THE
EDINBURGH NEW
PHILOSOPHICAL JOURNAL.
0^ ii U i".
THE
EDINBURGH NEW
PHILOSOPHICAL JOURNAL,
EXHIBITING A VIEW OP THE
PROGRESSIVE DISCOVERIES AND IMPROVEMENTS
SCIENCES AND T
CONDUCTED BY\W>,
ROBERT JAME
&EQIC9 PEOFESSOB OF NATUBAL HISTOBT, lECTCBEB ON MINEBAIOQY, AND KEEPEB OF
THE MUSEUM IN THE UNIVEBSITY OF EDINBUKGH ;
Fellow of the Royal Societies of London and Edinburgli ; Honorary Member of the Royal Irish Academy ; of the
Royal Society of Sciences of Denmark ; of the Royal Academy of Sciences of Berlin ; of the Royal Academy of
Naples ; of the Geological Society of France ; Honorary Member of the Asiatic Society of Calcutta ; Fellow of
the Royal Linnean, and of the Geological Societies of London ; of the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall, and
of the Cambridge Philosophical Society ; of the Antiquarian, Wemerian Natural History, Royal Medical, Royal
Physical, and Horticultural Societies of Edinburgh ; of the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland ; of
the Antiquarian and Literary Society of Perth ; of the Statistical Society of Glasgow ; of the Royal Dublin
Society ; of the York, Bristol, Cambrian, Whitby, Northern, and Cork Institutions ; of the Natural History So-
ciety of Northumberland, Durham, and Newcastle ; of the Imperial Pharmaceutical Society of Petersburgh ; of
the Natural History Society of Wetterau ; of the Mineralogical Society of Jena ; of the Royal Mineralogical So-
ciety of Dresden ; of the Natural History Society of Paris ; of the Philomathic Society of Paris ; of the Natural
History Society of Calvados ; of the Senkenberg Society of Natural History ; of the Society of Natural Sciences
and Medicine of Heidelberg ; Honorary Member of the Literary and Philosophical Society of New York ; of
the New York Historical Society; of the American Antiquarian Society ; of the Academy of Natural Sciences of
Philadelphia ; of the Lyceum of Natural History of New York ; of the Natural History Society of Montreal ; of
the Franklin Institute of the Stote of Pennsylvania for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts ; of the Geological
Society of Pennsylvania ; of the Boston Society of Natural History of the United States ; of the South African
Institution of the Cape of Good Hope ; Honorary Member of the Statistical Society of France ; Member of the
Entomological Society of Stettin, &c. &c. &c.
OCTOBER 1845 .... APRIL 1846.
VOL. XL.
TO BE CONTINUED QUARTERLY,
EDINBURGH :
ADAM & CHARLES BLACK, EDINBURGH:
LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN & LONGMANS, LONDON.
1846.
:^/lL H\S
^^:
PMIMtED BY NEILL AND COMPANY, EDINBUKaH.
CONTENTS.
PAGK
Art. I. On the Life and Writings of Theodore de Saussure.
By Professor Macaire, 1
II. On the Ethnography of Russian America. By R. G.
Latham, M.D. Communicated for the Edinburgh
New Philosophical Journal by the Ethnological
Society, 35
III. Miscellaneous Observations made during a Voyage
from England to Barbadoes. By John Davy,
M.D., F.R.S., London and Edinburgh, Inspector-
General of Army Hospitals. Communicated by
the Author, ...... 45
1. Of the Temperature of the Sea at the Surface, and of
the Specific Gravity of the Surface Water, . 45
2. Of the effect of Sea-sickness as a remedial means, 48
3. Of the effect of increased Atmospheric Temperature
on the Temperature of Man, . . . 50
4. Of the Temperature of different parts of the Body on
entering a Warm Climate, . . . 51
5. Of the Early Morning Temperature of the Body within
the Tropics, . . . . . 53
6. Of the effect of a High Artificial Temperature on Man, 54
7. Of the Ventilation and Cooling of Steam-ships, . 57
IV. On some new and curious Curves, generated by the
Images reflected from Plane Mirrors, in a state of
rapid rotation around a fixed Axis. By Adam
Anderson, LL.D., F.R.S.E., &c.. Professor of
Natural Philosophy in the United College, St
Andrews. With three Plates. Communicated
by the Author, • 69
11 CONTENTS.
PAGE
V. Notes on the Topography and Geology of the
Cuchullin Hills in Skye, and on the traces of
Ancient Glaciers which they present. By Pro-
fessor J. D. Forbes. With two Plates. Com-
municated by the Author, .... 76
VI. On the Temperature of the Springs, Wells, and
Rivers of India and Egypt, and of the Sea and
Table-lands within the Tropics. By Captain
Newbold, Madras Army, F.R.S., ... 99
Table I. Temperature of Springs and Wells, . . HO
II. Temperature of Rivers, . . . . Ill
III. Temperature of Thermal Springs, . . 112
IV". Comparative Register of the Temperature of the Air
(in the shade) and of the Sea, from Bombay to Suez, 113
V. Memoranda, supplied by the kindness of a Friend,
from the Register kept on board the H.E.I.C.'s
Steamer Cleopatra, from Bombay to Suez, . 113
VII. On certain Pseud o-Morphous Crystals of Quartz.
By Robert Were Fox, . . . .115
VIII. On Fossil Fishes, particularly those of the London
Clay. By Professor Agassiz. With a Plate, 121
IX. On the Existence of Glaciers and Icebergs in Scot-
land at an ancient epoch. With a Map. By
Charles Maclaren, Esq., F.R.S.E., &c. Com-
municated by the Author, . . . .125
X. Experiments on Electro- Culture. By Andrew Fyfe,
M.D., F.R.S.E., F.R.S.S.A., Professor of Medi-
cine and of Chemistry, University and King's
College, Aberdeen. With a Plate. Communi-
cated by the Royal Scottish Society of Arts, 143
XI. Tenth Letter on Glaciers. Addressed to Professor
Jameson. M. Agassiz's Adoption of the Plastic
Theory — Reply to M. Martins. By Professor
J. D. Forbes. Communicated by the Author, 154
XII. On the Human Mouth. By Alexander Nasmyth,
Esq. Communicated for the Edinburgh New
Philosophical Journal by the Ethnological So-
ciety, 161
CONTENTS. Ill
PAGE
XIII. On the Classes and Breeds of British Horses. By
David Low, Esq., Professor of Agriculture in the
University of Edinburgh, &c., . . . 179
XIV. Account of a Torrent of Mud in the Plain of the
Lagunilla, New Granada, . . . .199
XV. On Dykes of Marble and Quartz, in connection with
Plutonic Rocks, in the Upper WoUondilly, in
Argyle County, New South Wales. By the Rev.
W. B. Clarke, M.A., F.G.S. ... 201
XVI. Scientific Intelligence : —
METEOROLOGY.
1. Particulars of the Fall of Meteorites in the Sandwich
Islands. Communicated, by request, by the Rev.
Hiram Bingham, Missionary in those Islands, in a
letter, dated Boston, May 1. 1845, to Professor
Silliman. 2. Electric Sound. . . 204-206
aEOLOQY.
3. On the Kunker, a Tufaceous Deposit in India. — By
Captain Newbold. 4. Lithographic Stones. 5.
Gradual rise of Newfoundland above the sea. 6.
Burning Well. — Communicated in a Letter from
F. B. Hough, dated Gustavus, Ohio, Aug. 21. 1845.
7. Glacier Markings in South Wales. 8. Destroy-
ing Effect of Dry Wind on Cliffs. 9. Mode of dis-
tinguishing Rolled Blocks of Rock resulting from
Glaciers from those produced by the action of
Water. 10. New arrangement of the Order Crinoi-
dea, by M. Agassiz. 11. Importance of the charac-
ters derived from the Fins of Fishes. . 206-208
MISCELLANEOUS.
12. On the Leaves of the Coffee tree as a substitute for
Tea. 13. Canal of the Isthmus of Panama. 14. St
Pierre as a Naturalist. 15. Whale and Shark Fish-
ing in Faroe. — Extract of a Letter from Thorshavn,
Faroe Islands, September 1. 1845. 16. Professor
Agassiz on the Brain of Fishes, . . 208-210
XVII. List of Patents granted for Scotland, from 23d
September to ITth December 1846, . . 210
CONTENTS.
PAGB
Art. I. Analysis of the Volcanic Dust which fell in the Ork-
ney Islands on the 2d of September 1845. By
Arthur Connell, Esq., Professor of Chemistry in
the University of St Andrews. Communicated
by the Author, 217
II. On the Origin of Quartz and Metalliferous Veins.
By Professor Gustav Bischof, of Bonn. (Con-
cluded from vol. xxxix., p. 132), ... 220
III. Note on the Excrements of certain Insects. By John
Davy, M.D., F.R.S., Lond. and Edin., Inspector-
General of Army Hospitals. Communicated by
the Author, 231
IV. Professor Agassiz, M. J. Durocher, and M. P.
ScHiMPER, on the Erratic Phenomena of Scandi-
navia : —
I. On some Facts dependent on the Erratic Phenomena
of Scandinavia. By M. J. Durocheb, . . 234
II. Remarks on the Observations of M. Durocher, relative
to the Erratic Phenomena of Scandinavia. By Pro-
fessor Agassiz, 237
III. On some Facts dependent on the Erratic Phenomena
of Scandinavia. By M. P. Schimper, . . 240
V. On the Chemical Composition of Calcareous Corals.
By B. SiLLiMAN Jun., 243
VI. Distribution of Fossils in the different formations,
and succession of Animals on the Surface of the
Globe. By Professor F. J. Pictet,
VII. On the Cause of Storms. By Mr G. A. Rowell.
Communicated by the Author, . . . 281
VIII. M. Adolphe Brongniart and M. Goeppert on the
Distribution of Fossil Plants in the different GeO'
logical Formations : —
I, On the great divisions of the Vegetable Kingdom oc-
curring in the different Geological Formations. By
M. Adolphe Brongniart, .... 285
II. General Summary of the Families and Species of Fossil
Plants occurring in the different formations. By
M. Goeppert, 287
IX. Zoological Principles of Classification, and of the
Determination of Fossils, .... 289
X. 1. On the Practicability of reaching by Sea the North
Pole. By Captain Sir W. E. Parry, and Sir John
Barrow, Bart., late Secretary of the Admiralty. —
2. Wliat a Visitor to the Pole ol' the North might
obtain in the way of Science. By Sir John Bar-
row, Bart. : —
1. On the Practicability of reaching by Sea the North
Pole, . : . r \ . .294
2. What a Visitor to the Pole of the Earth might obtain
in the way of Science, ..... 297
U CONTENTS.
XI. Report on Nomenclature in Natural History to the
Association of American Geologists and Natura-
lists, May 1845. By Mr J. D. Dana, . . 301
XII. Observations on the Extent and Rate of Change of
Temperature of the Waters in the Estuary of the
Mersey; at Liverpool. By Mr Ritchie Adie.
Communicated by the Author, . . . 307
XIII. On the Applicability of the Electro-Magnetic Bell to
the Trial of Experiments on the Conduction of
Sound, especially by Gases. By George Wilson,
M.D., F.R.S.E., F.R.S.S.A. Communicated by
the Royal Scottish Society of Arts, . . 310
XIV. On the Natives of Old Callebar, West Coast of Africa.
By W. F. Daniell, Esq. Communicated by the
Ethnological Society, ..... 313
Supplement. — Upon the Philological Ethnography
of the Countries around the Bight of Biafra. By
R. G. Latham, M.D., 327
XV. Description of a Machine for Drawing the perfect
Egg- Oval ; and of a Method of producing Curvi-
lineal Figures, on a principle whereby Beauty of
Form may be imparted to Ornamental Vases and
Mouldings in Architecture, — to the Works of the
Silversmith, Brazier, and Potter, — equal to such
Works of the Ancients. Invented by D. R. Hay,
Esq., F.R.S.S.A. Communicated by the Royal
Scottish Society of Arts, . . . .331
XVI. Additional Notice on the Urinary Excrement of In-
sects, with some Observations on that of Spiders.
By John Davy, M.D., F.R.S.L. & E., Inspector-
General of Army Hospitals. Communicated by
the Author, 336
XVII. On the Gold Produce of Siberia. By Sir R. I. Mur-
chison, F.R.S., «&c. &c. &c., .... 340
XVIII. Habitation and Destruction of the Mammoths. By
Sir R. I. MuRCHisoN, F.R.S., &c. : —
Habitation of Mammoths and their Destruction — Similar
Mammoth Burial in Western Europe — Siberian En-
tombment of Mammoths — British Analogies — Condi-
tions of Mammoth Burial Explained — Views of
Lyell, Humboldt, and Owen — Ancient Geography of
Siberia — Remote Age of the N. Courses of the Great
Siberian Streams — Elevation of Siberia, and End of
Mammoth Period — Fossil Quadrupeds of European
Russia — Mammoth Clay Drift at Taganrog — Whe-
ther Extinct Bos Urus and Living Aurochs are the
same ? — If so, its Preservation explained — Subject of
Great Fossil Mammalia concluded, . . . 344
XIX. The Meteorology of Auckland. Remarks on the
Weather, &c., from 1840-1844, ... 362
CONTENTS. Ill
PAGS
XX. Abstract of Meteorological Observations for 1846,
made at Applegarth Manse, Dumfriesshire. By
Rev. Dr Dunbar, 363
XXI. Summary of Meteorological Observations made at
Whitehaven in the year 1845. By J. F. Miller,
Esq. Communicated by the Author, . . 366
XXII. Scientific Intelligence : —
METEOROLOGY.
1. Sensation at Great Heights. 2. Die [Meteoriten, or
Meteorites in the Imperial Mineral Cabinet at
Vienna. 3. Observations on an Acid Rain. 4. First
Report on Meteorology. 6. Protection from Light-
ning of Houses with Metallic Roofs. . §73-375
HYDROGRAPHY.
6. M. Chancourtois, on the Salt Lake of Van, in Ar-
menistan. 7. Formation of young Ice. 8. Force
of the Waves in moving masses of Rock. . 377-380
MINERALOGY.
9. Manganocalcite. 10. Wohler on a New Locality of
Zircon in the Tyrol. 11. M. A. Damour's Analysis
of White Jade, and probable identity of that sub-
stance with Tremolite. 12. Predazzite. 13. The
so-called Red Albite of Kimito is an Oligoclase.
14. Crystallized Kupferindig. 15. Bpidosite, a new
species of Mountain Rock. 16. Kersten on the
Conversion of Sulphate of Lead into Lead-Glance,
by means of Organic Substances. 17. Vanadium
detected in an Ore of Iron. 18. Chrome in Serpen-
tine. 19. AUanite, Cerine, and Orthite. 20. Ana-
tase, Brookite, and Rutile. 21. Occurrence of
Diaspore at Schemnitz. 22. Yttro-Cerite. 23. Dy-
sluite identical with Automolite. . . 380-384
geology.
24. M. A. Daubr6e on the High Temperature observed
in a Pit sunk at Neuffen, in Wiirtemberg. 25. Sub-
sidence of the Land at Puzzuoli. 26. Discovery of
a large Deposit of Black Bituminous Coal in
Chatham Island, one of the Galapagos. 27. Air of
Mines. 28. The Oust- Art, and shores of Lake Aral.
29. Siliceous Microscopic Sea Animals in Guano.
30. On the Alios of the North- West of France.
31. Traces of Glacial Action at North Berwick, &c.
32. The Geology of Norway, as connected with the
absence of a Feudal Nobility, and the want of great
Public Buildings. 33. Desert of Sahara. 34. On
the Permeability of Metals. 35. New Map of the
Island of Sardinia, . . . 384-392
paleontology.
36. Infusoria. 37. New Work on the Fossil Plants of
Scania, ..... 393
IV CONTENTS.
PAGE
ZOOLOGY.
38. On the structure of the Cranium of the Rhytina
Stelleri, and general remarks on the Herbivorous
Cetacea, or Sireniae. 39. On the White Race of the
Aures, (Mons Aurarius) in the Province of Constan-
tine, Algeria. 40. Quadrupeds and Birds peculiar
to Western Siberia. 41. Boring Power of Land-
Snails on Limestone, . . . 393-396
ARTS.
42. Iridescent Silver, .... 396
MISCELLANEOUS.
43. Progress of the Serial Works of Professor Agassiz.
44. Proposed introduction of the Aracacha into
Europe, ..... 398
XXIII. New Publications received, .... 399
XXIV. List of Patents granted for Scotland from 22d De-
cember 1845 to 22d March 1846, . . 401
Corrections and additions for Dr Davy^s Paper, in the last
Number of the Journal^
Page 46, line 1 from the top, for also of the temperature, read also the tem-
perature. Page 46, line 3 from bottom, for 24th, read 4th. Page 48, line 11
from the top, for vapour inhaled, read vapour exhaled. Page 48, line 21 from
the top, for was the sickness, read was there sickness. Page 50, line 5 from
the top, for mass of phosphates, read excess of phosphates. Page 50, line 10
from the top, for there constituted, read there instituted. Page 51, line 18
from the bottom, for suggests, read suggest. Page 53, after the table at the
top of the page, add the following sentence : — Whilst the observations on both
these occasions were made, the body was most lightly clad, and in great part
naked ; the skin was moist with perspiration ; there was very little evaporation,
the difference between a thermometer with a moist and dry bulb being only 2° ;
and in the last noticed instance, as well as in the first, towards the end of the
observations, there was a slight increase of the temperature under the tongue.
Page 54, line 1 from the top, for a fair average, read an average. Page 54,
line 3 from the top, for 97-92, read 98*70. Page 56, line 8 from the top, for
the moistened bulb-thermometer, read the thermometer with moistened bulb.
Page 57, line 7 from the bottom, the words, essentially connected with a due
supply of air, to be put in brackets ; the and immediately following, in line
6 from the bottom, to be deleted. Page 58, line 8 from the bottom, dele or.
Page 58, line 7 from the bottom, before timbers, insert strength of the.
Erratum.
Plates I., II., and III., /or Vol. XXXIX., read Vol. XL.
tHft
EDINBURGH NEW
PHILOSOPHICAL JOURNAL.
On the Life and Writings of Theodore de Saussure*
By Professor Mac AIRE.
It is an occurrence by no means common in science, arid
still rarer in literature, to witness the son of a man of genius
acquiring a high degree of celebrity in consequence of his own
personal merits. If we judge, however, only by appearances,
it would seem that this ought not to be the case. What ad-
vantages, in the pursuit of science for example, ought to sur-
round a young man who has, from his infancy, received in-
struction, encouragement, and good example, from a father
whom science has rendered famous ! What facilities for pro-
secuting his studies, — what excellent advice to prevent him
being discouraged by the first difficulties ! There is, some*
thing, nevertheless, which is more than equivalent to all these
advantages. As a poet has said,
" C'est un pesant fardeau qu'un nom trop tot fameux."
The son of a celebrated man enters upon his career crushed
rather than supported by the name which he bears. His
earliest efforts, which would be judged of with indulgence if
they proceeded from a new man, are found unworthy of the
brilliant renown of the name under which they are brought
forward. Like a planet which is too near the sun, he cannot
sufficiently divest himself of the rays of the paternal glory to
shine by his own light ; he is discouraged, and too often con-
tents himself with the borrowed splendour he derives from
this source.
VOL. XL. NO. LXXIX.— -JAN. 1846. A
2 Professor Macaire on the
Such," however, was not the destiny of Theodore de Sanssure.
Son of the distinguished natural philosopher who founded the
science of hygi'ometry, and extended the domain of electricity ;
of that celebrated geologist who traversed the Alps fourteen
times, and who was the first, by rescuing geology from vague
and unsatisfactory speculations, and connecting it with the
study of facts, to transform it into a science of observation ;
of that dauntless meteorologist, who erected his observatory on
heights almost inaccessible, and did not fear to ascend to the
summit of the highest mountain in Europe, to inscribe a name
which seems henceforth for ever associated y/ith the eternal
snows ; son of this man of genius, Theodore de Saussure suc-
ceeded, while yet a young man, in establishing a reputation
exclusively his own. "He became," says Senebier, "the
rival of his father, after having been his pupil."
Theodore de Saussure was born at Geneva, on the 14th
October 1767. His early education was not like that which
most of the Genevese youth received. One of the most re-
markable of the institutions of Geneva is its college, the or-
ganization of which, arranged by the celebrated Reformer who
regulated everything relating to education in this republic, had
hitherto been preserved almost without alteration. There the
children of all classes, receiving an education almost gratui-
tous, and therefore within the reach of all, united in classes
during the time of instruction, and mingled indiscriminately
in their sports during the intervals of recreation, returned to
the paternal roof for their meals and to pass the night. This
system had the great advantage of uniting the benefits of do-
mestic education with the stimulus and emulation which ac-
company public instruction. At the time of which we speak,
the College of Geneva had not, we admit, followed the pro-
gress of improvement. The pupils learned only a little Latin,
and still less Greek ; neither geography, history, nor the liv-
ing languages were taught, nor many other branches which
were afterwards gradually introduced. But they there became
acquainted with life, particularly republican life ; and they
came forth ready to act the part of men and citizens. The
character was there formed and moulded by actual contact with
others. None of that factitious and, in some degree, conven-
Life and Writings of Theodore de Saussure. 3
tional life, which often surrounds children reared under the
paternal roof, was here experienced ; some faults were no
doubt acquired, but a greater number of others were corrected.
Theodore de Saussure's father, who had been brought up at
college, and who had perhaps acquired there that firmness of
principle and resolution, that masculine energy which charac-
terised him, and fitted him as well for contending with men as
for surmounting natural obstacles, did not think it expedient
to send his son thither. Having himself become one of the
most influential functionaries of public instruction, appointed
professor at the age of 22, and called upon to give instruction
to men nearly of his own age, this strong-minded and reflect-
ing man was naturally led to examine very carefully the sys-
tem of public education followed in Geneva, and particularly
in the college. He was struck with its defects, and did not
perhaps sufficiently appreciate its advantages. His views were
of great utility, and aimed at an important object, and he pub-
lished them successively in two pamphlets, entitled, Projet de
Reforme pour la College de Geneve, and Eclaircissements siir
ce Projet, These plans met with little success at the time,
but they sowed the seeds of improvements which we have
since seen springing up, and, a very few years ago, reaching
maturity ; but as they did not produce any immediate change,
Horace Benedict de Saussure did not think he could place his
son in an institution which he had found fault with in so pub*
lie a manner. My belief is, that this determination wa3
unfortunate. When I learn, from the pamphlets of the day, the
nature of the instruction given at the college ; when I read, in
the letters of Dr Odier, preserved in his family, details at once
interesting and painful, respecting the want of skill and the
carelessness of the teachers of that period, and the decay into
which the almost total want of superintendence allowed the
establishment to fall ; when I call to mind the state of things
which would disgust every mother, and the majority of fathers
of a family — the insults, the blows, which were the usual
means of correction — I cannot help thinking that the fundamen-
tal principle of such an institution must have been vigorous,
and energetic, and profitable, in order to produce so many dis-
tinguished and celebrated men, notwithstanding such promi-
4 Professor Macaire on the
nent defects. Theodore de Saussure, in particular, would cer-
tainly have learned nothing there which could not be taught
him better in his father's house ; but he would perhaps have
lost there that reserve which rendered him difficult of access,
particularly to those who, looking upon him as one of the mas-
ters of science, might have been desirous that his experience
should guide them in a path where he had made so much pro-
gress. But we must not imagine that the small number of
Genevese youth brought up at home, in order to avoid the
lash of the college preceptors, would run the risk of being
treated with an indulgence and tenderness greatly too effemi-
nating. This was not the case. The bonds of authority, in
society as well as in the family^ were not yet so relaxed as to
exercise no influence. The moving principle of education,
private as w'ell as public, was fear ; and the father of a family
had not yet given up his severe despotism, in order to range
himself under the banner of rights and of the constitutional
regime. With such a system of education, children of a mild
and flexible disposition ran the risk of becoming tame and des-
titute of character ; while such as had a too highly tempered
spirit to yield to the pressure, often became rude, and of a
gloomy and stern disposition. It will readily be understood
how, in both such cases, the equality and liberty of the sports
in the college court would exert a useful influence.
With regard to what concerns instruction properly so
called, the plan followed by Horace Benedict de Saussure
may, to a certain point, be indicated by that which he chalked
out for the college. He wished that instruction should be objec-
tive as well as intuitive, and that facts and material objects
should be principally presented to the pupils. Thus, accord-
ing to him, historical events might be accompanied with re-
presentations of the places where they occurred, and with de-
monstrations on geographical maps ; antiquities and mythology
ought to be taught by figures and drawings ; machines and
instruments ought to be exhibited and described to the pupils,
&c. The study of the ancient languages, although principally
reserved for those who were destined for the learned profes-
sions, ought to be carefully attended to by others also ; and we
accordingly find that Theodore de Saussure was an excellent
Life and Writings of Theodore de Sans sure. 5
'Greek and Latin scholar, and that he continued, even to the
latter period of his life, the practice of reading the classics in
the two learned languages, which he did with equal facility
and pleasure.
Notwithstanding his numerous and important occupations,
Horace Benedict de Saussure was himself the instructor of his
family. With the exception of a preceptor, whom he does
not appear to have kept long, and a few lessons his children
received from Professors Bertrand and Trembley, he took the
entire charge of their education. I know not whether he fol-
lowed the method of education he recommended in his works ;
but if we may be permitted to judge of an educational system
from so small a number of applications of it, assuredly the
literary and scientific success of Madame Necker and of Theo-
dore de Saussure ought to give us a high idea of that, what-
ever it may have been, which he adopted with his children.
Theodore de Saussure spent the greater part of his early
youth in the country with his maternal grandmother, who
loved him tenderly. At a later period, constantly finding
himself, in consequence of the plan adopted for his education,
in presence of a man of eminence, but of a decided and stern
character, he acquired the habit of holding very little inter-
course with children of his own age, and of preferring solitude
and serious occupation to every thing else. It was in this
way he prepared himself for entering the Academy of Geneva,
where his father wished him to be admitted as a regular stu-
dent, and where he was not long in distinguishing himself.
Before this time his father had made him study under his own
eye physics, mineralogy, and natural history, and had inspired
him with a taste for experimental chemistry, the necessity of
which for mineral analysis he continually felt. He gra-
dually associated him with his own labours, and often made
him repeat at home, on certain days and hours previously
fixed upon, observations which he himself was making in
other places and in other positions. He had not yet accom-
panied his father in any of his numerous journeys, when, in the
month of August 1787, the latter determined to undertake the
ascent of Mont Blanc. Theodore de Saussure was then nine-
teen years of age. A more admirable opportunity could not
6 Professor Macaire on the
present itself for a young man making his first appearance in
the fields of science. Of this he was not insensible. Horace
Benedict de Saussure expresses himself to the following effect
on this point, in his Travels in the Alps ; and, it may be
mentioned in passing, that this is the first time he makes any
mention of his son : — *'My eldest son was desirous of accom-
panying me, but I was apprehensive that he was not yet suf-
ficiently robust or practised in exertions of this nature. I
therefore required him to abandon the idea. He remained at
the Piieure, where he made with much care observations corre-
sponding to those which I myself made on the summit." In
fact, Theodore de Saussure was left at Chamouny with his
brother, mother, and aunts. He there established his meteoro-
logical observatory, and directed telescopes to watch the dan-
gerous route of the adventurous traveller. A great number of
individuals, attracted by curiosity on hearing the report of this
bold undertaking, surrounded the young natural philosopher.
Dr Odier, who had accidentally come to Chamouny on that
same day to visit a patient, and who, having left Geneva in
haste, found himself iu the midst of the Alps in his silk dress
and his small doctors' hat under his arm, also came to watch
the traveller through a telescope, and jocularly compared the
great naturalist and his guides traversing the eternal snows
to flies struggling among milk, Theodore de Saussure, on per^
ceiving that the party had reached the summit, hoisted a flag,
according to his father's directions, and the latter expressed
the lively satisfaction he derived from this family signal, which
he immediately saw through a glass from the top of the
gigantic observatory which he had reached.
Horace Benedict de Saussure had remarked that the meteo-
rological observations made by himself and others on elevated
summits had always been taken nearly at the same hours, that
is to say, about mid-day. These expeditions, in general, must
indeed be accomplished within the space of a day, since the
summit of high mountains affords no shelter to the traveller.
The ascent being always fatiguing and sometimes dangerous,
the travellers set out as early in the morning as possible, in
order to reach the highest elevation in sufficient time to allow
them to descend before night. The desire of prosecuting
Life and Writings of Theodore de Saussure. 7
meteorological observations during the whole course of the day,
and particularly in the morning, at noon, and during the night,
led him to form the idea of establishing himself, with his instru-
ments, at an elevation of about 1800 toises above the level of
the sea, for a sufficient length of time to come to conclusive
results. With this object, he took up his residence, in June
1788, at Chamouny, along with his son Theodore, whom he
had resolved to take along with him in this expedition. He
continued there until a hut was erected on the route which
had been discovered from Chamouny to Cormayeur by the
Tacul. This hut was placed on a Col, which Saussure named
the Col du Geant, from its position at the foot of that moun-
tain. The two naturalists left Chamouny on the 2d July 1788,
slept by the way at the Tacul, under tents, and, on the following
day, crossed the Noire, a peak whose snow-covered sides were
so steep and full of fissures, that one of their guides, Alexis
Balmat, fell into a rent thirty feet deep ; but, after having
been drawn out of this gulf by one of his friends, who was
let down by means of ropes, the man resumed his charge, and
proceeded without saying a word. On their first arrival their pro-
spects were by no means favourable. An enclosure of six square
feet, built of stones so ill joined that the snow had half filled
it, so that it was impossible to enter, placed on a narrow ridge,
1763 toises, or 3436 metres, in height, between two glaciers,
Mont Freti and the Estreves, with unequal sides and rugged
slopes like precipices, presented no very attractive situation
for a sojourn of some continuance. Tents were erected, the
snow removed, and, on the following day, the instruments
were arranged for making observations. On that same day a
terrible storm arose ; the wind, with a sound resembling the
discharge of artillery, carried off the travellers' matresses and
coverings, and seemed as if it would blow down their hut and
bury them in its ruins. By degrees the wind completely
ceased ; a dead calm succeeded this outburst, and the natural
philosophers heard the storm raging far beneath them in the
Allee Blanche. Speedily snow, hail, and thunder succeeded ;
the heavens were on fire, and Horace Benedict de Saussure
saw an electric spark glancing along the moist roof of the tent
behind the very place where his son was sleeping. They re-
mained, notwithstanding, on the Col du Geant for seventeen
S Professor Macaire on the
days. Theodore rose at four o'clock in the morning to com-
mence the meteorological observations ; he went to bed at ten
in the evening, and his father sat up till midnight. Theodore
twice observed the meridian height of the sun in order to deter-
mine the latitude of their station, which he calculated to be 45°
49' 54". He measured a base of 1200 feet for trigonometrical
observations. He made observations on the density of the air
by means of the vibrations of the pendulum, observations
which he had an opportunity of repeating on Mont Rosa by a
more conclusive process. He found the means of rectifying
sulphuric ether, which he prepared and carried with him, and
he found this fluid so expansible, in consequence of the rarity
of the air, that he could succeed in distilling it only by making
an aperture in the luting, which united the receiver to the retort.
The ether entered into a state of ebullition in water heated to 23'^
R. (83-7 F.) He carried on eudiometric experiments by means
of nitrous gas ; and, having previously determined the com-
position of the air of Geneva to be similar to that of the air of
Chamouny, he thought that that of the Col du Geant contained
somewhat less oxygen, 0-0125, than the two others. In the
air of the Col also he ascertained the presence of carbonic acid,
as in that of the plain. He found that iron dissolved with
effervescence in sulphuric acid, as in the plain ; while copper
would scarcely dissolve, which he attributed to the rarity of
the air. With these points he alone was occupied ; but he
assisted his father besides in all his observations on physics
and meteorology, with the electrometer, hygrometer, cyan-
ometer, on the evaporation of water and ether, on magnetism,
with the barometer, which they observed eighty-five times in
spite of the precautions it was necessary to adopt in order to
keep the stop- cock dry ; and finally with the thermometer,
which they observed every two hours, and which ascended and
descended nearly as on the plain. They estimated the dimi-
nution of the heat, in consequence of the height, at the hun-
dredth part of a degree of Reaumur's scale for every toise of
elevation. With regard to the barometer, it stood at the lowest
point at 8 o'clock in the morning, then ascended till 2 o'clock ;
descended from 2 to 4, and reascended the rest of the day.
At Chamouny and Geneva, on the contrary, 8 o'clock in the
Life and Writings of Theodore de Saussure. 9
morning is the time of greatest elevation, then the mercury
descends till 4 o'clock, when it again begins to rise. The hour
of noon is the time when the mean heights of three stations
are nearest, and it is an important point to be acquainted with,
in measuring heights by means of comparative barometrical
observations. They saw at their station only a single plant in
flower, the Aretia helvetica, forming in sheltered places tufts
of flowery turf of a white or purple colour, and eight lichens.
Of living creatures they saw only three chamois, a black spider
living beneath the stones of their hut, a wood-pecker, and a
snow-bunting; and, lastly, some jackdaws, which were pursuing
over the glacier the butterflies, flies, and tipulas, carried thither
by the wind.
It will be readily understood what life must have been in
such an encampment, where the snow fell frequently, where
the cold during the night and in bad weather was intense, and
where the little coal the travellers had with them, and which
they kindled in chafing dishes, would scarcely burn on account
of the rarity of the air. Accordingly, the guides, who had not
the stimulus of constant labour, and the gratification of scienti-
fic curiosity, desired nothing so much as to see the signal given
for departure. It had been agreed that they should start on the
morning of the seventeenth day. The evening which preceded
it was magnificent. The snow of the surrounding heights
shone resplendently with tints of rose and carmine colour ; on
the Italian side, a curtain of brilliant purple was extended.
The rays of the full moon subsequently appeared shining
through a limpid and transparent atmosphere, like that, says
Horace Benedict de Saussure, which Homer supposes to sur-
round Olympus. The mild light of the moon, reflected from
the ice and snow, brought out in stronger relief the abrupt
forms and black hues of the rocks, sharply defined on their sur-
faces, as well as the sombre and darksome vapours which seemed
to fill the valleys. Theodore de Saussure expressed, with the
warmth and enthusiasm of his age, the admiration with which
this splendid spectacle inspired him, and the bitter regret he
felt at leaving scenes which could give such pure and noble
enjoyments. These regrets, on being understood by the guides,
had a singular effect ; during the night which followed this
10 Professor Macaire on the
beautiful evening, all the eatables disappeared. It seems that
they were afraid lest the enthusiasm of the young man should
induce his father to prolong his stay in places whose beauties
were far from having the same charms for them, and they
could not imagine a better means than famine to force them
to quit. They were obliged to set out fasting, and it was not
without fatigue that the travellers descended to Cormayeur,
after suffering a good deal both from the heat and from
hunger.
From this moment the elder Saussure was fully aware of the
value of the fellow-labourer nature had given him ; his son
henceforth accompanied him in all his journeys. The object
of the expedition of the year 1789 was to explore Mont Rosa,
of which the naturalists made the tour by extremely difficult
paths. This was the first time that men of science visited and
described the gold mines of Macugnaga, a spot where the inha-
bitants are almost in a state of nature, subsisting on food made
from milk, and on rye bread cooked six months before, and
which they softened in whey ; and they were obliged to bring any
other provision they possessed from a distance of five leagues.
The men worked at the mines, the women carried the loads,
and became so robust by this exercise, that two of them could
carry a sufficient load for a mule. Of this Saussure gives a cu-
rious proof. Desirous of sending a heavy case of minerals to
a distance of six leagues, that it might be forwarded to Geneva,
he asked if a man could be found of sufficient strength to carry
it. The reply was that the case was too heavy for any man to
carry, but, if it was the same thing to him that a woman
should take charge of it, plenty would be found equal to the
task. On the Col of Mont Cervin, at an elevation of nearly
1800 toises, the travellers found the fortified redoubts of St
Theodule, constructed three centuries before by the inhabitants
of the Val d'Aoste to guard against an attack of the Valaisans.
This is unquestionably the highest point in the old world that
has ever been fortified ; and the travellers, on seeing these
solid structures, well-preserved and comparatively of easy access,
regretted that they were not acquainted with a locality so fa-
vourable for their operations of the preceding year, where
ithey could have carried them on much more conveniently than
Life and Writing^ of Theodore de Saussure. 11
in the misierable hut on the Col du G^ant. During this jour-
ney, Theodore de Saussure endeavoured to verify, by a n6w
process, Bouguer's experiments on the density of air. Bou-
guer thought he had observed that at certain heights the
density of the air does not follow the ratio of the weights which
compress it. He estimated the resistance of the air, and con-
sequently its density, by the retardation in the movements of
a pendulum in a given space of time. Theodore de Saussure
had tried this mode of proceeding on the Col du Geant, and
believing it not to be very correct, he thought it necessary to
substitute another. This consisted in taking, at different
heights, the weight in the air of an empty glass ball of large
dimensions, and securely closed. It is evident that the differ-
ences in the weight of the ball would give exactly the differ-
ences in weight of the same volume of air which the ball dis-
placed at different heights. The capacity of the ball was
1053-95 cubic inches, and the balance by which it was weighed
yielded to the weight of half a grain, which was equivalent to
a thousandth part of the density of the air, under a pressure of
27 (French) inches of the barometer. Theodore de Saussure made
70 experiments at heights varying from 1 8 inches 10 lines to
28 inches of the barometrical column ; and he was careful, in
calculating the results obtained, to make the requisite cor-
rections for temperature and humidity, precautions which Bou-
guer appears to have neglected. He found, contrary to the
opinion of that natural philosopher, that the variations noticed
in the weight of the ball, or the density of the atmosphere, were
exactly proportionate to the pressures indicated by the baro-
meter. This investigation, the first, I believe, that Theodore de
Saussure published, was printed in the Journal de Physique
for February 1790, and restored the confidence, which the
assertions of Bouguer had tended to shake, in the measure-
ments of heights by the barometer.
At Saint Marcel, while visiting the mines of that locality, so
celebrated among mineralogists, the travellers fell in with a cu-
rious fountain, called by the country people, the Blue Fountain.
The water is in sufficient quantity to drive a mill, and it is of
a deep sky-blue colour. Every thing is blue in its vicinity,
but the colour is paler when the soil is not moistened. Theo»
12 Professor Macaire on the
dore de Saussure perceived that this colour was owing to a se-
diment deposited by the water ; a sediment which burnt in
the air without odour, and left a black residuum. This he
collected for analysis ; and found it composed of copper, 19 ;
oxide of iron, 4-25 ; carbonic acid, 9 ; clay, 2 75 ; lime, 1 ;
silica, 33; water and inflammable matter, 31. It must be in-
ferred from this analysis that it is to the carbonate of copper
that the water owes its colour.
The ardour of young Saussure, thus become the inseparable
companion of his father, and associated with him in all his
works, was almost too great for a man now advanced in years
and weakened by illness ; we accordingly find, on numerous
occasions noticed in the Travels among the Alps, the son con-
tinually asking to go higher and further, while the father re-
fuses, and thinks that they have gone far enough.
At this time the fury of the revolution put an end to these
useful scientific travels, which Horace Benedict de Saussure
had continued with admirable perseverance for so long a period
of years. The revolutionary whirlwind having likewise swept
over Geneva, Theodore de Saussure, along with a considerable
number of individuals of his own age, was obliged to leave his
country for a time. He took refuge in England, along with a
distinguished man, Alexander Marcet, who afterwards became
his colleague in the college of Geneva, and gained a high repu-
tation in the physical sciences. After having traversed England
and Scotland he returned to Geneva, and resolved henceforth
to devote his scientific life to one object of research and labour.
I have mentioned that, following the impulse given to him by
his father, it was particularly to the chemical sciences that
Theodore de Saussure had directed his studies ; and these he
had greatly extended during his travels in France and Eng-
land, where chemistry was at that time cultivated with great
activity. This science had just undergone one of those com-
plete and radical revolutions which, by substituting principle
for principle, and theory for theory, produce the necessity, so
to speak, of reconstructing the whole edifice, and causing the
labours of our predecessors to go for nothing. At the period
in the life of Theodore de Saussure of which we now speak,
this work of reconstruction was well advanced in regard to
Life and Wrilinga of Theodore de Saussure. 13
mineral chemistry; but the excellent means of observation
afforded by the discovery of pneumatic chemistry, and the
power of distinguishing and characterising definitely the ele-
ments which constitute organised beings, remained still to be
applied to the study of these bodies. This presented a vast
field of research, which fifty years of labour, in an age when
workers have multiplied in myriads, have very far from ex-
hausted, and which, at that time, was scarcely entered upon.
Happy the investigator who, upon entering on his career, se-
lects a subject at once vast and circumscribed, on which all
his energies may be exerted without being disseminated, and
with no fear of too speedily exhausting the matter ! His
talents and perseverance are then the certain guarantees that
he will arrive at useful results, and that success will crown his
efforts. Such was the lot of Theodore de Saussure. Among
organised bodies, he chose plants as the objects of his
scientific researches, and applied himself, in particular, to dis-
cover, by means of experiment, the influence which the media
in which they live exercise on their existence and composi-
tion, and also the part which chemical forces must take in the
various phases of their development. With the exception of
a very small number of accessory investigations, the whole scien-
tific life of Theodore de Saussure was devoted to the accomplish-
ment of this object ; and it may be affirmed, without any ex-
aggeration, that he has of himself done more to advance vege-
table physiology than all the other labourers, numerous though
they be, in the same field, whom the publication of his dis-
coveries induced to enter on the path which he opened up and
rendered of ready access.
Before his time there existed, indeed, a few observations by
Priestley, Senebier, and Ingenhouz on the relations of plants to
the surrounding atmosphere ; but these philosophers had gone
no further than to establish the decomposition of carbonic acid
by the leaves under the influence of the solar light, without
drawing from this fact any conclusion as to the mode of nutrition
of vegetables. Almost everything, therefore, remained to be
done ; and Theodore de Saussure had the perseverance to work
seven years in silence, that his work might not be published
till it should be complete. And here I cannot help expressing
14 Professor Macaire on the
my conviction that this is the best method, and my regret at
seeing it almost everywhere abandoned. In our times, the
number of Societies and Scientific Journals is so great, the
fear of being anticipated and the facility of publication are so
urgent, that scarcely has a subject of investigation been entered
upon, when the first results are displayed with the greatest
precipitation. The object having thus lost its freshness
and interest, becomes fatiguing ; what is newest and most
exciting having already been published, the long and mo-
notonous researches necessary to be followed in order to reach
the remoter ramifications, are neglected ; a preference is given
to something else ; and life is thus passed merely in throwing
a glance upon every thing. Formerly, he who had opened a
new vein in the mine of science considered himself under an
obligation to follow and work it to the end ; his work was
complete, required time and patience, and the result was, not
a memoir, but a book, — sometimes even a good book, like that
which Theodore de Saussure produced in 1804.
In this work, entitled Chemical Besearches on Vegetation^
the author gives a close and vigorous analysis of all the bear-
ings of the problem ; and, after describing minutely his mode
of procedure, his experiments, and the results he had obtained,
in order that the latter might be verified, he proceeds to shew
distinctly the functions of gases and water in vegetable life,
and lays the foundations of the true doctrine respecting the
influence of the soil, a part of the subject so skilfully developed
in our own day by Liebig. He commences with the study of
the chemical phenomena which accompany the first develop-
ment of plants, — that is to say, the germination of seeds. He
shews, by direct experiments, that the seeds cannot germinate
without water, but that this water must, besides, contain oxy-
gen gas, or be in contact with that gas. Applying, in order
to discover the mode in which this gas acts, the rigorous
methods of analysis which he had never neglected, Theodore de
Saussure ascertained that all the oxygen absorbed by the seeds
during germination is converted into carbonic acid, and that
the influence of this gas would thus appear to be limited to
carrying off a portion of the carbon accumulated in their com-
position. These quantities of oxygen, necessary for germina-
Life and Writings of Theodore de Saussure, 15
tion, and proportionate to the size of the seed, are very minute,
and do not carry off, in the case of wheat and barley, for ex-
ample, more than a thousandth part of their weight. The
seed loses, at the same time, a small portion of its fixed and
elementary water. This result, however, takes place, not in
the very act of germination, but after the seed is dead, and
while it is drying. Light appears to have no influence on the
germination of seeds, contrary to the opinion of Senebier, who
believed that it was hurtful to the process.
The author then considers the influence of carbonic acid on
vegetation. This gas, in which seeds cannot spring, and which
has no well-marked influence in stimulating the vegetation of
plants recently germinated, is the principal agent of vegetation
in plants which have reached their complete state of develop-
ment. In the sun, every augmentation in the quantity of car-
bonic acid in the water which contained the roots of the plants,
or in that of the air which surrounded them, accelerated nu-
trition and increased the vigour of the plants. When, on
the contrary, all the carbonic acid of the air or water was re-
moved by means of quick-lime, plants standing in the sun soon
died, and vitiated their atmosphere. The same results did not
appear in the night, the carbonic acid, on the contrary, then
seeming to be hurtful to the health of plants. By causing
plants to vegetate in artificial atmospheres with all the ele-
ments of which he was acquainted, Theodore de Saussure satis-
fied himself not only that the green part of plants decom-
posed carbonic acid under the influence of the solar rays, as
Senebier had previously announced, but that they appropriated
all the carbon, and a small part of the oxygen gas, of this car-
bonic acid, restoring the rest or the great part of the oxygen
gas, to the air. He then shewed that the same fixation of
carbon took place in the open air, in plants which could not
derive it from the soil which carried them, and which, in con-
sequence, could not draw it but from the carbonic acid of the
atmosphere. These experiments of Theodore de Saussure, by
proving, that if the proportion of the carbonic acid of the air
was augmented, vegetation would derive from it greater ac-
tivity, have thrown great light on the possibility of the forma-
16 Professor Macaire on the
tion of beds of coal by the interment of the forests of the old
world. "When we are acquainted with the fact, that in nine
years an existing forest would deprive the atmosphere which
covers it of all the carbonic acid it contains, and yet would only
furnish a very inconsiderable bed of coal, we can scarcely com-
prehend the vegetable origin of mineral coal, however evident
it may be in other respects. But when it is proved that a
greater proportion of carbonic acid in the air, a fact which
everything else indicates as having been one of the characters
of the atmosphere in geological times, must have enormously
increased the vigour and dimensions of the vegetables then
living, we have data enabling us to conceive the possibility of
such enormous deposits of carbonaceous matters, and the cause
of the gradual purification of the air, and, as a consequence,
of the weakening of vegetation.
After having examined the influence of carbonic acid gas on
vegetation, Theodore de Saussure arrived at that of oxygen.
He found that, during the night, this gas is absorbed by the
green leaves of plants, and, in part, replaced in the air by
carbonic acid, unless the leaves be very thick, like those of
the cactus, in which case the oxygen is absorbed without any
disengagement of carbonic acid. The leaves do not absorb
any gas in media deprived of oxygen gas, so that it is here ob-
viously a vital function, and not a mechanical action. These
inspirations in the night, and expirations in the day, of
oxygen, either pure or mingled with carbonic acid, serve
essentially to form this latter gas, and to present to plants
under this modification, such elements as they can assimilate.
After verifying these results on fifty-seven diff^erent species of
leaves, Theodore de Saussure satisfied himself by experiment,
that the contact of oxygen gas with the roots is useful to
vegetation ; and that chestnut trees torn up from the earth,
and. whose roots were in contact with azote, hydrogen, or
carbonic acid, died much sooner than when these roots were
placed in common air. The roots, wood, petals — all the
parts not green — absorb much oxygen, and convert it into
carbonic acid ; but this gas ascends with the sap, in order to
be decomposed by the leaves, and does not directly fix itself
Life and Writings of Theodore de Sausmre. 17
in the absorbing organ. The flowers presented this pecu-
liarity, that they replace, by the disengagement of an equal
quantity of azote gas, the proportion of oxygen absorbed.
After these fundamental results, Theodore de Saussure
examined the influence of oxygen gas on vegetables which
are dead, or in a state of fermentation. He found that, at
first, this gas does not become fixed in their tissue, nor com-
bine with their hydrogen, but only carries off" a portion of
their carbon. This eff'ect takes place in acetification, in the
precipitation of extracts, in the coagulation of vegetable albu-
men, &c. The oils alone are an exception. At the same
time, a portion of the elementary water is withdrawn from the
vegetable. When the fermentation augments, the proportion
of disengaged water increases, and the oxygen absorbed, not
being found entirely in the acid produced, probably combines
with the hydrogen to form this combination.
Theodore de Saussure afterwards devoted himself to the
detailed analysis of soil, the influence of which has been a
point so much controverted by the physiologists of our day,
and he ascertained that it contains more carbon than the
plants from which it proceeds. Oxygen penetrates into this
soil, to carry off^ its carbon, to convert it into carbonic acid,
and thus make it contribute to the sustenance of vegetables.
As the rest of the soil is soluble in water, the author thence
concluded that it may be entirely destructible at the atmo-
spheric temperature, by the united action of air and rain, and
that that circumstance explains its small accumulation even in
places where vegetation has been longest established.
Continuing his researches on the vegetation of plants, the
author shews that they can live in media deprived of oxygen
gas, only because their green parts exhale this gas by the de-
composition of carbonic acid ; and, in fact, when we absorb,
by degrees, the exhaled oxygen, we put a stop to the develop-
ment of the plant. Vegetables absorb neither azote, nor
hydrogen, nor carbonic oxide gas ; they live in these as in
a vacuum, by means of the oxygen exhaled by their leaves.
We must only avoid, in this latter case, the too direct action
of the sun's rays.
The second important point which presented itself for exa-
VOL. XL. NO. LXXIX. — JAN. 1846. B
18 Professor Macaire on the
mination, was the action of water on plants. Theodore de
Saussure has proved that water is not decomposed by the
action of vegetable life, but that its elements are fixed or
solidified in the plant, in their state of combination itself. In
the process of fermentation this assimilated water may be
decomposed, and furnish its oxygen to the carbon, in order to
form carbonic acid ; but in no case do plants absorb the
hydrogen of water, in order to disengage its oxygen, the de-
composition of the carbonic acid being the only source of the
oxygen gas exhaled by vegetables. It is, therefore, by the
assimilation of the elements of water as a whole, and without
the decomposition of this liquid, that plants increase the pro-
portions of oxygen and hydrogen they contain ; for, with re-
gard to oxygen, the quantity they preserve after the decompo-
sition of the carbonic acid, is too small to account for that
which enters into their composition.
"Water and air are not the only elements necessary to the
development of vegetables ; and Theodore de Saussure was the
first to shew the importance of the solid matters which enter
into their composition, and to point out the quarter whence
these are derived. He proved that the roots of plants absorb
salts and extracts dissolved in water, although in smaller
proportion than the water in which they are dissolved. He
determined that the roots have the property of making a
selection from among the substances contained in these solu-
tions, and that they absorb, in preference, substances which
render the solutions least viscid. It is to this power of ab-
sorption in the roots that we are to ascribe those saline and
earthy substances we find in ashes after the combustion of
vegetables. In order to obtain a correct idea of the nature
and quantity of these ashes, Theodore de Saussure incinerated
and analysed the ashes of seventy-nine difi*erent species of
plants or parts of vegetables. He found that the proportion
of the elements of the ashes almost always bore a relation to
that of the elements which constitute the soil. Thus the
plants which grew on a siliceous mountain would furnish, all
other things being equal, more silica and less lime than the
same vegetables from a calcareous mountain. From this it
follows that we must seek in the soil for the source of the
Life and Writings of Theodore de Saussure. 19
solid matters of plants, and reject the untenable notion, but
which had been admitted by many naturalists, in accordance
with the experiments of Schr coder, that plants can create all
the elements of which they stand in need, even such of them
as are inorganic. Theodore de Saussure was the first to point
out the importance of the alkaline salts and the phosphates in
the culture of the cereal grasses, in accordance with the con-
siderable proportion of these salts which the alimentary
grains contain. He explained the reasons why the same
weight of leaves and herbaceous portions afford more ashes
than trunks and branches. Finally, he demonstrated that,
with the exception of a small increase, owing, probably, to the
dust diffused through the atmosphere, plants which grew in
distilled water contain scarcely more ashes than the seeds
jfrom which they sprung, and that these ashes were of the
same chemical nature ; while the same plants grown in the
soil no longer contained in their ashes the salts of the ashes
of the seed, but had obviously increased the absolute quantity
of saline and earthy matters composed only of other mate-
rials.
Notwithstanding its extent, the analysis I have just given
will afford but an imperfect idea of this remarkable book, in
which I know not which to admire most, the author's sagacity
in the choice of the most conclusive experiments, or his inde-
fatigable perseverance in executing them. Accordingly, no
sooner did it appear, than it became an authority in science ;
and on a detailed analysis of it being given by Bertholet to
the Institute, Theodore de Saussure was nominated corre-
sponding member of that learned body for the class of che-
mistry. Many years afterwards, M. Thenard, when desirous
to give an account, in his General Treatise on Chemistry, of
the nutrition and growth of plants, commences his exposition
in these words : — " Almost all we are about to say will be
derived from the excellent work of Th. de Saussure, who has
made experiments on this subject which leave nothing to be
desired."
In order to give an idea of the precision and care as to de-
tails with which these experiments were conducted, I cannot
do better, on my part, than give a description of one of them
in the author's own words.
20 Professor Macaire on the
" I composed,'* lie says, '* with carbonic acid gas and com-
mon air, in which the phosphoric eudiometer indicated jVo o^
oxygen gas, an artificial atmosphere, which occupied 290
cubic centimetres. Lime water added to it indicated 7i hun-
dredths of carbonic acid gas. This aeriform mixture was en-
closed in a receiver shut up with mercury, moistened or
covered with a very thin layer of water to prevent the con-
tact of this metal with the air which surrounded the plants ;
for I have ascertained that this contact, as the Dutch che-
mists had intimated, is hurtful to vegetation in prolonged ex-
periments.
*' I introduced into this receiver seven plants of the peri-
winkle {pervenche), each two decimetres in height ; taken to-
gether, they displaced ten cubic centimetres : their roots were
plunged into a separate vase containing 15 cubic cent, of
water. The quantity of this liquid under the receiver was
insufficient to absorb a sensible quantity of acid gas, particu-
larly at the temperature of the place, which was never less than
17° E. (70° F.)
" This apparatus was exposed for six consecutive days,
from five o'clock in the morning to eleven, to the direct rays
of the sun, weakened, however, when they became too intense.
On the seventh day I withdrew the plants, which had not
undergone the least alteration. Their atmosphere (every cor-
rection being made) had not changed in volume, at least as far
as can be judged in a receiver of 1-3 decimetre in diameter,
when a difference of 20 cubic cent, is almost inappreciable ;
but the error could not be beyond that.
" Lime water no longer indicated in it carbonic acid gas ;
the eudiometer announced 24J^ hundredths of oxygen gas. I
prepared a similar apparatus with pure atmospheric air, and
the same number of plants, and submitted them to the same
exposure : it underwent no change, either in purity or volume.
" It appeared from the eudiometrical observations stated be-
low, that the mixture of common air and acid gas contained,
before the experiment,
4199 cubic cent, of azotic gas.
1116 of oxygen gas.
431 of carbonic acid gas.
5740, or 290 cubic inches.
Life and Writings of Theodore de Saussure. 21
The same air contained, after the experiment,
4338 cubic cent, of azotic gas.
1408 of oxygen gas.
0 of carbonic acid gas.
5746
" The plants have therefore elaborated, or caused to disap-
pear, 431 cubic cent, of the carbonic acid gas. If they had eli-
minated all the oxygen gas, they would have produced a vo-
lume of it equal to that of the acid gas which disappeared ;
but they have disengaged only 292 cubic cent, of it ; they
have, therefore, assimilated 139 cubic cent, of oxygen gas in the
decomposition of the acid gas, and they have produced 139
cubic cent, of azotic gas.
" A comparative experiment has shewn me that the peri-
winkle plants which I employed weighed, when dry, before
the decomposition of the acid gas, 2*707 grammes, and that
they would furnish, by carbonisation in close vessels, 528 milli-
grammes of charcoal. The plants which had decomposed the
acid gas have been dried and carbonised by the same process,
and they have furnished 649 milligrammes of charcoal. The
decomposition of the acid gas has therefore produced 120 mil-
ligrammes, or 2-28 grains of charcoal.
" I likewise carbonised the plants which had vegetated in
the atmosphere deprived of the acid gas, and I found that the
proportion of their carbon had diminished rather than increased
by their enclosure in the receiver.*"
Such is the prudent and judicious method adopted by
Theodore de Saussure in conducting his experiments, and he
always continued to follow it. When engaged in the car-
bonisations or incinerations of plants, or the parts of plants, he
multiplied his precautions to such a degree of minuteness, that
each experiment must have occupied many days of labour,
alike monotonous and fatiguing. And yet he made 79 differ-
ent incinerations, and would have made upwards of an hun-
dred, had that been necessary to render the results conclusive.
Every one who devotes himself to scientific researches by the
experimental method, is aware that the difficult part of the
work does not consist in inventing and arranging the experi-
22 Professor Macaire on the
ments. The pleasure invention gives to the mind excites at-
tention, and encourages the observer. But when he finds it
necessary, in order to arrive at some result, to repeat the same
thing — the same experiment, a great number of times, with-
out the attraction of novelty, — following scrupulously the same
series of operations, often long and complicated, — he then re-
quires to rely upon that unflinching perseverance and patience
which are the true test of scientific genius. All Theodore de
Saussure's labours are stamped with this seal.
Without considering myself obliged to follow chronological
order, I shall proceed to notice such memoirs of Theodore de
Saussure as relate immediately to vegetable physiology ; the
chemical foundations of which had been laid by the beautiful
work of which I have just given some account.
In a pamphlet which was reprinted in the Annates de Thy-
sique et de Chemie, he examined the action of the petals of
flowers on atmospheric air. He ascertained that the flowers
yield a part of their carbon to the air, where it combines with
the oxygen to form carbonic acid. The formation of this acid
gas is sufficiently necessary to them to prevent them com-
pleting their development in media deprived of oxygen gas.
Theodore de Saussure placed flowers in a receiver of atmo-
spheric air closed up by means of mercury, and of which they
occupied only the two-hundredth part, and he measured the
quantity of carbonic acid produced in the space of 24 hours, by
comparing it to the volume of the flowers taken as unity. He
found that the flowers absorbed more oxygen in the dark than
the leaves themselves. All the parts of the flower are not
possessed of the same intensity of action. The pistil and the
stamens destroy more oxygen than all the rest of the flower,
in the proportion, for example, in the case of Cheiranthus in-
canus, of 18 times their volume, instead of 11 J destroyed by
the entire flower ; the stamens of a male flower of a gourd, 16
instead of 7*6, &c. Single flowers consequently destroy more
oxygen than double ones, and the maximum of action takes
place at the time of the greatest development of the flower.
In dioecious plants, the male flowers consume more oxygen than
the female flowers. The plant which has the most decided
action is the Arum vulgare. Its cornet destroys five times its
Life and Writings of Theodore de Saussure. 23
volume of oxygen ; its massue destroys thirty times its vo-
lume, and in the part of this massue which bears the sexual
organs, the effect is as high as thirty-two times.
This action is connected with another fact presented by the
same plant, and which has given rise to another memoir by
Theodore de Saussure. I allude to the heat it develops at a
given period of its flowering, the period which corresponds to
that ,of the greatest absorption of oxygen. By the use of a
very sensitive thermoscope, Theodore de Saussure found that
this heat in the Arum may rise to 7° cent, above the sur-
rounding temperature. He found, between 7 and 8 o'clock
in the morning, J degree in the male flowers of a gourd
{Cucurhita melopepo), still less in the female flowers. The
flowers of the Bignonia radicans yielded the same results.
For the rest, if the difficulty which accompanies experiments
of this kind renders the practical manifestation of this eleva-
tion of temperature but little apparent in flowers, it may be
affirmed that the first experiments of Saussure which I have
cited, and which prove the conversion by flowers of the oxy-
gen of the air into carbonic acid, afford a theoretical demon-
stration of it, since this conversion cannot take place but by
means of a true combustion.
After having studied the action of the green parts of plants, of
the roots, and of the flowers, on atmospheric air, it remained for
Theodore de Saussure to undertake the same investigations in
reference to fruits. This he does in an elaborate essay inserted
in tlie Memoires de la Societe de Phgs, etd^Hist. Nat. of Geneva,
and entitled. Influence des Fruits verts sur Vair avant matu-
rite. In this Memoir, which contains a very great number of
experiments on peas, plums, wild, apples, grapes in a sour
state and ripe, &c., he shews that green fruits have the
same influence in the air, in the sun, and in darkness, as the
leaves. They expel oxygen from their atmosphere during the
night, and replace it by the carbonic acid gas which they
partly absorb, but in greater quantity in a receiver than in
the open air. In darkness, the destruction of the oxygen is
greater the further removed the fruits are from maturity.
In the sun, on the contrary, they disengage Avhoily or in
part the oxygen of the carbonic acid gas which they have ab-
24 Professor Macaire on the
Borbed during the night, and they leave no trace of this acid
in their atmosphere. Fruits detached from the plant likewise
add, during the day, oxygen to the air in which they are plunged,
even although that air do not contain carbonic acid. If their
vegetation is very weak and languishing, they vitiate the air
in which they are enclosed, but less in the sun than in the
shade.
Green fruits, detached from the plant and exposed to the
successive action of nights and days, produce little or no alter-
ation on the purity or volume of the air in which they are
placed. The little alteration actually observed arises more
particularly from the change which takes place in their com-
position when they advance to maturity. Thus the green
grapes appear to assimilate a portion of the oxygen of the car-
bonic acid which they form in the air where they vegetate
night and day ; while grapes almost ripe emit wholly in their
atmosphere, during the day, the oxygen of the acid they have
produced during the night. If this result, which, though con-
stant, is very inconsiderable, be well established, it will follow
from it that the acidity of the verjuice tends to fix the oxygen,
and that the fruit passes from the acid state to the saccharine,
when it can derive nothing more than the carbon in the car-
bonic acid of the air.
Green fruits decompose, wholly or in part, not only the car-
bonic acid they produce during the night, but also that which
may be added artificially to their atmosphere. This power be-
comes weaker as they approach to maturity.
They likewise appropriate, in their vegetation, the oxygen
and hydrogen of water, making the latter to lose its liquid state.
Properly to observe these results, it is necessary that the
fruits be placed in a sufficient volume of air, equal to thirty or
forty times their own volume, and it is requisite to prevent the
too powerful action of the sun. If these precautions are ne-
glected, it will be found that fruits vitiate the air, even in the
sun, by forming carbonic acid with the ambient oxygen ; and
it is from want of caution in this respect that M. Berard was
led to suppose that this formation of carbonic acid was the con-
dition necessary for ripening fruits.
It was interesting, in an agricultural point of view, to know
JAfe and Writings of Theodore de Saussure. 25
the degree of desiccation the cereals might undergo, without
being deprived of the power of germination, and to know whe-
ther, after the commencement of vegetation and a subsequent
desiccation, the seed was killed. This investigation Theo-
dore de Saussure undertook. He dried seeds in a stove, and
made them sprout in moist sponges. Twenty species of cereals
and other seeds, selected from the most important kinds, were
submitted to this trial. He found that the greater part of the
alimentary seeds germinated preserve their vegetative power
after the greatest degree of drying they can be subjected to in
the open air, in the shade, or under a temperature of 35°.
Such was the case with wheat, rye, barley, maize, lentils, cab-
bage, lettuce, buckwheat, &c. The bean, the kidney-bean, and
the poppy, have not the same property.
In some germinated seeds, the vegetative faculty is pre-
served even after a drying carried to the temperature of 70° C.
(158° r.) the strongest heat that the sun can communicate to
the soil in our climates ; and this property, fortunately, belongs
to the most important of these grains, wheat and rye.
A seed germinated and dried requires, in order to regain
the humidity it needs, at least the same time which would
have been necessary for germination in its normal state. This
time is so much the longer the more germination is advanced,
and this explains why seeds which putrefy easily, such as the
kidney-bean and the bean, are destroyed before regaining the
humidity requisite for a second vegetation.
The dry germinated seeds, however short a time the germi-
nation may have been prolonged before desiccation, lose their
rootlets in the repetition. The seedlings, thus reduced to a
kind of slip, have necessarily a less vigorous vegetation than
if that vegetation had been exposed to no interruption.
No grain germinated and dried shewed symptoms of germi-
nation after an interruption of more than three months.
A considerable artificial drying, produced by keeping the
seeds in a vacuum, and introducing under the receiver a
capsule full of sulphuric acid, did not deprive any kind of seed,
at the atmospheric temperature, of the power of germinating ;
commonly, however, the seeds require a longer moistening.
Among the germinated seeds subjected to the same artificial
26 Professor Macaire on the
drying process, the greater part lost their vegetative power, but
some preserved it, and among the latter we again find wheat,
rye, barley, and cabbage.
These results, important for agriculture, prove that a seed,
after sprouting and being exposed to the heat of the sun, may
recover its vegetative power by being sufficiently moistened,
although dead to appearance ; and these alternate dryings, the
death and life of vegetation, may be frequently repeated, until
the plant, by penetrating more deeply into the earth, can draw
from it strength to resist the drying action of the sun. The
circumstances which produce these phenomena are of such a
nature as frequently to occur in the labours of the husbandman ;
and it is interesting to know that the most useful grains are
likewise those which best resist these destructive influences.
We may add to these investigations, those which relate to the
absorption of oxygen by the fatty and essential oils, an ab-
sorption which Theodore de Saussure ascertained to amount, in
the case of many of them, to a considerable number of times
the extent of their own volume ; those which relate to vegetable
chemistry, properly so called, as for example the analysis of alco-
hol and ether, by decomposing them in a red hot tube, that of
olefiant gas, of the naphtha of Amiano, and of the petroleum of
Travers ; the invention of a new process for the elementary
analysis of various vegetable products, by means of combustion
in a large globe full of oxygen, an exact process, but of such
difficult execution that it required all the skill of such an ex-
perimenter to succeed; the decomposition of starch to the
state of paste, at the ordinary temperature, by the action
of air and water ; the conversion of starch into a saccharine
matter, and researches on fermentation ; all investigations of
great scientific importance, but of which I can give only the
titles, as the analysis would occupy too much space. We must
add to these many mineral analyses, such as those of hydro -
phane, sapphire, jade, and dolomite ; an essay on alumina, a
memoir on the decomposition of phosphates by carbon, and
many others besides.
A subject of a diiferent kind, which Theodore de Saussure
had investigated very deeply, according to his wont, in a series
of memoirs inserted in the same collection where I now write
Life and Writings of Theodore de Saussure. 27
these lines, (the Bihlioth^que Britannique as it was then named),
is the absorption of gases by different bodies. The fundamen-
tal experiment is striking when we see it for the first time.
If we introduce some pieces of charcoal, heated to redness, into
a tube placed on a mercurial trough, and filled with air, or
rather with one of the gases more absorbable than it, such as
ammoniacal gas, or muriatic acid gas, we see the gas become
rapidly absorbed, and the mercury soon ascend with the char-
coal up to the summit of the tube. It will be understood how
striking such an experiment is, when we know that a morsel
of box- wood charcoal absorbs, at the ordinary temperature,
ninety times its volume of the gases I have named. Theodore
de Saussure has divided his work into three sections, which
treat of the absorption of pure gases by solids, of the conden-
sation of mixed gases by the same agents, and, finally, of the
absorption of gases by liquids.
In order to avoid the action of the air, the author submerged
the incandescent charcoal under the mercury, and then intro-
duced it into the different gases ; and when he had to use other
porous bodies, which it would have been inconvenient or im-
possible to heat, he placed them in the vacuum of a good air-
pump. The experiments were always made under the mercury,
and were performed with twelve pure gases of different kinds.
The result of these trials was to prove that, so far from the
carbon alone having this remarkable property, all porous bodies
absorbed a greater or less quantity of gas. This property de-
pends on various circumstances. Thus, the lower the temper-
ature is, the greater is the absorption. It is non-existent at a
red-heat, and this heat is even sufficient to disengage all the
gas with which porous bodies can be penetrated. The greater,
also, the pressure, the more do porous bodies absorb the pon-
derable parts of gas. When it is wanting, absorption ceases,
and we may deprive a porous body in a vacuum of all the gas
it had condensed.
Independently of these circumstances, absorption varies ac-
cording to the nature of the gases brought in contact with the
porous bodies. Thus, in general, ammoniacal gas is the kind
which is absorbed in greatest proportion, and hydrogen in
smallest. But it would appear that there are differences be-
28 Professor Macaire on the
longing to the nature of the absorbing bodies themselves. Thus,
coals and meerschaum absorb more azote than hydrogen, and
woods, on the contrary, condense more hydrogen than azote.
In order that the absorption may be as great as possible, it
is necessary that the body should have the greatest number of
pores, and that these should be of the smallest dimensions, and
as empty as possible. Thus the charcoal of the box-tree,
when pulverized, does not absorb above the half of what the
same weight absorbs when left unbroken ; the charcoal of cork,
which has a specific gravity of only O'l, scarcely absorbs air at
all ; the charcoal of the pine, which has a specific gravity of
0'4, condenses four times and a half of its volume ; that of the
box, which has a specific gravity of 0*6, absorbs seven times
and a half of its volume ; finally, the Rastiberg coal, the specific
gi*avity of which is 1-326, makes ten times and a half its
volume of air disappear. There is, however, a limit to this
increase ; and if the charcoal is too dense, as, for example,
that which is obtained by making the essences pass through a
red-hot tube, the gases cannot penetrate into its pores, and
there is consequently no absorption. Humidity diminishes
the absorbing faculty of porous bodies for gases, and we may
expel a portion of what they have condensed by means of water.
The charcoal of box is, of all porous bodies, that which ab-
sorbs, in general, the greatest quantity of all the gases. There
are, however, some exceptions. Experiments were made with
fifteen porous bodies of different natures.
The condensation of the gases by the charcoal of box causes
a feeble disengagement of caloric ; and this fact explains the
spontaneous combustion of magazines or boats filled with coal,
a phenomenon which we have frequent occasion to observe. This
temperature becomes very high when the absorbed gas is sul-
phuretted hydrogen. It is such that charcoal becomes very hot,
if conveyed, when impregnated with this gas, into the air or
oxygen. The gas is then decomposed, and forms water and sul-
phur by the combination of the oxygen with the hydrogen
which enters into its composition. Theodore de Saussure like-
wise found that the oxygen of the air, absorbed by charcoal,
gradually combines with it, and forms carbonic acid, even at
the ordinary temperature. In the space of a year, moist char-
Life and IFritmgs of Theodore de Saussure. 29
coal, enclosed in pure oxygen gas, entirely converted it into
carbonic acid, — an interesting fact, in as much as it explains the
gradual destruction and conversion into a fertilising principle of
vegetable soil and other carbonaceous matters left by the de-
composition of organised beings.
In the second section of his work, Theodore de Saussure
examines the results presented by the absorption by porous
bodies of several gases combined. Sometimes he impregnated
the body with one gas and introduced it into another ; some-
times the porous body was placed in the mixture entirely
formed of gases. In the former case, one part of the gas with
which the body is impregnated issues from it to give place
to a new one ; producing sometimes an augmentation of the
atmosphere, causing cold; at other times, heat, with a di-
minution of the volume of the gas ; according as the new gas
is susceptible of a greater or less condensation than that which
had preceded it. A portion of the primitive gas always re-
mains in the porous bodies, and the presence of a new gas
often brings on a somewhat greater condensation ; but there
is never a combination of the two gases in the charcoal, as, for
example, the formation of water in a mixture of hydrogen
and oxygen, the production of ammonia in the hydrogen and
azote, &c.
In the third section, he examines the absorption of gases by
liquids ; and he found that the latter, like solids, present great
differences in the order according to which they condense them;
and that these absorptions are, in consequence, subject to the
laws of chemical affinity. In general, except in cases of very
strong affinity, such as that of water for ammonia and muri-
atic acid, where the absorption is 780 and 516 times its volume,
the porous bodies condense more gas than liquids do. He then
examines the influence exerted on the absorption of gases by
viscosity, which he finds to have no effect ; and afterwards
that exercised by pressure, as well as the phenomena resulting
from the simultaneous or successive absorption of different
The great importance which Theodore de Saussure had at-
tributed to carbonic acid in the nutrition of vegetables, must
have naturally drawn his attention to the proportion of this
gas existing in the atmosphere. In 1816, he inserted in the
30 Professor Macaire on the
first volume of the Bibl. Univ. certain researches on this sub-
ject, researches which he afterwards multiplied and completed ;
and which form the subject of a memoir which he published
in 1830, in the Memoir es de la Societe de Phys. et d'Hist.
Nat. de Geneve.
The process which he preferred as a means of estimating
the quantity of carbonic acid contained in the air at a given
moment, consists of pouring barytic water into a large globe
slowly filled with the air we wish to examine, after having
first emptied it by means of the air-pump. We then take the
temperature of the air enclosed in the vessel, and that of the
external air ; then observe the hygrometer, barometer, the
wind and clouds ; account is also taken of the state of humidity
of the soil, and of the season. The stop-cock is then closed,
and it is shaken for an hour, after which it is left at rest for
eight days, only shaking it from time to time. The carbonate
of barytes produced is then collected ; it is washed in distilled
water saturated with carbonate of barytes ; we then decant into
a jar ; the containing vessel is seven times washed with greatly
diluted muriatic acid, and after having half evaporated this
solution, it is made use of to dissolve the carbonate of barytes
formerly obtained. This solution is precipitated by means of
sulphate of soda ; the sulphate of barytes produced is decanted,
washed, dried, and weighed, and we thence infer the weight of
the carbonate of barytes which is formed in the first operation,
that is to say, the quantity of carbonic acid in the air. The
analysis of the same air, made at the same place, and repeated
six times, has given differences which run from 4'12 to 3*89.
If we add to these long, troublesome, and monotonous pro-
ceedings, a multitude of precautions in matters of detail, which
I suppress, and which were repeated at every analysis, we can
understand what perseverance and patience Theodore de Saus-
sure required to repeat them on 225 different occasions, most
frequently at Chambeisy (a country house about a league from
Geneva), sometimes on the lake at Geneva, as well as on dif-
ferent mountains, the Saleve, the Dole, the Jura, &c. These
numerous materials once united and compared, a summary
of Theodore de Saussure's conclusions may be given in a few
words.
The mean of the carbonic acid of the air is, at Chambeisy, 4*15
Life and Writings of Tlieodore de Saussure. 31
parts in 10,000, according to 104 observations, made both by
day and night, at four feet above the ground. The maximum
was 5*75, the minimum 3*15. Rainy weather, in general,
diminishes the proportion of the atmospheric carbonic acid ;
continued frost, on the contrary, like every other cause of dry-
ness, tends sensibly to increase it. The air on the lake con-
tains less of it than the air on the ground, whatever be the
season or hour of the day. There is more of it during the
day in a town than in the country, and it increases more un-
der the influence of the night in the country than in a town.
There is more of it on the mountains than in the plains ;
during a strong wind than in a calm. There is more atmo-
spheric carbonic acid in the country in the night than in the
day, in the proportion of from 4*32 to 3'98, taken as the mean
of 54 comparative observations. The most considerable and
sudden changes take place between the end of the night and
the earliest hours of the day ; and the natural explanation
of this is found in the decomposition, by means of light, of the
carbonic acid by the green parts of vegetables. A more than
usually intense atmospheric electricity tends to diminish the
proportion of carbonic acid in the air. Such, in a condensed
view, are the results obtained by Theodore de Saussure ; and,
although they are of real interest, how many look upon them
as disproportionate to the immense labour they cost !
After thus determining exactly the proportions and varia-
tions of the atmospheric carbonic acid, Theodore de Saussure
proposed a new method of estimating, in a more certain way
than the previously known processes admitted of, the proportion
of oxygen existing in the air. Such was the object of his
memoir on the use of lead in eudiometry. Taking advan-
tage of the property possessed by moistened small shot, made
of lead, to absorb the oxygen of the air at the ordinary tem-
perature, he introduces a known quantity of air into a mattrass,
shuts the stop-cock, then shakes the vessel with the moist
small-shot in it for three hours, and, when the process
appears completed, from the greyish tint assumed by the
yellow oxide of lead first produced, he terminates the opera-
tion by weighing the vessel, and measuring, under water, the
proportion of gas which has been absorbed. The series of
32 Professor Macaire on tlie
precautions which the use of such an apparatus requires will
readily be understood, and it would probably but rarely suc-
ceed in the hands of a less skilful and practised experimenter.
According to the mode in which Theodore de Saussure
managed it. this process attained a high degree of accuracy ;
and the author is of opinion that it is susceptible of still
greater precision, when we can appreciate the proportion of
the oxygen in the gas analysed, not by the diminution of the
volume of the gases, but by the increase of weight in the
small shot.
In the same manner as it does oxygen, moistened lead attracts
also carbonic acid from the air ; and although this quantity is
very small, it is necessary to take it into account. This the
author has done, by deducting it from the mean of fourteen
eudiometrical experiments made during the day, at different
times, on the Lake of Geneva, or near its shores. He found
that the absorption effected by the moist leaden small-shot
rose, as a mean, to 21 05 per cent, of atmospheric air. By di-
minishing this figure by 0"04, which is very nearly the amount
of the carbonic acid during the day in these localities, there
remained 21*01 of oxygen for the hundred of air. Air from the
summit of the Buet, 3077 metres above the sea, and analysed
by the same process, after having been deprived of carbonic
acid by potass, contained 20*903 per cent, of oxygen gas. Air
taken during a well-frequented ball in the theatre at Geneva,
contained 20-81 of oxygen gas, and 0*24 of carbonic acid gas.
It will be remembered, that, by the ordinary eudiometrical
process, that which was invented by Volta, and according to
which the oxygen is estimated by its detonation with hydro-
gen, chemists have not arrived at the same figures to express
the oxygen of the air. Thus Humboldt and Gay-Lussac have
stated it at 21 per 100 ; Dalton, 20*7 or 20*8 ; Henry hesitates
between 20 and 21 ; and Thomson fixes it at 20. In the fourteen
analyses which Theodore de Saussure made by the process he
invented, the highest figure for absorption, including the car-
bonic acid, was 21-15, and the lowest 20 9 8, which may give
us an idea of the accuracy of this means of analysis in the
hands of a man so versed as he was in the difficult art of ex-
perimenting.
Life and Writings of Theodore de Saussure. 33
Such are the principal investigations which filled up the
scientific life of Theodore de Saussure. In recalling them to
the recollection of the public, I have spoken of the philosopher
rather than of the man ; the reason for this is, that the man
was much more difficult to know than the philosopher. In con-
sequence of the severe education he received, Theodore de Saus-
sure always retained the reserve and habits of solitary medi-
tation, which had been inspired in his youth. No one had
ever less need than he to converse with others on the subjects
that occupied his mind, and he read beautiful memoirs to the
Society of Physics and Natural History, without any of his
colleagues knowing even the subject of which he was about to
treat.
The same disposition prevented him from engaging in pub-
lic instruction. He was nominated Professor of Mineralogy
and Geology to the Academy of Geneva in 1802. Who could
have imparted a greater interest than he to a course on vege-
table physiology, a department in which he had undertaken so
many researches, and obtained such curious results % But his
repugnance could not be overcome ; and although he had
always shewn great interest in the academy and its success,
and was frequently present at the sittings of that body, taking
part in the various accessory labours devolved on the profes-
sors, I do not believe that he ever gave a public course. His
title of Honorary Professor did not, indeed, impose on him
any obligation, and he scrupulously discharged all the other
duties which this title entailed upon him.
He stood too high in the estimation of his fellow-citizens
not to be the object of their suffrages ; he, accordingly, had a
seat in the Legislative Council of the Republic of Geneva,
from its formation in 1814. Too timid to address a public
audience, he never took an active part in the discussions.
He had been elected a member of a great number of learned
societies, who regarded it as an honour to see his name in the
lists of their members. I have already mentioned some of
these, among others the Institute of France ; I may add, the
Royal Society of London, the Royal Academy of Naples, those
of Turin and Munich, the Institute of the Fine Arts and
VOL. XL. NO. LXXIX.— JAN. 1846. C
34 Professor Macaire on the Life of Theodore de Saussure.
Sciences of Amsterdam, the Philomathic and Linnean Societies
of Paris, the Wernerian Society of Edinburgh, &c.
In spite of his habits of reserve, to which such a choice was
surely doing violence, Theodore de Saussure was unanimously
elected, in 1842, President of the Scientific Congress held at
Lyons, which he happened to attend. This honour, conferred
upon a foreign philosopher, so little disposed as he was, by
his character, to place a value upon it, and turn it to account,
shews strikingly the high consideration his works had pro-
cured for him ; and it was with as much ease as dignity that
he acquitted himself of a task which he was very far from
having solicited.
He was a member, from the year 1790, of the Section of
Agriculture of the Society of Arts ; he often took part in its
labours in a useful manner ; and, quite recently, the attention
of the class of agriculture having been directed to the best
processes to be followed in making wine, Theodore de Saus-
sure occupied himself in a special manner with this subject,
and gave advice, remarkable for the practical spirit which cha-
racterized it.
The career of Theodore de Saussure, far from resembling
that of the greater part of modern men of science, was rather
analogous to that of the philosophers of the middle ages. His
was essentially a life of labour in the cabinet, from which he
came forth only at intervals, to make known to the world the
results he had obtained and matured in his retreat. He pre-
served excellent bodily health, and all the vigour of his intel-
lect, even to the last. He died, full of days, on the 18th of April
1845, at the age of seventy- eight, leaving behind him the re-
putation of having been one of the most inventive and saga-
cious philosophers, one of the most skilful and laborious
experimenters, and one of the most exact analysts the physical
sciences have produced.*
* From Biblioth^ue Universelle de Geneve, No. 113, p. 102.
( 35 )
On the Ethnography of Bussian America. By R. G. Latham,
M.D. Communicated for the Edinburgh New Philosophi-
cal Journal by the Ethnological Society.*
The paper submitted to the Society is upon the Ethnogra-
phy of Russian America. For a variety of reasons, the tribes
in these parts are of paramount importance. Inhabiting the
most north-western extremity of America on the coast of
Rehring's Straits, they are divided from Asia only by that
channel, so that of all the nations of the New World they
are most in contact with those of the Old. This circum-
stance alone puts them prominently forward in ethnology ; since
the primd facie theory, as to the population of America, must
certainly be in favour of the passage having taken place through
Behring's Straits.
The limits of the Russian possessions in America, or of the
geographical area which we are considering, are not very defi-
nitely determined : at least, the line of demarcation is, in a
great degree, a political rather than a natural one. From
Mount St Elias to the southernmost extremity of Prince of
Wales Island, the territory in question consists of a strip of
sea-coast, and islands, with the British possessions of New
Norfolk and New Hanover at the back ; whilst from Mount
St Elias northward, as far as the Arctic Sea, the line of divi-
sion is imaginary, coinciding with the 141° W. long. It can
scarcely be expected, that a frontier so determined can coin-
cide with any important divisions, either in physical or ethno-
graphical geography. Still the area in question is a conve-
nient one.
Considering the remote situation of these extensive and in-
hospitable tractS; the knowledge we possess of them is credit-
able to the government of Russia. From the time of Behring
downward, the coasts have been accurately described ; whilst
the communications of the officials of the Russian American
Company exhibit far more than an average amount of intelli-
gence. For such portions of the present paper as are not
* Read February 19. 1845.
36 Dr R. G. Latham on the
purely philological, the author has drawn upon Baer's Statis-
tische und Ethnographische Nachrichten, (fee. Of a Russian set-
tlement in New California, although American, no notice is
taken. On the other hand, a nation inhabiting the extreme
promontory of Asia (the Tchuktchi) are, for reasons that will
make themselves apparent, dealt with as American. On the
southern extremity of Russian America, the native tribes are
known to their neighbours of New Caledonia, the Oregon
country, and to the Hudson's Bay Company, under the names
ofColooches, Tunghaases, Atnas, Coltshanies, Ugalentses, Ko-
nagis, Cadiacks, Tchugatches, and Kenays. For the north,
and the shores of the Arctic Sea, they are dealt with (and that
truly) as members of the great Esquimaux family. Further
investigation multiplies the names of these tribes, so that we
hear of Inkalites, Inkulukhlaites, Kiyataigmutis, Agolegmutes,
Pashtolegmutis, Magmutis, &c. &c. To these divisions may
be added the different varieties of the natives of the Aleutian
islands. In the classification of these numerous tribes, it is
considered that much remains to be done.
For the tribes on the shore of the Northern Ocean, and for
the parts immediately south of Behring's Straits, the general
character, both physical and moral, seems to be Esquimaux.
The enormous line of coast over which this nation is extended
has long been known. The language and manners of Green-
land have been known to us since the times of the earliest
Danish missionaries ; so that details, both physical and moral,
of no savages are better understood than those of the Green-
landers. With this knowledge, it is easy to trace the exten-
sion of the race. The shores of Hudson's Bay are inha-
bited by the same stock. So also is the coast of Labrador.
The three forms of speech are but dialects of one language : a
fact that has long been known. Hence the Esquimaux and
Greenlanders have long been recognised as identical. From
Hudson's Bay, northward and westward, the wliole line of sea-
coast, as far as Mackenzie's River, is Esquimaux ; and that with
but little variety of type, either in physical conformation, man-
ners, or language. The interpreter to Captain Franklin was an
Esquimaux from Hudson's Bay, yet he had no difficulty in un-
derstanding the dialects west of Mackenzie's River, 137° W.
Ethnography of Russian America, 37
Long. (See Archceologia Americana^ ii. 11.) Three degrees
westward, however, a change in the Esquimaux characteristics
takes place ; although the inhabitants of the quarters in ques-
tion by no means cease to be Esquimaux. The tribes already-
noticed may be called the Eastern, those about to be men-
tioned the Western Esquimaux. The dividing line is fixed
by Captain Franklin at 140'' W. long. The tribes on each side
of this line have at first a great difficulty in understanding each
other. Now the line between the subdivisions of the Esqui-
maux language coincides very nearly with the boundary line
of Russian America. Hence tlie ethnography of that territory
begins with the Western Esquimaux.
It is no refinement to state, that, with the Western Esqui-
maux, we find a change in the social and moral type, exhibit-
ing itself in a greater appreciation of the articles of civilized
life, both as means of home use, and as instruments of com-
mercial barter. They resort annually to the eastern boundary,
and exchange articles of Russian manufacture for seals-skins,
oil, and furs. This intercourse is of late date. — Archoeologia
Americana, ii., 11.
To Kotzebue's Sound and Behring's Straits the same race,
with similar characters, is continued. Of Behring's Straits it
occupies both sides, the Asiatic as well as the American. From
Behring's Straits to the Peninsula of Aliaska, and from thence
to Cook's Inlet (or Kenay Bay), every thing is unequivocally
Esquimaux, and has long been recognized as such.
That a statement lately made was no refinement, may be
proved from the third chapter of Baer's work, where he de-
termines the character of the Esquimaux trade, and gives it as
a measure of the intercourse between Asia and America. It
seems referable to two centres, viz., the parts about Behring's
Straits, and the parts about Cook's Inlet. For the first, the mar-
ket extends from Icy Cape to the Promontory of Aliaska, and
has for its stations the islands of Behring's Straits. The second
district comprises the Aleutian islands, Cadiack, and the line of
the sea-coast as far south as Queen Charlotte's Island. Now,
whatever may be the amount of Russian civilization, in de-
termining some of the characteristics of the Western Esqui-
38 Dr R. G. Latham on the
maux, it is certain that the tribes of that race now inhabiting
Asia, were occupants of their present localities, anterior to the
Russian Conquest of Kamskatka.
A second deviation from the Esquimaux type, we find in the
island Cadiack, and the coast of the continent opposite. The
early Russian discoverers speak of a continual warfare between
opposing tribes of the same stock ; whilst another tribe, the
Inkalite, is said to uphold itself bravely against the more nu-
merous nation of the Kuskokwims. As a general rule, v/arfare,
except as a defence against tribes of a different race, is as
foreign to the typical Esquimaux of Greenland as to the Lap-
lander of Europe.
Measured by another test, and that of the psychological sort
(viz., the capacity for religious instruction), the Western Esqui-
maux coincides with the Esquimaux of Greenland. With the
exception, perhaps, of the Negro, the race, in general, is the
most docile in respect to the influences of Christianity. The
religious history of extreme points of the Aleutian Islands and
Greenland verifies this statement.
The extent to which a mixed breed has been propagated
under the government of Russia, may be collected from the fol-
lowing tables. In New Archangel the population is as follows : — ■
Europeans, . . . 406
Creoles or half-breeds, . 307
Aleutians. . . . 134
In the remaining part of the territory it is as follows : —
Europeans, . . . 246
Half-breeds, . . 684
Natives, . . . 8882
Of places of trust in New Archangel, a very large propor-
tion is held by Half-breeds. We find them as overseers,
police-ofiicers, clerks, watchmakers, medical students.
Such seem the most remarkable points connected with the
Russian Esquimaux in general. They are few in number, be-
cause it is the plan of the writer not so much to exhibit the
whole details of the race to which they belong, as to put for-
ward prominently such characteristics as are differential to
them and the Esquimaux of Greenland and Labrador.
Ethnography of Russian America. 39
It is now proper to give a brief notice of the more important
tribes, these being mentioned separately.
1. The Tchuktchi. — This is the name of the Esquimaux of
Asia. It is generally accompanied by the epithet sedentary,
so that we speak of these people as the sedentary or settled
Tchuktchi. This distinguishes them from the so-called Rein-
deer Tchuktchi, a tribe of the Koriack family. For either one
or the other of these tribes the name of Tchuktchi should be
abolished. It is my impression that the difference between
the Esquimaux of Asia and America do not represent more
than a few centuries of separation.
2. The Kuskokwimers. — This tribe, which occupies the banks
of the river from which it takes its name, may stand as the re-
presentative for the tribes between Cape Rodney and the
Peninsula of Aliaska. Its numbers are estimated at upwards
of 7000. Transitional in character to the tribes of the coast
and interior, its manners coincide with its geographical posi-
tion. In the use of certain so-called ornaments, it agrees with
the other Esquimaux tribes ; as it agrees with the Esquimaux
and Finn tribes in the use of the sweating-bath. The Kusko-
quimers count distance by the number of nights requisite for
the journey. Of the constellations they have a detailed know-
ledge, founded upon observation. The most prominent of their
institutions is the Kahim ; a building found in every village,
erected like an amphitheatre, capable of containing all the
males of the place, and which, over and above many peculiar
domestic purposes connected with its erection, serves as a
council-hall for the males of the population.
3. The Tchugatches. — Natives of Prince William's Sound,
and closely allied to the islanders of Cadiack, with whom
they agree in language. Their historical traditions are,
that they came from the coast, and from the north ; their my-
thological ones, that they are descended from the Dog.
These three divisions are not only indubitably Esquimaux,
but have also been recognised as such.
Those that follow are generally referred to another ethnolo-
gical group. In the parts about Cook's Inlet (Bay of Kenay)
and Mount St Elias, a second race is said to make its appear-
40 Dr R. G. Latham on the
ance, and this is generally separated from the Esquimaux by
a broad line of demarcation. It is called the Kolooch race or
family, and is generally placed in contrast with the Esqui-
maux. Isolated tribes akin to the Kolooches, and worthy of
special notice, are the following : —
1. The TJgalyachmiitsi or Ugalentses, consisting of about
38 families. — They change their localities with the season,
and are Kolooch in manners and conformation. Living
around Mount St Elias they are frontier tribes to the Tchu-
gatches.
2. The Kenays, inhabiting the coast of Cook's Inlet, 460
families strong. — Historically, they assert that their origin is
from the hills of the interior, from whence they descended
coastward. Their mythological and ultimate origin is from
the raven, connected with which they have a complex cos-
mogony. Descent from the raven, or descent from the dog, is
considered, for these tribes we are speaking of, as an instru-
ment in ethnological criticism. Like the Ugalentses, they
are in contact with Tchugatch Esquimaux.
3. The Atnahs, dwelling on the Copper River, 60 families
strong, hunters of rein-deer, and workers in iron as well as
copper. — They coincide with the typical Kolooches in burning
their dead, in ascribing the origin of their race to the raven,
and in most other particulars.
These three tribes are unequivocally connected closely with
each other, and with the other members of the Kolooch group.
The position of the following is less definite : —
1. The Kolshani. — These represent the natives of the inte-
rior. They fall into two divisions, whereof the nearer can
make itself intelligible to the Atnas and Kenays. The more
distant one is savage, inhospitable, unintelligible. Canni-
balism is one of their real or accredited characteristics.
2. The Inchulukhlaites, dwelling on the Chulitna River. —
They are stated to be akin to the Magimuts, who are allied
with,
3. The Inkalites. — In one village alone they are 700 strong.
Their language is said to be a mixture of the Kenay, Una-
lashkan, and Atna.
It is hoped that the true character of the ethnological diffi-
Ethnography of Bussian America. 41
culty involved in the classifications of the tribes enumerated,
along with several others in the same territory, has suggested
itself to the mind of the reader : viz. the position of the unde-
termined tribes, and the relations of the Esquimaux and the
Kolooch groups to each other. These problems seem capa-
ble of being solved by means of the evidence of languages.
Previous, however, to the enumeration of our data upon this
point, it must be observed, that members of a third ethnogra-
phical division, in all probability, 'form part of the native po-
pulation of Russian America. From the Lake Athabasca, as
a centre, to the Atlantic on one hand, and to the Pacific on the
other, languages of this gi'oup are spoken ; so that the Atha-
bascan area in its extension from east to west, is second only
to the Esquimaux. Now both the Kolooch and Esquimaux
languages have fundamental affinities with the Athabascan,
and vice versa ; whilst it is generally the case in Ethnology,
that two languages radically connected with a third, are also
radically connected with each other. With this premise, we
may enumerate in detail, our data in the way of philology.
This method wdll introduce new names and new localities,
since we have often vocabularies where we have nothing else
besides.
1. Beechey's Esquimaux. — The most northern specimen of
the western Esquimaux. Spoken in Kotzebue"'s Sound.
2. The Aglimut vocabulary of the Altas Ethnographique.
3. The Esquimaux of the Island of St Lawrence. — Ibid.
4. The Asiatic Esquimaux of the Tchuktchi of Tchuktchi-
Noss. Klaproth's Asia Polyglotta.
5. The Asiatic Esquimaux of the Tchuktchi of the mouth
of the river Anadyr. — Ibid.
6. The Esquimaux of Norton Sound. — Cook's Voyages.
7. The Kuskokwimer vocabulary of Baer's Beitrage.
8. A vocabulary for the Island of Nuniwock in the Atlas
Ethnographique, is unequivocally Esquimaux. So also are
the dialects of the Peninsula of Aliaska. Having seen, how-
ever, no vocabulary, I am unable to state whether they most
resemble those of the Aleutian Islands, (a prolongation of its
western extremity), or of those of the Island Cadiack on its
south-eastern side. At any rate, the languages akin to the
42 Dr R. G. Latham on the
Cadiack, and the languages of the Aleutian group, form sepa-
rate divisions of sub-dialects. Beginning with the Aleutian
class, we have the following materials : —
9. Unalashkan vocabularies by Lisiansky, Wrangell, Re-
sanofF, and others.
10. The Andreanowsky Isles. — Robeck's vocabulary. — See
Mithridates.
There is external evidence that the language for the whole
Aleutian group is radically one, the differences, however,
being, as dialectal diiferences, remarkable. The natives of
Atchu and Unalashka have difficulty in understanding each,
other. — Mithridates.
11. Cadiack vocabularies by Resanoif, Lisiansky, and
Wrangell.
12. Tchugatchi vocabularies by Resanoff and Wrangell.
13. The Lord's Prayer in Jakutat, by Baranoff. — Mithri-
dates.
Notwithstanding the statement that only 19 words out of
1100 are common to the Unalashkan and Cadiack, the affi-
nity of these languages to each other, and their undoubted
place in the Esquimaux class, has long been recognised.
14. The Inkulaklaities.-^This tribe is akin to the Magimut
and the Inkalaite. , We possess a few words of the language,
which are sufficient to prove that although its definite place
is undetermined, it has miscellaneous affinities to the Atna,
Kenay, and Esquimaux.
15. The Ugalyachmutsi of the Mithridates.
16. The Ugalents of Wrangell. — See Baer's Beitrage. These
two vocabularies represent the same language. The Ugalyach-
mutsi, although left by Resanoff as an isolated language, is un-
equivocally stated by Baer to be Kolooch. Its contrast with the
Esquimaux of the Tchugatches, has always been insisted on.
17. Kenay vocabularies byDavidoff, Resanoff, Lisiansky, and
Wrangell ; also an anonymous one from a native. Gallatin,
in the Archaeologia Americana, goes so far as to separate the
Kenay even from the Kolooch language.
18. The Atna of Wrangell. — See Baer's Beitrage. Now,
another American language, spoken some hundred miles south
of the Copper River, of which we find a vocabulary in Sir
Ethnography of Russian America. 43
Alexander Mackenzie's Travels, is called Atna. It has no
direct affinity with the present tongue. A hypothetical solu-
tion of this coincidence lies in the fact, that in the Athabascan
languages the root d-n, or t-n — man. That the Kenayes call
themselves Tnai, or Tnaina = men^ is specially stated by Baer,
p. 103.
19. The Koltshany vacabulary of Wrangell. — See Baer's
Beitrage. The tables of the work in question shew the
language to be undoubted Kolooch.
20. The Sitca vocabularies — numerous. Cook's Norfolk
Sound ; the Sitca of Lisiansky ; the Sitca of Davidoff (see
ArchsDologia Americana) ; the Sitca of Wrangell. According
to Captain Bryant, it is spoken from N. lat. 59° to 5° S. by
twenty tribes. The number of individuals who speak it
reckoned by Mr Green, an American missionary, at 6500 — see
Archseologia Americana. The standard Kolooch is that of
Sitca or Norfolk Sound.
21. The Tunghaase of Mr Tolmie. Of this, the most south-
ern dialect of Russian America, we find a short vocabulary in
the Transactions of the Boyal Geographical Society. It is
truly stated to be closely allied to the Sitca.
That there are no more than two groups required for the
classification of the above-mentioned languages, and that these
are the Esquimaux and the Kolooch, seems evident. That
these groups are of no high value may be shewn. It is un-
doubtedly true, that if we only compare isolated vocabularies
with each other we shall find little but points of contrast. And
we find less than might be expected even when we compare
groups of vocabularies.
1. The tables of Baer, exhibiting three languages for the
Esquimaux and five for the Kolooch group, give scarcely half
a dozen words common to the two.
2. The table of Lisiansky, with the Unalashkan and Cadi-
ack on the one side, and the Kenay and Sitca on the other,
presents but little more.
3. The earliest languages with which the Ugalyatmutsi was
compared were Esquimaux, and the contrast was insisted upon
from the first.
It is only when we apply what may be called the indirect
44 On the Ethnography of Russian America.
method that the true value of the Esquimaux group becomes
recognised.
1. Each has affinities with the Athabascan tongues, and
perhaps equal affinities.
2. Each has affinities with the Oregon languages, and each
perhaps equally.
3. Each has definite affinities with the languages of New
California, and each perhaps equal ones.
4. Each has miscellaneous affinities with all the other tongues
both of North and South America.
These facts that connect the Esquimaux languages with
those spoken to the south of them involve, as maybe easily seen,
a theory of much higher importance than the position of groups
like the Kolooch. They are taken along with the geographical
position of the Esquimaux race in respect to Asia, and point to
the parts in question as the starting-points for the population of
the New World. Upon this latter I can only say at present,
that I find Esquimaux words in the following languages : —
1. The Koriack.
2. The Kamskadale.
3. The Aino of the Curulian Isles. In respect to this last
group, it is remarkable that whilst I only find two words (the
names for house and eye) common to the Western Esquimaux
vocabularies of Lisiansky and the Aino ones of Langgsdorf, I
find between the latter and the Eastern Esquimaux of Parry
a considerable number.
4. The Corean.
5. The Japanese.
This is in the way of direct evidence. The Oregon and
Kolooch languages have similar and equal affinities ; whilst the
Asiatic languages enumerated have themselves affinities in the
Old World known and recognised.
From what has been laid before the Society, it may be seen
of how great importance it is to determine, whether the lan-
guages of Russian America pass into each other gradually, or
are divided by trenchant lines of demarcation.
( 45 )
Miscellaneous Observations 7nade during a Voyage from Eng-
land to Barbadoes. By John Davy, M.D., F.R.S., London
and Edinburgh, Inspector- General of Army Hospitals. Com-
municated by the Author.
Publishing observations shortly after they have been made,
whilst all the circumstances are fresh in recollection, ought to
insure, I apprehend, the greatest degree of accuracy that is
attainable ; and, it may be said, farther, in favour of speedy
publication, that there will be less chance of the observations
being in anywise altered to make them harmonize, as it may
be supposed, with others, or to suit any particular specula-
tions.
The observations I have to offer, will be given in accordance
with the feeling just expressed ; and I shall be well pleased if
they are received as a small contribution to the branches of
science to which they pertain, and if the remarks offered in
conclusion, on the ventilation, conjointly with the temperature,
of steam -packets, at present so defective, excite attention, with
a view to improvement.
1. Of the Temperature of the Sea at the Surface, and of the
Specific Gravity of the Surface Water.
The voyage was made in " the Clyde," one of the West
Indian Royal Mail Steamers, in the space of 20 days, having
got under way at Southampton in the afternoon of the 17th
of June, and cast anchor in the road stead of Barbadoes at
noon on the 7th of July. All the way the wind was fair,
chiefly north-easterly, and the gi'eater part of the way the
weather was agreeable. We touched nowhere except at Ma-
deira, where we stopt about four hours.
Every day at noon, a portion of the surface water was taken
up and bottled ; and, at the same time, the temperature of the
water was observed, for which I was indebted to the attention
of the intelligent chief-engineer, Mr Ritchie. The samples
of water so obtained I have carefully weighed, using a very
delicate balance, since my arrival here. The results, with the
daily latitude and longitude determined by the officers of the
46 Dr Davy's Voyage from England to Barbadoes.
vessel, and also of the temperature, taken chiefly at 8 A.M.,
are given in the following table : —
Lat. N.
Long. W.
Temp, of Sur-
face Water.
Sp. Gr. of Sur-
face Water.
Temp, of Air.
June 18.
49-23
o /
4-17
o
60
10254
11 A.M. 5°8
19.
49-04
6-45
62
10263
8 ... 61
20.
4419
8-41
62
10264
62
21.
41-07
10-58
62
10264
Q2
22.
37-52
12-56
64
10264
63
23.
34-44
14-52
m
10270
Q5
24.
Madeira,
. 70
10272
Q5
25.
3105
20-24
70
10272
67
2Q.
29-32
23-54
71
10274
70
27.
27-51
27-16
73
10274
12 N. 73
28.
26-09
30-37
74
10275
8 A.M. 72
29.
24-33
33-53
76
10277
72
30.
23-02*
36-38
76
10279
75
July 1.
21-25
40-13
78
10272
76
2.
19-58
43-32
78
10273
6 ... 75
3.
18-37
46-42
79
10273
8 ... 78
4.
1717
49-48
80
10267
6 ... 77
5.
15-55
52-59
80
10252
8 ... 80
6.
14-31
56-30
81
102461
81
7.
About i
Town
mile oif Brid^
, Barbadoes,
'^}81
10233t
81
The observations on the temperature of the sea were, I be-
lieve, pretty accurate ; but I am not sure of their perfect accu-
racy, as they were made on water pumped into a bucket in the
engine-room, (the first bucket or two rejected), and with a
thermometer belonging to the engineer, the scale of which had
not been compared with a standard one.
The very slight differences of the specific gravity of the
surface water of the greater part of the ocean traversed, ex-
tending to 36° of latitude, is a circumstance worthy of notice ;
and farther, that the slight variations observed, were chiefly
at no great distances from land, and on entering a part of the
ocean subject at this season of the year to heavy rains ; thus,
in accordance with the latter remark, the water taken up at noon
on the 24th, was a little lighter than the samples of many preced-
ing days; heavy rain fell the preceding night ; and the water taken
up daily till we reached Barbadoes, was still a little lighter.
* Sun's altitude 89^-40. t Sea slightly greenish, not of the pure
blue of mid ocean ; a bank extends above 300 miles from Barbadoes.
Temperature of the Sea. 47
The thermometer has been usefully applied to determine
currents at sea ; and it has been proposed to employ it to de-
tect the vicinity of land. May not the specific gravity of sea
water be turned to a similar account '? Any well marked
change should indicate some powerful modifying influence,
such, in the instance of diminution, as the approach to some
great river, or to a region of storm and rain ; or, on^he con-
trary, of increase, the approach to a shore without rivers, or to
a region suff^ering from drought ; indications which, to the ex-
ploring navigator, might not be destitute of utility.
Besides noticing the temperature of the air at 8 A.M., I often
observed it at other times, about noon especially, and at sunset.
It was commonly highest at noon, in accordance with what I
had observed many years ago on a voyage to Ceylon, when I
found, that whilst the temperature of the air was at its maxi-
mum when the sun was highest, that of the surface water did
not attain its maximum till two or three hours later.
The low temperature of the sea and air between England
and Madeira in the last week in June is worthy of remark,
and the latter especially, compared with the heated state of
the atmosphere in England during the preceding week, when,
in most parts of the country, as well as in London, the tem-
perature by day was often about 70° and 75°. The marked
difference is suggestive of a probable advantage to be derived
by invalids who may have the means at their command, in
sailing at this season on the Atlantic as far as the latitude of
Madeira, or a degree or two farther south. The agreeable
temperature we experienced, it may be inferred from several
circumstances, was not singular, but of regular occurrence, de-
pending on the temperature of the sea and the direction of the
winds, which are commonly on this portion of the ocean from
cool regions ; circumstances to which Madeira, no doubt, is
mainly indebted for the coolness of its summer's climate.
Another recommendation of the ocean climate is, that besides
its agreeable coolness, and little variation by day and night, no
dew ever appearing, the degree of dryness of the air is favour-
able for most pulmonary complaints. A thermometer, used as
a hygrometer, generally fell 5°, compared with a thermometer
with a dry bulb.
48 Dr Davy's Voyage from England to Barbadoes.
2. Of the effect of Seasickness as a remedial means.
It has for a long while been supposed that sailing is bene-
ficial in pulmonary complaints, and especially in pulmonary
consumption ; and that it has proved so in many instances can
hardly be doubted. The effect has been referred by different
writers to various circumstances, — partly to mildness and equa-
bility of climate — partly to the gentle exercise, unavoidable and
constant, connected with the motion of a ship — partly to the
sickness or feeling of nausea more or less commonly produced,
— ^and by some, perhaps fancifully, to a something unknown,
some peculiar vapour inhaled from the sea, and floating over
it in its atmosphere.
The few following observations made on myself tend to sup-
port the generally-received opinion referred to, and to shew
that the effect belongs to the class of the lowering and sedative,
that is, the reverse of the stimulating or exciting.
I may premise that I am very subject to sea-sickness ; but
that on this voyage I suffered less from it than on any preced-
ing, owing to the comparatively little motion, from the great
size of the steamer and the fineness of the weather ; only
twice or thrice, I may add, was the sickness amounting to
vomiting, and but little nausea even, after leaving Madeira.
The following table shews the temperature of the body, de-
termined by a delicate thermometer placed under the tongue,
the state of the pulse and of the respiration, as regards fre-
quency, carefully counted in the sitting posture, and at the
earlier hours in bed in the same posture.
Temp, ot
Cabin.
64
66
64
68
70
73
Mean, 98*25 5557 13-25
These observations, to have weight, must be compared with
Temp, under
Tongue.
18. 7 A.M.
98-25
... 1 P.M.
97-9
19. 7 A.M.
98-55
20. 6 ...
98-3
21. 6 ...
98-3
22. 6 ...
98-2
23. 6 ...
98-3
24. 6 ...
98-2
Pulse.
Respirations.
52
14
54
13
60
13
54
13
58
13
54
13
54
13
60
14
Of the Effect of Sea-sickness, as a remedial means. 49
others made under different circumstances, which I am enabled
to do, having for many months previously made similar ones
on myself, the results of which are contained in a paper that
has been given to the Royal Society. It may be sufficient
here to mention, that the mean of seven months' observations,
viz., from the first of August to the last day of April, inter-
rupted only in November, is, for the morning temperature
98*74; the morning pulse 57 '6 ; the morning respirations 15*6.
Comparing these mean numbers with those for the eight
days on the voyage to Madeira, do they not seem to warrant
the conclusion before mentioned, that the influence of sailing
is rather lowering or sedative, than stimulating or exciting,
and especially as regards the function of respiration ?
It is reasonable to suppose that this effect may diminish, as
the individual becomes accustomed to the motion of the ship,
and loses all sense of nausea. If so, short voyages, with inter-
vals of a week or two, might be preferable for the invalid to
voyages of long duration. I continued my observations to the
end of the voyage, and their results, I think, are in favour of
this conclusion ; i)ut they are far from decisive, as a disturb-
ing cause soon interfered, viz., the higher and exciting tem-
perature of the intertropical region, which we so soon entered
after leaving Madeira. Probably, were minute inquiry insti-
tuted, besides the effects on th^ system that I have hinted at,
others might be detected. It is not unlikely that most of the
secreting organs are influenced, and with their action their secre.
tions modified. Whilst living on shore in England, a deposite
of lithate of ammonia often appeared in my urine. During the
voyage, though using a good deal of animal food, I never wit-
nessed it ; but, on the contrary, there was almost constantly a
formation of ammoniaco-magnesian phosphate, which presented
itself in its characteristic form of an iridescent pellicle. Gout
is, I believe, unknown amongst sailors, and calculous complaints
far from common. May not this be owing in part to an in-
fluence such as that alluded to, tending to check the lithic acid
diathesis \ I may add another observation. It appeared to
me, that at sea, whilst no lithic acid was deposited in the
urine, but an unusual proportion of the double phosphate, less
tartar was deposited on the teeth, — a matter, as it is well known,
VOL, XL. NO. LXXIX. — JANUARY 1846. D
60 Dr Davy's Voyage from England to Barbadoes,
"whicli consists chiefly of phosphate of lime. Admitting the
fact, and I do not think I could have been mistaken, having on
shore been in the habit of removing the tartar from the inner
surface of my lower front teeth, from its collecting rapidly, —
the mass of phosphates in the urine might be connected with,
and occasion a diminution of them in the salivary secretion.
3. Of the effect of increased Atmospheric Temperature on the
Temperature of Man.
In a voyage to Ceylon, already alluded to, which I made in
1816, a pretty extensive series of observations there constituted,
tended to prove, that the temperature of man, as determined
by a thermometer placed under the tongue, is not a constant
one even in health, and that it is elevated by one or two de-
grees, by passing from temperate into tropical regions. Pro-
vided now with a more deticate thermometer than I then used,
I took advantage of a rapid transition from a comparatively cool
to a warm climate to repeat the observations. This was done
oh the 2d of July, when the temperature of the air between
two o'clock in the afternoon and half-past two, under the awn-
ing on deck, was about 78°. The subjects of the observations
were a certain number of the passengers, then apparently in
good health, who were sitting at the time, and who, after
luncheon at noon, had taken little or no exercise.
Temp, under Temp, of vn^»t> ^^^
tongue. closed hand. ^"^^c. ^bout
1. 99'4 97' 1 86 30 A German, of large and robust frame.
2. 99*2 ... 106 18 A Creole, rather tall and slender, re-
turning to the West Indies, after hav-
ing been several years in England.
3. 100-2 98-5 82 22 Tall and robust, also a Creole, return-
ing, after having been educated in
England.
4. 99-8 96 60 52 Stout ; returning to the West Indies,
where, for many years he had re-
sided.
6. 99-4 98 72 22 An under graduate of Cambridge, well
made and vigorous, visiting the West
Indies for his amusement during the
long vacation.
6. 99. 98'2 78 24 Rather stout; never before in a hot
climate ; a native of Ireland.
7. 99.2 ... 78 24 Rather short and stout.
8. 99'8 ... 76 18 A young lady, a Creole,- well made, of
rather large frame, returning to the
West Indies, after having been se-
' veral months in England.
Temperature of different parts oj the Body. 51
Observations on my own temperature were in accordance
with the preceding. I may mention a few made on the follow-
ing day, at different times, when in my cabin, where the teni-
perature of the air was uniformily 80°.
Tcrap.
under
tongue.
Temp,
of hand.
Pulso.
Respira-
tions.
6 a.m.
98-7
98
64
14
Skin moist, sitting up in bed before
rising.
8 a.m.
99-
98
62
16
Just after washing from head to
foot.
10 A.M.
991
98
64
15
After walking on deck half an hour,^
skin moist with perspiration.
\\\ AM.
99-2
98
60
15
After reclining an hour.
1 P.M.
99.
98
60
16
After a light fruit luncheon, and a[
glass of water.
These observations, and many more which I made during
the voyage, and since landing in Barbadoes, clearly shew that
the temperature of the body rises with the temperature of the
air, and that on sudden transition from a mild or cool climate
to a hot climate, there is a tendency to a state approaching to
a feverish state, marked not only by increase of temperature,
but also by accelerated action of the heart and quickened respi-
ration, especially on making bodily exertion.
Such effects obviously suggests to the newly arrived in a
tropical climate great temperance in all things ; the using less
wine and animal food than they had been accustomed to in a
cooler atmosphere ; dressing coolly, and avoiding as much as
possible, for a time, all fatiguing exercise and exposure to the
sun. Unfortunately, such care is seldom observed, and many
have to regret the neglect of it ; indeed, on landing, it is often
difficult to observe the precautions which health requires,
there being commonly duties to be performed demanding im-
mediate exertion and exposure ; not to mention the tempta-
tions to do too much, arising out of curiosity on visiting a
country new to one.
4. Of the Temperature of different parts of the Body on entering
a Warm Climate.
Common observation shews, that on entering a warm cli-
mate, the extremities especially become warm ; coldness of the
hands and feet is no longer experienced, but rather an unplea-
sant sensation of heat in them, with a disposition generally in
52 Dr Davy's Voyage from England to Barhadoes.
the skin to be moist with perspiration. It may not be amiss
here to give a few precise observations on the temperature of
different parts of the body, ascertained with as much accuracy
as possible. When the situation permitted, the bulb of the
thermometer was completely covered ; when otherwise, the
bulb was gently pressed on the surface, and barely covered
with a small pledget of cotton-wool. The following observa-
tions of the kind alluded to were made at sea, on the morn-
ing of the 6th of July, between 6 and 7 A.M., before rising,
when the temperature of my cabin was 82°. On commencing
them, it may be premised, that the temperature under the tongue
was 98*7 ; of the closed hand 98°; the pulse 60 ; the respira-
tions 14 ; and just after finishing them, the temperature under
the tongue was 98*9 ; of the closed hand 98*4 ; the pulse 64 ;
the respirations 15 ; an augmentation probably owing more to
the excited attention than to bodily exertion, which was in-
tentionally as little as possible, keeping chiefly in the horizon-
tal posture.
o
Closed hand, 98'
Back of hand, bulb covered, ....... 94*45
Do. uncovered, 94*4
) 98-9
Axilla, in different parts, .......> 93*4
I 98-
Lower part of groin, . . . . . . . . 98*9
Groin over femoral artery, 98*4
Do. about 2 inches from the line of the artery, where the in-
teguments are less lax than immediately over the artery, 99*1
Region of stomach, drawn in by stooping forward, so as to
cover well the bulb, 99'2
Right hypochondrium, the bulb, in like manner, covered, . 99*25
Umbilical region, . . < 99'2
Ham, 96-
Two mornings previously, viz., on the 4th of July, between
6 and 7 A.M., when the air of my cabin was also 82°, the
temperature under the tongue 98°- 7, the pulse 60°, the re-
spirations 13°, the observations which follow were made : —
o
Between great and second toe of foot, . . * . . 97*
Ham, ^^'
Over femoral artery in thigh, about midway, the bulb covered, 967
Do. in the same place, uncovered, .... 96*2
Early morning Temperature of the Body,
53
Over middle portion of thigh, about 2 inches from the course „
of the femoral artery, the bulb uncovered, ... 94'
Do. in the same place, the bulb uncovered, . . 93*
Lower part of groin, 98*2
Umbilical region, 99*
Axilla, ........... 98-1
Bend of fore-arm, 97*3 .
5. Of the Early Morning Temperature of the Body withiti the
Tropics.
According to the observations which I have made in Eng-
land, the temperature of the body, as measured by a ther-
mometer placed under the tongue, is lowest at night, about
midnight, and highest on rising, after the rest of the night :
the average difference was 0.82. The limited observations
which I have as yet made within the tropics, lead me to infer
that the early morning temperature, just after waking and
quitting bed, is lower than the night temperature before retir-
ing to rest, and decidedly lower than the day temperature.
The following are a few of the observations which I have
hitherto made, leading to this conclusion. Of these some were
made at sea — those preceding the 7th of July ; the rest after
landing : —
Tomp.
under Tongue.
Temp,
in Hand.
Pulse.
Resp.
Temp,
of air.
July 1.
6 a.m.
9V5
97-5
56
14
^
2.
...
98-5
97-5
60
15
79
3.
,,,
98-7
98-
5Q
14
80
4.
...
98-7
98-
60
14
83
6.
...
98-7
98-
60
13
82
12.
,,,
98-35
97-5
58
17
79
...
lOj P.M.
98-5
98-
64
16
79
14.
6 A.M.
98-4
97-5
58
15
75
...
10 P.M.
98-95
98-
70
17
80
15.
6 A.M.
98-7
98-
60
15
78
...
11 P.M.
99-4
98-5
78
16
77
18.
6 A.M.
98-4
97-25
60
15
78
...
10 P.M.
99-5
98-5
70
17
77
19.
6 A.M.
98-4
97-5
62
16
77
...
10 P.M.
99-
97-5
60
16
79
20.
6 A.M.
98-1
97-25
5Q
15
77
...
10 P.M.
98-7
97-25
62
15
79
n.
6 A.M.
98-6 ^
97-5
54
15
78
...
10^ P.M.
98-8
97-
60
IG
81
54 Dr Davy's Voyage from England to Barhadoes.
These observations give^ a fair average early morning tem-
perature of 98-33, whilst in England it was 98*74 ; and an
average night temperature of 97*92, whilst in England it was
97-92. '
Should more extended observations confirm these conclu-
sions, the differences of temperature, at different times of the
day, in the two climates, may perhaps be connected with the
manner of sleeping in a tropical country, merely covered with
a sheet, and commonly in a current of air ; -and in part to the
moist state of the skin, presenting a constantly evaporating
surface of large extent, especially when wet or moist with
perspiration ; and partly to the subsidence of functional ac-
tion in sleep, after undue excitement whilst waking. By day,
in all the instances mentioned, the temperature had risen to
99°, or above that. However, it may be explained, should
the fact be established, that the temperature of the body falls
in sleep far more in a tropical than in a temperate climate, in
a hot than a cool one, it should be suggestive of precautions in
sleeping, especially as to too free exposure to the wind or cur-
rents of air, and very thin or no bed-clothing — precautions
commonly observed by the natives of hot climates, and too
<;ommonly neglected by inexperienced strangers unaccustomed
to tropical heats ; and very often, I believe, with bad effect,
especially when malaria is rife, and exposure to the night air
is especially dangerous.
6. Of the effect of a High Artificial Temperature on Man.
I availed myself of the opportunity which the steamer offered
to notice the effect of a comparatively high temperature on
men exposed to it for a considerable time. On the 4th of
July, about 11 A.M., when the temperature of the air on deck
was 80°, I descended with the principal engineer to the hottest
place in the ship, where the men work who are employed about
the engines. It was aft, over the boilers ; its floor the plate ;
ventilated by one port-hole only, and a small circular opening
in the deck, little larger than sufficed to allow a nian to enter.
The temperature of the air in it was 111°, and I was told it
was often higher. The floor was hotter, disagreeably so to the
feet, even protected with boots witk soles of moderate thick-
Effect of a High Artificial Temperature on Man. 65
ness. The men employed here in removing coal, of which it
is a receptacle, seldom remain beyond twenty, or at farthest
twenty- five, minutes.
1. A healthy man, 24 years of age, who had been employed
about the fires three hours, and during the last quarter of an
hour was in this hot atmosphere, had his temperature tried
just on leaving it. Under the tongue it was 100*5 ; in the
closed hand 98*9 ; his pulse 112, and strong. He had on
trousers and shoes, was otherwise naked, and his skin was wet
with sweat standing in drops, or running off in small streams.
2. After exposure to the same temperature for about 14
minutes, dressed as usual, I found the temperature under my
tongue 99*5 ; of the closed hand 98-5 ; the pulse 83* ; the re^
spirations 16. There was profuse perspiration ; no uneasy
sensation. After exposure of about 25 minutes, sweating pro-
fusely, and still without any decided unpleasant sensation, the
temperature under the tongue was found to have risen to 100*2 ;
of the hand to 99*9 ; the pulse to 102, and the respirations to
18. It may be mentioned, that an hour before, after walking
gently for about half an hour, exposed to the wind at 80°, the
temperature under the tongue was 98° ; of the closed hand 98° ;
the pulse 60 ; the respirations 15.
3. The chief-engineer, a robust healthy man, about 30 years
of age, who had been below nearly two hours seeing to the
engines, but not in the hottest parts, was the n«xt subject of
observation, after exposure of 25 or 26 minutes to a temper-
ature of 111°. His temperature under the tongue was 102*3 ;
of the closed hand 100 ; his pulse 142, and not feeble. He
was profusely sweating. He said he had no uneasy sensation.
4. The last subject of observation was a man about 2b years
of age, active and healthy, who had been exposed to the high
temperature more than a quarter of an hour, and elsewhere to
a less high temperature about two hours. His temperature
under the tongue was 101° ; of the hand 100° ; his pulse 102.
He was profusely sweating.
It may be worthy of mention, that when resting in my cabin
after this exposure, on making a deep inspiration and expira-
tion, a sensation of cooling was experienced in the region of
the lungs, contrary to what is felt, according to my experience,
56 Dr Davy's Voyage from England to Barbadoes.
in breathing in the same manner when the body is cold, when,
I have always noticed, directing attention to the part, a distinct
feeling of warmth.
I may give the results of two other trials of temperature,
made in the after stoke-hole, where the fires of the fiirnaces
are fed, and where, when the furnace-doors were closed, the
temperature of the air was about 104° ; when opened, about
112°, the moistened bulb- thermometer falling to 94°. After
having been there about 7 minutes, a profuse perspiration
occurring, I found the temperature under my tongue 99*4 ;
hand 97*75 ; pulse 70 ; respirations 20. A quarter of an hour
before the temperature tinder the tongue was 98*3 ; of hand
97*5 ; pulse 52 ; respirations 15. The temperature of a stoker
under the tongue was 99*5. He had been employed a con-
siderable time in attending to the fires, dressed in trousers
and shirt, and was profusely perspiring.
It is said that the firemen, and the men employed about the
engines generally, notwithstanding the very high temperature
to which they are exposed, have, whilst in the West Indies,
better health than the common seamen, and are, especially,
less liable to fever. Their less liability to fever seems to be a
well established fact ; and it certainly is a curious, and, I can-
not help thinking, a valuable fact. Does it not tend to shew
that a high temperature of about 110-12° is destructive of
malaria ] This would be in accordance with what seems to be
ascertained relative to the efffect of high temperature in the
instance of the contagion of plague, and of vaccine lymph,*
rendering them inert. Those who do not adopt this conclu-
* Vaccine lymph sent from England to the West Indies in the steam-
packets, I am informed, has always proved inert. Sent under cover
through the Post-ofiice as a letter, it is put into the mail-bags, which are
kept in a very hot part of the ship, where wax melts. This temperature
may render the lymph useless. In transmitting lymph to tropical coun-
tries, especially in steamers, it seems very desirable that the parcel
should be addressed to the Purser or Surgeon, with a " N.B. — Vaccine
Ijrmph ; to be kept in the coolest place." At present in the West Indies,
I am told, that, owing to the inefficiency of the lymph imported, there is
a considerable number of persons, especially negroes from the Western
coast of Africa, requiring to be vaccinated, and many of them in the
public service.
Ventilation and Cooling of Steam-ships. 57
sidn may, perhaps, refer the escape which the enginemen com-
monly experience from fever in the West Indies tO not being
exposed to the night-air, as the common sailors are on this
station, and where, on account of the numerous islets and
reefs rendering the navigation anxious and difficult, it is neces-
sary for them to be much on the alert, and to exert themselves
more than is usual in the open ocean.
As regards general health and wear and tear of the consti-
tution, it seems difficult to imagine that the exposure to so
high a temperature as the firemen are obliged to undergo, is
not injurious. Statistical returns of the diseases to which this
class of men are subject, and of the average length of years
they are capable of serving, may be mentioned as desiderata.
They will probably be found to suffer in a high ratio from dis-
eases of the heart and brain, and to be specially subject to
sudden deaths from rupture or over- distension of the blood-
vessels. Two days before reaching Bar badoes, it may be noticed;
that a man, just as his four hours' of duty in attendance on the
engine expired, was struck down by apoplexy of a severe kind,
and which, it is likely, would have proved fatal, but for the
active and jujjicious treatment employed by the surgeon of the
ship. The blood abstracted from the arm in this case, it is
remarkable, was reported to have coagulated almost instantly,
and to have become putrid in a very short time, emitting an
offensive smell, it was said, in less than a quarter of an hour.
7. Of the Ventilation and Cooling of Steam-ships.
The steamers employed in the West Indian Packet Service,
as also in the Oriental, are many of them noble vessels, fitted
up and conducted so as to afford a very tolerable degree of
comfort to the passengers, especially the West Indian packets,
with single berths. What they seem most faulty in is venti-
lation, and the means essentially connected with a due supply
of air, and of keeping them cool. To this part of their construc-
tion the help of science does not appear to have been applied.
The means of ventilation available are only the ordinary ones of
ports, sky-lights, and wind- sails, — all precarious, and often not
admitting of use. Even in moderate weather, it was neces-
sary, on this voyage, to have commonly the ports in the lower
58 Dr Davy's Voyage from England to Barhadoes,
berths closed, and always at night, and often likewise the ports
in the saloon — the common dining-room — to the no trifling
discomfort of the passengers, after so suddenly passing into a
tropical climate. If the saloon and lower berths are ill- venti-
lated, some other compartments of the ship are worse, especi-
ally those near the engine, heated by communicated heat, not
being protected by bad conducting surfaces. The mess-room
•of the officers of the vessel may be mentioned as an example.
In dimensions it is about 8 feet by 6 ; and besides the en-
trance door has only one port for the admission and exit of air.
At 2 o'clock in the afternoon of the 3d of July, when the tem-
perature of the air on deck was 80°, in this confined space it
was 90°*1. It was just after the officers* dinner. A young
midshipman present, who was bathed in perspiration, submit-
ted to have his temperature tried ; under the tongue it was
99°*8 ; in the closed hand, 98°-5. I no sooner entered than I
was also in a profuse perspiration, but without experiencing any
oppressive feeling of heat. Such a feeling the officers did not
speak of experiencing ; but they did say, and they are men not
given to complain, that they were subject to get cold going
suddenly from their vapour-bath into the open air.
It is to be hoped, that the company which has shewn so much
enterprise in establishing a regular communication with the
West Indies by such noble steamers, and so much perseverance
in contending with difficulties, and resolution in striving against
disasters considered almost ruinous, will not be satisfied with
having brought their establishment of steamers into tolerable
order, but will assiduously apply themselves to improve them
to the utmost extent ; and first, and most of all, as regards de-
fective ventilation. Simple means, I am confident, might be
suggested, by which this could be effected, without the neces-
sity of incurring any great expense, and without risking or
impairing the timbers. A very ingenious machine for ventila-
tion has lately been invented by Dr Arnott, of which I had
the satisfaction of seeing a model before leaving town. It is
recommended by its cheapness and freedom from complexity.
It is admirably adapted to introduce fresh and cool air into
any part of a steamer. By means of it, at the expense of a few
shillings, or a few pounds at farthest, aided by air-tubes judi-
■On Curves generated by Images from Plane Mirrors. 69
*ciously placed, and bad conducting surfaces, I have no doubt,
all objection, as regards want of air and excess of heat, might
be removed.
The company, it appears to me, ought to look forward to 2k
time when, in the favourable season, at the beginning of our
winter, a voyage to the West Indies will be as commonly re-
commended to invalids requiring a mild winter climate, as to
Pisa, Naples, or Malta, at present. Were their steamers ven-
tilated as they might be, and kept of a mild temperature, having
the means of introducing warm air into the cabins as well as
cool air, they would be admirably fitted for conveying invalids ;
and the comfort afforded by them would be vastly increased,
and could not fail of being duly appreciated by the passengers ;
and, I will add, it may be for the interest of the company thus
to improve them, thereby giving them still greater advantages
than they at present possess over sailing vessels.
Barbadoes, August 2. 1845.
On some new and curious Curves, generated by the Images
reflected from Plane Mirrors, in a state of rapid rotation
around a fixed Axis. By Adam Andehson, LI^.D.,
F.R.S.E., &c.. Professor of Natural Philosophy in the United
College, St Andrews. With three Plates. (Communicated
by the Author.)
My attention having been lately directed to devise some new
contrivance for exhibiting, in a conspicuous and popular form,
adapted to a Class, the continuity of the sensation produced upon
the retina, when the impressions received by that organ from
well-illuminated objects, are renewed at short and successive
intervals, it occurred to me, among the different methods which
suggested themselves, that the object might be attained, in a
simple and effectual manner, by exposing a small mirror, in a
state of brisk revolution, to a pencil of the sun's rays, admit-
ted, through a small aperture, into a dark chamber. The me-
chanical contrivance to which I had recourse, for the purpose
of communicating a rapid angular motion to the mirror, con^
sists of a wheel with 120 teeth, which acts on a pinion having
60 Dr Anderson on Curves generated by
eight leaves, and, consequently, causes the axis of the pinion to
revolve fifteen times for each revolution of the wheel.
In fig. 1, (Plate I.) A B represents the wheel; BD,the pinion;
Z E F, the axis of revolution; M M and N N, two mirrors, which,
by means of the adjusting screws S S, may be inclined at any
angle with the plane of rotation, to which E F is perpendicu-
lar. The rectangular appendage, I K V W, is graduated by a
scale of tangents, adapted to the radius K I ; so that the angle
RIK, which is equal to the angle that the direction of the
solar ray makes with the axis E F, is determined by the point
R, where the extremity of the shadow of K I falls upon K V W.
The instrument being held steadily by the handle X X, a rapid
rotation is given to the wheel by means of its handle c d. As
the wheel may be easily made to perform two turns in a se-
cond, the pinion, with the attached mirrors, revolves thirty
times in the same time — a velocity of rotation which far ex-
ceeds what is necessary to maintain the sensation of a continu-
ous curve, re-entering into itself, when such a curve is gene-
rated by the images of the reflected light, proceeding from the
revolving mirrors.
After I had duly prepared the apparatus, and made the ne-
cessary arrangements for exhibiting the experiments which I
had in view, I was much pleased with the magnificence and
variety of the curves I obtained, which I soon found included,
among others, all the conic sections. In the expectation that
a still more interesting description of curves would result from
the images produced by the reflection of the light from one
mirror to another, I applied a second mirror, with its reflect-
ing plane facing that of the first, their line of common section
being at right angles to the axis of rotation ; and found, as I
anticipated, that the reflections were greatly more diversified
in appearance : the form and magnitude of the curves to which
they gave birth being modified in every conceivable variety,
by the inclination of the mirrors to the plane of rotation, and
the direction of the incident light. Some of the curves pro-
duced by the double reflections intersected those occasioned
by the primary reflections ; and as they exhibited, in certain
cases, lines of contrary flexure, with symmetrically disposed
Images from Plane Mirrors in rapid rotation. 61
nodes, that circumstance contributed to add greatly to the va-
riety and beauty of the phenomena.
When the instrument, which may be called a katoptrizotrope,
is held in such a position as to receive, at the same time, the
direct rays of the sun, and the refracted light proceeding from
a prism, the curves unite the utmost elegance of form, with the
pleasing diversity of colour exhibited by the solar spectrum ;
and by gradually varying the direction of the incident light to
the axis of rotation, and causing the reflected rays to fall on
different planes, an endless diversity of curves is obtained,
which, in every case, are sketched with the most perfect sym-
metry. When the experiment is made in a large and pro-
perly darkened apartment, it is scarcely possible to describe,
in suitable terms, the splendour and variety of the optical ap-
pearances which it exhibits.
Those acquainted with the origin of the curves derived from
the various sections of the cone, will readily perceive that these
curves must be obtained when the axis of rotation coincides
with the direction of the luminous ray, — the position of the
plane on which the flitting images are received determining,
in that case, the peculiar description of the curve, whether
a circle, an ellipse, a parabola, or hyperbola. The same de-
scription of curves is also obtained after two reflections, in par-
ticular dispositions of the mirror, to be afterwards mentioned.
In cases, however, in which the axis of rotation is inclined
to the direction of the light, the angle of incidence, and con-
sequently, also, the angle of reflection, are subject to a con-
tinual and gradual change, which is confined between certain
limits ; and hence, the determination of that angle for every
position of the revolving mirrors, constitutes an essential ele-
ment in the construction of the resulting curves. To obtain,
in the first place, an analytical expression for the variable
angle of incidence, it will greatly facilitate the investigation
to conceive the plane of rotation, as well as the planes of the
two mirrors, to be great circles of the sphere ; the axis of ro-
tation, and the axis of the mirrors (regarded as passing through
the centre of the sphere), will evidently make with each other
the same angles as the planes of the circles to which they re-
spectively belong.
C& Dr Anderson on Curves generated by
Let the great circle A B C D fig. 2, (Plate I.) representing
the plane of rotation, be the primitive ; then P being the stereo-
graphic projection of its pole, let there be described around that
point the two small circles M-W mm' and N N' ^^ w/, at the dis-
tances P M and P N, the measures of the inclination of the
two mirrors to the plane of rotation. These small circles will
evidently represent the varying positions of the poles, or the
extremities of the axes of the mirrors, in their revolutions
round the axis of rotation. Let A C represent the plane of
reflection common to both mirrors, when the angle of reflec-
tion is in a maximum state for the one, and in a minimum
state for the other ; or, to speak more correctly, let A C be
the line of common section of a plane passing through the
luminous point L, with the plane of rotation, and cutting at
right angles the planes of both mirrors. Then B D will be
the line of common section of the two mirrors, and P L will
measure the angle which the direction of the light makes,
with the axis of rotation, supposed to be constant.
Since all the planes in which the angles of incidence take
place pass through L, and also through the axes of the mirrors,
they will be great circles of the sphere, and consequently, they
must all pass through L', a point taken diametrically opposite
to L, the former point being found according to the principles
of the stereographic projection. It is evident from the nature
of the construction, that LM = PL + PM, the maximum
angle of incidence, and Lw=PL — PM the minimum angle
of incidence, for the mirror whose inclination with the plane
of rotation is measured by P M. Also L N and L n measure
the corresponding angles for the other mirror.
Let it be now supposed that the mirrors revolve through
the angular space measured by A R, so that the pole M arrives
at M', and the pole N at N' ; then the great circles L M' L'
and L N' L' being described through L, and the poles M' and
N', it is obvious that L M' will measure the angle of incidence
for the one mirror, and L N' that for the other. To obtain
analytical expressions for these quantities, let the angle of ro-
tation A PR=a ; PL=X; PM = i8; PN=/?'; LM'=I;and
L N'=r. Then, in the spherical triangle P L M', we have —
Cos I = — cos flc sin A sin /3 + cos A cos |3, ... (A)
Images from Plane Mirrors in, rapid rotation. 63
Also, in the spherical triangle P L N', we have —
Cos I' = cos « sin A sin (3' + cos A cos /8', . . . (B)
Cos a being positive in the one expression and negative in
the other, according to the supposed value of a.
When a=o, we obtain from the first of these equations —
Cos I = sin A sin /3 + cos A cos /3 = cos (A ^ /3), . (C)
Hence I:±:X — /3, the minimum angle of incidence for the
first mirror, when M' coincides with M.
Again, when a = cr=180^, that is, when M' arrives at »t, we
have —
Cos I = —sin A sin /3 + cos A cos /3 = cos (a -f- /3), . (D)
Heftce, I = X + /3 being the maximum angle of incidence for
the same mirror.
The general formula (A), which expresses the value of the
angle of incidence for the first mirror, for every value of the
angle of rotation, admits of a great variety of forms, some of
which become extremely simple, when particular values are
assigned to a, as well as to \ and j8. Thus, if x=/3=45°, we
have, in the first and fourth quadrants of rotation —
CosI = ^cos« + i = i±|^^ = co82^«, . . . (E)
Moreover, in the second and third quadrants of rotation —
Co8l=-^co8« + -i=^^=|^ = sin«i«, . . . . (F)
Hence, cos I + cos F = 1, when a = ^ = 45".
K/, o/\o 1 _ 3 4-cos<« l+cos^i« ,_,^
A = ^ = 30, we have cos I = — -!-- = o (G)
A J T «/^o T 1 -i- 3 COS* ,__.
And if A = /8 = 60°, COS I = J (H)
Moreover, when X and jS are complemental angles —
Cos I = COS « COS /3 sin /3 H- COS /3 sin /3 =r (1 -f- cos «) cos /8 sin /3 =
=: COS 'J « sin 2 /8, or cos 2^ « sin 2 A, (I)
When
/8 = 15° and A = 75°, or a = 15° and ^ = 75° cos I = J cos «i «, (K)
When |S=/3', that is, when the two mirrors have the same
inclination to the plane of rotation, we obtain, by the formulsB
(A) and (B)—
64f.v Dr Anderson on Curves generated by
Cos r + cos 1 = 2 cos A cos /8
Cos r — cos I =: 2 cos <« sin A sin /S
} (L)
TT cos I'i— cos I
■tlence, z:zv~i ? = cos « tan a tan /3.
cos I 4- cos I '^
And tan ^ (I -f F) tan I (F^I) = cos « tan a tan /3, . (M)
And when a = /3 = 45",
Tan \ (I + r) tan i (I - 1.) = cos «, (N)
The condition of the angle of incidence vanishing, or that
of the incident ray being reflected directly backward, is, 1 = 0,
or cos 1 = 1. Hence, in that case, we have by the general
formula —
Cos (t — cosec A cosec /S^cot A cot /3, (0)
The limit of reflection takes place when the direction of the
luminous ray coincides with the plane of the mirror ; in which
case, cos I = cos 90° = o.
And cos «fr = — cot A cot /3 ^
Or sec «=^tanA tan/3 J
Hence the limit of reflection cannot take place when the
angle of rotation is in the first or fourth quadrant.
When the direction of the luminous ray coincides with the
axis of rotation X=o, and the general formula becomes —
Cos I = cos /3, or I n /3.
Hence the reflected ray describes, around the axis of rota-
tion, the convex surface of a cone ; and, consequently, the
curves which it generates are the various sections of that solid,
according to the position of the planes on which the images
are received.
Having thus derived a considerable number of formulae for
determining the angle of incidence in the case of a single re •
flection from either mirror, we shall now proceed to the in-
vestigation of a more complex case, namely, that of deducing
an expression for the angle of incidence, when the ray, after
being reflected from the surface of one of the mii-rors, suffers
a second reflection from the surface of the other, against which
it impinges in certain positions of the revolving mirrors. For
this purpose, we shall find, in the first place, an expression for
the variable angle M'L N', formed by the planes of reflection,
when the pole of one mirror is at M', and that of the other at
• Images from Plane Mirrors in rapid rotation. 65
N' ; in which position L M' is evidently the angle of incidence
for the one mirror, and L N' that for the other. But in the
triangle M'L N' we have M'N' = jS + jS' ; L M' = I ; and L N' = I' ;
and therefore, if the auxiliary angle sought be denoted by p,
we have
Cos ozz Co8(/3 + /30 — cosIcosF .Q.
^ Sin I sin r, ^^
Let M'E be made equal to L M', then M'E being the measure
of the angle of reflection, corresponding to the angle of inci-
dence I, it follows that P E will represent the direction of the
ray after it is reflected from the first mirror. Produce E P, in
the opposite direction, till it intersect the sphere, in a point
' F diametrically opposite to E ; and F L will be equal to ^— 2 I.
Since E P is the direction in which the light, after reflection
from the first mirror, falls upon the second mirror, let a great
circle be described through F and N', and the arch F N' will
evidently measure the angle of incidence for the reflection
from the second mirror, after the ray has been reflected from
the first. To determine F N', which we shall denote by /, we
have in the triangle F L N', the sides F L and L N', respec-
tively equal to ^—2 I, and I, and the angle FLN'=:'T— p.
TT ^ , , Cos i — cos V cos (v — 21)
Hence Cos (^r —
sin A sin /S-f cos A cos /3).
XT n 2 cos 2 y3 - 1 ,^,.
Hence, Cos a = tttt, ^tttt — TT — ~» . . . . ( ^
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Captain Newbold on (he Temperature of Bivers. Ill
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112
Captain Newbold on the Temperature of Springs.
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Temperature of the Air.
113
Comparative Register of the Temperature of the Air (in the shade)
and of the Sea, from Bombay to Suez. The indications of
Thermometer are adjusted to those given by the standard of the
Royal Society.
Noon.
MlDK
lOHT.
Month.
Lat. N.
Long. K.
RzjiA&Ka.
Air.
Water.
Air.
Water.
May 1.
o
18
/
36
7°1
41
No Obs.
No Obs.
No Obs.
No Obs.
\
... 2.
18
6
88
87-5°
85-5''
86-5°
84-6
... 3.
17
30
28
87
86-5
87
No Obs.
p
... 4.
16
67
12
86
84
86-5
No Obs.
§
15
29
5
87-5
88-5
85
86°
... 6.
15
52
53
87
86-6
85
84-5
5
... 7.
15
19
40
86
83
86
84-5
... 8.
14
56
17
85-6
82-6
85-5
82-5
... 9.
14
27
56
85-5
84-6
83-5
84
o-
... 10.
13
43
89
88-5
83-5
84-5
84-5
§
... 11.
13
32
43
88
85-2
87
85
S?
... 12.
12
46
53
89
86-6
87
86-5
P Off coast of Arabia.
... 13.
Aden.
Aden.
89-5
87-8
86-5
86
' Back Bay, at anchor.
... 14.
12
49
21
88-7
86
86-5
84-5
[ In sounding — off vol-
{ cano— off Gevel
( Teer.
S^ Sun's rays, 115° 2 p.m.
... 15.
15
14
65
88
86
84
84
... 16.
17
28
20
87-5
87
87
84-5
... 17.
19
55
52
90
88
85
85-5
^ ... 120°5 2...
... 18.
22
28
21
86
84-6
85'5
82
f
... 19.
24
38
13
84-2
80-5
82
79
... 20.
26
38
45
84
80-5
89-5
82
f Suez— hot khamsin
( set in about 10 p.m.
Memoranda, supplied by the kindness of a Friend, from the Register
kept on board the Honourable East India Company'' s Steamer
Cleopatra, from Bombay to Suez.
A.M.
P.M.
Month.
Lat. N.
Lonj. E.
REMi-BK*.
Air.
Water.
Air.
Water.
April 2.
89
84
o
81
o
78
... 8.
84
88
80
78 .
... 4.
84
84
81
83
... 6.
81
83
81
83
... 6.
80
82
80
... 7.
No entry
No entry
... 8.
Do.
Do.
... 9.
Do.
Do.
... 10.
Do.
Do.
At Aden.
... 11.
Do.
Do.
Passed Straits of Babelmandel.
... 12.
86°
84°
86°
84°
... 18.
87
84
81
82
... 14.
79
82
79
80
... 15.
No entry
No entry
... 16.
84° 76°
73° 1 71°
... 17.
76 82
No entry
Passed Island of Shadwan.
... 18.
No entry
Do.
Suez Bay.
VOL. XL. NO. LXXIX. — JANUAKY 1846.
114 Captain Newbold on the Temperature of Springs.
N. B. — The latitude and longitude have been omitted in the
above register ; but after making allowance for the more rapid run
of the Cleopatra than that of the vessel in which I left India, and
calculating from Bombay to the Straits of Babelmandel, and thence
to Suez, an approximation may be made to the vessel's situation at
the time of taking the observations. The indications could not be
adjusted to the standard thermometer of the Society.
Note on the Thermal Springs of the Peninsula of India, — Since
my arrival here, my friend Mr Malcolmson has put into my hands-
the first volume of the Bombay Medical and Physical Transactions,
where I find, p. 257, a few notes on the thermal springs in the
Konkan, by A. Duncan, Esq. The geographical distribution of
these springs corroborates the remark in my paper, under the head
of thermal springs, viz., '* That the majority of the springs termed
thermal occur in India at or near lines of great faults." The ther-
mal springs, mentioned by Mr Duncan, lie at the base of the West-
ern Ghaut elevation, intermediate betv/een the mountains and the
sea, generally from 16 to 24 miles, or thereabout, inland from the
latter. The line of springs follows pretty nearly that of the moun-
tains, viz., nearly north and south ; and extends from the vicinity
of Surat, or about 21° N. lat. to South Bajapore. They are sup-
posed to exist still farther south, following, at irregular intervals^
the line of West Ghauts to Ceylon, Not less than twelve are
known to exist between Dasgaun and South Bajapore, viz. —
1 at Oonale, in the taluk of Viziadroog.
3 in the Rutnaghirry taluk, at Rajwaree, Tooril, and Sungmairy.
1 at Arowlee, in the Konedree taluk.
1 at Mat, Hatkumbee Mahal.
1 at Oonale, in the Natoe Palivan Mahal, Severndroog.
3 at Oonale, Jaffrabad Mahal.
1 at Savi, in the Ryghur taluk, Bhar Nergannah.
1 at Oonale, Sankse taluk, Mahal Palee.
12 total.
Oonale is the native term for a hot spring. The temperature of
all the springs examined exceeded, with a single exception, 100°
Fahr., and amounted to 109°. That of Tooril, which, unfortu-
nately, was not thermo metrically ascertained, appeared to Mr Dun-
can to be almost at the boiling point. The water was not found to
be mineral, though impregnated with sulphuretted hydrogen. A
little higher up, in the hill where the thermal spring, No. 1, occurs,
is a singular intermittent cold spring, over which a temple has beea
built. It is resorted to by crowds of Hindoos, during the season
when the fountain periodically flows, viz., during the hot months.
A more minute analysis of the water, and a more continued series of
thermometric obsei-vations, are a great desideratum.
On certain Pseudo-Morphous Crystals of Quartz. 115
The temperature of a hot spring of Oonye, in the jungle between
Bansda and Boharee, is asserted by the Brahmins to diminish an-
nually at the time of the full moon in April, so as to admit of per-
sons bathing in it at this period, when the natives assemble there in
great numbers for that purpose. The assertion was contradicted by
the late Dr White ; but the question, I see, has again been raised
by the observations of Mr J. S. Law, of the Civil Service, who found
the temperature of the hottest part of the spring to have diminished,
at this period, from 1 24° to 94° Fahr. It is probable, however,
that future observations on this supposed singular annual variation
will set the matter at rest.
Bombay, JvXy 15. 1842.
On, certain Pseudo-Morphous Crystals of Quartz, By
Robert Were Fox.
Read at a Meeting of the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society,* on
the 8th October 1845.
I submit to the Society's notice, some specimens of quartz, with
pseudo-morphous octohedral crystals of the same substance, which
appear to me to possess a sort of historical interest, or, at least, to
indicate that a succession of changes must have occurred in the
condition of the mineral vein from which they were taken. They
were found by S. Peters (dealer in minerals), in one of the heaps of
vein stones, at the Consolidated mines, and I understand were broken
from a copper vein in " killas,'^ at the depth of about 160 fathoms
below the surface. He observed that many of the crystals con-
tained water, and he secured some of it for me, by carefully breaking
some of them. This he did mostly in my presence, and we had con-
siderable difficulty in collecting even very small portions of the liquid
in different phials. Two of these portions were nearly tasteless, or
saline in a very slight degree, as far as I could judge from a single
drop of each. In both, common salt was detected, and nothing else
in one of the portions ; but the other, when evaporated, left minute
needle-formed crystals, which I was prevented by an accident from
examining. The third portion of water was much more in quan-
tity than both the others — nearly a teaspoonful, and obtained from
only one crystal. It was very acrid to the taste, and gave very co-
♦ From Transactions of the Royal Polytechnic Society of Cornwall.
The object of this paper is to shew that there are causes sufficient to pro-
duce an active circulation of the subterranean water, and that the effecta
of some of the changes in their past condition axe impressed on the speci-
mens to which it refers.
116 Mr Robert Were Fox on certain
pious precipitates when tested by muriate of barytes and ferrocya-*
nate of potash ; — shewing the presence of much sulphuric acid and
iron. Oxalate of ammonia, and nitrate of silver, indicated, more-
over, the presence of lime and muriatic acid. The saline matter in
this water (mostly sulphate of iron), was equal to one-tenth of its
weight ; and if it contained any common salt, of which I am not
clear, the proportion was very small indeed. Litmus paper showed
no excess of acid, the nature of which was not ascertained.
Many of the pseudo-morphous crystals are more than an inch in
diameter, and are partly, or entirely filled with crystalline quarts,
whilst others are empty, or partly filled with more or less nume-
rous fragments of disintegrated fluor. I counted nearly a hundred
of such fragments taken from one of the crystals, or cavities, exclu-
sive of many other very small pieces. All the fragments are cor-
roded, and indicate, by their rounded edges and indented surfaces,
the action of a solvent which penetrated most readily between the
planes of cleavage.'^ Besides this disintegrated fluor, perfect octo-
hedrons of fluor occur in the same specimens ; but they were rather
more embedded in the quartz, and more protected from injury than
the others. Water was found alone in some of the pseudo-morphous
crystals, or cavities, and in others, it was found with fragments of
fluor, or with crystalline quartz.
The most perfect octohedrons occur within large cavities in the
quartz. Some of the latter are more than two inches in diameter,
having the same form, and their sides generally parallel to those of
the former.
The quartz specimens to which the crystals are attached, present,
when broken, the appearance of fortification agate, having lines pa-
rallel to their structure, of transparent and milk-white quartz, dif-
fering in thickness : these seem to indicate that the siliceous matter
had been deposited at intervals, of greater or less duration, or at
least, under different circumstances. After a time, an entire change
of conditions apparently occurred in the vein, and octohedral crystals
of fluor were formed on the quartz ; then silex was deposited either
in a compact form, or in minute crystals, and coated the crystals of
fluor ; afterwards, fluor again appeared, forming octohedrons over the
others, and mostly with sides and angles parallel to them. These
processes appear, from some of the crystals, to have been again re-
peated :- — then came a coat of silex over the fluor, or, judging from
the lines, many coats of it, forming a thick crust, having a surface
of small quartz crystals. Some specimens were found at the same
time with one or more layers of quartz, between two or more portions
of fluor, which tend to confirm these views.
* When crystals of alum were kept for a time in water, the planes of
cleavage were first acted on, and fragments were separated from the
crystals resembling those of the disintegrated fluor.
Pseudo-Morphous Crystals of Quartz. \Vt
I think it may be inferred, from the well-defined and smooth
impressions which the octohedrons of fluor have left in the quartz,
and the general parallelism of the sides and angles of the outer
cavities to those of the smaller pseudo-morphous crystals inclosed in
them,* that the inner and outer crystals of fluor were perfect and
uninjured until after the whole series of them were coated with
quartz. At some subsequent period then, it would appear, that
other changes occurred in the vein, and that the solution or destruction
of the fluor commenced. Some of the cavities which were found
to contain water only, as well as those which contained water to-
gether with disintegrated fluor, have the appearance of having been
60 hermetically sealed, that it is difficult to understand how the
liquid solvent could have obtained access to the fluor and abstracted
it from its case. It cannot be supposed that the pressure of the
column of water above it, although equal to more than half a ton on
some of the larger crystals, could alone have produced the effects ;
for not only must the solvent have been continually admitted through
the crusts of the quartz, but the salts resulting from the solution of
the fluor must, at the same time, have passed through them in the
opposite direction, a sort of endosmose and exosmose must have ex-
isted, as I conceive, to produce the phenomena ; whilst in other in-
stances, the thick envelopes of quartz were impervious, and pro-
tected the fluor from injury. The salts resulting from the solution
of the fluor must have been soluble, although this condition seems
to present some difficulties under the circumstances of the case ; and,
doubtless, the destruction of the fluor was very slowly effected in
many instances, and in others it was begun but never completed.
The diflerences in the saline contents of the water obtained from
some of the crystals, is another circumstance of some interest, indi-
cating the existence of different conditions in the vein, when the
water was last admitted into the respective crystals.
The phenomena exhibited by these minerals cannot, I conceive,
be accounted for but by supposing the water existing in the fissures
of the earth, to have been changed by circulation from time to time,
and to have been charged with different ingredients at different
periods.
I have, on former occasions, alluded to various causes which
would produce circulation in the subterranean waters, such as the
opening or closing of any portions of fissures; the ascent of warm,
and the descent of cooler currents of water, in consequepce of the
differences in their specific gravities ; or in some instances, by the
* How are such coincidences to be accounted for.'* Are we to as-
sume that polarising forces have determined the arrangement ? In many
instances the layers of quartz which were inta-posed between the cr3stals
^re very thin, imperfect, and pervious to water ; but in others they are
i^ot so, and some of tlie inner crystals now contain water.
118 Mr Robert Were Fox on certain
pressure of the sea water acting on the fresh.* Nearly two years
ago, I stated in this room, my views in reference to the operation of
this latter cause on land springs ; and at the same time, I attempted
to shew the possibility, not to say probability, of steam existing in
fissures below the water at a very great depth. I may, perhaps, be
permitted to refer again to this subject, because it appears to me to
be one of some interest. I then took it for granted that the tem-
perature of the earth increases, in some proportion, to the increase
of depth below its surface ; and that if the ratio be taken at 1°
Fahrenheit for every 48 feet, as found in our deep mines ; and if Lo
Roche's data for calculating the elastic force and density of steam bo
adopted, the forces of steam and of water pressure would balance
each other at rather more than nine miles deep, each being equal to
the pressure of more than 1400 atmospheres. The density of the
steam would there be about one-fourth^ that of water at 60° Fahren-
heit, and its temperature above 1050° Fahrenheit. But the tem-
perature may probably not increase so rapidly as this at great depths,
and the equilibrium in the pressures of the column of water, and of
steam, may occur much further below the surface, where the density
of steam, under an augmented pressure of water, would, of course, be
still greater. However this may be, it would seem that, under any
probable circumstances, in regard to the ratio of increase in the
earth's temperature, the increase in the pressure of the lengthened
column of water would not keep pace with the rapidly increasing
tendency of the water in descending into more heated parts of the
earth to expand into steam, the elasticity of which, at very high tem-
peratures, when confined and in contact with water, is greatly aug-
mented by very small increments of sensible heat.
No water could long remain unchanged into steam below the line
of division between them, and there the steam would be denser
than at any deeper station, for it would be continually diminishing
in density, in descending further from the augmentation of the tem-
perature of the earth ; because the expanding influence of the
increasing heat would much exceed the condensing influence of the
extended column of steam, added to that of the nearly constant
column of water.
The line of demarcation between the water and steam would,
doubtless, conform in some degree to the inequalities of the surface.
It may be difficult, at first, to conceive the steam capable of sup-
porting the water, or rather of existing permanently under it ; but
* Columns of sea and spring water, above five feet high, balanced
against each other in a U-shaped tube, more than a year ago, still re-
main unmixed, shewing nearly the same difference of level as at first
(exceeding an inch).
t From some inadvertence, it has been printed in the Appendix to
the eleventh Report of the Polytechnic Society, page 2, "/our times" in-
stead of ^^ one-fourth" the density of water.
Pseudo-Morphous Crystals of Quartz. li9
tiiis difficulty will, I think, be obviated by the consideration that
the points of contact may be, for the most part, in very narrow
fissures, or mere cracks in the rocks, and that the water, being
greatly heated, may be much less than four times the density of
the steam in immediate contact with it. A continual struggle
would, no doubt, exist between the water and steam under such cir-
cumstances, so that, in many places, they would alternately encroach
beyond the line of demarcation ; but as the checks on both would
increase in proportion to the extent of their encroachments from
the diminution of the temperature above, and its augmentation
below, such encroachments would probably not be very extensive
or of long duration under ordinary circumstances. Suppose a tem-
porary encroachment of the water on the limits of the steam to
occur at one point ; the steam would probably encroach on the
water at another at the same time, and then reactions taking place,
the effects would be reversed. Thus assuming, what indeed would
appear to follow from admitted data as necessary consequences ;
steam would not only exist below the water, but such oscillations
would tend to give motion and activity to the water in the neigh-
bouring fissures, causing it to circulate in the earth more or less
freely and extensively according to circumstances. In volcanic dis-
tricts, where the heat may be great at comparatively small depths,
analogous phenomena sometimes occur at the surface, which are
probably caused by the action and re-action of steam and water.
Amongst these may be included the intermitting Geyser springs in
Iceland, as well as some of the mud volcanoes found in Sicily, and in
Asia and America.
It seems probable that earthquakes may be produced by the ac-
tion of highly elastic vapour, rapidly generated at great depths, in
consequence, perhaps, of copious and sudden influxes of water into
intens-ely heated parts of the earth ; and their lines of direction
jire doubtless influenced by those of the fissures or veins of the dis-
tricts in which they occur. But these are phenomena of compara-
tively rare occurrence, and it is no wonder that they should be so,
when we consider how vastly greater must be the force required to
uplift the rocky crust of the earth and wrench it asunder, than that
which will support a column of water equal to the thickness of that
crust.
Since the foregoing paper was read, I have rather hastily exa-
mined some other portions of water taken from different pseudo-
morphous crystals. One of those portions contained muriatic and
sulphuric acids, iron, a trace of lime, and of common salt. Acid was
a little in excess, and some peroxide of iron was left in the cavity
from which the water was taken. In another, the same acids were
detected, and some iron. In the thii-d portion, there seenied to be
nothing besides a little common salt. In many of the octohedral
120 On certain Pseudo-Morphous Crystals of Quartz,
cavities oxide of iron was found, and sometimes iron pyrites, or cop-
per pyrites, adhering to the sides ; these were apparently deposited
from some of the water which had entered the crystals in some in-
stances ; but in others they were evidently embedded in the fluor,
and, adhering to the deposit of quartz, were not dissolved with the
former.
Earthy carbonate of iron occurs in some cavities, mixed with
very minute crystals of quartz ; and I have one pseudo-morphous
quartz crystal, which is filled with fragments of fluor, intermixed
with translucent fragments of carbonate of iron, and earthy car-
bonate of iron, all curiously cemented together into one mass ; the
iron ore being rather in excess.
I have also some hollow pseudo-morphous crystals of quartz
formed originally on carbonate of iron, which appear to be water-
tight, and yet the latter substance has, like the fluor, been abstracted.
Besides the pseudo-morphous crystals which I have described, I
have some crystals of quartz in the usual pyramidal form, which
were found with them, and which seem to merit some notice.
These crystals are partly composed of a series of layers or coats of
quartz, arranged parallel to the sides of the original crystals which
they enclose. Their inner and earlier coats consist of translucent
and whitish quartz, alternating with each other, whilst the outer
and more recent coats (eight or nine in number,) are of a brownish-
red colour, apparently denoting the presence of much iron ochre.
These ferruginous coats are in many parts fractured, and rather de-
composed, and their edges shew that they are very distinct from each
other, and that they differ much in thickness — say from a tenth to
a fiftieth of an inch. Every one of them has a distinct series, or ra-
ther is composed of striated or fibrous quartz — the minute striae
being 'perpendicular to the planes of the crystals with which they
are connected. The same striated or fibrous texture is observable
in other specimens in which the crystals, from their translucency,
or milk-white colour, appear to consist of pure quartz.
I have been induced to describe these phenomena rather fully,
having been struck with the resemblance between these striated
coats or laminae, and the fibrous quartz found in our ^^cross-courses,''^
or north and south veins, which is termed " cross-course spar^ by
the miners. The striae of the latter are 'perpendicular to the sides
of the north and south veins ; and this is another circumstance in
which there seems to be a resemblance between them and the fibrous
coats of the quartz crystals. If we assume that the form and direction
of the latter have been determined by polarising forces more or les
connected with the quartz crystals which they envelope, may we not
infer that the corresponding phenomena, on a larger scale in the
north and south veins, which have been referred to, were influenced by
analogous forces acting in definite directions under the surface of
the earth I
t 1
i'
;i ■
^
( 121 )
On Fossil Fishes, particularly those of tJw London Clay. By
Professor Agassiz. With a Plate.
(Concluded from p. 327 of vol. xxxix. of this Journal.)
To give an idea of the accuracy to which it is possible to attain in
making a comparative study of the Sheppey Fish, I will give in this
place a description of one of the most common species in this formation,
the Scicenurus Bowerbankii. I add to this description an outline
restoration of the entire animal. (Plate VI.*) This fish has the body
short, high, and much compressed, resembling in this respect tho
Sargi, or even the Doreys (Zeus). Its height, taken at the front
margin of tho anal fin, is contained twice and a half in its length ;
its thickness, even taking into consideration the pressure com-
mon to the Sheppey fossils, is comprised four times in its height ;
its head participates in the same characters as the trunk; it is
high, compressed, and anteriorly truncated. It is as long as high,
and its length is to the total length of the body as two to seven.
The front forms a straight line, descending obliquely from a pro-
minence above the eyes ; the nape is nearly horizontal, rising gra-
dually towards the dorsal fin. The snout is almost vertically trun-
cated, and forms a sharp-edged keel.
The eye is very large, and occupies more than a third of the total
height of the head ; it is placed very high, nearly on a level with
the forehead, in the centre between the end of the snout and the
posterior margin of the preoperculum. The sclerotic capsule which
surrounds it is strong, and well preserved in the majority of the
specimens.
The construction of the. cranium presents several striking pecu-
liarities ; its upper surface exhibits a line broken into three nearly
equal portions ; the hinder portion, or the nape, is oblong, gradually
contracted from behind anteriorly, and divided into two portions by
the central crest of the cranium, which appears to have been very
thin and very high. This central crest extends hindward, as far
as the first dorsal ray. The two parietal crests which circumscribe
this upper oblong portion of the nape are very prominent, but some-
what slender ; they extend for a long way hindwards, where they
form the articulation of the suprascapulary ; they likewise extend
into the projecting angle above the eyes. The same is the case with
the central crest ; the two parietal grooves extended, therefore, to
above the eyes, becoming gradually smaller, and rising to tlie level
of tho front. The surface of the na^e consequently formed a sort
of elongated roof raised on the median line, and bounded on the
two sides by tho parietal crests. The superior occipital bone ad-
vances, en biseait, as far as the central crest, between the two fron-
tals, which extend hindward half the length of the nape. Three
* The Plate in our next Number.
122 Prof. Agassiz on Fossil Fishes.
bones concur in the formation of the parietal crests ; the external
occipital behind, the parietal bone in the centre, and the frontal bone
in the anterior portion. The lateral portions of the nape descend
almost perpendicularly, to rise again subsequently, and form the
strong temporal crests, on to which are articulated the opercula.
The temporal grooves which are formed by these crests, rise gra-
dually towards the projection of the front, but they never reach the
length of the parietal grooves. Lastly, below these grooves are
situated two smaller mastoidean grooves, comprised between the pos-
terior frontal and the temporal crest, which continues behind the
preoperculum over the operculum. The front is made up entirely
of the two frontals ; it forms a perfectly level surface, which is even
slightly depressed on the median line, instead of being raised, as in
many other fish. The frontals are wider behind than in front, and
their orbital portions descend in the form of an arc along the two
sides. This arc is completed in front by the anterior frontal, above
which the principal frontals terminate suddenly, as if truncated.
The nasal is encased between the two principal frontals by a flat-
tened protuberance, the upper surface of which is a continuation of
the surface of the front, but subsequently it descends almost verti-
cally, forming a sharp-edged and very narrow crest ; between this
crest and the anterior frontal there is a very deep groove, which is
limited anteriorly by the suborbitals and the upper jaw.
The first suborbital is of immense size, trapezoidal, with rounded
margins. Its anterior portion is porous, its posterior portion squa-
mose, and folded in plaits, radiating from above downward.
The preoperculum is long, narrow, especially above, where it
forms a crest which descends vertically. The horizontal part is
very short, the margin (limbe), by which the corner of the " equerre"
is bordered, is coarsely folded in radiating plaits. The whole of the
orbital fossa between the preoperculum and the suborbital is coated
with scales resembling those of the body.
The upper maxillaries are almost entirely hidden under the sub-
orbitals ; they are widened behind, and in connection anteriorly with
the ascending branch of the intermaxillary, which is short, curved
like a bow, and furnished on its lower margin with a series of strong,
crooked teeth, whose length diminishes from the front hindwards.
The inferior maxillaries are short and high ; they are provided,
like the intermaxillaries, with crooked teeth, which, hindwards,
are in simple rows, while at the symphysis there are several placed
one behind the other. The teeth diminish hindwards in the same
manner as those of the intermaxillary ; the canines are not observed
to be more projecting than the others. I am not able to say whe-
ther the palate and the tongue were likewise provided with teeth,
but the generic position of our fish leads me to presume that they
were smooth.
The opercular pieces are covered with several rows of scales per-
!Prof. Agassiz on Fossil Fishes. 123
Ifectly similar to those of the body. The operculum itself was
much higher than long, and formed a trapezoid with rounded pos-
terior angles. Its free margin is thin, but entirely smooth, which
is also the case with that of the preoperculum. The thoracic
girdle is extremely strong ; it forms, hindwards toward the throat,
a rounded angle, in front of which, situated in a hollow, is the arti-
culation of the pectoral fin, which was rather small, at least so it
appears, but of which I am able to say nothing further, never hav-
ing seen it preserved entire.
The ventral fins were placed beneath the throat, perhaps even a
little more in front than the pectorals.
The dorsal fin begins directly behind the nape with very strong
and long spines ; it appears to terminate at the commencement of
the last third of the total length. I presume that its last rays were
soft, and that there was no separation between the two kinds of rays
in the fin.
The anal commences near the middle of the body ; it is narrow
but long, and may have possessed about fifteen rays, the first three
of which were spinous.
The caudal is not yet known in detail ; its rays are covered at
the base by very close minute scales. The lateral line describes a
curve parallel to that at the back, occupying at top the first third of
the total height of the body. The scales which cover the entire of
the body are somewhat large and very thin ; so that the posterior
margin is rarely preserved. Examined under the microscope, these
scales present numerous concentric lines, very close upon each other,
and furnished in their anterior portion by a dozen grooves arranged
like a fan, which are visible to the naked eye. The concentric
lines disappear on the hinder portion of the scale, where we see
small granulations, which become excessively minute denticulations
on the free margin of the scale, and which fell off easily during life,
for I have never found them preserved except on some few scales.
In fact, Scisenurus Bowerhankii is an Acanthopterygian thoracic
Ctenoid, having scaly cheeks, the hinder margin of the opercular
pieces smooth, and the jaws furnished with crooked and equal teeth ;
the bones of the cranium rather solid with thin crests. A peculiar
character is found in the enormous suborbital, and in the presence
of a single dorsal and of a single anal.
Now, if we endeavour to determine the place of this fish in the
present system. of classification, we find but a single family of Acan-
thopterygian Ctenoids with which it can be associated, that of the
Sparoidce, which, while they have smooth opercular margins, pos-
sess, in other respects, the characters of the Percoidee. The fol-
lowing, in fact, are the characters assigned by Cuvier to his Spa-
toidte : — " The opercular pieces are not furnished with denticula-
tions or spines ; the bones of the head are solid, but not hollow, as
in the Scieenoidse. The palate is not furnished with teeth ; the
124 Prof. Agassiz on Fossil Fishes.
slimy and the soft rays are united into a single dorsal. The cheeks
and the body are covered with scales, which, according to my re-
searches, are characterized by their having few denticulations on
the posterior margin; moreover, this toothed structure is very weak,
and easily falls off. The Sparoidse are distinguished from the
ScicenoidcB by the absence of cavities in the bones of the head, by a
want of scales on the fins, by the absence of spines or of denticula-
tions on the opercular pieces. This latter character distinguishes
them likewise from the Percoidcey The genus Sciasnurus must,
therefore, be placed among the Sparoidse. Cuvier has divided this
family into several tribes, according to their dentition ; there is
only one, that of Dentex, which is entirely deprived of rounded
molars, and in which none but hooked and conical teeth, generally
arranged in a single row, are found. I have compared the skeleton
of Dentex vulgaris with that of Scisenurus. The same characters
are met with, but the division of the upper surface of the cranium
into three parts is not so marked, and the front is likewise not so
developed as in Scicenurus. However, the same keeled nasal is
found ; the parietal fossa3 form an elongated oblong, bordered by
two raised and thin parietal crests ; the temporal grooves are simi-
lar, and separated from the peculiar mastoidean grooves. We> more-
over, find in the Dentices the same form of the preoperculum, with
its vertical crest and its straight border ; and in the whole family of
the Sparoidce, the enormous suborbital which nearly hides the whole
of the superior maxillary. Cuvier distinguishes from the true
Dentices the genus Pentapodes, which comprises the species, having
the mouth less divided, with very scaly head, and caudal scaly to the
end. It is by the side of this genus that Scisenurus should be ar-
ranged; its compressed and raised body distinguishes it, while, in
the Pentapodes, the body is fusiform and elongated. It is, more-
over, characterized by its dentition ; the Dentices, like the Penta-
podi, have the teeth unequal ; the Pentapodi have two strong
canines, which are situated between several other smaller hooked
teeth, placed behind the teeth en velour ras. The genus Scisenurus
has no canines ; its teeth diminish equally from the front hindwards ;
they are all hooked ; but while approaching the Pentapodi by the
caudal, which has scales at the base, it is, on the other hand, related
to the Dentices by its compressed body. My genus Sparnodus, of
which I have described several species from Monte Bolca, likewise
approaches to the genus Scicenurus, by the uniformity of its teeth,
but it differs from it, in the teeth being short and very obtuse.
1 am at present acquainted with two species of the genus Scise-
nurus, both derived from the London clay of Sheppey.
It is necessary to guard against confounding the fragments of a
species of Myripristis with the Scicenuri, to which they approach,
considerably in their general form, but differ from them by the pron
minent striaa of the operculum, and by. the structure of the scales,.
//
TLATE TIL
QLJLCIAI, PHENOMENA AT GARELOCH
Fc/tn, .Vm' FMjoij^iuil p.'lZ.i.
On the Existence of Glaciers and Icebergs in Scotland. 125
It is only by a very minute examination of all the specimens which
I have had at my disposal, that I have succeeded in accurately de-
termining this genus ; it is, however, possible that, among the spe-
cimens which I labelled in the English collections, some fragments
of Myripristis may occur under the name of Scicenurus.
We refer our readers, for other details contained in Prof. Agassiz's
Report in the " Report of the 14th Meeting of the British Associa-
tion for the Advancement of Science, held at York in September
1844."
On the Existence of Glaciers and Icebergs in Scotland at an
ancient epoch. With a Map. By Charles Maclaren,
Esq., F.R.S.E., &c. Communicated by the Author.
The shores of Gare Loch, in Dumbartonshire, exhibit the
phenomena of grooved and striated rocks probably in higher
perfection than any other spot in the British Isles. The
grooves and striae, or scratches, are extremely numerous, as
well as extremely distinct, and they maintain an invariable
character over a considerable area, and in very dissimilar
situations. Indeed, when we add what Sir James Hall
terms " Dressings," or surfaces, which have been less or
more smoothed by abrasion, there is scarcely any part of the
district in which the phenomena do not present themselves.
Gare Loch is a bay in the Frith of Clyde, situated 25
miles below Glasgow. It is about six miles in length, from
half a mile to a mile in breadth, and its axis, or a line drawn
parallel to its sides, points NNW. and SSE. It is flanked
by hills from 400 to 800 feet in height, rising from the
strand, sometimes with a moderate, sometimes with a steep
acclivity. The gentler slopes are in tillage, up to the height
of about 200 feet ; and clumps and stripes of copse wood,
commencing at the water's edge, are intermingled with the
cultivated land, beyond which lies a wilderness of heath.
The eastern shore is embellished with an almost unbroken
line of handsome villas and cottages ornees, which are occu-
pied during summer by the merchants and manufacturers of
Glasgow. The points of Row and Roseneath, which form a
sort of double breakwater, shut in the loch, giving it the ap-
126 Charles Maclaren, Esq., on the Existence of
pearance — and to a great extent the tranquillity — of an in-
land lake. On the north, the lofty hills of Argyleshire rear
their rugged alpine forms, contrasting finely with the peace-
ful shores of the loch, and investing the whole scene with a
character of tranquil beauty, combined with grandeur, which
is the admiration of every traveller of taste.
The upper end of Gare Loch is in the mica-slate forma-
tion, which extends twenty-five miles to the northward. The
rock consists of layers of quartz grains, divided by layers of
mica, the mica sometimes passing inta talc or chlorite^
Veins of white quartz, from a line in breadth to five or six
inches, are extremely numerous. Their general disposition
is conformable to the laminated structure of the slate, but a
few run transverse to it at various angles, and where the
rock is much weathered, they are seen projecting half an
inch or an inch above the surface. The rock is sometimes
of a rather loose texture — sometimes so compact and firm a»^
to form a good buildingstone.
The map (Plate VII.) represents a small tract of country
at the head of Gare Loch, and northward to Loch Long.
G. The north end of Gare Loch, which is here scarcely
half a mile in breadth.
L. Loch Long, which is also very narrow.
A A''. Hills from 400 to 600 feet in height, which divide
Gare Loch from the western part of Loch Long. They con-
stitute a peninsula, the form of which is seen in Fig. 2.
B B'. Hills on the east side of Gare Loch, from 600 to
800 feet in height.
R. The village ofGarelochhead.
The small figures below the map are sections to shew the
configuration of the surface. The upper is a section across
the head of the loch, along the line of / G X; in the map.
The lower is a section north and south, from Loch Long, w,
to Gare Loch, G, passing through the village R The ele-
vation of X is probably 500 feet above the sea ; but farther
east, about B, the land rises to the height of 1000 feet.
The short double lines 2ii a b c d efg hi k mark the spots
where the striae and groovings are most conspicuous, but
they are visible at many other places.
Glaciers and Icebergs in Scotland. 127
a? is a vein of reddish compact felspar, which projects con-
siderably above the slate, and seems to terminate at its east
end in a vein of greenstone. It is from 5 to 10 yards in
breadth, nearly half a mile in length, and is porphyritic, con-
taining embedded grains of white felspar and scales of black
mica.
^ is a vein of fine-granular greenstone, 12 or 15 yards in
breadth, lying conformably amidst the slate. There is ano-
ther some miles eastward, also on the south shore of Loch
Long.
z. Very near the greenstone are three veins of brown or
reddish compact felspar, each about 5 or 6 feet broad, and
crossing the laminae of the slate. Such veins are rare on
Oare Loch , if they exist ; and their seeming abundance here
(for as I did not examine the shores of Loch Long, and stum-
bled on these by accident, the presumption is that there are
many more) is a fact worthy of notice, as indicating that
disturbing causes have operated at the locality, to which
perhaps the deep and narrow fissure of Loch Long owes its
existence.
On the eastern margin of Gare Loch, from the wooden
quay at h to the angle at i, where the bay widens out, along
a space of five or six furlongs, the striae are seen at every
spot where the slate is tolerably compact, and in characters
too distinct to be mistaken. The rock is everywhere exposed
here on the beach, or on the sea cliff behind it. The planes
of stratification run across the bay (in the direction of the
parallel shading lines) ; and the laminae of the slate, which
dip to the south at 50 or 60 degrees, present their edges to
the water. The striae (using the word comprehensively for
scratches, flutings, and groovings) cross the laminae nearly
at right angles, and there is no danger of mistaking them
for natural inequalities of any kind in the surface of the
rock. They point invariably SSE., that is, they are parallel
to the axis of the loch. The striae are seen sometimes on a
horizontal surface, where they must have been produced by
tiiie weight of an incumbent mass, sometimes on a vertical
surface, where they must be due to lateral pressure ; and at
this locality they are of all sizes, from a small scratch to a
gi'oove nine inches broad. Elsewhere they are much larger.
128 Charles Maclaren, Esq., on the Existence of
The finer ones, however, can only be seen when the rock is
wetted. What is very remarkable, some of the grooved sur-
faces are imder the high-water level ; and though they must
have been washed twice a-day by the tide for a very long
period, the grooves are not yet obliterated. In explanation
of the fact, I may remark, that the loch being land-locked,
will be rarely if ever agitated by storms, and that the beach
here is covered not with sand, but with shingle or coarse
gravel, which the tide probably seldom disturbs.
At d on the side of a little hillock, close to the road, and
100 yards from the loch, there is a slab facing the east, about
8 feet high, and 2 feet broad, and inclined at 20 degrees to
the horizon. It is covered from end to end with transverse
striae, which are parallel to one another, nearly horizontal,
and from a quarter of an inch to an inch in breadth. Since
I left Gare Loch in August, I learn from a friend that this
beautiful specimen of striated rock is about to be removed,
in order to widen the road.
At a cottage b on the east side of the road, the groovings
are seen in the shape of shallow cavities 2 feet or more
in width, pointing SSE. In the bed and on the sides of a
small burn 100 yards to the westward, others are seen of va-
rious sizes, and having the same direction.
The road from Gare Loch to Loch Long crosses the lowest
part of the ridge which divides the two lochs. At a, which is
the summit level of the road, and 270 feet above high water
in Gare Loch, the rock has been exposed by the removal of
3 or 4 feet of soil near two cottages, and exhibits coarse and
fine strise in the most distinct manner, and with the usual
SSE. bearing. Similar markings are observable at many
points along the road; and wherever the turf and peat permit
the slate to be seen, though strise may be no longer visible,
the prominent parts of the rock are smoothed or " dressed.''
Knolls are seen 20 feet or 20 yards in breadth, which are
nicely rounded oif on all sides, and seem to have precisely
character of the roches moutonnees observed in the Alpine
valleys where glaciers formerly existed.* Occasionally the
* Plate Vni. of the Atlas to Agassiz's Etudes sur les Qlacier$, gives a
most distinct idea of these rounded eminences.
Glaciers and Icebergs in Scotland. 129
south side remains rough, a fact which admits of easy expla-
nation.
The finest exhibition of large grooves is at c, and was
pointed out to me by Professor Clarke of Aberdeen. There
is a cottage here with some outhouses, called Fernbreak,
fully half a mile from the loch, and perhaps 60 feet above it.
In front of the cottage and behind it there are^long horizontal
cavities in the rock, quite straight, with the usual SSE. bear-
ing. They are from 3 to 4 feet in breadth, and from 2 to 4
inches in depth. But the best marked groove is 100 or 200
feet north of the cottage. It is 2 feet 9 inches in breadth,
about 2 inches deep, and is exposed on the level surface of
the slate for a length of 10 feet. The cavity is as straight,
and uniform in its curve, and its margin as well defined, as
if it had been cut by a mason for an open sewer.
The strise are visible at a few points on the west side of
the loch between b and g. They are less numerous than on
the other side, but there is much less rock exposed. They
are well seen at e, about 100 feet above the loch, and the
dressings, as usual, are found everywhere.
I found two distinct groovings, 5 or 6 inches wide, 310
feet above the loch, on the hill k, the top of which forms a
tolerable specimen of the roche montonme. At a little cairn
on the hill/, 460 feet above the level of the loch, I found one
small groove, but not very distinct. At higher elevations I
saw none, but surfaces dressed or smoothed by abrasion were
never wanting.
In the lower part of Gare Loch there is not much rock ex-
posed on the beach ; but, at Row, 5 miles from the head, there
are striae beautifully cut on a surface of clay-slate, which is
inclined at 12 or 15 degrees to the SW. Here, also, they run
across the planes of stratification, and retain the usual SSE.
bearing. They are of various sizes, and I was particularly
struck with one groove about 16 inches broad, and extremely
well defined.
I was thus able to trace the phenomena from the shores
of Loch Long, nearly to the foot of Gare Loch, a space 7 miles
in extent, over the whole of which the bearing of the striaB
does not vary more than a point to the right or left of the
VOL. XL. NO. LXXIX.— JANUARY 1846. I
130 Charles Maclaren, Esq., on the Existence of
axis of the loch. They are most numerous and distinct at
low levels, and lose this character as we ascend. In those
which are well marked and have a very fresh appearance, the
veins of quartz are cut away to the level of the slate, but in
others the wearing of the softer substance makes the veins
project.
At one time the scratches and groovings on rocks were
supposed to be produced by great ciu'rents of water, bearing
stones and gravel with them. Butcareful observation has shewn
that the mightiest floods in rivers, and the greatest storms
on the shores of the sea, though they transport vast masses
of stone, produce no such effects. They do, indeed, often
polish the rocks, but they never groove them ; and if they
sometimes produce a few scratches, they are of trifling extent,
and entirely destitute of that rectilineal persistency and uni-
formitif of hearing^ which characterize so remarkably the striae
I have been describing.
The only agent known at present in nature which produces
efi^ects analogous to those mentioned, is the glacier. The
vast masses of ice in the higher valleys of Switzerland, called
glaciers, glide downwards at the rate of a few inches or a
few feet per day, bearing with them fragments of rock, gravel,
and sand. These adhere to the ice, or are imbedded in it,
and as the mass moves slowly along, they abrade, groove, and
polish the rock underneath, while the larger fragments are
reciprocally abraded, grooved, and polished on their lower
sides. Pressed down by an enormous weight, the sand serves
as emery to polish the surface ; the pebbles, like coarse gra-
vers, scratch and furrow it ; and the large stones scoop out
grooves in it. When the valley is tolerably straight, these
scratches, furrows, and grooves, whether on the sides or
bottom, all point in the direction of its length, and (with
slight deviations easily accounted for) are parallel to each
other. In the course of the polishing and smoothing, small
protuberances are ground down and disappear, while the
larger are rounded off into those dome-shaped eminences
called roches montonnees.*
* See Chap. xiv. of Agassiz's Etudes sur les Glaciers,
Glaciers and Icebergs in Scotland. 131
We need scarcely point out how correctly the effects of glacier
motion now described, apply to the marks of abrasion seen on
the rocks at Gare Loch, and how completely they account
for appearances which we are unable to explain by any other
means. The dressed surfaces seen in a Swiss glacier valley,
the rounded domes, the scratches, furrows, and grooves, re-
taining their parallelism to each other, and to the axes of the
valley, without the least regard to the natural declivities of
the surface — the stones thrown out by the ice, with one side
gmooth and striated — all have their exact counterparts at
Gare Loch. Let us pursue the comparison a little farther.
Fragments of rock and gravel collect on the flanks of the
glacier in long lines resembling terraces, and are called late-^
ral moraines. Other stones and gravel, mixed with clay, are
thrown out at its lower end, and extend across the valley like
a mound or bank with sloping sides. These, which are called
terminal moraines., are pushed before the glacier when it is
advancing, and left behind it when retiring. If, as sometimes
happens, a glacier continues to shrink for a period of years^
a series of these transverse mounds are formed behind one
another ; and if it again expands, the inner ones, unless very
large, are pressed forward till the whole are united. In the
same way, a receding glacier will leave a series of lateral
moraines below one another on the flanking declivities ; and
if it recedes very gradually, and finally disappears, these may
be so close to one another, and so much alike, that, when
modified by atmospheric infl.uences for some thousand years,
they may lose the terraced form, and assume the appearance,
of an equable covering of alluvial matter. The absence of
terraces, therefore, does not necessarily imply the non-exist-
ence of moraines. It should be stated also, that where two
or three minor glaciers unite, the resulting compound gla-
cier has " medial" moraines, or trains of stones and gravel
on the middle as well as at the sides ; and when the ice dis-
appears, these are sometimes found, not in lines or ridges,
but irregularly difl'used over the surface of the valley. The
moraines transport immense masses of rock from the upper
extremities of valleys to the lower, frequently over a dis-
tance of many leagues, and which are therefore called
132 Charles Maclaren, Esq., on the Existence of
" erratic blocks." Their appearance is one link in the chain
of evidence by which the ancient existence of glaciers in cer-
tain localities is established.
I did not see any distinct traces of lateral moraines at Gare
Loch ; but the chance of finding these should be greatest to-
wards the foot of the loch (for they increase in size as they
descend), while my observations were chiefly confined to the
head. Agassiz states that they are often indistinct, and
enough has been said to show, that their non-appearance
now does not prove their non-existence at a former period.
I may remark here, that the gentler declivities on the sides
of the loch are generally covered with a coat of sandy clay
mixed with pebbles, from a foot to two yards in depth, which
may possibly be tlie wrecks of lateral moraines. But farther,
there are markings on the surface of the north-east part of
the valley which deserve notice in reference to this subject.
They are best seen from the road near b. On looking east-
ward from this point, the eye observes something resembling
a series of terraces on the opposite declivity. They are
marked ^ ^ in the map. When we place ourselves on or
among them they are less distinct, but most of them are still
recognisable. They are not exactly parallel to each other,
and neither are they truly horizontal ; for most of them have
a slight inclination southward. They reminded me of lateral
moraines ; but I could not satisfy myself that in form and po-
sition they had the character which these ought to possess,
though they seemed evidently to have been impressed on the
surface by some external agency. It must be kept in mind
that, except a few prominent rocks, the whole surface of the
declivity here is covered with peat or turf.
But if distinct traces of moraines are wanting, erratic
blocks are numerous. A large proportion of these are of
mica-slate, the rock of the district, and may have come only
a short distance, but when of great size (six or eight cubic
yards for instance), and found resting isolated on a bed of
gravel and clay, on ground little inclined, and remote from
any precipice whence they could fall, they are still travelled
stones, and must have been brought to the places they occu-
py by some agent which no longer operates. There are
Glaciers and Icebergs in Scotland, 133
others which must have come from a considerable distance.
Among these are many blocks of greenstone. A very con-
spicuous one rests on the surface about a furlong east of
Fasslane (near B' in the map), and about 80 or 90 feet above
the sea. It is 10 feet long, 8 broad, and 4 deep. I saw no
greenstone any where in situ precisely similar in texture.
Another is at the road- side, a quarter of a mile west from
Fasslane. Some of the smaller blocks, three or four feet in
breadth, are apparently identical with the greenstone of the
vein at Portincaple (y in the map), which is two miles north-
ward. Several of felspar, 2 or 3 feet broad, must either
have come from the veins x or z, with which some of them
agree in aspect, or from some more distant locality. Many
of the blocks on the beach have one side smoothed by abra-
sion, and the striae are still visible on some of them, though
they have been washed by the tide for ages. Specimens may
be seen between h and i. We are sure that these greenstone
and felspar blocks have been brought from a distance ; and
we may reasonably assume that some of them came from the
veins xy z, near Loch Long. What, then, was the agent
which transported them from their native seat to the shores
of Gare Loch % The history of erratic blocks in the Swiss
valleys enables us to say, that it was the glaciers which an-
ciently occupied the valley, and which have left upon the
rocks such enduring marks both of the direction in which
they moved, and of the force they exerted.
Among the other erratics on the shores of Gare Loch there
are many of granite, which must have travelled more than
twenty miles. These, however, open up another question
which shall be considered by and by.
The preceding remarks relate to lateral moraines, of whose
existence I found no unequivocal direct evidence. At Kow
Ferry, however, five miles from the head of the loch, we
have what seem to be the remains of a terminal moraine. It
is a long narrow tongue of land which extends half across
the loch.
ia4
Charles Maclaren, Esq., on the Existence of
Fig.l.
%^
— \\
O Part of Gare Loch.
p q. The projecting tongue of land at the village of Row,
which has its name from a Gaelic word signifying " a point."
At p its breadth is perhaps a furlong, while its height may
be SO feet above the high water, or 40 above the low-water
line. The western half, ^, is only visible at low water, and
the length of both parts may be about half a mile. Its entire
height from the bottom of the loch is probably not less than
60 feet. I regret not having examined its structure, and can
only state what I was told in the steamer, that the whole
consists of gravel. At Roseneath, on the opposite side, there
is a projecting point, s, also of gravel, which seems its west-
ern extremity ; and the soundings in Mackenzie's Chart shew
that a shoal extends from the one to the other. Midway be-
tween s and q the depth is only 6 fathoms ; a little southward
from the ferry it is 9 fathoms ; a little northward, 18 ; and
about half-way between s and the head of the loch the depth
increases to 27 fathoms. These measures are all at low water.
The situation of the point pqin the loch is shewTi in fig. 2,
where it is marked w.
A terminal moraine is a long narrow mound or bank of
loose matter accumulated at the foot of a glacier, and ex-
tending across the lower end of the valley which that glacier
occupies. Supposing Gare Loch to have been the ancient
site of a glacier, the bank of gravel at Row correctly repre-
sents in form, position, and materials, its terminal moraine.
The glacier, in the course of its existence, no doubt had seve-
ral terminal moraines, and some of them lower down than
this, for the striated clayslate is found some furlongs south-
eastward ; and all the southern portion of the loch below the
ferry * y, is shallow, compared with the northern. But the
Glaciers and Icebergs in Scotland,
135
tongue of land at Row was probably the last moraine which
it formed on a considerable scale, before the ice finally dis-
appeared. Indeed, without assuming the former existence
of a glacier here, it would be difficult to explain how such a
bank of loose materials could have been accumulated in so
anomalous a position. If any one thinks the size of the bank
an objection, let him read Professor Forbes' account of the
** Blocks of Monthey," and the " Glacier of Miage." {Travels
through the Alps, p. 5X and 103, 1st ed.)
The evidence for the ancient existence of a glacier here is
thus threefold. We have grooves and furrows on the rocks
such as glaciers are known to form — we have travelled blocks
of great size, such as glaciers transport— and we have a ter».
minal moraine such as a glacier occupying a valley often
leaves behind it.
The granite blocks, as I have said, open up a new ques-
tion, which must now be considered.
Fig. 2.
The above is a topographical sketch of the country from
Loch Lomond to Loch Goyle, and from the Clyde northward
to Benvorlich.
G Gareloch.
L Loch Long.
136 Charles Maclaren, Esq., on the Existence of
Y Loch Goyle.
D Loch Lomond
F The Firth of Clyde.
A The peninsula of Roseneath, consisting of hills from
300 to 600 feet in height.
B The hills on the east side of Gareloch, from 600 to 800
feet in height.
C A more elevated ridge, probably 1600 or 1800 feet in
height.
D Another ridge still a little higher.
M K I H E, a series of lofty mountains skirting the west
side of Loch Long, surrounding Loch Goyle, passing round the
north end of Loch Long and Loch Lomond, and terminating
in Ben Lomond (E). Few of the summits are under 3000 feet
in elevation, and several are considerably higher. The whole
form a mountain barrier, remarkable for rugged grandeur,
which encloses the peninsula, A B C D, on the west, north,
and north-east sides. The lowest portion is a ridge at I,
forming part of what is called Argyle's Bowling Green. By
taking the vertical angle, and measuring the distance on the
map, I found its height to be about 1300 feet. But behind
it there are hills considerably higher. The peninsula being
thus fenced round on three sides by a rampart of mountains,
the question meets us, Whence did the granite boulders at Gare
Loch come, and how were they transported ?
I found about thirty blocks of granite, of 2 feet or more in
breadth, on the beach, or within a mile of the loch, and many
more of smaller dimensions. The largest I saw was 5 feet
in diameter, and must have weighed nearly six tons. They
were all of grey granite, and much rounded, especially the
small ones, some of which were perfect globes. Most of the
large blocks were porphyritic, containing disseminated cryS'
tals of felspar, of a pale pink colour, half an inch or more in
breadth, and an inch and a half or more in length. I found
them at various elevations ; the highest, about a cubic yard
in bulk, was perched on the top of a hillock a quarter of a
mile east from a, and at an elevation of 320 feet above the
loch.
The localities in which granite is found nearest to Gare-
Glaciers and Icebergs in Scotland. 137
loch-head are : — 1. Ben Cruachen, 25 miles NNW. as the
crow flies ; 2. The Muir of Rannoch, 40 miles NNE ; 3. Ben
Achory, near Comrie, 40 miles NE. ; 4. Balahulish, in Appin,
45 miles NNW. ; 5. Ben Nevis, 50 miles N. by W. ; 6. Goat-
fell, in Arran, 25 miles SSW.
It seems well established by observations made in Russia,
Northern Germany, Denmark, England, and North America,
that the motion of erratic blocks has been in a southerly, a
south-easterly, or a south-westerly direction ; or, to speak
more precisely, they came from some point between the W.
and NE. On these grounds, we may set aside the sixth
locality in Arran. But if the boulders came from any spot
in a northerly direction, say, for instance, from Ben Cruachen,
the nearest, how did they travel \ Supposing a mass of ice
to extend from Ben Cruachen to Loch Long, it would not
form a glacier, but a mer de glace. If the ice moved at all,
it would find its easiest issue westward, and by no possibi-
lity could it pass the mountain barrier M K I H E, and reach
Gare Loch. If we suppose the boulders to come from Bala-
hulish, Ben Nevis, Rannoch, or Ben Achory, we only increase
the difficulty.
It is clear, then, that the granite blocks did not travel from
their native seats on glaciers. ,We must seek some other
agents to convey them, and these can be no other than ice-
bergs ; for it is idle to speak of currents of water in a case
like this. Icebergs are seen in the Atlantic in hundreds,
generally sailing southward, and some of them bearing gravel
and large fragments of rock. It is thus proved that they do
transport stones even for hundreds of miles ; and we find
travelled blocks in situations which it seems impossible they
could reach by any other mode of conveyance. I have pointed
out a boulder of mica-slate in Pentland Hills,* weighing
eight or ten tons, which must have come from a distance of
fifty miles at least. It lies on a pretty steep declivity 40 feet
from the bottom, and about 1000 feet above the sea ; and to
reach the place it must have passed over extensive tracts of
country from 500 to 800 feet lower than the spot on which
* Sketch of the Geology of Fife and the Lothians, p. 220.
138 Charles Maclaren, Esq., on the Existence of
it rests. A current of water, if able to move it, would have
left it in the low country. And even were all Scotland con-
verted into a mer de glace, like Greenland, no moving mass^
in the shape of a glacier could carry this boulder (and there
are many such) from its native seat in Perthshire or Argyle-
shire to Habbies How. An icebeg starting from the West
or North Highlands, and floating in a sea 1500 or 2000 feet
above the present level of the Atlantic, is an agent perfectly
capable of effecting the transportation of the stone, and offers^
I think, the only conceivable solution of the difficulty. With
regard to the causes which produced the glaciers and ice-
bergs, it is now generally admitted by geologists, that at the
period when the boulder clay was deposited, Scotland and
several other countries had a much colder climate than they
have at present — a climate probably similar to that of Ice-
land*
The anomalous presence of granite boulders at Gare Loch
seems best explained by assuming that they were floated on.
icebergs from Ben Cruachen, Ben Nevis, or some other of
the lofty granite mountains of the north. The sea must then
have stood perhaps 1500 feet above its present level, to per-
mit the rafts of ice to pass over the lowest part of the bar-
rier ; for we can scarcely suppose that they would thread
their way through the narrow and intricate valleys which in-
tersect the group of mountains. I made a journey to Ben
Cruachen for the purpose of comparing the granite of that
hill with the boulders at Gare Loch, but the rocks did not
agree. The general aspect was much the same, but the em-
bedded crystals of felspar, common to most of the boulders,
were altogether wanting in the granite of the hill, so far as
I was able to examine it ; and I had not leisure to visit the
three northern mountains of the great granitic group to which
Ben Cruachen belongs.
Though glaciers are the only bodies that are known to
groove and furrow the rocks in the manner described, it ia
* The agency of icebergs in transporting rocks is admirably explained
by Lyell. {Elements^ chap, x.) On the former existence of an arctio-
climate here, see chap. xi. of the same work.
Glaciers and. Icebergs in Scotland. 139
supposed, on good grounds, that icebergs produce similar
effects. As these bodies are always formed in the vicinity
of land, there is little doubt that stones and gravel, such as
are occasionally seen embedded in them, will generally be
found adhering to their bottoiu. Armed with these sub-
stances, a floating mass of ice, measuring a thousand feet in
length, and breadth, and depth — and there are some much
larger — must exert a vast abrading force on the submarine
rocks with which it comes in contact. It is only in this way
we can account for the groovings on rocks in flat districts
where no mountains exist to generate glaciers, or where the
groovings run in a direction transverse to that in which a
glacier must have moved. Striae, for instance, were found
by Mr Murchison on rocks in the plains of Russia, remote
from any mountains. It was clear that they could not be
the work of glaciers, but in speculating on their possible
cause, it occurred to him that they might be produced by
icebergs ; and this idea has, I believe, been pretty generally
received as the best explanation of the phenomena. Again,
in the low country on the shores of the Forth, wherever a
firm rock is laid bare, striae are seen upon it ! If glaciers
produced them, the glaciers must have occupied the valleys
of the Ochil and Pentland hills, and their bearing should
have been in the direction of these valleys, that is, south and
north. In point of fact, however, the bearing of the striae is
invariably east and west, and I have found them in one in-
stance actually running across a valley in the Pentlands.
Now, if we adopt the iceberg hypothesis, the phenomena
may be explained. When the sea stood, as it certainly once
did stand, a thousand feet or more above its present level, a
current would set eastward through the gulf then occupying
the low lands of which the estuaries of the Forth and Clyde
form the extremities. If we then suppose numerous icebergs
detached from the mountains of the west, and armed at the
bottom with stones, to float through this gulf, we can easily
understand that such bodies would polish or scratch the
rocks with which they came into contact ; further, that the
scratches would point in the direction in which the current
flowed, that is, eastward ; and as the motion of these icebergs,
140 Charles Maclaren, Esq., on the Existence of
owing to their immense weight, is extremely steady, that the
scratches would generally be straight and persistent in their
bearing. • This is, we believe, the best explanation of the
phenomena of scratched and grooved rocks in level countries,
which geology has at present to offer.
This view of the subject may perhaps suggest a doubt
whether the scratches and groovings at Gare Loch may not
be attributed to icebergs rather than glaciers. It must be
kept in mind that an iceberg is, in many cases, nothing else
than the outer portion of a glacier terminating in the sea,
which breaks off from the mass and floats away. There are
appearances which indicate, that when the strise were made,
the sea stood considerably higher in the valley than it does
at present ; and thus glaciers and icebergs might be con-
joined in producing these marks. My reasons, however, for
thinking that the striae are due to glacier action are these : —
First, an iceberg detached, we shall suppose, from the group
of the hills at I, (Fig. 2,) and moving southward, if it floated
high enough to clear the elevated land at ^, (see Map,) would
not have touched the rock in the lower part of the valley at all.
Secondly, if an iceberg was the agent, the higher ground
should have been more deeply furrowed and grooved than
the lower, while the case is just the reverse. The striae,
which are deep, numerous, and distinct near the level of the
sea. become fainter and fewer as we ascend, and disappear
altogether at a moderate height. Thirdly, the long bank of
gravel p q, fig. 1, if it be a terminal moraine, proves that a
glacier once occupied the valley above it.
That icebergs existed and acted here, however, seems to
me extremely probable. It is remarkable, that while the
mountains beyond Loch Long and Loch Lomond, M K I H E,
are exceedingly rough in the surface, carbuncled all over
with bare rocky protuberances, and have a serrated outline
singularly bold in its indentations and salient points, the
ridges ABC, within the peninsula, exhibit an appearance
exactly the reverse. Their sides are comparatively smooth,
and much more covered with peat and turf, while their sum-
mits are either straight lines or gently undulating curves.
The contrast in the outward aspect of the two sets of hills is
Glaciers and Icebergs in Scotland.
141
so striking as to impress an observer with an idea that the
rocks must be different, though they are perfectly the same.
Probably both have undergone abrasion to some extent, but
one cannot help inferring that the abrasion has been ten
times greater in the one case than the other. What sort of
surface the hills beyond Loch Long exhibit, on close inspeC'
tion, I cannot tell, as I did not ascend any of them ; but I
travelled over a great part of the ridges A and B, and found
the exposed portions of the rock invariably smoothed and
rounded off, as if they had suffered abrasion. Now, a glacier
lodged within the valley would grind off the asperities of the
rocks at its bottom ; but what smoothed the very tops of the
ridges 1 Is it not probable that it was icebergs 1 When this
part of Scotland had an arctic climate, we may suppose the
group of hills extending from Loch Eck to Loch Katerine to
have formed a mer de glace, v*^here the ice, jammed into the
sinuosities of the valleys, would remain nearly immoveable,
and would have little abrading action. Here, consequently,
the rocks might retain their original roughness. But from the
outskirts of the group facing the low country, masses of ice
— icebergs — would be continually breaking off; and as they
moved eastward or southward, would rub and grind the sur-
face of the lower hills over which they passed. Here the
rocks would exhibit smooth surfaces and even or flowing out-
lines. This conjecture is not worth much, but the fact it
refers to merits notice. Finally, may not the terrace-like
marks previously noticed (at / ^ on the map) be the work of
icebergs, operating partly by cutting down the rock, partly
by shoving the loose fragments into hollows ?
Pig. 3.
ANCIENT BEACH.
At numerous points along the shores of Gare Loch distinct
traces of an ancient beach present themselves. It consists
142 On the Existence of Glaciers and Icebergs in Scotland,
of a terrace sometimes ten yards in breadth, sometimes a
hundred, sloping upwards gently as it recedes from the sea,
and terminated by a steep acclivity on the inland side. One
of the best examples of it may be seen on the east coast of
the bay, near Belmore, about a mile and a half from the vil-
lage of Garelochhead, but there are many others.
s The sea at low water.
b The present beach, which at many parts rises one foot
in ten, and is covered with large boulders.
b2 The ancient beach, composed of gravel or stratified
sand, and with a few boulders resting on it.
u A steep acclivity behind the beach, forming the ancient
sea-clifi:
b 3 Traces of a second terrace are found at some parts,
and even of a third and fourth, ascending to the height of
140 feet, but they are too faint to be relied on.
The point w, to which we may assume the high-tide for-
merly reached, I found to be at Belmore, about thirty-two
feet above the present high-water line. The ancient beach
resembles the present in its form, and, like it, exhibits
boulders.
As the sand and gravel composing the beach were de-
posited after the striae were formed on the rocks, we may in-
fer that, when the glacier occupied the valley of Gare Loch,
the sea stood higher than it does now by at least thirty feet,
and probably a great deal more. For an account of the form
and motions of glaciers terminating in the sea, I refer to Dr
Martin's paper in Professor Jameson's Journal for January
and April 1841.
Striated rocks, ridges of gravel having the character of
moraines, and other phenomena indicating the former exist-
ence of glaciers in the North of Scotland, were described by
Dr Buckland in a paper read to the Geological Society of
London in November 1840. Mr Lyell also discovered traces
of glaciers in Forfarshire, and communicated the result of
his observations to the same society in 1841.*
* Dr John Davy described to me similar appearances he had seen and
examined in Cumberland.— jBc^i/J.
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X 143 )
Experiments on Electro-Culture, By Andrew Fyfe, M.D.,
F.RS.E., F.R.S.S.A., Professor of Medicine and of Che-
mistry, University and King's College, Aberdeen. (With a
Plate.) Communicated by the Royal Scottish Society of Arts.*
The interest which has been excited by the publication of
the result of Dr Foster's trials on Electro-Culture, has
induced me to put the proposed method of increasing the
produce of the soil to the test of experiment, not only by the
method followed by Dr Foster himself, but also by gal-
vanic electricity, as recommended by others, as a more eflPec-
tual mode of applying the electric agency. Having fortu-
nately had a piece of ground for kitchen-garden under my
comnjand, I had it prepared by digging, and manuring with
ashes and stable-manure in the usual way, and the crops
were put into it at the proper time. (See Plate VIII.)
The first trial was conducted as recommended by Dr Fos-
ter. For this purpose two poles were erected, north and
south of each other, and the wire (copper) carried along
them, and sunk in the ground, as described by him. The
quadrangular wire enclosed seven rows of cabbage plants,—
three to the west and four to the east of the poles. Of the
twelve rows, as shewn in the plan, 1 and 2 were Victoria
cabbages ; 3 to 9, inclusive, early Yorks ; 10, 11, 12, late
Yorks. Accordingly, one row of early Yorks was without,
and the remainder within, the quadrangle ; and one of the
late Yorks was within, and two without, the wire.
The wire, passing on the north from east to west, also in-
cluded part of a row of turnips, sown at the extremity of the
cabbages ; and that on the south took in seven of a row of
twelve young gooseberry bushes.
The ground, at the time the wire was erected, was very
dry ; and there was also very little sunshine ; thermometer
varying from 56° to 44°. Fahr. on 31st May, there was bright
sunshine ; thermometer 52°.
1st June. — Bright sunshine ; weather has been dry. Can
perceive no difference between the plants within and beyond
the wire.
8/^ to IStk. — A good deal of sunshine ; weather hot and
* Read before the Society, December 8. 1845.
144 Dr Fyfe's Experiments on Electro-Culture.
sultry ; thermometer varying from 64° to 76°. No difference
between the plants.
23d — No difference observable.
At this time, orders were given to cut the plants for use,
as required, and to take those that were ready ; — the per-
son who received the orders not being aware of the nature
of the trials that were in progress, nor of the situation of
the wire in the ground.
21th. — Cabbages cut from 6, 7, 8 (jrithinX
ZOth. — One cut from 3 (without).
8M Juli/. — Many within the quadrangle not so far forward
as those of 3, — cut two plants from 3 (without).
At this time, the gardener who prepared the ground and
put in the plants, and who was not aware how the wire was
situated, was requested to inspect the plants, and to report
as to their condition. His report bears, that many in 3
(without) were farther forward, and better cabbages, than
many of those in the rows from 4 to 9 (within)^ — all of these
being early Yorks, and planted at the same time : that of
the rows 10, 11, 12, the plants in 12 (without) decidedly the
best ; these being late Yorks ; and that two of 12, the only
ones ready, ought to be cut.
14M Juli/. — One in 10 (within) cut.
Ibth, — Two in 11 (without) cut.
After this, the plants were cut by the individual alluded
to, on some days from within, and on some from without, the
wire ; the latter being ready, while others within were not
ready for use.
From the results above stated, I think we are warranted in
drawing the conclusion, that the wire embracing the plants had
no influence whatever in promoting vegetation, either by acce-
lerating their growth, or increasing the amount of produce.
With regard to the row of turnips near the north line of
wire, owing to some cause of which I was not aware, they
never came to maturity, either within or beyond the wire.
When examined, from time to time, they all seemed to be in
the same state of advance ; sometimes the one, sometimes
the other, appearing to be the better ; but certainly there
was no decided advantage on either side.
l)r Fyfe's Experiments on Electro-Culture. 145
As to the gooseberry bushes, the fruit was at maturity at
the same time, and the crop as abundant on the one as on
the other.
Having thus failed in obtaining the expected results, I
was naturally anxious to ascertain whether the wire as
erected had the power of receiving the electricity, as stated
by Dr Foster, and of conveying it to the earth ; and this was
tried in a variety of ways, — indeed, in every manner I could
think of, and the following were the results.
The first trial was made with a galvanometer, consisting
merely of a needle suspended within a coil of armed wire,
the ends of which were connected with the wire passing
down the pole to the south, and which wire was cut, to en-
able me to make the connexions. Near the galvanometer
another needle was placed, but beyond the influence of each
other; — they both pointed exactly in the same direction. This
experiment was repeated again and again, varying the con-
nexions of the wires, and always with the same result.
Not satisfied with this, I next had recourse to a more deli-
cate galvanometer, consisting of astatic needles, with a coil
of wire 300 inches in length. One end of the cut wire pass-
ing down the pole was connected with one end of the galvan-
ometer wire ; the other end of the pole wire had a metallic
cup, containing mercury, attached to it, and into which the
other end of the galvanometer was dipt, all the surfaces
being well mercurialized. On breaking and on establishing
the chain of communication, by raising and dipping the gal-
vanometer wire into the mercury, not the slightest move-
mont or the needle was observed.
At the time that these trials were made, owing to a fall of
rain on the previous day, the poles and plants were wet ; the
experiment was therefore again and again repeated, varying
the connexions, after the weather had become dry, with
bright sunshine, and still with the same results. I next
tried whether a gold leaf electrometer would be affected by
contact with the wire. For this purpose it was placed on
the end of the cut wire, after being thoroughly dried, so as
to be easily moved by approach of sealing-wax slightly
rubbed, and the other end of the wire was then brought in
VOL. XL. NO. LXXIX.— JANUARY 1846. K
146 Br Fyfe*s Experiments on Electro- Culture.
contact with the brass plate at top. Not the slightest diver-
gence of the leaves was observed. The connexion of the
wire was then changed, and the result was the same. This
experiment was repeated several times on different days, dur-
ing different states of the atmosphere, and in various ways,
and always with the same result.
In a letter published by Dr Foster, in the Farmer's Mis-
cellany, in reply to one containing some remarks on his elec-
tro-culture experiments, he states, that the approach of a
magnetic needle to the wire, as erected by him, shewed that
there was an electric current along it, the poles of the needle
being attracted and repelled according as they were brought
near the different parts of the wire. I have repeated these
experiments, as stated by Dr Foster, but I never found that
a magnetic needle was in the slightest degree affected by
approach to the wire — neither being attracted nor repel' ed
by any part of it ; nor did I find that when the needle was
placed near the wire, and the chain of communication was
broken, which I could do by the mercurial cup which was
placed for the other experiments, that there was the slight-
est movement either in one direction or the other.
I may here state that, in conducting these trials, to ascer-
tain whether there was any electric current along the wire,
I had the advice and assistance of scientific gentlemen who
took an interest in them, so that the results recorded are
from their observations as well as from my own, which gives
an additional security for the faithfulness of the statements.
While engaged in conducting the experiments now re-
corded, I was at the same time occupied in carrying on others,
with the view of ascertaining whether, by other means, as
by galvanic electricity, vegetation could be promoted.
I am aware that several statements have been given of
the results of trials made with this electric agent, but unfor-
tunately these statements are very contradictory ; and it is
much to be regretted, that, while some have allowed that it
has a beneficial influence, and others that it has not, the re-
sults have not been given with that degree of minuteness
that would enable us to judge as to the effects ; as in all
that T have seen recorded there is simply an assertion, either
Dr Fyfe's Experiments on Electro-Culture. 147
that there was no difference, or that the galvanized plants
seemed better than the others. I trust that the following
statements of the trials I have made, under a variety of cir-
cumstances, and with minute attention to everything con-
nected with them, will not be devoid of interest.
On the plan as given, the space A B C D contains six double
rows of peas, five double rows of dwarf peas, and five rows
of beans.
11 th May. — The first set of peas and the beans were about
five inches high. At one extremity of the row of peas a b,
there was then sunk in the ground a plate of zinc, and at the
other end a plate of copper, each six inches by four, and con-
nected with each other by a copper wire, which passed under
ground, between the rows of peas.
lOM June. — The peas in the galvanized row looking de-
cidedly worse than those in the other rows ; but this row
was more exposed than the others to wind, which for some
days previous was very strong.
IZth. — The peas in all the rows just come into flower.
23(/. — Some of the peas in all the rows in pod.
bth July. — Could observe no difference on the different
rows. The pods seemed to be advancing in the same state
in all.
28M. — Peas for the first time pulled for use, and got from
all the rows.
1*^ August. — Since last date have taken pods from the
different rows at different times ; those from the galvanized
row not more advanced or more numerous than those on the
others.
BEANS.
VI th May. — A zinc plate was sunk in the ground at one
extremity of the row of beans, marked a b, and a copper
plate at the other side of the same extremity, and at the
distance of four inches. A wire was passed from the one to
the other under ground, and enclosing the row of beans
along its whole length, as shewn by the dotted line.
10th June. — Bean stalks of the galvanized row a little
taller and stouter-looking than the others.
148 Dr Fyfe's Experiments on Electro-CaUure.
15th. — Beans in all the rows coming into flower.
23d. — Beans in all the rows in full flower ; those in the
galvanized row shewing more of the cnrly leaf at top than
in any of the others.
1^^ Juli/. — Took off" the tops from all the beans.
5th. — No difference observable in any of the rows.
12th. — Beans of all the rows in pod.
1^^ August. — Bean pods continue to enlarge in the same
way in all the rows. No difference observable.
26th. — Since last date, pods have continued to enlarge in
same way; the stalks and pods were counted in all he
rows — the pods being, as to size, nearly similar in all the
*'ows, and the following was the result : —
G.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
36
36
34
36
36
69
78
164
173
222
Stalks, .
Pods, .
No. 1 was the galvanized row. The diff*erence in the
produce of these rows is certainly very remarkable, more
particularly between the two first and that immediately ad-
joining, and also between the two first and the other three.
With respect to the two former, they were nearer than the
latter to the garden wall, and were also just under the extre-
mities of branches of trees at the side of the wall. Whether
this would account for the diff'erence, I leave those qualified
to judge to say ; but, be this as it may, there was no pre-
ponderance in favour of the galvanized row over that imme-
diately adjoining it, far less in favour of it as compared with
the others.
DWARF PEAS.
16th June. — A zinc and copper plate were sunk in the
ground, with a wire connecting them, and embracing the
row of peas, as in the trial with the beans, but with this
difference, that the wire, instead of being sunk in the ground,
was kept at the distance of a few inches above it, and in
contact with the stalks. A little sea-salt was also placed in
the ground on each side of the zinc plate. The ground was
very wet when the experiment was begun.
Dr Fyfe'*s Experiments on Electro-Culture. 149
23c? June. — Peas near the zinc plate drooping. To try whe-
ther this was owing to the electric current or to the salt
alone, some salt was put in the earthnear the peas of ano-
ther row.
12th July. — Two of the rows, not galvanized, in flower.
15M. — A third row, not galvanized, in flower. Peas near
the salt last put in, drooping.
\Qth. — Galvanized row in flower. After this, the peas in
all the rows advanced regularly, and, when inspected from
time to time, no diff'erence could be observed between the
diff'erent rows.
ONIONS,
16M June. — A bed of onions, which were sown some time
before, was weeded on the 12th June. They were about
three inches above ground, and very irregular. On the
16th, a zinc plate, with sea-salt, was placed in the ground,
at one end of the bed, and a copper plate at the middle of
the bed, at the distance of ten feet. They were connected
by a wire twenty feet in length, spread over the surface of
the ground in a tortuous manner, and lying in contact with
the leaves of the onions. The other half of the bed was left
without galvanic plates.
23c?. — Can observe no diff'erence between the galvanized
and non-galvanized parts of bed.
bth July. — No diff^erence observable between the diff'erent
parts of the bed.
20M. — Onions not a good crop ; equally deficient in all
parts.
At this time was recommended to water them with solu-
tion of nitrate of soda, with the view of destroying a small
worm with which they were infested. The solution waa
applied equally over the whole bed.
1*^ August. — Onions continue to enlarge, though slowly ;
do not seem improved by the nitrate.
lOM. — No diff'erence between the diff^erent parts of bed.
After this they continued to grow without any observable
diff^erence ; and when taken up in October, there seemed no
diff^erence between those in the difi^erent parts, either as to
150 Dr Fyfe's Experiments on Electro-Culture.
size or produce — a few of them were good in both parts of
the bed, but, in general, they were small.
POTATOES.
16M June. — The potatoes at K L of plan were hoed up
on the 12th ; and, on the 16th, a copper and zinc plate were
sunk in the ground, at the distance of six feet, and con-
nected with each other by a wire kept about 2^ feet above
ground, and out of contact with the stalks.
2dd. — Observed no difference between the galvanized and
non -galvanized rows.
5M July. — No observable difference ; tubers of the size
of a pea, at different stems in different rows.
20M.— No difference.
1^/ August. — Tubers enlarging, apparently, in the same
way in all the rows.
Ibth. — Potatoes ready for use ; at this time raised two
stems from different rows indiscriminately, and weighed
them ; and did the same on the 17th. The following is the
result : —
G.
2. 3. 6. 7. 8.
August 15. ... 15 J m
17. 13 J 22 18 18
3 is the galvanized row.
Thus four stems of the galvanized row yielded 37^^ oz. ;
and eight from the non-galvanized gave 67, that is, 33^ for
the four stems. Here there is a slight difference in favour of
the galvanized row.
This crop was very deficient as to produce.
23c? June. — The plot 0 P Q R on plan was sown with early
kidneys at the usual time ; those marked from 1 to 5 inclu-
sive being sown a little later than those marked 6, 7. Of
these rows, Nos. 3 and 6 were subjected to the action of a
galvanic current. For this purpose, a diaphragm battery,
consisting of a copper trough, presenting 70 inches of sur-
face, with a zinc plate, 6 inches by 4, was used ; the bag
containing the zinc being filled with salt and water. The
Dr Fyfe's Experiments on Electro-Culture. 151
connecting wire of the plates attached to No. 6 was passed
along one side of the row of potatoes to the distance of ten
feet, then made to cross them, and then brought up on the
other side. With this wire, which, in this case, was above
ground, and in contact with the stalks, there was connected
a galvanometer, to ascertain when the current of electricity
ceased. When this was observed, the salt solution was
renewed, and in this way the action was continued, renew-
ing the solution from time to time as required, till the middle
of August.
A similar adjustment was followed with No. 3, with this
difference, that the wire extended to the distance of 20 feet
along the row, and was sunk in the ground near the roots ;
the action was kept up as in the other for the same time.
5t/i July. — Tubers observed at all the rows.
26//«. — Began to use the potatoes, and continued to do so,
occasionally raising two stems from the rows, and weighing
them. The following is the result in ounces, Nos. 3 and 6
being the galvanized rows : —
G. G.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
July 2^,
August 2.
21.
21 20i 17J 19i 19 46i 51J
Thus six stems of the galvanized of those first planted
(No. 6), yielded 46^, while the same number of the non-
galvanized gave 51^.
Of those later planted, four of the galvanized row (No. 3)
yielded 17|, while 16 of the non-galvanized gave 80, that is,
20 for the four stems.
In this trial, the difference is against the galvanized rows.
Taking the produce of the galvanized rows of both, it is 64 ;
of the non-galvanized, it is 71^. Taking the conjoined results
of all the trials — that is, seven stems galvanized, and seven
non-galvanized— they are as 101^ for the former, and 105
for the latter ; a difference so trifling, as to b6 altogether
unworthy of notice.
14J
m
9
10
m
19J
17i
6J
8
8J
9J
6^
7i
12J
...
...
...
...
...
19J
m
152 Dr Fyfe's Experiments on Electro-Culture.
CRESSES.
20M June. — Some earth from an adjacent piece of ground
was thoroughly mixed, and the flower-pots were tilled with
H, and cress seed sown in both. In one of the pots was
placed a zinc and copper plate, one at one side, the other at
the other, and connected by a wire above the earth ; the
other pot was without plates.
Some of the same earth was put into a wooden box, a foot
in length and six inches wide, and cress seeds were also
sown. At one end was placed a zinc plate, and, at the dis-
tance of six inches, a copper plate, in the middle of the box.
The plates were connected by a wire above the eartn, and
thus one-half of the seeds were embraced within the circuit.
At same time, cress seeds were sown in a part of the
garden ground, in two distinct plots, near each other, occupy-
ing each a foot in length, and half a foot in breadth. One
of the plots had a zinc and copper plate sunk in the earth, at
the distance of an inch from each other, contact being pre-
vented by the interposition of a small rod of wood. From
plate to plate there was passed a wire, under ground, form-
ing a quadrangle, rather less than the area occupied by the
seed — of course lying in contact with the seed.
24M. — Leaves of cresses just appearing in the box, alt
aver the surface ; and also in both of the ground plots, at
eight A.M. ; at two p.m., leaves appearing in both pots.
2bth. — Leaves continuing to enlarge ; no observable dif-
ference between the different parts.
2Qth. — No difference.
After this the plants continued to advance, in the same
way, in all the diflferent parts, till the
5M July. — The galvanized pot not so healthy-looking as
the other ; but really very little difference.
lOM. — All the parts apparently the same^.
\bth, — The same.
28M. — ^Weather dry. Cresses in box and in pots begin-
ning to fade.
31^^. — Almost gone. Watered the box all over.
1 St August. — The plants in the box revived, and the same*
^11 over.
Dr Fyfe*s Experiments on Electro-Culture. 153
2d August. — Watered the pots.
4M. — Plants revived.
6//i. — All healthy again ; cresses in ground-plots continue
healthy.
28M. — Up to this time inspected the plants in all the dif-
ferent places, again and again, but never could observe the
slightest difference between them — that is, comparing plot
with plot, pot with pot, and one part of the box with the
other. h.\> this time they were all in flower, each two having
come into flower at the same time.
After this I never could observe any difference.
I have thus recorded faithfully the results of the trials I
have made, on the proposed application of electricity to ve-
getation. From what has been stated, we must, I think,
conclude, that, in these trials, no benefit whatever has ac-
crued from the different processes followed. It must not,
however, from this be supposed that I have come to the con-
clusion that electricity is of no avail in promoting vegetation ;
and that, therefore, electro-culture must be abandoned, as a
delusion. I must confess, that, from the mode in which it
has been proposed to apply the electric agent by Dr Foster,
I have my doubts as to the plan being of any service ; at
same time, I cannot but condemn the very hasty conclusions
at which some have arrived, and the very severe animadver-
sions that they have thrown out, without having given the
plan the scrutiny to which it was entitled ; for, surely, if the
results of an experiment have been recorded, and in which a
decided benefit is stated to have taken place, it is not in the
true spirit of philosophic induction to meet that statement,
and to try to prove its fallacy by assertions not supported
by experiment, but founded merely on preconceived opinions ;
far less does it become any one to bring into ridicule, by as-
sertions thus thrown out, the efforts of one who, from all
that we can judge, has given a faithful record of what he has
done, and done with the view of benefiting others. Those
who act in this way, forget that the ridicule they attempt to
heap on others may recoil on themselves, — and recoil with
redoubled force, should the results they have attempted ta
154 Prof. Forbes's Tenth Letter on Glaciers.
deny be ultimately found correct. I trust that the results
I have now stated will not deter others interested in disco-
vering the truth, from prosecuting the subject. It is one
well worthy of prosecution ; and it is to be hoped, ere aban-
doned as useless, will be put to the severest scrutiny. Not-
withstanding the little encouragement I have received, I
shall not be deterred, should time and opportunity permit,
from renewing my trials, at the proper season, and, if pos-
sible, on a more extended scale.
Tenth Letter on Glaciers. Addressed to Professor Jameson.
M, Agassiz's Adoption of the Plastic Theory — Peply to M..
Martins. By Professor J. D. FORBES. Communicated
by the Author.
Edinburgh, 24f^ Novemher 1845.
My dear Sir, — I trust I may be allowed to call the atten-
tion of such of your readers as have had the patience to follow
me in the details of the explanation of the theory of glaciers,
which I have attempted to bring forward through the medium
of your Journal, to a statement which appears by authority* in
the last number of the Bibliotheque Universelle^ amongst the^
res gestw of the meeting of Swiss naturalists at Geneva, in
August last. The passage alluded to is extracted from an
article under the title, Sur les Theories relatives aux Gla-
ciers, Bibl. Univ. Aout 1845 {Publie 4 Octobre), p. 347,
and may be thus translated : — " M. Agassiz considers
** a glacier as formed of a combination of angular fragments
'^ of ice, between which water circulates, in which living ani-
" malculae may be seen to swim. When we pour coloured
" liquids on the surface of the glacier, they are seen to re-
" appear at great depths in the bottom of crevasses, but they
" cannot penetrate the interior of the fragments of ice. The
" quantity of water which gorges the glacier, seems to be the
" cause of its motion, in consequence of the hydrostatic pres-
" sure which it exerts on the mass. For this motion becomes
* I say under authority, because the BibliotUque is edited by M. de
b, Rive, the President of the meeting ; and the article in question is
signed with the initials of M. Macaire, one of its prominent members.
Prof. Forbes's Tenth Letter on Glaciers, 165
" most rapid when the water is abundant, and is checked
*' when it diminishes from any cause ; as, for instance, by
" a fall of snow during three or four days of frost, which
" prevents the water from arriving at the surface of the gla-
" cier. During this time it empties itself of water like a
" squeezed sponge.''*
It appears clearly from this extract (supposing it to re-
present accurately M. Agassiz's opinions), that he has at
length, and finally, abandoned the dilatation theory, and has
embraced that in which the glacier is considered as essen-
tially a compound of ice and water, which moves under the
impulsion of its own hydrostatic pressure. I have pleasure
in thinking, that this change in M. Agassiz' views may be
due, in part at least, to the proof contained in the last (ninth)
Letter which you did me the favour of publishing, in which I
shewed that, from the experiments of M. Agassiz and his
friends, the plastic or viscous theory was as clearly deducible
as from my own previous ones. So far as can be decided
from the passage above quoted, and especially the part in
Italics, the Swiss naturalist and myself are now entirely at
one. The hydrostatic pressure of the liquid water in the
capillary fissures has, in many passages of my writings, been
insisted on by me as the main agent in controlling and over-
coming the rigidity of the icy mass in which it is bound up,
producing by its pressure the veined structure and the con-
sequent tendency to fluid-like motion in the glacier mass.
In illustration of this, I will take the liberty of quoting two
passages from my Letters on Glaciers, taking exactly the
* *' M. Agassiz considere le glacier comme forme d'un assemblage de
fragments angulaires de glace, entre lesquels circule de I'eau dans la-
quelle on voit nager des animalcules vivants. Si Ton jette sur le glacier
des liquides colores on les voit appartiitre a de grandes distances au
fond des crevasses, mais ils ne peuvent penetrer dans Tinterieur des
fragments de glace. La quantity d'eau qui gorge le glacier pardit kre la
cause de son mouvcment, en raison de la pression hydrostatique qu*elle excrce sur
la masse. En effet, ce movivement devient plus rapide lorsque I'eau
abonde, et il se ralentit lorsqu'elle vient a diminuer par une cause quel-
conque ; par exemple une chute de neige pendant trois au quatre jours
do gele'e, ce qui oppose a ce que I'eau arrive a la surface du glacier :
pendant ce temps il se vide d'eau comme une eponge pressee."
156 Prof. Forbes's Tenth Letter on Glaciers,
view of the subject which is given in the Bibliotheque Univer-
selle. In the Sixth Letter, written in February 1844, 1 have
said, speaking of the rigidity of solid ice, " It is that fragility
" precisely which, yielding to the hvdrostatic pressure of the
" unfrozen water contained in the countless capillaries of the
" glacier, produces the crushing action which shoves the ice
" over its neighbour particles and leaves a bruise, within which
" the infiltrated water finally freezes and forms a blue vein."*
And again, in the following passage, which that in the Bi-
bliotheque resembles so nearly that it might almost pass for a
translation, — "It is clearly proved, by' the experiments ° of
*' Agassiz and others, that the glacier is not a mass of ice, but
" of ice and water ; the latter percolating freely through the
" crevices of the former to all depths of the glacier. And, as
" it is matter of ocular demonstration that these crevices,
*' though very minute, communicate freely with one another
'* to great distances, the water with which they are filled com-
" municates force also to great distances, and exercises a tre-
" mendous hydrostatic pressure to move onwards in the direc-
" tion in which gravity urges it, the vast porous, crackling
" mass of seemingly rigid ice in which it is as it were bound
" up.''f It is quite plain, therefore, that M. Agassiz' senti-
ments, if correctly expressed, and those formerly published
by myself are in all respects identical, and I rejoice that
they should be so. The eminent Swiss naturalist will now,
I am sure, recall, with very different feelings from what he
once did, the hesitation and caution which prevented me
from at once subscribing, in 1841, to the Dilatation Theory
of Glaciers, which he then believed that he had experimentally
proved, but which he has now found it necessary to abandon.
On this subject I would only add, that the hydrostatic
pressure exerted within the veins and crevices of the glacier
itself cannot produce a sliding motion along the bed, except
by a plastic change in the figure of the mass. From this
simple consideration the ductility of the glacier on the great
scale becomes a corollary from the admission of internal
hydrostatic pressure as a cause of motion. Of the hydrosta-
* Edin. Phil. Jouriial> Oct. 1844, p. 235. t Ibid, p. 239-40..
Prof Forbes's Tenth Letter on Glaciers* 157
ti€ pressure, which might arise from water being sealed up
in cavities between the glacier and its bed, it seems unneces-
sary to take any account, until the possibility or existence of
such water-tight cavities shall have been proved.
* I have observed with regret that M. Martins, in a paper
published in the Bulletin de la Societe Geologique de France
(Seance 20 Janvier 1845), and in the Bibliotheque Univer-
selle de Geneve, considers that I have not sufficiently ac-
knowledged his prior observations on the superficial fusion
of the ice of glaciers, and that I have attributed to them errors
from which they were free. I notice this paper rather for
the purpose of expressing my regret that I should involun-
tarily have given offence to M. Martins than because there
appears to have been anything in my statements requiring
correction ; for his own paper furnishes a reply to his alle-
gations. Nor should I now have mentioned the subject,
but that, having been called upon to revise a new edition of
my Travels, without having it in my power to consult the
Bulletin (which had not reached this country, and of which
no copy has been communicated to me by M. Martins), I
might appear to pass over in silence the appeal thus made to
me.
1*^, I am charged with having stated that the method by
which MM. Martins and Bravais measured the superficial
fusion of the Blau Gletscher in 1841, did not determine
that quantity correctly, but " measures several effects in-
stead of one." To this statement I adhere. M. Martins'
original Memoirt contains the following conclusion : — '' Pen-
dant I'ete de J841, savoir du 26 Juillet, au 4 [5 ?] Septembre
la fusion diurne moyenne a ete de 37 millimetres, et la sur-
face du glacier s'est abaissee pendant la meme periode de
1™ 540 en estimant a 55 millimetres la fusion des demi jour-
nees tres-chaudes du 7 et du 8 Aout." Now, by a reference
* The latter portion of this letter was written in July.
t Annales des Sciences Geologiques, par M. Riviere, 1842 ; p. 11 of
the separate copy sent to me by M. Martins, which I did not receive
until long after my return from Switzerland in 1842, when my own ex-
periments were made.
158 Prof. Forbes' s Tenth Letter on Glaciers.
to the previous pages, and to the plate, it will be found that
I"" 540 was the geometrical depression of the surface of the
glacier in 41 days ; and that what is called the mean daily fu-
sion is the 41st part of this, viz., 37 millimetres nearly, which
includes the various sources of error specified in my Travels
as cited by M. Martins.
The primary object of M. Martins' experiments was to
shew that stones might seem to be ejected from the ice in
consequence of the mere fusion of the mass surrounding
them ; and he found (as was to be expected) that a stone,
placed in a vertical hole in the ice constantly fell to a lower
level, instead of being expelled upwards. This depression he
attributes to " son affaissement dans le trou"* — a very pro-
bable explanation, since small stones are well known to pro-
duce vertical holes in the ice, and as we have it on M. Mar-
tins' authority that the holes contained much water. Hence
the attempt subsequently/ madef by M. Martins to deduce the
ablation of the surface from the diminishing depth of the
holes is subject to the same error which I have noticed in M.
Escher's experiments J and in my own,§ where sticks were
used to keep the holes open.
2dly, M. Martins proceeds to shew (Bulletin, p. 232 ; Bi-
bliotheque Universelle, p. 333) that my own experiments
were subject to errors of the same kind with those of my pre-
decessors, in the estimation of the superficial fusion of the
glacier ; a point upon which I never insinuated a doubt ; on
the contrary, I shewed that the effect was in either case a
compound one. I analysed the different concurring causes,
* Annales des. Sciences Geologiques, par M. Riviere, 1842 ; p, 9,
iiote,
t I say subsequently, because in the original paper the superficial
fusion is in every case deduced from the sum of all the depressions. In
order to render the discordance of the results in the first and second
memoirs less conspicuous, M. Martins has included in his last calculations
the depth of freshly fallen snow melted, and counted it as so much solid
ice ! Any one who has seen how the first sunshine or rain carries off a
few inches of fresh snow can judge of the admissibility of such a pro-
ceeding.
I Travels, p. 153, [2d Ed., p. 154.] § Ibid, p. 154, [2d Ed., p. 155.]
Prof. Forbes's Tenth Letter on Glaciers. 159
and indicated a method by which in future the superficial
loss might be accurately determined, namely, by driving a
horizontal hole into the wall of a vertical fissure, and by ob-
serving the depression of the surface relatively to it ; (Tra-
vels, p, 154, 1st edit. ; p. 155, 2d edit.)
M. Martins has described the two methods which I used
for determining the total fall of the surface of the ice, and I
believe correctly. I have, in the very pages of my work to
which he refers, guarded against the supposition that these
could measure the superficial waste only. With respect to
i\iQ first method, I have said, p. 153, [2d Ed., p. 154] — " Now,
this depression is not necessarily the result of superficial waste
alone. I doubt whether it is even mainly due to that cause.^^
Consequently there was here no pretension to an infallible
measurement of the ablation of the ice. Again, the second
process is described (p. 154,) [2d Ed., p. 155,] as *' a very sim-
ple method of measuring the absolute* depression of the sur-
face.'' There, also, the result is correctly limited and defined.
M. Martins says, — " En lisant I'ouvrage de M. Forbes xm lec-
teur pen attentif ne doutera pas un instant qu'apres avoir re-
jete comme inexactes la methode de M. Escher et la mienne,
Tauteur n'en ait employe, ou du moins n'en propose, une
troisieme, pure de tons les defauts qu'il reproche a celles de
ses predecesseurs." Now, I have shewn that I did propose
such a correct method, though I had not then put it in prac-
tice, and that I did not claim any exemption from error, or
rather from a complication of effects, for those which I did
employ. A few pages farther on, M. Martins admits as
much ; for he says, — " M. Forbes semble avoir compris lui-
meme que ses deux methodes ne lui donnent que la somme
des effets dus a Taff'aissement, ^ tassement, a la progression
eta la fusion du glacier, car il dit," &c. Thus it appears that
M. Martins first imagines what " un lecteur peu attentif '*
might gather from what I have said, or rather from what I have
left unsaid ; and then, after refuting the erroneous conclu-
sions of the inattentive reader, he concludes by shewing that
I had written so explicitly as to render a mistake impossible
♦ Italics in the original.
160 Prof. Forbes' s Tenth Letter on Glaciers.
unless by overlooking entire sentences.* Finally, he says,
that a reviewer of my Travels has misunderstood the pas-
sages in question. This is surely no ground for animadver-
sion against me. At all events, the very distinguished
author of the article in the review in question is abundantly
qualified to defend himself.
There are other points, both of fact and of reasoning, in M.
Martins' article with which I do not agree ; but, as I do not
write in a controversial spirit, I think it needless to discuss
them, since those who are qualified to form a judgment will
do so without difficulty and without my assistance. I have
merely wished to remove from the mind of M. Martins and
his readers the idea that I had intended the slightest dis-
courtesy to him personally, or the depreciation of an obser-
vation to which it appears that he now attaches a peculiar
importance. I remain, my dear sir, yours very truly,
James D. Forbes.
Professor Jameson.
* The following is the entire passage which has occasioned M. Mar-
tins' unexpected remonstrance. After quoting the superficial depres-
sion as observed and measured by myself, I say, '^ Now this depres-
sion is not necessarily the result of superficial waste alone. I doubt
whether it is even mainly due to that cause, and not to a subsidence of
the entire mass of the ice, which visibly collapses as the warm season
advances. Such a collapse may be due to several circumstances : 1. The
undermining of the glacier by the excavating action of the water streams
which flow beneath it in summer ; 2. The fusion of the ice in contact
with the soil, due to the earth's heat ; 3. The lower extremity of the
glacier moving faster than its higher portions, and thus extenuating the
mass, a cause which acts with energy at those seasons when the differ-
ence of motions of the two parts is a maximum. The superficial waste
is not so easily measured as at first sight it might appear to be. M.
Escher de la Linth measured it in 1841, on the glacier of Aletsch, by
the exposure of stakes inserted to a certain depth in the ice, — as the ice
melted, the stakes were exposed. M. Martins measured it by the geo-
metrical depression of the surface. The last method we have seen mea-
sures several effects instead of one ; the former may lead to the most
inaccurate results. When the stakes have been exposed to a certain
depth, the apparent result is actually inverted — the hole is deepenedj' —
Travels in the Alps, Ist Ed., p. 153.
M. Martins is never again mentioned nor alluded to.
( 161 )
On the Human Mouth. By ALEXANDER Nasmytii, Esq.
Communicated for the Edinburgh New Philosophical
Journal by the Ethnological Society.*
Glancing at the different degrees of development in Man
which come within notice, and the various features found to
be prevalent, and made use of, with a view to characterize
the varieties of Man, we find them to be very great, and to
produce much diversity of appearance.
When we observe the difference between the European
and the Negro in colour ; the long, flowing, light-coloured
hair of the Caucasian, and the black woolly hair of the Ne-
gro; the well-balanced, elevated, and finely- symmetrical
cranium of the Caucasian ; the extremely prominent and
well-furnished mouth of the Negro, and the pinched perpen-
dicular mouth, supplied with irregularly-arranged and imper-
fectly-organized teeth, of social life — the question may well
be asked. Has Man descended from a state of perfection, or
risen from a low and deficient condition of development ?
The arguments which have been advanced on this subject
have generally tended towards the adoption of one or other
extreme in the scale of development, with a view to solve
the difficulties regarding the original stock whence mankind
have sprung. Here we must exclusively take into considera-
tion possibilities, and these so far only as they are consistent
with the experience and evidence of facts within our reach.
We have to contemplate the natural scene of existence into
which man must originally have been ushered. The deve-
lopment compatible with the due fulfilment of the exactions
required from such a being, in such a state of existence, must,
in my opinion, have been perfect, and one well balanced both
in its moral and physical attributes. A mind of morbid sensi-
bility, such as high cultivated social life in all ages presents,
would have sunk under the exactions inevitable in such a
state. It would not have been able to exert the requisite
force to combat them, and it would have been too sensitive
• Read before the Ethnological Society, 23d April 1845.
VOL. XL. NO. LXXIX. — JANUARY 1846. L
162 Mr Nasmyth on the Human Mouth.
to have allowed man to have acted as a creature of simple
instinct.
If, on the other hand, the development of his physical
frame and moral attributes had been of a low standard, he
would neither have been possessed of strength and vigour
adequate to contend with the peculiarities of his state of ex-
istence, nor have had mind to comprehend it, nor judgment
to regulate it. He would have been totally defenceless
against the violence of the elements, and the attacks of the
animated creatures around him, — man being naturally de-
fenceless, and deriving all power from the regulation and
direction of his rational faculties. If the origin of mankind
had really been that of a low and degraded scale of develop-
ment, even if compatible with his existence, it does not seem
to me that emancipation from such a state could have been
possible. I am therefore at issue with Dr Prichard in the
opinion expressed by him, that it must be concluded that the
process of nature in the human species is the transmutation
of the characters of the Negro into those of the European.
Such a view is not the result of my research.
I hope to shew that there is no difficulty in supposing a
derivation from one original stock, and that certainly the
origin of the varieties in the development of the mouth must
have been from a perfect type. The capability of existence
in man in different climates is only bounded by the entire
circumference of the globe ; his assimilative functions are
omnivorous ; his powers of articulation are unlimited ; and
his physical capabilities combine all the possible modifica-
tions of the lower animals whose spheres of action are ter-
restrial. His mental powers are of the highest order ; and,
when we see that the inferior animals are endowed to so
great an extent with plasticity and power of accommodation to
circumstances, surely we cannot possibly deny to man a
power of individual and hereditary adaptation adequate to
fit him for the perfect enjoyment of such versatility.
In regard to the form of the head, which presents the most
notable ethnological marks, various points have been attended
to, in fact, the relative proportions of every salient point. In
reviewing the observations which have been made thereon, so.
Mr Nasmyth on the Human Mouth. 163
far as they are connected with ethnology, no feature seems to
me to bear so instructively on the solution of the various dif-
ficult problems involved in this study as the form of the mouth,
and the development of the teeth. Every thing would appear
to yield to the necessities of existence and the varied mate-
rials for sustaining that existence, the manner of procuring
those materials, and their situation and nature. The mouth
is the original and essential constituent of the apparatus for
the assimilation of these materials, and in the lower animals
it is peculiarly and beautifully adapted to their exigencies.
In the mouths of men, too, we observe a medium type fitted to
every peculiarity of terrestrial existence, and capable of per-
forming every office exacted from the mouth in all the lower
animals. Just as those .peculiarities are exacted by external
circumstances and situation, so we have a display of corre-
sponding peculiarities of organization. As I have said on an-
other occagion, it is a remarkable fact, that no other confor-
mation of mouth than that of man, could admit at once of
perfect articulation and mastication of his varied food. This
organ may be regarded as fulfilling a most essential part in his
intellectual life ; for it is not only in him, in common with all
other animals, the essential and original element of the appa-
ratus of assimilation, but it is also the organ of intellectual ex-
pression, and, as such, is equally indispensable to the existence
of the race, and therefore an essential grand agent for the im-
provement of man's condition, and for his communion in social
life. From mere observation, therefore, of the conformity of
development of the anterior chambers of the head, with the
presentation of the anterior position of the mouth, we may be
led to the general conclusion, that those of weak intellect were
forced originally to emigrate to the mor^ inhospitable quarters
of the globe, for we find that the inhabitants of these climates
are generally possessed of a low development of forehead with
a protruded jaw ; while those still inhabiting the position of
the original stock possess an elevated forehead and a perpen-
dicular jaw.
Blumenbach raised the maxilla into a degree of importance
by taking his characteristic diameter of the cranium from the
conjoint form of the frontal and maxillary bones ; and he re-
164 Mr Nasmyth on the Human Mouth.
gards them as the most important points on which the gener
ral character of the he^d depends. The facial angle of Cam-
per is a subject which still retains much interest, though that
interest might probably have passed away had it not compre-
hended within its range the comparative development of the
anterior or intellectual portion of the brain. Still the interest
of that portion of the subtending lines of the angle connected
with the mouth, although not neglected, yet, in my opinion,
requires more consideration than has hitherto been allotted to
it. That acquiescence in the harmony of nature, which seems
to be irresistible, might probably call forth an assent to the
accuracy of these general remarks ; but, however close the
reasoning on hypothetical principles, yet science demands de-
monstration from facts before we can freely or fully yield our
assent to any proposition. We must inquire if deviations in the
character of the mouth are simply the effect of deviations in the
habits of individuals composing races; whether they are partial
and appear in individuals only, .or general and amount to a
national or tribe characteristic. We know that the osseous
portion of the animal frame is modelled by the soft parts, and
that, in fact, the bones may be considered as mere passive ac-
cessories, forming points of attachment as well as protection
for the soft parts which are the springs by which the animal
machine is worked in all its complicated movements. That
passive character, however, affords, in its nature, a direct
demonstration of the amount of activity of the soft parts con-
nected with such portion of individual structure. In the pre-
sent, case it must be evident, and the instruction derived
from the development of these parts must be regarded as di-
rect. We must seek for the origin of the characteristic dif-
ferences amongst the various groups of mankind, in causes
which are natural, general, and indispensable to the existence
of man in his particular position. We must also look for the
origin of certain appearances in manners and customs. The
form of the mouth, and the condition of the teeth, must be
studied, in reference to the habits of infancy, as regulating the
development, particularly as to the kind of food consumed, and
weight must also be given to the effects of hereditary trans-
ference of characters.
Mr Nasmyth on the Human Mouth. 165
1?he relative perfection of development of the organs ge-
nerally, and of the teeth especially, are effected by other
causes, viz., the circumstances connected with general deve-
lopment, such as the periods of womanhood and marriage,
and the habits of life, particularly of females. The nature
of the food will always materially regulate the state of the
teeth throughout life.
There is a practical fact of fundamental importance, in
reference to this inquiry, which will materially explain and
illustrate the points under consideration. It is this, that the
natural action of the lower jaw upon the upper may push
out, evert, or expand the arch of the upper jaw ; but, on the
crther hand, it is impossible by any habitual or natural act
performed by the mouth, or by the individual in any way, to
bring in, or to contract that arch, so as to produce, out of the
prominent jaw of the Negro, the vertical or perpendicular
jaw of the Caucasian. The prominent character may, there-
fore, be derived from the vertical, but the vertical never can
be produced out of the prominent, by habit or exercise.
The causes which produce the prominent development
are palpably of common occurrence, and matters of every-
day observation ; and this feature of a race can only be re-
claimed by the ameliorating influences of successive genera-
tions, in abstinence from practices which give rise to the
eversion. Unless, indeed, the perpendicular mouth had been
the original presentation of mankind, there is no exercise in
which these organs could be employed, so as to develop
such a feature ; but I hope presently to shew that the con-
stitution of the parts individually, and of man and his man-
ners generally, all conspire to the production of the promi-
nent mouth from the vertical type. ^
The vertical mouth is said to be the original development
of the infant Negro ; the advanced mouth of the adult Negro,
therefore, is not congenital but factitious. We are also told,
that the progeny of the Negro of the southern provinces of the
United States, owing to the different circumstances in which
he is placed, has not the advanced mouth and its concomitant
features after the second or third generations. It will be
necessary, however, to shew that these parts are of such a
166 Mr Kasmyth on the Human Mouth.
plastic nature as to admit of this factitious development.
Their habits and exactions will also require to be considered
for the purpose of ascertaining how they become plastic, and
are factitiously modelled out of their congenital arrangement ;
and, with a view to understand the nature and extent of the
plasticity of the osseous portion of the organ, I shall now
describe the anatomy of the mouth, and shew how far these
parts are under the influence of the moulding and controlling
powers of the muscles, in the performance of the functions
required of them. As I do not, however, intend to give here
a strictly anatomical demonstration, nor yet a physiological
disquisition, what I shall say will consist more of a general
explanation of that which is necessary to be attended to,
with a view to understand my theory, than anything else.
I have already alluded to .the complicated nature of the oper-
ations exacted of the mouth in articulation and mastication.
The degree of perfection in the development of all the differ-
ent portions of the mouth, must regulate the degree of per-
fection with which the work to be performed by it is accom-
plished. Perfectly distinct articulation is not compatible
with the prominent jaw of the uncivilised, neither is it com-
patible with the irregularly-developed mouth of the civilized ;
nor is it possible for the diversified exercise of the organ in
the different actions exacted for the division, comminution,
and grinding of food to be well performed by such mouths,
as social life is every day furnishing in endless variety. The
irregularity of the teeth in such mouths, causes the one jaw
to become locked within the other, and thereby prevents
such latitude of action as is adequate to the due performance
of these varied duties. MasticMion is performed by means
of one portion of the mouth being passive, and the other ac-
tive; the under jaw, consisting of bone and muscle, is the
active, the upper jaw the passive portion ; but although,
collectively, the under jaw is active, yet 'this is again re-
solvable into a single portion acted upon, namely, the solid
bone and a number of parts producing the action, or in
which the power resides, namely the muscles. The force
exerted is that of a lever of the third order, the principal
force being exerted by the powerful temporal muscles in-
iVlr Nasmyth on the Human Mouth. 16?
serted into the coronoid processes, and situated between the
fulcrum residing in the condyles, and the weight to be over-
come produced by the substances for comminution placed
between the teeth in any situation around the dental arch,
but always anterior to the power exerted by the temporal
muscles. Other muscles (the masseter and pterygoid) in-
serted into the under jaw, and deriving their origin from
points of the bones forming the superior portion of the face,
may be looked upon more in the light of controlling powers
than otherwise. At the same time, they afford a direct cer-
tain assistance in elevating the under jaw, but their cha-
racteristic sphere of action is in varying and regulating the
chief power produced by the temporal muscles. The princi-
pal duty of the remaining large muscle of the under jaw, the
buccinator, is that of perfecting the parietes of the mouth.
It forms an antagonist to the tongue in receiving the food
into the mouth for mastication, and in retaining it within
the influence of the grinding apparatus. This beautiful
piece of machinery, taken as a whole, may be considered in
the light of an inverted hammer and anvil, the hammer per-
forming its work on the anvil of the superior jaw ; and the
machinery is perfect.
But these, aided by the muscles connected with the chin,
the tongue, the lips, and the fauces, have another duty of
great delicacy and extent to perform, namely, that of articu-
lation. This very essential function is the result of the com-
bined action of all these muscles, through peculiarly delicate
modifications, produced on the air that has been undulated
into a sonorous state in its passage through the rima glot-
tidis. In addition to this general view of the machinery and
uses of the mouth in man, it will be necessary to examine a
little more minutely the constituents of the skeleton of the
mouth, and learn how that enduring portion in which the
shape or ethnographic signs reside and become permanent
is affected, in different tribes, by the exercise of the functions
exacted from the various parts. In this point of view, it may
be useful to consider the mouth under three divisions : an
anterior, posterior, and median. We shall, in that way, be
168 Mr Nasmyth on the Human Mouth,
better able to appreciate the peculiar mechanism displayed
in its contrivance.
Let us first inquire what are the different duties demand-
ed of these parts, and then point out the mode in which
the performance is provided for. 1. There are certain
duties exacted of all mankind from the mouth, namely, seiz-
ing, dividing, and grinding the food. For each of these ac-
tions there exists a central point of energy. The central point
of energy for the act of seizing, resides in the median divi*
sion, where the canine tooth is situated. That tooth has the
most powerful single fang of any tooth in the whole dental
range ; and from its strongly pointed cusp, it is peculiarly
fited for the act of transfixion. The canines are most con-
spicuously marked in many of the lower animals, and known
by the name of tusks. They are also powerfully marked in
carnivorous animals, such as the dog, from which, indeed,
they have obtained their appellation ; but they are not less
so amongst the feline and other carnivora. The canine
tooth presents a marked feature in the countenance of all
animals possessing it. Its position is beautifully adapted for
seizing securely, without interfering with the vision of the
animal, whilst he is grappling with his prey ; it being placed
aside, and not in the direct line of vision. This is a matter
of great importance when these teeth require to be brought
energetically into action as the duties exacted of them are
of primary importance, and must precede those of the others.
On each side of this latero-median and essential tooth, are
teeth which are of an intermediate character. The lateral
incisor teeth, anterior to the canine, partake of a mixed
character of the canine and centre incisor, and the small
grinders or bicuspides, on the other side, are intermediate in
character between the canine and the true molar or grinders ;
thus the canine at each corner pierce and transfix whatever
is placed within their sphere of action, and hold it fast,
while the anterior and intermediate accessories, the lateral
incisors, divide it anteriorly, and the acute and compound
cuspidated small grinders divide it posteriorly. The other
two divisions of the dental range contain within each re-
spectively a central sphere of energy also, but very different
Mr Nasmyth on the Human Mouth. 1&9
ill object. The anterior portion possesses the central inci-
sors, but the power of their full exercise is not adapted to
transfix, divide, and tear, in a manner similar to that exer-
cised by the powerful tooth we have just alluded to. They
are the most distant from the power which acts on the jaw ;
and in the upper jaw they present a broad and chisel- shaped
cusp, instead of the pointed and piercing cusp of the canine
tooth, and the root even of the upper central incisor is
about one-third less than that of the canine. On the whole,
then, they have only about one-third of the power which the
canine teeth have; and they are consequently only applicable
to the division of small objects, which, as their name implies,
is their true duty, assisted by the lateral incisors. The pos-
terior division contains the machinery peculiarly adapted to
the process of grinding or comminution. There is a central
sphere of activity here likewise. That resides in the first
large grinder, which is the standard tooth of division or com-
minution, crushing every thing with great force upon which
it is brought to act. In this duty it is materially and most
efficiently assisted by the two small grinders in front, and
the second and third large grinder behind. The centre of
its action nearly corresponds with the centre of the great
moving power of the jaw ; so that there is a great concentra-
tion of force in this division. Such, then, are, generally, the
duties exacted from these parts throughout all the races of
mankind ; and having already explained the machinery by
which the fulfilment of these duties is provided for, I come
now to point out some peculiar considerations connected with
the skeleton of the mouth, which will assist in explaining the
ethnological signs exhibited in the parts.
The most recognizable etiinological features are to be found
in the anterior division, which presents, on the one hand, the
prominent jaw and everted teeth of the Negro, more parti-
cularly ; and, on the other side, the crowded and irregularly-
arranged teeth and perpendicular jaws of the Caucasian tribes.
Both the other divisions of the dental arches, however, dis-
play, in like manner, characteristic features corresponding with
these two states of existence, and which I shall endeavour suc-
cessively to bring under attention. The anterior portions' of
170 Mr Nasmyth on the Human Mouth.
both jaws may be considered as concentric arches. The arch
formed by the edges of the teeth in the upper, jaw being pro-
duced from a little longer radius than that formed by the
edges of those in the under, it is evident that if these two
arches are forcibly brought into approximation, the external
arch of the superior jaw, with its contents, must yield out-
wardly ; because, by forcibly applying the crown of an arch
to the internal portion of another arch, you obviously afford
to the internal arch an incontrollable mechanical advantage.
It is also evident, that the forcible retention of any substance
between these two arches must increase the intensity of the
mechanical advantage, and the tendency of the lower to
evert the upper. If we reflect on the peculiar anatomy of
the parts, it will be seen, too, that the superior jaw yields
to a much greater extent than the inferior. The median
suture of the arch of the under jaw is soon consolidated ;
whereas there remains a permanently ununited suture in the
upper. But its plasticity is still further provided for, and in
a more efficient way, by the presence of the intermaxillary
bones, which, as their name implies, are situated in the centre
between the bones of the true maxilla. These bones have not
been generally recognized as separate existences in the adult
human subject, though it is universally admitted that they are
present in infants, and that they are occasionally to be found
distinct throughout life. Some authors have even asserted that
the absence of these bones forms a characteristic. But they
are of practical importance; and although, if carefully searched
for, may be recognized throughout life, yet it is quite sufficient
for my present purpose to know that they are recognized in
early life, as that is the period at which the characteristic fea-
tures are given to the osseous framework, and which conti-
nues to the end of our earthly existence. Separate centres of
ossification are to be met with here ; and the radiations of
these ossific growths are directed to the maxillary bones on
each side, the median suture dividing them on the median
line. The transverse suture runs almost directly across the
palate from the centre of the one alveolar process of the
canine tooth to the other, comprehending, in that manner, the
whole of the anterior region of the dental range, and impli-
Mr Nasniyth on the Human Mouth. 171
<5ating, in their development, the centre of activity of the
central region of the arch. They thus affect, by their pres-
sure, such a form of arrangement as to admit of a great plas-
ticity in the anterior arch of the mouth.
I have already briefly adverted to the ordinary duties re-
quired of the teeth situated in the anterior portion of the
mouth ; and a moderate exercise of these may be considered
their particular duties in a somewhat advanced stage of culti-
vated human existence. If these teeth are duly exercised, and
proportionately with the others, we have then a develope-
ment properly fitted for all social requisitions, at once afford-
ing the power of perfect articulation and perfect mastication.
Articulation is entirely performed in this region of the mouth ;
and although mastication, properly so called, is not performed
here, yet it is materially interfered with by any deviation from
a regular arrangement even in this quarter. Thus, where
there is an excess of luxury and indolence in social life, we
find, from the want of functional exercise, that the jaws are
not duly developed, and that early anchylosis of the different
sutures is the result. From the osseous portion not being pro-
perly developed, space is not afforded for the accommodation
of the second set of teeth. The second or permanent teeth,
in the early stage of infantile existence, are arranged in the
jaw behind the temporary teeth, and, consequently, in the arch
of a circle of a shorter radius than that in which their prede-
cessors are placed ; and, being of larger dimensions, and con-
fined within a smaller compass, they are forced to overlap each
other in the very early and unextruded state. The indolence
of the system will thus permit these teeth to creep into exter-
nal existence in foetal arrangement, and they really do appear
in that condition in the heads of a great proportion of the
adults of civilized life. In such cases, unless corrected by art,
the mouth approximates a carnivorous type, and inertness of
comminution or grinding in the posterior or true masticating
region is the consequence, from the impossibility of using the
jaws in such an operation. Articulation, also, is sometimes
materially interfered with from the unequal surface produced
by the irregular arrangement of the anterior teeth upon
which the tongue has to act. These irregularities of arrange-
172 Mr Nasmyth on the Human Mouth.
ment are some of the penalties of the irrational habits of
social existence, and are never to be found amongst uncivi-
lized races. Amongst races existing in a good climate, and
where there is no deficiency of exercise or nourishment, a
perfect development of the mouth, as well as of all other
parts, follows. There is then a regular symmetrical arrange-
ment of the teeth, the best adapted for perfect articulation,
and for mastication, leaving the teeth perfectly arranged,
and fully developed. The entire range then forms a per-
fect parabola, each tooth standing nearly perpendicularly to
the portion of the alveolar ridge to which it is attached ;
and that, it is evident to me, is their normal development.
That disposition is to be found in the vertical moiith of the
Caucasian races, which, in my opinion, must have been the
original development of mankind ; and from which there is
no difficulty in tracing all the varieties of the human species
which have ever appeared on the face of the earth.
Having attempted to explain the deviations from this typo
in the dental organs of social life by neglect of the exercise of
the functions of the parts, I shall next endeavour to shew how
abuse, in a contrary line of habit, produces a development
in an exactly opposite direction. I have described the arrange-
ments which afford an extensive latitude of plasticity in the
upper jaw, admitting of the parts to be modelled by the exer-
cise of their ordinary functions. But in uncivilized life, ex-
traordinary functions are called into action, and a great excess
of energy is also thrown into those of an ordinary descrip-
tion.
The ordinary duties required of the mouth in bivilized life,
as I have observed, are a moderate exercise of power for di-
vision, tearing, and comminution, or grinding. In uncivilized
life, however, there are superinduced upon these more powerful
exactions, which have a great controlling influence over thd
development of the parts. Man, in the uncivilized state, has
but few instruments or tools to assist him in operations of any
kind, and his teeth are ready substitutes, which, on all occa-
sions,, from infancy to old age, he most unscrupulously resort;^
to. He attacks the roughest materials of all kinds with his
teeth. He uses them to form and to fashion those materials
Mr Nasmyth on the Human Mouth. 173
in all sorts of ways ; and thus his mouth has a prehensile cha-
racter. He also uses his teeth as instruments for punishing
his enemies, seizing his prey, and separating the assimilative
portions of his food from those which are not. In fact,
they assist him on all occasions, and the forcible tearing which
is habitually exacted from him, owing to his want of artificial
instruments, and the little assistance he derives from cooking,
tend, most decidedly, to evert both the upper and the under
jaw. Even at the earliest period of uncivilized existence,
habits prevail which powerfully contribute to that extra de-
velopment which produces the prominent mouth. We learn
from actual observers, that the uncivilized mother suckles her
offspring for the protracted period of two years or more, and
that the prominent mouth does not exist in infancy ; but its
development is assisted by the habit of long sucking, which
acts powerfully on the then very plastic condition of the bones
of the jaw. Indeed, in social life, we have frequent examples
of the modified effect of habits giving a like tendency in in-
fancy to the protrusion of the anterior portion of the upper
j^aw, such as the child being allowed to suck its tongue or its
fingers, or having to be fed for a long period from a hard
bottle.
Acts calculated to have an effect in moulding the jaw are
not limited to infancy ; they may extend throughout life ; and
the prominent development will always be found in proportion
to the ratio of power of the under jaw ; and we have not only
seen how well the anatomical arrangement of the osseous
parts admit of these mouldings, but we must be satisfied that
the design is perfect in allowing of such modifications ; other-
wise they would have been constantly exposed to injury by
force from without, and concussion from within. This plas-
ticity, however, is limited. An examinatioti of the skeletons
of individuals with prominent jaws will demonstrate that it is
a simple modelling of the original quantity of material which
is affected. Beyond a full and perfect development of the
parts, there is no peculiarity excepting the eversion of the ma-
terial, or the placing of it in an altered position.
To form the mouth of any other animal than man, difference
of structure, and a different specific quantity of material, be-
174 Mr Nasrayth on the Human Mouth.
come necessary. There is an accumulation of effect in par-
ticular directions, occasionally discoverable, which produces
aberrations so extensive that they cannot be explained but
upon the admission of the principle of hereditary transmission.
Thus, in what I have stated, and in what may follow, it is not
to be understood that the effects described as occurring are to
be attributed entirely to the exercise of the functions of the
parts during one generation, but as being the result of a suc-
cession. What the appreciable effect in one generation may
be it is impossible to determine upon the data which we at
present possess.
If it be fully confirmed that the mouth of the infant Negro
is not prominent, it will be interesting to study the extent of
the hereditary influence, and the period of development of
that influence. I have hitherto alluded principally to the cir-
cumstances attending the development of the anterior portion
of the mouth, including the incisors and canines; but charac-
teristic habits of different races produce also corresponding
deviations in its posterior region. A crowded state of the
teeth, from want of due expansion and development of the
bcHies in which they are implanted, producing an irregular
pressure of one against another in the progress of growth ;
and a faulty organization of the dental tissues, increased by
that irregularity, are amongst the effects of constitutional in-
activity, depending on the habits of social life. But there is
one serious evil which is only shewn in social life ; and that is,
the derangement interfering with the functions of the mouth,
which is occasioned by the arrested development of the jaw,
causing a deficiency of room for the development of the wis-
dom tooth. This, at times, causes great distress ; and even
death, by a slow process of torture. If that tooth at last
struggles into external existence under such difficulties, it is,
in a great majority of instances, found to be worthless, and
only a source of torment to its possessor. On the other hand,
however, we find that the rude uncivilized tribes of mankind
possess a bold, well-developed, and healthy organization of
structure in all the parts, and free from irregular pressure.
The wisdom tooth in them is so well developed, free in its
position, and healthy in its structure, as to have induced some
Mr Nasmyth on the Human Mouth. 176
naturalists to consider themselves warranted in regarding it as
a feature of approximation to the monkey tribe, although its
good condition is nothing more than a feature of healthy de-
velopment. The capabilities of this section of the mouth
being limited simply to that of comminution, or grinding, it is
not so much subject to the effects of abuse as the anterior
portion of the dental range. Perhaps the only abuse of it is,
that of exercise on food, calculated to wear away the gi'inding
surfaces of the teeth. The Hind^, the ancient Egyptian, and
others, present examples of these surfaces being entirely worn
away ; and even of the teeth in the anterior and median por-
tions of the mouth being reduced to truncated forms. The
cause of this peculiar effect appears to be the roughness and
grittiness of their food, and, in some cases, the almost exclusive
consumption of that of a vegetable character. This is a power-
ful reason why man ought to be considered an omnivorous
animal.
Notwithstanding all I have said in favour of the more per-
fect development of the mouth in the rude and uncivilized
tribes, they are, nevertheless, not altogether exempted from
the ordinary diseases of the teeth. Independent of the habits
I have referred to as affecting the arrangement of their teeth,
and the development of their jaws, natural decay and disease
occur, which we may refer to the state of health of the parents,
the period of procreation, the circumstances under which their
systems are at the time of production, and the inadequate na-
ture of nourishment, more especially in their early stages of
existence. The general correctives of all these evils of develop-
ment are exercise of all the energies, both of body and mind —
residence in a healthful climate, and pure air, and a due supply
of wholesome and nourishing animal and vegetable food, — not
only in regard to individuals, but to succ'essive generations.
Combe remarks that no object can be presented to the philo-
sophic mind more replete with interest than an inquiry into
the causes of the differences of natural character. Every one
must feel the force of this remark.
The circumstances by which man is surrounded in uncivilized
life, do not afford opportunities for the cultivation and enjoy-
naent of the higher faculties ; and, accordingly, we find that a
176 Mr "i^asmyih on the Human Mouth.
low retiring forehead is a concomitant of the prominent mouth.
Another marked concomitant is that feature of countenance
which is produced by the high cheek bones. The osseous
frame- work of that prominency is composed of the portion of
the superior maxillary bone into which the grinding teeth are
implanted, and the true cheek bone or molar, which, with the
zygomatic process of the temporal bone, forms the arch
through which the temporal muscle or powerful levator of the
under jaw passes. The first of these portions, namely, the
portion of the superior maxillary bone, containing the molar
teeth, is surmounted by the antrum or hollow ball of the cheek.
The fangs of these molar teeth embrace the floor of this
hollow, in the manner of beams or joistings. It is evident,.
that as these teeth are powerfully developed, the fangs will be
strong and divergent, and thus increase the volume of the
ball of the cheek. The exactions of uncivilized life produce
that effect, and we, therefore, have this consequence. With
the increase of this ball, we have a consequent protrusion of
the bones which rest on this portion of the superior maxillary
bone, namely, the molar, and through it the zygomatic process
of the temporal. There is, however, a powerful concomitant
movement to the protrusion of these latter bones, by means
of the powerful action and development of the temporal muscle
passing under it, and exercising its force with its consequent
increase of bulk in expanding that arch.
Although we have many well authenticated cases recorded
of these peculiar features of the human countenance being
somewhat reclaimed or ameliorated by improvement in the
circumstances of succeeding generations, yet there appears
to be a greater and longer-continued tendency to the extra
development of these than of any other. The prominent features
in the high cheek bones of mountaineers are generally quite
characteristic. The Scotch and Welsh Highlanders of our
own country are familiar examples. Exposure to a pure at-
mosphere produces in them keen appetites, which, by en-
couraging a vigorous mastication, may keep up the hereditary
tendency. The concomitant of the flat nose with the pro-
minent mouth, may be accounted for from the inversion of the
superior portions of the intermaxillary bones forming the root
Mr Nasmyth on the Human Mouth. 177
of the nose ; and this arises from the eversion of the inferior
borders in which the teeth are placed. The bones thus, as it
were, tilted, and receiving no permanent increase of material
as they grow, equivalent to form new structures, are pressed
upward and backward, and produce this derangement of
feature by the inversion of the superior portions of the inter-
maxillary bones. The same causes will serve to explain the
increased distance between the eyes of the uncivilized races,
produced by the flattening and lateral expansion of the nasal
bones ; this being a necessary consequence of the expansion
of all the other bones of the face.
With regard to the other extreme of development which
is generally to be observed in the mouths of civilized men, the
concomitants are obvious, and quite as marked as those at-
tending uncivilized men. It must accord with the experience
of all, that precocity of intellect is very generally accompanied
by an arrest of physical development and a languid constitu-.
tion. When we meet with such an arrest of development and
unhealthy secretion in the system generally, we must expect
to find a similar arrest of development in the maxillary bonea
containing the cavities in which the teeth are lodged. This
will occasion a deficiency of space for the proper arrangement
and development of these organs, which, it is curious to remark,
under all circumstances, follow the s^,me ratio of growth as to
size. They will also generally be found to be faulty in their
structure when they arrive at maturity, or even as soon aa
they make their appearance externally.
In addition to the ordinary diseases of the teeth called
decay, the effeminacy of social life, the almost exclusive and
unremitting ei^ercise of the mental faculties, and a conse*
quently superinduced morbid, nervous susceptibility, cause
disease to appear in the sockets of the teetji, which produces
their expulsion, although the bodies of the teeth themselves
may be perfectly sound. That peculiarity of which both modem
find ancient social life aifords abundant examples, is frequently
found to have existed in the sockets of the teeth of the ancient
JIgyptians,* but never to have been observed in races of men
* Morton's Crania Americapa.
VOL. XL. NO. LXXIX. — JAN, 1846, M
I7S Mr Nasmyth on the Human Mouth.
who have followed a natural course of life. I may remarl#
here, that in the descendants of those who have lived long in
social life, the cheek bones are not elevated, from the absence
of encouragement to a powerful development of their basis ;
but the nose is elevated, owing to its not being compressed as
in the prominent mouth, and this feature is increased in its
proportionate appearance from the absence of such a pro-
minency.
While that protrusion of the mouth is uncommon in civil-
ized society, yet two varieties of malformation may occa-
sionally be met with. The one caused by the projection of
the upper jaw to a considerable extent over the under ;
and the other by that of the under be3''ond the upper.
Generally speaking, both cases arise from an arrest of deve-
lopment in the jaw where expansion of the arch is deficients
^he projecting upper jaw, however, as I have already stated,
is very often the result of a habit of sucking the tongue or
finger in infancy.
It would be impossible, within my present limits, to appeal
largely to history in support of all these facts and hypothetical
enunciations ; but if it were, I should hardly conceive it would
be necessary, as a slight reflection must supply to the recol-
lection of every one abundant general proofs in support of
them, and which, on such an occasion as the present, is all
that can be required. In conclusion, I cannot help simply re-
marking, having abstained for the sake of brevity from making
many illustrative observations on, as well as referential remarks
from the different points glanced at, that there is a curious
train of results of peculiar forms of the mouth affecting the
articulation of sounds, which it would be very interesting to
study and to trace throughout all their modifications. The
effects of the modifications are so very striking and decided,
that I have no doubt an investigation into them would lead to
many useful and interesting results.
( 179 )
On the Classes and Breeds of British Horses. By David
Low, Esq., F.R.S.E., Professor of Agriculture in the
University of Edinburgh, Member of the Royal Academy
of Agriculture in Sweden, of the Royal CEconomical So-
ciety of Saxony, of the Society of Agriculture and Botany
of Utrecht, Corresponding Member of the " Gonseil Royal
d' Agriculture de France,*' &c. &c.*
When Julius Caesar landed amongst the Belgae on the
shores of Kent, about fifty -four years before our common era,
he found the natives possessed of horses, w^hich they used
for cavalry, or attached to chariots of war, after the manner
of the Assyrians, the Persians, and other people of the East
in the first ages, of the Egyptians in the remotest times, and
of the Greeks in the era termed heroic. The early use of
the horse, in a manner thus artificial, by nations so remote
from one another as the inhabitants of Celtic Britain and the
first civilized communities of the East, may be regarded as
one of the many proofs derived from history, from language,
and from similarity of customs, religious and social, of the
pristine relation between these early settlers of Europe and
the people of Western Asia, who used the same engine of
war. The most simple and natural manner of reducing the
horse to subjection, is by making him bear the burden of his
rider ; and it may be assumed that this was the method of
domestication which preceded that of attaching him to an
armed equipage, the construction of which infers a certain
advancement in the useful arts. It cannot be believed that
the scattered tribes which peopled Europe during the earlier
periods of colonization, had themselves devised a method of
using the horse so little suited to their wants, and to the
countries of marsh, forest, and mountain, over which they
were spread. It is more consonant with reasonable proba-
* From Professor Low*s excellent work, just published, " On the Do-
mesticated Animals of the British Islands : comprehending the Natural
and Economical History of Species and Varieties ; the Description
of the Properties of External Form ; and Observations on the Prin-
ciples and Practice of Breeding," pp. 768, 8vo. London : Longman,
Brown, Green, and Longmans. 1845.
180 Professor Low on the
bility to suppose, that the early settlers brought with them
the practice from the countries from which they were them-
selves derived.
Of the pristine inhabitants of Europe^ we know nothing
whatever ; but, with respect to its later inhabitants, the most
reasonable supposition is, that they were derived from Asia,
and that they had spread themselves, in the manner of colo-
nists, westward ; first, the Celtic and other allied people,
from the south of the line of the Caucasus ; and, secondly, at
unknown and posterior epochs, when population had extended
northward into the regions known generally and vaguely to
the ancients as Scythia and Sarmatia, the other settlers, who
gave origin to the Scandinavian, the modern German, and
other nations, commonly comprehended under the general
term Teutonic, or, less correctly, Gothic. These migrations
may be supposed to have followed one after another, slowly
westward, like wave succeeding wave; and the latter settlers,
pressing upon the former ones, either dispossessed them, or
became mingled with them. But whatever be the particular
history of these pristine movements, two races of men, at
least, w^ere found, in the course of ages, inhabiting Western
Europe, distinguished from one another by speech, by social
habits, and religious observances; the first of which the
Celtse may be considered as the type, and the latter usually
denominated Teutones or Gothi ; the one, it has been said,
apparently derived from the countries south of the line of
the Caucasus, the other from the ruder regions extending
northward. The southern emigrants were usually found in
patriarchal communities of tribes or clans, generally dis-
united, and at war with one another, or only combined for
the purpose of aggression or mutual defence, The people
were submissive to authority, and had an order of priests of
great influence and power, who taught the immortality and
transmigration of the soul, worshipped in groves, erected
altars and sacred enclosures of unhewn stone, of which innu-
merable remains are yet spread over Europe, — ^paid, like the
Persian Magi, a i-everence to fire, to the heavenly bodies,
and to certain plants, — and adopted the horrid rite of human
sacrifices, as practised by the Phoenicians and other Syrians.
On the other hand, the ultra-Caucasian or Scythian colonists
Classes and Breeds of British Horses. 181
formed larger communities, under a system rather feudal
than patriarchal. The people, although influenced by a wild
superstition, were tenacious of individual rights, like the free
Scythians in every age. They had horses, whose flesh they
sometimes used as food, and wiiich they off'ered up in sacri-
fices to their divinities, but which, so far as is known, they
never attached to chariots of war, like the true Celtse.
The Celtse, continually pressed upon and driven westward,
were found, at the period of the Roman conquests, in Spain,
Graul, part of Germany, and the Islands of Britain ; and the
latter islands appear to have been in their exclusive posses-
sion at the time of the Roman invasion. Some, indeed, have
tsupposed, that at this period a nation of Gothic origin had
found its way to Britain, and occupied, under the name of
fielgae, the part of the country where Caesar landed. This
is probable ; but, at the same time, the Belgae rather appear
to have been themselves a Celtic people, at least the testi-
mony of Strabo, and the description which Csesar gives of
them, seem to shew that they were a race differing in no
essential respects from the other Britons. But be this as it
may, it was not for many ages afterwards, during the decline
of the Roman empire, that the really Gothic nations found
their way in such numbers into Britain as to reduce the
greater part of it to subjection, and impose upon it their cus-
toms, laws, and language. At the time of our Saviour, and
long afterwards, the inhabitants of these islands were essen-
tially Celtic ; and that the same race had inhabited the
country from an early time, appears from innumerable re-
mains of ancient forts, sepulchral tumuli and cairns, rude al-
tars, and circles of stones and other monuments, which can
be referred to no other race but the Celtic ; and from the
names of mountains, rivers, promontories, and other natural
olgecta, which to this hour retain the designations imposed
upon them by the Celtic inhabitants.
When these islands, then, became the prey of Roman am-
bition, the horses of the country were those of the Celtic
natives, either brought in a state of domestication from the
East, or derived from the wild races existing in the wastes
of Europe. That they were in great numbers, we learn from
the Roman writers. Caesar continually refers to the daring
lj$9 Professor Low 07i the
cavalry and destructive chariots by which he vi^as opposed.
At his landing) the Britons, spurring their horses into the
sea, assailed his legions ere they could reach the shore. In
his first expedition, he merely saw the country which he
came to subdue. In his second, he followed the Britons into
the interior, and, fording the Thames, he routed on its banks
their great leader Cassivelaunus, who, he tells us, having
lost all hopes of success by battle, disbanded the greatest
part of his forces, and retained about 4000 chariots, with
which he harassed the Romans as occasion offered. Sub-
sequent writers speak of the horsemen and charioteers of
the Celtic Britons. Tacitus, in describing the last great
battle which the Caledonii fought with Agricola near the
passes of the Grampians, states that their first line was in
the plain, and the next on the sloping ascent of the moun*
tains, and that the space between the armies was filled with
the cavalry and charioteers of the Britons rushing to and
fro with loud noise. They rushed, he tells us, in their armed
chariots at full speed, and mixed in battle with the infantry.
Their first impression struck terror, but their career was
soon checked by the thick ranks of their enemies, and by the
inequalities of the ground, and, crowding upon one another,
they were thrown into disorder. Chariots without a guide,
and horses without a rider, broke away in wild confusion, and
trampled upon the ranks. The horses of the country, it is
certain, must have been numerous, when they formed the
strength of an army in a country so wild and mountainous.
Whatever was the character of these early horses with
respect to size, strength, and other properties, it is probable
that for many ages they underwent little change. Previous
to the fall of the Roman Empire, northern pirates had ravaged
the coasts of Britain, and fixed themselves in some of the
remoter islands. But it was not till the fifth century, that
Gothic hordes began those regular invasions which termi-
nated in the subjection of nearly all the island, and the im-
position of a new language and new customs on the people.
They seem first to have landed in numbers on the shores of
the Firth of Forth, although history usually refers their first
permanent settlement to an invitation of the Romanized
Britons of the south, for protection from the ravages of the
Classes and Breeds of British Horses, 183t
northern tribes. However this be, it is certain that, about
the year 449, when the falling empire could no longer pro-
tect the distant provinces, the Saxons, a Gothic people from
the countries of the Elbe, landed in South Britain, and being
followed by successive swarms of Saxons, Jutes, and Angles,
their countrymen, continually disembarking on the country
from the Forth to the shores of Kent, established a domi-
nion, which, by creating a new nation, may be said to have
affected the whole condition of societies throughout the civi-
lized world.
The supremacy of the Saxons in England lasted for more
than 600 years, when it was overthrown by the Normans, a
mixed class of military adventurers from the north of Eu-
rope, of Scandinavian lineage. Scotland, during this period,
had continued essentially Celtic, with the exception of the
kingdom of the Lothian s, extending from the Forth to the
Tweed, which had been early colonized by Saxons; and,
with the exception of a portion of the extreme north, colo-
nized by Scandinavians. The Celtic inhabitants of North
Britain were known to the Romans as Caledonii, and some-
times as Picti, although the latter term is by many antiqua-
ries supposed to indicate a distinct race of men. In the
tiiird century, in the reign of Dioclesian. we first hear of
another people, certainly Celtic, who were to give their
name to the whole of North Britain. These were the Sceite
or Scots, the Scoti and Scoticce gentes of the Roman writers,
who, landing from the north-east of Ireland on the nearest
coasts, gradually extended their power. In the beginning
of the sixth century, they had occupied the Peninsula of
Caentir or Cantire, and they gradually advanced northward
and eastward until about the year 843, when they had ac-
quired the ascendency over nearly all th^ native tribes, giv-
ing that name to the whole of North Britain, which it will
for ever retain.
In the year of our Lord lOCG, that is, 605 years after the
first settlement of Saxons in England, the dominion of the
Anglo-Saxon princes was overthrown by an army of Normans.
But by this time a new race of men had been formed, of mixed
lineage, but now possessed of a common language, and mould-
lS4 Professor Low on I fie
ed to a Common standard of national character. Scotland
was never subjected to the Normans ; but in thirty-one yeafs
after the Norman Conquest, a race of ScotO-Saxon princes
succeeded to the Scottish crown, and from that time the
Saxon speech and customs fapidly extended over all the
Lowlands of Scotland.
Coincidently in time with the Saxons in England, the rem^
nants of the Britons existed in Wales, and preserved a brave
independence in the mountains and fastnesses of that coun-
try. They preserved the native horse ; but it does not ap-
pear that they ever made the least figure as horsemen, in
which respect they resembled other Celtic nations who have
occupied countries of mountains.
The Saxons, though a Gothic nation, were little given i6
the multiplying of horses ,' and it does not appear that they
ever became distinguished as horsemen in their new country.
It cannot be supposed that they transported many horses to
a country already possessed of them, in the small and dan-
gerous vessels with which they navigated the northern seas ;
and therefore it may be assumed that, up to the period of the
Norman Conquest in England, and for many centuries after-
wards in Scotland, the horses of the country remained essen-
tially the same as when the Romans first encountered them
in the battle-chariots of the Celtse.
But the Normans were ardently devoted to the horse, as
an instrument of their wars and silvan exercises. William I.
transported with him a numerous cavalry, to which he mainly
owed the first victory which enabled him to give law to the
country, and his rude successors and feudatories retained in
after ages the Norman tastes in what regarded the horse.
War and the chase occupied the thoughts of these barbarians^
and the barons and great vassals of the Crown, amongst
whom the wretched kingdom was partitioned, carried the
Norman passion for the horse to their newly -acquired pos-
sessions. But the Normans, although they conquered the
country, did not, like the Saxons, colonize it. They forced
upon it their laws and polity, but were too few in numbers
to alter essentially the characters, the language, or, for
many ages, the social habits of the people. Neverthelessj
Classes and JBreeds of British Horses. 185
With the conquest of the Normans began a change in th6
horses of England. The communication with France, the
Low Countries, arid the neighbouring parts of Germany, be-
ing opened, horses superior to those of the ancient Britons
and Anglo-Saxons could be obtained. Then, too, was the
age of chivalry, of heavy-armed knights, and men-at-arms,
for whom horses of good strength and size were required.
The great black horse of Flanders and the plains of Germany
was in especial request ; and our earlier records shew that
the Norman princes largely resorted to these countries foi*
supplying their studs and armies. The crusades, too, had
conveyed a knowledge of those gay and elegant steeds
which happier climes and distant lands produced ; and by
degrees horses from Spain and Italy, Barbary and the
countries of the Levant, found their way to the land of the
Anglo-Normans. King John, during his troubled reign,
found time to devote his attention to the improvement of
the native horse. He imported at one time a hundred
stallions from Flanders. Edward II. imported horses from
Lombardy ; and Edward III. took yet more active means td
obtain the horses of foreign countries. The annals of his
reign shew that he was indebted in large sums to the Prince
of Hainault and other powers, for horses obtained for the
supply of his cavalry. He devoted the sum, great in those
days, of 1000 merks for the purchase of Spanish stallions.
While eager to avail himself of foreign horses to improve
the native races, and pursue his wars, he resolved that othef
countries should not reap a corresponding advantage. He
prohibited the exportation of horses from England under
h6avy penalties, and succeeding princes continued the sys-
tem ; and up to the reign of Elizabeth, it was felony to carry
horses even from England to Scotland. I^ these ages, then,
it appears that not only were the larger horses fitted for
heavy armour and the tournament brought into England, but
by degrees the lighter and more active horses of the South
and East ; and the employment of fusees in war, and the
gi'adual change of heavy armour, led to a more general pre-
ference of horses of lighter form and easy action. Henry
VIII. was th« last of the English kings who maintained the
186 Professor Low on the
usages of cliivalr3\ But even he saw the superiority of the
finer horses of the South and East, and imported them in
some numbers from Turkey, Naples, and Spain, for the im-
provement of the Royal stud. Yet, with all the inconsis-
tency and stupid barbarity of his character, he determined to
keep up the size of the great horses of England. He en-
acted that all his prelates and nobles, " whose wives wore
velvet bonnets," should keep stallions for the saddle at least
fifteen hands high. He caused an act to be passed that all
stallions found on commons below a certain size should be
confiscated, and that any mare or filly not likely to bear foals
of a reasonable size, or to do profitable labours, should, at
the discretion of the drivers of the commons, be killed and
buried. These monstrous edicts, could they have been car-
ried into effect, would have thinned the number of useful
horses in England, already reduced by the destructive wars
of the houses of York and Lancaster. So great had been
the decline in the number of horses in England, that Queen
Elizabeth could only muster about 3000 cavalry when the
terrible Armada of Spain threatened her kingdom with de-
struction. Contemporary writers give us no high idea of the
English horses at this period. They are described as strong
and sturdy indeed, but as fit only for draught. The coarse
cart-horse fcwm was the prevailing one, even for horses em-
ployed in the chase. We see, then, that, up to this period, no
very great change had taken place in the general character
of the horses of England. By the foreign importations, in-
deed, a class of horses had been formed called Running
Horses. These were not exclusively devoted to the race, but
were merely distinguished for a somewhat superior power of
speed. During the reign of Elizabeth, the use of heavy
armour went gradually into disuse, notwithstanding the
jousts and sports of the tilting-yard, which were still eagerly
pursued. When James I. ascended the throne, these sports
were in the wane, and he afforded them little support. James
had no fondness for warlike exercises. He is said to have
observed that he loved armour, because it both prevented
the wearer of it from being hurt himself and from hurting
others. He, however, gave great encouragement to a sport
Classes and Breeds of British Horses. 187
which has exercised an important influence on the characters
of the Horses of the country. This was the Horse-race,
which laid the foundation of a system by which a breed of
horses was formed solely for running. The system was per-
fected in the reign of Charles II., and from this period a
vast care has been bestowed in breeding a race of horses
exclusively devoted to the Course. This has been effected
by mixing the blood of the horses of the warmer countries
with that of the horses of England, and breeding from the
best of the mixed progeny. The horses imported were
chiefly from Africa^ from Asiatic Turkey, and ultimately
from Arabia. The Barbs came generally from Morocco and
Fez, and the Turks from Smyrna and other ports of the
Levant ; the Arabs generally from the deserts adjoining
Syria. From the reign of King James to that of Queen
Anne, in the beginning of last century, the imported horses
were Barbs and Turks, but chiefly Barbs, which had there-
fore the greatest share in forming the original characters of
the English Race-horse. The pure Arabs were chiefly in-
troduced in the early part of the last century. They con-
tinue to be imported up to the present day, but in diminished
numbers, and with little eff'ect on the existing race, whose
<;haracters have been long formed.
When the system of the turf was perfected, those horses
only were able to contend in the race which possessed in the
requisite degree the property of speed ; and as this property
is derived from animals possessed of the same virtue, the
horses used for the turf came to be distinguished by their
pedigree ; and all may be traced by the parents to horses of
the South and East, which had been mingled in blood with
the pre-existing race. The pedigrees of horses which claim
the privilege of running, or rather which ppssess the proper-
ties of speed in a sufficient degree to enable them to run,
have been preserved with jealous care, so that there has
been formed a privileged class which may be termed horses
of noble blood, as amongst the Circassians and Arabs. The
horses of this caste or family being made to breed with one
another, its characters became permanent, and a distinct
breed, in the proper sense of the word, was produced. The
l88 Professor Low on the
triumph of al»t was complete, and the breed produced, for
a combination of strength with the power of rapid motion,
became unequalled in the world, excelling in fleetness the
horses of the Arabian deserts, and surpassing in strength
and beauty the chariot steeds of the Olympic games. It
was not merely by mixing the blood of the African and
Asiatic horsies with those of England, that the full end was
arrived at. It was by continued reproduction between the
descendants of the mixed stock, selecting for breeding those
which possessed the characters required. Foreign nations
are desirous to obtain the race-horses of England for im-
proving the native breeds, and to this end these noble horses
are eminently suited ; but this of itself will not form a race
of horses possessed of permanent characters. To effect this,
the long' continued care of breeding is required, until a race
shall be formed having that identity and permanence of pro-
perties which constitute a true breed of any kind. To the
class of characters which distinguish the horses of Africa
and the southern parts of Western Asia from those of the
colder countries, is applied the technical term " blood ;" and a
horse is termed a ^' blood-horse" which possesses these cha-
racters in an eminent degree. Thus, while many of our horses
possess more or less of the characters denoted by the term
blood, the tefm blood-horse is limited to the race whose espe-
cial destination is the Course ; and to this race of horses is
likewise applied the term Thoroughbred, which is regarded
as the more precise and sportsmanlike.
The formation of this race of horses, of mixed lineage, yet
moulded to a common standard, and capable of transmitting
the characters acquired to their remoter descendants, has an
important relation to the history of the breeds of horses
eicisting in the British Islands. Not only have the indige-
nous races their peculiar characters, acquired by the in-
fhience of climate, soil, and food, but thoy have the charac-
ters communicated to them by a mixture of the blood of the
superior race. The thoroughbred horses of England have
been employed to a vast extent to communicate tiie proper-
ties of increased action and spirit to the inferior races. By
itiis mean all the larger horses used for the saddle, for the
Classes and Breeds of British Horses. IW
chase, for cavalry, for the innumerable lighter carriages of
every kind, nay, sometimes for the labour of heavy draught,
have had their characters modified by an admixture, more or
less, of what is termed blood. The history and character
of the British race-horse, and the institution of games to
which it is rendered subservient, will demand a more detailed
investigation. The effect has been, that a breed of horses
has been formed, of peculiar lineage and characters, and
been mingled in blood with the native varieties in every de-
gree. In this manner, certain properties have been com-
municated to the inferior races, and varieties have been mul-
tiplied without limits. Not only does there exist the diver-
sity of what may be termed natural breeds, but those fur-
ther differences produced by the greater or less degree of
breeding communicated to individuals. Many remain with
little or no admixture of the blood of the race-horse, and
so may be regarded as native breeds or families ; but others
are so mixed with the superior horses, or with one another,
that they cannot be treated of as breeds, but must be re-
garded as classes, suited to particular uses.
Of the races which have no admixture of the blood of the
race horse, one inhabits the Islands of Zetland. These are
the least in size of any of the varieties produced in the
British Islands. They resemble the ponies of Norway,
Sweden, and Iceland, but they exhibit likewise traces of
mixture, which may be 'derived partly from ancient, and
partly from modern times. It is not certainly known whether
these desolate islands were inhabited at all when first oc
cupied by Scandinavian plunderers ; but being taken posses-
sion of, they long continued attached to the Crown of Norway,
and it was not until the 15th century that they became sub-
ject to the Scoto-Saxon Princes. Their first and most inti-
mate connexion having been with Norway, it is reasonable to
suppose that their horses were derived from that country ;
or that, if an anterior race existed in the country, it was
mixed in blood with that of the horses of the Northmen.
The mere recent intermixture may be supposed to have been
with the horses of the adjoining islands of Orkney, and in
later times with those of Scotland proper. But traditio^
190 Professor Low on the
refers to a further intermixture with the horses of Spain >
when the terrible Armada of Philip pursued its disastrous
flight round the extreme north of Scotland. Many of the
huge galleons and smaller vessels of that ill-fated expedition
were stranded on the Zetland shores, and others found refuge
in the creeks and natural bays of the country. It is further
known that the Spanish ships were largely supplied with
horses ; and it may therefore be believed that some of these
Spanish horses were left behind, which could not fail to im-
press their characters on those of the Islands, probably few
in number, and held in little esteem. But this supposition
is almost confirmed by the aspect and properties of many of
the existing race, numbers of which are extremely handsome,
or fleeter in proportion to their size than any of the other
ponies of Scotland, and tend very generally to the brown or
bay colour, characteristic of the horses of southern climates.
But whatever be the origin or degree of mixture with other
races of the horses of Zetland, their diminutive size marks
the influence of a rigorous climate and scanty nourishment.
Their ordiuary height is about 36 inches, or 9 hands ; many
of them do not exceed 7i hands, or 30 inches ; and some fall
even below the latter standard.
These little horses in their native islands are left almost
in the state of nature until they are caught for use. They
have no shelter from the continued storms of tempestuous
seas, beyond what the crags, ravines, and sides of hills, afford ;
and they scarcely ever receive any food but what they can
collect on the sedgy bogs, the heathy hills, and barren shores
of the country. They are thickly covered with a coat of
long hair, which becomes felted upon them like a garment
during the inclement season. Their colour is generally bay
or brown, sometimes mixed with white, and often it is of a
dullish black, and sometimes piebald. They are sagacious
and cunning, stealing into the patches of growing corn when
opportunity off'ers. They are gentle, and easily reduced to
obedience, and when domesticated and kindly treated, ex-
hibit almost as much sagacity as a dog. They will enter
an apartment and receive crumbs from the table, and stretch
themselves on the floor. They have sometimes been put in
classes and Breeas of British Horses. 191
hampers, and thus carried to a distance. They are in great
request for equestrian exhibitions, and are more easily trained
to the feats required than any other kind of horses. Thus
they may be made to leap through hoops, and in passing a
bar, to stoop beneath it, or leap over, as directed. The chief
demand for them is for saddle-horses for children. They
are the safest animals that can be used for this purpose ; and
as the demand is considerable, and would be much greater
were the supply more extended, there is good reason for
directing attention to the rearing of them, and preserving
those peculiarities of size and form which give them their
value.
The Orkney Islands possess likewise their breeds of ponies ;
but they are of more mixed descent, and of larger size and
coarser form, than those of Zetland. These islands, the Ore
of the ancient British, were discovered by the Roman fleet,
which, by command of Agricola, sailed round the Island.
They early formed the haunt of northern rovers ; and, to-
wards the end of the 9th century, were reduced to subjection
by Harold Harfagre, the Norwegian, who established a dy-
nasty of Earls, who reduced Caithness, and parts of Suther-
land, Ross, and Cromarty, and made themselves be felt for
ages as the terror of the neighbouring coasts. In the year
1468, the Orkney, together with the Zetland Islands, were
given in pledge to King James III. as the dowry of his wife
Margaret, the daughter of Christian, King of Denmark ;
and, in 1472, they were annexed to the Crown of Scotland,
by an act of the Scottish Parliament. The early conque-
rors of these islands were pirates ; and, fighting on foot,
made little use of the Horse in battle ; so that the horses of
the country were probably few in numbers. Those which it
now possesses are small, although, in the progress of culti-
vation, others of a larger size have been introduced. They
are mostly of a dull black colour marked with white, or
dun marked with the dark streak along the spine, charac-
tenstic of a widely diffused family. A few are white, and
some piebald, which has been ascribed to the wreck of a
number of white German stallions, which took place in the
latter part of last century.
192 Professor Low on the
The Haebudes of the Roman geographers, by an early erroj^
of transcription, changed into Hebrides, consist of two groups
of Islands ; the first, the Outer Hebrides, consisting of Lewis,
Harris, and others, lying out in the western ocean, and ex-
tending in a long chain of about 140 miles ; the second, the
Inner Hebrides, lying nearer the coast, and stretching from
Bute, in the Firth of Clyde, to Skye on the coast of Ross,
These numerous and gloomy islands were, beyond a doubt, pos-
sessed by the same Celtic race which peopled the other parts
of Britain, as is attested by the existing names of places and
natural objects, which have survived many bloody changes,
and by the like rude monuments as extend from Cornwall to
the ancient Ore, — from Wilts to the mountains of Kerry.
But the same ferocious seamen who ravaged the northern
islands, formed settlements in these. In the Outer Hebrides,
Scandinavian names have genera;lly supplanted the Gaelic,
and the languajge of the people is mixed with the Frisian and
Norse, The Inner Hebrides were not so long and wholly
subject to these strangers, and the Gaelic? pames accordingly
prevail over the Scandinavian. The conquerors of these
islands cared for the sea, and made little use of horses,
Nevertheless, all the islands of any magnitude produce
horses in considerable numbers. Those of the Outer He-
brides are small, round- shouldered, muscular, and thickly
clad with long hair. Those of the Inner Hebrides are usu-
ally of somewhat larger stature. The best of them used to
be produced in Mull, Barra, and Islay ; and here, too, tradi^
tion refers to changes produced by the horses of the wrecked
Armada, a part of which having rounded the North Cape,
found its way to these dangerous coasts. \i is abundantly pro-,
bable that here, as elsewhere, some of the stranger horses
were left behind ; but po such traces exist in the present
horses of the country as can enable us to refer them to
Spanish lineage. They are mostly of a brownish-black
colour, some brown, bay, or dun, some of a dull cream colour,
and some gray. They have the common characters of rouni
shoulders, stout limbs, and short upright pasterns. They are
hardy in a high degree, but they have little speed. They have
lost much of the reputation which they once possessed. Be-*
Classes and Breeds of British Horses. 193
ing employed in carrying loads when young, they are gene-
rally bent in the back, and otherwise thrown out of shape.
No care is bestowed in selection, and the best of them being
picked up by dealers, those that remain suffer continued de-
terioration, so that it is now difficult to obtain a tolerable
pony in places where a few years ago they were numerous.
It will scarcely be credited, that numbers of them have been
recently bought by dealers to be fattened and sold as Irish
beef. Yet the demand for a better class of them exists, suf-
ficient to induce attention to the breeding of them, and they
would become a valuable production of the country, were the
most ordinary care bestowed on their improvement. But it is
painful to state, that the condition of the greater part of these
lonely islands is far from being one of much advancement,
notwithstanding that the extended communication by steam
is eminently calculated to promote their industry and pros-
perity. The proprietors are generally non-resident ; the
farms, as in Ireland, are divided into miserable possessions,
at excessive rents ; and the mass of the people accordingly
are in such a state of penury as to preclude a beneficial em-
ployment of their industry.
The same kind of horses extends to the neighbouring parts
of Argyleshire, and, with some change of characters, depend-
ent on the greater elevation and productiveness of the heathy
pastures, through all the central and northern Highlands.
The prevailing colour is a dull brownish-black. They have
abundant hair, stout limbs, and short pasterns. They have
good feet, and are sure-footed and hardy in the highest de-
gree. They are well suited for climbing mountains, and
manifest great sagacity in making their way through swamps
and bogs ; but they are lazy and slow, and altogether desti-
tute of the fire and mettle distinctive of the Arabs, the
Barbs, and other horses of warmer climates. They are car-
ried in considerable numbers to the low country, where they
are valued for their power of subsisting on scanty food, and
enduring careless treatment.
The mountains of Wales, in like manner, give birtli to a
race of small horses, adapted to an elevated country of scanty
herbage. The Cambro-Britons necessarily depended for pro-.,
tection on their foot soldiers, and not on their cavalry, and
VOL. XL. NO. LXXIX. — JAN. 1846. N
i94 iProfessor Low on tlie
never appear to have been distinguished as horsemen in the
mountainous country which they so valiantly defended. From
their laws and chronicles we learn some curious details re-
garding their horses. Hywelda or Howell, surnamed the
Oood, who lived in the tenth century, condescended to legis-
late on every subject of household and general economy. He
fixed the price of all things to be bought and sold within his
dominions, from horses to cats. The price of a foal under
fourteen days old was to be 4d., of one year and a day old
48d., and so on. He turned his royal thoughts to the tricks
of horse-dealers, a class of persons who seem in every age to
have adopted the maxim of never speaking the truth in mat-
ters of trade. For every blemish discovered in a horse after
sale, one-third of the money was to be returned, except the
blemish should be on the ears or tail! The buyer was
to have a certain time allowed him to ascertain whether the
horse was free from three diseases, namely, three nights for
the staggers, three months for the wind, and a year for the
glanders. Whoever borrowed a horse and rubbed the hair
off, so as to gall the back, was to pay 4d. ; if the skin was
forced into the flesh 8d. ; if the flesh was forced to the bone,
16d. No horse was to be used in the plough ; but he was to
be brought up as a serving horse or palfrey, and his price
was then to be 120d. Horses can only be supposed to have
been valuable from the smallness of their numbers when such
absurdities could have become the laws of even the pettiest
province. When the Normans conquered and partitioned
Wales, other horses than those of the country could not fail
to be introduced. Roger de Belle sme, afterwards Earl of
Shrewsbury, is said to have brought the Spanish Jennet to
his estate of Powisland, to which circumstance has been
ascribed the reputation which the horses of that part of Wales
once possessed. But whatever changes may have taken
place in the ancient horses of Wales, it is plain that many
of those which now possess the country are of mixed lineage.
In the higher country, indeed, considerable numbers of ponies
are reared, which may be supposed to be pure with respect
to their descent from the pristine race. They are much
neglected, but are usually superior to the ponies of the High-
lands of Scotland, having better shouV^ rs,. finer limbs, and
Classes and Breeds of British Horses. 196
superior action. They tend to the lighter colours of brown
or bay, have good feet, and are sure-footed. But the pro-
gress of cultivation has caused a class of larger horses, suited
for draught, to be reared in all the less elevated districts ;
which, though useful, hardy, and true to their work, are far
inferior in symmetry to the race of the mountains.
In the forest of Dartmore is reared a race of ponies, of
coarse inelegant figures, but hardy, sure footed, and capable
of undergoing extreme drudgery ; and in the high lands of
Exmoor is a similar race, but of somewhat smaller size.
These little horses are thickly covered with long hair, and
until caught for use are left nearly wild. They are resolute
and cunning, ascending the rocky eminences when pursued,
leaping from blocks of rock, or even jumping over their pur-
suers when hemmed in. The New Forest of Hampshire,
which William the Conquerer converted into a hunting
ground, by driving away the wretched inhabitants, and burn-
ing all the towns, villages, and churches within a compass of
many miles, long produced a race of ponies, of which the re-
mains yet exist. They are ugly, large-headed, and short-
necked, but hardy, sure-footed, and capable of bearing care-
less usage.
In like manner, over all the ancient wastes and forests of
England, formerly covering the larger part of the surface of
the country, were reared varieties of horses, the size and
strength of which bore a relation to the quality and abun-
dance of the natural herbage. Sometimes they were of the
pony size, falling short of twelve hands high ; sometimes they
reached fourteen hands, and in rarer cases fifteen. They
were of coarse form, with short hairy limbs, and were capable
of much drudgery, 'but were destitute of elegance, and un-
suited for speed. From this class were derived the older
Pack-horses, which were used throughout thfe country before
roads were formed, and which, until late in the last century,
were the most numerous class of horses employed for draught
or riding. They were good drudges, hardy and sure-footed,
but wanted action and lightness for the saddle ; while, for the
purposes of labour, they were inferior to the larger horses
now employed. Numbers of this very ordinary kind of horses
are yet to be seen in Cornwall and other hilly parts of Eng-
196 Professor Low on the
land. In the high parts of Devonshire they are still employed
in carrying loads. They are numerous likewise in Ireland,
and in parts of Scotland ; and wherever they exist, exhibit
that form which the greater part of the horses of these
Islands possessed, until mingled in blood with the finer races
of Barbary and the East.
A variety of horses, differing from the ordinary pack-horses
in their greater lightness and elegance of figure, were termed
Galloways. They exceeded the pony size, and were greatly
valued for their activity and bottom. They were derived from
the countries near the Solway Firth ; and an opinion fre-
quently expressed is, that they had been early improved by
horses saved from the wreck of the Armada. There is
nothing beyond tradition to support this opinion, and it is
known that the horses of Galloway were distinguished long
before the age of the Armada. The nature of the country,
mountainous, but not heathy and barren, may account for the
production of a larger race of ponies, without our resorting
to the supposition of foreign descent, just as the same country
at the present time produces a peculiar breed of cattle, larger
than those of the higher mountains, but smaller than those
of the richer plains. Besides, this part of Scotland was a
country of forays during the rude border wars of the times,
when a more agile race than the ordinary pack-horse was
naturally sought for ; and all along the borders of the two
kingdoms, a class of similar properties existed. Many of the
true Galloways of the western counties were handsome, and
their general characteristic was activity, and the power of
enduring fatigue. In former times this breed was in great
demand in England, and the people of the country where
they were produced, up to a period not very distant, were
noted as horse-dealers. In England the term Galloway came
at length to be applied to horses of a particular size, without
reference to their origin, and this application of the word is
still in use. The term pony is applied to horses of twelve
hands or less, the term Galloway, to those of about fourteen
hands. The finer kinds of Galloways have long disappeared
in the district which formerly produced them, the farmers
having cultivated a race of larger size for the purposes of
labour.
Classes and Breeds of British Horses. 1 97
A race of horses, of foreign lineage, but long naturalized,
exists in the West of Ireland, almost unknown to the breed-
ers of England. They inhabit the Connamara district of the
county of Galway. The tradition is, that, from the wreck of
some ships of the Spanish Armada on the west coast of Ire-
land, in the year 1588, several horses and mares were saved,
which continued to breed in the rugged and desolate country
to which they were thus brought. But the aid of tradition
is in no degree necessary to prove the origin of these horses,
since all their characters are essentially Spanish. They are
from twelve to fourteen hands high, generally of the pre-
vailing chestnut colour of the Andalusian horses, delicate in
their limbs, and possessed of the form of head characteristic
of the Spanish race. They are suffered to run wild and ne-
glected in the country of mixed rock and bog which they
inhabit, and where they are to be seen galloping in troops
amongst the rugged rocks of limestone of which the country
consists. When they are to be caught, which is usually
when they are three or four years old, they are driven into
the bogs, and haltered. They are hardy, active, sure-footed
in a remarkable degree, and retain the peculiar amble of the
Spanish Jennet. Any selection may be made from the wild
troops, after being hunted into the bogs ; and individuals are
obtained at a trifling expense. It must be regarded as re-
markable that these horses should retain the characters of
their race for so long a period in a country so different from
that whence they are derived. They have merely become
smaller than the original race, are somewhat rounder in the
croup, and are covered, in their natural state, with shaggy
hair, the necessary effect of a climate the most humid in
Europe. From mere neglect of the selection of parents
in breeding, many of these little horses are extremely ugly,
yet still conforming to the original type. It iwould be desir-
able that the gentlemen of Ireland should direct attention to
this remarkable race, which would supply a class of horses,
of the Galloway size, now much wanted. By importing some
of the best Andalusian stallions, a wonderful change could
be effected in the breed, which would thus be rendered of
economical importance to the district which produces it.
But a.class of native horses, of great importance, as the
198 Account of a Torrent of Mud in the
basis on which have been formed the superior draught-horses
of the country, consists of the larger breeds of the plains,
distinguished by their size from the smaller varieties of the
higher countries, commons and forests. These horses are
merely a larger variety of the pack-horse. They have stout
limbs, with long hair at the fetlock and on the legs. They
are of all colours, with abundant hair, and long bushy manes.
They are slow and unapt for rapid motion, but capable of
exerting great physical force in the drawing of loads, or
bearing of burdens.
From these native horses, all influenced, with respect to
size and form, by the nature of the districts in which they
have been reproduced, are derived, by amalgamation with
one another, and then by the mixture of foreign blood, the
endless varieties which are now multiplied throughout the
country. Some of these varieties possess such a community
of characters, arising from common descent, or long inter-
mixture with one another, that they may be regarded as
families or breeds. But many more cannot be classified in
this manner, and therefore it has become common to arrange
the different kinds, not into breeds founded on common re-
semblance, but into classes founded on the uses to which
they are applied. Under this kind of arrangement, our
horses may be divided into two general classes ; first, those
employed for the saddle and the lighter wheel-carriages, and,
secondly, those employed in the heavier labours, and which
are commonly called draught and cart horses. In the first
class are the race-horse, the hunter, the coach-horse, and
all the varieties used for the saddle : in the second class are
the cart-horse, the waggon-horse, the dray-horse, and others.
Account of a Torrent of Mud in the Plain of the Lagunilla^
^New Granda.
The following account of a remarkable torrent of mud is extracted
from a newspaper lately received from Colombia. The facts are at-
tested officially by the local authorities. The first extract is a sim-
ple translation of an account dated " Tasajeras, Friday. February
21, 1845," and signed - 11. J. Treffery."
'' On Wednesday, the 19th inst., a little before 7 a. m., there was
Plain of the Lagunilla, New Granada. 199"
heard a great noise in the plain of the River Lagunilla,* and at
the same time an earttiquake took place. Immediately there ap-
peared in the strait or ravine, in the mountains from which the
River Lagunilla arises, an innnense flood of liquid clay, which pur-
sued its course with the greatest rapidity through the whole plain on
both sides of the river, carrying away wood and tall trees like straw,
rolling them away, and covering them in such a manner as to leave
no sign of there having been wood at all. The same happened
with regard to the houses and cottages which it met with in its
course, overwhelming them with their inhabitants, and carrying
away and burying those unhappy persons who were fleeing from,
death, so that nearly all the population of the higher part of the
valley has been destroyed ; and many who had escaped from the tor-
rent and gained some high or enclosed place, have found themselves
insulated, and have perished by famine. It was quite impossible to
succour them, for the whole plain was covered with a layer of mud
and sand, so deep that no one could pass without being swallowed
up. Some few persons, however, found an asylum by being near the
edge of the torrent, and saved themselves by roads formed of the
branches of trees.
" It is impossible to calculate with accuracy the number of per-
sons who have perished ; but, considering how few have escaped, it
is probable that a thousand or more have been thus buried alive.
" In the plain the torrent divided itself into two currents, the one
following the course of the old river, or the ancient channel of the
River Lagunilla, as far as the Magdalena. So great was the eleva-
tion of the flood at its first leaving the ravine, that a great torrent
separated itself from the principal mass at a right angle, and fol-
lowed its destructive course towards the north through the valley of
Saint Domingo, choking up the woods and carrying them away, like
the principal torrent, as far as the River Sabandiga ; and here the
trees and the mud formed a kind of dam, and held back the waters
of the river so far as to threaten an inundation of all the low grounds
by the shore about the village of Guayabal. Providentially a strong
rain on Friday night increased the tributary streams of the Saban-
diga, and the force of the water overcame the dam and gave liberty
to the imprisoned streams.
" This great torrent did not consist solely of mud, but was a mix-.
ture of stones, gravel, sand, and clay, joined with great masses of
snow, which fell in such a quantity that even in three days it had;
not entirely melted, for the mantle of mud which covered it so pro-,
tected it from heat that many have probably perished, having lost
* Lagunilla is a small stream, emptying itself into the River Magda^
l«na, and situated in the north-western extremity of South America, ia
New Granada. Ibaguc, the town alluded to in the subsequent docu-
ment, is some distance to the west of Santa Fe d^. Bogota.
200 Account of a Torrent of Mud in Nen' Granada.
their strength by the cold, who might otherwise have extricated
themselves from the mass. This terrific inundation has been pro-
duced by the precipitating down of a piece of rock from the frozen
desert of Ruiz, in which the River Lagunilla takes its source. The
present aspect of the plain of Lagunilla is that of a new desert of
sand or shingle, with some islets of wood, and a few great trees
left standing by themselves ; and the space of land covered may be
calculated, at least, at four square leagues, or perhaps six leagues
would not be an excessive calculation. The thickness of the layer of
mud varies, being greater towards the higher part of the valley
where the torrent was deepest, so that there it reached to the
branches of the highest trees. In whatever part it has been sound-
ed it gives a depth about the height of a man ; but supposing that
the medium depth be not more than a yard, and the superficial ex-
tent four square leagues, the quantity of matter poured down amounts
to more than two hundred and fifty millions of tons."
With this account there is published a letter from Senhor J.
Uldarico Leira to the Secretary of State for the Home Depart-
ment, giving an account of the efforts made to assist the unhappy
sufferers, and also an acknowledgment on the part of government of
the services of the philanthropic citizens who thus assisted. We
append some extracts from the former of these documents.
LAGUNILLA.
" Republic of New Granada. — Government of the Province of
Mariquita. Ihague, March 5, 1845. — On the 23d of the last
month, I announced to your Excellency the misfortune occasioned
by the overflowing of the Lagunilla, and on the same day set out
with Senhor Andres Caicedo and my secretary, arriving at Los
Peladeros on the 24th. There I dictated all the orders necessary
to liberate those who remained insulated and exposed to certain
death. In the midst of a melancholy scene, which at each step
offered me some new picture of suffering, I had the consolation of
. saving more than eighty persons, who were in the midst of imprac-
ticable sloughs, full of wounds and bruises, and sinking through
hunger and thirst. As&isted by Senhor Caicedo and the public
authorities of the canton of Mariquita, I was enabled to provide
subsistence for more than four hundred persons, whom I employed
in assisting the sufferers, who thus received the little aid that I was
enabled to give them.
" The wounded who had friends were conveyed to them, and those
who had none were committed to the care of any person willing to
receive them, and whose trouble I compensated. According to the
data which I could collect at Peladeros, there must have perished
more than a thousand persons in the six square leagues which I
calculated to have been inundated ; and the capital destroyed could not
amount to less than half a million of dollars.
" The phenomenon which has occasioned these misfortunes was,
On Dykes of Marble and Quartz. 201
in my opinion, produced' by the falling down of a part of the frozen
peak of Kuiz, carrying with it all the snow that covered it : the
thawing did the rest, because it brought down all the immense mass
of decomposed granite which covered the sources of the Lagunilla.
Not content with these observations, and the reflections which arose
from them, I sent commissioners, who recognized in the same desert
the occasion of such a disaster. I do not, however, know as yet all
the results of their observations, as I returned to this place on the
1st instant.
" I visited the place from whence the river Lagunilla pours its
streams from the mountain into the plain, and I there saw that the
deluge had come from a height of 200 yards above the level of the
river, spreading itself so as to take in the plain. From this point
every thing was converted into a sandy waste ; and with the ex-
ception of a 'i^^ birds of prey, which were cruising about in all direc-
tions, scarcely a single living creature was to be observed in the
extent. On a few isolated spots the inhabitants were to be seen
reduced to the last extremities of hunger, thirst, and fatigue.
" The tobacco is generally destroyed, partly by the inundation,
and partly by the terror, which prevented any effectual means being
taken to preserve it. Thus I fear the revenue will suffer severely.^'
— (Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, No. 3., p. 412,
On Dykes of Marble and Quartz, in connection with Plutonic
Bocks, on the Upper Wollondilly, in Argyle County, New South
Wales. By the Rev. W. B. Clarke, M.A., RG.S.
The tract of country described by the author in this me-
moir is situated not far from Sydney and Port Jackson, the
river Wollondilly, whose gorge lays bare the geological
structure of the district, taking its rise in latitude 34° 26' S.,
longitude 149° 23' E., and, after receiving the waters of se-
veral streams, running into the Nepean river, and emptying
itself into the ocean considerably to the south of Sydney.
The stratified rocks traversed by the remarkable defiles
through which these rivers flow, belong to the steril upper
portions of the carboniferous formation si widely spread in
Australia ; and these carboniferous rocks are traceable (with
occasional interruptions from basaltic dykes), from t)ie dis-
trict in question to the borders of the Illavvarra region,
where they present a lofty mural escarpment.
The Wollondilly, however, from its source to its junction
with the Uringalla (except near Towrang), is described by
202 Rev. W. B. Clarke on
the author as running through igneous and metamorphic
rocks, which are laid bare over a considerable area between
the Cockburndoon, the Derra, and the Uringalla rivers,
where recent volcanic outbursts have disturbed the older
rocks. The sedimentary rocks wrap round the margin of
this area,' the beds dipping at a considerable angle.
On the north banks of the river, at a place called Jaora-
min, beds of conglomerate are described, containing frag-
ments apparently of transition rock ; and the author consi-
ders, from the condition and appearance of the river banks,
and the fact that a wide space, at a considerable height
above the water, is covered with the debris of these conglo-
merates, that a considerable change of level has taken place
in the district, producing elevation.
Having given a general account of the district, the author
then proceeds to describe the different plutonic rocks found
in it, andi states, that they consist of syenite, syenitic gra-
nite, protogene, and porphyritic rocks of various kinds, and
of greenstone, basalt, and trachyte, — all, with the excep-
tion of the three latter, passing, by regular gradations, from
one to another. The syenites are said to resemble those of
Skiddaw, and the syenitic granite that of Guernsey ; while
a protogene is described greatly resembling a beautiful rock
of the same kind in St John's Vale, near Keswick.
At Arthursleigh, the author describes a spot where the
face of an exposed cliff exhibits a net-work of quartz veins,
with dykes of syenitic rock and hornstone ; and not far off, a
dyke of ironstone, and others of basaltic rocks, amongst
which are some injected trachytes, that have been used for
building purposes.
Having described the position and mineral character of
these igneous rocks, as they appear en masse^ the author then
proceeds to allude to some singular instances of intrusive
dykes of limestone and marble, at a spot known as " Camp-
bells,"" or " Shepherds," situated on the estate of Arthursleigh,
just alluded to. Th these 666 parts of silica would therefore re-
quire 6660000 parts of water for their solution. It is only necessary
for us therefore to find a watery solution capable of dissolving ^ibb^^ ot^tj of
silver, perhaps in the state of sulphuret ; and the possibility would then
be shewn of supposing that the silver of the Mexican ores was intro-
duced along with silica in the moist way into the vein-fissures. Such a
degree of difficulty in dissolving a substance, as it is beyond the bounds
of the reaction of our most delicate tests, would be regarded as insolu-
bility in our laboratories.
t There is also another analogous case presented by the fact, that just
as we find calc-sinter and iron ochre in the form of deposits from springs,
so in many districts not yet opened up by mining operations, rich ores
are met with on the surface of the soil. Thus the mines of Gualgoya
Origin of Quartz and Metalliferous Veins. 229
know what the mineral waters of the present day deposit
in their channels. These channels cannot yet be blocked
up, otherwise the springs must long ago have ceased to flow.
Moreover, it is not necessary for us exclusively to assume a
circulation of water in the manner of our existing mineral
springs in the fissures of metalliferous veins. It can have
taken place in a simpler way, which is equally conceivable,
at every level, — whether in the silver mines of Huantajaya
in Peru, which are situated at a height of 12,000 feet above
the level of the sea, or in the mines of Cornwall, which de-
scend to a depth of a thousand feet below the sea.
Thus, when the first fissures, however narrow they were,
were formed in a rock, they must have been immediately
filled with meteoric water. If the fissures did not traverse
the rock throughout its whole length, that is to say, if they
were closed or terminated like a wedge, they must have re-
mained filled with water. Now, as this water penetrated to
a great depth where a high temperature prevailed, it would
be heated to a great degree, or even if the hydrostatic pres-
sure admitted of it, converted into vapour. If vein-masses
existed at these depths, they would be dissolved by the hot
water and by the vapour ; and, in this manner, the hot, and
specifically lighter fluid, would rise up from beneath. A
circulation would thus be established like that we see in our
vessels containing water when they are heated from below.
Hence we can understand how, in fissures, after they have
been once filled with water, an uninterrupted aqueous circu-
lation would take place, by means of which substances would
be transported from beneath to the surface. The water lost
by vaporization would continue to have its place supplied by
new meteoric water.
and Micuipampa in Peru indicate their great riches on the surface of the
soil, as well in the mountains of Gualgoyac, as at Fuentestiana, Cor-
molache, and in the Pampa of Navar. On the last mentioned plateau,
everywhere within a circuit of more than half a league in extent, vitre-
ous silver and filiform native silver are found attached to the grass roots
whenever the turf is removed (Von Humboldt in Karsten's Archiv, vol.
xvii. p. 368). The same was the case in early times at Johann-Georgen-
stadt.
230 Professor Gustav Bischof on tJie Origin of Veins.
This supposed process has its analogous one at the pre-
sent day in the Suffioni of Tuscany. In this case, so large
a quantity of the fixed boracic acid is brought up by watery
vapour, that it has become an article of commercial im-
portance.* Other fixed substances, such as sulphate of lime,
alumina, and protoxide of iron, are also detached by means
of vapour.
Although the elucidation of the phenomena of metalli-
ferous veins leads us back to Werner's theory of veins, in so
far as we are obliged to assume the formation of vein-masses
in the moist way, yet there is this essential diff^erence, that,
according to Werner, all true veins were almost entirely
filled from above downwards, whereas, according to the pre-
sent state of the subject, this filling can only be supposed to
have taken place from beneath upwards. How^ever, there
is no doubt that many fillings of clefts have taken place from
above 'downwards or sideways from the adjoining rock.
The veins of calcareous-spar in limestone, and most of the
small qu£«*tz veins in clay-slate, are certainly of this de-
scription. The water charged with lime or silica which
penetrated, partly from above, and partly from the sides, into
these fissures, and which slowly flowed down the walls of
the fissures, precipitated those substances so much the more
easily, because the water, during its slow progress, had time
enough to evaporate.f
* According to Payen {Ann, de Chim. et de Phys,, Ser. iii. vol. v.
p. 247), 750,000 kilogrammes of crystallized boracic acid are yearly
obtained.
t From Lconhard and Bronn^s Jahrhuch. Jahrgang 1844. Heft Z,
p. 257.
( 231 )
Note on the Excrements of certain Insects. By John Davt,
M.D., F.R.S., Lond. & Edin., Inspector- General of Army
Hospitals. Communicated by the Author.
For some years it has been known that the urinary excre-
ment of the silk-worm consists chiefly of lithic acid. I am not
aware that the inquiry has been extended further, or that the
excrements of any insects have been examined ; — if they have,
I have met with no account of the experiments.
Favourable opportunities often occurring in Barbadoes for
prosecuting the research, I have occasionally availed myself of
them ; and I shall now briefly notice some of the results which
I have obtained.
Grass-hopper. — There are two species common in this island
— one brown, the other green ; both larger than the grass-
hopper of our English fields. The excrement from them is in
small cylindrical masses ; some almost black, others of a fawn
colour; the former faecal, the latter urinary. The latter,
heated with nitric acid, efl'ervesces and acquires the rich
purple colour characteristic of lithic acid ; and under the mi-
croscope is seen to consist chiefly of minute granules.
Beetle. — A black beetle, about the size of the Scarabceus
pilularius, is common here, and, at one season of the year,
abundant and troublesome at night, owing to the strength and
wildness of its flight, striking against objects in the most heed-
less manner. A single one confined in a wine glass, voided on
the third or fourth day of its confinement a large quantity
(in proportion to the bulk of the beetle) of very light fawn-
coloured matter, almost white, soiling not only the bottom of
the glass, but a good part of the insect itself. Under the mi-
croscope it was found to consist of globules from g oVo to s o^o o
of an inch in diameter, without crystals or any other form of
matter. Tested by nitric acid, it proved to be lithic acid, ac-
quiring, when duly heated, the peculiar rich purple colour,
which it instantly imparted to water.
Wasp. — The wasp of this island is very similar to the Eng-
lish wasp, but larger, and probably a diff^erent species. A
breeding-comb, with a small colony of this insect, was confined
232 Dv Davy on the Excrements of certain Insects.
under glass. A good deal of water was exhaled and condensed
in the upper part of the vessel ; and some excrement, about the
third day, was voided on the side of the glass — semifluid, and
of a greyish hue. Tested by nitric acid, it was found to con-
tain lithic acid. The old wasps, at this time, were feeding on
the comb. A young wasp, nearly full grown, was taken from
its cell for examination. The lower portion of its intestine
was found distended with a soft white matter, consisting al-
most entirely of lithic acid in minute granules ; — such was its
appearance under the microscope ; and, heated with nitric
acid, the colour was produced characteristic of lithic acid.
Cockroach. — In laying open the abdomen of one of these in-
sects, a whitish matter soiled the knife, which appeared to
come from a tubular apparatus on each side of the intestine,
performing, no doubt, the function of the kidney. The matter
was abundant, and, by the test of nitric acid, it was proved to
be chiefly lithic acid.
Moth. — A brown moth, with a body about half an inch long,
died, after having been confined under glass a few hours. A
very minute portion of brown semitransparent excrement was
obtained, found deposited on the bottom of the vessel, which,
acted on by nitric acid and heat, was ascertained to be chiefly
lithic acid.
That the urinary secretion of the five difi'erent insects
named was principally lithic acid, either pure or combined
with ammonia, I apprehend cannot be questioned ; the results
were so distinct and satisfactory. This is not uninteresting
physiologically, — shewing how little aggregate-form, and how
little the kind of diet is concerned in the nature of the secre-
tion. There is another point of view, in which also it is not
uninteresting. Hitherto the insect tribe has been considered
chiefly destructive of vegetation, whether in the form of grub
or caterpillar, or mature state : they have not had credit for
any compensating power — for contributing to the fertility of
one plant, whilst feeding upon, and, perhaps, destroying another.
And yet this conclusion seems unavoidable in the instance of
those insects, the urinary secretion of which is chiefly lithic
acid. From analogy it may be inferred that such is the ex-
crement of the locust ; and if so, the vast flights of this insect,
Dr Davy on the Excrements of certain Insects. 233
so dreaded, so devastating at the moment, may, in their after
result, by manuring an exhausted soil, be really beneficial.
Whether grubs and caterpillars may also be considered as fer-
tilizers by their urinary secretion, remains to be deteraiined
by experiment. The instance of the silk-worm is in favour
of the conclusion that they are. I have found the urinary ex-
crement of another species of large caterpillar, a native of this
island, to abound in lithic acid. I shall endeavour to examine
more ; and I venture to express the hope, that some inquirer
at home may be induced to make similar trials of the excre-
ments of the British species, which are so common and abun-
dant.
As there is variety in the composition of the urinary secre-
tion of the mammalia, so, probably, if extensive and minute
inquiry be instituted into the nature of this secretion in insects
(supposing very many of them to possess urinary organs), dif-
ferences also of composition will be detected in it. In the in-
stance of the common fly, which, in Barbadoes, seems to be
the same species as in England, I have not found lithic acid
in the urinary excrement, but a substance having rather the
properties of urea ; and I have found the same in the liquid
excrement of a bee resembling our humble bee.* Should
farther trials prove that the urinary organs of some insects
secrete urea, it need excite no surprise, considering how nearly
urea and lithic acid are allied, — and that if they have not a
common base, they differ but little in their composition, and
that one is often vicarious of the other. It may be conjectured,
too, that they may be found co-existing — a mixed secretion, as
in the instance of some of the vertebrata, especially reptiles.
I may mention an observation seemingly in favour of this idea,
made on a young wasp. Shortly after quitting its cell, it
voided a mass of excrementitious matter, quite a cast of its dis-
tended intestine ; one portion of this, the faecal part, corres-
ponding to meconium, was dark, almost black, and seemed to
consist chiefly of thick mucus, coloured by bile, and had an
* Since the above was written, I found the excrement of another
similar insect, voided, when confined under glass, to be composed chiefly
of lithic acid and phosphate of lime ; the latter in the largest proportion.
VOL. XL. NO. LXXX.— APRIL 1846. Q
234 On the Erratic Phenomena of Scandinama.
offensive smell. The other portion of a fawn-colour, about the
size and form of a barley-corn, was enveloped in a membrane,
(perhaps a pellicle of mucus) and was surrounded by a fluid,
transparent and of a light brown hue. The solid matter
proved to be chiefly lithic acid ; the liquid seemed to contain
a matter like urea in solution ; but the quantity was too mi-
nute to allow of its nature being determined with any accu-
racy. It emitted an odour like that which urea gives when
acted on by nitric acid ; and, heated, yielded a little yellow
residue.
Barbadoes, Nov. 19. 1845.
Professor AgassiZy M. J. Durocher, and M. P. Schimper^ on
the Erratic Phenomena of Scandinavia.
1. On some facts dependent on the Erratic Phenomena of
Scandinavia. By M. J. Durocher. — 2. Bemarks on the
Observations of M. Durocher, relating to the Erratic
Phenomena of Scandinavia. By Professor Agassiz. —
3. On some facts dependent on the Erratic Phenomena
of Scandinavia. By M. P. Schimper.
I. On some facts dependent on the En'atic Phenomena of Scandi-
navia. By M. J. DuEOCHER.
In a memoir presented to the Academy of Sciences, in the
beginning of 1843, I compared the erratic phenomena of the
Alps and the Pyrenees with those of the north of Europe, and
I pointed out some of the relations which exist between
them. Several naturalists have endeavoured to apply to the
erratic phenomenon of the north a theory which has lately
made a great noise, and have imagined the existence of im-
mense glaciers, or of vast sheets of ice, which, according to
them, formerly covered the whole north of Europe. In the
memoir just cited, I endeavoured to shew the impossibility of
that hypothesis ; and, to the facts already adduced, I have
now to add some others, which seem to me incompatible with
the glacial theory.
On the southern extremities of Norway and Sweden, and
On the Erratic Phenomena of Scandinavia. 235
on the small islands adjoining, from Arendal on the one side,
and from Gottenburg on the other, to Christiana, the diluvial
grooves present characters of a special nature, — characters
which are rarely exhibited in so distinct a manner in the
other parts of Scandinavia. We find, in this zone, a great
number of narrow and deep furrows, having polished and
striated sides, which are a little variable in their dimen-
sions ; one set of them having a breadth of from about 10 to
20 inches (25 to 50 centimetres), and a depth of from 1^ to
2 and 3 yards ; and the other set having a breadth of from
1 to 2 and 3 yards, and a depth varying from 1^ to 2 and
even 3 times the breadth. We remark, moreover, many cy-
lindroid canals passing into the broad grooves, of which the
depth is from about a foot to a yard, and the breadth about
the same. Among these canals there are some which are
rectilinear, but many of them which are much undulated, or
follow a serpentine course, and present sinuosities that ap-
proach one another very nearly ; frequently they bifurcate,
and become divided into several branches, which again unite
at a little distance off. The axis of these furrows and the
striaB which we see in their interior, have the same general
direction as the grooves of the surrounding country, and it is
evident that the whole are dependent on one and the same
phenomenon. I have observed the same characters on
very different kinds of rocks, viz., on various granites, on the
zircon syenites, on diorite, and also on slaty rocks, such as
gneiss, mica-slate, and hornblende-slate.
Another very important character which I have observed
in many localities in Sweden and Norway, is the existence of
striae and grooves on overhanging cliffs, whose inclination to
the horizon varies from 90 to 20 degrees ; and the grooves
exist, not only near the rounded edge of the overhanging
cliflF, but they also extend beneath that edge for a distance
of some yards.
The characters which I have now briefly enumerated shew
that the grooving agent or apparatus must have been soft,
flexible, and susceptible of very great mobility, in order that
it should be able to fill a greater or smaller space, to divide
with facility into several branches and then again to unite
236 On the Erratic Phenomena of Scandinavia,
into one, to penetrate across furrows or very narrow passages,
to follow all the sinuosities, and to occupy the whole sec-
tion, which varies from one point to another. This appara-
tus must, therefore, have possessed the properties of fluid
bodies ; moreover, it polished and scratched on all the sur-
faces, and on the whole contour, beneath overhanging and
even nearly horizontal walls of rock.
It is evident that a solid body like a mass of ice cannot
fulfil these conditions of softness and fluidity ; moreover,
glaciers only abrade, polish, and scratch by their lower sur-
face, in virtue of the pressure which they exercise on their
bed, and of their progressive movement. Here the appara-
tus or bearer of the instrument {porte-outil) must have been
fluid, but the instrument itself was solid ; it was composed
of gravel, sand, and boulders ; in short, of the same matters
by the aid of which glaciers polish and striate. Thus we
are almost irresistibly led to the supposition of very violent
currents carrying along with them detritus of various dimen-
sions.
The examination of the deposits of diluvial debris affords
a no less convincing proof of the action by water ; for these
deposits do not always assume the form of confused heaps
of materials of all sizes. In certain parts of Sweden, and
chiefly — which is sufficiently remarkable — in the elevated re-
gions, such as Dalecarlia, Helsingland, and Jemtland, we
find immense plains, or very continuous plateaus, nearly com-
pletely horizontal, and formed of diluvial debris. Sometimes
these debris consist of a mixture of sand, gravel, and pebbles,
and sometimes of very pure and very fine sand without
gravel, and identical with the sand of the shores of the sea ;
but they frequently present erratic blocks, either at the sur-
face or in the interior. Further, we can ascertain that these
two kinds of deposits, the one composed of various sorts of
detritus, and the other of pure sand, form alternate zones,
which succed each other, and exhibit a kind of coarse and
very undulating stratification. If we examine more minutely
the nature of the sand, we perceive that it is chiefly formed
of grains of quartz, accompanied by a little felspar and
by plates of mica.
On the Erratic Phenomena of Scandinavia. 237
The presence of these arenaceous deposits, and the nature
of this sand, render the action of water evident ; for a moraine
of pure sand has never been observed, and no one has attri-
buted to glaciers the power of selecting the materials which
they transport, and of eliminating the felspar and mica while
they retain the quartz.
The action of currents of water in the erratic phenomenon
of Scandinavia, therefore, appears to me to be incontestible ;
and it is only some points, to which I shall return at another
time, that can be the subject of discussion. Has the pheno-
menon been instantaneous, or has it lasted a certain time 1
Is it a simple or a complex phenomenon ? What is the cause
of the enormous force which has been in operation ? What
was its origin or point of departure 1 These are questions
which I shall not at present attempt to solve.
II. — Remarks on the Observations of M, Durocher^ relative to the
Erratic Phenomena of Scandinavia. By Professor Agassiz.
At the meeting of the Academy of Sciences of the 15tli De-
cember 1845, M. Elie de Beaumont communicated an extract
from a letter, sent to him by M. Agassiz, regarding M.
Durocher's observations relative to the erratic phenomena of
Scandinavia. Without entering into theoretical discussions,
and without arguing for the necessity of distinguishing be-
tween the phenomena produced by existing glaciers, and
those which may be attributed to the melting of the more
extensive glaciers of former times, or may be indirectly
connected with glaciers, M. Agassiz confines himself merely
to the indication of what seems to him to be inaccurate in
M. Durocher's manner of viewing the facts observed. *' It is
evident," says M. Agassiz, " to every one who endeavours to
distinguish the polishing effects of glaciers, from those due to
the action of water, that the undulating, sinuous, bifurcated,
and anastomosing, grooves and furrows mentioned by M.
Durocher are not mere grooves hollowed out by glaciers, but
are karren hollowed out by water, and scratched by the
glacier, similar to those of which we observe many examples
under the glaciers of Rosenlaui and Viesch, where these two
238 On the Erratic Phenomena of Scandinavia.
causes act simultaneously at the present day. I have repre-
sented this phenomenon in all its details in Plate IX. of the
illustrations of my Etudes sur les Glaciers, There are here
two very distinct facts which are produced by two different
causes, that must not be confounded with each other, viz., the
hollowing out of the sinuous grooves occasioned by the cur-
rents of water which follow a serpentine course under the
glacier, and the hurinage of these grooved surfaces occasioned
by the gravel and the fragments of rock inserted in the sur-
face of the glacier, which moulds itself on its bed, and which
scratches by means of this emery, so to speak, as soon as it
advances, and that in consequence of the pressure exercised
by these masses on the base which supports them.
" As to the assertion of M. Durocher, that glaciers only
abrade, polish, and scratch, by their lower surfaces, it is en-
tirely erroneous. The flanks of glaciers rub, abrade, polish,
and scratch, as well as their lower surfaces ; these flanks
carry, imbedded in the ice, just as considerable a quantity
of fragments of rock and of gravel as the unde. -surfaces
do ; and this rasping or grating agent, so to speak, acts
in the same manner on all the points where it is in con-
tact with the bottom and the flanks of the valleys containing
the glaciers. The localities where such recent polishings in
immediate contact with the glaciers which produced them are
the most distinct, are the glaciers of Rosenlaui, of the Aar,
of Viesch, of Zermatt, of Gauli, &c.
" On the flanks of the glacier of Rosenlaui, it is the lime-
stone ; on those of the Aar and Viesch, it is the granite ; on
those of Gauli, it is the gneiss ; and on those of Zermatt, it
is the serpentine, which we find polished, grooved, and
scratched. Lastly, whether the cliff's which bound the gla-
ciers, and which are in immediate contact with them, be
more or less inclined, whether they be vertical, or whether
they overhang in such a manner as to form arches under
which the glacier gradually moulds itself as it advances, the
surface of the fixed rocks everywhere presents the same
polish, and the same hurinage as it does beneath the glacier.
Polished surfaces, more or less vertical, are to be observed
on the flanks of all the glaciers which I have cited ; on the
On the Erratic Phenomena of Scandinavia. 239
edges of the glaciers of Rosenlaui, of the Aar, and of Viesch,
there are even cliffs which overhang to a great extent, and
whose under-surface, reposing on the glacier, is just as
much polished and scratched as the rocky bed on which the
glacier reposes ; and this can be easily understood, when we
know the manner in which glaciers follow all the sinuosities
of the valleys containing them, and mould themselves into all
their anfractuosities. It may not be unnecessary to remark
that, in this case, it is the fragments of rock lying at the sur-
face of the glaciers, and inserted between them and the flanks
of the valley, which act as the polishing emery. The finest
example that I have seen of an arch containing the margin
of a glacier, is situated below the great plateau of neve, which
extends from the Col of the Oberaar as far as the place
where the glacier of Viesch becomes enclosed in the valley
by which it issues. This arch is situated on the right mar-
gin of the glacier, near a small lake at the foot of the Aeg-
gishorn. Another similar arch is to be seen near the ex-
tremity of the glacier of Rosenlaui, on its right flank ; and
I can cite a third on the left flank of the glacier of the Aar,
at the foot of the peak of the Rothorn de I'Aar.
" These facts evidently prove, that the arguments of M.
Durocher against the action of glaciers have no foundation
in truth ; because we observe in a multitude of localities, the
phenomena which he considers as incompatible with the ac-
tion of glaciers, produced by existing glaciers themselves.
" Moreover, I have never asserted that the action of water
had nothing to do with glacial phenomena ; but, on the con-
trary, I have always endeavoured to distinguish the share
due to the glacier properly so called, from that which must
be attributed to the effects of the melting of glaciers, and to
the torrents which were the result ; and I have cited vari-
ous examples of gravel which has been stratified by water
hemmed in on the edges of glaciers, or issuing from their
extremities. I maintain, from the study of the facts which
I have observed and compared, that glaciers have formerly
been of immense extent, — an extent which we shall be the
better enabled to determine in proportion as we learn to
distinguish with more precision the phenomena caused by
240 On the Erratic Phenomena of Scandinavia.
glaciers from those produced by currents of water. I demon-
strated the former existence of vast glaciers in countries where
glaciers no longer exist, as, for example, in Scotland, England,
and Ireland ; and I cannot doubt but that, from the nature
of the facts which have been pointed out in Norway and in
Sweden, what has been termed the erratic phenomenon of
the north, had its principal cause in the existence of immense
glaciers, which, as they disappeared, gave rise to currents, to
whose agency the whole phenomenon has by some been at-
tributed, but which could, in fact, have only produced a part
of these effects, — a part which future researches will, doubt-
less, enable us everywhere to distinguish. In conclusion, I
may remark, that I am now in possession of an important
concession made to the theory of glaciers by its most con-
stant antagonist, since, according to M. Durocher himself,
glaciers abrade, polish, and scratch, by their under-surfaces,
in consequence of the pressure which they exercise on their
bed and of their progressive movement."
III. On some facts dependent on the Erratic Phenomena of Scan-
dinavia. By M. P. ScHiMPER.
On reading the notice of M. Durocher on some facts de-
pendent on the erratic phenomena of Scandinavia (says M.
Schimper, in a letter to M. Elie de Beaumont), I was surprised
to remark that it was only the stride existing on the shores
of the sea, and on the neighbouring small islands, which are
there explained. Any one who has seen the Karren on the
Skaren of Gottenburg, in the Fjords of Christiania and of
Trondhjem, or in the environs of Stockholm, &c., must, with-
out difficulty, have recognised them to be striae produced by
the action of water, for they are irregular, converging, ana-
stomosing, and undulating ; in a word, altogether different
from those of existing glaciers, and from those which are to
be observed in the interior of Scandinavia, in the high valleys
and along mountains, at an altitude where the sea did not
exist before the last rising of the peninsula; as, for example,
on the high road leading from Christiania to Ringerige, and
especially at the place where the road crosses the beautiful
On the Erratic Phenomena of Scandinavia. 241
rhombic porphyry of Von Buch, and also on all the acclivities
which surround the Tyrifjord, &c. There we no longer see
striae which are unequal and undulating, which cross one
another, and anastomose with one another, and which are
constantly becoming effaced ; but we there find lines which
are straight, simple, deeply graved, exactly parallel with each
other, and which continue for a considerable distance, that is
to say, for two or three yards, without being interrupted, and
without changing their direction, just as though the rock had
been acted on by a gigantic plane having unequal projections.
The margins of the fissures which traverse the rock are per-
fectly sharp ; the siliceous porous nodules are cut in two like
the knots of a plank of wood which has undergone the process
of planing ; the compact nodules, on the contrary, having
reacted on the planing surface, form a projection, and give
rise to a prolonged elevation in a straight line, which becomes
only gradually flattened, a circumstance proving evidently
that the hollow produced by the nodule in the planing-agent
has been retained for some time after it has passed the latter.
All these details are seen in a magnificent specimen of rhombic
porphyry, which I detached from an eminence behind Modum,
and which was much admired by Von Buch, to whom I shewed
it at Christian ia.
It is evident, that if the striae were produced by currents of
water, the edges of the fissures, of which some at least must
have existed at the epoch when the grooving agent passed,
would be blunted, as well as the edges w^hich surround the
hollows of the porous nodules, and that the solid nodules
would not have had prominences following them ; the striae
likewise would not have been straight and parallel for con-
siderable distances. The grooving and polishing mass has
advanced with a firm step, without being deranged by any
obstacle, exercising its action in a uniform and very exact
manner, and leaving traces which admit of no doubt as to its
nature.
The mountains of the Tyrifjord are not the only ones in
Scandinavia where I have observed the erratic phenomenon,
and where I have found convincing proofs against the h\'po-
thesis which attributes the striae to currents of water. I have
242 On the Erratic Fhenomena of Scandinavia.
found the same regularity in the striation on the transition-
slate of the shores of Mjosen lake ; on the leptynitic gneiss of
the valley of Guldbrandsdalen, where I have, at the same time,
seen exceedingly well characterised moraines ; at the passage
of Laurgaard; in the high valley of Tofte, which also presents
numerous moraines derived from the Do vrefj eld (Snaehattan),
and from Romsdalen : I have also seen rocks striated in the
same manner in the valley of the Glommen, and among other
localities between Flierdal and Eidsvold. I mention expressly
this last locality, because we there find numerous examples
of granitic rock, which are as distinctly striated on their
overhanging surfaces as they are above.
Regarding the deposits of diluvial debris of Dalecarlia,
of Jemtland, and of Helsingland, which M. Durocher cites
in favour of his theory, I believe that they only require to
be examined with a little more attention than was bestowed
on them by that traveller to render it evident that they are,
on the great scale, precisely what the deposits of our glaciers
of the present day are on the small. Every one knows that
the water issuing from glaciers deposits sand and gravel,
and that the glacier itself transports a large quantity of
both, which it deposits at the same time as the blocks of
the moraines. The sands of which M. Durocher speaks
have been transported by water ; and the various kinds of
detritus alternating with these sands have been deposit-
ed by glaciers, which advanced and retired periodically,
like the glaciers of the present day. The erratic blocks
which are found in very great abundance throughout the
whole of Wermeland, Dalecarlia, and Gestricia, are often
of very considerable dimensions, and do not present the
smallest traces of transport by water, for their angles are
perfectly entire. I have seen some of them which must
have travelled more than 100 leagues to reach the spot
where they are now deposited. These masses of rock, con-
taining many thousands of cubic feet, must, according to the
theory of M. Durocher, have crossed pretty elevated moun-
tains and deep lakes by the mere force of water, and that
without their being at all injured, and without their losing
any of the freshness of their fracture ! As the principal
On the Erratic Phenomena of Scandinavia. 243
object of my journey was the study of the cryptogamic
vegetation of the north, I neglected to keep regular notes
of the numerous observations made during my residence in
Sweden and Norway; but I hope soon to return to that
classical land of ancient glaciers, and I shall then not
neglect to direct my attention more particularly to this
subject.
I have seen nearly all the great glaciers of Switzerland,
the Tyrol, and Carinthia, and I have everywhere observed
that a glacier produced striae by means of its surface as well
as its base. The glacier of the Etzthal, in the Tyrol, de-
scends like a curtain from the summit of a vertical cliff, and
deposits its moraine at the bottom. The cliff is striated.
There has been much discussion lately regarding the
erratic phenomenon of the Vosges. I must confess, how-
ever, that none of the striated rocks which I have there seen
exhibit the characters of rock striated by glaciers. The
moraines which are alleged to have been observed in several
of the great valleys have but a very remote analogy to true
moraines : and all the blocks are rounded or blunted.*
On the Chemical Composition of the Calcareotis Corals.
By B. SiLLiMAN Jun-t
This article is from the work on Zoophytes, by J. D.
Dana,J for which the researches were undertaken. This
* Comptes Rendiis, 1845 and 1846.
t In vol. xlvii., p. 135, of Silliman's Journal, some earlier results obtained
by me on this subject were stated, which were prematurely published,
and greatly erroneous. The best antidote to an error of this sort is the
early publication of correct and trustworthy results. It is to be hoped
that the researches detailed in this paper are of this description, and the
attention of those interested in such studies is invited to the repetition
of the analyses here given. The geological interest of these observa-
tions is not in any way lessened by the results recently obtained, al-
though differing so much from those previously published. — S.
X United States Exploring Expedition, during the years 1838-42,
under the command of Charles Wilkes, U. S. N. — Zoophytes, by James
D. Dana, Geologist of the Expedition. 741 pp. 4to, with a folio Atlas
of 61 plates. 1846. The Atlas is not yet published.
244
Mr Silliman on the
volume is just out of press, but can hardly be said to have
been published^ since the small number of copies (only two
hundred) will enable very few even of those most interested
ever to see the work. The investigations have led to some
unexpected results, which will be found to have an important
bearing on the subject of geology ; especially as serving to
explain in a more rational way than any heretofore offered,
the origin of those rarer ingredients in metamorphic lime-
stones and other rocks of animal derivation ; which have
always been a puzzle to geologists.
No extended researches on the chemical constitution of
corals have been made, it is believed, since Mr Hatchett's,
already cited by Mr Dana. This chemist did not operate
quantitatively ' on any of the species examined by him ; and
his investigations tended to shew that the calcareous corals,
as well as the coverings of most of the molluscs experi-
mented upon, consisted merely of carbonate of lime. Such
was the opinion with which these chemical examinations were
commenced. But while they have found carbonate of lime to
be the principal ingredient, other elements have been de-
tected, shewing that coral is far from being the simple cal-
careous material supposed.
The following is a list of the species examined, which are
here numbered for the convenience of reference : —
1. Pontes favosa, Sandwich
Islands.
2. P. nigrescens, Feejees.
3. P. limosa, Feejees.
4. P. cyllndrica, Feejees.
5. P. fragosa, Feejees.
6. Porites,"^ Paumotu.
7. Pontes,* Wakes Island.
8. Porites,* Wakes Island.
9. Madrepora palmata, West
Indies.
10. M. spicifera, Ceylon.
11. M. prolifera, Bermuda.
12. M. plantaginea, Ceylon.
13. M. cytherea, Tahiti.
14. Madrepora, Feejees.
15. Madrepora, Feejees.
16. Madrepora, Feejees.
17. Madrepora, Feejees.
18. M. cyclopea, Wakes Island.
19. Pocillopora damicornis,
Sooloo.
20. P. elongata, Ceylon.
21. P. grandis, Feejees.
22. P. ligulata, Sandwich Islands.
23. P. csespitosa. Sandwich Islands.
24. Millepora tortuosa, Feejees.
25. Heliopora coerulea. East Indies.
2Q. Gemmipora brassica, Feejees.
27. Dendrophyllia nigrescens,
Feejees.
28. Meandrina phrygia, Ceylon.
29. Astrsea orion, Ceylon.
30. Astrsea, (p. 721, pi. 13, fig. 15.) t
31. Astrsea, Wakes Island.
32. Astrsea, Wakes Island.
33. Astrsea, Feejees.
34. Astrsea, Feejees.
35. Astrsea, Feejees.
36. Shell of Chama.
♦ Worn specimens, not identified.
t The references are to Mr Dana's work.
Chemical Composition of the Calcareous Corals, 245
Nine of the above species, of which there was the largest
quantity on hand, were selected for a minute determination
of each ingredient, while of the others, only the proportion
of carbonate of lime and animal matter to the other in-
gredients, was determined. The following are the nine
selected : —
I. Porites favosa (No. 1), Sandwich Islands.
II. Madrepora palmata (No. 9), West Indies.
III. Madrepora spicifera (No. 10), Ceylon.
IV. Madrepora prolifera (No. 11), Bermuda.
V. Madrepora plantaginea (No 12), Ceylon.
VI. Pocillopora ligulata (No. 22), Sandwich Islands.
VII. Meandrina phrygia (No. 28), Ceylon.
VIII. Astrsea orion (No. 29), Ceylon.
IX. Astr^ea (No. 30, p. 721, pi. 13, fig, 15.)
A few remarks are added upon some of their physical cha-
racters, before giving the mode and results of analysis.
Hardness. — All the various corals examined were superior
in hardness to calcareous spar or common marble, and not
inferior to arragonite ; while some were as hard as apatite
or crystallized phosphate of lime ; or, according to the scale
used by mineralogists, the usual hardness will be expressed
by 4, though occasionally as high as 5. Using an iron mor-
tar in the earliest trials, the iron pestle was roughened and
cut under the resistance of the angular masses of coral, to a
degree quite remarkable, considering the nature of the sub-
stance operated on. So much iron was communicated to the
powder from this source, that recourse was had to a mortar
of porcelain, and even this was not proof against wear, the
porcelain pestle being pitted by the repeated blows. The
more porous species were crushed, of course, with less diffi-
culty ; and this was especially the case with the species of
porites.*
* On this subject, Mr Dana remarks, p. 711 : — " The hardness of
these coral secretions, which is much above that of common carbonate
of lime, as stated by Mr Silliraan, is not fully explained by the pecuUar
chemical composition detected by this chemist. We suggest, as one
cause, that the calcareous portion may have, in its intimate texture, the
structure of arragonite, or prismatic carbonate of lime, instead of that
246
Mr Silliman on the
Specific Gravity. — The specimens were reduced to fine pow-
der before trying the specific gravity, as the porous charac-
ter of the coral would otherwise interfere with obtaining cor-
rect results. Considerable variation will be observed in the
following table. The numbers correspond to the catalogue
on page 244.
Specimens.
Sp. Gravity.
!
Specimens.
Sp. Gravity.
Specimens.
Sp. Gravity.
No.l
2-817
No. 20
2-217
No. 31
2 •688
3
2-732
22
2-564
33
2-500
4
2-564
23
2-353
34
2-500
9
2-421
25
2-578
Meand. 1
rustica, )
2-571
10
2-105
2Q
2-584
12
2-427
21
2-740
Shell of
Chama, j
2-857
The average from the sixteen species of corals is 2*523.
Colour. — In general, the colour of the specimens examined
was white, or nearly so ; but some of them, as the Dendro-
phyllia nigrescens, and blue Heliopora (H. ccerulea), were
highly coloured. The colouring matter, in all cases, proved to
be organic, and was usually due to some trace of the animal
tissues. The highly coloured ones, when powdered, burnt
white, giving out, at a red heat, the odour of animal matter.
The Heliopora dissolved in chlorohydric acid, without having
its colour altered, and gave a light indigo-blue solution. A
drop of nitric acid, however, discharged this colour, and am-
monia threw it down as a brown precipitate. Heat imme-
diately destroys it. It is, therefore, evident that the colour-
ing matter is entirely organic, and is in no way connected
with the mineral constitution of the coral. However, some
of common rhombohedral calc-spar. The arragonite structure has been
shewn to be due to crystallization at a higher temperature than that
which is required for calc-spar, the two minerals being identical in com-
position. In consequence of this higher temperature, a different crys-
talline form is assumed ; and, moreover, the material has a higher de-
gree of hardness, that of arragonite being designated by 2>^ to 4, while
common calc-spar, or rhombohedral carbonate of lime, is 3. These re-
marks, it will be perceived, bear upon the internal calcareous secretions
of other animals. In connexion, it should be observed, however, that
distinct rhombohedrons oi calc-spar have been detected by Mr Carpenter
in the shells of some Molluscs."
Chemical Composition of the Calcareous Corals. 247
corals have a slight ferruginous tint, from the presence of a
little peroxide of iron, which will be seen to be an almost
constant constituent, although in exceedingly small quantity.
Behaviour with re-agents. — All corals are rapidly dissolved
in dilute chlorohydric, nitric, or acetic acids, with brisk effer-
vescence and escape of carbonic acid. The solution is fre-
quently coloured by organic matter, which sometimes renders
it turbid. When the powdered coral is treated with pure
water, more or less of common salt, and other soluble saline
matters, derived from the evaporation of sea-water, are
washed out ; and this precaution was found necessary to in-
sure accurate results.
The solution of a coral in nitric acid is very soon blackened
by a solution of nitrate of silver, from the presence of organic
matter. Ammonia, added to a solution in nitric or chloro-
hydric acid, with the least possible excess of acid, will gene-
rally produce an immediate precipitate of granular ammo-
nio-phosphate of magnesia, thus indicating the presence of
both magnesia and phosphoric acid.
Chloride of barium produces, with a chlorohydric solution,
a granular, white precipitate, which is nearly all redissolved
in an excess of chlorohydric acid. (A small portion of sul-
phate of barytes is generally formed in using this test, owing
to the almost constant presence of a small quantity of sul-
phate of lime in the corals.)
A portion, dissolved in nitric acid, and carefully neutralized,
when treated with nitrate of silver, will, on standing, deposit a
considerable yellowish precipitate of phosphate of silver,
which is redissolved in ammonia and nitric acid.
' Acetate of lead, added to a chlorohydric solution, produces
a copious precipitate of chloride of lead, which is not wholly
redissolved by an excess of acetic acid, but is taken up by
nitric acid. These facts are a sufficient proof of the presence
of phosphoric acid.
Lime-water, added to a solution of coral, either neutral or
slightly acid, will produce an immediate gelatinous precipi-
tate of all the bases and acids which the coral can contain,
except, of course, the lime and solvent acid. Great care is
needed in this operation to prevent the formation of a car-
248 Mr Silliman on the
bonate of lime ; the solution should have been recently
boiled, and the test applied while it is yet hot, the air being
excluded ; and the precipitate should be immediately col-
lected on a filter and washed. If the precipitate by lime-
water be fused in a platinum capsule, with carbonate of soda,
or carbonate of potassa in excess, the phosphoric acid is all
transferred to an equivalent portion of alkaline base, while
the lime or magnesia, or the base with which it was before
united, will remain as a carbonate. The usual tests, which
have already been enumerated, will shew the presence of the
phosporic acid.
The lime-water test offers far the best means of separating
from the lime (which exists as a carbonate) all the other
constituents of a coral, as these various substances are in a
very small quantity compared with the entire mass of the
coral. Some easy means of completely separating them all,
is an indispensable preliminary step in their examination
and estimation.
I am indebted to my friend Dr J. L. Smith, of Charleston,
South Carolina, for suggesting to me the use of this test in
the analysis of the corals.
As the several elements whose presence our researches
have determined in corals, have been enumerated in the
body of the work (p. 57), it is not necessary to repeat them
here ; but we may state, in a summary manner, an outline
of the general course of analysis pursued in determining the
constitution of the lime-water precipitate, which, it will be
allowed, contains several elements whose association has al-
ways been considered as offering some of the most difficult
problems in the whole range of inorganic analyses. The
following plan of analysis has been contrived in part from
the late researches of Rammelsberg, on the estimation of
phosphoric acid, and partly from the labours of Rose and
Berzelius, adapting the method to the requirements of the
particular problem before us.
A. The lime-water precipitate, after ignition, is weighed
and then digested in fine powder in cold chlorohydric acid ;
it slowly dissolves, leaving a white flocculent powder. This
collected and washed, will be found to be silica. It is harsh
Chemical Composition of the Calcareous Corals. 249
and gritty between the teeth, is not taken up by long di-
gestion in strong acids, dissolves in a solution of caustic
potassa, and before the blowpipe forms a hard colourless
glass with carbonate of soda, dissolving in this reagent with
effervescence.
B. The solution in chlorohydric acid is supersaturated
with caustic ammonia, and boiled ; a gelatinous precipitate
separates, which is usually coloured by iron, and by its cha-
racters indicates the presence of alumina. This precipitate
contains the phosphoric and other acids, and the bases there-
with combined. It is collected, and the filtrate therefrom
(C) is examined for lime and magnesia^ both of which are
usually present.
D. The precipitate by ammonia (B) is next made into a
thick paste with strong sulphuric acid, in a small vessel of
pliatina. A plate of glass coated with wax and written on,
is placed over the crucible ; and heat being applied, hydro-
fluoric acid escapes, and, attacking the glass, leaves a per-
manent record of its presence. I have never failed to obtain
evidence of the presence of fluorine in any coral which has
been subjected to the test. Generally, exposure for one
minute will etch the glass most decidedly ; and one experi-
ment will suffice to mark distinctly several pieces of glass.
By this plan of analysis, the quantity of fluorine cannot be
estimated, and it must be judged of either by the loss or by
the deficiency of acids to satisfy all the bases formed. The
constant association of phosphoric acid and fluorine, renders
it advisable, in compounds in nature, where one of these
elements is found, to search for the other.
E. After the sulphuric acid has been digested on (D) long
enough to convert all the bases present into sulphates, a por-
tion of bisulphate of potash or caustic potash is added, and a
little water, to dissolve it ; to this, a vei'y large quantity of
alcohol, of a specific gravity of about '860, is added, and the
whole is allowed to stand for some hours ; during which the
double sulphates of potassa, alumina and iron, crystallize out,
while any lime previously combined is separated as sulphate ;
and in the solution we must look for the phosphoric acid and
VOL. XL. NO. LXXX. — APRIL 1846. R
250 Mr Silliman on the
magnesia, together with a little persalt of iron, held up by the
alcohol.
F. The mixture (E) being filtered, and the precipitate
washed quite clean with alcohol, the filtrate is evaporated
until all the alcohol is expelled, and then supersaturated with
ammonia ; a little trace of alumina and iron separates, which
may be added to that to be obtained from the other portion
(H). We may now either add an excess of pure chloride of
calcium to the filtrate (F), or a portion of perchloride of iron.
The object in either case is to separate the phosphoric acid
in combination with a base, from whose weight its quantity
may be directly estimated, which is an indispensable step,
since the fluorine, according to this plan of analysis, can be
estimated only by the amount required to saturate the excess
of bases. In case the chloride of calcium is employed, we
have all the phosphoric acid in the form of phosphate of lime,
mixed with a large quantity of sulphate of lime, derived from
the sulphuric acid and sulphate of potassa previously em-
ployed. This mixture of phosphate and sulphate of lime is
collected, washed, and redissolved in chlorohydric acid. The
sulphate of lime is separated by alcohol, and the phosphoric
acid remains in solution, which, after the excess of alcohol
has been expelled, may be thrown down by ammonia, ignited
and weighed, or, preferably, may be estimated by a magnesian
salt. If we employ the method by perchloride of iron, we
form in the acid solution containing the phosphoric acid, a
basic perphosphate of iron, on supersaturating the solution
with ammonia. This compound is mixed with a bulky mass
of peroxide of iron, which being thrown on a filter and
thoroughly washed, is subsequently decomposed completely
by hydrosulphuret of ammonia, into sulphuret of iron and
phosphate of ammonia. Care must be taken to use a suffi-
cient quantity of perchloride of iron, otherwise a white pre-
cipitate of neutral perphosphate of iron is formed, which is
soluble in an excess of ammonia. In either case (the em-
ployment of the chloride of calcium, or the perchloride of
iron) the phosphoric acid eliminated may be finally best esti-
mated by a magnesian salt and ammonia, as the ammonio-
phosphate of magnesia, from whose known constitution the
Chemical Composition of the Calcareous Corals. 251
phosphoric acid is easily calculated. We have employed both
of these methods ; but on many accounts prefer that by the
perchloride of iron.
G. The alcoholic filtrate from (F), containing magnesia
and lime, is treated by the well known methods of analysis
for the estimation of those substances. The lime in all cases
in these researches, was converted into sulphate and preci-
pitated by alcohol. The magnesia was estimated as phosphate.
H. The crystalline precipitate from (F), which was col-
lected on the filter, contained the alumina and iron, previously
in combination with phosphoric acid or fluorine. This pre-
cipitate is boiled in a capsule with a strong solution of car-
bonate of soda, to decompose the sulphate of lime ; it is then
filtered, the insoluble residue washed thoroughly and treated
with chlorohydric acid, the precipitate by ammonia from (F)
being added, and the whole treated with excess of ammonia.
Alumina and iron fall, which may be afterwards separated in
the usual way ; but this was generally not deemed requisite,
the quantity of iron being very small in most cases.
I. The filtrate from (H) is treated for lime by oxalate of
ammonia, and the oxalate converted into sulphate and
weighed : this dose of lime had been previously united to
phosphoric acid or fluorine.
J. Magnesia is next separated from the filtrate of (I), by
ammonia and phosphate of soda.
K. The alkaline liquor from (H) contains another portion
of magnesia, which is separated in like manner as the am-
monio-phosphate. Much labour is saved if we take care to
reserve the several portions, from which magnesia has been
thrown down, and unite them in one filtration and weighing,
instead of treating them as so many separate portions.
The minute determination of all the constituents of the lime-
water precipitate, was attempted only on those specimens of
which we had a large quantity at command ; for a solution
of half a pound or more of the coral in nitric or chlorohydric
acid, was necessary to afford sufficient precipitate for analysis.
The carbonate of lime, by far the most abundant constituent,
was separately determined on one gramme, as sulphate of
lime, and from this the carbonate was calculated. The ratio
252 Mr Silliman on the
of phosphates and fluorides of the several bases to the entire
mass was also determined from a distinct portion of coral,
two grammes by weight ; and from the data thus furnished,
we have the means of safely estimating the organic matter
by the loss.
Organic matter. — This constituent of the corals deserves
particular notice. Some remarks have already been made
on it, when speaking of the colouring matter of corals. This
organic matter is so intimately united throughout the whole
structure of the corals, amounting to 4 to 8 per cent., that
it cannot be separated by any method resorted to, except by
frequent deflagrations with the nitrate of ammonia. When
reduced to the finest impalpable powder, it may be digested
in repeated doses of boiling water, until no trace of organic
matter is longer found in the water ; and yet a careful ana-
lysis, by falling short of the amount required to complete the
100 parts, will invariably shew its presence. The oxalate
of lime obtained in their analysis, if ignited (as in the usual
manner directed for the estimation of lime), will always
have a dark carbonaceous hue, derived from the organic
matter of the coral;
During the solution of considerable quantities of several
corals, whose analyses are given below (particularly in
No. IV., but more or less in all), a large quantity of fatty (\)
matter separated, of a yellow colour and disagreeable pene-
trating odour, though not fetid. It was easily seen floating
on the surface of the solution, in transparent jelly-like masses
of a yellowish colour. It was insoluble in alcohol, but readily
so in cold ether, and the evaporation of its ethereal solution
yielded a yellow solid, resembling wax. It fuses below
200° F. A pungent irritating odour arose from the evapo-
ration of the ethereal solution near its close, which acted
powerfully on the eyes and nostrils. This volatile principle
may be analogous to that known to proceed from the decom-
position of fat, (acrolein ?) It deserves more attention than
I have been able to give it, particularly as it may perhaps
be the source of the disagreeable odour of some limestones
of coral origin.
Analyses. — The following tables exhibit a comprehensive
Chemical Composition of (he Calcareous Corals, 253
view of the results of the several analyses. The relative
proportions of organic matter, carbonate of lime, and the
complex precipitate of phosphates and fluorides thrown down
by lime-water, are first given ; and afterwards the definite
composition of this precipitate in the nine species more mi-
nutely investigated.
Porite*.
No. 1 (I.)
P<.rit««.
No. 3.
Porites.
No. 4.
Porites.
No. 6.
Porites.
No. 6.
Carbonate of lime,
95-84
94-412
94-807
93-875
89-864
Phosphates and fluorides,
2-05
0-900
0-950
1-561
0-700
Organic matter,
2-11
4-688
4-243
4-564
9-431
Porites.
No. 7.
Porites.
No. 8.
Madrepore.
No. 9(11.)
Madrepora.
No. 10 (III.)
Madrepora.
No. U (IV.)
Carbonate of lime,
94-438
95-000
94-807
92.815
95.086
Phosphates and fluorides,
2-lQO
1-650
0-745
0-600
0-300
Organic matter.
3-462
3-350
4-448
6-585
4-614
Madrepore.
No.l2(V,)
Madrepora.
No. U.
Madrepora.
No. 15.
Madrepora.
No.lR
Madrepora.
No. 17.
Carbonate of lime, 94-881 93*297
Phosphates and fluorides, 0-710 2-450
Organic matter, 4-409 4*263
Pooillopora. PooiUopora,
No. 19. No. 20.
Carbonate of lime, 94*659 93*60
Phosphates and fluorides, 0*550 1*90
Organic matter, 4*791 4-50
94*143 94*239 93*59
0-900 0*500 0-50
4*957 5*261 5*91
Pocillopora. Pocillopora. Pocillopora.
No. il. No. 22 (VI.) No. 23.
95.001 93-848 94*583
1-450 0-550 1-050
3-549 5*602 4*397
Millepore.
No.M.
Heliopora.
No. 26.
Gemmipora.
No. 26.
Meandrina,
No. 28
(VII.)
Astrwa,
No. 29
(VIII.)
94*226
95-545
92*751
93-559
96-471
, 1-200
1*000
1*500
0-910
0-802
4*574
3*455
5-749
5-536
2-727
Astrsea.
No. 30 (IX).
Astriea.
So. 31.
Astrira.
No. 33.
Astrsea.
No. 34.
Astrs-a,
No. 35.
96*551
94*810
91-782
93-923
91-112
, 0*262
0*900
2-100
0*500
0-550
3-187
4-290
6-118
5-577
8'338
Carbonate of lime,
Phosphates and fluorides,
Organic matter,
Carbonate of lime.
Phosphates and fluorides,
Organic matter,
A portion of the massive shell of a large Chama, treated
in a similar manner, afforded for 100 parts the following
result : —
Carbonate of lime,
Precipitate by lime-water,
Organic matter,
97*007
2-600
0-398
The amount of organic matter is here very small ; while
the precipitate by lime-water is large. The examination of
264
Mr Silliman on the
other shells with reference to this point would have been
highly interesting, and had it fallen within the scope of these
researches, the subject would have been farther investigated.
The per-centage of phosphates and fluorides in the above
analyses, after excluding the organic matter, is as follows : —
Phosphates
Phosphates
Phosphates
Specimens.
and
Specimens.
and
Specimens.
and
Fluorides.
Fluorides.
No. 1 (I.)
2095
No. 12 (V.)
0-743
No. 24
1-258
3
0-945
14
2-562
25
1-036
4
0-992
15
0-947
26
1-593
5
1-637
16
0-528
28 (VII.)
0.964
6
0-774
17
0-537
29 (VIII.)
30 (IX.)
0-825
7
2177
19
0-578
0-270
8
1-710
20
1990
31
1-040
9 (II.)
0-780
21
1-504
33
2-114
10 (III.)
0-642
22 (VI.)
0-583
34
0-529
11 (IV.)
0-314
23
1-099
35
0-600
It now remains to give the constitution of the precipitat e
of fluorides and phosphates. The results annexed are cal-
culated for a hundred parts of the precipitate.
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
Silica,
22-00
12-5
13-50
10-32
23-74
Lime,
13-03
7-5
10-40
15-57
35-01
Magnesia,
7-66
4-2
1-63
38-49
1-35
Fluoride of calcium,
7*83
26-34
34-85
7*50
8-88
Fluoride of magnesium,
12-48
26-62
19-06
2-62
20-44
Phosphate of magnesia,
2-70
8-00
5-87
0-25
3-46
Alumina (and iron).
16-00
14-84
14-69
25-25
712
Oxide of iron.
18-30
VI.
VII.
VIII.
IX.
Silica,
5-35
11-0
30-01
8-70
Lime,
7-17
25-9
17-45
16-74
Magnesia,
049
0-8
24-57
45-19
Fluoride of calcium.
4-05
15-0
085
0-71
Fluoride of f Phosphate
magnesium \ of lime^
4-25
Fluoride
'1 23-2
4-31
2-34
of mag.
Phosphate of magnesia,
16-30
4-7
0-32
0-34
Alumina (and iron ),
35-00
19-4
22-49
25-97
Oxide of iron.
27-39
The foregoing results shew, that, contrary to the expecta-
tion when the research was commenced, the fluorine is pre-
sent in much larger proportion than phosphoric acid. The
Chemical Composition of the Calcareous Corals. 255
silica exists in the coral in its soluble modification, and
probably is united to the lime. The free magnesia existed
as carbonate, and was thrown down as caustic magnesia by
the lime-water. Some small portion of lime was probably
thrown down as carbonate, in spite of every precaution to
the contrary. Only in two or three instances, however, was
there any effervescence on the addition of chlorohydric acid
to redissolve it.
It need hardly be said that the existence in sea- water of
all the matters noted in these analyses is a just inference ;
but this subject, as well as the important geological in-
ferences which may be drawn from the results now pre-
sented, will be fully discussed on another occasion.
My warmest acknowledgments are due to my friends
and pupils, Messrs D. Olmsted jun. and T. S. Hunt, who
have zealously aided me in the laborious parts of these
investigations.
Yale College Laboratory,
December 16, 1845.
— [From the American Journal of Science for March 1846,
an early proof of the above interesting Memoir having been obli-
gingly sent to us by the Editor^ Professor Silllman.)
Distribution of Fossils in the different formations, and succes-
sion of Animals on the Surface of the Globe. By Professor
F. J. PiCTET.
On a former occasion, we have taken some notice of those
associations of fossil species in each division of the crust of
the earth, which demonstrate the existence of a series of dis-
tinct faunas. The comparison of these faunas furnishes us
with important results, the generalisation of which enables
us to arrive at the laws which have regulated the succession
of organised beings. We shall afterwards shew that it is
probable some of these laws have been too hastily estab-
lished, and that an undue importance has often been given
to the facts on which they rest. But, notwithstanding such
errors, these generalisations have contributed in a remarkable
degree to advance the science of palaeontology, by shewing
256 Professor Pictet on the Distribution of Fossils.
how many important and interesting questions are connected
with the study of fossils. It will readily be understood how
it happened that naturalists, on perceiving, for the first
time, the results of this science, have been inclined to allow
their imagination to wander beyond the limits to which a
strict observation of facts ought to have confined them ; for
these facts, although not numerous enough to admit of suffi-
cient precision, were still adequate to shew the importance
of the laws which seemed to result from the study of them.
It is expedient, therefore, to point out, in this place, what
these generalisations are founded upon, to examine what is
true in them, and what false, and to discuss their real
limits. In the sequel, I shall first pass in review the laws,
that is, the general rules, which flow directly from the com-
parison of facts, and conclude by pointing out the theoretical
principles which have been devised, in order to explain the
succession of faunas.
The principal laws* which it has been thought proper to
establish, may be reduced to five. These I shall examine in
succession.
First Law. — The species of animals belonging to one geo-
logical epoch, have lived neither before nor after that epoch ;
so that each formation has its fossil species, and no species
can be found in tivo formations of a different age. This law
is one of those, the certainty and generality of which, I
believe the progress of science will shew more clearly
every day ; but it is not admitted by all geologists. Many
naturalists of high authority think that it is true in regard
to the greater number of species, but false in regard to some,
which, in their opinion, have passed from one epoch to an-
other ; and that, therefore, it is not general.
The soluti(m of this question is of the highest interest for
palaeontology ; for on the manner in which we regard it, the
opinion which we may entertain as to the importance of the
applications of this science to geology, entirely depends. If
fossils are peculiar to certain formations, they characterise
* I have here mentioned only the principal laws ; others exist which
have not been sufficiently proved, except in regard to particular classes
of animals.
Professor Pictet on the Distribution of Fossils. 267
these with perfect accuracy. If, on the contrary, some of
these bodies are peculiar, and others common to many for-
mations, it follows that only part of them can furnish any
results ; and hence arises a source of uncertainty and the
risk of error. Geologists who have not admitted the speci-
alty of fossils, and who have been conscious, at the same
time, that these bodies must be taken into account in deter-
mining formations, have distinguished fossils as characteris-
tic, that is to say, those whose existence may be regarded as
a certain criterion for fixing the age of a formation, and
fossils non-characteristic^ such as cannot be employed for
that purpose. Naturalists, on the contrary, who admit the
specialty of fossils, regard the whole of them as character-
istic, and as furnishing results equally certain, provided
they can be clearly determined.
In discussing this important law, palaeontologists have not
always taken up the same ground. M. Defrance, in parti-
cular, has thought it necessary to adopt a particular method
for the study of fossil shells. In comparing them, he dis-
tinguishes three degrees of resemblance ; those of which the
individuals, when compared, present no difference whatever,
he names identical shells ; such as differ in characters of the
same order as those which, in a recent state, constitute
varieties, and which may be ascribed to the more or less
prolonged influence of heat, locality, &c., he calls analojous
species : suhanalogous species are those which have only a
remote analogy, and surpass the limits assigned to varieties
of the same species. He applies the name, lost species^ to
such as present no degree of resemblance to living species.
This method of comparison has been favourably received
by many geologists and conchologists ; and I do not deny
that it has had a favourable influence, by directing attention
to the different degrees of resemblance between fossil shells
and those still living. But it appears to me that it is a use-
less complication of the question,* and that instead of four
categories of differences and resemblances, it is more simple,
* 1 here speak only of the principal question ; there are secondary
questions, and of inferior importance, where it ma}' be interesting to de-
termine the analogy of shells.
258 Professor Pictet on the Distribution of Fossils.
as well as more logical and natural, to admit only two. I
think that the object is not to determine whether shells are
identical, analogous, subanalogous, or extinct, but rather
whether they are or are not of the same species.
If indeed we examine with some attention the distinction
established by M. Defrance, we will perceive that the cate-
gory of analogous shells is not comprehended within clear
and well-defined limits. If this skilful naturalist considers
as analogous, only such species as differ from each other by
characters of such a kind, that if both were alive, we would
regard them as varieties of one species, then there is no real
interest in distinguishing analogous and identical shells, in-
asmuch as absolute identity never exists, and both the one
and the other differ only in such slight characters, that there
is nothing to prevent us admitting the possibility of their
having proceeded from the same stock. Between those
trifling variations which the naturalist neglects, and those
which lead him to distinguish a certain type under the name
of a variety, there are insensible shades and transitions,
which are wholly effaced when confronted with^the essential
fact, that the shells which present them ought to be referred
to the same species.
But if M. Defrance understands by analogous species,
shells which differ in characters a little more considerable
than the varieties of the same living species; and if he admits,
at the same time, that these differences may have been pro-
duced by the influence of the changes of climate, or by geo-
logical causes, his distinction becomes much more dangerous,
for it prejudges a doubtful question, and rests on the action
of unknown and ill-defined forces. For the solution of so
difficult a question, we must reason only on certain grounds,
which the study of living nature alone can furnish ; to admit
more extensive influences, is gratuitously to renounce posi-
tive facts for hypothesis. If two species differ in charac-
ters which cannot be explained by the influence of exte-
rior agents, limited as we regard it in the present day, the
palaeontologist ought to establish their difference on the prin-
ciples of modern science. In this manner he will bring to-
Professor Pictet on the Distribution of Fosnils, 259
gether facts which admit of comparison,* and the limits of
species will acquire to his view a distinctness which does not
exist if we admit that they may vary in a way which cannot
be specified, and under the influence of causes which elude
examination, inasmuch as they are supposed to be different
from those which operate in our own day.
The category of subanalogous species does not appear to
tne to be better established than that of the analogous species ;
for when M. Defrance gives this name to shells which differ
in characters too important to admit of their being referred
to the same species, it is evident that, in the present case,
the word is synonymous with different species or extinct
species.
I am, therefore, of opinion, that it is more convenient and
consistent with facts, not to take into account, in this place,
the intermediate degrees of analogy ; and, in discussing the
law of the specialty of fossils, to apply to these remains of
ancient animals the same laws which guide naturalists in
establishing species in the actually existing state of the world.
M. Defrance' s distinctions will be of use in another respect,
in the comparison of the lost species of different geological
* These rigorous principles will not prevent all subsequent discussion
on the prolonged influence of exterior agents ; I am even of opinion
that the partizans of the theory of the transition of species into each
other, ought necessarily to admit this starting-point. They have, in
fact, only two logical modes of proceeding ; either to limit, as we have
done, fossil species by the same principles which regulate the study of
living beings, or to unite in the same species all the animals which they
consider as having emanated from the same tj^pe. Now, if we admit this
latter mode of viewing the question, we shall fall into a very trouble-
some variability as to the limits of a species. Some naturalists would
unite only some animals, which appear to them to present too strong
resemblances to suppose for them a diiferent origin. Others, adopt-
ing the theories of gradual development in a more complete manner,
may associate, under the name of species, genera, and even entire
families, which they may regard as only a series of modifications of a
single primitive type. There would be no longer any fixed or uniform
rule. I am well aware that these extreme results are far from the
opinion of the skilful conchologist whose views I am opposing ; but we
must not take even a first step in a wrong path, for we shall be forced
to traverse it throughout.
260 Professor Pictet on the Distribution of Fossils.
faunas. It may often be interesting to know whether these
species more or less resemble such as have preceded or fol-
lowed them.
These principles established, the question becomes simpli-
fied, and its solution depends entirely on the examination of
facts, under the guidance of systems of zoology properly so
called. It would then seem that nothing remains but to
compare the lists of the fossils of each formation, as they are
established by palaeontologists, in order to observe if the same
names occur there. Unfortunately these lists, often drawn
up in haste, and sometimes by superficial observers, or those
who have little acquaintance with zoology, are not always
such as to deserve confidence, and the greater part of them
are full of errors. The result which the comparison of them
would furnish, if we were to receive them as correct, would
be, that numerous species are found in many formations ; but
the more we study fossils, the more we disclaim these al-
leged identities ; and I have no doubt that, as science ad-
vances, we shall discover that it is only in consequence of er-
roneous assimilations that the same names have been in-
serted in catalogues of the fossils of different formations.*
The actual state of the science does not, perhaps, warrant us
to affirm it, but all probability is in favour of the specialty
of fossils. All investigations carefully conducted by compe-
tent zoologists, and with that precision which is pre-eminently
requisite in palaeontology, have almost invariably led to the
conclusion that fossils are different in every formation. The
most eminent palaeontologists are now agreed on this funda-
mental fact, and I entertain the firm conviction that we may
confidently expect its confirmation with the progress of time.
It is, moreover, natural that the earliest observers should
have been at first more struck with the analogies than the
differences ; a superficial examination shews the former more
speedily, while the second demands more labour. The same
thing has taken place with regard to living animals, ancient
* We shall afterwards have occasion, in the particular history of fos-
sils, to draw frequent attention to species which have been erroneously
considered as identical in different formations.
Professor Pictet on the Distribution of Fossils. 261
authors having often grouped many allied species under the
same name, and which were separated by their successors.
In like manner with fossils ; the most exact observers, or
those who had most leisure, have detected differences where
none were previously noticed. Hundreds of instances might
be mentioned, where species at first united had afterwards to
be separated, and have thus served to demonstrate the truth
of a law which they had, at first, the tendency to make us
regard as false.
Recent investigations have taught us how far this law ex-
tends. Already, most palaeontologists admit it for the four
great periods, and even for the formations into which we
have immediately subdivided them. Thus we can scarcely
any longer deny that, in the secondary epoch, for example,
the fossils of the triassic, Jurassic, and cretaceous forma-
tions, are completely different from each other. But it is
probable that we ought to go still further, and that the stages
into which we have divided these formations, have likewise
their special fauna. The best recent works seem to shew,
for example, in the case of the cretaceous formation, that no
species of the fossils contained in the neocomian, albian, and
white chalk, is found, at the same time, in any two of these
formations. M. D'Orbigny goes even further, and proves
that he found no species common to the formations into which
he subdivides these stages, that is to say, to the turonian
and senonian in regard to the white chalk, the neocomian
and aptian in the neocomian stage. The results to which
M. D'Orbigny has come, are facts fitted to inspire perfect
confidence ; it remains for future investigations to shew where
the generality of these differences terminates, and to modify
the classification of formations according to these considera-
tions.
I cannot conclude the discussion of this law, one of such
essential importance, without making one observation. I
have said that the demonstration of the law must result from
the knowledge of facts. There are cases, of rare occurrence
it is true, where these facts may be interpreted in a different
manner, according to the preconceived opinion which the
palaeontologist who observes them shall have formed of the
262 Professor Pictet on the Distribution of Fossils.
truth of this law ; and who consequently may, perhaps, make
use of arguments in two senses. Certain very natural genera
may furnish the proof of what I state. If we compare, for
example, the skeletons of all the species of hares now living,
we shall have great difficulty, in regard to some of them, in
seizing the distinctive characters. If, then, we find a fossil
hare, and more especially if we find only fragments of one,
it may happen that it will appear referrible to one or to many
existing species. The palaeontologist who studies these re-
mains, may, as he chooses (so to speak), affirm that the species
is identical with existing species, or that it is an extinct
species, the distinctive characters of which probably resided
in the soft parts, and which the skeleton was not sufficient
to characterise. The rarity of these cases, and the little
importance, for the determination of formations, of the species
which give rise to doubts of this nature, prevent any actual
confusion resulting from this.
Second Law. — The differences which exist between extinct
faunas and the animals now living, are so much greater in pro-
portion as these faunas are more ancient ; that is to say, the
more ancientl}^ formations have been deposited, the more
widely do the remains of the animals which they contain dif-
fer from those which now inhabit our globe.
This law is shewn in a very evident manner, when we com-
pare the fossil remains of the animals of different geological
epochs. If we examine, for example, the shells of the ter-
tiary formations, we scarcely see any other forms but such as
are familiar to us ; while, if we study the faunas of ancient
formations, new and unknown forms will appear much more
frequently, and we shall be tempted, in many instances, to
call them eccentric or anomalous, since they deviate from
certain relations to which we are accustomed.
If we wish to analyse more severely this first impression,
it might be said that the species of the most recent beds or
layers, belong, for the most part, to genera in which living
animals are classified ; while, if we descend further into the
crust of the earth, we are obliged to create more new ge-
nera to receive the forms of being ; and that there even ex-
ist, in the most ancient formations, conditions of organiza-
Professor Pictet on the Distribution of Fossils. 263
tion still more different, which require the formation of new
families or orders.
This law holds true in regard to all classes of animals, but
it presents some differences in its application. The classes
which have appeared from the first, and which consequently
have representatives in the most ancient formations, contain
forms which have undergone little variation during very long
periods. In those, on the contrary, whose appearance is
comparatively recent, the law becomes applicable, as it were,
in a more rapid manner, and the forms vary at less remote
intervals. If we compare, for example, the mollusca and the
mammifera, we will perceive that the former, which have ex-
isted in the most ancient eras of which we have any know-
ledge, have scarcely undergone any change of form since the
termination of the cretaceous epoch, and that the shells of
the tertiary formation almost all belong to the same genera
as modern shells ; while the mammifera, which have appeared,
for the first time, at the commencement of the tertiary epoch,
present us with forms which render it necessary to create
many new genera. In the most ancient formations of this
epoch we find, along with shells of the same genera as our
own, the anoplotherium^ anthracotherium, and the palceotherium,
which are extinct types ; and we must come to the most re-
cent tertiary formation, and the diluvian epoch, before we
can find a mammiferous fauna of which the majority of species
can be referred to existing genera.
At the same time, however real may be the facts ge-
nerally expressed by this law, we must not exaggerate it,
from a desire to render it too precise. It holds true when
we compare faunas with each other, as a whole ; but it
would be a serious error to imagine that it extends to all
the details. The ancient formations, in which a great part
of the animals present very different forms from those of
existing beings, and the fauna of which has a general aspect
which clearly distinguishes it from the most recent faunas,
likewise offer to our notice many species very nearly allied
to such as live in our own times. If, for example, the
cephalopod molluscs are represented in the ancient forma-
tions by the lituites, the orthoceratites, and other extinct
k
264 Professor Pictet on the Distribution of Fossils.
genera, we likewise find in them true nautili, not differing
much from the present species. Thus, along with spirifer
and productus, which are no longer found, there lived in
these same formations terebratulse, which possess forms
closely analogous to those of all the subsequent formations,
and of the present epoch. The same thing takes place in
regard to the tertiary epoch ; for these same formations
which have furnished remarkable extinct genera in the order
of pachyderms, likewise produce some bats and small car-
nivora, which can scarcely be distinguished from species
now living.
Third Law. — The comparison of the faunas of the different
epochs, shews that the temperature on the surface of the earth
has undergone variation. The facts on which this law has
been established are, that we discover fossil animals in those
parts of the globe where they could not live in our own times,
on account of the cold ;* and that the faunas of some recent
epochs — and, in particular, the tertiary formations of Europe
— present more analogy to the animals of the torrid zone
than to those of temperate zones. To these zoological con-
siderations we have likewise to add the arguments drawn
from the vegetable kingdom. During the epoch of the coal
formation, Europe has been covered with a rich and large-
sized vegetation, of such a kind that it can only be compared
to that of certain intertropical countries.
These facts concur in shewing a difference of temperature ;
but it is probable, at the same time, that a too hasty genera-
lisation has been made, when it has been concluded that there
has been a constant and uniform decrease of temperature.
The first-mentioned fact, for example, proves that, during the
diluvian epoch, the shores of the Icy Sea have been less cold
than they now are ; but it by no means proves that this phe-
nomenon has been general over the globe at that period ;
neither does it demonstrate that, in the long periods which
have preceded, the heat has been still greater.
* Thus, elephants and rhinoceroses have lived under the latitude of the
Icy Sea, where, at the present time, these regions could not furnish the
vegetables necessary for their sustenance.
Professor Pictet on the Distribution of Fossils. 265
The second fact — whicli rests on the comparison of the
faunas of the tertiary formations with the actual geographi-
cal distribution of animals on the earth — cannot, in my opi-
nion, any more than the other, furnish us with very precise
results. It must, indeed, be observed that these comparisons
are themselves somewhat vague ; and there is nothing to
prove that, because two species resemble each other, they
could not live but in the same climate. We think it neces-
sary to suppose, for example, that the climate of Europe dur-
ing the diluvian epoch was like that of India in our own day ;
but there is nothing to shew that the antediluvian elephant
may not have been satisfied with a less elevated temperature.
The long fleece with which this animal was covered, seems to
shew that it was organised to support a greater degree of
cold thaa could be endured by the Indian elephant.
Besides, even on the supposition that these facts furnish
direct results which cannot be disputed, they are too insu-
lated to prove this constant decrease of temperature. Ad-
mitting that the commencement of the diluvian epoch was, in
Europe, a time of greater heat, and that, during the period
of the coal formation, this same continent enjoyed a tempe-
rature like that of the tropical regions in the present day, it
would remain to be proved that all the intermediate epochs,
during which a period elapsed as lengthened as that which
separates us from the antediluvian elephant, have undergone
a uniform decrease in temperature. But I nowhere find suf-
ficient proofs of this. There is nothing to shew that, in the
faunas of the cretaceous or Jurassic formations, the tempera-
ture has been sensibly difi^erent from what it now is. Pre-
cise and positive facts, such as are necessary to produce an
enlightened conviction, are everywhere wanting. It is im-
possible not to perceive that, in this question, the imagina-
tion has outstripped the instruction furnished by Nature. *
* I believe that what is supposed to give consistency to these opinions,
is the connection which has been established between palseontologlcal facts
and the increase of temperature as we descend into the crust of the globe.
It has been said that the solidification of the earth has commenced at the
surface ; that the layer which had been cooled always augmented ; and
that, consequently, in the geological epochs, when it was thinner, the
VOL. XL. NO. LXXX. — APRIL 1846. S
266 Professor Pictet oti the Distribution of Fossih.
Moreover, some facts recently made known appear to fur-
nish contrary results, and to indicate that certain parts of
the globe have been subjected, at least for a very brief pe-
riod, to colder temperatures. Certain recent deposits have
been found in Sicily, consisting of shells whose analogues do
not now live in the Mediterranean Sea, although they exist
in the North Sea. In some similar localities in Scotland,
the fossils form a whole which can only be compared, in the
present day, to the fauna in Iceland and Greenland. These
facts are of the same nature as the preceding ; are entitled
nearly to the same confidence ; and if the former indicate a
more elevated degree of temperature, the latter give evi-
dence of a lower.
It is likewise possible that new observations may modify
the expression of this law in other points of view. Some re-
cent investigations seem to prove that there has been, at cer-
tain epochs, less difference between the temperature of the
poles and the equator. I shall revert to this question when
explaining the fourth law.
I am therefore of opinion, that the law I have just stated
cannot yet be established in a very precise manner ; and
that, in the actual state of the science, the facts merely prove
that there have been changes of temperature at different
epochs, and that the countries with whose fossils we are best
acquainted have sometimes had a warmer climate than at
present — and this is probably the most frequent case — and
at times, also, a colder climate. *
Fourth Law. — The species which have lived in ancient
epochs have had a more extensive geographical distribution
central heat must have exercised more influence than in our own days in
heating the atmosphere at the earth's surface. This idea, seductive at first
sight, is, perhaps, like many I shall have occasion to analyse, more specious
than real. The thickness of the cooled bed, at the eras when there was
vegetation and life on the surface of the earth, was probably always too
great to allow the interior heat exercising much influence. A rigorous
discussion of this question of terrestrial physics would probably furnish
results very much opposed to what has long been admitted.
* For the causes of the changes of temperature on the surface of the
globe, see the treatises on Geology, and, in particular, the first volume
of Mr Lyell's Principles.
Professor Pictet on the Distribution of Fossils. 267
than those which exist in our own days. This law has been
rather conjectured than demonstrated ; and it will readily be
understood that it cannot be definitively admitted till numer-
ous localities shall have been studied, and their fossils deter-
mined with sufficient accuracy. Observations which appear
worthy of credit tend to shew, that species common to Ame-
rica and Europe have been found in contemporary formations.
Others prove that the species which have inhabited the
fi^reater part of Europe during the periods preceding our own,
were distributed in the Asiatic continent and in the North-
ern regions more extensively than the existing species of
temperate Europe. If time confirm these facts, we may de-
duce from them some interesting consequences respecting
the state of the globe at different epochs.
This wider dispersion of species may shew, as I have inti-
mated above, that the temperature of the earth has been
more uniform in ancient times than it is at present. If the
same species have been able to live throughout almost the
whole of America, while they cannot now do so, we may
thence infer that the climate of the extreme parts did not dif-
fer so much as in our day, from that of the regions situated
under the equator. Similar conclusions may be drawn from
the fact, that we find the same species in the middle of Eu-
rope and in the north of Russia.
These facts, relating to the geographical distribution of
fossil species, may perhaps shew, by the comparison of marine
molluscs, that the seas have been less deep in ancient times
than in our own. The habitation of marine molluscs is
partly limited by the depth of the sea ; the majority of the
species cannot live in those places where the sun is too dis-
tant from the surface of the water. Their wider dispersion
in ancient times, may justify the belief that this cause did
not then exist.
The foregoing laws seem to be established in a pretty sa-
tisfactory manner ; but that which we have yet to explain
appears of such a nature, that it ought not to be admitted
without great restrictions.
Fifth Law. — The faunas of the most ancient formations
are composed of animals of a more imperfect organization, and
268 Professor Pictet on the Distribution of Fossils.
the degree of perfection rises in proportion as we approach the
most recent epochs. This law has long been considered a*
demonstrated, and it has been made a starting-point for nu-
merous theoretical notions. A more strict and rigorous
analysis has of late years greatly shaken its authority, and
we may now affirm, that it has been, at least, considerably
exaggerated. Its importance, whether viewed in itself or in
its consequences, requires that we should devote some space
to the discussion of it.
Among the principal causes which have given rise to this
idea, and which have encouraged its development, may be
mentioned the agreement which seems to prevail between
it and the text of Genesis, as well as the support it affords
to certain theories which we shall afterwards explain and
refute.
The account of Moses,* which divides the creation into
days, on the third of which vegetables were created, on the
fifth, aquatic animals and birds of the air, on the sixth,
reptiles and terrestrial mammifera, seemed to receive a
remarkable confirmation from the fact, that geology de-
termined the successive appearance of these beings, in an
order very nearly similar to that indicated by the Sacred
* It is scarcely necessary to say here, that in refusing to admit, in the
narrative of Moses, an intimate connection with any geological theory,
we are far from entertaining any desire to weaken the authority of this
part of the sacred writings. The authenticity of the Old Testament, and
the credence due to it in all that it relates, rest on too substantial proofs
to have any need of constant support from geology. Human sciences
do not advance with a regular and uniform progress ; they often undo
to-day what they did yesterday. It is requisite, therefore, that their pro-
gress should be independent of all authority, and that the study of facts
should be their only guide. We have already seen, in the history of
palaeontology, that the same theories have by turns been considered as
conformable to the sacred writings, and as opposed to them. The case
is probably the same with regard to the agreement of the days of crea-
tion with the geological epochs ; science is so far from having explained
all respecting the origin of the world, that it is impossible to attach any
importance to this point. Moses' narrative is, moreover, too brief, and
not sufficiently precise, to comprehend all the geological considerations,
and to furnish arguments in favour of such and such a manner of ex-
plaining phenomena at once so lengthened, so vast, and so complicated.
Professor Pictet on the Distribution of Fossils. 269
' historian ; and some authors have believed that they could
discern, in the days of the creation, the traces of great geolo-
gical epochs.
On the other hand, philosophers who ascribe the actual
state of the organization on the surface of the globe, to a
gradual progress to perfection of inferior organisms in the
series of time — who believe in spontaneous generation — and
who admit the possibility of species passing from one form
to another, under the variable influence of exterior agents,
and the media in which they live — hailed with delight an
idea which seemed to retrace, by real and visible monuments,
the various phases of this organic developement.
It is not, then, surprising, that, under the influence of
these theological and philosophical agreements, the idea of
a gradual progress to perfection in the organization of ani-
mals, should have speedily struck its roots deep, and that,
in the infancy of science, eager attempts should have been
made to connect the known facts with it. But if, now that
correct observations are more numerous, we should attempt,
without permitting ourselves to be dazzled with the bril-
liancy of these theories, to discuss them coolly and con-
scientiously, we shall be obliged to divest them of nearly all
their generalities, and reduce them to very slender propor-
tions. We shall soon perceive that the law, such as we
have expressed it, can aff"ord only a false and incomplete
idea of facts, which it either distorts or exaggerates.
In order to shew this, it is proper, in the first instance, to
form a precise idea of the circumstances which ought to
make us regard one organization as superior to another, and
to inquire how the beings of the present world appear in
this point of view.
The idea of gradual advance to perfection in organization,
is connected more or less with the theory of a scale of beings ;
that is to say, with the opinion that all animals form a series,
from man down to the most imperfect being, in which each
species, less perfect than that which preceded, and more so
than that which follows it, would form a link in an uninter-
rupted chain. This idea of a scale of beings is founded on
the evident fact, that there are various degrees of perfection
270 Professor Pictet on the Distribution of Fossils.
in animals ; it is consequently true in a very vague sense ;
but I believe it to be altogether inadmissible if we particu-
larize it, and if we understand by it that beings form a single
and continuous series. It is impossible to place all living
animals in such an order that we may always pass from
one species to another by following a decrease in perfection.
This is not the place to discuss, at full length, a theory
known to every zoologist. I shall satisfy myself by refer-
ring to two classes of numerous facts opposed to its admis-
sion. On the one hand, there are classes of animals so in-
sulated that nothing connects them with others, a circum-
stance which creates inevitable breaks and interruptions in
this pretended series : thus the birds have no intermediate
object which could unite them either to the mammifera or
the reptiles. On the other hand, there are types of organi-
zation which are absolutely indivisible, and of which the
most perfect beings are superior to the mean of another
type, while the most imperfect are inferior to it : thus the
molluscs, in the instance of the cephalopods, are superior to
the articulated animals, and they are inferior to them in the
case of the acephala ; we cannot, therefore, arrange the mol-
luscs and the articulata in a single series. Besides, the per-
fection of these same types consists in the realization of the
conditions of a certa,in organism, which renders it very diffi-
cult to compare them with each other. The mollusc, the ar-
ticulated, and the radiated animal of the highest rank, have
each characters of perfection of a different kind, which do
not always allow us to decide that one is superior to another.
We do not, then, admit a scale of beings as a ground-
work in the discussion of this law. It appears to us, that
the idea which ought to be formed of the true relations of
animals, when viewed in regard to their perfection, is the
following. These beings are divisible into a certain number
of groups, each of which realizes a particular type. Some
of these groups are evidently Superior to others in their or-
ganization, viewed as a whole ; but sometimes, also, the com-
parison of them does not enable us to establish a real supe-
riority. The most perfect type is that of the vertebrata,
which ought evidently to be placed far above all the groups
Professor Pictet on the Distribution of Fossils. 271
of inferior animals. It is itself divisible into four other
types of unequal perfection in organization. The mam-
mifera are more perfect than birds ; these than reptiles ; and
fishes are most inferior in this point of view. But in the in-
vertebrates the distinction is not the same. The principal
classes, the mollusca, articulata, and radiata, are superior
or inferior to each other, according to the point of view under
which we regard them, and the species which we compare.
We cannot place them, as with the vertebrates, the one after
the other, by declaring that the most imperfect animal of
the first is superior to the most perfect of the second. Each
of these types subdivides itself into groups of unequal per-
fection, which admit more easily of being arranged in a kind
of series than the classes themselves.
If, in the comparison of difi^erent creations, we apply these
ideas, less simple perhaps, and more vague than the seale of
beings, but probably nearer the truth, we shall find, in the
first place, that the faunas of the most ancient formations
are mucli less imperfect than is often su})posed. The type
of the vertebrates is already represented there by fishes, and
the various classes of invertebrates are by no means reduced
to their inferior organisms ; among the mollusca, for exam»
pie, we find numerous gasteropods and cephalopods, which
are the most perfect orders of this class. It cannot, there-
fore, be affirmed, in regard to the invertebrates, that the
faunas of the most ancient formations are inferior in organi-
zation to those of the most recent formations. All that we
can prove is, that, among the vertebrates, the most perfect
animals at that time were fishes. If we are desirous to de-
duce from thence the true character of these faunas, we
will perceive that they may be compared to what our own
would be without reptiles, birds, and mammifera ; and that
all the types, from fishes inclusively, are there represented
by animals as perfect as those of the present time.
The intermediate faunas, such as the Jurassic fauna, dif-
fer from the preceding and the most recent, by similar cha-
racters. The fishes, molluscs, articulata, and radiata of these
epochs, when compared with those of anterior and posterior
periods, present an organization of the same degree, and are
272 Professor Pictet on the Distribution of Fossils,
neither more nor less perfect. But these intermediate faunas
differ from those which have preceded them, because the
vertebrates are represented by reptiles and didelphi; and
they are distinguished from our own in this, that they do
not possess monodelphous mammifera.
We perceive, therefore, that neither the radiata, articu-
lata, molluscs, nor fishes, have gone on improving in the
geological ages, and that, from their first appearance, the
species belonging to these classes possessed the same degree
of perfection as those that live in our days. It is conse-
quently false to say that the primitive faunas have been gene-
rally composed of more imperfect animals than recent faunas.
It will be seen, at the same time, that the superior term
of organization becomes elevated with the series of geologi-
cal eras. In the ancient formations fishes formed the upper
limit of perfection ; in the following epochs reptiles have
been created ; after these, in more recent periods, the mam-
mifera. It is to these very restricted facts that we must
reduce the law of which we are now speaking. It does not
hold true, if we apply it to organization considered in its
whole extent. It expresses an ascertained fact, if we regard
only the epoch of the appearance of superior degrees in this
organization.
The law thus restricted, cannot, then, be of much service
in establishing a great superiority in recent faunas ; and in
support of this manner of regarding it, I shall conclude with
two observations.
The first is, that we ought not, perhaps, to be too hasty in
asserting the absence of certain more perfect types in the
ancient faunas, because they have not hitherto been found in
them. We have scarcely any acquaintance with these faunas
except in relation to marine animals; and in. the present
state of the globe terrestrial species in general exhibit a
superior organization. May it not be the case, that there
may likewise have existed, in the primitive ages, terrestrial
animals more perfect than the marine, and that their re-
mains have not been preserved, or are so rare, that they have
not yet been discovered I The existence of didelphous mam-
mifera in the Jurassic epochs has been ascertained, by the
Professor Pictet on the Succession of Animals. 273
discovery of a very small number of fragments ; the remains
of terrestrial animals are seldom fossilized but by great
catastrophes and sudden inundations, which always perform
but a trifling part when compared with the slow and normal
deposits of tranquil waters. May it not happen that new
discoveries will yet bring to light, from the ancient forma-
tions, animals of whose existence we have not now any idea ?
A second observation is, that if we seek to compare the
actual state of the globe with the various ancient creations,
we will perceive that the superior degree of perfection of the
organism, cannot always furnish very conclusive results as
to the perfection of faunas. Thus, without taking into ac-
count the presence of man, shall we assert that the fauna of
Asia is superior to that of Europe, because its highest grade
is the oran-outang ? and shall we place the fauna of New
Holland below all others, because its mammifera are almost
all didelphous animals 1 Such conclusions, however, would
be almost as legitimate as some of those which have been
established by the comparison of geological faunas.
Now that we have explained the principal facts relative
to the distribution of fossils in formations, and discussed the
laws which have been deduced from them, respecting the
succession of organized beings on the surface of the globe,
it remains for us to take a glance at the theories which
have been proposed to explain this series of different faunas.
Leaving the more certain domain of facts, we must, for a
short time, enter the less secure field of theoretical con-
jecture.
The investigation of the causes of the succession of orga-
nized beings is connected, on the one hand, with cosmogonie
theories, and, on the other, with the most delicate principles
of animal physiology. The solution of this question, accord-
ingly, is of high importance, and may be regarded as the
proper object to which the study of palaeontology ought to be
directed. But, perhaps, the science is not yet far enough
advanced to furnish sufficient grounds to enabfe us to come
to a sound conclusion. I shall here explain the principal
theories that have been proposed, and point out the objec-
tions, of greater or less weight, which may be urged against
274 Professor Pictet on the Succession of Animals.
them ; but I must premise that, although one of them is less
directly open to attack than the rest, none appear to me in
all respects satisfactory ; and I believe that even the theory
which may be considered as the best, does not perhaps ex-
plain all the facts. In the hope, then, that time and the
progress of palaeontology will one day furnish a better solu-
tion, I shall confine myself to an exposition of the present
state of the science.
The explanations which have been given of the succession
of these different faunas on the surface of the globe may be
reduced to three.
The first sets out with the fact that the cataclysms which
have buried the various species found in a fossil state, have
been partial ; and it supposes that after each inundation
which has entombed the beings of one epoch, the formations,
having again dried up, have been repeopled by the animals
of the neighbouring countries, which differed from the former
in the same manner as the faunas of the different regions of
the globe are now found to differ. A succession of similar
occurrences in the same country would, according to this
notion, leave its traces in the different superimposed for-
mations. The same thing would take place, in an inverse
sense, in regard to the inhabitants of the seas.
This idea might have been entitled to discussion, when a
very small number of known facts appeared not to be incon-
sistent with an explanation which, at first sight, seems simple
and natural ; but now that the different formations have
been more carefully studied, and in a greater number of
countries, the facts no longer accord with this theory, and it
may now be afiirmed to be altogether inadmissible. If, in
fact, all these superincumbent deposits had been nothing
more than the result of a displacement of contemporary
faunas, we ought to find the same species buried at different
epochs in different countries, and the remains of existing
species ought to be preserved as fossils in some formations
of neighbouring countries. But all the most trust-worthy
investigations prove directly the contrary ; we now possess
numerous fossils from Asia and America, and the laws of
distribution there are altogether similar to our own ; we do
Professor Pictet on the Succession of Animals. 275
not find among them any species actually living. Besides,
every time that one species is found in two different coun-
tries, the order of superposition in the formations proves that
it has lived there at the same epoch. To these arguments
many others might be added ; but they are sufficient to shew
the falsity of this theory, and we may now affirm that there
is no serious rivalry unless between the two others.
Of the two theories now before us, the first explains the
succession of organized beings by the transformation of spe-
cies^ admitting that the animals of the ancient formations
have been modified by the influence of variations in the air,
temperature, &c., which have produced revolutions in the
globe ; that they insensibly undergo metamorphosis ; that
they have successively assumed the forms of which the
vestiges are preserved to us in the diff'erent strata or layers ;
and that from one change to another they have arrived at the
state which they exhibit in our days.
The other theory admits a complete annihilation of species
by every catastrophe which has terminated an epoch, and a
new creation at the dawn of the following epoch.
The theory of the transformation of species is to our mind
wholly inadmissible, and appears to us directly opposed to
all that we learn from zoology and physiology. This theory
is connected, as I have already intimated above, with the no-
tion of a scale of beings, and with that of gradual improve-
ment in the zoological ages ; it is their connecting tie, their
complement and explanation, and forms with them a complete
body of doctrine. Naturalists who have adopted one part of
these notions are naturally led to admit the others ; but the
same reasons which have induced us in the beginning of this
memoir to decline acknowledging, in a general and absolute
manner, a scale of beings, and the gradual improvement of
zoological faunas, likewise compel us to reject the idea of the
transformation of species as an explanation of the succession
of organized beings on the surface of the globe.
It i^ necessary to observe, in the first place, that it is but
little probable that the forces of nature in the first ages of
the world were very different from what they are in our own
day. The same general laws which now regulate our globe
276 Professor Pictet on the Succession of Animals.
must have been in force from the beginning of creation, and
it is impossible to admit a real difference in their nature.
We can only conceive that each of them may have operated
within more extensive limits; thus, the temperature may have
been more elevated, the waters may have been charged with
more abundant substances, &c. ; but the influence of these
agents on organism must have been analogous to that which
similar circumstances would now exercise. The study of ani-
mals belonging to the ancient formations exhibits, moreover, an
organization very similar to that of existing beings ; and no-
thing authorises us to conclude, that they have been subjected
to a temperature very difi^erent from our own, or that they
have breathed an air of different composition. It seems to us,
therefore, that it would be to throw ourselves into a state of
uncertainty to admit modifications in the organism, produced
by changes of condition in the exterior agents ; and the ex-
pressions too frequently employed, yoi/^i^gr nature, more active
forces, &c., ought to be avoided, as representing false, exag-
gerated, or ill-defined ideas.
If, then, we take up a more secure position, and infer what
is unknown from what is known, that is, if we apply to the
first ages of the globe the instruction which the study of re-
cent nature affords us, we will arrive at the following con-
clusions.
All observations and researches of any value, now agree
in proclaiming the permanence of species. The thirty cen-
turies which have elapsed since the Egyptians embalmed the
carcases of men and animals, have had no influence what-
ever on the character of the animals found in Egypt ; the
crocodiles, ibises, and ichneumons, of the present day, are
identical with those which lived three thousand years ago on
the banks of the Nile. We cannot detect the slightest dif-
ference between existing individuals and those preserved as
mummies, not only in the essential organs, but even in the
most minute details of the number and form of the scales,
the dimensions of the bones, &c. This permanence of species
is, moreover, secured in nature by the important rules which
prevent their intermixture to form intermediate types. All
physiologists are aware, that if two species are not very
Professor Pictet on the Succession of Animals. 277
closely allied, they cannot breed with each other, and that
if they are nearly allied, they give birth to mules, which
are steril, and incapable of becoming the progenitors of new
species ; every aberration from a type, by way of increase, is
thus immediately arrested.
It is true, that naturalists have argued against these con-
clusions, from what takes place in domestic species, which
undergo considerable variations. Thus, oxen, horses, sheep,
pigs, and goats, form distinct races, and differ in one country
from another in colour, size, strength of bone, fatness, nature
of the covering, &c. Dogs present us with a still more re-
markable example ; their colour and size range within still
wider limits ; the form of the bones of the cranium undergoes
very considerable alterations ; and instinct itself varies with
these changes of form. These facts are true, but they seem
to me to furnish a conclusion exactly the reverse of that
drawn from them. Individuals most remote from the primi-
tive type never exhibit any real difference of form in the
essential organs ; the skeleton has always invariable charac-
ters, whether we regard the number of the bones, their
apophyses, or their relations ; the organs of nutrition, the
nervous system, everything, in a word, is subject to the same
rule. There is no marked difference except in the absolute
dimensions, which are well known to be so variable, and in
exterior circumstances still more evanescent ; and, with the
exception of these differences in the form of the cranium,
which are understood to be connected with differences of in-
stinct, and the direct result of education, it may be affirmed,
that none of the domestic animals, even in the most marked
varieties, ever lose the characters of the species. If we per-
ceive, then, that all the most energetic agents, change of
climate, habits, instinct, nourishment, have only produced,
though their action has lasted for ages, insignificant changes
which have been unable to alter the type of the species, are
we not authorised to infer, from this study of domestic ani-
mals, the permanence of species, rather than their transition
from one to another \
This is so much the more true, because the differences of
one fauna from another are very great ; and the object is not
278 Professor Pictet on the Succession of Animals.
to explain slight modifications of a type, but rather transi-
tions between forms widely separated from each other. Some
naturalists have not drawn back before any of these transi-
tions, and they have admitted, that the reptiles of the se-
condary epoch had their parents in the fishes of the primary
epoch, and their descendants in the mammifera of the ter-
tiary period. Where is the physiologist that will admit such
conclusions as these \ And yet we must go that length be-
fore we can derive all the geological faunas from the firsts
by the simple transition of species into each other, and with-
out the direct intervention of a creative power, operating at
the origin of each of the geological epochs.
And even, if, in order to produce such results, it were sup-
posed, contrary to what we have done, that very great changes
have taken place in temperature, and the media in which ani-
mals lived, or a younger nature, all the laws of physiology
would not be less violated. These extreme differences in
exterior agents may well be considered as fitted to destroy
species, and this would probably be their natural result, but
not to modify them in their essential forms.
It, therefore, appears to me evident, that it is impossible to
admit, as an explanation, the passing of species into one an-
other. The possible limits of these transitions, even suppos-
ing, as I shall afterwards state, that the immense duration of
time might have rendered them somewhat more probable
than the study of the existing phenomena will allow, fall in-
finitely short of the diff*erences which distinguish two succes-
sive faunas. Above all, we cannot by this means compre-
hend the appearance of types altogether new, for which we
must necessarily, in the present state of the science, have re-
course to the idea of creations posterior to the first.
The theory of successive creations, therefore, alone remains
possible ; and, in truth, it is far from being free from rather
weighty objections, although I am of opinion, that, in the
present state of our knowledge, it is the only one admissible.
I must, however, here repeat, that this theory is not com-
pletely satisfactory ; it does not appear to me to explain suf-
ficiently all the facts, and I cannot help believing, that it is
destined to act merely a provisionary part. It explains very
Professor Pictet on the Succession of Animals. 279
well the differences which exist between the successive
faunas ; but there are likewise resemblances between these
faunas, which, perhaps, do not so well agree with it.
If we compare two successive creations of one and the
same epoch, such as the faunas of the five divisions of the
cretaceous formation, we cannot fail to be struck with the
intimate connection they have with each other. The greater
part of the genera are the same, — a great part of the species
are very closely allied and easily confounded. In other
words, two successive faunas often present the same aspect,
or the same physiognomy ; if we compare, in particular, in
the example I have chosen, the fossil animals of the turonian
formation with those of the albian stage, we will readily, I
believe, recognise these resemblances. Is it probable that
the albian fauna had been completely annihilated, and then,
by a new independent creation, replaced by a fauna altogether
new, and so similar to it ? I am aware that these facts may
be referred to the general plan of creation ; but is the mind
entirely satisfied with this explanation 1 Does it not seem
that there is still something here which has escaped us \ 1
repeat, however, that these somewhat vague objections are,
in no degree, to be compared with those more specific difii-
culties which militate against the other theories.
These facts are, moreover, connected with the manner in
which we may regard the existing creation. Have all ani-
mals issued from the hands of the Creator such as they now
are, or have they emanated from a certain number of types ?
It appears to me difiicult to admit that those innumerable
species, respecting the limits of which we are so often in
doubt, have, without exception, been created with all their
characters in detail.
To these difficult questions, science furnishes us as yet
with very few satisfactory answers. The succession of
organised beings, the origin of the species now living, their
geographical distribution, the formation of the human races,
are only in some degree but difi^erent aspects of the same
problem, the solution of which, in one particular, would
necessarily throw light on the rest.
280 Professor Pictet on the Succession of Animals.
I believe, then, that the theory of successive creations,*
which is the most admissible, is true, when viewed as a whole,
but that other causes are, perhaps, united with it to deter-
mine the actual state of the creation, and of the anterior
faunas. Perhaps the modifications of species, which I have
shewn above to be incapable of explaining the formation of
new types, and the appearance of very different species, have
themselves exercised some influence in causing a certain
number of very nearly allied species to arise from a common
type. Perhaps, in other words, it is necessary in regard to
this question, as in the case of so many others, not to seek
too exclusive an explanation, and to admit the intervention
of various causes.
Besides, I do not believe that science is in a state to give
a definite solution ; we may more or less foresee it, but we
are not yet in a condition to demonstrate it. It is to the
close and intelligent study of nature that the task belongs of
bringing togetlier materials for this purpose. We must be
still better acquainted with each of the successive creations •
to enable us to form a complete idea of their relations and
their differences, when compared with those which have pre-
ceded and followed them. This is the most important prob-
lem of palaeontology, but its solution will be found only in
the observation of facts ; these alone are stable, and, perhaps,
they alone will survive all the theories which we now discuss.
— F. J. Pictet^ Paleontologie.
* I may here observe that the theory of successive creations is the
only one which connects itself logically with the law, that species are all
different frona one formation to another, because it renders this law
necessary. This is, in my opinion, an argument very much in its favour.
At the same time, we must not be in too great haste to bind the future
condition of paleeontology by preconceived ideas, and we must seek the
truth where it is really to be found. Perhaps, also, an intermediate
theory may likewise agree with this law.
( 281 )
On the Cause of Storms. By Mr G. A. RowELL. Communi-
cated by the Author.*
In the paper read before the Ashmolean Society in 1839,
explaining the hypothesis by which I endeavoured to shew
the cause of evaporation, the suspension of clouds, &c., 1 at-
tempted to explain the cause of barometrical fluctuation and
atrial currents by the same hypothesis.
The following is intended to shew, that the causes therein
assigned are sufficient to account for the variable winds and
storms in temperate climates and high latitudes ; the storms
of tropical regions, and the barometrical changes previous to
and during rains; and the probability that these phenomena
are caused by the precipitation of vapour, and the escape of
its electricity, in a much greater degree than by any change
of temperature in the atmosphere. That the action of the
sun and changes of temperature have great influence on the
atmosphere, is clearly shewn by the trade- winds, land and
sea breezes, &c. ; but these changes of temperature come on
steadily, and the heated air near the earth's surface is in
most cases driven gradually away by the colder and heavier
air ; but the vacuum or rarefaction caused by the precipita-
tion of rain, and the escape of its electricity, is often very
sudden and of great extent. According to the hypothesis,*
each particle of vapour is surrounded and buoyed up by its
coating of electricity, and each particle, together with its
coating of electricity, must occupy the space of an equal
weight of air ; therefore, as water is about 860 times heavier
than air at the level of the sea, every particle of water that
falls to the earth must have occupied 860 times the space
when suspended in the air ; and if, in a given time, 1 inch
of rain falls to the earth, it must, during that time, have
caused a vacuum or rarefaction in the space above to the
extent of 860 inches. The vacuum would, in fact, be greater
than this, for, as the density of the atmosphere decreases as
we recede from the earth, the vapour and its coating must
* Lately read at a meeting of the Ashmolean Society, Oxford.
t See Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal, vol. xxxviii., page 50.
VOL. XL. NO. LXXX. — APRIL 1846. T
282 Mr G. A. Rowell on the Came of Storms.
occupy a greater space to be buoyant at a distance from the
earth ; but as the elasticity of the air depends on its density,
the effect must be the same, that is, equal to a vacuum or
gradual abstraction at the level of the sea, of 860 inches of
air for every inch of rain that falls ; and above every square
mile over which such rain extends, a vacuum or rarefaction,
amounting to 1,997,952,000 cubic feet, whicli must be filled
up during the time the rain is falling by a rush of air from
other parts, causing a wind around the district, although
such wind may not always be felt where the rain is ac-
tually falling ; but simply shewing a depression in the baro-
meter, owing to the upheaving of the air into the vacuum.
England is very free from excessive rains, yet it is by no
means uncommon to have a fall of \, \^ or f of an inch of
rain in a day, which, according to the above calculation,
must be sufiicient to cause moderate winds ; but the enor-
mous rains recorded by authors, are sufficient to account
for most tremendous storms. They are as follows : —
Fall of 30 inct
31 ...
18 ...
33 .,.
les in 24 hours..
22
n
26
. at Genoa,
. at Joyeuse,
. at Catskil, U. S.
. at Gibraltar,
. at Yivres,
. at Geneva,
s, at Naples,
. at Perth,
Oct. 25. 1822.
Oct. 9. 1827.
, July 26. 1819.
Nov. 26. 1826.
14^...
6 ...
18
3
37 minute
Sept. 6. 1801.
May 20. 1827.
Nov. 22. 1826.
» ...
1 ...
30
Aug. 3. 1829.
These rains are all in temperate climates ; and there is
little doubt, that the extraordinary rains within the tropics
far exceed them, as the annual average fall of rain at the
Ghauts is 26 feet 2 inches, near 10 feet of which falls in the
month of July.
Taking the first case (the fall of rain at Genoa), the aver-
age vacuum formed over every square mile during the 24
hours, must have been 2,497,440,000 cubic feet per hour,
41,624,000 per minute, or 693,733 per second; and in the
case of the fall of rain at Perth, 63,278,720 cubic feet per
minute, or 887,978 per second, for the whole time of the fall.
The consideration of these excessive falls of rain, tends to
prove the theory, as they not only shew that tlie vacuum
Mr G. A. Rowell on the Cause of Storms. 283
formed is sufficient to account for violent storms, but they
also shew that there must be a strong current of air and
vapour to these places, as it would otherwise be difficult to
conceive how such a quantity of water could be accumulated
over any part of the earth ; in the case at Genoa, the fall
continued for 24 hours, and the tremendous rain of near 10
feet, which usually falls in the month of July at the Ghauts,
can only be accounted for by a continuous flow of air and
vapour to those parts.
The reasoning already advanced will account for the fall
in the barometer during rain ; its falling previous to rain I
would explain as follows: — As the density of air decreases
as we recede from the earth, the particles of vapour, with
their coatings of electricity, must occupy different spaces to
float at difi^erent heights, as water is 860 times heavier than
air at the level of the sea, 1083 times at one mile high,
1363 times at two miles, 1716 times at three miles, 2160
times at four miles, and 2719 times at five miles high, there-
fore, vapour floating at any height, must part with a portion
of its electricity before it can sink to a lower elevation ; thus,
if the air become in a fit state to conduct the electricity from
the clouds or invisible vapour over any place, as the passage
of electricity is so rapid, its escape must occasion a partial
vacuum, which would cause a corresponding sinking in the
barometer. In assigning these causes for the fluctuations
in the barometer, I allude only to the changes previous to
and during rain, as other fluctuations are caused by high
winds, change of temperature,
ph
OS teiiuinal
us
X
ch
«y
um
«
c
OV
u
yK
nch
et
CB
yy
ng
V
y
The
aspirate (')
h
h. In compounding two Greek words, the first of the two
words should have tjie form of the genitive case, dropping
only the terminal consonant ; as from ogwg bird and ^Myx^i
beak,, we have Ornithorhynchus — not Ornirhynchus.
c. Words of difi^erent languages must never be compounded
together. We add —
d. In compounding two Latin words, the same rule should
be followed, except that i should be substituted when the
genitive ends in w ; penncujormis should be penniformis.
e. Specific names, derived from localities, should terminate
in ensis : those derived from names of persons, when given
Mr J. D. Dana on Nomenclature in Natural History, 305
in honour of the discoverer, should end in the genitive /, or
ii (^, when the name ends in a consonant, and it when in a
vowel) ; but when in compliment to a person not a discoverer,
the adjective should end in anus. But names derived from
the names of persons or localities are very objectionable :
see beyond, § 6, 6, c.
in. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE FUTURE IMPROVEMENT OP
SYSTEMATIC NOMENCLATURE.
The following suggestions, although they cannot be in-
vested with the authority of laws, are worthy of being strictly
regarded in the future introduction of scientific names.
§ 5. The best names are those derived from the Greek or
Latin language, the former being in general preferable for
generic names, and the latter for specific.
§ 6. It is desirable, —
a. To select names which may indicate some sensible
characteristic of the object : this will greatly aid the memory.
h. To avoid specific names derived from localities.
c. To avoid invariably deriving generic and specific names
from the names of persons.
d. To avoid comparative names, such as PicoideSy Emberi-
zoides, maximus. minor ^ minimus, &c.
e. To avoid ancient names of species, except when they
can be correctly applied with their ancient signification.
/. To avoid names closely resembling others in use.
g. To avoid names having no meaning.
h. To avoid the introduction, under a new signification, of
names that have been once ranked among synonyms, except
in the cases alluded to in § 2, c.
i. To avoid making a generic name out of a former specific
name.
k. To avoid introducing for a genus in Zoology a name
already in use for a genus in Botany, and the reverse.
/. To avoid names of harsh and inelegant pronunciation.
§ 7. It is recommended that names of Families should end
uniformly in idee, and Subfamilies in ince.
These names are formed by changing the last syllable of
the genitive into idoB or inw ; as Strix gives Strigidce, from the
genitive Strigis ; Buceros gives Bucerotidw, from the genitive
Bucerotis ; not Strixidw, Buceridcp.
306 Mr J. D. Dana on Nomenclature in Natural History.
§ 8. It is recommended that generic names, and specific
names which are derived from names of persons, be written
with an initial capital ; that all other specific names be
with a small initial letter.
This principle is introduced with reference to names of
this kind already in use ; for it is to be hoped that they may
not be added to in future. (§ 6, c.)
§ 9. It is recommended that the original authority of a
species always follow the name in brackets ; and if the name
be subsequently altered, the authority for the same as altered,
be added without brackets.
It has been common for systematists to change a generic
name, and then to add their own name to all the species.
To prevent this injustice, which is no less than a kind of
piracy, the above rule is proposed. As an example — the
Tyrannus crinitus of Swainson is the Muscicapa crinita of
Linnaeus : to distinguish here the author of the former
name, and give due justice to Linnaeus, it may be written
Tyrannus crinitus^ (Linn.) Swain. By this we do not inti-
mate whether the genus Tyrannus is Swainson' s or not ;
it is sufficient for the purposes of science to shew here that
the above title, as a whole, was first adopted by Swainson.
The authority for the genus will be found elsewhere.
§ 10. It is recommended that when an author, through
ignorance of what his predecessors have done, gives to a
species an appropriated specific name, the name of such
author be omitted.
§ 11. It is recommended that when an author only cor-
rects a false orthography, his name be not added as
authority for the corrected term.
§ 12. It is recommended that in subdividing a genus, the
new generic names proposed for the subdivisions formed, agree
in gender with that of the original genus.
§ 13. It is recommended that in proposing new genera,
the etymology of the names be always stated ; and that one
species be pointed out as a type or standard of reference.
§ 14. It is recommended that new genera and species be
amply defined, and that the descriptions be inserted in such
Observations on the Temperature of the Mersey. 307
periodical or other works as are likely to obtain immediate
and extensive circulation.
James D. Dana. A. Binnbt.
S. S. Haldeman. C. U. Shepakd.
p. H. Storer. C. Dewey.
A. A. Gould. J. D. Whelplet.
E. C. Herrick.
Observations on the extent and rate of Change of Temperature
of the Waters in the Estuary of the Mersey at Liverpool.
By Mr Ritchie Adie. Communicated by the Author.*
The present communication has for its object to shew that
the extensive sand-banks connected with the estuary of the
Mersey, exercise much influence on the temperature of the
tidal waters, which pass and repass twice every day through
a valley of sandstone-rock contiguous to the dock- wall of this
port. The velocity of the current in this valley varying from
2 to 6 miles per hour, with a mean hourly rate of 4 miles
per hour, has the effect of thoroughly mixing together the
water, so as to afford a favourable place for obtaining uni-
form results.
The bay of Liverpool is entirely occupied by the new red-
sandstone formation. The surface of the sand-banks has
been estimated to exceed 100 square miles ; on the west and
north shores of the bay there are distinct remains of sub-
marine forests, stretching beyond low water-mark, which
renders it probable that, in former times, these banks existed
as a low tract of dry land, now, like the Downs on the south-
east coast, encroached on by the sea.
On approaching the Mersey from the seaward, about fifteen
miles from the port, the green colour of the Irish sea is ob-
served to change to a brown hue, which increases as the port
is neared, until at last the water becomes very opaque, and,
when examined in a phial against the light, is found to hold
suspended innumerable particles of fine sand. The quantity
of sand so mixed with the water, varies with the state of the
tide, being least at high-water, and greatest when the ebb
and flood are running powerfully, with very shallow water
on the banks. That these suspended particles must exercise
* Read to the; Wernerian Society on Saturday, 7th March 1846.
308 Observations on the Temperature of the
great influence on the temperature of the water, from their
absorbing the solar rays, and also from many of them being
taken from the sand-banks, which, for two or three hours
before, have been dry, and exposed to astral or solar radia-
tion, will, I believe, be readily granted.
All the trials of temperature were made by drawing a
phial of water, rejecting the two first fillings ; then quickly
testing the third with a small bulbed thermometer. This
method was fully relied on, after it had been repeatedly com-
pared and found to agree with the result obtained, by the
direct insertion of the instrument into the surface of the
water, with the indication read off while immersed.
The observations were made at 9 A.M. weekly^ commencing
in November 1844, excepting during weather where I wanted
to ascertain the rate of change, when the temperatures were
taken daily, or in some instances oftener.
From the middle of November 1844 to the end of Decem-
ber, there was a period of calm or foggy weather, with severe
frost in December.
The temperature of the Mersey water, when the tide-
current throws up ground water, on 13th December, was
35° r. From this point up to 42° the thermometer ranged,
during January and February, only reaching 35°, when the
air had been, for several days, calm as well as frosty.
o
1845, March 19. Temperature of sea- water, . . . 35*3
21 36
24 39
26 40
2^ 40-7
28 43
On the evening of the 21st March the weather underwent
a complete change. The long continental-like winter of
1844-5 may be said to have broken up on that day ; for the
change from a severe frost was immediately succeeded by
warm westerly winds, with rain ; and as the large mass of
sea- water filling the estuary of the Mersey had been then all
cooled down to 36° F., I thought the opportunity a favourable
one for trying the rate of change. From the above observa-
tions it will be noticed, that the rate for seven days was
exactly l°per diem. After the 28th, the temperature of the
water was stationary till the 3d April. The rapidity of this
Waters in the Estuary of the Mersey at Liverpool. 309
change is not due to the altered temperature of the air or to
warm rains, but chiefly to the influence of westerly winds,
which mix the warmer waters of the ocean with the water
cooled down during calm weather.
In April 1845, the temperature of the Mersey water ranged ^ „
from ... ... ... ... 43 to 49*6
May,
June,
July, ...
August, ...
September,
October,
November,
December,
January 1846,
49-8 to 53'3
54 to 61
59 to ^2-2
60-3 to 58-5
61 to 55
53-5 to 61
48-3 to 46
43 to 42-5
42 to 45
On the 19th July the temperature of the Mersey waters
was 62° within seven hours. With the same apparatus I took
the temperature of the sea- water in Ramsay Bay, Isle of
Man, when the thermometer indicated 56°, or 6 degrees lower,
about 7 P.M., after the influence of the full day's sun. This
diff*erence, I believe to be due to the power of the solar rays
on the turbid waters of the Mersey and the heat absorbed
by the banks, which act, under the powerful summer's sun,
like so many sand-baths, which indeed is found by every
bather who enters water that has flowed over sands exposed
to the sun. On the 20th July, in the estuary of the Clyde,
opposite Loch Long, where the shore is steep, the tempera-
ture was 54°, and in Tobermory Bay, two days later, with
bright fine weather, 56°. In the frosts of winter these dif-
ferences would be reversed ; and when the waters of the
Mersey are at 35°, Ramsay Bay, or the estuary of the Clyde,
would nearly correspond with the temperature of the ocean,
40° to 42°. The change in latitude from the Mersey to the
Isle of Man can only very slightly aff^ect the midsummer
temperature.
On tJiP, Air dissolved in Sea-water at Summer and Winter
Temperature.
At the time the observations given above were made, I
availed myself of the opportunity to try with care the volume
of air iu sea-water at diff^erent seasons. In summer, sea-
water, of temperature 62°, gave out at the rate of 2 cubic
inches of air to every 100 cubic inches. In winter, with
310 Dr Wilson on the Electrical Magnetic Bell.
temperature 35°, the volume of air obtained was 2-6 cubic
inches. The air so collected containing 31 per cent, of oxygen,
and in both cases freed from carbonic acid previous to
measurement. The proportion of oxygen increases slightly
as the temperature lowers.
From the results given, it will be apparent, that a mass of
sea-water, cooling during a clear night of autumn or winter,
must be absorbing oxygen and nitrogen from the atmosphere,
and the more so when it is agitated. This action has often
appeared to me to be connected with the luminous-crested
waves, whichform so beautiful a phenomenon in rough weather.
The temperatures are stated in the degrees of Fahrenheit's
scale.
On the Applicability of the Electro-Magnetic Bell to the Trial
of Experiments on the Conduction of Sound, especially by
Gases. By George Wilson, M.D., F.R.S.E., F.R.S.S.A.
Communicated by the Royal Scottish Society of Arts.*
The object of the following communication is to explain
to the Society an application of the Electro-Magnetic Bell to
the performance of experiments on the conduction of sound.
It is specially intended for ascertaining the conductivity for
sound of gases, and as a substitute for the present somewhat
inconvenient apparatus employed for that purpose.
In experimenting on the transmission of sound by elastic
fluids, a bell-jar, emptied at the air-pump, and standing on
its plate, is filled with the gas about to be tested. A bell
contained within the jar is thereafter struck by a hammer,
set in motion by clockwork, which in its turn is made to
move by pushing a curved wire, passed air-tight through a
stuffing-box in the top, against a holdfast or ratchet, so as to
unlock the spring-barrel, and permit it to set the machinery
in motion. This clockwork is little within control of the
experimenter, and cannot be made to vary in its rate of
motion ; so that although it is quite sufficient for class illus-
tration, it is not convenient for the trial of varied experi-
ments, and it is expensive. The electro -magnetic bell has
all the advantages of the clockwork arrangement, is quite
under control, and is not costly.
* Read before the Society, 2.3d February 1846.
Dr Wilson on the Electrical Magnetic Bell. 311
It consists of the ordinary electro-magnet, that is, of a
horse-shoe of soft iron, surrounded by coils of covered copper
wire, terminating in free extremities, which can be connected
with the electrodes of a voltaic battery. The horse-shoe is
fastened horizontally to a wooden stand, and between its
limbs, near their exposed poles, a vertical rod is placed, sup-
porting a time-piece bell. In front of the ends of the horse-
shoe, a horizontal bar of soft iron is hung upon vertical pivots,
so as to move through a small arc, towards or from the poles
of the magnet ; and to this bar or keeper a small hammer is
attached, which strikes the bell, when the keeper is attracted
to the magnet.
When the coil-wires are connected with a battery, the
horse- shoe becomes a magnet, and pulls the keeper towards
it, which carries with it the hammer and strikes it on the
bell. When the battery connection is cut off, the keeper and
hammer fall back, and by alternately connecting and dis-
connecting the wire proceeding to one pole of the battery,
whilst the other remains in galvanic connection with the oppo-
site electrode, the bell may be rung as often as required, and
the strokes made to follow each other at whatever intervals
of time are desired. This is the arrangement at present in
use in our railway telegraphs, and is adopted without any
modification in the apparatus before us, for the construction
of which I am indebted to the kindness of Mr Bain.
In order that this Electro-Magnetic Bell may be available
for experiments on the gases, it is necessary to have the means
of making and of breaking connection with the battery, whilst
the bell arrangement is under a glass-jar on the air-pump
plate. To secure this the wires must be brought air-tight,
and insulated through the sole of the pump, or through the
sides or top of the bell-jar, so as to admit of their connection
with the battery at a distance from the air-pump. In the first
arrangement I made use of for this purpose, I employed a
disc of plate-glass, afoot in diameter, of the thickness of quar-
ter an inch, and which was furnished in the centre with a
hollow brass-tube, open at both ends, and provided with a
screw, so as to enable it to fit into the central aperture of
the ordinary air-pump plate. Near the centre of this disc were
312 Dr Wilson on the Electrical Magnetic Bell.
fastened two wires, passing through the thickness of the
glass, which on the upper side could be connected with the
terminations of the electro-magnetic coils, and on the lower
with wires from the galvanic battery. This arrangement
seemed very satisfactory. The polish and smoothness of the
plate-glass secured the bell-jar fitting tightly ; the mode in
which the wires entered prevented them concealing the
more important parts of the bell ; the transparency of the
walls of the apparatus allowed every thing to be observed ;
and the glass-disc was less costly than one of brass would
have been. But on trying an experiment with the apparatus
thus arranged, the disc was found unable to withstand the
pressure of the atmosphere, when covered with a large bell-
jar, within which a tolerably perfect vacuum was produced ;
the glass-plate shivered into fragments with the noise of an
explosion, involving the bell-jar in destruction also. I shew
the Society pieces of the disc, which certainly might have been
expected to withstand the pressure to which it was exposed.
I now, accordingly, recommend in preference the arrange-
ment which I exhibit. In it, the wires, instead of passing
through the sole or plate of the air-pump, are carried through
the upper part of the bell-jar, which has a brass collar and
top to admit of their passage, and is furnished with screws
for the attachment of the battery wires. They are insulated,
by being imbedded in ivory. Inside the bell-jar, the wires
admit of connection with the ends of the electro-magnetic
coils, by means of screws such as are employed in voltaic
arrangements. In using this form of apparatus, after con-
necting the wires inside between the top of the bell-jar and
the ends of the electro-magnetic coils, one of the battery
wires is connected with one of the screws on the outside of
the cap of the bell-jar, and with the other contact is made,
by touching the head of the second screw, and broken by with-
drawing the wire. Whenever contact is made the bell rings.
Should it seem desirable to make the bell ring itself, it
could easily be done by placing one of Mr Bain's electric
clock pendulums between the battery and the bell. As that
ingenious automatic instrument alternately cuts off and lets
on (so to speak) the electric current, it would sound the bell
at each stroke of the pendulum.
( 313 )
On the Natives of Old Callebar, West Coast of Africa. By
W. F. Daniell, Esq.* Communicated by the Ethno-
logical Society.
Previous to entering into the ethnological details con-
nected with these people, it will be necessary for me to
briefly allude to that tract of country which they at present
occupy. The Rio Calbary, or Old Callebar, formerly desig-
nated " Oude Calburgh," by its earliest frequenters, the
Dutch, is one of the largest and most important of the rivers
in the intertropical regions of Western Africa. It is situ-
ated nearly in the central portion of the Bight of Biafra, be-
tween the river Bonny and the Rio Del Rey ; its embouchure
being in Lat. 4° 32' N., and Long. 8° 25' E. At the com-
mencement of this century, it constituted one of the ordinary
marts for the slave-trade ; but in proportion as this odious
traffic declined, a more lucrative, if not extensive, commerce
with this country has imperceptibly taken its place ; our cot-
ton and other home manufactures being received in exchange
for exports of native produce. The entrance of this river is
10 miles in breadth, but contracts in size as it proceeds to-
wards the interior, dividing, at 35 or 40 miles from its
mouth, into two divergent branches ; the first, or the one of
the greatest magnitude, known as Cross River, flows from
the northward for several hundred miles through a beauti-
ful and fertile country, richly studded with native towns and
villages, of which, and their various inhabitants, we unfor-
tunately possess but little or no acquaintance. The second,
or lesser branch, after a brief course of 50 miles, terminates
in a small creek, which becomes apparently lost amid the
almost interminable swamps that conceal its source. On
this branch are located the chief commercial towns that
carry on a mercantile intercourse with Europeans. They are
three in number ; Attarpah, or River Town, the metropolis ;
Abbutong, or Old Town ; and Occorotunko, or Creek Town ;
* Read before the Ethnological Society, 28th January 1846. Mr
Daniell, who is a very enterprising and talented medical gentleman, is
again on an expedition to the West Coast of Africa. — Edit,
VOL. XL. NO. LXXX. — APRIL 1846. * X
'314 W. F. Daniell, Esq., on the Natives of Old Cattehar.
all of which are erected on sandy declivities of a moderate
elevation.
The different tribes of people inhabiting the most of that
maritime tract of country comprehended between the Rio
Formosa, in the Bight of Benin, and the Old Callebar River,
have unquestionably derived their origin from one common
stock. A slight and cursory investigation into their physical
character, language, customs, mode of life, and other na-
tional peculiarities, would readily point out many remark-
able analogies that exist between them and their early pri-
mitive progenitors, and at the same time could not fail ta
throw some light on the characteristics of those petty na-
tions that populate the shores of this portion of Western
Africa. The great parental source from which most of them
have emanated, are the prolific Eboes of the Nun or Quorra,
which, for the sake of perspicuity, it will be necessary to
separate into three distinct classes.
1. The Eboes Proper, which comprise part of the natives
of the Rio Formosa, the natives of Warree Island, Rio Escla-
Tos, Brass Town, and the Quorra.
2. The Eboes of the table-land between the Quorra and
Cross River, which comprise the inhabitants of New Calle-
bar, the Bonny, and a portion of the natives of the River
Andony.
3. The Eboes in the country between the Andony and Old
Callebar Rivers, which include the natives of the coast, of
the several towns of Old Callebar, and of Cross River at its
entrance. This arrangement, although somewhat deficient
in numerical outline of the various tribes, will, nevertheless,
be sufficiently correct to answer the purposes of this paper,
taking into due consideration the great paucity of informa-
tion that exists respecting them and their locale.
The early history of Old Callebar, like most of the other
inhabited regions of "Western Africa, is involved in much
obscurity. Among the natives, little is known concerning
the primary colonization of their river ; and all the informa-
tion I could glean upon this subject was, that their ances-
tors, many centuries since, had emigrated from a distant
country up Cross River. This statement is the one perhaps
I
W. F. Daniell, Esq., on the Natives of Old Callebar. 315
most in accordance with those views which maintain that
the tide of population had radiated first from Eboe, on the
Quorra ; and such appears to be borne out by several cu-
rious peculiarities which exist iA common, both in their phy-
sical structure and customs.
The town, which all the natives concur in asserting to be
of the most ancient date, was, as the name implies, Old
Town, which is now but scantily populated. For several
centuries this place continued to be the metropolis, and
principal trading depot for merchantmen and slave-ships.
About 300 years ago, many of the natives, from the harsh
and cruel treatment of their rulers, emigrated to a sandy
district, within a creek, five miles distant, and there founded
Creek Town. Again, as this town increased in magnitude
and prosperity, so did its government become the more ar-
bitrary, and, from similar causes as the preceding, a troop
of emigrants passed from it, and, having purchased a piece
of land from the petty chief of Qua, settled down there, and
erected River Town, or Attarpah, which, from its eligible
site, proximity to the ocean, and other local advantages,
gradually arose, under the judicious control of several able
chiefs, to occupy that superiority which its rivals had origi-
nally enjoyed, and, with the exception of Creek Town, has
now the supreme government over all the towns and vil-
lages in its immediate neighbourhood. The natives of Old
Callebar, although of Eboe extraction, present some phy-
sical deviations, that serve to distinguish them from other
tribes of a similar derivation. The natives of the Bonny and
Nun, who are purely of Eboe descent, and therefore less
amalgamated with the people of other nations, may be taken
..•as the typical illustration by which we may make the com-
parison. They are generally of a short stature, slight form,
and light yellow skin, differing in these respects from the
inhabitants of the Callebar towns. I am of opinion that
climate greatly modifies the physical and intellectual deve-
lopment of most African nations, and that people of different
localities, but originally from one common source, after the
lapse of some centuries, offer manifest alterations from
their progenital standard. A more convincing proof in
316 W. F. Daniell, Esq., on the Natives of Old Callehar.
support of the correctness of this statement could not be
furnished, than is presented in the structural diversities that
prevail between the inhabitants of the low swampy districts
of the Bonny, and the more elevated sandstone regions of
Old Callehar.
The average stature of the male population of Old Callehar
may be stated to vary from 5 ft. 6 in. to 5 ft. 10 in., taking
the inhabitants of the towns as a criterion in preference to
those of the predial districts. The trunk and other portions
of the body are in close conformity with their physical confi-
guration ; being somewhat robust and symmetrical in mould,
with a tendency to great muscular development. In the
chiefs, however, who indulge freely in a generous diet, and are
accustomed to pursue more sedentary occupations than the in-
ferior classes, these harmonious proportions are partially lost:
excess of food, and want of exercise, leading to a deposition
of adipose substance in various parts of the body, particu-
larly in the mesentery and nates. In the female this redun-
dancy of fat is encouraged in its accumulation by various
artificial means, inasmuch as obesity in equinoctial Africa is
esteemed as one of the greatest charms of a native beauty ;
nay, in several countries is considered as an indispensable re-
quisite for the marriage state. The w^omen, although con-
siderably less in height (being from 5 ft. to 5 ft. 4 in.), are,
nevertheless, proportion ably larger in corporeal bulk, their
extreme stoutness and breadth increasing their rotundity
of form. In many instances, women have so increased in
size as to render it a difiicult matter for them to walk. The
countenances of both sexes exhibit less prominently the me-
lancholic and despondent expression of the Eboes, the fea-
tures in their place assuming a more cheerful and intelligent
character, with an apparently higher intellectual endowment.
In the female, in the bloom of youth, the slim and graceful
form, and bright and joyous face, often remind the stranger
of the fair girls of his own more civilized communities. Al-
though the conformation of the inhabitants of this river is
in many respects precisely in accordance with the delinea-
tions of the Negro, yet there are some obvious deviations
which require notice. Possessing, more or less modified.
W. F. Daniell, Esq., on the Natives of Old Callehar. 317
the thick and massive cranium, narrow convex forehead, and
compressed lateral parietes of the skull, the projecting jaw
and oblique contour of the visage, they partially lose the
thick lips, flat nose, large protuberant eyes, high facial bones,
and other facial peculiarities of the Krooman — the most
perfect type of the Negro — and thus gradually approximate
towards a superior grade of the human family. The nose
is frequently short and small, the nostrils but slightly ex-
panded, and occasionally of an aquiline or European outline.
The mouth is tolerably large, but the lips are thin, though
inclined to fulness. The hair is short, crisp, and woolly,
and presents no change from that of the African. The
colour of the skin and complexion is of a dark brown, be-
tween the pale yellow hue of the Eboes and the jet black
of the natives of Dungarah and Qua. It is smooth, shin-
ing, and, in the younger sexes, of a soft velvety texture,
and also less unctuous ; while, among the chiefs and higher
ranks, from the constant cleansing of the body, its func-
tions are maintained in the most efficient order. The adi-
pose depositions in the female become gradually absorbed
as she advances in life, leaving the long pendent breasts,
and wrinkled and flaccid cutaneous integument, so charac-
teristic of all the older Africans. It has been matter of ob-
servation, during my residence of some years among the na-
tives of this and the other rivers, that the skin of youth
is of a much lighter colour, especially in the female, than
that of more mature age, and that the majority appear to
be of a spare habit and of a delicate and debilitated frame.
The facial aspect is also somewhat more elongated. In
both sexes, but particularly in the women, the curved de-
pression of the lumbar region is very conspicuous, and the
thoracic regions, with the sacrum, and its muscular appen-
dages, are proportionably prominent. The pelvis is much more
expanded than in the European, but not so fully developed.
The lower limbs seem short and stunted, from the great
mass of flesh with which they are clothed, while the foot is
large and flat, with the calves of the legs more elevated
than in the European. The upper limbs of the Negi'o, ac-
cording to the statements of some writers, are of greater
318 W. F. Daniell, Esq , on the Natives of Old Callebar.
length than those of Europeans ; but some half-a-dozen
measurements afforded little or no difference : tlie hands,
however, are of greater magnitude, and the fingers longer,
probably from climacteric agencies. Circumcision is prac-
tised in both sexes ; but not at an early period as elsewhere.
This rite is of Eboe origin, and more or less prevalent through-
out Western Africa. The old women of the family are the
operators, and the instrument employed is a sharp knife or
razor. The catamenia commence about the 10th year, but
are occasionally deferred to a later period. All women at
these periods are deemed unclean, and are not allowed to
touch articles of food or clothing, inasmuch as it is thought
to partake of the nature of a poison, and to produce serious
morbific effects. These views are partly in conformity with
the Mosaic law, mentioned in the 15th chapter of Leviticus.
Boys and girls, until the adult age, are entirely destitute
of clothing, and a red or striped coloured zone of worsted is
occasionally worn as a gala dress by the younger females on
important occasions. The hair of the girls is invariably
shaved off, with the exception of a small tuft on the vertex
of the head, and is not suffered to grow until they have
arrived at the dignity of wives, when it is then twisted into
a number of plaits, decorated with beads. The hair of
the chiefs is kept closely cropped, and then shaved into a
series of beautiful arabesque patterns, which evince great
ingenuity and taste. Portions of the body, and in women,
particularly the face, are delicately tatooed in circular figures ;
and the anterior surface of the arm, in all classes of people,
is ornamented with round smooth cicatrices, about the size
of a shilling, from the effects either of vesication, or denu-
dation of the cuticle. On either side of the temple may be
noticed three small black spots ; these are the places where
the native process of cupping is performed, the dark marks
originating from the absorption of the black carbonaceous
matter with which they dress their wounds.
The government of the Old Callebar towns is a monarch-
ical despotism, rather mild in its general character, although
sometimes severe and absolute in its details. The king
and chief inhabitants ordinarily constitute a court of justice,
W. F. Daniell, Esq., on the Natives of Old Callebar. 319
in which all country disputes are adjusted, and to which
every prisoner suspected of capital oifences is brought, to
undergo examination and judgment. If found guilty, they
are usually forced to swallow a deadly potion, made from the
poisonous seeds of an aquatic leguminous plant, which rapidly
destroys life. This poison is obtained by pounding the seeds
vand macerating them in water, which acquires a white milky
colour. The condemned person, after swallowing a certain
portion of the liquid, is ordered to walk about until its effects
become palpable. If, however, after the lapse of a definite
period, the accused should be so fortunate as to throw the
poison from off the stomach, he is considered as innocent,
and allowed to depart unmolested. In native parlance this
ordeal is designated as " chopping nut." Decapitation is
also practised, but not so much amongst criminals as the
former process, being more employed for the immolation of
the victims at the funeral obsequies of some great personage.
Drowning is sometimes resorted to as a substitute for the
first means of destroying life. The chiefs hold petty courts
for the punishment of their domestic slaves and retainers,
but their decision, in almost every case of life and death, is,
I believe, subject to the revision of the king, whose will is
supreme and despotic. Inhabitants of the neighbouring:
countries often bring minor difierences to these courts for
arbitration, the awards of which are generally correct and
satisfactory. A chief guilty of a capital crime, which comes
more immediately under the cognizance of the ruling powers,
is punished, more or less, by the deprivation of his slaves, or
put to death by proxy ; that is, one or two of his principal
household slaves suffer the penalties of the law in his place.
The most potent controlling influence, which fulfils all the pur-
poses of a natural code of laws, is a semi-political and religious
custom, known under the designation of Egbo. This peculiar
governing principle appears to be a compound of a kind of
freemasonry, and those fetish rites prevalent on the Gold
and Slave coasts. The Egbo is subdivided into various
grades, of which there are no less than eighteen or twenty ;
of these the highest and most aristocratic has been termed
Grand Egbo. All grades of Egbo have their own appropriate
320 W. F. Daniell, Esq., on the Natives of Old Callebar.
day of ceremonious observance, but it is only on days set
apart for the performance of the mysterious rites of Grand
Egbo that every house vt^ithin the town is closed, none of the
inhabitants being permitted to leave them, under the penalty
of death or severe corporeal punishment ; and to enforce the
strict maintenance of these dictates, two or three persons
called Egbo-men, fantastically dressed and masked, parade
the town, with a whip of extraordinary dimensions, which
they indiscriminately apply to all who has not purchased the
prescribed licence to be abroad. The public avenues during
the continuance of these ceremonies are entirely deserted,
and not a person is to be seen, where, only a few moments
previous, some hundreds were congregated. All individuals
may purchase these Egbo distinctions, but slaves are never
permitted to obtain any other than the inferior grades. The
king is at the head of the highest class of Egboes, and the
other classes have usually a chief for their director, who is
entitled the king of that particular Egbo.
Marriage, among all the native tribes of this part of Africa,
is merely a civil contract between the parties. The bride,
prior to her finally residing with her destined husband, sits
in state for several days, surrounded with her female attend-
ants, and profusely adorned with brass rings round her
ankles, and strings of various coloured beads encircling her
arms and neck, especial attention being paid to the decora^
tion of the head, which is commonly surmounted with a bril-
liant tiara of ornaments. The friends of the lady, whilst she
undergoes this antenuptial probation, bring various presents
of money, clothes, bijouterie, and live-stock, most of which
are killed in the presence of the bride, for the series of feasts
given by her parents to the friends and acquaintances of the
family. Polygamy is maintained, in full accordance with the
customs of all African communities, in the Bight of Biafra,
the number of wives each individual may possess varying in
proportion to his rank and wealth. There is always one
head wife, who has ample control over the others. Women,
however, of all classes, are not so strictly immured in their
apartments as those of the kings, who are not allowed to be
seen by any male inhabitants under the pain of death. No
W. F. Daniell, Esq., on the Natives of Old Callebar, 321
European is suffered to enter the harem except medical offi-
cers of the shipping, and occasionally supercargoes, to trans-
act business with the king. Adultery, or any criminal in-
tercourse, is visited with dreadful punishments, of which the
termination is a miserable death. The dress of the women
is simply a piece of chintz, fastened round the loins, and the
men are similarly attired, the other portions of the body
being left entirely uncovered. The women of Old Callebar
have smaller families than those in the interior of Africa.
Females of rank and the children of chiefs wear, encompass-
ing their legs, twisted brass rods, brightly polished, which
extend as high as the calf.
Many cruel and superstitious ceremonies occur upon the
death of any influential personage, whether male or female.
They mourn for some weeks, which is indicated by their
binding a black silk handkerchief across the forehead, and
neither washing their body nor changing their clothes ; being
therefore literally in sackcloth and ashes during the allotted
period. Two or three days elapse after the inhumation of the
body, when several guns and muskets are fired off, and a pro-
portionate quantity of slaves decapitated to accompany the
deceased into the next world. Wives, friends, and confiden-
tial servants, alike share the same fate, if the departed in-
dividual be a man of consequence. Upon the death of Duke
Ephraim, one of the former kings of Old Callebar, some hun-
dreds of men, women, and children, were immolated to his
manes — decapitation, burial alive, and the administration of
the poison-nut, being the methods resorted to for terminating
their existence. When King Eyeo, father of the present
chief of Creek Town, died, an eyewitness, who had only ar-
rived just after the completion of the funeral rites, informed
me, that a large pit had been dug, in which several of tlie
deceased's wives were bound and thrown in, until a certain
number had been procured ; the earth was then thrown over
them, and so great was the agony of these victims, that the
ground for several minutes was agitated with their convul-
sive throes. So fearful, in former times, was the observance
of this barbarous custom, that many towns narrowly escaped
depopulation. The graves of the kings are invariably con-
822 W. F. Daniell, Esq., on the Natives of Old Callebar.
cealed, so as, it is stated, to prevent an enemy from obtain-
ing their skulls as trophies, which is not the case with those
of the common people.
The houses in Old Callebar, belonging to the middle and
upper classes, are inferior in every point of view to those of
any other nation in this part of Africa, not only in the firm
and compact arrangement of the building materials, but in
that appropriate style of architecture, which conjoins
strength and solidity with neatness in execution. The pe-
culiar novelty of these tenements, is the different courtyards
or open compartments, in which all are, more or less, sub-
divided, the whole of which, if thrown open, w^ould occupy
no small space of ground. Evidence of laborious and not
unskilful attempts to bestow an air of comfort are percepti-
ble on all sides, and more than ordinary attention appears
to have been paid to their constant purification and cleanli-
ness. These courts are usually of a quadrangular form, the
first or external one having a small doorway or porch, for
the purpose of ingress or egress. Some are fitted up with a
series of petty chambers close to the walls, in which the in-
ferior household slaves live, and others have a matted roof
projecting a few feet from the wall surrounding the area,
which forms, if I may use the expression, a kind of sheltered
corridor. In the centre of these courts, the ground is exca-
vated to about a foot in depth, corresponding to the eaves of
the roof; the remaining space being elevated in the same pro-
portion, by a hardened composition of sand and clay, much
employed by most of the natives of Western Africa. Ad-
joining these clayey partitions, and almost encompassing the
square, the cement-work is further elevated to the height of
two feet, and dyed on the top a deep jet black. On important
occasions, it is covered with mats and grass cloths. The inner
surface of the walls is adorned with curious and elaborate
arabesque designs, in which red, yellow, black, and white
pigments are blended, with all the artistic skill of native
professors. In the middle portion of the excavated area of
the inner squares, there is frequently planted a small tree,
which bears a beautiful purple campanulate flower. At its
root is always embedded a skull, near which are small bowls
W. F. Daniell, Esq., on the Natives of Old Callebar. 323
with other Egbo symbols. This human memento is occa-
sionally to be found at the entrance of the interior cham-
bers of the court-yards. The most remarkable architectu-
ral structures, however, which attract the attention of the
stranger, are the massive wooden houses of the more power-
ful chiefs. Most of these mansions were constructed either
in Clarence Town, Fernando Po, or Liverpool, and tran-
shipped from thence in detached pieces, accompanied by Eu-
ropean carpenters, who generally paid the forfeit of their
lives in erecting them. They are built of planks overlaying
each other, which, from the obliquity of their position, afford
better facilities for the transit of the rain. As regards size,
they are of a happy medium, and are of a proportionate alti-
tude, most of them having a limited view of the circumjacent
objects. The rooms are, in many instances, elegantly fitted
up with all the gorgeous and luxurious furniture of European
habitations.
In order to give a general idea of the mode of life of
the upper classes of the natives of this town, it will be as
well to transcribe from my journal, a few passages relating
to a visit which I paid in 1841, to Egbo Sack, one of the
principal chiefs of Old Callebar. " Upon my entrance into
the room set apart for my reception and that of ray party,
the first object that arrested attention, was a small chamber
or recess, within which were placed two or three sofas and
ottomans, each carefully covered with a fold of chintz, and
having the name of the owner emblazoned in gilt letters on
the backs ; a chest of drawers, a card-table, and two beautiful
and exquisitely finished time-pieces, which, with half-a-dozen
chairs, constituted the furniture of this little alcove. In the
centre of this apartment was situated a moderate-sized table,
covered with a white table-cloth, and garnished with its
usual accompaniment of knives, forks, plates, &c., a la Ang-
lais ; while on the side table were ostentatiously arrayed de-
canters of spirits, palm wine, and native bitters. The coun-
try wine, an exudation from the Saguerus vinifera^ or wine
palm, known in this place by the term of Minniefoot^ was
flanked by several bottles of champagne and other wines,
324 W. F. DanielL Esq., on the Natives of Old Callehar.
which were doubtless stationed in this conspicuous position,
the more readily to attract the eye of the white stranger.
" After a short and desultory conversation with our host,
bitters (composed of the roasted rind of the sago palm-nut,
steeped in brandy) were handed round, and the dinner im-
mediately followed. It was carried into the outer compart-
ment by female servitors, younger branches of the family,
each bearing on her head a large calabash, covered with a
square piece of white cloth or cotton. Most of these cover-
ings (subsequently used as napkins) were richly embroidered
with a number of minute designs, which must not only have
greatly taxed the patience of the sempstress, but have re-
quired more than ordinary native skill in the execution. As
we sat down in succession, a polished brass ewer, containing
cold spring water, with a similar metallic basin and a large
towel, were carried by two slaves to each individual, for the
ablution of his hands, a custom, I believe, of oriental origin,
and one that is almost universal in Central Africa. In this
and the other rivers of equatorial Africa, it has been follow-
ed from time immemorial.
" The first course consisted of several dishes commonly
known under the vulgar denomination of ' yam-chop.' They
were a heterogeneous mixture of boiled yams, plantains, palm-
oil, several varieties of dried and fresh fish, shrimps, and a
few green vegetables, well seasoned with pepper. The
succeeding course (for we had only two) consisted of a dish
considered by themselves as their chef d'oeuvre in the culinary
art, somewhat similar to the preceding. It was made with
palm-oil, dried fish, and shrimps, but with a more abundant
supply of triturated vegetables, with the addition of ochres
and a rich soup, the whole being boiled together with
the same condiments as the former dishes. Foufou, or mashed
yam, was eaten with that dish, as neither boiled yams nor
plaintains were incorporated with the ingredients in its pre-
paration. During the period of our feasting, each person was
attended by a small black slave, who constantly agitated the
air around him by means of large fans, and tlius all were kept
in a refreshing state of coolness. Upon the removal of the
W. F. Daniell, Esq., on the Natives of Old Callebar, 325
cloth, a small jar containing longitudinal pieces of the rind
of the wine nut, (Sagus pedunculata) was placed on the table,
in conjunction with large decanters of palm- wine, spirits,
champagne, &c. ; for their country usages do not permit them
to drink during the progress, but always after the termination
of the meal. The ewer and basin were again called in requi-
sition, and after a few hours of convivial enjoyment, in which
our kind host fully participated, we departed to our respective
vessels, amply satisfied with our cordial reception."
There are two markets in Callebar town, the first, termed
the King's or Great Market, on account of its close proximity
to the monarch's residence, is the one principally resorted to
by the population of the surrounding country. The other,
known as the Qua Market, from the circumstance of its being
held on an open area on the road leading to the village of
Qua, is one of minor note, and not so numerously attended as
the one previously mentioned ; it is, moreover, only held twice
a-week. The appointed hours for the assembling of the fair
is usually from 10 to 12 in the morning, but it very rarely
exceeds the latter period. A visit to one of these native fairs
would furnish a curious and rather amusing spectacle to an
European traveller who was not conversant with African cus-
toms in the Bights. Long prior to his arrival at these scenes
of , busy traffic and noisy contention, the low murmuring hum
of the litigating crowd of purchasers and venders is plainly
audible for some distance, from amidst the mass of domiciles
by which the market area is enclosed. At a stated hour the
natives of the predial districts flock in great numbers to the
allotted rendezvous, burdened with.the produce of their farms,
or with fabricated articles suitable for the fair, which they
advantageously display, with all the " savoirfaire" of expert
tacticians. The majority of the people sit on the ground in
irregular lines or groups, encompassed by dense multitudes
of all ages and sexes. Among the necessaries of life
exhibited for sale may be enumerated Mallagetta pepper,
dried and fresh capsicums, bamboo, cola, and palm nuts, yams,
bananas, plantains, pine apples, sugar-canes, ochures, palm-oil
in jars, sweet potatoes, cocoa-nuts, cassada, groundnuts, limes,
oranges, shadocks, papayas, honey, Indian corn in profusion,
326 W. F. Baniell, Esq., on the Natives of Old Callehar.
the different culinary herbs ; goats, sheep, fowls, muscovy
ducks, fresh and smoked fish, dried eggs, wild boars' and ante-
lopes' flesh, with, occasionally, that of the young elephant,
dried shrimps, shell-fish of various kinds, palm-wine, rum, fire-
wood, salt, intermingled with a galaxy of European articles,
such as silks, chintzes, ramals, muskets, swords, iron and
earthenware of various descriptions ; to w^hich might be added
a modest assortment of country merchandize, comprising gras»
cloths and mats, shot-pouches, wooden fans, carved and plain
calabashes, straw-hats, war dirks and habiliments, &c. No
slave-market appears to be held in this river ; for, in fact, the
export slave-market is wholly extinct, a more legitimate and
just commerce having, within the last 10 years, completely
superseded it.
The week here is divided into eight days, each deriving its
name from the peculiar Egbo rites performed thereon, or from
particular markets which occur on those days. They are
termed —
Yampe-day, . » Little Yampe-day.
Callebar Sunday, . Little Callebar Sunday.
Egbo-day, . . Little Egbo-day.
Qua market-day, . Little Qua market-day.
Callebar Sunday is the principal day of the week, and cor-
responds with our Sabbath, but with this exception, that it
is not kept sacred ; for although the natives possess some
crude ideas of Christianity, derived from Europeans who fre-
quent the river, they are, in every other respect, thorough
Pagans. Every chief has, in imitation of the king, his only
particular Sunday or holiday once in the week, and as Calle-
bar Sunday is the day devoted to the festive orgies of the
king, they, in general, dine with him, and the white visitors
on that day. In the celebration of these holidays, feasting
appears to be their principal amusement. In this the chiefs
and their retainers are by no means bad proficients, and what
with palm- wine and other intoxicating drinks they generally
manage to spend the day much to their own satisfaction. If
the chief is a person of consequence, he usually invites th«
masters and medical officers of the trading ships in the river,
and they mostly spend with him an agreeable day. The
W. F. Daniell, Esq., on the Natives of Old Callebar. .327
religion of the inhabitants resembles that of the Western
African nations ; they recognize a Good and Evil Spirit, in-
variably propitiating the latter by means of superstitious sa-
crifices and oblations. As I shall, in a future series of papers,
enter more at length upon the religion of Africa, I shall defer
any further consideration of it till then.
Supplement. — Upon the Philological Ethnography of the
Countries around the Bight of Biafra. By R. G.
Latham, M.D.
The philological data for the parts about the Old Callebar
River, that were collected by Mr Daniell during his residence
in those quarters, were kindly communicated by him to me
when he was in England ; and I believe that I am only ful-
filling a promise, when I draw up the present short abstract
of my researches upon the vocabularies of the countries in
question. The subject was briefly touched at the Cambridge
Meeting of the British Association. In the present paper I
allow myself to go a little beyond the geographical area to
which I at first restricted myself, and to deal with all the
languages between the Lagos on the north, and the Gaboon
on the south.
Nearly all that is known concerning the languages of this
tract, has become known within the last few years ; a fact
which we may verify by stating, that in the Mithridates there
occur but three vocabularies for the whole coast between Da-
homey and Loango. Our present data are as follows : —
I. For the parts between Dahomey and Benin. — -The most
northern kingdom, and the one that lies on the sea-coast, is
the kingdom of Yebu, so named by Monsieur D'Avezac, the
writer who has given us the best information regarding it.
1. Esquisse Grammatical de la Langue Yeboue — ^followed
by a vocabulary — Memoires de la Societe Ethnologique, vol. ii.
— Monsieur D'Avezac's authority was a native Yebou, of
the name of Ochi Fekou6. M. D'Avezac obligingly commu-
nicated this vocabulary to the editor of the Vocabulary for the
28 Supplement by Dr Latham.
Niger Expedition (1841), where it occurs under the name of
Ako, Eyo, Yabri, and Yarriba.
2. Douville's Nongo vocabulary. For the parts imme-
diately above Yebu (lat. 8°), taken by Douville at Bahia, from
a Nongo, or Nago slave, A.D. 1833. Memoires de la Soc.
Ethn., vol. xi., p. 145.
3. Ako vocabulary. Specimens of African Languages by
Mrs Kilham.
4. Raban's Eyo vocabulary : London, 1830, 1831, 1632 ;
collected at Sierra Leone.
5. Clapperton's Yarriba vocabulary.
6. Hio numerals in Bowdich's Ashantee. Hio is only an-
other form of Eyo. The Hio numerals are shewn by D'Ave-
zac to coincide with the Yarriba of Clapperton, and his own
Y^bou.
7. 8, 9. The Yngwa, Mosee, and Kumsallahoo numerals of
Bowdich ; closely allied to each other, and to the Hio.
10. Vocabulary of the Yarriba language; to which are pre-
fixed the grammatical elements of the Yarriba language. By
Samuel Crowther. London: 1843. This represents the lan-
guage of Oydh (Eyo, or Kakanda), in lat. 9°. The Ibakpah
and Ibollah are dialects of this.
The modes of speech above mentioned may all be classed
under the generic name Yarribean ; and may be called dia-
lects of the Yarribean language. In the interior, the Yarri-
bean is conterminous with the Fellatah, Haussa, and Nufi
tongues.
11. Benin. — For this kingdom our data are most scanty.
In all probability, the Benin and Yarribean languages are
mutually unintelligible.
1. A few Benin words taken by D'Avezac from the mouth
of Ochi Fekotie. Mem. Soc. Ethn., p. 48.
2. A short Benin vocabulary in Mrs Kilham' s specimens.
3. A few Benin words in Mr Daniell's MS.
III. The Eboe language. The Eboe Proper of the Rio
Formoso, Warree, Rio Esclavos, Brass-Town, and the Quorra,
seems to be conterminous with the Benin dialects.
Supplement b}/ Dr Latham. 329
1. Ibu or Eboe of the vocabulary for the Niger Expedition.
Taken from a native when in England.
2. Mrs Kilham's Ibu.
3. Laird and Oldfield's Ibu.
4. Davis' Ibu. Mentioned in the Niger vocabulary.
5. Iboe words in Daniel? s MS.
6. A few words in Daniell's MS. are marked Eboe, not of
the Quorra. Only two or three of them are common to this
list, and to the vocabularies of the Niger Expedition. One
of these is Yarribean, and one Ibo Proper.
At Kakanda, in parallel 9°, the Nufi language begins. Of
this we have
1. The Tapua of the Niger vocabulary.
2. The Nufi of Laird and Oldfield.
3. The Kakandy numerals of do.
4. Miscellaneous Nufi words in the Niger vocabulary.
IV. The Bonny Biver.
1. Bonny numerals in the Niger vocabulary.
2. Bonny vocabulary of Daniell's MS.
V. The Old Callebar Biver,
1. Old Callebar vocabulary of Daniell's MS.
2. The Kerrapay numerals of Bowdich.
3. The Karaba of Mrs Kilham.
I have little doubt as to these three vocabularies repre-
senting the same language. Perhaps this is the case with
4. (V) Oldendorp's Carabari-Mithridates.
5. The Calbra numerals of the Mithridates.
VI. The Cameroons Biver.
1. A MS. vocabulary in the possession of the Asiatic So-
ciety.
2. The Cameroon's (?) vocabulary of the Mithridates.
3. (?) The few Malemba words in Bowdich' s Ashantee.
VII. Six vocabularies, allied to each other, represent a
language belonging to these quarters, but which I have not
at present the opportunity of placing geographically.
VOL. XL. NO. LXXX. — APRIL 1846. Y
3*30 Supplement by Br Lath am.
1. The Moko of Mrs Kilham.
2. The Bongo of do.
3. The Kaylee numerals of Bowdich.
4. The Sheekan do.
5. The Oongoomai do.
(3. The Oonjoobai do.
VIII. Four vocabularies represent the language of the
countries on the Gaboon.
1. The Cape Gonsalvo Lopez, or words of the Mithridates,
very short (?)
2. Bowdich' s Empoongwai numerals.
3. Mrs Kilham' s Rungo.
4. Vocabulaire de la Langue Ponga par M. Pacifique
Henri Delaporte. Mem. Soc. Ethn., vol. ii. p. 197.
For Fernando Po I only know of half-a-dozen words.
The Mokko vocabulary of the Mithridates, the Akuonga,
Uhobo, and Kouri vocabularies of Mrs Kilham, undoubtedly
belong to the tract just gone over ; although their precise
geographical position is unknown to me. The languages of
Portuguese Africa have their closest affinities with the
tongues south of them.
Considering that the Yarribean dialects are the only ones
whereof our data approach a sufficiency, it is considered un-
necessary to insist upon the provisional character of the fore-
going classification. In respect to the ethnographical value
of the groups enumerated, I have not a moment's hesitation
in predicating of them a radical and fundamental unity, the
differences lying within comparatively narrow limits. They
all belong to that great group which may conveniently be
called Ibo-Ashantee ; of which they form only a part.
( 331 )
Description of a Machine for Drawing the perfect Egg-Oval;
and of a Method of producing Curvilineal Figures, on a prin-
ciple whereby Beauty of Form may be imparted to Orna-
mental Vases and Mouldings in Architecture, — to the Works
of the Silversmith, Brazier, and Potter, — equal to such
Works of the Ancients. Invented by D. R. Hay, Esq.,
F.R.S.S.A. Communicated by the Royal Scottish Society
of Arts.*
Finding that throughout all nature the elements of every
species of beauty are reducible to three orders or classes,
namely, a primary, a secondary, and a tertiary, I have adopted
the same principle in regard to curvilineal forms. The circle I
have taken as the primary, the ellipse as the secondary, and
the oval as the tertiary, the first having one focus, the se-
cond two, and the third three foci.
The curve of the circle is unform in all its parts, and is,
therefore, devoid of variety, its arcs being all identical. The
ellipse may be divided into four uniform parts, each of which
possessing the elements of variety. Its variety, therefore, is
to its uniformity as 4 to 1. But the oval form, being divisible
into two similar parts only, has its variety to its uniformity in
the simple ratio of 2 to 1 ; and, consequently, its beauty is
the most perfect.
This species of beauty is a distinguishing quality in the
human figure, which, as viewed in full front, presents two
identical halves, each of which are distinguished by infinite
variety in the parts of which they are composed.
The circle belongs to the perfect square, which it harmo-
nically inscribes ; the ellipse to the oblong rectangle, either
as horizontally or vertically considered ; and the oval to the
isosceles triangle. In treating of the nature of beauty, Mr J.
D. Harding, in his excellent work, " The Principles and Prac-
tice of Design," thus speaks of the curve of the oval. " In
the circle we see and feel, without preparatory education,
and without difficulty, its sameness, and, therefore, its want
* Read before the Society on 9th March" 1846.
332 Mr D. R. Hay's Description of a
of beauty ; but in the egg, it requires reflection to see or to
feel any great amount of that variety which it possesses ;
and, as also, by our natural powers we feel and understand
that all circles must be alike in their properties, so it is only
by the acquired powers of a well practised eye, and feelings
rendered sensitive through experience and a well informed
judgment, that we can perceive by how much one egg differs
from another, or which among many are the most beautiful —
is the nearest to perfect beauty in its outline, in consequence
of that infinite variety which is the essential constituent of
perfect beauty of form."
Since Hogarth's " Analysis of Beauty'' was added to the
literature of art, infinite variety has, by most writers upon
the subject, been reckoned its principal constituent. This,
however, cannot be correct, and the error evidently arises
from not making any distinction between symmetrical beauty
and picturesque beauty, — the first depending upon unifor-
mity, and the second upon variety; both of which qualities, as
just stated, must be combined to produce the most perfect
beauty.
The observations which I have quoted from Mr Harding's
excellent work, however, first set me seriously to work upon
the oval ; and I think I have at last succeeded in a mode of
producing and systematizing it, that will fill up an import-
ant desideratum in the arts of ornamental design.
The machine which I have brought before you is one of
many methods that have suggested themselves to me for the
production of the true egg form, or oval. It consists, as you
will perceive, of a board with a spur-wheel in the centre,
which works upon a toothed rack, and is put in motion by a
lever with a slot or opening along its centre, to receive the
pencil. Two studs are fixed in the board, and another on
the end of the toothed rack ; which are the three foci of the
figure. Another stud is fixed into the board on the outside
of the focus that lies at the narrowest end of the intended
oval. If the curve at this point is to be acute, this stud will
be fixed very near to the focus, the father from this focus
it is fixed, the more rotund the oval will be. A flexible cord
is then tied tightly round these four studs, the last of which
Machine for Drawing the Perfect Egg-Oval. 333
is ihen removed; the point of a pencil is inserted into the
groove or slot, and within the cord, which it is made to
tighten around the three remaining studs by drawing the
point of the pencil towards the moveable end of the lever,
which is then moved round upon its axis, the cord being
kept tight. The pencil will thus trace upon the board one
half of a perfect egg oval ; because the motion of the focus
at the end of the rack increases fluxionally the two radii of
the curve. Since this machine was made, I have invented
another, which, by means of two racks, will form both sides
of the oval by one continuous line, as shewn by this sketch
on the board. By this machine, therefore, the true oval or
egg form may be produced, but as yet its capabilities go no
farther ; and I have, therefore, adopted a more simple and
more practically useful process for producing a series of
figures of this kind applicable to the arts of ornamental de-
sign ; although the ellipses of which such figures are in reality
composed are not so perfectly blended as by the machine.
These figures, 1 shall prove to you, are capable of infus-
ing into the ornamental arts, as connected with architectural
decorations, ornamental sculpture, the works of the artificer
in silver and other metals, and, especially, those of the pot-
ter, that refinement of beauty by which the ornamental
works of the best periods of ancient art are distinguished.
My process is this : I first classify and arrange a series
of isosceles triangles agreeably to the harmonic ratios ; I then
arrange these in pairs of right-angled with acute-angled,
and obtuse-angled with acute-angled, as now explained by
the figure I shew you, and will be more fully so in a work
upon the subject which I have at present in course of publi-
cation. Of this process, I shall give you an example. I
unite this right angled isosceles triangle with another isosce-
les triangle, whose most acute vertex is 22° 30', having to the
right angle (90°) the ratio of 1 to 4. At the four vertices
of these compounded triangles, which form a figure having a
right angle subtending an acute angle, and two obtuse
angles subtending each other, I fix studs or pins at each
angle, and tie a cord tightly round them, with a knot that
will not slip, and I then remove the stud or pin at the vertex
334 Machine for Drarving the Perfect Egg- Oval.
of the right angle ; in consequence of which, the cord will lie
slackly around the other three. I put the point of a pencil
within the cord, and take it to the point from which the stud
or pin was removed, by which means I bring the cord to its
original tightness — I keep it so, and move the pencil round
the other three studs or pins, and this oval figure is the re-
sult. These other figures which I lay before you, and by
which I shall attempt to illustrate my process, are selected
from a series of forty-three, which I will give in the work to
which I have just alluded.
Some of these give you the forms of the most beautiful of
the Greek and Etruscan vases, others the ovola and ogee
mouldings of the Greeks, which, as you will perceive by the
examples I shew upon the board, cannot but be correct, and
are produced with perfect ease and certainty.
The fault of almost all ornamental designers of this, as
well as other countries of Europe, since the decline of art,
has been, that they generally suppose exuberance of ornament
to be the principal constituent of beauty. Of late, the most
hideous forms, covered with the efflorescence of ornament,
have been engraved and published, and commented on as ex-
amples of beauty by those who attempt to guide public taste ;
merely because they were elaborately decorated, and formed
part of the Exposition of such works at Paris.
But it is now time we should become original in our orna-
mental works, for we have too long been humble imitators of
our continental neighbours ; and by thus following them, we
have as yet remained behind. To be original, however, we
must go to first principles, instead of precedents.
The high eulogiums that have been bestowed upon the
beauty of the Grecian and Etruscan works of ornamental art,
are, no doubt, just ; and they have, consequently, been held
up as examples of imitation to our ornamental designers.
But how much more advantageous would it be to the orna-
mental arts of this country, were the principles developed to
which those works of the ancients owe their beauty, and
practical methods adopted for the application of those prin-
ciples ?
Dr Davy on the Urinaria Excrement of Insects. 335
The development of these, and a practical mode of their
application, I have exhibited before you, and shall be ready
to prove their accuracy, and the practicability of my mode of
applying them, on any other occasion that may present itself.
Additional Notice on the Urinary Excrement of Insects, with
so?ne Observations on that of Spiders. By JoiiN Davit,
M.D., F.R.S.L. & E., Inspector- General of Army Hospi-
tals. Communicated by the Author.
In the present number of this Journal, at page 231, a notice
was inserted, containing the results of an examination of the
urinary excrement of a small number of insects. Since the
date of that notice I have been able to extend the inquiry,
and I now propose to communicate the additional facts I
have ascertained, with an account of some experiments on
the same excretion from spiders.
Field-Cricket. — An insect of this kind, confined under glass
and fed on bread, voided a good deal of excrementitious mat-
ter, in small oval masses of a light-brown colour and soft
consistence, having a urinous smell. It appeared to be
partly faecal and partly urinary ; for under the microscope
scales were detected in it and grains, which were found to
be of starch by the test of iodine ; and also lithic acid by
the test of nitric acid aided by heat. The lithic acid was
minute in quantity. I suspected urea likewise might have
been present, but I could not detect it.
Beetle. — One similar to that of a former trial, resembling
the Scarabasus pilularius, yielded, in confinement, a large
quantity of excrement, which was found to consist chiefly of
lithic acid, and it may be inferred in the form of lithate of
ammonia ; for, besides giving a rich purple tint when heated
with nitric acid, it was soluble in water like lithate of am-
monia.
In the excrement of another insect of the coleopterous
kind, small, of elegant form, with cushion-feet, lithic acid
was detected distinctly, but with difficulty ; it appeared to
encrust the faecal masses.
Mason Bee. — One in confinement, yielded a little excre-
ment, which was semitransparent and of a brownish hue.
336 Dr Davy's Additional Notice on (he
Heated with nitric acid, it acquired the colour characteristic
of lithic acid. The quantity was too minute to test it for
ur6a, which, it is probable, formed a part of it.
Flies. — In the first trial I made of the excrement of one
of these insects, I was unable to detect lithic acid, and I in-
ferred that its chief ingredient might be urea. Since then I
have examined the excrementitious matter of three different
species of fly, — one smaller than the common house-fly of
England ; one larger ; and one a carrion-fly, very like the
English flesh-fly. In the excrement of each I have detected
distinctly lithic acid. In one instance crystals of this acid
were observed under the microscope, — crystals of a rhom-
boidal form, which, mixed and heated with nitric acid, im-
parted the peculiar purple tint of lithate of ammonia. In the
same, a single crystal was seen, — a low four-sided pyramid,
which, it may be conjectured, consisted of ammoniaco-mag-
nesian phosphate. Commonly the proportion of lithic acid
was very minute, and much care was required in the manage-
ment of the temperature to detect it, in testing it with nitric
acid. The secretion, in the three instances, was more or less
liquid, and appeared to contain urea, in accordance vyrith my
earlier trials.
Dragon Fly. — One of a large size, voided, in confinement,
pretty much reddish excrement. This, under the microscope,
appeared to consist of little aggregate masses, with which
were intermixed some very thin colourless six-sided plates,
not unlike those of the cystic oxide. The principal ingredient
of this excrementitious matter, it may be inferred, was lithic
acid, judging from the strong purple tint acquired when it
was heated with nitric acid.
Muskitoe. — So great is the delicacy of the nitric acid test
for lithic acid, that I thought it probable it might be detected
even in the excrement of this minute insect, if it existed in
it ; and the result obtained on trial has shewn that the con-
jecture was right. In several instances in which the excre-
ment of the muskitoe was obtained by confining the insect
under a glass vessel scrupulously cleaned, a distinct trace of
lithic acid was found in the speck of matter voided by it. One
insect, the urinary secretion of which so tested, was found to
Urinary Excrement of Insects, 337
yield purpurate of ammonia, I had the curiosity to weigh.
Using a balance of great delicacy, I found it to weigh -008
grain ; that is, under one-hundredth part of a grain !
Moths. — I have examined the excrement of at least three
different species of night moth ; one white, one yellow, and
one brown. In each instance lithic acid was comparatively
abundant, especially in that of the brown. The excrement
of this moth was very copious for its size, of a reddish hue
and soft consistence. Under the microscope, it appeared to
consist chiefly of granules, and of rhomboidal plates, with
which were mixed two or three hexahedral plates. One
moth weighed 16 grain ; more lithic acid was found in its
urinary secretion than in that of a humming-bird, the weight
of which was 92-5 grains, and which I find subsists chiefly on
minute insects. The granules composing the granular mat-
ter of the excrement of these insects, probably lithate of am-
monia, were commonly about g oVo of an inch in diameter.
Butterfly, — A large butterfly of a mixed purple and brown
colour with white spots, fed whilst confined on syrup, yielded
some liquid excrement of a light-brownish hue, which, care-
fully tested by nitric acid, afforded indications both of urea
and of lithic acid. The first were obtained by evaporating it
with a very minute quantity of nitric acid, when crystals
similar to those of nitrate of urea were visible under the
microscope. The latter were obtained by heating the acid
solution of the excrement, when the characteristic tint of
purpurate of ammonia appeared ; but it was faint, proving
that the proportion of lithic acid present was exceedingly
small.
Mantis. — A large species of this insect, in confinement,
voided a good deal of excrement ; some blackish, faecal ;
some in little brownish masses, and probably chiefly urinary.
The latter, under the microscope, appeared to consist chiefly
of globular particles, of nearly sAu i^^ch in diameter, and
which, it may be inferred, were composed chiefly of lithic acid,
from the purpurate of ammonia produced by the action of
nitric acid heated with the excrement.
Spiders. — In the more recent zoological arrangements,
spiders have been removed from the class of insects. Their
338 Dr Davy's Additional Notice on the
urinary secretion, from the experiments which I have made
on it, appears to be another distinctive mark compared with
that of the different species of insects which I have hitherto
examined. In the secretion from the spider, I have not been
able to detect any lithic acid, but what I believe to be the
zanthic oxide. Whether obtained from a spinning or from a
hunting spider, the character of the matter voided in con-
finement has been similar ; abundant as to quantity ; semi-
fluid at first, soon becoming solid ; of the lustre of wax ; most
readily diffusible in water, to which it imparts a milky hue ;
neither acid nor alkaline as tried by test-papers ; and under
the microscope appearing to be composed of very minute
granules, varying in size from 20000 ^^ 30000 i^ch in dia-
meter. It was found soluble, and that readily, in the nitric,
sulphuric, and muriatic acids, and also in the acetic and ox-
alic. It did not impart colour to either of these acids when
the solution was made without the aid of heat ; but with heat,
in the instance of the nitric acid, a compound of a lemon-yel-
low colour was obtained ; and in that of the sulphuric, a
slight yellow tinge was produced. I have found it also solu-
ble in aqua potassa, and in a solution of the sesquicarbon-
ate of this alkali, but not in aqxia ammoniee, nor in a solu-
tion of the bicarbonate of potash. Heated on a platinum foil,
it bore a pretty high temperature without apparent change ;
more strongly heated, it consumed without flame, leaving a
very minute quantity of matter, which, exposed to nearly a
white heat, melted, and exhibited under the microscope
minute globules. Subjected to a decomposing temperature
in a glass tube, it yielded pretty much water and carbonate
of ammonia, and some carbonaceous matter.
The properties I have described, as found to belong to this
excrementitious matter, are those of the zanthic oxide ; and,
consequently, it may be considered as composed chiefly of
this oxide.
I have examined the excrement of, at least, three different
species of spider, and of several individuals of the same spe-
cies, and I have found it in its qualities and composition re-
markably uniform. Sometimes its colour has been a little
grayer than at others, which I believe to be owing to a
Urinary Excrement of Insects. 339
minute portion of alvine excrementitious matter being mixed
with the urinous. In one instance, under the microscope, a
few very small prismatic crystals were seen mixed with the
granular matter, resembling those of phosphate of lime. The
proportional quantity in which tliis excrementitious matter is
voided is also remarkable. It suggests the idea that almost
the whole of the food of spiders is digested, and that their
principal secretion and excretion is the urinary. And,
further, as the food of these animals is entirely insects, and
chiefly flies (the smaller kinds of which they appear to de-
vour), and as I have been unable to detect any traces of
lithic acid in the excrement in question (an acid which it may
be inferred is contained in the cloaca of many of the insects
consumed), the idea is suggested that, in the digestive pro-
cess in the spider, this acid is either assimilated, so as to
form a part of the nutritive fluid, or is altered and converted
into zanthic oxide.
Should further inquiry confirm the results I have obtained,
and should it be found, as it appears to me highly probable,
that the urinary secretion of spiders, in general, consists of
zanthic oxide, — a compound hitherto only rarely found, and
as a morbid production only, and confined to the human race,
it will be a curious fact established.
In this tropical region, teeming with animal life, and
equally so with vegetable, the quality of the urinary excre-
ment of insects and of spiders, — considering the one as prin-
cipally lithate of ammonia, and the other as chiefly zanthic
oxide, — seem to be peculiarly in harmony with an adapta-
tion of means to ends, and an example of that happy economy
which is so often to be witnessed in the processes of nature.
Lithate of ammonia appears to be specially fitted to contri-
bute to form a part of the food of plants, and the same remark
will probably apply to the zanthic oxide. Both are only
slightly soluble in water. Both in their unmixed state ap-
pear to be rejected by animals of every description in search
of food. Ants here, which may be considered as the princi-
pal scavengers of the tropics, especially as regards putre-
scent animal matter, leave untouched, I have observed, the
urinary excrement both of insects and spiders. This exemp-
340 Gold Produce of Siberia.
tion from destruction may be said to insure to the soil produc-
tive of vegetables, a constant source of manure ; the vegeta-
bles in such a climate as this supporting innumerable insects.
And it might be a lesson to man to husband as much as pos-
sible all excrementitious matters, from whatever species of
animals derived, and bestow them on the soil, as its peculiar
and appropriate fertilizers.
BarbAJ)OES, 5th February 1846.
On the Gold Produce of Siberia, By Sir R. I. MURCHISON,
F.R.S., &c. &c &c.
" To this subject, I wish to point the attention of statists
and geographers ; for it has already begun to occupy the
thoughts of politicians, and may eventually have a very
marked influence upon all civilized nations, in changing the
relative value of gold as a standard.
" In Russia, as in the Brazils, the great mass of the metals
is derived from local detritus or alluvia, usually called gold
sand ; but for which (as far as Russia is concerned), the
term shingle would be much more appropriate. With very
trifling exceptions, all such auriferous detritus in the Russian
Empire, occur on the eastern or Siberian side of the Ural.
Slightly known, and near Ekaterinburg only, in the days of
Pallas, it was not until the reigns of Paul and Alexander,
that these gold alluvia were found to extend in a certain zone
to the north and south of that locality, throughout 5° or 6° of
latitude, and that eventually gold was extracted from them
to the annual value of about half a million sterling. Not-
withstanding the increased exploration of late years, and
many researches in the northern and southern portions of the
chain, this quantity has been rarely exceeded, and latterly,
the alluvia in some tracts being exhausted, it has begun to
decrease. The reign of the Emperor Nicholas has, however,
been distinguished by the important discovery, that portions
of the great eastern regions of Siberia are highly auriferous,
viz., in the governments of Tomsk and Yeniseik, where low
ridges, similarly constructed to those on the eastern, flank of
the Ural, and like them trending from north to south, appear
as offsets from the great east and west chain of the Altai,
Gold Produce of Siberia. 341
which separates Siberia from China ; and here, it is curious
to remark, that a very few years ago, this distant region did
not afford a third part of the gold which the Ural produced,
but by recent researches, an augmentation so rapid and
extraordinary has taken place, that, in 1843, the eastern
Siberian tract yielded considerably upwards of two millions
and a quarter sterling, raising the total gold produce of the
Russian Empire to near three millions sterling ! !
" Now, if this great increment be sustained during a
certain number of years, there can be no doubt that it will,
to some considerable extent, reduce the standard value, and
lead to considerable change in our social relations. The
first question, therefore, is. To what extent is it likely to be
sustained \ Gold alluvia being but the detritus of veins
which once existed in the adjacent rocks, it might be supposed
that, in piercing these rocks, the miner would find more copi-
ous stores of the metal. Experience, however, has taught
us, that such is not the fact, and, to whatever cause due, it is
certain, that the veins which rise from great depths in the
earth are richly auriferous towards their upper limit only.
Hence it is, that nearly the whole of the ancient surface of
rocks having undergone denudation and consequent destruc-
tion, the greater quantities of gold are found in the detritus
on the flanks of the hills, or in the valleys between them.
So long, therefore, as these alluvia are unexhausted, so long
may the miner extract from them, by a cheap and easy method
of macerating and washing, the ore which would be obtained
at a much greater cost from the solid rock. Now, those
alluvia having well defined bottoms, and being of measurable
extent, may certainly be exhausted ; and the disappearance
of gold from all those civilized countries, in whose early days
it was abundantly found (even in our own isles), is a proof
that such must sooner or later be the case. But how long
is it before this period of exhaustion will arrive ? "When we
reflect upon the length of time which the one region of Brazil
has continued, I believe with undiminished quantity, to supply
modern Europe with its great mass of gold, the opening out
of a new El Dorado should teach us to be very cautious in
attempting to limit the auriferous capacity of the vast and
342 Gold Produce of Siberia.
slightly explored regions of Siberia. The north and south
counterparts of the great Altai, may in truth prove to be but
the indications of similar spurs, or detached meridian ridges,
which may be discovered in many other tracts of a region
equal in extent to the whole of Europe. From the researches
of the Russian engineers, and from Humboldt and his asso-
ciates, we learn that rocks similar to those which are so
auriferous in the Ural, reappear in various parallels of longi-
tude along the flanks of the Altai. By a recent letter, indeed,
from my friend Colonel Helmersen, the distinguished and
successful explorer of the Ural, Altai, and Siberia, I learn
that his former associate in these countries, Professor Hoff-
man, has, in his last visit of 1843, discovered a tract in
Siberia, in which the very richest gold occur in a ' terrain,'
exclusively composed of granite and metamorphic schists, the
gold being in the latter. Now in the Ural, as in other parts
of Siberia, greenstones, syenites, and serpentines, seem in-
variably to have been the agents by which the metamorphic
rocks have been rendered auriferous ; this discovery, there-
fore, widens the field of the gold-searchers, and opens out
great probable practical as well as theoretical results. In
truth, Siberia, and its adjacent regions, may be found to con-
tain another Brazil, where granite also is the great eruptive
agent of mineralization and metamorphism.
" Count Keyserling also assures me, in one of his letters,
that the discovery of M. Hoffman relates to an area larger than
France^ every part of which seems to be more or less auri-
ferous ; and all the subjacent rocks (palaeozoic schists and
limestones), when pounded up and analysed, affording a cer-
tain per-centage of gold. If this diffusion of gold through
the very matrix of rocks, which is, I may observe, a pheno-
menon hitherto almost unknown,* be really found to hold
good over so vast an area, it imparts a new and most impor-
tant element to our reasoning, and renders it vastly more
probable that no sort of limit can be set to the increase of
the produce of Russian gold. We know also, from our en-
* *^ In our travels in the Ural we learned, indeed, from General Anosoff
at Zlataust, that, by a searching analysis, gold had been discovered dis-
seminated in the matrix of some of the limestones south of Miask."
Gold Produce of Siberia. 34S
terprising medallist, Adolph Erman, that palseozoic, eruptive,
and metamorphic rocks, similar to those of the Altai and
the Ural, extend even to the Alden mountains,* not far from
the shores opposite Kamtschatka ; and if so, why 6iay they
not contain the same minerals ? Again, we are told by Hel-
mersen and others, that some of the southern offsets from
the Altai, which extend into China, are auriferous ; and one
of them, the Tar-Bagatai, the northern part of which is in
the Russian territory, has already proved highly productive.
The last fact is of very great importance ; for the Celestial
Empire, which has only just now been partially opened out
to European enterprize, may very probably (and I have strong
reasons to think that the same classes of rock extend through
Chinese Tartary) prove to be another golden region like
Siberia. Even in our own Hindostan, auriferous veins and
deposits, as yet, it is true, of no great value, are known at
various points from north and south, and have recently met
with a good describer in Lieutenant Newbold, who strongly
urges their further and more scientific exploration ; t whilst
we have yet to learn, whether, in the progress of civilization,
the gold tracts of South Carolina may not afford consider-
able additions to the metallic wealth of the New World.
" But, reverting to Northern Asia, how are we to limit
our anticipations of the augmentation of such produce, when
it is a fact, that within the last few years only, a tenth por-
tion of the earth's surfjice (Chinese Tartary and Siberia)
has been, for the first time, made known to us as in many
parts auriferous, and when from one portion of it only
Europe is already supplied with so very large an amount of
her chief circulating medium 1 Well, therefore, may political
economists now beg for knowledge at the hands of the phy-
M. Adolph Erman has made the bold effort to colour geologically
large portions of Siberia, and the whole of Kamtschatka, under the title
of *' Geognostische Skizze von Nord Asien." — {Archiv fur Russland.
Berlin, vol. ii.) The more recent travels of M. Middendorf shew the
extension of the same eruptive and metamorphosed palasozoic rocks
from Nertchinsk to the Stanovi mountains, and to the Shantar Isles m
the sea of Okhotsk. — See Sir R. I. Murchison's Anniversary Address to
the Royal Geographical Society-, May 1845.
t Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1843, p. 203.
344 Sir R. I. Murchison on the
sical geographer and geologist, and learn from them the
secret on which the public faith of empires may depend." —
Bussia and the Ural Mountains, vol. i., p. 648. By Sir Bode-
rick Impey Murchison.
Habitation and Destruction of the Mammoths, By Sir R. I.
Murchison, F.R.S., &c.
Habitation of Mammoths and their Destruction — Similar Mammoth
Burial in Western Europe — Siberian Entombment of Mammoths
British Analogies — Conditions of Mammoth Burial explained —
Views of L^ ell, Humboldt, and Owen — Ancient Geography of Si-
beria— Bemote Age of the N, Courses of the Great Siberian
Streams — Elevation of Siberia, and End of Mammoth Period —
Fossil Quadrupeds of European Bussia — Mammoth Clay Drift
at Taganrog — Whether Extinct Bos Urus and Living Aurochs
are the same ? — If so, its Preservation explained — Subject of
Great Fossil Mammalia concluded.
Though mammoths occur in certain quantities on the flanks
of the Ural, thus leading us to believe, that when alive they
inhabited the tract where their skeletons are entombed, it
must be recollected, that as, by other proofs, we have already
endeavoured to shew the comparatively recent elevation of
the Ural crest, this region cannot be looked upon as having
been rendered highly mountainous, until the very period
when great numbers of these animals were destroyed, — a
destruction which we believe to have been mainly accom-
plished when the present watersheds between Europe and
Asia were determined. Let us suppose, then, that the mam-
moths and their associates ranged over these hills when they
formed the elevated edge of an eastern continent. Further,
let it be assumed (and this, indeed, is quite in accordance
with the physical features of this region), that the greater
number of the broad depressions which are now filled with
auriferous and mammoth detritus, were then occupied by
lakes, in the grounds around which these extinct quadrupeds
had long lived, and into whose shores or bottoms their bones
had been washed for ages, and we shall then have before us
the conditions which will best explain the Uralian phenome-
non. No one can observe what the Russian miner has ac-
complislied, by damming up the existing rivers, and thus
forming artificial lakes in every sinuous tract in which ores
Habitation and Destruction of the Mammoths. 345
are worked, without being naturally led to the idea which we
suggest, that larger and deeper lakes were formerly in exist-
ence,— lakes, in fact, which in still more primeval times fed
the great rivers that washed the Permian detritus to the sea
then existing upon the west. Granting these premises, all
the relations of the Uralian mammoth alluvia may, it appears
to us, be rationally explained ; for in some of the most vio-
lent movements of elevation which gave rise to the present
central watershed, we may readily conceive how, their bar-
riers being broken down, these lacustrine waters were poured
off, and how their sliingly bottoms and shores, already con-
taining bones of mammoths, were desiccated and raised up
into the irregular mounds which now constitute the aurifer-
ous alluvia. The very nature of the auriferous shingle, with
its subangular fragments, so completely resembles the detri-
tus of lakes, and it is so unlike the gravel formed on the
shore of seas, that independent of the entire absence of any
marine remains whatever of tertiary or recent age^ all along
the immediate eastern flank of the Ural mountains, we have
no hesitation in believing, that the gold detritus was accu-
mulated during a terrestrial and lacustrine condition of the
surface. One fact only which we have mentioned seems, at
first sight, to militate against this view, viz., the deeply
eroded surfaces of some the palaeozoic rocks. But, however
these appearances may have been produced, it is manifest
they could not have resulted from the denuding action of the
same water in which the shingly and slightly rounded angu-
lar detritus was formed. Such abraded surfaces may, to a
great extent, have been produced, at periods long anterior
to that of which we are now treating, and when the edges of
the palaeozoic strata, first emerging from beneath the sea, left
their irregular and water- worn surfaces to be filled with ter-
restrial and lacustrine deposits of after days.
In some cases, however, the denuding and abrading power
of waters, produced both by the bursting of lakes and the
change in the direction of the currents, must have been very
considerable, for such alone would account for several of the
appearances we have spoken of, and the transport of large
vol.. XL. NO. LXXX. — APRIL 1846. 7i
346 Sir R. I. Murchison on the
blocks and enormous pepites of gold into broad lateral de-
pressions.
In proposing a lacustrine entombment for the Uralian
mammals, we are borne out by the constant position of thick
masses of silt and clay overlying the coarser shingle. If the
deposits had been submarine — even if no traces of shells
were visible, there might have been some indications of the
action of the waters — some appearance of a coast line ; but
nowhere can the geologist imagine such a former state,
whilst the superposition of the clay to the shingle is best ex-
plained on the hypothesis of formation, under lacustrine or
broad fluviatile conditions, which eventually assumed a tran-
quil character. Such, in fact, are precisely the cases of the
great valleys of the Rhine and the Danube ; and just as we
have imagined that the mammoth lived in those Uralian
tracts, when the adjacent parts of Siberia were occupied by
lakes, so do we suppose that the like animals, whose bones
are found, both in the coarse shingle of the Rhine, and in the
overlying loss near Baden-Baden, once lived upon the grounds
which now constitute the Black Forest, and adjacent alpine
tracts, whence the detritus has been derived. With evi-
dences of internal lakes and ancient rivers, in which the
bones of some of its ancient quadrupeds were lodged. Great
Britain, though evidently also the abode of mammoths, is
distinguished from the Ural and Siberia, in exhibiting around
its coasts, and even far into the interior, the proofs of the
abode of the sea or marine estuaries during long periods.
But we now return to the Ural. A former terrestrial sur
face on which the great quadrupeds lived for long ages, and
the rupture and desiccation of adjacent lakes, coincident with
some of the last elevations of the chain, will, we are con-
vinced, best explain the condition in which the remains of
the mammoths are left buried on the edges of the uplifted
ridges of the Ural, as well as in the low lands and great
estuaries farthest removed from them. In the depressions
at the very foot of the chain, the mammoth skeletons are
broken up, and their bones, together with those of Bhinoce-
ro8 tichorhinus and Bos Urus^ are rudely commingled in the
coarse shingle derived from the mountains, or in the clay
Habitation and Desfructioti of the Mammoths. 347
above it. In proportion, however, as we advance into the
plains of Siberia, or descend into the valley of the Tobol and
the Obe, or their affluents, these bones increase in quantity,
and are at the same time in much better conservation. Even
in the flat country of Siberia, about thirty versts eastward of
our excursion on the Issetz (see p. 366), Pallas mentions the
occurrence of teeth, vertebrae, and bones of mammoth, and
remains of fossil ox, as having been found abundantly by the
peasants at several localities near Tamakulsk, and the source
and banks of the little streams Atish Suvarish, both tribu-
taries of the Issetz. He also gives (from the informa-
tion he received) a detailed account of the order in which
various beds of sand and clay there succeed to each other,
and in which sharks' teeth and palates of fishes also occur.
Hence he concludes that the beds in which the bones were
found formed the bottom of an argillaceous sea ; and that
certain sandy, micaceous materials, in superior beds, were
washed down from the mountains. Now, we cannot for a
moment suppose that the great naturalist could have been
mistaken in the marine character of the fish remains ; but,
as he did not visit the spot himself,* there may still be some
doubt that the mammoths' bones occur in the very same beds
with the fossil wood, sharks' teeth, &c. ; for these, we appre-
hend, must certainly belong to the tertiary deposits of clay,
sand, lignite, and millstone grit, of which we took leave at
Kaltchedansk, and which appear to extend widely into Siberia.
That deposit is, we must think, of higher antiquity than the
detrital accumulations which enclose the mammotlis. How-
ever this may be, the further the Siberian rivers are followed
towards their mouths, the more, we repeat, do the mammalian
remains increase,t until at length whole skeletons have been
found entire, some with all the flesh and hair adherent. Un-
* Pallas derived his information respecting the order of the beds and
the position of the remains at and near Tamakulsk, from Colonel Bibikoff,
director of the Forge Kamensk. (See Vol. II., p. 392, French Edition,
1793.)
t Sujeflf, the associate of Pallas, found these mammalian remains ia
great abundance on the banks of the Obe, near the mouth of the Pitti-
arski, and 150 versts south of Berezof. (Pallas, vol. iv., p. 50.)
348 Sir R. I. Murchison on the
willing, as we always were, to adopt the idea of Cuvier, and
other eminent geologists, that entire mammoths, with their
skin, were killed and preserved by a sudden change of climate,
we now distinctly advocate the views of Lyell and Humboldt,
that these creatures were the denizens of countries near to
which their bones are found.*
The single fact of the very wide diffusion of mammoth
bones over the surface of such enormous regions of the earth,
would in itself lead us to believe, that those creatures had
really been long inhabitants of such countries, living and
dying there for ages, whilst their final destruction may have
resulted from aqueous debacles dependent on oscillations of
the land, the elevation of ridges, and the formation of much
local detritus. In the case of the extinct species of carni-
vora, it has been happily and successfully shewn by Dr Buck-
land, that for long ages they inhabited the caves of the British
Islands. Again, in low tracts of Yorkshire, where tranquil
lacustrine deposits have occurred, there bones (even those of
the lion) have been found so perfectly unbroken and unworn
in the fine gravel in which they are heaped up (as at Market
Weighton),"!" that few persons would be disposed to deny.
* For some time, the frozen mammoth found by Adams, and deposited
in the Imperial Museum at St Petersburg, was an unique specimen.
Since then, two other examples have been reported, and one of these is,
we are informed by Mr Frears, on the point of arriving at the Museum
of Moscow. The conservation of the skin is, indeed, not peculiar to the
mammoth, but also applies to the Rhinoceros Tichorhinns, portions of
whose skin and hair are still adherent to the bones of a fine specimen of
that animal, preserved in the Museum of Natural History at St Peters-
burg, and deposited there by Pallas. On referring personally to Baron
Humboldt, since the publication of his work on Central Asia, he expressed
his opinion, that the perfect conservation of the skin, mustachios, and
whole body of Prince MenzikofF, buried 100 years ago in Siberia, and
accidentally disinterred, ought to satisfy us respecting the conservation
of the mammoth, by simple reference to the climate of that country.
t The researches of the Rev. W. V. Harcourt, and of Mr H. E. Strick-
land, are most important in shewing (the former at Market Weighton,
the latter at Cropthorne on the Avon) the coexistence of the mammoth^
Bos Urus, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, lion, bear, tiger, hyaena, deer, &c^
(all of species distinct from those in existence), with land and fresh water
shells, nearly all of which are identical with species now living in Britain ;
Habitation and Destruction of the Mammotha. 349
that such feline, and other animals, once roamed over th'e
British Isles,' as well as other European countries. Why,
then, is it improbable, that large elephants, with a peculiarly
thick integument, a close coating of wool, and much long
shaggy hair, should have also been the occupants of wide
tracts of Northern Europe and Asia ^* At one time, it was
deemed expedient to imagine a sudden fall of temperature,
in order to account for the peculiar conservation of these
creatures, by which they were supposed to have been at once
frozen up in the mud into which they had been washed, or
the morasses into which they had sunk.
The discovery, indeed, of a Bhinoceros tichorhinushy Pallas,
with its skin and flesh adherent, upon the banks of the Vilgni,
a tributary of the Lena (a portion of this rhinoceros, with
the skin and hair adherent to the sides of the head, are
now to be seen in the Museum of Natural History at
St Petersburg), and still more, the subsequent acquisition
of the entire carcase of a mammoth, on the banks of
the Lena, in lat. 70° N., by Mr Adams, the details relating to
which have been so fully given by geologists of all countries,
naturally, indeed, led to such ideas. Convinced by their per-
fect preservation, that these animals must have lived in or
near the countries where their bones are found, Cuvier de-
clared it to be his opinion, that they must have disappeared
by a revolution, which at once destroyed all the individuals,
accompanied by a sudden change of climate.
In England, this view was very ably sustained by Dr Buck-
land, and particularly in his memoir on the fossil remains
which occur in Eschscholtz Bay, and other places on the east
side of Behring's Straits,+ where vast quantities of mam-
thus proving, that no very great change of climate has taken place since
these animals were contemporaneous. (See Proceedings of the Geolo-
gical Society, 1834, Silurian System, p. 554, and Phil. Mag., September
1829 and January 1830.)
* This coating, Dr Fleming has well remarked, was probably as im-
penetrable to rain and cold as that of the musk ox of the Polar Circle.
Edin. New Phil. Journal, No. 12, p. 285.
t See Beechy's Voyage to the Pacific, vol. ii.. Appendix, p. 593.
Besides the abundant remains of mammoths, Dr Buckland describes those
350 Sir R. I. Murchison on the
moths' bones occur in mud cliffs, apparently similar to those
of the mouths of the Lena, and other great rivers in Northern
Siberia. So long as geologists were compelled to argue upon
the nature and habits of the mammoth, as if it were similar
to an Asiatic elephant, the opinions of such great masters
were necessarily dominant. Mr Lyell had, however, the
courage to lead the way in taking a new and highly philo-
sophic view of the subject, by suggesting, that the peculiar
covering of these great mammals rendered them fit inhabit-
ants of a northern climate, and that no greater catastrophes
were required to account for their destruction, than the gra-
dual elevation of large masses of Siberia, which, laying dry
the low shores and estuaries into which their bones had
been washed, would necessarily render the climate much
more intensely cold.*
But, even if it be admitted that the climate must have
been more mild when mammoths lived than at the present
day, there still occurred the obvious difficulty, that without
some entire change in the nature of its vegetation, of which
the surface of Siberia offers no indications, by no possi-
bility could a great phyllophagous, or branch-eating animal,
like the true elephants (which require rich Asiatic jungles
for their sustenance), have lived in a region of fir-trees, birch,
willows, and moss. Comparative anatomy and physiology
have here, however, fortunately come to the assistance of
the geologist ; and in this, as in many other of his darkest
paths, have been his surest beacons. Examining and com-
paring the composite structure of the very numerous teeth
of the mammoth, Professor Owen has ascertained that they
possess a peculiarity in the greater portion of the dense
of Bos Unis, deer and horse. They occur in cliffs of mud and sand,
about 90 feet high, which are usually much congealed and frozen.
* There is no portion of Mr Lyell's speculations upon ancient physi-
cal geography which has impressed us with greater respect for his talents,
than his view of the adaptation of the mammoths to a residence in the
former Siberia ; and we rejoice that the geological evidences we have
brought to bear upon the question essentially sustain his inference. See
Lyell's Principles of Geology, 4to ed., vol. i., pp. 141, 150, et seq., where
the whole question is discussed with reference to Dr Fleming, and other
zoologists.
Habitation and Beatr action of the Mammoths. 351
enamel which essentially distinguishes them from the teeth
of the Asiatic or African elephant, and which specially pro-
vided the mammoth with the means of subsisting upon the
coarser ligneous tissues of trees and shrubs. In short, this
great zoological authority, combining the consideration of
the peculiar structure of their teeth with the nature of their
epidermis and coverings, has come to the conclusion that
the mammoth was, by its very organization, a meet compa-
nion for the reindeer and other inhabitants of the north.*
Applying the views of Humboldt, we might well admit,
tliat the rise of the Ural and Altai mountains, and, with
them, of enormous masses of the continent of Asia, must
have so refrigerated Siberia, that its forests, which, in the
halcyon days of mammoths, may have extended in certain
promontories to near the Icy Sea, had necessarily shrunk
back to their present limits, and left these coasts entirely to
the reindeer and its mosses. But to require our belief that
the mammoth ever lived in the northernmost tracts of Siberia
is uncalled for, since geologists well know that the wide and
low tracts of northern Siberia, in which its remains are most
abundant, were then evidently beneath the sea ; and the bones
must have been drifted thither, and possibly for some dis-
tance.t Yet if we suppose that these animals lived on certain
lands, as in the Ural and the north trending chains, up to
60° and 65° N. lat. (which facts and physical conditions war-
rant), we are still indebted to Professor Owen for having
removed the greatest of all the difficulties which previously
environed the problem ; since there is no longer any objection
to the mammoth being an inhabitant even of the Arctic circle,
provided (and there are still such examples in Europe), fir-
trees and shrub-like vegetables could exist in such latitudes.
From the physical structure of the region, we are, indeed,
entitled to suppose, that not only the Ural and Altai moun-
tains, but also their advanced northern ridges and plateaux
(a half or two-thirds of Siberia), formerly constituted a
* See Owen's History of British Fossil Mammalia and Birds, 1844,
p. 261, et seq,
t Marine remains were found by Pallas, associated with mammoths'
bones, in numerous places, and about 70° N. lat.
352 Sir R. 1. Murchison on the
region covered with forests, like those of the Ural, in some
parts, and with brushwood steppes in others, from which
whole herds of mammoths, as suggested by Mr Lyell, would
naturally migrate in the summers (even now intensely hot)
to the embouchures of the great streams and edges of the then
Arctic sea. Such might have been, we may add, the posi-
tion and condition of some of these creatures at the periods
when, as we have imagined, the highest ridges of the Ural
were thrown up, followed by the rupture of many lakes, and
the consequent inundation of large tracts of the flat country,
previously frequented by these great herbivorous animals.
During their long occupancy of these lands, myriads of
their carcases must, doubtless, have been washed down by
the rivers, and buried in local mud and alluvium — in such po-
sitions, in fact, as they are found along the banks of the
Sosva and the tributaries of the Obe, before alluded to.
Others, reaching the mouths of the streams, may easily
have been transported into the estuaries, and even, by the
power of such volumes of water as are poured forth into
the glacial ocean by the Obe, the Yenisei, and the Lena,
borne out far to sea, and there lodged in former mud banks,
which now constitute the shores of New Siberia, where
thousands of bones of these mammals are interred.* If
the power of drifting the bodies of animals to great distances
be assigned to any rivers (and mariners have seen floating
carcases in the ocean very far removed from the lands from
whence they came), in no part of the world is it more pro-
bable that such operations may have been carried on upon
a gigantic scale, than from the northern shores of Siberia,
where such enormous rivers must have continuously extend-
ed their influence to several degrees of latitude beyond their
mouths, and where the nature of the climate is singularly
favourable to the conservation of animal substances.
And here let us say a word more on the ancient physical
geography of this region. Such as are the present north-
* See Admiral Wrangel's Voyage for a description of the sands and
mud of the " Tundra" (evidently all ancient marine sediment), in which
the mammoth bones are found on the continent, including his companion,
Anjou's, account of their enoraious quantity in the isles of New Siberia.
(English edition, translated by Mrs Sabine.)
Habitation and Destruction of the Mammoths. 353
flowing courses of the great Siberian rivers, such, we affirm,
they must have been from the very earliest periods — from
the time, in short, when the palseozoic rocks constituting the
Altai and Ural mountains, and their dependencies, were
raised into dry lands, never more to be depressed beneath the
waters of the ocean. Infinitely the loftiest and the grandest
of these chains, the Altai, with its snowy peaks (yet void of
glaciers), ranging from west to east, is the great southern
watershed from whence the Siberian rivers must, we say,
have flowed from south to north during long ages, whilst the
peculiarity of all the great counter-forts or advanced ridges
of that mighty chain, consists in their being composed of
palaeozoic, metamorphic, and igneous rocks, which equally
extend from south to north in a number of long, low, meri-
dian, parallel ridges. These north and south ridges, of
which the Ural is the westernmost, thus encase each river,
and, preventing its flexure to the east and west, have neces-
sarily determined its course to the glacial ocean, from epochs
long anterior to the creation of a mammoth.
Looking to their low altitude above the sea, their muddy
and sandy composition, and also to the discovery by Pallas
of marine remains in many of them, we must believe that
all the low promontories between the Obe, the Yenisei,* and
the Lena, which lie northwards of the ancient ridges and
plateaux, were under the waters and estuaries at the periods
when the mammoths ranged over the Ural, the Altai, and
the adjacent regions of Siberia, then above the sea-t Such
* We write Yenisei, like all other Russian words, as it is pronounced.
The German J, as used by Pallas and the early German explorers of dis-
tant parts of Russia, has, unluckily, found its way into all English maps.
Pallas states, that the fossil bones which fall from the high cliffs of the
Yenisei, opposite Krasnoyarsk, are so numerous, that, on decomposing,
they form a substance which he calls " Osteocolle." (Vol. iv., p. 443.
Fr. Ed. See also Appendix to iJeechey's Voyage.)
t The definition of the outlines of the land and sea during the
mammoth period, or the extent to which marine estuaries entered into
the continent of Siberia, including possibly even a separation of the
Ural from the Altai, can alone be determined by the united labours of
many observers. If the data of Pallas respecting the grounds on the
lower region of the Issetz river, which is covered with black eaxth, may
364 Sir R. I. Murchisoii on the
of these creatures as were entombed in masses of tenacious
clay at the mouths of these estuaries, would necessarily
be preserved almost intact, whilst the desiccation and ele-
vation of such mud banks, accompanied by an increase of
cold, due to the raising up of a large terrestrial surface
like Siberia, would thoroughly well account for the occa-
sional conservation of their thick hides, and much of their
animal matter.
Whether, then, we argue from the evidences presented to
us in the Ural chain and its flanks, from the ancient geogra-
phy of Siberia, or from the natural history of the mammoths,
and their adaptation to existence in the same parallels of
latitude as those in and near which they are now found, we
can, it appears to us, arrive at no other conclusions than those
which we have endeavoured to sustain ; and which, in fact,
do not imply, even as great an oscillation of land within this
comparatively modern period, as would be required to ex-
plain the surface phenomena of most other parts of Europe
with which we are acquainted. In truth, the uprising of
Siberia " en masse" to the height of one or two hundred feet
above its general level, when mammoths lived, will amply
suffice to explain both the desiccation of its northern shores
into the mud of which the fossil terrestrial remains had been
washed, and the increased cold over that vast mass of con-
tinental land.
In the mean time, we may repeat, that, whether discovered
in the gravelly detritus or clay on either flank of the Ural,
in the high banks of the great streams which respectively
flow into Asia and Europe, or in still greater quantities on
the sides of the estuaries of the great Siberian rivers upon the
glacial ocean ; in all cases, we find the mammoths entombed
in materials, which, whether coarse lucustrine shingle near
the mountains, or mud and sand at a distance from them, all
announce, in the most emphatic manner, that these great
not also have been under an arm of the sea at that period. At the same
time, we think that the granitic hills between Miask and Troitsk and
the chain of Kara-Edir-tau, both of which are destitute of any traces
of marine sediment, must have then been above the waters.
Habitation and Destruction of the Mammoths. 355
creatures lived in lands adjacent to lakes and estuaries, in
which, during long ages, their bones were interred, and were
sometimes carried out to sea, and commingled with oceanic
remains.
Though we now take leave of the Ural chain, we will ter-
minate the subject which occupies us, by giving a brief ab-
stract sketch of the manner in which the great extinct mam-
mals are distributed over European Russia.
Foasil Quadrupeds of Russia in Europe. — Far from being
peculiar to the Ural mountains and Siberia, the remains of
mammoths, and other lost quadrupeds, have been found over
very considerable regions of Russia in Europe. Pallas had
long ago mentioned several localties where such mammalian
remains have been observed. Though we ourselves are ac-
quainted with situations in which they have been found, in
the governments of Moscow, Vladimir, Perm, &;c. ; we best
know them through the collections formed in the Imperial
Museum of Natural History of Moscow, where, under the
auspices and direction of our venerable friend Dr Fischer,
they have obtained a just celebrity.
In Russia, as in every other great region which has been
examined, the races of lost mammals present some types
which connect her former lands with those of other coun-
tries, associated with forms which are peculiar to her. Thus,
whilst, in common with America, Russia contains the Mam-
moth and Mastodon ; and in common with Britain, the Elephas
prirnijeniust Rhinoceros tichorinus^ Trogontherium^ beaver,
bear, elk, &c., she once possessed generic forms, as Meryco-
therium and Elasmotherium, which have hitherto been found
elsewhere. Russia is, indeed, as peculiar in her possessions
of the latter extraordinary pachyderm as South America is
for the Mylodon and Glyptodon.'^
* The geological position of Lophiodon Sibericum, which is stated to have
been found in a calcareous formation in the government of Orenburg, is
doubtful ; if it be miocene or eocene, it accords with the beds containing
Lophiodon in Continental Europe and England. Elasmotherium may be
said to be as peculiar to Russia as Mylodon, &c. to South America ; but
356 Sir R. I. Murchison on the
The lost races of mammals which have been detected in
Russia in Europe are found, we have said, in exactly the
same sort of detritus as that in which they occur in the flat
northern tracts of Siberia, or near the mouths of its great
rivers. In all the central and southern parts of European
Russia, there are no high ridges of elevation, and, conse-
quently, no coarse local detritus, like that on the flanks of the
Ural, so that the mammoth alluvium assumes the same
aspect as in the distant plains of Siberia, where it is equally
removed from disturbing causes. Here, however, it is equally
evident, that such alluvium has been the result of currents of
water, for it is piled up, and often tumultuously, in great
thicknesses, and constitutes the chief banks of most of the
streams, as well as the covering of numerous plateaux. Oc-
casionally, indeed, the coarser clay drift passes upwards into
flnely levigated silt, which, in certain tracts, may be repre-
sented by the rich black earth or tchornozem, of which we
shall treat at some length in the last chapter. In illustra-
ting the ordinary character of the mammoth alluvia of
European Russia, we cannot, perhaps, do better than cite the
example of Taganrog, because, exceedingly remote from the
regions we have been considering, and, indeed, from any
mountains, it there forms the summit of abrupt cliffs on the
Sea of Azof, its relations to the underlying strata being well
exposed. This mammoth drift is just as completely separated
from any deposit resulting from existing agency, as the auri-
ferous detritus and coarse clay on the sides of the Ural hills,
or as the high mud-banks forming the cliffs of the great
Siberian rivers and estuaries, for it covers the whole of the
coast plateau, the present adjacent river Krinka, and the Sea
of Azof, being 100 feet beneath it. In truth, like similar
drift over wide spaces of Central and Southern Russia, it is
distributed at various levels, and most clearly indicates con-
we are informed by Professor Owen, that there are no existing analogues
in Siberia to illustrate the Elas mother ium, like the sloths and armadillos
of Soutli America, which explain the affinities of the Megatherian ani-
mals. See Professor Owen's most remarkable work on the Mylodon.
(4to, London, 1842.)
Habitation and Destruction of the Mammonths. 357
siderable submergence at the period when these animals were
destroyed. Such facts as to the nature and distribution of
the entombing materials which occupy cliffs high above the
low valleys, compel us to believe, that the greater part of this
low continent, unlike the Ural and the higher portions of Sibe-
ria, was not dry land during the existence of the mammoths,
or in the period immediately antecedent to our own 4 but
was then rather in the same subaqueous condition as the low
lands of northern Siberia, when the mammoths' bones were
there transported into estuaries. Hence, we think, that
many of the mammalian remains to which we now allude, may
have been transported into adjacent lakes and estuaries by
rivers ; and, in some instances, carried out great distances
to sea from the surrounding lands ; the Ural (including a
large tract of Permia) and Siberia on the east, the Crimaea*
and Caucasus on the south, or the Carpathian mountains on
the west.
But, besides these former encompassing lands, there are
certain tracts within Russia, which, though now of no great
altitude, are so exempt from debris and drift, that it is natural
to infer they may have formed low islets in the ancient
waters which covered the great mass of the present lands.
This view we would support by an illustration drawn from
natural history and the nature of the ground.
Of all the remarkable quadrupeds which ranged over con-
tinents, one species only now remains alive (and this point
even is doubtful)! to connect the historic era, or the pre-
* See Demidoff, Voyage dans la Russie Meridionale, vol. ii. The
reader will there find an account of the remains of bones of mammoth,
bos, Ursus spelceusj horse, &c., as interred in a reddish coloured argilla-
ceous drift near Odessa ( Terrain Clysmien), which covers the surface, and
enters into the clefts of the subjacent tertiary or steppe limestone. M.
Huot, the author of that description, refers this deposit to lacustrine
waters. He also found the Mastodon anpmtidms associated with the
mammoth at Kamisch Burun, near Kertch. These animals lived, of
course, in the adjacent high grounds of the Caucasus and Crimsea (see
our remarks thereon, p. 304.)
t Notwithstanding the deep interest attached to the Bos Aurochs^ which
may, we suppose, prove to be the only existing remnant of the great
358 Sir R. I. Miirchison on the
sent outline of the land with that which preceded it. This is
the Bos Urus (^Aurochs) or primeval ox, whose bones are so
frequently associated with those of the mammoth in different
parts of Russia and many parts of Europe. But if the
species be the same, how has this exception been made, and
how have herds of these oxen been preserved in a living
state \ Looking at the forest of Bialavieja* in Lithuania as
quudrupeds of former days, there does not exist a single skeleton or
stuffed specimen of the species either in France or the British Isles. As
far as England is concerned, this reproach is about to be removed
through the munificence of the Emperor Nicholas, who, at the request
of Mr Murcliison (graciously supported by his Imperial Highness the
Grand Duke Michael), has directed that a fine animal, selected from the
unique herd now living in the forest called Bialavieja, should be killed,
and his skin and skeleton sent to the museum of the Royal College of
Surgeons. It may not be known, that without a stringent ukase to pro-
hibit its annihilation, the peasantry of Lithuania would long ago have
exterminated this noble species. Though we have been led to believe
in the specific identity of this Lithuanian Aurochs with the extinct Urus
{Urus priscus of Bojanus and V. Meyer), that opinion is not generally
admitted. But we may hope that the question will be set at rest, as
soon as Professor Owen has the means of testing it. If the living Auroclis
be the real descendant of the great fossil animal, it might, judging from
the usual difference of size, be considered to have degenerated ; though
in the Museum at Warsaw, where we have seen three specimens which
are there preserved, one of them is nearly double the size of the other
two. We ourselves procured a very remarkable front and horns of the
Bos AurocJtFj found in the gravel west of Perm, with mammoth's teeth,
and M. Hommaire de Hell, also, found a fine head of the same in the
steppes between the Sea of Azof and the Caspian.
* Count V. Krasinski, the author of the " History of the Reformation
in Poland," prepared, at the request of our friend Colonel Jackson, a
very interesting account of this forest and its inhabitants, from which we
extract the following data. The forest of Bialawieza (Bialavieja) is in
the government of Grondno on the river Narevka, and lying between the
towns of Orla, Shereshef, and Prujany, occupies a space of about 29
German, or 14.5 English square miles. Having been an ancient hunting
ground of the kings of Poland, it has been preserved in its wildest pris-
tine state. The Aurochs (Ziibr in the Polish language) was always pecu-
liar to Lithuania, if not to this vet-y forest. According to the earliest re-
cords, it was clearly distinguished from the native wild ox or Tur (an
animal possibly similar to the wild ox of Chillingham in Northumber-
Habitation and Destruction of the Mammoths. 359
the only locality in which this species now exists, and seeing
that it is not far from the edge of the southern granitic
steppe, we cannot avoid theorizing on a contingency by which
some of these creatures may possibly" have been preserved.
That granitic steppe, the rocks of which we know to be of the
highest antiquity, since they have even afforded materials for
the construction of some adjacent silurian strata, is in many
parts so completely devoid of all superficial covering, and so
entirely differs, in that respect, from the thickly overspread
tracts upon its north and south, as to justify the inference
that it was never depressed beneath the waters since the
beginning of palaeozoic era, but escaped the submersions
which affected all the surrounding regions of Russia in
Europe. Some individuals of the Bos Urus may therefore, we
conceive, have been dwellers in this granitic ridge, until the
retirement of the surrounding waters enabled them, or their
descendants, to repeople the new jungles and forests of the
fresh formed ground ; and thus we could explain, by reason-
ing from geological appearances, how it happens that they
are now found living in the forests of Lithuania. Attaching,
however, no great value to this speculation, which may prove
useless, if the living species is found to be different from the
extinct, we leave it to naturalists to say. whether, under cir-
cumstances of great and probably sudden change of land and
water ; and other difficulties dependent on a limited subsis-
tence, the Aurochs or Zubr of Lithuania was not, from his ac-
tivity and hardy habits, more likely to have survived such
oscillations, than his unwieldy associates, the mammoth,
mastodon, and rhinoceros.
In terminating the subject of the entombment and dis-
land), which appears to have been much more common, even in the
sixteenth century, than the Znhr or Aurochs. An ancient picture in the
possession of the last King of Poland, represents King Ladislaus Jajellem
presenting a live zubr to the fathers of the Council of Constance I thus
proving that it was very rare in the beginning of the fifteenth century.
(See also Mem. Descrip. sur la Foret de Bialavneza par le Baron de
Brinnen ; published at Warsaw in 1828, at which time, it was believed,
that 875 heads of Zubrs were still living in the forest.)
060 Sir R. I. Murchison on the
persion of the great races of Mammalia, we may remind onr
readers, that in our endeavours to point out the ancient physi-
cal geographical features of the Ural Mountains, and the ad-
jacent tracts of Siberia, geological proofs have been adduced
to shew, that a vast portion of that region having been en-
tirely exempt from all oceanic influence during ancient periods
of long duration, was thereby eminently qualified to be the
residence of such animals during the whole of their existence.
It has further been proved, that the production of gold veins,
and the elevations of the Ural, which have given to these
mountains their present height and relief, are phenomena of
a comparatively recent date, — phenomena which, in lowering
the temperature of the great region so affected, were, we
have little doubt, the chief causes of the final destruction of
the mammoths, which, with all their adaptation to existence
in northern latitudes, could scarcely be supposed to have been
capable of long enduring the want of sustenance incident to
Siberian winters of the present period.
When we turn from the great Siberian continent, which,
anterior to its elevation, was their chief abode, and look to
other parts of Europe where their remains also occur, how
remarkable is it. that we find the number of these creatures
to be justly proportionate to the magnitude of the ancient
masses of land which the labours of geologists have defined !
Take the British Isles for example, and let all their low
recently elevated districts be submerged ; let, in short, Eng-
land be viewed as the comparatively small island she was,
when the ancient estuary of the Thames, including the plains
of Hyde Park, Chelsea, Hounslow, and Uxbridge, were under
the waters, — when the Severn extended far into the heart of
the kingdom, and large eastern tracts of the island were
submerged, and there will then remain but moderate sized
feeding grounds for the great quadrupeds whose bones are
found in the gravel of the adjacent rivers and estuaries.
This limited area of subsistence could necessarily only keep
up a small stock of such animals ; and just as we might expect,
the remains of British mammoths occur in very small numbers
indeed, when compared with those of the great charnel-houses
in Siberia, into which their bones had been carried down
Habitation and Destruction of the Mammoths. 3GX
during countless ages, from the largest mass of surface
which geological inquiries have yet shewn to have been dry
land during that epoch.
In treating this subject, we have been gradually led on to
speculate on features which connect the former with the
present surface of a large portion of the earth, and have
little other reference to submarine conditions, than the
elevation into land of the bottoms of estuaries and sea-shores
on the edge of that continent. In the next chapter, however,
we must entirely change the scene, by returning to the con-
sideration of Russia in Europe, nearly the whole of whose
superficies presents phenomena of a very different class, which,
we shall endeavour to shew, can alone have been produced
by very powerful currents and long-continued submersion
under the waters of the sea, — phenomena which, we think,
prevailed during the period when the great mammalia were
the inhabitants of Siberia and certain southern tracts to which
we have alluded.
P,S. — It may seem remarkable, that in a region like Rus-
sia, so extensively tenanted by bears, when first reclaimed
by man, we should scarcely have alluded to their occurrence
during a former condition of the surface. Their bones, how-
ever, have been found, as well as those of horses, elks, and
many other animals, on whose remains we have not thought
it necessary to expatiate, as they are mere repetitions of a
phenomenon common to other parts of Europe. Judging
from the analogy of other countries, where the bones of the
Ursus speleeus have usually been found in rocky caverns, it
is evident, that, from the nature of her surface, Russia in
Europe offers very few spots where the geologist might hope
to find them. We have, however, alluded to caverns in the
Ural Mountains and Siberia (the caves of Yermac on the
Tchussovaya, and others on the Issetz, pp. 365 and 368),
which being in positions far above the highest floods, and on
precipitous faces of palaeozoic limestone, would, if explored
by some Russian Buckland, afi*ord, we have little doubt, the
remains of extinct animals. — Bussia and the Ural Mountains,
vol. i. p. 492. Bj/ SirBoderick Impey Murchison, Edouard de
Verneuily and Count Alexander von Key ser ling.
VOL. XL. NO. LXXX.— APRIL 1846. 2 A
( 362 )
A Table of the Mean Temperature of the Air at Auckla>nd, during the
Years 1840-1-2-3, and 1844.*
Years.
Hours of the day.
{Septemher
October. . . .
November.
(December .
January .
February .
{March ....
April ....
May
{June
July
August ....
Mean of the Year
1840-1.
57! 50
1841-2.
58° 20'
58° 20'
1842-3. 1843-4.
67° 40'
57° 23'
A Table shewing the Weather, enumeratiTig the Showery, Rainy, and
Dry Days, in the Years 1840-1-2-3, and 1844.
Years.
Seasons.
(September
October...,
November.
{December .
January .
February .
{March ....
April
May
(June
July
August ....
Relative proportions....
1840-1.
Sh. Rain Dry
7
9
19
10
10
113
53
13
21
12
25
17
20
20
18
17
9
12
16
200
1841-2.
Sh. Rain Dry
20
17
14
18
26
23
19
15 1
9'
15 I
13
15!
204
1842-3.
Sh. Rain Dry
9
19
8
3
9
6
2
17
5
6
16
10
110
42
17
10
17
24
22
20
28
13
21
18
9
14
213
1843-4.
Rain Dry
51
216
A Table of the Quantity of Rain that fell at Auckland, from September
1843 to Septemher 1844.
Mentha,..
SPRING.
SUMMER.
AUTUMN.
WINTER.
TOTAL.
Sept.
Oct.
Not.
Dec.
Jan.
Feb. 1 Mar.
April.
May.
Jnne.
July.
Ang.
Kain,
Inches
3.70
5.50
1.64
.81
.36
1.20
1.55
4.4S
1.97
3.10
4.82
2.50
30.64
Seasons
9.84
2.37
8.01
10.40
By making an allowance for absorption, as the Rain- Gauge employed is made
of painted wood, and also for evaporation, the quantity of rain that fell during
twelve months may be estimated at 31.50 inches. Dr J. Johnson.
♦ From Transactions of Auckland (New Zealand) Agricultural Societ/.
( 363 )
•se
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364
Meteorological Tables.
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The Meteorology of Whitehaven.
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C^ C^ (M 7'42 = 1
Protox. mang, 7*60 1*68 > 7*53 = 1 Protox. iron, 4-55)
Oxide zinc, 16-80 3-20) Thomson. Abich and Eckeberg.
To confirm this probable view, a new analysis of dysluite is required,
to shew the iron to be protoxide, as Dr Thomson (the only chemist
who has analysed this mineral) states it to be peroxide. — (American
Journal of Science and Arts, Vol. i., 2d Series, No. 1., p, 121.)
GEOLOGY.
24. M. A. Daubree on the High Temperature observed in a Pit
sunk at Neuffen, in Wurtemberg. — Of all the cases of increase of
temperature in deep excavations hitherto ascertained by means of
exact observation, the most rapid is that remarked by Count Man-
delslohe, in a pit sunk near NeufFen, in Wurtemberg. According
to the results given by him in Leonhard and Bronn's Jahrbuch for
1844, p. 440, the orifice of this pit is situated at a height of 1378 feet
(420 metres) above the level of the sea, and 1070 feet (326 metres) be-
low the plateau of the Alp of Wurtemberg, at the foot of which it is
situated. Its depth is 1263 feet (385 metres). The rocks in which it is
sunk consist, to a depth of 804 feet (245 metres) from the surface, of
bituminous black slates belonging to the inferior oolite ; but beyond
that depth, calcareous and marly beds of the lias are met with. The lat-
ter reach to the bottom of the pit, and, consequently, the beds of the
Keuper, which were the object of the excavation, have not been reached.
Observations were made, by means of Magnus' geothermometer, at
twelve points, between a depth of 98*5 feet (30 metres), and the
bottom, where the instrument indicated 101°-6 Fahr. (38°-7 Cent.).
The mean of all these observations, which harmonize very nearly,
gives an increase of 1^ Cent. = l°'8 Fahr. for 34-4 feet (10-5 me-
tres) of depth. This progression, which is at least three times more
rapid than that observed in most other countries, even exceeds, by
one degree Centigrade (l°-8 Fahr.) in 13 metres (42-6 feet) the pro-
gression observed at Monte Massi, in Tuscany, where the increase
was the greatest which has been well ascertained. The bottom of
the pit now under consideration is 114-8 feet (35 metres) above the
level of the sea. Without at present discussing the various other
circumstances, such as the presence of iron- pyrites in the slate,
which may have exercised a slight influence in producing this ano-
Scientific Intelligence — Geology. 385
maly, I would allude more particularly to the fact by which the
pit of Neuffen is especially distinguished from the other pits regard-
ing which we are in the possession of comparative observations. The
products of numerous basaltic eruptions are to be seen around Neuf-
fen, both at the foot and on the plateau of the Alp. The eruption
of basalt in the Alp of Wiirtemberg is of very modern date ; for, as
Mandelslohe long ago pointed out, in his important essay on that
district,* it was posterior to the deposition of the fresh-water forma-
tion, so rich in the remains of quadrupeds, which is found in various
parts of the Alp. The calorific action which the igneous rock has
exercised on the surrounding limestone, is evident from the crystal-
line texture, and often from the bacillary structure of the latter. If
we reflect on the slowness with which heat moves from deeply heated
regions across masses having such a low degree of conducting power
as rocks possess, we need not be surprised at finding that the heat
communicated by the basalt to the Jurassic stratified beds, has not
been yet entirely dissipated by radiation in space, at all events, at a
certain depth. It is, on the contrary, remarkable, that hitherto the
thermometrical traces of the heat of these ancient igneous rocks have
not been pointed out at any other locality. Such, then, seems to
me to be the cause of the abnormal increase of temperature noticed
at Neuffen. M. Leopold Pilla, in giving an account of the remark-
ably elevated temperature which he, along writh Messrs Matteucci
and Bunsen, observed at Monte Massi, states it to be his opinion,
that the high temperature of the bottom of that pit is not the effect
of a local plutonic influence, but that the central igneous nucleus
nmst be nearer the terrestrial surface in Italy than in England; but
there is no circumstance which induces me to extend this hypothetical
explanation to Wiirtemberg.t As to the very considerable increase
observed at Jakoutysk,J in Siberia, in a very recent formation, and
where there is constant congelation, it must, in all probability, be
attributed to another cause, and most likely to the degree of conduc-
tibility of the frozen beds traversed by the pit.§
25. Subsidence of the Land at Puzzuoli. — ^Mr J. Smith has stated
to the British Association, that when he visited the temple of Jupi-
ter Serapis at Puzzuoli, in March 1819, its floor was elevated about
6 inches above the level of the sea ; but on the 11th of May, in the
year 1845, it was covered to the depth of 18 inches at low-water,
and 28} at high tide, — the sea being calm at the time. The cus-
tode of the building told Mr Smith that this change was progressive,
amounting to 1^ English inch per annum. The cicerone, too, who
had exercised his profession for thirty years, said, he knew a differ-
ence of at least 3 feet 6 inches in the height of the sea upon the
* Memoircs de la Society, du Museum d'Histoire NatureUe de Strasbottrp.
+ Comptes Rendus de V Academic des Sciences^ 1843, tome xvi., p. 1326.
J Annales des Mines de liiissie, 1838, p. 343.
§ Comptes Rendu?, 1845, 2'>»»« Scmestrc, No. 24, p. 1335.
386 Scientific Intelligence — Geology.
piers of the Bridge of Caligula, giving the same amount of subsidence,
yearly. There were, besides, many similar proofs in the partly sub-
merged houses and causeways of Puzzuoli. The perforations of the
Pholades in the columns indicate a former period, during which the
temple remained submerged at a stationary level ; and contempo-
rary accounts state, that, by an instantaneous movement, it was
lifted to some height above the sea, which receded nearly 200 paces,
leaving an immense quantity of fish, which were collected by the in-
habitants. This took place in October 1538, immediately before the
elevation of Monte Nuovo.
26. Disicovery of a large Deposit of Black Bituminous Coal
in Chatham Island, one of the Galapagos. — About the middle of
the valley my attention was attracted to the foot of one of the
hills, where the earth had fallen down, and left exposed to view
large black rocks. I went over and examined it, and found them
to consist of coal in large quantities, and extending away under the
hills. As I was fatigued, I prepared my encampment for the night,
and my meal, and which, to test my discovery, I cooked on a
wooden spit, before a fine fire of coal; it quickly ignited, flamed
up, and burned after the cheerful manner of Cannel coal. I was
greatly pleased with this useful discovery. There were great hills
of it, and an immense supply could be here obtained, if there was a
sufficient arrangement to convey it to the sea-side. — {Adventures
in the Pacific. By John Coulter, 3I.B., p. 107.*)
27. Air of Mines. {Vlnstitut, No. 603, 1845, p. 255.)— M.
Leblanc, on analysing the air of PouUavuen mine, finds that when
most altered by respiration and combustion of lamps, there is 3 to
4 per cent, of carbonic acid, and a diminution of 4 to 5 per cent, in
the proportion of oxygen. The miners' lamps are extinguished ;
but by placing the meshes of two lamps in contact, combustion often
goes on where one alone fails. The respiration of the miners is a
little impeded, but work is possible when this limit is not exceeded,
provided the temperature is low. Air collected at Huelgoet, in an
unoccupied shaft, shewed a diminution of 10 per cent, in the amount
of oxygen, without a replacement of the same by carbonic acid, which
circumstance he attributes to the influence of decomposing pyrites.—
(American Journal of Science and Arts, Vol. i., 2d Series, No. 1,
p. 118.)
28. The Oust- Art, and shores of Lake Aral. (V Institute 605,
p. 256.) — This region, hitherto little known, has been geologically
examined by M. S. de Helmersen. He has ascertained, that at the
period when the beds of the Oust-Art were deposited, the Caspian
and Aral seas formed a single Mediterranean sea ; that at the middle
of this sea stood a high island — the Oust-Art — at whose foot com-
* This fact we consider of importance, as connected with the pxopositioii of
steaming across the Pacific Ocean.
Scientific Intelligence — Geology. 387
mence formations of marl and sandy clays, in which marine and
fresh- water fossils are minofled ; that the two seas communicated with
one another for a period by a channel, and had a common fauna
even to the formation of the most recent deposits, which include some
existing species. — {American Journal, Vol. i., 2d Series, No. 1,
p. 123.)
29. Siliceous Microscopic Sea Animals in Guano. — Professor
Ehrenberg has stated to the Berlin Academy of Sciences that he had
examined a guano said to be from Africa, although labelled •' Pacific
Ocean," received from London by Schomburgh ; a guano of com-
merce which had been employed by Professor Henry Rose in his
laboratory ; a specimen brought by Humboldt from Arica in Peru ;
and lastly, a sample of the guano of commerce which had been used
by Magnus in his laboratory ; and that he had found in all the four
a large quantity of siliceous marine infusoria, viz., respectively 34,
37, 28, and 26 species, in all 75 distinct species. It would there-
fore seem that the 0*32 of silica detected in guano by Klaproth
in 1827, is derived from these minute animals.
30. On the Alios of the North West of France. — Messrs Fleury
and Lalesque have sent to the Academy of Sciences of Paris various
specimens of a vegeto-mineral substance, known in the departments
of the Gironde and the Landes under the denomination o^ Alios, and
which forms the subsoil of the whole western portion of these two
departments. Hitherto the alios has been regarded as a siliceous
sand, united together by a ferruginous cement, and the sterility of
the superimposed soils has been attributed to it. The researches
undertaken by Messrs Fleury and Lalesque tend to shew that it is
composed of silica and a substance which has all the characters of
ulmine, except its solubility in alcohol. In the letter which accom-
panies the specimens, the authors announce their intention of soon
submitting to the Academy a complete account of the Alios^ considered
in its relations to geology, rural economy, and public health.*—
(Comptes Rendus, Vol. xx., p. 1804.)
31. Ti^aces of Glacial Action at North Berwick, 8fc. — In the year
1844, 1 observed evident traces of glacial action (polishing and groov-
ing) on some of the trap rocks above high- water mark, on the south
side of the ancient burial-ground near the harbour at North Ber-
wick ; and in September last (1845), I found also unequivocal traces
of the same action on the rocks of the north face of North Berwick-
Law, where the unweathered surface had been recently exposed by
clearing away the accumulated debris for road material. I may add,
that several years since I observed similar traces on the horizontal
surface of a very hard bed of the old red sandstone, which forms the
summit of the remarkable promontory, the " Red-Head" in Forfar-
shire. The direction of the scratches or grooves in all these cases
• The AlioM seems to be analogous to the moorband-pan of this country.
388 Scientific Intelligence — Geology.
appears to indicate the motion of ice from the land towards the sea.—
Communicated hy W. C. Trevelyan.
32. The Geology of Norway, as connected with the absence of a
Feudal Nobility, and the want of great Public Buildings. — Two cir-
cumstances, which may be called accidental, concurred, with the phy-
sical circumstances of the country, soil, and clime, to prevent the
rise of a feudal nobility in Norway at the period (the ninth century)
when feudality was establishing itself over the rest of Europe. One
was, the colonization of Iceland by that class which, in other countries,
became feudal lords ; the other was the conquests in England and in
France, by leaders who drew off all of the same class of more war-
like habits than the settlers in Iceland, and opened a more promis-
ing field for their ambition abroad in those expeditions, than in
struggling at home against the supremacy of Harald Haarfager. In
his successful attempt to reduce all the small kings, or district kings,
under his authority, he was necessarily thrown upon the people for
support, and their influence would be naturally increased by the
suppression, through their aid, of small independent kings. This
struggle was renewed at intervals until the introduction of Christianity
by King Olaf the Saint ; and the two parties appear to have sup-
ported the two different religions ; the small kings and their party
adhering to the old religion of Odin, under which the small kings,
as godars, united the offices of judge and priest, and levied certain
dues, and presided at the sacrificial meetings as judges as well as
priests ; and the other party, which included the mass of the people,
supported Christianity, and the supremacy of King Olaf, because it
relieved them from the exactions of the local kings, and from inter-
nal war and pillage. The influence of the people, and of their
Things, gained by the removal to other countries of that class which
at home would have grown probably into a feudal aristocracy. In
Iceland an aristocratic republic was at first established, and in Nor-
mandy and Northumberland all that was aristocratic in Norway
found an outlet for its activity.
A physical circumstance, also, almost peculiar to Norway y and
apparently very little connected with the social state of a people,
was of great infiuence, in concurrence with these two accidental cir-
cumstances, in preventing the rise of an aristocracy . The stone of
the Peninsula in general, and of Norway in particular^ is gneiss,
or other hard primary rock, which is worked with dijiculty, and
breaks up in rough shapeless lumps, or in thin schistose plates ;
and walls cannot be constructed of such building materials without
great labour, time, and command of cement. Limestone is not
found in abundance in Norway, and is rare in situations in which
it can be made and easily transported; and even clay, which is
used as a bedding or cement in some countries for rough lumps of
stone in thick walls, is scarce in Norway. Wood has of necessity,
in all times and with all classes, been the only building material.
Scientific Inttlliyence — Geology, 389
This circumstance has been of great infiuence in the middle ages on
the social condition of the Northmen. Castles of nobles or kings,
comm,anding the country round, and secure from sudden assault by
the strength of the building, could not be constructed, and never ex-
isted in Norway. The huge fragments and ruins of baronial castles
and strongholds, so characteristic of the state of society in the
middle ages in the feudal countries of Europe, and so ornamental
in the landscape now, are wanting in Norway. The noble had
nothing to fall back upon but his war-ship ; the king nothing but
the support of the people. In the reign of our King Stephen, when
England was covered with the fortified castles of the nobility, to the
number, it is somewhere stated, of 1500, and was laid waste by
their exactions and private wars, the sons of Harald Gille — the
Kings Sigurd, Inge, and Eystein — wei'e referring their claims and
disputes to the decision of Things of the people. In Normandy and
England the Northmen and their descendants felt the want in their
mother country of secure fortresses for their power ; and the first
and natural object of the alien landholders was to build castles, and
lodge themselves in safety by stone walls against sudden assaults,
and above all against the firebrand of the midnight assailant. In
the mother country, to be surprised and burned by night within the
wooden structures in which even kings had to reside, was a fate so
common, that some of the kings appeared to have lived on board
ships principally, or on islands on the coast.
This physical circumstance of wanting the building material of
which the feudal castles of other countries were constructed, and by
which structures the feudal system itself was mainly supported, had
its social as well as political influences on the people. The diflPerent
classes were not separated from each other, in society, by the im-
portant distinction of a difference in the magnitude or splendour of
their dwellings. The peasant at the corner of the forest could, with
his time, material, and labour of his family at command, lodge him-
self as magnificently as the king, — and did so. The mansions of
kings and great chiefs were no better than the ordinary dwellings of
the bonders. Lade, near Drontheim, — the seat before the city of
Drontheim, or Nidaros, was founded by King Olaf Tryggvesson, and
which was the mansion of Earl Hakon the Great, and of many dis-
tinguished men who were earls of Lade, — was, and is, a wooden
structure of the ordinary dimensions of the houses of the opulent
bonders in the district. Egge — the seat of Kalf Arneson, who led
the bonder army against King Olaf, which defeated and slew him at
the battle of Stikkleslad, and who was a man of great note and
social importance in his day — is, and always has been, such a farm-
house of logs as may be seen on every ordinary farm estate of the
same size. The foundation of a few loose stones, on which the
lower tier of logs is laid to raise it from the earth, remains always
the same, although all the superstructure of wood may have been
390 Scientific Intelligence — Geology.
often renewed ; but these shew the extent on the ground of the old
houses. The equality of all ranks in those circumstances of lodging,
food, clothing, fuel, furniture, which form great social distinctions
among people of other countries, must have nourished a feeling of
independence of external circumstances, — a feeling, also, of their
own worth, rights, and importance, among the bonders, and must
have raised their habits, character, and ideas to a nearer level to
those of the highest. The kings, having no royal residences, were
lodged, with their court attendants on the royal progresses, habitually
by the bonders, and entertained by them. At the present day, there
are no royal mansions, or residences of the great, in Norway,
different from the ordinary houses of the bonders or peasant pro-
prietors. His Majesty, Carl Johan, had to lodge in their houses in
travelling through his Norwegian dominions ; and no king in Europe
could travel through his kingdom, and be lodged so well every night
by the same class. In ancient times the kings lived in guest-
quarters, — that is, by billet upon the peasant proprietors in different
districts in regular turn ; and even this kind of intercourse must
have kept alive a high feeling of their own importance in the bonder
class, in the times when, from the want of the machinery of a
lettered functionary class, civil or clerical, all public business had to
be transacted directly with them in their Things. — The Sea Kings
of Norway. By G. Laing. Vol. i. p. 119.
33. Desert of Sahara. — Let us not be misled by the word desert,
as applied to Sahara. In the strict sense of the term it is much less
applicable than is usually supposed to the regions bordering the Atlas
chain of mountains. From time to time the traveller meets with
delightful oases in the neighbourhood of perennial springs, where
the fertility of nature is doubly agreeable, and where there are per-
manent habitations, not of a hw families merely, but of large and
flourishing communities. These inhabitated places, which are de-
fended against the solar heat and the destructive simoom by groves
of palm and fruit trees, are called *' Fiafi." Again, there are
sandy districts, which, being well watered by the wintry rains, afford,
in the spring of the year, a good pasturage for the flocks and herds
of the nomadic tribes, which encamp and remain on the spot as long
as any grass is to be found, and these are termed " Kifar." The
real desert wastes are distinguished by the name of " Falat," the
arid sandy plains which every wind agitates like the ocean. For-
tunately for humanity, these irreclaimable parts of the wilderness are
much less extensive than is generally thought in Europe. The
population, therefore, of Northern Africa, small as it unquestionably
is in comparison with the vast extent of territory, is serious enough
to embarrass any European power that may come in contact with it.
So it was with the Romans, so it was with the Portuguese, and so
it is with the French.
34. On the Permeability of Metals. By Professor Henry. —
Scientific InlelUgence — Geology. 391
Professor Henry gave an account of some observations he had made
on capilhirity, in addition to those he had before communicated to the
Society on the same subject.
In 1839, he presented the results of some experiments on the
permeability of lead to mercury ; and subsequent observation had led
him to believe that the same property was possessed by other metals
in reference to each other. The first attempt to verify this conjec-
ture was made, with the assistance of Dr Patterson, at the United
States Mint. For this purpose, a small globe of gold was placed on
a plate of sheet-iron, and submitted to the heat of an assaying fur-
nace ; but the experiment was unsuccessful ; for, although the gold
was heated much above its melting point, it exhibited no signs of
sinking into the pores of the iron. The idea afterward suggested
itself, that a different result would have been obtained had the two
metals been made to adhere previous to heating, so that no oxide could
have been formed between the surfaces. In accordance with this
view, Professor Henry inquired of Mr Cornelius, of Philadelphia, if,
in the course of his experience in working silver-plated copper, in
his extensive manufactory of lamps, he had ever observed the silver
to disappear from the copper when the metal was heated ? The
answer was, that the silver always disappears when the plate is heated
above a certain temperature, leaving a surface of copper exposed ;
and, that it was generally believed by the workmen, that the silver
evaporates at this temperature. Professor Henry suggested that the
silver, instead of evaporating, merely sunk into the pores of the cop-
per ; and that, by carefully removing the surface of the latter by the
action of an acid, the silver would re-appear. To verify this by ex-
periment, Mr Cornelius heated one end of a piece of thick plated
copper to nearly the melting point of the metal ; the silver at this
end disappeared, and when the metal was cleaned by a solution of
dilute sulphuric acid, the end which had been heated presented a
uniform surface of copper, whilst the other end exhibited its proper
coating of silver. The unsilvered end of the plate was next placed,
for a few minutes, in a solution of muriate of zinc, by which the ex-
terior surface of copper was removed, and the surface of silver was
again exposed. This method of recovering the silver before the pro-
cess of plating silver by galvanism came into use, would have been
of much value to manufacturers of plated ware, since it often hap-
pened that valuable articles were spoiled, in the process of soldering,
by heating them to the degree at which silver disappears.
It is well known to the jeweller, that articles of copper plated with
gold lose their brilliancy after a time, and that this can be restored
by boiling them in ammonia ; this effect is probably produced by the
ammonia acting on the copper, and dissolving off its surface, so as
to expose the gold, which, by diffusion, has entered into the copper.
A slow diffusion of one metal through another probably takes
place in cases of alloys. Silver coins, after having lain long in the
392 Scientific Intelligence — Geology.
earth, have been found covered with a salt of copper. This may be
explained by supposing that the alloy of copper, at the surface of
the coin, enters into combination with the carbonic acid of the soil,
and being thus removed, its place is supplied by a diffusion from
within ; and, in this way, it is not improbable that a considerable
portion of the alloy may be exhausted in the process of time, and
the purity of the coin be considerably increased.
Perhaps, also, the phenomenon of what is called segregation^ or
the formation of nodules of flint in masses of carbonated lime, and
of indurated marl in beds of clay, may be explained on the same
principle. In breaking up these masses, it is almost always ob-
served that a piece of shell or some extraneous matter occupies the
middle, and probably formed the rmcleus, around which the matter
was accumulated by attraction. The difficulty consists in explain-
ing how the attraction of cohesion, which becomes insensible at sen-
sible distances, should produce this effect. To explain this, let us
suppose two substances uniformly diffused through each other by a
slight mutual attraction, as in the case of a lump of sugar dissolved
in a large quantity of water, every particle of the water will attract
to itself its proportion of the sugar, and the whole will be in a state
of equilibrium. If the diffusion at its commencement had been as-
sisted by heat, and this cause of the separation of the homogeneous
particles no longer existed, the diffusion might be one of unstable
equilibrium ; and the slightest extraneous force, such as the attrac-
tion of a minute piece of shell, might serve to disturb the quiescence,
and to draw to itself the diffused particles which were immediately
contiguous to it. This would leave a vacuum of the atoms around
the attracting mass : for example, as in the case of the sugar, there
would be a portion of the water around the nucleus deprived of the
sugar ; this portion of the water would attract its portion of sugar
from the layer without, and into this layer the sugar from the layer
next without would be diffused, and so on, until, through all the
water, the remaining sugar would be uniformly diffused. The pro-
cess would continue to be repeated, by the nucleus, again, attracting
a portion of the sugar from the water immediately around it, and so
on, until a considerable accumulation would be formed around the
foreign substance. We can in this way conceive of the manner by
which the molecular action, which is insensible at perceptible dis-
tances, may produce results which would appear to be the effect of
attraction acting at a distance. — Proceedings of the American Phil.
Society, vol. iv., No. 33, p. 176.
35. Nevj Map of the Island of Sardinia. — General della Marmora,
Director of the Naval School of Genoa, and Member of the Royal
Academy of Turin, has just published his new map of the Island
of Sardinia, which has been engraved by Desbuissons. It is the
result of 20 years' labour, and has been executed at the expense of
the author.
Scientific Intelligence — Palceontology — Zoology. 393
PALiEONTOLOGY.
36. Infusoria. — Ehrenberg has arrived at some remarkable re-
sults with regard to the prevalence of infusoria in volcanic rocks.
They are as follows : —
Numerous and widely extended observations have proved that there
is an ultimate reciprocal relation between independent infusorial life
and the volcanic phenomena exhibited upon the banks of the Rhine.
Volcanic crystals of sodalite, leucite, and probably of augite, consist,
in part, of masses of infusoria.
The volcanic island of Ascension, so destitute of life, animal and
vegetable, and even of streams of water, and situated in mid ocean,
presents an enormous mass of volcanic cinders, which consist almost
wholly of organic matters, principally of fibres of plants, along with
^ome fresh-water siliceous infusoria.
Although observation shews that, in all parts of the world, the
infusoria prevalent in volcanic rocks are oi fresh-water origin; still
Patagonia affords marine deposits, constituting masses of great
thickness.
The pyrobiolitic rocks in Patagonia constitute extensive beds, 800
feet thick, containing no carbonate of lime, and only here and there
a little sulphate of lime.
The cinders which have been ejected by Pompeii are of fresh-
water formation ; and they are similar to those constituting the tufa
of Hochsimmer, on the Rhine.
The bed containing the fossil Mastodon, on the La Plata, and
that of the fossil bones at Monte Hermosa, and the hills in the plains
of Bahia Blanca, are formations of fresh-water origin, mixed with
some marine. — (American Journal of Science and Arts^ Vol. i.,
2d Series, No. 1, p. 123.)
37. New Work on the Fossil Plants of Scania. — M. P. Schim-
per is at present occupied with the preparation of a monograph on
the fossil plants of the Jurassic formation of Scania (in Sweden). He
finds that there is a striking analogy between the plants of that for-
mation and those of the lias of Franconia on the one hand, and those
of the keuper of Stuttgard on the other. He has found cones resem-
bling those of the Voltzia, and an equisetaceous plant resembling the
species named by him Schizoneura paradoxa.
ZOOLOGY.
38. On the Structure of the Cranium of the Rhytina Stelleri, and
general remarks on the Herbivorous Cetacea^ or SirenicR. By M,
J. F. Brandt. — The author states that M. Wosnessenski had sent
to the Academy of Sciences of St Petersburg various objects of
natural history from Behring's Island, and that among these he had
VOL. XL. NO. LXXX. — APRIL 1846. 2 C
394 Scientific Intelligence — Zoology.
found a pretty perfect cranium of a Khytina. The interest which
attached to the latter induced him to make an accurate drawing of
it, and to prepare a memoir, which he read to the Academy. In
this essay, besides an introduction, which treats of the knowledge we
possess of the Rhi/tina, M. Brandt makes some general observations
on Steller's description of its cranium, and shews that the cranium
of the Manatus described by Fabricius could not have belonged to
this animal. He then describes the cranium found at Behrincr's
Island, and proves that it really is the cranium of the Rhytina. He
first considers the general form of the cranium, next gives a descrip-
tion of each of the bones in detail, and, lastly, he describes the ana-
logous forms, to which he compares it.
M. Brandt divides his memoir on the Sirenice into three parts :
in the first, he treats of the external form, and of the structure of
the animal — of its mode of existence — of the countries it inhabits —
and its disappearance, &c. ; in the second, he investigates the affini-
ties of the Rhytina ; and in the third he gives a characteristic and a
classification of the Sirenise. The following are the conclusions to
which he has been led : — 1. In its external form, and especially in
the structure of the tail and of the double lips, and in the gengival
plates, and the plates of the lower jaw, which were placed opposite
to each other, the Khytina evidently resembled the Dugong (Hali"
core), and might, if we did not meet with many other distinctions,
be regarded as a Dugong wanting teeth. 2. The internal structure
of the Rhytina, and more especially the structure of the cranium,
presents a great many distinctive marks which are only observed in
the Manati. 3. The Rhytina, independently of the characters which
it has in common with the other genera of the Sirenice, also presents
many characters which are entirely peculiar to it, such, for example,
as the complete absence of teeth, and a particular structure of the
alveolar portion of the upper jaw. 4. The Rhytina, according to
what has now been said, ought to constitute a particular type among
the Manat^ (^Sirenice), which, of the three known genera, is the one
which approaches most nearly to the whales.
These considerations, therefore, have induced the author to pro*
pose the following clc.:sification of the Sireniae, and he accompanies
it by a full comparative characteristic of the genera, as well as the
tribes : —
Tribe 1. JDcntigera or Halicorea : — Manatus and Halicore.
Tribe 2. Edentata or Bhytinea : — Rhytina.
— {Proceedings of the Academy of Sciences of St Petersburg, in
V Institute No. 619.)
39. On the White Race of the Aures, fMons AurariusJ in the
Province of Constantine, Algeria, By M. Guy on, Surgcon-in- Chief
of the French Army in Africa. — M. Guyon took the opportunity cf
the expedition lately made in the Aures, under the command of
JUieutenant-General Bedeau, to collect new information regarding
Scientific Intelligence — Zoology, 396
this variety of the human species, which has been described by the
travellers Peyssonel, Bruce, and Shaw. ** It is quite certain," says
M. Guyon, " that in the Aures there are men having a white skin,
blue eyes, and fair hair. The son of the Sheik of the beautiful and
rich valley of Oued-Adji, a young man who was frequently in com-
munication with our camp at Bathna, situated at a short distance
from the foot of these mountains, presents a remarkable example of
this race. The Whites of the Aur^s do not form distinct tribes ; but,
while they predominate in certain tribes, are very rare in others.
They are very numerous in the small town of Menna, which is situ-
ated to the south of the valley of Sidi-Nadji, near the town of
Khanga, and still more so in the tribe of the Mouchavas, who speak
a language in which, according to some, certain Teutonic words can
be recognised. The Whites of the Aures are of a middle size ; they
form alliances with the Kabyles and the Arabs, although rarely ; and
they are considered as rather lukewarm observers of the Koran ; so
that, in this respect, the Arabs esteem them less than they do the
Kabyles. The latter say, that they have inhabited the country for a
very long time ; and that they maintained their position at a period
when others of their countrymen, who lived in the neighbouring parts
of Africa, were expelled. The Whites of the Aures are always pretty
numerous at Constantino ; and they there follow the trade of baker, of
butcher, or of bath-heater, just as the Mozabites, who are inhabitants
of Southern Algeria, do at Algiers. The notice of M. Guyon is con-
cluded by a disquisition on certain passages of ancient authors, upon
which some modern writers have supported the opinion, that the
Whites of the Aures are the remains of the Vandals who were
expelled by Belisarius. — {Comptes liendus, 1845, 2'^™° Semestre,
No. 25, 22d December, p. 1388.)
40. Quadrupeds and Birds peculiar to Western Siberia. — M,
Flourens has submitted to the Academy of Sciences of Paris a printed
memoir, by M. F. Brandt, Member of the Academy of Sciences of
St Petersburg, on the vertebrate animals of Western Siberia. This
memoir is translated from the German by M. Tchihatcheff, and is
extracted from his Voyage Scientifique dans V Altai OAental et les
Parties adjacentes de la Frontiere de la Chine. The memoir by
M. Brandt is divided into several sections, of which the first presents
a sunmiary of the travels and the scientific investigations which have
most contributed to the knowledge of the Fauna of Siberia. The se-
cond section, in which the author gives a general coup d^(sil of the
different orders of the vertebrata, contains the following list of spe-
cies belonging exclusively to Western Siberia : — Quadrupeds : Sciu'
Tus (TamiasJ uthensis, Pall. ; Viverra aterrima^ Pall. ; Lagomys hy-
perboreusj Mus caraco ; to which we must probably add several spe-
cies of Sousliks, which have not yet been sufficiently examined.
Birds : Corvus cyaneus, Sturnus dauricus, Turdus ruficollis^ Einr
beiiza fuscataf Emberiza chrysophris, Emberiza spodocephala^ Emr
396 Scientific Intelligence — Arts.
beriza rutila^ Grus antigonCy and Fulica pullata. — (Comptes Ren-
dus, tome xx., p. 1353.)
41. Boring Power of Land- Snails on Limestone. — Few persons
are, I believe, aware of the fact, which I alluded to at the meeting
of the British Association in Cambridge last year, on the occasion of
a notice by Dr Buckland, " On the agency of land-snails in forming
holes and trackways in compact limestone," that this phenomenon
had been noticed many years ago by the late amiable and talented
author of the History of Northumberland, the Rev. John Hodgson,
on accurate observer of nature, who, in 1827, pubhshed in that
work (Part 2, Vol. i., p. 193) the following passage ; — " On a sunny
bank near Whelpington, a stratum of limestone" (carboniferous) " is
here and there seen in grey projecting masses, the under surface of
which is bored upwards into cylindrical holes, which are from a line
to four inches deep, and tenanted, especially in winter, by the banded
and yellow varieties of the Helix nemoralis. The Umax, while it
occupies these cavities during the summer, has its fleshy longitudi-
nal disk protruded out of the shell, and coiled nearly into a circle
on the surface of the stone, the summit of its shell hanging down-
wards ; and in this position it probably elaborates its den in the same
manner that some of the pholades work their way into clay and wood,
or, by a slow but constant process, sink and enlarge their cells in
the hardest stones.*' I had, some time previously to the date of this
publication, examined the spot, and was satisfied with the correct-
ness of Mr Hodgson's observations, and last October (1845) took
advantage of an opportunity to revisit it, and was confirmed in the
opinion I had before formed on the subject, and in the perfect accu-
racy of the description quoted above.
The thoroughly sheltered position of the under surface of the rock
•precludes the possibility of the holes being an effect of weathering ;
and I feel convinced that they are the result of the slow, but nearly
constant action, of a weak acid secreted by the snails, which instinc-
tively, for the sake of shelter, would resort to such a situation, and
thus, in the course of ages, such holes would be formed in any sub-
stances on which the acid could act. — Communicated by W. C. Tre-
velyan.
ARTS.
42. Iridescent Silver. — (In a note from Prof. John Brockelsby of
Trinity College, Hartford, Conn., to B. Silliman junior). It is well
known to those who are conversant with optical phenomena, that the
brilliant play of prismatic colours exhibited by mother-of-pearl is
due to the structure of the surface, provided the shell is cut and
polished in a particular manner. This interesting fact was an-
nounced to the scientific world in 1829 by the discoverer, Dr
Brewster, who successfully transferred, by pressure, the splendid
Scientific Intelligence — Arts. 397
tints of the pearl to black wax, fusible metal, balsam of tolu, lead,
tin, and various other substances. The colours displayed by fusible
metal possess at first extraordinary beauty, which in a short time is
partially lost, owing to a change that occurs upon the surface of the
metal.
A {qvi months ago, while engaged upon some experiments in
electrotyping, I was led to think, that, by this process, the hues of
the pearl might be readily transferred to those metals which, from
their hardness, are incapable of receiving impressions in mass, but
yet, on account of their freedom from oxidation, retain for a long
time a surface comparatively pure. I therefore took a Smee's bat-
tery, which I had just constructed, and after several experiments,
succeeded in obtaining small sheets of silver, radiant with the hues
of the shell. When seen by a single light, as that of a lamp, the
play of colours is surpassingly beautiful, scarcely inferior to that of the
pearl ; and where equal care was employed, the plate of silver, which
was formed eight months ago, rivals in brilliancy that which came
fresh from the battery a few hours since.
The process by which this result is obtained is as follows : — The
first thing required is to prepare the shell. This is effected by
grinding and polishing it upon the back, in such a manner as to cut
through the numerous concentric strata that compose its substance.
When this is done, by the aid of a microscope the surface will be
seen covered with delicate grooves, some thousand in an inch, formed
by the sections of the concentric laminae, and this configuration gives
rise to the glowing tints of the shell. The next step is to obtain an
exact impression of this surface upon some good conductor of elec-
tricity. This we are enabled to do by means of fusible metal, if proper
precautions are employed in taking the impression. I pursue exactly
the same method as in taking the copy of a medal. After fusing the
metal, I pour it upon oiled paper, and when the air-bubbles cease to
rise through the metal, the oxide is skimmed from its surface with a
card, and as soon as it presents the appearance of a perfect mirror, the
shell is forced down upon it by a sudden pressure. When the metal
has cooled, I remove it from the shell ; and, having ascertained the
accuracy of the impression, immediately plunge it, before any change
of the surface can occur, into the silver solution, thereby completing
the circuit between the poles of the battery. In a few moments the
surface of the metal is frosted with silver, and the configuration of
the shell exactly copied. A sheet of silver, of sufficient thickness
to be easily removed with a penknife, will be deposited in the course
of five or six hours under favourable circumstances. The battery I
have employed consists of two plates of amalgamated zinc, and one
of platinized silver, six inches by eight. The working mixture is
sulphuric acid and water, the strength varying with the temperature,
and the amount of work to be performed. I have found a wine-glass
of acid to three quarts of well-water, at the temperature acquired by
398 Scientific Intelligence — Miscellaneous.
standing a few hours in a room at 70° Fahr., to answer very well,
when the surface to be plated did not exceed 1^ square inches. The
silver solution is made by dissolving cyanide of potassium in water,
and adding thereto the oxide of silver. The ratio of the ingredients
I am unable to state, as I have not hitherto directed my attention
to this point, but have prepared the solution by trial until I obtained
the desired result.
By the process above described, we can at pleasure transfer the
tints of the pearl to those pure metals, which will best preserve their
brilliancy ; and while the knowledge of this fact is interesting as a
matter of science, it may perhaps be well for the artist to consider
if it cannot be applied to some ornamental purpose, and the beauty
of the precious metals enhanced, by teaching them to glow with the
richest hues of light. — {American Journal of Science and Arts,
Vol. i., 2d Series, No. 1, p. 112.)
MISCELLANEOUS.
43. Progress of the Serial Works of Professor Agassiz. — The
various works by this indefatigable naturalist at present appearing
in Numbers, have advanced considerably, and the completion of
those which Professor Agassiz has not been able to bring to a ter-
mination before his departure, will not be retarded by his voyage
to America. The third and last part of his Monographic des Pois-
sons fossiles du vieux gres rouge, has been published ; and likewise
Part 3d of his Histoire Naturelle des Poissons d'eau douce de
V Europe Centrale ; fasiculi 7 and 8 of his Nomenclator Zoologicus,
continens nomina systematica generum animalium tam vivcntiiim
quamfossilium; and, lastly, Part 4th (terminating the Monograph
on the Myas) of his Etudes Critiques sur les Mollusques fossiles.
44. Proposed introduction of the Aracacha into Europe. — On
the 3d November 1845, M. Boussingault presented to the Academy
of Sciences of Paris, on the part of M. Goudot, a memoir on the
cultivation of the Aracacha in New Grenada, and on the possibility
of introducing that plant into Europe. The aracacha, which be-
longs to the Umbelliferse, yields a very nourishing root. In the
Cordilleras of the Andes it is cultivated in localities where the mean
temperature varies from 57° to 75° Fahr. (14^ to 24° cent.) The
produce of the roots, according to M. Goudot, generally amounts to
45,000 kilogrammes per hectare;* and we know that the potato
yields about 25,000 to 30,000 kilogrammes of tubers. Owing to the
disease which has affected the potato in the present year, M. Goudot
has been induced to suggest that new trials should be made to cul-
tivate the aracacha in Europe, and in his memoir he suggests the
means which are most likely to succeed in reaUzing this introduc-
tion.
* 1 kilogramme = 2-2 lbs. avoird.; 1 hectare =2-47 English acres.
New Publications, 399
On the 24th November 1846, an interesting report by M. Bous-
singault, on M. Goudot's memoir, but which we have not space to
insert, was presented {vide Comptes Rendus, for 24th November
1846) ; and, on the proposal of M. Adolphe Brongniart, the Aca-
demy resolved to transmit copies of that report to the Minister for
Commerce and Agriculture.
NEW PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.
1. The Geology of Russia in Europe and the Ural Mountains. By
R I. Murchison, F.RS., F.G.S., F.R.S. Edin., Correspondent of the
Institute of Fnmce, &c. &c. &c. ; Edouard de Verneuil ; and Count
Alexander Von Keyserling. In two volumes, 4to, copiously illustrated.
London : John Murray, Albemarle Street ; Paris : P. Bertrand, Rue
St Andre des Arts, Paris. 1845. Sir R, I. Murchison and his friends,
Verneuil and Keyserling, are eminentlxj distinginshedfor their geological know^
ledge, and feiv travellers have shewn themselves more energetic, intelligent, and
active in this field, than these distinguished naturalists. The geology of this
great work — its grand feature— is characterized by all the natural acuteness and
address of Sir R. I. Murchison, while the Palaeontology adds to the well-earned
high reputation of De Verneuil and Keyserling. It is to he considered a
splendid gift to the scientific world, and reflecting great honour on our country-
man, now in the foremost rank of English geologists.
2. Lemons de Geologie Pratique, Professees au College de France,
pendant I'Annee Scolaire, 1843-44. Par L. Elie de Beaumont. Tome
Premier. 8vo. Paris, 1845. The author, now the most distinguished of
French geologists, affords us, in this first volume of his *' Giologie Pratique "
ample proofs of his great learning and intelligence. On the completion of this
valuable work vje shall consider its merits more f idly.
3. Fauna Antiqua Sivalensis, being the Fossil Zoology of the Sewalik
Hills, in the North of India. By Hugh Falconer, M.D., F.R.S., F.L.S.,
F.G.S., &c., and Proby T. Cautley, F.G.S., &c. Part. I. Folio plates,
and letter-press 8vo. Smith, Elder, & Co., 65, Cornhill, London. 1846.
We have before us what has been published of this anxiously -expected, highly
interesting, accurate, and beautifully illustrated work. When completed it will
form a very important contribution to the natural history of our great Indian
Empire. To the Palaeontologist it will prove invaluable.
4. On the Mines, Minerals, and Geology of West Lothian. With a
coloured geological Map. By Charles Forsyth, Esq., Advocate. This
Essay we recommend to the attention of our geological readers.
5. Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation. 1 Vol., pp. 423.
Fifth edition. John Churchill, London.
6. Explanations : a Sequel to " Vestiges of the Natural History of
Oreation." By the Author of that Work. LoDdon, John ChurchiU.
400 New Publications.
1845. These explanations suficienthi prove that the author has met with great
effect the arguments of fits distinguished opponents.
7. On the Domesticated Animals of the British Islands ; comprehend-
ing the natural and economical history of Species and Varieties ; the de-
scription of the properties of External Form ; and observations on the
principles and practice of Breeding, 8vo, pp. 767. By David Low,
Esq., F.R.S.E. London : Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans.
1845. Our readers will be able to judge of the excellent information contained in
this volume of the distinguished author, by the extracts inserted in this volume of our
Journal.
8. The Practical Astronomer. By Thomas Dick, LL,D. London :
Seeley, Burnside, and Seeley, Fleet Street. 1845. A fine subject, we are
afraid too much, popularized by the Author.
9. A History of the Fossil Insects in the Secondary Rocks of Eng-
land. Accompanied by a particular account of the strata in which they
occur, and of the circumstances connected with their preservation.
8vo. By the Rev. Peter Bellinger Brodie, M.A., F.G.S. London : John
Van Voorst, Paternoster Row. 1845. Another excellent volume ,• forming
one of Mr Van Voorsfs capital series of original works on Natural History now in
course of publication.
10. On Three several Hurricanes of the American Seas, and their re-
lations to the Northers, so called, of the Gulf of Mexico and the Bay of
Honduras, with Charts illustrating the same. By W. C. Redfield. 8vo.
1846.
11. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society for Promoting
Useful Knowledge. Vol. IX. New Series. Part II. 4to. Published
by the Society. Philadelphia, 1845. Also, Proceedings of the Society
up to August 1845.
12. No. 12, New Series, March 1846, of the Journal of Agriculture,
and the Transactions of the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scot-
land. William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh and London.
13. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, up to No. 77- 1845.
New Series.
14. Proceedings of the Philosophical Society of Glasgow, for 1842-43,
1843-44, 1844-45. Richard GrifSn and Co., Glasgow. We are pleased
to find this Society in so flourishing a condition. The Proceedings now before
us afford ample proofs of the activity and knowledge of the members.
15. Memoir on the Rotation of Crops, and on the quantity of Inor-
ganic Matters abstracted from the soil by various plants under different
circumstances. By Charles Daubeny, M.D., F.R.S., &c. London,
1845. 4to.
16. The New Statistical Account of Scotland. By the Ministers of
the respective Parishes. 15 volumes, 8vo. William Blackwood & Sons,
Edinburgh and London. 1845.
This national work being now finished, we again recommend it to general atten-
tion. From the very interesting and important nature of it* contents we hope ere
List of Patents. 401
long it will obtain a place in every statistical, and even every general, library. It
ought also to become a standard book in every manse. True, we may be told, that
the ministers of Scotland are in general poor, and cannot afford to enjoy the satis*
faction of possessing a copy of the Statistical Account, but we would suggest to those
parishes who take an interest in their minister — and where do they not take a deep
interest in their minister ? — to offer for his acceptance a copy of a work so important'
ly useful to him, and so creditable, too, to the Clergy of Scotland.
17. Archiv fur Naturgescliichte. Von Dr W. F. Erichson. Up to
Eilfter Jahrgang, Viertes Heft.
18. Archiv Scandinavischer Beitr.ige zur Naturgeschichte. Heraus-
gegeben von Professor C. Fr. Hornscliuch. 1, 2, and 3d Heft ; Greifs-
wald. Verlag von C. A. Koch. 1845.
19. Annalen der Physik und Chemie. Herausgegeben zu Berlin von
J. C. Poggendorff. Up to No. 2. 1846.
20. American Journal of Science and Arts, conducted by Messrs Sil-
liman, — has reached us up to January 1846.
21. Bibliotheque Universelle de Geneve. Up to No. 119. November
1845.
22. Comptes Rendus de I'Academie des Sciences. Up to the end of
the 1st Seniestre of 1845.
23. L'Institut. Up to 28th January 1846.
24. The Physical Atlas ; a series of Maps illustrating the Geographi-
cal Distribution of Natural Phenomena. By Dr Berghaus and Alex.
Keith Johnston, F.G.S., &c. Part III. Folio.
The present Part contains a valuable account of the Glacier System of the Alps
and Qlacial Phenomena in general, by Professor James Forbes, with beautiful col-
oured maps ,• also two sections on Zoological Geography ,• and a Physical Chart
illustrative of the Navigation of the Pacific, its Currents and Temperature.
25. On Horizontal Water- Wheels, especially Turbines or Whirl-
Wheels. By Moritz Riihlman. Edited, with an Introduction and Notes,
by Sir Robert Kane. 2to, with Plates. 1846. Dublin: Hodges
and Smith.
This Work we particularly recommend to those interested in the construction of
Turbines or Whirl- Wheels, the more especially as there is every prospect of this kind
of water-wheel being extensively introduced into this country. Indeed, at the moment
we are writing this notice, we learn from Mr Tod, Secretary to the Royal Scottish
Society of Arts, that a paper had just been read to that Society by Mr Sttuirt of
Balgonie Mills, giving an account of a Turbine Water- Wheel which had been erected
there at his own risk and expense, and which has answered every expectation.
List of Patents granted for Scotland from 22d December 1845
to 22d March 1846.
1. To John Field junior, of West Brixton, in the county of Surrey,
gentleman, being a communication from abroad, '* improvements for
ascertaining the alcoholic strength of liquids." — 26th December 1845.
2. To Hknry Watson, brass-founder, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne,
402 List of Patents.
** improvements in withdrawing air and vapours from furnaces of
other apparatus, and in condensing and employing such vapours." — 26th
December 1845.
3. To Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents, 66 Chan-
cery Lane, in the county of Middlesex, mechanical draughtsman, being a
communication from abroad, " improvements in printing and dyeing va-
rious fabrics." — 6th January 1846.
4. To James Augustus Dorr, of the city, county, and state of New
York, of the United States of America, gentleman, being a communica-
tion from abroad, " certain improvements in machinery or apparatus for
knitting."— 6th January 1846.
5. To William Smith Brown the younger, of Broad Street, RatcliiTe
Cross, in the county of Middlesex, sail-maker, " improvements in the ma-
nufacture of square and quadrilateral sails for ships and other vessels."
— 7th January 1846.
6. To Joseph Douglas, of Cross Cheaping, Coventry, furnishing iron-
monger, " improvements in the patterns used for casting, and in casting
metals." — 7th January 1846.
7. To James Garforth, of Duckingfield, in the county of Chester,
engineer, " certain improvements in machinery or apparatus for connect-
ing metallic plates, for the construction of boilers, and other purposes."
— 7th January 1846.
8. To Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents, 66 Chancery
Lane, in the county of Middlesex, mechanical draughtsman, being a com-
munication from abroad, " improvements in combing wool." — 9th Ja-
nuary 1846.
9. To Conrad Haverham Greenhow, of North Shields, gentleman,
" improvements in the construction of railways and railway carriages."
—19th January 1846.
10. To Charles Henry Joseph Forret, of Lille, in France, but now
at 17 Great St Helens, Bishopgate, gentleman, being a communication
from abroad, " a new and improved Archimedean screw, which he calls
Davaine's Screw." — 21st January 1846.
11. To Charles Dowse, of Camden Town, in the county of Middle-
sex, " an improved paper or material." — 22d January 1846.
12. To Robert Rettie, civil-engineer, residing in Glasgow, in the
county of Lanark, " an improved method of signalizing or telegraphing
on sea or land, preventing collision, and giving signals of distress, by
improved burners and glasses, coloured or otherwise, applicable to rail-
ways in all the various departments, as well as preventing of accidents
when the train is at full speed ; shewing the state of the tide in har-
bours at night or day, also the diurnal for railways, towns, and villages."
— 22d Januury 1846.
13. To John Pattrinari, of No. 1 Skinner's Place, Size Lane, gentle-
man, ** certain new and improved modes of obtaining and applying mo-
tive power." — 22d January 1846.
14. To George Howell, of Larkhall Lane, Claphara, in the county
of Surrey, gentleman, being a communication from abroad, " an inven-
tion for coating with a metal the surface of articles formed of copper, or
copper alloys, or iron, wrought or cast." — 22d January 1846.
15. To John Walker, of Manchester, in the county of Lancaster, silk
manufacturer," certain improvements in weaving or manufacturing piled
List of Patents. 403
or napped clotha or fabrics, and also improvements in machinery or
apparatus for cutting the pile or nap of the same." — 26th January 1846.
16. Thomas Worsdell junior, of Brighton, in the county of Sussex,
railway carriage-builder, *' certain improvements in apparatus to be
attached to and employed in connection with railway carriages." — 27th
January 1846.
17. To John Depledge, of the ThomclifFe Iron Works, near Shef-
field, in the county of York, draughtsman, " a new metallic broacher." —
29th January 1846.
18. To William Henry James, of Fish Street Hill, in the city of
London, civil-engineer, " certain improvements in tubes, tubular plates,
and other vessels and vehicles used for holding or conveying fluids, and
in the means of heating the same." — 3d February 1846.
19. To John Greenwood, of Church, in the the county of Lancaster,
manufacturing chemist, " certain improvements in dyeing Turkey red
and other colours." — 5th February 1846.
20. To John Hopkins, of Woolwich, in the county of Kent, surveyor,
" certain improvements in railways, and trams for railways, and tram-
ways."— 6th February 1846.
21. To JosiAH Marshall Heath, of Winchester Buildings, in the
city of London, ironmaster, " improvements in the manufacture of cast
steel."— 10th February 1846.
22. To Peter Taylor, of Hollinwood, near Manchester, machinist,
** certain improvements in machinery for propelling vessels, carriages, and
machinery, parts of which improvements are applicable to drawing and
propelling fluids, also improvements in the construction of vessels." —
12th February 1846.
23. To JosuE Heilmann, of Mulhausen, in the department of Haut
Rhine, in the kingdom of France, machine-maker, " improvements in
certain machines, and for preparing to be spun cotton wool and other
fibrous materials." — 12th February 1846.
24. To George Hinton Bovill, of Millwall, in the county of Middle-
sex, engineer, " improvements in the manufacture of iron." — 16th Feb-
ruary 1846.
26. To Charles Tetley, of Bradford, in the West Riding of the
county of York, stock and share broker, *' certain improvements in the
means of raising and impelling water and other liquids, and also thereby
to obtain mechanical power." — l7th February 1846.
2Q. To William Newton, of the Office for Patents, 66 Chancery-
Lane, in the county of Middlesex, civil-engineer, being a communication
from abroad, " certain improvements in manufacturing piled fabrics." —
17th February 1846.
27. To John Finlay, of Glasgow, in the county of Lanark, ironmonger,
" a certain improvement, or certain improvements, in raising and lower-
ing gas and other lamps, lustres, and chandeliers. "^ — 18th February
1846.
28. To William Eccles and Henry Brierley, both of the township
of Walton-le-Dale, in the parish of Blackburne, in the county pala-
tine of Lancaster — *' improvements in the machinery or apparatus used
in spinning." — 18th February 1846.
29. To William Robertson, machine-maker, Gateside, parish of
Neilstone, Renfrewshire, " certain improvements in the machinery for
404 List of Patents.
spinning and twisting cotton, silk, wool, flax, and other fibrous sub-
stances."—22d February 1846.
30. To William James Cautelo, of Paris Street, North Lambeth,
in the county of Surrey, gentleman, " improvements in apparatus for
hatching eggs and raising the young, and for heating hot-houses and
other buildings."— 26th February 1846.
31. To William Nairne, of Millhaugh, in the county of Perth,
North Britain, flaxspinner, " a new mode or new modes of propelling
carriages along railways." — 2d March 1846.
32. To David Yoolow Stewart, of Montrose, in the kingdom of
Scotland, ironfounder, " improvements in moulding iron and brass." —
2d March 1846.
33. To Juan Nepomuceno Adorno, of Mexico, in the Republic of
Mexico, gentleman, " improvements in manufacturing cigars and other
similar articles." — 2d March 1846.
34. To John Harcourt Brown, of Brunswick Place, Barnsbury Road,
in the county of Middlesex, gentleman, " improvements in securing let-
ters, envelopes, covers, dispatches, packets, and parcels." — 2d March
1846.
35. To Henry Dircks, of Nicholas Lane, in the city of London, en-
gineer, " improvements in the means of obtaining and preparing ex-
tracts from certain vegetable matters, and in the apparatus connected
therewith, which apparatus may be also applied to other similar pur-
poses."—4th March 1846.
36. To Charles Hague, of Oldham, in the county of Lancaster,
brassfounder, and William Madeley, of Manchester, in the said coun-
ty, machine-maker, " improvements in or applicable to certain machines
employed in the slubbing, roving, or preparing to be spun, of cotton and
other fibrous substances ; and an improved apparatus for lubricating
shafts and bearings of or in such machines, for the purpose of reducing
friction ; and which apparatus is also applicable to other shafting and
machinery."— 9th March 1846.
37. To Elisha Haydon Collier, of Goldsworth Terrace, Rotherhithe,
in the county of Surrey, civil-engineer, " certain improvements in the
manufacture of nails, and in the machinery or apparatus to be used for
such purposes." — 10th March 1846.
38. To Erastus B. Bigelow, of Boston, in the state of Massachusetts,
of the United States of America, " certain new and useful improvements
in looms for weaving certain kinds of carpet, or other fabrics of like cha-
racter."—11th March 1846.
39. John Thomas Perkins, of Monmouth Street, in the county of
Middlesex, pattern card-maker, " certain improvements in machinery or
apparatus for cutting paper and other fabrics."— 11th March 1846.
40. To William Edward Newton, of the Office for Patents, 66
Chancery Lane, in the county of Middlesex, civil-engineer, being a com-
munication from abroad, " improvements in the preparation or manufac-
ture of thread or yarn." — 12th March 1846.
41. To James Palmer Budd, of Ystalyfera Iron Works, Swansea,
merchant, " improvements^J«r^|^l:^^7«a^nufacture of iron." — 13th March
1846.
INDEX.
Agassiz, Professor, on fossil fishes of the London clay, 121.
on the brain of fishes, 210.
— new arrangement of the order Crinoidea, 208.
on the geological importance of the rays of fishes, 208.
on the erratic phenomena of Scandinavia, 237.
. his various works enumerated, 398.
Albite of Kimito, the so-called, proved to be an oligoclase, 381.
Alios (Pan) of the North-West of France, 387-
Allanite, cerine, and orthite, probably identical, 383.
Anderson, Adam, Professor, St Andrews, on some new and curious
curves, generated by the images reflected from plane mirrors in
a state of rapid rotation around a fixed axis, 69.
Anatase, Brookite, and rutile, 383.
Aracacha, its proposed introduction into Europe, 398.
Auckland, its meteorology, 382.
Aures, the white race of, in Algeria, 393.
Berghaus and Johnston, their Physical Atlas, No. 3, noticed, 401.
Bituminous coals discovered in Chatham Island, 386.
Bischof, Gustav, Professor, on the origin of quartz and metalliferous
veins, concluded, 220.
Brodie, P. B., his fossil insects noticed, 400.
Brongniart, Adolphe, on the great divisions of the vegetable king-
dom occurring in the different geological formations, 285.
Callebar, Old, on the natives of, by W. F. Daniel, Esq., 313.
Cetacea, herbivorous, observations on, 393.
Chrome in Serpentine, 382.
Coal, black bituminous, discovered in Chatham Island, one of the
Galapagos, 386.
Coffee-tree, leaves of, as a substitute for tea, 208.
Connell, Arthur, Professor, analysis of Icelandic volcanic dust, 217.
Corals, calcareous, chemical composition of, by B. Silliman junior,
243.
Cranium, structure of, in the Rhytina Stelleri, &c., 393.
Cuchullin Hills in Skye, their geology and topography, and ancient
glaciers, by Professor Forbes, 76.
Daniel, W. F., on the natives of Old Callebar, West Coast of Africa,
313.
Davy, John, Dr, observations made during a voyage from England
to Barbadoes, 45.
on the chemical nature of the excrements of insects, 231,
335.
Diaspore, its occurrence at Schemnitz, 383.
Dick, Thomas, LL.D., his astronomy noticed, 490.
Dunbar, Dr, meteorological observations at Manse of Applegarth, for
1845. 368.
406 Index.
Durocher, M. J., on the erratic phenomena of Scandinavia, 234.
Dykes of marble and quartz, their connection with plutonic rocks,
in New South Wales, 201.
Dysluite identical with automolite, 383.
Electric sound, on, by Jacob! , 205.
Electro-culture, experiments on, by Professor and Dr Fyfe, 143.
Elie de Beaumont, his Geologie Pratique noticed, 399.
Epidosite, a new species of mountain rock, 382,
Erratic phenomena, observations on, 234.
Espy, J. P., his meteorological report, 374.
Ethnography of Russian America, 35.
Falconer and Cautley, their Fauna Antiqua Slvalensis noticed, 399.
Forbes, James, Professor, his Tenth Letter on glaciers, 154.
on the geology and topography and ancient glaciers of the
Cuchullin Hills in the Island of Skye, 76.
Forsyth, Charles, Esq., advocate, his geology of West Lothian, no-
ticed, 399.
Fossils, on, their distribution in different formations, 258.
Fox, Were, on certain pseudo-morphous crystals of quartz, 115.
Fyfe, Andrew, Professor, on electro-culture, 143.
Geological distribution of fossil plants, 285.
Glaciers and icebergs, ancient, in Scotland, account of, by Charles
Maclaren, Esq., F.R.S.E., 125.
. Professor Forbes, his Tenth Letter on, 154.
Glacier markings in South Wales, 207.
Glacial action, traces of at North Berwick, 387.
Goeppert, M., summary of the families and species of fossil plants
occurring in different formations, 287.
Gold, produce of Siberia, by Sir R. J. Murchison, F.R.S.L., 340.
Great heights, sensations at, 373.
Guano contains microscopic siliceous sea animals, 387.
Hay, D. R., Esq., a description of a machine for drawing the per-
fect egg-oval, &c., 331.
Horses, British, account of, by Professor David Low, 179.
Ice, young, its formation, 378.
Infusoria in volcanic rocks, by Ehrenberg, 393.
Insects, excrements of, examined chemically, by Dr John Davy,
231.
Iridescent silver, 396.
Jade, white, analysis of, by M. A. Damour, 380.
Kane, Sir R., on turbines, 401.
Kersten on the conversion of sulphate of lead into lead-glance, by
means of organic substances, 382.
Index. 407
Kunker, a tuffaceous deposit in India, account of, 205.
Kupferindig, crystallization of, 381.
Lake, Salt, of Van, in Armenistan, 377.
Land, subsidence of, at Puzzuoli, 385.
Latham, E.G., M.D., on the ethnography of North America, 35;
upon the philologic ethnography of the countries around the
Bight of Biafra, 327.
Lithographic stones, notice of, 206.
Low, Professor, on British horses, 179.
his domesticated animals noticed, 400.
Macaire, Professor, his life and writings of Theodore do Saussure, 1.
Maclaren, Charles, F.R.S.E., &c., on the existence of glaciers and
icebergs in Scotland at an ancient epoch, 125.
Mammoths, their habitation and destruction of, considered. By Sir
R. I. Murchison, 344.
Manganocalcite, its analysis, 380.
Marble and quartz dykes in New Holland, 201.
Metals, permeability of, 390.
Meteorites, fall of, in the Sandwich Islands, 204.
in the Imperial Cabinet at Vienna, 373.
Meteorology, report on, by James P. Espy, 374.
Miller, J. F., Esq., meteorology of Whitehaven, 1845, 365.
Mines, air of, 386.
Mouth, human, observations on, by Alexander Nasmyth, Esq.,
161.
Mud, torrent of, in the Plain of the Lagunilla, New Granada,
199.
Murchison, Sir R. I., his work on Russia, noticed, 389.
Nasmyth, Alexander, on the human mouth, 161.
Newbold, Captain, on the temperature of the springs, wells, and
rivers of India and Egypt, and table-lands within the tropics,
99.
Newfoundland, its gradual rise above the sea, 206.
Norway, geology of, as connected with the absence of a feudal nobility,
&c., 388.
Oust-art, and shores of Lake Aral, 386.
Panama, isthmus of, proposed canal across, 209.
Patents granted for Scotland from 23d September to" 18th December
1845 ; also from 22d of December 1845 to 22d March 1846,
210, and 401.
Philosophical Society of Glasgow, its proceedings, noticed, 400.
Pictet, F. J., Professor, on the distribution of fossils in diiFerent
formations, 255 ; on the classiBcation of fossils, and their de-
termination, 289.
408 Index.
Predazzite, analysis of, 381.
Protection from lightning, of houses with metallic roofs, 375.
Puzzuoli, the subsidence of the land at, 385.
Kain, acid, observation on, 374.
Rolled blocks of rock resulting from glacier action, how distinguish-
ed from rolled blocks produced by the action of water, 208.
Russian America, its ethnography, by Dr Latham, 35.
Sahara, desert of, 390.
Sardinia, New map of 392.
Saussure, Theodore, on his life and writings, by Professor Macaire,
1.
Schimper, M. P., on the erratic phenomena of Scandinavia, 240;
on fossil plants, 393.
Sensation at great heights, 373.
Siberia, western, quadrupeds and birds peculiar to, 395.
Silliman, Benjamin, jun., on chemical composition of calcareous
corals, 243.
Silver, iridescent, observations on, 396.
Snails, land, their boring power, 396.
Springs, wells, and rivers of India and Egypt, and of the table-lands
between the tropics, their temperature, according to Captain
Newbold, 99.
Statistical account of Scotland noticed, 400.
Storms, on the cause of, by G. A. Rowell, 281.
St Pierre as a naturalist, 209.
Sulphate of lead, converted into lead-glance, by means of organic
substances, 382.
Temperature, high, in a pit sunk at Neuffen, in Wiirtemberg,
384.
Vanadium detected in an ore of iron, by Kersten, 382.
Vestiges of Creation, noticed, 399.
Volcanic dust, shower of, in Orkney, 217.
Waves, the force of, in moving masses of rock, 378.
Well, burning, account of, 206.
Whale and shark fishing in Faroe, 210.
Winds, dry, their destroying effects on cliffs, by W. C.
Esq., 207.
Yttro-Cerite, found in Orange County, New York, 383.
Zircon, new locality of, in the Tyrol, 380.
Zoological principles of classification, and of the determination of
fossils, 289.
END OF VOLUME FORTY.