THE

EDINBURGH NEW

PHILOSOPHICAL JOURNAL,

BXIIIBIXING A VIEW OP THE

PROGRESSIVE DISCi^VJBRIES AND IMPROVEMENTS

IN THE

SCIEXCES AND THE ARTS.

CONDUCTED BY

ROBERT JAMESON,

RXOIUS PROraSSOA of natural history, liBCTURKR ON MINRRALOOY, AND KBBPER OW
THE MU8KUM IN THB UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH;

Fellow of the Royal Societies of London and Edinburgh; of the Antiquarian, Wemerian and Horti-
cultural Sodelies of Edinburgh ; Honorary Member of the Royal Irish Academy, and of the Royal
Dublin Society ; Fellow of the Royal, Lhmean and Royal Geological Societies of London ; Ho-
norary Member of the Asiatic Society of Calcutta ; of the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall,
andof the Cambridge Philosophical Society ; of the York, Bristol, Cambrian, Whitby, Northern,
and Cork Institutions ; of the Natural History Society of Northimiberland, Dvurham, and New-
castle ; 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 Mineralogical Society of Jena; of the Royal Mineralogical Society of Dresden; of the
Natxural History Society of Paris; of the Phllomathic Society of Paris; of the Natural History
Society of Calvados t 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 Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia ; of the Lyceum of Natural History of New
York, of the Natural History Society of Montreal; of the Geological Society of France; of the
South African Institution of the Cape of Good Hope ; of the Franklin Institute of the State of
Pennsylvania for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts ; of the Geological Society of Pennsylvania,

OCTOBER 1835.. .APRIL 1836.

VOL. XX.

TO BE CONTINUED QUARTERLY.

EDINBURGH :

ADAM & CHARLES BLACK, EDINBURGH;
LONGMAN, REES, ORME, BROWN, GREEN & LONGMAN, LONDON.

1836.

.JAV'}I N

PRINTED BY NEILL & COMPANY,
OLD nSHMARKET, EDINBURGH.

ji CONTENT?.

JimwiVh Meteorological Observations made at Fort Van-
couver, from June 7- 1833, to May 31. 1834. By
Dr M. Gairdner. Communicated by the Au-
thor, 67

VlL On the Chalk and Flint of Yorkshire, as compared
with the Chalk and Flint of the Southern Coun-
ties of England. By James Mitchell, LL. D.
F. G. S. Communicated by the Author, - 68

VIIL On the Infra-orbital Cavities in Deers and Ante-
lopes, called Larmiers by the older French Na- i^^A
turalists. By Arthur Jacob, M. D., Professor
of Anatomy in the Royal College of Surgeons in
Ireland. Communicated by the Author, - 7^

JXv Remarks on the Difficulty of distinguishing certain .
Genera of Testaceous Mollusca by their Shells ^
alone, and on the Anomalies in regard to Habita-
tion observed in certain Species. By John Ed-
ward Gray, Esq. F. R. S. &c. - - - 79
I. On Shells apparently similar, but belonging, i
on a comparison of their Animals, to very
different Genera, - - . QJ

II. Of Species belonging to the same natural
Genus, inhabiting essentially different si-
tuations, - • - - - 86

X* On some Circumstances connected with the Original
Suggestion of the Modern Arctic Expeditions.
Communicated by the Rev. W. Scoresby, B. D., 93

XL On the Causes of Obstruction in Water-pipes and
Syphons from Disengaged Air ; and on' the Con-
struction of a Hydraulic Air-extractor for Remov-
ing them. By J. Stewart Hepburn, Esq. of
Colquhalzie, Mem. Soc. Arts, - - IQO

Report by Mr Dunn, - - , • 112
Report by Mr George Buchanan, - - ih.
Report by Mr Clerk Maxwell, - . |13

Copy Letter from James Hunter, Esq. of Thur-
ston, to the Chairman of the Water Company,
. Edinburgh, dated 20th January 1821, referred
to in the previous Report,

3

CONTENTS.

Abt. I. Biographical Memoir of M. de Lamarck. By the

Baron Cuvier, ----- Page 1

II. On the Hindu Astronomical Tables. Communicated

by the Author, 22

III. On a Species of Beroe found on the north-east coast

of Irelan<}. \By Robert Patterson, Esq. Trea-
surer to the Belfast Museum. Communicated by
the Author, - 26

IV. Reply to Dr John Davy's Remarks on Certain State-

ments by Mr Faraday, contained in his " Re-
searches on Electricity," in the Edinburgh Philo-
sophical Journal for October 1835. By Michael
Faraday, D. C. L., F. R. S., &c. &c. - - 37

V. An Account of Professor Ehrenberg's more recent

Researches on the Infusoria, - - - 42

Section I. On the existence of a Pharynx and of teeth

in the Polygastric Infusoria, - _ jb.

II. Concerning a System of Internal Organs,
simple, double, or multiple, very irritable,
which may be discovered in the Polygastri-
ca, and which, perhaps, are the Male
Sexual Organs, 4. . - . 45

III. Concerning a violet or very deep blue co-

loured liquid, which is found in the Intes-
tines of the Polygastrica, and concerning
the particular organs which secrete it, 51

IV. Upon Internal Organs like Branchiae, which

have been discovered in the Rotatoria, 54

V. On the Nervous System of the Infusoria, 60

IV CONTENTS.

XXII. On Foot-marks of Animals in Rocks, • - 179

XXIII. Memoir entitled, " Researches on the Structure and

Origin of Mount Etna." By M. L. Elib de
Beaumont, ------ 185

XXIV. Phases of the Annular Eclipse of the Sun, which will

happen Sunday May 15. 1836, calculated for the
Observatory of Edinburgh. By Mr Robert
Treat Paine, of Boston, United States. Com-
municated by the Author, - - - - 186

XXV. Description of several New or Rare Plants which
have lately flowered in the Neighbourhood of
Edinburgh, chiefly in the Royal Botanic Garden.
By Dr Graham, Professor of Botany, - - 189

XXVI. Proceedings of the Wernerian Natural History So-
ciety, 197

XXVII. Proceedings of the Society for the Encouragement of

the Useful Arts in Scotland, - - - 201

XXVIII. List of Patents granted in Scotland from 19th Sep-
tember to 9th December 1835, - - - 202

XXIX. Scientific Intelligence, 204

1. Sir Charles BelL, ----- ib.

2. Professor David Don, ----- ib.

3. Aurora Borealis—Edinburgh, Nov. 18. 1835, . 205

4. Composition of the Atmosphere, - - - ib.
^. Climate of Fort Vancotiver, - - - - ib.

6. Geology, 206

7. Age of the Molasse of Switzerland, - - . 207

8. Effect of Cold on the Fur of the Hudson's Bay Lem-

ming, ib.

9. Effect of Intense Cold on Caterpillars, - - ib.
10. Polar Bear, - - - . . . 208
U. The Black Whale, ib.

12. Passenger Pigeon, - . - - . 209

13. Spontaneous Plants, - • • - . jb.

XXX. New Publications, -.«... jb.

CONTENTS. Ill

Art. XII. On a Curious Phenomenon observed in the Island of
Cephalonia, and on the Proximate Cause of Earth-
quakes in the Ionian Islands. By John Davy,
M. D., F. R. S., Surgeon to the Forces. Commu-
nicated by the Author, - - - - 116

XIII. Account of the Great Suspension Bridge at Fribourg, 123

XIV. On the Volcanic Formations of the Environs of Na-

ples. By M. DuFRENoy, - - . 126

I. Different Epochs of the Volcanic Phenomena, ib.

II. Pumice-Tuff, - _ - .

127

III. Trachytes ofthePhlegriean Fields, -

128

IV. On Vesuvius, - - - »

ib.

V. Oscillatory Movements of the Surface of the

Campania, ....

129

VI. Destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum,

ib.

XV. Description and Drawing of a New Pivot-Castor for
Furniture, possessing the advantage of retaining
the Oil for an indefinite length of time. By John
RoBisoN, Esq. F. R. S. E., Vice-Pres. Soc. Arts, 130

XVI. Short Account of the Rev. John Flamsteed, the
first Astronomer-Royal. By Francis Baily,
Esq. Vice-Pres. of the Astrom, Soc. &c. - 131

XVII. On the Quadrupeds and Birds inhabiting the County
of Sutherland, observed there during an Excur-
sion in the Summer of 1834. By J. P. Selby,
F, R. S. E., F. L, S. &c. Communicated by the
Author, 156

XVIII. Notice concerning the Life and Writings of Professor

Brinkley, Bishop of Cloyne. By M. Arago, 161
Chronological Catalogue of the Memoirs published
by Brinkley, 163

XIX. Eruptions of the Volcano of the Cosiguina. By Co-
lonel Juan Galindo, - - - - 165

XX. On the Nature of the Light of Comets. By M,

Arago, .-- * . - -176

XXI. Report respecting the Statistical Researches of Dr
Civiale on Calculous Affections made to the Aca-
demie des Sciences. By Messrs Poison, Du-
LONO, Labrey and Double. October 5. 1835, 173

CONTENTS.

Art. I. Biographical Memoir of Dr Thomas Young. By M .

Arago, Page 213

IL On the Powers and Use of Kater's Altitude and Azi-
muth Circle. By Mr W. Galbraith, . 241

III. Remarks on the Arrangement of the Natural Bota-
nical Families. By Sir Edward Ffrench Brom-
HEAD, Bart. F. R. S. Lond. and Edin. Communi-
cated by the Author, . . . 245

Sketch of an Arrangement of the Botanical Families in
Natural Groups, Alliances, and Races, . 251

IV. Abstract of the Memoirs of John Napier of Merchis-
ton. By M. Biot. With Notes by the Transla-
tor, ...... 255

V. On the Quadrupeds and Birds inhabiting the County
of Sutherland, observed there during an Excursion
in the Summer of 1834. By P. J. Selby, Esq.,
F. R. S. E., F. L. S., &c. &c. . . . 286

VI. Memoir on the Star-Fish of the genus Comatula, de-

monstrative of the Pentacrinus europaeus being the
Young of our Indigenous Species. By John V.
Thompson, F. L. S., Dep. Inspector- General of
Hospitals. Communicated by Sir James M'Grigor,
F. R. S. With a Plate, . . . 295

VII. On the Chemical Constitution of Gadolinite. By A.

CoNNELL, Esq. F. R. S. E., &c. Communicated by
the Author, . . . . .300

ii

CONTENTS.

VIII. Description of a New Detached Pendulum Escape-
ment; invented by Alexander Witherspoon, Watch-
maker, Tranent, .... 303

IX. On the Occurrence of the Megalichthys in a Bed of
Cannel Coal in the West of Fifeshire, with Obser-
vations on the supposed Lacustrine Limestone at
Burdiehouse. By Leonard Horner, Esq. F. R. SS.
L. & E., Fellow of the Geological Society. Com-
municated by the Author, . . . 309

X. Remarks on the Dublin and Kingstown Railway, in-
tended as a Supplement to a former Paper on the
Liverpool and Manchester Railway, Ia the 18th
Volume of this Journal, 1835. By David Ste-
venson, Esq., Civil-Engineer, Edinburgh. With a
Plate, ..... 320

XI. Description of a Single Reflecting Microscope. By
Alex. Guthrie, Esq. Communicated through
J. Robison, Esq. Sec. R. S. E., . . 326

XII. Notice of some minute Calculi found in the Urinary
Bladder of an Ox. By John Davy, M. D., F. R. S.,
Assistant- Inspector of Army Hospitals, &c. Com-
municated by the Author, . . . 327

XIII. On the Cause of the Temperature of Hot and Ther-
mal Springs ; and on the bearings of this subject,
as connected with the general question regarding
the Internal Temperature of the Earth. By Pro-
fessor GusTAv BiscHOF of Bouu. Communicated
by the Author, . . . .329

Paet First. What Therm ometrical Circumstances on

the Surface of the Earth lead us to assume that an In-
crease of Temperature towards the Centre of the Earth
must take place ? .... 329

Chap. I.— On the Circumstances under which Warm
Springs are found on the Surface of the Earth, and
on their frequency of occurrence, . 330

Chap. Il.-^Can the elevated temperature of Acidu-
lous Springs be a consequence of the absorption of
Carbonic Acid Gas ? . . . 336

00MTBNT6. HI

Chap. III. Can the heat of Thermal Springs be

the result of chemical processes or of local circum-
stances ? and can local circumstances cause any mo-
difications in the temperature of Thermal Springs ? 343

Chap. IV. Can Springs convey Heat from the In-
terior of the Earth to the Surface ? . 365

Chap. V. — The Temperature of Springs being a
function of that of the Meteoric Waters, and of the
Strata of the Earth through which they flow, it is
required to determine whether the Variations of
the Temperature of the Meteoric Waters also shew
themselves in Thermal Springs, . . 359

• Chap. VI. i— Can the Mean Temperature of a place
be determined from the Temperature of Springs ?
and is the Mean Temperature of the Soil the same
as that of the Air? . . . 362

XIV. Analysis of a Memoir on the Structure and on the
Origin of Mount Etna. By M. L. Elie de Beau-
mount, Member of the Royal Academy of Sciences
of the Institute. Communicated by the Author,

XV. Questions for Solution relating to Meteorology, Hy-
drography, and the Art of Navigation. By M.
Arago, ..... 393

1. Meteorological Phenomena, . . . 394

2. Observations designed to characterize the presentstate

of the Globe in regard to Temperature, . 395

3. Of the Calorific Action of the Solar Rays viewed in

their relation to the situation of places on the Globe, 396

4. Experiments to be made on the Radiation of the Sky, 397

5. Examination of an Anomaly which Atmospheric Tem-

peratures, taken at different elevations, present in

the night, when the sky is calm and clear, . 399

6. Expeditious Method of determining Mean Tempera-

tures in Equinoctial Countries, . . 400

7. Observations to be made nn Thermal Springs, . 401

XVI. Abstract of an Address delivered on presenting the
Keith Medal, adjudged by the Council of the Royal
Society of Edinburgh to Professor Forbes, for his
Experiments on the Polarization of Heat ; by Dr
Hope, Vice-President of the Society, . 405

T CONTENTS.

XVII. Description of several New or Rare Plants which
have lately Flowered in the Neighbourhood of
Edinburgh, chiefly in the Royal Botanic Garden.
By Dr Graham, Professor of Botany, . 412

XVIIJ. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 414

XIX. Proceedings of the Wernerian Natural History So-
ciety, ..... 418

XX. Proceedings of the Society for the Encouragement of

the Useful Arts in Scotland, . . 419

XXI. Scientific Intelligence, . , . 423

1 . On the supposed existence of a New Small Planet, 423

2. Climate of Palestine, . . . . 425

3. Indications of a Change in the relative Levels of the

Land and Sea on the West Coast of Scotland, . 425

4. Facts relating to the Soulevement or Rising of Scan.

dinavia at a recent epoch, . . . 423

6. M. de Collegno on the Soulevements of the Hills of

Superga, ..... 428

6. On the presence of Cobalt and other Metals in the

Upper Sandstones of the Tertiary Formations of Paris, 428
rtW 7. On the Colours of Flowers, . . . 429

XXII. List of Patents granted in Scotland from December

18. 1835, to March 18. 1836, . . 430

Index, ..... . 435

Errata in Dr Davp's paper " On a curious Phenomenon in Cepkalonia,'
in No. 39, January 1836.

Page 116, line 18, for phenomena read phenomenon

— 117, — 8, for Angostoli read Argostoli
— . 117, — 24, for Hence read Here

— 119, -- 33, omit less before absorption

— 120, — 16, for AUeschimo read Allefechimo

— 121, — 3, for lightly read highly

— 121, — 5, for several read mural

— 122, — 26, for some read soon

!/..

To Correspondents. — The various Meteorological Tables, &c. communicated
for the Journal will appear in our next Number.

THE

EDINBURGH NEW
PHILOSOPHICAL JOURNAL.

Biographical Memoir of M. de Lamarck, By the Baron

CUVIER.

Among the men devoted to the noble employment of enlight-
ening their fellows, a small number are to be found (and you
have just witnessed an illustrious example*), who, gifted at the
same time with a lofty imagination and a sound judgment, em-
bracing in their vast conceptions the entire field of the sciences,
and seizing with a steady eye whatever afforded the hope of dis-
covery, have laid before the world nothing but certain truths,
establishing them by evident demonstrations, and deducing from
them no consequences but such as were irresistible, never allow-
ing themselves to be led away by what is conjectural or doubt-
ful ; men of unequalled genius, whose immortal writings will
shed a light, like so many phari, on the paths of science, as
long as the world is governed by the same laws.

Others, with minds not less ardent, nor less adapted to seize
new relations, have been less severe in scrutinizing the evidence ;
with real discoveries with which they have enriched science,
they have mingled many fanciful conceptions ; and, believing
themselves able to outstrip both experience and calculation, they
have laboriously constructed vast edifices on imaginary founda-

* This Memoir, not yet published, was designed to follow that of Volta,
read by M. Arago at the meeting on the 27th of June 1831, for which seethe
ICth vol. of this Journal. It was read at the meeting of the French Academy
of Science, 26th November 1832.

VOL. XX. NO. XXXIX. — JANUARY 1836. A

2 Cuvier's Biographical Memoir of M. de Lamarck.

tions, resembling the enchanted palaces of our old romances,
which vanished into air on the destruction of the talisman to
which they owed their birth. But the history of these less fa-
voured philosophers is not perhaps the least useful. While the
former should be unreservedly held up to our admiration, it is
equally important that the latter should form the subject of our
study. Nature alone produces genius of the first order ; but
it is competent to every laborious man to aspire to a rank among
those who have done service to science, and that rank will be the
more elevated in proportion as he has learned to distinguish by
marked examples the objects accessible to his exertions, and the
difficulties which may oppose his progress. It is with this view,
that, in sketching the life of one of our most celebrated natural-
ists, we have conceived it to be our duty, while bestowing the
commendation they deserve on the great and useful works which
science owes to him, likewise to give prominence to such of his
productions in which too great indulgence of a lively imagina-
tion has led to results of a more questionable kind, and to indi-
cate, as far as we can, the cause, or, if it may be so expressed,
the genealogy of his deviations. This is the principle by which
we have been guided in all our historical eloges, and, far from
thinking that we have been thereby wanting in the respect due to
the memory of our associates, we conceive that our homage is
rendered purer, just because it is carefully freed from all that
was unworthy of them.

Jean Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet, otherwise named
the Chevalier de Lamarck, was born at Bazantin, a village in Pi-
cardy between Albert and Bapaume,on the 1st August 1744. He
was the eleventh child of Pierre de Monet, superior of the place,
of an ancient house of Beam, but whose patrimony was quite
inadequate to the support of such a numerous offspring. The
church, at that period, offered a ready resource, and sometimes
a large fortune, to the cadets of noble families, and M. de Monet
made an early choice of that destination Tor his son. As a pre-
liminary step, he was sent to study under the Jesuits at Amiens ;
but the boy's inclination by no means responded to his father's
wishes. All that surrounded him spoke another language: for
ages his relations had carried arms ; his eldest brother fell in the
breach at the siege of Bergen-op-Zoora ; two others were still in

Cuvier's Biographical Memoir of M. de Lamartic, 3

the service ; and the moment when France was so actively en-
gaged in the dismal struggle begun in 1756, was not one fitted
to discourage a young man of spirit from following such exam-
ples. His father, however, opposed this desire ; but the good old
man having died in 1760, no consideration could prevail on the
youthful abbe to adhere to his profession. He set out for the
army of Germany on a wretched horse, followed by a poor youth
from his village, provided with no other passport than a letter
from one of his neighbours, a Madame Lameth, directed to M.
de Lastic, colonel of the regiment of Beaujolois. It is easy to
conceive the annoyance of this officer at finding himself embar
rassed with a boy, whose puny appearance caused him to be
thought younger than he really was ; he ordered him, however,
to his quarters, and continued his duties. The moment in fact
was a critical one. It was the 14th of July 1761, when the
Marshal de Broglie, having united his army to that of the
Prince of Soubise, designed next day to attack the allied army,
commanded by Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick. At the dawn
of day, M. de Lastic inspected his troops, and the first person
whom he saw was the young stranger, who, without saying a
word, had placed himself in the first rank of a company of gre-
nadiers, and nothing could induce him to quit his station.

It is well known that this battle, which bears the name of
the little village of Fissingshausen, between Ham and Lipp-
stadt, was lost by the French, and that their two generals, mu-
tually accusing each other of the defeat, immediately separated,
and undertook no important measure during the rest of the cam-
paign. In the vicissitudes of the contest, the company to
which M. de Lamarck had attached himself was placed in a si-
tuation which exposed it to the whole fire of the enemy's artil-
lery : in the confusion of the retreat it was forgotten and left
there. Already all the officers were killed, and only fourteen
men remaining, when the oldest grenadier perceiving that there
were no longer any French within sight, proposed to the young
volunteer so speedily become commander, to withdraw this little
troop. **• This post has been assigned us," replied the boy ;
" we must not quit it unless we are relieved ;"" and, in fact, he
caused them to remain till the colonel, seeing that this company
was wanting, sent an order, which could now reach its destination

a2

4 Cuvier's Biographical Memoir of M. de Lamarck.

with the utmost difficulty. This instance of firmness having been
reported to the Marechal, he instantly gave M. de Lamarck a com-
mission, although his instructions required him to be very spar-
ing in promotions of that nature. Soon after, M. de Lamarck
was nominated to a lieutenancy ; but such a successful com-
mencement of his military career was not attended with the con-
sequences that might have been expected, for a most unfortu-
nate accident removed him altogether from the service, and en-
tirely altered his destination. When his regiment was in gar-
rison at Toulon and Monaco, one of his companions, in play,
lifted him by the head, and occasioned a serious derangement in
the glands of the neck. He was obliged to repair to Paris for
more skilful treatment than these places afforded, but the efforts
of the most celebrated surgeons had no effect ; and the danger
was become very imminent, when our late associate M. Tenon,
with his usual penetration, perceived the nature of the disorder,
and effected a cure by a complicated operation, the marks of
which always continued visible. This confined him for a year,
and during that time, the extreme slenderness of his resources
kept him in solitude, which afforded ample leisure for reflection.

The profession of arms had not caused him to lose sight of
the notions of physics he had acquired at college.

During his stay at Monaco, the singular vegetation of that
rocky country had attracted his attention, and the Traite des
Plantes Usuelles of Chomel having accidentally fallen into his
hands, inspired him with some taste for botany. From his
lodging in Paris, which, by his own account, was much higher
than accorded with his wishes, the clouds formed almost his only
spectacle, and their varied aspects suggested his earliest ideas of
meteorology — a subject which could not fail to interest a mind
always distinguished for activity and originality. He now be-
gan to perceive, as Voltaire has said of Condorcet, that lasting
discoveries might confer on him a different kind of celebrity from
a company of infantry.

The resolution which he formed in consequence, was not less
firmly adhered to than the first. Reduced to an alimentary pen-
sion of 400 francs, he determined to become a doctor, and until
he could obtain time for the requisite studies, he laboured assi-
duously for his daily bread in the office of a banker. His re-

4

Cuvier's Biographical Memoir ofM. de Lamarck, S

flections, however, and the contemplations wliich he delighted
to indulge, afforded him consolation, and when he found an op-
portunity of communicating his ideas to some friend, of discuss-
ing them, and defending them against objections, the real world
was nothing to him ; his warmth made him forget all his diffi-
culties. It is in this way that many men have passed their
youth, who have become the lights of the world. Too often is
genius born to poverty ; but there is in it a principle of resist-
ance against misfortune, and adversity is perhaps the surest test
by which it can be tried. Never ought the most unfortunate of
young men to forget, that Linnaeus was preparing himself to
become the reformer of Natural History, at the time when he
was patching up for his own use the cast-ofF shoes of his com-
panions.

At last, after having occupied (en years in preparing himself,
M. de Lamarck made himself suddenly known, both to the world
and men of science, by a work on a new plan, and executed in a
manner full of interest.

He had been for a long time accustomed, when collecting
plants, or visiting the Jardin du Roi, to engage in warm discus-
sions with his fellow students on the imperfections of all the
systems of arrangement then in vogue, and to maintain how easy
it would be to form one which would lead with greater ease and
certainty to the determination of plants. His friends in some
measure defied him to the task ; he immediately set about prov-
ing his assertion, and after six months of unremitting labour,,
finished his " Flore Fran9aise."* This work has no pretensions
to add to the number of species previously known as indigenous
to France, nor even to give a more complete history of them.
It is merely a guide which, by setting out from the most gene-
ral forms, dividing and subdividing always by two, and only
allowing the choice between two opposite characters, conducts
the reader, however little he may understand descriptive lan-
guage, as it were by the hand, with certainty, and even amuse-
ment, to the determination of the plant of which he desires the
name. This kind of dichotomy or continual bifurcation, is im-

• Flore Franjaise, ou description succincte des toutes les Plantes qui
croissent naturellement en France. 3 vols, in 8vo, Paris, 1778.

6 Cuvier'^s Biographical Memoir of M, de Lamarck,

plied in all methods of arrangement, and even forms the necesi
sary foundation of them, but modern authors, for the sake of
brevity, have attempted to present many ramifications together.
M. de Lamarck, in imitation of some of the old botanists, deve-
loped and expressed them all, representing them by accolades,
in such a manner that the most uninstructed reader, without any
initiatory labour, by taking him for a guide, may suppose him-
self to be a botanist. His book appeared at a time when botany
had become a popular science, the example of J. J. Rousseau, and
the enthusiasm which he inspired, having even caused it to be
studied by ladies and people of fashion ; the success of the work
was therefore rapid. M. de BufFon, not perhaps unwilling to
shew by this example how easily systems, on which he set so
little value, could be framed, and at the same time their indif-
ferent consequence, used his interest to have the Flore Franjaise
printed by the royal press. A place having become open in the
botanical department of the Academy of Sciences, and M. de
Lamarck being presented in the second rank, the Minister caused
it to be given to him by the King in 1775, in preference (a thing
almost unexampled,) to M. Descemet, who was presented first,
and who has never been able, during a long life, to recover the
station of which the preference deprived him. In short, the
poor officer, so little regarded since the commencement of the
peace, all of a sudden attained to the good fortune, always of
rare occurrence, and particularly so then, of being at the same
time an object of favour with the court and with the public.
The partiality of M. de Buffbn obtained for him another advan-
tage. When his son was about to set out on his travels, after
finishing his studies, M. de Buffon proposed to M. de Lamarck
to accompany him ; and not wishing that the latter should ap-
pear merely in the character of a preceptor, he procured for him
the commission of botanist to the King, for the purpose of visit-
ing foreign gardens and cabinets, and opening a correspondence
between them and similar establishments in Paris. In conse-
quence of this he travelled in company with the younger Buffon
during part of the years 1781 and 1782, through Holland, Ger-
many, and Hungary ; visited Gleditsch at Berlin, Jacquin at
Vienna, Murray at Goettingen, and obtained an idea of the mag-
nificent establishments devoted to botany in many foreign coun-

Cuvier's Biographical Afemoir ofM, de Lamarck. 7

tries, to which our own do not yet approach, notwithstanding all
that has been done for them for the last thirty years.

Shortly after his return, he commenced more important works
than his Flora, although less widely known, and which have pro-
cured for him a more eminent rank among botanists, — I mean
his Dictionary of Botany^* and his Illustrations of Genera,-f
both of which form a part of the Encyclopedie Methodique.

These generic illustrations are perhaps better calculated than
any other work for conveying a speedy and accurate knowledge
of this beautiful science. The precision of the descriptions and
definitions of Linnaeus is accompanied, as in the institutions of
Tournefort, with figures fitted to embody their abstractions, and
to present them to the eye as well as to the mind. Nor will the
student have the means of becoming acquainted with the fruits
and flowers only ; the whole appearance and habits of one or
two of the principal species are often represented, the whole con-
sisting of two thousand genera on a thousand quarto plates, and
accompanied at the same time with abridged characters of an
infinity of species. The Dictionary contains a more detailed
history of them, with careful descriptions, critical investigations
of their synonymy, and many interesting observations on their
uses, and the peculiarities of their organization. All is not origi-
nal, it is true, in these two works ; but the selection of figures is
judicious, the descriptions are derived from the best authors, and
a very considerable number of both these are to be found, which
refer to species and even genera previously unknown.

It may excite surprise that M. de Lamarck, who had hitherto
occupied himself with botany merely as an amateur, should so

• Encyclopedie Methodique (Botany). The first vol., 1783, and the second,
1786, are by M. de Lamarck ; the third, 1789, is by him and M. Desrousseaux,
who likewise assisted with the fourth, 1795) along with MM. Poiret and Sa-
vigny ; the fifth, 1804, is by MM. Poiret and De Candolle ; the sixth, seventh,
and eighth, from 1804 to 1808, are by M. Poiret, as well as the five supple-
mentary vols, from IRlOto 181 7.

f Illustrations of Genera, or an exposition of the characters of all the ge-
nera of plants established by botanists, arranged according to the sexual sys-
tem of Linnaeus, with figures displaying the characters of these genera, and a
table of all the known species referable thereto, the description of which is
found in the Botanical Dictionary of the Encyclopedie. The first vol., 1791,
second, 1793, third, 1800, containing 900 plates, are by M. de I-Amarck, and a
Supplement by Poiret, in 1823, contains the last hundred plates.

8 Cuvier's Biographical Memoir ofM. de Lamarck.

soon have been in a condition to produce such considerable works,
containing representations and descriptions of the very rarest
plants. The reason is, that the moment he undertook the task,
he entered upon it with all the ardour of his character, occupy-
ing himself exclusively with plants, seeking them in all the gar-
dens and in every herbarium. He spent his time among such bo-
tanists as could supply him with information, and was often in
the company of M. de Jussieu, whose enlightened hospitality
rendered his residence for a very long period the favourite re-
sort of all who devoted their attention to the amiable science of
plants. Whoever arrived in Paris with specimens, might be
certain that M. de Lamarck would be the first to pay him a visit.
His eagerness was the means of procuring him one of the finest
presents he could have desired. When the celebrated travel-
ler Sonnerat returned the second time from India in 1781, with
valuable collections of objects in natural history, he imagined
that all who cultivated that science would eagerly assemble
round him ; he could not learn at Pondicherry, or among the
Moluccas, that the philosophers of this capital are too often as
much engrossed as men of the world. No one appeared but M.
de Lamarck, and Sonnerat in his disappointment presented him
with the magnificent herbarium which he had brought with him.
He likevvise availed himself of that of Commerson, and the col-
lections accumulated in the house of M. de Jussieu were gene-
rously laid open to his inspection.

It may likewise appear surprising, although in a different
way, that M. de Lamarck has not adopted in these his great
works, the more perfect modes of arrangement, the rules for
which he has so accurately laid down in the preface to his Flora ;
and that he confined himself, in the one case, to the sexual sys-
tem, and in the other, to mere alphabetical order. Such, how-
ever, were the conditions which the manager of the Encyclopaedia
had imposed on him, for it must be acknowledged that M, de
Lamarck was still obliged to labour for booksellers, and accord-
ing to their direction. This kind of labour, indeed, constituted
his only resource.

The attachment of M. de BuiFon, and even that of the minis-
ter, had not procured him any settled occupation ; nor was any
thing done for him till M. de la Billardiere, BufFon's successor,

Cuvier''s Biographical Memoir ofM. de L&marck, 9

and related to M. de Lamarck*'s family, created for him the pal-
try place of keeper of the herbaria in the king''s cabinet ; a place
of which he was continually on the point of being deprived, for
strong opposition was made to its establishment, and the National
Assembly was even required to suppress it, as I learn from two
pamphlets which he was obliged to publish in its defence. If
he obtained some years afterwards a less precarious means of
support, it was only to be attained by again changing his voca-
tion.

In 1793, the King''s Garden and Cabinet were re-established,
under the title of Museum of Natural History. All the supe-
rior functionaries were appointed professors, and charged with
the superintendence of those departments most in unison with
their preceding employments or personal studies. M. de La-
marck, being the last appointed, had to content himself with the
branch not selected by the others, and was nominated to the chair
relating to the two last classes of the animal kingdom, according
to the Linnean division, — those, namely, which were then called
Insects and Worms. He was at that time nearly fifty years of
age, and the only preparatory knowledge which he possessed of
this vast department of zoology, consisted of some acquaintance
with shells, which he had often studied with Bruguiere, and of
which he had made a small collection. But his former couraoe
did not desert him ; he began the study of these new objects with
unremitting ardour. Availing himself of the aid of some of his
friends, and applying, at least to all that related to shells and
corals, that sagacity which a long exercise had given him in re-
ference to plants, he laboured so successfully in this new field of
inquiry, that his works on those animals will confer on his name
perhaps a more lasting reputation than all that he has published
on botany. Before we give an analysis of these, however, we
have first to speak of other writings, which will not probably
enjoy the same advantage.

During the thirty years which had elapsed since the peace of
1763, all his time had not been occupied with botany. In the
long solitudes to which his restricted circumstances confined him,
all the great questions which for ages had fixed the attention of
men, passed through his mind. He had meditated on the ge-
neral laws of physics and chemistry, on the phenomena of the

10 Cuvier'^s Biographical Memoir ofM, de Lamarck,

atmosphere, on those of living bodies, and on the origin of the
globe and its revolutions. Psychology, and the higher branches
of metaphysics, were not beyond the range of his contemplations ;
and on all these subjects he had formed a number of definite
ideas, original in respect to himself, because conceived by the
unaided power of his own mind, but which he believed to be
equally new to others, and not less certain in themselves, than
calculated to place every branch of knowledge on a new founda-
tion. In this respect, he resembled so many others who spend
their lives in sohtude, who never entertain a doubt of the accuracy
of their opinions, because they never happen to be contradicted.
These views he began to lay before the public as soon as he had
obtained a fixed occupation ; and for twenty years he continued
to reproduce them in every variety of form, introducing them
even into such of his works as appear most foreign to them.
It is the more necessary that we should point them out, as with-
out them some of his best writings would be unintelligible. Even
the character of the man himself could not otherwise be under-
stood ; for so intimately did he identify himself with his sys-
tems, and such was his desire that they should be propagated,
that all other objects seemed to him subordinate, and even his
greatest and most useful works appeared in his own eyes mere-
ly as the slight accessories of his lofty speculations.

Thus, while Lavoisier was creating in his laboratory a new
chemistry, founded on a beautiful and methodical series of ex-
periments, M. de Lamarck, without attempting experiment, and
destitute of the means of doing so, imagined that he had dis-
covered another, which he did not hesitate to set in opposition to
the former, although nearly the whole of Europe had received
it with the warmest approbation.

As early as 1780, he had ventured to present this theory in
manuscript to the Academy of Sciences ; but it was not till 1795^
that he pubUshed it, under the title of Recherches sur les Causes
des Principaux Faits Physiques.* It reappeared in an improved

* Researches on the causes of the most important physical facts, and parti-
cularly on those of combustion ; of the raising of water in the state of vapour ;
of the heat produced by the friction of solid bodies against each other; of the
heat which becomes sensible in sudden decompositions, in effervescences, and
in the bodies of many living animals ; of causticity, and of the taste and smell

Cuvier's Biographical Memoir of M. de Lamarck. 11

order in the Memoires de Physique et d'Histoire Naturelle,*
which he hastened to read to the Institute shortly after its estab-
lishment, and which he collected into a volume in 1797. Accord-
ing tb him, " matter is not homogeneous ; it consists of simple
principles, essentially different among themselves. The connec-
tion of these principles in compounds varies in intensity ; they
nlutually conceal each other, more or less, according as each of
them is more or less predominant. The principle of no com-
pound is ever in a natural state, but always more or less modi-
fied. As, however, it is not agreeable to reason that a substance
should have a tendency to pass from its natural condition, it
must be concluded, that combinations are not produced by na-
ture ; but that, on the contrary, she tends unceasingly to de-
stroy the combinations which exist, and each principle of a
compound body tries to disengage itself according to the de-
gree of its energy. From this tendency, favoured by the
presence of water, dissolutions result : affinities have no in-
fluence; and all experiments by which it is attempted to be
proved that water decomposes, that there are many kinds of
air, are mere illusions, and it is fire which produces them.
The element of fire-f is subject, like the others, to modifica-
tion, when combined. In its natural state, every where diffused,
and penetrating every substance, it is absolutely imperceptible ;
only, when it is put into vibration, it becomes the essence of
sound ; for air is not the vehicle of sound, as natural philoso-
phers believe. J But fire is fixed in a great number of bodies,
where it accumulates, and becomes, in its highest degree of con-
densation, carbonic Jire, the basis of all combustible substances,

of certain compounds; of the colour of bodies, and of the origin of compounds
and of all minerals ; finally, remarks on the life of organic beings, their growth,
strength, decay, and death. Paris, 1794, 2 vols. 8vo. ^-ij

• Memoirs on physics and natural history, founded on reason, independent-
ly of all theory, with the exposition of new considerations on the general
cause of dissolutions, on the substance of fire, on the colour of bodies, on the
formation of compounds, on the origin of minerals, and on the organization of
living bodies. Paris, 1797, 1 voL 8vo.

t Memoir on the substance of Fire, considered as a chemical agent in ana-
lysis. Journal de Physique, Floreal an vii.

$ Memoir on the substance of Sound. Journal de Physique, 16 & 26 Bn»-
maire an. vii.

12 Cuvier's Biographical Memoir ofM, de Lamarck,

and the cause of all colours. When less condensed, and more
liable to escape, it is acidific fire (feu acidifique), the cause of
causticity when in great abundance, and of tastes and smells
when less so. At the moment when it disengages itself, and in
its transitory state of expansive motion, it is caloric fire. It is
in this form that it dilates, warms, liquefies, and volatilizes bo-
dies, by surrounding their molecules ; that it burns them, by
destroying tiheir aggregation ; and that it calcines or acidifies
them, by again becoming fixed in them. In the greatest force
of its expansion, it possesses the power of emitting light, which
is of a white, red, or violet-blue colour, according to the force
with which it acts ; and it is, therefore, the origin of the pris-
matic colours ; as also of the tints seen in the flame of candles.
Light, in its turn, has likewise the power of acting upon fire,
and it is thus that the sun continually produces new sources of
heat. Besides, all the compound substances observed on the
globe, are owing to the organic powers of beings endowed with
life, of which, consequently, it may be said, that they are not
conformable to nature, and are even opposed to it, because they
unceasingly reproduce what nature continually tends to de-
stroy. Vegetables form direct combinations of the elements ;
animals produce more complicated compounds, by combining
those formed by vegetables ; but there is in every living body a
power which tends to destroy it ; all, therefore, die, each in his
appointed season, and all mineral substances, and all inorganic
bodies whatsoever, are nothing but the remains of bodies which
once had life, and from which the more volatile principles have
been successively disengaged. The products of the most com-
plex animals are. calcareous substances, those of vegetables, soils,
or clays. Both of these pass into a siliceous state, by freeing
themselves more and more from their less fixed principles, and
at last are reduced to rock-crystal, which is earth in its greatest
purity. Salts, pyrites, metals, differ from other minerals only be-
cause certain circumstances have had the effect of accumulating
in them, in different proportions, a greater quantity of carbonic
or acidific fire.

With respect to life, the only cause of all compositions, — the
mother, not only of animals and vegetables, but all bodies which
now occupy the surface of the earth, — M. de Lamarck yet ad-

Cuvier's Biographical Memoir of' M, de Lamarck* 13

mitted, in these liis two earliest works, that all we know of it is,
that living beings all come from individuals similar to them-
selves, but that it is impossible for us to ascertain the physi-
cal cause which has given birth to the first individual of each
species.

To these two writings he added a third of a polemical de-
scription, viz. a refutation of the pneumatic theory,* in which
he, in some measure, challenged the new chemists to the com-
bat : conceiving, like so many other authors of system, that to
keep silence would be to cause his system to be forgotten, and
not doubting that if he could only enter it in the lists, it would
obtain an easy triumph, and the public, attracted by the eclat
of the dispute, would not hesitate to adopt a system of which
they could scarcely otherwise be aware of the existence.

To his great regret, neither this refutation, nor his exposi-
tion, met with any reply ; no one considered it necessary. He
was himself, in fact, too well aware, that the whole of this edi-
fice rested on two assertions equally conjectural ; the one, that
substances do not enter into combinations, unless modified in
their nature ; the other, that it is not reasonable to believe, that
nature impresses on them a tendency to such a change. De-
prived of one of these foundations, the whole falls to the
ground.

We have mentioned that M. de Lamarck at this period still
conceived it impossible to remount to the first origin of living
beings : this was a great step yet remaining for him, and he was
not long in making it. In 1802 he published his Researches on
Living Bodies, "I* containing a physiology peculiar to himself, in

• Refutation of the Pneumatic Theory, or of the new doctrine of modern
chemists, presented article after article, in a series of answers to the prin-
ciples published by C. Fourcroy in his Chemical Philosophy ; preceded by
a Supplement to the theory explained in the work, entitled. Researches on
the Causes of the Principal Facts in Physics, to which this forms a neces-
sary appendage. Paris, 1830, 1 vol. 8vo.

•f- Researches on the organization of living bodies, and particularly on its
origin, on the cause of its developments and the progress of its composition,
and on that which, by continually tending to destroying it in every indivi-
dual, necessarily brings on death. Preceded by a discourse delivered at the
opening of the Zoological Course in the Museum of Natural History, Paris,
1802. 1 voL 8vo.

14 Cuvier's Biographical Monoir ofM. de Lamarck.

the same waj' that his researches on the principal facts of phy-
sics contained a chemistry of that character. In his opinion,
the egg contains nothing prepared for Hfe before being fecun-
dated, and the embryo of the chick becomes susceptible of vital
motion only by the action of the seminal vapour : but, if we ad-
mit that there exists in the universe a fluid analogous to this
vapour, and capable of acting upon matter placed in favourable
circumstances, as in the case of the embryon, which it organizes
and fits for the enjoyment of Hfe, we will then be able to form
an idea of spontaneous generations. Heat alone is perhaps the
agent employed by Nature to produce these incipient organiza-
tions ; or it may act in concert with electricity. M. de Lamarck
did not believe that a bird, a horse, nor even an insect, could
directly form themselves in this manner ; but, in regard to the
most simple living bodies, such as occupy the extremity of the
scale in the different kingdoms, he perceived no difficulty ; for
a monad or a polypus are, in his opinion, a thousand times
more easily formed than the embryo of a chick. But how do
beings of more complicated structure, such as spontaneous ge-
neration could never produce, derive their existence ? Nothing,
according to him, is more easy to be conceived. If the orgasm,
excited by this organizing fluid, be prolonged, it will augment
the consistency of the containing parts, and render them suscep-
tible of re-acting on the moving fluids which they contain, and
an irritability will be produced, which will consequently be pos-
sessed of feeling. The first efforts of a being thus beginning to
develope itself must tend to procure it the means of subsistence,
and to form for itself a nutritive organ. Hence the existence of
an alimentary canal ! Other wants and desires, produced by cir-
cumstances, will lead to other efforts, which will produce other
organs : for, according to a hypothesis inseparable from the rest,
it is not the organs, that is to say, the nature and the form of
the parts, which give rise to habits and faculties ; but it is the
latter which in process of time give birth to the organs. It is
the desire and the attempt to swim that produces membranes in
the feet of aquatic birds ; wading in the water, and at the same
time the desire to avoid wet, has lengthened the legs of such as
frequent the sides of river,s ; and it is the desire of flying that
has converted the arms of all birds into wings, «nd their hairs

Cuvier'*s Biographical Memoir of M, de Lamarck. 15

and scales into feathers. In advancing these illustrations, we
have used the words of the author, that we may not be suspect-
ed either of adding to his sentiments or detracting any thing
from them.

These principles once admitted, it will easily be perceived
that nothing is wanting but time and circumstances to enable a
monad or a polypus gradually and indifferently to transform them-
selves into a frog, a stork, or an elephant. But it will also be per-
ceived that M. de Lamarck could not fail to come to the conclusion
that species do not exist in nature ; and he likewise affirms, that
if mankind think otherwise, they have been led to do so only
from the length of time which has been necessary to bring about
those innumerable varieties of form in which living nature now
appears. This result ought to have been a very painful one to a
naturalist, nearly the whole of whose long life had been devoted
to the determination of what had hitherto been believed to be
species, whether in reference to plants or animals, and whose
most acknowledged merit, it must be confessed, consisted in this
very determination.

However this may be, M. de Lamarck reproduced this theory
of Life in all the zoological works which he afterwards published;
and whatever interest these works may have excited by their
positive merits, no one conceived their systematic part suffi-
ciently dangerous to be made the subject of attack. It was left
undisturbed like his theory of Chemistry, and for the same rea-
son, because every one could perceive that, independently of
many errors in the details, it likewise rested on two arbitrary
suppositions ; the one, that it is the seminal vapour which orga-
nizes the embryo ; the other, that efforts and desires may en-
gender organs. A system established on such foundations may
amuse the imagination of a poet ; a metaphysician may derive
from it an entirely new series of systems ; but it cannot for a
moment bear the examination of any one who has dissected a
hand, a viscus, or even a feather.

But his theory of chemistry and of living bodies is by no
means the whole that M. de Lamarck accomplished in this way.
In his Hydrogeology,* published in 1802, he advanced a cor-

• Hydrogeolog}', or researches on the influence exerted hy water on the
surface of the terrestrial globe ; on the causes of the existence of the basin

16 Cuvier''s Biographical Memoir of M, de Lamarck,

responding theory of the formation of the globe and its changes,
founded on the supposition that all composite minerals are the
remains of living beings. The seas, unceasingly agitated by the
tides, which the action of the moon produces, are continually
hollowing out their bed ; and in proportion as the latter deepens
in the crust of the earth, it necessarily follows that their level
lowers, and their surface diminishes ; and thus the dry land>
formed, as has been already said, by the debris of living crea-
tures, is more and more disclosed. As the lands emerge from
the sea, the water from the clouds forms currents upon their sur-
face, by which they are rent and excavated, and divided into
valleys and mountains. With the exception of volcanoes, our
steepest and most elevated ridges have formerly belonged to
plains, even their substance once made a part of the bodies of
animals and plants ; and it is in consequence of being so long
purified from foreign principles that they are reduced to a sili-
ceous nature. But running waters furrow them in all directions,
and carry their materials into the bed of the sea^ and the latter,
from continual efforts to deepen its bottom, necessarily throws
them out on some side or other. Hence there results a general
movement, and a constant transposition of the ocean, which has
perhaps already made several circuits of the globe. This shift-
ing cannot occur without displacing the centre of gravity in the
globe ; a circumstance which, according to Lamarck, would have
the effect of displacing the axis itself, and changing the tempe-
ratures of the different climates. If none of these things have
fallen under our observation, it is on account of the excessive
slowness with which these operations are carried on. Time is
always necessary to account for them ; unlimited time, which
plays such an important part in the religion of the magi, is no less
necessary to Lamarck's physics, and it was to it that he had re-
course to silence his own doubts, and to answer all the objections
of his readers.

The case was no longer the same, when he ventured to make
an application of his systems to phenomena capable of being ap-
preciated by near intervals. He had soon an opportunity of

of seas, and its successive shifting to different points of the globe ; finally, on
the changes which living bodies produce on the nature and condition of the
surface. 1 voL 8vo. 1802,

Cuvier's Biographical Memoir ofM. dc Lamarck. 17

convincing liimself how far nature sometimes rebels against doc-
trines conceived a priori. The atmosphere, according to him,
may be compared to the sea, — it has a surface, waves, storms ;
it ought likewise to have a flux and reflux, for the moon ought
to heave it upwards as it does the ocean. In the temperate and
frigid zones, therefore, the wind, which is only the tide of the
atmosphere, must depend greatly on the declination of the moon;
it ought to blow towards the pole which is nearest to it, and ad-
vancing in that direction only, in order to reach every place,
traversing dry countries or extended seas, it ought then to ren-
der the sky serene or stormy. If the influence of the moon on
the weather is denied, it is only that it may be referred to its
phases ; but its position in the ecliptic will afford probabilities
much nearer the truth.*

In order to demonstrate this theory in some measure by facts,
and to attract the attention of the public to it, M. de Lamarck
thought it would be useful to present it under the form of pre-
dictions. He had even the perseverance to print almanacs for
eleven years successively,*!- announcing the probable state of the

• Of the influence of the moon on the earth's atmosphere ; Journal de
Physique, prairial, an vi — On the variations in the state of the sky in
the mean latitudes between the equator and the pole, and on the principal
causes which produce them ; Journal de Physique, frimaire, an xi — On the
mode of drawing up and notifying meteorological observations, in order to
obtain from them useful results, and on the considerations which ought to be
kept in view for this purpose ; (ibid.) — On tempests, storms, hurricanes, and
on the character of destructive winds ; Journal de Physique, 18 brumaire,
an IX — Researches on the presumed periodicity of the principal variations in
the atmosphere, and on the means of determining its existence, (ibid) ; read
to the Institute, 26 ventose, an ix. In a note to his memoir on Sound, he
promised to advance a theory of the earth's atmosphere, at which, he says, he
had laboured for more than thirty years ; but this was never published.

t Annual of Meteorology for the year viii. (1800) of the Republic, contain-
ing an exposition of the probabilities acquired by a long series of observations
on the state of the weather, and variations of the atmosphere, iu different sea-
sons of the year ; an indication of the times when it may be expected to be
fine weather or rain, storms and tempests, frost, &c. ; finally, an enumera.
tion, according to probabilities, of the times favourable for fetes, journeys,
voyages, harvest, and other undertakings in which it is of importance not to
be interrupted by the weather ; with simple and concise directions regarding
those new measures. Paris, 1800, continued till 1810, forming altogether
11 vols.

VOL. XX. NO. XXXIX. JANUARY 18S6. B

18 Cuvier's Biographical Memoir of M, de Lamarck.

tertiperature for each day ; but it may be said that the weather
took pleasure in exposing his fallacies. In vain did he attempt
every year to introduce some new consideration, such as the
phases, the apogee and perigee of the moon, and the relative
position of the sun ; in vain did he seek thereby to explain his
false reckonings, and to rectify his calculations. The very suc-
ceeding season taught him, to his disappointment, that our at-
mosphere is subjected to influences far too complicated for man-
kind to calculate upon its phenomena. At last he renounced
this fruitless labour, and, returning to that which he ought never
to have neglected, occupied himself with the direct object of his
professorship, — the history of invertebrate animals, — in which
he at last found an indisputable source of reputation, and a last-
ing title to the gratitude of posterity. It is to him that we are
indebted for the above name, invertebrate animals, which ex-
presses perhaps the only circumstance in their organization
which is common to them all. He was the first to use it in pre-
ference to that of white-blooded animals, hitherto employed ;
and the accuracy of his views was not long in being confirmed
by observations, which prove that an entire class of these ani-
mals possess red blood. A new classification, founded on their
anatomy, had been published in 1795 ; this he in a great mea-
sure adopted in 1797,* and substituted it in the room of those
of Linnaeus and Bruguiere, which at first formed the base of
his course. After that period, he modified it in various ways,
but without entirely changing it.-f- His anatomical knowledge

• See the table inserted at the 314th page of his Meraoires de Physique
et d'Histoire Xaturelle, and the subjoined note, the onlj testimony he has
left of the source whence he derived it. This table differs from the arrange-
ment in question, only in establishing a class of radiarii which cannot be main-
tained, and in leaving the Crustacea with insects, a union which he afterwards
regarded as improper.

+ In his system of Animaux sans Vertebres, in 1810,^ he adopted the class
of Crustacea, and created that of Arachnides, in consequence of some obser-
vations which had been communicated to him on the heart and pulmonary

^ System of Invertebrate Animals, or general table of the classes, orders, and ge-
nera, of these animals ; presenting their essential characters, and their distribution ac-
cording to their natural relations and organization, after the mode of arrangement
adopted with preserved specimens in the galleries of the Museum of Natural History ;
preceded by a Discourse delivered at the opening of the Zoological Course in the Mu-
seum, year viii. of the Republic. 1 vol. 8vo. Paris, year IX.

Cuvier's Biographical Memoir of M. de Lamctrck. 19

was not of such a kind as to enable him to advance many new
views ; it may even be said that the general distribution of these
animals into apathetic^ sensible, and intelligent, which he at last
introduced into his method, was neither founded on their or-
ganization, nor exact observation of their faculties. But what
was peculiarly his own, and will continue to be of fundamental
importance in all ulterior researches on these subjects, are his
observations on shells and polypi, whether of a stony or flexible
nature. The sagacity with which he circumscribed and charac-
terized the genera, according to the circumstances of form, pro-
portion, surface, and structure, judiciously selected and easily
recognised ; the perseverance he displayed in comparing and
distinguishing the species, fixing the synonyms, and furnishing
clear and detailed descriptions, have rendered each of his suc-
cessive works the regulator of this department of natural history.

sacs of spiders. In 1812, in his Researches on the Organization of Living
Bodies,^ he admits the class of Annelides, established, as he acknowledges in
the 24th page, on my observations respecting their circulating organs, and the
colour of their blood. In 1809, in his Philosophical Zoology,^ he creates two
classes in addition, viz. the infusoria disjoined from the polypi, and the cen-
tripedes separated from the molluscs. In this work, also, he for the first
time presented animals in the inverse ratio of their organization, beginning
with the most simple. — He preserves this order and arrangement in the
EMract from his Course, published in 1812 ;3 and besides, he separates in that
work the classes of animals into the grand divisions Apathiques, Sensibles, and
IntelHgents.— It is on this plan that he drew up his grand history of inver-
tebrate animals, begun in 1815.*

1 See Supp. p. 36.

* Zoological Philosophy, or exposition of considerations relating to the natural his-
tory of animals ; of the diversity of their organization, and faculties resulting there-
from ; of the physical causes which support life in them, and give rise to the move-
ments which they execute ; and those which produce, sometimes feeling and at other
times intelligence, on such as are so endowed. 2 vols. 8vo. Paris, 1809.

' Extract from the Zoological Course in the Museum of Natural History, on the
invertebrate animals ; presenting the arrangement of animals, the characters and prin-
cipal divisions, together with a simple list of genera. 1 vol. 8vo. Paris, 1812.

* Natural History of Invertebrate Animals, presenting the generic and particular
characters of these animals, their distribution, their classes, their families, their ge-
nera, and the principal species ; preceded by an introduction, determining the essential
characters of an animal, and its distinction from vegetables and other natural bodies ;
and finally, an exposition of the fundamental principles of zoology. 7 vols. 8vo.
Paris, 1816 to 1822. This is M. de Lamarck's capital work. A part of the 6th, and
the whole of the 7th, volumes were drawn up by his daughter from his papers. In
the 6th, the Mytilac^, the Malleaces, the Pectinides, and the Ostrac^, are by M. Valen-
ciennes. The first five are written by M. de Lamarck himself, assisted in the part re
lating to insects by the advice of M. LatrelUe.

b2

W Cuvier's Biographical Memoir ofM. de Lamarck.

It was chiefly according to his views that such as have written
on the same subject, have named and arranged their species ;
and even at present, we should in vain seek for a more complete
account of sponges (for example), of alcyons, and many other
kinds of corals, than what is afforded by his Histoire des Ani-
maux sans Vertehres. There is one branch of knowledge in
particular to which he has given a remarkable impulse, the his-
tory, namely, of shells found in the bowels of the earth. These
had attracted the attention of geologists from the time that the
chimerical notion was exploded, which attributed their origin to
the plastic force of a mineral nature. It was perceived that a
comparison of such as belong to the different beds, and their
approximation to those now living in different seas, could alone
throw light on this anomalous phenomenon, — the deepest, per-
haps, of all the mysteries which inanimate nature presents to our
view. This comparison, however, had scarcely been attempted,
or, if it were, it was made in the most superficial manner. The
study had been regarded as a trifling object of curiosity. Whence
do they come ? Have they lived in our climate, or, have they
been transported hither ? Are they still in a living state else-
where ? All these important questions could not be answered
but by carefully examining them one by one. The prosecution
of this inquiry was the more tempting to M. de Lamarck, on ac-
count of the basin of Paris being, perhaps, the only spot in the
world where such a vast number of these productions are accu-
mulated in so small a space. At Grignon, which does not ex-
ceed a few square toises in extent, no fewer than 600 diff*erent
species of shells have been collected.

M. de Lamarck entered upon this examination with that pro-
found knowledge which he had acquired of living shells, and the
excellent figures and careful descriptions which he produced,
caused those beings, deprived of life for so many ages, again, as
it were, to reappear in the world.*

• Memoir on the fossils of the neighbourhood of Paris, comprising the de-
termination of species which belong to marine invertebrate animals, and of
which the greater part are figured in the collection of drawings in the mu-
seum. This memoir, begun in the Annals of the Museum, vol. i., and con-
tinued in the'subsequent volumes, was never brought to a conclusion. It
was accompanied with a collection of plates of fossil shells found near Paris,
with their explanation. Vol. i. 4to. Paris, 1823.

Cuvier's Biographical Memoir of M. de Lamarck. 21

It was thus that M. de Lamarck, by resuming occupations
analogous to those which first procured him reputation, at last
raised for himself a monument which will endure as long as the
objects on which it rests. Fortunate had it been for him if he
had been able to render it more perfect. But we have already
seen that he was late in devoting himself to zoology ; and from
the first, the weakness of his eyes obliged him to have recourse
for the investigation of insects to our celebrated associate M. de
Latreille, whom Europe recognises as his master in this immense
department of Natural History. The clouds thickened upon
him by degrees, and allowed but an imperfect glimpse of all
those delicate organizations, the observation of which constituted
his only enjoyment. No art could stop the inroads of this cala-
mity, nor administer a remedy ; that light, which had been so
much the subject of his study, at last entirely failed him, and
he passed many of his last years in absolute blindness. This
misfortune was the more distressing, because it overtook him in
such circumstances that he could obtain none of those means of
distraction or alleviation which might have otherwise been pro-
cured. He had been married four times, and was the father of
seven children. The whole of his little patrimony, and even
the fruits of his early economy, were lost in one of those hazard-
ous investments, which are so often held out as baits to credu-
lity by shameless speculators.

His retired life, the consequence of his youthful habits, and
attachments to systems so little in accordance with the ideas
which prevailed in science, were not calculated to recommend
him to those who had the power of dispensing favours. When
numberless infirmities, brought on by old age, had increased his
wants, nearly his whole means of support consisted of a small
income derived from his chair. The friends of science, attracted
by the high reputation which his botanical and zoological works
had obtained for him, witnessed this with surprise. It appeared
to them that a government which protects the sciences, ought
to have been more careful to become better acquainted with the
situation of a celebrated individual ; but their esteem for him
was doubled, when they saw the courage with which the illus-
trious old man bore up against the assaults both of fortune and

22 Hindu Asti'onomkal Tables.

of nature. They particularly admired the devotedness which he
inspired in such of his children as remained with him. His
eldest daughter, entirely devoted to the duties of filial affection
for many years, never left him for an instant, readily engaged
in every study which might supply his want of sight, wrote to
bis dictation a portion of his last works, and accompanied and
supported him as long as he was able to take some exercise.
Her sacrifices, indeed, were carried to a degree which it is im-
possible to express ; when the father could no longer leave his
room, the daughter never once left the house. When she after-
wards did so for the first time, she was incommoded by the free
air, the use of which had been so long unfamiliar to her. It is
rare to see virtue carried to such a degree, and it is not less so
to inspire it to that degree ; and it is adding to the praise of M.
de Lamarck to recount what his children did for him.

M. de Lamarck died on the 18th December 1829, at the age
of eighty-five years, leaving only two sons and two daughters.
The eldest of these sons occupies an important place in the Corps
des Ponts et Chaussees. His place in the Institute has been given
to M. Auguste de Saint Hilaire, whose travels in America have
procured so many interesting plants, and which he has studied
so profoundly. His chair in the Museum of Natural History,
the object of which was too extensive for the exertions of one
individual, has been, at the request of his colleagues, divided
into two by the government ; M. Latreille taking the charge of
Insects and Crustacea ; and M. de Blainville of all the other
divisions which constituted the Linnean Class of Vermes.

On the Hindu Astronomical Tables. Communicated by the

Author.

There is a very singular revival of a justly exploded opinion
of the character of these tables, in the published proceedings of
the Anniversary Meeting of the Royal Asiatic Society, held on
Saturday 9th May 1835, appended to the journal of that So-
ciety. It is in the report of a speech, or observations, made by
Sir Alexander Johnston, Chairman of the Committee of Corre-

Hindu Astronomical Tables. tS

spondence. In that, Sir Alexander is represented as saying:—
** Laloubere, a man of great research, who was sent by Louis
XIV. on a mission to Siam, was the first person who in modern
days brought to Europe any document shewing the nature of
the Hindu Astronomical Tables. He brought to France a copy
of the Siamese Table, which was a subject of a good deal of con-
sideration to the astronomer Cassini. The French subsequently
brought to Europe the Hindu Astronomical Tables found at
Krishnapuram, those found at Naraspur, and finally, those found
at Trivalore, a place twelve miles to the west of Negapatnam ;
these three places are all situated in the southern peninsula of
India. The astronomical tables found at Trivalore, are supposed
to have been formed upon observations made 3000 years before
the Christian era, a fact which Bailly and Playfair both con-
ceived to be proved, as they found, upon calculating back to the
time when these tables were supposed to have been formed, that
the situation of the heavenly bodies must have been precisely
such as described in these tables. Bailly and Playfair also re-
mark, that the Hindus could not have formed these tables with-
out an extensive knowledge of geometry, and of plane and sphe-
rical trigonometry, or of some substitute for them.*"

Few persons at all conversant with the recent progress of
science and literature, are ignorant of the opinions of Bailly and
Playfair on this subject, and of the advantage that some persons
took of them to propagate, with great zeal, a total scepticism
respecting the authenticity of the true records of mankind,
which we possess in Europe, the acknowledged chronology of
these not agreeing with such an early advance of science in In-
dia. It was in vain that Mr Jones had early demonstrated the
true nature of the Hindu Tables, in opposition to the opinion
of Bailly and Playfair. By a certain class of writers, they were
held forth as a faithful record of actual observations, for many
years alter the death of Bailly. In the Edinburgh Review,
especially, as if some writer in that work had taken the opinion
of Bailly and Playfair under his special protection, we had a se-
ries of papers taking the accuracy of that opinion for granted,
down to the very time when the question was finally set at rest
in Laplace's Systeme du Monde.

The writer of this note has no means of corresponding with
Sir Alexander Johnston or the Royal Asiatic Society, and begs

2# Hindu Astronomical Tables.

to take advantage of the Edinburgh New Philosophical Jour-
nal, the pages of which, he has no doubt, will, with its customary
liberality, be lent to correct an error in science, to- direct public
attention anew to Laplace's demonstration of the real nature of
the Hindu Astronomical Tables, by quoting it here from the
Systeme du Monde. Sir Alexander Johnston, as we learn from
a note appended to the report of the Anniversary Meeting, has
been requested to reduce his observations to writing ; and it is
to be hoped may correct the oversight, in the published report,
of the lucid statement of Laplace. It is the object of the Royal
Asiatic Society, as we learn from Sir Alexander Johnston's
speech, to diffuse European learning and science in India ; but
the young gentlemen whom we send out thither with that view,
would be less stimulated to their noble task, and especially could
feel no interest in the introduction among the Hindus of that
which isinfinitelvmore'valuable than human learning and science,
and that is our revealed Theology and Ethics, were they to
leave our shores infested with any degree of the scepticism ap-
pended to the opinion of Bailly and Playfair, and go into re-
gions where they could have little opportunity for correcting diat
erroneous opinion.

What follows is copied from Harte's translation of the Sys-
teme du Monde, vol. ii. pp. 220, 221, 222 (Dublin 1830). The
demonstrations are too varied, complete, and consistent, to leave
any doubt that the Hindu Tables are the result, not of observa-
tion, but of erroneous calculation backwards to anterior time.

" In Persia and India," says Laplace, " the commencement of
astronomy is lost in the darkness which envelopes the origin of
these people.

" The Indian tables indicate a knowledge of astronomy con-
siderably advanced, but every thing shews that it is not of an
extremely remote antiquity. And here, with regret, I differ in
opinion from a learned and illustrious astronomer, whose fate is
a terrible proof of the inconstancy of popular favour, who, after
having honoured his career by labours useful both to science and
humanity, perished a victim to the most sanguinary tyranny,
opposing the calmness and dignity of virtue, to the revilings of
an infatuated people, of whom he had been once the idol.

" The Indian tables have two principal epochs which go back,
one to the year 3102, the other to the year 1491, before our era.

Hindu Astronomical Tables. 25

These epochs are connected with the mean motions of the sun,
moon, and planets, in such a manner, that, setting out from the
position which the Indian tables assign to all the stars at this
second epoch, and reascending to the first by means of these
tables, the general conjimction which they suppose at this pri-
mitive epoch is found. Bailly, the celebrated astronomer, already
alluded to, endeavours, in his Indian Astronomy, to prove that
the first of those epochs is founded on observation. Notwith-
standing all the arguments are brought forward with that perspi-
cuity he knew so well to bestow on subjects the most abstract,
I am still of opinion, that this period was invented for the pur-
pose of giving a common origin to all the motions of the heavenly
bodies in the zodiac. Our last astronomical tables being render-
ed more perfect by the comparison of theory with a great num-
ber of observations, do not permit us to admit the conjunction
supposed in the Indian tables ; in this respect, indeed, they made
much greater differences than the errors of which they are still
susceptible, but it must be admitted that some elements in the
Indian astronomy have not the magnitude which they assigned
to them, until long before our era ; for example, it is necessary
to ascend 6000 years back to find the equation of the centre of
the sun. But, independently of the errors to which the Indian
observations are liable, it may be observed, that they only con-
sidered the inequalities of the sun and moon relative to eclipses,
in which the annual equation of the moon is added to the equa-
tion of the centre of the sun, and augments it by a quantity
which is very nearly the difference between its true value and
that of the Indians. Many elements, such as the equation of
the centre of Jupiter and Mars, are very different in the Indian
tables from what they must have been at their first epoch.

" A consideration of all these tables, and particularly^the im-
possibility of the conjunction at the epoch they suppose, prove,
on the contrary, that they have been constructed, or at least rec-
tified, in modern times. This also may be inferred from the
mean motions which they assign to the moon, with respect to its
perigee, its nodes, and the sun, which, being more rapid than
according to Ptolemy, indicate that they are posterior to this as-
tronomer ; for we know, by the theory of universal gravitation,
that these three motions have accelerated for a great number of

( 26 )

On a Species of Beroe found cm the North-east Coast of Ireland,
By Robert Patterson, Esq. Treasurer to the Belfast Mu-
seum. Communicated by the Author. * With figures on
Plate I.

The necessity of separating the species of Beroe, furnished
with long ciliated tentacula, from such as are destitute of these
organs, was so apparent, that Dr Fleming was induced to form
them into a distinct genus, under the term Pleurohrachia. The
only British species yet included in this division is the Beroe
pikus. It was first added to the British Fauna by Montagu in
1812. It is mentioned by Scoresby in his Arctic Regions, and
several interesting particulars respecting it are recorded by Au-
douin and Milne Edwards. For the principal part of our know-
ledge respecting it, we are, however, indebted to the excellent
paper published by Dr Grant in the Transactions of the Zoolo-
gical Society.

During the spring and summerof the present year, 1835, 1 have
taken in considerable numbers on the north-east coast of Ireland,
a species of Beroe, furnished with tentacula, but differing in many
particulars from the Beroe pileus described by Dr Grant. As the
high character as a naturalist which this gentleman has so justly
attained, precludes the imputation of inaccuracy on his part, I
am compelled to believe that the Irish species is distinct from the
B» pileus, and consequently that it has not hitherto been record-
ed as British.

While the observations I have now to bring forward were in
progress, I resided in the immediate vicinity of the small sea-
port town of Larne, in the county of Antrim. My lodging
was situated on the small peninsula termed the Corran,-|- and
nearly midway between the two stations, whence ferry-boats ply
to the opposite peninsula of Island Magee. Through the nar-
row channel, across which these boats are continually plying, the
tide runs with great rapidity into Larne Lough. Hence I had,

• The principal part of this paper was read by the Author before the Natu-
ral History Society of Belfast on the 3d of June 1835, and several living spe-
cimens of the animal exhibited.

■j" This word in the Irish language signifies " Reaping Hook," to which im-
plement the little peninsula has a striking resemblance in form.

Mr Patterson on a Species ofBeroe. 9ft

by means of the ferry-boats, an easy mode of taking, at all hours
during the day, the small MeduscB and Crustacea^ which the flow
of the tide placed within reach of a small canvass towing net. As
the Beroes could thus with facility be procured, and were to me
highly attractive, my sitting-room, for between two and three
weeks, was never without some of them. They were kept in
glass jars, the water in which was changed twice each day.
With this precaution only, a few individuals were kept alive and
vigorous for five days, and might with similar care have conti-
nued so for a much longer period. In general, however, after
a few hours' confinement, or at most after a couple of days, they
were poured back into the sea, and their place supplied by other
individuals. In this way I had a constant succession of beroes
newly taken, possessing in perfection their locomotive powers,
and forming a subject for ceaseless admiration and remark.

The size of the animal is from two to seven lines in length, and
about one-third less in breadth, exhibiting a regular oval form.
Many individuals are, however, globose, or more nearly resem-
bling the shape of an orange. In every other respect they ap-
pear alike, and I attribute the difference rather to a contractile
power possessed by the animal, than to any permanent dissimi-
larity in form. The body is transparent and colourless, with
the exception of a deep coloured conspicuous pink line towards
the centre of the stomach, which line becomes bifurcate asit ad-
vances upwards.

It is furnished with eight bands placed at regular intervals,
and extending at each side about three-fourths of the distance
from the mouth to the anus, but approaching more nearly to the
latter. To these bands the cilia are attached, and, as the band
is less broad at either extremity than in the centre, the cilia ex-
hibit a corresponding decrease. Dr Grant, in speaking of the
cilia of B. pileics, states, that there are about forty in each band,
and that " they are not single fibres, but consist of several short
straight transparent filaments, placed parallel to each other in a
single row, and connected together by the skin of the animal,
like the rays supporting the skin of a fish."" In the Irisii species
of beroe now under consideration, the number of cilia is much
less than is here stated. In some individuals they amounted to
only fifteen, and in none did they exceed twenty-seven. The

^8 Mr Patterson o?i a Species ofBeroe

several filaments of each cilium are not connected together by
any membrane. They are totally distinct, very numerous, ta-
pering, and slightly recurved towards the extremity. Along
each band a cord or slight ridge extends, dividing it longitudi-
nally into two equal parts. The filaments on each band consist,
therefore, of two parcels totally detached. The parcels, which
correspond in situation, move in general at the same time. The
motion, however, is not always simultaneous ; each portion seems
to possess a separate and independent power of motion, and hence,
while one portion is vibrating in the usual manner, the other
may be seen moving more slowly, or perhaps perfectly at rest.
The length of the cilia at the outer edge in each row, is precisely
the same as the distance from the one row to that immediately
above ; it is greater, however, towards the centre, and hence the
base of the cilia in the middle of the row is overlapped by the
extremity of those beneath.

The stomach appears to consist of two membranous plates
joined at their edges, and capable of being extended, so as to in-
close an almost circular space. In general, however, they are
so nearly together that they present very different appearances
in different positions. The upper edge of each membrane is di-
vided into two semi-circular lobes, and these are constantly vary-
ing, both in the extent to which they are protruded and that to
which they are distended. It is seldom they are porrected to
their full extent, but, when so, they produce so great a change
in the oval form which the animal generally presents, that they
make its outline appear like a miniature representation of one of
those old fashioned bottles which we see in the pictures of the
Flemish, the short neck of the vessel being generally uppermost.
The mouth and oesophagus, as Dr Grant has observed, are
wide, and the stomach extends to the centre of the body. These
parts, I am inclined to think, are capable of considerable disten-
sion. My attention was directed to this circumstance on the
first evening that any heroes were taken. With them I found
in my net a large number of Crustacea of a bright green colour,
and from a line to a line and a half in length, which, on subse-
quent examination, have proved to be some undescribed species
of Cyclops. They were placed in a glass jar with the heroes.
In the course of an hour afterwards, when candles were brought

found on the North-east Coast of Ireland. 29

into the apartment, I noticed that several of the heroes had one
of these little animals in the cavity of the stomach, the bright
green colouring of the cyclops rendering them particularly obvi-
ous, and contrasting beautifully with the crystalline transpa-
rency of the body in which they were inclosed. Although the
length of these crustacea was equal to the one-fourth of the ave-
rajre length of the bodies of their devourers, some of the latter
were not content with even this quantity of food, for two heroes
were noticed in each of which two of the cyclops were contained.

If, however, the heroes prey upon the small crustacea, they
in turn furnish a supply of food to medusae more powerful than
themselves. On the 12th of May I took a small medusa of the
genus Callirhoe, but of a species undescribed by Lamarck, and
placed in the glass vessel with it a beroe which had been taken
at the same time. While the latter was swimming round the
glass with that lively and graceful movement for which it is so
remarkable, it came in contact with the filiform tentacula attach-
ed to the arms of its companion. The arms instantly closed,
and the beroe was a prisoner. I endeavoured to separate them,
and for thisr purpose moved them about, by pushing them with
a camel-hair pencil, but without effect. In about half an hour
afterwards, when I again observed them, they were asunder, the
beroe swimming about, and the cilia of its bands vibrating as
briskly as usual. It had not, however, escaped uninjured from
its captor. The Callirhoe had taken from the body of the beroe
" a huge half moon, a monstrous cantle out." In fact the por-
tion thus removed occasioned a vacancy which extended trans-
versely across three of the bands, and longitudinally for about
the one-third of its entire length. The being who had suffered
this mutilation seemed, however, quite unconscious of its misfor-
tune, moved about in every respect as before, and for four days,
during which I afterwards kept it, seemed to possess all its
powers in unimpaired activity.

To this instance of apparent insensibility to pain may be added
one illustrative of the extent to which the principle of vitality, or
of vital irritability, seems embued throughout every portion of
its]frame. On one occasion two heroes were taken after a storm,
with some of the cilia abraded, and other parts of the body shat-
tered and even torn. Any of the cilia, however, which were at-

60 Mr Patterson on a Species ofBeroe

tached to these mutilated parts, retained all their former mobility
unimpaired. The most damaged of these heroes was then cut
with a pair of scissors into several pieces, and each part exhi-
bited in its cilia the same undiminished rapidity of movement.
One of these portions was again subdivided into parts so minute
as to possess only one, or at most two cilia on each, yet no
change in the ceaseless motion of these extraordinary organs took
place. Thirty-three hours after this minute subdivision, several
of them were vibrating as usual ; and, at the expiration of forty-
two hours, the two cilia belonging to one fragment shewed un-
diminished activity.

On one occasion one of the heroes died during its confinement
in the glass jar. I then took the body, made in it a longitudinal
incision, and placed it in the small concave glass belonging to
the microscope. In the course of a short time, the substance of
the body had melted down into a homogeneous watery mass.
Soon, however, the warm air of the sitting-room caused some of
the fluid particles to evaporate, and the residuum gradually as-
sumed greater opacity and consistence, displaying in a confused
manner the two tentacula, and different bands of ciha. These,
when the evaporation was complete, remained as if delicately
painted in distemper colours on the glass, and were removed by
a touch of the finger as completely aS if they had never appeared
in any more animated state of existence.

Although, from this circumstance, it is obvious that the quan-
tity of solid matter which enters into the composition of their
bodies, must be extremely trifling, they possess a greater degree
of firmness and consistency than is generally supposed. Fre-
quently have some of them dropped from my net into the boat
when about transferring them to the glass vessels in which they
were kept ; and, at such times, I have invariably lifted them in
ray fingers, and placed them with their companions, without
their having received any apparent injury. If the finger be
pressed against one recently dead, the beroe will not, by such a
pressure, be changed into a broken and shapeless mass. It will,
on the contrary, by its smoothness and elasticity, slide from be-
neath the finger. My observation, therefore, does not confirm
the remark of Blainville, " a peine est il touche, qu'il est brise
et reduit en morceaux." — {Manuel cV Actinologie, p. 150.) A

found on the North-east Coast of Ireland, 81

portion of albumen enters into the composition of these bodies ;
for the beroe becomes more opaque, and in some degree coagu-
lated, when thrown into alcohol or into boiling water.

While engaged in making some observations on the appear-
ance exhibited under a lens by the cilia when in motion, I found
to my surprise that the liglit afforded by a pair of candles
was more favourable for such a purpose than even that of the
sun. The rays of that luminary were colourless as the body of
the beroe, and passed through it as they would have done
through a piece of crystal. The yellower and weaker rays of
the candle had a different effect. Impeded in their course, they
coloured the animal with a tint different from that of the sea-
water by which it was surrounded, and exhibited in darker
shadings the portions of the body which were less translucent
than the adjacent parts. Numerous dark, irregular, and some-
what parallel lines, were thus brought into view, extending the
entire length of each band. The imperfect instruments I pos-
sessed prevented any observations as to the functions performed
by these parts in the economy of the animal.

All the ferrymen, sailors, and boat-builders about the shores
of Larne Lough, and the passengers, who at all hours during
the day were passing to and from Island Magee, seemed utterly
unacquainted with the existence of such a creature as the beroe.
On many occasions, they expressed in the strongest terms their
admiration at its appearance and movements; and it was no un-
usual circumstance for half a dozen of individuals to surround
me on my landing, and ask permission to see my captures. It
was at such times, when the heroes had just been taken from
the water, that they exhibited in the highest perfection their
locomotive powers, and displayed in the bright sunshine a splen-
did iridescence of colouring caused by the action of their cilia.
As they wheeled onwards, rising and falling at pleasure, and
creating in their course the glory by which they were encircled,
they seemed indeed, though in a sense different from that of the
poet,

" Gay creatures o' the element,

That in the colours of the rainbow live."

The variety of their movements constituted one of their prin-
cipal charms. Sometimes they would ascend from the bottom

32 Mr Patterson on a Species of Beroe

of the jar to the surface of the water, with a slow and regular
movement, resembling that of a balloon, and descend at the
same rate of progression. Again they would rise more rapidly,
turn the mouth downwards, and descend with equal rapidity.
At other times, without rising or falling, they would revolve on
the transverse axis of the body, a movement of the reality of
which the language of Lamarck implies a doubt. Then aban-
doning all these modes of progression, they would revolve on
their longitudinal axis, holding the body vertical, and in this
position twirl round and round the glass. When the movements
of the body are thus varied, how great must be the variety of
motion in the cilia by which the body is propelled ! Never for
more than a second or two do the cilia cease to vibrate. Even
then it is not a total cessation, but a slower and alternate move-
ment that is exhibited. The cilia on one or two continuous
bands would then remain stationary, while the adjacent ones on
either side would move. Then those which had been still would
be set in motion, and those which had been moving would re-
main still. No regular succession of movement was observed,
but some portion of the bands of cilia was kept constantly in
motion. Hence it may fairly be inferred that they are organs
of respiration as well as of locomotion, and that the term " Pleu-
robrachia" applied to them by Fleming, is as applicable as
" les Ciliogrades" of Blainville. If water moving in elastic tubes
along the base of the cilia be the powder by which they are pro-
pelled, it is obvious from the preceding observations, that the
animal can direct the water into any particular band, and regu-
late at pleasure the celerity of its undulations.

The tentacula of these animals were, next to the cilia, the most
attractive of their parts. These organs were not always appa-
rent, but remained inclosed in the body of the animal. Among
the first thirty-five beroes taken, two only exhibited the tenta-
cula, although subsequent examination shewed that they were
not wanting in any individual. They were seldom displayed
immediately after the beroes had been taken from the net, nor
while the glass vessel in which they were kept was crowded by
the number it contained. When, however, not more than five
or six were placed there, the tentacula were thrown out to their
fullest extent, and were occasionally above six times the longest

found on the North-east Coast of Inland. 3S

diameter of the body of the beroe. In the specimen of B. pileus^
which came under the observation of Dr Grant, they were about
four times the length of the animal, which would appear to be
about the average size. The same author remarks, " They ex*
tend from two curved tubes, placed near the sides of the sto-
mach, which pass obliquely downwards and outwards, to termi-
nate between two of the bands, at some distance above the
mouth." " These tubes have a sigmoid form, and are shut and
somewhat dilated at their upper extremity." In the Irish spe-
cies the tubes are not curved in the form described, and their
.external orifice is at some distance, not from the mouth, but
from the anus. The tenlacula appear to be much alike in both.
*'• Along their whole course they present," says Dr Grant, " mi-
nute equidistant filaments, extending from their lower margin,
which coil themselves up in a spiral manner, and adhere close to
the tentacula, when they are about to be withdrawn into their
sheaths or tubes/' The filaments were in some individuals not
less than half an inch in length, and of a delicate pinkish colour.
To my eye they never presented the appearance exhibited in the
engraving illustrative of Dr Grant's paper. In some instances
they were more numerous than from that engraving we would
suppose, for even so many as fifty may occasionally be reckoned
on a single tentaculum. Most accurately has Dr Grant re-
marked, " The tentacula are often thrown out from their tubes
to their full extent by one impulse, and the'slow uncoiling of the
slender serpentine filaments from their margin, is then very
J>eautiful : when coiled up they appeared like very minute tu-
bercles along the side of the tentaculum." Of course, in parti-
cular points of view, they presented a moniliform appearance ;
and sometimes, while the filaments on the upper half of the ten-
taculum were seen under this aspect, those in the lower half
were like delicate hairs or cilia, waving from the edge. In this
respect, however, they were incessantly varying, and the tenta-
cula, at the same time, were continually assuming new aspects,
being retracted either separately or together, and thrown out in
the same diversified manner. It is scarcely possible to convey,
by any description, an idea of the beauty and diversity of their
forms. They seem endued with exquisite sensibility, which,
however, is not always equally delicate. At times the slightest

VOL. XX. NO. XXXIX. — JANUARY 1836. C

J4 Mr Patterson on a Species ofBeroe

touch will cause a tentaculum to be drawn back into its tube,
with a sudden jerk : at other times it is apparently unfelt. The
heroes never seemed poised, or supported in the water by their
tentacula. In one instance, however, they were extended to the
"bottom of the vessel, where they seemed to act as suckers, and
formed fixed points, whence the animal rose and fell at pleasure,
and appeared as if moored by these delicate and novel cables ;
the mouth being retained in the usual erect position. -

The ovaries of the specimen described by Dr Grant, " con-
sisted of two lengthened clusters of small spherical gemmules,
t)f a lively crimson colour, extending along the sides of the in-
testine and stomach.*" In above 200 of the Irish heroes exa-
mined by me, these crimson gemmules were totally wanting.
^t first I thought their absence might be accounted for by the
difference of season at the time the observations were made, Dr
Grant's being in September, while mine took place in May,
This idea proved to be erroneous : for I had opportunities of
examining parcels of heroes taken in Larne Lough, on the 3d
of June, the 14th, 22d, and 24th of July, the 20th of August,
and the 14th of September, and in no instance did they differ,
in any particular, from those observed the preceding spring.

Lamarck observes, " Les heroes sont tres-phosphoriques ; ils
-brillent pendant la nuit, comme autant de lumieres suspendues
dans les eux ; et leur clarte est d''autant plus vive que leurs
movemens sont plus rapides." Dr Macartney'^s notice of B.
fulgens {Phil. Trans. 1810, p. 264), shewed the luminous pro-
•perty belongs to some of the species found on the British coas*.
It does not, however, seem to prevail universally; at least in
all the observations I have been enabled to make, I have never
in even one instance been able to detect its presence. The
species of beroe taken at Larne is also found in the Lough at
Belfast; and specimens precisely identical have been shewn to
me by Robert Ball, Esq. of Dublin, which were taken by him in
August last, in the bay outside of Kingston Harbour. They
are, therefore, found diffused over a considerable range of the
eastern coast of Ireland.

Tlie numerous particulars now mentioned, especially those
relating to the number and structure of the cilia, and the form
and situation of the sheaths of the tentacula, seem to me to

found on the North-east Coast of Ireland. 85

warrant the conclusion that the Irish species is distinct from
the Beroe pileus, and consequently that it is now for the first
time, added to the British Fauna. I do not venture at present
to bestow on it any specific name, as it may perhaps be found
to be one of the six species of tentaculated heroes, included by
Blainville, in his Manuel d* Jcthiologie, under the generic term
" Cydippe." This I am unable to determine, as that author
gives no description of the species, but refers to the publication
of M. Eschscholtz, at Berlin, 1829, a work to which I have not
had access.

The present paper cannot be concluded better than by some
extracts from the diary kept during my residence at Lame,
shewing the kind of weather that prevailed during the time the
heroes were captured. These extracts will demonstrate, that,
in this country, the month of May, " the rosy-footed May"'' of
the poets, exhibits occasionally but few of its poetical attri-
butes.

From the 28th of April to the 2d of May, the wind coBt-
tinued northerly, and extremely stormy. Some pieces of the
wreck of a large vessel were thrown ashore near Ballygally
Head. May % Some light rain fell between 1 and 2 o'clock
in the day : the evening was fair and unusually mild and
calm : visited Island Magee, and took thirty-five heroes. The
time usually occupied in crossing the ferry, in fine weather, is
from eight to ten minutes, or from fifteen to twenty minutes
going over and returning. May 4 Extremely warm, the
mirage along all the little bays very perceptible : crossed the
ferry twice, taking a considerable number of heroes each time.
May 5, 11 A. M. A very strong gale from the south or S.SW :
a small cutter aground on the edge of the channel, and a brig
on the opposite shore : by timely assistance both vessels were
got off in safety : the gale increased to a storm, accompanied
by heavy showers, which continued with little intermission from
1 o'clock until 9 p. m. May 6. The storm has abated, al*
though the wind still continues high, and there are frequent
showers: crossed the ferry, using two nets both in going and
returning : took no Crustacea and only six heroes : two of these
were dead; two much broken, and two uninjured. May 7. Aa
the day advanced, the wind, which had fallen considerably, be-

c2

36 Mr Patterson on a Species ofBeroe.

came still more trancjuil, and the evening was perfectly calm :
crossed the ferry, and took about forty heroes. May 8. The
evening calm but cold, and terminated towards 7 o'clock in
thick drizzling rain : I had at that hour been sailing or rowing
in the harbour for three hours ; yet during that time took only
nine heroes. May 9. The day very stormy, with almost in-
cessant showers : in crossing the ferry and returning, not one
beroe was taken : rowed for a short time in the evening, using
both my nets, with no better success. May 11. The morning
fine, with light breezes from the west and W'SW., and a gentle
rippling undulatory motion over the surface of the water :
crossed the ferry, but did not get even one beroe : went on
board the schooner Supply, to the light-house on the North
Maiden Rock : a part of the stores only were landed, when the
captain was compelled, by the increasing violence of the wind,
to desist from the attempt. May 1 % Blowing hard : crossed
the ferry taking six heroes. May IS. The morning fine : to-
wards noon a fresh breeze from the south and south-east : sailed
for above an hour ; got but one beroe. May 1 4. Last night
has been extremely stormy ; to-day the wind continues very high
from the north-east. May 15. The storm last night was greater
than any we have yet had : to-day it still continues, accompa-
nied by frequent rain : nineteen small vessels are now riding at
anchor in the harbour, the greater part of which have run in
to seek shelter from the gale. May 16. The storm is abated:
the little vessels are drying their sails, and some of them pre-
paring for sea : crossed the ferry, and took thirteen heroes, all
of them dead from tlie violence of the late gale. May 19. To-
wards the evening of the 16th, the wind again rose, until at
length the ferry-boats were unable to cross, and the boatmen
refused to attempt to do so, although many times the usual fare
was offered as an inducement. During the entire of the 17th
and 18th, this state of things continued, and all intercourse
with Island Magee was suspended. This day, when the wind
and rain had abated, and the boats had once more begun to
ply, my net was sent across the ferry, attached to the stern of
the boat. Its contents, on subsequent examination, proved to
be a small number of heroes, all of them dead. From the facts

Mr Faraday's Reply to Dr John Davijs Remarks, Sfc. 37

mentioned in these extracts, two inferences respecting the heroes
may be drawn, — that they are never taken in abundance except
during fine weather; and that their absence from the surface
during storms, is not sufficient to protect them from serious
and even fatal injury. — (The figures of this Beroe are repre-
sented in Plate I. See last page of this Number.)

Reply to Dr John Davy''s Remarks on Certain Statements by
Mr Faraday, contained in his " Researches ofi Electricity,'^ in
the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal for October \ 835. By
Michael Faraday, D. C. L., F. R. S., &c. &c. *

The secretary of the Royal Society having mentioned to me
the preceding paper, I requested a sight of it, that I might, as
soon as possible, correct any error in the papers to which it re-
ferred, and of which it might make me conscious ; and having
read it, I am induced to hope the present note may accompany
Dr Davy's observations.

I do not know that 1 have any right to suppose Dr Davy
generally does not understand me in my papers, and yet some-
thing of this kind must have occurred ; for instance, the new
law of conduction referred to in my Fourth Series, is not even
now evident to him, and therefore I think I cannot have erred
in supposing Sir Humphry Davy unacquainted with it. The law
is, that all substances decomposable by the pile are in the fluid
state conductors, and in the solid state nonconductors, of the
electricity of the voltaic battery (393, 394, 404, 407, 413, 505,
676, 679, 697, &c.). The more careful examination of this
law in other parts of my printed Researches shews that no bo-
dies but electrolytes have this relation to heat and electricity,
the few exceptions which seem to occur being probably only ap-
parent (690, &c.). That the title of law, therefore, is merited,
and that this law was not known to Sir Humphry Davy, are, I
think, justifiable conclusions, notwithstanding Dr Davy's remarks.
As to Priestley's results with the electric machine, they really
have nothing to do with the matter.

• Reprinted, from the London and Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, at
request of Dr Faradav.— Edit.

S>W^ Mr Faraday's Repli/ to Dr John Davys Remarks.

I have said that Sir Humphry Davy spoke in general terms.
" The mode of action by which tlie effects take place is stated
very generally, so generally, indeed, that probably a dozen pre-
cise schemes of electro-chemical action might be drawn up, dif-
fering essentially from each other, yet all agreeing with the
statement there given (482)." In this and other parts of what I
have written (483 — 484), which Dr Davy quotes, he thinks
that I have been deficient in doing justice, or in stating Sir
Humphry Davy's *< hypotheses" correctly.

. Dr Davy for my word " general,'' substitutes " vagueness."
I used general in contradistinction to particular^ and I fear that
vagueness cannot, with propriety, stand in the same relation.
I am sure that if Sir Humphry Davy were alive, he would ap-
prove of the word I have used ; for what is the case ? Nearly
thirty years ago he put forth a general view of electro-chemical
action, which, as a general view, has stood the test to this day ;
and I have had the high pleasure of seeing the Royal Society
approve and print, in its Transactions of last year, a laborious
paper of mine, in support and confirmation of that view (I834,i
part ii. page 448). But that it is not a particular account is
shown, not merely by the manner in which Sir Humphry Davy
wrote, but by the sense of his expression, for, as Dr Davy says,
" he attached to them no undue importance, believing that our
philosophical systems are very imperfect, and confident that they.
must change more or less with the advancement of knowledge.'
and what have I done but helped with many others to advance
what he began ; to support what he founded ?

That I am not the only one, as Dr Davy seems to think,
who cannot make out the precise (or, I would rather say, the
particular) meaning of Sir Humphry Davy in some parts of his
papers, may be shewn by a reference to Dr Turner's excellent
Elements of Chemistry, where, at page 167, of the fifth edition,
the author says : " The views of Davy, both in his original es-
say, and in his subsequent explanation (Philosophical Transac-
tions, 1826), were so generally and obscurely expressed that
chemists have never fully agreed, as to some points of the doc-
trine, about his real meaning. If he meant that a particle of
free oxygen or iroQ chlorine is in a negatively excited state, then
Phil. Trans. 1826, p. 390, Edin. New Phil. Journ., Oct. 1836, p. 33.

Mr Faraday's Repli^ to Dr John Davy's Remarks. 39

his opinion is contrary to the fact, that neither of these gases
affect an electrometer,'"' &c. &c. Having similar feeHngs, I
thought that I was doing Sir Humphry Davy far more justice
in considering his expressions as general, and not particular, ex-
cept where they were evidently intended to be precise, as in the
cases which I formerly quoted (483 — 484)*.
, ; Again, Dr Davy says, " What can be more clear than this ;
that my brother did not consider water as essential to the for-
mation of a voltaic combination ?'*' &c. If this be so clear, how
happens it that Mr Brande, in the last edition of his Manual,
vol. i. p. 97, says that " Sir Humphry Davy further remarks
that there are no fluids^ except such as contain water ^ which
are capable of being made the medium of connexion between
the metals of the voltaic apparatus f** and Mr Brande's observa^
tion is, " This, however, appears to me to admit of doubt P'*
How happens it also that Dr Ure, in giving his eloquent account
of Sir Humphry Davy"*s discoveries^, uses the very same words
as those I have quoted from Mr Brande, adding, ' It is pro-
bable that the power of water to receive double polarities, and to
evolve oxygen and hydrogen, isnecessary to the constant opera-
tion of the connected battery ?" I ought, perhaps, rather to ask.
How could Sir Humphry Davy use such words, and mean what
Dr Davy wishes to be considered as his meaning ? Why, there
can be no doubt that if I had proved that water was the only sub*
stance that could 'perform these duties^ Dr Davy would have
claimed the discovery Jor his brother.

As I cannot impute to Dr Davy the intention of doing injus*
ticcy the only conclusion I can con:e to is, — that the language of
Sir Humphry Davy is obscure even to his brother, who thinks

• I may be allowed to quote in a note a passage from one of Mr Pri-
deaux's papers, of the date of March 1833; I was not aware of it when
I wrote in answer to Dr Davy. Mr Prideaux says, " Sir Humphry Davy's
theory assumes that ' chemical and electric attractions are produced by the
same cause ; acting in one case on particles, in the other on masses : and the
same property, under different modifications, is the cause of all the pheno-
mena exhibited by different voltaic combinations.' A view so comprehensive,
embracing every modification of chemical as well as electrical action, seems
to include the other two, and every one tiiat has been or can be attempted on the
subject. But what it gains in extent it wants in distinctness."— /xwmA and
Edin. Phil. Mag.., vol. ii. p. 215.

•f- Chemical Dictionary, ar<. ELKCTHiciTt. ^ ..- .•

40 Mr Faraday's Reply to Dr John Davy's Remarks.

it perfectly clear ; so obscure, indeed, as to leave on his mind
the conviction of a meaning the very reverse of that which it
bears to Mr Brandeand Dr Ure. Thus Dr Davy puts his seal
to the truth of Dr Turner''s observation* by the very act of
denying it.

What makes the matter still more remarkable is, that Dr
Davy charges it upon me as a fault, that I, and / alone^ have
said what he denies in words, but proves in fact ; whereas / have
not said it, and others have.

If Sir Humphry Davy^s meaning is thus obscure to his bro-
ther, I have no right to expect that mine should have been
rightly taken ; and therefore it is that I suspect, as I said be-
fore, that Dr Davy, generally, does not understand me in my
papers.

That " probably a dozen precise schemes of electro-chemical
action might be drawn up differing from each other, but all
agreeing with Sir Humphry Davy'sgeneral statement,"" isnoexag*
geration. I have in the very paper which is the subject of Dr
Davy's remarks quoted six: 1. that of Grotthus (481) ; 2. of
Sir Humphry Davy himself (482); 3. of Riffault and Chom-
pre (485) ; 4. of Biot (486) ; 5. of De la Rive (489) ; and 6.
my own (518, &c.). These refer to modes of decomposition
only ; but as I spoke in the passage above quoted of " electro-
chemical action,'' in reference to chemical effects and their cause
generally, I may now quote other particular views. Volta, Pfaff,
Marianini, &c., consider the electricity of the voltaic pile due to
contact alone. Davy considered it as excited by contact, but
continued by chemical action. WoUaston, De la Rive, Parrot,
Pouillet, &c., considered it as of a purely chemical origin. Davy,
I beheve, considered the particles of matter as possessing an in-
herent electrical state, to which their chemical properties were
due ; but I am not sure of his meaning in this respect. Ber-
zelius, according to Turner, views them as being naturally indif-
ferent, but having a natural appetency to assume [one state in
preference to anotherf, and this appears to be the theory of M.
Fechner also J. Again, electro-chemical phenomena have been
hypothetically referred to vibrations by Pictet, Savary, myself,

• And to that Mr Prideaux's also.

f Turner's Elements, 5th edit., p. 167.

X Quarterly Journal of Science, Tol. xxvi. p. 428.

Mr Faraday^s Reply to Dr John Davi/s Remarks. 41

and others. Now, all these views differ one from another ; and
there are, I think, a dozen of them, and it is very likely that a
dozen more exist in print if I knew where to look for them ; yet
I have no doubt that if any- one of those above could be proved^
by a sudden discovery, to be the right one, it would be includ-
ed by Dr Davy, and, as far as I can perceive, by myself also,
in Sir Humphry Davy's general statement. What ground is
there, therefore, for Dr Davy*'s remarks on this point ?

In reference to another part of Dr Davy's observations, I may
remark, that I was by no means in the same relation as to scien-
tific communication with Sir Humphry Davy, after I became a
Fellow of the Royal Society in 1824, as before that period, and
of this I presume Dr Davy is aware. But if it had been other-
wise, I do not see that I could have gone to a fitter source for
information than to his printed papers. Whenever I have ven-
tured to follow in the path which Sir Humphry Davy has trod,
I have done so with respect and with the highest admiration of
his talents, and nothing gave me 'more pleasure in relation to
my last published paper, the Eighth Series, than the thought
that, whilst I was helping to elucidate a still obscure branch of
science,, I was able to support the views advanced twenty-eight
years ago, and for the first time, by our great philosopher.

I have such extreme dislike to controversy, that I shall not
prolong these remarks, and regret much that I have been ob-
liged to make them. I am not conscious of having been un-
just to Sir Humphry Davy, to whom I am anxious to give all
due honour ; but, on the other hand, I feel anxious lest Dr
Davy should inadvertently be doing injury to his brother by at-
taching a meaning, sometimes of particularity and sometimes of
extension, to his words, which I am sure he would never him-
self have claimed, but which, on the contrary, I feel he has dis-
avowed in saying " that our philosophical systems are very im-
perfect," and in expressing his confidence " that they mtisi
change more or less with the advancement of science.'* On these
points, however, neither Dr Davy nor myself can now assume
to be judges, since with respect to them he has made us both
partisans. Dr Davy has not made me aware of any thing that I
need change ; and I am quite willing to leave the matter as it
stands in the printed papers before scientific men, with only this

42 M. Eh ren berg's Researclies on tlie Infusoria.

request, which I am sure, before-hand, will be granted, that
such parts of Sir Humphry Davy's papers and my own as relate
to the subject in question, be considered both as to their letter
and spirit, before any conclusion be drawn.
Royal Institution, January 9. 1835.

An Account of Professor Ehre^bero''s more recent Researclies
on the Infusoria. With a Plate.

In some recent numbers of this Journal, we have endeavour-
ed to make our readers acquainted with the important researches
of Professor Ehrenberg respecting the Infusoria^ chiefly through
elaborate analyses of his memoirs by Drs M. Gardiner and
Sharpey, in the volumes for 18S2-t53. Since that date, this in-
defatigable naturalist has, with unwearied assiduity, been pro-
secuting his investigations, and has given an account of them in
a folio volume which has been lately published at Berlin.* We
shall now endeavour to present our readers with a short epitome
of the most important of his additional discoveries.

This new work is divided into three parts. The first is de-
voted to the refutation of the hypothesis which maintains the
existence of a primitive organic substance ; the second consists
of observations on divers points of the anatomy and physiology
of the Infusoria ; and the third contains a description of three
new families, thirty-one new genera, and 135 new species of /w-
fusor'ia. It is of the second part only that we shall here present
an account.

I. On the Existence of a Pharynx and of Teeth in the Poly gastric
Infusoria,

In his earlier works, M. Ehrenberg had fixed on the want of
a pharynx as a distinctive character of the class Polygastrica ;
whilst this organ, accompanied with teeth, was found conspicu-
ously to exist in the class Rotatoria ; but, by certain improve-
ments in his microscopes, he has more recently succeeded in dis-
tinctly discovering teeth in the Loocodes ci/cuUuIus (Kolpoda cu-
cuUulus, Miiller). This discovery he published in his second
memoir on microscopic beings ; and his attention being thus

• Organisation in der Richtung des Kleinsten Raumes. Driiter Beitrag.
Von C. G. Ehrenberg. Folio, 11 Plates. Berlin 1834.

Teeth of the Infusoria, 4S

anew directed to the point, he prosecuted his researches, and has
since found six species of polygastric Infusoria, which clearly
exhibit a distinct pharynx and a masticating apparatus.

Of these six species only one was previously known, the
Loxodes cuctiUulus; the five others had not previously been ob-
served or recorded; though the Professor observed them in very
great numbers in the spring of 1832. According to the situa-
tion of the mouth and vent, these Infusoria ought to be placed
in two different families, viz. in the Echelida and Trachelina ;
and if their external organization is considered, it will be found
they belong to three different genera. Their teeth may be more
easily observed than those of the Rotatoria, in which the animal
must be destroyed before the number is determined. The pha-
rynx is placed on the surface of the body, and often somewhat
projects from it. As we might expect, M. Ehrenberg regards
the dental apparatus so important, that, by its presence or ab-
sence, he determines species, and also uses it for the distinguish-
ing of genera. Thus, he has separated, to make distinct ge-
nera therewith, the I^xodes cucullulus, and all the other neigh-
bouring species which are provided with a masticating appara-
tus, although the rest of their organization would associate
them with the genera Loxodes, Holophrya^ and Biirsaria, in
which no such apparatus exists. The names he has given to
those Polygastria which have teeth, are Euodon cuculhdus
(Loxodes cucullulus), Nassula ornata, N'. elegans, N, aurea^
Prorodon niveus^ and P. compressus. The three species united
in the genus Nassula are very interesting, in many points of
view, and were previously wholly unknown.

As to their form and connections, the teeth of the polygastric
Infusoria differ from what is seen in the Rotatoria. The teeth
of the Kolpoda and the Bursaria present the form of a cylin-
der, or of a slender and long hollow cone. (See Plate I. fig. 2,
&c. in which a is the crown of the teeth). They are placed at the
entrance of the mouth ; they cover its interior surface, and are
disposed in series which closely approximate each other. Their
proportional length exceeds that of the rotatory animals. Their
anterior extremity is truncated, and their indentations are al-
ways more solid and distinct before than behind, where they are
more or less indistinct and mossy ; this is also remarked in the

44« M. Ehrenberg's Researches on the Infusoria,

teeth of the Hotatoria, which, in their turn, present a close ana-
logy to those of the Entomostracea (Daphnia, Cyclops). In
pressing the animal between two plates of glass, so as to bruise
the soft parts, the teeth remain, and are very distinctly visible,
which proves that they are more solid than the other parts.

The number of teeth isgreater in this class than in the Rotatoria.
None of the polygastric infusores which possess them have less
than 16 ; and, in the larger, as, for example, in the Prorodon com-
pressus, more than 30 have been discovered. Professor Ehren-
berg has in many instances given the precise number. Thus,
Eiiodon cucullulus has 16; the Nassula ornata S6 ; the N, ele-
gans 22; the N. aurea'W ; and the Prorodon niveus has more
than 20. The extreme minuteness of these teeth, and their posi-
tion in very close cylindrical groups, very much increases the dif-
ficulty of observation, and especially that of the determination of
the number, which, indeed, cannot be done, except when the
animal is so placed that the opening of the mouth directly faces
the observer. In all other positions, he can see but a part of
the teeth, because there are always some which are covered by
the others.

The pharynx of these Infusoria has less play in the act of
deglutition in this class than in the Rotatoria. It often hap-
pens, that when the animal is vibrating its rotatory cilia, it
leaves its mouth open, and without action, and then the nou-
rishment which happens to be drawn in, enters into the cavity
indifferently, and the animal does not move its jaw at all. Biit
when the little creature wishes to swallow larger morsels, then
it previously masticates them. In this case, the buccal cylinder
first enlarges itself at its orifice for the reception of the nourish-
ment ; at that time it is narrow farther down, but as the morsel
proceeds, it contracts behind, and dilates before it. During this
movement, the mouth itself is often quite shut ; nor is it rare to
witness all these movements executed, when no large morsel at
least has been taken.

An essential difference between the teeth of rotatory and po-
lygastric animals consists in this, — that in the first they are at-
tached to the bottom of the mouth on the pharynx, and act la-
terally one upon the other ; whilst, in the Polygastrica, they
rather resemble in their arrangement a purse-net, the form of

Male Sexual Organs ? of the Infusoria, 45

which they also assume. Whilst the mouth is open, monadina of
a considerable size can easily pass between the teeth down into
the stomach, but the narrowing of a dental cylinder at the bot-
tom of the mouth does not allow them to come out again so
easily, even if the mouth be open. Perhaps the contractions
which are sometimes remarked at the anterior part of the cylin-
der, apparently without any distinct object, are the result of
the sensation which the animal experiences at the bottom of
the mouth, when the animalcules it has swallowed endeavour in
this way to make their escape.

Finally, it may be observed, that, on one occasion, when M.
Ehrenberg was dividing a Nassula ornata and a N. elegans, he
observed the existence of a second and new dental apparatus;
and that, in an individual of the first species, he observed an ir-
regularity in the original one which appeared to be preparatory
to a longitudinal division of the teeth. The regeneration of the
whole teeth of the mouth, a phenomenon trujy rare in the animal
series, is very common among the Infusoria, with whom a ten-
dency exists to multiply, by a spontaneous division. The In-
fusoria lacera, as soon as the posterior portion is separated from
the rest of the body, produces afresh a new anterior portion,
provided with a mouth, teeth, &c. M. Ehrenberg mentions his
having seen a great number of Infusoria of a primary or nor-
mal formation, which he had examined during the day, divide
themselves transversely during the following night, and, next
morning, all the posterior parts had each produced a mouth full
of teeth, which were perfectly organized. Many others were
not entirely divided into two parts : he gave an unremitting at-
tention to these, and found that the development of the parts
for a time deficient made the most rapid progress ; to such an
extent, that he calculated that the whole of the division, and
the formation of twenty teeth, might be effected in the space of
two hours. (See PI. I. fig. 2.)

II. Concerning a System of Internal Organs y simple, double, or mul-
tiple, very irritable, which may be discovered in the Polygastrica,
and which, perhaps, are the male Sexual Organs.

Though Professor Ehrenberg had very often minutely exa-
mined the Paramecium aurelia, one of the best known Infu-

46 M. Ehrenberg'^s Researches on the Infusoria.

sores, and had often witnessed its mode of reproduction, it was
nevertheless not till a late period that he ever observed a
great double organ, placed in the interior of the body, the
knowledge of which, he conceives, is not more important for
the elucidating the anatomical structure of this animal, than
for the science of physiology in general. Its existence, he
believes, evidently proves, that, besides the organs of diges-
tion, of respiration, and the fernale genital apparatus, there
exists in these Infu sores other organs still, which can belong
neither to the vascular nor nervous system, but which pro-
bably constitute a portion of the generative apparatus, by
which the animal impregnates itself. For a long time, he
had observed in the bodies of the greatest number of Poly-
gastrica isolated vesicles, which often contracted rapidly and dis-
appeared, and then after a time dilated anew. But as these
small vesicles often exactly resembled those which were filled
with nutritive matter, he regarded them as stomachs, which the
animal had perhaps alternately filled and emptied, and he more-
over believed that perhaps all the vesicles of the stomach had
this power. Thus it was, that frequently in the figures which
accompanied his earlier works, transparent vesicles may be per-
ceived placed at the side of the intestine, and which at other
times are not so indicated. In the Trachelius anas, they in-
variably appeared so large, that he was led to consider them as
particular stomachs, remarkably voluminous, and filled with wa-
ter, and he always thus represented them. After the observa-
tions we have alluded to at the commencement of this paragraph,
the Professor latterly directed his attention to these vesicles, en-
dowed with this singular faculty of sudden contraction and di-
latation, and to his surprise discovered that they existed to the
number of three or more, though usually to the number of two
only, in a fixed and determinate place of the body of the animal.
That he might the more accurately study these organs, he
took a certain number of the Paramecia aurelia, and subjected
them to pressure between two glass-plates, at the same time ta-
king care to place between them some threads of Confervae, to
prevent their too close approximation: he thus forced these
little creatures to remain stationary, and flattened them a little,
without bruising them. In this way, he speedily succeeded in
discovering eight conduits or canals, which shot in rays from

Male Sexual Organs ? of the Infusoria, 47

these two vesicles towards all parts of the body ; they enlarged
themselves by degrees when the vesicles contracted, and then
contracted and disappeared when the vesicles dilated. Every
one of these canals presented a swelling or bulging out at its
base, near to the vesicles. These two organs resembled two
small transparent Aphiures, which had been enclosed in the bodies
of the Paramecia ; they were all alike in all the specimens. —
(See Pi. I. fig. 6, c.)

At a still later period M. Ehrenberg employed another
mode of observation, which was still easier than that which we
have just described. He placed on an object-glass a drop of
water which contained a great number of these infusores,
and then removed as much of the liquid as he could ; so that
the little beings crowded in the midst of fluid could no longer
swim freely. Placed in this situation all these infusores be-
came larger in consequence of the softness of their bodies, and
exhibited in the clearest way possible the contractions and di-
latations of their two great organs. He has observed these con-
tractile organs, in every respect alike, in twenty-four species
which he enumerates, belonging to genera of three different far
milies ; but with these details we shall not trouble our readers.

At the same time we remark, that these organs, both as it re-
gards their number, or the situation of the central part of the
apparatus, present essential differences in the twenty-four spe-
cies in which they were found. Thus in six of them, and we
shall only name the Paramecium aurelia, there are found to be
two central parts of this system, one of which is in the middle
of the anterior part of the body, and the other in the posterior
part. All these infusores, too, with one exception, are known to
divide transversely and spontaneously into two portions, and in
these cases each part preserves one of the central points of this
apparatus ; and this twofold organization appears to have a re-
lation to the division which has previously been mentioned.
Sometimes also, the professor has observed that at certain epochs,
there were four of these central points in many of these infu-
sores; whilst at other times, there were only two in indivi-
duals of the same species. When there were four, there were
always two in each half of the body ; and all the infusores which
resent this number are capable of dividing themselves trans-

48 M. Ehrenberg"'s Researches on the Infusoria.

versely and longitudinally, in such a manner, that after this di-
vision, each quarter of the body preserves a central part. It is
especially the Paramecium aurelia above named, which often
presents this appearance. The Paramecium kolpoda presents two
contracting vesicles, but they areplaced near to each other, and near
also to the middle of the back. The Euodon cucidlulus has three
vesiclesj two of which are situate upon the two sides of the den-
tal cylinder, and the third in the posterior part of the body,
near the dilatation of the intestinal canal close to the vent. It
has been remarked, that this little animal also frequently divides
itself in both ways, that is to say, both longitudinally and trans-
versely. In some others a single vesicle is placed in the ante-
rior part of the body, in some it is in the middle, and in others
it is in the posterior part.

The relative situation and the number of these organs often
differs in the different species of the same genus. Thus the
Bursaria vernalis exhibits two, whilst the B. leuca and the B.
Jlava possess only one, and the B, spirigera shews none con-
spicuously. M. Ehrenberg also remarked that he had often
unavailingly sought for the organ in many of these beings for a
very long while, but when once found it always appeared very dis-
tinctly. They often remain for a long time in a state of con-
traction, and they are then quite invisible ; so that observations
must be often and patiently repeated, and their non-existence
must not be admitted incautiously.

We must also observe, that Professor Ehrenberg seems to
have made another important discovery in the organization of
these infusores, which consists in the presence of a round organ,
less transparent than those we have been just considering, and
which is placed near the central contractile vesicle. In the
Euodon cuculluhis this organ is of an oval shape, of a dull white
colour, of considerable size, and placed in the middle of the ab-
domen. A body in every respect analogous exists in all the in-
dividuals of the Nassula elegans. Its position is somewhat ob-
lique in these two species. In the Nassula ornata and the N,
aurea it appears more globular, and is equally near to a central
vesicle. In these our species he has distinctly perceived this or-
gan, and more recently in the Paramecium aurelia also. He suc-
ceeded in this by feeding the animal abundantly in some coloured

Male Sexual Organs ? in the InfiL.oria. 49

material, and then this colourless, oval, and transparent body
could be detected without difficulty.

In prosecuting his researches into the nature of these hither-
to unknown parts, M. Ehrenberg began by examining if in
the groups of infusores which were most nearly allied to those
in which he found these bodies, he could find similar organs ; and
he commenced with the Rotatoria. The gradual contractions
and dilatations which are performed by the central organ of the
radiated vascular apparatus in the Paramecia, occurred to him as
an excellent peculiarity to assist him in his researches. He had
a long time previously discovered a vascular organ quite as con-
tractile in the posterior part of the bodies of a great many of
the Rotatoria; and this led him to compare it with the organ in
question, although it did not communicate with the radiating
canals having a central point. He had described and drawn
this organ in detail when lie dissected the Hydatina senta. It
is in intimate and very distinct connection with the testicles ;
and he concluded that its function is to subserve the function
or excite the activity of the internal genital members of these
hermaphrodite animals. It was on this account that he then
named it the ejaculatory muscle of the male seminal fluid.

In the rotatory animals, the ovary appears to be reduced to
two cornea, and to produce only a few eggs at a time. In the
Polygastrica, on the contrary, the granular matter which is sup-
posed to be eggs, as they have been noticed to come from the
vent of the Kolpoda cucullulus in the normal state, is spread
throughout the whole body, and especially surrounds the intes-
tines and the vesicles. In judging from this great extent of
the ovaries, and from these differences in their organization, it
would appear very probable that there are also differences in the
form and distribution of the male seminal organs, and in the
contractile organ which accomplishes the hermaphrodite fecun-
dation. The mass of eggs being very large and very distinct in the
Polygastrica, it is very probable that the male genital organs are
equally so. Besides, such an organization Records perfectly
with the great and rapid fecundity of these animals. On the
other hand, the simplicity of the ejaculatory organs of the Ro-
tatoria agrees very well with the fact, that these infusores are
not capable of self-division ; whilst in the Polygastrica, which

VOL. XX. NO. XXXIX. JANUAttT 1836 D

50 M. EL enberg's Researches on the Infusoria.

exhibit many contractile organs, the power of self-division exists.
Perhaps the contractile organ being twofold in these last, is
only the commencement or preparation for the division of the
body which is speedily to be effected.

Hence M. Ehrenbcrg concludes, that these contractile and
vesicular organs, which are provided with radiating canals, and
which are observed in the polygastric Infusoria, perform the
function of fecundation, which is accomplished in the interior of
the body by their conducting the seminal matter. The opaque
body also, which is mentioned above, and which in many spe-
cies is placed in the middle of the abdomen, he supposes to be
the testicle. He moreover supports this view by comparing the
convulsive movement of the vesiculae seminales of the Mammi-
ferae, and recognising in the Infusores similar contractions of the
organ just described, agreeing perfectly with the functions as-
signed to them.

; It can scarcely be supposed that these contractile organs, pro-
vided with radiated canals, can be considered as respiratory or-
gans, or as hearts, because their movements are too slow, and it
is notorious that the motions of the heart, and the circulating
fluids, are more rapid and more uniform in small animals than in
great ones. Any one may be satisfied that the pulsations of the
heart in the Daphies, and the circulation in the Distomes and the
Planaries, are much more rapid than the movements we have
been considering. Before it could be admitted that these organs
were the respiratory apparatus, it would be previously necessary
more distinctly to establish the vascular system in the Infusores*
Although traces of a very delicate vascular system have been
observed in the Paramecia, it is clear there can be no discussion
at present concerning the circulation in this class of animals,
since the existence of canals in which this circulation might take
place has not yet been determined.

Having demonstrated the existence of these contractile organs,
M. Ehrenberg well remarks, that there was no necessity for his
going further, or drawing any conclusions at all. At the same
time, as the reproductive powers of the Polygastrica, as he had
previously demonstrated by experiments, are so prodigiously
great, he conceives it warrants him in drawing this inference ; and
that he can scarcely deceive himself when he admits that these

Pancreatic Glands ? of the Infusoria. 61

beings possess a generating apparatus, which is developed to
a great extent. Hence he concludes, that the organs in ques-
tion are concerned in the act of reproduction. The existence
of ovaries admitting of no dispute, and the rotatory animals of
a certain size being unquestionably hermaphrodites, be contends
that the organs of the Polygastrica now under consideration re-
present the male genital organ in these animals^ as, in the Rota-
toria, the contractile vesicles undoubtedly accomplish analogous
functions, for they closely adhere to organs which have precisely
the form and situation of male seminal organs in the Daphnia
and Cyclops. Hence he considers that he has demonstrated
the high probability, at all events, of the existence of two sexual
organs (male and female), in the polygastric Infusores.

ni. Concerning a violet or very deep blue coloured liquid, which is
found in the Intestines of the Polygastrica, and concerning the
particular organs which secrete it.

As mentioned in former memoirs, Professor Ehrenberg had
regarded as analogous to the pancreas two glands, consider-
able in size, which, in the Rotatoria, are found placed at the
commencement of the intestinal canal, immediately under the
oesophagus. He at that time pointed out their relations, and
stated that they existed probably in the whole of these animals.
If all this be true, as their situation and their connection with
the intestine, as well as their glandular structure, would lead to
infer, then the pancreatic fluid in all the Rotatoria hitherto as-
certained, judging from the colour of the organs themselves, is
either clear and colourless, or whitish, milky, and mixed-like.
For a time in the Polygastrica, he was not able to discover any
traces of these organs, though so distinct in the Rotatores ; but
more lately, he has discovered many species of Infusores, which
exhibit in the interior of their bodies a liquid of an exceedingly
beautiful violet colour. This liquid flows into the intestinal canal,
colours its contents, and with them is expelled from the body.
Professor Ehrenberg discovered this liquid especially distinct
in two species. In a third, belonging to a neighbouring genus,
he very distinctly observed the traces of the secretion of a li-
quid which was more red than that just alluded to. He de-
signated these three species by the names of Nassula elegans,

d8

52 M. Ehrenberg*s Researches on the Irifusmia.

N. ornata, and Bursaria vernalis. He could best distinguish
this apparatus in the first of these ; and the details which now
follow are principally supphed by that species.

In all young specimens of the Nassula elegans, which are nei-
ther too pale nor too much shrunk, may be discovered a beautiful
violet spot, placed in the anterior and back part of the body, op-
posite to the dental cylinder of the mouth. This part, though
higher than the mouth, cannot be considered as the head, be-
cause the intestine is ramified within it; it is to be considered
as a protuberance placed there, which, however, leaves the gene-
ral form of the animal, regular and cylindrical. It is irregular,
almost square, and as large, frequently, as the ridge itself. This
spot is formed of a great number of small violet globules, very
unequal in size, or rather of a great number of colourless vesicles
filled with a violet-coloured liquid. Proceeding from this point, a
simple canal may be seen, resembling a string of pearls, running
along the back, in which the violet coloured matter is carried to-
wards the posterior part of the body. It is only in the last third
of the body, that a direct union seems to exist between this
canal and the vesicles or stomachs of the animal ; for, in this point,
the violet colour of the liquid shews itself altered, and mixed
with a litde foreign matter. In truth, there may be often
remarked the same nutritive substances, such as fragments of
oscillatories and vacillories, in this part of the canal, and in the
stomach. In all these infusores, the violet matter is found to be
discharged at the vent, placed at the posterior part of the body,
either pure, or mixed with nutritious matter, or with the excre-
menta. The violet vesicles in the posterior part of the body
have always appeared in greater proportion than any other mat-
ters : the evacuation of the former into the latter, and their con-
sequent augmentation, has been often witnessed. At first sight
it appears as if these little beings had received as nourishment
this violet-coloured matter ; but this is not the case ; and, wholly
peculiar in its nature, it proceeds from themselves alone. It
would appear that the vesicular mass which is placed in the pos-
terior part of the neck in the Nassula elegans, is the secretory
organ of this liquid ; for vessels have never been observed to ter-
minate in this mass, and all the organs surrounding it are trans-
parent and colourless. Sometimes these vesicles were the only

Pancreatic Glands ? of the Infusoria, 53

visible ones in the body, and only in two instances, out of more
than a hundred, have they been found colourless.

Regarding the Nassula ornata, and the Bursaria vernalis,
which are the other two species which frequently secrete this fluid
in great abundance, the Professor has not succeeded in discover-
ing any fixed points in which the secretion was effected. This,
perhaps, has arisen from the secretory organs of this fluid so much
resembling in form, size and situation, the other internal organs
of the animal, that they could not be discovered. In the A^a*-
sula ornaia, the secretion of this liquid is especially abundant,
more abundant even than in the Nassula elegans : in it the vio-
let vesicles are very clearly distinguished from the stomach,
which is filled with greenish or brownish-yellow matter, and
they are equally distinguished from the ova, which are of a
bright green colour. In the Bursaria vernalis its secretion is
much less abundant. It is perceived only at the time when the
water in which these little animals swim is evaporated, and when
their bodies, being no longer supported, swell ; or when a slight
pressure is applied to their frames without crushing them. When
treated in either of these methods, isolated stomachs or vesicles
may be discovered, which are filled with fragments of oscilla-
tores, or of vacillaires, and these surrounded with a violet, red-
dish or brownish liquid.

M. Ehrenberg has remarked, that this violet liquid, which is
somewhat viscid, and almost oily, possesses a dissolving power,
which it exerts over all the bodies which it envelopes; for he has
often noticed, that in the stomachs which contained much of it,
the minute fragments of the oscillatores were always found
much altered and discoloured, divided or decomposed. He
also mentions another property which he had remarked. In
bruising one of these Nassulas, he has observed, that this beau-
tiful violet colour immediately disappeared as soon as it came
into contact with water, although the oily drop which it formed
did not mix with the surrounding mass. It was evident, then,
that the water exerted a chemical agency over the liquid. This
experiment was often repeated, and was witnessed by many, antl
the decoloration was always effected in the same way. Thai
more certainty might be obtained regarding this phenomenon^
many of these animals were placed in small globules of oil, and

54 M. Ehrenberg's Researches on the Infusoria.

the rupture of their bodies was observed after the water which
adhered to them was evaporated. In this experiment these
little beings were less conspicuous than they appeared in the me-
thod previously employed, and their internal parts were conse-
quently less distinct ; at the same time, this experiment often
succeeded, and the violet colours of the liquid always remained
intense and without alteration. Nor did the simple flattening
of these globular vesicles effect the decoloration, for they remain
flat for some moments after they are extruded from the body ;
and notwithstanding their colour is not changed.

The only phenomenon analogous to that just mentioned is
to be found in the small species of the Entomostracea. It has
long been known, that certain of these animals exhibit brown,
green, or red vesicles during certain epochs of their lives, or
during certain seasons. These vesicles are dispersed in the
substance of their bodies, and the liquid they contain is oily.
J urine, who has found analogous vesicles in the Daphnies, re-
gards them as belonging to the ovaries ; in which, however, he
is wrong, inasmuch as the two ovaries, of a longish form, have
previously had their situation indicated by him, in the place
which they occupy upon the two sides of the body. They are
still more frequently found in the Cyclops. It is especially re-
markable, that such infusores as the Bursaria, as well as the
Rotatores, exhibit, in their organization, a great resemblance to
the little Entomostracea.

IV. Upon Internal Organs like BranchicBf which have been discovered
in the Rotatoria.

There has often been a good deal of discussion concerning the
respiration of these rotatory animals. Even before Cuvier,
Paula de Schrank regarded their rotatory organs as the respira-
tory apparatus, because, instead of drawing the aliment towards
the body by its movement, it repelled it. We need scarcely
remark that this opinion is a palpable mistake, which may be
thus accounted for. When the rotatores are hungry, they
devour greedily ; but the current which their rotatory organs
occasions, continually draws so great a quantity of nourishment
along with it, that the animals can only take a small portion of
it at a time ; the remainder continues in and passes off" with the

Branchial Organs of the hifuso^ia. 55

current till it is again attracted, and swallowed in its turn.
Sometimes these animals put their turning machines in motion
when they are not hungry, and then tlie whole of the nutritive
particles are repelled.

Cuvier, on this point, seems to have adopted the opinion of
the accurate and distinguished observer, M. Savigny, who had
compared the basis of the wheels with the branchial sacs of
the ascidies. But it is evident that the analogy vrhich he sup-
poses to exist between these two is erroneous in many particu-
lars ; and Schweigger, in his Manual, opposes himself to this
explanation of the functions of the rotatory organs, because it
presupposes the existence of a sanguineous circulation which
does not exist. He considers them as organs destined for seiz-
ing the food, although he does not refute the reasons against
this opinion adduced by Schrank. M. Bory de St Vincent (in
the Diet. Classique d'Hist. Naturelle, Art. Rotifere) states these
organs to be the respiratory organs, without, however, support-
ing his opinion on any accurate researches. He affirms that, with-
out doubt, the Rotatoria have a circulation, because they have
a heart, and that the rotatory organs are analogous to the bran-
chial apparatus of other animals. His expressions on this point
are very decided ; but the organ which M. Bory de St Vincent has
taken for the heart is the pharynx, or rather the vibratory canal
which leads from the middle portion of the base of the rotatory
organs, situated upon the ventral side of the animal, to the pha-
rynx, and which forms the cavity of the mouth, properly so
called. This is proved by the fact, that when these Infusores
are fed with indigo, this vibratory portion forms a continued
line of a blue colour, indicating the passage to the pharynx.
We may add, that the whole of the reasoning of this author is
founded upon this erroneous observation.

On the other hand, another observer, very fortunate and very
accurate, Mr Carus, has proved, according to his philosophical
method of demonstration, the existence of respiration not only in
the Rotifera but also in all the rotatory infusores. He thus ex-
presses himself on the subject in his dissertation upon the develop-
ment of the bivalves of fresh water. (Nova Acta Natur. Curios,
xvi. 1831). '* All the external parts of locomotion have invariably
as their starting point — their necessary foundation— «a respiratory

^6 M. Ehrenberg's Researches on the Infusoria.

apparatus, or branchiae, somehow modified almost to infinity.
Every point of the skin more especially destined to respiration,
and still more the branchiae, ought especially to present the pri-
mitive movements, that is to say, oscillations. In the lowest
links of the animal kingdom, among the Protozoaires, the Infu-
sores exhibit in the circles of the delicate cirri with which they
are provided, the most convincing example of the disposition
just stated. The filaments, fine and transparent as glass, which
are found in the Leucophrys, the Kolpoda, the Vorticella, the
Rotiferes, and others, and which usually occasion by their ex-
cessively rapid oscillations, the optical illusion of a turning-
wheel, belongs wholly to the series of these organs."" After this
opinion, founded upon the principles of modern philosophy, the
existence of a heart and vasculatory system may not be always
necessary for the carrying on of respiration ; and the rotatory
movements of the Infusores would be a mode of perfect respi-
ration, since they effect in the ambiant liquid certain movements
of attraction and repulsion.

After reviewing these various hypotheses, and more particu-
larly the last, M. Ehrenberg rejects the whole of them, and for
this reason, especially, that he distinguishes expressly between
simple movements and respiration, properly so called, and be-
cause, in the infusores, at least, they are two distinct processes.
Moreover, he cannot believe that there is in this phenomenon
any particular influence exerted by the ambiant medium upon
the body of the animal, and, without this, respiration, in any way,
could not take place. But instead of entering more into detail
concerning previously admitted doctrines on this point, M.
Ehrenberg proceeds at once to certain positive observations,
which he has been happy enough to make. Many years pre-
viously he had remarked a local vibration in certain points of
the interior of the bodies of many of the Rotatoria, and especi-
ally in the Brachionus urceolaris. And latterly, after having
informed himself concerning the direction of the internal mus-
cles of the body, it occurred to him that these vibrations were
effected by several portions of the muscular substance, which
induced him at the time not to attach any great import-
ance to their examination. It was when maintaining these
views that he alluded to this discovery in his first treatise on

Branchial Organs of the Infusoria. 57

the infiisores, in 1830, in which he employed the following
terms : — " I have often observed small local vibratory movements
performed in different parts of the bodies of Rotatoria, which I
regard as muscular movements ; I have also observed from time
to time a fluctuation amongst the organs in the abdominal
cavity/' It was these observations which led him to the subse-
quent discovery of the system of an organ which appears to ex-
ist in all the rotatory animals.

A new species of the genus Notommata^ of a large size, furnish-
ed him, in the spring of 1832, with an opportunity of completely
convincing himself that these local movements in the interior of the
body are not merely muscular vibrations, but that they are per-
formed by particular organs, which are symmetrical, and which
occupy a fixed point. In examining the Notommata centrura
from behind, he distinctly remarked seven of these vibratory
points in the right side, and six in the left. (See PI. I. fig. 10,
h. b.) They were never at rest, and their position was symmetric,
opposite to each other, at determinate distances. Accurate ob-
servations have demonstrated that these points are small pecu.
liar organs, provided with a tail, the form of which is similar to
that of a note of music, which are put into vibration by three
small vesicles or folds bulging out at their extremity. In conse-
quence of the motions of the animal, it was also observed that
these organs floated freely in the abdominal cavity by their bent
extremity, whilst they were attached by their tail to two organs in
form of a bent club, which M. Ehrenberg, from his researches
upon the Hydatina senta^ regards as seminal organs. He also
concluded that these last organs possessed a vascular system ;
for, at the time of the local dilatations of the body of the animal,
a certain number of filaments, which may be vessels, and which
are free and loose, may be very distinctly observed.

The idea which occurred to our author, when he for the
first time observed these small vibratory organs, was, that he
perceived a vascular system executing the movements of pulsa-
tion ; but soon he reflected there was much difficulty in admit-
ting so great a number of hearts in an animal which exhibited
no traces of a circulation ; for a time, then, he remained in
suspense, and proceeded to the examination of other rotatory
animals. In a figure of the Notommata coUaris, he had pre-

M. Ehrenberg's Researches on the Infusoria.

viously marked four of these vibratory points, situated regularly
opposite to each other. This led him to infer that this little
animal, and the Brachionus urceolaris, in which, for the first time,
he had observed these vibratory motions, would manifest these
organs the most distinctly ; and this he found to be the case.
They are less distinct in the Hydatina senta, the Cycloglena
lupus, and a new and very large species resembhng the Notorri'
mata centrura, which is distinguished by lateral cirri, not unlike
wings ; and which he has named Notommata copeus. Since the
Brachionus urceolaris belongs to the cuirass-rotatory animals,
and since the organs in question are also found in the Euchlanis
macruray their existence is demonstrated in the two orders of the
class of Rotatoria, and in the three families of the Hydatina,
the Euchlanidia, and the Branchionia.

The number of genera in which these organs have been
hitherto discovered is six, and the number of species is eight.
At the same time, M. Ehrenberg believes that these are not the
only species which possess these organs, and the more so as they
are often very difficult of discovery. It is thus he remarks that
he did not succeed in discovering them in the Hydatina senta
which he had examined more than a hundred times, and with
the greatest possible attention, after the greatest possible care,
and having published the details of its organization in plates,
which were engraved in the SymholcB PhysiccB. All these re-
searches previously made had not supplied him with the slightest
suspicion of their existence ; whereas now he can easily demon-
strate them to any one who would wish to see them. Very pro-
bably their discovery presents similar difficulties in all the rota-
toria, and these must be overcome before we can hope to see the
organs.

More lately M. Ehrenberg found an opportunity of exa-
mining the Notommata clavulata. (See PI. I. figs. 8 and 9.)
Considering the size, and the great transparency of this animal,
he always thought that the organs in question should exist in it.
After some labour he found them, and in extremely interesting
relations. They are not adhering to the seminal organs as in the
other infusores, but they are attached to a distinct vessel, which
is free, very thick, and very transparent. He counted more than
thirty small clubs attached to this vessel, in a simple line, and

Branchial Organs of the Infusoria, 59

on one side only, which made it resemble the combs which scor-
pions carry under the belly. These clubs and their vessels are
so small, and so clear, like the purest crystal, that it is almost
impossible to perceive them, except when the animal is in mo-
tion ; but when once seen, they may always be distinguished
very plainly. Only one of these organs has hitherto been dis-
covered. As the small clubs are very numerous and very com-
pact, it is probable that no more exist.

It is expected of him who discovers an organ, that he will
give an account of its relations with the other parts of the ani-
mal ; and the method which our author took to accomplish this
object was the following : — The observations to which we have
been just alluding, led him to return to an external organ,
which has been formerly mentioned, and of which he then did
not know the function, viz. the spur which is found at the neck
of a great number of the Rotatoria. At first he had supposed
that this spur was an existing organ of the sexual system, be-
cause it resembled in its situation and form the penis of the
univalve Moll u sea. But even in his second dissertation, he had
demonstrated in detail that this organ has no connexion with the
internal sexual parts : and this it was which induced him to
substitute the term spur for that of chtoris. Now, when he
connects his former observations concerning the fluctuation in the
abdominal cavity of the Rotatoria, to what he has established
concerning the crooked organ which is placed upon the neck,
and also to that which he has established concerning the vibra-
tory organs attached in a line to the sides of the interior of the
body, he cannot hesitate to consider all these parts as forming a
very distinct respiratory apparatus. He regards the spur as a
syphon, or respiratory tube, and believes that the periodic trans-
parence, the extension and subsequent subsiding of the body,
which almost regularly takes place in all the Rotatoria, is the re-
sult of the introduction of water into the internal cavity of the
body. The fluctuations which he had observed in the interior
of the body would then become the moving of this water. When
the internal cavity of the body of these Rotatoria is thus filled, all
the internal organs appear isolated, so that their limits are seen
very distinctly ; but the water being evacuated, which may be ex-
cellently seen in the Hydatina senta, they, on the contrary, ap-

60 M. Ehrenberg's Researches on the Infusoria.

proach to each other, their limits are confounded, and the
outer covering of the body becomes folded. Viewing all these
phenomena, he does not fear to state that the small vibratory
moving bodies which are placed in two longitudinal series in the
internal cavity of the body, are to be regarded as internal
branchice, and he means to maintain this opinion till more de-
tailed observations shall assign lo them some other function in
their economy. The multiple hearts, which are found, accord-
ing to Prevost, in the Chirocephales, still demand particular at-
tention. They are not placed in two series, but simply one be-
hind the other ; and they may rather be compared to the dorsal
vessel of insects than to the organ now under review. Besides,
the whole form of these Entomostracea resembles more one of
the larvae of those insects which copulate previous to the time
of their development, as happens in the Orthopteres and the
Hemipteres.

V. On the Nervous Si/stem of the Infusoria.

Professor Ehrenberg is apprehensive lest he should be charged
with temerity for admitting the existence of an isolated nervous
system, forming an apparatus similar to that existing in vertebral
animals and in insects, in a class of animals which have been sup-
posed to be without any structure at all, according to many an-
cient observations, and many recent theories. Up to this period,
his remarks on the nervous system of the Infu sores have only
been general, and he has treated particularly only of the Hyda-
tina senta ; here, however, he favours us with some details to
prove that this system must be recognised as existing in the mi-
nute beings which are now occupying our attention.

In most animals in which a nervous system is generally ad-
mitted, the nerves are usually distinguished by their whitish
colour; the muscular fibres, and the vessels are of a colour
somewhat red or yellowish ; the tendinous fibres are bluish, and
the cellular tissue is transparent and clear like water. But these
characters are not sufficient when we are called to distinguish,
with certainty, nervous filaments which are exceedingly delicate;
and doubts exist even when the filaments are of a considerable
size. Another character, which is often very decisive, consists
in certain bluish zigzags which present themselves during the

Nervous System of the Infusoria. 61

contractions of the nervous fibres in the nerves ; but this charac-
ter is only sufficient for nerves of considerable bulk, and some-
times it may be mistaken for the fibres of tendons, as, for ex-
ample, for the tendons of the toes of frogs. Experiments with
the galvanic pile cannot go beyond a certain degree of minute-
ness. The only means which have been hitherto discovered,
whereby to arrive at certainty concerning the nature of a slender
filament which is suspected to be a nerve, is to trace its course
to the branch whence it proceeds, and thence to its junction
with the spinal cord, or the brain, or with a distinct ganglion,
cr, finally, to recognise it penetrating into one of the organs of
sense. Unfortunately, microscopic researches upon nervous mat-
ter are not far advanced ; and it almost appears that the tran-
sparency of the nervous matter in microscopic animals, is an in-
surmountable obstacle to our cognizance of the existence of this
substance, and of its structure.

But in spite of these unfavourable circumstances, M. Ehren-
berg never became a convert to the opinion so generally adopted,
that the nervous matter is intimately mixed up with, and not
separated from, the body even of the most irritable of the Infu-
sores ; on the contrary, he conceives that certain organs in these
animals are the brain and nerves. This opinion is founded upon
three considerations, 1^^, The possibility of demonstrating the
existence of organs resembling in form the brain and nerves ;
2^/, Their arrangement within the body ; and, 3J/^, Their dis-
tinct communication with the eyes.

As to the first of these considerations, the whole of his ob-
servations upon the special organs of thelnfusores, and their com-
parison with the organs of superior animals, have demonstrated
to him that the number of the organs, or the sum of organiza-
tion, was remarkably equal in these two kinds of animals. It
would certainly be ridiculous and inadmissible to speak of nerves
and of a nervous system in animals which had no other organs,
or which presented mere indistinct traces of them, as unhappily
has sometimes been done. But our author has discovered in
the Rotatory animals, \st, A system of organs of nutrition, with
all its details ; 2J, A double sexual system, observed in all its
development; 3J, A more extensive vascular system, the exist-
ence of which is at least highly probable ; and, 4M, Distinct

62 M. Ehrenberg's Researches on the Infusoria.

muscles and internal ligaments, having an arrangement and a
power corresponding to the external organs of locomotion.

Besides these organs, he has also discovered in these animals,
others whose forms and functions appear to have no relation with
the systems just enumerated. These apparently superfluous or-
gans are of two kinds, the one of a glandular form, the other fila-
mentous. The substance of the former, seen through the mi-
croscope, appears to be very minutely granular; and that of the
latter is also granular, or rather homogeneous and transparent.
In both of them no internal cavity can be distinguished, though
many of them present a diameter quite large enough for their
display. Two of these bodies, of a globular or cylindrical form,
are placed immediately behind the oesophagus, at the commence-
ment of the intestine, and, where there is a stomach, immediately
behind it ; they are large and easily recognised in all the Rota-
toria. M. Ehrenberg regards these as two glands, because they
are intimately united with the intestines, without being coecums,
for they are never filled with nutritive matter, and they always
follow the movements of the intestine. Both are attached by
their anterior extremity to the internal surface of the abdominal
cavity, by means of a ligament, small like the finest filament ;
sometimes they shew a vesicle in their interior. At one time he
imagined these two glands, whose situation is exactly that of the
two coecums in the Daphnia, to be the pancreatic gland. He
never witnessed them filled with coloured nutritive matter, whilst
the coecums in the Daphnia are very soon coloured along with
the intestine, as may be easily seen by experiments made with
indigo.

M. Ehrenberg regards the small bodies situated round the
pharynx in the rotatoria (see PI. I. figs. 8 and 9) as nervous
ganglions, because they are not intimately united, and because
they do not necessarily belong to any of the systems previously
enumerated. Many of these bodies send forth slender filaments,
which in their arrangement present no analogy, either with the
dichotomic course of vessels, nor with the muscles ; neither do
they contract as the muscles do, when the animal is in motion,
and do not present any thickening during their contractions.
Nor does it appear that these filaments can be vessels, although
in similar circumstances these also remain in a passive state ;

IJSII'VS ORIA.

K^livrNrw FhiL-Ifin-n . VrL.JZ.p

BE ROE. FJ'tsffrii rofjsf tjf" Ir.'/.i

Nervous System of the JiifUsoria. 63

for, were they vascular, the movement of a liquid would be per-
ceived in the larger of these filaments, on account of their con-
siderable diameter, and of the granular substance which they
inclose. If, on the other hand, many of these knots which are
placed near the oesophagus were to be regarded as performing
the function of salivary glands, this view could not be taken re-
specting those which send distinct filaments into other parts of
the body, such as the mouth of the pharynx. Besides, the in-
testinal glands which have been already noticed, are themselves
very considerable organs for the function of salivation. In tliose
animals in which they are placed upon the intestinal canal, as in
the Brachiones, they may rather be named salivary than pan-
creatic glands ; but when the stomach is not distinct from the
intestines, as in the Hydatina, they at the same time perform the
functions of both pancreas and salivary glands.

Finally, there is found in the middle of the body of certain of
the rotatoria, small isolated knots (see PL I. figs. 8 and d,gg)i
which are freely suspended between the long filaments ; they are
very delicate and simple, and give origin to other slender fila-
ments, or more accurately, several of these filaments, and some-
times only two, unite in these bodies. These small and free
organs, which are always placed in the same spot, have distinct-
ly the form of ganglions and nerves ; and they move in a pas-
sive manner, with the movements of the muscles.

The second consideration which confirmed him in the belief
that there were nerves in the infusoria, was the particular ar-
rangement of the bodies we have just been considering. These
large knots — those most like nervous or cerebral ganglions — are
found placed exactly round the oesophagus and near the mouth ;
and it is well known that it is precisely in this place that the well
determined nervous ganglions are found in other animals, and es-
pecially in the Entomostracea, the Mollusca, and in worms. The
rest of the body presents a nervous distribution, simple, and also
by rays intermixed with ganglions, agreeing very well with what
we should expect.

The discovery of a direct communication between the me-
dullary knots situated on the neck, near the oesophagus, and the
constant red points which are commonly found in the same »i-

64 M. Elirenberg's Researches on the Infusoria.

tuation, appeared to him especially to settle the point, and to
prove the nervous nature of these organs. As early as 1831,
in his second dissertation, he had demonstrated that these red
points are the eyes, and he now supports this opinion by many
new proofs. In his former dissertation, he remarked that these
points always maintained the same situation, and that their form,
their colour, and their position, exhibited the strongest analogy
with the eyes of the young Entomostracea, of the genus Cyclops,
animals which had always been regarded as provided with eyes.
Though directed by this analogy, he, moreover, supported his
views by the granular structure of the substance of the pigment,
and by the size of the nervous knot upon which the double eye
of the Cyclops is placed, an organ of which no notice had pre-
viously been taken. But it will be still easier to perceive this
approximation by comparing these parts with the more delicate
eyes of the Daphnias. All the known species of Daphnias have
two kinds of eyes, as flies have. The large compound eyes, of
a black colour, are moved by four muscles, according to M.
Strauss, and by eight according to our author.

Near these eyes a cylindrical prolongation, round before, may
be very distinctly perceived, which arises from the brain, and
which is to be considered as the optic nerve ; it is continued for-
wards by two fine threads, which enter directly into the middle
part of the eye ; the optic nerve reposes upon a large knot of
medullary matter ; from this a second and thick elongation
arises, which becomes thinner in its progress towards the middle
of the forehead. Immediately behind the termination of this
prolongation, a reddish or blackish spot is seen, of a round or
elongated form, which in its colour and substance resembles the
eyes of the Rotatoria. This spot has not been observed by
Jurine ; M. Strauss has exhibited it in an imperfect manner in
the Daphnia pulex^ and it has been more accurately observed by
Messrs Schceffer and Gruithuisen. The eyes of the Cyclops
have no resemblance to the composite eyes of the Daphnias,
whilst in a striking way they resemble the small points or eyes
of these same Daphnias, which may be called simple eyes in com-
parison of the others, which are larger, and provided with a
great number of facets.

Nervous System of the Infusoria. 6^

SchoefFer had previously observed the several parts of the
brain of the Daphnies, better even than J urine. But the for-
mer of these observers had given to the brain too many por-
tions, as the latter had described too few ; for Schoeffer errone-
ously regarded the feelers of the females, which are inclosed in
the lower and truncated part of the forehead, as a third part of
the brain, whilst Jurine had recognised the true nature of these
organs, but had not discovered the middle part of the brain
which supports the small eye, and no more had he seen this eye
itself Mr Strauss, moreover, had not perceived that portion of
the feelers which is hidden, he had only seen and delineated their
projecting extremities. In many species he mistakes the optic
nerve for the simple eye ; and he regarded that eye as a simple
point or black spot, although it presents the same organization
as the eye of the Cyclops, which he himself regards as the eye,
and though that organ possesses an optic nerve which is very
distinct. Mr Strauss has represented that eye as nearly of the
same form as in all the species of the Daphnies, while M.
Ehrenberg is satisfied that, according to the different species,
there is a great difference in this point ; and besides, the colour
of this simple eye is not black, but red, sometimes bright and
sometimes dark.

Whoever will attentively examine the eyes of the Daphnia
and the Cyclops, which may very well be done with a magnifier
of 200 power, will find as much reason to conclude that these
organs have eyes in them, as he has for considering as such the
simple eyes of the Diptera. And after this he can entertain no
doubt concerning the function of the red points in the Rotatoria,
and other Infusores, even down to the Monades. Doubts on
the point are solely the consequences of an imperfect knowledge
of the connection and extent of the organs of the same name in
other animals.

It is quite natural that the spot of coloured pigment should
have been observed previous to the optic nerves, which are co-
lourless and transparent ; but we are not authorized to admit
the real absence of these nerves, which are often invisible on ac-
count of their minuteness and their transparency, and also on
account of the opacity of the parts which surround them, in
the places where the coloured points exist. On the other hand,

TOL. XX. NO. XXXIX. — JANUARY 1836. E

66 M. Ehrenberg's Researcltes on the hifusoria.

the absence of a spot of coloured pigment does not prove that
the brain is awanting ; for we know there exist species among
the mammiferae in which the eyes waste and almost disappear,
whilst the brain does not participate in this diminution. It is
indeed probable, according to all that is known, that nervous
matter exists throughout the whole of the animal series.

The genus Daphnia, then, being provided with simple and
compound eyes, the Cyclops with simple eyes only, and, finally,
the connection of these eyes with the brain being very conspicu^
ous, our author contends that these are proofs sufficient to dissi-
pate all the doubts which have hitherto existed concerning the
nature of the black-coloured pigments which are placed in the
interior of the head of many animalcules. Add to this, that
M. Ehrenberg has, in a great number of instances, very dis-
tinctly observed the knots of medullary substance communicate
with the spots of red pigment in the Rotatoria, and has repre-
sented them in many, as in the subjoined figures. These are the
reasons which have led him to maintain the existence of nerves
in the Infusoria, reasons which are not hypothetical, but con-
firmed by a series of experiments.

In conclusion, it may be remarked, that the whole of M.
Ehrenberg's observations have led successively to the recogni-
tion, in the Infusores, the smallest of all beings which man can
perceive by those means of investigation which optical instru-
ments supply, all the systems of organization which consti-
tute the essential part of the organization of man ; and these
systems are not rudimentary, but, after their kind, as perfect as
in man, although with diff'erent forms ; and it may be perceived
that the animal organization in man, and in the Rotatoria, and
even in the Polygastric Monad, consists of a single type, which
predominates throughout the whole series of animals. And
moreover, every thing that he has advanced on these organized
beings, so infinitely small, is not a bold and groundless philo-
sophical speculation, but solely the result of innumerable ob-
servations, which have not yet been brought to a conclusion,
notwithstanding the length of time he has already spent upon
them.

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( 68 )

On the Chalk and Flint of YorJcshire, as compared with the
Chalk and Flint of the Southern Counties of England. By
James Mitchell, LL. D. F. G. S. Communicated by the
Author.*

The chalk and flint of Yorkshire, whilst they possess qua-
lities sufficient to identify them with the chalk and flint of the
southern coimties, have at tjie same time some considerable dif-
ferences deserving of attention.

The district in Yorkshire in which they are found, is exposed
to view on the sea-coast, commencing about a mile east of the
town of Bridlington, and extending round the bold and lofty
promontory of Flamborough Head, and thence onwards to the
north, to beyond the heights called Specton. Inwards the chalk
district extends through a low range of hills to a point to the
east of the town of Mai ton, being about twenty miles from
York, and the same distance from Scarborough.

The Yorkshire chalk is much harder than the chalk in the
south. As soft chalk as any in England may be found in the
pits on either side of the river Thames, and it is so much so,
that the fossils found in it may be cut out or displayed on pe-
destals to advantage, with a pen-knife and plate brush. A si-
milar chalk is found in Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, and
Bedfordshire.

The chalk at Dover, at Norwich, at Lewes, at Brighton, and
in the Isle of Wight, is harder; and a still harder chalk is
found on Handfast Point and under Ballard Downs, in the Isle
of Purbeck ; and the hardest of all which I have examined, is in
the quarry at the foot of Corfe Castle, in the same district. But
even the chalk of Corfe Castle, superlatively hard as it is, falls
short of the stony hardness of the chalk of Flamborough Head,
and the district proceeding from it inland. A proof of its hard-
ness may be observed in the use made of it in forming the pub-
lic roads. There were heaps laid along the road beginning two
miles from Malton, and extending onwards six miles towards
Scarborough. It was also the material used for several miles on

• Eead before the Geological Society, London. January 7, 1835.

Dr Mitchell on the Chalk and Flint of Yorkshire, 69

the road from Scarborough to Bridlington. In the dry season
of the year no roads could be better, but the coachmen stated to
me that it was a bad material for winter. Still it is sufficiently
good to obtain a preference, although on each side there is an
abundance of either limestone or oolite, which might be substi-
tuted if necessary, at merely the expense of a little longer car-
riage. In the southern counties chalk is found to make a use-
ful substratum, as in the case of the New North road near Lon-
don, but I have never seen it used as the chief material for any
turnpike road, nor even for any parish road, except near Dun-
stable, in the county of Bedford. I have heard of it being used
in some places in Buckinghamshire. A geological proof of the
hardness of the Yorkshire chalk may be drawn from the great
size of the diluvial rounded fragments on the top of the cliffs.
In the southern counties the fragments in the diluvium above
the chalk are generally small, at the most of a few ounces
weight, but the fragments on the lop of the cliffs in Yorkshire
must be reckoned by the pound and stone -weight, and in some
parts of the cliff these fragments are heaped above each other,
and display a front of at least ten feet between the solid chalk
and the mould at the top. The diluvial action may probably
have proceeded from the north-east, and it is very obvious that
great changes must have taken place, and that the land must
at one time have extended much beyond the space which it at
at present occupies. Fragments of the various products of this
coast I found in the diluvium on the east side of the top of
Mount Sorrel in Leicestershire, and similar fragments may be
collected in considerable abundance in the gravel pits at Mus-
well Hill, near London. A still more striking proof of the
hardness of the chalk is seen in the immense blocks which lie
at the foot of the cliffs, more particularly under Specton Cliffs.
Though sometimes smaller, yet they are in general of many
tons weight, and are in the form of regular cubes or rectangular
solids, and they seem to bid defiance to the fury of the waves
of the German Ocean, driven in with the full violence of the
north-eastern storms. In these blocks of chalk are masses of
flint extending from side to side, the chalk and flint adhering
together as firmly as if they were only one substance. From
my own personal experience I can state, that the hammer which

70 Dr Mitchell on the Chalk and Flint of Yorkshire,

had triumphed over the sienite of Mount Sorrel, and the lime-
stones of Derbyshire, was broken to pieces on Flamborough
Head.

Hard as is the chalk on this coast, the sea has been able to
excavate many caves at the foot of the cliff of Flamborough
Head. There is one which I landed to examine near what is
called the north shore, being a sort of haven for fishing boats.
I found it to have only a low and narrow entrance from the sea,
but it was about 300 feet in length, and fifty at its greatest
height, and in form that of a boat turned over with the keel
upwards. As the sea is able to make caves of far greater ex-
tent on coasts formed of granite and sandstone, it is not to be
wondered that it has forced its way into the chalk.

As other materials are so abundant in Yorkshire, chalk is
not employed for the purpose of building in any place where I
was, but there can be no doubt that it would be sufficiently du-
rable.

A large portion of the upper part of the Yorkshire chalk is
without flint. This is certainly not peculiar, for the same is
the case on Dunstable Downs, in some places in Norfolk, and
to a small extent at Northfleet, and in many other places.
Still in the south the absence of flint on the upper chalk is the
exception ; but it is not so in Yorkshire. For a long way be-
tween Bridlington and Flamborough Head, no flint is at all
to be seen, and in the lofty clifl's of Flamborough Head, and to
the north of it, there is no flint for a hundred feet and more
from the top, and it is only towards the lower part that it is to
be seen, where it appears in tabular strata.

At the landing place called the north shore, the cliff" is very
low, only a little more than fifty feet ; and the section is as fol-
lows :

3 feet covered with grass.
30 feet chalk without flint.

20 feet chalk with seven strata of tabular flint. The top stratum of flint
is 6 inches thick, five strata are 2 inches each, and one stratum,
the lowest, is 4 inches thick.

The chalk in the cliff*, and between the cliff's and the sea, is
remarkably hard.

The chalk in the cliffs of Yorkshire is more distinctly strati-

Dr Mitchell on the Chalk and Flint of Yorkshire. 71

fied than the chalk in the south. This is very perceptible all
the way round Flamborough Head, and onwards to Speeton
Sands, and I observed the same thing while passing some quarries
near the road side between Scarborough and Bridlington. In
these quarries, as well as in parts of the cliffs near Bridlington,
were thin strata of earth, between the strata, which is a thing
rarely seen in the south.

In many, indeed in most, of the quarries in the south of
England, were it not for the horizontal lines of flint, we should
not be led to form any idea of their being stratified, however
our knowledge of the formation would lead us to know that it
must be so. Frequently the fissures and divisions in the chalk
almost obliterate the appearance of horizontal stratification, but
all round the chalk cliffs in Yorkshire, the appearance of strati-
fication is as decided as it can be, and is as much so as in the
limestone in Derbyshire, or oolite in Dorsetshire, Wiltshire, or
Gloucestershire. In most places the strata were about two feet
in thickness. Under the Speeton cliffs, for the extent of seve-
ral hundred yards, the strata of the chalk towards the foot of
the cliff^s to the height of twenty feet, and the ledges on the
beach extending down to the sea, were of a red colour. This
has been attributed with good cause to iron diff*used through it,
and colouring it. In another place, for an extent of 500 yards,
red chalk was visible at the foot of the chff*, and extending down
the beach to the sea. In the Yorkshire chalk, in several places
I observed extensive veins of fine calcareous spar, of about a
quarter of an inch in breadth. I have never seen similar veins
in any of the numberless quarries and cliffs which I have exa-
mined in the southern counties.

Under Speeton there is in one place what has been called con-
torted strata of chalk, but I consider that the phenomenon is ex-
ceedingly simple. The appearance clearly shews, from some
cause or other, that there has been a depression ; and the con-
sequence has been, that the strata have sunk down in that part
forming bending lines, and some of the chalk between has been
thrown .forward to fill up the vacant space so produced. In
Burlington Bay there is a similar appearance, only on a smaller
scale.

In Yorkshire the flint differs exceedingly from the flint in

72 Dr Mitchell on the Chalk and Flint of Yorkshire.

chalk in the southern counties. The Yorkshire flint is found
only in large tabular masses. In the southern counties, flint is
found in round balls, varying in size from that of a musket bul-
let to that of a six-pounder ball. Sometimes flint is in the form
of a tube, but by far the greater part is in nodules or tubers of
every sort of form, but always bounded by curved lines, and
much resembling the forms which melted lead will assume when
poured into water. Horizontal lines of such flints are found in
most quarries and chff*s ; and in cliff's of the same height as that
of Flamborough Head, as many as from seventy to eighty may
be counted, but none such are seen at Flamborough Head.
We find in the southern counties tabular flint, being flint in one
continued mass, the extent of which is to be measured by the
acre or a square mile, but it is rare to see more than one or two
such lines along any cliff; But at Flamborough Head, there
were strata of tabular flint and of no other description, and only
towards the foot of the cliff", and five or six or seven strata, or
more, at short distances, varying from one foot to five feet from
each other. Some of the strata were about two inches in thick-
ness, but some were as much as a foot. In fact, the strata of
flint in the Flamborough Head chalk, bears a striking resem-
blance to the strata of chert, as seen in the oolite in the cliff's on
the west side of the Isle of Portland. From the masses of flint
which I observed amongst the heaps of chalk laid down for six
miles along the road between Mai ton and Scarborough, it was
evident that the flint there was of exactly the same description
as at Flamborough Head. As a qualification to the preceding
remarks, it ought to be stated, that some few small round flints,
the matter of which had probably aggregated about some animal
substance, were to be seen on the beach.

As to the colour of the Yorkshire flint, instead of deep black,
which is usual in the south of England, in flints found in chalk,
it was of greyish or whitish colour, but not uniform ; and some
parts were much whiter than others. Though distinctly diff'er-
ent in colour from the bright whiteness of the chalk, it is not so
much so as to render the flint strata visible or conspicuous, un-
less at a short distance.

When the hammer is applied to the Yorkshire flint, the dif-
ference between it and the flint in the south of England is found

Dr Mitchell on the Chalk and Flint ofYorlcshire. 7S

to be very great. It is not easily broken into long flakes. It
cannot be broken with ease in any direction. On the contrary,
the Yorkshire flint is a most unmanageable substance, not easily
breaking without great violence, and then the fragments are
short, small, and clumsy, and not yielding a graceful form and
long sharp edge. It is totally unfit for the gun-flint maker. It
can never have supplied knife-blades and kelts to the ancient
Britons, and innumerable fragments must have been struck off
before any suitable for a spear-head, or the point of an arrow,
could have been procured. In a barrow opened near Scarbo-
rough, the head of a spear, and the points of arrows, were found
along with the skeleton of a chief, and these are to be seen in
the Scarborough Museum, and have been described and figured
in a publication by Mr Williamson junior. They are as clumsy
as it is possible to conceive, and far inferior to what might rea-
dily, by the most inexperienced, be struck from the flint found
in the south.

The outside of the Yorkshire flint does not, by exposure to
the action of the air and water, acquire the thick white crust
which is uniformly produced under similar circumstances, in the
flint from chalk in the southern counties, which is often sup-
posed, from its appearance, to be a combination of flint and
chalk, but which is seldom any thing else but the flint itself.
The Yorkshire flint, on exposure, becomes on the outside of a
reddish-brown colour, not unlike rust from iron ; but, on the ap-
plication of the hammer, it is found to be merely on the very
superficies scarcely the thickness of a coat of paint, and below it
the flint is unaltered.

Nodules of pyrites were frequent, which is sometimes, but not
often, the case in the south, until we come to the chalk below
the flint.

Altogether, the flint at Flamborough Head bears a great re-
semblance to the chert brought from Flintshire to the potteries,
in different parts of England, and which is employed for the
purpose of grinding the flint found in chalk, after it has been
rendered white and friable by being burnt in the fire.

From observations on the chalk formation in Ireland by Mr
Conybeare and Dr Buckland, published in the Geological
Transactions, vol. iii. p. 169, 170, it would appear that the

74 Dr Jacob on the Infra-orhital Cavities

chalk of Yorkshire and the chalk of Ireland were very much
alike. The chalk of Ireland is stated to be so hard, that it is
known by the name of White Limestone. It is traversed by
slender veins of calcareous spar, which are more frequent in the
lower beds. It contains, though in very small quantities, kid-
neyrshaped nodules of iron-pyrites. The most striking of its
imbedded contents are said to be flinty nodules, which traverse
the mass in regular horizontal strata.

The chalk in Ireland is stated in that paper to have some
other peculiarities ; but the above are exactly applicable to the
chalk of Yorkshire.

On the Irvfra-orhital Cavities in Deers and Antelopes, called
Larmiers hy the older French Naturalists. By Arthur
Jacob, M. D., Professor of Anatomy in the Royal College of
Surgeons in Ireland.*

In compliance with the recommendation of the Committee of
the Zoological Section of the Association made at the meeting
in Cambridge in 1833, I have availed myself of such opportu-
nities as have been afforded me of investigating the nature,
structure, and uses of these remarkable parts. To those alto-
gether unacquainted with the subject it is necessary to state
that they consist of two oval depressions about an inch and half
long, half an inch wide, and more than three quarters of an
inch deep in the majority of instances; situated on the side of
the face, and so near to the inner angle of the eye that they
create a very reasonable suspicion that they are connected with
that organ, and hence the term larmier applied to them. The
bottom of the depression is in most cases naked, but in some it
is jcovered with the hair, consequently it is composed of the skin
formed into an open sac, accommodated in a corresponding de-
pression in the bones of the face. In many animals provided
with this organ, a gutter, formed by folds of skin, leads so di-
rectly to it from the surface of the e)/e, that the passage of the
tears from the one place to the other appears inevitable ; while

• Read at the Meeting of the British Association held in Dublin, August
1835.

in Deers and Antelopes. 75

in others this communication is so imperfect that a doubt is at
once raised as to its destination to such a purpose. If the part
in question be not a cavity, as suggested by some, in which the
overflowing secretions from the surface of the eye are dis}X)sed
of by evaporation, another reason for its existence must be as-
signed. The arguments which may be urged against the sup-
position that it is destined to receive the tears are, first, that it
exists in the antelopes and deers only, and is even absent, or
merely rudimental, in many of these ; while in animals said to
be destitute of the usual canals for carrying off the tears to the
nose, as the elephant and hippopotamus, it is absent ; secondly,
that the solid concretions generally found in it are not composed
of such ingredients as the tears and other secretions from the
surface of the eve should afford.

If the conclusion that these are cavities for the reception of
tears be discarded, their identity of nature and character with
the numerous provisions for the secretion of peculiar or odorife-
rous materials suggests itself. In many instances, especially in
the mammalia, glands are found opening on the surface of the
skin, and pouring out peculiar fluids, sometimes altogether un-
connected with any organ ; such are the glands on the side of the
head between the eye and ear of the elephant, those described
by Tiedemann between the eye and nose in certain bats, con-
sisting of a sac with a folded lining membrane, affording a foetid,
oily secretion, and beneath the eye in the marmot and two- toed
ant-eater ; such also are the glands on the side of the chest of
the shrew, described by St Hilaire, and the inguinal glands of
hares. Still more remarkable examples are furnished by the
pouches, affording the valuable odoriferous materials in the
Diusk, beaver, and civet ; and if additional examples be re-
quired, they are found in the otter, male hyena, ichneumon,
badger, and the dorsal gland in the peccary. That the cavities
alluded to in the deers and antelopes afford peculiar and often
odoriferous secretions, is established on the authority of several
naturalists. Buffon describes the contents in the stag as resem-
bling ear-wax. Daubenton found the secretion in an old stag
so much indurated as to constitute a solid mass, or bezoard,
as he calls it, eleven lines long, seven broad, and six thick.
Camper found hard, yellowish particles in the fallow deer. In

76 Dr Jacob on the Infra-orhital Cavities

a species of antelope first described by Dr Herman Grimm,
this organ secretes a fluid of such peculiar and distinct cha-
racter that no doubt can be entertained of its nature. He de-
scribes it to be a yellowish, fatty, and viscous humour, having
an odour between musk and camphor. Vosmaer says that it
hardens and becomes black in time, and that the animal rubs it
off on the rails of its cage, but he could not detect the musky
odour. Pallas, who describes the Antilope grimmea particularly,
concurs in these observations.

It may be objected to the conclusion, that these are organs
for the production of an odoriferous secretion, that the sac ex-
hibits so little of glandular character that it appears inadequate
for the purpose, especially when several of the external openings
alluded to, as that on the head of the elephant and the back o^
the peccary, are merely the outlets of considerable glands ; but
on the other hand, many organs of this character are mere sacs,
as that on the face of the bats, the bottom of which presents a
peculiar folded appearance, and the cavities in the musk and
beaver, which afford the odoriferous secretion in such large
quantity.

A statement respecting these infra-orbital cavities has been
made by the Rev. Gilbert White in his Natural History of
Selbourne, which might appear to originate in some error, were
it not supported by the more recent testimony of Major Hamil-
ton Smith. These gentlemen state, that when the deer drinks,
the air is forced out through these cavities, and, according to
Major Hamilton Smith, may be felt by the hand, and affects
the flame of a candle when held to it. Notwithstanding such a
positive statement by two observers of established character for
faithful description, the passage of air through these cavities
cannot take place, they are perfectly impervious toward the nos-
tril ; but I have no doubt that the fact stated is correct, the air
which escapes passes, not through the infra-orbital sacs, but
through the lachrymal passages, which are very large, consisting
of two openings capable of admitting the end of a crow's quill,
the entrance to a tortuous canal, which conducts the tears to the
extremity of the nose. Introducing a pipe into the outlet of the
nasal duct at the extremity of the nose, I can, without difficulty,
force a current of air or water through the nasal duct ; and it

in Deers and Antelopes, 77

therefore appears reasonable to admit that the effect observed
by the two gentlemen alluded to, arose from the animal forcing
the air into the nostrils while the nose and mouth were immersed
in water. Even in the human subject air may be forced up the
nasal duct into the lachrymal sac, by filling the cavities of the
nose from the lungs while the nostrils are closed by the hand.

Persons following up this investigation should be aware that
these cavities exist in a very imperfect state in many species,
being, in fact, merely rudimental, and incapable of affording
the secretion which they are destined to provide in others.
The last traces of the organ may even be detected in goats,
sheep, and perhaps all the ruminants. It is a beautiful example
of that adherence to an original type or model which is so con-
spicuous in animal organization, and as if in obedience to a law
that all the ruminants should be provided with a sinus beneath
the eye for the secretion of a peculiar odoriferous matter, but
that it should remain in an imperfect or unfinished state in those
who do not require such additional aid to distinguish sex or re-
cognise species.*

Since the above was written I have had an opportunity of
examining these sinuses in the wapiti (Cervus canadensis), and
obtained from one of the cavities a large solid mass of the in-
durated secretion like that found in the sinuses of the stag by
Daubenton, and called by him hezoard de cerf. This, Dr
Geoghegan, the Professor of Medical Jurisprudence in the
Royal College of Surgeons, has been kind enough to submit to
analysis, the results of which corroborate the inference that the
secretion found in the cavities is derived from the cavity itself,
and not from the surface of the eye. The existence of the hairs
and flakes of exfoliated cuticle in layers proves that the deposit
is formed from the surface beneath, and not by evaporation of
fluids trickling into the cavity. Dr Geoghegan's account of the
analysis I annex in his own words.

" The bezoard described by Dr Jacob is covered by a fine
transparent membrane, a good deal resembling goldbeater's

• The authorities quoted are BufFon in the original quarto edition, t. vi, and
Suppl. t. iii. •, Pallas, Spicilegia Zoologica; White's Natural History of Sel-
bourne : the supplementary volume of Griffith's Translation of Cuvier on the
Ruminants, by M^jor Charles Hamilton Smith : and Camper, (Euvres, t. i.

78 Dr Jacob (m the Iiifra-orbital Cavities

leaf; within this, and arranged concentrically, are four or five
laminae, having a coriaceous appearance; these seem to be
soaked with the dark brown matter which constitutes the gieat
bulk of the mass. The thickness of these membranous cover-
ings is altogether about a line and half. The matter contained
within this covering is of a dark reddish-brown colour, resem-
bling indurated cerumen, and consisting apparently of a number
of fine hairs matted together by a substance of an oleo-resinous
appearance. This substance in one specimen was viscid and
tenacious, and of the consistence of common turpentine; while
in another it was more friable. Both exhaled a most peculiar
odour resembling soft soap made with fish oil, but slightly pun-
gent and aromatic. The more friable specimen had the smell
of kreosote when much diluted. The specific gravity of the
large mass was 1.081. The material has a slightly bitter taste,
but does net dissolve in the mouth, and imparts a very slight
greasy stain to paper. When heated it swells, grows darker in
colour, and undergoes a partial fusion ; and if the heat be in-
creased it takes fire, and burns with a bright flame and much
smoke, leaving behind a greyish-white ash. A fragment di-
gested with five successive portions of water, imparted to them
the peculiar odour of the substance, which was, however, dissi-
pated by evaporation. It appears therefore to contain a volatile
odorous principle, which is so intimately combined with the
other principles present, that even after digestion in the above-
mentioned number of waters, the residuum, which was but little
acted on, possessed its peculiar odour nearly as strongly as be-
fore. The aqueous solution afforded on evaporation a brownish
extractive matter, with which nitrate of silver gave a copious
precipitate of chloride of silver ; and oxalate of ammonia indi-
cated a salt of lime, most probably lactate. Another portion
digested in aether coloured it yellow, and the solution on evapo-
ration furnished a yellowish-brown transparent substance, very
viscid and tenacious at ordinary temperatures, very readily fu-
sible, and exceedingly soluble in caustic potash ; immediately
on uniting with which, it exhales strongly the smell of fish-oil
soap. This solution is miscible with water without decompo-
sition ; acids precipitate a white matter, and when, subsequent
to the addition of acid, the mixture is heated, an oily looking

in Deers and Antelopes. 79

matter floats, and the rest of the fluid becomes turbid and
milky. Cold alcohol digested on another portion took up a
good deal of yellow viscid matter ; and when evaporated fur-
nished also some extractive, soluble in water, probably the same
as that aflbrded by the aqueous solutions. Boiling alcohol, di-
gested on the residuum, takes up more of the yellow matter,
which, on evaporation, affords a more resinous looking residuum,
the surface of which is covered with a greasy film, also sapo-
nifiable by caustic potash. Alcohol, digested on what remained
after the action of aether, dissolved only a trace of saline matter ;
and the residuum, after exhaustion by aether, had the appear-
ance of thin flakes of pearly cuticle, coloured yellowish-brown,
insoluble in strong acetic acid, but soluble in potash, from which
it was precipitated by acetic acid. A portion of these flakes,
when strongly heated, left a white ash, consisting of carbonate
and phosphate of lime, carbonate of soda, and chloride of so-
dium. The material then appears to consist of a number of hairs,
with a quantity of delicate, cuticular flakes, the whole intimate-
ly mixed with a dark matter, composed as follows : a brownish,
viscid, oily substance, probably containing resin ; a volatile odoi
rous principle ; extractive, soluble in water and alcohol ; colour-
ing matter, which adheres to the flakes of cuticle ; lactates of
soda and lime, a trace of phosphate of lime, and chloride of so^
dium in considerable quantity.""

Remarks on the Difficulty of distinguishing certain Genera of
Testaceous Mollusca by their Shells alone, and on the Ana*
malies in regard to Habitation observed in certain Species.
• By John Edward Gray, Esq. F.R.S. &c.*

It has been a very common error, both among conchologists
and geologists, to regard all shells in which no remarkable dif-
ference of form and character can be distinguished as inhabited
by one and the same genus of animals ; and not less usual to

• This valuable memoir (from the Philosophical Transactions, Part II. for
1835) so interesting to the zoologist, contains also statements of great im-
portance to the practical and speculative geologist. SVe, therefore, lay it be-
fore our readers without abridgment or alteration.— Edit.

80 Mr Gray on Testaceous Mollusca,

assume that all the species of the same genus inhabit similar
localities. Many geologists have still further enlarged the bound-
aries of error, by taking for granted that all the fossil species of
shells which are referable by the characters of the shell to re-
cent genera, must have been formed by animals which, in their
recent state, possessed the same habits as the most commonly
observed species of the genus to which they appear to belong.
These theories were, indeed, quite consistent with our former
ignorance of the habits of the animals of this class ; but since
the works of Poli, Mliller, Montagu, Lamarck, and Cuvier have
induced zoologists again to turn their attention, as was the prac-
tice among the older writers, to the animals of shells, and their
habits, and no longer to confine themselves, as was too often the
case with the followers of the Linnean system of conchology, to
the study of the shells as mere pieces of ornament, classed with-
out reference to their inhabitants, the acknowledged importance
of the subject is daily bringing to our knowledge some animal
unknown before, and adding to our stock of information facts
which prove the fallacy of the opinions so hastily taken up.
Thus, although even at the present day the animals of less than
one-twentieth part of the well-known species of shells have been
observed — and of those which are known the greater part have
been very imperfectly described — numerous exceptions to the
theories in question have been brought to light, which deserve
to be collected into one point of view, and made the subject of
serious consideration.

The exceptions which it is the object of the present paper to
notice, may be arranged under the two following heads : —

1. Shells having every appearance of belonging to the same
natural genus, but inhabited by animals of a very different cha-
racter.

2. Species of testaceous Mollusca living in very different si-
tuations from the majority of the known species of the genus to
which they belong, or having the faculty of maintaining their
existence in several different situations.

These two classes of exceptions I shall proceed to notice in
detail.

Mr Gray on Testaceous MoUiLSca, 81

1. On Shells apparently similar ^ but belonging ^ on a comparison of
their Animals^ to very different Genera,

In a note on my former paper on the structure of shells,* I
pointed out the perplexity in which the extreme similarity of
the shells belonging to the genera Patella and Lottia must in-
volve the geologist and the conchologist, intending at some fu-
ture time to pursue the subject further, and to shew that simi-
lar difficulties existed in regard to several other genera. The
two genera above referred to are probably, however, the most
remarkable example of this complete resemblance, on account
of the extreme dissimilarity of their animals, which are referable
to two very different orders of Mollusca, while the shells are so
perfectly alike, that after a long-continued study of numerous
species of each genus, I cannot find any character by which they
can be distinguished with any degree of certainty. Both ge
nera present a striking discrepancy from all other univalve shells,
in having the apex of the shell turned towards the head of the
animal, the genera to which they are immediately related ii^
both the orders to which they belong, offering no variation in
this respect from the usual structure of the class. The agree-
ment in the internal structure of their shells is equally complete ;
yet the animal of Patella has the branchiae in the form of a series
of small plates disposed in a circle round the inner edge of the
mantle, while that of Lottia has a triangular pectinated gill
seated in a proper cavity formed over the back of the neck
within the mantle, agreeing in this respect with the inhabitants
of the Trochif Motiodonta^, and Turbines^ from which it differs
so remarkably in the simple conical form of its shell. This
difference in the respiratory organs of animals inhabiting shells
so strikingly similar is the more anomalous, inasmuch as those
organs commonly exercise great influence on the general form
of shells ; a circumstance readily accounted fOT when we reflect
that a principal object of the shell is to afford protection to those
delicate and highly important parts.

To the practical conchologist it will be sufficient to mention
Pupa and Vertigo, Viirina and Nanina, Rissoa and Trunca-
teUa, as affording numerous and perplexing instances of the

• Philosophical Transactions, 183 i, p. 800.
VOL. XX. NO. XXXIX.— JANUARY, 1836. F

82 ]\f r Gray on Testaceous Mollusca,

difficulty of distinguishing between genera of shells, inhabited
by very different animals.

A similar difficulty exists with regard to Siphonaria and An-
cylus, genera belonging to different families, one inhabiting the
sea-shores, while the other lives in rivers and brooks. The only
distinction between the shells of these two genera consists in the
Ancyli being generally of a thinner substance than the Siphon-
aricB ; but this is by no means an adequate character, some
species of Siphonaria {S, Tristensis, for example), being quite
as thin in texture as any Ancylus, Both have the muscular
impression interrupted by the canal through which the air passes
to the respiratory organs ; yet the animal of Ancylus has long
tentacles, and eyes placed as in the LymncecB^ to which it is close-
ly allied, while Siphonaria has no distinct tentacles, and in these
respects agrees with the equally marine genus Amphibola, con-
founded by Lamarck with the AmpullaricB.

About fifteen years since, I first observed, in the marshes near
the banks of the Thames, between Greenwich and Woolwich,
in company with species of Valvata, Bithynia, and Pisidium,
a small univalve shell, agreeing with the smaller species of the
littoral genus Littorina in every character both of shell and
operculum ; yet this very peculiar and apparently local species
has an animal which at once distinguishes it from the animal of
that genus, and from all other Ctenobranchous Mollusca. Its
tentacles are very short and thick, and have the eyes placed at
their tips ; while the Littorina, and all the other animals of the
order to which they belong, have their eyes placed on small tu-
bercles on the outer side of the base of the tentacles, which are
generally more or less elongated. The shell in question and its
animal were described and figured by Dr Leach, in his hitherto
unpublished work on British Mollusca, under the name of Assi-
minia Gray ana ; and as this name has been referred to by Mr
Jeffries and other conchologists, it may be regarded as establish-
ed, and that of Syncera hepatica^ proposed by myself in the
Medical Repository, vol. x. p. 239, will take the rank of a sy-
nonym. A second species of this genus has lately been made
known by Mr Benson, by whom it was found in ponds in India.
Its shell is banded like that of Littorina ^-^asciata and several
others of the smaller Littorina, and had been figured in the

Mr Gray 07i Testaceous Molhisca, 88

Supplement to Wood's Catalogue, t. 6. f. 28, under the name
of Turbo FrancesicB.

Taking this in conjunction with the preceding, we have here
two instances of univalve shells, apparently belonging to the
same genus, the one found in fresh and the other in salt water,
but proving, when their animals are examined, to belong to
genera essentially distinct. My next illustration will shew that
a similar fact has been observed among the bivalves.

The Mytilus 'polymorphus of Chemintz is truly a fresh-water
species, having been first observed in the Wolga by the illus-
trious Pallas. It has recently been introduced, doubtless with
the Russian timber (for this species, in common with the Am-
pullarioe^ Pahcdince, and Neritina of fresh water, and the lAt-
torina, Monodonta, and Cerithia of salt, has the faculty of
living for a very long time out of water), into the Lake of Haar-
lem and the Commercial Docks at Rotherhithe ; in both of which
it appears to increase with great rapidity. I am aware that Mr
Lyell has given another explanation of the mode of introduction
of this remarkable species ; but from experiments which I have
myself made on the animal's power of living out of water, I
cannot hesitate in giving the preference to the suggestion advan-
ced above, rather than supposing it to have made its passage
from one river to the other, across the sea, attached to the bot-
tom of a vessel. The shell in question differs from the shells
of other MytiU in no character of more than specific importance ;
but the animal is essentially distinct. In the genus Mytilus the
lobes of the mantle are free throughout nearly their whole cir-
cumference, as in Unio^ Cardita, Pecten, Ostrea^ &c. ; while in
the animal of Mytilus polymorphus they are united through
nearly their whole extent, leaving only three small apertures,
one for the passage of the foot and beard, and the other two for
the reception and ejection of the water, from the contents of
which the animal derives its sustenance. This shell must con-
sequently form a new genus, to which the name of Dreissena
has been appropriated by Van Beneden.* As a proof of the
importance attached to this character, it may be observed that
Cuvier considered the adherence or non-adherence of the lobes

• Institut. 1835, p. 130 ; and Annales des Sciences Naturelles, S. N. torn, iii
p. 193.

r2

84) Mr Gray on Testaceous Molliisca,

of the mantle so essential a distinction as to found on it his di-
vision of the bivalves into families. In his system, therefore,
the genus Dreissena would be placed with the family of Cha-
macees^ while the genus Mytilus forms the type of the preced-
ing family of Mytilacees, The genus Iridina, however, and one
or two others, shew that this character cannot be implicitly re-
lied on for the natural classification of animals of this class, al-
though it forms a very good generic mark of distinction.

The genus Iridina* above referred to affords a' second in-
stance of this anomaly ; for though the animals of the Iridints
and Anodontce differ in the adhesion and non-adhesion of the
lobes of the mantles, yet the shells are so alike that they can-
not be distinguished by any external character ; so much so,
that one of the species now referred to the genus by M. Des-
hayes, who first pointed out this peculiarity in the animal, was
considered as an Anodon by Lamarck.

The animals of Cytherea, Venus^ and Venei'upis have, like
those of most of the alHed genera, a lanceolate foot projecting at
the anterior part of the shell ; while the genus Artemis of Poli,
which has generally been confounded with Cytherea, from which
it is not easily to be distinguished except by its usually more
rounded form, is provided with a crescent-shaped foot, exserted
at the middle of the lower edges of the valves.

Again, there is but little difference in external characters and
habit between Cyclas and Pisidium ; but the animals of the
latter have elongated syphons, which are not found in the former.

In reference to Univalves it may also be observed, that it is
frequently impossible to distinguish some of the genera of that
class without an examination of their opercula. This is the case,
for instance, as regards the smaller and more solid Paludina,
inhabitants of fresh water, and some species of Littorina living on
the coast; several of the shells described, as Paludina, by Drapar-
nauld and others, appearing rather to belong to the latter genus.

* Lamarck formed this genus on a specimen which had its hinge margin
accidentally tubercular and slightly crenated ; but this character is not found
in most of the specimens of the species which he describes. The English
conchologists, misled by this character, have referred to the genus a very dif-
ferent African shell, with a long series of transverse teeth on the hinge mar-
gin, which has lately been separated by Mr Conrad under the name of Pleio-
don.

Mr Gray on Testaceous Mollusca. 85

A similar difficulty exists with respect to other Littorina as dis-
tinguished from Phasianella, and with the Neritince as distin-
guished from x\\eNeritcB. In the latter case the characters derived
from the operculum are so essential to the discrimination of the two
genera, that M. Rang, looking only to the characters of the shell,
has proposed to reunite them into one. In proof of the little at-
tention that has hitherto been paid to this very important part,
I may mention that three species referred by Lamarck to the
genus Solarium are each furnished with a different kind of oper-
culum ; and it is deserving of notice that the Monodonta cnna-
liculata according to the observations of M. Quoy, has an oper-
culum very different from the rest of the shells of that genus.

In some shells, again, the differences in character are so slight
as almost to throw an air of ridicule on the attempt to separate
them generically from the structure of the shells alone ; and yet,
when the animal is examined, the necessity of their separation
becomes so obvious as to be immediately acknowledged. This
is especially the case with my genus Bnllia compared with
Terebra : the shells of these two genera are so similar, that La-
marck and all other conchologists have retained them in one
group, no other distinction being observable except that in the
former there is a more or less distinct callous band winding
round the volutions just above the suture, and produced by a
shght extension of the inner lip beyond the part of the shell
occupied by the whorl. This extension of the lip is probably
deposited by the foot of the animal, which in the genus BulUa
is very large and expanded, while that of Terebra is small and
compressed. This, however, is not the only difference between
the two animals, that of the former genus having rather large
and eyeless tentacles, while the Terebrce have very small and
short tentacles, bearing the eyes near their tips.

A second example of a similar kind is derived from the genus
Rostellarioy in which Lamarck includes the Strombus Pes Pell-
cani of Linnaeus. The animal of this shell has been figured by
Miiller, and very much resembles that of Bticcinum, having
long slender tentacles with the eyes sessile on the outer side of
their base ; while, as Dr Riippell informs me, the RosteUaria
curvirostris has an animal allied to Strombus, with the eyes on
very large peduncles, which give off from the middle of one of

86 Mr Gray wi Testaceous Mollusca,

their sides the small tentacles. Notwithstanding this difference
in the form of their animals, I am not, however, aware of any
essential character by which the shell of Aporrhais (as the
Stromhus Pes Pelecani has been generically named) can be dis-
tinguished from the other Rostellarice.

With all this uncertainty with regard to the generic charac-
ters of the recent species of shells, of which the animals can be
subjected to examination, how much must the difficulty of de-
ciding their genera with certainty be enhanced with reference to
the fossil species, and especially to those which have no strictly
analogous form existing in the recent state. Considerations like
these tend greatly to disturb the confidence formerly reposed in
die opinion, that every difference in the form and structure of
the animal was accompanied by marks permanently traced upon
the shell_, by which it might be at once distinguished, and which
it was therefore the great object of the conchologist to point out.
But another source of error, particularly interesting to the geo-
logist, is included under my second head, to the elucidation of
which I shall now proceed.

2. Of Species belonging to the same natural Genus^ inhabiting essen-
tially different situations.

The general belief that all the species of the same genus in-
habit the same kind of situation, undoubtedly holds good with
reference to most of the genera of shells ; but many exceptions
have already been observed, and we may anticipate that many
more will be discovered as the natural habits of the different
species become better known. In bringing together a number
of these exceptions, I have been under the necessity of placing
considerable reliance on the observations of others, who have
noted in foreign countries facts similar to those which I have
myself witnessed at home; but these observations have been
chiefly collected from the works of Professor Nilsson of Sweden,
of Mr Say of the United States of North America, and of MM.
Lesson, Quoy, and Rang of Paris, writers who, from their ex-
tensive knowledge of conchology, are fully capable of accurately
recording their observations, and whose statements may there-
fore be received as deserving of the most implicit confidence. It
is moreover to be observed, that all their observations on this

Mr Gray on Testaceous Molltisca, 87

subject were made simply with the view of extending the know-
ledge of the history of the species to which they refer, and with-
out reference to the establishment of any preconceived theory.

These observations may be classed under the four following
subdivisions : — 1st, where species of the same genus are found
in more than one kind of situation, as on land, in fresh and in
salt water ; 2d, where one or more species of a genus, most
of whose species inhabit fresh water, are found in salt or brackish
water ; 3d, where, on the contrary, one or more species of a
genus, whose species generally inhabit the sea, are found in fresh
water ; and 4th, where the same species is found both in salt
and fresh water.

Of the first of these classes the genus Auricula, as defined by
Lamarck, may be quoted as a striking example. Of its species,
A, Scarabus and A. minima are found in damp places on the
surface of the earth ; A. JudcB lives in sandy places overflowed
by the sea ; A. Myosotis, A. coni/brmis, A. nitens, &c. (sepa-
rated by De Montfort under the name of Conovulus), are found
only in the sea in company wuth Chitons, Littorince, and other
truly marine shells; and the South American species which I
distinguished some time since under the name of Chilinay inclu-
ding A. Domheyi of Lamarck, and A. Jluviatilis of Lesson, in-
habit fresh-water streams, having most of the habits of the Lym*
ncecB. This disparity of habitation has been in some degree
overcome by dividing the genus into several, as noticed above;
but the characters employed for their distinction are very slight,
and species apparently intermediate between them are constantly
occurringji

The genus Lymncea has usually been considered as confined
to fresh water; but M. Nilsson describes a species under the
name of L. Balthica, which is found " in aqua parum salsd
Maris Balthici ad iittora Gothlandiae et Scaniae, &c. In maris
juxta Esperod fucis et lapidibus adhaerens frequenter obvenit
simul cum Paludind Balthicd et Neritina Jluviatili ; " and a
second under the name of Lymncea sucdnea^ which is found on
the shores of the sea near Trelleborg. All the species of Po/m-
^ma and Bithynia which have fallen under my own observation
are essentially fluviatile; but M. Nilsson refers in the paragraph
above quoted to a species of the former genus inhabiting the

88 Mr Gray on Testaceous MoUusca.

sea. This may, however, like some of the smaller Pahidince of
Draparnauld, be truly a LHtorina, having a horny and spiral,
and not an annular, operculum.

According to the observations of my sister, Mrs Ince, of Mr
Benson, of MM. Quoy and Gaimard, and of M. Lesson, the
Indian species of Neritlna like the European, are found only
in fresh water ; yet M. Rang, in his Manuel des Mollusques,
p. 193, states that the Neritina viridis is a marine species found
on rocks covered by the sea at Martinique, and that a larger
variety of this species is found in similar situations at Madagas-
car ; General Hardwicke marks on his drawing of the Neritina
crepidularis, that it was found in " saltwater lakes, April 1816 ;*"
and Say has described the Neritina Meleagris of Lamarck
{Theodoxus reclinattts. Say) as living both in fresh and salt
water. This is most probably the species to which Mr Guilding
refers,* when he observes that he has kept Neritina for some
time alive in a close vessel of salt water, which they appear to
purify. The animals of some of the tropical species often quit
the stream and crawl up the trunks of neighbouring trees, on
which, like the species of Littorina, Planaocis, and Bidla, which
creep up the rocks on the sea-coast, they attach themselves, and
remain exposed to the influence of the sun. It may be added,
that M. Rang has found Neritina Auricula in brackish marshes
near the sea in the Island of Bourbon, in company with Jvicnlcs
and Aplysioe ; and I have little doubt that Neritina Pupa in-
habits the sea, it being uniformly brought to this country in
company with marine shells.

Many species of Melania, as, for example, M. amarula, M.
jfasciolata, and M. lineata, are found in the fresh water streams
of India and its islands. Mr Say mentions species found in si-
milar situations in North America ; he also describes one (J/.
simplex) as found in a stream running through the salt water
valley near the salt-works, but does not state whether the water
of the stream is salt or fresh. On the other hand, M. Quoy
asserts that they are sometimes taken in brackish water; ]\f.
Cailliaud states that Melania Oweni is found in brackish water ;
and M. Rang has found other species in the Island of Bourbon,
under the same circumstances with the Nei'itina just adverted

• See Zoological Journal, voL v. p. 33.

Mr Gray on Testaceous Molhiscn. ' 89

to. The genus Melanopsis has the same habits ; its species are
often found in large inland lakes. I have myself received J/.
htccinoidea from the sea of Galilee ; and Dr Clark, in his Tra-
vels, vol. ii. p. 243, figures M. Ditfourii under the name of
Buccinum Galileum. The water of this lake, however, unlike
that of the neighbouring Dead Sea, is, according to the state-
ment of Fuller, perfectly fresh and sweet. M. Lesson, on the
other hand, states that he found the Pyrena terebrans^ regarded
by M. de Ferussac as a Melanopsis^ in great abundance in brack*
ish marshes in New Guinea, and at the Island of Bourou.

I am informed by Mr Sowerby that some species of the flu-
viatile genus Cyrena, are found in the sea on the coast of South
America, but he thinks it probable that the part of the sea in
which they are met with may be fresh, like certain parts of the
ocean described by Dr Abel in his Voyage to China. It would
be highly interesting to procure a verification of this observation.
Similar phenomena may not be uncommon, for I have myself
observed in Torbay a small space in the neighbourhood of Brix-
ham, the water of which was of a different colour, and much
fresher than that of other parts of the bay. With reference to
another species of the same genus, Cyrena Vanikorejisis^ M.
Quoy observes : — " Ne I'ayant pas trouvee dans les lieux mare-
cageux mais sur les bords de la mer, il est probable qu'elle vit a
rembouchure des rivieres qui sont saumatres a maree haute.*"*

The third class of cases, in which species of Mollusca that are
generally found in the sea are taken in fresh water, is much
more rare than the preceding. It is obvious that in such in-
stances the animal must be possessed of the capability of adapt-
inff itself to the different characters of the two fluids. This ca-
pability exists in much more highly organized animals, such as
fishes, many species of which constantly migrate from the sea
and ascend the rivers to deposit their spawn ; but in these cases
it is the result of a regular and determinate habit, while in the
Mollusca it appears to be entirely dependent on accidental cir-
cumstances.

In some marshes in the Island of Bourbon, in which the water
is almost fresh, M. Rang has observed specimens of Aplysia
dolahrifera in company with Neritince and Melanioe.
• Voyage de 1' Astrolabe, torn. iiL p. 516.

99 Mr Gray on Testaceous Mollusca,

The greater number of species of the genus Cerithium are
truly marine, chiefly living in sandy bays, like our own Ceru
thium reticulatuvi. M. Lesson, however, found C, sulcatum^
and Adanson the African species figured by him, in the pools of
brackish water, sometimes overflov/ed by the sea, which are si-
tuated between the weeds and the belts of mangrove trees on the
shore ; and Mr Say observes that the small species called by
him Pyrena scalar ifor mis ^ but which is a true Cerithium^ is
found in great abundance in the fresh water of Florida Keys.
He adds, " It is most certainly a fresh water shell, yet it is desti-
tute of an epidermis."

V The genus Bulla is also truly marine ; but the Rev. Mr
Hennah some time since presented to the British Museum spe-
cimens of one of its species, resembling the Bulla Hydatis^ found
by him in brackish pools on the coast of Chili ; and Mr Say has
described a Bulla Jluviatilis found by Mr Aaron Stone deeply
imbedded in the mud of the river Delaware.*

The Littorince^ again, are all found either on the sea-shore or
in the very brackish waters of the mouths of rivers, except two,
which, although described as PaludincB by PfeifFer and De
F^russac, and formed into a distinct genus by Ziegler under
the name of Lithoglyphus^ agree with Littorina in every cha-
racter of shell and operculum, and, as far as I can ascertain
from the descriptions, of the animal also. These are the Palu*
dina Jusca of PfeifFer, and the P. naticoides of De Ferussac ;
they are truly fluviatile.

These anomalies are not restricted to the univalves : bivalves
have also their share. Thus, the genus Solen is generally and
properly considered as marine ; but Mr Benson has lately disco-
vered a species inhabiting the mud on the banks of the Ganges ;
and conceiving, from the nature of its habitation, that it ought
to be separated from the common species, he has formed a ge-
nus for its reception, under the name of Novaculina. On com-
paring, however, some specimens of the shell presented to the
British Museum by Mr Royle, lean scarcely distinguish it as a
gpecies from the Solen Dombeyi of Lamarck, which is found on
the coast of Peru ; and I have two other species, very nearly re-

• See for this latter instance the Journal of the Academy of Natural
Sciences of Philadelphia, vol. ii. p. 179.

Mr Gray on Testaceous Mollusca. 91

lated, one from the rivers of China, and the other from pools of
brackish water on the coast of America. In like manner M.
Nilsson has found his Tellina Balthica^ which appears to be lit-
tle more than a variety of the Tellma solidula of our coast, in
the brackish waters of the shores of the Baltic. Avicula mar^
garitifera^ the mother-of-pearl shell, commonly found in the
ocean, has been taken by M. Rang in marshes in the Isle of
Bourbon in the neighbourhood of the sea, in which the water is
nearly fresh. Specimens of Mya arenaria also, are often found
so high up the rivers that the water in which they live is brack-
ish only during high tides. They are found, moreover, with
fresh-water shells on the coasts of the Baltic, while all the other
species of the genus are found only where the water is quite salt.
By far the greater part of the species of CorhulcB are truly
marine ; but there is a large species of the genus, called by Dr
Maton * Mya labiata, brought with fresh-water shells from the
mouth of the Rio de la Plata ; and this agrees in many respects
with the fossil Corbula Gallica, which occurs in what are called
the upper freshwater strata of the Isle of Wight.

The transitions to which the oysters intended for the London
market are exposed, may be mentioned as an additional illustra-
tion. Many of these are collected in the sea on the coasts of
Guernsey and of France, and are brought to situations in the
mouth of the river where the water is merely brackish during
the ebb of the tide, and where they are consequently subjected to
the alternate action of salt and brackish water twice in each day.
It is even affirmed that oysters can exist in water absolutely
fresh ; for in the museum of the Bristol Institution, there is a
large group said to have been dredged up in a river on the coast
of Africa, where the stream was so sweet as to have been used
to water the ship. To these shells are attached specimens of
Cerithium armatum ; and the person by whom they were pre-
sented to the collection, stated that Cardium ringens was found
abundantly in the same situation.

The genus Cuculloea^ again, is universally considered as truly
marine ; but Mr Benson has found in the Ganges a small shell
belonging to it, regarded by him as an Arca^ but, on account of
its fresh-water origin, formed into a new genus under the name
of Scaphnlo,

* Linnean Transactions, vol. x. p. 326, t. 24, f. 3.

92 Mr Gray on Testaceous Mollusca.

On this subject I may observe, that I was some time ago in-
formed that Area senilis was found in the rivers of Africa in
company with Galatea radiata : M. Cailliaud, however, assures
me that this is by no means the case, the shells in question being
found near the mouths of the rivers, but never in the rivers them-
selves.

One of the most decisive facts regarding the finding of the
same species of shell in both salt and fresh water is noticed by
Say.* Speaking of Theodoxus reclinatus^ he observes, " I found
this species in great plenty, inhabiting St John's River in East
Florida, from its mouth to Fort Picolata, a distance of one hun-
dred miles, where the water is potable. It seemed to exist equally
well where the water was as salt as that of the ocean, and where
the intermixture of that condiment could not be detected by the
taste." The shell in question is determined by specimens which
I received from my late friend himself (to whom science is so
deeply indebted, and especially for his researches into the zoology
of North America), to be the Neritina Meleagris, obtained in
such abundance from the West Indian Islands. Nilsson, too,
as before mentioned, has noticed the Neritina Jluviatilis, which
in this country is not observed to inhabit ditches in the neigh-
bourhood even of brackish water, living on the coasts of the Bal-
tic, in brackish situations, in company with LymncBa Balthica
and Z. succinea ; and M. Rang found Neritina auriculata in
similar situations.

According to the observations of Olivier, the Ampidlaria ovata
inhabits Lake Mareotis, where it is taken in company with ma-
rine shells found also in the Mediterranean ; and I have lately
received (dead) specimens from the locality indicated. The same
species was found by M. Cailliaud in fresh-water lakes in the
Oasis of Siwah, where it is called bozue, and eaten as food. It
thus appears to be found both in fresh and brackish water. Two
of the species referred to this genus by Lamarck, his Ampullaria
AveUana and A.Jragilis^ are truly marine ; but they differ from
the others in animal and operculum, as well as in the sinuated
form of the outer lip of their shell.

The common cockle of the shops, Cardium edule, is constant-
ly to be seen in the ditches of brackish water in the neighbour-

• Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, vol. ii. p. 258.

I

. Mr Gray on Testaceous Mollusca. 9S

hood of Tilbury Fort, which gradually become more or less
fresh in proportion to the quantity of rain that falls between the
periods of opening the sluices. It is to be observed that the
specimens found in this situation are rather thinner and more
produced posteriorly than those usually found in the sea. The
species in question is also, according to Niisson, found in the
brackish water on the shores of the Baltic, but I am not aware
whether or not it is there subject to a similar variation in form.
Niisson observes, however, that the marine species found in those
localities are generally smaller than those found in other situations.
From this list of exceptions to the general rules which have
commonly been regarded as decisive of the localities inhabited by
recent shells, and of the nature of the deposits in which the fossil
species are found, it is manifest that those rules cannot safely be
made use of for practical purposes without considerable reserva-
tion.

On some Circumstances connected with the Original Suggestion
of the Modern Arctic Expeditions, Communicated by the
Rev. W. ScoRESBY, B. D., in a letter to the Editor of the
Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal.

Statements having recently appeared in the " Literary
Gazette," in an abstract of a paper by Captain Beechey, read be-
fore the Geographical Society; and in the Quarterly Review, in
an article on Sir John Ross's account of his late voyage of dis-
covery, &c. at variance with, or in contradiction of, the account
given by Sir John Ross of my connection with the origination
of the Modern Arctic Expeditions, — I consider it but justice
to that gentleman, as well as to myself, to put the public in pos-
session of the actual facts respecting the nature and measure
of the participation which I really had in the revival of the cele-
brated question, out of which these curious expeditions appeared
to spring.

The statement in die Quarterly Review, to which I refer, oc-
curs in the introductory passage of the first article of No. CVII.,
wherein (explanatory of the reasons for undertaking the review
of Sir John Ross's publication) it is stated : —

94 Rev. Mr Scoresby on Circumstances connected with the

*' There are no circumstances, that we are aware of, which should in-
duce us to be silent ; indeed, we feel ourselves specially called upon, and
for this reason — it was the Quarterly Review that took the initiative in
reviving and discussing the question of a North-west Passage — of ex-
amining the grounds of a probability for its existence — and recommend-
ing that expeditions should be sent forth to decide, if possible, a question
of itself highly interesting and important, and which had excited an ar-
dent and devoted zeal in the naval worthies of Oreat Britain, under the
fostering protection of Government, many centuries ago."

Then, in a note attached to the commencement of this pas-
sage, it is stated :

" Here we may observe, that, at the very threshold — in his silly ' intro-
duction*— Sir John Ross starts with a misrepresentation. ' It is not ge-
nerally known,' he says, ' that the question of the North-west Passage,
which had been lying dormant since the voyage of Captain Phipps, was,
in 1817, revived by Mr William Scoresby,' &c. — that ' he wrote to Sir
Joseph Banks, and that on Sir Joseph Banks's recommendation his pro-
posal was attended to,' &c. ' Now this statement,' proceeds the Re-
viewer, ' is wholly incorrect. Mr Scoresby did write to Sir Joseph Banks,
but not about the North-west Passage ; he merely acquainted him with
the fact of the disappearance of the ice from the coast of Greenland. We
happen to know that Sir Joseph Banks never made any recommendation
to the Government, nor corresponded with any of the public officers on
the subject, except with Mr Barrow, the Secretary of the Admiralty.
Mr Scoresby published two volumes, one on the Arctic Regions, the other
on the Greenland Whale-Fishery, but not till 1820 ; and in his remarks
on the celebrated question he constantly refers to Nos. xxxv. and xxxvi,
of the Quarterly Review."

Now the censure herein thrown upon Sir John Ross, by his
generously claiming for me some portion of credit for the re-
vival of the question of the North-west Passage, demands, in
common justice, that I should endeavour to substantiate his
statement ; and, so far as either myself or my friends have
yielded him the information from which he writes, that we
should be willing to bear our share of the responsibility.

The following sketch of my participation in the revival of the
subject of polar research, with the apparent influence of my
correspondence with Sir Joseph Banks thereon, may serve, I
trust, to place the matter fairly before the public.

My personal participation in the revival of the subject in
question, was commenced by a letter addressed to Sir Joseph
Banks, from whom I had received many marks of kindness,

Original Suggestion of the Modern Arctic Eccpeditions. 95

and with whom, for many years, I was in the habit of correspond-
ing.

In that letter, written from Whitby, and bearing the date 2d
of October 1817, I mentioned the fact of a large body of the
Usual ices having disappeared out of the Greenland Sea, and the
consequent openness of the navigation towards the west, where-
by I was enabled to penetrate within sight of the eastern coast
of Greenland, to a meridian which had usually been considered
as having become totally inaccessible. After some account of
the state and configuration of the ice, and our progress amongst
jt, I proceeded to remark on the facilities which on this occasion
were presented for making researches in those interesting regions.
The examination of the coasts of both Spitsbergen and Green-
land ; the determination of the fate of the ancient colony establish-
ed by the Icelanders in the latter; explorations affecting the im-
provement of our whale-fishery ; and researches towards deciding
whether or not a navigation into the Pacific hy a 7iorth^east or
nortJi-west passage existed, — were among the subjects suggested
as the most interesting and important. I also expressed a wish
to be employed in such researches through a series of voyages,
that the most favourable seasons might be improved to the best
advantage, and that the most complete investigation might be
accomplished ; and, by the way of avoiding unnecessary expense,
I proposed to combine the object of the whale-fishery with that
of discovery on every occasion when the situation of the ice was
unfavourable for research.

Whether it was in consequence of this letter or not, it becomes
not 771^, perhaps, to hazard an opinion ; but there can be no im-
propriety in stating what actually occurred, namely, that, in the
latter end of November, (about seven weeks, I believe, after my
letter to Sir Joseph Banks was dispatched), a notice appeared in
the pubhc prints of the day, " that, owing to the statements of
the Greenland Captains respecting the diminution of the polar
ice, the Royal Society had applied to Ministers to send out
vessels for discovery in the Polar Seas.**

In the beginning of December I addressed another leticr to
Sir Joseph Banks, submitting an outline of objects for research,
classed under these several heads : — Investigations for the ad-
vancement of geography, commerce, and science ; under the lat-

96 Rev. Mr Scoresby on Circumstances connected with the

ter were suggested as matters of interest, meteorology, including
observations on atmospherical electricity ; hydrography or natu-
ral history of the sea, comprising experiments and observations
on its depth, currents, saltness, and temperature both at the sur-
face and at considerable depths ; zoology ; botany ; geology ;
magnetism, including observations on the variations of the com-
pass, on the magnetic anomaly (or deviation) on ship-board, and
on the magnetic intensity.

Just before this letter was forwarded, my father, who was
then in London, and had several conversations with Sir Joseph
Banks, and other gentlemen, who were anxious for the success of
the intended expeditions, was advised by them, and particularly
by Sir Joseph Banks, to send for me, with the view of my being
employed in this interesting service. Accordingly I left Whitby
on the 11th of December, and proceeded direct to London, where
I had an interview with Sir Joseph Banks, who, after a kind ex-
pression of his regret that he had not been able to obtain for me,
as his anxious wish was, a command in one or other of the pro-
jected expeditions, referred me to Mr Barrow for the plan on
which they were to be appointed. In the course of a brief con-
versation with the latter gentleman, I was told, that, if I wished
to accompany either of the expeditions, I must give in my pro-
posals to the Navy Board. Finding, however, it was a fixed
point that the command of all the vessels then designed for dis-
covery, should be given to officers of the Royal Navy, I at once
decided, not being disposed to engage in a subordinate capacity,
on foregoing the satisfaction I had in some degree anticipated.

Whatever may have been the bearing of any suggestions of
mine on the origination of the recent series of Arctic explorations^
so much at least is certain, that the Quarterly Review is not cor-
rect in asserting that Mr Scoresby did not write in his letter to
Sir Joseph Banks " about a north-east or north-west passage,""
but " merely acquainted him with the fact of the disappearance
of the ice from the coast of Greenland :" And, being mistaken
in this important particular, on which Sir John Ross founds his
claim on my behalf for some share in the origination of the re-
cent expeditions, from the censure heaped upon him of putting
forth " a misrepresentation," and " a statement wholly incor-
rect,"' the public will, I doubt not, feel it but just to release him.

original Suggestion of the Modem Arctic Expeditions. 97

That, however, the sketch already given of my letter to Sir
Joseph Banks may be duly substantiated, and the nature of that
communication more accurately exhibited, I shall subjoin some
extracts from a copy fortunately preserved of the letter in ques-
tion, which, as far as I know and believe, are (even verbally) ac-
cordant with the original.

After some observations not particularly bearing on the sub-
ject in question, the letter states, — " I found on my last voyage
about 2000 square leagues of the surface of the Greenland Sea,
included between the parallels of 74° and 80° N., perfectly void
of ice, which is usually covered with it. Now, all this ice has
disappeared within the last two years, and there is little doubt
but it has been drifted to the southward into warmer climates,
and there dissolved.'*

After a description of the progress made towards the coast of
Greenland, &c. already mentioned, the letter proceeds: —

" Had I been so fortunate as to have had the command of an expedi-
tion for discovery instead of fishing", I have little doubt but that the mys-
tery attached to the existence of a north-west passage might have been
\1 should have added ' in some measure'] resolved. There could have
been no great difficulty in exploring the eastern coast of Greenland, and
probably the fate of the colony established by the Icelanders so many cen-
turies ago might have been ascertained. I do conceive there is sufficient
interest attached to these remote regions to induce Government to fit out an
expedition, were it properly represented. The simple examination of the
shores of Spitzbergen would be a matter of much interest to the naturalist
and geologist.

'^ I should have much satisfaction in attempting an enterprise of this
kindj namely, to examine and survey the islands of East Greenland or
Spitzbergen, especially the eastern part, which has not been visited [for]
many years past ; and to ascertain, for the benefit of the whalers, whe-
ther the whales resort thither ;* to endeavour to reach the shore of West
Greenland, determine its position, prove its insularity, and ascertain the
fate of the Icelandic colony, together with making researches [contem-
plating a continuation of the exploration through a series of years] rela-
tive to the north-east and north-west passages, &c. ; for the performance
of which objects, I could point out a method by which the entcrprbc
could be conducted with little, or possibly no, expense to the nation*

• " Both my father and myself, in the course of last voyage, attempted,
though unknown to each other, to explore the eastern part of Spitzbergen
but meeting with more ice than is usual in this quarter, our navigation wMt
interrupted." '

VOL. XX. NO. XXXIX.^JANUAEY, 1836. C

98 Rev. W. Scorcsby on Circumstances connected with the

This would be accomplialied by combiniBg' the two objects of discovery
and fishing.

" Since no one can possibly state [that is, from observation on the con-
dition of the ice in any one season] what opportunity may occur on a
subsequent occasion for pursuing a voyage of discovery, it would be well
to have this reserve for the reduction of the expenditure, in the eveilt of
the opportunity for discovery failing.

" I conceive that an expedition, consisting of two ships, might be fit-
ted out, and all expenses defrayed, for the sum of L. 5000 to L. 600a*
But in case of any whales being taken — and the fishery might occasionally
be prosecuted without [particular] detriment to the other object of the
voyage — the expenses would be proportionably reduced, and might, pos-
sibly, be altogether defrayed thereby."

Such are some of the particulars included in my letter to Sir
Joseph Banks, — a letter written many weeks before any public
intimation was given of the intention of Government to under-
take a renewal of the long-abandoned enterprise of Polar re-
searches. A reply to this letter was received towards the end of
October, franked by Mr Barrow, of which the following is a
copy.

" Dear Sir, Soho Square, Oct 26. 1827-

" I beg you to accept my best thanks for your very intelligent letter,
and for your Treatise on the Northern Ice, which has given me a new
and far more precise idea of the circumpolar seas than I had before.

" You are aware, no doubt, that an act of Parliament (16th Geo, III.,
c. 6), offers a reward of L. 20,000 for the discovery of a north-west pas-
sage, and L. 10,000 for the ship that shall first reach the 89th degree of
north latitude.

" These rewards have not produced a single effort on the part of any
whale-fisher to accomplish either of these great purposes ; allow me to
ask your opinion whether an act offering a thousand pounds for the reach-
ing every degree of latitude from eighty-two to the pole, would be likely
to induce the masters of ships to make a trial to reach at least some of
the unknown degrees of latitude ?

******

" I am. Sir, your obliged and faithful servant, Jos. Banks."

About three weeks after the receipt of this letter, a second, of
which I also give a copy, came to hand :

• This off-hand estimate was not meant to include the owners' remunera-
tion for the use of their ships, but. the mere outlay for equipment, provisioiw,
and wages.

original Suggestion of' the Modem Arctic Expeditions. 99

" Deah Sih, Soho Squabe, iVw. I7. I8I7.

" I hope you have received my letter of October 26, in which I tliank-
cd you for the present which you were so good as to make to me of your
Essay on the Ice of the Seas about Spitzbergen and Iceland. The more
I have considered the facts stated in it, the more I am convinced that the
information given in it to the public for the first time, is likely to lead to
results highly advantageous to maritime science.

" Major Rennell, who has written so much and so ably on the currents
in the ocean, is much pleased with your Essay. If you could spare a copy
as a present to him, he will, I am sure, be very thankful ; in that case be
so good as to direct it to me.

" Allow me to inquire of you what the quantity and nature of the
drift-wood found on the coast of Spitzbergen is ? I think all whp have
visited that country agree that it is found on the shores in sufficient abund-
ance to supply fuel for melting their blubber into oil.

" On the comparative quantity of drift-wood on the west coast of
Greenland, and on that of Spitzbergen, some conjecture may be ground-
ed respecting the probability of the current which sets to the southward
in Davis' Strait, and on the east side of Greenland, taking its origin in the
east or the west. I do not recollect any drift-wood coming on shore on
the coast of Labrador. The abundance is found on ^Vest Greenland,
which argues a current from the west.

" It appears from your Essay that islands of ice are uncommon in the
£608 of Spitzbergen ; they, however, I conclude, sometimes occur.

" I hope you proceed directly with your intended work on the Polar
Seas : I am impatient to see it, after having so much profited by your

" I beg my best compliments to your father, and am. Sir, your obliged
and faithful servant, Jos. Banks."

Besides these two letters, I had much additional correspond-
ence with Sir Joseph Banks, in which the polar expeditions
formed an occasional topic ; but as my chief communication with
Sir Joseph expressly on the subject of these expeditions, was by
personal conversations, the documentary evidence on the ques-
tion of the revival of Arctic research, is principally found in the
letters above given.

For bringing forward a correspondence of this kind, relating
so much to myself, I trust the circumstances referred to in the
outset of this communication will justify me; and that these
particulars have not been communicated from any undue desire
of assuming credit to myself, will, I trust, appear from the fact,

a. 2

100 Mr Stewart on the Causes of Obstruction in

that during the long period which has elapsed since the com-
mencement of the modern polar expeditions, I have never before
j)ut forward publicly any of the present statements. Had I in-
deed seen fit to have urged any claim to public consideration,
on the grounds kindly mentioned by Sir John Ross, or any de-
sire of public acknowledgment so generously suggested in the
Edinburgh Review, I might, perhaps, have founded a plea
on the above and other grounds ; and had I been disposed
to complain of a want of consideration on the part of those
who availed themselves, without acknowledgment, of some of
my suggestions ; or of those in public offices under Govern-
ment, who put me to considerable expenses by two journeys to
London on the pubhc service, perhaps a case could have been
made out, such as to have excited a feeling with the public, in
some degree corresponding to that indicated in the two iriend-
ly publications referred to, that I had not been dealt with gene-
rously.

On the Causes of Obstruction in Water-pipes and Syphons from
Disengaged Air ; and on the Construction of a Hydraulic
Aii'-extractor for Removing them, (With a Model and
Drawing.) By J. Stewart Hepburn, Esq. of Colquhalzie,
Mem. Soc. Arts.*

Colquhalzie (by Crieff),
Sl^» Qth December 1833.

I BEG leave to submit to the Directors of the Society of Arts
the accompanying paper on the obstruction of water-pipes by
air, and the means of removing it. Should the subject be one
which they choose to entertain, and the manner of treating it
appear worthy of their notice, I shall forward to you a model of
the proposed apparatus, and a description of the means of giving
it a self-acting power.

It may be proper to mention, that the circumstance which
gave occasion to it was my observing that the London Society
of Arts had, seme years ago, given a premium to Mr Cowan for
the application to the syphon of a single air-vessel, from which

• Read before the Society of Arts, 5th February 1834.

Water-pipes and Syphons from disengaged Air, ^c. 101

the air was to be expelled by a powerful force-pump. The double
air-vessel, which I had previously projected, appearing to me
much more effective, as well as more simple and economical, it
occurred to me to submit a description of it to the Directors of
the Highland Society, who were pleased to honour it with their
thanks, and a place in their Transactions. It was not till very
lately that I had a model constructed, — the operation of which,
while it confirmed my opinion of its practical utility, suggested
some improvements on the design. The present paper contains
the statement of the result, particularly as applied to water-pipes,
and especially to the means of obtaining the command of water
lying beyond a ridge of high land. My chief reason for sub-
mitting it to the Society of Arts is, the belief that the approba-
tion of so competent judges (should it appear to deserve it),
would be the best means of obtaining for it a trial in practice.
Although the application of an air-vessel is not, as I at first sup-
posed, altogether new, this particular mode of its application,
and the deduction of the causes of obstruction of pipes by air, I
believe to be so, at least I am unable to learn any thing to the
contrary.

I shall be obliged by your recommending the paper to the
notice of the Directors. And I have the honour to be, &c.

J. Stewaet Hepburn.

James Tod, Esq. W. S.
Secretary to the Society of Arts of Scotland.

It has been long known that all fluids, exposed to the ordinary
pressure of the atmosphere, absorb a portion of the air, which,
however, appears to be rather mechanically diffused through the
fluid than chemically combined with it, being retained in union
with it by a force which is in the conjunct ratio of the atmo-
spherical pressure and the corpuscular attraction of its particles.
Accordingly, the quantity of air which any fluid is capable of
holding in solution, varies with the degree of pressure to which
it is subjected, and with the varying state of its corpuscular at-
traction. Of the effect of increased pressure in augmenting the
capacity of fluids to hold gases in solution, a familiar instance
occurs in the case of aerated waters, and of liquors which have
been bottled up before the termination of the vinous fermeuta-

1Q91 Mr Stewart on the Causes of Obstrndion in

fion. A portion of the carbonic gas contained in the liquor con*
tinues to disengage itself, until, accumulating under the cork, it
causes such an increase of pressure on the surface of the fluid,
that the farther evolution of gas is stopped, the liquor becomes
tranquil, and the rest of the gas remains suspended in it. But
when, by the drawing of the cork, the accumulated pressure is .
suddenly reduced to that of the atmosphere, the suspended gas is
instantly disengaged with violent effervescence.

The fact of the natural tendency of fluids, under the ordinary
atmospherical pressure, to absorb a certain portion of the air,
and to allow it to escape on the removal of that pressure, is ex-
hibited with great distinctness and precision in the well-known
experiment of the Toricellian tube. If a glass tube, three feet
in length, and with one of its ends hermetically closed, be filled
with unprepared quicksilver, and then inverted in a perpendicu-
lar position with its open end plunged in a basin of the same
fluid, the mercury in the tube will suddenly sink to the height
of thirty inches (the mean height of a column of mercury equi^
yalent to an atmospherical column of equal diameter), leaving
in the upper end of the tube a perfect vacuum. This is proved
by bringing the tube to an inclined position ; for then the mer-
cury will suddenly spring upwards, until it strike sharply against
its upper extremity, falling to its former height when the tube
resumes its vertical position. But the surface of the mercury
in the tube being no longer pressed by the weight of the atmo-
sphere, the air contained in the fluid will begin to evolve itself;
and, rising to the surface, will diffuse itself in the vacant portion
of the tube. If, after a few days'* repose, the tube be again ex-
amined, it will be found that, on being inclined from its vertical
position, the mercury, although it will indeed still rise in the
tube, will no longer reach the summit; but, on approaching, it
will rebound with repeated oscillations, shewing at once the
presence and the elastkity of the air that has been disengaged.

The same fact, of the absorption and disengagement of air,
may be shewn in the case of water, although in a much less con-
venient form, inasmuch as the column of water equivalent to
the atmospherical column is no less than 32 feet in height. If
a tube of iron or lead, about 34 feet in length, closed at one end,
and having (for the convenience of observation) a long slip of

Water-pipes and Syphons Jrom disengaged Air, Sfc. 103

^lass cemented into its side at the height of 32 feet from the
open end, be filled with water and inverted in a reservoir, the
water will be seen to sink to the height of 32 feet, leaving a va-
cuum above, which may be proved in the same way as in the
mercurial column. Speedily, however, minute bubbles of air
will appear in the water ; and, rising to the surface, will, as in
the former case, occupy, in a high state of rarefaction, the va-
cant portion of the tube.

The same phenomenon is exhibited in the action of the sy-
phon ; and the description of it in this form brings us nearer to
our purpose. Suppose, then, a leaden pipe of 70 feet long bent
into the form of a syphon, having the shorter limb, of 34 feet
in length, plunged into a deep tank or reservoir to the depth of
30 feet, and the end of the longer limb immersed in a small
vessel of water (see fig. 2.) attached to, and moveable along with
it, in order to prevent the admission of air during the varying
action of the syphon. If the air be now exhausted from the
syphon by a syringe applied to the end of the longer limb, the
atmospherical pressure on the surface of the water in the reser-
voir will force it to rise in the syphon, and, descending the lon-
ger limb, it will issue in a full stream. If the syphon be then
gradually elevated, the water will continue to flow from it, but
with less and less velocity ; because, while the atmospherical
pressure which forces it to rise in the syphon is constant and
uniform, the gravity of the ascending column goes on augment-
ing with its increasing length, until, at the height of 32 feet, the
two forces come into equilibrium, and the water consequently
ceases to flow. The syphun will, however, still continue full,
because, both ends being immersed in water, no air can enter to
displace the fluid contained in it ; and if the syphon is again
lowered, the water, obedient to the renewed atmospherical pres-
sure, will again begin to flow. But if, in place of being lowered^
the syphon is raised to the height of 33 or 34 feet, the two
columns will separate at the summit, and each will fall in its
own limb to the height of 32 feet above the surface of the water
in which its lower end is immersed, leaving a perfect vacuum in
the upper part of the syphon. If the syphon be immediately
depressed to its former position, the columns will again unite
and begin to flow; but if retained, in its elevated j^tation, tlie

104 Mr Stewart on the Causes of Obstruction in

vacancy in the upper part will, as in the case of the vertical tube,
be in a short lime occupied by the rarefied air which evolves it-
self from the water in consequence of the removal of the atmo-
spherical pressure ; and if, after this has taken place, the syphon
be once more lowered to its original depth in the reservoir, the
water will indeed again rise until the rarefied air above it is com-
pressed into the same density with that of the atmosphere ; but
the air will maintain its place in the upper part, and the flow of
the water will not be resumed. This evolution of air in the
syphon occurs not merely when the diminution of atmospherical
pressure approaches its extreme limit, but more or less in all
circumstances. For, at the summit or vertex of the syphon,
there is not only a certain diminution of pressure, even when its
elevation is small, but the gravity of the descending column in
the longer limb tends to weaken the cohesion of the fluid, and
to bring into play another co-operating cause of gaseous develop-
ment, which shall presently be explained. So that, in this in-
strument, the causes of accumulating obstruction are constantly
at work, lessening its utility, and greatly limiting the applica-
tion of which it is really susceptible to various useful purposes.
It has been stated in the outset, that the capacity of fluids for
retaining air in solution depends not only on the amount of at-
mospherical pressure, but on the varying degree of the corpus-
cular attraction of its particles ; and every cause which weakens
that attraction tends to the disengagement of the combined air.
The expansion of fluids by heat is an agent of this description,
and as it is one of convenient apphcation, it is accordingly em-
ployed for this purpose, both in chemistry and the arts, and par-
ticularly for expelling the air from quicksilver in the construc-
tion of the barometrical tube. In the case just detailed, both
of these causes appear to be in operation. Foi*, while the sus-
taining atmospherical pressure operates with less and less force
on each successive film of the ascending column of water, the
counteracting force of gravitation is, practically, the same on all,
operating with the same intensity on the highest as on the lowest
film ; — and it acts with still greater and more undivided force
on the descending column in the longer limb, in a manner yet
more direct and palpable, causing the fluid to descend with a
force continually accelerating, while it is ascending in the lower

Water-pipes and Si/phonsjrom disengaged Air, <S*c. 105

limb with a force more and more retarded. This double action,
therefore, of the gravitating force in the syphon tends to weaken,
and at last to overcome, the corpuscular attraction in the middle
part or summit of the double column, as we have seen actually
to take place as soon as the weight of the column of water came
into equihbrium with that of the atmospherical column.

A proof of the important share which the diminution of the
corpuscular attraction has in causing the evolution of the com-
bined air, is to be found in what takes place in the case of water
flowing through conduit pipes along a declivity of considerable
but unequal inclination. In this case the water, although it
enters the pipe with only the force corresponding to its depth
beneath the surface, that is, to the pressure of a hydrostatic
column of the diameter of the pipe, and of a height equal to its
depth (aB^ fig. 3) below the surface of the water, yet tends ♦ to
issue from the lower end with the velocity due to the total height
of its fall (or in the proportion of the square root of the height
c D, to the square root of the height a B), modified by the fric-
tion of the pipe, which, however, according to the experiments
of Bossut, is neutralized when the inclination of the pipe amounts
to 6° SV, or about 1 in 8. It would appear, therefore, that
the intermediate part of the moving column must be, as it were,
in a high state of tension. As its velocity increases it exerts less
and less pressure on the sides of the pipe, and receives less pres-
sure in return, — the increasing momentum of the descending
column, particularly of the interior filaments, which are not af-
fected by the friction of the pipe, tends to elongate the mass, to

• I say tends to issue, because the affirmation of some writers that in long
horizontal pipes the water enters the pipe with much greater velocity than it
leaves it, must be taken with some qualification. For, if this were strictly
true, it is evident that an accumulation and condensation must take place in
the interior of the pipe, which would quickly attain a maximum, and prevent
the water from entering materially quicker than it was discharged. And, on
the other hand, its tendency in pipes of great inclination to issue with greater
velocity than it enters is controlled by the increased friction of the pipe, and
by the corpuscular attraction of the water, which, together with the pressure
of the atmosphere at the lower extremity of the pipe, prevent the continuity
of the column from being broken, as it would be, did the water actually issue
with much greater velocity than it enters, and reduce its final to very nearly
its initial velocity.

I06 Mr Stewart an the Causes of Obstruction in

diminish its diameter (even to the verge of creating a vacuum
between it and the sides of the pipe), and to weaken its corpus-
cular attraction, which is now sustaining almost the whole action
of the gravitating force ; just as, when it issues from the mouth
of the pipe, its velocity progressively increases, its diameter con-
tracts, and its corpuscular attraction diminishes as it falls to-
wards the earth, until, if the height of its fall be great, its cohe-
sion is at length entirely lost, and it is divided and scattered into
spray. That this diminution of the corpuscular attraction really
has the effect of decreasing the capacity of the fluid for retaining
the combined air, appears from the fact, that, in the circumstan-
ces described, the air is found to be gradually disengaged, and
to lodge in those parts of the pipe which have the smallest de-
gree of inclination ; in which situation its natural buoyancy has
less power to force its way against the opposing action of the
current, obstructing by its presence, or entirely stopping, the
flow of the water through the pipe.

This tendency of the disengaged air to lodge in the horizontal
parts of water pipes, and in the top of draining syphons, often
occasions much trouble and inconvenience ; and the ordinary
means of expelling it even from water-pipes by air-cocks and
the forcing syringe, appeared to the writer of this paper so in-
convenient and ineffective, that he conceived the idea of the ap-
plication to his own water-pipes of a double air-vessel for extract-
ing the imprisoned air. This attention being afterwards drawn
to the draining-syphon, in which the difficulty of expelling the
confined air is still greater, and the means of effecting it still
more imperfect, this air-vessel appeared to him no less applicable
to the syphon than to water-pipes ; and, after some experiments
with a working model, it assumed the form which he is about to
describe, and which he is persuaded will prove effectual in prac-
tice for both purposes.

Water-'pipes arid Syphons Jron disengaged Air, S^c. 107

Fig. 1. Fig. 2.

AB is a cylindrical vessel of iron, lead, or copper, divided into
two equal spaces by the false bottom a, b, containing the air-tight
valve c ; the lower bottom d, e, contains a similar valvey,* and, in
order that this valve may be accessible for being cleared or re-
paired when necessary, the bottom plate containing it may be
made to screw into the cylinder. To the under side of the valve
yis fixed the vertical pipe C, of such length as may be necessary
to connect it with the syphon or water-pipe to which it is to be
applied (see fig. S and 3). An upright pin p, q, fixed in the top of
these valves, passes through oblong holes in the sliding brass
rods gh, ik, which work horizontally, passing through water-
tight leather collars in the stuffing-boxes I, m, in the sides of the
cylinder, and through holes in the knee-plates n, o, fixed to the in-
terior opposite side, by the alternate motion of these rods the
valves are opened and shut. A simultaneous alternate motion
is given to these rods by the lever h, r, k, turning on its center r
on a pillar r, s, fixed on the side of the cylinder ; and, by means
of vertical hinge-joints in the rods at t, w, their free parallel mo-
tion is secured. In the position of the lever represented in the
figure, the valve e is shut and the valve^open ; by a small turn
of the lever into the^direction /,47, the valve y is shut, and tlie
vaVo e open?('.

108 Mr Stewart on the Causes of Obstruction in

The movements of the valves may also be managed by cranks
fixed on their axes, which are for that purpose prolonged,
passing through leathern collars, in the side of the air-vessel ;
and to obtain a simultaneous action, the cranks may be connect-
ed by a working rod ; only, that in this case, as the axes must
be in the same perpendicular line, the position of the hinges must
be reversed. Stop-cocks may also be substituted for valves in
the case of water-pipes ; — in which case, there are two air-vessels
connected by a short pipe, which contains a stop-cock, and this
stop-cock being fixed in the pipe which connects the lower air-
vessel with the water-pipe.

Fig. 3.

The air-extractor, thus constructed, is applied to use in the
following manner. The pipe C, fig. 1., the upper end of which
is connected with the lower valve j^ has its lower end inserted in
that part of the syphon or water-pipe in which the air is found
to lodge ; and the cylinder being filled with water, the upper
valve ^, is shut, and the lower valve ^ is opened. Under this
arrangement, it is plain, that whenever any air accumulates at
the bottom of the pipe C, it will immediately rise through it into
the lower cylinder B, displacing an equal bulk of the water,
which will descend through the pipe C, and be carried off by
the moving water, which, relieved of the air, is flowing without
obstruction. When the air has again accumulated, so as to fill
the cylinder B, and pipe C, the obstruction is found to recur ;
and in order to get rid of it, the communication between the cy-
linder, and the pipe or syphon, must first be cut off, by shutting

Water-pipes and Syphons from disengaged Jir, <J-c. 109

the lower valve^ The upper valve is then opened, when the
water in the cylinder A will descend, and displace the air in the
cylinder C, which will rise through the upper valve, and pass off
into the atmosphere. It will novv be found that the obstruction
is removed, and that the water flows freely. Then both cylin-
ders are to be again filled with water ; after which the upper
valve is shut, and the lower one opened as before. By the con-
necting lever these movements are made simultaneously.

In practice it may possibly be found necessary, at least when
the air has been allowed to accumulate in the pipe, while the
valveyis shut, to interrupt, for a moment, the entrance of the
water into the mouth of the pipe or syphon, in order to allow
the air to rise freely into the cylinder. The reason of this seems
to be, that as soon as the opening of the lower valve, and the
ascent of the first bubble of air partially relieves the water in the
pipe from the pressure of the confined air, — the renewed impe-
tus of the water, in attempting to resume its motion, forces the
air forward, and partially prevents its ascent through the valve
into the cylinder. It may be also observed, that, in the drain-
ing syphon, it will be advantageous to prevent the access of the
atmospherical air at both its extremities : for if the water in the
reservoir or quarryhole is allowed to drain off until its surface
descends to the extremity of the shorter or drawing limb, the
air will instantly rush up and empty the syphon. And, again,
if, while its action is suspended by the accumulation of disen-
gaged air within, the lower or discharging extremity of the
longer limb be exposed to the atmospherical air, it will ascend,
and dislodge the water from that limb, when it will immediate-
ly fall in the other also ; and the operation of exhausting the
air must be repeated before the syphon can be made to work.
To prevent the first of these inconveniences, it would be ad-
visable to furnish the drawing limb with a valve, having on the
end of its axis a lever and air ball (B, fig. 2). When the re-
servoir is full, the air-ball will remain in the vertical position
B e, retaining the valve fully open ; as soon, however, as the
surface of the water falls below the level eg^ the air-ball will
descend along with it, gradually closing the valve ; which, when
the surface of the water, and, along with it, the air-ball, has
reached the level y//, is entirely shut, preventing both air and

110 Mr Stewart on the Causes of Obstruction in

water from entering the syphon until the water again accumu-
lates, raising the air-ball along with it, and opening the valve.
The second of the inconveniences referred to, is to be remedied
by keeping the end D immersed in a trough or vessel G ; which,
receiving the water as it flows from the syphon, remains always
full, and prevents the entrance of air. Thus furnished with an
air-extractor, and the means just described of preventing the
water from being drained off, all that is necessary to renew the
working of a syphon obstructed by the presence of disengaged
air in its vertex, is to close the valve B, by pressing down the
air-ball, if in practice that be found necessary, and then to press
down the end h of the lever h 7c, (fig. 1.), which, shutting the
valvey,' and opening the valve e, allows the water in the cylin-
der A to descend, and the air in the cylinder B to escape. The
air-ball being then allowed to rise, and the valve B opened
(fig. £.), the water will begin to flow ; when the cylinder A may
be again filled with water, to be in readiness when required. In
situations where, in setting the syphon to work, it may be diflS-
cult to employ a syringe for exhausting the air, the purpose may
be served by furnishing the lower limb D also with a valve;
then, shutting both valves B and D of the extremities, and
opening both valves of the air-extractor (by disengaging one
end of the lever from the working-rod), fill the syphon with wa-
ter from the top ; when this is done, all that is necessary is, to
shut the upper valve of the air-extractor, and open the valves B
and D, when the water will flow freely.

Fig. 4.

When this mechanism is to be applied to free conduit-pipes of
air, it is to be inserted into the place where the air is most dis-

Water-pipes and Syphons from disengaged Air, <J-c. Ill

posed to lodge, being that part of the pipe which has the small-
est degree of inclination (Fig. 3.) ; then, as in the case of the
syphon, to shut the stopcocks at B and at^ and open the stop-
cock e, when the air which has accumulated from the pipe into
the lower cylinder will escape, and the water in the upper vessel
descend to occupy its place. Then the valve e is to be shut,
andy and B to be opened, and the . upper cylinder again filled
with water until the operation requires to be repeated. In wa-
ter-pipes these operations must be performed by the hand of the
person in charge of them ; but, in the case of the syphon, a self-
acting power may easily be given to it, which will work the valves
at intervals without the necessity of attendance.

It now only remains to describe a certain case or class of si-
tuations in which the air-extractor may be applied to a purpose
of some importance. Suppose the house H, (Fig. 4.), is so
situate as to be unable to obtain a spontaneous supply of water,^
but that a constant spring B is discovered on the opposite side
of a hill or long ridge of high land A, the lowest point C of
whose summit is thirty feet higher than the spring. No doubt
if a pipe were laid from the well over this lowest summit to the
house, the water would, on the air being extracted from the
pipe, flow to the house, the pipe acting as a syphon. But the
accumulation of disengaged air would in a very short time create
such an obstruction as could not be removed by any of the
means at present in use ; and, if ever attempted, it would pro-
bably be abandoned as hopeless. This, however, is a case to
which I apprehend the air-extractor might be applied with a
certainty of success ; and it is in situations of this kind that I
think it especially calculated to be of practical utility : for I
am persuaded that many fine springs of water, which at present
would be considered as utterly inaccessible, might, by this means,
with ease and certainty, be commanded and applied to useful
purposes. Nay, by employing several pipes or syphons of large
size, and uniting their vertices by connecting-pipes with one
common air-extractor, a supply of water, in larger quantities,
miglit be obtained from springs or rivulets in similar situations,
for irrigation, machinery, bleaching, and other purposes, when
unattainable by ordinary means.

CoLQUHALZiE, 2d December 1833.

112 Mr Stewart on the Causes of Obstruction in

Report by Mr Dunn.

Mr Stewart Hepburn is correct in stating that fluids hold
a quantity of air in solution, or mechanically combined with
them, although I am afraid his proof, deduced from the filling
of a barometer-tube, will not hold good, as indeed the expression
he makes use of, " unprepared mercury," indicates itself. Mr
Hepburn is perhaps not aware, that a very large proportion of all
the barometers made are filled simply by pouring the mercury
into the tube. It is only the more carefully made ones that
have the mercury boiled in the tube. I would find no difficulty
in fining a tube either to produce the effect or not, as I had a
mind, with the same mercury.

Mr Hepburn's paper contains many valuable hints as to 'the
causes of the obstruction to the flow of water in pipes which,
although not new, are highly'valuable and by far too little known.
There is a very remarkable similarity betwixt Mr Hepburn's
invention and one submitted to the Edinburgh Water Company,
or Magistrates of Edinburgh, by Mr Hunter of Thurston, in
1820, where Mr Hunter suggests a double air-box, precisely
the same as Mr Hepburn's, to be applied to a syphon to rise
over the height of George Street, instead of tunnelling. It is,
however, I think certain, that the idea was original to both, and
aflTords a strong presumptive proof, not only of its being desir-
able and useful, but also that it is the best way of effecting the
object in view. Upon the whole, I think Mr Stewart Hepburn
deserves the best thanks of the Society for his ingenious, and I
will say, notwithstanding the remarks I have made above, ori-
ginal paper. I should have said that Mr Hunter proposed to
open his boxes by stop-cocks.

Report by Mr George Buchanan.

COCKBURMSFATH NEAR DUNBAR,

22d April \SM.
In regard to Mr Hepburn's paper, I have not had time to
get a regular report completed, but sent you the paper this
morning, in which there is a draft of report, and also notes by
Mr Dunn. In addition, I would make the following remarks : —
Mr Hepburn's paper I consider an ingenious and well written

Water-pipes and Syphons from disev gaged Air, 113

essay on a very important subject in practical hydraulics, and the
thanks of the society are due to him for it, and particularly for
his contrivance for drawing air off from the syphon. In regard
to his views of the absorption of air by water, and its disengage-
ment in pipes, I cannot just altogether agree or follow him in
his notions; but the subject, it must be confessed, is not suffi-
ciently understood. The idea of a mechanical mixture of the
air with the water I conceive quite inadmissible; and, when we
consider that the former is 800 times lighter than the latter, it
is obvious they must be united by a very powerful attraction
overcoming t^e natural buoyancy of the air. When the pressure
of the external air is removed, the particles confined within the
water are seen to expand. Their buoyancy, therefore, increases,
and they overcome the force of attraction with which the buoyant
force was forming in equilibrio ; and this is the true cause of
their disengagement in the upper parts of the syphon. The
diminution of corpuscular attraction, on which Mr Hepburn
lays so much stress, I cannot think has much influence, as this,
in any case, is so extremely weak a force. In regard to the dis-
engagement of air in pipes, the curious circumstance here is, that
this takes place without the pressure of the atmosphere being
removed at all, and even when it is greatly increased by all the
pressure of the column of water to the height of the fountain
head. This is a very curious fact indeed, and not easily ex-
plained ; but the thanks of the Society are certainly due to Mr
Hepburn for bringing this subject under their notice, as it may
lead to useful discussion.

Report hy Mr Clerk Maxwell,

Many eminent engineers have been disappointed in their ex-
pectations of the quantity of water conveyed by pipes, owing
to various causes of obstruction to the regular flow, and which
make the result different from that deduced by calculation on
the most approved theory. The essay of Mr Hepburn is there-
fore of much value in elucidating the obstruction caused by air
in pipes, and in suggesting a method of removing it ; and in
particular, in pointing out a method of withdrawing air from
the syphon, and so rendering it a much more valuable instru-
ment than it has hitherto been. The same method of doing

VOL. XX. NO. XXXIX. — JANUARY 1836. H

114 Mr Hepburn on the Obstructions in

so (although undoubtedly original to Mr Hepburn), was point-
ed out (but not acted on) by Mr Hunter of Thurston, in a
letter to the Directors of the Edinburgh Water Company, in
January 1820. The circumstance of two persons having se^
parately arrived at the same conclusion, marks strongly the ad-
vantages of the plan proposed.

It may perhaps be unnecessary for the Committee to examine
minutely all the propositions in the esssgr, as to the air being
disengaged from being relieved from the pressure of the atmo-
sphere, and from the diminution of corpuscular attraction
(which is perhaps only a different term for the effect produced
by the former cause), but they consider the main fact of the
extrication of air in pipes satisfactorily elucidated.

The self-acting apparatus would no doubt answer the pur*
pose intended, but probably in most cases the necessity for it
would not occur, as the letting off the air can be so easily done
by the hand, and being periodically required, could be done at
little or even no expense ; or, if an extraneous supply of water
at the highest point of the syphon could be obtained, some more
simple machinery might be made to effect the movement of the
valves.

On the whole, the Committee are of opinion that the appro-
bation and thanks of the Society should be tendered to Mr
Hepburn for his ingenious contrivance of the double air-vessel,
and for his valuable essav.

Copy Letter from James Hunter of Thurston^ to the Chairman of the
Water Company, Edinburgh, dated 20th January 1821, referred
to in the previous Report. With a Drawing*

Sir, — I observe operations going on at the north end of the
Mound, Avhich I understand are the commencement of a tun-
nel upon a dead level below George Street to Queen Street, for
conveying the new supply of water to the lower parts of the
New Town. As this work (if I am correctly informed on the
subject) will cost a great sum of money, I think it ought to be
considered whether the following plan will not be a very great
saving. I should think George Street is not thirty feet higher
than Prince's Street, therefore, a syphon laid near the surface of

.XX .JQV

■Water-pipes and Syphons Jrom disengaged Air, 115

the ground will act ; or, at all events, in case of necessity, It
will be easy to sink it a few feet at the top, so as to bring it
within the range of thirty feet, but as a syphon is apt to ga-
ther air at the top, I propose a contrivance, which will effec-
tually remedy that inconvenience.

r

Stopcock.

A A are two legs of a syphon.

BB, the two ends turned up, so that the water cannot run out

at either end.
C and E, stopcocks.
D, a ball containing about a cubit foot.
F, a funnel.

GG are upon the same level.
H is the pipe bringing water to Princess Street.

To carry this plan into effect, shut up the two ends BB,*and
open the cock C and E. Pour in water at F till the syphon is
quite full, then shut both cocks, leaving D andF full of water,
and open the ends BB.

The syphon BAAB will not only constantly run when supplied
with water, but will continue charged though the supply should
be stopped. However, as a good deal of air is constantly sepa-
rating itself from water in pipes, it will of course collect imme-
diately below C ; and to get rid of this, it will be necessary to
let it out, perhaps once a-week, but for safety it can be let out
every second day. I propose the following method. Open the
cock E, and fill D with water ; next shut E and open C ; the
water in 1) will immediately descend into the syphon, and the
coUected air rise into D ; again, shut C, and if necessary, repeat
the operation, always finishing by leaving D and F full of wa-
ter. As the opening of both cocks at once would empty the

h2

116 Account of a Curious Phenomenon in Cephalonia.

syphtn, it will be necessary to fasten the same handle to both
cocks, in such a way, that opening one shall shut the other,
but that the second one may also be shut separately.

This syphon will run fully as fast as a straight pipe, but if
there is any level to spare between Prince's Street and the end
of the pipe rear Queen Street, the advantage of it will be ob-
tained by sinking B in Prince's Street straight down, and turn-
ing it up again towards H, so that the bend I of the pipe shall
be as low as the bend K in Queen Street.

It is to be remembered that many of the wells of the New-
Town may be dried up by coming upon a spring in boring
through the hill, which is not at all unlikely. The practicabi-
lity of the scheme may be put to the test for less than L.3. —
I have the honour to be, &c.

Thurston-, DunbaUj 20th January 1821.

On a Curious Phenomenon observed^ in the Island of Cephalonia,
and 071 the proximate cause of Earthquakes in the Ionian
Islands. By John Davy, M. D., F. R. S., Surgeon to the
Forces. In a Letter to Professor Forbes.

Fort Pitt, Chatham, July 2. 1835.

My Dear Sir, — As I fear it will not be in my power to at-
tend the meeting of the Association for the Advancement of
Science next month in Dublin *, allow me through you, to call
the attention of the physical class to a phenomena in Cephalo-
nia, of which I have lately been informed, of an extraordinary
and novel kind, as it appears to me, viz. the occurrence of streams
or currents of salt water /row the sea into the land.

This curious fact was first mentioned to me, some months
ago, by my friend Dr White, Assistant Surgeon of the 2d Bat-
talion of the Rifle Brigade, in a letter which 1 received from
him when I was in Malta. I lost no time in replying to him,
and begged him to collect as much information as possible on
the subject, urging him at the same time to publish an account

* It will be seen by the letter that this paper was intended to have been
communicated to the British Association ; but in consequence of Professor
Forbes's absence in Spain, was not received in time, and has subsequently been
read at the author's desire before the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

Account of a Curious Phenomenon in Cephahnia. 117

of the phenomena. He has in part compiled with my wishes ;
this morning I have been favoured with a second letter from
him, giving the results of his inquiries, and requesting me to
make any use of them I may think proper. I cannot do better,
therefore, in relation to the object which I have in view, than
to give his description in his own words, extracted from the let-
ter just referred to, which is dated Itliaca, May 26.

" About a mile and a half from the town of Angostoh, in
Cephalonia, near the entrance of the harbour, there are four de-
scending streams of sea-water. Three of them are near to each
other ; the fourth is distant about four hundred yards. Their
existence has been long known to the inhabitants of Cephalonia,
but the particular period of their discovery is uncertain. No
one possessing this information, it appears, had intelligence
enough to be struck by the phenomena, or sufficient ingenuity
to avail himself of them for useful purposes, until about twelve
months ago, when the attention of Mr Stephens, lately collector
of customs in Cephalonia, was directed to them.

" This gentleman, soon appreciating the probable value of
such streams in the vicinity of the two principal towns in the
island (Angostoli and Lixuri), lost no time in obtaining from
the local government a lease of them for a certain number of
years, and is at this moment erecting a grist-mill on the site of
one of them, with the almost certain prospect of success. Hence
lie has dug a trench of sufficient depth and breadth to receive
the frame-work of his building, and to obtain the necessary
height of perpendicular fall. This, which varies somewhat with
the occasional rise and fall of the sea (chiefly caused by the pe-
culiar formation of the harbour and prevailing winds), Mr Ste-
phens confidently calculates will seldom be under two and a
half feet, and that the apertures which communicate with the
trench will freely deliver two hundred square inches of water,
flowing in at the rate of fifteen feet per second.

" It is a curious fact that streams of fresh water are constantly
flowing through numerous fissures into the trench, and in a di-
rection apparently opposite to that which the sea-water takes in
escaping ; for, whenever this (the water from the sea) is pre-
vented from rushing in, the water in the trench invariably rises
a considerable number of inches higher t'lan it docs at any other
time, and is brackish to the taste.

118 0;i the Cause of the Earthquakes in the Ionian Isles*

** The streams are constant throughout the year, except when
the mouths of their channels get accidentally choked up with
sea-weed, which collects in large quantities in the harbour of
Angostolk

" On commencing their descent no sound is observable, but
through the apertures which open into the excavation made by
Mr Stephens, numerous bubbles of foetid air are at times disen-
gaged. This fact has but lately been observed, and takes place
only when the quantity of water escaping is small.

** Mr Stephens has been present at his trench when sharp
strokes of earthquakes have occurred, but did not observe any
particular effect or changes result therefrom."

Thus far Dr White. I may add from my recollection of the
locality, that where the streams descend, the shore is low, and
composed chiefly of calcareous freestone of very recent forma-
tion, hollowed into caverns here and there by the action of the
waves.

Reflecting on the nature of the currents described by Dr
White, it is hardly possible to refrain from speculation; and,
indeed, it is in connection with their theoretical bearing that they
are chiefly interesting.

In two points of view they appear particularly important, and
may be deserving of especial consideration. The first is in con-
nection with the theory of the formation of beds of mineral salt ;
the second with that of the production of earthquakes.

I would wish at the present time to call the attention of the
Class chiefly to the latter, hoping that some of the able inqui-
rers who compose it, may follow up the subject, and investigate
it experimentally.

My idea is, that the earthquakes to which Cephalonia, in com-
mon with most of the Ionian Islands, is so very subject, may be
owing to the descent of water into the earth, in situations where
there are great beds of clay or marl beneath the earth's surface,
and between porous and fissured strata, such as of freestone, al-
lowing of the ready access of this fluid. I am disposed to be-
lieve that clay or marl in absorbing water expands, and conse-
quently in drying contracts in all its dimensions. The few ex-
periments I have made with a coarse apparatus, the best I could
procure in Malta, were in favour of the conclusion. I may men-
tion one of them. Small cylindrical masses of calcareous marl,

On the Cause of the Earthquakes in the Ionian Isles. 119

which falls to powder in water, of that kind which prevails in
the Ionian islands, in Sicily and in Calabria, after having been
dried by exposure to the air, was put into a vessel, having two
apertures with stopcocks, by means of one of which small quan-
tities of water might from time to time be admitted, whilst the
other communicated with a bent tube containing coloured spirit
of wine, which served as a gauge to measure any expansion of
the air or other materials in the vessel. This prepared appara-
tus was left several hours undisturbed in a room without a fire,
to allow of every part of it acquiring the temperature of the
room ; the first stopcock was suddenly turned, and water admit*
ted, and, after a few seconds, again closed. Now, watching the
gradual absorption of the water by the masses of marl, and their
falling to powder, I witnessed a decided, though not very con-
siderable, rise of the spirit in the bent tube, in the direction indi-
cating an expansion within the vessel. Various trials were made
with the t»ame general result : the details I cannot give, for my
note-books have not yet arrived from Malta, nor indeed is it ne-
cessary, for they would be tedious, and, to those acquainted with
Buch inquiries, perhaps of little moment. It may be sufficient
to say that I was tolerably satisfied the expansion indicated
arose from no other source than the absorption of the water
by the clay, and that there was noi to my knowledge any cause
of error present to vitiate the conclusion ; however, as there
might have been, I hope the experiment will be repeated, and
on a scale in regard to magnitude, commensurate with its im-
portance.

Allowing the result to be correct,^ that clay or marl actually
expands from the absorption of water, the application of the
fact is obvious in relation to the production of earthquakes, in si-
tuations,'as already mentioned, in which there are large beds of
these substances under the earth^'s surface. The volume of these
beds undergoing change equally, from the less absorption and
loss of water, they may be a constant cause of motion, or of
earthquakes, wherever they exist, the motion varying in degree
according to a variety of circumstances, which it may be diffi-
cult to appreciate, as the quantity of water absorbed, the time
in which it is absorbed, the pressure of su})erincumbent strata,
&c. and the accidents connected either with the eflTects of i>ent

120 On the Cause of the Earthquakes hi the lofinan Isles.

up water (itself perhaps an occasional cause of earthquakes), or
with the falling in of great masses of clay, supposing, as there
IS every reason to believe, that in regions subject to earthquakes
there exist extensive subterraneous cavities. You will natu-
rally ask, how do the facts which are best ascertained respecting
the localities of earthquakes in the Ionian islands, and their phe-
nomena, accord with this idea ?

To me they appear to accord so well as to be a confirmation
of it. I shall notice some of the facts which I conceive to be
most important and unquestionably authenticated.

1. Earthquakes are most common in the clay districts, as in
the low parts of Zante, which consist chiefly of grey marl ; in
most parts of Santa Maura, where the same marl is abundant ;
in the low parts of Cephalonia^ especially the neighbourhood of
Lixuri and Angostoli, also abounding in marl ; and in the dis-
trict of Alleschimo, in Corfu, which consists almost entirely of
marl.

2. Earthquakes are rarely felt, and slightly, in those parts of
the islands which consist chiefly of rock, whether of mountain
limestone, as the mountainous parts of Zante and Cephalonia ;
or of mountain limestone and clay-slate, as the loftiest part of
Corfu, or of the same rock associated, on a small scale, with pri-
mitive marble and granite, as in the most elevated region of
Cerigo. I would beg to dwell a little on this point of locality.
Zante, in the different regions just alluded to, offers a very
striking contrast. The frequency of earthquakes in the town of
Zante, and its immediate neighbourhood, is universally known.
In the summer and autumn of 1824, which I chiefly spent there,
hardly a day passed without a shock being felt, and almost
every house bore marks of having, more or less, suffered from
them ; and this town is situated on marl, and backed by lofty
hills of the same substance. The exemption of the mountainous
regions, composed of limestone, constituting nearly half of the
island, is but little known, if at all. When I travelled through
it the same year, I did not fail to make inquiries on the subject,
wherever I went; and I was invariably answered, as I have just
stated, that earthquakes there were rarely indeed felt, and only
very slightly. In Santa Maura, it is deserving of notice, there
is one village which has always been remarkable for exemption,

On the Cause of the Earthquakes in the Ionian Isles. 121

and which has escaped uninjured when every other village in the
island has been more or less ruined. This is the little village of
Frini, situated on strata of limestone, lightly inclined, elevated
above the adjoining lowlands, about 600 feet, and presenting to-
wards them several precipices. I visited Santa Maura a few weeks
after the destructive earthquake of 1825. I explored the whole
island, and Frini was the only village I found which had not
then suffered. The shock was felt there, but not a single house
was thrown down, whilst in the neighbouring town of Amaxachi,
or Santa Maura, as it is more commonly called, hardly a single
house was left standing.

3. The Ionian Islands are very peculiar in relation to the dis-
tribution and rise of water to the surface. The marl districts
subject to earthquakes abound in springs. The limestone dis-
tricts exempt from them are destitute of springs, and would be
uninhabitable without tanks in which rain-water is collected and
preserved for use. Near the sea, apparently without distinction
in relation to the kind of ground, copious springs, some of them
saline, often burst forth, and occasionally even in the sea.

I have now pointed out the principal circumstances which to
me seem to favour the idea I have formed of the probable origin
of these earthquakes. You will ask, perhaps, Why prefer this
notion to the commonly received hypothesis which connects them
with volcanic action ? I may reply, that the two supposed causes
are nowise incompatible ; that they may act either separately or
together ; that probably the most violent earthquakes are owing
to the volcanic cause, the slighter and partial, such as are wit-
nessed in the Ionian Islands, to the cause I have imagined. I
am farther led to this conclusion, by not having been able to
discover, in any part of the Ionian Islands (and I have explored
the whole of them with care), any traces of volcanic fires, any
traces of trap-rocks, or a single spring, the temperature of which
was above the mean annual temperature of the spot where it
rose. This is negative evidence, as it appears to me, of a very
strong kind, against the earthquakes of these islands having a
volcanic origin — especially the fact of the entire absence of warm
springs. It seems hardly possible that their cause can be vol-

122 On the Cause of the Earthquakes in the Ionian Isle^.

canic, without some indication through the medium of springs of
the proximity of volcanic fires.

To revert to the phenomenon of the streams of sea-water flow-
ing into the earth, — in connecting them with the production of
earthquakes, according to the notion I have started, — of course, I
do not consider them more concerned than so many descending
streams of fresh water ; the water, not the saU, being supposed
to be operative. They arrest attention, however, more, and in-
cite to inquiry and speculation more from their singularity, and
as apparently denoting vast space below the surface appropriate
to the operation of water, in the manner which I have imagined.

When reflecting on the probable influence of marl under the
action of water, I was led to make some experiments on marl
and clay, and different substances, in relation to their penetra-
bility by this fluid. I shall mention briefly some of the results,
as they appear to me to possess some interest, especially in con-
nexion with the matter of inquiry under consideration. The
form of the experiment was very simple. A glass tube was se-
lected about an inch in diameter, and about two feet long, which
was covered at one end with linen, and placed perpendicularly.
It was filled with the substance to be tried, about two-thirds,
and water was poured into the empty portion. In the instances
in which freestone, or marble in powder, or even carbonate of
lime, procured by precipitation, were used, the water penetrated
rapidly ; some reached the bottom and flowed out in drops ; in
a iii"^ hours it was drained off, the substance tried merely re-
maining wet. In the instances, on the contrary, in which marl
or clay was usetl, introduced in |X)wder, the water penetrated
with extreme slowness. I have not by me the notes of the ex-
periments to consult ; but I \Qry well recollect that, after three
or four weeks, it had not penetrated into the marl more than an
inch. When these substances, in a coarser form, were employed,
as in small masses, then of course the descent of the water was
more rapid ; but no sooner had the marl become swollen from
the absorption of water, and reduced to powder, than it arrested
the farther rajnd descent of the fluid, and the experiments im-
mediately became similar to that first mentioned.

It was my wish to have continued and multiplied these ex-
periments ; but circumstances which it would be tedious to men-

Account of the Great Suspension Bridge at Fribourg. 123

tion, unavoidably prevented me, and I am doubtful now if I
shall resume them. The results are of easy application ; whilst
they shew how clay and marl may act in arresting the descent
of water, and in producing springs, they also illustrate how, if
water has access to great masses of clay or marl, full of fissures,
so that it may act on a very extensive surface, a large quantity
of it may be absorbed, and therefore it may be supposed a con-
siderable effect of expansion may be produced.

In conclusion, I will only add, that if any of the remarks I
have made, or the conjectures which I have ventured to throw
out, should happily lead to the discussion of so interesting as
well as mysterious a subject as earthquakes, I shall not consider
them offered in vain, more especially should they induce, as I
hope they may, any one to investigate the subject experimen-
tally. I remain, &c.

J. Davy.

Account of the Great Suspension Bridge at Fribourg.

The town of Fribourg is built on the left bank of the Sarine.
Both sides of this small stream are very steep, and rise to the
height of about 220* feet above its bed ; and travellers coming
from Berne to Fribourg were formerly obliged to descend the
hill in order to reach a small wooden bridge which crosses the
river, and immediately after by a steep ascent of about 200 feet
to reach the top of the opposite bank before coming to the centre
of the town. The passage through Fribourg thus occupied nearly
an hour ; but the casii is changed since the erection of , the new
suspension brid^i^e.

These difficulties and delays were long consideretl the un-
avoidable consequence of the local situation of the town, until
some bold spirits conceived the idea of uniting, by means of a
suspension bridge, the steep banks of the Sarine. It was neces-
sary that the bridge should pass over a great part of the town
itself, and the scheme was considered completely Utopian ; yet
certain of the authorities and some active citizens determined to

« All the measurements have been reduced from French'to English, agree-
able to thj ratios given in the Annuaire ilu Diireau des I.ongiludes for 1

124 Account of the Great Stispension Bridge of Fribowg.

submit the measure to the consideration of engineers of different
districts. Various designs were accordingly offered, and the
Government of the Canton gave the preference to that of M.
Challey of Lyons, whose plan has since been executed under his
immediate superintendence. J

The gateways at either end of the bridge are of Doric archi-
tecture, and are about 65 feet in height. The tops of their
arches are about 42 feet above the roadway, and the arches have
a span of 20 feet. The masonry of the gate is 46 feet in width,
and its thickness is about 20 feet; and, although the largest
blocks of the hard limestone of Jura were employed in this work,
iron cramps were used to complete the union of the stones, and
above 24 tons of iron were used for this purpose.

The width of the valley of the Sarine at the point where the
bridge is built, or, in other words, the distance between the
inner face-work of the two gateways on either bank of the
river, and consequently the span of the suspended roadway, is
871 feet. It may be easily conceived that a good deal of doubt
was entertained as to the propriety of trusting to a span of so
great an extent, and the idea of suspending the bridge at the
middle at first occurred to M. Challey as the best mode of form-
ing the communication. On weighing the difficulty, however,
of obtaining a solid foundation for a pier 220 feet in height in
the bottom of an alluvial valley, he soon relinquished this idea ;
and the bridge has therefore been constructed with a single span
of 871 feet.

The roadway is suspended in the manner now universally
known, by four cables of iron wire * passing over the upper part
of the gateways. Each cable consists of 1200 wires, each about
-r^i5th inch in diameter, and 1140 feet in length. To avoid the
difficulty of moving these heavy cables, each wire was brought
separately to its place, and they were united on the spot by the
workmen, who were suspended during the work. We are happy
to add, that no accident of any kind occurred during this opera-
tion. It is calculated that the four united cables are capable of
sustaining a weight equal to 2946 tons.

• It is not perhaps generally known that in all the suspension bridges in
France, ropes formed of wires are employed, instead of the solid links used
in F.ngland.

Accoimt of the Great Suspension Bridge of Frihourg, 125

The four cables are fixed in chain-pits or shafts cut out of
the solid rock on cither side of the river. In each of these pits
four cables pass through a vertical cylindric chimney or pillar,
which bears three heavy domes resting upon it, and at the same
lime abutting against grooves cut with much care in the rock to
receive the springing stones. At tlie bottom of the pillars the
cables are made fast to blocks of very hard stone which are cubes
of 6J feet. The cables, therefore, cannot slide without lifting
the whole of these enormous buildings, strengthened as they are
by their connexion with the solid rock.

M. Challey began this work in the spring of 1832. He
brought out of France with him only a foreman who had assist-
ed him on former occasions, and engaging in this arduous enter-
prise with the inexperienced workmen of the country who had
never seen a suspension bridge, he completed the work in spite
of all these difficulties; and on the 15th October 1834, ^^m
pieces of artillery drawn hyjbrty-two horses, and surrounded by
SOOJpersons, crossed the bridge, though they united in one body
as well on the middle as at the ends of the roadway. Nor was
the least appearance of derangement of the structure discovered
on the closest examination. Some days after the whole inhabi-
tants of Frihourg and its suburbs passed over in procession, so
that there were no fewer than 1800 persons on the bridge at the
same time ; and all classes of travellers, mercantile and curious,
have since united with the natives of the Swiss Cantons in testi-
fyingltheir entire satisfaction with the bridge. Although the
severe proof to which the constructor of this work subjected it,
by loading the roadway with about 20 lb. on each square foot,
did not take place till the month of October 1835, yet it may
safely be said that the colossal bridge of Frihourg was completely
finished in two years and a half. The whole expense was only
about L. 24,000.

The] only bridge which can be compared for its dimensions
with that of M. Challey is the Menai or Bangor bridge, which
joins the Isle of Anglesea to tlic mainland of England. The
largest vessels sail below it with full canvass set. It was con-
slructed by the celebrated engineer Telford ; but the Menai
bridge is only 550 feet in length, while the biidge of Frihourg
is 871 feet. The roadway of Mr Telford's bridge is about 106

126 M. Dafrenoy on the Volcanic Formations

feet above the level of high water, and M. Challey's 167 feet
above the level of the River Sarine,

Comparisons with certain points in the city of Paris give a
more lively idea than any numbers of the magnitude of the work.
Only conceive a bridge of one arch as long as the raihng of the
Carrousel, or the distance between the wickets leadino- to the
galleries, and a roadway as high as the Towers of Notre Dame,
or the column in the Place Vendome, and you may have some
idea of the bridge of Fribourg.

On the Volcanic Formations of the Environs of Naples. By
M. DuFRENoy.

M. DuFRENOY, in a memoir read to the French Academy of
Sciences on the 18th of November 1835, describes successively
the deposit of pumice tuff of which the Campania of Naples is
composed ; and the nature and formation of the hills of the Phle-
grjean Fields and the group of Vesuvius, in which latter he dis-
tinguishes the Somma and Vesuvius properly so called. He termi-
nates his memoir with various considerations regarding the phe-
nomena which produced the destruction of Herculaneum and
Pompeii. In order to give an idea of the labours of M. Dufrenoy,
we shall transcribe the conclusions at which he arrives, and
which include the principal results of his investigations.

Different Epochs of the Volcanic Phenomena,

1. The igneous phenomena have manifested themselves in the
vicinity of Naples at three periods very distant from one an-
other, and with different degrees of intensity, and with different
characters.

The first period, and of which the geological epoch is un-
known, is marked by the deposition of the trachytes, which
have afforded the elements of the pumice-tuff; the lavas of the
Somma occurring in horizontal masses, and also the Jeucitic rocks
of the environs of Rome.

The production of the trachytes of the Phlegrgean Fields and
of Ischia took place in the second period.

The third period includes the lava eruptions of Ischia, Ve
suvius, and Monte Nuovo.

of the Environs of Naples. 127

Pumice- Tuf,

2. Leaving out of our cx)nsideration the volcanic hills, the
Campania of Naples, and the islands connected with it, consist
of a tufF, composed of the debris of the trachyte of the first
period : its elements are almost entirely fragments of pumice, of
different sizes. In some circumstances^ the fragments are pretty
large, but generally, they are so comminuted as to render the
tuff* argillaceous, and to give it an almost homogeneous aspect.
The characters of the tuff, everywhere the same, prove that it
owes its origin always to the same cause.

3. This tuff is disposed in thin regular beds, even when they
are contorted (Cape of Miceno, Island of Procida, &c.)

It contains fossil shells (Monte Epomeo, Pausilippo, Somma,
&c.), and also bones of large animals, viz. of whales, hippopo-
tami, the mammoth, &c. (environs of Rome, coast of Sorrento.
Amalfi). This double circumstance proves incontestibly, that
this tuff*, notwithstanding the height at which it occurs on Monte
Epomeo and the Somma, has been deposited under a certain
depth of water, in the same manner as the other sedimentary
formations.

4. The line of direction of the different hills of the Phle-
graean Fields, and the general direction of the " accidens" pre-
sented by the stratification of the tuff^, both from W. 20° S. to
E. 20° N., correspond with the direction of the upraising of
the principal chain of the Alps, and this coincidence makes us
suppose that the pumice-tufF is contemporaneous, or little pos.
terior to the sub-apennine formations. The nature of the fos-
sils (bund in this tufF at Monte Epomeo and Pausilippo, con-
firms the comparison deduced from the study of the directions.

6. The greater number of the minerals which have been coU
lected on the sides of Vesuvius, and which are generally sup-
posed to have been ejected by that volcano, belong to the pu-
mice-tuff. They are contained in the cavities of blocks of
saccharoid limestone, or of micaceous rocks having a primitive
aspect, which form true pebbles in the midst of this formation.
The surface of some of these blocks is covered by Serpulop, a
circumstance which proves that they remained a certain time in
the sea- before they formed part of the pumice-tufF. Beside^

128 M. Dufrenoy on the Volcanic Formations

these blocks are not found exclusively on Vesuvius: we have
collected them in the tuff of Pausilippo ; and it appears that
they exist in the tuft' of the Ponza Islands.

Trachytes of the Phlegrcean Fields.

6. The hills of the Phlegraean Fields are composed of pu-
mice-tuff*; but in the centre of some of them, there are little
elevations of trachyte, round which the beds of tuff" are ar-
ranged. From the relative position of the pumice-tuff' and the
trachyte in these hills, it appears certain that the latter rock is
more modern than the former, and that the relief of the Phle-
graean Fields was caused by the appearance of the trachyte.
The direction of the beds also leads us to think that these tra-
chytes have been produced at the same time that the elevation
of the granites of the Alps took place.

7. Monte Epomeo, in the Island of Ischia, also owes its ele-
vation to the trachyte of the second period.

On Vesuvius,

8. Vesuvius is composed of two distinct portions, Somma
and Vesuvius. These two parts have been produced by causes
of a diff'erent order. The Somma forms round Vesuvius a zone
of abrupt escarpments, the parallel masses composing which
rise on all sides towards the centre : it is the result of a general
upraising, which has elevated circularly its component paral-
lel masses, previously horizontal. Vesuvius is the product of
partial eruptions and upraisings. The position of the cone
of Vesuvius, in the centre of the crater of elevation (soulevement)
of the Somma, might make us presume that an intimate con-
nection exists between the two mountains ; but they belong to
periods separated the one from the other by several great phe-
nomena, which have occurred in the following order :

a, Formation of the lavas of the Somma in horizontal
masses.

6, Deposition under the sea of beds of pumice-tuff" in ho-
rizontal beds.

c, Soulevement or upraising of the Somma at the epoch of

the formation of the Phlegraean Fields,

d, Formation of the cone of Vesuvius in the year 7i).

of the Environs of Naphs, IM

9. The difference which exists between the nature and the
Slate of crystallization of the rocks of the Somma and of those
of Vesuvius, confirms the conclusions which result from the
study of their relative position. The parallel masses of Somma
are chiefly composed of leucite and black augite, while those of
Vesuvius consist almost exclusively of crystals of the felspar fa-
mily, probably of anorthite, and of green augite (diopside ?).

10. The lavas of Vesuvius always form narrow thin currents,
whose texture bears a certain relation to the inclination of the
surface on which they have been solidified. They are vesi-
cular and scoriaceous when they have cooled on a surface pre-
senting a higher angle than two degrees, and they then always
preserve traces of movement. The lavas, on the contrary,
are crystalline and compact, when, having attained a certain
thickness on a nearly horizontal surface, they have cooled gra-
dually.

Oscillatory Movements of the Surface of the Campania.

11. The environs of Naples have been subjected to successive
depressions and elevations. The temple of Serapis is a cele-
brated example of these oscillations ; and the coast of Puzzuoli
affords numerous proofs of these oscillatory movements. There,
we see, in almost every part of its whole extent, Roman con-
structions, covered to a depth of from twenty to twenty-two feet,
by sedimentary beds.

Destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum, '**

12. The destruction of these two towns does not seem to
have been produced exclusively by a shower of cinders ; the
earthy mass which covers them is in a great measure composed
of the same elements as the pumice-tuff which forms the sides
of the Somma. We find, besides the fragments of pumice,
the same blocks of apparently primitive rocks which contain the
minerals said to be derived from Vesuvius. It is therefore pro-
bable that the eruption of 79, which ejected a prodigious quantity
of cinders, produced also the '* eboulement"' of a part of the
*« contreforts" of the Somma, and that from it resulted the ex-

VOL. XX. NO. XXXIX.— JANUAEY 1836. I

180 Mr Robison's Description of

tensive alluvion under whkh the towns of Herculaneum Itnd
Ponrrpeii were buried.

The formation of Vesuvius ^ates probably from the saflie
epoch, for no tradition and no historical monument anterior to
that celebrated catastrophe points in any way to its existence. ^-^
Extracted from the " Cmipte Rendu" of the Meeting of the
Academy of Sciences of the \^th Nov. 1835.

Description and Drazving of a Nexv Pivot-Castor Jbr Furni"
i^re, possessing the advantage of retaining the Oil for an in-
definite length of time. By John Robiso>j, Esq., F. R. S. 3E.,
Vic.e-Pres. Soc. Arts. *

Read Wth December 1833.

Among the various forms given to castors for furniture, none
is found to act so well, or to last so long, as that which is com-
monly called the pivot -castor, or sometimes (when of a large
size) the French castor. The objections to its general use are,
first its cost, and secondly its depth, which makes it inapplicable
in many cases.

Another objection may be applied to it, as well as to all
the other forms commonly sold in the shops ; namely, that they
require constant oiling to prevent them from wearing out of
shape, and becoming incapable of turning round.

The castor now about to be described has the advantage of
taking no more room than a common castor, while it turns on a
fixed pivot, sufficiently long to insure fair action ; and containing
a reservoir for oil, which will keep it in good order for an inde-
finite length of time.

These advantages are gained by reversing the places hitherto
given to the pivot and the socket. In the pivot castor as usually
made, the pivot forms part of the lower portion of the castor,
and points upwards ; while the socket is in that portion of the
castor which is attached to the furniture, and consequently
points downwards, which prevents it from retaining more than
the film of oil which may adhere to the parts by capillary attrac-
tion.

• The Society's Honorary Silver Medal was awarded, 12th August 1835.

a New Pivot'Castorfor Fitmitnre. 161

In the new castor, the stalk which carries the sheaf is con*
verted into the socket, and the pivot is rivetted to the part
which is fixed to the furniture: from this arrangement, the
mouth of the socket is upwards, and if a portion of the middle
part of it be turned out wider than the pivot, it forms a reser-
voir in which oil enough for a year or two*s supply will find a
lodgment.

A, The plate to be screwed to the furniture.

B, The pivot rivetted into A.

C, Section of the socket shewing

D, The space turned out for holding oiL

E, A screwed stud, having the half of its head filed off, so that by unscrew-

ing it half a turn, the socket is allowed to drop off the pivot

F, The sheave running between shears in the usual way.

A leather washer may be inserted between A and C to keep out dust, but
it must not be thick enough to cause friction.

Short Account of the Reverend John Flamstbed, the first
Astrmiomer^ Royal. By Francis Baily, Esq. Vice-Presidem
of the Astronomical Society, &c. &c. &c.* ;

Flamsteed was bom at Denby, nearDerby, on August 19,
1646 ; and was educated at the free school at Derby, where his
father lived. In the summer of 1660, being then about four-

• This account of the celebrated Flamsteed is extracted from his lift,
published from his original manuscripts by Mr Baily. Of this Impoitant
work 250 copies have been printed by order of the Lords CommissiunertjOf
the Admiralty, London, 1 836, for rfw/niu/M/n. .„

132 Mr Baily's Account of

teen years old, he caught a violent cold from bathing ; the ef-
fects of which he felt as long as he lived, and which at this time
rendered him so weak, for many years, that he was scarcely able
to go to school ; and, at length, in May 1662, he finally left it.
Being thus withdrawn from school (although not quite sixteen
years old) he commenced at that early age a system of study
and observation which he pursued unremittingly till the time of
his death. In the very same year that he left school, he ob-
served and recorded an eclipse of the sun, a circumstance which
shews his early predilection for astronomy ; and nearly the
whole of his leisure time (leisure, alas, from sickness) was, even
in this period of boyhood, employed in mathematical studies
and astronomical observations, which he pursued, self-taught,
and unassisted ; the details of which, written by himself, will
be found in the present work. A portion of his time, also, was
occupied in mechanical exercises ; for he contrived and con-
structed a quadrant for taking altitudes ; and, moreover, em-
ployed himself in grinding glasses for telescopes. Flamsteed
was naturally of a weak constitution, which was probably in-
creased by the accident just mentioned. His father tried every
means of alleviating and removing his complaint ; and, finding
that|the disorder did not yield to medicine, at length assented
to his son''s request to proceed to Ireland, in order to be touched
by Mr Valentine Greatrakes, a celebrated empiric of that day,
who|pretended to cure his patients by a process somewhat simi-
lar to the modern practice of animal magnetism. He started
for Ireland on August 16, 1665 ; and he appears even then to
have had that remarkable habit of noting down in regular or-
der the most minute occurrences and opinions of his life, which
he retained to the day of his death ; for he has left on record a
complete narrative of this journey, detailing a variety of cir-
cumstances that occurred on the way. He returned to Derby
on September 13, having been absent nearly a month from
home.

I have been thus minute in these early dates, for a reason
which will appear in the sequel, where it will be seen, that they
bear^materially on a very eventful and critical period of Flam-
steed's life. For he is accused by a modern writer (with what
appearance of trut^, or even probability, the reader will pre-

the Rev. John Flamstced. 133

sently have an opportunity of judging) of having committed,
about this time, a highway robbery^ for which he was tried,
convicted, and sentenced to be hanged ! ! ! Leaving this sub-
ject, however, for the present, and passing over many things
tliat will be found fully detailed in Flamsteed's autobiography,
in a subsequent part of this volume, I shall proceed to state,
that he pursued his mathematical and astronomical studies at
home, and became celebrated in the neighbourhood for his ta-
lents ; till at length he attracted the notice of several Fellows of
the Royal Society in the year 1609 ; and in the following year
he paid a visit to London, where he became acquainted with
many scientific persons, but more especially with Sir Jonas
Moore, who proved one of his best friends and greatest admir-
ers ; and who afterwards (in 1674) proposed to establish him in
a private observatory, which he intended to erect at Chelsea
College ; and, indeed, invited him to London, in order to con-
sult with him on the subject. Whilst in London, he resided at
Sir Jonas Moore's house in the Tower, where he carried on his
astronomical observations, which are all duly recorded in his
manuscript books, and (together with those made at Derby)
printed in the first volume of the Historm Coelestis. About
this time a circumstance occurred, which induced his Majesty
Charles II., to found an observatory at Greenwich ; Sir Jonas
Moore's proposal of the private observatory at Chelsea was
therefore abandoned, and Flamsteed was, through his interest,
appointed Astronomer-Royal on March 4, 1674-5. From this
period we date the commencement of modern astronomy. The
invention of the telescope, and the introduction of the clock, then
first used for astronomical purposes, were vast improvements on
the ancient mode of observing ; and their beneficial effects were
immediately apparent. Hitherto the catalogue of Tycho Brake,
meagre and imperfect as it was, had been the only help and
guide to the astronomer fur the places of the stars ; and the
Rudolphine Tables (or corrections of the same) for those of the
sun, moon, and planets ; but Flamsteed resolved to reform and
amend the whole system, and he has * ^ t a noble example for fu-
ture astronomers.

Whilst the repairs and fittmg up of the observatory were in
progress, Flamsteed carried on his observations at the Quecn'*s

134 Mr Baily's Account of .

House in Greenwich Park, till July 10, 1676, on which day lie
removed to the Observatory ; the only instruments with which
he was then furnished, being an iron sextant of seven feet ra-
dius, and two clocks, given to him by Sir Jonas Moore, toge-
ther with a quadrant of three feet radius, and two telescopes,
which he had brought with him from Derby ; consequently none
of these articles were provided at the public expense.

He had not been long in this situation before he was invited,
by Dr Bernard of Oxford, to become a candidate for the Savi-
lian professorship of astronomy, then about to be vacated by the
Doctor. His reply (February 8, 1697-8), shews the state of
his religious feeling at that time, and how far he was satisfied
.with the situation in which he had been so recently placed ; for,
in declining the invitation, he says, " I have resolved for the pre-
sent to content myself with a place which I have furnished with
instruments of my own contrivance {but full qf trouble and no
gains), till I see an opportunity of removing to some one more
advantageous ; and where I may have a better air, with lesser or
fewer distempers. / am as weary of the place as you erf yours:
my inclinations are for an employment that may render me
more useful in the world, and promote more glory to my Maker ;
which, as you well intimate, is the sole end of our lives, and to
which I would direct all my labours.'"''

In June 1678 he borrowed a quadrant from the Royal So-
ciety, which he employed till October 1679, " when the ill na-
ture of Mr Hooke forced it out of his hands," after which
Flamsteed made one of fifty inches radius at his own cost. Find-
ing, however, that he could not determine the equinoctial points,
nor pursue his astronomical investigations successfully, without
an instrument Jioced in the meridian, he applied to government
from time to time to furnish such a one for the observatory.
This was repeatedly promised him, but never carried into effect ;
and Flamsteed was for some time obliged to make shift with his
sextant, brought into the plane of the meridian, and fixed there
as well as he was able.* At length, finding all his applications

• It was about this period, viz. in November 1680, that the great comet
appeared ; which, after having passed its perihelion, was visible again in the
following months. Flamsteed, having investigated its path in the heavens,
immediately pronounced that the two appearances were one and the same comet ;

the Rev, John Flam^t€ed. 135

to government fruitless, he resolved to make a mural arc at his
own expense ; the instrument was finished about the end of the
year 1681 ; but, conceiving that it was too slight^ and that i$
was not so accurately made as he could wish, he did not erect
it till the year 1683, when he fixed it against the wall, and divided
it with his own hands. It proved, however, as he anticipated,
to be a failure, and he was obliged to continue his observations
with the sextant only, for several years longer.

During all this time (a period of nearly fifteen years), govern-
ment had not furnished him with a single instrument. It is true
they had given him a house to live in, and had appropriated a
precarious salary of L. 100 a-year ;* but, at the same time, al-
though his employments were sufficiently laborious, the King
had ordered that he should instruct, monthly, two boys from
Christ Church Hospital, which was a great annoyance to him,
and interfered with his proper avocations. The government
had, however, provided him with " a surely silly labourer"" to as-
sist him at the sextant ; but another assistant was necessary for
the ordinary work of the observatory, and Flamsteed was obliged
to provide such additional help at his own charge ; for it was
not in those days as at the present times, when the astronomer-
royal is not only provided with a competent salary, but with all
the requisite instruments and assistants likewise ; and when all
the comforts and conveniences for carrying on an extensive and
regular system of observations, and for reducing the same, are
furnished at the public expense. In order to meet these and
other charges which Flamsteed had incurred in carrying on his
observations, and which he could ill afford, he entered on the
laborious task of a teacher^ by which, it is true, he derived a
scanty addition to his means, but was at the same time unavoid-
ably drawn away from the main object of his appointment
With such miserable shifts and such obstructions as these, he
was obhged continually to struggle, so that his progress was ne-

whilst Newton for a long time maintained that they were /iro separate comets.
Before the Frincipia was published Newton had discovered his error, and in
that work acknowledges that Flamsteed was right — See p. 50.

• See his letter to Sir Jonas Moore, No. 9, and to the Bishop of Salisburj,
No. 10. in the appendix. In the former of these he says, ** I cannot conceli^
that you have any real design to stop my salary, which I have earned by !»•
hour harder than thrashing.**

186 Mr Baily's Account of

cessarily slow, and he could not make much advancement in the
fundamental points of astronomy. It is true that he observed
an immense number of intermutual distances of the stars with
the sextant, but he was obliged to depend on Tycho's catalogue,
for their positions with respect to the equinoctial points, having
no instrument for determining such quantities.

When this first mural arc was finished, Flamsteed found, as
I have already stated, that it was made too weak for his pur-
pose ; nevertheless he contrived to take with it the meridional
altitudes of a great number of stars ; by means of which, and
the intermutual^^distances taken with the sextant, he formed an
approximate catalogue of a few of the principal stars to serve
his present purpose. The reader is requested to bear this cir-
cumstance in mind, as it explains and justifies a part of the con-
duct pursued by Flamsteed towards Newton, as related in the sub-
sequent pages. Yet, notwithstanding all these difficulties under
which Flamsteed laboured, notwithstanding the obstructions thus
thrown in his way, the public (the scientific public of that day,
not the ignorant and unwary multitude, for they knew nothing
of the matter), were repeatedly asking " why he did not print
his observations .?" * Flamsteed replied very justly, that he had
as yet made no observations that could be turned to any valu-
able account, for want of the requisite instruments ; indeed, it
could scarcely be expected of him that he should be able to make
" bricks without straw."

About this period (1684), he was presented to the living of
Burstow by the Lord Keeper North ; soon after which his father
died (1688) ; and Flamsteed, finding his income somewhat in-
creased by these events, resolved on expending a portion of his
property in constructing a new mural arc, much stronger than
the former. He had been assured by Lord Dartmouth, the
Master of the Ordnance, that whatever he laid out on this occa-
sion should be repaid to him ; but in this also he found himself,
eventually, most grievously disappointed, as he never received
a farthing for the moneys expended on this instrument, which

• « Some people," says Flamsteed, " to make me uneasy, others out of a
sincere desire to see the happy progress of my studies, not understanding
amid what hard circumstances I lived, called hard upon me U> print my observa-
tions."—See p. 54.

the Rev. John Flamsteed. 137

cost him upwards of L. 120. The instrument here alluded to
is the celebrated mural arc made and divided by Mr Abraham
Sharp, with which Flamsteed subsequently made all those ob-
servations from which the British Catalogue is deduced. From
this moment (September 1689, when the instrument was first
used), every thing which Flamsteed did, every observation that
he made, assumed a tangible and a permanent form, and was
available to some useful purpose ; his preceding observations
being only subsidiary, and dependent on results to be afterwards
deduced from some fixed instrument of this kind, which he had
long sought for. It was at this point only that the observatory
could be considered complete ; and from this period we must
date the commencement of his valuable and fundamental obser-
vations.* In reading the subsequent history of Flamsteed's life,
it is necessary to attend to these several divisions of his labours.

The observatory had now been established upwards of four-
teen years ; it remained under Flamsteed's superintendence up-
wards of thirty years more (being nearly half a century from
his first appointment of Astronomer-Royal) ; nevertheless du-
ring this long interval the government had not furnished it with
& single instrument, nor had they allowed him the cost of a sin-
gle computer to reduce his observations. Even those which
were lent to him by the Royal Society were taken away from
him as soon as his patron, Sir Jonas Moore, died.

The whole of the instruments were Flamsteed's own, the go-
vernment not having even been at the expense of repairbig
them ; and the whole of the observations had been reduced at
Flamsteed's own charge (many of them in duplicate), and
arrano-ed by him into catalogues and tables. Yet (prohpudor !)
in the latter portion of his life, as wq shall presently see, the

• I do not wish to be considered as hereby intending to depreciate Flam-
steed's previous labours with the sextant, and which are prmted in the first
volume of his Historia Coelestis ; on the contrary, I consider those observa-
tions as equally correct with those made with tbe mural arc, and as available,
in many instances, in determining the relative positions of the fixed sUrs;
though not so frequently appealed to, en account of the trouble required in
computing the results. They had, however, all been reduced by Flam-
steed, and many of the results compared with those obtained firom the mur»l
arc.

138 Mr Baily's Account of

fruit of his long and lalx)rious services was forced from him,*
and treated as the propert}' of government ; at his decease the
instruments also were actually claimed by the government as
their own, and his executors were annoyed with a vexatious and
troublesome lawsuit on that account.

As soon as Flamsteed had verified the position of his mural
arc, he set about the determination of the equinox, of the lati-
tude of his observatory, of the obliquity of the ecliptic, and of
other fundamental points for ascertaining the correct position of
the fixed stars and the true solar, lunar, and planetary motions.
His observation-book, as published in the second volume of the
Historia Coelestis^ and the Prolegomena in the third volume,
shew the manner and the order in which he pursued his inqui-
ries, and will be a lasting monument of his zeal and perseverance
in the cause of astronomy. Some of his methods are original,
and continue in use even at the present day. The formation of
a correct and enlarged catalogue of stars, at that time much
wanted, and anxiously expected, was his first object ; since no
other valuable catalogue was then in existence except that of
Tycho Brahe, containing the places of about one thousand stars,
determined very roughly without the use of the telescope, which
had not then been invented.

In the pursuit of this inquiry he did not neglect any oppor-
tunity of watching the motions of the sun, moon, and planets,
nor of applying from time to time such corrections to the theory,
and such improvements to the tables, as would more truly re-
present their places in the heavens ; in fact, a great portion of
his time was occupied in such investigations ; and there is,
amongst his MSS., an immense mass of computations carried on
for the express purpose of elucidating various intricate points in
physical astronomy ; which is a sufficient answer to those per-
sons who have hitherto considered him as a mere observer. In-
deed, it appears that at this period he was in friendly intercourse
with Newton, to whom he freely communicated his observations,
and with whom he frequently discussed the subject of the lunar
and planetary theories. Many inquiries were again made by

" • I speak not here of manual but of mental force ; of that undue influence
over the mind which is capable of being exerted in a thousand ways, and u
sometimes more powerful than mere physical violence. ,/ ;

tJie Rev. John Flamsteed. 189

the public relative to Flamsteed's publishing the Catalogue, upon
which it now became well known that he was deeply engaged ;
and, amongst others, Newton also suggested to him (by letter
dated August 10, 1691), only two years after the mural arc had
been in use, the utility of publishing the places of a few of the
principal stars, before the completion of the whole catalogue.
Flanrreteed, in his reply, justifies the course he is pursuing, and
points out the inconvenience and difficulty that would arise, if
he were to adopt a different line of conduct.* This answer of
Flamsteed, however, is remarkable and interesting, as giving us
the first intimation of the breach between himself and Halley \
and, if we may judge from the tenor of Flamsteed''s language,
the quarrel had already proceeded to a great length.*f* Flam-
steed's intimacy with Newton, however, does not appear to have
suffered any diminution on this account ; for we find that, soon
after this, when Newton had again turned his attention towards
the lunar theory ,J he paid a visit to the Observatory, on Septem-
ber 1, 1694, where Flamsteed, "esteeming him to be an obliged
friend,"" explained to him what progress he had made in his ca-
talogue, and in his lunar and planetary investigations ; and also
shewed him about 150 computed places of the moon, with their

• See Newton's Letter, in the Appendix, No. 14, and Flamsteed's Answer
thereto, in No. 15. Had Flamsteed published his catalc^e at this time, he
would have fallen into the very same error that Halley did ; who, having de-
termined the intermutual distances of the southern stars by means of the sex-
tant only, was obliged to depend on Tycho's observations for his fundamental
points, and has thus given us a catalogue, which is of no use whatever to the
practical astronomer. It was reserved for Mr Abraham Sharp to perfect what
Halley had neglected to perform.

•f- I have not been able to ascertain the precise cause of the quarrel between
Halley and Flamsteed. They were certainly of very different habits and
manners, and not likely to accord on many points. It would seem, from some
documents inserted in the Appendix, No. 54, that Flamsteed suspected that
Halley had obtained, in a surreptitious manner, the magnetical papers of Mr
Perkins, the mathematical master at Christ-Church Hospital, and published
them as his own ; and perhaps Flamsteed mentioned his opinion upon this
subject rather too freely. I find that Fiamsteed's private sentiments were,
that this was not the only instance in which Halley had pirated firom other
persons. (See page 150.)

X This was after the attack of illness with which Newton waa ao seriously afL
flicted, as to lead (in the opinion of some persons) to a temporary abemu
tion of mind.

1 40 Mr Bail}''s Account of

differences from the places observed, at that time a most valu-
able document ; copies of which he gave to Sir Isaac, for his
private use to rectify the lunar theory ; on this express condi-
tion, however, that he should not impart them (or the results
obtained therefrom) to any person without Flamsteed''s consent,
for this obvious and just cause, that the places of the moon
were determined only by means of his approximate catalogue
above mentioned.* This interview led to a correspondence be-
tween them relative to this and other astronomical subjects, the
major part of which has never before been made public.-|- In
the spring of 1696, Newton was made AVarden of the Mint,
and came then to reside in London ; where Flamsteed says,
that he sometimes visited him in Jermyn Street ; that they con-
tinued civil towards each other, but that Newton was not so
friendly as formerly. Here, then, we trace the first symptoms of
that coolness between them which soon afterwards broke out
into an open rupture, the immediate cause of which appears to
be as r.)llows.

DrWallis having understood that Flamsteed had written a paper
'' On the Parallax of the Earth'*s Annual Orb,*' requested a copy
of it, for the purpose of its being published in the third volume
of his Mathematical Tracts, then in the press.J Flamsteed ac-

• This request was not only reasonable but mutual; for Newton frequently
enjoined the same restrictions upon Flamsteed. In one of his letters (No. 25. in
the Appendix) he proposes to send Flamsteed a new table for the moon, on the
express condition that he shall keep it to himself till Newton has perfected
the lunar theory, because it would need correction ; and that Newton ac-
knowledged Flamsteed's claim, is evident from a letter which he wrote about
the same period (No. 20. in the Appendix), wherein Newton says, " I only
assure you at present that, without your consent, I will neither publish them
nor communicate them to any body whilst you live, nor after your death,
without an honourable acknowledgment of their author."

-|- These letters are now given in the Appendix, No. 16-34. Some of New-
ton's letters, more especially Nos. 30. and 31. do not seem to have been writ-
ten in a very courteous style. Indeed, Flamsteed has remarked that Newton's
conversation was not always of the most engaging kind, since he was some-
times so presumptuous as to ask him " why he did not hold his tongue." —
(See page 73.)

X This is the celebrated letter of Dr Wallis, in which Flamsteed clearly
points out the effect of Aberration ; and indeed defines its amount, which ac-
cords remarkably well with modem observations. A similar effect had been
noticed, may years previous thereto, both by Hooke and by Picard, almost

the Rev. John Flamsteed. 141

cordingly furnished him with a copy of it in Enghsh, which Dr
Wallis translated into Latin.* It appears that there was (in the
original) the following paragraph alluding to his having furnish-
ed Newton with several ohservations of the moon, as above men-
tioned, viz. " Contraxeram etiani cum D° Newtono, doctissimo
tunc temporis in Academise Cantabrigiensi Professore, necessitu-
dinem, cui luna? loca ab observationibus meis ante habitis de-
ducta 150 dederam, cum locis simul e tabulis meis ad earum
tempora supputatis, tum similium in posteriore prout assequerer
promissorum, cum elementis calculi mei, in ordine ad emenda-
tionem theoriae lunaris Horroccianaj." At which Newton (on
hearing of the circumstances through the officiousness of Dr
Gregory), was very indignant, and wrote that most extraordi-
nary letter to Flamsteed, dated January 6,'J698-9, which is in-
serted in the appendix, No. 43 : " I do not love (says Newton)
to be printed upon every occasion, much less to be dunned
and teazed by foreigners about mathematical things ; or to be
thought by our own people to be trifling away my time about

them, when I should be about the king's business

You may let the world know, if you please, how well you are
stored with observations of all sorts, and what calculations you
have made towards rectifying the theories of the heavenly mo-
tions ; but there may be cases wherein your friends should not
be published without their leave, and therefore I hope you will
so order the matter that I may not, on this occasion, be brought
upon the stage.^-h There is surely nothing in Flamstced's let-
immediately after the application of the telescope to astronomical instruments;
and in fact it was a necessary consequence of that invention. Flamsteed,
however, as well as his predecessors, mistook the cause, which they attributed
to the Parallax of the Earth's Orbit ; and it was reserved for Bradley to de-
velop and explain the true theory of the phenomenon, and its application to
the purposes of astronomy.

• At least, so it is distinctly stated by Wallis and Flamsteed ; but if we
judge from the specimen contained in the letter wliich Wallis wrote to New-
ton, mentioned in the text, and which is given at full length in the addenda,
we can scarcely imagine the I^atin to have been composed by Wallis himself

t Sir David Brewster (in his recent Life of Newton, page 243) has, through
some singular error or confusion, attributed this letter to Flamsteed Instead
of Newton ; stating at the same time (I know not upon what authority), that
it is " characteristic of Flamsteed's manner ;" and thence draws the conclusion
that Flamsteed, not sufficiently aware of the importance of the inquiry, re-

142 Mr Baily's Account of

ter which should warrant expressions of this kind from Newton ;
and Flamsteed'*s reply to him (sec p. 168), was written in a very
diiferent style. " I would not think (says he) you would be un-r
willing our nation should have the honour of furnishing you
with so many, and good, observations for this work (the lunar
theory) as were not (I speak it without boasting) to be had else*
where. . . . I thought not that it could be any diminution
to you, since you pretend not to be an observer yourself.* . . .
You will pardon me this freedom, and excuse me when I tell
you, if foreigners come and trouble you it is not my fault, but
those who think to recommend themselves to you, by advancing
the fame of your works as much as they possibly can. ... I
wonder that hints should drop from your pen, as if you looked
on my business as trifling-, you thought it not so, surely, when
you resided at Cambridge ; its property is not altered. . . .
The works of the Eternal Providence, I hope, will be a little bet-
ter understood, through your labours and mine, than they were
formerly. Think me not proud for this expression ; I look on
pride as the worst of sins ; humility as the greatest virtue. This
makes me excuse small faults in all mankind, bear great injuries
without resentment, and resolve to maintain a real friendship
with ingenious men, to assist them what lies in my power, with-
out the regard of any interest, but that of doing good by oblig-
ing them.'' Flamsteed immediately wrote also to Dr Wallis to
request him to withdraw the harmless but offensive paragraph.^-
This short but unexpected correspondence appears to have
terminated all amicable relations between Newton and Flam-
steed ; and from this period we must consider their friendship

ceived Newton's requests as if they were idle intrusions, in which the interests
of science were but slightly concerned. This inference, however, now falls to
the ground, and the erroneous impression cannot be too speedily removed.
The history of the whole affair will be found in the Appendix, No. 35, 46.

• Newton himself confesses this, in his letter inserted in page 151, where
he says, " All the world knows I make no observations myself, and there-
fore I must of necessity acknowledge their author ; and if I do not make a hand-
some acknowledgment, they will reckon me an ungrateful clown."

-f- Dr Wallis likewise wrote to Newton on the subject already stated ; and in
my late visit at the Eaii of Portsmouth's, to inspect the Newton MSS., I
found the original letter, from which the above mentioned paragraph in page
xxxiii is extracted, and which is inserted in the addenda.

the Rev. John Flamsteed, 143

at an end, although the outward forms of civility were still kept
up. The reader, however, may be somewhat surprised to learn
that, not more than a month previous to this time (namely on
December 4, 1698), Newton had paid a visit to the Observatory,
late in the evening, for the express purpose of procuring twelve
more computed places of the moon, which he had previously
requested from Flamsteed, for some special purpose in his in-
vestigations.* And in order to understand the value and im-
portance of these favours, it should be constantly borne in mind,
that there was no other source in this country (nor on the Con-
tinent, as far as I can learn) from which such information could
be obtained. The Paris observatory had been established ever
since the year 1671 ; but hitherto only detached observations
had been published.

Flamsteed continued for several years to pursue his observa-
tions, as well as his health and circumstances would permit ; and
in the course of that time, had not only formed a catalogue of two
or three thousand stars, whose position he had determined with
his new mural arc, but had also suggested several corrections to
the solar, lunar, and planetary tables, which he was by such
means enabled to supply. He now began to entertain serious in.
tentions of publishing the result of his labours, and wrote an esti-
mate of the number of printed sheets it would fill. He had already
expended upwards of L.2000 in furnishing instruments for the

• In page 65, the reader will find the entry which Flamsteed made in his
Observation Book, relative to this visit of Newton : but I have since disco-
vered the following entry of the same event, in MSS. voL xvi., which is ra-
ther more minute. "• Decern. 4. die 0 post preces vespertinas visum me ve-
niens Ds. Is. Newtonus, Cantabrigiae Matheseos Professor, &c., ascent rectas })
cUm distantiis a polo, ab observationibus computo deductas 12, epag. 184 et
185. libri 5. calculationum transcriptas quas petiit communicatas habuit.*
And on referring to the said 5th book of calculations (MSS. vol. Iv.), I find
in page 181 a memorandum, that Newton had requested to have the computed
places of the moon for the following days, viz. June 22, 1694, April 25, May
13, 24, and 26, June 11, 16, 25, and 27, JOly 7, 9, H, and 15, and August 8)
1695 : all of which (except those of June 27 and August 8) are calculated by
Mr Hodgson in page 183, and copies of them were forwarded to Newton.
Flamsteed, however, discovered soon after that these computations were erro-
neous, and has himself calculated them anew on pages 184 and 185, as above
mentioned. And it was to obtain the^e twelve corrected values, that Newton
paid this visit to the Observatory. Yet within a month after this event, as I
have just stated, he wrote Flamsteed that most extraordinary lettor. -

144« Mr Baily's Account of

Observatory, and in hiring assistants and computers, all of which
ought, in fact, to have been defrayed by the Government, from
whom, however, during this long period, he had never received
a single farthing beyond his scanty salary. Although by no
means a mercenary man, he might have indulged a hope of being
enabled to get a return for some portion of this outlay, by means
of subscribers to his work ; but this specific plan was in some
measure obviated by the interference of Prince George of Den-
mark, who, towards the end of the year 1704, having heard of
these extraordinary labours of Flamsteed, and being liimself a
patron of science, proposed to print the observations and the ca-
talogue at his own expense. A committee, consisting of Sir
Isaac Newton (then president of the Royal Society), Sir Chris-
topher Wren, Dr Arbuthnott, Dr Gregory, and Mr Roberts,
was appointed to inspect the papers, who reported favourably
upon them, and recommended them all to be printed.* The
publication of the work was therefore placed under their super-
intendence ; and Flamsteed, who did not anticipate much bene-
fit from Newton's interference, thus found himself unwarily in-
volved in fresh troubles and contentions. For the referees^ as
this committee was called, or rather Sir Isaac Newton (for he
appears to have assumed the principal management of the affair),
seem to have conducted the business without Flamsteed's privity
or concurrence, and, notwithstanding Flamsteed's repeated re-
monstrances, to have thrown every obstacle in the way of dis-
patch ; at least, this is Flamsteed's version of the matter, and
his view of it appears to be confirmed by the documents in the
appendix. Sir Isaac pretended to have discovered several er-
rors, and demanded the books containing the original entries, in
order that he might compare and examine them. Having got
these into his possession, he next required that that portion of the
catalogue which was completed (but which was not to be sent to
press till after the whole of the observations were printed, so as
to allow time for its being perfected) should be placed, sealed
up, in his hands. Flamsteed at first resisted : he told Sir Isaac

• Although the referees here recommend that the whole of ,the observa-
tions should be printed, yet we shall find in the sequel, that their opinion
upon this subject experienced some alterations, at least, if we may judge by
the result.

the Rev. John Flamsteed. 145

that the catalogue was not complete ; that it would eventually
contain a great many more stars than he had yet observed and
rectified ; that it at present contained only about 1500, but that
he hoped to make it up to 2500 stars ; that these were the re-
sult of all his labours, in which he had spent above L.2000 more
than his salary ; and that it would not be either prudent or safe
to trust a copy of it out of his own keeping. He at length,
however, found himself obliged to comply, or else to give up the
prospect and advantage of having the work printed at the
Prince's expense ; and the catalogue, imperfect and incomplete
as it was, was accordingly sealed up in the presence of Sir Chris-
topher Wren, and delivered into Sir Isaac Newton's possession*
New difficulties, however, were afterwards started, oftentimes
frivolous and vexatious, and it was May 16. 1706, before the
first sheet was struck off; and it was Christmas 1707 (three
years after the first undertaking) ere the whole of the first vo^
lume only was finished ; during which time the press was fre-
quently stopped by Sir Isaac, without any assignable cause.
The whole details of these proceedings are given by Flamsteed
in the following history of his own life, and supported by various
documents which are inserted in the appendix.

This Jirst volume, which contained only his sextant observa-
tions, being thus completed, arrangements were entered into for
proceeding with the second volume, which was intended to con-
tain the observations made with the mural arc. After a great
deal of unnecessary procrastination on the part of Sir Isaac
Newton, a meeting with the referees was appointed to take place
on March 20, 1707-8, when Flamsteed took up with him the
whole of the observations made with the mural arc, from Sep-
tember 1689 to December 1705, fairly copied out on 175 sheets
of large paper, together with a more extensive and perfect copy
of his catalogue of the fixed stars. At this meeting new articles
were suggested, and finally imposed upon Flamsteed ; for he
was not only obliged to leave the whole of the 175 sheets of
manuscript in Newton's hands, but also bound himself to com-
plete, and return within sixteen days, the catalogue which had
previously been delivered, sealed up, to him ; Sir Isaac retain-
ing the one which Flamsteed had brought with him, as a pledge

VOL. XX. NO, XXXIX.-— JANUARY 1836. K

146 Mr Baily's Account of

for the performance of the contract.* Notwithstanding this
compliance, however, on the part of Flamsteed, the work of the
press does not seem to have been expedited ; further obstruc-
tions were thrown in the way of proceeding, the nature and
cause of which are not sufficiently apparent ; and Prince George
died (October 28, 1708) before the second volume was entered
upon. The work was now completely stopped ; and although
by this melancholy event the power of the referees ceased, the
papers were still left in their hands.

Being now undisturbed (as Flamsteed expresses himself), he
proceeded to carry on such observations as he wanted for the
purpose of his astronomical inquiries, and added many new stars
to his catalogue. Nothing more was heard about Sir Isaac
Newton or the printing ; and Flamsteed says, in one of his let-
ters to Mr Sharp, " I shall not urge it forward again, till I see
a good fund settled and secured for carrying it on, without any
danger of impediment or obstruction from him or any of his
tools." But in the midst of this apparent quiet, he was again
annoyed, when he least expected it, by being privately informed
that his catalogue (which he had delivered, sealed up, into Sir
Isaac Newton's hands, as a sacred deposit) was in the press ;
but more so, by a letter from Dr Arbuthnott (dated March 14,
1710-11), demanding the deficient parts of such catalogue, and
informing him that he (Dr Arbuthnott) was commanded by the
Queen to superintend and complete the publication of the His^
toria Coslestis^ undertaken by the late Prince. Dr Arbuthnott,
however, appears to have put the business into the hands of the
Royal Society, who thus became in some measure mixed up
with the subsequent proceedings ; but Newton and Halley were
evidently the prime movers on every occasion. Halley was (I
believe) at that time clerk to the Society.f Flamsteed was
much annoyed at this new step : he requested and obtained an
interview with Dr Arbuthnott, and at the conference that en-

• This continual suspicion appears to me to have been exerted on the
wrong side ; for it was Flamsteed that had most reason to be cautious, since
he would have been the only sufferer by any breach of the agreement.

+ I shall still call these parties referees, for want of a better designation ;
for although the original committee was dissolved, yet it is evident that the
same amrnxu existed in those who formed the new body of advisers.

the Rev. John Flamsteed. 147

sued (March 29), he asked the Doctor in direct terms, " whe-
ther the catalogue was printed or not P'' to which the Doctor re-
plied, '* that not a sheet of it was printed.'' Flamsteed doubted
the assertion at the time, and which, indeed, turned out to be
Jhlse ; for a friend sent him, within four days after, the constel-
lation of Aries and Taurus fairly printed ; and, in a day or two
after, that of Virgo, He learned also that Halley had the su-
perintendence of the press ; that he pretended that he had found
many faults in the catalogue ; that he had, moreover, shewed
some sheets of it publicly at Child's Coffee-house, and that he
boasted of the pains he had taken in correcting the errors.
Flamsteed was of too high a spirit to be thus treated, without
remonstrance: he found that he had been made the dupe of
some intrigue, and he resented it accordingly. In one of his
letters to Dr Arbuthnott (April 19, 1711), complaining, amongst
other things, of the alteration in his catalogue, he says, " I have
now spent thirty-five years in the composing and work of my
catalogue, which may in time be published for the use of her
Majesty's subjects, and ingenious men all the world over. I
have endured long and painful distempers by my night watches
and day labours. I have spent a large sum of money, above my
appointment, out of my own estate, to complete my catalogue,
and finish my astronomical works under my hands. Do not
tease me with banter, by telling me that these alterations are
made to plecise me, when you are sensible nothing can be more
displeasing nor injurious than to be told so. Make my case
your own, and tell me, ingenuously and sincerely, were you in
my circumstances, and had been at all my labour, charge, and
trouble, would you like to have your labours surreptitiously
forced out of your hands, conveyed into the hands of your de-
clared, profligate enemies, printed without your consent, and
spoiled, as mine are, in the impression ? Would you suffer your
enemies to make themselves judges of what they really under-
stand not ? Would you not withdraw your copy out of their
hands, trust no more in theirs, and publish your own works
rather at your own expense, than see them spoiled, and yourself
laughed at for suffering it ?

" I see no way to prevent the evil consequences of Dr
Halley's conduct but this. I have caused my servant to take

148 Mr Bai\y*s Account of

a new copy of my catalogue, of which I shall cause as much to
be printed off as Dr Halley has spoiled, and take care of the
correction of the press myself, provided you will allow me the
naming of the printer, and that all the last proof-sheets may be
sent to Greenwich at my charge by the penny-post, and not print-
ed off till I have seen a proof without faults. After which I
will proceed to print the remaining part of the catalogue as fast
as my health and the small help I have will suffer me. But, if
you like not this, I shall print it alone at mt/ own charge on
better paper, and with fairer types than those your present
printer uses ; for I cannot bear to see my own labours thus
spoiled to the dishonour of the nation, Queen, and people. If
Dr Halley proceed, it will be a reflection on the President of the
Royal Society, and yourself will suffer in your reputation for
encouraging one of whom the wisest of his companions used to
say, that the only wai/ to have any business spoiled effectually
was to trust it to his management. But I hope better things of
you, and that you will endeavour to make me easy after all my
long, painful, and chargeable labours, by affording me your as-
sistance as occasion shall serve ; whereby you will ever oblige,
Sir, your humble servant and sincere friend."

This remonstrance being of no avail, it appears that Flam-
steed addressed the Queen upon the subject, for there is amongst
his MSS. the copy of a petition, dated April 16, 1712, stating
the circumstances of the case, and requesting that this surrepti-
tious edition of his catalogue might be suppressed. Flamsteed,
however, remonstrated here likewise in vain ; for he found soon
after not only that the printing of the spurious catalogue was
completed, but also that the observations made with the mural
arc (contained in the 175 sheets which were left in the hands of
the referees as above mentioned) were sent to the press in a
garbled and incorrect manner^ the observations of those stars
only being retained which passed the meridian at the same time
with the moon and planets, and nearly on the same parallel, the
rest being wholly rejected *. He also found that the places of

• In order that the reader may fully understand the nature of this change,
(which is by no means a light one, and of which Flamsteed might justly com-
plain), it may be proper here to state, that the edition above alluded to does not
contain the journal of the observations made ^vith the mural arc, in the man-

the Rev. John Flamsieed. 149

the moon inserted in the margin of the book, and considered to
be deduced from those observations, were the very same places
(at least those in the more early periods) that he had some years
before given to Newton under the express stipulation that they
were not to be made public, because they were deduced from an
approximate catalogue of the fixed stars. This was not just
either to Flamsteed or to the public, who had a right to expect
that the most correct determinations should be given *. It is
true that the editor thereby saved himself a vast deal of intricate
and troublesome computation ; but the character of Flamsteed
suffered in proportion, and we cannot be surprised that he should
be indignant on the occasion. And, if he has expressed his opi-
nion of Halley's conduct (in his confidential letters) in terms
which sound at the present day extremely harsh to our ears, it
must be confessed he had much to irritate and excite him.

ner in which they were entered in the MSS. books, (and as they are in fact now
printed by Flamsteed in the second volume of the Historia Coelestis^ but mere-
ly partial extracts from the same, where they had reference to the moon or
any of the planets, all the remaining observations being wholly omitted. And these
extracts were arranged under different heads, according to the body with which
the stars (generally two or three only in number) were compared. Thus, on
15th September 1690, although there were 119 observations made, yet only
the five which relate to Jupiter, and the four which relate to the moon, are
extracted for the press, and jjlaced in different parts of the volume ; the re-
maining 110 observations being wholly omitted, and no notice whatever taken
of them in any part of the book. So that the future astronomer has no means
of correcting the error of the instrument t)r of the clock, nor of ascertaining
whether the catalogue of the fixed stars had been correctly deduced. (See
the last note in page 92.) Flamsteed knew much better than the referees the
practical advantage of having aW the observations recorded day after day in their
regular order. He was therefore perfectly justified in destroying (as he after-
wards did) this garbled and abortive production, and both the present and future
astronomer will duly estimate the obligations which they are under to him for
having Iiad the public spirit afterwards to print at his own expense the whole
of his observations in the order in which they were made. Flamsteed's mo-'
tive, however, was but little understood in his day, if we may judge from the
opinion of Mr Jones alluded to in page 20.

* The early computations of the places of the moon are to be found in the
MSS. vol 54, and correspond exactly with those published in Halley's spurioua
edition. The subsequent lunar.computations, deduced from the corrtfc/ places of
the stars, are to be found in MSS. vol. 60, and correspond with those pub-
lished afterwards by Flamsteed himself. The difference is frequently very
considerable. See Mr Sharp's opinion on this subject in page 323.

IfO Mr Baily's Account of

Flamsteed, however, had not sufficient interest to stop the
press, for the work, thus mutilated and corrupted, ultimately ap-
peared in one volume, accompanied with a disingenuous and
illiberal preface by Halley, who superintended the edition *,
This conduct of the referees was evidently unjustifiable, as they
had no right to break the seals of his deposit without his consent
and approbation, even at the command (as they pretend) of the
Queen -f*. The whole of the documents were clearly Flamsteed's
own ; the observations had been made with his own instruments,
and reduced at his own expense ; the Government had not (as I
have repeatedly remarked) contributed any thing beyond his
paltry salary of L. 1 00, and that charged with the execution of
duties that belonged not to his situation. The least, therefore,
which they could have done, should have been to let him print
his own works in his own way, not only on account of the labour,
the anxiety, the money which they had cost him, but also, and
more especially, because there was no one so competent as him-
self to judge of the most proper manner in which they ought
to appear before the public for the promotion of astronomy.
The xvhole would then have been finished in much less time than
this single volume of Halley 's.

This spurious and premature publication of his works was a
mortifying circumstance to Flamsteed, and annoyed him very
much ; and it cannot be wondered at that he should so feel it, and
resent it accordingly. In his correspondence with Mr Sharp on
this subject, he opens his whole [mind on the subject, calls Halley

• This edition will frequently be referred to in the subsequent pages, as
" Halley 's editions of I7I2." It contains, besides the spurious Catalogue and
the garbled ObservationSj nearly the whole of what now forms the first volume
of the Historia Coslestis. In the preface Halley has made many representa-
tions and misstatements, some of these I have pointed out in pages 385 and
386 ; and I will here farther add, in contradiction to what Halley has stated,
that it was not agreed that the catalogue should be prefixed to the first vo-
lume, and that he has in many other parts of the said preface given a colour-
ing to facts which leave a false and erroneous impression on the mind of the
reader. There are very few copies of this work now in existence, nearly the
whole of the edition having been destroyed by Flamsteed, as will be related
in the sequeL

t Flamsteed says that the order of the Queen was obtained after the of*
fence was committed. This is a question, however, of but little moment in a
case of absolute wrong.

-% the Rev. John Flamsteed, 151

" a malicious thief," and makes use of other opprobrious epi-
thets which could only be palliated by a consideration of Flam-
steed's high state of excitement. But, I apprehend, that, at that
day, a much greater license of expression was allowed or taken
on such occasions ; for a circumstance occurred about the same
time, which shewed that even Newton himself could for a mo-
ment, in a similar manner, forget his rank and station, the occa-
sion of which was as follows : — In the year 1710, her Majesty
was pleased to appoint the President of the Royal Society, to-
gether with such others as the Council of the said Society should
think fit> to be visitors of the Royal Observatory. Flamsteed
calls this measure " another piece of Sir Isaac Newton's inge-
nuity ;" and, after the treatment he had received^ he might natu-
rally conclude that this also was done to annoy him. There
is no evidence, however, to shew that Newton had any hand in
it whatever ; but, in consequence of this appointment, a scene
occurred, the particulars of which would perhaps never have
been divulged, had not these manuscripts of Flamsteed, belong-
ing to two distinct parties, been simultaneously brought to light.
It appears that a meeting of the council of the Royal Society
was summoned for October 26, 1711, at which Flamsteed was
desired to attend, " to know from him if his instruments were
in order, and fit to carry on the necessary celestial observations.'*
Flamsteed attended accordingly ; and a scene ensued, which he
has minutely described in three or four of his MSS., and in his
letters to Mr Sharp without much shade of difference. It ap-
pears that Newton, not satisfied or pleased with the answers that
he received from Flamsteed, forgot himself and the duty he was
then performing under the Queen's warrant, " ran himself into a
great heat and very indecent passion, and used him so as he
was never used before ; called him a puppy., and many other
hard names, but puppy was the most innocent of them." Dr
Mead, who was present, joined in insulting him, till at length
Flamsteed, evidently disgusted at such treatment, withdrew from
the scene, desiringthem to restrain their passion, and telling them
that " it was a dishonour to the nation, her Majesty, and that
Society (nay to the President himself) to use him so." When
we consider that Newton was at that time nearly sixty-nine years
•of age, and that Flamsteed was upwards of sixty-five, and so

152 Mr Bailly's Account of

;nfirm that he was obliged to be assisted both up and down stairs,
it must be confessed that this scene exhibits but a miserable pic-
ture of the frailties of human nature, and every friend to science,
or even to humanity, must lament its ever having taken place.

Soon after this occurrence, it appears that Flamsteed, finding
that all faith with him had been broken, that his catalogue had
been thus surreptitiously and clandestinely printed, and that his
observations also had been sent to the press in a garbled and
improper manner, broke off all communication with Dr Arbuth-
nott, and his coadjutors in this affair, resolving in his own mind
to appeal to the public on the occasion. He drew up a state-
ment of all the proceedings that had taken place, with a view to
its publication ; and afterwards set about a re-examination of
his observations, in order to collect together, for insertion in his
catalogue, such stars as had escaped his notice in his former re-
views, determined to perfect the catalogue as much as possible,
and to reprint it at his own expense ; and before the end of the
year 1 712, he received the last sheet from the press. He then
proceeded to do the same with his Observations ; and, for this
purpose, he applied to Sir Isaac Newton for the manuscript
copy not only of the catalogue, and of the 175 MS. sheets
of Observations which had been deposited in his hands, but
also of the MS. books of original eritries, which had been
left with him some time before, but without effect. Flam-
Steed, therefore, found himself obliged to commence legal pro-
ceedings against him for their recovery, but with what success I
have not been able to ascertain. Some of the books were re-
turned to Flamsteed, but there is still one of them missing (con-
taining the MS. observations from November 1702 to Janu-
ary 1712), which perhaps is the one that Flamsteed denies*
ever having received back. With respect to the 175 sheets
of MS. observations, it appears that Newton eventually hand-
ed them over to Halley ; which Flamsteed calls '* the height
of trick, ingratitude, and baseness." And it is certain that
Flamsteed was ultimately obliged to recopy not only the Cata-
logue, but also these 175 sheets of observations, for the press,
at an expense of nearly L. 200, and at a great loss of time and
labour, independent of the additional risk of error. This con-

the Rev. John Flamsteed. \S^

duct was indeed unaccountable, and scarcely to be justified oa
any view of the case.

Whilst employed, however, on this work, two events occur-
red, which in some measure changed the prospect of Flamsteed's
affairs. These were the death of Queen Anne, who died oa
August 1, 1714, and the death of the Earl of Halifax, the great
patron and supporter of Sir Isaac Newton, on May 19, 1715.
The officers at court were changed : the new Lord Chamber-
lain knew Flamsteed well ; and a hint was given to him that he
miglit, with very little trouble, get all the spurious copies of his
printed observations into his own hands. He accordingly drew
up a memorial and petition to the Lords of the Treasury (Sir-
Robert Walpole being the First Lord) ; whereupon 300 copies
of this obnoxious work, probably all that remained out of the
400 printed, after the presentation copies and a few sales were
deducted, were delivered up to him, which he immediately com"
mitted to the flames, " that none might remain to shew the in-
gratitude of two of his countrymen, who had used hira worse
than even the noble Tycho was used in Denmark.'"' Rejoiced at
this circumstance, he set himself in earnest to print his observa-
tions in the order in which they were made, and as they now
appear in the second volujpe of the Historia Ccelestis ; for
though, as he candidly states, " he was unwilling to impoverish
his nearest relations, whom he was bound in justice and con-
science to take care of, since they were in no capacity to provide
for themselves," yet he was determined that the labour of nearly
forty years should not be thrown away, and therefore resolved
to print them at his own expense. Fortunate, indeed, has it been
for the astronomer that Flamsteed was so resolute and pertina-
cious on this point ; and that he had courage and public spirit
enough to bear up against his two powerful opponents, whose
views upon this subject are by no means in accordance with
those of modern astronomers. ; lui

It should here be remarked, that when Flamsteed obtained'
the 300 copies of his printed work from the Lords of the Trea-
sury, he destroyed only the catalogue and the spurious part of
the work which professed to be his observations made with the
mural arc. That portion of it which contained his observations
with the sextant was separated from the rest, and (together with

154 Mr Baily's Account of

the observations of Gascoigne and Crabtree, and of his own at
Derby, as well as the computed places of the moon and planets,
and a ^ew subsidiary tables, all printed afterwards at Flamsteed's
own charge), now forms the first volume of the Historia CceleS"
Hs. So that, of all the three volumes of the Historia Ccelestis,
there were only ninety-seven sheets, of this first volume, that
were printed at the public expense, all the rest having been edi-
ted at the risk and private cost of Flamsteed himself.

Flamsteed, however, did not live to see the termination of his
labours : he died before the second volume was quite completed ;
and the remainder of that volume, as well as the whole of the third,
was finished under the care and superintendence of Mr Joseph
Crosthwait, his assistant at the Royal Observatory, aided by Mr
Abraham Sharp. In the complete and perfect execution of this
undertaking, they met with many difficulties ; for although Mrs
Flamsteed appears to have been a woman of high spirit, and im-
pressed with a proper sense of, and regard for, her husband's
honour and fame, yet a too strict attention to economy prevent-
ed the work from appearing before the public in the most ad-
vantageous light. The catalogue, which had been reprinted by
Flamsteed, was still found, on a new comparison with the ob-
servations by Mr Crosthwait, to contain many errors; some of the
sheets were again reprinted with amendments, but others were
suffered to be ultimately published with all their faults. Yet,
had it not been for Mr Crosthwait^s extraordinary, and in some
measure gratuitous exertions, the work would never have been
completed; and the world must have been satisfied with the
meagre and garbled edition published by Halley.** The Pre-

• Mr Crosthwait had a great esteem and veneration for Flamsteed. He
attended him in his last illness, on his deathbed ; and, in the account which
he gives of that scene to Mr Sharp, he says, " He often called for me, and
would gladly have said something to me, but was not able, though he called
for me by name, and continued to do so till the last moment. You will see
by this, that he has not left me in a capacity to serve him, notwithstanding
he has often told me he would; but this I impute to his not being sensible
of his near approach till it was too late ; but the love, honour, and esteem I
have (and shall always) for his memory, and every thing that belongs to him,
will not permit me to leave Greenwich or London, before, I hope, the three
volumes are printed." — (See page 333.) And in another letter he states,
' Had it not been for the love and honour I bear to Mr Flamsteed's memory
knowing how many potent enemies he has left; behmd, and how few friends

the Rev. John Flatnsteed. 155

face cost Mr Crosthwait much trouble; it was written in Eng-
lish by Flamsteed, but it was now required to be translated into
Latin ; no one, however, could for some time be found adequate
to the task, though repeatedly attempted. Mr Pound at one
time undertook it, but eventually, after much procrastination,
declined it ; and it was at last accomplished by a dissenting mi-
nister ; a considerable portion of it, however, being suppressed,
as already mentioned. The whole work was at length publish-
ed in three volumes in 1725, six years after Flamsteed's death.
The distribution of its several parts will stand thus : the first
volume, and the major part of the second volume, were printed
during Flamstecd'*s lifetime ; but the remainder of the second
and the whole of the third volume, were printed under the su-
perintendence of Mr Crosthwait. This latter portion therefore
may, in some measure, be considered as a posthumous work.

There remained now only the maps^ the construction and en-
graving of which appear to have cost as much trouble and vexa-
tion as the letter-press, but arising from a totally different source.
It seems that only one of them was completely finished (Orion*)
when Flamsteed died ; for the rest we are indebted to Mr Sharp,
who constructed them anew, according to Flamsteed's principles,
from the catalogue. Sir James Thornhill drew the figures of
the constellations, and recommended engravers for the work ;
but the charges of the English artists were considered so enor-
mous, that Mr Crosthwait went over to Holland for the express
purpose of engaging some of the best Dutch engravers to com-
plete the work. The vexatious delays which necessarily occur-
red by adopting this method, its increased expense, and the con-
stant attention requisite to prevent mistakes, dispirited Mrs
Flamsteed ; and a temporary stop was consequently put to the
work, although Mr Sharp (now much advanced in years) and
Mr Crosthwait were willing to continue their services. At length
some English engravers being found who off^ered to execute the
maps at a more moderate charge, the labours of these gentle-
capable of serving him in these affairs), I had before this time left Green-
wich, and should have had a due regard to mj own future support ; but tliis I
have refused upon his account."— (Seep. 336).

• There is no separate map of Orion in Flamsteed's Atlas ; nor is the whole
of that constellation depicted in any one map. It was probably obliged to be
redrawn, and reconstructed, in order to suit the subsequent arrangements.

166 Mr Selby on the Quadrupeds and Birds

men were renewed, and continued till the time of Mrs Flam-
steed's death, which took place on July 29, 1730.

That the above mentioned circumstances attending the pub-
lication of Flamsteed's works, should never before have come to
light is somewhat singular ; and it is much to be regretted that
some explanation was not given, at the time, of the circumstances
under which they eventually appear. But that many of the
facts were well known at that period, both in this country and on
the Continent (although not detailed at length), appears from the
testimony of contemporaneous writers ; and that Mrs Flamsteed
partook of the spirit and indignation of her husband, is evident
from the letter which she addressed to the Vice-Chancellor of
Oxford, requesting that the copy of Halley's spurious edition,
presented to the Bodleian Library by Sir Robert Walpole, might
be removed therefrom, as not being the genuine work of Mr
Flamsteed.

Chi the Quadrupeds and Birds inhabiting the County of Suther-
land^ observed there during an Excursion in the Summer of
1834. By P. J. Selby, F. R. S. E., F. L. S. &c. &c.*

The following notices of the quadrupeds and birds inhabiting
the county of Sutherland, were made during an excursion to
that interesting district in the summer of 1834, expressly under-
taken for the purpose of investigating its zoological productions.
To enable the partyj- to pursue this to the greatest advantage,
tlie sanction of the Duchess-Countess of Sutherland was requested
to the undertaking, and readily obtained ; and letters of intro-
duction from Mr Losh, M. P., to the different factors upou the
estate, procured the assistance of those gentlemen whose local

• Read before the "Wernerian Natural History Society, on 21st November
1835.

•\ The party consisted of Sir William Jardine, Mr John Jardine, Dr Gre-
ville, Mr James Wilson, and Mr Selby. A light boat, suspended upon a four-
wheeled carriage, and drawn by two horses, was the conveyance adopted, and
was found particularly useful and convenient, in a country so intersected with
lochs, but entirely destitute of boats. It could be shipped or unshipped at
any time with perfect ease, even by three of the party.

inhabiting the County of Sutherland. 157

knowledge and information was found of essential service in fur-
thering the objects of the undertaking. From Mr Baigrie, in par-
ticular, the intelligent factor of the Scoonie and Assynt districts,
much interesting information relating to the salmon-fishery was
procured, as well as a detail of the experiments which for the last
two years have been, and are still in active operation at the va-
rious fisheries, to determine facts of essential importance to the
clearing up of the natural history of the salmon and its congeners,
especially of those species that are migratory, or inhabit at times
the salt as well as the fresh water ; but as the ichthyology of the
county has already engaged the pen of one of the party, it is un-
necessary to advert to it any further at present. The accuracy
of the lists, so far as they go, can be vouched for, the whole of
the birds, with the exception of the Scolopax Gallimda, having
come under the observation of the party ; and the quadrupeds
described were either seen alive, or their recent pelts examined,
:when in the possession of the fox-hunters, or regularly deputed
vermin-destroyers of the districts. In a wild, mountainous, and
,thinly inhabited country, abounding in lochs and rivers, and
<whose zoology had previously been little attended to, it was na-
turally expected that some interesting facts connected with the
breeding, distribution, &c. of various species of birds, would re-
ward an excursion of this description. Nor were the party disap-
pointed, for they had the pleasure of ascertaining that the va-
rious interior fresh-water lochs are selected by that beautiful bird
the Black-throated Diver (Colymbus arcticus) for the rear-
ing of its offspring, and both eggs and young were for the first
time obtained. The Bean Goose ( Anser JeruSy Flem. J was also
frequently seen with its young upon some of the larger lochs ;
and the Wigeon (Mareca Penelope)^ Scaup Pochard (Fuli-
gula marila), and the Greenshank ( Totanus glottis), were for
the first time detected building in Britain. Among the warblers,
it is interesting to trace the extensive distribution of the Willow
Wren (Sylvia trochilus), and Sedge Warbler (Salicaria phrag"
mitis), both of which are found extending their migration to
the northern verge of the county, wherever situations at all suited
to their habits were met with. Two or three instances of the
Whitethroat fCurruca cinerea) were noticed at Tongue, but
*the want of woods, and other protecting cover, had arrested the

158 Mr Selby on the Quadrupeds and Birds

progress of the other arboreal warblers, viz. the Blackcap
(Cur. atricapilla). Petty chaps (Curruca hortensis), Wood
Wren (Sylvia sibilatrix)^ and Chiff-chaff (Sylvia riifa)^
though the three first were traced as far as Dingwall, upon the
northern side of the Murray Frith. Of the other forms belong-
ing to the Sylviaday the three British species of Saxicola were
met with, the Wheatear being remarkably abundant, and very
generally spread over the county ; the Redstart (Phcenicura
ruticilla) was also twice seen. Of the Motacillincey the Pied
and Grey Wagtails were generally dispersed, but the common
Pipit was the only species of Anthus observed. The Pari or
Titmice were confined to the southern confines of the county,
where fir and other plantations commenced. The mountainous
and rocky character of the greater part of the county, abound-
ing as it does in cliffs of vast perpendicular height, renders it a
district peculiarly favourable to the larger Raptorial birds, such
as the Golden and Cinereous Eagles, Peregrine Falcon, &c. ;
and accordingly we find these powerful species still pretty nu-
merous, though every device is resorted to for their destruction,
on account of the havock they commit upon the flocks. The
same may be said of the fox, the marten, and wild cat, which
find protection in the numerous fastnesses of the rocks, and in
the caves which abound in the limestone districts. The follow-
ing list, copied from a document furnished by Mr Baigrie, of
the foxes, martens, cats, eagles, ravens, &c. destroyed in the
county within the last three years, will afford some idea of their
numerous distribution, and the amount of premiums paid, the
liberal inducement held out for their destruction.

Zjist of Vermin destroyed^ and Premiums paid for the same, on the
Duchess- Countess of Sutherland's estates in the County of
Sutherland, from March 1831 to March 1834.

71 Old bitch Foxes, .

. @42/ =:

L.149 2 0

49 Young do. do.

. @ 20/ =

49 0 0

73 Old dog do.

. @ 15/ =

54 15 0

46 Young do. do. . . .

@ 7/6 =

17 5 0

901 Wild Cats, Martens, and Fumarts,

@ 2/6 =

112 12 6

418Weasles, .

. @ 1/ =
Carry forward,

20 18 0

L.402 12 6

inhabiting the County of Sutherland. 159

Brought forward,

L. 402 12

6

263 Otters,

. @5/ -

65 15

0

171 Full-grown Eagles,

. ©21/ =

179 11

0

53 Young do., and Eagles eggs,

@ 10/ =

26 10

0

936 Ravens,

. ©2/ =

93 12

0

1055 Hawks,

. @ 1/ =

52 15

0

1739 Carrion Crows* and Magpies,

. @ /6 =

43 9

6

848 King-Fishersjf

. @ /6 =

13 14

0

6323 L.878 19 0

Under such a system, which is now supported by the lessees
of the estate, it is not improbable but that, in a very few years,
some of the species of the raptorial birds and carnivorous quadi
rupeds may become extinct. On this account, therefore, and as
evidence of what existed up to a certain period, I am induced
to forward these lists to the Society, being aware that in other
respects they can possess but little interest to the generality of its
members.

MAMMALIA.

1. Sorex araneus. Common Shrew, Common. 2. S. fodiens. Water

Shrew. Common upon the margins of the lakes and rivers ; all the speci-
mens obtained were of this species.— —3. Talpa Europsea, Common
Mole. Plentiful. 1. Meles Taxus, Common Badger. Pretty gene-
rally dispersed throughout the midland mountainous part of the county.
*— 5. Vulpis vulgaris^ Common Fox ; large variety, with a black tip at th$
tail. Foxes in Sutherland are very numerous, and of a large size, similar
in form to the variety we call the Greyhound fox j but they differ from
it in having the tail tipped witb black instead of white. They are very
destructive to the new-dropped lambs, and, when pinched for food, will
even attack and kill the full grown sheep. On this account they are pro-
scribed by the sheep farmers, and destroyed by every device by the regUc
lar appointed fox-hunters, who obtain the following premiums for every
head they produce, viz. for a full grown dog-fox, 16s. ', for a female, L, 2,
2s. ; for each young fox or cub, 7s. 6d. During the day they retire to the
mountains, where they lie concealed among the fragments of broken
rocks, or in the holes of the debris, &c. The life of a fox-hunter, for such
is the title of the vermin-destroyer, is one of great toil and fatigue, for he
is obliged to be out at all seasons, and in all kinds of weather. He gene-
rally departs for the mountains under night, to be in readiness to inter-

• All of the species Corvxu comix. Hooded Crow.

•f The Dipper is so called throxighout Sutherland and other parts of the Highlands. The Aletdo
itpida It rarely seen.

IGO Ml* Selby on the Quadrupds and Birds

lupt the return of his game from their predatory excursions to the lower
districts. Upon such occasions he is attended by a pack of dogs, con-
sisting of several terriers of an excellent and hardy breed, an old fox-hound
or two, and a half-bred greyhound or lurcher. He is also provided with a
gun, and generally carries materials to set traps, &c. for such vermin as
betake themselves to holes and fissures of the rocks where they cannot
be got at by his dogs. Besides the fox, he is assiduous in his pursuit of
the wild cat and marten, both of which animals abound in the county, and
are, like the fox, the frequent destroyers of lambs, poultry, &c. Till with-
in the last year, the fox-hunters, or vermin-destroyers, were appointed
and supported, and the premiums for the destruction of the various ani-
mals paid, by the Duchess- Countess of Sutherland. To each parish a dis-
tinct one was regularly appointed, and, in addition to a salary of L. 20 per
annum, he was provided with a house and potato garth, and sufficient
oat-meal for himself and ten dogs. This was exclusive of the premiums
paid for the various animals destroyed, which generally amounted to as
much as the stipulated money payment, and sometimes to a much larger
sum, as we were informed upon good authority, that the fox-hunter of
Ben Hope district had the preceding year drawn as much as L. 40 for
the animals and eagles he had destroyed. By a late regulation they are
now to be kept and paid by the farmers or lessees of the estate at the
same rate, and with the same conditions and allowances as they enjoyed
imder the Noble proprietor of the county. 6. Mustela vulgaris. Com-
mon Weasel. 7. M. erminea. Ermine Pole-cat. In greater plenty

than the common weasel. 8. M. putoria. Foumart. Common upon

the banks of the rivers, margins of lakes &c. 9. M. Fagorum aut

Abietum. Abundant in the mountainous districts, particularly where
birch or other wood grows ; is sometimes destructive to young lambs,

and often attacks the hen-roost. 10. Lutra vulgaris. Otter. The

otter is still pretty abundant upon the numerous lakes and rivers of
this interesting county, although no opportunity is neglected of destroy-
ing them, both on account of their valuable skin and for the injury they
do to the salmon fisheries. Upon the salt-water lochs or inlets they are
also frequently taken, but these are said to be of smaller size, and of a
lighter colour. We had not an opportunity of comparing the two together,
and are therefore unable to say whether the animal that affects the salt
water is merely a variety, or a species distinct from the common otter.
Specimens of both kinds are however promised, and we hope ere long to

be able to decide this interesting point. 11. Felis sylvestris. Wild or

Mountain Cat. Wild cats are very numerous in this mountainous district,
where they attain a great size, and sometimes commit great ravages upon
the young lambs. In Assynt, upon the Ben More ridge, they are very-
plentiful, and find secure shelter and protection in the numerous caverns
and holes of the limestone district. Of their specific distinction from the
eommon or domestic cat no doubt is now entertained^ and, in addition

inhabiting the Cminty of Sutherland. 161

to the different form of the tail, other well marked characters exist. No
mixed breed ever appears to take place between the species even in situ-

.ations the most likely for such an event to occur. 12. Phoca Vitulina,

Common Seal. Abounds in all the salt-water lochs, where it preys chiefly
upon the Salmonida). The Phocaharbata (an inhabitant of the Fern Islands)

is not known here. 13. Mus musculus. Common House Mouse.

14. M. sylvaticus. Field Mouse. 15. M. decumanus. Brown or Norway

Rat. 16. Lepus timidus. Common Hare. Common in the lower lands,

and the limestone district about Inch-na-Damff. 17. L. variabilis, ^/pin«

Hare. Abundant throughout the central and mountainous parts of the
county, and descends to the flat grounds upon the borders of Loch Shin,

&c. 18. Arvicola aquatica, Water Rat. Common upon many of the

slower running streams, and the islands of the various lochs. The black
Tariety (at first supposed to be a distinct species) is met with about the
head of Loch Naver, and a large colony of the same inhabits a low sandy

island of Loch Laighal. 19. A. agrestis. Short-tailed Field Mouse*

Common. 20. Capra Hircus, Common Goat. A few inhabit tlie fast-
nesses of the rocky districts, but it is doubtful if they can be regarded

as indigenous. 21. Cervus elephas. Red Deer. This noble animal

is fostered with great care, and is at present numerous in certain dis-
tricts of the county. About Ben Stack, whose base is clothed with birchen
woods, it may be seen in large herds, as well as about Ben Hope, Ben
Laighal, &c. A hind that we suddenly came upon by the margin of Loch
Shin, immediately took the water and swam across the loch, upwards
of a mile in breadth. Upon Ben Stack we came upon a young fa^vn
concealed in ferns and low underwood, crouched in its form like a hare ;
it bounded away with great agility at first, and was supposed to be a roe,
but, after a short chase, was pulled down by a water dog that accompanied
us, fortunately without receiving any very serious injury. After examina-
tion, we left it near the spot from whence it had been roused. 22. Cef .

Capreolus, Roe Deer. This beautiful species, owing to the want of ex-
tensive woods, is not numerous in Sutherland.

( To he concluded in next Number.)

Notice concerning the Life and Writings of Professor Brink-
ley, Bishop ofCloyne. By M. Arago.

Brinkley having passed nearly the whole of his scientific
life in Dublin, has been often taken for an Irishman. Thi^
however, is a mistake ; for he was born in England, and of
English parentage. He studied at Cains College, Cambridge,
where his brilliant success speedily attracted the attention of the
friends of science. He was senior wrangler of his year, Mal-
thus taking his degree at the same time. He soon became a

VOL. XX. NO. XXXIX. JANUARY 1S36. L

16^ Notice concerning the Li/e and Writings

fellow and tutor of Caius, where he was very popular as an in-
structor.

He left Cambridge to fill the astronomical chair of the Uni-
versity of Dublin, which had become vacant by the death of
Usher ; and the Transactions of the Irish Academy, and the
archives of the Observatory, and the Transactions of the Royal
Society of London, soon became filled with the valuable fruits of
his indefatigable zeal. In all his writings we find the faithful his-
torian, the sincere lover of truth, the accurate observer, and the
profound mathematician. Equally proud of his knowledge and
character, the Irish Academy placed him at its head, under the
honourable title of Perpetual President. In 1827 the Govern-
ment of his country extended its patronage to him, by appoint-
ing him to the bishopric of Cloyne ; an episcopate which had
previously been held by the celebrated Berkeley, the meta-
physician ; and the revenues of which are considerable. Thus
did he exchange scientific discovery for ecclesiastical dignity.
From the moment he accepted the mitre, he, whose whole life
had been devoted to the contemplation of the firmament and the
solution of the sublime questions which are involved in the mo-
tions of the stars, abandoned these seducing occupations^ to dis-
charge the duties of his new employment. Probably, to avoid
all temptation, the Ex-Director of the Irish Royal Observatory,
the late Andrews Professor of Astronomy in the University,
had not in his palace a common telescope. We owe this interest-
ing fact to the testimony of an individual, who, residing with
Brinkley at the time of a lunar eclipse, in the lack of all in-
struments, could examine it only with the naked eye.

Brinkley died in Dublin on the 13th September 1835. His
mortal remains were followed to the grave by all the lovers of
science in the Irish capital, and were deposited in the Chapel
of the University. We trust that the following biographical
catalogue will sufficiently exhibit the astronomer, the profes-
sor, and the geometrician. Concerning his moral character I
cannot express myself better than in the words of a letter which
has just reached me. " I suppose that no man was ever more
regretted. Though Brinkley dwelt in this unfortunate Ireland,
the focus of so many burning passions, of so many implacable
hatreds, and cruel miseries, yet I hesitate not to affirm that ;;he
had not a single foe !^

of Professor Brlnldey, 163

Chronological Catalogue of the Memoirs published by Brinkley,

General demonstration of the Theorems for the Sines and Cosines of
Multiple Circular ArcSj and also of the Theorems for expressing the pow-
ers of Sines and Cosines gf Multiple Arcs ; to which is added a theorem,
by help whereof the same method may be applied to demonstrate the pro-
perties of Multiple Hyperbolic Arcs. Read to the Royal Irish Academy
May 6. 1797. — A general demonstration of the properties of the Circle,
discovered by Mr Cotes, deduced from the circle alone. Read to the
Royal Irish Academy November 4. 1797. — A method of expressing, when
possible, the value of one variable quality in integral powers of another
and constant quantities, having given equations expressing the relation of
these variable quantities ; in which is contained the general doctrine of
Reversion of Sines, of approximating to the roots of equations, and of the
solution of fluxional equations by sines. Read to the Royal Irish Aca-
demy November 3. 1798. — On the Orbits in which Bodies revolve, being
acted upon by a centripetal force, varying as any function of the dis-
tance, when thesp orbits have two apsides. Read to the Royal Irish
Academy March 9. 1801. — On determining the Innumerable Portions of
a Sphere, the solidities and spherical superficies of which portions are at
the same time algebraically assignable. Read to the Royal Irish Aca-
demy November 2. 1801. — An Examination of various Solutions of Kep-
ler's Problem, and a short practical solution of that problem pointed out.
Read to the Royal Irish Academy November 4. 1802. — A Theorem for
finding the surface of an Oblique Cylinder, with its demonstration. Read
to the Royal Irish Academy December 20. 1802. — An investigation of the
general term of an important Series in the inverse method of infinite dif-
ferences. Read to the Royal Society, London, February 26. 1807. — On
Sir Isaac Newton's first Solution of the problem for finding the relation
between Resistance and Gravity, that a body may be made to describe a
given curve, &c. Read to tlie Royal Irish Academy May 25. 1807. — In-
vestigations relative to the problem for clearing the apparent distance of
the Moon from the Moon or a Star from the efiects of Parallax and Re-
fraction, and an easy and concise method pointed out. Read to the Royal
Irish Academy March 7. 1808. — An account of Observations made at the
Observatory of Trinity College, Dublin, with an Astronomical Circle, eight
feet in diameter, which appear to point out an annual parallax in certain
fixed Stars : Also a Catalogue of North Polar Distances of forty-seven
principal Stars, from recent observations, and a comparison thereof with
those of the same stars obtained by other instruments, and by the same
instrument at a former period. Read to the Royal Irish Academy May 9.
1814. — Analytical Investigations respecting Astronomical Refractions,
and the application thereof to the formation of convenient tables, together
■with the results of observations of Circumpolar Stars tending to illustratie
the theory of Refractions. Read to the Royal Irish Academy May^9.

l3

164 Volcanic Eruptions and Earthquakes.

1814, — Appendix to the account of Observations made at the Observatory
of Trinity College, Dublin, which appear to point out an annual paral-
lax in certain fixed Stars. Read to the Royal Irish Academy March G.
1815. — Investigations in Physical Astronomy, principally relative to the
mean motion of the Lunar Perigee. Read to the Royal Irish Academy
April 21. 1817. — Observations relative to the Form of the arbitrary Con-
stant Quantities that occur in the Integration of certain Differential Equa-
tions, and also in the Integration of a certain Equation of Finite HJfTc-
rences. Read to the Royal Irish Academy June 23. 1817. — On the Pa-
rallax of certain Fixed Stars. Read to the Royal Society March 5. 1818. —
The Results of Observations made at the Observatory of Trinity College,
Dublin, for determining the Obliquity of the Ecliptic, and Maximum of
the Aberration of Light. Read to the Royal Society April 1. 1819. —
A method of computing Astronomical Refractions, for objects near the
horizon. Read to the Royal Irish Academy, January 17. 1820. — A me-
thod for correcting the Approximate Elements of the Orbits of a Comet,
and the application of the same to Observations made at the Observatory
of Trinity College, Dublin, on the Comet of July 1819. Read to the
Royal Irish Academy, April 17. 1820. — An account of Observations made
with the eight feet Astronomical Circle, at the Observatory of Trinity
College, Dublin, since the beginning of the year 1818, for investigating
the effects of parallax and aberration on the Places of certain Fixed Stars.
Read to the Royal Society June 21. 1821. — The Elements of Captain
Hall's Comet. Read to the Royal Society January 10. 1822. — The Quan-
tity of Solar Nutation, as affecting the N. Polar distances of the Fixed
Stars, deduced from observation, and the application of this determina-
tion to confirm the conclusions relative to the parallaxes of certain Fixed
Stars. Read to the Royal Irish Academy, April 1. 1822. — On the North
Polar distances of the principal Fixed Stars. Read to the Royal Society
December 18. 1823. — Remarks on the Parallax of a LyrcB. Read to the
Hoyal Society March 11. 1824. — Results of the application of Captain
Kater's Floating Collimater to the Astronomical Circle at the Observa-
tory of Trinity College, Dublin, and remarks relative to the results. Read
to the Royal Society April 27. 1826.

He also published an elemental work. Elements of Astronomy, in 1813,
and 1819, which was the class-book of his course in Dublin. Each line
beams with astronomy, whether it regards calculation or observation.

After having enumerated so many works on astronomy and
pure mathematics, it would have been interesting to have added
to this long list the titles of various papers on Botany and Le-
gislation. I have been informed that Dr Brinkley took a deep
interest in these sciences, and prosecuted them with success ;
but I have not had time to examine, if, in the Transactions of
any of the Societies, there is any of his botanical descriptions, or
any of his discussions upon legislation.

( 165 )

Eruptions of the Volcano of the Cosiguiiia, in Nicaragua, Com-
municated by Colonel Juan Galindo.*

Kio MoPAN, Apnl 13. 1835.
. Sin, — One of the most stupendous convulsions of the globe
ever known in this hemisphere took place last January, on the
eruption of the volcano of Cosiguina. This volcano is situated
in Nicaragua, one of the states of central America, and stands
near the eastern promontory of the bay of Conchagua, separating
the waters of the gulf from the Pacific. I can give no more
faithful or vivid description of its appearance and effects, in the
immediate vicinity, than the following translation of a report,
dated January 29, from the Commandant of Union, a sea-port
situated on the western shore of the bay of Conchagua, and the
nearest place of any consequence to the volcano.

" On the 20th inst., day having dawned with usual serenity,
at eight o'*clock, towards the S. E., a dense cloud was perceiv-
ed of a pyramidal figure, preceded by a rumbling noise, and it
continued rising until it covered the sun, at which elevation,
about ten, it separated to the north and south, accompanied by
thunder and lightning. The cloud finally covered the whole
firmament about eleven, and enveloped every thing in the great-
est darkness, so that the nearest objects were imperceptible. The
melancholy howling of beasts, the flocks of birds of all spe-
cies that came to seek, as it were, an asylum amongst men, the
terror which assailed the latter, the cries of women and children,
and the uncertainty of the issue of so rare a phenomenon—
every thing combined to overcome the stoutest soul, and fill it
with apprehension ; and the more so when, at four p. m., the
earth began to quake, and continued in a perpetual undula-
tion, which gradually increased. This was followed by a shower
of f)hosphoric sand, which lasted till eight o'clock r. m. on the
same day, when there began falling a heavy and fine powder
like flour. The thunder and licrhtninfj continued the whole
night and the following day (the 21st) ; and at eight minutes
past three o'clock r.M. there was a long and violent eartb-

■ Silliman's Journal, July 1835.

166 Volcanic Eruptions and Earthquakes.

quake, that many men, who were walking in a penitential pro-
cession, were thrown down. The darkness lasted forty-three
hours, making it indispensable for every one to carry a light,
and even these were not sufficient to see clearly with. On the
22d, it was somewhat less dark, although the sun was not visi-
ble ; and, towards the morning of the 23d, the tremendously
loud thunder claps were heard in succession, like the firing of
pieces of artillery of the largest calibre, and this fresh occurrence
was accompanied by increased showers of dust. From day dawn
of the 23d until ten o'clock a. m., a dim light only served to
shew the most melancholy spectacle. The streets, which, from
the rocky nature of the soil, are full of inequalities and stones,
appeared quite level, being covered with dust. Men, women,
and children were so disfigured, that it was not easy to recog
nise any one except by the sound of their voices or other cir-
cumstances. Houses and trees, not to be distinguished through
the dust which covered them, had the most horrible appearance.
Yet, in spite of these appalling sights, they were preferable to
the darkness into which we were again plunged from after the
said hour of ten, as during the preceding days. The general
distress, which had been assuaged, was renewed, and although
leaving the place was attended by imminent peril from the wild
beasts that had sallied from the forests and sought the towns
and highroads, as happened in the neighbouring village of Con-
chagua and this town, into which tigers thrust themselves, yet
another terror was superior, and more than half the inhabitants
of Union emigrated on foot, abandoning their houses, well per-
suaded that they should never return to them, since they pro-
gnosticated the total destruction of the town, and fled with dis
may for refuge to the mountains.

\^*' At half-past three on the morning of the 24th, the moon
and a few stars were visible, as if through a curtain, and the
day was clear, although the sun could not be seen, since the dust
continued falling, having covered the ground all round about to
a thickness of five inches. The 25th and 26th were like the
24th, with frequent though not violent earthquakes.

*' The cause of all this has been the volcano of Cosiguina,
^hich burst out on the 20th. I am also informed, that, on the
island of Tigre, in that direction, the showers of the 21st were

Volcanic Eruptions and Earthquakes. 167

of pumice-stones, of the size of a pea, and some even as large
as a hen's egg. The earth quaked there more than here ; but
no houses or other edifices have been thrown down. Here
there are many people with catarrhs, headachs, sore throats,
and pectoral affections, resulting doubtless from the dust. Se-
veral persons are seriously unwell, and yesterday a girl of seven
years old died, with symptoms of an inflammatory sore throat.
Flocks of birds are found dead, lying on the roads and floating
on the sea. The showers of dust lasted till the STth."

The following is an extract from a letter of my own, dated
February 7th : — " Still in total ignorance respecting the place of
the supposed volcanic eruptions of last month, I can only state
my own former mistaken conjectures respecting them and others
of the same class, to which they gave rise throughout Central
America. Near Salama, the chief place of Verapas, being on
the road from Guatemala to the port of Isabal, I distinctly heard,
on the night between the 16th and 17th of January, continued
noises, similar to those always produced by volcanic eruptions ;
however, there was something peculiar in these sounds, often re-
sembling the discharge of single large guns.

" On the night of the 22d I was sleeping on the banks of the
Polochic, about sixteen leagues before arriving at Isabal. I
suppose that near eleven o'clock the apparent firing began ; the
guns were heard at regular intervals. Both myself and all my
men had been constantly accustomed, during our whole lives, to
hear volcanic eruptions in all parts of Central America, yet for
some hours we were every one without a doubt that the noise was
produced by artillery, and that it proceeded from the direction of
Isabal. I could not but conclude that an action was taking place
in that port. I then again reflecting on the improbability of such
an event, raised a conjecture that the commandant, in some extra-
ordinary state of inebriation, was celebrating his installation, his
birth-day, or some otherevent. I slumbered and pondered on, still
more completely puzzled by the long continuance of the firing.
Towards day-light certainly the noise was confused, and more
resembling ordinary volcanic eruptions ; yet I resumed my boat
journey down the river with considerable doubts on my mind,
and the first canoe I met coming up the river, I ordered to be
obliquely questioned as to the state of Isabal, and though the

168 Volcanic Ertq)tlons and Earthqua'kes.

appearance of the men in it was that of fishermen, I had some
ideas that they were soldiers in disguise, and that arms were con-
cealed in the bottom of the boat. Other travellers, however,
subsequently dispelled all my doubts.

" I observed nothing remarkable in the atmosphere or ap-
pearance of the night of the S2d, and no ashes such as 1 have
.since heard fell in other places ; neither were ashes seen in Isa-
bal, and the inhabitants there supposed a volcanic eruption had
taken place in some mountain to their south. In Omoa they
had the same idea. In Trugillo showers of ashes fell, and they
supposed there that the sound proceeded from some mountains
due south of them.

" In San Salvador, the federal city, the. eruption was sup-
posed to have been of the volcano of San Vicento, a day's jour-
ney to the east ; the heart of the indigo country was said to be
destroyed, and forty thousand inhabitants to have perished. Sub-
sequent accounts have shewn the fallacy of all these conjectures,

" In Leon, the capital of Nicaragua, the noise of the night of
the 22d was accompanied by a violent earthquake. The fol-
lowing day was dark, and the ashes that fell formed a layer nine
inches thick. However, the loss of seven lives, and the ruin of
two farms in the immediate neighbourhood of the volcano, have
been the only damage done by it in that state. Persons at some
distance from Quesaltenango, supposed the eruption proceeded
from the volcano near that city. The noise in that direction is
known to have been heard as far as Oajaca.

*' At the port of Balize, in the Bay of Honduras, the British
authorities there were doubtful whether the firing of the night
of the 22d proceeded from a man-of-war in distress, or a naval
action ; in the case of the first, the superintendent ordered the
ffuns of the fort to answer. In the interior of the settlement of
Balize, the inhabitants universally believed that it was myself
attacking their port with a Central American force.

*' At Peten, to the westward of Balize, it was likewise sup-
posed to be myself at the head of an independent insurrection in
the British settlement.

<' At Kingston, and other southern' ports of Jamaica, where
the sound was heard, it was supposed to proceed from the Bri-
tish man-of-war Fly, cast on the Pedro bank. However, the

Volcanic Eruptions mid Earthquakes. 169

ashes which subsequently fell, convinced the observers in Ja-
maica that a volcano was the origin.

" At Santamartha, in New Grenada, it was supposed to be
the firing of the same vessel in distress. The noise was heard
as far as Bogota. Captain M'Quay, who commanded the Fly,
was in the harbour of Carthagena, and accompanied the gover-
nor of that part in a reconnoissance, both fearing that the firing
proceeded from some vessel in want of succour. Finally, every-
where the noise was supposed to proceed from the immediate vi-
cinity, tviiobx

" In addition to the above, an official communication from the
city of Nacaome, describes the pyramidal cloud on the summit
of Cosiguina at half-past six a. m. It seemed of many hues and
great density, and at some height separated into two parts, one
spreading over the summit of Conchagua, and the other towards
the peak of Perspire. Here the ground and buildings were co-
vered to the depth of seven or eight inches with fine dust and
coarse sand, in which were found birds of all kinds suffocated.
Some quadrupeds from the forest sought shelter in the town,
-and the rivers, filled with the volcanic substances, cast upon their
shores an innumerable quantity of fishes in a torpid state, and
some dead.

- i ** A letter from Omoa speaks of the earthquakes and of seve-
ral eruptions, by which were wholly submerged three large towns
and several petty villages, with part of the ports of St Miguel
and St Salvadore. Five of the eruptions had continued for
eight days, and scattered rocks, stones, and cinders in all direc-
tions, to the distance of sixty leagues. One of them burst forth
within twenty miles of Truxillo, and another occurred near
Bahze."* ^ U

The volcanic agency seems to have operated on an extensive
scale, and to have had vent in a great number of places, and
the country from Bogota about 4^° N., li" 14}' W., through-
out the whole isthmus, certainly as far north as Balize (more
than one thousand miles) was convulsed or affected by the con-
cussion.

• The terror of the inhabitants at Alencho (anticipating the approach of
the last day) was so great, that 300 of those who lived in a state of concu-
. binage were married at once.

( no )

On the Nature of the Light of Comets,

At the meeting of the Academy of Sciences, 26th October
1835, M. Arago continued his account of the physical changes
observed in Hal ley's comet.

The weather has proved unfavourable ; a clouded sky, for se-
veral successive days, having completely concealed that body
from observation. It has therefore been impossible, from the
observations made at Paris, to determine the question, by what
kind of transformation the nebulous matter has passed from one
state of agglomeration to another. To settle this point, it will
be necessary to have recourse to the observations which, it is to
be hoped, have been made in other places.

It was mentioned in a preceding account, that on Thursday
the 15th October, a luminous sector was visible in a certain part
of the head of Halley's comet ; that on the day following this
sector had disappeared, and that a more brilliant one, more open
and of greater longitudinal extent, was formed in another place ;
that this second sector was observed on the 17th, when it ap-
peared less bright, and on the 18th its weakness had decidedly
increased. Since that time the comet continued concealed till
the 21st. On that day, at 6| h. three distinct sectors were vi-
sible in the nebulosity. Of these, the weakest and least dis-
tinctly defined, was situated on the prolongation of the tail.
On the 23d October all traces of these sectors had disappeared.
The comet had then undergone such a change, — the nucleus,
which had hitherto been brilliant and well defined, having be-
come so large and diffuse, that the observer could scarcely be-
lieve in the reality of such a sudden and important alteration,
until he had satisfied himself that the appearance was not oc-
casioned by moisture on the glasses of his instrument. The nu-
cleus perhaps still occupied, as on former days, the centre of the
nebulosity ; but the eastern region of this nebulosity was cer-
tainly much less bright than the opposite part.

From the first appearance of this comet, M. Arago had point-
ed out SL photometrical method, which, if properly applied, seem-
ed to afford certain means of determining whether these stars
borrow their light from the sun, or are luminous in themselves.

M. Arago on the Light of Comets, 171

This method had this peculiarity, that it was not requisite, in
order to apply it, that the volume of the comet should continue
ronstant ; it was sufficient that the changes should take place with
a certain degree of regularity. In this respect, however, Hal-
ley's comet proved an exception to the generality of cases ; the
variations in its intensity were so sudden, unexpected, and ec-
centric, that it would be rash to attempt to deduce any precise
inferences from observations which, in ordinary circumstances,
would certainly decide the point in question. On this occasion,
therefore, M. Arago abandoned the idea ; but, at the same
time, he tried to solve the problem by means of the properties
of polarised light. A few brief explanations will be sufficient
to make this latter mode of investigation understood.

All direct light constantly divides itself into two pencils of
the same intensity, when it traverses a crystal possessing the
power of double refraction ; reflected light gives, on the con-
trary, in certain positions of the crystal through which it is
made to pass, two images of unequal intensity, provided, how-
ever, the angle of reflection is not 90°. Theoretically speaking,
nothing then can appear more simple than to distinguish be-
tween direct light and that which is reflected ; but in reality it
is not found to be so ; for in many bodies under certain angles,
and in others under every possible angle, the difference in the
intensity of the two images cannot be appreciated by our senses.
It is necessary to add, that the rays regularly reflected, change
their nature (became polarised) in the act of reflection ; while
those, on the contrary, which, after being absorbed, so to speak,
into the substance of bodies, rendering these bodies visible in all
directions, preserve with the direct light, the property of always
giving two images very nearly equal. Finally, it is to be observed,
that in the greater number of cases, and particularly in relation
to the heavenly bodies, the regularly reflected light which
reaches our eye, is such a small portion of the entire light, that
it is hardly to be expected that the dissimilarity will be per-
ceived between the two portions of the divided pencils. By
using various precautions, the detail of which in this place would
be without interest, M. Arago, however, always succeeded in
discerning a slight difference of intensity between the two images
of the brilliant comet of \S\%

172 M. Arago on the Light of Comets.

It has just been stated, that the difference of the two images
in the comet of 1819, was very slight ; but although M. Arago's
observations were confirmed by those of MM. Humboldt, Bou-
Vc.''d and Mathieu, it was still desirable that the result, fraught
with such important consequences to astronomy, should not de-
pend solely on a fugitive inequality of splendour. Errors of
this nature, as every one is aware, are found in the works of th^
most celebrated natural philosophers.

M. Arago therefore modified his first apparatus in such a
manner as to change the inequality of the images into a dissimi-
larity of colour. Thus, instead of a strong or sveak image, he
produced, in certain positions, a red and a green one ; and in
other positions, a yellow or a violet image, and all the other
prismatic colours in succession. We shall not now speak of ex-
periments, bv means of which it has been ascertained that very
slight differences in intensity are less easily distinguished than
similar differences in colour; but every one will admit the jus-
tice of the assertion, that difference in colour is a phenomenon
quite unequivocal, and leaving no doubt on the mind, while a
slight inequality of splendour is very far from deserving that
character.

On the 23d October, M. Arago, having applied his new ap-
paratus to the observation of Halley's comet, immediately saw
two images, presenting the complementary colours, one of them
red, the other green. By turning the instrument half round,
the red image become green, and vice versa. The light of the
star, therefore, at least the whole of it, is not composed of rays
possessing the property of direct light, but consists of that which
is polarised or reflected specularly, that is, to speak definitively,
of light derived Ji'om the sun.

MM. Bouvard, Mathieu, and Eugene Bouvard, an astrono-
mical pupil in the observatory, have repeated the experiment just
described, with precisely the same result. " I should be over
scrupulous," adds M. Arago in the close of his verbal commu-
nication, *' not to be gratified with the testimonies I have cited,
and I trust that they will contribute to cause the result of my
observations to be adopted ; viz. that comets, as well as planets,
derive their light from the sun."*^

( 173 )

Report respecting the Statistical Researches of Dr Civiale on
Calcttlous Affections^ made to the Academie des Sciences, by
Messrs Poison, Dulong, Lauuey and Double. October
5. 1835.

The report of these able men to the learned Academy on this
important subject cannot be regarded with indifference by any of
our readers, and we shall therefore now present them with such
an abridgment as shall be free from professional technicalities, and
will be generally interesting, ''J

Calculous diseases, the Commissioners remark, are amongst
the most intolerable that harass the human race, and more espe*
cially the life of maji. Independent of the pains and dangers
of the maladyj and its cure, there are besides certain moral sen-
sations, and grievous mental trials, which are inseparable from
it, and which greatly increase the wretchedness of the sufferer.
The work of M. Civiale on this subject, of which we have now
to give an account, applies the method of calculation to many
of the questions involved in its discussion.

As elements of his researches, M. Civiale has collected, with
infinite trouble and care, a great number of tables drawn up in
the midst of different populations, in large towns, and from the
records of the greatest hospitals in Europe. The analysis of these
tables has supplied him with the means of confirming or cor-
recting, by the help of numerical data, many of the general pa-
thological results deduced from the most precise clinical obser-
vation. We shall state some of these to the Academy, that it may
the better appreciate the important labours of M. Civiale.

Up to the present time, it has been a prevailing opinion, that,
in certain families, the parents communicate to their children a
predisposition to this class of complaints; in a word, that it was
hereditary/. Now, upon this point, it is true that a very great
number of facts attest that the children of such parents have, in
their turn, been attacked by stone; but the facts in this list are
met with yet more numerous ones in the opposite category. In
the former case, too, there is this additional consideration, that
the disease has attacked i!ic children when they were placed in

174 Report on Calculous Affections.

the same circumstances as their parents or forefathers ; and this is
wholly distinct from any hereditary taint. But in addition to the
result from these considerations, it would be necessary, on a great
scale, to ascertain the relative proportion of those who have been
affected, after their progenitors, and those attacked without this .
condition ; but sufficient facts have not yet been supplied for
this proof.

It has been long known that stone in the bladder is much less
frequent in women than in men. In women, too, the prospect
of success from operation is much greater. The result of the
numerical data on this point, go to prove that in an equal num-?
ber of operations, there is a half less of men than women
recover.

An extensive study of the many causes which are said to be
capable of producing the stone, throws discredit upon number-
less current assertions respecting the influence of certain viands
and beverages which have been regarded as capable of induc-
ing the malady. All still appears to be doubt and obscurity on
this point.

With regard to the principal periods of life at which these
diseases more especially assail, the numerical reports bear that
more than the half occur in those who are under fourteen years
of age. Pouteau states, that in the hospitals of Lyons, seven or
eight children are cut for one adult. This proposition, however,
is not true in all situations. Whilst it is quite true respecting
Wurteniberg, the mountains of Lorraine and Barrois^ for the
southern aspect of the Alps, and of some counties of England,
&c. it seems, on the contrary, that in other localities, and, for»
example, in very hot and very cold countries, adults and old
men are most exposed to the affection. To this it should be
added, that children thus attacked belong almost exclusively
to the indigent classes of the community, whilst no such pecu-
liarity is found with adults and the aged.

If these tables be examined regarding the different professions
and occupations of social life, which either promote or oppose
the development of these complaints, it will be found they afford
no explicit instruction, nor conclusive result. They, on the other
hand, shew that they are encountered nearly equally amongst
individuals belonging to all conditions, and that in the ratio of

Report on Calculous Affections, 175

the relative proportions of the different professions. It is true
there are many more in the indigent classes ; but this is partly
owing to these classes being much the most numerous, and part-
ly because unhappily also, all the ills of life, and especially dis-
eases, weigh most heavily upon them.

M. Civiale has arrived at nearly the same conclusions with
regard to the influence of climate. Stone has been observed
nearly equally in all countries. The contrary assertions, so of-
ten made, are the result of exaggeration and error. It is true
that many circumstances, either unobserved or inaccurate, have
contributed to propagate this error. If, from any circumstance,
general attention was more especially directed to a particular
disease, this is enough apparently to increase the number of in-
stances. Thus, for example, during the life of the eminent
lithotomist Row, it might be supposed that stone was a very
common complaint in Holland, from the many operations which
were then performed at Amsterdam. But after the death of
Row, the number speedily diminished to one-half, and the num-
ber is now reduced to one-third.

Many other equally curious practical conclusions might be
drawn from these tables. The calculous matter which collects
under the influence of a catarrhus vesicae, or other chronic affec-
tion, is usually composed of phosphate of lime, or ammoniacal
magnesian phosphate. At the same time, it is not to be over-
looked that calculi, in their turn, equally give rise to the above
complaints. Relapses are very common, whatever method of
relief has been employed. This fact was well known before the
introduction of lithotritis. They occur most frequently in those
who are troubled with a chronic affection. M. Civiale affirms,
that all that class of diseases more speedily cease after lithotritis,
than after cutting ; and he adds, there is always more or less
danger in repeating the operation of cutting, whilst there is
scarcely any in that of pulverizing.

It is, however, especially a comparison of the different modes
in which the calculi are treated and removed, that has engaged
the attention of M. Civiale ; and it is this principal part of his
work which merits the most attention.

All the methods which have been successively employed against
this cruel malady may be arranged, with sufficient accuracy,

1 76 Report on Calculous Affections.

under three general heads; and each of these, though identical
in their object, admit of various differences of procedure, which,
however, we cannot enumerate here. First, It has been at-
tempted, hitherto in vain, to dissolve the stone by the action of
pretended lithontriptics, direct or indirect, general or Jocal. SJZy/,
There are the diiFerent modes of extraction by cutting ; and,
8 JZ?/, There is the bruising, in situ, by mechanical means. The
first of these M. Civiale has passed over nearly in silence ; but
not so the commissioners ; they wish to cherish and excite human
ingenuity, and the advance of science; and remark, that be-
tween the first thought of Albucasis, to whom is probably to be
referred the original idea of breaking the stone, and this im-
portant operation, now for the first time realized, and definitely
inscribed in the annals of science and of art by Civiale, there
elapsed first six centuries, then many a vain effort, then many
a sarcasm, and much incredulity. But, notwithstanding, all this
did not prevent the discovery. Who can say it will not be the
same with lithontriptics ?

M. Civiale institutes a comparison solely between the cutting
and the breaking method?. And in the past history of the art,
many a time has the power of figures been invoked to appre-
ciate the relative value of former methods, but with little or no
benefit. The 4500 operations attributed to Frere Jacques ; the
1547 of Raw; the 316 of Baseillac; the 310 of Lecat ; the
150 of Pouteau, which have been used as basis on which to
support the surpassing excellence of the methods employed by
these several practitioners, are for the most part unauthenticated
facts, devoid of details, and of value. More lately analogous
calculations have been published. Of these we cite those of
Drs Marcet, Smith, Prout, and Yelloly, with which M. Ci-
viale is familiar ; but of these, likewise, it must be observed,
that there is a want of sufficient detail and of desirable preci-
sion, and they will not even afford data by which to determine
the numerical proportions of the mortality resulting from tlie
operation.

aii'In this work, which we are charged to make known to the
academy, M. Civiale has succeeded in collecting a total of more
than 5000 facts, all supplied from the practice of the principal
living surgeons of Europe. The following are the general con-

Report cm Calculous Affections, 177

elusions which they supply : — Of the 5715 operations for the
stone he has analyzed, he finds that 1141 have died ; 4478 have
been completely cured, and in about a hundred, certain unplea-
sant symptoms have remained. Thus, in the instance in which
alone the results have been well ascertained, the mortality is
about one-fifth for all ages. And here it should not be forgot-
ten, that the half of these individuals have not attained their
fourteenth year ; and it is well known that at this age the pro-
babilities of cure are at least doubled.

On the other hand, these same tables present a table of 257
individuals operated upon by lithotritis, with only six deaths,
although in the whole number there were not above two or three
under the age of fourteen ; and this does not give one death up-
on every forty-two persons subjected to this operation.

And to complete the demonstration of the superiority of litho-
tritis over lithotomy, we shall add, that since the discovery of
the former, among a very considerable number of surgeons who
have been troubled with stone, scarcely one can be cited who
has had recourse to lithotomy. All have been operated upon by
lithotritis.

But, in sound logic, as well as in good practice, it is not on
this footing that the discussion should now be placed. No one
should now contend for the entire rejection of lithotomy, and the
invariable substitution of lithotritis ; and it should be universal-
ly allowed that in a great number of cases the latter operation
would be diflicult, dangerous, and impossible, and that, conse-
quently, in these lithotomy would be preferable, and even indis-
pensable. The question, then, accurately stated, should stand
thus : What are the pathological conditions in which lithotritis
promises the greatest probability of success, and what the cir-
cumstances in which it is necessary to have recourse to lithoto-
my ? or in other terms, the formula is wanted for the respective
indications of the two operations.

The commissioners remark, that they are extremely happy to
have this occasion of expressing their sentiments upon the ap-
plication of the doctrine of probabilities to the science of medi-
cine. They add that it is especially questions of this kind
which physicians should introduce into the Academic des Sciences^

VOL. XX. NO. XXXIX.— JANUARY 1836. H

178 Report on Calculous Affectwns.

as there they will ever assuredly find judges both attentive and
competent.

Medicine, in its extended signification, the appropriate labours
of which are difficult, tedious, without eclat, and without glory,
has too often sought to ally itself with the prevailing popular
opinions of the day. Thus at the present time there is an at-
tempt to apply statistics to a majority of the general questions
of therapeutics. But in this case statistics are nothing else in
truth but an application of the calculation of probabilities. In
statistics, in other words, the different attempts to appreciate
facts numerically, the first beyond all other cares should be to
lose sight of man considered individually, and to regard him on-
ly as a fraction of his kind. He must be deprived of his indi-
viduality, that we may arrive at the elimination of all that this
individuality may accidentally introduce into the question. In
practical medicine, on the other hand, the problem is always in-
dividual, and the facts present themselves for solution only one
by one. The physician has always to do solely with the perso-
nality of his patient, with a single individual with all his idio-
syncrasies. For him generalities usually have nothing to do with
the question.

The commissioners then point out a number of minute cir-
cumstances, necessarily connected with medicine, which renders
the application of its facts to the doctrine of probability extreme-
ly difficult, if not impossible, for any practical result. They
conclude: — Calculation, in truth, cannot reach the minute de-
tails of combinations which are so variable, when they are mul-
tiplied and complicated beyond a certain point. When the ce-
lebrated Morgagni, with all the power of his genius, alike able
to collect facts, and to deduce from them the most judicious and
just general conclusions, remarked, Non nicmerandce sed per*
pendend^ observationes,—^acts are not to be counted but weigJir
ed^ — he energetically expressed one of the most important condi-
tions of the doctrine of probability as applied to practical medi-
cine.

After these reflections the reporters add, We now hasten to
bestow upon M. Civiale that tribute of justice and praise which
be has already often merited and obtained in the Academie deg
Sciences. We have only now to add, that this new work will

On Foot-marks of' Animals on Rocks. 179

furnish new proofs of the advantages presented in the majority
of cases, by the substitution of an operation which is simple,
easy, and free from great dangers, for another which is severe,
alarming, and painful, and which, until the present time, consti-
tuted the only relief which the art afforded.

On Foot-marks of Animals in Rocks.

Supposed foot-marks of animals in rocks have been mentioned
by authors from an early period. Appearances of this kind
have been noticed in Ayrshire and Dumfriesshire in Scotland,
and in England, by Mr Allies ; and Baron Humboldt and Pro-
fessor Link have lately published the following observations on
foot-marks of unknown animals in the variegated sandstone of
Hildburghausen.

Humboldt 07i Footmarks of Animals in New Red Sand-
stone,— After a long absence, I venture to request the atten-
tion of the Academy for a few moments to a geological fact,
which is the more curious, inasmuch as it is connected with
the great question of the epoch of the first appearance of the
Mammiferae upon the surface of our planet. It is now more
than a year since, in a new red sandstone formation (bunte
sandstein), between the village of Hisberg and the town of Hild-
burghausen, at the back of Thuringer Wald, the foot-marks of
some great plantegrade animals were discovered, as having pass-
ed across the surface of the rock while yet in a soft state. That
distinguished naturalist M. Sickler, has had the merit of first
bringing these foot-marks into notice, in a letter which he ad-
dressed to M. Blumenbach. There can be no doubt that this
letter is by this time well known in France ; and it represents
the drawings of the imprints of the feet of some quadrupeds, re-
garded as antediluvian. This drawing has been a second time
engraved in the Archiv fiir Naturgeschichte of M. Wiegman
(No. i. J). 127), the author of the beautiful Description of the
Saurians of Mexico. The small size, and other imperfections,
of M. Sickler's engraving, gave origin to many doubts concern-
ing them ; many geologists thinking that the forms of accidental

M 2

180 On the Foot-marks of Animals in Rocks.

concretions, such as the muschelkalk and new red sandstone of-
ten present, might have been taken for these marks in relief,
moulded, so to speak, into the hollows of the imprints. These
doubts, however, have disappeared from the minds of all those
geologists who have seen the great stone, from ten to twelve feet
long and from three to four broad, which has just been deposit-
ed in the Mineralogical Museum of Berlin, and of which I now
transmit a drawing, which has been most carefully executed un-
der the direction of M. Wicss, superintendent of the museum.
That I might exhibit the phenomenon with the greater perspi-
cuity, I have had the trace left by one animal alone drawn, out
of a great many of those which had traversed the rock. Mr
Weiss has distinguished among these animals, and among the
smaller of them, as many as three or four different species.
The route which these smaller ones followed, crosses almost at
right angles, that of the great mammalia. This animal is
especially remarkable for the inequality of the size of the an-
terior and posterior extremities. All the marks represent five
toes ; and the animal most probably belonged to the order M ar-
supialia. M. Wiegman has compared it to the Didelphis ; but
the conformation of the toes of the posterior extremity differ
considerably from the Didelphis, the kangarroo and wombat,
which have one toe almost rudimental. At Berlin we have
the overlying rock, and, consequently, the foot-marks present
themselves in relief. Those of the hind foot shew a foot which
had been very fleshy. The animal appears to have supported
the whole of its weight upon it; its step appears to have been
like that of the bear ; it has been a kind of amble, the small
right anterior extremity is placed very regularly quite near to
the right hind foot ; even in the fore feet the thumb is separat-
ed from the four other toes, almost as in the quadrumana. The
animal considerably resembles the form of the Phalangista, three
species of which, of very large dimensions, are in the Museum
of Leyden. It is for zoologists to determine whether the ani-
mal is one of the Phalangista, or if it approximates the Loris ;
my opinion can be of no importance. M. Sickler has fq^nd the
prints of the hind feet from twelve to thirteen inches long. In
another fragment of the rock in the Berlin Museum, the toes
appear more slender. I have caused this n:ark to be drawn sc-

On the Foot-marks of Animals in Rocks, 181

parately. It may perhaps be thought interesting to preserve
both drawings in the Jardin des Plantes.

In the large drawing of the foot-marks of Hildburghausen, it
will be observed that sinuous concretions are here and there re-
presented, of a serpentine form. The whole of the red sand-
stone rock is covered with them as with a net-work ; and it has
been thought that these were the vestiges of the plants on which
the animal trod. But the very great number of these forms
throws some doubt on this : perhaps these flattened and sinuous
bands are only accidental concretions, the effect of the drying
and of the contraction of the softer parts of the rock. As to the
prints themselves which the animal has left in its course, a sin-
gle glance at the drawing — the detached toe, directed three al-
ternate times towards the right and then towards the left, the
juxtaposition of the large and small extremities, and the straight
forward direction of the footmarks — appear to remove all uncer-
tainty. Up to the present time this phenomenon, of the foot-
marks of an animal in a rock which was not yet hardened, has
only presented itself once to the notice of geologists. I speak
not of the prints of Adam's feet ! nor of those of Buddha ! in
the island of Ceylon, nor of those of some of the early mission-
aries which were pointed out to my notice in the Cordilleras of
the New World. I allude here, not to what concerns the fables
of geology, but to facts which have been accurately observed —
the foot-marks of tortoises, our acquaintance with which is due
to the sagacity of Dr Buckland. (Edin Trans, vol. ii. p. 194.)
What gives an especial importance to the phenomenon I have
ventured to submit to the judgment of geologists is, the place
which the new red sandstone formation occupies in the chrono-
logical series of secondary rocks.

Some of us may still remember the astonishment which the
existence of one of the Delphides, in the Stonefield slates of the
Jura or oolite formation, occasioned to the greatest and most il-
lustrious inquirer into Nature's laws. The Jceuper and muscheU
kalk formations, and that of the new red sandstone, are placed
under the oolites ; and the mammalia of Hessberg, which is the
subject of this note, belongs to the new red sandstone. I am
aware that some geologists have been tempted to attribute these

182 On the Foot-marks ofAnivials in Rocks.

imprints to the saurians of the ancient world ; but the plump
form of the sole of its feet, and the character of the gait of cro-
codiles, which I have observed so often on the shores of the
Orinoco, are wholly opposed to this hypothesis; and at the
epoch of the monocotyledons of the coal formation, vast islands
of it were dry, and might easily have afforded nourishment to
the mammalia.

Professor Link has lately published a notice regarding the
Hildburghausen foot-marks, but he suspects them to be impres-
sions of amphibious animals, not of quadrupeds, as mentioned
by Humboldt.

The plain of Hildburghausen, says Link, situated at the foot
of the mountains of Thuringia, is formed of variegated sand-
stone, sometimes rising into little hills. This sandstone is em-
ployed for building, and it was in a quarry dug to obtain it, that a
master mason named Wenzer, first noticed, about a year since,
some impressions which appeared to be of an unusual descrip-
tion. He mentioned the circumstance to M. Sickler, who pub-
lished a description of them, with figures, in a letter to M . Blu-
menbach. This letter appeared in the month of January in the
same year, consequently a very short time after the discovery.
Since that period, marks have been found in four quarries, near-
ly a league distant from each other, the last of them near the
town of Hildburghausen. M. Weiss of Berlin and myself vi-
sited three of these quarries in the month of August of the pre-
sent year, and have seen all the stones with foot-marks, which
have been collected in the house of M. Wenzer and at Hild-
burghausen. The following is the appearance of these marks.

Immediately beneath the surface of the soil, there are alter-
nating beds of sandstone and clay, usually about ten feet in
thickness. After the removal of these beds, which do not afford
stone fit for building, we come to a bed of more indurated sand-
stone, not exceeding half a foot in thickness, resting on a bed of
clay, the thickness of which is very variable. At first nothing
extraordinary is seen on this bed, unless that it presents very
few fissures, and seems to be of a single piece. It is necessary
to remove pieces of it, and turn them over, in order to discover
the marks. They are always on the under side of the bed, and

On the Foot-marks of Animaih in Rocks. 183

in great abundance. On causing two portions of the stone to
be removed at hazard, we found very distinct marks on the
under side of both. They are not impressed, but rather form
knobs or nuclei, for they project from the surface in proportions
varying from half an inch to three inches.

It is sometimes necessary to free the stone from the soft ad-
hering clay, before a distinct view of the marks can be obtained.
It is always the under side of the foot that is seen. The animal
must therefore have made the impression in the clay, (probably
when the surface was a marsh) ; a torrent of sand, suspended in
water, had then run over it, and covering all the country, in-
sinuated itself into the impressions. In this way, when the sand
became indurated, the sandstone formed in the impressions must
needs have adhered to the upper bed, and produced upon it
these projecting marks. It is on this bed alone that these marks
are found ; they have never been observed either in the super-
incumbent sandstone, nor in any of the inferior beds of sand-
stone which have been quarried.

It is easy to distinguish the feet of four different species of
animals, but I shall only speak of the most common kind, of
which I have seen nearly a hundred.

Two feet are always found alike ; a larger hinder one about
six inches in length, and a fore one about one-half that size.
They have five toes. The thumb is remote from the others,
and forms nearly a right angle with them. The two thumbs of
one pair of feet are always directed to the same side, but the
thumbs of the following pair are directed to the opposite side ;
the animal must therefore have walked with an ambling gait.
An extraordinary fact is, that the pairs of feet follow each other
in a straight line, so that these creatures may be said to have
walked enjhuchant.

M. Weigmann, who has examined the stone bearing these
marks, brought to Berlin by M. Weiss in the month of May,
and who has given a notice of them in his Journal of Natural
History, refers the animals which produced them to the class of
Mammiferae ; but M. le Compte de Munster places them in the
class Amphibia. The latter opinion appears to me to be pre-
ferable to the other. All the mammiferae with a thumb remote

VBiit On the Foot-marks of Animals in Rocks.

from the other divisions of the foot are plantigrade; and in this
instance, not the slightest vestige of a tarsus is visible, even in
places where the animal appears to have slipped. The batra-
cians have very frequently the thumb remote from the other
divisions, without any conspicuous tarsus, and the anterior feet
are sometimes much smaller than the hinder ones. Salamanders
walk with an amble, and if none of the batracians walk en
Jauchantj that mode of progression is exemplified in cameleons,
not only on trees, but likewise on land. Such are the reasons
which have led me to believe, that the animals in question
were either batracians or gigantic saurians.

No one who has examined these marks, particularly in situ,
will ever conceive them to be concretions or lusus naturce, which
might have imposed upon naturalists. The toes often well cha-
racterized by the appearance of the joints — the anterior feet al-
ways smaller than the hinder ones — the thumb remote from the
other fingers, directed sometimes to one side, sometimes to ano-
ther, according to an invariable rule — and all these appearances
found alike in four quarries considerably distant from each
other, render it impossible that these impressions could be pro-
duced by chance.

But there are other impressions on the same stone of a more
doubtful character. One frequently meets with a net of large
quadrangular meshes of rounded threads, the projection of which
above the surface of the stone is about half an inch. Naturalists
have regarded these as crevices which have been filled with sand,
in the same manner as the foot-prints. The regularity of the
meshes, however, the nearly straight threads of the net, and the
almost uniform thickness of these threads, do not conform to
the idea of rents or crevices. They may be compared to roots,
or rather rhizomes, such as those of the Acorus calamus, which
creep on the surface of marshes, which, when decayed, would
leave marks which would subsequently become filled with sand.
But it has been objected that those roots do not present true
anastomoses, such as are observed in this net -work. This is
true ; but I lately saw the roots of a Taxus in the botanical
gallery of the Museum of Natural History, the branches of
which are naturally grafted into each other, in such a manner as

On the Structure and Origin of Mount Etna. 185

to form the meshes of a net. May not what has happened in
this instance by chance, have once existed as a general rule in
the case of certain vegetables of the primitive world ?

Professor Hausmann, in a paper read before the Gottingen
Society, announces the discovery of numerous foot-marks of
deer, and also of a quadruped with undivided hoofs, in the tra-
vertine or old calcareous tuffa which occurs around Gottingen.
In the same remarkable deposit there have been found numerous
bones of deer, of small glirine animals, and also of feline species.
River shells occur in the tufFa, and, what is worthy of particular
notice, also fragments of ancient German clay urns, in which
ashes have been found.

Memoir entitled, " Researches on the Structure and Origin of
Mount Etna." By M. L. Elie de Beaumont.

The chief object of this memoir is to make known, and to
explain more exactly than has hitherto been done, the orogra-
phical " accidens" which have modified the regularity of the py-
ramid of Etna.

The author presented a map, four views, and a relief model
of Etna, constructed in part from his own observations. It will
be found, he remarks, that the map, the views, and especially the
model in relief, correspond in a very small degree with the poetic
image which Pindar has left us of Etna — the pillar of heaven.
In the present memoir, the author endeavours to account for this
circumstance.

The great eruptions of Etna, adds M. de Beaumont, com-
mence by shocks of earthquakes, by which the mountain is rent"
in meridional planes. The walls of the vents are separated by a
greater or less space, — a space which sometimes amounts to se-
veral metres. The lava, which bubbles up in the central vent,
at last almost always opens for itself a passage, by which it flows
out laterally on the flanks of the volcano.

When the eruption has ceased, the inferior part of each of th^
meridional rents remains filled with lava, which then produces a

186 M. de Beaumont xm the Structure

vein. As to the upper part of the rent, situated above the point
of the flowing out of the lava, it often becomes filled with sco-
riae, or substances of "eboulement." Some of these rents, how-
ever, have remained open.

In the eruption of 1832, the phenomenon of the meridional
fractures manifested itself accompanied by remarkable circum-
stances; and the mass of Etna became completely "etoile."
A rent cut in two the platform of the Piano del Lago^ and
changed the relative level of its two segments in such a manner
as to produce at once a change of form more considerable than
had resulted from the products of the eruptions of several ages,
which products do not rise higher than two metres round the
foundation of the Toore del Filosqfo. This change of relative
level shews that Etna does not repose on immoveable founda-
tions, and that the segments into which it is divided by the me-
ridional rents are susceptible of a certain alteration of position.
The walls of the rents being separated, it is evident that the
surface of the mountain must have been increased in dimensions,
and this enlargement necessarily supposes a tumefaction. The
mountain has therefore been elevated, and to an extent which
might be easily calculated, if the breadth and length of the fis-
sures were exactly known. This elevation is evidently very
small, but even its existence is an important fact.

In examining the nucleus of Etna, the author has noticed a
want of relation between the structure of the layers and their in-
clination ; a fact diametrically opposed to that which we observe
at the present day in all great currents of lava, whose form varies
constantly with the amount of the inclination. According to
our author, it is evident that those of the layers whose original
inclination is changed, are those which at the present day are
highly inclined ; and that those which are nearly horizontal have,
on the contrary, nearly preserved, relatively to the horizon, their
original position^.

The considerations, of which an analysis has just been given,
prove, says the author, in terminating his memoir, that the parts
of the layers of the escarpments of the Vol del Bove which are
highly incHned, are no longer in the position in which they were
originally formed.

and Origin of Mount Etna. 187

The inclination which has been acquired by some parts of this
system of beds, has not been a simple movement of pressure, or
the effect of dislocations purely local ; but that of a tumefaction
which, in elevating the whole mass of the central gibbosity, has
communicated to the lateral portions an oscillatory movement.

The " soulevemenl"" does not seem to have operated here with
the same degree of simplicity as in the localities where it has
given rise to regular craters of soulevement^ such as that of the
island of Palma, or the circular walls of TenerifTe and the Somma.
The effort which has elevated the gibbosity of Etna seems to
have acted, not at one sole and central point, but in a straight
line, represented by the axis of the ellipse, of which the south-
ern, northern, and eastern flanks of the Vol del Bove form part ;
and it appears to have acted unequally on different parts of this
straight line, so that its western extremity, which corresponds to
the present volcanic vent, has been elevated more than all the
rest. A similar soulevement could not take place without rup-
turing the masses so elevated, and the rents necessarily corres-
ponded chiefly with the line of soulevement — either diverging or
radiating — of its extremities ; a circumstance which the memoir
shews is in accordance with the phenomena as they actually occur.

The elliptical amphitheatre of the Val del Bove presents, then,
all the characters of an irregular crater of soulevement. It re-
mains to be ascertained whether this "soulevement" was gradual,
or was effected suddenly and at once. The latter supposition
alone seems to the author to be admissible. The nearly perfect
resemblance which exists between the ejected matters composing
the nucleus of the central gibbosity and those which are pro-
duced by Etna as the present day, leads to the belief that the
volcanic fire acting at the present time is only the continuation
of that which produced the ancient volcanic substances. For the
fire not being extinct, if the " soulevement" had been gradual,
there would have been a continuity and entanglement of the an-
cient and modern products; there would not have been that
complete discordance of position between them, which constitutes
one of the most remarkable features of the structure of Etna.—
(Extracted from the Compte Rendu of the meeting of the Aca-
demy of Sciences, held on Monday, 30th November 1835.)

( 188 )

Phases of the Anmilar Eclipse of the Sun^ which zvill happen
Sunday, May 15. 1836, calculated for the Observatory of
Edinburgh, Lat. 55° 57 20'' north, Long. 3° 10' 54" zvest.
By Mr Robert Treat Paine, of Boston, United States.

The elements of the eclipse were computed from the lunar
tables of Burckhardt, for every half hour, and from the solar
tables of Carlini, corrected by Bessel, for every hour, during
the continuance of the eclipse on any part of the earth. The
ellipticity of the earth was considered j^th, and the sum of the
semi-diameters of the sun and moon reduced 5'" for irradiation
and inflexion. This quantity appeared necessary from a great
number of observations of the annular eclipse of February 12.
1831, and the total eclipse of November 30. 1834, made in the
United States. But if this correction be rejected, the eclipse
will begin earlier by 14^4, and end later by 12^5.

The parallaxes of the moon in latitude and longitude were
computed by the method of the altitude of the nonagesimal and
tbe apparent distance of the moon therefrom, with the greatest
c^re ; and no correction, however small, was neglected.

Mean Solar Time at Edinburgh.

h m s o /

Eclipse begins May 15. 1836, 1 32 64.9, at 133 15from vertex to the right.
Formation of the ring, . . 2 56 59.7—167 16
Apparent conjunction in the

ecliptic, 2 58 59.0

Nearest approach of centres, 2 69 6.4

Rupture of the ring, . . .3 111.5—. 63 39 from vetex to the left.

End of the eclipse, .... 4 19 8.3 — 36 12

Duration of the ring, ... 4 1 1.8
the eclipse, . . 2 46 13.4

At the nearest approach"! j" North limbs 73 ".70

of the centres of the > distance of the -< Centres 22 .25

Sun and Moon j ( South limbs 29 .20

.As the semi-diameters were equally reduced for irradiation,
&c., a rejection of this correction will not affect the times of the
formation and rupture of the ring ; but, as has been already
remarked, many observations of the central eclipses of February
1831 and November 1834 shew this correction to be absolutely
necessary. Robert Treat Paine.

( 189 )

Description of several New or Rare Plants which have lately
Flowered in the Neighbourhood of Edinburgh, chiejly in the
Royal Botanic Garden. By Dr Graham, Prof, of Botany.*

Acacia tristis.

A. tristis; stipulis setaceo-spinescentibus, deciduis; phyllodiis luridis,
falcatis, nervis duobus inaequalibus, margine superiore recurvo ; pe-
dunculis subsolitariis, cumque folio longiore, ramuloque sulcato, pu-
berulis.

Acacia tristis, Grah. Bot. Mag. t. 3. 420.

Deschiption Shrub erect; branches drooping, puberulent, many-fur-
rowed, when young green, afterwards brown. Stipules like strong rigid
straight and spreading set£E, which are at first green and flattened on the
sides which are towards the phyllodium, soon becoming brown, and at
last falling, lateral and free at the base. Phyllodia very shortly petioled,
suberect, dark green, slightly falcate, curving upwards except at the mu-
cronated tip, which is more or less bent down, slightly pubescent, espe-
cially when young, undulate, having a single sessile gland on the upper
edge near the base ; middle rib tolerably conspicuous, branching upon its
lower side ; a fainter subsimple rib occurs between this and the upper
edge, and rather more than halfway to this last. Capitula solitary or
very rarely in pairs, on solitary pubescent peduncles half the length of
the phyllodium, and rising from the side of the bud in its axil ; many-
flowered, flowers yellow. Bractece greatly attenuated at the base, shortly
so at the apex, marcescent. Calyx turbinate, 5-toothed, teeth rounded
and ciliated. Corolla twice the length of the calyx, unequally 5-cleft,
segments narrow. Stamens very numerous, twice as long as the corolla.
Style lateral, longer than the stamens. Germen oblong, slightly com-
pressed, yellowish-green.
This plant was raised at the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, from
seeds communicated by the late Mr Fraser from New Holland, in 1828,
and flowered in the greenhouse in March 1835. Its nearest affinity is
to A. undulatay "Willd., but may be easily distinguished from this by its
lurid not lively green colour, by its phyllodia being longer, actually and
relatively to the peduncle, by their peculiar nervation, by its more seta-
ceous stipules, which are lateral, not inferior, and distinct, not coalescent
at the base, by its capitula being generally single, very rarely in pairs,
the reverse of what is observed in A. unduiata, in which also the flowers
are larger, with much more acuminated bracteae.
It is also, and perhaps quite as nearly, allied to A. armata^ from which it
is distinguished by the smaller degree of hairiness of the branches, by
the pubescent peduncles shorter than the phyllodia, and by the nervation
of these. In the arrangement of the species, it ought to stand between
A. undulata and A. armata.
In the present state of our knowledge, these characters must be admitted
as specific distinctions, but it is not at all improbable that we shall here-
after be found to have very unduly multiplied species in this genus. In
other genera, forms far more unlike than many of these are to each other,
are known from their history in cultivation to be hybrids, or seedling
varieties. The Acacias are seldom raised from the seeds of cultivated
plants ; and we have but an imperfect assurance that, in the wild state,
they have not that mutability of form which occurs in other genera, and
renders specific distinctions uncertain. These observations are parti-
cularly forced upon me by the remarkable varieties of form which exist
among the different specimens of Acacia dccipinis, A. longifolia^ A. stricta^

* The greater number of the following descriptions were put In types several months »gp, but
from the crowded sUte of the Journal, the publication has been suspended till now.

190 Dr Graham''s List of Rare Plants.

and especially A. vernicifluaj now in flower at the Botanic Garden, both
in the greenhouse and upon the open wall
The specific name is descriptive of its drooping branches, and its dull green
colour, compared with its nearest allies, but was first suggested by cir-
cumstances entirely personal, under which I write the description.

Cereus Napoleonis.

C. Napoleonis ; ramis diffusis, repentibus, triangularibus, rarissime arti-
culatis, repandis, tuberculis 4-5-spinosis, spinis rigidis paten tibus.

Cactus Napoleonis, Hort.

Cereus triangularis, var. major. Salm-Dyck — Otto, Allgemeine Gartenzei-
tung, 1833.

Description — Stem much branched, branches diffused, rooting, very dis-
tantly jointed, light green, with three acute angles, and concave sides,
angles tubercled, tubercles distant about 1 1 inches, the intervening space
being slightly repand, tubercles with 4-5 rigid stellate prickles (about
4J lines long), having tumid bases. Flower (8 inches long, and, when
fully expanded, 6 inches across) ascending, tube (3 inches long, 10 lines
broad) green, furrowed, with rounded ridges between, having a few tri-
angular subappressed, deep red scales, gradually enlarging upwards, and
passing into the straw-coloured lanceolato-linear outer segments of the
perianth^ the inner segments of which are pure white, somewhat shorter,
broader, spathulato-lanceolate, and crenate at the apex. Stamens nume-
rous, yellow, declined, ascending at the apex, shorter than the perianth ;
anthers erect, small. Pistil subexserted ; stigma yellow, raultifid, seg-
ments subulate, spreading from their middle; style stout, cylindrical,
ascending.

We received this plant from Mr Mackay at Clapton about ten years ago.
It has repeatedly formed buds, but no flowers have expanded till now
(September 1835). The flower expanded in* the morning, and closed to-
wards the afternoon, is very like to that of C. grandijlorus, and is slightly,
not very agreeably, perfumed. The far greater length of its joints,
their different form, and the shape of the edge between the tubercles,
prevent me from considering it a variety of C. triangularis,

Cypella Drummondii.

C. Drummondii ; foliis ensiformibus, plicatis ; laciniis corollae exterioribus
obcordatis, interioribus naviculatis medio compressis, apice crenulatis ;
laciniis pistilli bifidis subulatis ; caule terete, foliis longioribus.
Description — Tubers fascicled, obconical, terminating in long apices,
which pass into fibrous roots. Stem erect, round, flexuose, leafy, joints
swollen. Leaves ensiform, plicate, distichous, shorter than the stem,
sheathing at the base. Spathe 2-flowered, with an interposed lanceolate
bractea, bivalvular; valves herbaceous, acute, unequal, the outer the
smaller. Pedicels erect, bent at a right angle below the flower, shorter
than the longer valve. Perianth rotate, 6-partite, purple, yellow, with
brown spots in the centre, the outer segments broad, obcordate, with a
small hairy point in the sinuosity, everywhere else glabrous; inner seg-
ments rather more than half the length of the outer, naviculate, crenulate
at the apex, compressed laterally in the middle, and there bright yellow,
with a few purple spots. Stamens erect, opposite to the outer segments
of the perianth ; filaments very short ; anthers erect, lobes divaricated
at both extremities, connective broad, thin, refuse, and broadest in the
upper edge ; pollen green, granules minute, oblong. Pistil longer than
the stamens ; stigmata 3, bifid, segments subulate, reflected ; style tri-
quetrous, enlarging towards the stigma ; germen green, 3-sided, inferior.
Bulbs of this very pretty species were received at the Botanic Garden,
by Dr Neill at Canonmills, and by IMr Cunningham in the nursery,
Comely Bank, from Mr Drummond in 1834. They were gathered at San
Filipe. The plant flowered in the stove, in all these establishments, in
July 1835.

Dr Graham's List of Rare Plants. 191

The particulars regarding the death of the indefatigable botanist and col-
lector who greatly enriched our herbaria, and added this and many other
plants to our gardens, have not yet (July 1835) reached this country, but
the fact is known from letters received by Dr Hooker, and the loss will
be extensively felt. Ardent, unwearied, and intelligent, with a singu-
larly discriminating eye, and a constitutio*' which seemed to defy cli-
mate, fatigue, and privation, no individual was ever better qualified than
Drummond for the task which he enthusiastically undertook — the task
of investigating and transmitting to Europe the botanical treasures of
little known regions. Before he left Scotland he would willingly have
braved the dangers of the Orinoco. I entreated that he would not go there,
knowing certainly that his ardent mind would immediately lead him to
neglect ordinary measures of precaution, and that he would quickly fall
a victim to his enthusiasm. Even in a more temperate climate, he was
attacked with intermittent fever ; but shaking this off, and recovering
from cholera, which was burying all around him, he lived till he passed
to the low latitude of Cuba, from which the first account received has
conveyed information of his death.

Epimedium dlphyllum.

E. diphyllum ; petiolis filiformibus, dichotomis, racemum unilateralem
gerentibus, geniculis tumidis pilosis, foliolo solitario in utroque ramo ;
petalis planis.
Epimedium diphyllum, Lodd. Bot. Cabinet 1858.
Description — Petioles all radical, numerous, filiform, dichotomous, sparing-
ly covered with spreading hairs, which are more abundant at the swollen
joints, each branch supporting one leafet, one of the branches occasion-
ally trifid, and supporting three leafets. Leafet (length 1 4 inch, breadth
9 lines) about as long as the branch of the petiole, obliquely cordate,
above of lively green and glabrous, below glaucous and pubescent, about
9-nerved, reticulate, distantly provided with bristle-shaped teeth. Many
of the petioles barren, others having towards the top a swollen joint,
from which a single raceme springs. The portion of the petiole above
this joint is equal in length to the branches of the barren petioles, and
its subdivisions half of that length. Peduncle longer than the lesif and
the portion of the petiole above its origin, without flowers for about half
its length (rarely one or two in its axil) above this having about four
straight, slender, glabrous, secund pedicels (about half an inch long)
green and slightly swollen under the flower, the lower ones arising in
tne axils of small brctcteoBj which are awanting in the upper. Flowers
expanding irregularly along the rachis, white, cemuous, with four un-
equal caducous slightly coloured and dotted bracteoke at the base. 5'^-
pals 4, lanceolato-oblong, spreading. Petals 4, obovate, rather longer
than the sepals, flat. Stamens 4, about half as long as the sepals ; anthers
nearly sessile, oblong, yellow, opening by a valve rolling upwards on each
side ; connective green ; pollen granules minute, oblong, yellow. Pistil
green, longer than the stamens ; stigma blunt, terminal; style filiform;
germen oblong, gibbous on the lower side, unilocular ; ovules several,
obovate, attached to the dorsal suture.
The petals (nectaries, Linn.) possess a form extremely unlike that which
occurs in Epimedium alpinum, but the variation is precisely similar to that
which occurs occasionally in Aquilegia^ and cannot form a generic dis-
tinction, where the whole habit of the plant, and the structure of every
part of fructification, except the corolla, is precisely as in the common
species. I have taken a different view of the petiole, and the origin of
the flowers, from that which is commonly received, but it seems to me
the simplest, and that which best explains the appearances. This spe-
cies is a native of Japan. We received a plant at Edinburgh from Ber-
lin in 1834. It flowered pretty freely in the ^eenhouse ot the Botanic
Garden early in spring. I do not find the hairiness of the petiole, ex-

192 Dr Graham's List of Rare Plants.

cepting at the joints, nearly as great as is represented in the Botanical
Cabinet.

Fritillaria cuprea,

F. cuprea ; floribus solitariis, segmentis nectario ovato, internis longiori-
bus, intus apicem versus parce pilosis ; foliis ovatis, amplexicaulibus,
acuminatis, erectis, sparsis, superioribus suboppositis.

Description — Tuber ovato-orbicular, about the size of a hazel nut, co-
vered with decayed reticulated fibres. Stem (15 inches high in the spe-
cimen described) erect, glabrous, round, leafy. Leaves (2 inches long, 4 4
Knes broad at the base) somewhat glaucous, ovate, acuminate, stem clasp-
ing, erect, scattered, excepting the upper pair, w^hich are subopposite,
many-nerved, the central nerve stronger, and keeled, in the axil of each
leaf are two ovate tubers, diverging a little at the apices, and covered
with a yellowish reticulated membrane. Flowers solitary, terminal, cam-
panulate, nodding. Perianth of six elliptical copper-coloured segments,
in two imbricated verticels, the inner the longest, and having a few
harsh spreading hairs on the upper half of the inner surface towards the
edges, the centre and the lower half being glabrous. The outer seg-
ments of the perianth somewhat pruinose on the outside, all the segments
yellow within, and the centre of their upper half with an oblong copper-
coloured mark, a little below which, on all the segments, is an ovate, nec-
tariferous shallow pit. Stamens 6, about half as long as the inner seg-
ments of the perianth ; filaments glabrous, subulate, slightly spreading
at the apex ; anthers erect, more than half as long as the filaments ;
pollen white, granules minute, shining, oval. Pistil rather shorter than
the stamens, triquetrous, with three short, compressed, spreading seg-
ments at its apex, along the inside of which are the linear stigmatic
surfaces.

This very graceful little plant flowered in a close greenhouse in the nursery
of Mr Cunningham at Comely Bank, Edinburgh, in July 1835. He
believes it was imported from Mexico.

€l^entiana quinqueflora.

G. quinqueflora ; caule ramoso, alato ; floribus congestis, terminalibus ;
calycibus brevissimis, acutis ; corolla clavata, quinquefida, laciniis aris-
tatis, fauce nuda ; foliis amplexicaulibus, deltoideo-cordatis, 3-5-ner-
viis,

Gentiana quinqueflora, Pers. Synops. PI. 1. 285 — Schultes, Syst. Veget. 6

150 Elliott, Bot. of S. Carolina and Georgia, 1. 341 ?—Torrei/, Fl. of

Mid, and North. Sections of United States, 288 ?^Beck, Bot. of North,
and Middle States, 239 ?
Gentiana amarilloides, Ptirsh, Fl. Amer. Sept. 1. 186. — Nuttallj Genera,
1. 172.
Description — Root annual, dichotomously branched. Stem (9-20 inches
high) single, erect, square, winged, branched ; branches decussating, spread-
ing. Leaves stem -clasping, deltoideo-cordate, glabrous on both sides, palest
below, 3-5-nerved, and obscurely reticulate, entire in the margin, slightly
.crisped, nerves prominent below. Flowers clustered at the extremity of
the stem and branches, generally from three to five together, pedicellate,
or, if single, in the axils of the leaves, it is only from the degeneration
of the branches, pedicels erect. Calt/x small, green, quinquefid, segments
lanceolate, slightly spreading. Corolla (before expansion of the limb,
10 lines long, 3 lines in its greatest diameter, in cultivated specimens, in
native specimens often smaller,) pale lilac ; tube (74 lines long) clavate ;
limb 5 -parted, segments ovate, aristate ; throat naked. Stamens as long
as the tube, filaments adhering to the corolla as far as their middle, to
which point they slightly enlarge, and then gradually contract upwards,
channelled on their inner surface, unconnected with each other; anthers
small, leaden-coloured, bursting on their outer surface ; pollen pale, gra«

Dr Graham's List of Rare Plants. 193

nules nearly spherical. Pistil as long as the stamens ; stigmas small,
acute ; germen linear-lanceolate, greenish leaden-coloured.

This very pretty annual was raised at the Botanic Garden, from seeds
sent without name by Mr Thomas Churnside, nurseryman, New Yorlr,
and flowered in the greenhouse in the end of October. It was seen by
Mr James Macnab growing on the grassy banks of streams among the
Alleghany Mountains; and his native specimens differ in no respect
from those raised at the Garden, excepting in having smaller flower?.
One which I have from the collection of M. Beyrich, gathered on the
Peaks of Otter, has flowers as large as the garden specimens.

From the synonyma I have excluded Geniiana quinquefolia of Flora Danica,
because, in the plant figured there, the leaves are ovate, the flowers axil-
lary as well as terminal, and much smaller, and because the identity of
an Iceland and Virginian plant seems unlikely. I have likewise ex-
cluded the Gentiana quinquefolia of the various works of Linnaeus, and
the Gentiana quinqueflora of Willdenow, Lamarck, and Sprengel, be-
cause reference is by them made to Flora Danica, and because the
leaves are generally described as ovate or oblong, and the stem simple.
1 have abstained from quoting Gentiana amarilloides of Michaux, because
he describes his plant as smaller than G. amarella^ with oval leaves, small
lateral as well as terminal flowers of pale yellow colour, and having the
segments of the limb lanceolate. In all these respects does our plant
differ. I have quoted with doubt Elliott, Torrey, and Beck, on account
of references they make, and some parts of their descriptions not accord-
ing either with native or cultivated specimens, yet I think they must
allude to the plant now described. In the other writers quoted, the re-
ferences are I think sometimes mistaken, but the character is corrected.

Hakea ferriiginea.

H. ferruginea ; follis omnibus planis obsolete crenatis, ovato oblongis,
3-5-nervibus, reticulatis, mucronatis ; bracteis striatis, glabris ; perian-
thio glabro.

Hakea ferruginea, SvoeeVs Fl. australas. t. 45.

Description. — Shrub erect, (specimen described 8 feet high). Bark
brown, on the twigs covered with brown tomentum. Branches long,
slender, drooping, somewhat flexuose. Leaves (2-3 inches long, 8-13
lines broad, on a free growing plant), largest below the origin of the
branches, ovato-oblong, terminated with a short, stout, and sphacelated
mucro, when young adpresso-pubescent, when old glabrous, 3-5-nerved,
reticulate, obsoletely crenate, sessile, and with the dilated base half em-
bracing the branches. Fasciles axillary, sessile. Scales of the flower-bud
brown, membranous, nerved, concave, ciliated and diaphanous in the
edge, the inner ones rhomboid and petiolate, the outer ovate and sessile.
Peduncle and every part of the flower glabrous. Style erect, bearing the
conical stigma (which is generally covered with the yellow granular pol-
len) beyond the recurved secund segments of the 4-parted perianth.

We have had this plant in the Botanic Garden under the name of Hakea
elliptica^ and we raised it from seeds sent to us from New Holland by
Colonel Lindesay as H, marginata ; it is no doubt the H. ferruginea of
Sweet 1. c, which I had overlooked, because not quoted by Brown, till
pointed out to me by Dr Hooker. I can scarcely persuade myself that
Brown does not notice this plant in the Supplement to the Prodr. Fl.
Nov. Holland, because I understood the seeds which I received from
Colonel Lindesay were collected at King George's Sound ; but if he does
notice it, the form has been so altered in cultivation that the character
does not apply. It comes nearest Mr Brown's //. repanda^ which I was
inclined to consider it ; but Dr Hooker informs me, that a specimen
which he received from Cunningham, and which he believes to be H. re*
pandOy is different.

VOL. XX. NO. XXXIX. — JANITABY IS^tG. N

194 Dr Graham^ lAstofRare Plairts.

Isopogon Baxteri.

I. Bajcteri; foliis dilatato-cuneiformibus ; fruticis adulti trifidis, lobis in-
cisis, laciniis mucronatis ; juvenilis indivisis, apice dentato : capitulis

aggregatis : receptaculo piano Br.

Isopogon Baxteri, Br. Trodr. Flor. Nov. Holland. Supp. i. p. 9.

Description, — Shrub erect (specimen described 2 feet high). Stem round.
Bark brown, densely covered with short soft pubescence, mixed with
longer hairs, on the branches red. Leaves hard, stifJ", with cutaneous
glands on both surfaces, having pubescence and hairs similar to those on
the stem, especially when young, subglabrous when old ; strongly marked
on both sides with elevated veins, which are generally trichotomously
branched, once or twice trifid, cuneate and once or twice twisted at the
base, edges placed vertically ; the segments terminated with long pungent
mucros ; the lower leaves undivided, rounded and toothed at the apex,
the teeth terminating in pungent mucros. Capttula crowded at the ter-
mination of the stem and branches. Scales of the involucre pubescent
and hairy, smaller inwards, acute, reflected, subdentate. Perianth soft,
rose-coloured, darkest at the tip, densely covered with spreading white
hairs ; tube very slender, segments of the limb reflexed. Anthers linear,
yellow. Pollen granules subrotundo-triangular, shining, orange-yellow.
Style as long as the perianth, fusiform at the apex, below this tumid and
densely covered with yellow, reflected, crystalline pubescence. Stigmatic
surface terminal.

This is a handsome species, of which seeds were sent by Colonel Lindesay,
from New Holland, to the Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, in July 1830 ; it
was raised in 1831, and flowered in the greenhouse in March and April
1835.

Liparis Walkerise.

L. Walkerice; foliis 2-3, subrotundo-ovatis, acutis, petiolatis, plicatis,
basi obliquis, cucullatis, spica erecta multiflora brevioribus ; pedunculo
angulato ; labello subrotundo, reflexo, crenulato ; sepalis patentibus,
oblongis, marginibus revolutis, germine petalisque filiformibus sequan-
tibus.

Description — Terrestrial. Pseudo-bulbs conical, ensheathed by about
three scales (the bases of abortive leaves) dark purple. Leaves 2-3, with
striated petioles, which are sheathing at the base, subrotundo-ovate, cu-
cuUate, acute, oblique at the base, plicate, about 11 -nerved, lurid-green
above, paler below. Stalk terminal, acutely angled. Spike many -flower-
ed, cylindrical, longer than the leaves. Rachis green, with many waved
acute angles or wings. Bractece ovato-deltoid, acute. Germen purple,
longer than the bractese. Sepals dark purple, oblong, oblique, revolute
in the edges, spreading at right angles to the germen (to which they are
equal), at first nearly equidistant, afterwards, when beginning to decay,
the two lower project downwards, parallel, and in contact below the lip,
the third upwards, behind the column. Petals equal to the sepals, slen-
der, filiform, spreading laterally, and afterwards reflexed. Lip subro-
tund, tuberculate on the upper side near the base, reflexed, dark purple
in the middle, yellow and crenulate at the edges. Column erect, slightly
curved forwards, about half as long as the sepals, purple below, colour-
less above, where there is a conical tooth projecting along each side of
the stigma. Anther-case hinged at the apex, with two rounded cells, con-
taining the sessile yellow hard pollen-masses.

We received this plant at the Royal Botanic Garden, in June 1834, from
Mrs Colonel Walker, Ceylon. It has flowered twice since in the stove,
and though it must certainly yield in beauty to many cf the donations
which I have received from the same liberal and zealous cultivator of
botany, yet it is not without interest. It ought to stand in the arrange-
ment of the species between L. purpurascens and L. atropurpurea, and is
distinguished from the former by its spike, and from the latter by its
acutely angled, almost winged stem.

Dr Graham's Liist of Rare Plants. lji|»'

Primula sibirica.

P. sibirka^ glaberrima ; foliis oblongis quibusdam subrotundis, mera-
branaceis, subrugosis, obsolete denticulatis vel integerrirais, longe pe-
tiolatis ; scapo erecto, stricto, gracili ; umbella naucidora ; involucre
subtriphjllo, foliolis calcaratis, vaginantibus ; pedunculis laxis, demum
strictis et iniequaliter elongatis.

Primula sibirica, Jacq. Misc. Austr. i. 401. — WUld. Spec. Plant, i 806.—

lioem. et Schult. Syst. Veg. iv. 143. — Pers. i. 170 Spreng. Syst. Veg.

i. 576 Ledcbour, FL Altaic, i. 213.

Primula rotundifblia, Pall. It. 3.223.

Primula intermedia, Ledebour. Mem. de TAcad. des Sciences de St Peters.
V. 519. (van minor.)

Primula foliis ovatis, glabris, integerrimis ; umbellis paucifloris nutanti-
bus — Gmel. Fl. Sib. iv. 83. t. 46. f. 1

Description — Whole plant perfectly glabrous. Leaves all radical, oblong,
or some of the smaller ones subrotund, membranaceous, flaccid, flat, or
concave at the base, of light lively green, entire in the margin or ob-
scurely toothed, veined and slightly rugose ; middle rib very strong, and
forming a prominent keel behind ; petioles longer than the leaves and
slender. Scape (in our cultivated plants 8 inches to 1 foot high, in na-
tive specimens, according to Ledebour, from 3 inches elongating to
nearly 1 foot), erect, straight, slender, shining. Involucrum generally of
3 or 4 leafets, but varying with the number of peduncles in the umbel,
erect, adpressed, herbaceous, blunt or somewhat pointed, having at the
base a colourless slightly spreading spur. Peduncles generally 3 or 4,
slender, at first lax and somewhat nodding, afterwards straight, erect,
parallel^ and very unequally elongated (from half an inch to 2 inches).
Calyx oblong, with five connivent short nearly blunt teeth, herbaceous,
furrowed between the lobes, in appearance very nearly resembling the
involucre, but herbaceous and gibbous, not toothed, at the base. Corolla^
tube nearly twice as long as the calyx, yellowish, slightly angled, di-
lated at the apex ; limb (8 lines across) oblique, 5-partea ; segments ob-
cordate, two-thirds of the length of the tube, reddish lilac, pafer behind ;
throat yellow. Stamens sessile in the dilated apex of the tube, oblong,
yellow. Germen ovate, glabrous, green. Style straight (shorter than the
tube of the corolla in the specimen examined), reddish. Stigma globular,
light green.

This species, native of marshes among the Altai mountains, about the mid-
dle of the range, was received at the Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, in
1832, from Mr G oldie of Ayr, and several specimens flowered in the cold
frame and greenhouse in March and April 1836.

Pultnaea cordate.

P. cordata ; capitulis terminalibus ; foliis cordato-ovatis, acutis, mucrone
pungenli, subcamosis, concavis, utrinque glabris, stipulis scariosis.
Description — Shrub erect, branches erect, red, villous, when very young
green. Leaves crowded, petiolate, spreading, cordato-ovate, acute, ter-
minated by a pungent bristle; veinless, somewhat fleshy, concave, gla-
brous on both sides, shining below, of very dark green. Pet'oles red,
fleshy, adpressed, tumid at the base. Stipules erect, acute, adpressed,
nearly twice as long as the petioles, within which they cohere, membra-
nous. Bractea 2 at the base of the calyx, ovato-lanceolate, keeled, ad-
{)ressed, free, as long as the calyx-tube. Calyx red, villous, teeth of the
ower lip spreading and somewhat reflected, equal. Flowers capitate
ftt the extremity of the branches, 2-5 in the capitula, perfumed, but not
pleasantly ; standard, rotundato-kidney-shaped, slightly notched, orange-
coloured, with a few red streaks and spots near the claw ; alae spathulato-
oblong, of the same colour and nearly as long as the standard, in contact
by their upper edges, tooth short, claw linear, nearly half the length of

n2

196 Dr Graham's List of Rare Plants.

the plate ; keel red-orange-coloured at the apex, monopetalous, the li-
near claws only being free, apex notched, teeth short and blunt, papilla on
each side distinct. Stamens included. Anthers elliptico-rotund, orange-
coloured. Pistil equal to the longest stamens. Germen silky.
This plant was raised at the Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, in 1832, from
seeds sent from Van Diemen's Land the year before, by Campbell Itid-
dell, Esq. It flowered very freely in the greenhouse in April 1835, and
is very ornamental, notwithstanding the lurid colour of its foliage and
branches.

Sida inaequalis, Linlc.

S. inaqualis ; fiuticosa; foliis cordatoovatis acuminatis, basi insequalibus,
crenulatis, utiinque hirtis ; pedunculis petiolos longe superantibus,
apice geniculatis ; calycibus basi productis ; corollis campanulatis ; cap-
sulis subinflatis.

Sida inaequalis, Link, et Otto Icones Plantarum selectarum Hort. Berol.

p. 75. t. 34 — Spreng. Spec. PI. 3. 117.
Description. — Shrub erect (in the specimen described slender and nearly
7 feet high). Bark light grey, on the young shoots green and covered
with short harsh glandular pubescence. Petioles (1-2 inches long) alter-
nate, spreading, round, having similar pubescence to the twigs, swollen
at their apex. Leaves (4-7 inches long, 2-3 inches broad) slightly un-
dulate, having on both sides a short harsh pubescence, bright green and
shining above, paler and without lustre below, where in the young state
it is at first white, then becoming somewhat rusty, an appearance of
which scarcely a trace remains in the adult leaves, cordato-ovate, un-
equal at the base, acuminate, crenulate, middle rib and veins prominent
on both sides, especially behind. Peduncles (about 2 inches long) lateral,
subtended by a lanceolate, nerved, pubescent, deciduous bractea, round,
geniculate near the apex, with pubescence similar to that on the pe-
tioles. Calpa^ 5-cleft ; segments ovate, acute, with ferruginous pubes-
cence, somewhat keeled and keel produced at the base. Corolla (1^ inch
long, and when fully expanded 2 inches across) white, campanulate, pe-
tals clawed, orbiculato-ovate, delicately glanduloso-pubescent on the out-
. side, glabrous within, shining only at the claws, many-nerved, nerves very
prominent on the outside, dichotomous towards their terminations, and
■with smaller reticulating branches along their sides. Stamens and stales
equal to the length of the petals, glabrous. Anthers small, yellow ; pol-
len granules yellow, minute, globular.
We received this plant from Berlin Botanic Garden in 1829. It flowered
freely for the first time in the stove of the lloyal Botanic Garden, Edin-
burgh, in May 1835. It is said to be a native of Brazil.

Tulipa tricolor.

T. tricolor ; bulbo solitario, caule unifloro, subdiphyllo ; foliis oblongo-

linearibus; petalis acutis, interioribus latioribus, basiciliatis; filamentis

supra basin barbatis, alternis longioribus pistillo parum brevioribus ;

capsula triquetra, mucronata — Ledebour.

Tulipa tricolor, Ledeb. Ic. PI. Fl. Boss. alt. illustr. t. 135 — Ibid. Fl.

Altaica, 2. 33.
Tulipa patens, Agardh. in Schult. Syst. Veget. 7- part. 1. p. 384.

Description Bulb ovate, about the size of a filbert, covered with brown

skins. Stalk glabrous, erect, green, (in the specimen described shorter
than the leaves, in the wild specimens longer than these). Leaves 2 (in
the plant described, and in all the specimens which I have, 5^ inches
long, 3 lines broad) the upper the narrower, glabrous, glaucous and slight-
ly channelled in front, green and somewhat keeled behind, subacute and
callous at the apex. Flower suberect. Petals lanceolate, acute ; outer
petals narrower and rather the shorter, greenish on the out:ide, within

Proceedings of the Wernerian Society. 197

white and yellow at the base, everywhere glabrous, striated; inner pe-
tals (14 inch long, 5 lines broad) white, yellow at the base, ciliated at the
claws, everywhere else glabrous, striated with faint diverging lines, the
middle rib being green. Stamens alternately longer, all about half as
long as the petals, yellow ; filament subulate, flattened, broadest above
the base, and there hairy on the outside, narrower and nearly colourless
below ; anthers oblong, erect, nearly equal in length to the shorter fila-
ments ; pollen yellow, granules oblong. Pistil scarcely exceeding in
length the shorter filaments, 3-sided, pyramidal ; stigma of 3 obscure
lobes. Ovules numerous, imbricated.
This species flowered in the beginning of April in the interesting collection
of bulbous-rooted plants at Carlowrie, the seat of David Falconar, Esq.
liCdebour notices its near relationship to Tulipa hiflora, and 1 confess
that, had it not been for his authority, the native specimens which I
have from himself and from Dr Fischer, with the cultivated specimen
before me, and the native specimens of T. bijlora which I owe to Dr
Fischer, and those cultivated in the Botanic Garden in 1828, might have
left me in doubt whether they should be considered more than varieties.
Among my own specimens, the distinction seems to rest chiefly on all
the parts of the flower in T. hiflora being smaller, the petals less pointed,
and the outer more nearly equal to the inner in breadth, and rather
longer than them. I have no means of judging as to the ripe fruit ;
the germen seems alike in the two. Tulipa tricolor is a native of dry
stony places on the sides of the Altai mountains. T. hiflora is from As-
trachan.

Proceedings of the Wernerian Natural History Society.

1835, Nov 21. — At this meeting (being the first of the twenty-
ninth session) the following gentlemen were elected Office-bearers
of the Society for the year 1836.

President.
Robert Jameson, Esq. F.R.S.L. &E., Professor of Natural History in the
University of Edinburgh.
Vice' P residents.
Sir Patbick Walker, F.L.S. Dr T. S. Traill, F.R.S.E.

BiNDON Blood, Esq. F.R.S.E. Robert Stevekson, Esq. F.R.S.E*

Secretary Dr Pat. Neill, F.R.S.E. Assist. Sec^T. J. Torrie, F.R S.K

Treasurer. — A. G. Ellis, Esq.
Librarian.— James Wilsok, Esq. F.R.S.E.
Painter. — P. Syme, Esq. Assistant.— W. H. Townsend, Esq.

Council.
Dr John Coldstream. Dr R. K. Greville, F.R.S.E.

David Falconar, Esq. John Sligo, Esq. F.R.S.E.

James Young, Esq. Dr Walter Adam, F.R.C.P.

William Copland, Esq. F.R.S.E. Dr William Macdonald, F.R.S.E.

Sir Patrick Walker, V. P., in the Chair. Mr James Wil-
son read Mr P. J. Selby's Account of the Animals inhabiting the

198 Proceedings of the Wernerian Society.

County of Sutherland, and particularly of the Birds observed du-
ring the excursion thither of a party of naturalists in the summer
of 1834.

Professor Jameson communicated a brief notice of some Obser-
vations, by M. Arago, on the Light of Halley's Comet, finally de-
termining that cometic light is derived from the sun, and not de-
pendent on any kind of phosphorescence inherent in the comet it-
self. He also made some remarks on the experiments which have
been lately performed in France, on the Solidification of Carbonic
Acid, and recommended the repetition of these experiments, so im-
portant in a geological view.

Dr Charles Anderson exhibited a specimen of CyprcEa guttata^ a
rare species, from Java ; and he also communicated a description
and specimens, of a new species of Cypraea, not described by La-
marck, and which he denominated C. castanea. The following is
the character : " Testa ovato-ventricosa, castaneo-fusca ; fasciis bi-
nis, latis, obscuris, saturatioribus ; marginibus incrassatis, albis, fus-
co-punctatis ; aperturee extreraitatibus intus roseo-rubeis." Shell
of a bright chestnut-brown colour on the back, the face and sides
white ; the latter marked with numerous spots of vivid brown of
various intensity ; the fauces brown, with a shade of red ; length
1^, breadth f, of an inch. Received from New South Wales, by
Dr Coldstream of Leith, without any notification as to its particu-
lar locality.

There was also exhibited a male specimen of the Rocky Mountain
Sheep {Ovis montana)^ which Professor Jameson bad lately re-
ceived from the Colombia River from Dr M. Gairdner. He re-
marked, that although its fur was of no value, it ought to be intro-
duced into this country, not only from the delicacy of its flesh as
food, and the fine leather to be prepared from its skin, but also
from its noble figure. The Professor stated that he had many
years ago brought this animal under the attention of the Society ;
and it was to be regretted that no steps had as yet been taken to-
wards its introduction, it being, from its hardy nature, likely to
do well in our highland mountainous districts.

Sir Patrick Walker exhibited a specimen of the ihoth Pka"
IcBna (^Geometra) papilionariaf taken last summer in Aberdeenshire,
and new to Scotland. He then made some remarks on its geo-
graphic distribution in England and on the continent of Europe,
and mentioned several places, in the latter, where it is found in
great abundance*

Proceedings of the Wemermn Society, 1^

Dec* 5. — Dr R. K. Greville, formerly V. P., in the chair.

1, Notice of Fossil Fishes found in the neighbourhood of Edinf
burgh, S^c. by Professor Jameson — The Professor remarked that he
had been induced to exliibit a part of his collection of fossil fishes
to the Society, for the purpose of correcting an oversight of M.
Agassiz, who states, in his work on Fossil Ichthyology; that he had
received from Professor Jameson a series of fossil fishes /rom Bur^
diehoiise, whereas none of the specimens he sent him were collected
at Biirdiehouse, or even in Mid-Lothian, the whole being from Fife-
shire. The Professor also stated that the discovery of fossil ichthy*
olites in this neighbourhood was not of a recent date, as he had
found bones and scales of fishes more than eighteen years ago in
our secondary deposits, and had been in the practice for many years
back, of stating the above to his pupils in the lecture-room, and
pointing it out in the field. Some general observations were then
made on the age of fossil fishes, their distribution in red sandstone
and limestone, slate-clay, bituminous shale, and coal in the Lothians,
Angusshire, Lanarkshire, &c. ; and he concluded by remarking that
Agassiz, after an examination of several hundred species of fishes
from secondary rocks, had found no character whatever to distin-
guish fresh from salt water fishes. The species exhibited were the
following : Palaeoniscus ariolatus, omatissimuSf Robisoni ; Ewrynotus
crenatus, and Pygopterus Jamesoni,

Dr Traill then made some remarks on the identity of the lime-
stone of Fifeshire with that of Burdiehouse, which he stated was
proved not only from its geological position, but also from the fos-
sil fishes which were exhibited by Professor Jameson, they belong-
ing not only to the same genera, but all, with one exception, being
of the same species as those found at Burdiehouse.

2. On iJte similarity of some Birds from Northern India with Euro*
pean Species, by Professor Jameson. — In continuation of his list of
Birds of Northern India, nearly allied to the European, the Pro-
fessor remarked, that it was his intention (already stated last year)
to bring before the Society every species which should come un-
der his observation, for the purpose of pointing out the similarity,
in many respects, of the ornithology of that region with that of
Europe. * With this intention, therefore, he had now to lay before
the Society three species, bearing a striking resemblance to the
European, viz. Saxicola rubicola, Sturnus vulgaris after second
moult, the bird in full plumage having bo en already exhibited, and

200 Proceedings of the Wernerian Society.

Sitta europcca ; the last differing, however, in being of a deeper co-
lour below. A fourth species was produced very nearly allied to
the Sitta Europesa, which, however, presented characters sufficiently
marked to form a new species ; and from the banded tail being the
most prominent, the Professor gave to it the specific name of
Vitticauda. A specimen of the Sitta frontalis from Northern India,
was also exhibited, and its wide geographic distribution pointed out,
it being first found in Java, and described by Dr Horsfield.

3. It was mentioned, that the very remarkable fact of the -ex-
pansion of liquefied carbonic acid, lately observed by the French
academicians, has been fully verified by Mr Kemp, lecturer on
chemistry, who finds that the expansion is not peculiar to this li-
quefied gas, but belongs to all other gases in the liquid state.
At this meeting of the Society, Mr Kemp exhibited a specimen of
the liquefied sulphurous acid gas, hermetically sealed in a glass tube,
and separated from the materials from which it had been generated.
This specimen of the liquefied gas occupied 8 inches of a tube,
5~8ths of an inch in internal diameter, and when cooled from the
temperature of 60° down to 14° of Fahr., or the point at which it
becomes liquid under the ordinary pressure of the atmosphere, it
contracted one inch, but when heated an equal number of degrees
above 60°, viz. 46°, it expanded through a greater distance than it
had before contracted by the abstraction of an equal amount of
caloric, shewing that the expansion went on at higher temperatures
in a slightly increasing ratio, so that the expansion between its li-
quefying point, viz. 14° and 212°, the boiling point of w^ater, is
nearly one-third of its whole volume, the pressure against the ex-
pansion being at 212°, about 25 atmospheres. That this property
does not belong to the liquefied gases exclusively, but resides equal-
ly in all other fluids, when raised above their boiling points, is
shown by the following experiment ; thus, ether, when raised from
the temperature of 60° to 95° of Fahr., or its boiling point, under-
goes an inconsiderable expansion compared with the expansion pro-
duced by an equal increase of temperature above its boiling point,
when it: may be said to be in the same condition with the liquefied
gases in regard to pressure, and carbonic acid suffers nearly an
equal expansion by an equal increasing temperature with the lique-
fied gases.

At this meeting Robert James Hay Cunningham, Esq. was
elected a Resident Member, and Dr Martin Barry a Non-resident
Member, of the Society.

Proceedings qfSockty of Arts. 201

The members afterwards adjourned to Dr Hope's laboratory,
when Mr Kemp, Dr Hope's Experimental Assistant, exhibited an
apparatus he had constructed for the repetition of the experiment
on the solidification of carbonic acid, which he had, at the request
of the Society, prepared for that purpose.

Proceedings of the Society for the Encouragement of the Useful
Arts in Scotland.

The Society for the Encouragement of the Useful Arts com-
njenced their sittings for the session 1835-6, in the Royal In-
stitution, on Wednesday 18th November 1835, at 8 o'clock p. Mii
Mr Professor Forbes, V. P. in the Chair. f.

The following communications were laid before the Society :—

1. Part first, of a paper on the Construction of Oblique Arches.
By Edward Sang, Esq. teacher of mathematics, «&c. Edinburgh, and

Councillor Soc. Arts A model of the centering and drawings

were exhibited. '

2. Specimen of Maps printed for the use of the Blind, being a
map of England and Wales, by the Reverend William Taylor,
York, Hon. Memb. Soc. Arts, was exhibited. ''

3. Drawing and Description of certain Additions to the Turn-
ing-Lathe, which facilitate the turning of Snugs, &c. : and parti-
cularly useful in slow turning, when only a small portion of the face
of the body is to be turned. By Mr James Whitelaw, 18. Russell
Street, Glasgow.

The following candidates were admitted as ordinary members,^
viz.

1. The Right Honourable Sir John Campbell, Attorney-General of Eng-

land.

2. Mr Robert Grant, jun. Bookseller 82. Prince's Street, Edinburgh.
Mr Thomas Morton, Carpet Machine-maker, Kilmarnock, was admitted

an Honorary Member.

December 2. 1835. — At this meeting (Colonel Macdonald of
Powderhall, in the Chair), the following office-bearers were elected
for the ensuing year : —

President.— His Grace the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry.

Vice-Presidents Professor Forbes, F. R. SS. L. & E., F. G. S. ; Edward

Sang, Esq.
Secretary.^James Tod, Esq. 21. Dublin Street.
Foreign Secretary. — Mr Alexander Adie, 58. Prince's Street.

202 Proceedings of the Society of Arts.

Treasurer.— B.6bert Horsburgh, Esq. 15. London Street.

Curator. — Mr John Dun, 50. Hanover Street.

Ordinary Councillors — James Jardine ; George Buchanan ; John Robi*
son ; Sir D. Mihie ; Dr D. B. Reid ; Mungo Ponton ; I.ieut. CoL
Macdonald ; J. S. More ; William Fraser ; Wilkinson Steel ; George
S win ton ; J. Graham Dalyell.

The following gentlemen were admitted as ordinary members :— -

L William Burn, Esq. Architect, 131. George Street, Edinburgh; 2.
Mr Patrick Ritchie, Machine-maker, 56. Nicolson Street ; 3. Mr J.
B. Mould, Engraver, 129. High Street.

Dec, 2. — The following communications were read : —

1. Part second of a paper on the construction of Oblique Arches.
By Edward Sang, Esq. teacher of Mathematics, &c. Edinburgh,
and Councillor Soc. Arts.

la this part of the paper Mr Sang made some comments on the
usual manner of constructing the abutments of bridges, and shewed
that the effect of the ordinary form is to throw the whole pressure
upon the exterior parts of the foundation. In order to equalize the
pressure, he said that parabolic counter-arches ought to be intro-
duced. In the next part of the paper, he proposed to treat of the
forms of the stones, and to examine some circumstances connected
with the propagation of pressures which have not hitherto been at-
tended to.

2. Additional verbal Remarks on the Communication of Sound
in Public Buildings ; and on the Construction of Pulpits. By Dr
D. B. Reid, lecturer on chemistry, Edinburgh, Couns. Soc. Arts.

3. Drawings of the American Patent Steam-boat, adapted to
the Navigation of the Clyde. By Mr Neil Snodgrass, who fitted
the machinery of the celebrated American Steam Raft Boat, — were
exhibited.

List of Patents granted in Scotland from l^th September to
9th December 1835.

1835.
Sept. 19. To William Symington, of Bromley, in the county of Middlesex,
coopei', for " certain improvements in paddle-wheels.'*
To Andrew Baldrence, chenille-cutter, residing in Paisley, for " a
machine for cutting chenille cloth into chenille thread for making
weft or part of weft for the shawls now called and known by the
names of Chenille, Kamptschatcka, Moss, and Velours de Sole,
or one or other of these names."

Lint of Patents granted in Scotland. 203

Oct. 16. To William Burk of Bankside, irv^he county of Surrey, engineer,
for " certain improvements in propelling boats, ships, or other
floating bodies.''
To Joseph Henri Jerome Poittevin of Craven Street, in the coun-
ty of Middlesex, gentleman, for an invention, communicated by
a foreigner residing abroad, " of a powder which is applicable to
the purpose of disinfecting night soil and certain other matters,
and facilitating the production of manure."
To Patrick Seyton Hynes of Paddington, in the county of Middle-
sex, gentleman, for " certain improvements in wheels, axletrees,
and boxes, and an apparatus for retarding or locking carriage-
wheels."

22. To William Wilkinson of Lucas Street, in the parish of St George-

in-the-East, and the county of Middlesex, for a ** certain im-
provement, or certain improvements, in the mechanism or ma-
chinery' by which steam power is applied to give motion to ships
or other floating vessels in or through water."

23. To Charles Pierre Devaux of Fen church Street, in the city of

London, merchant, for an invention, communicated to him by a
foreigner residing abroad, for ■•' certain improvements in smelt-
ing ironstone and iron-ore.''

To William Lucy of Birmingham, in the county of Warwick, miller,
for ** an improvement in steam-engines."
28. To Joel Spiller of Battersea, in the county of Surrey, engineer, for
" an improvement, or improvements, upon boilers for generating
steam, or heating water or other fluids for useful purposes."

To Hugh Ford Bacon of Christ College, Cambridge, in the county
of Cambridge, gentleman, " for an improved apparatus for regula-
ting the flow of gas through pipes to gas-burners, with a view to
uniformity of supply."
Nov. 2. To Samuel Slocum of the New Boad Street, Pancras, in the coun-
ty of Middlesex, engineer, for " improvements in machinery for
making pins."

To Thomas Fleming Bergin of Fair View Avenue> in the county
of Dublin, civil engineer, for " certain improvements in the me-
thod of suspending and adjusting the bodies of railway and all
other wheeled carriages."
4. To William Longfleld of Otley, in the county of York, white-
smith, for " an improved lock or fastening for doors and other
situations where security is required.'"

To Robert Jupe of New Bond Street, in the parish of St George's
Hanover Square, in the county of Middlesex, upholsterer, for
" certain improvements in expanding tables, and also in ornamen-
tal, dessert, flower, and other stands."

To Elijah Galloway of Wellington Terrace, Waterloo Road, in the
county of Suirey, engineer, for " certain improvements in paddle-
wheels for propelling vessels.'*

204 List of Patents granted in Scotland.

Nov. 4. To William Patterson of Dublin, gentleman,' for " an improvement
in converting hides and skins into leather; by the application of
matter obtained from a certain material not hitherto employed
for that purpose."
6. To George Edmund Donisthorpe of Leicester, in the county of
Ijcicester, worsted-spinner, and Henry liawson of the same place,
hosier, for " certain improvements in the combing of wool and
other fibrous substances."

13. To John Birkley of High Town, near Leeds, card-maker, for " im-
provements in machinery for pointing wire, applicable for making
of cards and pins."

17. To Richard Whiteside of Ayr, in the county of Ayr, wine-mer-
chant, for " certain improvements in the wheels of steam-carriages,
and in the machinery for propelling the same, also applicable to
other purposes."
Dec. 7. To John Reynolds of Liverpool, in the county of Lancaster, gentle-
man, for " certain improvements in railways."

9. To Samuel Faulkner of Manchester, in the county Palatine of
Lancaster, cotton-spinner, for " an improvement in the carding
of cotton and other fibrous substances, by a new application of the
machinery now in use for carding cotton or other fibrous sub-
stances.'*
To Miles Berry of No. 66. Chancery Lane, in the parish of St An-
drews, Holbum, in the county of Middlesex, mechanical drafts-
man and patent agent, for an invention, communicated by a
foreigner residing abroad, " of an improvement, or improvements,
in the making or constructing of meters or apparatus for mea-
suring gas, water, and other fluids."

SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE.

1. Sir Charles Bell. — The Patrons of the University of Edinburgh, much
to their honour, have iijvitcd Sir Charles Bell to the vacant chair of Sur-
gery in our University ; and that distinguished individual has, we under-
stand, accepted the high distinction thus proffered to him by the citizens
of his native city. Sir Charles Bell is thus, after a lapse of many years,
again restored to us — is again a citizen of Edinburgh, and now a Pro-
fessor in that University where he commenced those investigations which
have procured for him an enduring name throughout the scientific world.

2. Professor David Don. — We have much satisfaction in stating, that
our excellent correspondent and friend Mr David Don has been chosen
Professor of Botany in King's College, London. Mr Don is son of the
well known practical botanist, George Don of Forfar. He was recom-
mended to the chair of Botany by many of the most distinguished na-
turalists in this country ; and the chief of botanical, science, Robert
Brown, himself a Scotsman, warmly recommended him to the electors.

Scientific Intelligence. 905

Professor Don's Flora Nepalcnsis is tlie standard work on the plantsr of
the north of India ; and his memoirs in the Transactions of the Linnean
Society, and those communicated to this Journal, have been quoted by
the most eminent botanists in this country and on the continent, as
evincing profound acquaintance with this delightful science.
^ 3. Aurora Borealis.—Edmburgh, Nov. 18. 1835; Lat. 65° 57' N.;
*^Long. 3° 11' W. — Having, in common I dare say with many others, wit-
' nessed a very brilliant display of the aurora borealis last night., at 9** 37™
p. M. mean time, I thought of noting the direction of the luminous arch
in the heavens, as well as I could, or the rapid changes which it under-
went would permit. At the above time, its direction was from east to-
wards the west, passed between Jupiter and Pollux, thence to about »-
degree to the south of Capella, and shot westward through Cassiopece,
till our view of it was intercepted by the buildings of the College. Ha-
ving noted the time, and its position, together with the latitude and lon-
gitude, these will furnish data, when compared with like observations
elsewhere, to compute, in an approximate manner, its height and motion,
and may contribute in some degree, perhaps, to illustrate the ^nature of
these meteorological phenomena. — William Galbraith.

4. Composition of the Atmosphere. — M. Boussingault, Cliemical Profes-
sor to the Faculty of Sciences of Lyons, in the year 1834, discovered
that the hydrogenous principle is mixed up with the atmosphere ; but
as all the experiments of this chemist were made in the city of Paris,
Rue du Parc-Royal, in strict accuracy the conclusion he there drew
could only be regarded as a local phenomenon. M. Boussingault has
written from Lyons to M. Arago, informing him, that there also his ex-
periments supply him with proofs of the presence of hydrogen ; and
that there also from one day to the next, the proportion of the gas
which is contained in the air varies sometimes in the ratio of 2 to 3. M.
Mattucci also has informed M. Boussingault, that, in following his pro-
cess, step by step, he too has clearly determined that the air in Italy
contains this principle of hydrogen. And to this statement he conjoins
this important circumstance, that, in the neighbourhood of marshy
grounds, the proportion of hydrogen is often three times as great as In
the middle of large towns. The air of Lyons, according to very recent
experiments of M. Boussingault, contains 6, 7, and even 8 parts of carbo-
nic acid in the 10,000. This is a much larger proportion than M. de Saus-
sure discovered in the air of the country in the neighbourhood of Geneva.
6. Climate of Fort Vancouver. — The winter (1833-4) has been one of
some severity compared with what is usual in Britain, although not to be
compared \^th those on the other side of the Rocky Mountains. The
frost set in on the 2Gth December, and continued till the end of January ;
the lowest temperature was, + 6° Fahr. The Columbia, which is hero
1660 yards wide, and 5 to 7 fathoms deep, closed when the temperature
fell to 14% and continued frozen for three weeks, permitting of free traflSc

206 Scientific Intelligence,

across it. This winter has, however, been remarked as one of the se-
verest since the occupation of the Columbian territory by the Whites ;
there were from 3 to 4 feet of snow at Wallowalla, a place about 100
miles above this, where the sight of snow is a rare occurrence. It may
be imagined the poor natives suffered much in some districts from fa-
mine. It was not uncommon to see them burning fires to thaw the fro-
zen sod for the purpose of scraping up a few kumas roots. I have heard
of one instance where a man sold his son to procure ten fried salmon.
Fort Vancouver is by no means so lonely a winter residence as some of
the posts in the interior, being the metropolis, so to speak, of the Colum-
bia j from time to time there are arrivals and departures ; for the same
reason, too, a greater number of gentlemen are stationed here than any-
where else. Our complement for the winter has been, at table, besides
the governor, two chief traders, two clerks, and myself. — Letter from Dr
M, Gairdner, \Qth March 1834, Fort Vancouver.

6. Geology. — The late traveller Douglas, who perished so miserably, in-
formed me, that, by some angles taken on shore, he made the height of
Mowna Roa Rock 16,773 feet. We have recently had an eruption of
Mount St Helens, one of the snowy peaks of the Marine Chain on the
north-west coast, about 40 miles to the north of this place (Fort Vancou-
ver). There was no earthquake or preliminary noise here : [the first thing
which excited my notice was a dense haze for two or three days, accom-
panied with a fall of minute flocculi of ashes, whicli, on clearing off, dis-
closed the mountain destitute of its cover of everlasting snow, and fur-
rowed deeply by what through the glass appeared to be lava streams.
There was no unusual fall of the barometer at this place. I believe this
is the first well ascertained proof of the existence of a volcano on the
west coast of America, to the north of California on the mainland. At
the same season in the year 1831, a much denser darkness occurred here,
which doubtless arose from the same cause, although at that time no one
thought of examining the appearance of this mountain. Indian report
says there is a burning crater on the southern declivity of Mount Hood,
another peak of the same chain to the south of the former. Earthquakes
are not uncommon, at least in the vicinity of the coast. I have ascertain-
ed the occurrence of three within the last two years ; none of them were
felt here. Hot springs are common in the vicinity of the Marine Chain to
the south of the Columbia, as well as in the space between it and the
Rocky Mountains. I have procured the localities of six not noticed by
Lewis and Clarke or in any published account of the country. The low
altitude of the snow line on the peaks of the Marine Chain is remarkable.
By some angles with an eight inch sextant and artificial horizon on a base
line 3270 yards long, I make the altitude of Mount Hood 7434 English
feet above the level of Vancouver, allowing the refraction to be one-four-
teenth of the angle, distance 38.7 geographical miles; now at least
'600 or 800 feet of the summit is covered with perpetual snow. Can this be

Scientific Intelligence. 207

ascribed to the extensive pine forest covering the whole surrounding
country diminishing the force of radiation ? — Letter from Dr M, Gaird-
ner,

7. Age of the Molasse of Switzerland.— ^tudci maintains, that the whole
molasse and nagelfluh belongs to the tertiary class of rocks, and not, as
said by Boue, partly to the tertiary, partly to the secondary classes. —
Fide Studers Letter to Leonhard, in his Newes Jafirbuch fur Geognosic,
&c. 1834, p. 629, &c.

8. Effect of Cold on the Fur of the Hudson's Bay Lemming. — The small-
est of the quadrupeds of the Polar Regions has been found in the highest
latitude that has yet been attained ; even on the ice of the Polar Ocean,
to the northward of the 82° of latitude, the skeleton of one was found. It
is easily tamed, and fond of being caressed. One that had been but a
few days confined, escaped during the night, and was found next morn-
ing on the ice alongside the ship. On putting down its cage, which it
recognised in the servant's hand, it immediately went into it. It lived
for several months in the cabin ; but finding that, unlike what occurred to
our tame hares under similar circumstances, it retained its summer for, I
was induced to try the effect of exposing it for a short time to the winter
temperature. It was accordingly placed on deck in a cage on the 1st of
February ; and next morning, after having been exposed to a tempera-
ture of 30° below zero, the fur on the cheeks and a patch on each shoul-
der had become perfectly white. On the following day the patches on
each shoulder had extended considerably, and on the posterior part of
the body and flanks had turned to a dirty white. During the next four
days the change continued but slowly, and at the end of a week it was
entirely white, with the exception of a dark band across the shoulders,
prolonged posteriorly down to the middle of the back, forming a kind of
saddle, where the colour of the fur had not changed in the smallest degree.
The thermometer continued between 30° and 40° below zero until the 18th,
without producing any further change, when the poor little sufferer pe-
rished from the severity of the cold. On examining the skin, it appeared
that all the white parts of the fur were longer than the unchanged por-
tictn, and that the ends of the fur only were white, so far as they exceed-
ed in length the dark-coloured fur ; and by removing these white tips
with a pair of scissars, it again appeared in its dark summer dress, but
slightly changed m colour, and precisely the same length as before the
experiment. — Moss's Voyage,

9. Effect of Intense Cold on Caterpillars.— About thirty caterpillars were
put into a box in the middle of September, and after being exposed to the
severe winter temperature of the next three months, they were brought
into a warm cabin, where in less than two hours every one of them re-
turned to life, and continued for a whole day walking about ; they were
then exposed to the air at a temperature of about 43° below zero, and be-
came immediately hard frozen. In this state they remained a week, and

208 Scientific Intelligence.

on being brought again into the cabin, only twenty-three came to life ;
these were at the end.of four hours put once more into the air, and again
hard frozen. After another week they were brought in, when only eleven
were restored to life. A fourth time they were exposed to the winter
temperature, and only two returned to life. On being again brought in-
to the cabin, these two survived the winter, and in May an imperfect
larva was produced from one, and six flies from the other; both of them
formed cocoons, but that which produced the flies was not so perfect as
the other. — Ross's Voyage.

10. Polar Bear. — During our stay at Fury Beach, many of these ani-
mals came about us, and several were killed. At that time, we were for-
tunately in no want of provisions, but some of our party, tempted by the
fine appearance of the meat, made a hasty meal of the first one that was
shot. All that partook of it soon after complained of violent headach,
■which, with some, continued two or three days, and was followed by the
skin peeling off" the face, hands, and arms ; and in some, who had pro-
bably partaken more largely, of the whole body. " On a former occasion,
I witnessed a somewhat similar occurrence, when, on Sir Edward Parry's
Polar Journey, having lived for several days on two bears that were shot,
the skin peeled off" the feet, legs, and arms of many of the party. It was
then attributed rather to the quantity than the quality of the meat, and
to our having been for some time previous on very short allowance of pro-
visions."— Ross's Voyage.

11. The Black Whale. — The capture of the whale, which gives employ-
ment to several thousands of our seamen, and has annually produced, on
an average of the last twenty years, between eleven and twelve thousand
tons of toil, and from five to six hundred tons of whalebone, has of late
years greatly declined, owing to the increasing difficulties attending thfe
fishery. Wearied by the incessant persecutions of man, the whale has
lately abandoned all the accessible parts of the Spitzbergen Sea, where it
was by no means unusual to see sixty or seventy sail of British vessels
engaged in its capture. On the east side of Baflin's Bay, as far as the
72° of latitude, abundance of whales, of large size, were to be found some
few years ago ; but, like the fishery in the Spitzbergen Sea, this also Was
deserted. The whales retired to the westward of the then considered
impenetrable barrier of ice that occupies the middle of Baffin's Bay. " In
1818> that barrier was passed by the first expedition of discovery sent bj'"
the government to those regions, where the haunts of the whale, and the
nursery for its young, were laid open to the fishermen, whose daring en-
terprise and perseverance in following the track of the discoverers, were
amply rewarded for the first few years by the most abundant success ; since
the produce that in anyone year has been brought to England from those
newly discovered portions of the Arctic Seas, is more than sufficient to
cover the whole expenses of all the expeditions of discovery that have
been sent during the last twenty years to those regions; and yet people

New Publications. 209

not aware of this circumstance, are perpetually asking what benefit can
, result to this country from such undertakings. The whale, however, still
<;ontinues to retire from the persecutions of man ; and the numbers of its
young, which are usually destroyed without reniorse by the avaricious
but imprudent fishermen, must soon exhaust the fishery, and search must
then be made far to the westward of Baffin's Bay, and to the eastward of
Spitzbergen, for their places of retreat." — Ross's Voyage,

12. Passenger Pigeon. — A young male bird flew on board the Victory
during a storm, whilst crossing Baffin's Bay in latitude 734° north, on the
31st of July 1829. It has never before been seen beyond the sixty-second
degree of latitude ; and the circumstance of our having met with it so far
-to the northward, is a singular and interesting fact. — Boss's Voyage,
t' 13. Spontaneous Plants. — Few things are more extraordinary than the
'" tmusual appearance and development of certain plants in certain circuw-
^ stances. Thus, after the great fire of London in 1666, the entire surfece
of the destroyed city was covered with such a vast profusion of a species
of a cruciferous plant, the Sisymbrium irio of Linneeus, that it was calcu-
lated that the whole of the rest of Europe could not contain so many
plants of it. It is also known that if a spring of salt water makes its ap-
pearance in a spot even a great distance from the sea, the neighbourhood
is soon covered with plants peculiar to a maritime locality, which plants
previous to this occurrence were entire strangers to the country. Again,
when a lake happens to dry up, the surface is immediately usurped by a
J vegetation which is entirely peculiar, and quite difierent from that which
• flourished on its former banks. When certain marshes of Zealand were
drained, the Carex cyperoides was observed in abundance, and it is known
this is not at all a Danish plant, but peculiar to the north of Germany. —
In a work upon the useful Mosses by M. de Brcbisson, which has been
announced for some time, this botanist states that a pond in the neigh-
, bourhood of Falain having been rendered dry during many weeks in the
' height of summer, the mud in drying was immediately and entirely co-
vered to the extent of many square yards by a minute compact green
turf, formed of an imperceptible moss, the Phaseum axillarey the stalks of
which were so close to each other, that upon a square inch of this new
\ soil, might be counted more than five thousand individuals of this minute
plant, which had never previously been observed in the country.

NEW PUBLICATIONS, '"^^

'V. A Treatise on Pulmonary Consumption and Scrofulous Disease*, By
James Clark, M. D., F.R.S., &c. &c. 8v0. pp. 399. Sherwood,
J , .Oilbert, and Piper, London. 1836.

The perusal of this very interesting volume has afibrded us much in-
formation, conveyed too in a most agreeable manner. We recommend

VOL. XX. NO. XXXIX. JANUAUY 1836. O

JWO New Publications.

it not only to the philosophical practitioner, but also to the general reader.
Were medical works generally written with as much care and beauty as
Dr Clark's, we would hear no more of the coarseness and pedantry of the
medical philosopher.

2. A Systematic Treatise on the Theory and Practice of Draining Land,
S^c. S^c. By John Johnston, Esq. Land-Surveyor. Third Edition
Enlarged. One vol. 4to. pp. 225. With numerous Engravings.
Edinburgh. 1836.

It is scarcely necessary on our part, to notice this now well known and
very highly esteemed work, farther than to add our recommendation of
it, to those which have proceeded from so many respectable quarters,
and to announce the publication of a third and enlarged edition. It is a
work deserving a place in the library of every landed proprietor in the
country.

3. A Manual of Select Medical Bibliography , in which the hooks are arran-
ged Chronologically according to the subjects, and the derivations of the
Terms, and the Nosological and Vernacular Synonyms of the Diseases,
are given : With an Appendix, containing Lists of the Collected Works
of Authors, Systematic Treatises on Medicine, Transactions of So-
cieties, Journals, S^c. S^c. By John Forbes, M. D., F, R. S,, one of the
Editors of the Encyclopedia of Practical Medicine, and of the British
and Foreign Medical Review. London, Sherwood, Gilbert, and Piper.
Royal octavo, pp. 403. 1836.

Dr Forbes is already so well known as an able and successful practi-
tioner, a good naturalist, and learned physician, that it is sufficient to
mention his name to secure the attention of the medical world to any
work proceeding from his hands. The present volume we have found
very useful, indeed is now indispensable to us, and we doubt not it has
ere this time become well known to every student of medical science.

4. A Manual of British Vertebrate Animals, or descriptions of all the ani-

mals belonging to the classes Mammalia, Aves, Reptilia, Amphibia, and
Pisces, which have been hitherto observed in the British Islands ; in-
cluding the Domesticated, Naturalised, and Extirpated Species, The
whole systematically arranged. By the Rev. Leonard Jenyns, M. A.,
F. L. S., G. S., E. S., and Cambridge Philosophical Society. Cam-
bridge, at the University Press. Longman and Co. London. 8yo.
pp. 669.

This valuable work, which fully answers the high expectations formed
of it, has our entire approbation. We trust it is the precursor of other
treatises on the Natural History of the Animals of Great Britain.

New Puhlicatwns. 211

5. Illustrations of the Botany and other branches of the Natural History
of the Himalayan Mountains, and of the Flora of Cashmere. By J»
Forbes Royle, Esq. F. R. S., M. R. A. S., &c. &c. Folio. W. and
C. Allen and Co. Leadenhall Street, London.

Of this splendid and beautiful work which we have already noticed se-
veral times in this Journal, seven numbers have now appeared. It con-
tinues to increase in interest, and will, when finished, become a standard
work on the subjects which it treats. Mr Royle, who, we understand, is
about to return to India, will carry with him the thanks of European natu-
ralists, for the valuable information he has communicated to them, and their
best wishes for the continuance of his health in the vast field of discovery
which will again be opened to him.

6. Lethaa Geognostica ; or Figures and Descriptions of the Characteristic
Petrifactions of the different Rock Formations. By Dr H. G. Bronn.
2d Part. Heidelberg, 1835.

This second Part of Dr Bronn's valuable work on Fossil Organic Re-
mains, which has just reached us, is equally interesting with the first.
We are happy to learn that its continuance is secured, as, when finished,
it will form one of our best works on this important branch of geology
and general natural history.

Dr Murray's Northern Flora. — An expert botanist, Dr Alexander
Murray of Aberdeen, assisted by the Rev. J. Farquharson, F. R, S. of
Alford, well known for his writings in the Philosophical Transactions of
the Royal Society of London, and in this Journal, have announced the
speedy publication of ^' The Northern Flora; or a Description of the Na-
tive Vegetable Productions of the North and East of Scotland, with an
account of their place of growth, and their properties in Medicine and
Surgery." To form two volumes in octavo.

Corrigenda, vol. xiz.

Page 268, line 12 from bottom, for barrier read armour.

— 269,— 11 — for 2, read U.

— 281, — 3 ~ /or his, r^arf its

— — — 13 — /or their, rdorf there.

— . 377, — 6 — /orinches,rea</ perches.

[ — , 383, — 4 — for parts, read fects.

in; . ( 212 )

Explanation of the Figures in Plate I, exhibiting the Minute OrgO"
nizalion of Seven Species of the Infusoria.

Fig. 1. Nassula elegans, much magnified ; a, the vent ; b, the
mouth and dental cr6\vn ; d, the organ which is supposed to secrete
the fecundating liquor ; here are also to be observed many stomachic
vesicles, which are rendered opaque l)y the violet matter secreted by
the animal.
' Fig. 2. The same at the moment of division, and when it ha^ a
"dental apparatus in each of the two individuals.
' ' 'Fig. 3. The dental crown isolated and somewhat contracted.

Fig. 4. Nassula ornaia ; a, the vent, whence have issued the debris
of the small infusores, which have formed its aliment ; 6, the mouth
and dental apparatus ; c, the ejaculatory organ ; dj the testicle. -)

Fig. 5. Chilodon cucullulus, (Syn. Loxodes cucullus), exhibiting the
dental apparatus j c, c, the ejaculatqry vesicles ; and the stomachs
filled with smaller animalcules.

Fig. 6. Paramecium aurelia ; b, the mouth ; c, c, ejaculatory ^»
■gans. .7

Fig. 7. Ophrioglena atra, enlarged ; c, Ct ejaculatory organs, ii
Fig. 8. and 9. Nolommata clavulata ; c, c, rotatory cilia ; p, pharynx
and jaws ; e, the stomach ; ap. appendices of the stomach ; cl. cloacus ;
. V, vent ; ov. ovary ; g, g, nervous ganglions ; i. the eye ; ?n. the mus-
cles ; /. the tail.

Fig. 10. Notommala centrura, Eh. The same letters indicate the
same parts as in the foregoing species ; b, b, internal branchial organs ;
b, c, brachial canals. ,/ .'

Explanation of Plate I.
Beroe fou7id on the Eastern Coast of Ireland. — Fig. 11. Front
view of the lobes of the stomach, and lateral view of the tubes or
sheaths of the tentacula. Fig. 12. Lateral view of the lobes of the
stomach, and front view of the sheaths of the tentacula. Fig. 13.
General appearance and arrangement of the cilia. They are repre-
sented somewhat shorter in proportion than they really are, in order
to avoid the confused appearance inseparable from the overlapping
mentioned in the paper.

THE

EDINBURGH NEW
PHILOSOPHICAL JOURNAL,

Biographical Memoir ofDr Thomas Young. By M. Arago.*

Death which, without interruption, is thinning our ranks,
seems, with a decided preference, to be directing his blows
against the very limited class of our Jbreign members. Within
a short space of time there has dropt from the list of the Aca-
demy the illustrious Herschel, whose bold ideas concerning the
arrangement of the universe appear every year to be acquiring a
higher probability ; Piazzi^ who, on the first day of this century,
presented a new planet to our solar system ; Watt, who was, if not
the inventor of the steam-engine — for the inventor was a French-
man— at least the discoverer of the many admirable combinations,
by the aid of which the insignificant apparatus of Papin is be-
come the most ingenious, the most useful, and the most powerful
instrument of industry; Volta, whose electrical pile confers upon
him immortality ; Davy^ alike celebrated for the decomposition
of the alkalies, and for the valuable safety-lamp of miners ; Wol-
lastoTiy whom the English designate the Pope, as he never failed
in his numerous experiments, or in his abstruse theoretical spe-
culations; and, finally, Jenner^ whose discovery I need not cha-
racterize among those who have experienced the feelings of a
parent. To pay to these illustrious characters the becoming tri-
bute of the regret, the admiration, and the gratitude of all those
who have devoted themselves to science, is one of the principal
duties which the Academy has imposed upon those on whom
it has conferred the dangerous honour of speaking in its name
• Read in the French Academy of Sciences.

VOL. XX. NO. XL.— APRIL 1836. P

Jil4 Biographical Memoir of Dr Tliomas Young.

on these our solemn festivals. To discharge this sacred debt
with as little delay as possible, is scarcely a less imperative obli-
gation. Gentlemen, the denizen academician always leaves after
him, among the brethren to whom his election introduced him,
many confidents of his private thoughts, — of the unfolding of his
discoveries, — and of all the vicissitudes of his lot. The foreign
member, on the contrary, is far removed from us ; he but rare-
ly takes his place amongst us, and we know little of his life, his
habits, or his character, unless by the accounts of the traveller ;
and, when a few years have passed away, if we find any traces
of these documents, we can no longer depend upon their accu-
racy ; literary news, which are not embodied in the press, are a
species of money, the circulation of which at once alters the im-
,pression, the weight, and the value.

These reflections will at once suggest the reason why the
names of Herschel, of Davy, and of Volta, have been pronounced
in our meetings, before those of many celebrated academicians
who have died in the midst of us ; and in a few moments, I trust,
there will be no one amongst us, who will not willingly concede to
the universal genius, whose life I am about to recount, a full
right to a similar preference.

Thomas Young was born at Milverton, in the county of
Somerset, on the 13th of June 1773, of parents who belonged
to the sect of Quakers. He spent his earhest years with his ma-
ternal grandfather, Mr Robert Davies of Minehead, who, though
of active commercial habits, presented a rare exception, in not
laying aside the cultivation of the classics. Young could read
currently at the age of two years. His memory was truly ex-
traordinary. In the time of his long sederunis at the Dame-
School in the neighbourhood of Minehead, he committed to me-
mory, at the age of four years, a great number of English au-
thors, and even some Latin poems, which he could repeat from
beginning to end, although at that time he did not understand
the language. The name of Young, then, like that of many
other celebrated ones already collected in our biographies, will
contribute to nourish the hopes or the fears of many kind fa-
thers, who will see, in a few lessons well recited or badly learnt,
the certain tokens of a permanent mediocrity, or the infallible
commencement of a glorious career. We should be losing our

Biographkal Memoir of' Dr Thomas' Young. 215

time if these notices of ours were to strengthen such prejudices.
Accordingly, without wishing to interfere with those pure and
lively emotions which are every year excited by the distribution
of prizes, we may nevertheless state, that the one party may not
abandon themselves to dreams which the future will never realize,
and that the other may fortify themselves against discourage-
ment, that Pic de la Mirandole, the phoenix of scholars in all
times and countries, when in ripe years, was an insignificant
author ; that Newton, when keeping his terms in college, did
not at all distinguish himself, and that at first, study had few
attractions for him ; that the first time he felt the necessity of
working was to take the place of a somewhat unruly scholar,
who, seated on a form superior to his own, used to kick and an-
noy him ; that at the age of twenty-two he contended for a fel-
lowship at Cambridge, and was beaten by a certain Robert
Uvedale, whose name, except for this circumstance, would now
have been completely forgotten ; and, finally, that Fontenelle
was more ingenious than accurate, when he applied to Newton
these remarkable words of Lucan, — " Men have never seen the
Nile, when small, and at its source/'

At six years of age Young was placed under a teacher at
Bristol, whose mediocrity was very fortunate for him. There
is no paradox in this statement. The scholar could not accom-
modate himself to the slow and contracted paces of his master ;
he became his own instructor, and it was thus those brilliant fa-
culties developed themselves, which, urged to any extent, would
certainly have been enfeebled.

Young was eight years of age, when accident, whose influ-
ence on the events of the life of all men is more considerable
than their vanity will always allow them to avow, threw him
in the way of studies which were exclusively literary, and re-
vealed to him his vocation. A respectable land-surveyor, who
lived hard by, conceived a great affection for him. He some«
times, on holidays, took him along with him to the scene of his
labours, and allowed him to amuse himself with his instruments.
The operations, by means of which the young scholar perceived
that distances of objects which were inaccessible were determined,
and their elevations measured, greatly struck his imagination ;
but speedily a few chapters in a mathematical dictionary caused

p2

216 Biographical Memoir ofDr Thomas Young.

every thing which was mysterious to disappear. From this mo-
ment in his Sunday walks the quadrant took the place of the
paper kite ; and, in the evening, by way of relaxation, the young
engineer calculated the distances which he had measured in the
morning.

From the age of nine to fourteen, Young lived at Compton
in Dorsetshire, with a master of the name of Thomson, whose
memory was always dear to him. During these five years all
his fellow-scholars were exclusively occupied, according to the
custom of English schools, with a minute study of the principal
Grecian and Roman authors. Young invariably maintained the
first place in his class, and, at the same time, learnt the French,
Italian, Hebrew, Persian, and Arabic languages. His acquisi-
tion of the two former was occasioned by his desire to satisfy the
curiosity of one of his associates, who had in his possession many
books which were printed in Paris, with the contents of which
he was unacquainted ; he learnt the Hebrew that he might read
the Bible in the original ; and the Persian and Arabic with the
design of answering a question which had been started at the
dinner-table — Whether there were as marked differences amongst
the Eastern languages as there were amongst European.

I feel it necessary to state, that I am now writing from au-
thentic documents, before I add that, whilst he was making such
unheard of progress in the languages, Ycung, during his walks
around Compton, was seized with a violent passion for botany,
and that destitute of those means of magnifying, which naturalists
are in the habit of using when they wish to examine the more
delicate parts of plants, he undertook himself to construct a mi-
croscope, wiihout any other help than a description of this in-
strument which is given by Benjamin Martin ; and that to ar-
rive at the accomplishment of his wishes, he had first to acquire
much dexterity in the art of turning ; and then, the algebraical
formulas of the optician having presented to him symbols of
which he had no idea (the symbols of fluxions), he was for a
time in great perplexity ; but that, finally, not wishing to give
up the magnifying of the pistils and stamina, he found it easier
to apprehend the differential calculus, and so to understand the
unlucky formula, than to send to the neighbouring town to buy
a microscope.

Biographical Memoir ofDr Thomas Young, 217

The eager activity of the young philosopher had seduced him
beyond the limits of his strength, and, at the age of fourteen, his
health was most seriously injured. The symptoms led to the
belief that his lungs were affected ; but the threatening appear-
ances yielded under professional advice, and the anxious care
which his relatives exercised towards the invalid.

It often happens with our neighbours beyond the Channel,
that a gentleman who can afford it, when he intrusts his child to
the care of a private tutor, seeks, among the boys of his ac-
quaintance, for an associate who is already known for his
abilities and acquirements. It was on this footing that Young,
in 1787, became the fellow-scholar of the grandson of Mr David
Barclay of Youngsbury in Hertfordshire. On the day of his
arrival, Mr Barclay, who, without doubt, felt no disposition to
be too exacting with a scholar of fourteen years of age, gave him
a number of phrases to copy, that he might ascertain how he
could write. Young, somewhat humbled perhaps by this kind
of experiment, asked permission to retire into the next room.
Being longer absent than the copying seemed to require, Mr
Barclay began to amuse himself at the expense of the little
quaker, when at length he appeared. The copy was exceeding-
ly well written, — a writing-master could not have done it better.
With regard to the delay, there was no ground for complaint,
for the little quaker, as Mr Barclay called him, had not only
transcribed the given English phrases, but had, moreover, trans-
lated them into nine diff^erent languages !

The preceptor, or, as he is called in Britain, the tutor^ whose
business it was to conduct the education of the two scholars of
Youngsbury, was an eminent young man, who was then much
engaged in perfecting his acquaintance with ancient languages ;
he was, at a future time, the author of the CalUgraphia Grceca.
He was not slow to perceive the immense superiority of one of
his pupils, and he recognised, with the most praiseworthy mo-
desty, that, in their common studies, the true tutor was not al-
ways he who bore the name.

At this period, Young prepared, resorting always to the ori-
ginal sources of information, a detailed analysis of the numerous
systems of philosophy which were professed in the different
schools of Greece. His friends speak of this work in the highest

218 Biographical Memoir ofDr Thomas Young.

strains of admiration ; though I cannot say if the public is ever
likely to receive the benefit of it. At all events, it could not
be without its influence upon the lifeof the author, for, in giving
himself up to a minute and attentive examination of the wild
caprices which abounded in the conceptions of the Greek philo-
sophers, Young felt that the partiality he had hitherto retained
for the principles of the sect in which he was born gradually
became more feeble, although he did not separate himself entire-
ly from it till some years after, during his stay at Edinburgh.

The little circle of students of Youngsbury was in the habit
of quitting Hertfordshire for some months during the winter,
and resorting to London. On one of these occasions Young
encountered an instructor who was worthy of him. He was ini-
tiated into chemistry by Dr Higgins, whose name I am the more
solicitous to introduce here, because, in spite of his many inac-
curacies, we should be unjust not to admit the useful part which
he took in the theory of definite proportions, one of the most
beautiful acquisitions of modern chemistry.

Dr Brocklesby, the maternal uncle of Young, and one of the
most celebrated physicians in London, justly proud of the bril-
liant success of his young relative, occasionally communicated
his compositions to the men of science and literature, whose ap-
probation might have flattered his vanity. In this way Young
early found himself in personal communication with the cele-
brated Burke and Windham, members of the House of Com-
mons, and with the Duke of Richmond. The Duke, who was
at the time Master of the Ordnance, offered him the situation of
his assistant secretary. The two other politicians, though they
also wished to attach him to the public service, recommended
him first to go to Cambridge for a time, to study law. With so
many powerful patrons, Young might readily have reckoned on
one of those lucrative posts which persons in office are not slow
to confer upon those who can save them from the trouble of all
study or application, and who can supply them daily with the
means of shining at court, in the council, or the senate, and with-
out ever compromising their vanity by indiscretion. But Young,
fortunately, had a conviction of his own powers ; he felt within
him the germ of those brilliant discoveries which have since so
much distinguished his name ; and he preferred the laborious

Biographical Memoir ofDr Thomas Young. 219

but independent career of a man of letters, to the golden chains
which were displayed before his eyes. His, then, be the ho-
nour I and let his example serve as a lesson to many of our
young men whom the love of power diverts from their noble
vocation, to transform them into the mere drudges of office ; let
them, like Young, fix their thoughts upon the future, and not
sacrifice to the worthless, and withal fleeting, satisfaction of
being surrounded with suitors, those proofs of esteem and gra-
titude which the public rarely fails to pay to intellectual labours
of a high character ; and if it happen that, from the illusions
of inexperience, they should feel that we have prescribed for
them too great a sacrifice, we would ask them to receive a lesson
concerning ambition from the mouth of that great captain, whose
ambition knew no bounds, — to meditate upon the words which
the first consul, the hero of Marengo, addressed to one of our
most honourable colleagues (M. Lemercier), at a time when he
refused (a common practice with him) a very important place,
that of counsellor of state: — " I understand, sir! you love let-
ters, and you would devote yourself entirely to them. I cannot
oppose this resolution. For myself, do not suppose that, had
I not become generalissimo, and the instrument of the desti-
nies of this great nation, I should ever have subjected myself
to the drudgeries of office, and put myself in the state of de-
pendence of those who do so, in the quality of minister or^of
ambassador ? No, no ! I should have devoted myself to the
study of the exact sciences. T should have followed the route
of Galileo and of Newton. And since I have succeeded injmy
grand enterprises, I should also have distinguished myself by
my scientific labours. I should have left the recollection of my
great discoveries. No other glory would have tempted my am-
bition.''

Young made choice of the medical profession, in which he
hoped to find fortune and independence. His medical studies
were begun in London, under Baillie and Cruickshank ; he con-
tinued them in Edinburgh, where Black, Munro, and Gregory
then shone ; and at Gottingen, in the year 1795, he took his
doctor's degree. Before submitting himself to this foolish for-
mality, which is nevertheless so imperiously required, Young,
still a youth, had made himself known to the scientific world by

220 Biographical Memoir ofDr Thomas Young.

a notice concerning the gum Ladanum ; by the controversy he
maintained with Eeddoes on the subject of Crawford's theory of
caloric ; by a memoir concerning the habits of spiders, and the
system of Fabricius, all of which were enriched by much learn-
ed research; and, finally, by a work on which I shall dwell
somewhat longer, on account of its great merit, of the extraor-
dinary favour with which it was first received, and the great
neglect into which it has since fallen.

The Royal Society of London enjoys, throughout the three
kingdoms, a very high and well-merited consideration. The
Phihsophical Transactions have been, for a century and a half,
the glorious archives in which British genius considers it ho-
nourable to deposit its claims to the gratitude of posterity. The
desire to see his name inscribed in the list of the contributors to
this truly national collection, along with those of Newton, Brad-
ley, Triestley, and Cavendish, has ever been, among the stu-
dents of the celebrated universities of Cambridge and Oxford,
of Edinburgh and Dublin, the most lively as the most legitimate
subject of emulation. This, however, is the last limit of the
ambition of the man of science ; he aspires to it only on the oc-
casion of some first-rate work ; and the early essays of his youth
reach the public by a way better fitted to their importance,
through the means of those numerous Journals and Reviews,
which have so much contributed among our neighbours to the
progress of human science. Such is the common course of
things; and such, consequently, was not the course of Dr
Young. At the age of twenty, he sent a memoir to the Royal
Society; the Council, composed of the most illustrious men of
the day, honoured the work with its approbation, and it soon
appeared in the Transactions of the Society. In it the author
treated upon vision.

The subject was any thing but new. Plato and his disciples,
four centuries before the Christian era, were engaged with its
consideration : but at present their ideas could be cited for
scarcely any other purpose than to justify the celebrated and
not very flattering sentence of Cicero, " That no opinion is so
absurd as not to have found some philosopher to support it.""

After an interval of two thousand years, we must transport
ourselves from Greece to Italy before we can find any ideas

Biographical Memoir ofDr Thomas Young. 221

on the interesting subject of vision which deserve the attention
of the historian. There (without however, Hke the philoso-
pher of ^Egina, having haughtily interdicted from his school
those who were not geometers), the prudent experimenters
pointed out the only road by which man can succeed, without
committing errors, in the conquest of unknown regions ; it was
there that Maurolycus and Porta proclaimed to their cotem-
poraries, that the problem to discover that which is, presents
so many difficulties, that it is at least presumptuous for any
to throw themselves " into the ivorld of intelligihles,^ and to
seek for what ought to be ; it was there that the two celebrated
countrymen of Archimedes tried to unveil the part performed
by the different media of which the eye is composed, and to
shew that they were willing, as were Galileo and Newton af-
terwards, not to raise themselves above that knowledge which
might be elaborated or controlled by the senses, and which,
under the portico of the academy, was stigmatized by the dis-
dainful epithet of a simple opinion. Such, however, is human
weakness, that, after having followed, with extraordinary suc-
cess, the principal inflections of the rays of light across the cor-
nea and the crystalline lens, Maurolycus and Porta, when on
the point of attaining their end, stopped all of a sudden, as be-
fore an insurmountable difficulty, when they found their theory
opposed by the opinion that objects should appear to the mind
reversed, if the images in the eye were turned upside down.
The bold genius of Kepler, however, did not allow him to be so
staggered. It was from metaphysical reasoning (psychology)
that the attack originated, and it was by reasoning, clear, pre-
cise, and mathematical, that the objection was overturned. Un-
der the powerful hand of this great man, the eye became pre-
cisely the simple optical apparatus, known under the name of
the camera ohscura; the retina the surface on which the picture
is reflected ; the crystalline humour being in the place of a com-
mon lens.

This comparison, which has been generally adopted since the
days of Kepler, gives rise to only one difficulty. The camera oh-
scura, as in a common telescope, must be put at its right focus,
according to the distance of the objects. When these objects
approach, it is necessary to withdraw the reflecting surface from

222 Biographical Memoir of Dr Thomas Young.

the lens, and a contrary movement becomes necessary if the ob-
jects remove farther off. To preserve to the images, then, all
the necessary distinctness, without changing the position of the
surface which receives them, is impossible, unless the curve of a
lens varies ; that increases when we look at near objects, and di-
minishes when we look at distant ones.

Amongst the various methods of attaining distinct images, na-
ture has necessarily made choice of one; for man can see with the
greatest accuracy at distances which are very different. The
question thus introduced has been a subject of keen research
and discussion among philosophers, and many illustrious men
have taken part in the debate.

Kepler, Descartes, and many others, have maintained that the
whole of the globe of the eye is susceptible of being flattened
and elongated.

Forterjield, Zinn, and others, have supposed that the crystal-
line was moveable, and, as required, could move nearer to or far-
ther from the retina.

Jurin, Miischenhroek, and others, thought that there was a
change in the curvature of the cornea ; while Sauvages, Bour-
delot, &c. also maintained a change of curvature, but only in the
crystalline. This last is the opinion of Young ; and two me-
moirs which he successively presented to the Royal Society of
London, contain its complete development.

In the former, the question is investigated principally in an
anatomical point of view. Here Young demonstrated, by means
of direct and very delicate instruments, that the crystalline is
endowed with a fibrous or muscular constitution which is admi-
rably adapted to all varieties of change of form ; and this disco-
very overturned the only solid objection which previously had
existed against the hypothesis of Sauvages, &c. Scarcely was
this discovery pubHshed, when Hunter claimed it as his own ;
and by so doing, the celebrated anatomist promoted the interest
of the young physician, because his memoir had never been pub-
lished, and had been communicated to no one. But this part
of the discussion speedily lost its interest ; for it was soon de-
monstrated that Leeuwenhoek, by means of his poweful mi-
croscopes, had previously observed and represented, in all their
ramifications, the muscular fibres of the crystalline of a fish. To

Biographical Memoir q/'Dr Thomas Young. 223

awaken afresh public attention, which had been exhausted by so
many debates, nothing more was necessary than the high cele-
brity of two other members of the Royal Society, who now en-
tered the lists. The one was a well-known anatomist, and the
other the most celebrated artist of whom England can boast.
They combined their efforts for the purpose of establishing unal-
terably the form of the crystalline lens. The learned world would
not readily suspect that Sir E. Home and Ramsden together,
could make inaccurate experiments, or could be deceived in mi-
croscopic measurements. Young himself thought it impossible,
and therefore did not hesitate publicly to give up his theory.
This willingness to allow himself beaten, so rare in a young man
of twenty-five, is still rarer on the occasion of a first publication,
and was therefore almost an unexampled proof of modesty.
But, in truth, Young had nothing to retract. In 1800, after
withdrawing his disavowal, he propounded anew his theory of
the formation of the crystalline, in a paper to which, since, no
serious objection has been made.

Nothing is more simple than his argument, and nothing more
ingenious than his experiments. Young first rejected the hypo-
thesis of a change in the curve of the cornea, by the assistance
of microscopic observations, which would have made the slightest
variations appreciable ; or, to express it otherwise, he placed the
eye in particular conditions, in which the change of the curve
could have no effect, — he plunged it in water, and proved that
then the power of seeing at different distances remained com-
plete.

The second of these possible suppositions, that of an altera-
tion in the dimensions of the organ, is then" overturned by a se-
ries of objections and experiments, to which it would be difficult
not to yield. And thus the problem becomes irrevocably settled ;
for who, in truth, does not see that if, of three possible solutions
two have been rejected, the third becomes necessary, — that the
radius of the curve of the cornea, and the longitudinal diameter
of the eye, being unalterable, the shape of the crystalline itself
must necessarily change ? Young, however, did not stop there ; he
proved directly, by the minute phenomena of the disarrangement
of images, that the crystalline really changes its curve. He in-
vented, or at least improved, an instrument which might be used

224 Biographical Memoir of' Dr Thomas Young.

by persons of the least intelligence, and not at all accustomed to
delicate experiments ; and, armed with this new means of in-
vestigation, he convinced himself that all those who had been
deprived of their crystalline lens, by its being extracted for ca-
taract, did not possess the faculty of seeing distinctly at different
distances.

We may be truly surprised that this admirable theory of vi-
sion, this net-work so cunningly wrought, where acute rea-
soning and most ingenious experiments so beautifully support
each other, does not occupy in science the distinguished place
which is due to it : but for the explanation of this anomaly there
is no necessity of going very far — and Young was not, as he
used often with grief to declare, another Cassander who was pro-
claiming new truths, which his ungrateful contemporaries refused
to receive. Though less poetic, it would, I believe, be more
true to remark that the discoveries of Young have never been
known to the great majority of those who would have been able
to appreciate them. The physiologists did not read his beauti-
ful memoir, for it presupposes more mathematical knowledge
than is usually cultivated in the faculties; and the philoso-
phers again neglected it, in their turn, because in oral dis-
courses or in printed works, the public scarcely requires
more than those superficial views which a common mind can
grasp without fatigue. In all this, whatever may have been
the opinion of our learned colleague, we see nothing pecu-
liar ; like all those who sound the greatest depths of science,
he has been misunderstood by the crowd ; but the applause of
many illustrious men should be his consolation. In a case of
this sort, we should not count the suffrages, but should weigh
them.

The most beautiful discovery of Dr Young, and that which
will make his name imperishable, was suggested to him by an
object apparently very trifling, viz. by those soap-bubbles, so
brilliantly coloured, so light, and which, with difficulty escaping
from the tobacco-pipe of the school-boy, become the sport of
the most imperceptible currents of air. Before such an en-
lightened audience as this, the difficulty of producing a phe-
nomenon, its rarity, and its usefulness in the arts, are not
the necessary indications of its importance in science. I have

Biographical Memoir of Dr Thomas Young. 225

without scruple, then, attached to the plaything of a child, the
discovery which I am about to analyze, with the assurance that
it will not suffer from its connection with this origin. At all
events, I have no occasion to call to recollection, either the ap-
ple which, leaving the branch on which it grew, and falling un-
expectedly at the feet of Newton, directed the thoughts of this
great man to the simple but pregnant laws which regulate the
movements of the stars ; nor to the divided frog to which
Physics has been recently so much indebted in the wondrous
pile of Volta. In truth, without even pronouncing the name of
soap-bubbles, I might have supposed that a philosopher had
chosen for the subject of his experiments distilled water, that is
to say, a liquid which, in its pure state, exhibits only the slight-
est tints of blue and green, and then only when seen in thick
masses. What then, would have been the thought of his vera-
city, if he announced, without any further explanation, that
to this limpid water he could, at will, communicate the most
resplendent colours ; that he knew how to make it violet, blue
and green ; that he knew how to make it yellow like lemon-peel,
and red like scarlet, without altering its purity, or mixing it
with any foreign body, or even without changing the propor-
tions of its principal gaseous constituents ? The public would
assuredly consider the philosopher unworthy of all credit when,
after so many strange propositions, he should moreover add, that,
to produce the colour in the water, all that was necessary was
to reduce it to the state of a thin pellicle ; and that thinness
may thus be regarded as synonymous with coloured; that the
transition of each tint to a tint the most different is a necessary
consequence of a simple variation of the thickness of the liquid
lamina ; and that this variation, in the transition of the red to
the green ray, for example, is not more than the thousandth
part of the thickness of a hair ! Well then, these incredible
theorems are nothing more than the inevitable consequences of
the properties of the colouring which are presented by the soap-
bubbles, and even by the very thin laminae of all kinds of
bodies.

That we may comprehend how such extraordinary pheno-
mena have, for more than two thousand years, daily presented
themselves to the eyes of philosophers, without exciting their at.

226 Biographical Memoir ofDr TJtomas Young

tention, we have only to remember to how small a number of
persons Nature has imparted the valuable faculty of being as-
tonished upon fitting occasions.

Boyle was the first to open up this rich mine. He neverthe-
less confined himself to a minute description of the various cir-
cumstances which produce the rainbow. His associate Hooke
went farther. He believed that he had discovered the cayse
of this kind of colouring in the mutual crossing of the rays, or,
to adopt his own language, in the mutual crossings of the waves
reflected by the two surfaces of the thin plate. This, as we
shall see, was a mark of his genius ; but it could not be appre-
ciated at a time when the complex nature of white light was not
yet known.

Newton made the colours of thin plates the object of his fa-
vourite study. He devoted a whole book of his celebrated
treatise on optics to them ; and established the laws of their for-
mation by an admirable suite of experiments which has hitherto
been excelled by no one. By illuminating with homogeneous
light the regular small coloured rings which Hooke had already
mentioned, and which were produced around the point of con-
tact of two superimposed glass-lenses, he proved that, for each
kind of simple colour, there exists, for thin laminae of every sort,
certain thicknesses at which no light is reflected. This result was
of fundamental importance, as it contained the key of all these
phenomena.

Newton was less happy in the theoretic views which this re»
markable observation suggested to him. To say, with him,
of a luminous ray which is reflected, that it is in a Jit of easy
reflection ; and to say of a ray which entirely traverses the plate
that it is in a Jit of easy transmission, is nothing more than to
announce in obscure terms that which the experiment of the
two lenses had previously shewn.

The theory of Thomas Young was not liable to this objec-
tion. In it he did not admit^^* of any kind, as an original pro-
perty of rays ; and the thin plate was moreover assimilated, in all
respects, to a thick mirror composed of the same materials. If in
some of these points^ no light was seen. Young did not thence
conclude that its reflection had ceased in these points, but sup-
posed that, in the peculiar directions of these points, the rays

Biographical Memoir ofDr Thomas Young. 227

reflected by the second surface, encountering the rays reflected
by the first, were completely annihilated. It is this conflict of
the rays which the author designated by the name, now so fa-
mous, of interference.

This, then, beyond contradiction is a most strange hypothesis.
Who would not be surprised to find darkness in the sun's rays,
— in points which the rays of the luminary freely reach ; and
who would imagine that any one could suppose that the dark-
ness could be produced by light being added to light !

A philosopher may well be proud when he can announce a
result, which to such an extent as this surprises our common
apprehensions ; but he ought, without delay, to support it with
demonstrative proofs, under the risk of being compared to those
Eastern writers, whose wild reveries so much delighted for a
thousand and one nights the sultan Schahriar.

But Young had not this prudence ; and at first he only de-
monstrated that his theory would explain the phenomena, and
proceeded no farther than possibilities. So that when, at a later
period, he proceeded to his positive proofs, the public had
adopted prejudices which he could no longer overcome. It is
nevertheless true that the experiment upon which our learned
colleague at that time founded his memorable discovery, places
it beyond the shadow of a doubt.

Two rays coming from the same source may proceed by
routes somewhat different, and may cross at a certain point in
space. If in this point we place a sheet of fine paper, each ray,
taken alone, will illuminate it brightly ; but when the two rays
unite — when they arrive simultaneously upon the paper — all il-
lumination disappears, and the most complete darkness takes the
place of light.

Two rays do not, however, always completely destroy each
other in the point of intersection. Sometimes there is only a
partial obscuration ; and sometimes the one ray is added to the
other. Every thing depends on the difference of the lengths of
the course which they have run ; and that according to very
simple laws, the discovery of which would at any time have been
sufficient to have immortalized any philosopher.

The differences in the course which produces among rays
those conflicts which are accompanied with their entire destruc-

228 Biographical Memoir of Dr Thomas Young,

tion, differ in amount for lights differently coloured. When
two white rays cross each other, it is then possible that one of
their principal component parts, the red ray for example, may
alone be in those circumstances in which it will be destroyed.
But white deprived of red becomes green ! This luminous in-
terference, then, manifests itself by the phenomena of coloration;
and thus the different elementary colours exhibit themselves,
without a prism having separated them. And now then, let it
be well considered, that there does not exist a single point of
space where a thousand rays of the same origin do not cross af-
ter being reflected more or less obliquely ; and then we may at
once perceive all the extent of that unexplained region which
the doctrine of interferences opens up to the investigations of
philosophers.

At the time when Dr Young published this theory, many of
the phenomena of recurrent colours had already presented them-
selves to the attention of observers; and, we must add, had re-
mained wholly unexplained. Among the number we may men-
tion those which are formed by reflection, not more on thin pel-
licles than on thick mirrors of glass which are somewhat curved;
also the iridescent bands of different sizes with which the sha-
dows of bodies are fringed externally, and sometimes covered
internally, which Grimaldi first perceived, and which also exer-
cised the genius of Newton, but the satisfactory theory of which
was proposed by Fresnel ; also the red and green coloured
arches, more or less numerous, which are seen immediately
underneath the seven prismatic colours composing the principal
rainbow in the sky, and which had appeared so completely in-
explicable, that philosophers had ceased to make any mention
of them in the common treatises on physics; and finally, those
coronas of marked colours, with diameters perpetually varying,
which often appear round the sun and the moon. And when
I remember that there are those who do not value scientific
theories, except so far as they have an immediate practical ap-
plication, I must not terminate this enumeration of the pheno-
mena which characterize the more or less numerous series of pe-
riodic colours, without mentioning those rings which are so re-
markable for the regularity of their form, and the purity of their

2

Biographical Memoir ofDr Thomas Voimg. 229

colours, with which every strong light seems to be surrounded
when it is looked at through a mass of floating motes, or of minute
filaments which are of equal dimensions. It was these rings in
truth, that suggested to Young the idea of an extremely simple
instrument which he called Eriometer, and with which we can
measure without difficulty the dimensions of the most minute
bodies. The Eriometer, which is yet but little known among
observers, has an immense advantage over the microscope, in
that, in a moment, it supplies us with the mean size of the mil-
lions of particles which are found in the field of vision. It,
moreover, possesses the singular property of giving no indica-
tion when the particles differ very much among themselves, and
when the determination of the question could be of no real bene-
fit. Young applied his eriometer to the measurement of the
globules of the blood in the different classes of animals, — to
that of the fine dust of various species of vegetables, and also
to measure the fineness of the fleecy fibres employed in the ma-
nufacture of goods, from that of the hair of the beaver, the finest
of all, to that of the fleece of the sheep of the Sussex breed,
which was placed at the other extremity of the scale, and the
filaments of which were four and a half times as thick as the
hair of the beaver.

Previous to the time of Young, the numerous phenomena re*
specting coloration, to which we have been alluding, were not
only inexplicable, but could not in any way be associated with
each other. Newton, for example, who was so long engaged
with the subject, did not see any connection between the irises
of these laminae, and the colours of the spectrum. Young
shewed that these two kinds of coloured striae were only diffe^
rent effects of interference. At a subsequent period, when
chromatic polarization had been discovered, he deduced from
some measurements of thickness, some remarkable numerical
analogies, which led to a strong presumption that, sooner or
later, this extraordinary kind of polarization will be connected
with his doctrine. Before that takes place, however, we must
allow, there is a great void to fill up. Important properties of
light which were then wholly unknown, did not allow the sup-
position that in certain crystals, &c. double refraction would

VOL. XX. NO. XL. APRIL 1836. Q

880 Biographical Memoir of Br TJiomas Young.

produce peculiarities by those destructions of light which re-
suit from the crossings of two pencils ; Young, however, had
the honour of opening the way in this career, and he commenced
the deciphering these hieroglyphics of optics.

(To this succeeds an account of his discoveries in hierogly-
phics, which we presented to our readers in our 19th volume,
and on which now, therefore, we need not dwell.)

The limits to which I am confined, do not allow me even to
quote the simple titles of many of the writings which Dr Young
published. The mere announcement of so rich and varied a
catalogue, is sufficient to establish the high character of our
learned associate. Who is there, in truth, but would suppose,
that we were giving the list of the labours of several academies,
and not those of a single person, when he heard the following
enumeration of distinct titles ; — Memoir on the forges, where
iron is wrought — Essays on music and painting — Researches on
the habits of spiders, and on the system of Fabricius — On the
stability of the arches of bridges — Upon the atmosphere of the
moon — Description of a new species of opercularia — Mathematical
theory of epicycloid al curves — On the restoration and translation
of certain Grecian inscriptions — On the means of strengthening
the frame-work of ships of the line — On the play of the heart
and arteries in the phenomena of circulation — Theory of tides
— On the diseases of the chest — On friction in the axis of ma-
chines— On the yellow fever — On the calculation of echpses —
Essay on grammar, &c.

These labours, so numerous and varied, would seem to have
required the laborious and retired life of one of those geniuses
who is almost lost to those around him, and who, from their
early youth, detach themselves from all their cotemporaries,
and bury themselves in their studies. But far from this, Young
was what is usually called a man of the world. He was a fre-
quent ornament of the most brilliant circles in London. The
graceful elegance of his mind and manners, would have amply
sufficed to have conferred distinction in these ; but when we
moreover consider that in these numerous meetings there may
be some fifty subjects which, in their turn, are all discussed in
a few hours, the value of such a living library will be easily
perceived, where every one could at the moment find an accu-

Biographical Memoir of' Dr Thomas Young. 231

rate and satisfactory answer upon questions of every kind which
might be proposed to him.

Young was deeply conversant with the arts. Many of his
memoirs testify the profound knowledge he had early acquired
of the theory of music. He was also an excellent performer,
and I believe there was not a couple of known instruments, even
including the Scotch bagpipe, on which he could not play. His
taste for painting appeared during his stay in Germany. It
was there that the magnificent collection of Dresden wholly ab-
sorbed him, for he did not only aspire to the easy acquirements
of knowing to a certainty the name of the painter of every pic-
ture, but the characteristic features and defects of all the great
masters, their frequent changes of style, the material objects
with which they worked, and all the modifications which these
objects, and amongst others the colours, underwent in the course
of time, occupied him in their turn. In a word. Young studied
painting in Saxony, as formerly he had studied languages in his
own country ; and as afterwards he studied all the sciences.
Every thing was in his view a subject of meditation and research.
His college companions used to narrate a laughable example of
this tendency of his mind. They state that one day on going
into his room at Edinburgh, after he had for the first time re-
ceived his dancing master's instructions on the minuet, they
found him engaged in tracing, with rule and compass, the va-
rious crossings of the two dancers, and the various improve-
ments which he thought might be introduced.

Young very early borrowed from the Quakers, to whose sect
he then belonged, the opinion that the intellectual faculties of
children usually differ far less than is usually supposed. That
which one man has done another may do, had become his favour-
ite maxim, and never did he decline any personal proofs to
which he was desired to submit his system. The first time he
mounted on horseback, in company with the grandson of Mr
Barclay, the groom who followed them cleared a six-bar gate.
Young immediately tried to follow him, but was thrown to the
distance of ten feet. He got up without saying a word, made
a second attempt, was again unseated, but stuck to his steed ; a
third time he tried it, and as his favourite thesis required, suc-

(i2

2J52 Biographical Memoir of Br Thomas Young,

cceded in doing what had been done before him. This experi-
ment need not have been cited here, had it not been again re-
peated first at Edinburgh, and then at Gottingen, and push-
ed farther than would perhaps be generally credited. In one
of these towns, Young, after a very short preparation, made
a trial of his skill with a renowned rope-dancer ; in the other,
and always in consequence of a challenge being made him, he
acquired the art of horsemanship to a most extraordinary ex-
tent, and which certainly attracted attention, in the midst of
first-rate performers, whose feats every evening attracted nu-
merous spectators to the Circus of Eranconi. Thus, those who
delight in making contrasts may, on one side, picture to them-
selves Newton, the timid Newton, apprehensive of entering a
carriage, lest it should be overturned, with his arms extended,
and his two hands grasping the doors ; and, on the other, his
illustrious rival galloping erect upon two horses, with all the
confidence of a professional equestrian.

In England, a physician, if he wishes not to lose the public
confidence, must abstain from engaging in all scientific and lite-
rary research which appears to be foreign to the healing art.
For long, Young sacrificed to this prejudice, and his writings
appeared anonymously. This veil, it is true, was very thin ;
two contiguous letters of a certain Latin device successively ser-
ved, in a regular order, as the signature for each memoir ; but
Young communicated the three Latin words to all his friends,
domestic and foreign, without imposing secrecy. Besides, who
could be ignorant that the illustrious author of the Theory of
Interferences was the foreign secretary of the Royal Society of
London ; that he gave in the amphitheatre of the Royal Insti-
tution a general course of mathematical physics; that, associated
with Sir H. Davy, he published the Journal of Science, &c. &c. ;
and besides, we must remark that the anonymous character was not
regularly maintained, except for his lesser memoirs. On important
occasions, as for example, when there appeared, in 1807, the two
volumes in 4to of 800 or 900 pages each, where all the branches
of natural philosophy are treated in a manner so new and pro-
found, the amour-propre of the author obliterated the interests
of the physician, and the name of Young, in large characters, re-
placed the two small italic letters, whose turn it was to have then

Biographical Memoir ofDr Thomas Young, 233

appeared, and which, it must be confessed, would have cut rather
a* ridiculous figure on the title-page of this colossal work.

Dr Young then, either in London, or at Worthing, where
he used to spend the summer months, had never an extensive
practice. The public regarded him as over-wise ! We must
even state, that his lectures in medicine, those, for example,
which he gave at St George's Hospital, were never popular. In
explanation of this, it has been remarked, that the lectures were
over-full, and too substantial, and that they exceeded the capa-
city of ordinary intelligences ! But might not this want of suc-
cess rather be attributed to the freeness, but seldom met, with
which Young pointed out the inextricable difficulties which are
encountered at every step in the study of the numerous disor-
ders to which our feeble frame is subject ?

Could it be thought, especially at a time when every one is
anxious to gain his end speedily, and with little fatigue, that a
lecturer on medicine could retain a numerous class, if he com-
commenced with such words as we now quote from Dr Young :
*' No study is so complicated as that of physic. It surpasses
the limits of human intelligence. Those physicians who rush
forward, without attempting to comprehend what they see, are
often as near the mark as those who engage in acute generaliza-
tions, based upon observations, in regard of which all analogy
is defective." And if the professor, continuing the same strain,
were to add : " In medical lotteries, the chance of him who pos-
sesses ten tickets, must evidently be greater than that of him
who has only five." When they believed themselves engaged in
a lottery, those of his auditors whom the former sentence had
not dismissed, would be but little disposed to make great exer-
tions to procure more tickets, or, to explain the thoughts of our
learned associate, the greatest possible quantity of knowledge.

In spite of all his knowledge, and perhaps even on account of
its immensity, Dr Young had no confidence at the bedside of a
patient. At that moment, the troublesome effects which might
eventually result from the action of the medicine, which was
most clearly indicated, would crowd upon his mind, — would
equal the favourable eifects which might be anticipated from it,
and would overwhelm him with indecision, perhaps not unna-
tural, but which the public interprets greatly to the prejudice

^4> Biographical Memoir of Dr Thomas Youtig.

of him who exhibits il. The same timidity is exhibited in all
the works which Dr Young wrote on medical subjects. This
«ian, so eminently remarkable for the boldness of his scientific
views, now gave only simple catalogues of facts. He seemed
scarcely convinced of the truth of his position, whether, when
he attacked the celebrated Dr Radcliffe, whose only secret, in
the most brilliant and successful practice, had been, as he him-
self declared, to employ the remedies which would check the
■symptoms ; or, where he combated Dr Brown, who had found
himself, he remarked, under the disagreeable necessity of recog-
nizing, and that according to official documents of an hospital
confided to the care of justly celebrated physicians, that, upon
the whole, those fevers which are left to their natural course, are
neither more severe, nor of longer continuance, than those which
are treated with the most consummate art.

In the year 1818, Dr Young having been appointed Secre-
tary of the Board of Longitude, almost entirely abandoned the
practice of medicine, that he might devote himself to the minute
superintendence of the celebrated periodical, known under the
name of the Nautical Almanac. From this epoch, the Jour-
nal of the Royal Institution gave, every three months, nume-
rous dissertations upon the most important problems of the
nautical art, and on astronomy. A volume, entitled " Illustra-
tions of' the Mecanique Celeste of Laplace ^ and a learned dis-
sertation upon the Tides ^ would have fully attested that Dr
Young did not consider the employment he had recently ac-
cepted as a sinecure. And, notwithstanding, this situation was
to him a source of endless disgust. The Nautical Almanac
had been, from its origin, a work exclusively intended for the
service of the Navy. Some individuals insisted that it should
also be made a complete astronomical ephemeris. The Board
of Longitude, right or wrong, not having appeared particularly
to favour the projected change, was speedily made the object of
the most violent attacks. Journals of every colour. Whig and
Tory, engaged in the discussion. There was no longer to be
found in the union of Davy, WoUaston, Young, Herschel, Ka-
ter, and Pond, any thing else than an assemblage of individuals
(I quote literally), " who were under Beotian irifluence ^ the
Nautical Almanac, formerly so famous, was become an object

Bio^ raphical Memoir of Dr Thomas Young, 235

of shame to the English nation ; if there was discovered a typo-
graphical error in it, as there ever has been, and ever will be,
in any large collection of figures, the British Navy, from the
smallest vessel to the largest three-decker, misled by the errone-
ous cipher, would assuredly be engulfed in the mighty deep.

It has been asserted that the principal promoter of these ex-
aggerated follies never discovered so many grave errors in the
Nautical Almanac, until after he had ineffectually endeavoured
to get himself made a member of the Board of Longitude. I do
not pledge myself for the accuracy of this statement; and at all
events, I will not make myself the instrument of propagating
the malicious remarks to which it gave rise. I ought not, in
truth, to forget, that for many years the member of the Royal
Society who is here pointed at, nobly consecrated a portion of
his brilliant fortune to the advancement of science. This praise-
worthy astronomer, like all learned men whose thoughts are con-
centrated upon a single object, had the misfortune, which I do
not pretend to excuse, to measure through magnifying glasses
the importance of those projects which originated with himself;
but the point on which he is principally to be blamed is, that
he did not perceive that the exaggerations of his disputes would
be taken up in serious earnest ; that he forgot that, in all times,
and in all countries, there exists a great number of individuals
who, inconsolable on account of their own insignificance, seize
as their prey every opportunity of scandal, and, under the mask
of the, public welfare, are delighted to become the base Zoiluses
of those among their cotemporaries whose fame proclaims their
merit. At Rome, he who was appointed to insult the victor
during his triumph, was nothing better than a slave; but in
London, it was a member of the House of Commons who offer-
ed a cruel affront to these learned and illustrious individuals.
An orator, who was previously celebrated for his prepossessions,
but who had hitherto vented his spleen only on productions of
French origin, attacked the most eminent men of England, and
uttered against them, before Parliament, the most puerile accusa-
tions with laughable gravity. The ministry, whose eloquence
was exercised for whole hours upon the privileges of rotten
boroughs, did not utter a single word in favour of genius; and,
finally, the Board of Longitude was suppressed without opposi-

236 Biographical Memoir ofDr Thcmias Young.

tion. Next day, it is true, the necessities of a numerous Navy
caused its voice imperatively to be heard, and one of the learned
men who had been deprived of his office, the former secretary
of the Board, Dr Young himself, was again called to resume Iiis
former labours. But it was a most inadequate reparation. The
learned secretary, at least, should not have been separated from
his colleagues ; nor should this sensitive individual, rich in all
the fruits of human intelligence, have been rated before the re-
presentatives of his country, like so much sugar, coffee, or pep-
per, in pounds, shillings, and pence.

The health of our foreign associate, which previously was in
a very precarious condition, began, from this sad epoch, to de-
cline with a fearful rapidity. The able physicians who attended
him very soon lost all hope. Young himself had a strong con-
viction of his approaching end, and waited its approach with the
greatest composure. Till his last hour he was unremittingly
occupied with an Egyptian Dictionary then in the press, and
which was not published till after his death. When his weak-
ness no longer permitted him to rise, or to use a pen, he corrected
the proof sheets by means of a pencil. One of the last acts of
his Hfe was to obtain the suppression of a pamphlet written with
considerable talent, by a friendly hand, and directed against
those who had assisted in destroying the Board of Longitude.

Young expired, surrounded by his family, by whom he was
much beloved, on the 10th of May 1825, having scarcely reached
the age of 56. He seemed to have died of ossification of the heart.

If I have not dwelt too long upon the interesting task which
has been imposed upon me ; and especially, if I have given that
prominency which I wish, to the importance and the novelty of
the admirable law of the Interference of Light, Young must now
appear in your eyes as one of the most illustrious men of his
day, of whom England may justly be proud. Your imagina-
tions, anticipating my words, have already seen in the recital of
the honours justly bestowed on the author of such a beautiful
discovery, the peroration of this historical notice. These antici-
pations, however, I regret to say, will not be realized. The
death of Young in his own country attracted but little regard.
No title or civil honour was ever conferred upon him, and the

Biograplticcd Memoir ofDr Thomas Young. 237

doors of Westminster Abbey, so accessible to titled mediocrity,
remained closed against the man of genius. The remains of
Young were deposited at the village of Farnborough, in the
quiet tomb of the family of his wife. The indifference of the
British nation to labours which have added so much to its glory,
is a very singular phenomenon, of which we may well be curious
to know the causes.

I should fail in fairness, and should be the panegyrist rather
than the historian, if I did not avow, that, in general, Dr Young
did not sufficiently consult the intelligence of his readers, and
that the greater number of his writings on science are faulty by
being to a certain extent obscure. And still, the neglect in which
for a long time they have been permitted to fall, has not been
owing solely to this cause.

The exact sciences have an advantage over the works of art
and imagination, which has often been pointed out. The truths
of which they consist endure for ages, without suffering from the
caprices of fashion, or from any depravation of taste. But it
is also true, that, so soon as they rise to a certain point of eleva-
tion, the number of those who can judge respecting them becomes
exceedingly limited. When Richelieu let loose against the great
Corneille a crowd of men whom his merit had made furious, the
Parisians repelled with indignation these hornets of the despotic
cardinal, and applauded the poet. But this satisfaction is re-
fused to the geometrician, the astronomer, and the philosopher,
who cultivate the highest departments of science. Those who are
competent to appreciate their labours, throughout the whole ex-
tent of Europe, never exceed the number of some eight or ten.
If, then, we should suppose that these individuals were unjust,
or indifferent, or it might be jealous, for I fear this may some-
times be witnessed, the public, reduced to the necessity of taking
everything on their testimony, might be ignorant that d' Alembert
had connected the great phenomena of the precession of the equi-
noxes with the principle of universal gravitation ; that Lagrange
had succeeded in assigning the physical cause of the libration of
the moon ; and that, since the researches of Laplace, the accele-
rated movement of this luminary is found to be connected with
a particular change in the form of the orbit of the earth, &c. &c.
The scientific journals, when they are conducted by men of

238 Biographical Memoir of Dr Thomas Young.

known merit, thus acquire, in certain matters, an influence which
often becomes highly injurious. It is thus, I think, we must
qualify that which the Edinburgh Review has sometimes ex-
ercised.

Among the contributors of this celebrated Journal, there ap-
peared, from the commencement, in the first rank, a young writer
in whom the discoveries of Newton had excited the most ardent
admiration. This feeling, so natural and fair, made him unfor-
tunately disown whatever the doctrine of interferences contained
of what was plausible, ingenious, and useful. The author of
this theory had not always, perhaps, been careful to clothe his
decisions, his decrees, and his criticisms in those poHshed terms
from which merit can never suffer, and which, besides, were an
imperative duty when he treated of the immortal author of " Na-
tural Philosophy y' The penalty of retaliation was inflicted upon
him with usury ; the Edinburgh Review attacked the scholar, the
writer, the geometrician, the experimentahst, with a vehemence
and asperity of expression, almost without example in scientific dis-
cussion. The public is generally thrown upon its guard when it
hearssuch impassioned language; but, on this occasion, it adopted,
on the moment, theopinion of the reviewer, without however giving
us reason to accuse it of levity. The reviewer, in truth, was not a
beardless Aristarchus, whose commission was not justified by any
previous study; many excellent papers, preserved in the Transac-
tions of the Ro}'al Society, testified to his mathematical know-
ledge, and had already assigned him a distinguished place among
the philosophers to whom experimental optics was indebted ; the
English bar had proclaimed him one of its most distinguished
ornaments ; the Whigs in the House of Commons saw in him the
sarcastic orator who, in their parliamentary struggles, was often
the successful antagonist of Canning ; it was, in fact, the future
Chairman of the House of Lords, the late Lord Chancellor
Brougham.*

* The newspapers having sometimes done me the honour to state the many
testimonies of kindness and friendship which Lord Brougham bestowed upon
me in 1834, both in Scotland and in Paris, a few words in explanation appear
here to be indispensable. The eloge of Dr Young was read in a public meeting
of the Academie des Sciences on the 26th of November 1 832 ; at that time I had
never had any personal intercourse with the author of these articles in the
Edinburgh Review; thus I can never, with the slightest propriety, be accused

Biographical Memoir ofDr Thomas Young. 269

And what could be opposed to the unjust criticism which pro-
ceeded from such a quarter ? I am not ignorant that there are
certain minds which derive constancy, from the conviction that
they are right ; and from the certainty that the truth will triumph,
sooner or later ; but I also know that we only act wisely in not
counting too much on such exceptions.

Listen, for example, to Galileo himself, who, after his abjura-
tion, exclaims in a whisper, *- E. pur si muove ! "" And seek
not in these immortal words any idea of the future, for they are
the expression of the bitter vexation which the illustrious old
man was suffering. Thus Young, too, in a small pamphlet in
answer to the Edinburgh Review, shewed that he was greatly
discouraged. The vivacity and vehemence of his expressions
but ill disguise the feelings which oppressed him. In conclusion,
we hasten to add that justice, complete justice, was ere long ren-
dered to the illustrious philosopher ! and for several years the
whole world regarded him as one of the principal luminaries of
our times. It was ^from France, and Young himself delighted
to proclaim it, that the signal was given for this tardy act of jus-
tice. I shall add, that, at a much earlier period, when the doc-
trine of interferences had not yet made proselytes either in Eng-
land or on the Continent, Young found in his own family one
who comprehended it, and whose suffrages must have consoled
him for the contempt of the public. This distinguished person
whom I here point out to the commendation of all the philoso-
phers of Europe, will, I trust, excuse me for my indiscretion.

In the year 1816, I passed over to England with my learned
friend M. Gay-Lussac. Fresnel had then just entered in the
most brilliant manner into the career of science by publishing his
Memoire sur la Diffraction. This work, which, according to
us, contained a capital experiment, irreconcileable with the New-

of ingratitude. It may, however, be demanded, Could you not now, at the
time of the publication of the work, entirely suppress everything which was
connected with such an unfortunate discussion ? Assuredly I could, and the
idea, in truth, occurred to me ; but I speedily dismissed it. I knew too well
the high feeling of my illustrious friend, to fear that he would take offence in
a question in which, I have the deepest conviction, that even the immense
extent of his powers has not put him above the possibility of error. The
homage which I thus pay to the noble character of my Lord Brougham, in
now publishing, without any alteration, this paper of the eloge of Young, is,
in my opinion, so significant, that I shall not attempt to say more upon the
subject.

840 Biographical Memoir of Dr Thomas Young.

tonian theory of light, naturally became the first object of our
communication with Dr Young. We were astonished at the
numerous restrictions he put upon our commendations, and in
the end he told us that the experiment about which we made so
much ado was published in his work on Natural Philosophy as
early as 1807. This assertion did not appear to us correct, and
this rendered the discussion lonoj and minute. Mrs Youno^ was
present, and did not appear to take any interest in the conversa-
tion ; but, as we knew that the fear, however puerile, of passing
for learned ladies — of being designated Blue-StocMngs — made
the English ladies very reserved in the presence of strangers, our
want of politeness did not strike us till the moment Mrs Young
rose up suddenly and left the room. We immediately offered
our most urgent apologies to her husband, when Mrs Young
returned, with an enormous quarto under her arm. It was the
first volume of the " Natural Philosophy." She placed it on the
table, opened it without saying a word at page 787, and pointed
with her finger to a figure where the curved line of the diffract-
ed bands, on which the discussion turned, appeared theoretically
established.

I hope I shall be pardoned for these little details. Too many
examples have almost accustomed the public to consider that ne-
glect, injustice, persecution, and misery, are the natural rewards
of those who laboriously consecrate their powers to the develope-
ment of the human mind. Let us not, then, forget to point out
the exceptions when they occur. If we wish our youth to devote
themselves with ardour to intellectual labour, let us shew them
that there is a glory attached to great discoveries, which some-
times allies itself to somewhat of tranquillity and happiness. Let
us even tear, if it be possible, from the history of science all those
leaves which tarnish its brightness. Let us try to persuade our-
selves that, in the dungeons of the Inquisition, a friendly voice
whispered to Galileo some of those precious epithets which pos-
terity applies to his memory ; that within the thick walls of the
Bastile, Freret was apprized by the learned world of the glorious
rank which was reserved for him amongst the scholars by whom
France is honoured ; that, before going to expire in the hospital,
BorelU sometimes found in Rome a shelter from the storm, a little
straw on which to rest his head ; and, finally, that Kepler, the
great Kepler, never endured the agonies of hunger.

( 241 )

On the Powers and Use ofKater's Altitude and Azimuth Circle,
By Mr W. Galbraith.

The importance of a small portable astronomical instrument,
for the purpose of enabling scientific travellers to determine
readily latitudes and time with sufficient precision to regulate
chronometers, and thereby to find their longitude, has been long
felt, and several expedients have been resorted to for the accom-
plishment of this end with various success. The small pocket
sextant with an artificial horizon has been long used with con-
siderable advantage. An instrument of this kind was generally
employed by the celebrated traveller Mungo Park, on which
several papers have been written, and the results of his obser-
vations form the subject of a memoir by M. D'Avezac, entitled,
Examen et rectification des positions determinees astronomique-
ment en Afrique par Mungo ParTa. This was read to the Aca-
demy of Sciences at Paris on the 19th of August 1833, and of
which an account is given in the Con?iaisance des Terns pour
1836.

The inconvenience attending the carriage and use of a mer-
curial horizon has been often complained of, and this induced
the late Captain Kater to contrive a small altitude and azimuth
circle, to be rectified by a spirit level permanently fixed to the
instrument, which seems to answer the purpose admirably. The
first of the kind the writer of these remarks had an opportunity
of seeing, was one belonging to Captain Basil Hall, and made by
T. C. Robinson, optician, Devonshire Street, Portland Place,
London. The observations made with it were susceptible of
very considerable precision, notwithstanding its moderate di-
mensions, the circles being, I believe, only about three inches in
diameter.

" With respect to my little circle," says Captain Kater, in a
letter to me of the 31st of June 1834, " there is no description
of it published, and the state of my health is such, that I can-
not undertake to do it, though I am convinced it is much
wanted. My object in its construction was perfect portability
and facility in its use, joined to a degree of accuracy sufficient
for all the purposes of a scientific traveller. I therefore limited
its diameter to three inches, and the reading to one minute.

242

Mr Galbraith on Kater'^s Azhnuth Circle.

To shew you what my little circle will do, I send you eight
single observations of the pole-star made on different evenings,
(being the whole I have made here,) with three different instru-
ments constructed for my friends. These observations might
have all been made the same evening, and the difference of the
mean from the truth is only 4."83, my latitude being very
nearly 5V 31' 91" N.''— Captain Kater then resided at No. 2
York Gate, Regents Park, London.

Observations referred to.

1. Observed latitude of York Gate,

bV

30'

54. "18

Error— 26".82

2

31

15.96

— 4.04

3

31

10.30

— 10.70

4. . .

31

31.90

+ 10.90

6. . . . .

30

59.90

—21.10

6. . . . .

31

25.00

+ 4.00

7

31

20.30

— 0.70

8. . . . .

31

31.80

+ 10.80

Mean, ....

51

31

16.17

True latitude,

51

31

21.00

Error,

4.83

" But the first observation should, by rights, be rejected,
having been made with an instrument scarcely finished, and
much out of adjustment. In that case, the mean of the re-
maining seven would be only — 1".69 from the truth. Such,
then, are the results of an observer of great experience, and
of undoubted veracity, and they shew in a remarkable manner
the great precision which may be obtained by instruments of
very moderate dimensions. In another letter previous to the
above he remarks, —

" The circle you describe as of six inches diameter is too large
for my construction. The size I recommend, and which I use,
is only three inches diameter, and in the latest construction it
has only a vertical circle, which can, however, be placed in the
plane of two objects so as to take the angle between them. The
whole is contained in a box seven inches long. Jour and a half
wide, and three deep, so that it really deserves the name I ori-
ginally gave it, of a pocket azimuth and altitude instrument.*"
Such an instrument may therefore be, we think, strongly recom-
mended to the notice of scientific travellers with perfect confi-
dence.

Mr Galbraith on Hater's Azimuth Circle.

US

We have in our possession one of those of a much more
powerful and perfect kind. The diameter is six inches, the
telescopes magnify about twenty times, and there are three
verniers to both the vertical and horizontal circles, each reading
to the accuracy of ten seconds. The scale of the level attached
to it shows thi-ee seconds, and a third, or at least a half of each
division may be easily estimated. With this instrument I was
inclined to believe, that observations, if carefully taken, might
be obtained to a very great degree of accuracy. To insure all
the precision possible, it was my practice to observe objects to
the north and south of the zenith at nearly equal distances, as
calculated most likely to destroy any casual errors in observing
or reading. The general means are deduced from successive
pairs to the north and south, and the final result is the latitude
of my residence. No. 54 South Bridge, and as it is on the same
parallel as the north front or side of Edinburgh College, it may
be also considered the latitude of that much better known
edifice.

Observations by the Writer in 1835.

1. Polar
souths

is noi

thdXi

d the Sun

55° 56' 54".9 N.

11. « Aquilse S.
Polaris N.

[• 55' 56' 63'/.8.

2.

56 67.0

12. Sun, .

. 56 55.2

3.

56 55.8

13. a, Aquilae,

. 56 56.3

4.

56 55.7

14. Sun, .

. 56 65.8

6.

56 54.9

15. Sun, .

. 56 66.6

6.

56 57.0

16. a Aquilae,

. 56 57.2

7.

56 57.2

17. a Aquilae,

. 66 57.3

a

56 65.5

18. a Aquilae,

. 56 67.3

9.

56 63.5

19. a. Pegasi,

. 56 57.8

10.

56 63.3

20. a Pegasi,

. 66 58.05

The final latitude deduced is, therefore, B^"" BQ' 58".05 N.
from 20 series to the north, and a like number to the south, and
since there were from 6 to 18 readings to each, or about 12
at a mean, the whole 40 series of observations amounted to
480 readings, or 160 different observations, the circle being re-
gularly reversed for each pair, at the same time recording the
readings of the level. The observations of the pole-star were
calculated by the aid of the table for that purpose at the end of
the Nautical Almanac, while the others were reduced to the
meridian in the usual manner by my tables.

What may be the accuracy of this final result I shall not
take upon me at present to say, but I believe it to be within
one or two seconds of the truth. Captain Kater was of opi-
nion that with his smaller instrument he could, by a mean of

244 Mr Galbraith on Kater's Azimuth Circle.

five or six observations, come within 5" of the truth, when made
successively in the same evening on Polaris, or perhaps with
more certainty on stars to the north and south of the zenith.
From the unfavourable state of the weather during these few
months past, it was difficult to obtain a favourable opportunity
to try this effectually here, and this is the reason why Nos. 8
and 9 of the preceding series differ so much from the others.
In fact; two sets made at that time should have been properly
rejected, as they were made too hurriedly, and the bubble of
the level was too near the extremity of the level to be confi-
dently relied on. On the 28th of November last, five series, in
which the circle was only once reversed each series, gave 55°
5& 5T.5 N., from observations on the pole-star, which agrees
very nearly with the general mean previously obtained. Whe-
ther so close a result could be always calculated upon, my expe-
rience with this circle does not enable me to decide. It is
common even with instrument makers to estimate the accuracy
of these too high. They frequently divide the value of one
division of the vernier by the number of readings. In the pre-
sent circle, which has three verniers each shewing ten seconds,
if six readings be recorded, the instrument being once reversed,

the probable error is taken at — = 1"-, instead of -y^ = — =

4" nearly, or about three times greater. Still, however, when
the observations are repeated a considerable number of times,
the errors of reading, division, and pointing (pointe as the
French call it) must be greatly diminished, if not completely
destroyed, as we know from experience. Indeed, with a similar
circle from a series of ten days' observations, John G. Kinnear,
Esq. determined the obliquity of the ecliptic by observations
taken in June 1834 to be 23° 2T 41".5, which exceeds the result
that I derived from the Greenwich observations by 1".2 only,
and Bessels' by T.2 for January 1, 1834.

The deductions from these small but compact instruments are
much more accurate, therefore, than from their size we had any
reason to expect, and may be advantageously employed in many
geodetical and astronomical operations with great success.
Hence, the smaller sized ought to recommend themselves to
scientific travellers and to medical officers attached to foreign
stations, who are anxious to distinguish themselves in geogra-
phical and astronomical researches.

( 245 ) .^«aa^

Remarhs cm the Arravgement of the Natural Botanical Fa-*
milies. By Sir Edwaed Ffrench Bkomhead, Barl. F. R. S.
Lond. and Edin. Communicated by the Author.

It is instructive to review at intervals the progress of any
science. This will usually be found to depend upon a succes
sion of hypotheses, gradually approaching to the truth, each
conducting, like the approximate root of an equation, to a closer
approximation. The hypothesis is a nucleus round which facts
accumulate, and, even under the most erroneous hypothesis,
many facts are often truly arranged with respect to each other,
and afford materials ready fashioned for a new structure. This,
however, is generally forgotten, when the machinery has broken
down with its accumulated weight ; many facts, many valuable
principles, and much partial truth in the old hypothesis, are
overlooked in the rage for novelty, until some supposed dis-
covery is found to have formed part of a previous long-forgotten
system.

The science of botany is now in an interregnum ; the method
of Jussieu, as far as extends to the classification of the natu-
ral families, has broken down. It was greatly shaken by Brown,
and subsequently by Decandolle and others, and has been final-
ly demolished by Lindley in his work on the Natural Orders.
At this period great caution is necessary, and a careful review
of the successes and failures of the past.

Tournefort had found botany a mass of species ; by establish-
ing genera, and by acting on the principle, that *' we must first
form the generic group from nature, and afterwards endeavour
to detect the generic difference ;*" — he left botany a new science.
Linnaeus found Tournefort''s artificial classification of the genera
broken down, and the species become unmanageable. Rivinus had
thrown out the idea of a descriptive specific name in a single word ;
Linna?us saw the impossibility of this proposal, but established the
present minute accuracy of the science by inventing the trivial spe*
cific name. He also followed the true principle in establishing
his natural orders, adopting the idea of Magnol, that *' all the
parts of plants must be taken into account in judging of the af-
finities."" Nor did this great man, in founding the natural sys-
tem, neglect what had been done before ; he searched preceding

VOL. XX. NO. XL— APRIL 1836. ^^^ ' «'" ^^W^^u jpt* ^umH

^46 Sir Edward Ffrench Bromhead on the Arrangement of

writers of every method, he found various assemblages already
formed^ and he adopted them. His research could not fail of
success, if we consider that the force of development in different
parts of the natural system may be thrown upon almost any
class of organs, so that distinctions essential in one part may be
upimportant in another, and every partial method may offer
some natural combinations. Linnaeus established here also the
great principle, '' that the natural assemblage must first be
sought for, and the ordinal difference subsequently.*" So tenaci-
ously did he hold to this, that Giseke informs us of his obstinate
resistance to any thing like definition in the then state of the
science, and he even encouraged an idea that the thing was im-
possible. Yet this great man ruined his own sketch, by falling
into this very error, and allowing his great ingenuity to contrive
descriptive instead of trivial names for the greater part of his
families. He thus lost the glory of being named the father of
the natural botanical system, and has in the same manner entail-
ed theoretic names in zoology, which have long cramped the pro-
gress of Natural History.

That truly wonderful man Bernard Jussieu took up the sub-
ject, adopted Linnaeus''s sound orders, discovered new ones, and
discovered the affinities of many of these orders to each other.
He adopted trivial names, and, as might be expected, descrip-
tive and differential characters rapidly presented themselves to
Adanson, and perhaps to others. At last the immortal Antoine
Jjaurent Jussieu presented this system with several new families,
and the whole more or less accurately limited. He, however,
yielded to the taste of the day, and, seizing on a character of
great range, discovered by Gleditsch, who wished to modify Lin-
naeus''s artificial system by means of the adhesion of the stamens
to the calyx, he applied the principle to the natural families,
and thus threw them into artificial groups. This artificial ar-
rangement of the natural orders has at last fallen to pieces, and
the science is now a mass of confusion, presenting almost as
many unarranged families and tribes as there were genera in
the time of Tournefort.

The course to be pursued in this emergency is pointed out in
theLinnean manuscripts, from which interesting extracts are sub-
joined to Sir James Smith's Grammar of Botany. Here Lin-
pc^iis has thrown his natural families into separate natural

the Natural Botanical Families. 847

groups, unincumbered by hasty definition or theoretic nomen-
clature. Such is the true principle of the inductive philosophy,
where analysis precedes synthesis, and definition follows know-
ledge.*

At this time we may observe a general tendency to artificial
classification and theoretic names, especially among the many
most able continental botanists.

We should, on the contrary, throw the families into natural
groups, and ajlerzvards endeavour to discover some differential
characters for those groups, and for series of such groups. Who*
ever attempts arrangement through the discovery of a key (and
every botanist has attempted it), will infallibly be disappointed.
Neither will he be more successful in attempting to place families
in a natural series by their individual relation ; wherever he be-
gins, he will find, after some steps, that he ends where he began,
or that the families, by which the series is continued, are so ut-
terly unconnected with what went before, that he resigns the at-
tempt in despair. There is indeed much difficulty in the forma-
tion of natural groups, and a still greater difficulty in the arrange-
ment of those groups with reference to each other. We cannot
call a scheme satisfactory until the maximum of allied families is
brought together, nor until each family is placed between two
others to which it is more closely related than to any other. The
materials for judging of these affinities are more copious than we
could have expected : several of Jussieu''s groups are tolerably
natural, and in the larger groups there was free opportunity for
placing the more nearly allied families in juxtaposition with a
judgment passed upon their proximity ; Linnaeus'^s views also
remain unfettered by Jussieu's artificial method. The idea
thrown out by Linnaeus, that families may be related as on a
map, has also most happily given liberty to the opinions of
writers of all schools, who felt the defects of existing methods,
and who could not detect the arrangement of nature. This was
in fact impossible amidst the confusion of orders not yet definite-
ly established, or confounded with others of very different rela-
tion,— a difficulty partly arising from the unwillingness of bo-
tanists to increase the number of families, already too numerous
for the existing arrangements.

• See some excellent philosophical remarks by Profesaor Whewell.

248 Sir Edward Ffrench Bromhead on the Arrangement of

Plants, no doubt, principally differ from each other in the
degree and peculiar mode in which the parts are developed, and
this without reference to the question whether they came sepa-
rately from the hand of the Creator with their parts in a cer-
tain state of development, or whether all have arisen from the
progress or regress of development in a hvf original types. Whe-
ther a system of radiation and branching be that of nature, or
whether several series arise from distinct types, the families must
probably, in the same stage of development of any structure,
shew a certain parallelism or relation, which would, under our
present indefinite views of affinity, sometimes cause them to be
placed together. It is also conceivable, if the development should
cease at any point, and a regress of structures occur in a modi-
fied degree and order, that a new set of relations would occur
among families not properly contiguous. To meet these diffi-
culties, it is clear that the opinion of no one botanist can be
tiifsted, and that very strong evidence of relation cannot alone
dv . ide whether the relation be one of affinity or correspondence.
Take for instance two parallel series,

a, J, 6", J, &c.

a; h; c; d; &c.

and we may arrange these in apparent natural connection,

fl, a,' 6,' b, c, c\ £?,' d, &c.
though the order is unnatural, and such as never could form a
foundation for drawing conclusions as to the physiological se-
quence. In an acute and accurate writer, I have found four
families, from four distinct corresponding series, placed in juxta-
position, and the fact speaks for the sagacity of the writer under
the circumstances of the science. But we are not wholly with-
out a clew ; — in the natural series all the adjoining families are
7 elated to each other ; in the parallel series the relation is in a
great measure limited to the families parallel, without strikingly
extending to the contiguous families. A great source of error
has been the endeavour io Jbrce together all the families which
show relation ; our course, on the contrary, should be to form
groups of families continuously connected, throwing aside those
which do not easily come in succession, for future inquiry, as
being probably parallel or of accidental resemblance. The fa-
milies so thrown aside will often most unexpectedly form them-

\T,%-<x,r^~:'^vrihe Natural Botanical Families. ' I'Z Hi©

selvesinto natural groups, after cumbering many othef series.
If a doubt arise as to which of two groups a family belongs, we
must collect the evidence of its relations, and if we find it re-
lated (according to the testimony of different botanists as to dif-
ferent families) to a great number of contiguous families, we
must not hesitate to place it there, notwithstanding some strong
opinions of its relation to a single family, or only a few in an-
other part of the system. Hence we separate Legiiminosce with-
out hesitation from Rosaccce, We must not weigh the strong
expressions of writers as to particular relations, in which they
may be insensibly influenced by system, especially in enhancing
relations required for the support of Jussieu^s method. Every
statement of relation should, however, be considered as evidence
of relation ; and we may consider in the same light those cases
in which botanists have thought it necessary to take distinctions
between two orders.

The authorities are, in this mode of investigation, to be num-
bered rather than weighed, are to be taken as a matter of ave-
rage, and to derive value from mutual support, evidencing the
relation of many families to many others, and not merely the
relation of a single family to another. If the result should un-
expectedly bring together families differing in the adhesion of
the calyx to the stamens, ovary, &c., we must not forget that
botanists have, in such cases, given the evidence against their
own impressions. My object in the appended sketch has not
been to follow my own judgment or that of any writer whatso-
ever, but to bring together the greatest possible number of ad-
mitted affinities, and, if possible, in continuous succession. Iso-
lated and unconnected resemblances, often accidental or unim-
portant, and among orders scattered remotely from each other,
must be expected, where they want the weight of joint, com-
bined, accumulated evidence. The process adopted may no
doubt misplace some families, but there is reason to believe that
the great majority will be in their true neighbourhood.

I have not at all satisfied myself in fixing the arrangement of
the families within each group, which is a matter not important
at present ; and in many cases the limits of the group are am-
b'gUDUs, and must so continue until a physiological key shall
be found from a careful examination of the whole. The true

1tS6 Sir Edward Ffrcnch Bromhead on the Arrangement of

natural scheme remains to be collected by induction, from a
comparison of the arrangement of species in genera, genera in
families, and families in groups, alliances, and races.

The Parallelisms and Correspondences closely examined may
hereafter lead to making the limitation of the groups mutually
more definite, and may suggest points of structure.

The Table is to be considered as a sketch for future correc-
tion, in which certain families and groups may change places,
though the whole may present something like a fixed basis to
work upon, and definite tangible limits of inquiry.

There is a general tendency in the groups to form themselves
into a re-entering or fusiform series : the same tendency is shewn
in sets of groups, and in sets among each other. This causes
the greatest difficulty in arrangement, as families, prima Jade
adjoining, may form the terminating points of the group ; and
when two corresponding groups lie near, the combined effect of
relation and affinity is most embarrassing. If the reader is sur-
prised at finding any two families in separate groups, let him
apply the groups to each other ; and a correspondence will pro-
bably appear on comparing the preceding and succeeding groups
of each series progressively and regressively.

Botanists ought, I think, to lean to the division of families, as
facilitating their relative arrangement ; the formation of groups
will, in many cases, be a useful check to improper compression
"or division. When orders have been divided, much error has
arisen from authors continuing to declare an affinity to the or-
der under its old name, though that affinity may be confined
exclusively to the separated order.

The mode of investigation here followed has, of course, often
failed, the evidence for different situations being equally ba-
lanced. This has been the case among single families, and in
the parallel of the Amentaceous families, and also among the
Endogenous families, where authors writing at random have given
full scope to artificial arrangement, and compared each family
with almost every other. So also from circulation, parallelism,
and correspondence, it has been impossible, without something
arbitrary, to separate some others.

the Natural Botanical Families. ^1

Sketch of an Arrangement of the Botanical Families in Natural
GroupSy Alliances, and Races.

1. Families having any material similarity of structure are in that respect
said to have a Relation,

2. Related Families lying in the same neighbourhood are said to have
an Affinity.

3. Families which touch or pass into each other are said to be Adjacent,
or in Juxtaposition.

4. The Numerical superiority of related families, which, (with the aid
of juxtaposition and progress of structure) determines the place of each
family, and distinguishes the relation of Affinity from those of Parallelism
and Correspondence [|see 9, 11,] is called Joint-affinity.

6. A Group is a collection of Families, having an affinity, and is named
from some family contained in it : — Ex. The Orchideous Group.

6. The two great Botanical Divisions arc named The ChcnopodeouS
and Thymclaeous Races.

7. When the first and last families of a Group, or when the initial and
terminating parts of a series of Groups or of the two Botanical Races^
correspond and seem to pass into each other, they are called Re-entering
Groups, &c., and are said to Circulate : — Ex. The Chenopodeous, Bora-»
gineouSj Geraniaceous, Passifloreous, Nymphseaceous Groups.

8. An Alliance consists of a Circulating Series of Groups, and is named
from the denominating family of one of the Groups : — Ex. Gramineoua,

Orchideous, Boragineous Alliances. — Those set out in the Table are
generally to be considered as artificial divisions provisionally adopted.

9. The Groups and Alliances of the two Races, in the same numerical
order from the initial Group, are said to be Parallel.

10. As certain Acotyledonous, Gymnospermous, Amentaceous, Apo-
carpellous, Apetalous, Monopetalous, Gynobasic, Albuminose, Monocoty-*
ledonous, and other peculiar Structures, are usually in the same parallel^
and in the same stage of developement, they are likely to be treated of
together, and may be named after the compound parallel Families :— •
Ex. The Endogenous Families would be The Orchideo-Gramineous Al-
liances.

11. Successions of Groups related to other successions direct or re-
verted, in the same or in separate Races, are said to Correspond.

12. Characters which give the structure of the organs in order, are said
to be Descriptive ; Characters (positive or negative) which distinguish
one Group, &c. from another, arc said to be Differential. Properties
which may in certain cases be substituted for each other in a character,
are said to be Equivalents. — Ex. Albumen and a Macropodal Embryo,
&c.

t Indicates that the Family may bo compound, which is not of momeiiC«
Trhere the sections pass into each other.

( ) Indicates that the evidence for the station is more conflicting than
usual.

Suborders are inserted iTi the table, to show the transitions, or to show
the conditions which remain unsatisfied.

Sir Edward Ffrench Bromhead on the Arrangement of

SKETCH OF AN ARRANGEMENT OF THE
Fueoideae, florldeae, ULVACEAE, nostocbineae, diatomeae,

tConfervoideae, characeae, equisetaceae,

Ophioglosseae, danseaceae, OSMUNDACEAE, gleicheneae, polypodiaceae,

CxcAOEAE, ephedreae, casuarineas.

Mtrice-e, plataneae, (t)artocarpeae, ulmaceae, (fothergilleae,) (empetreae,)

Stilagineae, URTJCEAE, cannabineae, datisceae, lacistemeae,

Chlorantbeae, garryaceae, (henslovieae), gaetaceae, fiferaceae, saurureae, podostemeae,

Ceratopbylleae, bippurideae, callitricbineae, haloragkae, hydrocaryes,

Circaeeae, tONAGRARlAE, montinieae, tsalicariae, rbizophoreae, vocbyaceae, terminalieae, tcom-

breteae,
Memecyleae, melastomaceae, alangieae, lecytbideae, tMYRTACEiE — granateae, ^

Pomaceae, amygdaleae, neillieae, cbrysobalaneae, sanguisorbeae, quillajeae, spirseeae, ROSACEiE,
dryadeae,

SAXirRA6E2B,hydrangeaceae, cunonieae, bauereae, pbiladelpbeae, (galacinae,)escallonieae,(brumeae,)
Grossulaceae, gronoviaceae, CUCtJRBlTACEAE, begoniaceae, loaseae, cacteae, rbipsalideae,
Portulaceae, tauiarisciaeae, reaumurieae, fouquiereae, nitrarieae, ficoideae, ueuradeae, surianeae,
crassuleae, (t)illecebreae,

Sderantbeae, amarantaceae, CHENOPODE AE, pbytolacceae, petiveraceae, polygoneae, nyctagineae,

Staldcineae, plumbagineae, folemoniaceae, cobeeaceae, bydroleaceae,

Hydropbylleae, BORAGINEAE, heliotropiceae, ebretiaceae, cordiaceae,

Nolaneae, verbasceae, scropbularieae, digitaleae, salpiglossideae, (t)soLAKEAE, convolvuleae, cui-
cuteae, retziese.

Menyantbeae, gentianiae, spigeliaceae,

tAPOCYNE^, asclepiadeae, strycbneae, potalieae, loganieae, lygodysodeaceae,

Cinchonaceae, opercularineae, stellatae, lonicereae, sambucineae, umbelliferae,

Araliaceae, adoxeae, lorautbeae, (t)hamamelideae, corneae, heberaceae, vites, leeaceae,

GERANIACEiE, tropeeoleae, limnantbeae, [liydrocereaej balsamineae, toxalideae,

liineae, vivianieae, sUeneae, (t)al8ineae, elatineae, cistineae, ( (t)prockiaceae, (t)flacoartieae,)

Capparideae, rescdaceae, cleomeae, cruciferae, fumariaceae, papaveraceae,
NYMPH^ACEAE, nelumboneae, cepbaloteae, bydropeltideae, podopbylleae, paeoniaceae,
Cimicifugeae, clematideae, tranunculaceae, sakracenieae, aristolochieae, nepentheae, (t)cytineae,

PistUceae, tbydrocbarideae, alismaceae, butomeac, pontcdereae,

Commelineae, pbilydreae, xyrideae, restiaceae, detvauxieae, cyperaceae, GRAMINEAE, palmae,

Cydantbeae, pandaneae, ttphackak, acorineae, Bymplocarpeae, potboinae, taroldeae, juncaginea*,
tnaiadeae,

the Natural Botanical Families. 253

NATURAL BOTANICAL FAMILIES.

ff Fungi, . . , hypoxyleae, USNEACE^E, lecanorineae, calycieae,

Ricciadeae, fhepaticae, jungermanniaceae, andraeacea*, m usci,
Salviaieae, marsUeaceae, isueteae, LYCOPODIACEAE, lepidodendreaey
(f)Taxineae, cur&ESSiM£A£, araucarieae, fabietinae,

Liquidambarinao, salicineae, bktulineae, carpineae, tcorylaceae. juglandeae,
SUMACHINEAE, auacardieae, spondiaceae, burseraceae, rhaaineae, (phytocreneae),
Coriarieae, (t)eupfaiofbiaceae, stackhouneae, C£Last&im£ax, Ktapbyleaceae, hippocrateaceae, erj-
throx^-leae,

Malpigbiaceae, acerineae, hippocastaneae, millingtoiiieae, gapindaceae, rhizoboleae,
Guttiferae, marcgraaviaceae, HYPERICINEAE, carpodonteae, camel liaceae, tternstromiaceae,

Chlenaceae, humiriaceae, (hugooiacese,) meliaceae, cedreleae, aurantiacxae, amyrideae.

Coonaraceae, mimoseae, swartzieae, detarieae, PAPILIONACEAE, geoflreae, caesalpinleae,

Moringeae, droseraceae, (parnassieae,) sauvageae, (frankeniaceae,) alsodinese, tviotACEAi,
PASSIFLOREAE, mulesherbieae, turneraceae, papayaceae, belrlsieae, (patrisleae,) (paropsieae,) ,
Humallneae, samydeae, (hymenantherese, polygaleae,) (tremandreae,)cHAiLLETiACEAE, aquilarineae

(Pemeaceap,) (proteaceae,) eloeagneae, THYMELAEAE, nyssaceae, t santalaceae, exocarpeae,

olacineae,

Oleaceae, fraxineae, jasmineae, (stilbineae,) columellieae, aragoaceae, bignonleae, pedalineae,

didymocarpeae,
Acantheae, selagineae, myoporeao, fveTbeneae, LABIATAE, buddlejeae, bucbnereae, veroniceae,

sibthorpieae, teedieae, gratioleae, lenlihulariae,
Gesnereae, calceolarieae, heinimereae, antirrhine^, cheloneae, gerardieae» euphrasieae, rhlnantbeae,

orobancbeae,

Monotropeae, epacrideae, tERiCKAE, vaccinieae,

CAMPANULACEAE, lobeliaceae, stylidieae, goodenoviae, scaevoleae, brunoniaceae,
Corymblferae, tcompositae, valeriaoeae, calycereae, dipsaceae, globularlaeae, plantaginea*, lit-
torellideae,

tPrimuleae, tsivnsiKEAE, aegicereae, sapoteae, styraceae, aymploceae, haleaieae, tebeneae, ilicineae,

brexicae, pitto»poreae,
tZygopbylleae, RUTACEiE,dio8meae, cusparleae, pteleaceae, xantboxyleae, ailanthese, simarubaceae,

ochnaceae,
Dipterocarpene, lopbireae, elaeocarpeae, (t)tili?iceae, botnbaceae, Malvaceae, sterculiaceae, tbytt-

neriaceae,

Myiisticeae, hernandieae, (illigereae.) gyrocarpeae, cassytheae, tLACRiNEAE,
Atberospertneae, monimieae, CALYCANTHEiE, winteieae, magnoliaceae, dilleniaceae,
Scbizandreae, anoaaceae. (t)berberideae, menispermeae,

Dioscoreac, taraeae, smilackak, roxburgbieae, ttaspbodeleae, (t)junceae, gillietijae, alliaceae,

erytbronleae,
Melantbaceae. irideae, apostasieae, cypripedieae, ORCHIDEiE, scitamineae, marantaceae, mntaeeae,

amaryllideae,
(t)LiIi3ceae, wacbendorfieae, tBROMELiEAX, barbacenieae, bypoxitlcae, hcmodoreae, burmannteae,

tacceae, (t)balaao|>boreae.

'254 On the Natural Botanical Families.

It was my intention to have subjoined, as extracts from the
evidence upon which the Table is founded, the opinions of bo-
tanists on the relation of each family to others in the same or
adjoining groups, which is interesting historically, and sometimes
of value 'as shewing the structure on which the opinion was
formed ; but I have found the accumulation too great. The
English reader will see the greater part of the whole in Dr
Lindley's Natural System, admirably set out, and abounding
with original views^ He will also find valuable and original
views of relation in the pubhcations of Dr Brown and Mr D.
Don, in Mr Arnott''s article on Botany in the EncyclopcBdia
Britannica, and in Richard often translated.

I have intentionally kept back, for the present, any attempts
at characters general or partial, such being quite premature,
until some outline of arrangement has been recognized by bota-
nists. Materials are not wanting, many groups having been al-
ready treated as distinct families by able writers, such as the
Cupressineous, Rosaceous, Boragineous, Gentianeous, Gerania-
ceous, Malvaceous, Osmundaceous, Rutaceous, Ericeous, Cam-
panulaceous, &c. and also other groups, with slight modification.

Finally, I may mention the Nixus of Dr Lindley, which
would have altogether prevented this attempt, had I seen it
sooner : here the botanist will find most ample and most original
materials for characterising those or any other groups pretending
to be natural. To this distinguished botanist I am indebted for
pointing out some erroneous deviations from his published views,
in the case of Spigeliaceae, Araliaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Granateae,
Empetreae, Dioscoreae, Ternstromiaceae, Myrsineae, Papayaceae,
Violaceae, Terminalieae ; also for the places of Begoniaceae, near
Cucurbitaceae ; Elatineae, near Cistineae ; Stackhouseae, near Eu-
phorbiaceae ; Stilagineae, near Urticeae ; Limnantheae, near Tro-
paeoleae ; and for references to sources of information.

Thurlby Hall, Lincoln,
October 1835.

( 255 ) ' ;*

Abstract qftJie Memoirs of John Napier of Merchiston. By
M. BioT * With Notes by the Translator.

The following translation of M. Biofs very able and interest-
ing paper, of which the title is given below, will be acceptable to
our readers. The history of the illustrious Inventor of Loga-
rithms had remained too long unrecorded, and this early and
important attention which Mr Napier's work has met with on
the Continent, is as flattering to the science of Scotland as it
must be gratifying to the author of those memoirs.

First Article. — Montaigne, in his chapter of Proper
Names, puts the question. To whom belongs the honour of so
many victories, to Guesquin, Glesquin, or Geaquin, seeing
thus variously the name of that famous constable is written^
If intellectual conquests and the glory of arms admit of any
analogy, and we shall net pause to consider which would
suffer by the comparison, the same question might be put with
regard to him who, simply by an arithmetical invention, in-
creased, as it were an hundred fold, the scientific life of Kep-
ler, Halley, Bradley, Mayer, Lacaille, Piazze, Delambre, — pro-
longed that of La Place, nay of Newton himself, and siill inde-
finitely continues the like miracle for all whose zeal, if it be not
genius, prompts them to emulate those great men in the appli-
cation of mathematics to the phenomena of nature. For to this
hour we cannot say with certainty whether that puissant instru-
ment, the logarithms, be due to Neper, Napeir, or Napier.f

Even at the time it was first made public, in the year 1614,
the author was so httle known beyond his own country, that
Kepler, who afterwards embraced and adopted that invention

• Mdmmre sur J. Napier de Merchiston^ conienarU sa Genealogie^ sa Vie^ le Tab'
leau des temps ou il a vccu, et une hisloire de rinventhn des Logarithmes. Par
Mark Napier Ex trait en trots articles, par M. Biot. — Tire du Journal des Sa-
vants, annce 1335.

f "NVe find these distinct varieties in the biography we are abstracting. A
letter from the Inventor of Logarithms to his father, quoted at page 150, is
signed Neper. His dedication of the exposition of the Apocalypse, address-
ed to the King of Scotland, James VI., is signed Napeir, p. 172. His testa-
ment, quoted p. 431, is signed Nmpper ; lastly, his own biographer calls him
throughout Napier.^M. Biot.

^6 M. Biot's Abstract of Mr Napier's

enthusiastically, as a miraculous aid to his Rudolphine Tables, —
Kepler knew nothing of the matter until the year 1617, and
then his knowledge of it was but imperfect, having merely
seen Napicfs work at Prague, when he had not an opportunity
of studying the contents ; so that, unhappily for himsielf, he did
not properly appreciate the invention, as is evident from the
letter he wrote, about that epoch, in which the author of the lo-
garithms is simply designated as " Scotus Baro, cnjus nomen
mihi eivcidit,* a Scottish Baron, whose name has escaped me."
One year later, however, an abridged, and perhaps plainer ex-
position of the discovery having accidentally fallen under his ob-
servation, " I comprehended (he exclaims) the nature of his
work, and scarcely had I essayed a single example of the pro-
cess, when, to my great joy, I became sensible that he had in-
finitely surpassed all the attempts at abbreviation which I my-
self for a length of time had been labouring to effect." He set
one of his pupils instantly to work, made him calculate logarith-
mic tables by Napier''s method, availed himself gratefully of their
assistance to complete the calculations of his Rudolphine Tables,
which hitherto had cost him unimaginable labour, and even
changing the whole plan of those tables, though they had been

• This remarkable passage is to be found in a letter, written by Kepler to
his friend Schikkart, 11th March 1018, as follows: « Extitit Scotus Baro,
cujus nomen ir.ihi excidit, qui prgeclari quid proestitit, necessitate omni mul-
tiplicationum et divisionum in meras additioneset substractiones coramutat^;
nee sinibus utitur. Attamen opus est ipsi tangentium canone ; et varietas,
crebritas, difficultasque additionum, substractionumque alicubi laborem mul-
tiplicandi et dividendi superat." (Epist. ad G. Keplerum, Lipsioe, 1718, in
foL p. 672). The last clause of this sentence proves, as we have said, that,
at that first inspection^ Kepler had ill appreciated the Neperien method. The
objection attamen opus est ipsi tangentitim canone^ appears to us to require some
explication ; and it is this, — that in the original publication of his discovery,
in 1G14, of which we have before us a copy belonging to the library of M.
"Walkanaer, Napier does not furnish a special table for the logarithms of na-
tural numbers, but only for the sines, cosines and tangents of arcs. Thus
when it is required to find the logarithm of a given number, he supposes it
considered as a natural sine, if it be comprehended betwixt 0 and 1, and as a
natural tangent, without those limits. In the first case, the logarithm sought
is found directly among those of Napier's table of sines; in the second case,
it is necessary to begin by seeking, in a table of natural tangents, the arc
which corresponds to the given number, and with that arc Napier's table
gives the logarithm. — M, Biot.

Memoirs of John Napier of Merchiston, 257

long in hand, he courageously gave them that new form by which
they are adapted to the usage of logarithms. Upon what acci*
dents depends the progress of human knowledge ! The Ru-
dolphine Tables appeared in 1627, six years only before the
death of Kepler. Who can say that, without the unforeseen suc-
cour of logarithms, he would have had time to complete those
tables ; and yet they were destined to become the basis of all our
ulterior knowledge of the system of the world. For being es-
tablished, for each planet, on the conditions of elliptical motion,
and for the mutual ratios of the orbits in terms of the propor-
tionality of the squares of the periodic times to the cubes of the
mean distances, their invariable accordance with the actual state
of the heavens offers perpetually the essence, as well as the proof,
of those great astronomical laws justly called the laws of Kepler,
From these it was that Newton deduced, mechanically, his law
of the central force proportional to the masses, and reciprocal to
the square of the distance, which is purely a concentration
of the former. But if the general conditions of the plane-
tary movements had not been previously known and demon-
strated, Newton would not have been enabled to remount
to the law of gravitation. So that without the invention of
logarithms, which in some sense rendered the life of Kepler
long enough to achieve his task, perhaps universal gravitation
would have been yet to be discovered. That revolution, so
fortunate in Kepler's tables and calculations, has been described
and celebrated by himself in a letter to Napier, dated 28th
July 1619, which he placed at the commencement of his Ephe-
merides for the year 1620 ; but this important illustration of the
history of letters had become so rare that neither Montucla nor
Delambre were aware of its existence. Happily, however, the
Bodleian Library at Oxford possessed a copy, of which the
author of the present work obtained an accurate transcript,
which he has inserted in his text ; and from thai we have de-
rived the details given above. Napier never received this letter,
which would have overwhelmed him with joy. He had been
dead for two years, since 14th April 1617, and Kepler knew it
not ; so difficult and slow was the communication between
scientific men, in those times of wars and storms, occasioned by
the shock of political interests, and by the change of religion.

258 M. Blot's Abstract of Mr Napier's

If such was the state of continental Europe, that of Scotland
was still worse. The inhabitants of its Highlands, divided into
semi-barbarous tribes, spent their lives amid a succession of wars
and brigandage, perpetuated by the interminable quarrels of
their savage chiefs. The regal authority, powerless to set at
rest their hereditary conflicts, was regarded by such ambitious
vassals as nothing else than an instrument of domination and of
fortune, which each struggled to obtain for himself by becoming
the most formidable. To this we must add the first propagation
of those new ideas of religious reformation, entertained by a few
from sincere conviction, by many from interested motives, or
fanaticism ; while, on the other hand, opinions and interests dia-
metrically opposed to these, conspired with equal violence to ex-
clude them. In such times, and in such a country, it may rea-
dily be supposed, that after the lapse of two centuries, no traces
ehould exist of the first years of an infant, however distinguish-
ed as a man in the unexplored paths of abstract science. Hence,
notwithstanding the most indefatigable research, his Scotch bio-
grapher, with the exception of some vague and unimportant indi-
cations, has not been able to throw light upon the education of
young Napier. To fill this void, he launches into a course of in-
terminable digressions, relating, for example, the biography, more
or less obscured by time, of six or seven Napiers of Merchiston,
the lineal predecessors of the inventor of logarithms, their for-
tunes, their alliances, the transactions political, commercial, mi-
Ktary or civil, in which they had been actors,* and as these

• It may be doubted if a French philosopher, however accomplished, caii
fairly appreciate this portion of Mr Napier's work. It was not possible to fur-
nish a pure biography, in the proper view of such compositions, of the inven-
tor of logarithms, whose isolated habits had left scarcely any domestic traces
of the man. But it happened that his family charter-chest contained some
curious documents connecting the history of his lineage, for centuries, in a re-
markable manner with the history of Scotland, and with the personal for-
tunes of the ill-fated House of Stuart. His biof^rapher, therefore, indepen-
dently of Napier's own history, has compiled with labour and research a do-
mestic collection of Scotch historical antiquities, which will be appreciated by
a certain class of readers in Scotland, who may not be, perhaps, so much inte-
rested in the scientific history of Napier himself. The miserable state of the
records in Scotland created a school of which Lord Hailes is the illustrious
founder, by means of whose minute researches materials for a complete his-
tory of Scotland are still being collected. This cannot be so well under-

Memoirs ofJoJin Napier of Merchiston. 259

ancestors, according to*thc fashion of Scotland, are discovered to
be related, in one degree or other, to personages who then played
a conspicuous part, (among the rest the famous Bothwell, whose
espousals of Mary Stuart were none of the most gentle,) our
author gives at full length the history of Mary, of Bothwell, of
Darnley, with occasional digressions, by way of by-play, in
which figure Louis XI., Charles-le-Tdmeraire, and even certain
characters, of an association yet more bizarre in such a subject,
namely, the page Quentin Durward, and the Abbot of Misrule.
Then, as it appears that young Napier passed some years at the
University of St Andrew"*?, we are presented with its history, or
rather the history of the most celebrated persons of the times
who were reared at that University. From all this we can gather
no more respecting the inventor of logarithms, than that he
sprung from an ancient, wealthy, and distinguished family, who
had unavoidably taken a part, though reserved and prudent, in
the political affairs of the times. Born in the Castle of Mer-
chiston, in the year 1550, Napier was entered as a student at St
Andrew's in 1563, and quitted it a few years afterwards for the
Continent, where probably he went to complete his education, a
practice then very prevalent among Scotchmen of distinguished
rank. Returning to Merchiston in 1571, he married in the year
following, and immuring himself in that retreat, divided the rest
of his days between two principal occupations, the manage-
ment of his family domains, in which his father had invested
him, and his studies, theological and mathematical, for which he
appears to have had an equal predilection. But with all his in-
clination for repose, too frequently was he compelled to quit that
asylum, sometimes that he might escape a siege, and sometimes
to take that part in the political transactions of his day, which
his position in society and his religious opinions suggested.
There, by means of the numerous and unquestionable docu-
ments which his biographer has collected, we can trace his steps,
and our contemplation of the particular system of ideas, or the
peculiar turn of mind which he brought upon the stage of mun-

stood by a foreign philosopher; and we must add, that the first chapter of M.
Biot's abstract, which gives such poj)ular interest to his paper, api;ears to
have been entirely luggested bj the historical portion of Mi Napier's work.—
TranalaUtr,

260 M. Biof s Abstract of Mr Napier'^s

dane affairs, will not be unavailing to perfect that philosophical
point of view under which we must regard him.

It was the period when the crisis of the Reformation agitated
Scotland with peculiar violence. James VI., afterwards James I.
of England, then reigned over that distracted country ; a Prince
habitually feeble, yet not incapable of displaying a certain de-
gree of firmness, by no means devoid of knowledge, we should
say of erudition, especially upon the subject of religion, yet
rarely failing to render himself ridiculous by the clumsy self-
esteem with which he paraded his learning, tormented by the
incessant revolts of his unruly vassals, by the demands, be-
coming daily more audacious, of the reforming party, whose pu-
ritanism watched with suspicion his indulgence, nay his par-
tiality, for the Catholics ; disquieted in the extreme by the am-
bitious Elizabeth, who was perpetually setting snares for him,
ill brookirig to see in him her immediate and inevitable successor,
sprung from the very blood which her jealousy as a woman, and
her policy as a queen, had caused to flow. In this state of fre-
quent perils and annoyances, the poor King of Scots kept beat-
ing about like a ship in a storm, most anxiously on the look-
out for fair weather ; and it is amidst these struggles betwixt
puritanism and royalty that the Baron of Merchiston appears
upon the scene. He took part with the Presbyterian Synods
then pursuing the King with indefatigable audacity, and pressing
upon him their fanatical demands against the Catholics, whom,
according to their opinions, his Majesty was not persecuting
with sufficient zeal. Napier was a member of the Synod of Fife,
the most violent of all the synods. He was one of the deputies
whom that synod, and afterwards the General Assembly at
Edinburgh, selected to carry to James their solemn delibera-
tion, in which they declared, " that the principal and chief ene-
mies, the Earls of Huntly, Angus, &c. (here follows a list
which includes the father-in-law of Napier himself) have, by their
idolatry, heresy, blasphemy, apostasy, perjury, and professed
enmity against the Kirk, and true religion of Jesus Christ
within this realm, ipso facto cut off themselves from Christ and
his kirk, and so become most worth}' to be declared excommu-
nicated and cut off from the fellowship of Christ and his kirk,
and to be given over to the hands of Satan, whose slaves they

Memoirs of John Napier of Merchiston. 261

are, that they may learn, if it so please God, not to blaspheme
Christ or his Gospel,'' &c. (p. IGl). Such were the saintly pre-
tensions of the pious Presbyterians ! Observe, that excommuni-
cation involved the confiscation of the property of the impious,
which by right devolved upon the King, for the purpose of dis-
tribution among the " Saints of God," as these good people
then styled themselves. In vain the poor King made the most
vigorous efforts, and the wisest, to smother these odious procla-
mations, and to prevent their reaching himself. He was con-
strained to admit into his presence the Commissioners of the
General Assembly. It is curious to perceive, even yet, in the
present age, the hereditary effect of the ancient puritanical exal-
tation, upon the mind of the Scotch biographer. He is in ec-
stasy at the grandeur of the part assigned to Napier, in these
fanatical proceedings. " Our philosopher (says he, p. 162.)
must have been particularly conspicuous at this convention,
which confirmed the excommunication of his own father- in-law."
(This was the father of his second wife, for he had lost the first
in 1579.) Then pursuing, without hesitation, the consequences
of that act, " if the family of Napier (he adds) attended their
parish-church on the day appointed, they must have heard their
grandfather doomed to exclusion from the social comforts of
life, and the blessings of the Church." A little further on, he
delights in picturing the subduing effect upon poor James, of
the aspect of the " majestic Napier," with his " serene presence,
thoughtful eye, and ample beard, rarely seen within the royal
circle." Has he not discovered a merit very essential to be be-
stowed upon the Inventor of Logarithms, and withal very
closely connected with that discovery ? But, it may be said,
why, then, do you so pointedly quote these details ? I do so, be-
cause, in the evident intention of the biographer, they have
an object, and one, in my opinion, opposed to the spirit of the
sciences and of sound philosophy. That object is to represent
the Inventor of the Logarithms as a light of the Protestant
Presbyterian Church, as the greatest theologian of his times, as
principally a theologian ; and that, too, in order to bolster up
religious belief, by scientific discovery ; and under cover of that
pretext, to tax our credulity with demands at which common

VOL. XX. NO. XL. APRIL 1836*. S

M . Biofs Abstract of Mr Napier^s
sense revolts, and which, thank God, do not belong to the pre-

sent age.

Unquestionably Napier was a theologian, a learned theolo-
gian, and unquestionably, also, his religious belief was perfectly
sincere. His moral character is entitled to this concession. The
importance of the arithmetical invention, which we owe to him,
is also very great ; already we have established that fact by in-
disputable consequences, and we shall presently have another
occasion to be more precise in our specification of its merits,
when we come to characterize the discovery. But does it fol-
low that, with the arithmetic, we must accept the theology ; or
must we of necessity, for example, like his Scotch biographer,
pronounce Napier's Commentary on the Apocalypse admirable ?*
because he, too, before the time of Newton, wrote a similar
commentary, where, in like manner, he undertakes to establish,
by force of reason, that the Pope is Antichrist, and Christian
Rome the Whore of Babylon. As for the rest, it was not new
at this epoch, being equally the favourite disputatious theme of
that thundering Presbyterian preacher Knox (who called the
charming Mary Stuart a Jezebel) ; and did not King James VI.
himself, in like manner, exert his theological learning to prove
that point ? It was then a current idea. But that which is
peculiar to Napier, in this arduous controversy, is the having
introduced a form of argumentation altogether mathematical,—
a march of discussion logically knit, placing as a preliminary in
the very front of his treatise, a table of Postulata, to support
him in the interpretation of the Divine symbols ; which Postulata
themselves he takes the greatest possible pains to establish upon
a host of learned authorities. I have not the temerity to enter
the lists with such gifted persons, nor even to examine too punc-

• I could not find in Paris the original edition of that work, but only the
French translation, published at Rochelle in 1602, under this title ; " Ouver-
ture de tous les secrets de r Apocalypse de Saint Jean^ par deux traites ; Pun
recherchans et prouvant la vraie interpretation d'icelle ; Tautre appliquant
au texte cette interpretation paraphrastiquement et historiquement. Par
Jean Napeir, c'est-a-dire, Non Pareil, sieur de Merchiston, revue par
lui-mesme, et mise en Fran9aise par George Thomson, Escossois." The re-
visal of this translation by Napier himself, gives it nearly the authenticity
of the original edition ; and, indeed, in the comparisons which I have had an
opportunity of making with the original passages quoted by his Scotch bio-
grapher, it appears to be a very faithful translation M. Biot.

Memoirs of John Napier of Merchiston. 263

tiliously whether the number, already not inconsiderable, of
elements admitted as fundamental positions, augmented, in the
course of the discussion, with a good many other hypotheses, do
not weaken very much, humanly speaking, the mathematical
probability of the final deductions. I admit it all, if you will,
confessing myself unequal to the dispute ; and thus am I, of
logical necessity, constrained to admit, with the Inventor of the
Logarithms, that the Pope is certainly Antichrist ; that he is
also Gog, as the Emperor of the Turks is Magog, and his sol-
diers the locusts of the Apocalypse ; and, besides all this, that
there were two-and-twenty Popes, horrible necromancers, who
sold themselves everlastingly to the devil, that they might be-
come Popes ; seeing that all this is equally established in Napier's
book, at the places I have noted below.*

But, among all these conclusions, there is one which ought to
be equally indubitable, and which, by its logical connexion with
the others, obviously communicates to them its own character of
infallibility. It is, that, according to the fourteenth Naperien
proposition, ** The day qf judgment ought to arrive between the
years of Jesus Christ 1688 and 1700; and hence, according to
the tenth proposition, the world will come to an end rather be-
fore than after the year 1786." That is a consequence of
which, it is true, I cannot dispute the necessity, as flowing logi-
cally from the premises ; but I must confess, that, to my mind,
it appears difficult to admit, and because it produces the same ef-
fect upon other simple souls is the reason, perhaps, why Na-
pier's Commentaries on the Apocalypse is not in the present day
read so frequently as one would desire, a neglect of which his
biographer also complains. Newton too, as is well known, wrote
a commentary on the Apocalypse ; but he had not the hardihood
to attempt so comprehensive a task as his Scotch predecessor has
done. " The folly of former interpreters," says he (Jolly, that
is a hard word), " was the aspiring to predict times and events
by their prophecies, as if God had intended to make prophets
of them." So Newton limits himself to the explanation of the
past, and the greater number of those who have studied his
work appear to have found even that no very easy task.

* M. Biot here quotes some instances from Napier's Commentaries.

s 2

SG-I M. Biofs Abstract of Mr Napier's

In giving an account of the commentary by Newton, in the
Biographie Universelk, I had expressed some doubt as to the
conclusion at which Newton arrived, that the eleventh horn of
Daniel indicated the Church of Rome. Dr Brewster, in a work
of the same kind (I mean of the same kind as my own), printed
at London in 1832, has taxed me severely for my aptitude to
doubt ; he has affirmed, that that interpretation of the eleventh
horn, as well as others of a like nature, at which Newton ar-
rived, " may be yet exhibited in all the fulness of demonstra-
tion/' I found myself then called upon humbly to entreat Dr
Brewster, in this same Journal, to have the kindness to excuse,
on that point, the impracticability, under which we in France la-
bour, of admitting such anti-catholic conclusions. The Scotch
biographer of Napier recurs with some regret to the expression
of repugnance I then gave utterance to, in respect that, accord-
ing to him, the Commentary of Napier contains, in the passages
he cites, more than nine quarto pages of condensed proofs of
that same proposition. Nevertheless, he has no idea of being
scandalized at my blindness. " In the present state of the
world, it creates no sensation to hear M. Biot announce, that it
is impossible for him to believe the eleventh horn of Daniel to
be the Church of Rome ; but the times were very different when
Napier wrote. To this we must add, that when such Protest-
ants as Calvin and Joseph Scaliger openly avowed their impres-
sions that the v/hole Revelation of St John was an inexplicable
mystery, of which the very writer was a problem, it is greatly to
the honour of Scotland, that, from the bosom of so rude a coun-
try, a Commentary should have come worthy of the first scholar
of the age, and capable, as we shall shew, of instructing even
our own enlightened times.'' (P. 201.) If we may be permit-
ted to appreciate this conclusion of our biographer by the light
of human understanding alone, I confess I do not see how it
flows from the authorities he cites, which appear to me rather
to establish a consequence of an opposite nature. But perhaps
the inspired character of his text has descended to the panegy-
rist, in which case I have not a word more to say.*

• To us it appears that the whole of Mr Napier's analysis of the theologi-
cal works of the inventor of logarithms, has been entirely misapprehended by
M. Biot, and to a degree beyond what we think could have happened to any

Memoirs of John Napier of' Merchtston. ^^5

The Commentary on the Apocalypse was, on the part of Na-
pier, an edifying work, long meditated, which at first he had
undertaken with the design of converting the Papists, as he
himself narrates in his preface. But the crisis he chose for the
publication, affixes to his first project the character of a less
charitable intention ; for it took place precisely two days after

English reader. Mr Napier contrasts the present enlightened period, (when
no Protestant of enlarged views or common sense is even startled by declared
scepticism, as to the truth of such interpretations of the Apocalypse,) with the
dark age in which Napier wrote, when Roman Catholic domination, powerfully
aided from abroad, was the engrossing object of political and patriotic resist-
ance in Scotland, when the subject of theology had not yet been treated
either learnedly or systematically, and when the field of prophecy was yet
imexplored by powerful minds. Dr Brewster, in his Life of Sir Isaac New-
ton, had not once mentioned the name of Nai)ier. The biographer of Napier
shews that whatever is valuable in Newton's scriptural commentaries is to
be found, even more learnedly treated, in Napier, a century earlier, when
circumstances rendered such considerations more rational than in the age
of Sir Isaac Newton. Mr Napier, contrary to M. Biot's assumption, equally
dissents from Dr Brewster's unqualified vindication of the " Newtonian inter-
pretation of the Scriptures." He merely maintains, that for '' Newtonian"
we ought to read " Naperian," and give the glory quantum valeat to Napier.
His biographer, moreover, contrasts Napier's very original Commentaries,
which may be said to have founded the school of theological learning in Scot-
land (a circumstance independent of fanciful interpretations, and therefore
biographically valuable), with certain weak, but not unpopular writers of the
present day (he instances Cunningham and Keith), whose mystical conceits
are unredeemed by solid learning, and not excused by local circumstances.
Napier's theological works (strangely overlooked by the learned M'Crie, in
his history of that department of letters of which they were the earliest and
most conspicuous productions), are an interesting and important step in the
progress of Scottish learning, not in respect of their peculiar interpretations,
but for the spirit of theological investigation, the learning, and the philoso-
phical method of inquiry therein displayed to a barbarous age and country.
The same subject, as handled by Sir Isaac Newton, to whom has been given
all the praise, is rather a retrograde step not pleasant to contemplate in the
history of letters ; and the more recent elucidations that same subject has
received from modern enthusiasts, who are much more jealous of their own
infallibility than Napier was of his, is simply a page of human folly. This is
all we can gather from that portion of Mr Napier's work which M. Biot re-
views with such elaborate sarcasm, as if it had been an insidious and illiberal
attack upon the Catholics. Nay, so far does M. Biot carry this mistake, as to
insinuate, what is equally contradicted by the work itself and by M. Biot's
whole abstract of it, namely, that Mr Napier's principal object in this biogra-
phy was to make the inventor of logarithms' scientific character and history a
stalking horse to superstitious Protestant illiberality.— rronj^a/or.

566 M. Biot's Abstract of Mr Napier s

the importuniiies of the Presbyterians had extorted from King
James the definitive confirmation of the act of excommunication
which embraced Napier's own father-in-law. And in the dedica-
tion of his Commentary, which Napier addresses to James, we
may observe with what fanatical violence he discourses : " There-
fore, sir, let it be your Majesty's continual study (as called and
charged thereunto by God) to reform the universal enormities
of your country ; and first (taking example of the princely pro-
phet David), to begin at your Majesty's own house, family, and
court, and purge the same of all suspicion of Papists and Atheists,
or neutrals, whereof this revelation foretelleth that the number

shall greatly increase in these latter days So also we

beseech your Majesty, having consideration of the treasonable
practices in these present days, attempted both against God's
truth, your authority, and the commonwealth of this country, —
to proceed to the other degrees of that reformation, even, orderly,
from your Majesty's own person, to your highness's family, and
from your family to your court," &c. Napier himself, in his
preface, unfolds the motives for that publication. " Yet I pur-
posed not (says he) to have set out the same suddenly, and far
less to have written the same also in English, till that of late
this new insolency of Papists, arising about the 1588 year of
God, and daily increasing within this island, doth so pity our
hearts, seeing them put more trust in Jesuits and seminary
priests, than in the true Scriptures of God, and in the Pope and
King of Spain (it was the time of the Armada), than in the
King of kings, that to prevent the same, I was constrained of
compassion, leaving the Latin, to haste out in English this pre-
sent work, almost unripe, that thereby the simple of this island
may be instructed, the godly confirmed, and the proud and
foolish expectations of the wicked beaten down ; purposing
hereafter, God willing, to publish shortly the other Latin edi-
tion hereof, to the public utility of the whole church." Those
Scotch writers who, like Dr Brewster and the present biogra-
pher, restore these fine things to light in the present day, would
seem to be moved by the same compassion towards us that
influenced Napier with regard to the Papists of his times. It is
to be regretted that they have not at their command temporal

Memoirs of John Napier of Merchiston. 267

circumstances equally efficacious towards the upholding of their
doctrines.

Then was the heyday of sorcerers and witches. They were
believed in, and they were burnt. Napier, as his biographer
confesses, passed with the vulgar as having his own share of
familiar conversation with " le vieux nick ;" and, indeed, he
appears to have been very willing to let the belief go that this
opinion was not without foundation. Yet in such estimation
was he held that he was never persecuted on that account. He
appears to have been in reality occupied with mechanical, and
even physical science ; for when the English had some reason to
dread the Popish fleets in 1596, Napier transmitted to the Scotch
ambassador at London a list of inventions, after the manner of
Archimedes, to annihilate them. These secrets are, of burning
mirrors, of pieces of artillery of a new construction, and a method
of navigating under water ; but all this is merely announced, not
given in detail. Unhappily he was not always so disinterested
in the application of his science, as appears from the following
contract in which he engaged with one of the most wicked
characters of that epoch, called Robert Logan of Restalrig ; a
contract the whole of which is in the handwriting of Napier
himself, and his biographer has been at the pains to furnish a
fac simile. This Logan of Restalrig had plunged with daring
ferocity into the desperate cabal of Francis Stuart, Earl of Both-
well, in 1594, and by virtue of that declaration of war went
robbing and hectoring on the high-roads in the neighbourhood of
Edinburgh. The legality of these proceedings not having, unfor-
tunately for him, been recognised, he had been cited before the
criminal court, and was outlawed for not appearing. But he
troubled himself very little about that matter, as he happened to
possess, on the wildest shores of the German ocean, an inacces-
sible retreat in the tower of Fal&-castle, celebrated of late years
under the name of Wolfs-crag, by Sir Walter Scott, in the Bride
of Lammermoor. There, Restalrig, not very well knowing what
to do with himself, called to mind an old tradition, according to
which some treasures had been, once upon a time, buried within
his castle ; and being cognizant of Napier as a very learned man,
somewhat addicted to necromancy, he made proposals to him
that he, Napier, should undertake the search, which the other

^(iS M. Biot's Abstract of Mr Napier's

accepted, as we shall presently see, in all good faith and sincerity
in the terms and clauses of the following contract, which we
translate from the original Scotch as literally as we possibly can.*

• *' A Edimbourg, le jour de juillet, Tan du Seigneur 1594,
il est appointe, convenu et agree entre les personnes soussignees ;
c*'est-a-dire Robert Logan de Restalrig, d'une part; et Jean
Napier, tenant le fief de Merchiston, d*'autre part ; dans la forme,
maniere et efFets suivants ; savoir: Pour autant qu'il existe divers
anciens rapports, motifs et apparences qu'il y aurait dans la
demeure dudit Robert, au lieu dit Fals-Castel, une somme
d'argent raonnaye et tresor, deposes et caches secretement, le tout
quoi n'a pu etre decouvert par personne, le susdit Jean fera tout
son possible et exacte diligence pour le chercher et retirer ; et,
avec toute Tindustrie et science qu'il pent mettre en oeuvre, il
devra tenter, essayer et extraire le somme dont il s''agit ; et, par
la grace de Dieu, ou bien il trouvera ladite somme, ou il s'*assu-
rera qu'il n'a pas ete cache la de pareil depot, le tout autant que
son travail, sa diligence et sa science pourront le faire. Pour
quoi ledit Robert donnera, et, selon la teneur du present ecrit,
donne et accorde audit Jean le tiers exact de quelque argent ou
tresor cache que ledit Jean trouvera, ou qui sera trouve par son
moyen et Industrie, dans ladite place de Fals-Castel ou ses alen-
tours. Et cela pour etre partage par juste poids et balance entre
eux, sans aucune fraude, opposition, debat et contention quel-
conque ; de telle maniere que ledit Robert devra avoir justement
les deux parts, et ledit Jean, justement la tierce part du tout,
sur leur foi, parole et conscience. Et, pour le siir retour et sauve
conduite dudit Jean, depuis le susdit lieu de Fals-Castel jusqu'a
Edimbourg, sans etre d^pouille de sa tierce part, comme sans
recevoir aucun dommagc, dans sa personne ou les effets k lui
appartenant, ledit Robert devra faire convoyer surement ledit
Jean, et I'accompagner sain et sauf dans la maniere susdite, jus-

• It is curious that this contract should not have been destrojed, even by
Napier, and also that it should have survived the accidents of time, to be so
admirably translated by a member of the Institute of France in the year 1835.
As the original is printed in Mr Napier's work, and a/ac simile also given, we
have thought it better to furnish here the additional curiosity of M. Biot's
translation. — Translator.

Memoirs of John Napier of MerchisUm. ^6^

qu'k Edinibourg. Auquel lieu ledit Jean se trouvant revenu
sans enconibre, il devra, en presence dudil Robert, effacer et
d^truire le present contrat, pour pleine decharge des deux par-
ties ayant honnHement satisfait et accompli leur engagement
Tune en vers Tautre. Et il est arrete qu"'aucune autre decharge
. que la destruction du present contrat ne sera d'aucune valeur,
force ou effet. Et dans le cas ou ledit Jean ne trouverait pas
de tresor cache, apres tous ses efforts et diligence, il s'en rappor-
terait pour le dedommagement de ses peines et travail a la dis-
cretion dudit Robert. En temoignage du present et pour
marque de toute honnetete, foi et fidelite k Tobserver dans toutes
ses conditions, relativement k chacune des deux parties, ils ont
Tun et Tauire souscrit le present de leurs propres mains, a Edini-
bourg, les jour et an que dessus.

Signe " Robert Logan ue Restalrig.
" Jean Neper, sieur de Merchiston.*"

How could the great theologian of Scotland, the marvellous
Napier, as his biographer calls him — how could he have the
conscience to enter into such a contract — a contract, moreover,
almost of pure necromancy — with a bandit and notorious cut-
throat— he who had evinced horror so excessive, and indignation
so scrupulous, against the temporal depravities of the Papists,
and against those eight-and-twenty Popes reputed to be necro-
mancers ? Our biographer does not dissemble the difficulty of
this question, and he gets out of it the best way he can, by
referring the act in question to the savage rudeness of the times,
and the simplicity of our philosopher'' s character. (P. 223.)
There may be found, in our opinion, an explication nearer the
truth, and more serious, in the doctrine admitted at that time in
Scotland, among the casuists of the puritanical league, and
revived in the present by another sect, who appear to be making
rapid strides in England, — and that is, that all means are good
in the hands of the Saints, as they are called, or, in other words,
that the Saints cannot sin. The Scotch biographer passes dex-
terously over the moral consequences of that act, and only takes
occasion to call our admiring attention to " the undaunted cour-
age of the man who was willing to go alone with the robbfer to
his cave ;"' after which he adds, " to pronounce the transaction

270 M. Biot's Abstract of Mr Napier s

mercenary would be to apply the fallacious test of modern
notions to the dimly seen manners of antiquity." Papists, then,
are not the only persons who hold accommodating opinions !

Here terminates all that we have to say of Napier in a poh-
tical, moral, and theological point of view. We have explained
above the considerations which have led us to study him, in the
first instance, under that aspect, following the numerous mate-
rials presented to us by his recent biographer. It remains for
us now to contemplate him as a mathematician, and, thank God,
our task will be henceforth much easier. For to restore him
as such, the only view of him, in our conception, that merits
the regard of posterity, we have only to abstract, so to speak, his
own original works, completed, as they are, by several new and
curious documents that have been added by his present historian,
in which respect it may be said, with justice, that this biography
will prove to be of great utility.

Second Article. — Hitherto, we have only discovered in
Napier a Scottish Baron of the sixteenth century. Confined to
the heart of a savage country, immured within a fortress tower,
he lived isolated with his family, without any interchange of
thought beyond what the management of his domains, or his
unavoidable participation in the political and religious quarrels
of his times, exacted. A Presbyterian, rigid and enthusiastic,
he commented on the Sacred Writings, after the manner of his
day; and under the influence of the same prejudices which
inflamed other fanatics of his sect, he expounded, with a reliance
not less wrapt, not less darkling, the pretended allusions of the
Divine word to those circumstances in which the reformed
church then found herself placed.

Well ! from the very bosom of such darkness there was
destined to spring forth an invention — for I may not call it a dis-
covery— an invention almost mechanical and material, which was
to create a revolution in all the methods of arithmetical calculation
hitherto employed in the sciences, to bestow upon them a facility,
a simplicity, an accuracy, beyond all expectation ; even to the
extent of suddenly stultifying and annihilating a multitude of
numerical tables, previously calculated with inconceivable labour
and pains to facilitate mathematical results — toil, to which not

Memoirs of John Napier of MerchisUm. 271

only the laborious were and might still have been doomed, but
even such geniuses as Copernicus and Kepler; and this, too,
without relieving, by that immense and irreparable sacrifice of
time, their successors from toil, the very same, or more painful
still, in proportion to the advance of applicate science. To libe-
rate the mathematical sciences from chains so grovelling — to
liberate them for ever — thus to sweep from the path of genius
every obstacle to the immediate realization of all her conceptions
dependent upon numbers — behold the triumph of the Logarithms !
and that species of emancipation has already had, and will for
ever have, an influence over the progress of human knowledge
too great not to incite us to the attempt of here rendering intel-
ligible, to every attentive mind, how it was that Napier realized
an invention so marvellous.

The Scotch biographer has felt with us the necessity of ful-
filling this task. Unfortunately, however, his zeal for his an-
cestor and his countryman could derive little aid in this attempt,
from the writings of mathematicians, even of those whose special
design was the history of mathematics. For by a fatality, al-
most inseparable from those inventors whose fortune it has been
to awaken the very train of improvement by which their own
discoveries are subsequently brought to perfection, no one, now-
a-days, reads Napier's original work, entitled Mirifici Logarith-
morum Canonis Description published in 1614, wherein he ex-
pounds the mode of generation he assigns to those new quantities
named by him artificial numbers or logarithms ; to which he
adds their affections or numerical properties involved in the defi-
nition ; their use in the simplification of arithmetical calculations,
when it is necessary to multiply numbers together, or to divide
one by the other ; their application in the resolutions of trio-o-
nometry and astronomy ; and, lastly, the numerical tables, con-
taining the logarithms of the trigonometrical lines, termed si7ius,
cosinus, tangentes, secantes, calculated from minute to minute
through the whole degrees of the quadrant, which must have
cost him an inconceivable physical labour, independently of the
invention. All this is given without explication, without any
opening as to the train of ideas which had led him to conceive
the admirable utility of these tables, no more than he gives us
with regard to the means he had employed for the calculations.

Tt^ M. Biofs Abstract of Mr Napkr's

Neither do we ever read now his other book, entitled, Mirifici
Logarithmorum Canonis construction which was only published
after his death, by his son, in 1619 ; a work in which Napier un-
folds, establishes, demonstrates, all the processes, all the me-
chanism of the construction of those logarithmic tables which he
did not choose in the first instance to unveil. We are now in-
dependent of his method, and of every thing except his primor-
dial idea. The immense development given to the algebraic
calculus by the use of literal symbols, the introduction of which
is due to Vieta, furnishes us, in the present day, with rapidly
and indefinitely converging series, by means of which we obtain
those same logarithms by a direct and immediate path, almost
without labour, and with a perfect adaptation of symbols, which
always enables us to see the present effect of those general oper-
ations which we express by formulae, and permits us to appreciate,
with a generalization not less perfect, the degree of approximation
of our results. Nevertheless, though the precision be boundless
with which these series may be pushed in search of logarithms,
I declare, to the honour of Napier, they effect nothing which
may not very easily be attained by his original method ; and if,
as is natural to suppose, this assertion appear somewhat rash to
our analysts, I hope immediately to prove it in a manner that
will remove every objection.

But, in order to form a just idea of Napier''s labours, we must
study his own books (especially the second one, wherein he un-
folds his method), and not merely rely upon the abstracts that
have been given of them. Of all these abstracts the best, that
is to say the most concise and elaborate, is, in my opinion, that
which Hutton published to his Introduction to the Mathemati-
cal Tables of Sherwin, and which is reprinted, with that intro-
duction, in the first volume of Scriptores Logarithmici. Yet,
after all, this abstract is rather an exact reproduction of Napier's
steps, than any attempt to characterize them in their principle,
or appreciate them in their results, by a comparison with our
actual methods ; now, of all others, that is the very point of view
under which it is most delightful to contemplate an original in-
ventor. As for Montucla, the popular historian of mathema-
tics, one would almost be tempted to believe that he never had
in his hand Napier^s posthumous explanatory work, for he at-

Memoirs of John Napier ofMerchislon. ^73

tributes to him processes of bisection which are not his, and
were subsequently employed by Briggs. We might expect to
find a juster estimate in the History of Astronomy by Delambre,
who was neither deficient in his knowledge of the existing me-
thods of logarithms, nor in his love of truth. But by a defect
in philosophy too characteristic of his work, he does not merely
make use of the simplicity of our modern formulae to illustrate
Napier''s ideas, which would be their legitimate use ; he trans-
lates, imperfectly, those ideas into modern formulae, thus giving
them for their base an empirical approximation, which does not
belong to them, and which is positively opposed to the genius
of Napier. Thus disfigured he submits him to inspection,
makes him answerable for inaccuracies which he has not com-
mitted, for faults which he attributes to him through blunders
of his own, and then pronounces a judgment not the less
false, that it is very kind and complimentary.* His recent
Scotch biographer relies much upon this authority to enhance
the glory of Napier, and exultingly quotes it against some few
writers, especially English, who, from sincere scientific opinion,
or from national prejudice, have, as he supposes, pretended
to depreciate the Scotchman, in attributing the first idea of the
discovery of logarithms to an obscure mathematician of the
Continent, named Juste Byrge, of whom, indeed, Kepler utters
a single word in the introduction to the Rudolphine Tables,
as if he had, upon some occasion, imagined something of the
kind that he had never published.-f* But of what use is it

• Delambre's History of Astronomy is one of the greatest* works of modem
continental philosophy, as its author is one of the greatest names. The an-
alysis of logarithms in that work, however liable to the objections here some-
what harshly pointed out by M. Biot, is a work that would, of itself, have
stamped the author as a great mathematical writer ; and we cannot see that
Mr Napier's reference to it was altogether so rash as M. Biot's observations
would imply. — Translator.

t Here is the passage in Kepler ; he is speaking of the geometrical sexage.
simal progressions employed by the ancient astronomers, and of which the
successive terms are designed by the characters of degrees, minutes, seconds,
thirds, &c. ; then he adds, " Fui etiam apices logistici Justo Byrgio multis an-
nis ante editionem Neperianam viam proeiverunt ad ipsos logarithmos. Etsi
homo cunctator et secretorum suorum custos foetum in partu destituit, non
ad usus publicos educavit." ( Tab. Rud. cap. iii. p. 1 1 , in fol.) It may be
presumed, upon the evidence of this passage, that Juste Byrge had, indeed,

274 M. Biot's Abstract of Mr Napier's

to discuss unknown pretensions not brought forward, and
which no one, in the present day, can either discover or appre-
ciate. At the epoch of Napier's conception of the logarithms,
all mathematicians, all astronomers, who by that time were
in great numbers, felt every moment the necessity of some
invention which would simplify the frightful numerical cal-
culations to which they were incessantly constrained to de-
vote themselves for the solution of astronomical triangles, the
sole application of mathematics at that time known. Various
passages of the scientific history of the period bear witness to
the attempts made with this object in view, as well by Byrge
as doubtless by many others, among whom Kepler reckons him-
self. And, truly, when we consider what it must have been
to calculate numerically tables of sines and natural tangents, for
a radius expressed by a million, or even ten millions of parts, of
which it was then composed, — when we reflect that all this de-
manded continual divisions and multiplications which required

applied to the ranges of sexagesimal derivations then in use, the observations
of Archimedes upon the geometrical and arithmetical progressions, considered
in relation to each other ; he may perhaps have even perceived the simpli-
fications that might be deduced when it was necessary to multiply or di-
vide such progressions by each other. But, in order to bring within such a
progression all possible numbers, a mighty step was to be made, and therein
consists the idea peculiar to Napier. Moreover, if Byrge had obtained a
glimpse of that idea, he had neither followed it out nor published it ; who,
then, can assign a value to it in the present day ? Lastly, the proof that
Kepler did not attach to this remark of Byrge any right, more or less ap-
proximating to the invention of logarithms, is, that in those same Rudolphine
Tables, he says expressly that Napier is the inventor — M. Biot.

All that is urged in this note by M. Biot wiU be found to be comprehended
in Mr Napier's investigations of the matter. (Memoirs, c. X.) Nor can we agree
with M. Biot in his somewhat impatient remark, " Mais qu'est-il besoin de
discuter des titres inconnus, que Ton ne produit pas, et que personne au-
jourd'huis ne peut voir, ni apprecier ?" He appears to have overlooked Mr
Napier's exposition of the very great injustice done to Napier, in this matter,
by Dr Charles Hutton ; and Montucla and others had attached too much im-
portance to the claim made for Byrge. It was the duty of Napier's biogra-
pher to clear up completely, as he has done, and, as we believe, required to
be done, the sole and unquestionable right of Napier to the invention of lo-
garithms, both in their original form, which may be termed the parent loga-
rithms, and in their modified form, called common logarithms, and sometimes
attributed solely to Briggs. Mr Napier's investigation of the matter has left
no dubiety, and has, moreover, elicited this additional and highly valuable
testimony and tribute from M. Biot. — Translator.

' Memoirs of John Napier of Merclmion. 275

to be unsparingly worked out to the close, without being ex-
cused a single figure in the largest numbers, — we may very well
understand how the universal desire of mathematicians was bent
upon their delivery from this grievous burden, and that the ne-
cessity of the case should suggest a thousand means, more or
less perfect, for removing it. But, for that purpose, Napier
alone has given us — has published the logarithms ; no one, be-
fore his time or since his day, has hit upon any invention equal
to this for the purpose ; and it alone serves us still, with-
out permitting us to feel a desire or necessity for any other.
By that charter, his right of inventor, of sole inventor, is incon-
testable. But that right becomes, if possible, yet clearer, when
we study the principle of his tables, when we analyze the idea
upon which they are based, when we make ourselves master of
its originality, and can appreciate the accuracy with which he
applies it, and the precision of the results he deduces. This is
what I mean to endeavour to make all readers sensible of, re-
serving the details of the calculus for a note to be placed at
the conclusion of this article. If it be my fortune to draw this
merit from the tomb to which the commentators had consigned
it, I will not pretend to say of him, as Cicero once said of Ar-
chimedes, Humilem Jiomunculum e radio et pulvere excitabo ;
but I shall feel confident of having communicated a subject of
genuine satisfaction to those enlightened philosophers who love
the glory of their predecessors as their own inheritance, and find
their own happiness in being able to render a just homage to
their labours.

It was that mighty genius of Syracuse who, in his treatise
Arenarius, was the first to record those properties of numerical
progressions upon which the theory of logarithms is founded.
Archimedes proposed to himself, not the idle question, how many
grains of sand might be contained in a sphere equal in diameter
to a sphere of the known universe, but to demonstrate that a
number as great as that, or infinitely greater, could be specified,
and written, by means solely of the numerical characters in use
among the Greeks of his time. It is well known that those
characters were the letters of the alphabet, which they emf^oyed
consecutively, in their natural order, simple and accented, to
designate the various classes of units, lens, hundreds, thousands,

276 M. Biofs Abstract of Mr Napier's

up to tens of thousands of units, which they termed myriads,
and indicated by the capital letter M, surmounted by that letter
of the alphabet which expressed the number of myriads intended.
This being arranged, Archimedes supposes an indefinite progres-
sion of numbers, commencing by simple unity, successively mul-
tiplied by ten, so that when written out, in the notation now in
use, the progression would be,

1; 10; 100; 1000; 10000; 100000; &c.

But as in this method of notation we would soon find ourselves
embarrassed by the multiplicity of zeros following the unit, we
shall abridge the expression by the aid of that ingenious artifice
contrived by Descartes, and which consists in only writing out
the common factor 10, qualified by a numerical index of more
or less value, which marks (becomes the expone7it) how often
the common root 10 is, in the particular term, to be found
multiplied byitself. Then writing out, according to this method,
the successive terms of the progression, and noting beneath each
term the rank which it occupies after the first term, we shall
obtain the following lines : —

1; 101; 102; 10»; W; 10^ 10^ W; 10^; &c. indefinitely.
0123 45678

It is evident, upon mere inspection, that the number in the
lower line, which expresses the rank of each term, is equal to the
exponent which marks how often the common root 10 \% factor
in that particular term. This was not evident to the eye, at a
glance, in the literal notation employed by Archimedes; and,
moreover, it was not possible for him to express, as we do, the
character of indefinite extension which he proposed to give to
such a progression. What then was his expedient ? In the
first place, he considers apart the nine first terms from 1 to 10^ ;
but he can write out, and even name these terms ; for the highest
of them, that is to say ten thousand times ten thousand, is only
equal to a myriad of myriads. Placing, then, these eight first
terms by themselves, he calls them numbers of the first order.
In the next place, with the ninth term 10^, he composes a new
unity, which he calls of the second order, and he arranges these
new units like the former, in numbers progressively multiplied

Memoirs of John Napier of Merchiston. 277

by ten, till he arrives at the eighth term of this new order, which
is 10^^ ; so that the next term 10^^, is in like manner found to
be a myriad of myriads of numbers of the second order ; and
thus, by continuing to compose successive orders of units, the
first term of which is always the myriad of myriads in the pre-
ceding order, it is evident that he could extend the series as far
as he chose, and even express evefy term orally ; for, in order
to do so, no more was necessary than to conceive them all placed
consecutively after each other, and then to separate them into
orders, or ociades, as in the following lines : —

1^^ Order.

1

; W:

; 10«;

10»; W;
M Order.

10^;

10«; 101

10«

;10^

1010;

M Order.

10^5;

10"; 10^^

UV6;

W7.

10i«;

W^ 10«o
Uh Order.

; lO^*

; 10^2. io«

102^ 10^^ 10«; W^\ 1028; 10«^ W% 10^^

Thus any term, at whatever distance from the first, may be
perfectly defined, and named, by announcing the order or octade
to which it belongs, in addition to its place in that octade itself;
and, moreover, that mode of characterising will be infinitely
more simple than if one attempted to write it out in an explicit
manner ; for, to take the example, in commencing with the
dimensions of a little grain of sand, and rising, from multiplica-
tion to multiplication, by means of this series, so as to conceive
a sphere, composed of these grains, equal to the sphere of the
whole galaxy, Archimedes proves that the sum-total of these little
grains will be less than a thousand myriads of numbers of the
eighth order ; now, from the table given above, it is easy to see
that the unit's term of that eighth order will be expressed by the
number 10 multiplied by itself 5Q times; and as a thousand
myriads of units make a thousand times ten thousand, or, 10
seven times factor, we find that the number announced by Archi-

VOL. XX. NO. XL. APRIL 1886. T

278 M. Biot's Abstract of Mr Napier'^s

medes is equal to 10 multiplied by itself 63 times — a number
which, even with our Arabic notation, is a long one to write out,
being unity followed by 63 zeros. But this matter becomes
very simple, and much more so for us than for Archimedes, if
we employ the Cartesian method of exponents, which simply
expresses how many times the multiplication of 1 0 by itself has
entered into the operation, for then that immense number of
Archimedes is written under this little contracted form, 10^^.

In all this the simplification results from the fact that, instead
of considering the numbers themselves with the multiplicity of
characters which express them, we merely designate them by
their rank in the indefinite progression, and to express that rank
is always by much the shorter process. In following out this
idea, Archimedes proves that it is equally available for obtaining,
by a very easy process, the products of terms in the progression
multiplied together. For example, suppose we wish to multiply
the fourth term, which is 1,000, or 10^, by the fifth, which is
10,000, or 10\ the product will be 10,000,000, or lO^; but
instead of thus seeking it, and painfully writing out the com-
ponent characters, it will suffice to add together the figures 3
and 4, which express (are exprnients of) the rank in the progres-
sion, of the two terms which are to be multiplied together. For
their sum, 7, marks the number of times 10 is factor in the
product sought for, and thus enables us at once to write out the
product 10^. Thus, multiplication is superseded by addition a
much more simple operation. Inversely, if this term in the
series, 10,000,000, or 10"^, be given, and we are required to
divide it by the other term 1,000, or 10^, we need only take the
difference of the exponents, which is 7 minus 3, that is to say, 4 ;
and 10"^, or 10,000, will be the quotient sought for, the same
which would have been obtained tediously by division. All the
other terms of the indefinite series offer the same facility of
abbreviation when required to be multiplied, or divided, together;
which results from this, that they are derived successively the
one from the other by an unvarying ratio, thus forming what
we call a geometrical progression^ ov by quotients; while, on
the other hand, the more simple numbers which express the rank
of each term, increasing simply by one unit, and always one
unit, in passing from one term to the next, constitutes another

Memoirs of John Napier of' Merchiston, 279

kind of progression called, progression by equidifference, or arith-
metical progression. Archimedes detected and demonstrated all
the relations, of which we have given the exposition above,
betwixt these two kinds of progressions, when their terms are
thus brought into correspondence. And in order to shew that
these properties were applicable to any terms of the two series,
he conceived the idea of representing generally these terms by
means of letters employed solely as signs of quantities, without
any particular numerical value ; thus affording the first example
of reasoning applied to figurative symbols representing abstrac-
tions, in which, properly, algebra consists, — that powerful intel-
lectual instrument for the discovery of the general relations of
magnitudes.*

From this to the logarithms there is but one step, and the
logarithms themselves are just indices used, according to the
Archimedean principle, to express the rank of each number in
an indefinite geometrical progression comprehending all num-

• Mr Napier particularly observes this fact, and also shews that Archimedes,
in lug very curious work Arenaritcs, obtained a glimpse of those three great
features of the modem science of numbers, Arabic notation, the logarithms,
and the language of algebra, unconscious, however, of the mighty mysteries
he had touched, and which remained to be successively unfolded in after ages,
(pp. 343, 344, 348.) It is complimentary to Mr Napier's treatment of his
subject, that M. Biot, in this paper, has followed the same plan of explaining
and illustrating the logarithms, by giving a history of the first appearance of
the logarithmic principle in the Arenarius of Archimedes, and then drawing
(as Doctor Hutton, and others, had failed to do,) the essential distinction
betwixt that glimpse of the principle, and the great invention of logarithms.
And it is but justice to Mr Napier's work to observe, that it follows out that
historical and numerical exposition, much more fully than M. Biot gives it.
Mr Napier also makes this observation, " That the Arabic system itself is
essentially logarithmic, and that the properties of the Archimedian theorem
may present themselves to a very ordinary calculator upon a consideration of
the simple notation 1000.'' He illustrates this by shewing, that the cyphers
serve to number the steps which the figure has taken in the decuple ascending
scale of progression ; and consequently, that in this view they are actually
indices of the value of the particular term. So " that the mere addition of the
cyphers in the Arabic scale will afford the same result as the multiplication of
the terms,*' &c. (p. 437.) M. Biot's immediate adoption, in his exposition of
the logarithmic principle, of the Cartesian exponential artifice, which abbre-
viates the written expression, tends to obscure this fact, which is certainly
interesting in a history of the gradual development of that mighty power of

numbers, the logarithms {See the Memoirs^ p. 435, et infra.) — Translator.

T 2

280 M. Biot's Abstract of Mr Napier's

bers, so that the progress of multiplying and dividing those
numbers together may be superseded by the mutual addition
and subtraction of the corresponding indices. But how is iivery
number to be comprehended in the same geometrical series con-
tinually progressing by equal ratios ? It is precisely in this
question that Napier's fundamental idea consists. It was only
necessary to make that common ratio of increase so little removed
from equality that the progression would march by steps exces-
sively slow ; whereby any given number, if it did not fall exactly
upon one of the terms of the progression, would at least be found
comprehended betwixt two terms so slightly differing from each
other that the error might go for nothing ; or, still better, as
Napier did, it was only necessary to conceive the idea of the
corresponding geometrical and arithmetical progressions being
engendered by the continuous motion of two moveable points,
starting together at the same time, but the one marching by a
geometrical acceleration, the other with a movement always
equi-different and uniform. The simultaneous position of these
two moveable points at any given instant of the progressions,
will give, in the geometrical progression, the number, in the
arithmetical, the corresponding index or logarithm.

But this simple idea presented, in the attempt to realize it, a
great practical difficulty. In order to form the successive terms
of the geometrical progression, it is necessary to multiply them
successively by their common ratio, as often as there are units
in the index of the terms ; and here we are again plunged into
calculations by multiplication, precisely what we wished to escape
from. Napier extricated himself from this embarrassment by an
expedient very simple, and replete with ingenuity. He formed
his geometrical progression in the descending scale, from large
numbers to less, instead of mounting from small numbers to
great as Archimedes did ; and he took for the constant ratio of
the successive terms, that of 10 to 9, or of 100 to 99, or of 1000
to 999, or generally that of a whole power of 10 to the same
power diminished by unity. Thus each term could be derived
from the preceding one by simple substraction ; for, if the first
term be, for example, 10000000, and the second 9999999, this
last is obtained by cutting off a unit from the former, that is to
say, its millionth part. The third term is derived from the

Memoirs of John Napier of Merchistoii. 281

second in like manner, by deducting from the second the ten-
millionth part of its value, or 0.9999999, according to our deci-
mal notation ; and, progressing in this manner, we obtain by
simple subtraction as many terms as we wish, all following each
other in geometrical progression, according to the ratio selected.
The correspondence of the terms, and the indices marking their
rank, compose the table exhibited below, in which the succession
is indicated to the hundredth term after the first, pushing the
value of each term to the seventh decimal.

Index of the rakk Numerical value of

OF teems of the geo- the successive terms of

metrical progression, the geometrical progres-

starting from the first. sion.

0 100000000.0000000

1.0000000

1 9999999.0000000

0.9999999

2 9999998.0000001

0.9999998

3 9999997.0000003

0.9999997

4 9999996.0000006

And so on to the 100th term, which
will be

100 9999900.0004950

Here is precisely the first table formed by Napier ; I have only
found it necessary to copy it out in order to give an exact idea
of his method. We may apply to the terms which compose it
all the properties demonstrated by Archimedes in his geometri-
cal progressions, and obtain the same simplifications of the mul-
tiplying and dividing them together. But slow as is the ratio
of the progression here employed, it is still but the expression
of an intermitting change, while the definition of a logarithm
requires that we determine the indices of the rank, which cor-

282 M. Biof s Abstract of' Mr Napier s

respond to the same terms engendered by a continuous move-
ment. Napier did not obtain the absolute expression of that
rectification, as in the present day we can do by means of
our differential methods, which enable us to pass without error
from discontinuity to continuity. But in comparing the essen-
tial conditions of the continuous movement with those of the
intermitting change, he establishes assignable limits between
which the logarithm of a given number is always comprised ;
so that if the difference betwixt these two limits is only beyond
the order of decimals which we care to keep, either of these
limits, or still better, their medium may be legitimately taken
for an expression sufficiently approximating to the logarithm
sought. Applying this principle to the table, he shews that
the logarithm of the first term 9999999 is necessarily com-
prised betwixt 1.0000000 and 1.0000001, wherefore he takes
it as equal to 1.0000005 ; now the precise value of that loga-
rithm, calculated by the methods now in use, is 1.00000 00500
00003 333, so that Napier's valuation of it is only in error by
the third of a unit on the fourteenth decimal of that logarithm.
This, then, is the first term of his arithmetical progression
corresponding to the geometrical progression which he adopts ;
and in multiplying them by the series of numbers, 1, 2, 3, &c.,
which mark the successive rank of the terms of that geometrical
progression, he obtains the indices, that is to say, the logarithms
of all those terms. This substantially is his mode of operation,
and, with some abbreviations, he leads his table of corresponding
progressions from 10000000 to 50000000, so as to obtain a
numerical progress decreasing in the ratio of 2 to 1 Then, any
number being assigned comprised within these limits, he shews
how its logarithm may be directly obtained of the requisite
approximation, by a comparison with the two terms of the geo-
metrical progression between which it lies. If the given
number is without the limits of the table, he shews how to bring
it within, and obtain its logarithm. Thus the general problem
of intercalating every number precisely, or by approximation,
in the same geometrical progression, is completely solved ; and
thus for every possible multiplication or division of these num-
bers with each other, there is obtained the same facilities, the
same simplifications, which Archimedes had discovered for the

Memoirs of John Napier of Merdmton. 283

particular geometrical progression which he adopted in the
Arenarius.

Such is the invention of Napier. He has rendered continu-
ous and universal, throughout the whole system of numbers,
those advantages which Archimedes had only obtained intermit-
tingly, and for particular numbers. If it be asked why Archi-
medes did not make this second step, which now appears to us
so little removed from the first, a plausible reason, in our opinion,
may be found in the nature of the literal symbols employed in
his time to designate numbers. For the signification of these
characters being absolute, numbers only differing slightly from
each other were often expressed by characters having no appa-
rent mutual relation ; or, if their expressions had any elements in
common, the ratio of their magnitudes to quantities of a different
kind was not manifested by the numerical expression itself;
whereas, in our actual method of writing the numbers, those two
kinds of evidence exist, and, as it were, appeal to the eye, es-
pecially when, generalizing the idea which attaches a value of
position to the numerals, we extend it inversely to the subdivi-
sions of unity by means of decimals. We have here, then,
another of those examples of the influence of symbols over the
extension of our ideas, in which the history of mathematics
abounds. And, in reference to this subject, be it remarked,
that Napier was the first in Europe who employed that genera-
lization, so simple in the method of noting the decimal sub-
divisions, which was indispensable to effect those successive
subtractions, and confine them betwixt the limits assigned
to his error. To convince ourselves that that idea was not so
easy a discovery as we are apt to believe, now that use has
familiarized it, we have only to look at the complicated and
nearly impracticable methods by which Stevin, an experienced
and ingenious geometrician, essayed to write the decimals, very
shortly before. Pitiscus, indeed, substituted the present notation
in the second edition of his trigonometry, 1612; and the Canon
mirifictis, in which Napier employs that notation, was not
published until the year 1614, which leaves with Pitiscus
the merit so far as priority of pubhcation is concerned. But
that Napier, who constantly employed it in his tables, must
have conceived it independently of Pitiscus, appears incon-

284 M. Blot's Abstract of Mr Napier's

testible when we consider the number of years which the
calculation of those tables must of necessity have occupied.
Their whole construction is founded upon the adoption of that
notation, and thus they attest the anterior usage, probably much
anterior to Pitiscus, who had not employed it in his former edi-
tion in 1599.

The system of logarithms adopted by Napier was the most
simple and the most commodious which could then be conceived
for the formation of the successive terms of the geometrical
progression. The tables which he had constructed already
offered, in place of the multiplications and divisions, those im-
mense advantages of simplification which we have explained
above. Kepler adopted them, and published a copy of them
with his Rudolphine tables, of which, as we have observed, he
transformed the plan in order to adapt them to the usage of
logarithms. But that invention once found, it was easy to
see that the particular logarithmic system selected by Napier
was not that which adapted itself the most perfectly to our deci-
mal mode of numeration. Professer Briggs of Oxford, a cotem-
porary of Napier's, conceived a modification which afforded this
advantage, and which is the same we now use. It appears that
he received that idea from Napier himself, to converse with
whom he made several expeditions into Scotland. At the end
of Napier's posthumous work, there is an appendix, in which we
find the indication of the method employed by Briggs.-)- Be this

• Mr Napier shews (p. 364.), that the subject of his biography was busy
with the invention of logarithms, and consequently his use of decimal frac-
tions* at least as early as 1594. See also pp, 451, 452, 454. for the history of
decimal fractions, as first operated with, and written in the present form of
notation, by Napier. — Translator.

-f- M. Biot says, " Briggs, &c. en imagina un autre,'* &c., but immediately
adds, " il parait qu'il regut cette idee de Napier meme," &c. The fact is more
fully explained in the memoirs, and appears incontestibly to be this. Briggs,
whenever he had studied Napier's invention, saw the practical advantage of
a modification of the system to suit, for practical purposes, the decimal scale
in use ; and he commenced his calculations to efl^ect that advantage. But he
journeyed into Scotland (a very interesting fact) to consult the inventor him-
self upon the subject. There he learnt that Napier had long previously
conceived the same principle of modification, and intended to realize it by a
method which, when he shewed it to Briggs, the latter instantly acknowledg-
ed was superior to his own method of that modification. Therefore Briggs

Memoirs of John Napier of Merchiston. 285

as it may, Briggs skilfully constructed, on this new plan, excel-
lent tables, the most exact, the most abundant in decunals that
have been published even to this day. It is a work to be esteemed,
not merely for its patience of labour, but for the skilful in-
genuity displayed in numerical approximations. On the strength
of this amelioration, however, some have occasionally assigned to
Briggs a share in the invention itself. Truly this is to confound
two very different merits, genius and labour. But an ardent
reverence for discoveries, however, is not a common faculty,
and is too often replaced by another less honourable, and
that is, the secret inclination of ordinary minds to lower the
exalted.

Independently of the merit of the invention, Napier's tables
are a prodigy of laborious patience. When we reflect upon the
time and toil it must have cost to calculate all those numbers,
we shudder at the chances there were of his being arrested in
the progress of realizing his idea, and of its dying with him. It
has been said, and Delambre repeats the remark, that the
last figures of his numbers are inaccurate ; this is a truth, but
it would have been a truth of more value to have ascertained
whether the inaccuracy resulted from the method, or from some
error of calculation in its applications. This I have done, and
thereby have detected that there is in fact a slight error of this
kind, a very slight error, in the last term of the second progres-
sion which he forms preparatory to the calculation of his table.
Now all the subsequent steps are deduced from that, which
infuses those slight errors that have been remarked. I corrected
the error ; and then, u^ing his method, but abridging the opera-
tions by our more rapid processes of development, calculated
the logarithm of 5000000, which is the last in Napier'*s table,
and consequently that upon which all the errors accumulate ; I
found for its value 6931471.808942, whereas by the modern
series, it ought to be 6931471.805599; thus the difference
(who tells the story himself), casts away all his own calculations made be-
fore he had conversed with the inventor, and adopted Napier's. This in
every sense gives to Napier the right of having himself deduced the common
logarithms from the parent system. Dr Charles Hutton*s extraordinary
view of the point in question, as well as his general exposition, so unjust to
Napier, of the original invention of logarithms, will be found very thoroughly
refuted in the memoirs, p. 383. et ir^fra. — Translator.

286 Mr Selby on the Quadrupeds and Birds

a)mmences with the tenth figure. I calculated, in like manner,
tlie h3^perbolical logarithm of 10, after Napier's corrected num-
bers; I found for its value 2.3025850940346, whereas by the
tables in use it is 2.30258 50929 940 ; the actual diflPerence,
then, only falls upon the ninth decimal, and that is two places
beyond Callet's tables in present and daily use. If Napier could
have commanded the services of a country schoolmaster, to
calculate, by his own method of substractions, a geometrical
progression slower still than what he adopted, a task which
he alludes to as a desideratum, the tables of Briggs, calculated
to fourteen decimals, would have possessed no superiority over
his.*

On the Quadrupeds and Birds inhabiting the County of Suther-
land, observed there during an Excursion in the Summer of'
1834. By P. J. Selby, Esq. F.R.S.E., F.L.S. &c. &c.
(Continued from p. 161.)

' AVES.

1. Aquila chrysaeta, Golden Eagle. — In the mountainous districts this
species is still tolerably abundant, although every device is put in prac-
tice to capture or destroy them by the appointed fox-hunters and shep-
herds, the premiums paid for the adult birds, as well as the eggs and
young, being liberal. They attack and often prove very destructive to
the young lambs, particularly when their eyry is not far distant from the
lambing district of a farm. They are sometimes taken in traps, but more
frequently shot, after patient and sometimes long-continued watching.
They breed in the highest and most inaccessible precipices, and it is rarelj--
that the young or eggs can be got at, even by the dangerous experiment
of suspending a person by a rope from the summit of the cliff in which
the eyry is placed. Several hairbreadth escapes, as well as fatal acci-
dents, were narrated to us by individuals who had been engaged in these

perilous undertakings. 2. Haliaetus albicillus. Cinereous Sea- Eagle:

Upon the northern precipitous coast of Sutherland the great sea-eagle is
still frequently seen soaring above the waters, or his hoarse bark heard

* This terminates M. Biot's general abstract of the life of Napier, and the
principle of his great invention. We shall take another opportunity of laying
before our readers the remainder of M. Biot's paper, which is occupied with
a review of Napier's minor inventions, and a scientific analysis of his canon
of the logarithms. — Translator.

inhahitifig the County of Sutherland. 287

when nearly beyond the ken of sight, though persecuted as assiduously
as the former species, being considered as equally destructive to the
flocks. It breeds upon the highest maritime cliffs, such as those of Far-
out-head, Whiting-head, &c., as well as upon islands in some of the
larger fresh-water lochs. At Far-out-head we contemplated for some
time the evolutions of two adult birds of this species, almost within gun-
shot beneath us, and which were supposed to have their eyry in the face
of the rock. Their flight was easy and graceful, and in large winding

sweeps. 3. Pandion haliaetus, Osprey. The osprey appears to be most

abundant upon the western coast of Sutherland, affecting the numerous salt-
water inlets or lochs which indent that rugged and rocky barrier of the
county, and more particularly those into which the larger streams dis-
charge themselves, as it is upon the Salmonidce that they appear chiefly to
subsist. At the mouth of the Saxfiord, a celebrated salmon stream (as
the name imports), we observed three or four upon the wing at a time,
sometimes soaring at great height in extensive circles, at others hovering
over the channel of the river where it enters the sea, intently watching
and seeking their slippery prey beneath. They hang suspended in the
air like the kestril, but with a slower motion of the wings, and their plunge
is made with a rapidity almost incredible, and with an impetus so great
as completely to submerge the entire body of the bird. Here I cannot help
remarking the beautiful adaptation of the plumage of this bird to its mode
of life, for instead of the long lax plumes which adorn the thighs of the
terrene raptores, the osprey has these parts covered with close set fea-
thers, and the whole of the under-plumage bears a strong analogy to that
of the Natatores. When successful they bore off their prey in their talons
to the summit of some of the neighbouring hills, there to devour it at
leisure. Their food at this time mostly consisted of the sea-trout, Salmo
trutta, which had just commenced running, that is, were quitting the sea
for the rivers and fresh-water lochs. It not unfrequently happens that
they grasp at more than they are able to accomplish, and pounce a fish
too large and heavy to raise out of the water. Upon such occasions, after
continuing the struggle for some time, they at length relax their hold,
which they do without difficulty, though we are told, that, under such
circumstances, the bird is generally drowned, being imable to extricate
its talons from its finny prey. Mr Baigery, the factor of the Laurie dis-
trict, to whom we are under many obligations, a short period before our
arrival had witnessed an interesting struggle of this kind, in which the
bird, after repeated attempts to raise the fish (a large grilse or salmon)
was finally obliged to quit his hold, and suffer it to escape. The osprey
is also to be seen upon most of the larger fresh- water lochs. At Assynt
a pair have long had their eyry upon the remains of an ancient castle about
a mile below Inch-na-Damff. They remain generally unmolested by the
hunters, as they never attack the lambs, their food being entirely restrict-
ed to fish.— 4. Falco islandicus, Jer-Falcon. I do not insert this noble
species as a constant inhabitant of Sutherland, but as an occasional visi-

288 Mr Selby on the Quadrupeds and Birds

tant. At Keoldalc we met with a recent skin (now in my possession)^ and
the remains of one that had been killed near that place a short time before

our arrival by Mr Leslie. 6, F. peregrinus, Peregrine Falcon. Is pretty

generally distributed, and preys much upon the various aquatic fowl, as

well as on grous, ptarmigan, and alpine hares. 6. F. tinnunculus,

Kestril. Common throughout the county. 7. Buteo vulgaris. Com-
mon Buzzard. This species we met with in various parts of the county.

8. Circus cyaneus. Hen Harrier. A single female individual was

seen and fired at between Alt-na-Harrow and Loch Laighal. No owls
were met with, but from the information we received, the Otus Brachyo-
tos inhabits the country. 9. Hirundo rustica. Chimney Swallow. Com-
mon. 19. H. urbica. Martlet. Plentiful. Breeds in great numbers

about the marble rocks near Inch-na-Duriff. 11. H. riparia. Sand

Martin. A few were seen, but no great breeding-station noticed.

12. Cypselus murarius. Common Swift. We met wdth this bird in the
parish of Durness, where it breeds in the great Smoo Cave, and other ca-
verns of the limestone rock. 13. Muscicapa grisola. Spotty Flycatcher.

A specimen seen at Rosehall, below Oikel Bridge. 14. Menila mu-

sica. Song Thrush. Plentiful throughout the whole country, particularly
where birchen or hazel copse abounds ; it is also frequently seen in rocky
situations, perched upon a large stone, pouring forth its melodious
strains, which are precisely similar to those of its fellow species in other
parts of the kingdom. No other thrush nearly resembling the common
kind in colour, but darker and smaller, was seen, and we in vain tried to
recognise the little brown thrush of Mr Laidlaw, which I am inclined to
suppose was only the common species seen in rather unwonted situations.
We shot several for examination, in wild and unfrequented places, and
where no one, judging of the habits of the thrush, as seen in more south-
em districts, would have expected to find them. We were informed at
Tongue, in which district from the plantations and numerous birch-woods
they are very numerous, that they do not migrate, but remain during
winter upon the margins of the Firth, and other low situations, where the
snow rarely lies, and where they always have a plentiful supply of food.
16. Merula viscivora. Missel Thrush. Was seen about the birch-
woods upon the banks of Loch Naver, and in the neighbourhood of Lavig.

16. M. vulgaris. Blackbird. Is not frequently seen in Sutherland.

We met with it at Tongue, where it finds an appropriate retreat in the

plantations around Tongue House. 17. M. torquata, Ring Ouzel.

This species is very abundant during summer upon all the rocky moun-
tains. It begins to breed immediately on its arrival in April, and we

found the young generally flown by the middle of June. 18. Cinclus

aquaticus, European Dipper or Water Ouzel. In a district abounding in
rocky streams and situations so congenial to the habits of the Dipper, we
naturally expected to find this favourite little bird in great profusion.
Our surprise at first was therefore great, to meet with only an individual

inhabiting- the County of Sutherland 289

here and there, and those in the most sequestered spots. The cause,
however, was soon explained, when we learnt that a decree of extermi-
nation had gone forth a few years ago, against this pretty little warbler,
and a price set upon its head as the supposed destroyer of the spawn of
the salmon ; I say the supposed destroyer, as I do not think a case suffi-
ciently strong has been made out against it to warrant so fatal a sentence.
That it may occasionally devour the spawn of the salmon and trout, I do
not deny ; but I hold, that from the depth at which the impregnated ova
are deposited in the gravel, the Dipper cannot possibly arrive at them or
commit any serious injury, and that it is only such ova as have escaped
impregnation, and therefore float loose, or such as have not been suffi-
ciently covered, and would therefore perish under any circumstances,
that find their way into the stomach of the bird. In Sutherland it goes

under the name of the King's-fishcr. 19. Saxicola cenanthe. Wheat Ear.

■ This clean-looking active bird is very plentiful, and generally distributed
over the country, but I think most abundant in the limestone districts,
where the superior nature of the soil, and the quality of the rocks, in all

probability produce a greater abundance of food. 20. S. rubetra,

Whin-Chat. A few pairs of this species were seen in various parts, as at

Lairg, Tongue, &c., but generally where low copse was met with.

21. S. rubicola, Stone-Chat. Was also occasionally met with. 22. Ery-

thaca rubecula. Redbreast. Was seen at various stations. 23. Sali-

caria phragmitis. Sedge Warbler. This was one of the few warblers we
traced to the northern extremity of the island ; it was pretty generally
distributed along the margins of the lochs, particularly where low birchen
copice and reedy grass abound. The well known babbling notes of this
wakeful little bird proclaimed its presence in many unexpected situa-
tions. 24. Curruca cinerea, Common Whitethroat. Is of rare occur-
rence in Sutherland. One was seen and repeatedly lieard near Tongue
House in a young plantation, and we again met with it upon the south-
ern confines of the county, near Bonar Bridge. 25. Sylvia trochilus.

Willow Wren. The only species of the genus Sylvia we met with, was
the common willow-wren, which extended in considerable numbers to
the extremity of tlie island, wherever copse or birch-wood abounded.
About Tongue it was very plentiful, and the same at Lairg, the margins

of Loch Naver, and the wooded banks of Loch Assynt. 26. Parus

coenileus, Bluecap Titmouse. Was seen at Rosehall, in the fir planta-
tions. 27. P. ater. Cole Titmouse. Also seen at the same place.

28. Accentor modularis. Hedge Accentor. Was met with at all our various

stations, and twice seen at a considerable elevation. 29. Motacilla

alba, Pied Wagtail. Generally dispersed. 30. Motacilla boarula. Grey

Wagtail. Upon most of the rivers and margins of lochs. 31. Anthus

pratensis. Meadow Pipit. Very common throughout the county, and

met with on the summits of the highest hills. 32. Alauda arvensis,

Sky-Lark. Very plentiful throughout the country, and was seen the
previous year within a few hundred yards of Cape ^V^ath 33. Em-

290 ^Ir Selby on the Quadrupeds and Birds

beriza miliaria. Common Bunting. Very common in the lower grounds,
particularly where cultivation existed, and was traced to the northern

coast of the county. 34. E. citrinella, Yellow Bunting. Was seen at

all our various stations. 35. E. Schoeniculus, Reed Bunting. Common

upon the margins of all the lochs, and in the swampy districts. 86.

Passer domesticus. House Sparrow. Was observed in all the villages, and

many nest holes apparent in the thatch of Keoldale House, &c.

37. Fringilla coelebs. Chaffinch. Seen about Lairg, Tongue, and Incha

na-duriff. 38. Linaria cannabina, Common Grey Linnet. Seemingly a

rare species in Sutherland. A single pair was seen at Keoldale.

39. L. montium. Mountain Linnet or Twite. A plentiful species and
very generally distributed. It was first met with at Lairg, and afterwards
occurred at all the different stations we occupied. Its song is pleasing,

though scarcely equal in compass to that of L. cannabina. 40. L.

minor. Lesser Redpole Linnet. Was met with wherever birch copse oc-
curred. Several were shot, but all appeared of the common species, and

none could be assigned to the larger variety or L. borealis. 41. Stur-

nus vulgaris. Common Starling. Is met with upon the northern and west-
em coasts of Sutherland, where it breeds in the holes and caverns of the
limestone rock. We saw several about the Smoo Cave, and a large flock
at Scourie. 42. Corvus corax. Raven. This powerful bird is still plen-
tiful in Sutherland, although every exertion is used to destroy it, on ac-
count of the frequent attacks it makes upon the sick sheep and new

dropped lambs. 43. C. cornix. Hooded Crow. This is the common

crow of the county, the C. corone, or carrion crow, being unknown or a
very rare visitant. It is a great destroyer of the eggs, as well as the
young, of the various grous, young hares, &c. It generally makes its
nest about the root of some birch or mountain-ash, growing out of the face
of the rocks or deep ravines, or where beech- woods abound in the high-
est trees. 44. C. frugilegus. Rook. A small rookery exists at Aucheny,

about four miles above the bridge of Thin, and w^e saw a small flock
on our return, about three miles above the bridge of Oikel. Towards
autumn we were told that great numbers of rooks spread themselves over
the county, ascending the mountains to a considerable altitude, where

they feed upon the larvae of TipulidcB, &c., and alpine berries.

45. Troglodytes Europseus, Common Wren. Was seen at Tongue and

Lairg. 46. C. canorus. Common Cuckoo. The cuckoo we found very

numerously distributed over the country, and its well known notes were
heard for some time after our arrival in every direction. As with us (up-
on the Northumberland moors) it generally makes use of the pipit's nest,
wherein to deposit its e^g^ and the young, as well as the eggs, are fre-
quently found by the shepherds. The larvae of the nocturnal Lepidop-
tera, particularly of the genera Lasiocampa, Odonestis, and Satumia,

are very numerous, and afford it a constant and luxurious repast.

47. Columba palumbus. Ring Pigeon. The ring pigeon was observed as
far north as Tongue, where the plantations and birch-woods about the

6

inhabiting the County of Sutherland. 291

base of Ben-Laighal afford it a retreat. A few pairs only were seen du-
ring our 'excursion. 48. C. livia. Rock Pigeon. This species, the stock

of our common dovecote pigeon, is found in its wild state along the whole
of the northern coast of Sutherland, inhabiting the caves and rocky pre-
cipices, which rise in parts to several hundred feet in height. It is abun-
dant about Whiting Head and the eastern shore of Loch Eriboll, com-
posed of rocks abounding in caves and deep cleft fissures. The prevail-
ing colour is a dark blue, the wings with two black transverse bands,

and the lower back white. 49. Tetrao tetrix. Black Grous. Plentiful

in all the districts about Lairg and Loch Shin, the base of Ben Laighal,

Ben Hope, &c. 60. Lagopus Scoticus, Red Grous or Red Ptarmigan.

In the midland district of the county, between Lairg and Tongue, the
common red grous seems abundant. Upon the western coast it is not
so numerous, the face of the country being too rocky and sterile, and sel-
dom affording any extended tract of heath. 61. L. mutus. Common

Ptarmigan. Plentiful upon all the mountains, their rocky summits being
favourable to its habits. A specimen was shot by Sir William Jardine,
which Dr Richardson, when shewn to him, thought to be the L. rupestria
of the Faun. Bor. Amer. It is smaller than the usual average size of the
common ptarmigan, and the plumage is more varied with reddish-brown.
It was killed upon the Ben-More ridge above Inch-na-Damff, and we
hope to obtain additional specimens from the same locality, so as to ena-
ble us to determine the species. 62. Perdix cinerea. Common Par-
tridge. A pair was seen at Inch-na-Damff, and about Lairg their call was

repeatedly heard. 63. Ardea cinerea. Common Heron. Was seen upon

the Oikel. 64. Numenius arquatus. Common Curlew. Very abundant

in all the central parts of the county, where heath and extensive marshy
tracts prevail. Upon the rocky western coast it is comparatively rare.

65. N. phseopus, Whimhrel. Was seen upon the margin of Loch Shin,

but no eggs or young were obtained. 6Q. Totanus calidris, Redshank.

Was found breeding on the marshy margin of Loch Doulich, near Lairg,
and at the head of Loch Naver. When disturbed from its nest, and as
long as the young are unable to fly, the old birds are very vociferous,
and wheel around the intruder in circles, making frequent stoops, as if to

strike at the head, like the common lapwing. 67. T. hypoleucos.

Common Sandpiper. Very abundant upon the margins of all the numerous

lochs and rivers. 68. T. glottis, Greenshank. This species, whose nest

had never before been found in Britain, we detected breeding in various
parts of the country, generally in some swampy marsh, or by the margin
of some of its numerous lochs. It is very wild and wary, except when
it has tender young, at which time, when first disturbed, it sometimes
approaches pretty near, making a rapid stoop like the redshank at the
head of the intruder. If fired at and missed, which is frequently the case
even by a good marksman, as the stoop is made with remarkable rapi-
dity, it seldom (at least for that day) ventures again within range. A
pair which had their nest in a marsh near Tongue, after having been once

292 Mr Selby ofi the Quadrupeds and Birds

fired atj could not a^in be approached, but we obtained one of the
young, apparently about a fortnight old, by means of a water-dog. An-
other pair were shot near Scourie, by the margin of a small loch, where,
from their violent outcries and alarm, they evidently had their nest or

young, though we were unable to find either. 69. Scolopax gallinago.

Common Snipe. Is very abundant in all the moory and marshy tracts.
60. S. gallinula. Jack Snipe. The gamekeeper of the Tongue dis-
trict assured us that the jack snipe breeds in Sutherland almost every
year, and that he had obtained the eggs, as well as young, in some boggy
ground, about two miles from Tongue, He shewed such an intimate
knowledge of the bird, as to do away with any impression upon our
minds of a mistake as to the species. Sir William Jardine accompanied
him to a spot where he had frequently seen them in summer, but he was
not so fortunate as to meet with any. The situation and ground was,
however, apparently exactly suited to their habits. In winter it is plen-
tiful in the lower springs. 61. Tringa variabilis. Dunlin or Purre. In

the summer or dunlin plumage we found the common purre abundant upon
the margins of all the lochs. The nest is usually placed under the shelter
of some tuft or bush, removed a short distance from the usual water-line
of the loch. — "62. Crex pratensis. Meadow Crake or Com Crake. Is very

abundant in all the lower Straths, where cultivation exists. 6S. Fulica

atra. Common Coot. Was heard among the reeds which skirt the south-
ern side of Loch Doulich, about two and a half miles from Lairg. 64.

Haematopus ostralegus. Oyster- Catcher. Common upon the margin of
Loch Shin, where it breeds, and upon most of the salt-water friths and

lochs, such as those of Eriboll, Tongue, &c. 65. Vanellus cristatus.

Common Lapwing. Very abundant throughout the county. 66. Cha-

radrius pluvialis. Golden Plover. Plentiful throughout the county, but
particularly abundant in the district between Lairg and Tongue, the
parish of Durness, Scourie, &c. Sutherland appears to be the great

breeding-station of this species. 67. C. Hiaticula, Ring Plover or Ring

Dottrel. Upon the margins of all the lochs and larger streams very nume-
rous. 68. Anas ferus {Segetum, auct.) Bean-goose. We were agreeably

surprised to find that the bean-goose annually breeds upon several of the
Sutherland lakes. The first intimation we received of this interesting fact
was at Lairg, where we were informed that a few pairs bred upon some
islands about twelve miles up Loch Shin. We accordingly took boat the
following morning, and upon arriving at the place, discovered a single pair,
attended by four or five young goslings. None were obtained, as the
old birds, being wild, escaped seemingly uninjured, although repeatedly
fired at, and the goslings immediately dived and escaped into the reeds
and other herbage. Upon Loch Naver we also found several pairs at-
tended by their young, seemingly about a fortnight or three weeks old,
one of which, after a severe chase, we procured. Upon the islands of
Loch Laighal, from thirty to forty pairs, we were informed, annually had
their nests. We saw several old birds, and the nests that had been used,
which are concealed in heath upwards of three feet in height, that covers

inhabiting the County of Sutherland. 293

the islands. The eggs were all hatched, and most of the young had be-
taken themselves to the neighbouring moors, where they continue till able
to fly, secreting themselves, when disturbed, in the highest heather. At
Tongue we saw some goslings about a month old (following a hen),
which had been hatched from eggs taken at Loch Laighal. We were told
that they became nearly as tame as common geese, but refuse to inter-
mix or breed with them. The eggs, from five to seven in number, are
smaller than those of the common goose, but of a similar shape and colour.

69. Anas boschas. Common Wild-Duck or Mallard. Was seen upon

most of the lochs and marshy moors. 70. Mareca penelope, Wigeon.

As the Wigeon had not previously been detected breeding in Britain,
we were much pleased to observe several pairs upon the smaller lochs
near Lairg, which we concluded had their nests among the reeds and
other herbage which grew in their vicinity. We were not so fortunate,
however, as to find one here, though diligent search was made, but after-
wards upon one of the islands of Loch Laighal we sprung a female, which
we shot, from her nest, containing seven eggs. It was placed in the heart of
a large rush bush, and was made of decayed rushes and reeds, with a lining
of warm down from the bird's body. The eggs were smaller than those of the

wild duck, and of a rich cream- white colour. 71. Fuligula marila.

Scaup Pochard. A single female was shot by Sir William Jardine, in a small
loch between Loch Hope and EriboU ; she was attended by a young one,
which unfortunately escaped among the reeds. This is the first instance

of its breeding in Britain having been ascertained that I am aware of.

72. Mergus Merganser, Goosander. Two or three birds of this species
were seen during the excursion, but no nest or breeding station detected.

73. M. serrator. Red-breasted Merganser. Is very plentiful upon all

the lochs. At the time we were in Sutherland few had commenced in-
cubation. 74. Podiceps minor, Dobchick or Little Grd>e. Was met with

occasionally upon the smaller lochs during the excursion. 76. Colym-

bus glaeialis. Northern Diver. A single pair was seen in the Bay of
Balnikiel, mouth of the Durness Frith, both adult birds, and in perfect
summer plumage. It is probable that they had their nest upon one of the

numerous islets that abound in the bay. 76. C. arcticus. Black-throated

Diver. This beautiful species, whose breeding station had never before
been detected, we found upon most of the interior Sutherland lochs. The
first we noticed was at the foot of Loch Shin, where we were so fortu-
nate as to find the nest, or rather the two eggs, upon the bare ground of
a small islet, removed about ten or twelve feet from the water's edge.
The female was seen in the act of incubation, sitting horizontally, and
not in an upright position, upon the eggs. In plumage she precisely re-
sembled the male, and when fired at immediately swam, or rather dived
off* to him at a short distance. Our pursuit after them was, however, in-
effectual, though persevered in for a long time, as it was impossible to
calculate where they were likely to rise after diving. Submersion fre-
quently continued for nearly two minutes at a time, and they generally

VOL. XX. XO. XL. APKIL 18-36. U

294 Mr Selby on the Quadrupeds and Birds

reappeared at nearly a quarter of a mile's distance from the spot where
they had gone down. In no instance have I ever seen them attempt to
escape by taking wing* I may observe that a visible track from the wa-
ter to the eggs was made by the female, whose progress upon land is
effected by shuffling along upon her belly, propelled by her legs behind.
On the day following (Saturday the 31st of May), Mr J. Wilson was for-
tunate enough to find two newly hatched young ones in a small creek of
Loch Craggie, about two and a half miles from Lairg. After handling
and examining them, during which the old birds approached very near
to him, he left them in the same spot, knowing that we were anxious to
obtain the old birds. Accordingly, on the Monday morning we had the
boat conveyed to the loch, and, on our arrival, soon descried the two old
birds, attended by their young, and apparently moving to a different part
of the loch. Contrary to their usual habit at other times, they did not
attempt to dive upon our approach, but kept swimming around their
young, which, from their tender age, were unable to make much way in
the water, and we got sufficiently near to shoot both of them through the
neck and head, the only parts accessible to shot, as they swim with the
whole body nearly submerged. The female could only be distinguished
from the male by a slight inferiority of size, and both were in the finest
adult or summer plumage. We afterwards saw several pairs, upon va-
rious lochs, and upon Loch Kay a pair, attended by two young ones,
nearly half grown. When swimming, they are in the constant habit of
dipping their bill in the water, with a graceful motion of the head and

neck. 77. C. septentrionalis. Red-throated Diver. Also breeds upon

many of the lochs. We obtained no eggs or young, but it was evident

from the conduct of the birds, that they were breeding. ^78. Uria

Troile, Foolish Guillemot, Is common upon the northern and western
coasts of Sutherland, and breeds in great numbers upon the precipices

of an island, about six miles from Scourie. 79. U. Grylle, Black

Guillemot. Is also frequently seen. Mr J. Jardine noticed it about the

caves near the mouth of the Durness Frith. 80. Alca Torda, Razor

Bill. Also common. 81. Fratercula arctica, jPw^w. Common upon

the coast and salt water inlets. 82. Phalacrocorax Carbo, Cormorant.

Numerous in all the friths. 83. P. cristatus, Crested or Green Cormo-
rant. Is equally plentiful, and breeds upon the rocky precipices of Loch

EriboU, and the western coast. 84. Sula Bassana, Solan Goose. Many

were seen hovering over the sea, off Far-out-head and other parts of the

northern coast. 85. Sterna Boysii, Sandwich Tern. Was seen upon

the Friths of Tongue and Eriboll. 86. St. arctica, Arctic Tern. Abun-
dant upon all the friths, breeds upon the flat coast of Tongue, &c.

87. Lams ridibundus. Black-headed Gull. Plentiful. Breeds among the

reeds of lochs Doulich, &c. 88. L. Canus, Common Gull or Mew. Has

various breeding stations, viz. upon Loch Shin, Loch Laighal, and various

smaller lochs. 89. L. Rissa, Kittiwake. Common upon the rocky

coasts. L. argentatus. Herring Gull. Was seen upon most of the salt

inhabiting the County of Sutherland. 295

water lochs, but no breeding station observed. 91. L. marinus. Great

Black-hacked Gull. A few were seen upon the friths. 92. L. fuscus.

Lesser Black-hacked Gull. Many colonies of this species were observed,
one upon Loch Shin, another upon one of the islands of Loch Laighal,

&c. 93. Cataractes Richardsonii, Richardson's Skua. Was observed

by Sir William Jardine upon the Durness Frith. 94. Phoenicura ruti-
cella, German ErytheBa. Was twice seen, first at Oikcl Bridge, and
again at Ron Stall.

A pair of goldfinches {Carduelis vulgaris) and a goatsucker {Caprimul-
gu8 europtBus), were seen in a birch wood on the banks of Loch Laighal,
by Mr James Wilson, which have not been noticed in the preceding list.

Memoir on the Star- Fish of the genus Comatula^ demonstrative
of the Pentacrinus europcBus being the Young of our hi-
digenous Species. By John V. Thompson, F. L. S., Dep.
Inspector-General of Hospitals. Communicated by Sir James
M'Grigor, F.R. S. * With a Plate.

If we were told by any traveller that he had visited an un-
known region, where the animals dropt their eggs on trees and
shrubs, which there fixed themselves and shot up like parasitic
plants on a long stem^ gradually evolving, at their extreme end,
member after member and function after function, until the
young animals became so perfect as to resemble their parents in
every essential point, — when their attachment to the connecting
footstalk was dissolved, and they became free and locomotive,
and betook themselves to the wandering life of the parent stock !
few could be got to believe facts so incredible, and so much at
variance with the course of nature, as made manifest every-
where and from all time ; but if established on incontestable evi-
dence, the highest degree of surprise and admiration would ne-
cessarily supplant our incredulity, — voyages would be under-
taken, and the curious of every country would flock to witness
such an extraordinary anomaly, at the greatest risk and expense.
If, then, a fact so contrary to our experience relating to the su-
perior classes of animals should be capable of exciting so great a
degree of interest, it may be presumed that an analogous circum-
stance, now for the first time actually discovered in an animal be-
longing to one of the inferior classes, must be considered, at least,
as highly worthy of the attention of the philosophic naturalist.
• Read before the Royal Society of London, in June 1835.

U 2

996 Mr Thompson on the Star-Fish of

It is no uncommon thing, in the inferior classes of the animal
kingdom, to find animals permanently attached from the period
of their birth, and during the whole time of their existence, fa-
miliar examples of which we have in the oyster, anomia, and
various other bivalve shell-fish, and in numerous compound ani-
mals of the classes Zoophj ta and Infusoria. I have also shewn,
in my memoirs on the Cirripedes, examples of animals being free
and locomotive in their first stages, and afterwards becoming
permanently fixed ; but an animal growing for a period as it were
a flower, fixed by its stem, and then dropping from its pedicel
and becoming, during the remainder of its life, free and locomo-
tive, is not only new, but without any parallel in the whole range
of the organized part of the creation. No wonder, then, that
any naturalist, on the. first discovery of the young animal in its
first or fixed stage of existence, ghould consider it as belonging
exclusively to those which are known to be permanently fixed,
analogy would permit no other conclusion to be formed, and
consequently it could be classed with none other except the cri-
noideae, one known genus of which tribe participates with coma-
tula in being locomotive in its advanced stage ; so that this cir-
cumstance connects all these animals into an inseparable group,
with which the present state of our knowledge will not permit
us to associate any other of the asteriae.

When, therefore, I formerly described the young of the co-
matula* as a new species of pentacrinus, no person could have
suspected so anomalous and unexpected a result, as that it was
the young state of this curious star-fish, an animal not only free,
but leading the most vagrant life of any of the tribe with which
it has hitherto been associated by naturalists, — at one time crawl-
ing about amongst submarine plants, at others floating to and
fro, adhering to thin fragments by means of its dorsal claspers,
or even swimming about after the manner of the medusae. In
swimming, the movements of the arms of the comatulae exactly
resemble the alternating stroke given by the medusae to the liquid
element, and has the same effect, causing the animal to raise it-
self from the bottom, and to advance, back foremost, even more
rapidly than the medusa. Fig. 7, Plate II, represents a coma-
tula, after having delivered its stroke to the water.

Memoir on Pentacrinus europseus. Cork, 1827.

the Genus Comatula. 297

The evidence of pentacrinus being the young of comatula, rests
upon a comparison of the individuals figured S, 4, and 5, 6, on
Plate 1 1, the former being an advanced pentacrinus just beginning
to form pinnae, and the latter the youngest comatula ever taken
by dredging. In the pentacrinus, it is to be observed that the arms
are just beginning to form pinna? towards their extremities, that
they have the sulphur-yellow colour and dark marginal spotting
observable in the other, which shews, in like manner, that the
upper pinnae are first formed ; here. Figs. 5, 6, we have about
three pair of pinnae, with two intervening articulations of the arm
between each, then three articuli (counting from the apex down-
wards), and an additional pair of pinnae just beginning to sprout.
From this to the base of the arm are five more articuli, as yet
without any pinnae, the base of each arm on either side present-
ing one long pinna appropriated to the service of the mouth. On
turning the animal over, the dorsal cirri are found to have in-
creased from five to nine, several of them presenting the appear-
ance of recent formation. Individuals a little older are compa-
ratively common, in which the pinnae are complete, and from this
period they appear to form regularly at the apex of the arm, as
this goes on extending in length. These small comatulas still retain
the original sulphur-yellow colour towards the apices of the arms,
the lower part and body assuming the characteristic red of the adult
comatula. From observations repeatedly made, I think it most pro-
bable that the comatulae attain their full growth in one year, so as
to be in a condition to propagate their kind the summer follow-
ing that of their birth. At that time (viz. May and June) these
full grown individuals have the membranous expansion inside
each of the pinnae, considerably extended, at least as far as the
fifteenth or twentieth pair, these, which are the matrices or con-
ceptacula, at length shew themselves distended with the ova,
which in July, and even earlier, make their exit through a round
aperture on the fascial side of each conceptaculum, still, how-
ever, adhering together in a roundish cluster of about a hundred
each, by means of the extension and connection of their umbili-
cal cords. By what means these ova are dispersed, or how they
become attached to the stems and branches of corallines, remain
to be discovered ; but it is strongly to be suspected that the ani-
mal is gifted with the power of placing them in appropriate si-

298 Mr Thomson on the Star-Fish of

tualions, otherwise we should find them iiidiscriminately on fuci,
shells, stones, &c., which does not appear to be the case. How-
ever this may be, if we are allowed to assume that the Penta-
crinus europaeus is the young of comatula, we first perceive the
dispersed and attached ova in the form of a flattened oval disk,
by which it is permanently fixed to the spot Eelected, giving exit
to an obscurely jointed stem, ending in a club-shaped head, as
in Fig. 2, e, in which individual the animal is sufficiently advan-
ced to shew the incipient formation of the arms and the mouth
with its tentacula, by means of which it obtains the food neces-
sary to its successive growth. At d of the same figure is an-
other, somewhat more advanced, in which all the ossicula of the
arms are obvious, as far as the bifurcation. At the letters a, b and
c are represented, what I considered formerly as completel}/ form-
ed pentacrini, (a) from the position shewing the valvular mouth,
and (x) the anal aperture ; {li) shews most clearly the cirri or
claspers at the top of the stem, and (c) that the living principle
extends throughout the entire fabric demonstrated by the varied
movements of the pedicle. At a later period I observed indi-
viduals shewing a still higher degree of development, Fig. 4, and
in which the arms had the appearance of bifurcating twice to-
wards their extreme ends, and had become of a sulphur-yellow
colour, with a zone of dark coloured spots along either margin.
Another circumstance confirmatory of these being the young of
comatula is derived from these pentacrini being first seen about
the time of the dispersion of the ova of the comatulae, and again
entirely disappearing in September, the only season when young
comatulae are to be obtained, and such as are represented Fig. 5
and 6. In these the points of resemblance to advanced penta-
crini have been already alluded to, and it is quite evident, that
since they became detached, pinnae must have been added in
both directions, both towards the apex and downwards towards
the base of the arms. Those specimens which have made a further
progress are plentiful, and have all the pinnae complete down to
the bifurcation, with a few additional claspers added at the back.
At Fig. 7, a middle-sized Comatula decacnemos is given, as they
appear in June when pregnant with ova; and at Fig. 8 is a por-
tion of an arm magnified, with the ova beginning to escape from
the conccptacula, which they do successively from the base up-

PLATE H . -Kdin '.'Mw /M. ^ Tnuni . Vol .. /:/.//. 2.'^

b

77Z,

not. size O

the genus Comatiila. 299

wards. Mr Millar, in his laboured but excellent work on the
Crinoideae has figured our comatula in this stage as a new spe-
cies, under the title of C. fimbriata ; indeed, no naturalist who
had not investigated their habitudes in their own element, and
at all seasons, could possibly arrive at the knowledge of this
very remarkable and curious piece of economy, which may be
considered as unique. These animals are further distinguished
by the peculiarity of having two openings to the intestinal canal,
by which they also differ from the rest of the asteriae.

The great abundance of comatulae, in the places they inha-
bit, is not to be wondered at when we are aware how exceed-
ingly prolific they are ; thus each arm may be estimated to bear
thirty fruitful conceptacles, each producing about a hundred
ova, and as there are ten such, this gives 30,000 ! as the amount
of ova produced by a single individual.

Connected with the natural history of the comatula is that of
a nondescript parasite, which appears to be a complete zoologi-
cal puzzle, as it is not possible to determine from its figure and
structure to what class it ought to be referred. This little ani-
mal is figured at Figs. 9 and 10, much magnified, its natural size
not exceeding that of the breadth of the ossicula of the arms of the
comatula ; it resembles a flat scale, runs about with considerable
vivacity on the arms of the animal, and occasionally protrudes
a flexible tabular proboscis, ending in a papillary margin. The
disk or body is surrounded by eighteen or twenty retractile and
moveable tentacula, and beneath is furnished with five pair of
short members, each ending in a hooked claw. Query, Is it a
perfect animal or a larva, and does it belong to the Crustacea,
Annelides, or what ?

Explanation of the Figures in Plate II.
Fig. 1. Pentacrinus europaeus, a group of the natural size.
Fig. 2. The same magnified ; ff the basis ; e and d, two individuals

in early stages of growth ; a, 6, c, fully developed individuals.

At X letter a the vent is seen, and below it the valvular mouth

of the animal.
Figs. 3 and 4. An individual of the natural size, and magnified, still

more developed, beginning to form pinnae towards the ends of

the arms, as at a, 6 ; in this the cirri or claspers at the back of

the animal are very distinctly seen.

800 Mr Connell on the Chemical Constitution of Gadolinite.

Figs. 5. and 6. A very young comatula of the natural size, and

magnified, a, a:, the vent, in front is the star-like mouth.

bf bj Two of the dorsal cirri.
Fig. 7. Adult Comatula decacnemos. c, The dorsal cirri.
Fig. 8. Part of one of the arms seen in face, a, Ova protruding from

the conceptacula. b, Ova just beginning to make their exit.

c, One as yet filled with the ova. d, Ova magnified.
Figs. 9 and 10. Parasite of comatula magnified. 10. Turned over

on its back ; m. Mouth ; f^ feet ; b, ova?

On the Chemical Constitution of Gadolinite. By A. Connell,
Esq. F.R.S.E., &c. Communicated by the Author.

According to the analysis of this mineral by Berzelius, its
constituents are yttria, protoxide of cerium, protoxide of iron,
and silica. It would appear, however, that Ekeberg had found
about 4 per cent, of glucina in a variety analyzed by him ; and
very lately an analysis has been published by Drs Thomson and
Steel, of a variety in which so large a proportion as 11.60 per cent,
of glucina appears.* The external characters of this latter
variety agree sufficiently with those usually assigned to gadolinite ;
but the proportion of oxide of cerium is considerably less than
in the analysis of Berzelius, as appears from the following com-
parison between one of Berzelius"* analysis and that of Dr
Thomson : —

Berz. Thorn.

Yttria, ....

45. 45.

Glucina,

11.60

Protoxide of Cerium,

17.92 4.33

Protoxide of Iron, .

11.43 13.59

Silica, ....

25.8 24.33

Farther, Dr Thomson's specimen was a large mass of the mineral,
weighing several ounces, and mixed with grains of platinum,
whilst, so far as I am aware, gadolinite had previously been only
observed crystallized, or disseminated in small grains or globules,
in other minerals. Its locality, also, was unknown.

Although no doubt can be entertained that the mineral ana-
lyzed by Dr Thomson was a variety of gadolinite, yet the pecu-
liarities above alluded to appeared to me to make it a matter of
interest to examine again some specimen of the ordinary varieties
• Records of Science. June, 1835.

Mr Cqnnell on the Chemical Constitutwn of GadoUmte. 301

of this mineral, particularly with a view to the question whether
glucina enters into their constitution in notable quantity.

The only specimen of gadolinite which I could procure, ca-
pable of affording a quantity with which I could attempt deter-
mining the proportion of its constituents, (and that much less
than I could have wished, being only ten grains,) was one of
which the locality was not more particularly marked than as
being Fahlun ; and which exactly resembled, both as to the
matrix and as to the mineral itself, specimens which I have
seen labelled as from Broddbo near Fahlun. The gadolinite
which it contained occurred in grains of the size of a small pea
disseminated in granite. Its colour was black, or very dark
green ; lustre vitreous, and fracture conchoidal; and it possess-
ed all the other usual external characters of the mineral.

Besides this specimen, which was the principal subject of
analysis, two others, of smaller size, were examined generally,
the one from Finbo, and the other, I have reason to believe,
from Broddbo.

The manner of proceeding was as follows: — The mineral,
reduced to fine powder, was boiled in nitro-muriatic acid ; and
the silica afterwards obtained in the usual manner. From the
solution of the other constituents, the oxide of cerium was sepa-
rated by means of crystals of sulphate of potash, and subsequent
solution of the double salt, and precipitation by boiling with
potash. Thus far the analysis is sufficiently simple ; but the
best method of obtaining the remaining constituents is not so
easily determined. To separate the oxide of iron, I tried ben-
zoate of ammonia, in the preliminary examination of one of the
smaller specimens, but I found, as Dr Thomson also observed,
that not merely benzoate of iron was thrown down, but some of
the other constituents of the mineral also. I then had recourse
to the method of tartaric acid, and hydrosulphuret of ammonia.
1'he liquid, which had been acted on by the crystals of sulphate
of potash, was precipitated by ammonia, and the precipitate,
after being collected on a filter, was dissolved in muriatic acid.
Solution of tartaric acid, and afterwards ammonia in excess,
were added, and the iron precipitated by hydrosulphuret of
ammonia. The residual liquid was then evaporated to dryness,
and the residue completely incinerated by long exposure to a

302 Mr Connell on the Chemical ConstUuticm c)f Gadolinita.

red heat. This ignited matter, of course, was the yttria in a
state of purity, or combined with glucina, if the mineral contained
that earth. The most obvious method of investigating this
latter point was to redissolve the ignited matter in muriatic acid,
and treat the solution with caustic potash ; and in this way I was
enabled to detect glucina in the mineral. I found, however,
that, from the much greater relative quantity of yttria, this process
was extremely imperfect ; and the method, therefore, which I
adopted was, in the first place, to throw down as much of the yttria
as possible from the muriatic solution, by means of oxalic acid,
after nearly neutralizing it by ammonia. The oxalate of yttria
was then separated by filtration ; the remaining liquid precipi-
tated by ammonia ; and the precipitate boiled with caustic pot-
ash, and then filtered from the undissolved matter. From the
alkaline solution a gelatinous substance was obtained by super-
saturation with muriatic acid, and precipitation by ammonia,
which was found to be soluble in carbonate of ammonia, and to
give with nitrate of cobalt, before the blowpipe, a black or dark
grey glass ; and, in short, to have all the properties of hydrate
of glucina. The matter left undissolved by the alkaline ley, was
once more dissolved in acid, and treated with caustic potash, to
complete the separation of the glucina from the small quantity of
yttria which had not been thrown down by the oxalic acid.

In the principal analysis, with the view of diminishing the
great tediousness of the incineration of the yttria and glucina,
oxalic acid was employed to precipitate as much yttria as pos-
sible, before separating the iron ; and the iron was then obtain-
ed as before, by precipitating by ammonia, redissolving the pre-
cipitate, and then employing the method of tartaric acid, and
hydrosulphuret of ammonia. The glucina and remaining yttria
were then separated as formerly. But although in this way there
is much less matter to incinerate, the other method appears to
be'preferable in other respects.

By adding oxalate of ammonia to the liquid from which the
yttria, glucina, and oxide of iron had been originally separated
together, a minute quantity of lime was obtained.

By the process of which the above detail offers a general out-
line, I obtained from the above-mentioned portion of the speci-
men marked as from Fahlun, the following constituents: —

Mr Conneil on the Chemical Constitution of Gadolinite. 303

Yttria, 36.64

Glucina, 6.90

Protoxide of Cerium, .... 14.31

Protoxide of Iron, . . . . 14.41

Silica, 27.10

Lime, .45

98.71
From the smaller specimen, the locality of which was uncertain,
but which I have reason to believe was Broddbo, I also obtained
a quantity of glucina, although its proportion was not deter-
mined. With respect to that from Finbo, I cannot speak with
absolute certainty, on account of the very small quantity of
matter examined ; but from the examination made of it, I have
very little doubt that it also contained this earth.

From these researches, therefore, as well as from those of
Ekeberg, Thomson, and Steel, it is sufficiently clear that glucina
is at least a frequent constituent of gadolinite. It would appear,
however, that the relative proportions of its several constituents
are subject to variation ; and it would be very desirable that any
person who could procure a sufficient quantity of crystallized
specimens from different localities, should execute a careful
analysis of them.

DescriptioTt of a New Detached Pendulum Escapement ; invent-
ed by Alexander Witherspoon, Watchmaker, Tranent,*

Considering the great variety of the escapements which have
already been devised, it may appear difficult, if not impossible,
to propose any other constructed on principles entirely new ; yet I
flatter myself, that that which I am about to lay before the Society
of Arts will be found to possess more simphcity, and to approach
nearer to perfection, than any which has yet been described.

To obtain a correct notion of the advantages expected from
it, it may be proper to glance at the general principles according
to which instruments for measuring time are constructed.

Both in clock and in watch movements, time is measured by
the oscillations of a body impelled towards a position of rest by
a force which increases with its distance from that central posi-
tion. In watches, this force, being supplied by the flexure of

• Read before the Society of Arts, 13th April 1831.

304 Description of Mr Wither spooiCs

the balance spring, is accurately proportional to the distance of
evagation ; but in clocks, being obtained by the circular motion
of the pendulum, it is only approximately so. The oscillations
of the balance of a watch, however unequal in extent, are thus
performed in equal times ; while those of the clock pendulum
deviate a little from perfect isochronism.

The balance or pendulum is the real time-measurer, the train
of wheels being attached only for the purposes of counting the
vibrations, and of supplying the slight loss of momentum which
attends the motion of every piece of mechanism. For these pur-
poses, it it absolutely necessary that the motion of the train be con-
nected with that of the pendulum ; the apparatus for making this
connection is called the escapement, and on the construction of
this escapement the accuracy of the time-keeper mainly depends.

The earliest contrivances of this nature were called recoil es-
capements, because that, during part of the oscillation, the whole
train, and along with it the maintaining force, is driven back-
wards by the momentum of the vibrating body. During the
entire oscillation, the train is in connection with the pendulum,
the impulse teeth rubbing upon the backs of the pallets. Now,
to obtain accuracy in going, the momentum of the pendulum
ought to be gradually generated and extinguished by the sole
action of gravity ; whereas, with this escapement it is affected
by the friction and by the resistance of the maintaining force ;
the changes, then, to which, from the gradual thickening of the
oil, these disturbing forces are liable must occasion considerable
errors in the movement.

The first amelioration of the common recoil escapement was
made by forming the rubbing parts of the pallets cylindric, so
that the train might merely be detained by them without being
subjected to a recoil. But this still left the motion of the pen-
dulum exposed to the effects of changes in the viscidity of the
oil, or in the smoothness of the rubbing surfaces.

The great imperfection of the dead-beat escapement is, that,
while the train is communicating no impulse to the pendulum,
it continues to retard its motion by pressing upon the back of
the pallet, thus creating additional work for itself. This evil
has been nearly removed by the contrivance of detached escape-
ments. In these the train is prevented, by means of a detent, from

New Detached Pendulum Escapement. 305

advancing upon or touching any part of the pendulum, which,
at the instant when the pendulum requires impulse, is unlocked
by it so as to allow the impelling tooth to strike the pendulum
and communicate momentum to it; by the time when this com-
munication is finished the detent has returned to its place, and
is ready to arrest the next detaining tooth. In this way the
train has no communication with the pendulum except while giv-
ing it the impulse, and the only disturbing force which exists is
the resistance offered to the unlocking of the detent ; but this is
so feeble, and exerted through so short a distance, that it may
almost be overlooked.

Nearly as the detached escapement approaches to perfection,
it is still liable to the serious inconvenience of communicating an
impulse which, because of the thickening of the oil, gradually
weakens, and leads to a diminution of the arc of vibration, and
consequently to a change in the clock's daily rate. Besides this,
the sudden blow which the pendulum receives excites a vibration
through its whole [ength, and gradually displaces, when suspend-
ed by a knife-edge upon a horizontal plane, the axis of motion,
thus rendering it necessary to place the knife-edge in the bottom of
a groove, and to give to it all the characters of a rubbing axis.

The escapement which I have contrived is calculated to re-
move all these inconveniences, and almost to place the going of
the time-keeper beyond the reach of errors in the workmanship.
The description of the escapement will be best given by tracing
over the mode of its operation.

A is the pendulum rod, represented as having nearly reached
the limit of its vibration to the left, and as about to touch the
small friction roller attached to the arm C D of the impeller
B C D E. The upper part of the pendulum rod is broken off
to shew the axis B, concentric with the axis of motion of the
pendulum itself, on which the impeller turns. The two axes
coinciding in direction, no rubbing ought to take place though
there were no friction roller at D ; the roller is merely placed
there for the purpose of preventing the bad effects of any small
error in the adjustment. In the drawing, the weight of the im-
peller is represented as sustained, through the intervention of the
slender spring E F, by the lifting pin F, which is placed near
the centre of the scapement wheel ; this wheel itself being pre-

806 Description of Mr Witherspoon's

vented from advancing by the opposition of the detent to the
detaining tooth H. The end of the spring E F is furcated, the
pin resting in the bottom of the notch, and keeping the spring
bent upwards from its nataral position by a distance rather more
than the minute diameter of the pin.

The oscillation of the pendulum is so nearly completed, that,
when finished, the impeller B C D E may be hfted till the ex-
tremity of the spring just escapes from the pin F, and takes up
a position a little to the left of its present one. The whole weight
of the impeller now rests upon the pendulum ; but when the
pendulum begins to retire, the extremity of the spring is not ar-
rested by the pin F, but passes close by it, directing its motion
towards the pin G.

The impeller continues to press against the pendulum rod,
and increases its momentum until the arm B E reaches a pin at
L, projected from a branch of the detent H K L. After this the
pendulum continues its oscillation uninterrupted.

New Detached Pendulum Escapement. 307

The detent turns upon an axis at K, so that the pressure of
the impeller upon the pin L elevates the detent, and allows the
detaining tooth H to pass forwards.

Just at this moment the second lifting pin G is entangled be-
tween the sides of the notch in the extremity of the spring E F ;
the motion of the wheel, therefore, again elevates the impeller,
the rise of which allows the detent to descend upon the stop N
and await the arrival of the second detaining tooth I, whose ar-
rest is announced by a distinct beat.

The whole of the escapement has now assumed a position ex-
actly analogous to that which it had at first, and awaits the ap-
proach of the pendulum, to solicit anew its maintaining power.

During the whole of this action the pendulum is never con-
nected with the train of wheels. The only body which acts
upon it is the impeller, and this communicates to it the impulse
which is generated by a descent of a constant weight through a
determinate distance. The lightness of the parts renders oil
either on the axis B or on the pin F unnecessary, so that this
. action is entirely freed from any error which might have arisen
from changes in the adhesiveness of oil. In order to solicit the
impulsion, the pendulum has to raise the impeller through a dis-
tance determined by the thickness of the pin F, and has to over-
come the friction of the spring against that pin. But the dia-
meter of the pin is so small, and the flexure of the spring so
slight, that the errors caused by them must be exceedingly small,
especially when we consider that they are not liable to any va-
riation. The unlocking of the detent H, instead of being per-
formed by the pendulum, is effected by the impeller; so that,
however variable may be the maintaining force, provided it is
never so small as to be unable to raise the impeller, nor so great
as to prevent the unlocking of the detent, the going of the clock
can never be in the slightest degree affected.

When the pendulum rod reaches the friclion-roller, it is mov-
ing with a very small velocity, since it is almost at the limit of
its oscillation, so that nothing analogous to the blow of the com-
mon 'scapements takes place ; and even the sudden removal of
the pressure of the impeller, when the arm reaches the pin L,
can hardly excite any tremour in the pendulum.

308 New Pendulum Escapement

In almost all delicate escapements, high finish in the rubbing
surfaces and great accuracy in the workmanship are absolutely
essential to good going. In every case the advantage of careful
execution cannot fail to be felt; but in this escapement that ad-
vantage is by no means great. The execution of the train is al-
most a matter of indifference ; and even in the most vital part,
though the distances of the detaining teeth were inaccurately
laid off, the errors would recur at every revolution of the escape-
ment wheel, and their effects on the going would be generated
and destroyed in the same period, so that the daily or hourly
rate could not be affected.

The motion of the train resembles that of a perfect dead-beat,
although the escapement certainly partakes of the nature of the
recoil, since the unhooking of the spring is only effected after a
slight elevation of the impeller. The beat is made only at each
second oscillation, so that, in order to beat seconds, a half seconds
pendulum must be used. In escapements which beat at each
vibration, it is difficult to have two consecutive intervals exactly
equal, — the one being less, and the other as much more than an
exact second ; but when the beat is given only on one side, no
such inequality can exist.

The parts of the impeller are liable to expansion by heat, but
the effects of this can easily be obviated by extending an arm
made of some expansive metal such as zinc, on the other side of
the axis B, while the branches represented in the figure are
made of glass. This arm also will allow a weight to be slid
along it so as to regulate the intensity of the impulse.

When the spring is released from the pin F, it does not merely
assume its position of rest, but continues for a moment to vibrate
on each side of it. As there might appear to be some risk of its
catching again the same pin, a damper has been put on to di-
minish these oscillations ; but, as in some other escapements which
I have constructed on the same principle, it was not found ne-
cessary, it has been omitted in the drawing.

I need hardly point out to the Society, that the number of
lifting pins is not limited to four, and will leave the considera-
tion of the simplicity of the machinery, and its fitness for pro-
ducing the desired end, to themselves.

( 309 )

On the Occurrence of the Megalichthys in a Bed of Cannel Coal
in the West of Fijeshire, with Observations on the supposed
Lacustrine Limestone at Burdiehouse. By Leonard Hor-
KER, Esq. F. R. SS. L. & E. Fellow of the Geological Society.

■^'>qCommunicated by the Author *.

The specimen which has led to this communication was
given to me, a few weeks ago, at Dunfermline, by Mr Mac-
kie, manager of the factory of Messrs Arthur, Aitken and
Company. It is an object of considerable geological interest,
being a very fine specimen of a tooth, of the same nature with
-those found in the limestone of Burdiehouse, near Edinburgh,
which were first brought under the notice of the scientific world
by Dr Hibbert. He conceived them to be the teeth of a sau-
rian reptile ; but their true nature was afterwards determined
by the more experienced eye of M. Agassiz, who pronounced
them to have belonged to a sauroid fish. M. Agassiz consider-
ed the fish to be a new genus, calling it Megalichthys, in re-
ference to its great size, which the largeness of the teeth indi-
cate ; and he designated the particular species found at Burdie-
house by the name of Megalichthys Hibberti. This specimen
was found accidentally in a mass of cannel coal, which they were
breaking into small fragments, to be cast into a gas retort ; and
it is to be feared, that many precious relics of a similar nature
have been destroyed by the same fate which awaited this very
ancient record of the past ages of our globe.

The tooth is two inches long, and seven-eighths of an inch in
diameter at its base. It is covered with a thin shining enamel,
which is longitudinally striated, and, within a quarter of an inch
of the base, deeply furrowed. It is not entirely circular, but is
somewhat flattened. The enamel of the teeth, found in the
limestone of Burdiehouse is of a pale brown colour, but this
is black ; the internal substance is, however, the same in both.
It is in size and general appearance very similar to that figured
at page 383. of Dr Hibbert's Memoir (Transactions of the
Royal Society of Edinburgh, vol. xiii.), and is, I believe, the

• Head at a meeting of the Royal Society, 1st February 1830.
VOL. XX. NO. XL. APRIL 1836. X

310 Mr Horner on the occurrence of the Megalkhthys

largest and most perfect tooth that has yet been met with in the
coal itself ; those hitherto found at Stoneyhill, near Musselburgh,
being in general small.

This cannel coal was brought from Halbeath in the county of
Fife, about two miles eastward of Dunfermline. I had not an
opportunity of examining the locality at the time I got the spe-
cimen, the weather not being then favourable for such a pur-
pose ; but through the kindness of Mr Bowes, surgeon in Dun-
fermline, I was referred to Mr Geddes, raining engineer, who is
intimately acquainted with the coal-fields in that part of Fife-
shire, and especially with the colliery from which this specimen
was obtained. He lias been so obliging as to give me a descrip-
tion of the spot, from which I have extracted the following par-
ticulars, as more particularly bearing upon the subject of this
communication.

The country around Dunfermline is composed of the strati-
fied rocks of which the coal-measures usually consist, viz. alter-
nations of sandstones, slate-clay, bituminous shale, which is fre-
quently indurated, clay ironstone, and coal. There are, besides,
beds of limestone, which, as seen at Charleston, appears to form
the outer or high edge of the basin in which the coal-measures
are situated, and at a vast depth below the bed of coal in which
the fossil tooth was found. This is usually considered to be the
mountain or carboniferous limestone. The alternating sandstone
is of variable thickness, being in one bed as much as lOS feet,
and the slate-clay varies from a few inches to several feet. The
seams of coal are also of different dimensions, from five inches
to seven feet. They are chiefly distinguished with reference to
their economical applications ; and they include both cannel coal
and glance or blind coal. A section at the Halbeath colliery of
431 feet, gives 26 feet of workable coal. The general bearing
of the strata is between south-east and north-west, and the lower
beds have been ascertained to extend between two points which
are five miles asunder. The superior beds appear to have been
carried off by denudation in many places, after having been
thrown up and shattered by disturbing forces, which have occa-
sioned numerous faults. Although no trap-dikes appear, there
is an overlying mass of trap in the vicinity, which, I conceive,
is in all probability connected with a deep-seated dike. It is

in the Cannel Coalqf Fifeshire. 311

most likely that the eruption of the trap has been the chief cause
of these disturbances.

The faults vary in width from 2 feet to 240 feet. In Halbeath
colliery the strata are subject to five different dislocations, in a
distance of about half a mile, as is represented in the annexed
section in Plate III., besides other troubles, which produce si-
milar effects on a smaller scale. The bed marked b is the seam
of cannel coal in which the fossil tooth was found ; it is twenty-
three inches in thickness, the immediate roof being a slaty sand-
stone, and the floor an ordinary white sandstone.

It will thus be seen, that this bed of cannel coal, containing
remains of a sauroid fish, is one of a regular series of alternating
coal-measures of the usual characters, some of which abound
in vegetable remains, which, as well as those from which the
coal itself has been derived, must have been nourished during
their growth by fresh water; that it is in conformable stratification
with the shales containing these plants, and partakes in all the dis-
locations of these and the other strata.

The interest which has been excited among geologists by Dr
Hibbert's researches at Burdiehouse, leads us naturally to in-
quire, whether the occurrence of remains of the same species of
sauroid fish, in this new locality, tends to shew an analogy be-
tween the deposit at Halbeath and that at Burdiehouse ? I
think it does ; not, however, by establishing a difference between
the beds at Halbeath and those of coal-fields in general, but be-
cause I have not been able to discover any thing in the pheno-
mena exhibited at Burdiehouse, which should lead us to consi-
der any member of the series of strata there as having been
formed in a manner different from that, which is now generally
considered to be the most probable explanation of the circum-
stances under which deposits of coal, and the accompanying
sandstones and shales must have taken place Dr Hibbert, on
the other hand, considers tlie deposit at Burdiehouse as an
exception to the general rule, by the existence in it of a bed of
limestone of peculiar characters, and which he denominates a
Fresh-water Formation.

A large proportion of the stratified rocks which contain ma-
rine remains, may be said to be, in great part, of fresh-water
origin ; for the materials of which they are chiefly composed

x2

312 Mr Horner ow the occurrence of' the Megalichthys

must have constituted the substance of pre-existing rocks, which
were abraded by atmospheric agencies and running water, the
detritus being afterwards transported by rivers to the sea ; and
in some of the beds thus formed, such as the coal-measures, the
products of fresh-water are in great abundance. But this is not
the sense in which Dr Hibbert employs the term : he considers
the bed of limestone in question to have peculiar distinctive cha-
racters ; that he has made a discovery of a new feature in our
coal-fields, and one, moreover, which he had been long expect-
ing to find. " 1 had long," he says, " been prepared to expect
that a limestone of a fluviatile or a fresh-water origin would,
some time or other, be proved to exist.'' — P. 169- He states
(p. 267) " that it must have been the result of a deposit in fresh-
water, hostile to the growth and increase of marine shells and
corallines ;" that this limestone bed " indicates some fresh-water
river or lake, within which calcareous matter was elaborated. —
P. 253, Farther, that " the beds of argillaceous shale, both above
and below, enclose the same organic remains as are found in
the limestone, along with coprolites, shewing that they are them-
selves a portion of the lacustriiie deposit of this locality." —
P, 244. And, at p. 272, he says, " Hitherto, however, I have
not found the slighest traces of marine mollusca or corallines in
the limestone of Burdiehouse ; and hence, I am not induced
to consider it as any thing but a pure lacustrine Jbrmationy

It is now generally admitted, as the most probable theory of
the formation of coal-deposits, where there are interstratified
marine beds, that they have taken place in estuaries, in those
deep indentations of the land which often occur at the mouths
of great rivers ; and where the beds that are gradually formed,
by the subsidence of the solid materials brought into it by the
waters, must contain the productions both of the sea and land ;
those of the land, however, naturally predominating. The beds
of coal are usually considered to have been formed by the accu-
mulation of large quantities of vegetable matter, drifted into the
estuary from the land, and deposited upon a previously formed
surface of sand, clay, and mud, indurated afterwards into stone
by pressure, and by a chemical action among the particles, in-
duced by that enormous pressure ; the vegetable matter being
converted into coal by the combined chemical action of water

in the Cannd Coal of Fife shire. SI 3

and that same compressing force. The numerous alternations
observed in the coal-measures, and the frequent intercalation of
beds of limestone abounding in marine remains, indicate not only
frequent changes in the nature of the materials brought from
the land, but the predominance of sea over fresh water for long
periods, over the areas occupied by the accumulations of trans-
ported detritus, and repeated submergence and re-elevation of
the bed of the estuary.

Now, after an examination of the spot and the specimens, and
after a careful perusal of Dr Hibbert's memoir, I cannot find
any thing in the limestone of Burdiehouse adverse to the theory
of its having been so deposited in an estuary; but, on the con-
trary, the evidence appears to me strongly to favour that hypothe-
sis, and to be hostile to the idea of its being a lacustrine deposit.

Dr Hibbert himself, in speaking of the great coal-formations
of the Scottish Lowlands generally (p. 258), while he makes an
exception in regard to this particular bed of limestone, admits,
" that even large tracts of dry land might have subsisted, and
have been invaded by arms of the sea or estuaries ;" and, in an-
other place, in the summary of the evidence he adduces in fa-
vour of his theory of a lacustrine deposit, he says (p. 9.Q5), " the
calcareous deposite must have taken place in a depression or ba-
sin, perfectly surrounded with a dense vegetation, which has
been washed into inland waters. But this circumstance, he goes
on to say, " would of itself prove little, as we may easily sup-
pose that an estuary or arm of the sea might have stretched
through a tract where a dense vegetation has prevailed.*" In
his account of what he considers an analogous formation in Lin-
lithgowshire, Dr Hibbert says (p. ^5)^ " Near Bathgate, a
limestone of marine origin may, at its junction with a fluviatile
bed, be found to actually graduate into a fresh- water deposit.*"
Now, this is exactly such a kind of formation as one might ex-
pect would take place in an estuary, where any of the beds
might partake, in some degree, of a fresh-water character.

The evidence which Dr Hibbert considers as conclusive in
favour of this limestone being of lacustrine origin is, (p. 264),

L The absence of all mollusca and conch ifera, of acknow-
ledged marine origin.

314 Mr Horner 07i the occurrence of the Megalichthys

2. In connection with the absence of marine shells, the pro-
fusion of terrestrial plants.

3. The presence of the remains of fishes that inhabited fresh
water, but which Dr Hibbert admits to be an ambiguous crite-
rion, (p. 271).

4. The abundance of the shells of entomostraca, scattered
through the limestone.

Let us now examine the weight of that evidence ; and first, as
to the absence of marine shells.

In the immediate vicinity of Burdiehouse, there is a limestone
abounding in marine remains, which Dr Hibbert describes, and
which occurs in nearly conformable stratification with the other
coal-measures, and with the so-called lacustrine limestone. The
mere inspection of the diagram given by Dr Hibbert to shew
the relative position of the two beds of limestone would lead us
to conclude that they were deposited in the same waters, and
belong to one series ; and we know that nothing is more com-
mon than to find, in a series of strata, some beds of limestone
containing organic remains, and others in which not a trace of
an organized body can be discovered. Near Lul worth, in Dor-
setshire, where the Purbeck beds are largely developed, and
which abound in organic remains, there are compact varieties of
Purbeck stone, which are devoid of shells, and which attain a
thickness of from 60 to 100 feet.* Many of the beds of the
lias and oolite series of limestones, and which alternate with
shales and sandstones, are almost wholly made up of organic
remains, while others of the same series are wholly destitute of
them. The same thing has been observed in the carboniferous
limestone of Wales, of the north of France, and of Belgium.
Marine shells may not, as yet, have been discovered in the lime-
stone under consideration, but marine organic remains are abun-
dant in it, as I shall presently shew. But even beds contain-
ing exclusively fresh-water shells, in the opinion of geologists of
great authority, do not afford conclusive evidence of a lacustrine
deposit. In the memoir of Professor Buckland and M. De La
Beche, on the Geology of the Neighbourhood of Weymouth,-|-
the authors observe, " One of the most important points in the

• GeoL Trans. 2d ser. vol. iv. p. 12. t Ibid.

in the CanneUcoal of Fifesldre* 315

geological history of the Purbeck series, is the occurrence of a
bed of oyster-shells, called the cinder-bed," often many feet in
thickness, and almost wholly composed of dark-coloured small
oyster-shells in the midst of a series of strata, some of which
contain exclusively shells of fresh-water formation, and others an
admixture of fresh-water shells with those which are marine;
and although we cannot infer from it the return of the sea for
any long period in the middle of the Purbeck formation, yet it
shews that the district it occupies could not have been a lake of
pure fresh water, but was probably an estuary at the time when
these oysters occupied its bottom, and were accumulated to the
thickness of many feet over a distance of many miles."" The
same authors add a note descriptive of the Lake Menzale, at the
mouth of the Nile, which, they remark, " is highly illustrative of
the mode in which living animals, of a mixed character, are as-
sociated together near the confluence of great rivers with the sea.'"
2^/7/, As to the plants. All the species of plants which have
been found in this limestone have been met with in the shales
and sandstones of other coal-fields, either of this country or of
the Continent. The Sphenopteris affinis which, as Dr Hibbert
states, occurs in greatest abundance in the limestone, is com-
mon in the roof of the Benshara coal-main in Jarrow colliery,
near Newcastle;* and the Lepidostrobus variabilis, of which a spe-
cimen from the limestone is figured by Dr Hibbert, associated
with a fish of the genus Palasoniscus, which I shall afterwards
shew must have lived in the sea, is also met with in Jarrow col-
liery .-f- But these plants are not confined to the coal-measures ;
but are met with throughout the whole carboniferous series,
from the old red to the new red sandstone. M. Elie de Beau-
mount describes the graywacke rocks, at the extremity of the
Vosges Mountains in Alsace, and of the Bocage in the depart-
ment of Calvados, a part of ancient Normandy, as containing
vegetable impressions scarcely differing from those found in the
coal-formations. J They are by no means uncommon in the car-
boniferous limestone ; and I have seen in the collection of Pro-
fessor Jameson, specimens collected by him near Pettycur in
Fifeshire, of a coarse limestone belonging to the coal-measures

• Fossil Flora of Great Britain, plate 45. f Ibid, plates 10 and 11.

X Phil. Mag. and An. vol. x, p. 247.

316 Mr Horner on the occurrence of the MegaUchthys

containing the same class of plants. * It is clear, therefore,
that the mere existence of terrestrial plants does not prove a la-
custrine deposit.

3d/^, As to the remains of fish. These are the Megalichthys,
Pygopterus, Amblypterus, and Eurynolus, and are supposed to
have approached the cestracion of modern times.

Dr Hibbert considers the Megalichthys as a fresh-water fish,
in one part of his memoir, for, in describing the circumstances
under which he conceives the coal deposits of Scotland to have
taken place, he says, *' During such a condition of the globe,
the calcareous deposit of Burdiehouse was formed, new races
of fish inhabiting y/-^^/i waters were created, and among them
the Megalichthys.'''' — P. 258. And, in another place, he says,
" As the remains of the Megalichthys are found in bituminous
shale, and even in coal itself, it is evident that the animal must
have frequented shallows and wet marshes." — P. 262. He points
out the analogy, observed by M. Agassiz, between the Mega-
lichthys and the recent Lepidosteus ; speaks (p. 207) of the Le-
pidosteus Spatula as being " a living type of the Megalichthys;
and states (p. 213) that the Lepidosteus dwells among the lakes
and rivers of the most thermal regions of America. In speak-
ing of the coprolites, however, he makes use of some expres-
sions which would seem to indicate a different view, viz. that
this great fish must only have been an occasional visiter of fresh
water. He says, " In proportion as coprolites increase in size,
we find that they contain the scales of fish, shewing that the
larger fish,^to which these foecal remains are referred, must have
frequented the ancient river or lake, indicated by the limestone
of Burdiehouse, in quest of their prey.'"' Now, this is obvious-
ly quite inconsistent with the idea of a " pure lacustrine forma-
tion,*" for when he speaks of large fish frequenting the ancient
river or lake in quest of their prey, he obviously means that
they were not regular inhabitants of the river or lake; and as
we must presume that they came from the sea, and must have
swam into the lake, it must therefore have communicated with
the sea. But there is a passage in Dr Hibbert's memoir which

• For an account of Professor Jameson's discoveries in this locality, see
Proceedings of Wernerian Natural History Society, in Edinburgh Philoso-
phical Journal, January 1836.

in the Camiel Coal of Fifeshire, 817

I am (juite at a loss to reconcile, cither with*his statement that
the Megalichthys was a fresh-water fish, or with his theory of a
" pure lacustrine deposit." He says, p. 271, " As for the re-
mains of Cestracientes {and perhaps of the Megalichthys) ^ which
appear in more than one description of carboniferous limestone,
they point to estuaries, no less than to fresh-water lakes, as hav-
ing been, in primeval times, frequented by large animals in quest
of prey.""

M. Agassiz, in his memoir on the Geological Distribution of
Fossil Fishes, read before the Geological Society on November
1834, states that " he cannot, on ichthyological data, decide on
the fresh-water or marine origin of the fish of the ancient
groups." There is, therefore, no evidence afforded by the re-
mains themselves, either of the marine or the fresh-water ha-
bits of the Megalichthys ; but we may infer that M. Agassiz in-
clines to the opinion of its having been a sea fish, from what hd
says in his " Rapport sur les Poissons Fossiles decouverts en
Jngleterrey In speaking (p. 28) of the Megalichthys Hibberti
of Burdiehouse, he says, " Ces fossiles proviennent d''un poisson
d'une famille qui ne comprend que deux genres dans la creation
actuelle ; dont les representants peuplaient surtout les mers qui
recouvraient la terre, avant la deposition des terrains cretaces ;
famille que j'ai appelee celle des sauroides." Dr Hibbert quotes
Cloquet's article in the Diet, des So. Nati when he describes the
Lepidosteus as an inhabitant of the lakes of South America.
But Cloquet is then speaking only of the two species, L. Gavial
and L. Spatula. In describing the other species, the L. Ilobolo,
he says, '* on peche ce poisson dans la mer qui arrose le Chili —
les insulaires de TArchipel de Chiloe font secher a la fumee une
grande quantite de ces robolos, et en font un commerce etendu."
Dr Hibbert ought, therefore, to have shewn that the megalich-
thys has a closer affinity to the fresh-water than to the marine
species of lepidosteus, before any conclusive argument can be
drawn from the resemblance.

Thus it is evident, that the remains of the megalichthys af-
ford no evidence whatever of a lacustrine deposit, while their
occurrence in the regular coal-beds at Halbeath, and in those of
Stoneyhill near Musselburgh, the neighbourhood of Glasgow,
and other places, tend to prove a similarity of formation be-

318 Mr Horner on the occurrence of the Megalichthys

tween the supposed fresh-water limestone and the other coal-
measures.

The other sauroid fish, remains of which have been found at
Burdiehouse, is the Pygopterus. Now, most of the specimens
of this genus of fish which have hitherto been met with, have
been derived from strata abounding in marine fossils, viz. the
Zechstein of Mansfield and other places in Germany, and the
magnesian limestone of the county of Durham ; they have also
been found in the coal formation at Saarbrock ;* and M.
Agassiz has recognised, in the above mentioned limestone of the
coal-measures at Pettycur, a new species which he has named
P. Jamesoni.

" The fish," says Dr Hibbert, " which the limestone en-
tombs in far the greatest number, is an individual which I had
little difficulty in referring to the genus Palaeoniscus." — P. 190.
Now the genus Palaeoniscus is found abundantly in the Zech-
stein of Mansfeld, and in the equivalent of that rock in Eng-
land, the magnesian limestone at East Thickly in the county
of Durham.-f- In this last locality the remains of this fish are
associated with vegetable impressions which Professor Sedg-
wick refers to the fern tribe,| and with an impure coal. They
have been met with, besides, in different coal-formations in
England, France, Germany, and the United States ; and three
species have been recognised in the limestone of Pettycur, one
of which, P. Robisoni, is identical with that which is found in
such abundance at Burdiehouse.

Of the five species of Amblypterus described by Agassiz,
four are from the regular coal deposits of Saarbrlick and that
neighbourhood, the other being from Brazil, but in what for-
mation it is not mentioned.

The Eurynotus is said by Dr Hibbert, p. 192, to resemble
the Platysomus. M. Agassiz describes five different species of
the Platysomus, and of these, two were obtained from the
Zechstein, and three from the magnesian limestone. He has
found a species of Eurynotus in the limestone of Pettycur.

It appears, therefore, that the fish found in the limestone un-
der consideration, in place of being an " ambiguous criterion,"

• Agassiz, Poissons Fossiles. t IbW.

t Geol. Trans. 2d ser. vol. iii.

in the Cannel Coal of Fifeshire. 319

clearly indicate that tlie bed in which they are found must have
been deposited in salt or at least brackish water, and not in a
fresh-water lake.

Apparently the strongest argument, which Dr Hibbert has
brought forward, in favour of his theory, is the great abund-
ance of the shells of microscopic animals, entomostraca^ which
are scattered through the substance of the limestone ; and which
he considers to belong to the fresh-water genus Cypris. Now
supposing him to be correct in this, it is by no means a conclu-
sive proof of a lacustrine deposit ; for the animals may have
lived in marshes or stagnant waters, such as are common near
the mouths of great rivers, and have been washed into the estu-
ary during floods. But it is not at all clear that these shells
are really fresh-water. The similarity between the shells of
the Cypris and those of the Cytherinaof Lamarck was long ago
pointed out by Miiller. This is a marine genus of entomos-
traca ; and Miiller, in describing it, says, " Species varice in
Fucis et Confervis marines degunt, in flustris, praesertim in
lineata, delitere amant ;"* and Lamarck says that they inhabit
the seas of the northern latitudes.-f* I am informed by Mr
Lyell that Mr Lonsdale has recently discovered abundance
of those microscopic shells in chalk, mingled with marine
zoophytes and testacea ; and he adds, that if they had been met
with in the fresh- water deposits of the Wealden, they would un-
doubtedly have been called Cypris.

Dr Hibbert observes (p. 225.), that, " in the diffusion of the
vegetable and animal remains through the limestone, little or no
order is preserved. Vegetable and animal remains are not con-
fined to particular seams of the rock, but may occur in any
part of it. Nor are they confined to the limestone itself, since
they have been found in argillaceous and bituminous shale both
above and below the bed." Now this is surely very unlike that
tranquil deposition which we find so generally characteristic of
lacustrine formations ; but it is very like that more disturbed
state which we might expect to find in the waters of an estuary,
agitated by the continued flow of a river, and by the motions of
the tides.

• Otho. Frid. M'uller, Entomoslraca, Lipsise, 1785, 4to, p. 64.
t Lamarck, Animaux sans Vertebres, v. 125.

6

320 Mr D. Stevenson's Remarlns on the

Upon a review, therefore, of the whole evidence, it appears
to me, that there is nothing to warrant us in considering the
limestone at Burdiehouse as a pure lacustrine formation ; that
the series of coal-measures there are different in geological
characters from other series of carboniferous deposits ; or that
the limestone bed in question was formed under conditions dif-
ferent from those of the shales, sandstones, ironstone, and seams
of coal with which it is associated.

In thus freely expressing my doubts of the soundness of the
conclusions to which Dr Hibbert has arrived, I trust that I
have not exceeded the limits of fair scientific criticism ; and I
farther hope, that nothing which I have said can be construed
as inconsistent with a just admiration of the industry and zeal
displayed by him in these researches, or with the respect that is
due to him, for his many valuable contributions to science and
literature.*

Remarks mi the Dublin and Kingstown Railway^ intended as a
Supplement to a former Paper on the Liverpool and Man-
chester Railway, in the \Sth Volume of this Journal, 1835.
By David Stevenson, Esq. Civil-Engineer, Edinburgh.-f
With a Plate.

Since my paper on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway
was laid before this Society, in the month of February last, I
have, in the course of my professional pursuits, visited most of
the public railways of the United Kingdom, and, in connection
with this subject, I also paid a visit to some of the great iron-
works in Wales.

The application of tram-roads and wooden railways to the

• Since this paper was read, I have seen the fifth Livraison of the work of
M. Agassiz, " Sur les Poissons Fossiles," in which particular mention is made
of the researches of Dr Hibbert at Burdiehouse. I have not found any ob-
servation of M. Agassiz at variance with the opinions 1 have ventured to ex-
press, and I observe, that, in speaking of the Sauroides, he specially calls the
attention of his readers to his opinion, that they do not form a family inter-
mediate between ordinary fishes and reptiles, adding, " En efFet, mes Sau-
roides sont de vrais poissons ; ce sont les premiers poissons voraces qui aient
vecu dans les mers d'autrefois."
8*ft MarcA 1836.

t Read before the Society of Arts, for Scotland, 9th March 1836.

Dublin ami Kingstown Railway. 321

conveyance of coal and other mineral products, was introduced
in the neighbourhood of Newcastle so long ago as the sixteenth
century ; and this species of road, although it possesses many
disadvantages is still in use in some of the old mining districts,
both of England and Scotand.

At Colebrookdale Iron-Works in Shropshire, Mr Reynolds,
the proprietor of these works, in the year 1767, first substituted
the metalh'c plate railway for the wooden road, a most import-
ant era in the history of what has appropriately been termed the
'* British Roadway." Emboldened by the success which at-
tended the introduction of the cast-iron railway, it was the same
person who, in the year 1777, erected over the river Severn the
first cast-iron bridge constructed in this country.

A great improvement was undoubtedly effected in the con-
struction of railways, by the introduction of the cast-iron rail.
However, from the brittle nature of that material, it was soon
found to be very unfit for giving support to the great weights
which pass along railways. Accordingly, in the year 1811, a
malleable iron railway was constructed at Lord Carlisle's coal-
works in Cumberland, which forms another important era in the
history of the railway, and this system was first publicly noticed
in my father's Report of the Edinburgh Railway in the year 1819.
Malleable iron has been more or less used since that date, and
is now universally employed with the greatest success in the
construction of railways. Indeed, it must be obvious, that the
speed at which we now travel, and the liability of cast-iron rails
to break, render them quite inapplicable to the improved state of
railway conveyance.

Merthyr Tidvil in Glamorganshire, which I visited on my
way from Holyhead to Plymouth, is by far the greatest iron
district in the kingdom. Here I found the extensive works of
Mr Guest, Mr Crashey, and others, directing their whole re-
sources to the manufacture of malleable iron rails for almost all
parts of the world. What a striking change in the arts pre-
sents'* itself to our observation, when we consider that it is no
more than thirty-five or forty years since the attention of the
engineer was wholly engrossed in the formation of canals ; and
Europe and America were without an iron railway excepting
that of Colebrookdale in Shropshire.

322 Mr D. Stevensoirs Uevtarks on the

Before describing the Dublin and Kingstown railway, it will
be proper to notice the harbour of Kingstown, between which
and the City of Dublin this railway forms a connection. Through
the kindness of Mr Thomas, engineer for the harbour works at
Kingstown, I lately made a visit to that place. The naviga-
tion of the River LifFey to Dublin, is only practicable for
vessels of large burden in certain states of the tide, and even
then is tedious and uncertain, a circumstance which forms a
great bar to the commercial prosperity of Dublin, and renders
its quays unsuitable as a post packet station. These considera-
tions, together with the want of an asylum harbour for the ship-
ping of St George'*s Channel, induced Government to establish a
harbour at Kingstown, upon a scale suitable as a rendezvous for
His Majesty's ships of war. This magnificent work, which is
now drawing to a close, was originally designed by the late emi-
nent Mr Rennie. It has been in operation for eighteen years,
and is expected to cost, when completed, about one million Ster-
ling. The harbour is formed by the projection of two great
breakwaters into the sea, enclosing a space of no less than 250
acres, with a depth of 4 fathoms at low-water at its entrance.

During my stay at Kingstown, I had the honour of an intro-
duction from Colonel Burgoyne, of the Board of Public Works
in Ireland, to Mr Vignoles, the eminent engineer for the Dublin
and Kingstown Railway, which afforded me ample opportunity
of examining that work, and as it possesses several peculiarities in
its details, and as some improvements have lately been introdu-
ced there, I shall endeavour to notice its principal features to
the Society. The Kingstown Railway is 5\ miles in length.
For the first mile out of Dublin, it is carried on an embank-
ment, supported between two retaining walls of masonry, and
thus elevated, it passes over several streets in the suburbs of the
city on elliptical arches of about 30 feet span, and 7 feet rise. To
the extent of about 2J miles before reaching Kingstown, the
railway is carried along the margin of Dublin Bay, on another
embankment, which, on the side exposed to the wash of the
waves, is defended by a rough talus wall or bulwark of granite
masonry.

The erection of these extensive sea-walls and embankments,
\ together with compensation for damages done to some valuable

Dublin and Kingstown Railway. S^

estates, through which the railway passes, rendered this, line
very expensive ; the cost being about L. 40,000 per mile, or uj)-
wards of L. 6000 per mile more than the Liverpool and Man-
chester Railway. The several works on the line are executed
with great taste, and the whole is lighted with gas from end to
end, and is provided with a very efficient police establishment.

The lines of draught or gradients (a term for which, it is be-
lieved, the profession is indebted to Mr Vignoles) are very easy,
the greatest rise being at the rate of one in 400. This rise on
the line was judiciously introduced for about one mile and a
half at the Dublin end, in order, as before noticed, to raise the rail-
way over several of the approaches to the city. Its greatest curve
or turn, which occurs near Kingstown, has a radius of half a mile.

Perhaps the most peculiar feature in this railway, is the cir-
cumstance of its being devoted exclusively to the conveyance of
passengers and their luggage. The trains of carriages start
every half-hour, and the fares vary from 6d. to 8d., and Is., ac-
cording to the class or description of vehicle travelled in. It is
truly astonishing, that, for passengers alone, the receipts on this
railway, of only 5\ miles in length, for the year 1835, were no
less than L. 31,066 : 8: 6, and no fewer than one million sixty-
eight thousand and eighteen passengers were conveyed upon it*
The time occupied in making the journey is generally about 17
minutes, or at the rate of 1 9| miles per hour, including stoppages.

This railway, like the Liverpool and Manchester, and most
other roads on which there is much traffic, consists of two dis-
tinct ways or roads, but the space between them, instead of be-
ing 4 feet 85 inches, as is generally the case, is 8 feet, which,
however, renders the middle of the road unavailable for running
waggons during the progress of the work, or in the event of any
accident happening to the outer rails.

The joinings of the rails occur at every fifteen feet, and are
made to rest on what are called throngh-going blocks of gra-
nite, or, in other words, instead of each rail resting on an in-
sulated stone of the usual dimensions of two feet square, one large
block of six feet in length, two feet in breadth, and one foot
in thickness, is made to support both of the rails, and in that
way to form a connection between them, as shewn in Plate IV.

324 Mr D. Stevenson's Remarks on the

Fig. 1. On examining these blocks, I found many of them
split, caused no doubt by undue pressure, arising from the dif-
ficulty of procuring a solid bed for so large a stone. Mr Vig-
noles, it is believed, has recommended their removal, and the
substitution of the common insulated block. The object in
adopting this sort of block was to form a road as perfectly rigid
or inflexible as possible. It is also useful in preventing the rails
from being separated, which, especially on sharp curves, is apt
to take place. This connection between the rails on the New-
castle and Carlisle Railway is formed by means of a bar of malle-
able iron, with a cheek formed at both ends as a seat for the
rails, while the bar itself rests on the stone blocks, as shewn in
Plate IV. Fig. 2. In this way, the objections arising from the
expense of procuring large blocks of stone, and their liability to
break, are obviated. On the Dublin and Kingstown Railway, they
are much troubled by the tendency which the chairs have to shake
loose from the granite blocks ; to counteract which, the use of
felt, wood, lead and copper, has been applied as a bedding for
the chair, but with little effect. The rails of the Liverpool and
Manchester line are more easily kept in repair ; here, freestone
blocks, measuring two feet square, are used for supporting the
rails, but the mode of fixing these to the chairs is more simple
than in the Dublin and Kingstown Railway.. The method, how-
ever, of fixing the chairs to the blocks is the same in both cases.
The difficulty experienced in keeping the Dublin and Kingstown
Railway in repair may arise in a great measure from the rigi-
dity of the rails, produced by the unyielding nature of the gra-
nite blocks. Between Liverpool and Manchester, the part of
the road requiring least repair is that over Chatt Moss, where
the railway may be said to float on the surface of the bog.
The motion of the trains in passing over this part of the line
is also sensibly retarded. The weight of the train causes a de-
pression or hollow in the road, which offers the same resistance
as a gentle inclined plane, to the progress of the engine. This
is a good practical proof that a flexible railway offers more resist-
ance to the motion of a carriage passing along its surface than
one which is in a more rigid state, while it possesses the advan-
tage of being much more easily kept in good repair.

When the curves on this line of railway are of small radius,

2

PLATE IV. EttuLrNewPtuL.JbimLMl^Z./

^

^

^

^^

^n

gn

€n

=.n

^E

[^

a=^?=^sn-ff

3^-

m 3^

fe^ ^

^

«

ira

w

»

fn-3^=-

David StevewJiorv.Delf

Dublin and Kingstown Railway. 325

the external rail is raised a little above the level of the internal
one, as shewn in an exaggerated scale in Plate IV. Fig 3. On
the curve of half a mile radius at Kingstown the difference of
level between the two rails is one inch. This is certainly good
in theory, and may serve to check the centrifugal force, which
in a body moving rapidly round a curve of so small radius must
be considerable. The raising of the external rail on curves is
not peculiar to the Dublin and Kingstown Railway, and has
been introduced with good effect on different works. The trains
run round the curve of one half mile in radius, at the rate of
twenty miles an hour, and no accident has ever happened. On
the Liverpool and Manchester Railway the curves are not so
^harp as to render this precaution at all necessary.

A great improvement has been effected in the working of the
carriages at the Dublin and Kingstown Railway, by the applica-
tion of spiral springs to the 62{^/i^-apparatus of the carriages,
for softening their collision ; as suggested by Mr Bergin of the
Railway Company. These spiral springs are about three feet
in length, and consist of an ingenious combination of shorter
springs, varying in strength. By this means, when a carriage
strikes gently on any obstruction, the weaker part of this com-
bined spring is alone affected, — and when the collision is more
violent, the stronger parts are brought into action. This ar-
rangement has rendered the shocks formerly felt in starting and
stopping the carriages much more gentle, and is certainly a
valuable and highly useful application of the spiral spring.

The locomotive engines used on the Dublin and Kingstown
Railway were made in England. Several of them have verti-
cal cylinders, which both here and at Liverpool have not been
found to act so well as those in which the cylinders are hori-
zontal. One engine on the Kingstown line has been constructed
to carry its own fuel and water, and thereby dispenses with the
use of a tender. This engine, with its apparatus, weighs about
twelve tons, and I believe acts very well.

I beg in conclusion to remark, that, with the exception of the
peculiarities now mentioned, the observations which I formerly
made to the Society, on the details of the Liverpool and Man-
chester Railway, are generally applicable to the railway between
Dublin and Kingstown.

VOL. XX. NO. XL. APRIL 1836. Y

( 326 )

Single Reflecting Microscope. By Alexander Guthrie, Esq.
Communicated through J. Robison, Esq. Sec. 11. S. E.

The superiority of single reflection, in adapting it to the re-*
fleeting telescope, for the reception of much greater magnifying
powers, and for its affording a greater degree of additional light
and distinctness, has been justly appreciated ; but, while every
other plan of the reflecting telescope has been metamorphosed
into the reflecting microscope, that plan alone, which is the best
adapted and the most simple, has been allowed to escape.

Let ABCD, Fig. 1, Plate III., represent a tube furnished
with a field-glass m, an eye-glass w, and an eye-hole jo at the one
end ; and on the other a ring Aa 'Dd soldered, with its axis co-
incident with that of the tube. This ring is seen in section, in
fig. 1 ; but fig. 3. is a ground plan of it. EF, a circular plate
of the same dimensions as the ring, and attached to it by three
equal and equi-distant columns, with its plane parallel to that
of the ring ; E« represents one of these columns, but the whole
three are seen in Fig. % Let GH (Fig. 1.) represent a concave
speculum, set on the circular plate EF, with its axis coincident
with that of the tube.

The rays of light from an object placed in the focus of paral-
lel rays, will, after reflection, pass on parallel to one another ;
but, if the object be removed back from the speculum to a cer-
tain point O, the rays after reflection will converge, and form
a magnified image of the object at I, which can be viewed to ad-
vantage from the eye-hole j9 by the eye-glass n.

In order to place the object in the axis of the speculum, and
to adjust the focus, let ah (Fig. 5.) represent a segment of a circle,
of the same dimensions as the ring (Fig 3.), having a hole a in
the one end, of sufficient capacity to run freely on one of the
columns ; and a hole b in the other end, with a female screw in
it, and having a small spring d attached to it by rivets at the
one end of the spring ; and let xy represent the instrument on
which the object is fixed, which can be slipped in below the
spring in any position. Let ^y (Fig. 4.) represent the same seg-
ment in perspective, the female screwy receiving the spindle ab,

PLATE III . hiMNewFhil . Joirni. VolJZ.p. -^26.

FIS/.2.

Dj.J.

J^.4.

F^J.

O

M: &uthnes.SimfU Refienin^ .MUrrscope

A- '^"^ '^^

t

" c

Transverse Sectim, fthe middle portion offfie Coa^ield of HameaOv .

J^orth

a rok.Ccal Scanis cfviirieus tMrk/iess. b.Cdanel Cbal in which the tooAefUuMyaiichUiys was found. .

Mr Guthrie oji the Single Reflecting Microscope. 3J27

having a part of it screwed, and having a milled-nut c upon it.
Let the pivots ab of the spindle be transferred to the holes a b
Fig. 2, with one of the columns passing through the hole e of the
segment, and the instrument is completed.

To use the microscope, let the instrument be placed on the
instrument J7^, and let that instrument be so placed that the ob-
ject shall be in the axis of the speculum, or, which is the'' same
thing, that its image be in the field of view ; and let the spindle
be turned in any way necessary for the perfect adjustment of
the focus, by the friction of the finger upon the milled-nut of
the spindle, which thus causes the object traverse in the axis
of the speculum, and the focus is thus adjusted with the utmost
precision.

Instead of having the tube ABCD, Fig. 1, all in one piece,
the instrument is much improved by having it in sections to
draw out of one another, as shewn in the figure. It thus gives
different degrees of magnifying power by the same eye-glass, in
proportion to the length to which it is drawn out. And when
it is shut up, the tubes, by covering the speculum, render the
instrument quite portable.

The magnitude of the image, compared to that of the object,
is in the proportion of their respective distances from the specu-
lum ; therefore, by dividing the distance IH, Fig. 1, by the dis-
tance OH, and multiplying the quotient by the magnifying
power of the eye-glass, * the magnifying power of the instru-
ment is obtained.

Notice of some minute Calculi found in the Urinary Bladder
of an Ox. By John Davy, M. D. F. R. S., Assistant-In-
spector of Army Hospitals, &c. Communicated by the
Author.

The calculi of which I propose to give a short account, were
presented lately to the Museum of the Medical Department of
the Army by Dr Williams, Surgeon of the 68th Regiment.

• The magnifying power of the eye-glass is found by dividing eight inches
(the distance of the object from the eye in perfect vision), by the focal dis-
tance in inches of the eye-glass.

Y 2

328 Calculi found iti the Urinary Bladder of an Ox.

He informed me, that he had procured them from a butcher, by
whom they had been found in the urinary bladder of a healthy
ox, killed for the market at Portsmouth.

They were about fifty in number. The largest was little
larger than a grape seed ; it weighed /^ths of a grain ; — the
smallest were exceedingly minute, less in size than the finest
mustard seed, and weighed less than xoo^^ ^^ ^ grain. They
were all of a pearly lustre ; externally of a yellowish-brown hue ;
internally of a silvery white. The smallest were spherical ; the
forms of the larger were less regular, they were imperfect
spheres. Their structure was concentric lamellar.

Before the blowpipe, they decrepitated with explosive violence.
When heated, confined between folds of platina-foil, so that their
minute fragments could be collected, they (the fragments) were
found to be portions of very fine laminae, which blackened when
farther heated, and ultimately became perfectly white. When
heated in a glass tube, water was collected ; to the rapid conver-
sion of which into steam probably the violent decrepitation was
owing, at least in part. I say in part, because on one occasion
two or three of their calculi decrepitated, at a comparatively
low temperature, when placed before a fire in a small glass jar,
covered with tin-foil and varnished, (for the purpose of rapidly
drying the varnish, preparatory to placing it on the shelf in the
Museum), — giving the idea, that electricity might be concern-
ed in the phenomenon.

The ash obtained from them, after the action of the blow-
pipe, was bulky ; it effervesced powerfully in dilute muriatic acid,
and was entirely dissolved. The solution was not distinctly ren-
dered turbid by aqua ammonite; it was copiously precipitated
by the sesquicarbonate of ammonia.

The calculi, before incineration, effervesced more slowly in the
same acid ; and, when the effervescence had ceased, they had lost
their opacity ; the undissolved residue, unaltered in form, was
transparent animal matter.

From the results of these experiments, it would appear that
the principal ingredients of these calculi are carbonate of lime and
animal matter, the former greatly preponderating. As the few
trials to which I considered it right to limit myself were made
on some of the smaller concretions, I did not attempt to ascer-

On the Temperature of Thermal Springs. 3^

tain either tlie exact proportions of their constituent parts, or
the precise nature of the animal matter ; probably it was al-
bumen.

The resemblance of these calculi to pearls (the calculi of the
oyster) is very striking ; and their composition being so very
similar, gives them an additional interest ; they might indeed
without impropriety be called pearls.

Fort Pitt, Chatham, Ut March 1836.

On, the Cause of the Temperature of Hot and Thermal Springs ;
and on the bearings of this subject, as connected with the ge-
neral question regarding the Internal Temperature of the
Earth. By Professor Gustav Bischof of Bonn. Commu-
nicated by the Author. *

Part First. — What Thermometrical Circumstances on the Surface
of the Earth lead us to assume that an Increase of Temperature
towards the Centre of the Earth must take place f

We are indebted to Alexander Von Humboldt •{• for an in-
genious inquiry into the principal causes of differences of tempe-
rature in the earth. In one of the following chapters we shall
endeavour to ascertain to what depth the influence of the exter-
nal temperature which occasions those differences continues to be
felt. Beyond that boundary other circumstances of tempera-
ture present themselves, which are no longer connected with the
geographical and physical climates ; and at certain depths, which,
however, are not the same in all parts of the earth, we find the
same degree of temperature beneath the perpetual ice and snow
of the polar regions, as under the torrid zone. That thermo-

• The " Societe Hollandaise des Sciences" at Haarlem, offered a prize for
an Essay on the Temperature of the Interior of the Earth and of Springs,
which was gained by Professor Bischof. The memoir now given to the public
through this Journal, presents, in an altered and improved form, an account
of the experiments, observations, and reasonings, which obtained from the
Haarlem Society the high honour just mentioned.

I have, says Professor Bischof, to express my grateful sense of the assist-
ance rendered by my talented young friend Mr Alexander Momay, in the
translation and revision of this essay.

■f Poggendorffs Annalen, vol. xi. p. 1. and fol.

330 Prof. Bischof on the Temperatwe of

metrical phenomena in the interior of the earth are totally inde-
pendent of all external circumstances, proves itself not only in
the earth's crust, but also in the depths of the sea and of lakes,
where a temperature prevails which is equally uninfluenced by
them. Quantities of water springing out of the earth at almost
every point, shew themselves equally independent of the influ-
ence of the external temperature, or at most but slightly modi-
fied by it. The object of this part of the present memoir will be
an investigation into these phenomena, and into the circumstances
more immediately connected with them, which may indirectly
lead us to the conclusion, that there exists in the interior of the
earth a tempesature which increases progressively with the depth.

Chap. I. — On the Circumstances under which Wartn Springs are
found on the Surface of the Earthy and on their frequency of oc-
currence.

If we were obliged to confine ourselves to those commonly
called warm or hot springs, it would be presumptuous to con-
clude from their temperature that of the interior of the earth in
general, as they are comparatively of rare occurrence ; but if we
be allowed to consider every spring as warm or thermal, whose
temperature exceeds, by however little, the mean temperature of
the place at which it rises, we shall find that thermal springs are
far from unfrequent.

It may be considered almost as a general rule, that those
springs which are usually termed mineral springs exceed, more
or less, the mean temperature of the place, and it must be re-
garded as an exception when this is not the case.

For several years I have been observing, at different seasons,
the temperature of about twenty mineral springs in the vicinity
of the Laacher See, and I find that even the coldest among
them always exceed the mean temperature of the place by near-
ly 1° R. (= 2i° Fahr.) Some of them even rise to 53°.375 F.,
57°.875, and 58°.325,* and shew a constant degree of heat. The
warmest of the numerous mineral springs in the volcanic Eifel,
is that of the baths at Bcrtrich, the temperature of which is
OO^.S. The hot springs of Aix-la-Chapellc and Burtscheid

* All the temperatures given in this article are reduced to the scale of Fah-
renheit.

Hot and Thermal Springs, 331

(Borcette), attain a much higher temperature; the warmest
among the latter shews 171°.5.

The numerous mineral springs of the Westcrwald and the
Taunus Mountains, surpass the mean temperature of the place
with but few exceptions. Some, as Selters, have 60°. 125 ;
Schlangenbad, Ems, and Wiesbaden rise even as high as 84°.875,
131°, and 14j7°.875. Wille* determined the temperature of
thirty groups of mineral springs between the Taunus and Vo-
gelsgebirge, and found that they must be considered as thermals,
with but few exceptions. The salt springs at Sooden, near
Hochst on the Main, and in the valley of the Nahe, have a tem-
}^)erature of 74°. 75 and 81°.5, and those of Nauheim even 86°.

A great number of fresh-water springs, which rise out of the
chalk formation on the western declivity of the Teutoburger
Wald and the Haar in Westphalia, possess a degree of heat
exceeding the mean temperature of the place. According to my
observations, made in April 1833, and repeated in May 1834,
on the springs of the Lippe, Jordan, Pader, and Heder, on the
fresh-water springs of Gesecke, Erwitte, &c., their temperatures
vary from 47°.75 to 59°.25. Those whose temperatures are near
47°. 75, can alone be considered as being equal to the mean tem-
perature of the place ; the warmer ones are evidently thermal,
and their number is not small ; for example, at Paderborn, out
of sixty of the springs which I observed, there are fifty whose
temperatures are above 50°, and which must consequently be
considered as thermal. A warm spring, lately discovered, about
forty feet distant from the Lippe springs, has a temperature as
high as 69°.35. f The temperature of the salt springs of West-
phalia is between ^'Jt^^^^ and 63°.5.t

The mineral springs of other parts of north- western Germany
in Hessia, Hanover, &e., for the most part also exceed the mean
temperature of the place. § The salt springs in the Prussian

• Geognostische Beschreibung der Gebirgsmassen zwischen dem Taunus
und Vogelsgebirge, &c. Mainz, 1828, p. 100, and fol.

-f Bischof ueber die merkwurdigen Quellenverhaltnisse des westlichen Ab-
hangs des Tentoburger Waldes im neuen Jahrbuche der Chemie und Physik,
vo'. viii. p. 249.

X Kollmann in " Das Gebirge in Rheinland Westphalen," von Noggerath
vol. iii. p. 56.

§ Osann's Physikal. M<^dicin. Darstellung der bekannten Heil([uellen der
vorzuglichstcn JLander Europa*s, part il. 1832.

3S^ Prof. Bischof on the Temperature of

dominions between the Elbe and the Rhine have temperatures
from 5^°.^5 to 62°.175, and for the most part have been found
not to have varied during twelve years of observation.

In the Erzgebirge, in the Riesengebirge, and in the Bohe-
mian Mittelgebirge, the temperature of the mineral springs also
exceeds, in general, the mean temperature of the place. The
Wiesen, or Jobsbad, near Annaberg, has a temperature of 70°.25;
the Wolkensteiner Bad, 83°.75 ; Landeck, 66°.875 to 83°.813 ;
Warmbrunn, 95° to 99°.5; Toeplitz, 79°.25 to 117°.5; and the
celebrated Carlsbader Sprudel, 164!°.75.

Moravia also offers several examples of warm springs ; for
instance, the sulphurous waters of Ullersdorf, which have 88°.25.
Hot springs are very abundant in Hungary, Transylvania,
Sclavonia, and Croatia ; the hottest of them attain 88° .25 to
144!°.5. There are a great many warm springs on the Caucasus,
several of which almost reach the boiling point.*

In the interior of Germany, in Bavaria, and Wiirtemberg,
there are comparatively few hot springs, commonly so called ;
there are, however, many which may be considered as thermal.
The Ludwigsbad, near Wipfeld, has 56°.75 ; the salt springs
at Reichenhall and Kissingen, 56°.75 to69°.125; the mineral
springs at Canstadt,63° 5 to ()8°.0; the Liebenzeller Bad, 76°.325;
and the Wildbad, 88°.25 to 97°.25. The Grand Duchy of
Baden also possesses several thermal springs, among which
Baden-Baden, having a temperature of 128°. 75 to 153°.5, is
particularly remarkable.

A great number of thermal springs are found in the Alps.
In Krain, the temperature of the Toeplitza rises to 97°.816 ;
that of the Baths of Montefalcone, near Trieste, to 100°.625. In
Carinthia, the hottest is the Villacher Bad, having 79°.25 ; in
Styria, the Romerbad at Tyffer, and the baths at Neuhaus, of
43°.875 to 98°.825 ; in the Archduchy of Austria, the sulphur-
ous warm spring at Baden, of 83°.75 to 99°.5 ; in Salzburg, the
celebrated Gasteiner Wildbad, of 99°. 5 to 117°.5.

In Tyrol thermal springs are numerous: According to the
observations made, at my request, by my friend Professor En-

• Hermann Untersuchungen der Mineralquellen am Kaukasus, &c. — in
the Nouveaux Memoires de la Soc. Imperiale des Naturalistes de Moscow,
vol. ii. p. 387.

Hot and Thermal Springs. 333

nemoser on about twenty-six warm springs, their temperatures
fall between 59^°.9,5 and 72°.95. Neither are they of uncommon
occurrence in Switzerland ; the hottest are St Gervaise, near
Mont Blanc, 61°.875 to 97^.925 ; Pfaeffers, 99 .5 to 100^.625 ;
Aix-les-Bains, (in Savoy), 111°.875 to 116°.825 ; and Leuk,
97°.25 to 124°.25.*

In France, from the Pyrenees to the mountains of the Vosges,
a great number of warm springs are to be met with. Among the
many sulphurous springs in the department of the East Pyre-
nees, which are dispersed over fourteen districts, Anglada*|- ob-
served the temperature of forty-two thermal springs, of which
only three possess a temperature below 77°., twelve between
77°.0 and 99°.5, ten between 99°.5 and 122°.0, fourteen between
122°.0 and 144°.5, and three between \W.5 and 172°.625. Even
the coldest among all those sulphurous springs are sensibly
warmer than the neighbouring fresh water springs, which have
only 47°. 75 and 50° of temperature.

In the volcanic mountains of Auvergne and the Vivarais, a
great many thermal springs are found. The hottest of these
are: Mont-Dore-les- Bains, of 113°.0; St Nectaire, 65°.75 to
89°.6; Vichy, 90°.5 to 113°.0; and Chaudes Aigues, 190°.4.+

As the object here is only to point out the occurrence of
thermal waters in the most various formations, I think it unne-
cessary to mention further the hot springs of other countries,
where, however, it would be easy to shew that they are to be
found in equal abundance.

But it is not Nature alone th^t furnishes us with hot springs ;
art can also draw them forth from the interior of the earth. Al-
most all artesian wells possess a temperature superior to the mean
temperature of the place. Thus the temperatures of forty-eight
springs bored for in and near Vienna, were found by observa-

* Robert Bakewell (Philosoph. Magazine, January 1828, p. 14 to 69),
communicates some very interesting remarks on the frequent occurrence of
hot springs in the district of the pennine Alps. "With these we may compare
the observations of Pallasou on the numerous hot springs of the Pyrenees.
(Memoire pour servir a I'Histoire Naturelle des Pyrenees, 1815, p. 435.)

-f- Memoires pour servir a I'Histoire Generale des Eaux Min6rales Sul-
phureuses et des Eaux Thermales ; Paris, vol. i. p. 31 and 35.

X Bischof, die vulcanischen Mincralquellen Deutschlands und Frankreichs.
Bonn, 1826, p. 213.

334 Prof. Bischof on the Teinperature of

lions made in November 1830 to fall between b^^'.^.B and 57°. 2,*
whereas the mean temperature of Vienna is 50°.81 .f At Erlangen
(mean temp, between 47°. 75 and 50°.0), springs of 53°.375 were
met with in the Keuper (?) formation at depths of 168 and 99
feet. J At Wiirtzburg (mean temp. 50°.675), an artesian well
was sunk 200 feet deep, the temperature of which was 54°.7S5.§
At Niirnberg (mean temp, between 47°. 75 and 50°.0), springs
were discovered in the Keuper at depths of 71, 166, and 357
feet, having temperatures of 50°.0, 5^\^5, and 56°.188 ; and
others at 100 and 318 feet of 53°.375 and 54°.5.|| In Wurtemberg
a great number of artesian wells have been sunk with various suc-
cess, all of which have temperatures exceeding the mean temper-
ature of the places at which they are situated.^ Thus eight of
these wells at Berg, near Stuttgard, in the muschelkalk yield-
ed, at depths of 117 and 163 feet, mineral waters of 65°.75
to 70°. 25, very strongly impregnated with carbonic acid gas.
The warmest contained a greater, and the coldest a smaller,
proportion of gas. In another case, in the same neighbourhood,
a stream of water suddenly burst forth at a depth of 98 feet, with
great violence, caused by the explosion of the compressed gas.
The water contained a great quantity of carbonic acid, and had
a temperature of about 65°.75. In and about Canstadt, water
strongly impregnated with carbonic acid gas was obtained, hav-
ing a temperature of 66°. 425. Five artesian wells, sunk at Heil-
bronn, on the Neckar, yield water of 54°.5.** The mean tem-
perature of the places in Wiirtemberg falls between 47°. 75
and 50°.0. In the Amalienbad at Langenbriicken, in Baden, a
strong sulphurous spring of 56°. 75 was obtained by boring. -ff
According to my observations on ten artesian wells at MUnster,
in Westphalia, their temperatures seem to exceed the mean tem-

• Die artesischen Brunnen in und um Wien von Jacquin und Partsch.
Wien, 1831.

t Kastner*s Archiv. fur Chemie und M6t^orologie, vol. iv. p. 48.

X Ibid. vol. ii, p. 228.

§ Ibid. vol. iv. p. 374.

II Von Bruckmann ueber artesischen Brunnen. Heilbronn, 1833, p. 224
and 229.

5f Correspondenzblatt des Konigl. WUrtemb. landwirthscliaftl. Vereins
1833,vol. ii. No. 2. p. 152-1.

S Von Bruckmann, p. 34. ft Ibid. 248.

Hot and Thermal Springs. 385

perature of the place by about S^.^S. Some springs bored for
in the East Pyrenees also exceed the mean temperature of that
country by several degrees ; thus one at a depth of 80 feet had
60''.35, exactly the same as the running springs in the neigh-
bourhood ; a second, at a greater depth, shewed 62°.825.* Last-
ly, at Rudersdorf, near Berlin, in the chalk formation, water of
74°.3 was obtained at a depth of 880 feet, 770 feet below the
surface of the sea.-f*

This comparison of the temj)eratures of springs shews that
thermal waters are to be found in all formations very abundant-
ly. They are found in the youngest members of the second-
ary series, as well as in the oldest neptunian and in volcanic
rocks. We find them below the level of the sea, a few hundred
feet above it, and at heights of 2000 to 12,000 feet. J Warm

• Bulletin de la Societe Geolog. de France, vol. iv. p. 214.

f Poggendorfi's Annalen, vol. xxviii. p. 233.

X I only mention a few warm springs as examples : Ems lies 291 feet
above the level of the sea, Wiesbaden 323 feet, Aix-la-Chapelle 400 to 500
feet, Pfaeffers 2128 feet, Gastein 3100 feet, Leuk 4400 feet, Brennersbad hi
Tyrol (72°. 5), 4500 feet ; the warm springs of Dux (56°.75 to 72°. 5, disco-
vered by Ennemoser), 5600 feet. In the Cordilleras rise the sulphurous
springs of Juan {Q{i°.G) and Aqua Tibia (96°.8), at a height of 12313 feet above
the sea. Boussingault remarks (Annales de Chimie et de Physique, vol. 111.
p. 181), that at different points in the Cordilleras, there are appearances which
speak in favour of the opinion that the heat of warm springs is caused by the
superior temperature of the interior of the earth. Thus, it seems that the
hot springs in the chain of Venezuela have a less elevated temperature the
higher they are situated ; for example, the hot spring at Las Trincheras, near
Puerto Cabello, ahnost on the level of the sea, has 206°.6 ; the spring of Ma-
riana, 1465 feet above the sea, only 147°.2; and the waters of Onoto, at a
height of 2161 feet, only 112°.l. In the trachytic districts, particularly in
the vicinity of volcanos, this regularity in the decrease of the temperature of
the springs is no longer observable ; and it seems that in this case the local
cause, which occasions the volcanic phenomena, has an extraordinary influence
upon the temperature of these waters. Anglada (p. 54) shews, on the other
hand, that the temperature of thermal springs does not always decrease with
the increase of elevation at which they rise. But how could such be always
expected, even if they were only indebted to the heat of the interior of the
earth for their superior temperature ? For, since their temperature depends
upon the depth to which the meteoric waters sink through the clefts, it may
easily happen that a spring rising at a greater elevation, but coming from a
greater depth, should have a higher temperature than another rising at a
lower level, but from a lesser depth.

3S6 Prof. Bischof on the Temperature of

springs are also found in all latitudes : in the polar regions, as
in Iceland and in Greenland,* as well as in the temperate zone
and under the equator. The heat which accompanies them
cannot, therefore, be sought in any particular formation of rocks,
nor in local chemical processes, but must be everywhere distri-
buted throughout the interior of the earth. We must necessa-
rily be brought to this conclusion, so soon as we succeed in prov-
ing that it cannot possibly result from any chemical processes.

Chap. II. — Can the elevated temperature of acidulous springs be a
consequence of the absorption of carbonic acid gas?

Leop. von Buch,*|* in the communication of his observations
on the temperature of the springs in the Canary Isles, finds it
very remarkable how small a proportion of carbonic acid gas is
sufficient to influence the temperature of springs. " But how-
ever astonishing," he says, " this circumstance may be, it is ne-
vertheless not peculiar to these islands, but, on the contrary, of
rather general occurrence. At least I have not as yet been able
to discover any acidulous waters, whose temperature has not in-
variably exceeded that of the fresh water springs "

The experiments of Henry,:|: by which he found that carbo-
nic acid gas and water of equal temperature, acquired, by their
mixture, an increase of temperature of only 0°.45 to 0°-743,
were already unfavourable to this hypothesis. However, in or-
der to ascertain what increase of temperature would actually re-
sult from the absorption of heated carbonic acid gas by water, I
formed carbonic acid gas by heating carbonate of lime in a gun-
barrel, and made it pass into a receiver filled with water. The
quantity of water in the receiver was 174.5 volumes, and that of
unabsorbed carbonic acid gas, which had collected over the wa-
ter, 60 volumes. The temperature of the water at the begin-
ning of the experiment was 44°.375, and after the absorption of
the gas 45°.275 ; total increase 0°.9.

A part of this increase must, however, be attributed to the
heat of the room (54°.5 to 56°. 75) during the hour and a half
that the experiment lasted, and to the strong charcoal fire neces-

• Gilbert's Annalen der Physik, vol. Ixii. p. 174.
f PoggendorfF's Annal. der Physik, voL xii. p. 415.
X Philosophical Transactions for 1803, p. 1.

Hot and Tnermal Springs. 337

sary for the evolution of the gas, notwithstanding that the re-
ceiver was guarded from the radiated heat by a screen.

To ascertain the temperature of the gas at the moment of its
leaving the gun-barrel, I introduced a very delicate thermome-
ter immediately into the stream of gas at the moment of its
escape ; it rose, however, only to 88°.25, although the gun-bar-
rel, at the end from which the gas issued, had a temperature of
144°.5. A repetition of this experiment gave the same result.*

If, then, we suppose that, at a certain depth in the earth, car-
bonic acid gas is generated in a similar manner, by the heating
of carbonate of lipie to a red heat, and that it is absorbed at a
certain height above this subterranean laboratory by the waters
of springs, the temperature of those springs could only be raised
about 0°.9.

Leop. von Buch says farther, that the elevated temperature
of acidulous springs is easy to be understood, if we consider for
a moment how they make their appearance on the surface.
They always owe their existence, namely, to the escape of car-
bonic acid, from hot mineral springs strongly impregnated with
gas, which exist in clefts or in narrow valleys, at a considerable
depth. The carbonic acid expelled by the hot water escapes,
making a passage up through the cracks in the rocks, combines
with the colder waters with which it meets, and comes to the
surface in the shape of acidulous springs, bearing a temperature
somewhat above the original temperature of the water.

In order to make a trial of this hypothesis by means of a few
direct experiments, I evolved carbonic acid gas by boiling an
acidulous water, which was very rich in carbonic acid, in a re-
tort, and introduced a very delicate thermometer into the mouth
of the retort, immediately in the stream of gas. The tempe-
rature of the mineral water before the experiment was 57°.65,

• The greater part of the heat which the carbonate of lime receives, seems
to be applied in converting the carbonic acid into the gaseous state. It is
singular that carbonic acid gas disengaged from chalk by means of concentra-
ted sulphuric acid, acquires a much higher temperature than that which is
liberated by heat. The temperature of the gas disengaged by sulphuric acid
rose to 133^.25, and would, doubtless, have risen still higher, had not the
mass, in consequence of the too violent escape of the gas, come into contact
with the thermometer. The temperature of the mass itself was much above

21 2^

33S Prof. Bischof on the Temperature of

tliat of ihe air at the mouth of the retort 64>°.175. The thermo-
meter did not rise to 65°. 75 until some drops of water had distill-
ed over. At this point it remained for several minutes, whilst
the mineral water continued to boil, and it was not until aque-
ous vapours were visible that it rose by degrees as high as 212°.

It is, therefore, quite evident that the carbonic acid gas had a
very small share in the raising of the thermometer, but rather
that the aqueous vapours produced this effect.

I repeated this experiment, and luted a receiver filled with
distilled water air-tight into the neck of the retort. The volume
of the mineral water in the retort was to that of the distilled
water in the receiver as 1 to 0.77. As the mineral water was
over-saturated with carbonic acid, the water in the receiver could
still, after subtracting the quantity of carbonic acid left in the
mineral water, absorb nearly sufficient to saturate itself. The
acidulous water was heated by degrees to 187°.25,* and kept for
a long time at that temperature. The total increase of tempe-
rature, however, only amounted to 0°.675; which is just the
same as was observed by Henry,

I again varied the foregoing experiment by causing a stream
of carbonic acid gas, which I evolved from an acidulous water
by boiling, to pass through a column of water 18 inches high.
The volume of the column of water was equal to 1, that of the
water from which the gas was evolved equal to 3.37, that of the
space in the retort unoccupied by the mineral water equal to
6.63, and the volume of the gas contained in the water may be
taken at least as equal to 4. As the boiling was kept up so
long as gas continued to rise, about 10.63 volumes of carbonic
acid gas and atmospheric air must have passed through the co-
lumn of water. The temperature of the air during the experi-
ment was 60°.125, that of the column of water at the commence-
ment 5^°,B ; and, until the water in the retort began to boil, the
highest temperature it acquired was 61°.8. But afterwards,
when great quantities of aqueous vapour accompanied the car-
bonic acid gas, it rose by degrees to 180^.5 ; and it is evident
that these vapours must have also had some share in the increase
of 7°.2 observed before the mineral water began to boil.

■ The cement with which the thermometer was luted into the tubulus of
the retort would not allow of a stronger heat.

Hot and Thermal Springs.

From all these experiments it follows, that the heat of acidu-
lous springs cannot be ascribed to the carbonic acid gas itself,
but principally. to the aqueous vapours which accompany it, for,
as Von Buch imagines the production of acidulous springs, the
vapours of water must also assist in raising their temperature.
Besides, this hypothesis presupposes the existence of an elevated
temperature below the origin of these springs ; so that we need
only suppose them to descend into the vicinity of those hot
springs, and they will acquire an elevation of temperature, inde-
pendently of the inconsiderable increase caused by the absorption
of the carbonic acid gas.

If the rising of springs follows the laws of hydrostatics, it is
easy to conceive how carbonic acid gas and aqueous vapours
should find their way into the channels through which they flow.
I have made several experiments on this subject.* I connected
two glass-tubes, each of four feet long, by a brass pipe, in such
a manner as to form an inverted syphon. At the side of the
brass tube, another tube was fixed at right angles to it, having
a cock in it, the opening of which was very narrow ; to this was
luted a small tubulated retort. When the cock was shut the
apparatus formed an uninterrupted syphon ; and even when it
was open, the water continued to flow out of the shorter tube, so
long as it continued to be poured into the longer one ; for the
air in the retort was only compressed, without its being able, on
account of the smallness of the aperture, to escape through the
cock, and let in the water in its place. When carbonic acid gas
was generated in the retort, and the cock opened, the gas rose
through the water in the shorter tube in separate bubbles, and
escaped from the water collected in a small basin fixed on the
top of that tube. During the evolution of the gas in this appa-
ratus, which is a true representation of the course of a mineral
spring, the water flowed without interruption out of the basin.
Now, as, under these circumstances, where each bubble of gas
entirely filled up the channel, and, at the moment of its escape,
caused an interruption in the course of the water, there was no
perceptible interruption in the flowing off^, still less can such an
interruption take place in nature, where the bubbles must cer-
tainly very seldom fill up the channels through which they pass.
• Poggendorflf 's Annal. vol. xxxii. p. 261.

840 Prof. Bischof on the Temperature of

If, lastly, we suppose the carbonic acid gas to be forced into the
course of the water under a great hydrostatic pressure, it must
be immediately absorbed, and must therefore have still less
power to disturb, and will only disengage itself again by degrees
in higher regions as the hydrostatic pressure gradually de-
creases.

Thus we see that the possibility of the creation of acidulous
springs, according to Von Buch's hypothesis, is by no means to be
denied. Whether all such springs originate in this manner may,
however, be a matter of doubt. By far the greater part only
exceed the mean temperature of the neighbouring fresh-water
springs by one or a few degrees. The origin of these cannot,
therefore, be very deep ; and yet the aqueous vapours, which
must necessarily join them in their course, in order to effect an
increase in their temperature, since that caused by carbonic acid
gas alone is scarcely perceptible, must come from a great depth.
In places where volcanic action still exists, the appearance of
fumaroles (evolutions of aqueous vapour) on the surface of
the earth is very frequent ; as, for instance, Italy (viz. in Tus-
cany), in the Lipari Islands, and so on. But is any thing
similar to the fumaroles to be met with in countries of extinct
volcanic action, in which most of the acidulous waters are found,
such as the neighbourhood of the Laacher See, the volcanic
Eifel, Bohemia, &c. .?

It might be objected, in order to ascribe the heat of acidulous
springs to carbonic acid alone, that the results of my experi-
ments, made under the ordinary atmospheric pressure, can be
no criterion of the increase of temperature acquired by water in
the interior of the earth, where a considerable hydrostatic pres-
sure augments the absorption of the carbonic acid gas in a high
degree. It is true the increase of temperature of the water will
be greater the more carbonic acid gas it absorbs. But when water,
having absorbed five times its volume of carbonic acid gas in
the interior of the earth, comes to the surface, it can at the ut-
most retain but If its volume of free and half carbonic gas;
at least, that is the maximum I have found by many analyses
of the richest carbonated springs. The heat which the water
has acquired by the absorption of the carbonic acid, indepen-
dently of the heat of the acid itself, must, therefore, re-escape

Hot and Thermal Springs. 34l

as the spring rises to the surface, when the gas disengages itself
again, and, as is so often the case with ricli carbonated springs,
issues forth in uninterrupted streams.

The evohuion of carbonic acid gas from acidulous springs,
which is in some cases so enormous, might perhaps lead us to
conjecture, that it for the most part proceeds from streams of
gas, which come up from the interior without having yet been
absorbed by water. But I have found, by measuring the quan-
tity of carbonic acid gas and water yielded in a certain time by
one of the richest carbonated springs, that the gas evolved, and
that which was absorbed by the water, together, only made up
5.3 limes the volume of the water.*

Supposing, then, that this gas came in contact with the water
at a depth of only 170 feet, the hydrostatic pressure which would
be there exerted, would be sufficient to cause the absorption of 5.3
times the volume of the water. But this spring, bearing a tem-
perature of 9° above the mean temperature of the place, cer-
tainly rises from a much greater depth. The supposition, there-
fore, that a great quantity of heated carbonic acid gas could
assist in the elevation of the temperature of a spring, by passing
through its channels, is proved to be unfounded.

It appears from observations made on the Mofettas, which
usually succeed great eruptions of Vesuvius, that carbonic acid
gas evolved, according to Von Buch's hypothesis, cannot possibly
have a temperature equal to that of r rbonic acid gas disengaged
from chalk submitted to a red-heat i. a gun barrel. Thus Mon-
ticelli and Covellij found, that cavities filled with the mofettas,
were only 3°.85 warmer than those in which no mofettas existed.
If, then, streams of carbonic acid gas, issuing forth so near their
volcanic origin as these do, shew so low a degree of heat, it can-
not be expected that such as rise in the neighbourhood of ex-
tinct volcanic action should be warmer. Nor have I observed
a superior temperature in any which I have examined of the
numerous exhalations of carbonic acid gas which occur in the

• Poggend. Ann. vol. xxxii. p. 251.

+ Storia de Fcnomeni del Vesuvio, avvenuti negli anni 1821, 1822, e purle
del 1823, con observazioni c sperimenti di T. Monticelli e N. CovellL Na*
poli, 1023. Translated into German by Nojgerath and Pauls. Elberield,
1824, p. 19.3.

VOL. XX. KO. XL. APRIL 183G. S

342 Prof. Bischof on the Temperature of

vicinity of the Laacher See and in tlie Eifel. I do not, how-
ever, consider this as a sufficient proof, as, in my opinion, all
these exhalation s proceed from mineral springs situated below
them,*

If we assume that, fi'om whatsoever cause, water in the inte-
rior of the earth is heated to S1S% and that carbonic acid gas
of a temperature much above the boiling point be forced at
the same time through it ; that water would not only not be-
come more heated, but, on the contrary, would suffer a diminu-
tion of its temperature, on account of the evaporation. This
may, perhaps, be one of the causes that so few of the known
hot springs reach the boiling point.

I support this assertion upon several experiments which I
made for that purpose. Thus, on driving air heated to the
melting point of tin in such considerable quantities as a large
double action bellows was capable of giving, for a whole hour,
through about 12 ounces of water of 60°.125, it only caused the
temperature of the water to rise to 119^75. Indeed, when the
water was surrounded by other water kept continually boiling,
the passing of the heated air through it always caused a depres-
sion, greater or less, of its temperature ; in one case from 194''
to 158°. The boiling of the surrounding water decreased in
violence perceptibly when the heated air was let in to the water,
and, ou the other hand, increased, when the stream of hot air
was interrupted.

To all the objections already taken, to the hypothesis that car-
bonic acid gas is the cause of the warming of acidulous springs,
it may be added, that their temperature does not always exceed
that of the fresh- water springs. In April 1833 I found the
temperature of the acidulous waters of Meinberg, and of the
carbonic acid which is disengaged from them in great quantities
and with great violence, to be only 41°.45. Among the obser-
vations communicated in Chap. VI. on the temperature of these
springs at different seasons, we find that their yearly mean dif-
fers but little from that of the neighbouring fresh- water springs.
The carbonic acid cannot, therefore, increase their temperature
at all, although they contain 0,9 and 1,31 times their volume of

• Poggend. Ann. vol. xxxii. p. 248.

Hot and Thermal Springs, ^IS

that gas.* Every thing speaks in favour of the supposition^
that these acidulous waters are fonned near the surface, where
streams of water and carbonic acid gas come in contact with each
other.

Lastly, if we take into consideration that by far the greater
part of the fresh-water springs of artesian wells, which seldom
contain a larger proportion of carbonic acid than those of common
wells, have, however, a temperature exceeding the mean tem-
perature of the place in many cases by several degrees, we find
ourselves obliged to seek another cause for the elevated tempe*
rature of such springs. I only bring forward, as an example
the above-mentioned warm-springs of Paderborn, whose tempc-^
rature is as high as 61°.25, and which, however, only contain
one-tenth of their volume of carbonic acid gas, whilst the neighs
bouring springs of Schmechten, Hester, Driburg, and Pyrmont,
so rich in carbonic acid, only give 48°.2 to 54°.5. In like raaB-
ner, the temperature of the salt-springs of Westphalia falls be-
tween B9.°,^5 and Q2>°,5^ although they are also very poor in car-
bonic acid.

Chap. III. — Can the Heat of Thermal Springs be the result of chemical
processes or of local circumstances ? and can local circumstances
cause any modifications in the Temperature of thermal springes F

With regard to the former of these questions, two cases may
be imagined : either that the heat of the springs is the result of
chemical processes acting in the mineral waters themselves,
during their formation, and by which their mineral contents are
produced, or, that chemical processes take place in the vicinity
of the course of the mineral springs, by which their channels
become heated from without.

Hcspccting the first case, it is quite evident, that such a che-
mical process cannot be the solution of salts already in exist-
ence ; for then, on the contrary, (with one exception only,
namely, when anhydrous salts, which require much water of
crystallisation, come in contact with water), cold would be the
result. But since salt-water springs are also thermal, and, in-

• The salt-spring at Schiederi, on the other hand^ though only three mile*
from Meinberg, and containing only 0,37 volumes of carbonic add gas, &,
nevertheless, warmer than those carbonated springs.

844 Prof., Bischof on the Temperature of

deed, warmer the more salt they contahi (vvhich is considered
a general rule by salt-workers), and as it may be considered
quite certain that they derive their saltness from deposits of rock-
salt, a contradiction here presents itself, and we must conse-
quently conclude, at least for salt-water springs, that they are
not indebted to chemical processes of the first kind for their
superior temperature.

The greatest evolution of heat would take place, if the ele-
ments of the salts, contained in the mineral springs, entered into
combination at the moment of the creation of those springs. In
order to have an idea of the degree of heat which would be pro-
duced in this case, I made the following experiments : —

The Heilbronn, a mineral spring in a small valley of the
Brohl, four miles distant from the lake of Laach, is, next to
Bilin in Bohemia, the richest in carbonate of soda known to
me. It contains 0,0053 of fixed substances. Supposing that
this spring were formed from anhydrous carbonate of soda, by
the addition of concentrated sulphuric acid, muriatic acid, and
water, then, according to my analysis, 77,4 parts anhydrous
carbonate of soda, 5 parts concentrated sulphuric acid, 92 of
smoking muriatic acid, and 22,G87 parts of water would be
required to compose a water, containing the same proportions of
carbonate and sulphate of soda, and of chloride of sodium, as
that spring. In accordance with this, therefore, I put 77,4
grains of calcined carbonate of soda to 22,687 grains of water.
The temperature of the water was, —

Before the experimient, 42''.8

After, 43°.7

Increase of temperature, 0°.9

To this solution of soda I added a mixture of 5 grains con-
centrated'sulphuric acid, and 92 grains smoking muriatic acid.
The temperature of the two liquids was, —

Before their mixture, . , T . . SO'.OO
After, 50».45

Increcse of temperature, 0*.45

Now, although such a chemical pr.xess as this, which is very

improbable to take place in the interior of the earth, is the most

favourable for the production of heat ; still, it only caused a^^

Hot and Thermal Springs. 345

increase of temperature of P.35. Since, then, atmospheric
water, under similar circumstances, having the temperature of
the place, would, by dissolving so much of the above-mentioned
substances as to form one of the richest mineral springs of Ger-
many, only acquire a temperature of l.°35 higher than that of
the neighbouring fresh water springs, the increase of tempera-
ture caused by this process in such mineral springs as frequent-
ly only contain one-half to one-sixth as much of soluble ingre-
dients as the Heilbronn, could not be perceptible.

If we even admit the most favourable case for an increase of
temperature, but in rei'tim naturd the most improbable case of
all, viz. that sodium should come in contact with water con-
taining the necessary quantities of sulphuric, muriatic, and car-
bonic acid to form such a mineral water as the Heilbronn ;
even then, only an inconsiderable elevation of temperature would
take place, as the following experiments verify.

Fifteen grains of sodium were put into a goblet, and a small
glass funnel placed over it ; upon this were poured 1000 grains
of water in which so much sulphuric and muriatic acid were
mixed as would form such a mineral water as that of the Heil-
bronn. A violent explosion, accompanied with a shower of fire,
was the consequence, and the glass broke.

The heat of the water was, —

Before the experiment, ..... 52*. 9 25
After, 55'.850

Increase of temperature, 2°.925

In a repetition of the experiment in a metallic vessel, the in-
crease of temperature was 4.275.

The increase of temperature, caused by the oxidation of the
alkaline metals by water, is, therefore, far from sufficient to ac-
count, as Von Buch has attempted,* for the existence of hot
springs. Neither is there more probability in I3oussingault\s
hypothesis,-f- that the hot-springs which rise in the granite of the
Littoral Corderillas may be the result of the action of water
upon sulphuret of silicium, by which warm water, containing

• Abhandlungen der K. Akad. der Wisstnscha^en in Berlin au3 den Jah-
ren, 18IR, 1819, p. (J5.
t Annal. de Chimie et de Fbys. F^vrier, U33, p. 189.

346 Prof. Bischof on the Temperature of

silica and sulphuretted hydrogen, would be produced ; for those
springs contain very little of these substances.

The formation of mineral springs by the decomposition of
water by the alkaline metals, is, indeed, contradicted by the cir-'
cumstance that, in that case, streams of hydrogen gas must issue
with the water, which has not as yet been observed in any
springs.

There is also another argument against the possibility of any
chemical process being the cause of the heat of thermal springs,
which is in some cases so very considerable, namely, that it is by
no means a general rule that those springs, which contain the
greatest quantity of fixed substances, are the hottest. Thus^ for
example, within the space of about one mile, in the vicinity of
the Laacher See, are found the following mineral springs, whose
quantities of fixed constituents and temperatures confirm my
assertion, at least for that neighbourhood.

Heilbronn,
Tonnistein,
Fehlenbor,
Burgbrohl, I.
Burgbrobl, II.

Still less is it the case with the alpine springs Gastein and
PfafFers, which contain less fixed and gaseous substances than
common spring water, and are consequently little else than pure
warm water ; not to mention the pure water springs and arte-
sian wells, which are frequently warmer than neighbouring mi-
neral springs containing fixed substances in great abundance.

If there existed mineral springs consisting of a concentrated
solution of sulphate of iron, a superior temperature would be
more conceivable ; although even then the elevation could hardly
be perceptible, as the slow decomposition of the magnetic pyrites
in the copperas manufactories proves.

Against the second case, namely, that chemical processes take
place in the vicinity of the course of mineral waters, by which
the sides of the hollows and clefts through which they flow be-
come heated from without, several objections may be made. In
the first place, traces of such chemical processes would surely
be visible, if the seat of their action were in communication, by
means of the clefts, >vith the surface. But in that case, the

Fixed Constituents.

Temperatures.

0,0353

52°.925

0,0025

54°.950

0,0019

57°.650

0,0013

58M00

• .1

0,0008
< 1 1 •

53°.600

Hot and Thermal Springs. 1SI7

meteoric waters would also have free access to that place, and
would either increase, diminish, or entirely extinguish the che-
mical action ; or would somewhere reappear charged with sub-
stances which had taken a part in the process. Of this, how-
ever, experience furnishes no examples. Secondly, if we sup-
pose the process to be an oxidation, the free admission of the
oxygen of the air would be necessary. But then the atmo-
spheric waters would also have access, since such a process can-
not be conceived without a communication with the atmosphere,
and nitrogen gas would be evolved in much greater quantities
than are found here and there sparingly emitted from some few
mineral springs.

Thirdly, if this oxidation be supposed to take place at the
expense of water, hydrogen gas must be evolved, which is also
contrary to experience. Such an explanation of the heat of
mineral springs necessarily presupposes a structure in the inte-
rior of the earth of quite a peculiar nature, viz., one cavity in-
closed within another, and one to which nothinfj analoorous has
been found in the working of mines ; the theory must, there-
fore, be considered as untenable.

It must, however, not remain unmentioned, that subterrane-
ous fire may in solitary instances give rise to warm springs.
Examples of this have occurred in tl^ Planitzer Adit, near
Zwickau, and at Holdenstaedt near Eisleben in Thuringia.*

Lastly, it must also be taken into consideration, that former-
ly, when only the few commonly called hot-springs, such as
Carlsbad, Aachen, &c. engaged the attention of philosophers,
the explanation of this phenomenon could only be sought in
local causes. Becher's hypotheses with respect to Carlsbad,
that water containing common salt flows ov^er a depot of burn-
ing iron-pyrites, or Klaproth''s supposition that the water is
heated by a considerable bed of coal, set on fire by iron-pyrites,
were, therefore, for the moment considered satisfactory. Inde-
pendently of the well-grounded objections of Von Buch and Ber-
zelius to these hypothesis, there would still remain much for us
to account for, even if we had very satisfactory explanations of
those properly called hot- springs. For as the rising of thermal

• Kuhn Handbuch der Gcognosie, v©L i. 2ft

$4i8 Prof. Bischof on the Temperature of

springs is a phenomenon of very general occurrence, which mav
be traced through all formations, from the very youngest of the
stralified to the very oldest rocks, the chemical processes which
cause the heat of these waters must be equally universal. Or
is it, perhaps, less difficult to account for the heat of a spring
whose temperature only exceeds the mean temperature of the
place by a few degrees, than to find an explanation for the crea-
tion of those commonly called hot springs ?

Anglada* adds another argument of no small weight against
the explanation of the heat of thermal springs by any chemical
process, namely, that it would be difficult to conceive how such
a process should continue in action for so long a time, and with
such uniformity as would be necessary to explain the uninter-
rupted course of the springs, their uniform productiveness, and
their unvarying temperature and composition.

Since, then, we are obliged to admit that the conditions ne-
cessary for the production of warm springs must exist in all
parts of the earth, we find ourselves imperceptibly led to the
hypothesis of a superior temperature in the interior of the earth.

Laplace already endeavoured to account for the heat of
thermal springs, and their uniformity within the memory of
man, by this internal heat of the earth.-f- Subsequently, it has
been shewn by Arago,| that the temperature of artesian wells
is higher the deeper they spring; and he has brought this for-
ward as a proof, that the temperature of the strata of the earth
increases constantly with the depth. Anglada,§ who is also led
to this hypothesis, thinks, that if the heat of mineral waters were
only caused by the increase of temperature towards the centre
of the earth, it would be contradicted by our not meeting every

• M^moire pour servir "k I'Histoire, &c. vol. i. p. 15.

-f- Annal. de Chim. et de Phys. vol. xiii. p. 415 — This philosopher says,
" Si Ton con9oit, que les eaux pluviales, en penetrant dans Tinterieur d'un pla-
teau eleve, rencontrent, dans leur mouvement, une cavite de trois mille metres
de profondeur, elles la rempliront d'abord ; ensuite, acquerant h cette pro-
fondeur, une chaleur de 100° au moins, et devenues, par \\ plus legeres, elles
s'eleveront, et seront rernplacees par les eaux superieures, en sorte, qu'il
s'e'tablira deux courans d'eau, Tun montant, I'autre descendant, perpetuelle-
ment entretenus par la chaleur int^rieure de la terre. Ces eaux en sortant
de la partie inf(t?rieure du plateau auront t^videmment une chaleur bien sup^-
rieure k celle de I'air au point de leur sortie."

+ AnnaL de Chim. et de Piiys. vol. xxix. p. 317. § P. 17.

Hoi and Thermal Springs. S49

where with the effect of a cause supposed everywhere to exist;
as ihcrnial springs are in some places very abundant, whilst in
others they are totally wanting.

It is evident that Anglada only took those commonly called
hot springs into consideration. But since thermal springs are
so universally distributed over the earth, that which he opposes
to our hypothesis, argues, on the contrary, in its favour.

Perhaps, he says, the phenomenon of thermal springs may be
best accounted for by the action of electromotors (electro-mo-
teurs), existing in the interior of the earth. Many German
philosophers are also known to have inclined formerly to this
hypothesis; but the greater part, at least those whose object is
not merely speculation but research, have now abandoned it.*
It may, however, perhaps, not be quite superfluous briefly to
examine the grounds which Anglada, a philosopher to whom we
are indebted for so many and such profound researches on mi-
neral waters, brings forward in support of such an hypothesis.

According to him, there are many appearances on the surface
of the earth which indicate the existence of electromoters. As,
for instance, the Heideberg in the Fichtel-Gebirge, which Von
Humboldt discovered in the year 1796 to be polar magnetic.-|*
But by more recent inquiries, I have endeavoured to shew that
that polarity is only a consequence of the magnetic pyrites con-
tained in the rock. J If, as Anglada supposes, there exist an
electromolric power corresponding with the magnetic polarity,
and if the former is the cause of the heat of thermal waters,
then springs rising in the vicinity of lodes or beds of magnetic
iron-ore (oxydulatid iron) must always have an elevated tem-
perature. But this is by no means the case ; for example, in
Sweden, Siegen, and the Duchy of Westphalia, where consider-
able lodes and beds of that mineral are found.

Anglada is of opinion, that although the constant running and
the uniform temperature of warm springs agree very well with

• See Bischof, die Vulkanischen Mineralquellen, &c. p. 321 and following.
Perhaps I have the merit of having assisted in the downfall of this singular
hypothesis.

+ See Gren's Neues Journ. vol. iv. part 1, p. 13G; and Von Huwboldt's
subseqient len.arks in the Ann. 1. de C him. et d.^ Phvs. vol. xxr. p. 327.

X Gddfuss and Bischof Phys,kal-S:atisthe Beschriibung des Fichtelge-
birgtF, 111 7, part 1, p. 193, and following.

S50 Prof. Bischof on the Temperature of

•the opinion that they owe their heat to that of the interior of the
earth, it would still be impossible to account by that means for
the accidental variations which the temperatures of springs suf-
fer. And he maintains that his hypothesis is satisfactory in this
respect, the more particularly as such alterations generally take
place during earthquakes, and therefore prove themselves de-
pendent upon those great electrical phenomena (?).

These objections are easily set aside. If alterations of the
temperature and chemical composition of springs generally hap-
pen during earthquakes, they may be caused by the opening or
closing of fissures, by which the waters come into contact with
other substances, or, by their coming from a greater depthj bring
with them the loose contents of the clefts in the rocks. If the
fissures open further, the atmospheric waters will sink deeper,
and become more heated ; if they close, the contrary will take
place. According to Dr Ambrozzi,* the warm waters of Tep-
litz flow more copiously since the earthquake which destroyed
Lisbon on the 1st November 1755, than before ; during the
earthquake they became muddy, flowed one hour and a half
of a dark yellow colour, and towards mid-day entirely disap-
peared during six or seven minutes, then suddenly gushed forth
again, and for half an hour continued to emit a thick yellowish-
red water, in such quantities that the baths were overflowed ;
whereas the medicinal springs of the village of Schonau, of Carls-
bad, and all others, with the exception of some in Morocco, re-
mained unaltered.

An alteration of temperature and chemical composition has
often been observed in springs which rise in the vicinity of ac-
tive volcanos. Thus, according to Dolomieu,f the spring of
Macaluba, which in the year 1781 emitted atmospheric air and
carbonic acid gas, only yielded a kind of inflammable gas in the
year 1785. Other examples of alterations taking place in the
temperature of springs situated near active volcanoes will be
given afterwards. On the other hand, springs rising in the
neighbourhood of extinct volcanos shew a great uniformity

• Physikalisch-Chemische Untersuchung der Warmen MineralqueUen zu
und bey Teplitz. Leipzig. 1797.
f Sur les Isles Ponces, p. 3G0.

Hot and Thermal Springs, 85f

of temperature and chemical composition during long periods of
time.

The same effects which earthquakes are capable of causing in
springs, will also be produced by active volcanos, for volcanic
action is always accompanied by earthquakes. Besides, by the
rising of the melting lava, the upper strata of the earth become
heated, and thus it may happen that springs rising in a volcanic
soil, although from an inconsiderable depth, may, as Anglada
himself remarks, be warmer than others which do not rise in
volcanic districts.

All such variations may, therefore, take place without injury
to the hypothesis, that the superior temperature of the interior
of the earth, progressively increasing with the depth, is the prin-
cipal cause of the heat of thermal springs. It is, therefore, un-
necessary to seek refuge with Anglada in such an improbable
subterranean electrical process.

It still remains to be ascertained whether a gradual alteration
of the temperature of springs, in places where there are neither
traces of former nor of present volcanic action, and where earth-
quakes are not frequently felt, can be conceived possible. With
respect to the phenomenon itself, it is difficult to determine whe-
ther it exists or not ; for all depends upon the thermometers,
which, so constructed as to serve for a comparison of observa-
tions on the temperature of springs, have only been in existence
for about one century. But it is well known that even until a
much later date, exactly corresponding thermometers were con-
sidered great rarities ; and it is not long since attention has
been drawn to several circumstances, upon which the accuracy
of these instruments depends. It is true that considerable dif-
ferences of temperature may be observed in springs even with
inaccurate thermometers ; but if they proceed by degrees, and
are not perceptible until a long period has elapsed, the most
perfect apparatus is necessary for their detection. Accord-
ins to the observations of Carrcre in 1754, and those of An-
glada in 1818 and 1819,* the temperature of ten thermal springs
in tlie East Pyrenees, has decreased 1°.125 to 60°. 75 during that
period, and the decrease was found to be greater the higher the
original temperature of the springs.

Anglada, p. G3.

852 Prof. Bischof on the Temperature of

Besides the accidental causes which may lower the tempera-
ture of thermal springs, such, for instance, as meeting with cold-
er waters, there seems to be another very important one, viz.
that mineral springs frequently fill up their own course by a
partial precipitation of their constituents. If such a precipita-
tion takes place in the lowest part of the spring'*s course, and ad-
vances gradually higher and higher, the consequence naturally
must be, that the meteoric waters, no longer able to sink down
to so great a depth, by degrees become less and less heated. The
deposit from the Carlsbad springs may here be cited as an ex-
ample ; although in this case the deposit is only observed on the
surface, and the cause of its precipitation above cannot so easily
exist below. The enormous deposits of travertin are well known.
In that occasioned by the hot springs of San Filippo, fissures of
30 feet deep and 150 toi^OO feet long are observed. A particu-
larly important and direct proof is the calcareous deposit in the
Roman aqueduct between Cologne and Treves. It has been de-
posited since the time of the Romans, from several fresh water
springs, and is seven or eight inches thick in some places, so
that it has been used for columns of churches.

I have elsewhere* called attention to the veins of brown iron-
stone in the trass of the Brohiihal, which may often be traced
to a great distance on the bare walls of ravines and quarries in
that rock, and which certainly owe their existence to no otl'.er
cause, than that ferruginous waters, of which there are still a
great many in existence in that district, formerly flowed in those
cracks, and by degrees deposited hydrate of iron, thereby filling up
their own course. Such fillings up with hydrate of iron are also
found in the grey wacke, in basalt, in trachyte, f and other rocks.
Inferring from the deposits of spherosiderite from mineral springs
actually observed, I have endeavoured to shew that veins of
carbonate of iron and brown ironstone may also often be the se-
diment of mineral springs.

I have already proved J that when springs contain any sul-

• Schweigger-Seidels n. .Tahb. der Chemis und Phys. vol. viii. p. 431.

•f- Vues et coupes des principaux formations g6)logique? du Dep. du Puy-
ne-D6me, &c., par Lecoq et liouillel, Clermont Ferrand, 1830, 8me. livrai-
son, p. 223.

$ A. O. vol. iv. p. 386. See also Lcn^champ in the Annals de Chim. et de
Phys. vol. xxxii. p. 294.

\Hot and Thermal Springs, 558

phates, together with iron and an organic substance, iron-pyrites
is very easily formed, and in this manner they may fill up their
subterranean channel. This may also happen when two diffe-
rent mineral springs meet in one cleft, one of which contains car-
bonate of protoxide of iron, and the other a sulphate and an or-
ganic substance. And nothing is more common in mineral
springs than these substances. In general, many cases may be
imagined, in which the confluence of mineral springs composed
of different ingredients might occasion such sediments as would
by degrees fill up their passage. For example, if springs con-
taining earthy salts should meet with others containing alkaline
carbonates ; or if waters rich in silica * should meet with organic
substances, whether in solution, or in the solid state, by which,
as I have shewn, siliceous concretions would be formed.

In the above mentioned sulphurous springs of the East Pyre-
nees, iron-pyrites and earthy carbonates might easily be formed at
the expense of their sulphuret of sodium and thair alkaline carbon-
ates, by their meeting with other springs containing salts of iron
and earths, and thus the channels of these springs becoming gra-
dually filled from the bottom, the waters would by degrees be
enabled to sink less and less deep into the earth, f

Lastly, an obstruction in the course of the springs may be oc-
casioned partly by chemical and partly by mechanical means. I
have pointed out j: several appearances which make it seem very
probable, that ferruginous waters act as a cement upon loose
stony materials, namely, upon sand, and may thus give rise to
the formation of stony concretions. There is no doubt that wa-
ters containing much sihca occasion siliceous concretions, such as
are found very characteristic in the sandstone belonging to the
lignite (braunkohl) formation, and also in other positions. And
surely concretions of this kind may also easily be formed in the

■ In the great Geyser, the deposits of silica have accumulated in a crack to
the thickness of 12 feet.

t Supposing the increase of temperature in plains and in enclosed valleys
to amount to 2°^ in 1 15 feet, it is easy to perceive, that if the lower parts of
a spring's course he very narrow, and the spring be rich in any substance easy
to be precipitated from it, no great length of time will Le required to etfecl
a perceptible decrev.e of temperature.

X Schwegger-Seidcls n. Jahrb. der Chemie & Phys. voL viii. p. 437.

354 Prof. Bischof on the Temperature of

channels of springs from sand and stones raecbanically torn off or
borne along by the stream. Since hot springs and aqueous va-
pour are able to act very powerfully even upon hard rocks,
such, for instance, as marble, and thus to acquire quite a
muddy consistence, as I have observed in the Kaiserbad at Aix-
la-Chapelle, and in the baths at Burtscheid ; the channels of
springs may also in this manner become stopped up, especially
if the spring have a cementing property.

Anglada supposes that the loss of heat, occasioned in the in-
ner strata of the earth, by warm springs, is not restored by the
power of conducting heat of the materials composing the interior
of the earth ; and that the strata must consequently suffer a gra-
dual diminution of temperature throughout the sphere of action
of those coolinor agents.

A gradual diminution of the internal temperature of the
earth, caused by the loss of the heat carried off by thermal
springs, cannot be doubted, so long as that loss is not repaired
by any means. But whether that diminution has become per-
ceptible within historical times or not, is another question.

The various degrees of temperature with which atmospheric
waters sink into the earth at different seasons of the year,
are already equalized in the uppermost strata of the earth's
crust ; for springs which rise from a moderate depth shew but a
trifling variation of temperature throughout the year, and that
of thermal waters is, in general, quite constant. The heat
carried by the pluvial waters into the earth, is, therefore, lost
in the almost inexhaustible provision of the earth's internal heat.
The waters having soaked through the earth's exterior crust
reach the strata, where the increase of temperature begins, with
a constant or nearly constant temperature. At this limit the
differencej between the temperature of the channels and that
of the waters can therefore only be infinitely small ; and as the
waters, by sinking through strata always increasing in tempera-
ture, become gradually warmer, it may be assumed that the dif-
ference is infinitely small in every point of their course. That
difference can only be perceptible when the waters do not filter
through the strata finely divided, but flow in considerable
streams. But the smaller the difference between the tempera-
ture of the waters and that of the channels through which they

Hot and Thermal Springs. SS5

flow, the less considerable will be the loss occasioned by the waters
in the temperature of the strata. But, even supposing that by
degrees a considerable local depression of temperature should
take place in the channels of the springs, or, in other words,
that in them the increase of temperature towards the centre of
the earth should have become less rapid ; then the heat in their
environs would be conveyed to them the more quickly, because
the rapidity with which heat is transmitted from one body to
another, increases in proportion to tha difference between the
temperatures of the two bodies. In no case, then, is it conceiv-
able that a local cooling of the earth should be continually in
progress, as Anglada is inclined to assume ; so that a gradual
diminution of the heat of thermal springs can only be imagined
in the case of a general coolinfr of the interior of the earth. But
since the existence of thermometers, and since observations have
been made on the temperature of springs, this general cooling
has certainly not taken place in a perceptible degree. An ac-
tual diminution in the temperature of thermal springs, if no
longer doubted, can therefore only proceed from the causes
above enumerated.

Chap. IV. — Can Springs convey Heat from the Interior of the
Earth to the Surface ?

The universal occurrence of warm springs is alone sufficient
to answer this question. But, independently of that, the possi-
bility of springs pursuing a very long subterranean course, where-
ever their temperature may have been obtained, without suffer-
ing any considerable change, may also be indirectly shewn..

The coldest springs of the temperate zones rise in the vicinity
of the glaciers, and on the limits of perpetual snow. Professor
Ennemoser, at my request, determined the temperature of thir-
teen fresh-water springs near the glaciers, and on the limits of
the snowy regions of the Tyrolese Alps, in the summer of 1833,
and found them to vary from 36°.50 to 43°.2.

On the 28th August 1835, I found the temperature of four
fresh-water springs, at the foot of the Gandecke, or Morene,
of the upper glacier near Grindelwald, in Switzerland, 3684
feet above the level of ihe sea, to fall between 37°. 40 and
38°.075 ; and, on the 3d of September, I found the tempera-

856 Prof. Bischof 07i the Temperature of

ture of fifty-one fresh-water springs on the Spital-Matte, be-
twecn Kanderstag and the Gemmi, 5S87 feet above the sea, from
ST.S5 to 40M0.

According to former observations of Wahlenberg and Von
Buch,* the springs on St Golhard, 8587 feet above tlie sea,
have a temperature of S1°A ; and, according to Stampfer and
Thurwieser*!-, one of the last springs, surrounded with vegeta-
tion, on the way to the Grossglockner, 6660 feet above the
sea, in the vicinity of the glaciers, has a temperature of 38°.075.
Thus we find the lowest temperature till now observed, near the
limits of perpetual snow, to be in summer S6°.5.

There is no doubt that many springs sink down from the
snowy regions, through fissures in the rocks, and do not return
to the surface until they have reached much lower levels; and
since they are capable of maintaining their low temperature, not-
withstanding the higher temperature of the strata through which
they have passed, it is evident that springs must be met with
far below the limits of perpetual snow, bearing a temperature
nearly the same as that of the springs rising near those limits.

In the Etschlhal, above Partschins, near Meran, about 3000
feet above the sea, on the steep southern declivity of the moun-
tain, Ennemoser found a very considerable spring rising in three
places (the Oberhauser springs) to have a temperature of 41°.
According to the observations of an apothecary in Meran, this
temperature is constant throughout the year. The springs in
the Etschthal itself, 1000 to 1200 feet above the sea, he found
to have 50° to 54i°. It certainly cannot be supposed that, 1800
to 2000 feet above a country where figs and other southern
fruits ripen, the temperature of the soil should be only 41^",
nor that such a considerable difference of temperature could be
attributed to so small a difference of elevation ; but it seems ra-
ther that the spring near Meran derives its low temperature
from its having descended from the neighbouring mountains. |
This is the more probable, as other springs in the neighbourhood
of this one, and at an equal elevation, have 45°.5 to 47°.75.

• D'Aubuisson, Traite de Geognosie, vol. i. p. 427.

f Jahrbucher des K. K. Polytechnisen Instituts in Wien. voL vii. p. 2.

t See Kupffer in PoggendortF's Annalen. vol. xv. p. 165.

Hot and Thermal Springs. 357

Now supposing that this spring originally had the temperature
of springs on the limits of perpetual snow, it would, after a sub-
terraneous course of 5200 feet, only have suffered an increase
of temperature of about 3°.15.

In Passeyr, 5000 to 6000 feet above the sea, the fresh-water
springs, according to Ennemoser''s various observations, have a
temperature of 41° to 43^°. However, he found great variations
here also. For instance, near Ilittermiihle, at an elevation of
5000 feet, rises a copious spring of 40°.l, whilst others 600 to
800 feet higher gave 42°.125 to 45°.5. At Hitte, behind Platte,
there is a celebrated spring at an elevation of 4000 feet, which
shews 41°, and the Goldbrunnen only 38°. 75, whilst other neigh^
bouring springs shew 43^° to 47|°. On mountains of 7000 and
8000 feel, the springs have a temperature of 38 J° to 41°, with
but few exceptions.

In several places in Switzerland I found springs, the tempe-
ratures of which were also much lower than might have been
expected from the surrounding vegetation. Thus the tempera-
ture of four springs at the foot of the Great Eiger, near Grift-
del wald, which rises almost 9000 feet perpendicularly, was only
42j°.

Von Buch* found a spring near Neufchatel, in the Creux-du-
vent, 2073 feet above the Lake of Neufchatel, and 3337 feet
above the level of the sea, the temperature of which was 40°. 437,
whilst others nearly on the level of the lake, observed in differ-
ent seasons and under different circumstances, gave 50° to 50°. 45.
He also found-f* that the temperature of the springs on Teneriffe
shewed no great variations up to 4000 feet above the sea, and that,
in like manner, the temperature of the springs on the northern
declivity of the Gran Canaria is 62°.375, up to 2000 feet above
the sea. This can certainly not be accounted for in any other
way than by supposing that they derive their low temperature
from high mountains from which they had descended, and that*
in their quick subterranean course, they have preserved an equal
temperature at heights differing often by several thousand feet.

Ualton \ observed the temperature of a copious spring on

* Gilbert's Annalen. vol. xxiv. p. 50.

i" I'oggendorff's Annalen. vol. xii. p. 413.

X Meteorological Essajs, or Gilbert's AnnaL vol. xxiv. p. 60.

VOL. XX. NO. XL. APRIL 1836. A ft

358 Prof. Bischof o?i the Temperature of

Mount Helvellyn, near Kendal, 2700 feet above the sea, and
S93 feet below the summit of the mountain, on the 27th Au-
gust, to be 38^ So low a temperature for a spring rising in
such a moderate elevation, in the north of England, is somewhat
remarkable.

Von Humboldt* likewise mentions several springs in the
mountains of Cumana and Caraccas, whose temperature is much
lower than might be expected from their elevation. Hunter^s
■well-known observations on the temperature of springs in Ja-
maica, afford examples of similar appearances. Humboldt al-
ready observed that one of those springs, rising at a height of
3918 feet above the sea, probably derives its very low tempera-
ture from the peak which rises to 6966 feet.

That even waters flowing on the surface of the earth, and
bearing a temperature very different from that of the atmosphere,
change their temperature but very slowly, is particularly evident
from the brooks which issue from the glaciers, and which fre-
quently, after a long-continued course, suffer a scarcely percep-
tible increase of temperature. On the western declivity of the
Teutoburger Wald, where such copious springs occur that they
immediately form considerable rivers, I also found that one of
these rivers, after a course of half a mile, had only become
0°.675 warmer, although the temperature of the air was 22°.5
higher than that of the water.

All these observations shew that springs which descend from
great heights bring down cold with them, and indeed the more
copious they are, the quicker their subterranean course, the
steeper the mountains, or the nearer their channels approach the
vertical position, and the less they are adulterated on their way
with waters of a different temperature, the greater is the degree
of cold which accompanies them. From which it follows, con-
versely, that springs which rise from below, out of various strata
of the earthy will bring heat with them, and in a great degree
the more the above conditions are fulfilled.

The more the temperature of springs surpasses that of the
strata through which they pass, the more they will lose of their
temperature. Boiling springs seem only to reach the surface,

• Gilbert's Annal. vol. xxiv. p. 46.

Hot and Thermal Springs. S59

where volcanic fire also shews itself, as, for example, in Iceland,*
on the Lipari Islands,f and Las Trincheras near Puerto Cabello^
in the Corderillas.| But some sprinojs would certainly reach the
surface with a higher temperature, did they not meet on their way
with colder ones ; and springs running in narrow channels must
cool more rapidly than in larger ones.

Chap. V. — The Temperature of Springs being a function of that
of the Meteoric Waters^ and of the strata of the earth through
which theyjlowy it is required to determine whether the Variations
of the Temperature of the Meteoric Waters also shew themselves
in Thermal Springs,

Springs which only pass through those strata which partici-
pate in the variations of the external temperature, must them-
selves have a variable temperature. The table at the end of the
next chapter, which contains my own observations on the tem-
perature of springs, as well as all those of others which have
come to my knowledge, affords many examples of such variable
springs.

As in our latitude the yearly mean temperature of the air oc-
curs about April and October, its maximum in July, and its
minimum in January, it will be seen by the Table, that the
variations of temperature of some few springs keep an equal
pace with those of the air. In mo^t cases they follow one, two,
or even three months later.g Th; depends on the depth below
the surface in which the course of ihose springs lie, the quanti-
ty of water they yield, and the power of conducting heat pos-
sessed by the soil. The deeper springs flow, the less abundant
their waters ; and the less the degree of conductibility of heat of
the soil, the later will the seasons of their temperature follow those
of the air. The differences between the annual maximum and
minimum temperature of springs are, in general, greater the

• Gilbert's Annalen. vol. xliiL p. 54.

-|- PoggendorfTs Annal. voL xxvL p. 67.

X Annales de Cbimie et Phys. vol. lii. p. 181.

5 In the Journ. de Phys. vol. IxviiL p. 224, it is asserted that the minimum
temperature of springs happens at the time of the maximum temperature^
the air, and vice versa ; for a thermometer, which was suspended in a well of
34 feet deep at Geneva from 179G to 1805, gave a maximum of 54.275 ia
December 1804, &nd a minimum of 48°.425 in June 1798.

Aa2

Wb Prof. Biscbof 071 the Temperature of

nearer their variations of temperature coincide with those of the
air, and conversely. The Table shews these diflferences to be
greatest, when the maximum temperature of the springs occurs
in July or August, and the minimum in January and February.

In the Table we find that the difference between maximum
and minimum most frequently does not amount to 2°.25, and
that differences exceeding 11°,25 are of rare occurrence. I'he
greatest difference is 20°.25, with the exception of the springs of
Stuttgart and Tiibingen. As the temperature of these springs
was observed at the outlet of long aqueducts running at a very
small depth beneath the surface, it is evident that the tempera-
ture of the air must have had some effect upon it. So that, in
this respect, the differences of temperature of those springs can-
not serve for a comparison.

A singular relation is observed to exist with regard to the
annual variations of temperature of the salt springs of Werl.
Tliey correspond almost exactly with the variations of tempera-
ture of the air, and yet the springs are undoubtedly thermal.
If these were produced in the same manner as the very copious
springs of the Jordan, Lippe, Pader, Heder, and so forth, which
rise on the western declivity of the Teutoburger Wald and the
Haar, it would be easy to conceive that their variations of tem-
perature should correspond with those of the air ; for those
springs are, in fact, rivers, which having sunk from higher re-
gions into the numerous clefts in the chalk rocks, pursue a sub-
terraneous course, and reappear at a much lower level. Such
considerable bodies of water, in sinking to a depth where the in-
crease of temperature towards the centre of the earth is percep-
tible, do not entirely lose the temperature which they had ac-
quired whilst running on the surface ; so that, notwithstanding
their appearance as thermal springs, the variations of the ex-
ternal temperature still shew themselves in them.*

• Between the variations of temperature and of the contents of salt of these
springs no relation can be found. Their mean temperature in lfl33 was
higher than in 1832; whilst, on the other hand, the quantity of salt contain-
ed in them was much smaller. Besides, the maximum of salt contained in
them falls constantly in May, whilst the minimum has no determined period.
This circumstance indicates a very peculiar, or, I would say, a complicated
combination of the subterranean channels at Werl ; as does also the fact, that
different borings in that neighbourhood, often situated very near to each
other, yield sometimes strong salt- waters, and sometimes springs of iiesh-
irater.

Hot and Thermal Springs. d6i

These salt springs prove, therefore, that even thermal ppringa
can participate in the variations of the external temperature*
The differences between maximum and minimum are found,
however, to diminish, as the mean teniperature increases. But
for this very reason it is improbable that springs originating in
the superficial strata, in which the variations of the external tem-
perature are still felt, should shew a constant degree of heat.
Springs of constant temperature must, therefore, alwfiys be con*
sidered as thermal. The difference between the temperature of
the coldest of the constant or nearly constant springs, and the
mean temperature of the neighbouring variable springs, is not
the same for all places. According to the table, these differences
are, for the neighbourhood of Berlin 0°.675; in Sweden hardly
2^°; near Burgbrohl, about 2^ miles from Bonn, they rather ex-
ceed 4J°, and the warmest of the salt springs of Werl^ which
surpasses the probable temperature of the coldest of the neigh*
bouring springs by 6°.075, is not yet constant, but shews a year-
ly variation of temperature of 4J°. *

It may be that the extent of these differences of temperature
at a certain place, depends, in some measure, on its geographical
latitude, as, according to Chap. VIII, the depth to which the
external temperature continues to be felt, is greater in higher
than in low latitudes, the annual variations of temperature of the
air being also greater there than here. But the less considerable
these variations are, the less are also the yearly variations of tem-
perature of the waters which filter into the earth, and the more
easily will they, after a short percolation of the earth's crust,
give rise to springs of a constant temperature. Tlie influence
of latitude upon the scale of the annual variations of tempera-
ture must, however, certainly be very much modified by other
circumstances, — namely, the elevation above the surface of the
sea at which the springs rise, the fiUering of the atmospheric
waters in more or less considerable streams through the earth,
and the degree of conductibiliiy of heat of the soil. Tlie extent

• From a comparison of the observations on the temperature of a sprinj^ in
a well sunk in Loudon, which was constant, and indicated sa^.SJfi, with thf
mean temperature of that capital, the difierence api^^ars tp be for Xbai lociu
\\iy 3°.C to 44° Annales de Chim. et de Th^s., vol. xxi. p. 31C.

^6^ Prof. Biscbof on the Temperature of

of the variations of temperature during the year, diminishes as
the height increases ; so that in higher latitudes the greatest dif-
ference of temperature at a certain elevation is not greater than
under the equator. The more finely divided the atmosplieric
waters are during their infiltration, and the less the degree of
conductibility of heat of the soil, the sooner will springs of a con-
stant temperature be formed, as will be shewn more fully in
Chap. VII.

CtiAP. VI. — Can the Mean Temperature of a place he determined
from the Temperature of Springs ? and is the Mean Tempera-
ture of the Soil the same as that of the Air f

Roebuck seems to have been the first who called attention to
the accordance of the mean temperature of the air with that of
the soil. He found, by three years* observation, that the former
is for London 5isi°.16, for Edinburgh 47°.68, and adds that the
mean temperature of the springs in London is 51°.01, and in
Edinburgh 46^.985. *

At the time when Wahlenberg made his observations, the hy-
pothesis of an increase of temperature towards the centre of the
earth was not yet so generally adopted by philosophers as it is
at present. It was, consequently, not taken into consideration,
that the mean temperature of the soil can only be learnt from
springs which do not sink below the limit of the influence of the
external temperature. At a later period, it was considered plau-
sible to assume, that only the mineral springs rose from a more
or less considerable depth, and that all pure water springs had
their origin near the surface. But even if this be admitted, it
will be found by no means an easy matter to ascertain whether
a certain spring be a mineral or a pure water spring; for there
exists no general mark of distinction. Neither can the contents
of fixed, nor of gaseous substances, and still less the tempera-
ture, serve as the distinguishing character of a mineral spring.
There are springs, indeed common well waters, which are to-
lerably rich in fixed substances, and, in that respect, surpass
others which no one hesitates to call mineral springs, because
they contain gaseous substances in considerable quantities, which

• Transactions, 1775, p. 469.

Hot and Thermal Springs. 36S

are disengaged from them in greater or less abundance. * On
the other hand, there are others, rich in fixed substances, but
not containing more gaseous parts than the commonest well-
water. The temperature is not in proportion to the contents of
fixed substances, as has already been remarked, for cold mineral
springs frequently contain more than warm ones.-(* Gastein and
PfafFers are exampleft of this. But with regard to their ga-
seous contents, the temperature of springs is, in general, in the
inverse proportion, the reasons for which are already known.

It is equally difficult to draw the line between warm and cold
springs. They form an uninterrupted series from the coldest
to the warmest. There certainly is no degree between 33^8,
the temperature of tlie coldest springs observed in Lapland by
Wahlenberg, and the boiling springs of Iceland, which does not
answer to some spring. The coldest springs of any place are
evidently those whose mean temperature is exactly equal to that
of the atmosphere; for no spring can be colder, unless its source
lie in neighbouring high mountains, from which it brings down
cold with it into the valleys. But as we can only become ac-
quainted with the coldest springs of any place, by comparing
their mean temperatures with that of the atmosphere, it is rather
difficult, from the temperature of springs, to deduce the mean
temperature of the earth or of the atmosphere at the place of
their origin. However, if we observe the temperature of several
springs in any place, during a whole year, the mean temperature
of the coldest of them will give a maximum which the mean tem-
perature of the place cannot surpass; and in many cases, that
maximum will be the real mean temperature of the place. That
the observations on the temperature of springs must be continued
for at least a year, in order to lead to any conclusions, is evi-
dent ; for in the hottest seasons, the spring of which the yearly
mean temperature is the lowest, will often be found to be warmer
than a neighbouring thermal spring whose temperature only ex-
ceeds the mean temperature of the place by a few degrees. From
the temperature of springs which are constant throughout the
year, or nearly so, certainly no conclusions can be drawn re-
specting the mean temperature of the place; for as there exist

• See Bischof in the Journ. fur Prakt. Chemie, vol. i. p. 334. Note,
t Ibid. p. 340. and 341.

Sfiii Prof. Bischof on the Temperature of

thermal springs — as we have ssen in the foregoing chapter — of
variable temperature, it cannot be expected that one of the cold-
est should have a constant temperature. It may, therefore, be
assumed with safety, that the mean temperature of a place is
always below that of a spring whose temperature is constant at
different seasons of the year.

At the first view, it would seem that deep welis were particu^
larly suitable for determining the temperature of the soil. Many
objections may, however, be called to mind against this. Von
Buch remarks, that only such wells are proper for this purpose
as are in constant use, by which their waters are kept continually
in circulation ; but not such as remain undisturbed, for in them
the cold air sinks down from the atmosphere, and cools their
walls below to a greater extent than the propagation of heat
would allow. Farther, it must be presupposed that such wells
are only supplied by waters filtered through the superficial
strata of the earth, and that they are so far distant from any
mountains of importance, that it can no longer be considered
possible for waters to filter down into them from higher and
colder regions. But it must also be supposed that they do not
receive any tribute from warmer springs rising from a greater
depth. If, in sinking a well, a stratum be met with which is
impervious to water, and which has no where been broken
through, one may be tolerably certain that the latter case has
been avoided. A communication with clefts, by which they
might be supphed with waters from below, in the manner of
artesian wells, is most to be apprehended when a well is cut in
the solid rock. Deep wells, which communicate with neighbour-
ing deep rivers, are very likely to hold thermal waters, especial-
ly if there be any rising ground between the springs and the
river, although it be but a few hundred feet above the bottom
of the valley. Thus the temperature of a well of fifty-eight feet
under my laboratory, which is in connexion with the Rhine, is
almost constant, and is about 1°.35 higher than the mean tem-
perature of the soil here. This spring is consequently thermal.
The mean temperature of the soil cannot, therefore, be deduced
with certainty from observations on the temperature of wells.
An approximate result can only be obtained by extending the
observations to many different wells.

Hot and Thermal Springs. ' 365

If we apply these general conclusions to Wahlenl)crg''s obser-
vations, it is easy to perceive that he has determined the mean
temperature of the soil at Upsala, at the Ynger See, at Umeo,
Soderkciping, and Carlscrona, in all cases too high, because he
deduced them from observations made either on constant warm
(thermal) springs, or on variable springs in months in whidi
they could not [wssibly have their mean temperature. We must
therefore call in question his conclusion, that the mean tempe-
rature of the earth in the north is every where higher than the
mean temperature of tlie air, and that the difference between
them is greater the higher the latitude, or the colder the win-
ters.

It was shewn in chap. i. how universally thermal springs are
dispersed over the earth. In rocks which are very much dislo-
cated, and in which the atmospheric waters descend to a consi-
derable depth, the number of thermal springs may probably sur-
pass that of the cold ones ; indeed, perhaps, scarcely one will be
found from which the mean temperature of the soil can be de-
termined. I found this assertion upon numerous observations
which I made in April 1833, and May 1834, upon the springs
at the foot of the chalk rocks of the Teutoburger Wald, in strata
which are very much fissured. In April 1833, I found among
sixty-six running fresh-water springs, only three whose tempera-
ture was below 47|° ; all the rest varied from 47|° to C0°.6. In
May 1834, the temperature of those three springs had risen 3°.6.
As, according to the table, no spring, as yet observed, reaches
its mean temperature earlier than April, and most springs not
until June, and sometimes even July, the mean of those three
springs cannot fall below 471°. If it falls above 47|° they may
be considered as thermal, lor the mean temperature of the air at
that place cannot be much above 47 1°. Another circumstance
in favour of this is, that, in May 1834, I found a fourth spring
near those three, the temperature of which was 47J° or 8°.6
colder than the coldest of the others. If this fourth spring ob
serves the same law in the variations of its temperature as the
other three do, there is no longer any doubt that they are ther-
mal. There can be no question whatever tliat the other sixty-
three springs are thermal.

Besides those sixty-six fresh-water springs, I observed in May

S66 Prof. Biscliof 071 the Temperature of

1834 a great number more in that neighbourhood ; and, on similar
grounds, I think that I am justified in considering the majority
of them as thermal.

In mountains which are split to a great depth, it is therefore
possible that scarcely one spring may be found from which the
temperature of the soil might be determined. And, even when
such is not the case, an approximative idea of the mean tempe-
rature of the soil can only be obtained, provided there be no
high mountains near, by observing the temperature of a great
number of springs in the neighbourhood for at least a year, and
taking the coldest among them.

So long, however, as no springs are found whose differences
of temperature are in totally different proportions from those in
the table, a tolerably correct value may be found for the mean
temperature of the soil, from observations on the temperature
of single variable springs, if made at a well chosen season, and
provided they do not rise out of unusually fissured rocks. For
instance, since the mean temperature of springs generally falls
in the months of December or January, and in June or July,
it is sufficient to observe the temperature of springs only at those
times, in order to get a very near approximation to the actual
mean temperature of the soil. It may be ascertained still more
exactly, by finding out exactly the period of the maximum or
minimum of the springs, and observing their temperature three
months after that date. The precise period of the mean tem-
perature of springs for each individual case, cannot be deter-
mined with such exactitude, as it was for the mean temperature
of the air, by the observations made at Leilh in Scotland.*

The same objections which we have made to Wahlenberg''s
determinations of the mean temperature of the soil, are also ap-
plicable to the observations of Kupffer-f- in several parts of east-
ern Russia, as well as to the conclusions which he was led to
draw from them.

Erman jun.J finds the temperature of the springs at Konigs-
berg 3°. 55 higher than that of the atmosphere. I can only ac-

• Results of the Therm. Obs. made at Leith Fort every hour of the day
and night during the years 1824 and 1825, p. 19.

"I" Poggendorf 8 Annalen, vol. xv. p. 159, and following.
^ t Poggendorf *s Annal. vol. xi. p. 310.

Hot and Thermal Springs, S67

coutit for this great difference by supposing the temperature of
the air at Konigsbcrg to have been probably determined much
too low ; for at Mitau, which hes J^° farther to the north, and
rather to the east, it has been found l°.t35 higher.*

The temperature of the springs near Berlin and Potsdam
strengthened Erman sen. et jim. in their opinion, that in high
latitudes the temperature of the soil is higher than that of the
air. They estimate the temperature of the soil at Berlin and
Potsdam at 50°.07 to 50M5, and consequently find, as Hum-
boldi and Tralles ascertained the mean temperature of Berh'n
to ])e 46°.4 to 47°.'3, that there is a considerable difference be-
tween their results.

If the mean temperature of the soil can only be arc3rtained
from the coldest springs (provided there be no high mountains
in the vicinity which could send down cold springs into the val-
leys), and if, without exception, ail constant, or nearly constant,
springs are thermal, then even the Louisenbrunqen and the
spring at Templin must he thermal. With regard to the latter
it is the n>ore probable, as it is indebted for its existence not
only to the meteoric waters of the neighbouring hills, but seems
to take its rise at a much greater distance. The mean tempera-
ture of the earth at Berlin is therefore probabU below 49M, so
that the difference is considerably diminished, if not totally an-
nulled. The difference of 2^°, mentioned by Erman, between
the temperature of the springs in Freienwald and at Neustadt
is also a corroboration of this opinion.

From the six years' observations made at Stuttgart on the
temperatures of the air and of the springs, it was found that
the mean of the latter only surpassed that of the former by
0.°4*27. It must, however, be ol)served, that the mean tempe-
rature of the air was determined too high, on account of the
want of observations made during the night ; but then, on the
other hand, that of the springs must also have been estimated too
high, as the observations were made at the time of the daily
maximum tem}:crature of the atmosjhiTc, and as the wooden
aqueduct, wh'cli is about a mile in length, lies at a depth of only
three feet, and in several places i j made to pass through brooks.
And if the influence of the daily variations of temperature be no
• Ibid. vol. XV. p. 1C3.

368 Prof. Bischof mi the Temperature of

longer felt at the depth of three feet, as Munke's* observations
seem to shew, still heat would be imparted to it by the rivulets
through which it passes. It is therefore very possible that the
mean temperature of the spring was estimated as much too high
as that of the air was.

I must here call attention to another circumstance, which is
certainly worthy of notice. Observations on the temperature of
the air are generall}- made in places protected from the direct
influence of the sun''s rays, as well as from radiated heat ; but the
soil is exposed to these. The yearly mean temperature of the
air must then, if ascertained in such a situation, be lower than
the mean of the superficial crust of the earth ; but variable
springs receive their heat from that external crust, so that their
temperature must be higher than that of the atmosphere. Single
observations on the temperature of the soil and of the air have
given very considerable differences. Thus, Humboldt* found
the temperature of the air on the Orinoco at two o"*clock to be
86**; that of a coarse moveable granitic sand, 140°. 45 ; that of
a similar white, but close-grained, fine sand, IJ^G^'.S ; and that
of the granite rocks, 117°.725. An hour after sunset, the coarse
sand showed 89°.6, and the granite rock, 101 f°. As sand ab-
sorbs the heat of the sun in a greater degree than other earths,
and as the meteoric waters, filtering slowly through it, easily
assume the temperature of the sand, it is very possible that the
mean temperature of springs which have their origin in a sandy
soil may rise higher than the mean temperature of the air. This
may, perhaps, be the case with the springs near Berlin. For
that reason, it would be very desirable to combine observations
on the temperature of the superficial strata with those made at
the same time on the temperature of springs and of the air.

The thermometrical observations at Tiibingen were made in
a well of running water in the botanical garden. A comparison
of the yearly mean of these with the yearly mean temperature of
the air, speaks in favour of the opinion that the former is higher
than the latter, for they give— -

• Gehlers neues Phjsikal. Worterhuch, vol. iii. p. 988. Fourier's " TWo-*
rie de la Chaleur," j)laces this limit at about 3 yards.
\ Voyage, toI. vii. p. 203.

Hot and Thermal Springs. 369

Mean Temperature of the

Spring.

Air.

1831,

<

60^47

48°.65

1832,

.

49'.G8

45°.0O

1833,

,

49°.23

46°.90

Bat, if we compare the mean temperature of the springs at
Stuttgart with that of the spring at Tubingen, we shall be in-
clined to suspect that the latter is thermal, for this place lies
higher, and in a less mild climate, than Stuttgart, and yet the
mean temperature of the spring at Tiibingen was somewhat
higher than that of the springs at Stuttgart.

The uniform nature of the soil in Basel, out of which rise
eight fresh- water springs, in the space of about half an English
mile, offers a particularly favourable opportunity of observing
the temperature of the earth in that locality. The soil of Basel
is covered with considerable deposits of rolled stones, under
which there is a bed of marl and clay, falling gently to the north-
east towards the Rhine. The meteoric waters, after having fil-
tered through the layers of loose stones, meet with this imper-
vious bed, the gentle slope of which directs them towards the
Rhine.

Among these springs the Lochbrunnen, on the Herbrigberg,
is remarkable for its low temperature. To my question whe-
ther this low temperature might not perhaps be derived from
the neighbouring heights of the Jura, Professor Merian answer-
ed that such a conjecture could not be borne out by the circum-
stances of the locality. He is much rather inclined to ascribe tlie
low temperature of that spring to the phenomenon observed by
Forchhammer on the Faroe Islands, viz. that those springs
which rise out of loose stones are invariably colder than those
which rise out of the solid rock at the same elevation. (See
a subsequent chapter.) On the other hand, the St Alban Thal-
brunnen may be considered as a thermal spring. If these two
be excluded, and die mean deduced for the rest, we obtain 49°.26
for the mean temperature of the earth at Basel. According to
the comparison made by Merian, with the mean temperature of
the air at Strasburg, and at Geneva, this value can differ but
little from the mean temperature of the air at Basel.

As it was assumed that in high latitudes the temperature of

370 Prof. Bischof on the Temperature of

the earth was higher than that of the air, so it was conversely
supposed, that in lower latitudes, the mean temperature of the
springs was somewhat lower than that of the air. This suppo-
sition was founded particularly upon Humboldt's observations
between the tropics. But that philosopher himself remarks*,
that in steep and high mountains, where either the snow-water
quickly mixes itself with lower springs, or where they rise near
their origin in lofty regions, the mountain springs show a lower
temperature than the mean of the place where they burst forth.
He refers for examples of this to the above mentioned observa-
tions in Jamaica, and to his own in the mountains of Cumana
and Caraccas. Von Buch-j* adds to these, similar observations
on springs near the Havannah, and in the interior of Congo,
and remarks, that the inferior temperature of springs begins to
shew itself already in the south of Europe ; and that there are
probably many springs in Portugal, Spain, and Italy, which dif-
fer in their constant temperature from that of the air, much
more widely than the springs in tropical countries. Thus, for
example, he refers to a spring at St Cesareo, not far from Pa-
lestrina, near Rome, the temperature of which he found, on the
29th of August, to be 53°.37, whilst the mean temperature of
the air at the same place, is 60°.35. But may not this low tem-
perature have been brought down with it from the neighbour-
ing Apennines, which, in the immediate vicinity, attain a height
of 2000 to 3000 feetj ?

It is easy to prove that it is contradictory to the hypothesis
of an increase of temperature towards the centre of the earth, to
suppose that the temperature of the soil in low latitudes is lower
than the mean temperature of the air ; for if the temperature
of the earth's crust in those regions were lower than that of the
air, there must be a stratum at a certain depth, whose tempera-
ture would be equal to the mean temperature of the air. Thus
the external crust of the earth would be inclosed between two

• Gilbert's Annalen, vol. xxiv. p. 45 and 46.

-f- Poggendorff''s Annal. vol. xii. p. 407.

* From a personal communication of Professor Hoffmann, I have learned
that a great number of springs, in the deep valley of Teverone, between Ti-
voli and Subiaco, are remarkable for their low temperature, which amounts,
on an average, to from 47^' to 52k°.

Hot and Thermal Springs, 371

strata, the one of air and the other of earth, both of which
would be warmer than itself. A permanently low temperature
of the external crust can be conceived in no other way, even
considering it to be a much worse conductor of heat than it
really is, than by supposing the existence of a never-failing cool-
ing principle ; but, then, what could that principle be ? Such an
hypothesis is shewn to be still more contradictory by the above-
mentioned observations of Boussingault ; namely, that, between
the Tropics, the temperature of the earth is constant at the depth
of one foot below the surface. For how can it be supposed that
the crust of the earth should, at the depth of one foot from its
surface, have a constant temperature lower than that of the air,
with which it is continually in contact ? But that supposition is
most completely refuted by Boussingault''s comparative observa-
tions, as will be seen from the following table :

Mean Temp, of

Temp, of the Soil, one foot

the Air.

the Surface.

Zupia,

. . 80».375. .

. . 80°.37 to 80°.60

Mines of Marmato,

. . 78°.125 . .

. 77°.67 to 78M2

Anserma Nuovo, .

. . 85°.55 . .

. . 85°.10 to 85*.5o

Popayan, . . .

. . 74°.075 . .

. . 72*.95

Pasto, ....

. . 64*'.85 . .

. . 65°.07

Quito, ....

. . 66*.987 . .

. . 66<'.42 to 66°.87

Between 5° south and 11° north latitude, the mean tempera-
ture of the air exactly accords with the temperature of the earth,
taken at one foot below the surface of the earth, in a place pro-
tected from the sun by a roofing.

In order to obtain a similar comparison in the temperate
zones, it would be very desirable that similar observations on the
temperature of the soil should be made in our latitudes which,
however, it would be necessary to continue for at least a year.
Till now, little has been done towards this object. According
to the observations of Rudberg, the mean temperature of the
earth at Stockholm is 1°.62 higher than that of the air. Three
years'* observations, conducted by Herrenschneider at Strasburg,
gave the mean temperature of the air 0°.54 higher than that of
the soil. The mean of each year, however, differed as much as
1.CC5 one from the other. It is, therefore, necessary for the
comparison that the observations on the air and on the soil

872 Prof. Bischof on the Temperature of

should both be made in the same year. For this reason, no
importance can be attached to the above differences.

Taking all circumstances into consideration, we find that
there are grounds for assuming, that in high latitudes the earth
has a higher, and in low latitudes a lower, temperature than
the mean temperature of the air. The springs in high latitudes
which led to this assumption were, therefore, without doubt,
thermal, that is to say, springs which receive their heat from
the interior of the earth. On the other hand, those springs
which led to the conclusion that in low latitudes the tempera-
ture of the soil is lower than the mean temperature of the air,
seem to have been mountain-springs, which brought down their
lower temperature from higher regions. Boussingault remarks
in general, that in the Cordilleras there are often no springs to
be met with for a distance of several hundred miles. Wherever
he did find any, for example at Santa Marta and at Cartage-
na, their temperature exactly corresponded with the mean tem-
perature of the air. It- is, therefore, the more plausible to sup-
pose, that the few springs of which the temperatures have been
determined in those countries, have only been found in moun-
tainous districts.

Kupffer's isogeotkermal* lines, drawn through all points of
the earth^s surface which have an equal temperature of soil, an
imitation of Humboldt'*s isothermal lines, lose their importance
in consequence of the above considerations, as, in general, iso-
geothermal and isothermal lines coincide.

There is, however, no doubt that differences will here and
there be found between the mean temperature of the air and
that of the soil. Thus, in valleys which are surrounded by
high and steep mountains, the temperature of the soil may be
rendered lower by springs which bring down cold from above.
In this case, the mean temperature of the air will be higher
than that of the earth. The severe climate of certain mountain-
valleys may perhaps proceed from this. In like manner, as the
highest mountains on our globe are situated for the most part
in low latitudes, it is to be expected that the temperature of the
earth would there be lower than the mean temperature of the
air, rather than in high latitudes. Thus the hypothesis of a

• Poggendjrff's Annalen. vol. xv. pp. 190 and 183.

Hot and Thermal Springs. 373

lower temperature of the springs than of the air, may hold good
for several points in the mountainous parts of the torrid zone.

On the contrary, the temperature of the soil will be raised if
the rocks be so fissured and cleft as to admit of the rising of
thermal springs. If such waters rise in considerable quantities,
and with a great heat, they may cause the temperature of the
earth to rise perceptibly above the mean temperature of the air.
Thus, the temperature of the soil at Aachen and 13urtscheid,
where waters of 90° to 112°.5 higher than the mean temperature
of the air spring up in large quantities, is probably higher than
that mean. The same may be expected at Paderborn, where,
according to my measurements, more than a million pounds of
water are ejected in a minute by all the Padersprings together,
which are 6°.75 warmer than the mean temperature of the air.
The earth's crust being cleft to a great depth, and thus allow-
ing warm springs to rise, may therefore cause an elevation of
the temperature of the soil.

But the temperatures of the soil and of the air must by no
means be invariably considered as identical. Copious springs,
heated to any degree above or below the mean temperature of
the air, and rising in great numbers, communicate ;their tem-
perature to the strata through which they flow. Single and
scantily supplied springs can, however, cause but trifling alter-
ations. The above mentioned springs in the Teverone valley,
between Tivoli and Subiaco, whose temperature is only 47°.75
to ^^..''^.B^ and whose number is very great, although they yield
but little water, must certainly tend but slightly to cool the earth,
for in this valley all the products of middle Italy, as the vine
and the olive, flourish most luxuriantly.

There is another phenomenon, which, although it is only
local, must not escape notice. It is well known that in certain
places there are cavities beneath the surface, in which there
is ice both in summer and winter. The mean temperature
of the ground in such caverns cannot be above 32°, whilst that of
the atmosphere may be much higher. This is not the place to
examine how such natural ice cellars are caused ; it is only neces-
sary for us to point out their frequent occurrence.

VOL. XX. NO. XL. APRIL 1836. B b

3T4 Prof. Bischof 07i the Temperature of

iff we <io not confine ourselves to places where there is ice
throughout the year below the surface, but include all places of
which the mean temperature is lower than that of the surface
(and in fact they only differ from the former as to the degree),
we shall with a little attention easily increase their number.

Dc Saussure* has made us acquainted with several subter-
ranean caverns out of which wind issues, which is colder than
the mean temperature of the soil, namely, the caverns of Monte
Testaceo near Rome ; the Ventarola della Funera on the island
(rf Ischia, which lies still more to the south, and is so entirely
volcartic, and full of hot springs ; the caves of St Marino and
of Cesi ; the Cantines of Chiavenna ; the caverns of Caprino on
Lake Lugano ; the cold grottos of Hergisweil, near the lake of
Lucerne, and so forth. It is true De Saussure only gives iis
single observations of the temperature of these caverns, made
in the summer months ; but the observations of Nollet in the
grottos of Monte Testaceo were made in September, These
seem to shew that the yearly mean temperature of those winds
is much lower than the yearly mean temperature of the air, and
that their temperature rises as the seasons advance.

In the Saxon Erzgebirge, Reich-f mentions three points
which are remarkable for their low temperature. The Hein-
richssohle in the Stockwerk at Altenberg was found by two
years observations to have a mean temperature of 0.°54 colder
than that of the surface, although situated at a depth of 400
feet. In the Henneberger StoUn (Adit of Henneberg) on the
Ingelbach near Johanngeorgenstadt, Reich found the temperar
ture about 0.°54 lower than in the Gnade Gottes andNeujahrs
Maassner shaft some hundred feet higher. The Weiss Adler
StoUn on the left declivity of the valley of the Schwarzwasser,
above the Antonshiitte, is also remarkable for its extraordinary-
cold.

ReichJ has also communicated some interesting observations
on the perpetual ice in the mines of the Sauberg, at EhTcnfrie-

• Voyages dans les Alpes, vol. v. p. 342, with remarks by Nicholson, in his
Journal of Nat. Philos. &c. No. 5, 1797, in Gilbert's Annalen, vol. iii.p. 201,

f Beobachtungen ueber die Tempemtur des Gestsins in verschiedenen
Tiefeninden Gruben des Sadisischen Erzgebirges, in deu Jahren 183C-1832,
&c. Freyberg 1834, p. 200 and following,

;^ P. 175) and following.

Hot and Thermal Springs. WfB

dersdorf. He determined the mean temperature of the surfj^e
of the Sauberg at 44°.94. The result of several years' observa-
tions in the St Christoph shaft, which lies to the wQ&t^ ,and is
the least exposed to the cold, was 42°.22, at thirty-one feet be-
low the surface ; the same temperature was found in the jVIor-
genrother cross-cut, lying to the east of this shaft, at a depth
of 281 feet from the surface. The temperature is, then, consi-
derably lower than the mean temperature of the surface, as
weU near the surface as at a greater depth. In the Sauberg
the ice is seldom found lower than fourteen fathoms ; how-
ever, it was once observed in the interstices of the Old Man, ai
much as twenty-four fathoms below the surface. Reich found
the temperature of the ice to be 31°.982, the air in the im-
mediate vicinity 34''.025, and the rock at a little distance
32°.765.*

At many other places, in the Erzgebirge, the temperature of
the soil was found, on the contrary, to be higher than that of
the air, viz. : —

Soil.

Air.

Difference.

Alienberg, ....

42°. 732

4F.270

r.462

]Markus llohling, . .

43°.542

4ir.832

r,7io

Johanngeorgenstadt, .

43°.115

4r.090

2°.02of

At Mark us Rtihling the temperature of the soil, as well as of
the air, is remarkably low, in comparison to its elevation abpve

• For further information on ice-caverns and ice-grottos, see Gehler's 'Neues
Ph^^sik Worterbuch, vol. iii. part i. p. 150, and following; and Reich, p.
188, and following. It is related of several such ice-grottos, that the ice is
only there in summer, and that it thaws away in winter. By referring to
the three years' observations on the temperature of the St Christoph shaft,
we find that the maximum occurs in November, and the minimum in April ;
so that the opinion that the mines are colder in summer than in winter is easily
accounted for. If a spot could be found, whose mean temperature was ex-
actly 32°, ice would be found to continue to increase there till June or even
July ; and, on the other hand, to decrease until December or January. But
the one would nevertheless be the effect of the preceding winter, and the
other that of" the preceding summer. Also, according to the observations of
X)r Oudot (Journ. des Mines, t. iv. No. 21. p. 65), the ice in the celebrated
cavern of Besan9on, near La Chaux, increases till April, and decreases till
October: in January the tt>niperature falls to 20.°f, in summer it rises to
38°. 2. We see, then, that the..e variations correspond very nearly with those
observed in springs, which is nothing else than might be expected.

ft Reich, p. 122.

Bb2

3T6 M. L. Elie de Beaumount on the Structure and

the sea ; the cause of both must probably lie in the locality.
The conclusion drawn by Reich, from the above observations,
viz. that, in the Erzgebirge, the temperature of the soil is
throughout 1°.8 higher than the mean temperature of the air,
seems, however, to be somewhat too hazardous.

All these facts prove that great differences may exist between
the mean temperatures of the air and of the soil ; but that they
only originate in local causes, and do not stand in any relation
with the geographical latitude of the place.

( To be continued. )

Analysis of a Memoir on the Structure and on the Origin of
Mount Etna. By M. L. Elie de Beaumount, Member
of the Royal Academy of Sciences of the Institute.* Com-
municated by the Author.

I he first chapter of the memoir, after having referred to
the i.amerous investigations of which Etna has been the object,
I have indicated the precise point of view under which I under-
took to examine the subject. My purpose was chiefly to ascertain
and to explain, more precisely than had been previously done,
the orographical " accidens" which have modified the regularity
of the pyramid of Etna.

I must necessarily commence by giving an account of the ge-
neral features of the form of the mountain. In order to illus-
trate this part of the subject, I have the honour of presenting
to the Academy a map, four views, and a relief model of Etna,
which I have constructed in part from my own observations.
If I had succeeded completely in the execution of these different
objects, they would have presented to the eye a complete ana-
lysis of this part of my essay ; but even in that case I could not
have dispensed with defining some expressions, and particularly
some of the leading features. It will be found, doubtless, that
the map, the views, and, above all, the relief model, correspond

• Read at the French Academy cf Sciences Nov. 30. 1835.

We have great pleasure in presenting to our readers this important me-
moir, communicated to us in manuscript bj its distinguished author.—.
Edit.

Origin of Mount Etna. 377

in a very small degree with tho poetic image of Pindar, who
termed Etna " the pillar qfJieaven.''^ But this very flatness of
the mountain, of which it is easy to perceive that the represen-
tation does not, at the present day, preserve any thing that is
imaginary or arbitrary, appears to me destined to become, in
the eye of science, one of the most striking features of its form.
This flatness, if well analyzed, would of itself be already almost
a theory. The sea and the rivers Onobola and Simeto bound
nearly completely the mass of Etna. A " falaise"" more or less
distinctly developed, marks the circumference of the region
round nearly its whole extent. At the summit of the " falaise*'
commences a platform which is slightly convex ; and this again
is surmounted by a very depressed cone, whose acclivities, which
may be termed lateral ialuses, terminate on all sides at the foot
of an irregular gibbosity, which forms the mountain properly so
called. This latter ce^itral gibbosity is itself truncated by a
surface nearly smooth, termed the piano del logo, on which is
elevated, like a sugar-loaf, the notched cone that is terminated by
the crater of the volcano. The central gibbosity is not a cone, but
bears a strong resemblance to the remaining portions of one
of which a part had disappeared. Its most massive and elevat-
ed portion, surmounted by the piano del logo, presents as it
were a trunk, whence, to use the expression of the Canon Recu-
pero, branch off two arms slightly curved the one towards the
other, which embrace a space having a rude elliptical form, and
within whose limits are prolonged the taluses, having their usual
inclination and regularity. These two arms are narrow crests
almost sharp, sometimes toothed, and whose two declivities are
unequal. The exterior declivities, although steep, never form
escarpments ; indeed, they rarely attain an inclination of 32° to
the horizon. The interior declivities, on the contrary, which
face one anothei are abrupt, and often even perpendicular for'
heights of several hundred feet. The space which they circum-
scribe, and which is called the Val del Bove, is an enclosed am-
phitheatre, whence thcie is no view of objects beyond its limits
except in the direction of the sea. It is on the flanks of this
vast abyss that we see written in indelible characters the history
of the commotions which have given to Etna its particular form,
and whose meaning it is the object of my memoir to decypher.

378 M. L. Elie de Beaumount on the Structure and

I shall only pause an instant to present some details that possess
an interest which is in some measure collateral.

On the 19th September 1834 I ascended to the summit of
Mount Etna with M. Leopold de Buch, Professor Link, M.
Achille Richard, and several other savans. It has appeared to
me proper that a narrative of this excursion should form part
of the documents to warrant and support my investigation ; but,
in the present analysis, I shall only extract from this account
the two following remarks.

It has been ascertained that the greater number of the appear-
ances of flames which accompany volcanic eruptions, are only
the effect of the rays of light which emanate from the incandes-
cent lava, and which are reflected by the molecules of vesicular
Tapour and of dust disseminated by the eruption in the atmo-
sphere. In consequence of this observation, doubts have been
raised as to whether volcanos, in any case, produce real flames.
These doubts have been already removed by Sir H. Davy in re-
gard to Vesuvius, where he ascertained, during a small eruption,
the existence of a real jet of flame ; and we ourselves have ob^
served on Etna incontestable volcanic flames. Having left the
Casa ingUse about an hour and a half before daybreak, in order
to ascend to the edge of ih^ crater, the feeble light of the stars
-enabled us to perceive, on the commencement of the acclivity of
the upper cone, a white space whose colour was caused by the
alteration of the rocks, and by saline efllorescences having a very
styptic taste. In the midst of this space, at several points, we
distinguished pale and scarcely luminous flames, which seemed
to issue from the earth ; they occupied the orifices of several
irregular openings, which were from one to two yards in width,
and were only the enlargements of a tortuous crevice. These
flames were evidently produced by a gas disengaged from the
crevice, and which did not find the oxygen necessary for its com-
bustion till it reached the external air. The combustion took
place alrtiost exactly at the level of the surface of the ground.
The flamo rarely rose to the height of a yard; it produced a
sound somewhat intermittent, pretty analogous to that of several
lighted fagots, or rather that which is heard at the bottom of a
blast-fufnace when the blowing apparatus is badly constructed.
The gslses produced by the combustion did not impede the

Origm ^ Mount Etna, S7ft

breathing, and liad a strong odour of sulphurous acid. Sul-
phuretted hydrogen was also perceptible, but I did not recogi*
nise the odour of muriatic acid. Every circumstance, then, an-
nounced that the flame was supported by sulphuretted hydro-
gen, and afterwards, when the sun lighted up the mountain, a
long bluish cloud was seen taking its rise from tiiat particular
point.

In the interior of the great crater I found several portions of
snow, but from many other points of its angular bottom there
issued hot vapours, having a whitish colour, more or less dense,
composed chiefly of watery vapour, but having nevertheless a
strong odour of sulphurous and muriatic acids ; one or the other
of these acids predominated alternately. The surfaces across
which the vapours were disengaged were in part covered by sa-
line efflorescences, which were sometimes white, and sometimes
coloured of an orange-yellow tint by the chloruret of iron, or of a
canary-yellow by particles of lava altered by the acid vapours.
- In some fissures I found white fibrous gypsum, mixed with al-
tered pulverulent yellow lava in which some small nodules of
sulphur were disseminated. In my memoir I have described the
products of the eruptions of Etna, but the hmits of this analysis
do not permit me at present to enter into details on this subject.
The products of the eruptions of Etna resemble externally
those of a great many other volcanoes, but they present a pecu-
liar composition which hitherto has not been met with except in
those of Stromboli. Professor Gustave Rose, in a memoir on
the composition of rocks called griinstein (greenstone), has pub-
lished for the first time the fact that the lavas of Etna do not
contain common felspar or orthose, but Labrador felspar. They
are composed o^ Labrador Jelspar, augitc, and peridote (olivine).
The observation of Professor Rose was not known at the time of
our expedition, but the true composition of the lavas of Etna
could not long escape the experienced eye of M. de Buch, who
pointed it out to me almost the first moment we reached the
volcanic mass. My subsequent excursions afforded a constant
confirmation of this first observation.

The fear of encroaching on the time of the Academy induces
me to suppress also various remarks relative to the last eruptions

880 M. L. EHe de Beaumount on the Structure and

of Etna, but still there is one fact which it is necessary to mention.
On the 1st October 1834, I visited the extremity of the stream
of lava which had issued from the flanks of Etna in the month of
November 183J2, that is, twenty-two months and a-half pre-
viously. The stream had stopped at two miles from the town
of Bronte, on a gently inclined mass, at which point it had ac-
cumulated to the height of about twelve yards ; it was still
hot in its interior, and on traversing its surface little gusts
of extremely hot air issuing from its fissures were every in-
stant felt. Besides, there arose from many interstices situated
chiefly on the most elevated portions of the unequal surface of
the lava^ little streams of watery vapour having a very elevated
temperature. These vapours had a strong odour of muriatic
acid ; but no traces of sulphurous acid could be distinguished.
They deposited on the walls of the fissures a considerable quan-
tity of saline substances, and chiefly of muriate of ammonia,
which was sometimes perfectly white, and sometimes coloured
orange-yellow by the chloruret of iron. At some points the sa-
line deposit was slightly coloured green. The muriate of am-
monia was sufficiently abundant to enable the man who acted as
my guide to gain a livelihood by collecting it. An attentive ex-
amination convinced me that the vapour and the saline sub-
stances were disengaged from the parts of the lava which were
liot yet cooled. The question as to how these substances could
remain included in the melted mass during years, is a very dif-
ficult problem in molecular physics ; but as to the^ct it seems
to me incontestable.

Among the phenomena presented by all great eruptions, there
is one which, notwithstanding my desire to abridge, cannot be
passed over in silence. These eruptions are almost always an-
nounced by shocks of earthquakes, which shake not only Etna,
but often nearly the whole of Sicily. These shocks are not al-
ways confined in their effects to simple vibrations, for frequently
they are sufficiently violent to fracture the mountain, which thus
yields to the force acting on it from below upwards; and to se-
parate the walls of the rents thus produced to a greater or less
extent, sometimes to a distance of several yards. These rents
generally follow vertical planes, wh'ch pass nearly through the
the fcxis of the volcanic chimney, and w[»ich cut the suifdce of

Origin of Mount Etna. S81

the mountain in the direction of one of its meridians. As soon
as sucli a fissure is formed, the lava which bubbles up in the
central vent speedily enters, and almost always opens for itself
there a passage, by which it flows out laterally on the flanks of
the volcano, producing a lateral eruption. Many eruptions of
this description have taken place at a great distance from the
axis of the mountain, and at an inconsiderable height above the
Bea ; one occurred near Catania, at a distance of six leagues
from the great crater.

The lower part of each of these meridional fissures, of which
I have been speaking; remains filled with lava, and a vein is
thus formed. As to the upper part of the fissure, situated above
the point whence the lava flows, it ofien becomes filled with
scoriye or debris ; some, however, of these fissures have re-
mained empty, and a part of the grottos which are mentioned as
occurring in the mass of Etna have had no other origin. Near
Nicolosi, there is a grotto called Grotta dei Palombi, whose en-
trance was cleared by M. Mario Gemellaro, and into which I
descended. The breadth of the internal hollow varies from one
to four yards, and I regret I cannot describe it at present.

In the eruption of 1832, the phenomenon of meridional frac-
tures presented itself, accompanied by remarkable circumstances.
A fissure was produced in the direction of Bronte, and thus
opened an exit for the lava on that side ; another rent com-
mencing at the summit, which was till lately the most elevated,
and which was at last broken down by this occurrence, crossed
the Piano del Logo in the direction of Catania ; other accessory
fractures took place at the same time ; and in this eruption, to
make use of a common expression, the mass of Etna was com-
pletely " etoiUy The rent which traversed the Piano del Logo
produced destructive effects, which, if our lime permitted, would
be well worthy of being particularly mentioned. But the most
curious, perhfjps, of the results produced by this fracture was,
that, in dividing the plain termed the Piano del Logo, it changed
the relative Jevel of the two segments to an extent amounting
often to more than a metre. On the eastern division, which has
sunk in height relatively to the other, are still to be seen the
ruins of a small ancient edifice called the "Porre del Filoso/b,
which was built 1500 or SOOO years ago. During this lapse

382 M. L. Elie de Beaumount on the Structure and

of time, as Brydone long ago remarked, the products of the
eruptions have accumulated round the foundation of the build-
ing only to the insignificant height of two yards. The rent of
which I have spoken above, in changing the relative level of the
two segments of the Piano del Lag-o, caused at once a change of
form more considerable than had resulted from the accumulated
products of the eruptions of ages. This change of relative level
proves, that Etna does not repose on immoveable foundations,
and that the segments into which the meridional rents divide it,
are susceptible of a certain change of position. Is the total
amount of movement which the segments of Etna have under-
gone in consequence of the " etoilemenf which occurred in
1832, to be regarded as a sinking or as a *' soulevement''' ?
Measures of height would here be of great assistance, if it were
possible to give them sufficient precision ; but in their absence,
it appears to me that the question may be resolved by a very
simple mode of reasoning. The walls of the fractures being se-
parated, it is evident that the surface of the mountain has under-
gone an increase of size, and that this enlargement necessarily
presupposes a tumefaction. The mountain has therefore been
ebvated, and to an extent which might easily be calculated if
the breadth and length of the fissures were exactly known.
This amount of elevation is evidently very small, but still the
mere existence of such a change is an important fact. The
ejected volcanic matter which accumulates on the central gib-
bosity of Etna, increases its height with extreme slowness, since
the lower part of the Torre del Filosofo is still visible after a
lapse of 2000 years ; and, indeed, extremely precise measure-
ments would evidently be necessary, to ascertain if, at the pre-
sent day, and tmder our ozvn eyes, eruptions contribute more
tha7i " sotdevemens'"'' to increase the size of Etna.

Part II. — Divisions of the Rocks of Etna into six Forma-
tions.— Mineralogists have often complained of the monotony of
Etna ; but, in the eyes of a geologist, the mountain presents
great variety. Six formations at least can be distinguished,
viz. :

First, The rocks termed Primitive, which do not appear any
where at the surface, but whose existence beneath is indicated

Orig'm of Mount Etna. 38S

by fragments of a granitic rock ejected by the mouths of the
volcano.

The Second Formation, indicated on the relief model by the
yellow colour, is composed of calcareous and arenaceous rocks,
which constitute chiefly the mountains from which Etna is se-
parated by the rivers Simeto and Onohola. These calcareous
and arenaceous rocks rise at several points in the inclosed space
bounded by these rivers, and the volcanic products repose on
the edges of their upturned beds. I believe the greater part of
these deposits may be referred to the lower chalk.

The Third Formation, that indicated by a blue tint, is com-
posed of basaltic rocks, which constitute the Cyclopean islands,
the hill of Molta-di-Catania, and the columnar escarpments of
Paterno, Licodia, Aderno, &c. &c.

The Fourth Formation, coloured green in the model, includes
the deposit of rolled pebbles, forming a line of hills at the junc-
tion of the plain of Catania and the first acclivities of Etna.
The layers of this mass rise towards Etna under an angle of 4°
to 5°, and present to it their escarpment. They seem to be re-
ferrible to one of the most recent tertiary deposits which sur-
round the Val del Bove.

The Fifth Formation, indicated by the grey colour, compre-
hends the ancient lavas of which the escarpments consist. And,
finally,

The Si:vth Formation, represented by the brown and in some
points by a red ochre tint, is composed of the modern ejections,
whose mass is daily augmenting.

Of these six formations, the two last only present themselves in
the mountain properly so called, and consequently it is their inves-
tigation which interests us more directly; but they are, at the same
time, those whose component parts it would be most easy to con-
found mineralogically. In one, as in the other, the rocks consist of
labrador felspar, of augite, and of peridote (olivine), and in the two
formations the state of aggregation of these substances differs only
by slight shades. But if, instead of considering these rocks mi-
neralogically, we regard them in a geological point of view, that
19, as to the general disposition of their masses, we perceive, al-
most at the first glance, that they form two systems, which are
independent the one of the other ; to employ an expression al.

884? M. li. Elie de Beaumount on the Structure and

ready consecrated, we recognise in the older of these two forma-
tions tlie summits of an ancient world buried wider a world of
modern origin.

The products of the present volcanic vent form on the mass
of Etna a mantle nearly continuous, which is interrupted only
at certain parts of the central gibbosity, so as to permit the
more ancient rocks to appear.

This arrangement might surprise at first sight, for it would
have been natural to presume that the ejected loose matters, which
form the chief mass of the products of the great crater, would
have covered the entire surface of the central gibbosity wiih a
thick bed of cinders and lapilli. It is, however, sufficient to
cast a glance, when the weather is clear, on the eastern part of
Etna, in order to perceive that several very extensive portions
of the central gibbosity have not been completely covered by
the ejections alluded to; but they have only been, as it were,
sprinkled over with a small quantity of these matters, which in
time have been collected in the ravines, whose bottoms they
mark by a black train, while all the rest is left uncovered. In
the" places n^ar those where it becomes interrupted, the mantle
of ejected matter is, of course, extremely thin, and we can, in
fact, ascertain that these recent volcanic products are accumu-
lated on the Piano del Lago, and even at the foot of the upper
cone, only to a very inconsiderable thickness.

The observations already cited relative to the Torre delFilosofo^
whose foundations only have been concealed by the eruptions of
fifteen or twenty centuries, prove the extreme slowness with
which modern ejected matter accumulates on the central gib-
bosity. The accumulation of these recently ejected matters'pro-
ceeds much more rapidly on the portions of the mass of the
mountain which are removed from the centre. The base of the
Greek and Roman monuments, which still exist in the- town of
Catania, has been enveloped to a much greater extent than the
foundation of the Torre del Filosofo by products of eruption.
The port of Ulysses, near Catania, was overwhelmed by a cur-
rent of lava, and the relief of the whole surface of the vicinity of
that town has been much more changed than that of the Piano
del Lago during the last 1500 or 2000 years.

It is on the lateral talus?s of Ema, and on tha slightly inchned

Origin of Mount Etna. 385

platform which terminates them, that the largest mass of modern
volcanic matter is accumulated. The lavas and the loose vol-
canic substances are there stratified bed by bed, and it is to the
regular laws according to which their accumulation has taken
place that we are to attribute the softness and regularity of the
acclivities presented by these places. The flatness of Etna, al-
ready particularly mentioned, is the expression on the great scale
of a part of these laws. The successive materials, which the
eruptions add year after year to the mass of Etna, are, in fact,
the elements of a cone extremely flattened, whose inclination
does not exceed 8°. The extreme limit to which we can ima-
gine that the indefinite repetition of these eruptions tends to give
the form of Etna, would be a cone infinitely less elevated than
that of which the nucleus of the central gibbosity seems to be
the debris. If this nucleus did not exist, Etna would not be
elevated at the present day above the point of meeting of the'
prolonged edges of the lateral taluses ; — that is to say, it would
not have been more than 1600 to 2000 yards in height. It is
evident that the central gibbosity owes its existence entirely to
the pre-existing nucleus which forms its chief mass. Far from
continuing the formation of this nucleus, the eruptions of the
present day tend, on the contrary, to sink it, and to make it dis-
appear. The philosophers and geologists who, since the days of
Empedocles to the present time, have seen Etna cover almost
periodically its flanks with new layers of cinders, scoria?, and
lava, have admitted, almost without examination, and as a fact
which was, as it were, self-evident, that the entire mountain was
simply the result of the repeated gradual additions of materials,
all similar to each other, and similar also to the products of
eruptions taking place under their own observation. Indeed, at
first sight this appears almost as natural as to attribute the en-
tire growth of an oak to the repetition of the phenomena of ve-
getation Avhich had been observed in it during one summer.
But the observations and reflections, of which I now present the
analysis, appear to me to prove that the whole mass of Etna
cannot be reduced to elements all analogous to each other, and
having a similar origin, in the same manner as the successive
layers of which the trunk of an oak is composed ; and that in com-
paring the increase in size of Etna to the growth of an individual

886 M. L. Elie de Beaumount on the Structure afid

of the vegetable kingdom, we should commit the same error as
if we attributed to an ivy plant the growth of the old dead tree
to wiiose trunk it is attached.

The features truly characteristic of the form of Etna, those in
which its mode of enlargement and its first origin occur most
distinctly displayed, are then, on the one hand, the feebleness and
the uniformity of the inclinations presented by its base from the
foot of its central gibbosity to the banks of the rivers and the sea-
shore which surround it ; and on the other, the abrupt relief", the in-
sulated position, and the disjointed condition of the internal nucleus
of that same gibbosity. The gentle slopes of the base have been pro-
duced by the deposition of debris (un remblai); but the bold pro-
jecting outline, the insulated position, and the broken up structure
of the central gibbosity, owe their first origin to a souhvement ;
and such in a few words is the theory of Etna. The structure of
the internal nucleus of the central gibbosity is exhibited in the
escarpments of the vast elliptical amphitheatre, termed the Vol
del Bove. These escarpments are composed of many hundred
layers, formed alternately of rocks of fusion, which differ from
modern lavas by certain shades, and of fragmentary and pulve-
rulent matters more or less solidly aggregated. Their thickness
varies from half a yard to several yards. These layers, whose
regularity is hardly ever deranged, except to a limited extent,
by the crossing of veins or by other accidental circumstances,
frequently form undulations which remind us of those of sedi-
mentary beds in the high chains of mountains, and they do so with-
out even having their parallelism or consequently their thickness
altered, although in these undulations their inclination sometimes
amounts to 27°. This absence of all variation in the general
arrangement of the layers prevails through the entire circuit of
the Vuldel Bove, and it has struck me forcibly each time I have
had occasion to direct my attention to the ensemble of its escarp-
ments. My observations on this subject may be summed up by
saying, that the numerous layers of melted and fragmentary mat-
ters which alternate in order to form the nucleus of the central
gibbosity of Etna become curved simultaneously, and pass in se-
veral difTerent directions, from a position nearly horizontal, to
an inclination of 25° to 80°, without having their structure or
thickness altered in a constant manner. These layers tre cut

Origin of Mount Etna, S81f

transversely by an immense number of veins of lava, sometimes
vertical, sometimes more or less oblique, which, less crumbling
than the beds, sometimes project beyond the escarpments like
remains of gigantic walls. These veins arc old fissures, analogous
to the meridional rents of Etna, that have been filled by ancient
lavas, and through which the melted volcanic matter, now dis-
posed in regular layers, would seem to have issued. But notwith-
standing this analogy, it must be remarked that these veins have
a general tendency to an E.N.E. direction, which shews that the
fractures which they have filled were not meridional fractures,
standing in connexion with a central axis, and that at the eptx.'h
of the outflowing of the lava, the eruptions had not, as at tJie
present day, a fixed and determinate centre.

The rock being cut so sharply in the escarpments of tlie Val
del Bovc, it is incontestable that this vast circus owes its exist-
ence to the removal of an enormous mass of matter which for-
merly occupied the space, or at least a great part of it. Profes-
sor Buckland, Mr Lyell, and M. de Buch have successively
formed the idea that the matter now wanting must have been
ingulfed in the interior of the mountain, an opinion which seems
to me the most probable that can be advanced. This inguli'ment
may have been comparable to the falling in of the volcano of
Papandayang, in the Island of Java, and to that of the cones of
Carquairazo, and of Capac-urca, in the Andes of Quito. But as
the lava does not rise to the external surface either in the voJ-
canos of Java or of Quito, we have abundant latitude for con-
ceiving that there are empty spaces in their interior ; while if
cavities exist under Etna, they must be filled by lava, at least
during the period of eruptions, for the lava is then elevated even
to the summit. The surface that the ancient lavas have covered
was in this respect in the same condition as modern Etna, for the
lava flowed to the surface by fissures, which were produced at
Certain intervals. We might in fact say that the ingulfment
would take place in a cavity which the lava filled and abandon-
ed alternately. But if tlie lava could issue from that cavity,
could re-enter, and be submitted to a pressure capable of making
it mount by the fissures to the external surface, there seems no-
thing impossible in believing that it may have upraised that sur-

M. L. Elie de Beau mount on the Structure and

face. Such a soulevement would even render it much more easy
to understand a subsequent " eboulcment"

The question thus presents itself, Whether the masses which
form the circuit of the Val del Bove occur at the present day in
their original position, or if they do not owe to a soulevement
subsequent to their formation, the outline which elevates them
above the whole neighbouring country ? I have been led to de-
cide this question in favour of the hypothesis of the " souleve-
ment" by six considerations, nearly independent of one another :
viz. l.v^, By the consideration of those veins which rise to the
upper part of the escarpments of the Val del Bove ; for, if the
fissures which have given rise to these veins took place across a
mass of such magnitude as the nucleus of the gibbosity of Etna
of the present day, the melted matter could not have filled them
to the top. ^d, By the consideration of the thickness of the layers
which have been formed by the melted matter poured out from
the openings of the veins ; for a mass of melted matter flowing
from the lower extremity of a fissure on a plane so highly in-
clined as some of the layers are at present, could only have
formed a narrow current. 3c?, By the consideration that the
volcanic products given out by the openings of the veins are
equally distributed on the two sides of the opening, whereas on
an inclined surface they could only be spread over the side to-
wards which the slope was directed, ^th, By the consideration
of the invariably insignificant thickness of the layers of loose
matter, which, if they had been received on a surface inclined
under an angle of 27% for example, would have slipt down, and
have been accumulated at the base of the declivity to a consi-
derable thickness, and thus have given rise to a rectilinear talus
5th^ By the consideration of the uniformity of the thickness pre-
sented by the layers of melted matter, even in the places where
they are undulated ; a fact quite contrary to the phenomena ob-
served in modern lavas, which, when they stop on an undulating
surface, present alternate enlargements and contractions. Finally,
I am anew led to the same conclusion by a Qth oi'der of consi-
derations, which seems to me still more conclusive, and in re-
gard to which it is necessary for me to enter a little into detail

The uniformity which I have particularly specified as charac-
terizing the layers of melted matter in the Val del Bove is not

Origin of Mount Etna. 389

confined to the absence of contractions and enlargements ; this
uniformity pervades all the details of their structure, which is.
found to be invariably the same whether we observe these layers
in places where they are nearly horizontal, or examine them at
points where their inclination augments or diminishes gradually,
or finally trace them where they present,over a great extent of sur-
face, a general slope of 25° to 30°. Now, this want of relation be-
tween the structure of the layers and their inclination is a fact dia-
metrically opposed to the appearances presented by all the great
streams of lava, for in them the form constantly varies with the
intensity of the inclination. The great currents of lava owe
to their size itself, which permits them to spread over large sur-
faces, and prevents them from losing their heat for a long space
of time, the peculiar laws which regulate them, and which dif-
fer more from those that regulate the lavas occurring in stripes,
rounded masses, and stalactites, than the laws of a great river
differ from those of a small streamlet of water.

I have endeavoured to ascertain, by a table of observations,
the laws of these great streams of melted matter, and have, for
this purpose, measured or calculated sixty-eight examples of in-
clinations of great currents, taken indiscriminately on the flanks
of Etna, in the vicinity of Naples, in Auvergne, on the banks of
the Rhine, in Iceland, and in the Canary Islands. I have
united these sixty-eight measurements in a table, and arranged
them in the order of magnitude, noting at the same time the chief
features of the current to which each of the measures refers. The
limits assigned to this analysis do not permit me to develop the
various conclusions which may be deduced from this table, whe-
ther considered by itself, or in comparison with other numerical
tables which I have also added to my memoir, viz. a table of
the inclinations of numerous currents of ivater ; a table of
the inclinations of a great many taluses qf loose matter ; and a
table qf the numerical amount qf a variety qf inclinations
to which our eyes are more or less accustomed. I shall limit
myself to the statement, that from this table there results tie
conclusion, that the structure of the rocks left by a large cur-
rent of lava on the surface of the ground varies according to a
certain law with the inclination of that surface ; tJiat their na-
ture is as it were a function qfthe inclination * Now, the layer^

VOL. XX. NO. XL. APRIL 1836. C C

390 M. L. Elie de Beaumount on the Structure and

of lava which enter into the composition of the flanks of the Vol
del Bove present horizontal dimensions comparable to those of
the largest currents which have been thrown up by volcanos of
the present day. Their mineralogical composition is almost
identical with that of the lavas of modern Etna ; the laws de-
duced from the above-mentioned table arc therefore applicable
to them. We ought, then, to expect that the volcanic products
formed on declivities having extremely diflerent inclinations,
should have acquired also very different structures; and as we
perceive that the structures of the layers which are nearly hori-
zontal, of those whose inclination gradually increases, and even
of those which are inclined on extensive surfaces at an angle of
from 25° to 80°, have in all respects precisely the same characters,
>ve are warranted in drawing the conclusion that the difference
which exists in their present positions is the consequence of the
movement which the layers of the one series or the other have
undergone since the period of their solidification.

It only remains to determine which of the layers have changed
their position, — those which are horizontal or those which are
inclined. Now, if we look in the table for the place where the
layers of the Val del Bove could be interposed, without, from
their general characters, forming a considerable anomaly, we find
that they could only be placed in the portion comprising the
currents which have stopped on very gently inclined slopes.
From this it is evident that the layers whose original inclination
is changed, are those which are at the present day highly in-
dined ; and that those which are nearly horizontal have, on the
contrary, preserved in relation to the horizon nearly their origt-
Hal position.

The considerations of which I have now given the analysis
unite with those which I have above simply mentioned, in prov-
ing that the portions of the layers of the escarpment of the Vol
del Bove which are highly inclined, are not at present in the po-
sition in which they were originally accumulated.

The inclination which has been acquired by some parts of
this system of beds, has not been a simple movement of pres-
sure, or the effect of dislocations purely local. It is sufficient
to glance at the panoramas I have sketched, in order to perceive
that the inclinations present a disposition, indicative, when taken

2

Origin of Mount Etna, 39t

as a whole, of a tumefaction, which, in elevating the entire mass
of the central gibbosity, has communicated to the lateral por-
tions an oscillatory movement. The surface formerly nearly flat,
and now replaced by this gibbosity, has been first repeatedly
fractured in various lines having a nearly constant direction.
The melted matters have been poured out through the fissures
thus produced, and their fluidity must have been nearly per-
fect, for they have flowed through rents of very inconsider-
able breadth. These products were then spread on both sides
of the fissures, in thin and uniform masses, similar to those
composed of basalt, which in so many diff'erent countries, and
especially in Iceland, are superimposed above one another, form-
ing vast plateaus whose surface remained always nearly hori-
zontal, in consequence of the subdivision of successive lines of
eruption on an extensive space. The eruptions were, like those
of the present day, accompanied by disengagements of elastic
fluids, which, issuing like the lava itself from the whole extent
of the fissures, carried along with them scoriae and cinders.
These scoriae and cinders falling back like rain, both on the
lava and on the neighbouring spots, produced those uniform
layers of fragmentary substances, which alternate with the lay-
ers of melted matters. But at one period, it would appear
that the internal agent which had already fractured so frequent-
ly the solid surface, having doubtless exerted an extraordinary
energy, broke up that surface, upraised it, and since that time
Etna has existed.

The " soulevement ■" does not seem to have operated here
with the same degree of simplicity as in the localities where it
has given rise to regular craters of soulevement, such as that of
the island of Palma, or the circular walls of Teneriffe and the
Somma. The effort which has elevated the gibbosity of Etna,
seems to have acted, not at one single and central point, but in
a straight line, represented by the axis of the ellipse of which
the southern, northern, and eastern flanks of the Val del Bove
form part ; and it appears to have acted unequally on different
parts of this straight line, so that its western extremity, which
corresponds to the present volcanic vent, has been elevated more
than all the rest. A similar soulevement could not take place
without rupturing the masses so elevated, and the rents neces-

cc2

99^ M, L. Elie de Beaiimount on the Structure and

sarily corresponded principally with the line of soulevement, or
diverged in a radiating manner at its extremities, — a feature
which the memoir shews is in accordance with the phenomena as
they actually occur.

The elliptical amphitheatre of the ValdelBove presents, then,
all the characters of an irregular crater of soulevement ; but
here, as in all analogous cases, the question presents itself, as to
what has become of the matter which formerly filled up the
now empty space of the circus, and whose extent the fractures
produced by the soulevement could not nearly have equalled.
I have already discussed this subsidiary question, and with-
out pretending to decide in an absolute manner, I have an-
nounced that I coincide with the opinion expressed by Dr Buck-
land, Mr Lyell, and M. de Buch, who regard as the most pro-
bable hypothesis that which maintains the swallowing up of the
massinthe interior abysses of the mountain ; a view which seems
to me so much the more probable, that it is in some measure in-
dicated by the phenomena on a smaller scale, but still of an ana-
logous nature, which occurred on the surface of the Piano del
Lago, under our own observation in 1832, and at other recent
epochs.

It remains to be ascertained whether this soulevement was
gradual, or was effected suddenly and at once. The latter sup-
position seems to me the only one that is admissible. In fact,
the nearly perfect resemblance which exists between the volcanic
matters composing the nucleus of the central gibbosity, and those
which are produced by Etna at the present day, leads us to the
belief that the volcanic fire acting at the present time, is only
the continuation of that which produced the ancient ejected sub-
stances. Now, the fire not being extinct, if the soulevement had
been gradual there would have been a continuity and entangle-
ment of the ancient and modern products ; there would not have
been that complete discordance of position between them, which
constitutes one of the most striking features of the structure of
Etna.

Such is, in substance, the result of the observations with which
I have been occupied on the flanks of this volcano; nevertheless,
I might have believed that my essay was incomplete, if I had
terminated without discussinc:, as connected with the facts of the

Origin of Mount Etna. 393

case, the arguments adduced against the possibility of a souleve-
Hient in volcanic rocks. But as difficulties such as I allude to
cannot prevail against direct proofs, I shall terminate this ana-
lysis, which is already too long, by simply pointing cut the dis-
cussion of which I have spoken to the attention of the " com-
missaires,*" to whom I feel desirous that the Academy should re-
fer the detailed examination of my memoir.

Questions for Solution relating to Meteorologij, Hydrography ^
and the Art of Navigation. By M. Arago.

I HAVE somewhere read, that an individual was once lamenting,
in presence of D'Alembert, that the Encyclopaedia had acquired
such a vast extent. You would have had much more reason for
complaint, replied the philosopher, if we had drawn up a nega-
tive Encyclopaedia (meaning thereby an Encyclopaedia contain-
ing a mere indication of things, with which we are unacquaint-
ed) ; for in that case a hundred folio volumes would not have
been sufficient \i

This reply, I must admit, has hitherto appeared to me to
have more point than justice. It is true that the progress of
human knowledge shews us daily how far our predecessors were
ignorant, and how far we in our turn will appear so to those
coming after us; but the greater number of important dis-
coveries have taken place spontaneously, without having been
foreseen or suspected by any one. Thus, to cite only two or
three examples, D'Alembtrt's negative Encyclopaedia could not
have contained the most remote allusion to that important and
prolific branch of modern physics, now known under the name
of Galvanism, or, as it is more properly called. Voltaic Electricity.
The multiplicity of phenomena, likewise, which are produced
by the polarization of light, when viewed in relation to its re-
flection, its ordinary refraction as well as that depending on the
action of crystallized plates, would not even be indicated ; and
the same thing may be said of the theory of luminous interfi-
rences^ in which the singularity of the results is not less re-
markable than their infinite variety.

It must be admitted, however, that apart from those import-
ant and rare discoveries, which are made from time to time all

894 Questions Jbr Solution relating to Meteorology^

of a sudden, or at least without any visible preparation, and
give a new aspect to certain departments of science, there exist
important and well-defined questions, which may be confidently
recommended to the notice of observers. Having been recently
called by the Academy, to draw up instructions regarding phy-
sical phenomena, with a view of being transmitted to the Com-
mander of the Boniie, I soon perceived that the author of a
negative Encyclopaedia, even when confining himself to what is
distinct and definite, would have to indicate an infinitely greater
number of blanks than I was at first inclined to believe. It
likewise appeared to me that published notices in relation to
these were calculated to be of great utility, and that numerous
well-informed persons having their time at their disposal, would
receive from them an impulse which would change them from
passive contemplators into active partizans of science. The
readers of the present work are now therefore acquainted with
the reasons which have led me to deviate from the ordinary prac-
tice, and substitute in the room of some complete theory in as-
tronomy, physics, or mechanics, an article in which almost every
thing remains to be solved, since it relates either to what we
know imperfectly, or to what we are entirely ignorant of. It will
remain for them to decide whether questions so drawn up will lead
to the advantages I ascribe to them, or whether the trial should be
confined to this first attempt. It is right, however, to inform them
that the various questions successively proposed were originally,
at least the greater part part of them, designed for the offi-
cers of a ship (the Bonite), commissioned to convey consular
agents to Chili, Peru, and the Philippines ; I may add, that it
was intended that the circumnavigation of this vessel should
commence by the way of Cape Horn, and terminate by that of
the Cape of Good Hope.

Meteorological Phenomena. — In meteorology it is requisite to
submit to making observations, which, at the time, are attended
with no important result. It is necessary to take care o pro-
vide for our successors terms of comparison which we ourselves
want, and prepare for them the means of resolving a multitude of
important questions, on which it is not competent for us to enter,
because the ancients possessed neither barometer nor thermome-
ter. These considerations will suffice to explain our reason for

Hydrography^ and the Art of Navigation. 395

requesting, that, during the whole voyage (if the Botiite, note
sliould be taken, both by day and night, andjrom hour to hour,
of the temperature of the air, of the temperature of the surface
of the sea, and of the atmospheric pressure. They will like-
wise authorize us to hope that these observations will continue
to be made with the same zeal, of which an example has beea
given by the officers of the Uranie, the Coquille, the Astrolabe,
the Chevrettff and the Loiret, At the same time, if unforeseen
circumstances require the omission of part of this labour, j|
would be desirable that the sacrifice should first be made of
what is least essential. The details upon which we are about to
enter, seem to us calculated, in such cases, to guide the selection
to be made by the commander of the expedition.

Observations designed to characteii^e the present state of the
Ghbe in regard to Temperature. — Has the earth arrived at a
permanent state with respect to temperature.? The solution of
this important question seems to require only the direct compa-
rison of the mean temperatures of the same place, taken at two
distant periods. But when we take into account the effects pro-
duced by local circumstances, when we consider to what an ex-
tent the neighbourhood of a lake, of a forest, of a naked or
wooded mountain, of a sandy plain, or one formed of meadows,
may modify the temperature, every one will perceive that such
thermometrical data alone will not be sufficient ; that it is neces-
sary, besides, to ascertain that between the periods in question
the country, and even the districts adjoining it, have undergone
no important change in their physical aspect and in the nature
of their cultivation. It is thus seen that the question becomes
singularly complicated, and although numerals are adduced, with
sufficient precision to admit of a definite estimate, they become
mingled with vague suspicions, which continually throw a scru-
pulous mind into a state of suspense. v/.-iiJiu vm

Is there, then, no means of solving the difficulty ? These nre^U|8
exist, and are by no means of a complicated nature, for we have
only to observe the temperature in the open sea, at a great d^-
tame from continents. If, for this purpose, we make choice
of the equinoctial regions, it is not necessary that the observa-
tions should be continued for a series of years ; the maxima
temperatures observed in crossing the line on two or three occa-

99tf Questions for Solutlmi relating to Meteorology^

sions will be quite sufficient. In the Atlantic, the extremes of
these temperatures, as hitherto determined by numerous naviga-
tors, are 27° and 29° of the centigrade thermometer (that is
80.8° and 84.2° of Fahr.) Taking into account errors in gradua-
tion, every one will perceive, that, with a good instrument, the
uncertainty of a single observation of the maximum of tempe-
rature in the equatorial parts of the Atlantic Ocean, cannot
much surpass a degree, and that the constancy of the mean of
four distinct determinations may be relied on to a small fraction
of a degree. Here, then, is a result easy to be obtained, directly
connected with the calorific influences on which the temperature
of the earth depends, and as much separated as possible from
the effects of local circumstances. It ought to form a meteoro-
logical gift, which every age should be anxious to bequeath
to that which succeeds it. The officers of the Bonite will cer-
tainly not neglect this part of their instructions. The excellent
instruments with which they are furnished warrants us to expect
all that accuracy and precision which the present state of science
demands.

Of the Calorific Action of the Solar Rays viewed in their
relation to the situation of places on the globe. — Animated dis-
cussions have taken place among meteorologists regarding the
calorific efi^ects which the solar rays may produce by means of
absorption in different countries. Some adduce the observations
that have been made towards the arctic circle, from which this
singular consequence seems to result, that the sun has a more
-powerful heat in high thari in low latitudes. Others refuse to
admit this result, on the pretence that it is not proved. The
observations made at the equator do not appear to them suffi-
ciently numerous to be taken as one of the terms of comparison ;
and it is thought, besides, that these observations were made un-
der unfavourable circumstances. This investigation might there-
fore be recommended to the officers of the Bonite. To execute it
successfully they would have need of two thermometers, the re-
servoirs of which, on the one hand, absorb the solar rays un-
equally, and, on the other, are not too sensible to the cool-
ing influences of currents of air. This double condition
may easily be obtained, if, after having procured two ther»
momcters in every respect " alike, the bulb of one of them be

Hydrography^ and the Art of Navigation. 39T

covered to a certain thickness with white wool, and that of the
other with an equal quantity of black wool. These two instru-^
raents, exposed to the sun side by side, will never indicate the
same degree ; that with the black covering will mount highest.
The question, therefore, will consist in determining if the diffe-
rence of the two indications is less at the equator than at Cape
Horn, or at any other higher latitude.*

It will easily be understood that comparative observations of
this nature ought to be made at equal altitudes of the sun, and
during the most serene weather. Slight differences of altitude,
however, will not always impair the accuracy of the observations,
if care be taken, under different latitudes, to determine accord-
ing to what progression the difference of the two instruments
increases from sunrise till mid-day, and diminishes from the lat-
ter period till sun-set. Days on which the wind is very high
ought to be altogether excluded, whatever be the state of the
atmosphere in other respects.

Another observation somewhat analogous to that of the two
thermometers differently covered, will consist in determining the
maximum temperature which the sun imparts to a dry soil in
equinoctial countries. At Paris, in August 1826, during a se-
rene state of the sky, we found that a thermometer lying hori-
zontally, and having its bulb covered with one millemeter of
very fine vegetable mould, stood at -f 54° (1 29°.2 Fahr.). The
same instrument, covered to double that depth with river sand,
indicated only -|- 46° (114°.8 Fahr.).

Experiments to be made on the Radiation of the Sky. — The
experiments which we are about to propose ought to give, all
other things being equal, the degree of the atmosphere's trans-
parenc3^ This transparency may be appreciated in a manner
in some sort inverse and not less interesting, by observations on
nocturnal radiation, which are likewise recommended to the
commander of the Bonite.

• There are other means still more exact for resolving the problem to
which the calorific action of the solar ra^s has given rise ; but these depend on
instruments which were not to be found in the hands of our artists at the time
of the departure of the Bonite, and therefore are not alluded to in the instruc-
tions of the Academy. We will return to the consideration of them on an-
ather opportunity. 4

398 Questions Jbr Soluiimi relating to Meteorology^

It has been known for half a century, that a thermometer
placed under a clear sky, on the grass of a meadow, indicates
11°, 12i% or even 14° Fahr. less than a thermometer, in every
respect similar, suspended in the air, at a few feet from the
ground. But it is only a few years since an explanation of this
phenomenon was given ; for it was only in 1817 that Wells esta-
blished the fact by means of important experiments, and in a
thousand different ways, that this inequality of temperature is
caused by the feeble radiating poiver of a clear slty.

A screen placed between certain solid bodies and the sky pre-
vents them from cooling, because the screen intercepts their ra-
diating communications with the colder regions of the atmo-
sphere. The clouds act in the same manner; they take the
place of the screen. But if we distinguish every vapour which
intercepts the solar rays coming from above, or the calorific rays
ascending from the earth towards the sky, by the name of a
cloud, it cannot be said that the atmosphere is ever entirely
free from them. The only difference is their greater or less
density.

These differences, however slight they may be, may be indi-
cated by the degree of cold to which solid bodies are reduced in
the night ; and this accompanying peculiarity is worthy of obser-
vation, that the transparency measured in this manner, is the 7/iean
transparency of the entire firmament, and not that alone of the
circumscribed region which may be occupied by a single star.

In order to make these experiments under the most favour-
able conditions, it is obvious that we must choose bodies which
cool most by radiation. According to the researches of Wells,
swan-down is the substance that ought to be selected. A ther-
mometer, having its bulb surrounded with this down, should be
placed on a table of painted wood supported by slender feet, in
a situation where nothing intercepts the view to the horizon.
A second thermometer, with the bulb naked, should be sus-
pended in the air at some height above the ground. With re-
gard to the latter, a screen will secure it from all radiation towards
the sky. In England, Wells obtained a difference of 15° Fahr.
between the indications of two thermometers placed in the
manner described. It would certainly be strange, if less import-
ant differences were to result from them in equinoctial coun-
tries, which have been so much praised for the purity of their

Hydrograplvy^ and the Art of Navigativn. 399

atmosphere. It is doubtless unnecessary for us to demonstrate
the utility that would attach to such experiments, if they were
repeated on a very high mountain, such as Mowna-Roa or
Mowna-Kaah in the Sandwich Islands.

Examination of an Anomaly which Atmospheric Tempera^
tures, taken at different elevations, present in tlie night, when the
sky is calm and clear. — The temperature of atmospheric strata
diminishes in proportion as these strata become more elevated.
There is only one exception to this rule, and that is observed in
the night during a calm and clear state of the air. In these cir-
cumstances, an increasing progression takes place, to a certain
height. According to the experiments of Pictet, to whom we
owe the discovery of this anomaly, a thermometer then suspend-
ed in the air at two yards from the ground may indicate through-
out the night from 3^° to 5^° Fahr. less than a thermometer simi-
larly suspended in the air, but fifteen or sixteen yards higher.

If it be recollected that solid bodies placed on the surface of
the ground, pass by means of radiation under a clear sky, to a
temperature much below that of the surrounding air, it will not
be denied that this air must at length be affected, by means of
contact, with the same coldness, and in a greater degree, accord-
ing as it is nearer the earth. In this, therefore, we find a plau-
sible explanation of the curious fact made known by the natu-
ral philosopher of Geneva. Our navigators will impart to it the
character of a demonstration, if they repeat Pictet''s experiment
in the open sea, by comparing, during a clear and tranquil night,
a thermometer placed on the deck with another attached to the
mast-head. Not that the superficial stratum of the ocean does
not experience the same effects of nocturnal radiation, in the
same manner as down, wool, grass, &c. ; but after its tempera-
ture has diminished, this bed of stratum is precipitated, be-
cause its specific density has become greater than that of the in-
ferior liquid beds. We are not, therefore, to expect in this case,
the enormous local colds observed by Wells in certain bodies
placed on the surface of the earth, nor the anomalous cold-
ness of the inferior air, which seems to be the consequence of
them. Every thing, indeed, leads to the belief, that the increase
ing progression of atmospheric temperature noticed on land,
does not exist in the open sea ; and that there the thermometer

400 Quedionsfor Solution relating to Meteorologyy

on the deck, and that at the summit of the mast, will indicate
"Very nearly the same degree. The experiment, nevertheless, is
not the less deserving of attention. In the estimation of a pru-
dent natural philosopher, there is always an immense distance
between the result of a conjecture and that of an observation.

Expeditious Method of determining Mean Temperatures in
Equinoctial Countries. — In our climates, the stratum of the
earth which undergoes neither diurnal nor annual variations of
temperature, is situated at a great distance from the surface of
the ground. But such is not the case in equinoctial regions ;
for, according to the observations of M. Boussingault, nothing
more is necessary than merely to sink a thermometer to the depth
of yd of a metre (about 1 foot), in order to make it indicate
constantly the same degree, or very nearly so. Travellers,
therefore, may determine very exactly the mean temperature of
all the places they visit between the tropics, either in plains or
in mountains, by having the precaution to furnish themselves
with a miner''s piercer, with which it is easy, in a few minutes,
to pierce a hole in the ground of the required depth. It will
be found that the action of this instrument on rocks and on the
soil, occasions a development of heat, and the observer should
always wait till that be entirely dissipated before he commence
his experiments. It is likewise necessary that the air in the
bole should not be renewed during the whole time of their
continuance. A soft substance, such as pasteboard, covered
with a large stone, will form a sufficient preventive. The ther-
mometer ought to have a string attached to it, by means of
which it may again be drawn up.

The observations of M. Boussingault, of which Ave have avail-
ed ourselves, in order to recommend perforations to the trifling
depth of a foot, as conducting very expeditiously to the deter-
mination of mean temperatures in all intertropical countries,
have been made in sheltered places, in the ground, under In-
dian huts, and under mere sheds. In these situations, the soil
was sheltered from the direct warmth produced by absorption of
the so^ar light, from nocturnal radiation, and infiltration of
rains. Every one trying the experiment should place himself
in similar circumstances, for there can be no doubt that in the
open air, and in places remote from shelter, it would be needs-

Hydrography^ and the Art of Navigation. 401.

sary to penetrate to a much greater depth in the ground, in or-
der to reach the bed possessing an equal temperature.

It is well known that the temperature of the water in wells oi.
moderate depth, also affords an easy and exact mode of ascer-
taining the mean temperature of the surface. This method,
therefore, must not be omitted among those recommended by
the Academy.

Observations to he made on TJiermul Springs, — If it be the
case, as every thing leads us to believe, that the high tempera-
tures of the springs called thermal, are solely the consequences
of the depth from which they rise, it is natural to suppose that
the warmest springs should be the least numerous. At the
same time, is it not extraordinary, that none have hitherto been
observed whose temperature has approached the boiling point
within 36° Fahr. ?*. If we are not deceived by some vague
reports, the Philippine Islands, that of Lu9on in particular, are
likely to afford the means of elucidating this subject. There
especially, as in many other places where thermal springs exist,
the most interesting data that can be collected are such as tend
to prove that the temperature of a very abundant spring varies,
or does not vary, with the lapse of ages ; and in particular local
observations, with a view to shew the necessity of the fluid
having a passage across the very deep-lying strata of the earth.

The springs of Aix in Provence, regarded in this point of
view, have suggested to me a plan of experiment, of which I
think it proper here to insert a notice, as it is very probable
that the physical conditions on which it is founded will be met
with in other places.

• We do not include in this category of thermal springs the geysers of Ice-,
land, and other analogous phenomena, which evidently depend on volcanoes
at present in a state of activity. The warmest thermal spring, properly so
called, with which we are acquainted, Chaudes Aigues in Auvergne, is 176'
Fahrenheit, (4- 80° centigrade). Since this article was written for the expe-
dition of M. Bonite^ M. de Humboldt and Boussingault have given me, as the
temperature of the spring las Trincheras (Venezuela) in 1800, 195* Fahr.
(+ 90°, 4 cent.) ; and in 1823, 200° Fahr. (96° 6 cent.) This spring, accord-
ing to them, has no direct connexion with any active volcano. On the other
hand, the Duke of Ragusa writes me, that, at Broussa, at the foot of the Mount
Olympus, he found the thermal bath, called by the Turks Chirurchiest, to be
183°.2 Fahr. (+ 84° cent.) It seems, therefore, tliat 176° Fahr. (80° ceiU.) is
the maximum temperature of European springs onh'i ^^^^

40S Questions^for Solution relating^ to Meteorology,

The town of Aix, in Provence, possesses baths of thermal wa-
ter, known under the name of the Baths of Sextius. They
are surrounded by an edifice, the building of which was com-
pleted in 1705. The spring was formerly so copious, that in
the last two months of that same year, 1705, it was amply suf-
ficient for the supply of upwards of 1000 baths. The water
was amply sufficient for nine pipes of a fountain, and nine stop-
cocks for baths. From the year 1707 the water began to be
less plentiful, and in a few months was so much diminished, that
the establishment was wholly abandoned.

Other warm springs exist in this town, at the Cours, in the
Garden of the Jacobins, at the Monastery of St Barthelemy, at
the Triperie, Grioulet, the Hotel de la Selle d'Or, at the Hotel
des Princes, &c., and at the bottom of certain wells, such as that
belonging to Sieur Boufillon (in the corner of the Rue des
Maj'chands), and the tanners' pits. These different springs
diminished like that of Sextius, and even more rapidly. Many
of them, and, among others, the spring of the Jacobins, of St
Barthelemy, Triperie, and Grioulet dried up entirely.

While this diminution of the fountains at Aix was going on,
to the entire destruction of many of them, some individuals be-
gan to turn to their own advantage some very copious springs,
which they had discovered, by digging to a small depth in pro-
perties situated at a little distance from the town, in the territory
of the district called the great and the small Barret. The idea
that these new waters were just the former waters of the town,
soon occurred to the minds of many persons ; but the impossibi-
lity of proving that such was the fact, for a long time prevented
the authorities from interfering. At last, in 1721, during the
dreadful plague that prevailed in Provence, Dr Chicoineau of
Montpellier, having thought it expedient to order baths for the
persons detained in quarantine, Vauvenargues, the commandant
of Aix, came to the following resolution : " The warm baths of
the town of Aix having appeared to us necessary to wash and
purify the convalescent patients ; and as the said baths do not
supply sufficient water for this purpose, on account of the
quantity that has been withdrawn from the spring by various
neighbouring proprietors, we order, for the good of the service,
that steps be immediately taken to bring it back, &c. &c." In
virtue of this order, the consuls caused the holes dug in the dis-

Hydrography^ and the Art of Navigation. W6

trict of Barret to be filled up, and in twenty-two days after this
operation, the waters of the Baths of Sextius were augmented
three-fourths, and many springs which had become entirely dry,
that of Grioulet, for example, again began to flow.

In May 1772, Vaurenargues having been superseded, the
dispossessed proprietors opened, under ground, the work which
had been constructed the year before, and immediately the
warm springs of the town were seen to diminish, and even en-
tirely dry up.

In July 1722, the breaches were again carefully repaired by
the " procureur-general,*' and the inhabitants of Aix saw the
waters reappear. Things continued in this state for five years;
but in 1727, the inhabitants of the mills of Barret clandestinely
made a new opening in the dam constructed in 1722. The
knowledge of this misdeed was only acquired by the falling off'
io the quantity of water. In order to terminate this obstinate
contest between private interest and the general benefit, by a
definitive act regarding the right of property, the town caused a
stone pyramid to be erected on the lands in 1729.

To these details, which we have entered into in order to esta-
blish the fact, that the waters of the pyramid of Barret feed the
warm springs of the town of Aix, we shall add, that M. Dau-
phin, locksmith, assured M. Robert, a doctor of Marseilles, in
1812, that he witnessed an experiment which places the matter
beyond a doubt : he stated, that lime was mixed with the water
in the basin of the pyramid, and that the springs of Cours and
of Mennes became milky.

Under the pyramid of Barret, the water occupies a basin re-
gularly built with stone, about thirteen feet long and upwards
of seven feet broad. In June 1812, M. Robert sent down two
men to ascertain the temperature of the water ; they found it
62° 6 Fahr. (-f- 17° cent.). At the same period, the baths of
Sextius were at 84-° 2 Fahr. (-f 29° cent.)

It appears, therefore, to be established, that the cold waters of
Barret become, at least the greater part, the warm waters of Aix,
while traversing the short space which separates these two points,
that is to say, a horizontal distance, which is estimated in the
officiaL memoirs, from which we have given an extract, at about
a thousand geometrical paces.

It will be observed, that we have employed the words the

404) Questions for Solution i-elating to Navigation.

greater pari^ and they in fact indicate precisely the question
wliich remains to be answered. If it could be proved that all
the warm water of the baths of Sextius originated from the
cold water of the basin of Barret ; that the phenomenon does
not consist merely of an intermixture which may take place near
the surface, between the water of Barret and that of an ordinary
thermal spring nearer Aix ; that in its passage the fluid does not
become chemically charged with any foreign substance, the theory
of thermal springs would have made a decided step in its pro-
gress. Every one would then be satisfied of their similarity to
the Artesian springs, the high temperature of which is evidently
to be ascribed to the great depth from which they issue.

Without pretending to devise better means of investigation
than the aspect of the places might suggest, I conceive that if
permission were obtained to withdraw the waters of Barret, only
for a few days, the principal question would be solved. From
the time that the thermal spring intermediate between Barret
and Aix should begin to flow to Sextius alone, there would be
a considerable diminution of the quantity of water, and an in-
crease in the temperature of the baths. A comparative chemi-
cal analysis of the respective waters, if performed with that
scrupulous accuracy of which we have now many examples,
would be attended with much interest. Neither should it be
forgotten to repeat the experiment mentioned by the locksmith
Dauphin, either employing lime or bran, or some tinctorial mat-
ter, were it only for determining the rapidity of the fluid in the
subterranean passages which it traverses in passing from Barret
to Sextius.

The temporary derivation of the waters of Barret, is the most
decisive mode of obtaining the solution of the very ancient pro-
blem of physical geography to which thermal springs have given
rise ; but should this derivation be impossible, there still seems
to be a method of attaining this object. The waters of Sextius
are said to diminish with drought, and to increase in rainy wea-
ther. It is very improbable that the increase and diminution
should follow exactly and simultaneously the same relations in
the cold, nearly superficial waters of Barret, and those of the
thermal fountain nearer the town. If a mixture of the water
takes place, we ought, therefore, to expect, that great variations
of temperature would be observed at Sextius.

llyihography and the Art of Nuvigaiion, 405

It may be seen, by this instance, how much the Grovernment
Jias erred in suppressing the office of inspector of thermal wa-
ters, under the idea that nothing in that department now re-
mained to be discovered. I now add, in conclusion, that the
data on which my plan of experiment is founded, have been de-
rived from a manuscript memoir presented fifteen years ago to
the Academy by Dr Robert, which has not, in my opinion, met
with that attention which it deserves.

{To be continued.)

Abstract of an Address delivered on presenting the Keith MedaU
adjudged by the Council of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
to Professor Forbes, frr his Experiments on the Polariza-
tion of Heat. By Dr Hope, Vice-President of the Society.*

The prize founded by our late estimable associate Mr Keith,
whose ingenious contrivan(Jfes for self-registering thermometers
and barometers are recorded in our Transactions, is, by the re-
gulation of his Trustees, to be adjudged biennially for the most
important discovery communicated to the Royal Society, or in
the event of such being wanting, for the best paper which shall
have been presented to the Society in the space of two years on
a scientific subject. The Council, in discharge of the powers
vested in them, have awarded unanimously the Keith prize for
the last biennial period, to Professor Forbes, for his paper " On
the Refraction and Polarization of Heat,"" which they consider
to come under their class of communications, which contain dis-
coveries important to science. , ^^jj ?,

The Vice-president then observed, that the subject of lieat is
one so important to man, and so intimately connected with a va-
riety of natural phenomena, that it has not failed to command
no small degree of attention in all ages. That an intimate con-
nexion subsists between Heat and Light, and that much discord-
ance of opinion has subsisted respecting the nature of both. He

• The abore notice of Professor Forbes* important discoveries, for which
the Keith Prize of the Royal Society of Edinburgh has been adjudged, is
printed by order of the Council, and is taken from tlie lleport of the " Pro-
ceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh,"

VOL. XX. Ko. XL. — AriiiL 1836, d d

406 Abstract of' Dr Hope's Address on

next stated the various opinions entertained concerning tliem
and particularly respecting heat, and in historic order presented
the views of Bacon, Boyle, Boerhaave,Stahl, and Black, and ad-
verted to the discoveries of Black respecting latent and specific
lieat, and the successive labours of Irvine, Crawfurd, Wilke,
Magellan, Lavoisier and Laplace, Dulong and Petit, in the
same field.

Heat presents itself in two very different conditions ; first when
combined with matter, pervading bodies slowly, either by com-
munication and conduction through and among its particles, or
by the movements of the particles themselves ; secondly, when
radiated, moving through elastic fluids or empty space with vast
velocity.

The first of these had been studied by the philosophers al-
ready named, and not long after by Rumford. To the second
of these, viz. radiant heat, the subject of Professor Forbes's dis-
covery called upon him more especially to allude, and to pre-
sent a brief historic view.

The radiation of cold, and its reflection by metallic^ mirrors^
was known to Baptista Porta in the sixteenth century ; and ob-
servations were made on the radiation of heat, by the Florentine
academicians, towards the middle of the seventeenth century,
and by Marriotte in 168S. About the middle of the 18th cen-
tury, Lambert published his works on pyrometry and photome-
try, which contained some of the first accurate experiments on
this subject ; and the facts of the difficult transmission and re-
flection of heat by glass, was pointed out by the Swedish che-
mist Scheele. Pictet of Geneva extended his experiments on the
examination and the reflection of the heat derived from boiling
water, and our venerable associate Professor Prevost of the same
place, established the doctrine of the mobile equilibrium of heat,
in 1802. The triumph of this theory was found in the beauti-
ful experiments of Dr Wells, on dew, in 1813.

Meanwhile, the experiments of Rumford and Leslie were
corroborating and extending these general views, even although
the doctrines of radiation were denied by the latter philosopher
in all his writings. The passage of radiant heat through solid
substances, such as glass, and through fluids, such as water, had
long been admitted, in the case where light accompanied heat.

' deliverbig the Keith Medal. 407

'But in the case of non-luminous heat, it was strenuously denied
♦by Leslie, and others. The experiments of De la Roche proved
that such was the fact, at least in the case of heat derived from
terrestrial sources, and at the same time luminous. But this sub-
ject has received a vast eniargemeut by the recent experiments
of Melloni, who has shewn that substances differ surprisingly in
•their permeability to heat, and that while some, such as alum,
jstop almost every incident ray, others, as rock-salt,^ transmit al-
tnost the whole of the heat, and that from whatever source
derived.

The connection of light with heat, was too obvious and import-
ant to be overlooked. To Sir W. Herschel the world is in-
debted for the first great step in this curious inquiry. He exa-
mined the thermometric qualities of the spectrum formed from
the sun's rays by a common prism of glass ; and in 1800 an-
nounced the curious fact, that the heating power increases, not
only from the violet to the red end of the spectrum, but even
beyond the latter, indicating the existence of dark calorific rays.
These experiments, though at first denied by some authors, were
afterwards fully confirmed, and some anomalies which they pre-
sented, explained, by Robison, Englefield, Berard, Seebeck, and
Melloni.

Heat, then, even unaccompanied by light, appears to be capa-
ble both of reflection and refraction. But new modifications of
light, discovered of late years, require us to investigate how far
the analogy may be pursued. In 1802, Dr Young announced
his remarkable discovery of the interference of the rays of
light, or the power of two luminous rays, properly disposed,
to produce darkness by their union. About the year 1808,
Mai us, a most eminent French philosopher and mathemati-
cian, discovered the remarkable modification which light un-
dergoes by reflection from certain substances at certain angles.
This modification may be easiest conceived by stating the fact,
that light so reflected becomes incapable of undergoing a second
reflection in certain positions of the reflecting surface, when com-
mon light would be reflected.

The corresponding experiment in the case of heat was tried
by Berard, along with Malus, about the year 1811, and an ac-
icount of them was published in 1817, in the Memoires (VArcueU.

Dd2

4(JS Abstract ofiyr Ho^ki's Address on

They found, that when the solar beam was twice reflected in the
manner just stated, the heat and light refused simultaneously to
be reflected in certain positions of the second reflector. The
same experiment was repeated with incandescent bodies, with
the same result ; and even, as stated by Berard, with bodies
having temperatures beneath that of visible incandescence.
These experiments were probably discontinued in consequence
of the death of Malus, and the details were never published, if,
indeed, they were ever carried to any great extent. The result
has been, that Berard's conclusion seems not to have been gene*
rally adopted by the scientific world. The polarization of heat
has remained amongst the doubtful facts in science. It has
been adopted in scarcely any systematic works, whether British
or foreign ; and, of late years, direct evidence seemed to be en-
tirely against it. Professor Powell of Oxford, repeatedly and
fruitlessly, attempted to obtain Berard's result. Nobili of
Florence (whose recent loss science has to deplore) attempted it
likewise with the aid of his thermo-multiplier, an instrument ad-
mirably adapted for the measurement of small quantities of heat ;
and Melloni having failed to polarize even luminous heat by
tourmalines, concurs in the conclusions of Powell and Nobili.
The Vice-President then observed, that it was under these cir-
cumstances that the subject was undertaken by Professor Forbes,
who, by means of arrangements differing from any that had be-
fore been used, has succeeded in completely establishing the
polarization of heat under all the circumstances in which light is
polarized, namely, by Reflection, Transmission, and Double
Refraction, and that it is for the establishment of these facts
that the Keith Prize has been awarded by the Council.

Dr Hope then stated that, in the ordinary case of the publica-
tion of papers, the Society holds itself in no degree responsible
for the truth of the facts stated therein ; but, in the adjudica-
tion of prizes, the case is different; and that, with regard to them,
the Council are bound to be satisfied of the truth of the state-
ments for which they award their prize. Several members of the
Council had seen and satisfied themselves of the accuracy of Mr
Forbes''s leading experiments before the Keith Prize was award-
ed ; and, some days ago, he deemed it right to request Mr
Forbes to shew him the more important of these experimental

delivering the Keith Medal 409

demonstrations. This he succeeded in doing in a way which
left upon his mind not the slightest doubt as to the truth of his
results ; the variations of temperature being so obviously dis-
played, as to prevent the slightest ambiguity as to the true source
from which they are derived. The instrument employed in the
research is the thermo-multiplier, of which the invention is due
to Nobili, though it has been greatly improved for experimen-
tal purposes by Melloni. Professor Forbes has likewise in-
creased greatly its power of indicating the more delicate effects
by employing a telescopic apparatus, which enables him to mea-.
sure a quantity of heat, perhaps not exceeding (rue-fifteen
hundredth part of a degree of Fahrenheit.

That the Society may fully understand the nature of the
proofs afforded by Mr Forbes's experiments, reference must be
made to the correlative facts observed in the case of light.

When light undergoes reflection from glass at an angle of 56%^
its physical character is found to be thus far altered, that it re-
fuses to be a second time reflected by another plate of glass
placed to receive the ray at the same angle of BQ^^ if the plane
of incidence on the second glass be perpendicular to the plane of
incidence on the first. The light is then wholly transmitted by
the second plate. If the plane of incidence be the same for the
two plates, complete reflection takes place at the second plate.
This illustrates polarization by reflection.

If a number of glass plates be used, and light traiismitted
obliquely through such a bundle of plates, it is in like manner
found, that the emergent light is wholly transmitted by a second
similar bundle placed parallel to the first, but is almost wholly
reflected, and therefore not transmitted, when the second bundle
is placed so that whilst the ray falls upon it at the same angle
as upon the first, the plane of incidence on the second bundle
being perpendicular to the plane of incidence upon the first
bundle. This is polarization by transmission or refraction.

Lastly, It was observed before the close of the 17th century
by Huyghens, that certain bodies, as Iceland spar, endowed with
the property of double refraction, alter at the same time the
character of the light in the two refracted rays. So that, if two
sections similarly cut from a crystal of Iceland spar be placed
upon one another in conformable positions, or the respective po-

410 Abstract of' Dr Hope's Address' on

sitions which they occupied on the crystal, the two rays will pro-.*>
ceed through the second slice as they did through the first, andi
be refracted according to the same laws. But if the seconds
slice be placed unconformahly upon the first, or turned round a
quarter of a circle, the ray, which at first was ordinarily refract-
ed, is now extraordinarily refracted ; and the ray, which at first
was extraordinarily, is now ordinarily refracted. Now, it has
been found that some crystals, such as tourmaline, possess the
property, first, of dividing these rays, and then of suppressing.,
or absorbing one of them; the result of which is, that when two I
tourmalines, cut as we have supposed, are placed conformably,
the ray which was not suppressed by the first slice, still makes
its way through the second ; but, when placed unco7iformably,
the ray transmitted by the first plate is wholly suppressed by the,
second. In the latter case, therefore, not a ray of light can
penetrate the two plates. This is polarization produced by
double refraction.

Now, all these modes of polarization have been recognised by
Mr Forbes in the case of heat, and even in the case of heat
wholly unaccompanied by light. The Vice-President announced
that he had witnessed this in the most satisfactory manner in the
case of heat polarized by reflection and transmission^ for which
purposes, instead of glass, (which permits scarcely any non4
luminous heat to penetrate it), Mr Forbes employs plates of
mica, divided by a peculiar process into extremely thin laminae.

But the analogies which he has established between light and
heat do not stop here. It has been found in the case of light,
that, when the two reflecting plates before spoken of, or the
two crystals, are placed in unconformable positions, so that
little or no light reaches the eye, we may, by interposing be-
tween the plates or the crystals a thin lamina of a doubly re-
fracting substance (such as mica) in a certain position (relatively
to its internal structure), cause a portion of light, which before
was incapable of reaching the eye, to become capable of so doing.
In other words, the polarized light, which at first was incapable
of reflection or transmission at the second plate or crystal, now
becomes capable of it; it has lost, to a certain extent, its charac-
ter of polarization, or it is said to be depolarized.

Dr Hope stated, that he had seen this to be most completely

delivering the Keith Medal. 41 1

effected in the case of heat, by Mr Forbes. A lamina of mica is in-
terposed between the bodies used to polarize heat unconformably
placed. When the lamina of mica has a certain position, no effect
is produced beyond stopping a small portion of the heat, which
would otherwise reach the thermometer; but when this interposed
lamina is turned 45° in its own plane, a portion of the heat which
before was incapable of reaching the thermometer in consequence
of its polarization, is now capable of doing so, and the influx of
heat is instantly indicated. The most striking exemplification
of this result is found in the fact, which excited so much interest
when communicated more than a year ago to the Society, that in
certain cases the mere interposition of a piece of mica (in the
proper situation), will cause an immediate indication of increased
temperature, the mica depolarizing' more heat than it stops. Since
depolarization takes place only in consequence of double refrac-
tion, we have here another undoubted proof of the double re-
fraction of heat.

The Vice-President terminated his general and rapid sketch,
in which he alluded to the brilliant discoveries of Brewster,
Arago, and Fresnel, respecting the polarization of light, by ob-
serving, that it would be needless for him to point out the im-
portant bearing of these facts on the question of the nature of heat,
and its connection with light. He concluded in the following
terms : — " It now only remains for me to presetit to Professor
Forbes the medal which has been awarded to him for these dis-
coveries, I believe that I shall be joined cordially by every
member of the Society who now hears me, in the fervent wish
that it may be the will of the Almighty Ruler, that his life may
be long protracted, with vigour of mind and health of body to pur-
sue the career in which he has made an advancement so honour-
able to himseif, and reflecting lustre upon those great establish-
ments, the University and the Royal Society, with which he is
connected. I cannot doubt that he will persevere in this happy
path with the same ardour and success which have hitherto ac-
companied his researches. Indeed, we have a gratifying proof
that his zeal will not be impaired, nor his success less brilliant,
from the discovery in the same field announced by him at the
last meeting of the Society, of the Circular Polarization of
Heat."

( 412 )

Description of several New or Rare Plants which have lately
Flowered in the Neighbourhood of Edinburgh, chiefly in the
Royal Botanic Garden, By Dr Graham, Prof, of Botany.

March 10. 183<>.
Poinsettia.

Involucrum monopliyllum, androgynum, basi 5-Ioculare, extus appen-
diculatum, nectariferum. Flores pedicellati, nudi; masculi bifarjan*
in singulis loculis ordinati, monandri ; f oemiuei solitarii, gennen tri-
lobum, ovulum solitariam singulis lobis.

Poinsettia pulcherrima.
Euphorbia pulcherrima, Herb. Willd.
Euphorbia Pbinsettiana, Buist MS.
Bescriftiok — Shruh erect, ramous; branches round, young shoots bluntly
4-angled, green, glabrous, hollow. Leaves scattered, occasionally opposite,
spreading, petiolate, ovato-elliptical, subacute, sinuated, veined, soft and
pubescent on both sides, bright green above, paler below. Petioles fur-
rowed above. Bracteae similar in shape to the leaves, but aggregated at
the extremities of the branches, and of splendid vermilion colour, paler
below. Cymes terminal, subtrifid. Involucres green, on short stout
erect footstalks articulated at the base, ovato-orbicular, toothed, marked
by five sutures on the outside, with which alternate on the inside five
falcate processes, beginning with narrow extremities at the mouth of
the involucre, and, adhering to this with their backs, become gra-
dually broader below, passing inwards, and attached to an elevation in
the centre, divide the lower part of the involucre into five distinct
cells, and supporting on their edges erect fimbriae, they divide the upper
part also, but less completely ; teeth of the involucre numerous, coloured
like the bracteae, woolly on the inner side, fringed at their extremities,
connivent. Appendage single on the outside of the involucre towards
the axis of the cyme, round, entire, peltate, folded in the middle, so as
appear 2-lipped, nectariferous. Male Flowers about 14, in two rows in
each loculament and arising from its base, erect, petiolate, naked, mo-
nandrous, mixed with chaffs (abortive male flowers?) which are woolly
at the apex, and occasionally tinged red there ; petiole colourless, as long
as the involucre ; filament red, at length hanging over the edge of the
involucre; anthers 2-lobed, lobea divaricated, so that those which are next
to each other in the two rows of stamens overlap, opening along their
outer sides; pollen yellow, granules round. Female Flower solitary, cen-
tral, petiolate, naked ; germen 3-lobed, each lobe emarginate ; style awant-
ing; ovule solitary in each lobe. These appearances I describe as I saw
them, but the female flowers were probably imperfect, none enlarged, pro-
jected beyond the involucre, or produced seed ; but after a while, a small
number of the male flowers in succession having been perfected and pro-
truded beyond the involucre, this became yellow, and the whole separated
at the articulation near the base of the footstalk.
By whom this truly splendid plant was communicated to Willdenow's Her-
barium, I am not informed ; but it was again discovered in Mexico by
Mr Poinsette, and sent by him to Charleston in 1828, and afterwards to
Mr Buist of Philadelphia, who has within a very few years brought to-
gether a choice collection of plants, equally creditable to his enterprize,
and promising as a point from which will be diffused a greater knowledge
of the vegetation of North America. From Mr Buist it was brought
by Mr James Macnab to the Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, and to several
other establishments in this country, in November 1834 : from the in-
formation communicated by him, it has since been imported into other

Dr Graham's List of Rare Plants. 413

Brilish collections from Mr Buist's garden. It flowered twice with us
last year, but too imperfectly to allow of its being figured. It subse-
quently flowered with Dr Neill at Canonmills, and again with us this
month (February 1836). Nothing can be more ornamental in the stove.
The rose- like whorls of bracteae which terminate the branches, have been
seen on the large plants cultivated at Philadelphia, as much as twenty
inches across, and equal in colour to the finest tints of IJilnsctu Rosa-
sinensis. There can be no doubt that it forms a new generic type, though
in several species of Euphorbia^ especially E. splendensy there are the ru-
diments of the remarkable septa found in the involucre here. 1 have
dedicated it, if not to its original discoverer, at least to one who has first
brought it into cultivation and into general notice among botanists, and
from whose exertions many additi(.ns to our collections of plants from
Mexico are expected. At Philadelphia the plant is exposed in the open
air during summer, but is placed in the stove during winter, at which
season, or early in spring, there, as here, it seems to have its period of
flowering.

Sceptranthes.

Tubus clavatus erectus; limbus suberectus. Filamenta tubo adhaeren-
tia, altematim breviora ; antherse lineares, erectse, prope faucem tubi
subsessile. Stigma trifidum erectum. Germen stipitatum.
Sceptranthes Drummondii.
Zephyranthes Drummondii, Don! in Sweet's Brit. Fl. Gard. 328.

Description. — Btilb about the size of a walnut, spheroidal, covered with
a brown unbroken skin, terminated with erect oblong segments in se-
veral layers at the top of the elongated cylindrical transversely wrinkled
neck of the bulb. Leaves six in the specimen described, two in one
and four in another bulb in ''the Botanic Garden, neither of which
have flowered, of unequal length (the longest two, the shortest one foot
long, 4-5 lines broad) linear, broadly channelled above, blunt, pruinose.
Scape (to the base of the spathe 7 inches long) lateral, erect, hollow, red-
dish-yellow at the base, becoming gradually greener upwards. Spathe (I i
inch long) membranous, ribbed, perforated, and abruptly marcescent near
the apex. Perianth erect (2 inches long, 1 4 inch across) tube cylindri-
cal, greenish -yellow ; limb white, 6-parted, segments obovate, attenu-
ated and parallel, and in contact in their lower half, subspreading above,
ribbed, the three outer rather the largest, and, more distinctly than the
inner, terminated by a greenish mucro. Stamens G ; filaments incorpo-
rated with the tube of the perianth ; anthers linear, situated near the
mouth of the tube, three alternate ones a little lower down ; pollen yel-
low, granules oblong, and somewhat angled. Germen stipitate, footstalk
as long as the more persisting part of the spathe. St^le little more than
half the length of the tube, filiform, pale green. Stigma 3-fid, the seg-
ments short, nearly erect.

Bulbs of this very pretty plant were sent from Texas by Mr Drummond,
and distributed to various botanical establishments in Scotland in the
beginning of 1835; but I am not aware of their having flowered any
where excepting in the collection of Dr Neill last autumn, and in the
nursery garden of Messrs J. Dickson and Sons, where, in the stove, the
specimen described expanded a handsome flower in the beginning of
March 1836.

The length of tube, and especially the adhering filaments, seem to me to
remove the plant from the genus Zephyranthes ,• the greater shortness of
the tube, the less flattened limb, and the stipitate germen, prevent me
from uniting it to the genus Cooperia.

All the discoveries of one admirable collector — whose untimely deatli we
shall never cease to regret — have not yet been made known, when we
have received accounts, I fear in too authentic a shape to be doubted, that
another has fallen a sacrifice to his exertions in behalf of Botany. The

414 Proceeding's of* the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

kind-hearted conduct, and cheerful conciliatory behaviour of Mr Richard
Cunningham, Colonial Botanist in New South Wales, has not been able
to protect him from the ferocious hostility of excited savages, and, we
have reason to believe, I fear almost from official authority, that he has
suffered a violent death when with an exploring party in the interior of
New Holland ; — a party which we know by letters from himself he joined
with the warmest anticipations of contributing largely to our knowledge
of Australian vegetation. Within two years, Douglas has been lost by

an attack from a wild bull — Drummond, we believe, from climate and

Cunningham, from what is worse than both, and less under restraint than
either, the madness of his fellow men.

Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

1825, December 7.— Dr Hope, V. P. in the Chair. The fol-
lowing communications were read : —

1. On the Poisonous Properties of Hemlock, and its lately
discovered alkaloid, Conia. By Dr Christison.

The author commenced by stuting, that he had repeated the
greater part of the analysis of hemlock lately executed by Profes-
sor Geiger of Heidelberg, and had obtained precisely the same re-
sults. According to his analysis, hemlock contains a peculiar prin-
ciple, alkaloidal in its nature, but differing from the previously disco-
vered alkaloids in its form, which is that of an oily-like liquid, vo-
latile at a moderate elevation of temperature, and capable of being
readily distilled over with water. It neutralizes acids, without
however forming crystallizable salts. It contains a considerable
proportion of azote. It quickly undergoes decomposition when ex-
posed to the air, giving out ammonia, and becoming a dark, resin-
ous-like substance.

The discoverer inferred, from a few experiments chiefly made
on birds, that this principle, which may be termed Conia^ from the
genus of plant whence it is obtained, possesses active poisonous
properties ; that it produces coma, convulsions, and depressed ac-
tion or even paralysis of the heart ; and that its poisonous qualities
are greatly impaired by combination with acids. The author, how-
ever, has been led to conclude, from an extensive set of experi-
ments on the higher orders of animals, — that the effects of Conia on
the body are increased rather than diminished by neutralization
with an acid, such as the muriatic ; that it does not produce coma
when administered either free or combined ; that it does not act at
all on the heart ; that it possesses a local irritant action, and that
its remote action consists simply in the productiou of swiftly in-
creasing paralysis of the muscles, ending fatally by asphyxia from
palsy of the muscles of respiration. He farther found it to be a
poison of exceeding activity, scarcely inferior indeed in that respect
to hydrocyanic acid. Two drops applied to a wound, or introduced
into the eye of a dog, rabbit, or cat, will sometimes occasion death
in ninety seconds ; and the same quantity injected in the form of

Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. 415

muriate into the femoral vein of a dog killed it in three seconds at
farthest. The author added various reasons for doubting the pro-
bability of any chemical antidote being discovered ; and suggested
artificial respiration as the most probable remedy, founding on an*
experiment in which the heart was maintained in a state of vigo-
rous action for a long time by artificially inflating the lungs.

An abstract was then given of a set of comparative experiments
made with extract of hemlock ; from which he inferred that the aci
tion of hemlock is identical with that of Conia. Very powerful ex^
tracts were used, which had been prepared with absolute alcohol
from the leaves or seeds. The effects ascribed by some toxicolo-
gical authors to hemlock were not observed ; but simply paralysis,
with intermittent slight convulsions. From this identity of action
it may be concluded, that Conia is really the active principle of
hemlock, or at least contains it in large quantity, and is not the
product of chemical action and new arrangements of elements. •«

Some remarks were appended as to the probable nature of the
State-poison used in ancient times, particularly in Athens, for de-
spatching criminals ; which has commonly been held to be a prepa-
ration of the same plant with the modem Conium maculatum. The
author shewed, from the descriptions of the Greek kuvuov and Ro-
man cicuta, that this plant could not be the modern conium ; that
the account given by Plato of the effects of the state-poison in the
case of Socrates is wholly at variance with the description by Ni-
cander and others of the action of the Kmnoy ; that the effects
ascribed to the poison in Plato's narrative are such as no poison
whatever which is known at present can produce ; and that conse-
quently either Plato's description is an embellished narrative, or
the ancients were familiar with a poison of most remarkable and
peculiar properties, with which modern toxicologists are no longer
acquainted.

2. The reading of a paper on the Geology of Auvergne, by
Professor Forbes, was commenced.

December 21.— Dr Hope, V. P. in the Chm. Tfce follow*
ing communications were read : —

1. Notes on the Geology of Auvergne, particularly in con-
nection with the Origin of Trap-Rocks and the Eleva-
tion Theory. By Professor Forbes. Concluded.

The^r5^ part of this paper (which accompanied a series of geo-
logical specimens from Auvergne, presented to the Society) relates
to several specific points which tend to assimilate the evidence for
the igneous origin of trap-rocks generally, with that afforded by
the volcanic district of Central France. The altered character of
the stratified deposits with which igneous rocks have been inter-
mixed, is one of their most striking features ; yet we occasionally
find cases where this evidence is far from being so obvious as

416 Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

might be expected ; and this dubious character, which U particU'
larly remarked in the hill of Gergovia, near Clermont, forms an
admirable parallel to some cases in trap districts where a like want
of alteration occurs.

The mineral character of the rocks of Auvergne admits of al-
most perfect identification in a majority of cases with that of un-
doubted trap-rocks ; and we may employ the formations of Central
France as a medium of comparison between trap-rocks generally,
and modern volcanos, from which the formations of the Mont-
Dome are undistinguishable. The trachytes of the Mont Dor and
Cantal find their counterparts in the districts of the Siebengebirge
and Laacher-See. Various points of structure were noticed as
important, especially the columnar forms of lavas, geologically
speaking, modern, which has been often referred to ; and more re-
markably the union of the tabular, with the polygonal columnar
structure, exhibited in the undoubtedly igneous trachytes, basalts,
and phonolites of the Mont Dor, which are sometimes so exten-
sively slaty as almost to assume the appearance of stratified rocks.
The very remarkable passage of one rock into another differing in
mineral chai'acter and structure was also pointed out, and hence
the difficulty of pronouncing conclusively upon the relative age of
such rocks.

The second part of the paper referred to Von Buch's Theory of
Elevation- Craters, and professed to give simply the impression
made upon the author's mind by an examination of the specific
cases of the groups of the Cantal and Mont Dor, which have been
quoted as examples in support of that theory. Various views of the
subject were presented, from which the author is disposed to con-
clude decidedly in favour of the Elevation Theory in these particular
cases. The arguments were drawn chiefly from the forms and
magnitude of the valleys, and the relation of the beds of igneous
rock to one another, in which the valleys are formed. The author
expresses some doubt as to the utility of the calculations entered
into with regard to this question by MM. Elie de Beaumount and
Dufrenoy, and especially as regards the complicated system of the
Mont Dor, of which he considers it almost hopeless to unravel the
manifold revolutions. In general, however, he coincides in the
conclusions arrived at by those authors.

2. Notice of a New Compound of Sulphur, which is probably

a Sulphuret of Nitrogen. By Dr Gregory.

3. On another New Compound of Sulphur, analogous to the

Mercaptan of Zeise. By the same.

4. On a curious Phenomenon observed in the Island of Ce-

phalonia, and on the proximate cause of Earthquakes in
the Ionian Islands. By Dr John Davy.

Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edlnhitrgh. 4rl7

18S6, January 4. — Sir Thomas M. Brisbane, President,
in the Chair. The following communication was read : —

Some Observations on Atmospherical Electricity. By Dr
John Davy, F. R. S.

January 18. — Right Hon. Lord Geeenock, V. P. in the
Chair. The reading of the following paper was commenced :—

1, Observations and Experiments on the coloured and co-
lourable matters in the Leaves and Flowers of Plants,
particularly in reference to the Principles upon which
Acids and Alkalies act in producing Red and Yellow or
Green colours. By Dr Hope.

Proceedings of the Wernerian Natural History Society. (Con-
tinued from p. 201.)

1835, Dec, 19.— Professor Traill, V. P. in the Chair. Dr Mar-
tin Barry demonstrated the Ganglion oticum in the human sub-
ject, as dissected by himself, under the direction of Professor Tiede-
man of Heidelberg.

Professor Jameson read Mr Dufrenoy's account of the period and
mode of formation of the Monte Somma, or exterior of Vesuvius,
and of Mount Vesuvius itself, shewing that the latter probably did
not exist before the great eruption of the year 79. He also com-
municated a note respecting the fossil elk of Ireland and Isle of
Man, shewing that we possess no historical evidence of the animal
being known as a living species, the rude figure in the Cosmogra-
phia of Munster not representing the elk but the fallow deer.

Sir Patrick Walker exhibited some insects which prove very
destructive to the pine forests in the Highlands of Scotland, and
made a few observations on their mode of boring into the wood.

1836, Jan. 9. — Professor Traill, V.P. in the Chair. Mr James
Wilson read a paper on the birds included under the genus Eury-
laimus of Horsfield, illustrating his remarks by specimens and
figures.

Dr Deuchar gave an account of some new tests for easily dis-
tinguishing Carbonates from Bi- Carbonates, and exhibited the mode
of making the experiments.

Sir Patrick Walker then read notices regarding the occurrence,
near Edinburgh, of several native birds, generally regarded as ex-

418 Proceedings of the Wemcr'ian Society.

tremely rare ; particularly the Motacilla neglecta, first remarked by
him on the banks of the Water of Leitli in 1804 (but referred
by him to the Motacilla flava^ until he became acquainted with
Gould's observations), and often observed since that time ; likewise
the Redstart, Sylvia Phcenicurus, in various places around the city ;
the Dusky Grebe, shot at Lochend ; and the Ardea minufa, killed
at the mouth of the Tyne in East Lothian.

The members then removed to the portico, to witness an experi-
ment, performed in the open air, by Mr K. T. Kemp, shewing the
solidification of sulphurous acid.

Jan. 23 — Bindon Blood, Esq. V.P. in the Chair. A

paper was read entitled, Remarks on the circumstances to be chiefly
attended to in the execution of a Geological Survey of Scot-
land.

Mr Kemp then shewed a method of liquefying Chlorine at a cold
of — 26° Fahr. ; and of keeping it in a liquid state, at the tem-
perature of the atmosphere, by a pressure equal to five atmospheres
and a half.

1836, Feb, 6. — Robert Stevenson, Esq. V. P. in the Chair. Mr
Kemp described and exhibited experiments, proving that chlorine,
iodine, bromine, &c. bleach without the decomposition of water or
the presence of oxygen gas. He likewise shewed a new modifica-
tion of the diff^erential thermometer, capable, according to Mr Kemp,
of ascertaining whether the moon's rays, when concentrated, pos-
sesses heat equal to — 100° Fahr.

Professor Jameson communicated Suggestions by the Reverend
Mr Robertson of Inverkeithing, of easy methods of analysis, for
practical purposes, of the mineral waters usually met with.

Dr Martin Barry laid upon the table some specimens of Red
Sandstone, from the county of Tyrone, abounding in fossil fishes of
the palseoniscus tribe. Some discussion took place as to the age of
the sandstone.

Dr Traill exhibited specimens of Sandstone-flag, containing large
scales of fishes, having a particularly marked surface, from Pomona,
Orkney.

The Society, on the suggestion of the President and other mem-
bers of Council, recommend an application to the Light- House
Board for the cutting of marks on rocks at half tide-level, and the
2

Proceedings of' the Weinerian Society. 419

superinteudence of these by the Lighthouse officers, with the view
of ascertaining whether the land of Scotland is stationary, or is
rising above or sinking under the present half-tide level. Mr
Christie of Banff communicated an account and specimen of a spe-
cies of the Ammonite family, found in the lias of Banff, a deposit

first discovered in that part of Scotland by Mr Christie At the

same meeting, Mr Champion of the 91st regiment communicated
observations on the phenomenon, noticed by Dr Davy in the island
of Cephalonia ; and the proposal for a Zoological Garden at Edin-
burgh was strongly recommended by the Society Professor Jame-
son exhibited a series of birds, collected by Captain Clunie, New
South Wales, among which were specimens of the Sula alba from
Moreton Bay. — A new species of Pernis, from India, which was
named Elliotii, in honour of Mr Elliot, an intelligent observer by
whom the specimens were brought home and presented to the
Museum. Two Buzzards, lately killed in Britain, were exhibited;
one of these very nearly allied to the Falco Jackall of Le Vaillant,
was killed near Birmingham ; of the other, killed near Newcastle,
a minute description was communicated by Mr William Jameson.

Feb, 20 — Robert Jameson, Esq. P. in the Chair. Pro-
fessor Forbes read Remarks on the Physical Geography of the
Pyrenean Range, chiefly in connection with the celebrated hot
springs of that district ; and exhibited an extensive collection of
specimens of the rocks and minerals of the Pyrenees. The Pro-
fessor at the same time presented his collection of Pyrenean Rocks
to the Royal Museum of the University.

Mr Kemp exhibited some experiments which he considered as
shewing that, on ignition, by galvanic electricity, carbon is volati-
lized in the Torricellian vacuum.

Proceedings of the Society Jbr the Encouragement of the Usefiil
Arts in Scotland,

The Society for the Encouragement of the Useful Arts met
in the Royal Institution, on Wednesday the 13th January 1836,
at S o'clock, r. m., Edward Sanc;, V. P. in the Chair.

♦^ proceedings of the Society of Arts.

The following communications were laid before the Societ)' : —

1. Supplementary Description and Drawing of certain Additions
to the Turning- Lathe for facilitating slow turning. By Mr James
Whitelaw, 18 Russell Street) Glasgow.

2. Letter from J. Stewart Hepburn, Esq. of Colquhalzie, as to
simpler modes of working the Valves in his Air Extractor for Sy-
phons, than that formerly proposed by him.

3. A Model of a New Escapement, by Mr Duncan Macgregor,
Comrie, was delayed till a full description be sent.

4. Supplement to his Communications of 12th November 1833,
on an Instrument for Cutting Coats, with a Drawing, by Mr Wil-
liam Smith, Cupar-Fife.

In reference to this subject, Mr Macdonald, West Register
Street, laid before the meeting the result of a great number of
measurements taken by means of his Andrometer, which clearly in-
dicated the necessity for measurements more numerous than those
proposed by Mr Smith.

5. A Report to the Lighthouse Commissioners, by Mr Alan Ste-
venson, presented by him to the Society, was then read.

In this paper Mr Stevenson contrasted the advantages and dis-
advantages of the new mode of lighting adopted at Inchkeith.
Taking the increased brilliancy and the additional expense into ac-
count, he found the balance in favour of the new method. The
Society seemed highly pleased with the paper, and some of the
members took notice of the great merit which Mr Stevenson had
in overcoming his previous opinion on the subject of dioptric lights.
John Robison, Esq. incidentally noticed the progress which is being
made in the manufacture of the large lenses for the May Light.
It did not appear in the report, whether Mr Stevenson had taken
into account the additional number of rays of light. The old ap-
paratus gave light in four directions at once — the new gives light
in seven, and thus a greater number of vessels have the use of it at
once ; if this has not been allowed for, the advantage of the new
light will have to be augmented in the ratio of 7 ; 4.

The following candidates were admitted ordinary members :—

1. Thomas Stewart Traill, Esq. Esq. M. D. F. R. S. E., Professor of
Medical Jurisprudence in the Unirersity of Edinburgh, 10 Albjn
"Place; 2. George Lees, Esq. A.M., Lecturer on Natural Philo-
sophy, 8 Regent Terrace ; 3. Mr James Slight, Engineer, Pan-
mure Place, residing in Eeid's Court, Canongate ; The Rev. J. P.
Nichol, 17 Archibald Place ; Mr Peter AVilson Roy, Music Seller,
7 Clermont Street "NVcst.

Proceeding's (yf'ihe Society/ irf' Arts. 421

Jan, 27. — Thomas Grainger, Esq. in the Chair. The following
communications were laid before tlie Society : —

1. Part third of a paper, on the Construction of Oblique Arches.
By Edwai'd Sang, Esq. teacher of Mathematics, Vice-Pres. Soc.
Arts. Drawings were exhibited.

In this part of the paper the f[)rms of the arch-stones were ex-
amined, and the methods of delineating and modelling them de-
scribed. The waste of material on account of the rhomboidal forms
of the stones was also discussed, and it was shewn, that the priu'-
cipal loss occurs on the ends of the stones, while scarcely any waste
is occasioned by the twist. It Was also mentioned, that any waste
occasioned by twist must have aiisen from the Use of improper
lines. Mr Sang stated, that he had revised and extended the former
parts of the paper ; and that, on investigating the appearances of
the joints when viewed from different sides, he had found the end
view to present the appearance of the Tractory, a curve well known
to students of the higher geometry ; while the side view of it is a
iiew curve, the companion to the tractory, closely allied to the trac-
tory and catenary, and capable of being described by a slight modi-
fication of Leslie's apparatus.

2. Description aiid Drawing of a New Escapement. By Mr
Duncan Macgregor, Comrie A model was exhibited.

3. Description of a New Construction of, and mode of propell-
ing Steam-Boats. By Dr A. Plantou, Philadelphia, United States,
the American patentee. Communicated by the Royal Society of
Edinburgh.

4. A large accurate model (about seven feet long) of the celebrat*
ed American Steam Raft-Boat, which plied for some time on the
River Hudson ; — the machinery of which was fitted up by Mr Nell
Snodgrass, now engineer, Glasgow ; — was exhibited through the
kindness of Mr Snodgrass. An explanatory letter from that gentle*
man was read.

5. Donation. — Solution of Algebraic Equations of all orders,
whether involving one or more unknown Quantities. By Edward
Sang, Esq. Teacher of Mathematics, Edinburgh. Eldin. 1829. From
the Author. Laid on the table.

6. The report of the Committee on Mr M*Pherson's New Pinion
Ball- Cock, was read and approved of.

7. A letter from Arthur Aitken, Esq. Sec. of Arts, London, wag
read, acknowledging receipt of the Select Printed Papers of the

VOL. XX. NO. XL. APRIL 1836. K C

Proceedings of the Society of Arts.

Society, recently forwarded to the London Society of Arts; and
returning" thanks for the donation.

The following candidates were admitted as Ordinary Memhers,
viz.

1. Mr James Haldane, Brass-founder (of Haldane and B.ae), 5 Physic
Gardens; 2. Mr Charles Cowan, Paper-maker, Valleyfield, Peni-
cuik ; 3. Mr Charles Lawson, Seedsman, 3 Hunter Square.

Feb, 17— Edward Sang, Esq. V. P. in the^ Oiair. The follow-
ing communications were laid before the Society : —

1. Model, Drawing, and Description of a new Nose-pipe for Fire-
engines ; having a contrivance by which, in a] moment, the water
may be thrown either in a column, as in the common jet, or spread
out in a sheet. By Mr Adam Hope, Jedburgh.

The change from one kind of jet to the other is effected by means
of a cylinder, through which two apertures are cut, the one with a
round, the other with an elongated opening. The cylinder turns
in its place, so that either one or other opening can be used. It
was stated, however, that as, during the change, both apertures are
for a short time closed, the sudden stoppage of the current would
rend the pipes, while, by merely placing the thumb over the open-
ing of the common jet, the same effect can be obtained.

2. Embossed Maps for the Blind; and specimens of printed
Music for their use, upon a new principle of notation, applicable
to music in general. By Mr James Gall, jun. 24. Niddry Street,
Edinburgh.

The embossed maps, formed by pressing thick paper into cavi-
ties prepared in a piece of metal, exhibited the outlines of countries,
the courses of the rivers, and the ridges of mountains very distinctly,
and seemed to possess the strength requisite for insuring their per-
manence. The principle of the new notation of music is to em-
ploy numbers referring to the key-note of the tune in!>tead of the
live bars and the characters now in use. Mr Gall developed his
ideas'on this subject at considerable length, and laid great stress on
the saving of room which would result from the adoption of his
system, as well as on its greater perspicuity.

3. Description of a new Process of Engraving in Relief on Cop-
per, called Metallic Ectypography. Invented by A. Dembour, en-
graver and lithographer, Metz. With Plates. Printed at Metz,
1835. Communicated by John Robison, Esq. Couns. Soc. Arts.

4. A new mode of Heating a Batli, by means of a portable boiler.

Scientific Intelligence. 42IB

By Mr John Macpherson (of Smith's Heirs), Blair Street, and Mr
C. H. Smith, garden architect, Edinburgh,

The Bath was heated in the rooms during the meeting, and the
following is the result of the trial, viz. the temperature of the water
in the bath before the fire was lighted was 51° Fahrenheit, and
after the water had been applied for forty-six minutes, the tempe-
rature of the water was risen to 110°.

5. The Report of the Committee on Mr Edgar's Wooden Bridge
was read and approved of.

The following candidates were admitted ordinary members : —

1. Thomas Greig, Esq. 5 Buccleugh Place; 2. James Hunter, Esq. M* D.
2 Cassells' Place; 3. Grant S. Dalrjmple, Esq. 19 Broughton
Place : 4. Mr James Milne, Brassfounder, Chalmers' Close, 39
Lauriston Place ; 5. Mr Alexander Bryson, Watchmaker, 8 South
Bridge Street.

SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE.

1. On the supposed Existence of a New Small Planet. By M. Cacch-
TORE, Director of the Observatory at Palermo. — On the 15th February,
M. Arago read to the Academy of Sciences, the following extract"
from a letter communicated to him by Captain Hall, and which had
been addressed by M. Cacciatore to Captain Smyth, '' I have some-
thing important to communicate to you. During the month of May 1835,
while I pursued observations, with which I have for a long time been oc-
cupied, on the proper movements of stars, I saw, near the seventeenth
star of the twelfth hour of the catalogue of Piazzi, another star, which
seemed to be also of the seventh or eighth magnitude ; I noted the dis-
tance which separated them. The weather did not permit me to observe
during the two following nights. It was only on the third that I agimi'
saw the new star ; it had moved a good deal towards the east and to-'
wards the equator ; clouds forced me to delay my observations for an-
other night ; but from that time till the end of the month of May, the
weather was dreadful ; the winter seemed to have recommenced at Pa-
lermo: heavy rains, and violent winds succeeded, and to such an es^tent/
as to prevent all kinds of researches. Fifteen days afterwards, when I
was again able to proceed with my observations, the star was . immersed
in the twilight of the evening, and all my efforts to find it were fruitless;
the stars of that magnitude were no longer visible. Tlic estimated move-
ment, in three days, seemed to me 10" in right ascension, and about one
minute (or a very little less) in declination, towards the north. A move-
ment so slow, induces me to suppose that the star is situated beyond

424 Scientific Intelligence.

Uttmus. I felt great disappomtment at not being able to follow up an
investigation so important." On this subject M. Arago makes the follow-
ing observations : — " There is in this communication a circumstance which
astronomers will have much difficulty in understanding. M. Cacciatore
says, that when the weather became favourable at Palermo, towards the
end of May, the moving star was no longer visible, owing to the crepus-
cular light of the evening. This explanation is admissible when the ques-
tion regards the passage of the star to the meridian ; but two or three
hours after sunset, or at night, nothing could prevent the comparison of
the suspected planet with the neighbouring stars, either by means of a pa-
rallactic machine, or with the great azimuth circle, which holds the first
rank among the instruments of the observatory at Palermo. It seems to
ns inconceivable that an observer so meritorious as M. Cacciatore, oppos-
ed by unfavourable circumstances though he was, should not have been
able to confirm the truth of such a capital discovery, — that he should not
have judged it proper to follow the star beyond the meridian.

2. Climate of Palestine. — In the Annuaire of 1834, M. Arago published
a memoir, which had for its object to prove that, since the time of Moses,
the temperature of Palestine has undergone no sensible alteration. The
Duke of Ragusa denies the accuracy of the facts on which the conclusion
is founded. He says, '' There are now no palms in the part of Palestine
indicated by the memoir," But, nevertheless, I find farther on in the
Marshal's communication, " that there are a few at Jericho ;'* that at
Jerusalem he saw three " nearly barren ;" at Rama, a place cited in the
article in question, " there are some which yielded fruit :" but certainly
if there are some at that spot, a great many might exist. One single palm-
tree producing ripe fruit, would be sufficient in a question as to the tem-
perature. The limit assigned, in the same article of the Annuaire, to the
cultivation of the vine, is also called in question. We here transcribe this
portion of the memoir, in order that botanists themselves may decide if
the facts adduced by the Duke of Ragusa are of a nature to modify their
old opinions. " The article fixes at between 21° and 22^ cent. (69°.8 and
7l°.6 Fah.) the maximum of temperature that the vine can bear when
productive, and, to justify this assertion, it states, that at Cairo, where
the mean temperature is 7l°.6 Fahr., the vine is not cultivated on the
great scale, and that there are there only detached vine plants. This is
. the fact in regard to the past, but then the cause is quite of another de-
scription. Considerable plantations of vines have lately been made, which
promise to aflbrd excellent returns ; but a decisive fact is, that there have
always been, and still are, vines in Fayoum, which is one of the hottest
provinces in Egypt owing to the hills of sand which surround it on all
sides. These vines are situated at the villages of Fidemia, Adjamira,
and Tumban ; they are cultivated by the Cophts, and yield agreeable
wines. That which I have drunk presents a phenomenon which is rare in
such a climate ; it does not afie^t the head, and is drinkable after the

4

\

Scientific Intelligence. ^AS

second year. Pocoke, who travelled in 1737, speaks of the cultivation of
the vine by the Cophts in Fayoura, and, what is still more important,
there is in the higher part of Upper Egypt, at Esn^, twelve leagues to the
south of Thebes, a vineyard which has an extent of several feddams. Its
original object was doubtless to yield grapes for eating, but Jussuff Kia-
chefF, formerly soldier in the army sent to Egypt, and who was taken
prisoner by the Mamelukes at the period of the evacuation, and remained
in the east, informed rae that he farmed the vineyard ; that he made ex-
cellent wine of the produce, and obtained a quantity equal to that afford-
«d by the vineyards of Europe. We may then conclude from these facts,
that if in Egypt, till within a few years, the vine has not been cultivated
on a great scale, it is because the inhabitants do not drink wine, and that
we are not to draw the inference, that there is a maximum of temperature
above which the vine does not yield the means of making wine."

3. Indications of a Change in the relative Levels of the Land and Sea
on the West Coast of Scotland. — Mr Smith of JJordanhill is at present en-
gaged in the investigation of tiiis subject, and has found at Glasgow, be-
tween the diluvium and the recent beds of sand formed by the river, a
marine deposit of finely laminated clay containing marine shells, all of
them identical with recent species, except a natica. This deposit has
been met with from a few feet to seventy feet above the present level of
the sea, and besides shells, contains sea- weeds and bones of fish and sea-
fowl. It would, says Mr Smith, be termed a recent pliocene formation
by Mr Lyell. The shells seventy feet above the level of the sea, were
found on the banks of Loch-Lomond ;• and Mr S. has observed near
Glasgow, shells at the height of fifty-five feet contained in clay, which
must originally have been found at the bottom of the sea, and is now sixty
feet above high water-mark. j<j,

4. Facts relating to the Soulemment or Rising of Scandinavia at a fi>-
cent epoch. By M. Kbilhau. — In the remarks I am about to offer, it is
not my intention to speak of the remarkable rismg taking place at the
present time in a part of the districts situated near the Baltic, but rather
to treat of the risings which, at a period more or less remote, have oc-
curred at certain intervals, and may be compared to great shocks ; and
whose traces are so analogous to the facts which have been observed,
particularly in Chili immediately after the earthquake of 1822, that we
are at once induced to place them in connexion with the earthquakes which
are still very distinctly felt in Scandinavia. The traces of these risings
consist here, as in many other countries, chiefly of remains of marine
animals left in places which are now elevated to a height of several hun-
dred feet above the level of the sea, and also of ancient shore lines
wliich are found dry at certain distances from the present margin of the
sea. In the " Magaxin for Naturvidenskaberne (2d Series, vol. i.), I

* Vide Wemerian Memoirs, for Adamson's Observations on the Recent. S^
Shells found on the shores of Loch-Lomond. "' '^' ^ ''^ ' ' 'v^Jfe^ * ^vu#

. Scientific Intelligence.

have described a shore line formed at an early period by the Gulf of
Drontheim, at the foot of a sandy bank, near Steenkjor, and now situated
about twenty feet above the Fjord. In the same journal I have also in-
dicated the horizontal channellings which have been remarked ih the
prefecture of Nordlands, and in Finmark, not only in the loose soil, but
also in the hard rock, at a height of from fifty to one hundred feet above
the level of the sea. We must doubtless refer also to this class of facts,
certain accumulations of rolled blocks ranged in a parallel manner at the
margin of the sea, which have been observed at Sandmoor by M. Schive,
the inspector of lighthouses, who will soon publish a notice on the subject.
As to the other class of facts in question, many of the phenomena have
already been made known to geologists, by the travels of MM. de Buch,
Hisinger, and Brongniart. But last year I made some new researches,
which have led me to some general results. After having, during pre-
vious expeditions, examined many localities in the north {Magazin for
Nafur, 1. c), and in the south of Norway, where the shell gravel occurs
which has been examined in other quarters by the authors I have just
citedj and where also the clay has been found, containing marine shells,
observed near Steenkjor by Von Buch, I devoted nearly the entire vaca-
tion of last summer to the investigation of these same deposits. My
friend M. Boeck, Professor at the Veterinary School of Christiana (who is
about to make himself known to geologists by a monograph on trilo-
bites), and myself, surveyed more particularly the prefecture of Smaaleh-
nene, where these deposits occur most frequently, I need not remind
geologists of the very interesting discovery made by M. A. Brongniart, of
the bases of Balani still adhering to the rock, at an elevation of nearly
200 feet above the level of the sea, near Uddevalla, in Sweden. The
same fact presented itself to us at a place called Hellesaaen, about eight
leagues distant from the coast, and elevated about 430 Paris feet above
the level of the sea. We saw the shell gravel at several places where it
had not been previously noticed ; and there were always at least some
of the shells, even the most fragile, in a state of conservation so perfect,
that there cannot be a doubt of the gravel having been formed on the
spots where it now reposes. As to the clay, it appeared to us pretty
certain that all the great argillaceous deposits so widely spread over the
S. E. of Norway, often having a thickness of upwards of 100 feet,
and from which clay for bricks is obtained, belong, without exception,
to the same formation, although it appears that in certain places they
contain no fossils. We collected about fifty species of shells in the
gravel and in the clay. M. Deshaycs has examined nearly the whole col-
lection, and has detected no species which do not occur in a recent state
in the North Sea. (All the fossils of the shell gravel of which IVI. Hisinger
has lately given the enumeration, are living species.) Besides the shells,
we may also cite the skeleton of a whale which was discovered in 1682,
near Frederikshald, in the clay of Fistedalcn, and another found in the

Scientific Intelligence. Wl

same formation in the valley of Stordalen. Some remains of fishes and
echini enveloped in hardened clay, and brought from Romsdalen and
Nordmor, seem to have been derived from the ordinary clay of which we
speak. Finally, the marine plants in the peat of Oreland, already re-
marked by M. Fabricius, will complete the list of organic remains con-
tained in these recent deposits. Much has been said of bones of whales
which it is pretended have been found at considerable elevations in Nord-
land and Finmark, but hitherto they have not been seen by any natu-
ralist, and we cannot yet range such assertions among our citations of
facts, although they seem by no means improbable, especially since the
discovery made by Ross in Lancaster Sound. Without dwelling more
on these particulars, I shall now only mention the results to which I
have been led by my researches on marine deposits, regarded as traces of
the rising ( soulevement ) of the surface of Scandinavia. \8t, The clay in
question (that is, the common clay of Norway, which is used for the
manufacture of bricks), the shell gravel and the peat, at Zoffera, indicate,
by the different level of the masses they form, several reiterated risings
(soulevemens). 2d, The argillaceous deposits, more especially, occur at
different elevations, and forming several terraces, some being at a greater
height than the others. The maximum height of these terraces seems to
be about 600 Paris feet. 8rf, The shell gravel deposits being met with
from North Sweden to Finmark, the upraised districts must have had a
very considerable extent ; there is certainly no reason for supposing that
each shock must have acted on all that part of Scandinavia, but still a very
remarkable equality in the distribution of the masses in question supports
the belief that at least some of the soulevemens must have been almost ge-
neral.* Besides the ancient shore-lines and the marine deposits of which I
have now spoken, there is still a curious fact which is probably connected
witli the same Scandinavian risings {soulevemens). In many places, on the
high mountains, the limits of vegetation seem to have descended. Roots
of trees are found where shrubs hardly grow at present ; forests of pines
(Pinus sylvestris) terminate on the flanks of mountains by lines of dead
trees, wliich, however, have remained in their upright position for seve-
ral ages, &c. This fact has been observed not only in Sweden, but also
in Norway, which does not seem to undergo the same gradual rising as
the eastern part of Peninsula. As to this last movement of the sur-
face of Scandinavia, I have hazarded the conjecture, that even this
change of level, which, according to ordinary views, is altogether unique
of its kind, is to be attributed to shocks that have taken place du-
rhig earthquakes, but that these shocks are inconsiderable, and that
the soulevement which results from them is only perceptible after their
long-continued repetition. — Lift of Fossils of the Norwegian Shell Gra-

• Even in Spitzbergen, I have remarked beds of clay analogous to those of
Scandinavia of which we are now speaking, and elevated about twenty feet
above the shore. In these beds I found the Buccinura carinatum, a shell pe-
culiar to the Polar Sea.

MB Scientific Intelligence.

vel : — Corbula nucleus. Lam.* Corbula pisiformis.** Mya trahcata.**
Lutraria Boysii.* Amphldesma, n. sp.* Saxicava rugosa. Lam.* Saxi-
cava arctica, Desh.* Saxicava pholadis. Lam.* Tellina, n. sp.* Lu-
cina radula.* Venus radiata^ Brocchi.* Astarte, n. sp.* Astarte, n. sp.*
Astarte, n. sp.* Cyprina Islandica.* Cardium edule. Tar.* Cardium
echinatum.** Area, n. sp.* Nucula rostrata. Lam.* Nucula, n. sp.*
Nucula Margaritacea.** Mytilus umbilicatus, Pennant.* Mytilus eduHs.*
Pecten pseudamusimn, Chemn.* Pecten islandicus.* Ostrea Margarita-

cea. Lam.* Ostrea . .* Anomia Ephippium, Lam.* Den-

talium cutalis.** Dentalium dentalis.** Patella . .* Emar-

ginula fissura.* Rinuda (Defr.) sp. n.* Bulla liguaria.* Natica elausa,
Lyell.* Turritella terebra.* Turbo littoreus. Lam.* Troehus cinera-
rius.** Cerithium reticulatum.* Fusus comeus.* Fusus peravianus.*
Rostellaria pes pelieani.** Buecinum undatum.* Buecinum reticula-
tum.* Balanus suleatus.* Balnus — ■ — . .* Balanus .* Ser-

pula . .* Serpula . .* Nullipora polymorpha.**

5. M, de Collegno on the Soulevements of the Hills of Superga. — At a re-
cent meeting of the French Academy of Sciences, an Essay was presented
by M, H. de Collegno on the geological constitution of the hills of Superga,
near Turin. The following are the conclusions deduced by the author from
his investigations, and which, while they confirm the observations made
many years ago on this well known locality by M. A. Brongniart,at the same
time indicate some interesting results obtained by M. de Callegno, con-
nected with M. Elie de Beaumount's views on Soulevements. 1. The hills
of Superga are composed of beds belonging to three different formations,
viz. the upper chalk, the middle tertiary formation, and the upper ter-
tiary formation. 2. The present relief oi the surface of these hills results
from three distinct movements, which have taken place each at the ter-
mination of one of these periods and at the commencement of another.
3. The relative age of these " soulevements," although it is not proved to
us by phenomena so well marked as those pointed out by Beaumount in
great chains of mountains, is nevertheless well determined by the dis-
cordant arrangement of the beds of the different formations. The three dis-
locations observable in the hills of Superga correspond to the soulevement
of the three chains of mountains which divide or surround Italy, viz. the
great systems of the Apennines, the Western Alps, and the Eastern Alps.

6. On the Presence of Cobalt and other metals in the Upper Sandstones of
the Tertiary Formations of Paris. — At the meeting of the Academy
of Sciences of the 29th February, M. Alexander Brongniart commu-
nicated a very interesting discovery recently made by the Duke of
Luynes, who has detected the presence of cobalt in the proportion of at
least one per cent, of manganese, and of traces of copper and arsenic, in
the ferruginous sandstone of the abandoned quarry of Saint-Clair, near

• Species determined by M. Deshayes at Paris.

* • Species determined by M . Deslongchamps at Cii,en.

Scientific Intelligence. 439

Orsay, and In that of the quarry of Seaux-les-Chartreux, near Palaiseau.
In the " Geognosic du Bassin do Paris/' published by Brongniart and Cu-
vier in 1822, mention is made of the occurrence of deposits of arenaceous
limonite and scattered nodules of hydrate of iron^ in the same position as
the cobalt has now been found; and in 1835, M. Brongniart observed in
the sand accompanying the millstones of the quarry of Tarteret a thin bed
of red argillaceous sand, which, from its external characters, he suspected
to contain manganese ; and this idea was confirmed by the analysis made
by M. Malagutti. In the deposits of marly gypsum near Paris, mangan-
ese has been found in concretions, and having a dendritic arrangement ;
and zinc has been detected in the arenaceous limestones which form the
transition from the gypsum formation to the calcaire grossier. Besides
iron, manganese, and zinc, no other metal has hitherto been discovered in
the tertiary series ; but the discovery now announced proves that cobalt,
a metal formerly regarded as one of the most ancient, whose presence
had not been detected even in the chalk or Jura formations, either in
veins or disseminated portions, exists disseminated, and in an original pO"
sition, in the upper sandstone of Paris, that is, in the middle tertiary for-
mation. In the present case the cobalt is accompanied by the substances
generally associated with it, copper and arsenic, but also by manganese,
which has never been found combined with it except in one instance.
The only other authentic example of manganesian cobalt, being one men-
tioned by the Duke of Luynes himself, as occurring at Rengensdorf, in
Alsace, at which locality a compound is found having great analogy to
that of Orsay, but in a very dificrent geological position, viz. in a vein of
quartz traversing clay-slate. M. Brongniart remarks, that, if we carry out
researches further, and examine what are the metals which have been
brought to the surface of the earth during or after the tertiary period by
volcanic action, we find thai in lavas, basalts, trachytes, &c. there occur
disseminated, iron, manganese, titanium, and copper, but no cobalt ; and
in veins, lead, zinc, antimony^ silver, gold, and tellurium, but still no co-
balt. Among the products of volcanos at present in action we find fre-
quently arsenicj selenium, copper, and iron ; but the only indication of
cobalt hitherto discovered, was in a salt of cobalt observed by Davy in
one instance in Vesuvius. M. Brongniart terminated his communication
to the Academy by stating his belief that geologists, by careful investiga-
tion, will succeed in detecting manganese, cobalt, and zinc in other loca-
lities of tertiary rocks, for these metals " must have been introduced into
the tertiary strata of Paris by powerful and, consequently, general causes,
and there is no example on the face of the globe of a phenomenon limited
to one single point."

7. On the Colours of Flowers. — A curious essay on this subject, entitled
" Die/arben der Bl»tlien" was published last year at Bonn, by Dr Mac-
quart, from which we extract the following abstract of the results ob-
tained : — 1. All flower leaves are originally green in the bud. 2. Chloro-
phyll contains no nitrogen. 3. All the tints of flowers are produced by

430 Scientific Intelligence.

two colouring matters. 4. These colouring matters are produced by the
action of the livmg principle on Chlorophyll. 6, When water or its ele-
ments are removed from Chlorophyll, Anthokyan is formed. 6. Anthokyan
is the colouring matter in blue, violet, and red flowers. 7. By the addi-
tion of water Anthoxanthin is formed from Chlorophyll. 8. Anthoxanthin
is the colouring matter of yellow flowers. 9. Besides these two colouring
matters we find in white, blue, red, and violet flowers, a flower resin,
which may be regarded as the transition between Chlorophyll and Antho-
kyan, 10. There is also a slightly coloured extractive matter in white
and yellow flowers, which is to be considered as the colourless sap of the
cells. It is remarkable for its extreme sensibility in regard to alkalies,
which colour it yellow. 11. The form of the cells has no influence on
the production of a certain colour. 12. Orange-yellow flowers contain
both colouring matters, Anthoxanthin, and Anthokyan which is reddened
by acids. 13. Brown flowers contain Chlorophyll, and Anthokyan that is
reddened by acids. 14. Flowers which contain both colouring matters
produce Anthokyan in the epidermis and the upper layers of the cells, but
Anthoxanthin in the interior of the cells. 15. Anthokyan is also the colour-
ing matter of the other red leaf-like organs, but is in such cases covered
by a colourless epidermis. 16. A black colouring matter does not exist
in leaf-like organs ; plants concentrate so much a blue, violet, or green
tint that it seems to us a black. 17. The alteration of the colour of flowers
must be observed with reference to the different periods of the life of the
plants. 18. Yellow proceeds directly from green. 19. After the period
of fructification, yellow passes frequently to the opposite range of colours.

20. All buds of red and blue flowers pass from green through white to red.

21. White is the transition-step to blue. 22. Blue flowers are red in bud,
because they have not begun to respire. 23. Some blue flowers become
red and others white after the period of flowering. 24. The blue colour
subsequently acquired by many red flowers may be explained in two modes.

List of Patents granted in Scotlandjrom December 18. 1835,
to March 18. 1836.

1835,
Dec. 18. To John Houldsworth of Glasgow, in the county of Lanark, cotton-
spinner, in consequence of a communication made to him by a cer-
tain foreigner residing abroad, for an invention of " certain im-
provements applicable to drawing and slabbing frames used in the
manufacture of cotton and other fibrous substances."
24. To Joseph Skinner of Fen Court in the city of London, civil-
engineer, for an invention of " improvements in machinery for
cutting wood for veneers, and other purposes."
To John Joseph Charles Sheridan of Walworth, in the county of
Surrey, alchymist, for an invention of " an improvement in the
manufacture of soap."
31. To William Symington of Bromley, in the county of Middlesex,
cooper, for an invention of " certain improvements in the steam-
engine, and in the machinery and apparatus for propelling vessels
by steam, which improvements are wholly, or in part, also appli-

List of Scottish Patents. Wi

cable as and to motive machinery of other descriptiong, whether
actuated by steam, or by any other moving power. '
1836,
Jan. a To Elijah Galloway of Westmoreland Place, City Road, in the
county of Middlesex, engineer, for an invention of " certain im-
provements in steam-engines, which improvements are applicable
to other purposes."
To James BuUough of Blackburn, in the county of Lancaster,
mechanic, for an invention of " certain improvements in hand-
looms and power-looms."
U. To John Malam of Kingston-upon-Hull, in the county of York,
civil-engineer, for an invention of " certain improvements in gas
metres, and in the apparatus for generating gas for illumination."

14. To Joseph Whitworth of Manchester, in the county palatine of

Lancaster, engineer, for an invention of ** certain improvements
in machinery tor spinning, twisting, and doubling cotton, flax, wool,
and other fibrous substances."

15. To "William Harter of Manchester, silk manufacturer, for an inven-

tion of " certain improvements in machinery for winding, cleaning,
drawing, and doubling hard and soft silk, which improvements are
also applicable to machinery for winding, cleaning, and doubling
thread or yarn, manufactured from cotton or other fibrous mate-
rials."
To Thomas Jevons of Liverpool, in the county of Lancaster, in con-
sequence of a communication made to him by a certain foreigner
residing abroad, for an invention of " certain improved machinery
to be used in manufacturing bars or wrought iron into shoes for
horses, and also into shapes for other purposes."

18. To Thomas Greig of Rose Bank in the parish of Bury, in the county

of Lancaster, calico-printer, for an invention of " a mode of em-
bossing and printing at one and the same time, by means of a cy-
linder or roller, on goods or fabrics made of or from cotton, siUc,
flax, hemp, and wool, or any one or more of those materials, or on
paper."

19. To Andrew Smith of Prince's Street, Haymarket, in the county of

Middlesex, engineer, for an invention of " a new standing rigging
for ships and vessels, and a new method of fitting and using it."

20. To John Day of York Terrace, Peckham, in the county of Surrey,

gentleman, for an invention of " an improved wheel for carriages
of different descriptions."
Feb. 1. To Moses Poole of the patent office, in the county of Middlesex,
gentleman, in consequence of a communication made to him by a
certain foreigner residing abroad, for an invention of " improve-
ments in Jacquard looms."
To John Cooper Douglas of Great Ormond Street, in the county of
Middlesex, Esquire, for an invention of " certain improvements in
making vinegar from various materials, and in making useful
articles from the refuse of such materials, and also in apparatus for
applying and conducting heat to liquids to be used in the manu-
facture of vinegar and other purposes."
3. To Lightly Simpson of Manchester, in the county of Lancaster, al-
chymist, for an invention of " certain improvements in the pre-
paration of certain colours to be used for printing cotton and other
fabrics."

3. To John George Bodmer of Bolton-le-Moors, in the county pala-

tine of Lancaster, engineer, for an invention of " certain improve-
ments in machinery for preparing, roving, and spinning cotton
and wool."

4. To James Brown of Esk Mill, in the parish of Pennycuick, in the

county of Edinburgh, North Britain, for an invention of " a cer-
tain improvement, or certain improvements, in the making or
manufacturing of paper."

432 Lut ofScottkh Patents.

Feb. 4. To John Hewitt of Kinezie, Cornwall, gentleman, for an invention
of " a combination of certain materials or matters which being
combined or mixed together, will form a valuable substance or
compound, and may be used with or as a substitute for soap."
12. To James Kean of Johnston, in the county of Renfrew, in the king-
dom of Scotland, machine maker and engineer, for an invention
of '' an improved throstle fiyer, or a substitute for an ordinary
flyer, employed in spinning cotton, flax, hemp, wool, silk, and
other fibrous substances."
18. To Edmund Ashworth of Egerton, in the county of Lancaster, cotton
spinner, and James CJreenough of the same place, overlooker, for
an invention of "certain improvements in the machinery used in
preparing and spinning cotton, silk, wool, and other fibrous mate-
rials.

To Franz Moll of Grove Lane Terrace, Camber well, in the county
of Surrey, Esquire, for an invention of " improvements in pre-
serving certain vegetable substances from decay."
. To Julius Jeffreys of Osnaburgh Street, Regent's Park, in the county
of Middlesex, Esquire, for an invention of '* improvements in
curing or relieving disorders of the lungs."
^ c2^. To William Boulnois junior, of Gower Street, in the county of Mid-
dlesex, Esquire, for an invention of " an improved combination or
"111(5 ] arrangement of springs for carriages."

To Robert Griflith of Birmingham, in the county of Warwick, ma-
chine maker, for an invention of" improvements in machinery for
making rivetts, screw blanks, and bolts."
March I. To William Wainwright Potts of Burslem, in the county of Staf-
ford, china and earthenware manufacturer, for an invention of
*' an improved method or process of producing patterns in one or
more colours, to be transferred to earthenware, porcelain, china,
glass, and other similar substances."

To John Baillie of Great Suffolk Street, Southwark, in the county of
Surrey, engineer, for an invention of " improvements in propelling
of vessels and other floating bodies by means of steam or other
])0wer.''
4. To Miles Berry of the office for patents, No. 66 Chancery Lane, in
the county of Middlesex, civil engineer and mechanical draftsman,
in consequence of a communication made to him by a certain
foreigner residing abroad, for an invention " for a certain improve-
ment or certain improvements in power looms for weaving."

7. To "NV^illiam Wilson of the city of Glasgow, in Scotland, manufac-

turer, for an invention of " a method of making chains of wire."

8. To Charles Schafhautl of Sheffield, in the county of York, gentle-

man, for an invention of " improved gear for obtaining a continu-
ous rotary action."

To Charles Schafhautl of Sheffield, in the county of York, gentle-
man, for an invention of " an improved steam generator."

To John Barsham of Stepney Causeway, in the county of Middlesex,

oxalic acid manufacturer, for an invention of '-' improvements in

the manufacture of oxalic and salacetocella."

15. To Clinton Gray Gilroy of Argyle Street, New Road, St Pancras, in

the coirtity of Middlesex, engineer, for an invention of " certain

«i- 4 ,,; improvements in machinery for weaving plain and figured fabrics."

- 18. To Francis Brewin of the Kent Road, in the county of Surrey,

Esquire, for an invention of " a certain new and improved process

of tanning."

To James Morison of Paisley, North Britain, manufacturer, for an
invention of " improvements on the jacquard^jnai^iine, and on
what is called the ten box lay, and on the^j?<^dStiKi"ftnH^tamping
machines used in making shawls and othe^;figure^R^rk^

I N D l: X.

Animals, on the foot-marks of, in rocks, 179.

Arctic expeditions, remarks on, 93.

Arago, M., his notice concerning the life and writings of Profes-
sor Brinkley, 161 On the nature of the light of comets, 170.

— Biographical memoir of Dr Thomas Young, 213. — Ques-
tions for solution relating to meteorology, hydrography, and
the art of navigation, 393.

Arts, proceedings of the Society of, 201, 419.

Atmosphere, composition of the, 205.

Aurora Borealis observed at Edinburgh November 18. 1835, 205.

Baily, Francis, Esq. hi^ account of the Rev. .Tolm Fiamstead, 131.

Bell, Sir Charles, notice of the appointment of, to the Chair of Sur-

" gcry in the University of Edinburgh, 204.

Bear, notice of the polar, 208.

Beaumount, M. L. Elie de, on the structure and origin of Morittt

Etna, 185, 376.
Beroe, on a species of, by Robert Paterson, Esq , 26.
Biot, M., his abstract of the memoirs of John Napier of Merchis-

ton, with notes, 255.
Bridge, account of the great suspension, at Fribourg, 123.
Brinkley, Professor, notice concerning the life and writings of, by

M. Arago, 161.
Bromhead, Sir Edward Ffrench, his remtirks on the arrangement o(

the natural botanical families, 245.
Bronn, Dr, notice of a work entitled Lethaia Geognostica by, 211,

Calculi, on some minute, found in the urinary bladder of an ox,
by Dr Davy, 327.

Castor, description and drawing of a new pivot, by John Robi-
son, Esq., 130.

Caterpillars, effect of intense cold on, 207.

Cavities, on the infra-orbital, of deers and antilopes, by Dr Jacob, 74*

Chalk, on the, and flint of Yorkshire, by James JMitchell, Esq., 68.

Civiale, Dr, his statistical researches on calculous affections, 173.

Clark, Dr, notice of his treatise on pulmonary consumption and scro-
fulous dishes, 209.

Climate of j^estijbe, 424.

Collegno, M. (i<5|; on^iiie soulevements of the hills of Superga, 428.

434 Indea^,

Coloui-s of flowers, on the, 429.

Comatula, account of, 295.

Connell, Mr, on the chemical constitution of gadolinite, 300.

Comets, on the nature of the light of, by M. Arago, 170.

Cosiguina, eruptions of the volcano of the, by Col. Juan Galindo, 165.

Cuvier, Baron, his biographical memoir of M. de Lamarck, L

Davy, John, M. D., on a curious phenomenon observed in the Island
of Cephalonia, and on the proximate cause of earthquakes in
the Ionian Islands, 116. His notice of some minute calculi
found in the urinary bladder of an ox, 327.

Don, David, Esq., notice of the appointment of, to the Botanical
Chair in King's College, London, 204.

Dufrenoy, M., on the volcanic formations of the environs of Naples,
126.

Eclipse, annular, of the sun, on 15th May 1836, 188.
Ehrenberg, Professor, his researches on the infusoria, 42.
Etna, on the structure and origin of, by Elie de Beaumont, 185, 376.
Expeditions, on some circumstances connected with the original
suggestion of the modern Arctic, by the Rev. W. Scoresby, 93.

Faraday, Michael, Esq., his reply to Dr J. Davy, 37.
Flamsteed, short accountof the Reverend John, by Francis Baily, 131.
Flora, Northern, notice of a, soon to appear, by Dr Murray, 211,
Forbes, Dr, notice of a Manual of Select Medical Bibliography by,.

210.
Forbes, Professor, receives the Keith Medal, 405.

Gairdner, Dr M., his meteorological observations made at Fort
Vancouver, 67. — Climate of Fort Vancouver, 205.

Galbraith, Mr W., on the powers and use of Kater's altitude and
azimuth circle, 241.

Galindo, Colonel Juan, on the eruptions of the volcano of the Cosi-
guina, 165.

Gadolinite, on the chemical constitution of, 300.

Geology, 206.

Graham, Dr, his list of new and rare plants, 189, 412.

Gray, John Edward, Esq., his remarks on the difficulty of distin-
guishing certain genera of testaceous mollusca by their shells
alone, 79.

Index. 436

Gathrie, Alexander, Esq., bis account of a single reflecting micro-
scope, 326.

Hepburn, J. Stewart, Esq., on tbe cause of obstruction in water-
pipes, &c., 100.

Hope, Dr, bis address on delivering tbfi Keitb medal, 403.

Horner, Leonard, Esq., on tbe occurrence of tbe Megalicbtbys in a
bed of Cannel Coal, 309.

Infusoria, Professor Ebrenberg's researcbes on tbe, 42.
Ionian Islands, on tbe proximate cause of eartbquakes in tbe, by Dr
Jobn Davy, 116.

Jenyns, Rev. Leonard, notice of a work on tbe Britisb Vertebrate

Animals by, 210.
Jobnston, Jobn, Esq., notice of a systematic treatise on tbe tbeory

of draining land, &c. by, 210.

Lamarck, M. de, biograpbical memoir of, by Baron Cuvier, 1 .
Lemming, effect of cold on tbe fur of tbe Hudson's Bay, 207.

Meteorology, questions for solution relating to, bydrograpby, and
tbe art of navigation, by M. Arago, 393.

Megalicbtbys, on tbe occurrence of tbe, in cannel coal, by Leonard
Horner, Esq. 309.

Microscope, notice of a single reflecting, by Alexander Gutbrie,
Esq. 236,

Mitcbell, Dr James, on tbe cbalk and flint of Yorksbire, 68.

Molasse, on tbe age of tbe, of Switzerland, 207.

Mollusca, remarks on tbe difficulties of distinguisbing certain tes-
taceous, by tbeir sbells alone, by Jobn Edward Gray, Esq., 79.

Observations, meteorological, made at Fort Vancouver, by Dr M.
Gairdner, 67.

Paine, Mr R, T., on tbe phases of tbe annular eclipse of tbe sun,
188.

Palestine, climate of, 425.

Paris, on tbe presence of cobalt in tbe upper sandstones of tbe ter-
tiary formations of, 428. ^

Patterson, Robert, Esq., on a species of beroe, 26.

Patents, list of, granted in Scotland, 202, 430.

486 Index,

Pendulum escapement, description of a new detached, 303.

Pigeon, notice of the passenger, 209.

Planet, on the new one whose existence has been suspected, 423.

Plants, notice of the spontaneous growth of, 209.

Poison, Dulong, &c., their report respecting the statistical researches

of Dr Civiale on calculous affections, made to the Academie

des Sciences, 173.
Publications, New, 209.

Railway, remarks on the Dublin and Kingstown, 320.
Robison, John, Esq., description of a new pivot castor, 130.
Royal Society of Edinburgh, proceedings of, 414.

Selby, 3* P., Esq., his remarks on the quadrupeds inhabiting th0
county of Sutherland, 156, — on the birds, 286.

Scandinavia, facts relating to the rising of, 425.

Scotland, on the change in the relative levels of the land and sea
on the west coast of, 425. w

Scoresby, Rev. W., on some circumstances connected with the ori-
ginal suggestion of the modern Arctic expeditions, 93.

Society of Arts for Scotland, proceedings of, 201, 419.

Springs, on the temperature of hot and thermal, by Professor Bis-
chof, 329.

Stevenson, D., Esq , his remarks on the Dublin and Kingstown
railway, 320.

Superga, on the soulevements of the hills of, 428.

Sun, phases of the annular eclipse of the, by Mr R. T. Paine, 188.

Sutherland, notice of the quadrupeds and birds inhabiting the
county of, by P. J. Selby, Esq., 156, 288.

Tables, on the Hindoo astronomical, 22.

Thompson, John V-, Esq., his memoir on the star-fish of the genus
Comatula, 295.

Vancouver, Fort, its climate, 205.

Witherspoon, Alexander, his description of a new detached pen-
dulum escapement, 303.
Wernerian Natural History Society, proceedings of the, 197, 418.
Whale, notice of the black, 208.

Young, Dr Thomas, biographical memoir ofj^b^C^i^^^S&gp, 213.

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