not mixed with quartz, is chiefly composed of ferruginous alumina. This
clay is useful in pottery work. Brocchi has shewn, that in the most ancient
periods use was made of it.
sembles a porphyry, the latter sandstone, and similarly aggregated strata-
The wacke-like basis seldom changes its ash-grey colour. The tufacevus stone
at Rome is never so light. Its fracture is fine earthy, but uneven, fine grain-
ed, soft ; the tufa, again, is almost friable, which is never the case with the
lithoidal tufa. Immense numbers of small micacevus scales are found in it,
partly as individual black plates, partly as elongated masses, from an inch to
the size of a cannon ball. These masses are a collection of micaceous plates,
mixed with augite crystals, and often containing magnetic ironstone. Lustre
and colour is always wanting in similar plates in the tufa. On the contrary,
leucite and augite are more rare in the Peperino than in the tufa, but more
frequently small angular white pieces, which are granular limestone.
The Gabine and Alban stone form immense beds, so that they appear one
mass; é g round the Gabine Lake and at Marino. They often include
lumps of basaltic lava.
The Alban and Gabine stone is found much more frequently in the an-
cient buildings than the indigenous tufa. Yet the only certain remnant of
the ancient kings is of the latter rock. It appears that later the former
rock was preferred on account of its greater fineness, or more beautiful colour.
The outer upper walls of the Tabularium are built of Gabine stone.
Observations on the Geognostic Character of Italy. 85
In several points of the plain, the clay is conjoined with collections of dif-
ferent kinds of sand. It is mostly a yellow calcareous sand, more or less in-
termixed with argillaceous marl, and at times including limestone fragments,
as, e. g. was seen by Brocchi in a pit at St. Guiseppe a Capo, No. 11. | It is
partly, also, a siliceous sand, which is usually limited to the base of the hills,
and which, in the plain itself, is only exposed by one pit on the Campo Vac-
cino, by the side of the Temple of Peace, towards St Francesca Romano. It
has also been found on the slope of the Palatine, towards the Colosseum, ac-
cording to the chart of Brocchi; and it has been met with on the edge of the
Ceelius, in some pits which were made to find out the ancient Cloaca of the
Amphitheatre. The colour of this sand is yellow, with numerous silver-white
scales of mica, and pieces of augite. With the aid of the glass, there is visible
between the transparent grains of quartz, small white prisms, probably of
felspar. It is always mixed with clay, but destitute of any lime. Hence it
does not effervesce with acids, and melts before the blowpipe into a black slag.
The derivation of this clay and sand from fresh water is principally evinced,
according to Brocchi’s observations, by our finding in it porous and tubular
cale-tuff, containing remains of lacustrine snail-shells. In the sand in the
Campo Vaccino, we find the Helix palustris and planata, Lin., both of which
only thrive in fresh and quiet waters. In the calcareous sand, on the sides
of the Janiculus, Brocchi mentions the existence of Cyclostoma obtusum, Drap.
probably the Helix piscinalis of Gmelin.
Strata of the same substance are also found in more elevated situations,
far above the level of the plain of Rome, which are evidently owing to the
same original cause. Brocchi, e. g. found an argillaceous marl of a yellow
colour, which belongs to this series, on the Capitoline Hills, in the cellars of
the Palace of the Conservators, lying on a volcanic tufa. It is here divided
into three beds, the lowest of which, indurated and full of augite crystals,
also contains many portions of an orange-coloured pumice lava. The others,
again, are whiter, and without volcanic fragments. They commonly contain.
vegetable remains, and bits of the shells of the Tellina cornea and Helix tentacu-
lata, or Cyclostoma impurum, Drap., and their delicate opercula. These remains
are more scanty in the two upper beds than in the lower; but the former,
again, are richer in concretions of a muddy yellow limestone. In a still more
striking manner is the same appearance presented at the Esquiline, in the
subterranean passages of St Pietro in Vincoli, where, 140 feet above the
Tiber, and above the lithoidal tufa, is a yellow clay, full of calcareous con-
cretions, and rectilineal streaks of a very friable granular tufa, which agrees
in all its characters with the fresh-water clay of the plain. There is also
seen on the slope of the Aventine, under the bastion of Paul IIT., opposite
the Porta di Testaccio, a bed of a yellow-grey sandy marl, in which are
many of the helices of the Campo Vaccino, covered by a considerable deposite
of porous cale-tuff.
The Travertino, undoubtedly the most important of all the fresh-water
deposites of this region, has been fully and learnedly described by Leo-
pold Von Buch, as it occurs here. It is, for the most part, a chemical de-
posite of carbonate of lime, which the ancient waters, held dissolved in an ex-
cess of carbonic acid, and deposited here, as is often the case at the foot of
86 On the Constitution of the Territory of Rome, with
alpine limestone ranges, where the long agitatiow of the water, and its exten-
sive contact with the atmosphere, have furnished the conditions necessary for
its formation. Even now similar formations are going on in the conduits
which supply all parts of ancient as well as modern Rome with water ; and
where the Anio leaves the Appenines, by the splendid cascades at Tivoli, we
have a similar formation, in a great scale, under our very eyes.
The principal masses of this cutious limestone lie in horizontal beds and
strata. It is yellowish white, of uneven fracture, and earthy grain. On ex-
posure to the air, it gains considerable hardness, and usually assumes that
reddish hue which gives so peculiar a character to the monuments formed of
it, and contributes, in no small degree, to cause that imposing impression of
pomp and majesty which they never fail to excite. Leopold von Buch ex-
pressly observes, that what is especially characteristic and remarkable in it,
are the numerous perforations and vesicular cavities, from which it is never
free. These are of two descriptions of cavities, either elongated and narrow,
internally dull, and in which vegetable remains often occur, which shew that
they are derived from portions of plants, which have since disappeared; or
they are large shapeless openings, which seem to have been irregularly com-
pressed in a longitudinal direction. Their interior is usually covered with
calcareous spar, which has the stalactitic and reniform external shape ; and at
times, when the cavities have again been filled, appear as regular white spots.
These openings have most probably arisen from the escape of gases which
existed during the consolidation of the stone, as is at present the case in the
small Lagune of Solfatara near Tivoli, which has been so often described.
The travertino is rich in organic remains, but never contains marine pro-
ductions. They are usually vegetable, particularly in the line extending from
the Porta del Popolo to Ponte Molle, where many impressions of leaves of
trees, traces of branches and seeds, round which the lime seems to have ag-
gregated in concentric layers are found. Every where we see in it the same
fresh-water Conchylie above noticed as occurring in the sand and clay of this
formation. In the district of ‘Torre di Quinto, opposite Prima Porta, Brocchi
found it abundantly associated with the femora of animals resembling frogs.
The existence and geognostic relations of the travertino is seen often and
clearly exposed within the hills of Rome, and particularly on those at the left
bank of the Tiber. The most considerable of these deposites is seen on the
declivity of the Aventine, towards the Tiber. It there forms a horizontal
bed, at a height of ninety feet above the level of the river, the longitudinal
direction of which can be followed in an uninterrupted line for the distance
of half a mile. In a pit, which is found within Trelles of No. 14. in the Mar-
morata, it is distinctly seen above the river-sand ; which, on that side again,
covers the volcanic tufa of this hill. It now and then alternates with strata
of caleareous sand, and includes small pieces of pumice-stone, and likewise
the usual remains of vegetables and shells of Heli decollata and muralis, which
are frequently found alive in the gardens of this spot. Over it lies a stratum
of that argillaceous clay which we have already seen to be the principal cover
of the plain.
Single masses, and even thin beds of travertino, are numerous in the
sandy and marly strata, even in the upper ones of volcanic tufa, on the slope
Observations on the Geognostic Character of Italy. 87
of the Esquiline, of the Viminal, and Quirinal: its relations are, however, most
striking on the Pincius. Wethere see, at the church of the Augustines, close
to the Porta del Popolo, a thick bed of granular tufa projecting out, in which
are masses of cellular travertino, with impressions of reed-like vegetables,
and also leaves of the Populus alba, Betula alnus, and small twigs of the Ta-
marie galliea ; there was also found here the fragment of an unknown bone.
Over it lies a grey fluviatile clay, with impressions of leaves of the Salix
alba, and then come those numerous alterations of volcanic tuffs, fluviatile
sand, and more or less complete strata of travertino, to a height of more than
130 feet above the level of the river. Leopold von Buch first observed that
this was constantly the relation of the travertino to the strata of tuff in this
part of Rome, and he has completely demonstrated, that the Pincio forms,
in a certain measure, the commencement of a considerable ridge of preci-
pitous travertino rocks, which, on the outside of Rome, are continued unin-
terruptedly from the Porta del Fopolo to Ponte Molle, and in which this
order of superposition often recurs. In this rocky ridge are the catacombs of
St Valentino, in the vineyard of the Augustines at Papa Giulio, the only ones
in the environs of Rome which do not occur in a volcanic rock. Near this
spot Leopold yon Buch mentions the occurrence in the travertino of distinct
impressions of the leaves of the plane tree, chesnut, nut-tree, and laurel.
We shall reserve for the following section what explanations are to be
sought of these important relations. Yet here it merits observation, that
even on the right bank of the Tiber, the travertino formation is by no
means of rare occurrence. We have already seen that it exists outside Rome,
at the Torre di Quinto, Leopold von Buch has given a remarkable locality
at the chapel of St Andreo. But within the walls of the city are seen many
cellular concretions of calc-tuff in the fluviatile sand on the declivity of the
Janiculus ; and Breislak and Leopold von Buch there found, under the walls
of the Villa Pamfili, in the granular tufa itself, a piece of travertino enclo-
sed, in which were found well-marked Helicites.
B. Conclusions from the Geognostic appearances of the Roman
Territory.
In the foregoing exposition of the facts, which an attention
to the constitution of the Roman soil presents to the intelligent
observer, it was our intention, as much as possible, to limit our-
selves to the space included within the walls of the city. The
wish to explain the appearances, and, as much as possible, to
connect them with the relations of this territory, necessitates us
to leave these limited bounds, and to give a glance at the strue-
ture of the Italian Peninsula.
Italy, traversed with slight exceptions, throughout its whole
length by the gigantic ridge of the Appenines, is naturally
divided into two nearly equal halves, but of essentially different
88 On the Constitution of the Territory of Rome, with
constitutions. As far as we yet know, the chain of the Appe-
nines, throughout the greatest part of their mass, is a uniform
limestone range, of great thickness. The steep rocky walls of
Tivoli, which rise immediately from the plain to the height
of 2000 feet, are formed throughout of the same light grey com-
pact limestone, with few petrifactions, which forms on the one
side the mountains of Pesarv and Urbino, and on the other
side the plains of Apulia, as far as the point of Otranto. Ac-
cording to the comprehensive description which Brocchi* has
given it, this limestone is decidedly a member of the secondary
or floetz series ; it is identical with that of the opposite shore of
Dalmatia, and with the southern chain of calcareous Alps, which
bounds the plains of Lombardy, along the districts of Como,
Bergamo, Brescia, Verona, &c. and, which Breislak (Geologia
di Milano) has described in the hills of Brianza, in the plain”
of Milan. On that account, it most probably belongs to the
Jura formation, and in part to the chalk series ; which, as it is the
newest, so is without doubt the most extensive and thickest of all
the secondary formations on the surface of the earth. In its
north and south part ; in the Tuscan territory, and even in the
more northern part of the States of the Church ; as well as at the
opposite extremity in the mountains of Calabria ; this extensive
secondary deposite is seen reposing on undoubted transition and
primitive rocks. These fundamental rocks, the basis of the
high mountain chain, all appear on the Mediterranean side, and
therefore bound the floetz formations on the side opposite to the
Adriatic Sea. But this relation is by no means confined to the
two extremities of the Italian Peninsula, but even in the inter-
mediate districts it has a considerable influence on the formaticn
of the country, the more exact knowledge of which we owe to
the talents and industry of the celebrated Brocchi. According
to him, it is a general rule in this region, that wherever the hilly
plains on the Mediterranean side expose the basis of the coun-
try, more ancient rocks appear immediately at the surface, un-
covered by the Appenine limestone. Here the shore of the sea
of Liguria, where the transition mountains stand in evident con-
nexion with the principal mass of the Appenines, the members
of this formation are almost every where seen on the Tuscan
* Conchiliologia Fossile Subappenina, i. p. 23-33.
Observations on the Geognostic Character of Italy. 89
coast, opposite to the primitive rocks of Elba. In the States of
the Church, the existence of more or less decided transition rocks
are first noticed in Brocchi’s Catalogo Racionato, in the vicinity
of Ronciglione ; also between the hills of Cimini and Monte
Fiascone, near Viterbo, between Civita Vecchia and la Tolfa ;
and, lastly, from the subinsular rocks of the Capo Circelo to
Teracina. On the neighbouring Ponza isles, the existence of
transition limestone has also been lately demonstrated.* But on
the opposite or Adriatic side of the central range, these remains
of older formations are entirely wanting. We must, therefore,
view the Appenine chain, as, indeed, all the mountain chains on
the surface ofthe globe, according to the general views of Leopold
Von Buch, as raised from rents in the crust of the earth, and
even perhaps, on account of the geognostic constitution, as the
gaping margins of such gigantic fissures themselves. _ It is there-
fore clear, that the raising cause must here liemuch nearer the sur-
face on the western than on the eastern side of the central
chain. This idea of the mode of formation is certainly con-
firmed by what all have observed, the unequally steep declivity
of the Appenines on their S. W. side. Further, the reason fol-
lows immediately from this, for the breaking out of the nume-
rous volcanoes of this country, only in the space between the
mountains and the Mediterranean, never on the opposite side.
In the latter situation, the enormous pressure of the Appenine
limestones on the fundamental rocks ; but in the other, free from
this cover, they can more easily give vent to the subterranean ex-
pansive powers. But before proceeding to the special examination
of these relations, it will be necessary to view these points a little
closer.
The space which lies between the lofty secondary ridge and
the sea-coast, is, on both sides of the Appenines, much broken,
and covered by extensive masses of a sandstone and marl, of very
new formation. ‘The immense masses of marine remains of well
preserved shells, which, in many cases, have scarcely lost their
colour and animal matter, of large cetaceze, &c., whieh exist
in this extensive formation, have already, in many places, at-
tracted the attention of naturalists. Brocchi was the first to
* At Capo Negro on Jannone. Compare Geological 'l'rans. Second Series,
Vol. II. Part IL. p. 220, Plate xxv. Vig. 6.
90 On the Constitution of the Territory of Rome, with
collect them in his classical work, under one formation; and to
give to the space covered by them the expressive name of the
Sub-Appenine Hills. We see, from the description which he has
given, that these hills, on the Mediterranean side, commence in
the territory of Lucca, and after some interruption in the king~
dom of Naples, terminate at the southern point of Italy, near
Reggio, in Calabria. The marine hills of the right bank of
the Tiber, at Rome, the sandstone and marl of the Vatican
and Janiculus, forming the oldest deposites of the Roman soil,
entirely belong to the members of this new formation. ‘The
comparisons collected by Brocchi shew, that, in their internal
constitution and organic remains, they completely agree with
other points of the same nature in Italy. The height to which
they reach on the Monte Mario is not unusual; for on the
hill where the little republic of St Marino is situated, strata
exactly similar occur, according to the measurement of Saussure,
to a height of more than 2000 feet above the level of the sea.
The determination of the period of formation of these strata can
be made with greater exactness. They must have been first
deposited after the first elevation of the secondary cham of the
Appenines had already taken place; for in the interior of the
latter, no trace of them is found higher than the elevation just
mentioned. They every where cover, wherever they exist, as well
the Appenine limestone as the older formations, in an unconform-
able and overlying position, Brocchi has, therefore, ranged them
under the Tertiary formations ; and this position has been since
confirmed by the examination of the organic remains. Prevost
endeavoured to show that they may be compared to the upper
member of the Paris Calcaire grossiere,*—a view which has been
since established ‘by Brongniart, after he had examined this
district, in conjunction with Brocchi.
The fragments of older rocks which form the sandstone and
rolled masses of the Janiculus, and its prolongations, are, as
Leopold von Buch has already observed, all derived from the
nearest Appenines, brought hither by those enormous marine in-
undations which once washed the foot of the mountain chain
to aconsiderable height. ‘These remarkable masses were formed,
* Description Geologique des Environs de Paris, p. 792.
Observations on the Geognostic Character of I taly. 91
independently of the present arrangement of the valley of the
river ; and the subsequent course of the Tiber in the valley of
Rome, has evidently been determined by the then existing in-
equalities in the ground. Yet, before the fresh water deposites,
the products of volcanic agency appeared in the basin of the
ancient sea. ‘The volcanoes of Italy; whose general relations to
its structure we have already touched on, succeed one another
from the frontiers of Tusany, in an evidently continuous line,
which here, a in so many cases, runs parallel to the nearest
range of mountains.*
The environs of Rome lie between two of the most remark-
able centres of these volcanic ridges, all of which, with the ex-
ception of those in the Campanian fields, have been extinguished
long before the appearance of man in this country. In the N.
or rather in the N.W., the trachytic Monti Cimini, between
Viterbo and Bolsena, and with them the extinguished craters of
Bracciano and la Tolfa; S.E. the basaltic Alban Hills, with
the heights of Frascati and Marino, and the ancient craters of
Albano and Nemi.
The changes which have happened to these mountains in the
formation of the Roman soil, must be of later date than the for-
mation of the tertiary deposites. It is certainly a striking fact,
for which we are indebted to Von Buch, that im the sandstone
heights near Rome, among the numerous fragments they im-
close, we never meet with the productions of the Alban Hills,
In vain do we look for pieces of lava, tufa, peperino, or similar
appearances, which are yet frequently scattered on the declivi-
ties of these hills. Every where here, as in the rest of Italy, the
masses of volcanic tufa, ancient lava streams, and the innumerable
minerals which derive their origin from subterranean fires, are
* Breislak limits the volcanic district which is in most intimate connexion
with Rome, to the space between the heights of Radicofani and the Alban
Hills ; and it was for a long time believed that the volcanoes of Latium were
completely separated from those of Campania. On the other hand, it has
been only lately shown by Brocchi, that the volcanic line is not interrupted,
as it appears, at the point where the Appenine limestone reaches the Pon-
tine marshes. He traced numerous vestiges of volcanic rocks through the
valley of the Herniker, and found here the chain of the Appenines cut right
across by the rectilineal fissure, which traverses the upper part of the Gavi-
gliano.
92 On the Constitution of the Territory of Rome, with
always met with on the strata of the Sub-Appennine Hills, accord-
ing to the authority of accurate observers. We have already
shown, that at the Janiculus and Vatican, and probably, also at
the foot of the Tarpeian Rock, and uniformly under the cover-
ing of the Seven Hills, every where undermost is the marine
Jormation, and spread over it the volcanic products.
The opinions of geologists are not so unanimous on the pe-
culiar causes and relations of the formation of this rock within
the walls of Rome. Breislak has advanced upon this point a
very surprising hypothesis. He imagined, from the form of the
Seven Hills, it might be inferred, that, formerly within the walls
of Rome, and in the Forum itself, a crater existed, from which
were expelled the surrounding igneous products. He even be-
lieved he had discovered small lateral craters on the outer-
most hills of the Aventine, and in the Intermontiwm of the Ca-
pitoline ; and he saw in the tufa of these hills, which we have
just regarded as a mechanical aggregate of volcanic matters,
nothing else than a lava which had really once flowed. The
grounds on which its proposer endeavoured to support this sin-
gular view have been lately refuted, from a consideration of the
district itself, by Leopold von Buch, and Brocchi. A glance at
the improved chart of the city, and especially at. the excellent
plan of Nolli, on which both these philosophers based their ob-
servations, compared with the chart which Breislak has append-
ed to his work, plainly shows how arbitrary and rash changes we
must admit, in all the details of this district, in order to give the
form of a serrated crater to its present appearances. Further,
it has been demonstratively shown, that the ¢fa found here is
not a lava.
Breislak views it as a crystallized granular aggregation of he-
terogeneous fossils ; but Von Buch has given it as his express opi-
nion, that its constituents are never so sharp and regularly con-
nected, as would happen from a crystallizing process on the spot. .
They bear numerous traces of abrasion on the surface, which
they must have experienced on being brought from a distance.
For example, this is well seen in the numerous leucites which
have completely lost their fresh appearance, and, by a gradual
change from the exterior to the interior, have crumbled into dull,
Observations on the Geognostic Character of Italy. 98
mealy spots. How can he reconcile the constantly stratified dis-
position of this tufa,—the occurrence of thin layers of alluvion,—
the evident intermixture with rolled pieces of volcanic and foreign
rocks, of which we gave many examples,—how can we reconcile
all this with the supposition of its once having been in the state
of a red hot stream? These numerous relations rather lead us
to the view, that the volcanic constituents of the tufa have re-
ceived their present properties through the medium of water.
In fact this is the view embraced by both the are mentioned
philosophers.
Was it, then, the oceanic water which produced the tufaceous
covering of the Roman soil, or didit arise from terrestrial fresh
water 2? Von Buch seems inclined to the latter supposition ;
and, indeed, the grounds which he advances would be decisive,
if the formations which we are considering were confined to
Rome. ‘Tufa and travertino, which are so undeniably fresh
water deposites, are here, as we have above seen, often irregularly
alternating with one another. Almost all the hills of Rome
show examples of tufa strata resting on regularly deposited
travertine, and what we admit of one of these deposites cannot
be refused to the other. ‘ The formation of these two rocks,
so different in external aspect, composition, and structure, must,
notwithstanding, be viewed as contemporary.” These are the
words of this gifted naturalist. The view, on the contrary,
which Brocchi has adopted to account for the manner of forma-
tion of this volcanic tufa, excludes entirely the operation of
fresh-water, and it is certainly deserving of strict examination
the grounds on which this talented observer rests his positions.
Undoubtedly it is of importance, in the first place, to con-
sider that the tufa-covering of Rome is not entirely isolated in
the district of the Italian volcanic zone, but is regularly ex-
tended from the mountains of St Fiora, in Tuscany, through
the Romagna into the plains of Campania, into the vicinity of
Vesuvius, and the Phlegroean fields. Such an uniformity in a
stratum formed through the medium of water, of such an ex-
tent, certainly requires as great an extension of the water which
produced its deposition and consolidation. Fresh waters could
not have easily produced such relations. This tufa is, further,
94 On the Constitution of the Territory of Rome, with
found even in islands and regions quite destitute of fresh waters,
or where, at least, they are very scanty; so Brocchi found it
on Ischia and Procida, which have no rivers ; it has lately been
discovered on Lipari by the researches of the well informed
traveller, Mr Ruppel; and, in Sicily, the tufa is seen in the
Val de Noto, where rivers are very scarce. But still more
indubitable evidence exists in the numerous organic marine re-
mains which the tufa now and then encloses to a considerable
height, and of which Brocchi has taken notice in many points.
Among others, there was found in the Peperino, in a layer
of pumice-stone, mixed with granular tufa, 23 miles from Mon-
tallo, on the road from Corneto, many pieces of the shells
of the Venus islandica, Nearer Rome, at Aqua Traversa, on
the othe: side of Ponte Milvyi, shells of sea-mussels occur in beds
of tufa, alternating with a loose sand. On the summit of the
Monte Cayo, in the Alban Hills, well preserved Bivalve Mu-
rices have been dug out of a dark volcanic earth. Sea-bivalves
are found near Velletri, in a tufa stratum, which covers a lava
stream, some of which are preserved in the museum Borgia,
and. no less numerous are the examples of such appearances in
the Phlegroean fields, on Ischia and in Sicily.
Since the Italian voleanoes have been raised above the sea,
they have no longer formed tufa masses, which can at all be
compared with the oldest covering of the volcanic regions. Even
the well-known tufa, which envelopes Herculaneum, is of very
slight cohesion, which it first received by moisture and pressure ;
and besides this, Lippi has distinctly shewn it to have arisen
from alluvions. Brocchi thinks that, on that account, he may
conclude, that the tufa-covering was especially the werk of sub-
marine volcanoes, or of such whose products were taken and car-
ried away by the sea. He rests his opinion upon the known exam-
ple of the elevation of an island with an irruption of pumice,
mixed with sea-shells, at Santorini, in the Archipelago, to which
we might add many which have been observed since. Von Buch,
too, considers this view as admissible, from what he says at
the conclusion of his treatise on Mount Albano:—* Perhaps
Peperino is to be explained as a repeated irruption of ashes,
which were much diffused, fell into the sea, and there assumed
a stratified form. With these ashes were ejected, from the in-
Observations on the Geognostic Character of Italy. 95
terior, the basalts and limestones which are now enveloped in
the Peperino.”
The same is expressed by this naturalist, when, in another
place, he observes, on the great extent of the pumice of the
Vatican as far as the vicinity of Civita Vecchia :—< But what
other agent than an universal water, without any violent agita-
tions, could have extended these horizontal strata over such a
space >”
But to what is owing the singular reciprocal mixture of tra-
vertino and tufa strata, which we have mentioned above? Broc-
chi has explained himself on the point, and, as we think, satis-
factorily. He esteems it probable, that all the tufas, which
either rest on travertino, or contain fresh-water products, are
no longer in their original condition. They must have been de-
posited in their first position by the same waters, which brought
together the constituents of the travertino, and have subse-
quently been united by the chemical operation of the dissolved
substances.
We must, therefore, according to Brocchi, distinguish the
Tufa originale and tricomposto, since both are extremely simi-
lar in their external characters, and can only be separated by
the relations of their position. Yet we must observe, what is of
undoubted interest for the history of the Roman territory, that
even, accordmg to Brocchi’s very industrious researches, the
matrix of the Roman tufa has not, as might be at first ima-
gined, been in the Alban Hills. It must rather be sought, with
more probability, in the more distant Monti Cimini, and in
the hills round the Lago di Bracciano. On this he has often
observed, in his Catalogo Racionato, that the present existence
of pumice-stone, in the tufas at Rome, is evidently at variance
with their origin from the hills of Albano and Tusculum.—
These volcanoes, as Gmelin has already observed, have never pro-
duced any pumice; and we do not find in them the Roman lithoi-
dal tufa, but constantly the peperino, which is foreign to Rome.
According to the opposite authorities, a lithoid tufa extended
itself from Rome, of which the Roman is only a slight variety,
to far beyond the hills of Cimini, It is reddish brown, or red-
dish yellow, contains felspar, and large pieces of orange-colour-
1
96 On the Constitution of the Territory of Rome, with
ed slaggy pumice lava, which the Roman tufa only contains in
very small fragments, It is even the universal rule, that the
minuteness, and also the firmer cohesion of the ingredients, ge-
nerally go together, the more we approach it on the N.W. to
the hills of Rome, where this mass seems to terminate.
If we have hitherto required, for the explanation of the geo-
logical phenomena presented by the oldest formations of Rome,
and the voleanic cover which succeeds them, a distribution
of the sea and land different from the present; yet, on the
other hand, in the newest strata of Rome, in the, formations of’
marl and river sand, and in the thick beds of travertino, we
meet with evidence of a state of things, which, in local limita-
tion; comes very near to the present constitution of the country.
The volcanoes of the neighbourhood were extinguished then, as
well as now. When these strata were formed, the internal com-
motion of the earth’s crust had already ceased, the sea had
nearly retired within its present bounds, and perhaps its last
ebbings had contributed to excavate the broad furrow of
the principal valley, and of its lateral ones. The great basin of
the Tiber, as well as the lesser valleys which separate the hills
of Rome from one another, were also covered by these fresh-
water formations; the former must, therefore, have existed pre-
vious to the production of the latter. The condition of organ-
ized beings must have been the same as at present ; for the re-
mains, which once lived in them, agree completely with those
now existing on the spot ; yet the formation of the valley could
not be quite completed, as is indicated by the extension of
fresh-water formations into places which they could no longer
reach. The Tiber, in times previous to the historical epoch,
must have been elevated more than 130 feet above its pre-
sent level. The circumstances of its flow must have also been
different in ancient times. The modern Tiber forms neither
mar! nor sand, for the level of ancient Rome neither covers, nor
does it shew, a stone which can be compared with the Traver-
tino. The shell remains, which exist in these formations, are
never those which thrive in its bed; they have all been
inmates of stagnant, or very slow flowing waters. The river
water must have, therefore, formerly existed in a still state to
On the Constitution of the Territory of Rome, &. 97
a much greater extent. The stream has been once a lake, of
whose former existence, indeed, all observers speak, who have
noticed this region even in a general way.
Leopold von Buch, among others, says,—‘ Every step upon
the Roman plain plainly discovers to us traces left by this great
lake ;” and, in another place, he shews, upon undisputed
grounds, that it was just the quiet nature of the deposition,
which distinguishes the ancient travertino from what is now
deposited in pipes and water-conduits.
Breislak has, besides, expressly shewn how the formation of
travertino, which is still going on under our eyes in the small
lagunes of the Solfatara, and in the Lago di Tartaro, at Ti-
voli, only presents, upon a smaller scale, the same appearances
which once took place in greater magnificence upon the plain of
Rome. Yet we cannot forget, that the evidences of a more
violent motion of the water of the river, at this period, are in
manifest contradiction with these phenomena. They are found-
ed on the numerous large boulders of limestone aud basaltic
lava which are here and there met with on the travertino, at
considerable elevations: for the modern Tiber can no longer
roll so far down its bed such masses. Brocchi’s observations
have shewn, that it deposites its large pebbles at Gavignano and
Filacciano, 30 miles from Rome ; and from thence to its mouth
only, the well-known yellow fine sand, from which it obtained
from the ancients the name of Blonde :-—
“In mare cum flava prorumpit Tibris arena.”—Ovip. Mertam. xiv.
Leopold von Buch is inclined to seek for this former higher
elevation of the fresh waters, in the imperfect retreat of the sea ;
and Brieslak, as well as Brocchi, follow him in this supposition.
But we neither know whether the present state of things could
have terminated suddenly (and perhaps this quick diminishing
of the level of the water was the cause of the rolling down of
these fragments) ; nor do we know what change this last con-
vulsion can have wrought in the constitution of the region,
We must admit that we want the knowledge of many consi-
derable circumstances in order to explain satisfactorily the nu-
merous geological phenomena presented by Rome ; and we may
OCTOBER—DEUCEMBER 1829. e
98 M. Gloger on the different Colours of the Eggs of Birds.
conclude these observations with the words once used by Leopold
Von Buch, that we are very far from believing ourselves capable
of raising the veil, which may yet long envelope these ever-
memorable regions.
Norr.—This Memoir of Horrman will appear in a great work, at present
in the press, on the Geology, Antiquities, &c. of Rome, by the Prussian Ambas-
sador at Rome, M.‘Bunser. It was communicated to PocaEnpDorr for his
excellent Annalen, from which it has been translated from the German by a
young friend, for this Journal.—Ep1r.
SS eee
On the Different Colours of the Eggs of Birds. By M. GuoceEr.
[+ is a remarkable circumstance that the birds, whose nests and
eggs are more exposed to the view of their enemies than those
of other animals, lay eggs, the colour of which is scarcely distin-
guishable from that of surrounding objects, by which the eye of
rapacious birds or other animals is deceived ; while the birds,
whose eggs are of a bright colour, and consequently capable of
attracting notice, conceal their nests in hollow trees or elsewhere,
or leave their eggs only at night, or continue to sit upon them
from the period of parturition. It is to be observed also, that
in the species whose nest is exposed, and in which the females
take charge of the eggs, without the males troubling themselves
about them, these females are commonly of a different colour
from the males, and more in harmony with the tints of sur-
rounding objects.
Nature, says M. Gloger, has therefore provided for the pre-
servation of the species whose nest is exposed to the view, by
giving their eggs a colour incapable of revealing their presence
at a distance, while she has been able, without inconvenience, to
give the most lively colours in those cases where the eggs are
concealed from sight. It would have been more correct to say,
that a certain number of birds can deposite their eggs in places
- accessible to the view, because the colour which their eggs have
renders them liable to be confounded with surrounding objects ;
while other birds have been obliged to conceal their eggs be-
cause the brightness of their colours would attract their enemies.
But in whatever way it may be accounted for, the fact exists,
M. Gloger on the Different Colours of the Eggs of Birds. 99
and the author, who in his memoir has taken a view of all the
birds of Germany, has convinced himself of it.*
Eggs may be distributed into two series, according as their
colour is simple or mixed. The simple colours, such as white,
blue, green, and yellow, are the brightest, and consequently the
most dangerous for the eggs.
1. Pure white, the most treacherous of all colours, occurs in
the birds which’ nestle in holes, as the woodpeckers, wrynecks,
rollers, bee-eaters, king’s-fishers, snow-buntings, robins, water-
ouzels, swallows and swifts. It is only in these species that the
eggs are of a shining white.
The eggs are also white in some species which, like the house
swallow, certain titmice, the wren, &c., construct: nests, whose
aperture is so narrow that their enemies cannot see into them.
White eggs also occur in species which leave them only at
night, or at least very little during the day ; of which kind are
owls and hawks.
Lastly, this colour is met with in those which lay only one
or two eggs, and which sit upon them immediately after; as
pigeons, boobies, and petrels.
2. The pale green or pale blue colour is found to be peculiar
to the eggs of many species which make their nest in holes, as
starlings, saxicole, fly-catchers, &c.
In the second place, this colour is common to the eggs of
birds whose nests are constructed with green moss, or at least
placed among grass, but always well concealed ; for example, the
hedge-sparrow and blue-throated: warbler.
Lastly, green eggs are met with in several large species capa-
ble of defending themselves against the attacks of enemies, such
as herons.
3. A slight green colour is observed upon the eggs of seve-
ral gallinaceous birds which lay among’ grass, without’ making a
regular nest, and which is presently concealed by the great quan-
tity of eggs which they lay ; as in the partridge and pheasant.
* The memoir, entitled “ Uber die farben der Kier der Vogel von Herr C.
Gloger,” is inserted in Erster Band, 6tes Stick of the Verhandlungen der
Gesel. Naturf. Freunde zu Berlin, 1829.
G2
100 On the Chemical Nature of Equiseta, or Horsetails.
The same colour is also observed in many web-footed birds,
which cover their eggs when they leave them, and which are
moreover careful to look after them; as swans, geese, ducks,
divers, &. The eggs of certain large birds which nestle in the
open air, are even of a muddy white, as is observed in vultures,
eagles, and storks.
Among the party-coloured eggs, there are distinguished those
which have a white ground, and those whose ground is of some
other colour than white. The eggs which have a white ground
are those of the golden oriole, the long-tailed titmouse, the nut-
hatch, creeper, chimney-swallow, &c. Most of their eggs are
concealed in nests that are well covered. The party-coloured
eggs, whose ground is not white, at least not pure white, are
those of the lark, titlark, some wagtails and buntings; those of
crows, shrikes, thrushes, quails, and most of the singing birds,
in which the colour of the interior of the nest accords with that
of the eggs.
On the Chemical Nature of Equiseta, or Horsetails.
Every body knows that the Equiseta or Horsetails, which are
rough plants covered with asperities, are much employed for po-
lishing wood, metals, &c., and for scouring culinary utensils.
But it is probably less known that these plants are not less re-
markable in a scientific point of view than with reference to the
arts. Their singular structure, which completely separates them
from all other vegetables, has given rise to interesting researches
on the part of botanists, among which we must assign the first
rank to those which M. Vaucher has published in his Monograph
of the Equisetaceze. Natural philosophers have also made some
curious observations on these plants, such as the examination of
the remarkable optical properties possessed by the small crystals
which the microscope discovers in their dried tissue.
It was therefore to be desired, that chemists should also ex-
amine the equiseta, and make known to us the elements which
enter into their composition. Accordingly, M. Braconnet has
engaged in this kind of investigation ; and it is from a memoir
4
On Parasitic Animals. 101
on this subject, which he has published in the Annales de Phy-
sique et de Chimie, Sept. 1828, that we extract the table which
contains the analyses of the ashes of some species of the genus
Equisetum. The great quantity of silica which these ashes ap-
pear to contain, and which exceeds the half of their weight, is a
remarkable fact, when we consider it in its relations, whether to
the mechanical properties of the equiseta, or to the optical pro-
perties possessed by the small crystals with which their surface
is sometimes covered. The presence of silica in such large pro-
portion is also in accordance with the observation of M. Bracon-
net, that the equisetaceze grow only in very siliceous soils, almost
entirely destitute of carbonate of lime. But how is this great
quantity of silica itself dissolved, in order to be introduced into
the tissue of the plant? This is one of the subjects which has
especially occupied the attention of the author. To form a cor-
rect idea of this particular point of inquiry, it is necessary to
read the memoir itself. We shall here only remark, that potash
does not contribute, as might be expected, to produce this solu-
tion, for the ashes of these vegetables present the curious, and
perhaps unique, fact, of not possessing alkaline properties, or
only in a feeble degree in some cases.
Composition of the Ashes.
Names of Equiseta.
PP
2
at
66
#2
2
g
aa
2 L.7 10 0
Two Dampers, Door, and Cover for the
Fire-place, - - - HE edsir0
Brick-work, a ei = 2 0 0
L.10 10 0
Besides, serious accidents have several times occurred with
the common cockle, from the brick-work giving way between
the furnace and the air-flue, through which the flame or sparks
found a passage into the buildings. It must be evident, how-
ever, on inspection, that no danger of this kind can arise from
this arrangement, as the communication with the air-tunnel, or
lower end of the pipes, passes outside of the wall of the furnace
altogether, so that no fire or sparks can ever get into the tubes ;
and, as their other ends project a foot beyond the opposite
wall before they enter the heated air-flue, no sparks or dust can
enter by that end.
In constructing a stove of this kind, care must be taken that
the brick-work rest on one end of the tubes only, as their alternate
expansions and contractions would soon rend the building ; the
tubes, ‘therefore, must be free at one of their extremities, and
the joints ‘simply pointed round, I am, &c.
Joun Harr.
MircHELL-STREET, GLascow,
Nov: 30,. 1829.
(U5 +)
On the Anomalous Structure of the Leaf of Rosa berberifolia.
By Mr Davip Dow, Librarian to the Linnean Society,
Member of the Imperial Academy Naturze Curiosorum,
of the Royal Botanical Society of Ratisbon, and of the
Wernerian Society of Edinburgh, &e. (Communicated by
the Author.)
Tue ordinary leaf of Rosa is compound, being generally com-
posed of an indefinite number of pairs of leaflets, terminating
with an odd one; and the lowest pair, although present in the
form of stipulz, are considerably modified, being found to be
more or less confluent with the general petiolus. This view of
the origin of the stipulz, in this genus, is clearly shewn by the
ultimate leaves, or bracteze, in which the various degrees of mo-
dification may be observed. The stipule of Zosa vary much
in size ; in some species they are large and foliaceous ; in others,
such as Rosa Banksie, microcarpa, and sinica, they are small,
and so very fugaceous as to be only observed in the early stage
of the leaf. As in other extensive genera having compound
leaves, it might be expected that Rosa would also contain spe-
cies, in which a reduction in the number of leaflets takes place.
In Rosa sinica and hystrix the leaflets are only three; while in
Rosa berberifolia, and in a second species, known only from a
representation contained in a collection of Chinese drawings pre-
served in the library at the India House, the leaf is reduced ‘to
its simplest form. The compound nature of a leaf reducéd ‘to
its simplest form is always indicated by the presence of an arti-
culation. A casual inspection of the leaves of Rosa berberifolia
would lead one to conclude that the stipul@ were entirely want-
ing; but a more attentive examination shews that these organs
are also present in this plant, although under a very anomalous
form. Immediately under the leaf we find a callosity forming
a prominent ridge on the branch, attenuated towards the base,
and terminated by two or three spines. This callosity evidently
originates in the confluence of the stipulz with the stem. ‘The
leaf itself, surrounded by the spines, is situated immediately on
the summit of this callosity, to which it is articulated by its very
short footstalk. ‘The articulation is particularly distinct, and
176 Mr D. Don on the Leaf of Rosa berberifolia.
clearly proves the compound nature of the leaf in Rosa berberi-
folia. This opinion, respecting the change of the stipule in
this plant, may appear parodoxical, but it is borne out by a
comparison of the leaves of certain Capparidee, where the sti-
pulz have also become changed into spines, and where they are
alsc partially confluent with the stem. The coriaceous leaves
of Rosa berberifolia, their spiral insertion, and the elongated,
callous bases of the confluent stipulz, would seem to be intend-
ed by Nature to protect the young and tender shoots of this
plant from the powerful effects of a scorching sun in those arid
and sandy plains of which it is a native. It would be well to
ascertain with certainty, whether the inside of the tube of the
calyx, or hollow receptacle, is really destitute of bristles, as I
was led to conclude from an examination of a solitary flower.
This circumstance, if really constant, would perhaps justify its
separation from Rosa, as Mr Lindley has already proposed.
Comparative View of the Secondary Rocks in the Alps and the
Carpathians. By A. Bove, M.D. Member of the Wer-
nerian Society, &c. &c.—Communicated by the Author.
Severat new journeys and investigations induce me, as the re-
sult of these, to distinguish the northern Alpine calcareous chain
into two great divisions or masses of limestone ; the one, the in-
Jerior of a blackish or grey colour, resting upon, or uniting itself
with, the red sandstone, the slate and the sparry iron-ore lime-
stone, and, lastly, with talcose and micaceous rocks, sheltering
the central crystalline Alpine chain; the other, the superior,
generally greyish white, being near the tertiary plain, and cover-
ing the salt formation. Between these two limestone deposites,
there are, besides the salt-clay, a large body of grey marly
sandstone, marls, conglomerate, and a deposite of limestone,
characterised by particular ammonites, madreporites, orthocera-
tites, nautilites, terebratulites, &c. The sandstone is, like the
salt deposite, not found every where ; and, frequently, its place
is taken by a marly deposite, which is characterized by fucoides,
ammonites, hamites, belemnites, encrinites, &c.
Dr Boue’s Comparative View of the Secondary Rocks. 177
The inferior limestone chains contain fishes, and particular
fucoides, (Seefeld) ; the superior limestone contains terebratu-
lites, nautilites, echinites, belemnites, singular bodies like hippur-
ites, ammonites, &c.; and the dolomitic and oolitic character is
more frequent in the superior chain than im the other. All these
five sub-divisions are united together by alternations at their line
of junction, as is well exemplified in the section from Werfen to
Reichenhall in Salzburg.
Parts of the red slate and sandstone formation, below the Al-
pine limestone, re-appear on the northern side of the inferior
chain, as at St Agatha, on the lake of Hallstadt, in the Abtenau,
where it contains ophite or diorite masses, with much gypsum,
as in the Pyrenees. The age of this singular red sandstone de-
posite we shall not now attempt to fix; for, although it has many
of the characters of the old red sandstone, yet many things are
against this classification. :
The Alpine limestone is probably Jurassic, and we may be
able, by means of my extensive collection of fossils, to recognise
in it even those sub-divisions called great Oolite, Corn-brash,
Coral-rag, Oxford Clay, &c. Upon this Alpine limestone there
is superimposed, partly in conformable, partly in an unconform-
able position, a most diversified deposite, which is to be observed
near the Wand in Lower Austria, at Lunz, Hinter Laussa,
Gams, Hieflau, Windish Gersten, on the lake of Gmund, in the
basin-like valley of Gossau, in the valley of Abtenau, upon the
northern part of the Untersberg near Reichenhall, and at Samt-
jech, to the north of Unter Schwatz in the Tyrol. Geological
maps, sections, and descriptions, will fully prove this fact.
Here, for the present, we shall rest satisfied, by mentioning
that the conglomerate, which often forms the base of this forma-
tion, is seen lying upon the limestone in all the upper parts of
the valleys to the north of Gossau, Geschitt, and Buchberg, and
Hillau ; other parts of the deposite lie unconformably upon Al-
pine limestone in the Brill valley, near Gossau in Hinter Laussa,
or come only in contact with great walls of Alpine limestone, as
at Hennerkog]l, an alpine region near the lake of Gossau. This
formation is composed of conglomerate, marly sandstone, with —
impressions of leaves or culmites, marls, clays, and beds of hip-
purite and nummulite limestone ; these: latter, along with the
OCTOBER—DECEMBER 1829. M
178 Dr Boués Comparative View of the Secondary Rocks
conglomerate, occupying the undermost part, although not al-
ways present, as is the case with all the other members. Some-
times one member predominates, sometimes another, and even
in some localities only one or two. members are present. The
fossils of this deposite abound particularly in certain beds of
clay and marl; whole beds of a tornatella like fossil, characterise
the deposite at the Wand in the Gossau, at Gams, at the Un-
tersberg, and in the Tyrol. Amongst the hippurites, like the
long: horns of Provence, we find the spirulites of the lowest
chalk of Rochefort, or smaller ‘species of hippurites. The cy-
clolites are very common every where ; it is the Cyclus hemisphe-
ricus so common in the chalk and greensand of the Perigord.
The Gryphza Columba of the greensand is found in it in the
Gossau, and has been confounded by Mr Lill with the Gry-
pheea arcuata. The variety of madrepores, astroites, agaricia,
fungites, &c., is very great every where; but what is most striking
amongst these secondary fossils, to which must be added some
species of great inocerames or mytilites, Ostrea vesicularis of
the chalk, are found a great many bleached univalve and
bivalve shells, like rostellaria, turitella, natica, ovula, trochus,
pleurotoma, arca, cucullea, lucina, nucula, pecten, corbula,
solen, delphinula, lituolites, discorbites, &c., fossils of which
the species are often tertiary ; and, indeed, so tertiary, that con-
chologists, who have not been in loco, thought there must be
two formations. This opinion, however, is erroneous, for the
same bed, even the same hand-specimen, contains cyclolites, gry-
phites, inocerames, mixed with these tertiary fossils. To the
list of secondary fossils I must add the Ananchites ovata, and
belemnites, which I found at the foot of the Wand, in Austria.
After this detail, I leave to the geological public to judge of
the discrepancy of opinion between myself and Messrs Murchi-
son and Sedgwick, who, as I hear, taking only into considera-
tion the tertiary fossils, have classified the deposite in which
they are contained, with the tertiary class, and suppose that
these fossils had already existed in the time of the green-
sand and chalk deposite. But, does not the greensand of Eng-
land sometimes afford fossils also found in the tertiary soil ?
The most curious localities of this formation is where the sand-
stone, conglomerate, and marl only are present, as at Hinter
in the Alps and the Carpathians. 179
Laussa, where they are separated from the Alpine limestone by
a true pisiform iron-ore. In other parts, as in the Abtenau, very
small parts of this deposite, and often in highly inclined strata,
cover the older limestone, and have always been classed with
the older limestone. This cameleon-like formation appears to
contain gypsum, as at Untersberg, and sometimes also beds of
coal. I did not observe in it any fucoides, although other ve-
getable remains are frequently found in it. Coal is known, and
even used, at the Wand, near Mayersdorf, near Griinbach, and
in the Abtenau. A substance, resembling retinasphalt, is found
in it at Mayersdorf, and in the Gossau. This formation is
most widely extended in Switzerland and Savoy, as in the
canton Appenzell, St Gallen, Glaris, Schwitz, Unterwald (val-
ley of Sarnen), Lucern (Pilatus, Entlibuch), Bern (Ralliger,
Stocke, chain of the Masen, &c.), Pays de Vaud (Diablerets),
in the Faucigny on the hills between Cluse, Vallorsine, and Sal-
lenche. In the two last countries it rises higher than elsewhere,
and perhaps this intimates the sudden elevation of those chains.
The same is the case with the rocks of Mount Perdu, in the Py-
renees ; but there is in that chain, as in Savoy, and at Bex, the
greensand and other accompanying rocks.
Along the whole northern foot of the Alpine limestone chain,
there is a vast deposite of greyish marly sandstone, with beds of
limestone and of marly clays ; it is the well-known sandstone of
the Appenine and great Carpathian chains, viz. that sandstone
in which fucoides are so frequent, the sandstone which also
belongs to the S.E. part of Europe and the Pyrenees. This
formation lies, in some places, unconformably upon Alpine lime-
stone, as perhaps at Gieshiibel near Vienna, or it comes most
abruptly, and in a highly-inclined position in contact with the
Alpine limestone, as near Ipsitz in Austria, at St Lorenz near
Mondsee ; in other places it is united with the limestone, by al-
ternation, as near to Waidhofen, and especially near Amergau
in Bavaria, and between Baden and Heiligen Kreiitz in Lower
Austria. The junctions, however, are generally concealed, or
occupied by valleys. This vast deposite, several thousand feet
thick, contains, in the lower. part, conglomerate, and sometimes
considerable beds of coal, with impressions of cycadées and
other vegetables, as at Ipsitz, Gersten, and in the Carpathians.
M 2
180 Dr Boue’s Comparative View of the Secondary Rocks
In the Carpathian chain, the undermost part of this vast depo-
site is marl and limestone; the middle part is very quartzy,
and the uppermost part is characterised by a smaller or greater
number of beds of a particular compact limestone, containing am-
monites, belemnites, and encrinites. Instances of it are seen at
St Veit near Vienna, and also between Trentschin, and Silein,
and Arvain Hungary. It isidentical with the ruiniform or land-
scape marble of Florence; and beautiful ruimiform varieties are
met with both in the Carpathians and in the Alps (Klosternen-
berg, Sontagsberg.) ;
These contorted and curved strata, pass gradually into chlo-
ritic greensand rocks, so that both deposites are intimately
united, This transition often takes place upon two sides, as
in the section between Jablunka and Silein in the Carpathians,
or between Teisendorf and Reichenhall in Bavaria, or on one
side, as between Gmund and Trauenstei. In this last place,
the greensand part is entangled between the greyish sand-
stone formation and the Alpine limestone of the Trauenstein,
in the Geschlief, in such a way that one would be apt to say
that the vertical strata of the Trauenstein cover the greensand ;
but an examination at once disproves such an opinion. Masses
of serpentine are found in the greyish sandstone, in two points
between Waidhofen and Ipsitz, as well as in Italy; and ophite
or diorite form curious veins in the lowermost marly part of the
Moravian district of Teschen and Paskaw, &c.
The classification of this sandstone has hitherto been attended
with much difficulty ; but no one could believe that, if the Al-
pine limestone belongs to the Jura limestone, this sandstone
must belong to the greensand ; for I found it lying upon newer
parts of the Jura limestone, and containing diceratites, madre-
pores, &c., at Andryschow, in Gallicia; and this Jura lime-
stone is the same that extends from Ernstbrunn, in Austria, to
Nicolsburg, to Kurowitz, Stramberg, Stanislowitz, Podgoreze,
and at last to the great Jura deposite of Russian Poland. The
Jura limestone, a well characterized transition limestone, and
the undermost part of our problematical sandstone, forms a
great extent of country in Eastern Moravia, and Gaallicia,
marked on the maps as entirely transition limestone. Besides,
Mr Lillis of opinion that our sandstone alternates with Jura
in the Alps and the Carpathians. 181
limestone ; that, at Koscielisko, where it lies, as in the Alps,
conformably upon Alpine limestone, it contains nummulites, so
that we are inclined to place it wnder the greensand, which,
in fact, covers it in many places, and even under that other
subdivision of the greensand deposite, which we described in
the Alps, and which reappears with many of the same charac-
ters in the Carpathian chain. It would thus, then, probably
prove to be contemporaneous with the uppermost divisions of
the English Jura, viz. Purbeck limestone and Kimmeridge
clay ? and with those alternations of nummulite and compact
limestone, with the sandstone containing fucoides, in Istria and
Dalmatia. Whether I be right or wrong, the fact still remains
of its lymg upon alpine limestone, as well in the Alps as in the
Carpathians; for the limestone of the Alps continues from
Haimburg and Thelen, through Jablonitz, Neustadt, Trents-
chin, Silein, Bela, Tishora, to Koscielisko and Zakopane, in the
Tatra, and terminates there to the eastward of this crystalline
groupe. In the limestone chain of the Tatra, I observed the lime-
stone lying upon the red sandstone, which is separated from the
limestone by a breccia containing belemnites, terebratulites, &c. ;
the same subdivision into two limestones separated by a marly
sandstone, containing fucoides; but the whole deposite is by no
means so thick as in the Alps. Upon this limestone our proble-
matical sandstone lies; and above its upper limestone beds there
occur only the conglomerate, nummulite limestone, and a grey
sandstone, without fucoides, which we saw in the Alps. The sec-
tion from Koscielisko to Neumarkt is very excellent, every bed
nearly is seen, and there is no derangement of the stratification ;
it is the equivalent, as M. Lill says, to that in the Alps between
Werfen and Teisendorf, which is the best in the whole Alpine
chain.
The Carpathian chain appears to be so constituted, that our
greyish sandstone lies en the south side upon the Carpathian
Jura limestone, our presumed Jura limestone; while, on the
north side, it lies on the decided Jura limestone of Poland. In
the middle the limestone forms basin-shaped cavities, filled up
by rocks like those of Gossau, and the true chloritic greensand,
followed by the lowermost hard chalk, or Planer limestone, with
fishes, inocerames, &c. and vegetable remains. A great part of
182 Dr Boué’s Comparative View of the Secondary Rocks
Gallicia is occupied by a chalk-basin of this description, covered
with tertiary rocks. ‘The particular feature of this Carpathian
aud Alpine chalk, is its alternation with very sandy or marly
greyish-sandstone, with fossil vegetables. In the Alps, fine
masses of this kind occur in the greensand in the Allgau near
Sonthofen, where it contains also in its undermost part not only
nummulite limestone, but also, as at Neukirchen and Lauerz,
iron-ore, with many fossils. Count Munster pronounces these
last to be tertiary, an opinion which I cannot reconcile with the
belemnites, inocerames, and ammonites, which 1 found in the
under part of the greensand of Sonthofen.
Upon the chalk of Gallicia there rests a vast deposite of blue
clay, with gypsum, salt, and sulphur. I found in the salt not
only some subappenine shells, as Ostrea navicularis, taken for a
Gryphza acuta by M. Pusch, Pleurotoma, a Nucula, allied to
the Margaritacea, microscopic shells, &c., but also fresh-water
shells, as Anodontz, Paludinze and Mytili, like those of the Da-
nube. ‘These shells of Wieliezka probably occur in other salt-
mines. At Lemberg I found, upon the chalk, the same marls,
with rolled masses of the same Jura limestone and of granite as
in the mine of Wieliezka. The Moldavian and Transylvanian
salt deposite, with brown coal, must also be tertiary. Above
this clay there is only a very thick deposite of sand and sand-
stone, which covers the foot of the Carpathians in Gallicia, as
well as in Transylvania, but which, being the result of the de-
composition of the Carpathian sandstone, occasionally assumes -
its appearance, and has till now been confounded with it.
The tertiary sandstone is characterized by its sands, its marls,
its beds of semiopal, its tertiary shells (ostrea, pecten, nummu-
lites), and its not containing fucoides. In the plain of Gallicia
and Podolia, and in the Bukowina, the tertiary clay is covered
by sand, sandy marl, with beds of a tertiary limestone, which
is partly cellular, without shells, and has the appearance of a
formation which has taken place in brackish water. Generally
these beds are followed by others full of cerites, or miliolites,
and also mixtures of fresh and salt water shells, resembing those
in Austria and Hungary, and above there are vast deposites in
the quartzy sand, of coral limestone, both compact and disinte-
grated. An old alluvial marl covers the whole near the great ri-
——_——
in the Alps and the Carpathians. 183
ver. ‘The coral limestone occupies the same position in Austria
and Hungary as it does in Gallicia, and not under the clay, as
every one, excepting M. Prevost, thought. New quarries have
established this fact ina decisive manner. French geologists had
already, through means of the fossils, come to the same conclu-
sion, in regard to the coral limestone of Brittany and Manche,
which is the calcaire moellon of Marcel de Serres. ‘The under
part of the blue clay at Lemberg, in Gallicia, abounds in amber.
You already know that the chalk on the Dneister lies upon a
reddish sandstone, united by alternations with a limestone con-
taining trilobites, orthoceratites, spirifer, productus, bitibulites,
or the spines of the Strophomene rugosa. M. Partsch observed
in different places of Transylvania the same undermost green-
‘sand formation, with tornatille, cerithia, the Gryphzxa co-
lumba, asin the Alps. The same deposite, with immensely thick
beds containing Gryphezea columba, I observed, in company
with Kefferstein and Lill, at Orlowa, in the N. W. Carpathian.
The same, with beds of nummulite limestone, is met with in
Bukowina and at Poyana Stampi.
Description of several New or Rare Plants which have lately
flowered in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh, and chiefly in
the Royal Botanic Garden. By Dr Grauam, Professor
of Botany in the University of Edinburgh.
10th Dec. 1829.
Begonia diversifolia.
B. diversifolia ; herbacea, glaberrima ; foliis radicalibus reniformibus late
crenatis, caulinis sublobatis ineequaliter argute serratis, superioribus
inzequaliter cordatis, inferioribus reniformibus ; floribus axillaribus
congestis, pedunculis petiolos zquantibus vel superantibus ramosis ;
capsulze ala maxima acutangula.
Description.—Whole plant smooth and shining. Stem herbaceous, twin-
ing, branched, smooth, very obscurely angled, transparent. Stem leaves al-
ternate, petioled, half cordate, acuminate, somewhat lobed towards the
base, acutely and unequally serrated, smooth, bright green above, paler
and somewhat glaucous behind; nerves branched and prominent behind:
petioles shorter than the leaves, spreading, flattened on the upper side.
Root-leaves kidney-shaped, nearly equalat the base, broadly crenate, on
petioles many times longer than themselves, and which are slightly com-
pressed at the sides, and channelled above: afew leaves at the bottom of
the stem resemble these, but are on shorter petioles, and have their edges
pretty equally lobed, the lobes being unequally and sharply serrated.
184
Dr Graham’s Description of New or Rare Plants.
Stipule ovate, oblique, green, ciliated. . Peduncles axillary, about as long
as the petioles on the lower part of the stem, longer above ; slightly
compressed, bracteate, pedicels rising from the axils of the bractez, so-
litary, or two together, a male and female. Occasionally the peduncle
is twice divided, with a pair of opposite bracteze at each division ; and it
is extremely probable, that, at another season of the year, the inflores-
cence would look very differently, and the plant assume a much hand-
somer appearance, from perfecting many more flowers; for in the
axil of the leaf from whence the peduncle springs, and in the bosom of
each bractea, there is a cluster of flower-buds. Bractee cordato-ovate,
- concave, blunt, entire, shorter than the pedicels. Corolla rose-coloured ;
outer petals cordato-ovate, pointed, sharply serrated; inner petals ob-
ovato-elliptical, entire, subacute. Stamens yellow, monadelphous, union
of the filaments extended high ; anthers (as is common in the genus) ob-
ovate, truncated, compressed, the pollen-cases being distant, lateral, con-
nate. Germen with three unequal sides, unequally winged, of three
somewhat unequal loculaments, each containing a large, green, bi-parted,
waved, seminal receptacle, covered with minute ovules; the largest
wing acute, the second subacute, and the third very small and rounded.
As far as I can judge by the imperfect characters which have been pub-
lihed of this beautiful and extensive genus, this species is undescribed.
It was raised from seeds sent from Rigla in Mexico to P. Neill, Esq. by
Captain Vetch, and flowered in the stove at Canonmills in October
1829.
Gomphalobium polymorphum, var. luteum.
This variety was imported from New Holland by F. Henchman, Esq. and
sent by Mr Mackay to the Royal Botanic Garden, where it flowered in
spring last. It does not differ at all from the representation given of
the species in Botanical Magazine, t. 1533, except that the leaves are
more generally linear, and the flowers of a bright yellow, with a faint
red tinge on the back of the vexillum.
Sphacele Lindleyi.
S. Lindleyi ; ramis floccoso-tomentosis ; foliis petiolatis, cordato-deltoi-
deis, subtus albidis ; bracteis sessilibus ovatis ; verticillis sub-8-floris.
Sphacele Lindleyi, ramis floccoso-tomentosis, foliis petiolatis ovato-lan-
ceolatis basi obtuse hastato-sagittatis subtus tomentosis superioribus
sessilibus axillis utrinque sub-trifloris.—+Benth. MS.
Sphacele Lindleyi, Benth. in Bot. Reg. fol. 1289.
Stachys salviee, Lindl. Bot. Reg. t. 1226.
DeEscriptTion.—Shrub (in our specimens 5 feet high). Stem round below,
bark brown, cracked, and peeling, younger shoots tetragonous, green,
and pretty densely covered with short, white, soft tomentum. Wood
hard, with a large pith. Branches decussating- Leaves on petioles about
a third of their own length, spreading, cordato-deltoid, attenuated to a
long bluntish apex, much wrinkled, light green, on both sides covered
with a short soft tomentum most abundant and white below, middle
rib strong, and, as well as the reticulated veins, very prominent below.
Bractee sessile, ovate, acute, in structure and colour resembling the
leaves. Flowers in verticels, generally of 8 flowers, spreading at right
angles, peduncled : peduncles simple, filiform, purple. Caly# campanu-
late, scarcely bilabiate, green, with many (13-15, Benth.) purplish nerves,
reticulated towards the teeth ; tube twice as long as the peduncle, naked
within ; teeth 5, subulate, subequal, rather larger upwards, naked at
their apices, giving to a point the appearance of a minute soft amucro,
but every where else on its outside, as well as the peduncle and outside
of the corolla, tomentous. | Corolla bilabiate, purple, twice as long as the
calyx; tube subcylindrical, slightly inflated towards the faux, white at
its origin, and, where the colourless portion terminates, surrounded on
Dr Graham’s Description of New or Rare Plants. 185
its inner side with a dense ring of erect white hairs; upper lip suberect,
notched ; lower lip trifid, lobes rounded, nearly equal, reflexed, the
middle one emarginate. Stamens 4, didynamous ; filaments adhering to
the inner side of the tube to near the faux, erect, straight, distant,
nearly colourless ; anthers dark, bilobular, lobes linear, subacute, spread-
ing, and both turned outwards, forming nearly a right angle with each
other; pollen white. Stigmata subequal, spreading. Style filiform, shorter
than the stamens, purple above. Germen on a fleshy disk, 4-lobed, lobes
obovate, green, smooth. Whole plant perfumed.
The genus Sphacele was instituted by Mr Bentham in his valuable review
of the Labiate, now in the course of publication in the Botanical Regis-
ter, and characterised in fol. 1289. of that work. The name is meant to
express the resemblance to the Sage, which is indeed very great in the
present species. Mr Bentham enumerates three species, which he finds
in the herbarium of the Horticultural Society, all collected in Chili by
Mr Macrae, collector to the Society; and the specific character which I
have quoted from Mr Bentham, is contained in a letter to Dr Hooker,
from which also I have extracted, with his permission, some part of the
above description. Dr Hooker informs me that he also has three spe-
cies in his herbarium; but he does not say whether they are the same
as those mentioned by Mr Bentham.
This species was raised from seed sent to the Royal Botanic Garden, Edin-
burgh, by Mr Cruckshank in 1822, |having been gathered by him in
Chil, where only the genus has hitherto been found. It has been kept
in the greenhouse, and flowered with us for the first time in November
1829. It has also flowered in the Botanic Garden, Glasgow, the seeds
having been procured from the same valuable correspondent.
Lobelia mollis.
L. mollis; annua; caule erecto, ramoso-pubescente ; foliis petiolatis, sub-
cordato-ovatis, acutis, supra pubescentibus, subtus ad venas solummodo,
mucronulato-duplicato-serratis, superioribus lanceolatis ; bracteis pu-
bescentibus; pedunculis terminalibus, elongatis, racemosis ; pedicellis
laxis; calyce inferiore, laciniis subulatis, corolla brevioribus.
Descrirtion.—Annual (1 foot high). Stem erect, branched, slightly
flexuose, sparingly pubescent, purplish below, green above. Branches
erect.. Leaves (8 lines long, 6 broad) scattered, petioled, pale green, soft,
ciliated, pubescent on the upper surface, but on the midrib and veins
only below, subcordato-ovate, doubly incise-serrated, each vein termi-
nated with a little dark mucro; the lower leaves less acute and more en-
tire, the upper narrower and more lanceolate, those in the middle of the
stem ovato-deltoid and pointed. Petioles half the length of the leaves,
“ec are winged and ciliated. Peduncles terminal, elongated (34 inches
below the lowest pedicel) nearly glabrous. . Pedicels (6 lines long) fili-
form, slightly pubescent, rising from the axil of a subulate, pubescent
bractea, which is less than a third of the length of the pedicel. Calyz of
5 subulate segments, inferior, subadpressed, green, glabrous, equal in
length to the tube of the corolla, marcescent. Corolla (24 lines long) in-
ferior, glabrous, purplish, marcescent; limb 5 parted, two segments
spreading, and turned up, linear-subulate, three straight parallel, pro-
jecting downwards and forwards, linear-lanceolate nearly equal to each
other, concave, broader and paler than the ascending segments; tube
cylindrical, cleft along its upper side, equal in length to the calyx. Sta-
mens five ; filaments pubescent, flat, colourless ; anthers united, purplish,
slightly hairy, with two short, white awns, projecting from their lower
edge. Pistil equal in length to the stamens; germen superior, ovate,
a glabrous, grooved on two sides ; style subclavate, smooth, colour-
ess; stigma subsimple, pale leaden-coloured, bearded ; ovules minute,
numerous, attached to a central receptacle. Seeds small, ovate, brown.
Raised at the Botanic Garden from Dominica seeds sent by Dr Krous in
the end of 1828, and flowered from September to November.
186 Dr Graham’s Description of New or Rare Plants.
The species is very nearly related to Lobelia Xalapensis, Humboldt, Nov.
Gen. Spec. Plant. v. iii. p. 246., but differs in the bractez and stem being
pubescent, in the sharp teeth of its leaves, in the longer peduncles and
pedicels, and in the calyx equalling the tube only, not the whole length
of the corolla. If Sprengel is right (System. Veget. i. 713.) in consider-
ing L. Xalapensis perennial, then L. mollis further differs in being strictly
annual; but if I have not furgotten, and I have not the volume by me
at the moment, Humboldt makes no such statement.
Lobelia rugulosa.
L. rugulosa; foliis subrotundis, repandis, nervoso-rugulosis, glabris pe-
dunculis folia longe superantibus ; laciniis calycinis integerrimis, base
glandulosis; caule maculato, prostrato, radicanti.
Description.—Whvle plant glabrous, with milky juice. Stem procum-
bent, diffused, much branched, slightly flexuose, covered with oblong,
dark olive-brown spots, obscurely channelled on two sides, one side of
each shallow groove having a slightly prominent edge. Leaves (4 lines
long, 3 broad) alternate, distichous, spreading at right angles to the
stem, flat, petioled, veined, dark green and slightly wrinkled above from
e elevated veins, paler below, edges slightly callous, repand, dentate.
Petioles about a third of the length of the leaves. Peduneles (13 inch
long) solitary, axillary, erect, filiform, reddish below, green above. Ca-
lyx persisting, superior, segments awl-shaped, nearly equal, somewhat
spreading, quite entire, having along each edge at the base an oblong
gland, which is in certain states green and indistinct, in others white
and conspicuous. Corolla (8 lines across) white, marcescent, cleft nearly
to the base along the upper side, segments five, somewhat unequal,
spreading, slightly pointed, arranged like the radii of a semicircle, the
middle segment rather the largest and most linear, the others narrower,
more tapering at the base, and more deeply divided; at the faux, the
four upper segments have in the middle a purple streak, the lowest seg-
ment, and the somewhat prominent edges of the others in contact with
it, are at this point yellow. Stamens 5, equal to the length of the tube
of the corolla; filaments free, curved, colourless; anthers united, curved,
leaden-coloured, smooth, with two short awns projecting downwards
from their apex; pollen white. Stigma large, glandular, bilobular, re-
volute, of a faint rose colour. Style green, bent at its apex. Germen
green, obovate, slightly compressed laterally, oblique, slightly furrowed,
bilocular, dissepiment in the shortest diameter with a seminal receptacle
on each side. Ovules numerous, minute, colourless.
We received this plant, without any specific name, from Messrs Young,
nurserymen, Epsom, in 1828. It is a native of New Zealand, and |
flowered very freely in the greenhouse of the Royal Botanic Garden in |
August and September. As far as I can judge by the description of Lo-
belia membranacea, in Prodr. Nov. Holland., it should stand next to that :
species of Mr Brown.
Celestial Phenomena. from January 1. to March 1. 1830, calcu-
lated for the Meridian of Edinburgh, Mean Time. By
Mr GeorceE Innes, Aberdeen.
The times are inserted according to the Civil reckoning, the day beginning at midnight.
—The Conjunctions of the Moon with the Stars are given in Right Ascension.
JANUARY.
D. Fel Oe D. H
a o> foe 17 )) First Quarter. | 17. 4 057 ( Last Quarter
3% 1 4650 d)oxX 17, 144513 d)xmy
4 113730 ¢6d%2% 19. 75233 ¢))ya
& 20 654 d)ryd 20. 85323 d6)ég
5. 212313 fg)l3y 20. 95727 6) Oph.
5. 21 52 41 6) 238 20 11 38 37 © enters sss
6. 2 52 44 d)2z8 20 16 51 33 Em. III. sat. 2/
8. 15 35 8 Bice 21. 1 27 16 dYat
9. 3 26 37 © Full Moon 22 ll 3 36 dg) x
Ll. 756 2 })h 2. 33.2913 gd Opes
11. 12 49 35 SDE 24. 16 53 59 © New Moon.
BP is20T GB IV 4 201540 ¢)H-
ei? or, uth EE Beh aan Soe hs
13. 233839 J¢)rQ 26. 123631 6)9e0
14 113557 ¢)etmy 26. 1850 - ¢4@QH
14. 132916 Gace 27. .. =. . & greatest elong.
1b. 31251) 6 oo TH 27. 195120 4)?
15. 103520 od 27. 205043 Em. III. sat. Y/
16. 5 50)37 dy oT Sk. 10 47 28 ) First Quarter.
FEBRUARY
D. H. aes D. H. Feed,
2. 14449 g)yB 13. 223013 g¢)xTy
2. 3222 S)ldyZ 15, 16-11-28...) y=
2. 3 32 21 d)288 16. 0 29 26 ( Last Quarter.
2. 83754 f¢)as 16. 1849 3 6) @ Oph.
4. 040 - Oh 18. 5 49 18 Im. IIL. sat. 2/
“L- Si 4812-4) 18. 6212 gj¢
4. 19 44 7 © Full Moon 19 2 22 47 © enters H
7 12042 2) BYE 19 94144 4)7
9. 0 39 18 db 3d 3 Oph. 20. 2 12 27 ¥ verynear ly f
1. 829 t d)rK 3. 994 ¢)H
10. 1325 6 6 ¢ B Oph. Bh 20H cre -B-
10. 191822 g)any 22, 224456 d)BbK
il. 10 52 56 d Da» TM 23 4 36 58 @ New Moon
ll. 2330 - Inf d6@S G65 1 Sg! ey
12 132716 g)om
188 Celestial Phenomena frem Jan. 1. to April 1. 1830.
MARCH.
D. Enemy D. i wp oy
i 72412 So)yB 16. 101217. g)of
in 8 40 45 $f )1dB 17. 17 31 58 ( Last Quarter
ie 9 10 20 d)238 18 411 0 oogw?
lL 141210 S)eXs 19. 2550 )¢
1. 20 1 44 ) First Quarter. | 19. 2 27 53 dé px
5. 5 30 50 Im. I. sat. 2/ 19. 11 55 18 5646 YU
5. Loggaates Sid Iot 2. 85237 d)BK
6 410% 47 20.. 2 233 4)H
7. 3°94 SPER 21 22655 G@enters ~
7 1540 ~ Ink dO? 22. #94655 g)See
9. 13 28 53) = Full Moon. | 22. 20 57 - dg )®
9. 14017-29° » SS )'e iQ 23 03055 4)
10. Rss) © greatest elong. | 24. 14 37 0 @ New Moon
10. 21217. 6)>)4T] 26. 44220 Em. IIL sat. 7/
10. 174611 fg )aty 22 1145 —- d8ose
UU. 52244 ¢)y™]y 6. SS FF - Goya
1. =62019 27. dg DOTY 28. 162116 ¢)13%
12. 18 40 32 ddl vf 28 16 49 52 5d) 238
13. 52153 d)xzt® 28. 2142 0 S)ad
14. 23°17 S2 oat ae Be 6 49 24 ) First Quarter
16. 217 38 d ) ¢ Oph.
Times of the Planets passing the Meridian.
| JANUARY.
Mercury. Venus. Mars. Jupiter.
ay Ae, Be 3:7
15 19 8 42 LL AG
15 17 8 37 ll 6
10; 12 53 15 14 & 32 10 49
15} 13 8 15 9 8 26 10 35
20} 13 19 15 1 8 19 10 19
13 26 10 5
en
09
eT eT
is
a a: Ca
1j 12 24
5) 12 37
Saturn. Georgian.
Jupiter.
H. £¢ 2 sprit
7 37 8 17 22 26
7 32 6 4 22 9
7 27 7 48 21 48
7. 21 7 30 21 27
TAT 7 14 oar
7 fea i 657 20 46
Proceedings of the Wernerian Society. 189
On the 6th of January there will be an occultation of Aldebaran by the
Moon.
; H. ‘ a“
Immersion, . .. 5 - 3 26 40, at 157°
Hmersion;’*"s, . "5 1,204! 14°53, at 281°
The angles are reckoned from the Moon’s vertex, towards the right hand,
round the circumference, as viewed in an inverting telescope.
Proceedings of the Wernerian Natural History Society.
1829, Dec. 5.—Dr Wattrer Apa, V. P. in the Chair.—
Mr Witham of Lartington read an interesting paper on the
Vegetation of the first period of the ancient World, and illus-
trated it by sketches, and by the exhibition of a number of fine
specimens of stigmariz and sigillariz, chiefly from the coal-
field of Newcastle. In the course of his observations, he like-
wise gave an account of the very remarkable stem of a monoco-
tyledonous plant found in Craigleith Quarry three years ago.
(See p. 195.)—Dr John Gillies then read an account of the
extensive Roads or Highways of the ancient Peruvians, still
known by the name of Caminos del Inga. (The Doctor's paper
is printed in the present Number of this Journal, pp. 53-58.) —
The Rey. Dr Scot then read an essay on the Okrub of the an-
cient Hebrews, or Scorpion of the English Bible.
At this meeting, the following gentlemen were elected OrricE-
Bearers of the Society for 1830:
Rosert Jameson, Esq. President.
VICE-PRESIDENTS.
Henry Witham, Esq. Dr R. K. Greville.
Dr Walter Adam. David Falconar, Esq.
Secretary, P. Neill, Esq. Librarian, James Wilson, Esq.
Treasurer, A. G. Ellis, Esq. Painter, P. Syme, Esq.
COUNCIL.
Dr John Boggie. Sir Arthur Nicholson, Bart.
Rev. Dr Brunton. Dr John Gillies.
John Stark, Esq. Rev. Dr David Scot.
Dr John Aitken. Dr Charles Anderson.
( 190 )
SCIENTIFIC IN'TELLIGENCE.
METEOROLOGY.
1. Extreme dryness of the atmosphere of Greece, and rising of
the land there.—In a letter from Bory St Vincent, at present in
Greece, to Geoffroy St Hilaire, dated Milo, 20th September,
there are curious details in regard to the extreme dryness that
prevails in the isles of the Archipelago during the summer.
The dryness is such, that, under the influence of a temperature
of 86° Fahr., nearly the whole animals and vegetables of the
country disappear. The plains of France, he says, are less naked,
and more abundant in animals, in the month of January, than are
these islands in the months of summer. The only living crea-
tures observed during the warm season are a few lizards running
about the dry stone-walls. The coasts of the islands are not
less meagre of living beings than the land ; there are but three
species of fucus, and six confervee, and consequently no fishes.
M. Bory St Vincent has particularly examined Santorini, the
most curious island in the Mediterranean. It is throughout of
volcanic formation. He is of opinion that new volcanoes will
soon appear there. He visited a road-stead where the bottom
is rising from year to year, and at present is not more than
three fathoms from the surface of the sea, and is sensibly warm.
Every thing announces that it will soon appear above the sur-
face.
2. Winter climate of Rome very favourable for consumptive
persons.—Carus, in his lately published Analekten, agrees with
Dr Clarke in thinking that the beautiful and mild winter of
Rome is very beneficial to consumptive patients, and adds, that
this opinion is further strengthened by an appeal to the power-
ful and handsome form of the Romans, particularly the Roman
females. In summer, Rome is exceedingly unpleasant and un-
healthy. In proof of this it may be mentioned that the fever
Hospital of St Carlo, during the winter season, is nearly empty,
while in summer it generally contains 1000 fever patients,
2
-
Scientific Intelligence.—Meteorology. 191
brought from the unhealthy parts of Rome, and the Campagna
di Roma.
3. Climate of the Southern Hemisphere.—A letter from an
officer of His Majesty’s Ship, Chanticleer, says, ‘* The cold of
southern regions is a complete fable, and at variance with truth
and nature. At Cape Horn, in latitude 56° deg. south, vege-
tation was in full vigour in May, or the November of their
year, and snow rarely lies upon the low grounds. In fact, we
have sufficient matter to elucidate the climate of the south, and
to establish its comparative mildness with the north, especially
if America be taken as the example. Thesummers of the south
are by no means warm or hot, nor the winters cold; but to
compensate for this, it is the region of wind, storms, and rain ;
perpetual gales, and eternal rains: never twenty-four hours
without rain.” Another account from the same quarter says,
Staten Land or Island is composed of steep mountains, 2000
feet high, covered to their summits with trees. The soil,
at the foot of the mountains, is singularly marshy. The mean
temperature of the island is constantly low, and varies but
little ; there is not more than a difference of four or five degrees
of Fahr. during the twenty-four hours. The summers are not
warm, the winters not cold; but as a compensation it seems to
be the region of winds and tempests: not a day passes without
rain, and the gusts of wind are almost perpetual. The barome-
ter is almost always low ; the magnetic intensity is feeble ; elec-
trical phenomena are of rare occurrence ; and the winds are ge-
nerally westerly.
4. Dr Gerard's Travels in Thibet.—Dr Gerard,the brother of
Col. Gerard, who has traversed the Himalaya mountains, has just
visited the valley of Sutlej, and made some curious observations
at that place, which is the highest inhabited spot on the globe.
The principal object of his journey was the introduction of vac-
cination into Thibet ; but it appears that the prejudices of the
Rajah prevented him from succeeding in that humane enter-
prise. One of the villages where he stopped was proved to be
14,700 feet above the level of the sea. At this place, in the
month of October, the thermometer in the morning marked
192 Scientific Intelligence — Meteorology.
16° Fahrenheit, and, during the day, the rays of the sun were
so hot as to be inconvenient, and yet the waters in the lakes
and rivers were frozen during the night, but were free from
ice at two o'clock in the afternoon. By means of artificial ir-
rigation, and the acticn of solar heat, large quantities of rye
were raised at this immense height, some of the fields being at
14,900 feet. Dr Gerard gives his opinion, that cultivation might
be carried as high as from 16,000 to 17,000 feet. The goats
bred in this region are the finest in the country, and are of that
species whose wool is used for the.manufacture of shawls. At
a height of 15,500 feet, quantities of fossil shells are found on
calcareous rocks, upon strata of granite and pulverised schist :
they consist of mussels, and others of various forms and dimen-
sions. To the north of the frontier of Kinnaour, Dr Gerard
attained a height of more than 20,000 feet, without crossing
the perpetual snow. At one o'clock in the afternoon, the ther-
mometer was at 27° of Fahrenheit. Notwithstanding this ex-
treme elevation, the action of the sun had an unpleasant ef-
fect, though in the shade the air was. freezing. The aspect of
the surrounding regions was sublime and terrible ; and, on the
frontier, a ridge of snow was perceptible. In these regions,
which for a long time were inaccessible, Mr Gerard met with
one of the most intrepid philologists known in Hungary, named
Cosma de Kerds. This traveller, after advancing towards the
centre of Asia, arrived at Kinnaour, in Thibet, where he fixed
himself in the monastery of Kanum, and lived among the monks
of the Lamaic religion. Aided by a learned Lama, he made
great progress in the study of the literature of Thibet, and dis-
covered an encyclopzedia in forty-four volumes, which treated of
the arts and sciences. The medical part of this large work
forms five volumes. ‘The art of lithography has been practised
at the principal city of Thibet from time immemorial, and it
has been used to display the anatomy of the different parts of
the human body. It appears that science and letters, flying
from the tyranny of the caste of the Brahmins, abandoned the
plains of Hindostan, and took refuge on the mountains of Thi-
bet, where, until the present time, they remained totally un-
known to the rest of the world.
Scientific Intelligence —Hydrography. 193
HY DROGRAPHY.
5. Ice-Islands off the Cape of Good Hope.—A remarkable
debacle has taken place this year among the Antarctic ices. A-
bout the end of April last, our ships met enormous floating
masses of ice, about a hundred leagues from the Cape of Good
Hope. The ship Farquharson being in south latitude 39° 45,
and 48° 46’ long., saw two ice-islands about 150 feet high,
and about two miles.in circumference. Their sides were deep-
ly cut by fissures, in which the ice in some places resembled re-
fined sugar, in others was not unlike limestone. These islands
were surrounded with fields of ice, which appeared to have been
broken from these islands.
6. Colour of Rivers.—The Rhine in its course from the Alps
to the Lake Constance is bluish ; after its passage through the
green waters of the Lake Constance it is e7ass-green ; and after
repeated mixture with the rivers and streams of the Vorsch-
weitz, Alsace, and the Black Forest, yellowish green. The
Main, flowing from the ferruginous rocks and plains of Fran-
conia, acquires a reddish yellow colour ; during great degrees
of cold, it becomes greenish blue, owing to the deposition of the
iron ochre ; and when if it is not coloured yellow, by long con-
tinued rains, it flows onwards with an amber grey colour. All
the rivers, of Old Bavaria, which are formed of waters from
lakes and alpine streams on the Iller, Lech, Iser, and the Inn,
are bluish green in winter ; in spring grass-green, and in au-
tumn pale herb-green.
MINERALOGY.
7. Impressions of Gems, &c. in Silicecous Sinter.—At the hot
springs of S. Filippo behind Radicofani, on the borders of the
Papal States, siliceous sinter is daily depositing in considerable
quantities. Impressions of gems and coins in this siliceous mi-
neral, can be obtained in no great length of time, by exposing
them to the spray of these springs.
8. Notice of Magnificent Rock-Crystals, and rose-coloured
Fluor Spar.—About 100 years ago, a great drusy cavity, lined
OCTOBEK—DECEMBER 1829, N
194 Scientific Intclliigence.—Mineralogy.
with rock-crystals, was opened in Zinken, which afforded 1000
ewt. of rock-crystal, and at that early period produced 30,000
dollars. One crystal in this magnificent cavity weighed 800
cwt., others from 400 cwt. to 500 cwt. Within these few
years, another opening has been made in the rock under the old
drusy cavity. Last year the work was resumed in August, in
those places where the snow could be removed, The work
is now 34 feet advanced. In the course of working, very pre-
cious and beautiful rose-red octahedral crystals of fluor-spar were
found in a cavity. The larger crystals were from one to two
inches in diameter, and infinitely more beautiful than the rose-
fluor of St Gothard.
9. Magnificent rose-red Fluor-Spar.—Lardy, in a letter to
Leonhard, says, that he saw on St Gothard the famous speci-
men of fluor-spar mentioned by travellers, for which the pro-
prietor asks 50.louis d’ors. It is an octahedron, with a rich
rose-red colour, is four inches in diameter, and is formed of an
ageregate of small octahedrons, or, more correctly, of tetrahe-
drons. He was shewn at the same place a six-sided prism of
corundum, distinctly acuminated on the extremities, four inches
long, and one inch broad. It rests on dolomite. It was offered
for 15 louis d’ors. In the letter, Lardy mentions that the next
meeting of the Swiss naturalists is to take place on Mount St
Bernard.
10. Price of Selenium.—Selenium is now obtained in such
quantity from the seleniferous lead-glance, that it may be pur-
chased perfectly pure, at Harzgerode, at the rate of four louis
dors the ounce.
GEOLOGY.
11. Observations made on Mount Caucasus, by M. Kupfer.
—M. Gay-Lussac communicated to the Academy of Sciences a
letter from M. Kupfer, Professor at Casan, dated from the
Baths of the Caucasus, and containing various physical obser-
vations made on that mountain. M. Kupfer had with him an
escort of 600 Russians and 350 Cossacks, which had been
judged indispensable for his safety in these wild countries. . He
has succeeded, after much labour, in ascending one of the
highest peaks of the Caucasus, which is said to exceed Mont
Scientific Intelligence.—Geology. 195
Blanc in height by 1000 feet. ‘These observations agree with
those which M. Gay-Lussac made at the same time. The
Professor of Casan thinks he may conclude from them, that it
is impossible to attribute the magnetic virtue of the globe to the
existence of a central metallic nucleus.
12. Gigantic fossil Plant of Craigleith Quarry. — About
three years ago, the workmen in this celebrated sandstone quar-
ry (from which has been derived nearly all the beautiful free-
stone with which the New Town of ‘Edinburgh is built) came
accidentally to uncover what seemed to have been the trunk of
a lofty tree. It now lay in a position nearly horizontal, and
conformable to the dip of the sandstone strata. The colour and
consistence of the trunk, or cast resembling a trunk, differed
considerably from that of the sandstone in which it was im-
bedded, and the quarriers easily traced the stem for the length
of thirty-six feet. At the base it was about nine feet in circum-
ference ; and it continued proportionally thick throughout, only
declining slightly in size toward the upper end. It seemed to
have been a single, unbranched stem; at least no certain symp-
tom of ramification appeared. The internal structure seemed
to be uniform, or without any visible distinction of bark, wood,
and pith, or any trace of concentric layers. This singular spe-
cimen may therefore be regarded as a gigantic member of the
Cyperaceze, or of some other family of the Monocotyledonous
tribe, belonging to the earliest Flora of our world. The greater
part of this curious specimen was preserved for Mr Ramsay of
Barnton, the proprietor of the quarry; but some fragments
were left, and these, fortunately, fell into the hands of the ac-
tive and ingenious Mr Witham of Lartington. That gentle-
man had thin sections cut, both transverse and longitudinal ;
and when these are placed under the microscope, the structure
of a monocotyledonous plant is distinctly shewn. Mr Witham
sent a fragment to M. Auguste Brongniart, who has made such
vegetable remains his peculiar study; and he also pronounced
the plant to have been monocotyledonous. At Mr Witham’s
request, likewise, the substance of the stem was submitted to
analysis by Mr William Nicol ; and 100 parts gave
nw2
196 Scientific Intelligence —Geology.
Carbonate of Lime, F 2 60
Oxide of Iron, 3 c s 18
Alumina, 2 i - 4 10
Carbonaceous matter, .- . 9
Loss, : ; : : 3
100
Lime was, therefore, nearly as abundant in the fossil as silica
in the containing sandstone rock.
13. On Tertiary deposites—Marcel de Serres, in his inter-
esting work on the Tertiary Deposites of the South of France,
maintains, that, in that quarter, the coarse marine limestone
(Calcaire grossier) and plastic clay abound. This, however,
is denied by Cordier, Rozet, and Boué, who are of opinion,
that these rocks are entirely awanting there, for there we have
the Mediterranean basin, in which all the tertiary rocks are
newer than the coarse marine limestone, and commence with the
blue clay. The great basins of Wallachia, Bessarabia, Gallicia,
Hungary, Austria, Bavaria, and Switzerland, belong to this sys-
tem. Indeed, Dr Boué remarks, in a letter to Professor Jameson,
“ that the plastic clay, and coarse marine limestone of Paris, exist
only at Paris, and, perhaps, alsoin England, and at a few points
in Northern Germany, at Cassel, Helmstadt, Evessen, &c.
Elsewhere no such formations exist, for all the lignite, or brown-
coal deposites, in other countries, occur in the upper tertiary
formations ; and all which Brongniart and others have classified
as coarse marine limestone in various parts of Europe belong
decidedly to the same upper tertiary formation, which is Boué’s
second tertiary limestone, or the calcaire moellon of Marcel des.
Serres. The coral-limestone of the tertiary basins of Austria,
Hungary, and Gallicia, according to new observations, lies, not
below, but above the blue sub-Appennine clay. This deposite
occurs in the same situation in the Manche, Tourraine, and
Lower Brittany; and the coral limestone of Vienna, according
to C. Prevost, takes the same position in the tertiary series.”
14. Chalk in the United States.—Dr Morton of Philadelphia
has transmitted to Paris a Memoir on the Chalk and Green-
sand he has discovered in the United States. It will appear in
the Annales des Sciences Naturelles of Brongniart.
ee
Scientific Intelligence.—Geology. 197
15. Number of Species of Fossil Shells in the Paris Basin.—
M. Deshayes, in a note to the French Academy of Sciences, in-
timates, that the total number of species of fossil shells in the
Paris Basin determined until this time is 1200.
16. More Caves containing Bones of extinct Animals mixed
with works of art.—M. Marcel des Serres has discovered several
new caves, containing bones of extinct animals buried along with
works of art. These caves, few in number, occur in the south-west
of the department of Herault; at a short distance from the town of
Bize. The bones, which are very numerous, belong chiefly to
the Ursus speleus and Ursus arctoideus. The works of art
found along with these are fragments of very coarse and imper-
fectly made pottery. All these bones and fragments of pottery,
irregularly mixed together, are contained in a red mud, which
also incloses small rolled fragments of rocks, of various kinds.
This mud is analogous to that which occurs in other caves in
different parts of Europe, and which contains only the remains
of extinct animals. Dr Boué, we observe, has just read a com-
munication on this subject to the French Academy. In 1823
he found at Lahr, in what he considers marly diluvium, human
bones. Cuvier, to whom these remains were shewn, agreed
that they were human, but conjectured they might have been
from some very ancient burying-ground. During the present
year, our active friend has again visited this place, which+is on
the Rhine, and is more convinced than ever that they are of
equal antiquity with the remains of antediluvian animals found
in the same beds of marly diluvium,—while others contend,
from the marl occurring on the banks of a river, that it may be
of comparatively recent origin. As the subject will now under-
go a thorough examination, it may be worth while to mention,
that Schlotheim, Donati, Germar, Razoumouski, and Guittard,
in their writings, mention their having found human bones along
with remains of antediluvian animals. Cordier, we are in-
formed, will soon publish a memoir on this curious subject.
17. Natural History Society of Switzerland.—The first vo-
lume of the Memoirs of the Natural History Society of Switzer-
land is about to leave the press. It contains two very interest-
ng memoirs on the Jura by Merian an 1 Rengger, one by Lusser
198 Scientific Intelligence—Botany.
on the Urner Mountains, and also a description of the Bones of
Kupfnach, by Schinz.
18. Bones of the Paleotheriwm in Molasse-—The sandstone
of Ballingen, on the upper Zurich Lake, contains bones and teeth
of the Palzotherium. This ‘sandstone, which is tertiary, and
a variety of the molasse formation, was formerly referred to
the secondary class.
19. Geognostical situation of the great deposite of Lead-
glance and Calamine in Silesia.—It is now perfectly ascertain-
ed, that this extensive deposite occurs in a variety of the shell
limestone, particularly abundant in’ fossil shells. Lead-glance
also occurs in the shell-limestone of Wurtemberg and West-
phalia, and calamine in the same formation, in the Nekar circle
in Baden.
BOTANY.
20. Oak-Trees liable to be struck by Lightning.—In Den-
mark, where there are considerable tracts covered with oak and
beech trees, it is remarked, that the oaks are struck with light-
ning twenty times for once the beeches are struck. It is con-
jectured by some observers, that this circumstance is to be traced
to the forms of the two species of trees.
21. Potato at a great height on the Mountain Orizaba.—
MM. Schiede and Deppe, in a letter to Baron A. Humboldt,
giving an account of their ascent of the great volcano of Ori-
zaba in Mexico, mention that they found the potato in a wild
state, at a height of 10,000 feet above the level of the sea. It
was about 34 inches high, with large blue flowers, and tubers
or potatoes the size of a hazel-nut.
22. Method of detecting the adulteration of Tea.—The Chi-
nese frequently mix the leaves of other shrubs with those of
the tea-plant ; this fraud is easily discovered by adding to an
infusion of it a grain and a half of sulphate of iron. If it is
true green tea, the solution placed between the eye and the
light assumes a pale bluish tint ; if it is dohea tea, the solution
is blue, inclining to black, but if it is adulterated, it shews all
the colours, yellow, green, and black.—Desmarest’s Chemie Re-
creative.
23. Culture of the Vine at Mextco.—The Botanic Garden of
Geneva possesses a collection of more than 600 varieties of
Scientific Intelligence.— Botany. * 199
vines, collected from different vineyards in France, Switzerland,
and Italy. In the month of November 1827, a selection of the
best varieties was sent to Mr L. Alaman, one of the principal
proprietors in the Mexican United States. He planted them
on his lands in the state of Guanaxuato, and writes that a hun-
dred and five stocks are in full vegetation. He adds, that, on
the elevated plain of Mexico, the same inconvenience is not ex-
perienced in the cultivation of the vine which arrests its cultiva-
tion at Cayenne, and in several parts of the United States :
namely, that the grapes of the same cluster ripen unequally.
At Mexico, they ripen together as in Europe, and it is to be
presumed, that this cultivation, which was formerly prohibited by
the Spanish Government, might be established there, the climate
resembling that of Murcia or Rome. If these hopes are realized,
it will be curious that the Botanic Garden of Geneva should have
been the means of furnishing these plants to South America.
It will be recollected that it was the Paris garden that supplied
Martinique with the coffee plants, from which originated all
the coffee plantations in America ; and that, in our own days, it
has sent the bread-fruit tree to Cayenne, where it is now exten-
sively cultivated. Facts like these, evidently demonstrate the
practical utility of these establishments, which are commonly
looked upon as exclusively subservient to theoretical studies.
ZOOLOGY.
24. Periodical appearance of shoals of Herrings, in Loch
Roag.—Loch Roag, in the Western Islands, is one of the lar-
gest arms of the sea called lochs. Its jaws’are about 6 miles
wide, and it runs up through the island of Lewis for about 12
miles. The shores of the loch, following its windings, would
measure not less than 40 miles. In westerly gales, the Atlantic
swell rushes into it with great fury ; but there are many little
islands in it, which afford shelter to shipping, so that the loch
abounds with places of safe anchorage. The finest and purest
kelp used to be manufactured on the rocky shores of this
loch, as evinced by its fetching at Newcastle generally a guinea
per ton more than the kelp of any other Highland district.
Before the middle of the 18th century, Loch Roag was the
most celebrated herring-fishery station on the north-west coast
200 Scientific Intelligence.— Zoology.
of Scot.ana; the Loch Roag herrings being accounted the
largest and richest of all. Swedish vessels used to rendezvous
in the loch, and buy up the herrings at 1s. a crane, 2. e, a barrel of
green fish as taken out of the net.. Soon after 1750, the her-
rings abandoned Loch Roag, and for five and thirty years none
were seen in it. About 1790, the shoals began again to revisit
the loch; and for several years after that date very large and
fine herrings were taken in it, during the months of November,
December and January. In the course of the season of 1794,
no fewer than 90 sail of decked vessels entered the loch, and the
whole herrings captured, were bought up from the country
fishers at the high rate of about half-a-guinea a crane. (Statis-
tical Account of Scotland, vol. xix. p. 252). About 1797 the
herrings once more bade adieu to Loch Roag, and no shoal has
entered its precincts till the present autumn, when, after the
lapse of 32 years, their presence was again witnessed, to the
great joy of the parishioners of Uig. Mr Alexander Campbell,
light-house keeper at Isle of Glass, writes to Mr Stevenson, civil
engineer, on 31st October 1829, “* There is this season a tolerably
good fishing of herrings and cod on the east and west coast of
Long Island : even in Loch Roag a quantity have been caught,
where there have been no herrings for these thirty years past.
At that time back, this loch was the first in the Highlands for
herrings of a large size.”
25. Notice’ of’ the Comparative Anatomist, Bojanus.—This
unfortunate man was not only one of the most skilful anato-
mists of our time, as is shewn by his great work on the Anato-
my of the Tortoise—a work which has never been surpassed,—but
was also deeply versed in the philosophy of this important de-
partment of natural history. He died at Darmstadt, in ‘the
month of April 1827, in the vigour of life, at the age of fifty-
one. His beloved wife, who watched and tended him with
measureless affection, was separated from him by a sudden death,
an event which hastened his dissolution. His last hours were
soothed by the devoted kindness of his sister. He suffered un-
der a fistula of the back, which penetrated to his lungs, and the
bones also were probably corroded. He could stand, but with
the greatest difficulty—he could not sit erect—and was almost
Scientific Intellig ence.— Zoology. 201
deprived of the use of his limbs; and yet, in defiance of mental
agony and bodily pain, he continued, and apparently with undi-
minished vigour, his philosophic labours. The frightful disease
he laboured under was caught at Wilna, in one of those dismal,
cold, and damp apartments so often used for anatomical pur-
poses. No biography of this remarkable man, as far as we
know, has hitherto appeared. He was born at Buchsweiller, in
Alsace, at that time belonging to Hesse Darmstadt. During the
revolution he emigrated with his father, an officer in the Hessian
service, to Darmstadt,—studied at Jena, and afterwards was
appointed Professor of Veterinary Medicine in the University of
Wilna, of which, for twenty years, he was a principal ornament.
In the year 1818 he returned to Germany, on a visit to his rela-
tions and friends at Jena, Weimar, and Darmstadt, with the
title of University Counsellor, and Knight of the order of
Wladmir. On his return, he took with him, from Jena, an
engraver, Lehman, to engrave the plates from his own draw-
ings, for his great work, De Anatomia Test. Europ. Fol. for
in Wilna there were no engravers, and the engraved plates
had to be sent to Petersburgh to be cast off. These inconve-
~niences occasioned an expence of many thousand dollars, for
which he received no return, as in the year 1825, fifty copies
only of the work had sold. | Six copies: were sent to Britain;
and of these, one copy reached Edinburgh.
26. Royal Medal presented to Mr Charles Bell—Our distin-
guished countryman Charles Bell, whose very important and
beautiful discoveries in regard to the nervous system have raised
him to the highest rank as an original and profound anatomist
and physiologist, has just received from the Royal Society of
London the first royal medal, as a testimony of the important
services he has rendered to science by his discoveries.
27. Anatomical, Physiological, and Pathological Researches, in
regard to Veins—M. Dupuytren has just made a very favour-
able report to the French Institute, in regard to M. Breschet’s
work on the veins of the bones. The veins of bones were entirely
unknown about twenty years ago; at least they were only ad-
mitted as a necessary consequence of the laws of organization, for
no facts or researches had then proved their existence. It was
4
202 Scientific Intelligence.— Zoology.
about this time that MM. Fleury and Chaussier, and Breschet,
discovered the veins of bones. For the first time veins were seen
penetrating the diploe, under the form of canals, with ‘osseous
walls, equally incapable of dilatation, contraction, or change of
place. It was discovered that the blood could circulate in these
canals, without the aid of the action of their sides, but solely by
the impulsion of the arterial blood into that of the veins, or by
a kind of inherent power of absorption of this latter order of
vessels. The veins of the flat bones of the cranium, of the
shoulders, and of the pelvis, those of the ends of the principal
long bones, were alone only known at that time, so that much
remained to be discovered. Such was the state of the subject
when Breschet resumed researches which had been abandoned
for along time. Breschet has confirmed all previous observa-
tions, and traced veins through all the other bones in which they
had not been detected. His investigations have made us almost
as completely acquainted with the veins of the bones as we are
with the arteries of the bones. But Breschet has not confined
his researches to the veins of the bones; he has extended them
to the veins which serve to co-ordinate the first to the general
venous system. Here we place his researches into the veins of
the interior surface of the brain, of the surface and interior of
the rachis,—labours which alone would have conferred high
distinction on many anatomists. Such is a general statement of
the facts and discoveries which form the basis of this very ori-
ginal work, now in the progress of publication.
28. Cross of the Anas clangula and Mergus albellus.—Yn-
spector Eimbeck of Brunswick exhibited, at the meeting of
naturalists in Berlin, a bird, which appears intermediate between
the Anas clangula and Mergus albellus. Some of the natural-
ists present were disposed to consider it a cross of the two species
—others to view it as a distinct species. It was shot in the sum-
mer of 1828, near to Brunswick.
29. Remarkable Birth.—A few days ago, a poor man’s wife
at Rowdle was confined, and attended by Dr Clark. She had
three children : the first natural ; the second had four hands and
four feet. ‘The woman and infants are all dead. The third
died before the birth.—Extracted from letter from Alexander
3
ss
Scientific [ ntelligence.— Zoology. 203
Campbell, light-house-keeper at Isle of Glass, to Mr Stevenson,
engineer for Northern Lights.—31st October 1829.
80. Thompson’s Zoological Illustrations.—The third num-
ber of Dr Thompson’s ‘“ Zoological Illustrations and Re-
searches” is nearly ready for publication. It contains a memoir
on the Cirripedes or Barnacles, shewing their deceptive charac-
ter, the remarkable metamorphoses they undergo, and proving
that they belong to the class Crustacea. The same number
also contains observations on the genus Nebalia of the class
‘Crustacea, with an illustrative plate. In volume 6th of the
new series of this Journal, at page 398, we noticed from the
Zoological Journal, the discovery in the Caribbean Seas, by Mr
Landsdoun Guilding, of a new species of recent Encrinus. Mr
Thompson, in the present number of his Illustrations, however,
as we are informed, has proved it to be a Comatula, and main-
tains that no crinoidal animal has been found since he discovered
the Pentacrinus europeus. We may add, that Heusinger,
who is about to publish his observations on the Comatulz of
the Mediterranean, is disposed to consider Dr Thompson’s Pen-
tacrinus as a species of Comatula.
31. The third volume of Pol’s great work, and on the ani-
mal of Argonauta Argo.—The well-known Professor Stefano
delle Chiage, a scholar of Poli, will, we understand, publish
the continuation of that celebrated naturalist’s work under the
title Poli Testac. utr. Sic. tom. iil., cum additamentis et anno-
tationibus, Stephani delle Chiage. Carus, who paid Chiage a
visit some time ago, saw several of the engraved plates of the
work ; one of them, which displayed the shape, anatomy, and
ova of the Argonauta Argo, he considered particularly interest-
ing, because it exhibited, in embryo, within the ovum, the ru-
diments of the shell in which the animal lives, by which the
question, whether the delicate shell in which the animal lives is
its own or one foreign to it, is most satisfactorily answered.
32. Humming Bird and Insects at a great height on the Vol-
cano of Orizaba.—Schiede and Deppe, on their ascent of Orizaba,
observed, at a height of 10,000 feet above the sea, the Humming
Bird (Trochilus) flying round the orange-coloured flowers of
the Castilligen. Ata height between 14,000 and 15,000 feet,
on the same mountain, above the region of grasses, &c. they
204 Scientific Intelligence.— Zoology.
found, under a block of porphyry, many moths, some dead,
others alive, which appear to have been carried upwards into
this snowy region by an ascending current of air. In the same
dreary region, a live species of beetle was found, which, from
its nature, must be considered a native of this lofty situation.
33. Spur on the wing of the Rallus Crex.—The wing of the
Rallus Crex, or Corncraik, is-furnished with a spur, as is the
case with a good many other birds mentioned in a former Num-
ber of this Journal.
34. An Electrical Molluscous Animal.—My Calder mentioned
to the Asiatic Society of Calcutta, a molluscous animal, which
has the property of giving electric shocks, like the torpedo and
gymnotus; but neither genus nor species of the animal is no-
ticed. We hope Mr Collier will inquire after the animal, and
let us know what it is.
35. Species of Mussel exclusively employed as Bait in the
Newfoundland Cod Fishery.—The utility of the inhabitants of
shells (shell-fish) to mankind is well known. ‘The following
fact, as it is connected with an important branch of commerce,
is a further proof of the value of these animals in an econo-
mical point of view. It was communicated to M. Sander Rang
by Bellanger, the captain of a French frigate, and is inserted in
Sang’s valuable work on the Mollusca. The captain, endea-
vouring to ascertain how it happened that the French cod-fishers
on the Banks of Newfoundland were not so successful as the
Americans, discovered that it was owing tothese latter employing,
asa bait, the animal of a species of mya (mussel), which abounds
on several parts of the American coast ; and he was the more con-
firmed in the truth of this fact, by observing that the French
fishers, towards the conclusion of the season, purchased from
the Americans the remaining portions of their bait, in order that
they might the more speedily complete their cargo. Bellanger,
who is well versed in conchology, examined this mya very care-
fully, and found that it was a species met with abundantly on the
coasts of the French channel. ‘To our readers interested in the
kinds of bait used in the Newfoundland fishery, we recommend
the perusal of Mr Cormack’s valuable communication, vol. 1.
of the New Series of this Journal.
Edin new Phil. Jou! Vel .8.pZ0h,.
PLATE I
oy
Wi \
Ll
(wl
Gj A
ao =
———————
EMitchell feubp.
Published bv A Black din! 1850
— |
Scientific Intelligence.—Arts. 205
ARTS.
36. Improvement in the Smelting of Iron.—Heated air for
blast furnaces has been used for some time at the Clyde Iron-
Works, and with great success. Experiments have proved that
iron is smelted by heated air, with three-fourths of the quantity
of coals required, when cold air, that is, air not artificially
heated, is employed for that purpose, while the produce of the
furnace in iron, is at the same time, greatly increased. All the
furnaces at Clyde Iron- Works are now blown with it. At these
works the air, before it is thrown into the blast-furnaces, is
heated 220° of Fahr. in cast-iron vessels placed on furnaces, si-
milar to those of steam-engine boilers. It is expected that a
higher temperature than 220° will be productive of a propor-
tionally increased effect. But this is the subject of experiment.
It is supposed that this improvement will accomplish a saving
in the cost of the iron in Great Britain, to the amount of at
least L. 200,000 a-year.
37. Artificial Ultramarine.—In preparing this pigment, we
must be careful that the mass of silicated natron and alumina is
as moist as possible. If it is too much dried before the addi-
tion of the sulphur, we will wait in vain for the appearance of
the blue colour ; even a greenish-blue tint will not shew itself.
But one and the same mass affords different kinds of ultrama-
rine, which must be separated from each other by repeated
washing. Gmelin remarks, that the success of the operation
appears to depend on the co-operation of the air.—Hermstadt.
List of Patents granted in England from 2d July to 15th Sep-
tember 1829.
1829,
July 2. To E. Gattoway, Southwark, for “ improvements in steam-en-
gines and machinery for propelling vessels.”
To J. Perxins, London, engineer, for ‘“‘ improvements in ma-
chinery for propelling steam-vessels.”
To 'T. Kersy, Wakefield, York, and H. F. Bacon, Leeds, “ for
their new or improved gas-lamp burner.”
4. 'To R. Crabtree, Halesworth, Suffolk, “ for his machine or appara-
tus for propelling carriages, vessels, and locomotive bodies.”
206 List of English Patents.
July 4, To M. Know tes, Surrey, for “ an improved method of construct-
ing and forming ceilings and partitions for dwelling-houses, ware-
houses, work-shops, or other buildings, in order to render the
same more secure against fire.”
To G. K. Scuttrnorrr, Middlesex, gent. for “‘ improvements on
axles or axle-trees, and coach and other springs.”
To J. C. DannrEt1, Bradford, Wilts, clothier, for “‘ improvements
in machinery applicable to dressing woollen cloth.”
8. To W. Ramszottom, Manchester, for “ improvements in power-
looms for weaving cloth.”
To W. Leeson, Birmingham, for “ improvements in harness and
saddlery, part of which improvements are applicable to other pur-
poses.”
To M. Poot, Lincoln’s Inn, Middlesex, for “‘ improvements in
harness and saddlery, part of which improvements are applicable
to other purposes.”
To M. Poors, Lincoln’s Inn, Middlesex, for ‘‘ improvements in
the apparatus for raising or generating steam and currents of air,
and for the application thereof’ to locomotive engines, and other
purposes.”
9. To T. Satmon, Stoke-ferry, Norfolk, for “ his improved malt-
kiln.”
25. To G. Straker, South Shields, for “‘ an improvement in ships’ wind-
lasses.”
To L. Queti1n, London, for “ his improved vehicle, or combina-
tion of vehicles, for the carriage or conveyance of passengers and
luggage.”
To F. H. N. Drake, Esq. Colyton House, Devon, for “‘ improve-
ments in tiles for covering houses, and other buildings.”
To J. Nicholls, Pershall, Stafford, for “ improvements in the lever,
and the application of its power.”
To J. BatEs, Bishopsgate Street, merchant, for “ his improved me-
thod of constructing steam-boilers or generators, whereby the
bulk of the boiler or generator, and the consumption of fuel, are
reduced.
30. To J. Hurcuinson, Liverpool, for “ improvements in machinery
for spinning cotton, silk, linen, woollen, and other fibrous sub-
stances.”
Aug. 1. To J. BaTEs, of Bishopsgate Street-within, for “ his new process
or method of whitening sugar.”
3. To N. Jocetyn, London, late of North America, for “ improve-
ments in the preparation for manufacture of blank forms for
bankers’ checks, bills of exchange, promissory-notes, post-bills,
and other similar instruments, or securities for the exchange of
payments of moneys, by which forgeries and alterations in the
same are prevented or detected.”
5. To J. Bartey, Leicester, frame.smith, for “ improvements in ma-
chinery for making lace.”
List of English Patents. 207
Aug. 5. To J. Brown, Birmingham, coach-maker, for “‘ his improved coach,
particularly adapted for public conveyance and luggage.”
10. To W. Suanp, Esq. Burn, Kincardineshire, for “ improvements
in distillation and evaporation.”
J. J. Macieop, Esq. Westminster, for “ improvements in prepar-
ing or manufacturing certain substances so as to produce barilla.”
11. To J. Rowrann, London, and C. Macmiztian, London, for
“‘ their improved process or mode of constructing, forming, or
making streetways, carriage-roads, and high-ways in general.”
To J. H. Rotre, Cheapside, musical-instrument maker, for “ im-
provements upon the self-acting piano. forte.”
14. To E. Wrerxs, King’s Road, Chelsea, for “‘ improvements in and
upon certain apparatus, already known for the communicating of
heat, by means of the circulation of fluid.”
20. To J. Musuer, Regent Park, for “a certain medicine for gouty
affections of the stomach, spasms, cramps, inflammations of the
lungs, coughs, beyond any other medicine or application in like
cases.”
21. To J. Jones, Leeds, for “‘ improvements in machinery. or appara-
tus for dressing and finishing woollen cloths.
To Lieut. W. Rocrr, London, for “ improvements in the con-
struction of anchors.”
Sept. 2. To G. H. Manton, London, gunmaker, for “‘ an improvement in
the construction of locks for all kinds of fowling-pieces and fire-
arms.”
To J. Tucker, Middlesex, brewer, for improvements in the con-
struction of cannon.
9. To T. S. BranpretH, Liverpool, for ‘a new method of applying
animal power to machinery.”
To J. A. Fonzi, Middlesex, for “ improvements on fire-places.”
To J. Loames, jun. of Wheeler Street, Spitalfields, soapmaker, for
‘a new preparation or manufacture of a certain material pro-
duced from a vegetable substance, and the application thereof to
the purposes of applying light, and other uses.
To J. Morean, Tipton, Stafford, for “ a method of preparing iron-
plates, or black plates for tinning.”
Sept. 9. To Colonel R. Torrens, Croyden, Surrey, for “ an apparatus for
the purpose of communicating power and motion.”
15. To D. Laurence, Strood, and J. C. Asurorn, gunmakers, Kent,
for “ their improvements in apparatus to be applied to fowling-
pieces and other fire-arms, in place of locks.’
To Captain G. Harris, R. N. Brompton, Middlesex, for “ his
improvements in the manufacture of ropes and cordage, canvas,
and other fabrics or articles, from substances hitherto unused for
that purpose.
To J. Mitye, Edinburgh, architect, for “a machine or engine for
dressing stones used in masonry, by the assistance of a steam-en-
gine, a winch, a horse, or water power, whereby a great quan-
tity of manual labour will be saved.
( 208 )
List of Patents granted in Scotland from 16th September to
1829,
Sept. 16.
bo
qr
:
Oct. 28.
Nov. 3.
6.
6th December 1829.
To Wiiz1amM ‘Poot of the parish of St Michael on the Mount, in
the city of Lincoln, smith, for “ certain improvements in ma-
chinery for propelling vessels, and giving motion to mills, and
other machinery.”
. To Exrzan Gatxoway of King Street, in the burgh of Southwark,
engineer, for “* certain improvements in steam-engines, and in ma-
chinery for propelling bina which improvements are appli-
cable to other purposes.”
To Joserpn ANGE Fonzi of Upper Marylebone Street, in the
county of Middlesex, Esq. for “ certain improvements on, or ad-
ditions, to fire-places.”
To Joun Tucker of Hammersmith, in the county of Middlesex,
brewer, for “‘ certain improvements in the construction of can-
non.”
To Davip LawrEnce of Strood, and Joann CrunpDwE Lt of Ash-
ford, gunmakers, both in the county of Kent, for “ certain im-
provements in apparatus to be applied to fowling-pieces, and other
fire-arms, in place of locks.”
To Josava Bates of Bishopsgate Street-within, in the city of Lon-
don, merchant, for au invention, in consequence of a communica~
tion made to him by a certain foreigner residing abroad, “ of a
new process or method of whitening sugars.”
To Josuva Bates of Bishopsgate Street-within, in the city of Lon-
don, merchant, for an invention, in consequence of a communica-
tion made to him by a certain foreigner residing abroad, ‘“* of an
improved method of constructing steam-boilers or generators,
whereby the bulk of the boiler or generator, and the consumption
of fuel, are considerably reduced.”
To Ross Winans of Vernon, in the county of Suiéex, and of the
province of New Jersey, in the United States of North America,
presently residing in London, for “* certain improvements in dimi-
nishing friction in wheel-carriages, to be used on rail-roads; and
which improvements are applicable to other purposes.”
To Wirriam Suanp of the Burn, in the county of Kincardine, Esq.
for “ a certain improvement or improvements in distillation.”
To Wiri14Mm RoneceEr of Norfolk Street, Strand, in the county of
Middlesex, Lieutenant in the Navy, for “‘ certain improvements
in the construction of anchors.”
To Cuartes TurnER Sturtevant of Hackney, in the county of
Middlesex, soap-boiler, for “ certain improvements in the pro-
cess of manufacturing soap.”
SS ee ee ee ee eee
THE
EDINBURGH NEW
PHILOSOPHICAL JOURNAL.
Biographical Memoir of Sir Bensamin Tuomson, Count
| Rumford. By Baron Cuvier *.
a
Bensamr Tuomson, more commonly known by his German
title of Count Rumford, was born in 1753, in the English Co-
lonies of North America, at a place then called Rumford, and
at present Concord, belonging to the State of New Hamp-
shire. His family, which was of English origin, cultivated
some lands there ; and he himself has said that he should pro-
bably have remained in the humble condition of his parents,
had he not in childhood been deprived of the little means they
were able to bequeath to him. ‘Thus, like many other eminent
literary characters, it was to early misfortune that he owed his
subsequent good fortune and celebrity.
His father died young. His mother having married again,
he was separated from her by his stepfather 5 and his grand-
father, from whom alone he had any thing to expect, had dis-
posed of all that he possessed in favour of a younger son, and
left him in almost complete destitution.
There is nothing more calculated to induce a premature de-
velopment of intellect than such a condition as this. The young
Thomson attached himself to a clergyman of learning, who un-
dertook to prepare him for the mercantile profession, by giving
him a smattering of mathematics. But the good minister also
* Read to the Institute of France.
JANUARY—APRIL 1830. 0
210 Biographical Memoir of Count Rumford.
spoke sometimes to him of astronomy, and his lessons in that
science benefitted his pupil more than he had foreseen.
The young man brought him one day the plan of an eclipse,
which he had traced according to a method which had suggest-
ed itself to him on reflecting upon his master’s discourses. It
was found to be singularly accurate, and this success induced
him to abandon all for science.
In Europe, the sciences might have afforded him some re-
compense ; but, at that period, there was none in New Hamp-
shire. Fortunately for him, he had obtained from nature what
ensures a favourable reception at all periods and in all countries,
a fine figure, and dignified and gentle manners. They procured
for him, at the age of nineteen, the hand of a rich widow ; and
the poor scholar, at the moment when he least expected, be-
came one of the great personages of the colony.
His good fortune was not of long duration. The discontent
which the conduct of the Ministry and Parliament had, for ten
years past, so imprudently cherished, now rose to the greatest
extremity. The Government resolved on war, and New Hamp-
shire was destined to be its first seat.
In the night of the 18th April 1775, the royal troops, march-
ing from Boston, after having fought a first battle at Lexington,
proceeded toward Concord ; but, being presently assailed by a
furious multitude, were obliged to betake themselves tu their
garrison. Mrs Thomson’s family was attached to the govern-
ment by important offices. Her husband, young as he was,
had himself received from it some marks of confidence. His
personal opinions, besides, led him to support the government.
Thus it was natural that he should join the ministerial party
with all the fervour of his age, and freely participate in its
chances. He therefore retired to Boston with the army, and in
such haste, that he was obliged to leave at Concord his wife,
who was far advanced in pregnancy. Having afterwards to
move from place to place, he never saw her again, nor was it
until after a period of twenty years that he met the daughter to
which she gave birth a few days after his departure.
It was undoubtedly an evil of not less magnitude to fight
against his countrymen ; but perhaps he did not view it as such,
and that evil we shall only lament, without venturing to impute to
Biographical Memoir of Count Rumford. 211
him any blame. During the cruel period from which we have
just emerged *, when almost all the states of Europe saw their
citizens serving under opposite colours, each asserted that he
was fighting for his country ; and the chance of arms itself,
which is the universal umpire, has not terminated this kind of
contest. Fortunately, honour and fidelity are points respecting
which there are no disputes, and in those happy moments, when
reason, induced by exhaustion, at length puts an end to the
bloody quarrels of nations, honour and fidelity rally all the vir-
tuous and brave.
Mr Thomson remained firmly attached to the royal govern-
ment, and served it with courage and address, whether in the
field of battle or in the cabinet; but he did not participate in
all the mad schemes of some of its partisans. Those against
whom he fought always respected him, and of this feeling he
received a very honourable proof at the end of the war, when
several cities of the United States sent him urgent invitations to
return.
It is well known that one of Washington’s first exploits was
to compel the English troops to evacuate Boston, on the 24th
March 1776. Mr Thomson was employed to carry the news of
this unfortunate affair to London. Missions of this kind are
not generally such as procure rewards; but the prepossessing
appearance of the young officer, and the accuracy and extent of
the information which he gave, made a favourable impression
on Lord George Sackville, then Secretary of State for the
American department, and so celebrated for the misfortunes of
his administration. He thought he had made a good acquisi-
tion by attaching such a man to his office, and having received
abundant proofs of his talents and fidelity, raised him, in 1780,
to the important post of under Secretary of State.
This appointment would have been a very advantageous one
under a more able minister ; but Mr Thomson soon experienced
the most painful feeling that can affect an honourable man, that
of the incapacity of his benefactor. The royal army seemed
condemned to every kind of misfortune. Public opinion pro-
nounced more decidedly against the ministers. ‘To the re-
* The period of the Revolution.
212 Biographical Memoir of Count Rumford.
proaches which their imprudence might have merited, calum-
nies were added, as always happens when men in place are un-
successful. Mr Thomson saw himself about to become the
object of some of these imputations. He perceived that a des-
perate cause can only be served with honour by serving it at
the peril of one’s life, and he returned to the army, where he
obtained the command of a division. This was at the commence-
ment of 1782. The English were confined to Charleston, and
reduced to a war of posts. Mr 'Fhomson re-organised their ca-
valry, led it in several encounters, and had still such opportuni-
ties enough of distinguishing himself in the course of this cam-
paign, that he was appointed to contribute to the defence of
Jamaica, then threatened by the combined fleets of France and
Spain; but the defeat of Count de Grasse averted the danger,
and soon after peace was proclaimed, which put a close to Mr
Thomson’s military career.
Nothing could have happened to him so contrary to all his
inclinations and hopes of advancement. He was thirty years of
age, held the rank of colonel, enjoyed a high degree of reputa-
tion, and was ardently attached to his profession. He consi-
dered war so peculiarly suited to his genius, that seeing no ap-
pearance of it anywhere excepting between Austria and the
Turks, he determined on offering his services to the Em-
peror. But his good destiny had decided ditferently from his
inclination. When at Munich, on his journey, he found an op-
portunity of entering into a more advantageous although more
pacific service. The ideas of his earlier years revived, and he
was soon brought back to the sciences and the application of
them, as to his true vocation.
He had never entirely forsaken them. In 1777, at the com-
mencement of his residence in London, he had made curious ex-
periments on the cohesion of bodies. In 1778, he had under-
taken others on the force of gunpowder, which procured him ad-
mittance into the Royal Society ; and, in 1779, he had embarked
in the English fleet, chiefly with the view of repeating his ex-
periments on a great scale. But, perhaps, amid the distrac-
tions of his military station, and even in the leisure of a private
condition, he would only have made isolated trials, without a
constant object, and without great results. He looked upon the
Biographical Memoir of Count Rumford. 215
sciences from a new point of view, when he required their as-
sistance in a great military and civil administration. The states-
man remembered that he was a natural philosopher and geome-
trician. His genius had assisted in establishing his credit ; he
employed his reputation to second his genius; and in this man-
ner each new service that he rendered to the country which had
attached him to itself, produced some discovery, and each dis-
covery that he made enabled him to render some new service.
It was the late king who gave Mr Thomson to Bavaria.
The young colonel, on his way to Vienna, passing through
Strasburg, where the Prince Maximilian de Deux-Ponts, after-
wards King of Bavaria, commanded a regiment, presented. him-
self at parade on horseback, and in his uniform. At this time
the whole conversation of the military turned on the American
campaigns. It was natural for them to be desirous of hearing
an English officer speak on the subject ; he was therefore intro-
duced to the prince, when some French officers were present,
who had served in the opposite army. The manner in which he
described what he had seen, the plans he showed, the original
ideas he threw out, were a proof that Mr Thomson was a man
of no ordinary acquirements; and the prince, knowing that he
was to pass through Munich, gave him strong recommendations
to his uncle, the reigning elector.
Charles Theodore, who, from being a mere prince of Sulz-
bach, had become, by the successive extinction of the chief
branches of the Palatine house, sovereign of two electorates, was,
in many respects, worthy of this favour of fortune. He was a
man of intellect and education, and displayed a taste for science,
and for all that announced greatness of mind: he encouraged
the arts in his dominions, built beautiful palaces, and founded
the Academy of Manheim. If he did not adopt in his govern-
ment those maxims of philanthropy and toleration which now
prevail in the counsels of princes, it is to be attributed to the
epoch in which he received his education, an epoch in which
Louis XIV. passed in Germany for the model and ideal of a
perfect monarch. We have already said, and we shall see
still more plainly in the sequel, that Mr Thomson’s ideas were
much of the same nature. He could not therefore fail to esteem
the Elector, nor the Elector him; and, in fact, after the first
214 Biographical Memoir of Count Rumford.
interview, he received the offer of an appointment, and resolved
to have no other master.
He travelled, therefore, rapidly to Vienna, and hastened to
return to London, to obtain permission to enter into the service
of Bavaria. This was granted to him, with flattering marks of
satisfaction on the part of his government. The king knighted
him, and allowed him the half-pay belonging to his rank, which
he retained till the period of his death.
To the accomplishments and external advantages of which we
have spoken, and the circumstance of his being an Englishman,
which is always so great a recommendation on the continent,
Sir Benjamin Thomson (for it was with this title that he return-
ed to Munich in 1'784) added a talent for pleasing, which could
hardly have been anticipated in a man that had issued, as it were,
from the forests of the new world. The elector, Charles T'heo-
dore, granted him the most marked favour: he made him
successively his aide-de-camp, his chamberlain, member of his
council of state, and lieutenant-general of his armies. He pro-
cured for him the decorations of the two orders of Poland, be-
cause the statutes of those of Bavaria did not then permit his
admission to them. Lastly, in the interval between the death
of the Emperor Joseph and the coronation of Leopold II., the
Elector took advantage of the right which his functions, as vicar
of the empire, gave him, to raise Sir Benjamin to the dignity of
Count, by the name of the district of New Hampshire in which
he was born.
Count Rumford has sometimes been blamed for the import-
ance which he seems to have attached to distinctions, to which
his real merit might have rendered him indifferent. They who
have done so, however, have not sufficiently considered his
situation. Formerly, a title without birth was of no estimation
among us; but it is not so in England, where the title, as it
were, metamorphoses the man, or in Germany, where one sel-
dom receives a great office without, at the same time, receiving
a corresponding title. Count Rumford, therefore, might think
this custom necessary for the maintenance of a respect which he
knew how to render so useful. We have besides seen, by a
recent experiment made on the great scale, that some, not being
philosophers enough to refuse titles when chance offered them,
Biographical Memoir of Count Rumford. 215
and others being apparently too much so to think that titles
were worth the trouble of being refused, every body accepted
them. We do not therefore condemn Count Rumford for ha-
ving done like all the world ; we even pardon beforehand those
who may imitate him in this respect, provided they imitate him
in other respects also.
His new master not only procured honourable distinctions for
him, but also confided to him a real and very extensive power,
by uniting in his person the administration of war and the di-
rection of the police ; and his reputation, besides, soon gave him
a great influence over all parts of the government.
Most of those who have been led to power by the course of
events, arrive there already misled by public opinion; they
know that they will infallibly be called men of genius, and that
they will be celebrated in prose and verse, if they succeed in
changing in some point the forms of the government, or extending
a few leagues the territory in which this government is exercised.
Is it therefore surprising, that internal commotions and external
wars incessantly disturb the repose of men? It is to themselves
that men ought to look. Fortunately for Count Rumford, Ba-
varia could not at this period hold out these temptations to her
ministers. Her constitution was fixed by the laws of the em-
pire, her frontiers by the great powers that surrounded her ; and
she was reduced to the condition, which most states find so hard,
of confining all her cares to ameliorating the condition of her
people.
It is true that she had much to do in this respect. Her so-
vereigns, enriched at the period of the religious wars, in conse-
quence:of their zeal for catholicism, had long carried the marks
of this zeal far beyond what an enlightened catholicism requires ;
they encouraged devotion, and did nothing for industry ; there
were more convents than manufactories in their territories; the
army was almost reduced to nothing ; ignorance and idleness
predominated in all classes of society.
Time does not permit us to mention all the services which
Count Rumford rendered to this country and its capital, and we
are obliged to limit ourselves to a few of the more remarkable.
He first occupied himself with the army, in the organization
of which, a peace of forty years had allowed gross abuses to be
216 Biographical Memoir of Count Rumford.
introduced. He found means of removing the soldier from the
ill-treatment of officers, and of adding to his comfort at the same
time that he diminished the expenses of the state. ‘The equip-
ment of the troops, their clothing and head-dress, became more
suitable and more convenient. Each regiment had a garden,
where the soldiers themselves reared the vegetables which they
required, and a school in which their children received the ele-
ments of education. The military discipline was simplified ; the
soldier was brought nearer to the citizen ; the privates had more
facilities afforded them of becoming officers ; and a school was
at the same time established, in which young men of family
might receive the most extensive military education. The ar-
tillery, as being more connected with the sciences, chiefly at-
tracted the regard of Count Rumford, who made numerous
experiments for its improvement. Lastly, he established a
workhouse, in which were manufactured, with regularity, all
the articles necessary for the troops—a house which, at the same
time, became in his hands a source of improvement in the police
still more important than those which he had introduced in the
army.
After what we have said of the state of Bavaria, it will easily
be conceived that mendicity must there have become excessive ;
and it was in fact asserted, that, next to Rome, Munich had the
greatest number of beggars of any city in Europe. They ob-
structed the streets, divided the stations among each other, sold
or inherited them as one does a house or a farm. Sometimes
they were even seen to fight for the possession of a post or
church-door ; and, when opportunity presented, they did not
refuse to commit the most revolting crimes.
It were easy to find by calculation that the regular support of
this mass of wretches would cost the public less than the pre-
tended charities which they extorted from it. Count Rumford
had no difficulty in perceiving this ; but he saw, at the same time,
that to extirpate mendicity, something more was necessary than
to prohibit it; that but half of the work would be done by arrest-
ing the mendicants and feeding them, unless their habits were
changed, unless they were formed to industry and order, and
unless there were inspired into the people a horror of idleness,
and of the lamentable consequences which it induces.
Biographical Memoir of Count Rumford. 217
His plan, therefore, embraced physics and morals. He pon-
dered it long, proportioned all its parts to each other, and to
the laws and resources of the country; prepared with vigour
and in secret the details of its execution, and, when all was
ready, directed it with firmness.
On the Ist of January 1790 all the beggars were led to the
magistrates, and it was signified to them that they would find
in the new workhouse whatever was necessary for their subsist-
ence, but henceforth they were prohibited from begging.
In fact, there were provided for them materials and tools,
large and well heated rooms, wholesome and cheap food. Their
work was paid by the piece. At first it was imperfect, but they
soon improved. ‘lhe workmen were classed according to their
progress, which also facilitated the arrangement of the products.
Their employment was to produce clothing for the troops. At
the end of some time there was an overplus, which was sold to
the public, and even to other countries, so that ultimately there
was an annual profit of upwards of 10,000 florins secured to
the state.
The whole establishment was, at the commencement, amply
supported by voluntary subscription, in which all classes of the
inhabitants were made to feel interested, and which was much
inferior to the sum of the alms that were formerly given.
And to change in this manner the deplorable condition of a
degraded class, nothing was required but the habit of order and
judicious management. Those wild and distrustful beings
yielded to the dispositions that were manifested to promote their
wellbeing. It was, says Count Rumford himself, by rendering
them happy, that they were taught to become virtuous. Not
even a child received a blow. Still more, the children were at
first paid merely for looking on the work of their companions,
and they soon came weeping to implore that they also should
be set to work. Some praises properly bestowed, some hand-
somer dresses, recompensed good conduct, and excited émula-
tion. The spirit of industry was roused by self-love, for the
springs of the human heart are the same in the most opposite
conditions, and the equivalent of a cordon of nobility exists
even in the lowest grades of society.
3
218 Biographical Memoir of Count Rumford.
It was not, however, the mendicants alone whose condition
was ameliorated. 'The bashful and honest poor were also ad-
mitted to ask’work and food. More than one woman of rank
that had fallen into misfortune, obtained flax and soup from the
commissioners, without being ever questioned, and among the
brave of the Bavarian army, there were many who wore clothes
that had been spun by a noble and delicate hand.
The success was such that not only were the poor completely
succoured, but their number was greatly diminished, because
they learned to support themselves. ' In one week two thousand
five hundred had been registered, and some years after they
were reduced to fourteen hundred. They even learned to feel
a sort of pride in relieving their old companions; and nothing
prevented better their asking alms, than having enjoyed the
pleasure of bestowing them.
Although Count Rumford had been directed in his operations
more by the calculations of a politician than by the impulses of
a man of feeling, he could not help being truly moved at the
sight of the change which he had effected, when he beheld on
those countenances, formerly shrivelled by misfortune and vice,
an air of satisfaction, and sometimes even tears of tenderness
and gratitude. During a dangerous illness he heard a noise
under his window, of which he enquired the cause. It was a
procession of the poor who were going to the principal church,
to implore of heaven the safety of their benefactor. He con-
fessed himself that this spontaneous act of religious gratitude,
in favour of a person of another communion, appeared to him
the most affecting of recompenses; but he did not dissemble
that he had obtained another, which will be more lasting. In
fact, it was in labouring for the poor that he made his most
important discoveries.
M. de Fontenelle said of Dodard, who, in rigorously observ-
ing the fasts prescribed by the Church, made accurate experi-
ments on the changes which his abstinence produced in him,
that he was the first who had taken the same path for getting
to heaven and the academy. Count Rumford may be associated
with him, if, as may be believed, the services rendered to men
lead to heaven as surely as the practices of devotion. This
4
Biographical Memoir of Count Rumford. 219
much is certain, however, that it was to his benevolent schemes
that he was indebted for the glory which his name will possess
in the history of physics.
Every one knows that the object of his finest experiments was
the nature of heat and light, as well as the laws of their propa-
gation; and in this, what interested him was, to know how to
feed, clothe, warm, and light with economy, a great assemblage
of men. He first engaged in comparing the heat of different
kinds of clothes. This, as is well known, is not an absolute
heat, and we only mean by it the property of retaining that
which is generated by our bodies, and of preventing its dissipa-
tion. Count Rumford enveloped thermometers raised to a
higher temperature than the air with various substances, and
observed the time they took in returning toa state of equili-
brium. He arrived at this general result, that the principal re-
tainer of heat is the air between the fibres of substances, and
that these substances furnish clothes so much the warmer, the
more they retain the air heated by the body. It is thus, and it
will not fail to be remarked, that Nature has taken care to clothe
the animals of cold countries.
Passing then to the examination of the most effectual means
of economising fuel, he saw in his experiments that flame in the
open air gave little heat, especially when it was not rapidly agi-
tated, and did not strike vertically the bottom of the vessel.
He also observed that the vapour of water conduced very little
to heat when it was not in motion, Chance gave him the key
of these phenomena, and opened up to him a new path of in-
quiry. Casting his eyes on the coloured liquor of a thermo-
meter, which was cooling in the sun, he perceived in it a con-
stant motion, which continued until the thermometer had fallen
to the surrounding temperature. Some powders which he dif-
fused in liquids of the same specific gravity, were also agitated
whenever the temperature of the liquid changed, a circumstance
which announced continual currents in the liquid itself. Count
Rumford came to think that it was precisely by this transporta-
tion of molecules that the heat was distributed in the liquids,
which by themselves would have allowed very little caloric to
pass. Thus, when the heating commences below, the warm
molecules, becoming lighter, ascend, and the cold molecules are
220 Biographical Memoir of Count Rumford.
precipitated to the bottom to be heated. This he verified by di-
rect and ingenious experiments. So long as only the upper
part of a column of liquid was heated, the lower part did not in
any degree partake of the heat. A piece of red hot iron plunged
in oil to a short distance from a bit of ice which lay at the bot-
tom, did not melt a particle of it. A bit of ice kept under boil-
ing water was two hours in melting, while at the surface it melted
in three minutes. Whenever the internal motion of a liquid
was arrested by the interposition of some non-conducting sub-
stance, the cooling or heating, in a word, the equilibrium, was
retarded in it. Thus feathers or hair would produce the same
effects in water as in air.
As it is known that fresh water is at its maximum of density
at seven degrees above the freezing point, it becomes lighter a
little before freezing. It is for this reason that ice always forms
at the surface, and that once formed, it preserves the water
which it covers. Count Rumford found in this property the
means by which nature preserves a little fluidity and life in the
countries of the north ; for, if the communication of heat and
cold took place in fluids as in solids, or only in fresh water as in
other liquids, the streams and lakes would quickly be frozen to
the bottom.
Snow, on account of the air which is mingled with it, was, in
his eyes, the mantle which covers the earth in winter, and pre-
vents it from losing all its heat. He saw in all this distinct
precautions of Providence. He saw the same. in the property
which salt water possesses, the reverse of that of fresh water, by
which, at all degrees of temperature, its molecules are precipi-
tated when they are cooled ; so that the ocean, being always tem-
perate at its surface, softens the rigour of the winters along the
shores, and warms again, by its currents, the polar climates, at
the same time that it cools those of the equator.
The interest of Count Rumford’s observations, therefore, ex-
tended, in some measure, to the whole economy of nature in our
globe, and perhaps he made as many cases of those relations
to them which he perceived in general philosophy, as of their.
utility in public and private economy.
Their mere announcement must have made my hearers an-
ticipate this utility ; and, besides, there is ne one who does not
Biographical Memoir of Count Rumford. Q91
know their effects from experience. It was by a regular appli-
cation of these discoveries, that Count Rumford constructed
fire-places, furnaces, and caldrons of new forms, which, from
the hall to the kitchen and the workshop, have reduced the
consumption of fuel by more than a half.
When we fancy to ourselves those enormous chimneys of our
ancestors, in which whole trees were burnt, and which almost
all smoked, we are astonished that the simple and sure improve-
ment of Count Rumford was not sooner devised. But there
must be some difficulty concealed in all those things which are
found out so late, and which we call so simple when once they
are discovered.
The improvements which Count Rumford made in the con-
struction of kitchens, will have a more important, although a
somewhat more tardy result, because somewhat more firm foun-
dations must be laid for their first establishment The unfor-
tunate cook himself, at present half roasted by the heat of his
fire, will be enabled to operate calmly in a mild atmosphere,
with an economy of three-fourths for fuel, and of one-half for
time; and Count Rumford did not consider as of small importance
this ease procured for those who prepare our food. As the same
quantity of original matter furnishes a much greater or a much
smaller quantity cf nutrition, according as it is prepared, he
looked on the art of cookery as equally interesting with that
of agriculture. He did not confine himself to the art of cook-
ing food at little expense, but also bestowed much attention
on that of composing it. He discovered, for example, that
the water which is incorporated with food becomes itself, by this
mixture, a nutritive matter; and he tried, of all the alimentary
substances, to find out that which nourishes most and at the
smallest expense. He even made a study of the pleasure of
eating, on which he wrote an express dissertation; not assuredly
for himself, for his moderation was excessive, but in order also
to discover the economical means of increasing and prolonging
it, because he saw in it an intention of nature to excite the or-
gans which are to concur in digestion.
It was by thus judiciously combining the choice of substances,
with all possible economy in the art of preparing them, that he
was enabled to support man at so little cost, and that, in all
222 Biographical Memoir of Count Rumford.
civilized countries, his name is now connected with the most
efficacious aids that industry can receive. This honour much
excels those which have been decreed to the Apiciuses of ancient
and modern times ; I would even venture to say, to many men
who have been celebrated for discoveries of a higher order.
In one of his establishments at Munich, three women were
sufficient to prepare a dinner for a thousand persons, and they
burnt only ninepence worth of fuel. The kitchen which he con-
structed in the Hépital de la Piéta at Verona, is still more per-
fect, there being burnt in it only the eighth part of the wood
which was formerly consumed.
But it was in the employment of steam for heating,” that
Count Rumford, so to speak, surpassed himself. It is known
that water kept in a vessel which it is unable to burst, acquires
an enormous heat. Its vapour, at the moment when it is
let loose, carries this heat wherever it is directed. Baths and
apartments are thus heated with wonderful quickness. Ap-
plied to soapworks, and especially to distilleries, this method
has already enriched several manufacturers of our southern de-
partments ; and in the countries where new discoveries are more
slowly adopted, it has afforded immense advantages. The brew-
houses and distilleries of England are heated in this way. In
them a single small copper cauldron boils ten large wooden
vats.
Count Rumford went so far in these improvements as even
to economise all the heat of the smoke, which he only allowed
to issue from his apparatus after it had become almost perfectly
cold., A person justly celebrated for the elegance of his mind,
said to him that he would soon cook his dinner with his neigh-
bour’s smoke. But it was not for himself that he sought economy.
His varied and often repeated experiments, on the contrary, cost
him much, and it was only by dint of lavishing his money, that
he taught others to save theirs.
He made nearly as many researches on light as on heat, and
among his results, the following observations are principally
worthy of notice; that flameis always perfectly transparent and
permeable to the light of another flame; and that the quantity
of light is not in proportion to that of the heat, and that it does
not depend, like the latter, upon the quantity of matter burnt,
Biographical Memoir of Count Rumford. 223
but rather upon the vivacities of the combustion. By combining
these two observations, he invented a lamp with several paral-
lel wicks, the flames of which, mutually exciting each other,
without allowing any of the rays to be lost, are capable of pro-
ducing an unlimited mass of light. It is said, that when it was
lighted at Auteuil, it so dazzled the lamp-maker who had con-
structed it, that the peor man was unable to find his way home,
and was obliged to pass the night in the wood of Boulogne.
I deem it superfluous to mention how he varied and adapted
to all sorts of uses the different instruments that are employed
for lighting. The Rumford lamps are not less diffused nor less
popular than the chimneys and soups of the same name. This
is the true character of a good invention.
He determined, by physical experiments, the rules that ren-
der the oppositions of colour agreeable. Few fine ladies imagine
that the choice of a border, or of the embroidery of a ribbon,
depends on the immutable laws of Nature, and yet such is the
fact. When one looks steadily for some time at a spot of a
certain colour on a white ground, it appears bordered with a
different colour, which, however, is always the same with rela-
tion to that of the spot. This is what is called the complemen-
tary colour; and, for reasons which it were needless to develope
here, the same two colours are always complementary to each
other. Itis by arranging them that harmony is produced, and
the eye flattered in the most agreeable manner. Count Rum-
ford, who did every thing by method, disposed, according to
this rule, the colours of his furniture, and the pleasing effect of
the whole was remarked by all who entered his apartments.
Continually struck, in all his labours, by the wonderful phe-
nomena of heat and light, it was natural for him to attempt a
general theory respecting these two great agents of nature. He
considered them both as only effects of a vibratory motion impres-
sed on the molecules of bodies, and he found a proof of this
in the continual production of heat which takes place by friction.
The firing of a brass gun, for example, putting water in a short
time into a state of ebullition, and this ebullition lasting as long
as the motion which produced it, he found it difficult to con.
ceive how, in such a case, matter was disengaged, for it would
require to be inexhaustible.
224 Biographical Memoir of Count Rumford.
He moreover proved, better than any person, that heat has no
weight. A phial of spirit of wine, and another of water, re-
mained in equilibrium after the congelation of the latter, although
it had lost by this, caloric enough to raise the same weight of
gold to a white heat.
He invented two singularly ingenious instruments. The one,
which is a new Calorimeter, serves to measure the quantity of
heat produced by the combustion of a body. It is a box filled
with a given quantity of water, through which the product of
the combustion is made to pass by a serpentine tube; and
the heat of this product transmitted to the water, raises ita
determinate number of degrees, which serves as a basis to the
calculations. The manner in which he prevents the external
heat from altering his experiment, is very simple and ingenious.
He commences the operation at some degrees below that heat,
and terminates it at as many degrees above it. The external
air resumes, during the second half, precisely what it had given
out during the first. The other instrument serves to disclose
the slightest differences in the temperature of bodies, or in the
facility of its transmission. It consists of two glass balls filled
with air, connected by a tube, in the middle of which is a bubble
of coloured spirit of wine. The smallest increase of heat in one
of the balls drives the bubble toward the other. This instru-
ment chiefly, which he named a Thermoscope, made known
to him the varied and powerful influence of different surfaces
over the transmission of heat, and also pointed out to him nu-
merous methods of retarding or accelerating, heating or cooling,
at will.
These two last kinds of researches, and those which have re-
ference to illumination, ought to interest us more particularly,
because he had made them after he had fixed his residence at
Paris, and taken an active part in all our occupations. He con-
sidered them as his contributions in quality of a member of the
Institute.
Such are the principal scientific labours of Count Rumford,
but they are far from being the only services which he rendered
to science. He knew that, in discoveries, as in philanthropy,
the work of an individual is transitory and limited, and, in the
latter, as in the former, he strove to establish durable institu-
Biographical Memoir of Count Rumford. 225
tions. Thus he founded two prizes, which were to be annually
assigned by the Royal Society of London, and the Philosophical
Society of Philadelphia, to the author of the most important ex-
periments on heat and light ; an endowment by which, in evinc-
ing his zeal for natural philosophy, he also testified his respect
for his native and for his adopted country, and proved, that, by
having served the one, he had not quarrelled with the other.
He was the principal founder of the Royal Institution of
London, one of the best contrived establishments for hastening
the progress of science and its application to the arts. Ina
country where every individual prides himself on encouraging
whatever can be of service to the community, the mere distri-
bution of his Prospectus brought him considerable funds, and
his activity would soon have led to its execution. The pro-
spectus itself was already a sort of description, for he spoke in
it of what he proposed as of a thing in a great measure realized :
A vast house presented all kinds of trades and machines in ac-
tion ; a library was formed in it; a beautiful amphitheatre was
constructed, in which were delivered lectures on chemistry, me-
chanics, and political economy. Heat and light, the two fa-
vourite subjects of Count Rumford, and the mysterious process
of combustion, which puts them at the disposal of man, were
to be continually submitted to examination.
This Prospectus is dated at London the 21st January 1800,
and the foundation of the Royal Institution was the work of
fifteen succeeding months which Count Rumford passed. in Eng-
land, with the hope of settling there.
After having been loaded, during fourteen years, by the
Elector Charles Theodore, with proofs of an always increasing
favour, after having received from him, at the period of the
famous campaign of 1796, the difficult trust of commanding
his army, and of maintaining the neutrality of his capital against
the two great powers that seemed equally anxious to attack it,
Count Rumford obtained from him as a final recompence, in
1798, the post which he most desired, that of Minister Plenipo-
tentiary at the Court of Great Britain.
There could be nothing more flattering to him in fact than
to be enabled to return among his countrymen, and, according
JANUARY—Makcu 1830. P
226 Biographical Memoir of Count Rumford.
to the noble expression of an ancient, te combine leisure with
dignity. But his hopes were frustrated. The usage of the
English’ Government’ does not permit, that a man born its
subject should be accredited to it as the representative of another
power, and the minister for foreign affairs signified to Count
Rumford that it was resolved not to deviate from this usage.
A still more acute disappointment soon after befel him. He
was informed of the death of the Prince, his benefactor, which
happened in 1799, and he foresaw that he would have no. less
difficulty in resuming his old than in exercising his new fune-
tions. In reality, the Elector Joseph Maximilian was neither
ignorant of his merit nor of his services, and remembered that he
was the first author of his fortune ; but, with a different system
of government, and opposite political interests, it was natural
that be should have other counsellors than his predecessor, and
Count Rumford was not of a character to enter into partner-
ship. Besides, the happy changes which he had effected, had
rendered him less necessary, and his views, which had been so
useful when Bavaria required to be enlightened, were no longer
such as suited, precisely because the success of their adoption
had already been so rapid.
He therefore only returned to Munich for a short time, du-
ring the peace of Amiens; and yet even in this short time, he
performed a true and great service to science, in contributing,
by his advice, to the reorganization of the Bavarian Academy,
on a plan which, with utility, in every respect, combined a truly
royal magnificence.
The period at length arrived when a final retreat had become
necessary. And it was no mean honour for France, that a man
who had enjoyed the consideration of the most civilized coun-
tries of the two worlds, preferred it for his last residence. He
preferred France, because he quickly perceived it to be the
country where merited reputation most surely gains a true dig-
nity, independent of the transitory favour of courts, and of all
the chances of fortune.
In fact, we have seen him among us for ten years, honoured
by Frenchmen and foreigners, esteemed by the friends of science,
participating their labours, aiding with his advice even the
Biographical Memoir of Count Rumford. 227
meanest artizans, nobly gratifying the public with a constant
succession of useful inventions.
Nothing would have been wanting to his happiness, had: the
amenity of his behaviour equalled his ardour for public utility.
‘But it must be acknowledged, that he manifested, in his con-
versation and in bis whole conduct, a feeling which must appear
very extraordinary in a man so uniformly well treated by others,
and who had himself done so much good. It was without lov-
ing or esteeming his fellow-creatures, that he had done them all
these services. Apparently, the vile passions which he had ob-
served in the wretches committed to his care, or those other pas-
sions, not less vile, which his good fortune had excited among
his: rivals, had soured him against human nature. Nor did he
think that the care of their own welfare ought to be confided to
men in common. That desire, which seems to them so natural,
of examining how they are ruled, wasin his eyes but a tactitious
product of false knowledge. He had nearly the same ideas of
slavery: asa planter, and he considered the Chinese government
as the nearest to perfection; because, in delivering up the peo-
ple-to the absolute power of men of knowledge alone, and in
raising each of these in the hierarchy, according to the degree
of his knowledge, it made in some measure so many millions of
hands the passive organs of the will of a few good heads ;—a
doctrine which we mention without in any degree pretending to
justify it, and which we know to be little adapted to the ideas
of European nations.
Count Rumford himself experienced, more than once, that it
is not so easy in the west as in China, to engage other men to
be nothing but hands ; and yet no one was so well prepared as he
to make good use of the hands that might be submitted to him.
An empire, such as he conceived, would not haye been more
difficult for him to manage, than his barracks and poor-houses.
For this he trusted especially to the power of order. He called
order the necessary auxiliary of genius, the only possible in-
strument of real good, and almost a subordinate divinity re-
gulating this lower world. He purposed to make it the subject
of a work which he thought would be more important than all
that he had written; but of this work there were found among
his papers only a few unconnected materials. He himself, in his
p2
~
228 Biographical Memoir of Count Rumford.
person, was, in all imaginable points, a model of order. His
wants, his pleasures, and his labours, were calculated, like his
experiments. He drank nothing but water, and ate only fried
or roasted meat, because boiled meat, in the same bulk, does
not afford quite so much nutriment. In short, he permitted in -
himself nothing superfluous, not even a step or a word, and it
was in the strictest sense that he teok the word superfluous.
This was no doubt a sure means of devoting his whole strength
to useful pursuits, but it could not make him an agreeable being
in the society of his fellows. 'The-world requires a little more
freedom, and is so constituted that a certain height of perfection
often appears to it a defect, when the person does not take as
much pains to conceal his knowledge as he has taken to acquire
it.
Whatever Count Rumford’s sentiments were with respect to
men, they diminished nothing of his respect for the Divinity.
In his works, he neglected no opportunity of expressing his
religious admiration of Providence, and of offering to the ad-
miration of others the innumerable and varied precautions of
Providence for the preservation of his creatures. Perhaps even
his system of politics was derived from the circumstance of his
imagining that princes ought to act in like manner, and take
care of their subjects, without being accountable to them.
This rigorous observance of order, which probably marred
the pleasure of his life, did not contribute to prolong it. A
sudden and violent fever carried him off, in his full vigour, at
the age of sixty-one. He died on the 21st August 1814, in
his country house of Auteuil, where he passed the summer.
The notice of his obsequies arriving only at the same time
with the news of his death, did not allow his fellow members
to perform the accustomed honours at his tomb. But, if such
honours, if any efforts to extend renown and render it durable,
were ever superfluous, it would be for the man who, by the
happy choice of the subjects of his labours, had richly earned
the esteem of the learned, and the gratitude of the unfortunate.
(-229"")
Observations on the Action of the Mineral Acids on Copper,
under different circumstances. By Joun Davy, M.D.,
F.R.S., Physician to the Forces. Communicated by Sir
James Maccricor, Director-General of the Army Medi-
cal Board, &c. *
My Dear Sir, Lonvon, December 24. 1829.
Ir you think the accompanying paper of any interest, will
you do me the honour of publishing it in your Journal. It
was written, as you will perceive by the date of it, more than
two years ago, and before M. Bequerel had published either of
his very important dissertations on the application of feeble
electro-chemical powers to produce new combinations. The re-
sults contained in my papers are precisely of the same class as
those more ingeniously and ably obtained by the French che-
mist. The circumstance which principally renders them, in my
opinion, deserving of some notice, is the facility of making the
experiments, no complicated apparatus being required, or any
manual dexterity. I am, &c.
Joun Davy.
To Professor Jameson, &c.
Ix a paper published in the Philosophical Transactions of
1826, I described certain changes which I had witnessed in
some ancient alloys of copper, attributable to the operation of
clectro-chemical attraction, acting very slowly and in the man-
ner of a mineralizing process.
In this paper I shall describe the results of some experiments
which I have been induced to make on the action of the mineral
acids on copper, placed in different circumstances, with the
hope of illustrating the changes just alluded to, and of obtain-
ing a farther insight into phenomena of an obscure kind and
interesting nature, at least in their bearings in relation to the
mineral kingdom.
* This interesting paper, as I observe by a note on the margin, was sent
to England for publication, and reached London in July 1827.
250 Dr J. Davy on the Action of
I shall first mention the experiments which I have made with
these acids, atmospheric air having been excluded, or nearly so.
Sixty drops of each of the three mineral acids were diluted with
six ounces of distilled water, a quantity equal exactly to the ca-
pacity of the phials employed. In these mixtures, small bars
of polished copper were immersed, and the phials were closed
with glass stopples, smeared with a composition of wax and oil.
After the lapse of sixty-nine days, viz. from the 25th May to
the $d August, the results were examined, and were found to
be the following :
The dilute sulphuric acid was colourless, had a just percep-
tible taste of sulphate of copper, and, on the addition of ammo-
nia, acquired a faint blue hue, and the bar of copper was slight-
ly tarnished with black oxide of copper, not equally over its
whole surface, but more in some places than in others.
The results in the instance of the dilute muriatic acid were
very similar ; ammonia imparted to it a bluish tint, just percep-
tible, and black oxide of copper tarnished the bar in such a
manner, as to produce the appearance of successive strata, with
intervals between them, where the brightness ef the metal was
but little impaired.
The results with the dilute nitric acid were somewhat differ-
ent. The acid had acquired a bright blue colour, and the me-
tal was covered with a very thin and slightly adhering crust of
black oxide, which was more copiously formed about the mid-
die of the bar than at its extremities, and a little air was gene-
rated, which was probably either azote or nitrous oxide, for it
did not produce a red fume on the addition of atmospheric air.
Without stopping now to reason on these phenomena, I shall
proceed to describe another set of experiments, differing chief-
ly from the preceding in this circumstance, that the glass-vessels
full of the dilute acids, in which the copper bars were immersed,
were covered only with glass, so as to retard evaporation, but
not prevent the entrance of atmospheric air. After an interval
of eight months, viz. from the 3d August to the 2d April, the
results were examined.
The sulphuric acid was found saturated with copper, and the
Mineral Acids on Copper. 231
bar covered with athin crust of black oxide of copper, and wni-
formly covered, with the exception of the upper part of it,
which was almost free from stain to the extent of about two
lines, which was more corroded than the surface in general, and
which, from evaporation, rose above the fluid. The nitric acid,
too, was found saturated, and the top of the bar of copper pro-
jecting a very little above the surface of the solution, but it was
still moist. There was a pretty considerable deposition of pro-
toxide of copper on the bar, with a little subnitrate of copper,
and a very minute quantity of copper in its metallic state. The
subnitrate was found chiefly at the two extremities of the bar ;
the protowide was very generally deposited, whilst the metallic
copper was almost entirely confined to one side, and to a small
space towards the upper end of the bar. The deposition being
crystallized, and the colours bright and distinct, the appearance
it made was brilliant, especially when placed in the sunshine,
and resembling, in miniature, native specimens of the same
kind.
The results in the instance of the muriatic acid were very si-
milar; submuriate, protoxide, and metallic copper, were de-
posited. The submuriate was very abundant, and collected
chiefly about the lower part of the bar, where it had formed
crystallized plates, not unlike what is seen in the native speci-
mens of this mineral from Peru. The protoxide was in a smal-
ler quantity than in the preceding experiment, as well as the
metallic copper, and their crystalline form was less distinct.
I have made a third set of experiments, with this difference
only in conducting them, that the bar of copper, in each in-
stance, was only half immersed in the dilute acid, and that at-
mospheric air had ‘free access, in consequence of which, evapo-
ration of the fluid went on pretty rapidly, and it was necessary
every now and then to add water, to prevent desiccation. I do
not consider it necessary to describe the results minutely ;
they were much the same as those obtained when atmospheric
air was admitted, and evaporation partially prevented, excepting
in the case of the sulphuric acid, in which, on this occasion, the
charges were analogous to those exhibited with the other two
acids; thus far, at least, that protoxide of copper was deposited,
and a slight trace of metallic copper.
232 Dr J. Davy on the Action of
Having now described the facts which I have observed rela-
tive to the action of the mineral acids on copper in these differ-
ent circumstances, I have little else to add. The phenomena
are evidently of the same class as those which were the subject
of my former paper, and equally referable to electro-chemical
action. In the first set of experiments, in which atmospheric
air was excluded, or very nearly so, scarcely any change was
observable, excepting in the instance of the nitric acid, and the
change in that case was probably connected with the decompo-
sition of a small part of the acid. In the second set of experi-
ments, on the contrary, the changes which took place were nu-
merous and complicated, owing to the presence of atmospheric
air, and the reaction of the combinations formed on each other.
And, in the third set, in which the circumstances of the experi-
ments were still more various, the effects were produced more
rapidly, though less distinctly, and as well in the instance of
the sulphuric acid as of the nitric and muriatic. It may appear
extraordinary, that the peroxide of copper was formed, and, I
may say, deposited in the first set of experiments, and that it
was not dissolved by the acids. ‘To what cause the formation
and deposition of this oxide was owing, I am at a loss to con-
ceive, and I can offer nc suggestion in the least satisfactory to
myself. It is almost as obscure as an effect which I have ob-
served, on immersing a polished bar of copper in a neutral solu-
tion of sulphate of copper, when copper in its metallic state, in
very minute quantity, is precipitated *. The black oxide not be-
ing dissolved when deposited is not surprising, considering that
it is an oxide of difficult solubility, even in the strong mineral
acids, and much more so when these acids are diluted with water.
Why the protoxide of copper should have made its appearance
when atmospheric air was admitted in the experiments, and on-
ly then, is probably owing to the action of an electro-chemical
cause. Moreover, I may remark, that, when copper is either
put into an open fire or left in distilled water, exposed to the
action of atmospheric air, the same oxide is formed ; and, in the
latter instance, the colouring effect is so brilliant and beautiful,
* This I conceived might have been occasioned by the sun’s rays; for it
was in making some experiments on their chemical agency, that I first no-
ticed the phenomenon ; but my conjecture was not confirmed on repeating
the trial in the dark. whom tho same precipitation occurred.
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Atmosphere and the Earth. 249
First Meridian of 0. Second Meridian of 20° E.
Earth.
PLACE. Latitude. | “arth. PLACE. Latitude. | Te™P.
St Jago, - - | 15N.| 7610 || Cairo, . . . 30 N. | 72.5
Teneriffe, . | 283 64.40 |} Carlscrona, . | 56} 47.3
Carmeaux, - 43 58.10 || Upsal,. . - 60 43.7
Geneva, - - 46 na.L7 || Waeo, 2 fits 64 37.17
Paris, - - - | 49 53.37 || Giwartenfiall, | 66 38.75
Dublin, . - 53 49.32 ||Congo, - - 9S. | 77.0
Keswick, .- 543 48.67
Edinburgh, - 56 47.75
Third Meridian of 60° E. Fourth Meridian of 80° W.
Kisnekejewa, 543 42.57 ||Cumana, . . | 10 (7 8.12
Nishney-tagilsk,| 58 38.97 || Rockfort,. + | 18 79.02
Werchoturie, 59 * 38.07 || Havannah, . | 23 74.30
Bogoslowsk, - | 60 37-17 || Cincinnati, . | 39 55.62
Philadelphia, 40 54.95
We see from these examples,
1. That the temperature of the earth, as well as the mean
temperature of the air, is not the same on the same parallel. If
we draw lines through all the points which have the same ter-
restrial temperature, these isogeothermal lines resemble the iso-
thermal, that they are parallel to the equator, but diverge from
it in several points.
2. That the terrestrial temperature, as well as the mean tem-
perature of the air, decreases with the increase of the latitude,
but irregularly. The diminution of temperature from the equa-
tor to the poles, happens so much the quicker the nearer we ap-
proach the parallel of 45°. Beyond this, again, it decreases with
less rapidity. By this we may explain, why, in low latitudes,
it is less than the mean atmospheric temperature; for the latter
decreases very little to Lat. 20°. The terrestrial temperature,
therefore, which is continually decreasing, must, in these lati-
tudes, be less, though, at the equator, it be as high as the mean
of the air. In middle latitudes, again, the terrestrial tempera-
ture again equals the mean of the air, as it does not decrease so
rapidly as the latter. In higher latitudes, for the same reason,
the terrestrial temperature finally exceeds the atmospheric.
3. We may express the distribution of the terrestrial tempe-
rature, under the same meridian, pretty well by the following
formula :
a—b sin? 1 — t,
250 On the Mean Temperature of the
where a and 6 are constant, 7 the latitude, and ¢ the terrestrial
temperature.
Let us combine, in the first meridian, to find out the constant
numbers, the observations of Paris and Edinburgh. We obtain,
a—b sin? 56° = 47°.75,
a—6 sin? 49° = 53°.37 ;
from which
a= 79°92, b= 4'7°.02.
The following Table gives the comparison of the observed
and calculated values :
Calculated. | Observed.
Equator,
Teneritte,
St Jago,
Carmeaux, -
Geneva,
Paris,
Dublin, .
Keswick,
Edinburgh,
Pole, . 2
The observation at Teneriffe deviates very much; but this
island lies very far west, and consequently not properly un-
der the first meridian.
In like manner, for the second meridian, if we use only the
observations of Cairo and Upsal,
rs 86°.9, b= 5'7°.6.
These values give the following Table :
PLACE. Calculated. | Observed. PLACE. Calceulated.! Observed.
Mp) Wires) oak firon \asin, Sibhin.ak - face
Equator, . 86.9 4 Upsal, . . 43.7
Caixoyistex ¢ 72.5 72:5 Umeo, =. . 40.32
Berlin, . . 50.67 50.22. || Giwartenfiall, | 38.75
47.07 | 47.3 Pole, . . . | 29.30
Carlscrona,
For the third meridian, we find, from the observations of
Kiskencjewa and Bogoslowsk,
= 831520 O = 61°87:
Atmosphere and the Earth. Q51
From which,
PLACE. Calculated.| Observed.
Equator, . S
Kisnekejewa, . 42.57
Nishney-tagilsk, 38.97
Werchoturie, . 38.07
Bogoslowsk, 37.17*
Pole, ,
Lastly, for the fourth meridian, from the observations of
Rockfort and Philadelphia,
a 86°, b= 75°.82.
And from which,
Calculated.| Observed.
Equator,
Rochfort, .
Havannah,
Cincinnati,
Philadelphia,
Glee ats
The result calculated for Cumana deviates very much from
the observed; but as Cumana also lies considerably to the east,
it is here like Teneriffe. The same is the case with Konigs-
berg, in the second meridian, whose terrestrial temperature is a
whole degree less by observation than calculation. Here a lo-
cal cause seems to lower the terrestrial as well as atmosphe-
ric temperature. In Konigsberg, the temperature of the air is
43°-25: in Mittau, almost 2° farther north, and more to the
east, it is higher, viz. 44°.6, from very careful observations car-
ried on by Professor Pauker of Mittau for four years. The
observation of times, also, does not agree with the calculation.
From these formulz we may easily find the terrestrial tem-
perature for every degree of latitude, under one of the meri-
dians for which the formule are calculated. It is easily seen,
that we may readily find in these meridians the points in which
a temperature of 42°.25, 54°.5, or 65°.75 will be found. Lines
drawn through these points, are the isogeothermal lines which
we have already noticed, and are represented in Plate IV. In
fact, if we eliminate the latitude 7 from the equation
a—bsin?l=t
we obtain, by the usual reductions,
‘ amt
cos? / = 1 — 2 ——.
o .
* Such a comcidence of the observed and calculated results is only to be
ascribed to chance.
252 On the Mean Temperature of the
from which formula we can easily find the latitudes which cor-
respond to certain temperatures. We thus find,
LATITUDE.
In Ist Meridian, | In 2d Meridian., | In 3d Meridian, | In 4th Meridian,
Long. 0° from Long. = 20° E. | Long. = 60° E. | Long. = 80° W.
Paris.
77 30 65 52
60 31 53 47
48 36 43 14
37 18 32 25
24 30 18 57
As the terrestrial temperature of Cumana and Teneriffe is
considerably less than the points lying in the interior of South
America and Africa, which are under the same parallel, so must
the isogeothermal lines, in the ocean between Africa and Ame-
rica, have a considerable inflexion to the south.
I have endeavoured to establish the terrestrial temperature at
the surface of the earth (or rather at a depth of 25 metres) as a
general law of nature, and have not, as has hitherto been done,
deduced it from the mean temperature of the air, with the con-
sideration of local circumstances. Von Buch, in the above trea-
tise, has endeavoured to render it probable, that the differences
between the terrestrial temperature and the mean of the air are
produced by the cooling or warming of the lower strata, by the
surface-water sinking downwards *. Although this may certainly
have some influence on the terrestrial temperature, yet many ob-
servations are opposed to its admission. It is not shewn, that
the system of subterranean waters to which the springs belong,
stands in any immediate connection with the atmospheric water ;
and rain sinks but to a small depth into the earth, particularly
if it is composed of rock, and is chiefly expended in the process of
vegetation, or evaporated, or collected into running waters. In
Bogoslowsk, where, for the greater part of the year, the ground
is covered with snow, and consequently no water can sink down;
yet in mine-works the quantity of water is not greater in sum-
mer and autumn than in winter, and only augments in spring,
when the pressure of the atmospheric water is considerable,
from the sudden melting of the snows, and the swelling of the
rivers. In high latitudes, where the springs almost throughout
* Vide Remarks on Temperature of Springs, by Von Buch, p, 166, vol. vi.
of the Edin. New Phil. Journ.
Atmosphere and the Earth. 253
the whole year, break forth from under a covering of snow, how
can the small quantity of water, which, in summer, by the melt-
ing of the snow and fall of rain, sinks into the earth, elevate the
temperature of the subterranean water so many degrees for the
whole year ?
In some places, such as marshes, the mixing of atmospheric
water with that of springs is evident ; also loose sands, such as
those of the Egyptian deserts, heated by the sun’s rays, elevate
the temperature of springs * ; but such observations have been
excluded in the above calculations.
However well the formula a — 6 sin * / = ¢ expresses the ob-
servations, yet it must not be forgotten that it is only an approxi-
mative formula, and that it may give false results for points far
removed from the places of observation. ‘To such places belongs
the pole, for which all the four equations must give the same
value, but which is not the case. It may be admitted, that, in
the vicinity of the pole, the terrestrial temperature is at its
minimum, which this formula cannot indicate, as, at 7==0 it has
its greatest value, at 7 — 90° its smallest. As the isogeother-
mal line of 32° under the first meridian, approaches very near
the pole, if we can trust the formula even reaches it, so that
the space, which is included by the isogeothermal line of 32°, has
a considerable indentation, and seems almost to form two por-
tions, the middle points of which are to be viewed as two dis-
tinct poles of cold. One of these points probably lies in North
America, the other in the north of Siberia. Unfortunately we
still want observations on these places. 'The temperature under
these poles of cold cannot be much under 32°.
With respect to the temperature at the equator, we see that
these points which are on coasts washed by the sea, or on islands,
have a lower temperature than those which are in the middle of
a great continent. The warmest point of the equator is in the
interior of Africa; to the north of this point, at least in lati-
tudes which do not exceed 50°, the isogeothermal lines have a
considerable curve to the north. That point, which, in the
ocean included between great continents, falls in 60° east longi-
tude, has even a temperature of 3°37 lower. Those points,
finally, which lie next to the observations made on the west
coast of Africa (Teneriffe) and cast coast of America (Cuma-
" Well at the great Pyramid 88°25.
254 On the Mean Temperature of the
na) * possess almost the same low temperature, so that we may
conjecture, that the coldest point of the equator between 80°
west and 60° east longitude, is, in the great ocean between the
west coast of Africa and the east coast of America; but, from
thence the terrestrial temperature increases rapidly te the east
and west. ‘The same holds for the calculated temperatures of
the equator which, we have already observed of the pole, that
the formulz: are perhaps not quite conformable to one another.
It is difficult to conjecture what can have produced a greater
terrestrial temperature in the low latitudes of the second meridian.
The circumstance of the equator in Africa, extending through
a large extent of country covered with sandy wastes, may be a
cause of the phenomenon; but it is difficult to conjecture how
this could influence high latitudes. If we reflect that there are,
under this meridian, two active volcanoes (Vesuvius and Etna) ;
that Germany is studded with basalt and other igneous rocks ;
that a greater or less number of warm springs testify the high
temperature of the interior ; that, finally, in the Tyrolese Alps,
porphyry and augite-rock predominate, to which, according to
the new views, these immense masses owe their elevation ; it is
natural to be expected, that even this circumstance of melted
igneous masses being found at a small depth under the surface
of the whole district, may be connected with the higher tem-
perature of the soil.
South of the equator we possess but one observation, that of
Congo, under the second meridian ; and if a single observation
can justify us in forming any conclusion, ii explains how the
warmest isogeothermal line (or the isogeothermal equator) does
not coincide with the equator of the earth. We require only, in
the map, Plate IV., to halve the distance between the isogeother-
mal line of 77:0 and the point in Congo, where the terrestrial
temperature is also 77°, to find a point through which the isogeo-
thermal equator must pass. If this linc, as is probable, runs
parallel to the isogeothermal line of 77°, then is the temperature
on it greater under the first meridian, less under the second, and
likewise less under the third and fourth, than the calculated
temperature for the equator of the earth ; the temperatures are
therefore distributed similarly on the isogeothcrmal equator, as
* Combining the observations at Philadelphia and Cumana, we find only
79-92 for the temperature at the equator.
Atmosphere and the Earth. 255
they would be if this line coincided with the terrestrial equator,
and deviate little from 81:5; that is, the mean temperature of
the air in these regions.
The temperature of the earth stands in manifest connexion
with other appearances exhibited by nature. I will here only
mention some of these, to show how fruitful these considera-
tions may in time become. Wahlenberg has already shewn, that
in high latitudes many perennial deep-rooted herbs, trees: and
shrubs, only thrive, because the temperature of the earth exceeds
the mean temperature of the air. In these latitudes, the periods
of vegetation appear to be as much regulated by the periods in the
temperature of the earth as that of the mean temperature of the
air ; a remark which I had often an opportunity of making, on
my journey to the northern Urals. In Middle Russia, the ve-
getation commences later than in Germany, but the harvest falls
at the same time, in the month of July ; but if, proceeding north-
wards, we pags the point where the mean temperature of the air
is 32:0, the harvests become later, and happen in August ; and,
finally, before the cultivation of grain is completely at an end,
in the beginning of September; this period, which corresponds
with the maximum of the atmospherical temperature, approaches,
therefore, in high latitudes, the time when the terrestrial tempera-
ture is highest. ‘The connexion which the direction of the north-
ernmost isogeothermal lines appears to maintain with the boun-
dary of the polar ices, also merits our attention. These limits
are laid down on the accompanying chart, from Scoresby’s in-
teresting paper on the Polar Ice *. The first glance at the chart
informs us, that the isogeothermal line of 32° extends somewhat
to the south of the boundary of the ice, except at Greenland : but
of this country we know that formerly it was not so much beset
with ice as at present. The terrestrial temperature can only
operate on masses of ice, which sink to a considerable depth,
which is not the case with those on the Continent ; and thence the
effect of a large mass of land, such as Greenland, on the polar ice
boundary is easily explained. The floating of the ice on the east
coast of Greenland towards the south-west, which Scoresby has so
well observed, would intimate colder points in the north of Ame-
rica, particularly of Greenland ; at least, I do not know how we
* This remarkable memoir first appeared in the 2d volume of the Memoirs
of the Wernerian Society.
256 On the Mean Temperature of the
can otherwise explain this appearance, so much at variance with
our ideas of the distribution of temperatures in the surface of the
earth. It is clear, that, if the coldest point of the polar sea is
just under the pole, the colder water must move below from
north to south, and the warmer on the surface from south to
north, the first of these currents would be changed by the rota-
tion of the earth into a south-west, the second into a north-east
one; as it must be the surface-water which affects the floating
of the ice, it must take place towards the north-east, viz. in the
_ opposite direction, to what really happens. But, if the coldest
point is some distance south from the pole, then the surface-cur-
rent must take a southerly direction, or rather a south-west, on
account of the rotation of the earth.
I believe, that, in future, we will find more connexion be-
tween the phenomenaof currents and thedistribution of the earth’s
temperature; but the latter may exert some influence on the
distribution of the intensity of the earth’s magnetism. I have,
in a former treatise, endeavoured to establish the probability of
the magnetism of the earth being seated at its surface ; if this
is the case, then certainly the distribution of the earth’s tempe-
rature must influence that of the magnetic intensity. But we
have here the choice of two hypotheses, either the earth is to be
regarded as a magnet itself, and then the intensity of its mag-
netic power decreases with the increase of temperature, or it
receives its power from without, and is, as it were, a mass of soft
iron, which is rendered magnetic by a foreign body, and then
its magnetic force increases with the heat.
Although the first of these hypotheses has been that hitherto
universally received, yet the second gains some probability from
the newly discovered magnetic influence of the sun’s rays, and
the dependence of the daily changes of the declination on the
course of the sun. We will immediately see, that the knowledge
we have obtained of the distribution of the earth’s temperature
gives us a means of deciding the question with greater certainty.
Let us suppose, first, the globe of the earth as a heated mass,
extremely capable of magnetism, and whose surface has almost
a uniform temperature, to be rendered magnetic by the power
of a distaut heavenly body (the sun). It is clear, that the dis-
tribution of the magnet will only, in such a body, shew a great
regularity, and the lines of equal inclination will correspond with
Atmosphere and the Earth. 257
those of equal intensity. But if, by degrees, differences in the
surface temperature arise, it is clear that the lines of equal inten-
sity in particular will change, and will remove in some points from
those of equal inclination. If a line of equal inclination passes
through several points, which have the same terrestrial tempera-
ture, then, in all these points, the intensity of the magnetic force
will also be the same; but in all points of the same line, where
the terrestrial temperature is higher or lower, will the intensity be
greater or less (if the second hypothesis be correct). This ap-
pears really to be the case; and if future observations increase
the number of those already collected, we may consider this cir-
cumstance as a powerful confirmation of the second hypothesis.
From Hansteen’s chart (of the lines of inclination and isody-
namic lines for the whole magnetic power for 1825, also from
the chart of isodynamic lines, which is appénded to his, Treatise
in Poggendorf’s Annals, v. 9.), we see that the inclination and
isodynamic lines in Scotland run nearly parallel ; but in the east,
in Norway and Sweden, the latter deviate to the north, and in-
tersect the former: On the line of equal inclination, therefore,
in the east, the intensity is less than in the west, which is also
the case with the terrestrial temperature. Edinburgh has nearly
the same inclination as Stockholm ; in Edinburgh the intensity
is 1:400, the terrestrial temperature 47°75; in Stockholm, the
first 1386, the other 43-7. The same is the case with Paris and
Kasan, whose inclinations differ little from one another; in Paris
the intensity is 1:348, the terrestrial temperature 52-7; in Ka-
san, the former 1-320, the latter 43-25. Further, in Teneriffe
and Naples: in Teneriffe the intensity = 1-298, terrestrial
temperature 64°62; in Naples, the former 1-275, the latter
about 61-25.
We now easily see why the pole of intensity falls to the south
of the pole of inclination. As the temperature of the earth de-
creases to the north, so the lines of equal inclination lying near-
est the pole of inclination, go to the north of it through colder
points than to the south ; but in these colder points, from the
above principles, the intensity must be less than in the warmer ;
we must therefore seek for the pole of intensities, viz. the point
where the intensities reach their maximum, to the south of the
JANUARY—MarcH 1830. R
258 On peculiar Noises occasionally heard
pole of inclination,—where it is really found, according to the
newest observations calculated by Hansteen. The pole of in-
tensity lies under Latitude 56°, Longitude 80°; and of inclina-
tion under Latitude ‘71°; Longitude 102° west from Paris.—
phe md ie 1829.
On peculiar Noises occasionally heard in particular Districts,
with some further Remarks on the production of these
Sounds. ee by the Author.
Ix page 74. of your last Journal, an interesting paper is in-
serted upon the peculiar noises heard at Nakuh, on Mount Si-
nai, resembling the tone of an Aolian harp, or the sound emit-
ted by the instrument used in the Greek monasteries instead of
a bell; that this is succeeded by a murmuring like that of a
hollow top ; and, lastly, becomes so loud that the earth seems to
shake. In discussing the opinions of Mr Seetzen, Mr Gray,
and other ‘travellers, it is finally decided, on the evidence of Pro-
fessor’ Ehrenberg, that the phenomenon is referable solely to
the rolling or grating of dry coarse granular sand down the sur-
face of a steep acclivity m the rock. ‘Those who are conversant
with alpime scenery, and in the habit of strolling amidst the re-
cesses of these mountainous regions, will readily bear their testi-
mony to the: power of avalanches for the production of those
awful ‘concussions which so often rouse attention, re-echoing
from every pinnacle and precipice ; while, to the more gradual
and gentle lapses of sheets of pulverised snow down the smooth
inclined planes of lengthened acclivities, may be referred the
minor moanings which rise and fall upon the ear, much resem-
bling in character the tones of El Nakuh. But however just
may be the deductions formed from the visit of Professor
Ehrenberg to that remarkable place, I am induced to notice the
subject, for the purpose of pointing out, not only the possibility ;
but the certainty, that similar effects may be produced by other
causes, and that the murmurings of El Nakuh are by no means
confined to the bosom of Mount Sinai. For I suspect that not
only all elevated regions, but other tracts of land under favour-
in particular Districts. 259
ably exciting circumstances, become, more frequently than our
philosophy dreameth of, instruments on which Nature delights
to play “ sounds and sweet airs.” , That, hills and plains, the
wilderness and the waters, are in ber hands but as ‘‘ harps whose
chords: elude the sight ;” though, whether this melody, be. of
“ the air or the earth,” must remain a matter of mystery,
whereupon wisdom yet may ponder. I shall proceed to e¢orro-
borate my views by a few instances. It is observed by the
author of one of the most delightful minor works * of -modern
date, that the “ purely rural, little: noticed, and, indeed, local
occurrence, called by the country people Hummings in the air,
is annually to be heard in one or two fields near his dwelling.
** About the middle of the day, perhaps from twelve o’clock till
two, on a few calm sultry days in July,” he says, ‘* we occasionally
hear, when in particular places, the humming of apparently
a large swarm of bees. It is generally in some spacious open
spot that this murmuring first arrests our attention. As we
move onward, the sound becomes fainter, and by degrees is no
longer audible. That this sound proceeds from a collection of
bees, or some such insects high in the air, there can ‘be no
doubt ; yet the musicians are invisible. At these times a soli-
tary insect or so may be observed here and there, occupied in
its usual employ; but this creature takes no part in our aérial
orchestra.”
Now, before entirely acquiescing in an opinion thus delivered
in the language of certainty, it should be remarked, in the first
place, That the writer mentions the fact as local and partial,
heard only in one or two fields, at particular times of the year,
when the air is in a certain state, viz. calm and sultry. In the
next place, it may, for good reasons, be fairly doubted, whether
it really is produced by insects “high in air ;” for it so happens,
that, in the bosom of a thick wood, where there is a space par-
tially opened, though still a very narrow and confined spot, in
days precisely such as he describes them, i. e. sultry, and in
the middle of summer, when the air is calm, I have often
paused, to listen to a similar aérial humming, appearing to re-
sult from some unseen power close at hand; which for. several
* Journal of a Naturalist, p. 369, 2d edit.
R 2
260 On peculiar Noises occasionally heard
years I hesitated not to attribute to insects, an opinion J felt
compelled, though reluctantly, to give up, since, after the most
diligent search, I could never detect the presence of any col-
lected body sufficiently numerous to account for the effect.
Many of the properties of sound have hitherto eluded the powers
of science, and much that is mysterious still remains to be un-
ravelled.
With respect to the celebrated statue of Memnon at Thebes,
we have some very obstinate authorities to contend with, be-
fore it can be given up as entirely and absolutely fictitious.
Strabo, for instance, positively affirms that he heard sounds
emitted; and so far was he from being a credulous auditor,
that, without being able, as he says, to declare whether it
proceeded from the statue or the base, he adds, that, although
it did certainly appear to him to issue from the one or the other,
he would rather believe that it came from the bystanders, and
was altogether an imposture, than conclude, though supported
by the evidence of his own senses, that stones ranged in such
and such a manner were capable of yielding sound. Pausa-
nias, also, who saw the mutilated remnants of the statue when the
lower part alone remained on the pedestal, speaks of it as a fact
concerning which there could be no question. Pliny, in his
Natural History, book 36. ch. 7., in enumerating the various
Egyptian marbles, mentions this Memnonian block as possessing
the singular quality of cleaving or cracking under the influence
of the morning sun. Juvenal alludes to it in his 15th Sat.
15;
‘“* Dimidio magicz resonant ubi Memnone chordz.”’
And Tacitus, finally, informs us, An. lib. 2. § 61., that Germa-
nicus, in his progress up the River Nile, actually saw this
** Memnonis saxea effigies, ubi radiis solis icta est, vocalem so-
num reddens.” Notwithstanding this collected evidence, though
we may hesitate in admitting the fact to its full extent, I am in-
clined so far to give it weight, as to believe that, if there was
imposture, that imposture had still truth for its foundation,
namely, that some similar phenomenon had been detected in
masses of insulated stones,—a supposition strongly corroborated
by the unquestionable testimony of Humboldt, whose attention
was drawn to some remarkable granite rocks in South America,
in particular Districts. 261
which spontaneously, at certain times, emitted sounds much re-
sembling those attributed to the colossal statue of Memnon, a
circumstance well known to the natives, who, however, were at
a loss for an explanation of the cause.
This distinguished traveller says, in the 4th volume of his
Personal Narrative, that, according to credible witnesses, sub-
terraneous sounds, like those of an organ, are heard towards
sunrise, by those who sleep upon the granite rocks on the banks
of the Oroonoko. He adds, that MM. Jomard, Jollois, and
Devilliers heard, at sunrise, in a monument of granite, placed
at the centre of the spot on which the palace of Karnak stands,
a noise resembling the breaking of a string *.
The reflective powers of surfaces, whether inclined or hori-
zontal, and the transmitting capacity of the air, afford data for
every variety of theory, in the equally unaccountable and singu-
lar instances on record ; and I believe that many of your read-
ers, at all in the habit of paying attention to the numberless
phenomena presenting themselves, will bear testimony to having
heard strange sounds, whence and wherefore they knew not.
He who has been called upon to keep watch during the lone
hours and stillness of a calm night, will occasionally hear low
murmurings rising and falling on the ear, for which he would
find it difficult to account on any other theory than vibrations
of air acting in some particular manner on intervening surfaces
or projections.
It may be urged, and it is perfectly just, that the intensity
of sound is very considerably increased during the night, which
has been ascribed by Humboldt to the presence of the sun
acting on the propagation and intensity of sounds, by opposing
them with currents of air of different density, and partial un-
dulations of the atmosphere, caused by unequally heating dif-
ferent parts of the earth. In these cases, the vibrations of sound
* Analogous, and corroborative in somé degree of these facts, is the fol-
lowing beautiful, though somewhat fanciful, passage of Madame de Stael’s :
“* Et l’on meme que sur les cétes de |’Asie, ot l’atmosphere est plus pur, on
entend quelquefvis le soir une harmonie plaintive et douce, que la nature
semble adresser 4 l’homme, a fin de lui apprendre qu’elle respire, qu'elle
aime, et qu’elle souffre.”
262 On peculiar Noises occasionally heard
are divided into two waves, where the medium suddenly changes,
and a sort of acoustic’ mirage is produced, arising from: the
want of homogeneity of the air, in the same manner as a lumi-
nous mirage takes place from an analogous cause *. But, ad-
mitting the ‘ingenious explanation of this scientific traveller,
other causes ‘possibly, however, and: probably connected with
the presence or absence, excess or diminution, of solar heat, may
be operative in both the increase, and protracted continuity of
sound. Thus, Captam Sir Edward Parry, during the intense cold
experienced in Winter Harbour, was surprized at the great dis-
tance at which the human voice could be heard: “ I have,” he
says, ‘ often heard people distinctly conversing in a common
tone of voice, at the distance of a mile, and today I heard a
man-singing to himself as he walked along the beach at even
a greater distance than this.” The strong odndeitey of sound
to ascend, again, has great effect. Humboldt remarks the bark-
ing of a dog has been heard when the listener was at an eleva-
tion of about three miles in an aerostatic balloon. And it has
been remarked, that, from the edge of the Table Mountain,
which is 3600 feet high, and the upper part of which rises per-
pendicularly at the distance of about a mile from Cape ‘Town,
every noise made below, even to the word of command on the
parade, may be distinctly heard.
The conducting power of water is well known, but to what
extent would scarcely be credited, had we not the most un-
doubted evidence at hand, that of the much to be lamented Dr
Clarke, whose words we shal] give. ‘ A remarkable cireum-
stance occurred, which may convey notions of the propagation
of sound over water, g greater than will perhaps ‘be credited ; but
we can appeal to the testimony of those who were witnesses
of the fact, for the truth of that which we now relate. By our
observation of latitude, we were 100 miles from the Egyp-
tian coast; the sea was perfectly calm, with little or no swell,
and scarcely a breath of air stirrmg, when the Captain
called our attention to the sound, as of distant artillery, vibrating
in a low gentle murmur, upon the water, and distinctly heard
at intervals during the whole day. He said it was caused by
* Ann. de Chim. vol. xii. p. 162; also this Journal, old series, vol. iii. p. 194.
m particular Districts. 263
an engagement at sea, and believed the enemy had attacked our
fleet at.Alexandria. No such event had, however, taken place,
‘and. it was afterwards known, that the sounds we then heard
proceeded from an attack, made by our troops, against the for-
tress of Rachmanie on the Nile, beyond Rosetta. ‘This had
commenced upon that day ; and hence alone the noise of :guns
could have originated. The distance of Rachmanie from the
coast in a direct line, is about ten leagues ; this allows 130 miles
for the space through which the sound had been propagated
when it reached our ears*.”
Of the conducting and reverberating powers of a flat’ sur-
face, I would mention, not only from its extreme singulari-
ty, but its classical position, the echo in the Gardens of Les
Rochers, once the well known residence of Madame de: Se-
vigné. An additional reason for noticing it is, because I doubt
whether its existence is sufficiently known, or was duly appre-
ciated, even in the days of its celebrated guardian, since we
find her alluding to it only as a “ petit rediseur,” repeating
** mot & mot jusque dans loreille;” and gladly would I induce
any scientific traveller to include within his tour through. this
picturesque part of France, a visit to.a place and object so well
worthy of his attention. The Chateau des Rochers, sold unfor-
tunately in the Revolutionary times, and (I speak of a few years
ago) in the hands of a most unworthy and disreputable owner,
is situated no great distance from the interesting and ancient
town of Vitré. A broad gravel walk on a dead flat, leads
through the garden to the house. In the centre of this, on a
particular spot, the listener is placed, at the distance of about
ten or a dozen yards from another person, who, similarly
placed, addresses him in a low, and, in the common acceptation
of the term, inaudible whisper, when ; |
“Lo, what myriads rise !”’
for immediately from thousands and ten of ‘thousands.of invisi-
ble tongues, starting from the earth beneath, or as if every peb-
ble was gifted with powers of speech, the sentence is repeated
with a slight hissing sound, not unlike the whirling of small
shot passing through the air. On removing from this spot,
* Clarke's Travels, vol. iii. p. 331.
264 On peculiar Noises occasionally heard
however trifling the distance, the intensity of the repetition ts
sensibly diminished, and within a few feet ceases to be heard.
Under the idea that the ground was hollow beneath, the soil
has been dug up to a considerable depth, but without discover-
ing any clew to the solution of the mystery. On looking round
for any external cause, I felt inclined to attribute the phenome-
non to the reflecting powers of a semicircular low garden-wall,
a few yards in the rear of the listener, and in front of the
speaker, although there was no apparent connexion between the
transmission of sound from the gravel-walk and this wall. The
gardener, however, to whom I suggested this, assured me that
I was wrong, since within his memory the wall had been taken
down and rebuilt, and that in the interim there was no perceptible
alteration in the unaccountable evolution of these singular
sounds.
On the smooth surface of ice, and on a much larger scale,
a somewhat similar effect has been observed. For an instance,
I shall refer to the animated account extracted from Head’s
Forest Scenes, a little work scarcely, if at all, inferior to
the spirited rough notes of his brother of galloping notoriety.
‘© March '7.—The frost continued, and the cold increased to a
very low temperature, the effect of which upon the extended
sheet of ice which covered the bay, was somewhat remarkable.
It cracked and split from one end to the other, with a noise
which might have been mistaken for distant artillery ; but this,
when it is taken into consideration that the sheet of ice was
15 or 16 square miles in area, and 3 feet thick, may be easily
imagined. Nor was this all: I was occasionally surprised by
sounds produced by the wind, indescribably awful and grand.
Whether the vast sheet of ice was made to vibrate and bellow
like the copper which generates the thunder of the stage, or
whether the air rushing through its cracks and fissures made a
noise, I will not pretend to say ; still less to describe the vari-
ous intonations, which in every direction struck upon the ear.
A dreary undulating sound wandered from point to point, per-
plexing the mind to imagine whence it came, or whither it went,
and whether aérial or subterranean, sometimes like low moan-
ing, and then swelling into a deep-toned note, as produced by
some AXolian instrument, it being in real fact, and without me-
im particular Districts. 265
taphor the voice of winds imprisoned in the bosom of the deep.
This night, March 7., I listened for the first time to what was
then perfectly new to me, although I experienced its repetition
on many subsequent occasions, whenever the temperature fell
very suddenly *.”
In this case, as well as in that mentioned by Sir Edward
Parry, it should be remarked that temperature was closely con-
nected with the sounds, a proof that the peculiar state of the
air, with respect to its radiating powers of heat, is an important
feature in causing these phenomena, and so far at least may be
adduced in support of even the morning music of Memnon’s
statue, when the sudden action of the solar rays might produce
incalculable effects, darting on certain substances, surrounded
with a temperature considerably cooled down by dews, and the
chill of the night air.
I shall conclude by mentioning two other causes, bearing per-
haps more closely on the original question, which, like the echo of
Les Rochers, have fallen under my own immediate observation.
In the autumn of 1828, when on a tour through Les Hautes
Pyrenées, I formed one of a party, quitting Bagneses de Lu-
chon at midnight, with an intention of reaching the heights of
the Porte de Venasque, one of the wildest and most romantic
boundaries between the French and Spanish frontier, from the
summit of which the spectator looks at once upon the inacces-
sible ridges of the Maladetta, the most lofty point of: the Py-
renean range. After winding our way through the deep woods
and ravines, constantly ascending above the valley of Luchon,
we gained the Hospice about two in the morning, and, after
remaining there a short time, proceeded with the first blush of
dawn to encounter the very steep gorge terminating in the pass
itself, a narrow vertical fissure through a massive wall of per-
pendicular rock. It is not my intention to detail the features
of the magnificent scene which burst upon our view as we
emerged from this splendid portal, and stood upon Spanish
ground,—neither to describe the feelings of awe which rivetted
us to the spot, as we gazed, in speechless admiration, on the
lone, desolate, and (if the term may be applied to a mountain),
the ghastly form of the appropriately-named Maladetta. 1 al-
“ Head’s Forest Scenes, p. 204,
266 On peculiar Noises, occasionally heard
lude to it solely for the purpose of observing, that we were most
forcibly. struck with a dull, low, moaning, AZolian' sound, which
alone broke upon the deathly silence, evidently proceeding from
‘the body of this mighty mass, though. we in vain attempted to
connect it with any particular spot, or assign an adequate cause
for these solemn strains. The air was perfectly calm. The sky
was cloudless, and the atmosphere clear to that extraordinary
degree conceivable only by those who are familiar with the ele-
vated regions of southern climates. So clear and pure indeed,
that, at noon, a bright star which had attracted our notice
throughout the grey of the morning, still remained visible im the
zenith. By the naked eye, therefore, and still more with the
assistance of a telescope, any water-falls of sufficient magnitude
would have been distinguishable on'a front. base, and exposed
before us; but not a stream was to be detected, and the bed of
what gaye'evident tokens of being oceasionally.a strong torrent,
intersecting the valley at its foot, was then nearly: dry. I will not
presume to assert, that the sun’s rays, though at the moment im-
pinging in all their: glory on every point and peak of the snowy
heights, had any share in vibrating these mountain chords ;. but
on a subsequent visit, a few days afterwards, when I went alone
to explore this wild scenery, and at the same hour stood on the
same spot, I listened in vain for the moaning sounds ;. the air
was equally calm ; but the sun was hidden by clouds, and a cap
of ‘dense mist hung over the greater portion of the mountain.
My remaining instance in point is nearer home, and though
by no means of common occurrence, is sufficiently frequent to be
pretty generally known in its own immediate neighbourhood.
‘On turning to a map of Cheshire, it will be seen, that, from
within a short distance eastward of Macclesfield, a range of hills
extends in an irregular curve to the north-west, forming a sort
of concave screen, somewhat abruptly terminating over. the
comparatively level plains of this part of the county., In dif-
ferent parts of these, as well as in more elevated spots, at the
various distances of from four to six miles or more, at'certain
seasons of the year, usually in the early part of spring, when
the wind is easterly, and nearly calm on the flats, a hollow
moaning sound is heard, familiarly termed the soughing of
the wind,” and evidently proceeding from this elevated range,
in particular Districts. 267
which, I should add, is intersected with numberless ravines or
valleys; and I have nc doubt, that when the atmosphere is, in
that precise state best adapted for receiving and transmitting
undulations of air, a breeze, not perceptible in the flat country,
gently sweeps from the summits of the hills, and acts the part
of a blower on the sinuosities and hollows or cloughs as they
are called, which thus respond to the draught of air like
enormous organ-pipes, and become for the time wind-instru-
ments on a gigantic scale, producing those striking and melan-
choly modulations so well expressed by the provincial word
*“‘ soughing,” derived, no doubt, from the old Welsh substan-
tive * suad,” a lullaby, or the verb ‘* suaw,” to hush, to lull, to
rest; or, as Sir Walter Scott in his glossary interprets it, a hol-
low blast or whisper, im which sense he uses it. ‘* Hist,’ ex-
claimed Mucklewrath *, ‘ I hear a distant noise. ‘ It is the
rushing of the brook over the pebbles’ said one. < It is the
sough of the wind among the bracken’ said another.” And,
again, when old Dousterswivel + is keeping his midnight vigils
near goot Maister Mishdigoat’s grave, the “ melancholy sough”
of the dying wind is fitly associated with ‘ strains of vocal
music, so sad and solemn, as if the departed spirits of the
churchmen who bad once inhabited those deserted ruins, were
mourning the solitude and desolation to which their hallowed
precincts had been abandoned.”
E.'S.
On the Geographical Characters and Geognostical Constitution
of Spain. By Professor Hausmann, of Géttingen. Com-
municated by the Author f.
Geographic Features of the Country.
Tur chief direction of the Pyrenean chain, properly so called,
is from ESE to WSW. It is disposed, not in one but in
* Old Mortality, vol. iv. p. 85. + Antiquary, vol. ii. p. 265.
$ As we know but comparatively little of the geographical and geological
features of Spain, we have much pleasure in laying before our readers these
observations of Professor Hausmann, abstracted from a memoir lately read
before the Royal Society of Gottingen, by that distinguished naturalist, but
not yet printed or published.Epit. 4
268 Prof. Hausmann on the Geographical Characters
two chains, which run parallel to each other. An erroneous
view has been taken up and propagated by many of the newer
geographers, viz. that the principal mountain groups in Spain
are mere continuations of the Pyrenees: they have assumed and
delineated in maps what they call an Iberian Mountain Chain,
which chain is said to arise in the west, in the mountains of
Asturias, at the sources of the Ebro, from thence to run in a
south-eastern direction towards the frontiers of Arragon and
Old Castile, where it assumes a southerly direction, and ranges
downwards to Cabo de Gata, where it terminates. It is con-
ceived that the other principal chains of mountains are lateral
brauches of that Iberian mountain chain, and that they thus
form not longitudinal valleys, but transverse valleys. This er-
ror has arisen frem a series of heights which range through
Spain, in the direction of the supposed chain, forming the prin-
cipal water-shed (divortia aquarum) between the Atlantic and
Mediterranean Seas, and which, therefore, in regard to the
surface of the Iberian peninsula, is of great importance, because
there is connected with it the striking phenomenon, that, with
exception of the Ebro, all the considerable rivers flow towards
the Atlantic Sea, and that the eastern acclivity is short, while
the western and south-western are long. But this series of
heights (héhenzug), has not the characters of a connected
mountain chain (group), although single mountain masses are
found in its line of direction. Among these, the most distin-
guished are the Sierras de Molina, de Albaracin, de Cuenca,
on the borders of Arragon and Old and New Castile. Not only
the external aspect, but also the internal composition, go to
prove that the principal mountain chains of Spain are not mem-
bers of a great mountain system, or system of mountains. The
principal mountain chains which traverse the interior of Spain,
have the same general direction, which is from WSW. to ENE.
The most northern chain begins at the western frontier of Ar-
ragon, and forms, under the name Somosierra and Guadarrama
mountains, the boundary between Old and New Castile, and con-
tinues, under the names Sierra del Pico, Montana de Griegos,
Sierra de Gata, and at length unites with the Portuguese Sierra
de Estrella. This very striking mountain chain, which is so
much distinguished by its form and height, is much less con-
and Geognostical Constitution of Spain. 269
nected in its longitudinal direction than the chain of the Pyre-
nees. ‘The eastern part of it, whose majestic pyramidic sum-
mits are seen from the high table land of Madrid, rises 7700
feet above the level of the sea. Another mountain chain ranges
between the Tagus and the Guadiana, under the names Montes
de Consuegra, Sierra de Yevenes, Montanas de Toledo, Sierra
de Guadelupe, and continues onwards to Portugal. A more
simple chain than this is the moderately high Sterra Morena,
which, beginning on the eastern boundary of Mancha, continues
onward between the Guadiana and the Guadalquiver. Its
northern foot is much higher than its southern. We rise gra-
dually to the road which leads from Madrid towards Andalusia,
to a pass 2255 feet above the level of the sea. The acclivity is
steeper on the south side.
The most southern chain of mountains, which, in its direc-
tion, corresponds to the south coast of Spain, or rather ranges
along in the direction of the coast, is distinguished by its form
and height. Both in its exterior and interior, it is more com-
plicated in its structure than the other Spanish ranges of moun-
tains, because there are in it many high ridges which run pa-
rallel, and thus longitudinal valleys are formed. This moun-
tain range has not an uninterrupted course; on the con-
trary, the eastern part of it, whose principal mountain ridge
is named Sierra Nevada, is separated from the western, named
the Sierra de Ronda. The first, the Sierra Nevada, is par-
ticularly distinguished by its extent and height. Its principal
mountain ridge overtops the highest summits of the Pyre-
nees ; for, according to the measurements of Dom. Simon
Rojas Clementi, the highest summit, Cumbre de Mulhacen, is
11,105 feet above the level of the sea; hence, notwithstanding
its southern situation, it rises above the snow line, which there
attains a height of 8600 feet above the sea. The northern foot
of the Sierra Nevada is bounded partly by the table land of
Guadiz and Granada, of which the latter is 2000 feet above the
sea. ‘The southern acclivity of the ridge which runs parallel
with the central chain, sinks, on the contrary, very rapidly into
the sea. ‘The most easterly of these is the Sierra de Aljamilla ;
then follows the Sierra de Gador, rich in ores ; and to these the
Contraviesa, the Sierra de Lujar, and the Sierra de las Almi-
jaras. These ridges do not form an uninterrupted series; or
270 ~=Prof. Hausmann on the Geographical Characters
the contrary, are separated from each other by transverse val-
leys. In the continuation of this coast chain, we have, to the
south-west of Malaga, the Sierra de Mijas and the Sierra Ber-
meja, which range towards the Sierra de Ronda, which extend
their arms towards the most southern extremity of Spain.
When we take a general view of these different principal
mountain chains of Spain, and at the same time attend to the
prolongation of the middle ones ito Portugal, it follows, that
the more southerly they are, the shorter is their course. It
further appears, that there is connected with this a southerly
curvature of the extreme branches ; with these is connected the
turning of the rivers from their principal direction as they ap-
proach ‘to the sea.. This is least considerable with the Tagus,
but most considerable with the Guadiana and Guadalquiver.
These rivers do not break across the mountain chains, as is the
case with the smaller streams which belong to the Sierra Neva-
da; in order to reach the sea by the shortest course: on the
contrary, they continue true to the course of the accompanying
mountain chains to their estuary. As the general figure of the
Iberian Peninsula is explained from the relations of its chains of
mountains, in the same way, but in a more striking manner,
can be explained the south coast of Spain, from Gibraltar to
Cabo de Gata.
Besides. the principal mountain chains already mentioned,
there are many others of lesser extent and elevation, which do
not belong to these. » Many of these have an effect on the for-
mation of those situated on the eastern acclivity of the Iberian
peninsula, on the figure of the sea-coast, and on the rivers that
flow on this coast into the Mediterranean. Amongst these
mountain masses, the most considerable is that which rises south
from the Ebro, on the borders of Arragon, and Old and New
Castile, and the kingdom of Valentia, and which consists of
many ridges that run in different directions. ‘The mountains
of Jaen, which separate the Valley of the Guadalquiver from
the high table land of Granada, is very striking.
Spain is distinguished not only by the great number of its
considerable mountain masses, but also by its lofty table lands,
which extend between the ranges of mountains, forming a strik-
ing contrast with the perpendicular or mural precipices which
and Geognostical Constitution of Spain. Q71
shoot up from them, and also occasion a great uniformity in the
nature of Spain, as it brings the climate of a great part of this
country to that of a higher latitude. ‘The whole middle part
of Spain from the Ebro to the Sierra Morena, and. from the
frontiers of Portugal to the high mountain range which forms
the water-shed between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediter-
ranean Sea, is formed by them into a widely extended table-land,
of which the different plains, separated from each. other by
ranges of mountains, are from 2000 to 2500 feet above the level
of the sea; but, in regard to it, we have to remark, that the table
land of Old Castile in general occupies rather a higher level than
that of New Castile. The southern part of Spain also possesses
single table lands, which, however, have neither the extent nor
the connection of those situated in the middle of the penin-
sula.
Geognostical Structure,
The principal mountain chains differ not only in their exter-
nal aspect, but also in their internal composition : they appear
more as different individuals than as members of a single sys-
tem. They have this in common with one another, that their
nucleus consists, in whole or in part, of primitive and transition
rocks-; but not only the species, but also the relations of these,
vary in the different chains. A great body of granite, which
seldom reaches the highest points of the country, and contains
subordinate beds of gneiss and other primitive rocks, ranges
through the Pyrenees properly so called. It is surrounded’ by
a predominating mass of crystalline slate and of transition rocks,
among which ‘the most. abundant are clay-slate and limestone.
On the contrary, on the western continuation, in the Biscayan
mountains, the -older rocks are not widely distributed, and ap-
pear first in Gallicia, at the western extremity of the northern
mountain chain, where, according to Humboldt, granite accom-
panied by crystalline slates appear again, and in great extent.
The principal mass of the mountain chain which separates Old
from New Castile is composed of gneiss and granite. In the
chain of mountains extended between the 'Tagus and the Gua-
diana, according to Link, the principal rock is granite. The
long ridge of the Sierra Morena contains principally transition
272 Prof. Hausmann on the Geographical Characters and
rocks; granite breaks out on its southern foot towards the
Guadalquiver. This rock, so frequent in the Iberian penin-
sula, appears to be wanting in the highest southern chain. ‘The
middle mountain ridges consist of mica-slate, abounding in gar-
nets, which, in the ridges lying before them, passes into less
crystalline mica-slate, chlorite-slate, and clay-slate, which some-
times inclose beds at times of vast magnitude, of compact
limestone, marble, dolomite, and serpentine. On the south
coast, newer transition-slate and grey wacke-slate, with beds of
flinty slate, lie here and there on the older slate. The basis or
fundamental rock of the Rock of Gibraltar is of these rocks.
The structure of the chains of mountain corresponds in gene-
ral with their chief direction. Not only the alternations of the
different rocks, but also the direction of the strata, are conform-
able with the direction of the chains ; hence, in the greater part
of Spain, the principal direction of the slaty rocks is from SW.
to NE. or WSW. to ENE. But the inclination of the strata
varies. In the Pyrenees properly so called, the dip of the
strata is conformable with the two acclivities of the range. In
the Somosierra and Guadarrama ranges, the principal mass of
gneiss dips SE. towards the granite lying before it. In the
Sierra Morena, the predominating dip of the slaty strata is to-
wards the NW., so that they appear to rest on the granite
which breaks from under them. In the Sierra Nevada, the
dip of the, strata is conformable with the two acclivities of the
chain. It is worthy of remark how the curvature of the south
coast of Spain cbeys the direction of the strata, and how the
formation of the far projecting southern point of the land also
stands in connection with the direction of the strata. At the
foot of the Rock of Gibraltar, the slaty strata run nearly north
and south, with a rapid dip towards the east. The Gut of
Gibraltar is therefore nearly at right angles to the direction of
the strata. The rocky wall between the Mediterranean and
Atlantic seas, by this direction of the strata, must have opposed
the strongest resistance to the currents.
The primitive and transition rocks, in very different places,
are rich in ores. The present mines are confined principally to
the south-west and south-east parts of Spain. The mighty
lead-glance veins of Linares occur in granite; the colossal de-
and Geognostical Constitution of Spain. 273
posite of lead-glance in the Sierra de Gador, which afforded, in
the year 1828, 600,000 cwts. of lead, is distributed in masses
(putzen), in a limestone which may be referred to the oldest
transition-rocks, and the rich mercury mines of Almaden, are
contained in clay-slate.
The secondary rocks also assist in forming the principal
Spanish mountain chains, but in a different manner. They
ascend to a great height on the Spanish side of the Pyrenees,
even some of the highest summits are of secondary rocks. The
western continuation of the Pyrenean chain consists, in the Bis-
cayan provinces, principally of secondary rocks ; and it is pro-
bable that the lofty limestone mountain ridges which separate
Austurias from Leon, is a continuation of the Biscayan second-
ary formation. On both sides of Somosierra the primitive rocks
are skirted by those of the secondary class, but they are far
from the middle and higher parts of the mountain chain. When
we follow the road from Madrid to Andalusia, we meet with
secondary rocks near the transition clay-slate of the passes of
the Sierra Morena, but we must descend very low on the south
side before we meet with similar rocks. ‘The high mountains of
Jaen are formed of secondary rocks. In the northern vorge-
berge of the Sierra Nevada, between Granada and Guadiz,
there are secondary deposites, which are not, however, so con-
siderable and extensive as to reach to the higher ridges. Also
in the vicinity of Malaga new secondary rocks lie on the foot
of older mountain masses, and ridges of secondary rocks extend
from the hills of Ronda towards the southern extremity of Spain.
The wonderful isolated Rock of Gibraltar is also principally
composed of new secondary rock. The distribution of the rock
is not confined to the immediate vicinity of the higher mountain
chains, but it extends from the one to the other, rises or falls in
the intermediate spaces, and forms in this way the widely ex-
tended high table land.
The most important of the Spanish secondary rocks are the
following, viz. variegated sandstone and marl, gryphite limestone
and the white limestone or Jura limestone. The first of these
exhibits the same relations as in Britain, where it is known un-
der the name New Red Sandstone, or Red Marl. The shell
limestone, which, in Germany, is enclosed between Werner’s ‘va-
riegated sandstone, and the younger variegated marl forma-
JANUARY—MARCH 1830. s
274 Prof. Hausmann on the Geographical Characters
tions, is wanting in Spain, as is also the case in England. ‘The
sandstone and mar] is rich in gypsum and masses of rock-salt.
At Vallecas, near to Madrid, and in some other places, there
rests upon it, in single beds, that rare deposite consisting of
meerschaum, with nests of siliceous minerals. It is to this for-
mation, which occurs widely spread over the high table-lands of
Old and New Castile, that these countries owe the reddish-brown
colour of their soil, and the tiresome uniformity of their surface.
The lias formation is widely distributed in the northern provinces
of Spain. It appears to reach a considerable height on the Spa-
nish side of the Pyrenees. In the Biscayan provinces, it exhibits
the same characters as the gryphite hmestone of the Weser,
and is so widely distributed that nearly all the older rocks
are covered by it. Here it is remarkably prolific in an excellent
iron-ore. ‘The immense mass of sparry iron-ore, converted by
decomposition into brown and red iron-ores, of Somorostro, near
to Bilboa, and which probably forms the ironstone hills men-
tioned by Pliny im the 34th Book of bis Natural History, be-
longs to this formation. Probably also the vast beds of coal in
the Austurias are subordinate to it. The white Jura limestone,
which is one of the most widely distributed formations, is also-
of great geognostical importance in Spain. It forms, in most
places, the immediate cover of the variegated sandstone and
marl, and occurs in the north, and also in the south of Spain,
in single ridges, and great mountain masses. This formation is
exhibited in its most characteristic forms in the narrow pass of
Pancorbo, in Old Castile, in the lacerated mountains of Jaen,
and the isolated rocky wall of Gibraltar. Wherever it occurs,
its presence is announced by the yellowish-brown colour of the
soil with which it is covered.
Some members also of the chalk formation occur in Spain.
The sandstone of the rocky ridge of the southern coast, between
Cadiz and Gibraltar, and the limestone in the district of Los
Barios, bring to our recollection the rocks of the Saxon Switzer-
land. The first agrees with the German quadersandstein, the
latter with the Saxon planer limestone, an equivalent for impure
chalk.
Tertiary deposites do not appear to be particularly abundant
in Spain. In the south, particularly near the sea-coast, there is
and Geognosticd! Constitution of Spain 275
a deposite, filled with marine organic remains, in which caleare-
ous sand and pebbles occur, partly in a loose mass, and partly
more or less firmly compacted by means of a calcareous cement.
Judging from the included petrifactions, among which are beds
of oyster-shells, this deposite, on which Cadiz stands, and which,
in some places, rises into hillocks and low hills, belongs to the
upper tertiary sea-water formation. Probably the tertiary de-
posite mentioned by Brongniart as occurring in the neigh-
bourhood of Barcelona, belongs to the same deposite. ‘That
Jresh-water limestone occurs in Spain has been sufficiently
proved by the observations of Baron Von Ferussac. The
deposite very much resembles that so generally distributed in
Germany, and is found in different parts of Spain, both in
the interior and on the coast, and at different heights. The
calcareous breccia, generally with a ferruginous basis, which
occurs principally in the south-west, where it is widely dis-
tributed, belongs to the latest of the antedilwvian deposites.
It not only incrusts limestone rocks of different formations
more or less thickly, but also fills up rents and fissures mm
them; thus it abounds among the calcareous rocks of Gibraltar,
where it sometimes contains bones of quadrupeds no longer
met with there. The formation of this breccia is ascribed
to a catastrophe which affected different parts of the coast of
the Mediterranean sea. As Professor Hausmann had not
an opportunity of travelling in Murcia, he was not able to
confirm or reject the accounts of Spanish geologists, who
maintain that it contains true volcanic rocks. The occurrence
of other rocks, which are conjectured to have come from below,
has been noticed in but few places. Characteristic basalt oc-
curs in Catalonia. The porphyritic and basaltic looking rocks,
extending from Cabo de Gata, and from Avila, on the north
side of the Guadarrama range, are still problematical. Hypers-
thene-rock has been found by Professor Garcia in the vicinity
of Salinas de Poza, in Old Castile, in contact with Jura lime-
stone. Professor Hausmann found in the mountains of Jaen,
near to variegated marl containing masses of gypsum, rocks of
greenstone.
Prof. Hausmann concludes his discourse with some remarks
on the more general geological relations of Spain, in whieh
s'2
276 Prof. Hausmann on the Geographical Characters
he pointed out the influence of soil and climate on the other de-
partments of nature, as also on the peculiarities and occupations
of man. A glance of the whole nature of Spain discovers a
threefold principal difference. The northern zone, which ex-
tends to the Ebro, differs entirely in its characters from the
middle zone; and this again is completely different from the
southern zone, which is bounded on the north by the Sierra
Morena and a part of the Ostrandes. The northern zone,
which includes Gallicia, Austurias, the Biscayan provinces, Na-
varre, the northern part of Arragon, and Catalonia, is a widely
extended mountainous and hilly country. The snow-fields and
glaciers of the Pyrenees on the one side, and on the other the
north and north-west winds, have a marked influence in lower-
ing the temperature of the atmosphere, and in increasing the
supply of water. The increased humidity is favourable for ve-
getation, which, on the whole, very much resembles that of the
south of France; and the variety of rocks containing lime, clay,
and sand, and also their frequent alternations, operate benefi-
cially on the soil. The soil every where invites to cultivation,
and the Catalonians and Biscayans are active cultivators of the
ground. The middle part of Spain, to which belongs Old and
New Castile, a part of Arragon, Leon, and Estremadura, is not
so favourably circumstanced. In general, we rarely meet with
either beauty or variety of aspect. The extensive and lofty
table-lands, destitute of trees, are dull and tiresome ; their uni-
form and monotonous surface, formed by vast deposites of hori-
zontally disposed secondary strata, is swept across by the wind,
and burnt up by the rays of the sun. Whichever way the
eye turns, it meets with scarcely any thing but wretchedly culti-
vated corn-fields, and desert heaths of cistus. Seldom, in gene-
ral, more in the southern than in the northern districts, planta-
tions of olive trees afford a meagre shelter, and vary the scenery,
although in an inconsiderable degree. Nothing certainly has so
great an influence on these properties of nature, with which
many of the peculiarities and modes of life of man harmonize,
than the high situation of the widely extended table-lands,
and the uniformity of the rock which forms the support of the
soil. It is owing principally to the horizontal stratification,
and the want of water, that the great Spanish table-lands are
so widely extended, and so little intersected by deep valleys.
and Geognosticul Constitution of Spain. QT
The rivers, in most cases, carry but little water in comparison
to the magnitude of the land, and the number of considerable
mountain chains; and it is further surprising how insignificant
the waters of most of the Spanish mountain groups are, even
when the qualities of the rocks favour the formation of springs.
The causes of this great deficiency of water are principally the
great dryness of the atmosphere—the inconsiderable cover of
snow on the mountains, and its short continuance—the absence
of forests, and the want of great moors on the heights, and the
comparatively inconsiderable breadth of the mountain ranges.
The southern and south-western part of Spain, which compre-
hends Andalusia, with Granada and Murcia, is very different
from that just described. On the opposite side of the Sierra
Morena the whole Jand has a more southern and foreign aspect,
a breathing of that African nature, which announces itself not
only by the world of plants, but also by the animal world, and
man himself. The great difference of climate is produced by
the southern situation, the exposure of the acclivity on the
south and south-west to the African winds, and the strong re-
flection of the solar rays from the lofty, naked mountain walls.
The mountain ranges are more closely aggregated, the valleys
more deeply cut: there is no room for very extensive table-
lands, and the more limited ones that occur, as those of Gra-
nada, are more amply supplied with water than those in the
middle of Spain. Along with this arrangement, there is greater
difference among the rocks, and also of their position. The south
of Spain, therefore, possesses not only a much higher tempera-
ture, one fit for the orange and the palm, but also a more varied
and more favourable soil for cultivation. But these relations
would have acted more beneficially if the air had been more hu-
mid, and moisture had been everywhere more abundant. The
deficiency of moisture is the principal cause not only of the
striking meagerness of phenogamous vegetation, on the most of
the mountain acclivities, but also of the remarkable paucity of
lichens and mosses on the mountains on the coast; and in
connection with this is the fact, that the weathering of the
rocks, and the reforming of the original surface of the moun-
tains, assume there a somewhat different course from what is
observed in places which are moister, and provided with a more
powerful vegetation.
( 278 )
Description of an Apparatus for Evaporating Fluids, and also
Sor separating Salts from their aqueous solution by Crystalli-
zation without the aid of the Air-pump. By P. A. Von
Bonsporr, Professor of Chemistry in the Alexander Univer-
sity in Finland.
W uen we wish to evaporate gradually the water of a solution,
and particularly to dry such matters as will not bear exposure
to heat without being decomposed or otherwise changed, we
employ, as is well known, free or rarified air, in which the aque-
ous vapour as it rises is removed by substances, particularly
sulphuric acid, that greedily absorb moisture. But, as the air-
pump, the instrument employed for obtaining a vacuum, is not
in the possession of every one, and besides it is difficult to pro-
cure one in which the bell-glass will remain long in the state of
a vacuum, and even the best is so far inconvenient, that in it
only a small number of evaporations can go on at the same
time, the account of another method for evaporating water will
not, we think, prove unacceptable to the friends of science.
In a series of experiments I undertook, in the year 1826, on
the salts which are formed by the union of the chloride of elec-
tro-negative and electro-positive metals, I procured a number
of salts, which (as they could only be prepared in small quan-
tities), it was nearly impossible to obtain well crystallized, parti-
cularly when they had a tendency to deliquesce. I found my-
self, therefore, arrested in the midst of my investigations, because
one air-pump only was at my command. This difficulty in-
duced me to think of other means. It appeared to me that air
has little or no effect in retarding evaporation, providing it is
kept dry or nearly so ; that is, if the aqueous vapour is absorbed
by an appropriate substance as fast as formed. I therefore
tried whether or not a saline solution, placed under a bell-glass,
in which there was at the same time a saucer with sulphuric
acid, could be evaporated to crystallization, and actually found
that, by this arrangement, my object was gained, notwithstand-
ing the pressure of the atmosphere.
The following is a description of the apparatus I used for
this purpose,
Description of an Apparatus for Evaporating Fluids, &c. 279
We pour into a flat-bottomed vessel of glass or porcelain,
after it is placed in a horizontal position, sulphuric acid, un-
til it filled it about one-third of its height, and then place
in it several small wine-glasses, and on these, as supports, the
vessels with the solution to be evaporated. This arrangement
is represented in Plate III. Fig. 4. In order to save room, the
supports or wine-glasses should be of different heights, and the
vessels of different sizes. I use, in preference, for evaporation,
small glass vessels, which are provided with a knob on the bot-
tom. In this way they stand more securely, and we can, after
a part of the salt is crystallized, pour eut part of the solution,
and allow crystallization to take place in another part. In order
to effect this, we give the vessel an oblique position, by placing
the knob on the edge of the support, as represented in Plate
III. Fig. 5.; we can also place the vessel on a larger support
or wine-glass, as is represented at a, Fig. 5. Plate IIL, if the
fluid is to be taken from another vessel. If the salt deliquesces
in the air, this mode of separating the mother liquor from the
crystals is very advantageous. But otherwise it is convenient
to place the vessel in the way described, because thereby the
mother liquor is quickly and certainly separated ; in salts that
do not deliquesce, we rather place the whole in the open air.
I have found, besides the advantages already mentioned of
this form of evaporating vessels, that those in which the bot-
tom is flat in the middle, and rounded on the sides, as repre-
sented in the figures ¢ g, are the most proper for the formation of
crystals, and the most convenient for removing the crystals
without injury; the common semi-globular dishes are by no
means so advantageous when the salt is disposed to shoot into
long four-sided prismatic crystals or needles; the crystallization
takes place most freely in a vessel with an entirely flat bottom,
as din Figs. 4. and 5. Plate III.
Another, and probably more convenient, arrangement is the
following: We procure a vessel of glass or porcelain, with a
flat bottom, and nearly perpendicular sides, and a tubulated
bell-glass, having a simple rim, and of such dimensions that it
can stand undisturbed in the vessel, and when sunk in the sul-
phuric acid, atmospheric air will at same time be excluded.
Fig. 5. Plate III. represents this apparatus. ‘The opening of
280 Mr Sang on the Theory of Capillary Action
the bell-glass is shut either with a stopper, or also, as repre-
sented in the figure, is covered with a smaller bell-glass. If we
wish access to the evaporating dishes, we remove the stopper or
the small bell-glass, raise the large bell-glass, and in an oblique
direction, in order to prevent the splashing of the sulphuric
acid, and place it in the mean time in an empty dish, with the
side supported against its rim. I have also found that the tube
may be left open, and still the evaporation goes on weil, because
the dry air in the bell-glass is, as is well known, heavier than
the moister exterior air, and thereby the intermixture of this
latter is in great part prevented. When tubulated bell-glasses
are not to be had, we can use ‘in place of them large flasks
with straight sides, the bottoms of which are cut off *.
By means of this apparatus, I have succeeded in producing
not only well formed crystals of the new compounds already
mentioned, but also distinct shoots of combinations of substan-
ces, which were held to be partly incapable of crystallization,
or had hitherto been known only in confused forms.
Observations on the Theory of Capillary Action given in the
Supplement to the Encyclopedia Britannica. By Epwarp
Sane, Esq. Teacher of Mathematics. Communicated by
the Author.
Ly the article Capillary Action, inserted in the Supplement
to the Encyclopzedia Britannica, it is assumed, as the basis of the
theory, that the attraction existing between the particles of mat-
ter extends only to distances which are insensible when com-
pared with the extent of capillary action. And, in order to ex-
plain the elevation of a fluid at the sides of a partially immer-
sed solid, we are told, that the attraction of the solid (K’—43 K)
first causes the elevation of the adjacent film, that this film then
acts as a second solid, raising that immediately adjoining, and
that thus the disturbance extends to the entire surface of the
fluid ; nor does the author stop short here, for he assumes that
* The best mode of cutting off the bottom of flasks is to tie round them
a cord dipped in oil of turpentine, and then set fire to it.
4
given in the Enclopedia Britannica. 281
the weight of the whole elevated fluid is proportional to the ho-
rizontal extent of the surface which causes its suspension.
These assumptions appear to me inconsistent with all the ob-
served properties either of solid or fluid matter. The first of
them, indeed, accords exactly with the observed non-distur-
bance of a fluid’s surface, until a solid is brought into actual
contact with it. But- although the action of the solid has only
an evanescent extent before contact, it does not therefore fol-
low, that after contact has taken piace, its influence is not sen-
sibly extended ; neither can such a supposition be admissible
when it leads us to conclude, that a mass of matter is elevated
and sustained by a force applied only at one extremity, and
which, therefore, does not pass through its centre of gravity.
The subject is one of great importance, and I imagine that a
scrutiny of the reasoning may not be unacceptable. In con-
ducting this examination, I shall first demonstrate the inade-
quacy of the hypothesis to account for the phenomena, and
then attempt to indicate that error which has led the cele-
brated author of the above-mentioned paper to a conclusion ex-
actly opposite.
Let AB represent the vertical face
of a solid partially immersed in a fluid A
whose horizontal surface is CM, its
disturbed surface MLK. Having
traced a canal vertically from C to D,
thence horizontally to P, and after-
wards vertically upwards, to termi-
nate in the disturbed surface at L,
it is obvious, that the equilibrium of
the fluid contained in this or any
other canal, is essential to that of B
the whole mass. Now the horizontal portion DP is already
in equilibrium with respect to all the attractions acting upon
itself, since the attraction of the plate is not supposed to ex-
tend so far, and it may therefore be regarded as the mean
of communication between the two vertical branches CD and
LP; the pressure at the lower extremities of which must
thus be equal. Now these pressures are caused, in the first
place, by the weights of the two masses ; and, in the second,
by the attractions of the fluid upon the minute portions situated
282 Mr Sang on the Theory of Capillary Action
at the two orifices C and L. But, ¢ being the inclination of the
surface at L to the horizon; K the attractive force at C; the
quantity of fluid at L, subjected to the attraction, is propor-
tional to the secant of 4, and therefore the whole attraction is
K sec ¢. But of this force one portion is acting in the direction
of the canal, the other against its sides. The former of these
two is as the cosine of 4, and hence the compression caused in
the canal is K sec ¢. cos ¢ or K-itself. The fluid therefore is
(as indeed is demonstrated in the third section of the subject-
paper) in equilibrium with respect to the force of cohesion ; but
it is not so in respect to that of gravity, so that the equilibrium
cannot take place unless the surface LMC is horizontal.
The same conclusion might have been deduced from the
consideration of the equilibrium of a particle of fluid situated at
the point L. Such a particle is acted on only by two forces ;
that of gravity, and the cohesion of the fluid ; now the latter of
these is already perpendicular to the surface, wherefore no equi-
librium can exist, unless the other also is perpendicular to it,
that is, unless the surface at L be horizontal.
The above reasoning appears to me sufficiently conclusive ;
yet, as the method differs considerably from that which has oc-
casioned these remarks, it may not be improper to consider the
subject in the same light with our author.
Let, then, MLK represent a small por_
tion of the inclined surface, LP a vertical K Fig -2
plane; a particle placed at L is attracted L
by the whole fluid with a force K, whence M
that portion of this foree produced by the
wedge MLP, is }K—2Ksiné; and
the part due to the wedge PLK is
1K+4Ksiné. After establishing, in
the most distinct manner, this proposi-
tion, he proceeds :
«« Returning now to the canal below the vertical plane PL,
and the level surface of the fluid, let ¢ denote the inclination of
the curve at L to the horizon; the canal would be in equili-
prium with respect to the corpuscular forces that act upon it, if
the attractions upon all its vertical sides were equal. But, ac-
cording to what has just been investigated, the upper end is at-
tracted by the fluid beyond the vertical plane PL, with a force
P
given in the Encyclopedia Britannica. 283
equal to 3K +4Ksin?@, and the attractions upon each of
the remaining sides is only equal to } K; wherefore there is
an excess of attraction equal to } K siné, which causes the
drop of liquid at the upper end of the canal to press on the
fluid above it, with a force equal to 3 K siné acting upward,
and sustaining the part of the ring cut off by the vertical plane
LP.” |
Now, here it is to be remarked, that the force } K + 4 K sin 4,
is part of the entire force K, and that it acts not upwards, but
in the direction of the normal to the curve surface at L, and
that, instead of tending to support the superior fluid, it merely
goes to generate a compression in the interior nucleus.
If we examine the composition of this force aright, one part
of it, Kcos¢@, is acting in the direction of gravity, and the
other, K sin¢, impels the drop of fluid at L in a horizontal
direction; but in establishing, from this decomposition, the
conditions of equilibrium, we are at liberty to reject none of
these forces ; yet, granting that we were so, it appears to me
very improbable, that the part } K siné retained, would pro-
duce the effect in question. I can easily conceive that a repell-
ing force at L, might tend to support the superior fluid; but
how an attraction can do that is to me quite mysterious; it ap-
pears as if I were told, that, standing to the northward of an-
other person, and pulling him, this exertion would tend to push
me northward.
My principal object, in making these remarks, is to prevent
the belief that a complete solution of the difficulties of this im-
portant subject has been attained. I have as yet seen no satis-
factory explanation of the elevation and depression of the sur-
faces of fluids, when brought in contact with solid matter ; and
these investigations induce me to believe, that the whole ap-
pearances are due to a change in the corpuscular arrangement
produced by the simple contact of a heterogeneous substance,
the laws and nature of which change are, and perhaps for ever
will be, unknown to us.
32. St ANDREW’s SQUARE,
Edinburgh, Feb. 8. 1830,
( 284 )
Account of the Larva of a supposed Gisrrus Hominis, or
Gad-Fly, which deposites its Eggs in the Bodies of the Hu-
man Species ; with the particulars of a Case communicated
by Dr Hix of Greenock.
Aw accurate knowledge of the natural history of the genus
(Estrus (gad-fly or breeze), is of great importance in an econo-
mical point of view, when we consider that the most valuable of
our domestic animals, the horse, ox, and sheep, form the usual
nidus for their development and increase, and are frequently
incommoded, sometimes essentially injured, or even destroyed,
by their attacks. The insect called botts by farriers, is the larva
of the @strus Equi, and although Mr Bracy Clark (to whom
we owe the best account of that and other species of the ge-
nus *), concludes that, upon the whole, they are not injurious
to the horse, it appears from the accounts of Valisnieri, that the
epidemic which proved so fatal to the horses of the Mantuan
and Veronese territories during the year 1713, was primarily
occasioned by these larve. The disease called staggers in
sheep is likewise occasioned by an insect of this genus ( Zistrus
ovis), and the hides of cattle are perforated by another kind,
which lives beneath the skin. The reindeer of the Laplanders,
which has been said to unite in one animal the useful qualities
of many, is more than almost any other a martyr to a species of
gad-fly, probably peculiar to itself, and therefore named by na-
turalists @strus Tarandi.
That man himself, the “ Lord of the Creation,”. should be
the subject of similar attacks, is not so generally known. Hum-
boldt, however, mentions, that he examined several South Ame-
rican Indians, whose abdomens were covered with small tumors,
produced by what he inferred (for no very positive informa-
tion seems to have been acquired on the subject) to have been
the larvae of some species of (Estrus. Larvz of analogous forms
have also been detected in the frontal and maxillary sinuses of
Europeans ; and the surgical and physiological journals of our
own and other countries, have reported extraordinary instances
* 3d Vol. of Linn. Trans.
On the Larva of a supposed Cstrus Hominis. 285
of flies, beetles, &c. working out their way from different parts
of the human frame.
Mr Clark mentions a case in which the gad-fly of the ox ap-
pears to have left its accustomed prey, and deposited its eggs
in the jaw of a woman, who eventually died of disease produced
by the botts which sprung from the eggs. Leeuwenhoeck ob-
tained maggots from a glandular swelling on the leg of a wo-
man. These he fed with flesh till they assumed the pupa state,
and afterwards produced a perfect insect as large as a flesh-fly.
Lempriere in his work on the Diseases of the Army in Ja-
maica, records the case of a lady, who, after recovering from a
dangerous fever, died a victim to the maggots of a large blue
fly, which sometimes buzzes about the sick in the West Indies,
and which, in the case alluded to, made their way from the
nose through the os cribriforme, and so to the brain. A re-
volting instance of scholechiasis is narrated in Bell’s Weekly Mes-
senger, as quoted by Messrs Kirby and Spence *. A pauper,
of the name of Page, was in the habit of secreting the remnants
of his food betwixt his shirt and skin. On one occasion, a piece
of flesh was so concealed, when the poor man was taken ill and
laid himself down to repose in a field in the parish of Screding-
ton. The weather being hot, the meat speedily became pu-
trescent, and was blown by the flies. The maggots, which were
of course hatched almost immediately, after devouring the meat,
proceeded to prey upon the body of the pauper, whose still liv-
ing form, when discovered by some neighbouring inhabitants,
presented a most appalling spectacle. He was carried to a sur-
geon, but died a few hours after the first dressing of his
wounds.
These, and other similar cases, ought not to be considered so
much in the light of ordinary or natural effects, as the result of
accidents produced by filth and disease. It is otherwise, how-
ever, with the gad-flies, whose natural habit appears to be to
deposite their eggs beneath the skin, or among the hairs of qua-
drupeds, in a healthy or unimpaired condition. Although sys-
tematic authors have described an Gstrus hominis, said to de-
posite its eggs beneath the skin of man, and to produce ulcers,
* Introduction to Entomology, vol. i. p. 138.
286 Account of the Larva of
which sometimes prove fatal, yet nothing seems to have been
added of late to these vague indications, in illustration of its real
history.
~ The following is an authentic instance, which lately occurred
to our knowledge, and with the particulars of which we were fa-
voured by Dr A. Hill of Greenock. George Killock, steward
of the ship Cecilia, while in the harbour cf George Town, De-
merara, during the month of September 1828, felt an extreme
itching in a spot situated on the lower and back part of the right
arm, which he frequently rubbed and scratched. The feeling
was quite different from that caused by the bite of the mus-
quito or sand-fly, with which he was sufficiently familiar. Ere
long, something like a boil or indolent tumour formed, which oc-
casioned great pain, as if a sharp instrument had been thrust
into the arm, or as if suppuration was going on at the bones.
This extreme pain came on periodically in paroxysms, and the
arm was poulticed for a length of time. ‘The swelling was not
so great as to affect the movements of the joint, and as there
was no appearance of its coming to a point, applications were
given up. One day, about five weeks after the commencement
of the pain, Kellock observed some bloody matter on his shirt-
sleeve, which he shewed to the captain, when the latter distinct-
ly perceived something in motion in the centre of a small ori-
fice, which had become apparent on the tumour. 'The motion
increased, till, to his surprise, the head of an insect protruded it-
self; and this it continued to do daily, though the animal was
observed to withdraw into its burrow when any one came near,
or even pointed at it. The pain at this time was so acute as to
cause sickness. The chamber of the insect seemed exactly to
fit its body, and merely admitted of its motions outwards and
inwards. It occasionally discharged a quantity of blood-co-
loured matter. Many attempts were made to seize it, but it al-
ways instantly retreated, and the captain, not knowing but that
it partook of the nature of the Guinea worm, with which he was
well acquainted, was fearful of a forced extraction, lest it should
break asunder, and leave a principal portion in the wound.
However, it was observed to protrude more and more of its
body every day, and, upon one occasion, it came out to the
length of more than an inch. At last it dropt out of its own
3
a supposed Gistrus Hominis or Gad-F'ly. 287
accord upon the cabin-floor, with a noise resembling tha
which a pebble would make on falling on the ground. It kept
moving and turning about for some time, like an earth-worm,
but, ere long, shrunk into nearly half its previous size. The
atmosphere was at this time cool, the ship being within a week’s
sail of Greenock. The insect lived for three days, and was
then put into spirits, after which it shrunk still more. Calcu-
lating from the period at which the itching was first felt, it had
lived in Killock’s arm, in the larva state, for about six weeks.
The wound healed readily, leaving externally the appearance of
a small scar.
In the 12th edition of the Systema Nature there is no men-
tion of this insect. Gmelin, however, says, that it dwells be-
neath the skin of the abdomen sta months, penetrating deeper
if it be disturbed, and becoming so dangerous as sometimes to
oceasion death. In Dr Turton’s General System of Nature,
there is the following notice of this insect, or of one of which
the habits are similar. “ @strus hominis. Body entirely
brown. Inhabits South America, Linne, ap. Pall, Nord. Beytr.
p- 157. Deposites its eggs under the skin, on the bellies of the
natives; the larva, if it be disturbed, penetrates deeper, and
produces an ulcer which frequently becomes fatal.”
We are informed that Killock, previous to this attack, while
at work, usually wore his shirt-sleeves rolled up above his el-
bows; and that, while in George Town, Demerara, he gene-
rally slept on deck. It is easy then to suppose, that the GEstrus
or parent fly had availed itself of a proper opportunity to depo-
site its egg upon his arm, probably by a slight puncture of the
skin, by means of the ovipositor with which it is furnished.
When the larva had attained its full size, it dropped out, in-
stinctively searching for a covering of natural earth, in which
to undergo the intermediate state of pupa, which it is des-
tined to assume for a time before it becomes a winged insect.
The instinct of the parent, however admirable under ordinary
circumstances, was of course insufficient to provide against the
accident of Killock’s being a seafaring man,—and the larva
could not have attained the perfect state, for want of the pro-
per nidus in which the pupa is accustomed to repose. Had a
flower-pot containing earth been on board the vessel, the dif.
288 On the Larva of a supposed estrus Hominis.
ferent changes of the insect might have been observed, and our
knowledge of the species completed. As it is, we are ac-
quainted with the larva alone. Its description is as follows :—
Length, in its present shrivelled condition, seven-tenths of an
inch; circumference round the centre or thickest part one inch ;
colour pale dingy apple-green, tinged with brown. The mouth
appears to have been somewhat tubular, but is furnished on its
upper part with a pair of sharp minute hooked crotchets, of a
shining black colour, probably for the purpose of adhering more
firmly to the spot from which it was desirous to draw its food.
The eyes are large and prominent; their colour brown. The
body is composed of nine rings or segments, exclusive of the
head and anal portion. There are thus, in all, eleven segments,
besides the mouth, the exact number of which the larve of the
European species consist. ‘There are no feet. These organs
are, however, obviously supplied by transverse circles of small
black spines or hooks, with which the principal segments of the
body are furnished ; and, besides these, there are several rounded
unequal protuberances on the back and sides. The latter are
possibly produced or rendered more apparent, by the decrease
of size which has taken place. Supposing these minute spinous
hooks to be, along with the skin, under the control of muscu-
lar action, (and Lyonnet has beautifully exh:bited the compli-
cated muscular structure of another larva), then, according to
the direction in which the hooks are pointed, a wriggling mo-
tion would produce either outward or inward progression, and
serve all the ‘purposes of locomotive organs, just as (to use a
familiar illustration) an ear of barley placed within the sleeve of
a pedestrian, works its way in a direction opposite to that to-
wards which its beard is directed.
Larva of @strus Hominis.
( 289 ) WY
Description of the Apparatus or Signal-Post for regulating
Chronometers. By R. Waucnorr, Esq. Captain R. N.
With a Plate. Communicated by the Author.
My Dear Sir,
Tue enclosed drawing will more fully explain the nature of
the plan given in the last Number of your valuable Journal, for
ascertaining the rates of chronometers by an instantaneous sig-
nal.
In addition to what was there stated, I have only to suggest,
that in a situation such as the Calton Hill, for instance, near
Edinburgh, where there is an Observatory without a regular
observer attached to it, it is not imperative that the true time
should be shewn every day ; but when a meridian observation
of the sun is taken, the flag may be hoisted at noon, which will
intimate that the ball will drop at one o’clock, or any other time
which may be fixed upon. The flag should, as mentioned -in
the accompanying description, be hauled down. precisely onc
minute before the true time is shewn by the ball.
By this most simple contrivance, any gentleman belonging to
the Astronomical Institution, who knew the error of the Obser-
vatory clock, might, any day that was convenient, announce the
true time to the towns of Edinburgh and Leith, and. to: the
shipping in Leith Roads.
At a foreign port, where a resident observer cannot be ob-
tained, a transit instrument may, nevertheless, be fixed in: the
meridian of the place, and a flag-staff for the instantaneous sig-
nal be erected, and placed under the charge of some careful
person, to be used by any man-of-war or merchant ship, having
time-keepers on board, touching there; as the observation by
the transit of the sun over the meridian, is both more accurate
and more easily obtained than by the present method in general
use, viz. by a sextant and artificial horizon.
Should this plan for shewing true time be universally adopt-
ed, which, from its simplicity, it bids fair to be, both by this
country and by France and America, there will then be no port
of any consequence into which a ship, can enter, where an-accu-
JANUARY—Marcu 1830. T
290 Captain Wauchope on regulating Chronometers.
rate rate for the time-pieces on board may not be found. Chro-
nometers willbe more gencrally adopted, and the visk attached
to both liferand property embarked’ in’ ships; ‘be: much: dimi-
nished.
I shall feel much obliged by your giving this a place.in the
next Number of the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal.—I_ re-
main, &e.
R. Waucnore.
EasTER DupDINGSTONE,
Ist February 1830.
Description of the Signal-Post for regulating Chronometers.
DE, Plate V., is intended to represent the interior of an ob-
servatory, through the roof of which, the halliards d (or hoisting
line’ of the ball C) pass, and are then secured 'at x, by the disen-
gaging lever y.' x is intended ‘to represent a time-piece, or the
observatory-clock, ‘by which the signal is regulated. ‘The
drawing’ represents a time-piece 2, placed’ upon the same’ table
with the disengaging lever y, so as to allow the observer to have
his eye upon the time-piece, and his hand upon the disengaging-
lever, that the signal may be instantaneous.
A C represent two balls, of four or five feet diameter, ‘made
in the usual way of black canvas and iron wire. A B represents
an iron rod, which secures ‘the upper ball A, to the upper out-
rigger, and passes through the diameter of the ball C, and:is
secured‘ upon the lower outrigger at B. Upon this rod the ball
C traverses.’ .A segment of the ball A is cut off at the point of
contact’ of ‘the’ two balls, as in the drawing, that no daylight
may “be seen between them, when im the position there’ repre-
sented. =~
d represents the halliards (or hoisting-line) of the ball C,
which is rove through a small block on the upper outrigger,
and passes through the centre of the ball C, and through the
roof of the observatory, and is there secured by the disen-
gaging ‘lever “y at 2,’ upon the table, where the regulating
time-keeper =, is placed.
e represents the downhaul of the ball C, at the end of which
and about four feet from the ground, a weight is attached.
PLATE V. Edini new Phil. Jou? Vol.§ p. 290.
Gi
{i Ai :
| il
ya a
P u
|
|
I
(tara essT
Published by A#lack Edin? 1830. E-Metchell feulp!
”
Captain Wauchope on regulating Chronometers. 291
y «x represents the disengaging lever secured on the table,
which is explained in the figure below, and so constructed, that
a slight movement of the hand at y disengages the halliards,
which are secured at 2, so as to allow of an instantaneous se-
paration of the balls. ‘The ball C (as above mentioned, having
a weight attached to it, at the end of the downhaul) cia
falls to B, along the iron rod A B, which is kept at a distance
from the flag-staff by the two outriggers, and which prevents
the ball C nent being affected by the wind.
The ball € will take about four-tenths of a second to fall its
own diameter, five feet, which separation of the two balls con-
stitutes the signal.» The halliards should, ‘therefore, be disen-
gaged four-tenths of a second before the true time.
Five minutes before the signal is made, a red flag, with a
white ball, should be hoisted as a preparatory signal ; and, pre-
cisely one minute before the ball C drops, the flag should be
hauled down. The ball should drop thrice, at the mterval of a
minute between each time, for the convenience of observers.
gi of the disengaging Lever, as shewn m the Lower
Drawing.
aa, aa represent two thin upright iron plates, one-eighth
of an inch apart, rivetted upon the plate mn. 6 is a thin
iron plate, with a hole; in the lower end, as seen in the separate
drawing of it 4 a ,,this.is inserted between. the two. plates
aa, aa, and has a hook at the top, for a chain at the end of
the halliards to hook to; the hole z, corresponds with a simi-
lar hole in each of the plates (aa, aa), and is secured in the po-
sition, as in the drawing, by the joint R, of the lever y, which
is here drawn out to shew it. The lever y traverses upon
the pivot P, having a joint at S, to allow it to play freely. A
slight motion of the hand at y, disengages the joint R from
the plates aa, aa, and sets b, to which the halliards are at-
tached, at liberty, and allows the ball C instantly to drop.
The reason why a chain should be attached to the lower end
of the halliards, is to allow for their contraction and expansion
in dry or wet weather.
peg
On Miargyrite and Jamesonite.
I. MIARGYRITE.
Tas mineral, formerly confounded with the Red Silver-ore,
was first separated from it by Mohs, under the name Hemi-
prismatic Ruby Blende. H. Rose of Berlin adopts the view of
Mohs, but gives to the substance the name of Myargyrite, from
agryveos, Silver, and p«wy, less, because it contains less silver than
red silver-ore. It is found at Braunsdorf in Saxony. On ana-
lysis, it afforded
Sulphtir, ude) thd 2 2N05
Antimony,. ..- .., - 39.11
SUVer ene see we. GEO
Copper,” ee ee. es. SUG
Beang eerie 6, 9 ht 9.62
99.17
As 36.40 of silver take up 5.41 of sulphur, in order to form
sulphuret of silver, and 39.14 of antimony and 14.65 sulphur,
the quantity of sulphur in sulphuret of antimony is to that in
sulphuret of silver as 3 to 1. This mineral contains, besides,
small quantities of sulphuret of silver, sulphuret of copper, and
sulphuret of iron. 1.06 parts of copper take up 0.54 of sul-
phur, in order to form the highest sulphur state ; and 0.62 parts
iron require 0.74 parts sulphur and 0.62 parts iron, to form
sulphuret of iron. The composition of this mineral, which is
analogous to that of the zinkenite, is expressed by the follow-
ing formula,
Sb + Ag.
It results from this composition, that this mineral has the
same constituent parts as dark red silver-ore, but in very diffe-
rent relations, so that it cannot be viewed as a mere variety of
red silver-ore, but as a distinct species.
II. JAMESONITE,.
This mineral occurs in Cornwall and in Hungary; but in
neither is it abundant.
It was first described by Mohs, under the name Axotomous
On Jamesonite. 293
Antimony-glance, afterwards by Haidinger under its present
name, which is that adopted by mineralogists. The following
three analyses of it were made by Henry Rose:
I. Il. III.
Sulphur, . ee RT| 22.53 A 5
Antimony, - . 34.40 34.90 33.47
De a a eee eer 38.71 40.35
Lead, with slight ra 0.74
of [ron and Zinc, 3
Copper, 25.08 2 0.13 0.19 0.21
Iron, - - - + + + 2.30 2.65 2.96
—e
99.73 99.72
The proportion of sulphur taken up by the antimony and lead
is as 12.87 to 6.33, also as 2 to 1. The overplus of sulphur is
sufficient to form with the iron iron-pyrites. Although the mi-
neral appears to be pure, yet we cannot admit that the quantity
of iron-pyrites is an essential ingredient of its composition. The
essential composition of Jamesonite may be expressed by the
following formula, 2Sb + 3Ph.
On the relative Age of the different European Chains of Moun-
tains.
Cicero remarks, that he did not conceive how two augurs
could look upon each other without laughing. Not many years
ago, the saying might have been applied to geologists, without
their having much reason to complain; for the science which
they professed was then a mere collection of absurd hypothe-
ses, not rendered necessary by any accurate observation. Now,
however, the case is different, and geology occupies a place
among the sciences. ‘The number of particular investigations of
which it is composed is immense, the facts collected are as nu-
merous as accurately observed, and some of the general results
that have been deduced from them deserve the greatest at-
tention ; for they throw light upon the original state of the
globe, and upon the frightful physical revolutions which it has
1
294 On the relative Age of the
ge at distant — separated byvin intenmals of tranquil.
lity. . ae
Perhaps on a fuser occasion, I shall scoot a 1 brief sketch of
these great, phenomena; but in the present article, I shall con-
fine myself to a single subject, the relative age of the different
mountain’ chains inEurope. ‘In selecting this subject, I have
been less determined by its novelty, than ‘by the clearness and
methodical accuracy with which M. Elie de Beaumont has treat-
ed it. Ivshave also to.say, that I have had the advantage of de-
riving from his friendly communications information without
which it would have-been impossible for me to draw up the pre-
sent , article, the original. memoir not having yet made its ap-
pearance. It does not belong to me to foresee the estimation in
which geologists will hold M. Ele de Beaumont’s investiga-
tion; but I am greatly deceived if they will, not unanimously
consider it .as one of the most curious.and best conducted. The
very favourable report which MM. Brongniart, Brochant, and
Beudant have given of it in the ese oany of Sciences, will,
I suppose, ensure for it the approbation of all the scientific
world.
It is an opinion now nearly universally admitted, that the
mountains have been formed by upraising; that they have issued
from the bowels of the earth by violently perforating its crust,
so that there has perhaps been a period when the surface of the
globe presented no remarkable inequalities.,
Since this view has'been adopted, difficulties that have hitherto
proved insuperable have disappeared from. science. ,, It will be
seen for example, how we can now explain the presence of shells
on the summits of the loftiest mountains, without supposing that
the sea had covered them in their present state. It is sufficient
to, say,.in fact, that these mountains, in issuing from the bosom
of the waters, raised with them, and carried to a height of three
or four thousand yards, the fermations deposited by the sea.
The moment the geologist admits the formation of mountains
by means of upraising, numerous interesting subjects of inquiry
present themselves to him. He has to ask, for example, if all
the great chains have risen at the same period ; and in the case
of a negative reply, what is the order of their relative antiquity.
different, European Chains of Mountains. 295
» Sucl»-ave precisely, the.questions, which have engaged the: at-
tention of M. Elie de Beaumont ;,.and, there is reason. to, think
that he has,\in some, degree, solyed them. ‘The following are his
results; ':;I-shallrafterwards pass to the proofs.
The system of, the. Erzgebirge in Saxony, the, Céte @Or, in
labdicmitshi and Mount Pilas in Forez, is the first.that has been
raised of; all, the mountainous .districts which ,M. de, Beaumont
has.yet eonsidered...|The:systemof the, Pyrenees and ,Appe-
nines, although more! extensive and of greater elevation, is of a
much less ancient date...The system, of the western Alps, of
which: the:colossal mass of Mont Blanc forms.a,part, was, raised
long after the:Pyrenees.. .. Lastly,.afourth raising, posterior to
these:just mentioned, has. given rise to the central, Alps, (St Go-
thard), the, Ventoux and Leberon Mountains, near Avignon, and
in:all probability, to the Himalayan,Mountains in Asia, and. the
Atlas range in Africa.
I have presented these results first, in. the hope that their sin-
gularity may engage.the reader to follow. with. more attention
the somewhat minute details which will enable us to determine
their accuracy.
Among the numerous and diversified deposites of which the
crust of the globe is composed, there are some which have been
named. sedimentary formations.
The sedimentary formations properly so called, are composed,
in whole or in part, of detritus carried along by the waters, similar
to the mud of our rivers, or the sands of the sea-shore. These
sands, more or less comminuted, agglutinated by. calcareous or
siliceous fluids, form the arenaceous rocks called sandstones.
Certain limestone formations are also ranked among those
which are called sedimentary, even although, which is rarely the
case, they leave no sedimentary residuum after being dissolved
in nitric acid, the remains of shells which they contain. shewing
in another and perhaps still better manner, that their formation
has also taken place in the bosom of the waters.
The sedimentary formations are always composed of very dis-
tinct successive beds. The more recent, may be divided into
four great sections, which, in the order of their antiquity, are
the following :—Oolite or Jura limestone—The green-sand and
2
296 On the relative Age of the
chalk system—The tertiary formations—Lastly, the first or old
transported or alluvial deposites *.
Although ‘all these formations have been deposited by the
waters, although they are met with in the same localities, and
upon each other, the transition from the one to the next species
does not take place by insensible gradations. A sudden and
abrupt variation is always observed in the physical nature of the
deposite, and in that of the organized’ beings, whose remains
occur in them. Thus, it is evident, that between the epoch at
which the Jura limestone was deposited, and that of the preci-
pitation of the green sand and chalk system which covers it, a
complete renovation im the state of things took place at the sur-
face of the globe. The same may be said of the epoch which
separated. the precipitation of the chalk from that of the tertiary
formations, as it is equally manifest that in each place the state
in which the nature of the fluid from which the formations were
precipitated must have completely changed between the time of
the tertiary formation and that of the old transported or alluvial
formations.
* With the object which L have in view, an accurate definition of these
formations is unnecessary, I might even have contented myself with nam-
ing and designating them as Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4. No. 1 would have been, for ex-
ample, the oldest sedimentary formation of the four, that which the others
cover, in a word, the Jura limestone. No. 4 would then be found connected
with the superior formation, or that of the transported deposites. I shall,
however, give a very brief account of these deposites, in as far as regards their
nature and aspect.
''M. de Humboldt has given the name of Jura limestone to the vast sedimen-
tary deposite of which the Jura Mountains are in a great measure composed,
and,which is formed by a whitish limestone, sometimes compact and uniform,
like the lithographic limestone which is extracted from it, sometimes com-
posed of small round grains named Oolites, whence the designation of oolitic
limestone. °
. The sedimentary formation comprising the green-sand and the chalk, con-
sists of a succession of sandstone beds, often mixed with a large quantity of
small green grains of silicate of protoxide of iron, and surmounted by a very
thick series of beds of chalk. The beds of both species which form the cliffs
of the English Channel are the type of this kind of formation.
‘The tertiar'y sedimentary formation is that of the neighbourhood of Paris.: It *
isa very varied succession of beds of clay, limestone, marl, gypsum, sand-
stone, and buhrstone.
Lastly, The old alluvial formations derive their name from their resemblance
to the alluvia produced by the rivers of the present period.
different Ewropean Chains of Mountains. 297
These distinct and abrupt variations in the nature of the suc-
cessive deposites formed by the waters, are considered by geolo-
gists as the effects of what they have called the revolutions of
the globe. Although it may seem difficult to say very precisely
of what these revolutions consisted, their existence is not the less
certain.
I have spoken of the chronological order in which the dif-
ferent sedimentary formations had been deposited. I ought,
therefore, to say, that this order has been determined by fol-
lowing, without interruption, each kind of formation into regions
where it could be positively determined, and over a great hori-
zontal extent, that a particular bed lay above another of a cer-
tain kind. Natural breaks in the strata, cliffs on the sea-shore,
common wells, artesian wells, and the cuts of canals, have
afforded great assistance in this determination.
I have already remarked, that the sedimentary formations
are stratified. In plain countries, as might be expected, the
disposition of the beds is nearly horizontal. As we approach
mountainous countries, this horizontality generally alters ; and
upon the sides of the mountains, certain of these beds are
highly inclined, and even sometimes become entirely vertical.
Could the inclined sedimentary beds which are seen upon the
slopes of mountains, have been deposited in oblique or vertical
positions? Is it not more natural to suppose, that they originally
formed horizontal beds, like the contemporaneous beds of the
same nature with which the plains are covered, and that they
were raised and turned up at the moment when the mountains
on whose sides they rest emerged ?
As a general proposition, it does not seem impossible that the
slopes of the mountains have been encrusted on the spot, and in
their present position, by sedimentary deposites, since we daily
see the vertical sides of vessels in which selenitic waters are eva-
porated becoming covered with a saline layer, the thickness of
which goes on continually increasing ; but the question which
we have preposed to ourselves is not of so general a nature, for
all that we have to determine is, Whether the /mown sedimentary
beds have been thus deposited ? Now, this question may be an-
swered negatively, as I shall prove by two kinds of considera-
tions, totally different from each other,
298 On the relative Age of the
Incontestible geological. observations have shewn, that the
limestone beds which form the summits of Buet in Savoy, and
Mont Perdu in the Pyrenees, having an elevation of from three
‘to four thousand yards, have been formed at the’ same time as
the chalks of the cliffs on the shores of the English Channel. If
the mass of water from which these formations have been precipi-
tated had been raised to a height of from three to four thousand
yards, France would ‘have been entirely covered. by. ity and
similar deposites would ‘have existed upon all the heights infe-
rior to three thousand: yards. Now, we observe, onythe: con-
trary, in the north of France, where these deposites appear to
have been very little disturbed, that the chalks never attain a
height of more than two hundred yards above the present ‘sea.
They present precisely the disposition of a deposite, which had
been formed in a basin filled with a fluid, whose level had not
attamed any of the points at present having an elevation of
more than two hundred yards.
I pass to the second proof, borrowed from Saussure, and
which seems to me still more convincing.
The sedimentary formations often contain rolled pebbles of a
nearly elliptical form. In the places where the stratification of
the deposite is horizontal, the longest axes of these pebbles are
all horizontal, for the same reason for which an egg doesnot re-
main on end; but where the sedimentary beds are inclined at
an angle of 45°, the larger axes of a great number of these
pebbles also form angles of 45° with the horizon ; and when the
beds become vertical, the long axes of many of the pebbles are
vertical.
The sedimentary formations, therefore, as is demonstrated by
the observation of the pebbles, have not been deposited on the
spot and in the position which they now occupy: they have
been more or less raised at the moment when the mountains
whose sides they cover issued from the bowels of the earth *.
* To be convinced, that in the act of the rising of a horizontal bed, all the
long axes of the pebbles which it contains could not have become vertical,
one has only to trace lines in different directions on a horizontal plane, and
to make it afterwards turn round a certain hinge. In this motion, all the
lines parallel to the hinge will remain constantly horizontal. ‘The perpendi-
cular lines to the hinge will, on the contrary, be inclined to the horizon, the
whole quantity by which the plane moves ; so that, at the moment when it at-
different European Chains of Mountains. 299
It is now evident that the sedimentary formations whose beds
present themselves on the slopés of mountains, in inclined or
vertical directions, existed before these mountains were reared.
The equally sedimentary formations which prolong themselves
horizontally until they meet these slopes, are, on the contrary,
of a date posterior to that of the formation of the mountain : for
it cannot be conceived that, in issuing from the ground, it should
not have raised at once all the ‘beds that existed in the district.
Let us place proper names. in the general and very simple
theory which we have just unfolded, and M. de Beaumont’s
discovery will be proved.
_ Of the four species of sedimentary formations which we have
above distinguished, three, and they are the highest, the near-
est to the surface of the globe or the newest, are prolonged in
horizontal beds from the mountains of Saxony, the Céte d’Or,
and Forez ; one, the Jura or oolite limestone, alone is seen raised.
Therefore the Erzgebirge, the Cote d’Or, and Mount Pilas in
Forez have issued from the globe after the formation of the
oolite limestone, and before the formation of the other three se-
dimentary deposites. On the slopes of the Pyrenees and Ap-
penines, there are two raised formations, viz. the oolite lime-
stone and the green-sand and chalk formation. ‘The tertiary
formation and the alluvial formation which cover it have pre-
served their original horizontality. The mountains of the Py-
renees and Appenines are therefore more modern than the Jura
limestone and the green-sand which they have raised up, and
older than the tertiary formation and the alluvial formation.
The western Alps (among others Mont Blanc), have raised,
like the Pyrenees, the oolite limestone and the green-sand ; but
they have, moreover, raised the tertiary rocks; the alluvial
deposite alone remaining horizontal in the neighbourhood of
these mountains, The rising of Mont Blanc must, therefore,
have been between the period of the formation of the tertiary
rocks and that of the alluvial deposite. Lastly, on the sides of
tains the vertical position, these lines will be themselves vertical. The lines
placed originally in directions intermediate between those of these two sys-
tems, will form with the horizon angles comprised between 0° and 90%. Now,
this is the precise image of the disposition which the large axes of the peb-
bles affect in the raised strata.
300 On the relative Age of the
the system of which Ventoux forms a part, none of the species
of sedimentary formation are horizontal, the whole four being
raised. When Ventoux rose, therefore, the alluvial formation
itself had already been deposited.
In commencing this article, I announced, however singular it
must have appeared, that the relative antiquity of the different
chains of the European mountains had been discovered. We
now see that M. de Beaumont’s observations have even done
more, since we have been able to compare the age of the forma-
tion of the mountains with that of. the various sedimentary de-
posites.
I have already called the attention of the reader to the un-
known but necessary causes, which have induced variations so
abrupt in the nature of the deposites formed by the waters at
the surface of the globe. M. de Beaumont’s investigation per-
mits us to add to what had been conjectured respecting the nature
of these revolutions, some positive notions which are as follows :
The sedimentary formations seem, by their nature and the
recular disposition of their beds, to have been deposited in times
of tranquillity. Each of these formations being characterized
by a peculiar system of organized beings, vegetable and animal,
it was indispensable to suppose that between the periods of tran-
quillity corresponding to the precipitation of two of these super-
imposed formations, a great physical revolution had taken place
upon the globe. We now know that these revolutions have
consisted of, or at least have been characterized by, the uprais-
ing of a system of mountains. The two first raisings pointed
out by M. de Beaumont not being by any means the greatest
among the four which he has succeeded in classifying, it will be
scen that it cannot be said that, in growing old, the globe be-
comes less liable to undergo these catastrophes, and that the
present period of tranquillity may not terminate, like the prece-
ding, by the sudden irruption of some immense chain of moun-
tains.
Since it remains established that the mountains have not
emerged from the globe at the same epochs, it were natural to
examine if the contemporaneous mountains do not present some
relations of position between cach other. This inquiry could
different European Chains of Mountains. 301
not escape the penetration of M. de Beaumont, and the follow-
ing is the result :—
The directions of the Erzgebirge, the Céte d’Or, and Mount
Pilas are parallel toa great circle of our globe, which would
pass through Dijon, and would form with the meridian of that
city an angle of about 45°.
The contemporaneous mountains of the second rising, viz.
the Pyrenees and Appenines, the mountains of Dalmatia and
Croatia, and the Carpathian mountains, which belong to the
same system, as may be deduced from the descriptions given of
them by various geologists, are all disposed parallel to an are of
a large circle, whose orientation will be well determined if I say
that it passes through Natchez and the mouth of the Persian
Gulf. Thus, whatever may have been the cause, the mountains
which, in Europe, have issued from the earth at the same pe-
riod, form chains at the surface of the globe, that is to say, lon-
gitudinal projections, all parallel to a certain circle of the sphere.
If we suppose, as is natural, that this rule may be applicable
beyond the limits within which it has been determined, the Alle-
ganies of North America, since their direction is also parallel
to the great circle which joins Natchez and the Persian Gulf,
would seem to belong, in respect to date, to the Pyrenean sys-
tem. Now, M. de Beaumont has been enabled, in this case, to
verify the accuracy of the inference, by a careful examination
of the excellent descriptions which the American geologists have
given of these mountains. It would appear from this that we
might, without much risk, venture to conclude that the mountains
of Greece, the mountains situated to the north of the Euphra-
tes, and the chain of Ghauts in the Indian peninsula, which also
come very accurately under the condition of parallelism already
indicated, must have risen, like the Alleganies, along with the
Pyrenees and Appenines.
The third system of mountains in the order of antiquity,
that of which Mont Blanc and the Western Alps form a part,
is composed of ridges parallel toa great circle, which would join
Marseilles and Zurich. In the whole space comprehended _be-
tween these two cities, the rule is verified with a very remark-
able accuracy. The chain which separates Norway from Swe-
den and the Cordillera of Brazil, being also both parallel to the
302 On the relative Age of the
same circle, have probably perforated the crust of the. lobe’ at
the same time as Mont Blane.
For the fourth and) last system of which M. de Beaumont
has spoken, the great circle of comparison passes through the
Empire of Morocco and the eastern extremity of the Himalayan
mountains. The parallelism has been verified on the Ventoux
and Leberon mountains near Avignon ; the Saite-Baume and
many other chains in Provence ; ‘and, lastly, the central chain of
the Alps, from the Valais to Styria. If parallelism be here alse
an indication of the date, as there is every reason to believe, we
might refer to this comparatively modern system of moutitains
the Balkan, the great porphyritic central chain of the Caucasus,
the Himalayan mountains and the Atlas range.
There is an immense chain of mountains, the most extensive
in the world, which, from its direction, cannot be referred to
any of the systems above described. ‘This cham is the great
American Cordillera. In the deficiency of satisfactory geologi-
cal observations, M. de Beaumont has indulged im conjectures
from which it would seem, with some degree of probability, to
result, that this great chain is newer than the fourth of these
systems. ‘These conjectures, however ingenious they may be,
are too much out of the limit within which f would confine my-
self, to be given here. Besides, I should apprehend. that inat-
tentive persons might confound them with the strict inductions
of which I have presented an account, and thus fall into error.
I therefore hasten to conclude this article, which, however, I
cannot do without remarking how much the purely geographi-
cal study of the chains of mountains will be simplified, when
the parallelism supposed by M. de Beaumont as a distinctive
character of contemporaneous mountains, having been directly
verified in the most distant points in the Himalayan range, for
example, compared with Mont Ventoux, will take its place
among the principles of science. Simple classifications, capable
of being retained by the most treacherous memories, and free
of every thing arbitrary, as the order of antiquity will be that
followed, will then guide us through the inextricable labyrinth
of intersecting chains, of which no geographer has as yet been
able to present a perfectly satisfactory picture.
Since the results obtained by M. de Beaumont have been
different European Chains of Mountains. 303
made known, I have seen that people were surprised at the cir-
cumstance that the chains of the same date were simply parallel
to a great circle of the sphere, and did not occur as prolongations
of each other. But all that can be inferred from this kind of
direction, is merely that the cause, of whatever nature it may be,
which has elevated the different mountain chains, while it pro-
pagated its action in the plane of a great circle, embraced a zone
of a certain breadth, and that the points of less resistance upon
the solidified crust do not occur in the direction of a mathemati-
cal line, which, indeed, would have been very strange if they
had.
A lady of my acquaintance, to whom I had given a brief
verbal account of M. de Beaumont’s memoir, wished to dissuade
me from publishing an account of it, from a dread, that the
public might be mduced by so apparently strange a theory, to
infer, that our present geologists bear a strong resemblance to
their predecessors. All my efforts to shew her that the raising
up of the mountains is no longer a gratuitous idea, that it re-
sults as a consequence from facts, and that it affords the only
explanation hitherto made of the inclination of the strata of the
sedimentary formations and of many other phenomena, were ab-
solutely fruitless. I then thought of adducing the small raisings
which have taken place in our own days. The effect produced
by this kind of argument, has suggested to me the idea of em-
ploying it here.
No one can deny, that volcanic ejections ultimately form hills,
or even mountains of considerable height, upon the surface of
the globe. It has been shewn, for example, that the lavas which
have issued from Etna, would form a much greater volume
than that of the mountain, and the Monte Nuovo, near Naples,
was produced by the scoriz ejected in the space of forty-eight
hours only ; but this is not the kind of phenomenon of which I
intend to speak; the question to be examined is this: Have
there been, since the commencement of historical records, por-
tions already consolidated of the crust of the earth, which have
been raised up in masses by internal causes? Are these de-
posites, which a revolution of the globe posterior to their forma-
304 On the relative Age of the
tion has elevated in our times, above their original level? The
reply to these questions must be affirmative, of which we have
the following proof furnished by M. de Humboldt.
In the night of the 28th and 29th September 1759, a piece
of ground three or four miles square, situated in the intendancy
of Valladolid, in Mexico, rose in the form of a bladder. The
limits at which the raising was stopped, are still recognized by
the fractured strata. At these limits, the elevation of the ground
above its original level, or rather above that of the surrounding
plain, is only 37 feet ; but towards the centre of the upraised
space, the total raising has not been less than 500 feet.
This phenomenon was preceded by earthquakes, which lasted
nearly two months; but when the catastrophe happened, every
thing seemed quiet, and it was only announced by a horrible
eataiancia noise which took place at the moment when the
ground rose. ‘Thousands of small cones from two to three yards
high, and which the natives call hornitos, issued in all parts.
At length, in the direction of a long crack running from, north-
north-east. to south-south-west, there suddenly arose six large
masses, all of them elevated from four to five hundred yards
above the plain. The largest of these six hills is a true volcano
(the volcano of Jorullo), vomiting basaltic lavas.
We thus see that the most evident and the most distinctly cha-
racterized volcanic phenomena accompanied the catastrophe of
Jorullo, and that they have probably been the cause of it ; but
all this says nothing against the fact that an extensive, ancient,
and perfectly consolidated plain, in which sugar-cane and indigo
were cultivated, has been in our time suddenly transported to a,
great height above its original level. The eruption of burning,
matter, and the formation of the hornitos, and of the volcano of
Jorullo, so far from having contributed to produce this effect,
must on the contrary have lessened it ;. fer all. these apertures,
acting as safety-valves, would have allowed the elevating cause
to disperse, whether it was gas or vapour. If the ground had
opposed more resistance, if it had not yielded in so many points,
the plain of Jorullo, in place of becoming a, mere hill 500
feet high, might: have acquired the elevation of, any; neigh-
bouring summit of the Cordilleras.
The circumstances which accompanied the fortunate of a new
Different European Chains of Mountains. 305
island, near Santorino, in the Greek Archipelago, in 1707, seem
to be also calculated to prove that the subterranean fires not
only contribute to raise the mountains by means of ejections
furnished by the craters of volcanoes, but that they also some-
times raise the already consolidated crust of the globe. The
extract which I here present of accounts published at the time
by Bourguignon and Father Gorée, both witnesses of the event,
seems to me liable to no objection. On the 18th and 22d of
May 1707, slight shocks of an earthquake were felt at Santorino.
On the 23d at sunrise, there was observed, between the large
and the small Kameni (two islets), an object which was taken
for the hull of a wreck. Some sailors went to the place, and on
returning reported, to the great surprise of the whole popula-
tion, that a rock had risen from the waves. In this region, the
sea had previously been from 80 to 100 fathoms deep. On the
24th, many persons visited the new island, landed upon it, and
gathered upon its surface large oysters, which still adhered
to the rock. The island was actually seen rising. From the
23d May to the 13th or 14th June, the island gradually in-
creased in extent and elevation, without noise or shocks. . On
the 13th June, it might be half a mile in circumference, and
from seven to eight yards high. No flame or smoke had yet
issued from it. From the moment when the island appeared,
the water had been troubled near its shores; and on the 15th
June it became almost boiling. On the 16th, seventeen or
eighteen black rocks issued from the sea, between the new island
and the little Kameni. On the 17th, they increased consider-
ably in height. On the 18th, smoke rose, and great subter-
ranean noises were for the first time heard. On the 19th, all
the black rocks were joined together, and formed a continuous
island, totally separate from the first. Flames, columns of
ashes, and red-hot stones issued from it. These volcanic phe-
nomena were still going on on the 23d May 1708. The Black
Isle, a year after its appearance, was five miles in cireumference,
one mile broad, and more than 60 yards high.
It is evidently seen, in this account, that the appearance and
enlargement of the first island were not accompanied with any
volcanic phenomenon, and that it eould not be considered as a
product of ejected matter. Now, this is the very idea at which
JANUARY—MARcCH 1830. U
306 On the relative Age of the
the geologists who reject the theory of upraisings stop short.
This island, according to them, was a great mass of pumice
stones, detached from the bottom of the sea by the earthquake
which happened the evening before its first appearance. But,
if this were the ease, how is the immobility of the floating mass
to be accounted for? It cannot be supposed that it always
touched the bottom of the sea, for then there would be recog-
nised the existence of a true raising. Now, if the mass floated,
it is necessary to say when, and in what manner, it became fixed ;
whence it derived its support, what were the causes of enlarge-
ment and gradual ascent of which the observers make mention,
and which, in three weeks, transformed a mere rock, hardly
visible, into an island half a mile in circumference. So long
as these questions are not answered, the supposition of a raising
up of the bottom of the sea will remain the only plausible ex-
planation that has yet been given of the phenomena by which
the appearance in 1707 of the first new island, in the harbour
of Santorin, was accompanied.
I shall now give a third example :—On the 19th November
1822, at a quarter after ten at night, the cities of Valparaiso,
Melipilla, Quillota, and Casa-Blanca, in Chili, were destroyed
by a frightful earthquake, which lasted three minutes. The
following days, in going along the coast over an extent of thirty
leagues, several observers perceived that it was greatly raised ;
for on a shore where the tide never rises more than from one or
two yards, any elevation of the ground is easily noticed.
The following are some of the observations from which this
remarkable inference was deduced.
At Valparaiso, near the mouth of the Concon, and to the
north of Quintero, there were seen in the sea, near the shore,
rocks which no person had previously seen. A vessel which
was wrecked on the coast, and whose remains the curious went
to examine at low water in boats, was laid perfectly dry by the
earthquake. In walking to a considerable distance along the sea-
shore, near Quintero, Lord Cochrane and Mrs Maria Graham
found that the water, even when the tide was up, did not reach
the rocks, on which there were sticking oysters, mussels, and other
shells, whose animals, but recently dead, were in a state of pu-
trefaction. Lastly, The entire banks of the Lake of Quintero,
different European Chains of Mountains. 307
which communicates with the sea, had evidently risen greatly
above the level of the water, and in this locality the fact could
not escape the most careless observers.
At Valparaiso, the country appeared to be raised about a
yard. Near Quintero, it was found to have risen a yard and
a third. It has been asserted, that, at the distance of 4 mile in-
land, the raising was more than two yards; but I am not ac-
quainted with the circumstances of the measurements which Jed
to this last result.
Here, as is seen, there were no volcanic eruption, no lavas
spread out, no stones and ashes projected into the air; and un-
less it be maintained that the level of the ocean has fallen, it
must be admitted that the earthquake of the 19th November
1822 raised the whole of Chili. Now, this last consequence
is unavoidable; for a change in the level of the water would
shew itself in the same degree over the whole extent of the coast
of America, while nothing of this kind has been observed in the
harbours of Peru, such as Payta and Callao.
If this discussion had not already been protracted, I might
have brought the preceding observations to a close, from which
there results that, in a few hours, in consequence of some shocks
of an earthquake, an immense extent of country may rise beyond
its original level, into connexion with those which shew that there
is in Europe a large country, Sweden and Norway, whose level
also rises, but in a gradual manner, and through a cause inces-
santly acting, whose nature is not well known. The numerous
observations on which this curious result is established, would,
however, occupy too much space, and I shall be obliged to omit
them for the present.
Observations on the Fontaine Ronde, a Periodical Spring on
the Jura. By M. Durrocuer.
Tux Fontaine Ronde is situated about a league and a-half
from Pontarlier, in the road from thence to Lusanne. This very
powerful spring has no proper basin, for the water rushes im-
mediately from a declivitous bottom, covered with coarse gravel,
u2
308 M. Dutrochet’s Observations on the Fontaine Rondc,
which is fifteen paces in length, and six or eight in breadth.
The water issues forth uninterruptedly from the deepest lying
part of the bottom, but from the highest part it ebbs once and
flows once every six minutes. This spring, therefore, is not
intermittent, but periodical. Springs of this description are, in
general, but rare occurrences, and the phenomena they exhibit
have always attracted the attention of the curious.
Long ago Heron of Alexandria proposed a plausible explana-
tion of the intermittence of springs, in supposing that there were,
in the interior of the earth, reservoirs of water provided with
natural syphons. This explanation answers well for most cases ;
hence it has been adopted by natural philosophers. If the in-
termittence is of unequal continuance, or the swelling of variable
height, and if these inequalities are repeated regularly and pe-
riodically, we explain them by supposing that there are many
dissimilar reservoirs, and that each has its peculiar syphon.
All this is possible, and art can, by arrangements of this de-
scription, produce appearances resembling those in nature. But,
however appropriate this explanation may be, we must not for-
get that it is a mere hypothesis, and that nature may have other
means, besides those already mentioned, for producing the in-
termittence of springs. The careful study of the Fontaine
Ronde has afforded mea proof of this. This spring, as already
mentioned, rises during three minutes and falls for the same
time, so that its periods have a continuance of six minutes. But
I remarked, on frequent visits to the place, that the water did
not always diminish in equal quantity. Generally, the highest
part of the gravel bottom was entirely exposed by this ebbing ;
sometimes, however, the water did not fall so low as to uncover
the gravel. These anomalies did not exhibit any regularity in
their recurrence; and it was therefore difficult to unite them
with the periodical regularity which must be produced by one
or more syphons. If the intermittence of a spring is caused by a
syphon, the reservoir must necessarily be emptied, by means of
the syphon, in a shorter time than it would be filled again by the
afflux of the water. If the afflux is increased, the reservoir is
more speedily filled, and then the period of intermittence is
shortened, but the flowing out from the syphon is lengthened.
Lastly, when the afflux brings as much water into the reservoir
a Periodical Spring on the Jura. ( 309
as the syphon carries off, the action of the syphon experiences
no interruption, and the spring becomes continuous in place of
intermittent.
In the hypothesis of the presence of a syphon, an increase of
water in the reservoir must necessarily increase the continuance
of the flow and diminish the intermittence, even at length en-
tirely destroy it. But, according to this hypothesis, the period
of the rising and falling can never diminish in equal proportion ;
yet this we found to be the case in the Fontaine de Ronde.
Its rise generally continues three minutes, and it occupies the
same period for its fall. But on one day I observed that the
rise occupied only two minutes, and that the fall took the same
time. The period of the spring which, as already mentioned,
is six minutes, was on this day only four minutes. ‘This pe-
riod of four minutes I obtained for a whole hour, during which
I observed the spring. This observation convinced me that the
periodic swelling or rise of the Fontaine Ronde could not be pro-
duced by a syphon: it must result from some other cause, as
appears from the following observations.
During the swelling of this spring, a great quantity of car-
bonic acid rises from the bottom, and the water, owing to the
numerous air bubbles that pass through it, appears to be in a
state of ebullition. We might suppose that these air bubbles
originate from the atmospherical air which had interposed itself
among the uncovered gravel during the time of low water, and
which was not entirely driven out of the intervening spaces at the
moment of rising, but which afterwards, when the gravel bottom
was entirely covered, escaped in bubbles through the water. To
a belief in this conjecture we might feel supported by the circum-
stance of the number of the air bubbles being much increased
when we stir the bottom with a stick. But when,with the view
of ascertaining how far this opinion was founded, I collected a
quantity of this gas and mixed it with lime-water, I found that it
became clouded. The gas, therefore, was carbonic acid ; and that
it contained no hydrogen gas was proved by the gas not inflaming.
It is evident, therefore, that the rising of the spring is accompanied
by an evolution of carbonic acid. This gas, which I conceive to
be formed in the interior of the earth, reaches the subterraneous
canals of the springs only periodically, because it is only perio-
dically forced out, whilst the spring flows constantly. In fact,
310 M. Dutrochet’s Observations on the Fontaine Ronde.
the spring flows uninterruptedly and abundantly while the level
sinks; but as the swelling begins, air bubbles rise every where
from the water, and even from that part of the spring which is
the seat of the constant flow. This observation proves that the
carbonic acid is not constantly mixed with the water in the sub-
terranean canals, but only reaches them periodically; hence, pro-
bably, this periodic flow of the gas into the subterranean canals
is the cause of the rising of the spring. There is an opening,
partially filled with stones, at the foot of the hill, about fifteen
feet from the spring, by which the spring, in the winter, when it is
very powerful, pours out its superfluous water, but which is dry
during the rest of the year. When we apply our ear to this
opening we hear, as long as the rising of the spring continues,
a pretty loud bubbling noise ; but during the ebb or decrease
of the spring, no noise is to be heard. This subterranean
bubbling arises, in all probability, from a very considerable
evolution of gas. 'This proves, again, that the gas which occa-
sions the rising of the spring, is not entirely carried off by the
water, but that a greater part is developed under the surface of
the earth, and escapes by means of other canals, very probably
by the opening just mentioned.
We shall not enter into any hypothesis as to the cause of
this periodic evolution of gas, but rest satisfied by pointing out
its occurrence at the same time with the periodic rising of the
spring*.
In the Jura there are other periodic springs, as in the town
of Siam in the Canton of Champagnole. Its flux or rise con-
tinues seven minutes, its ebb six minutes; its period, therefore,
is thirteen minutes. But I did not observe any evolution of gas
in this spring.—Annal. de Chim. et Phys. t. xxxix., p. 280.
* Vide Manchester Memoirs, for an ingenious paper by Mr Gooch on this
subject..—-EDIToR.
{ 3 )
On the Height of the Perpetual Snows on the Cordilleras of
Peru.
M. Penriany ascertained that the lower limit of the perpetual
snows on the acclivities of the eastern Cordillera of Upper Peru,
is very rarely under 17,061 feet, while on the Andes of Quito,
although much nearer to the equator, this limit is only 15,749
feet. M. Pentland, when travelling through the pass of AL
tos de Toledo, in the month of October, found that upon Incho-
cajo, which belongs to the western Cordillera, the inferior limit
of the snow was 1312 feet above the pass, or 16,831 feet above
the sea.
The northern back of the Himalaya has already exhibited a
similar anomaly, and produced by the same cause. We allude
to the influence which the great table-lands ought necessarily to
exercise on the law of the decrease of heat in the atmosphere.
It is evident if this law had been found for a free atmosphere,
by means of aerostatic voyages, the numbers it would furnish
would make known very nearly the temperature of the differ-
ent zones of a mountain, if this mountain was isolated, shot up
rapidly into the air, and supported itself on a base of incon-
siderable extent, and at the level of the sea. ‘The same would
not be the case if the mountain rested upon an elevated table-
land ; at an equal height the temperature would be more con-
siderable than in the first case. It is also through the influence
of the table-land on which the two Cordilleras of Peru rest,
that we are enabled to explain how organic life is preserved at
so great an elevation. In the Andes of Mexico, between 18°
and 19° north latitude, all vegetation ceases at a height of 14,075
feet ; while in Peru, at a greater height, in the. continuation of
the same chain, there exists not only a numerous agricultural
population, but also villages and large towns. At present one
third of the population of the mountainous districts of Peru and
Bolivia, live in regions situated much above that where all ve-
getation ceases under the same latitudes in the northern hemi-
sphere.
3
( 312 )
Observations on a paragraph ix the last Number of The Edin-
burgh New Philosophical. Journal. By W. J. Broventr,
Esq. F. R.S. (Communicated by the Author.)
Ix a paper which has for its title “ Additional Remarks on
the Climate of the Arctic Regions, in answer to Mr Conybeare,”
published in the Jast number of the Edinburgh New Philoso-
phical Journal, there is, at page 70, the following passage: ‘In
a note to this paragraph, he (Mr Conybeare) adds, that an Eng-
lish Caryophyllea had been described, by Mr Broderip, in the
Zoological Journal for April 1828. Mr Broderip, it is true,
imagined that ‘ the hard parts of this indigenous species do
not appear to have been any where described ;) but had Mr
Conybeare been acquainted with the history of British Zoophytes,
he might have corrected this mistake, by pointing out that I
myself had published (in the 2d volume of the Wernerian So-
ciety’s Memoirs), a description of the same species, fourteen
years previous to 1828; and I may add, that Dr Leach saw my
specimens so early as 1812.”
It is by no means my intention to follow Dr Fleming through
his “‘ Additional Remarks ;” but he has charged me with a mis-
take, and I, most reluctantly, trouble you with my defence, to
which I shall strictly confine myself, and which will not long
detain your readers from subjects much more worthy of their
attention.
My respect for Dr Fleming did not permit me, when I pub-
lished the passage to which he alludes, to suppose that he could
have intended to record, under the name of Caryophyllia Cya-
thus, the indigenous species described by me. When I first
saw “ Caryophyllia Cyathus (Lamark), *” so common in the
Mediterranean, announced in the Memoirs of the Wernerian
Society as an inhabitant of the sea which washes Zetland,
I was somewhat surprised; but the opinion which I enter-
tained of Dr Fleming prevented me from supposing that he
had not there found two small individuals of that species, and
from concluding that the hard parts of Caryophyllia Smithii
(the Caryophyllia described by me) differing so strongly as they
* Memoirs of the Wernerian Society, vol. ii. Parti. p. 249.
On supposed Vegetable Remains in Chalk. 3138
do from those of C. cyathus, could have been deseribed by Dr
Fleming as belonging to the last-mentioned zoophyte. In his
“‘ History of British Animals,” published in 1828, Dr Fleming
has repeated the record of the species described in the Memoirs,
but without the reference to Lamarck. 'The only Caryophyllia
‘recorded in these publications is Caryophyllia, or, as Dr Flem-
ing writes it in the latter work, Caryophyllea Cyathus ; and, in
both places, Madrepora cyathus of Solander and Ellis is given
as the synonym. Madrepora Cyathus is Caryophyllia Cyathus
of Lamarck’s “ Systeme des Animaux sans Verttbres,”"—of
Leach, who has figured and described it as an inhabitant of the
Mediterranean in the “ Zoological Miscellany,” (Lond. 1814,
vol. i.), and has there referred to Lamarck’s Systeme for the
species, and to Dr Fleming, after Lamarck, for the genus,—and
again, of the “ Histoire Naturelle des Animaux sans Vertébres.”
This is the only Caryophyllia Cyathus, as far as my informa-
tion goes, admitted by zoologists in general ; and this is certainly
not the indigenous species described by me in the Zoological
Journal for 1828. If Dr Fleming has described the latter,
(C. Smithii) under the title of C. Cyathus, he must pardon me
for suggesting that he has confounded two very different spe-
cies ; but I cannot regret the ‘ mistake” which, according to his
assertion, I appear to have made, when I supposed him inca-
pable of so doing.
On supposed Vegetable Remains in Chalk. By Gipron Man-
TELL, Esq. F. R.S. &c. In a Letter to the Editor.
Sir,
Tue author of the interesting **‘ Remarks on the Ancient Flora
of the Earth,” which appeared in the last Number of your Jour-
nal, having stated, upon the authority of the “ Illustrations of
the Geology of Sussex,” that the remains of leaves and fruits of
coniferous plants occur in the chalk at Hornsey, &c. I beg leave
to offer a few observations in explanation, It is true, that, in the
passage referred to, (Geology of Sussex, page 103), mention is
made that the bodies in question (the supposed fossil Juli of
Cherry Hinton), bear a distant resemblance to the cones of the
larch, and that Professor Hailstone had declared their vegetable
cad
314 Notes regarding the Serpentine Rocks on Dee Side.
origin was placed beyond all doubt, by specimens in the Wood-
wardian collection, and that he had found, in the quarry at
Cherry Hinton, the impression of a branch of some vegetable of
the fir tribe, with the linear leaves surrounding it ; yet it is dis-
tinctly stated that M. Kénig believed them to be of animal ori-
gin, and that there were specimens in my cabinet with scales of
fishes attached to them. It was also remarked (Geol. Suss.
p- 158), that their constituent substance was precisely similar to
that of the vertebrz and other bones of fishes found in the chalk ;
and that, from this analogy, I believed they would hereafter
prove to be parts of fishes. I scarcely need observe that this
conjecture has been recently affirmed by the ingenious experi-
ments of Dr Buckland. Vide Geological Transactions, New
Series, vol. iii. p. 222. On Coprolites, Sc.»
The arguments of the author of the excellent paper which
has eccasioned these remarks, are, however, in no respect weak-
ened by this fact, since dicotyledonous wood occurs abundantly
in the Galt and green-sand, and sparingly in the flint nodules
of the chalk. I am not certain that it has been found in the
Hastings’ beds.
Caste Pracr, LewEs, January 20. 1830.
Notes regarding the Serpentine Rocks on Dee Side. By the
Rev. James Farquuarson. (Communicated by the Author.)
Tue accompanying specimen of serpentine is of the rock of a con-
geries of summits of the hill named Coil, about two miles SW. of
the Manse of Glenmuick, on Dee Side, Aberdeenshire. Residing
some days last July in that neighbourhood, my attention was
directed to these summits by their singular aspect, so different
from that of the granite mountains with which they are every
where surrounded, and the greenness of their surface, amidst
mountains every where covered with heath. I took an oppor-
tunity one day to ascend them, and found their composition as
different from that of the neighbouring granite masses as their
aspect, as the specimen shews. Their vegetation, too, is quite
different, consisting principally of grasses (various Festucas
and Poas chiefly), to the very summit, 700 or 800 feet above
the bed of the river, here 700 feet above the sea, with a vast
*
Notes regarding the Serpentine Rocks on Dee Side. 315
profusion of Silena inflata, then in full flower, but no where else
to be seen, and Arabis hispida. The rock is bare in many
places near the summits, of a greenish-grey colour, and much
softened and weather worn on the surface ; fissured like basalt,
but not regularly. The principal fissures, however, directed
pretty uniformly from SW. to NE. The summits seen from
NE. are conical and precipitous in some places, seen from NW. ;
they are more elongated but precipitous at their E. and W. ter-
minations. ‘There are four or five of them. They rise a hun-
dred feet or two above the general mass of the mountain with-
in the space of about a square mile. ‘The peculiar rock is, how-
ever, not confined to the summits, being seen at one place about
two miles N. of these near the level of the river. I could not
discover its junction with the granite. Many boulders of this
remarkable rock are scattered over the granite hills towards the
SE. even on the face of the steep hills beyond the river Muick,
which bounds the mass in question on the SE. flowing NE. in-
to the Dee. Many fragments of it are also found in the bed of
the Dee below the junction of the Muick; but although I
passed frequently over the ground, I could find no boulders to
the N. or NW. There is asbestus in the bed of the Muick near
the base of the Coil. But the specimen herewith sent is very
remarkable for the quantity of fixed magnetism which it pos-
sesses. The poles are in the line of the stroke of the hammer
which broke it off, the place that received the stroke attracting
strongly the south pole of a magnet, and the opposite end of
the specimen the north pole. The stroke was at the point,
where the weather-worn surface is yet seen.
Axrorp, December 19, 1829.
On the Hya-hya or Milk-Tree of Demerara. Ina Letter to
Professor Jameson from James Smiru, Esq.*
W sorver has read Humboldt’s Travels to the Equinoctial
Regions of this Continent, cannot but have felt his imagination
* The important discovery contained in this communication from my for-
mer pupil, Mr Smith, cannot fail to interest our readers. Ere long we shall
be able to publish in the Journal further particulars in regard to the milk.
tree, and other remarkable trees of Demerara.
4
316 On the Hya-hya, or Milk-Tree of Demerara.
powerfully affected by his description of the Palo de Vaca or
Cow-tree. Such at least I confess was my case to an extra-
ordinary degree. I have journeyed through the country laid
down as that where the cow plant grows, but particular circum-
stances prevented me at the time from seeing it.
In a late excursion, however, up the river Demerara, it was my
good fortune to fall in, certainly not with the same kind of tree,
but with one possessing the mild milky qualities ascribed by Hum-
boldt to the Palo de Vaca. The tree I allude to was fortunately
at the time coming into flower, two specimens of which, together
with the wood and bark, and a small bottle of the milk, I for-
ward along with this, and beg to have them subjected to your
own, as well as the examination of your scientific friends*.
The manner of my discovering the tree was simply this :
Among the various productions I had been in the constant habit
of inquiring for in the forests, were those trees which yielded
milky juices in any abundance, as their saps; and, at different
times, I had been led by my Indian guides to a vast variety,
all of which, however, had more or less acrid and deleterious
principles with the lactescent quality. On the excursion to
which I allude, however, I chanced to stop at the little Indian
settlement of Byawadanny, just below the first rapids of the
Demerara, and there I was told of a tree called by the Indians
Hya-hya, the milk of which was both drinkable and nutritious.
* I was then in company with a Mr Couchman, the superin-
tendant of a wood-cutting establishment in the immediate vici-
nity. We had sent a lad to search around for the tree, and he
returned in a short time to tell us he had met with it. We fol-
lowed him to the spot, and found that he had felled the tree.
It had fallen across a little rivulet, the water of which when we
arrived, was completely whitened from its juice. On striking a
knife into the bark, a copious stream of milk-like fluid imme-
diately followed. Our guide drank of it, and Mr Couchman
and myself tasted it after him. It was thicker and richer than
cow’s milk, and destitute of all acrimony, leaving only a slight
feeling of clamminess on the lips. I had already seen that it
* The specimens reached me, but only lately, in safety. The milk is now
under examination, and a report on its chemical properties will appear in this
or next Number of Journal.—Epit.
2
On the Hya-hya, or Milk-Tree of Demerara. B17
mixed freely with the water of the little stream, and as I slept
that night near the spot, the next morning Mr Couchman and
myself drank it in warm coffee. With this it commingled
equally well, and lost all the viscosity before perceptible in its
pure state, so much so, as to appear to us incapable of being
distinguished from animal milk. Mr Couchman was determined,
he said, to use it as a substitute for milk at his little neighbour-
ing woodland establishment.
A variety of experiments, too, have since tended to confirm me
in my opinion, that it in no way differs in quality from the ve-
getable milk of the cow-tree. Yet it was plain that the tree was
not that described by Humboldt. The following is the account
given of the Palo de Vaca in the Personal Narrative of that dis-
tinguished traveller :—‘“ This fine tree rises like the broad-
leaved Star-Apple. Its oblong and pointed leaves, tough and
alternate, are marked by lateral ribs, prominent at the surface,
and parallel. There are some of them 10 inches long. We
did not see the flower.” You will observe from the specimens
I forward of the Hya-hya, that the leaves in no way correspond
with those mentioned in the description just quoted. Nor does
the tree, in short, bear the most distant resemblance to the
“‘ broad-leaved star-apple *.”
I extract from my note-book the imperfect description taken
on the spot, with a few observations. ‘ Trunk from 16
to 18 inches in diameter, 30 to 40 feet high, branching from
the top; bark greyish colour, slightly scabrous, and about a
quarter of an inch thick, between which and the wood the milk
seemed to be secreted. The incision made by the stroke of a
knife into it latitudinally, or diagonally, caused it to flow freely ;
but when the cut was made longitudinally, little or no milk
exuded. The leaves elliptic, and very acuminate ; smooth, and
in pairs. The flower had not yet fully developed itself, though
the corolla was observable, and, as well as could be discerned,
appeared monopetalous, with five divisions in the limb. The
calyx single, contiguous to the flower, and four-parted ; the
peduncle axillary, and bearing four flowers, and sometimes
* It is stated by Mr D. Don, in a preceding Number of this Journal (No.
15, p. 171.), that the Palo de Vaca is a species of Brosimum, and he proposes
to call it B. Galactodendron.—Ep1T.
318 On the Hya-hya, or Milk-tree of Demerara.
”
five.” I afterwards attempted to dissect the corolla, and could
discover it te belong to the class Pentandria, and order Mo-
nogynia. I was unable to obtain the fruit.”
I am not aware that the Hya-hya has, either under its Indian,
or any other appellation, been ever before made known; and
possessing, as I am convinced it does, the chief virtues of the
Cow-plant, should it turn out any acquisition to botanical
knowledge, I shall feel happy in being the instrument of its
discovery.
The milk I send you has now been in bottle thirty-six days: it
did not commence to curdle before the seventh day after it was
taken from the tree, and even then the process appeared exceed-
ingly slow; so much so, that on the twelfth day I used some
of another portion, which had been bottled at the same time, in
tea, without its being distinguished from animal milk by those
who drank it.
I forgot to mention that I am informed by the Indians, that
the Hya-hya is by no means uncommon in the woods of this co-
lony ; I may, therefore, very soon hope to procure the fruit.
Note relative to the dried specimen of the Hya-hya. By G. A.
W. Arnort, Esq. F.L.S. F.R.S.E. &c.
THE specimen transmitted by Mr Smith having been com-
municated to me for examination, I beg leave to make the fol-
lowing remarks :—
The calyx is 5-cleft, very short, the lobes rounded and ciliated. Corolla
coriaceous, deciduous, hypogynous, monopetalous, hypocrateriform, the mouth
naked ; the tube elongated (about half an inch long), slightly inflated at the
base and towards the apex; the limb 5-cleft, the lobes very short and round-
ed; sestivation imbricated. Stamina 5, alternate with the segments of the
corolla, and enclosed in the tube: the filaments are distinct, filiform but
short, inserted on the tube about its middle; the anthers are bilocular,
opening. longitudinally, sagittate, acuminated at the apex, and connivent:
pollen granular. _ Ovarium solitary, bilocular; oyula numerous, destitute of
hair (coma). Style 1, filiform, with an incrassated apex, from which. proceeds
a bifid stigma. I may further add, that the ovula appear to me surrounded
by a kind of gelatine, so that I have no doubt but the ripe seeds are immer-
sed,in a pulpy matter; but the structure of the pericarp and seeds I cannot
determine, as the specimen is only in bud.
Enough is, however, known to enable one to refer this plant to
On the Hya-hya, or Milk-tree of Demerara. 319
the Apocynez, as restricted by Brown, and it is now necessary
to inquire its genus.
In the 1st vol. of the Wernerian Transactions, where Mr
Brown’s paper on this order is published, no genera are de-
scribed but those which have the seeds comose, to which tribe,
from the appearance of the ovarium and ovula, I do not think
this can belong. But in the Prodr. Fl. Nov. Holl. p. 467, the
genus T'abernemontana is introduced, and the description there
given agrees with the above in every point but one. Mr Brown
ascribes to that genus two ovaria, although only one style: the
same character is given to the genus by Lamarck, and by Vahl
(under 7. undulata), so that there is no doubt of that being
necessary to the genus; and the point comes then to be, whether
or not, from the bad state of the specimens, I have been de-
ceived. In the mean time, however, although I have found a
solitary ovarium in the three buds I opened, I think it may be
placed in Tabernemontana until better specimens in flower be
procured, and the fruit be observed ; more especially as it ap-
proaches very closely in other respects to 7’. citrifolia.
In T. citrifolia, however, the segments of the calyx are acute; and those
of the limb of the corolla linear-oblong, obtuse, and nearly equal in length to
the tube. In the species before us, as far as I can judge from the bud, the
segments of the corolla are very short and round, somewhat like tliose of the
calyx. The peduncles are axillary from } to 1 inch long, bearing a cyme of
few flowers. Bracteas opposite; two usually large foliaceous ones at the
base of the principal ramification, and two small ovate and ciliated ones sub-
tend each of the other divisions: there is also a similar pair on the ultimate
pedicels below the calyx. Perhaps, on account of the foliaceous appearance of
the lower bracteze, they ought to be called leaves, and then the inflorescence
would be terminal on short axillary branches.—Petiols opposite, half an inch
long; leaves about 4 inches long, and 13 broad, oblong, not attenuated at
the base, but suddenly acuminated at the apex; they are plane, somewhat
coriaceous, smooth, and entire, with diverging veins, that are parallel to each
other.
I would propose to name this species T. utilis, from the circumstance al-
luded to in Mr Smith’s account of it.
T. utilis ; foliis oppositis oblongis acuminatis integerrimis subcoriaceis planis
parallele venosis, pedunculis cymosis axillaribus, calyce obtuso ciliato, corolla
limbi laciniis rotundatis brevissimis.
Has. Ad ripas fluminis Demerari.
I may further remark, that, in 7. citrifolia, the leaves are attenuated at
the base: in the allied 7. alba they are described as undulated, with an acute
calyx: and, in 7. /asrifolia, which has the calyx obtuse, the leaves are some-
what obtuse.
320 On the Hya-hya, or Milk-tree of Demerara.
The usual properties of the milk of the Apocynez are dele-
terious, and it is rather remarkable to find an instance to the
contrary in this tribe; and T do not think there is any other on
record. Future observations may, however, perhaps ascertain
similar mild qualities in other species of T'abernamontana,
especially in their young branches, or when the sap is on the
ascent, and before it be elaborated. Among the Asclepiadez
of Brown, which have similar baneful properties, and which
many botanists indeed consider a mere section of Apocyneze, an
instance is also known of the milk beg wholesome: I allude to
a plant found in Ceylon, which the natives call Kiriaghuna,
from Kiri (milk), and who employ its milky juice when the milk
of animals cannot be procured ; its leaves are even boiled by
them as a substitute in such dishes as require to be dressed with
milk: it is the Gymnema lactiferum of Brown. 'The young
shoots of several species of plants belonging to both the Ascle-
piadex and Apocynez are used as food.
On the Formation of the Earth. By the late Sir H. Davy *.
The Stranger —Ow these matters I had facts to communicate. On the geo-
logical scheme of the early history of the globe, there are only analogies to
guide us, which different minds may apply and interpret in different ways.
Astronomical deductions, and actual measures by triangulation, prove, that
the globe is an oblate spheroid flattened at the poles; and this form, we
know, by strict mathematical demonstrations, is precisely the one which a"
fluid body, revolving on its axis, and become solid at its surface, by the slow
dissipation of its heat, or other causes, would assume. I suppose, therefore,
that the globe, in the first state in which the imagination can venture to con-
sider it, was a fluid mass, with an immense atmosphere revolving in space
round the sun; and that, by its covling, a portion of its atmosphere was con-
densed in water, which occupied a part of the surface. In this state, no
forms of life, such as now belong to our system, could have inhabited it ; and
I suppose the crystalline rocks, or, as they are called by geologists, the pri-
mary rocks, which contain no vestiges of a former order of things, were the
results of the first consolidation on its surface. Upon the further cooling, the
water, which more or less had covered it, contracted ; depositions took place,
shell-fish and coral animals, of the first creation, began their labours ; and
islands appeared in the midst of the ocean, raised from the deep by the
productive energies of millions of zoophytes. ‘These islands soon became co-
* Extracted from a posthumous work, entitled, ‘* Consolations in Travel: or the Last Days of
a Philosopher ;” by Sir Humpury Davy, Bart. late President of the Royal Society of London,—
jn which views on various important topics are brought out in the form of dialogues.
Sir H. Davy on the Formation of the Earth. 321
vered with vegetables, fitted to bear a high temperature, such as palms and
various species of plants, similar to those which now exist in the hottest
parts of the world. And the submarine rocks, or shores of these new forma-
tions of land, became covered by aquatic vegetables, on which various species
of shell-fish and common fishes found their nourishment. The fluids of the
globe in cooling, deposited a large quantity of the materials they held in so-
lution, and these deposites agglutinating together the sand, the immense
masses of coral rocks, and some of the remains of the shells and fishes found
round the shores of the primitive lands, produced the first order of secondary
rocks. As the temperature of the globe became lower, species of the oviparous
reptiles were created to inhabit it;—and the turtle, crocodile, and various
gigantic animals of the Sauri kind, seem to have haunted the bays and waters
of the primitive lands. But, in this state of things, there was no order of
events similar to the present ;—the crust of the globe was exceedingly slen-
der, and the source of fire a small distance from the surface. In consequence
of contraction in one part of the mass, cavities were opened, which caused
the entrance of water, and immense volcanic explosions took place, raising
one part of the surface, depressing another, producing mountains, and causing
new and extensive depositions from the primitive ocean. Changes of this
kind must have been extremely frequent in the early epochas of nature; and
the only living forms, of which the remains are found in the strata that are
the monuments of these changes, are those of plants, fishes, birds, and ovipa-
rous reptiles, which seem most fitted to exist in such a war of the elements.
When these revolutions became less frequent, and the globe became still
more cooled, and the inequalities of its temperature preserved by the moun-
tain chains, more perfect animals became its inhabitants, many of which, such
as the mammoth, megalonix, megatherium, and gigantic hyzena, are now ex-
tinct. At this period, the temperature of the ocean seems to have been not
much higher than it is at present, and the changes produced by occasional
eruptions of it have left no consolidated rocks.. Yet, one of these eruptions
appears to have been of great extent, and some duration, and seems to have
been the cause of those immense quantities of water-worn stones, gravel, and
sand, which are usually called diluvian remains; and it is probable that this
effect was connected with the elevation of a new continent in the southern
hemisphere by volcanic fire. When the system of things became so permanent,
that the tremendous revolutions depending upon the destruction of the equi-
librium between the heating and cooling agencies were no longer to be dread-
ed, the creation of man took place ; and, since that period, there has heen little
alteration in the physical circumstances of the globe. Volcanoes sometimes
occasion the rise of new islands, portions of the old continents are constantly
washed by rivers into the sea, but these changes are too insignificant to af.
fect the destinies of man, or the nature of the physical circumstances of
things. On the hypothesis that I have adopted, however, it must be remem-
bered, that the present surface of the globe is merely a thin crust, sur-
rounding a nucleus of fluid ignited matter ; and, consequently, we can hardly
be considered as actually safe from the danger of a catastrophe by fire.”
Onuphrio said, ‘* From the view you have taken, I conclude that you con-
sider volcanic eruptions as owing to the central fire ; indeed, their existence
JANUARY—wmMakcu 1830. x
322 Sir H. Davy on the Formution Of the Earth.
offers, I think, an’ argument for believing that the interior of the globe is
fluid.”
The Stranger answered, “ I beg you to consider the views I have been de-
veloping as merely hypothetical—one of the many resting places that may
be taken by the imagination in considering this subject. There are, how-
ever, distinct facts in favour of the idea, that the interior of the globe has a
higher temperature than the surface ; the heat increasing in mines the deeper
we penetrate ; and the number of warm springs that rise from great depths,
in almost all countries, are certainly favourable to the idea. The opinion,
that volcanoes are owing to this general and simple cause, is, I think, likewise
more agreeable to the analogies of things, than to suppose them dependent
upon partial chemical changes, such as the action of air and water upon the
combustible bases of the earths and alkalies, though it is extremely probable
that. these substances may exist beneath the surface, and may occasion some
‘results of volcanic fire; and, on this subject, my notion may perhaps be
more trusted, as, for a long while, I thought volcanic eruptions were owing to che-
mical agencies of the newly discovered earths and alkalies ; and I made many and
some dangerous experiments, in the hope of confirming this notion, but in vain.”
Ambrosio. “ You are obliged to have recourse to creations for all the living
beings in your philosophical romance: I do not see why you should not sup-
pose creations or arrangements of dead matter by the same laws of infinite
wisdom ; and why our globe should not rise at once a divine work, fitted for
all the objects of living and intelligent natures.”
The Stranger replied, “‘ I have merely attempted a philosophical history,
founded upon the facts known respecting rocks and strata, and the remains
they contain. I begin with what may be called a Creation, a fluid globe sup-
plied with an immense atmosphere ; and the series of phenomena which I
imagine consequent to the creation, I suppose produced by powers impressed
upon it by Omnipotence.”
Ambrosio said, ‘“ There is this verisimilitude in your history, that it is not
contradictory to the little we are informed by revelation as to the origin of
the globe, the order produced in the chaotic state, and the succession of living
forms generated in the days of creation, which may be what philosophers call
‘ the Epochas of Nature’; for a day with Omnipotence is as a thousand years,
and a thousand years as one day.”
“ T must object,” Onuphrio said, “ tu your interpretation of the scientific
view of our friend; and to your disposition to blend them with the cosmo-
geny of Moses. Allowing the divine origin of the Book of Genesis, you must
admit, that it was not intended to teach the Jews systems of philosophy; but
the laws of life and morals; and a great man and an excellent christian raised
his voice, two centuries ago, against this mode of applying, and of often
wresting the sense of the Scriptures, to make them conformable to human
fancies; ‘from which,’ says Lord Bacon, ‘ arose not only false and fantasti-
cal philosophies, but likewise heretical religions.” If the Scriptures are to be
literally interpreted, and systems of science found in them, Galileo merited
his persecution, and we ought still to believe that the sun turns round the
earth.”
Amb. “ You mistake my view, Onuphrio, if you imagine I am desirous of
aising a system of geology on the Book of Genesis. It cannot be doubted
Sir H. Davy. on the Formation of the Earth. 323
that the first man was created with a great variety of instinctive or inspired
knowledge, which must have been likewise enjoyed by his descendants ; and
some of this knowledge could hardly fail to have related to the globe which
he inhabited, and to the objects which surrounded him. It would have been
impossible for the human mind to have embraced the mysteries of creation ;
or to have followed the history of the moving atoms, from their chaotic disor-
der into their arrangement in the visible universe; to have seen dead matter
assuming the form of life and animation, and light and power arising out of
death and sleep. The ideas, therefore, transmitted to, or presented by Moses,
respecting the origin of the world and of man, were of the same simple kind,
and such as suited the early state of society ; but, though general and simple
truths, they were divine truths, yet clothed in a language, and suited to the
ideas, of a rude and uninstructed people. And yet, when I state my satisfac-
tion in finding that they are not contradicted by the refined researches of
modern geologists, I do nct mean to deduce from them a system of science.
I believe that light was the creation of an act of the divine will; but I do
not mean to say that the words ‘ Let there be light, and there was light,»
was orally spoken by the Deity ; nor do I mean to imply, that the modern
discoveries respecting light are at all connected from this sublime and mag.
nificent passage.”
Onu. “* Having resided for a long time in Edinburgh, and having heard a
great number of discussions on the theory of Dr Hutton, and having been ex-
ceedingly struck both by its simplicity and beauty, its harmony with existing
facts, and the proof afforded to it by some beautiful chemical experiments, I
do not feel disposed immediately to renounce it, for the views I have just
heard explained.”
The Unknown. ‘I have no objections to the Huttonian or Plutonic views,
as capable of explaining many existing phenomena; indeed, you must be
aware that I have myself had recourse to it. What I contend against, is its
application to explain the formation of the secondary rocks, which I think
clearly belong to an order of facts not at all embraced by it. The surface is
constantly imagined to be disintegrated, destroyed, degraded, and washed
into the bosom of the ocean by water, and as constantly consolidated, ele-
vated, and regenerated by fire ; and the ruins of the old form the foundations
of the new world. It is supposed that there are always the same types, both
of dead and living matter; that the remains of rocks, of vegetables and ani-
mals of one age, are found imbedded in rocks raised from the bottom of the
ocean in another. Now, to support this view, not only the remains of living
beings, which at present people the globe, might be expected to be found in
the oldest secondary strata; but even those of the arts of man, the most
powerful and the most populous of its inhabitants, which is well known not
to be the case. On the contrary, each stratum of the secondary rocks con-
tains remains of peculiar and mostly now unknown species of vegetables and
animals. In those strata which are deepest, and which must consequently be
supposed to be the earliest deposited, forms even of vegetable life are rare;
shells and vegetable remains are found in the next order; the bones of fishes
and oviparous reptiles exist in the following class: the remains of birds, with
those of the same tribes mentioned before in the next order; those of quad-
rupeds of extinct species, in a still more recent class; and, it is only in the
2 x 2
324 Sir H. Davy on the Formation of the Earth.
loose and slightly consolidated strata of gravel and sand, and which are usually
called Diluvian Formations, that the remains of animals, such as now people
the globe, are found, with others belonging to extinct species. But in none
of these formations, whether called Secondary, Tertiary, or Diluvial, have
the remains of man, or any of his works, been found. It is, I think, impos-
sible to consider the organic remains found in any of the earlier secondary
strata, the lias-limestone, and its congenerous formations, for instance, with-
out being convinced, that the beings, whose organs they formed, belonged to
an order of things entirely different from the present. Gigantic vegetables,
more nearly allied to the palms of the equatorial countries than to any other
plants, can only be imagined to have lived in a very high temperature ; and
the immense reptiles, the Megalosauri, with paddles instead of legs, and
clothed in mail, im size equal or even superior to the whale; and the great
amphibia, Plesiosauri, with bodies like turtles, but furnished with necks
longer than their bodies, probably to enable them to feed on vegetables
growing on the shallows of the primitive ocean, seem to shew a state in
which low lands, or extensive shores, rose above an immense calm sea, and
when there was no great mountain chains to produce inequalities of tempe-
rature, tempests, or storms: Were the surface of the earth now to be carried
down into the depth of the ocean, or were some great revolution of the wa-
ters to cover the existing land, and it was again to be elevated by fire,
covered by consolidated depositions of sand or mud, how entirely different
would it be in its characters from any of the secondary strata; its great features
would undoubtedly be the works of man ; -hewn stones, and statues of bronze
and marble, and tools of iron, and human remains would be more common
than those of the lower animals, on the greatest part of the surface; the
columns of Pestum and Agrigentum, or the immense iron and granite
bridges of the Thames, would form astriking contrast to the bones of the cro-
codiles or sauri, in the older rocks, or even to those of the mammoth, or
Elephas primogenus, in the diluvial strata. And, whoever dwells upon this
subject must be convinced, that the present order of things, and the compa-
ratively recent existence of man, as the master of the globe, is as certain as
the destruction of a former and a different order, and the extinction ofa num-
ber of living forms, which have now no types in being, and which have left
their remains wonderful monuments of the revolutions of nature.”
Onu. “I am not quite convinced by your arguments. Supposing the lands
of New Holland were to be washed into the depth of the ocean, and to be
raised according to the Huttonian view, as a secondary stratum, by subter-
raneous fire, they would contain the remains of both vegetables and animals
entirely different from any found in the strata of the old continents; and,
may not those peculiar formations to which you have referred, be, as it were,
accidents of nature belonging to peculiar parts of the globe? And, you speak
of a diluvian formation, which I conclude you would identify with that be-
longing to the catastrophe described in the sacred writings, in which no hue
man remains are now found ; now, you surely will not deny, that man existed
at the time of this catastrophe ; and he, consequently, may have existed at
the period of the other revolutions, which are supposed to be produced, in the
Huttonian views, by subterranean fire.”
Sir H. Davy on the Formation of the Earth. 325
The Unknown. ‘I have made use of the term diluvian, because it has
been adopted by geologists, but without meaning to identify the cause of the
formations with the Deluge described in the sacred writings: I apply the
term merely to signify loose and water-worn strata, not at all consolidated,
and deposited by an inundation of water; and, in those countries which
they have covered, man certainly did not exist. With respect to your argu-
ment derived from New Holland, it appears to me to be without weight.
In a variety of climates, and in very distant parts of the globe, secondary
strata, of the same order, are found, and they contain always the same kind
of organic remains, which are entirely different from any of those now af-
forded by beings belonging to the existing order of things. The catastrophe
which produced the secondary strata and diluvian deposition, could not have
been local and partial phenomera, but must have extended over the whole,
ora great part of the surface of the globe; the remains of similar shell
fishes are found in the limestones of the old and new continents ; the teeth
of the mammoth are not uncommon in various parts of Europe; entire skele-
tons have been found in America, and even the skin covered with hair, and
the entire body of one of these enormous extinct animals has been disco-
vered in Siberia, preserved in a mass of ice. In the oldest secondary strata,
there are no remains of such animals as now belong to the surface; and, in
the rocks which may be regarded as more recently deposited, these remains
occur but rarely, and with abundance of extinct species ;—there seems, as it
were, a gradual approach to the present system of things, and a succession of
destructions and creations preparatory to the existence of man. It will be
useless to push these arguments further. You must allow, that it is impos-
sible to defend the proposition, that the present order of things is the an-
cient and constant order of nature, only modified by existing laws; and,
consequently, the view which you have supported, must be abandoned. The
monuments of extinct generations are as perfect as those of extinct nations ;
and, it would be more reasonable to suppose, that the pillars and temples of
Palmyra were raised by the wandering Arabs of the desert, than to imagine
that the vestiges of peculiar animated forms, in the strata beneath the sur-
face, belonged to the early and infant families of the beings that at present
inhabit it.”
Onu. “TI am convinced ;—I shall push my arguments no farther, for I will
not support the sophisms of that school, which supposes that living nature
has undergone gradual changes, by the effects of its irritabilities and appe-
tencies; that the fish has, in millions of generations, ripened into the quad-
ruped, and the quadruped into man; and that the system of life, by its own
inherent powers, has fitted itself to the physical changes in the system of the
universe. To this absurd, vague, atheistical doctrine, I prefer even the
dream of plastic powers; or that other more modern dream, that the second-
ary strata were created, filled with remains, as it were, of animal life, to con.
found the speculations of our geological reasoners.”
The Unknown. “ Y am glad.you have not retreated into the desert and de-
fenceless wilderness of scepticism, or of false and feeble philosophy. I should
not have thought it worth my while to have followed you there: I should as
soon think of arguing with the peasant, who informs me, that the basaltic co-
lumns of Antrim or of Staff2 were the works of human art, and raised by
the giant Finmacoul.”
Lectures on the History of the Natural Sciences. By Baron
Cuvier *.
Lascrures Firs anp Séconp. Earliest ‘History ‘of ‘the ‘Hunan
Species.
‘Avren a statement of the motives which had induced him ‘to
undertake the task of publicly relating the history of the natu-
ral sciences, M. ‘Cuvier spoke of the utility of this department
of study. He then rapidly traced the progress of the sciences,
from the most remote period to the present time, distinguishing
three ‘principal ‘epochs: the religious epoch, the philosophical
epoch, and, lastly, the epoch of the division of labour, which
may be also named the scientific epoch, properly so called.
The first of these epochs comprehends the whole time during
which science remained shut up in the temples, and was-culti-
vated bythe priests only, who concealed it from the ‘vulgar, or
only presented it to them under emblematical forms.
The second epoch commences at the time when the sciences,
whose rudiments had been imported from Egypt, began, after a
long interval, to be developed in Greece. From the moment of
their'revival, they assumned a new direction, separated themselves
entirely from religion, and were no longer cultivated by the
priests, but by philosophers, who communicated the fruit: of
their researches without reserve, and without disguise. The
early Greek philosophers embraced the whole range of human
knowledge, and cach of them was at once a metaphysician, a
moralist, a geometer, a naturalist, and a natural philosopher.
The third epoch was marked by the separation that was ef-
fected among the different departments of science. Each branch
was cultivated by men who devoted themselves exclusively to
it, directed the whole force of their minds towards.it, and by
this judicious distribution of labour, obtained a success unknown
to their predecessors.
* Of these highly interesting lectures, at present delivering in Paris, we
shall in this and the succeeding Numbers give such a view as will interest
our readers. The reports we now publish are held by some of our friends
now attending these lectures to be correcti-Eorr.
The Deluge. 327
It was no fault of Aristotle’s that this epoch was so long in
making its appearance. That great man, in fact, had assigned
its natural limits to each department of science; but, unfortu-
nately, he Jeft no successor worthy of such a master, and the
sect of Peripatetics, which he had formed, even fell into con-
tempt in a few centuries. It was only after the long interval
of the middle ages, and towards the commencement of the six-
teenth century, that the change took place. Thus, the sciences
have, as yet, been regularly cultivated only for three cen-
turies.
After thus marking the characters of the three scientific
epochs, the Professor reverted to the first, and, in endeavour-
ing to determine its origin, was led to speak of the antiquity of
human society. He shewed, that notwithstanding the paucity
of the data which we possess on this question, we may yet ar-
rive at some satisfactory results, by having recourse at the same
time to history and geology, which severally present evidences
corroborative of each other. Thus, while the traditions of all
nations have preserved the remembrance of a great catastrophe,
the Deluge, which changed the earth’s surface, and destroyed
nearly the whole of the human species, geology apprises us, that
of the various revolutions which have agitated our globe, the
last evidently corresponds to the period which is assigned to the
deluge.
We say, that by means of geological considerations alone it
is possible to determine the date of this great event with some
degree of precision.
There are certain formations which must have commenced
immediately after the last catastrophe, and which, from that
period, have been continued up to the present day with great
regularity. Such are the deposites of detritus observed at the
mouths of rivers, the masses of rubbish which exist at the foot
of mountains, and are formed of the fragments that fall from
their summits and sides. ‘These deposites receive a yearly in-
crease, which it is possible to measure. Nothing therefore is
more easy than to calculate the time which it has taken them to
acquire their present dimensions. This calculation has been
made with reference to the debris of mountains, and in all cases
has indicated a period of about four thousand years. The
328 Baron Cuvier’s Lectures on the Natural Sciences.
same result has been obtained from the other alluvial deposites.
In short, whatever may have been the natural phenomenon that
has been interrogated, it has always been found to give evidence
in accordance with that of tradition. The traditions themselves
exhibit the most astonishing conformity. The Hebrew text of
Genesis places the deluge in the year 2349 before Christ. The
Indians make the fourth age of the world, that in which we now
live, commence at the year 3012. ‘The Chinese place it about
the year 2384. Confucius, in fact, represents the first king
Yao as occupied in drawing off the waters of the ocean, which
had risen to the tops of thie! mountains, and in repairing the da-
mage which they had caused.
Men assuredly did not begin to cultivate the sciences until
long after this epoch. Astronomy is that of which traces are
found at the most remote period, and it would seem to have ori-
ginated in several countries at the same time. ‘The first obser-
vation of an eclipse made by the Chinese, and of which the
authenticity has been established, was in the year 776 ‘A. C.
At Babylon, the most ancient observation made by the Chal-
deans was in the year 747 A.C. It has been said, indeed,
that Callysthenes sent from Babylon to Aristotle a series of
observations which comprehended a space of 1900 years; but
this assertion, which first made its appearance in Synesius, a
writer of the sixth century, deserves no trust. Aristotle, who
speaks of astronomy in various parts of his works, would not
have omitted so important a fact.
It has been supposed that in the zodiacs, painted on the walls
of certain temples in Egypt, a proof was to be found that astro-
nomy had been cultivated in that country from a very remote
period. But whatever interpretation is given of these zodiacs,
we have now, thanks to M. Champollion’s discoveries, certain
information respecting the antiquity of these temples; that of
Denderah, in particular, was built in the reign of ‘Tiberius, and
bears the name of Nero. Another was built in the reign of Do-
mitian. It may therefore be considered as sufficiently proved,
that the sciences had not acquired any degree of improvement
until the eighth century before the Christian era ; notwith-
standing great nations had been formed in several parts of the
earth some centuries earlier. Fifteen hundred years. before
Earliest History of Man. 329
Christ there were already four; the Indians, the Chinese, the
Babylonians, and the Egyptians.
The Chinese having always kept themselves separate, the
progress which they might have made could only benefit them-
selves, and could in no degree contribute to the general civili-
zation. Thus, in the history of the sciences, they are never
mentioned. As to the other three, so great a similarity is ob-
served in their general doctrines, and in the emblems under
which these doctrines are veiled, that they must evidently have
had communication together.
The subject of metaphysics being the same for all nations, it
will readily be conceived how several of them may have arrived
separately at the same system of religious philosophy. It will
also be conceived: how they should have agreed in the choice of
emblems, as these emblems are in general taken from among the
natural bodies which men have more commonly around them.
But how can the identity of political constitutions be accounted
for, unless on the supposition of a communication. We know
what is the organization of Indian society: it is at present pre-
cisely what it was before the Christian era. The people are di-
vided into four principal castes. First come the Brahmins, the
depositaries of science, and the ministers of religion; then the
soldiers, those to whom exclusively the defence of the country
was formerly intrusted. ‘These men have the privilege of hear-
ing the sacred books read. Then come the merchants, and
lastly the artizans. In the two last castes, the different profes-
sions form so many hereditary subdivisions. This singular con-
stitution, which could only have originated from a powerful ge-
nius, and which, before it could have been established among a
single people, would have required the use of very extraordi-
nary means, presents itself again in Egypt. Doubtless, no one
will imagine that mere chance could have produced a coincidence
of such a nature.
A similarity still more surprising, because manifesting itself in
things of a more arbitrary nature, is that observed in the mo-
numents of the three nations. ‘The columnar architecture, it is
true, might have originated at once in the artificial caves of
Upper Egypt, and in the subterranean pagodas of India, since
it were natural to think of supporting by pillars wrought in the
330 Baron Cuvier’s Lectures.on the Natural Sciences.
rock the ceiling of these excavations; but in the edifices which
rise above ground, similarity of form cannot be determined by
the use.of the same materials. In Assyria, in place.of granite
or syenite, brick alone was in use; and yet, from the little that
remains to us of the religious monuments of that country, we
see that their great architectural forms were the same as in In-
dia or Egypt.
'The three nations had also a similarity in their geographical
position, all of them having established themselves in the vici-
nity of great rivers, in countries where internal navigation was
favoured by numerous natural canals. ‘The history of the Indians
discloses them to us at first in the great plains of the Ganges, and
having only some colonies on the banks of the Indus,—the Ba-
bylonians settled in the delta of the Euphrates,—the Egyptians
along the Nile. The three countries were in the route of an
immense commerce, which religion covered with its protection.
There was not, in fact, a sacred edifice among them, that had
not. a part intended for lodging merchandise, a kind of caravan-
sera.
Although the mode of communication adopted during the
whole of the religious period was by no means favourable to the
progress of the human intellect, it is probable that the sciences,
in the three countries that must be looked upon as their cradle,
would have attained a high degree of perfection, had they not
been repeatedly arrested by the irruption of barbarians.
The countries inhabited by the Babylonians, the Chinese,
and the Indians, form a rich girdle around a vast region, com-
posed for a great part of elevated sandy plains, adapted solely
for pastoral tribes. These tribes can never arrive at the same
degree of civilization as agricultural nations, and still less can
they attain that of commercial nations ; but they are sober, coura-
geous, active, have little attachment to the soil, are eminently
qualified for conquering, and are ready, whenever an enter-
prising chief presents himself, to rush in multitudinous bands
upon their rich neighbours. History shews us in all ages the ci-
vilized nations sometimes repelling the pastoral nations, and
sometimes subjugated by them. China has been repeatedly in-
vaded and subdued by the Tartars, India by the Mongols, Ba-
bylonia by the Assyrians, and at a later period by the Persians.
India the Cradle of the Sciences. $31
Egypt was also repeatedly invaded by nomadic tribes. The
first conquest is that called the conquest of the shepherd kings,
about the year 1750 before Christ. They retained their con-
quest for two centuries. During this period, the order of ‘the
priests was entirely cast down, and the fountains of science dried
up. The second irruption was that of the Medes and Persians
under Cambyses. Posteriorly to-our-era, there came.other no-
madic tribes still—the Saracens, ‘and, lastly, the Turks. We do
not reckon the conquest at the time of Alexander, which was in
fact far from being hostile to civilization, as the Greeks were at
‘that time more advanced than the Egyptians.
‘ The sciences, then, being in the east continually retarded by
the irruptions:of ‘barbarians, were ‘not placed in circumstances
favourable to their development, until they had penetrated :into
the west, passmg from the Egyptians to the Greeks, and from
these latter to the rest of Europe. As ‘to the Indians, they
have not directly contributed to our civilization, and in fact it
is only a very short time since any scientific communication has
been established between their country and ours.
Yet it is in India, according to al! appearance, that we-are to
look for the origin of the sciences. It is in that country, in
fact, that the men who escaped from the deluge must have esta-
blished themselves. The loftiest mountains of the globe, the
chains of Himalaya and Thibet, would: afford:them. an asylum,
and the bases of these mountains would present them with the
first cultivatable land. Babylonia could then have been nothing
but marshes, and Egypt was yet under water. ‘In fact, all the
low part, as. the priests told Herodotus, is a gift of the Nile.
That river each year deposites a new layer of mud. By count-
ing the number of superimposed layers, which are easily distin-
guished from each other, it may be seen how much the land
rises in a given time; and in this manner we come by a very
simple calculation.to the result, that, 2000 years before Christ,
the whole of Lower Egypt had no existence.
The priority of the Indians is further shewn by a tradition,
to which no attention seems hitherto to have been paid. It is
in fact in the extracts which have been preserved of the works
of Manetho, that, in the reign of Amenophis, a king of ‘the six-
teenth dynasty, a colony came from India to settle in Ethiopia.
332 ~=Baron Cuvier’s Lectures on the Natural Sciences.
Now, Diodorus Siculus, and all those who have written on the
religion of Egypt, derive that religion from Ethiopia, or Upper
Nubia. Thebes itself was but an island, a colony of Meroe,
which was the sacerdotal city of the Ethiopians. ‘Thus, then,
civilization came from India into Nubia, and from Nubia into
Egypt. From the latter country it might even be traced to
Babylon, since, according to Diodorus, the Chaldeans, who
formed the sacred caste in Babylonia, were snip nothing
but a colony of Egyptian priests.
We might naturally expect to find much inforniation re-
specting the history of the sciences among the Indians, who
were the first to cultivate them, and who, notwithstanding va-
rious conquests, have kept themselves so unaltered, that, at this
very day, we find them just what Alexander found them. Yet
among the Indians we hardly obtain any accounts of this nature.
It is not that they have not written much, and that from the
earliest times, but they do not possess a single historical book.
Perhaps the Brahmins, to make their caste be held in more es-
timation, might have withheld the knowledge of the events
which would have also borne testimony to the origin of the
others. This at least is certain, that they hold it as a doctrinal
point that history should not be written. The fourth age, say
they, the age in which we live, is too miserable, all that takes place
is too low, to be worthy of having the recollection of it perpe-
tuated. The traces of the efforts of civilization have not there-
fore been preserved by them, and the only hope which we have,
in the absence of annals, is that of deriving some indirect state-
ments from their other books, or their monuments.
The monuments cannot afford us much assistance. Al-
though they bear no date, it may be judged that they are pos-
terior to the time of Alexander and the Ptolomies. If they
had existed at that period, some Greek writers would not have
failed to speak of them, as their gigantic proportions must have
rendered them remarkable in all times. Besides, we can in some
measure judge of their age by the emblems which are repre-
sented on them. These emblems all belong to the religion of
the present day. Now, the mythological notions to which they
refer are found developed only in treatises posterior to the Ve-
das, since the pantheism of the vedas is entirely metaphysical.
Antiquity of Indian Astronomy. 333
The temples which we know are therefore less ancient than the
Vedas.
As to the vedas themselves, or sacred books written in San-
scrit, we know their age by means of a calendar which is found
annexed to one of them, and which gives the position of the
vernal equinox. Now, by means of the known laws of the pre-
cession of the equinoxes, we have been able to see in what year
that calendar must have been closed. It ascends to 1500 years
before Christ.
‘The vedas contain an exposition ef the religious philosophy
of the Indians. The oupavedas, which are of the same date,
are composed of various scientific treatises on music, medicine,
war, architecture, the mechanical arts, &e. These two works,
as well as some very long poems, are written in Sanscrit, a lan-
guage which is not at present spoken,—a language the most re-
gular that is known, and which is especially remarkable for the
circumstance that it contains the roots of the various languages
of Europe, of the Greek, Latin, German and Sclavonic; so
that, to find even the first instrument of science, namely, lan-
guage, it would seem that we must go to the Indians in search
of it. The astronomical part of the vedas contains few rules.
Those which the Indians at present possess for calculating eclipses
belong to much later treatises, and which all bear their respec-
tive dates. These treatises are in verse, and are learned by
heart by the Brahmins of the astronomical caste.
It is well known that, in the last century, Bailly maintained
that there had formerly existed in India a very advanced astro-
nomy, of which the present astronomy is but a feeble remnant.
His theory rested principally upon the circumstance, that the
Indians possessed methods of calculating much more perfect
than would seem compatible with the low state of the mathe-
matics among them. Admitting the fact, what are we in strict
logic to infer from it? That the Indians in former times
were a little more advanced than they are at present. But this
past time, perhaps, is not very remote. It might even be ad-
mitted, with M. Delambre, that the Indians have not invented
the formule of calculation, but that they received them ready
made from the Arabians. These formule are far from being
so perfect as Bailly supposed ; but their very defects have served
334 Baron Cuvier’s Lectures on the Natural Scicnecs.
to prove the falsity of the theory of which we speak. ‘Yhe
Indians boast of possessing a long series of observations, which
go back to the year 4000 before Christ, a period at which, ac-
cording to them, there was a conjunction ofall the planets. If
they have actually observed this conjunction, we can, by means
of calculation, confirm its reality. This it has been attempted
to do. Now, it has been found that this conjunction did not
exist; and it has been moreover discovered, that if, in the re-
trograde calculation, in place of making use of the correct for-
mulz which we now possess, we were to employ the defective
formulze of the Indians, he would arrive at an erroneous result,
but at one which, for the epoch indicated, would give the ap-
pearance of a conjunction.
There results from these facts, and several others, which we
owe to the researches of an English philosopher, that the an-
cient Indians had neither an astronomy of any degree of ad-
vancement, nor a regular geometry. As to the natural sciences,
they must have possessed some slight knowledge of them, as
their commerce, which was very flourishing, made a great va-
riety of substances pass through their hands; but these sciences
never made any considerable progress among them. Their be-
ing prevented from touching dead bodies, and the horror which
they had of skins, must have placed an insurmountable barrier
in their way. In short, all that the Indians could have commu-
nicated to the Egyptians, was their metaphysics, their mytho-
logy, and their constitution.
Lecrure Tuirp— Egypt.
Egypt presented circumstances highly favourable to the de-
velopment of the sciences, of which it had received from India
only an imperfect germ. From the extreme fertility of its ter-
ritory, the inhabitants had abundant leisure to devote to study,
and being condemned to inactivity during the time the river
kept them pent up in their towns, they could not fail to be in-
clined to meditation.
The inundation itself, by giving the Egyptians wants un-
known to other nations, induced an activity of mind, and led
them to a multitude of useful discoveries. The necessity of re-
tracing the boundaries of properties, after the river had retired
Surveying and Anatomy originated in Egypt. 335
into its bed, led them to invent surveying, and the desire of fa-
cilitating the flowing off of the waters, taught them the art of dig-
ging canals. They seem to have paid early attention to the study
of the celestial phenomena, which alone could afford them the
means of foreseeing the motions of the Nile ; and as the extreme
purity of the atmosphere was favourable to this study, they made
more progress in astronomy than any other nation.
The Egyptians made great progress in architecture also, for
having been induced by circumstances, of which we shall pre-
sently speak, to employ a great portion of their riches in build-
ing, they had excellent materials in abundance, which the river
permitted them to transport with ease.
Religion was not in Egypt, as it was in India, an obstacle to
the progress of the natural sciences. On the contrary, it im-
posed in some measure an obligation to cultivate them ; and, in
fact, not only did it borrow many of its emblems from the animal
kingdom, but it also necessarily excited attention to all those
animals which it had pronounced to be sacred.
This part of the Egyptian religion did not come from India, but
originated in Ethiopia. It is probable that the Ethiopians, before
the arrival of the Indian colony, had been addicted to fetishism,
as are in general all the tribes of the negro race, and that they
would not adopt the new religion without mingling with it a
part of their old superstitions. But in whatever manner this
religion was established, it is certain the priest attached at least
one animal to each divinity. The hawk was consecrated to
Osiris, the ibis or the cow to Isis, the crocodile to Saturn. In each
of the temples in which these divinities were worshipped, there
were brought up several of the animals which were dedicated
to them, and which themselves in some measure shared in the
divine honours paid to their patrons. There were thus afford-
ed constant opportunities of observing their external forms and
their habits’ There were even occasions of observing their in-
ternal structure, as it was customary to embalm them after
death.
In Egypt the same horror toward dead bodies was not en-
tertained as in India; not only were the bodies of sacred ani-
mals embalmed, but those of men also. Now, this practice
could not fail to give those who were charged with it a know-
336 Baron Cuvier’s Lectures on the. Natural Sciences.
ledge of the form and position of the organs. It was undoubt-
edly in Egypt that anatomy originated ; it was to that country
that the Greeks resorted to study it ; and thither Galen made
a journey expressly for the purpose of seeing the representation
in bronze of a human skeleton.
This much in respect to the observations on animals; as to
minerals, they in some measure presented themselves to obser-
vation, being in Egypt not deeply buried, as in most other
countries. They were known not only by their external cha-
racters, but also by what we at the present day call their chemi-
cal characters; and we may here remark, that the name Che-
mistry itself comes from the word chim, which was the ancient
name of Egypt. As to what was afterwards called the Egyp-
tian science, the Hermetic art, the art of transmuting metals, it
was a mere reverie of the middle ages, utterly unknown to an-
tiquity. The pretended books of Hermes are evidently suppositi-
tious, and were written by the Greeks of the lower Empire.
All the books of the Egyptians are lost; and thus, in pur-
suing the history of the sciences among them, we have perhaps
fewer resources than in tracing it among the Indians. There
remains a catalogue of the sacred books of Hermes, which Cle-
ment of Alexandria has preserved in the sixth book of his Stro-
mata. ‘The books of Hermes were held in great veneration in
Egypt. They were carried in procession in the religious so-
lemnities, and every priest was obliged to have by heart at least
the part which related to the attributes of his order. These
books treated of religion, the arts, medicine, and several other
sciences; but it is remarkable that they did not speak of his-
tory, whence it would appear, that the Egyptian priests had the
same repugnance as the Brahmins to preserve by writing the re-
membrance of the events of which their country had se the
theatre. We have therefore no annals of Egypt; but we have se-
veral lists of their kings preserved by Eusebius and other writers.
These lists do not agree well together. They may, however,
be useful for being consulted, provided the cause be not for-
gotten which probably introduced into them the confusion
thiey exhibit ; for it would appear, that in ancient times Egypt
was divided into independent states. The names of the sove-
reigns of all these small kingdoms have been handed down to
3
Age of the Pyramids. 337
us ; but, instead of presenting them in linear series, the writers
have placed them in the same line, as if there had been a re-
gular succession. This mistake has greatly contributed to mis.
lead several modern writers, and to induce them to refer to a
very remote epoch the origin of the Egyptian nation.
The conquest of the shepherd kings abolished all the little
principalities, and subjected Egypt to a single domination. Af-
ter the expulsion of the conquerors, the victorious dynasty be-
came in its turn sole master, and thenceforward the union be-
came definitive. It was by this union that the Egyptian nation
became really powerful, and it was after this period alone, that
it could undertake great works. The recent discoveries of M.
Champollion have afforded us an undeniable proof of this.
Having found means of reading the names of the sovereigns
inscribed in hieroglyphic characters upon the monuments, he
has found none anterior to the seventeenth and eighteenth
dynasties, that is, to those which expelled the nomadic con-
querors ; and it is probable that most of the edifices which bear
the names of these princes, and which appear to have been
raised in honour of them, were not built until long after their
death. t
As, in the deficiency of books, we rest our hopes of obtain-
ing some documents upon the monuments, it is of importance
to determine their age, at least in a relative manner. This may
be done by comparing the style of their architecture, which,
simple and rude in the more ancient times, acquires elegance as
we approach those more modern.
‘The pyramids, which, however ostentatious, evidently belong
to the infancy of art, are certainly anterior to the columnar edi-
fices, and those possessed of elegant proportions. Now, these
pyramids, even by Manetho’s account, were not built until after
the reign of Sesostris, the vanquisher of the shepherds. This
much is certain, that they did not exist at the time of the Jew-
ish migration, for the Scriptures make no mention of them. It
would even seem that, at this period, the Egyptians used brick
in their public buildings, as they employed the Jews in manu-
facturing them in enormous quantities. Nor did the pyramids
exist at the time of the migration of Cecrops and Danaus, as
JANUARY—MaARcH 1830. ¥
338 Baron Cuvier’s Lecturcs on the Nutural Sciences.
the Greeks never imitated their form. The first allusion to the
splendid edifices of Egypt occurs in Homer, who speaks of the
hundred-gated Thebes, and who, without doubt, by this ex-
pression meant the gigantic propylei placed in the front of
temples, of which that city, in fact, contained a great number.
Most of the edifices which we know must have been built
from the year 1000 before Christ to the year 550, the epoch of
the invasion of the Persians. In fact, this was the period at
which Egypt enjoyed her greatest prosperity. An exaggerated
idea, however, would be formed of the power of that country,
were we to judge of it only by the number and magnificence of
the monuments which have been left to us. It must be remem-
bered that there had been a gradual accumulation of them for
ages; for, in a climate always equable, edifices built of granite
endure until they are purposely overturned. It ought also to
be remembered, that Egypt, from her position mistress of the
commerce of Africa, must have acquired immense riches, and
that all these riches must have been employed in the valley of
the Nile, since beyond it there was nothing but sand. Being
unable, therefore, to enlarge her territory, she covered it with
palaces. A similar concurrence of circumstances produced the
same results at Palmyra. Palmyra is an oasis of verdure placed
in the midst of the desert. It had no other advantage than
that of possessing some springs, but this was enough to induce
the caravans which went from the Euphrates to the Mediter-
ranean to pass that way. These caravans came laden with the
valuable productions of the East ; and during their short abode
in the oasis, they left much gold, of which the inhabitants
could have made no use, had they not employed the greater
part for raising temples and palaces.
In modern times, Genoa, enriched in the same manner by
commerce, and restricted in her territory by the sea and the
Appenines, has reproduced, in some degree, the wonders of Pal-
myra and Egypt.
Egypt, during the whole time of her prosperity, remained
shut to strangers; but towards the sixth century before our
era, troubles having arisen, and having brought on a civil war,
the weaker party sought support in foreign countries, and Psam-
meticus first brought auxiliary troops from Asia Minor, It
Practical Geometry in Egypt. 389
was then only that the Greeks could profit by the advances
which the Egyptians had made; and that Thales and Pytha-
goras, and perhaps several other sages whose names have not
been preserved, went to be instructed in the school of the
priests.
To judge of what the Greeks must have gained by this com-
munication, it is necessary to know what was at this period the
state of knowledge in Egypt. Let us, in the first place, look to
the siunthewuticab sciences.
It is certain that the Egyptians had a knowledge of share
lics, as they were expert in the art of digging canals; that they
had ideas of mechanics, since, without very powerful machines,
it would have been impossible for them to erect obelisks, and to
raise the enormous blocks which some of their monuments pre-
sent. It is certain that they had tolerably perfect modes of
procedure in stereometry, of which a proof is given in the cut-
ting of the stones of their buildings. We know, further, that
they were good surveyors. All this would lead us to believe
that they were pretty well advanced in the mathematical theo-
ries. But, on the other hand, if it be true that it was only
after his travels that Pythagoras discovered the theorem of the
square of the hypothenuse, it must be admitted that the geo-
metry of the Egyptians was still in its infancy, or, at least, that
it was purely practical.
At the period when the first migrations were made to Greece,
astronomy was very little advanced in Egypt, as the lunar year
alone was known. But as this science, as we have said, was
very necessary to the Egyptians, they devoted themselves to it
with great application, and made rapid progress in it; so that,
when a communication was re-established with the Greeks, in
the reign of Psammeticus, they had already adopted the solar
year of 365 complete days. Soon after, they made the addition
of a fourth of a day, and thus came much nearer the true dura-
tion. ‘This reformed solar year was employed for civil uses.
As to the religious year, having been regulated at an earlier
period, it remained with its 365 complete days, without its
being allowed to change it. It happened, in consequence, that
the festivals were gradually displaeed—that they no longer cor-
Y¥2
340 Baron Cuvier’s Lectures on the Natural Sciences.
responded to the same sideral epochs as at the time when they
were instituted—and that, to return to them, they required to
pass through all the seasons in succession. This period, at the
end of which every thing was restored to the original order,
was what the Egyptians named the Great Year, or the Year of
Syrius.
It is probable that it was only from the heliacal rising and
setting of the principal stars that the Egyptians succeeded in
thus approximatively determining the length of the year; for
their means of observation were very imperfect, and it is not
believed that they had any other instrument than the gnomon
for measuring the heights of the sun.
We might be inclined to think that the Egyptians were very
little advanced in general physics, were it true that they con-
sidered fire as an animal which devoured the bodies that were
presented to it; but, perhaps, this was only the opinion of the
vulgar, and not that of the learned.
The Egyptians had very correct ideas on several points in
geology ; they had well observed the laws of alluvial deposition,
and at the present day we account for the formation of the Delta
in no other manner than that in which it was accounted for in
the days of Herodotus. 'They had discovered the existence of
solids not only in the alluvial formations, but also in_ rocks.
Thus, it may be thought, that when Thales in Greece declared
water to be the first principle of all things, he only gave a new
form to the theories of the Egyptian priests, who alleged shat
the earth had arisen from the waters.
The properties of minerals were tolerably well examined.
The country offered every facility for this; the mountains
which form the sides of the valley of the Nile exhibited, and
in all their native lustre, various species of rocks; in the lower
part limestone, farther up sandstone, and towards Syene por-
phyry and granite. Egypt was in some measure a great mi-
neralogical cabinet. The necessity of passing along the small
valleys which run towards the Red Sea, led to the discovery
of other minerals which do not occur in so great masses. It was
in one of them that the mine of emeralds was discovered, which
supplied all those known to antiquity.
The manner in which the Egyptians wrought fine stones, por-
Chemistry, Zoology, and Geology in Egypt. 341
phyry and granite, shows that they had the use of very sharp
instruments, and that they consequently were well acquainted
with the art of tempering. Very little iron, it is true, has
been found in their cities and tombs; but this depends upon
the circumstance that that metal is easily destroyed. Besides,
various other metals have been found in them, and, among
others, bronze, and’gold of great purity. ‘They were acquainted
with all our enamels and porcelains; they knew how to make
up the most brilliant and the most solid colours, and even ul-
tramarine ; in a word, they were infinitely more advanced in the
chemical arts than the Greeks and Romans ever were.
We have said that the habit of rearing sacred animals in the
temples, would have enabled the Egyptians to study the man-
ners of these animals, and to observe their forms. with care ;
and, accordingly, they reproduced them with. perfect fidelity in
painting and in sculpture. We find on their monuments more
than fifty species of animals, so recognisable, that even when the
figures are of small dimensions and merely given in outline, it
is impossible to mistake them. Thus we distinguish in their
sculptures the great aritelope, the oryx, the giraffe, the large-
eared hare, the sparrow-hawk, the vulture, the Egyptian goose,
the quail, the lapwing, the ibis, &c. Gau, in his work on
Nubia, has given a copy of a painting which represents the
triumph of an Egyptian monarch. There are seen in it the
different nations offering to the conqueror animals peculiar to
their respective countries. There are distinguished in it the
hunting-tiger, an animal which we have only known in Europe
for about thirty years back, the aspic, coluber haje, the crocodile,
&e. Although in these representations the zoological characters
have not been expressed, yet the general aspect is so well ex-
hibited, that a naturalist can always readily make out the ani-
mal, even in the case of insects and fishes. In a painting brought
to France by M. Caillaud, and which represents people fishing,
there occur more than twenty distinct species of fishes ; siluri,
cyprini, and other species of singular form and peculiar to
Egypt, all so faithfully expressed, that one can recognize them
at first sight.
It cannot be imagined that a nation which devoted itself with
so much perseverance and success to the observation of nature,
342 Baron Cuvier’s Lectures on the Natural Scicnces.
should have confined itself to the mere collecting of facts, without
attempting to connect them by theories, and to ascend to prin-
ciples. It must, therefore, be supposed, that there was at a cer-
tain epoch in the colleges of the priests, the knowledge not only
of philosophical and religious doctrines, but also that of parti-
cular scientific theories. These theories doubtless have been
lost in consequence of the oppression to which the sacerdotal
caste was subjected at the time of the conquest of Cambyses.
The leaders of the colonies which issued from Egypt, pos-
sessed in general but a small part of the knowledge of which
this privileged caste was the depository. They carried with
them only the practical results. ‘The case was different with
the Hebrew legislator. He had been brought up by the Egyp-
tian priests, and knew not only their arts, but also their philo-
sophical doctrines. His books shew us that he had very perfect
‘ideas respecting several of the highest questions of natural phi-
losophy. His cosmogony especially, considered in a purely
scientific point of view, is extremely remarkable, inasmuch as
the order which it assigns to the different epochs of creation, is
precisely the same as that which has been deduced from geolo-
gical considerations. According to Genesis, after the earth and
the heavens had been formed and animated by light, the aqua-
tic animals were created, then plants, then terrestrial animals,
and last of all man. Now this is precisely what geology teaches
us. In the deposites which have been first consolidated, and
which, consequently are the deepest seated, there occur no or-
ganic remains ; the earth, then, was therefore without inhabitants.
In proportion as we approach the upper strata, we find appearing
at first shells and remains of fishes, then remains of large rep-
tiles, then bones of quadupeds. As to the bones of the human
race, they are met with only in alluvial deposites, in caves and
in the fissures of rocks ; which shows that man made his ap-
pearance upon the earth after all the other classes of animals.
Lecturr Fourtu.—GREECE.
The Greeks did not receive the whole of their knowledge
from Egypt. They had communications with the Phenicians,
and probably also with the Babylonians, as well as assuredly
with the tribes of Colchis and Caucasus, from whjch latter they
Early Science in Greece. 343
received religious rites, that differed greatly from those of
the Egyptians. But, with respect to the result of all these
early communications, we are reduced to mere conjectures, and
can only hope for accounts possessing any degree of accuracy,
from the period when Cadmus carried the Phenician alphabet
into Greece. From this epoch we have an unbroken chain, and
the history of the sciences is based upon a continuous series of
written documents.
The sciences, once introduced among the Greeks, were there
free of the fetters which had retarded their progress among the
other three nations, whose history we have sketched: they had
no longer to suffer from the irruptions of barbarians, nor from
the interests of a privileged class.
India, Assyria, and Egypt were, as we have said, countries
quite open, and which, from the very nature of their ground,
were incapable of being defended. ‘This was not the case with
Greece, of which the whole central part being mountainous, of-
fered great facilities for resisting aninvasion. There each tribe,
separated from the others by deep valleys and passes, found na-
tural ramparts in its rocks. An invader would have to con-
quer the land foot by foot, and the parts which he had sub-
jected would speedily withdraw themselves from his domination.
All the small islands connected with this country were, in like
manner, defended by their mere position, and were enabled to
preserve their independence. Accordingly, Greece could never
long remain united under the same laws; and perhaps these
circumstances, which depend upon the natural configuration of
the country, will, even in our time, render the establishment of a
central government extremely difficult.
The settlements which the Greeks made on the coast of Asia
Minor and Italy were not, it is true, so easily defended ; but
when they were overrun, the learned men who had sprung up
there betook themselves to central Greece, and carried to it the
tribute of their knowledge ; so that the conquest of the colonies,
far from retarding the civilization of the mother country, only
served to advance it.
Mythological forms were, in the East, only the emblematic
expression of a system of general philosophy, and thus the
priests were at the same time the learned men of the nation
344 Baron Cuvier’s Lectures on the Natural Sciences.
In Greece, the external forms of religion only were received,
without, however, any understanding of the meaning concealed
under these emblems, so that the priests there were not in general
more learned than the vulgar. ‘They did not form a caste, for,
although in the beginning, there had been a tendency to perpe-
tuate the priestly dignity in the same families, this scheme was
acted on within very narrow limits, and could therefore exercise
but a feeble influence upon the constitution.
The sciences, therefore, at their revival in Greece, were com-
pletely separated from religion, and consequently free in their
progress ; while, in the countries in which a divine origin was
attributed to them, they necessarily remained stationary, as no
one, without being guilty of sacrilege, could change in any re-
spect a doctrine which had emanated from the Divinity itself.
_ Epochs of the History of the Sciences in Greece.—The his-
tory of the sciences in ancient Greece presents four distinct
epochs. ‘The first commences with the establishment of the
Pelasgi in that country, and terminates with the arrival of the
Egyptian colonies, about the fourteenth or fifteenth century be-
fore our era. The second comprehends all the time that elapsed
between the arrival of these Egyptians and the settlement of the
Greek colonies upon the coast of Asia Minor, about the year
1100 before Christ. The third extends from the establishment
of these colonies to the time when the communications with
Egypt were revived, about the year 600 before Christ. The
fourth epoch commences with the journey of Thales to Egypt,
and comprises the most brillant age of Greece.
Were we to refer to some writers of the Alexandrian school,
we might suppose ourselves possessed of a very exact history of
ancient Greece. We have genealogies of the kings who reigned °
in that country, with quite as many details as those of the sove-
reign houses of Kurope ; but these genealogies, in which there
always figure at the head some mythological personages, such
as Jupiter or Neptune, are evidently not authentic. Thus, the
history of the Greeks, before the time when Cadmus brought
them the art of writing, is entirely conjectural. All that we
know is, that, previous to the arrival of that chief, the Pelasgi
The Pelasgr. 345
were not entirely in a barbarous state, and that they were al-
ready acquainted with several arts.
The Pelasgi were originally from India, of which the San-
serit roots that occur abundantly in their language do not per-
mit us to doubt. It is probable, that, by crossing the moun-
tains of Persia, they penetrated as far as the Caucasus; and
that from this point, instead of continuing their route by land
they embarked on the Black Sea, and made a descent upon the
coasts of Greece. They founded several cities in that country,
and there are still found in the places where they first settled,
Thyrintum, Mycene, &c., remains of their buildings, known by
the name of Cyclopean Walls. In the time of Pausanius, it
was already known that these buildings were anterior to the ar-
rival of the Egyptian colonies, and that to the labours of the
Pelasgi were owing certain gigantic works, such as the treasuries
of Minias, and the canals dug through Mount Ptéus, to afford
an issue to the waters of the lake Copais, and prevent the inun-
dation of Beeotia.
The religion of the first Pelasgi was much more simple than
that of the Greeks. It was probably confined to the deification
of certain powers of nature, and their representation under sen-
sible forms.
The disturbances which took place in Egypt about the four-
teenth and fifteenth centuries before our era, caused various emi-
grations. Those which directed themselves towards Greece
were pretty numerous. ‘The best known are those of Cecrops,
Danaus, and Cadmus. __Cecrops, in the year 1556 before Christ,
carried into Attica the mysteries of Isis or Ceres; Danaus, in
1485, brought over the thesmophories; and Cadmus, in 1493,
imported the alphabet, whose oriental origin is sufficiently indi-
cated by the form of the letters and the name which they have
preserved. The colonies arrived with sufficient strength to es-
tablish themselves in the country of the Pelasgi, and diffuse their
civilization there. But, as we have said, their chiefs had only
been half-instructed in the science of Egypt, so that they only
brought over the external form of the religion, without connect-
ing with it any metaphysical idea. Their divinities, although
evidently borrowed from the Egyptian mythology, henceforth
appeared only under purely human forms, and this very anthro-
346 Baron Cuvier’s Lectures on the Natural Sciences.
pomorphism was favourable to the progress of the graphic arts.
What in fact would sculpture have become, had it been confined
to the hideous forms of those emblematical beings in which the
priests had personified one of the attributes of the Divinity, had
it been forced to represent a god with four heads and an
hundred hands, as in India, or with the head of a wolf or a hawk,
as in Egypt ?
A particular tribe, the Hellenes, which extended its rule
not only over the Pelasgi, but also over the foreign colonies
settled in Greece, ultimately gave its name to the whole coun-
try. This tribe, which, under the guidance of Deucalion, set-
tled in the neighbourhood of Parnassus, came from the north,
and probably from Caucasus, as it was on that mountain that
the poets represented Deucalion’s father, Prometheus, as chained.
Now, the tribes of the Caucasus were certainly acquainted with
the doctrines of India through their connections with Colchis,
which was long, in a manner, the factory of their commerce in
the European seas. The Hellenes were the earliest civilized of
all the nations of Greece. It is to them that we owe the worship
of Apollo and the introduction of the arts.
The Greek religion, at the commencement, partook of its In-
dian and Egyptian origin. The island of Samothrace, in which
were established the most ancient mysteries, had divinities whose
significative names still indicate the metaphysical ideas which
were connected with them. In Thrace, the part of the conti-
nent in the neighbourhood of this isle, Orpheus, instituted reli-
gious forms which resemble those of the east. The influence of
Cecrops, however, prevailed, and pure anthropomorphism was
established. This Orpheus was a priest and a poet at the same
time. There are attributed to him a collection of hymns, and
some works, in which there occur details respecting plants and
stones, but only considered with reference to theurgy. Nearly,
at the same epoch, Chiron, it is said, already studied their pro-
perties for the purpose of applying them to medicine.
Chiron and Orpheus are reckoned among the heroes who, un-
der the name of Argonaute, went to Colchis to conquer the
Golden fleece. It is probable that this expedition is not the re-
presentation of a single fact, but rather the expression of the
commerce which was established by the way of the Black Sea
Homer and Hesiod. 347
with the nations of the Caucasus. Even Orpheus and Chiron
might be merely the poetical representation of the first efforts
for the cultivation of the necessary arts. Be this as it may,
real advances were made by the family of the Asclepiadz, which
ascends nearly to this period, that is to say about 1300 years
before Christ.
A century after, the famous Trojan war took place, in which
the Europeans contended against the Asiatics. The poems of
Homer, written about the year 950, that is about 200 years after
the event, shew us, that at this period the arts had made con-
siderable progress. The metals were forged and tempered ;
arms chased and gilded ; cloths woven and dyed with the most
brilliant colours. Sculpture and painting had also been in-
vented.
The Iliad and Odyssey contain some moral maxims; but
there are no traces in them of a philosophical doctrine, nor even
of a religious doctrine properly so called. The gods are only
men, stronger and more beautiful, but still vulnerable, and dif-
fering from other men only in having the faculty of concealing
themselves from view, and of rising in the air.
The comparisons with natural objects which occur so fre-
quently in the verses of Homer, shew, that at this period very
accurate observations had been made on the manners of animals.
When that poet compares a hero pursued by common warriors
to a lion assailed by jackals, the picture which he draws of the
habits of the latter animals is as correct as brilliant.
Hesiod may be considered as the contemporary of Homer, for
his two works bear the seal of the same epoch. In his Theo-
gony, we see mythological anthropomorphism in all its purity ;
some faint traces of pantheism appear in the history of the giants
and Titans. In his book of Days and Hours, Hesiod incul-
cates upon men the necessity of labour, and gives some rules for
their guidance. He speaks of the culture of corn, the time of
tilling and sowing, &c. It is to be remarked that he always
indicates the time proper for these operations by the heliacal
rising of a star, which proves, that if the lunar year was already
established in Greece, it was, at least, little used in domestic life,
its mode of division necessarily rendering it inconvenient. He-
2
348 Baron Cuvier’s Lectures on the Natural Sciences.
siod, in his book, names a certain number of plants, and points
out their properties.
Such, in the ninth century before our era, was the state of
knowledge in Greece.
It was during the time which elapsed between the Trojan
war and the birth of Homer and Hesiod, that the colonies
which migrated to the coast of Asia Minor set out. Their
emigration was produced in consequence of the revolutions
which took place in Greece, when the Heraclidee made the
conquest of the Peloponnesus. Ionians, Dorians, and Eolians,
left their country, and went to found, in Asia, a great number
of cities, some of which, such as Smyrna, Ephesus, and Miletum,
soon acquired a high importance.
When there were Greek settlements on both sides. of the
Egean Sea, the frequent communications which were established
between them, gave a new impulse to commerce, and presently
caused the riches of the east to flow in. The new cities were
soon in a state to send out colonies themselves, and several bands
from them went to settle on the shores of the Black Sea.
A little more than two centuries after the conquest of the
Peloponnesus by the Heraclide, Greece was agitated by fresh
troubles, the result of which was the almost universal abolition
of royalty. This revolution gave rise to a new emigration,
which, this time, taking a direction opposite to the first, settled
upon the shores of Italy, in the country which afterwards bore
the name of Magna Grecia. These Italian colonies, which
soon became extremely rich and polished, were an additional
means of civilization to central Greece.
We now come to an epoch marked by two events which had
a great influence upon the progress of the sciences. The first
is the re-establishment of the communications with Egypt, which
took place when Psammeticus took Greeks from Asia Minor
into his armies, as auxiliaries: the other is the war of the Per-
sians against the Greeks, the conquest of the colonies of Asia
Minor, and the invasion of central Greece itself, an attempt
which fortunately was not crowned with success.
About 600 years before Christ, Cyrus possessed himself of
Media. His son Cambyses carried his arms toward Egypt,
subjected the whole of that country, and reduced the priests to
Persian Invasion of Greece. 349
a state of great degradation. The effects of conquests of this
kind are commonly rendered less rigorous, because the victors,
yielding to the ascendency of civilization, adopt the manners
and customs of the vanquished. In Egypt, such a union could
not take place. The Persians, whose religion rested upon the
doctrine of the two principles, were in this respect evidently
superior to the Egyptians, and they moreover held the religion
of that people in abhorrence, on account of the honours which
they rendered to images. They therefore persecuted them
cruelly.
The same reasons rendered their yoke heavy upon the Greek
colonies of Asia Minor, when Cambyses’s successor Darius con..
quered them. Oppression there arrested the progress of the
arts and of poetry, as in Egypt it had stifled the philosophical
and religious doctrines. The conquest of Darius threw upon
central Greece a multitude of emigrants, who carried there the
knowledge which they had acquired in Egypt ; for, as soon as
the gates of that country had been opened by Psammeticus,
Thales, Pythagoras, and several other sages, hastened thither
to be instructed in the school of the Egyptian priests. It may
therefore be said, that if the successes of the Persians disquiet-
ed Greece, so far from retarding its progress toward civiliza-
tion, they even contributed to accelerate it.
Xerxes, who reigned after Darius, attacked central Greece ;
but he was repulsed: and it is at this time that the most bril-
liant epoch of that country commences. In fact, philosophy,
cultivated at first in the colonies of Asia Minor, and then in the
Italian colonies, at length concentrated itself at Athens, and
there, in a few years, arrived at a high degree of perfection.
The Greek philosophy did not originate from a single stem.
It did not possess uniformity, because it was not confided to a
single learned body. It was derived, it is true, by different
channels, from the ancient Egyptian philosophy ; but the sages
who went to drink at this source, each in his own manner, mo-
dified the doctrines which were communicated to them, and
formed different schools.
(To be continued. )
( 350 )
On the Heights of the most remarkable Summits of the Cordil-
lera of the Andes in Peru,
To know the highest summit in every chain of mountains, the
highest mountain in every country, in every continent, in the
whole world, has always been a favourite object with mankind.
Astronomical observations have permitted this research to be
extended even to the Moon, to Mercury and Venus. These
planets have been studied of late with so much care, and with
instruments so powerful, that it seems difficult to determine
more precisely than has already been done, the height of the pro-
digious mountains which cover their surface. The asperities of
the Earth have also been the objects of constant research. The
number of points whose several heights above the level of the
sea, are irrevocably fixed, is very considerable ; and yet, not to
mention countries which geographers have never yet explored,
it would be difficult to say with certaity, even of the Hima-
laya, Caucasus, the American ranges, and even of some chains
in Europe, whether their culminating points have been accu-
rately measured. Not but that the traveller may have, in every
place, directed his attention to the summits which appeared to
him the highest ; but unfortunately such appearances are often
deceitful, and bad substitutes for real measurements. The cir-
cumstance of a mountain being more or less isolated, the incli-
nation of its sides, its distance, the form, disposition and height
of the surrounding grounds, and finally the state of the atmo-
sphere, are so many causes of fallacy, from which the most ex-
perienced observer cannot get free, and which are removed only
by the barometer and geodesical instruments. Were it necessary
to adduce examples in support of these reflections, many might
be quoted. ‘Thus we might say that, at the beginning of the
eighteenth century, the Peak of Teneriffe was reckoned the
highest mountain ia the world *, though, in the Alps of Switzer-
land, there were summits which surpass it nearly one-third ;
though many travellers had, on their return from Peru, seen
the great Cordillera of the Andes, and even visited some of
the populous towns that are situated on their table-lands, whose
* See the Geography of Varenius, reviewed by Newton.
Summits of the Cordillera of the Andes. 351
height is far superior to that of the Peak. We might also re-
mark, that the Pyrenees had been traversed by learned acade-
micians, supplied with powerful instruments, and that they still
gave out that Canigou was the highest top in the chain ; whereas
we now know, that not only Malahite, Mount Perdu, the Cy-
lindre, &c. surpass it by 1968 feet; but also that, at a short dis-
tance from this mountain, within the same limits of the depart-
ment of the Eastern Pyrenees, there are summits which, accord-
ing to the late observations of M. Coraboeuf, exceed it in height
nearly 460 feet. We need not be astonished then, if, from
time to time, certain peaks descend from the rank, as to height,
which was once assigned them. Mont Blanc itself, so long in
possession of the first place in the system of European moun-
tains, came to lose it afterwards, from an imperfect measurement
of the summits of Mount Rose. Now Chimborazo has, in its
turn, to lose its pre-eminence. This mountain, so celebrated in
the works of Bouguer, of La Condamine, and above all in those
of M. Humboldt, is not the highest in the world, as has been
supposed for so many years *. It is not even the highest summit
of the Cordilleras.
Mr Pentland, an active and enterprizing naturalist, who was
attached to the Peruvian embassy, was induced, by the love of
science, to solicit a mission into Upper Peru, a region hitherto
but little explored. During his journey he attended particularly
to the heights of the mountains, and found that their elevation
much exceeded what was generally supposed.
The great mass of the Andes, from 14° to 20° south latitude,
according to Mr Pentland, is divided into two chains or parallel
cordilleras, between which there is a very extensive elevated
valley. The south extremity of this valley is traversed by the
river Desaguadero ; to the north is the famous Lake of Titicaca,
of an extent equal to twenty-five times that of the Lake of Ge-
neva. This great valley forms a kind of table-land, the most
elevated on the globe, except Thibet ; but, while Thibet pre-
sents only ranges of mountain pasture, covered with herds of
sheep, this table-land of the New World supports cities above
the regions of the clouds, even higher than the snow-covered
pinnacle of the Jungfrau ; post stations higher than the summit
* This has been proved already by the heights in the Himalaya range.
352 Heights of the most remarkable Summits of the
of Mont Blanc; while its plains are covered with harvests of
maize, rye, barley, and even of wheat. The banks of the Titi-
caca formed the central part of the kingdom of the Incas. It
is in one of the islands of this Jake that Manco Capac was born,
It is there that we find the finest remains of the monuments
that were erected by the Peruvians, during the time of their
ancient civilization. The western Cordillera, that which, in the
language of the country, is called the “* Cordillera of the West,”
separates the Valley of Desaguadero, the Thibet of the New
World, as Mr Pentland calls it, and the basin of the Lake of
Titicaca, from the shores of the Pacific. This chain contains
many active volcanoes, such as those of Sehama, Arequipa, &e.
The eastern Cordillera separates the same valley from the vast
plains of the Chiquitos and Moxos, and the declivities of the
rivers Beni, Mamore and Paraguay, which fall into the Atlantic
Ocean, from those of Desaguadero, and the lake of Titicaca.
This eastern Cordillera is confined within the limits of the new
republic of Bolivia. The Illimani and the Sorata, the two
loftiest summits measured by Mr Pentland, are situated in this
range. They not only surpass Chimborazo, but even approach
in height to the principal summits of the Himalayas.
Mr Pentland not being able to reach the top either of imani
or Sorata, on account of. the immense glaciers which covered
their sides, measured their heights by means of trigonometrical
operations.
In measuring Illimani, the triangles were made to rest on a
base measured along the side of a lake, situated at the very foot
of a mountain, and whose height above the level of the sea was
determined barometrically. The angles of elevation exceeded
20°.
The height of Sorata is grounded upon an operation which
was)carried on along the banks of the Lake Titicaca; but this
operation having made it appear only how far the top of the
mountain rises above the line, marking the inferior limit of the
perpetual snows, it was necessary, in order to get the real
height, to borrow the vertical co-ordinate of the snows, at other
points of the same chain, where an immediate measure was pos-
sible. Thus we see that the height of Sorata has been obtained
less directly than that of Illimani. Mr Fentland is sure that, if
Cordillera of the Andes. 3538
any errors exist, they must be very trifling, or at least errors
which cannot be called gross. If, then, we except three or four
points among those which are marked in the following tables,
all the other determinations of heights are the result of barome-
tric measures, frequently repeated with the excellent instruments
of M. Fortin.
Heights of Mountains in Upper Peru, above the Level of the
Sea *.
Eastern Cordillera.
Feet.
1. Nevado di Sorata; - - - = 25,250
It is the loftiest summit in this range, and is considerably
higher than the former loftiest summit of the New
World, Chimborazo, which is only 21,425 feet above
the sea.
2. Nevado di Illimani, which is situated to the eastward of
the city of La Paz, is - “ = = 24,350
3. Cerro de Potosi, - - - - 16,037
This is the famous metalliferous mountain, which gives
name to the neighbouring city. The highest point
where mines are worked in the Cerro de Potosi, is 15,912
Western Cordillera.
1. Mountain of Tajora, or Chipicani, = = 18,898
2. Mountain of Pichu.—Pichu, composed of trachite, - 18,603
3. Volcano of Arequipa, . - - . 18,373
This is the most perfect and picturesque volcanic cone
in the whole range of the Andes.
Passes (Cols) of the two Cordilleras.
Pass of Atlos de los Huessos, is - - - 13,605
This pass is on the southern base of the volcano of Are-
quipa. The name is from the circumstance of its
being strewed over with numerous bones of beasts of
burthen, who have perished during the journey : Hues-
sos, in Spanish, signifying bone or bones.
Pass of Paquani, - - - - - 15,227
* The following are some terms of comparison :—
English Feet.
Javaher, in the Himalaya, é , 25,745
Chimborazo, in the Andes of Quito, - 21,425
The Elbruz, in the Caucasus, were to Dr Kupfer, 16,411
Mont Blanc, ; 15,781
Peak of Teneriffe, : J - 12,172
Malahasen, in Granada, in Spain, : - 11,663
La Malahite, in the Pyrenees, . 3 - 11,421
JANUARY—MAKCH 1830. x
354 Heights of the Mountains in Upper Peru. ‘
Feet.
As terms of comparison, we may mention, that, in the Alps,
the Pass of the Furka, is - - - 8,301
That of the Col de Seigne, is - - - 8,071
And that, lastly, Mount Cenis and the Simplon, are
only - - - - 6,778 and 6,578
Peruvian and Bolivian Cities.
Lima, the capital of Peru - - - - 512
Cochabamba, capital of the department of the same name, 8448
This town, of which the population is 30,000 souls, is more
elevated than the Great Saint Bernard.
Chuquisaca, or La Plata, capital of the new republic of Bolivia, 9331
Tupisa, capital of the Bolivian province of Cinti, - 10,004
La Paz, near the source of the Rio Beni, - - 12,195
La Paz is the most flourishing city in Bolivia. Its height
above the level of the sea surpasses the highest summit of
the Pyrenees.
Oruro, near to Desaguadero, - = 12,441
This city has a population of 5000 souls.
Puno, on the western shore of the Lake T7ticaca, - 12,832
The population of Puno is 5000.
Chucuito, ” - - - - 13,025
This city, more elevated than the highest summits in the
Tyrol, had a population of 30,000 souls before the Indian
insurrection excited by Tupac Amaru.
The grand place of Potosi, - - - 13,314
The highest part of Potosi, - - - 13,668
Potosi thus occupies the same height as the Yung-Frau,
one of the most remarkable summits of the Alps of
Berne,
Villages. .
Tiaguanaco, - - - - - 12,812
This village, situated on the shores of the Lake Titicaca, is
celebrated for the ruins with which it is surrounded, which
are remains of the most gigantic monuments ever erected
by the Peruvians.
The surface of the Lake Titicaca is, above the sea, - 12,703
Tacora, an Indian village, - - - - 14,252
Hamlets and Single Habitations. '
Hamlet and post-station of Chullunquani, - - 13,869
Post-house of Ancomarca, - - - 15,722
Here, then, is a post-house situated at a height equal to that of
Mount Blanc. It must, however, be remarked, that, owing to
the rigour of the climate, it is inhabited only three or four months
during the year ; but the route is taken, during every season of
the year, by travellers journeying from La Paz, and other cities
to the shores of the South Sea.
( 355 )
On the Chemical Constitution of Brewsterite. By ArtTHuR
ConnELt, Esq. F. R. S. E. (Communicated by the Author.)
ur formula of 3 Nel Si + 4 Al Si8 + 24 H has been given
=r
by Berzelius for the constitution of this mmeral *; and, from a
statement made by Dr Brewster +, it would appear that Berze-
lius- had founded this formula on an analysis of Retzius. It
gives,
Silica, | co) ws). sop eryg 71266
Alumina, . . . 17.011
Soda,
=| Val -764
Het bi
Water. (pon) laos
99.933
From some researches which I have made on the composition
of Brewsterite, I have been led to the conclusion that this for-
mula does not express the true constitution of the mineral, when
derived from its almost only locality, Strontian in Argyleshire,
and we must either suppose that some other mineral had been
analyzed by Retzius, or that certain of the above constituents
may be replaced by other substances. ‘The specimens which
I have examined I have shewn to Professor Jameson, whose
name will be a sufficient sanction that no mistake exists as
to their identity with Brewsterite. ‘The most remarkable re-
sult which I have obtained, is the detecting baryta and stron-
tia in the specimens under investigation ; and this circumstance
has induced me to offer this short notice on the subject, al-
though my researches are not yet so far completed as to en-
able me to present a regular analysis of the mineral. The first
specimen in which I found these earths, consisted of a kind of
crystalline mass of concretions of Brewsterite, thickly studded
* See Poggend. Anal. xii. 18.
+ Edinburgh Journal of Science, iv. 316. The formula has been there
printed by mistake * S*+4AS + 8 Aq, instead ofc
which is the formula corresponding to that in the text, In the Annal, de
Chim, et Phys. xxxi. 21. it is given in the latter form.
S?+4AS8*4+8 Aq,
72
~
356 Mr Connell on the Chemical Constitution of Brewsterite.
with well formed crystals of the mineral. The portions of it
examined were first exposed in small fragments to the action of
largely diluted muriatic acid, to remeve any calcareous spar or
other matter soluble in such a menstruum. The decomposition
was then effected by means of carbonate of soda, as the action of
strong muriatic acid, although considerable, seemed not com-
plete. Thinking it possible that the baryta and strontia might
have been mingled, in some form or other, as impurities in the
less perfectly crystallized portions of the mineral, I selected
from a different specimen, a small quantity of well formed erys-
tals of Brewsterite, with some small portions, which appeared
to be fragments of crystals, my object being to avoid amorphous
matter as much as possible. _ What I thus selected was first ex-
posed to the action of water, acidulated with muriatic acid, for
the same reason as before. It was then reduced to fine powder,
and fused in platinum foil over the spirit-lamp, with a mixture
of the carbonates of soda and potassa. After separating silica
in the usual manner, and precipitating by ammonia, carbonate
of potassa was added to the residual liquid, and the whole eva-
porated to dryness. Whatever was soluble was then removed
by water. The residue, after being washed and ignited, dis-
solved with effervescence in dilute nitric acid, leaving a very
slight dark residue. The solution by spontaneous evaporation,
gave white crystals, which were chiefly thickish tables, and were
not altered by exposure to the air. There was hardly any trace
of deliquescent matter, shewing that the mineral could contain
no notable quantity of lime, an observation perfectly supported
by my examination of the other specimen. The crystals were
next folded in platinum foil, and ignited over the spirit-lamp,
to drive off the nitric acid. The residuum, which was dark
coloured, was dissolved in dilute muriatic acid. The solution
was set to evaporate spontaneously, and gave a mixture of tabu-
lar and of long prismatic crystals, partially coloured yellow, as
by a salt of iron. The prismatic crystals were taken up by hot
alcohol, and recrystallized from a watery solution. Both the
tabular and the prismatic crystals, by ignition, became darkish,
and when redissolved in water, left a dark coloured residue,
which seemed, to a great extent, insoluble in muriatic acid, and
gave traces of iron. The watery solutions, when recrystallized,
Mr Connell on the Chemical Constitution of Brewsterite. 357
gave well characterized crystals of muriate of baryta and mu-
riate of strontia, the former being the more abundant of the
two. The former tinged the Aine of a candle slightly green
or greenish-yellow, nbd the latter gave the well known fine red
of salts of strontia. Both, when dissolved, gave white precipi-
tates, with sulphuric acid.
On decomposing a quantity of the first mentioned specimen,
by carbonate of baryta, I got no trace of alkali.
It is thus plain, that lime and soda do not enter into the con-
stitution of the specimens examined by me in the quantity
given by the formula of Berzelius. I have alse reason to believe
that silica and water are not so abundant as shown by that for-
mula. The precipitate by ammonia, I have little doubt, was
principally alumina.
It is not impossible that, as in Harmatome, baryta may be re-
placed by other substances, a similar replacement may occur
with respect to this mineral.
I am unwilling to offer any opinion at present as to the quan-
tity in which baryta and strontia exist in this mineral. It ap-
peared to me, however, in my examination of the first specimen
I have mentioned, that the baryta and strontia together, and
including the insoluble residue remaining after ignition of the
muriates, amounted to somewhere about 15 per cent. of the
mineral. But I wish to be understood as giving no definite
opinion at present on this point, or on the relative proportions
of the two earths.
Supposing the earths to exist in the mineral in the state of
silicates, which appears to follow from the preceding researches,
this mineral will afford the second instance only, so far as I
know, of baryta occurring in nature in any other state of com-
bination than with sulphuric or carbonic acids, Harmatome being
the first instance; and should the strontia be found to be in
sufficient quantity to form an essential constituent, as my re-
searches, so far as they 80, seem to show, it will be the first in-
stance of this earth occurring in nature, unless as a sulphate or
carbonate.
I shall proceed in completing a regular analysis of this mine-
ral as soon as possible.
2
( 358 )
Queries respecting the Natural History of the Salmon, Sea-
Trout, Bull-Trout, Herling, &c. By:Sir Wi1t11aM Jar-
DINE, Bart. F.R. S.E., M. W.S., &c.
Dai value of the Salmon Fisheries in Great Britain has de-
creased so much of late years, and particularly in the north of
England, and south of Scotland, that a remedy for it, indepen-
dent of its interest as a difficult and unsolved question in Na-
tural History, will become of no little importance to proprietors.
The following Queries are proposed, with the view and with
the hope of gaining some information upon the natural history
and economy of this valuable species. It is only by arriving
at'a correct knowledge of its various habits, and those of the
species allied to it, which frequent our rivers in almost equal
numbers, that we can hope to devise or accomplish any means
of increasing the production, or of decreasing the certainly too
extensive destruction of it in its different states.
The Queries relate only to its natural history, and answers
are earnestly requested, stating facts relative to the opinions
given, with the suggestion of additional queries, or any thing
that will tend to illustrate the history of the species.
Address the Answers to Sir William Jardine, Jardine-Hall,
by Lockerbie, Dumfriesshire.
Salmon.
1, At what age do Salmon commence spawning ? and how often is it sup-
posed that they have migrated to and from the sea, previous to their first
parting with the spawn ?
2. Do the males and females attain maturity at the same period or age’?
arid ‘do all of one'age spawn nearly at the same season ?
3. At what time do the young, or fry, first leave the rivers ?
4. When do the young, or fry, first return to the rivers ?
5. What is the size, weight, and appearance of the fry, on their first re.
turn from the sea, aud under what denomination do they then go ?
6. Are they so far arrived -at maturity as'to spawn, and be productive, on
their first return from the sea, or previous to a second migration ?
7. Are any fish known to shed their spawn abortively, before they arrive
at their full growth or maturity? or is the spawn observable in young fish
retained until the parents attain the ordinary growth aiid size of the species
when it is known to be productive ?
Queries respecting the Natural History of the Salmon. 359
Grilse.
8. Are Grilse immature salmon, and if they are, what is their age ?
9. What is the distinctive character between a large Grilse and a small
Salmon ?
10. At what season do grilses first appear in the rivers ? What is their
weight ? and are they supposed to be the fry of the same year, on their first
return from the sea ?
11. Have the fry been marked, and afterwards taken as grilses in the
course of the same year, and have grilses been marked, and afterwards taken
as full grown salmon ?
12. Is it supposed that any sexual intercourse takes place between the
salmon and other species of the genus, thereby producing a mongrel or mix-
ed breed of fish ?
Whitlings and Sea-Trout.
13. Does the Whitling of the Tweed ever become a salmon—if not, to
what size and weight does it attain ?
14. Is the Whitling of the Tweed known by any other name in its vari-
ous stages of growth ? Does it spawn, and at what season? What are its mi-
grations ?
15. Is the Sea-Trout of some other rivers the same with the Whitling of
the Tweed? Is it found in all rivers containing salmon? Does it spawn ?
Is the young, or fry known—and what are its migrations ?
Herling *.
16. Is the Herling or Hirling of the Annan and Nith, and the Whitling of
the Esk in Cumberland, the same with the Finnock of the west coast of Scot-
land, and the Sewin of the Welsh rivers?
17. Is the Herling found in the rivers on the eastern coast of Scotland, or
in any of the rivers in England or Ireland, and under what name or names
is it there known ?
18. Does the Herling spawn, and at what season ? and is it known in any
intermediate state between the fry and Herling2 Is the fry known, and
what are its migrations ?
Bull-Trout.
19. Isthe Bull-Trout of the Tweed the same with the salmon-trout of
the Tyne and Tees, &c.? and is it known by any other name during its
growth from the Fry to maturity ?
20. Is the Parr met with in all rivers containing salmon ? where and
when does it spawn? Is it the same with the Brandling of the North of
England, and the Skirling of Wales? Is it supposed to be a perfect fish, or
the fry of some species of salmon ?
21. What is the Grey (Salmo Eriox ) of Dr Fleming ? What are its states
from the young to the adult ? What are its migrations ?
22. Are there any species of migratory salmon, distinct from those above
mentioned, known in the rivers of your neighbourhood ?
* The Herling, seems to be the Salno Albus of Dr Fleming's “ British Animals,” and most
Ichthyologists. The species has not been thoroughly investigated.
( 360°) '
On the various Preparations of Milk, particularly of Mares’
Milk, used by the Kalmuck Tartars.
Tur ordinary drink of the Kalmucks, and which forms an es-
sential part of their food, consists of various preparations of the
milk supplied by their cattle. The mares yield milk as well as
the cows; and, for several reasons, they prefer the former.
When fresh, this milk has a taste of onions, which is very repul-
sive; but, in proportion as it sours, if the operation is performed
with cleanliness, it becomes more liquid than the other, acquires
an agreeable vinous taste, and neither forms cream nor coagu-
lates. In this state, it furnishes a wholesome and refreshing
drink, and which, when in sufficient quantity, froths in a re-
markable degree. The cow’s milk, on the contrary, both on
account of the cheesy matter which it contains, and its disagree-
able taste, becomes unpleasant to drink when it sours; and, in
persons not accustomed to it, induces colics and diarrhceas, al-
though the Kalmucks themselves experience no inconvenience
from it, unless they have neglected to boil it. ‘This they do, in
the first place, and never use it until it has undergone this ope-
ration, without which they would be exposed to the inconve-
niences with which sour milk affects Europeans. In like man-
ner, the Kalmucks do not relish water that has not been boiled.
Poor persons, to prevent their being reduced to the necessity of
drinking it pure, mix it with their milk, in the proportion of a
third part or half, in order to make the most of the latter as a
drink.
The milk is therefore heated as soon as it is withdrawn from
the animal ; and, when warm, it is poured into a large skin bot-
tle, with which the poorest hut is furnished, and in which there
is always a remnant of sour milk sufficient to sour the new milk
after it has been stirred with a stick kept for the purpose.
Those bottles are never washed or cleaned. They are therefore
always incrusted with cheese and dirt, and the smell emitted by
them is sufficient to shew what they contain. But it is precisely
m this that the secret for making the milk undergo the vinous
fermentation consists. If it be intended to sour milk in empty
or new bottles, all that is necessary is to put into them the least
Preparations of Milk used by the Kalmuck Tartars. 361
drop of the milk-brandy to be presently described, or a little of
the curdled milk that is found in the stomach of young lambs. ;
All the preparations of milk are comprehended under the
name of Tchigan. The drinks prepared from pure mare’s milk
(the Koumys of the Tartars), are named Gunna Tchigan,
or Horse Tchigan; those into which mare’s milk and cow’s
milk enter, are called Besrek ; sour cow’s milk is named Airek,
and all kinds of fresh milk, Ussoun.
In summer, and in general whenever their flocks yield them
much milk, the Kalmucks do not fail to inebriate themselves
with the strong drink which they derive from it. Mare’s milk
affords most spirit, and the milk of the cow affords much less,
especially in winter when the fodder is dry. Sheep’s milk is
never employed, as it does not contain spirit.
The milk intended for distillation is only allowed to remain
twenty-four hours, in summer, in the skin-bottles to sour; but
in winter, and in cold weather, it may be left two or three days
to be rendered fit for distillation. The cream is not taken off ;
on the contrary, the milk is agitated very strongly, from time to
time, with the stick, and the butter which forms of itself on the
milk, or even on the common Tchigan, is removed and employed
for other uses.
Notwithstanding the numerous testimonies on the subject,
and the daily experience, not of the nomadic tribes alone, but
also of all the Russians, many people in Europe cannot conceive
how a spiritous and inebriating liquor could be obtained from
milk. But it cannot be supposed that those travellers who have
repeatedly seen these tribes distil their brandy from milk, with-
out adding the least vegetable matter to the original liquid, and
then, in their unbridled passion for debauch, drink until they
stagger and fall, have said so merely to impose upon the public.
Nor can it be objected that the weakness of their head renders
them liable to be easily inebriated by the vapours of the milk,
for the Kalmucks can take very large quantities of grain brandy
without losing the use of their legs; and there are Russians,
who, although professedly great drinkers, are sooner inebriated
than the Kalmucks by milk-brandy, and often even by the sour
milk of mares, and yet are extremely fond of this kind of drink.
I am aware that strangers have in vain tried to make milk-
362 Preparations of Milk used by the Kalmuck Tartars.
brandy. I shall even confess that I had a trial made under my
own eyes, at Selenginsk, by Kalmucks, and was so unsuccessful,
that I only obtained a watery fluid which had the smell of sour
milk; but the reason of this was, that two clean vessels had
been used. On the contrary, whenever I allowed these people
to use their own vessels, abundant alcoholic vapours were pro-
cured. It is, therefore, an important point to determine, by
means of vessels impregnated by long use, with a strong smell,
and the remains of sour milk, that sudden souring which deve-
lopes a spiritous principle. This fermentation of a rare species,
and entirely swi generis, can only be brought to the desired
perfection by frequent repetition of the process, just as, accord-
ing to Russel *, the thick milk (Jeban), which the Arabs ha-
bitually use for making cheese, can only be obtained by pro-
ducing the coagulation of the fresh milk by means of a milk
previously curdled, or, in other words, by the cohobation many
times repeated of curdled milk.
After describing the process of distillation, Pallas remarks,
if the brandy is made from cow’s milk, what is obtained is equal
to the thirtieth, or at most to the twenty-fifth part of the mass ;
but when from mare’s milk, it equals the fifteenth part. The
new fluid is pale and watery, and does not inflame; but it keeps
without spoiling, in glass bottles, like weak corn-brandy. ‘The
rich _Kalmucks render it stronger by several distillations, and
they have names for the products of each rectification. ‘The
arki is named dang after its first rectification ; arza, after the
second ; Khortsa, after the third. They seldom go farther, al-
though the rectifications are sometimes pushed to six. The
names given to the two last are chingsta and dingsta. The
Kalmucks are generally, however, content with the products of
the first distillation.
The receiver has scarcely been filled when they pour the
brandy warm from it into a large wooden vessel with a spout,
from which they fill leather bottles or gourds.
It is customary for the host, with whom ‘the company 1s then
to pour brandy into a vessel, and afterwards to throw part of it
into the fire, and part towards the hole by which the smoke is-
* Russel’s Aleppo, p. 54.
Preparation of Milk used by the Kalmuck Tartars. 363
sues to render the spirits of the air or his tutelary angel propi-
tious. Lastly, the warm brandy circulates among the company,
composed of kinsfolk and friends, in large cups, which often do
not hold less than a bottle. If alittle is left, it is heated again
before it is drunk. This milk brandy, on account of the
aqueous parts which it contains, does not inebriate so easily
when a small quantity is taken, as brandy made from grain ;
but it is found, by the example of the Russians and all the tribes
of the Steppes, that the drunkenness which it causes continues
longer, and entirely destroys the appetite. On the other hand,
it does not produce violent headaches like corn-brandy.
The rich Kalmucks and Mongols are in the habit, when they
pass the winter near towns, of distilling with or without milk
brandy from leavened bread. The product, it is said, is strong-
er and has a keener taste than milk brandy. The residuum of
the distillation of milk brandy, which is sharp and has a smell
like wine lees, is applied to various uses. Sometimes it is mixed
with fresh milk, and immediately eaten ; sometimes it is applied
for preparing sheep and lamb skins ; sometimes the women boil
it, either by itself, or, if it is too sharp, with a mixture of sweet
milk, until it thickens, and then pour the cheesy substance into
bags, which, when. thoroughly dried, they throw into heaps.
They also, like the Tartar tribes, frequently form it into round
cakes, which they dry in the sun, and keep principally for jour-
neys and for winter use. The residuum of distillation is called
‘bosson, and by the Mongols tsakha. The cheese formed in
heaps is named chourmyk, that in cakes, thorossoun.
They make another kind of cheese also, chiefly of sheep’s and
goats’ milk. The fresh milk is put into a kettle with a like
sour milk (edereksen ussun), or some remnant of brandy (bos-
sah.) They are well mixed, and then left for some time to
sour. ‘Fire is then put under the kettle, and the mixture is
stirred while it boils briskly, that the cheesy parts may be con-
verted into a kind of froth (koosoun.) When all the aqueous
parts of the milk are expelled by boiling, a little butter is added.
The whole is again stirred, and left upon the fire until the froth
begins to dry and turn brown. It is then ready, and if pro-
perly prepared, has an agreeable taste.
The Kalmucks make their butter in the following manner :—
A sufficient quantity of cow’s or sheep’s milk is put into a ket-
364 Preparation of Milk used by the Kulmack Tartars.
tle, and boiled for some time, after which there is added a little
sour milk cream (areyn.) It is then withdrawn and allowed to
stand until it sours, which does not require a whole day. This
milk is then beaten with a kind of butter stick, and poured into
an earthen pot or other vessel, when the decomposed butter
comes to the surface, and is placed in vessels, skins, or dried
stomachs, in which it is kept. If the milk still seems to con-
tain fat, it is again treated in the same manner. This milk is
called tossoun by the Kalmucks, and arame by the 'Tartars *.
Analyses of Limestones from the Quarries belonging to the
Earl of Elgin, near Charlestown, in Fifeshire. By A. Ro-
BERTSON junior, Inverkeithing. Communicated by the
Author.
"Tuese limestones were taken from three different strata of the
vast deposite of mountain limestone, which is so extensively
quarried in the neighbourhood of Charlestown. As this lime-
stone is extensively used for building and the purposes of agri-
culture, and, besides, belongs to an interesting formation, I con-
ceived that a chemical analysis of its principal varieties would
prove acceptable not only in an economical, but also in a geolo-
gical view.
A full detail of the modes of analysis was sent to Professor
Jameson ; but, as the processes contained nothing further than
an accurate employment of the most improved methods, I do not
consider it necessary to lay them before the public.
1. Limestone of a grey colour, with foliated structure.
At the instant when broken, a very peculiar and disagreeable
odour arises from the fresh fracture, which, however, is dissipa-
ted in a few seconds. It afforded the following constituent
parts :—
Carbonic Acid, 41:2; Lime, 50:2; Magnesia, 1-44; Alu-
mina, 1:25; Silica, 5°56; Iron, 0:28; Manganese, a trace;
Carbon, 0°13; Naphtha, a trace; = 100-06.
* This article is drawn up from a MS. of the late Professor Pallas, of
which an account is given in the ninth cahier of the Memoirs of the “‘ Museum
d’Histoire Naturelle.”
Cr
Analysis of Charlestown Limestones. 36
2. Greyish-brown Limestone, with splintery fracture.
When fresh broken, like the former, it emitted a foetid odour,
which was of momentary continuance. It afforded, on analysis,
the following ingredients —
Carbonic Acid, 42°3; Lime, 51-6; Magnesia, 0-92; Alu-
mina, 18; Silica, 2°76; Iron, 0°35; Manganese, a trace;
Carbon and Sulphur, 0:26; Naphtha, 0:13; = 100-12.
3. Compact ash-grey Limestone.
On breaking, did not emit any particular odour. Its consti-
tuent parts I found to be as follows :-—
Carbonic Acid, 40:25 ; Lime, 47:05 ; Magnesia, 2°59; Alu-
mina, 0°95 ; Silica, 7-9: Iron, 0-56; Manganese, a trace ;
Carbon, 0-7; Naphtha, 0-7 ; = 99-44.
To ascertain whether any sulphuretted hydrogen was present
in the gas evolved during the solution of the limestone in mu-
riatic acid, a hundred grains of each of the limestones were se-
parately dissolved in gas bottles. Within the bent tubes of
these bottles, rolls of paper, covered with white lead, were placed,
and the extremities of the tubes were conducted nearly to the
bottoms of vials, into which had been poured a little very strong
fuming nitrous acid. By transmission of the gas through these
vials, its peculiar odorant principle was completely destroyed,
and the nitrous acid contained in them being diluted with distil-
led water, after it had stood for some time, there was observed
in it a barely perceptible quantity of whitish matter, resembling,
in its appearance, sulphur deposited from hydrogen. The test
papers were a little darkened by the gas from the ash-grey lime-
stone, so very slightly so, that a close comparison with the ori-
ginal tint of the paper was necessary to discover the change ;
the others were a shade or two deeper in colour.
Judging from the appearance of the matter undissolved by
the muriatic acid, these limestones, perhaps with the exception
of the last, are not strictly uniform in composition, some of the
constituent parts seeming to be only mechanically mixed, and
unequally disseminated throughout the mass. The one which
contains the greatest portion of naphtha, carbon, and sulphur,
is also that which is lowest in the stratification.
( 366 )
A Uniformity of Climate prevailed over the Earth prior to
the time of the Deluge ?
Ir appears from the observations of geologists, that during the
earlier periods of the earth’s formation, there did not exist,
among the then created animals and vegetables, that kind of
geographical distribution which characterizes the organized
beings of our time. Thus, in the lias and oolite deposites, by
far the greater number of fossil vegetables belong to the family of
Cycadea ; indeed, sixteen of the kinds distinguished by Brong-
niart, which is more than one-fourth of the whole, have a reference
to the present existing genera Zamia and Cycas ;—genera that
belong to those which grow between the tropics, or on the confines
of the tropics. In like manner, the stems of Equisetum cokum-
nare, Brong,, ten feet long, which occur so abundantly in the
lias, and leaves, from four to five feet long, of the genus Menis-
cum, also met with in this formation, belong to productions of
a warm climate. The wide distribution of these fossil plants is
also in favour of a uniformity of climate. Well defined re-
mains of Equisetwm columnare have been found in strata of lias,
from the southern acclivity of the Alps to near the northern
extremity of Scotland, in an extent, therefore, of fully 12 degrees
of latitude ; and the Ferns and Cycadza, found along with them,
belong to the same species, or to species so nearly allied, that
we may justly conclude the external circumstances under which
they existed were very much alike. According to Dr Richard-
son, there occurs, on the banks of the Mackenzie River, as far
as 70° N. Lat., a coal formation, along with limestone and bi-
tuminous shale, which formation is probably identical with that
in the county of Sutherland, in the north of Scotland. He
found init Ferns and Lepidodendrons:; and the animal remains
enumerated agree pretty well with those of the lias and Jura for-
mation. There is, therefore, little probability of its being’ dis-
proved, that, during the deposition of the lias, the same tempe-
rature prevailed in all countries, where this universal deposite
was formed. M. Brongniart, and others, are inclined to believe,
that the climate of the globe has changed gradually from. the
earliest to the present period. But proofs of the universal dis-
Uniformity of Climate prior to the Deluge. 367
tribution over the globe of a climate, resembling that in the
present tropical regions, are met with not only in the formations
of the secondary period, but also in those of later periods. Mo-
nocotyledonous trees, ‘which are of but rare occurrence on the
southern boundary of the temperate zone, are found in a fossil
state not only in the strata immediately associated with the chalk
formation, but also in the beds of brown coal, and other strata
of the tertiary class; and, although the numerous groupes of
animal remains hitherto found in these formations have the
greatest affinity to those animals which at present inhabit the
seas and lands of lower latitudes, it is certainly no slight proof
of the former distribution of one and the same climate over the
whole earth, when, in coeval formations, we find the same fos-
sil remains in widely different degrees of latitude. This, it is
alleged, has been verified by observation. The same (or very
nearly allied) organic remains, as those of the tertiary and
diluvial strata of the basins of Paris and London, of the sub-
Appenine hills, and of the shores of the Baltic, have been, we are
told, recently observed in the same kind of strata on the banks of
the Irrawadda in the Birman Empire, in the neighbourhood of
the Brahmaputra in Bengal, and in Jamaica.
In conclusion, we need only cast a glance at the acknowledged
locality of some of the extinct gigantic pachydermata, as the ele-
phanit, rhinoceros, &c., to be convinced, that, in the period of
creation immediately preceding our own, there may have ex-
isted, on both shores of the Atlantic Ocean, to a distance ex-
tending from the mouth of the Lena, in 70° north latitude, to
the tropic, a climate at least very analogous to that in the pre-
sent tropical regions. From the preceding and other well
known facts, we may venture to infer, that it was after the
Deluge, that there first appeared those differences of climate
which we were unable to shew had existed at any prior period ;
and that this event took place with such fearful rapidity that
the inhabitants of the tropical woods and savannahs of Siberia
were preserved uninjured, with all their tender parts, enclosed in
the ice of the Arctic Sea.
H—n.
( 368 )
Notes on the Moth named Saturnia Luna—the Domestication
of Foreign Butterflies—and the Geographical Distribution
of Insects. Communicated by James Witson, Esq. F. R.S. E.
&e.
Tu most remarkable fact in the history of this beautiful species
of moth, which is a native of North America, or, I ought ra-
ther to say, of certain individuals of the species, is, that through
the zeal and ingenuity of Mr Sémmer, a German merchant,
who resides in the Danish town of Altona, the eggs transported
from a North American port have been hatched in Europe, and
the perfect insect eventually produced in a state of the greatest
beauty. I am not yet acquainted with the means made use of
by Mr Sémmer in rearing the caterpillars, nor with the name
or nature of the plants on which they were fed ; but these and
other particulars in the history of this interesting colony may
be afterwards inquired into, and, I doubt not, will be freely
communicated.
Mr Sémmer is well known among the scientific collectors of
Hamburgh and Altona, and possesses an entomological cabinet
of singular beauty and of great extent in the only department
which he cultivates, that of the Lepidopterous order. The
science of Entomology has been so prodigiously extended within
these last few years, that, with the exception of Latreille, and
one or two others of more than usual talent and perseverance,
who have cultivated and adorned the universal field, the fellow-
ers of this science have been obliged each to content himself with
a mere section of the subject. Thus, Jodart and Duponehel
have illustrated the Lepidoptera, Baron Dejean the Coleoptera,
and Professors Fahleen of Lund, and Wiedemann of Kiel, the
Dipterous tribes. Gravenhorst, indeed, has lately published
three very thick volumes upon a family of Hymenopterous in-
sects, the Ichnewmonide alone. With the numerical extent of
that particular family I am not acquainted, but the total amount
of known species embraced by the science of Entomology, has
been estimated at one hundred thousand. When we consider
how many singular facts an attentive observance of the history
and habits even of a single species brings to light, we may form
Domestication of Foreign Butterflies. 369
some idea, however vague and inadequate, of the boundless and
inexhaustible storehouse of materials, which any thing like a
complete knowledge of the instincts and economy of the whole
class would exhibit.
To return for a moment to the Saturnia luna. The intro-
duction of this insect to Europe renders it extremely probable,
that if entomologists were as assiduous in their own calling as
botanists are in theirs, the eggs of many beautiful species might
be transported from foreign countries, and bred here, and that
thus a new source of admiration and delight would be created not
only to the man of science, but to the poet and the painter. The
greater proportion of those ornamental plants which now form
the most attractive features in our gardens, are the original pro-
duce of foreign climes; and it would greatly add to their beauty,
if a few of the many gorgeous butterflies which hovered around
them in their original countries, were now seen among the par-
terres of the British flower-garden, or among the rich and varied
pastures of England. The beautiful Apollo Butterfly, frequent
in the Valley of Chamouni, and other parts of Switzerland, was
found by M. Bory St Vincent, at a considerable elevation on
the mountains of the Sierra Nevada in Spain ; and, as it is
an autumnal species, its eggs must be so constituted as to en-
dure, without injury, the influence of the severe winters of
Switzerland and other central parts of Europe. According
to Degeer, it is not uncommon, even in Sweden, where it
will probably be found to occupy less elevated stations than
in the south, in conformity with a rule which obtains both
among plants and animals, viz. the higher the latitude the
lower the locality, and vice versa. In trying entomological ex-
periments of the kind alluded to, care, of course, should be taken
to import only such species as are known not te feed upon culi-
nary or other plants of value, for their economical uses. It
may be objected to the practicability of such endeavours, that
the larva would necessarily perish for want of those particular
plants on which their progenitors had been accustomed to feed ;
but I believe, that as necessity is the mother of invention among
the human race, so among the more insignificant tribes of the
insect world ; though a decided preference may be exhibited to
one plant rather than another, yet where that chosen one does
JANUARY—ManrcH 1830. Aa
370 Geographical Distribution of Insects.
not exist, life is vigorously sustained by numerous substitutes.
The silk-worm, in default of its favourite mulberry leaves, thrives
well upon lettuce and other plants.
In regard to North American species especially, Nature her-
self points out, that the character of the climate, in relation to.
the development of insect life, possesses many attributes in com-
mon with that of Britain and other portions of Europe. Many
of the species are alike common to both continents, and an in-
teresting and instructive list might be drawn up in illustration
of this community of kinds. This, however, must be done from
the specimens themselves, and not from books of travels, or
other general sources, the authors of which, till of late years, ap-
plied the supposed synonyms of animals always in a vague, and
frequently in an inaccurate manner. This reproach is now re-
moved by the admirable descriptive catalogues which, in the
form of natural history appendices, are annexed to or follow the
publication of all voyages of discovery or other records of travel.
It is in considering the widely extended distribution of many
of the forms of insect life, that the subject of the geographical
allotment of animals is seen under its most curious and truly
wonderful aspect. A discovery ship under the guidance of
brave men, surmounts with difficulty the terrors of the ocean,
and after being months on the trackless main, and some thou-
sand miles from any of the great continents of the earth, she
arrives at last, and accidentally, at some hitherto unknown
island of small dimensions, a mere speck in the vast world of
waters by which it is surrounded. She probably finds the
“‘ Lord of the creation” there unknown,—but though untrod by
human footsteps, how busy is that lonely spot with all the other
forms of native life! Even man himself is represented not un-
aptly by the sagacious and imitative monkeys, which eagerly
employ so many vain expedients to drive from their shores what
they no doubt regard as merely a stronger species of their race.
“‘ Birds of gayest plume” stand fearlessly before the unsympa-
thizing naturalist, and at every step of the botanical collector,
the most gorgeous butterflies are wafted from the blossoms of
unknown flowers, and beautify the “ living air” with their many
splendid hues; yet how frail are such gaudy wings, and how
vainly would they now serye as the means of transport from
Geographical Distribution of Insects. 371
that solitary spot where all the present generations have had
their birth! In what manner, then, did they become its deni-
zens, or by what means were they transported toa point almost
imperceptible in comparison with the immeasurable extent of
the circumjacent ocean. These are subjects of inquiry, a few
out of many such, which itis more than probable man will never
solve. b
“ In his tam parvis atque tam nullis que ratio!
Quanta vis! quam inextricabilis perfectio !”
The primary causes of the distribution of species, as well in
the animal as the vegetable world, are, in the opinion of Hum-
boldt, among the number of mysteries which mere natural science
cannot reach. ‘This science, or the branch of it which takes
cognizance of zoological geography, is not, however, occupied
in the investigation of the origin of beings, but rather of the
laws according to which they are now. distributed over the sur-
face of the earth. It is the spirit of inductive philosophy ap-
plied to the ascertained facts of zoology, as connected with clime
and country. It enters into an examination of things as they
are, the co-existences of vegetable and animal forms in each
latitude, at different heights, and at different degrees of temper-
ature; it studies the relation under which particular organiza-
tions are more vigorously developed, multiplied, or modified ;
but it approaches not problems, the solution of which is impos-
sible, since they touch the origin or first existence of the germs
or life.
Many interesting facts have been ascertained and detailed by
scientific observers of late years, which, in a collected form,
would serve as the basis of a memoir on animal geography,
which, however imperfect, would scarcely be devoid of interest-
ing and important results.
Aa 2
( 372)
Account of several New Species of Grouse (Tetrao) from North
America.
Ava late meeting of the Wernerian Society, James Wilson,
Esq. F.R.S.E., &c. gave a detailed account of several new
species of grouse discovered by Mr David Douglas among
the Rocky Mountains in North America. He observed in
general, that birds of this genus are of a hardy constitution, and
patient of extreme cold. They only occur in northern or tem-
perate countries, and have not yet been discovered in Africa, in
the eastern parts of Asia, or in South America. The special
localities which they affect vary according to the different kinds ;
and even the haunts of the same species admit of variation ac-
cording to circumstances. The Wood Grouse—such as the
Capercailzie (J'etrao Urogallus)—prefers forests of pine; the
Red Grouse (7'. Scoticus) restricts itself to the sides of sloping
mountains and moors, careless of more shelter than is afforded
by the heath, or other alpine plants of yet more lowly growth,
or even by the natural roughness of the ground. The habits of
the Black Cock are intermediate between those of the species just
alluded to.. Ptarmigans (of which the species of Europe and
Awerica are still insufficiently characterized and distinguished)
prefer, in comparatively temperate climates, such as that of
Scotland, the bare and stony sides and summits of our highest
mountains; but under the rigorous temperature of Greenland,
and the most northern parts of America, they are chiefly found
by the sea-shore, and among the willow and other copse woods
of the lower and more sheltered vales. The restriction of the
Common Grouse (7". Scoticus) to the two islands of Great Bri-
tain and Ireland, is a familiar though a singular fact in the geo-
graphical distribution of birds. ‘The first and most remarkable
of the specimens to which it was Mr Wilson’s more immediate
object to direct the attention of the Society, was the T'etrao
Urophasianus, or FPheasant-tailed Grouse, the largest of the
American species of this genus, and, excepting the Capercailzie,
the largest to be met with in any country. This bird seems to
New Species of Grouse from North America. 373
have been observed by Lewis and Clarke, by whom it is men-
‘tioned under the name of Cock of the Plains; and a notice of
it was published, some time ago, in the Zoological Journal, by
‘Chas. Lucien Buonaparte, who obtained an imperfect specimen
of the male in London. The length of this bird (when full
grown) is 32 inches; its girth 22; its weight from 6 to 8 |b.
The female is considerably less than the male. Her plumage
closely resembles his, except that she wants the lengthened fila-
mentous feathers on each side of the neck, and differs slightly in
the colour of chin, cheeks, throat, and breast. The flight of
these birds is slow and unsteady. Their wings are feeble and
proportionably small ; their progress through the air is effected
by a fluttering motion, rather than a direct continuous flight:
When raised, their voice resembles that of the common pheasant.
They build on the ground, beneath the shade of Purshia
and Artemisia, or near streams among Phalaris Arundinacea.
The nest is carelessly constructed of grass and twigs; the eggs
{from 13 to 17 in number) are about the size of those of a com-
mon fowl, of a wood-brown colour, irregularly blotched with
chocolate-brown at the larger end. The period of incubation is
about three weeks, and the young leave the nest a few hours af-
ter they are hatched. In the summer and autumn months,
these birds are to be found in small troops; in spring and win-
ter, in flocks of several hundreds. They never perch ; indeed,
within their range, not a bush larger than a broom or common
whin is to be found. Their food consists chiefly of the buds,
leaves, and fruit of Purshia tridentata, Artemisia, the seeds of
Cactus, brown and black ants, and sand-bugs. Their flesh is
dark-coloured, and not particularly well flavoured. They are
plentiful throughout the plains of the Columbia River, and in
the interior of North Carolina; but have never been seen east
of the Rocky Mountains.
The next species, in size and importance, is Richardson’s
Grouse (7’. Richardsonii), so called in honour of the distin-
guished traveller of that name. ‘There is a remarkable differ-
ence in this species between the plumage of the male and female.
The weight of these birds varies from 2} to 3 lb. Their voice
is a continuation of distinct hollow sounds, like the cooing of a
374 New Species of Grouse from North America.
dove. ‘They build their nests of small twigs, leaves, or grass,
amid coppices of. birch or hazel, in the vicinity of springs or
mountain rills.. They lay from 13 to 19 eggs, nearly as large
as those of the domestic fowl, marked with red specks. Their
flight is swift, steady, and peculiarly graceful. When startled,
they drop from the branches of the pine-trees, their usual roost-
ing-place, to within a few feet of the ground, before they com-
mence flying—a circumstance which often deceives the hunter.
This trait seems peculiar to the species. In spring, they are
seen m great numbers, basking in the sun, on the southern de-
clivities of low hills; and, in winter, in flocks of sixty or eighty,
in the vicinity of ‘springs, lakes, or large streams. They are
easily destroyed, continuing to sit with apparent tranquillity af-
ter several shots have been fired. Their flesh is white and ex-
cellent. They feed on the buds of the pine, the catkins of birch,
alder, and hazel, and the fruit of the Fragaria and Vaccinium.
They are very abundant in the sub-alpine regions of the Rocky
Mountains, in Lat. 52 deg. N., Long. 115 deg. W., and still more
numerous in the rocky districts of the Colombia, in Lat. 48 deg.
N., Long. 118 deg. W. ‘They are rare on the mountains of the
N. W. coast *.
The third species exhibited was named the smaller Pheasant-
tailed Grouse (7. Urophasianellus). The sexes resemble each
other closely in colour, but the male is rather larger than the
female, and his tail more fully developed. Their prevailing
colour is pale brown, richly blotched and barred with black.
The wing-coverts, and the outer webs of the primary wing fea-
thers, are marked with many rounded or oblong spots of a pale
colour. Their flight is swift, noiseless, and steady. They are
shy, and not easily approached by the sportsman. They are
found in the same range of country with the larger species first
* Tetrao Richardsonii, as above described, appears to be synonymous with
the Tetrao obscurus of Say, recently figured by Lucien Charles Buonaparte in
his American Zoology. The latter name, as prior in date, is probably enti-
tled to the preference, although we believe that no copy of Buonaparte’s
work had reached this country at the time Mr Wilson published the figure
of Tetrao Richardsonii in the 8th Number of his Iustrations of Zoology.
New Species of Grouse from North America. 375
described, with which they associate, and which they resemble
much in their habits. The number of their eggs varies from
12 to 15, in size not much exceeding those of a pigeon, and in
colour of a light ash.—The fourth species has been. named, in
honour of Mr Sabine, Tetrao Sabini. The plumage is rich
and varied, and presents those singular appendages or’ shoulder-
knots, so conspicuous in the wood-partridge of the United States
and Canada ( Tetrao Umbellus.) The colours in the plumage
of the female are greyer, and less richly toned—in other respects,
the sexes do not much differ. The weight of an individual bird
is two pounds. Their voice is a continuation of measured
sounds, not unlike the ticking of a large clock. Their flight is
rapid, and consists of a quick clapping of the wings, and then of
a sudden shooting forwards, without any perceptible motion of
the individual parts. They feed on the buds of Pinus, Fraga-
ria, Rubus, Corylus, Alnus, and the berries of Vaccinium.
They pair in March, and build upon the ground, in coppices of
Corylus, Amelanchier, and Pteris, and on the outskirts of pine
forests. Their nests are composed of the slender fronds of
Pteris, dry leaves, and grass. Their eggs are of a dingy white,
with red spots, and vary in number from 9 to 11. They are
remarkable for attachment to their young. The Tetrao Sabini
is a rare bird. During spring, it is found in small flocks,
rarely exceeding eight or twelve; at other seasons, it seldom
happens that more than three or four are seen together.
Like the Tetrao Umbellus, which it resembles in the prevail-
ing character of its plumage, it is in the habit of perching upon
the stumps of decayed trees, in the darkest parts of the forests,
and there performing the singular operation called drumming ;
which is effected by giving two or three loud distinct claps with
its wings, followed by many others, which become quicker and
quicker, until the noise appears to die away in the distance, like
the sound of a muffled drum. ‘This beautiful species was dis-
covered by Mr Douglas, in the woody parts of the N. W. coast
of America, between the parallels of Lat. 40 deg. and 49 deg.
The fifth and last species exhibited, is called, in honour of the
distinguished commander of the over-land Arctic Expedition,
T'ctrao Franklinii. Myr Wilson has as yet seen only the male.
376 New Species of Grouse from North America.
The general plumage is dark and glossy, composed of alternate
bars of black and greyish brown. The head, neck, and breast,
are almost black; the tail is entirely black. The upper and
under tail-coverts are black, terminated by a large white spot ;
and the lateral parts of the abdomen are likewise spotted with
white. It runs with great speed over shattered rocks and among
brushwood, and only uses its wings as a last effort to escape.
When raised, its flight is similar to that of the last-mentioned
species. Its alarm note is composed of two or three hollow
sounds, ending in a disagreeable grating noise, like the latter
part of the cry of the Guinea fowl. Like other birds of the
same genus, it builds on the ground, not unfrequently at the
foot of decayed stumps, or by the side of fallen timber, in the
mountain woods. Its nest is composed of dead leaves and grass,
and contains from five to seven eggs, of a dingy white colour,
not larger than those of our wood-pigeon. It is said to be one
of the most common birds in the valleys of the Rocky Moun-
tains, from Lat. 50 deg, to 54 deg. N., near the sources of the
Columbia. It probably inhabits still higher latitudes—Mr
Wilson remarked, in conclusion: ‘ I have little doubt that:
some of these birds might be imported into this country, of
which the soil, climate, and natural productions, are not so dis-
similar to those of their native regions, as to preclude the hope
of a successful issue to an experiment of a very interesting na-
ture, which the wealth and zeal for field sports, inherited by
many of our aristocracy, would render easy, and which might
eventually prove of more permanent and substantial advantage.
Their importation would certainly form a fine addition to the
feathered game of Great Britain.”
( 377 )
Description of several New or Rare Plants which have lately
flowered in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh, and chiefly in
the Royal Botanic Garden. By Dr Granam, Professor
of Botany in the University of Edinburgh. With a Plate
illustrative of the germination of the Nepenthes distillatoria.
10th Mar. 1830.
Cestrum bracteatum.
C. bracteatum; filamentis basi barbatis; foliis lanceolatis undulatis pu.
bescentibus ; stipulis oblique cordato-reniformibus ; bracteis spatha-
ceis; floribus fasciculatis.
Cestrum bracteatum, Link § Otto, Icones Plant. Rar. Hort. Reg. Bot. Berol.
Pars I. p. 11, t. 6.
DeEscriFT10on.—Stem woody, rough. Branches covered with dense, green-
ish tomentum, which withers and remains long attached. Leaves scat-
tered, light green, stalked, spreading, lanceolate, strongly veined, waved
or crisped, covered with harsh pubescence on both sides, the middle rib
and veins projecting much on the under-side, the former above also.
Petiole erect, grooved above, pubescent, purple before fading, about a
sixth of the length of the leaf. Stipules geminate, varying in size, the
largest upwards, broadly falcate or kidney-shaped, horizontal and bend-
ing round the branch, more glabrous than the leaves. Peduncles (about
an inch long) axillary and terminal, generally about twice as long as the
petioles, slightly flattened and dilated towards the flowers. Pedicels
very short, stout, straight, slightly pubescent. Flowers fascicled, nod-
ding, of a uniform pale yellow. Bractee single at the base of each flower,
with the exception of the central one, spathe-like, appressed, acuminate,
and coloured like the flower, pubescent. Calyx about as long as the pe-
dicel, pubescent within and without, nearly cylindrical, with five strongly
projecting ribs on the outside, leading to five slightly connivent acute
teeth. Corolla inferior, hypocrateriform, pubescent without, smooth with-
in; tube nearly an inch long, dilated a little upwards, and contracted at
the throat: limb 5-cleft, segments ovate, acute, spreading at right angles
to the tube, each with two strong ribs projecting behind. S/amens five ;
filaments inserted immediately above the middle of the tube, each having
a tuft of matted hairs projecting from the inside at their base, above this
straight and smooth, nearly reaching to the faux. Anthers bilobular,
short, connivent, bursting laterally : pollen yellowish-white. Stigma sap-
green, nearly round, but flattened a little at the top, raised above the
anthers, and projected into the faux. Style (three quarters of an inch
long) nearly colourless, filiform. Germen roundish or obovate, smooth,
yellowish-green, obscurely furrowed, seated on a small yellow disk.
Ovules numerous, obovate.
We received this plant from the Botanic Garden of Berlin, in June 1828.
It is a native of Brazil, and blossomed in the stove of the Edinburgh
Botanic Garden in December 1829, producing, during a considerable
time, a succession of rather ornamental flowers.
Conostylis aculeata.
C. aculeata ; perianthiis intus glabris, scapis corymbisve divisis, foliis gla-
bris margine aculeatis : aculeis interstitio brevioribus.—Br. Prodr. 309.
Descrirrron.—Leaves (6-13 inches long } inch broad) dull green, red at
the base, distichous, equitant for about two inches at the base, ensiform..
378 Dr Graham’s Description of New or Rare Plants.
faleate, sometimes twisted, coriaceous, stiff, many-nerved, glabrous, acu-
leate; aculei colourless, straight, ascending, rigid, rising Bont coloured
bases. Scape terminal, decumbent, 7 inches long, sparingly branched,
round, branches rising from the axils of sheathing pointed éractee, which
(are about an inch long, and) diminish upwards. Inflorescence a corym-
bose cyme. Flowers crowded. Perianth campanulate at the base, per-
sisting, 6.parted, segments erect, ovato-lanceolate, concave, regular and
nearly equal, yellowish-white and smooth within, without greenish-yel-
low, and, as well as the scape, base of the bracteze, and pedicels, co-
vered with a branching greenish tomentum. Stamens six, inserted into
the perianth, filaments adhering to the perianth for the greater part of
their length, smooth, slightly connivent, prolonged by the back of the
anthers, which are longer than them, and are linear, erect, slightly bent
backwards, yellow, bilocular, bursting along their edges; pollen yellow.
Pistil single, shorter than the stamens; stigma of three short suberect
points style single, rigid, smooth, persisting, slightly tapering ; germen
alf inferior, 3-locular, conical and empty above the perianth; ovules
numerous in each loculament, round, attached to a central receptacle,
which is undivided and prominent in each loculament, confined to that
part of the germen below the perianth.
Our specimen of this plant was received from Robert Barclay, Esq. Bury-
hill, in 1828, and flowered in January and February last.
Elephantopus Martii.
E. Martii ; caule ramoso, piloso, folioso; foliis subsessilibus, undulatis,
rugosis, superne hispidis, subtus tomentoso-pubescentibus, serrato-
crenatis, denticulatis, inferioribus spathulato-oblongis, breviter atte-
nuatis, superioribus lanceolatis.
Elephantopus scaber, Herb. Martii.
Descriptrron.—Svem, including the flowering-stalks, in our plants, which
are still growing, ten inches high, but in native specimens much more,
herbaceous, erect, branched, flexuose, covered with simple, spreading,
rather harsh hairs, which are most numerous on the younger branches.
Lower leaves (6 inches long and 2 broad) spathulato-oblong, shortly atte-
nuated, decurrent along short petioles, stem clasping, corrugated, undu-
late, serrato-crenate, pubescent on both’ sides, pubescence harsh above,
soft and much more dense below; middle rib very large, prominent on
both sides, especially below, flattened or slightly channelled above, pri-
mary veins very prominent below, oblique, with transverse prominent
reticulations terminating in little mucros, which in the lower leaves are
in the bottom of the indenations; wpper leaves lanceolate, and diminish-
ing upwards, but otherwise similar to the lower. Bractee ovate, sessile,
similar in colour and structure to the leaves, solitary, or, at the extremities
only, three together from the confluence of three capitula. Flowers all her-
maphrodite, capitate, axillary or terminal, sessile. Involucra chaffy, im-
bricated, generally four-flowered ; chaffs few, imbricated, lanceolate, mu-
cronate, three-nerved, keeled, erect, entire, or serrated towards the apex,
green, scariose at the edges, pubescent on the outside, smooth and shining
within, longer than the bractese, the four innermost subequal, and twice
as long as the others. Corolla small, purplish-white, tubular, smooth ;
tube longer than the involucrum, curved, slender ; limb 5-parted, seg-
ments secund, equal, linear-lanceolate. Stamens shorter than the limb ;
filaments slender; anthers linear, unconnected at least after expansion.
Stigma hairy, bi-parted, revolute. Style exserted, filiform, smooth ex-
cepting near the stigma. Germen green, obovate. Achenia obconical,
with ten smooth ribs, interstices pubescent. Pappus of few (10?) rough
simple hairs, dilated and slightly ciliated at their bases, shorter than the
tube of the corolla.
Seeds of this plant were sent to me from Mr Harris at Rio Janeiro by
Captain Graham, late of his Majesty’s Packet Service, in April 1829. It
has been kept in the stove, and flowered in February and March last. It
Dr Graham's Description of New or Rare Plants. 379
certainly nearly approaches to Elephantopus scaber, but may be distin-
guished from this species, which is moreover a native of the East Indies,
by being much larger, its stem much more branched, the leaves more
corrugated, more undulated, more strongly reticulated, and much more
densely covered with far softer pubescence below. I am enabled to
identity it as the plant of Martius, by a specimen communicated by
Martius himself to Dr Hooker, who, with his usual kindness, permitted
me to examine all the species in his herbarium. The specimen alluded
to was collected by Martius on the Rio Belmonte, too common a name
to be very precise, but probably in or not far from the province of Rio
Janeiro.
Lobelia Kraussii.
L. Kraussii ; caule herbaceo, glabro, erecto, ramoso; foliis lanceolatis,
subsessilibus, decurrentibus, argute serratis, utrinque nudis; pedun-
culis axillaribus, solitariis, foliis longioribus; laciniis calycinis subu-
latis, subdentatis, patentibus, corollaque glabris.
Descrierion.—Root perennial. Stem (1-14 foot high) succulent, green,
glabrous, angular from decurrent leaves, erect, branched. Leaves (44
inches long, ? broad) numerous, scattered, lanceolate, glabrous on both
sides, shining, bright green, paler below, sharply serrated, the serratures
largest at the base, subsessile, decurrent, much smaller towards the top of
the stem, slightly bullate, strongly veined, veins prominent on both sides.
Peduneles (3 inches long) axillary, solitary, numerous towards the top
of the stem, 1-flowered, nearly twice the length of the diminished leaves
from the axils of which they spring, smooth, compressed, and having
two subopposite bristle-shaped smooth decurrent bractez near the
middle, below which they are bright green, paler in the middle, and
towards the top red. Calyx red, glabrous, persisting, of five rather un-
equal subulate segments (5-7 lines long), spreading at right angles to
the peduncle, and each with a very few obscure teeth. Corolla (1 inch
long) red, marcescent ; tube compressed, cleft to its base along the up-
per side, but spreading little; limb 5-parted, segments linear-subulate,
with the apices deflected, the two upper the broadest, the three others
turned downwards, and that in the centre rather the smallest. Stamens
shorter than the corolla, marcescent ; filaments white, smooth, forming
a half cylinder, and united, except towards the base, where only they
are unconnected to each other and pubescent; anthers leaden-coloured,
terminated by a dense white beard; pollen abundant, and whitish.
Stigma bilabiate, segments revolute, rounded, glandular, slightly hairy
behind. Style as long as the stamens, yellowish, and slightly clavate,
continued downwards into the dissepiment, marcescent. Germen gla-
brous, bilocular, with a conical empty beak (which afterwards falls down)
rising above the calyx, otherwise inferior. Ovules numerous, attached
to a central receptacle, the transverse section of which is kidney-shaped
in each loculament. Seeds minute, pale brown, lenticular, hollow on one
side, when seen under the microscope dotted and shining.
The seeds of this plant were obligingly communicated to me from Domi-
nica in September 1828 by my valuable correspondent Dr Krauss, in
acknowledgment of whose kindness I have named the species. It first
flowered in the stove in January and February last, and is ornamental.
In the arrangement of the species, it must stand near L. persicifolia of
Lamarck.
Nepenthes distillatoria: foem.
Early in summer 1828, I was informed by Professor Dunbar of this Uni-
versity, that a plant of Nepenthes distillatoria was coming into flower in
his stove. I immediately went to see it, and was not a little pleased to
find that it was a female. Professor Dunbar was kind enough io permit
its removal to the Botanic Garden, where we placed it beside our male
plant, fortunately then in flower for the second time. As the female
380 Dr Graham’s Description of New or Rare Plants.
flowers expanded in succession, we dusted the pistilla with the pollen,
secreted in abundance by the male plant, and had the satisfaction to
see the germens gradually enlarge, and the seeds ripen in succession
in December and January.
Descrirtion.—The habit and inflorescence of the female is so precisely
like that of the male described at length in the Edinburgh New Philosophi-
cal Journal for October 1827, and in Botanical Magazine, fol. 2798, and
the figure of the female blossom taken from Mr Loddiges’ plant, and
published in Bot. Mag. t. 2629, under the name of N. Phylamphora, is
so accurate, that I shall here add very little to the account of the adult
plant. Pitchers of firmer texture in their lower half, and the inner sur-
face of this portion, as well as the inner surface of the lid, is covered
with conspicuous glands. Raceme, or more properly panicle, crowded,
from the lowest pedicel to the apex about ten inches long. Capsule (1
inch long) erect and secund perhaps from the peduncle pushing out ho-
rizontally, ovato-oblong, truncated, crowned with four flat, sessile, brown,
hard, emarginate stigmata, tetra-locular, tetra-valvular, two opposite su-
tures, opening before the others, dissepiments from the centre of the
valves. Seeds dicotyledonous, very numerous, attached to the dissepi-
ments, erect, small, provided with a brown arillus, which is 3th of an
inch long, and greatly attenuated at both its extremities, angular or fur-
rowed, flexuose, and slightly twisted; nucleus ovato-oblong, pointed at
both ends, about a fifth of the length of the arillus, and nearly oceupy-
ing its centre, yellowish; embryo central, straight, white.
Plate VI. contains a sketch of our male plant, made about two years ago,
when it was eight feet high. It is now 163 feet above the surface of the
soil, and perfectly healthy, but scarcely more branched, one branch only
having come out under each of two panicles.
Germination. Plate VI. also shews the ripe seeds, the germinating seeds, and
the young plants in different stages of advancement. Some of the seeds
were sown as soon as they were ripened, and others at various periods
during spring. They required much heat to make them germinate, and
protection by a plate of glass laid over the pots, which stood in flats filled
with water. Germination began in April and May. Fig. 1. Arillus of
ripe seed laid open, to show the relative position and size of the nucleus
still covered by its inner coat, which is seen extending towards the
extremities of the arillus. 2. Nucleus removed from the arillus, and
divided, to show the embryo. 3. Seed with germination just beginning,
the plume rising in form of an arch, the apices of the cotyledons being
still held down within the albumen. 4. Slit in the upper part of the
arillus spreading, the plume erect, albumen absorbed, the cotyledons
spreading, the first pitcher scarcely appearing in the centre. 5. Ger-
mination advanced another stage, the first pitcher with its lid closed
erect, and the radicle pushing through the arillus on the opposite side
from the plume. 6. Three pitchers evolved, having each two prominent
ciliated wings, and the upper surface of the lid muricated, the two first
sessile,the cotyledons deflected, and beginning to fade,—the radicle
branched. 7. Five pitchers formed, the three last upon the apices of
small leaves, but without any intervening cirrhus ;—the cotyledons more
deflected, and greatly wasted. The arillus remains in all these, in con-
ssequence of being transfixed by the radicle. Ali but Fig. 7. which is
of natural size, magnified. ‘The accurate Gertner (De Fruct. et Sem.
Plant. 2. 18.) never could have called these seeds monocotyledonous if
he had seen their germination.
It appears from the above, that the pitcher is an appendage to the middle
rib of the leaf, this (the leaf) originally consisting of the ciliated wings
of the pitcher only, but is subsequently elongated downwards, and at
last the membranous expansion along the pitcher degenerates into two
prominent nerves, and for a considerable way along the middle rib is en-
tirely removed, leaving this to act as a long simple cirrhus.
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(381. )
Celestial Phenomena from April 1. to July 1. 1830, calculated
for the Meridian of Edinburgh, Mean Time.
By Mr
Gerorcer Innes, Astronomical Calculator, Aberdeen.
The times are inserted according to the Civil reckoning, the day beginning at midnight.
—The Conjunctions of the Moon with the Stars are given in Right Ascension.
APRIL.
D. (Toge vonaaes
2. 17 40 20 d)h
3. 85042 f¢)ER
5. «=. 20 2233 J De
6. 81010 g)sam™m
6 235758 d)at
7, 113623 g)y™
8. 2346 fg)9TR
8. 718 3 © Full Moon
9 113424 d)xTp
10. 339 8 Im.ITI. sat. 7
11. 5 26 36 Oo) w=
12. $29 9 4) Oph.
13. 3 54 37 Im. I. sat. 2/
1. 145231 6)7
16. 6 36 39 ( Last Quarter.
16 16590 f)sV
16. 21526 )¢
17 81648 6)H
18 19300 4)S$e
19. 10 55 26 Gone see
19. 1l 46 25 8 very near 0
19, 225412 6)
20. 14 47 35 © enters &
22. 7 36 - Sup. d © %
22. 23 12 20 @ New Moon.
23. 054 - dg)
25. MS) ee) 8
abo) cg p13
25. 24247 4 )23B8
25. 72547 f¢)at
26. a 8 . § OY
7. 1458299 d4fgH
29 2841 4¢¢94K
29 210 4 Im. I. sat. 2/
29 19 38 26 ) First Quarter.
30. 02945 f)h
30. avite 6 OO?
30. 23416 46 39%
Mm 646 Syegn
—_—
my
SOS co CRUST Ga See Ne Se ee
bers D4
peas edgo
lool
BPuQguyvyyuayvy® hs
Seer Padgh,
R
ast Quarter.
reatest elong.
y =
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reatest elong.
© enters IT
Im. I. sat. 2/
@ New Moon.
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HO. OWOFO A QOOAOAAAQMAAM
YVvuwvy
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382 Celestial Phenomena from April 1. to July 1. 1830.
JUNE.
D. i: eer D. is Coane
hf 0:13 29. “dg: Dy, 18. 21:13 26 ase
1. 9 10 24 5d QoX 18. 22 26 0 fd )jla
1 16141 ¢)ysTty 1% 2254 1 4 )2d
3. 019 17 6 ) ~ 19. 3.39 27 hanes
4. 18 045 Sg )ys 20. 12312 Im. III. sat. 7/
5. 20 34 36 Em. III. sat. 2/ | 20. 320 — dg )%
5. 20 45 57 d ) ¢ Oph. 20. 4 34 52 Em. III. sat. 2/
6. 0.10 -2 Im. II. sat. 2/ 20. 14 51 23 @ New Moon.
6. 14 4 29 © Full Moon. | 21.. 23.38 47 © enters 55
7. 0 36 20 Im. I. sat. 2/ 22. 22 53 31 Im. I. sat. 2/
9.) MAA Be oh) a 24. by @ Bo leh ie
9, "ee a | ek ha ya AS 9 Sia A ES
10. 201824 4¢)H 2. 124039 d)eK
12 232948 )¢ BG. 1@rAl Ah. ee) en
13 02515 d)acs 27, 42330. g jammy
13. 0 34 59 Em. III. sat. 2/ | 27. 8 34 49 Em. III. sat. 2/
13. 101412 g)oss 27... I5L 5, dd) aly
ae 22 36 10 ( Last Quarter. | 28. 3, 2 OG ) First Quarter.
16. “Ie 1s, — Int 6.G)0 28. 73248 S¢)ym
17, 102636 4)Q 28. 223041 4¢)9Ty
VR 23 33 40 Im. IV. sat. 2/ 30. 048 3 Im. I. sat. 2/
18. 2314 #£4xEm.IV. sat. 2/ | 30. 7 37 35 d ) «Tp
On the 22d of May, there wlil be an Occultation of Aldebaran by the Moon :
D. H. ‘ “
PAICTEIOWS 9". 5 0 ok cites eres 18 42 16, at 184°
EIMERSION, Galo ayes 0 Beh foes 19,13 8, at 258°.
The angle denotes the point of the Moon’s limb where the phenomenon will
take place, reckoning from the vertex of the limb towards the right hand round
the circumference, as seen with a telescope which inverts.
The following Occultations were observed at the Observatory, Marischall
College :
1829, Mean Time. Mean Time.
D H. ‘ “ D. Huby g “
Aug. 21. y Tauri, Emers. 22 43 33,4 | Dec. 9. Aldebaran, Immer. 17 46 29,1
92. éTauri, Emers. 2 29 41,0 Emers. 18 37 44,8
75 Tauri, Emers. 2 37 49,0 | Immersion instantaneous.
160 Mayer, Emers. 3 45 51,3 At Emersion, the star was 0/,2 in
Aldebaran, Immers. 5 36 14,6 | recovering its full splendour.
The Telescope used was a 3} feet achromatic by Dollond. The observa-
tions have been corrected for the error and rate of the clock, which were ob-
tained by transits of the sun and stars.
a
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‘suouDUYIIC ay Pun “unpriayy aya Gurssod syaunjg aya fO saw,
( 384 )
Proceedings of the Wernerian Natural History Society.
(Continued from p. 189.)
1830, Jan. 9.—Rosenr Jameson, Esq. President, in the chair.
The Secretary read a communication by Dr R. K. Greville, on
the various economical uses of sea-plants ; and the Doctor ex-
hibited beautiful dried specimens of the most useful and inte-
resting species.—The Rev. Dr David Scot of Corstorphine then
read an essay on the Rams and Badgers with the skins of which
the Israelites covered the Tabernacle-—Specimens, male and
female, of a rare North American Moth (Saturnia Luna), bred
in Europe by M. Sémmer of Altona, from imported eggs, were
exhibited ; and illustrative notes, by Mr James Wilson, were
read to the meeting. (See supra, p. 367.)
At this meeting, Dr Joun Cotpstream of Leith, was ad-
mitted an ordinary member; James Marner, Esq. of South
Shields, a non-resident member; M. Cuavvrn of Caen, a fo-
reign member ; and Dr Homes of Montreal, a corresponding
member of the society.
Jan. 23.—Davip Farconar, Esq. Vice-President, in the chair.
—There were read to the meeting some notices relative to
the coal found under the marly red sandstone near Leicester,
contained in a letter to Henry Witham, Esq., illustrated by
sections of the borings for coal.—Dr John Aitken then exhibited
a number of very fine anatomical preparations, and gave from
them a demonstration of the circulation of the blood in the foetus,
in man, and in several of the lower animals, particularly the
cow, the red deer, the dog, and the seal.
The members of the society afterwards proceeded to Dr
Hope’s laboratory, to witness a beautiful experiment, showing
the intense light and heat produced by passing upon an ignited
ball of lime, placed in the focus of a light-house reflector, a con-
tinued stream of hydrogen gas.
Feb. 6.—Davip Fatconar, Esq. V. P. in the chair.—
The Secretary read a memoir by Mark Watt, Esq., on the
1
Scientific Inteligence.—Meteorology. 385
power which certain spiders possess of fixing their threads hori-
zontally between two perpendicular bodies placed at a distance
from each other. Likewise, a notice regarding a sort of fascina-
tion practised on small birds by the whitret or weazel; in a
letter from the Rev. Alexander Duncan of Mid-Calder.—The
Rev. Dr Scot then read an essay on the Dishong of Moses or
Gazelle of the Plain, the pygarg of the English Bible.
1830, Feb. 20.—Davip Farconar, Esq. V. P. in the chair.
—There was read an account of several new species of grouse
recently discovered by Mr David Douglas among the Rocky
Mountains, communicated by James Wilson, Esq. ; the speci-
mens at the same time being placed on the table. For a full
description of these species, see p- 372 of this Number.—The
Rev. Dr Scot read an essay on the mustard plant mentioned
in the Gospels, showing that it was probably the Sinapis nigra,
which grows five or six feet high in warm countries, rather
than the Phytolacca decandra, which probably did not exist
in Judea.
SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE.
METEOROLOGY.
1. Climate of Britain.—Of all the climates of Europe, Eng-
land seems to me most fitted for the activity of the mind, and
the least suited to repose. The alternations of a climtate so vari-
ous and rapid, continually awake new sensations; and the
changes of the sky from dryness to moisture, from the blue
ethereal to cloudiness and fogs, seem to keep the nervous sys-
tem in a constant state of disturbance. In the mild climate of
Nice, Naples, or Sicily, where, even in winter, it is possible to en-
joy the warmth of the sunshine in the open air under palm trees,
or amidst evergreen groves of orange trees, covered with odorous
fruit and sweet-scented leaves, mere existence is a pleasure ;
even the pains of disease are sometimes forgotten amidst the
JANUARY==MARcH 1830. Bb
386 Scientific Intellig ence—Meteorology.
balmy influence of nature; and a series of agreeable and un-
interrupted sensations invite to repose and oblivion But in
the changeable and tumultuous atmosphere of England, to be
tranquil is a labour, and employment is necessary to ward off
the attacks of ennui. The English, as a nation, is pre-eminent-
ly active, and the natives of no other country follow their ob-
jects with so much force, fire, and constancy. And, as human
powers are limited, there are few examples of very distinguished
men living in this country to old age. They usually fail, droop,
and die, before they have attained the period naturally marked
for the end of human existence. The lives of our statesmen,
warriors, poets, and even philosophers, afford abundant proofs
of the truth of this opinion ; whatever burns consumes, ashes
remain. Before the period of youth is passed, grey hairs usually
cover those brows which are adorned with the civic oak or lau-
rel; and in the luxurious and exciting life of the man of plea-
sure, their tints are not even preserved by the myrtle wreath,
or the garland of roses, from the premature winter of time—
Sir H. Davy.
2. Winter of 1829-30.—It appears that the cold in the south
of France and in Spain has long prevailed, and been more severe
than has been experienced there for a great number of years ;
but that in this country (Scotland), and in places in a higher
northern latitude, although they have had very deep snow, yet
it has been found comparatively mild for a winter like this ;
therefore, the rigour of the frosty air seems to have been con-
fined within the parallels of 55° and 38° N. Lat. with prevail-
ing N. and N.E. winds from over the continent of Europe. Ire-
land being within these parallels, it is curious that its mhabi-
tants should, at the same time, also have enjoyed a mild atmos-
phere.— Annals of Philosophy, March 1830.
4
Scientific Intelligence.— Meteorology.
387
3. Meteorological Table —Extracted from the Register kept
at Kinfauns Castle, N. Britain. Lat. 56° 23’ 30”; above the le-
vel of the sea 150 feet.
(Communicated by Lord Gray.)
Morning, 9, || Evening, 3 past 8, || Mean || Depth | No. of D:
ming pnt, | ening: oct len, | epi | No.of Dass |
1829 -__*__|| by Srx’s || in Gar- | Rain or Fair.
a Barom. | Therm. |] Barom. | Therm. |} Therm. }} den. Snow. .
Inches. } 5 Inches. | ° Inches.
January, ...... 29.750| 34.774 || 29.774 | 33.742 || 39-129]! 5.00} 10 | 21
February, - ...| 29.499| 39.607 || 29.715 | 40.000 || 40-321 )) 2.00 Zaa2k
March, . ......| 29.720] 41.387 || 29.714| 40.581 |}41-645)) 1.50 7 | 24
Sd yl ae ane 29.318] 44.800 |] 29.357 | 42.533 || 43.767]! 3.00) 15 15
May,..........| 29.811| 54.326 || 29.829 | 50.161 |/52.258)) 1.70} 7 | 24
June,..........| 29.792| 60.600 || 29.782 | 55.500 || 58.067}; 1.80} 13 17
Fulys oi. 29.51 2| 60.258 || 29.520 | 55.774 ||58.193|| 5.85| 16 | 15
August,.......] 29.622) 58.064 || 29.637 | 54.838 || 56.387 || 5.40} 14 17
September, ...| 29.487| 52.133 || 29.492 | 49.733 |] 51.133 )| 2.75] 11 19
October, ......| 29.744] 48.419 || 29.743 | 47.003 47.903 2.50) 13 18
November, ...| 29.789| 41.467 || 29.826 | 41.066 || 41.366}) 2.80) 11 19
December,....} 29.955 39.194 | 29.961 | 37.645 || 38.71C}| 1.30) 7 24
Average of ny | ana
the year, 29.667 47.919) 29.696) 45.634 47.073 || 35.60 | 131 | 234
ANNUAL RESULTS.
MORNING.
BAROMETER. THERMOMETER.
Observations, Wind. Inch. Wind. ¥
Highest, 3st Dec. SW. 30.50 | 31st August, SW. 67°
Lowest, 1éth April, SE. 28,53 | 22d January, SW.--21°
EVENING.
Highest, 3lst Dec. SW. 30.56 | 8th August, SW. 64°
Lowest, 15th April, SE. 28.63 | 19th January, Woo Zor
Weather. Days. Wind. Times.
Fair, 234 | N. & NE. 19
Rain or snow, 131 | E. & SE. 101
sr | CS. & SW. 201
7p W.& NW. 44
i)
Extreme Heat and Cold by Sia’s Thermometer :
Coldest, 22d January, Wind, SW. 19°
Hottest, 11th June, do. SE. 74
Mean Temperature for the year, 47°:073
Results of Two Rain-Gauges. -
In. 100.
1. Centre of Kinfiuns Garden, about 20 feet above the levelof the sea, 35.60
2. Square Tower, Kinfauns Castle, 180 feet,
Bb2
36.00
388 Scientific Intelligence.— Meteorology.
4. Meteorological Tables for Aberdeen, 1829.—As in a con-
temporary Journal, that of Dr Brewster, there is an accurate
Meteorological Table for Edinburgh, by Mr Adie, we do not
consider it necessary to republish it here, but are happy to have
an opportunity of communicating to our readers accurate Me-
teorological Tables of another well known part in Scotland, viz.
Aberdeen, drawn up by Mr Innes of Aberdeen.
TABLE of the Mean Temperature at Aberdeen for each Month of
the last Seven Years.
From Observations made by Mr GeorceE Innes, Astronomical Calculator.
1825.
37.95
37.54
39.88
44.42
48.50
56.10
60.50
‘ 59.83
September, . 57.56
October,.-..... 50.45
November, .. 40.14
December, «- 39.37
47.69
MEAN OF THERMOMETER,
At Aberdeen, for each Month during
the Year 1829.
JANUALY, +00 cee ceeseeesressensveeees 34.40
February, «....0-cesceecesesscsvens 38.69
Mar chy oc... .ccccscccccccccceccesece 41.60
April, .2.ceceeeeeseeseseseseeeee eee 43.25
WVU, ccncesesencncnencecvesnassaeens 51.85
SIMI Ys syoccenstoseses sarees csqnvne 56.43
DULY, -.ncevannscensessncsesiseseasce 58.56
AUGUST, .....cccceceserserevenorenere 56.49
September,.......ceeeeeseesceeees 51.57
(cho e rave cus cemacancesecontsnnes 46.45
Novemhe®, .......0...